Octavia's Visit

by Acoustic Pulse

Exploring Unfamiliar Territory

Octavia's eyes shot open. She yawned as she prepared for a new day, the sun peaking above the horizon welcomed her back to reality.

"I suppose today's the day I visit Vinyl and Acoustic in Ponyville. I must get ready," she muttered to herself as she reached for her favorite bow tie.

She combed her mane so that her bedhead laid down. Afterwards, she went and grabbed her cello case and her saddlebag, then trotted towards the door.

"Gonna be good to see my friends again. I just hope Vinyl at least tries to settle down with the 'wubs', as she calls them," she said aloud to nopony in particular.

As she exited her home, the charcoal grey mare with a black mane and tail took a moment to look around at the busy morning life of Canterlot. Ponies were headed to and fro, some on the way to eat breakfast, others galloping to their respective workplaces because they were running late. Not Octavia, however. She chose this day to visit Ponyville because it was clear on her schedule.

After greeting the ponies in the streets, Octavia began her trek towards Ponyville. It would be a rather long trot, so she hoped like Tartarus that her friends weren't busy. As she trotted, she passed several ponies in the streets, some were young parents carrying foals, others travelling alone, there were also elderly couples touching muzzles as they trotted. It was an interesting sight to see the diversity Equestria had within its borders.

---

After roughly an hour of trotting, Octavia heard the sound of a whistle blaring in the distance.

I knew I should've taken the train. But the scenery is beautiful. I guess it's fun to take the road less traveled, the mare thought.

She stopped long enough to watch it disappear around a bend, then kept going. She couldn't have been too far from Ponyville, right? Well, she was.

"I don't remember it taking this long to get to Ponyville, I always thought it was just down the mountain," Octavia sighed.

A stallion began to speak to her, and the voice startled Octavia.

"Hi, could you give me directions to Canterlot? A friend of mine moved there, but he never gave me directions," the stallion explained.

"Well, just keep taking this road, you'll see a huge mountain. I know I sound like a smartyhooves, but I'm being serious. You can't miss it," Octavia explained.

"Uh...okay. Thanks," the stallion trotted away, following the path Octavia had pointed him down.

Well, that was awkward, Octavia thought, and she continued trotting.

---

She could see an orchard in the distance. Apple trees stretched as far as the eye could see. It seemed as if they were racing each other to see who would make it to the horizon first. A giant wooden sign with an apple carved into it could be seen.

An orange mare with a large brown hat was talking to a tall red stallion with an orange mane. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Near them were three fillies. One was a greenish yellow with a red mane and a large bow tied to her head,the second was orange with a purple mane, she was riding what seemed to be a scooter, and the third was white with a lavender and pink striped mane.

"I guess this must be Ponyville," Octavia smiled. She had finally made it to her destination. She began to explore the town. Ponyville was a lot larger than she had initially imagined.

The mare walked towards a large gingerbread-house-combined-with-a-cupcake-shaped building. It seemed to be very crowded, as if the entire town stopped by the bakery. A brightly painted yellow sign with a pink cupcake hung from a bar extending like an arm from the side of the building.

Well, I didn't eat breakfast, so I guess I can eat here, Octavia thought. Before she took another step, a bright pink mare with a frizzy, darker pink mane blocked the path in front of her.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" she asked, hopping around Octavia like a bunny as she spoke.

"Well, I think I remember you interrupting our Classical number for your, um, 'Polka' music. I was quite angered by that," Octavia replied with a slight scowl.

"Oh, so THAT'S where I know you from!" the flamboyant pink mare laughed. Octavia turned to trot away, she was more concerned about visiting her friends than eating. Besides, she never really liked this mysterious pink mare anyway. Especially after what she did at the Gala.

"WAIT! Where are you going? Aren't you hungry? You were headed towards Sugarcube Corner, right?" the mare was rather persistent with her questions. Octavia turned back to face the pink mare.

"I'm on my way to visit my friends, I am a little hungry because I didn't eat breakfast, I was headed there until you spoke to me. Now, if you'll PLEASE leave me alone, that would be very much appreciated," Octavia felt slightly guilty for snapping at the other mare. But she also felt she deserved to put her in her place.

The pink mare frowned for the first time in she didn't know how long.

"You mean you don't want to be my friend?" she asked.

"I never said anything of the sort. I just said I was hungry and wanted to see my friends. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going to get some sort of muffin or something," Octavia retorted and she entered Sugarcube Corner. An orange stallion was standing behind the counter, giving another pony a cupcake. Across the room, a blue mare was putting a batch of muffins into the oven.

"Hey there. Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. My name's Carrot Cake. What would you like?" the orange stallion introduced himself as Octavia approached the counter.

"Oh, just a muffin would be fine. Blueberry, preferably," she replied.

"Okay, coming right up," Carrot Cake turned around and spoke to the blue mare, who Octavia assumed was his wife. She nodded and trotted over to a burlap sack labelled 'BLUEBERRY MUFFINS'. She took two out and went to the counter.

"That'll be one bit. We're having a buy one, get one free special on muffins of any flavor today. So you can have another one," she smiled.

Octavia fished into her saddlebag for a bit and paid it, she took one of the muffins and put the other in her bag.

"Thank you," she said to the Cakes as she made her way towards the exit.

"Anytime," Mrs. Cake replied and she went to take the next order.

---

Octavia had finished the first muffin, and she decided to save the other one for later, rather than eating both of them.

"Well, I ate breakfast. Now to find my friends in this little maze of a town," Octavia said to herself.

END OF CHAPTER 1!

Author's Note:

Had to cure my writer's block somehow. Figured I'd make a follow-up to a previous story as practice. Hope you enjoyed.