Elegant, Indeed
It was a beautiful, sunny day. The birds were chirping, children were playing, and you could practically hear some peaceful music playing. All and all, it was just the best day for a nice and peaceful picnic with a group of friends.
“Ugh! Where is Fluttershy?!”
Well… almost peaceful…
Rainbow Dash facehoofed, while the others groaned in annoyance. “She’ll be here soon, Discord,” the pegasus reassured him, probably more annoyed with the draconequus’s whining than the others.
“But we’ve been waiting for ages,” Discord complained.
“We’ve only been waiting for five minutes,” Applejack corrected him, her unamused expression matching the tone in her voice.
Not liking the tone that came out of the southern belle’s mouth, he snapped the fingers on his lion paw. In a flash, the hat upon her head transformed from a Stetson, to a giant half orange peel carcass that overtook her entire head and soaking her in orange juice.
Pinkie Pie broke out into a fit of laughter, whilst Rarity simply scooted away from Applejack as far as she could to keep herself from being touched from the stickiness of the fruit juice. Twilight glared at draconequus.
“Discord! What was that for?”
“She was being rude to me,” he explained, crossing his arms together.
“Get this darn thing off of me,” Applejack demanded, having a hard time getting the giant peel off of her head due to how slippery and sticky her hooves were.
“No,” he protested, his face turning into a pout. He then opened one eye, looking in the country mare’s direction. “Not until you apologize for your rudeness towards me.”
The country pony sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Discord gave a little smirk before snapping his lion paw once again. A bright flash of light appeared, immediately getting rid of the giant fruit peel.
With a sigh of relief, Applejack wiped her forehead, only to find out very quickly that she was still soaked in orange juice. “Hey,” shouted the mare, “I’m still covered in juice.”
“You just told me to get the peel off of your head,” he pointed out. “You didn’t ask to be cleaned up as well.”
The orange pony groaned whilst the draconequus stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. The rest of the ponies glared at him; all except for Pinkie Pie, who was still laughing uncontrollably.
Discord smiled wickedly in victory until a familiar voice spoke from behind him.
“Um… did we miss anything?”
His face automatically froze. He knew that voice anywhere. It was the voice that always seemed to calm him down whenever he was in a fit of rage. A voice that belonged to the one pony that he could tell anything to. He turned around to see just the pony he was waiting for.
“Fluttershy,” he said, with huge grin on his face. The little ends of the white tuft on his tail snapped, making Applejack clean as a whistle. He then picked up the little yellow pegasus. “Oh, it’s about time you got here,” he exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. “I was getting awfully irritated.”
“That’s a bit of an understatement, darling,” Rarity said.
He rolled his eyes, ignoring Rarity’s comment. It was then that a certain thought struck him. He released the mare from his embrace, facing her directly. “Wait a minute, did you say ‘we?’”
Fluttershy nodded her head, her wings flapping in the air. “I invited a good friend of mine to join us.”
Discord’s right eye twitched a bit. She invited a friend, he asked himself. Another one? It’s bad enough I have to sit through a picnic with all the others, but a new one? He looked downward to see that there was indeed another pony along with Fluttershy.
She was an earth pony with a grey fur coat and perfectly well-groomed raven mane that seemed to shine in Celestia’s sunlight. The most notable thing about her, however, was that she wore a pink bowtie around her neck.
Oh, I do hope she not one of those snooty ponies from Canterlot, Discord thought to himself.
Setting herself down next to the young mare, Fluttershy spoke. "Everypony, this is my friend Octavia. Octavia, these are my friends Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack,” she said, gesturing to each one of them and giving them brief moments wave “hello” to the mare. “And this is Discord,” she said, with a wide grin on her face. She thought she would save the best for last, in her opinion.
Octavia gave them all a slight nod, smiling. “It is very nice to meet each and every one of you,” she said, a sultry British accent escaping her lips. “Fluttershy has told me so much about you.” She lifted her head to look Discord in the eyes. “Especially you, Discord.”
A slight shade of red appeared across Fluttershy’s face, which he saw and had a huge grin spread across his face.
“Oh, you have, have you,” he teased her, his body encircling the pegasus like a serpent.
She felt her face become hot as fifty glasses of steaming apple cider. “U-uh…” she stammered, her blushing becoming more apparent. “So, how about lunch,” she asked, rather quickly.
“Yes, please,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, almost out of relief. “I’m starving!”
The group of friends sat on the red and white checkered blanket in the middle of the local park. There were daisy and dandelion sandwiches, chocolate chip muffins, apple juice, and some of Fluttershy’s famous tea cakes as set up on the fabric. Throughout the picnic they were some jokes told by Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Rainbow Dash getting into an intense debate about which of the Daring Do book were the best, and Discord talking about adventure he and Fluttershy had with the CMC a few months back.
“So, Octavia,” Rarity began, “how did you and Fluttershy meet?”
“Yeah, I mean you’re one of the most elegant ponies in probably all of Equestria,” Pinkie Pie said, stuffing a chocolate chip muffin in her mouth.
“Well, let’s face it guys, Fluttershy is pretty elegant herself,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. Everypony murmured in agreement, causing a light shade of pink to form on the pegasus’s cheeks.
Octavia chuckled. “Well, Fluttershy and I actually met in a music class, I believe back when I first moved to Ponyville. Isn’t that right?”
Fluttershy nodded her head, confirming the explanation. “That’s right.”
“Music class? You took a music class, Fluttershy,” Applejack asked, surprised to find out this new information.
“Yes, I did, Applejack.”
“But I thought you hated performing in public,” Rainbow Dash asked, slightly confused.
“I’m slowly getting over it…” she mumbled softly.
“Well, she and I were the only ones taking the class at the time,” Octavia said, clarifying all the confusion as best as she can. “I was practicing on the cello, and she was actually taking lessons on the violin. Though, I never really understood why considering she’s a complete natural,” the British mare complemented.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Discord said, bringing his lion paw and eagle claw in mid-air gesturing for them to stop. “Violin? There’s no way she plays the violin. Frankly, Fluttershy you’ve never even told me you could play.”
“Yeah, Fluttershy, why haven’t you told us,” Twilight asked, curious to hear the rest.
“Oh, well… I-I didn’t think you would want to hear me play a silly little instrument. Besides, I’m not that great.”
Octavia scoffed at Fluttershy’s comment. “Don’t be so modest, Fluttershy. I’m sure they would love to hear you play.”
“Yes, darling, we’d absolutely love for you to play for us,” Rarity said, encouragingly.
“Can you play for us right now,” Pinkie Pie asked, getting really excited.
“O-oh, well, Octavia and I haven’t brought our instruments,” the pegasus said regretfully.
“Allow me to help you with that, my dear,” Discord said, bowing in a sort of elegant manner. A bright flash of light suddenly appeared out of nowhere once the draconequus snapped a couple of his fingers that were on his eagle claw. In a millisecond, a cello and bow appeared appeared in Octavia’s hooves, whilst a violin and another bow appeared in Fluttershy’s.
Shocked, the shy pony lifted her head, looking her chaotic friend in the eyes. “Really, Discord?”
“Hey, if she says that you’re a natural, I want to be able to witness it myself.”
A bright smile appeared across her fair and gentle face. She then quickly gave him a hug before flying over to the earth pony’s side. The rest of the girls and Discord made themselves comfortable on the picnic blanket while the two of them were setting themselves up.
Octavia stood up on her hind legs, placing her bow on the strings of the cello. She glanced over at Fluttershy, who had properly placed her chin on the chinrest. “Ready?”
The pegasus hesitated for a moment, suddenly becoming nervous. Sure, she would just be performing in front of her friends again, and Discord for the very first time, but what if she forgot the notes to something? What if she just froze entirely? What if her friends didn’t like the way she played?
She looked over to all of her friends who were looking directly at the two of them. They all gave her encouraging smiles and gestures for her to go on ahead and play something. It wasn’t until she looked over to the draconequus on the far right. No words came out of his mouth but a gentle smile and a wink from the eye.
A scarlet color took over her face as she smiled. Feeling a slight boost of confidence, she nodded her head to the grey mare, implying that she was ready.
Octavia began to move her bow across the strings of her instrument. A low, haunting melody taking over the park as she continued to play. The haunting melody soon took a different turn once Fluttershy began to move her bow across the strings of her violin.
Just from the first couple of the notes that she had played on her instrument, each and every one of her friends were stunned at how indeed of a natural she was. The two string instruments combined had made a sort of an elegant tone. A very elegant, beautiful piece of composition that they had ever heard.
Discord had to be the most impressed out of everypony. He knew that Fluttershy had many talents: communicating with animals, knitting, and he couldn’t forget about her lovely singing voice. But now witnessing the one pony that he absolutely adored play possibly one of the most beautiful instruments he had ever heard was just breathtaking.
Listening to both her and the British mare play music together was so soothing that he felt as if he could escape from whatever was troubling him in an instant. The more he listened closely to the two ponies play, the more he thought that this sort of music fit them both. It was calming, beautiful and it was…. what was the word he was looking for?
Ah, yes. Elegant. Quite elegant, indeed.