Broken strings

After an hour or so, Octavia had changed into her party suit. There was a jazz band on stage, and Octavia was finally able to settle down to enjoy the food and party like any other pony. She was sitting and chatting with Vinyl at a table far away from center stage, giggling from time to time.

"Did you see the look on their faces? It was all like..." Vinyl made an over dramatized, shocked face, and they both burst out into laughter.

“Thanks Vinyl, I was really nervous… and you really helped back there.”

“Hey, I guess I was useful after all, huh?” Vinyl laughed as she sat back and poured herself another glass of beer. The small glass was soon filled, and white bubbles started to flow down the side, but Vinyl didn’t seem to notice.

“Hey Vinyl! Are you drunk already?”

“Huh? Nah, no no. I’m all…” Vinyl’s words were cut off by her burp, “good.”

Octavia didn’t try to hide her disgust. She threw a napkin at Vinyl.

“Geez, you could at least TRY to act civilized. I don’t want to be seen with you by Judgy Jam or any other pony.”

“Chill out Octavia, it’s a party!”

“This is different, Vinyl. I would really appreciate it if you just cut back a little. You know how you can get when you are drunk.”

Vinyl grunted, putting down the drink, “All right all right… geez, you’re so bossy.”

“Ahem!” A sudden loud cough interrupted their conversation. Octavia looked over and immediately froze. It was Judgy Jam. She had her notebooks open and a quill in her hooves. She looked at Vinyl as if she was some kind of disobedient pet and said, “Dear Octavia, this is…?”

“Oh, she… she is my friend, here to watch my performance,” said Octavia.

“Yo sup.” said Vinyl as she laid back in her chair.

Judgy Jam frowned at Vinyl’s attitude and shot her a very uncomfortable look. However, to Octavia’s great comfort, she ignored Vinyl and turned back to Octavia.

“So, I have a few things I would like to know. Would you mind?”

“No, of course not. Please have a seat.” Octavia pulled out another chair at the side of the table. This was probably one of the most important interviews of her life, so she was so concentrated on Judgy Jam that she didn’t notice that the room had suddenly gone quiet. Everypony’s attention had shifted to Octavia and Vinyl.

“So, how long have you been playing the cello?”

“As long as I can remember… maybe since I was two?”

“That is quite impressive. Tell me, Octavia. What drives you to this new... style of classical music?”

“Well… a great friend of mine inspired me. She is an amazing musician, and I thought I could try something a little different.”

“Huh… interesting, interesting… Tell me a little more about this special friend of yours.”

“Well…”

Vinyl suddenly spoke up, “Here, Octavia I got this.” Judgy Jam turned to her, raising one of her eyebrows.

“Yep, that’s me. Vinyl,” Vinyl said with pride. She placed one of her hoofs in front of her chest as if she was receiving a medal.

“Excuse me?” replied Judgy Jam.

“Well you see, we’ve been like the best friends for years. One day, I was just chilling at her place and we decided to try something new together.”

Judgy Jam’s face was lit up with interest. She moved a little closer and said, “Tell me. How close are you girls, really?”

Before Octavia could stop her, Vinyl said, “Oh we are like lovers.”

The entire room was again quiet after a series of loud gasps. Everypony’s eyes were flashing with disbelief and disgust.

Judgy Jam’s jaw dropped, her face frozen in a state of shock. Then suddenly she remembered what she was doing. Quickly jotting something down on her notebook, she gave Octavia a nasty look.

“Hmmm, I have always thought that your style was a bit… gay.” She left with these words and a scary smile.

Octavia couldn’t believe what just happened. The awkward silence was killing her, so she suddenly stood up, knocked over the chair she was sitting in and sprinted out of the room.

“Octavia…wait!” Vinyl suddenly realized what she had just did. The beer bottle she had been holding dropped from her hooves and shattered on the floor. She quickly ran after Octavia.

There was a huge garden behind the dining hall. Vinyl caught a glimpse of Octavia’s tail, and she followed it. Finally, she saw Octavia sitting on a bench next to an artificial lake. She curled up in a small ball, burying her face between her arms and knees.

Octavia heard Vinyl’s hoof steps and raised her head.

“Octy…”

But before Vinyl could apologize, Octavia’s anger exploded. Her gray face turned scarily pale.

“IF ONLY YOU DIDN’T COME ALONG! NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!”

Vinyl was shocked at the words. She stopped dead in her tracks, looking at Octavia. She had never seen Octavia this angry before. Not even the time she had accidently spilled coffee on Octavia's cello had caused this reaction.

“Look Octy, I am really sorry…”

“Sorry?” Octavia gave a cold smile,. “Oh yeah, I am sorry, and everything is going to be all right. Judgy Jam is not going to write the fact that I am homosexual into the next edition of  Pony Times, and my career will be magically saved.”

“I was just…”

“Do you even know how much this meant to me? Do you have any idea what you just did? You just announced our relationship to a room full of at least a hundred high-class ponies! You promised that you would keep it a secret!”

“Octavia, just…”

“You’ve always been so… insensitive!” Octavia said, burying her face into her arms again. Vinyl could only hear her muffled voice, something about “her career."

Vinyl sighed and sat down next to Octavia. She held out her hoof, trying to hug Octavia, but Octavia swung her own hoof and slapped Vinyl’s arm out of the way.

“Do you want to add more material for Judgy Jam? Live action?”

“Ouch Octavia, that really hurt. Look, I am sorry. It’s all my fault, but you are so good at the cello, other ponies won’t even care who you are in love with…”

Octavia looked at her with disbelief, her purple irises burning with the flames of anger. “Are you kidding me? OF COURSE they will! Do you even know how the upper society thinks of this? With a rumor like this, I will never be able to perform anywhere important ever again!”

“Well, I would highly doubt that,” said a colt’s voice from behind them. Octavia and Vinyl turned around.

Fancy Pants was standing on the little path to the bench.

Vinyl moved to the side so she was further away from Octavia, but Fancy Pants laughed and said, “Please, I am not such a homophobic.”

Octavia turned away and said, “I am so sorry Fancypants. I really didn’t mean to cause such a commotion back there.”

“No no, I should be the one apologizing.” Fancypants walked up and bowed. “I am sorry that my guest caused you trouble. Please accept my apology.”

Octavia seem shocked. “Oh… it’s fine really…”

Fancypants shook his head, “No it's not. It was wrong of her to ask such personal question in public. Here, I will be hosting another party in Fillydelphia. Would you like to be my guest and perform your marvelous music again? It would be the least I could do to make it up to you.”

“Fancypants… I don’t know what to say… This is so generous of you… But are you sure it’s all right? I mean… won’t my presence hurt your reputation?”

Fancypants laughed, “Aha, that’s silly talk. Pony Times is famous for making up rumors about famous ponies. As long as you deny the fact and don’t get caught with dear Ms. Scratch, others won’t mind so much.”

Octavia looked at Vinyl.

“Not to be seen with her? Does that mean we have to part?”

“I am afraid so, dear Octavia. It’s merely a request, however. It’s completely up to you, if you want to be my guest or not.”

Fancypants bowed once again. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go look after my other guests. Please, let me know when you’ve made your decision.” With these words, Fancypants left Octavia and Vinyl alone.

Octavia sat there silent for a while. She turned to Vinyl and began to say, “Vin-”

However, Vinyl cut her off immediately, “Are you really still thinking about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s obvious isn’t it? You've still got a shot! Whatcha waiting for?”

Octavia looked down at the ground. “But that means I have to leave you…”

Vinyl shrugged, “Well, I don’t mind really…well I mean yeah, I want to be with you too, but haven’t you always dreamed about being a cellist?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Well then get at it. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Pinkie Pie throws a party like once a week, and I could always get paid to be a DJ there. I have no problem feeding myself.”

Octavia’s voice became lower as she spoke, “But… I don’t want to just leave you.”

Vinyl held out her hooves and hugged Octavia tight. “It’s all right, I can wait.”

Octavia looked at Vinyl with surprise.

“I’ll wait in Ponyville. I'll wait until you’ve finished your dream. Don’t worry too much about me. Do what you want to do and don’t give any bucks to other ponies who try to stand in your way.” Vinyl gave a gentle smile that warmed Octavia’s heart “I will always be there for you, anytime you want to come back.”

Octavia felt tears flowing down her cheeks. She moved closer and hugged Vinyl tight. Leaning on Vinyl, they shared their emotions in the embrace.

“Thank you Vinyl.”

“No prob Octavia, just don’t wipe your nose on my coat.”