Chapter One
Octavia trotted down the well-lit city streets of Manehatten. She was positive her mother was worried sick that she wasn’t home from school yet. The sun had long been gone from the sky, and with it the crowds that occupied the sidewalks during the day. This is the last time I’ll stay late for projects and forget to tell mother.
Her pace quickened, determined to reach home before she was really in trouble. If she had been going any faster, she might have missed the muffled cry from the alleyway she had just passed. Octavia paused just past the alleyway, listening intently for another noise. This time it was a clear cry for help.
Octavia gazed with uncertainty at the alley, her mother had often warned Octavia to stay away from situations such as the current one she was in right now. Octavia could clearly hear her cautions echoing in her head, “You can never tell what happens at night in this city, Octavia. There are some dangerous ponies in this town.”
Surely it would be fine if I simply took a look, Octavia thought, a frown forming. With extreme caution she poked her head around the corner. What she saw horrified her. She could clearly see two ponies standing over another. To Octavia, they appeared to all appeared to be around her age.
“Let that be a lesson to you to stay out of our sights, Demon,” One of the ponies over the one on the ground hissed.
Octavia’s heart was pounding heavily in her chest, she hoped it wasn’t audible. Her concern grew for the white mare grew, as one of her tormentors laughed, delivering a kick to the mare’s side.
“Let’s get out of here,” One of them said, moving in her direction.
As Octavia pulled her head back around the corner, she could have sworn she saw the mare on the ground’s eyes almost glow red. Octavia looked frantically around her trying to find somewhere to hide, but to no avail. She gulped, her panic growing. Just walk slowly, don’t turn around. Act like you saw nothing.
So she walked, calmly and slowly away from the alley. She waited for the moment she would hear someone running after her. To her relief, it never came. She glanced over her shoulder. Not finding anyone behind her, she stopped. Was that mare still in the alley? Octavia sighed, walking back towards the alley. I can’t believe I’m doing this.
At first look, there appeared to be no one left in the alley. She was about to turn around, when she saw a flash of red from under some discarded boxes.
“Hello?” Octavia called into the dark passage. She could see the boxes shift, but no response came.
This is ridiculous, I shouldn’t be afraid of her. She walked over to the boxes, she could see the edge of an electric blue mane poking out.
“I saw what happened,” Octavia started with apprehension.
The mare’s head poked out from the boxes, her vibrant red eyes gazing into Octavia’s own. Now that she could see them up close, they were much less frightening than they had appeared before. The eyes that had appeared to be something out of a horror film, only seemed to be filled with hurt and terror of their own.
“Your eyes are quite nice really,” Octavia breathed.
This finally elicited a response from the mare.
“No one else in the damn city seems to think so,” She grumbled. “You should leave before they come back, filly.”
“May I ask what your name is?” Octavia said, seemingly ignoring any previous thoughts of caution.
“Vinyl Scratch.”
The reply was almost a whisper. The name sounded familiar to her, someone from her school perhaps?
“That’s a nice name,” Octavia commented, “Where do you live, Vinyl?”
“I don’t want to go home.”
Octavia frowned, she hadn’t anticipated a problem like this.
“You can’t possibly be telling me you would rather wait here in this alley for those jerks to come back again,” Octavia said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Why not?” Vinyl replied sullenly.
“Your home can’t be worse than here…”
Octavia didn’t receive any response. She was about to speak again, when the sounds of Vinyl sobbing filled the alley. Octavia reached out with a hoof to comfort her.
“Oh Celestia, Vinyl-”
Vinyl swatted her hoof away from her, curling up on her side.
“I wish I had purple eyes like yours, Octavia, life would be so much bucking easier. Why did they have to be bucking red of all things,” Vinyl sobbed. Octavia couldn’t think of anything to say, so Vinyl continued. “I could have friends at school, my mom would maybe still be here.”
Octavia tried once again reach out and do anything to comfort this damaged pony. She let out an internal sigh of relief when she wasn’t slapped away again. Eventually her sobs reduced themselves to sniffles. This was a very precarious situation, Octavia decided. One awkward question could cause Vinyl to break out in tears again.
“What about your father?” Octavia asked carefully.
“He’s working,” Vinyl said, her voice once again barely audible.
“Does he… do anything bad with you?”
Vinyl laughed sadly at this.
“Not a thing, Tavia’. Not a damn thing.”
At this point, Octavia made an executive decision.
“Alright, Get up Vinyl,” Octavia demanded, “You’re staying with me tonight.”
Sensing that there was no room for disagreement, Vinyl got up. Octavia gestured for Vinyl to follow her as she exited the alley. Vinyl hesitated slightly before following her, she felt she was in no position to refuse an offer like that. Minutes passed without anything being said between them, by the time Vinyl thought about saying something, Octavia stopped in front a door marked with ‘222 B’.
“Here we are, Vinyl.”
Octavia pulled a key from somewhere, slid it into the door, and cracked it all the way open. A voice almost immediately came from within,
“Octavia, what did we say about not staying out so late without even telling us where you were?”
Octavia flinched.
“Sorry, Mother, I stayed after at school then go a bit sidetracked on the way home,” Octavia replied calmly.
“Sidetracked? It’s past midnight already, and not to mention-” Octavia’s mother cut off, looking at Vinyl. “Who is this, Dear?”
“Ah, yes. I was just going to get to that,” Octavia said nervously, “Mother, Vinyl. Vinyl, my Mother.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs.Melody,” Vinyl greeted.
Octavia shot a glance towards Vinyl. Come to think of it, I never did tell her my name, did I? Have I met her before? As if reading her mind, Vinyl continued speaking.
“Your daughter and I go to the same school, and we met before that a while back at a music camp.”
I can’t believe I forgot, weeks of friendship just disappear with time.
“I see,” Octavia’s mother said. “Octavia, it’s alright if you want to have friends ‘sleep over’ so to speak, but please give me more of a heads up next time will you?”
Octavia nodded.
“We can discuss this in more detail tomorrow morning,” Her mother said, shaking her head, then retreating back into somewhere in the house.
“Let’s head upstairs, Vinyl,” Octavia said. “It’s late already.”
Vinyl didn’t say anything in response, she just nodded and followed Octavia up the stairs. Twenty minutes later, they were both lying down on separate beds inside Octavia’s room. Vinyl was about to fall asleep when Octavia spoke.
“Vinyl?”
Vinyl groaned internally, she wasn’t used to being asked so many prying questions.
“Yeah, Octavia?” She replied testily.
“When I asked about your father earlier, you said he was working, correct?” Octavia asked.
“Yes? There’s nothing else to it, he’s too busy to pay me any attention, and I’m not even sure he wants to.” Vinyl spat.
A moment of silence.
“Vinyl?”
Vinyl sighed.
“Yes, Octavia?”
“Maybe you could just… talk to him?” Octavia suggested. “If he knew what had happened earlier I’m sure he would have freaked out or something. You could have died out there! Who even knows what they might do again?”
The room fell silent again as Vinyl turned over Octavia’s words in her head. This wouldn’t be the first time she had stayed away from home overnight without telling her dad, but most of the time she had snuck out and returned before he woke up. This time, she had completely avoided going home at all. Octavia was right, he has to at least be wondering where I am. Her reply was so quiet, Octavia almost didn’t hear it.
“I’ll talk to him, no guarantees when though.”
Octavia smiled, knowing that there was a very good chance for Vinyl’s life to improve.
“Thanks, Vinyl.”
Her thanks was only met by the soft sound of Vinyl’s snores filling the room.
~-~
One Month Later
Vinyl’s hoof tapped nervously on the sidewalk, she was waiting once again for Octavia’s band practice to finish. In the past month, they had grown extremely close, at least Vinyl would like to think say so.
Today wouldn’t be like any previous time they had hung out after school though. Normal days didn’t have Vinyl being the bringer of bad news. She had finally worked up the courage to talk with her dad about things, and she felt that an incredible weight had been lifted from her chest. It didn’t make her nervous to appear in her house now, no.
What made her nervous now, was the fact that they were moving. Her dad had been shocked, astounded even, that ponies had it in them to beat up others because of oddly colored eyes, even shouting something about Vinyl’s mother afterwards. So here she was, not one hour later being forced to say her goodbyes to the only friend she’d had.
“If moving away is so good for me, why do I feel so bad about leaving?” Vinyl questioned quietly to herself.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been waiting when Octavia finally appeared, carrying her cello case on her back.
“Hello, Vinyl,” Octavia greeted. “Have you been waiting long?”
Vinyl frowned.
“Uh, not sure.”
Noticing there was something off with her friend, Octavia grew concerned.
“Are you alright, Vinyl?” Octavia asked.
“I talked to my dad today,” Vinyl mumbled looking down and shifting her hooves.
Octavia’s complexion brightened.
“That’s great Vinyl,” Octavia said enthusiastically. “I’m so happy that you-”
“I have to move, Tavi.”
Octavia’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Of all of the situations she thought might play out, she hadn’t considered this one. At the end of the day, every time she urged Vinyl on,he assumed that Vinyl would still be there the next day. Was it selfish for her to think like that? Octavia felt tears forming at the edge of her eyes. Is this normal to feel this much of a loss?
She leaned forward, pulling Vinyl into a hug, burying her face into her mane. Vinyl returned the hug slowly, patting her gently, as Octavia had done to her so long ago. It was a while before Octavia pulled out of the hug and was ready to speak.
“I’ll miss you,” Octavia sniffled, still wiping tears from her eyes.
“I’ll miss you too, Tavi,” Vinyl said, pulling her into another hug. “Promise you won’t forget me again?”
Octavia chuckled.
“Not as long as I live.”
Vinyl and Octavia spent Vinyl’s last night in Manehatten at Octavia’s house, enjoying each other's company while they could.
-=-=-=-=-
“Now arriving in Ponyville!”
The conductor's voice echoed clearly through the train’s compartments. Vinyl groaned, rubbing one tired eye. She quickly gathered her belongings and hopped off of the train. She had maybe about an hour until the train that her dad was on arrived.
Vinyl did her best to avoid eye-contact with anyone else as she walked. While her dad had said this town would be different, her confidence in him still wasn’t the highest.
“The last pony to not be scared of my eyes was Tavi,” Vinyl muttered to herself.
Soon she found herself down one of many streets of the town, a particular store catching her eye. The sign read ‘Visionworks’.
Vinyl paused in front of the store. The store’s goods were clearly displayed on racks in front of the windows. Glasses, sunglasses, goggles, everything that had to do with sight seemed to be on sale here. Suddenly, Vinyl had an idea. She pushed the door to the shop opening, causing the bell on it to jingle. The stallion behind the counter smiled at her.
“Welcome to Ponyville’s number one stop for eyewear, what can I getcha’ today?”
Vinyl stepped up to the counter, looking specifically into the case of sunglasses. A particularly flashy pair with purple tinted lenses caught her eye. Purple really is a beautiful color for eyes. Vinyl pointed at them.
“I’ll take those.”