//------------------------------// // Episode 2-Part 1: The Music Meister // Story: The Other Mane Six: Adventures in Ponyville // by DayDrifter75 //------------------------------// The suns rays shone brightly through the windows of Octavia's thatch-roofed house, the birds outside twittering in delight. It was the melodic tune of these very birds that signalled her to wake each morning. Upon hearing the familiar chirps, the grey earth pony lifted her sleep-mask from her eyes. She pushed off the high quality fabric bed sheets before lazily rocking herself out of bed. _______________________________ Elsewhere, another musical mare landed face first on her bedroom floor, still wrapped in a thin, blue blanket. She groaned, obviously grumpy, and then pushed herself up. The cobalt-maned unicorn trotted slowly through the scattered trash that littered the room. The blanket slid off of her back as she exited.  _______________________________ Octavia happily cantered down a winding staircase and into her kitchen. It was small and quaint, with every surface in the room having been cleaned to perfection. She proceeded to open cupboards and pull out the cooking supplies needed for her scrumptious breakfast. _______________________________ Meanwhile, Vinyl Scratch magically opened up a silver packet of pop tarts and placed the two snacks into the toaster. She waited, leaning on the refrigerator and nearly falling over. After several minutes passed, her food finally finished cooking. Ding! _______________________________ Ding! Using a seemingly expensive spatula, Octavia placed each flapjack precisely on the plate. The syrup was slowly drizzled on in a perfect crisscross pattern. Her breakfast was complete. _______________________________ It did not take very long for either ponies to finish eating, and soon each of them opened the doors to their respective houses. Octavia pranced up the gravel paths and to a steel mailbox and opened it up. Reaching in, she grabbed a small stack of letters. At the same time, at Vinyls house, the white unicorn was levitating her own mail off of a tattered welcome mat. She sifted through bills, fan letters, anti-fan letters and more, until she found one piece that caught her eye. On the front was a wax seal. This was none other than the royal seal, from Canterlot castle. It was red wax with an imprint that match the cutie mark of Celestia herself. Octavia's eyes widened as she looked at a letter that she had also received from Canterlot. Carefully, she tore open the top of the envelope and pulled out a beautifully written note from its paper confines. A smile grew on her face, becoming wider and wider with each passing moment. Vinyl Scratch too read her letter. Both musicians were excited by what they were reading. So much that they each grew louder with every line they read. "You, Vinyl Scratch have been cordially invited..." the unicorn began. Octavia continued reading her own letter, "to audition for the honour of 'Head Musician'..." "On the thirteenth of blah, blah, blah..." "For the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot." "Grand Galloping Gala!" both mares shouted out at the exact same time before looking up from their letters to see each other on the opposite side of the street. Again, they yelled at the same time, but this time they were well aware of what was going on. "What!!?" _______________________________ Octavia, Vinyl Scratch and their three friends had soon enough gathered in the living room of Lyra and Bon Bon's house. Most of them were seated, except for Lyra, who chose to stand. "So the both of you get to audition for head musician at the Grand Galloping Gala?" she queried. "That's so great for you. Both of you!" "I know, it's gonna be awesome!" replied Vinyl, waving her hands in the air. Octavia hesitated before replying herself. "Er, yes, it is quite the honour. 'Awesome'. But Lyra, what about you? You play your lyre beautifully, darling. Aren't you disappointed you didn't get an audition letter too?" "Oh no, I don't play professionally, so it would make sense that I wouldn't get one." "Lyra, dear, you are just too humble." Octavia sipped her tea. "The audition is one week before the Gala, in Canterlot castle. I absolutely cannot wait for them to pick me." Vinyl Scratch snorted, prompting a glare from Octavia. "What? Don't look at me like that. How do you know they won't pick me? After all, you're about as cool as a hot chocolate in the middle of summer." "Like your unsophisticated walls of noise that you call music will hope to impress the high society ponies living in Canterlot." "Girls..." Derpy said quietly in a failed attempt to de-escalate the conversation. This was beginning to push Vinyl over the edge. "At least MY music won't put them to sleep!" she exclaimed as she stepped closer to her rival. "Um, girls." Derpy tried again. "Why you-! Maybe SOMEpony should keep their big mouth shut before she says something she'll regret!" Lyra too tried to calm the two mares. "You know, we really should be talking about something else-" "Quiet Lyra, this prissy pony needs to know who's regretting what here!" "Well then, why don't I just be the bigger mare and be the one to end this argument." Octavia retorted. "Ya, everypony can tell you're the bigger mare by looking at your huge plot!" The whole group gaped before Octavia argued back, "How dare you, resorting to petty insults! Well, maybe I'll-" But she could not finish before she was interrupted by Derpy Hooves, who had been trying to get their attention the whole time. "GIIIIIRLS!!!" "WHAT!" the two debating ponies yelled at the same time. "What's that noise?" she asked. The room went silent as everypony perked their ears to listen to the strange wheezing and humming that Derpy was referring to. It ended with a dull boom. They waited to see what would happen next. A knock came from the front door. Lyra was a bit hesitant to open the door considering the strange noise they heard, but Bon Bon was more than happy to answer. As she opened the door, her four friends were both curious and afraid of what might be behind the door. "Hello!" "Oh, hello Pinkie Pie." The group let out a sigh. "Hello Bon Bon! Hello everypony else!" she greeted them, peeking through the door. "I've got some super fantastical awesomemazing fabulicious news! Twilight has tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot, and I'm going to convince her to share by throwing her a party! Be outside the library in ten minutes. Bye!" She zipped away from the house, bouncing back and forth through the block. The faces of three out of the five friends lit up with delight. "Tickets to the Gala!" said Derpy, "I've alway wants to go to the Gala! We have to go!" "I agree," agreed Bon Bon in agreement, "Lyra?" She turned her head to the unicorn that she was referring to. "Yes, this is a great chance to get tickets. Octavia and Vinyl have both been invited as head musician, that means win or lose, they both get to go." Lyra turned to the Vinyl Scratch and Octavia. "Us three are going to go to the library, make sure you girls close the door when you leave." The door closed behind the three fillies as they left for Twilight's place. She had been getting a surprising amount of parties lately, which wasn't a bad thing. As soon as the room had been emptied of everypony else the two went back to growling and glaring at each other. But the thick tension did not last long, as it was soon snapped by the feeling of hooves being rested on their shoulders. The both of them jumped straight up in the air while screaming at the top of their lungs. "Haha, sorry 'bout that girls, didn't mean to scare you." It was the brown stallion from the Nightmare Moon incident. Except in reality, he was not a pony. He was actually an alien that was turned into a pony by Nightmare Moon herself. "I- I wasn't scared! I was just surprised! What the hay was that even about, sca- I mean, surprising us like that!" replied Vinyl Scratch. "Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! There's no need to be so touchy! It's not like I disappeared for an unreasonable amount of time before I randomly appeared inside your kitchen! At least, I don't think I have." Octavia trotted towards him and asked, "Doctor, it's been about a week since we've last seen you. Don't you think such an entry is a bit rude?" "Rude? Well I never. I was going to take you girls on a trip, but if I'm so rude, then that's just no good." He turned around and marched into the kitchen, smiling all the way, hoping that he had piqued their interest. And that it did. The two mares were wondering what trip he was talking about, and began to follow him. Vinyl Scratch felt compelled to ask him what he was doing. "Hey Doc, how did you even get in here? And why are you going into the kitchen?" "Well, the answer to both those questions would have to be... TARDIS." "You mean the spaceship that looks like a police box?" came Octavia from the very back. She knew that the oddity could fly, but how could he possibly get it into Lyra and Bon Bon's house? Her question was answered as soon as she saw the behemoth sitting in the centre of the room, in all its blue and boxy glory. Inside was a large chamber that contained the control panel, but the room looked entirely different than it had the first time they were in there. This time the room seemed to look like it was made entirely out of wood. The walls were smooth and the floor looked like the top of a very large tree trunk. It the centre where the pillar previously was floated a large link crystal that was surrounded in a pink glow that also held up six trapezoidal panels made entirely out of glass. Roots that hung from the ceiling emitted a glow similar to that of the crystal. "Whoah." That was the only word Vinyl Scratch could think of to describe what she saw before her. "Oddly enough, that's exactly what I said the first time I saw the change." "But Doctor, how did this happen? In fact, WHAT happened?" Octavia queried. "Well, soon after I left you all, the TARDIS sensed my biological change. Immediately, it it decided to land mid-flight. Coincidentally, i landed in Canterlot and almost instantly the residual 'magic' of your world was absorbed into the heart. Considering the unusual amount of unicorns in the city, that's a lot of magic. Soon enough," he gestures to the whole room in general, "this!" Again, Vinyl only whispered, "Whoah." The Doctor turned around. "So, where do you want to go?" Octavia was surprised. "Wait, you're just going to foalnap us in your box and take us to... Somewhere? What about our friends and jobs, nothing has been planned." "I'm in!" was all the cobalt maned unicorn had to say, not needing much convincing. The Doctor grinned widely. "'Atta girl! Miss Octavia, I'm not..." He snickered. "'Foal'-napping you. I can get you wherever you want and back before dinner! Time machine, remember." The earth pony cellist could do nothing more but give in. Besides, she could go anywhere and anywhen she wanted. Manehattan, Paris, Trottingham just to name a few of the places on the top of the list. But there was somewhere that she always wanted to go... "So, like I said before, where to?" This was Octavia's chance to fulfil one of her greatest dreams. "Doctor, I have an idea of where to go." She whispered into the Doctor's long ear. The colt smiled and nodded. He prepared the TARDIS for launch by reaching towards one of the panels. Sensing his hoof, the panel began to separate into smaller shapes and panels which he rearranged and twisted to his liking. He ran back and forth from one panel to another, moving panel bits, causing the great machine to lurch and begin its launch. The floor shook and its signature wheezing noise started up.  They were off.