“Vinyl Scratch, huh?” Octavia whispered.
“Yup!”
Octavia sighed. Guess it was too idealistic to think she could go an entire day without somepony asking any questions. Miss Caralot hadn’t said anything yet that interested Octavia, which she interpreted as meaning she wasn’t going to say anything that interested her at all. She wasn't normally one to ignore others, but at this point she was limited to paying attention to either the teacher or the filly, and frankly the one sitting behind her seemed much more interesting.
“Nice… to meet you as well.”
Vinyl’s eyes closed in an excited beam. “Oh man, this is so exciting! The new filly, sitting right in front of me. This is SO AWESOME!”
Octavia countered her exuberant grin with a scowl. “I’ll have you know I am NOT a filly.”
“Oh, ok then!” Vinyl said, completely forgetting about what she said in a matter of moments. “Hey, do you mind if I call you Tavi?”
“What th… why would you call me such a name?”
“Octavia’s too long. Besides, Tavi’s cute, dontcha think?”
Octavia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. In her entire life, nopony had every given her a nickname, much less one that to her sounded like some kind of confectionary.
“N-No, I do not think it’s cute, now if you would...” she stuttered, not exactly sure why she was stammering.
“Aww come on, please?” she pleaded as she hit Octavia with the most compelling puppy dog eyes she had ever seen, enhanced that much more because of the red pigment.
It was true that she didn’t like her name a whole lot, but there was a certain amount of dignity she felt was lost when some random filly decided to give you a new name. But those red eyes, staring into her very soul, were much too compelling.
“Fine…”
With little warning, the white unicorn wrapped her arms around Octavia’s midriff, stretching her own body to do so. The sudden feeling of pressure around her body was very much alien to Octavia, and she instinctively wrestled herself out of the embrace, causing Vinyl to do a faceplant onto her own desk.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Octavia questioned in anger, doing her best to wipe off the nonexistent germs that were transferred in the embrace.
“Ah’m giffing yu yur uffishel wercum,” she said, her answer muffled by the desk.
“What was that?”
Vinyl wrenched her head back up to give a clearer, less constricted answer. “I’m giving you your official welcome.”
“Oh. Is this something ponies in Equestria do as a greeting? Can I expect more of these, ‘welcomes’?” She was generally scared of that thought, a horde of ponies trying to wrap their filthy little legs around her.
“Nah, it’s just somethin I do sometimes.”
“Oh, I see,” Octavia grumbled.
“Well?” Vinyl asked.
“Well what?”
“Do you feel welcomed?”
“Erm… I suppose so.”
Vinyl squealed in delight
A sharp ringing cut through their conversation and synced perfectly with the end of Miss Caralot’s speech, something she was internally pleased about. The noise seemed to compel the other foals, who were previously listening to her speech half-heartedly, to get up out of their desks and walk out of the classroom.
“That’s the bell for first period,” Vinyl said. The confused look that was present on Octavia’s face told Vinyl all she needed to know. “Do ya need help getting around the school?”
“No thanks, I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” she asked for good measure.
“Yes, I’ll be quite alright. I’ll have you know I’m a master at navigating new territory.”
“That’s so cute!” she said as she slid off the chair of her desk. “I can’t wait to hang out some more, Tavi.” Without another word, she started off towards the door.
The mention of her new name sickened Octavia, almost to the point of actually being sick. She hadn’t expected her initial welcome to be so… interesting. At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel that the upcoming year at least was going to be very long. As Vinyl trotted through the rows of desks, the grey filly took some more time to marvel in her coloring. How such a body could house such an unruly spirit was unfathomable to her.
One thing was certain; this one was different.
“Well Miss Adagio, you seem to have taken a liking to Miss Scratch.”
Octavia’s trance shattered. She looked up to see her homeroom teacher standing a few feet from her desk, sunlight gleaming off her glasses.
“I, uh…”
“So much of a liking, it seems, to completely blow off my announcements,” she said with an austere look, foreshadowing a severe rebuke.
“I’m sorry ma’am, I… she just…” Tears began to well up in the filly’s eyes in apprehension of the suggested scolding.
In a sudden about face of emotion, the cheerful smile that had been present when they’d first met returned. “No no, it’s quite alright. I’m glad to see you’re making friends so soon. Though next time… save it until after homeroom, alright?”
Still reluctant to admit it was her fault, she lowered her head in a nod.
“Thank you. Now then, I have your schedule here.” She wrapped a green aura around an object within one of the pockets of her sweater. Levitating it out, it was revealed to be a paper, covered in neatly organized writing. “According to this, you have Mr. Francen for science next. I’ll show you how to get to his room. At the end of class, just ask him how to get your next room. I’ll leave you with this.”
She gently levitated the paper within inches of Octavia face. Octavia took the hint and just as gently gripped it between her jaws. Holding her schedule there in front of her face, the words written upon it resonated through her head in less than perfect harmony. The names were easy enough, but there was so much small, indiscernible type and random markings to the point where it was actually painful for her to try to decipher it. She figured it would be an adequate representation of what her year was actually going to be like. Crazy, confusing, and boring.
However, there existed a single glimmer of hope at the very bottom of the paper; her musical instincts led Octavia’s eyes to focus on that one word, the word that would help her throughout these hard times.
Orchestra.
---------------------------------------------------------
Introducing herself once to a group of foals had been bad enough; doing it four more times, plus three more after lunch, was tantamount to indignation. She wasn’t sure why, but by the time she sat down with the school’s daily special, which to her looked more like yesteryear’s leftovers, her head was literally throbbing in pain. She hardly had any motivation or strength to try to eat whatever it was that was in front of her.
Why did orchestra have to be at the end of the day? The saying ‘save the best for last’ flashed through her mind, though it hardly seemed appropriate when all her classes so far were exactly as she’d imagined them to be. Ninth period seemed miles away; even though she was already finished with half her classes, three more may as well have been three hundred.
She’d learned in the past that lunch was another very important period to her day. It allowed her a reprieve for her to crash and basically do whatever the hay she wanted. Being alone for thirty minutes was often enough for a quick nap, or a chance to finish some homework that needed completing.
Today, it would be used for the former.
Slowly letting her eyelids fall, she propped her forelegs underneath her head in a criss-cross pattern as a makeshift pillow. The bell had proven itself loud enough to jar her from whatever deep sleep she fell into, so she wasn’t worried about oversleeping.
As her eyelids began their descent, a particular color was making itself known amongst the gray coloring of the cafeteria’s marble. Illuminated by the skylight overhead, she could see it was one of her classmates, a unicorn. Whoever it was had taken the easy way out, and was levitating their tray directly in front of their vision.
Octavia envied unicorns with their ever so convenient magical abilities. She believed whole-heartedly that unicorns were in fact taking over the world of music. All the famous musical artists nowadays were unicorns, who used their magic to manipulate instruments in ways earth ponies couldn’t hope to achieve.
But that hadn’t stopped Octavia, or her father. They were members of a dying breed, no doubt, but that had only encouraged both of them to push through and become better than those stuck-up unicorns. Her father’s performances had always been as much of a light show as they were concerts. Being one of the only non-unicorns among his various orchestras, he would always be the center of his audience’s attention, forcing him to work extra hard to prove his worth.
And she was certain her future would be similar.
CRACK!
The noise bolted Octavia out of her half slumber, sending her flying back into her seat in a comical attempt to show she was still awake. She rubbed her eyes once before looking across the table. A second tray existed there, covered in the same garbage the school had the nerve to declare edible. The blue aura that enveloped it gradually dissipated as its manipulator let gravity take over.
“Oh man, I’m starvin!”
Vinyl licked her lips as she eyed her food with the ferocity of a predator cat. So that’s why the foal had caught her attention. Of course it had to be Vinyl, of all ponies.
“H-Hey, who said you could sit here?”
Vinyl set down a blob of green gelatin she was about to devour. “You expectin guests or something?”
Tension built up in Octavia’s mind as she realized Vinyl was absolutely right. She was in no position to tell her where she couldn’t sit; she was the new filly, the one with no friends, or even acquaintances for that matter. She inaudibly cursed this fact with a scowl, sorely giving in with no fight.
“N-no…”
“Ok, so there’s no problem with me sitting here?”
“I guess…”
“Yay!” She reached across the table for another ‘welcome’, which Octavia promptly denied with an interesting-looking kung-fu stance.
“Ah, one is enough then?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Alrighty then!” She proceeded to pick up where she’d left off in the consumption of the gelatin. Chewing with her mouth wide open, Octavia could see the innards of this filly, which were much less pleasant than her exterior.
There was no chance of a nap now. So she couldn’t be held responsible for any extra crankiness she exhibited.
“So, Miss Scratch…”
“Call me Vinyl!”
She restarted with a little more emphasis. “So, VINYL, could you help me figure out this schedule?”
She reached to the vacant seat aside of her with her foreleg, returning with the slip of paper that had been her guide so far. Vinyl reluctantly set down a chip to aid in the filly’s understanding.
“Hmmm, so Miss Caralot didn’t offer?” Vinyl asked.
“Well, no, but I didn’t really ask either.”
“I see,” she said while scanning the pamphlet. Glancing over a particular passage, her crimson eyes grew to new widths, her mouth doing the same in a smile. “Next period you have math! With me!”
Octavia brought her head onto the wooden table with a loud bang. Vinyl jumped back.
“You ok, Tavi?” she asked while tilting her head.
She wasn’t about to say the real reason she’d unintentionally made her headache worse. She could be blunt, but that would throw a wrench in their conversation, and it risked losing her helper. Luckily, quick thinking one of her fortes.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just really tired is all,” she said as she sleepily raised her head. It wasn’t even a lie; she WAS going to take a nap, before somepony else had felt the need to sit them self down across the table.
“Ah, ok. Seeing as we have the same class next period, why don’t I walk you there, show you the ropes?”
Octavia tilted her head, raising one eyebrow. “Show me… the ropes?”
“Yeah, show ya the ropes.”
She tilted her head to the other side, mirroring her previous show of confusion. “Are these ropes so interesting, you have to show them to me?”
“Yeah… wait, wut?”
“These ropes. You really want to show me… rope.”
“Now whaddya mean by…” She stopped herself in instant comprehension of what was transpiring. “OH!!! I forgot, you’re from Germaney.”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“Well Tavi, here in Manehattan, we have certain lingo that we use. It might not make much sense in a literal definition, but trust me, it means something.”
Octavia had tried to prepare herself for new phrases, just like her mother had suggested, but only now did she realize just how difficult that was going to be. Having no guess as to what this new phrase might mean, she gave up.
“So… what does ‘show me the ropes’ mean?”
“It basically means give you a tour and getcha acquainted.”
“I see. I already told you, I’ll be fine. I don’t need any help.”
“Don’t’ be so stubborn Tavi,” she said with a grin. “We’re going to the same class, I might as well. Think of it as your ‘other’ official welcome.”
Octavia shuddered. She was by no means a huggy pony. “Erm, that’s ok, I don’t…”
At that moment she saw Vinyl prepare herself for her trump card, the technique used against only the most stubborn of ponies. “OK! OK! Just, don’t use those eyes.”
“Heh heh, I know your weakness Tavi.”
“Shut up,” Octavia grumbled.
“Now now, no need for those kinda words,” Vinyl suggested while pointing a hoof at Octavia. She casually brought her eyes back to the paper, curious about this filly’s other classes. She looked at the very bottom, and grinned her jubilant grin. “Ooh, ooh! And here you have orchestra!”
“Yes, I had figured that one…”
“With me!”
Slamming her head back onto the table was the first course of action that popped into Octavia’s mind, but making the one she already had worse wouldn’t really have been the best, seeing as she’d have to carry it with her for the rest of the already long enough day. Taking it in stride, she held herself back as she tried to continue keeping the conversation as normal as it could possibly be, sighing loudly to replace the urge.
“You sure you’re ok Tavi?”
Removing herself from the table, Octavia reared her sleep-deprived head. “Yes, I’m just tired is all. Really.”
“Allllllright…” she said with a bit more doubt in her voice.
Silence took over the table for only a minute, before Vinyl broke it again. “Say Tavi, I’ve been meanin ta ask.”
“Yes, Vinyl?”
“You play the cello. And that’s a bass clef instrument, right?”
“Yes, that is correct.” She was surprised at this filly’s sudden display of musical knowledge, even if it was a bit basic.
“So why is your cutie mark a treble clef?”
Octavia showed a confident smirk. “Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I can actually play many more stringed instruments. The cello just happens to be the one I’m best at.”
“Oooooooooohhhhhhh, ok!”
Octavia was still reveling in her own glory when reason kicked in something fierce: she never told Vinyl she played the cello.
“W-wait, how did you know that?”
“Know wub?” she asked with a cookie half shoved in her mouth.
“That I play the cello. I never told you that.”
Vinyl glanced up at the ceiling like she expected it to tell her the answer. After a moment of rubbing her chin with her hoof, the answer came to her from nowhere.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. I saw you unpackin last week.”
A look of watered down horror appeared on Octavia’s face, though she’d meant it to just be of surprise.
“You did? Where were you?”
“Next door. Driveway. I was waving to you, but you were so intent on gettin into your new house that ya didn’t see me.”
“Oh, I see.” She was still very surprised, but there was another question that needed answering right now. “So what were you doing next door?”
“I live next to you, dummy.”
“WHAT?!” Octavia screamed as she threw herself up into an aggressive stance, keeping her astonished eyes locked on Vinyl. There were only micrometers between them, before Vinyl added to that distance with a simple foreleg push. Octavia compliantly fell back into her seat, realizing she’d just made a fool of both herself and Vinyl.
“I-I’m sorry, I was just a bit surprised was all.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. Guess you’re not tired anymore, are you?”
Hot blood rushed into Octavia’s cheeks, coloring them a dark red. Her arms and legs fidgeted under the table, still reacting to the leftover traces of her outburst. Her eyes glanced nervously around, trying to avoid the stares of both Vinyl and those who might’ve seen her.
“In any case, you seem to know a bit when it comes to music.”
Vinyl giggled. “I should hope so. I play the xylophone.”
“Ah, I was going to ask what you played,” a complete lie if there ever was one.
“I’ll show you later. Did you bring your cello today?”
“No. I thought I’d just get myself acquainted with the school before I brought that in.”
“Makes sense. You’re going to love Noteworthy, he’s the best teacher ever!”
“That’s a big relief,” Octavia said with a miniscule grin.
The hammer struck the bell, signaling the change of classes. All around her foals vacated their seats and trotted off towards wherever their next class was, until only she and Vinyl were left.
“Well, guess that means we gotta get going. You gonna eat that?”
Octavia shook her head.
“Awesome!” She poured energy into her horn, grabbing what existed on Octavia’s tray with an aura of magic. Levitating what she had directly above her head, she pointed her mouth skyward, opening it as wide as she possibly could. All at once the food items fell from the air as gravity took over again. With chipmunk like cheeks she slowly digested the conglomerate of tasty items that Octavia had bought for who knew why.
All the while with Octavia looking at her with utter disgust.
“Oh god, that… Uggghh, in the name of Celestia, what are you even…”