Octavia hauled the instrument onto the stage where Lyra was sound-checking her amp. With a grunt, she laid it down on a stand next to the drum set. Lyra turned around and waved for her to come over, so she fastened the strap to the stand so that it wouldn’t fall.

“Hey Octy! How goes it with that bass?” She asked as she turned off her amp.

“Oh, I think I got it to work just fine. I’m not exactly sure what the knobs and switches do though…” Octavia rubbed the back of her neck nervously as she waited for a response from Lyra.

“Hmmm… let’s take a look,” said Lyra as she inspected the knobs. “Oh this is easy! Look here,” She pointed at the cream colored switch. “When the switch is in the upper position, you use the top knob as volume control. The one under it is tone control. The other two don’t do anything until you put the switch in the middle or lower position. In the lower position, the bottom knob is volume control and the middle knob is tone control.” She smiled at Octavia, which caused her to give a confident smile back. “See, it’s not hard. What is hard is learning when to use them to get the best tone. Oh, and don’t think you can get the best sound just by turning the tone knob. Sometimes, you have to experiment with things like pedals aaaand I’m getting carried away aren’t I?”

“No not at all! I find it pretty interesting to hear about all this. I never learned this at the University.” Lyra tsked and shook her head.

“Octy, I’m going to tell you something that will take your music career farther than ever. You can’t always go by the books! If you do that, all music will be the same! Look, if you listen to any great musicians out there, nothing ever sounds exactly the same! Be it rock, classical, blues or whatever! No music ever sounds exactly the same. It’d be pretty boring if it did right? Let’s take for example… aha! Your orchestral composer. He/she always has something new to offer right? I’m willing to bet if they went to music school, they never looked back on their notes for years.”

“Well, yes I suppose that’s true...” Said Octavia as she rubbed her chin.

“Like I was saying, experimentation. I bet you that half the songs you hear actually have a part that happened accidentally, but the artist kept it anyway because it sounded cool. If you didn’t already know, when an artist goes to record their song, they have nothing but the chords and lyrics on a small sheet of paper. Everything you hear in the booth is completely raw. Any guitar solo, or, or drum solo or mess up that sounds cool were all recorded in one take. Of course they’re edited to make it sound more official, but really they’ve all got their own special flare! Do you see what I’m trying to say, Octy?”

“I- I think so. You want me to not play my scales straight up?” Asked Octavia.

“YES! Precisely! If you play a scale the same way backwards and forwards, it begins to sound exactly the same. Mix up your notes. Experiment!” Yelled Lyra, throwing her hooves into the air.

“I see, I’ll definitely try it… I’m not sure how good I’ll be at it, though.”

“You don’t need to worry at all! Music isn’t about how much you mess up, it’s how much you enjoy playing and experimenting to make new sounds. Nopony will ever remember that one tiny mistake you made on stage. They can barely remember what they had for breakfast.”

“O-okay! I think I can do that.” Octavia exclaimed.

“That’s the spirit!” She said as she looked up at the clock between the menus above the cash register. “Oh! It’s time to play! Come on!” She grabbed Octavia and pulled her back to where Key and Rocky were.

“Oy ladies, I believe it’s time?” Said Rocky, drinking a tall milkshake. Key nodded excitedly.

“Yeppers! I’m sooo pumped!” Key was basically bouncing off the walls. “Are you pumped Octavia?” Octavia wasn’t sure how to answer. Her heart was beating really, really hard in her chest. She wasn’t sure if she was nervous or ‘pumped’ as Key had said.

“Don’t mind Key,” Interrupted Lyra. “She likes drinking a coffee before she performs.” Lyra leaned in to Octavia’s ear and whispered “Don’t tell her, but it just makes her annoyingly hyper. It doesn’t help her ‘performance’ at all.” Octavia giggled, but Key just threw her hooves in the air and blew a raspberry.

“I heard that! Why don’t you sell your face for five bits, you green gum wrapper.”

“Oh shuuuuut up!”

“You started it!”

Octavia now knew why her heart was beating so hard. She was shaking from nervousness. This isn’t normal! She’d performed at hundreds, maybe thousands of performances over the span of her life. Why was she nervous here? Why at a cafe with less than thirty ponies in it? It would make much more sense to be nervous in a coliseum full to the brim with over ten thousand ponies, but this?

What if I mess up? What will my only friends think of me? Will they shun me as a musician? Oh no! I’ll be on the streets! I’ll be the laughingstock of the town! No. Calm down, Like Lyra said, they can barely remember what they had for breakfast. I’ll be fine.

She took a deep breath and nodded to Key to tell her that she’s ready. Rocky started by tapping the drum sticks four times to grab the attention of the crowd and indicate the start of the song.

After the fourth tap, Key started up a catchy tune throwing in some flats and sharp notes to make it interesting. She played it four times, but by the second time around, Octavia had memorized the progression. She kept coming back to the E, A and B flat keys to restart the tune, so it was safe to assume that she could play in the key of E, but just to play it safe she decided to play the same standout notes that Key played. After the fourth time around, Lyra came in with a soft clean tone guitar to accompany the rest of the music. Rocky played a repetitive hi hat and bass drum rhythm as the backbone.

“Oooh baby I’d love to take you dancing,

but I’m afraid you’re outa my league

Ponies think I’m crazy, but my heart’s racing

I love to imagine your hoof in mine

But I know it’ll never be true

It’s time to face the truth

I’ll never be with you…”

Key’s voice blended perfectly with the bass and Lyra’s beautiful guitar riff. The rest of the cafe seemed to fade away as the song went on. As they hit the bridge of the song, Lyra’s guitar was more prominent. She had turned up the distortion and threw on a bit of reverb to give it an ethereal sound. She moved up an octave, putting an even more celestial feel to the song. It was almost like it was possible to reach enlightenment through music.

“Oh stars it’s hard for me to leave

but I’ll never be the same…

I’m sorry I have to go

I hope I can see you tomorrow…”

As the final lyric cut through the air, it was a cue for me to suspend one single note an octave below her voice. Lyra finished her lick and Rocky hit his crash cymbal and continued to hit it softly and then stopped, allowing Key to play the final measure.

It’s over…

Is that stomping?

It is! The ponies who were listening gave a standing ovation. Octavia had no idea what to do, so she just smiled and looked at Lyra and the others. Lyra and Key stood on top of the piano and were waving into the crowd. Rocky threw his hooves in the air and let his magic play a drum solo while Key thanked the crowd.

“Thank you guys so much!” She blew kisses into the crowd and they cheered louder. Key really is an enthusiastic one, isn’t she? “I’d like to introduce you all to my band mates. Lyra on the guitar, and Rocky on the drums!” Octavia’s smile fell and her ears drooped. Her head dropped so low that he nose almost touched the ground. Key saw this and then lifted the microphone up to her lips again. “Our guest of honor, DRUMROLL PLEASE!” She yelled at Rocky, who obliged by banging the snare as fast as he could. “Octavia on the bass!” Octavia’s ears perked up at the sound of her name and looked up. The ponies in the cafe were stomping and whistling at her. She felt her cheeks turn red and stretch into a goofy grin. Lyra chuckled at the sight and pulled Octavia into a hug.

“Nice work, Octy.” She said as she patted Octavia’s back. “Just like old times, eh?”

“Yes, thank you. Just like old times.” She replied, feeling the full warmth of Lyra’s body against hers. She hadn’t been hugged like this in years. The last time was when she performed her first cello solo. Her foster father had given her a long warm hug.

“You know Octy, I’ve been thinking… Would you possibly want to join the band? For good?” Octavia’s eyes widened once again as Lyra broke the hug. “If you’re too busy, I understand. I just have to say that your musical ear is incredible! Anything you played blended in perfectly with what we played. And- and you played the bass like a cello! That was soo cool!”

“Oh, you surely jest, right? I wasn’t as good as you. I would have never been able to write such a beautiful guitar solo. I wasn’t as good as Key. Her voice is like that of an angel. And Rocky has the best sense of rhythm I’ve ever heard. He’s like a living metronome with much, much more!”

“Octy… That’s what a drummer does. They are living metronomes in a sense. And what did you say about me writing the solo? No I didn’t write anything, Octy. I improvised the whole thing.”

“Y-you improvised all that?” Octavia asked in awe.

“Aw come on Octy, I explained this to you earlier. When you improvise, it puts your own spin on the music. Anyway, back to what I was saying before… Will you join the band?”

“Well, I don’t know. I do have orchestra practice every weekday, but I’m free on weekends.”

“That’s perfectly alright. What time do you come home?” Lyra asked, as she packed her guitar into its case.

“I get home around seven. Why do you ask?”

“Well, we like to practice at Rocky’s every monday, wednesday and thursday at around eight. If you’re not too busy after you get off practice, maybe you could swing by?” Octavia thought for a second. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity right at her hooves. Octavia really didn’t have anything else in her life that she could honestly say that she loved getting up every morning to go do. She liked her job, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as playing with Lyra and the others. Hey, she even learned some new things in the span of an hour.

“I… I’ll do it!”

“Oh, I shouldn’t ha- What? Really?” Lyra stumbled on her words after Octavia caught her off guard. “Uh! Yeah, great! Awesome! You are now officially welcome to the band. Hey, are ya free tonight? This calls for celebration!”

“Well, I didn’t have anything in particu-”

“Great!” interrupted Lyra. “I would‘ve made you come even if you weren’t free, but it’s good that you are. Hold on a sec, I gotta tell the guys.” Lyra stormed off yelling excitedly at Rocky and Key, who had just about finished putting the last of the wires and microphones into their designated boxes. They both seemed really happy with what Lyra was saying to them, Key especially. She hopped up and down with a huge smile on her face and then ran over to Octavia in the blink of an eye.

“Yay! Welcome to the band, Octavia! This is going to be soooo much fun.” Then she was gone as fast as she arrived. By this time, Rocky and Lyra stuffed all their things in the storage room where Octavia had gotten the bass from and came to fetch Octavia.

“Welcome to the band lass, oh and nice playin’ by the way. Yeh have a good sense of rhythm.”

“Oh, thank you very much, Rocky. I appreciate it. You’re not bad yourself.” Octavia had gotten used to the eyepatch that Rocky wore, but it still made her feel uncomfortable.

“Aye lass, I’ll buy yeh a drink tonight in celebration. Speakin’ o’ which, eh Lyra, where are we hea’ed tonight?” Lyra scratched her chin and pondered.

“Hmmm, how about that pub in downtown? What was it called? Oh! Right, Club Floyd?”

“Soun’s good to me. What about yeh, Octavia? Soun’ fine?”

“Yes, it sounds fine.” Octavia answered. She had never been to a big bar like the Floyd before, so she was actually a bit scared. Lyra saw the look on her face and put her hoof on Octavia’s shoulder.

“Hey Octy, can I talk to you for a second?” Octavia nodded and moved closer to Lyra. “Hey, I know how you feel about this whole club thing. I saw it in your face. Believe it or not, I was the same until I met Rocky. He dragged me to a club and made me drink until I was hammered enough to start this band. It’s okay if you don’t want to go. I wont force you to, but I do strongly recommend it. Years at college made the both of us just two more bricks in a wall. They just twist your mind until you’re just another zombie they push off a conveyer belt.” Lyra backed up a bit to point at Key, who was chugging a vanilla smoothie. Let me tell you about Key over there, okay?”

“Okay, what about her?”

“Key is a runaway. She ran away from home last year because her parents wanted her to go into business, but Key’s real dream was to be a rock star. Her parents took away everything from her and threw her into business school at just fifteen.”

“Oh my, that’s horrible! What happened after?” Octavia asked, covering her mouth with a hoof.

“One day she had enough and snapped. She yelled at her parents about how they should have let her follow her dream instead of forcing her into theirs. She shunned her parents and ran as hard as she could. Do you want to know how far she ran? Take a guess”

“Hmm, maybe at most ten miles?”

“Not even close. She ran all the way from Baltimare to get here.” Lyra watched Octavia’s jaw fall.

“Baltimare all the way to Canterlot? No way! That’s nearly four hundred kilometers away!”

“Yep, she ran all the way here. I found her sleeping in the alley behind my apartment, so I took her in. I got her all cleaned up, and she told me everything. That’s when the Idea for a band came to mind. Then Rocky came along and it all came together. The bassist before you was actually my neighbor, and he joined just for fun.”

“Wow, I would have never known. Her enthusiasm is through the roof. Oh, and what about Rocky?”

“Ha, Rocky will tell you EVERYTHING about himself when he’s drunk tonight. Trust me, you’ll get annoyed within five minutes. So what I was trying to say is, you need to free your soul. And I’m not just talking about this. If you free your soul, you can do anything you can imagine. Your music is celestial and you can not only feel every single note you play, but you can see them. I’ve done it, Key’s done it and Rocky’s done it. I’ll be waiting for the day that you do, Octavia, and I hope I'm there, catching some of the light coming off you that day.”

“Well thanks, Lyra, I guess I do need to lighten up a bit. You know, your speeches are really inspirational?”

“Yeah, I know. I practiced on Key a bunch.” Lyra looked at the clock on the wall. “Oh shoot! Come on, let’s go! I want to show you our practice place. AKA Rocky’s house before we head out to the club. You still comin?” Lyra tuned and gave a big smile.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Octavia gave in.

“Great, just go wait outside while I go get Key.”

“Alright”

Author's Note

Sorry my songwriting is so terrible. I'm not the best at lyrics. I'm more of the lead and rhythm guitar.

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