Broken strings

Vinyl was right. The trip to Canterlot was smooth and everything went as planned. Octavia's cello remained unscratched and beautiful, and none of her cello bows were broken or bent. She ran her hooves along the curved edge of her cello, took in a deep breath and practiced a little. When she felt like her hooves were warmed up and ready to go, she decided to sit down and wait for the call which came much sooner than she expected.

"Octavia, you're up next. Please get ready."

Octavia nodded. Picking up her cello and bow, she stood just behind the proscenium arch, right next to the heavy red curtains of the stage. Feeling a little nervous, she felt like her hooves were getting a little slippery, and she wiped them off on her coat.

"And now, fillies and gentlecolts, the mare you have been waiting for, Octavia!"

Octavia was greeted immediately with a mixture of chattering and applause as she walked to the center of the stage into the spotlight on the curtain. Although she was trying to act calm and professional, her heart was still beating like drum. Out of the corner of her eye, she took a quick look over the audience. She saw Fancy Pants sitting at the front table and Fleur sitting right next to him. It looked like they were chatting with their guests and enjoying the food, but they seemed to barely be paying any attention to the performance. Octavia felt a bit relaxed, but also some disappointment. She set up her cello and held the cello bow in place.  She turned to the audience and was ready to start her performance. However, at that instant, she noticed a certain pony sitting at a table quite far away from the stage. Her face was mostly covered in huge, over-sized glasses, and her lips were bent into a thin, judgmental shape. She had a notebook flipped open on the table, and a set of ink and quills next to it.

It was the Judgy Jam, the reporter for the Pony Times magazine. She was a famous journalist, and had a well known reputation for being extremely critical. Her words were harsh and sometimes rude, and had come to be known as something of a saber that could slash anypony's career in half. And she was right here looking at Octavia, ready to turn any mistake into an article that would end Octavia's performance career forever!

Octavia immediately started sweating. She felt her bow slowly slipping out of her sweaty hooves, and suddenly felt extreme unease and nervousness. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and placed her bow on the string. Octavia started with a rather slow, classical piece, and she had been practicing it for years. She was so familiar with it that she could probably play it in her sleep. But tonight, she felt like it had become so unfamiliar. Every position of her left hoof felt unnatural and unusual, and she had to concentrate extremely hard on her hoof's positioning to make sure that she didn't mess up. However, being as nervous as she was, she eventually played a wrong note. The song came to a stop, and the entire dining hall quieted down.

Octavia could feel everypony's eyes gazing upon her with questions and disbelief. She gave a little bow to apologize, and decided to start another piece.

"It's okay Octavia, just pretend like it's just an everyday performance... you can still save this." Octavia told herself, but she started to feel her body shaking. She tried to control it, but it was no use. She was just simply too nervous to play.

"Ahem!" Octavia heard a loud fake cough. She looked up and saw Judgy Jam covering her mouth with her hoof. She had taken off the glasses, and her blue eyes were shining with criticism. Her hoof was holding the quill, and she quickly jotted something down on the notebook and sighed.

Octavia felt like her soul was knocked out of her skull. Whatever Jam just wrote down on that piece of paper couldn't be good. It was going be in the Pony Times, and it would probably be enough to ruin her whole career. She was so caught up in her depressing thoughts that she forgot to start playing again.

Then suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling her name. Octavia looked up and saw Vinyl sitting at a table in the second row. Everypony was looking at Vinyl as if she was some kind of strange monster, but Vinyl didn't seem to notice it. In fact, she was sitting in such an ungraceful posture, that a few ponies around her had already moved further away. Vinyl looked at Octavia, her lips curving upwards into a big, encouraging smile.

"Come on Octavia, light this place up a bit!"

It was kind of a rude thing to say to a performer, but Octavia didn't feel offended at all. In fact, she suddenly felt calm. Vinyl's voice somehow made Octavia feel safe. No. It wasn't the words that she spoke. It was Vinyl's presence, the fact that Vinyl was right there with her. Octavia shook her head a little and decided to not think about Judgy Jam's critique right now, but only think about the next song. She picked up the bow once again, took in a deep breath, and started playing a song she and Vinyl had come up with together.

Unlike other classical party music, the melody was quite fast paced. Instead of the usual slow and clam flow, Octavia's song was jumpy and bright. It was like a filly running under the sun, chasing butterflies. There were questions being asked among the audience, but Octavia didn't care. In fact, she barely heard the voices of others. She was putting all of her thoughts, all of her attention, all of her heart into the music she was producing at that moment. She tightly shut her eyes together and let her hooves move of their own freewill. She remembered all the times she spent together with Vinyl, and her hooves jumped at the joyous thoughts. Notes sprung from the cello strings like playful children, and the audience slowly fell into sync with the music. Ponies started nodding to the rhythm of the music, and the sound of chattering disappeared. Ponies stopped talking and everypony turned their attention to Octavia, who didn't seem to notice at all.

Octavia felt the emotions flowing inside her like a busy river. She started tapping her feet and shifting her weight back and forth to the rhythm. Her hair flew up in the air and swung to the sides as she played. It almost looked like she was dancing with the cello, and it was stunningly beautiful.

Octavia froze in place as the last note echoed around the room. She removed the bow from the strings and looked up. To her surprise, there was no sound. Octaiva was confused. Even if her style had not been accepted, the Canterlot ponies should still remember the basic respects given to a musician. They should have at least quietly stamped their hooves on the ground, even though it might have come with a mixture of criticism. However, there was no sound. It was completely quiet.

Octavia curiously looked up. She saw everypony staring at her with their jaws opened. Their faces were filled with shock. Even Fancy Pants and Fleur were looking at the stage, speechless.

"YEAHHH! GO OCTAVIA!!! THAT WAS AMAZING!! WHOOOOOO!!!!"

It was Vinyl's voice. She stood ONTO the chair and was clapping her hooves in the air, yelling. Her voice seemed to have woken up the audiences, who seemed to almost be dreaming. Applause rose up into the air like fireworks. Octavia looked up, but she wasn't paying attention to the audience. She was looking calmly at Vinyl, who gave her a big smile and another long "WHOOOOO!"

Octavia smiled and left the stage. Her bow held tight, her steps steady, and her mind filled with joy.