College; where ponies young and old can go to learn new ways of life. There are many places one can learn, from the prestigious Canterlot University of Magical Achievements, to small town community colleges.
But the one that had the most to offer while still being a community college was Equestria United Community College. It was nestled in the hills south of Canterlot and Ponyville. It started out as a small college but had long since grown to the size of a town.
It offered all the usual majors (Art, Science, Math, Equestrian, Magic, etc), some of the more specific majors (Journalism, Agriculture, and Clowning to name a few), as well as job preparation classes for those going into the job market (new or looking for a change and everything in between).
Having such diverse courses brought more students which caused the dorms to grow, and food and supply stores flocked to the needy students which all contributed to the growth of the college into a self-sustaining town-like place. It also helped when the more specialized majors had long term projects and activities (like the Agriculture majors grew a lot of fresh fruits and veggies that they sold on campus).
And while the college grew, it kept its small building size so that nothing would be in danger of the natural elements. The campus became a wide spread of buildings one story high that were arranged by major.
It is in this town-like campus that our story begins with a new arrival.
She was a young mare from lower Manehattan who had gotten into the college on a scholarship for her musical talents. As she looked at the music dorms before her, the world only saw a confident white unicorn with short spiky two-toned blue mane and tail with a large set of glasses that hid her eyes from view. She had a black backwards double quaver as her cutie mark, though most were distracted from the majority of her features by the sight of her glasses and blue and black headphones around her neck.
While the unicorn didn't mind her cerise eyes, she had been told that in conjunction with her white coat or whenever she became angry, her eyes would seem demon red.
What the world couldn't see was that even as the unicorn oozed confidence, she was slightly nervous about this extremely large place and how others would react to her skills. She had gotten a new look to go with her change of life and she wasn't use to the shorter style of her mane and tail yet.
She was also nervous about who she would be rooming with. She had shared rooms and places with others before and it always ended badly for her. The college did have the students fill out personality tests and use both science and magic to pair up the best roommates, it didn't mean that it was foolproof.
(Come on Vinyl! At least step away from the train, it can't be that bad...) Vinyl Scratch gathered all her belongings with her magic, causing all of it to have a light blue hue as she and other new arrivals stepped off the train.
The college was so large it had its own private train that traveled all around the campus and to the nearby towns. This made traveling easier for the students and for those coming in and out of the school boundaries.
Vinyl made her way to the dorms for those majoring in any kind of music. The dorms were painted different colors as the multiple buildings were lined up side by side, looking almost like military barricades aside from personal touches that softened its look. Each dorm held two hundred students who would share a room. The rooms were lined up on either side of the buildings, with odd numbered rooms on one side and even numbers on the other.
Vinyl checked the information packet given to her and saw that she was in Green 113; which was the one farthest from the main classrooms, of course.
Vinyl made her way through the crowd, never once showing nervousness as she watched her possible classmates run around like confused chickens, trying to gather all their stuff and find their way around.
As the white unicorn walked through a forum that was before her dorm she noticed how the various clubs already were trying to recruit new members. Vinyl started to make mental notes of what was available for those interested in just music. Her scholarship required that she join at least two clubs, one with a direct correlation to her major and one to expand her knowledge base.
As she walked on, she passed an all stallion singing group who were showing off their A Cappella skills. She snorted at their antics while rolling her eyes, though no one saw it due to her glasses. While the stallions were trying to intimidate/impress others, Vinyl carefully made her way around them to be able to reach the door to her dorm.
Once inside, she began the trek through the dorm hallway, where she had to dodge both moving ponies and parents as they settled the students into the rooms they would be using for the next few years.
(107... 109... 111... 113, here we go.)
As Vinyl opened the door with her magic, her stuff floating behind her, she paused at the sight before her.
A light gray with a dark gray mane and tail earth pony with a pink treble clef cutie mark was making final adjustments to her desk before turning to the door when she heard it open. The two ponies took in each other's appearances, while Vinyl also looked at how her new roommate had decorated her side of the room.
Every room had a bed, a set of drawers and a desk with three drawers along the side, along with some shelving on the walls where hopefully text books would rest.
The earth pony had sombre toned sheets on the bed, various different instruments hanging on the wall (violin, trumpet, saxophone, and a double bass that rested half on the wall and half on the floor) and her desk was already covered in musical scores faded with time but still well cared for.
The gray pony wanted to put her best hoof forward and decided to ignore the other's more radical look.
“Greetings, my name is Octavia. Are you my roommate?”
Vinyl managed to close her mouth as she blinked at the greeting.
“Not that it's going to matter, but I'm Vinyl. And there has to be some kind of mistake, there's no way we are roommates. These staff ponies must be crazy to think that this whole thing would work. So don't get use to me being here, 'cause I'm going to get a room change.” Octavia frowned a little at Vinyl's tone of voice and outright dismissal.
“Well, I doubt that they allow for switching roommates on the first day back but you are welcome to try. Perhaps I could get a roommate who would be civil and pleasant to be around.” Octavia humphed as she stood suddenly. Vinyl was a little surprised at the sudden movement and stepped aside as the gray mare walked out of the room.
“I have duties I must attend to. Good day Vinyl. Good luck with changing rooms.”
Vinyl felt a little bad, she had been a little rude, but she could feel that they wouldn't get along at all....
(… or we'd get along great... Shut up brain, don't you remember what happened with the last classical music pony? Yeah, Nightmare Moon's rebellion was a sprinkle of rain compared to the hurricane of a disaster that was. Just find that Dorm Manager and switch rooms...) With that the white unicorn turned around and went in search of higher powers.
After getting turned around a couple of times, Vinyl finally found the Dorm Manager. She was an earth pony with navy blue mane and tail and a light-pink coat whose lantern around her neck proclaimed that her name was Tutti Fruitti, along with the cutie mark of a blue bass clef.
“Hi, I need to change rooms.” Vinyl demanded in a short manner as she stepped in front of the earth pony.
The Dorm Manager got a lot of those kinds of complaint and put on her professional smile.
“And why is that?” She asked gently, sure of what the answer was going to be.
“'Cause there ain't no way a DJ and a classical pony could never get along, let alone share a room!” Tutti Fruitti sighed, just as she had thought.
“We have ponies come to us every year saying if not the same thing then something similar to it. Trust me when I say that this system works wonders.”
“And trust me when I say that I've shared places with classical ponies before and it back fired on me badly.” Vinyl gave the pony before her a bland look as Tutti sighed once more before pulling a clip board over to them.
“Your name?”
“Vinyl Scratch.”
Tutti exclaimed in realization.
“Ah yes, here we go. That was taken into consideration when you two were paired up. Octavia has never had a roommate before so this will help the both of you. And besides, we have a 'no-switching' policy, there's nothing we can do. Why not get to know her first before making any rash decisions?” Vinyl frowned thoughtfully as she absorbed the news.
“Fine. But I still don't think it will work.”
Tutti Fruitti smiled smugly as the DJ walked back to her room. She made a note on her clipboard to check in on the pair after a month's time to see how it was going.
After placing her meager belongings away Vinyl decided to get a better look at the clubs and look for a part time job while she was at it. So she walked back outside to the forum as she began to look about her new 'home'.
The crowd outside hadn't lessened, though instead of rushing to get settled everyone was looking at the various clubs. The all stallion group were still performing and half a block farther down were two upper-class mares that glared at the stallions and argued amongst themselves.
Vinyl would have kept on going until she noticed that one of the mares was her roommate. She figured she should at least get to to know the gray mare's hobbies a little if they were stuck together for a while.
As the white unicorn walked up to the pair they both stopped talking and put on professional smiles. Though once Octavia saw who it was her demeanor took on a frostier tone. The other pony shot Octavia a confused look before facing Vinyl once more.
“Hi, welcome to E.U.C.C., home to the Equestrian Girls! Would you be interested in auditioning?” The DJ noticed how the cream-coated, long blue-maned earth pony was a little tense and gave a small smile in return, taking quick note of the green quarter note with fermata over it on her flank.
“A Cappella?”
“Yes! We're one of the top groups here in E.U.C.C.. There's the High Notes, they aren't rather motivated...” The slightly older mare waved a hoof towards a group who sat leisurely under some trees nearby.
“Then there's the Hidden Potentials, they do a lot of alternative music....” Another hoof wave pointed out a group of ponies who were huddled in a closely together as they looked at the other students.
“There's also the … Treble Makers...” At this both mares glared at the stallions who had just finished their performance.
“And us, the Equestrian Girls. It's very much a 'thing' right now to do whole songs using only your voice. I'm Claire Bell and this is -” Octavia cut Claire off with a wave of her hoof.
“We've met.” Claire raised a brow at the unusual behavior of the gray pony, but decided to wait till later to comment on it.
Vinyl dipped her head towards the coal-black maned pony in acknowledgment.
“That we have. And while I don't mind telling you that I'm Vinyl, I will say this. Ain't no way in Tarturus that I'm joining A Cappella! I'm a DJ, I need tech to make proper music. Hay, even classical stuff is better than this!” Vinyl explained with laughter in her voice.
Octavia, having heard Vinyl be rude like this before, wasn't too shocked. Claire, however, looked like she was just told that there was no such thing as music.
“A ca-scuse me? It takes just as much if not more effort to sing A Cappella than DJing!” She huffed as she glared at the unicorn, who had raised a hoof to wave reassuringly to the uppity mare.
“Relax! I'm sure it's the thing for you but it's not for me. I'll see you later Octy.” Vinyl smirked as she left to look at more of the clubs.
“OCTY?!” Octavia shouted in shock as the white unicorn left, while Claire turned to the distraught mare next to her for an explanation of what the hay had happened before.
Vinyl chuckled as she looked around. While nothing stood out at first, she was able to get a job at a local record store, which promised to be interesting at the very least. She was told to come by the first thing in the morning the next day so that they could figure out scheduling. It was going to be odd to work at a store called '33 & 1/3', especially since they sold tapes, CDs and even DVDs as well as vinyl records.
As the white unicorn continued to walk around, looking for anything that wasn't completely lame to join (she was holding out the small hope of a DJ related club), she noticed a younger pink mare bouncing along the sidewalk. Vinyl watched as the mare's darker pink mane kept it's fluffy, bouncy state even as the mare began to zip (how the hay is she zipping?) around, greeting anypony who made eye contact. Which means that Vinyl couldn't help but make eye contact with the odd pony who zoomed up and leaned towards her.
“HI! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?” Pinkie grinned at the mare before her as Vinyl blinked a few times (again, not that anypony was able to see it due to her glasses).
“Hello... Pinkie Pie? I'm Vinyl Scratch.” Vinyl gave a small smirk as the pink mare closed her eyes and bounced in excitement. While it was with great difficulty, Vinyl was just able to make out a trio of balloons on the hyper mare's flank, two yellow surrounding a blue one.
“Oh good! I was starting to think I was speaking in Cowhili, nopony else was answering! What are you here to learn Vinyl?” Pinkie bounced around the unicorn as Vinyl began to walk to the side of the street, she didn't want to cause a traffic blockage while speaking with the hyper mare.
“Cowhili? Um, I'm not sure they even offer classes for that...” Vinyl smirked once more as she tried to keep the bouncing mare in sight. “I'm learning more techniques for being a DJ. What about you Pinkie?”
“Oh I'm learning just about everything! Though I guess I'm majoring in Clowning. Have you chosen any clubs to join? They all look so FUN! I'd want to join them all but I don't know if I'd have enough time do that and learn everything I can. Have you spoken to those two mares over that way?” A pink hoof pointed back towards where Vinyl had just walked from.
“They are doing A CAPPELLA! How FUN is that!? Singing! WITHOUT any instruments! That's so cool! OOOHH look! Baking Club! I'll see you later Vinyl, ok?! BYE!” And in a poof of pink dust cloud, Pinkie Pie ran over to the baking club.
Vinyl was in shock at the rapid speech and departure. She sat on the side of street, wondering if she had just found a pony weirder than herself. As she was about to get up and continue on her way, a pink blur stopped suddenly in front of her.
“Oh, so we are so totally friends right? I'm having a party and everypony is invited, but all my friends are especially invited to come! It's going to be this Saturday, so that's two days away for the readers reading this, and it's going to be a great starting party for the season of parties! I'll see you there, ok? Bye!” Pinkie Pie gave a small jump before flying off once more.
Vinyl thought she was in shock before, but now she found a new meaning in the word. She doubted that she would ever get use to the pink mare, and considering how they were now 'friends', she had a feeling she would need to keep energy drinks nearby at all times just to keep up.
(Well, she seems like a nice mare... but so did others... I guess I'll just have to see how it goes.) Vinyl shrugged and began to continue on her way.
After another hour of search she found the DJ's of Tomorrow, a group of DJs who shared techniques and kept an eye on the competition. Now she just had to figure out what group should be her second. Luckily, she had a month before any administrative staff came knocking about what clubs she was in.
After grabbing a quick lunch of hay-fries and rose sub, Vinyl headed back to her shared room. Octavia still wasn't back and Vinyl figured she should set up her basic equipment to help get more settled in.
The DJs were expected to bring their own equipment, but it would be a pain to drag it back and forth from the dorms to classes. Fortunately, the classroom had lockers for the students to keep their stuff in and were able to keep it secure with personal locks. That just left her with her basic mini-set of turntables to use along with her laptop outside of class. She had headphones that would help keep the sound private when not in class as well, so she wouldn't disturb anypony else.
The headphones were actually specially enchanted so that she wouldn't go deaf or lose her specialized hearing when performing, as well as keeping the sound down so others couldn't hear it. They were black with light blue highlights, the same as all her other equipment. It was her trade mark colors, aside from her new purple glasses, and she planned to use it to the full extent.
Vinyl placed the earphones onto her head as she began to make some new mixes, the first day of college already inspiring her. Now she just had to wait for Octavia to get back and try to make amends for earlier in the day.