> A Different Tune
> by AVeryStrange
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first day of school. A troubling time for many a colt or filly, finding out who had moved away, who was still around, who was to be in their class and who would part ways. There was the matter of supplies: paper, pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, rulers, protractors... the list seemed designed so that for the first few weeks there'd always be some poor soul who'd have to tell the teacher what they'd forgotten while the rest of class withdrew their required item from stuffed saddlebags. Students showed off new shoes, saddlebags and lunchbags, gossiped about which teacher gave the most homework and which one showed movies, and complained at the ever growing size of their textbooks.
One filly was doing none of these things, because she was busy sitting in the headmaster's office. Her mother, an ice-blue earth pony with lilac eyes, sat beside her, looking over papers she had just signed before handing them across to a bulky gray unicorn with a beard like a billy goat's. The filly had been staring at his beard for the last five minutes straight.
"Everything's in order then. Little Octavia is quite excited to start at the Academy." The filly looked up at her name, staring at her mother quietly with pale purple eyes that matched her mother's own. The look on her face was decidedly not one of excitement, but the headmaster just nodded slowly.
"If you give these to my secretary, she'll get you the filly's homeroom. We welcome you to the Canterlot Royal Academy of Arts." he handed several papers to the filly's mother, who took them with a quiet smile.
"Come along Octavia, remember your things." the mare said before gripping the papers carefully in her mouth, freeing her hooves to walk. The filly took a moment to prepare herself and jumped off the chair, landing with a thump. She wiggled into the tiny saddlebags slumped against the chair leg and hurried after her mother. As they exited the headmaster's office, they crossed a mare with half-moon glasses and a white unicorn filly. The mare had a stern expression and bags under her eyes; the filly was grinning widely. As Octavia and her mother passed the filly leaned over.
"New record." she whispered. Octavia's eyes widened, trying to make sense of the filly's words. She did a double take, trying to watch as the mare, a teacher no doubt, and the filly entered the headmaster's office. She jumped as she heard a sigh that was loud even through the door.
Her mother meanwhile had reached the secretary's desk, which was placed in the main waiting room as to have her act as the gatekeeper to the headmaster. Octavia kept glancing back towards the closed door, curious at the filly's words, until her mother called for her. They exited the office out into a long, busy hallway, students figuring out locker combinations and making plans for after a day that hadn't yet begun. Octavia shadowed her mother, practically under her hooves. She glanced out at the students as they passed; everypony seemed bigger than her, and there were few earth ponies around, making her feel an outsider. At least she wasn't a pegasus; she saw two for the entire walk down the hall, which took several minutes as her mother stopped to check the occasional door number. Octavia nearly bumped into her mother's legs, distracted by her future classmates, when they finally stopped.
"Here we are Octavia. One-oh-six, Mrs. Reed. You be a good girl now." her mother turned and bent down. Octavia opened her mouth to protest, but stopped herself as her mother kissed her on the forehead.
"Come straight home afterwards, alright? And be good." with that, her mother turned and walked away. Octavia sat down, her eyes filling her head. She looked around helplessly. One pony nearby was snickering - was it at her? She accidentally made eye contact with another and glanced away quickly, seeing him roll his eyes. She decided to just enter the room; surely it would be safer than out in the hall.
Only three bored-looking students were in the classroom, scattered amongst several rows of desks. A pale yellow mare with her gray mane in a bun looked up from her book as Octavia entered. She said nothing, but Octavia remembered a paper given to her back in the headmaster's office. She paused, fished it out of a saddlebag without taking them off, and approached the teacher's desk from the side. The old mare glanced up again, blinking at the sight of the little filly with a note in her mouth. She was an earth pony herself, and reached down to grasp the note with the crook of her hoof.
"Oh, a new student. Well, take a seat then, we'll do introductions later." she waved Octavia away. The filly turned, scanning the rows, trying to figure out where would be the safest to sit. A corner perhaps, somewhere near the back?
"Any seat now." Octavia jumped, turning to see the teacher watching her from over her book. She hurried away, embarrassed, and grabbed the nearest seat in the front row. Luckily, it wasn't near anypony right now.
Octavia sat quietly, unsure if she should get out supplies, which supplies, what if she was in somepony's desk, what if there was a quiz - they didn't give quizzes on the first day, did they? What if there had been homework over the summer? As she fretted over the million different things that were about to go wrong (if she dropped a pencil, did she fetch it, or get another? What if she dropped all her pencils? What if she dropped her pencil case?) she failed to notice as the classroom filled up, colts and fillies surrounding her, only a couple seats still spare by the time the teacher cleared her throat, putting down her book.
"Good morning class." she began, stepping in front of the blackboard. "Most of you know me as Mrs. Reed. Starting tomorrow, when I say 'good morning class', I expect to hear 'good morning Mrs. Reed' back from all of you. Now, as some of you may have noticed, we have a new student this year." Octavia froze, realizing that applied to her.
"Come then." The teacher gestured at her. Octavia got off her stool, pausing to make sure Mrs. Reed was in fact waiting on her. At least being in the front meant that she only had a short walk to suffer. She turned around when she reached the teacher, instinctively sticking close to the old mare's legs.
"Go on. Your name, filly, start with that." Mrs. Reed told her, terse but not impatient. Octavia opened her mouth, but instead of words, a sharp squeak erupted from the filly. A couple of her classmates began to snicker, making Octavia try to hide behind her teacher's legs. Her teacher unfortunately stepped away.
"Well. Take a seat then." the teacher gave up. Octavia was glad to get back to her desk, despite the filly barely hiding her giggling to her right. She tried to make herself smaller, as if she hunched over enough she would become invisible.
"Now that that's over-" the teacher didn't get any further before the door swung open hard enough to slam against the wall. As Octavia (and half the class, including the teacher) recovered from her heart attack she saw the unicorn filly from earlier enter the class, still smiling like she was queen of the world. She even gave a flick of her wild blue hair as she surveyed the classroom.
"Hey Missus Reed, long time no see!" she greeted, throwing up a hoof in greeting. The look on the teacher's face was a mix of fear and indignation.
"Hello Vinyl. Getting an early start are we?"
"Heh, you know me teach. Always the go-getter." the filly headed for the desks. "Jim says hi."
"Ahem." the teacher cleared her throat as Vinyl passed the first row of desks. "Front row if you please."
"Eh?" Vinyl turned around, sincerely confused. "C'mon te- Missus Reed, you know me. Not really a front row kind of gal..."
"Precisely." the teacher responded. Vinyl began to look nervous, and scanned the front row. That brought a smile to her face, though she tried to hide it.
"There's no-"
"Willow, since you seem to be having a hard time controlling yourself, why don't you move to the back of the class where you can compose yourself in peace." Mrs. Reed addressed the filly to Octavia's right, who still hadn't stopped snickering, though it was probably at least as much at Vinyl now as at Octavia. She looked up, surprised to be addressed, and sullenly removed herself, now finding herself the subject of a few other students' (very quiet) amusement. Octavia watched Vinyl give the teacher one last pleading look, blue eyes filling her head to a nearly disturbing extent.
"Vinyl, there isn't an adult in this building who hasn't seen that look a hundred times over. Now stop disturbing the class or you can march right back to Ji- to the headmaster's office." Mrs. Reed seemed particularly steamed that she had nearly slipped and referred to the headmaster so informally. Vinyl sighed and slunk towards the seat that had been vacated for her. The teacher waited until the filly had her rump firmly in the seat before turning her attention to the rest of the class.
"Now, unless anypony has any distractions to make you all even later to lunch?" The class was silent, so with a nod she turned her attention to the board. Somepony from the back immediately threw a crumpled paper ball at the back of Vinyl's head. The unicorn responded by turning around and sticking her tongue out in the general direction of the ball's source.
"Vinyl." Mrs. Reed cautioned, not even turning around. Vinyl opened her mouth, already pointing a hoof, but stopped, seemed to reconsider, and folded her forelegs in front of her, pouting for all to see. Mrs. Reed picked up a piece of chalk in her mouth and began to write.
"Gotta love Missus Reed." Vinyl whispered to Octavia. "Can't talk and write at the same time, still the toughest teacher around." she grinned, but Octavia just blinked. She wasn't supposed to talk during class, right? But it'd be rude to say nothing... Octavia tried to open her mouth, but Vinyl had already turned her attention back to the board, placing her head in her hooves and watching the teacher with dull eyes. Octavia closed her mouth slowly, glad she hadn't been forced into talking.
"Now, get out your notebooks, and we'll start with an essay about your summer." Mrs. Reed told the class. There was a uniform ruffling of paper as fillies and colts reached into their saddlebags.
"Psst." Octavia looked up from ruffling through her saddlebags. It was Vinyl. "Hey, can I borrow a pencil?" she said with a sheepish smile. Octavia wordlessly took out a second, letting out a surprised peep as the pencil was surrounded in a blue glow, floating towards Vinyl. Octavia tried not to blush; she hadn't been around many unicorns before, and it caught her off guard. She recovered by drawing out her own pencil and a loose leaf sheet of paper. As she drew upright, she heard again,
"Psst." she looked over to find Vinyl smiling at her again, ducking her head slightly in guilt. Octavia didn't have to be told, and reached down, taking out an extra piece of paper that Vinyl immediately took from her. Octavia gripped her pencil between her teeth; she knew she wasn't supposed to chew her pencils, her mother had told her as much, but she really wanted the relief of gnawing on something, and couldn't help but work it around before looking to the board for instruction. She began to write, having a hard time keeping the pencil steady. She looked to her left and right for some clue of what was expected of her. Vinyl was tapping her chin in thought, and when inspiration seemed to strike she began to scribble furiously, guiding the pencil magically. Octavia glanced down to see a doodle of an airplane, or perhaps it was a grilled cheese sandwich, taking shape on the unicorn's page. Octavia decided to look elsewhere for ideas.
Eventually she got a few paragraphs out, sure it was inadequate, afraid she'd fail on her first day. The only thing she could think to write about was her family moving from Saddle, how long the carriage rides were, touring Canterlot for the first time and finding her new home, which was a lot smaller, with more noise around - her parents assured her she'd grow to love it, so Octavia was sure it was better, somehow. She didn't even get to fill the page before the teacher told them to put their pencils down. She came around to gather papers, Vinyl's one of the first.
"I appreciate you giving me a break from reading, Vinyl." the teacher quipped dryly, "But I'm noticing a distinct lack of essay in your essay."
"It's all there." Vinyl replied, throwing her hooves behind her head. "You said we had to tell what we did with our summer. You never said we had to use words."
"Silly me." the teacher replied. "You think I'd learn my lesson after you turned your last paper into origami. Dear goodness, is that Princess Celestia?"
Vinyl looked back at her paper. "No, that's a pile of pudding shaped like Princess Celestia. We had to use it to distract the princess-eating dinosaurs."
"Naturally." the teacher sighed. "Today's going to be a long day."
---
Mrs. Reed's prediction proved correct, at least for Octavia. She always waited, as her parents told her, however long she was told to, but was nonetheless getting quite antsy to leave her seat by the time lunch rolled around. They were told to grab their lunchboxes or bags and then guided by the teacher towards the playground, where lunch was held while the weather lasted. The school was shaped like a horseshoe, surrounding a green field with a couple trees, several small wooden tables and benches, a swingset and soccer goalposts. Octavia carried her brown paper bag towards a corner of a table under the shade; apparently the grades ate lunch at different times, as only her class and a couple others had been let out, and there was more than enough room among the tables for Octavia to find somewhere quiet.
"Hey!" Octavia glanced in the direction of the call, surprised to find it had been directed at her. Vinyl was approaching, pencil hovering ahead of her, a paper bag of her own on her back.
"C'mon, my rep's not that bad is it? I was gonna give this back." she floated the pencil over to Octavia, who just blinked.
"Oh, right. No horn. My bad." Vinyl realized. She glanced to the table Octavia had been heading towards. She sat herself down without a word, leaving just enough space for a filly between her and the table edge. Octavia paused, but figured it wouldn't be very nice of her to run and hide in the classroom like she kind of wanted to do. Instead she forced herself to take the seat clearly intended for her. She dropped her bag on the table, and glanced to the pencil Vinyl had placed between them.
"...thanks." she said, her voice just a whisper. Vinyl smiled.
"Hey, thank you." she replied as she opened up her bag. "You switch in from somewhere? Or, oh hey, you just move here?"
"Yeah..." Octavia replied, trying to be polite. She opened up her own bag, removing a red apple.
"Sweet! Oh man, and third grade's going to be so much fun. They finally let us touch the instruments!" Vinyl said excitedly. "You pick a track yet? Do new students get to? Man, what would you do if you didn't pick a track, huh? I guess it'd be like second grade, but who wants to relive that, y'know?"
"I..." Octavia wasn't sure which question to answer first, if she was supposed to answer them all or only the last, or what.
"Don't talk much, do you?" Vinyl asked. That, Octavia could answer with a quick shake of her head, the irony of her silence lost on both fillies.
"S'cool. Hey, whatcha got for lunch?" Vinyl asked. Octavia just glanced at her apple.
"Oh." Vinyl rubbed the back of her neck. "Hehe. I'm starting with the classics - peanut butter and marshmallow!" she unwrapped a sliced sandwich, the crusts taken off, from which oozed a strange brown-and-white paste. Octavia blinked.
"What's a marsh-mallow?" she asked. Vinyl dropped the sandwich just before taking a bite. She turned to Octavia, who immediately shrunk away. She had done something wrong.
"You don't know what marshmallows are?" Vinyl asked. Octavia reluctantly shook her head. Frowning, Vinyl lifted half her sandwich and levitated it in front of Octavia.
"Eat this. Now." she said, not exactly stern but very insistent. Octavia took the sandwich in her hooves, and brought it close enough to smell. Mostly it smelled like peanut butter, which she got with her apples sometimes. But there was something sweet about it too. Noticing Vinyl still watching her, Octavia took a bite.
A few moments later, Vinyl trotted towards the play area, eyes skyward. A certain gray filly bounded about, hopping from spot to spot, circling Vinyl as she walked.
"Boy that was a great sandwich I like marshmallows I wonder if clouds taste like that we could ask a pegasus why aren't there any pegasuseseses....pegas....I liked your drawings but I don't know that's how to do an essay but I've never written an essay before and school's so big and so scary but mom says I have to if I want to be good at music and I guess I want to be good at music because that's what mom and dad do and wow the sky is so big!" with that Octavia flopped onto her back, staring up at the sky. Vinyl turned back around and walked up to her, placing her head in Octavia's field of view. The earth pony filly was panting hard.
"So you liked the sandwich?"
"Has anypony really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?" Octavia asked in response. Vinyl blinked.
"Not really." she replied, barely missing a beat. Octavia stared at her, panting, and eventually the unicorn filly extended her hoof. Octavia grasped it, getting up onto her hooves again, and immediately felt her cheeks warm.
"Sorry I ate your sandwich." she said, head still buzzing but sense reasserting itself.
"Eh? Hey, I gave it to you, didn't I? You're a weird kid... hey, I don't know your name!"
"Oh, sorry!" Octavia couldn't believe it - how many times had her parents told her to greet somepony, how necessary it was to open with that? She cleared her throat and extended her hoof, still shifting from side to side with that sudden ansy feeling the sandwich had given her.
"I am Octavia Elizabeth-Christalina Vitula, pleased to meet you."
Vinyl just stared at her, and then slowly a grin began to spread across her face. As her lips drew back as far as they could go a snicker escaped between her teeth, and then another, and then the dam burst. Octavia just watched, completely at a loss as Vinyl burst out in laughter, falling to the ground and flailing her front hooves as giggles overcame her body. She was soon on her back, clutching her sides.
"Octa...Christalina....what? Haha!" she wiped her eyes, eventually wearing herself out. She looked back up to find that Octavia wasn't standing there with an extended hoof anymore. The filly had taken a seat, staring at Scratch with the widest purple eyes in the world, tears yet unshed building in them. Her lower lip trembled with an internal earthquake.
"H-hey... you okay?" Vinyl asked. Octavia inhaled with gasping breaths.
"Hey, um...I didn't mean-" Vinyl made the mistake of reaching out and trying to touch Octavia. That burst the filly's bubble, and with a high pitched wail she began to cry, nearly bowling over the unicorn filly.
"H-hey, I...I..." Vinyl tried, but Octavia dashed away from her, heaving and sobbing. Vinyl saw the teacher coming over and gulped.
---
Vinyl stared at her hooves, waiting for the headmaster to speak. She had gotten all her excusing out of the way when Mrs. Reed had dragged her over here (and none too gently, either - the nape of her neck still stung!) and couldn't think of anything else to say. Her bag of tricks didn't have anything to deal with this situation. Why had the girl gone and cried like that? It wasn't any fun if they actually cried...
"Not really your style, is it Vinyl?" the headmaster said, bringing his hooves together over his desk. Vinyl just glanced up at him, going back to admiring the upholstery on the big chair.
"Well? Anything to say for yourself?"
"I'm sorry Mister Sharp." Vinyl muttered, not looking up. She missed the rare sight of the old stallion's thick eyebrows nearly shooting up off his face.
"That's it? Just this morning you tried to convince me that the reason you glued a teacher's chair to the ceiling was because it was infected with chair-and-teacher eating termites. The janitorial department sends their regards by the way, this will mark the third out of three years you've expanded their budget."
"That didn't make anypony cry." Vinyl explained.
"What about last year, with Belle Blues and the lobsters?"
"...that didn't make anypony who isn't a dumb gum-hair-sticker stupidface cry." Vinyl clarified.
"Hmm. The show of remorse is so refreshing I almost feel like letting you go. However, that wouldn't send a good message to anypony now, would it?" the headmaster paused, studying the filly before him. "Well, Vinyl? What should I do?"
"..." Vinyl lowered her head. "Send me home?"
"I could. I think I have a better solution. You will be staying after school today to help the janitors with the chores they won't have time to do because of your earlier mess - like erasing all the blackboards. In the meantime, I expect you on your best behavior, and I mean that Vinyl."
"Yeah. You got it Mister Sharp." Vinyl dangled her front hooves over the edge of the chair, slinking off of it slowly and turning away. The headmaster just watched her go, face expressionless. Only when she left did he reach over and bite his hoof, and again, trying to be sure he was actually awake for this.
Outside, Vinyl found Mrs. Reed waiting for her. And hiding behind her back leg, sniffling occasionally, Octavia peered out at her.
"So sorry to see you go Vinyl, it's been quite the experience." Mrs. Reed began, shaking her head sadly.
"I got detention." Vinyl told her. The teacher startled, giving her a deep scowl.
"Oh. Hmph, one day, you'll finally push-"
"Missus Reed?" Vinyl looked up. The teacher blinked, not expecting to see Vinyl so morose, so downtrodden. "Can I say sorry to Oh...Ohk... to her?"
"Hmm." Mrs. Reed raised an eyebrow, and turned to Octavia, hiding by her ankles. "I suppose that's up to her now, isn't it?" she stepped away slightly. Vinyl just waited, or perhaps was too afraid to try and approach Octavia. The gray filly hesitated, watching Vinyl, and scooted forward. Vinyl took that as a sign to speak.
"I'm sorry I made you cry." she said. "I didn't mean to..."
"I..." Octavia glanced away. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble."
Vinyl smiled. "Hey, no prob. It's what I do. Just, uh... could you say your name again? I kinda...forgot."
Octavia bit her lip, then nodded. She inhaled deeply, paused, and seemed to think better of it.
"Octavia." she said. Vinyl smiled.
"Vinyl." she said, holding out a hoof. "But you can call me Scratch."
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Octavia followed Scratch as the filly led her to the instrument room, which Mrs. Reed had pointed them towards after they made amends, noting that they were already quite tardy thanks to, as she put it, "Vinyl's latest stunt". Fortunately it seemed the old mare had been overexaggerating slightly, given that the last of their class was still filing into the room ahead of them. Vinyl got to the door ahead of Octavia, and held it for her. They made it just in time for their music instructor to turn around and face the class. He was a yellow unicorn with a long brown ponytail of a mane, and the only adult Octavia had seen who wore a smile on his face.
"Now I know you all picked instruments out over the summer," he said, voice so raspy that Octavia's throat hurt in sympathy. "But you gotta make sure it feels right in your hooves. Try it all out, colts and fillies." He gestured around the room to the dozens of carefully arranged instruments. Stands held saxaphones and violins, trumpets and oboes, more instruments than Octavia had ever seen. Most of the class spread out slowly, overwhelmed by choices. One filly, however, broke away from the pack immediately, bounding across the floor.
"Sweet! Look at this! No, that! Oh stallion, this thing is wicked cool!" Vinyl stopped rushing around as she discovered a brass beast of a tuba, sitting off by itself. The bell was large enough to swallow the filly whole.
"I bet it sounds awesome too!" Vinyl said over her shoulder as she saw Octavia approach. Octavia gave a cautious glance to the tuba, as if she feared it.
"Is, is this what you picked?" Octavia asked? The instrument looked nothing like what her father played, and was somehow more intimidating tham her mother's grand piano. Its multitude of pipes snaked around and around, and its numerous buttons and valves seemed to be arranged at random. Octavia didn't understand how this terrifying device even made music. Yet as she turned to Vinyl, Octavia saw nothing but excitement in her new friend's expression.
"Nah." Vinyl answered. "Mom said I couldn't get anything that would 'make me a hazard to those around me' or something. Grownups, right? But who wants to play a dumb old flute anyway. What about you?"
Octavia looked around, pointing to a violin hanging to her left. "Father said I should play a string instrument. He says they're more eloquent."
"Psh. I don't know what elo-kent means but it sounds boring." Vinyl replied. "You need something... something like..." she sat and rubbed her chin, looking around. "Like that!" She pointed straight at a cello towering over the other instruments, "I saw one of those once, only it was smaller, but if you play it goes thruuuuuuummmm." Vinyl gave a tight-lipped hum as she made a plucking motion in the air. Octavia brought a hoof to her mouth as she had been taught to, surpressing her giggling. The music teacher noticed them and trotted around.
"You're a filly who knows what she wants, eh?" he asked, earning a grin from Vinyl in response. "Y'want to give it a test run?"
"Can I, Mr. Trombone?"
Their teacher just smiled, his horn lighting as he opened a nearby box, levitating a mouthpiece over and into position on the tuba. Vinyl immediately took a deep breath, but the teacher caught her, placing a hoof on her shoulder.
"You have to purse your lips like you're blowing bubbles, see?" He made a face, causing Vinyl to giggle a little. She mimicked his motions, pressed her lips to the mouthpiece, and -
"Bzzzzzzzt!" A pitiful whine escaped from the instrument as Vinyl blew her hardest, shortly followed by a giggle from Octavia, though she immediately brought a hoof up to stifle herself. Scratch tried to give her an angry glare, somewhat diminished by her puff-upped cheeks. Octavia brought up her other hoof, falling into a sitting position to keep herself from toppling over. Scratch's cheeks went bright red.
"Pretty good for a first try." Mr. Trombone said with a chuckle. Scratch pulled away from the tuba and gave him a pointed look.
"This one's broken." She told him, completely straight-faced.
"Give it another shot." He replied. "Go on. Remember, purse your lips tight."
Obviously not quite believing him, Vinyl nonetheless returned her lips to the tuba's mouthpiece. Octavia had calmed herself down, and watched on, honestly hoping for her friend's success.
"bzzzzzzzBWAAAP!" A deep toot burst from the horn, sending Octavia, Vinyl, and several nearby classmates jumping. Vinyl turned to Octavia, who was trying to get her mane back into order.
"This thing is awesome!"
---
Octavia was really unsure about this. She stood on her stool, leaning slightly to counter the cello's weight as she held it up. Mr. Trombone had had to help her into position, and already all four of the filly's legs were aching. She had to reach up ever so high for the cello's neck, and she only had the most tenuous grip on the bow.
Music practice took place in an adjacent room to the instruments. They were organized much like a real orchestra, in rows facing a conductor's stand, and seperated by instrument type. Octavia was one of two earth ponies with a string instrument, and the other had wisely chosen a harp her hooves could actually manipulate. The rest were unicorns, of course. At least nopony else had chosen the cello.
"We'll start by going through the scales." Mr. Trombone stated, standing in front of the class. "Everypony just sit tight and we'll do this by section. Vinyl, stop taunting Summer Dream, the piccolo is a perfectly fine instrument."
Octavia looked over; Vinyl was situated in the back row like her, but nearly as far away as possible, with the rest of the brass. She wasn't the least bit nervous, of course. She even slumped in a huff when Mr. Trombone started with the wind instruments. Octavia for one was glad to delay the inevitable a little.
Octavia wasn't sure exactly how to play this thing. She had seen her father practice with his violin since as long as she could remember, but how he manipulated it was unfathomable to the little filly. What if she couldn't manage it, she began to wonder. What if she messed up so badly they wouldn't let her play again? Would they kick her out on her first day? Father said it was so hard to get into this school, and she had to do her best. She really didn't want to get kicked out, she was just starting to like it here.
"Vinyl, the tuba isn't a weapon. Please keep that upright." Mr. Trombone's patience was world-class, that was for sure. Octavia glanced over, but the unicorn filly was already sitting perfectly still, eyes to the ceiling. Was she making a halo with her horn?
"Alright, string sections." Mr. Trombone levitated up a violin, pointing out which strings to hold down for which notes. Octavia payed rapt attention, even when he went over other instruments in her section. She wasn't sure she could manipulate the strings to deftly, it was taking enough effort to simply stop the cello from crushing her. Still, she had to give it a shot.
"Alright, a one, and a two, and a one two three four!"
"TWAAAANG!" Octavia flinched at the atonal noise filling her ears. She looked over, where a mint green unicorn sat, fretting over her lyre. A string had broken.
"I'm sssssssorry Mr. Trombone!" She sputtered, a sharp whistle where her 's' should've been. The teacher just smiled.
"Never mind. We must've wound the strings too tight. I'll get you another one for now." With that he headed left them, heading for the instrument room. Octavia spared a glance to the filly, who was blushing hard and trying to look at nothing and nopony. On the inside, though, she was relieved. She hadn't even screwed up, and nothing bad had happened anyhow. She was safe - for now.
---
Octavia stepped out of Mrs. Reed's classroom, immediately stepping aside to let her classmates through. She wanted nothing more than to follow the rest of the student body for the exits, tell her mother how well her day had gone. Well, maybe she would skip the part about lunch, it was already a distant memory to the little filly. But Vinyl had told her to wait up, and it would certainly be discourteous for her not to do so.
"Man, I can't believe that gum lasted all summer." Vinyl said as she exited the classroom. "It's like, what're they paying the janitors for, eh?" She turned to Octavia, who could only stare at her without a speck of comprehension. Fortunately, it seemed that Vinyl wasn't expecting much from her, and started heading down the hall.
"You should come over to my place." Vinyl told her. "Momma's always home by now, she'll make us peanut butter pretzel sticks."
"What about detention?" Octavia asked, following by Vinyl's side.
"No thanks, I prefer pret- oh right. Thanks for reminding me, October... Taveeya... man, even your name is weird."
"I-I'm sorry." Octavia lowered her head. Vinyl gave her a nudge as they walked. Confused, Octavia stopped in her tracks. What had she done wrong. Vinyl blinked and turned around to face her.
"What?"
"W-what did I do?" Octavia fretted, shifting from hoof to hoof. Vinyl frowned.
"Chill out, Oc- chill, 'Tavi." Vinyl told her. "Man, it's a good thing I found you, or third grade would eat you alive." Octavia's eyes widened at this statement, making Scratch roll her own eyes. "Just... don't worry. I got this whole school thing figured out anyway."
"S-sorr-" Octavia stopped as Vinyl poked her forehead, just hard enough that Octavia reflexively backed into a sitting position.
"And cool it with the sorry's, okay? Y'gotta save those for the adults."
"So- um, yes, I promise." Octavia replied with a nod. Vinyl gave her a look, but turned back around and continued walking. Octavia got up after her. Down the hall and to the left, she recited in her head, then outside, down the street, second ri-
"U-um, Scratch?" Octavia piped up. Vinyl turned around, halfway down the hallway for the exit.
"Isn't the office, um, that way?" Octavia asked, pointing over her shoulder.
"Yup."
"And, I'm s-, I mean, don't you have detention?"
"Yup."
Octavia wasn't really sure what to say after that. She was pretty sure Mother and Father had never said anything about fulfilling other ponies' obligations, just her own. So she guessed there wasn't really anything to do except keep following Scratch. Only Vinyl had stopped, and Octavia didn't notice until she bumped into the filly's backside.
"Pardon..." Octavia mumbled reflexively.
"On second thought... I think I forgot something in the classroom." Vinyl said, giving a nervous chuckle. Octavia looked around her to see the school Principal standing at the exit. He was tapping a hoof and looking directly at Vinyl. Vinyl backed away, not even turning around until she was around the corner. Octavia looked at the principal, glanced to her new friend, back to the principal (who was now definitely watching her) and followed after Vinyl.
Vinyl was grumbling to herself when Octavia approached. She didn't seem to be heading for the classroom; in fact, they headed straight past it. Vinyl kept complaining to herself about how there was no trust these days, and how the system was out to get them all. She stopped only to place her ear against a door. Nodding to herself, she opened the door and headed through. Curious, as she still wasn't going to detention, Octavia ollowed. Scratch had told her to stick with her, after all.
"What is this?" Octavia asked, looking around with awe. She didn't notice Scratch closing the door behind her. A nice brown couch, table, icebox and counters... Octavia wanted to know why they couldn't have class here!
"Yeah, the teacher's lounge is pretty sweet." Vinyl told her. "Why can't we have comfy chairs, right?"
"Teacher's... lounge?"
"Man were you homeschooled or something?" Vinyl asked her. "Y'know, where teachers hang out between classes and stuff."
"Where..." Octavia frowned. "Scratch, are we supposed to be in here?"
"Well, whatcha mean by 'supposed to'? I'm supposed to be home by three-forty, so this is just a sh-" Vinyl paused, one ear twitching. "Wuh oh."
Before Octavia knew it, Vinyl was dragging her by the tail, making a beeline for the couch. She didn't understand what was going on, but before she could ask Vinyl was backing in to a gap between sofa and wall. Octavia gave a squeek as she was dragged in as well. It took some wiggling, but she managed to turn around to face Vinyl. She didn't want to make a fuss, but Vinyl must be forgetting her courtesy lessons.
Before she could say a word, however, Octavia found herself being hushed. A click told them the door had opened. Suddenly Octavia was very sure they were not supposed to be here, and went very, very still.
"Celestia save me, another year of these little brats..." A mare's voice entered, followed shortly by a rasping chuckle.
"Not a good day, Claire?" Mr. Trombone asked. Octavia and Vinyl heard a sigh.
"Rustford, please. Formality may be dead to this generation, but that's no excuse."
"Right, sure. Sorry, Clarinet. But c'mon, the kids are starry-eyed and eager to learn. Today went well, I think." Mr. Trombone retorted. "Really though, 'Rusty' is fine."
"Oh if you insist. I think the one one with stars in their eyes is you, Rusty. Didn't one of your students manage to break their instrument on the first day? Brilliant."
"Ah, it was something she brought from home, those things always need tweaking. Most of them picked up their scales pretty fast. I think we've got some real talent in this crop, eh?"
"And a few weeds to pull loose." Mrs. Reed muttered. "I've half a mind to go check that the blue-eyed terror actually made it to detention this time."
"Who now?" Mr Trombone asked. Suddenly the couch creaked, the back closing in on them. Octavia began to yelp, but in a flash Vinyl had her hoof over Octavia's mouth. Octavia wanted to know why she tasted marshmallows again.
"Vinyl Scratch, of course." Mrs. Reed replied. Vinyl wrinkled her nose, trying to stick her tongue out in the direction of Mrs. Reed. She ended up licking the back of the couch. While Vinyl vigorously tried to wipe the taste off her tongue, Octavia continued to follow the conversation. The door had opened again.
"What did Vinyl do this time?" A third voice asked, deeper than Mr. Trombone's. Octavia didn't recognize it.
"Made a filly cry, and on her first day." Mrs. Reed explained. "I suppose waiting to make herself a terror was beyond her."
Mr. Trombone hummed thoughtfully. "That doesn't seem like her."
"Really," the third voice added, "Are you sure it wasn't a misunderstanding?"
"A mis- gentlemen! You give her far too much credit." By now, Vinyl had taken to mimicking Mrs. Reed very time she talked, only with a far less flattering expression on her face. Octavia felt bad for smiling at Vinyl's mockery.
"I was there." Mrs. Reed continued. "That little earth pony filly will have it hard enough without-"
"Wait." Mr. Trombone interrupted, "Earth pony? Gray, dark mane?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Heh, must've been nothing, Claire, those two were thick as thieves this afternoon."
"What? Oh, for the love of-" Before Mrs. Reed could continue, the door opened again.
"Gentlemen. Lady." It was the principal. Vinyl froze. "I'm wondering if anypony here has seen a certain student we all know and love..."
"And I believe my point has been made." Mrs. Reed replied. "I'll go check my classroom, see if she's trying to climb into the ducts again."
"Now Claire- er, -inet, don't be too harsh on her..." A series of hoofsteps made it apparent at least some of the teachers were leaving. Vinyl paused, and Octavia wondered if they were finally going to get out of this cramped-
"Come on out now, little fillies." The deep voice told them. It was neither command nor request. Vinyl was already trying to move, but that required Octavia to move, and she was a little slow to realize that. A little awkward give-and-take and Octavia wiggled free, followed shortly by Scratch. An ice-blue stallion with a short-trimmed mane and sunglasses was making himself coffee. He didn't turn around as they came out from behind the couch.
"Uh, hey Mr. Keys." Vinyl tried. "How's it hanging?"
The stallion didn't turn around. "S'at your friend? The one Claire was talking about?"
"Uh, yes sir." Vinyl replied, lowering her head a little. She was neither smiling nor frowning. Octavia didn't know how to read the situation at all. Her courtesy lessons hadn't prepared her for this.
"What does she have to say for herself?" The stallion asked. Vinyl paused. She and Octavia traded a glance, and Vinyl nodded towards him. Octavia took a deep breath.
"Uhm, I'm sorry sir, I, we didn't mean to, I'm sorry, I didn't know and-"
"Woah, filly. Hold your horses. I meant are you following around Scratch because you're bored, or is she your friend?"
Octavia was confused by the question. She had only known Scratch since lunchtime. That being said... Scratch had definitely been nice to her. She had given her a sandwich, she hadn't really wanted Octavia to cry, she kept talking to Octavia and even helped her, kind of, choose an instrument. Octavia had wanted to get home... and talk about how great her first day had been.
"Yes sir." Octavia replied. "Are, are we both in trouble now?"
The stallion looked confused for a second, before bursting out in a deep laugh that frankly scared Octavia. "Ah, spoken like a true friend. No, no, little filly. You see, the good Professor Cleft has asked, again, if we've seen Vinyl around. And, once more I have in fact seen absolutely nothing. So, I suppose the both of you are free to go." He lifted his coffee mug to his mouth. Octavia glanced to Vinyl, who had stepped away. For the first time Octavia saw there was a second door in the room.
"Thanks Mr. Keys. You're the best." Vinyl said. The stallion didn't reply.
Octavia was glad when they finally left through the other door. It let out on the side of the school building, pointing down an unfamiliar alley. Vinyl took a breath of relief, stretched out, and turned to Octavia.
"Like I was saying. A shortcut."
---
"This is your house?" Octavia asked, realizing too late that that was perhaps a rude thing to ask. But she had never seen a house like this. A large neon sign beamed down "Scratch'd Records" on them, the store sat between taller brick buildings. Vinyl walked in front of her and turned around, store to her back, the widest grin on her face.
"Yeah, it's like the best home in Canterlot, no big deal. Here, let me show you." Vinyl headed for the front door, but Octavia paused. Now that the panic of getting in Trouble had worn off, Octavia realized she wasn't following Mother and Father's orders. She was supposed to come home after school. But they had also told her about being a polite guest. Surely if she just went in and explained to Scratch the situation-
Scratch! Octavia had sat pondering, and had failed to follow Scratch inside. The unicorn filly was just standing there, half inside, holding ted he door and looking back over her shoulder waiting. Octavia thought she saw worry on Vinyl's face, but it was gone as soon as she looked. Octavia couldn't very well leave now.
Octavia slowed to a stop as she entered the store. There were rows and rows of tables upon which bins of records sat. Keyboards sat against the walls, and there were rows and rows of guitars, basses, drumsticks, and more. Octavia only half-recognized some of the instruments, as they looked nothing like the ones in the orchestras her father played in, nor were they anything like her mother's quartet. And Octavia was sure her parents owned no more than a dozen records - how so many could exist was astounding! She wondered what they all sounded like.
"Mohhhhhhhhhhhhhh-maaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Vinyl yelled, doing her best imitation of a fog horn. Octavia was startled right out of her reverie. Vinyl meanwhile sat down, a content smile on her face. She swished her tail back and forth, looking straight ahead as she waited. Octavia glanced in the direction Vinyl was facing. The shop counter was in that direction, and behind it a closed door. After a moment, Vinyl's brow furrowed.
"Yes Vinyl, I'm coming!" A mare's voice cut through Vinyl's from behind the door. It opened a second later, and through it came the voice's source.
"Really Vinyl, you're old enough that- oh, well, what d'we have here?" Octavia found herself greeted by a light pink unicorn with a deep blue mane somehow even wilder than Vinyl's, creating a halo behind her head. Octavia tried to smile, but instinctively shrunk away a little, hiding her eyes behind her bangs.
"H-hi Missus-" Octavia's mind stalled like a bad engine. "Hi Mrs. Scratch's mom."
The mare's eyes were full of laughter, but her smile was calm and relaxing. "A friend of Vinyl's are we? Vinyl, go on, introduce your friend."
"I was gonna!" Vinyl objected. "Momma, this is Octavi Lizard-breath, um, this is Tavi!"
"I'm sure I'll get that on the second run. Good to meet you, 'Tavi'." The mare smiled, closing her eyes as she chuckled and extended a hoof. Muscle memory took over for Octavia, and the filly touched her little hoof to the mare's, performing a polite shake as best she could.
"Make us pretzels!" Vinyl butted in, hopping in place. The mare gave her a flat look that didn't even impact Vinyl's eagerness.
"With peanut butter." Vinyl added, not getting what the wait was about. Her mother placed a hoof over her muzzle and sighed.
"Vinyl... try again."
Vinyl's face fell, and she glanced to Octavia quickly. Octavia cleared her throat, and beginning with a squeak,
"Pardon me, ma'am, if it's not too much trouble, could we please have something to eat?" As Octavia spoke, the mare lowered her hoof enough to peek out at the filly. There was a moment of silence, in which Octavia shifted uncomfortably, Vinyl sat in confusion, and the mare just stared. Finally, she chuckled, lowering her hoof.
"Well well, isn't that something. And you're friends with our blue-eyed terror. Alright, after a request like that let's see what I can whip up."
---
Octavia sat quite comfortably on a thick pillow on top of a kitchen chair, working on her latest bite of peanut-butter-dipped pretzel. Vinyl sat across from her, equally preoccupied with her munchies. Octavia felt silly for ever doubting her new friend; this was quite the amazing house. Behind the counter and across a hall had led them to a small kitchen, quite fancy as far as Octavia could tell. The cabinets and icebox were stocked with so many foods Octavia had never had. She had spied what she was pretty sure were marshmallows, but it'd be rude to ask for what she wasn't offered. No matter how tempting.
"You gotta show me that trick later, Tavi." Vinyl told her, her words half-muffled by peanut butter. Her mother chuckled as she cleaned away the rest of the snacks, turning to quickly ruffle Vinyl's hair.
"It's called 'having manners' and she's quite welcome to try. So, Octavia is it?" Vinyl's mother asked, having gotten proper introductions a little while ago. Octavia's mouth was much too full for her to speak politely, so she gave an exaggerated nod. The mare held her hoof to her mouth, hiding her laugh exactly how Octavia herself had been taught. Octavia liked Vinyl's mother.
"Tavi's new at school." Vinyl explained, swallowing her snack. "I'm gunna make sure she doesn't get eaten."
"Eaten?"
"Y'know, by, like, space bullies." Vinyl replied in a casual tone, dipping another pretzel stick in her gob of peanut butter.
"Ah, of course. Silly me." Vinyl's mother shook her head. "Hopefully this will give you something to do besides find new and exciting ways to get detention." Her voice remained cool, teasing Vinyl as she turned away to make something for herself. Vinyl didn't react, but Octavia's eyes widened at the mention - she had to know, parents always knew. Seeing her, Vinyl's eyes widened in turn, and she quickly held a hoof to her mouth, hushing Octavia. Octavia nodded, not sure if keeping quiet was wrong or not - her parents had never told her exactly what to do when somepony else was in trouble. Satisfied, Vinyl turned back to her mother with an innocent smile, right in time for the mare to return to the table with a sandwich.
"Can Tavi stay, momma? Please?" Vinyl asked.
"Well, what did her parents say?" Her mother asked, not looking up from her sandwich. Both fillies stared at one another, freezing with realization. Vinyl's mother waited a moment, then, realizing she wasn't getting an answer, looked up at them. She put down her sandwich, staring at her daughter.
"Vinyl. You didn't."
"Umm..."
"Vinyl. Please don't tell me you dragged Octavia over here without her parents' permission."
"Uhh, o-only a little." Vinyl admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. Her mother facehoofed again.
"Alright, looks like we're making a little trip." she told both fillies. "Octavia, do you know your address?"
"Uhm, it was, 43..." Octavia's mouth was dry, and suddenly the unfamiliar address fled from her mind. "34 Stone..."
"Stonewall Lane, south of the school?" Vinyl's mother guessed. Octavia and Vinyl hopped off their chairs, and Octavia looked up at the suggestion. That was it! She nodded rapidly.
"Right. Come on then." They headed for the door, Octavia's heart sinking. She had just wanted to be polite. But she had the feeling she had done something terribly, terribly wrong.
---
"I, I think it was 43." Octavia said, looking left and right as the they headed down the street. Mrs. Scratch had let Octavia ride on her back for the last several minutes of the trip, giving the filly a better vantage point. She recognized landmarks her mother had pointed out to try and familiarize her with the neighborhood, and now her house was coming into view.
"This it?" Vinyl's mother asked as they approached the residence.
"Yes ma'am." Octavia hopped off as the mare rang the doorbell. They could hear hoofsteps rapidly approaching, and the door came open with far more violence than Octavia had been expecting.
"Octavia!" Octavia found herself swept up off the ground before she knew what was happening. It didn't take her long to recognize it was her mother's coat she was half-buried in.
"Mother! I'm so sorry" Octavia said, trying to hug her mother while pressed into her chest. She was put down before her mother addressed her.
"Young lady, where have you been!" Her mother asked. There was no anger in her voice, not like Octavia had feared.
"I believe that's our fault." Mrs. Scratch made herself known. Octavia's mother looked up, appearing quite startled. She hadn't even noticed them until now. Instinctively Octavia's mother wrapped a foreleg around her filly, as if to protect her.
"Karaoke Scratch, you can call me Kary." The other mare didn't even seem to notice the distrust. "Looks like our daughters are classmates."
That clearly put Octavia's mother at ease. She stopped shielding her daughter, instead extending her hoof politely.
"Dolce Vitula, a pleasure. You said...?"
"Yeah, looks like they got a little over-excited, heh. Vinyl had dragged Octavia home with her, but we got that sorted out."
"Oh, Octavia." Octavia's mother sighed. Octavia looked up, seeing that of all things, her mother was just relieved. That made her feel a lot worse than anger would've.
"I'm so sorry, Mother, I..." Words failing her, Octavia opted to just hold tight to her mother's leg. She peaked up at the sound of a fluttering chuckle.
"Hehe, that's my Vinyl. Such a sweet talker." Vinyl's mother ruffled her daughter's mane, causing the filly to try to squirm away. "She's really sorry though. Aren't you Vinyl?"
"What did I d-" Vinyl was cut off by another noogie from her mother, whose grin had taken on a forced quality.
"I'm sorry Missus Vitula." Vinyl mumbled, looking more at her own mother than at Octavia's. Octavia's mother gave Vinyl a wary eye, but shook her head.
"Well, thank you. I suppose it's only natural to get over-excited on your first day. I appreciate you returning Octavia with such haste, and I apologize for the trouble she must have caused."
"Trouble? Hah! I was tempted to keep 'er and give you this one instead." Vinyl's mom replied with a wide grin. Octavia's mother blinked, but slowly a second grin spread across her face, more reserved but no less sincere.
"I suppose that's good to know. I am grateful, but if you'll excuse me, I'm sure Octavia has homework and we are behind now."
"Ah, childhood." Vinyl's mother shook her head at the excuse. "School does its best to rush them through it, right? Have a good one." She gave a wave and turned away. Vinyl glanced to her, then back to Octavia. She mimicked her mother's motions and turned away, following at her mother's heels. Octavia's mother took a deep breath, releasing it in a drawn-out sigh.
"I'm sorry, Mother." Octavia repeated. Her mother closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, gave a small smile.
"We'll discuss the importance of coming straight home after school later. Right now, I'm simply glad it all turned out for the best. And it seems you've made a friend, then?" Her mother gazed down the street, and Octavia did likewise. Vinyl had hopped up on her mother's back, and the two seemed engaged in some kind of excited conversation. Octavia went over the day in her head again.
"Scratch." Her mother worked the word over. "A peculiar name, but they seem nice enough."
"She's really coo- um, she's a really nice pony." Octavia told her mother. Her mother raised an eyebrow.
"I see then. Now, let's get inside and you can tell me just how your day went." Her mother said. Octavia nodded and followed inside. She already couldn't wait for tomorrow.