A gentle knock on her door interrupts Octavia’s current bout of crying. “Go away,” she screams at the door. Turning back to her bed, she buries her head into her pillow as a fresh round of tears start making their way down her face. Sobbing, she doesn’t hear the door open.

“I thought you were stronger than this,” a scratchy voice says.

Sniffling, she looks up and sees the last pony in Equestria she expects to. With her shades resting on her head, holding the unruly blue mane back, Vinyl Scratch stands there with her cocky grin. “Seriously. So you finally saw your ‘friends’ for what they are. That’s no reason to lock yourself in your room all day and throw a fit.”

“What do you want, Miss Scratch?”

“I came to see if you wanted to go get a cup of coffee and talk some things out. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

Finally realising that Vinyl is in her room, she looks to her questioningly. “How did you even get in here?”

“Your mother let me in. As for the lock on the door,” she trails off, horn alighting with magic. “Now, pull yourself together. We’re going to go out. You wouldn’t want to appear so unkempt now would you?” A hint of sarcasm tinging her voice.

Wiping her eyes, Octavia sniffles a couple of times, eyes red and puffy from crying. “I can’t go out, I’m a wreck!”

Levitating a brush with a purple treble clef on it, Vinyl floats it over to Octavia. “Better start with that mane. Unless you’ve decided to become a DJ,” she adds, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Scowling at Vinyl, Octavia takes the brush and begins the arduous process of brushing it out in an attempt to restore it to it’s normal state. “Why are you even here, Vinyl?” she asks, curiosity getting the best of her.

“Well,” she says, “I figured you might like to grab a cup of coffee with me. We’ve got a few things to talk about.”

Sighing with resignation, Octavia nods numbly before setting the brush down and getting to her hooves. “I suppose we do.” Trotting out of her room, Octavia leads Vinyl through the manor and out the door. “Where exactly did you want to go?”

Grinning, Vinyl walks alongside Octavia. “There’s a little coffee shop about 5 minutes from here that knows me.” Lapsing into silence, the two mares make their way down to Java Journey. Upon seeing Vinyl enter the barista shouts out, “The usual, V?”

“Sure, plus whatever this one wants,” she says, fishing a small bag of bits out.

Looking at the signs above the barista station, Octavia mulls over the expansive menu. Feeling a little out of her element, she looks back to the pony taking orders and says, “I’ll just have a herbal tea please.” Paying for the drinks, Vinyl and Octavia go and collect them before heading to a table.

“So,” Octavia said hesitantly, “what did you want to talk about?” Taking a sip of her tea, she watches Vinyl.

“Second chances.”

Startled, Octavia says, “Mine or yours?”

“Both,” she says with a sigh. Looking at the cup before her she pauses before looking up to meet Octavia’s eyes. “We both need a second chance. Who knows, we might make a new friend out of it.” Shrugging, she takes a drink of the strange brew before her.

“Why would we need a second chance?” Octavia asks, curiosity piqued.

Pondering how to respond, Vinyl takes a moment before talking, slowly at first. “Your world, as you know it, seems to have had the bottom drop out. Plus as irritating and insufferable as you are, I think there’s a decent mare somewhere in you.”

Snorting in derision, Octavia rolls her eyes. “Thanks for the kind words and vote of confidence. What makes you think that there is, as you say, a ‘decent mare in me’ anyway?”

Looking up to meet Octavia’s gaze she says simply “You’ve been trying to correct your mistakes.”

Opening her mouth to retort, Vinyl’s answer catches her off guard. Slowly closing her mouth, she mulls this over. Slowly nodding in understanding of Vinyl’s statement, she asks “And what about you?”

Pushing her drink around in an attempt to delay answering, she mutters “I need to work on forgiving other ponies. Mainly you.”

“It seems we both have things to work on,” Octavia says mutedly.

Nodding in agreement, Vinyl looks to the grey mare hopefully “Do you think we could maybe start over? I think we could both really use a friend right now.”

Nodding shyly Octavia smiles weakly, “I would like that.”

Author's Notes:

Thanks to everyone for reading this as I've worked to finish my first story on here. Thank you especially to Lise for prodding me along; Lurlur, Creesty, Pheo, and Mage for editing. Onward to the other stories I have bouncing around in my head!!!