It was lunchtime at Canterlot High.
Even when there weren’t any spontaneous musical numbers going on, the place still managed to be obnoxiously loud and annoying.
Almost as loud and annoying as Octavia’s table guest.
Well, that might have been a little confusing. Actually, there were two table guests. One of which she got along with relatively well. Vinyl Scratch, a fellow music enthusiast, to the point of always wearing her headphones, even at lunch. Despite her affinity for loud music, Vinyl herself was agreeably quiet; either because she was mute or because she refused to speak until she figured out how to turn her own voice into dubstep.
Octavia wasn’t much for modern music, preferring the classics, but she could appreciate the art that went into making it all the same.
No, the problem was her other table guest, the one that fortunately only showed up sporadically: whenever she had something to vent about.
“Trixie can’t believe it, Vinyl! Everyone just keeps blabbering on about that stupid siren music contest as if the Rainbooms actually won!” Trixie motioned angrily with her fork. “It’s as if they all conveniently forgot that it was The Great and Powerful Trixie that rightfully won the semi-final! Trixie isn’t sure how they got the judges to say otherwise, but it was an affront, wasn't it?!”
Vinyl replied with her favored method of communication, nonverbally, of course. She nodded.
Octavia busied herself with her plate and did her best to pretend she couldn’t hear Trixie. Where did Trixie even get a fork from? She didn't have a tray with her. Speaking of which... Octavia noticed she only had a knife on her own tray! She was sure she had not made a mistake in selecting cutlery. She shot a glare at Trixie, but said nothing.
No one that Octavia knew liked Trixie. She was a notorious showboat at the best of times, always looking for competition or a chance to talk herself up. She was the type of person that would help you only if she got attention out of it.
While the siren magic had influenced most of the students into acting like complete jerks, it hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice that Trixie had been just her usual self.
“Now if Trixie brings it up people just think she’s a sore loser! Trixie doesn’t know why she even bothers. Every time she makes an effort she gets snubbed for it. It’s the gym incident all over again, you know?” Trixie interrupted her dramatic gesturing for a moment to give a quick glance to Vinyl for confirmation, who nodded.
Everyone knew that back when Sunset Shimmer trashed the gym, Trixie had been among the first to offer to help redecorating, but she lost interest when she wasn’t allowed to put up life-size posters of herself. Who did that?
"Yeah, this was Trixie's big chance." Trixie stabbed the fork into the table with enough force to leave it standing upright if she could ever bring herself to let go of it, anyway. Not that Trixie did; she clutched it even tighter, as though she were trying to choke the life out of it. “If Trixie had won they’d all have to take her seriously again, but nooo it’s all fancy magic light show this and saved the school that! Trixie did fancy magic light shows first! Where is her praise!? Now Trixie’s just a loser like everyone else, again.”
A loser was right.
“Stupid jerks, abandoning Trixie like that...” Trixie seemed to be shimmering down; that was to say, she was merely scratching the fork along the table instead of actively stabbing it.
Octavia bit her tongue. Of course, even the two cronies Trixie had managed to recruit into her band left her as soon as the siren magic wore off. Apparently, Trixie had taken advantage of their magic addled minds, manipulating them to participate in sabotage and… what did trapping a band below the stage till nightfall count as? Kidnapping maybe?
Trixie let go of the fork, leaving it discarded on the table besides what was now clearly a carving of Trixie's own name in cursive. “At least Trixie can always count on you. Did you see that movie Trixie told you about? Wasn’t it great?”
Octavia wondered if Trixie even knew that Vinyl had been the one that freed the Rainbooms. It didn’t matter. Trixie certainly didn’t see it that way if her continued familiarity was any indication. All the while, Vinyl just nodded along with everything Trixie said.
“Hah, Trixie knew it would be your kind of thing. Hey, we should hang out at my house sometime.” She looked over at Vinyl and in sing-song voice to entice her she added, “Trixie has the sequel.”
Vinyl nodded in agreement.
“Great, it’s a date! What say we start around…” Trixie looked down at her watch and squeaked as though she’d seen a ghost. “Gah! It’s this late!? Trixie forgot to get lunch! She can’t be expected to sit through math class on an empty stomach! Trixie would die!” Trixie sprung up, knocking the chair backwards with reckless abandon, straight into some poor guy sitting at the table behind her. “Trixie will talk to you later, alright?” She didn’t wait for a reply as she immediately sped off to make good of the dwindling minutes of lunchtime left.
Vinyl nodded, seemingly undisturbed by the outburst. Perhaps she was already used to Trixie acting this way.
Watching the magician run off, Octavia couldn’t help but notice how much Trixie's mood had changed from when she’d sat down at their table. Before, she was loud, annoying and brooding, now she was cheerful… but still loud and annoying. It had to be some kind of special talent.
Once Trixie was out of earshot, Octavia breathed a long sigh of relief. Peace settled back over their usually quiet table. As much peace as one could have in a school cafeteria anyway, which admittedly wasn’t a whole lot.
From her seat, Octavia could still see Trixie, busily arguing with Granny Smith, the lunch lady, presumably about her right to be served a meal even one minute before classes started again.
“Far be it from me to critique your choice in friends, Vinyl,” Octavia shook her head, “but I fail to grasp how you can tolerate her presence. Not that I am not glad to see you engage with other students… It is just… An unorthodox choice, no?”
Vinyl nodded.
“It’s just, I would hate to see you fall in with a bad crowd.” She tried to look Vinyl in the eye, but all she could see was her own worried expression reflected back in those large sunglasses. How she was allowed to wear them at school was anyone’s guess.
Looking away from herself, her gaze fell upon the Rainboom’s table. Rarity was busy picking confetti out of Sunset’s hair, while Pinkie Pie was reloading a can of it into what looked like… a cannon? Seriously? Forget the Sunglasses; standards in this school were way too loose! Sunset seemed to be laughing it off. “Although… if Sunset Shimmer is getting second chances, I suppose it would be petty of me not to allow Trixie such a benefit… Just be mindful of her antics, and please tell me if she makes you uncomfortable?”
Another nod put Octavia’s worries at ease some.
“If you say so. Now then, what class are you headed to?”
Vinyl nodded.
“That wasn’t a yes or no question, Vinyl.” Octavia sighed and held out her hand. “Show me your agenda, if you please.”
Vinyl nodded, but no agenda was forthcoming.
“Vinyl?”
Vinyl nodded.
“Agenda?”
Vinyl nodded.
“VINYL!”
Vinyl jolted and lifted up one side of her headphones, loud dubstep spilled out as she made a face as if to say ‘what?’
“I asked for your agenda, didn’t you hear?”
Vinyl shook her head with an apologetic smile, then quickly dipped into her backpack, handing Octavia her agenda.
“Thank you,” she said while leafing through it. “So, math? That’s good, we can walk together.” She paused. “Mhm, Trixie did mention she had math as well… I guess… we could walk with her too, considering she too is your friend. It would be impertinent of me to object.”
Vinyl gave her a puzzled look.
“I know, I know… I can’t believe I’m doing this either.” Octavia leaned back and ran a hand through her hair. “I suppose I just didn’t think of Trixie as someone one could get along with.” She admitted while handing the agenda back to Vinyl.
Vinyl pulled out a pen and scribbled on one of the pages then turned it over for Octavia to see.
'Who?'