The Octavarium (Ended)

Nearly adjacent to the main residential area was a small park.  It took the shape of a rectangle and was easily four acres in size.  It was aligned horizontally, with its lengthier edges facing north and south and the shorter ones facing east and west.

The majority of the park was dominated by a wide-open grassy field, with few interruptions aside from the aesthetically-pleasing flower garden in the center.  The locals took advantage of it in a few ways, including sunbathing, playing fetch their dogs, or other outside sports like frisbee, bocce, or even hoofball on occasion.

In one part, in the corner nearest the houses, was a playground for the local fillies and colts.  The entire ground of the play area was made of sand, all at once an obvious choice due to the town's proximity to the coast.  Within its confines, there was a slide, sandbox, merry-go-round, monkey bars, and a few of those rideable animal things on springs.  For the parents, there were several benches positioned just on the edge of the playground as well as a picnic shelter with at least a half dozen stone tables underneath it.  As one could imagine, the park was host to many birthday parties throughout the year.

Finally, on the south side of the park, there was a green belt that ran along a small creek.  This creek, flowing from a spring source within the park, flowed along its entire length, going far past the furthest reaches of the park and out to sea.  The oak trees that lined the banks had very little undergrowth and several trails snaked through them and along the edge of the creek.

It was along one of these trails that Low Key and Niara were walking in silence.  Low had suggested the walk after breakfast as a way to spend more time with Niara before he went off to work late in the afternoon.  As it was noon by the time they arrived, the park was already packed with a few ponies.  Low had never been to the park before, and had expected a bit more forest.  He was about to call the second half of their date a bust when Niara pointed out the trails leading into the green belt.

Low never was one for nature walks, but it took on a whole new beauty when you were sharing it with somepony special.  The way the light filtered through the canopy like fingers, the sound of birds chirping and the relaxing babble of water flowing made him feel especially relaxed.  The fact that Niara was here with him completed the romantic feeling of this moment.

Still, in spite of everything, thoughts continued to plague the back of his mind.  He still felt unworthy of Niara's attentions and believed that it was wrong of him to have slept with her on their first night together.  Fortunately, it didn't take much soul-searching to find the source of the guilt that he was drowning in; all of his fears, all of his insecurities, all of them led back to one stallion:  Saline.  Even though the zebra had forgiven him, Low had never forgiven himself for his actions that night.  He lied, cheated, and manipulated that stallion into a one night stand, ignoring all feelings of guilt until after the two of them were spent.  It was a black stain on his honor and it would never go away, not until he came out and told the truth to Niara; but what would she do once she found out his secret?  Would she find some way to forgive him like Saline did, or would she leave him after telling him that she could never spend the rest of her life with a stallion so vile?  If the worst came to pass, Low solemnly recognized that he would deserve it.

This thought brought forth a symbol in Low's mind;  He had never been educated in formal music theory, but he knew a few things about it.  One such item was the concept of the octave, a series of eight notes that started and ended on the same letter.  One could imagine the analogy of the octave compared to the cyclical nature of life that some ponies believed in, ponies like Midnight Mind.  When she had given him his reading not two weeks ago, she had described how life is a circle; we are born, we live, we die, and then we are born again.

Low saw the analogy in a different light.  When he was still a colt, his father had always told him, 'Plan your actions carefully because everything you do comes back to you'.  In that way, Low realized that he would never be able to escape the justice that he knew was coming for him.  Life was one giant Octavarium where every action has consequences, consequences that Low was about to experience in full.