Family. It was all I had ever known. Ever since I was a small filly, my family and I had lived in the most barren recesses of Eastern Equestria. It was only the five of us, on a tiny rock farm. I had no friends as a child, and really no role models. My parents adopted a Ponish (a mixture of Amish and pony) lifestyle before I was born. I didn’t get much social interaction, my only real friend being a small doll that was handed down from my great grandmother. Maybe that’s the reason why I turned out the way I am today.
My name is Inkie Pie. Well, that used to be my name. I won’t get to that quite yet though. These are the memoirs of my life.
Through a young age, the only people I really knew were my sisters, and my parents. I was the youngest of three sisters, and for the most part, I was the quietest. My full name was Inkgred Suzanna Pie. My oldest sister’s name was Blianka Carolina Pie, but we called her Blinkie Pie. However, my other sister, her name is Pinkemena Diane Pie. That’s right, the infamous party pony herself, Pinkie Pie. The three of us always got along, doing our various jobs around the rock farm, and don’t get me wrong, I loved my sisters my whole childhood, I just wish I would’ve gotten a chance to make some friends.
My parents were good, respectable parents. I just felt for most of my childhood that they were holding me back. They never really wanted me to achieve my dream of playing the flute. They always said that I should follow in my mother’s footsteps, by being a dancer. Their names were Suzanna, and Clyde. I was supposed to be the successful pony, with high expectations. They had utmost confidence in me, ever since I was born. That was the most obvious reason I was named after my mother. She was beautiful, much like her daughters. She always wore her mane in a tight bun on the top of her head, and she always looked neat, even though she was always hassled and busy, between the farming and doing most of the cooking and cleaning around the house.
They used to say I grew up faster than I should have. I never really cried, I had no real emotion. It was hard to have emotion in a world that was bland, with no friendship, and no real purpose. My mother always said “She’s like a rock; maybe she should take my cutie mark!” She would point to her flank where there were three small rocks painted on. That was when I was a younger filly without a cutie mark. Of course, inside I was screaming. The octaves inside my mind were bursting from the seams. All I really wanted to do was show my emotion and do what I loved. I didn’t want to be a “rock” or anything like that.
To pass the time as a child, I would compose beats masterfully with my hands, tapping at the cobblestone, pounding on metal buckets, and slapping on nearby pots. I knew what I wanted to be, but unfortunately no one else did. My sisters did nothing to help this found destiny, because they were just as sorrowful as I was with my life. Until one day, that is.
Pinkie was leading us to the barn. My father kept begging her to tell him what the hullabaloo was about. “Pinkemena! Please tell me what this is all about, I’m begging you!”
“You’ll see soon enough Daddy!” was all she said every time my father spoke to her. Something seemed different about her, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it.
We tapped our hooves into the pathway on the way to the barn. We all became impatient, but before we knew it, the barn was in front of us. “Okay, I got this idea after I saw the most awesome thing! It made me so so so so so so HAPPPYY!!” said Pinkie. Her mane! It was… curly and messed up. It was usually unnaturally straight, and bland. Well, besides the fact that it was pink. She opened the door to the barn, and just before I walked inside I noticed a beautiful rainbow up in the sky.
Loud music emanated from the loud speakers, balloons, streamers, and small cakes and cupcakes filled tables around the barn. “LET’S PARTY!” she screamed over the music. All four of us stood there motionless for a few seconds, then suddenly, my father burst into dance and the rest of us followed suit! It was amazing. It was the most fun I’d had in my short life at the time. My smile grew so much because of that, and it was the happiest moment of all of our lives. On top of that, suddenly, Pinkie’s flank became crowded as her cutie mark appeared, a set of three balloons. “Wow! Pinkie…we’re so proud of you!” my mother said. Everyone was, and it was one of the happiest days of her life.
After that day, things around the farm changed a lot. We had parties a lot more, and my family was a lot happier. My life finally started to feel better.
Time progressed, and Blinkie also earned her cutie mark, a pair of glasses. Party after party happened, and my family had all come together. Then, when I turned fourteen years old, everything in my life changed… again.
My father had been bed-ridden and production around the rock farm had dwindled. Between father being sick all the time, and my mother taking care of him, there was not enough work getting done. We tried everything we could to help, but it still didn’t make a difference. To lighten the mood, Pinkie threw a party for my father. It worked tremendously, but… it gets worse.
The wiring for the speaker system was off, and it caused a spark in the barn. The wood of the barn was helpless against the forming flames of the electrical fire. The barn started to burn helplessly to the ground. Luckily, no one was there at the time… but unfortunately the line of trees next to the barn caught fire and led the flames straight to the house.
Everyone was inside. Blinkie was sleeping, and so was my father. Pinkie and I were getting ready for sleep, and my mother was in the kitchen cleaning the dishes from earlier during dinner time. No one was paying attention, and it was really the perfect time for this kind of thing to happen. Of course, if you were Death. He would be getting paid a lot tonight.
The flames flipped through the tinder of the house quickly, and the fire blocked the back exit from the start. The smoke funneled into the house. My sister and I both noticed it and went down stairs to the kitchen. My mother was looking straight at the fire and quickly said to us, “Girls, wake up Blinkie, tell her to get outside. All of you stay out of the house!”
“But what about fathe-“ Pinkie tried to say but she was interrupted.
“Just go!”
The smoke started to billow, and I was close to feinting. Pinkie got out quick, but I tripped over the sofa and it hindered me quite a bit. Blinkie came down the stairs bawling her eyes out, tripping on the final step of the staircase, and she just lay there.
“Mom… and Dad, the fire made their room… collapse.” Between the smoke and incident, her eyes were completely wet, and they started to wet her neck and mane. She looked horrible. In that moment, I broke out into tears. I couldn’t believe it. My parents were… gone. While I was crying, I didn’t notice that Blinkie was lying on the floor, and she wasn’t breathing. I couldn’t believe it… I let my own sister die right in front of me. I quickly got up, and got out of the house trying to regain my composure. I started to bawl my eyes out, and sat on the floor. I couldn’t even find my last remaining family member. I tried to settle down, but I just fell to the floor. A large pink blob came nearer in my hindered vision.
“Inkie!?...Blinkie!? Mom, Dad where are you guys!” she yelled.
I tried to yell to her, but nothing came out of my mouth. She didn’t even see me. The last thing I saw was two men in uniform take Pinkie, and then my sight went black. I feinted.
I woke up hours later. I was surprised the blaze didn’t take me with it. I lay in that one spot for several hours. Just, wishing that I had all of my family back. I wished that all of this never happened. I remember thinking to myself, “I’ll just go to the big tower to the North, Father said that there are lots of ponies that’ll help me there…” he was talking about Canterlot. So that’s where I journeyed to next.
On my journey, I saw caravan traders selling flowers, as well as apples, cherries, carrots, and sweets. I had never seen them before. The new sights were incredible. I saw new woodland creatures, and other ponies I had never seen before. Four days of walking had me incredibly exhausted, and hungry. Finally I saw the giant tower that was Canterlot, and the front gate to the city was only about a mile away. As I trotted up to the gate, I saw booths selling all sorts of merchandise. I saw a performing unicorn with a silly hat with stars and moons on it, said her name was Trixley, or something along those lines. There were all sorts of creatures I had never seen before. Griffons, Unicorns, Pegasi, Zebras, and manticores were all new to me. Everything was a new sight to me.
Then, suddenly I saw the most amazing thing ever. I heard beautiful noises emit from this one building in the square of the city. Plucking strings and woodwinds were chiming through the streets. A music shop! I forgot my hunger and how tired I was in pursuit of the building. I walked inside and the melodies graced and tickled the inside of my eardrums. There was a mint green unicorn playing a Lyre, and an earth pony playing a Sousaphone. Everything about this place graced my eardrums.
All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye, I saw a regal looking mare with a blonde bouffant style hairdo approach me. “Hello! My name is Lyrica; I’m the co-owner of this shop. What would you like, darling?”
Shyly, I said “Uhm, yes do you have any flutes?”
“Of course my dear come with me!” while she walked me to the left flank of the shop she told me the types of flutes she had, “We have woodwind flutes, duct flutes, pan flutes, recorders, piccolo’s-“
I started to drift from her words as I saw the section of flutes. Suddenly, I saw a silver shiny one that I had to try. “Is there a way I could try that one?” I pointed to it and Lyrica quickly looked at it.
“Well for you, I think I could give you one of the extra mouth pieces. Besides, you look like a talented young mare! Grace my ears!” she walked away and came back quickly with a little cover for the end of the flute. “Go on now, impress me!”
I put my mouth to the slot of the flute where you play, and I started playing. In my head it was beautiful, and the moment I had been waiting for. However, to the others it stuck out like a sore thumb.
“What is that horrible noise?” I heard a colt say.
“Oh my gosh, get her out!” I heard another pony say.
I was… crushed to say the least. I had found solace in this place, and I had found my passion, but I was terrible.
“Oh my goodness, little young mare! Maybe you need a stringed instrument.” She left again with the flute but returned with a giant instrument, with four strings, and a beautiful brown oak surface. She pulled out a wooden stick, with a flimsy membrane on one side. “Here’s the bow, maybe you should try out this one!” she said. I wrapped my hoof around the “bow” and stood the instrument up straight and started playing. The melody flowed from the bow, as I cut at the strings like a knife, projecting sound all over the shop. Others stopped and listened. Lyrica said under her breath “Sweet Celestia…”
“What!? Did I do badly again?” I asked with disappointment.
“No darling… that was beautiful. That cello suits you very well!”
So that’s what it was called. I had never heard of it but I loved it. Suddenly, I had just remembered something. “My cutie mark!” I looked down and saw a large purple treble clef printed on my flank.
“Yes!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Oh my Celestia! Congratulations dear!” said Lyrica
It was about time, my sisters got theirs when they were around ten, and I was fourteen.
“Listen dear, this instrument was obviously meant for you, so I’ll give it to you for free. Perhaps you can get good use out of it.” Said the owner.
I almost cried because of the sudden joy I was having after all of the despair. I could hardly say thank you. But I did, and I didn’t cry. My tear ducts were dry anyways.
“What is your name, young filly?” she asked.
Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t use my old name. Maybe I should wipe the record clean. Start over, but what would my name be?
“Octavia…my name’s Octavia.” I said.
“Well, Darling you have a huge future playing the cello!” she said. “Now go, show your talent to the world!”
So, that’s exactly what I did! I started out slow, being a street performer. I actually performed with that lyre wielding unicorn for a while. Her name was Lyra Heartstrings. She was a real sweetheart. She kept on talking about something called a “human” however, she was crazy. My career as a musician was taking off, and I eventually started to get happy. I finally got friends, and the high class of Canterlot started to notice me. The rich started to hire me as a musician at parties. In fact, Lyrica was wealthy herself, and gave me my first real performance with Lyra, who was also a recurring customer of hers.
I was starting to become a big thing in Canterlot, knowing some of the most famous ponies. Fancypants, Fleur de Lis, Caesar, and others invited me to parties. Sometimes they didn’t even want me to perform! All this happened to me, and I wasn’t even an adult. Although, when I turned 18 years old, I was invited to the All Canterlot Symphony. When I was 22 years old, I earned first chair at cello, in the symphony.
I was starting to become successful, and one day I was walking down the streets of Canterlot. Suddenly, I heard a very familiar voice.
“Inkie! Is that you!?”
