Through Another's Eyes

Octavia scanned the invitation she had been given thoroughly, hoping this wasn’t one of Vinyl Scratch’s many attempts at failed comedy. After several minutes of flipping through the card, she had finally given up and confirmed it as authentic. Honestly, the classy grey mare didn’t think she would ever be invited back to the Royal Canterlot Castle ever again ever since the fiasco with her sister and her friends last year during the Grand Galloping Gala.

Apparently, Octavia was found guilty for allowing Pinkie’s request to play the Pony Pokey to be played. Needless to say, she had to do many things for quite a while before the snooty upper-class ponies of Canterlot would even decide to consider her existence. It was surely an experience she would not forget any time soon.

‘Give it a rest, Tavi!’ Vinyl’s voice echoed through Octavia’s brain ‘It’s just a dumb old Garden Party, nothing cool’s gonna happen’

Of course, this was coming from the same pony that said the Grand Galloping Gala was boring. Then again, maybe Octavia should start listening to her dear friend. After all, she was right about the Gala ending in a disaster...

Multiple times.

Quickly throwing the thought out of her mind, Octavia trotted up towards the castle gates and went to the back garden, where some of the snootiest ponies one could ever know were “enjoying” the party. The grey mare gave a sigh; she missed Pinkie’s crazy and happy-go-lucky parties. Sure, it was a pain to clean up afterwards, but it was totally worth it.

As if an imaginary rope was pulling her, the mare looked inside the castle where a familiar pink pony was running around pushing a blue cannon. Every once in a while, she would hit the top and party ornaments would burst out, covering an area of the interior castle. The classy mare gave a chuckle and trotted away.

Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

She weaved through the endless amount of posh ponies until she found a familiar face, Harpo Nadermane. The kind purple stallion, usually found near the dining table, was busy stuffing his mouth with various foodstuffs from the table without a care in the world. He ruffled up his blue mane once and continued to eat, eyeing his harp to make sure it was still there.

“Good evening, Harpo” Octavia said with a smile as she trotted up to the stallion “Ready for tonight’s show?”

“Evenin’” replied Harpo casually “Probably, but I don’t really see Brass and Frederic. Didn’t they get the memo?” he then continued with his eating, earning disgusted stares from the other ponies.

This was something Octavia liked about the stallion, his personality and attitude. Despite being born in quite a rich and wealthy family, raised in one of the most prestigious schools in Canterlot and treated like royalty throughout his childhood, Harpo just didn’t give a damn about it all. Sometimes Frederic chided that he was adopted from Ponyville, but Harpo just laughed along. To him, he was happy just the way he is. Money isn’t everything, right?

Octavia nodded and scanned the crowds, hoping to find the other two members of her quartet soon. Frederic Horseshoepin, who would scoff at tardiness and Beauty Brass, who was usually being dragged around by the stallion were indeed nowhere to be seen. Panic started to engulf Octavia, their show was about to start and they were two members short, could this probably get any worse?!

“Bowties” Harpo said as he swallowed his food, pointing towards two ponies in the crowd.

Yes, this was usually the way the Orchestral Band would identify each other. Nopony else in their right mind would wear nothing but a bowtie to a fancy formal party, that’s why the band thought it was the perfect get up. All of this was Brass’ idea, considering the fact that she was usually the one calling the shots.

“Strange, don’t you think?” Octavia muttered to her band mate quietly “Never seen them before”

“Replacements probably” Harpo said with a sigh as he stood up proudly and walked over to the stage “Better tell ‘em to get ready, we’re gonna play soon”

Octavia gave an audible sigh as she watched her friend disappear into the crowd, only to appear onstage. It was a wonder how he was able to switch from casual pony to formal in the blink of an eye. Then again, he was a rather unique stallion.

‘Well, maybe introducing myself wouldn’t be so bad’ thought Octavia as she trotted over to the two ponies.

One was a mare, no older than she was. Octavia rubbed her eyes in confusion, thinking that she was seeing a mirror reflection of herself. The mare looked exactly like her, right down to the mane and even the tail. Thankfully she had a different colour scheme and cutie mark, or else people might confuse the two ponies. Not to mention her mane was curly while Octavia’s was straight and rather smooth.

The second was a stallion, who seemed to be very intimidated by his company, stood a little bit further than what one would normally call the “comfort zone”. He had a brown coat and an even darker brown mane and tail. By the looks of it, the two were having an argument. And by argument, I mean that the mare was yelling to her companion while the stallion cowered helplessly.

“Alright, we got rid of those two so now we only need to take care of the harpist and cellist” the yellow mare said with a rather violent tone, though her voice sounded sweet and harmonious to the ears

“B- but, they d-do seem pretty... n-nice” the stallion replied all the while stuttering as he talked, he must have had quite a phobia for the pony he was conversing with.

Octavia stopped dead in her tracks. Gotten rid of those two? Take care of the harpist and cellist? What were these two talking about? Octavia slowly sneaked up on them, hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation. She was pretty god in stealth, seeing as she managed to get out of the apartment everyday without fail from Vinyl Scratch every single day without fail. Strangely, the disk jockey would always find her by midday, despite only waking up about ten minutes earlier.

“NICE!” the yellow mare screamed in frustration “Nopony’s ever gotten anywhere by being nice! Listen here, you worthless foal. You might be all sunshine and rainbows about being some dumb old two bit fiddle player, but I’ve trained too hard to get to the goddamn top! You can get your sorry flank off the garden before I make sure I take it out myself! Understood, Concerto?!”

“B-b- behind you...” the Concerto stuttered, his pupils dilating

“Speak up, will you?!” replied the yellow mare, pointing a hoof to the stallion in a violent gesture

“Behind you, Symphony” he squeaked

The mare named Symphony had only just registered what she had been told before turning around, putting on her best smile as she glanced at who was behind her. Obviously, it was Octavia; still stunned by what she had heard. She made a gulp as she too forced a terrible poker face, smiling as if she was being held at gun point.

“The show...” Octavia finally said after a moment’s silence “It’s starting soon...”

“Perfect! See you there!” replied Symphony as Octavia ran off, hoping to get as far away from the maniac as possible

What had they done to Brass and Frederic?!
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“Hey, Freddy?” Brass asked with a concerned expression

“How many times have I told you NOT to call me that?” replied an infuriated Frederic as he splashed the water around the boat

“Never mind that” replied the light blue pony as she sat uncomfortably on the small boat “I’m just saying that maybe that mare wasn’t so good at giving directions”

Frederic gave another sigh. They were lost in the middle of the sea with no idea whatsoever on how to get back to Canterlot castle. Hell, they might be stuck here for years! Slowly, he took out a long branch and tied a piece of flax at the end and attached a hook. Better make the best of the situation they were in...
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Octavia still had the plastic fake smile plastered on her face as she trotted onto the stage, making Harpo look rather concerned for her well being. Shrugging it off several moments later, the two got prepared their instruments when two ponies followed suit on stage; the two ponies from before.

“Have a good show, eh?” the yellow mare said with a sly smirk

“Sure” Harpo said casually, not knowing about the pony’s true colours.

They then started soon enough, playing a sweet melodic tune as ponies around the garden party swayed to their music. Octavia had to admit, the two newcomers were quite good at playing their violins despite scaring her terribly mere moments ago. The classy grey mare then saw somepony through the corners of her eyes, a flustered Rarity running around the garden before entering the castle again.

Octavia, who had already become quite entranced by the music herself, began to lose focus about her surroundings. The only thing that mattered to her right now was her cello and her band mates’ instruments. She was so into the music in fact, that she didn’t see the malicious glint in the yellow mare’s eyes.

‘Come on, just a few more notes’ thought Symphony Strings as she eyed her companion from the other end of the stage, who was sweating bullets like a mad pony ‘In three, two, one...’

BOOM

A huge explosion had caused the mare to scratch a few notes, although nopony heard that since they too were surprised at the sudden explosion. Screams of panic could be heard through the crowds as five ponies started to run around, causing chaos and havoc throughout the Garden Party.

“Oh, not them again!” said a pony in the crowds as the Ponyville ponies appeared without much hesitation

There was a pink one, who was pushing around a cannon that fired party props. A cyan blue pegasus, arguing with a stallion about croquet. An orange mare that was pulling out the stray weeds, saying something about gardening. A yellow pegasus that seemed to be attracting all the birds in the nearest vicinity. And worst of all, a purple unicorn pony who seemed to have come from some junk yard dancing some sort of summoning ritual in the middle of the garden.

The mare turned to her colleagues, hoping to get some sort of reassurance from them. Strangely, they were all still playing quietly as if nothing strange was going on around them. Even Concerto seemed to be enjoying himself as well. She cocked her head to Octavia, wondering if she was deaf or blind, maybe both.

“You’ll get used to it” Octavia finally said after a few moments of awkward staring “My sister could get a little out of hand sometimes”

“She’s right you know” said the bright pink pony as she strolled around, cannon in tow.

Just what had she gotten herself into this time? She gave a shudder as the five ponies continued to party as if there was no tomorrow. Honestly, this was worse than the time she had managed to send a Parasprite to Ponyville through the Everfree Forest! At least she had a good laugh during that event.
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“Ugh, why didn’t Twilight invite me to her own birthday party!” Spike grumbled as he continued to arrange the books in the shelves “I mean, I’m her number one assistant! But NO~. ‘You’ve gotta clean up the library, Spike' she says ‘You’re the only one that could do it’ she says. Makes you think this is slavery sometimes!”

“True that” hooted a voice somewhere behind Spike

The baby dragon turned around in surprise, wondering who it could have been. The library was empty except for him, was it a burglar? No, Ponyville’s too nice for those creeps! But... what if this is the first burglar Ponyville has ever had?! Spike gave a scream as he ducked under his bed sheets in fear.

“And you say you’re a dragon” hooted the voice again

This was when Spike finally noted that he was not alone. In fact, he had another companion in the house, Owloysius. Twilight’s pet owl that she had gotten last year perched on top of his post on the table.

“Wait... you talk?” Spike asked, wondering if he was hallucinating

“Who?” Owloysius hooted

“I thought so...”

“Although, I do from time to time”

The sudden speech made Spike jump up in fright. All this while, the owl could talk?! Why hasn’t he told the other ponies about his talent? Surely they would be impressed by a talking owl!

“Wondering why I don’t talk in front of Twilight Sparkle and friends?” hooted the owl once again, as if he could read Spike’s mind. When he received an eager nod from Spike, he continued to talk “It’s because I’m not stupid enough to show my true abilities in front of dear Twilight, you see. If I did, I’ll have to do work as well, just like you”

Spike gave a grunt of defeat, acknowledging the owl’s knowledge. Slowly he got back to the books and picked them up one by one. He has to finish up quick; at least a nap would suffice since he couldn’t meet the love of his life today. Suddenly, he felt something heavy perch on top of his head, Owloysius.

“Although, I feel quite helpful today” said the owl with a hoot “Need some help?”

“Thanks, Owloysius” Spike said with a laugh as the two set off to work “You’re real nice sometimes”

“Who?”

“Come on, I know you could talk!”

"Who?"

"Owloysius!"