There was two ponies resting inside a rather cramped room, with hardly any space between themselves yet the both of them attempted to look comfortable. One pony was a pegasus pony, with a mane the color of corn and orange and a coat of light yellow. She looked rather serious, and adorned glasses as well, which complemented and matched her serious look rather well. The other pony opposite of her was an earth pony, with a coat of grey and a mane of charcoal black. The grey mare's nervous purple eyes darted all around the quaint room as she sat there in hesitation, looking back up to the yellow pony every now and then. The serious looking pony then cleared her throat and spoke clearly.
"So Ms. Melody, I take it?" she asked.
The grey pony smiled nervously and nodded her head.
"Good. Well, tell me about yourself." she asked again, raising an eyebrow.
The grey pony nodded her head again for no reason and gulped, clearing her throat and answering.
"Well I'm Octavia and well quite frankly, I'm an excellent student. I lo-"
"Next question." interrupted the serious pony.
Octavia's strong smile now became a weak one as she stopped what she was saying. The serious pony tilted her head to the side and rested one hoof under her jaw as she continued what she was saying.
"Why are you interested in our university?"
"Star Swirl University is an excellent site for future artists of all genres to effectively practice and sh-"
"Next question!" the serious pony interrupted again.
Whatever smile Octavia had was now long gone; instead a grimace stood in its place.
"What can I tell you about our college?" the serious pony said calmly, reclining back into her chair.
Octavia was hesitant to answer but she did anyways, knowing that the interviewer would just interrupt her again.
"With all respect ma'am, I think this is rather-" Octavia began, getting slightly upset.
"Next. Question!" the serious pony snapped rather viciously as she was getting bored with Octavia's replies and rested her limbs on the desk as a result.
"But ma'am, I hav-"
"Next question Ms. Melody! If you're ready for it!"
"Yes ma-"
"Good! Who in your life has most influenced you?" the serious pony almost screamed in her face as she leaned closer to Octavia.
Octavia thought about the answer to that question rather deeply in such a short amount of time and replied.
"Star Swirl of course ma'-"
"Star Swirl? Come on!? What are you? A rear-kisser? Get out!" The serious pony yelled at Octavia.
Octavia looked at the serious pony in such shock.
"But Mrs. Spitfire-"
"Are you deaf? Or incompetent? Because it seems you are both. Either way, GET OUT! If you can't handle challenges Mrs. Melody, then Star Swirl University doesn't want anything to do with you." she declared to Octavia strongly.
Octavia, with her emotions now surfacing, started crying slightly as her lips trembled.
"Oh come on don't cry! Blah! I had enough of crybaby's when I was with the 'bolts."
Spitfire beckoned for Octavia to leave and Octavia got up, leaving as quickly as she could and taking her whimpers with her as well.
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"You know Dinky, I've never been to college. Well that's a lie. I've been to a college but I actually haven't been to one; if you know what I mean. But you know what? Tavi's been to college. In fact, she's doing an interview for a college right now I think. Her plan is to get a master's or something like that. I dunno. But I'm sure she wouldn't mind us taggin' along. I'm sure she'll think it's cool."
Vinyl smiled at Dinky, whom was sitting next to her on the living room couch.
"Well my mom wanted me to see how college is. She wants me to go to college one day but I dunno. It sounds boring" Dinky said to Vinyl.
Vinyl's eyes became surprised as well as her face.
"BORING!?" she nearly yelled out loud.
Dinky slightly flinched from Vinyl's obnoxious outburst and giggled.
"Well when you say it like that..." began Dinky.
"Oh Dinky, you silly filly. College is not b-o-r-i-n-g. It's AWESOME. You know a-w-e-s-o-m-e? I mean what's better then top quality education. AND yes the 'occasional' party here and there."
Vinyl smirked at Dinky while emphasizing "occasional" with her shoulders.
"But I dunno. Don't you have to study and do homework?" Dinky asked, not very confident in what Vinyl said.
"Oh homework? No no, think of it as..hmm...'I'll do it later work'. Homework...kinda sounds like a 'term' Octavia would use, with all of her 'fancy' college education. Nah Dinky, you don't need to study. Well okay I guess you do heh but you don't have to get a 110 on everything. Just pay attention in class, take notes and you're silver. Not golden 'cuz you'll have to be Octavia for that. No offense to her, I love her to death. But she just needs to take a break sometimes haha. You know Dinky?"
Dinky shrugged, still not particularly confident at all but smiled anyways at Vinyl. Vinyl smiled back at Dinky and reassured her again but this time scruffing up her mane. Dinky softly giggled and then randomly hugged Vinyl out of nowhere in response.
"Awh kiddo...heh..you're gonna like college, I know it!"
Vinyl hugged her back too and the duo just remained on the couch for a while until somepony knocked on the door. Vinyl got up and so did Dinky to answer the door.
"Ello? Who goes there?" Vinyl said, mimicking Octavia's accent poorly and earning a chuckle from Dinky.
"Haha. Very funny. Can you open the door Vinny?"
"Yeah sure. Hold on."
Vinyl opened the door and was met by a distraught Octavia whose mane was horribly matted and her bow-tie as crooked as Vinyl's fading smile now.
"Woah. What happened Tavi? Are you okay, Tavi-waby?"
Octavia did not respond and trotted into the living room. Her lips were quivering and her expression was that of somberness. She sat on the couch and looked at the floor in despair.
"Awh Tavi-waby, you can tell me what's wrong. Well Dinky and I since we're kinda like a team now."
Octavia looked up and slightly smirked at Vinyl and Dinky. Vinyl and Dinky trotted over to Octavia and sat down on the couch right next to her. Vinyl then used her magic to grab a stuffed penguin on the floor nearby and brought it over to the sad Octavia.
"Cheer up Tavi-waby. Dinky and I are here for ya'!"
"Thanks Vinny. Thanks Dinky. I truly do appreciate it." Octavia sniffled.
She looked down at her stuffed penguin and held it close to her heart for comfort, hugging it then looking to both of her sides.
"Well the university..the university...didn't..accept me." She said, sniffling with each pause and starting to cry.
"That's absurd! I mean that is just...ugh..can't remember the stupid word..dang it stupid university. I mean you taught me absurd and like a ton of other 'smart' words! If you can teach me that, then you're smart; I don't see how you wouldn't be. They don't know how awesome their university would've been with you. Hmpf!" Vinyl said, crossing her hooves.
Then at that moment Vinyl had a look of clarity, a sudden epiphany that sparked in her eyes.
"Tavi what if...what if we went to your university? You know, Dinky and I?"
Octavia, with her eyes puffy and stained in tears and ruined make-up looked at Vinyl with skepticism.
"But Vinyl, I told you that-" Octavia said, pausing as she realized what Vinyl meant.
Dinky sat there as the still confused one of the tree and as a result she was eager to know what they were talking about. She looked at the other two with such curiosity because she was dying to know what it was.
"What? What is it? What!?" Dinky begged, shaking Vinyl's hoof.
"Oh Dinky, this is gonna be mad fun! Time for us to go to college! YEEAAHHH!"
"But why? What are we gonna do?" Dinky asked curiously.
Vinyl grinned rather wickedly at Dinky.
"What are we NOT going to do! BAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!" Vinyl laughed manically.
"Oh are we-?"
"YES!"
"And are we-?"
"YESS!"
"So that means we'll also-?"
"YESSSS!!!! We're gonna do it all Dinky! It's gonna be so freakin' AWESOME! AWESOMMEEE!"
Vinyl looked over to Octavia gleefully for confirmation and Octavia answered back by looking at Vinyl slightly entertained.
"Oh Vinny, you always have a way of cheering me up, even when I am at my most down." she said to Vinyl, slightly smiling at her.
"See? Looks like we're good to go kiddo.. are you ready to go?" Vinyl asked Dinky.
"Yeah I'm ready! Yeah! College, ah-WHOOOOOO!"
Dinky started howling "Whooo!" in excitement, earning herself the rather difficult award of chuckling from Octavia.
"YEEAAH! AH-WHOOOOOO!" Vinyl responded back with her own howl.
"Okay, okay now wolf DJ and little wolf. That's enough howling." Octavia snickered, her nose crinkling up from her apparent amusement.
"WHOOO-dn't you like to join us, Tavi-waby?"
"As fun as it appears to be, I will not, thank you very much."
But Octavia was then attack by the googily eyes of Vinyl and her adorable side-kick Dinky.
"Pwease Octavia? Pwwease!?" Dinky begged with not only her mouth but with her eyes as well.
Finally Octavia gave in, howling with the other two.
"WHOOOOOO!!!" the trio collectively howled, laughing and giggling afterwards.
However it was Octavia that laughed the hardest of the three.
"So much fun! So delightful! So exciting! Exciting I say Dinky and Vinyl! Exciting! We're going to have a splendid time! AHAHA!" Octavia laughed in delight.
"Haha let's do this!" Vinyl said with confidence in her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a grand building by the main Canterlot street with decorations strewn on its walls showing a symbol of a wand and circle complete with a blue and white star patterned background. Below the symbol were words encased in dark blue stating "STAR SWIRL UNIVERSITY". In front of the university was a giant garden complete with every known species of vegetation known to ponykind accompanied with a mural of a heart in the center of the beautiful garden and the mural was made out of Equestria's finest stones. In the center of the mural was the image of the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded assembled with blooming flowers of various colors. The trio stood in front of the mural and looked at all that was in front of them until Octavia spoke outloud.
"Well here we are. Star Swirl University. Oh how I wish I could bite my hoof at thee."
Vinyl momentarily stopped looking at the university and looked over to Octavia in front of her and spoke in response.
""Woah, woah. No need to get all classical on us Tavi. These goofs wouldn't even know what that is. No Tavi, we have something better. We have WUBS! TIME FOR A MAKESHIFT PARTY!" She said, rocking her head and sticking out her tongue a little.
"Haha wubs!" Dinky cheered right next to Vinyl.
Octavia looked behind her to the two behind her and watched at how excited Dinky and Vinyl got and for a moment thought about what all of them were really about to do. Vinyl stopped her headbanging as she noticed Octavia get a look of worry and promptly asked her what was wrong even though Dinky kept cheering in the background.
"Nothing Vinyl. It's just..it's just..this university was made after Star Swirl and well quite frankly I don't want to ruin something in his name." Octavia replied to Vinyl.
Vinyl gave Octavia a look of smugness and replied to her.
"Ha RUIN? No Tavi, we're just 'expressing' ourselves. Nothing's gonna get ruined, trust me. Besides my look of awesomeness. I mean come on I look like a student." she said, pointing at her appearance of her makeshift college outfit.
Vinyl smiled at Octavia with reassurance and the hesitant Octavia smiled back.
"Okay Vinny, I trust you" Octavia told Vinyl.
"Awesome. Alright, time to show this university WHATT'SSSS UPP!!!"
Vinyl smiled grandly at Octavia with her teeth sparkling in the still morning sun. Octavia giggled and the three of them trotted through a the beautiful garden in front of the University. As they kept trotting through the garden, the trio saw students emerging out of the library and nearby classrooms, conversing with one another.
"Looks like they're going to the cafe. That's where we'll 'express' ourselves!" Vinyl whispered to the other two.
Dinky muffled her giggles and excitement as the three of them headed towards the outdoor cafe.
"Okay, time to play it cooool. More cooool than a summer pooool."
"Vinny you say the weirdest things sometimes" Octavia quietly snickered.
Vinyl grinned at her and winked, beckoning for the others to continue to follow her.
"Okay guys remember stay quiet, 'blend in' and we should make it to the cafe nice and smoothly.
"But Vinyl I think Dinky looks a little too young."
"It's okay Tavi, we'll say she's a child prodigy or something like that. Pfft! Come on guys! We're almost there!"
Dinky and Octavia nodded their heads to Vinyl and continued following her and the trio eventually reached the outdoor cafe.
"Awh MAN this is gonna be perfect! Perfect place for a college par-TAAY!"
However Octavia did not share the immediate enthusiasm that Vinyl had.
"Umm c-college par-party??" Octavia hesitated.
"OH yeah. I forgot. That's how I express myself Tavi. Well EXCUSE me but it's one of the many ways I express myself. Pfft come on Vinyl!" Vinyl said to Octavia then scoffed and rolled her eyes at herself for forgetting.
Octavia just stared in silence as Vinyl opened her bag and revealed a makeshift turn-table while her side-kick pulled out a tiny amp from her backpack at the same time.
"Okay Dinky, just like how I've shown you." Vinyl told Dinky, who then smiled at her eagerily.
Vinyl set up the turn-table in front of the cafe while Dinky plugged it into the amp. Vinyl then casted a spell over the turn-table and amp, powering them temporarily and she then she turned on the turn-table.
"Le record Dinky?" Vinyl asked Dinky.
Dinky nodded and grabbed a record labeled "AWESOME" and hoofed it over to Vinyl.
"Alright Tavi, looks like it's time to par-TAYYYY!" Vinyl yelled out loud, causing the students in front of them to look in their direction.
As soon as the students did look, Octavia immediately looked down from her shyness at such an immense crowd but Vinyl encouraged her to look back up and smiled at her. For a moment the two stared at each other for what seemed like forever and stared into the reflection of the other in each other's eyes. Then it was Vinyl who spoke in that powerful moment.
"Tavi, remember when we were at the concert?" Vinyl asked Octavia.
"Yes." Octavia replied, her cheeks starting to become rosy.
"Remember how brave you were? And how determined you were to beat me?"
Octavia smiled at the memory and remembered the concert that the both of them were at. She remembered at how determined she was to defeat Vinyl, who at the time was a competitor from another school.
"But that was before I got to know you. The real you." Octavia said to Vinyl, her eyes twinkling.
"Exactly Tavi. 'Cuz right now I need you to feel that way again. You are brave Tavi, you always have been. That's why I like 'ya." Vinyl reassured her, kissing her on the cheek.
Octavia smiled and nodded her head at Vinyl shyly.
"It's gonna be fun Tavi. Plus who knows, maybe things might turn out-"
But before Vinyl could finish, the amp roared to life with music as Dinky hit the play button. Loud wubs blared out of the amp, floating towards the college students who in turn reacted to it and danced to it.
"Oh Dinky, that silly filly" Octavia and Vinyl both said at the same time while looking at each other.
Vinyl and Octavia both held hooves as the music continued blaring out-loud as Vinyl raised the volume, gaining nearly the attention of almost every college student in the vicinity. However Octavia saw a familiar yellow pony in the distance heading towards them rather rapidly and as a result looked down.
"MS. MELODY! I KNOW THAT ISN'T YOU!" Spitfire attempted to roar over the deafening music.
"WHAT!?" Vinyl replied to her, turning up the music even louder.
Spitfire looked at Vinyl angrily, to which Vinyl replied with a wide grin. Eventually Spitfire got impatient with trotting and flew over to Vinyl and the other two, landing almost directly in front of the amp. She then angirly beckoned at Vinyl to lower the music volume and Vinyl complied.
"Wipe that stupid grin off of your face before I do! Besides, you're not even a student here!" Spitfire spitted at Vinyl's face.
Spitfire then looked over to Dinky and finally to Octavia.
"Ms. Melody, you have some nerve coming here. Especially with these..'friends' of yours." she began sternly.
Spitfire took a deep breath and took off her glasses.
"But Ms. Melody, I do have to say you have lots of gall to show up like this. And for that reason, you've been accepted into the university. Congratulations Ms. Melody. But remember Ms. Melody, Star Swirl University is not for the faint of the heart. It is for those who love challenges and who accept challenges with courage and never give up. Now hurry up and get out of here before I change my mind."
"Thank you so much Madam, I can't ever possibly-"
But Spitfire took off mid-sentence, causing the happy Octavia to look over to the other two there with her.
"Vinyl! Vinny! I GOT ACCEPTED!" Octavia cheered, throwing up her hoofs in the air.
"I know I was right here. But that's great!" Vinyl cheered as well.
Dinky cheered as well and the trio all collectively hugged one another.
"I couldn't have done this with you Vinyl" Octavia told Vinyl.
"Pfft shucks, it was nothin'" Vinyl replied, her cheeks becoming rosy as well.
Octavia then lunged at Vinyl and kissed her, to which Vinyl did nothing but kiss her back as well.
"Oooo" Dinky giggled, covering her eyes with her hooves.
When Octavia and Vinyl finished kissing, the trio then picked up all the equipment and started to head out of the university.
"You know I love you Tavi" Vinyl said to Octavia.
"Likewise Vinny. I love you too" Octavia replied back with a heartfelt smile.
Dinky at that moment then decided to get in between the two of them, which earned her a remark from the both of them.
"Dinky! You silly filly!" Both Octavia and Vinyl said at the same time, chuckling with glee.
The trio then happily trotted out of the university towards home, as Dinky held both Octavia's and Vinyl's hooves and swung from them like the true filly she was.
The End.
