Octavia and the Mystery of the Missing Monarchs

To say that I planned for myself to be in this situation would be a lie, and yet, I know exactly what I am to do from this point on. This morning, I never would I have known that I'd find myself hanging from the edge of a cliffside on the outskirts of Canterlot, attempting to save four pony princesses from certain doom.

Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds, if not more.

The situation began when I awoke this morning, or should I say yesterday morning, considering the current time. Maybe I should never have left my bed. Maybe if I had stayed at home this entire catastrophe could have been avoided. But then again, I suppose that the fact that all of this happened is a good thing. As long as it turns out as I hope, it would all be worth it.

But I digress. Let me start from the beginning, should you want to understand anything that's going on. Just so long as I'm not wasting my time.

I am Octavia, and this is how I solved the Mystery of the Missing Monarchs.

My eyes fluttered open excitedly. It was the greatest day in terms of my musical career. I had been invited to conduct the mares' choir for the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle. It came as a surprise to me, leaving me speechless at the sight of it. Not the coronation itself; anypony could tell that the student of Princess Celestia herself would eventually succeed her, but her miraculous transformation from unicorn to alicorn was something that took all of Equestria by surprise. And I was to conduct for this event. Everything had to go perfectly. Of course, it hadn't, considering my current situation, but that was my expectation at the time.

Continuing through my morning routine, I made my bed, making sure the amount of overhang of the bed sheets on each side was perfectly symmetrical, and that there were few to no creases to be found. From there I slipped into my violet, silk robe and trotted down the stairs to begin work on my breakfast. Happily, I bounded down to the lower floor and into the kitchen. It was quite a large kitchen too, with more than one refrigerator. The wood and marble that made up the room just seemed to go so well together.

It was a crépe day. From the fridge I pulled out the proper ingredients that corresponded to a recipe I had gotten from a colleague of mine. Unfortunately, I am an earth pony, and not a unicorn, making multitasking a bit of a struggle, though I really did not care at the time due to my excitement for what would happen that night.

After all the cracking, slicing, mixing, and baking was complete, I placed the finished product on a transparent glass plate that had intricate carvings scratched into it on the edges. It was one of my favourite plates, reserved for special occasions, and it was one. My wakeup was perfect, my breakfast was perfect, everything was perfect. Except for my hair. It was in dire need of a brushing.

And a wash.

And curling.

And maybe a trip to the spa wouldn't hurt. Well, it didn't. I came out looking simply marvellous, clean and relaxed for the coronation. The only problem was that I returned home to find that I was missing my best bow-tie. I had searched high, and I had searched low, but nowhere could I find the piece of neckwear that I oh-so desperately needed. If only I had known that my fabulous pink bow-tie had fallen behind the cabinet upon which it normally rested, I wouldn't have had to wear the hideous plaid one that I chose.

It was a gift though, from my father. Though he had no sense of style, I simply had to wear it. It's what he would have wanted. It was actually my first bow-tie. Ugly as it may be, it was what kick-started my sense of fashion. When I say fashion, I mean in ties. I don't normally wear clothes, and at times where one normally would, I wear a bow-tie and white collar.Call it nostalgia, if you will, but it is a habit of mine that I'd prefer not to stop.

I left my cello at home, predicting that I would not be needing it since I was merely conducting instead of playing like I normally do. For the sake of having at least some sense of fashion, I decided to also take my father's old conducting stick, since it was the only thing that the bow-tie went well with. It was slightly weighted on the wrong side, but I would rather use that than an un-matching stock piece.

Finally having gotten prepared for my performance, I left for Canterlot Castle. Well, I didn't exactly go straight to the castle, but I made a stop at the train station. There I would meet a good acquaintance of mine. It did not take long for the train to arrive; only a few minutes passed before it rolled into the station, white smoke billowing from the top, the brakes shredding against the iron wheels, forcing it to a halt.

Out from the cart nearest to the front exited a familiar lavender unicorn. The soon-to-be Princess Twilight Sparkle, surrounded by her five excited friends. Strangely enough, they bore their special magical jewellery, the Elements of Harmony. At the time I could not tell why, but I suppose we were due for some sort of disaster. It had been quite a while since the changeling attack on Canterlot. I allowed other passersby to get closer to the group, since I had no business with them myself. No, I do not know Princess Twilight or any of her friends personally, I simply know them by their fame and especially from their antics at the Grand Galloping Gala. At the time, I resented them fir what they had done to the prestigious event, but I had since grown accustomed to them.

"Miss Octavia!" called out the voice of the pony I was waiting for.

Featherweight, a young school age pegasus with a grey-yellow coat and an orange and brown man. I had met him on a few select trips to Ponyville, before he had his cutie mark. He'd taken a liking to me, believing that his special talent was to be a musician like myself. He later discovered that his true cutie mark was in photography, and joined his schools newspaper as head photographer before being promoted to editor-in-chief. It was at that time that he had lost interest in music, but by then he had already grown too fond of me, and I him. The lad decided that he would make it his mission to visit as much as possible so I wouldn't feel lonely; with permission from his parents, of course. The colt told me that I was the first friend he ever gad, which came to me as a surprise seeing how charming he was.

"Miss Octavia!" he called again, waving his hoof in the air. He made an attempt to run to me, but the camera that he always had hanging around his neck caused a bit of trouble. He stumbled, nearly crushing his camera in the process. Luckily for both him and the device, I was able to catch him. He smiled up at me, his eyes saying sorry. I returned his gesture, and set him gently back on his hooves. "Miss Octavia, it's so great to see you again." He scrambled to hug me, the camera again causing a problem. He swung the camera back around and squeezed me tightly. I admit, I missed him, and I missed him alot.

"Featherweight, how many times have I told you, you don't need to call me 'Miss', just Octavia." 'Miss' is just too formal for such a close friend.

But he decided against that. He put on a serious look and said, "Miss Octavia, I strive to be polite and proper, to be a gentleman, just like you." He smiled. Then he blushed, realizing that he had called me a 'gentleman'. "I mean, you aren't a gentleman.. Um, I mean- You are a lady of course, but I..."

I chuckled. I still find it comical, thinking back on it now, even while I hang off this cliffside. I am glad that the one pony I have sharing this situation with me is him. Did I neglect to mention that? I apologize, the adrenaline of near-death leads one to leave out a detail or two. I am currently holding on to a stray rock while Featherweight holds my other front leg, trying not to fall to his doom.

Oh yes, the story. I apologize.

I pat the head of the bumbling colt, watching him continue to grow deeper shades of pink. It almost affected his entire coat.

"I am very glad you came, Featherweight, there's nopony I'd rather have here with me. Now, come along; it's about time for us to go to the castle."

I turned around and trotted away whilst he bounded along behind me.

Soon enough, we arrived at the castle grounds. Ponies were everywhere, running around to prepare for the event, banners were being put up and flowers and other plants were being moved about. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a pair of earth ponies arguing over something. I thought it to be a married couple, or at least, I believed them to be dating. I looked away from the black stallion and white mare when my companion tugged on my mane.

"Mffm fm mmfafm mm!" He spat my hair out and I frowned. I'd just gotten it perfect earlier, but luckily I brought my comb, just in case. "Miss Octavia, look!" Featherweight pointed, jumping up and down excitedly, stars in his eyes growing brighter with each passing second. There, standing in front of the grand entrance were the two royal pony sisters, Princesses Celestia and Luna, their manes flowing in all their glory, wearing freshly polished apparel over top of their soft shimmering coats. The looked simply fabulous in my opinion. As we approached the two princesses, I bowed my head. Unfortunately, Featherweight did not seem to understand that one must show their utmost respect when meeting with royalty. He flew around the heads of the two sisters and screamed about how excited he was to be able to meet not just one, but two princesses. Finally, he managed to calm down enough to land.

"My little ponies," Princess Celestia began, "I am very glad to see you. I trust that you are as excited as the little one?"

I chuckled. The Princess has always been the friendliest face in Equestria. When meeting with anypony, anypony at all, she would act as if they had known each other their whole lives. I did wonder though why Celestia was always the one to greet ponies when any sort of event happened. Surely there were royal duties to be done. "Oh no princess, if I was as excited as him I wouldn't be able to contain myself." I patted Featherweight on the head.

Then Princess Luna spoke up saying, "And who is the child?"

Celestia looked down to get sister, giving her a hard glare. She then turned back to me, her gentle smile returning. "I apologize for my sister's attitude, she gets cranky when she awakes during the day. Anyway, please, you and your- er... Assistant, I assume?" I nodded. "The both of you may prepare in the ballroom. I shall call for somepony to show you the way. Until then, feel free to wait near the entrance."

I nodded, bowing one more time before entering the open door. It seemed that she did not remember me from other events at which I played. She knew who I was, but it seemed that she did not know that she had met me before. It made sense, though it irked me slightly.

SNAP

Behind me was the picture-taking colt speeding about, flying back and forth through the air. At no time did the constant clicking of the camera stop. Eventually, a young stallion appeared. He was a unicorn, light blue wearing large, circular black-rimmed glasses. I spotted his cutie mark; an open book with glasses. I assumed he was the royal librarian, and that this was the pony that Celestia called to lead us along to the ballroom.

"Hello, my name is Passing Glance. I work in the library here at the castle."

A spot on guess.

"If I may, I'm here to escort you to the royal ballroom."

Once more, my suspicions are confirmed. I proceeded to follow him into the ballroom, though I had no real need for directional assistance, having played at the castle before.