Octaviaverse: Strings.

Morning came as quickly as it was expected. Octavia barely waited for the first rays of light before fetching Fleur, Berry and Fiddlesticks. While the good night's rest had cleared up her head and calmed her mood, she was still very eager to get this whole mess over with. Hugin stood on her back, having decided to see the outcome for himself.

"Don't you think its a bit early Octavia?" he asked. "Berry might not even be awake yet."

"I need to see this through Berry. I have to see if Fiddlesticks is lying or not."

"Why? So you can lock her away? Or to prove Berry wrong?"

Octavia didn't answer, instead choosing to walk faster. A few ponies already on the streets, some of them already wondering why did the musician from Canterlot had a complete set of farming toys on her doorstep. She was going to have to clear up her name at this rate, lest somepony gets the wrong idea about her. Her musings stopped once they arrived to the tavern.

Octavia knocked. Nopony answered. In fact, there wasn't any sign of anything that indicated that Berry was awake. Octavia knocked once more, this time a lot stronger. A muffled voice was heard coming from inside, followed by hooves walking some stairs. Very light hooves in fact, give the little noise they made.

"Berry, I need-" Octavia stopped once the door fully opened. "Who are you?"

"My name is Ruby Pinch." a little filly answered. "If you're looking for my sister, she's up in her room. She's still sleeping."

"Why didn't she come herself?" Hugin asked. Ruby Pinch shrugged before walking back inside, leaving the door open. Octavia and Hugin shared a look, before following the little filly. The tavern was cold, though it was probably only the first floor. Octavia followed Ruby up the stairs that were behind the bar.Her stomach flipped when she saw the stairs that led to the basement.

The second floor of the tavern was pretty simple. A main room, a bathroom and two rooms, one for each inhabitant. Flowing water could be heard coming from the bathroom. Ruby walked to one of the doors and knocked, hard. The only response was a grunt. Ruby bucked the door open.

"Berry, your friend is here!" she hollered. A bundle wrapped in red sheets twitched on the small bed that occupied most of the room. Berry''s head popped between the folds, visibly sleepy. Hugin snickered at the sight.

"Oct...Octavia?"

"Where is Fiddlesticks?" Octavia asked. At that moment, the door from the bathroom opened, allowing a now completely clean Fiddlesticks to walk out. Octavia could only blink a couple of times in shock. Even without the disguise, Fiddlesticks and Octavia were pretty much identical. The only thing different between them was the color of their manes and fur. And the clothing too, since she was now wearing an old green shirt.

"Eh...good morning?" Fiddlesticks asked nervously.

"Good morning." Octavia replied coldly.

"Hey Octavia..." Berry mumbled as she dragged herself out of bed. "Why are you here so early?"

"I want to put an end to this as soon as possible. Get ready."

Berry mumbled something unintelligible before walking to the bathroom.

"Not a morning pony apparently..." Hugin said. Octavia motioned Fiddlesticks to follow her while Berry washed herself up. Outside, the sun was now fully visible in the sky, showing Equestria a beautiful morning. Not that it grabbed Octavia's attention ver much.

"Hugin, go get Fleur and tell her to meet us at our place."

Hugin nodded and set off, quickly becoming a small stain of black in the otherwise completely blue sky. Meanwhile, a tense silence fell between the two mares. Octavia patiently stood near the door, waiting for her friend, while poor Fiddlesticks fidgeted in place, not knowing if to stay quiet or try to apologize again now that they were alone.

"Uhmm...Octavia, Ah'-"

"Don't say anything." Octavia said sternly. "Don't talk to me until this is over."

Fiddlesticks, closed her mouth, glumly looking at the ground. She still didn't believe her. Her temper may have calmed down, but apparently, not her grudge. Even though she could hardly blame her, Fiddlesticks couldn't help but to feel a bit of frustration build inside of her. What was it going to take for this mare to believe her?

"You could have sent Hugin to get me instead..." Berry snarked as she walked out of the house.

"Something tells me you would have just thrown a pillow at him." Octavia replied. "Lets go."

Fleur was already at the door of the tree house by the time they arrived. Hugin was perched on a branch, and both were talking. Fleur smiled as she saw her friends approach.

"Octavia, Berry! What a lovely morning are we having." she gazed at Fiddlesticks. "Good morning Fiddlesticks."

Fiddlesticks nodded in response.

"Okay Octavia, now what? We call the guards?" Berry asked.

"No need...for I already sent for them."

Everypony but Hugin gasped at the news.

"You what?!"

"Without us?!"

"But you don't where the farm is!"

Octavia waited until everypony calmed down before answering. For all the hollering and complaining, she remained unfazed by the response she was getting.

"I figured we could save time, no need to waste all morning after all. As for where the farm is...lets just say that being the protege of the princess can have its perks."

"You could have waited for us Octavia." Fleur said. "That wasn't very nice."

Octavia didn't answer the accusation. Sensing the slight dampener on the mood, Berry decided to act.

"Okay, so the guards are done. Now what?" she asked.

"Now we wait. If Fiddlesticks is telling the truth, they should be back in a couple of hours."

"Doing what?" Fleur asked.

"What I have been trying to do since yesterday."

Once again, Octavia headed to the mail office, this time followed by Fleur, Berry and Fiddlesticks, with Hugin perched on her back. After yesterday's event, he distance to the office seemed much more shorter than it really was, something that Octavia was grateful for. She had just about enough of running around the town like a maniac. All she had to do was sent a reminder to the princess to send her cello and she would have it by the end of day, if not before.

"But..you still need money, right=" Berry asked. Fiddlesticks tried to make herself smaller.

"I need money to retrieve packages, not to send letters." Octavia smirked. "This will be a piece of cake."

The mail mare smiled nervously when she saw Octavia enter her place. She had talked to the banker. Words of a furious mare that was shouting at the stores still ringed in her head.

"Go-good morning!"

"Good morning. I would like to send a letter please." Octavia asked. The mare nodded quickly, bringing out a paper and a quill. Octavia grabbed the quill with her hoof, writing slowly and elegantly, just as she was taught.

"You use your hoof to write? Its must be hard." Fleur comented. Octavia inwardly grinned. Her skills with the cello came very in handy for situations like this. Once the letter was ready, the mail mare quickly excused herself with it, leaving the four mares alone.

"The princess will send my cello to me and I will be able to play." Octavia said.

"Been a while hasn't it?" Hugin chuckled.

"Shut it feathers."

Time went by at snails pace, as none of the ponies had any interesting idea concerning what to do in the mean time. Berry suggested they had a drink, but was quickly shut down. The only really productive thing they did was walk towards the tree house, were the guards were supposed to stop to inform Octavia. After nearly an hour of doing nothing, the time to break the ice had arrived, and it was Berry's self imposed job to fix it.

"What happens once they get there?" Berry asked.

"We find out if Miss Copycat here was telling the truth or not."

"Uhm, could you...stop calling me that?" Fiddlesticks said. Octavia rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Why should I? I am not exactly lying, unlike some ponies." she pointed a hoof at the farmer. "You lied and stole, and we are doing this only because Berry has faith, Clestia knows why, because if it were by me, I would have you arrested, even after that story you told us, a story that is probably fake!"

"My story is true." Fiddlesticks said firmly. "Ah understand that you don't believe me. You can call it a lie and all that, but Ah' have a name. If you're gonna keep holding a grudge against me, then at least call me by name."

"Well I am sorry, but apparently, you took mine, remember?"

Fiddlesticks looked she was about to respond, but chose to said nothing, instead preferring to distance herself from Octavia, doing her best to hide the tears in her eyes. Berry walked to her, giving Octavia a short glare in the process.

"Why is she looking at me like that? I am not the bad guy, Fiddlesticks. Why does she even believe her?!" Octavia asked Fleur. Fleur looked at Berry, who was trying to console Fiddlesticks. She sighed and returned her attention to Octavia.

"Do you remember when I told you that you had to calm down?"

"I do."

"Well, it not only means that you have to literally calm down. It also means that you have to keep a clear head and not let your anger cloud your judgement." she pointed a hoof to Fiddlesticks. "Look at her. I think she does look pretty upset about what she did. She's trying to apologize, but your not letting her."

"But what if she's lying now? What if all this is just some desperate attempt to avoid prison? Berry is trusting her right off the bat like if she was some sort of angel. Why?"

"Because its the right thing." Berry called. Fleur staid quiet. Octavia was about to respond when the flapping of mighty wings reached their ears. Three royal pegasus guards dressed in gray armor arrived, landing in front of the group.

"Octavia Clef?" One of them asked. Fiddlesticks hid behind Berry.

"Yes. Thats is me." Octavia answered.

"We have done as the princess instructed and searched the field grounds."

"And?"

"We found griffin feathers inside the barn of the farm, along with some knives and swords. They have been confiscated and we are currently searching for possible griffins."

Octavia's mouth was agape. She looked at the guards, then at Fiddlesticks, then at the guards again and finally, at Berry, who was smiling like an idiot. It was the truth. She was telling the truth. Fiddlesticks the copycat had been telling the truth.

"Miss?" One of the guards asked, snapping Octavia out of her stupor.

"I...thank you." she murmured. The guards took that as their cue to leave and promptly cleared the area. Silence for a few minutes until Berry cleared her throat.

"Well?" she said, motioning towards Fiddlesticks. Octavia was hesitant, but a small nudge from Fleur was enough to get her going.

"I am...sorry for not believing you..." she grumbled. Fiddlesticks was confused for a second, but accepted the apology with a smile.

"And Ah'm sorry for taking your bits and lying in your name. That was wrong." she extended a hoof. "Peace?"

Octavia eyed the hoof carefully before extending hers, bumping Fiddlesticks leg.

"Peace."

The four ponies went inside the tree house, no longer worried about the tension in the air. However, now that all the questioning and doubting had gone away, another important issue remained. Octavia was still out of bits, and something had to be done about the cart with all the farming tools and seeds.

"What do we do with them?" Hugin asked. Octavia looked at Fiddlesticks. She sighed.

"You can keep them Fiddlesticks...its not like I need or anything."

Fiddlesticks face was radiant with joy, only darkened with one thing. "But what about you?"

"I'll just ask the princess to send me some bits for the month. Shouldn't be too hard. All I need is-UGH!"

Fiddlesticks had rushed to hug her, laughing all the way, and was spinning her around easily. Octavia could swear she could hear her ribs creaking a little. She awkwardly pulled herself free, not used to such display of emotion. A few minutes later, Fiddlesticks was ready to leave, being hooked to the cart and everything.

"Ah'll never forget this Octavia, Fleur, Berry." she wiped a tear from her eye. "With this Ah' can save ma'h farm! Thank you so much!"

"Well, I guess thats all wrapped up." Fleur smiled as she watched the smoke behind the cart fade.

"You said it." Berry added.

"Why?" Octavia asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you trust her so easily?" Octavia asked Berry. "She had stolen and lied, and you had no proof whatsoever that she was telling the truth. How did you know?"

Berry chuckled for a bit before answering.

"I didn't. I had no proof, and no real way of knowing anything. All I had was her word, and I believed it. I prefer to take ponies for their word, even if I don't any real reason why. Thats why its called trust." she smirked. "Besides, your the pot calling the kettle black. Back at the forest, you were in the exact same situation, well not exactly the same, but close enough to be the same situation. All we had was your word, and who trusted you, uh? Who did?"

"You did..." Octavia groaned.

"Thats right, I did!" she patted her on the back. "Now, Octavia, Fleur, Hugin...I say we go get ourselves something to drink? Something not alcoholic?" she added as she noticed the glares. Fleur nodded, as did Hugin, but Octavia staid still, her gaze turning towards the tree house.

"You three...go on ahead. There is something I have to do..."

Her friends looked at each other before shrugging and moving on. Octavia entered her home, immediately going for the table, where a quill, ink and paper were placed, ready for use.

"I can't believe I'm doing this..." she muttered as she began tow write.

Princess Twilight...

You asked me to write friendship reports during my stay here in Ponyville. At the beginning, I felt both confusion and irritation at the task that you gave, as I so vocally expressed. By the time I met the ponies that would become my friends, I had forgotten all about it. However, recent events, of which I shall explain the details later, have reminded me of this duty, as today, I have learned my first lesson.

True trust is something that has to be earned. However, to deny somepony else of completely trust is not only foolish, its dangerous. I nearly made a very deep mistake, one that could have cost a mare everything, had not Berry stopped me. Giving the benefit of the doubt is risky, but as I learned today, its a risk worth taking.

Your student.

Octavia Clef.

PS: I am afraid I am out of money. Could I ask for a small loan so me and Hugin can buy food for the month?