//------------------------------// // Roar // Story: Filly Friends // by thehalfelf //------------------------------// Roar “I think somewhere over here might be good,” Vinyl said, voice raised slightly over the hum of ponies around us.  After getting my nod of approval she flared a quilt out over sun warmed grass.  Vinyl plopped herself down and patted next to her. I ignored the Symphonia in my head crooning something about a movie date and sat myself.  We both turned to look towards a massive sheet secured between two buildings on campus.  Somewhere behind us a handful of ponies from the A/V club were setting up a projector for our school’s semi-regular Campus Movie Night. It was a good time for it this time.  The late afternoon sun still peeked out on occasion from light cloud cover keeping everything comfortably warm, but not overly bright.  It would get colder in a couple of hours, but I’d brought a spare blanket just in case. “Do you know what they’re showing?” I asked Vinyl, drawing her attention away from the various stalls being quickly put up around the viewing area. “Huh?”  Vinyl looked back at me, then up towards the screen.  “No idea.” I sighed as her attention quickly returned to food.  “Are you ever not hungry?” I grumbled, mostly to myself. “Usually after you cook,” she replied. “Be serious, I’m not even a good cook,” I laughed.  I stood quickly and turned my head away from Vinyl, who herself had turned to look at me again.  “I’m going to go find a program, or something.” “Bring back food!” she called as I walked away. “Go get your own!” I called back. The square was slowly filling up as ponies slowly filtered in from their afternoon classes, clubs, or jobs off campus.  Most came in large groups, but couples were common to see as well.  I slowly meandered through the growing sea of blankets back towards the stage constructed to hold the projector and the ponies making everything go. I found the stairs in the back and climbed about halfway up, just enough that my head poked over the edge.  “Excuse me.” A ginger pegasus glanced over and smiled at me.  “Yeah?” she asked around the screwdriver held in her mouth. “I was just wondering what’s on for tonight.” “Shoot, did he not put the list up anywhere?”  She spat out her tool and moved to a bunch of boxes stacked on one corner of the platform.  A few moments later she came back with a big stack of papers and a pouch.  “I know you’re not part of the club or anything, but would you mind…?” “Of course not.” Between the two of us we were able to get the heavy satchel secured on my back and filled up.  I quickly ran around the outer edge of the square, delivering fliers to the various stalls.  Once it was empty I returned the bag, claimed a flier of my own, and went to find my own blanket.  It was a little tougher with the general congestion, but I found it easily enough. “’Bout time you showed up,” Vinyl said around a mouthful of what looked to be nachos.  “I was about to start looking for you.” I settled down beside her and dropped the show bill on the blanket.  “Sorry, I got mixed up helping the organizer do work someone else in their group was supposed to do.  I suppose it’s just a habit.” Vinyl grunted and picked up the flier I’d brought.  I hadn’t really paid attention to it as I handed it out, but reading it over Vinyl’s shoulder I felt a slowly growing sense of dread.  “Did you know?” I asked her. “Nah, but this is going to be so cool!” I stared down at the piece of paper for a few seconds longer, eyes glued to the words at the top of the page.  “It’ll be something.” Given the time of year, I should have guessed it would be a horror movie marathon.  This wasn’t going to be a problem for me, as Symphonia had broken me of my hatred of all things scary, but unless Vinyl was over her intense dislike of blood and gore… We whiled away the time before the first movie chatting as always.  I told her about the Orchestra’s few performances that Vinyl hadn’t attended as the sun began to set.  As the shadows grew longer and the temperature dropped, Vinyl told me that Midnight Oil was working on something, but was frustrating her because he wouldn’t say what. At long last someone cut power to the streetlights, throwing us all into sudden darkness.  Somepony screamed, as they were wont to do, before the projector whirred to life.  Vinyl turned to look at me in the darkness, visible only in faint light reflected off her coat.  She grinned at me and removed her glasses, stashing them in my bags for safekeeping. I thought about asking again if this was something she wanted to do, but decided against it.  In a few minutes I’d find out exactly how bad this evening was going to go. Ten minutes and one excessive blood spatter later, I had my answer.  Vinyl jumped high enough I almost mistook her for a pegasus and buried her face in my mane.  I let her stay there for a few minutes, until the scene looked safe again, then pushed her away under the guise of grabbing the blanket I’d brought and putting it over us. To Vinyl’s credit, she managed to make it for almost another half hour before something spooked her enough that she dove back into the safety of the back of my neck. “You okay?” I whispered. “Y-Yeah, totally.  My, uh, my nose is just a little cold is all,” she responded.  It was true that she was shaking under the blanket, but I doubted it was from cold.  “Right.  Still don’t like scary movies?” “Shut up.” I considered teasing her for a moment longer, but it didn’t quite feel right.  Over the next two movies we fell into a pretty easy system.  Whenever Vinyl got spooked, or if she thought she was going to be spooked, she would hide.  That meant that she spent most of the next five hours blowing hot air on the back of my neck, but I couldn’t bring myself to chide her.  Whenever it seemed safe, I would tap her hoof with mine so she knew it was safe to come out. As the credits of the last movie started the street lamps clicked back on, bathing the square in light.  Several ponies shouted in surprise, Vinyl included.  I simply blinked rapidly, trying to restore some semblance of normal sight.  Once I could sort of see I stood and stretched, wincing as my body complained about how long I’d been sitting still. Vinyl did the same, but since she didn’t rely on hooves to do everything, she was able to grab the blanket previously covering us and shoved it into my bag.  She then took the one we’d been laying on, shook it out, and folded it onto her back. “You’re going to get covered in grass,” I told her as we started the short walk back to my dorm. “It’ll wash out.”  Vinyl glanced down at her own coat.  “Probably.” Vinyl helped me get everything squared away back in my dorm room before leaving for the night.  Symphonia looked up at me from her position on the sofa.  “So, how was it?” “Bad as always.” <><><><><> Vinyl missed our Psychology class the next day.  I knew she wasn’t against skipping classes in general, but she always seemed to make an effort to appear for the one class we shared.  Since it was on the way, I decided to stop by Vinyl’s dorm on my way to practice that night.  It didn’t take much effort to navigate my way through the tight hallway with my cello and knock on her door. I heard some light shuffling on the other side before Vinyl’s voice came through the door.  “Yeah?” “It’s me,” I said.  “You weren’t at class, is everything okay?” “Hey, Tavi.  Yeah, I’m fine, just didn’t make it is all,” she responded.  “Thanks for checking in, but don’t you have practice now?” “I do, but I thought I’d stop in first.”  I turned to walk away only to stop and press my ear back against the door.  “Are you sure everything is okay?” “Totally.  Everything is totally, one hundred percent fine.” She sounded normal, but something just felt wrong.  “Vinyl, open the door.” She didn’t answer, so I spoke a little louder.  “Vinyl, open the door, please.” “We don’t really have time to chat, Tavi, you should get to your practice,” she finally replied, though quieter than before. On a hunch I pushed the handle only to feel the latch click open.  The door opened just a little ways before it stopped, blocked by something on the other side.  I peered in what little I could, but didn’t see anypony else.  “Vinyl?” “I’m stuck,” came the quiet reply. “Stuck?  Stuck on what?”  I pushed on the door again, managing to squeeze just enough space to put a hoof between the door and the wall.  I wasted no time getting my hoof in, but couldn’t get to the obstruction. “Not stuck on something, stuck in here,” Vinyl admitted in the same voice.  “I can’t go outside like this, I’ve got an image to maintain.” “Out like what?” I demanded, trying to use my hoof to get more leverage to open the door.  “You better not be holding this door shut.” “Wait, you’re trying to come in?  I didn’t even notice, hold on a second.” Several loud clatters echoed around her small room and the hallway beyond as the entire room was washed for a moment in the glow of Vinyl’s magic.  The door burst open so quickly I lost my balance, falling into the middle of a pile of junk.  Vinyl must have shut the door behind me, because the first thing I heard when my landing spot stopped rustling around was the latch click home. I rose to my hooves, careful not to damage anything, to find the room in complete chaos.  Several stacks of random junk littered every surface.  Shelves were practically bare, and in some cases upside down.  All the boxes we’d carefully packed and organized some weeks ago were open, their contents likely added to the pile.  In one corner, one forehoof buried almost up to the shoulder in a dresser, Vinyl smiled at me. “Yo,” she said, carefully pulling her hoof out. I slowly looked around the room, shocked at the absolute chaos on display.  It wasn’t my room, but I’d spent hours helping her get everything cleaned up.  I felt my left eyebrow twitch.  “You have five seconds to explain.” Vinyl tried to take a step back, only to find the dresser behind her.  She frantically pointed to her face with a hoof. “One,” I started. “Look, just look!” she begged. “Two.” She pointed vehemently at her face, eyes growing wide. “Three,” I continued. “It’s my glasses, I lost my glasses!” Somehow I’d managed to miss it on entering.  I blamed the complete disarray around me, it tended to fry parts of my brain.  “Four.” “But I told you!  Oh man…” she whinnied, then ducked for cover. “That’s not an actual explanation,” I said.  I walked towards her and put a hoof on her withers.  “They aren’t prescription glasses, you don’t actually need them to see.” “No, but I’ve got an image to maintain!”  She peeked one red eye from behind her hooves.  “Are you gonna hit me?” I shook my head.  “Besides, I know where your glasses are.” She bounded to her hooves, nearly smacking me in the jaw in the process.  “Really?  Where?” “In my bags, you dork.  You put them there last night during the movies, remember?” Vinyl smacked her head with a hoof, hard. “You might want to try that again,” I said.  “I didn’t hear a hollow thunk.” “Ha ha.”  Vinyl stuck out her tongue, then rubbed at her head.  “Since I’m wounded, would you go get them for me?” “Really?” I deadpanned.  I shook my head and walked towards the door.  “Sorry, can’t, I have practice.  If the room is clean again later, I can deliver them then.” “Tavi?  Don’t do this to me, I haven’t been able to go outside all day!”  I ignored her protests and continued walking.  She followed me all the way to the door, then stood off on one side and pouted.  “I’m hungry…” “Clean this up, and I’ll bring over dinner with your glasses, okay?” I replied.  I felt bad, but I was going to be late as it was. After Vinyl nodded, I hurried to the auditorium. <><><><><> “I swear,” Symphonia said as she turned the key to our dorm room.  “I worry about that filly sometimes.” “As do I,” I sighed.  The bag from last night was still right by the door, so I quickly rustled through it.  Symphonia took the glasses from my hoof and stuck them on my face.  I winced as my vision washed out in aggressive purple.  “How in Celestia’s name does she see through these?” “Who knows?”  Symphonia separated her own dinner from what the two of us had picked up and put the rest in my bags for me.  “You better get going though; wouldn’t want your fillyfriend to starve to death.” “We aren’t dating,” I retorted.  “See you later.” I just barely caught my room mate’s wave as I shut the door.  A few minutes later I was in front of Vinyl’s again. I knocked twice.  “Vinyl, I brought food.  Is it clean?” The door clicked open, so I walked inside.  It wasn’t totally spotless, but she’d managed to clear off a good section of the middle of the room, and the little table she ate at. She lifted the glasses from my face as I stepped inside.  When I turned around after setting down our dinner, she’d already planted them firmly on her face, right above a huge smile.  “Thanks, Tavi.” “They’re just a pair of glasses.  Why do you care so much?” I asked, stepping between her and the table. “I told you, it’s part of my image, my brand.  I can’t just go around without my glasses on.  You’ll understand, one day.  It’s like how Legatus doesn’t leave home without his briefcase, or Melody doesn’t go on stage unless her instrument is freshly cleaned.” She tried to walk around me to get to the food, but I stepped into her path.  “Vinyl, seriously.  I’d like to know.” “Hazelblossom gave them to me,” she said, removing the article from her face and spinning them around so she was looking at the front.  “They’re for my image, yeah, but I just got in the habit of wearing them around him, I guess.  It feels weird to not have them on now.” “Oh.”  I carefully plucked her glasses from where they hovered in front of me and set them down.  “I’ve always liked your eyes, though, ever since we first met.  Maybe it’s okay to not cover them up sometimes.” The room fell silent.  We stared at each other for a few long seconds until she nodded.  “Alright,” she whispered. “Food?” I asked, moving away from the table. “Food,” Vinyl confirmed.  We ate in silence, watched over by the glasses where they’d been left on the table.