Broken strings

Vinyl almost lost sight of Octavia a few times, but she still managed to keep up. It was mainly because of Octavia’s unique hair style and the big cello box on her back which made her stand out from the crowd of fillies. Octavia disappeared down a quiet hallway leading to what looks like an unused music classroom and Vinyl quickly followed.

"Where in the hay is that pony going?" Vinyl said to herself while pushing the door open with her foreleg.

The room was deserted because it was lunch time and Octavia was sitting next to the window. The cello box was opened and carefully set next to her foot. She was standing on only two back legs and the cello was resting on her shoulder. She was holding the bow in her right hoof, and her left front hoof was on the hoofboard ready to press down on the strings. In front of her there was a music stand with some pieces of sheet music. She seemed unaware of Vinyl, and was concentrating on reading the notes.

“There you are, Octavia.” Vinyl went up and tried to speak as quietly and softly as possible, but Octavia was still a bit startled. She tensed up and turned around. Vinyl tried to put on the friendliest smile she could, and to her great comfort Octavia calmed down and said, “Oh, it’s just you.”

“Don’t be upset by some stupid colt; they are the biggest bullies around. Don’t let their words get to you.”

“I’m not… upset because of them.” Octavia’s reply surprised Vinyl.

“Then why did you leave?”

“Because... I am not good at arguing, so I thought if I left then the argument would extinguish on its own.” Octavia said.

“Well they are gonna pick on you any way. You should have stood up for yourself! You know, show them what you're made of!”

Octavia turned away from Vinyl, ”I…I am not made of anything…”

“What do you mean?”

Octavia bit her lips and fell into silence as if she had just swallowed a piece of bitter fruit.

“It’s okay. You can tell me, I promise I will keep it a secret,” Vinyl said to Octavia, who looked back at her with doubt.

“Pinkie promise.” Vinyl added.

It took a while for Octavia to make up her mind. She let out a long sigh, then looked out of the window and said, ”Because…they are kind of right.”

“They?” Vinyl repeated, thinking she was recalling the two bully pegasus. "It can’t be... they can be pretty much anything BUT right."

“Yes, the two pegasus. They are right. I am an earth pony and a cello isn’t… really cut out for me. Like…” Octavia held out her left hoof. For a second, Vinyl thought she was going to hold hooves with her, but then Vinyl realized that she was just trying to show her the hoof. So Vinyl took a step forward and saw a lot of small lines on Octavia's hoof. Some of them were shallow and others were really deep.

“Wha… what happened?”

“These are cuts I got while I was trying to hold down the strings in place. I practice day and night, but still I do not sound anywhere near professional. Without magic, I can never be as good as a unicorn.”

“Aww there, come on now. I’m sure you're great. It doesn’t matter if you are not the best…”

“But it DOES!” Octavia cut her off, her voice shaking a little, ”If I can’t be better than other ponies, then what’s the point of playing at all?”

Vinyl sighed. She lifted her own hoof and put it gently on top of Octavia’s, and then said, in a very peaceful but serious tone, ”Octavia, do you like playing the cello?”

“Of course. It is my favorite thing in the world.”

“Then keep playing. It doesn’t matter if you are the best or not. What’s important is that you're doing what you enjoy. Life is not a competition.”

Octavia looked away:”No… it is different. You would not understand.”

“But I do!” Vinyl said, and turned around to show her cutie mark to Octavia.

Octavia gasped at the mark on her friend. It was a double eighth note.

“You are a musician too?”

“Yes ma’am. I am a DJ.”

“A D…J? What is that?”

“DJ stands for disc jockey. It’s like working with records. You spin them around and you slide them. You mix records around and change it in the middle. It’s really cool and quite electrifying.”

“I have never heard of that.”

“Well judging by your looks and your bow tie, you must be a classy filly. No wonder. The DJ stuff is kind of… modern and new,” Vinyl said with excitement. She then realized that she was drifting off topic. ”But my point is, I am not the best around. Even so, I still enjoy DJing. It’s just like fun, if you get what I am saying.”

Octavia didn’t reply, so Vinyl decided to lift a chair and move it next to Octavia. She sat down and then said, ”Well here, why don’t you play a song for me? I’d love to hear you play. We’ve still got plenty of time before lunch is over.”

This was the very first time Octavia had ever performed in front of anypony besides her family. Though she felt uneasy and nervous, the idea of performing for a friend just for fun sounded interesting to her.

A series of notes lit up the slightly dim room. Although Vinyl was not precisely a classy filly, she had always been a good and quiet audience when somepony else was playing. The tender flow of classical music was not what she was used to, but she didn’t dislike it. In fact, she found herself nodding and moving her front leg to the rhythm.

The music was at a slow pace in relation to what Vinyl usually listened to. The tone was calm and bright, like a lazy Sunday morning on a summer day. The piece was not fancy, but Octavia put a lot of thought into it. She enhanced some notes to make them bright and, for the lack of a better word, jumpy. Other times she dimmed some notes to make them blend in with the melody. The whole piece felt alive in general.

Octavia ended the song with a powerful crescendo on the last note, and then she removed her bow from the string. The last note echoed inside the empty room, again and again, until it finally faded into the distant noise of other ponies that were still outside playing.

Octavia felt a strange satisfaction that she had never felt before. She felt joy and happiness as she finished the piece. She saw the look on Vinyl’s face and knew that Vinyl had enjoyed it.  That made her heart light. She used to think that the happiness about playing cello was to master a piece of music, to stand out from the crowd, and to become the greatest cello player ever. However, right here in this small room, she felt joy and peace simply from playing a simple song to her new friend to enjoy.

"Maybe I can make a difference after all." She thought, "Maybe even without magic, I can make magic happen."