“So, why did you get so angry at me the other night?”
The night was beautiful in Canterlot and the waning moon overhead cast just enough light to give the trees in the park a silvery appearance as the two mares sat on a bench beneath a single street lamp, their beautiful dresses arranged delicately about them. Rarity’s heart hadn’t stopped pounding in her chest since she had told Octavia that she loved her and, as they sat together with their cheeks pressed against one another, she honestly didn’t think it would stop anytime soon. Next to her, she heard Octavia sigh and, after a moment, the earth pony nuzzled her cheek affectionately.
“I am sorry that I got so angry, Rarity. I should not have. I… I suppose it was because I had started to believe that you understood me so well that there was no way that you could make a mistake like that, and…” Rarity turned to look at her and, even in the low light of the streetlamp, she could see Octavia blushing. “I suppose… I was angry that you weren’t exactly… perfect. I… I know it sounds terribly stupid, but–”
The unicorn smiled knowingly and touched Octavia’s hoof with her own. “No, none of that, now,” she chided softly. “It’s not stupid, Octavia… because I did the same thing. I got angry at you because you weren’t exactly how I thought you should be.” She met Octavia’s gaze once more and smile lovingly. “But then I received some very good advice from some very good friends and they made me see that the perfect version of you wasn’t what I wanted – I wanted the real you. The one who makes mistakes, and has bad ideas, and… and is a real pony.” She leaned forward and nuzzled the other mare’s cheek gently. “That’s the Octavia I fell in love with,” she whispered, “and that’s the Octavia I want to be with.”
“Mmmm…” Octavia leaned into her nuzzle eagerly and let out a content sigh. “I suppose you’re wondering about Vinyl and about my song?” she asked.
“Only if you’re willing to tell me.”
Octavia’s smile grew and she nodded emphatically. “Well, Vinyl and I dated for a year. At first, I was very much in love with her, but I quickly realized that she was not what I needed in a partner. And that was that.” She shrugged, but after a moment she smiled sheepishly. “As for the song… Il Mio Diamante is all about you, Rarity. It starts before I first saw you, when I was deeply lonely, and goes through the times here in Canterlot that I have seen you: first at the Gala two years ago, then at the Garden Party a year ago, and then earlier this month, when you came here to make dresses.” Her ears folded back against her mane and she turned away from Rarity slightly. “I’ll admit… I first came to your shop to convince myself that you weren’t worth the time. I… I had fallen in love with nothing but what I had seen of you and then what my mind had made up about you. I had decided that nothing would break the ridiculous cycle of my wandering heart faster than seeing you for who you truly were.” She let out a sigh and shook her head. “I was convinced that you couldn’t possibly be as perfect as I’d imagined you, but you quickly proved me wrong.” She let out one of the soft, breathy laughs that Rarity adored so much. “Of course, then you proved me right, but by then, it didn’t matter.” She turned her luminous eyes back to the unicorn. “By then I had truly fallen in love with you, Rarity… and as you said, the real you was more amazing than I had ever imagined.”
The unicorn blushed deeply. “Oh Octavia…” She nuzzled the other pony again before sitting back. “I do have another question, though.”
“And what is that?”
“Well, why don’t you tell ponies you play at the Magical Hat?” Rarity arched an eyebrow at her and gave her hoof a squeeze. “You play so beautifully and with such passion! Why don’t you tell ponies about it?”
Now, Octavia winced, but thankfully she didn’t try to pull away from Rarity as she once would have. Instead, she took a deep breath and sighed. “I hide it because I fear my father will not approve,” she admitted quietly. “He always pressed me to do something that would honor our family and when I expressed an interest in classical music, he was overjoyed, but I do not know how he feels about jazz.” She sighed. “I fear he would take it as a sign that I am following my mother’s Discord-may-care lifestyle and–” she paused and sniffled before continuing “–and I fear that if he believed that, he would withdraw from me.”
“Aaaaah… I see.” Rarity gave Octavia’s hoof another squeeze, her heart thrilling at the touch of her velvety coat against her own. “I understand… and–” now it was Rarity’s turn to look embarrassed “—and, by Celestia, I am so sorry for what I said that night! I didn’t mean a word of it, and–,” suddenly, Octavia’s hoof rose from the bench and pressed itself gently against Rarity’s lips, stifling her words.
“It’s all right, Rarity,” Octavia whispered, her smile gentle. “I know that we were both… out of sorts, as my father would say. And I forgive you… as long as you will forgive me?”
Rarity smiled and brought her hoof up to Octavia’s so that the pads of their hooves pressed together. “Of course I do,” she whispered.
“Though, I think you were right,” Octavia admitted after a moment. “I do keep other ponies out… and perhaps that is not a good thing as I first thought it was.” She lowered their hooves back to the bench and smiled warmly at the unicorn. “Perhaps… perhaps I should make more of an effort to be a friend to Beauty… and perhaps I can meet your friends, as well.” Rarity giggled happily.
“Oh, I would love to introduce you to them! I’m certain that they’ll love you!” The unicorn’s smile shrank slightly. “But even if I was right, I was also wrong. Choosing to be alone and choosing to be more private are not bad things, and I shouldn’t have overstepped my boundaries and tried to force you out of your comfort zone before you were ready.” She met Octavia’s gaze again. “Perhaps you can show me the wonders that a more private lifestyle can afford a mare? I’m certain that everything is much more peaceful.” To her surprise, Octavia’s cheeks flared with color at the mention of a private lifestyle, but before she could press the occurrence, the earth pony nodded.
“O-of course I can… gladly.” She smiled, but after a moment, her smile dimmed. “And… I suppose that brings up the one question looming over us, Rarity. If you want to be together… how shall we do it? I have my career here in Canterlot, but you have your friends, family and career in Ponyville.” She shook her head. “I do not know what we can do.”
Rarity chuckled lightly. “Oh, my darling Octavia,” she cooed. “That’s trouble for another day. Tonight we have each other and that is more than enough.” She giggled and snuggled closer to Octavia, who rubbed her muzzle beneath Rarity’s chin. “I’ll come to Canterlot as often as I can,” Rarity whispered. “And you can come visit me in Ponyville whenever you want… and we’ll take this slowly.”
“…thank you, Rarity,” came Octavia’s whispered reply. “I hope that you know how much that means to me.”
“And when the time comes,” Rarity continued, giving Octavia’s hoof yet another squeeze. “I can always move to Canterlot. After all, my dresses seem to sell quite well here.” To her surprise, Octavia shook her head slightly beneath her chin.
“If that is your decision, but I would be more than willing to move to Ponyville with you–” she slid her muzzle out from beneath Rarity’s and locked eyes with the unicorn, “—because, wherever you are, that is where my heart lives and that is where my home shall be.”
The unicorn smiled brightly and nuzzled Octavia once more, her heart soaring to the stars above her. “We’ll be together and that’s what’s important,” she agreed softly.
Silence fell between the two mares for a long time, though how long it was neither of them could ever say, but finally, Rarity’s head came up with a jerk.
“Oh, that’s right!” She turned to Octavia, who blinked at her sleepily. “I’m so sorry, but I completely forgot! I met a pony at the concert who wanted me to tell you something.” The earth pony yawned delicately and rubbed her eyes.
“And… what did she say?”
“She said that… she said that ‘Rhapsody of the Spring Dawn was overrated, anyway’. Does that mean anything to you?”
Octavia’s eyes flew open in surprise, but after a moment, it melted into a soft, gentle smile. “Oh… is that what she said?” she muttered with an airy chuckle. “Well, I’ll remember that.” The earth pony let out a sigh and nuzzled close to Rarity’s neck once more. “My mother always did have a strong opinion on my music…”
~THE END~
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I'm glad you liked the part with the dress! It was one of those things that literally happened as I was writing it, and as it occurred to Rarity it occurred to me... I love it when stuff like that happens. X3 I thought it fit very well with the pseudo-Asian style of romance I was trying to go for, and I honestly think it's one of my favorite scenes with them. :D
And don't die! Every good fic has to end someday!
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That was one of the big things I was trying to do with this fic- to show that there is so much more to a love story than "omg they fall in love and then story happens". It's not a cause/effect relationship! Story leads to love, not the other way around, and while being in love can certainly lead to MORE story, there's always story BEFORE love, too- and that's what WMHL is very much about... I hope. XD (Though I will admit that the realization moment is easily one of my favorite sensations in the world. X3 )
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The jazzy side of Octavia is a fun one to play with. I've seen a lot of people interpret her as a jazz player and I guess for my Octavia it really just fit well. The scene in the alley with Rarity was one of the cornerstone moments for me when I first set out to write this story, and that conflict all stemmed from her playing in the jazz club- though exactly why is kept secret until a bit later. X3 Most of all, I feel like giving her that passionate outlet is crucial to the duality of my Octavia: calm and collected on the outside, but deeply emotional and passionate on the inside. It might have been a little cliche to have her use a little "dual life" trope, but I really feel like it worked very well.
It's past 2am and I have to go to work so I can't rant and rave about this.... Yet.
Bravo. I seriously have enjoyed every damn minute reading this fic. All fics should take note of how wel paced your shipping is and how well writing your characters are.
It's a bittersweet day when one of your favorite fics comes to a close.
Thank you so much for writing and finishing this. Wish you the best!
I swear to Klaneesh, if you don't make a sequel to this I will... Do something. I'm not entirely sure what, but whatever it is will make you seriously reconsider your hypothetical choice to not continue this.
literally just binged on this. It was awesome, and I loved every moment of it. Your writing style is more than entrancing.
Better then most I suppose.
In any case, I imagine you'll have other projects to attend to, correct?
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I'm so happy that you enjoyed it, Night Spark! I do hope that you'll come back and give me your thoughts on the ending! X3
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I actually have been considering a sequel to this ever since the moment I finished it, because quite frankly I love this ship and want to write them forever. XD But that raises the question that EVERY author has a problem with: what would this sequel be about?
I'll probably post a blog about this in the near future, but I'll start by asking you, kamachakta: if I wrote a sequel, what would YOU like to see in it?
5421296
I'm so happy that you're enjoying it so far, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say about the ending! X3 What did you think about the conversation that the two mares had in this chapter? About the dress? OuO It's my favorite part of that chapter, I think.
5425462
Thank you very much, Oddponi! I had so much fun writing this, and even though it took me WAY longer than I anticipated I wouldn't change a single second of it because without that time, who knows what it would have been?
Also I went to your dA and looked at your art- I love your style! I went ahead and watched you; I hope that's okay. X3
5428330
Well, I'm glad that I reached the coveted "adequate" status. Cause for celebration...? XD
And as for other projects I certainly do have no small amount of them, though how quickly and in what order they'll be worked on is completely up in the air at this point so we'll see what comes in the next few months! I plan to post something in the near future, however, especially now that the holiday season is more or less officially finished.
5428780 Ha! I now know what I will do, I will give you so many ideas for the sequel you won't be able to not write it! I'm a genius!
Right then, first off, Octavia formally introducing Rarity to her mother, as her marefriend. Gives you a chance to truly flesh out a hopefully recurring character, and from what little we actually saw of her I'd say I want to see more. I'm not sure how you would want them to meet, but to me, having them 'accidentally' bump into each other at one of Fleur's and Fancypants' get togethers seems like a good idea.
Next, Rarity introducing her friends to Octavia. I'm thinking she would ask Octy when her next showing at the Magical Hat is and brings the rest of the mane six along to watch, I don't see them having trouble gaining admittance, them being the elements of harmony and all. They then meet the gray one back stage and it is explained to them that their marshmallowy friend is dating her. I don't know if you'd wan't to have a few of them disapprove for drama reasons, but if I were writing it I'd have it go smoothly.
I have like twenty other ideas I'm going to PM you since this comment is long enough as it is. Hopefully these idea's are enough to get a sequel out of you.
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It's totally fine.
Lovely work, wrapping this up.
“…because wherever you are… that is where my heart lives, and that is where my home shall be.”
THAT is how you title drop. What a way to use the title to wrap up the story.
I'll admit. I was attracted to this because I ADORE Octavia, and because Rarity is my #2 mane character (after AJ) so I was curious to see what the ship would be. As you probably figured by my other comments throughout this fic, I came to LOVE this. Now that we've reached the end, I will say one thing. This is gonna be one of those fics (of which there are sadly only a few) that I will show people when I try to say that there ARE, in fact, good writers in the fandom.
Kudos, man. Kudos.
That may be one way to see it and not everything is wrong about that, since she hasn't exactly spread any rumors, the only thing I would have avoided to do, was to tell Vinyl about her.
I know these are ponies but if we want to see it a bit more realistic, then it could have been that Vinyl would maybe use every bit of information in an unwanted way and stuff like that. I udnerstand her wish for privacy.
okay that is nice but I would have prefered it if Rarity would have been the one with the crush and Octavia slowly falling in love with her instead of Octavia having the crush over three years.
Yep I'm slightly dissapointed but it is okay. I wanted her mother to be suprised about her being in love with Octavia, but sadly you made it pretty clear I think.
I always like the potential shocked expressions in the faces or some of their friends or families. I remember Vinyls mother being a fan of Octavia in one story and that was pretty funny.
YES! And there were the apologies and forgiveness. I am now happy with the way this story concluded.