Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings. She was ready for another day of practicing. She stretched her legs and sprang up from the ground. She flew up, higher and higher. She loved that feeling. All the blood in her body shifting. Wind whispering to her. She felt weightless. Her wings held her up, her weapon in the fight against gravity. She breathed in the cool air, gaining speed with every breath and flap of her wings. The wold was shrinking beneath her, the sky grew larger. She focused all her energy on flying. She felt the air twisting around her, trying to stop her. She went up higher and higher till she could barely breath. There was a nearby cloud, and she rested on it. Looking down, she saw that the ground was so far away. She loved it up here. Everything was calmer, better. She had no worries, responsibilities, nothing. She was at bliss. The peaceful breeze blew through her messy mane. The cloud beneath her was holding her up, but she felt lie she was floating. She dangled her hoof over the side. Closing her eyes, she rest her head. She could live up here. Forget the Wonderbolts, she thought. Everything up here was perfect. She wouldn't ever need a thing. She would sleep. Sleep forever, for eternity.
Octavia stood on the empty stage in the concert hall filled with hundreds of ponies. She removed her bow from the strings of the bass. The final note echoed. A second of silence and then came the thunderous clapping from the audience. She closed her eyes and bowed, her hair slipping over her shoulder. She rose back up as the curtains closed. Octavia had just finished her first solo concert in the Canterlot Royal Music Hall. She had been waiting her whole life for that moment, ant it was over. She quietly dragged her bass backstage and placed it in its rack. The smell of polished wood and rosin filled the air. She sat there, backstage, thinking and smelling the air. It was a beautiful smell. She closed her eyes again, remembering her first concert. She was a little filly, playing the cello. She got her cutie mark that day. But she discovered the beautiful, deep, pure sound of a bass. She fell in love with it. She had played the bass her whole life. She kept to herself, she didn't need anyone but her bass. Her parents worried, but she didn't care. She loved music. She only cared about music. Her heart, her soul, every part of her was held together with that simple word.
