The light of dawn peaked out of the horizon not long ago. A larger then average stallion, Bulk Biceps, is trotting on a pathway towards the outskirts of Ponyville. A body rippled with muscles, clearly displaying his hard work he's done to his body. Dirty blonde mane and tail cut short, let hair means less money to use to take care of it. A very well kept and clean white coat, since the Spa Sisters' would not let a pony who would work under them to not have a sense of hygiene. On his hips, are a normal set of saddlebags, with his cutie mark branded on the flap of the saddlebags. In Ponyville he has quite the reputation as an all brawn and no brain type of pony. He agrees with them of course, he's not the brightest one out there, but he likes to think he has enough to get by day by day.
A frown is etched onto his face as he thought about these past few day. Money has been tight these past month with gym fees, food, rent, etc. Even so, there's a saying his grandfather once told him. 'Money has to be spent to live, but hard work pays it all off.' It was only said once, but these words of wisdom resonated within since then. However stress from his jobs started to build up; got a stern talking to for being late at the spa, a complaint from a customer on how he did his job at the spa, and his peanut vendor gig not doing well. So then he's reminded of what his dad added to what his grandfather said. 'Rest and relaxation is important as well, to make sure the mind and body is ready to do more for the future.' With that being today. He requested off with his supervisors at all of his jobs, whom readily agreed, as they noticed the fatigue he's been building up.
He takes a sharp turn from the pathway and goes through an unremarkable set of bushes blocking the way with ease. He's greeted with the wonderful view of the rising morning sun of Celestia's above the lake. The lake, surrounded with a golden hue, shimmered under the sunlight giving and almost ethereal look. This was his favorite place to be in since moving to Ponyville. A very peaceful area where he can have time to himself with feeling locked up at his small cloudhome. He noticed that ponies seldom visit the lake around this time, so he took advantage of this and made this his own.
His deep red eyes scan around the area, as sits down at his usual spot when he's here. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he digs into one of his saddle bags and gets out a timely, but well kept wooden violin case. Nothing special about the case, except for the fading color of the black wood, making it almost navy blue. He unclasps the lock to bring out an aged but very well-kept violin. A gift from his gramps, something owned by him and passed along to Bulk. He's kept it ever since and maintaining it whenever he has time, but he didn't really start playing till not long ago. He starts to dust it off with a cloth, delicately, a word not commonly associated to him. However with practiced skill, he's done in a matter of minutes. He's checked his bow, tuned his strings, and draws the bow to one of the strings to play out a note. It rings out in the open area, his pierced ears flicker at the sound.
He smiles as it sounded in tune so far, and continues on the other strings.
XXX
At the same pathway, a petite earth pony mare slowly trots towards to the Ponyville Marketplace. She seemed to have seen better days since her dark brown mane and tail has a few strands here and there sticking out in various directions. On her flank she sports a purple treble clef, that stands out on her fair grey coat. Her usual bowtie collar she wears is absent.
Octavia is not in the happiest of moods right now. She wouldn't dare be seen like this at any other day, but drastic times call for drastic measures. Especially with how things turned out at her home. She had the whole week planned out way before, organized to be completed in the best way possible.
She woke up with no problems, nothing worth noting. She tried to get coffee ready, but there was none in cupboard. She tried to get breakfast, but there was nothing in the refrigerator. A certain roommate had to ruin the whole week already because said roommate had forgotten to buy groceries. She decided, regrettably, to stay in time with the schedule she set, she'll have to forego getting washed up and head to the marketplace to go get food for her and her *sigh* roommate.
Then her ear twitched, a violin. It was a single short note, barely noticeable if there was noise pollution, D string, in tune. She stopped in her tracks to try to hear more, if any. It did soon follow however different, an A string, slightly off. She concluded whoever is playing is just tuning the instrument. She was about to trot off, but stopped again when she realized the oddity behind it. Octavia knows ALL the musicians in Ponyville, it goes along with the career of being one herself. What makes this odd to her however, is that all of the violinist she knows are out of town, either for career or personal reasons. Curiosity starts to set in as who this mysterious violinist is.
A simple series of notes broke her thought process, the pony in question finished with his/her tuning. With the succession of notes playing, Octavia identified it as a scale, concluding her thoughts, that the player is just warming up. But then the player kept playing, going through all the major scales in a very rapid fashion. This was an experienced player, who knew the exercises by heart. Just who is this player? Curiosity starts to grow from before, however her stomach rumbles and the idea of food seemed like a much better idea.
Solving the mystery violinist for another day, she's about get back onto the trail, but then a melody starts playing. It started off quite simple really, something she could play after a few hours of practicing it. However, it's strong and passionate, something that made her stop again, her hunger subsiding. It isn't a familiar tune, nothing in her memory clicks as she tries to figure out what the song is. But, whoever is playing the song is making her draw towards the song and she can't help but be impressed and admire the amount of character is being portrayed by just this one song.
For the sake of growing curiosity she decided to 'bite the bullet' as the saying goes and see who it is. She took quiet steps off the path to where the source of the music is at. She quietly gasped, but not loud enough to reveal herself to her subject of interest. It revealed to be the larger then life stallion of Ponyvilly, Bulk Biceps. He was playing the tune with his eyes closed with intense concentration, very different from how Octavia has seen him with quick glances when he pops up. The scene in front just shakes her to the core. She knows of him, sure, let it be the random glimpse of him or the mentioning of him when it comes up... but to think a stallion as loud and brash as Bulk Biceps to be talented like this. However, as soon as that thought was finished she felt slightly guilty for thinking like that. Thinking something so deplorable when she hasn't even gotten to know the stallion at all since her stay here in Ponyville.
As he finished, she decides that maybe, she should get to know him.
XXX
"That was an invigorating piece, I must say." His ears flicked towards the rustle of bushes and where the statement originated from. He was surprised that there was somepony here this early in general. His head soon follows and recognizes the mare as Octavia, Vinyl Scratch's roommate. He notices that she seemed to have just woken some time ago, as indicated by the few strands sticking out here and there, her tired mulberry eyes are looking towards him, but her face shows inquisitiveness. However he kept the observations to himself, something his stallion friends told him when with mares. He knows her as a professional and a very accomplished cellist that gets booked to many occasions. To hear from a well known artist like herself compliment him, he smiles brightly.
"Thanks! I do this when I have time!" His voice booms out, the mare slightly winces at the loud volume, and his face reflects an apologetic expression. To which Octavia smiles warmly and waves his apology off with a foreleg. She trots towards him and politely gestures towards him asking if she could sit there. He returns the motion with an inviting gesture and she sat at a comfortable distance between the two.
"To be honest Bulk, I don't mean to rudely stereotype, but I never pictured you as a musician, let alone the playing the violin. How long have you played?" She said with not a hint of amusement or jeering, but rather with rapt curiosity.
To which he responded happily, but in quieter tone then last time. "Oh I gotcha! It's fine! I don't really care about that type of stuff. As for the violin, not long ago."
After hearing that, Octavia quirked an eyebrow at the wording used. "Not long ago? Like recently?"
He rolled his eyes up thoughtfully, putting a hoof to his chin, thinking exactly how long it's been. "Uh, like- about when I moved to Ponyville? So around last year?"
Octavia did not hide her impressed reaction. "You started quite late, and yet you have all the basics down flawlessly." She couldn't help but see him a way different light then before. She was about to ask more about his history, but her stomach interrupted. Bulk laughed loudly as he heard it and Octavia sat embarrassed. "I apologize, I haven't eaten breakfast. I was actually about to go get something to eat until I heard you here."
He's made a new friend, a pretty mare at that, he thought. He's free for the day, and workout time doesn't start til after breakfast, why not arrange something? "Well, why don't you join me? I'm done now, just need to put this up at the house." He invited her as he secured his violin into it's case and slipped the case into his saddlebags with practiced ease. With saddlebags in tow, he brought up a foreleg invitingly as he smiled towards her, again something his friends taught him to do when with mares.
With his surprisingly gentlecoltly mannerisms and invitation, Octavia slightly blushed. With her schedule already screwed up, it doesn't really matter now if she agrees. She was about to accept the invitation now but then she remembered her frazzled appearance. "Oh, but I look like an absolute mess, do you mind if I freshen up a bit and meet you at the marketplace?"
He innocently smiles, his foreleg still extended out in invitation. "Why don't I escort you, I got nothing to do anyways."
Stunned with such how this all turned out in general. She smiled back in return and wrapped her own foreleg with his. "I humbly accept your invitation." Then they trotted off towards her home, both feeling giddy. Maybe the rest of the week may not be as bad as they thought it would be.
Author's Note
Context: Must have watched EG: RR, to see what i'm going with, but that's it really. It may not show that Bulk is violin savvy in the pony world, but I like to think it's implied.
Had this idea for awhile since EG: RR, but with this prompt, I finally found a reason to write this story.
This is what i had in mind for Bulk Biceps to be playing:
https://youtu.be/PJjZM5zFGuA?t=23
