//------------------------------// // A New Crowd // Story: The Grounded Musician // by SilasSilversti //------------------------------// Chapter 13 Twilight Sparkle led Silas to Rarity's in a hurry. Rarity had already made all of her friends dresses for the Gala, and now she'd have to make suits for three other stallions. "Are you sure she'd be okay with it?" Silas asked, Twilight giggled at how nervous he was. "She'll be fine with it, dress clothes for stallions are way simpler than dresses for mares, trust me." She replied, Silas calmed down by the time they reached Rarity's. "Rarity?" Twilight said as she opened the door slowly, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were inside. Twilight and Silas came in anyway, as soon as the Cutie Mark Crusaders noticed Silas they rushed up to his side. "Howdy Silas!" Applebloom greeted, "Hiya Silas!" Scoots said, "Hi Silas!" Sweetie said. The tall orange Pegasus couldn't help but laugh, it looks like he had three little fangirls. "Heh heh, hello you three. Have you all been staying out of trouble?" He asked in a gentle but serious voice. They all nodded their heads rapidly. Rarity entered the room in a smooth manner. "Why hello Twilight! Hello Silas! What can I do for you on this glorious afternoon?" She said, Twilight hesitated for a second then looked at Silas. He got nervous once more, Twilight spoke. "Rarity, we just got a letter from the princess, she invited Silas to the Grand Galloping Gala." Before she could say anything else Rarity cut her off. "Oh my goodness! That's great news, you have something to wear there don't you deary?" She said, Silas got shy, "Well um, I kind of, I don't have anything. Neither does Lucas or Jake, the princess invited them as well." He said. "Oh dear! Darling you must have something, I'll fix you and your friends right up!" Rarity said with glee. Twilight smiled at Silas, he beamed. "Um, girls do you mind doing me a quick favor?" Silas said to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they all turned their heads. "Of course we can! Anything for the stallion who saved us!" Sweetie Belle said, Silas smiled at the three, "I need you to go to Lucas' apartment, its near Sugarcube Corner. Tell him to bring Jake here and that I have a surprise for them." He said, all three of them nodded their heads. "We're on it!" Scoots yelled and the three little fillies raced out the door. The CMC raced to the middle of town, "So where is it exactly?" Sweetie Belle asked, "He said it was near Sugarcube corner." Scootaloo said, "But which house it is?" Applebloom asked, "I don't know." Sweetie and Scoot said together. The three fillies reached Sugarcube Corner, they all looked around. There was a teal unicorn collecting his mail outside a two story building. "Hey lets ask him if he knows where that Luke guy lives." The CMC ran up to the unicorn, he looked surprised to see them. "Hey mister, do y'all know where Luke Caperings lives?" Applebloom said, before the fellow could reply Scoots spoke. "It's Lukeus Copperings!" Sweetie stepped in, "No, it's Lucas Copperstrings." She said. The stallion replied, "Yeah I'm Lucas and I live here, what can I do for you three?" By the time the CMC came back Silas was already fitted for his suit, although it wasn't really a full suit. The CMC came in the door with Lucas and Jake following, only to be greeted by Rarity handing them each a pair of dress clothes. The two looked at each other funny, "Here try these on." Rarity said, Jake shrugged and got to it. "What's this for?" Luca asked, Silas handed him the two other tickets to the Gala. "We were invited to this." Silas said, Luca grinned and tried on his dress clothes. Silas was wearing a purple suit and a light purple bow tie. Jake was wearing a brown suit with a red bow tie. Lucas was wearing a teal suit with a yellow bow tie. Rarity and Twilight observed the three stallions. "Well, I think they look fabulous, they're ready for the Gala for sure!" Rarity said, "I need those clothes back boys, you can return tomorrow afternoon to claim them, I just need to make sure everything is perfect!" The three stallions thanked Rarity for the suits and left for home. The trio split up as they neared Twilight's Library, Jake talked with Silas while Lucas went back to the apartment. "So man, you sure about this? I mean we're not going to fit in at all there. Three band mates from Fillydelphia, among several upper-class ponies? I'm freaked out man." Jake said nervously, Silas grinned, "Dude, chill out. You know Twilight and all her friends aren't high-class and they're all going, cept for Rarity, she'd fit in perfectly. Twilight's from Canterlot, sides we get to meet Princess Celestia. Everything's gonna be fine man I'll see yah around." On that note the two best friends went home. The Next Day It was late afternoon, Silas was nervous as he was on his way to Rarity's. "Jeez, we really won't fit in there." He said to himself, at least he'll get to see Tavi. Silas was eager to watch her perform. Lucas and Jake were also on their way to Rarity's, Silas ran into them in front of their apartment. "Woah woah woah, wait guys....how are we gonna get there?" Silas asked his friends, Lucas shrugged, "I dunno man, we thought you had that figured out." Silas swore under his breath. The trio got on their way to Rarity's. The mane six were all there getting ready for the Gala, the band mates just wanted to come by and get their clothes. Silas knocked on the door, no one answered but they could easily hear all the noise upstairs. They showed themselves in and were greeted by Spike. "Hey guys, how's it going?" He said, Jake spoke for once, "Pretty good, besides nervous to all hell." He chuckled and went to find his suit. Silas, Lucas, and Jake got into their dress clothes. Jake looked at Lucas, "Heh heh, you look like a fag dude." He burst out laughing. Silas couldn't help but snicker, but he had to admit that all of them looked pretty stupid. They heard hoof steps coming down the stairs, it was Fluttershy. She was surprised to see the three band mates in their dress clothes. "U-um, Rarity wanted me to see who was downstairs." She said in her soft voice. "Yeah we just had to get these weird things on." Jake said in disgust. "Oh, well I think you all look lovely. Come upstairs if you'd like, that is u-unless you don't want to." Fluttershy said quietly, Silas followed her and Spike upstairs. "Yeah sure we'd love to." He said, Jake and Lucas followed as well. They entered Rarity's room, the rest of the Mane Six were there. Rainbow Dash spoke first, "Hey! Haven't you guys ever heard of knocking?" Jake gave a sarcastic answer, "No not really." Silas and him snickered together, Rainbow glared at them. "Well look at that, heh heh, you fellers look mighty spiffy in those suits." Applejack said, "I agree, don't they look simply fabulous?" Rarity announced, everypony nodded their heads in agreement. Rarity looked at the clock, "Oh my! Look at the time! You three need to catch the train to Canterlot! Come on girls we got to get ready as well!" The band mates rushed downstairs and out the door, "Oh shit, guys we don't even have train tickets." Silas said, Lucas facehoofed and Jake rolled his eyes. "Good, we wouldn't fit in at Canterlot anyway..." Jake said. Silas continued on his way to the train station, Lucas and Jake trailed behind. As Silas reached the train station he immediately approached the ticket booth. "Hey, two of my friends and I are suppose to catch this train to Canterlot." He said, the ticket manager wore a face of boredom, "Err, what are your names?" He asked, Silas said his name, Lucas and Jake said theirs. The manager's face changed and he pulled three tickets out of nowhere and handed them to Silas. "Twilight Sparkle told me to give you these." He said, Silas smiled wide. The train was boarding, the three band mates got on. Silas looked at the tickets, "Coach." He read out loud, Jake sighed, he noticed all the other ponies on the train that were dressed up. The trio weren't the only ones on the way to the Grand Galloping Gala. Jake and Lucas stayed together and Silas sat alone across from them. He didn't mind, he wasn't much of a talker, especially on a train. He stared out the window and began to think of Octavia. He couldn't wait to see her, she would indeed be surprised that he was there. The train ride ended up being about and hour and a half, as the band mates got off they were shocked. None of them had ever been to Canterlot before. It was an amazing city, the buildings were built like castles. All along the streets were ponies dressed up, almost everypony in Canterlot was wearing dress clothes. "Is this what they wear everyday around here?" Lucas asked, Silas shrugged. "Maybe we will fit in, if we don't say anything." He said. The trio followed the other Gala guests to the Castle entrance, for once they had to act fancy. Silas stood up completely straight and maintained a stern look on his face. Jake and Lucas followed his lead and did the same, as they entered the castle their expressions changed to those of nervousness. Silas' anxiety was acting up badly, Jake was sweating, Lucas' asthma was flaring up. "I sure hope we run into a few ponies we know." Lucas said, "We might as well stay together, nopony knows that we know each other." He continued, Silas shook his head. "No man, screw that. We gotta meet the Princess, she's been expecting us. Hell, she invited us, the least we could do is thank her." With that said he followed the red carpet to a line of ponies. Silas looked up ahead, Princess Celestia was at the top of a staircase talking to each pony who approached her. Damn this line. Silas thought to himself, he was surprised to see Lucas and Jake line up behind him. "Hey, why not? Its the least we can do." Luca said.