Ding ding. The bell above the door rang as Octavia walked into the bakery. "Welcome to The Flour Shop, the baker behind the counter called," how can I help you today?"
Octavia walked to the counter. "Hello, I'm here to pick up my order."
"Name?"
"Octavia."
"Oh, miss Octavia. Your order is right in the back, one moment please." The baker turned to head back into the back.
"Thank you."
"Hey it's her." Octavia heard somepony whisper. She turned to see two other customers whispering to each other, as one pointed a hoof at her. That's odd.
"Wait you mean it's THAT Octavia?" The mare turned again to see the baker whispering to another employee through the doorway leading into the bakery's kitchen. And odder still. Octavia was no stranger to being recognized in public, she was the third chair cellist in the Manehatten Philharmonic, the youngest in the orchestra's history, and her quartet was one of the most renowned in all of Equestria. She had even played at royal events on numerous occasions. However, the way these ponies seemed to be muttering about her just seemed...off...
"Um, excuse me," Octavia called to the baker to get her attention, "I'm in a bit of a rush." It was a lie, but Octavia was getting uncomfortable, and she didn't want to linger in the bakery any longer.
"Oh, of course!" The baker trotted back into the show room with a blush. "I have your order right here." The baker used her mouth to lift a box of baked goods off of her back, and placed them on the counter.
"Thank you very much." Octavia put a small pouch of coins on the counter, and placed the box on her own back, balancing it with ease. "Have a pleasant day." With that, the grey mare made her way briskly out of the bakery, and began her way back down the street towards her apartment.
Octavia was already a block away from the bakery, and putting the entire incident out of her mind, when she heard more muttering coming from a cafe she was passing by. "I know, who would expect it from somepony like her?" But when Octavia turned to find who was speaking, everypony seemed to be looking at any direction but hers. What is going on today?
"Hey Octavia, how's Vinyl!?" Somepony across the street shouted at her with a snicker.
Vinyl? "Er, just fine, thank you," she shouted awkwardly back. What does she have to do with it? Lost in her confusion, Octavia ran directly into a stallion she never even saw. It took all her grace and balance not to drop the box on her back. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I was quite distracted, please excuse-"
"Hey, it's you!" The stallion held up the newspaper he had been reading, pointing to a picture on the front page of Octavia and her room mate, Vinyl Scratch.
"What in Celestia's name is...WHAT?!" As Octavia read the headline, she snatched the paper out of the stallion's grasp with her mouth, and darted off as fast as she could towards her home, the box of baked goods long forgotten as it bounced off her back and onto the sidewalk.
"Hey!" Octavia was vaguely aware of a voice calling after her. "That's my paper!"
"Vinyl, Vinyl!" Octavia shouted as she burst through her apartment door.
"Huh, wah..." Vinyl muttered as she woke up and raised her head off the couch. "Octavia, what's wrong? Where are the cupcakes?"
"Forget about the cupcakes, Vinyl! Look at this!" Octavia shoved the newspaper she had acquired into Vinyl's face with urgency.
"Octavia, would you calm down?" Vinyl said as she grabbed the paper and pushed the cellist back. "What could be so....WHAT?!"
If asked, most ponies would agree that the most unusual friendship in the Equestrian music industry would be that between Octavia, the young cellist on her way to the top of the classical music scene, and Vinyl Scratch, better known as DJ PON-3, the most popular electronica musician in Equestria. On opposite ends of the music industry, and known for having polarizing personalities, these two surprised everyone when they first revealed their friendship at the Manehatten Music Awards three years ago (pictured here.) The two further shocked everypony when it was discovered last year that they had been living together since shortly after the award show. With this history of surprise after surprise, the time has come for one more twist from this duo.
Equestria Daily has received a tip from a trusted source that Octavia and Vinyl Scratch's apparent friendship is actually something much more. Rumor has it that the two have secretly been lovers this entire time, and that they had even begun dating long before the award show. While we do not have any confirmation yet, be assured that Equestria Daily will continue to dig, and bring you the most up to date information as the story develops.
Vinyl gave a chuckle. "Who the Tartarus writes this horse-"
"Why are you laughing!?" Octavia interrupted in an outburst.
"Oh come on, this is hilarious. You and me as lovers? Who would even believe this?"
"Everypony, apparently! I was met with snickers and half-concealed whispers my entire walk home! This-this is!"
"Octavia calm down," Vinyl said as she stood off the couch and walked towards her friend, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "So a few ponies think we're lesbians, so what? This isn't the Pre-Classical Era, nopony cares."
Octavia shrugged the hoof off her shoulder. "That may be true of the ponies who listen to your music Vinyl, but, in case you have forgotten, I cater to the upper class! Have you ever heard of an openly homosexual classical cellist?! Not a successful one, you haven't."
"Then we'll just tell everypony this is a load! It says right here they don't have any proof."
"That would just be our word against theirs! 'Of course they denied it,' they'll say, 'they're just lying to protect her image!'" Throwing her hooves up in the air, Octavia collapsed on the couch with a sigh of frustration. "This isn't going to just blow over, Vinyl."
Vinyl cocked her head to the side, "You never know Octy'."
"Don't lie to me Vinyl. I know what that head-cock means. You don't believe a word you're saying."
Vinyl rubbed her chin in thought, "Man, this is exactly why I don't play poker."
"VINYL!" Octavia threw a couch pillow at the white mare's head to snap her back down to reality.
"Right! Sorry! Look, all we need to do is figure out who stared this rumor and make them confess."
"And how are we going to do that?" But Before Vinyl could answer, a knock came from their door.
As musicians, Vinyl and Octavia made quite a bit of noise on a nearly daily basis. More than once a day, more often than not. So much so that, after many many complaints from their neighbors, their landlord told them that if the complaints continued, he would have to evict them. Not wanting to find a new place to live, and not willing to stop their music, the duo (Vinyl especially, since she seemed to attract over twice as many complaints) was forced to pay to have their apartment sound proofed.
It was because of this sound proofing that the sound of uproarious laughter did not enter their apartment until Vinyl answered the door and a mint green mare fell through their doorway and onto their floor. "Wha-Lyra?" The incredulous DJ said, standing over her cackling friend.
"Lyra?" The cello's head popped over the couch to find the source of the commotion.
"Lyra!" A cream colored mare stepped through the door way and stood over the fallen unicorn, giving her a sharp whack on her head. "For the last time, stop laughing!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Lyra managed to force out through the laughs. "I'm tr-trying!"
"Bon Bon?" Vinyl shut the door behind the mare.
"What's going on?" Octavia was off the couch now, making her way towards the group in her doorway.
"I'm so sorry girls. I swear I would have stopped her if I knew."
"Stopped what? What's going on?" Octavia repeated herself.
"Her." Bon Bon gave Lyra another rap on the head. "I told you to stop laughing! You've really gone too far this time."
"I'm so-orry!" Lyra choked out through her laughter. After another moment, she was able to reign in her laughter to little more than a chuckle. "I'm sorry, I'll stop." Despite the repeated apologies, the grin on Lyra's face seemed to imply anything but regret.
"What are you two talking about? What's going o-" Octavia cut herself short when she finally realized what was going on. "...You didn't..."
A chuckle.
Vinyl looked between the other three mares, a confused look on her face. "Didn't what? I still don't get it."
A chuckle.
Bon Bon cast a warning glare at the mint mare. "Lyra, I swear to Celestia, if you start laughing again I will make you regret it."
Lyra chose to not hear the warning. "What's the matter Vinyl? Haven't you read today's paper?"
"The paper? All I read was that story about...THAT WAS YOU!?"
Lyra couldn't contain her laughter anymore. With another outburst that would have surely resulted in another noise complaint had the apartment not been soundproofed, Lyra fell back to the floor.
Octavia's eyes were staring straight down at the floor between her front legs. "You..."
"Lyra!" Bon Bon gave the unicorn another whack that resounded with a noticeable thump. "Stop this instant!"
"You..."
"That's not cool Lyra! Octy's really upset about this you know!" Vinyl put in.
"You..."
"C-come on Vinyl!" Lyra could barely speak between her guffaws. "D-do-don't tell me this isn't hil-hilarious!"
"You...YOU IMMATURE LITTLE...CUNT!!!"
Three heads snapped towards the cellist, and the laughter finally came to a complete end.
"Octavia!" Bon Bon gasped, shocked at hearing her old friend use such uncharacteristic language.
"Woah, calm down Octy." Vinyl glanced back to Lyra, hoping to somehow diffuse the situation she knew was inevitable.
"What did you call me?!" Lyra shot back to her hooves, eyes glaring at Octavia.
"You heard me! Everypony in Equestria thinks I'm a filly-fooler because of you! You're just a little brat who doesn't care whose life she ruins, as long as you get a laugh!"
"Ruined!? Your life is ruined?" Lyra slipped a foreleg around Bon Bon and pulled her in close. "Oh, do tell me about how horrible and immoral being a lesbian is!"
"Lyra!" Bon Bon shrieked as she tried to pull away from her lover's iron grasp.
"That's not what I meant and you know it!"
"Oh really, because it sure sounded like it! Is this how you finally tell us how you feel about our lifestyle?"
The blow didn't surprise Lyra. She's been in many arguments that ended in a slap across the face. What surprised her is who threw it; the cream colored mare standing beside her.
"LYRA! Stop that this instant! Octavia is one of our closest friends, you know she doesn't hold any bigotry against us!" But Lyra could only look at her girl friend in shock. Bon Bon had given her plenty of whacks to the head for her antics in the past, but this was different. The instant it connected Lyra knew what Bon Bon was telling her. She had gone to far.
There was a moment of silence before Vinyl spoke up. "Alright everypony, let's just calm down." Vinyl wasn't used to breaking up fights like this, it was usually Octavia and Bon Bon trying to pull her and Lyra apart. However, if being a DJ had taught her one thing, it's that the drop following the break dictates the rest of the song. "The reason Octavia said that was because she's worried that people won't accept a gay cellist, and that your prank has hurt her career."
"Exactly!" The cellist snapped. "Because of your immaturi-" Octavia stopped when she felt Vinyl place a hoof on her shoulder. She looked at her friend, and understood what she was telling her. "Calm down, she's our friend, she didn't mean to hurt you." Octavia took a deep breath before continuing. "Because of...this incident, my audience may stop listening to my music."
"Octavia that's ridicu-" Lyra was cut off by Bon Bon giving her hoof a squeeze. "She's very upset, choose your words carefully." "...That's not true. I'm a classical musician too, remember? I do just fine being openly gay."
"Honey, you have to remember that Octavia has a little more...ambition than you."
Lyra turned to her girl friend. "What do you mean?"
"I mean Octavia isn't content just selling CD's and busking when she needs a little extra cash. She plays in the Manehatten Philharmonic and at royal affairs, how high society views her is important for her career."
"Yeah, and as much as it sucks, a lot of those snobs still have problems with filly-foolers." Vinyl pitched in. "You know we don't have any problem with lesbians," Vinyl gave Octavia a nudge with her elbow. "Right Octy?"
Octavia glanced at Vinyl and then back at Lyra. "No, of course not. Lyra we've been friends for years, you know I don't have any prejudices."
"I know, it's just...I was just making a joke Octavia, is it really that bad if people think you're a lesbian?"
"If it was just random ponies on the street, then I wouldn't care, but Lyra, no matter how good of friends we are I'm not okay with you harming my career for a joke."
The room grew silent for a minute, before Lyra felt a sharp jab in her ribs from Bon Bon's elbow, followed by the pink and blue mane bobbing from the mare motioning her head towards Octavia. "I'm sorry Octavia, I didn't think this one through. If I had considered that this would hurt your career I never would have done it."
There was another momentary silence before Octavia felt a similar jab coming from the unicorn next to her. "I'm sorry that I called you a...well, I'm sorry for what I called you. You didn't deserve that."
Lyra's face brightened up a bit as she started to feel the tension in the room lift. "Yeah, that one really came out of nowhere. Where does a classy mare like you learn a word like that?"
Octavia answered the question by returning the jab to the ribs Vinyl gave her moments ago. "I've been spending to much time with this one." Octavia returned Lyra's smile with one of her own.
"There, see?" Bon Bon was practically beaming by now from the peaceful resolution to the argument. "We're all friends here, we can resort our problems calmly."
"Yeah, and now that we know who gave the tip, we know exactly what to do to settle this whole thing," Vinyl said.
"We do?" Lyra asked.
"Vinyl said earlier that we should just tell people it isn't true, but I was worried it would just be our word against yours. Now that you're here, you can tell the paper with us that it isn't true."
"Yeah, I suppose I-"
"Whoa whoa, who said anything about the paper?" The DJ interrupted.
Octavia turned to her friend with a confused look. "I thought you wanted to tell the press it was a hoax."
"The press, yeah. The MODERN press. Seriously, who even reads a paper anymore?"
"Vinyl, you know that I read the Manehatten Times every morning. You take them out every week with the rest of the recycling."
Vinyl chose to ignore her roommate defending printed press. "If we're going to the media, we're going in style. I say we go on The Nightly Neigh."
"What?" Octavia asked, unenthused.
"Yes!" Lyra blurted out.
"Oh I love The Nightly Neigh, I watch it every night!" Bon Bon clapped excitedly.
"See Octy, that's how ponies get the news now adays. Besides, I've been on before, Fourth Estate loves me."
Octavia gave a sigh. "I would prefer to just call the paper and give a quick statement over the phone, but if you insist..."
"Octy's in, I'll schedule the interview now." Vinyl started to walk to the counter to pick up her cell phone. "I assume you're free all next week Lyra?"
"Yep, the only thing I have planned is to go get some pizza after me an Bonnie leave here."
As if a drill instructor had called for an about face, Vinyl turned around towards the door on a dime. "Change of plans! We all go get pizza now, THEN I schedule the interview."
"I'm down," Lyra said as she made her way towards the door.
Bon Bon turned to follow. "Pizza sounds lovely, there's a new place just down the block I've been wanting to try."
By the time Octavia realized that her lunch plans had been made for her, the other three were already walking out the door. "Hey wait! Can't we just go ahead and schedule the interview now?"
Lyra and Vinyl's selective hearing didn't even hear the suggestion, and they didn't break stride as they walked out the door discussing toppings. Only Bon Bon stopped to answer Octavia. "Come on Octavia, you know those two will be useless until they eat, now that it's on their mind."
With a resigned sigh, Octavia set off to follow her friends. "Fine, but Vinyl is paying for me."
For once, Vinyl's selective hearing worked against her, and Bon Bon gave Octavia a wink. "I didn't hear her say no."