Tuesday, November 24, 2015

2015
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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): A failure in one area may be a success in another.

After School

School today was mostly goof-off time, or teachers showing movies in class. Only one or two teachers even bothered to try to teach anything.

After classes, I head for the Music Club room. I didn't bring my guitar with me today, because we're having a party—a party at which I'm supposed to be on a mission for Vinyl.

"Hey, Flash-man!" Speaking of Vinyl, she just walked up behind me.

I turn and face her. "Hey."

She takes a deep breath. "So...we're gonna do this, huh?"

"That's up to you," I say. Something seems a little off about her today... "Are you alright?"

"Eh," she says, shrugging. "My eyes kinda really hurt today. It started Sunday, actually. The doctor gave me some meds..." She frowns. "I...didn't drive to school today. Mom dropped me off. Not a good idea for me to drive right now."

We continue on to the club room. Inside, members of the club are gathered, talking and laughing. Not everybody is here, but most of the club is—actually, more of the club than usually shows up on any given day is here today, since a lot of the members have other things to do on either Tuesday or Thursday. Trixie's in one corner, doing card tricks for some freshmen. Lyra's in the back with her friend Bon-Bon. I guide Vinyl over in that direction.

"Hey Lyra," I say.

"Hey Flash." She smiles at Vinyl. "Hey Vinyl."

"Hey," Vinyl says. She grabs a cup of punch and leans against the table, looking around the room.

Lyra looks at her, then at me. Her eyes widen. "Seriously?" she mouths at me.

I cough. "So...you said Octavia's coming, right?"

"Yeah, she'll be back in a sec. She had to go to the bathroom."

A moment later, Octavia enters.

"Hey, Tavi! Over here!" Lyra calls, waving. Octavia walks over.

"This is quite the crowd," Octavia says in a Trottingham accent.

"Heh, everybody loves a good party," Vinyl says.

"Tavi, you haven't met Flash Sentry, have you?" Lyra asks, motioning to me.

Octavia looks me over. "No, we haven't met, but I certainly know who you are," she says. "You've become rather popular for having only been here a few months."

"Tavi would've joined the Music Club, but she doesn't like popular music. Only classical," Lyra says.

"Now, that's simply not true!" Octavia says. "I do enjoy popular music! It's just that I have practice four days a week."

"She plays...what was it again, Tavi? Cello or double bass?"

"Cello," Octavia says. "Really, Lyra...you're classically trained, you should know the cello is the one you can play sitting down. Which I do."

It doesn't escape my notice that Octavia has a treble clef on her skirt. Which confuses me; isn't the cello a bass instrument?

"And of course you know Vinyl," Lyra says.

"Of course I do," Octavia says, nodding to Vinyl. "I'm not a fan of the more bass-heavy music you're into, but I do respect your skills. Disc jockeys may not be musicians per se, but it takes a deep understanding of music to do what you do."

Vinyl grins. "Heck, I just spin what sounds good," she says.

"Hey Lyra," I say, "I think Trixie's about to do that one cool trick. Let's go check it out!"

"Huh? Oh! Oh yeah! Bon-Bon, you haven't seen that trick, right? Let's..." She looks at Octavia. "Why don't you stick around over here with Vinyl and chat? We'll be back in a bit."

"Alright," Octavia says.

"I'll be right over there if you need anything," I tell Vinyl.

The three of us walk over to where Trixie is making ping-pong balls vanish, then pulling them out of her audience's ears. I lean back against the wall and watch Vinyl and Octavia.

"Okay, what's going on?" Bon-Bon asks.

Lyra turns to me, eyes wide and excited. "O-M-G! You're kidding, right?"

I shake my head. "Nope."

"Holy crap," Lyra says, grinning like an idiot. "Tavi's not gonna know what hit her..."

"You think Vinyl has a shot?" I ask.

Lyra shrugs. "Probably not, but this'll be fun..."

"What's going on?" Trixie asks as her audience wanders off to get snacks.

"Matchmaking," I say. Trixie follows my gaze. Her eyes bug out.

"Are you serious?"

The four of us watch Vinyl and Octavia talk for several minutes. Then, suddenly, Vinyl doubles over. She reaches up so fast she knocks her glasses right off her face; they skid across the floor. Several people turn to stare as she clutches her eyes. Octavia asks her something, then bends down to pick up her glasses. She pats Vinyl on the back and leads her out of the room.

"What...just happened?" Trixie asks.

I grimace. "Vinyl's eyes have been hurting her since Sunday. Talk about rotten timing..."

Lyra looks alarmed. "Is it serious?"

"You know she's going blind, right?" Lyra nods. "Pretty sure this is related."

I decide to follow them; I know Cadance hasn't left yet, so they're probably headed for the nurse's office. "You guys stay here," I say. "I'll text you when I find out anything."

I head for the nurse's office. The door is closed but not locked; I peek inside and see Octavia sitting by the counter, hands folded in her lap.

I knock on the door and open it, looking inside. I see Cadance hovering over the bed in the corner; Vinyl is stretched out on it, a cold compress over her eyes. Cadance looks up. "Oh, Flash," she says. "Did you need something?"

"Checking on Vinyl," I say. "She's been having this problem since Sunday."

Cadance frowns. "Should I call somebody, or—?"

"Just let me rest," Vinyl says. "The meds I took after class just haven't kicked in yet. I'll be alright in a little bit."

"Okay..."

"Octavia...would you come with me for a minute?"

Octavia nods, brow furrowed. She stands and follows me out into the hall. "You seem to know what's wrong with her," she says.

I sigh, and explain to her what I know about Vinyl's condition. Octavia's eyes widen.

"Goodness," she says. "That poor girl...that's absolutely dreadful..."

"Before she had her attack, what were you two talking about?" I ask. "This is important."

Octavia frowns. "We were just talking about music...just making conversation. Why?"

I take a deep breath. Under the circumstances...I might have to do this for Vinyl.

"Octavia...Vinyl came to the party today just to talk to you."

Octavia blinks. "To talk to me?"

"She's...been interested in you. Sounds like for a while now."

Octavia gasps. "Interested? You mean as in...?"

"Yeah."

Octavia looks down, wringing her hands in front of her. "That's...unexpected..."

"Does that bother you?"

"Yes," she admits. "I...I'm used to rejecting boys. I've never...another girl being interested in me...it's not something I've ever had to deal with."

"Yeah, I heard you always shoot down guys who ask you out," I say. "May I ask why?"

Octavia frowns. "Most of the boys at this school are only interested in one thing, and I'm certainly not giving it to them." She grimaces. "Umm...present company excluded, of course. At least I think so..."

I laugh. "So if there was somebody who was interested in you for you, and not for sex...would it matter if it was a boy or a girl?"

Octavia's brow furrows. "I..." She looks down at her shoes. "I've never actually thought about it," she says. "I...I just don't know..."

"Look...I'm not gonna tell you to do something you're not comfortable with, or try to guilt-trip you, but...I will tell you that Vinyl's cool, and...and she needs all the friends she can get."

Octavia gives me a flat, level stare. "You're asking me to consider becoming romantically involved with another girl, and one who's going blind and will require...quite a bit more from those around her than most," she says.

I flinch. "Well...yeah."

Octavia sighs. "This is...this is just too much, all at once." She smooths out her skirt. "I just can't deal with something like this right now..." She starts to walk away.

I completely screwed that up...

Octavia stops and turns. "Tell Vinyl...I hope she feels better. And...I hope she has a good Thanksgiving." She pauses. "And...you too."

---

"Thanks," I say. "Happy Thanksgiving, Octavia."

She leaves. I go back into the nurse's office. Vinyl is sitting up and has her glasses back on. "What's up?" she asks.

I grimace. "I might've just blown your chances with Octavia," I say. "But...she did say to wish you a happy Thanksgiving for her."

Vinyl slumps. "It wasn't gonna happen anyway," she says.

"Just give her time to think about it," I say. "Don't give up..."

Cadance blinks. "Wait. You were playing matchmaker for Vinyl? And...Octavia?!"

"Yeah, and I totally screwed it up."

Cadance giggles. "You should leave the matchmaking to the experts," she says, poking me in the nose. "Go on back to the dorm. I need to have a little girl talk with Vinyl..."

I'm out the door before she even finishes the words "girl talk".

Evening

We all decided to get sandwiches from a sub shop for dinner because nobody really wants to cook tonight. Tomorrow, we're all leaving for Thanksgiving break.

"It will be good to spend some quality time with my darling little sister," Rarity says.

"Yeah, Ah'm lookin' forward t' spendin' time with Apple Bloom," Applejack says. "An' gittin' some work done out on th' farm." She looks at Rainbow and grins. "Ah'm gonna put you t' work too, y'know."

Rainbow grimaces. "Oh man...maybe I better back out..."

"Hey, you wanna work off all that apple pie an' pumpkin pie an' ham an' turkey an' corn casserole an' dressin' an' potatoes an' all so you don't get fat, right?"

Rainbow's eyes grow wider and wider as Applejack rattles off her list of Thanksgiving foods. Drool trails from her mouth all the way to the table. "Farm work! Sure! No sweat! Piece of cake!"

Pinkie sighs. "The next four days are gonna suck ass," she says. "You'll all text me, right? When you have time, I mean."

"Of course we will," Twilight says. "But...you're not looking forward to going home at all, not even a little bit?"

Pinkie blows upward on her hair. "I'm looking forward to seeing Maud. That's about it."

I feel terrible for her...

Rainbow grins at me. "So, Flash. Four whole days...just you an' Twi. And her folks. And her brother."

"Thanks, I wasn't already nervous enough," I say.

"Oh, don't be nervous!" Twilight says, taking my hand and squeezing it. "Mom and Dad really like you. We're gonna have a good time!"

After dinner, I head upstairs for some last-minute packing before going to bed early. Between loading everything up and the trip to the train station, we have to be up early in the morning...