I sit at the table, tapping my pencil rapidly, concentrating more on the song in my head then the math in front of me. I stop tapping for a moment, and enter some digits into my calculator. I check my text book, and write down a random number onto my sheet.
“Are you even trying?” Says a familiar naggy voice. But maybe what I see as naggy is just concerned on her part. Only the Great and Powerful Spaghetti God knows.
“Nope. Why, you gonna help me?” I ask hopefully.
She just gives me a look. “And why would I do that?”
“Because I don’t want to do it. And your nice”
“The sheet is on my bedside table. You can copy it” She says grudgingly.
“Thanks, Tavi!”
“What did I say about calling me that?!”
“You know you like it” I say, giving her a bear hug.
“Agh?” She shouts out in surprise. She tries to struggle out of my grip, but to no avail. “Let- Me- Go!”
“Never!” I squeeze her tighter.
“I’m not kidding Vinyl, I’ll tell the dean on you!”
“You think I care? I’m an all powerful Changeling halfbreed!”
“I’ll break your glasses!” She threatens.
I immediately let her go. “You wouldn’t” I say, legitimately scared.
“No, I wouldn’t” A sly smile creeps onto her face. “It worked, though, didn’t it?”
“Yeah. Don’t do that again, I love my glasses”
“Talking about your glasses, where did you get them? I’ve never seen a pair like them before”
I sigh. “Looks like it’s story time again”
“I got them from my dad as a little kid. We had just moved from Ponyville into Los Pegasus. You remember me telling you about how I moved around alot as a kid, right?”
Octavia nods. “Yes. Someone would find out your secret, so you’d move”
“Yeah, so anyways, I just got through one of the toughest years of my childhood ever: Ponyville. Despite the fact that it’s the home of the Elements of Harmony, it’s not a very harmonious town. One of the big things I got picked on was my red eyes. ‘The eyes of a monster’ they said. Even though one of the lead bullies, this Rainbow Dash, had reddish-pink eyes, they still insisted mine where evil. Now, remember, this was all when I was eleven. If this happened now, I could shrug it off, ‘cuz I’m a tougher mare now than I was then. So, we moved, but I had a really low self image. The center of that self image was my eyes. I was worried about starting school in Apploosa that year, so my dad was thinking about homeschooling me. Now, my birthday is about a month before the school started. My dad was out at a thrift store, and saw a pair of beat up purple shades. As a child, my favourite color was purple. He spent Celestia knows how much money customizing then. Then, for my birthday, he gave them to me” I sit quietly, my story having come to an abrupt end.
Octavia is the first to break the silence. “You had a lot tougher of a filliehood then I ever did. Mine was all spent in Canterlot in the lap of luxury”
“Yeah, I was growing up in the hood while you were here doing... Whatever it is rich people do”
“In the hood? I’m sure that’s just an exaggeration, Vinyl”
“Oh how wrong you are. Remember, except for a year in Ponyville and a year in Apploosa, I grew up in a big city. Each year the city changed, but, for the most part, a city is a city. My dad ain't Filthy Rich, so we always rented a low end apartment. And who am I to turn down the chance to explore a city? How else would I be the pony I am now?”
“And what kind of a person are you exactly?” She asks me.
“What?”
“What are you like? The bit I’ve seen of your personality is rather shallow”
“I’m not shallow!”
“Really? Can you prove that to me? Or should I prove my point, instead. First day here, and you made that suggestion to me. Why? Not because you liked my personality, but because I was the most available one. Rather Shallow”
“Wow, and I was just maybe starting to like you as a friend” I say, slightly offended.
*Octavia’s point of view*
Damn it! You just had to go and mess it up, didn’t you? “Sorry, I have a habit of speaking my mind” I tell her, trying to apologize.
“Oh, now you’re trying to defend yourself by saying you saying the truth?” She says, looking truly angry.
“No! I meant I occasionally don’t have a filter between my head and my mouth”
“Oh” Like a switch, she no longer appears angry. “So what was it like for you as a kid?”
“Well, I always did what mother and father wanted me to do. I was-”
“Let me stop you right there” Vinyl says. “You did whatever your folks wanted?”
I nod yes.
“You have no sense of adventure, do you?” I give her an annoyed look “Alright, I’ll be quiet for a little while longer”
“Oh, you think I’m little miss perfect?”
“Well, duh, of course I do, dude. Prove your not”
I think back, trying to find a moment when I went against my parents wishes. I can’t think of any moment I did so. “Alright, I concede your right. But is that a bad thing?”
“Weeeellllll” She says.
“Well what?”
“Well, that’s a pretty boring life then, eh?”
“No, it’s been rather fulfilling for me. I have a caring family, what more could one want?”
“Maybe a life. Friends?” She looks me right in the eye. How did she know?
“I have friends” I say. I can’t even convince myself that.
“Sure you do. What do you do for fun?” I sit in silence.
“I play my cello” I say defensively.
“Sounds real fun. Tell you what. You come with me and Sound to a club one of these nights. Then you’ll know what fun is”
I roll my eyes. I don’t want her to think this will be easy. “Do I have to?”
“Yes. I’ll drag you there kicking and screaming if I have to”
“Fine. I’ll come with. Does it play your music the whole time though?”
“Wouldn’t be a club I like if it didn’t”
“Alright” I say. I’m that much closer to her now.