//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: A melody of the Night 
// by Etyco Filly 
//------------------------------//

The bed Octavia lay on was probably the most comfortable she ever slept on. Well, that or it was a decent bed, and she had just slept so well that it just felt like it. Not that she really cared, this was way too pleasant to do anything else than she already was.
The thought of getting up from her pleasing mattress started floating around her mind. The warmth radiating from her sheets, however, proved itself too relaxing for that idea to persist, and this caused the cellist to stay asleep. Some time later, hooves clopping on the stone floor brought her attention back to reality. Who could it be at this hour? In her flat? And her floor was made of wood, not stone. And this wasn't her bed. Nor her room.
The grey mare opened her eyes and sat up on the bed fast enough to feel slightly dizzy. She found herself in a circular neatly cleaned room. On her right she was met with a wall, with a large round window in its centre. While Octavia's position didn't let her see outside, she could clearly see light was pouring in from that opening, bright enough to reasonably assume noon had passed quite a few hours ago. In front of her she noticed two doors, one obviously leading to either a restroom or a closet, while the other one bore a note near its handle. Overwhelmed by her curiosity, the earth pony stood up from her remarkably comfortable bed and approached the intriguing note. It read:
“Dear Octavia,
After you fell asleep last night before me I took the liberty of displacing you towards somewhere more appropriate to dreaming. Naturally, I ignore your residence, therefore I was given no choice than to allocate you to a room in the castle. Please do not feel ashamed considering what happened, as it could have happened to anypony. Although we I would have preferred it had you told us me you were so tired.
Anyway, as we agreed on yesterday, I would like to hear you play. Meet me in front of my room, which is positioned one floor above yours, this evening at sunset. The guards are told to remember guests and let them into the private parts of the castle while they're on the guest list, which I have put your name on. However, they won't let anypony pass after nightfall, so please do return before any trouble can happen, once you've fetched your cello.
Oh, and feel free to use the shower in your room, I'm sure you would be more comfortable walking through Canterlot clean.
Yours truly, 
Princess Luna.”
Octavia turned around, observing Canterlot once more, and estimated she had three or four hours until she needed to meet Luna. The trip home and back would take her around an hour but she still needed to stop by one of friends' home and return the accordion she had borrowed. Her friend and fellow ensemble member, Beauty Brass, lived in a building located between the royal castle and her own home, fortunately. The cellist only needed to grab both the accordion and cello and then return, but carrying both of those instruments at once would have been too strainful for her, so she needed to go back and forth once more, effectively adding thirty minutes to her full itinerary. That summed up to one hour and a half, which left her another hour and a half to spend.
She could spend this time with Beauty Brass, while she was there, if the brown maned mare wasn't too busy. They hadn't talked like this in a few weeks and Octavia had so much to tell her. First though, she needed to shower.
Several minutes later, the mare was walking down one of the city's main roads. On both sides she could see boutiques with the latest fashion. Somehow, most of it looked like Princess Cadence's wedding gown adapted into less formal formats. Some even looked appealing to her, but she had no time for shopping right then and she could always come back once everything on her list was taken care of.
Soon the earth pony found herself in a plaza was familiar to her – her ensemble had played there quite a few times. It was noticeably empty however. Admittedly, she had only been there when it was obviously at its fullest, when even the streets leading to it were full of ponies. Turning to leave, she noticed a couple kissing on a bench. She had seen couples in public before, there lay not the problem, but never had she felt so bizarre with them up close. She felt empty, as if she was missing something. She felt incomplete.
Why was her mind suddenly crowded with ideas of Luna? Was Beauty Brass being serious when long ago the cellist had explained her situation to her? The sousaphonist had just laughed and told her it was “cute” that she had developed a crush on a princess. Of course, she had been kidding, she had to be. It was impossible that Octavia was interested in the goddess in that way, after all, they were both mares. Well it was possible, just not for her. Other ponies, the ones that went out and partied all night, the ones that didn't have to keep a reputation up, the ones that weren't expected to achieve greatness, those could be that. But really, what was so wrong about it? Nothing, actually. Why couldn't somepony date somepony else because of what's between their-
“Octavia!” a voice screamed very loudly, enough to startle everypony passing on the street.
She turned around, expecting Beauty Brass, only to find out it was indeed her fellow musician. The cerulean mare was quickly catching up to her. Playing the sousaphone had really strengthened her lungs, allowing her to shout extremely loudly.
“Sorry for being so loud, but you didn't hear me the first few times I called you. I saw you walking by and decided to say hi, also to remind you to kindly return my accordion. I do need it before this evening, mind you.” she said in a neutral tone. “I stopped by your place earlier today, but you weren't there, I assumed you went out shopping or something like that, but judging by the incredible amount of bags you're carrying that's not the case.”
“Uh yeah” the cellist started, unsure of what to utter next, her brain still fazed, “I was going to get home anyway and bring it to you now. If you go with me we'd be able to move everything in one trip. I do have to move my cello to the castle for a performance, and afterwards we can just go shopping. To be honest I was planning to spend some time with you today.”
“Sounds like a plan to me, that way you'll tell me everything about this 'performance' of yours.”



Octavia Philharmonica and Beauty Brass walked side by side in the middle of Canterlot's shopping district, the latter carrying an impressive amount of bags while the former only had a few articles laid across her back.
The cellist had explained her entire situation to her friend, from the dance to how she got asked to play for the princess. Naturally, after they had accomplished their primary objective and deposited the grey musician's cello in her room, the pair took the very short trip to the sector of the capital where the most money flowed.
The black maned earth pony had decided to indulge herself and buy a few of the articles that had caught her eye earlier that day, while the brown maned one had once again chosen to shop her life savings away. 
Now they were both walking in the late evening sun. Noticing this, Beauty said in a casual tone: “I think it's time for you to go on your way for your date.”
“It's not a date. You know fully well I don't tick this way.”
“Totally a date.”
“We're not even going out anywhere.”
“Whatever.”



As soon as the cellist arrived in front of her room, a dishevelled alicorn poked her head down the stairs. She yawned once before speaking up. “Good evening Octavia.” she started, looking fairly embarrassed “Please excuse my messy appearance, I woke up later than I would have hoped for, and had to make sure you wouldn't wait for nothing.” she continued, her cheeks reddening even further. “Now I'll need a few minutes to freshen myself up, after that we can start the day and I'm terribly sorry for this, but I to have to keep you waiting a few more minutes.”
“Uh okay, sure, I'll just wait in my room, I have stuff to deposit there anyway.” She nodded towards her back. “You see, I went shopping and I didn't have time to get back home.”
As the blue mare disappeared once again into her room, and the grey one did the same. Her heart was beating happily and rapidly. Why was she so excited for this? Luna hadn't even respected her own time plan, but she was so cute with that bed mane of hers. Oh great, now her brain was starting this whole thing again... She didn't love the goddess, she didn't even like her in that way. With a “shut up brain” she decided to move her mind off her denial (which wasn't denial, as there was nothing for her to deny) and look over Canterlot through her window. At this hour it would probably looked gorgeous, and watching sceneries had always been one of the cellist's favourite time killers.
The edifice itself was situated on the highest of Canterlot's plateaus, and the tower containing her room could easily trump anything in the city (except the other great tower, the one Celestia seemingly resided in), and allowed her to see the capital in its entirety. She even spotted the building she lived in.
A knock on the door startled her back into immediate reality, caused her to jump up, nearly knocking over her cello, which she had placed next to the window. After making sure her instrument wouldn't fall over she went and opened it, finding a smiling Luna on the other side. Immediately the alicorn started talking: “I think we should go eat something before we start our musical session. I hate starting my day without breakfast. I thought of going out somewhere for once, don't really feel like getting something from the royal kitchens. You haven't eaten yet, have you?”
“Well, now that you mention it, I didn't even realise I was hungry until now... So yeah. Do you have a specific place in mind?” So much for not going out.
“Uh-huh, just follow me.”



When they came back the sky was already dark and the last shimmers of light gone. The alicorn had teleported both of them inside the castle, presumably how she got past the guards the night before. Only Luna, Celestia and that student of hers, something about dusk, had the right to bypass the runes that had been set up. Apparently some anti-flying wards had been set up too, but Octavia didn't understand much of that either. She had enough trouble with magic in its most basic forms, not that this was really surprising, she was an earth pony after all.
They soon found themselves in Luna's chamber, which the princess had deemed appropriate for her friend's small audienced recital, and, after a quick comment about her own compositions, the musician started playing.
She started by playing classics, mostly slow and majestic arias, essentially what she could play best. However, as time went on, the pace of her playing constantly kept increasing, until she found herself performing energetic and fast arrangements.
She had played those songs before, in front of a crowd as well as alone, but never had she been able to render them with such vivid emotions. She was able to feel the music, she wasn't simply repeating it, she was in sync with the melody itself. Such a perfect harmony had only been possible thus far with melancholic, wistful and sad pieces. The music she was playing, however, was none of that. It was passionate, fierce, and rapid. When her hardest piece to play came to an end, however, she decided to risk something crazy (at least for her standards). She was going to play a song she knew exactly she couldn't. She knew the notes, the tempo and every single other technical detail (she had composed it, after all), but she also knew it would sound wrong, however accurately it was executed.
Octavia, though, didn't hesitate much longer than that, and started playing a song superior to all she had so far. And she did it perfectly. She knew by the look of her goddess's face. For the entirety of her performance, the cellist had not lifted her eyes off the perfect blue mare, she had been the inspiration to all of this.
A few moments of silence went by, none of them willing to break the moment until it faded away. It was magical.
When it did fade away enough for them to regain speech, the blue mare spoke in the softest of tones “That was beautiful.” and, a few more silent seconds later “Where did you learn that last piece? I've never heard anything like it.”
“It's my own work.”
“Oh wow, that's even more impressive. However, it does seem quite weird, since it didn't sound like any of the other morceaus you said you had written, I'm not doubting you, I'm just curious about the setting that made you inspired enough for this.”
“Oh, oh... Oh...” A quick series of realisations came over Octavia. “I have no clue. I know it's mine, but this is the first time I've heard it being played. I just had the melody in my head, and I played it. I don't know what's happening.” she confessed in a low, serious and worried voice.
“Seems like it might have been a dream. This sounds insane, I know, but ponies are capable of the weirdest things in dreams. It would make sense, at least. Although it would be especially amazing.”
“You think so? Isn't there a way to find out for sure?”
“There is, but it involves looking through your subconscious, and that's something that really shouldn't be done, it's just way too intimate and private for anypony to see. Even you seeing it wouldn't be a good idea.” she paused “What I can do though, is cast a spell to enhance your ability to act and think in dreams, as well as making you more inclined to remembering them. It won't, however, automatically realise you're dreaming, you'll still have to take that step by yourself.”
“Then let's do it.”
The blue mare nodded and her horn lit up, causing the cellist to grow progressively more drowsy with each moment.
And then she passed out.