Broken strings

(Author's note: I sincerely apologize for the long gap. I had been extremely busy with moving and college. The good news is that i finally settled down and have time to finish this fic that had been going on for over a year. One thing tho, my editor is quite busy so there are probaby a bazillion grammar/spelling issues. I apologize beforehoof D:)

Octavia left Vinyl. She had doubted herself about if this was the right thing to do, but she just couldn't give up another chance to be popular again. It was everything that she had dreamed about.

Fancy Pants’ party was yet another success. Even though she got a bit nervous, the overall performance was all right and she caused quite a stir. When asked about the relationship between her and Vinyl, she smiled as if she was listening to a joke. Her acting was perfect, and everypony thought that Judgy Jam simply wrote yet another made up piece, and Octavia’s reputation was saved.

She wrote to Vinyl about her new success. Fancy Pants had decided to make a long term contract with Octavia, and several other famous film producers had already asked Octavia numerous times about if she could write a piece for their movie. Octavia felt a bit sorry about leaving Vinyl alone in Ponyville, but then she remembered that unlike her, Vinyl actually had a lot of friends besides her. Feeling a bit relieved but also a little disappointed at the same time, Octavia told Vinyl that she would be staying in Fillydelphia for a bit longer, but they will keep in touch.

Octavia got the Vinyl’s return in just a few days. She tore open the letter and found a photo of Vinyl. She was raising a hoof in midair, smiling. On the bottom there was Vinyl’s hand writing, “Good job sis, go show ‘em what you are made of.”

Octavia smiled, feeling relieved that Vinyl could understand.

Everything was going just as expected. She was accepted to a well-known classical orchestra, and soon she had been recognized as a valuable player. She had her own songs, her own solos, and even shows that feature herself. She would always write to Vinyl about her success and how much she misses Ponyville, and Vinyl would always encouraged her to keep developing what she was, and reassure Octavia that she was still single. Octavia giggled at her words, but inside she was relieved.

Soon without even noticing it, Octavia had left Vinyl for half a year. Everypony had recognized Octavia as an innovator by then, and Octavia’s dream had come true. She was the type of pony everypony had known.

But slowly Octavia felt like something had went missing. At first she was able to write new piece almost every day, and she was able to express her feelings. But later she found it difficult to come up with new idea. She sat there for hours trying to come up with a new piece, but it was more difficult than she had imagined.

Was it because she had become old? Octavia looked at herself in the mirror. She checked her mane and hooves. They were still smooth and steady. She looked around her body and saw no wrinkles. She was still Octavia, the most talented cello player ever.

She had to play the music she wrote long time ago. At first people were fine with it, but soon they grow bored. It was difficult to entertain a group of high class ponies with very refined taste, and Octavia felt like her performances had become less popular. Occasionally she would hear saying like “she was running out of ideas” or “I guess she was just lucky”, and usually her face would turn to a bright red from anger and shame. However, she just wasn’t able to write another happy piece.

After another half a year, Octavia felt like herself turning into her old self again. Not able to play any new music, she had to play more classical pieces, which was smooth and calm. It was socially accepted, but ponies were no longer crazy for her shows. She had withdrawn from the front of the newspaper, from the cover of the magazine, and she became the same as pretty much any other cello playing pony.

Maybe Vinyl can help, Octavia thought. She told Vinyl about her struggle, and how she couldn’t come up with anything. She got the reply from Vinyl soon as usual, but when she looked at the letter, she was a bit stunned.

It was still Vinyl’s writing, but there was no photo. There was only a short letter which read, “Don’t give up Octavia, you can do it!”

It was encouraging words, but Octavia felt like something wasn’t right. She wasn’t sure what, but she found it necessary to give Vinyl a call. Octavia preferred writing because it was more her style, but she remembered Vinyl’s phone number just in case. She nervously picked up the phone and dialed.

Soon the other end answered.

“Hello?” Octavia said.

“Hi, this is DJ center, may I help you?” It was some pony else’s voice.

“Hi, I am looking for Vinyl Scratch.”

“Excuse me?”

The other pony sounded surprised.

“I am looking for Vinyl Scratch.”

The other end of the phone fell silent. Octavia could hear talking in the background, but the words were too distant to distinguish.

A sudden feeling had caught onto Octavia’s heart.

“Hello?”

“I am sorry, but Vinyl had… moved… away.”

“She moved?”

“Yeah, she urg… moved yesterday, what luck huh.” The pony gave a nervous chuckle.

“Any way, she told me that if a pony named Octavia wanted to talk to her, just urg… write to this new address of hers.”

“How do you know that I am Octavia?”

Octavia heard the other pony gasp.

“Please, tell me the truth.”

“Urg Mrs. Octaiva… bzzzzzz… I can’t hear you very well… we are breaking up… bzzzzzz” The phone got disconnected right away. Octavia held onto the metal hoofle for a while, thinking about what just happened. What was the other pony hiding? How did she know that she was Octavia?

Octavia put down the phone and trotted around the room, thinking. Vinyl should be fine, she wrote to me just days ago.

Octavia checked her schedule. She had an upcoming performance on Thursday, but Octavia decided to turn it down. In fact, Octavia cleared her schedule so she would have about 15 days to spare. She then packed her trunk and her beloved cello, and booked a ticket to Ponyville.

It had been a year, Octavia thought. It should be time to visit Vinyl again. Besides, she needed a break from all the work anyway. Knowing Vinyl for so long, Octavia knew that they would have some quality time together, and maybe she would be inspired again to create some new songs.

In just a few days, Octavia was standing at the sign that says “Welcome to Ponyville”. She looked around. Even though there were new buildings, she could still recognize most of the town. The town center, the hospital, and the school that she went to together with Vinyl… everything was so familiar. Octavia started walking towards Vinyl’s place.

But suddenly, an orange pony blocked her way. She looked up and saw good old Applejack, smiling at her.

“Hey there partner! Long time no see huh?”

“It has been quite a while my friend.” Octavia held out a hoof, “How have you been?”

“Reeeeal good!” Applejack grabbed Octavia’s hoof and shook so hard that Octavia felt her entire body lifted into the air and back down. “So you here to visit again?”

“Why yes…”

“Then this way, let me give you a tour!”

“Actually…”

“Ah don’t worry we know you are a big shot now. But here in Ponyville, you are still the good old Octavia!”

Applejack pushed Octavia forward before she could say anything. They went straight for the sweet apple farm.

“This is the sweet apple farm. We have the best apples around Equestria. There are my families Applebloom, Granny Smith, Big Mac…”

Applejack continued as she kept stuffing apple products down Octavia’s throat. There were apple, apple pies, apple cider, apple tarts… Soon Octavia’s mouth was so full that she was afraid of saying anything, or everything would just explode like a volcano.

“Awww look at you, I knew our food was good. Why don’t you stay at our place over night? We’ll make you some more and better food!” Applejack gave a big smile.

It took Octavia a few minutes to swallow everything inside her mouth. She wiped her lips and said, “I am very thankful for your generosity, but I have to…”

“Oh sorry, the tour, right!” Applejack cut her off again, and then dragged her to the library. She knocked on the door and a baby dragon answered the door. Spike opened the door and said, “Hi applejack… GASP!”

He quickly covered his mouth in shock as he saw Octavia.

“Sorry, need to urg… clean the room, gotta go, I’ll fetch Twilight real quick.” Spike added, and he sprinted into the room.

“Look Applejack, I lived here for five years so it’s really uncess…”

“Hi!” Twilight’s voice interrupted Octavia, “Octavia! Longtime no see. How have you been…”

“I have been all…”

“That’s fantastic. Here I’ve got something that you absolutely have to see before you do anything else!” Twilight grabbed Octavia and pulled her into the library before she could refuse. Twilight then quickly levitated a huge book from the shelf with her magic and placed it in front of Octavia, turning it to a page with the portrait of a cello.

“I found this article about cello, and there are so many thing that I don’t understand.”

“Urg, excuse me?”

“For example ummmm…” Twilight looked at the picture, “What is this… part?”

Octavia narrowed her eyes, “That is a bow, Twilight.”

“Oh really? You don’t… say…” Twilight gave a nervous chuckle.

“Well then, I must go…”

“WAIT! What is a bow made of?”

“Wood and pony tails. The tip was made of metal to make sure it doesn’t fall apart. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

“WAIT!!!”

Octavia turned to Twilight.

“Yes?”

“Urg, oh! Can I do a scientifically analysis on your brain when you play the cello? I had always been curious about how musician’s mind works.”

“I am sorry Twilight I really have to…”

“PLEASE?” Twilight opened her eyes up wide and curled her lips upwards like a puppy. Octavia sighed.

“All right, fine, but please make it quick.”

“YES! THANK YOU Octavia!” Twilight quickly grabbed Octavia and pulled her downstairs into her basement. There were some funky machine there, and a lot of wires ran across the entire room.

“Here, put this on.” Twilight picked up a metal hat with wires going through it on top of Octavia’s head. Then she took Octavia and made her sit inside a metal chair. Twilight then pushed a button on a control panel nearby, and two metal bars came out from the side and cuffed Octavia.

“Twilight, this felt a bit strange. I cannot move at all.”

“Good.” Twilight said, and then she quickly realized what she just said.

“Excuse me?”

“Urg, so your hooves would not be injured during the…experiment.”

Octavia felt a bit scared. She have heard about Twilight and her crazy experiments, and she sensed that something bad was going to happen.

But Twilight simply gave another nervous chuckle and said, “Shush I forgot something upstairs. I will be right back.” And then with a puff and a purple light, she teleported out of the room, leaving Octavia cuffed alone in the basement.