Day 3 - All Apologies
After writing last night, I decided to pass the time by practicing my cello. Normally, I would try to get some sleep after such an evfentful day, but Vinyl's work room lacked a bed and was far too unkempt for me to even consider the idea of sleeping in it until I was at the point of passing out.
So, I passed the cello with a fevered intensity, channeling all of my frustrations over the past twenty-four hours and in doing so, quickly tiring myself out, until I was finally able to fall asleep curled up next to one of Vinyl’s loudspeakers, with one foreleg draped over my cello.
Shortly before dawn, the my actions in the outside world finally caught up with me when angry alicorn princess teleported into my makeshift bedroom. “You made Pinkie cry,” she said while glaring down at me, her wings flared out.
“Well yes, but she-”
Twilight cut me off, “I know, she ruined some of your performances, but she didn’t mean to. For her a party’s not a party unless it has confetti, balloons, cake, music, and dancing.”
“And that’s supposed to excuse her from ruining two of my biggest performances? The fact that she didn’t mean to?” I said, my sense of self-preservation still sound asleep.
“No, it doesn’t, and if you had brought it up with her in a less abrasive manner, I’m sure she would have felt terrible about it. You didn’t have to make her cry.”
“You’re right, I didn’t have to be so abrasive, I could have just smiled and nodded and THANKED the mare that drove me straight to a psychologist. Or maybe we could have sat and had a talk about how I had convinced myself she wasn’t real just so I could function without crippling panic attacks. That sounds far more reasonable than lashing out at the source of my nightmares.”
Her glare turned to a frown and for a brief second, I congratulated myself for giving her pause before I remembered that I had just argued with one of Equestria’s four princesses. In hindsight, it might have been better if I had just rolled over for her and apologized immediately.
“I… I didn’t know that,” she finally said, “Listen, I still think you should apologize to Pinkie, and for what it’s worth, I understand what it’s like to be infuriated by her, but the mare doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body and she really does just want everypony to be happy. Once you explain yourself to her, I’m sure she will do everything in her power to earn your forgiveness.
Despite her soft words, the look in her eyes made it abundantly clear that I was going to go with her to talk to Pinkie Pie, I was going to apologize, we were going to bond, and that I was going to like it. With a resigned sigh, I got to my hooves and followed her to the mare’s home, marking the second day in a row that involved an alicorn escort.
Twilight led me to the top of what looked like a giant gingerbread house. As we reached her room, Pinkie’s sobbing became audible. After some prodding on Twilight’s part, I knocked on her door. “Go away,” Pinkie wailed, “Nopony likes me, and I ruined a party.” She sniffled, “I am just a big old party ruiner.”
“Oh come now, Miss Pie, it was made very clear during my short time in Ponyville that you have plenty of friends. One pony not liking you isn’t the end of the world is it?”
Twilight shook her head emphatically at that as Pinkie spoke up, “NO! It’s not just that, I ruined a party. I ruined two parties. I am a party ruiner. I am a party ruiner and you hate me. Nopony has ever hated me before.”
I sighed. Of course this wasn’t going to be easy, “Well, I am here now, so let’s talk it over. Can I come in?”
The door opened just enough for me to enter, and the second I had passed through the threshold, the door slammed shut. “So, are you here to yell at me some more?” She asked, her cheeks stained with tears and her eyes puffy.
“No,” I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible, “I came here to apologize for how rude I was to you yesterday, you went through all of that effort and I was extremely ungrateful. It wasn’t my proudest moment.”
The pony broke down sobbing at that, “But you are right! I ruined the Grand Galloping Gala! I was invited to the mother of all parties, and then I went and wrecked it. And if I can’t throw a party, then what am I good for?”
And now she is flying off into hysterics, I thought with a sigh. I am beginning to suspect this pony has only two moods, euphoric and despondent. “Yes, you are right, you did ruin the Grand Galloping,” I heard Twilight coughing from the other side of the door, reminding me that if I messed up this apology I would have to deal with her. How reassuring, “But that doesn’t mean you are bad at throwing parties, and it certainly doesn’t make you a bad pony. It just means that some ponies have different tastes, and you just have to accept that ponies have different ideas of what is fun. For instance, nothing makes me happier than sipping a fine tea in the morning while listening to classical music or, if I am feeling more adventurous, performing for a large crowd of ponies. And for you, I am sure that sounds like an anathema.”
Pinkie had stopped crying at this point and had moved on to looking up at me while poking the ground with her hoof, “If you want to avoid ruining another party that is thrown in, let’s call it, ‘the Canterlot fashion’ I would be more than happy to teach you the finer points. On the condition that you accept my apology, of course.” I smiled at her, and much to my surprise it reached my eyes. It seems I was being sincere.
“Okay,” Pinkie said, “but can you ever forgive ME for ruining your entire career and getting you kicked out of Canterlot?” She said, her usual upbeat inflection beginning to return to her voice.
“Truth be told,” I said, moving to sit next to her, “I might have overstated your role in my exile. While it is true that your little outbursts didn’t help my career, I didn’t work hard to endear myself with my co-workers or employers and instead focused on cello. Perhaps if I hadn’t isolated myself in Canterlot, I might not have been given the honor of forming the Royal Ponyville Orchestra.”
“So you accept my apology?” She said, getting back up on her hooves.
I nodded my head in the affirmative.
“So can we be friends then?”
“Sure, I didn’t have any friends in Canterlot, and I certainly don’t have any friends in Ponyville at the moment, so feel free to consider yourself my one, only, and best friend.”
At the mention of the words “best friend” Pinkie perked back up and her hair reinflated itself, “Yay! We are best friends! I knew we would be best friends Tavi, and do you know how I know?”
Because everypony is her best friend, I thought.
“Because EVERYPONY is my best friend,” she said, wrapping her forehoof around my torso and squeezing me so hard I feared for a second that my eyes might pop out, “Oh! You don’t mind if I call you Tavi do you?”
“No,” I said, struggling for breath, “that is fine.”
“Great!” She said, letting me go to bounce up and down excitedly, “And now that we are best friends, I can get to planning the Tavi and Pinkie are Best Friends/Welcome to Ponyville Party/Sorry for Ruining the Gala Party! But don’t worry, it will be quieter! And classier! It will be so classy it will make the Grand Galloping Gala look like one of MY parties. Ooh, I bet I can convince Rarity to give the guests some fancy dresses! And the Cakes can make hors d’oeuvres! Wait, do cupcakes counts as hors d’oeuvres? Of course they do, it wouldn’t be a party without cupcakes!” As she spoke, she walked bounced, out of her bedroom. What fresh hell hath I unleashed on an unsuspecting Equestria?
Twilight stopped me as I exited the apartment, “You did well, I mean, I thought you would probably be able to help calm Pinkie down, but I didn’t think you could get her back to her bouncy self so… quickly.”
“So,” I said, glancing at the princess nervously, “you aren’t going to banish me to… wherever it is you would banish me to?”
Twilight blinked in confusion, “What? Why would I banish you? I wanted to hear what you learned about all this.”
Now it was my turn to be confused as I stared at the pony in front of me, “You just want to hear about what I learned?”
Twilight nodded, “Uh-huh. I used to send friendship reports to Princess Celestia all the time, and now I think I am supposed to help everypony else learn about the magic of friendship. So did you learn?”
“Well let’s see, I suppose I learned that I shouldn’t judge a pony before I get a chance to talk to them.”
“And…” She said, staring at me expectantly.
“And even if I feel that a pony wronged me, I should give them a chance to explain their side of the story.”
“You just rephrased the first point,” she frowned and continued to stare at me.
“And I shouldn’t lose my temper so quickly I suppose.”
“Well, that’s not perfect,” Twilight said, as we started heading back down to the ground level of the bakery, “but it is a good start and I am sure that if you keep at it you will learn as much about the magic of friendship as I did. Not to say that I have learned everything there is to know about friendship of course, I am still making new discoveries every day. For instance, today I learned that even if a pony comes across as rude and obnoxious on your first meeting, there might still be a good pony inside of them.”
“I am the rude and obnoxious pony aren’t I?”
Twilight nodded, “Yes, but I saw today that you are also a good pony, you just don’t know how to express it yet.” She smiled, “And believe me, I have seen worse things get rehabilitated.”
“Now you should probably get back to Vinyl’s place. I will work on convincing the townsponies to give you another chance,” she said before heading off down another street, leaving me to navigate the streets on my own.
The sun moved high in the air as I wandered back to my new house (Indeed, wander is the opportune word as I took more than a few wrong turns while navigating the town’s surprisingly labyrinthine layout), and ponies woke up and went about their morning routine, while quite a few shot me rather unpleasant looks.
As I approached my house, I saw a mare I recognized as Lyra Heartstrings, a mint-green unicorn, sitting on a bench playing her harp (Why did I ever think she was a lyre player?). She waved a hoof at me as I approached, “Hey, you must be the new neighbor I heard all about. Sorry I couldn’t make it to the party, Bon-Bon and I had planned out our date night, and well…” she blushed during the pause, “I really couldn’t cancel on that.”
I nodded, secretly pleased that at least one person in the town didn’t hate me, “It is quite fine, I am sure you will hear about how I made an utter fool of myself from somepony else.”
She looked me over as I climbed up onto the bench next to her, “Care to tell me about it?” Lyra was sitting on the bench in an odd fashion, with her plot resting on the bench and her back legs dangling off the seat while her back rested against the seatback (Also, I do not understand why Ponyville has benches, most parks in Canterlot just have clean slabs of granite with cushions on top).
“Not particularly,” I said as I moved to sit next to her, doing my best to get comfortable on it, “I got upset, made Pinkie Pie cry, and earned the enmity of everypony in Ponyville. As parties go, I’ve been to worse, but not many.”
Lyra laughed while playing her harp, “Good thing it happened in Ponyville then, as long as you try to make amends, most ponies will end up forgiving you, or at the very least not running you out of town. And I am sure if you apologize to Pinkie, she will try to throw you an ‘I’m Sorry Your First Party Failed Party.’” Either Lyra had some form of prescience or Pinkie was incredibly predictable in her own utterly unfathomable way. I am guessing the latter.
“Thanks,” I said, listening to her playing the harp, “It is a lovely morning.”
“Yes indeed,” Lyra said, “it is a wonderful morning for ponies to go outside and praise Celestia.”
I arched an eyebrow, “What?”
“Oh, it is just a little bit of a running joke for me. Today is Sunday, the day reserved for worshipping the sun. It’s an ancient tradition, back before the goddesses made themselves material, although references to sun worship are found in most cultures. Even human myths reference them worshipping a sun god,” Lyra said. If I was smart I would have just smiled politely and nodded, but for some unfortunate reason I felt compelled to ask what prompted her mention of ancient mythological creatures.
“I’m no scholar, but wouldn’t ponies just transfer their own ideas when creating myths about humans?” I asked, thinking I was just making polite conversation.
For a second, there was silence. Time itself slowed down as Lyra prepared her lecture. I could see the wheels turning in the back of her head, points flowing into points, “Well, a lot of people- er, ponies don’t believe in humans and think they are a folk tale, but I’ve spent the last four years studying anthropology, that is the study of humans, as opposed to equinology, which is, of course, the study of ponies. It’s actually really interesting as all evidence...”
I would like to make a quick note on how these journal entries are written if anyone out there ever happens to read this (unlikely). In my writing, I always strive to reflect reality as accurately as possible. While I am sure there are plenty of things that I omitted, if something makes an impression upon me or if I spend some time dealing with someone then I will do my best to record that interaction as I recall it. Of course, there are some deviations: conversations are cleaned up, events are condensed, and miscellaneous/unimportant details are excised, although I suppose the first two imply the third. I bring this up now because I spent the next three hours listening to Lyra describe every facet of human civilization. For my own sanity I will not recount every detail of that conversation, and will instead work on recording her main points and things that interested me.
Based off of Lyra’s description, humans are or were (there is some controversy amongst anthropologists about whether or not humans still exist) naked monkeys that could stand up on their hind legs. Much like ponies, humans mastered the spoken and written word, and much like ponies, they managed to spread to every corner of the globe. Miss Heartstring spoke for some time about the similarities between humans and ponies, drawing attention to their tool use and ability to communicate. However, unlike ponies, they did not seek a natural equilibrium with nature and instead sought to conquer it. She theorized that this difference was caused by the absence of proper deities like Celestia and Luna in their society. On the other hoof, this constant expansionism also allowed them to accomplish great feats like building a ship and piloting it to the moon and creating massive cities of glass and steel and even splitting the basic building blocks of the universe to power their world.
“Now, I bet you are wondering how humans managed to conquer the world without magic,” Lyra continued several hours later, “Well, they were expert tool users, and they invented machines to do the jobs they couldn’t do or fill in a role for them. They needed to cut food, so they made knives; they needed to move faster, so they made the wheel and tamed the horse (Lyra described these creatures as primitive ponies that lacked our intellectual abilities); they needed to keep warm, so they made clothes and built fires. Humans invented farms and houses and tools and made great works of art and music. In fact, I think many of the musical instruments we have today were originally designed by humans. A harp just doesn’t make sense unless you have hands to play it with, and hooves are very poor substitutes. There are plenty of items in Equestria that wouldn’t make sense if they were designed by ponies, but the most interesting thing is that we have thimbles. Thimbles! They don’t make any sense unless you have thumbs. In fact, I wrote an entire paper about the significance of thimbles in anthropological studies. It was rejected.”
Yes, humans are the only explanation for the fact that a majority of Equestrian tools are unusable to earth ponies and pegasi, it certainly couldn’t be that unicorns designed their tools to be unusable by the other races so they could secure the dominance at the top of society. Not that I am bitter about people assuming I was a lesser musician than my unicorn counterparts because I couldn’t manipulate objects as finely as they could. That would be silly.
“So then,” Lyra went on (and on), “if we are surrounded by human tools, then where are the humans at? Well, many professors have spent a great deal of time thinking on that question and they have come up with a variety of different answers, some crazier than others. I think the craziest one I heard was espoused by Professor Cassie Truth, who argues that all of Equestria is just a dream created by humans and the prevalence of human creations in our society is just a footprint they left behind. She even says that some ponies believe in humans because humans find it amusing to have some of us know the truth. Of course, I think that’s completely crazy.”
“You have a better idea?” I asked, checking to make sure I hadn’t lost the ability to speak over the last several hours.
Lyra nodded, “I think they are aliens who visited ancient pony societies and gave our ancestors incredible knowledge. That explains why we use their tools without resorting to any crazy theories like our entire world was created by them for their own amusement.”
Because aliens are a far saner solution.
“You see, I think humans mastered space travel and eventually discovered our world. They observed us for years, studying our primitive pony societies, and during a time of great crisis, they gave us aid, allowing us to survive and eventually prosper. Everypony alive today owes a debt to those ancient human astronauts.”
Before she could continue, a cream coated pony with a blue and pink mane came out of the house behind us and approached Lyra, “Good morning Lyra, have you been up for too long?” She said, taking a seat next to her marefriend.
“Oh, a little bit, sorry for not waking you. I got up at nine, thought I would play outside for a little bit, and while I was playing my harp I ran into our new neighbor,” she pointed a hoof at me, “We got to talking and I might have lost track of time.”
The new pony looked sympathetically in my direction, “She didn’t bore you talking about humans did she?” She asked as she kissed Lyra on the cheek, “I love Lyra, but she occasionally gets carried away talking about humans and forgets that not everyone shares her interest. You should hear her when she starts talking about the varying styles of harp playing and how to best manipulate a telekinetic field to mimic the movement of fingers.” She sighed playfully at that.
Lyra blushed, and I felt a need to defend one of the few ponies in town who didn’t currently hate me, “Oh no, it was quite an interesting little lecture,” I said, “I love hearing about fringe Equestrian history.”
The mint colored pony smiled appreciatively at me, “Really? You weren’t bored? Most ponies just kind of ignore me when I start talking, and nopony ever says my lectures are interesting. Let me loan you one of my books on anthropology, I am sure you will love it.”
Before I could raise an objection, the pony had darted off into her house. The cream colored pony spoke up, “So, did you really enjoy the lecture or were you just being polite?”
“I enjoyed parts of it,” I said, laughing, “But mostly I was just being polite.”
“What parts did you enjoy?” she asked.
“I enjoyed the fact that humans were able to conquer their world without using magic. They managed to thrive because of their ingenuity.” It was true, I did enjoy that part. A shame that humans never existed.
Bon Bon shrugged, “Hmm, alright, I am just glad Lyra found someone else to talk with about humans besides me,” she moved her voice to a whisper, “she isn’t exactly the most popular pony in town because of her… peculiar interests. Anyways,” her voice went back to normal, “My name is Bon Bon.”
I smiled, “A pleasure to meet you, miss, I am Octavia Melody, but most ponies call me Octavia.”
Bon Bon smiled as Lyra came back out of her house with five books floating beside her, “Well Octavia, I am sure we will be seeing each other in the future.”
I nodded my head as I struggled to secure the books Lyra had given me, cursing myself for not bringing my saddlebag with me before Princess Sparkle marched me out of my house at the crack of dawn. But then, I couldn’t have expected somepony was going to loan me a small library of books on Equestrian legends before I managed to make it back to the house.
A minute later, I was back at my new home, and had dumped the books on anthropology on the table. Not out of any desire to be rude of course, but using one hoof to keep them secure on my back was incredibly challenging, and I didn’t particularly feel like hopping up the stairs with them. I then proceeded to brew a cup of coffee, and sat staring at it for an hour while trying to process my morning before eventually concluding that Ponyville was much stranger than I had initially suspected. Somehow.
As I finished drinking my coffee and mulled over the day’s events, I heard hoofsteps coming from upstairs. Seconds later, Vinyl descended the steps while rubbing sleep from her eyes, “Oh hey, how long have you been up?” She asked as she moved towards the coffee maker.
“Seven hours” I mumbled, pushing the empty cup of coffee away from me.
“Woah, didn’t think you would get up so early considering that you slept in my DJ room. Ya know your bedroom was just across from that room right?”
I nodded, “I did, but I really didn’t want to show my face outside last night after I lost my temper.”
“Yeah, a lot of ponies were pretty upset last night,” she said, “But they will forgive you in time, at least most of them will. What have you been up to today?”
“Oh, the usual. Started my morning off with an angry alicorn yelling at me, was forced to make peace with Pinkie Pie, and then I had the only other musician in town talk to me about humans for a couple of hours.”
Vinyl just glared at me as I realized my mistake, “I mean, I had the only other classically trained musician in town talk to me about humans for a couple of hours,” I said, laughing nervously.
“See,” Vinyl said, “That is why I am not mad at you. You aren’t intentionally malicious, you are just an utter moron with almost zero social graces, and I am gonna guess you have a very long history of shoving your hoof in your mouth.”
Great, Vinyl didn’t hate me, she just pitied me. Much better.
“I resent being called an utter mo-” I started to say before Vinyl cut me off.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, I am sure you are smart when it comes to books and learning and stuff, but when it comes to people you are as dumb as Twilight was.”
“Wait, Twilight?” I said, confused, “Do you mean Princess Sparkle?”
“Uhmm.. yeah, I guess,” Vinyl said as she moved over to the table, cup of coffee floating by her side, “But back when she first came here she was just Twilight, and she still doesn’t like ponies bringing up her whole princessness. She just wants us to think of her as Ponyville’s librarian. Anyways, when she first moved here, she was pretty bad with ponies and actually went to sleep in the middle of her own welcome party. Twilight has gotten a whole lot better about dealing with ponies and friendship stuff since then.”
“So what are you trying to say?” I asked, unsure of where this conversation was heading.
“Oh right,” Vinyl said, putting down her cup of coffee, “What I am trying to say is that if you were actually a bad pony I would be kinda mad, but you are just a bit… uneducated when it comes to interacting with ponies. Seems to be a trend with you Canterlot mares.”
“And what do you mean by that?” I asked, shooting Vinyl a glare.
“Well,” she said, “most of the mares from Canterlot seem not to have the best social skills. I mean, there is you, Twilight, Lyra when I first met her, and like… half the ponies at Celestia’s Academy for Gifted Unions.”
“Wait,” I said, suddenly unconcerned with Vinyl’s insinuations, “What were you doing at Celestia’s Academy for Gifted Unicorns?”
“Oh, I went there for four years on a music scholarship. That is where I first met Lyra actually.”
I frowned; of course my DJ roommate went to the most prestigious academy in Equestria, while I was denied on the grounds of ‘not being a unicorn.’ Hooray.
Vinyl continued, “Actually, Lyra and I were roommates during my first year at the academy. Then, junior year, she didn’t have any plans for Hearth’s Warming Eve, so I invited her to come with me to Ponyville. Then she met Bon-Bon and a few weeks later the two of them were dating, and once we had graduated, we moved back to Ponyville. The town kind of grows on you,” Vinyl grinned sheepishly at that, “and most ponies that come here find something to keep them here. Lyra found Bon Bon, Twilight found her friends, and I was raised here. After a few years, no other town in Equestria can measure up.”
Great. The way Vinyl described it Ponyville was some sort of all devouring black hole that captured unsuspecting ponies and refused to let them leave. I would have to finish my job quickly before the town managed to get its hooks in me. “So what exactly does your, admittedly impressive, academic history have to do with me being socially oblivious?”
Vinyl facehoofed, “See, that’s it. You focused on the entirely wrong thing. I was trying to tell you about Ponyville’s charms and you just focused on the fact that I went to the Academy. It’s like ponies from Canterlot have some problem interacting with other ponies.”
I continued to glare at Vinyl as she took another sip of her coffee, “So what you are trying to say is…”
“You need to socialize and get out of your shell, and to do that, you need a friend.”
Fantastic, I had picked up two friends in one day. One was an insane party pony and the other one was my friend because she pitied me. For some reason I don’t think the basis for a healthy friendship consists of a manic desire to be friends with everypony and pity, “So you just want to be my friend because you pity me?”
Vinyl laughed at that, “No, I want to be your friend ‘cause when you’re not super mad or putting your hoof in your mouth you are a pretty decent pony, and I think a friend might help that decent mare get out more. That and you have a nice plot.”
“Wait? What?” I said, feeling my cheeks redden at the unicorn’s sudden remark.
“I said you are a decent pony who needs a friend, no need to blush over it.”
“No, not that part,” I said, “I meant the part you said after that, something about me having a ‘nice plot’.”
“Oh, that, I said you have a nice plot. It probably has something to do with all that time you spend standing on your rear legs while playing the cello. I mean… if I had to guess.”
I felt more and more blood rushing to my face and an almost overwhelming urge to hide under the table that was hindered only by the knowledge that doing so would show off my flank, which was, apparently, so very well developed.
“Wow, you are really blushing,” Vinyl said, “You look like you have never received a compliment before.”
“Oh no,” I said, struggling to keep my composure, “I have received plenty of compliments. Ponies have complimented my musical ability, my intellect, my excellent diction, just never any of my physical attributes.”
“Really?” Vinyl asked, somewhat incredulous as she finished her coffee, “Not even from a special somepony?”
“No,” I said, “But I never had a special somepony. The closest I came to it was an intimate conversation shortly after the Gala and that...” I shook my head, “It wouldn’t have worked out.”
“So, no special someponies then?” Vinyl said while levitating the coffee cups to the sink, “Yeah, I guess I could see that, probably too busy practicing, I mean, if you never really had any friends, then a special somepony is just right out.”
Vinyl’s uncannily accurate analysis of my romantic life was making sure my blush wouldn’t dissipate anytime soon and I felt myself sinking under the table. Still, I don’t see how my lack of a special somepony would be that much of an issue. There were more important things to do, and I wouldn’t become the best cellist in Equestria by spending time developing a relationship.
“Anyways, that is how I see things. You need a friend and someone to show you the ropes, and I have a lot of free time. I will see if Lyra and Bon Bon are interested in going to Berry’s Bar later tonight.” Vinyl said decisively as she trotted out of the house, presumably to find Lyra and her marefriend. I pouted, fetched my cello, and went to my room (my proper room this time as opposed to Vinyl’s DJ-torium). If I was going to be forced to go out, I could at least get a few hours of practice in before I left.
A few minutes later, Vinyl knocked on the door, “Hey Octavia, we are going to be headed out around 7:30, so be ready to go by then.”
“Alright,” I said, before going back to my practice. The next several hours passed all too quickly, and I soon found myself having to get ready for our trip to the bar. While it was tempting to go out to the bar without properly grooming myself, I was a Canterlot mare and would not lower my standards just because I was in Ponyville. Soon enough, my mane and tail were styled, my collar was freshly starched and my bow tie was straight. If I might be so bold, I looked quite nice.
As the sun set and the clock struck 7:30, I left my room properly groomed and ready for a night on the town, my first night out in… well, ever, actually. While I might detest Ponyville (which I very much do), the idea of spending time with ponies and having fun had a certain allure I found hard to resist. I might even have smiled as I walked downstairs and nodded my head at Vinyl, “Ready for our night out?” I asked, feeling a twinge of excitement infect my voice.
“Yep” Vinyl said as she opened the door, she had abandoned her usual goggles and even made an attempt to style her mane. Her attempts to groom herself had paid off, and she looked decent, in fact, one could make a convincing argument that she looked quite lovely.
“So then,” I said as I reached the main floor, “Shall we go and meet Lyra or will they meet us?”
“They will meet us outside,” she said as she opened the door, “And then we will head out to the bar. In fact…”
Our neighbors exited their house at the same time we did, and Lyra and Vinyl waved at each other, “It seems we are both right on time,” Vinyl said.
During the walk to the tavern, Vinyl and Lyra reminisced about their university days with Bon Bon occasionally sharing a story about one of Lyra’s misadventures. Most of the stories seemed to focus on Lyra dragging everypony to Anthro Con. She insisted that everyone (not everypony) had a good time, and Vinyl eventually admitted that the dance was one of the best DJing gigs she had ever had while Bon Bon just… blushed. I decided not to pry.
“Hey Octavia,” Lyra said after their conversation ended, “What did you do at the academy, I am sure a pony like you would definitely get a scholarship. I mean, you got to play for the Grand Galloping Gala at the age of like… what… nineteen?”
Lyra knew that I played for the Gala but couldn’t figure out that I didn’t go to the academy? What a strange mare. To answer her question, I pointed a hoof at my head and said, “It’s the Academy for Gifted Unicorns, making me quite ineligible for admission.”
“Oh right,” she replied, grinning sheepishly, “So what did you do instead?”
“I practiced the cello and worked to get accepted into the Royal Canterlot Orchestra, I succeeded, was accepted at the age of seventeen, and I was hoping to make first chair in five years but am instead here on a fool’s errand to create the Royal Ponyville Orchestra.”
“Wow,” Lyra said looking at Vinyl, “You were right, this mare really does need to let her mane down some.”
“You told her that?” I said, glaring at Vinyl, and for the first time since I had met her, the mare turned away and looked properly embarrassed.
“Oh hey, look at that, we’re here,” Bon-Bon said, breaking the ensuing silence, “Shall we go get a drink or two?”
We entered into what looked to be an old fashioned soda bar, but after Vinyl went and exchanged words with the proprietor, a pony with a light purple coat and grapes for her cutie mark, we were led downstairs to an old brick basement packed with ponies drinking while a musician played on stage. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said it could have been one of the bohemian bars that were so popular in Manehattan. Not Canterlot, but certainly not Ponyville.
My friends (strange using that word) walked down the stairs to greet their fellow ponies while I followed after them timidly, afraid of how the other Ponyvillians might react to seeing me. Coming here after alienating so many ponies was a very foalish decision I thought, cursing my own stupidity. Thankfully, most of the ponies were so wrapped up in their conversations they failed to notice me. Lyra ushered us into a booth in the far corner of the room, and I made a note to thank her for picking a location that was so far from other ponies.
As I took a seat, Lyra spoke up, “So Tavi, what’s your poison?”
There was a pause as Vinyl and Bon Bon turned to me before I realized that Lyra was speaking to me. I really hope the nickname Tavi doesn’t stick but I suspect it will. “Oh, uhmm, I don’t know, I have never had a drink before, so I suppose… wine?”
“Yeah, okay,” Lyra said, trying to suppress a smile, “I will go ask the bartender what vintage he would recommend for a first timer,” she turned to Vinyl and Bon Bon, “You two want the usual?”
The two other ponies nodded their heads as Lyra trotted off to the bar. I decided to say something, “So, this bar is quite nice. I didn’t suspect Ponyville to have something so cultured.”
Vinyl gave me a look to remind me that my hoof was currently in my mouth, and I smacked my head with my forehoof, “Right, sorry, no offense was intended.”
They nodded their heads at that and Vinyl said, “ I appreciate the fact that you tried to give the bar a compliment even if you kind of failed miserably at it, just remember our talk about putting your hoof in your mouth.”
“Anyways,” Bon-Bon said, trying to get me out of hot water, “How are you liking Ponyville so far Miss Octavia?”
Vinyl shot me another look before I could respond, and I smiled, hoping to assure her that I wasn’t planning to insult Ponyville further.
“During my brief time here, this town has managed to surprise me. I was expecting to find a backwater town with no redeeming features, and while Ponyville might not be as sophisticated as Canterlot, the locals are generally friendly until you upset them, and the town itself possesses a rustic charm I didn’t expect to find. While I don’t understand entirely why Celestia wanted to base the second Royal Orchestra here, I can certainly see why so many ponies find the town appealing.”
My roommate grinned at that and enthusiastically patted me on the back, “Keep saying stuff like that and we will make a proper Ponyvillian of you yet.” Oh joy.
“So, what is the story behind this bar?” I asked while we waited for Lyra to return with our drinks.
“Oh that,” Bon Bon said, “Berry Punch, the owner, her special talent is mixing drinks, well, mixing and consuming drinks to be honest, and since Ponyville didn’t have a proper bar, she decided to build Berry’s Bar. It serves as a regular soda shop during the day but at night ponies can come downstairs for an evening of ‘wine and merriment.’”
While she spoke, Lyra returned from the bar, a tray of drinks levitating besides her. “Alright, Vinyl and I have got the beers, Bon Bon has the margarita, and for Octavia, a bottle of of the houses finest port.” The bottle floated to the table while Lyra levitated a glass of wine in my direction, “I took the liberty of pouring you the first glass.”
I nodded my head as I took the glass from her, “Much obliged Miss Heartstrings,” I raised the glass in the air as Lyra took her seat and Vinyl scooted next to me, “Cheers.”
The other ponies raised their glasses at that, and I took my first sip of wine. It wasn’t bad. Obviously, I am no connoisseur, but it left a pleasing taste on my tongue that didn’t drown out the taste of the alcohol. “It’s good,” I said to nopony in particular as Vinyl and Lyra took large pulls from their pints.
Vinyl belched, “Glad to hear ya like it. Now when you go back to Canterlot you can tell the folks you know there that the best glass of wine you ever had was in Ponyville.”
“Yes, and I’ll be sure to tell them that it was Ponyville that drove me to drink in the first place,” I said, smiling.
The two of us laughed at that and I took another sip from my drink, “So, how did you get a scholarship at Celestia’s Academy for Talented Unicorn’s?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
Vinyl shrugged, “I am good at music, and they are always looking to get some fresh blood; it’s part of their diversity drive to get unicorns who don’t come from Canterlot. I didn’t really feel like going since they didn’t offer any programs for DJs, but my parents convinced me it would look good on a resume and that at the very least it would expose me to some new types of music. They were right too; all the exposure to classical music was a huge inspiration for my fusion project.”
“Your fusion project?” I asked, unsure of what such a project entailed and wondering how classical music fit into the DJs repertoire.
“Yeah, it is this thing where I take two different songs, put them together, and see what comes out. Most of the time it is utter garbage, but with a bit of tweaking and blending you can get something really beautiful to emerge that combines the best of classical music and modern-day pop. You haven’t lived until you have heard Tsyolin paired with BBBFF.”
I nodded my head unfamiliar with the last five letters she had mentioned, “Well, I would certainly love to hear some of the fusions you have created. It sounds interesting, at the least”
Vinyl laughed. “Sure thing,” she said, “Keep up the sweet talk and I will show you where the magic happens.”
I blinked as my roommate poured herself another glass of beer, “Sweet talk? I was just expressing interest in your project.”
“It’s a joke Tavi. I thought it kind of sounded like… uhh, you know what, never mind.”
“Whatever you say Miss Scratch,” I said as I followed her lead and poured myself another glass of wine.
“So,” she said, “where did you go to school at?”
“I didn’t, the only academy around is Celestia’s, so if you aren’t a unicorn then the odds of getting a higher education are decidedly slim. I had to teach myself how to play the cello properly.”
“Really?” Vinyl said, fascinated, “But I heard you playing this afternoon and you sounded really good. I mean, you sounded better than a lot of the cellists at the academy.”
“Thank you,” I said, smiling at her compliment, “You are far too kind and a terrible liar, I know I wasn’t in top form this afternoon and there is no need for you to flatter me.”
“But I am not lying, you sounded good. No, you sounded great, and besides Tavi, you know I am not the type to spare your feelings.”
She had a point, I thought as I recalled some of our earlier conversations. Still, her sincerity didn’t change the fact that my work this afternoon was subpar. “Again, I thank you for your compliments and I am sorry for accusing you of dishonesty, but my work today simply did not measure up.”
As I spoke, a familiar lavender alicorn walked down the stairs with a white unicorn following behind her. I recalled the white unicorn being at my party yesterday; her purple mane was intricately styled and hard to forget. In fact, I think I recall seeing elsewhere, but I can’t quite place it. The two ponies looked around and after seeing our table they headed directly towards us, “Hide me,” I said, turning to Vinyl.
“Nothing to be afraid of,” she said resting her hoof on my foreleg, “Just be friendly and polite, and I am sure everything will work out fine.”
Twilight smiled as she neared our table. “Hello Octavia,” she said, her voice surprisingly friendly, “How was your day?”
I laughed, trying to cover my fear, “Better than yesterday, I was actually having a drink with my friends Vinyl, Lyra, and…” As I spoke I waved a hoof in the direction of the three other ponies only to find that at some point during the conversation Lyra and Bon Bon had vanished. “Uhmm… just Vinyl, I suppose. Anyways, my day has been surprisingly pleasant.”
“I am very happy to hear that,” Twilight said enthusiastically, “Pinkie Pie took a train to Canterlot this morning in an attempt to study high society parties. She is taking this new party very seriously, so I hope you enjoy it.” I wasn’t sure if her last words were meant to be a threat or just simple well-wishing, however I decided it would be for the best if I made it a point to follow her advice.
The princess continued, “Now, I have spent the whole day talking about you to my friends and explaining to them that we might have misjudged you, so with that in mind…” She gestured to the unicorn next to her.
“Oh, yes darling,” the unicorn said, speaking on cue, “I am having a reception for some of my larger clients Wednesday, and I thought having a respected Canterlot musician perform for the party would be quite the coup, so I was hoping you might be interested.”
I was a cellist for the Royal Canterlot Orchestra on a mission from the Night Princess, I was not going to debase myself playing for somepony’s reception.
“I can pay you eight thousand bits,” she said.
“I would love to perform for you and your friends.”
“Wonderful,” the unicorn said, clapping her hooves together excitedly, “I will expect you at three o’clock, and feel free to help yourselves to the hors d’oeuvres.”
I nodded and smiled at the mare (She later said her name was Rarity), and after a few more minutes of small talk, she and the princess turned to leave the establishment.
It was also around this time that I finished half a bottle of wine, and, not knowing how alcohol affects me, decided it would be perfectly fine to keep drinking. In hindsight, this was a rather foalish idea. Vinyl and I spoke a bit more about our musical histories, and she further explained the details of her fusion project. In her research on musical theory (She actually researched musical theory), she noted that the greatest symphony and the worst musical dreck were still composed of the same basic pieces, with the only differences being the order of their placement. Taking this idea, she quickly decided that instead of creating new pieces (which were just combinations of old notes in her view), she would take old songs, mix them together, and create new music that way. After she explained herself, I quickly found myself reconsidering my earlier appraisal of her as a common DJ. My story of playing the cello until my hooves bled seemed quite dull in comparison.
“Where did Lyra and Bon Bon go to?” I asked, finally growing concerned about the two ponies’ disappearances.
“They’re on the dance floor,” Vinyl said, pointing a hoof towards a cleared out area next to the stage where a large number of ponies were dancing. After searching for a few seconds, I saw the mint-green unicorn and the cream-colored earth pony dancing, their bodies and arms intertwined, their lips pressed against the others. The way they pressed themselves against each other and moved in harmony, they almost looked like one pony.
“Yeah, they kind of get like that after a drink or two and a little music. It’s really kind of cute how affectionate they are.”
Cute? It was downright revolting the way those two were acting in public. While I have no qualms about what two consenting ponies do in the privacy of their own home, such a display in public is an altogether different matter, and I found myself staring at the two ponies for far too long, a fact Vinyl managed to pick up on.
“Whoa Tavi, stop eyebanging them, it’s kinda creepy,” Vinyl said, breaking my concentration and pulling me back to reality.
“I… I wasn’t ‘eyebanging’ them, I was just shocked that two ponies would care so little about those around them that they would engage in such a flagrant display of affection, it is uncouth.”
“Yeah, well… whatever. What do you want to do that doesn’t involve staring at Lyra and Bon Bon until they disintegrate?”
Perhaps it was the three-quarters of a bottle of wine I had finished off or the surprisingly infectious jazz melody coming from the stage or some combination of the two, but my response was quite impulsive and more than a little foolish.
“Let’s dance,” I said, bolting up and pulling Vinyl to the dance floor alongside our two roommates (who were STILL acting inappropriately). While our dance lacked the sophistication and elegance of a Canterlot waltz, it was… fun. Our bodies moved with the music, and after a few minutes, the two of us had developed a surprising synchronicity as we improvised our way through the song. Nothing was rehearsed or choreographed, and we just reacted, letting the music take us where it wished. It was actually quite wonderful.
When the music stopped I looked around to see most of the ponies had stopped dancing and were instead staring at Vinyl and I. If I had been in my right mind I would have grinned sheepishly and backed away, apologizing for upstaging everypony. However, I was pleasantly intoxicated, and if these ponies wanted to see a show then, by Celestia, I would give it to them. But first I’d need a cello.
As if on cue, a familiar pink pony popped out of… somewhere, with my cello case in hoof. “Here you go,” she said cheerfully.
“But… what… I thought you were in Canterlot,” I said, my mind trying to process how this pony could be in two places simultaneously.
“Silly Tavi, whenever a party needs helping, Pinkie Pie will be there to keep it rolling, and I could tell this party needed your cello,” with that she vanished into the same place that spawned her.
The physics-defying pony had momentarily shattered my confidence, but I had my cello with me and it would be a shame if I didn’t put on a performance after Pinkie Pie broke several physical laws to help me play.
“Fillies and gentlecolts,” I said, taking center stage, “I give you the classic Canterlot Cello Sonata No. 3,” I could see my crowd sigh at the announcement and I smiled, “With a twist.”
Now, the original piece had a slow melodious start, reminiscent of a brook in spring, and gradually built itself up until the piece became an all-encompassing wave (This is an embarrassing confession, but I have always had a problem describing the way music sounded to the untrained ear). However, while the original work is certainly a masterpiece, I doubted my crowd would appreciate such a slow pace, and so I modified it. The slow string work that started the piece off transformed into a fast frenetic sawing, more evocative of a life or death chase than a babbling brook, causing the resulting piece to be less “classical Baroque” and more “modern jazz.”
I hit the notes I needed to hit and used one of the greatest cello solos in Equestria as the basis for a freeform jazz piece. I felt dirty. The crowd loved it. Soon ponies were stamping their hooves to the music, and when the piece drew to its conclusion, the place exploded with applause. I bowed, packed up my cello and left the stage.
“That was great Tavi.”
“What piece was that?”
“Can you play at my child’s markmitzvah next week?”
“Bravo.”
“Fantastic.”
“You played like a human!”
I nodded my head at the last comment, “Thank you, Lyra.”
“I mean it, you used your hooves like they were hands, I have never seen anypony do that! Teach me?”
“Oh, well I will try,” I said as I rejoined my friends, “But I am not sure I can. I was born with abnormally flexible hooves and that is the main reason I can play the cello.”
“Hoof hands!” The pony gasped, “Bon Bon, Octavia has hoof hands. I have a friend who has hoof hands!”
I made a mental note to ask her what hoof hands were when she wasn’t so ecstatic or… I looked over to where the pony had bounced off to, now busy making out with Bon Bon. Before I could further contemplate the specifics of hoof hands, another hoof patted me on the back, “That was… definitely the best cello performance I have ever heard. Could I get some recordings of your cello work for my fusion project?” Vinyl asked.
“Well, that depends,” I said, as we moved back to our booth.
“On what?”
“On two things. The first thing is you need recording equipment.”
“And the second thing?” Vinyl asked.
“The second condition is that I want you to keep me from making an utter fool of myself while I am in Ponyville.” I know, it’s sappy and silly, but in my defense I had just finished off my first bottle of wine.
Vinyl grinned, “Sure thing Tavi, I think I can do that.”
“Then it’s decided,” I said jubilantly, “I will help you with your fusion project and you will help keep me from offending everypony in town.”
“I think you might be getting the better end of that deal,” Vinyl said.
“Oh, I absolutely am,” I said laughing.
After that, the night gets… blurry. I remember dancing on top of a table at some point, and I remember Vinyl and I heading back to the house sometime after Lyra and Bon Bon galloped out of the bar excitedly to do… Celestia knows what. Then I remember the two of us starting up some sort of impromptu jam session with me on my cello and Vinyl doing DJ things (I don’t know how exactly she has it make sounds, I just know she gets it to make a noise of some sort). As the night turned into morning, I got increasingly intoxicated, and the last thing I remember before tumbling into unconsciousness were my lips pressing against Vinyl’s.
Shit.
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
965 users online
117,178 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
first comment
u did great man great
Beautiful just beautiful!
Couldn't stop smiling at all! And with a little cliffhanger, too! 
Can't wait to see Tavi's (possible) hangover and her reactions to what she remembers from that night
2690965 Oh yes, the morning after is going to be something magnificent to behold, with a now sober (and hung over) Tavi having a spectacular freakout about what she got up to last night. 2688531 Yes, I hope I made it seem like both sides are kind of at fault. Pinkie for ruining two of the most important performances in Octavia's life (unintentionally) and Octavia for making Pinkie cry (intentionally).
“Good thing it happened in Ponyville then, as long as you try to make amends, most ponies will end up forgiving you, or at the very least not running you out of town."
I laughed way to hard at this, considering that I don't think you made that joke intentionally. Just think about how many honest businessponies have been run out of town just for trying to make a living.
I got increasingly intoxicated, and the last thing I remember before tumbling into unconsciousness was a kiss.
Shit.
That is the greatest line ever.
For fucks sake. Contractions dude, contractions. It's very very distracting how little you use them. Also I'd say you need to work on dialogue a little bit, because everyone in this story sounds like Octavia so far. But that might be what you were going for as it seems to be this is Tavi's diary or journal or something. And if it is you really needed to make that more obvious, perhaps with an actual "Dear Diary," or something, and if that's what you're going for you need much MUCH shorter. If that's not what you're going for, (because I still REALLY can't tell if it is or not) then you need to work on separating your characters and making them sound different.
Tavi you are drunk.
Get off of that Vinyl.
I'm sorry, but no. Just no.
The pacing has become wonky. Very wonky. One point, Twilight and Octavia are having a slow... conversation... And then suddenly, Pinkie Pie has forgiven Octavia!
Next, the story. It's become boring by now. It started cool, but now it's uninteresting.
Finally, the characters. Where do I begin? Twilight is acting like Octavia is a piece of shit until Octavia forgets Pinkie, Pinkie Pie herself is acting like she has bipolar syndrome (spiked up to eleven), and Octavia is a scumbag in the third degree. I can't like this story anymore.
you say, "when angry alicorn" I believe you meant to say 'an angry alicorn' you say "So did you learn?” I believe you meant to say, 'So, what did you learn?" I suggest asking an English major or teacher for the rules of writing and posting them above (or next to) your computer so you can avoid some mistakes. I think you meant to say 'Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns' as amusing at I and my college Anthropology teacher would find a "School for Gifted Unions" I'm not sure that will ever be a thing. You say "Lyrae knew" I think you meant to say 'Lyra knew'. I'm sure I missed some typos, but those are all the ones I noticed.
5053124 Okay, see, now my pride's been pricked because I am an English major and I am semi-fluent in the rules of the language. Unfortunately, I'm still human, I still make typos, and this was written back before I had any editors so they were more likely to slip through without me noticing. (When I first started writing, I edited stories the day after writing them so I still knew what I was saying and didn't notice when what I meant to say and what I actually wrote didn't line up.)
I appreciate that you're trying to help, and I will make these corrections after I've had a good night's rest, but please bear in mind that this was one of my earlier projects, my editing technique was complete garbage back then (now it's only a little garbage), and... yeah, there are some typos. I freely admit that. Hell, I need to reformat the bloody thing just so I have consistent quotation mark formatting, and...
Shit indeed...
5253524 Speaking of shit, I apologize for the possible drop off in quality after Chapter 4. I haven't edited past there, and I keep meaning to, but I get distracted by other projects.
It begins. Let the shipping commence!
Noticed an error here,
Extra 'e' at the end of Lyra's name, for no apprent reason. I don't know if you still edit this one, but if you do, might be worth correcting.
- TSB
The second a bar was mentioned, i called it. Shit...
And this pacing is gonna kill me.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2d/18/04/2d180487ec2dccffc336a6ecda4855e9.jpg
espoused by Professor Cassie Truth, who argues that all of Equestria is just a dream created by humans and the prevalence of human creations in our society is just a footprint they left behind. She even says that some ponies believe in humans because humans find it amusing to have some of us know the truth. Of course, I think that’s completely crazy.”
“You have a better idea?” I asked, checking to make sure I hadn’t lost the ability to speak over the last several hours.
Lyra nodded, “I think they are aliens who visited ancient pony societies and gave our ancestors incredible knowledge. That explains why we use their tools without resorting to any crazy theories like our entire world was created by them for their own amusement.”
BBBFF wouldn't happen to be Ben, Ben, Ben, Francis and Francis?
Now I can't help but imagine Tavi playing Smash Mouth at DT's Mark Mitzvah...
4970398
Yeah. I'm late to this story, but Twilight really doesn't come off too well here.
The thing w/Pinkie is it all seems to depend on how smart and mature a writer decides to make her. If she's relatively mature (NOT the same thing as stolid!) and smart, she'll throw parties that cater to the personality of the recipient. Not what Pinkie wants, but what the pony being celebrated wants. If she's not, we get LOLRANDOM and a Pinkie that doesn't understand that good intent does not make up for poor outcomes.
That's wrong , more like " don't hold your emotions until you explode"
Well the shipping didn't take long.
9383361
Yeah, I was a younger writer then, just figuring out their style and stuff, and I'm not super thrilled with this story. Like, it's fine, but it just feels a,bit untethered.
fucking kill me