//------------------------------// // Broken Strings // Story: A Velvet-lined Case // by biasedeyes //------------------------------// Octavia was managing a good clip towards the Canterlot Operahouse orchestra pit when she almost collided with Shivering Reed. Fortunately, she was well-practiced in situations where somepony got right in front of her while she was carrying her cello at a full trot. She managed to stop herself and her cello just in front of Reed. She sighed, considering the effort it would take to resume her progress, and then realized that Reed hadn't gotten out of the way and that he was instead staring nervously past her. "Sorry." she said perfunctorily, supposing that she had been carting her cello along the underground halls a bit fast. When Reed still didn't get out of the way, she frowned. "S-sorry." stammered Reed in reply "C-conductor Sostenudo wants to s-see you." Octavia raised both her eyebrows at the news, but Reed was already gone in the streams of musicians heading to the pit. She sighed again and jostled her way over to the conductor's room. The Canterlot Operahouse was enormous, and technically ancient, although it had been thoroughly maintained and remodeled over the past centuries. Under the stage ran a vast warren of rooms for the use of the performers. It was one of these rooms that was traditionally reserved for the conductor to review the upcoming performance. As she approached, Octavia reflected how rare it was to be called here in such a manner. She'd only had a preshow meeting like this with the conductor a few times, and that was always with her entire section. She hoped this was good news. "Bad news, Octavia." Conductor Sostenuto spoke quite a bit slower than most Canterlot ponies, rolling every word out for a few beats. His mouth quirked in a controlled grin and Octavia's heart froze. While it tended to be difficult for conductors and musicians to get along, she'd liked Conductor Sostenuto. He was tough and uncompromising, but she'd thought he was fair in his criticism and she liked the dry jokes he cracked from time to time besides. She couldn't believe he was firing her right before a performance. "Long Stop seems to be out sick today." He stared at her a few moments as he finished, silent for about as long as it took him to say 'today'. "The First Cellist. I think you know him." At any other time that would have tugged a smile out of her, but Octavia was still dreading whatever came next. "This means that the solo part is yours. As Second Cellist. If you want it. We can alw-" "No, no! I can do that part. I've actually practiced it recently!" Octavia interrupted. It was true. Since she hadn't felt like her music was up to snuff the past couple days, she'd decided that perhaps she just needed to play something different, and practiced both the First and Third Chair parts. It didn't change her self-assessment, but there was no passing up an opportunity like this. Performing her first solo in the opera house to the royal box. She would be living any musician's dream. "Well then." replied Sostenudo, looking pleasantly surprised, "Thank you. Just, do your best." and he turned back to the sheet music he was reviewing. Octavia cantered to the nearest practice room, and peeked around the door. Seeing it empty, she thumped her case next to the nearest chair. She opened the case and drew out her music folder, flipping hastily through the music until she came to the solo. She hoofed out the relevant pages and arranged the solo on the stand. She drew her cello carefully out of the case, took a deep breath, and started to play through the solo. She cringed at a too-long note, but her rendition was otherwise passable. She took another deep breath and played it again. No better, but fortunately no worse. She considered whether or not she had time to play it through once more. Time was certainly tight, but perhaps... Her consideration was interrupted by Beauty Brass giving a soft cough from the door. She gave a quick smile before speaking, "Hey, Octavia. The conductor wants his cello soloist." Octavia sighed, hurriedly packing her cello back into its case. "Yeah, that's me..." she replied, stuffing the sheet music back into its folder before tossing it in and snapping the lid closed. She gave a nervous laugh before hoisting her cello case up with a hoof. Beauty gave another smile as she said "Big part." Her voice was a bit soft and lacked intonation, possibly due to hearing loss caused by her sousaphone playing. Octavia had played several gigs with her, and liked her, if not as a friend, then at least a fellow musician. They chatted mutedly as they trotted down the hallways to the band pit. "Nervous?" Beauty asked. "Marginally." Octavia replied, and gave another laugh. As they exited into the band pit Octavia got a moment to take in the audience. The operahouse was almost full. Looking to the back as she made her way to the cello section, she saw a dark blue mare with a glinting mane in the center box. Next to her, she thought she could just make out a small splash of grey which had to be Twilight Velvet. As she gave the crowd one last sweeping gaze before taking her seat, she was filled with a sense of calm exhilaration. She felt almost like when she was a filly, picking out melodies on her viola. A sudden resolution suddenly overcame her as she unbuckled her case and picked her cello from the velvet lining. She was going to give this audience a solo, one not just merely good, but memorable. Octavia took a deep breath and prepared to retune herself, but she'd hardly touched the strings when the rest of the orchestra quieted and Sostenudo raised his forehooves for silence. The house lights began to dim and Octavia shifted in her seat instead, quickly arranging the music on her stand under the cover of the quieting murmurs of the audience. The violins softly crescendoed into the intro of the opera. Several measures later Octavia came in perfectly on time with the bass section. She felt elated, as if Luna's eyes were already upon her. This wasn't any different from what she had practiced. The pit had two of each instrument on each part, expect for solos. She played by rote. The solo came during a climactic fight in the second act and as the opera marched forward, the solo drawing ever closer, Octavia couldn't help but feel as though ever-watchful Luna had been replaced by Nightmare Moon herself. Though she could not look up for fear of losing concentration, not to mention seeing Twilight Velvet. The spying presence pervaded her performance, suffocating it as her solo drew near. Practiced from many Galas before, she took a deep breath, touched the sheet music, and focused all her energy on playing the solo. It began soft as the colt on stage readied his lance, and grew in intensity as he descended down the stairs of the extravagant set on stage. Her bow flew over the strings as the colt did battle with the antagonistic pony portraying the evil griffin on stage. The parries perfectly paired with the solo underneath it all. The colt struck true, as the story demanded, and when he did so the accented notes Octavia hammered away on rang clearly throughout the chamber. One thrust, another, and another, until the griffin was defeated. A triumphant chord played underneath the elated solo, as it came to an end. High off of her achievement, Octavia had to practice breathing exercises while playing the remainder of the show to keep from rushing while accompanying the heartfelt singing that concluded it. She had never in her wildest dreams thought she might play the solo so expertly. She silently sent a prayer of apology to Luna, for thinking she might be the beast that had overcome her, and thanked the goddesses for her instrumental victory. The show came to an end, as it must, and after the orchestra played the bows Octavia practically launched her cello into it's case, leaving it in the pit for recovery later, grinning ear to ear. Octavia galloped up the stairs into the reception hall, searching for another grey mare. Suddenly, she saw a giant, ethereally blue, streak of starry hair bobbing above the crowd and headed toward it. She nearly ran smack into a cobalt blue stallion, and slowed her pace to navigate the crowd. As she approached, she caught Twilight Velvet's eye. Velvet smiled at her and beckoned her over with a hoof. Octavia took the last few steps toward the smiling mare and Luna. Octavia's throat felt dry, so she gulped, feeling her mouth, before she said "Greetings!" The end of the word felt forced even to Octavia, and she fell silent. Luna's hair surged forward, falling towards the floor in front of Octavia. She tilted her head down slightly and stared toward her. Octavia opened her mouth, but couldn't think of anything to say. She froze, dreading the moment when the imposing figure in front of her would notice she was at a loss. "Luna, this is Octavia! The cello soloist I told you about" came a voice from Octavia's left. Suddenly, a change came over the somber face that regarded Octavia. It broke into a wide smile. The hair between Luna and Octavia flowed away as Luna stepped forward. "Oh! T'was thou who dids't perform that solo so admirably!" Luna's voice was resonant and strangely intonated. "Ah... yes! That was me!" Octavia was warmed by the memory of her performance as well as Luna's compliment. She was still lost in savoring the memory when she noticed Luna's hoof extended toward her. She glanced back and forth between Twilight Velvet and Luna before gingerly placing her hoof onto the princess' silver shoe. Suddenly, the princess lifted her hoof slightly, pulling Octavia's up with it. "Congratulations!" she declared. Her voice was slightly louder than their earlier conversation, and several of the surrounding ponies noticed. Octavia could hear whispers running through the crowd. She flushed, and pulled her hoof back instinctively, using it to poke softly at the ground. "T... Thank you. I was just..." Don't blow it, Octavia said a voice inside her mind. Unfortunately, this made her words dry up, and so she was left open-mouthed again. This time, though, Luna saved the conversation "The method in which thou managed to prefigure the finale was remarkable! It recalled my time as a filly, when I woulds't listen raptly to Groningian chants." she smiled softly at Octavia. Octavia was astonished, "You listened to Groningian chants?" Luna's smile widened. "Indeed, whenever I hads't chance. They were the prevailing style of my fillyhood." "Did you prefer the chants based around tetrachords or hexachords?" "They both amused us greatly. I did favor the hexachord style somewhat, as it was novel in my youth." Octavia's hoof fell to her cello. "I do enjoy playing hexachords, they are a great deal of fun. It must have been fascinating to be there for the development of music theory." She smiled back up at the princess. Twilight Velvet stepped slightly toward Octavia and Luna, closing the gap between them. "Oh, I know a little about this. Did you like Anadolian or Dolian mode more?" Luna flinched, jerking her head back a bit and opening her mouth, but not saying anything. Octavia figured it was her turn to salvage the conversation. "We were talking about Groningian chants, there was no Anadolian mode back then." Luna gave a small smile and seemed to relax a bit. "Indeed. That was after my time." Octavia turned to Twilight Velvet, hoping some further detail would sate her curiousity. Twilight smiled at her as she explained, "Ponies in that age had to rely on transposition to create today's scales." She turned back to Luna to continue their conversation. "In any case..." Twilight Velvet's voice came again from the left. "How did they tune things then?" Octavia felt a spark of frustration ignite in her as she searched for a reply that would enlighten her partner and put an end to these boorish interruptions. "Twilight, don't be foalish, pre-Equestrian ponies relied on relative pitch to tune things." She shifted back to Luna, but Luna suddenly seemed to by preoccupied looking over her shoulder. As Octavia considered whether she should interrupt Luna's contemplation of the middistance, a cobalt stallion with a crescent moon and star came up on Luna's left. He seemed somehow familiar. "Hey, Luna, I hope you two enjoyed the opera. I know I wouldn't have..." the stallion gave a chuckle. "Say, where is Twilight?" he continued, peering around Luna's barrel. "Ah, we were just conversing, but she left suddenly." Luna replied in a guarded tone. "Just up and left? That doesn't sound like my wife." Night Light cocked his head. "Why would she do that?" "We are... not sure exactly why. Perhaps Octavia knowst?" Luna replied. Octavia was still processing the word 'wife' and was startled by the inquisitive expressions of the ponies in front of her. "Oh, we were discussing Groningian chanting and I answered her question about medieval tuning. Beyond that, I'm... also not sure." "Thou dids't seem rather harsh of tone." Luna looked toward her, left eyebrow drawing an arc high on her forehead. Octavia's mind replayed the last few moments as she studied the eyes of the ponies in front of her, and her heart sank. She'd made mistakes, more than one.