Octavia's Violin Classes

"Another fangire?!" Mrs. Melody exclaimed.

"Don't worry, mother. This one wasn't really that scary, especially for one that looked like a spider," Octavia reassured her mother as she scooped some salad on her dinner plate, trying to avoid the onions.

"You could have been foalnapped! Or turned into glass!" shrieked her mother from across the dinner table.

Mr. Melody thought for a moment as he swallowed a spoonful of rice. "Where was your violin teacher during this time?"

Octavia shrugged. "He came back here after he got kicked out of the coffee shop. He did try to come back in, but the waitress locked the door before he could."

"But that still doesn't give him permission to leave his student behind!" her father argued, slamming a hoof onto the table.

"Dear, let's not put the blame on Mr. Kurenai. How would he know that a vampiric monster was going to attack? And he still continued his violin lesson as well." said Mrs. Melody.

"Oh, now your taking his side."

"No, I'm simply saying that we need to focus on the real problem, which are those horrid fangire monsters. At this rate, we may have to move out of town."

"Move out of town?" repeated Octavia. "But what about my violin lessons? Or all of my friends here? Or your jobs?"

"Octavia, your mother's idea seems like a reasonable choice right now," said Mr. Melody. "I hear there are some fine violinists in Manehattan that are willing to accept students. Or perhaps we could move to Ponyville, which is only a short train ride away from here."

"Octavia, we don't want to risk you coming home in more than one piece," added Mrs. Melody.

Octavia looked down at her dinner plate. "Well, you kind of make a point."

* * *

hat Friday, in the recess yard at school, Octavia continued to practice playing her violin. This time, she chose a spot close to the school building. The music from the violin would frequently be interrupted by the sounds of other foals playing. Many of them gave Octavia a quick glance, or stopped for a moment to see what she was doing, but it wasn't until halfway through recess time that two unicorn fillies started a conversation with her.

"What's up?" asked Vinyl. "Still practicing the violin?"

The other unicorn, a mint green filly named Lyra, got up on her hind hooves to take a closer look at the violin and bow in Octavia's hooves. "That's pretty neat. I play the harp sometimes, but I never understood how anypony could hold a bow in their hooves, not to mention use it to play music."

"It's really not too hard. When you don't have magic, you're kind of forced to use your hooves to pick things up most of the time," Octavia explained, noticing how Lyra was standing. "How do you stand on two legs without any support like that?"

"I just practiced a lot, I guess," said Lyra, now standing on four legs again. "I still have trouble doing it for too long, though."

"I wish I could do that," said Octavia. "It would make playing this violin much easier."

"It wouldn't hurt to choose a quieter spot, too," added Vinyl. "The tree you were at before seemed like a great spot."

Octavia nodded. "But recently, my parents decided that I should be under full-time supervision," she explained, turning head toward the school window. "They prefer if I'm close to the school during recess, where the teacher can see me."

"Dude, you're parents sure are strict," commented Vinyl.

"Well..." she paused to wonder how her friends would react. "...they believe I'm being targeted by vampiric glass-themed monster ponies, and that if I'm left alone again, I'll turn into a pile of glass shards."

Vinyl and Lyra looked at each other, then at their friend for a few moments. "Are you serious?" Lyra finally asked.

Octavia nodded as she sat down on the grass. "They are even considering moving to a different town."

"That's an awful idea!" exclaimed Lyra.

Vinyl nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's not like they know if those vampires only live in Canterlot. Not to mention all of the other monsters that exist. Changelings, diamond dogs--" she stopped suddenly when she was nudged by Lyra.

"How do you know if all of the vampires are mean? Maybe there are nice ones too. Maybe they're like humans," suggested Lyra.

Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Humans aren't real, Lyra."

"Yes, they are!"

"Calm down," yelled Octavia, jumping between Lyra and Vinyl before their argument could escalate. "Lyra, what makes you think there would be friendly fangires?" she asked with curiosity.

"Well, you can't assume an entire species is purely evil. My parents always say that."

The bell rang, cutting the conversation short. "Well, see you in class," said Vinyl, heading to the school door as Octavia packed her violin. "Maybe we can convince your parents to let you come to my house for a sleepover." She turned to Lyra. "You can come too, if you want."

"Sounds great!" agreed Lyra.

* * *

After begging Octavia's father for ten minutes nonstop, Octavia was allowed to stay at Vinyl's house for a sleepover, under the condition that she and her friends didn't go too far outside without a grownup. That evening, the three fillies were playing board games and munching on chocolate chip cookies.

Lyra moved her player piece across the board, a big smile on her face. "Yes! I get to climb the ladder! I win!"

"I can't believe it. I would have won if it weren't for that snake near the end," commented Vinyl as she reached for another cookie. "So, want to play again?"

Octavia shook her head. "I'm getting tired of playing board games. Got any other ideas?"

"How about make-believe? We can imagine we're on an adventure or something." suggested Lyra.

Something made a loud crunching sound right after she spoke.

"Vinyl," Octavia scolded. "You shouldn't chew so loud."

"It wasn't me," said Vinyl. "That sound was too loud to be me."

The fillies heard another crunching sound. They turned to the window, which was wide open.

"You have some very loud neighbors," noted Octavia.

"They aren't usually this loud. Usually, they keep telling us to be quieter," explained Vinyl, giving a quick nod to the boombox and shelf of music disks at one side of the room. She stood up and trotted toward the window to take a look outside. "Woah!"

Lyra ran toward the window, Octavia following her cautiously. "What is it?" Lyra asked.

Vinyl pointed to a blue creature a few houses away. "Octavia, is that a fangire?" she asked.

Octavia squinted at the creature. "I can't tell for sure. It's about the same size, and has that scary look to it, but I don't see any stained glass."

"Hang on. I've been working on a spell," said Lyra, creating a bubble in front of Octavia. "This should work as a magnifying glass. It won't last too long, though."

Octavia looked though the bubble at the monster. It didn't have any stained glass features. However, it did have sharp teeth and a wolf-like face, as well as a horn. "It's not a fangire, I think. More of a wolf unicorn, I guess? And he's trapped another pony!"

The bubble disappeared, and Lyra took a few seconds to catch her breath. "Sorry... that's a... tough spell."

Vinyl hadn't moved her eyes from the window the entire time. "I see the other pony now. The monster just dropped her. Is she dead?"

Octavia looked closely. "Should we tell somepony?"

"Good idea. I'm telling Mom." As Vinyl ran out of the room, Octavia noticed something else happening outside.

"Lyra, do you think you could do that spell again? Just once more?"

Lyra nodded warily before making the magnifying bubble appear again.

Through the bubble, Octavia could see the werewolf unicorn turning into a regular pony. He didn't look too different, however, since he turned into a unicorn stallion that was almost the same hue of blue as the monster he was before.

Octavia's eye's widened as she recognized the stallion.