An Unexpected Friendship

by Smartkiwi

The Daily Life of Octavia Melody

Seventeen-year-old Octavia Melody sat in her little dark room, where nothing existed save herself, her cello, and the music she played. Any normal pony would find this very lonely or sad. But Octavia was definitely no normal pony. Her absolute passion was music, for she believed that music is what emotions sound like, and the more passionate anypony's emotions are the more passionate their music will be. For this reason, she never understood why other ponies had to try to play music. She figured either not everypony had passionate emotions or they simply couldn't pour them into their music. Either way, Octavia found as close to second nature as it gets. To Octavia, it was as natural as walking or speaking.

So, there she sat in her little dark room, where she was the only pony, her cello was the only instrument, and her beautiful music was the only sound. And she loved this place more than anything it the world, because it was the place she could escape to anytime she wished to.

Suddenly, as if curtains had just been opened and shed light on her little dark room, a loud, deep voice interrupted her music.

"Octavia? Equestria to Octavia?"

After a few minutes of ignoring the voice, it came again.

"Octavia? This isn't funny, you must stop doing this!"

Stop doing this? Stop doing what? Stop playing? Stop ignoring them? Stop sitting? Stop what?! Ugh, how she hated when ponies weren't specific enough. So, to end the confusion, Octavia stopped playing, though she wished not to, stood up, and opened her eyes, only to see the blinding light and lose all confidence she had before.

"Huh?" she awkwardly asked nopony in particular. "Where am I?"

Memories started flooding back into her mind. She had been asked to play one of the songs her class had been learning. It was a very beautiful song, and only five or so measures into the song, she lost control and started playing her own song. It was a song not written on paper, for it was not a song to be memorized.

This was Octavia's song, the song she played most often in her little dark room. Every time she played this song, it was slightly different. For if she was feeling sad, some notes would be lower, longer, and each note mattered more to the song. However, if she was feeling excited or joyful, the song would be higher or quickly switch between high and low notes. It was all very complicated, and Octavia felt she was the only one who understood how much music is linked to her emotions.

Then again, there were people who simply played music without a second thought. It was just music, why would they play it according to anything? They were either playing, or not playing, and that was all that mattered to them.

Octavia escaped her deep thoughts and was back in the band room. Looking around, she saw many ponies staring directly at her, some chuckling or whispering to others. Octavia then looked directly in front of her, and immediately recognized the source of the loud voice.

It was her and the rest of her class' music instructor, and she was in the middle of an orchestra practice!

"Ohhhh!" Octavia said as she hid her face behind her hooves. This was so embarrassing! And this was the fourth time it had happened, too! That's what her instructor meant by, "You must stop doing this!" Now I'm really in for it.

"Miss Melody! I simply asked you to play number 23, not a ten-minute original solo."

Octavia heard several ponies giggling, but she pretended not to notice and continued listening to her instructor's lecture.

"Although it was rather amazing," he continued under his breath, obviously not wanting anyone to hear him.

This time he talked louder than regular. "You need to learn to focus, Octavia." After he spoke, he face-hoofed, sighed, then looked back up at Octavia. "You understand, right?"

Without hesitation, Octavia replied. "Yes, sir. I'm sorry."

Octavia quickly walked to the back of the band room and out the door. She headed towards the bathroom. Of course she didn't really have to go, but she didn't want to deal with being in there anymore.

She looked around the corner of the bathroom before walking inside.

"Yes! Empty!" she whispered to herself while pumping her fist in the air.

You see, most ponies would assume she came in here to mope or cry. Did you?

Octavia has many flaws but one thing is for certain. She was a strong, independent mare who preferred dealing with her own problems and never blamed others for her tragedies. Not that Octavia considered many things that happened to her a tragedy.

After a few minutes of waiting, Octavia walked out of the bathroom and back to the band room, just in time to see her three friends walk out.

"Your still on for tonight, right guys?" She heard Violatte ask Harpone and Lyra.

"Of course, dude! I'm already there." Harpone replied.

"Hey, wait up!" Octavia said as she waved and ran up to her friends. "Are you guys going somewhere or something?"

"Oh, yeah. We were just gonna go hang out, it's nothing you'd be interested in." Lyra replied.

Octavia didn't get upset over little things normally, but that small remark pissed her off for reasons she couldn't describe.

"Nothing I'd be interested in? Why is that? I am part of the friend group too, aren't I?" replied Octavia, trying not to sound hot-headed while still sounding offended.

"Oh, no, it's not like that at all. Really." Lyra reassured her. "You see, well......."

Violatte quickly jumped in to the rescue. "Look, it's not that we don't want to hang out with you. It's just that, well....we were planning on going to a.....a.....club."

Octavia immediately realized why she wasn't told about this. It was no secret that Octavia absolutely despised the atmosphere of clubs. I mean really, what was the point of it all?

"We know how much you hate going out at night." Violatte continued. "So we didn't invite you."

Everypony knew this was true. Octavia knew this was true. She would much rather prefer staying home and reading a good book or something. But for some reason she felt like an obligation to be a fun person.

Everybody treated her like she was a stick-in-the-mud that nobody could have any fun with. She decided right then and there that she would be more outgoing and open to new things. I mean, she'd never exactly BEEN to a club in the first place. What's the worst that could happen?

"Who says that I don't like going out for the night? As a matter of fact, I would love to go to a club. I'm due for a night out!" Octavia said as she plastered on a fake smile, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible.

Lyra, Violatte, and Harpone all looked at her suspiciously. Lyra looked at Harpone, as if telepathically communicating with him. "You sure?" she asked, looking over to Octavia, still with a suspicious look.

"Positive. See you guys tonight!" she beamed as she waved goodbye and headed out the door. As soon as she was out of her friends' sight, her smile faded.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Octavia?" she asked herself as she slowly walked away.

Author's Note:

Hey guys! I know I've only done one chapter on my story Pinkie's Perspective, but I'm having a hard time coming up with more ideas for that one. I am really enjoying writing this one, because I am a huge Octavia and Vinyl fan. I know, I know. It's not going to be a romantic Octavia and Vinyl story, but I think it can still be a great Tavi/Vinyl story.
And I realize Octavia's sudden urge to be outgoing was very rushed, but I was so excited to get this story out. I may come back to it later. Who knows?
Also, I searched EVERYWHERE and I couldn't find the names of the 3 other members of the quartet Octavia is in. So I made up two and, of course, used Lyra. By the way, Violatte's name is pronounced Vee-o-let. 'Cause, you know, violas? Violatte? It's not just a fancy spelling of Violet.
Anyways, this chapter was all about Octavia and her daily life, so the next one will be about, you guessed it, Vinyl!!!! After that, I think it will switch between their perspectives, even when they do end up hanging out together. The idea for this story was showing Octavia and Vinyl's different perspectives of the same things.
I dunno, we'll see. Enjoy!