Octavia Melody is the royal cello player for Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Prince Blueblood. When she suddenly suffers stage fright, on an unknown cause what is she to do? The show, it must go on. Based on the song Piano Man by Billie Joel. First person narration of Octavia Melody. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It was an average Saturday. The normal crowd shuffled in. I was more nervous than normal, I-I didn’t know why. It could have been the new ponies if, there were any. I gulped back a lump in my throat. “My goodness, what a crowd, what a crowd,” I muttered to myself I, I was the only mare who was good enough for the Princess. Now, I’m suffering stage fright? Why stage fright. I wished I could understand my reason of sudden stage fright. I was told what song to play but for the life of me I couldn’t move. Finally, I managed to move to the stage. Few ponies left; that shocked me. My face felt as if it had no color. I then noticed a stallion next to me smiling, not an inch of worry on his face. The crowd gazed at me the stallion took hold of my hoof, allowing me to glide my bow across the strings like I had no control. The stallion looked oddly like me; an ash gray coat, charcoal black mane, a red bowtie, was basically the only change in me and him, even the cutie mark. “What the . . .” I couldn’t wrap my hoof around the look-a-like me. He was too well made to be real, but, he wasn’t fake; if he was, how could he touch me? The stallion spoke. “Sing a song. You’re the Cello Mare,” the stallion spoke softly into my ear. “’Cello Mare’?” I pondered what that meant. “Yes, you are the Cello Mare,” he said. “Sing us all a song,” he added again he kept his hooves on my bow. The music was beautiful. I couldn’t thank this stallion enough. I ran to Princess Celestia, requesting to find a stallion with an ash gray coat, charcoal black mane, and a cutie mark just like mine. Princess Celestia shook her head. “A stallion you say? Looks similar to you? That sounds like Octavio Note; my former cellist.” Princess Celestia had a sad look on her face. “Could you thank him where ever he is?” I asked only for a shake of the royal tyrant’s head. “I cannot, you see before asked for you, he was my top cellist, then, one concert of this date, he suddenly got horrid stage fright, as he went on stage . . . he collapsed, the police ponies said, Octavio’s cause of death was a severe heart attack. He died; I started looking for a cellist that morning and found you.” Princess Celestia saw the look of utter horror in my face. I saw a supposed to be dead stallion form five years. “One more thing, whatever I saw told me I am the Cello Mare, anything behind that?” I asked confused why he’d call me the ‘Cello Mare’. Princess Celestia tapped her muzzle and nodded. “He’d used to be called the ‘Cello Stallion’.” Ever since that day I was always trying to see this stallion again. I never did. And ever since that day I never, ever got stage fright. In this case I wish I did, just so I could thank this stallion for most likely saving my life.
