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// Chapter 10: A New Friend 
// Story: The New Generation 
// by TheBlackPanda 
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After cleaning things up with my mother, I walked around Canterlot. I simply took in the simplicity (minus the castle) and beauty of the city itself. Shops lined the streets. The smell of a bakery filled my nose, but my thoughts of food were interrupted. I spotted a music store. I walked inside to browse their stuff. Seeing that no one was at the desk at the time, I looked in the percussion area, and found a six piece, double bass drumset. Just sitting there, begging me to play it. Flexing my arms and fingers, I sat down behind it. I wondered what to play, and I finally got the idea. Pulling out my phone and headphones (which was still in my pocket amidst my death) I found the song I wanted. I picked up the sticks and began to play the drumset. I was focused on my arms not falling off, which was difficult. The song was not very easy. In fact it was very difficult. But I finished it, and heard clapping outside the security of my headphones. 

"That was pretty good! I've never seen people play drums like you!" I looked to see a girl there. She had short, blue hair. She was wearing mirrored sunglasses, a white t-shirt, and tight blue jeans, as well as bright multicolored sneakers and black gloves with the fingertips cut off.

I grinned sheepishly, "Thanks! I haven't played in a while, so it's good to see that I've still got it."

She walked over to me, then I recognized her. Because of the sunglasses, "You're that DJ that helped with the new years party like 10 years back!"

She laughed, "No, that was my mom! I'm only sixteen!"

"Do you DJ as well?"

"Hell yeah I do! It's pretty fun, just chillin' and watching people dance, while you just press the play button in time to let songs fade into one another."

"I guess you're right."

"By the way, I'm Vinyl Scratch, what's your name?"

"I'm Brandon, nice to meet you!"

We shook hands, her hands were warm, and she had a tight grip. She asked me to play one more song, so I turned up a song that was toned down, but still fun to play.

When I finished, she looked at the clock on the wall, "Crap! I'm late again. 'Tavi's gonna kill me!"

I got up and put the drumsticks back on the set. I was about to head home, when Vinyl stopped me, "You've gotta meet my friend, Octavia!"

So instead of me going home, I was following Vinyl home. When she got to her apartment, she fumbled in her pockets for her key, cursing. She knocked on the door, "'Tavi, it's me! Open up!"

The door opened, and a young girl that looked like she was on the high end of society walked out to greet us. She was young, but she had a stern, mature air about her. She wore a pink bathrobe, and she smelled like she had just gotten out of the shower. She frowned, but it wasn't a 'How dare you commoners step on my doorstep' frown. It was in Vinyl's direction, and it seemed to say 'again?'. She had long black hair, and she was about my height, with a frame just as skinny. Not exactly skin and bones, but she sure as hell wasn't chunky or big boned. 

"Vinyl, you can't just bring a random boy off the streets into our house! The one day I let you take over the shop you kidnap a customer?" She had an accent. It capitalized on how high up she seemed to be, but she just lived here in a normal neighborhood.

I waved her scoldings away with a chuckle, "No, no, miss. I wasn't kidnapped, we just happened to get to talking and she asked me if I wanted to meet her friend, and I figured 'what the hell, why not?'. And this is where we ended up."

The person at the front door sighed, "Fine. I'm Octavia, and you are?"

"I'm Brandon. Nice to meet you!" 

She nodded. Vinyl started petting my head for no reason, and I jumped at first, but she kept at it with a big smile on her face, "So, 'Tavi, can we keep him?"

Octavia's face turned red, "No, we cannot 'keep him'! He is not an animal, he is a human being!"

Vinyl's face fell, and she turned her eyebrows up and stuck her bottom lip out, "Please? I'll be good!" If she weren't wearing those mirrored shades, I'm pretty sure she would have the puppy eyes out as well.

Octavia sighed, "Fine. Just, keep it down. I need to get my rest. I'm going to be playing at a concert tomorrow, and I need some sleep."

"A concert?" I asked, "What do you play?"

"I play the cello. But, seeing as you managed to win Vinyl over as fast as you did, I'm sure you know nothing about the beauty of classic."

I heard Vinyl snort in laughter. I replied, "I'm a jack of all trades. I listen to almost everything. I hear my share of great classical songs every once in a while."

Octavia's eyes widened just a little, "Really?"

"Yeah, but that's for another time. You do look like you need sleep. I see the bags under your eyes."

She laughed a little, then went to her room.

Me and Vinyl walked to her room. When she opened the door, I was welcomed with a variety of colors and things. She had streams of multicolored paint around the white walls in her room, and the colors were bright. There was a turntable on her bed, which wasn't made. She also had an amp, and a couple guitars. She took off her sunglasses, and put them on the counter. Tossing her hair, she looked at me. She had red eyes. Not blood red, like Night Runner's darkside, but a light red. There was limitless energy stored inside of them as well. She took off her gloves and set them on the turntable. She sat down and patted the area next to her. I sat down, still processing the room. It reminded me of how bad my ADD is. I chuckled. 

"Let me see that thing you had the music on." She said.

"What, my phone?" I asked, pulling it out.

"That's a phone? Why doesn't it have any buttons? Why does it work with my fingers?"

"Because, I'm not from here. These are common where I'm from." I took the phone, as I wanted her to browse the music, and I feared she would click the downloads, and... well... there are things there that people shouldn't see. So I showed her the music, and she was enticed by the dubstep, the progressive metal, and even the hardcore and metalcore I had on there. We laid on her bed, just listening to music. I looked at the time. It was 12:30. I got up to leave, but Vinyl grabbed my arm, "It's kinda late. You might as well just stay here." She had a point.

I laid back down. She got up and put on some gym shorts. I was polite enough not to look as she did so. She tossed me a pair as well. I put them on, it was a pair of basketball shorts, and they fit nicely, even though she was about four inches shorter than me. We both got under the covers, and she turned the lights off. I rolled on my right to go to sleep. And it came. For the first time in ages, I had a relaxing sleep.