Simply Synchronized

"And down this corridor you can see the center of Canterlot High," Principal Celestia said with pride as she led a young, starstruck woman around the school grounds.

The center of the building was connected to the other wings of the school via intersecting hallways. Its pale blue walls were decorated with numerous gold trophies and medals carefully placed within glass casing. In the middle was concave fashioned into a Roman theater connected to a stage with deep auburn curtains. Three rows of carpeted stairs encircled the area becoming a makeshift seating area. The school’s front doors were visible from the stage making whomever walked in feel like they were stepping into a grand theater.

"What a charming feature, do the students use it to congregate between classes?"

A simple nod was the regal woman's reply. The young woman mouthed an ‘O’ before continuing her inquisitions.

"Does it have a name by chance?"

"It does actually," Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at her companion's curiosity, "We call it the 'Dragon's Den'."

"Hm, I don't recall that being anywhere in the pamphlet."

"The den doesn't really serve a purpose other than being a meeting area. Sometimes the students put on little performances or display a temporary art exhibit. In short it’s an overpriced gimmick that the students took over, but don’t tell the board of directors I said that. It’ll be our little secret." Celestia added with a devious wink.

"Interesting..."

"Well that about wraps up the tour, Ms. Melody. Do you have any further questions?"

Mulberry eyes shifted away uncomfortably at the sound of the principal's formality. "Please call me Octavia..." her voice came out meek and rather strained.

"Oh I do apologize," Celestia said with a startled gasp. "I didn't mean to be rude, it's just your family has been so generous with their donations I felt indebted to you. We were able to do so many renovations because of their help."

Nodding in understanding, Octavia turned to face the other woman and extended her hand in a well meaning gesture. "All is forgiven I assure you. As of today you are my employer and I insist you treat me as you would the rest of your faculty."

"Fair enough, but I must warn you I run this school with an iron fist." Celestia accepted Octavia's hand and shook it, her humor bringing a smile to Octavia's lips. Whether the other woman meant it or not, the joke was well received.

"In all honesty it is I who should be thanking you!" Octavia's pearly smile widened, "Canterlot High School is an impeccable institution filled with many great minds and promising young students, how a no-name cellist such as myself got hired leaves much to the imagination."

"You are as humble as you appear," Celestia pointed towards the hallway adjacent to them, "Your feats in the classical arts is no laughing matter, in fact the moment I saw your resume I knew you were the perfect woman for the job."

"You are much too kind, Principal Celestia."

"Down this hallway is the classroom you will be in charge of. You can decorate it as you see fit, our teachers are encouraged to express themselves. Also if you ever get lost, just follow the music." Octavia's confused expression brought a playful smile out of Celestia, "Listen carefully my dear."

Doing as told, Octavia closed her eyes and strained her ears. In a distant room she heard the sound of a well practiced choir. The children's voices melded together harmoniously bringing the piece they sang to life.

"Amazing..." she said in a breathless whisper.

"If the music doesn't get you here just look for the hallway with musical notes and your name on the door."

Octavia's excitement had hit its peak. Before her was a simple brown door with her name engraved on a golden plaque. She turned her head to Celestia in silent question asking to enter, the other woman nodded and handed her the keys. Trembling, Octavia inserted it into the lock and turned it till she heard a click. The door swung open with little effort and revealed a beautiful music room filled with numerous chairs and stands.

The room was fashioned into a theater much like the dragon’s den, where the ground floor played stage to a grand piano, a spacious teacher’s desk in the far right corner, and lastly a large blackboard against the wall. Ideas bounced around in Octavia’s head like ricocheting bullets as she inspected her classroom. There were so many possibilities in this room she could hardly contain herself.

"This is..." a tear slid down her cheek, "A dream come true."

"All the new teachers say that at first," Celestia patted the cellist on the back reassuringly, "Give it a week and you'll be cursing the place."

“No disrespect intended, Principal, but teaching is my life. Spreading the gift of music is my heart’s desire and there is nothing in this world that can ever change that.”

Celestia gave the young musician an all knowing look and nodded her head not speaking a word.

At first Octavia couldn't believe the words she was hearing, but as it turns out Celestia was right. It hadn't even been a week and already the dream was shattered. She regretted setting foot in the establishment not because of the students or the workload, she rather enjoyed that aspect of the job. The problem lied within a single person. A person so infuriatingly obnoxious and boisterous that the mere sight or sound of them was enough to drive Octavia up the wall and straight to the mad house. Who was this person? It was no other than the Modern Dance instructor and her awful taste in ‘music’.

Octavia had just wrapped up her intro to classical class and was packing up her things when the door slammed open. She looked up calmly guessing it was one of two people coming in to say hi. Relief washed over her immediately at the sight of the friendly face. She watched the rainbow haired gym teacher stride towards her wearing her trademark grin.

"And what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Dash?" Octavia said in a welcoming tone.

"You and I have a spare this period so I figured I'd invite you to lunch. You game or are you game?" Rainbow Dash asked in full confidence.

Pondering on the offer, the cellist couldn't deny that she was feeling a tad peckish. She was actually on her way to have lunch outside and the thought of having company was refreshing.

"Alright I am "game" as you say. Do you have something in mind?"

"You know it! Pinkie Pie came in with a ton of sweets this morning and the S.O packed enough to feed a herd." Rainbow puffed her chest out proudly, "Grubs on the house and stuffed to the brim with love for yours truly."

"That does sound marvelous," Octavia replied eager at the thought of spending time with the first coworker she called friend. "Shall we then?"

"You betcha!"

Rainbow Dash eagerly lead the way to the teachers lounge talking, or rather boasting, about how well this years tryouts were going.Octavia had been there once or twice to get cup of coffee, but quickly stopped after deducing the first flaw in Canterlot High School's armor; it made terrible coffee.

"And then High Riser shot the ball into the hoop at full court!" Rainbow beamed, "For a guy who never played b-ball before and looks like he belongs in the mathletes, dude got some serious game. And I mean game!"

"Well you can never spot the prodigies out without proper attention." Octavia's head spun trying to decipher the terminology the gym teacher put forth. "I've found a few diamonds in the rough myself."

"This school's full of em." The two friends agreed wholeheartedly.

The teacher's lounge was in sight, but an unsettling feeling in the pit of prim woman's stomach told her not to enter. She was a second too late however, and Rainbow Dash had already unleashed the beast.

"You dare stand in the way of The Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"I'm not standing." a meek voice grumbled.

"Fine then!" Trixie screamed, "You dare sit in the way of The Great and Powerful Trixie?!"

Octavia visibly winced at the shrill sound. She reluctantly followed her friend in despite the feeling. Her hunger had won and the promise of a lunch made by Rainbow's significant other was too tempting to refuse.

"Trixie, will you please quiet down? I'm trying to sort out my lesson plan and you're making it incredibly difficult to focus!" a woman with long purple hair glowered. She was buried under a stack of papers filled with large, indecipherable blocks of texts and numbers.

"You are sitting in my spot!" Trixie snarled, her finger pointed at Twilight. "I demand you move this instant!"

"Really? This is what this is all about? A stinking chair?!"

"It is no ordinary chair. It is the chair of The Great and--"

"Powerful Trixie, yes I get it. Give me a moment and I'll move. Sheesh, some people I swear..."

Watching the two rivals duke it out was another thing to tack on to the reasons to avoid the lounge list.

"Who are those two?" Octavia asked in a hushed whisper.

Rainbow looked at the table with a lopsided grin. "That's my buddy Twilight Sparkle and G.A.P Trixie. The two are like oil and water, can't ever mix y'know?"

It didn't take a genius to figure out what the acronym stood for.

"Are they always like... this?" she asked trying desperately to not be rude.

"Yup, but you get used to it." Rainbow Dash pulled out a large plate of triangular sandwiches with the crusts neatly cut off. "This is them being civil actually."  She placed the the food onto the counter and peeled off the cellophane wrap covering them. "Ain't that a thing of beauty?"

Octavia couldn't help but smile as she basked in Rainbow's exuberance. But a quick glance at the food led to a small problem.

"Rainbow Dash, I'm so very grateful for the offer but I can't eat those, I'm vegetarian you see..."

"Huh?" the athletic woman looked up with a sandwich stuffed in her mouth. She swallowed and wiped the crumbs off of her mouth before speaking. "These ones are for me, hold up lemme grab yours." Rainbow Dash dove into the fridge once more and fished out a smaller plate. "Flutttershy made these ones especially for you."

"Oh my,” Octavia graciously accepted the plate, “That is incredibly generous of her."

The athlete lead them to a empty couch sitting behind a glass coffee table as far away from Twilight Sparkle and Trixie as possible. Octavia was grateful, she enjoyed eating lunch in silence. It helped her digest or so she says.

"No biggie, she wanted to thank you for playing at the fundraiser."

"It was my pleasure though, I love animals and I love music. There was nowhere else I'd rather be."

"Well," Rainbow scarfed down another sandwich, "She made em anyways, so eat up!"

"Gladly."

Fluttershy had taken great care in making the sandwiches Rainbow Dash scarfed down as if they were chips, Octavia wondered if the woman could taste them at the speed she was going.

"So awesome!" the love-sick teacher beamed. It became clear she could taste the love put in.

Violet eyes stared down at the plate before her and smiled. She had met Fluttershy after the first day of school, Rainbow Dash had stormed into her classroom with the shy woman trembling in tow. They were introduced and friendship blossomed thereafter. She learned many things about the two and found she had many things in common with Fluttershy. In fact they were scheduled to have afternoon tea this coming Saturday.

"These sandwiches taste absolutely divine," Octavia said as a genuine smile cross her lips. “Please tell her thank you for me.”

"Fluttershy had been pacing back and forth all night trying to figure out what to give you." Rainbow tossed the last sandwich on her plate into her her mouth and happily chewed.

Taking a bite herself, Octavia felt the gift was perfect.

"I told her how tiny the lunches you pack are," Rainbow explained, "And she put two and two together, aren't I smart?"

"Indeed you are," the cellist nodded. "You are very lucky to have a partner who would go out of their way for a stranger."

"Tav," Rainbow held the other woman by the shoulders, "You're not a stranger. You're our friend. Friendship is magic! Repeat after me: friendship is magic."

Unable to maintain a serious facade any longer, the two friends started laughing.

"Yes, yes friendship indeed."

"Hey Twi!" Rainbow hollered, "You heard what I said?"

"Busy!" came the reply.

"Booorrrinngggg!!"

A blur of pink rushed in like a flash and rammed into Octavia enveloping the startled musician in a tight embrace.

"You are just the absolutely, super-duper cutest thing I've ever seen!"

"Oh um," unable to think anything Octavia turned to her coworker. "Thank you?"

"Oh Pinkie Pie you're outrageous!" Rainbow Dash laughed. "Believe it or not she's the science teacher here. Her hobbies include breaking the fourth wall and physics."

"Nice to meet yo--"

"When I heard we got a new teach in I expected some grumpy fart, not a cutie-patootie like you!" Pinkie Pie pressed her cheek against Octavia's, the embrace was back breaking. "And I love that bowtie! I want one, I need one, and I'll get one! RARITY MAKE ME A BOWTIE!"

On cue a fashionable women sauntered into the room and struck a pose before coming to the area where they all sat.

"Rarity did you seriously wait outside to make an entrance?" Rainbow asked flabbergasted.

"Oh Dashie what ever do you mean?" Rarity batted her long lashes flirtatiously.

"Rarity, Rarity this is the new music teacher!" Pinkie beamed. "I heard she can play all sorts of things like the jello!"

"I play the cello."

"Like I said the jello!"

The musician gave the science teacher a dull stare, but decided it wasn't good for her to get angry. The doctor had already scolded her for her high blood pressure once, she didn't need another lecture.

"How do you do?" Octavia ignored Pinkie Pie and set her focus to the sophisticated woman in purple.

"I am feeling quite marvelous," Rarity checked Octavia head to toe nodded her head and making little comments, "My you are one stylish little filly. Tell me what brand are you wearing? It's on the tip of my tongue..."

"Oh I only shop at Carousel Boutique, their selection is amazing."

"That explains it. I know their selection is amazing, but do tell me more. I just absolutely love hearing my customer reviews." Rarity straightened her posture and extended her hand which Octavia shook still unsure of the situation. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Then it dawned on her.

"My gosh you're that Rarity? The Rarity!"

Rainbow Dash took this time to speak up. "My friends are all sorts of awesome, Tavi, and now they're your friends too."

It was embarrassing and heartwarming all at the same time. Growing up she never had the time to make friends or even acquaintances, everything had to go by her parents' schedule. But now things were different. She was an adult with freedom and the chance to finally grow as a person.

"Thank you all so much..."

"Y'know this whole friendship bonding stuff is actually Twilight's thing," Rainbow explained, scratching her head timidly, "Just doesn't feel right not continuing the tradition."

"Thanks girls!" Twilight shouted from her desk not looking up. "After this is done I owe you all one."