Innocence

The next day came, and we spent it in Canterlot, enjoying the sights and shops.  When the time finally came to go to the Grand Galloping Gala, we were all excited for different reasons.  Time Turner was excited to meet all of the famous ponies, Caramel wanted to try all the food, Thunderlane wanted to see all of the classy, dressed up mares, and I wanted to go just for the enjoyment of being at an amazing event.

"Okay guys, we all agree to stick together tonight?" I asked them.  "We'll enjoy it if we all stay together."

"Agreed," they all said in reply.

As soon as we arrived at the gala, all three of them split from me.  I should have seen that coming, but I still laughed about how fast they ditched me.

So that was when I had to switch to Plan B: just enjoy myself.  I was a young stallion from the small town Ponyville who was aspiring to be a big-time musician, and yet here I was- the biggest event of the year in the capital city of the whole kingdom.  The rich and famous were plentiful here.  This was my time to enjoy myself while possibly making somewhat of a name for myself.  How?  I wasn't too sure at the time.

Some ponies say they feel like a big fish in a little pond.  Well, while trotting around the castle with famous and rich ponies everywhere, I felt like the smallest fish in the biggest pond in Equestria.  Everypony was somepony here.  I was only there for no more than five minutes, but I had to just stop for a minute and collect myself. To the left of me were Soarin and Spitfire from the Wonderbolts, to the right of me were Hoity Toity and Photo Finish, at a distance behind them was Sapphire Shores- I could hardly hold in my joy.  I felt like a little fanfilly.  However, I knew that I had to keep it cool if I was going to become a somepony like them one day.

The first thing I had to do was to was introduce myself to Princess Celestia.  I could see her waiting at the top of the stairs, bowing towards the visiting ponies.  Beside her appeared to be a smaller purple unicorn who looked quite familiar, but I couldn't tell from this distance who she was.

As I made my way closer, I was quite disappointed, but not surprised, to see the massive line of ponies waiting to greet her.  I decided to wait in line.  I waited.  I waited some more.  I nearly fell asleep standing up at one point, but a nudge from the pony behind me woke me up so that I can move only a few more steps above me.  All of the waiting was worth it, though.  I was finally able to see the glorious sun princess up close.  Her flowing hair was simply stunning; her white coat of fur the cleanest I had ever seen.  She said, "Welcome to the gala."  It wasn't much, but it was my first encounter with royalty.  Right after, I was able to shake the hoof of the smaller unicorn beside her, whom I finally realised was Twilight Sparkle.  I wasn't too close to her, but I had visited the library in Ponyville on occasion before to borrow any musical book that she had.  We smiled together as acquaintances, but nothing more.

I trotted my way throughout the grounds, nervously waving and saying a quick "hello" to everypony I saw, most of them had some sort of clout.  In the garden out back, I could see a pretty little pony whom I knew to be Fluttershy trying to play with the animals.  I never really knew much about that mare, since she was always just so quiet and, well, shy.

I passed by the farmer pony, Applejack, who had a stand with many of her apple treats for sale.  I probably would have bought a delicious apple pie, if it wasn't for a mare who came along to offer me some free, delicious Canterlot hor d'oeuvres.

However, the most important thing that happened to me on this night, which was actually a life-changing moment for me, happened as I made my way into the large ballroom.  There were ponies standing and talking, but nothing really interesting happening.  As I made my way through the room, hoping to find something to do, a certain noise tickled my ear.  In fact, it was such a nice noise that it caused me to stop right then and there.  It was a sound.  It wasn't just any sound, though.  It was the sound.  It was the sound that I was looking for, the sound that our band needed.  I quickly cocked my head to the right, and there I saw a few ponies playing instruments, performing quiet background music for the listeners to enjoy.  They were a quartet of classical musicians.

It wasn't the whole group of them that got me interested, it was one sound in particular, but locating it would take a second or two.  In fact, that's all it took.  I pinpointed the sound coming from the cello that was being played.  It was a quiet, low pitched sound, but something about it just spoke to me.  What also helped was the fact that the pony playing it was a mare.  She wasn't just any normal mare, though.  She was the most stunning creature I ever laid my eyes on.  Her grey coat, her black mane, her light purple eyes with those long eyelashes- there was just something about her that just had my heart racing.  Even her cutie mark was special.  It was a light-purple treble clef, which was interesting, considering the fact that she played the cello.  But alas, I still had never felt such attraction to a mare before.  In fact, I had never even been in a relationship before.  I had never really thought of having one as much as I did right there.

I continued to just watch for the next few songs.  All of the ponies played very well together, but I just loved the sound of the cello.   After about the third or fourth song- or maybe even more, I lost count- the mare playing the cello winked at me, batting her eyelashes.  She must have known that I was there solely to listen and watch her.  That made my entire body stiffen up.  It was a weird feeling.  My emotions were a mix of, 'oh crap, she saw me looking at her,' and 'oh yay, she noticed me looking at her!'  It was a weird feeling, but I loved it.

Luckily for me, that was the last song the group would play for the time being.  It appeared that they were just taking a quick rest.  I stomped my hooves on the ground to applaud their wonderful music, but it was quite embarrassing because I was the only pony who was actually paying any attention.  This was my time to shine; my chance to approach the grey earth mare and maybe, just maybe, actually get to talk to her.  My mind was racing, my heart was pounding, but I had to put that all behind me and just go for it.

"He... hello.  I'm N-Noteworthy," I stuttered after stepping on the stage and approaching the cellist, who was putting her large instrument away for the time being.

She turned around and gave me a quick smile.  "Hello, Noteworthy, I'm Octavia," she replied while reaching her hoof forward to shake mine.  Her voice nearly made me melt.  She had a beautiful, sophisticated, yet very sexy Caterlot accent.  I softly grabbed her hoof with mine, brought it up to my mouth, and kissed it tenderly.

She gave me quite an interesting look in reply.  "Too far?" I asked her.

After blinking a few times, probably involuntarily, batting her long eyelashes at me, she replied, "Not at all.  That was very gentlecoltly of you.  Where are you from, Noteworthy?"

'Wow, she actually hasn't pushed me away yet.  Progress!' I thought to myself.  "I'm... I'm from Ponyville," I hesitated to say.  Canterlotians had a sort of sophistication that was a little intimidating to us Ponyvillians.

"Ponyville?" she replied.  "Ponyville is simply lovely.  I love the city life here in Canterlot, but there's always something about the country that's just so appealing to me."

I did not expect a response like that.  It was very polite, and it made me feel good about my home town.  Usually we were just laughed at and called 'hicks' or 'hillbillies'.

I just smiled back in reply, with nothing really to say at this point.  Thinking about this moment still makes me cringe.  I must've creeped her out, but she didn't really show it.  I was just so nervous speaking to such a beautiful mare.

She seemed to have wanted to keep the conversation going, though.  She continued, "I can see from your cutie mark that you also have a musical background.  What do you play?  What do you do for work?"

'Ah, this is now my chance,' I thought to myself.  'Don't screw it up!'

"I am the lead singer and guitarist for an alternative rock band called The Stallions," I replied, smooth as could be.

Octavia's eyes opened up a little.  "I'm very impressed.  I can't say I've ever heard of you, though."

I responded, in the most humble voice I could muster up, "That's quite all right.  We are very small right now because we just started.  We only did one tour so far."

"Well, I hope to see you stallions next time you come to Canterlot," Octavia assured me.  That was when we had to part for the time being.  She had to get prepared for her next set of songs to perform, and I wanted to end the conversation before I screwed anything up.

Soon after that I found the other members of my band, who also all seemed to have a wonderful time themselves.  That was when Pinkie Pie went up to the microphone, trying to get all of the ponies to start partying.  I knew Pinkie for many years prior, as well as her many antics.  I put on the best fake smile I could muster up as she yelled out, "C'mon, everypony, I know what'll make you shake those groove-thangs!"  She pointed to the musicians, and they started to play while Pinkie started to sing the Pony Pokey.

It was clear to me that the musicians were not too happy with Pinkie as the song went on.  They played with a little bit of a grudge on their faces.  The pink bundle of joy was singing on jumping around on stage, which was fun for me to see at first, but near the end of the song she started to dance against the reserved musicians, even knocking Octavia to the ground.  Pinkie didn't quite get away with it, though, because she was heckled by the tough Canterlot crowd.  I truly did feel bad for Pinkie, because she was just being herself, after all.

After Octavia lifted herself back up, she looked over to me and rolled her eyes with a smile, which told me that she was quite all right.  I gave her an apologetic face in return, even though it wasn't my fault, because I truly did feel bad for the whole ordeal.  She seemed to be done playing music for the night, though.  She put her cello back against the wall, and came back down and appeared to be trotting towards me.

I could feel my nerves coming back as she approached me while I was with my fellow band members.  I was also beside my best friend, Thunderlane, who would always tease me about mares.  I desperately hoped that they wouldn't say anything that could hurt my chances on this night.

As I peaked over at my best friend, I realised that he wasn't looking at me at all.  In fact, Time Turner and Pine Breeze weren't looking at me either.  They were all looking at Octavia as she made her way over.

As soon as the mare whom I had a crush on was about to speak, Time Turner interrupted her and said, "Are you a weeping angel?  Because I could stare at you all day."

'Oh brother,' I said in my head as I rolled my eyes.  I shoved him out of the way in order to face Octavia, who chuckled at my rudeness towards my friend.

"Hey," she said.

"Yes?  Hey!  What's up? I asked very quickly and nervously.  I could hear Thunderlane snicker behind me.

"I know I don't really know you, and this may seem weird, but do you want to go for a drink somewhere?  I think I need a break from this place," she said to me.

I was just so ecstatic that she made the first move.  That really made things so much easier for me.  I naturally accepted, and started to walk with her out of the castle.  Looking back at my three friends, they all were giving me teasing looks, but I winked back at them.  I was the one leaving with the mare, after all.

After we left outside the castle, I asked Octavia where she wanted to go.  Her only response was, "Somewhere quiet."  Since I wasn't from Canterlot, the only place I knew was Canterlot Gardens.  However, that was exactly where she seemed to want to go after I suggested it.

We seemed to have left at the perfect time.  We could hear a loud commotion coming from the ballroom.  We heard a mix of ponies screaming, the crashing of some very expensive statues, as well as shrieking of what seemed to be monkeys, birds, and other animals.  We laughed it off and put it all behind us, though, hoping to finish off the evening quietly together.  To be honest, I had no idea what was going to happen next.  I had never been in a situation like this before.

As we made our way on a quiet walk through the Canterlot streets, with the streetlights guiding the way, Octavia lowered her head on my shoulders as we continued to walk forward.  I didn't really know what to think at this point.  Things were just moving so fast, a little too fast, now that I think about it.  I had only known her for maybe a few hours.  But I let her lean her head on my, because it seemed to comfort the mare.  I still didn't know much about her, or even what her story was, but I was really hoping that I would soon find out.

We were able to get a two seats on the balcony of the restaurant, where we had a great view of the castle.  The stars on this night were beautiful and everywhere.  We each ordered a glass of cider for ourselves to get started.

"So, Octavia," I said after we received our drinks.  She perked her head up from her glass.  "I really don't know much about you, but I really want to."

"There's not much about me to know, Noteworthy," she said in reply.  "I'm just a cellist from Canterlot, I don't have many close friends, and I have my own apartment.  There's not really much else you need to know."

I told Octavia more about my life over the next few minutes.  I told her about my wonderful foalhood, where my parents helped me figure out my true talents in life.  Life in Ponyville seemed dull to me, but to Octavia it was something desirable.

After a few more drinks each, things started to get a little more interesting.  We both began to open up more, and soon it felt like we had known each other for years.  It's funny, really, because I've known ponies for years back home in Ponyville, yet I knew more about Octavia in a few hours than I did about them my whole life.  And the more I found out about her, the more I liked about her.

Octavia began to speak more, her eyes a little more sleepy-looking due to having more to drink.  Her speech became a little different, more relaxed, but I didn't mind at all.  "So, basically, my oldest friend is Vinyl Scratch, but I rarely see her anymore because she's now a famous DJ.  My father passed away when I was a filly and my mother is still alive and well here in Canterlot."  I gave her a quick face that showed my condolences towards hearing that, and then she continued, "I've been a cellist here for over a year, and I'm getting sick of it."

"Wait, what?" I said after putting my glass down.  "What was the last thing you said?"

"I'm getting sick of life in Canterlot and I want a change."

I grinned at this point, hopefully not too creepily.  "You know, Octy- I can call you Octy, right?" I asked, to which she nodded her head in agreement.  "The reason why I was first drawn to you tonight was because of your music."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes.  I realised that our band needed a special sound to set us aside from the rest, and the sound of your cello just spoke to me."

"Cello isn't the only thing I play, you know," she interrupted.

"What else do you play?" I asked, intrigued at where this was going.

"I started off by playing violin, and that is how I got my cutie mark."  It all made sense to me now.  Octavia played the cello, but had a treble clef for a cutie mark.  The violin made much more sense.

"Octy?"

"Yes, Notey?" she responded with a smile.

"I think you should join our band.  You are exactly what we are looking for, and this could be your ticket out of here."  At this point, I was really hoping that she would agree.  I clearly had a crush on her, and she seemed to have taken a liking to me, but this still could have gone either way.  I held my breath as I awaited the reply.

"I... I have to think about it," she said.  It was still better than an outright 'no'!

The night went on, a few more drinks came, and I don't quite remember what happened after that.