> The Grounded Musician
>  by SilasSilversti
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A "Glorious" Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Grounded Musician




Chapter 1





It was a beautiful sunny day in Equestria, everypony was enjoying the weather. Among them was Fluttershy, she had just woken up and decided to go out for a morning stroll.

She trotted along the path towards town, "How lovely." She said, looking at her reflection in a nearby puddle. Most ponies were just waking up just like she was, but a few were outside of their houses or out on morning strolls as well. She smiled with glee as the sun warmed her face.

Rarity was outside of her boutique, "Oh Fluttershy isn't it just a simply glorious day outside?" She asked. "O-oh yes, simply glorious Rarity." Fluttershy replied in a faint voice. She made her way toward the center of town, passing mares and stallions. It truly was a glorious day.

Fluttershy trotted pass Lyra and Bon Bon, "Good morning!" the two mares said in perfect unison. "Good Morning." Shy replied. It rained last night, every puddle was shining with a glow of gorgeous light. There’s almost no clouds in the sky, the weather patrol sure was doing their job, Fluttershy thought to herself as she made her way pass Twilight's Library.

Twilight called out her window, "Fluttershy, lovely weather we're having!" the light yellow mare turned her head, "Yes Twilight very much so." she nodded. Almost everypony was out of their house by now, no one would want to miss out on a day such as this. 

Fluttershy was nearing Sugarcube Corner, she looked up at the sky. Rainbow Dash was soaring through the air, no doubt trying out some new tricks shes thought of. A beautiful rainbow was forming behind her wherever she flew. What could possibly make this day better? Fluttershy thought.

As soon as that thought popped into her head, there was Pinkie Pie hopping towards her. She had a huge smile on her face as usual. "Hi Fluttershy! Wanna know what would make this day even better?" Most ponies didn't have too much energy this early in the morning, but Pinkie, she always had energy. Before Fluttershy could reply Pinkie burst out, "MUFFINS!" she was holding out a big tray of eight muffins. "U-um no thanks Pinkie, its too early for me." 

A sudden flash appeared before them, it was Derpy Hooves. "Mmm....muffins." She said, staring at all eight of the muffins Pinkie was holding. "Oh, wait!" Pinkie thought for a second, then she looked down at the tray of baked goods. "Wait a second! These aren't Muffins, they're cupcakes, oh I forgot the frosting!" On that note Pinkie ran back into Sugarcube Corner with the tray. "Awwww...no Muffins." Derpy sighed and flew away. Fluttershy giggled, then she started on her way home.

She wasn't even halfway back when she saw Angel running up to her. He was making a lot of weird gestures and seemed frightened. "O-oh, Angel what are you doing here? Whats wrong?" She was worried now. Angel made a "follow me" gesture and ran back towards her house, Fluttershy followed close behind.

She soon came to realize that Angel wasn't leading her home but to someplace else. They passed Applejack on the way. Where in tar nation are those two going? She thought as they raced by, something was up and Applejack knew it. She started after the two.

Fluttershy finally figured out where Angel was taking her, they ran right out of town and were heading to the Everfree Forest. Angel kept running straight into the forest, Fluttershy hesitated for a second then went right in after him. Not far behind was Applejack, she too went in after them.

It was dark, no signs of a glorious day in the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy thought. She had lost track of Angel, "Angel? Where did you go?" Fluttershy squeaked with fear, she was all alone. Suddenly Applejack burst out of the bushes behind her.

*SHRIEK* She jumped. "Now now, calm down Fluttershy, its only me. What are y'all doing in here anyway?" The orange pony asked. Fluttershy wimpered "I-I'm looking for Angel, he lead me here." There was a rustle in the bushes in front of the two mares. Then a small white head popped out, it was Angel. He disappeared back into the bushes, Fluttershy and Applejack followed. 

As the two came out of the bushes they were shocked to what layed before them. It was a male pegasus with an orange coat a little darker than AJ's. His left wing was broken backwards covered in blood, the bone and tendons were visible. His face had slight burn marks on it along with the rest of his body. His hair was matted and muddy splashed with blood. There was a medium size case next to him, somewhat battered up and covered in dirt.

"What the hay happened to him?!" Applejack asked in confusion "Is he alright?" AJ looked at Fluttershy, who was bending down looking over him. "We have to get him out of this awful place." Fluttershy replied in a stern tone. Applejack nodded and helped get him up, "Where do y'all suppose this feller came from?" AJ was worried, Fluttershy replied in a serious voice "I'm not sure, but we have to help him." AJ nodded and helped Fluttershy get him up. His cutie mark was a black electric guitar. Fluttershy picked up the case, "What is it?" Aj looked back instantly, "Don't open it, it's probably his, best take it with us." With that said they left the Everfree Forest and headed to back to town.

As the trio got back to Ponyville, many heads turned. Townsfolk stared with faces of shock and fear. They were all staring at the pegasus the two mares were carrying. Blood dripped from his broken wing and left a path behind the group as they were on their way to the Hospital. Fluttershy was also carrying his case, Angel was following closely. Even Pinkie Pie, who was always happy and making people laugh, was shocked. She just stood there with a sad expression on her face. Lyra and Bon Bon shared the same look, no pony said a word.

By the time AJ and Fluttershy arrived at the Hospital there were a small group following from a distance. Who was that pony? Was the question that lay in all of their minds. The two mares approached the desk where Nurse Redheart was, immediately she brought in the pegasus. Three other nurses helped bring him to a room. Fluttershy and Applejack stayed in the waiting room with Angel. Hopefully they were not too late.
	    
> Comfortably Numb
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Chapter 2




*Shift to Silas, 1st person.*




My head felt dizzy, then I opened my eyes slowly. I awoke to three ponies, one of them was yellow, with a long pink mane. Another was orange with a blonde mane, she was wearing a cowboy hat. The other was a nurse from the looks of it, she was white with a pink mane.

"Ugh, wh-what happened?" As I spoke all three of their heads turned in an instant. The nurse was first to speak, "Ah, you're awake. I am nurse Redheart and I will be taking care of you while you're here in the Hospital." The words hit me like bullets, "Hospital," what the hell did I miss? "U-um, what am I in here for?" I really wanted to know why i was here. "We found y'all in the Everfree Forest mister." The orange pony replied, what was the Everfree forest?

The yellow pegasus then spoke, "If it wasn't for Angel, we would of never found you!" I looked down next to her to see a small rabbit she was pointing towards. A rabbit found me half dead in the forest, then brought back two mares to help me. Damn I guess I owe him one. The orange pony spoke next, "Y'all were bashed up sumthin' nasty. How do you feel?" I tried to move my left wing, a sharp pain riddled my spine. My teeth chattered, "Like hammered shit." The three mares cringed at my language, well its not like I felt too good.

The orange pony came to my bedside, "Ah'm Applejack by the way." She extended her hoof, I gave it a weak shake. The yellow pegasus slowly came over, "I-I'm Fluttershy, nice to meet you." Even though I wasn't going places, I guess I was still meeting people. "Erm, nice to meet you both. Do you by any chance, got a mirror around here?" I wanted to see how bad I actually looked. Nurse Redheart held up a small one with her mouth. Hmm I guess it wasn't that bad, my face had a couple burn marks on it and I had a small gash next to my right eye. Then I looked at my wing, it was bent in the opposite direction. Dammit, looks like I'm grounded.

I wanted answers. "So, uh how long will it take me to recover?" The Nurse seemed pretty easy going about it, "Probably a couple of weeks of no flying, but we'll have you out of here by tomorrow afternoon." Now I knew I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. "So where am I?" I was eager to find out what town I supposedly crashed near. "You're in the Hospital in Ponyville, we brought y'all in." Applejack said. "If we hadn't, y-you'd probably w-would've-" Fluttershy looked down and didn't finish, she probably didn't like thinking about that kind of thing. 

I was slowly coming back into reality. "What was the last thang you remembered?" Applejack asked with curiosity. I had to think a bit, "Hmm, I was flying to my next gig over in Manehattan. A storm was brewin', I had to fly through it. I just don't know what went wrong. (Gotta love dem Derpy quotes) I just remember feeling a sudden burn then I fell, I guess I passed out, now I'm here."

Nurse Redheart then spoke, "It appears you must have been struck b-by lightning." Fluttershy gasped, I was pretty freaked out. I felt this burning feeling on my right wing, "Ow! Oh wow, how am I even still alive?" She spoke again, "It just struck your right wing, you must have broke your left wing on impact." I turned and looked at my right wing, it was missing most of its feathers and was badly burnt. Then I turned to my other, it was wrapped up in bandages and bent. I just sighed and hung my head low.

"O-oh, I almost forgot." Fluttershy started, "We have your case, it was next to you when we found you." She held it up, my eyes lit up "Thank you, thank you so much." I placed the case on my lap. "You're mighty welcome mister." Applejack said. I opened the case up, inside lay my Stallion Ray Vaughan autographed Fender Stratocaster. I smiled widely, not a scratch was on it. Applejack grinned "That's an awfully nice instrument you got yourself there partner."

I closed the case and placed it next to my hospital bed. At least I had something I loved by my side. Nurse Redheart gave me some medication, "Well, we best let him get some rest." She said. Applejack nodded "Come on y'all." She and Nurse Redheart trotted out the door. Fluttershy then whispered, "C-can I get your name please?" I smiled and said "Black Strat, but you can call me Silas." She smiled back and trotted out the door, Angel followed. The medication was taking effect, I felt somewhat drowsy and my body felt numb. As I drifted off to sleep a few words came to my mind.

I have become, Comfortably Numb
> The Mane Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3

　




Standing up on stage, blasting heavy riffs, distortion blazing, a loud crowd cheering. I am Silas "Black" Strat, I flipped my hair upward and kept shredding up and down the neck of my guitar. I looked into the vast crowd of ponies, they loved it, I was finally a somebody! Then I woke up.

Oh come on, that's just not fair. I thought, I wanted to think more about my dreams of becoming a somebody. I glanced over at the clock, it was 11:45 Am. Man did I sleep late, oh well its not like I had somewhere to be or a schedule to follow. The door opened slightly, Nurse Redheart peaked in. "Oh good, you're awake. I have your breakfast Mr.Strat"

She trotted over with a tray of simple eggs and orange juice. "Thank you." I said, then she left. I haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon, so I was pretty hungry. I ate slowly, then i remembered. I missed the gig, my bandmates are gonna be pissed at me. Then again, they have no idea where I am. I don't know if thats good or bad, probably a little of both.

The door opened again, in came Fluttershy with two other mares just as i finished eating. One of them was purple unicorn that had an indigo mane with two stripes, one pink, one purple. The other was a white unicorn with a purple mane, she looked somewhat high class. Fluttershy smiled, "Good morning." She said in a shy voice, she then looked over at her two friends, they both had expressions of sympathy.

"Girls, I'd like you to meet Silas." The purple pony stepped forward, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Twilight Sparkle. We were worried about your condition and we thought to stop by and introduce ourselves." The white pony then stepped forward "Not to mention welcome you to Ponyville, my name is Rarity and it is a pleasure to meet you." I smiled, "It's nice to meet you both too."

They seemed rather friendly, I mean I was a total stranger. Twilight had a worried look on her face, "How are you feeling?" I frowned a little, "Nurse says i can't fly for a couple weeks, but I'm getting out this afternoon." Twilight frowned, "Oh my, don't worry though, the ponies around here are very nice. You'll be welcomed by just about everypony in town." Her frown turned to a smile, as did mine.

Fluttershy then spoke softly, "Applejack should be here any minute with the rest of the girls." I grinned, it was exciting meeting new ponies this easily. The door opened, Applejack walked in with two other ponies. One of them was a Cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. The other was light pink with a curley magenta mane. "Mornin' Silas." Applejack cheerfully said.

"Good morning Applejack." I greeted back, now there were six ponies all crowded around my hospital bed. Twilight then announced, "This is Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie." She pointed to the cyan pegasus and cheery mare. Pinkie smiled wide, "Oh its so nice to finally meet you! How you doin'? I'm Pinkie Pie! Do you love to party too? Ooh ooh ooh I know, you really really love to party! You oughta stop by sugarcube corner sometime!"

"PINKIE!" Rainbow Dash yelled, Pinkie stopped hopping up and down. Rainbow spoke, "Hey dude, hows it hanging?" She noticed my wing then her expression turned blank, "O-oh wow, what happened? Are you alright?" I nodded slowly, then Applejack spoke, "Why don't y'all calm down and let him tell his story."

Alright I thought of where to begin, oh yeah, where it all begun. "Okay, I'm in a band with my best friends. We were supposed to play in Manehattan last night. So I packed my guitar and decided to fly there. A storm was brewing though, a rough storm too. I didn't have time to delay so I flew right on through it. There was thunder and lightning, it was crazy, I was running late so I got careless about where I was flying. I just remember a burning feeling then falling, I guess I passed out."

"Then we found him the next morning in the Everfree Forest and brought him in." Fluttershy concluded. I nodded and glanced around the room, Rarity, Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie all looked shocked. "You were in the Everfree forest for a whole night passed out?! Oh my that must have been dreadful, truly dreadful." Rarity looked as if she was about to faint.

"Nurse said I was struck by lightning." I said calmly, everyone gasped, cept for Fluttershy and Applejack. "Y-you were struck by lightning?" Rainbow said in a scared tone. I nodded then showed everyone my left wing, it was burnt badly. "Also, I broke my left wing on impact. Nurse said i can't fly for a couple weeks." Rainbow gasped, "A COUPLE WEEKS?"

I think it was bad I told everyone the truth, I think it scared them too much. "Now now, he's gonna be alright." Applejack calmed everyone else down, she was good at it. "Where are you from?" Twilight asked. I hesitated, "W-well um, I don't a-actually have a home right now but I grew up in Cloudsdale and ended up moving to Fillydelphia." Everyone gasped, "Oh my goodness! Well you are welcome to stay with me until you can fly again." Twilight said, "Yer mighty welcome to stay in one of my extra barns too, if y'all want." Applejack offered. "O-oh, you're also welcome to stay with me, that is unless you don't want to." Fluttershy spoke softly.

Wow, three different options. I smiled, "You are all so kind and helpful, Is it okay if I switch every couple days?" The three ponies answered in unison, "Of course it is." Oh man, I think I may like it here. "Thank you all, very much, let me know if theres anything I can do for any of you." I really was grateful, I haven't had a place to stay for a while.

Rainbow then spoke, "So you play guitar? That is so awesome!" She seemed impressed. Pinkie then asked, "How long have you been playing for?" I thought for a second, "About 6 years, I started when i was just a colt. I guess it was my special talent." Twilight smiled, "If you want, come by my library when you get out. I'll help show you around town." She offered, "Okay, that sounds nice." I replied.

"Well we best let him be for now, he must be overwhelmed with all these questions." Rarity said, on that note all six ponies started towards the door. Everyone said their goodbyes then trotted out the door. Rainbow was last, "We've got to hangout sometime!" I grinned, "Totally, see you around!" Then she left. I was all alone again. Then I glanced over to the clock, it read 11:55am, hmm i get out at 2:30pm. I took advantage of the time and went back to sleep, I couldn't wait till' this afternoon!
> A Warm Welcome
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4



"Shift back into 3rd person"




The sun was shining over Ponyville, the sky was a nice shade of blue. Rays of sunshine glistened in the direction of the Hospital. Black Strat opened his eyes, he smiled looking over at the glowing sun shining through the window. He sat up slowly, the door opened. In trotted Nurse Redheart "Congratulations Mr. Strat, you're free to go. Just remember to stay off those wings for a couple weeks and you'll be fine."

Black Strat grinned as he got up out of his hospital bed. "Thanks for everything Ms.Redheart." The orange stallion said, he picked up his guitar case and trotted out the door. Silas sang a song as he walked out of the Hospital and started down the road to town. "Don't look back, a new day is breakin', It's been too long since I felt this way, I don't mind where I get taken, the road is callin’, today is the day."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VPLOVJ0u94


He was approaching the center of town then he remembered Twilight's voice, "If you want, come by my Library when you get out. I'll help show you around town." Many eyes were staring at him. This is different, he thought to himself, Silas was never looking at like this before. He started to look worried, would he be accepted? Then he looked over at two mares at the side of the road. They were smiling, in fact, they looked excited. 


Silas decided to keep walking, "Twilight can introduce me to the townsfolk." He thought to himself, "Heh heh, my laziness at its finest." He laughed, then he realized he had no idea where Twilight's Library is. He trotted over to the two mares, one of them was a mint green, her cutie mark was a Lyre. The other was a light cream color with 3 pieces of blue and green wrapped candy as her cutie mark.


"Hello, do you think either of you mares could help me out?" He said. The green one spoke first, "Oh of course! Anything for someone who just got out of the hospital!" She smiled, "I'm Lyra and this is Bon Bon. What do you need?" Silas smiled, "Nice to meet you two, my names Silas Strat. Do you two know where Twilight's Library is?" Bon Bon nodded, "We sure do! Follow us!" With that said the two started off, Silas followed closely.


After a little bit off follow the leader, the three ponies reached their destination. "Here we are!" Lyra said, Silas looked up at the large tree that resembled somewhat of a house. "Thank you!" Silas said, "It was nice meeting you!" Bon Bon and Lyra both smiled, "Nice meeting you too!" They said in perfect unison then trotted away, leaving Silas staring up at the Library.


Silas made his way up to the door, he knocked three times. A male voice was heard from inside, "Be there in a sec!" It left Silas to think, "Hmm, Twilight lives with someone else already?" The door opened, Silas looked down, there stood a small baby dragon, "Ohh cool I've never seen you before! HEY TWILIGHT!" Black Strat couldn't help but laugh, the dragon amused him.


"I'm coming Spike!" Twilight replied, Spike just stood there arms folded waiting. She came downstairs and trotted up to the door where the two were standing. "You know him?" Spike asked pointed behind him to the orange stallion in the doorway. Twilight smiled, "Of course I do! Come on in!" Spike moved aside and Silas walked in, then closed the door behind him.


"Spike this was the stallion I was telling you about! This is Silas Black Strat." Twilight said, Spike instantly became amazed. "WOAH! This is him? Aww sweet!" He ran up to Silas' side hopping up and down, "Its so cool to finally meet you! I heard you play guitar? That is the most awesome thing ever! Aw man you and I gotta hang out dude!" Silas laughed a little, "Woah chill out little dude, we can hang later. I've gotta get a feel for the way things work around here first."


He walked up to Twilight, "How are you feeling?" She said. "Well, I've been better, but at least I'm out of the hospital, Heh heh." He replied in a joking manner. "Haha, yeah I guess so. So want me to show you around Ponyville?" She asked. Silas grinned, "Sure I'd love you to!" Spike then popped out between them, "Can I come too?" He asked Twilight, she smiled, "Spike of course you can!" He jumped up in the air, "YES!" Silas and Twilight laughed. "Well we best get going, Ponyville is waiting!" The purple unicorn said. The trio started out the door, Silas grinned, "I've got places to go and people to meet!"


Their first stop was Rarity's Carousel Boutique, Silas followed Spike and Twilight closely for he had no idea where anything was in town. "So what is your full name?" She asked him, "Its Silas Black Strat, or just Black Strat, but please call me Silas." She smiled and nodded. She was full of questions, "So how was life in Fillydelphia before coming here?" Silas seemed not to care about her curiosity, "It was fine, I was living with a friend for a couple days, I couldn't pay the rent on my apartment. But I knew almost everypony around there. If I had a home life would have been much easier." Twilight frowned, "I'm sorry things turned out this way for you."


The three were nearing Rarity's, Spike was getting excited. "Oohh, I hope she'll be happy to see us." He said, Silas looked nervous, "Yeah I hope so too." Twilight rolled her eyes, "She's always happy to see us Spike, Silas don't worry bout a thing." She knocked on the door, "Please come in!" a female voice was heard from inside. Spike opened the door and walked in, followed by Silas and Twilight.


Rarity was running back and forth, each time with a different fabric or clothing. "Oh my! Twilight, Spike, Silas, so nice to uh see you on this fine afternoon!" She was far too busy to make small talk but she was far too polite to say so. "Hi Rarity! Nice to see you too!" Spike said with joy. Twilight spoke up, "Is this a bad time?" Rarity stopped for a second but was looking around the room for something. "Oh no no no no, I only have to fill seven orders by the end of the day! Its not a bad time at all!" She said in a panicked voice. Twilight turned around and headed out the door, "We'll come back later Rarity, we didn't mean to distract you." Followed by Spike and Silas, Rarity got back to work and closed the door behind them.


"Man, she had a lotta work to do." Silas said, he was kind of disappointed. "Oh don't worry you'll get to know her soon, now we must continue, Spike?" Spike ran up next to Silas, "Onward to Sweet Apple Acres!" The trio set off, Twilight and Silas continued their conversation. "So, don't you miss your family being this far away from...um Fillydelphia?" Silas gave her a weird look, "No not really, I've been further away from home than this. Plus my family doesn't live there, they actually live in Cloudsdale. I moved to Fillydelphia hoping to get into the music business there. But I do visit my family every once and awhile whenever I travel to Cloudsdale."


Twilight was surprised, "I grew up in Canterlot, I'm actually an apprentice of Princess Celestia. She had me move here as a chance to make some friends, I write to her whenever I learn a lesson on friendship." Silas was even more surprised, "I feel honored to be in the presence of a friend of the Princess herself, that is amazing." He took a little bow, Twilight blushed, "Maybe sometime I can introduce you to her." Silas looked up, "Oh man, you ponyfolk around here are so nice. I'd be most grateful if you would someday." They both smiled, Spike interrupted, "Oh jeez! Can you guys at least talk to me a little bit?!" They all laughed together.


They approached Sweet Apple Acres, it was by far one of the largest farms Silas had ever seen. Apple trees are far as the eye could see, they were approaching a big red barn that also looked a little like a house. The barn doors opened and out came Applejack with a larger red stallion. "Howdy y'all!" She said with delight, "We was wondering when you three were stoppin' by ain't that right big bro?" The large stallion spoke with a deep voice, "Eeyyup!"


"Big Macintosh, this is Black Strat, but you can call him Silas. Silas this is my big brother." Applejack said happily introducing them to each other. "Hello" Silas said, Big Mac replied, "Howdy! So ah heard you're awfully good at playin' that guitar." Silas then turned and realized he still had the case on his back. "Well, I suppose, I don't think I'm very good but if you say so." He said, Applejack laughed, "Heh heh, there's a modest pony for sure." Big Macintosh smiled, "Eeeyyup!"


Applejack turned towards her farm, "Well, this is Sweet Apple Acres, home sweet home, this is where we grow the best apples in Equestria!" She pointed her hoof towards the fields of Apple Trees in the distance. "We've been growing Apples here ever since Ponyvilles humble beginnings. Y'all are welcome to come by whenever you like!" Silas smiled, "Thank you. I may need some work to do in the following days." Big Mac smiled, "Well we sure will keep you busy, that's for sure. We could always use a few strong workers on the farm." Twilight interrupted, "Oh my! We're going to be late, Spike!" Spike ran up to her side, "Onward to Sugarcube corner!" Him and Silas started off, "Nice seeing you!" Silas said.


Twilight stayed behind for a spell, "We'll meet y'all there." Applejack said, she winking at Twilight. "Alright see you two in a bit." She left to catch up with the others. Spike and Silas were talking, "So what's it like being a dragon?" Silas asked him, "Eh, its okay I guess, I just wish i was a little taller." Twilight then caught up, "Okay now time to go see Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner." The sun was starting to go down as they walked through town. "Pinkies going to be real happy to see you Silas." Twilight said, "Oh yeah? She did seem rather excited to meet me at the hospital." He replied, the trio were approaching Sugarcube Corner.


Spike knocked on the door, the lights were off inside. No one answered, "Thats strange" Spike said, "Pinkies usually always home at this hour." Spike opened the door, it was pitch black inside, the three went inside and spike closed the door. Suddenly the lights flew on, music started playing, balloons and party banners were scattered all over. A big banner hung from the ceiling, it read, Welcome Silas! There was a whole mass of ponies inside, "SURPRISE!" They all said. Silas' mouth was wide open, then it turned into a wide smile, he had never felt so welcome in all of his life.
> Being Social
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


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.
> Coffee 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Chapter 6







Silas was soarin' through the sky's of Equestria, he was up in the air once more. He was flying high above Fillydelphia and on his way to Cloudsdale. The cool wind blew his hair back and chilled his face, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. A cyan pony with a rainbow mane swooped down and flew beside him. Silas knew he recognized her from somewhere, he remembered her from when he was a filly. Neither of them said anything, they just flew through the air together.


Silas opened his eyes real slow, then he realized he was dreaming once more. He was in Twilight's Library laying on her spare bed. Then he turned his head, Twilight was still asleep, but Spikes bed was empty. Silas looked at the clock, it read 9:45am. "That was the best I've slept in weeks." He said to himself as he sat up. Sun was shining clearly through the windows, just as it did when he was in the hospital. This new setting made him feel at peace, even if he couldn't fly.


The orange Pegasus got out of bed quietly, he was sure not to wake Twilight. Slowly he made his way downstairs, a thought came to his head. "Where's my guitar?" He got a little nervous, maybe he left it at Sugarcube corner, or Sweet Apple Acres, where was it? Silas then noticed Spike, who was tidying up and dusting the bookshelves. "Mornin' Spike." Silas said. The baby dragon jumped, a few books tumbled off the shelves as he fell of the ladder. "Oh man, I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He said as he helped Spike up. The dragon looked up at him, "Ah man it's okay. Good morning to you too." Both up them started picking up the books.


"So you're Twilight's assistant eh?" Silas asked as he put the last book back. Spike laughed, "Heh heh yeah, her number one assistant. I've been ever since she was a filly in Canterlot." Silas helped Spike dust the other bookshelves, they were surprised that Twilight was still asleep. "This is one of the latest times Twilight has slept." Spike concluded. "I thought for sure I would of woke her up with that fall." The two laughed. Then they heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and a slight yawn. "Good morning you two!" Twilight said cheerfully.


Twilight brushed her hair, "So how did you both sleep last night?" Spike spoke first, "Pretty good I guess, I woke up on the floor though." Twilight giggled, "How about you Silas?" Silas looked over and spoke, "The best I've slept in weeks." Then he smiled, "I almost forgot, do either of you know where I put my guitar?" He asked. Twilight pondered for a bit, Spike had no idea. "Hmm, I remember you having it when we were at the party last night. You must have left it there." 


There was a sudden knock on the door, Silas opened it. There stood Pinkie, as cheerful as always, wearing his guitar on her back. "Hiya Silas! You left your guitar thingermajigger at the party last night!" Silas perked up with a large grin on his face. "Oh thank you so much Pinkie! I was wondering what I did with it." He said as Pinkie handed the case over. "Wanna come over? We could bake cupcakes!" She said with a lot of enthusiasm. Silas looked over at the clock, "Sorry Pinkie, I have to meet Octavia at the Cafe in..."The clock read 10:50."....IN 10 MINUTES! I'm sorry, I gotta go!" He said, then he ran past Pinkie and made his way to the Cafe. "Okie doki loki!" Pinkie yelled back, then she hopped away.


Silas rushed through town, he didn't want to be late. His hair was blown back a little and unkempt but it looked alright, it was long so it didn't really matter. It was another glorious day outside, "What a great day for coffee." Silas thought to himself as he neared the cafe. He had never been there before, but coffee is coffee, no one can screw it up that bad. There were many tables outside of the small building, it looked rather nice, and many ponies were already there. Silas looked around, he saw a table with one seat open, Octavia was sitting in the other waiting patiently. He mustered up his courage and trotted on over to her table.


Octavia's face perked up as she noticed the long haired Pegasus approaching her table. "May I sit down?" He asked in a goofy but polite tone. Octavia giggled, "Oh yes of course, please do." Silas laughed, "Why thank you madam." She giggled once more, Silas was hoping to make a good impression. The party was rather loud and weird, Silas didn't get to show who he really was when they first met. So he thought this was a good time to show it.


"Good morning Octavia." He said in a cheery voice, "I'm sorry for being late, Pinkie brought me my guitar back, I left it at the party last night." She smiled at him, "That's quite alright, better late then never, I must hear you play sometime." Silas looked embarrassed, "If you're sure, heh heh, I'd also like to hear you play, I've never observed musicians of your quality before. I'm used to watching scrubs and lower class people play Rock N' Roll." The mare looked back at him puzzled, "I'm not very upper class to be honest, but I must keep up my appearance, I suppose it can show what kind of pony you are." Silas looked at himself for a second, then frowned.


A waiter approached their table, "What could I get you two on this fine morning?" He was younger stallion, a pony has to make money one way or another. Octavia spoke first, "A cup of tea, cream and sugar." The waiter nodded, "And for you?" Silas looked up, "Ehh, coffee for me....black, please." The waiter nodded once more, "I'll be back in a little bit." He trotted away, leaving the two musicians to carry on where they left off.


Silas tried to steer the conversation to something other than music. "So, you've heard most of my life story, how did somepony like you end up in Ponyville?" Octavia thought for a minute, "Well I was born and raised in Canterlot, I get most of my class from my family, the general population of Canterlot is upper class. I've played cello in a small ensemble at The Grand Galloping Gala and many other occasions. My father bought me a cello when a was a little filly, I always wanted to learn an instrument, my parents wanted me to learn a more classy one." Silas nodded, "Why did you move to Ponyville?" 


Octavia hesitated for a second, "I wanted to try something new, living in a small town. Canterlot was beautiful, but you could never have much fun there, you always had to have class or you were judged by other ponies often. Then I met Vinyl, we went to the same school of music. Even thought we specialized in opposite genres, for two mares that were completely different we got along just fine. Soon she introduced me to other great musicians as we got older. Baritone was in my class ensemble and I found out that him and Vinyl lived here in Ponyville. After I graduated I met Noteworthy and have been living as Vinyl's roommate ever since."


The waiter came back with their orders, "Here you are, enjoy." Silas gave a nod to the stallion, "Thanks," and he trotted away. Silas turned to Octavia, "That is so cool, you've had lots of great experience then. I did a lot after I moved away from home, but to be honest, the only experience I have is from Barn Bands and playing at Bars and cheap restaurants." Octavia sipped her tea, "It is still experience, I've never heard any bands like that before, where I come from there's only symphony's and a few small ensembles." Silas grinned, "I guess we'll learn a thing or two from each other then."  Then he sipped his coffee, nice and strong just the way he liked it. 


Silas decided to turn his charm button on, "You look simply beautiful this morning, I wish I could say the same about myself, heh heh." Octavia blushed a little, "Oh, why thank you Silas. I think you look just fine, that's why I like you, you're unique." Silas smiled wide, no one has ever said that to him before. They both finished their drinks, the waiter came by once more with the check. Silas payed up, Octavia looked surprised. Silas smirked, "Well I wasn't that poor, I still had some money left over from my last gig." She smiled at him "Thank you, would you like to come by my house for a little bit? Silas' face turned a light red, "I'd love to." He replied.
> Treble & Bass
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Chapter 7









Ponyville was now wide awake and everypony was up and about. Silas and Octavia had just left the cafe and were on their way back to her place. Silas was real excited, but at the same time really nervous. He hasn't really been this close to somepony since he had his own house, which was a good five months ago. He didn't want to screw up, or make a bad first impression on Vinyl Scratch. If she didn't like him, Octavia would probably have her doubts about him as well. 


Silas kicked those bad thoughts away quickly, he didn't want to get stressed out. Octavia was leading him through town, her house was near Twilight's. Silas felt happy, he could probably see Tavi everyday. "I need to find some stallion pals too though." He thought to himself, the majority of Ponyville's population were mares. Silas needs sometime with his bros, it's the only time he can smoke and not be judged. Yes Silas does smoke, but not always, he knew it was bad for him. He had picked up the bad habit from the military.  Silas only smoked when he was stressed. He got stressed rarely since he came to Ponyville.


Then he remembered the cig behind his ear, Oh damn. He thought to himself. Silas kept following Octavia closely, she wasn't very talkative at the time. Which was good for his sake, Silas needed some time to think. He brushed his hair to cover his good ear, he didn't want Tavi to know about his bad habits. "Here we are!" Tavi said, pointing a hoof to a mid sized two story house just past Twilight's Library. Octavia opened the door, "Come on in." She said, Silas trotted in after her and closed the door, mares first.


"Home sweet home, do you like it?" Octavia asked, Silas nodded his head, "I just had the place re-furnished," She said. Silas smiled, "It looks real nice, much nicer than my old house." He let out a slight chuckle, Octavia looked at him funny, "What was your old house like?" She asked. Silas laughed, "Well, it was a run down apartment, all I could afford, it had a small bed, a nightstand, a couch and a small table. I had a desk at one point, but then I sold it to pay rent, it was a nasty sight anyway." He grinned, Octavia frowned, "That must have been hard living there. I apologize." She said, looking down at the floor. Silas sighed, "You have nothing to be sorry for, it wasn't your fault." He said.


Tavi sat on the couch, "Would you like to sit down?" She asked the orange stallion. "Yes please." He replied as he sat down next to her. "Vinyl must be napping, usually she's making lots of noise.....erm....music upstairs," Octavia stated. Silas looked around, "You must have a lot of money to finance this place. Do you do anything else?" He asked. The classy mare put on a serious face, "Yes actually, I am a writer as well." Silas looked surprised, "That's cool, I wrote in a journal during my military service." Octavia gasped.


"You were in the military? Oh my gosh, you didn't kill anyone did you?" Tavi asked in a frightened tone. Silas hesitated, "Well ehhh....I had to, it was part of my service, but I only served for three years, only a couple months on the front. My service ended after the last war." Octavia was shocked, "You were forced to kill, that must have been awful!" She looked awkwardly at Silas, he seemed completely harmless, she couldn't believe he actually killed before.


"Never mind about that, I hate talking about it. I'm not a soldier anymore, I am a simple musician. Before I moved to Filly, I joined the army. End of story." Silas said, he was irritated. Octavia moved closer to him, "Silas, life must have been so hard for a stallion like yourself." Silas frowned, "But I would like you to know, I like you just the way you are." She said to him. Silas looked up, then moved a little closer to her. "I like you just the way you are too Octavia." 


Thoughts were racing through Silas' head, Oh shit, do I kiss her or no? Is she waiting for me to make a move? What am I suppose to do? God damn, I'm just gonna go with my gut feeling. Octavia blushed, Silas moved closer and closed his eyes, she did the same. The two ponies kissed, it was quick, but it meant a lot. The two pulled away from each other with faces of confusion. Octavia looked away, Silas hung his head low thinking he screwed up. "Octavia I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get out of hand like that." He said as he got up and went to the door slowly.


Octavia trotted up to him quickly, "Don't leave!" She said anxiously, "Please call me Tavi, you don't need to be sorry." They smiled at each other and hugged. Just as they were finished hugging Vinyl was at the base of the stairs with another stallion. "Woah woah woah, what's going on here?" Vinyl said in a stern voice. Tavi and Silas faced her, "Umm, nothing. Vinyl, this is Silas, the guy from the party." Silas recognized the other stallion as Baritone. Vinyl grinned, "Oh yeah, I remember you, nice seeing you again." Silas smiled, Baritone chuckled, "Were we interrupting?" Silas assumed him and Vinyl were together. "No, not at all." Silas and Tavi said together. 


Everypony laughed, Vinyl trotted over, "Like I said, great seeing you again. From what I've heard, Octavia says you're quite the Stallion." Tavi glared at her, Baritone smiled, "Well we're glad she's found a good guy like you." Silas was impressed, he felt like he could stay here forever. Vinyl went into the kitchen with Tavi and left Baritone and Silas talking. 


Baritone looked like a tough stallion, he was pretty large. But even Silas could see that he had a big heart. "So how long have you and Vinyl been together?" Silas asked the gray stallion. He chuckled in his deep voice, "It's been about two years now." He really did fit his name well. "So where are you staying?" He asked Silas. "Right now at Twilight's, hopefully my wing gets better soon." Baritone looked at his bandaged up wing, "Well you're in good hands, Twilight is the best with magic and is the most organized mare in Ponyville." The two musicians laughed together.


Tavi and Vinyl came back into the living room, Vinyl had cider in hand and Tavi was drinking a glass of wine. So apparently the two drink, then they probably wouldn't mind if I smoked. Silas thought, "Hey mind if I step outside for a moment?" Silas asked. Everypony nodded, "I'll go with him." Baritone said, and he followed Silas out the door. The two walked along side the house. Silas pulled out the cig and lit up. He blew smoke up into the air, then looked at Baritone, who surprisingly, was doing the same. "We all need to have a break once and a while." He said.


As they went back into the house Tavi and Vinyl were sitting on the couch. "So are you and Tavi together now or what?" Vinyl asked. Silas blushed a little and looked at Octavia, who also blushed. Baritone chuckled, "I'll take that as a yes." Silas hadn't been with somepony for quite some time, in fact it has been almost a year and a half since he had a marefriend. Tavi spoke up, "So Silas, would you be considering looking for a job while you're here?" Silas pondered for a bit, "I guess I could, so I can save up to buy my old apartment back in Filly." Vinyl glared at him, "Might as well live with your own kind."


Silas returned the glare, "What's that suppose to mean?" He was getting defensive, Octavia looked worried, Vinyl pissed him off. "It means I don't like you, you're probably like all those other losers." She said, Silas snarled, "What do you have against Filly? Besides, I wasn't born there." He snapped at the white unicorn who had now taken off her glasses, revealing her angry red eyes. "All the stallions there are nasty drug addicted thieves, the mares are prostitutes, the mayor is even a criminal, lets face it, your town is terrible. You're probably a nasty criminal yourself"


Baritone was off to the side, his feeling was neutral, Silas seemed like a nice enough guy and as far as he knew, Silas only smoked once in a while and had never stolen. Poor Octavia was right in the middle of the fight, "Please you two, stop!" Silas didn't listen, nor did Vinyl, "That's bullshit, you're just being a selfish bitch, I know almost everypony in town there, they happen to be kind folk, my friends never steal, and not everyone does drugs there!" Tavi was taken back by his language, Vinyl raised her voice, "How dare you call me that! You're lying, I've heard all about your folk down there, you're scum!" 


The orange stallion was now twitching in anger, "You've just heard! But you've never seen! That's all bullshit!" Silas yelled. Vinyl pointed to his left ear, "There's the proof!" She was pointing to a half empty box of cigarettes behind his ear. "Get out of my house!" The disk jockey yelled, she used her magic to open the door fiercely. The orange Pegasus attempted to spread his wings in a defensive stance, a sharp pain shivered up his spine and made him twitch, he fell to the floor. 


"AGGH!" He yelled, Octavia rushed down to his side to help him up. "Damn! I'm out of here, you have no respect for those less fortunate than you!" He stumbled to his feet and stormed out the door, Vinyl slammed it behind him. Octavia was in tears, Baritone was even taken back by Vinyl's selfishness. "Hmph, good riddance." Vinyl mumbled. Baritone spoke up, "Wonder what he meant by those less fortunate." Octavia snapped at him, "HE'S HOMELESS! He doesn't have one bit of money left," she pointed a hoof to Vinyl, "To top it all off you spoke awful things of his town, and his friends!" Then without another word Octavia rushed out the door. 


It was late afternoon, there was some rain coming down and there were puddles among the streets. Silas was sitting up against a tree outside of town. His head was hung low, he was holding the pack of Equestrian Spirits and staring at it. "I can't help it if I'm like this." He said to himself. Silas felt lonely, just like he used to always be, having no one to talk to. "Not everypony there is bad, it's just a rumor that Fillydelphia is the worst town in Equestria next to Manehattan. Half the ponies in Equestria haven't even been there before!" He was yelling at nothing, there was nothing to yell at, nopony was there.


He threw the pack of cigarettes, they landed in a small puddle. Silas got up and looked at his reflection in the water, his mane was soaked, his eye scar was clearly visible, he had some facial scruff and was a little muddy. He stomped on the pack of cigs fiercely, and shut his eyes. "I want to fly again, and leave this place, I don't belong here, I just don't belong. I hail from Cloudsdale, but have the heart of a Fillydelphian. I just don't belong."


When he opened his eyes he noticed another pony's reflection next to him, It was Octavia. She was teary eyed and her mane was soaked along with her bow, her mascara was running a little. Silas looked at her for a brief moment then turned away. "You may as well hit me, I guess I deserve it." He shut his eyes bracing for a hard hoof to the face. He felt a hoof, but it wasn't hard, but gentle. Silas opened his eyes to see Octavia wiping the mud from his face, she was smiling with big teary eyes. Silas got an unexpected embrace, she hugged him, He returned the loving embrace.


Her wet hair covered her left eye, Silas brushed it back and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed and then spoke softly, "Silas, you have nothing to be sorry for, it wasn't your fault." The moment seemed to be perfect, the rain gave it character. Just then the two lovers heard hoofsteps approaching. Silas turned around to see Applejack approaching them. He then realized they were at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, AJ had a confused look as she trotted towards him and Tavi.


"What in tar-nation are y'all doin' out here in the rain?" The light orange mare asked, she then noticed Octavia next to him. "Oh, heh heh, ah' didn't mean to inerupt." Octavia replied softly, "Oh it's quite alright we've just had some trouble at home, I found him out here all alone and we're without a place to stay tonight." Applejack grinned, "Well y'all are mighty welcome to stay in the extra barn, may not be perfect but It'll shelter you from the rain." Silas looked down, then up at AJ, "Thank you Applejack, very much." The country pony replied kindly with a "Don't mention it."


The trio didn't have far to go, the extra barn was closer than AJ's. She opened the two front doors and showed the soaked couple in. It was just an ordinary barn, except for the upper level. Applejack pointed her hoof up to the second level, "Y'all can stay here tonight, the second floor has a small bed, couch, and table. Big Macintosh stays up ther' every once in a while." There was a small ladder that led up to the second floor, Silas let Octavia go first, ladies always go first. Then he followed her up, "Sleep tight you two, I'll be back in the morning, storm'll probably be over by then." Applejack said as she closed the barn doors.


There was one window next to the bed, it was raining even harder now. Silas turned on the only light, which was a small bulb just above the table. "Well, home sweet home for now." He said. Octavia looked over at him, "I suppose so." She replied. Silas trotted over to the couch, he assumed Tavi wanted the bed, she deserved it, after all she was a lady. Just as he laid down Tavi spoke, "Wait, Silas don't you want the bed?" Silas chuckled a little, "Tavi I've slept on hardwood floor and concrete before, the couch is perfectly fine." 


Octavia got into bed slowly, it was a long day. "Goodnight Silas." She said, Silas was almost asleep already, "Goodnight Tavi." He replied, then Silas drifted off to sleep. Octavia climbed into bed, she tried to go to sleep but she couldn't. The bed was rather lumpy and the sound of rain batting the windows was like hammers hitting nails to her. She took the bed sheet and trotted over to the couch, Silas was fast asleep only taking up half of it. Tavi put the bed sheet over her and Silas and laid down next to him. She got in a comfortable position and rested her head on his shoulder. "Now, I can rest." She thought to herself, then drifted off into a deep sleep.
> The Black Strat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------









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."
		
> The Band
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Chapter 9



The streets were quiet, the sky was cloudy and there was slight drizzle. Up and down the main streets of Fillydelphia aside from the few bars and restaurants, there were mostly apartment buildings and motels lined up. Only a few ponies were out on the streets, crime wasn't very high in town, but Filly didn't look very inviting either.

A gray mailmare with a blonde mane was trotting down the street, it was Derpy Hooves. She approached a large apartment building and knocked. After a couple minutes, the door opened. A green stallion with a bandaged horn and a curly blonde mane was standing inside. "Yes?" He said in a tired tone, he didn't look very happy. Derpy did though, she smiled, "I have a letter here! For a......Ja-yke, Jake Crash Cymbal!" He had a puzzled look on his face, "I'm Jake Crash Cymbal, no one ever writes to me, who's it from?" He asked as Derpy gave him the letter, "Its from a good friend of yours, and mine, Black Strat, though you Filly folk probably know him as Silas." She said happily, Jake read the letter.

Dear Jake,
I know this letter is totally overdue, but Its been about a month since my accident. Now I have recovered a lot, I know you and Luca had probably thought I died. Don't worry man, I'm alive and well, maybe not well but I'm still alive. Just to let you guys know, I was struck by lightning on my way to our gig in Manehattan. I broke my left wing and a few locals from the nearby town of Ponyville checked me into the hospital upon finding me. Everyone here is so nice, its nothing like Filly over here, I've met a mare who plays the cello. She is rather classy but we have a steady relationship, Soon I will be going for a job at a local music store. Life down here has been going pretty well for me, I actually have a place to sleep, some bits to my name, and I still got the SRV. We need to reunite soon, I may be coming to visit you in a few days. I've been writing to Aldy as well, hes coming to Ponyville for the weekend. I miss you guys, but you have to meet the ponies here sometime. 

P.S. Tell Orange Stride I'll pay off my bar tab as soon as I get my job.
See you Soon
~ Silas "Black" Strat.

Jake's frown turned upside down, Derpy was still smiling and she spoke loudly, "He asked me to deliver it myself! I'm the mailmare in Ponyville!" Jake laughed, "That sounds nice, I wish I actually had a good job." Derpy stared at him puzzled for a couple seconds then smiled again, "Want me to stay so you can write a letter back? I'll deliver it free of charge!" Derpy asked the green unicorn. He stood there for a few seconds thinking then spoke, "You can stay, but I won't be writing back, I think I'm gonna come visit him. Do you think you can bring me to your town, erm..Ponyville?" Derpy jumped up in the air and giggled, "Of course I can! I know exactly how to get there!" Jake smiled in relief, "We just have to make a couple stops first."



***



While Derpy was away some other mare filled in for her delivering mail in Ponyville. She was gone a little longer than expected, but no pony thought much of it. All the ponies were busy in Ponyville today. Applejack and Big Mac were bucking apples non stop. Twilight was studying a lot more than usual, Spike was busy enough grabbing books for her to read. Fluttershy was tending to her animals, Rainbow Dash was clearing the clouds. Rarity was making a couple suits and dresses. Pinkie Pie was busy watching Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, and Silas was on his way to his new job interview. The music shop in town was called Noteworthy instruments. Of course the owner was Noteworthy, he lived above the shop and was the only person working it.

Silas opened the front door and trotted on in. Noteworthy had everything, from brass to percussion, if it was considered an instrument he had it. Silas approached the desk, where Noteworthy was taking a snooze. He decided not to wake his blue friend, so Silas looked around. They only had a few guitars, but a bunch of amplifiers. They had a Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, and Gretsch. One of each guitar, so they only had four, but about seven amps. Small and large, much to Silas' disapointment they only had one electric bass, it was an Ernie Ball Music Mare. 

Silas heard a mumble and turned to the desk, Noteworthy had woke up. He looked up at Silas with sleepy eyes, "Woah, hey there man. Sorry, I erm....didn't get much sleep last night." Silas nodded his head and smirked, "Thats fine, I'm here looking for a job." Noteworthy smiled wide and laughed a little, then he got up and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Alright, so you specialize in guitars right? Well we have a shortage of guitars and basses, in fact we don't have that many stringed instruments. So if you want you can work here." Silas smiled, but then frowned and looked at his blue friend puzzled.

"Wait, what would I do?" Silas asked, Noteworthy was watching the desk and owned the shop, what could Silas do? Noteworthy spoke immediately, "Well you used to live in Filly, there were a few companies down there right? Well, you ought to know someone there who can ship us some stringed instruments. We need some new stock, I think you can be the manager of Noteworthy instruments, we'll switch shifts watching the desk every once and a while. You'll get a lunch break and a smoke break." Noteworthy put the paper down on the desk, "Sign here." He said, and gave Silas a pen. He signed his full name in print, since he didn't know cursive, Silas Black Strat.



***



Silas had now had a job, a place to live, a wonderful marefriend, and he was friends with everypony in town. Not to mention Sweetie Belle started to look up to him as a role model. He had just got off shift when he heard somepony call his name. Silas looked around, then he saw Octavia trotting up to him, "Silas! I heard you got the job, that is wonderful, truly wonderful! I have to ask you something though..." The orange stallion nodded his head knowing it wasn't anything bad. "You're not leaving are you? You said you were going to go back to Filly when your wings healed, are you?" She teared up a bit. Silas hugged her and spoke, "I may have started a life here, but my home is Filly. I've got a job to pay off....my bar tab back home. But I'll still be staying for a few days more. Don't worry, I won't be gone forever."

Tavi was indeed sad but she knew it was the way things had to be. Silas had debt that he owed and his band waiting for him in Filly. There was no way he could stay. Silas and Tavi decided to go for a walk through town, there was a group a ponys gathered around somepony else, but they couldn't see who. Tavi saw Derpy hovering over the crowd, her and Silas approached them. As soon as they entered the crowd and got to the middle, Silas' face perked up. "SILAS!" The small gang of ponys yelled, He ran into them and hugged every one of them. Tavi came up the the group as well feeling shy, Silas stood beside her and introduced everypony.

"Octavia, I would like you to meet the guys, Octavia guys, guys Octavia." Silas laughed. A tall green stallion with a bandaged horn and a curly blonde mane stepped forward. "Nice to meet you, heh heh, I'm Crash Cymbal, Jake "Crash" Cymbal. I play the drums in our band." A short teal stallion with a navy and cyan mane stepped forward, "I'm Copper Strings, but you can call me Luca. I play acoustic guitar." Then a short sky blue stallion stepped forward, "I'm Orange Stride, nice to meet yah, I own Stride's Pub in Filly. Silas still owes me money..." Silas interrupted him by tossing a small sack of bits to him, "That should cover my tab and then some." Stride was silent and he grinned with satisfaction.

All the ponies were from Fillydelphia, these were Silas' old friends, but there were still a few more to be introduced. A yellow pegasus stepped foward and nodded his head, he had a twisted red mane and a goofy look on his face. "Why helllllooo there Ms.Octavia, I'm Aldy, I grew up in Cloudsdale with Silas. Aww yeaah him and I have been best friends ever since we met in flight school detention." Tavi couldn't help but giggle, Aldy was quite the amusing stallion. The last pony stepped forward, he was a red stallion with a messy brown mane and a cowboy hat. He was chewing on some wheat, "Howdy there, I'm Jim, but most of my pals call me Slim, heh heh, I'm Slim Jim. I own a farm outside of Filly." Octavia smiled at Silas' friends, "Its a pleasure to meet you all finally, Silas has always mentioned you a lot."

Silas ended up introducing all six of his friends to all the townsfolk in Ponyville. Jake broke the ice, "So Strat, you staying or not?" Silas just stood silent for a little bit, then words came. "Well, as much as I missed you all back in Filly, face it, that place was a dump." They all nodded their heads in agreement, "My hometown is Cloudsdale, but I've started a new life here in Ponyville, and met a special somepony." He put his hoof around Octavia, Luca interrupted, "But Silas, the band man! What about the band?! You know, we can't perform without you. Where would we go from here?" Luca made a good point, Silas was at a loss for words. "I'm sorry but I don't know. This isn't the end, Filly isn't very far from here, I'll just fly wherever we have a gig, and we can have gigs here in Ponyville too." Luca smiled, Silas did always have good ideas.

Their visit was short, "We only stopped by to see how you were doing. I have to admit, Ponyville is much nicer than Filly, but Filly is our home so we must return to it." Jake said to a crowd of ponies, "Will you ever visit?" Twilight asked, Slim replied, "Of course we all will, we love you ponyfolk down here." Stride interupted him, "Yeeahs, we like it here, so we'll visit every once in a while." On that note everypony started home, Jake was the last to leave, "See you soon man, we have to jam." He and Silas brohoofed, "Yeah dude, real soon. Bye Jake." 

Silas and Octavia watched the group slowly fade away in the distance over the hills on the way to Fillydelphia. Silas was sad they couldn't stay but he was glad to have seen them. Twilight and Fluttershy approached the two, "They all seemed nice, you sure do have some good friends over there." Twilight said, Fluttershy looked at Silas then spoke softly, "Um-m Silas seeing Aldy today reminded me of something. Remember back when we were younger, before you had your cutie mark?" Silas looked puzzled, "Yeah, what about it?" Fluttershy started softly, "Well, um, me and you used to hang out, you and Aldy always were trying to make me laugh and you guys always cheered me up when I was sad. You've changed so much, but Aldy hasn't really, thats what reminded me. Just thought I should let you know." She said. 

"Me and Aldy always were quite the jokers, I'm kinda sad we don't hang out, after I moved away from Cloudsdale I didn't see him anymore, but we wrote to eachother sometimes. Ah well, at least I have all of you as my friends." Silas said, then looked up at the sky, "I'd like to visit Cloudsdale again, Fluttershy, do you think we could get Rainbow Dash and make the trip?" Fluttershy looked up at the sky with him, "Well I don't see why not." Silas shook hooves with her, "Its settled, we'll set out for Cloudsdale tomorrow afternoon." 

Octavia and Silas went back home together and made small talk about their younger lives. Tavi opened the door and the two were surprised to see Vinyl and Baritone passed out on the couch together. Silas threw a blanket over them and trotted up the stairs with Tavi. It was getting real late, so the couple decided to go to bed. They shared a large king sized bed, it was the most comfortable thing Silas ever slept on. Him and Tavi climbed into bed, "Silas, you won't be gone long will you?" She asked, Silas turned and kissed her, "Not long at all, I couldn't bare being away from you." Octavia beamed and the two cuddled with eachother. "Goodnight Tavi." He said to his lover, "Goodnight Silas." She replied, and the couple drifted off into slumber.
> City in the Sky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Chapter 10 







Up in the sky, high above Equestria, little Aldy and his best friend Silas were racing home from flight school. Silas took the lead as usual, but Aldy had actually payed attention in class that day and had learned something new. "Hey Silas! Whats that behind you?!" Aldy yelled to his orange friend, Silas turned his head sharply, "Woah what?!" While he was distracted Aldy sped far ahead. Aldy was paying attention to the jocks, not the teacher, he learned all about using distractions to win a race.


Silas came to his senses and realized Aldy was messing with him. He flew upward and shot down over his best friend, Aldy looked up to see an orange flash drop down in front of him. "You are so full of shit Aldy!" Silas yelled to the yellow Pegasus. The two friends laughed together as they neared both of their houses, suddenly a rainbow flash blew between them. The two colts were spun around, Silas noticed the flash zoom to his house, then Aldys and come back. Aldy and Silas wobbled, then came to their senses to notice Rainbow Dash hovering in front of them. "Ha, beat you both to your houses!" Silas and Aldy glared at the cocky pegasus. 


They were all interrupted by a serious Bass-drop, Silas opened his eyes in a flash and jumped out of bed. "WHAT THE FUU-," then he noticed Vinyl Scratch at the foot of the bed with a large speaker blaring dubstep. She had a smirk on her face then shut off the music. "You guys said you didn't have an alarm." She laughed, Silas got up from the floor to notice Octavia crawling out from under the bed sheets. "Vinyl.....for the love of Celestia..."


Silas poured himself a coffee, "I haven't got up this early since boot camp..." He said, Vinyl looked at him strangely and was about to say something but Tavi cut her off. "So Silas, when are you and Fluttershy setting out to Cloudsdale?" Silas sipped his coffee and yawned, "Hmm...dunno, she told me to swing by sometime in the morning. Then we gotta pick up Rainbow Dash." Octavia had an uneasy look on her face, "Silas, please return safe. Don't fly through anything you can't handle." Silas grinned at her, "Don't worry, I'll return as soon as I can, and I won't do anything reckless, you have my word." Silas put his empty coffee cup on the kitchen counter then started out the door.


It was early morning, the sun had just come out. "Ugh military mornings all over again." Silas mumbled to himself. He hated getting up early, he never set an alarm, and rarely made plans in the morning. But this trip was special, last time Silas visited Cloudsdale was when he lived in his old apartment in Filly. He was due to visit his parents, he didn't want them to be worried. Silas trotted towards the edge of Ponyville and up the road to Fluttershy's house. "Man, this place sure does look peaceful." He said to himself, clearly speaking the truth.


Silas knocked on the door, waiting patiently he whistled the melody to Lady, by the Styx. Fluttershy opened the door, she looked wide awake and ready to go. "Good morning Fluttershy.." Silas mumbled, trying to stay awake, "Oh good morning Silas. It truly is a good morning." She replied in her adorable shy voice. Silas was amazed of how good she looked, being how early it was, nopony was that well groomed in the morning. "You ready to set out?" Silas asked the shy Pegasus, she smiled at him, "Oh yes, lets get on our way." She said anxiously.


Fluttershy gracefully spread her wings, Silas lazily spread his and the two were off into the sky. "I haven't flown this slow in a long time...." Silas started, Fluttershy cut him off, "Oh, would you like me to speed up?" Silas shook his head and smiled, "No, no, I finally have time to appreciate the view flying this slow, its beautiful." Fluttershy nodded her head as they flew towards Rainbow's cloud house. 


To their surprise Rainbow was sitting on her front steps. As soon as she saw the other two pegasi comming she flew up to them. "Finally, I've been waiting forever!" She said in an irritated voice. Silas was even more shocked, Fluttershy apologized, "We're sorry Rainbow, but it is rather early to rush. We do have the whole day ahead of us." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Well, I guess so. Come on lets go." With that said the three pegasi were off.


How was Rainbow wide awake this early? Am I missing something? What about Fluttershy? Wow I really need to be more prepared lately. Silas thought to himself, he usually got up round seven, and he got outta bed round nine. He didn't worry bout nothin' no, cause worryin' was a waste of his time. The trio were approaching Cloudsdale, it took less time than Silas thought, then again they did have to speed up because of Rainbow's impatience. 


The sun had fully risen by the time they arrived. Silas still was a little drowsy but he was waking up finally. "Here we are. The greatest city in Equestria!" Rainbow stated. The trio flew over many cloudhouses and buildings. Many other pegasi were up already and construction was going on on a nearby cloud. Silas had missed the great city. "Home sweet home." He said. 


"Where is your old house Silas?" Fluttershy asked, Silas looked around as they passed the Cloudosseum, "Um, right there!" He pointed his hoof in the direction of many cloudhouses. Silas swooped down towards a medium sized house, Fluttershy and Rainbow followed closely. Silas landed on the cloud and trotted up to the door. To his surprise, his parents had put in an actual door. He knocked three times and waited, he couldn't wait to see his parents once again.


The door opened slowly, a light pink mare with a brunette mane and green eyes stood in the doorway. "Hello Ma." Silas said, she looked down at him and beamed. He ran up and hugged her. "Oh my, Silas! Its so good to have to come home! You haven't visited in months we thought something had happpened!" She noticed Fluttershy and Rainbow standing in front of the house. "Oh, please, all of you come in." The pink pony said. 


Silas had missed the old house, pictures of him and his brother were still all over the walls. Along with pictures of family friends. Silas' mom spoke, "Hello, I'm Silas' mother, Lia Sophia. Feel free to call me Sophie." Fluttershy and Rainbow both spoke in unison, "Hello Mrs.Sophia." Silas had gone up to his old room while his mom was making small talk with them. 


His bed was still messed up from the last time he slept in it. Which was five years ago, he couldn't believe it, almost everything was exactly how he left it. Silas looked at his first guitar in the corner, it had collected so much dust. Posters of his favorite bands were still on the walls, his old record player was still there, half of his record collection was on the shelf. He only took with him his favorite albums or the ones with most memories. Silas looked at an old picture, it was one of him, Aldy, Sunburst, Rain Drops, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rainbowshine, and a stallion Silas remembered as Doug Wilson. Besides Aldy, Doug was his only other close friend. He was killed in action on July 16th four and a half years ago.


Silas picked up his old guitar, and tuned it. The strings were a little corroded but that didn't stop him. He plugged it into the old amp and strummed. "Sounds just like it should." He said to himself. Silas started playing an old favorite.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEuKbE4MXPE



He was halfway through and heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. Silas' dad, Pepp Ridge was standing in the doorway along with Sophie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. They didn't say a word, they just listened and smiled as Silas played. Silas hadn't had an audience for quite some time, he thought he'd be rusty, but he played just as good as he did three months ago at Stride's Pub. 


Silas finished and took a bow. Everypony stomped their hooves, Silas looked up and smiled. "Man, that sounded great, you have improved." Pepp Ridge said, Silas' Dad didn't know much about music, but he sure knew when to compliment and when to criticize. "Ohmygosh you need to play my theme music again like you used to! That was awesome!" Rainbow said, she knew how to give a compliment. Sophie just smiled at Silas, he knew she was impressed. Fluttershy spoke last, in her usual quiet voice, "Oh Silas, that was simply wonderful." She said, Silas liked her comment most of all. 


He put the guitar back, Silas didn't like to show off much. But when he did, he did. The group went back downstairs and everypony sat in the living room. "So, what happened, why so mysterious? We haven't seen you in months." Pepp Ridge said, Silas got ready to explain the whole story. His mom spoke next, "Yes, it has been a while, your last visit was five months ago." Silas stood up, "Okay listen up, heres the story. Rainbow and Fluttershy can help tell it as well. I'll start."


Silas cleared his throat, "Okay, we had a gig over in Manehattan about a week and a half after my last visit. I was staying at Jake's place cause I got kicked out by my landlord. It was a stormy night and I was late, so I flew right through it. On my way there my right wing was struck by lightning, I blacked out and broke the other on impact." Fluttershy interrupted, "Thats when I found him with my friend Applejack, he was unconscious so we carried him all the way to Ponyville hospital." Silas continued, "I was only in the hospital for a day and a half, I just had to stay off my wings for a few weeks."


Silas' parents had faces of shock and he continued his story. "I met everypony in town in the following days of checking out of the hospital. I also met a special mare, and we've been together ever since the day we met at my welcoming party. I've been living with her and her friend ever since." Rainbow finished the story, "So we decided to visit Cloudsdale with him when his wings got better." Silas nodded, then he looked back at his parents. They had calmed down, his mom spoke, "Well, the good news is you're alright, I'm glad you've finally found a special somepony in your life Silas." She winked at him, Silas grinned.


Their visit was only a visit, and it was already late afternoon. "Goodbye son, we hope to see you again soon, try to dodge the lightning next time." Pepp Ridge said, Silas said his goodbyes and him, Fluttershy, and Rainbow set course to return to Ponyville. On the way back they ran into Aldy, who was flying all by himself on the outskirts of town. "Hey Aldy! Whats good?" Silas said to him, Aldy looked at him with sad eyes. "Nothings good..." He said and hung his head low. "Tell me whats up man.." Silas said to his depressed looking friend. 


Aldy was never sad, he was always trying to make other ponies laugh and have fun. This wasn't like him. "Landlord kicked me out today, I have till tonight to get my stuff and move out. I'm homeless." Aldy said sadly, Fluttershy spoke up, "O-oh my, that's terrible. You could stay with me for a couple nights, u-um unless you don't want to." Aldy looked up with wide eyes at Fluttershy, then he hugged her. "Come on man, lets go get your stuff." Silas said. Rainbow flew off to his aparment and the rest of the group followed.


By the time the group got back to Ponyville, it was pretty late. Almost everypony was asleep by now, Aldy sold most of his stuff so there wasn't much that needed transporting. Rainbow was carrying a box with his duct tape in it, Silas was carrying his sleeping bag and pillow, and Fluttershy helped him carry a box of his prized possessions. They all helped him unpack at Fluttershy's cottage, she had an extra bedroom that Aldy could use. After everything was unpacked Silas and Rainbow left. 


Silas said goodbye to his friends and trotted back to Octavia's. The streets were clear, Silas saw Rainbow flying back to her cloudhouse. Where is Aldy going to live? Silas thought, He can't stay at Fluttershy's forever. Silas passed Twilight's, of course the lights were on, shes always up doing some sort of studying. He opened the door to Octavia's slowly, not wanting to wake anypony up. He quietly slipped upstairs and into his room. He opened the door, Octavia was there sitting in bed reading with the lights on. "I didn't want to go to sleep until you came home." She said, Silas smiled and climbed into bed next to her. He shut off the lights, and snuggled with Tavi. "I love you Tavi, Goodnight." He said, she kissed him on the cheek, "Goodnight Silas, I love you too." Then the couple drifted off into dream land.
> At Peace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Chapter 11






"GET DOWN!" A soldier yelled, followed by an explosion. Dead and dying soldiers laid all around him. Silas picked up his rifle, he kept his head down as he ran through the trenches. He hopped over other soldiers of Celestia's (not so) Royal  Military, all of them young, just like him. They were suffering, everypony was, smoke filled the atmosphere. Silas poked his head out of the trench, he spotted a creature, it looked like a mangled corpse of what used to be a pony. Yet it was still living, it's legs were filled with holes and it had dark blue eyes. It fired a shot of green from it's horn straight at Silas. He ducked his head down and felt something hit his ear, he rubbed his hoof up agaisnt it. He felt blood running down his face, "Fucker shot my ear off!" Silas yelled.


He hopped out of the trench and aimed his rifle at the black monster, he fired three shots. The creature was hit three times in the head, then it fell on the ground dead. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Another soldier yelled, Silas looked down to see a grenade land near him, he jumped back in the trench for cover. BOOM. Silas looked at his squad, what was left of it anyway. "Dammit, we need more support!" He heard his Sergeant yell, "Strat! Get your ass up here! Tape, you too!" Silas and his close friend Aldy sprinted towards the frontlines of the battlefield.


"Shit, we got a whole lotta monster bastards out there." Aldy said with disgust, their sergeant corrected him. "They gotta name for those bastards Tape, they're called Changelings. Those sons of bitches can take the form of whatever walks in front of em!" He yelled, then fired his weapon. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Aldy yelled as he threw a grenade, there was no explosion, Silas noticed the grenade flying back towards them. It landed back in the trench, "OH FUCK! GET DOWN!" His Sergeant yelled, the last thing they heard was the explosion.


Silas awoke suddenly, he sat up in distress and frantically looked around the room breathing hard. "Phew..." He said, then he layed back down, Tavi awoke from the commotion. "U-ugh, S-silas? Whats wrong?" She turned towards him, Silas looked her in the eyes, "Bad dream, sorry." He let out a slight chuckle, Tavi giggled and wrapped her hooves around him and the couple fell back asleep.


***



The mail came that morning, Silas answered the door to Derpy who held out a letter in her mouth. She gave it to Silas, "Morning Silas! Its from Fillydelphia, just for you." She said with glee, Silas looked over the envelope, from Jake...He thought as he opened it up. He said his thanks to Derpy and she flew off, Silas took the letter back into the house and read it. 


Dear Silas

How've you been man? I've been pretty good myself, life down in Filly is tough. The cops stormed Stride's Pub the other night, they arrested Slim for assault and public indecency. He got wasted on cider and Stride didn't cut him off, he got so drunk that he ended up getting in a fight with a local policecolts daughter, then Stride tried to kick him out. Slim ended up breaking his jaw, don't worry bout it though, he'll be out on bail in the next week or so. My point is, we're leaving Filly and coming your way. Now, we have enough money for a decent apartment, so we're gonna move to Ponyville. You said it was real nice down there, you were right. Luca and I will be heading out your way by the time you get this.

See you soon,
~Jake 




Silas stared at the letter for a couple minutes then read it again. He face hoofed and hung his head, "Dammit, Slim, just had to get yourself locked up again didn't you?..." He said to himself, Silas heard hoofsteps and turned his head to see Vinyl. "Mornin' dude, who's the letter from?" She said in a tired voice, she must of just woke up. "Its from a friend, Jake, hes moving here with Lucas." Silas said, Vinyl smiled, "That's cool, Ponyville could always use more stallions, town needs to be more gender diverse if yah know what I mean." She left the room laughing.


Since he was all alone Silas had some time to think. Why did I have that dream? That happened two years ago and it still haunts me. Friggen Aldy shouldn't have threw that nade, we would of all made it out alive if he hadn't. His thoughts troubled him, he got stressed. He reached behind his right ear, then remember he barely had one. He remembered loosing most of it, then pulled a cig out from his other ear. Silas went outside and lit up, "Son of a bitch, that place was a hellhole, I wish I could of take it all back." He said to himself, then took a drag and blew smoke out into the air. His hooves began to shake a little, he got a massive headache, "Why the hell do I even smoke these?" He dropped the rest the cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his hoof. 


He went inside and sat back on the couch, "Friggen things make me shake more, stress reliever my ass." Silas said to himself, he had nopony to talk to. He laid on the couch for a while, just staring at the ceiling. He noticed Octavia coming down the stairs, she trotted up next to him, "Good morning Mr.Strat." She said, giggling. Silas moved so Tavi could sit down, "Morning Ms.Octavia." Silas chuckled a bit, now he had somepony to talk to. He was no longer lonely with Tavi by his side.


Silas had to work the counter at Noteworthy's today. He was kind of bummed out about it, he didn't feel very talkative today, he thought all about the war. The deaths of his brothers on the battlefield, the sacrifices. Silas tried to shake the feeling of loss as a pony entered the store. It was Lyra, she had her lyre in a saddlebag. The mint green mare approached the counter. "Hiya Silas! Hows it going?" She said with a big smile on her face. Silas grinned, "Hey Lyra, I'm pretty good, what can I help you with?" He asked, after all it was his job. Lyra frowned, "Well um, I need new strings for my lyre.." 


Silas frowned as well, "Oh man, lemme check if we have any." He got a little worried, he had no idea if Noteworthy sold strings for a Lyre. He went into the back room, they had a bunch of strings, every string known to Equestria. There it was, a shelf that had packages of lyre strings, Silas pulled out a pack and went back to the counter. He put the pack of strings in front of Lyra, her face lit up. "Well, I guess we did have em, that'll be five bits." Silas said in an easy going voice. Lyra looked at him then hung her head, "Oh, um, I only have four...I'm sorry." She turned and went for the door.


"Wait Lyra!" Silas called, the mare turned her head, "That's fine, we'll keep this our little secret." He said with kindness, Lyra's face lit up once more and she trotted back to the counter picking up the pack of strings and putting them in her saddlebag. Then she gave Silas her four bits, "Thank you so much, you're so kind." She said as she trotted out the door. "Have a good day!" Silas said, course he said that to everypony who came into the store. 


The next hour and a half was slow, Silas was playing one of the guitars he took off the wall when Applejack came into the store. "Howdy Silas!" She said in her kindly voice. "Yah know yer friends have arrived, they're lookin' for yeh." Silas got up, put the guitar back and followed Applejack out the door. She led him to the apartment complex near Sugarcube Corner, there was a cart with many boxes out in front. Silas noticed a teal stallion next to it.


"Lucas!" Silas yelled as he ran up to his good friend, they brohoofed. "Whats good man? Jakes inside." Luca said. Silas picked up a box from the cart on his back, Applejack did the same, "We'll help y'all with yer luggage." She said, Silas nodded and the two brought the boxes inside. The building was small, Silas and AJ climbed up a flight of stairs, there was a door at the top. Jake was standing in it with a box on his back, Silas followed him in and he, Jake, and Applejack put their boxes down in the middle of the room. "Jake! Good to see yah man!" Silas said, "Daayumm! Good to see you too! Thanks for the help, we sure do need it." Applejack smiled at him, "Not a problem, what are friends for?" 


It took about an hour to unpack all the stuff. Jake set up his drum set in the corner of the room , Luca put his guitar on the coffee table. There were two beds, the room was a good size, there was a small stove and a fridge as well. Jake sat on his bed and Luca sat on his. Applejack and Silas stood by the door, "Ya know man, we brought some of your old stuff too." Lucas said to Silas, he passed his orange friend a small box that read, "Strat's stuff." 


Silas opened it up, first thing on top was Silas' record collection, well what was left of it. He sorted through them all, they were his favorite albums in all of Equestria. Under that was a couple of his bandannas and his old guitar pick necklace. "Man I used to wear this stuff back in Cloudsdale and Filly." He tried on a bandanna and his necklace, he looked in a mirror and smiled. His incense burners were in the box as well, along with others things, his old pocket knife, guitar picks, and his old sketches from back when he used to draw. 


Applejack took notice of his sketches, "Oh my, you drew those? Dang, those are mighty good drawings right there. I didn't know you could draw." She said in awe, Silas chuckled and passed her his old sketchpad, she flipped through it with wide eyes. Silas kept digging through his old stuff, he found his I.D, How did I leave this behind? Silas thought to himself. He brushed aside some old photos to reveal a blue book stained with old blood and dirt with many scratches. 


Silas picked up the book and looked over it, he spoke out loud, "My journal." He opened it up and skimmed through the pages, then he found the page. Describing the battle he dreamed about, it was all coming back to him. He closed the book and put it back in the box. "Lotta bad memories in there, but that's history." He said.


Silas took his things with him when he left, Applejack left with him. Jake and Luca were laying in their beds, it was late. "Damn, can't believe it took us all day to move." Jake said, Luca nodded his head, "Yeah, but at least we're out of Fillydelphia, its much nicer here." He said. Jake was dozing off, "Yeah, I feel like we are just at peace, man. We're at peace in Ponyville. No more mad expensive rent, no more police heat, no more drunk hookers, no drugs, everything here is just great." He said, Luca rolled over in his bed, "Yeeah man, totally." Jake and Luca drifted off to sleep. All Jake thought about was that one feeling as he dozed off, Peace at last.
> A Call to Class
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Chapter 12







Rain poured from the black clouds covering the sky. The ground was muddy, brown puddles mixed with blood were scattered about the land. Delta Squad moved through the forest, there were bodies all over the war zone. Most of them were bodies of changelings, but a few were those of Celestia's not so royal military. Aldy shivered as he noticed a few familiar faces. "Damn, you think Bravo Squad made it out of there?" He asked his superior officer, Sgt.Rex glared at him. "Don't doubt them, they can handle themselves."


Pvt.Strat caught on, "Then why are we searching for them in this shit?" Rex interrupted him, "BECAUSE, that was orders." Delta consisted of only seven ponies, they saw a valley in the distance through the many trees. A rustle was heard in the bushes, Strat and Wilson raised their rifles in response. Pvt.Felix trotted ahead, he stopped and noticed the body of an Equestrian soldier laid up against a tree. His head was looking down and a cap covered his face, his hooves were on his lap as well. Felix moved the cap, his eyes were open, staring out into space, he was dead no doubt. Felix looked down and noticed a yellow sack under his hooves, it was armed C4. "AMBUS-" The explosive detonated, blowing Felix's front left hoof off and throwing him into a tree. Pvt.Strat looked all around as did the others, black creatures were running towards them with faces of bloodlust. 


The squad raised their weapons at the attackers. Shot after shot was fired, Aldy was knocked on the ground by a changeling. The creatures teeth sunk into his arm. Silas shot at the black monster chewing on his best friend, it fell dead. Silas helped Aldy up, Sgt.Rex had a large machete in mouth, he was cutting through each changeling one by one. Cpl.Wilson turned his head to see a grenade land in the middle of the group, "GET DOWN!" He yelled. *BOOM* The explosion rocked the forest, when the dust cleared the attackers had all fallen. Rex got up, as did the others. Felix's body lay motionless next to a tree, Rex sighed. Aldy opened his eyes, there laying in front of him, was the body of Doug.



***




Four months had passed since Silas' accident, things were finally back to normal, Pinkie had a party to welcome Jake and Lucas. Everypony got to know them just as they got to know Silas. Aldy rented an apartment next door to Octavia's house, rent was cheap and Aldy worked for the landlord. Jake got a job working construction, and Lucas got a job  working at the Cafe. Silas still held his job at Noteworthy Instruments, life was good.


Silas ran into Aldy on his way home from work one day. Silas looked like something was bothering him, Aldy noticed. "Heyyo man!" He said cheerfully to his friend, Silas replied with a simple "Eey." Aldy knew something was up, he had to find out what it was. "Something wrong? Tell me whats up." He said to the orange pegasus. Silas sighed and flapped his wings, Aldy did the same. The two flew up in the air and headed towards Aldy's apartment. "Aldy, remember Doug?" Silas asked, Aldy gave him a funny look. "Doug? no, what was his full name?" He didn't remember at all who Silas was talking about. "Douglas White Wilson, Cpl.Wilson. We used to call him White Will." Silas said.


Aldy frowned, "He was a good guy, what about him?" Silas flew up and Aldy followed. They hovered over Ponyville. "I had a dream a while ago, about the time we got ambushed while searching for Bravo Squad. We lost Felix and Will, they were both good soldiers yeah, but we grew up with Will. Now that hes gone I've been thinking about changing our band's name to Doug, or Will, as a sign of respect." He said, Aldy was silent until they reached his apartment. They landed in front of his door, Aldy opened the door and finally spoke, "That'd be a good idea Strat. He was a good friend." He closed the door behind him. 


Silas trotted back to Tavi's, they've been dating for almost four and a half months. Silas didn't want to seal the deal yet, he wanted more time to pass before he did so. When Strat entered the house there were no signs of life. Usually Octavia was home around this time, Silas looked around the house for a clue. There was a note on the kitchen counter, Strat read it carefully.


Dear Silas,

By the time you get this I'll be quite far away I'd imagine. I received a note from Canterlot this morning while you were at work. I was hoping to see you before I had to leave but you didn't come home on time. Don't worry its nothing bad, Princess Celestia has requested for me to play at the Grand Galloping Gala tomorrow night. I apologize for not telling you sooner, I wasn't sure if you'd be upset. The Princess sends out tickets for special mares and stallions to attend the Gala. Its more of an Upper-Class party, I'm sad you won't be able to watch my performance. It won't be the same without you. Don't worry, I'll only be gone for the next couple days. It will be nice seeing my hometown of Canterlot once again. 

Wish me luck my love.
~ Octavia 

"Damn upper-class party. Just cause I'm not high class shouldn't mean I can't go." Silas said angrily to himself, no one else was home so he decided to vent. "Oh yeah, I wasn't invited, well son of a bitch. Ugh, now I'll have nothing nice to come home too after a crap day." He yelled, of course no one was there to answer, that was probably a good thing. Silas walked up the stairs and climbed into bed, "Okay, I'm not that much of a dick. Life is fine." He said to himself, then fell asleep taking up the whole bed. He hadn't slept alone in months.



***



Octavia sat patiently on the train to Canterlot. It was a long ride, but she heard others talking and they said it wouldn't be much longer. She was sitting alone, Tavi didn't recognize anypony else on the train. There weren't that many other ponies on the train. She glanced over at a red stallion sitting alone across from her. He was wearing a cowboy hat, but he had a weird suit on, almost like it was homemade. He noticed her, "Howdy, Octavia right?" She nodded in response, "Don't recognize me eh? Its Slim, we met in Ponehville." Tavi was surprised to see Slim on a train to Canterlot, "Yes, I remember now, what do you seek in Canterlot?" She said, Slim chuckled. "Heh heh, not the Galah, too fancy smanchy for a fella like mahself. Stride opened up a new place, said he might need some extra help." Tavi nodded, "How lovely." She simply said. Slim nodded and went to sleep.


Tavi looked out the window at the rainy night sky, she began to think of the Gala. Octavia hasn't played in Canterlot in over four months, she started to get a little worried. The Gala this year was suppose to be the largest it ever has been. Tavi noticed a large stallion soaring through the skys, his coat was a dark blue and his mane was black and blue. He bounced off a cloud making lightning strike, then he flew off. What an odd pony ,she thought. Seeing lightning made her think of Silas. She hated the fact that he was severely injured in this kind of weather. Tavi kicked the negative thoughts away and began to think of how they spent the rainy night in Applejack's barn. The way they cuddled up on the couch, and the way they slept every night. She felt safe with Silas, knowing she had a stallion like him made her fall asleep peacefully on the train.



***



Silas was up early the next morning, he didn't sleep very well. But he didn't have another nightmare thankfully. He didn't have any coffee, Silas just got up and got ready to go. He had the day off, which made him happy. Strat noticed nopony else was home, Vinyl spent most nights at Baritone's place. Silas had the house to himself, he was lonely. When there was nopony around he'd usually sketch so he pulled out his guitar case from the closet and opened it up. He took the gutiar out, but to move not to play. Silas opened the middle compartment of the case, inside was a large sketchbook with some of his best work, along with a few pencils. He kept the spare sketch book in his case just in case he felt the sudden urge to draw. He had that urge now, Silas sharpened his pencil with his old pocket knife and took a seat on the couch.


He stayed there for about a good hour, just sketching. He blew off a few eraser shavings and took a look at his work so far. "Alright, now lets make this look more alive!" Silas said, he began to trace the sketch carefully. He never was any good at calligraphy, but he did know how to draw. In fact, he used to draw so much during flight school he almost got expelled. Silas threw in some lazy shading and shined the finished product in the light. "Perfect." He said as he held it up to the window.






Meanwhile


Lucas awoke slowly, he looked at the clock. 11:45am, "Damn." He said as he got out of bed. Jake was on the floor, still passed out. "Aw man, that's friggen adorable." Luca said as he kicked Jake awake. Jake flew up with bloodshot eyes, "Dude what the balls....do you have any idea what time it is?" Jake asked. "Heh heh, do you? Its 11:45, get your ass up sleeping beauty." Luca laughed, he loved messing with Jake. Actually, all those two did was mess with each other. Jake looked out the window as Luca poured himself a coffee, "Wow, now this is a view I could get used to." Jake said out loud, Luca joined his side and admired the view. "Dang, Ponyville sure is different than Filly." Luca said, Jake rolled his eyes and chuckled, "In a better way."


The two friends were interrupted by a knock at their door. Lucas answered it, it was none other than Silas. "Alright, Luca I just came by to say we're changing the name of our band to Doug." He said in a stern, but tired voice. Luca stared at him, "Why? Whats wrong with the old one?" He asked his orange friend. Silas rolled his eyes, "That was just a name we came up with, it has no meaning behind the naming. Besides, Doug is the name of one of my best friends I grew up with. He died in the war along with a few other friends of mine. So what do you say?" 


Jake turned to look at the two in the door way. "Well, I say hell yeah. Doug is the best friggen name ever, plus its named after someone. Dude, fucking Doug!" He said, Lucas laughed. "Alright, sounds good." Luca said, "Want a coffee?" He asked. Silas shook his head, "Nah, I've been up for a while, thanks though. I'll see you guys around." With that said Silas left the apartment and headed towards the center of town. 



Silas noticed Twilight Sparkle outside for a walk all alone. He decided to be friendly and go say hi, he needed a boost. As he got closer she noticed him and greeted him first. "Hello Silas! Wonderful day isn't it?" She greeted the orange pegasus. Silas smiled weakly and replied, "Hi Twilight, yeah it is rather nice." She noticed a troubled look on his face. "Um, is there something wrong?" She asked, Silas shrugged. "Wanna talk about it?" Twilight said, she cared deeply for her friends, she didn't like seeing them upset. 


"Well, I just feel like a low-class slug I guess." Silas said, the purple unicorn shook her head, "Don't feel that way, it isn't true. Why would you think that?" She asked. Silas sighed, "Octavia's performing at the Grand Galloping Gala tonight, and I don't get to see her play. She said it was more like a party for Upper-class ponies, which I'm not. I mean, I know I wasn't invited, but even If I was I could never show up. I'm not the sort of stallion with class." He said, then hung his head. Twilight saw how troubled he really was, "Oh Silas, I'm sorry, I wish there was something I could do. But, just because you don't look like an upper-class stallion, doesn't mean you're a slug. Its the way a pony acts that counts, it doesn't matter how you look." She said, "Silas I know you're a great guy, the way you treat Octavia, the way you treat your friends. You don't need to change just because of some upper-class party, stay true to yourself." Twilight said. Silas' face changed, from a depressing frown, to a gentle smile. "You really think so? Thank you Twilight, you really are a good friend." Silas said.


All of the sudden Spike came rushing out of the Library. He was holding a letter from the Princess, "Twilight! Just got a letter, I don't know who its for." He said. Twilight opened up the scroll and scanned it, "Its for you Silas." She said. With her magic she showed the scroll before him. Silas read it out loud.

Dear Silas "Black" Strat

I've heard about you and your accident. Twilight has written to me and informed me of your condition every week, I'm happy that you're flying once more. She has also informed me of your rescue of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and your kindness throughout your stay in Ponyville. I confronted a mare you may know, Octavia, this morning and she told me about her troubles. Apparently you can't see her perform and she felt bad that you couldn't come to the Gala. I've also heard about your desire to some day visit Canterlot and meet me. I know you must be feeling a little on the sad side, but cheer up. I have a gift for you and a few friends of yours.

~Princess Celestia 

Silas was speechless, Spike then burped up something else. It wasn't a letter, but three golden tickets with a note. They were tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. Twilight read the note aloud. 

To Silas, May you join us in Canterlot for the Grand Galloping Gala, I am eagerly waiting to meet you. You may bring two other close companions of yours as well.
~Princess Celestia 


Silas beamed, "Oh man, this is crazy. How am I gonna get ready for tonight? I can't just go like this." He said worried. Twilight laughed, "Have you ever met Rarity? She'll fix you up, who are you going to bring?" She said to Silas who was now pacing with anxiety. "I'll bring Jake and Lucas, they'll have the same feeling as me, I won't be alone. We've all never been to Canterlot. Plus they're my best friends. Will Rarity have suits for all of us?" Twilight smiled, "Oh she will, trust me."

			
> A New Crowd
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





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.


> The Bright Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




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