//------------------------------// // Stars (part 1) // Story: Eyes of a Musician // by artsofallkinds //------------------------------// All characters either belong to Hasbro and the Hub or to the Brony fan base as a whole, with the exception to OC ponies, who belong to their respective owners. Enjoy! -Arts ---------- Chapter 7: Stars The serenity of a library. Octavia sighed in content. Enjoying a book here was much easier than anywhere else in the entire Underground. After all, a whole city based around musicians tends to be a bit more on the loud side. It was amazing, but not the best place to concentrate on anything except how your sound contributed to the piece as a whole. So the library was kept quiet. No music, no talking, and some sound-proofing all mixed up perfectly to create a safe haven to read, within the safe haven for instrumentation. Octavia turned the page of her book, "Techniques for Cellos and Basses", and started the next chapter on the used-to-be-world-renowned methods. This book looked great for being who knows how many years old. Wait, this isn't actually the original book, Octavia remembered, shaking her head. During the tour she had received a few weeks ago, she had learned that the librarian rewrites old books into a readable copy so the older one can be stored, but still kept technically usable. Many of these books were very new looking, but the knowledge they held was actually many generations past their original publication. As she read, Octavia subconsciously moved her hoof to imitate the methods she was learning. She was imagining herself actually on her instrument, pulling a bow across the strings to create the crescendos she was reading about. Terms like "estacado" and "half rest" flew through the musician’s mind as she progressed through the writing, and eventually the bassist pony realized she was already halfway done. She walked over to the librarian, whose desk sported a little metal piece that declared her name was Twilight Sparkle. The purple unicorn was hunched over a table facing away from the desk, the table where she'd re-write books as closely to their actual counterparts as she could. "Um," Octavia tried quietly, not wanting to interrupt the tedious process. "One second, please," the purple unicorn said, finishing the line she'd been working on. When she turned around, Octavia blinked a few times. What is she... wearing? It was some sort of contraption that buckled around her forehead like a bandana. It seemed to hold a magnifying glass over her right eye, distorting the way the eye looked and making the booky pony look rather absurd. "How can I help you?" the librarian asked politely. "I, uh, just wanted to check out this book." The brown earth pony was finding it hard to keep a straight face. "Right, one second." The magenta mare took the book in a magical aura not unlike her coat's color, and placed a small note card in the front flap, making a note in a journal on the desk. "There we go, due back in ten days," she smiled. "Thank you," Octavia smiled back, placing the book on her back and walking out to the retail hall. The bassest sighed as she left the library, letting out a slight, ladylike giggle at the odd spectacle as she made her way farther down the hall. She turned left and trotted the short distance into the hub for the Underground, the somehow grassy plaza that was always bustling with activity. It blew her mind that, according to Quick Step, it was actually nighttime. But the clocks are smartly reversed down here, so the loudest times are in the middle of the night, when the Aboveground ponies would be asleep. After all, no guard would want to patrol the Everfree at night, most not even during the daytime. A horde of foals stampeded up the stairs, quickly followed by Miss Cheerilee. Octavia could tell today was another trip to the surface for them. Nothing was more exciting for the little ones than seeing the sky, hearing the critters if the night, and just having that brief sense of adventure. Octavia found it kind of sad that they couldn't live Aboveground, but staying safe down here was much better than being on the run up there; that she knew. She suddenly missed the outdoors. It had been a dangerous place for her in the past, but even the Underground, as big as it was, gave her a bit of cabin fever. Maybe I could go up just for a little bit... Octavia trotted up the stairs, following after the young ones. When she got close to Cheerilee, she called out to her. The teacher turned to her fellow earth pony. "Yes, Octavia?" she asked, smiling. The rowdy crowd of students waiting at the door made it hard to hear her. "Do you mind if I tag along?" the brown earth pony asked over the noise. "It's been awhile since I've seen the moon and stars, and all." The teacher smiled. "Of course. Would you like to be introduced?" Octavia couldn't help but giggle. "Sure, go ahead," she allowed. "Class!" the purple-pink earth pony called, smiling. The foals quieted down somewhat. "This is Miss Octavia. I'm sure you've seen her around. She'll be coming with us today!" The class didn't seem to react much at first, but a small, white unicorn filly made her way to the front of the group. "Hi, Miss Octavia!" she said, "I'm Sweetie Bell. Can I ask what instrument you play?" The small unicorn looked inquisitively up at the new guest, not smiling, but not frowning. Her words had seemed practiced, a bit unnatural, like she had wanted to impress the other foals by how well she could say them. Octavia, not completely sure how to proceed, looked at Cheerilee. The teacher just smiled and nodded her head, so the brown earth pony turned back to the filly. "Well... I play the Double Bass. It's like a Cello, um, kind of." Octavia answered nervously. "Oh, cool!" Sweetie Belle smiled, putting Octavia at ease. "My sister plays the Cello, and she sings, too! AND she runs the fashion boutique!" The filly was absolutely beaming, her practiced tone forgotten. "I wanna be just like her one day!" An orange pegasus filly jumped her way to the front, wings fluttering, eyes sparkling. "But she's nowhere near as cool as Rainbow Dash! Dash can sing, play the guitar, and is on the Underground's defence team! You can't beat that!" Sweetie Belle scoffed and turned her head, clearly unconvinced. The class had already fallen back to chattering away, but a third filly came trotting up. She was an earth pony with yellow fur and a big bow in her hair. "Mah 'sis can!" she bragged, smirking. "Applejack sings, plays harmonica, and runs th' farm! Without her, we couldn't eat!" The yellow foal had a thick drawl that seemed natural, so Octavia guessed she'd picked it up from her family. The pegasus filly rolled her eyes. "The harmonica isn't a real instrument." "Is to!" the young earth pony shot back. "Is not!" "Is to!" “Girls!” Cheerilee interrupted, clearly irritated. The fillies became quiet, Sweetie Belle shaking her head as if the other two disappointed her. The teacher glanced around, then smiled. “Ah, here he comes.” “He who?” Octavia asked, looking the way she was, but seeing a few different ponies that fit the description of “he”. “Well, we can’t go up without a guard, of course,” Cherilee explained in a very teacher-like voice that reminded Octavia of the private tutor she used to have. “So Big McIntosh is going to be escorting the class and guarding them as well. It’s great to have a full-fledged member of the Guard to help me keep these foals in check.” The large, red pony walked up, staying silent. Octavia recognised him as the stallion that mare with the broken wing had been kissing a few weeks back, and she blushed a bit, a feeling of intrusion and guilt making her timid. The yellow filly from before ran up to him and gave him a hug, talking excitedly. The conversation was lost in the noise of the other fillies and colts, but it was clearly the smaller one who was doing all the talking. Cherilee called out to her class to get in a single-file line, and with her in the front, and Octavia and Big McIntosh at the rear, they began their ascent to the surface. Climbing the rickety, wooden stairs, the brown mare decided to make small talk. “So, Big McIntosh... Do you go to the surface often?” she tried. “Eeyup.” There was a silence between them for a few seconds. The stallion’s droopy eyes gave off an air of indifference. Must be one of those strong, silent types, Octavia decided. With a dejected look, she turned her head forward and continued to follow the foals up the stairs. The journey through the old house was uneventful, the zebra- Invert Scribe, was it?- only nodding as they passed by him on their way out. Octavia stepped through the doorway, and for the first time in who-knows-how-many weeks, she was outside. She looked up and saw the stars, even a waning moon hanging at the top of it all. A breeze blew by, and Octavia wondered if she should have grabbed a scarf. The trees were gray in the moonlight, but they were trees all the same, something the mare hadn’t seen since forever. She slowly trotted out from the porch and onto the grass, then couldn’t help but frollic a bit, giggling at how foalish she was being. The girls from before came up to her, and in perfect three-part unison, asked her if she wanted to play with them. The bassist pony smiled and nodded. They were to play tag, said the fillies, and that Octavia would be “it” first. She blinked a few times. “Um... This may be a silly question...” Sweetie Belle smiled encouragingly. “Miss Cheerilee says there’s no such thing as a silly question.” The other two nodded. Octavia let out a giggle. “Well... um... I’ve never actually played ‘tag’ before. How do you play ‘tag’?” The orange pegasus filly gave her a look, raising her eyebrow in disbelief. “Okay, that was a silly question.” Octavia immediately felt a bit ashamed, but the yellow filly with the pink bow rolled her eyes. “Scootaloo, that’s hardly the weirdest question we’ve ev’r heard.” She then smiled and coughed a bit. “Tag’s a simple game,” she began. “One pony is “it”, and th’ others are not. If you’re “it”, then ya have to tap, grab, or basically touch another player to pass on your... “it”ness to them. If you’re not “it”, then you run, jump, and dodge th’ pony who is “it” so ya don’t become “it”. And ya keep playing until everypony decides to stop!” “Hmm...” Octavia was never really one for physical activity in her youth, and when she did go outside, it was to look at the flora, not to play with other foals. She was excited at play, and nodded at the fillies. “Okay, so I have to tag one of you?” All three said “Yep!” Octavia smirked, and with a playful lunge at the one called Scootaloo, the game was on.