"So, you want to know the story, eh?"
"Of course, that's the reason I came, isn't it?"
"Yes, yes, I know, but there are things that will happen if you read these stories..."
"Ya, ya, ya, just let me read the damn thing!"
"If you insist..."
...INITIALIZING...
...CHAPTER 1...ROOMMATES...
ARE YOU SURE?
YES<
NO
...STARTING...
Chapter one: Roommates
It was a fair day in Fillydelphia. No clouds, sun was out, overall a perfect day... if it wasn't the first day of school. All the first year students were hurrying about, asking for directions to where this and that was, all worried about the first day of college. A lot of the ponies were still in their dorms, unpacking everything that wasn't yet unpacked. But one particular mare wasn't worried about a thing, her name was Octavia.
Octavia was a very sophisticated pony with a gray coat, black mane and always had a bow-tie on for some style. She came from a very unique family with two younger sisters and a single mom. Octavia was studying classical music theory, and psychology. She also plays the cello, which she was well known for.
Octavia had everything set for about a week now and had already memorized the map of the campus, just in case anyone came up to her for directions. Everything had been under control and running smoothly, until somepony had nearly ran into her.
"Excuse me, do you know where the psychology room is?"
She panicked for a moment, "Uhhh..."
"If you don't know where it is, that's fine, I can just ask someone else."
"No No its ok, I know where it is." she replied quickly "That is actually where I’m going right now."
"Cool", and the white mare started following Octavia.
"May I ask your name, since we are going to be in the same class together." Octavia was always socially awkward around anypony.
She answered without looking, "The name's Vinyl Scratch, you've probably heard of me."
"Um, no, in fact. I haven't."
"Really? Does DJ-PON3 ring any bells?" Vinyl almost looked confused, but it was hard to tell behind her purple shades.
"No, I'm sorry, but you are making yourself look like a pretty big deal."
Vinyl looked at her very seriously "I don't know where you've been in the last three years, but I'm pretty much a big deal."
"How can someone with such a big ego be that popular in society."
"Excuse me?" She looked she was about to throw a few punches
Octavia responded very calmly, "I'm just saying that someone who is supposedly very popular, should not be talking like they're such a big deal."
"You are being such a bit..."
"Oh look, we're here, it was such an honor to meet you." She turned and walked into the classroom.
Vinyl stood there for a moment, anger rising from what she had just heard, but walked into the classroom anyway.
There were a couple of other students in the classroom already, but no sign of the teacher yet. Octavia took a seat towards the front of the classroom, Vinyl sitting in the very back.
The classroom for psychology was very standard, three rows with seven seats in each row. Only about half the class was in the room so far, so Vinyl could sit back and relax...
"Everyone take a seat!" The voice was booming and very commanding, and everyone took the seat nearest to them. The teacher walked in with a nice tuxedo and tie on, he had a brown mane, sideburns, and had glasses on.
Vinyl almost groaned, she thought she had time to kill...
" Nah, I'm just kidding, class doesn't start for another four minutes, so relax until then."
There was a simultaneous sigh of relief, which included both Vinyl and Octavia.
'I can already tell that this will be one of my worst classes'
A few last stragglers found there way in before they actually started the class. Once that time came the teacher said once again, "Ok, now it's time to find a seat"
Everyone in the room took their seats and the class began. The teacher started to write his name up on the chalkboard, reading out Dr. Smith.
“My name is Doctor Smith, I would like to welcome all of you to a new school, and I hope you have a great time at FDU. Now to give you a short introduction to this class, we will be learning about the Psychology of ponies, exploring different parts of the mind, brain and behavior.
“Now, to give an example I would love to bring up two ponies that were arguing before the class, would you,” he pointed at Octavia, “And you,” He pointed at Vinyl, “Come up to the front please.”
They were both shocked at the request, ‘How did he know about the argument we had?’,nonetheless, they both walked up to the front and stood there awkwardly in front of the class.
“Now, please tell me what the discussion was before class started…”
Vinyl replied almost immediately “Why is this any of your business anyway, we had a heated discussion that's all, so just back off a little."
"Just tell me, why were you having this discussion in the first place?"
Octavia was the one to answer this time, "She was just asking for directions, that is all it was.
"Oh, I highly doubt that," the teacher pressed on, "It wasn't just that, now was it?"
"No, it definitely wasn't just that," Vinyl sounded like she was getting mad, "In fact, she was just being an uptight snob I was just trying to say my name."
"That is untrue, I did indeed ask for her name, politely, and she responded with her name and said 'you’ve probably heard of me' like she was the most important thing on the planet."
Shit was about to get ugly.
"Well I don't see your name on the top ten list anywhere!"
"That's because I am a lady, and I don't have to be on any top ten to be better than you."
Vinyl was about to respond when the teacher interrupted "Alright ladies, that will be enough for now. May I ask what you are both studying?"
"Classical music theory"
"Modern music theory," they both responded at the same time.
" Now I see your problem, you both are at two different perspectives, one thinks that one genre of music is better than the other, correct?"
"You could put it that way, and I never really asked what music you make, Vinyl."
"Dubstep."
"I'm sorry, I don't quite know what 'dubstep' is, can you please explain?"
"Seriously, have you been hiding in a closet or something?" Vinyl sighed, "It's sort of like mixing a lot of different sounds and rhythms into one song, but It's not just any type of sounds, you could use just about anything and make dubstep, it's pretty sweet when it comes together, not like you would care anyway."
Octavia gave a look of disgust, "So what you're telling me is that you take random sounds and mix them into a song? That doesn’t sound like music, that’s just making sounds.."
"Hey, you better watch yourself before I actually start doing something about it!"
Smith interrupted, “Octavia, you never answered Vinyls question.”
Octavia took a step back before answering, "I play the cello, an actual instrument that makes real music."
"Listen, if you want to go then lets go!..."
The teacher interrupted again before it got any farther out of hoof, "You two can take your seats now, I don't want any bloodshed on the first day."
The two mares stared at each other for a moment before going back to their seats.
Dr. Smith cleared his throat before he spoke up, “The two of you seem very similar, in some ways, each having their own types of music, in this case orchestral, in the other dubstep. Since you two both make music, that does make you similar in some ways. You both have the passion and will to do this kind of thing, but what holds you back is the fact that you are coming from two different perspectives. I can tell all of this from just one argument, everyone, and I will be giving you all an assignment,” The class groaned
“On the first day?” one blurted out
“C’mon, cut us some slack,” another shouted
Dr. Smith replied calmly ,“It is not a hard assignment everypony, calm down. I want you to find a classmate, anyone in this room, and just talk to them, get to know them better, and try to make friends with them.”
Some of the ponies around the room started looking at their friends, just nodding like they knew what was going down. All except for two.
“I want you all to pair up and get back to me the next time we have class, you are dismissed.”
Everyone got out of there seats quickly and left the room, pairing up right away, leaving only Vinyl and Octavia in the room. They both looked at each other in disgust.
Vinyl broke the silence “Well, shit.”
“Hey, it’s not like I’m going to be happy about this either.”
“We’re going to have to do this, aren't we?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Out of all the ponies, I get stuck with this one,” There was a big silence between the two, the awkwardness was to the point that you can feel it in the air. Finally, Octavia said something.
“Listen, since we both want to get this over with, how about i just get your number, and we can talk about it later.”
“Fine by me”
Octavia was in her dorm, doing her nightly routine when she heard her phone buzz a couple of times. She looked at it and remembered what had happened earlier in the day. ‘I question myself sometimes’. Nonetheless, she looked at her phone already knowing who it was
Vinyl
-Name a place and time tomorrow, I want this over with as soon as possible.
Octavia
-Why would you want me to make the decision, you will turn me down no matter what I say.
- But if you insist, I would recommend the Scarlett House.
Vinyl
-You do have a fair point, I would turn you down no matter what. Also, gross, I’m not from canterlot, I don’t eat at fancy places like that
-If you won’t choose, then i will, let’s just meet at the Black Night Tavern at 7 tomorrow.
Octavia
-I expected you to say this, but I am fine with going to this Tavern.
Vinyl
-Cool. I’ll see you then.
Octavia lowered her phone, almost frustrated with the DJ. Of course she wanted to go to the only place on campus that serves liquor. If she was going to get drunk off her ass, that was fine by her, she didn't want to stay for very long either, since she was under-aged for drinking…
Vinyl was gathering her stuff from her small apartment, which she had been staying there for almost two years. She was almost used to being cramped, but since it would be nicer to live on the campus for a cheaper price, she had take any opportunity possible.
On the down side she had to have a roommate, which she wasn't very interested in. She almost felt bad for the pony she was going to be rooming with, whoever it was. Vinyl had brought all her equipment, including a turntable, computer, speakers, and a lot of other wires and chords so she could work on her music there, which meant it was going to get loud, very loud. Also it was taking up quite a bit of her magic to move all of it.
It would take her about thirty minutes on hoof to make it over there, luckily it wasn't to busy on the streets and she asked for a taxi ride to the University. The taxi driver dropped her off at the entrance of the university, she paid the driver her bits and slowly trotted to the dorm rooms. Once inside, she went straight to the student help counter and asked, “Excuse me, do you know what room I will be in?”
The receptionist asked, without looking up, “Name please.”
“Vinyl Scratch”
He looked around for the list of what room each pony was assigned to, “Hold on a second,” he rummaged through his files and pulled out the list of the assigned dorm rooms. Looking through the list he finally said, “Room 336, top floor, should be on your right.” The stallion gave her the key to the room
“Thank you,” And without anything else, she tried to move as quickly as possible to her new room.
Vinyl dropped all her stuff on the floor in front of the room, feeling exhausted. She lifted up the key and opened the door to her new room. She hoped it would be some nice pony and not some dick that got on her nerves. Opening the door slowly, she came face to face with her roommate.
She had a gray coat, charcoal hair, and a bow-tie on.
“You have got to be shitting me.”
...Initializing…
...Chapter 2...Balancing It Out
Are you sure?
Yes<
No
...Starting…
Chapter 2: Balancing It Out
Vinyl walked into the room slowly, eyeing Octavia up and down, seeing what she would be up against. The DJ set down her stuff in the empty corner of the dorm room, still keeping her eyes on the grey mare. They stood there for what felt like hours, until Octavia finally spoke up.
“How long are we going to just stand here and do nothing? I would like to get some sleep fairly soon.” Octavia started walking towards her bed, when Vinyl stopped her.
“As long as you’re in the room, I’m going to stay mad. One, I really don’t see why you got so mad at me. Two, the way you talk in such a ‘good girl’ way, gets on my nerves. And three, why are you staring at me?”
Octavia didn't even realize that she was doing so, and quickly looked away in embarrassment. They took another trip down Awkward Silence Lane, so Vinyl started taking out some of her things. Pillows, sheets, notebooks, Laptop, mixing table…
“Excuse me,” Octavia spoke up, “What kind of cartel is that?”
Vinyl almost laughed at the question and responded very smoothly, “It’s nothing special. It’s just some amplifiers, a mixing table, bass booster, simple necessities for making music.”
Octavia was bewildered by all the stuff Vinyl was taking out, “Well I would think that that would be enough to make a simple song.”
Vinyl didn’t feel like arguing tonight, so she just unpacked the rest her things, and went straight into bed. Walking over 2 miles while using magic at the same time was difficult, even for some of the more advanced unicorns. The conversation seemed to have drifted away, and Vinyl was half asleep before Octavia blurted something out, “Why did it take you this long to get all your things into the dorms?”
Well at least it was a fairly simple question, although it had slightly awoken her from half-sleep, “I used to live in one of the apartments not to far from here, I decided it would be better for me to live on campus, since it was cheaper and it would let me sleep for a longer time, which you sort of interrupted.”
Octavia sighed, there was just no way to please this pony.
Vinyl woke up for a start, almost not realizing where she was for a moment, only to remember what happened the night before. She heard a sudden noise in the bathroom to remind her of who that certain pony was. Octavia always got up early in the morning for her usual routine. Wake up, take shower, comb mane (thoroughly), brush teeth, get books ready for class. Vinyls routine: Wake up, hate mornings, wait till the last minute to get semi-presentable, pack notebook, and that was it. Neither of the ponies bothered each other during their completely different mornings.
Vinyl was about to head out for breakfast when Octavia stopped her, "Listen, I wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday, I was being rude by insulting you and, I guess what I'm trying to say is, could we maybe... start over."
Vinyl was caught off guard from this, but she did agree with her that they got off on the wrong hoof, "Fine, I guess I was being a bit of a bitch as well.” She turned around to meet face to face with the cellist, “So, my name is Vinyl Scratch, I make music and enjoy a bit of writing." She held out her hoof.
Octavia held out her hoof to shake hers with the DJ, "My name is Octavia, I play the cello and all sorts of other instruments." They both lowered their hoofs in unison. Vinyl started to leave the room again when she thought of something, "Oh and, just by the way, lets just say we're acquaintances for now, I still don't like you all that much, but I can get used it."
She finally backed out of the room, closing the door behind, only to run into another mare who was walking down the hall "Oh, sorry about that." The mare she had ran into had a minty coat and mane, with a lyre cutie mark.
"No, it's not your fault, I should have watched where I was going. Oh hey, aren't you from my Psychology class?"
Now that she said it, she did look familiar, but Vinyl couldn't recall the name.
"Ya, sorry I don't remember your name, but you definitely look familiar."
"Oh, well my name is Lyra Heartstrings."
"Name's Vinyl Scratch, and I’m guessing your heading down for breakfast too? If you don't mind you could join me."
“Ya, and yes, I would like to join you, it would be nice to have someone else to talk to.”
After Vinyl had walked out of the room, Octavia had about an hour until her next class started, so as usual for tavi, she went to practice her cello. Ever since Vinyl showed up last night, she had been a bit stressed at how living with her going to work out. Luckily Vinyl was somewhat forgiving, and hopefully got rid of that problem.
About halfway through her practice, she saw a phone start to vibrate on Vinyls bed. Octavia set down her cello and
walked over to her phone, the name on the phone read 'Neon Lights'. Octavia was a bit curious of who this actually was, but wasn't cruel enough to actually pick up the phone. After it stopped ringing, Octavia picked up the phone and went into Contacts, then clicked on Neon Lights.
Just a quick peek, and I'll leave it alone. After reading what the texts said, she realized that Neon was someone who made music with Vinyl, the texts ended about a week ago, which is strange because that’s when school started. She was going to have to ask about this later on.
Vinyl had gotten to know Lyra a bit after talking for about thirty minutes, who ever would have guessed she actually played the Lyre. Nothing much was actually being said between, just some of the simple questions
"So I heard you got a room with Octavia." Well, this friendship had gone by quickly.
Vinyl sighed before answering, "Yeah, well, just to let you know there won't be many more arguments between the two of us during class, we sort of made things up before I ran into you."
Lyra almost looked disappointed to hear that their was no longer going to be any more of their little discussions. "Yeah, I was lucky to get a room with someone I've known since freshmen year in high school."
"You should consider yourself lucky, no one from my high school would be here anyway."
"Really? No one at all."
"It's a long, complicated story, so I'll put it this way. I never exactly finished high school..."
Lyra was silent for a moment before realizing something, "Wait, if you dropped out of high school, then how are you here?"
"I'm not surprised you asked that, but again it's a long story. Things got arranged from my music producers, said I needed to go back to school. Next thing you know I have my whole two years paid for and here I am."
They stayed silent for a bit longer, both finishing up what they hadn't eaten.
Vinyl stretched and got out of her chair, "Well, it was nice talking to you, I can finally have someone to actually talk to, you know, since I don't exactly have anyone else besides Octavia, who isn't the best for small talk. I probably should be getting ready for my class though, it starts in about fifteen minutes."
Lyra looked at the clock, almost falling out of her chair when she realized what time it was, "Yes, yes, good talking with you, I should be going to, don't want to be late to any of my classes."
They shook hooves, and Lyra started to run out to the door, Vinyl looking at her on the way out.
She's got a nice ass...
When Vinyl came back into the room, Octavia was still practicing the cello, to focused to know that Vinyl had walked in. She was about to break the silence when Octavia stopped playing and turned around towards Vinyl.
“I hope you realize that class starts in ten minutes!”
Vinyl wasn't bothered by this. In fact, she didn't really care if she was a little late. But it was weird that Octavia cared about her getting to class on time…, “You honestly don’t have to worry about me, it’s you you should be worrying about. You obviously have a some sort of perfect attendance record, and I shouldn't be the one stopping you.”
Octavia was taken aback, why did she care so much for this DJ. Sometimes she didn't even realize that what she was doing was for her sake. She was so caught up in telling her that she was going to be late for class that she didn't even realize herself that she was going to be late.
“Oh, ya, we do have the same class now don’t we,” Octavia almost felt like facehoofing to that, and she started to blush. They both rushed to get all their stuff together. Writing was one of two classes they had together. Writing was just one of those classes that you could just sort of sit back and relax in, but also create some great stories.
They headed out of the dorm and walked together towards the classroom, not even saying a single word to each other.
“Hey Vinyl, can I ask you something?” It was almost nine o'clock and they were both getting ready to hit the hay.
“As long as it’s not ‘will you go out with me’ go for it.”
“Well, it’s just been bothering me I guess, but, I was just wondering why you don’t like me all that much.”
Vinyl turned to look at the grey mare, staring blankly, "Well, I don't know, maybe it's just because we got off to a bad start. I tend to hold a grudge longer than other ponies do. These past two days have probably been some of the weirdest days I've had since I dropped out of high school..."
“Wait, hold on. You dropped out?! How are you even here if you don't have a diploma for high school?"
Vinyl sighed, thinking to herself that she had to tell someone this story again, "Long story short, my music producers said I needed more schooling than I had, they sent me here for two years, completely paid and all. I'm not entirely sure why they sent me back, they just did."
There was a slight pause before Octavia spoke up again, "So that's it then, the reason you don't like me is because you just hold a grudge. Well I guess I'm thankful that it wasn't something else like how I look, or what I wear, or even that I'm just a boring pony."
Vinyl looked at her for a while, thinking to herself for a bit. She is an attractive pony, I'll give her that, but saying that she was annoying or boring would be a complete lie. She's interesting enough to like, she's friendly and kind, so why didn't she like her? Overall she was a very likable pony...
"Listen Octavia, I guess what I would like to say is that I am actually sorry for what I said before, it was just from being all stressed out about moving out after the day and, let's just say I'm not exactly friendly when I'm stressed. I guess I'm just trying to balance out from what I said yesterday." Vinyl stuck out her hoof, "Friends?"
The grey mare almost looked surprised about what Vinyl said, but then realized that the DJ had her hoof stuck out for her to shake, and Octavia stuck out hers as well, once again, shaking hooves
“Friends.”
“Alrighty then, now that that’s taken care of, it’s time for me to sleep…”
“Oh, Vinyl, there’s one more thing I need to ask, I feel sorry to say this but… who was Neon Lights?”