The High Life of the Musician
On a sunny Thursday morning, I wake up to the sound of Vinyl's dishwasher wubs. "Good morning, Tavi". "Morning, Vinyl". I wash up and get a breakfast of a bagel and orange juice. After that, I do what I need and walk into town and take in the lush scenery.
About ten minutes into the walk, "Ow! Watch where you're flying, you flankhole!" The stallion that bumped into me is a pegasus with a buzzed mohawk and a nervous look on his face. "Sorry about that", he says with a smile and a chuckle. "Are you flying for something?" "Yeah, I'm just practicing some stunts. I gotta get to work soon, want to walk with me in the meantime?" "Uh, okay, just be careful where you walk" I say with a little hesitation. After about 15 minutes of talking to each other in the walk, we reach a place near Cloudsdale. "Bye, it was a nice walk. My name is Octavia, by the way." "The name's Thunderlane." The conversation turns out be surprisingly relaxing and with the fresh air in my mind, I make my way home.
I walk home with a calm air and play my cello. After an hour, I check out what's on the news. Apparently, there was a carriage accident in Canterlot. I watch one of my concert DVDs, which I got at the Video Stables, and then Vinyl comes in walking, "Anything going on today? Today for me was kinda boring." "How did today go for me? Nothing really; just admiring the scenery is all that went on." I make a dinner of hay minestrone soup and replay my DVD after she leaves the room and puts on her music upstairs.
About one week later, I wake up and make eggs, toast, gambir*, and oranges after cleaning the house. I start playing my cello for a few hours for the concert tomorrow. After feeling tense, I go for a walk and take in the fresh air. A few minutes into it, I see the stallion from last week. "Hi Octavia, how was last week?" "It was ok, what about yours?" "It was kind of strenuous, but it was good nonetheless." We give each other updates as to what goes on last week and this week. "Hey Octavia, you want anything from here?" "No, I just ate, but thank you." He orders a large caramel latte. Inside the café is buzzing with rush hour tribulations. We walk over to the edge of Cloudsdale. "If you're free next Friday, wanna go out then?" "Give me a place and I'll see if I'm free." "Would Sweet Apple Acres work out for you?" "Sounds like a good plan."
*Gambir: Aduulian (Mongolian) pancakes
I head home and Vinyl's making some song remixes as I walk in. "So how did today go?" "It went fine, nothing that particularly stands out, what about you?" "My night shift's going well, but it was crazy. Meet anypony on your walks?" I tell her about Thunderlane and how we met last week. "Ooh, so you're going out with a friend? Tell me more about him." "I will after I next meet him." She resumes her remixing and with my tension long gone, I play my cello with new vigor.
The next day, I get breakfast, play and polish my cello for tonight. Things are going by very fast as I play, so Vinyl promises to watch the house tonight. As I head on to Canterlot, I play away in the concert. It turns out that the executive of Calvin Kleighn was injured in last week's carriage accident and requested that I play a song in his honor. After his song, I get a note saying, "Ms. Melody, if you can come visit me at the hospital at your earliest convenience that would be nice." I come to the Canterlot hospital and to his room.
He's in pretty bad shape and says he has a pretty bad concussion with a few casts. He says, "I wasn't the only one to get hurt by last week's accident. A mare and six foals were on their way back from an exhibit in Canterlot and they hit my carriage." "What happened to them?" "Well, the mare and the foals were admitted in the hospital, though two of them died within several hours." "That's really sad." "Indeed. Luckily, the other foals left the hospital within 5 days with casts to heal. Sometimes, I envy their ability to heal so quickly." "Same here, it must be pretty stressful to be an executive of such a big company." We tell each other about our lives and the recent events. Apparently, he has a box full of my albums. After a few hours into the visit, I head home tired and crash onto the bed.
The next Tuesday, I wake up and play my cello to calm down, and then go for a walk. About a few minutes into the walk, I meet a familiar white mare from that gala. "You met the head of Calvin Kleighn?! What's he like?! Does he have any new designs? How is he doing? Ooh, I'm simply about to faint!" "Calm down, he's recovering pretty well, considering his concussion and casts, and he's offering me a chance to promote his company." "Oh really? How did you get such an invitation?" "This is going to sound a little crazy, but apparently, he's a pretty big fan of my albums." We share our updates on what happened before the whole accident and on our lives.
I head home and turn on one of the comedy DVDs from the cabinet. "Hey, Tavi, I'm gonna head over to the arcade in a few." "All right, just give me a heads up if anything changes." "I will, bye." An hour and a half later, I get a text from my roommate. "Check this out." The picture is one of Rarity's new designs at her shop. "Cool clothes, did she meet the Calvin Kleighn executive?" "Dunno. U met him?" "Yup, he was in the Canterlot accident" "No way" "Ya I did. We talked about it, remember?" "O ya." I resume my movie after replying, "I'll check up on her soon, bye."
Thursday afternoon, I take a walk and meet Rarity again. "How's today coming along with you?" "Oh, it's simply pleasant; the Calvin Kleighn head's getting better, though his concussion's still pretty mild." "Well, that's good to hear." "So have you got any new design ideas this week? "Oh yes, a fair few; you should have seen them." "I've seen a few of them through pictures." "Really? Did the dj text them to you?" "If you mean my roommate, Vinyl, then yes I did." "I have more to show you one of these days next week, if you're free." "Thanks, I'll see what I can do by then."
"Hey, Tavi, I'll be at the club shortly, bye." "See you after your time, bye." I sit down and take a nap on the couch. A few hours later, I wake up with a kink in my neck and a dry mouth. I look in my saddlebag through my books for the pain in my neck. Luckily, I have a book on aromatherapy from that one pegasus in the forest. I decide to give the peppermint a try and grab a bottle in the bathroom mirror and rub it there. I make some cinnamon cookies in the rack after making some dinner of vegetable and tofu fried rice with peppermint tea. I watch a movie from my high school days and brush my teeth.
This morning, I do what I need to and get breakfast despite Vinyl's dishwashing, with a bag of cookies fresh packed in my saddlebag. I walk through town and to the Sweet Apple Acres. I take a little nap.
45 minutes later, "Ah, Vinyl, it's not your spa day." "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up from your nap." "Thunderlane, is that you? I thought you'd be late." "Who, me? Nah, I wouldn't do that to anypony unless they deserve it. Besides, how could I pass up a chance to get to know the town a little better?" "Well, since it's you and me, want to walk around the scenery?" "Yeah, totally. *Sniff, sniff* Whoa, you put on lotion?" "No, last night, I had a tense neck, and I wanted to give aromatherapy a try, so I rubbed peppermint oil on my neck." "Sure smells nice on ya." "Well, I wasn't quite expecting anyone to notice it much; I mean it just a little oil here." 15 minutes later, we see a couple of farmhands on break.
We see a tree house along the way and the forest close by. "Have ah met y'all before?" "Are you Applejack?" "What? How didja know? "Rainbow told me a little about ya." "Well, ah heard you got a bad rep when you was supposed to be helping the tornado speed record." "Yeah, I had the feather flu. You should've seen how jacked I was then." "Octavia, have you ever heard about an epidemic of that going around?" "I have before, but not lately." "So how did you end up with that little problem anyway?" "It's kind of a funny story; actually, I caught when I was working my wings to the bone trying to practice for the new record." "You collapsed from exhaustion? Seems to be pretty common with pegasi when the tornado comes around, don't it?" "Yeah, happens a lot with the flu season." Ya know, ah'd be happier than a rat in a shoebox to share mah apple cider vinegar with you." "Hey Big Mac, think you can watch mah cart for a spell?" "Eeyup."
"Hey, you guys want a cinnamon cookie?" I ask Thunderlane and Applejack. "Well don't mind if I do." "Sure do." *Chomp* "Did you make these, Miss Octavia? These sure are tasty." "Ah'll say. Here's a little bottle of mah vinegar, but don' worry, y'all can keep it; ah have plenty more where that came from." "Thanks, Applejack." "Aw, shucks."
"Well, that was nice. Did you really meet these ponies before?" "Yeah, me and my crew rescued them once, and Rainbow Dash coaches me from time to time." "I hear she's quite the fireball." "She is, but it's expected coming from someone with as much skill as her." As we reach Cloudsdale, "Well, it was a nice time today." "Yeah, I feel very relaxed." "I hope we can do another date." "It was a date?" "I'm sorry, did I say date? It slipped my tongue, I meant an outing." "It's all right, it was great all the same. Bye." "Bye."
I walk home, "So, Tavi, how was your date?" "It was a good time this morning." "Did you two click today?" "Not yet, I still don't know about me and him going out." "Aw, I'll have to check him out myself." "You may see him soon if it goes well with us." "I hope you do. Oh yeah. About my day, nothing much went on, but next month, ponies want me to play a gig in a karaoke bar in the Everfree Forest." "Are you sure you're not making this up?" "Totally sure, I didn't know they had a town or even a karaoke bar until today." "It seems to me like a lot of places around here are secretive." "Yeah, but it'll probably be worth a try." "Let's hope so, I mean I wouldn't want to lose you to the creatures there." Sometimes, I worry about my roommate. "Don't worry, Tavi. I'll probably be fine." "All right, but don't say I didn't warn you."
