//------------------------------//
// Being Social 
// Story: The Grounded Musician 
// by SilasSilversti 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 5






It was a stormy night, all of Ponyville was dark. There were no signs of life in any of the houses. Except one, and that was Sugarcube Corner. It was the only place with lights on, it was as if everypony in Ponyville was partying there. Light shined out of all the windows flashing different colors. Music was blaring so loud you could probably hear it from Canterlot. All of this, was a welcome party for Silas.


"OH YEAH IT'S PARTY TIME!" Pinkie Pie was screaming as loud as she could. Everypony was there, it had to be one of the biggest welcoming parties in all of Equestria. Silas was still in shock, he couldn't believe everypony would have welcomed him with open hooves like this. He was welcome yes, but now he was being accepted as part of their community. He had the biggest smile on his face the entire time. "I better start meeting other ponies." Silas said to himself as he moved into a crowd.


"Hiya Silas! What's up?" Pinkie Pie came up to him, she was with a few other ponies. "Oh hi Pinkie, I'm trying to meet as many ponies as I can tonight." Pinkie smiled and winked at him, "Well I can help you with that!" Pinkie then pointed to a bunch of ponies behind her. "This is Carrot Top and Caramel." They both nodded their heads, "Hi how you doin'?" Caramel said in a happy tone. He seemed like a very chill pony, "Pretty good thanks man." Silas replied.

By the time Pinkie was done Silas knew quite a few ponies. He then trotted over to Fluttershy who was standing quietly next to a pony who Silas knew as Medley. "Hi Fluttershy, Hello Medley!" He said happily to the two pegasi. They both turned and smiled at him, "Hello." Medley said in a calm tone. "Oh hello Silas, so nice to see you." Fluttershy said, Silas loved her voice, it was just so perfect. He grinned and chuckled, "Pinkie just introduced me to half the party! I've met Carrot Top, Caramel, Cherry Berry, Cloud Kicker, Lucky, Amethyst Star, Colgate, and you Medley." Fluttershy and Medley giggled, "Oh my." They both said.


Silas was already having fun and all he did was say a few words to some ponies. He trotted over to the punch table and poured himself a cup, then without really thinking he chugged it down. He was pretty thirsty, he didn't drink much during his time in Ponyville. Plus it was a party, free food, free fun, and he was having a blast. Silas was a little disappointed about one thing, "I haven't met any other Musicians." He thought to himself. Out of everypony he talked to, not one played an instrument, besides Pinkie, and she only did for special reasons.


Silas trotted over to the end of the punch table. Twilight was there with Spike and Lyra, "Hi girls" He said happily, they smiled at him "Hi Silas!" Lyra said, she looked excited for some reason. "Hello Silas, are you enjoying the party?" Twilight asked, "Yes very much, it's amazing, but only one thing, does any other pony in Ponyville play an instrument besides me?" Silas said. "I play the lyre." Said Lyra, "That's so cool!" Silas replied, Twilight though for a moment and Lyra just stood there drinking punch. Then Twilight perked up, "Oh I know exactly who you need to meet, follow me." Silas followed, Lyra went to talk with Bon Bon.


Twilight lead him through crowds of ponys. Then she stopped at a group by the DJ table, a white unicorn was the Dj, her hair was blue and cyan spiked forward. Her cutie mark was a pair of bridged eighth notes. "Sweet, at least some sort of musician." Silas thought. The group was small, Twilight then walked up to one stallion and introduced him. "Silas, this is Noteworthy." Silas perked up, "How's it going?" Silas asked, "Pretty good, and you?" Noteworthy replied, "Great, thanks," Silas finished.


Twilight moved on, she pointed to the Dj, "This is Vinyl Scratch!" She had to yell, they were standing right in front of the large speakers surrounding the Dj table. Vinyl was too busy controlling the soundboard to say anything so she just gave Silas a big nod, he did the same in reply. Twilight then pointed to a rather fancy looking mare, she had black hair and was wearing a pink bow tie, her cutie mark was a pink treble clef. "Silas I'd like you to meet Octavia."


"It's a pleasure." Silas said as he took a small bow. Octavia seemed impressed, "It's very nice to meet you finally." She said, Silas was surprised ponies really wanted to meet him, "Ponies around here are so much nicer than back home," Silas thought. He looked up, "How do you do?" Silas asked, Octavia smiled slightly, "I'm fine, thank you." She was the rather fancy type, Silas knew all about those kind of ponies. Another stallion trotted up to the group, he was gray with a black mane. "I'll leave you to get acquainted," Twilight said and she trotted off elsewhere.


The gray stallion looked at Silas, "Hey there, I'm Baritone." He said in a deep voice, almost as deep as Big Macs. Silas grinned, "I'm Silas, nice to meet you. I'm happy I finally found some other musicians in Ponyville." He said to the group. Octavia smiled and spoke, "I'm happy for you to have found us, what instrument do you play?" She asked. Silas chilled out and got ready to make good conversation, "I play the Guitar and Bass." He said. "What about all of you?" He asked the group of musicians.


Noteworthy grinned, "Well, I play the Violin, and some percussion." Octavia smiled, "I play the Cello." Baritone smirked, "And I play the Saxophone, Alto, Tenor, and Baritone." Silas was without a doubt impressed, these weren't just musicians, they were classy musicians from the looks of it. Silas then started to feel sad, maybe he wouldn't fit in, him being a guitarist drifting from town to town living paycheck to paycheck.


"So you play the Guitar, and the Bass?" Octavia said, "How unique, we don't usually come across many guitarists let alone bassists. I assume you're in a band, right?" Silas looked worried, "Well, um I was in a band, hopefully I still will be when I return home. I missed our last gig, it was two days ago, the night I crashed." Everyone's face changed to a look of sympathy, Noteworthy spoke up, "Yes we heard about your incident, we're glad to see you back on your feet." Baritone added on, "Your band is probably worried about you, when you return I'm sure they would be happy to see you."


Silas was starting to really like these ponies, they talked for a while longer. Noteworthy and Baritone had wandered off, Octavia stayed to talk with Silas for a little bit. She wanted to know more about this grounded guitarist. "So you were born in Cloudsdale? How did a pegasus like yourself end up coming by Ponyville?" Silas got ready to tell his story, "Well my parents wanted me to grow up to be an amazing flyer, so that's how they raised me, I was one of the best fliers in my class, but I loved Rock N' Roll. I ended up buying my first guitar when I was ten, no one appreciated music in flight school, so no one noticed me. I could of had a shot at being a Wonderbolt when I grew up, but after graduation I left Cloudsdale to focus on my music career."


His story was long but Octavia insisted on him telling the whole thing. "I wanted to find other musicians, and start a band, I came across a drummer by the name of Jake "Crash" Cymbal and a guitarist named Lucas "Copper" Strings. We were the three best friends that anyone could have, we called ourselves Fourth-Wall. We ended up playing at all the bars in town and even a few restaurants. In the end I never had enough money to pay my rent, so my landlord kicked me out. I lived with close friends for a week, only thing I had was my Guitar, and the case on my back. It was stormy one night, we had a gig over in Manehattan, I was late so I had to fly. One of my wings was struck by lightning, I guess I ended up crashing near Ponyville in the Everfree forest."


Octavias face was shocked, "O-oh my, how dreadful, I'm very sorry for this to have happened to someone like you." Silas smiled, "I guess there are a few positives, I wouldn't of met you, or anypony in Ponyville if that didn't happen to me. So I'm rather glad it happened, didn't feel like playing that night anyway." They both laughed together, Octavia spoke, "Silas would you like to go out for coffee sometime?" He was amazed, what were the chances of a drifter like him and a well groomed mare like her going out for coffee? "Of course, I'd like that. How about tomorrow morning around 11:00?" She replied in an instant, "That would be just fine. I'm gonna go, it was nice talking with you." She trotted away, "Goodbye." Silas said, he couldn't believe Octavia liked him.


Silas realized he didn't even party that much and it was getting late, Vinyl Scratch was still going nuts at the DJ table. He trotted up to Pinkie Pie, "HIYA SILAS! Great party huh?" She said, Silas started dancing with her, "Yeah! This party is amazing!" Him and Pinkie were tearing up the dance floor, the two inspired everypony else to dance as well. Soon they were all dancing, it was indeed an amazing party. About an hour of dancing passed, after that everypony was too tired to dance any longer, so they started clearing out one by one.


After the majority left, only Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Silas, Twilight, Spike, Lyra, Bon Bon, Carrot Top, Colgate, and two ponies Silas didn't know remained. One was a gray pegasus with a blonde mane, her eyes were rather derped. The other was a brown stallion with an hourglass as his cutie mark. Silas went up to him, "Hello, I don't think we've met." The stallion said, "Doctor Whooves at your service." He extended his hoof, Silas firmly shook it (Or they brohoofed, either way works). "Pleasure to meet you sir."


The pegasus hovered over to them, she had a muffin in her mouth. She mumbled something to Silas then spat out the muffin. "Hi, I'm Derpy, Derpy Hooves." She said. Silas couldn't help but grin, "Nice to meet you Derpy, I'm Silas." She smiled at him, Silas looked into her eyes, he felt like she was staring into his sole. "Well Derpy, we best get going. It is rather late." Doctor Whooves said, the two started towards the door. "Great party Pinkie!" Derpy said as the two trotted out the door.


"Well, I'm plum tuckered out, Night y'all," Applejack said as she went for the door followed by Rarity, "I must simply get my beauty sleep, Goodnight." She said. Fluttershy walked with them as well, "I must get home to Angel, Goodnight." The three trotted out the door. Twilight yawned, "Well Silas, I think its time we went home too." Spike was asleep on her back, snoring rather loudly. "Alright" Silas agreed. "Amazing party Pinkie!" He said to her as she started up stairs. Silas went out the door, "Goodnight Pinkie." Twilight said, "Goodnight you three." Pinkie said back.


As Twilight and Silas were on their way back to the Library the two made small talk. "Wow, Pinkie sure does know how to throw a good party." Silas said, "I've never felt more welcome in all my life." Twilight laughed a little, "Yes she sure does, I'm glad you're starting to fit in here in Ponyville. I have an extra bed, it's a little small, would that be alright?" She asked. Silas chuckled, "Twilight, you letting me sleep in your house is fine by itself, I'd sleep on the floor, but yes that seems quite alright. Thank you."


Twilight opened the door and turned on the lights, her library was pretty huge, books everywhere of course but well organized. Silas followed her upstairs, she tucked still sleeping Spike in his little bed then showed Silas to his. He was impressed, she said it was small, it was big enough for two ponies. She turned off the lights with her magic. Silas got into bed, Twilight got into hers. This is so totally bucking rad. Silas thought to himself, "Goodnight Silas!" Twilight said, "Goodnight Twilight, and hey, thanks again." He replied, "You're welcome." She said. A thought came into Silas' head, "This is the first time I've slept in an actual bed in two weeks." He smiled and drifted off to sleep.