Fiddlesticks stood outside of the restaurant, trying to stop herself from crying.
“Hey, Fiddle, relax,” Beauty Brass said as she nudged her. “It’s not a bit deal.”
Fiddlesticks sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her hoof. “But…but…I wanted to take you…to…”
“It’s fine, honest,” Beauty Brass said. “I don’t really like this place anyway. Portions are way too small.”
Fiddlesticks had made a critical mistake when she had taken off her shirt. In doing so, she had left her money at home in the shirt’s pocket. She had spent the better part of an hour wandering around Canterlot with Beauty Brass, trying to find some place that was worthy of Beauty Brass’ social standing, until she had finally settled on this restaurant. She couldn’t even pronounce its name, so it had to be good.
Only, when they had arrived and looked at the menu outside, Fiddlesticks had seen how steep the prices were. She had figured she’d just get a small salad, but when she had gone to see how much she had, she had instantly realized that she had no bits on her.
The yellow mare hung her head and her blue mane spilled down around her face. She raised her head instantly, but her mane covered one of her eyes. She tried to blow it away, but the stubborn hair stayed where it was.
I look like a wreck. Why did I leave my hat?
“Oh, I like your mane like that,” Beauty Brass said with a smile.
“Huh?” Fiddlesticks stopped messing with it and stared at the blue pony in shock. Beauty Brass was just teasing her. She had to be. No pony in Canterlot walked around with their mane draped in their face.
“It looks mysterious,” Beauty Brass said as she took a small step closer. Her purple eyes narrowed a bit and a smile came to her lips. “Very alluring…”
“Uh…well…” Fiddlesticks took a step back as Beauty Brass drew closer and she bumped into the wall of the restaurant. She let out a little yelp and jumped forward, realizing her mistake too late. She crashed into Beauty Brass and the two stumbled backward.
“You okay?” Beauty Brass asked as she massaged her cheek.
“Yeah,” Fiddlesticks replied as she rubbed the top of her head. She looked up and once again found herself staring directly into Beauty Brass’ face. “Um…sorry.”
“It’s fine. I like being close to you.”
Fiddlesticks swallowed as Beauty Brass started to draw close again. “Well, uh…I guess lunch is out.”
Beauty Brass pulled back and cocked her head. “What? Why? Because you don’t have any bits? I can pay for our meal if you really want to eat here.”
Fiddlesticks blinked. She couldn’t let Beauty Brass do that. A Canterlot pony never let another pony pay when they couldn’t afford it. Surely it was some sign of social disgrace. “Uh, no. That’s…okay. I’m not really that hungry anyway.”
“If you say so…” the blue Earth pony replied. She blinked her purple eyes twice. “You want me to help you fix your mane then?”
Fiddlesticks wanted nothing more. The thought of Beauty Brass being so close to her and running her hooves through her mane was terrifying but exciting. Plus, it was getting really hard to see with only one eye. She almost said yes, but then she saw several ponies walking down the street and panic seized her. What would they say if they saw Beauty Brass doing something so…uncivilized in public? What if she ended up being shunned because of it? Fiddlesticks couldn’t risk that happening.
“No thanks,” she said. “I’ll get it.” She took a deep breath and ran her hoof up through her mane, catching as many of the long blue hairs as she could. She slowly pushed them up and back, until she felt the majority of them fall behind her ear and come to rest on her shoulder.
“There’s that pretty face,” Beauty Brass said with a warm smile.
Fiddlesticks blushed. “Thanks. So…what do you want to do?”
“Whatever,” Beauty Brass said. “What do you want to do?”
Fiddlesticks bit her lip. If this was back home, she could think of plenty of things to do, but she was in Canterlot, and she wasn’t sure if her idea of fun was acceptable or not.
Besides, she wasn’t that familiar with the city in the first place. She had no idea where the attractions were. Throw in the fact that she had left all of her spending money back at her aunt and uncle’s place, and that probably narrowed their options down to very little.
Think. There has to be something in Canterlot that doesn’t cost anything.
“Do you want to go to the lake?” Beauty Brass asked.
“Yes!” Fiddlesticks replied instantly. “That sounds fun.” Canterlot had a beautiful lake just outside the city that the mountain waterfall spilled into. Fiddlesticks always loved walking over the drawbridge and watching the water swirl beneath her. Best of all, there was no charge to simply stand by the water’s edge. It would be perfect.
The two ponies began to make their way to the city gates. They passed countless high-society ponies as they walked, all of them looking much more posh than Fiddlesticks could ever hope to. With each step she felt like she was sticking out more and more.
“How have you been?” Beauty Brass suddenly asked, causing Fiddlesticks to jump.
“What?” she asked as her nerves calmed down.
“We haven’t seen each other since Vinyl and Octavia had that big fight.”
“Oh, that.” Octavia and Vinyl had had a really messy breakup just over a month ago, but thanks to a lot of planning by Lyra and a fashion show by Rarity, they had gotten back together. Fiddlesticks had played for the show, and Beauty Brass had been there. “They’re back together now. And Octy tells me that Vinyl is trying really hard not to mess up.”
“A little too hard from what Octavia tells me,” Beauty Brass said with a laugh.
Fiddlesticks smiled. “Yeah, she was over today before we left.”
“But you didn’t answer my question, Fiddle.”
Fiddlesticks blinked. “Um…what question?”
“How have you been?”
“Oh.” That was right! Beauty Brass had just asked how she had been. “Great, actually. I’ve been—” She stopped short as her activities flooded into her mind. She had won first prize in fiddle contest back home, the farm was just about ready to have another harvest, which meant that she had been busy getting all the equipment ready, and she and her little band had a hoedown to play for coming up, but none of that sounded all that impressive; not in Canterlot, anyway. “I’ve been good.”
“Oh.”
“So…what about you, dear?” Dear! I have to remember to keep using dear!
Beauty Brass turned and raised an eyebrow. “Nothing much I’m afraid. Business kind of died off for a bit. That song your cousin sang made us super popular. We were booked for two weeks straight, but it was pretty obvious that Octavia was falling apart because of what had happened, so we all sort of took a break.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Beauty Brass waved a hoof. “Don’t worry about it. My lips were killing me, to be honest. But now she’s back to normal and business is picking up again. That’s why we’re all in Canterlot right now. We’re playing at some fancy party later this week. It looks like we might be getting busy again, so I figured I’d ask if you wanted to go out with me while I still had some free time.”
“G-G-Go out?” Fiddlesticks stammered. She reached up to pull her hat down, but was painfully reminded that she wasn’t wearing it.
“Yeah.”
“Y-Y-You mean, like…like go out and, uh…” Fiddlesticks’ cheeks were burning as she desperately tried to look straight ahead and not at the pony walking close beside her. “Just…go out and…have a good time…right?”
“No,” Beauty Brass whispered into Fiddlesticks’ ear. The feeling of her breath caused Fiddlesticks to shudder. She felt her knees grow weak and she was about to say something, but thankfully they reached the exit to the city just then.
“Here’s the lake,” Fiddlesticks said with relief. She trotted ahead slightly until she was at the drawbridge. She walked over to its edge and stood up on her hind legs so she could look over the side. She felt a few strands of her mane trying to break free, but she wiggled her ears to keep them in place.
A moment later, Beauty Brass was leaning over the side with her. “Pretty,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Isn’t it?” Fiddlesticks replied. She loved watching the water pour out of the lake under the bridge. She looked ahead to where the water formed into another waterfall and tumbled down the rest of the mountain, out of sight. “I’ve always loved watching this water. It’s so clear!” She looked back over her shoulder and up the mountain, tracing the waterfall up until she could no longer see it. “Where do you think all this water comes from? I mean, it’s so weird, isn’t it? There’s a giant waterfall spilling down this huge peak in the middle of Equestria. It could be the snow melt, but it seems like there’s too much water for it to be just that.”
“Do you not like me?”
Fiddlesticks froze. The question had hit her so hard and she had been so unprepared for it that it felt like Beauty Brass had literally punched her. “Wha…?”
“It’s a simple enough question.”
Fiddlesticks’ mouth went dry as she tried to speak. “W-Why would you ask that? Dear?” She slowly stood down from the railing so she could look at the mare straight on.
“That’s why,” Beauty Brass said as she too got down. She locked eyes with Fiddlesticks and refused to look away. “You keep calling me dear.”
“Well, um…that’s because—”
“Because what?” Beauty Brass asked. “You’ve been acting like you barely know me all day.”
“Well, we’re in Canterlot, so, uh…”
“So what?” Beauty Brass’ eyes narrowed dangerously. “So you think that you have to put on that fake accent thing?”
“Well, I—”
“Because it’s getting really annoying,” Beauty Brass said. “You’ve never spoken like that before. And what’s with the avoidance? Suddenly you don’t like pizza, and then suddenly you’re not hungry, and then when I say something you run away. Do you just not want to be around me?”
“No, B.B., I like being around you! Honest!”
“Well that’s not what it seems like.” Beauty Brass closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. “You keep acting like some sort of stuck up pony.”
“It’s because we’re in Canterlot!” Fiddlesticks pleaded. “I just thought—!”
“Thought what?” Beauty Brass snapped. “That all ponies from Canterlot are stuck up? Newsflash, Fiddle, I’m from Canterlot! Does that mean that you think I’m stuck up?”
“No! But Octavia said I wasn’t so I…”
Beauty Brass made a face, and for a moment, Fiddlesticks thought she was going to yell at her some more, but then the blue Earth pony snorted. She raised her hoof to her mouth and covered it as she snorted again. “You were eavesdropping?”
“Yes!” Fiddlesticks said, tears coming to her eyes. “I heard Octavia say that I wasn’t sophisticated enough, so I’m trying to—mmph!”
“Go back to Octavia’s place,” Beauty Brass said as she placed her hoof on Fiddlesticks’ mouth. It felt so soft. “Talk to her. Then, get your stuff and meet me at the pizza place next to Donut Joe’s.”
“But I—!”
“Do it, or we’re done.” With that, Beauty Brass turned and walked back into Canterlot, leaving Fiddlesticks alone on the bridge.
Great! She hates me now! the fiddle player thought bitterly. Slowly, she began to make her way back to her aunt and uncle’s house, trying to fight the tears that were building in her eyes. She wasn’t sure how long it took her, or how she even managed to find her way since she was staring at the ground most of the time, but she eventually found herself standing in front of the door. Without knocking, she pushed it open.
“Hey, Octy,” she said as she walked in, still looking at the ground.
“Whoa!” There was a loud thud and Fiddlesticks looked up, but all she saw was Octavia lying on the couch. Oddly enough, her bowtie was nowhere to be seen, nor was Vinyl.
“Um…greetings, Fiddlesticks,” her cousin said, running her hooves through her mane a few times. “You are home early.”
“Yeah…”
“Care to tell me what happened? You look fairly depressed.”
Fiddlesticks walked over to the couch and sat down next to Octavia. She thought she heard some sort of muffled noise, but she figured it was just her imagination.
“Beauty Brass yelled at me. She…she thinks I don’t like her.”
Octavia blinked, and Fiddlesticks saw the genuine surprise in her face. “That…is very different from what I was expecting to hear.”
“It’s your fault!” Fiddlesticks said as she turned on her cousin. She hadn’t meant to say that, and she knew it wasn’t true, but she was just so distressed that she needed something to take her frustration out on.
“I doubt that,” Octavia said with a bit of ice in her voice. “But, I will listen as you try to justify it.”
“I heard what you said to B.B. when I was upstairs.”
“I very much doubt that as well,” Octavia replied.
“You told her I wasn’t a Canterlot pony! You made me sound like some sort of…of…backwater hick! Look, I know I’m not as refined as you, but B.B. likes, well, liked me anyway! And they you had to go and say those things about me! How could you?”
Suddenly, a strange muffled noise filled the house, followed by several thumps against the couch. Fiddlesticks gave her cousin a look, her anger momentarily replaced with confusion, but her cousin kept her eyes focused straight ahead.
“Probably just, um…rats,” the cellist said, but the thumping against the couch didn’t stop.
“Your mother would have a fit and burn this house down before she let rats move in,” Fiddlesticks said. Slowly, looked over the back of the couch to see what was causing so much commotion. When she saw it, her face turned bright red and she instantly sat back down and looked straight at the door.
“Um…why is Vinyl tied up behind the couch with your bowtie stuffed in her mouth?”
“Because Tavi likes it roug—” Octavia raised a pillow and slammed it down behind the couch, silencing the Unicorn.
“You…may have interrupted something,” Octavia said, her cheeks turning red.
“Don’t think that means we’re done though!” Vinyl said. Her head poked up from behind the couch and she rested her chin between the cousins. “As soon as you explain how badly Fiddlesticks messed up, we’re picking up right where—ouch!”
“Goodbye, Vinyl,” Octavia said as she smacked Vinyl in the face and the Unicorn fell backward. “Vinyl is correct though. You misheard what I said and came to a terrible conclusion.”
“Uh…we can go over this some other time,” Fiddlesticks said as she rose to leave. “I don’t think I want to—”
“Sit.”
“Okay.”
Octavia took a few deep breaths before she started. “Fiddlesticks, sometimes it is hard to believe that we are related. My family is very…”
“Stuck up?” Vinyl offered from behind the couch.
“Yes,” Octavia said as she rolled her eyes. “Although I would not have put it that way. And your family…”
“Isn’t?” Vinyl said again.
“That is enough, Vinyl,” Octavia looked over the edge of the couch and dropped another pillow. “But you are still my cousin, and I care about you deeply.”
“Then why did you say those things?” Fiddlesticks asked.
“Because I care about you, and I like you the way you are. But Beauty Brass is originally from Canterlot.”
“I know,” Fiddlesticks said. “She…she told me. That’s why she was so upset with how I was acting.”
“As well as she should be. The reason Beauty Brass moved away from Canterlot was because she was tired of the way ponies act here.”
“But then why did you try to talk her out of seeing me?” Fiddlesticks asked. “You made it sound like I wasn’t good enough for her.”
“I was protecting you, not trying to take Beauty Brass away,” Octavia replied calmly. “Like I said, I care about you. I did not want you to get hurt. I told Beauty Brass that stuff for your sake. I did not want her to drag you along and tease you if she was not going to like the real you. I warned her that if she did not like you because you were not what she was used to, I would not let her near you.”
“Basically it boils down to Octavia didn’t want B.B. playing games if she wasn’t serious about you,” Vinyl said. “And B.B. got rather cross at Octavia for even suggesting that.”
“She…she did?” Fiddlesticks asked.
Octavia nodded. “Indeed. I take it you did not hear the part where she said why she likes you is because you do not act like the ponies she grew up around and is constantly playing for?”
“No…” Fiddlesticks said, feeling more than a little embarrassed. For a long moment she just sat there, but then she sprang up. “My clothes! I have to get my clothes! B.B. said I have to meet her at the pizza place!”
Without another word, she dashed up the stairs to the bathroom and found her clothes neatly folded where she had left them. She quickly slipped them on, relishing the feel of her hat back on her head as she adjusted it so it fell right into place, and then she tied the bandana around her neck. She looked at herself in the mirror once more, this time proud to see herself, and then walked out of the bathroom and back down the stairs.
“Nice!” Vinyl said, still lying on her back tied up behind the couch. “I’ve always thought you looked pretty hot in that—mmph!”
“You dropped that,” Octavia said as she stuffed her bowtie back into Vinyl’s mouth with her hoof. Fiddlesticks shuddered at the sight. She had had no idea her cousin was into…this stuff. “Vinyl is correct though. You do look much better this way.”
“Thanks, Octy,” Fiddlesticks said. She nodded toward Vinyl quickly, avoiding eye contact as she pulled her hat down—Oh, how she had missed being able to do that—and then made her way for the door. “Well, um…you two, ah, have a good time.”