Better Than First Thought

Octavia wandered through the mazes of streets that made up Canterlot. The whole day of preparing and planning for the excursion to uncharted territory did little to help her find where it was Pitch wanted to meet her. She went as far as to draw her path on the map she used the day before; however, no matter how many times she referred back to it, she found herself more and more lost. "I'm definitely not in Ponyville anymore", she told her hooves, shaking her head.

The only thing that kept her from stopping and asking for directions was the fact that she didn't know who would help and who would insult her for not knowing a simple address. She sighed. At this rate there was no way she would make it there before seven. The darkening sky overhead confirmed it. The Earth Pony scanned the faces of the ponies that knew the city for one that seemed remotely friendly.

A stallion, who looked much older than herself stood out in the crowd. He wore a black vest and a combed back mane. The thing that separated him from the snobs of Canterlot was his nose, which wasn't stuck in the air. "Excuse me", she said politely when he was in range.

"Yes?" He stopped.

She presented the paper with Pitch's scribble. "Could you direct me to this address? I'm very lost and only have a little time before I'm late meeting somepony."

The stallion took a look at what she held out. He smiled warmly. Stepping aside, he pointed across the street. "You're closer than you think, my dear."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you very much."

"My pleasure. The two of you have fun." He continued on his way without another word.

Octavia crossed the street, upsetting a couple of carriages in the process. "This is an apartment building...Pitch invited me to his home", she said, looking up at the exterior. She smiled. Whatever he had in store for her was sure to be a pleasant surprise. She entered and immediately the elevator tended by a pony in the back of the lobby. "Top floor, please."

He nodded and, with a pull of his lever, had them on their way to Pitch's penthouse. The mystery of what Pitch was planning made the ride up all the more thrilling. Floor by floor passed, giving Octavia a short glimpse of what each of the corridor's ponies were doing, from chatting idly to making their way to the elevators themselves. It was a good thing that the building was about as average in height as the rest in Canterlot. If it were one of the taller ones, she might have gotten a little bored. The doors opened soon after the eight floor, landing right at ten.

"Thank you", she said to the attendant.

He nodded and started the elevator back down, leaving her alone in a small hallway. A lone door was the only thing that stood with her. On it was a note. Her name was printed on the front. "Octavia", she read, "Come on in."

Following the instructions, the mare pushed open the door and entered the brightly lit apartment. The vast, highly expensive inside caused a tick of anger to briefly flash over her. Seeing how much money his baseball career was obviously brining in didn't exactly settle well with the musician. It passed quickly; she didn't want to ruin the night with what she knew was a pretty valid assumption. Now that her thoughts were no longer interruption her senses, the intense smell of cheese over came her nose. She traced it to the next room, where even more chrome could be found plating the appliances.

The mare couldn't find the source of the heavenly smell, so left back out for the living room. She found even more furniture, framed in stainless steel and cushioned by pillows of black, but no Pitch anywhere. Why would he not be around? The only plausible thing that Octavia could figure was that he was still getting ready. She smiled, imagining him rushing to get a bowtie fastened around his neck for the night. That thought made her remember something. She wasn't wearing anything! The pure enthusiasm about the night made her forget about getting ready!

Suddenly she felt very out of place. Tonight felt hundreds of times more formal than the last, even despite standing in a living room and not a four-star restaurant. There was nothing she could do about it; the only hope that remained was that maybe he wouldn't notice, or better if he came out in worse shape. To take away some of the anxiety, she took a seat near the huge window that made up the outer corner of the room. The view of the setting sun over Equestria's capital city was absolutely gorgeous, and the violin solo was the perfect addition. The soft, drawn out notes on the strings melted all of her worries away.

Just a moment…where is that coming from? Her ears homed in on the soft whispers of the instrument. They came from the staircase in the back. At the first step was Pitch, standing on his hind legs and drawing the violin's bows across its strings. He dressed himself in a black suit, completing the contradiction of his career as a baseball player.

She couldn't see it, but he fought to keep down a large grin in order to appear more professional. His eyes were closed, another feature to his symphonic solo that added a certain mastery for the piece he played. Speaking of the lullaby, Octavia couldn't place what he played in any of the myriad of symphonies she knew. To say the absolute least, the cellist was immersed in pure captivation. The building could suddenly burst into flames, but so long as he continued to play, she wouldn't move.

His hooves kept the bow moving across several more of the piece's measures before lifting the bow away after a long decrescendo. Pitch allowed a ten second interlude to proceed before he opened his eyes. He grinned at her awe-struck gawk.

"Oh, merciful music", she breathed, "You play?"

He nodded sincerely, pushing instinctive sarcasm aside. "Yes. Betcha didn't see that one coming, huh?"

"I'm beyond impressed", she declared. She motioned to his instrument. "May I?

"Oh, sure."

Octavia turned the instrument over in her hooves while she examined every detail. "Perfectly hoof carved, magnificently polished, perfectly tuned…it's beautiful. How did you ever find such a well-made violin?"

"My uncle's a luthier", he answered, "My dad had him make it for me back when I played."

"How long ago was that?" Her question came from the 7/8 size. Not exactly the full length, yet not small enough for a young colt. Maybe he wasn't as young as she thought when he gave music up for baseball.

"When I left school. I got my baseball contract right out of graduation and never picked it up again…"

The shame in his voice pulled his features down into a genuine frown. Octavia found it well-placed. Anypony who could play so passionately well without regular practice no doubt had a deep love for the art. That called for another question. "Why finally play again after so long?"

Pitch's face darkened from light blue to purple, and finally red. "I thought you might like to know I'm not all ball player like my mom."

She gave him back the violin. "I'm happy you showed me we're not all that different."

"I'm happy I have a reason to play again. Kinda forgot I loved playing."

The mare's heart skipped a beat. She made him play again? What was so special about her to make him want to play again? As a pony who didn't find pleasure in knowing every detail of a situation, she move the evening along. Maybe the answers would arise in time. "I'd love to hear you play again. Perhaps sometime after we enjoy whatever wonderful smell is coming from the kitchen?"

Suddenly the Pegasus remembered what he had originally invited her over for. "Oh, yeah, yeah!" He hurried to the kitchen away from the embarrassment showing so clearly across his face. Octavia followed, relishing in the accidental power she had over him. Had she not been astounded by his performance, her devious side might have risen to embarrass him further.

Inside the L-shaped kitchen Pitch hastily withdrew a pan of what he had awaiting for their stomachs from the oven. The casserole hardly looked like such; however, under its unevenly lain hay topping and clumps of melted cheddar, the dish must have been more taste than presentation. That's what she hoped anyway. Pitch cut out two cubes of the steamy casserole and placed them at the centers of two circles of apple slices he had on their plates. He slid the plates onto his wings and carried them to the dining table situated on the other side of the island that housed the cooking area.

He was finished when the plates were down. The ball-player politely pulled her chair out and pushed her back in when she sat. "I hope you like it. My dad used to make this whenever we had special guests."

"'Special?'" Octavia turned her head skeptically. She was an aspiring musician, and hardly special.

Pitch, however, saw things in a slightly different way. "Yeah. You're a really nice pony and I'm really happy I ran into you the other day. I know it's only been a couple of days, but I feel like we're already good friends."

Octavia was flattered. In a big city, usually ponies were distrustful of each other. Pitch was friendlier than he first let on. The cellist really liked that; maybe her stay in Canterlot wouldn't be so lonely anymore. She only needed to know exactly how much of his time she could have. Fearing that asking such trivial questions would ruin the mood between them, Octavia figured that she would know by the time the evening ended exactly how much free time the colt had. For now, she settled with simply eating the dinner he had prepared for them.

"I can't wait for your next audition", he was saying while she wandered with her thoughts.

"Neither can I", she replied, "And having you there only makes the occasion more exciting to look forward to."

"Really?"

"Yes. You're the only friend I have here in Canterlot", she explained, "In the week that I've arrived, I haven't had anypony here to welcome me or even give a tour."

"I'll walk you around", he offered quickly, "I don't have practice tomorrow and I'll just probably sleep all day anyway."

"That sounds nice." She figured she gave the casserole enough time to cool down and took her first bite. A new sensation washed over her that no food before had ever come close to. It wasn't so much the taste, but rather the "at home" feeling that warmed her very soul. If she had closed her eyes, she would have most likely felt she was back home in Ponyville.

Pitch read the surprise across her face. "Make's ya feel right at home, doesn't it?"

She nodded. "This is amazing."

"My mom and dad came up with the recipe when I was born", he told her with a smile, "They call it 'Memory Surprise'."

"Why that?"

"Because it reminds ponies of the best thing that happen to them. Like hitting the Equestrian Series' winning homerun, or writing a symphony that won the Conductor of the Year award."

"Or having a son."

He chuckled. "No matter what they ever did, Mom and Dad always say I'm their greatest accomplishment."

"Knowing you even in the short time that I have, I can confirm that you must be."

Pitch blushed. He pretended to take a drink of his water to hide his face behind the cup. "Thanks…"

His modesty didn't go by unnoticed. Figuring he must not receive many compliments like that, Octavia refused to press more into him. "I must meet your parents one day. They sound like very nice ponies."

"My dad'll love you. My mom too probably."

"I'm curious", she mused aloud.

"Yeah?"

"You play the violin so well, yet you chose baseball as your career. If I may ask, why not become a concert violinist?"

Pitch leaned forward. "It's a long story, but you still wanna hear it, huh?" As he expected she nodded. "To be honest, I haven't always liked baseball."

"Really?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Since I was born I loved music. My dad always played lullabies for me when I was little. When I was big enough to play, he gave me my first violin. I loved that thing. I played all the way up until I started music school."

"What happened then?"

"I couldn't play in my first year; I had to sing in the choir as a baritone so I could prove I knew music theory. After I aced that year, I was able to bring my violin. The second year was really boring because I knew everything they tried teaching me in the core curriculum or whatever, so I mainly just made a couple of friends who were at the top of the class with me."

"What instruments did they play?"

"We were all violinists", he laughed, "We formed a quartet. Let me think…I was third violin, Resonant Beat was first, Treble Melody was second, and Chord Interval was fourth."

"Four violins?" Octavia eyed him skeptically. "That couldn't have been wise."

"I didn't say we sounded okay, haha! Once we got into third year we made a cello friend, Tuner String, so I split off and played what we called 'bass violin'. Don't judge, we were seven. We played together all the way up until our final year. We were all up for scholarships for Notation Academy in Trottingham…"

Pitch's voice quivered. Octavia braced herself for the plot twist. That is, if he had the will to tell her. He silently writhed in his chair, an obvious mental battle going on behind his sudden pain-stricken eyes. Octavia opened her mouth to object to him finishing, but he beat her to the words.

"Sorry", he said, "I gotta tell you another time."

"It's fine", Octavia replied soothingly, "I don't want to force out any more pain."

Pitch noticed that they had both eaten the entirety of the meal during his story. "I hope you're a cake pony."

She smiled, pushing what had just happened to the back of her mind. "I would love a slice of cake."

The mare watched as he left of the other side of the island. While he sliced the pastry, Octavia wondered exactly what more this interesting colt had in store for her. She doubted that whatever else he still had under that athletic grin could top being a violin master. If only she knew how wrong she was…

Wow! What a surprise! Pitch, a violinist, who knew?

Really sorry for the delays. I have so much going on right now. I'm busy rewriting my old stories, and furthering my art career while trying to gain readers on Fimfiction.

Speaking of that dreadful site, if you have a Fimfiction account and would like to support me there as well, I would be most grateful, as I'm struggling to acquire new ones there. You can find my account under the same username.

Trivia:

Pitch is such a trusting pony because of the atmosphere that his parents had set for him while he was young.