//------------------------------// // A Half-Baked Idea // Story: Octavia Sings the Blues // by GrassAndClouds2 //------------------------------// A light, energetic melody flowed up from Octavia's cello into the green, grassy field of Bluenote's backyard. The notes swirled around each other in a simple pattern, one melodic line moving up and down while the harmonic line added hints of color and texture. It was a gentle, peaceful work, with a soft rhythmic pattern providing most of the structure. The notes continued on, marshaled by the rhythm, into the air-- And then a tuba blasted and scattered them into the air. Octavia looked up from her cello at the smiling Bluenote. "What?" she said. "I thought I had it that time." "Almost, but your rhythm is still too rigid. Jazz has to breathe!" Bluenote put her mouth back to her tuba and played a similar melody, except that the notes were all slightly different lengths. When Octavia had tried playing that way, it just sounded messy, but Bluenote somehow made it sound organic and natural. "See?" said Bluenote, when she was done. "Like that!" Octavia Philharmonica smiled and drew back her bow to try it again. "Okay," she said. "Just like that." She played a few notes to warm up. "Thank you again for teaching me, Bluenote. I know I am not your usual type of student." Bluenote blushed. "You're never too old to learn a new genre!" she said. "Besides, I think everyone should know a little jazz." She winked. "And I'm a teacher, so you should trust me on that." When Octavia Philharmonica had first come to Ponyville, she had wanted nothing more than to put on a show for Princess Cadance and then resume her musical studies in solitude once she had proven herself. During her stay, though, the tyrant alicorns Burning Sun and Nightmare Moon had escaped from their prisons and resumed their eternal struggle, threatening all of Equestria in the process. Octavia had allied with five other ponies to fight past all kinds of monsters and dangers to locate the Elements of Harmony and purify the tyrants, and by the time she was done, she didn't want to leave her newfound friends behind. And so Cadance had given her a new assignment--to remain in Ponyville, and learn about the music there. And whom better to learn music from than the town's music teacher? "I bow to your wisdom," said Octavia, which made Bluenote break out into giggles. "And I do apologize for my lack of progress. I assure you, I am trying--" "Hey, no worries. You're doing fine." Bluenote smiled. "And I have an idea--" "HEY TAVI! HOW YA DOIN?" Both ponies turned to see Vinyl waving at them from the street. She had a little drum on her back, as well as two drumsticks stuck into holsters on her saddle. Despite the fact that it wasn't a particularly sunny day, she was still wearing her usual sunglasses. "Vinyl! Hello!" Octavia turned to her and inclined her head slightly. "I am doing very well, thank you. How are you doing?" "Yeah, what's up?" asked Bluenote. "Heading back from Beebop's. Her big sister got sick and she wanted to play something to cheer her up, so I was over there helping!" Vinyl tapped the drum on her back. "Her parents said no to a big wubstep speaker for some reason, but I think the kiddo and I did alright with a coupe of drums. Put a big smile on her sis's face, that's for sure." "Vinyl, that's lovely," said Octavia. "Thanks. Oh, Bluenote--how was the pitaya?" Bluenote smiled, and Octavia giggled. Bluenote was a gourmand; she loved delicious foods, especially ones she'd never tasted before. "Delicious. Thank you!" "Pitaya?" asked Octavia. "A purple-skinned fruit with green spikes and white flesh. Very sweet taste... goes perfectly with vanilla ice cream. Can't get them anywhere near here, though." Bluenote turned back to Vinyl. "Where did you get it?" "I've got a cousin who does import-export out in Manehattan. He can get almost anything." Vinyl smiled easily. Anyway, I'm headed home, unless you two need something--" Bluenote brightened. "Actually, Vinyl, maybe you could help us." She turned to Octavia."If you're having trouble playing without an explicit rhythm, why don't we do a trio? Vinyl, could you play a simple rhythm on drums, maybe the one from that song we did two weeks ago? Octavia, Vinyl's got the rhythm, so you don't need to worry about it--just play your own thing. Speed up, slow down, whatever sounds right to you. I'll jump in where I'm needed and help complete the music." Octavia tilted her head. "Maybe," she said. "Yes, I suppose that could work--" "Awesome," said Vinyl, trotting over and setting up her drum. "Let's go!" She began to play a very simple rhythm, an alternation of a hit on the drumskin and a hit on the rim, the latter higher-pitched and tinnier than the former. Octavia counted off, then played a light melody above it, moving fairly freely, though always still in relation to the underlying structure that Vinyl was playing--sometimes three notes against four, other times introducing a syncopation effect so different notes were accented, but still basing her music off of Vinyl's beats. Bluenote chimed in, playing a tuba solo that flitted from beat to beat, surprisingly fast despite her relatively ponderous instrument. Her melody wove between Vinyl's beats and Octavia's melody, sometimes slightly ahead and sometimes behind. Bluenote looked up at Octavia for a moment and winked, then blasted forward on her melody--moving it up, down, and beyond Octavia's notes in a rush. The message was clear. Catch me if you can! Octavia smiled and gave chase. The two melodies raced on, Bluenote's staying ever so slightly ahead of Octavia's. Normally Octavia would have been able to beat Bluenote in most musical contests, but she was still trying to restrict herself to the style of jazz, as Bluenote was teaching her, and her lack of familiarity allowed Bluenote to remain just out of her grasp. Her notes were a measure or two behind, then they closed to a half measure, than a single beat, but the blue tubist remained steadily out of her reach... Wait! She slowed too soon! Octavia thought. Bluenote's melody had stopped just short of the beat and the cellist raced ahead. She couldn't land her next note exactly on the beat either, but she got it in just after it, providing a neat punctuated effect with Bluenote's note, then Vinyl's drumbeat, then her own coming in such quick succession. Octavia didn't pause to absorb that effect, though; she darted away, now with Bluenote pursuing. The tubist kept chasing her, but Octavia kept her melody folding about itself and doubling around to evade her opponent. She slowed down for a few notes so that Bluenote overshot and had to spend a second or two heading back down, then accelerated to leave her behind. And so the two played on... until Octavia realized, several minutes later, that she had been using the beats as more of a vague guide than a strict rhythm for some time. She and Bluenote looked at each other and both grinned, and then they joined up their melodies and brought the piece to a brilliant climax. As they finished, Octavia lowered her cello. "Thank you," she said. Vinyl was grinned. "Nice tunes, everypony. DIdn't know you could play so limber, Tavi." "I didn't know it either." Octavia turned to Bluenote, who looked slightly winded but was still smiling brightly. "You are very skilled at leading." Bluenote blushed again. "Aw, thanks Tavi. But like I said--I knew you could do it. Just needed a little help." "I will practice and try to reach the point where I can do that on my own." Octavia inclined her head. "Is there anything else for today?" "I think we're good," said Bluenote. Octavia smiled at her friends. Yes, she thought. We are. *** My little pony... Ah ah ah... (My Little Pony) Friendship sounded so off-key to me. (My Little Pony) But now you're here, and now I see... A loyal backing Honest melodies! Songs to share With loving harmonies! Joyous dance -- Such a lovely feat -- And magic makes the perfect beat! You are my little ponies... Friends make the best music of all! *** "Are you sure there's nothing you want?" asked Octavia. She, Bluenote, and Vinyl were walking through the Ponyville market, watching the farmers and other vendors selling their wares and determining what to buy for lunch. "I feel bad not being able to give you anything in exchange." Bluenote waved a hoof. "I am a simple mare," she intoned. "You pay my usual rate for a lesson. I couldn't ask for anything more." "Yes, but... you are my friend. I want to do more." She paused. "I mean, I am learning about bard music from Lyra, and ballroom music from Fluttershy, but I can assist both of them in their performances in exchange. Medley lets me study her natural instruments, and I have helped her build some of them. Vinyl even asked me to teach her some classical theory in exchange for learning about wubstep." Bluenote turned to Vinyl, who shrugged. "I don't play classical, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know about chord relations and stuff, right? I mean, I've been doing pretty well so far just learning on my own, but Tavi's had all sorts of fancy-shmancy teachers. Gotta give her credit--she knows a lot." Octavia frowned. "Princess Cadance is not 'shmancy.'" "Right, sorry." Vinyl didn't look all that sorry, but Octavia knew better than to push it. Octavia turned back to Bluenote. "You are the only one of my friends whom I am learning from and yet cannot think of anything to give you." Bluenote trotted a little bit faster until they were side by side, then gave her a warm hug. "I really appreciate that you're thinking of me, but it's fine. This is what I do. I like to do it. If you learn to love jazz like I do, that's all the reward I need." "Octavia! Vinyl! Bluey!" The three Element Bearers turned to see Pinkie Pie looking out of the upper window of Sugar Cube Corner and waving her hooves at them. "Pinkie!" yelled Vinyl. "What's up?" "I really really really need your help!" she called out. "Can you move some stuff with me? Pleasey pleasey? It would be a super-duper big favor!" The three looked at each other, and then Vinyl smiled. "Pinkie, you cater every party in town. Of course we'll help out. Where to?" "Thank you so much! You girls are the best!" squeed Pinkie. "I'll see you in the basement!" In a few moments, Octavia found herself looking around a large cellar containing several pieces of old baking equipment. "Um," she said. "What's going on?" Pinkie bounced over her head and onto the first piece of equipment, what looked like an ancient fondue fountain. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake want to install more ovens and stuff down here, so they need to get rid of most of this stuff. Since tomorrow's their anniversary, and today's their day off, I thought I'd give them a great surprise by doing it for them! But... it's a lot of things to move for just one little pony, even if she is as adorable as me, and even though I've been going all day I'm worried I won't have enough time and I won't be able to give them the most stupendous surprise they've ever had! So can you help me get some of this out back? I'll bake you cookies!" It didn't take long to get everything upstairs; while most of what remained was heavy, the four of them together were able to muscle everything up and out the back without difficulty. Pinkie thanked them profusely as she directed them to put the equipment onto one of several carts waiting in the backyard. "Del Trot and a few others are coming by later to help me move this to the scrapyard," she said. "Thanks again!" Bluenote was looking at the equipment. "Seems a shame to scrap it," she said. "Some of this stuff looks like it still works. You could have a yard sale or something." "I told them that--I mean, yard sales are super-fun, last year I bought three yards of stuff at one of them!--but they didn't want to. They said that all this stuff is so old that, even if it works, nopony'd want it anymore." She shrugged. "But on the bright side, we're getting a bunch of new ovens! One for cakes, one for pies, one for cakes and pies, one for cakey pies..." Octavia was about to suggest they leave for dinner--Pinkie was making her hungry--when something in one of the carts caught her eye. Wait. That looks like a... She walked over to the cart. "Pinkie, do you mind if I look at something?" "Help yourself!" Octavia climbed on the cart and began to move equipment aside. "Did the Cakes ever sell anything from further away?" she asked. "Such as desserts originating in foreign countries?" "No, but I think the pony who owned it before the Cakes bought it did." Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "Right! Mrs. Cake told me about him. Mr. Kuroyaneighgi tried to bake delicious breads from all over the world for Ponyville customers, and he eventually moved to Canterlot so he could be closer to a bunch of really delicious restaurants." "How did you guess that?" asked Bluenote. "Because," said Octavia, "I think I just found a tandoor oven." With a mighty effort, she managed to pick up what looked like a gigantic clay pot and clamber down from the cart. "It's used in a lot of Chenneigh cooking," she said. "Especially breads. When I was little, I... I mean, I spent most of my time practicing my cello. But whenever I had a really bad day, my Mother and I would always bake something really delicious. It cheered me up every time." She smiled. "I have a lot of good memories of that." She paused, then looked at Bluenote for a moment. "Hey Pinkie? If you are getting rid of all this stuff anyway, do you mind if I keep this?" "Sure, go for it!" "Thank you!" Octavia climbed back into the cart and began rooting around, finding what she was looking for--a large spatula, the kind used to carry pizzas, and a gigantic hook that looked almost like a crowbar--and then jumping back down. "Bluenote! Have you tried a lot of Chenneigh cuisine?" Bluenote shook her head. "Always wanted to, but it's so far away, and nopony cooks it around here..." She trailed off. "Wait." Octavia beamed. "Then, in gratitude for the music lessons, I would like to prepare some authentic Chenneigh breads for you... and teach you how to prepare them as well. How does that sound?" For a moment, Bluenote said nothing. Then a teeny, tiny drop of drool showed at the corner of her mouth, and the blue tubist grinned. "It sounds lovely," she said.