Octavia's Violin Classes

Octavia was now headed to the local music store with her new teacher. She didn't know whether to feel happy that she was going to learn to play her first instrument, or annoyed that she had to spend the morning with this pony. At the moment, she seemed more annoyed, especially when Otoya stopped to chat with any mare that crossed their path. Which was a lot of ponies, considering the busy streets in Canterlot.

Octavia tugged Otoya's coat sleeve, trying to pull him to the direction of the music store. "Come on, Mr. Kurenai. We haven't got all day!"

Otoya and the mare -- a green pony with a curly magenta mane and a fancy dress -- turned to Octavia. "Do you know this filly?" asked the mare to the violinist.

"Ah, yes, just my new student," Otoya replied, trying to act completely normal.

"I see. Spreading your magnificent violin skills across Equestria," she complimented. "Well, I shouldn't be bothering you then," She walked away, glanced at her watch, then picked up her pace as she trotted away.

Otoya was about to call her back, when Octavia tugged at his jacket sleeve again. "Mr. Kurenai, that mare is probably running late for something, and so are we. If you stopped wasting time, we would be at the music store by now."

Otoya slipped his hoof out of Octavia's reach. "Didn't your parents teach you anything about patience?"

"They did teach me the importance about not wasting time," replied Octavia. She realised she was being a bit harsh to her new teacher, but she couldn't stand being treated like she didn't know anything just because she was a filly. And she really couldn't stand Otoya Kurenai. There was something about the way he walked, and the way he spoke to every mare he saw. No, he didn't just say hello to the mare. He would use that smooth voice of his to flirt with the her, as if he was in love with her, without even caring about whether the mare already had a special somepony.

It wasn't long before Octavia and her teacher had reached the music store, which significantly cheered up Octavia. She trotted inside, heading straight for the string instrument section. There were guitars, fiddles, cellos, violins, and even a couple of ukuleles. She turned to look behind her, to see that Otoya was busy having yet another conversation, this time with the female shopkeeper. Octavia rolled her eyes and looked back at the violins. She reached for a violin that was placed on a shelf just above her head. Unfortunately, she could not reach it without going on her hind hooves and risking falling down.

"Here, let me help you with that," offered one of the store assistants, who lifted the violin and a matching bow off the shelf with his magic and placed it in front of Octavia. Octavia was about to thank the shopkeeper, but when she looked up, she gasped.

The pony had some sort of stain or mark on his face, completely surrounding and covering his muzzle. The markings had a striking resemblance to stained glass patterns, like the ones she saw in pictures of Princess Celestia's castle.

The other pony noticed Octavia's surprise, and became anxious as well. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Octavia pointed to the shopkeeper's face, hesitating a bit. "You have something on your face. It looks like somepony face-painted stained glass marks all over your muzzle."

The shopkeeper's pupil's shrunk, and he quickly raised his front hooves in an attempt to cover his face. "Rats," he uttered under his breath, tears of sweat already starting to appear on his forehead.

Octavia didn't expect him to react this dramatically. She just assumed the pony would try to wipe his face off or something. Maybe he had a very strict boss and didn't want to get fired. "It's alright, sir. I'm pretty sure everypony gets paint on them once in a while." She reached for her saddlebag, and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here, use this to clean it off." However, when she turned her head back to the stallion, the marks had disappeared.

Octavia froze, now more confused then before. The stallion, had accepted the handkerchief and started cleaning his face with it, not noticing that the marks had faded away already. Or perhaps he was aware of it, since he didn't rub his face too hard with the handkerchief, and it was more like he was pretending to wipe the marks off. He hastily gave the handkerchief back.

"Thanks. Well, I have to leave on lunch break now," said the shopkeeper, who headed out of the store as quickly as he could without running or trying to get anypony's attention.

Octavia had never seen a pony act so strange before, nor had she ever seen a pony with stained glass markings on their face. It took a while for Octavia to convince herself that she was imagining things. She looked at the violin, which was now in front of her. By now, Otoya and the other shopkeeper had reached the section of the store with the string instruments. "Mr. Kurenai, does this seem like a good violin?" she asked.

Otoya strolled over until he reached the violin that was placed on the ground in front of him. "You know, no fine instrument deserves to lie on the ground where it can be stepped on," he informed Octavia, as he picked up the violin and bow, playing a few notes. When he finished, he handed the violin to Octavia. "It seems good enough to me. But you'll be playing this instrument, so why don't you try out the violin?"

Octavia looked at the violin for a moment before picking up the bow that lay next to it. It was surprisingly easy, considering she was holding it with one hoof. Then she tried to pick up the violin in her other front hoof. Unfortunately, she lost her balance and fell on her back. She sat up, and picked up the violin again. After playing a few notes, she looked up at her teacher. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, you have a lot to learn," Otoya grimaced. However, his face soon turned into a big smile. "But trust me, when I'm done teaching you, you'll be one of the finest musicians in Canterlot!"

* * *

Octavia smiled as she trotted home with a purple violin case on her back. After hearing Otoya play the violin, and learning about how he was teaching Octavia, the shopkeeper was nice enough to give a "student discount" on the violin. As a result, it only cost about a fifth of the original price.

"SO, Mr. Kurenai, what will we learn first?" asked Octavia eagerly, before realising her teacher had starting flirting with another mare (again). Octavia sighed and sat on a nearby bench, waiting for him to finish. After all, it was easy to get tired when holding such a heavy violin case.

Octavia looked around at the busy streets and shopfronts, trying to imagine all of the sounds everything around her made. Like the chiming of the bell at the entrance of the ice cream store to her right, or the hooves of busy ponies hitting the ground. Or the birds that flew overhead. Or the puppies barking at the animal shelter.

Or that huge piece of glass that just fell from the apartment balcony in the alleyway. Octavia jumped when she heard the sound of broken glass. She glanced toward the alleyway, then at her teacher, then back into the alleyway. Jumping off the bench, she took some slow steps toward the alleyway. She took a closer look at the mess, which seemed to be a broken glass sculpture of a pegasus. She looked up at the balconies above. Nopony was there.

"Hello? Is anypony there?" she called out. Still, nopony came out onto the balconies. However, a large figure stepped forward from deep in the alleyway. The monster--it didn't look like any creature Octavia had heard of--was mostly black and made of many pieces of stained glass. But the image reflected in the glass scared her the most: the familiar face of the shopkeeper with paint on his face.

Octavia shook in fear before scrambling out of the alleyway and around the corner, stopping when she bumped into Otoya Kurenai.

The mare beside Otoya gasped. "Oh dear, it looks like you saw a ghost!" shrieked the mare.

Octavia pointed at the alleyway. "sc-scary...c-colourful glass th-thing, broken," the filly stammered.

"Hang on. The brave Otoya Kurenai is here to save you!" said Otoya, puffing out his chest and marching to the alleyway, pushing Octavia along. "Show me the problem."

Octavia walked to the entrance of the alleyway, pointing at the broken pegasus sculpture. Otoya looked around, and walked casually to the shards of broken glass. "I don't see anything here," he commented.

Octavia entered the alleyway cautiously, taking a look at where the stained-glass monster used to be. There was no sign of the monster anywhere. "There's no sign of him," noted Octavia, sighing in relief.

"See? It's all in your imagination. Now let's head home soon. I'm pretty sure your mother made something delicious for lunch," Otoya said, directing Octavia out of the alleyway and toward her house.

"Good idea," replied Octavia, taking a quick glance at the alleyway before hurrying home.