Day 6
Celestia damn it. Of course the day after I express the faintest hope that my life in Ponyville might be reaching some form of normalcy, the whole town has to go absolutely crazy in the hopes of topping the insanity of my first few days in the town. I couldn’t even have the privilege of waking up at a decent time because I was woken up in the middle of the night when somepony shoved a sack over my head.
“Wha- What is going on?” I tried to ask, although considering I had just woken up to find a sack being shoved on my head, the resulting sentence was far less coherent, and could better be described as incoherent mumbling and yelling.
“We do you a great honor, Octavia, for we are bringing you to the Grand Hall of Anthropologists!”
“Hello Bon Bon,” I said, my panic evaporating as I immediately recognizing the pony’s rather distinctive voice, “Is there a reason you are abducting me as opposed to just inviting me over to your house or wherever the Grand Hall is?”
“You are mistaken, I am not Bon Bon,” Bon Bon said, “I am Meghan, vice-president of the Illustrious Order of Anthropologists.”
I heard another pony whisper to Bon Bon, “See, I told you you should have let me do the talking.”
“You know I can still hear you talking right Lyra? The sack doesn’t impair my hearing.”
She chose to ignore me, I sighed. This wasn’t how I had intended to start my day, and I briefly wondered what time it was.
A pony leaned in close to me and whispered, “Really sorry about this Tavi, Lyra has decided the Illustrious Order of Anthropologists needed to be a bit more formal with its... well, its interview process, and that apparently means keeping our base a secret.”
I nodded my head appreciatively at the pony whom I recognized as Vinyl. Lyra and Bon Bon were still arguing about who should be doing the speaking.
“You said I could do the introduction this time,” Bon Bon said, clearly upset based off of the sound of her voice.
“Yes, and I also said we should use a voice alteration spell, which you said was excessive.”
“It was excessive, it would have been far easier to just use a sleep spell and then bring her back to our hou- the Grand Hall.”
“Fine, fine, we will do it your way,” Lyra said as I felt a horn press against my shoulder. Before I could react properly, I found myself being dragged down into unconsciousness as my legs buckled. What a wonderful way to start the day, I thought as my world went dark.
I awoke an unknown amount of time later to find four ponies standing over me, each clad in dark robes that utterly failed to conceal their identities. “Welcome to the Grand Hall of Anthropologists, Octavia. You have been chosen to join our elite sisterhood,” the pony who was very clearly Lyra said.
“Hello to you too, Lyra,” I said as I got back up on my hooves. I looked at the members of the “Illustrious Order,” a pony who was clearly Vinyl Scratch stood to my left, Lyra and Bon Bon stood in the center, and to the right was… Twilight Sparkle. That was interesting.
“You are mistaken,” Lyra said, “I know not who this Lyra Heartstrings you speak of is, I am Lauren.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, “First of all, I never mentioned your last name, so it is very clear you know who Lyra is, second of all, your robes utterly fail to cover your flank, meaning I can see your coat color, tail, and cutie mark. So unless there are many other mint green unicorns with a lyre as a cutie mark running around, you are Lyra.”
Lyra stared at me, trying to think of something to say before Bon Bon chimed in, “Lauren, could you please get some tea for us while we talk with Octavia?”
She nodded and left for the kitchen, but not before assuring me that she was most definitely not Lyra. I failed to be persuaded. After she had left, Bon Bon spoke, “I am really sorry about this, I suggested to Lyra she make a little club to talk about humans with, and for a while everything was fine, but then, when Twilight joined about a month ago, Lyra decided we needed to have proper protocol so she turned our club into this secret society thing. It’s kind of silly, but it would mean a lot to her if you joined.”
“First of all, if you wanted to make a good impression then why would you abduct me in the middle of the night? And second of all, why in Equestria would Twilight join a club dedicated to talking about humans?”
Vinyl responded first, “We didn’t want to abduct you, but Lyra insisted that our names and our base’s location be a secret. She says it is to protect Twilight’s identity, but I think she just likes making all of us sneak around.”
Bon Bon and Twilight nodded. “I came across some references to humans in a few of my books, and when I followed up with Lyra, she invited me to join the Illustrious Order of Anthropologists,” Twilight said.
“So what do you want me to do?” I asked, deciding it best not to question the rampant insanity of the situation.
“Well, if you could pretend not to recognize who we are, that would mean a lot to Lyra, she put a lot of effort into designing our cloaks.” Vinyl said.
Bon Bon jumped in, “Also, it would mean a lot if you decided to join us. We are always looking for more members, and we have a potluck every Thursday.”
“You do realize how ridiculous this is, right? Humans don’t exist, and even if they did, they certainly wouldn’t visit Equestria.” I said. Vinyl and Bon Bon nodded in agreement, while Twilight was silent.
“Yeah, it is kind of silly,” Bon Bon said, agreeing with me, “But I do everything I can to make our meetings fun.”
“And these robes are really comfy,” Vinyl said, chiming in.
“Alright,” I said, “I will join, but only because you are my friend.” (And because I had learned it was best not to upset crazy ponies.)
“Great,” Bon Bon said, smiling, “Now then, my human name is Meghan, Twilight’s is Tara, Lyra is Lauren, and Vinyl over here is Danielle.”
“You will have to pardon me,” I said, “But those names are utterly ridiculous.”
“They are,” Twilight said, finally speaking up, “But Lyra says they are traditional human names, and she says it is only fitting that anthropologists use a human name when meeting.”
“Fine,” I said, letting out an exasperated sigh, “Just promise me there will be no more late night abductions.”
Before Bon Bon could respond, Lyra walked back into the room with five cups of tea floating besides her, “I hope everypony is thirsty,” she said before suddenly remembering that she was supposed to be the mysterious head of a league of anthropologists, “I mean, the traditional beverage has been brewed, we shall imbibe it with our guest Octavia.”
I had to resist the urge to bash my head against a wall, Lyra sounded like she was doing a particularly bad imitation of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Of course,” I said as I picked up my cup of tea, “I would be more than happy to drink and speak with such esteemed guests, I only ask that we wrap things up quickly so I can get at least some sleep tonight. I do have a concert tomorrow, after all.”
“Oh yes, we can certainly move things along quickly, if time is short,” Lyra said, taking a sip of her tea, “It has come to our attention that you have expressed an interest in humans, and because of your interest, we wish to grant you entrance into the Illustrious Guild of Anthropologists.”
“I thought you were called the Illustrious Order of Anthropologists,” I said.
Lyra blinked for a second, “Yes, the Illustrious Order of Anthropologists, you have passed our final test by proving that you have a keen mind, capable of understanding the secrets of anthropology. Will you accept our invitation and join the Illustrious Order of Anthropologists?”
I struggled not to roll my eyes, “Of course I will join Lyr- Lauren, now if you will excuse me, I have to go back to bed,” I said, as I turned around to leave.
“Wait,” Lyra said, “Before you leave, you must undergo the initiation ritual and pick out-”
She was interrupted as Bon Bon moved to whisper in Lyra’s ear. “On second thought, we will ignore the initiation ritual this once, as long as you promise not to divulge the secrets of the Illustrious Order to anypony else.”
“Trust me,” I said, “I am not going to tell anypony else about your club.” Mainly because I didn’t want ponies to think I was absolutely unhinged, but I saw no need to spoil Lyra’s fantasy.
“Wonderful,” she said, “Now I know this might come as a shock to you, but I am actually Lyra, Meghan is Bon Bon, Danielle is Vinyl, and Tara is Twilight.” Lyra pulled her hood back and smiled. I tried to contain my shock.
“You don’t say,” I said as I finally gave in and facehoofed, “I was completely and utterly fooled by your impenetrable disguises. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to bed.”
I turned around and left, Lyra called after me, asking if I wanted help getting back to my house. I decided I could probably handle the ten feet between my house and Lyra’s house/secret guild location without getting too terribly lost, and in the space of a minute, I was back home. Well, I thought as I climbed the stairs, that was a completely pointless waste of time. Before I could reach my room, I heard the front door open. “Hello Vinyl,” I said as my roommate entered the house. I briefly considered adding a clever remark to the end of my greeting, but nothing I could think of was capable of summing up how utterly ridiculous the current situation was.
“Hey Tavi,” she said as she walked up the stairs to greet me, “I am sorry about the… well…” She rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to think of an appropriate apology.
“You are sorry that your little club abducted me in the middle of the night as opposed to inviting me to join them normally?” I said, trying to smooth over the awkwardness as much as possible, while still chiding my roommate.
“Yeah,” Vinyl said, nodding her head, “Lyra really does mean well, it is just…” She shrugged, “Her interest in humans has always been kind of odd and silly, but in the past few months it has gotten really serious. I don’t know what it is, but the Anthropologist’s Club went from being a fun little excuse to get together and drink to a full on cloak and dagger secret society. It is kind of weird.”
And that was the understatement of the century.
“So you are saying I shouldn’t be too upset with your friend because she isn’t normally this crazy?”
Vinyl nodded, “Yeah, basically.”
“You do realize that is a terrible argument, right? Just because an action is out of character doesn’t make it excusable, if anything such a lapse in judgment is cause for more alarm, not less.” Yes, it was hypocritical for me to start lecturing somepony about civility and decorum given my recent outbursts, but just because I was a hypocrite didn’t mean I was wrong.
“So what would you suggest I do about it then?” Vinyl asked, her voice rising as she took another step closer to me.
“I would suggest convincing her to see a psychologist or staging an intervention of some form. Now, I am not saying it is bad for her to have… peculiar interests, but if they are interfering with her quality of life, then I would do something about it. Or not, she is your friend.”
“Hey,” Vinyl said, “She is your friend too.”
I decided it best not to argue that by reminding Vinyl that friends don’t abduct friends in the middle of the night, “True,” I said, “But I have only known the mare for four days while you have known her for four years.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Vinyl said as she moved to look down at the floor, “But what am I supposed to tell her? I mean, it is kind of hard to just accuse my best friend of being crazy.”
“You didn’t have any problems calling me out when you thought I was acting out of line,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice even.
“Well… yeah, but I had just met you, while I have known Lyra for years, and… I don’t really know how to bring the topic up in a normal conversation.”
I rolled my eyes, apparently Vinyl was Little Miss Sensitive around other ponies, but had all the grace and tact of a wrecking ball whenever I did something wrong. I didn’t know whether I should be flattered by that or offended. Probably both.
“I know a few psychiatrists in Canterlot, and I will be more than happy helping you with whatever intervention you plan, just promise me there will be no more midnight abductions.”
Vinyl nodded, “Let’s talk this over with Bon Bon and Lyra on Thursday,” I said, “Right now, I need to get to sleep.”
We went to our respective rooms after that, and I curled up in my bed. So things in Ponyville had taken a turn for the crazy again, but I was still nurturing the hope that the rest of the day would have some degree of normalcy. At least I would be able to get a bit more sleep, I thought as I drifted off.
I managed to sleep through the rest of the night without being woken up by any crazed anthropologists, so thank Celestia for small miracles, I suppose. When I did finally get up, the sun was beginning its ascent, the clock read 9:00 AM, and I let out a groan. I had slept far later than I had intended.
Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I ran through the list of what I had to do to get ready for my show. Yesterday, I had managed to fashion a rough idea of what songs I would be playing, but, of course, that was all dependent upon how the guests reacted. I reflected briefly on Vinyl’s comments yesterday about how it was the role of the DJ to play songs that kept the party going, and considered how free I should be with changing my play list to suit the needs of the party. Obviously, I wasn’t going to debase myself by playing some catchy pop song, but I could play a few melodies that were pinned a bit more recently. I got out my folder filled with sheet music and looked for a few selections that caught my eye. I eventually decided that Trotsky’s modern reimagining of “The Ballad of the Wing Pegasus” might interest some of the guests, and began rehearsing it.
The piece was shockingly complex, something I didn’t expect in modern instrumental music, although to be fair I wasn’t particularly familiar with anything written in the past one hundred years. To describe what it is supposed to sound like for those not familiar with the peace is something of a challenge for me, but it manages to evoke a feeling of ancient civilizations and lost world, although that is rather… non-descriptive. After all, one pony’s lost civilization can be another pony’s strange dreamscape, so perhaps I will describe it as melodic and other worldly. I suppose… or maybe I am absolutely terrible at describing what music sounds like, and I don’t feel compelled to transcribe the entire composition in this journal (Today’s entry is already going to be long enough as is).
After I had familiarized myself with a few other pieces, I felt ready for my performance tonight. Unfortunately, I still had several hours before I was supposed to arrive, and I highly doubted Rarity would approve of me getting there so early. So, I decided to see what Vinyl was up to today while I waited to leave. While I was looking through my music portfolio, I heard Vinyl get up and head downstairs, and I hadn’t heard any hoofsteps coming back upstairs, so I assumed she was in the living room or dining room.
“Hello,” I said, as I headed downstairs, “Are you still here Vinyl?” As I reached the downstairs landing, I heard Vinyl speaking in hushed tones with some other pony, and they didn’t seem to have heard me. While it might not have been the most polite thing to do, I decided to investigate a bit before announcing my presence. Creeping closer, I was able to recognize Bon Bon as the pony Vinyl was speaking to. If they were talking about that stupid anthropologist club, I would… well, I wouldn’t actually do anything, but I would be rather annoyed. Why would grown mares waste their time obsessing over a stupid little legend?
I was finally close enough to understand what Bon Bon was saying, “I just… I don’t know what to do about Lyra. She is spending more and more time in her basement, obsessing about how Twilight can know so much about humans. Just last night, she and Twilight had another one of their conversations, and now Lyra is flipping through every book she can find to see if there is a reference to something called ‘high school.’”
Bon Bon took in a deep breath, “I know I haven’t been that supportive of Lyra’s interest in humans, but I always tolerated it, and even went to all those silly conventions with her, but now, it’s like she’s not even there. I thought her having a few other ponies to talk about humans with might make things better, but it is just making things worse.”
I was beginning to feel uncomfortable listening in on such a private conversation, and so I decided it was time to announce my present. I knocked a hoof against the wall next to the entryway, “Knock knock,” I said, “Would it be alright if I came in?”
Bon Bon gave a wan little smile, “Oh yes, come in Octavia, I wanted to apologize to you about last night. It’s… Vinyl and I were actually talking about what to do with Lyra, her interest in humans is no longer… healthy.”
That much was obvious, but I decided not to say so in front of Bon Bon. Instead, I just nodded my head and said, “So what do you intend to do about it?”
She closed her eyes, “I don’t know. I don’t want to give an ultimatum yet, but she needs help. This… She stayed up all night last night in her basement, pouring through all her texts trying to find references to what Twilight was talking about. Now, she is convinced that there is some sort of cover up on Celestia’s part to hide all real knowledge of humans. In her more excitable moments she thinks that Celestia actually has a portal to human lands and is hiding it from the rest of ponykind.”
That sounded completely and utterly mad. If Lyra actually believed there was some secret conspiracy to conceal the existence of humans… actually, no, from what little I knew of her, that seemed completely in character. Still, she hadn’t struck me as completely unhinged during my few meetings with her (Not counting the one this morning of course). “Well then,” I said “What would you propose we do? I know several good therapists, although they all work in Canterlot. I was telling Vinyl earlier that it might be in her best interest if we staged an intervention, but then, I just met the girl, I am hardly an expert on how she would react to things.”
“No, no, that’s true,” Vinyl said, “But that is why you can help, you are new, you aren’t as attached to Lyra as we are, so you can think a bit more clearly than we can.”
So was that Bon Bon’s game then? She wanted me to make the plans to deal with her marefriend? I wasn’t particularly fond of sneaking around behind somepony’s back, although I had grown accustomed to it during my time in Canterlot, “I think,” I said, “That we need to talk with Lyra openly and honestly, if she is worried that there is a conspiracy of ponies then sneaking around behind her back will only serve to confirm her suspicions, however if we tell her how we feel and talk about what her obsession is doing to her friends, then we might be able to persuade her to see reason.”
The other two ponies nodded their heads in agreement, and I mentally patted myself on the back for coming up with such a convincing argument in such a short amount of time. I have no idea if it was actually sound advice, but it certainly seemed like it.
“Well then,” Vinyl said, entering into the conversation, “I suppose we should talk to her the next time the anthropologist’s club meets.”
Bon Bon tapped her chin a few times before speaking, “Is that such a good idea though? I mean, this whole bout of obsession was triggered because of Twilight’s involvement in the club, maybe bringing her in will worsen the situation.”
That was actually a valid point, still, maybe we could use that to our advantage (Why am I planning out an intervention for somepony I have only recently met, it’s not like the two of us are particularly close), “If we bring Twilight in, she can help dispel these notions she put in Lyra’s mind and maybe explain how she knows so much about humans.”
I was also interested in hearing why Twilight was so interested in learning about mythological creatures that never existed. I could understand Lyra’s interest, but Twilight was a royal princess, such things were… beneath her, or at least they should be. Maybe there is a royal conspiracy after all (And now I am talking like a complete lunatic, perhaps this town’s insanity is contagious).
“Alright,” Vinyl said after a few seconds of thought, “I will try to talk to Twilight tonight to see if she can’t help us out a bit. We will talk with Lyra tomorrow?”
All three of us nodded at that, and I let out a small sigh, I had another silly task to fill up what was supposed to be one of the few days I had left to rest before I had to spend all my time dealing with the orchestra nonsense. Still, it couldn’t take more than a couple of hours, and the rest of the day would be mine to spend as I saw fit. Unless something else that was completely absurd happened, but what were the odds of that? (Why must I insist on tempting fate?)
“Well then,” I said, “Since all this seems to be… sorted for the moment, I suppose we can put this faction to rest for the moment. I do have some things to do after all, and it doesn’t seem like we can make much more progress with Lyra until tomorrow. So until anon,” I bowed my head towards Bon Bon.
She returned the gesture, “Uhmm… okay then,” Bon Bon said, “This was a good talk, glad to have it out of the way… I guess.”
I smiled at her, “Don’t worry Bon Bon, we will handle this, and Lyra will be back to her old slightly-saner self in no time. I give you my word on that.” Where did all of this confidence and charm come from? I was being calm, collected, and reassuring without shoving my hoof in my mouth or alienating anyone. The whole experience was rather peculiar.
“Thank you, Octavia, I am glad Lyra… Glad we have a friend like you.”
I almost said, “I wouldn’t say we are friends quite yet,” but thankfully, my long absent since of tact and decorum prevented me from committing another social faux pas. Instead, I merely smiled at her as she headed towards the door.
“Well,” Vinyl said after Bon Bon left, “I didn’t think you had it in you?”
A compliment? From Vinyl? “Why, whatever do you mean?” I asked as I noticed my stomach rumbling. I should probably eat something before I left for Rarity’s house.
“You, being all diplomatic and polite without shoving your hoof in your mouth. You had a problem and managed to come up with a decent solution. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you were a completely different pony.”
“Oh,” I said as I felt blood rushing to my face, “It’s funny, but I didn’t really plan that out, I just kind of… reacted. Truthfully, I might have been a completely different pony.”
“Well,” Vinyl said, winking at me, “I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of that pony.”
Funny, I know I should have said something in response to that, but my brain and tongue refused to cooperate, and instead I let out a stupid little laugh. It was not my most dignified moment.
“Lyra is lucky to have a friend like you,” Vinyl said, while I stood like a slack-jawed idiot.
“Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to say Lyra and I are friends,” I said, getting my tongue to work a few seconds before my brain.
“What?” Vinyl said, the goodwill in her voice instantly evaporating as her eyes locked on to me.
That was very clearly the wrong thing for me to say, I tried to think of something to say to diffuse the situation, “Well, I just mean that I have only met the pony three times, and one of those times we met because she abducted me in the middle of the night. I don’t think a friendship can be formed after three meetings.”
Her eyes narrowed, “So then why are you helping her?”
“Well,” I said as I rubbed the back of my head, “even though I wouldn’t call Lyra a friend, she strikes me as a mostly decent pony who needs help, and you are my friend, so… I guess I just saw a pony who needed help and decided to lend my aid. It’s… I suppose it is a little silly.”
Vinyl went back to smiling that stupid inscrutable smile of hers, “See, this just proves what I said about you being a good pony deep down,” she said, before leaning in to kiss me on the cheek.
I wanted to remind her that such a thing was probably grossly inappropriate, and she had no business bringing… romantic things into this conversation. Unfortunately, my brain was once again unable to formulate a coherent response. Stupid uncooperative hormones. Not that I am saying I have any romantic affection for Vinyl of course, such a thing would be improper.
“Uhh… yeah,” Vinyl said, “If you are just going to stand there staring off into space, I am going to go upstairs and get to work, and I am sure you have stuff you need to do today too.”
She walked off and my eyes finally regained their focus. Yes, I did have things I needed to do today, and staring off into space after a cute mare kissed me wasn’t one of them. The concert, yes, that was the thing I had to do, although I still had a few hours before Rarity told me I should arrive. So, I could stay in the house and see what Vinyl was up to, or I could arrive at Rarity’s party far, FAR earlier than expected. My case was packed and I was out the door in ten seconds flat.
I managed to find Rarity’s house with minimal issues (I only got lost twice). The place was gaudy, even by Ponyville standards, with the whole thing being modeled after a particularly colorful carousel. Hopefully her fashion sense was better than her architectural tastes.
“Hello,” I said as I knocked on the door, “I hope you don’t mind me arriving a bit earlier than planned.” I heard moving from inside the store, and a few minutes later she had opened her door. From what I could see of the indoors, the place was in total disarray, with decorations resting on the floor, and fabric everywhere.
“Oh, hello Octavia,” Rarity said as she looked out from the opening in the door, “You are here rather early.”
“Yes,” I said, doing my best to smile, “I didn’t have much to do today, so I thought I would arrive a bit early and help you set up, but if you don’t need any assistance, I suppose I could just practice in the park a bit.”
Rarity’s eyes lit up the second I mentioned the word assistance, “Well, I certainly wouldn’t turn down the help, but only if I wouldn’t be imposing on you. You are the musician, after all,you’re not here to help with the set-up.
“Oh, obviously,” I said, working to maintain my smile, “Still, I know how chaotic the hours leading up to a party are, and I thought I could lend my hoof.”
She actually smiled at that, “You know, Octavia, dear, I really do think I misjudged you initially. I thought you were another one of those insensitively brutish Canterlot ponies, but you actually are quite the darling, you know that?”
“Thank you, I know I didn’t make that great of a first impression at our first meeting,” I said.
“Well… Yes,” she said as I made my way inside her boutique, “But Pinkie Pie can be a bit exasperating if you aren’t prepared to deal with her. Besides, you did work to make amends later, and that is what truly counts. Everypony makes mistakes, but it is takes a true lady to admit when she has erred.”
I nodded my head as she spoke, “So,” I said, “What do you need help with?”
Rarity tapped her chin in thought for a second, “I need you to help set up the tables. Now, each table needs to have five plates on it, with each plate being equidistant from the plates on either side of them, and all of them revolving around the floral arrangement at the center of the table. You will also note that there are six tables; they should be arrayed in a similar fashion, with five tables forming a circle around the sixth table. If you need any help, I will be putting the final touches on my displays before bringing them downstairs.”
With that, she trotted off to wherever her work station was, and I worked to make sense of her instructions. I tried to map it out in my head and eventually decided that she wanted the whole thing arranged like a wheel, with each table representing a smaller wheel, wheels within wheels it seemed. Shrugging, I went to work.
My labor was finished an hour later, and I stood back to admire my hoof work. Everything was neat and precise, and I had followed her instructions to the letter. Even the most obsessive of ponies couldn’t find fault with my layout.
“Oh, that is very nice, Octavia,” Rarity said as she descended down the stairs with several mannequins levitating down behind her. The mannequins were clothed in a variety of dresses, some were styled for more formal occasions, others were meant for a more casual occasion. One light blue dress with pink accents caught my eye, it would be absolutely perfect for any future recitals I might have, and it possessed the sleek elegance that I desire in all things. I made a note to inquire about it after the show.
“Yes, it’s very nice,” Rarity said, as she moved the mannequins to their positions, “My only tiny complaint is that you put the orange bouquet in the center, which is where the purple bouquet should go, and some of the other bouquets aren’t in the right position. Still, it is no problem.” With that she rearranged the table’s centerpieces to sit where she wanted it to. I didn’t see much of an aesthetic improvement, but she was the designer, not I.
“So, is there anything else you need assistance with?” I asked as she finished making her tweaks.
“Hmm…” She said, tapping her chin, “I think that is everything I need help with, feel free to practice or relax or do whatever it is you do before you have a concert, I am more than capable of handling the rest.”
“Alright,” I said, taking a position on what I assumed was going to be the stage and pulling out my cello. The practice was mostly uneventful, and I spent a while practicing for my performance tonight.
“So,” I said, trying to make conversation with Rarity while she worked on the party preparations, “What made you want to be a fashion designer?”
“Hmm?” She said, hanging up a banner, “It’s not that much to tell, I’ve always enjoyed designing clothes, and Ponyville needs somepony to keep it fashionable.”
I nodded, if she had taken it upon herself to make this town fashionable, she had more than her fair share of work cut out for her. Still, I have something of a soft spot in my heart for ponies that choose to take on an impossible task. I wonder why. “What about you?” She said, “I know you came to Ponyville to found your little orchestra,” I had no comment for that, “But what brought you into classical music?”
I told her the story about how I had earned my cutie mark after putting on an impromptu performance in Canterlot, and she seemed generally interested in my story while she worked. “Oh,” she said after my story concluded, “So you aren’t a Canterlot native?”
“Well,” I said as another part of my brain continued to play the cello, “Yes, I was born in Manehattan, but I like to think of Canterlot as my home city.”
“Right,” Rarity said, as we both continued to work on our respective projects. The conversation lulled as we continued our work. She continued hanging her banners and other… party things, while I continued practicing my performance for that evening.
“So,” I said, as I recalled the ponies from my party the other, mainly a filly unicorn with a similar coat complexion, “There was a filly with a white coat, and a mane colored similarly to yours, is she your…”
“My sister, yes,” Rarity said, laughing, “I hope Sweetie Belle didn’t harass you too much at your party. She and her friends can be a little… rambunctious.”
I did my best to smile, “She was fine, a bit high energy for me, but perfectly polite. I hope she and her friends didn’t get into any trouble after I ‘inspired’ them to get a cutie mark in classical music.”
“Oh no,” Rarity said, “She and her friends have spent the last few days in their little tree house, doing Celestia knows what.”
“Will they be at your soiree tonight, then?” I asked, as I moved on to practicing the next song.
Rarity gave an emphatic no, “While I love my sister, she and her friends aren’t really… well suited for a fancy party. About as bad as my friends were at the Canterlot garden party.”
I cringed and missed a note as she reminded me of the garden party, “Yes, that party was rather unfortunate, I prefer not to think of it actually.”
“Oh yes,” Rarity said, blushing slightly, “I forgot that you were there with me as well, and for what it is worth, I am sorry about my friend’s behavior.”
“It’s all right,” I said, stopping my practice and waving my hoof dismissively, “Now that I have met most of the ponies responsible for that… disaster of a party, I’ve decided that there is no point in bearing them any ill will. After all, they are very lovely ponies.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Rarity said, taking a step back to survey the party decorations, “And I am glad to see that my initial impression of you was rather… off.”
“As I said before, Miss Rarity, it is perfectly fine. I am not the most sociable of ponies, and I didn’t make that great of an impression during our first meeting. Truthfully, I would be more concerned if my verbal assault on your friend had left you with a positive impression.”
“That is true,” Rarity said, giving one of her canned laughs, “Anyways, I must make sure the catering is ready, please make yourself at home, just… don’t get things too messy.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said as she went out to get the catering. Now that I had the place to myself, I would like to say that I focused on my rehearsals, but that is only half true. While a part of my mind focused on making sure I hit all the right notes, the rest of my mind was free to wander. My thoughts drifted towards my current living situation and reflections on Ponyville in general. The town was definitely less sophisticated than Canterlot, but the ponies here were shockingly kind. After four days, I had made more friends than I had after seven years in Canterlot, and I even liked a few of my friends. Eventually, my thoughts turned, inevitably, towards Vinyl. She was peculiar. Just based off of our personalities, it would seem inevitable that the two of us ended up as enemies. Vinyl was low class, uncouth, uncultured, and far too outgoing, while I was a sophisticated intelligent pony who preferred an evening of quiet contemplation over a night of debauched partying. Yet, despite those differences, I felt a certain affection developing towards her. She was kind, friendly, honest, and even though she frequently called me out for my social mistakes, she made me feel appreciated and helped me be a better pony. Sometimes, when we were talking and her goggles were off, I would catch her looking at me and I felt as if…
The door slammed and I looked up to find Rarity coming in surrounded by silver serving platters. “Hello darling, I hope I wasn’t gone too terribly long,” she said as she set the trays down on the buffet.
“On the contrary, I was so wrapped up in my work; I hardly noticed your absence.” Well, my work and my thoughts, but I saw no need to bother her with them.
“That is wonderful,” she said, making the last few adjustments to the layout, “Now, the guests should be arriving in a few minutes; so do what you have to in order to get ready.”
“Of course,” I said, nodding absent mindedly, as I prepared to move into my first piece. It wouldn’t do to start playing when the first guest arrived, the guests didn’t come to listen to me play, and I needed to fade into the background of the party.
After a few minutes of playing through Concerto No. 7, I heard the door to Rarity’s boutique open and she greeted her first guest. My hooves played, my eyes and ears kept an eye on the guests, and my mind wandered, looking for something to hold its interest while my body was on autopilot. Eventually, I decided to look around and see if I actually recognized any of Rarity’s clientele. The first ponies I recognized were Jet Set and Upper Crust, ponies no musician ever wanted to find themselves working for. Their demands were consistently changing, and if you made a single mistake, they were sure to spend the rest of the party belittling you in front of their guests and refused to pay (I didn’t make mistakes, of course, but I still found their shaming of the musician to be rather obnoxious).
Still, if they were there, then it had to mean that Fancypants was as well, the hangers-on were never far from those that possessed an actual measure of nobility. To my surprise, he was engaged in conversation with the hostess, and Rarity was actually challenging him on some of his points, as opposed to just nodding her head at everything he said. My estimation of her skyrocketed. Before too long, Jet Set and Upper Crust approached Rarity.
“This is such a lovely party dear, I just love the food and decorations,” Jet Set said.
“And the guest list is a wonderful who’s who of the Canterlot nobility,” Upper Crust said chiming in.
“It’s just such a shame,” Jet Set said, his voice becoming unbearably smug (Or more unbearably smug than usual, at least).
“Yes, an absolutely dreadful mistake, really, although it’s understandable that a pony so far from Canterlot would make it.”
“Why, whatever are you talking about?” Rarity asked, doing her best to keep her voice neutral.
“Well, it’s just that the musician you hired has a bit of a reputation in Canterlot,” Jet Set said, and my eye twitched.
“Yes, a rather unhirable reputation,” Upper Crust concluded.
I briefly entertained the idea of beating both ponies to a bloody pulp with my cello before deciding they weren’t worth the damage to my cello. Still, I decided to make it a point to play one of the more technically challenging songs in my repertoire after this song concluded. They probably wouldn’t catch the insult, but it would make me feel better at least.
“Yes, I suppose she does have a bit of a reputation,” Rarity said, her words pricking my pride, “After all, the royal princesses wouldn’t pick just anypony to create Luna’s Royal Orchestra.” I had to repress the urge to throw down my cello and hug Rarity at that moment.
“But don’t you think being sent to Ponyville is a bit of a-” Upper Crust started to say before being interrupted by Fancypants.
“Bit of a what? A wonderful vacation locale? I, for one, have always enjoyed my brief jaunts to Ponyville, and am quite pleased to see it getting the recognition it deserves.”
Upper Crust and Jet Set stammered for a few seconds before backing away sheepishly. If I wasn’t paid a single bit for this show, seeing those two shut down so spectacularly made it worth it (Shut down? What is this town doing to my vocabulary?).
My first song concluded and I moved on to play “Celestia’s Sun”, a staggeringly complex cello composition, that many unicorns worked to master their entire lives. I was going to play it flawlessly. As expected, Jet Set and Upper Crust failed to appreciate my skill, but I noticed several other ears perking up as I started to play. Fancypants and Rarity began to head towards me, “I must say, Rarity, I am impressed you found a musician so young that can play this song. I thought it took years of practice to play proficiently.”
“Only a year, actually, but it does require quite a bit of training,” I said, smiling.
If Fancypants had been impressed before, he was doubly so, now. “Oh my,” he said, “I didn’t think most musicians would talk so freely while playing such a complicated piece.”
“Most wouldn’t,” I said, nodding my head at him, “But I have spent quite a lot of time practicing this song, and now my hooves can play while my brain is otherwise occupied. I find it a bit tiring when a musician has to stop playing to hold a conversation, so I worked to remedy the problem.”
“Very impressive, Miss Octavia. Tell me, have you ever put on a private recital to display your talents?”
“In all honesty,” I said, while mentally berating myself for never even considering a private recital before that very moment, “The thought never crossed my mind, although it is an… intriguing proposition.” So why did I never consider it in all my years of playing cello?”
“Well,” he said, “If you are ever back in Canterlot, I would certainly love it if you played for me and a few other close friends.”
A private performance for Fancpants? The only way this party could get any better was if…
“Us too,” Jet Set and Upper Crust said, “It is so rare you find a musician as talented as Miss Octave, and Jet Set and I always say we have to nurture young talent when we find it,” Upper Crust concluded.
Was if Jet Set and Upper Crust had to swallow their pride and compliment me after their earlier behavior. Pretty soon, I was surrounded by nobles asking if I could play for them when I was next in Canterlot. With so many offers, how could I refuse them? “I would be happy to play for you,” I said, “But I highly doubt I will be in Canterlot until after the Winter Moon Celebration has concluded. I do have to make an orchestra worthy of Luna, after all.”
The sycophants chattered amongst themselves, talking about how honored they would be to have the pony Luna had hoof-picked to form her orchestra play for them. While I had my doubts about how successful the orchestra would be, I was more than happy to bask in their praise. For one brief second, I was euphoric and thought that nothing could ruin my mood. Why do I keep tempting fate?
“Cutie Mark Crusader Classical Musicians Yay!” Of course.
I looked on in horror as three fillies ran into the boutique carrying an assortment of classical instruments. They quickly stormed the stage and shoved me out of the way. Sweetie Belle had a clarinet floating next to her, the pegasus was carrying some drums (Bongos?), and the earth pony was carrying a violin. If I had been in my right mind, I would have gotten back on stage and put a stop to their antics before they could properly begin, but I was transfixed, a part of me wanted to see the ensuing train-wreck. That part of me was not disappointed.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait wrong for things to go sour. The first note the ponies played was off. The earth pony (Who I later found was named Apple Bloom) struggled to properly hold her violin, the pegasus (Scootaloo) just decided to bang on her drums, and Sweetie Belle forgot to make air move through her clarinet (She was using levitation to hold and manipulate the object, although her telekinetic field kept slipping). The resulting sound was… well, I would hate to call their first attempt at making music an abomination against Celestia, but I can’t seem to think of any better words. Guests flinched and tried to plug their ears, and a few seconds later,Apple Bloom lost her grip on the bow sending it flying through the air.
Things happened quickly after that, the bow managed to land on Scootaloo’s drums, and she proceeded to bounce it towards Sweetie Belle, who dropped the clarinet in her panic. The bow finally hit Upper Crust and sent her reeling backwards into one of the candles being used to illuminate the building. The candle, of course, fell to the ground, and immediately set one of Rarity’s dresses on fire. As soon as the fire started, Rarity moved to get her sister and friends out of the building, while Fancypants worked to evacuate the other ponies. For my part, I immediately started looking for a fire extinguisher so I could stop the building from burning down. I quickly found it located next to the exit. In that time, the fire managed to spread to the nearby drapes. Rarity had filled this place with fabrics of all sorts to prepare for her soiree, flammable flammable fabrics.
“Rarity,” I said as I started spraying the extinguisher, “Find a fire marshal, or whatever Ponyville has. Fancypants and I are going to deal with the guests.” She didn’t protest, and a few seconds later, everypony was evacuating the building, while smoke clouded my vision and scorched my lungs. As soon as Fancypants gave the all clear, and I was sure nopony was left behind, I hoofed it out of that deathtrap, and watched as Carousel Boutique went up in flames. I stood there panting as the flames went higher. All things considered, my first private performance could have gone better (Although Rarity was very keen on pointing out that nopony was seriously hurt, and even her cat managed to escape unscathed). The firefighters arrived with Rarity a few minutes later, and managed to put out the fire. The interior of the boutique was completely scorched, but the exterior seemed mostly fine. I stayed with Rarity until after her guests (except Fancypants) had left.
“So, is your sister okay?” I asked between coughing fits. It seemed like the right thing to say at the time.
“Oh, I don’t know if I would say she is okay, our parents are sure to punish her, and she is understandably upset about burning down my boutique and endangering innocent ponies, but she is unharmed.”
The three of us continued to stare at what remained of Carousel Boutique while I coughed intermittently, “For what it’s worth (Cough), I am sorry (Cough) about my role in the whole (Cough) thing.”
“For what, working to make sure nopony was seriously injured?” She laughed slightly at that, although the tears forming her eyes made her act less than convincing.
“For (Big coughing fit) not stopping them as soon as they interrupted me.”
“It’s quite alright Octavia,” Fancypants said, finally entering into the conversation, “Nopony could have expected that things would play out so disastrously.” Rarity nodded her head in agreement.”
“Fancypants is right,” she said, “And if you ever need any help from me feel free to ask, I just hope you aren’t too terribly upset if your payment is delayed.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “Considering (More coughs) that I inadvertently inspired your sister and her friends to (Cough) be classical musicians, I feel it is more than fair that I am not compensated. Besides, (Cough) I am sure you will need every bit you have to rebuild your store. Do you need anymore (Coughing fit) help?”
“I am fine,” Rarity said, “I will just stay with my parents for the next few days while my store is rebuilt, and I am sure Fancypants will see that I get home safely. Now please, go to the hospital and make sure you are okay.”
“I will in the morning,” I said, turning to leave, “If you need (Cough cough cough) any more help, you know where to find me.”
Rarity smiled and thanked me again. After walking a brief distance, I looked back to check on her. She was sobbing and leaning against Fancypants, who had his foreleg draped over her. It was good that she had someone to talk to, I thought, and as I continued to look, I saw four familiar ponies running to greet her. Twilight Sparkle practically knocked me over, which I thought was odd because a.) she could fly, and b.) my house and the library were on opposite sides of the town. Still, I didn’t pay it too much attention.
I walked back to the house lost in my thoughts, occasionally being forced back to the real world by one of my coughing fits. As I continued to walk, I felt myself becoming light-headed, although I was confident it would fade after a few minutes of rest. At least I had a light load, I thought (Because I am apparently an utter idiot).
Vinyl rushed in to hug me as soon as I opened the door, “I’m so glad you are okay,” she said, “The whole town is talking about what happened. You aren’t hurt are you?”
“No, (Cough) I am fine, just have a bit of smoke still stuck (cough cough) in my throat. And don’t worry, I will go see a doctor about it tomorrow, I just wanted to get some sleep beforehand.”
“Glad to hear you are okay, as soon as Twilight and I heard about the fire, she rushed off to meet Rarity, and I had half a mind to follow her.”
“Did she tell you what prompted her sudden interest in humans?” I asked, finally recalling the events that happened before the fire.
“Yeah,” Vinyl said, her voice dropping low, “And I don’t think you are going to like it.”
“Why is that?” I made a motion to put my cello down as she spoke, and in that instant, two very important things happened.
The first thing was that Vinyl looked at me, and said, completely deadpan, “Because, Twilight claims that humans are real, and that she has been to their world.” If I had been paying more attention, I would have let out a shocked gasp, and asked if Vinyl was pulling my leg. But as it was, my mind was already racing down a different avenue.
At that exact same instant, as I groped at where my cello case should be, I finally figured out why my load was so light. It was because I had left my cello. The cello my parents gave me after I earned my cutie mark. The cello I had been practicing on every day for more than ten years. The cello that I considered less an instrument and more an extension of my body. During the confusion, I had left it at Carousel Boutique, the very same boutique that had gone up in flames less than an hour ago.
Humans were real and my cello had been utterly destroyed. There was really only one thing I could do in that situation, I laughed. It started as a little giggle, but quickly became a great big uproarious guffaw, before finally turning into a horrific coughing fit. Vinyl backed up nervously and asked if I was okay, but I didn’t care. Why would I care? My cello had been destroyed, everything else was trivial. My vision began to darken, as the constant horrific coughing took my breath away, and very small part of my brain that was still sanerealized that there was a very real chance that I could asphyxiate, but the rest of me didn’t care because humans were real and my cello was no more. Who could worry about a little thing like death during such a time?
The last thing I heard before my world went dark was a horrific unending coughing.
Stats
Page generated in 0.041 seconds
Total duration
986 users online
406,566 hits today, 2,054,621 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.®
Well that was rather dark. Still nice to see I'm not the only one who believes in the "Crusader Curse".
Good lord. That was indeed dark
Very nice chapter! Keep up the great work
2863875 Crusader Curse? Is that where everything they do ends in hilarious tragedy?
2865529
Pretty much.
I think it says a lot about her that she was more worried about everypony else then her prized cello and only remembering about later, but it kind of sucks that she almost died because of it, I am sure Vinyl will have brought her immediately to the hospital
2888453 Glad you are enjoying. Hopefully the next update will be tonight, although I might go to bed before I can finish editing.
Woooooow....Octy didn't deserve that! A-anyway...*traumatized* Really enjoying this fic so far. Love the characterizations and teh overal feel and dry humor. Off to read more!
Ya... if i were in her position, save everybody, yes, but i would rather die trying to save my instrument...
Oh...CMC, what a disaster...tbeir working should be forbidden by canterlot law
Music that has no lyrics is called a piece and I guarantee you that a classically trained musician would call it a piece or a tune. Also, when are ponies going to sit down the CMC and properly punish them? That always pisses me off in the show. Children need to feel shame and guilt to learn not to do these stupid things.
4654017 You are almost certainly right about that complaint. If you can point out where I erred, I will replace whatever word I used with a better one.
This was the first mistake I noticed, "long absent since of tact and decorum prevented me from committing another social faux pas." I think you meant 'sense of tact', error number 2, "Miss Octave", I believe you meant to say 'Miss Octavia'.
This was the first mistake I noticed, "long absent since of tact and decorum prevented me from committing another social faux pas." I think you meant 'sense of tact', error number 2, "Miss Octave", I believe you meant to say 'Miss Octavia'.
5056982
Dammit Spellcheck!!!!!!
5056982 I actually figured he said the name wrong on purpose because he's a jerk.
Yikes, um . . . that's not good. I hope that Octavia is all right . . . along with her cello.
I can understand Octavia's despair, I think I would end up crying myself to sleep if my violin was burned to a crisp.
Shouldn't that be 'piece'?
6158077 Made all your little fixes up to this point. Thanks for pointing them out.
Called it. What a shame. I lost my first violin ages ago, at least i needed a new one, a full size violin was far better than a 1/2 size, but i still have the second one
ARE YOU FRICKEN KIDDING ME?!
I read too much Dune. Or Wheel of Time, because this gave me some strange mental images.