Chapter 4

I had stood in the shower once more, the hot water cascading over me.
The running water had made me think of the rain, the way it dropped on the leaves, the way it danced in the light.
The blood on my forehead slowly turned the water orange; the blood dripping from my fingertips continued the fashion.
Coming out of the shower, I wrapped my red towel around my waist. My eyes fixated on the floor as I walked out of the bathroom.

The smell of green tea floated into my nostrils. I looked up to see the grey mare usher me into the living room.
She had a tea tray balanced precariously on her hind quarters. She stood next to the coffee table in the room.
I watched as she gently slid the tea tray off her back and onto the table. "Well," I heard her voice; a distinct ting of sadness was hidden in her voice.
"What do you mean, your whole family is gone?" she asked, her voice became as soft as crushed velvet. I looked her dead in the eyes,
She gazed deeply into mine, as though reading my very soul. "If you must know," I began to open up slightly.
"I'm not from this world at all," I sighed glumly, but heard her small giggle as she interjected.
"So I gathered"

"Well, back home, I was always the disappointment," I sighed glumly "and I, in basic terms, felt alone,"
Octavia felt a pang of guilt, "judging by the look on your face, you think it's the only reason I'm letting you stay,"
I watched as she slowly nodded "well you're kind of right," I paused, reaching for the tea.
"But to be honest, when I looked into your eyes that night," I took a sip of green tea. The relaxing properties of the drink had begun to work its magic.
"I saw myself," her eyes widened "albeit with more talent," I scratched my head with my good fingers, catching a glimpse of a blush creeping across her face once again.

Since when was I so flirtatious I chuckled to myself. "But I could tell you needed someone" I smiled a genuine smile.
She hugged me, "its 4 o clock in the morning, I did not want your explanation of why you took me in," she sighed grumpily.
"I wanted an explanation of why you were playing your guitar outside at this time of night," her expression softened once more.
"But im glad you told me this, as for the green tea? Helps me sleep, maybe it'll do the same with you" she chuckled.
We sat there in silence, sipping the green tea until it was gone. I let her go up the stairs before me, the smile I had on my face hid itself in the stoic expression.

Sure enough, the grey mare was right. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.
Memories turned into dreams. My mind had turned into a steel trap.
"Listen, I know you want to pursue your music career but I'd prefer it if you continued acting" my mom said to me, with a hint of disappointment that my career paths had suddenly shifted.
"But, what's the point, I may as well do this, then go into acting" I replied, stating my case.
My mom was one of those types of people who would stand they're ground until her opponent gave up, or came to an ultimatum.
"Look, the next performing arts course is free, well…except the resource fees" she argued, but I once again shot her down.
"Tough, the resource fees for that course is £200," I continued the verbal game of tennis. "Where as, at the music college its only £140, including the enrolment fees"
My mom huffed in defeat, "fine, but don't come crying to me when you fall in debt"

(A/N: funny thing about the music college. They can be real C***S)

Everything grew colder as time moved forwards. I was sat there in the office of the music college, "…so that's basically it is it?" I growled.
"Unfortunately yes, considering that we haven't had any evidence of payments" I looked the moron dead in the eyes.
I could only clench my fists, and swear under my breath. "Well, unfortunately, I never got the letters, and plus it's too late to change the agreement now"
I stood up and walked out, slamming the door behind me. The glass of the door cracked.
The world was quiet, I had woken up to the smell of something burning, and the smoke alarm went off.

"Oh no, ROBBIE!" I heard a shriek.
I jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. I looked to see a flaming frying pan.
"Just get back," I shouted, "I got it covered" I chuckled as I grabbed the fire blanket, rapidly opening it up and throwing it over the offending object.
"Literally" out of nowhere in particular, jumped pinkie pie.
Then just as bizarrely as she entered, she left, bouncing and bounding away.
I face-palmed as Octavia attempted to process what had just happened, then chuckled as I heard the result.
The result in question was a very british "well, I never".

I heard the faint sound of door knocks. "Just minute," I ran to the door.
"Hello? Ah, Twilight, what brings you here?" the purple mare was slightly out of breath.
"Letter, Princess" my eyes slowly widened at the two simple words.
"May I read it please?" I asked nicely, considering the rough memories in my head were having a party.

My dear faithful student Twilight Sparkle.
Thank you for the latest Friendship reports,
How I do love to hear about the changes in you and your friends lives...

"Yadda yadda yadda nonsequential episodic mumbo jumbo…" I mumbled under my breath

…however as you have brought this up that the being known as Robert is not a pony….

"Blah blah blah, sending him a personal message…PERSONAL MESSAGE?" I shouted the last part.
I watched as the purple unicorn chuckled sheepishly as she levitated another letter out of her saddlebags.
"You didn't read it did you?" she shook her head. I sighed in relief, "I'll read it aloud, and you will probably want to hear it anyways"

To the being known as Robert.

For 2000 years my sister and I have ruled over Equestria.
We have seen many different creatures in our long lifetime.
But never have we seen or heard of something such as you.
We request an audience with you.

Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.

"Wow," I heard the voice of my housemate "a royal summons, some-pony must really like you" Octavia let out a little chuckle.
"By the gods" I was in a state of bewilderment. The idea of being summoned by royalty was an incredibly new concept.
The two mares looked at me for a moment. "Rob, I have a question," Twilight was looking at me in confusion.
"Why do you keep saying 'by the gods' whenever something surprises you?" I paused before answering the purple mare's question.
I summed it up like this "where I come from, there are one too many religions, hence why I use by the gods instead of oh my god"
Twilight seemed to understand this, but suddenly realized "oh wait, I got to go send a reply for you" she sped off back to the library.

An hour later, I decided to talk a short walk into town, deciding to look for work.
Upon my arrival I was crashed into by a Grey Pegasus pony. She fell to the floor, shaking her head violently. She was belittling herself for crashing into me.
"Oh, I'm so sorry sir, I wasn't watching…where I was…going" she had focused both her eyes on me, which on her account didn't look that easy.
I noticed the letters on the floor. "No worries Miss," I started to pick up the letters "accidents happen" I started to feel the golden eyes burning into me.
I turned to her and handed her the letters with a smile. "Uhm, T-thanks I guess" as she flew off to deliver more letters of uncertainty,
I couldn't shake the feeling that I would somehow bump into her again.

I watched a green flame shoot across the sky.
With nothing else better to do, I wandered up a beaten path. My mind lost in the music of the world around me.
Looking up, I saw that I had unintentionally walked to Sweet Apple Acres.
"OH HEY!" I jumped out of my skin with a mighty shout of
"JESUS CHRIST!" I landed on my rump with a slight thump. I got to my feet.
"Applejack, I'll get you back," I chuckled darkly, then smiled. "You need any help? Cause I need a job"
The orange pony shrugged her shoulders, "depends, what ya know about apple buckin?"
"Absotivly nothing, jack," I chuckled, then walked up to an apple tree "but I can do this"
I positioned myself in the traditional martial arts stance, bringing my right foot up diagonally, twisting my hips to put more power in the kick.

Apples came falling to the green grassy ground. "Well, looks like someone found himself a job"
"What's the pay like?" I asked.
"How about 20 bits per tree" I nodded happily.
"Deal!" I watched as the orange pony spat on her hoof and extended it, so I did the same, spitting in my hand. I then shook the apple farming earth pony's hoof.

I finally found a job, something I could never do on earth.
The funny thing is, if I really wanted to, I would have just shaken the apple tree.
But that would be lazier, plus I was a tad stressed.
As I walked through the orchard, I noticed the different varieties of apples.
"Think I'll make a start now" I chuckled, once again kicking a tree, the apples fell into the baskets placed conveniently next to the tree.
Within a few hours, I had made 200 bits. My right leg was slowly beginning to ache.
"Sugarcube, take a break, ya look like you could use one" the orange mare chuckled.

I promptly sat down, then elbowed the tree. A lone apple fell, landing in my outstretched hand.
"Heh, its all about the timing" I grinned, then promptly rubbed my elbow.
What seemed like an eternity of rest, was only 5 minutes. I stood up again. And continued to kick apples from trees.
Another 200 bits was made, but at a slower pace.
"Hey, Rob, you're done for the day" Applejack grinned.
"But it's only been four hours" I stated, but the orange mare looked at me with a smile.
"Sugarcube, if you spent all day buckin these trees the way you do, your leg will break" she spoke with honesty.
I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll take your word for it then, catch ya later" I limped off into town.
"Hey, waits a moment," she took off, and then ran back to me with a bag in her mouth. "Here's today's pay" she placed the bag of money in my hand.

"Thanks Jack" I smiled, then continued on my way.
As I walked into sugarcube corner, I was met with a pink blur, "oh hey Robbie, whatcha doing?"
"Eh, just getting some pastries, did twilight tell you the news?"
"What news?"
"I got a Royal summons" I grinned.
"Oh, yeah she already told us, so, what can I get you rob?" the pink mare stopped her bouncing.
"How much for the croissants?"
"Oh five bits for the croissants"
"10 croissants then please" I grinned as I handed over 50 bits.

Walking back to the house, I heard the sounds of music.
Octavia was playing her Cello, I snuck in through the open window of the living room, the bag of bits gently jingled in my pocket.
The bag of croissants hung from my mouth. I opened my mouth to place them on the table.
I grabbed the BC rich, plugging it into the line 6 amplifier; I flicked the switch starting up the bestial thing.
My fingers began to hit the fret board in what could be described as chaos.
Octavia opened her eyes and glanced over to see me standing there, on foot on the amp, in the traditional rock star pose.
She let out a quiet giggle, then continued to play. I decided to replicate her music with chords.

The sounds of the two instruments melded together. The melody had a slight depressing tone,
With the air of fleeting happiness, but then she looked up once again.
It was then that I noticed her smile, it wasn't the one she usually had on her face.
For as long as I have known Octavia, which to be honest is about a week, I never noticed that small smile she always had.
The bowtie around her neck was resting on the table, her mane was bedraggled, and she basically looked a state.
We stopped playing simultaneously. She rested her cello against the wall, placing her bow on the table. "I couldn't sleep at all last night"
She walked in and sat down. "Why? The green tea wasn't off was it?" I asked.
"No, it's just…. You opened up to me last night, and it got me thinking" she glanced over, not noticing the confused look on my face.
"Thinking about what?" I asked quietly, clearly seeing a lonely tear starting to form in the grey mare's eyes.

Seeing her like this pained me. Usually I would just try and cheer people up when they're like this. But not her, something was bothering her that much.
"Well, considering what you told me last night, I'll tell you what happened to me"
She sighed sadly, wiping the lonely tear from her eye.

Octavia began the process of telling her story.
I could only hold her hoof in my hand as she poured her heart out to me.