Proposal in C Major

by BlazzingInferno

The Best and Worst Night Ever

Octavia dropped her instrument case on the floor and kicked the door closed behind her. To her, the thunk of the case striking kitchen tile was louder than the door rattling on its hinges. Normally, she’d admonish herself for being so rough with her prized double bass, but not tonight.

A quick shove slid the case across the room and into the coat closet. It came to a stop next to the closet’s other resident instruments: a flute, two violins, and a cello. The cello was hers; the others belonged to her housemates. Her collar flew into the closet next. The pink tie landed silently on one of the piles of vinyl records that were, once again, overtaking the kitchen.

She dropped into one of the folding chairs at the kitchen table. Her charcoal mane fell over her eyes and blotted out the miserable night. If it wasn’t for the full moon she’d be invisible here: just a light grey shadow amidst the piles of records and dirty dishes.

The whole house shook softly to the beat of her roommate’s electric, bass-obsessed music. The bowl and spoon next to her, leftovers from her frantic dinner hours earlier, vibrated their way towards the table edge.

Her hooves crashed onto the table and she glared at the nearest wall, the one separating the kitchen from her and Vinyl Scratch’s bedroom. “Vinyl, turn it down!”

Something rustled in the living room and a groggy voice floated out. “Tavi? You’re finally home?”

“Concerto? Yeah, I’m home. What’re you doing here so late?”

“I, uh, well…”

She stood and walked down the hall. The living room was pitch black. “Doesn’t matter, I’m glad you’re here. I’ve had the worst possible night; the performance was a total disaster, and if I don’t tell somepony about it, I’m going to explode… why do you have the light off?”

“Wait, don’t turn—”

Flicking on the lights did little to help her mood. The living room, the biggest room in the house, was covered in decorations. Balloons, streamers, and party hats were everywhere. Every decoration was adorned with a violet treble clef to match her cutie mark. A huge banner hanging from the rafters spelled out everything wrong with her night. It read “Congratulations on the Gala, Octavia!” in huge multicolored letters.

Concerto was standing in front of the couch he’d been sleeping on, nervously rubbing his front hooves together. A party hat was perched on his head and his coat was dotted with confetti. He forced a smile and asked the obligatory question.

“So, uh, how was the Grand Galloping Gala?”

She slowly crossed the room, stepping through the remains of her surprise party, and collapsed on the couch face down.

“This was the worse night ever.”

“Was it really that bad? I mean I’ve heard some stories from ponies who left early, but—”

“It was awful. Vinyl’s raves are higher class.”

He sat down on the ground put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “What happened?”

“It started out fine; I met with Fredrick Horseshoepin and all his other hoof-picked bandmates. Crazy as it sounds I wasn’t even nervous. So what if they’re all big shots in the Canterlot Orchestra and I’m the lowly fifth-seat cellist? Fredrick picked me for Gala so that means I had a chance to impress. Then… ugh.”

“Did… Did all the garden animals really stampede through the ballroom?”

“Eventually. Midway through the third number this horrible pink pony dressed like a candy store jumps up on stage. I don’t even know how it happened but she got us all playing the Pony Pokey, like we were at a foal’s birthday party instead of the most exclusive fancy dress ball of the year.”

He tried to hold back a laugh. “You seriously played the Pony Pokey? In front of royalty?”

She nodded. “I kept thinking I should stop, but the others were already playing along and… oh Con, I’ve never been so embarrassed.”

“I’m so sorry, Tavi.”

“It got worse. Somepony wheeled in a giant cake, the pink one jumped into it, half a zoo’s worth of animals crashed through the room… I don’t know if I’ll ever get all the frosting and feathers out of my bass. At least the elephants didn’t step on it.”

“I can help you with that if—”

“I’m never going to get a gig in this town again. Fredrick probably won’t even let me stay in the orchestra. I’ll be the only pony in this house without a music career, I’ll have to move back to Manehattan and live with my parents, I’ll…”

Once again bass thundered through the house. Vinyl’s alternative sleep schedule usually didn’t matter, not when Octavia made it to bed on time with a good pair of earplugs. Buying Vinyl a set of fancy headphones last Hearths Warming Eve didn’t hurt either.

She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “I’m going to impale that stereo on her horn, Con. Why is she blasting music so late? Why isn’t anypony else yelling at her to stop?”

“They’re probably all too tired. We were up pretty late waiting for you. You said you’d be home by eleven.”

She sighed and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Thanks for the party… and for waiting for me.”

“I’m your special somepony, of course I waited.”

They sat in silence for a minute. She stared into space while he massaged her hoof and bass beats rattled her spine.

“I should go to bed and let you get home, I just want today to be over.”

He stood. “What if it doesn’t have to be the worst night ever?”

“I don’t see how.”

“Just stay right there, I’ll be back in a second.” He walked into the hall. Soon she could hear him rummaging in the coat closet.

She pushed herself up to a sitting position. “Fine, I’ll wait.”

She rubbed her eyes and took a moment to properly survey the party decorations. Vinyl or one of the other unicorns must’ve hung the banner on the ceiling. Con would’ve broken his neck trying to climb that high. The party was all his doing though, she was sure of it. Aside from the usual party fare he’d set out some of her favorite pictures.

Her graduation picture from the Canterlot Academy of Music was over by the door. She’d been so proud that day, and so sure that fame and fortune was just around the corner. Instead she was sharing a house with three other mares and living in the shadow of student loans.

The heart-shaped photo from their first Hearts and Hooves day was by the window. They’d started dating just after graduation and marked every major holiday with a new picture. After three years she’d run out of room, not to mention picture frames, to display them all.

Her most favorite picture of all was the one sitting closest to her on the coffee table, barely out of hoof’s reach. Con was in it, of course, but they weren’t even looking at each other. She was playing her double bass, eyes closed, and he was doing the same with his violin next to her. It was part of a larger picture of the old school buddies they’d been jamming with. She couldn’t recall all of their names, or even the music they’d played that day. All she remembered were the sweet sounds of bass and violin.

She looked up and realized he was in the doorway, watching her. “How long have you been standing there?”

“You were smiling, I didn’t want to interrupt.”

She patted the spot next to her on the couch. “So what’s your big plan to save the night?”

He approached her, but didn’t sit down. “I planned on making tonight so special, Tavi. I knew you’d kill it at the Gala, then me and your housemates would throw you a huge party, and then…”

“And then?”

He knelt down and held up a small velvet box. “I’d kneel down and ask you something.”

As he opened the box her jaw hit the floor. Gold and diamond never looked so good together.

“Is… is that…”

“Will you, Octavia Melody—”

“How’d you afford that thing? Did you rob a bank?”

“I’ve been saving for a year and half. So will you, Octavia—”

The bass beats shaking the house came to an abrupt stop and Vinyl Scratch thew open the bedroom door. She was wearing her headphones and, as always, her magenta sunglasses. “Whoa, sorry dude, I didn’t realize the amp was still on. If you hadn’t turned on the light out here I never would’ve…”

She trailed off as she took the scene in. She dipped her glasses and stared over the rims. “Tav, is he—”

Concerto jumped up. “Octavia, will you marry me?”

Octavia’s eyes darted from one pony to the other. Finally she settled on her roommate. “Find a camera, Vinyl, and turn up the music.”

Vinyl threw up her hooves and shouted. “Yeah! Tav’s getting married! Wake up everypony, wake up!”

She dashed back into the bedroom and, based on the explosion of sound that followed, spun the volume dial to eleven.

Octavia turned back to Concerto. She couldn’t speak, even without the deafening music. Instead she embraced him nodded into his shoulder.

Of course I will, Con, of course I will.

This was the best night ever.

Comments

[Diamond Sparkle]

How lovely those two are.

[BlazzingInferno]

4326555
Thanks! In retrospect I'm surprised this story ended up being so short. Selling their romantic history in a few short paragraphs felt like cheating. I still like how it turned out though, I'm glad you did too

[jl7895]

Love a good Octavia ship and this is an amazing Octavia ship. Fantastic job.

[Awesomo3000]

Eeeee! The adorableness! I have a feeling I'm gonna like the sequel too.

[GaryOak]

Looks like Octavia's gonna be getting some D Major tonight!

[Yoshifan30]

Awww this was super nice so apparently this is the aftermath of the grand Galloping Gala of the best night ever and it was not too great for her and Concerto was wondering what happened and she told the event what happened and yeah it was something but then he wanted to do something very special and what a special it is ask her if he married to and of course final showed up and Octavia just basically just told her to crank up the music because this is going to be a busy night for her and I guess that's a yes that is a cute story keep up the good work