Discord wiped the left side of his yellow jacket with his hand, straightened his red tie and passed his other hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. He had always enjoyed the reflection of his face in the mirror. Some called it ego, he preferred “justified pride”, mostly because it sounded better. But he did care about his looks. Beauty wasn’t centered on matching clothes, or muscles, it was something that one could build himself, if he had the desire, and the spirit. And Discord had both.
He caressed his abnormally long teeth with two of his fingers, smiled at the mirror, grabbed his keys, and headed towards the door. But the sound of someone walking a few feet behind him made him turn around:
“Hhmmmhhmm… Baby… Where are you going?” said a smooth and feminine voice, apparently barely awakened.
“I’m having coffee with an old friend… Hum, what’s your name, again?”
“Sassy… C’mon babe…”
“Yes, yes, that’s right. Sassy! I’ll be seeing you later. Maybe.”
“Oh! Here babe, I wrote my number here, don’t forget to call me!”
“I won’t.”
“What?!”
“No, I mean I won’t forget.”
“Aww you’re the sweetest! See you later babe!”
“That’s right…”
Discord shut the door behind him, and threw the small piece of paper in the nearest trashcan. He then hopped in his convertible, jumping over the driver’s door. He grabbed a milk chocolate can from the backseat, and started driving, putting the radio’s volume on max.
Living in downtown Canterlot had its good sides, but traffic was a nightmare. Luckily, he had left half an hour early. Just to be sure he wasn’t going to be late. His “old friend” didn’t like this kind of sloppy behavior.
After exactly twenty-eight minutes of driving, he parked in front of the bar they had chosen as a rendezvous point. He chose a seat in a corner, near the window covered by a red curtain of poor manufacture. Before he even had the time to order something to drink, the door opened once again, and he immediately recognized the newcomer.
The tall woman walked slowly to the table, pulled a seat, threw her backpack on the ground, and sat without breaking eye contact with the chemistry teacher.
Discord smiled at her rude behavior and angry look, accentuated by the long scar across her right eye.
“Hello Tempest, how have you been?”
}--oO0Oo--{
Vinyl, Bon-Bon and Lyra were laughing as they were running through Canterlot High’s hallways. This lunch break sure had been stressful, but also some “good quality bonding time” as someone who’s likely over forty most likely said one day. Now they were late for class, and even if neither Vinyl or Lyra cared for it at this point, Bon-Bon had insisted on going, to clear her head.
“Not a bad idea. After all of this, some boring classes would maybe calm our blood pressure…”
The two girls left Bon-Bon in front of room 404, and headed towards the other side of the hallway, in room 407. The door was closed. Shit. They had biology, and even though the teacher seemed kinda nice, they weren’t aware of her policy concerning delays.
Lyra raised her fist to knock at the door, when suddenly the latter opened, to reveal Ms. Zecora, smiling, with the whole class already sat behind the desks, staring at the two girls.
“Good! You’re here at last!” said the teacher “Being late for the second class sure would have left me aghast.”
“We’re sorry. We were… busy.”
“Dammit Lyra, shut up.”
“Oh I am sure you were. And you are going to be: go stand over there.” she smiled at the lyrist, pointing the platform in front of the teacher’s desk.
“Um… I’d rather not?” Lyra smiled awkwardly, hoping for her teacher’s compassion.
“Stop this complaining and do it. You, you can go seat.”
“Well, being mute has its benefits. Good luck Lyra…”
“Now, Ms. Heartstrings, do tell us about what we studied yesterday. And I am asking for details, if you may.”
Vinyl chuckled as she searched for a seat. Lyra had done it again. Her big mouth got her in trouble again. She then found what she was looking for: Octavia, with an empty seat next to her. Perfect.
“I should tell her that we help her. Well, maybe not every detail, she would totally freak out. Let’s leave…. everything illegal aside. Jeez, that doesn’t leave much to say…”
The DJ let herself fall on the wooden chair, laying both her arms on the table and passing her hand in her blue hair. She looked for a second at Lyra, trying to collect every fragments of the previous class ; but her gaze quickly centered on the girl sitting next to her.
“Oh, he… hello Vinyl. I was afraid you and Lyra were in some sort of trouble, but then I remember her telling me that… being on time wasn’t her “thing”, or whatever she meant by that.”
Almost by instinct, without realizing that it was a foreign language to her friend, Vinyl moved her hands to ask how Octavia was doing.
“Oh I’m… doing alright. Is that what it means? I’m not really sure yet.”
That lightened up Vinyl’s face with a large smile. With all these events, she had almost forgotten that Octavia had taken on sign language. It was so cute and nice, exactly like the cellist.
She gave her friend a thumb up and kept trying some simple signs to test Octavia’s comprehension.
“Have I… learned to eat…?”
Vinyl smiled and took out her pen and paper, much to the shame of Octavia. She pushed the pen’s button and quickly scribbled a few words, before passing the paper over to her friend.
“I… I don’t know Vinyl. I cannot go against my parent's orders, but I took time to think during the lunch break. What struck me first was how lonely it felt. I am more than used to take some alone time to consider things ; but here, without you three, it felt… bland. And I was scared to meet this bully again…”
The DJ placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder, in an effort to comfort her. Her life wasn’t easy, that was for sure.
“...And I don’t know how I could possibly get out of this situation. I want to be with you all, but if my father finds out, I won’t see you ever again… I’m not aware of how he knew about our relation, but he can most likely do it again.”
Vinyl smiled, put her index to her lips and pointed it towards her friend, shaking her head.
“You are not… sure? What do you mean?”
This time, she took a paper to explain:
Me and Lyra found out how. It was your driver. But we took care of it.
“The family driver? Gosh, of course! My father must have been asking him to keep him informed of my whereabouts whenever he drives me here!”
But Octavia’s expression of surprise turned suddenly into confusion.
“Wait… What could you possibly mean by “you took care of it”? You didn’t do anything improper, did you?”
“Well “improper” is a way to put it. I was right, she’s not ready to hear the whole “faking a police interview” and “stealing and destroying a car” thing. Sorry Tavi.”
Don’t worry Tavi, let’s just say you’re going to have to take the bus to school a bit more often.
"What? What do you possibly mean?... Vinyl, what did you do?"
"Oh boy."
Vinyl leaned back in her seat, keeping her hand on Octavia's shoulder, and watching as Lyra was making the whole class feel better about their knowledge of Biology.