//------------------------------// // Chatter // Story: Filly Friends // by thehalfelf //------------------------------// Chatter After three and a half years at Canterlot University, I thought I’d been just about everywhere or at least knew where everything was.  So, it was with some small bit of embarrassment that I turned to Symphonia, schedule in hoof. “Where is the Sciences Center, Room 313?” I asked. Symphonia turned her dark eyes towards me, then down to the offered paper.  “Your psych class? It’s where the Sciences Building has always been. Remember, we had Biology and Chemistry there.” I rolled my eyes at her.  “I know that, but Room 313 would be on the third floor.  The Sciences Building doesn’t have a third floor.” She floated her own schedule to her then looked at the clock.  “Oh, well, good luck then. Have to run, see you tonight!” Before I could say anything else, she grabbed her saddlebags and bolted out of the door. Great.  I tossed my schedule onto a pile of music sheets on my desk.  I couldn’t remember where the room was, but I’d already memorized everything else.  With a sigh, I picked up my own saddlebags and hurried after her. We met in the lobby of our dorm building and walked together until she turned off for the auditorium. I went instead for the Sciences Building, with all of it’s two floors.  Stifling a sigh, I walked inside the main lobby. Fifteen minutes of wandering later, I found the room, right outside a walkway connecting the second floor of this building to the third floor of the building next door. Somepony thought they were being clever with the numbering schemes.  I entered the room, about ten minutes before the start of class, and took an open seat towards the right side of the room.  The room filled slowly, other ponies coming in groups of two and threes, many complaining of having trouble finding the room.  At half past two in the afternoon, exactly, a dapper stallion in a suit walked in, headed to the podium in the front of the room, and tapped his hoof against it. “Alright then, gather ‘round,” he rumbled in a deep voice.  “Kick those desks aside, let’s get a little more personal, shall we?”  Putting word to action, the professor pushed aside the podium and sat down right on the floor.  Hesitantly, other ponies did the same until we had a big ring in the middle of the room. Then, the door opened again.  “Heya, everypony, sorry I’m late.  I could not find this place; I’ve been looking for ages.” I whipped my head around at the familiar voice.  Standing in the door, saddlebag already half off as she moved to join the circle, was a white unicorn mare with a two-toned blue mane.  Violet-colored glasses locked gaze with mine and she stopped in her tracks. “Tavi?” she mouthed. “Come come,” the professor said, motioning with a hoof to coax Vinyl to the circle.  For half a second, I thought she was going to sit next to me, but she ended up opposite. For almost the entire hour long lecture, I could hardly take my eyes off her.  It was almost the same Vinyl I remembered growing up with, just with the addition of glasses.  Big, thickly tinted things they were. I was immediately reminded of Hazelblossom’s self-proclaimed nickname.  Every so often she would glance my way, but with those infernal sunglasses in the way, I couldn’t tell if she was looking at me or not. When the lecture neared its end, I subtly packed my things, ready to follow her at a moment’s notice.  To my surprise, as soon as we were dismissed, she came over to me. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Octavia.” “Nor I you,” I replied.  “What are you, uh, doing... here?” She gave me a flat look, the disdain magnified by my reflection in her sunglasses.  “Grocery shopping,” she deadpanned. “Yes, well you know what I meant,” I huffed.  Pretending to be upset, like I used to, I looked away from her.  Normally, I would look back and grin, but this time she only looked down. I coughed, suddenly uncomfortable. “So, how have you been--” I started “How’s everything going--” she said, at the same time. We both stopped and looked at each other. Vinyl was the first to crack and smile.  “Celestia, this is so awkward. Do you wanna go, like, grab a late lunch or something?” After a quick glance at the clock, I shook my head.  “I can’t. I’ve got rehearsal tonight. Maybe some other time?” ”Oh, yeah.  Yeah, sure. I’ll see you around, then.”  She grabbed her bag and quickly left the room. After a quick stop in my dorm to collect my cello, I hurried towards the auditorium.  There was some sort of play being set up on the main stage, so I navigated through the back hallways to one of the practice rooms.  Already, some discordant noises leaked through the door, ponies checking the tuning of their instruments. “Symphonia,” I said, throwing open the door and striding into the room.  My friend looked over from her customary place on the side of the room and cocked her head.  “You’ll never guess who I ran into today.” “Who?” she asked as I walked across the room and set my cello case down on the floor. “Vinyl.  Vinyl Scratch is in my psych class.” She pushed the lid of my cello case closed, leaving her hoof there so I couldn’t open it.  “I’m sorry, one more time?” “It was Vinyl.” Symphony made a show of looking around the room.  “I don’t see any obnoxious unicorns in here - save for Green Apple in the corner.” Hearing her name, the bright green unicorn glared at Symphonia from the other side of the room.  “Hey!” My friend waved a hoof dismissively at the irritated mare.  “Yeah yeah, it was a joke.” She turned her attention back to me.  “I meant that I don’t see Vinyl. So you two still aren’t...?” I shook my head.  I’d often wondered what I would say if I ran into Vinyl again.  It goes without saying that our actual talk went nothing like what I’d pictured in my head.  She had wanted to get food though, maybe she wanted to catch up or apologize? Symphonia pulled open my cello case for me.  “Well, it doesn’t matter now. Let’s just get ready for practice.  You know Vinyl is here, you can find and talk to her later. You know where she’ll be on Wednesday.” “Yeah, you’re right,” I acknowledged, pulling the familiar smooth wood of my cello from the case.  The two of us joined the growing group of ponies in the center of the room, and prepared to practice. <><><><><> I could feel Symphonia’s eyes on me as I paced around our small dorm room.  “Are you going to do this the entire time until you go meet Vinyl?” “N-No.”  I forced myself to sit down in the middle of the room and take a deep breath.  To be honest, I would be perfectly happy pacing around the entire campus until our agreed-upon lunch meeting.  I’d not been so nervous in a long time. I was really looking forward to the chance to reconnect with Vinyl and, given how our first conversation in three years had gone, I felt my nerves were understandable My roommate had to fight down a laugh.  “Right. Pre-date jitters?” “It’s not a date,” I snapped, spinning so I was no longer facing her. “Right,” she laughed, unable to hold it any longer.  She stood and attached her saddlebag. “Well, I’ve got class and I won’t be back until later.  Just, hang a sock on the door or something.” I threw a book at her, which missed.  She laughed and ducked out the door before I could reload, leaving me alone with my thoughts and an hour before my meeting.  With Symphonia gone, I was happy to continue my pacing in peace. It wasn’t even a nerves thing, I just hated waiting. Yesterday after our Psych class, Vinyl followed me all the way to the auditorium in silence before suddenly asking if I wanted to get lunch today.  I watched her scurry away after I agreed with an odd feeling of confusion - mostly because ‘scurry’ was a word I had never associated with her. We were meeting at a small restaurant near campus, frequented by students, so I had no excuse to leave early.  Finally, the time came that I could leave and arrive only a few minutes early. I sequestered some bits in a small saddlebag and left. When I arrived, I cursed myself for not leaving earlier to secure a table.  A line was already forming out of the front door, caused by dozens of college ponies stopping by for lunch.  I found the end of the line and joined. The line grew steadily, ponies breaking off from the main flow of traffic in groups to clump behind me.  I started to fear that Vinyl wouldn’t be able to find me. I was so focused on looking beyond the line that I jumped when somepony poked me in the shoulder.  Thinking I’d forgotten to move with the line, I turned to apologize and came muzzle to muzzle with Vinyl, my own shocked face reflected back in her glasses. “’Sup, Octavia?” she asked.  The ponies behind us dutifully shifted backwards and grumbled as she joined me in line. “Nothing, just waiting,” I replied, cocking my head to the side.  She’d called me Octavia again, as she had yesterday and Monday as well.  A memory of me shouting at her for calling me Tavi flashed through my mind and I winced. “Yeah, this place is super popular.”  She turned to face front, as I was, her head bobbing to the beat of tinny music coming from headphones around her neck. We stood in line awkwardly until we were finally inside and seated at a small table in the middle of the room.  Even after ordering we sat in silence, not really able to look the other in the eye. “So, how has your music been going?” I asked, raising my voice a little to be heard over the din around us. Vinyl scratched the back of her head.  “Well, it’s alright. I’ve been mixing a bunch of really good stuff.  Just trying to get it out there, y’know? How about you, you’ve got rehearsal for something after our class together, right?” “Yes, I’m in the student orchestra.” Her face broke into a grin.  “Yeah, I figured you would be.  Though I’m surprised you ended up here.  Why not the Conservatory?” “It was a tough decision,” I started.  I had been offered scholarships to both schools and several others across Equestria besides.  As a filly, I’d always intended to attend the Canterlot Conservatory, but as the time drew near to decide, I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.  It wasn’t a matter of skill, simply that I did not want to attend. “Do you remember Symphonia?” Vinyl nodded. “She was denied admittance to the Conservatory and wanted somepony she knew to room with here.” The server came back with our food, which still was not enough to break Vinyl’s unbelieving stare.  “Did the Conservatory not give you a scholarship?” I took a bite of my salad.  “No, they did.” “You are one crazy mare, Tavi.”  She had a forkful of her own salad halfway to her face before freezing.  “Oh, uh, Octavia. Sorry.” “It’s fine, really.  It’s weird to hear you call me Octavia, I’m not sure I like it.” Her sunglasses-covered eyes shot up to lock on mine.  “But you said…” I smiled, shook my head, and took another bite.  “I think we were both a little out of character that day.  I’d rather you call me Tavi.” “Yeah, I think I can do that,” she answered with a smile of her own. We finished the rest of our meal in silence, eating quickly and leaving so another group could have our table.  Our trip back to campus meandered a lot, turning a ten minute walk into almost half an hour. “I will admit, I didn’t think I’d see you at University,” I said to Vinyl as the main campus gate came into view. “Yeah, I hadn’t intended to come here, honestly.” “Yes, I remember.” Vinyl laughed nervously, and looked away from me.  “Well, you were kind of right. My music hasn’t been doing fantastic.  I’m here to get a degree in music theory, with some more computer-y stuff so I can build my own boards.” I couldn’t help but laugh, and hurried to explain.  “Is ‘computer-y stuff’ the technical term for all of that?” “No, but I don’t have the degree yet, now do I?” she shot back. I expected us to split past the gate, or maybe before, but to my surprise Vinyl turned with me towards the student housing.  “Do you stay in the dorms as well?” She nodded.  “Yup, but my roomie graduated last year.  I’m still waiting on a replacement. I’m hoping they don’t give me one.” “I wouldn’t hold your breath.” “Yeah, you’re right.  Anyway, I’ve got a couple of classes tonight, so I gotta split.  Talk to you later?” Vinyl stopped us about halfway to the dorm buildings and turned towards the classrooms. I nodded.  “See you tomorrow.” She held out a hoof, which I dutifully bumped, and she walked off. I was humming to myself later that afternoon when Symphonia returned from classes. “So, how was your date?” she asked. “It was not a date!” I responded.  She was not able to dodge the pillow this time.