When the alabaster unicorn Vinyl Scratch first came to the Manehattan middle school of the arts, she had no idea that what would happen there would impact the rest of her life.

That doesn't mean she liked it there. She hated the place, and every day was horrible to her. There was only one hour of each day that she enjoyed; her music class. Every day, after long, frustrating hours at her other classes, she could always unwind behind her mixing table, letting her worries melt away.

But after a particularly rough day, when she was looking for the joy of her modern music class, and found out that the entire class was going to go to the classical music class, she felt like yelling at the top of her lungs. The teacher said that it was to try to implement classical music into modern music, but Vinyl didn't believe a second of that. She thought that the teacher was trying to get back at her for almost blowing out the windows of the room last week.

Vinyl was boiling mad, she had had a horrible day, and she was convinced that this day was going to end horribly as well. But once she entered the class, she heard a beautiful sound coming from the center of the room. It was a cello, its sound soothing and calm, and at the center of it all was a gray earth pony. The pony seemed oddly familiar, but Vinyl couldn't quite put her hoof on it.

"She can't be the teacher, she's too young," thought Vinyl. But she was playing with such expertise that Vinyl really wondered if she was. Vinyl then decided to not pay attention and think instead of how she could apply this music into her own.
She was so absorbed in thought, she barely noticed when a mint-green unicorn went up and started playing her lyre. She was also amazing, but not as much as the earth pony. She was clearly trying as hard as she could to do better than the pony before her, but she just didn't measure up. Every time she made a mistake, she would scowl at the earth pony. Vinyl could tell that they were rivals.

Once everypony was finished playing their own instrument, both of the music teachers made an announcement.
"Class, the modern music class is doing an assignment in which they must incorporate classical music into their own modern music. We have decided to make this a group project, in which one modern student and one classical student must work together to create a neoclassical piece. You may choose who to work with, but the groups must be chosen by tomorrow."
After the class was over, Vinyl was still wondering who to work with. Many of the students in the classical class had heard of her ability and wanted to work with her, but she refused. She wanted to work with the earth pony cellist.

--

Lyra heartstrings was concerned. She needed a partner for the project, but she didn't know anypony in the modern class. What she did know, was that the unicorn named Vinyl scratch didn't have a partner. She also knew that Vinyl was a talented pony, and would probably do good no matter who she was paired up with. She wanted her as a partner, and what Lyra wanted, Lyra got.

Lyra found Vinyl after class in the cafeteria, and sat down next to her trying to be friendly.

"Soooo, you're in modern music, right?" Lyra asked nicely.

"Mmhm," Vinyl answered without looking up from her food.

"And you probably need a partner for the big project, right?"

"Mm, yeah"

"So do you want to be my partner?" Lyra asked in the sweetest tone she could.

"Mm, nah," replied Vinyl.

"What!? I mean, do you already have a partner?"

"Not really"

"So then, why don't you want to be my partner," Lyra asked sadly.

"Well, you see," the unicorn replied, finally looking up from her food, "that mare that played the cello, she was really good, and she's in a couple of my classes, so I decided to ask her later."

"And you don"t think i'm good enough for you? i'm the second best in the entire class!"

"I just don't think that the lyre is a good companion for my music style."

"And the cello is?"

"Well, yeah."

Lyra couldn't take it anymore. She leaned in angrily towards Vinyl, and whispered loudly, "YOU CAN NOT ASK HER TO BE YOUR PARTNER. SHE HAS UPSTAGED ME ENOUGH, AND I FINALLY HAVE A CHANCE TO DO BETTER THAN HER, AND YOU ARE NOT GOING TO STOP ME BY PARTNERING UP WITH HER..."

Vinyl wasn't going to just let this mare push her around. She spat back, "I CAN WORK WITH WHOEVER THE HAY I WANT TO WORK WITH, AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"

Lyra started to walk away, ”We'll just see about that, Vinyl Scratch. You have made an enemy of Lyra, and you do not want that."

"We'll see who's more sorry when this is all over!"

"FINE! And don't expect Octavia to just happily accept you as a partner, either. She's very picky about her partners, and I doubt that she'll accept somepony like you!"

"We'll just see about that, then!" Vinyl shouted across the cafeteria. She had a bad feeling inside her that Lyra; that was her name, was right. Why would the grey mare accept somepony like her?

But there was one thing Lyra had said that just stuck with Vinyl the rest of the afternoon. It was the name Lyra had said.
Octavia.

Author's Note

Sorry that this chapter was a bit short. Thats it. Nothing more.