That was the moment I lost it. I broke into hysterical laughter. I couldn’t stop. It was indeed past sunset. Time to close up the camp, and wish every pony a safe trip home, as I kept laughing. Let them work out the misunderstandings latter, but not here, not now.
But that didn’t happen.
Too many ponies wanted to party. Applejack broke a fiddle out of the wagon and started playing a happy little tune. A dark mane beauty (I would learn later to be Octavia Melody) produced a cello and joined in, producing a delicate and subtle rhythm to Applejack’s music. By their third tune, I was edging my way to my tarp and my secret indulgence; a five string banjo. I am not very good, but the tunes were simple and I felt I could keep up with Applejack. In fact I intended to bury her.
As Applejack finished “Trainwreck”, I joined in with them on “Shady Grove”. Again Applejack and I were in a contest, not a glaring contest, now a music contest. I do say that I was at my very best that night, Applejack and I would exchange the lead, working together some times and trying to outshine the other at other times. However we couldn’t hold a candle to how Octavia ended the music fest.
It was about O’dark thrity, and the party was winding down. It needed to wind down, I had a hard days’ work ahead of me, and I think the Apple family did too. In addition the little ones; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, plus some others had crashed in my sleeping area. That was when Octavia hit a low g note, and sustained it. How she did it was beyond my ability. I was amazed how the sound traveled into the ground and up the muscles in my legs up to my ears. Every pony got real quiet. They all felt it too. We all started nodding ‘good night’ to each other, rather than interrupt the mood Octavia was creating. It was a magic moment for me, a point in time that brought all the other recent events into a clear sharp focus. Without that moment I couldn’t relate this story to you now.
But that isn’t the end of my story. This is just the end of the beginning.