Canterlot High

Chapters

Meeting the family
Making friends
Blushing
Explosions
Rubies
On Dancefloors

Meeting the family

Canterlot High

Ch. 1: Meet the family

“This is it!” the gray earth-pony mare thought as she passed the heavy, slightly rusty iron gates, pulling her luggage behind her, she entered the enormous courtyard of what would be her home for the next three years.

Canterlot High.

She still hadn’t figured out why they had called it Canterlot High, even though it wasn’t an official high school. It was more like a private school for parents who wanted their kids to have a nice education, but didn’t have time to look after them.

Like Octavia’s parents. Melody and Concerto Philharmonica were now “on tour” with the royal orchestra. The black maned filly had to admit that she felt a bit sour about getting left behind.

But then again: she liked to think of herself as an optimist, and as such, she had to look forward.

Which meant looking at the imposing building of her well of knowledge for the next three years.

It really was intimidating, standing before it like this. The building had once been home to a noble or royal, for It was more of a castle than it was a schoolhouse; three stories tall, with towers, (wide enough to contain more classrooms, she assumed) in each corner.

The whole building was build of big, cold stone bricks of the color of Octavia’s coat, but the smart mare had read up on the history of the school, and knew, that the insides had been renovated about five years ago and were now warm, cozy and most of all, armored to the teeth with the most modern forms of educational equipment ponykind could offer.

She sighed, turning her head and her thoughts away from the building in front of her, until she came to face the mansion on the far right end of the campus. Or, at least what was visible of it.

A small cobblestone road leads through a little forest and to a villa of not quite as imposing size as the school itself, but still of considerable measurements.

One of three school dormitories. The biggest one to be precise. The only one right on campus and closest to the school, and… by far the most expensive one.

Octavia didn’t have to worry about that. It wasn’t like her parents were poor. And since they didn’t have to pay the school fee, because Octavia (clever and bright as she was) had been offered a scholarship by the director of the school himself. Yeah, they just wanted the best for their daughter while they couldn’t take care of her themselves.

She picked up her luggage (you can’t imagine how hard pulling luggage is as an earth pony), which she had dropped to admire her temporary home, and made her way over to the partially hidden villa.

She was greeted in front of the dormitory by a unicorn mare in her mid-thirties. She had a light pink coat and a copper reddish mane. Her cutie mark was apparently a heart, of a just slightly darker pink than her coat. Her eyes were, not surprisingly, of a sweet, dark pink hue, but her gaze was very caring and the gray mare felt comforted just being looked at by her.

“Ah! You must be Octavia. We have been eagerly waiting for you. The whole school staff hopes that at least one pony can pull up the marks of the good for nothing rascals that usually attend to this school.” She smiled. “Ah come on Carry! Don’t make us look bad in front of the cute new girl before we had a chance to meet her!” came a male voice from above, startling the unicorn and the earth pony alike.

With a loud thud a young, solid blue Pegasus with a brown mane and sparkling dark brown eyes landed next to the adult mare, whose name was Carry, Octavia assumed.

A second later Octavia was startled a second time, as just next to the blue Pegasus a bright white light flashed, and another unicorn appeared out of thin air. This colt had a pristine white coat, and hair in perfect contrast, for it was the darkest black Octavia had ever seen. His eyes were more of a dark amber color. She also noticed a black and white checkered wrist band on his right front hoof.

He instantly turned to the blue Pegasus to his left. “Blue! How many damn times do I have to tell you not to jump off the building and just leave me up there! Seriously, you can be such a dick sometimes!”

Then the white unicorn’s gaze turned from the Pegasus, Blue apparently, to a now facehoofing Carry and rested finally on Octavia. “Who are you?”

“My name is Octavia.” She answered politely. “I’m new at the school.”

The unicorn turned back to Carry (who had finally managed to remove her hoof from her face) and asked in a confused tone “Didn’t the new ones arrive yesterday?”

The pink mare gave the other unicorn a slightly annoyed look, one eyebrow slightly raised. “Yes. She’s late. We have a few late ones every year.” She explained slowly, as if to a toddler. She looked back at the new girl and addressed her directly again. “Well, as I wanted to say before I got interrupted; welcome to Canterlot High. My name is Caring Heart, Carry for short. And these two are two of the worst, before mentioned, good for nothing rascals.”

A “Hey!” of objection from the unicorn, and a “She’s right, ya know?” from the Pegasus.

“Anyways,” Carry went on pointing at the unicorn colt “This surprisingly ineloquent fellow is Two Tone (another “Hey” of objection) and this featherbrain here is Blue Print.” The Pegasus just grinned, which was surprisingly attractive, and said “Nice to meet ya.”

He was quite handsome, Octavia had to admit.

Something about him just radiated confidence and security… and he was rather well toned.

Carry noticed her new student was looking closely at the blue Pegasus, who was now arguing with his unicorn friend about something she hadn’t quite caught. “He’s taken.” She whispered in her ear, smiling. Octavia blushed at her staring being exposed.

“Anyways,” Carry turned back to the two colts. Blue had Two in a headlock by now, while the latter tried to poke the Pegasus’ throat with his horn. The caretaker facehoofed again. “Guys? Could you stop for a moment, please?” They stopped. Two still in headlock. “Ok, now Blue, I would love it if you could help me get the mail from the post office. I know you don’t have anything better to do anyways. While we’re gone, Two could you show miss Octavia here around the dorm please?”

“Sure thing Carry.” Said the unicorn. The Pegasus wasn’t quite as happy. “Aww. Why can’t I show the new girl around?” he whined.

“Because you’re too flirty.” Carry simply stated. “Now come along.” With that, she started to walk away. Blue finally released Two from his headlock and followed the pink unicorn.

Octavia felt a bit stunned at how friendly teacher and students behaved with each other here.

“Ok Octavia, as you’ve heard, I’m Two Tone, second year student at Canterlot High. Sorry if I my first greeting came over a bit rudely, I was just surprised that I hadn’t seen you here yet. I tend to remember names and faces of cute mares.” He said smiling. Octavia blushed.

“Now how about we start that tour through the dorm? Here, let me take that.” He said and levitated all of Octavia’s belonging in his pristine white magic aura.

They started to climb the stairs up to the villa’s main entry, when he said: “Oh, and one more thing: Don’t fall for Blue. Seriously, just don’t. He might be taken now, but if he splits up, just if, I’m not saying that’s gonna happen anytime soon, battle royal will break out. And in the end I’ll be the one who has to listen to his whining about how he can’t decide, because five mares want to date him at the same time. Seriously, every other colt at the school wishes he had his problems.”

Octavia giggled at the mental image and because she thought he was joking. A look at Two’s face proved her otherwise. “Five mares? Really?” she questioned, while they entered the main hall of the big dormitory villa. “At least five.” Two returned dead serious with a frown.

Octavia gasped at the sight before her eyes. The mansion was the classic stereotype of a villa, like you saw them in sappy movies. From the main hall, four doors, two at each side lead to other rooms, while a corridor lead further into the house, where, Octavia guessed rightly, the dining hall was. To both sides of the corridor a flight of stairs went to the upper stories of the house.

“Well…” Two Tone began. “Welcome to the Casa di… actually we haven’t given the villa any name yet. But we live here, so the general term for it at school is “Nuthouse”.” Again Octavia had no idea if he was serious or joking.

“Now let’s get this guided tour started!” He said as he started leading her around.

**** 30min later *****

Octavia and her guide now stood on the top floor of the villa. From here, only two doors lead to other rooms and stairs lead to the attic. Behind one of the doors lay the villas own little bar, complete with pool-table and table kickers for the students’ entertainment. The other door…

“So, and finally your room.” Two announced pompously; “The penthouse suite. It’s usually reserved for the most promising student and one of the weaker students. The teachers hope that the better of the two students can help the other out and the overall grade of the school rises. I hope you will get along well with your roommate. I think she’s cool, but I’m not sure you two share many common interests…” he said thoughtfully.

“Well. This is where I leave you to yourself to do your unpacking and get to know your roommate. You will be sharing this room for at least a year after all, maybe three.” And with that he turned to walk back down the stairs again.

“Two?” Octavia called him back.

“Hm?” he asked. He really was quite ineloquent at times.

She motioned a hoof to her belongings, still in the grip of his magic, and slowly levitating behind him as he walked away.

“Oh right, sorry. Forgot about those. Sometimes random things just slip my mind...” He offered a sheepish grin as he put everything down next to the door, neatly stacked.

As he walked back down, Octavia steadied herself, opened the wooden door and entered what would be her room for the foreseeable future.

The room was big. That was the first thing she noticed. It had its own little kitchen part to her left, behind a counter, the wall pointing in direction of the school was just one big window, with a framed door in the middle, which lead out on a nice little balcony. At the opposite wall, to Octavia’s right and at the back wall, stood two beds, slightly apart, bedding made and ready to sleep on them.

The gray mare noticed all that, and more importantly one more thing.

The room was already a total mess.

Open cases everywhere. Cloths, mainly hoodies, caps and beanies were littered all across the room floor. But what was worth were the cables that connected all sorts of musical instruments with all possible types of electrical equipment.

Octavia just stood there, mouth agape.

Then, the unicorn mare sitting at one of the two tables at the far right side of the room (on one of them stood one of these fancy new computers, taking away most of the space, on the other, Octavia was pretty sure it had been intended to be hers for work, stood DJ equipment and a turntable.), finally noticed the cellists presence and turned around.

When her eyes fell on the cute grey cellist, she smiled, put down her headset (from even Octavia at the far end of the room could hear music) and walked over to greet he.

If asked, Octavia would have described her new roommate as what was commonly referred to as “cool”. Her coat was just as white as Two Tone’s but compared to his, admittedly, rather boring combination of colors, her mane was sparkling. The messy unkempt but spiky nest on her head, which Octavia’s mother would have rather cut off completely, than be seen with, was of electric blue colors in two shades.

Even though, Octavia didn’t usually look at other ponies’ cutie marks, her eyes were drawn to the white unicorn’s flank as she walked over to her. It was a black double eight note.

Her roommate’s eyes were hidden away by a pair of strangely formed purple sunglasses, but Octavia was sure she looked directly at her.

But above all, she was cute.

Octavia mentally slapped herself, suppressed a blush and wondered where that thought had come from.

Then the white mare held out a hoof to greet her.

“Hi. The name’s Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch.”

Author’s notes:

Soooo... where was I going with this again?

Oh yeah: The story. Well, what can I say, I was kinda out of ideas, so I came up with something that needs no ideas! Namely: my own life (avoiding writer’s block since 1993).

Greatly inspired by DawnFade’s “University Days (and Nights. That’s not clop, that’s romance.)”, which is one of the best stories on Fimficion.net, in my opinion. Read it.

Inspired doesn’t mean copied though, and apart from happening at school and being a VinylXTavi story it doesn’t have much in common. Other than that, it’s mainly based on own experience (Well, I can’t do magic and my OC is about 134.6% cooler than I am, but you get the point).

Names and personality of the ponies are mostly based on real people, so if you notice yourself in this story, sue me. And call me (maybe). Didn’t know you were a brony. Damn that would be awesome.

Two Tone: That would be me. Oblivious, socially awkward, lazy and quite stupid at times.

Blue Print: My best friend. We’re like JD & Turk. Seriously (I’m JD).

Carry: Mash up of my favorite teachers, back when I had been at that awesome school I’m calling “Canterlot High” in this story. The name it has in real life doesn’t fit it either, so I thought a name that doesn’t fit the story, fits. That makes sense, right?

All being said, I really^4 enjoy writing this! It’s like psychological therapy, which I dearly need… You know, for being crazy and shit.

PS: Have mercy on my grammar. I’m trying really hard. ;_;

PPS: We all know who owns MLP:FIM! Why is everyone writing that in theirs stories?

…longest A/N I’ve written so far, and hopefully forever.

-Eli

Making friends

Canterlot High

Ch. 2: Making friends

Vinyl looked at the new mare who would be her roommate for the next year. Sure, room changes were possible, but they took way too long and were tons of unnecessary paperwork. It was easier to just get along with the pony you shared a room with. After checking her out, up and down, she decided she could probably live with this beauty of a mare for a year.

Wait, where did that come from?

Not wanting to think about it, she extended a hoof to her. “Hi. The name’s Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch.” She said as cool as possible. Inwardly she let out a “Yeeeah! Almost like James Colt! Celestia that was awesome.”

The gray mare with the shining pink eyes took her hoof and shook it. “Octavia. Pleased to make your acquaintance miss Scratch.”

“Woah there. Vinyl’s just fine. I’m too young to be a “miss”.” She said with a wide smile.

“Well then Tavi’ Nice to meet-“ “Tavi’?” Octavia asked confused, interrupting Vinyl.

“Well yeah. I call all of my friends nicknames. You don’t like it?” Vinyl frowned. Somehow she really hoped she hadn’t made the gray mare angry.

“Friends?” Octavia asked. She tried hard to suppress the tears that came to her eyes. ‘Was it really that easy?’ she asked herself.

“Ah sorry…”Vinyl said sadly, turning away sadly. “of course I understand if you don’t want to be friends with a low class mare like me…” “What?! NO!” Octavia exclaimed, shocked and fearing she had just blown her chance of Vinyl liking her. “That’s not what I meant! It’s just…I… I actually never had friends before…” She ended and turned away ashamed. “My parents we’re always touring around with the orchestra, and between learning and traveling I just never found an opportunity to make friends…”

Vinyl tried to comfort her. “Hey, no biggie! I’m sure you will make lots of friends here. The colts will queue up to be friends with a beautiful mare like you.” ‘Did I just say that aloud?’ Vinyl asked herself.

Octavia blushed heavily. “Thank you.” She said, looking back up into the DJ’s glasses. She couldn’t see through them, but she thought she ‘felt’ Vinyl staring back into her eyes.

They stood there for several seconds, until a knock from the door shook them out of their trance. The door opened, and a bright yellow earth pony mare with a mane almost as spiky as Vinyl’s, but green, entered the room without looking. “Hey Vinyl, did you hear? You’re roommate is supposed to be here. I think Tony is just showing her around.”

Then she finally noticed Octavia. “Oh. Nevermind.”

She came over to Octavia, and startled the latter quite a bit by hugging her. “Welcome to the nuthouse! Hope you can cleanse it from its name.” She said grinning.

Octavia, shocked by the hug only brought out incoherent words. The yellow mare quickly pulled back. “Oh sorry, sorry. Not used to such closeness I guess. Sorry again. I’m Pine Apple. No jokes about my name or my cutie mark and we can be the best of friends.” At these words Octavia’s gaze naturally shifted to the other mares flank. Her cutie mark was, who would have guessed, a pineapple.

“You can watch it as much as you want, but I’m taken.” Pine said with a mischievous grin.

The other earth pony blushed furiously, and Vinyl behind her, who had taken the opportunity to ogle Octavia’s backside, and her tremble clef cutie mark in the color of her eyes, blushed even harder. Or at least more obviously, since her coat was white.

Pine giggled at the embarrassed chaos she had created, as both other mares tried to explain and defend themselves.

From the balcony came the call “Hey, Octavia, Vinyl, has anyone of you seen Pi-“ Blue stopped himself midsentence, when he saw his girlfriend standing in front of the other two flushed mares.

Pine’s deep green eyes started to shine “Blue!” she called out and trotted over to her coltfriend on the balcony, pulling him in a deep kiss.

The gray and the white mare blushed even deeper at the open display of feelings. Luckily they were quickly distracted by the already familiar flash of white light and the just as familiar grumpy tone of a unicorn complaining about his friend disappearing on him. “Dude! You should really learn how to use a door… what if the ladies were just changing?”

“We don't normally wear clothes." Blue said deadpan. "And at least they see me coming. It’s you who startles everyone all the time by just randomly teleporting all over the place.” Blue shot back with a smug smile on his face. His friend looked rather annoyed, but as hard as he searched; he didn't find any argument against that. “Besides, I told you: just find a spell that grows you wings, then you would have no problems following me.”

“Yeah, as if that were so easy…Who do you think I am? Twilight Sparkle?” If any unicorn would ever manage to create a 'grow wings' spell or turning herself into an alicorn, it would surely be Celestia's personal student. Not Two Tone.

"Yeah, you're just one weak ass magician." Blue teased. The usually very mature colt stuck out his tongue at his friend.

"Shut up!" the other replied lamely. "You fly like a rock."

The three mares in the room had followed the argument with interest. Until Pine looked at the alarm clock next to Vinyl’s bed. “Oh no! Aren’t we supposed to be downstairs in the dinner hall at 12 sharp?”

Four pairs of eyes looked first at her, and then at the clock. It showed 11:58 with menacingly glowing, green electric numbers.

“Ah shit. Don’t worry girls. I got this.” Two Tone said while his horn flared up bright flash like burning magnesium. The room around the girls disappeared and the young ponies now stood in the luxurious dining hall of the villa. Two looked a bit exhausted. Teleporting many ponies was never an easy feat.

Most of the room had turned their heads at the bright flash in the entrance of the hall. Most second years seemed unimpressed, for they were already used to the quirks of the dorm’s inhabitants, but most of the new students stared wide eyed at the four new arrivals.

“Four?” Octavia thought.

She wasn’t the only one to notice. “Where’s Blue?” Pine asked and looked at the unicorn colt. He just grinned and walked to the nearest empty table.

Most other residents of the dorm had already taken seats at one of the dining hall’s four tables.

The tables were all placed with one of the short sides of their rectangular form to the wall, two on each side. The longer sides of the tables gave room for eight ponies to sit comfortably next to each other, but no more than six spaces were taken at each table.

Octavia counted 18 students, her included, and 3 teachers sitting at all tables. At that moment, Carry entered the room saw their still half empty table, smiled and sat next to Octavia. “And? I see you met your new roommate. I hope you will get along nicely.” Her enthusiasm was contagious.

“I hope so too.” Vinyl said. “But I think Octavia is nice, I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun.” She smiled brightly at her roommate. Octavia couldn’t see her eyes, for they were still covered by her shades (“Does she ever take them off?” went through her mind) but she was sure Vinyl meant it nonetheless.

The pink unicorn teacher looked around the table and asked “Where’s Blue? Did he go home?” “Home?” Octavia asked curiously. “Doesn’t he live in the dorm?” “Ah, Blue is an exception. We call it an extern student. He has a house nearby. He lives there during school term, and doesn’t have to pay the full school fee in return. But he hangs around this dorm almost all the time, since Tony and Pine live here anyways.”

“Tony?” Octavia asked. “It’s a nickname. All my friends call me that, so feel free to do so too.” Two Tone said, blushing slightly.

Octavia seemed to beam at his words. Only Vinyl got why, and she smiled at the happiness her new roommate radiated.

The yellow and green earth pony mare intervened: “About Blue: Hornface here seemed to find it funny to pull a prank on him when he teleported us down here…” she said with an annoyed look at the black maned unicorn. The latter had picked up his grin from before again.

As if on cue, a blue Pegasus entered the hall, soaking from head to hoof.

“You are so dead.” He growled at the still grinning unicorn.

“The pond in the royal gardens? Really? Do you have any idea how freaking hard it was to dodge all those guards?” He asked through his teeth.

“Yeah, the gardens were the only place in the Palace where the teleport blocking forcefield was weak enough for me to pierce it. I wanted to teleport you into the throne room and on Celestia’s lap.” Tony smirked. Blue growled.

Two’s horn glowed once again, and the Water in the Pegasus’ coat vaporized, along with the different sized puddles on the floor of the corridor.

Blue slumped down at the free spot between his friend and his mare, just as the food arrived, served by the small kitchen crew.

He ‘Accidentally’ smashed his right hoof into the unicorn’s right shoulder, while sitting down. Tony winced, but just kept on grinning, mumbling something along the lines of “Worth it.”

Vinyl just looked at Blue wide eyed. At least the others assumed she had wide eyes; she still wore her shades. “You got from the castle back here in less than five minutes? While dodging the royal guard?” She was no pegasus, but it was quite a distance, almost the other side of the city. “Well, I’m no Feather Flash, I’m sure most other pegasi could have done it just as fast.” He said modestly. Referring to the current, soon retiring, captain of the Wonderbolts.

“Speaking of pegasi.” Octavia remarked “You’re the only one here. How comes?”

Vinyl looked around. The gray mare was right. The students of the dorm were mostly unicorns, and some earthponies, but no other pegasi around. “It’s simple really.” Carry explained. “Pegasi can fly. Distances that seem far for us, are just a jump to them. Most pegasi live in the dorm farthest away from the school grounds, which is also the cheapest. That in turn is very convenient for the Pegasus families from Cloudsdale, which aren’t all as wealthy as most Canterlot nobles.”

“Are any of you nobles?” Octavia cut in into the conversation. She had a bit of a fascination for these so called nobles. Most of them were noble only by title, but she had met Fancy Pants once. He was a true gentlecolt.

“Nope.” Tony simply stated.

“Nah, I’m from the Manehatten branch of the Apple family. I’m sure you’ve heard of them before. We’re actually one of the oldest families in Equestria.” Pine said with a hint of pride.

“I was born and raised in Ponyville,” Carry remembered “But I went to this school, and live in Canterlot ever since I’m old enough.”

“I’m from Cloudsdale. But my parents have multiple houses, and they change the place they live frequently. I didn’t want to change schools so often, and so I’m living on my own here in Canterlot.”

“Me? A noble? Yeah, who would believe that?” Vinyl joked. But Octavia thought she noticed a slight waver in her voice. She didn’t press the issue though, in fear of angering her newfound friend. “What about you Tavi?” She changed the focus from her to Octavia.

“I was born in Canterlot. My father is director of the royal symphony orchestra. My mother plays in it. Long story short they didn’t have the time to take care of me, next to touring around.” ‘And they wanted me to make some friends.’ She added silently.

Their idle conversation went on for the next half an hour, until Carry stood up from her place. “Anyways, it was nice to get to know you two a bit, Vinyl, Octavia. I’m the teacher responsible for your room by the way. So if you have any questions or problems, come talk to me. I have to go and finish some stuff now. First student get together is at 2:30 pm in the school’s aula. I’m sure Pine will show you the way.” With that she left the hall, soon followed by the other 3 teachers.

“Did you get the chance to unpack yet?” Pine Apple asked Octavia. “If not, you should probably do that now, the first meeting of the year usually takes quite long. I’m not sure when it will end and you will be happy if you don’t have to unpack late in the evening. No stress though. You have a good 90 minutes left.

Octavia thanked her and left the dining hall together with Vinyl, to finish unpacking and organizing their room.

***** 90 minutes later *****

The three mares walked over from their dorm to the great castle like schoolhouse. The two colts were some dozen hoofs behind them, talking about something they didn’t want the girls to know, or they knew the girls didn’t want to know.

“So, what’s gonna happen at that first meeting?” Vinyl asked curiously, secretly wondering if she should try a voice amplifier spell on the stallions, so she could listen in.

“You have read how this school works before applying here, didn’t you?” Pine wondered.

“I did.” Octavia saw fit for her to voice her knowledge, since Vinyl was obviously lost. “In this school, we can ‘build’ our timetable ourselves, to bring our own talents to upmost use. It’s a revolutionary school system, and so far unique in equestrian…” Vinyl stared at her, mouth wide open. “…or so I’ve been told.” Octavia ended her almost word-by-word quote from the school’s advertisement.

“Octavia did her homework I see. Yeah, this is more or less exactly how it works. It’s just that they don’t always have all the capacity to teach everything to everypony, but they do a good job, and the whole system works pretty well. Just hope that you get all the courses you want.”

“Sounds pretty neat.” Vinyl gave her opinion. “How come you visit this school without knowing a thing about it, Vinyl?” Pine pressed. “Eh, I just trusted my parents with the choice of my school.” The white unicorn said, looking away. Again, Octavia felt like there was something her roommate didn’t tell her.

Blue landed with a soft thud next to Pine and Tony caught up, for once without magic, and fell into their pace in the middle of the four ponies, between Pine and Octavia.

“Do the ladies already know what courses you’re going to take?” Asked Tony nonchalantly.

“I hope I can get into Musical Theory, Music History regular music lessons and some minor courses to fill my week.” Octavia answered hopefully.

“Yeah, I’m gonna apply for some music stuff too.” Vinyl said. “And probably some magic courses.”

“I hope you’ll be getting all the courses you want.” Pine stated thoughtfully, just as they entered the enormous school building. Vinyl and Octavia followed the other three to the aula.

“Why?” the gray mare inquired. “Can’t be that hard, can it?”

***** 3 hours and 30 minutes later *****

“That was madness!” Octavia let herself slump down on her bed.

“Madness?” Vinyl asked “No, that was… far worse than just madness.” She buried her head in her own pillow.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Pine insisted. She wasn’t as worn out as the other two mares from choosing her courses, since she had already been used to it. “You two got the courses you wanted, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Octavia admitted. “But there was so much more there. So much choice!” She laid down on her bed belly side up, her head on her pillow. “I applied for archery! Lucky I didn’t get taken, I wouldn’t even know how to use a bow… But it looked so interesting.” She whined.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Last year, Two ended up in a knitting class. He says he doesn’t know how it happened and he doesn’t want to talk about it, but from time to time he wears a handmade scarf.” The mares giggled.

“Anyways, you will see; after one week you have settled in nicely. It’s less of a school, than it is a tightly knitted family. But like any family, we have our black sheep. I recommend you stay away from the snotty unicorn nobles.” She almost spat the word. “They still think they can do anything without consequences sometimes. Especially to a mare.”

“Well, I have to finish organizing my room too and actually get to know my roommate. She’s a freshmare just like you two. See you at dinner?” Pine asked cheerfully.

“Yeah, sure.” Vinyl answered as the earthpony mare walked out of the room and downstairs to her own. Then she turned back to Octavia. “Phew. That just has been one crazy first day, hasn’t it?”

“It certainly has, but it’s nice to make so many friends on the first day already. I would have never thought it were so easy.” Octavia remarked with happiness about her new friendship situation.

Vinyl looked up at the ceiling in thought. Her head on her pillow just like Octavia. “It isn’t always this easy.” She said. “The ponies here are just very outgoing... and maybe slightly insane.” Both smiled at the true statement.

The two mares talked like they had been friends for life. It sure felt like it. They talked and talked until it was time for dinner. While standing up Vinyl just said: “Well, this has been a great start. Let’s see where we go from here.” And they walked downstairs to the dining hall side by side.

Author’s notes:

I used 2 chapters just for the first day? O.o sheeeeeet…

Ok from here on out I’m going to skip some days/weeks from time to time, and maybe just write out scenes. Since the main focus is on Vinyl and Tavi, I’m only going to write mainly about their courses and stuff. More awesome OCs/friends of mine will be coming along as I write. Actually the whole story is always made up on the spot. Sure I have some major plot ideas I will bring into the story, just wait 

Concerning cutie marks:

You might have noticed that I mentioned the cutie marks of some ponies, but not of others. This has multiple reasons. The first is that I would like to think of Octavia, who’s in the main focus, as a bit of a prudish mare. So no flank staring for her if it isn’t necessary. Secondly are there OCs I just have no idea what CM to give them… Blue would be drawing tools, that one is easy, but Two? What special talent do I have? I have no idea…

New chars:

Pine Apple: Not only did it give me a perfect possibility to use the Apple family, it’s actually her real (nick)name. She’s my best friend’s girlfriend and she would kick my balls into my stomach for calling her pineapple XD she hates that nickname.

And of course this A/N got too long again… excuse me for a second I’m gonna bash my head against the wall to get all those ideas out…

-Eli

Blushing

Canterlot High

Chapter 3: Blushing

The first week flew by like it was on speed. Between getting adjusted to their new schedule, meeting new ponies and trying to remember names of the ones they had met, neither Vinyl nor Octavia had much time for themselves.

But much like Pine had foreseen; the stress and discomfort the new environment brought with had died down by the end of the Monday after.

They had been roommates for just one week by now, but Octavia felt like she had known Vinyl her whole life. They often talked deep into the night about random and mostly trivial things. Octavia enjoyed these evenings greatly. For the first time in all her life she had someone she could share her deepest thoughts with. Vinyl was not only a great listener, she always gave good advice or a funny comment at the exact right time.

Unbeknownst to the gray mare, the unicorn thought pretty much the same of her. Sure, Vinyl’s life had always been full of friends. But she lacked real friends. Ponies she could talk to when she felt down or encountered a serious problem. Her other friends were more like drinking buddies. Ponies who would forget about her in two weeks, if she didn’t down some bottles of Applejack Daniels in some random club with them each weekend.

More even; Vinyl was fascinated by the musical pony with the choral mane. Vinyl was a good listener. She had always been. Having nothing to say in her family, just listening came naturally. Sure, she liked to talk as much as any normal pony, but Octavia was different: While her other friends always talked about meaningless stuff, colts, mares, booze and how stoned they had been last weekend, every word the gray filly spoke was thoughtful and wise. She never bickered about her own problems, but asked for Vinyl’s opinion about them.

Maybe that was what made the white pony think about her like that. She was the first pony she had ever met that was sincerely interested in her opinion.

Like so many times, they were both in their room, Vinyl working on different stuff and the first homework of the year. Octavia reading a book on her bed. It was Monday evening, just after dinner.

“Hey Tavi?” The nickname Vinyl had given her had stuck, and everyone in the dorm called her that now.

“Yeah Vinyl?”

“You got the afternoon free tomorrow, right?” She didn’t actually have to ask. When they had put their timetables together, Vinyl had secretly checked on Octavia’s schedule and had adjusted hers, so they had free time together. Octavia didn’t have to know that though. Vinyl herself thought that was a bit creepy.

“Yes. And as I’ve seen on your timetable at the wall, so do you. Why do you ask?”

“Wanna do go out?” Vinyl’s mind took a few seconds to realize what she had just said. Only when Octavia started blushing and looking at her with wide eyes, did the white unicorn catch up with her train of thought and she blushed as well. “I mean as friends! Like go to the cinema or to a club or something!” She added hastily. Strangely, it didn’t make things better. No, it seemed even more awkward that she even had to say it.

The gray filly’s answer surprised her quite a bit: “Yes Vinyl. I would love to spend my day with a friend tomorrow.” She answered, still a bit red on the cheeks, but happily , smiling. “Did you have something specific in mind?”

“Well, since we have school the next day, we can hardly go to a club until 3am, so I would say let’s go to the cinema. Is that fine with you?” “Of course, that would be lovely. We could Invite the others too. Oh it’s been so long since I’ve been to the cinema!” Octavia said excitedly.

Vinyl’s smile wavered for a second, but she managed to control herself. “Of course we can invite the others. The more the merrier, right?” she said, while secretly hoping none of their friends had time tomorrow. She couldn’t quite place the feeling, but she really hoped she could do something just the two of them.

Walking down to the third floor of the dorm they went straight to the door to the right. This was Pine’s and her roommate Lotus’s room. Lotus was a soft blue Earthpony mare with pink hair. She had a twin sister in the dorm, and the two did almost everything together. Her sister, Aloe, had the exact same colors, just reversed. Many ponies who didn’t know them better mixed them up quite often, especially since they had the same cutie mark.

They were both in their third year, and would leave the school at the end of this one. Rumor had it, that the sisters planned to open a spa in some small town around Canterlot.

Vinyl and Octavia expected Lotus and Pine to be in their room and so Vinyl lifted her hoof to knock on the door. Before hoof could connect with wood though, her hoof was stopped mid air by a force field of familiar white color.

“What’s wrong Vinyl? Why don’t you knock?” Asked the gray mare from behind her.

“Tony must have placed a spell on the door. It keeps me from reaching the wood, or even the door handle. I can’t enter.” Vinyl answered.

“Well that’s weird. Why would he do that?” Octavia wondered. “We should go to him first then.”

With a nod that almost knocked her purple glasses from her nose the unicorn agreed and so they went on the short journey across the hall, to the room opposite. Luckily, this door wasn’t protected by any force field, and so the knock was clearly audible.

The door opened by itself and the mares let themselves in. Upon entering they spotted Tony easily on his bed close to the balcony door, reading a book. “Hi.” He said without looking up.

“Hey Tony. Watcha reading?” Vinyl asked.

“Harry Trotter. It’s a wierd story about some secret society of unicorns. Strange stuff… I hope nopony ever invents a death spell.” He answered, putting his book away and standing up to greet them properly. “What’s up?”

“Well, Octavia and I were going to the cinema tomorrow, and we were wondering if you want to come.” ‘Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.’ “I would love to…” ‘damnit!’ “But I can’t. I got Advanced spell controlling tomorrow afternoon and that’s one of the few classes I actually like, otherwise I would have no problem with skipping it. So… sorry, but no.” ‘Yes!’

“Oh, that’s too bad.” The gray Earthpony said. “And what we were also wondering about; what’s going on with Pine’s door? Are you playing a prank on her?” Her gaze had a clear ‘please don’t be that childish’ look.

Tony’s cheeks got a bit of red color. “Not exactly no.” He hesitated a second before adding “Blue’s with her. I just put a force field and a muffling spell on their room, to give them a bit of… privacy.” More color rushed through his cheeks.

“Why would they need privacy or a muffling spell for that matt- oh.” Vinyl’s cheeks now matched Tony’s. Having a white coat was a curse sometimes.

“What is it Vinyl? What are they doing? They aren’t fighting, are they? That would be sad; they make such a cute couple.” The amethyst eyes of the gray mare looked back and forth between her two white unicorn friends. ‘Celestia she’s so adorably naïve!’ thought Vinyl.

“Not exactly fighting.” Said Tony. “But from what I’ve heard they are at it quite rough from time to time.” He added with a grin that would have scared away that creepy cat from ‘Alice in wonderland’. “And believe me; I have heard my fair share.”

“Oh. OH!” Finally the filly got it. Her face, despite her gray coat, managed to exceed Vinyl and Tony in redness.

Luckily, their thoughts about what exactly their friends were doing in their room were interrupted by the entry of a young, neon green Earthpony with a just as neon yellow mane with cyan blue highlights. The two mares had only seen him during the meals in the dining hall so far, but neither had had a chance to talk to him yet.

“Hey Two. I see you got ladies over. Care to share them?” He said with an absolutely childish, wannabe seductive smile.

Tony facehoofed. “Fillies, this little perv and failure of a womanizer is my roommate: Neon Light. He’s useless with mares, but if you ever need a technician for your stuff, Vinyl, I would recommend him.”

Neon looked at them in mock hurt. “I’m not useless with mares! They love me! Right fillies?” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down like they were in some kind of really cliché and crappy cartoon series.

Vinyl spoke what they all thought. “Dude, that’s just creepy. Don’t do that again. Ever.”

“Ah well, it was worth a try.” He said shrugging. “So what are you two doing here?” he slumped down on his own bed at the opposite side of the room. Vinyl had long since placed herself on Tony’s bed and Octavia sat on his chair at the table (Which didn’t look like much work had touched it so far.).

“Oh we were just in here seducing Tony into doing naughty things with us when you interrupted us.” Vinyl grinned. Tony took her hint. “Yeah, why did you have to enter? I was just about to get sandwiched by two cute mares when you ruined my game!” He said, pulling Vinyl closer by the waist, leaning over her as if he was about to do something NSFW and trailing the outside of her leg up with his hoof.

Neon’s breathing became quicker and he excused himself to the bathroom at light speed.

Octavia looked just as flushed as he had been, but Vinyl and Tony started laughing at the top of their lungs.

“Well that’s something I didn’t expect to see anytime soon.” Came a mocking voice from the door. “Is our little Tony finally getting a marefriend?”

In the doorframe stood Blue. Fresh out of the shower, his hair was still matted down and his coat was still a bit wet. Of course he teased his friend who had still a hoof around Vinyl’s waist.

Tony teased back by magically slamming the door in Blue’s face. Then he removed his hoof from Vinyl’s waist and scooted a bit away from her again. Octavia notice only then, that she had looked at that hoof as if it were a poisonous snake. She didn’t rightly know why herself.

“We were just playing with Neon a bit. He was creeping. Again.” Tony stated the facts. Blue didn’t need any further explanation. He let out an exaggerated sigh “And there I thought you would finally get some… well, bad luck my friend. You and Vinyl would make a fine couple.” He drifted back to teasing.

Now it was the two white unicorns’ turn to blush again. (They seemed to do that a lot that day.)

The Apple girl appeared behind her stallion, still glistening with water from the shower herself. She checked out the situation in the room, seeing many blushing ponies. Two Tone decided it was time to strike back. “Did you use protection?” He asked bluntly.

Now it was Blue and Pine’s turn to blush. Coloring Blue in a dark shade of purple and Pine in a light orange one.

Vinyl interrupted the argument between the two colts before it could start. “Great that you two are finally finished and here. Tavi and I wanted to ask you two if you wanted to come with us to the cinema tomorrow?” “Tomorrow?” asked Blue “Sorry no chance. Tomorrow we have a special flight class with Spitfire, the latest addition of the Wonderbolts! I heard she’s the fastest flyer in Equestria and she’s coming to teach us personally some of her greatest tricks!” He gushed. The other four looked at each other, all rolling their eyes and knowing they all shared the same thought: Pegasi and their Wonderbolts…

“I can’t either. Cousin Mac is coming up to Canterlot from Ponyville to talk about some apple shipments with local food sellers, and I’m supposed to help him ‘communicate with them stuck up nobles’ as he put it.” “Eyoup.” Said Blue smiling. Being with Pine almost a year now he had met some of her widespread family, and that cousin in particular was one of the reasons he never wanted to get on Pine’s bad side.

Vinyl almost squeed at the fact that she got to spend some time with Tavi alone. She still refused to fully admit it, but the other mare occupied her mind like a Snorelax route 11.

Neon soon returned from the shower, glistening wet and a towel around him. Once he got over his first attempts to impress the fillies in the room he actually became quite bearable.

The five friends and Neon kept talking deep into the night, until Carry had to come by to shut them up. She ended up staying and talking and laughing with them.

One, normally obnoxiously loud, blue maned unicorn was uncharacteristically calm. Serenely waiting for tomorrow to come.

Notes:

Not much to say here I guess. Had slowly to get the romance going, right? Let me make one thing very clear here: I did NOT have a muffling spell in RL. You can think of the rest yourselves.

The “me getting slightly erotic with Vinyl” scene is certainly possible, but not after one week. I’m quite shy in RL. I can talk to girls just fine, but I’m a bit reluctant to touch.

The new guys:

Neon: Got his name from the clothes he always wore. Mostly neon green, blue or orange. He was a bit annoying from time to time, but overall a cool guy. A bit premature maybe.

Lotus & Aloe: I used the canon twins for the twin girls at that school. Cute girls really. Got mixed up by many, but I knew them quite well, so I learned to see the little details to tell them apart.

Explosions

Canterlot High

Chapter 4: Explosions

Vinyl had been giddy the whole morning in anticipation, eagerly waiting for the afternoon to come. It had been quite a while since she had felt so happy about something so simple.

But deep inside, she felt very conflicted and troubled.

She had always felt attracted to mares more than stallions. She didn’t exactly know why. Females were usually just more graceful or cute

The problem was however, that she had been thought from a young age, that same sex relationships were wrong. Dirty. Filthy even. She always tried to ignore these thoughts, but when something is etched and carved in your head for 16 years, it’s hard to do so.

She had been sent to a psychologist as soon as her ‘condition’ had made itself known. Not on her terms, of course.

But as much as those ‘religious’ ponies, all the psychologists or her family had tried to repair her barn door, it still swung the other way. She couldn’t, and honestly she didn’t want to, deny nor change her nature.

This time however, she wished she could.

The gray mare who occupied her mind more than anything else (Heck, even more than music at the moment!), was the source of her conflict.

She couldn’t deny it forever: In just one week Vinyl had developed a serious crush on her roommate. And every day, the mare with the amethyst eyes and the cute bowtie she wore most days, did something to deepen that crush.

It was still just a crush, but as such it was powerful. Vinyl didn’t quite know where to place it; she had never felt like this before. Sure, as soon as she had been certain of her sexuality, she had tried dating some with similar mind, but it had never gone further than a few quick kisses.

This time however, only a glimpse at the other mare’s eyes made her feel like all the kisses she had had before combined. She silently thanked Celestia for her shades, for she had found her mind, and eyes for that matter, wander quite often… to places they had no place to be.

Yet.

She mentally slapped herself at the same time as physically.

Given that she was just sitting at the table with six other ponies, one of them being the mare of her thoughts (and dreams), that might not have been her brightest idea yet.

“Are you alright Vinyl?” Asked Carry, who seemed to have taken the habit of sitting at their table. Her voice was full of genuine concern.

Vinyl was about to answer dismissively, when she looked straight into the eyes of the mare opposite of her.

She couldn’t bear seeing these beautiful purple eyes full of worry.

The urge to jump across the table and just hug her became too strong. She knew if she stayed, she wouldn’t be able to suppress it.

With a short “Sorry, not feeling well.” she stood up and left the room, leaving for her own chamber. She felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her back, but she was sure the stare from an amethyst pair burned brighter than the rest.

Upon arriving there, she threw herself on her bed, belly side down and buried her muzzle in her pillow, letting the pillow muffle her frustrated scream. She had wanted to hug that grey filly so badly.

It did only take a minute, until she felt a weight push down on her bed, right next to her, and a hoof placed on her shoulder.

“Vinyl?”

Octavia. Of course it was Octavia. Vinyl should have known the other mare would leave her own unfinished lunch just to go look after her. In that moment she hated herself for making Octavia worry.

There was silence between them for several minutes.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked. Her voice contained just as much worry as her gaze had before.

“’t’s nothin’.” Vinyl mumbled in her pillow.

“Should we move our movie date to another day?”

Vinyl shot up “NO!”

Instantly calming herself, she looked at the mare she shared a room with. “No. It’s nothing, really. Well, it’s not nothing, but it’s nothing I need to trouble you with.” Thinking about it for a second, she added “Maybe I’ll tell you later. It’s not the right time. But we don’t have to cancel the cinema.” As her mind finally caught up, the simple realization that Octavia had used the word ‘date’ for their plans this afternoon made her want to squee. She suppressed it quite well though.

“Lunch is over, but maybe we should go downstairs to the others. I’m sure they are worried about you.” Octavia thought for a moment, then she added; “Vinyl, I understand that you don’t want to talk about it, and you don’t have to, I just want you to know, that you have friends here who care about you, and if you ever think you’re ready to talk about it, I really think you should.”

Vinyl wasn’t sure what to make of that. She had barely known these ponies for a week, why would they care about her? It was nice enough that Octavia cared about her, but they spent a lot of time together. The others were nice, but did they really see her as friend? Not just a companion or a drinking buddy like all her former friends?

Her question was answered as she left the room.

In the hallway between the community room and theirs stood three ponies.

Pine and Blue were huddled on the floor next to their door, and Tony was walking the hallway up and down. Only down actually, since he teleported back to their door every time he reached the end and just continued pacing.

When the mares stepped out of their room, Pine and Blue looked up in empathy and concern, and Tony teleported himself only inches in front of Vinyl’s face, lifting her shades with his magic for an inch, staring at her eyes intensely (Octavia cursed herself a bit for standing behind her, not seeing the color of her eyes).

Vinyl noticed a very slight tint of grey in his brown eyes from the close proximity.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed until he pulled out of his stare, letting her glasses fall back down, and sighed; “Ahhh… you weren’t crying… thank Celestia, I get weak when I see cute mares cry. I just can’t take it... You really worried me there for a second. Are you ok?”

“She’s not ready to talk about it, Tony.” Octavia warned him.

“That’s fine.” Said Blue and Pine added “Just know, if you ever need a listening ear or a helping hoof, you can come to us. We’re your friends, Vinyl, and we will do whatever we can to help you.”

The two colts nodded approvingly.

“Ah great… Now she’s crying.” Tony stated as two trails of salty water rushed forth from under her glasses, down the white mare’s cheeks.

Octavia rushed in and pulled her roommate and friend into a tight, comforting hug (which she gladly returned!). It took only seconds before the other three ponies rushed in and joined the hug.

“Those are happy tears, right?” Tony whispered into Blues ear silently, but not silent enough for the other ponies not to hear.

The white mare sobbed very lightly into her roommate’s shoulder, happy the others couldn’t see her face right now.

She collected herself a bit, pulled out of the hug, and said with a chuckle: “Yes, these are happy tears, don’t worry.” She sniffed once. “I just never had friends like this before.”

They all looked at her in empathy. Especially Tony and Octavia looked like they truly understood what she meant. She noticed the latter having shimmering eyes herself. And she was also not sure about the former either...

Vinyl cleared her throat once, having calmed herself again. “Thank you. All of you. For caring about me, I mean.”

Blue waved a hoof dismissively. “Hey, don’t sweat it. You’re a friend. We just wanted to make sure you’re ok.”

“I’m fine. Really. Now more than before. It’s nice knowing there are ponies around who actually care… And I’m sure you three will be the first ones after Octavia to hear about my other problems, when I’m ready to talk about them. Just not yet.” Vinyl said with a smile.

While Blue, Octavia and Tony were completely satisfied with that answer (one of them because she simply didn’t understand anything about friendship or love, the other two because they were oblivious simpletons), Pine narrowed her eyes and tried to catch a glimpse at Vinyl’s to confirm her suspicions. Luckily for Vinyl, her shades made that impossible.

“Shouldn’t you guys go to your classes, rather than standing here around with me?” Vinyl quickly tried to avoid any question Pine might have had.

“Oh tartatus!” Blue cursed. “Spitfire should already be here!” He turned to his best friend. “Tony? No tricks this time.” Said white unicorn just nodded, turned to Vinyl with a “Gladyou’rebetterwegottagobyeseeya!”, and three white flashes later, Octavia and Vinyl were alone again.

Octavia turned to the unicorn that remained and laughed lightly. “Great friends, aren’t they? They neglected their own important appointments just to make sure you were fine.”

“Yeah. Yes they really are.” Vinyl admit, wiping her last tears from her face.

“You know I never had any experience with friends either,” Octavia brought up “but these ponies make me regret I haven’t tried to make friends earlier.”

“I thought I had a lot of friends, but I think I can count down the number of friends who would have come looking for me when I wasn’t feeling well on my right fore hoof.” Vinyl sighed. “Well, that’s all in the past. Let’s just be happy there are still nice ponies out there, and focus on the things ahead.” ‘like our date.’ She added in thought.

“Oh yes, the cinema!” Octavia squealed in delight. “What are we going to watch?” she asked as they started walking in direction of center Canterlot and the cinema.

Vinyl had pondered about that question for quite some time. She loved action movies, but she had the strange carving to watch some romance flick with Octavia.

On the other hoof she wasn’t sure if Octavia wouldn’t catch on her feelings if they went to some romance movie. That again would be great, except if, and that possibility was certainly there, the gray mare would hate her for what she was.

Sometimes she hated herself for it.

“I have no idea.” Vinyl said honestly. “How about we just go to the cinema, see what’s running, and then you decide?

“We could do that.” Octavia hesitated “But please don’t hate me if I choose a bad movie.”

“Tavi, I would never hate you just because of a bad movie.” ‘I couldn’t ever hate you’ she added inside her head.

They passed the rest of the way in relative silence, until they reached the cinema. Looking at the program, Octavia thought long and hard.

“As long as you don’t want to go watch “Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus” I’m fine with any of them.” Said Vinyl.

“Hm… how about this one? “Lucky #Slevin” sounds interesting, doesn’t it?” She asked a bit shyly.

“That’s an action movie. Are you sure you would like that? It might get bloody.” Vinyl asked concerned. She really didn’t want Octavia to choose something just because she thought Vinyl might like it.

Octavia just looked at her white companion and smiled. “I love action movies! The thrill, the chases and the shootings!" Vinyl was sure she heard "...And the explosions." added in a quieter voice, but she said nothing.

"My mother used to ban all slightly violent movies from our mansion, because she thought it would make me violent too, but I went to an unicorn friend with a movie player and watched them anyways. They were my little guilty pleasure I guess.” The gray mare’s cheeks turned red when she realized she had been gushing about her love of action movies.

Vinyl fought hard to suppress the blush that wanted to creep up her face and literally felt her crush deepen. ‘She’s just perfect… If she tells me she’s into mares in the next five minutes, I swear I’ll ask her to marry me.’

She was, of course, only joking, but secretly she hoped it would happen. Sadly, things like that happen only in the cheapest of novels.

“Well what do you know? That certainly is a side of you I haven’t expected. I’m really fine with it though. I love action movies too, and that one sounds like a real good one. Good choice Tavi.” Vinyl praised, which, in turn, caused Octavia to blush even deeper.

They went up to the young man in the ticket booth, and Vinyl was just about to order their tickets, when Octavia suddenly exclaimed: “Oh no…” She looked sadly at her friend “Sorry Vinyl, but I can’t come…” Vinyl looked at her. She just felt like her heart just painfully shrunk two sizes. Octavia didn’t want to go to the cinema with her? But why would she have come along so far, just to dump her now?

“I forgot my money at home..:” The earth pony sighed sadly, turning her head to the floor. The unicorn on the other hand sighed in relieve. “Don’t worry about that Tavi. I invited you didn’t I? Means everything’s on me. Popcorn, drinks and entry included.” She said with a smirk.

“Oh nonono. I couldn’t let you do that. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with myself if you spent all your money on me.”

“Come on, Tavi! Would you rather ditch me now? Besides, the money is no problem. My parents give me as much money as I want and more. I would be happy to pay for you.” Vinyl prayed that she could convince Octavia not to ditch her now. 'Besides, it's customary to pay for ones mare...' She had to force herself not to facehoof again.

“Are you sure?” Vinyl just nodded and took her by the hoof and the two entered the Cinema.

Rubies

Canterlot High

Chapter 6:

“…mmmh”

Octavia’s consciousness slowly drifted from the pleasant dream world into a much harsher, realer one. One, where hangovers were very much possible.

The very first thing she felt was a throb of her head. She had read about hangovers, but she had never thought it would be so annoying or painful.

The second thing that came to her mind were the memories of the evening prior. She shuddered inwardly to what could have happened if Tony and Blue hadn’t shown up the moment they did. She felt a bit traumatized about the experience, and even more appalled by colts than before.

But… somehow she had slept as wonderfully as never before in since she had joined this school. She felt secure and happy and just in peace with the world.

Which brought her to sensation number three.

The warm, cozy, furry body spooning her and the white hooves wrapped around her midsection.

When her mind finally grasped what exactly that white thing around her was she almost bolted up screaming. But for some reason, neither her body nor her mind really wanted to.

She snuggled a bit back into her roommate’s fuzzy belly and sighed contently. ‘Just for today it’s ok, right?’

She opened her eyes to glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It showed 7:06.

During the week, her inner watch was a blessing. She never needed to set an alarm, because she always woke up just about forty five minutes before breakfast.

At weekends, it was more of a curse, since breakfast was usually moved to 9:30.

But at least today it gave her time to think about things.

And with ‘things’ she meant that adorable white lump on her back.

What was it, that made the white unicorn with the spiky blue mane so much different form anypony else? Because, if that were anypony else pressed against her back right now, she knew she would have thrown that pony off the bed screaming.

But why not Vinyl?

Octavia only knew there was something about her.

She just didn’t know what.

In fact, she didn’t know much about the beautiful mare anyways, she didn’t even know the color of her eyes, for Celestia’s sake. And when they talked until late into the night, usually Octavia did most of the talking. To give her credit, Vinyl was a great listener and Octavia enjoyed talking to her greatly and appreciated her opinion, but every time the talking went into Vinyl’s past or her family, the normally rather loud mare, grew quiet and quickly changed the topic. Other than that, Octavia knew they had the same interests. They both loved movies, disliked hoofball and of course had great talent and adoration for music. Of course, their musical interests went in different directions, but rather than clashing, they actually… complimented each other quite well. Fact was, the unicorn with the double-eight cutie mark (yes, she had been eyeing her flank. Involuntarily. Quite often so.) made her feel complete.

That was what best friends did, wasn’t it?

She knew she was Vinyl’s best friend, and Vinyl was hers, like Tony had once said; “It doesn’t matter how much time you spend with someone, just how good that time is. Blue and I were best friends after a week of knowing each other.”

Octavia had known since then that Vinyl was clearly and by far her best friend, preferably forever. But was that all? It felt right to the gray mare… and at the same time it felt wrong.

She wanted more.

But what more was there?

She cursed herself for not having more experience with this kind of social interaction.

Since she didn’t know what else to do, she decided to ask someone about all of this later. Not Vinyl. She didn’t know why, but somehow asking her roommate about this felt… wrong.

For now, all there was to do, was to enjoy the warm embrace and snuggle even deeper into the hug.

Unbeknownst to Octavia, not far away (in bodily contact, actually) another mare had similar problems. …Even if her mind didn’t quite bring her thoughts in such a coherent shape.

‘Uhhhhh fuck… hangover. Shit, my head hurts… but I didn’t even have that much to drink. Ow, my right arm hurts too… oh Octavia is sleeping on it. Didn’t know unconscious pony bodies get so heavy. Ah but I could stay like this forever. It’s so cozy and fuzzy and warm… Oh she snuggled deeper into my belly. Hehe, that actually tickles. She’s so cute…’

‘OCTAVIA IS SLEEPING IN MY ARMS!’

Vinyl was so startled that she rolled/jolted backwards for a bit. Since the bed, as comfortable as it was, was still just a one pony bed, she rolled over the edge of the bed, pulling Octavia with her.

The gray mare didn’t have time for more than a; “Vinyl, what-“ when her position changed significantly: Instead on her back, the warm feeling was now right under her belly and once her eyes opened again, she looked into what could have been two rubies cut by the most talented of all jewelers.

Their form was perfect. The color was the most beautiful red Octavia had ever seen, and would ever see, she already knew that. They reflected the light of the morning sun in a way to make them shine like said sun itself, like a sparkle of a million stars together. It took Octavia a few moments without heartbeat, to realize, that those Rubies were in fact, Vinyl’s eyes.

She stared down at Vinyl’s face, lying on top of her. Her blanket was messily draped over them and their bodies pressed firmly against each other. They’re muzzles just inches apart. In a fit of passion she couldn’t explain to herself, Octavia closed those inches.

It wasn’t like that romance novel she had read once. There was no firework. There was no great revelation of tastes or thoughts. There was no immediate desire to stick her tongue into Vinyl’s mouth.

It was so much, much more plain.

It was just two sets of soft, warm, slightly moist lips, clumsily pressed against each other.

But at the same time it was also so very much better.

There were so many butterflies in her stomach, she was sure they were about to burst forth from her mouth and ruin the moment she had right now.

Then her derailed train of thought was back on track and she realized what she had just done.

What she was still doing.

She was kissing her best friend.

She had feelings for her best friend.

But she had no idea how her best friend thought about the whole thing.

She broke the kiss, shot up and crawled backwards away from Vinyl as far as possible.

She felt tears leaking from her eyes, as she said “I’m so sorry.” And at a higher speed than even Tony had ever managed, she was gone.

Vinyl was still lying there. She would have loved to think about the whole thing, but her synapses had just imploded.

While the incident, from the dropping to the kiss and Octavia’s escape had taken barely twenty seconds, it took Vinyl more than a complete five minutes to collect the puzzle pieces that were her mind and put them into the right order again.

‘Octavia kissed me.’

‘She kissed me.’

‘The mare I love kissed me.’

‘She likes me back.'

'But she ran away.’

‘Because she thinks I’m mad at her for the kiss.’

‘She kissed me.’

“Oh shit Octavia!” Vinyl shot up. “I need to find her!”She dashed out of her room. She had no idea where to look for her roommate (marefriend? Lover? Romantic interest? Future wife?), but Vinyl would leave no stone unturned.

Vinyl needed help and only one pony who could help came to mind right that moment.

One story deeper, a certain bright yellow mare slept soundly. Her green mane hung in leave-like strands from her head and over her face. She had a wonderful dream of standing on a small stage under a gate adorned with white roses. In front of her, only a single pony in a black robe and a black collar with one white stripe, separated her and the endless ocean. On the horizon, the sun was just going down, coloring the whole scenery in orange flaming hues.

She wore a white, beautiful dress, which framed her form perfectly and to her right stood a single, feathered blue stallion in a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a red tie. The pastor had just asked the stallion the question, to which he agreed, and now he turned to the mare.

“Pine Ann Apple I need you-" "-to wake up and help me! I fucked up so badly, or well maybe not. I don’t know myself! Tavi and I woke up in the same bed today, you know, because she had been so distressed yesterday, I didn’t want to leave her alone, and then we rolled and then we dropped-“

Vinyl’s rambling went on and on. Pine woke up painfully slow. She envied her roommate who had slept in her sister’s room for the night. She was probably still sleeping. ‘Just what in tartarus is she blabbering about? What is this about Octavia?’

“-And then she KISSED ME!”

And as if she had been slapped, Pine was awake.

“She kissed You? Oh Vinyl you must be so happy!” She shot up and hugged the confused mare tightly.

“Uhhh... Yeah. Yeah I am. But now she ran away, because she probably thinks she has done something wrong! You need to help me find her. I need to tell her everything is alright and that I love her and then take her in my arms and kiss her again, because that was soooo awesome…”

Once again, hooves were shoved in muzzles. “Vinyl, you’re rambling again. Tell me exactly what happened. And this time a bit slower please.”

“…”

After Vinyl’s explanation, the two mares left Pine’s room to search for Octavia.

“I’ll go check around the school. You go to the clearing at the lake first, you know how much she liked that place.” Pine ordered.

She had actually a pretty good idea where Octavia was, but she could also imagine how confused and scared the pretty mare was right now. She needed to sort her thoughts, before she met Vinyl again and Pine planed to help her with that as much as possible.

She hurried in direction of the school.

When she reached the school building, she took the small flight of stairs at the side down to the little music room. Not many students knew that room even existed, and it was perfectly soundproof.

She opened the door for just a bit, and as she had expected, a cello melody filled the air.

A melody so soft and sweet, but at the same time so incredibly sad.

Pine wanted to show herself and interrupt the dark tones, but she found herself unable to.

She leaned against the half opened door and just listened, until after minutes, which felt like hours, Octavia stopped her play.

Only then did Pine hear the soft sobs which came from the gray mare.

Octavia was crying.

Pine pushed the door, to open it with a creek, in an attempt to make herself known, without giving away that she had been there for at least five minutes now.

The gray earth pony turned around.

Two streaks under her eyes, where the tears were running down in unending waterfalls, were a few shades darker than her coat.

"Pine?" Octavia's voice cracked multiple times in the single, four letter word.

The yellow mare couldn't bear the sight of the cellist and rushed in to throw her arms around her in a crushing hug.

"Shhh , shhh. It's all going to be alright. It's gonna be ok." Pine tried to calm her younger friend, while the latter was silently crying into her shoulder.

"No. No it's not going to be alright. Nothing is going to be alright. Vinyl hates me. I just wanted a friend. SHE just wanted a friend! I don't want those feelings. I never asked for them! Why can't I be normal at least once in my life? I was happy the way it was, and now she probably never wants to see me again..." She sadly trailed off.

"You know, today I woke up when a completely distressed white unicorn rushed into my room, completely confused, because a certain roommate had suddenly kissed that unicorn, and then rushed off without another word."

"Neon kissed Tony?" Octavia's crying stopped for a second. She sounded even more confused than before.

Pine deadpanned "...I'm talking about Vinyl, silly."

"Oh... so you talked with Vinyl. That means you know I'm in... That I kissed her... Do you hate me now? For being a fillyfooler?" Octavia looked up at Pine, her look resembling that of a small pleading kitten.

Pine tightened her hug around the gray filly. "Don't be stupid. Homosexuality isn't something bad. It's how you were born. Just like we can't choose our coat color, we can't choose who to love. But that brings me to an important question: what are your feelings towards Vinyl?" Pine asked. Her voice now stern and inquiring.

"I don't know. Oh Pine I'm so confused. I like her. Very much so. Just as much as I like my parents, but different... But I thought those were normal feelings towards a best friend. I know I think about her too much, almost every waking moment." She grew very quiet. "And sometimes even when I sleep."

The other mare had to suppress a grin. She was about to ask "And what kind of dreams are those?" but she refrained from it. The gray filly was shaken enough as it was.

"And do you usually dream about other ponies like that?"

"Well, I did dream about you or the guys at least once, but those dreams were different. When I dream of Vinyl, I see her standing in a meadow, her white coat glistening like a thousand diamonds in the first light of the day." Octavia blushed heavily at her own words. "And then I saw her eyes for the first time today... I'm still not sure what happened, but I suddenly felt my lips pressing on hers... oh, it felt so right, but I didn't ask her permission, and now she probably hates me and never wants to see me again..." Octavia sadly closed her eyes.

Satisfied with Octavia's confession, Pine vowed she would see to it, that these two mares had the happy end they deserved. "Don't be silly. Do you think if she never wanted to see you again, she would have rushed into my room and woke me up to help her search for you?"

"Well, no... but-"

"No buts." Pine interrupted. "I think you should hurry back to your room, hope that Vinyl is there and then you have a nice, long talk with her. Who knows? The results might be surprising." Pine could have told her right there that Vinyl had feelings for her since quite a while, but she didn't want to make the white mare's job too easy. She would have to do at least a bit of work herself. But Pine was convinced that Vinyl would find the right words.

"But what if she screams at me, and tells me to go away and never come back?" She was shaking at the sole idea of the thought.

"She won't. I promise you."

It took Pine a few more minutes and warm words to convince the shaking mare to return to the dorms with her.

When they stood in front of Octavia's and Vinyl's shared room, tears welled once more in Octavia's eyes.

"I can't do this. What if you're wrong?"

"Oh come on. Don't be so whiny." Pine opened the door and entered.

Inside, they found an in circles pacing Vinyl.

"Pine? Did you find her? She wasn't at the lake, so I searched everywhere else. I even teleported to the other dorms, I don't even know why I thought she would be there and now my head hurts because I suck at teleportation magic. But I really need to find her and-"

That was the moment she noticed Octavia standing behind Pine, doing her best to merge with the wall. Since the wall was white and she a rather dark grey, she didn't do a very good job.

The dumbfounded expression of a pony stopping mid-speech only slowly left Vinyl's face.

"..."

"I'll take this awkward silence as my cue to leave. You two need to talk, and I'm just in the way." Pine said, as she walked backwards out of the room, pulling the door close behind her.

"..."

The awkward silence, as Pine had so fittingly described it, continued. Vinyl cautiously moved closer to Octavia.

When they were only hooves apart, Octavia took a tentative step back, averting her eyes. The rug had just become so infinitely more interesting.

"Listen, Vinyl, I'm really very s-" She felt a soft white hoof on her lips, signaling her to cease speaking.

"Don't. Please don't." Vinyl looked at her, pleadingly, a hint of tears in her eyes. Her voice wavering only slightly. "Don't even dare to say sorry for the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. If you are apologizing here right now, then it sounds like you didn't really mean it, and it has all been just a stupid mistake. I don't think I could take that." She gulped hard. "Please, say anything but sorry."

"Vinyl, I... You liked it?" Octavia's expression turned into a confused one.

"Didn't you listen? It was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Did you... did you mean it?"

"I... I'm not sure..." Vinyl's pleading look changed to a frown. "No no no. Look, Vinyl, I..." Octavia inhaled deeply. "I really like you."

Hope returned to the mare's ruby red eyes.

"You mean as in like... like?" The words sounded just as stupid as she had remembered them from any second rate movie she had heard them in, but nothing else came to her blank mind at that moment.

Blushing, Ocavia nodded her head and kept her gaze downward to the floor.

"Vinyl I have never felt this way about anyone. I... don't know what to feel at right now... I'm so horribly confused. I like you very much, really, but... we're both mares, and I... I just don't know..."

Suddenly she felt two hooves wrap around her neck.

Vinyl pulled her in a tight, warm embrace and Octavia could feel herself return the gesture.

She heard a silent sobbing, and it took a while for her to notice, that she had stared to cry into Vinyl's shoulder.

"It will be ok,Tavi. I think I should make a confession here;" She took another deep breath "Tavi, I love you. I have for a while now, but I was too scared to tell you the truth. I know it might be too early to say such a thing as "I love you", but this is how I really feel, and if you're willing, we could just try, maybe go on a date, and see where it goes. I know this must be scary and confusing for you, believe me I feel the same way, but maybe we could just-"

Vinyl was cut off by a pair of soft, pink lips pressed on her own, and they both melted into their second (first mutual), passionate kiss.

When Vinyl's lips were released from their hold, she couldn't help herself but smirk "Does that mean you're willing to try?"

Octavia gave a soft smile back. One, which made Vinyl's heart melt. "Yes, Vinyl, if it's with you, I'm willing to try."

On Dancefloors

This one goes to MechaLump: I’m making your “painful wait for ch.5” a bit shorter. (I was totally seduced by your duckface Rarity btw.)

Canterlot High

Chapter 5: On Dancefloors

As so often before Octavia and Vinyl sat on their respective beds in their room. It was a calm Saturday afternoon, the 6th Saturday in their life at school. Not much had changed in the one and a half month they now visited this strange school. They had made more friends, met the first ponies they couldn’t stand, and had a now set movie date every Tuesday afternoon.

Vinyl loved these movies. It always gave her a chance to get closer to Octavia, even if not as close as she wished it would be.

Their relationship hadn’t changed much, to Vinyl’s regret and relieve at the same time. Vinyl had decided not to make the first step. Not because she was afraid to ask her out, but because she was afraid of losing her best friend. She would keep these selfish feelings of Tavi and her being more than friends deep inside. She was happy as it was now. Why risk that?

Sadly her mind gave her an answer to that too; Because somepony might take Octavia away from her.

There had already been advances. Multiple colts had already asked her out, but Octavia had politely rejected them all.

‘Stupid colts’ Vinyl thought ‘as if they would love her… they are just after her (sexy) rump!’

Vinyl knew that Octavia didn’t care about the looks of the stallions asking her out even if it were the most handsome colt in school. If those hormone driven colts would take the time to actually get to know her better, they might have a chance.

Luckily for Vinyl, nopony did. Or at least, those who did didn’t show any signs of wanting to ask her out. She couldn't take it if she really had to see someone else together with Octavia...

Vinyl pushed all the ‘mights’ and ‘maybes’ out of her head and decided she would just try to get closer to Octavia some way or another.

“Hey Tavi?” Many of their most meaningful conversation started with these two words.

“Yes Vinyl?”

“It’s Saturday. A pal of mine is DJing in this club downtown and got me and friends free entry. Wanna go? We could get some drinks and chill out down there.”

“Vinyl. You know I’m not old enough to drink yet.”

“Come on Tavi! You turn 16 in three weeks. Nobody cares for three weeks. Let’s just go and have some fun! Live a little. I haven’t been to any club since school started, and I’m starting to feel the withdrawal.” Vinyl tried to convince her shy friend. She was actually still thinking about what she could give Octavia as a present.

Octavia giggled. “Ok ok, I’ll come with you to the club, but please don’t try to make me drink if I don’t want to.”

“Of course not. I just thought it would be fun, but I would never force you to do something you don’t want to do.” Vinyl said sternly

“Should we ask the others to come along?”

Vinyl thought about it for a second. There would be ponies in the club. They wouldn’t be romantically alone there anyways, so she just said “Yeah, why not. Let’s fill the club.”

***** same day. Just after dinner. *****

A group of five ponies walked down the streets in Canterlot, in direction of club “Bass drop”, where Vinyl’s friend was scratching the plates that night.

Apart from Vinyl and Octavia, the usual suspects were tugging along. Blue and Pine walked leaned against each other in the back, the white and the gray mare were in the middle, and the group was lead by Tony who didn’t seem to mind walking alone from time to time.

They arrived at the club just at sunset, and the red light of the setting sun bathed the dark blue front of the club in a spooky purple.

“Well, there we are.” Announced Tony. “But why in Celestia’s name would you call your club ‘Bass drop’?”

Vinyl smirked. “You’re not listening to a lot of dubstep are you?” Tony shot her a quizzical look “Not really no. I prefer psychedelic minimal, trance or house. But I like D&B for parties, it can’t be that different, can it?”

They entered the club, just when a new song started to play. The strong but rhythmic bass filled the room, but it wasn’t too exciting

“I don’t get it.” Meant Tony. “the bass isn’t even that strong-“ that was the moment Vinyl had waited for. When the bass dropped, Tony had a dumbstruck look on his face.

The bass was omnipresent.

Increased tenfold by the strong speakers of the club it felt like the ground was shaking.

Blue, the only one who actually understood something about architecture, wondered how the walls could stand the vibrations. They didn’t look very stable, and the music was so loud, he feared it would shake Canterlot off the mountain.

“HEEEEY EVERYPONY! ARE YOU READY FOR THE BASS?!” Came the voice of the DJ through the speakers.

Pine pulled Blue to the dancefloor, and Tony followed suit.

Octavia looked at Vinyl with a scared look on her face. She leaned closer and whisper-… yelled into her roommates ear “Vinyl, are you sure the drinks here are safe? All these ponies look like they have seizures.” She looked over the crowd with worry in her eyes.

Vinyl laughed out loud. The music muffled it mostly, but a lot of ponies close to them still turned their heads in their direction.

Slightly embarrassed, but still laughing, Vinyl pulled Octavia over to the bar, where the music was a bit quieter, and they placed themselves on two of the empty bar stools.

“You’re a laugh Tavi. Those ponies are dancing. That’s what you do when you go to a club.” She pointed over to the dancefloor, where Pine, Blue and Tony were rocking their bodies. Octavia had a point; it looked a bit like spasms, from an objective point of view.

“Anyways, let’s start by ordering a drink, shall we? What would you like?”

“Vinyl… I’ve never had a drink before… I’m not so sure this is a good idea.” The gray mare spoke her concerns.

“I promised I wouldn’t talk you into drinking, so I won’t. I will order me something qite weak, and you can try a sip from me. If you like it you can keep it, deal?” Vinyl offered.

The other mare’s purple eyes looked at the white mare. She trusted her. Vinyl wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, so she agreed with a nod.

Vinyl ordered two Caipirinhas, promising Octavia she would down them both if she didn’t like it.

Surprisingly for Octavia, the drink tasted only like lime and sugar and not bad at all, like she had expected. There was only a slight lingering aftertaste, a slight tingling taste on her tongue.

She had only wanted to take a small sip from the straw, but before she knew it, the glass was half empty (or half full, if you’re an optimist).

Vinyl grinned “I take it you like it then?” The earth ponies amethyst eyes looked up to her and she nodded sheepishly.

“It may not taste like much, but that doesn’t mean it’s not potent. Since it’s your first time drinking, don’t get carried away.” She warned.

“I always thought alcohol would taste really bad, but this is quite good.” Octavia admitted.

“Why would I drink it if it tastes bad? I’m not one of those ‘Oh look at me, I’m so cool because I can drink Vodka pure and get drunk’-teens….” She glanced at Octavia who gave her a surprised look “you totally took me for one of those, didn’t you?”

Her companion looked back to the ground “Sorry.”

“Well, I admit sometimes being drunk has its perks.” ‘like getting enough courage to admit your feelings for somepony’ “But I never drink anything I don’t like. I don’t see the point in that when you can get drunk on good stuff too.”

They sipped away on their drinks, containing a more or less stable conversation over the loud booming of the music.

Vinyl wanted to bring Octavia to join the dancefloor, but the pleading, scared look in the purple eyes quickly made her stop trying. If Octavia didn’t want to dance, she wouldn’t force her to.

Instead she ordered new drinks.

It was only about 10pm and they had only just finished their second round of drinks, when Vinyl let out a stifled yawn. She hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, and was now almost resting her head on her hooves.

Two clots chose that moment to join them at the bar.

“Oh are the ladies tired?” Asked the light orange unicorn colt, with a metallic golden mane.

“Should we bring you ladies home?” asked the other one, a light green unicorn. He had a dark, dirt-gray mane. Both were bulky and well groomed. They could have probably been called handsome, but Vinyl was in no mood to be annoyed.

“Or even better; we bring you to our home. We live very close to here, and we know you would love that.” The orange one said with a suggestive tone and grin.

“Yeah, you two have been sitting here for the whole time. Admit it; you’re just waiting for two handsome, rich and perfect gentlecolts like us to take you along.”

“Not really sorry.” Vinly quipped back at the arrogant, clearly noble unicorns. “But I was wondering; How do you get out the door? Your egos are so big you must be stuck in here.”

She would have said more, but Octavia next to her seemed terrified out of her mind, as she only looked back and forth between the two colts with a very scared look on her face. Vinyl just wanted them to leave. If she provoked them further, they could do something that would harm Tavi, and that was the last thing Vinyl wanted.

“Ah now you two are just playing hard to get.” The green guy said, quite forcefully pulling Vinyl closer to him. She tried to push him away, but he was stronger. “Stop touching me! And if you even only dare to touch Tavi you’ll regret it!”

Not listening, the other one tried to pull Octavia to him, but a white hoof that didn’t belong to Vinyl interjected.

“Guys I believe the ladies said they don’t want your company.” Tony stood at the bar. He smiled, but his usually friendly and warm brown eyes were cold.

“And who asked you?” the orange one asked.

“Nopony did. I just don’t like my friends being molested. I’m sure we’re reasonable enough to accept the rejection and not to start a fight in the club. That wouldn’t be profitable for anyone.” He said with a head motion to the enormous unicorn stallion guarding the door.

The two colts looked pissed, but there wasn’t much they could do. They were only just courageous enough to try and force fillies to join them, they wouldn’t start a fight with anyone who could be stronger than them.

The green one let go of Vinyl, and the two moved away from the bar, while shooting daggers with their eyes at Two Tone.

“Thanks Tony.” Vinyl said. “But I think I could have handled them.”

“Yes. You probably could have. But I didn’t want to take a risk, and not because of you.” His eyes shifted over to Octavia.

“Vinyl does something like that happen often in clubs?” Octavia asked, still a bit scared.

“That’s what you’d call ‘getting hit on’. About the frequency; well, the cuter the mare is, the more guys will try to hit on her.” Tony explained. “So you two will be prime target in here.” He added with a smirk. Vinyl’s cheeks were already a bit rosy from the alcohol, otherwise she would have blushed.

She looked around, and had to admit he was right. Especially Octavia’s sophisticated charm and fine figure stood out like a head banger at a Bethooven concert.

“I think this place is nothing for me yet, I’m sorry Vinyl.” The Earthpony said shyly. “Can we just go back to our room?”

“Of course Tavi. I take the blame for this one. I should have known better than to bring you to this club…” She let her head hang.

“Don’t worry about it Vinyl. I know you just meant well. You couldn’t have known that would happen.”

“I should have thought that far… it’s not like getting hit on is rare in a club.” ‘Especially when the mare is as beautiful as Octavia’ she thought.

“Eh. Those two were jerks of the lowest class. Usually most colts understand the meaning of “not interested”, but they were too full of themselves, I can’t believe their ego had enough space in this club…”

Octavia smiled. “Vinyl said the same thing to them.” She turned to Vinyl. “Thank you for defending me Vinyl.” And her smile got even bigger at these words.

Vinyl didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She couldn’t. Her heart felt like it was melting inside her chest at Octavia’s smile.

When she caught herself again she could only say “I need another drink.”

Octavia agreed, so they ordered another round, while Tony excused himself and went off to search one of his friends. They had ordered a bit stronger drinks this time, but Octavia seemed to enjoy them nonetheless.

Another round later, Vinyl started to feel the effects of the alcohol in her blood slightly. She only just tipsy, but she started to worry about Octavia. For a first time drinker, the gray mare seemed to do quite well. She did not yet show any signs of being drunk. Or so she thought.

When the two mares left the club and decided to leave for their dorm, Octavia leaned her body ever so slightly against Vinyl.

The white mare almost had a heart-attack, but when she turned to her friend, she noticed in the pale light of the streetlamps, what she hadn’t noticed under the flickering strobes of the club; Octavia’s face was adorned by a goofy grin and a significant blush.

The cute, innocent gray mare was drunk (Or at least highly tipsy).

-There are many kinds of reactions to alcohol. Some ponies get noisy when they’re drunk, some get emotional and some get quiet and thoughtful. Others (and this is my least favorite kind) get aggressive.

Octavia, on the other hand, got very, very snuggly.

Vinyl had to find out that fact that night by first hoof experience.

“I didn’t thank you properly before, for defending my from those jerks. I think now is the time to do that.” Even drunk, Octavia managed to keep up her perfectly sophisticated way of speech.

Vinyl wondered what she meant, when her roommate and crush started to nuzzle her neck and face. She gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then she rubbed her muzzle at the very same, once white, now rather red, cheek.

It took Vinyl some, highly enjoyable, minutes to gather her thoughts back into some halfway logical shape… and then some more minutes until she reluctantly said: “Tavi! You’re drunk. Stop it.” It pained her to say it, but she knew it was the right thing to do. She liked her too much to just take advantage of her current state of mind.

“I’m not drunk!” The gray mare said, and just that moment she almost stumbled over her own hooves. “Ok, maybe a bit tipsy.” She admitted.

‘This might be the perfect chance to tell her how I feel.’ Thought Vinyl ‘If she doesn’t like me back, I can just blame it on being drunk tomorrow.’ “Octavia, there is something I would like to tell you…” Big amethyst eyes looked at her curiously. “I… Ever since… Tavi I-“ but before she had any chance to go on, they were both violently tackled into a small alley between two houses.

Vinyl looked around. The alley ended with a high wall; a dead end.

She angrily turned around “What in tartarus is wrong with you!?”

In front of her and the still shakily rising Octavia stood two colts. The same ones as before.

“Look who we have here Gold.” The green one said to his friend with disgust and malicious glee in his eyes. “Now we know why they tried to reject us before: They are a pair of dirty fillyfoolers.” “It sure looks like it Platinum. We should show those two dirty little fillies how wrong their choice was, and bring them on the right track.” The orange one suggested. “It’s best we do that by showing them how pleasurable the right was is, right my friend?”

With every word they spoke, they came a step closer. Vinyl and Octavia took a step back, for every one they advanced, but they soon ran out of room. When their tails brushed against the wall, Vinyl stepped in front of the trembling Octavia.

“Stop it right now!” She shouted. Commanded rather. “You have no idea what you’re doing. For the sake of all of us, just turn around and go!”

The two colts looked confused for a second, but then they took another step forward. They were now almost muzzle to muzzle with Vinyl. “Looks like she lost her mind… Poor thing, that’s what you get for filly fooling.” “Yeah, but don’t worry. In a few minutes you will feel better...” He looked menacingly “Or at least we will feel better.” They laughed.

Vinyl looked furious. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with. Just stop it now; it will save us all a great deal of pain.” She worriedly looked back at Octavia. The latter was now cowered behind Vinyl in fear.

The colts just laughed again. “Oh and who might that be?”

Vinyl didn’t want to say it. She really didn’t want to say it. Octavia might hate her. Their friends might hate her. She would probably be taken from the school. She would maybe never see her friends again, only because she said it.

She looked at the gray mare. She was crying.

Protecting Octavia was worth all that and more.

She started to fill her lungs with air and just wanted to say the words that could ruin and save her life at the same time, when somewhere behind the colts came a loud angry “That’d be us.”

The two jerks quipped around just to face Two Tone and Blue standing in the entrance of the Alleyway with glowing horn and flaring feathers.

“Oh it’s the knight in shining armor again. But this time, there’s no big guard to help you out. Your magic is never strong enough! We both go to the school for gifted unicorns, a puny little middle class unicorn like you has no chance against us!” Said the orange. If it weren’t for the slight, uncertain waver in his voice, the others would have almost believed it.

“Eh… I’m gonna take my chances.” Tony spit back with a menacing look in his eyes.

“So… Who of you two wants to get beaten up first?” Blue looked at them with a fury in his eyes neither Vinyl nor Octavia had ever seen before.

“You… you can’t beat us up!” yelled the green unicorn. They suddenly sounded much less confident than before. “We’re nobles from the Rich bloodline! If you do anything, you’ll get into trouble!”

“You were threatening our friends. You could be Clestia’s nephew and we would still do the same thing.” Blue stated coldly “Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time we get into trouble with nobility and it won’t be the last time.”

“You just have to know how to handle them.” Added Tony.

The two took a step forward. Tony determined, and Blue grinning somewhat evilly.

Suddenly, all the two mares saw was a white light.

The next thing Vinyl felt was the familiar pull of being teleported, and when her sight returned, they were back in their room at the school. It was dark, but Vinyl could make out some blinking lights from her musical equipment.

Octavia then surprised Vinyl by pulling her into a bone-crushing hug and then she started to quietly sob into her shoulder.

Not sure what to do, Vinyl started stroking her roommate’s mane as she whispered soothing words into her ear.

They were still in that position, when almost 10 minutes later 3 flashes of white light flared up in the darkened room and the shapes of their friends appeared in front of them. Pine immediately rushed in and joined the comforting hug around Octavia.

Suddenly, Tony collapsed in front of them. Blue quickly rushed to his side. “Don’t worry.” He assured the mares “He only fell asleep. He just teleported 5 ponies halfway across town, and he had to help me beat up some bullies before. Just took too much out of him.”

He pulled his friend over his back, said his goodbyes and left the room to bring Tony to his.

It took only minutes for Octavia to fall asleep as well. Still in a tight embrace with Vinyl, she felt comforted, warm and content and just let her mind wander off into dreamland.

The two other mares in the room looked down at the sleeping form of Octavia in Vinyl’s hooves.

“You love her, don’t you?” Pine suddenly asked out of the blue.

“Ye- eh no wait what, what makes you say that? No, how do you get the idea? How could I possibly-… Is it that obvious?”

Pine giggled “Yes kinda.”

“…Do you hate me now?” Vinyl asked dejectedly.

“Oh Vinyl, why would I hate you?”

“But the two noble jerks were right; I’m nothing but a dirty fillyfooler…” Vinyl suddenly had a yellow hoof in her mouth (it tasted like pineapple).

“Don’t you dare to ever say that again.” Pine threaded “Love falls where it does. Genders don’t matter in Love, and Octavia couldn’t be a better choice. If I were into mares, I would fall for her in seconds.”

This made Vinyl laugh, mostly out of joy, that her friend hadn’t rejected her for what she was.

With that, Pine wished her a good night, and with a “See you two in the morning.” She left the room to search for her coltfriend.

The white mare was still sitting on the warm rug on the floor, tenderly stroking the sleeping mare’s mane, thinking about Pine’s words.

Yes.

Yes, she was indeed in love with the sophisticated little mare in her hooves.

She had no idea how the mare thought about her, and her feelings were bound to get her into trouble sooner or later…

But right on that moment, she wouldn’t have it any other way.