All We Need to Strive to Be

by screenaholic

Chapter 3

The grey mare burst through the door to her apartment, slamming it behind her. "Vinyl! Vinyl where are ya'!?" She dropped her cello by the door.

She heard the sound of running hooves from Vinyl's bed room as the DJ hurried into the living room? "Octavia? What's wrong? Why are you back so early?" The concern in Vinyl's voice was clear.

"Ah messed up Vinyl, ah've messed it all up!" The mare collapsed onto the couch and covered her face with her hooves.

"Wait a minute, Fiddlesticks? What's going on?" Vinyl sat on the couch by her friend and put a comforting hoof around her.

Fiddlesticks took a minute to calm herself before answering. "Mah cousin Applebloom was a speaker at the event. She was talkin' 'bout a friend of hers when a foal knocked over a giant ice sculptor right towards her."

"Oh Celestia, is she alright?"

Fiddlesticks nodded. "Ah was able to save her, but ah was so worried about mah cousin ah forgot who ah was."

Vinyl's eyes widened as she finally understood what happened. "You mean Applebloom knows?"

"Cousin Applebloom, Cousin Applejack, shoot, the whole ballroom heard me shout that I was Fiddlesticks."

Vinyl let her hoof fall back to her side."That's not good Fiddlesticks."

"You think I don't know that?!" Fiddlesticks shouted.

"Wooh, calm down Fiddlesticks, no need to yell."

Fiddlesticks sniffed and wiped away a single tear. "Ah'm sorry Vinyl, I didn't mean to scream at ya'. I just don't know what to do. After all these year of being careful, now everypony thinks Octavia's some country hick."

"Hold on Fiddlesticks, 'hick' sounds a little harsh, don't say that about yourself."

"Well that's what they think!"

"Fiddlesticks, just breathe for a second. Relax." Fiddlesticks took a deep breath, taking her friends advice. "Now, you said this was a slip up. Right?" Fiddlesticks nodded. "Well it couldn't have lasted long enough for Octavia's reputation to be that hurt. What exactly did you say?"

Fiddlesticks thought for a moment. "Well, Applebloom called me cousin Fiddlesticks, and ah said yeah. Then her and cousin Applejack started asking why ah looked like this, and I just started muttering and ran off."

"OK, see, that's not so bad. If anyone asks, Fiddlesticks is just a family nickname. And they were asking why you looked different because you just got a new manecut."

Fiddlesticks rubbed her eye with her hoof. "Ye-yeah. I suppose that could work. But what about mah voice? Everypony heard mah accent."

"Plenty of ponies' voices change when they're under stress, just say it's a nervous tick."

Fiddlesticks nodded her head. "You're right, that's a great idea." Fiddlesticks threw her forelegs around her friend, and pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank ya' Vinyl, ah can always count on you."

Vinyl returned the hug. "Of course you can Fiddlesticks." Vinyl pulled back and looked her friend in the eyes. "Now we just need to figure out what to tell your family."

"Uuugggh," Fiddlesticks groaned as she buried her face in vinyl's chest. "Ah forgot about mah family."

"Well..." Vinyl gave her friend a comforting pat on the back. "Have you considered telling them the truth?"

"What!?" Fiddlesticks shot her head up and looked at the DJ. "Ah can't tell mah family the truth, you know that!"

"Well why not? I mean, I understand lying to those snooty masses, even the other members of the quartet, but you are always telling me stories about how loving and understanding your family is. I'm sure they'd understand."

"Understand what, that ah've been lying to them for years?!"

"Well don't you think you should stop before it goes on any longer?"

"Vinyl I can't just-"

"Yes Fiddlesticks, you can!" Vinyl interrupted as she stood up off the couch. "You made this problem yourself! I've been covering for you this whole time, and I'm sick of lying! It's time for you to face this!"

Fiddlesticks sat staring at Vinyl, stunned by her sudden outburst. "Vinyl...I..." Before Fiddlesticks could think of what to say, a knock came from the door.

Vinyl sighed. "I'll get it..." As the DJ walked over to answer the door, Fiddlesticks lowered her head and thought about what her friend has just said. Fiddlesticks heard the door open, and her friend's voice from behind her. "Uh, I hope you've figured out what you're going to say." Fiddlesticks turned around to look at her friend. "Because it looks like you're out of time to think." Vinyl stepped aside, and Fiddlesticks eyes widened. Standing in her doorway was the last thing Fiddlesticks wanted to see at that moment. Applejack.

"Applejack!" Fiddlesticks shouted as she jumped off of her couch and faced her cousin standing in her doorway. "Wh-what are ya' doing here?"

"Ah followed ya', I want to know what's going on! An' ah won't let ya' run off again," Applejack said as she stepped into the apartment and passed Vinyl, who closed the door behind her.

"But, but what about Applebloom? Shouldn't ya'll be takin' care of her? Fiddlesticks was desperately trying to avoid the conversation until she could figure out what to say.

"Ah asked the princess to watch her. Why were ya' calling yourself Octavia, and why do ya' look like that?"

"Ah, um...well ya' see...

"Fiddlesticks," Vinyl said. Fiddlesticks turned to look at her friend. "It's time to fess up."

Fiddlesticks could feel a cold sweat drip down her forehead. Her eyes dashed around the room in a panic. "But...but..." Fiddlesticks let her head fall as she sighed in defeat. "Vinyl, could ya' let me talk to mah cousin in private?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll leave you to alone." Vinyl began to walk to her room, but Fiddlesticks stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder as she walked past.

"Could ya' change me first?"

"Oh, right." Vinyl gave a quick look at Applejack before building the energy in her horn and releasing it onto Fiddlesticks in a flash of light. When the light died the mare was once again yellow with a blue mane and tail. Vinyl looked back at Applejack, and could easily see the surprise and confusion on her face. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

Once the cousins were alone, Applejack was the first to speak. "What in tarnation is going on Fiddlesticks?"

Fiddlesticks sighed again. "Ya'll know I've always had a love for music, an' after I started playin' mah fiddle I got mah cutie mark. But ah didn't only like the fiddle, ah soon learned that ah loved the cello too, and ah loved to play classical. But ah thought that nopony would want to listen to a country pony play classical so..."

"So ya' pretended to be somepony else," Applejack finished for her cousin.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"So ya' lied to everypony, even your family?"

"Ah...ah thought ya'll would be mad. Ah thought ya'll would think I was ashamed of ya'."

"Well ah wonder why we would think that! You've only been lyin' to us for years!"

"Ah...ah'm sorry..."

"So are you?"

Fiddlesticks looked at her cousin confused. "Am ah what?"

"Are you ashamed of us?"

"No!" Fiddlesticks looked shocked at the very suggestion. "No of course not! The Apples are the best family anypony could ask for, I could never be ashamed of you." Vinyl was right, it's time to tell the truth. "But..."

"But what?"

Fiddlesticks stared at the floor and shuffled her hooves uneasily. "Ah could never be ashamed of ya' Applejack...but Octavia is a little embarrassed..."

"But...ah'm confused, ah thought ya' were Octavia."

"No, not...Not exactly...At first ah was just pretending to be Octavia. Ah changed mah voice, got Vinyl to change how ah look, and pretended to be high class. But after a while things started to...change..."

"Ya' aint makin' a lick a sense Fiddlesticks."

Fiddlesticks continued to try to explain. "For about a year ah was just pretending. Then one day, when I was pretending, ah said something that I didn't remember thinking. Later ah realized that...somepony else thought it. Somepony else in mah own head."

"Ya' were hearing voices?"

"Not just voices. Ah was hearin' Octavia. An' she started talkin' more an' more. She started thinking things ah never would, liking things ah don't, even understanding things ah didn't." Honestly Fiddlesticks, the joke was not that complicated. "I said 'duvet,' not 'the bay'!" "An' eventually, ah wasn't pretending to be her anymore. Ah was just...ah was letting her be herself."

"Ya'll expect mah to believe that somepony else is controlling ya'?" Applejack gave an unsure look at her cousin.

"No. Octavia doesn't control me. I just...I let her..." Fiddlesticks struggled to find the right words to explain. You channel me. "Ah channel her."

"Well, you and 'Octavia' can call this whatever ya'll want, but it's just lying to me. Lying to everypony who loves you!"

"Applejack, ah'm...ah'm sorry..."

"Save it Fiddlesticks, ah don't want to hear it." Applejack stormed out of her cousins apartment, leaving Fiddlesticks alone in her living room. Fiddlesticks couldn't stop thinking of how guilty she felt, as she curled up on her couch and quietly cried herself to sleep.

Author's Note:

New chapter!

Comments

[Delicious]

I forgot all about this story, but I'm glad to see it's popped up again. It's a bit sad that some stories just have the bad luck of never getting noticed. This story, with only 263 views and 8 likes as of this comment, is much better than a lot of things I've seen with 1000+ views.

[screenaholic]

3103727
Wow, thank you. And yeah, so it's been so long since updates. I've been kind of busy, but I'm going to try to update more regularly.

[nightmaster0]

Good chapter.

[John Tannius]

Intriguing. I don't see AppleJack as the type to stay mad. Once her temper cools I would imagine she'd be more forgiving.

Looking forward to more.