Annoyance, irritation, dissatisfaction. There was not a single word that could properly describe the sheer frustration that was plaguing Frederic as he tried to process exactly what just happened. To Frederic’s knowledge there had been no major catastrophes, the quartet members budgets were all still in the green, no relatives had died nor any close friends... What had caused such a negative reaction from Octavia?
Now it was Frederic’s turn to pace furiously as he became absorbed in his thoughts, oblivious to Octavia who was looking dejectedly at her hooves, twiddling he forehooves around like a small foal who had just been caught smuggling cookies in the middle of the night. The corridor leading to the backstage was wide enough for Frederic to be able to pace without being uncomfortable and so there was little to distract him from his thoughts.This was the scene for a good couple of minutes before Frederic realised he would not get any answers without asking Octavia directly.
“So...” Frederic began, causing Octavia to suddenly snap her head up in attention. “Would you care to explain what happened back there?” The question was...direct, to say the least. Frederic knew he probably could have worded it in a manner that did not imply that it was Octavia’s fault. But with the concert only minutes away he simply did not have the time and so opted for the direct approach, regardless of how uneasy it made Octavia or himself feel.
Various possible responses from Octavia streamed into Frederic's head, his rather creative imagination suddenly conjuring images of anger, distress, panic, bitterness all caused Frederic to instantly flinch away before Octavia even managed to register what he said.
What Frederic wasn't expecting though, was complete and utter silence from Octavia who instead opted to just grimace and look away. The mare had a sharp wit accompanied by a sharp mind, if she felt that her perspective was correct then she could and would argue for days on end.
Now Frederic also became nervous as the area suddenly seemed to become saturated with uneasiness, the normally verbal mare suddenly becoming taciturn has never bode well for him.
'Awkward moments of silence seems to be a recurring theme today' Frederic silently mused to himself, it was a rather amusing thought that was quickly overcome with anxiety as the situation continued to sour. Octavia's continued silence did nothing to help remedy the situation at all either.
"Octavia..." Frederic began, he failed to continue though, he was at a loss for words. Even for all his time around Octavia he could not tell if he had offended his friend with his rather intrusive question even if his intentions were well placed.
"You, of all ponies, should know the problem" Octavia suddenly stated. It was not hostile but neither was it informative, leaving Frederic with a slew of new questions instead of answers.
"What do you mean I should know the problem?" Frederic snapped back, his patience, although vast, was quickly wearing thin. The whole situation confounded him, something was clearly amiss but no matter how long he pondered, no answer would reach him.
Octavia's expression changed from one of petulance to surprise almost instantaneously, something was amiss with Frederic, there was no way that he could have forgotten what happened during high school.
"So... You don't know?" Octavia carefully inquired. Her current position in the whole situation was precarious, if she was to avoid any further complications then she would have to play her cards correctly, even if the hand she had been dealt was less than favorable.
Frederic however was becoming more and more frustrated by the second, there was definitely something that he was missing.
"What am I supposed to know exactly?" Frederic curtly replied, his teeth grinding together and face scowling. Although he had separated Octavia from the rest of the group so that he could get some answers he seemed to be getting the opposite instead, only more questions than he would ever care for.
"You don't recognize her at all?" Octavia slowly inquired, her voice tip-toeing around Frederic's flustered form.
This caused Frederic to pause, his slight scowl suddenly becoming a blanked shock instead. Frederic had indeed recognized Vinyl from somewhere but couldn't remember where from. It could have been a poster, somewhere on the street, in the recording studio... the possibilities were endless. 'But then why does she sound like she expects me to know her?'
Frustration gave way to sheer curiosity, Octavia clearly knew something that he should have known but didn't.
"And why should I recognize her?" Frederic inquired, frustration still evident in his voice.
Octavia suddenly starts to panic, stammering quickly she managed to blurt out a feeble 'never mind' that was only just heard by Frederic.
Frederic was livid, not only did he not fulfill his initial objective of finding out what was wrong, he now was filled with more questions than answers and he now finds one of his best friend's is withholding information from him. As much as Frederic tries to deny it, he had always had a very short temper, fueled by the stresses of living as a professional musician it made him into a near living time-bomb that could explode any second.
"What do you mean 'Never mind'!" He bellowed, Octavia flinched as if she had been slapped across the muzzle, tears springing to her eyes on instinct, while Frederic did indeed have a short temper and grew angry quickly he rarely showed it.
Frederic's anger quickly subsided upon noticing the tears on Octavia, he rarely grew truely angry at any of his friends and so instantly became filled with regret when Octavia started to shake slightly, shocked from Frederic's sudden outburst.
Frederic quietly trotted up to Octavia and drew her into a hug, quietly he whispered "Oh Octavia... I'm so sorry". Octavia was still in mild shock, fresh tears forming in her eyes, she was shaking slightly but also enjoying her embrace with Frederic. The previous topic of Vinyl seemed to disappear with Frederic's anger and so did her worries while in his embrace.
'Maybe now I can tell him...' Octavia thought, but before she could think of anything to say the corridor door swung open.
"I do say, what is with all these delays?" came a voice. It was not pompous like some Canterlot high-society ponies, but a more sophisticated pronunciation. In trotted Fancypants, flanked by Beauty Brass and Harpo. Fancypants bore a slight scowl which turned quickly into a concerned frown upon noticing Octavia's now slightly bedraggled state.
Fancypants softly walked up to Octavia, who was still being held close by Frederic. "Dear, what seems to be the problem?" His voice was filled with genuine concern. Most of the general public thought of high-society ponies as selfish and arrogant, Fancypants clearly showed how wrong they could truly be.
Although Octavia was what could be considered 'okay', her bedraggled state left her looking like a complete mess and definitely unsuitable for any type of performance whatsoever, let alone a public appearance. Suddenly, Frederic jumped up from his position beside Octavia, completely startling all present in the corridor.
"The performance!" He shouted, Octavia was even less prepared than she was before now that she had to clean up her appearance before the performance. There was also the fact that her cello was still left in the case, pristine yet unprepared, and could be seen from where Frederic was currently standing. Panic gripped the quartet who all immediately rushed for the door, leaving Fancypants bewildered inside the corridor.
Frederic rushed over to the piano, nearly colliding with Vinyl who was busily setting up her own equipment. "Hey! Watch it!" She shouted, not noticing the complete panic that had gripped the other performers. "Terribly sorry, but we really are in a rush!" Frederic hurriedly replied as he rushed off to distribute the sheet music needed for the upcoming performance. As the quartet leader he needed to make sure everypony had finished all their preparations and were ready for the performance, a task that was unfinished at due to the events prior with Octavia.
It was probably the rushed response that Vinyl initially noticed which caused her to realize what was going on around her. Instruments were quickly being checked, rushed yet professionally, by Frederic and Beauty Brass while Octavia had only just started tuning of her cello with assistance from Harpo. Vinyl had already finished her preparation a couple of minutes ago, magic helped the situation immensely.
Finding that she was quickly becoming bored, Vinyl started to walk among the quartet, curious as to how they were preparing. Finding that Frederic was sitting alone on his piano, arranging his sheet music to be neat and presentable, Vinyl decided to walk up to him. Tapping him on his shoulder she quickly inquired, "Is Octavia usually this late in preparing?".
It never did occur to Frederic how Vinyl knew who Octavia was, he was far too busy with his preparations to notice small details. Vinyl hung around Frederic waiting for an answer, he was completely oblivious to her or anything else in his surroundings. His full attention was solely dedicated to his preparations, which is why it was understandable that he screamed like a little filly when Vinyl's head suddenly popped into his vision accompanied by a long drawn out 'Hellooooo~?'
The small commotion drew attention from the rest of the quartet for only a moment, a small frown adorned Octavia's features upon noticing that Vinyl was the cause but she quickly dismissed the distraction, opting to finish her very late preparations as soon as possible.
Chuckling slightly at his antics, Vinyl continued as if nothing had happened. "So what's with the whole, 'Must ignore everything', thing you've got goin'"? Vinyl inquired, her demeanor was definitely friendlier to Frederic than to Octavia, a fact that Frederic quickly noticed. Not wanting to cause any more problems Frederic decided to humor Vinyl, regardless of how annoyingly distracting she was being. "We are currently scheduled to be the first group playing today and unless the preparations are done within the next five minutes we are probably be going to be down a musician". The response was blunt and factual, the usual for Frederic upon being asked by a stranger.
"Well then why don't you just play a solo then?" Vinyl said, this caught Frederic completely off guard and caused him to flounder yet again. "What was that?" He quickly spluttered, this was the first time in his entire career that somepony suggest that he do a solo, even his band-members had never suggested such a thing, if they were going to be late then the whole group was late collectively so that no member would be singled out by the public.
The other band-members seemed to have other ideas however, apparently Beauty Brass managed to overhear Vinyl's suggestion. "That sounds like a great idea actually, it would give us enough time to get Octavia cleaned up as well" Beauty Brass said, loud enough so that Octavia and Harpo could hear her over their preparations. "Just choose something that won't trump our collective performance though" she said with a small chuckle.
"I, for one, would not mind in the slightest, although it would have been nice for one of you to inform me before the change in program" chuckled Fancypants who had only just walked in on time to hear the group's decision, Frederic and Beauty Brass had the decency to blush at their slight oversight.
"Curtains in five!" Shouted somepony, probably one of the backstage crew. "Well I'd better choose quickly then" mumbled Frederic, he hadn't a clue about what piece he should play finding most of his usual solo repertoire to be either too long or too flashy. Mulling over his choice, he was startled by a sudden suggestion from Vinyl.
"Why not River flows in you?"
It was an odd request, there was little information on the composer and so the piece was not well known among ponies. It was peculiar that Vinyl would choose a piece that was one of Frederic's childhood favorites but he quickly chalked it up to being coincidence. It had been a while since he had played the piece but if it was one thing Frederic had absolute confidence about it was his skill in playing piano.
"Curtains in one minute!" Said the same pony, although the volume was more restrained this time. The ponies onstage, excluding Frederic, started to move towards the backstage while quickly saying words of encouragement to Frederic.
"River flows in you it is" He simply stated, sitting himself on the piano stool he waited for the inevitable rise of the curtains.