A New Ponyville Melody

Octavia’s stomach fluttered with excitement as her carriage neared the concert hall. Tonight was a big deal for her, a huge step forward in her career as a professional musician.

Tonight, the Canterlot Royal Symphony was performing a piece composed entirely by her! She could barely sit still, one of her hooves drumming nervously on the seat as she looked out the window, watching the night life of Canterlot come to life as evening fell. She lurched forward slightly as the carriage came to a halt.

The door opened a few moments later, her chauffeur ushering her outside.

“Would you like some help with that, miss?” He asked, gesturing at her bulky bass.

“No, thank you. I’ve got it under control.” She told him as she deftly slipped it onto her back, securing the strap around her barrel. He nodded and returned to the front of the carriage, pulling it away as soon as he was hooked up.

Weaving her way through the crowds of people waiting outside the hall, she made her way around back and into the staging area, where many of her fellow musicians were already waiting, preparing their instruments for the concert.

She saw the music director frantically making his way through them, handing out sheets of paper.

“We’ve had some last minute changes to our program. Everypony, make sure to look over the revised set list.” She grabbed a copy from him as he passed, glancing over the song list.

This was nothing new for her, some noble with money would pay extra to have songs that they liked added to the set list. Most of the time this wasn’t a big deal, they would simply add the song in and bump off the bottom one if they didn’t have time to fit them all in.

No! That can’t be!

Her eye twitched and she pulled on the paper hard enough to tear it half way down the page. There was only one difference on the page. Her song, the one she had spent the better part of five years writing and perfecting, had been replaced.

She immediately made her way over to the director with her ruined paper, grabbing onto his shoulder and spinning him to face her.

“What in Equestria is the meaning of this! Why was my piece taken out of the performance!” She yelled lividly. The director pushed her hoof away and straightened his tie before glaring at her.

“Miss Octavia, I will remind you that this is a professional organization and you will act appropriately or you will be removed. Your part was removed from the set because we received last minute notice that Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor will be attending. We didn’t want to take any chances with playing a new piece and risk something going wrong during the performance so we removed it. I’m sure you can understand why we had to make the change.”

She stood there, eye twitching as the paper fell to the floor.

“Oh yes, I understand. I understand that you sold me out and destroyed the artistic integrity of this ensemble.” She said, seething.

“Please understand,” the director begged, “pleasing the public must come first. As much as I would love to feature the works of our members, this group must focus on playing what the ponies out there want.”

By this time, Octavia was seeing red. Her eye twitch was now joined by an audible grinding of her teeth.

“Now, please get yourself ready for the concert, and quit obsessing over the small changes.”

She snapped, feeling her hoof connect with the director’s muzzle before she even realized she was swinging. She heard the crunch of cartilage breaking as blood flowed freely from the impact.

It took a few moments for her brain to catch up with her actions, around the same amount of time that it took the guards to tackle her. The director got back up, trying to wipe the blood from his muzzle.

“Oh, that is IT! I hope you feel good about yourself now, because if I have any say in it, you’ll never play in this town again!” He turned to the guards. “Get her out of here.”

The back doors to the concert hall flew open, and Octavia was tossed unceremoniously onto the sidewalk, followed shortly by her bass. She managed to catch it before it impacted with the sidewalk, preventing any damage to the instrument. The doors slammed closed and she just sat there staring at them.

She felt something hit her foreleg and she looked down to see a wet spot. It was soon joined by another, and then another. She then realized that she was crying. She started openly sobbing as the gravity of her situation finally fell upon her. Her entire musical career was officially over, all because she hadn’t been able to take her rejection with grace.

What am I going to do now?

Music was her entire life, her entire existence. Now she would never be able to do anything with her gift. The piece she had spent the last five years getting just right would never be played. She herself would never be able to play, at least in Canterlot anyway.

I’ve certainly had quite the fall from grace tonight. From playing in the Royal Canterlot Orchestra to lying on the sidewalk in a puddle of my own tears.

“Octavia?” A familiar voice asked from beside her.

She looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes. A familiar mint green mare came into focus.

“Lyra? What are you doing here?”

“Coming to see your new piece, duh.” She replied, offering a hoof to the grey mare. “Shouldn’t you be inside getting ready?”

Octavia turned away from her friend, not wanting to see the fresh tears rolling down her face.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Lyra asked, putting a hoof around her friend. “It’s your big night!”

At that, Octavia burst into fresh sobs, wrapping her forelegs around her friend and crying into her shoulder.

“Awww, what’s the matter, Tavi? What’s wrong?” Lyra asked, returning the hug in full force.

“I… I…” She tried to explain but couldn’t get her sobs under control enough to get her words out.

“Shh. Shh. It’s okay.” Lyra said, attempting to sooth her friend while gently patting her back with a hoof. “Why don’t we head back to my place? I’ll brew us a pot of tea and you can tell me all about it once you’ve calmed down.”

Octavia just nodded her head in response. As they started walking back towards Lyra’s house, she picked up Octavia’s bass with her magic, carrying it over her head. She gently guided her friend, letting her drift in whatever thoughts were going through her head that made her so distraught.

They continued in silence to Lyra’s apartment building, and all the way up the stairs, coming to a stop in front of her door. Using her magic, she quickly unlocked the door and they went inside. She moved some boxes out of the way, and set Octavia’s bass up in the corner of the room.

“Sorry about the mess in here. I’m just about packed for the move next week.” Octavia looked around at the piles of boxes, she was no longer crying, but still remained silent.

Lyra walked into the kitchen, levitating a teapot out of one of her cabinets, filling it with water, and placing it on the stovetop. Next she placed two teacups on the counter beside the stove, placing a tea bag inside of each one.

“I take it you’ll want chamomile?” She asked. As expected, she got no response. She remained silent, waiting for the water to boil.

A few minutes passed, and a shrill whistle came from the kettle. Lyra took it off the stove and poured it into the two teacups, then sat it back on the stove. She picked up the two cups with her magic and went back into her living room. She sat them on the coffee table beside the couch and motioned for Octavia to join her.

The grey mare walked over and sat next to her on the couch. She picked up her tea, and blew on it to cool it down. She took a sip, letting the burning liquid warm her throat.

“Ready to talk about it?” Lyra asked, watching as her friend sat the cup back on the table.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke. “I was kicked out of the orchestra.”

Lyra’s eyes widened at that news. Octavia had always been so proud of her position in the orchestra. She couldn’t think of a single reason as to why they would have done so. It surely wasn’t from lack of skill, she had seen her friend play many times and she truly was a great performer.

“What? Why?” Was all she could manage to get out.

“They took my piece out of the set list because Princess Cadence was going to be making a last minute appearance, and they didn’t want to risk any mess ups due to us playing a new song.”

“They didn’t!”

“And to make matters worse, the director treated me like a tantrum throwing foal, and told me that I shouldn’t be ‘obsessing’ over it. Thats when I hit him.”

Lyra scooted closer to her friend and wrapped her forelegs around her. “Oh, Tavi, I’m so- wait, what was that last part?”

Octavia sighed before taking another drink from her cup. “I lost control of my temper and I hit the director. I couldn’t take him talking to me the way he was, and I let him have it.” She suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a bone crushing hug.

“Oh, Tavi! I’m so proud of you, standing up for yourself like that!”

“Standing up for myself is what got me kicked out of the orchestra!” She yelled, pushing Lyra away gently.

“Oh, yeah… that.” Lyra replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

Octavia let out a dejected sigh and finished off the rest of her tea.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do now. The director said he was going to do everything within his power to make sure I never performed in Canterlot again.” She hung her head, a lone tear making its way down her muzzle.

“Well, if it’s that bad, you could always move with me. You could get a fresh start in a new town.” Octavia gave a dismissive snort. “Hey! You’re always telling me how much you hate all the stuck up attitudes of the ponies in this town. This could be your big chance to get away from all of this. Silver linings and all that jazz.”

“Honestly, once my parents find out, it won’t matter much what I want. They’ll kick me out and I’ll be on my own anyway.”

“No way! They’re your parents, I’m sure they’ll be there for you when you need them.”

“My parents would disagree with you. I was the earth pony child they were ‘cursed’ with. They’ve sunk a small fortune into my music lessons and getting me the best tutors. Once they find out I’ve thrown all that away, they won’t want any more to do with me.”

“Wow… That’s… Just wow.”

“You know, I think I will take you up on that offer. Where are you moving to? Manehattan? Phillydelphia?”

“Ponyville!” Octavia’s expression dropped.

“Ponyville? Why there?”

“Oh, I got a job teaching music at the school there.” Lyra said with a beaming smile.

“Well, it didn’t seem too bad the last time I was there.”

“I’m going to be rooming with my friend, Bonnie, we were classmates back in the day. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you tagging along, she has a pretty big house and lives all by herself.”

“Are you sure she wouldn’t mind?”

“No way, she’ll love the company, and I’m sure she’ll be excited to meet you.”

“Well then, it looks like I’m going with you.”

“You need to head home and grab anything?”

“No. Everything important is here with me.” She said, indicating the bass leaning against the corner.

“Are you sure about all this? It seems very sudden.” Lyra looked at her questioningly.

“Yes. The sooner I get out of Canterlot, the sooner I can start putting my life back together.” She hugged her friend. “Thank you so much for your help, I don’t know what I’d be doing without you.”

“Anytime, Tavi.” She replied, returning the hug.