Octavia did not like going to the symphony.
At all.
But as a little filly, she had no choice whether she wanted to go or not.
"Octavia! Stop whining and come here before I drag you over here myself!"
A white ribbon with a pink bow on it sat limply on Octavia's hooves, waiting to be tied around her neck. After trying to put it on for a dozen times, it was now crimpled and had a few chocolate milk stains on it after touching it with her sticky hooves. She groaned at hearing her mother's loud voice. How did her mother expect her to be able to tie a ribbon around her neck when she can't even tie her own shoelaces? Not that she wore shoes all the time, only on important occasions like during those fancy dinners they get invited to at Grandma's. Even though her grandma did not like shoe stains on her carpets.
The sound of hooves stomping down the hallway towards the restroom made Octavia panic. She began to fumble with the ribbon until her mother poked her head in the doorway and yelled.
"What are you doing in there?"
Octavia jumped at the outburst, and saw her mother out of the corner of her eye, nervously. She lifted the ribbon towards her mother, trembling. Her mother's gaze seemed to soften, and sighed.
"I thought you had already learned how to tie a knot by now." She said. Shaking her head, she grabbed the fabric and brought it around her daughter's neck. In less than a few seconds, she pulled on the loose ends to secure it in place. "There, see? Not so hard right?" Waiting for a response, after a while, Octavia nodded glumly.
Her mother sighed, for the hundredth time that day, and many more to come. "Look, sweetie...I'm sorry I yelled so loud at you, I didn't mean to make you nervous." It stung to see her shaking like this because of her. Sometimes she wondered if she was a good mother, despite the fact that her only way to earn bits was by playing her instrument, the piano, at special events. She would be hired to play at the town's church, or at a school concert for Miss. Cheerilee. Octavia wouldn't mind going to either of those places, for she could always go to the church's playground when bored, or at the school concerts, she could always play with the other students her age. There are times when she gets called to play at the symphony, which Octavia hated going. Whenever she had to go, she would always try to find someone to take care of Octavia, but none of them agreed, especially that fashion snob at Carousel Boutique who can't even throw out her own trash.
Octavia stared at herself at the mirror for a while longer, then turned to her mother and gave a small smile, "It's ok Mom, I just don't like going to the sy-symff..."
"Symphony." Her mother supplied.
"Yeah...that." Octavia said, scrunching up her nose before saying, "You sure I have to go? I can stay home by myself, I won't break a thing, I promise!"
Her mother tried to answer as nicely as possible. "Sorry Octavia, but you have to come. I couldn't find anypony else to take care of you." Knowing that her mother was not going to argue any further, Octavia simply nodded once more. "Ok."
Relieved that it was over, they both stepped out of the bathroom and walked down the hallway towards the main room where the front door was. She picked up her saddlebags with all her piano music sheet inside, and checked to make sure everything she needed was in there. "Ready?"
No, Octavia thought, instead, she nodded, not for the first time that day, and certainly not the last.
Octavia went through the door first, and behind her, her mother looked at the back of Octavia's neck and pursed her lips as she saw the ribbon coming loose. On instinct, she reached out and pulled on the ends so quickly that Octavia yelped.
"Ow!" Octavia turned to look at her mother giving her a sheepish grin, and for the first time that day, she returned it with a real smile.
***
It was almost dusk when they arrived. In front of them stood a giant, four story building with a domed roof in the middle. Bright, yellow light streamed out of the dozens of windows, and there were a lot of ponies waiting in line to go inside. They approached the main doors before a security unicorn stopped them. "You have to get in line miss."
Her mother reached into her saddlebags and took out a pass and held it to the security pony. "I have a pass, I'm the pianist they hired to play for them." He inspected it a little while longer before asking, "Allegro Tone?" She nodded, and he returned it to her. "You may pass." They only walked three steps before he stopped them again, "Is she with you?" he gestured at the little grey filly. Allegro looked behind her and scoffed, "Yes sir, she is mine."
After letting Octavia through, he mumbled, "Have had kids before trying to sneak inside pretending the ponies in front are their parents."
Inside was crowded, as usual. There were ponies bumping into her every step she took, while trying to not get trampled on. In reality, it wasn't really that bad, but because of her small figure, it made it look like a swarm of locust all around her.
Did I mention how much she hated the symphony?
Allegro had finally made it to the correct backstage room and went inside with Octavia trotting behind her. Inside there was a large dark room with a group of ponies getting ready for a concert, but she frowned when she didn't see any of those big, instruments that ponies usually play at a...well, symphony.
"Mom, where are all the big and small violins?" She asked. Instead, she only saw ponies singing and warming up their voices and vocal cords. Allegro smiled, "They don't only do symphonies here Octavia. They also do rock concerts, choir, dances, band, and many others." She paused for a second, then frowned. “Besides, they're not called 'big and small violins.' They're called violas, basses, and cellos. She gestured at the ponies practicing. "I'm just here to play the piano for them." Octavia looked around, but didn't see any piano. "Where is the piano?"
Allegro motioned for her to follow, as they walked through another crowd of ponies. Octavia shuddered, she felt like they were all looking at her small size. How could these ponies stand being on stage with everypony watching and staring at them? She would never go up there and do something like that! Plus, she can't even sing, not that she hadn't really tried before.
"Ah, she's gorgeous!" She heard Allegro say, and turned to see what she meant. In front of her stood probably the largest instrument she's ever seen! Any other instrument she'd ever seen were all the way from the seats, and they were too small to see and guess their real size. And the piano they had at home was smaller, more rectangular shaped with a wooden surface. The piano she saw was a pitch black color, its surface seemed to gleam off its edges from the bright lights above.
Before Octavia could reply, Allegro rushed towards the piano and looked at it full of wonder. She looked like a little filly getting her cutie mark for the first time. Octavia looked down and stared at her flank, she hadn't gotten hers yet, but she wasn't worried or in any rush. None of the other students in her class have gotten theirs either. Her mother's cutie mark wasn't much of a surprise, it looked like a fancy C had been flipped with two dots next to it. Her mother had said it was called a bass clef, whatever that meant.
Allegro was still smiling like an idiot at the sight of the piano, which was odd, since it wasn't her first time seeing one either.
"This is amazing!" She gushed, before sitting on the bench. Placing her hooves on the black and white keys, she began playing scales and octaves. "Incredible! All eighty eight keys are working perfectly! Oh, color me green with envy! Our piano back home has a broken F sharp key on the treble side, and every time I play a song with that note, it sounds awful!" Octavia frowned, what?
Allegro must have seen the confusion on her face, then explained it in a more understandable way for non-music ponies. "Ours has a black key on the right side that's broken."
Oh. Made much more sense.
Octavia walked up towards the keys and began pressing her hooves down on them, and out came the beautiful sound of the strings playing. There was...one question though...
How in the wide wide world of Equestria are you supposed to play this thing with hooves?!
Frustrated, Octavia grumbled to herself. She is never going to understand all these musical terms, they sounded confusing. I mean, what's the difference between a G sharp and A flat? They were both the same exact key! Those were one of the only questions that she ever bothered to ask her mother about music, and that she actually understood.
"Do you know why I named you Octavia?"
Octavia turned at the sound of her mother's voice and shook her head. She had no idea, but the name at least didn't sound embarrassing like Snips or Snails.
Allegro continued, "Well, I named you after a musical term...well, kinda. Do you know what an octave is?" A little head shook. "Well, I'll try to explain it to you easily. It's like the space between the same note, like from C to C, or D to D. Between those notes, there are eight notes, or keys, including the first and last one." She paused and frowned, then added, "Huh, well wouldn't it still be six notes between them then? Hold on..." Her mother seemed to doze off for a few seconds before she realized Octavia was still there staring at her uncomprehendingly. "Oh never mind, let me show you."
She began playing simple notes, Octavia realized it was C to C. The C note was the only one Octavia recognized, because it looked pretty lonely with only one black key to its right.
"This is called a C scale." Her mother said. Ha, she was right! For Octavia, it sounded more like 'do re mi fa so la ti do', which was probably why there were eight syllables in that phrase she's heard before.
"So do you get it now? Octave, Octavia?"
A surprised little "Oh." came from Octavia's lips. She then asked, "What about your name? Allegro?"
Allegro smiled, "Ah yes, it means playing music in like a brisk, rapid movement." Octavia nodded, she definitely understood that one. She may not be an expert, but she knew what 'rapid' meant. Only an idiot wouldn't know that one.
The ponies who were singing were beginning to settle themselves in their stands and positions. Octavia saw her mother taking out some books out of her saddlebags and placing them on some sort of stand thingy in front.
"The curtains will be opening soon, you're gonna have to go backstage and watch from there." Allegro said. Without another word, Octavia rushed towards the back and out of sight. She turned to see her mother on the bench, setting up her music. Allegro looked up from the keys and smiled at Octavia, who then smiled back. As annoying her mother can be sometimes with her music obsession, she did indeed love her.
With a whoosh, the curtains opened, revealing a huge number of ponies watching them from their seats, all the way to the ones on the balconies. Octavia gulped as she backed away from the eyes of hundreds of ponies.
She saw a stallion on the stage with his back to the crowd, as he raised some sort of...was that a stick? He made a few swift movements with it before the group of ponies started to sing (amazingly) at the same time. So is that what the stick was for?
"Hey, who are you?"
Octavia yelped as she spun around and saw who it was. Behind her, there was a unicorn filly about her age with a white coat and a mane of different shades of blue.
Nervously, Octavia asked, "W-who are you?"
The unicorn filly stared at her with a blank look before answering. "I'm here with my dad, he's the conductor."
Octavia turned around and saw the same stallion with the stick. (Seriously though, what was that thing called?) There was definitely a resemblance between them with the blue mane.
Octavia relaxed a little, knowing that she also had come with a parent here too. "Me too! I'm here with my mom, she's the one playing the piano." She gestured at her mother's grey coat and pink mane with a hoof. "Um...my name's Octavia."
The other filly smiled, "I'm Vinyl Scratch!" Octavia smiled, at least she'd have some company.
***
The sound of giggling could not be heard over the voices and the applause from the ponies outside.
Vinyl laughed at Octavia's jokes, they were both sharing their stories with each other and talked about their hobbies.
"So, you want to be a DJ?" Octavia asked.
Vinyl blushed, "Well, yeah. I mean sure, why not? Sounds like fun! Although my dad doesn't really agree with me. He says it's too wild and inappropriate, whatever he means by that." She sighed. "I mean, no offense, but I'm not into fancy old sounding music like my dad conducts. Sounds a bit boring and I feel like I'm about to fall asleep." She shrugged, "What about you? What do you want to be? Do you play anything?"
Octavia bit her lip, "Well, I don't really know yet. I'm not really into music anyways." she lowered her eyes to the ground. "Just not interested at that type of stuff ya know?"
Vinyl nodded, "Maybe you just haven't found it yet. Don't worry, I'm sure you will." and she smiled. They hadn't realized the concert was over until they both saw their parents walk in.
"Daddy!" Vinyl got up and jumped up onto her dad's shoulders. "Finally you're done! Can we go home now, please?" She pouted.
He chuckled, "Sure kiddo, just give me a few minutes and let me talk with somepony quickly, ok?" Vinyl groaned in frustration, "Ugh, don't take too long."
Unexpectedly, Allegro walked up to him with a smile, "High Pitch? You asked to talk to me?" Octavia raised her eyebrows and groaned. Does everypony who does something music related have a name related to...well music? She vowed to never name her future child any musical term.
"Mom?" Octavia asked, who then later jumped up onto her mother's shoulders as well, "Can we go back home now?" She hoped and prayed to Celestia that the answer was yes. Forget about the guy with the stick! Come on mom...don't do this anymore! Please please pretty pretty PLEEEEEEEEASE!
Allegro pursed her lips and cast a glance at High Pitch. "In a moment sweetie, I won't be long." She turned around to nuzzle her filly with a smile. "Besides, this could probably interest you."
Yeah, right.
***
"Hey Mr. Pitch, what's that stick for?"
The group of four were walking through the halls of the building, passing by different concert rooms, each one with a different type of show.
High Pitch grumbled quietly to himself, then smiled. "It's called a baton. They're used to tell others how many beats there-"
"A baton? You mean like the ones they use for twirling?" Octavia interrupted, then sighed. "Sorry to break it to you Mr. Pitch, but that wasn't twirling, that was waving it in the air."
Allegro chuckled at High Pitch, who was a bit annoyed at the interruption. "No, not that type of baton, I meant-"
"How about the ones the security ponies use when others are causing trouble?" Vinyl suggested with a snicker, who had decided to play along at Octavia’s joke.
High Pitch's jaw dropped, "You Vinyl, should already know what this 'stick' is for! You've seen me use it a hundred times!" He paused, then continued, "Have you ever seen me beating somepony else with it?"
His daughter snickered, "Nope, but that'd be really fun to watch."
"Besides," Octavia continued. "Isn't twirling for mares only?"
High Pitch began blushing, and his white coat didn't help hiding it either. "N-no? Since when did you start thinking that twirling is not for stallions either?" He then smirked, "Well then I guess that means you girls can't beat somepony else up either."
Octavia and Vinyl both began to stammer. "Tha-that's not true! We can beat up ponies if we want!"
"Octavia!" Allegro warned, but she didn't seem to listen.
High Pitch continued, "What? Isn't it wrong to see a young mare beating others up?"
"Oh yeah, then stallions can't twirl either! They'll look like sissies!"
"HELLO!?"
The trio of arguing ponies turned to stare at Allegro who was furrowing her brow. "Enough with this feminist talk! Geez, I swear their generation is going to be ruined by immature ponies who can't teach the young ones what's right." Once Allegro was done, she turned to see the rest of them staring at her with their jaws open wide.
Vinyl raised her hoof, Allegro sighed. "Yes Vinyl?"
"What's feminist?"
"Oh for the love of-"
"OH LOOKIE HERE! We made it!" High Pitch interrupted, before it could get any worse.
There was a mix of high and deep sounds coming from the room right across from them. Ignoring her mother's anger, Octavia turned towards the sound and began following it. She peered her head inside the door, and her jaw dropped. Inside, there were dozens of ponies of different ages laughing and playing their instruments. She turned to the left and saw about seven ponies playing different types of trumpets, and she only recognized one of them. There were drums, guitars, violins, keyboards, clarinets...so much more that she could not name.
High Pitch entered, "This is the music room, where they teach students how to play their chosen instrument." Allegro entered a few seconds later besides High Pitch, along with Vinyl.
"Wow, you all sure do have a lot of students." Allegro noted.
High Pitch nodded in response. "The reason I brought you here is to see if you were interested in teaching here. We don't have a lot of piano instructors, and most of the ponies who wanted to choose the piano couldn't because we lack the teaching of it. And we only have four proper pianos here, so I thought it'd be great if you could teach here."
Allegro was staring wide eyed at High Pitch the whole time. "You, want me t-like teach here? Like permanently work here? Payment and all?" She cringed at the last part.
High Pitch nodded, "Of course." If he had catch on to that last part, he didn't show any reaction.
"Y-yes of course!" Allegro exclaimed.
High Pitch blinked. "Wow...I-I thought it would have taken you more convincing."
Allegro tilted her head, "Why's that?"
He waved a hoof, "Oh it's nothing, really." he said with a smile.
Octavia got bored of the conversation and let curiosity get the best of her. She began wandering around, looking at how the other ponies played, which then sooner bored her as well. At the other side of the room, were an assortment of different instruments, all stored in their stands. Most of the instruments were too high for her to reach, so she trotted over to the bigger ones, for they could not be placed on a shelf. She passed by some sort of big drum, and she pounded her hoof against it. A loud, deep sound came out of it, and she hit it again and again. She giggled, and decided to explore some more.
Her eyes scanned all the stands, and her eyes landed on a specific one. It looked like a big version of a violin, with longer strings. Since she never had the chance to look at a regular violin, she decided to look at the bigger one. There couldn't be much of a difference, right?
She got closer, and reached her hoof out to touch it. Its surface was smooth, and had an elegant shape. She tried to peek inside in one of the small S shaped holes, to see if there was any sort of gadget or something. Instead, it was empty, and she couldn't get a better look. She drew her head back and saw the silver strings. Huh, they didn't really look like 'strings' from clothing, they looked more metallic and shinier.
Reaching her hoof close, she plucked one of the strings, the thickest one. It made a deep, but soft sound, and she began to pluck the others. She went from thickest to thinnest, deepest, to highest. The sound vibrated across the instrument, and she swore she could feel it hum. Octavia began to giggle, and was marveled at the sounds it made. It wasn't as loud as she thought.
"Octavia?"
She turned around and saw her mother with the others, with her hoof still playing at the strings.
High Pitch walked up, "Ah yes, that's one of our cellos, erm, be careful though."
A cello. So that's what it was called.
Allegro asked again, "Octavia sweetie? It's time to go."
Octavia looked back at the cello, and plucked the strings again. Then, she finally replied.
"I want to play it."
***
"The A string my dear. Ah, try not to touch the bow hair. There you go!"
Octavia furrowed her brow in concentration, having difficulty at sliding the bow from the D string to the A string. She would sometimes play both of them accidentally, and every time she would groan in frustration.
Her teacher, Mrs. Harmony, was trying to teach her to play the first song in her lessons. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Octavia took a deep breath, and tried again. Two D's, go to the A string, two times. Yes! Now press your hoof on the A string at-there we go! Play B twice. Let go and play A again. Continue...
"Very well Octavia," Mrs. Harmony said. "You learn faster at the hoof movements than most students."
The melody kept playing, and it was true. Even as a beginner, she had already memorized the hoof placements for different notes. They still sounded in a sort of rusty way, but that was expected from new players.
Mrs. Harmony kept watching Octavia play for a few more minutes before she said, "It's time to pack her up dear."
Octavia froze. What, now? She turned to her mentor, "Already? But we just started." Mrs. Harmony chuckled, "Yes, we only started one hour ago. Your mother should be here soon"
As if on cue, Allegro stepped inside the music room, along with her friend Vinyl. When Vinyl spotted her, she beamed. "Octi!" She rushed up to her and gave her a tight hug with a cello in between them.
"I missed you so much!" Vinyl exclaimed.
Octavia squeaked as she tried to talk with the pressure of a cello and a filly across her chest. "It's only been a week Vinyl."
"I know! It's been horrible!"
Octavia rolled her eyes, and laughed. Typical Vinyl...
"Here, let me help you put it away" Mrs. Harmony offered. Octavia took one last look at the cello before nodding and handing it back. She watched as Mrs. Harmony placed it inside its case along with the bow, and zipped it up, covering the cello out of sight. Octavia sighed, she wished to have her own personal cello, but her mother couldn't afford to buy one. "Another day." She had said, but she wanted one now.
Once they had left, Allegro asked, "So how was your lesson?"
"Great!" Octavia answered, her usual answer. Then afterwards, her usual question.
"When can I get my own cello Mom?"
Allegro smiled down at her daughter. "Soon. Once I can, I promise I will get you one." Before Octavia could ask any further, she changed the subject. "Vinyl is coming over to stay."
Octavia's ears perked as she turned to smile widely at her friend. "Really? That's great!"
Vinyl had begun jumping up and down on her four little hooves. "I know! We can play games, have pillow fights, have s'mores, give each other makeovers, and play Twenty Questions, oh! We can even tell each other ghost stories!"
Allegro raised her eyebrows. "Be careful with the ghost stories. I don't want you girls wetting the bed or waking me up in the middle of the night." She was looking at Octavia the whole time she said this.
Octavia's cheeks began to turn red. "N-no I don't!" Behind her, Vinyl began laughing.
Allegro continued, "Oh yes. Once she also started to p-"
"MOM!' Octavia yelled, then huffed in anger while the other two were laughing. This was going to be a long walk back home.
***
"How do you even play the cello with hooves?" Vinyl asked, as she waved her hooves in a desperate motion. Octavia shrugged. "It's easy, really. Not as hard as it looks, unlike somepony else who was to play a hundred keys at the same time." She gestured at her mother. Allegro grinned. "The world may never know!"
"Seriously though! You'd need fingers for that!"
Allegro's grin grew wider. "Fingers? Pfft, those are for the ones who can't take a challenge!" She then later looked into her saddlebags and brought out some keys. Once the door was unlocked, then fillies rushed inside and into Octavia's room as Allegro smiled after them. She reached her hoof into her saddlebags again and took out a few golden bits. She went into her room and dropped them into a small jar with bits already inside on a counter beside her bed. She smiled, some day.
***
"This is the story of the boring, no fun at all ghost, who bored everypony within a hundred miles! Ooooooo!"
Octavia trembled against the bedside, her eyes wide with fear as Vinyl told a horror story with the lights off, and a flashlight shining across her face, which only made her look scarier.
Vinyl saw the look on her friend's face, and continued. "The ghost would always haunt other ponies’ houses. Every night, she would choose her victim..."
***
"...and would bore them to death!"
Octavia tried to keep her composure, but as much as she tried, she failed. Her hooves were sweaty, and she would constantly look behind her, just in case there was something, which was probably silly. But still! You never know! Even after years of hearing Vinyl's ghost stories, she would always have trouble sleeping. Sure, she probably should have already known by now that she shouldn't bother trying to bear with them, but every time Vinyl would laugh at her at being scared of a fantasy story. She could not accept that, even though it caused her to look like a sonnambula next morning."
"Aww, is Octi scared?"
Octavia stammered, "O-of course not! Just a bit shaky, that's all..."
Vinyl rolled her eyes, "Uh huh, yeah sure..."
Octavia scoffed, "What you don't believe me?" Her friend smirked and shook her head. "Do you really think after all these years I would still be scared of a stupid little ghost story? No kidding..."
"Really? Then why are you stammering?"
I-I'm not st-stammering!" Octavia cursed as she caught herself. "Crap..."
Vinyl snickered, "Told ya. Heck, you're even blushing."
Blushing even harder, Octavia complained. "N-no I'm not!'
"Aww, don't worry about it Octi, you look cute when you blush." Impossibly, Octavia's face turned even redder. She covered her face with her hooves, preventing Vinyl from looking at her cheeks. When she moved them, she squeaked as she saw Vinyl leaning closer to her face with a smirk.
"It's ok, you can admit that you're scared. Then I might stop telling ghost stories from now on."
Gosh, this was impossible! "I already told you, I'm not scared."
"For Celestia's sake Octi, even after all these years, you always lie to me with the same answer." Then, she smiled, and it slowly turned back to one of her smirks. "I know what will make you feel better."
"Please Vinyl, I-" Whatever it was, Octavia couldn't finish her sentence as her lips were suddenly pressed against Vinyl's. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt her cheeks burn, she looked down and saw that her friend was blushing through her white coat. This was a surprise, she never knew her friend was into mares...
They remained that way for a few moments longer, until they parted.
Vinyl looked down at the floor, then said, "Heh, did that help?"
Still in shock, she tried to speak. "Vinyl I, um..."
Vinyl interrupted, "It's ok. Sorry if I bothered you. Buck me, what was I thinking..."
They sat in silence for a while, before Octavia decided to break the silence. "It's ok."
The white unicorn perked up, "Really? I mean, I know I shouldn't have done that and all. But, are you sure?"
Octavia nodded. "Sure, I guess. I mean, no hard feelings right?" She blushed. "Besides, I kinda liked it."
Vinyl seemed to have a double take as she gaped at Octavia, she seemed to be at a loss for words. "Octi, I. Really?"
"Sure." Octavia giggle. "Now who's the one blushing?"
With her eyes still in shock, she shook her head. "You're taking this very easily."
Octavia shrugged. "I guess." She then leaned in and kissed Vinyl's cheek, and Vinyl gasped at the sudden touch. "Did that help?" Vinyl gave a small smile. "Yeah, thanks."
"Now, try to get some sleep."
***
The sound of hooves running against the tiled, white floor echoed across the hallways. Octavia took short, shallow breaths as she approached one of the familiar medical ponies who worked there.
"Octavia?" The white earth pony with a light pink mane had a worried look on her face. "Your mother-"
"How is she?" Octavia asked before Nurse Redheart could finish her sentence.
Nurse Redheart pursed her lips. "Allegro is down that hallway, room forty seven." Without answering, Octavia ran down the hallways to her right until she reached a minty colored door. She threw the door wide open, and saw her mother laying on a gurney with her eyes closed. Beside her, there were different sorts of monitors keeping track of her heartbeat and health.
"Mom!" Octavia rushed towards her mother and stood beside her. "Mom? Are you feeling ok?"
Allegro looked up to see Octavia, and smiled. "Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." She placed her hoof against her chest, "Just my heart causing some trouble."
Octavia shook her head, "No. No you're not ok!"
"Then why did you ask if I was ok when you say I'm not?"
"Mom, now's not the time for games. Please, everything will be alright, I promise."
Even after all the pain she's been through, Allegro still managed to smile. "Now, let's not get all depressing. How about a few jokes instead?"
Octavia didn't want to agree, but for her mother's sake, she nodded. "Alright."
"I'll go first." Allegro began thinking, then continued. "Ah, I got one. You know, when I was still a teenager, I would always think what my last words would be before I die. I would look over at the pony next to me and say 'I hid a million bits in the-' then die before I get to finish my sentence."
"Mom! That's not funny please!" Octavia begged. Allegro shrugged, "What? I thought this was a proper time for a joke like that."
"That's not a joke! That's downright wrong and cruel!"
"All right all right." Allegro sighed, then grinned. "What if I actually did though?"
Octavia groaned and placed a hoof over her forehead. "Even when blood is not going through your vessels, you still manage to act like a six year old."
"Ah, well-" Allegro suddenly started coughing violently as she clutched her hooves over her chest.
"Mom!" She ran towards the door and yelled across the hallway. "Somepony help please!" Without waiting to see if somepony heard, she went back to her mother and held her up. Behind her, Nurse Redheart and a couple of other medical ponies came in.
One of the medical ponies began to examine the monitors beside her, while Nurse Redheart began tending to Allegro.
"I'm gonna have to ask you to leave miss." A stallion behind Octavia walked up to her.
"What? No! She's my mother!"
"Octavia!"
She turned at the sound of the voice and saw Nurse Redheart with a hurt look on her face. "Please, we need you to leave."
Octavia's eyes began to fill with tears, as she backed away and had a door shut in front of her face. She pressed her back against the wall as she brought her hooves up to her mouth, and wept.
***
Everything hurt. No words could describe this sort of pain, pain that she's never felt before. Hooves trembled. Eyes stung. Head hurts. Chest burns. Everything. Hurt.
So much.
"Octavia?"
Leave me alone. There's too much pain.
"Octi?"
Her head looked up at the sound of her nickname. In front of her vision, she saw white hooves and a vibrant blue mane.
Octavia sniffed and shut her eyes tight. I just want this pain to end. Please Vinyl...not now.
"I'm sorry."
Sorry. How many times has she heard those words for the past few days? Sorry for your loss. Sorry for the past events. So sorry. My apologies. I'm sorry. I've heard the news, so sorry. Terribly sorry. No amount of 'sorrys' could remove the pain.
She felt a movement beside her, and saw Vinyl laying down next to her. She didn't bother to look, and just sat there like a statue.
"Octi. Please."
"Leave me alone." After hours of sitting there in the corner of her room, she finally spoke. "Please, just leave."
Vinyl's mouth opened to say something, then closed it. She just wanted to help, oh Octi...please.
"No."
A loud slam across the floor startled Vinyl as Octavia looked down at her, with dry tears on her face. "Just go please! Everypony keeps bothering me! Why can't I just be left alone?"
"Because I care!" Vinyl replied. Octavia stared back with shock and anger.
"Then don't."
"It hurts me to see you like this!'
"Then how do you think I feel?!"
"Horrible! I know!"
Octavia began to sob, and Vinyl felt a pang of guilt. She reached out to hold her, but Octavia pushed her away. Tears began to fill her own eyes as well. "I'm so-I didn't-" She began, then sighed. "I didn't mean it." Octavia turned to face her, and said, "It's not your fault." She began wiping her eyes and nose. "And...you can stay."
Vinyl gave a relieved small smile. "Thanks."
They held each other for a few minutes before Octavia said, "Can I, go check something?"
"Of course."
Octavia got up from the floor and began walking out of her room. Across the hallway was another door, and she entered. Inside, there was a single bed, with a piano against the wall. That's where she last had moved it. Allegro would sometimes want to move the piano from the main room to her bedroom, but it'd take a lot of ponies to do so. The scene looked lonelier with the curtains closed, causing a grayish effect on the walls. On one of her dressers, she spotted a few picture frames of her and her mother when she was younger. One of them almost made her break down again. It was a picture of both of them with their instruments, a pianist and a cellist. Both playing a duet. It was one of the happiest memories of her. They would sometimes argue that one of them was going too fast or too slow.
She walked towards her mother's piano, now old over the years. She pressed her hoof against one of the white keys, and began playing higher. A scale, her mother had called it, it was all she knew to do. Even till today, she still didn't know how she could have played it with hooves.
She began to walk out as something caught her eye. On a counter beside the bed, there was a collection of glass jars, filled with golden bits, most of them were overflowing. She frowned, and got closer to them. On one of them, there was a label, and there was something written on it with black marker.
'Octavia's Cello'
A small smile began to spread across her lips. Her mother wasn't kidding, she did have a million bits hiding, and they were a gift just for her.
***
Vinyl began walking backstage as she saw ponies preparing the lights for the show, but they didn't matter right now. She spotted Octavia at the back of the room, with her cello beside her. She had her eyes closed in concentration as she played music that almost seemed impossible to play. Her hoof was moving the bow in swift motions, and her other hoof was moving from string to string, making a beautiful, vibrant sound.
"Looking good Octi, ready?'
Octavia stopped playing and looked towards Vinyl with a loving smile. "Do I look good, or sound good?" She asked jokingly.
"Both." Vinyl replied. "But mostly the first one."
Octavia rolled her eyes at her. "Well, if you're more attracted at my looks than my music, that shouldn't be a problem" She said, then winked.
Vinyl smiled, "Well, I've actually got something that would make you look more...professional."
"Don't I already look professional enough?"
"Nah, more like a 'cute and professional' sort of way.'
"Ah, alright. Let's see it."
Vinyl reached out from behind her and took out a familiar piece of fabric. It was white with a pink bow on it, the only difference was that it didn't have any chocolate stains on it from sticky hooves.
"Vinyl! Where did you find it?" Octavia exclaimed.
"Just somewhere under your bed." Vinyl, then held it out to her. "May I?"
Octavia nodded as Vinyl reached her hooves behind her neck and began tying a knot. She looked down at the earth pony's face. "Did you want me to tie it for you so you can be this close to me?" She said with a smirk.
"Nah, I just didn't know how to." Octavia grinned.
Vinyl rolled her eyes, "Ha ha, very funny." She leaned in and pressed her lips against hers. Everything seemed to fade out as Octavia closed her eyes and gave a small moan. Vinyl pulled back, "Now, I don't want to distract you before your show."
"Hmm, you're right" Octavia said quietly as she stared lovingly at Vinyl's eyes. "Thanks though."
"Now go get 'em!" Vinyl exclaimed as she trotted back towards the exit. "I'll see you from the seats."
Octavia practiced for a little while longer, before one of the ponies trotted up to her. "You've got five minutes miss." Octavia nodded, "Thank you." Once the pony left, she looked at her surroundings and saw that she was standing right where her mother once was years ago. How she missed her, but she had left something special for her behind before she left.
With a whoosh, the curtains opened, revealing a huge number of ponies watching them from their seats, all the way to the ones on the balconies. Octavia gulped as she cast her face away from the eyes of hundreds of ponies. Then, she spotted the vibrant blue mane, and saw Vinyl smiling down at her. With that, all the nervousness washed away.
The spotlights landed on her, the ponies patiently waiting for her performance. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and raised the bow against the strings, and began playing for the world to hear.
Author's Note
Whew, finally finished! This took longer than expected, and it's my longest one yet. Sorry if I made any mistakes in the musical terms and such. I am also a beginner in cello, but already have experience with piano. There may be minor spelling mistakes here and there, but they were not intentional. This was an idea I had for some time, and decided to share it.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story 
