Broken strings

(About 7 years later)

It wasn’t until the following morning that Octavia realized what she had said to Vinyl last night. After the Gala was over, Vinyl suggested hanging out at a nearby bar. Octavia was quite exhausted from the event and some small… accidents, so she thought that a nice, relaxing drink at the bar would be nice.  It was indeed quite relaxing... a bit TOO relaxing. She had been busy all week rehearsing and performing, and as soon as that tightened string in her brain was loosened, it let out a whole FLOOD of all kinds of craziness. Octavia ranted to Vinyl about the Gala, about the princess, about the pink pony who jumped on her and somehow didn't get in trouble, about the chaos in the hall caused by a lot of panicking little animals which somehow managed to get into the hall from the garden. Octavia felt like she had never been so chatty in her entire life and, in just a few minutes, her lips were dry from all the words. Being at a bar, she ordered another drink which further numbed the alertness of her brain to allow more chatting. Eventually she couldn’t even understand her own sentences and Vinyl, being as drunk as she was, didn’t even notice the random words that hardly connected into proper sentences coming out of Octavia’s mouth.

It was at that point where Octavia realized what she had gotten herself into. She was too drunk to move, too drunk to speak, and too drunk to even come up with an idea to get home safely. Luckily, she remembered that she had a tag on her cello case with her address on it, so at least they wouldn't be thrown out onto the street. With that safety assurance in mind, Octavia decided to not care about anything and just go to sleep.

It wasn’t the first time some filly had gotten drunk at the bar right after the Gala, so the waiters were prepared to transport the snoring ponies to where they belonged. They found Vinyl snoring with half of her body on the table and other half on the sofa. Octavia was sitting on the opposite end with her muzzle next to a spilled glass of wine, snoring as well. The two waiters gave each other a bitter smile and brought over a large carpet to wrap up the two ponies to put them onto a pony-dragged cart. One of the waiters noticed the address on Octavia’s cello case, so he sent the driver to the place without forgetting to put the pony cart's fee onto Octavia's tab.

Octavia felt her senses slowly returning to her. She felt like her brain was about to split in two with a severe headache followed by an extreme need of water. She tried to lift a hoof to push herself into a standing position and failed miserably. It felt as if her body was made of lead and it was so heavy that Octavia felt like she was going to suffocate under her own weight. She struggled for a while and then gave up trying.

Then, her vision returned to her. At first it was all blurry and watery, and then slowly she was able to see shades of color. Octavia blinked a few times and her vision came into focus… relatively speaking. Then she realized why her body had felt so heavy: Vinyl was collapsed on top of her.

“Vinyl…” Octavia spoke and quickly stopped, frightened by the strange noise coming from her muzzle. Was that really her voice? She coughed a little to clear her throat and then she said, “Vinyl, get up!” Her voice was still scattered and broken, but it was within Octavia’s range of acceptance. Vinyl let out a mumbled “Hmmmm?” before turning her body around to fall right back into her dreams.

“Vinyl! I am serious. Please get up, I can’t get out!”

This time Vinyl didn’t respond at all. Her chest was moving up and down rhythmically like an ocean wave, indicating that she was still deep in sleep.

Octavia had no choice but to try to push herself out from beneath Vinyl again. Luckily, Vinyl’s little turn had moved about half of her body weight off of Octavia. After another ten minutes or so of struggling, Octavia finally managed to remove herself from beneath Vinyl’s weight and break free. She stood up and stretched her legs, back first and then front. Her whole body was still sore and her throat was still burning with the flame of thirst. She still had an extremely painful headache and was really dizzy, but at least she was able to drag herself into the kitchen to make Vinyl and herself a nice cup of warm tea.

"Hopefully nopony had seen us being so… impassionate last night," Octavia thought as she carefully picked up the teapot with her teeth. She poured herself a small cup of tea and then set the teapot down on the table. She then sat down at the table and took a little sip from the tiny tea cup. "The day right after the Gala was surprisingly quiet," Octavia thought. But she figured that she and Vinyl were probably not the only ponies who had spent all their energy at the Gala last night and had not woken up yet. Octavia was just not the type of pony to sleep past nine, unlike Vinyl, who was still lying on the floor in a weird pose, snoring.

Feeling a bit bored, Octavia decided to work on a cello piece that she had written a while ago. She finished her cup of tea, put the teapot back to where it belonged, and walked into the next room with her cello. Not wanting to disturb Vinyl, she quietly closed the door behind her and started practicing as quietly as she could.

Despite Octavia’s effort to contain the music inside the room, plenty of noise had soaked through the thin apartment wall and woke Vinyl up slowly over time. Vinyl had a weird dream that she couldn’t remember. She was sure that it hadn't been a nightmare, but a very sad dream, because she had woken up with the feeling as if she had just dropped her favorite food that she had been saving for last.

She shook her head to get rid of that nasty feeling, which made her headache even worse. Hearing Octavia playing the cello, she decided to walk over and knock on the door. The music stopped and she heard Octavia’s voice, “Come on in, the door is not locked.”

Vinyl pushed the door open with her hoof and saw Octavia holding her cello in place.

“Sorry that I have woken you up.” Octavia said.

“Aww it’s cool, dun worry about it.” Vinyl said, smiling, “It’s actually kinda refreshing to be woken up by some… nice music instead of some not so pleasant, random noises. Any way… do you have any … happier music? I’m not really in the mood for depressing songs.”

“Urg… well there is Canon in D Major.”

“Uhh… is it a happy song?”

“It’s calm and smooth.”

“Nah, I mean some music that’s fast and cheerful, ya know, something you can head bob to.”

Octavia lifted one of her eyebrows. “We don’t have that kind of electrifying music in classical music. The sound of the cello is naturally low and smooth. The same goes for the song. You cannot use the cello as an electric guitar.”

“Awww shuz, that’s lame. You should totally write a song like that then. I bet everypony would love to have some bright and happy cello songs.”

Octavia seemed a bit hesitant about the idea. “I’m not sure... Playing the cello is supposed to be a serious thing. It’s not like a guitar.”

“Well, it won't hurt to try, will it?”

Vinyl did have a point, so Octavia decided to give it a shot. However, it was harder than she thought. Even with Vinyl’s help, it was in the afternoon on the next day when she was able to finally finish the piece. It looked... strange... as Octavia looked through it, not particularly something that Octavia is familiar with. She picked up her bow and cello and was ready to give it a shot.

Fast paced and happy music started playing. It was better than she imagined. The cheerful tone and jumpy notes were a bit difficult to play, but years of practicing had made Octavia a master of the cello. She hit all the notes and slides, and performed the whole piece without any mistake at all.

“Well, that wasn't so bad. I guess I can perform this at a birthday or something,” Octavia said.

“Ummmm no Octavia, I felt like there was something missing.” Vinyl tilted her head to the side a little, holding one hoof up to her chin. “Like… the way you played wasn’t right.”

“The posture? Do you want me to hold the cello like a guitar and... what is it, rock and roll?”

“No no, it was your… attitude. You were like all serious and stuff.”

“Well YEAH, it’s a cello... a classical instrument. It is supposed to be treated with great care and a sincere attitude when being played.”

“Well that’s the problem. You are suppose to be happy when you play a happy song, ya know. Have some passion.”

“Passion?”

“Like this!”

Vinyl grabbed the cello from Octavia with her magic and also took the bow.

“CAREFUL! I bought these really nice strings and I only have two spare sets lefts, so please don’t snap them… wait,” Octavia paused, “you know how to play a cello, right?”

“Of course I do.” Vinyl’s words somehow made Octavia worry more. She watched carefully as Vinyl held the cello and bow in place, and was ready to save her cello from Vinyl at any time.

But as soon as Vinyl started playing, Octavia realized that her worries were unnecessary. Vinyl was holding the bow and cello in a semi-legitimate posture, and the notes that she was playing were actually on pitch. She played the melody and then suddenly started to shake her head to the rhythm of the song. She had a big and cheerful smile on her face, and as the song went on, she started to tap her back hoof to the rhythm as well. It looked as though Vinyl had gotten completely lost in the music. Her whole body was moving, her face filled with satisfaction and cheer, and it just looked like she was having the time of her life. Somehow, that suddenly made Octavia want to smile with happiness.

“How’s that?” Vinyl said as she finished up the song. “Didn’t expect me to know how to play a cello did you?”

“That was amazing Vinyl!” Octavia said, clapping her hooves. “I didn’t know a happy cello song can be so… happy.”

“Well that’s the thing. You have to love the music and you gotta show your audience that. Like, influence them with your emotions, bring them your own joy. It’s like being a DJ. You just hit ‘em with the beat and they jump to their hooves. Here, try it. I’m sure your fancy, classy filly friends have never even heard any of these types of songs.”

Octavia took back the cello and bow from Vinyl. Still having doubts about herself, Octavia wondered if she really had the skills that Vinyl had displayed, showing her emotion to the audience. She started playing putting on a big smile and everything, trying to copy what Vinyl had been doing. At first she felt a bit tedious, but then her smile turned into a real one because she realized how her awkward smile had made Vinyl giggle.

She started moving her head back and forth with the rhythm. Hooves tapping, forelegs stretching. A quick slide, and her entire body shifted as the note dropped. A series of quick, jumpy notes, and her hooves were tapping the ground like on drums. She put strength into her bow hoof, and powerful notes exploded from the cello. She felt as if the music had become one with her soul, and that was something that she had never felt before. She never knew expressing her own joyful emotions on stage could be so magical, and she knew she owed this feeling to Vinyl.