“Fiddlesticks, you a going to wear a groove in the floorboard, and my mother will not be pleased.”
“What? Oh, sorry!” Fiddlesticks jumped off of the floor, but gravity quickly reminded her that she had nowhere else to go. She landed on the wooden floor with a thud. “Sorry!”
Her cousin closed her purple eyes and sighed. “Fiddlesticks, you need to relax.”
“Right. Relax. Yeah. Yeah, I can do that,” Fiddlesticks replied as she continued to pace back and forth in the living room of her aunt and uncle’s home.
“Fiddlesticks, you are doing it again,” Octavia said.
“Right.” Fiddlesticks walked over and sat down on the couch next to Octavia. Immediately she began tapping her front hoof on her hind leg. Twenty seconds later, she jumped up and began pacing all over again.
“Fiddlesticks,” Octavia sighed with a smile. “You must relax. Everything will be fine. Be—”
“Yo, Tavi!” a voice shouted as the front door flew open.
“Eep!” Fiddlesticks jumped and her favorite hat fell on the floor. She scrambled to pick it up and in doing so she face-planted squarely on the floor.
“Vinyl, how many times have I, and my parents, asked you to at least knock?”
Fiddlesticks tucked her face under her hat and pulled it down as tight as she could. She was terrified that a certain sky blue musician was standing in the doorway with Octavia’s marefriend.
“Sorry Tavi,” Vinyl said.
“And stop calling me that!”
“Why? There’s no pony else—oh. Uh, hey, Fiddlesticks.”
“Hi, Vinyl,” Fiddlesticks said from under her hat.
“Um…what are you doing down there? If you’re playing hide and seek, then I win because I can see you.”
“Fiddlesticks, it is okay,” Octavia said. Fiddlesticks felt a hoof gently tap her on the back and she poked her head out from under her hat. “Beauty Brass is not here yet.”
“B.B.?” Vinyl asked. “She’s coming over? Sweet! We can—”
“Beauty Brass is coming over to spend time with Fiddlesticks,” Octavia said as she shot Vinyl a look. “Alone.”
Fiddlesticks stood up and straightened her white cowboy hat. The orange bandana around her neck suddenly felt tight as she tried to speak. “N-Not alone. We’re just…going out. Together.”
“On a date then?” Vinyl asked as one side of her mouth curled up in a grin.
“No!” Fiddlesticks shouted as color flushed into her cheeks. “We’re just…going out.”
“Yeah,” Vinyl teased. “Out. On a date.”
“We are not!” Fiddlesticks said.
“Oh look!” Vinyl said as she looked over her shoulder and out the door. “Here she comes now.”
“What? No!” Fiddlesticks pranced in place for a few seconds and then dove on the floor again, pulling her hat down over her face. “I’m not ready!”
“Totally going on a date,” Vinyl chuckled.
“Vinyl, you leave my cousin alone or so help me, I will tell the story about our first date.” Octavia said as she patted Fiddlestick’s back.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Vinyl shot back, but Fiddlesticks could hear the fear in the Unicorn’s voice.
“Close the door,” Octavia said. “And then go get Fiddlesticks a glass of water. She is hyperventilating.”
“I am not!” Fiddlesticks said as she shoved her chin out from under her hat. She stuck her tongue out in the direction she figured Octavia was.
“On it,” Vinyl said as she disappeared into the kitchen.
A second later, Fiddlesticks felt Octavia pulling on her tail and forced her to come out from under her hat and stand up.
“Look at yourself,” the cellist said as she grabbed Fiddlesticks’ hat and placed it back on her head. “You are a nervous wreck. What is wrong? You have spoken with Beauty Brass on many occasions.”
“Well, yeah,” Fiddlesticks said. She reached up and adjusted her hat a bit more until it fell the way she liked it.
“So why are you acting this way? She has not changed, I promise.”
“Because Vinyl’s right!” Fiddlesticks shouted. She immediately glanced toward the kitchen, terrified that the D.J. had heard her. “This is a date!”
“You have spent time with her alone before,” Octavia replied.
“But as friends!” Fiddlesticks hissed, careful to keep her voice down. “Never on a date!”
“Fiddlesticks, you are being silly. If you do not wish to spend time with Beauty Brass, you can just tell her.”
“I didn’t say that!” The yellow Earth pony leaned forward, suddenly terrified that she had given Octavia the wrong impression and that Octavia would tell Beauty Brass that and then they wouldn’t be able to…hang out like they usually did.
“Do you like Beauty Brass?” Octavia asked.
Fiddlesticks swallowed as she stared at her cousin’s face. So many ponies told her that they looked alike, but she didn’t usually see it. Sure, they had the same mane style (even if Fiddlesticks’ was a bit more wild) and sure they had the same cutie mark, but Fiddlesticks was bright yellow with a rich blue mane and tail. Octavia was grey with a black mane and tail.
Besides, Fiddlesticks wore a hat, her bandana, her shirt, and her favorite sash. Octavia only ever wore that little bowtie.
Fiddlesticks just didn’t see the resemblance that everypony else did, but right then, as she stared at her cousin, she began to see some common traits.
“Yes,” she said as she looked down at the floor. “I…I do.”
“And I think it is very clear that she likes you,” Octavia said.
“Painfully clear!” Vinyl called from the kitchen.
“Quiet you!” Octavia shouted and then she turned back to Fiddlesticks. “So what is the problem?”
“It’s a date!” Fiddlesticks said again. Why was Octavia having such a hard time understanding that? It wasn’t two friends just hanging out. It was a date. Which involved…stuff. Stuff that Fiddlesticks had no practice with. Like, what if she tried to kiss Beauty Brass and she said no? Or worse, what if Beauty Brass kissed her and she screwed it up? What if she was so bad that Beauty Brass never wanted to speak to her again?
The doorbell rang and Fiddlesticks’ blood froze in her veins. No. Beauty Brass couldn’t be here yet. She wasn’t ready. She still needed to…needed to do something! Anything!
“Go upstairs and splash some water on your face,” Octavia said.
“Right!” Fiddlesticks answered as her mind began to work again. Yeah, that was a good idea. That would give her time to think and calm down. Time to collect herself.
The doorbell rang again and Fiddlesticks jumped. “Coming, Beauty Brass,” Octavia called as she made a shooing motion with her hoof.
For a moment Fiddlesticks stood still, her blue eyes glued to the door. On the other side of it was the most fantastic mare she had ever met and she was dying to see her, but as soon as Octavia reached the door and began to open it, fear took over and the fiddle player bolted up the stairs to the bathroom in the blink of an eye. She slammed the door behind her and listened to her blood pound in her head.
After a while, Fiddlesticks remembered why she had rushed to the bathroom. She took several deep breaths and walked over to the sink. She turned the water on and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked fine as far as she was concerned. Her hat was on, her mane was combed, and she didn’t have any dirt on her face. Still, she splashed some water on her cheeks to be sure, and then took one last look at her reflection.
“Okay, I can do this,” she told herself. “It’s not that big of a deal. B.B. and I hang out all the time. It’ll be fine.”
Fiddlesticks headed for the door and opened it. The moment she did, the sound of her cousin’s voice drifted into her ears. She froze, the door only slightly open, and listened.
“Are you sure about this, Beauty Brass? Fiddlesticks is not a Canterlot pony.”
What’s that mean? Fiddlesticks thought. Does she think I’m some sort of—
“Do you remember the Grand Galloping Gala? Do you remember all the fuss those ponies caused? That is the type of pony Fiddlesticks is.”
Fiddlesticks closed the door as her heart sank. How could her cousin say such a thing like that? Okay, so she was raised on a farm and Canterlot was extremely…foreign in a lot of ways, but she knew that. And she did her best to behave whenever she visited the city.
“Fine,” Fiddlesticks said as she looked at herself in the mirror again. “If Octavia’s worried that I don’t have enough class for Beauty Brass, I’ll show her.” Slowly she reached up and took her hat off. She immediately regretted the decision, but she fought the urge to put it back on. Next she pulled off her bandana, because when was the last time she had seen anypony wear a bandana in Canterlot, and then she took of her sash. All that was left was her favorite green shirt.
Fiddlesticks always wore this shirt. She wore it so much that the edges had become frayed and a small rip had started near the bottom of it. It was part of her, but it didn’t fit in Canterlot. Slowly, she pulled it off and set it aside, and then looked at herself in the mirror.
“I feel naked,” she whispered. She desperately wanted to at least put her hat back on, but she fought the notion. How silly would she look in Canterlot if she walked around with just a cowboy hat? No, she would leave her hat off. This was for Beauty Brass, after all.
“Fiddlesticks?” Octavia called. “Beauty Brass is here.”
Fiddlesticks thought for a moment. What would a classy pony like Octavia say?
“I shall be down in but a moment,” she called back, trying to put on a fancy accent like her cousin. She took one more deep breath, ran her hoof through her mane a few times to straighten it, and then opened the door. She began to make her way down the stairs, painfully aware of how naked she felt with each step.
“There you are, Fiddlesticks!” Beauty Brass said. “I was starting to…uh…”
“Greetings, B.B.,” Fiddlesticks said as she reached the bottom of the stairs. “I mean, Beauty Brass. A…” Shoot! What was a good word to use to say that she was happy to see her? “A pleasure to see you, as always.” Yes! That was refined!
“Um…likewise,” Beauty Brass said. Her purple eyes drifted over Fiddlesticks for a moment and then she shot Octavia a look.
“Fiddlesticks, um…” Octavia stared at her cousin and Fiddlesticks did her best not to squirm. A proper Canterlot pony didn’t squirm when under such pressure.
“Where the blazes are you clothes?” Vinyl spat out. “I mean, I’m not complaining. You look hot, but—ouch!”
“Vinyl!” Octavia said as she pulled her hoof back.
“What? She does! She always wears that same old shirt, so it leaves a little bit of mystery to—ouch! What they hay did you hit me for?”
“You talk to much,” Beauty Brass said. The sousaphone pony turned her gaze back to Fiddlesticks and smiled. “You, uh…you look nice, Fiddle. You always look nice.” Fiddlesticks felt a little blush come to her cheeks. “But, uh…why the sudden change?”
Fiddlesticks cleared her mouth in an attempt to buy her time to come up with a classy response. “This is Canterlot, my dear.”
“My dear?” Vinyl repeated, but she fell silent when Octavia raised her hoof again.
“A ratty old shirt and silly cowboy hat are hardly appropriate clothes…things,” she finished. “So…shall we be on our way?”
The sky blue pony blinked several times. Twice she glanced over at Octavia and Vinyl, but Vinyl remained quiet and Octavia simply blinked in response. “Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind going out without your hat.”
Fiddlesticks swallowed. She almost turned around and ran back up the stairs, but the little voice inside her head told her to stop. “It’s fine, dear.”
“Okay,” Beauty Brass said. A huge smile spread across her face and she spun around and literally skipped out of the door, her wavy brown mane bouncing with her.
“Fiddlesticks, are you okay?” Octavia whispered as Fiddlesticks began to follow Beauty Brass out.
“I am fine, cousin,” Fiddlesticks hissed back. Without another word, she closed the door to the house and stood outside next to Beauty Brass.
“So what do you want to do?” Beauty Brass asked. She casually took a small step closer to Fiddlesticks. Her tail gently brushed Fiddlesticks’ back leg and the fiddle player jumped.
“Oh, right!” she said. Shoot. She had totally forgotten that she had to actually do stuff with Beauty Brass. What did fancy Canterlot ponies do for fun? She had been so busy trying to be a Canterlot pony that she hadn’t thought of what a Canterlot pony did.
“Are you hungry?” Beauty Brass asked as she took another step closer.
“Sure!” Fiddlesticks replied and she stepped away. Canterlot ponies didn’t snuggle in public. It was very un…un-Canterlot. “I mean, if you are then I am.”
“Okay,” Beauty Brass said, her face falling a little for a moment. “There’s this great pizza place over by Donut Joe’s.”
Fiddlesticks ears perked up. She loved pizza! It was so good. So many different types of cheese and toppings. It was the perfect dish, and even though her cousin said it would kill her, Fiddlesticks was certain she could eat it every day if she was allowed to.
Fancy Canterlot ponies don’t eat pizza! she thought a moment later. So what did Canterlot ponies eat? There had to be some sort fancy place they could go to that would show Beauty Brass just how classy she could be.
“How about we find a nice sit-down place?” Fiddlesticks offered, hoping her nervousness wasn’t showing.
“Well, okay,” Beauty Brass said. “If that’s what you want.”
“Yes, of course it is,” Fiddlesticks said with a smile. “Dear,” she quickly added after a moment.