//------------------------------//
// The Bright Night 
// Story: The Grounded Musician 
// by SilasSilversti 
//------------------------------//




Chapter 14






All the stars were out on this gorgeous night, the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. The Mane Six arrived in their carriage pulled by Caramel and Lucky. Spike got off and let the six mares out. "Wow, you all look, amazing!" He said with wide eyes. The Mane Six then began to sing a tune about the Gala with the other guests. 


Everypony rushed into the Gala leaving Spike in the dust. Twilight hurried to find Princess Celestia so she could finally spend some time with her mentor. She noticed the Princess at the top of a small staircase, Twilight rushed up to greet her. Jake saw her running up the stairs skipping ahead of the line. "Hey, who does she think she is?" Jake said with disgust. Silas looked over to the purple mare greeting Celestia ahead of everypony else. "Eh, cool it man, Twilight is one of Celestia's apprentices." Silas said, "Oh...well waiting in this line blows, I hate being around all these fancy ponies." Jake replied in frustration. Lucas was still really nervous, "Jake shut up, there's fancy ponies all around us."


The line was moving rather quickly, Celestia was only greeting them so it didn't take very long. Silas saw Twilight at the Princess's side, the band mates were almost at the base of the staircase. Lucas looked around for ponies he may recognize, a white unicorn trotted through the room. She appeared to be following a very classy stallion, Silas saw his friend eyeing the mare. "Yeah dude, that's Rarity for you, looking for her prince charming probably." He said with a chuckle, Silas turned around to see that they were almost to the top of the stairs.

The band Doug was sweating bullets. Silas started chattering his teeth as thoughts rushed through his head. What if she doesn't like me? What if I screw up? What if Jake or Lucas screw up? He was snapped out of his trance by a greet from somepony. "Welcome to the Grand Galloping Gala Silas, I'm glad you came." It was Princess Celestia, Silas looked up at her, then took a bow. "It's an honor to be a part of such a wonderful event, my deepest thanks Princess." He said in a regal voice. "You're very welcome. Who are your friends?" She asked, Lucas bowed and motioned his head for Jake to follow his lead. Jake did the same, "Lucas Copper Strings at your service." Luca said. Jake stuttered, "J-Jake Crash Cymbal, it's honor to be in your presence." He said.

Princess Celestia laughed slightly, "Pleasure to meet you all. Please enjoy yourselves." She said. Silas nodded and the band mates moved along, "Hi Twilight, my word you do look amazing." Silas said as they passed the purple unicorn. "Oh thank you Silas, you look pretty good yourself. All of you look good." She said, Lucas smiled "Thanks." Jake just gave a weak grin. The band Doug moved along, not knowing what lies ahead.


***


Octavia sighed as she took her cello out of it's case. Not many ponies had shown up yet but it was her job to play. She had to play in a four pony ensemble as usual. Beauty Brass put on her sousaphone, and Frederic took his seat at the Piano. Nadermane approached his Harp, Octavia took her spot on stage with the rest of her ensemble. There were about fifteen ponies in the ballroom so far. Frederic cleared his throat and spoke, "Alright, from the top."

Octavia scanned through the crowd as she played. She recognized most of the guests, for she played in front of them on multiple occasions. Some of them were her fillyhood friends as well. Tavi kept looking, she saw three stallions enter the room looking rather nervous. One of them was teal and kept whispering things to the larger green stallion next to him. Then she saw the third orange pony, who was looking right at her. Tavi took a closer look, then she realized it was Silas.

"See guys, this isn't so bad." Silas said, he looked on at Octavia as her ensemble played music that Silas had never heard before. Jake rolled his eyes, him and Lucas wandered off leaving Silas on his own. He looked right into Octavia's eyes, she looked right back into his. Tavi forgot she was playing and missed a couple notes. Frederic shot a glare at her, she quickly corrected her error. Octavia looked back in the crowds, Silas was gone.

Suddenly Pinkie Pie burst into the room. Her eyes were wide in amazement, she broke out into song and started singing about the Gala. "I'm at the Grand Galloping Gala, I'm at the Grand Galloping Gala, I'm at the Grand Galloping Galaaa, it's all I've ever dreamed..." She sung, Lucas and Jake looked on with humorous looks on their faces. All the guests became annoyed with Pinkie very quickly. "Heh heh, oh man that's gotta be embarrassing." Jake said, he started to laugh. Lucas nodded his head and let out a slight chuckle, "Yes quite." He said, Jake gave him a funny look and kept on laughing. "D-dude, heh heh, you sound mad stupid." 

Pinkie stopped and hung her head, she realized this wasn't what she expected. The band continued to play, Silas had wandered back to his friends, "Greetings fellow gents, wonderful night is it not?" He said jokingly to Jake and Lucas. Jake glared at him, "Dammit don't talk like that." He said. Lucas laughed, "Lay off Jake, we're just making a good image for ourselves here." He said, Silas frowned, "Yah know, this actually kind of blows." His band mates nodded in agreement.

Silas noticed Pinkie Pie whispering something to the Piano player and Octavia. They stopped playing, Pinkie started talking over the microphone. She started singing the Pony Pokey, the band was playing with her. "Well, at least it's less awkward now." Lucas stated, Jake was quick to correct him. "Yeah right, Pinkie is singing the Pony Pokey at the Grand Galloping Gala, nothing awkward about this at all." He said, Silas nodded and saw Pinkie jumping around on stage. She knocked over Frederic the pianist and Octavia, the crowd scowled at her. "Young lady, this is not THAT kind of party." A snobbish mare scolded. 

"Ohhhh, these ponies don't want to party, they want to Partaay." Pinkie said, the ensemble had cleared the stage and a few other ponies were bringing up a DJ table. Silas saw Octavia with the rest of the band over in the corner opposite of him. He decided to go see her and apologize for making her mess up on stage. Jake and Lucas followed from a far. Tavi's eyes lit up when she saw Silas trotting towards her.

"Good evening Miss Octavia." Silas said with confidence, the other ponies eyed him suspiciously. "Why hello Mr.Strat, it's quite a surprise seeing you here." Octavia said with a calm expression. Silas nodded, Jake and Lucas came up beside him. "Greetings." Lucas said, "Sup." Jake said with a smirk on his face. Frederic Horseshoepin, already annoyed with Pinkie's antics snapped at them. "And just who are you three?" He said in disgust. Jake glared at him, Silas kept his cool. "I'm Black Strat, this is Copper Strings and Crash Cymbal." He said pointing to them, "We're from..." Silas hesitated for a second, "...Ponyville." He said with a grin on his face. "Pleasure to meet you all." 

"That pink pony is a menace...don't you agree?" Frederic asked Silas, "Not really, she just likes to have fun." He said. Beauty Brass butted in, "Ugh, ruining our performance is no fun." She said, clearly annoyed. Pinkie was manning the DJ table up on stage. The group eyed her carefully, Pinkie was jumping around the room trying to get other guests to dance. She threw several ponies up in the air, "Oh man, this isn't going to end well." Lucas said.

The ballroom doors opened, Applejack wheeled in a tremendous cake on a small cart. It was wobbling to each side but It didn't fall over. Pinkie screamed, "STAGE DIVE!" Then jumped off the stage and right in the path of Aj's cart. Crash!Pinkie slammed right into the cart knocking the cake into the air. Silas watched as the cake flew towards Rarity and Prince Blueblood. The prince shielded himself with Rarity, the cake smashed right into her. 

Rarity started yelling at Prince Blueblood, she shook off the cake onto him. He then fell on one of the statues, it began to topple. There was a flash of rainbow across the room, Rainbow Dash caught the statue on her back. "Yes!" She yelled, then began to loose her balance. She bumped into a pillar which caused it to knock over all the others. "Oh shit." Jake said to himself.   

Princess Celestia and Twilight walked in on the situation. Most of the guests started clearing out, but before anypony could leave, the back doors shot open. Hundreds of animals came rushing into the ballroom, animals of all kinds, followed by a very angry Fluttershy. "YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME!" She screamed. Everypony ran for their lives, Silas, Jake, Lucas, and Tavi stayed together. "Lets get the hell outta here!" Jake yelled, he ran for the door, the others followed. 

Screams of all the guests were heard throughout the castle as critters flooded the hallways. "Oh no!" Tavi yelled, "My cello, I forgot it! We have to go back!" Lucas and Jake kept going, Silas stayed back with her. "Okay, but how?" He asked, "I know another way!" Tavi said, she started off down a small hallway, Silas ran after her. 

Every couple feet a bird would fly past your face, you'd have to jump over a few squirrels, and you'd have to dodge the rabbits. There was still chaos at the ballroom when the two arrived. Octavia quickly grabbed her cello case, her and Silas started back. "Oh...shit." Silas said, there was a bear blocking the only exit available. The other doors were still crowded with terrified guests trying to escape. "What will we do?" Tavi asked in despair. Silas spread his wings, "Get on my back." He said, Tavi complied. "Hang on." Silas said, Tavi nodded and put the cello case on her back, and wrapped her hooves around Silas' chest. 

With one big swoop they were airborne. Silas flew over the crowds of critters and party guests. He sped up as they entered the hallway, Tavi held on, she didn't really have a choice in the matter. Silas was a blur to others as he flew for the front doors, he saw a group of birds in the way. "Duck!" Silas yelled, he sped as fast as he could through the birds, he felt scratching on his hooves and chest as he did so. In no time, the couple was out of the castle. Silas kept flying, "We gotta find the others." He said, him and Tavi soared over Canterlot, if you muted out the yells of party guests and animal sounds, it was a beautiful night.

"Oh my, you can see all of Canterlot from up here." Octavia said, "And it's truly beautiful." Silas chuckled, "Indeed it is, but not half as beautiful as you." He said, Silas heard a muffled giggle from Tavi, followed by a kiss on the cheek. Silas' face turned a bright red as it always did when she kissed him. Octavia let a hoof off his chest, her Cello shifted to the left on her back. The weight made her tilt, "oh no." Tavi said, the Cello case fell bringing Octavia with it. Tavi screamed as she plummeted towards the streets of Canterlot. Silas instantly took action and shot down towards his love, he swooped down under Octavia and caught her in his hooves. 

Silas felt the extra weight immediately pull him down, he spread his wings and flapped as hard as he could. Silas used all his strength to slow to a hover just above the ground. Octavia jumped out of his arms and took the cello off her back. Silas dropped to the ground in exhaustiveness, he laid there motionless. Octavia rushed to his side, the ordeal caused a small crowd of ponies to gather around. Tavi held Silas in her arms with tears in her eyes. Suddenly she heard a faint grunt, followed by coughing. Silas was okay, besides a few bruises and scratches. "O-Octavia, you okay?" He asked, looking up at the face of the gray mare now covered with tears. "Never better." She said, Tavi embraced Silas with a long hug. 

Silas looked over Octavia's shoulder to see Lucas, and Aldy trotting towards them. Aldy looked down at his disgruntled friend, "Yo Black Strat, y'alright?" He said with a bit a humor in his voice. Silas got up with Octavia, "Heh heh, better than in the trenches." He said, then gave his friend a pat on the shoulder. Lucas spoke up, "Alright, now that you two are okay we've got something to tell you." Tavi and Silas looked at him with worried faces. "Well one, Slim is out on bail and two, Stride opened up a place in Canterlot!" Lucas yelled, Silas' face lit up. Lucas continued, "Yah know, we figured he needed a better crowd to serve, considering business hasn't been all that great. Well whaddayah say?" He said, "Well, we did have a rough night so far, so I'm sure it can't hurt." Octavia said, Aldy led the way and the four friends were off to Stride's.


***
	

"Ight, Slim help me with these lights will yah?" Jake said, Slim came over and lent a hoof putting up the new stage lights. Orange Stride was cleaning up around the bar, there were a few customers already. Most ponies there weren't of very high class but they did dress well. "So Stride, you sure dis place gonna make more money than in Filly eh?" Slim asked him. Stride chuckled, "I'm sure it will, this is a mighty fancy town, we've dolled up this place to look like more than a Pub, this is a Tavern." He said with confidence, Slim just shrugged and got back to his work.

The front door opened, two ponies walked in followed by two more. "Eeeyh Lucas, Aldy that didn't take long." Stride welcomed them, he then noticed Tavi and Silas. "Aw man, good ol' Black Strat." Stride said, Silas and Tavi approached the bar. "Jeez you look like hammered shit." Orange Stride said, "Nice to see you too, we had a rough night." Silas said, "DAMN STRAIGHT!" Jake yelled from the stage.

Octavia looked around the Tavern, she noticed it did have some of Canterlot's culture. "Didn't you move here from Fillydelphia?" She asked Stride, he nodded, "Yup, wasn't making a lot of money back there. We decided to move and change the name, figured Canterlot would make business booming." He said, Tavi continued looking around, as did Silas. "Jeez, this place looks nothing like it used to." Silas said, Slim came down from the stage. "Well Stride and I figured there needed to be a change, couldn't keep the place looking like a dump." He said, him and Silas laughed together. 

Jake finished putting up the stage lights, "Eyyo Strat check out the new stage." He said, admiring his work. "Looks sweet." Silas said, he sat at the bar. Orange Stride passed him a mug of cider, "It's on the house." He said, then passed another to Octavia. "Thanks man." Silas said, he took a huge gulp of Cider. Octavia looked embarrassed, "Um, thank you but..." She started, Stride looked over to her, "But what?" He asked, Tavi looked over at Silas who was smiling at her. "Oh what the hell." She picked up the mug and started chugging the cider.  

Once Octavia finished she slammed the empty mug on the bar. Everypony was looking at her with wide eyes, Octavia scanned the room, Slim was amused along with Stride, Jake, Lucas, and Aldy. Tavi looked at Silas, his face was blank, then he smiled wide. "What? You think a first class girl can't drink?" Tavi asked with humor, "Dang." Were the only words that came out Silas' mouth, everypony started laughing together. "Now that's a real mare!" Stride yelled, "Hey Strat, get Doug up there!" Stride pointed to the stage. 

Before Silas could change his mind, Aldy handed him his guitar. "Brought it from home, thought you might need it." Aldy said, Silas smiled and gave him a brohoof. Jake took his place at the drumset, Lucas got on the Bass and Silas took his spot in front of the microphone with his gutiar. Octavia watched from a nearby table with Aldy and Slim. Silas spoke up to the mic, "Testing, erm, testing, uuuuhh, huh huh. We all good?" Jake and Lucas nodded. "Ight, greetings everypony, we are Doug and we're here to tear up the night. Well, for at least one song. Ready?" The crowd started to cheer, Jake counted off with his sticks.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeOi_iR717k


"Sell the fillies for food, weather changes moods. Spring is here again, reproductive glands...annnd he's the one who likes all our pretty songs and he likes to sing along, and he likes to shoot his gun. But he knows not what it means, knows not what it means when I say..." Silas sang his heart out, even though he isn't a natural vocalist he did the best he could. In Bloom by Neighvana did seem a little low to play at a Tavern in Canterlot, but Doug did it anyway. 

Silas ripped on the guitar solo, it was rather simple but it was still a guitar solo. Octavia was taken back by the  loud vocals, distorted guitar, heavy Bass, and fast drums. She never really heard music like this before, she didn't know what to think. Tavi looked through the crowd, a few ponies were head banging and others were tapping their hooves. Some ponies were bobbing their heads, she noticed Aldy and Slim were headbanging as well. The song was almost over, Octavia actually liked this music, not as much a classical but it grew on her. Just like dubstep grew on her from Vinyl. 

Silas scanned the crowd and noticed his friends headbanging and then he saw an odd sight. Octavia too was headbanging, it was kind of weak, but in a cute way. Silas had tears of joy in his eyes as played. Doug finally finished their song, the crowd clapped and cheered loudly. Doug was surprised they actually liked grunge from Fillydelphia, "Thank you, thank you..." Silas said, the band packed up their instruments and left the stage. Stride put on some Def Stallion on the record player, Pyromania, one of Silas' favorites. Silas approached Octavia, whose mane was now tangled and messy. "You were really great up there Silas." She said, Silas smiled and let out a slight chuckled. "You really liked it?" He asked, Tavi brushed her mane out of her face, "Yes I did, it's not like the Classical I'm used to or Dubstep that Vinyl plays."  

Orange Stride stood up on a table, "DRINKS ON THE HOUSE FOR EVERYPONY!" He yelled, instantly the crowd starts cheering and yelling. Slim was practically flipping out as was Aldy. Silas looked at Octavia, "Cider?" He asked, "Cider." She replied. Everypony rushed to the bar getting drink after drink, Slim was already drunk by the time everypony had their first drink. "Easy now Slim, don't wanna get your ass thrown in jail again." Aldy told him, they laughed together and had another drink. Octavia and Silas had stepped outside for a moment to get away from the mass of ponies. 

Silas sat out in front of the Tavern, it was on a small hill overlooking the castle. Octavia sat next to him and leaned her head next to his. "My my, it is simply gorgeous out tonight." Tavi said, Silas grinned, "Indeed, tis a bright night." He said, all the stars were out and the moonlight was shining down on the hillside. "I'm glad I crashed, that's how we ended up meeting." Silas said, Tavi sighed, "I'm sorry you crashed, but I'm happy you stayed." She said, Silas turned and kissed her on the forehead, "I'll stay with you forever."





THE END