Symphony

Five years later...

"That was wonderful, Frederic!" exclaimed Octavia as the quartet exited the restaurant. "How much was the bill? It wasn't too much, was it?"

The receipt that Frederic held out of the corner of his mouth read, "The Intuition" in large letters, above some small symbols that told Octavia that he had paid 140 bits for a meal for four.

"No, Octavia. I've got plenty more where that came from," Frederic reassured her.

Harpo and Beauty Brass trailed behind them, talking loudly, obviously drunk. Octavia and Frederic paid them no mind; they were a married couple now, after all.

"Have you got any plans for performances?" Octavia asked.

"Yes, actually," replied Frederic, grinning. "Someone was actually looking for us to perform for them after hearing that we won the Canterlot Young Musicians' Competition. She was quite enthralled."

"Who was it?" pressed Octavia.

"Would you believe it was Celestia herself?"

"What?!" Octavia shook her head in amazement. "N-no, not in a billion years!"

"Tough luck, then. It's a shame that we'll miss you at the Grand Galloping Gala this year." Frederic tsk tsk'ed softly.

Octavia stared at Frederic, eyes as wide as the dinner plates they had been eating off of. "Frederic - that's incredible! Who did you bribe?"

"I told you, the Princess said it herself," Frederic replied. "She happened to attend one of my lectures out of curiosity, and to see what all the acclaim about them was. After the lecture she came to me personally and we had a lovely chat." He flushed as he went on, "I looked like an idiot in front of her, spewing whatever came to mind. She seemed to enjoy my idiocy."

"Again, that's just incredible! Who knew..." Octavia trailed off.

Behind them, Harpo shouted almost incoherently, "I can't wait to be king of the world!"

Beauty Brass screamed just as nonsensically, "Then I get to be your queen!"

The quartet dissolved in laughter on the streets of Canterlot. The receipt fell from Frederic's mouth.

"Frederic," began Octavia, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, "I need to be philosophical."

"Go ahead," came the reply, Frederic's voice still raw from laughing.

"A lot has happened to our little quartet in the past, and there's a lot to look forward to," she said, suddenly serious. "But a lot of our time has been devoted to things other than relaxing. Harpo and Beauty Brass have just finished school, for example, and you've got a job already.

"For what it's worth, we should just have more time to relax, like we did at dinner," continued Octavia. "I wish to live in the present, I guess is what I'm trying to say."

"But aren't you?" asked Frederic, raising a quizzical eyebrow. "You are, after all, highly successful, and you're very influential. It's like you're making a statement in the moment."

"That's not what I mean at all. I mean we should think of other things besides music sometimes. We should go out on long vacations to other places in the world sometime. I've been told Roam's a nice place." Octavia shrugged, as if she hadn't a clue what she was saying.

After a minute's pause, Frederic said, "I believe you're absolutely right, Octavia. Say the word and the world will be our burrito, as they say in Ponyville!"

Octavia looked confused. "When were you in Ponyville, and who said that?"

"It doesn't matter. Hey, look! A taxi!" Frederic pointed, and sure enough, a carraige with the word "TAXI" emblazoned on it was coming down the street. "That's my cue. Your house is down this street, right? I suppose I'll be seeing you around?"

Octavia nodded her assent to both questions. "Do have fun, Frederic."

"Oh, I will, with these two in tow. Goodbye."

Octavia walked on towards home, looking back every once in a while to check if Frederic was making any progress with Beauty Brass and Harpo. No such luck.

She smiled to herself. It had been a great five years, and in the present, it still counted as the "good old days", just as Harpo had predicted.

I hope you're happy with yourself, Harpo, she thought as she opened the door to her house, because I sure am.