What Instrument does Octavia Play?

by Pillar_Head

Rating: everyone
Tags: Octavia, Random, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Human
Length: 1194

Anon once again brings up a random topic but with Octavia's instrument

you may think the answer is obvious but in the magical world of ponies. Anything is questionable in Anon's eyes if he cares enough. But why the instruments?

short story on a topic I argued with myself about for a while and during writing I have also been shocked at the outcome.

WARNING: this story features some amounts of nerd music/instrument biology talk. probably not funny (I really want to put the comedy tag but its not like I'm pulling a bunch of jokes in this and I think I'm the only one finding it funny)

Published 2023-07-18 16:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-07-18 16:30:00 UTC

"you obviously play the _______"

"you obviously play the _______"

Octavia sits in her room as Anon brings up an interesting claim. Octavia is taken aback at the statement.
“Ok Anon… Could you repeat what instrument you think I supposedly play?”

“A bass”

“R-right…” Octavia has been stumped for what and why Anon feels so insistent saying she plays a bass. Since she met Anon, she would ignore his comments on the instrument and think it was just a human difference since he's from a different world. But now he’s been increasingly persistent avoiding calling the instrument a cello and she has decided to question him about it. “A Bass?” Anon sees her confusion and shakes his head.

“I’m sorry. Calling it a bass doesn’t really help, it’s technically called a Contra-Bass or a double-bass, but generally it’s called a bass.” Anon reassures to Octavia, almost as if that made it less confusing.

“This isn’t a guitar.”

“No, not the Bass guitar. That’s why I said the technical names. It’s said to be the lowest instrument in the string family. That’s what you play.” He looks at Octavia in complete confidence without a doubt in the world; and it only confuses Octavia more. I didn’t even know it went lower. Octavia has only heard of the Bass Guitar. Until now she thought the cello was the lowest instrument in the string family.

“I’m sorry but I’ve never even heard of this “Double-Bass” you speak of. Can you tell me why you think I play it? Anon quickly pulls out his strange rectangular device and starts looking for something. After a second he holds the device in front of Octavia.

“Here. Look, you play your instrument just like a bass player” with an assertive voice Anon shows the image on his device appears to show another human playing an instrument that admittedly does look similar to the instrument Octavia plays. Even the posture of the player is similar to Octavia’s playing.

“Ok, that does look similar to how I play. But couldn’t the name just be different because we're from different worlds? What's wrong with calling it a cello?” Anon quickly looks for something else on his device in annoyance.

“Because we also have cellos and that's not how a cello is played, they're smaller than basses and your not be able to stand up and play the way you do if it was a cello.” Anon shows another human playing a string instrument that is noticeably smaller than the previously shown instrument. Due to the smaller size octavia does notice how the human sits on a chair to play it properly, Octavia cringes at the mental image of a pony trying to sit down and play that way as Anon continues. “And after looking at the violins in this world I can safely assume your Basses are properly proportioned to your bodies and the only reason I can't seem to find any cellos here is because it would be physically painful to sit in a chair and play like that with pony bodies.”

Octavia notices something strange about the differences between the two instruments. Now in slight caution at Anon's own argument possibly being destroyed and maybe the whole world if he freaks out, but it has to be said. “I still believe what I play is a cello….” Anon freezes and stares at Octavia to continue. ”... In this footage you’ve shown me. As similar as the instruments can be. They do have different shapes. The shoulders at the base of the neck are different. This bass you’ve shown me has sloped shoulders at the base of the neck while the cellos you’ve shown me have the same shoulder curve at the base as mine.”

Anon is still frozen. Now staring into his device as he sees what Octavia has pointed out; and it's tearing his mind apart.

They are different, and she does play a cello. He is devastated at this discovery and he doesn’t know how to feel. The more he thinks about it the more he realizes he’s wrong. Her instrument is proportional to human sized cellos so Basses would probably be too big for ponies to physically have. He bets Octavia’s instrument even has the same open notes as human cellos. How does she even play with hoofs? How does she even play higher notes that are higher than third position? Why does this cruel world not have basses but subject all cellos with the posture of one? Would this mean all Cello solos have to be played in bass posture? Can she even pluck the instrument? How does she hold her bow? Wait, isn't bow hair made from horse manes? He’s become a broken man. He stands up. Octavia looks at him in nervousness if he’ll get mad and break something.
“A-Anon I’m sorry to say but If this conversation has taught me anything. I don’t think Basses exist in Equestr-” Anon starts screaming and jumps out the window. Octavia can hear his screams as he runs down ponyville and into the Everfree forest, never to be seen again. Ponies in town look back at Octavia’s home in confusion for what horrors could make a man like him go mad. Vinyl walks into the room to see what the commotion is about.

“So what was all that bass talk about? I thought that was my thing.” Octavia face hoofs.

-----------Days later in Canterlot-------------

Octavia can’t say she constantly worries about Anon’s whereabouts but since her conversation she can’t help but worry if Anon is okay. The elements went searching for him shortly after he ran off but didn’t get a glimpse of him. Ponies back in ponyville don't understand the whole context of why Anon ran off like that so now Octavia is feared by everyone for their sanity. Besides that she’s at her usual performance in Canterlot playing for annoying nobles that cant like anything other than classical. Until she notices the audience slowly leave the door as a commotion happens outside. Putting down her instrument Octavia walks out and through the crown only to finally see Anon again. He’s seen better days as she can tell he’s been living amongst the woods but most notable of all. He’s playing a familiar instrument that seems to be horribly made as it's made of everfree trees and it didn’t seem like he had the best tools to make it but effective at what Anon has longed for. A bass. Anon notices Octavia's stare and smirks. probably at her previous statement about Basses not existing in Equestria.

Author's Note

I still head cannon Octavia being a Bass player..... also admittedly the Canterlot part was only added because I was under 1k words and I wanted to get the story out. I do not plan on branching a story from this. Besides that, I'm really happy to actually publish something but I’m sure this doesn’t seem that good to a majority of people for multiple reasons. I have actual stories planned out on my blog but I wanted to start with something short to get used to posting stuff on here.