The Royal Ponyville Orchestra: Before the Orchestra

by Distaff Pope

Octavia's Best Night Ever

Under the advice of my therapist, one Doctor Whooves, I have been instructed to keep a journal in which I can discuss my thoughts and feelings. He says that I am emotionally closed off and have trouble sharing my feelings with other ponies, and he thinks that me keeping a journal will somehow remedy that problem. I personally think the whole notion of me keeping a journal to discuss how I feel the daily minutiae of my life is a bit silly, but he is my court-appointed therapist, so I suppose some concessions are in order.

Still, I highly doubt updating this journal will become a part of my regular routine after our sessions conclude and I am allowed to go on my merry way. Perhaps I should start this entry by describing why I am being forced to write a journal and go to a court appointed therapist, but instead I feel like reliving one of the few bittersweet memories from the past few months. After all, the doctor did say I could write about whatever I wished.

Strangely enough, it all started on the night of my greatest failure, the Grand Galloping Gala, by now, everypony knows that the last gala was ruined in the most spectacular of fashions. So I won’t waste time recounting the particulars about what happened, although I would like to call out one pony in particular for her rather uncouth performance. She was a bouncy pink mare, and she had the audacity to hop up onto the stage, and forced the band to perform the children’s song “The Pony-Pokey” before proceeding to wreck the entire gala with the help of her accomplices who I hope never to meet again.

During the ensuing chaos, I decided it best to go for a walk in the hopes of clearing my head. Through means I am not entirely sure of, I found myself lost in the Canterlot Hedgemaze, and that was where something utterly extraordinary happened. Now, the actual events happened many months ago, but I will try to describe them as best I can.

Standing, well sitting, right before me in all of her royal majesty was one of Equestria’s royal diarchs. Not Princess Celestia, of course, she was still busy dealing with the Gala and trying to calm down a swarm of angry nobles, but her younger sister. Canterlot had buzzed with rumors of the mare’s return from banishment several months ago, and ponies speculated that the end of the world would soon be upon us. I personally didn’t buy into such speculations, but then, I always had a distinct preference for Luna’s nights over Celestia’s days, and shortly after her return, I was asked to play at the next Grand Galloping Gala. For a while, those two events had a very distinct positive correlation in my mind, and after that night, Luna and the Gala would always be irrevocably linked in my mind.

But, I get ahead of myself, the moment our narrative properly begins, I stood face to face with one of the two most powerful beings in Equestria, and I looked like a complete wreck, with several loose strands of hair obscuring my vision, and my bowtie crooked.

I quickly bowed before her, “Your Highness, I apologize for intruding, I simply wasn’t expecting to see anypony out here this evening. Please forgive me.”

She looked us over in thought for a few seconds, “It is quite alright, but beg pardon, why are you not at the Gala? We distinctly recall hiring you to perform at tonight’s event, even if the nobility were set against us making an appearance.”

So, the princess both knew who I was and personally selected me to play at tonight’s gala. It was an honor. “You… they didn’t want you to attend the gala? Why?”

“While we have looked forward to going to the Gala since our return, it seems the nobility of Canterlot thought the presence of Nightmare Moon at an event honoring Celestia was… grossly inappropriate. My sister tried to reason with them, but Prince Blueblood held his ground.”

“Yes, well, I don’t mean to pry, your highness, but don’t you and Celestia outrank him by an order of magnitude.”

Luna nodded, “Of course we do, it would have been easy for us to completely obliterate him and the rest of this city’s wretched nobility, but in the interest of decorum and putting to bed rumors that we were merely waiting for a moment of weakness to take over Equestria, we… obliged them. Now, why aren’t you at the Gala? We have heard great things about your musical ability.”

I bowed. “As much as I would love to still be performing, it seems that the Gala was ruined by a few interlopers, notably a bouncy pink pony with the mind of a foal.”

“Tell us, did she have a particularly fluffy mane with a consistency similar to that of cotton candy?”

I nodded.

“Interesting, I will have to speak with Tia when next we meet.”

“You know the… perpetrator?” I asked.

“We met with her and her friends once before. If we ever head back to Ponyville, we must thank them.”

The pink force of nature lives in Ponyville? I must make note to never head there, not that I ever intended to visit such a backwater anyways. Now, I had extra incentive to avoid it.

“If you are still interested in hearing me play, I would be more than willing to get my cello out,” I said, gesturing to the case strapped to my back.

She nodded, “That would be lovely Octavia, if we wouldn’t be imposing overly much on you.” At that, she smiled and sat down while I worked on unstrapping my cello case.

I started playing, and Luna made for a wonderful audience, she listened intently, and applauded briefly after I finished each piece. Finally, when I reached the end of my last piece, I took a bow and the Princess went wild with applause. “Well done, Octavia, we haven’t heard such masterful playing in over a thousand years.”

The compliment might mean a touch more if she hadn’t been imprisoned on the moon for a millennium, but it was still lovely and I gracefully accepted. “And I have never had such a terrific audience; it was truly an honor to play for you Luna… I mean Your Highness.”

Luna smiled and waved a hoof dismissively, “It is fine, we will permit you to omit our titles when speaking with us privately.”

“Alright,” I said, “But, do you think it would be possible for you to use a singular pronoun as opposed to ‘we’?” I was counting my lucky stars she wasn’t currently using the Royal Canterlot Voice. When she used it in the palace to greet a foreign ambassador, everypony in Canterlot could hear it, and since she typically held court during the late hours of the night… well, a lot of ponies were very cross about being woken up every time she had to make an announcement. On the other hoof, business was great for any unicorn that knew how to cast a soundproofing spell.

“That is acceptable,” she said, “We… I am in a private situation, so I suppose I can speak a bit less formally.”

I nodded, it was rather refreshing, although a part of me disliked the idea of speaking so casually with one so far above my station. “It is,” I said, “In truth, I haven’t had the chance to talk with somepony in ages. Most of my time during the last few months has been spent preparing for the Gala.” I didn’t feel the need to make a comment about how pointless all that practice was since the Gala was ultimately ruined.

“I understand,” she said, “I spent the past millennium rather indisposed, and now that I have returned I am still seen as a social pariah by most ponies, and now I hear that the Autumnal Harvest Festival I used to preside over has been turned into something called Nightmare Night. It doesn’t sound all that promising.”

“Well,” I said, “You could always try taking the holiday back. Yes, Nightmare Night has a few issues, but it’s not completely irredeemable. I know lots of ponies look forward to it all year.”

The Princess of the Night tilted her head in thought, “Perhaps, I will give your suggestion some thought, but tell me, what has happened to the Winter Moon Festival?”

“The Winter Moon Festival?” I asked, “I don’t believe I am familiar with it. The only big winter holiday that I know of is the Hearth’s Warming Eve celebration.”

All of the heat was sucked out of the air, and I suddenly felt very cold, very small, and very frail. “I see. We will have to speak with our sister about this and work to revive the old tradition. Still, that can wait until the morning. For now, I am curious to learn about how life has changed for common ponies since my absence.”

I gladly obliged the Princess and informed her of the daily minutiae of my life, as she seemed rather interested in every detail. “So then, these apartments, they are like tiny little cubes that ponies live in?” She asked.

“Well, they aren’t all tiny, and they certainly aren’t all cube shaped, but…”

“But multiple ponies now live in the same building? Like a hive?”

“No, it isn’t like a hive, it’s… well, it is a touch like a hive, but I would avoid making the comparison. I chose to live in apartment because it is substantially cheaper than a house in the city and it is space efficient. Besides, I don’t have that many possessions to keep track of, so an apartment just made sense. What was Canterlot like a thousand years ago?” I asked.

“It didn’t exist a thousand years ago, or at least not as you know it. The city was just a small unicorn outpost. Canterlot only became Equestria’s new capital is because Celestia used it as her base of operations during our war, and she chose not to return to the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters after my exile. This entire city was built around Celestia, with no place made for the Princess of the Night. Celestia promises me that that things will work out if I give them time, but I feel I am just blending into the background again.” She smiled ruefully, “Still, I am sure you don’t care to hear about the problems of Equestria’s lesser princess.”

I returned the smile, “The last time I checked, you and Celestia were co-rulers, and anypony who says otherwise is clearly ignorant of their history and lacking in social graces.”

“At least I have one faithful subject,” she said, wrapping her forelegs around me in a light embrace.

I pulled away, albeit reluctantly, “Would you care for a bit of stargazing, your Highness? It is a lovely evening.”

“Why thank you Miss Octavia, your suggestion sounds lovely. The last time I stopped to admire the night sky was over a millennium ago. I have sorely missed it.” We moved to lie on the grass, and the Princess gave me the history of every last star in the sky, or at least, it seemed like she did, listening to the story of Canis Major was actually quite fascinating. Occasionally, she would stop talking, and allow me to discuss some frivolous little detail of my life. Somehow, she managed to act interested as I explained the minutiae of orchestra life, and even asked questions about what went on behind the scenes. Nopony had ever sounded so legitimately interested in the details of my life, although I still suspect that she was just being polite. I was probably a tremendous bore to her.

Towards the end of the night, during what Luna claimed was a completely unexpected meteor shower, we moved next to each other, and she draped her wing over me as I rested my head against her side. “The Gala wasn’t too terrible then, was it Octavia?”

“I’ll admit, it had a rough start, but towards the end of the night, things got substantially better,” I said, nuzzling up against her, “In fact, I might even go so far as to claim it was the best night ever.” We both laughed at that, and to my great surprise, the princess moved in to kiss me. Even more surprisingly, I returned the kiss. Finally, as the sun began to rise, we both drifted off to sleep.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I awoke before the Princess of the Night, and upon waking, the events of the previous night seemed like nothing more than a distant, far off dream. A quick check of my surroundings confirmed that I had indeed fallen asleep next to one of Equestria’s ruling diarchs, and now I could see things in a clearer light.

As much as I wished things were otherwise, Luna was a royal princess and I was but a lowly cellist. If I stayed with her, which I very much wanted to, I knew that I would always be wondering how much praise I had earned, and how much was given me to curry favor with the princess. Things would be even worse for her as her rule would be tainted by rumors of scandal as nobles gossiped about how she took up with a common cellist. While such things might have been acceptable back during her day, they were practically unheard of during the modern era, and I could not, in good conscience, allow her to make such a colossal error.

I let out a small sigh as I crawled away from the sleeping princess and moved to pack up my cello. Leaving the princess wouldn’t be easy, and there was every chance that she would seek some form of retribution, or worse yet, reconciliation, but there was now no doubt in my mind that leaving would be best for both of us in the long run, even if it was a painful thought in the short term.

In my weaker moments, after a long day of practice when I return home to an empty apartment and I go to sleep facing the prospect of spending another day completely and utterly removed from the rest of ponydom, I like to think about what my life would be like if I had chosen to stay. Perhaps there is another world where the Princess and I are dating, where an Octavia with slightly less fortitude gets to spend every night speaking with Luna, discussing both astronomy and classical music with eager abandon before morning comes and we both retire to our royal chamber. I will occasionally catch myself smiling while thinking about the world that might have been, but then I inevitably remember the small grim smile I bore as I walked away from a sleeping princess. It was not the smile of a happy mare who did the easy thing or the fun thing. It was the smile of a mare who knew that she had done the proper thing, and Octavia Melody is nothing if not proper.

Comments

[FanNotANerd]

Well, first off, I have to point out that your grammar is nearly flawless. While I really don't consider that to be an accomplishment, it still makes this story stand out from the rest. Characterization is good, if a little stiff (which might be expected, given the scenario), and the narration's all good. The one thing that bugs me is that Octavia and Luna seem to fall in love (or at the very least get the hots for each other) almost instantly, but as long as it's not a ship purely for shipping's sake, I guess I can grit my teeth and ignore it.

Well done. You've earned a like. Not a fave, although that's mostly because I don't really read a heck of a lot of stuff on here.

[Distaff Pope]

3195731 Thanks for the like. If you want you can check out my other story, the Royal Ponyville Orchestra. It is told from Tavi's perspective as well, and the romance is actually kind of organic (I agree that this one felt a bit rushed, and I will probably tinker with it during the next few days).

[Hey Zunki]

Conocí tu fanfic por una traducción que vi. Cuando lo leí, quede fascinada y se convirtió en mi fanfic favorito, aunque estaba triste de no encontrar nada más del mismo en el perfil en lo que lo encontré. Ahora está esto y otro que encontré.

Gracias por escribir algo tan hermoso.