Death Dealer

The wedding was over, Rainbow Dash and Soarin had gone on their honeymoon, and the party guests had all left including Eli. The only difference between him and the rest of the guests was that he did not go home. Instead he he decided to go to one of the high end bars in the town, this one had actually opened about six weeks ago and he had been curious for a while. It was actually very close to where Soarin lived.

Eli’s limousine stopped in front of the building, a small group of ponies were waiting to go inside the exclusive bar, most of them dressed in fancy clothes, and stopping them from coming in was a white earth pony stallion with a shaved mane and tail. Behind the bouncer, two other bouncers stood, these two however where Buffalo, their stature dwarfing the earth pony's.

“I do apologise, Sir,” he said in a very deep voice. Any other time the stallion would be one of the most polite ponies in town, as his job demanded, but right now he was struggling to bite his tongue “but you do not have a membership to our establishment. I simply cannot let you, or your entourage, in the club without a membership.”

The the pony on the other side of the velvet rope, a brown earth stallion with money bags for a cutie mark, just looked at his fellow pony for a moment, his eyebrow twitching as he was denied access to the bar “why can’t it be done today!? I demand access this moment! Do you know who I am? I own this town!”

‘Not any more’ the stallion thought as he sighed “As I was saying, sir,” the bouncer pony prepared to repeat himself again “the manager is not in today, and he has to approve all applications. you will have to wait until he co-”

The white bouncer would have done a spit take if had he been drinking at the moment “Mr. Eli!” he said his scrambling to move past the small crowd of ponies, completely ignoring the group of ponies he was talking to before. “We were not expecting you today, would you like to go to the bar section today, or the restaurant section?”

This confused Eli for a moment, he had never been here before, and he had overheard what the bouncer had said to the stallion just a moment ago “don't I require membership to enter?”

“No sir.” The stallion said as he stood next to Eli “The owner gave you and Lady Dash membership since the day we opened,” he said as he directed the man towards the entrance of the building where the other two buffalo bouncers stood stone faced “someone of your status should not need to ask for a membership from us.” Unknown to any one present, this sentence made the brown stallion’s anger boil within him “to have somepo- I mean, someone as influential as in our establishment is a great privilege.”

“Okay then, I will just go to the bar today” Eli said. for a moment he thought about asking the bouncer if he could let the earth pony in as his entourage, but figured that he would just hurt his ego, so he thought against. He didn't want to deal with it today, he just wanted his drink.

“Certainly, Sir. Right this way,” the white pony started to direct him to the bar section of the establishment.

The whole building had a modern vibe, Eli thought, it certainly was a far cry the designed form most of the buildings around here. Unless they were built by the construction division of his company, most concrete buildings where very boxy with no curves at all. this one, however, Eli notice that they had taken cues from his own buildings. the ambiance was also very interesting, the lights were low, but not low enough to stop anyone from reading the menu. To his right, running along the wall, Eli saw the bar, dim red accent lights were glowing from the bottom, giving an interesting look and feel to the whole establishment.

Eli took a seat where the pony bouncer led him to, a seat that Eli thought was too high for the normal pony but perfect for him or a Buffalo, immediately a unicorn stallion came to him, “What will you have today, Sir?” He asked in an accent Eli thought sounded british.

“How about wine to start,” Eli said as he looked at the menu “I'm feeling something sweet”

“Right away, Sir” he said giving a nod, and walked away, presumably to the wine cellar to find bottle that would suit what Eli wished for.

The room was quiet, outside of the far away chatter of the other patrons, there was almost no sound. Eli thought this was odd, but then he saw the small stage at the end of the room with instruments, no musicians in site. ‘They must be taking a break’ he thought as he went back to waiting for his alcohol.

Eli was halfway through his first glass of, probably very expensive, wine when the music started playing, the bottle sitting in a bucket full of ice. As the music started playing his ear immediately latching onto the sound of the cello, It was one of the most beautiful he had ever heard. Eli had the sudden urge to turn his head and see who was the pony who player of this wonderful music.

Turning around, Eli should have seen a band of ponies playing a song with a jazzy vibe, but there might have as well not have been a band at all, instead all he saw a beautiful earth pony mare cello player.

For the first time in the last five years since his wife’s death, his eye was caught by another living being. For the remainder of the song, and a few after the first, he only had eyes and ears for the mare, their eyes meeting a few times during the songs. Eli just enjoyed the music that this pony played, there might as well not have been a pianist or a violinist, all Eli listened to was the sound of the smooth cello.

Eventually, the band stopped playing and started to pack up, to Eli’s disappointment. all good things must come to an end, as they say.

“Who was that?” Eli asked to the barkeep, “Playing the cello.”

“Thats Octavia Melody,” he responded as he kept cleaning the glassware, “she play’s here every once in a while.”

‘I have to meet her’ Eli  thought as he began to think of things he could do to arrange a meeting. But at that moment, as if Celestia herself answered his petitions, a voice came from behind him.

*Ahem* “Am I right in assuming that I have a new fan?” The angelically beautiful voice came from behind Eli, cutting through his thoughts like a hot knife through butter, a slight Canterlot accent present in her voice.

Turning around in his chair, Eli saw a mare wearing a simple purple bow tie that matched her cutie mark. Her eyes, rimmed with a light layer of makeup, where one of the most beautiful he had ever seen.

“You would be right.” Eli said as he looked at the mare in front of him “That was quite the performance there.”

“Why thank you,” She replied, blushing at the sudden compliment from the human, “it is nice to know that there are still people that appreciate the sound of the cello, and not think of it as just a background instrument”

“Indeed,” he started as he stood from his chair “I have seen performances with a cello that would put many violinists to shame, and in my opinion it is a much more flexible instrument. And you certainly know how to bring out the beauty and flexibility in the instrument,” he finished and by this time, Octavia was more than a little red in the face “By the way, my name is-” started as he extended his hand to shake her hoof

“Eli,” she interrupted him as she put her hoof in his hand “sole proprietor of Ember Corp. and one of the most powerful mortals to have ever existed?” Octavia finished for Eli, extending a hoof towards him “Charmed”

“Pleased to meet you,” Eli said as he bent down and gently shook her hoof. looking at her, a strange feeling in his chest ‘Why is it that ponies insist on mentioning how powerful I am?’ he thought as he released her hoof, it had gotten worse in the last few years for some odd reason. Eli couldn't go one day without hearing someone mentioning it. “So you have heard of me?” he continued when she said nothing else.

“Everypony has, Mr. Eli. It is hard to open the newspaper and not see at least one article with your or your company’s name on it, or someone on the street mentioning it. Celestia knows that my sister talked about the races all the time.”

This caused Eli to deflate a little, “Sometimes I wish they didn't…” he said low, hoping that no one would hear it, but Octavia did. before she could say anything though, Eli interrupted her.

“Would you like to sit with me and share a glass, Miss Melody?” Eli said as he motioned to the bottle of wine sitting in the bucket of ice.

“Why yes, I would love to, and just Octavia is fine.”

“Okay. So tell me about your self, Octavia, how long have you played the cello?”

“Well, right now I'm trying to expand my horizons, playing as many different kinds of music as I can.” Octavia started “I started playing when I was about 10, playing just  classical music, and as I grew older I thought that I was too good for any other kind of music. I had my first big break when I was 17 at the Grand Galloping Gala. My school was asked by Princess Celestia put together a band of the best music student and I was there…”

***

Octavia and Eli kept talking for hours, the bar was almost empty, there were just 5 people left and two of them worked there, both had a healthy amount of social lubricant in them, but not enough to do things they would regret.

“Wait a minute wait a minute,” Eli said as he put his glass of wine down “you are just 24? Someone as accomplished as you? I would have thought you were around my age.”

“Really?” Octavia responded, not knowing if to be insulted or not “So how old are you”

“I'm 29,” was all he responded, but the reaction was immediate.

At his response Octavia had to suppress spitting her wine on her glass. This man, this human, was only 5 years older than her, and was already one of the most powerful beings in this country and several others.

“Wow,” he said faking dejection. “Not the response I was expecting. I just might have to drink more.”

“No no no! I didn't mean it that way!” Octavia was starting to panicking, afraid that she might have insulted the man in front of her. But as soon as it started picking up speed, her panic train was derailed by the sound of chuckling.

“You don’t have to take everything so serious,” he said as he let out a sigh “I was just messing with you.”

“I'm so-” she was interrupted by the lights to a section of the building being turned off.

Confused, Eli looked at the clock on the wall ‘3:00 AM, time flies when you are having fun’ he thought as he looked at the mare in front of him, he could not let her walk home like this, she was tipsy and it was to early for the cabs to be running. “Looks like they are about to close down. Would you like a ride to your house?”

“Well what a gentlecolt,” she responded as she looked for her cello case, momentarily forgetting where she had put it “But I live about a block from here, it would not be worth the fuel to take me there.”

“Then I’ll walk you there,” he said with a smile on his face “I insist, a man should never let a lady go home alone under these circumstances,” he interrupted as she was about to protest.

“Well if you insist,” she said as she stood up from her chair, proceeding to immediately stumble on her hoofs. Eli grabbed her by the sides preventing her from falling, somehow ending up with his face mere inches from hers, “It looks like I'm a little bit more tipsy than I thought.” Octavia blushed, and it wasn't because of the alcohol “Perhaps I will need some help getting home.”

Eli thought that was the most adorable thing he had ever seen, a little drunken pony stumbling and trying to get her stuff so that she can go home.

“It would be my pleasure,” Eli said as he grabbed her cello. Octavia quickly found her balance and started walking, exiting the building soon after.

After walking for about 10 minutes, Eli and Octavia stood in front of riverside towers, a small 10 story apartment building that overlooked the river, the same building Soarin lived in.

“You live here?” Eli asked as he held the cello’s case in his arm.

“Yes, on the top floor,” she said as she started to walk up the stairs towards the entrance “Not many earth ponies live there because it is so high off the ground, but I find that the view is simply breath taking,” she continued as she looked at the top floor, hers was one of four there.

“Indeed it is” he responded with slight nostalgia.

“From the way you say it, it sounds like you've been here before.”

“Yes, I own the building,” was all he responded as he also looked to the top of the building.

Eli indeed owned the building. It originally it was built as a sort of boarding house for all of the new employees to live in while more houses were being built. Though most employees decided to move, there were a few, like Soarin, that decided to stay.

Octavia looked at the man for several seconds, trying to determine if he was joking or not, but stopped when she found no smile on his face. “For some odd reason, I'm not surprised,” was all she responded.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay from here?” Eli asked, concerned for the mare he had just met.

“I’m sure,” Octavia responded as she grabbed the cello from Eli, “I think I can still operate the elevator.”

this caused Eli to chuckle a little, “yes, well we do try to make them as easy to use as possible.”

“I had fun today,” Octavia said as she shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, “thanks for the company…  and the wine too”

“It was my pleasure, and an honor, to spend this time with you,” Eli said as he bent down to shake her hoof but stopped short, trying to figure out how he was going to ask this. Eventually he just decided to be simple and straightforward. “Can we do this again some time?”

“Like a date?” Octavia asked, looking to the side as to not let Eli see the red in her face, “I would love to.”

“Its a date then,” Eli responded his heart starting to flutter  “How about tomorrow?

“That sounds wonderful” she responded as she places her hoof on his outstretched hand “is 8:00 PM okay?”

“That sounds great to me.” Eli responded as, instead of shaking her hoof, he kissed it.