//------------------------------// // Prompt #439-An Informative Meeting // Story: Ponywatching // by ThunderTempest //------------------------------// “Ah, Miss Octavia, thank you for coming,” said the unicorn teacher sat behind the desk in the school. A rush of memories flooded into the grey cellist, as she had gone to school here herself. She took a moment to close her eyes, and bask in the memories. She opened them, and found the teacher looking at her expectantly. “Oh, I’m sorry. This place holds many memories for me. Please, continue. My focus is solely on you now, dear sir.” “So about your filly, Bridged Note. Academically, she’s doing well. High B’s in most of her classes. She’s one of our stars of the music classroom.” “Yes, I would imagine that she gets it from both me and Vinyl,” said Octavia, smiling. She didn’t miss the miniscule frown that crossed the teacher’s face at the mention of Vinyl, though, but let it go. “But, as talented as she is, we’ve had a few issues. Language, mostly. Several teachers have caught her swearing, sometimes at other students. One was reduced to tears from her insults.” Octavia frowned. She remembered that incident. Bridged Note had been utterly horrified that her words could have that much of an effect on somepony else, and had spent the next week trying to make it up to the other pony. “Yes, she probably picked that up from Vinyl. Vinyl does tend to express herself rather more crudely than most. I will talk with Bridged about that.” “Yes, and where is Miss Scratch this evening?” “Right now?” said Octavia, looking up at the clock on the wall, “She’s likely in the middle of her set in Manehatten’s hoofball stadium.” “I see. There is also the matter of your daughter’s magic.” Just as the teacher was about to go into an explanation, Octavia held up a hoof to forestall him, pulled out a notepad and pen, and set herself up to write. Then, with a nod, she motioned him to continue. “Magic is perhaps the one class that your daughter truly has trouble with. She claims she practices every night, but yet we see little to no improvement each week. The other students are miles ahead of her. Now, I don’t know if this is because she has trouble grasping the concept in her mind, or because it’s from Miss Scratch being an inattentive parent, but...” The pen fell out of Octavia’s mouth. The room went deathly silent, the only sound being the gentle tick-tock of the clock on the wall. “How dare you,” said Octavia, her voice low and dangerous, “How dare you imply that Vinyl is anything less than a brilliant parent. I have taken much abuse on Vinyl’s part, sir. I know full well what the Canterlot upper crust think of her, and at every soiree, I suffer the same remarks about ‘that boorish, unrefined, uncultured unicorn’. But one line that nopony is ever allowed to cross is implying that Vinyl does not care for our daughter.” ***Time*** “Yes, Vinyl couldn’t be here tonight,” continued Octavia, “she hasn’t been here for many of Bridged’s other events either. Do you want to know why? It’s because she’s out there, working her flank off to provide the best possible life she can for her daughter. And both myself, and Bridged, know that. I am aware that by Vinyl’s absence, she cannot teach her daughter about her magic. It’s killing her that she can’t pass on her knowledge to Bridged except in short fits and bursts.” As the teacher made to interrupt with a rebuttal, Octavia cut him off once more. “Vinyl Scratch is Bridged’s favourite parent, dear sir. Do you want to know why? Not because they’re both unicorns, not because Vinyl lets her get away with things like eating half a tub of icecream, or staying up late on a school night. It’s because whenever Vinyl is home, she is never, ever too busy to listen to her daughter, or help her with her homework. It’s a crime that I am unfortunately guilty of on occasion. Now, I think I have heard enough, so I shall take my leave.” Octavia stood up, packed the notebook back into her saddle bags, and strode out the door without a single backward glance.