Chapter 8
Octavia awoke in a cold, dark room. The sun shined through wooden boards nailed to the only window. The walls were a faded green and the floor was made of cheap wood. She looked at her surroundings and gasped, the floor was stained with old and fresh blood, there was a knife near the door, blood soaked. She tried to move her hooves, they were tied.
Footsteps were heard behind the door, the knob turned. Octavia watched in fear as a large gray stallion approached her. His coat was stained with blood and he had a derranged look on his face, Tavi was freightened by his appearence. He bent down and picked up the knife in his mouth, "Oh my, you certainly are beautiful." His voice was nasty, as if he was a monster. He grabbed Octavia by the mane and held the knife to her throat. "Is your body ready?" He threw her to the ground, She looked up in terror as her attacker was standing over her. She shut her eyes and braced herself for hell.
"RAAAHHHH!" Octavia heard a yell, that sounded like one of a warrior. It was followed by a scream, the scream of a monster. Then she no longer felt hoofs holding her down, she opened her eyes. There standing over her, was the monster, with a knife sticking through his neck. His eyes were wide open and his breaths were short, then he fell. There holding the knife, was Silas. He had blood splashed on his face and eyes of vengance. He cut the ropes on Octavia's hooves, she had tears in her eyes as she looked at her rescuer. Silas spat the knife out of his mouth. His eyes turned to those of sympathy. He helped Octavia up and she instantly hugged him, he returned the embrace. "There there, no ones gonna hurt you." The stallion said, then Tavi looked into his eyes and kissed him.
Octavia woke up slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Silas still asleep. Tavi lifted her head a little and observed her surroundings, it was the second floor room of Applejack's barn. She put her head back down in relief and then realized her arms were around the orange stallion, as if she were hugging him. She heard a faint laugh, Silas opened his eyes, "Good morning Octavia." He smiled then kissed her on the cheek, her face turned a light red. The two musicians were really warming up to each other.
A knock was heard on the barn door. "Must be Applejack." Octavia said, Silas sat up, "I'll get it, so you can stay in bed." They smiled at eachother and Silas climbed down the ladder. He opened the barn door, Silas was surprised to see Big Macintosh standing before him. "Mornin' Silas." The big red stallion was towering above Silas, he felt short next to Big Mac. "Good morning Big Mac." Octavia had got up to see who was there, she looked down at the door to see the two stallions talking. She turned and looked out the barn window, it was a gorgeous sunny day as usual, besides the occaisonal morning drizzle.
She heard the barn door close and hoofsteps comming up the ladder, Silas came up and sat next to Octavia. "I'm gonna go Tavi, I don't want to impose on Applejack's kindness." She turned and looked at him, "Oh, um okay." Silas heard the dissapointment in her voice, then he spoke again, "Care me to walk you home?" Her frown turned into a smile, "If its not too much trouble, that'd be nice." Octavia followed Silas down the ladder and to the barn door, he held it open for her as he was a gentlecolt.
There were many clouds in the sky, yet it wasn't raining. Silas and Octavia made small talk as they made their way out of Sweet Apple Acres and towards town. "Thank you for watching over me Silas." Octavia said, Silas' face had a sign of confusion. "Um, you're welcome, how did you sleep?" Silas may not have know exactly what Tavi meant but it made him feel great anyway. "I slept good, I haven't slept on a couch in years but it wasn't bad at all. What about you?" She said, The two waved to Lyra and Bon Bon who were out early as usual, "I slept pretty good, I'm used to sleeping on couches, I prefer them to beds, my old bed was a mess but the couch, the couch was a beauty." She giggled at his reply, he did have a good sense of humor.
The two lovers trotted up to Octavia's house. Her head sank as she opened the door, "Silas, I'm sorry about yesterday, I hope to see you again soon." Silas smiled weakly, "Its okay, you will." With that said Tavi shut the door and Silas was all alone. He decided to go for a walk, just as he got on his way he heard someone yell his name. "SILAS! There you are!" He turned around to see Twilight and Rarity rushing towards him.
Twilight spoke first in a worried voice, "I got worried when you didn't come back last night, where in Equestria did you go?" Before Silas could reply Rarity spoke loudly, "Twilight said you had gone missing, so we asked around and nopony knew where you were!" Silas laughed, "Did you ask Applejack?" Twilight shook her head, "Um, no I think she might of been the only pony we didn't ask." She said, Silas smirked, "Well, lets just say I stayed in her extra barn last night." The three were interrupted by a small shriek, Twilight turned her head and noticed three small fillys on the tippy top of the town hall.
It was Sweetie Belle, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders were perched on the town hall roof on a makeshift hang glider. "Um-m, Scoots are you shure this is s-safe?" Applebloom said, Scootaloo laughed, "Of course it is! I know this will impress Rainbow Dash, seeing all of us fly." Sweetie Belle interrupted her, "But we aren't really flying, we're gliding." On that note Scootaloo kicked off of the roof and shouted, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GO!"
Twilight gasped, "Oh no! Come on we have to follow them!" She darted off in their direction, Silas and Rarity followed. "Oh Sweetie Belle you've done it this time!" Rarity said under her breath and the glider rose higher in the sky. "Where is Rainbow Dash when you need her?!" The classy pony asked, Silas though, "Rainbow Dash, wasn't she the one who..." His thoughts were interrupted by Twilight, "If they fly any higher I can't reach them with magic!"
The trio continued chasing after the glider, by now they were at Sweet Apple Acres where they passed Applejack. "Where are y'all three goin' in such a hurry?" She asked, Twilight pointed up at the sky at the three fillys on the glider. "Oh jeez! Come on we gotta catch up!" Applejack joined the chase, the glider had turned and set course for town once again.
High up in the sky were two scared little fillys and a very happy Pegasus. "This is awesome! I wish Rainbow Dash was here to see this!" She yelled while turning the glider, "Set course for Sugarcube Corner!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were frightened out of their minds, "Scootaloo! How are y'all gonna land this thang?!" Applebloom asked, Scoots hesitated, "U-um, I haven't figured that part out yet." She got worried and lost control of the glider, it flew upward into the clouds high over Ponyville. The three little fillys screamed with every sudden turn.
Back on the ground the group of four were still pursuing the glider. Silas was the only pegasus and his wings were still bandaged, the glider was too far away to use magic. Everypony was starting to panic, "What are we going to do? This is madness I tell you!" Rarity yelled to Twilight, who was now panicking as well. Silas looked up, the glider had buckled and broke in two. Everypony heard the three fillys scream as they fell towards the ground.
"NOO!" Everypony shouted, except for Silas, he was stretching his wings wide, he had an angry look on his face as he strained to get into the air. He heard a tear, followed by a freeing sensation. His bandages were off and so was he. Silas flew up in the air towards the falling fillys. He was flying so fast, Everypony looked up in terror at the three doomed Cutie Mark Crusaders. Lyra notcied the blurr of orange zooming towards them, "LOOK!" She shouted out, everypony gasped. The suspense was killing them.
Silas zoomed through multiple clouds at full speed, he wasn't paying attention to anything else, his eyes were fixed upon the three fillys, he swooped up towards them. Twilight looked up in the sky, as soon as the orange blurr hit them they were gone. Silas had the Cutie Mark Crusaders in his hooves and they held on for dear life as he sped across the sky. "YES! I'M FLYING!" Silas yelled as loud as he could. He swooped down and hovered to a stop right in the town square.
He landed in the middle of a crowd of ponies, the CMC were clutching onto his hooves still, "There there, you three are alright now. Silas' brown and red mane was blown back as if he were a Wonderbolt, his wings were still spread open, they looked as good as new. The crowd cheered, Silas smiled as three mares raced towards him. "Oh my! Sweetie Belle what were you thinking?!" Rarity and Applejack scolded their little sisters, "Applebloom, you better never try anything like that again!"
The three fillys hung their heads low, "We're sorry!" They all said together. Silas scanned the crowd and was surprised to see Octavia and Vinyl Scratch running towards him. "What in Equestria happened?" Octavia asked Silas. Applebloom spoke, "This nice stallion saved us!" Scootaloo jumped up in the air, "Did you see how amazing he was?" Sweetie Belle hugged his hoof, "He is the most amazing flyer ever!" Silas' face turned a bright red. "Is this true?" Tavi asked, Silas nodded his head. Applebloom approached Silas, "Thank you for saving us Mister!" The three fillys ran up and hugged him, "Yeah, thank you!" Scoots and Sweetie said. Silas looked down at their three grateful faces, "You can call me Silas, and you're welcome."
Everypony was still cheering him on. Vinyl spoke up, "Um, hey, I'm real sorry about how bad I acted, I guess you really are a great stallion. Can we start over?" Silas laughed, "Its alright Vinyl, I forgive you." She smiled at him, Silas recognized the mayor coming up to him. "You're a hero! What can we all do to repay you?" Silas thought about it, "All of you accepting me in Ponyville is payment enough, thank you."
The crowd had died down, only the mane six, the CMC, Tavi, and Vinyl remained. "Silas, thank you so much for saving my sister." Rarity said, Applejack also spoke up, "Thank you kindly Silas." Silas looked over at the cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, she flew over to his side. "That was some of the best flying I've ever seen besides my own!" She bragged, "I don't think we've been properly introduced, I'm Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in Equestria and future Wonderbolt." Silas grinned, "Nice to meet you, Wonderbolt eh? You seem familiar, I'm Silas." Her face had a puzzled look, "Wait, Silas? You are Black Strat right? Silas Black Strat? We went to flight school together!"
Silas remembered her completely, she was the best flyer in their class, he was the second best. "Man, those were good times." He noticed Scootaloo looking at his cutie mark. "Excuse me Mr.Strat? How did you get your cutie mark?" He looked at his cutie mark, the black strat. "Alright, I'll tell you my story. Gather around you three." Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all sat down in front of him. "I got my cutie mark near the end of flight school." He looked at Rainbow Dash who smiled, she remembered the exact same day.
"I had been playing guitar for about three years by then, I had been practicing for the talent show in my spare time." Rainbow looked at him, "And I asked him to play the theme music for one of my races." Silas smiled remembering the race, "I was hanging around with my bestfriend Aldy in Cloudsdale and Rainbow flew up to me and asked me to play guitar during her race. I accepted and brought my guitar to a cloud overlooking the race, she was racing two jocks from school, I knew she was gonna win. As soon as the race started I was shredding up and down the neck of my guitar, playing the most crazy riffs ever." Rainbow interrupted, "It was some of the best guitar playing I've ever heard."
Silas continued, "I wasn't watching the race, I was too busy jamming. I just remember hearing a boom, I threw out a killer riff and stopped playing. I saw an explosion of rainbow spread across the sky, Rainbow Dash had won the race no doubt." Rainbow interrupted once more, "AND performed my first Sonic Rainboom!" Silas laughed, "Yes, after the race I joined the crowd in congratulating her, Aldy had noticed my flank was no longer bare. I turned and looked, a black stratocaster was on my flank, then I knew guitar was my special talent, I was born to be a guitarist. Thats how I got my cutie mark." Silas looked at the amazed faces of not only the CMC, but the rest of the Mane Six.
Pinkie Pie spoke up, "Wait! So you saw the Sonic Rainboom too?! That means we all earned our cutie marks on the same day! YAY!" She was hopping up and down. Twilight spoke up, "I guess we did, we all witnessed Dash's first Sonic Rainboom." The CMC hugged Silas once again, "Thank you again for saving our lives Silas." Sweetie Belle said, Silas patted her on the head, "You're welcome, stay out of trouble now." He chuckled and the CMC were on their way along with the Mane Six. Vinyl had gone home as well, Octavia remained. "Silas, you really are full of surprises. You are a hero." She kissed him on the cheek. Silas blushed and thought, "I am a hero."