Unfortunately as he was running through the forest, Doublebeats thought process was interrupted when he tripped on a root and fell to the ground. Groaning at his own lack of awareness, Doublebeat got up and kept running, never stopping until he made it to the academy. Sneaking carefully and quickly around buildings he slowly made his way closer to the entrance. From there it was just a quick trot back to Ponyville, where he could finally enjoy his midday meal.

Sitting down at one of the outside tables to a restaurant, he took a look up at the sign reading "Scarecrows Garden." The paint was peeling slightly but the colors were still vibrant, for oranges and browns at least. Sighing as he waited for the waiter to come around Doublebeat reached for his backpack and supplies but was met with empty air.

"Gah! Idiot, I must have left my stuff in the forest!"

The stallion facehooved and pushing his mane out of his eyes he blinked in stunned silence at the sudden appearance of a white unicorn in a suit.

"Again?" The server rolled his eyes and levitated a pencil and some paper out from his coat pocket, "I guess you'll be wanting this then."

Doublebeat grabbed the tools hastily and set them on his table, scrawling a few lines out before looking up again.

"Thanks! But how did you-"

The unicorn snorted, shook his head, and with a smile he gestured at the diners windows.

"Mister Scarecrow saw you fly in without your saddlebags and told me to take them to you, you can thank him."

Doublebeat blinked and squinted into the shady building, but couldn't see anything more than a few empty tables.

"Can I get you anything else?"

"Uh, I guess a Sunflower-burger would be nice," Doublebeat said with a shrug before he dived back into his work, He soon began to get so enthralled with his own writing he didn't notice his order as it was placed next to him, nor the grey earthpony who sat across from him and ordered the same thing.

"I see you're still going to the same restaurant," She said.

"Octavia!" Doublebeat jumped, hitting his hoof on the table with a yelp, the mare chuckled lightly and waited for him to calm down.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Doublebeat stuttered out.

"I had some free time, so I thought I'd check on you," Octavia's eyes darted to the paper Doublebeat had started guarding with one leg, "What are you writing?"

Doublebeat pulled his work back from her outstretched hoof. Octavia Sinfonia may have been the quiet pegasus' best friend since he got into the academy. He was never very good at hiding things on his own, instead he relied on his uncanny skill to go unnoticed and ignored by just about everypony else, or unintentionally passing himself off as an extreme clutz. Not that he wasn't, but when situation stuck him with rooming with the analytical cellist it grew harder to keep his secret from her, and eventually she found everything out. Luckily he made her promise to help him out... for a price.

She would never stop annoying him about it.

"Can I see it?" Octavia asked.

Doublebeat considered it for less than a second, keeping his eyes fixed squarely on her hoof.

"No," He answered bluntly and pulling back farther.

Octavia sighed and reclined back in her seat, thanking the waiter when he delivered her food with a nod. Doublebeat resumed his writing while Octavia ate, and the pair continued like that until she finished.

"Are you going to the concert hall tonight?" The blue eyed mare asked.

"No."

"Are you sure? I hear Storybook Symphony will be performing a solo."

Beat rose a brow, "Storybook? I thought he only plays in his own shows."

Octavia snorted, slumping back, "One can still hope."

Doublebeat stopped writing and pretended to check his work, Three, two, one.

"Honestly, why must he waste his talent everyday, playing like a common street busker? A unicorn with his talent could easily get into the royal symphony itself, hay, one could even teach the symphony!"

Storybook Symphony, Doublebeat never heard Octavia use strong language for any other subject. Ever since they stumbled across one of his little 'acts' in the town square she had been obsessing over the stallion. Dragging Doublebeat along whenever she heard there was a show going on, or hitting the library to do more research on him. Or she was researching other things, Beat never asked.

"I don't see what the big deal is, aren't you two like cousins or something?" Beat thought the fact was one of Octavia's earliest discoveries.

"Humph, no; the Sinfonia family branched off of his four generations back, the bulk of our family is in small towns like Ponyville and Appaloosa while the current Symphony family head lives east, in Fetlock."

Doublebeat frowned and looked up in confusion, "Octavia, Fetlock is a small town, too."

"Yes, but ours are colonial towns, built for fertile land and business, Fetlock has centuries of history behind it! Did you know it was founded similarly to Canterlot? A few ponies trying to survive found a lake and-"

Beat sighed and tuned out his friends lecture. He was about to return to his work when he saw a group of ponies behind her walking away on the other side of the street.

"Aren't they students?"

Octavia twisted around to look at the crowd and the brown pegasus saw her ears flatten.

"Yes," She hissed, "But it's Vinyls group."

"Vinyl?" Beat searched the group for the pony she must have been referring to, it took him a few seconds but he found her.

She was a unicorn with a white coat, unimpressive at first, but that was before you got to her mane and tail. Both were an eye catching electric blue and cut jaggedly in a sort of messy-but-nice fashion. The only two notable features on her face were an enormous pair of sunglasses blocking her eyes, and a confidant smile as she talked and laughed with her friends.

"I wouldn't bother following them," Octavia warned when Doublebeat began to stand, "Vinyl is only a trouble maker, she barely shows up to class at all."

Beat ignored her and began to trot down after the group, leaving Octavia alone at the table with his uneaten burger. The cellist sighed as he disappeared down the road, fishing around her saddlebags for the proper change she got up to leave, stopping just as she spotted her roommates paper. After a quick glance either way, she grabbed the sheet and left.

Author's Note

So, with my mouse hovering over the button I contemplated.

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before.

In the end I decided to just go along and publish it now. I read over it twice and edited out what parts I could find, I hope you like it.

The ending of chapter one.