“Light,” Octavia said, extending her hoof.

“Those’ll kill you.” Vinyl replied. She lit the cigarette anyway with a quick spark from her horn. There was no talking Octavia out of smoking. Vinyl tapped the rooftop with her hoof, waiting for Octavia to explain why she had called this meeting. They hadn’t talked to each other since they were young. Octavia was silent for a long moment. She took a deep drag of her cigarette, exhaling so the wind carried the smoke away from Vinyl. She was at least considerate enough for that.

“I’m leaving.” Octavia said after a long silence. “My birthday is next week. Forget the celebrations. Forget my family. Forget everything. I’m leaving at exactly midnight.”

“Isn’t that a bit extreme? Just because you don’t agree with everything they do, they take care of you, Tavi. They’ve taken care of you for eighteen years. They’ve given you everything you’ve ever wanted. You’re healthy because they made sure you got routine check-ups.”

“They’re vile. And don’t call me ‘Tavi’. That’s what they call me. You don’t understand, do you? You like all of this. The money, gated community, the never ending monotone that life is here, it’s all just handed to you on a silver platter, and you don’t see anything wrong with that! You may be alright with it, Vinyl, but I’m not. I’m not going to sit here, waiting for things to change, when I can leave, and find that change by myself.” Octavia finished her cigarette and threw it over the edge of the roof. It would land in the clean little street now and be gone by morning, when the security stallions found it and cleaned it up, not wanting anything to scar the perfection of the neighborhood. Even the trees were kept regulated, so the leaves didn’t blow off when the wind hit them.

Vinyl knew there was no talking Octavia out of whatever she was planning. Just because they weren’t exactly friends anymore didn’t mean that Vinyl didn’t know how Octavia’s mind worked. There was no stopping her once her mind was made up.

“Will you write?” The unicorn asked.

“Of course not. You’ll tell my parents where I am. Where I’m writing from. Someone will find out where I went, and that’s not what I want. If I’m going to leave, it’s going to be on my terms. My terms are simple. Nopony comes with me, nopony knows where I am.”

“Tavi, that’s stupid. What if you get hurt?”

“I can take care of myself. And don’t call me Tavi!”

“Octavia, there are so many things that could go wrong.”

“I don’t care, Vinyl. I want...I want adventure. Something new. I don’t want to live here all my life, marry some boring stallion, pop out a few kids, and just inherit my family funds until I die. If leaving is the only way to change things, then I’m going to have to leave. I couldn’t exactly tell everypony here. They would try and get someone to stop me. You, however, will not try and get anyone to keep me here.”

“How do you know? I could go to your house and tell your parents right now. They would put you under lockdown.”

“You won’t tell. I know you won’t. That’s why I’m telling you. Besides, you’re my best friend.” Vinyl snorted.

“Best friend? We haven’t talked since we were ten!”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Octavia, I’m going to tell your parents. Just stay here. It won’t kill you. Leaving will.”

“No, Vinyl. Leaving will save me. Staying here is what’s going to kill me. I’m going back inside. I’ll see you around...or not.” Octavia didn’t leave much room for discussion. She tiptoed across the roof, crossing over to the connecting building and slipping through the window into her bedroom.

Vinyl wished that she had known that it had been the last time she would ever see Octavia Melody-Philharmonica.