//------------------------------// // Shock // Story: Filly Friends // by thehalfelf //------------------------------// Shock “So when are you meeting up with her again?” Symphonia asked as we rounded the corner back to the main entrance hall of the auditorium. “Now,” I replied, pointing to a white unicorn pressing her muzzle up against the glass of the window.  Spotting us, she waved. Symphonia shook her head, then readjusted the strap of her violin.  She strode ahead and unlatched the door, letting Vinyl inside. “It’s been a long time, Vinyl Scratch.” Vinyl popped off her headphones and nodded.  “Yeah, yeah. You’re Rosin’s daughter, right?”  She paused for a moment, then shot a look around Symphonia to me.  “What was your name again?” “Symphonia,” I supplied. “Symphonia,” Vinyl echoed, holding out a hoof. The violinist reached out hesitantly and shook it.  “A pleasure to remake your acquaintance.” She walked forward, leading us out into the late afternoon sunlight. “So, you’ve been here for how long, Vinyl Scratch?” Symphonia asked as we all walked back towards the dorms. “I’m in my third year, same as you,” she answered. “And you know that we are in our third year how?” “Because I know Tavi was a year behind me in high school, would have started right after graduating, and I took a year off.”  Vinyl glanced across Symphonia to me. “What’s up with her?” I shrugged, but Symphonia answered.  “Nothing is up with me, Vinyl Scratch; just making idle conversation while you follow us to our dorm.” We rounded the main administration building and ran right into a big group of other ponies, forcing our little group to split in half. “Why are you being so weird?” I asked Symphonia while Vinyl was across the colored sea of other ponies. “I’m not being weird, just making conversation.” I grabbed the strap of her violin with a hoof, forcing her to stop in the middle of the crowd.  She glared at me, but turned to face me. “What?” “You are being weird,” I said.  “At the very least, you’re standoffish.” I looked around the group of ponies as Symphonia thought about replying.  They were almost gone and I could see Vinyl standing on the other side, looking quizzically back at us. “I’m kind of mad at her still,” Symphonia said after a moment.  I was about to reply when our cover finally ended and Vinyl walked up to us. “Everything alright?” she asked. “Yes, Octavia’s cello strap twisted in the crowd and I was helping her fix it,” Symphonia lied, fluttering some of her magic across my cello case as though she was just finishing up.  Vinyl shrugged and the three of us continued towards the dorms, this time with Vinyl in the lead. Symphonia looked over at me and shrugged.  I nodded, then focused on watching where I was walking.  I understood. In the two weeks since Vinyl and I met again, I still wasn’t quite sure how to feel.  For one thing, she did just up and leave when we were younger, even if she thought it was a good reason.  We hadn’t talked about it and she hadn’t apologized. Then again, did she have anything to apologize for?  Vinyl had only done what she thought was best for her own life; was it fair for me to judge that?  But at the same time, was it okay for her to just pop back in and act like nothing happened? Though, it wasn’t like her leaving had physically affected me all that much, just left me a little more lonely. I resisted the urge to cover my head with my hooves. A few minutes later we entered my dorm building and climbed to our room on the fourth floor.  Symphonia and I entered first, taking a moment to stow our instruments in the coat closet right beside the door.  Vinyl followed behind. “This is… less clean than I was expecting.” “We aren’t always here a lot to clean,” I defended.  A lot of the room was covered in paper. Schoolwork, notes, music sheets, and just general detritus littered most available table and desk space.  The floor was mostly clean, except for a few stacks of books and supplies for instrument care. The walls were tastefully decorated with pictures of friends and family, and posters shows conducted by Father, or played by Symphonia’s mother, Aunt Rosin. “I’m sure yours is much cleaner,” Symphonia shot back.  “I remember how your room was at Melody’s.” Vinyl stuck out her tongue.  “I’m not one of the prim and proper rich ponies.” “Alright, so, where are we going, Vinyl?” I asked, cutting off Symphonia’s likely heated reply. “Wherever,” Vinyl shrugged.  “I was going to come up with something to do, but I forgot.” “Typical,” Symphonia muttered under her breath.  I chose to ignore her. With a sigh and shake of my head, I strapped on a small saddlebag and grabbed Vinyl.  “Come on, then.” The two of us left and walked in silence until we were back outside.  “Where are we goin’, Tavi?” Vinyl asked. “I don’t know, you are the one who wanted to do this.  Better think fast.” She pouted at me for a moment then, with a shrug, started walking towards the campus gates.  She led me away from our school and out to the streets of Canterlot. This close to the University, it was always a little crowded, but, at this time of the evening on a Friday night, it was worse than normal.  We were quickly pushed to the edge of the street by the sheer amount of carriage and hoof traffic. Vinyl seemed unconcerned about our slow pace, assuming she’d even figured out where we were going. I hadn’t explored much of the area surrounding the University until my second year, preferring instead to focus on my studies the first.  The back of campus actually bordered the edge of the city, something I assumed the pegasus students enjoyed. There were of course tons of restaurants near campus, for all the hungry students.  A lot of cheap stores also set up near campus, playing into the broke student stereotype. More expensive stores seemed to avoid the area entirely. “Have you figured out where we’re going yet?” Vinyl asked as we turned yet another corner, always moving away from campus. “Does that mean you actually have somewhere in mind now?” I replied.  We’d already gone far out of where I normally spent time outside of class. “Of course I do.” I hummed noncommittally.  We were too far from the neighborhood we grew up in to be headed anywhere there, and The Underground wasn’t nearby either.  I didn’t really know any of her other hangout spots. After another half hour of walking, and two instances of us doubling back on ourselves, I asked, “and you’re sure you know where we’re going?” “Nah, I’m lost,” Vinyl admitted after a short laugh. “Of course you are,” I groaned.  Judging by the sun, it was getting late in the evening.  “We should probably head back then, it’s getting late.” Vinyl quickly looked at me.  “Uh, how late?” I looked up again.  “Maybe six? Seven?” “Ah, ponyfeathers, I’m late for class,” she said before starting a gallop back to campus. “Wait!” I shouted, attempting to follow after her.  The crowds had let up a little bit, but even on a good day it wasn’t safe to gallop through the streets.  She either didn’t hear or didn’t slow, so I sped up to at least pull even. “Sorry, Tavi, forgot I had a class tonight,” she panted.  “I always forget at least one…” “So you take night classes?” I asked, more breathless than I’d like to admit. She just nodded and put on another burst of speed as we rounded another corner, bringing us onto the street that eventually turned into the main campus road.  We’d wandered farther than I’d thought. The crowds were starting to thicken back up again though, making our side-by-side running much harder. I dropped back behind Vinyl and did my best to keep up. Somehow we managed to not run anypony over, but as Vinyl showed no signs of slowing as we entered campus, I forced myself to stop at the turn to the dorms.  “See you Monday!” I shouted to her. Vinyl did a humorous little three legged hop to wave goodbye, not bothering to slow down on her mad race towards the class buildings.  I shook my head and, with my evening now clear, went back to my dorm. Symphonia looked up in surprise as I entered.  “I thought you’d be gone much longer,” she said, closing her book. “Vinyl had class, apparently.  We just walked around for a bit.” I shrugged, removing the saddlebag I hadn’t used to place it back on it’s peg. She shook her head.  “Typical Vinyl.” “Do you want to talk about earlier?” I asked, taking a seat next to Symphonia. “Not really, but I don’t think I actually have a choice.” I shook my head no, so she continued.  “I’m still kind of upset for her leaving like she did three years ago.  It didn’t really affect me all that much, but I saw what happened to you and heard mom talk about what was going on with Melody.  Even if it was for a good reason, it wasn’t right the way she did it.” “Yeah, but—” I tried to reply, but was quickly cut off. “You wanted to know, so listen.  Whether she meant to or not, she left you in kind of a bad place.  I know we weren’t as close then, but it’s safe to say that she was your closest friend, right?” I nodded. She nodded in response.  “Exactly my point. I wouldn’t dream of just cutting you out of my life like that and I think you think the same.  And I certainly wouldn’t come back years later with a smile and a wave like nothing had happened. It might be easier to pretend otherwise, but to my eyes she put a huge tear in the trust of your friendship and isn’t doing anything to try and correct that.” “You’re probably right,” I admitted.  “I’m happy to see her again, but there has been this little voice in the back of my head that keeps asking when she’s going to leave again. I also kind of wonder if she’s talked to Mother or Father since then.  I’m supposed to go back and visit next weekend, and they’re going to ask me what’s happened since the last visit, and what am I supposed to tell them?” “The truth.  I don’t think they’d be upset.” We fell silent for a moment, leaning on each other on our small couch.  “It is weird that I hadn’t seen her, though. She said she’s been here for three years, like us, but campus isn’t that big.  And it sounds like her degree is in music, like ours, how did we not see her in any classes?” I mused. “Vinyl was never a morning pony, and you said she ran to catch class.  She’s probably taking night classes,” Symphonia answered. That made sense.  While Canterlot University did have most of its students living on campus and learning full-time, there was a sizable portion who worked and came here in their off time for more schooling.  I couldn’t see Vinyl waking up with the sun to get to a Fundamentals of Music Theory class like Symphonia and me. “I suppose I was being a little rude though,” Symphonia conceded, breaking my train of thought.  “I promise to be a little nicer, as long as you promise to be careful.” I didn’t think Vinyl was all that dangerous, personally, but I nodded anyway.  “I promise.” “Good, now it’s your turn to make dinner.”  Symphonia stood and poked me with a hoof. “I cooked the last three nights.” <><><><><> “Tavi!  Wait up!”  I turned at the sound of Vinyl’s voice to see her galloping towards me from the campus gates.  I was half in the carriage that would take me to my parents, but I stepped back onto the street anyway.  I held up a hoof at the driver’s confused look and walked to meet her. “Thanks for stopping,” she said, slightly out of breath, when we met up.  “I stopped by your room, but Symphonia said you were headed out for the weekend.  Glad I caught you.” “Did you need something?” I asked.  I’d only seen Vinyl once since my talk with Symphonia, but just like then I could feel myself closing off from her just a little.  I forced myself to stop, and made a mental note to think on that more later. “Yeah, um, you’re going to meet with Melody and Legatus, right?”  At my nod, she floated an envelope out of her bags. “Could you give this to them for me?” I nodded and let her place it in my own bags.  “What is it?” She flushed slightly and scratched the back of one of her hooves.  “It’s, uh… Well, it’s something for my tuition this semester.” I flicked an ear and waited.  If Vinyl was giving my parents information on her tuition, did that mean…? “I met with Legatus a couple of years ago, after your graduation.  One of the ponies in his orchestra was talking about my music, and Legatus wanted me to get the feedback.  He found me at The Underground and we talked for a bit. I mentioned wanting to learn some more about how music production works and the tools for it, so he talked to Melody and they agreed to pay for school.” “So, they knew you were here the whole time, and never told me.”  I nodded for a moment. “And they never told you I was coming here, either.” “To be fair,” Vinyl replied, watching my face very carefully.  “I don’t talk to them all that much. I just mail along what they need to have, and Canterlot University doesn’t kick me out.” “Thank you for telling me, Vinyl.  Now, I really must be going. I have several things to talk to my parents about.”  I spun on a hoof without waiting for a response, and quickly entered my ride home. I fumed the entire ride, angry at Vinyl for not telling me my parents were paying for her school, and mad at my parents for not telling me Vinyl and I were going to the same place.  Over the long ride, I slowly calmed down. It did make sense, in a way, that they never told me. After Vinyl left, none of us really talked about her all that much. I’d never mentioned wanting to find her again, nor had I tried, despite knowing exactly where she was. It was also safe to assume that if Symphonia noticed how sad I was after Vinyl left, Mother and Father did as well.  They probably hadn’t said anything because they thought I didn’t want to see her, or wanted to keep her from hurting me again. Even with all that in mind, it was hard not to be upset with them still as my trip ended.  I thanked my driver, gathered my things, and walked up the steps to my childhood home. Both my parents were waiting in the parlor as I opened the door.  I smiled at them, and we all hugged. “Welcome home, Octavia,” Mother said, pouring me a fresh cup of tea.  “How have you been?” I tried my best to keep a straight face.  “I’ve been fine, Mother. You’ll never guess who I ran into a couple of weeks back…”