A New Ponyville Melody

Well, that was certainly something.

Octavia stood in Ponyville Park as the Foal and Filly Fair disassembled itself around her. The young ponies she had been playing for waved goodbye to her as they grabbed their belongs and left, and she waved politely back as they disappeared in the distance.

Her head throbbed faintly. She was still quite disoriented by the rapid series of events she had been through. First, she had been enjoying a nice stroll through downtown Canterlot, when a bright flash of green light had blinded her. The next thing she knew, she was playing her bass for a bunch of little foals in Ponyville of all places along with her bandmates. On top of that, there had been those spontaneous transformations happening to things all around her, the streets had even turned to gold. Once it had stopped, three princesses had shown up in town to deal with cleaning up the mess.

Octavia still wasn’t sure what had caused all this, but the strange day had left her absolutely exhausted. Nothing sounded better to her than heading home, pouring herself a nice glass of chardonneigh, and curling up in her nice warm bed.

Unfortunately her bed was miles away in Canterlot, and she had a two hour train ride to look forward to before she could do any relaxing. Heaving a long, tired sigh, Octavia turned and started walking slowly toward downtown Ponyville. She wasn’t quite sure where the train station was, so she hoped that she might meet someone on the way who could direct her.

How quaint, she thought as she looked around at the small shops and cottages that lined the streets of Ponyville. She was so used to the glamour and large buildings of Canterlot, that it was rather refreshing to smell the clean air and to hear the sounds of ponies laughing together.

Time moved differently here. Days weren't just made up by a series of appointments. Ponies didn't spend all their time going between point A and point B. She saw friends sitting together in cafés, and lovers embracing each other in the street.

It wouldn’t be all that bad to live somewhere like this.

Octavia knew this was impossible though, no matter how appealing the idea was. Her bass kept her firmly rooted on Canterlot with all the orchestras and smaller ensembles she was involved in. And though she loved her music dearly, she wasn’t too attached to the other parts of Canterlot life.

She was annoyed by all the self-entitled stuck up ponies who felt as if her music was their right. She was annoyed at the way they constantly looked down on everything around them. Most of all, she was annoyed that no one in Canterlot was willing to say what was really on their mind. The high society ponies functioned as a hive mind, only ever liking things that their peers liked; basing all of their opinions on what was ‘in’.

If her orchestra performed a new piece, all of Canterlot would decide what they thought of it based on the reviews of one or two critics. Works that had negative reviews rarely had any viewers at all after the first week. Everypony was vain and insincere, and Octavia was just sick of it.

That’s not to say that everything about Canterlot bothered her. She had been raised as a high society pony, and shared some of their high society sensibilities. A nice glass of wine, tea and biscuits, or the sharing of small talk around the hors d'oeuvres table were all things she quite enjoyed.

More than anything, she just felt confused.

Looking up, she noticed a small music shop nestled in between a cafe and a flower stand.

The F Hole, read big bold letters over the door. Approaching the window, Octavia could see what looked like a large selection of CD’s and vinyls, as well as a good selection of musical instruments. She even saw a beautiful, old bass standing in the corner.

This looks like an… interesting spot, she mused. It couldn’t hurt to just take a look inside. As she pushed through the opaque glass double doors, a bell overhead heralded her arrival.

The place was quiet, dusty, and empty as far as she could tell. As she looked around, her eyes fell on the antique bass in the corner, and she walked toward it, it certainly looked like quite an instrument of quality.

“Hey, what’s happening? Can I help you with anything?” A white-coated unicorn with a shock of electric blue hair appeared from behind a towering shelf of old CD’s.

“Aahh!” Octavia started, jumping. Then, when she realized it had just been a friendly employee, she blushed lightly. “ Oh, I apologize, you startled me.”

“It’s all good. Is there anything particular in here you were looking at?” The strange pony asked.

“Well, that is a beautiful bass you have there. Might I ask where you got it?”

“That old thing? I’m not really sure. I sorta just inherited this place from my dad. I’d normally tell you to ask him, but he’s… well…”

Octavia caught on quickly. “ Oh, you poor thing. It must be hard to have to run a shop that isn’t yours.”

The employee looked downtrodden. “Yeah, it’s tough. But I’m glad I’m doing it, y’know? The shop’s always been in the family and now it’s my turn to take the lead.” She said. “It’s just hard because sometimes I don’t know everything the customers ask. I’m learning though.”

“Yes, well I’m sure you’ll catch on quickly. Do you play anything yourself?”

“Me? I’m a DJ,” The unicorn announced, some of her former enthusiasm returning. “I make electronic music. What about you? I’m guessing you play the bass.”

“However did you know?” Octavia responded sarcastically.

“You wanna check it out? You can play it if you like.” Octavia felt herself being led over to the corner. She looked at the clock on the wall.

“Oh no, that’s fine. I need to be heading out anyway.” She started walking towards the door. “Thank you for your time… what was your name?”

“I’m Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch”

“My name is Octavia Melody. Thank you for your time Vinyl, I hope all goes well with your father’s shop.”

“Thanks. Bye Octavia.”

Octavia pushed out the door and back into the streets of Ponyville. She was once again shocked by the crisp, clean air.

I do hope Vinyl does alright with her business.

She paused for a moment right outside the shop, remembering that she still had no idea where the train station was, and turned to head back inside. She saw Vinyl using her magic to move some electronic equipment around on one of the upper wall displays. She waited for her to finish before speaking, so as not to startle her and cause her to drop something.

“Miss Vinyl?” She asked, causing the white unicorn to start a bit before looking over at her.

“Just Vinyl, please. Miss just makes me feel old, and that is not cool.” She replied before starting to work on the next display.

“Very well, Vinyl, could you direct me to the nearest train station? I need to return to Canterlot as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, sure. Just keep going past this shop and take your second left, keep going and it should be off to your left once you reach the end of the street.”

“Thank you again, Vinyl.”

“No prob, laters.” She said without taking her focus off her work.

Octavia continued on towards her destination, continuing to take in the sights of small town life. Foals were running in the street, playing with their friends. She also saw a simple market place, where local farmers sold their produce. Apples, carrots, beets, all had their own little stands with lines of ponies waiting to buy the fresh goods.

Nothing like this in Canterlot.

Everything there was shipped in and bought from different stores where they had been wrapped up and left on a shelf for a week. As she rounded the corner, she froze mid stride, the sight before her causing her to lock up completely for a moment, before running back around the corner.

Dear Celestia, not her!

It was that horrible pink pony. The one from the Gala that had ruined her quartet’s performance. She shuddered just thinking about it. There was no way she could face her again.

I’ll just have to find another way to the train station, she thought, slowly backing away from the corner.

She turned around to search for another route, when her vision was suddenly filled with vibrant pink.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! I haven’t seen you around here before, you must be new!” The pink pony’s face suddenly lit up with recognition. “Oh, I remember you! You’re that bass player from the Gala!”

Far across town, they heard the scream of a mare who had seen something truly frightening, and wondered which of the three flower sisters had passed out this time. Only those close by would have seen the grey blur shoot by, followed by the calmly bouncing Pinkie Pie. They then would have passed it off as Pinkie being Pinkie and continued on with their business.

Octavia was not accustomed to such things though, and was surprised to see that none of the local ponies were trying to find out what was wrong with her. Looking behind her, she notice that she was no longer being followed. Slowing to a trot, she came to a halt beside the platform of the train station. Leaning against the building, she tried to catch her breath.

“Drink?” She heard as a glass of water was thrust in her direction. She eyed it briefly before snatching it up and downing it quickly. She gasped for breath and handed the glass back to the pony. When she looked back up, she saw the last pony she ever wanted to see calmly standing before her.

“What do you want from me! I just want to go home!” She exclaimed, too tired to try running again. The pink mare’s features fell. She seemed to dull a little bit, and her bright smile faded slightly.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to give you a funerrific ‘Welcome to Ponyville’, and then when I recognized you, I wanted to apologize for ruining your playing at the gala. I kinda went a little crazy and overdid it. I didn’t mean to ruin your night.”

Octavia was speechless. This couldn’t be the same mare from the gala. That mare had acted like a hyperactive foal whose parents had left a full pot of coffee where they could get to it.

“It appears I may have misjudged you. I apologize for yelling at you Miss… ? Octavia recoiled as Pinkie jumped up into the air, her color coming back and her mane and tail going back to their usual state.

“My name’s Pinkie Pie!” She said with an impossibly wide grin.

“Yes, well it was nice meeting you Miss Pie. My name is Octavia Melody,” She said, offering a hoof shake, “and I’m terribly sorry to cut our meeting short, but I must arrange transportation back to Canterlot immediately.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Octavia watched as the mare bounced her way back down the street. Shaking her head, she turned and made her way up the platform to the ticket booth. Upon purchasing her ticket, she was pleased to find that she only had a ten minute wait before the next train arrived.

As she relaxed on one of the many benches, she returned to taking in the sights that the small town had to offer, letting her mind wander until her train arrived.

Night was only beginning to fall, and already it was darker than Canterlot ever got. Overhead, a sparkling tapestry became clear one shining speck at a time as Princess Luna worked her beautiful magic. She’d never seen the stars so clearly in her life.

The sight took her breath away.