Chapters A Night on the Town
The list was hard to read because it had small font and with everypony trying to get in front of you it was a hard to get a good view. Octavia was shoved on the ground as the large crowd of ponies trampled her. She looked up. Octavia squinted. She could barely read the list.
The following ponies will be this years musical entertainment at the Canterlot Garden Party:
Octavia felt her heart break for two reasons. The first reason was she just got kicked in the chest by an excited pony in the crowd. The second reason was she wasn’t on the list.
Later that day, Octavia started using her gift from Vinyl. Even though rock bands weren’t really her thing, she still had fun playing along with CD. It reminded her of playing with the other ponies at the Grand Galloping Gala or the Canderlot Garden Party, but that was more like a jam session. A few times Octavia played along with the CD without looking at any music so it was like playing at the party.mare.... It was still a good movie.
Canterlot
“What did you do to my mane?!” Octavia screamed.
Octavia groaned as she rolled over in her bed the next morning. She got home at 11:45 PM. She got in bed half an hour later. She didn’t want to get up. After a few minutes of arguing with herself about whether or not she should get out of bed, she got up and went to take a shower.
*********
“So, this is the band?” Octavia asked when she saw the small crowd of ponies with instruments stranding on a stage in what soon will be the Canterlot Garden Party.
Jailbird
“Yes,” Octavia said.
***********
When the day of the Canterlot Garden Party came, Octavia was so excited that she leapt out of the bed in the dirty hotel she was staying at, and began jumping on it.
The two mares walked to the castle where they stood in line and waited and waited and waited and waited under the boiling heat of the sun. Finally, they could purchase their tickets.
Party Preparations
Octavia laid on the floor of the jail wallowing in boredom. Vinyl braided and unbraided Octavia’s tail as a failed attempt to reduce boredom. Vinyl started whistling, but one of the guards yelled at her to be quiet because he hated the song she whistled. The jail was even more torturous because it was dark, smelly, damp, and hot.
The two musical mares went back to Octavia’s hotel room where they watched the small TV. They kept having to readjust the rabbit ears. TVs were fairly new to Equestria and they weren’t very good ones.
5:00, 6:00, and 7:00 were spent watching TV. When 8:00 came, the two mares turned off the TV and jumped off the bed. Vinyl trotted back to her hotel room where she prepared for the Canterlot Garden Party. They were the most excited mares in the world.
“Tavi! It’s 8:00! The Garden Party starts in an hour,” Vinyl exclaimed.
“This is so exciting!” she exclaimed as she jumped on her bed. “Wait, what did Octavia mean when she said ‘get ready?” Vinyl went into the bathroom where she looked in the mirror.
Octavia watched Vinyl as she ran out of the room. Octavia ran around her room in an excited circle. She wasn't sure how to get ready for the party. Should she wear the dress she got on her shopping trip with Vinyl? Should she put her mane in a bun? That was probably a "no" because it was too short. Octavia put her bowtie on, brushed her mane so it wasn't sticking out, took a deep breath and headed out the door.
The Canterlot Garden Party
The Canterlot Garden Party
“Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, up,” Octavia quietly whispered to herself as she moved the bow on the strings of her mammoth cello. She let the music control her movement. She made up the notes as she played. She looked over at Vinyl who was leaned way back in a chair while she spun the records with her back hooves.
Story Time
“Do they recognize you?” Octavia asked.
Octavia watched the scene from the orderves table. She knew something bad was going to happen. It worried her that Vinyl might do something bad to the ponies here. Although she didn’t know exactly what Vinyl was going to do for the grand finale, she knew it wouldn’t be good. Vinyl didn’t fit in very well with fancy ponies.
“So, you went to the ancient ruin, then you joined the space program after escaping the wedding where your cousin married the mare who killed your father, but what happened next?” A stallion asked Vinyl.
Octavia looked over at Vinyl who had a small group of ponies gathered around her. Vinyl noticed Octavia and started playing an invisible cello. Octavia knew what she meant. She galloped to the stage the band was supposed to be on. She picked up the cello Vinyl brought with her since Octavia left hers at the hotel.
Vinyl’s plan worked. Everypony loved Octavia now. She saved the party. Although the band members wanted to perform too, they couldn’t risk never hearing the rest of the story. Octavia caught Vinyl’s eye.
Epilogue
Octavia held the pencil in her mouth. She waited for the pony standing in front of her to give her another paper to sign. She did. Octavia wrote her name on the little dotted line.
The Unicorn at the Turntable
The Unicorn at the Turntable
Octavia walked down the streets of Manehattan recalling the notes of the song she was planning to play at tryouts for this years Canterlot Garden Party. If Octavia was able to get the job as one of the musicians at the party, it would really help her career as a musician. She also would be paid enough bits to finally buy her own house rather than renting an apartment or having roommates. She’d been saving up for awhile now, and the paycheck for playing at the party would give her just enough to buy a house.
All week she practiced her new music and didn’t once practice the song she planned to play at the party. Her new favorite piece was “In the Mood.” She considered learning how to play the saxaphone because “In the Mood” was traditionally played on a saxaphone.
