Exit Through Canterlot

by TheBrianJ

11. Worthless

"Miss? Miss!"

Octavia snapped out of the momentary haze she was in and looked up at the pony on the other side of the stall. He held out a bag that was bulging with vegetables.

"Oh, sorry," Octavia muttered, taking the bag. "Thank you."

She sighed, then gazed back at where she had been looking previously: the toy shop across from the market. Graham was in the window playing with a marionette, with several fillies crowding around him fascinated by the puppet. She stepped away from the booth and towards the shop, when the seller spoke up.

"You do know you have to pay for those, right?"

"So sorry!" Octavia said with a shake of her head, then turned around and reached into her saddle bag. "My mind is… elsewhere today."

"Judging by where you're looking, I'm guessing the toy shop?"

Octavia paused, glancing back across the way. Graham was smiling and playing with the children, now showing off a small jack-in-the-box. They all leaned in as he slowly wound the crank on the side until a clown-faced doll popped out, causing all the kids to jump back and laugh.

She sighed. "Well, yes. Something about it has been bothering me."

"Really? What about it?"

Octavia opened her mouth, but thought better of her response and stayed quiet. She glanced back at the grey wall where her art had been only days ago, but was now as dull and lifeless as ever. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, then turned back to the vendor.

"I… it's nothing," she said instead, quickly tossing bits onto the table and awkwardly trotting away. She momentarily glanced back to see the vendor, but he had just gone on to his next customer as if she hadn’t even been there. With a sigh, she trotted away from the market without a destination in mind.

It had only been a few days since Discord had been defeated and Canterlot life had quickly returned to normal. Any pony who had just arrived would never have guessed that only days ago, buildings were hovering upside down while sheep flew by on hang gliders made of syrup. But thanks to the Elements of Harmony, that was all undone. Canterlot was now chaos-free, back to the way it had always been.

But with the chaos had gone Flanksy’s art.

What felt like a permanent pit had formed in Octavia’s stomach the second she had first noticed the absence of her work days ago. No matter what she had done, the emptiness had remained. She hadn't even gotten the motivation to go out and paint anything.

She shifted the weight of her saddle bag as she turned a corner, but the pit in her stomach deepened as she recognized the familiar buildings of the street. She walked straight forward, trying not to glance to her left where all that separated her from Canterlot Park was a metal fence. Unable to keep her pace going, she stole a glance to the right, half-expecting that the color she had brought to it would be back. It only took one glimpse of the brown and grey of the park before she turned away, feeling the pit deepen further.

Trying to distract herself from the park, she scanned the area to find something else to look at, then stopped as she saw a familiar pony. She trotted over to the pony who was sitting against the wall, painting on a canvas. Amethyst Star looked over at the park every few seconds for a frame of reference before going back to her art as ponies slowed down near her to admire the finished paintings she had laid out in front of her. Octavia walked up next to her, looking over her latest painting. Amethyst glanced up at her and for a moment, there was a sparkle in her eyes.

"Hi," Amethyst meekly said, hiding her excitement.

"Hello," Octavia replied just as gently.

There was an awkward pause between them for a few seconds before Amethyst looked back at the park. She sighed, then looked back to her art. "It's… just not as interesting without the color, is it?"

Octavia felt her spirits soar for a fraction of a second. She glanced around to make sure no other ponies were close, then turned back to Amethyst. "Have other ponies been saying things? Do they all miss it?"

She waited in excited anticipation, but Amethyst just let out a nervous sigh and looked away. "N… not really. One or two ponies mentioned it, but other than that, I think ponies have just been happy to see Canterlot back to normal, ya know?"

Just hearing the word ‘normal’ sent Octavia's mood crashing right back down. "Y-yes, I see," she muttered.

Amethyst's eyes widened. "I didn't mean it like that! I mean, they're just so relieved that—"

"No, you're right. They're happy that things are back to normal," Octavia muttered, turning and walking back towards the market. Amethyst reached out to continue, but a pony stepped in front of her, inquiring about the art scattered around. By the time Amethyst looked back, her inspiration had disappeared into the crowd.

Octavia worked her way through the ponies in the market, her eyes locked firmly on the ground in front of her. The world rushed past her in a numbing blur as she finally wandered out of the market, over to where a pony was just exiting a music shop.

"There you are, Tavi," Vinyl said, smiling. "Got everything?" Octavia gave a small nod, and Vinyl cocked her head to one side, but shrugged it off and walked with her friend. "By the way, I'm gonna be working on a remix later tonight, my room might be a little noisy. Hope that's alright."

"Sure," Octavia mumbled, glancing back at the market. In the far distance she saw a grey wall that seemed to go on forever in her mind.

"Oh, and tomorrow, I'm probably gonna be up early. I'm checking out a venue I'm playing next week; I wanna see what the best layout is."

Octavia just nodded again. Vinyl glanced over at her, her tongue in her cheek, waiting for more of a response from Octavia.

"Erm… and then I thought I would push a cupcake up my nose."

"M-hmm," Octavia responded. Vinyl sighed and stopped in her tracks, which finally did catch her friend’s attention. She looked over and Vinyl turned and trotted into a nearby alley. Confused, Octavia entered the alley behind her, following Vinyl all the way to the back and well out of the way of any other ponies.

"Vinyl," Octavia said, "What are you doing back here?" Vinyl didn't respond and Octavia approached. Vinyl finally turned around, staring directly into her friend's eyes.

"Tavi, what's wrong?"

Octavia instinctively closed her mouth. "Wrong? Nothing, I'm—"

"Fine? No, you're not," Vinyl said. "Come on, I can tell something is bothering you. You've been off ever since Discord was here. I haven't seen you like this since, well, since the Gala! I know something is eating at you, just tell me!"

An awkward silence filled the air as the friends stared at each other. Octavia glanced away for a moment down the alley at the ponies walking past, finally sighing and looking down at the ground.

"It really is that obvious, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Now come on, tell me what's wrong."

Octavia glanced away again. "I… would rather not discuss it."

"No! I'm not going to let you clam up like you used to. What's wrong, Tavi?" Octavia turned away completely, only for Vinyl to respond by stepping in even closer. "Come on! I'm your best friend, you can tell—"

"Everything I've done is gone!"

Octavia's shout caused Vinyl to step back in surprise. Octavia looked out at the other end of the alley that suddenly seemed miles away. She turned back to her friend and leaned up against the wall to support herself.

"I think it was a side effect of what the Elements of Harmony did, because Discord said he liked my art. Whatever caused it, what matters is that all my art was wiped away. Celestia's statue, the sheet in front of Photo Finish's studio, the—" Octavia stopped, biting her lip. The pit in her stomach deepened just a bit more, and she swallowed back the lump in her throat before continuing. "The park. Everything is gone. It's like Flanksy never existed."

She let out a massive breath, staring down at the ground. Vinyl was silent as she processed what Octavia had told her, then slowly trotted over. Octavia looked up at Vinyl, who reached and gently patted Octavia on the back.

"Geez, Tavi. No wonder you've been so upset. I can't believe I didn't even notice—"

"Nopony noticed," Octavia muttered. "Nopony in the city. I thought I had really made an impact on Canterlot, I thought I had actually changed things, I thought I had reached so many ponie, but I guess not. All that happiness was short lived. Now it's gone. The art, the happiness, the changed ponies, all of it gone."

Vinyl didn't have a response this time, only continuing to pat Octavia on the back to try to comfort her. For a minute neither talked as Octavia just took deep breaths to calm herself down and Vinyl patted her on the back.

"Listen," Vinyl quietly began, "It was nothing against you. Nopony just ‘forgot’ about you, it's just that, well, Equestria was just saved from being taken over. That sorta took priority."

Octavia sighed. "I know, I know. Perhaps it's selfish for me to be so upset about this, but it still hurts, Vinyl. It still hurts."

"I'm sure it does," Vinyl replied. "I don't blame you for being upset. I mean, it was out of your control. At least it wasn't Blueblood, you know? It was just the Elements of Harmony restoring order…"

Vinyl trailed off after she realized what she had said. Octavia's gaze shot up from the ground and to her friend, a spark suddenly burning in her eyes.

"Restoring order?" Octavia seethed. "Order? The Elements of Harmony consider what I've done to be chaos? What I have done isn't some sort of anomaly against peace. Am I considered chaotic? Is what I do simply wrong and has to be cleaned? Is that what the damn elements think!?" Octavia breathed heavily through her nose before she finally looked up at Vinyl, who was staring in absolute shock at her. She closed her eyes and took a long breath, the spark slowly extinguishing itself and she turned back to the ground. "I… am I just chaos? Am I doing something wrong?"

"You can't talk like that," Vinyl said, patting her friend. "You can't blame the Elements, you can't talk about yourself like that… it's just something that happened. Like I said, it was out of your control."

"I know, I know," Octavia said, shifting the weight on her saddle bag. "But it still happened. And it's still weighed too heavily on my mind to figure out what to do next. There has been an awful lot to think about, and I suppose I've let it get to me more than I should have."

"No, I wouldn't say that. I don't blame you for being so upset. You sholuda told me before, though! That way I could’ve helped!"

"Yes, I probably should have," Octavia muttered. "Talking about it has cheered me up a bit…"

"I don't mean that," Vinyl said, draping her foreleg around Octavia's shoulder and smiling. "I mean planning out how Flanksy is gonna burst back onto the scene with the most awesome thing she's done yet! Come on, let's go strategize."

Even with her mood, Octavia couldn't help but chuckle as she and Vinyl trotted out of the alley and back towards their apartment. They had just passed a quiet intersection when Octavia noticed the  street sign on the corner. The pit in her stomach returned as she gazed at the statue of Celestia in the far distance, grey and lifeless to her. Ponies were walking by it without so much as a glance toward it.

Nothing changes unless you make it change.

She shook her head to chase the thought away and averted her gaze, when a voice rang out from behind.

"Octavia?"

Both Octavia and Vinyl turned around to find a stallion trotting up to them. He wore an impeccably styled suit and his mane had been carefully combed to one side, and a pair of spectacles was perched on the very edge of his snout. Octavia's eyes widened upon seeing him, and she closed the gap with him.

"Why, Sir Sonata! So nice to see you again," she said, shaking the stallion's extended hoof. "What brings you out to the area?"

"Oh, just going for a walk," the stallion replied. "I've been dealing with a bit of a crisis the past day, so I just had to get a bit of quiet time."

Vinyl trotted up next to them, and Octavia smiled at her. "Vinyl, this is Sir Allegro Sonata. He's the musical chamberlain to the royal family, the pony who contacted me to work the Gala."

Vinyl smiled and held her hoof out. "Nice to meetcha."

Allegro returned the hoof shake, but tilted his head to one side as he stared at her. "You look familiar… Oh! You're DJ Pon-3, aren't you?"

That elicited a surprised chuckle from Vinyl. "Hah, I didn't think that a pony who works for the Princess would know much about my style of music."

"Nonsense! I try to keep abreast of all the music in Canterlot, no matter what."

"Sir Sonata," Octavia interjected, "you mentioned some kind of crisis?"

Allegro's face immediately fell. "Ah, yes. The Canterlot Garden Party is in a few days, but I was just informed that one of the musicians has come down with a terrible case of hay fever. She's going to be out of commission for several days and won’t be able to make the event, meaning that—" he abruptly stopped as his eyes widened. Before she knew what was happening, Octavia found herself face-to-face with Allegro, whose hooves were resting on her shoulders. "By Celestia, this meeting was meant to be! Octavia, you could fill in for her!"

Octavia blinked. "O-on such short notice? I am flattered for the invite to the Garden Party, but with only a few days to prepare—"

"Don't be ridiculous," Allegro responded. "The songs to be played are well known from the Pre-Classical Era, the kind I'm sure you are familiar with. Octavia, please. I need your assistance for this. It's one of the biggest events of the year!"

Octavia glanced back at Vinyl, then into the now desperate eyes of Allegro. She sighed, then put on a reassuring smile.

"Sir Sonata, I'd be honored to participate."

Allegro leapt back. "Wonderful! I shall go inform the other musicians immediately. Practice is in Canterlot Garden first thing tomorrow morning. I shall see you there!" he yelled, turning around and trotting off in a hurry. Octavia turned back to Vinyl, whose face was curled in confusion and her head tilted to one side. Octavia let out a content sigh and trotted on the path to the apartment, Vinyl right behind her.

When they finally arrived home, it only took a split second after Octavia closed the door for Vinyl to speak up.

"You know, I'm surprised," she said.

"At what?"

"You agreeing to work that show. I dunno, I kinda thought you were focusing on the art for now."

Octavia wandered into her room and gently plucked the strings of her cello. She ran a hoof along the top rim, drawing it back to see a very small layer of dust on the edge of her hoof.

"I think I've gotten too wrapped up in the whole Flanksy persona. I need to have a night where I don't have to think about it."

"Wait," Vinyl said. "I thought you wanted to keep painting!"

"I do, I do," Octavia replied with a smile. "But I've been putting so much thought into it the past few days that it's made me miserable. Of course I want to continue it, but maybe just a few days away from it all will help. A chance to clear my head and focus on something not as, well, not as controversial as I've been doing. I just hope I haven't gotten any rust…"

She took the bow in her hoof and close her eyes as she drew it against the cello. The opening chords of Beethooven Symphony 9 wafted through the room, and Vinyl chuckled.

"You? Rusty? Come on."

"Yes, this is exactly what I need right now," Octavia mused over the music. "Some time to not think about spray paint and controversy, even if it's just for a few days. Just a few days where I can put spray paint out of my mind." She momentarily opened one eye and looked over at her desk, where a can of spray paint was tipped over on one side. She chuckled to herself. "Well, maybe not completely out of mind…"

Octavia took in a deep breath of the cool Canterlot night as she finished the final chord of Frederic Horseshoepin's Exordium In A Minor. The completion of the song was met with only mild applause from the few ponies at the Canterlot Garden Party who were near the stage, but that was expected from a calmer, more elegant event such as this. She and the other three performers gave a slight bow, and Octavia turned to the violin player next to her.

"What next?"

She mused over the question for a moment. "How about Lunarmuzik?"

Octavia nodded, and ran the bow along the strings with the opening notes. The rest of the ensemble joined in, and a few of the ponies in attendance nodded in appreciation of the song before returning to the quiet activities of the Garden Party.

The music rang through Octavia's head and she closed her eyes, just letting the music flow out of her cello. The past few days had been relatively calm for her as she had gone back to practicing her cello and not focusing on anything Flanksy-related. Everything that had happened because of Discord had been weighing on her since he left, but after only a day of putting it out of her mind, she had felt as though the weight had been lifted. Instead, she had had the chance to just focus on her true love of music and clear her head.

By the time the evening of the Canterlot Garden Party had rolled around, however, her mind had been filled with something else: inspiration. The question of how to motivate herself to go out and paint had been completely eradicated and now all she could think about was going out and expressing herself again. She had put off going out so she could focus on the Garden Party, but the thoughts and ideas had swirled through her mind faster and faster, until soon she couldn't take it. Instead of going out, she used the breaks she had from practicing to draw in her sketchbook, filling up page after page after page with mural ideas.

Though she was as focused on her music as she always was as she played Lunarmuzik, her mind wandered to the next day, when she would put on the Flanksy attire for the first time since Discord's reign of chaos. In her mind, it had become an event as big as the Garden Party itself. As she opened her eyes and looked around at the gathered ponies, she took a long breath and focused back on her music.

No, I should focus on tonight she thought to herself. smiling as her eyes shut again. Tonight is about music. Tonight—

"I'm here!"

The general quiet conversations of the party were momentarily interrupted by a shrill yell. Octavia opened one eye out of morbid curiosity to see who had arrived and suddenly made herself the center of attention. It took a few moments, but as soon as she saw the source of the introduction, her eyes widened.

Standing in an elegant dress and matching hat was one of the Elements of Harmony. One of the ponies who had ruined the most important nights of her life.

The sound of an off-chord to the song snapped Octavia back to reality, moreso when she realized it was her who had gone off-key. She quickly adjusted her bow so she was back into the song, then turned to glare at the pony who had arrived. Several other ponies had surrounded her and made pleasant conversation before she trotted off towards the hors d'oeuvres table. Octavia's sight followed her like a hawk for a minute, but the pony seemed to blend in with the rest of the upper-class, not drawing any more attention to herself. Octavia's nerves settled as she finished the song, then turned to the violinist next to her.

"That's one of the Elements of Harmony, is it not?" she asked. "How does a pony like that get invited to events like this?"

"Well, the rest of the Elements are in the ballroom," the violinist replied, taking a sip of water. "I think it is one of their birthdays, so Celestia let them use the ballroom."

Octavia stared at her. "Wait, she did? I thought the ballroom was only used for the biggest events."

The violinist shrugged. "I guess she made an exception?"

The violinist nodded at the other ponies and began the next song, but Octavia stood in shock for a bit. Her eyes wandered back to the pony in the dress, who glanced around before rushing back through a door to the ballroom. She ground her teeth together before lifting her bow up and joining the rest of the ensemble in the song.

First letting them into the Gala and letting them get away with ruining it, then letting them rent out the ballroom? Goodness, what preferential treatment? Octavia thought to herself. After a moment, a sly smile curled across her face. Maybe another statue of Celestia could use some 'freshening up…'

As the night went on, Octavia felt her nerves dancing dangerously near the edge as she kept an eye on the pony. Every once in awhile she would disappear, but then reappear minutes later acting as if nothing had changed. It was strange behavior, but the longer the night went on, the more Octavia felt herself calming down. The pony clearly wasn't there to ruin anything, she was enjoying the event just like every other pony.

The few concerns that had entered Octavia's head melted away and she was absorbed into the night. Although her mind continued to wander to what she would do in the coming days, she still remained grounded in the enchantment of the evening. She went into the next song, sighing contently and letting the music envelop her. For a few moments she felt the same way she did when she had a can of paint in her hoof: a sense of peaceful euphoria as the only thing that mattered to her was the music.

"Okay guys! Let's show Canterlot how to really party!"

Octavia's hoof drove itself against the strings of her cello as the shrill, high-pitched voice pierced the air. She grimaced as she got back on key, then raised her sight to find the source of the new interruption. It only took her a second to see that another group of ponies had arrived; her blood ran cold.

The rest of the Elements of Harmony were running a conga line, straight through the middle of the party as ponies stared at them in embarrassed horror.

Octavia's jaw hung open. "No…"

The rest of the ensemble had stopped playing as well and watched in shock as the ponies ran roughshod through the party before breaking off in different directions. One of them grabbed a croquet mallet and hurled it across the garden, nearly taking the heads off of several ponies before it slammed into a marble column. Another one paraded some kind of canon to any pony she could catch up with, covering them in glitter and sparkles.

"No!"

Octavia glanced to the right and saw Princess Celestia's protege, Twilight Sparkle. She was in a plain dress, and had rushed into the center of the garden where she was doing something that only vaguely resembled dancing. The ponies around her backed up awkwardly, while her friends approached laughing and joined her in the dance. The ponies at the party looked at each other in stunned silence as the Elements of Harmony continued to wreak havoc on the event.

"This is not happening," Octavia muttered through clenched teeth. "This is not happening!"

Octavia couldn't move her body, she was so stunned. All she could do was watch, her hooves trembling and her teeth grinding into each other, as the Elements of Harmony ruined the night. Finally Fancy Pants approached them and struck up a conversation. For a few moments, the atmosphere finally calmed down as they talked, and the violinist leaned over towards Octavia.

"What's happening, can you tell?" she said.

Octavia didn't have a response. She barely even heard the question. Her face trembled as time seemed to slow and she waited for some sort of action. She waited for the ponies to throw the Elements of Harmony out; she waited for the only sensible one to apologize profusely; she waited for Princess Celestia herself to show up and apologize profusely for her student and her friends. She wanted things to work out, to go back to the way they were just minutes ago when she was enjoying herself.

She waited and waited, but none of those happened.

Instead, Fancy Pants said something and the assembled ponies nodded in agreement. Smiles broke out. Ponies seemed to be accepting of the Elements of Harmony. Just as quickly as the moment had quieted down, the party atmosphere returned, suddenly more lively than it was previously.

"They can't be," Octavia mumbled to herself, shaking her head slightly in disbelief. "They can't be."

As she stared, a pink pony bounced up to the stage carrying a small turntable on her back.

"Hey music-y ponies!" she chirped, dropping the turntable down and pulling a speaker out of seemingly nowhere and attaching them. "We're gonna combine Twilight's birthday party and the Canterlot Garden Party into one mega Twilight Canterlot Sparkle Garden Birthday Party Party Party! I got the music covered, you ponies should come join us!"

She dropped the needle on the turntable and the speakers began blaring loud dance music. The violinist glanced over at Octavia, then shrugged and hopped off the stage, trotting towards the party.

The other two ponies on stage may have joined her. They may not have. Octavia didn't notice them. She didn't notice anything. Everything in the world was just a blur: a red, trembling blur. She was frozen in place for what felt like an eternity. Slowly, images came into focus, but not the entire scene; instead, only a few ponies stood out to her among the haze.

The Elements of Harmony.

As feeling returned to her body and her vision came back, Octavia slowly went behind the stage to where her case was stashed. She put the cello inside and locked up the case, slinging the strap around her back and turning to leave. As she was leaving, she heard hoof steps coming up behind her.

"Hey!" a voice said. "You don't have to leave, you should join us!"

"Not interested," Octavia said quietly. She sped up her trot, but the hoof steps behind her sped up as well.

"Oh come on, you're more than welcome to join!" the voice insisted. "We got the music covered, you don't have to worry about playing the cello, you can just enjoy—"

Something in the back of Octavia's head snapped, and she whipped around to be face-to-face with the pony. It was one of the pegasus Elements, with a blue coat and a vibrant multicolor mane. Her smile disappeared as soon she saw the angry scowl on Octavia's face.

"I. Said. No," she seethed, leaning right in to the face of the pony.

For a few seconds there was a tense silence as they stared at each other. The blue pegasus finally rolled her eyes.

"Fine, whatever," she said, turning around and trotting back towards the party, muttering "Snob…" under her breath.

Octavia's face trembled even harder when she heard the last comment. She took a step forward to follow the pony, but stopped herself as she looked over the crowd. She shook her head slowly, then turned and walked through the green archway entrance to Canterlot Gardens.

The sound of the front door violently swinging open caused Vinyl to nearly tumble off the couch. She looked up to find Octavia storming in, leaning her cello against the wall and walking straight to her room.

"Uh, Tavi?" Vinyl said, to no response. After a second, Octavia came back out of her room with one of her sketch books under her limb. She sat down on the couch next to Vinyl and opened the pad so quickly that the corner of the cover tore off the binding a bit. She flipped through the pages as Vinyl leaned in. "Tavi? I-is everything okay? What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," Octavia snapped back. "The Elements of Harmony decided they were due for an encore."

Vinyl cocked her head to the side. "What do you—" she started, then went quiet. She looked down at the torn edge of the cover, then over at the scowl on Octavia's face as she turned the page. "Wait… no way. Did they—"

"They did. The evening was going along fine, until the Elements of Harmony arrived. They had been put in the ballroom by Celestia and they decided to try combining the two parties. They even brought their own music! As has become standard with them, they ruined my night."

Vinyl sighed. "Geez, I don't even know what to say. After what happened at the Gala, I can't even imagine how down you must be."

Octavia flipped another page. "Down? I assure you, I'm not feeling down."

"You're not?"

"No," Octavia calmly replied, flipping another page. "'Down' isn't the word for it. More… annoyed."

"Yeah, I don't blame you. I mean, twice? That's—"

"Deplorable," Octavia interrupted. She began to flip quicker and quicker through the book as her other hoof's grip tightened on the pad. "Awful. Unforgivable. The Elements of Harmony seem to have quite the free ride in Canterlot, with Celestia seemingly allowing them to do whatever in Tartarus they want. No, I'm not down about this. What I am is frustrated. Angry. The Gala was supposed to be the greatest night of my life; they ruined it, and Celestia did nothing. Tonight was supposed to be a night where I could clear my mind and simply enjoy my music, and they ruined that too. And I bet you anything that Celestia won't do anything about that, either! They'll just get a free pass while Celestia does nothing!"

Her frustration finally boiled over and Octavia punctuated the last word by hurling the book across the room. It slammed into the far wall, sending a few of the loose papers scattering around the den and she took deep, frustrated breaths as Vinyl stared at her in shock, having never seen her friend like that before. Octavia stood up and stormed off to her room, and for a few moments all Vinyl heard was the rustling of bags and the occasional clink of a can.

Octavia came back out of her room dragging a garbage bag behind her filled with her usual supplies. She headed straight for the door as Vinyl bit her lip.

"Erm, Tavi," she began, searching for the right words. "Are you sure you wanna go out right now?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Octavia quickly responded, reaching for the door.

"I mean, you seem pretty angry. Don't you want to calm down a bit, think of a plan first before Flanksy shows up again?"

Octavia held her hoof on the door knob. She looked back at the bag slung over her shoulder, then over at Vinyl. She let go of the door and took a few steps towards her friend.

"Tonight, what I needed was a calm evening.  What I needed more than anything was a night where I could enjoy myself through music." She paused, and her visage darkened as she looked away for a moment. "The Elements of Harmony took that away from me. Again." She held the bag up next to her, and Vinyl glanced at it. "If the Elements wouldn't let me have that, then I am going to have this, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it."

With that, she flung the door open and stormed out, slamming it behind her as Vinyl stood in stunned silence.

Octavia cracked her neck and stepped out of the alley, her breathing muffled by the mask she hadn't worn since the night at the park. With her duffel bag dragging behind her, she trotted through the darkening streets of Canterlot, looking for a wall she could work on. The night was still young and ponies were out and about, with many of them now keeping an eye on Flanksy as she went from street to street. Octavia paid them no mind, her thoughts too focused on relieving her anger to even notice there were other ponies around. She finally came to a large wall separating two districts of the city. She threw her bag down and rummaged through it for a color, only then finally noticing the many ponies who had been following her.

Ordinarily this would have given her a sense of excitement. She had always enjoyed playing her music for crowds, but with spray painting, things were completely different. At first, she had wanted to work under the cover of night, so nopony would see her. But as time had gone on, she had come to enjoy having an audience to witness her art. Doing something so controversial was one thing, but doing it in front of other ponies, being able to see and hear their reactions to what she was doing was what drove her on. It gave her the motivation to push further, to create more, to truly express herself as much as she could.

Tonight, however, she could care less about other ponies around her. She was still seeing red from the Garden Party and just needed to let out the anger that had been building for hours. She finally just pulled a can at random out of the bag, popped the cap off, and started spraying. As soon as the wall got a purple streak on it, Octavia took a long breath and finally felt the anger start to subside a bit. She had no plan and no idea of what she wanted to draw, but she didn't want one; she just let the muse move her hoof whichever way it decided to move it. When she got bored of purple she tossed it back into the bag, picked out another random color, and kept spraying. Slowly, the mural in front of her began to take form and unintentional patterns emerged and she pushed forward, switching colors again.

She allowed herself to smile for the first time that night as she rummaged through her bag for another color. The ponies who had become her audience again caught her eye as she pulled out a can of green paint. The reaction from them, as she had come to expect, was mixed: some ponies seemed to be enjoying what she was doing, others had looks of annoyance and downright revulsion. However, that wasn't what caught Octavia's eye. Instead, in the distance behind them she saw Canterlot Castle, and with it, the green archway leading to the garden.

Her teeth pressed together as she turned back to the wall. She popped the top off the can and pressed down on the nozzle, but no paint came out. She shook the can a few times and pressed again, but the nozzle bent awkwardly to the side with no paint. She started fumbling with the can trying to get it to work, her frustration building again.

"Stupid can," she muttered quietly to herself, trying to pry it open to no avail. Her teeth ground together tighter as she hit the can against the wall a few times. In the back of her head a voice was telling her to switch to a new can, just move on, but for some reason she couldn't get go of the can. She continued to pound on it, getting more and more angry as she did. "Stupid broken can. Come on, just let me have this. I certainly couldn't have a calming moment earlier. Because that damned Celestia wouldn't let me. Because those damned ponies decided to invite yet again. Because of those damned Elements of Harmony!"

Something in the back of Octavia's mind snapped and without a thought, she turned and whipped the broken can away in anger. It shot through the air before slamming against the edge of the wall, cracking the can open and sending a splash of red paint on the corner.

Octavia took quick, shallow breaths as she stared at the paint slowly running down the wall. She glanced to the side to see the crowd of ponies who had gathered, who now all were stunned at the sudden turn of events. Octavia narrowed her eyes as she stared at them, but slowly another image came into view, one she hadn't noticed before. Almost in a trance, she walked towards it, the ponies in the crowd separating to let her through. She reached the object of her attention: one of the many statues of Princess Celestia that were scattered throughout Canterlot. However, there was something different about this one: yellow tape had surrounded it, blocking it off from any ponies getting close.

She circled the statue, unaware of what to make of the tape around it. As she got to the final side, Octavia saw a laminated message hanging on the tape. She picked it up in her hoof and scanned it quickly. It was a notice saying that the area had been roped off as a new statue was going to be added: a smaller one to pay tribute to the six ponies who had "Freed Princess Luna from the scourge of Nightmare Moon," and "Saved all of Canterlot from the chaotic reign of Discord."

Octavia stared at the words "six ponies" on the sheet. She glanced up at the arch in the distance that acted as the beginning of the entrance to Canterlot Gardens, where the Elements of Harmony had hijacked the Garden Party to celebrate their own way. Her gaze remained locked on the gate for a minute before she looked back down to the paper announcing they were to be honored.

A spark ignited.

She shoved the paper away and stormed back through the crowd to the wall, where she plunged her hoof into the bag and grabbed a black can. She tore the top off and tossed it aside and reached as high as she could, bracing her other hoof on the wall to get extra height. With that, she began to write. As the words appeared on the wall, the anger finally melted away completely. The euphoria she got returned and a smile appeared on her face as she finished it. She tossed the can back into the duffel bag and turned around to see her audience. This time, it was a reaction she wasn't used to seeing: complete and total shock. Not a single pony was smiling or frowning, they were all more just stunned at what had been written.

And it felt great.

Octavia signed an F in the corner of the mural, dropped her can in the bag, and slung it over her shoulder. She pushed her way through the crowd as the ponies stared at the mural and the words that had been written. After passing the statue of Celestia, Octavia turned back and glanced at the note celebrating the Elements of Harmony. She read it over one last time and looked around: not a single pony besides her was even near the statue. She then looked up at her own work, where all the ponies had gathered. She couldn't help but smile as she turned and walked off into the night, leaving the ponies to read the three words that had emblazoned the wall.

"HARMONY IS WORTHLESS"