//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Forgery // by DarthMaul22 //------------------------------// I lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, my mind going over the past two days. “She was spying on me!” “What?” Letting out yet another sigh, I turned my head to look out the window. The cheap motel I was in didn’t have much in the way of scenery, but that window was the only source of light being used right then. “She was writing to tell Celestia about my human!” “What? No, she wasn’t.” “Then what was that letter she wrote, huh?” Soon after I had been unfairly evicted from left Bon Bon’s place, I went to the library. I had wanted answers, but Bon Bon had locked her door and refused to speak to me. I figured that if there were anypony else who could tell me anything, it would be Twilight. “That was a letter to Pinkie Pie.” “Pinkie Pie? You mean she’s in on it, too?!” She was a little startled by my questions, and at first, I didn’t know why. Eventually, she got around to forming coherent answers. “What, were you all plotting to kill me?!” “Lyra…it was for your birthday party.” A party. I got worked up, suspicious, and assaulted my roommate all over a party. For the rest of the day, I had reflected, going over the details over and over again. Maybe there was something I had missed? Of course, I had found nothing. “She…what?! But what about her sneaking into my room? What about her coming to see you?!” “That was her trying to find out what you liked, so she could get you a gift you would enjoy!” “But I…” Soon after leaving the library, I started looking for a place to stay temporarily. This place was cheap, but it was pretty good for what I was paying. I only had so many bits on me, though. I was either going to have to dust off my lyre and start finding some gigs, or try and move back in with Bonnie. Right. Like that was going to happen. “You can only blame yourself, you know.” I didn’t give Humie the satisfaction of an answer. I wasn’t in the mood. In fact, even he had been uncharacteristically silent until now. I guess losing a home was hitting him harder than he was letting on. “So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to get your lazy plot out of bed and do something, or are you going to run and hide from your problems…again?” “Shut up.” I muttered. I had just lost my home, a dear friend, and I had no income. The last thing I needed was him egging me on. Couldn’t he tell I wasn’t in the mood? “So that’s it? All that effort and you’re just going to give up? Just roll over and die? I always knew you were lazy, but this is straight-up depressing.” Pressing my buttons wasn’t helping matters, either. “I know where your seams are, and I will not hesitate to rip them apart if you don’t zip it.” Good. That shut him up. I turned and looked at my stuff piled in one corner of the room. My lyre case was resting next to my small collection of dresses I had acquired over time for formal events, those library books were packed in a case next to that, and standing next to them was my mask collection – split between two cases. It wasn’t much, but it was all I really had. All the furniture had been Bon Bon’s. No matter how many times I looked, my stuff wasn’t going to change in appearance. But still, I kept looking. The (admittedly small) productive part of me suggested that now might be a good time to finally go over those books. There was a knock at the door. I looked up. I wasn’t expecting anypony. Who could it be? Was it Bon Bon? Pff. Yeah, right. Well, I wasn’t gonna gain x-ray vision through speculation (no matter how cool that would be), so I decided I may as well answer the door. As I started walking toward it, another set of knocks came. “Just a sec.” I called out to my visitor. As I finally reached the door and started to open it, my mind started thinking about my appearance. My mane was normally a little unruly, but it was a controlled unruliness. With all that happened, though, I hadn’t brushed it or anything the past couple days. It was probably reasonable to say I looked like I had been run over by a wagon, or something. “Woah, are you okay?” The familiar mare on my doorstep asked, “You look like you got run over by a wagon.” Gee, thanks. “Hey, Vinyl,” I threw up a smile that I hoped was convincing, “How are you?” “I’m pretty good, but…” She hesitated, “Listen…I heard about what happened with Bon Bon…” She lowered her gaze. Most ponies wouldn’t be able to tell, what with her shades and all, but I had known her long enough to see the slight lowering of her face for what it was. “So, you heard about that already?” I let my fake smile drop. It wasn’t fooling anypony, anyway. “Yeah…it must be pretty hard, breaking up with your fillyfriend…” It took two seconds for those words to hit home, and another seven for me to finally stop sputtering like an idiot. “You…how would…w-…WHAT?!” I stared at her, eyes wide, with an utterly indignant look on my face. “What? You two were together, right?” More sputtering. “I…wha…NO! Of course not! How could you think that?!” I didn’t even care that I was probably bothering every other pony in the building (this place wasn’t empty, ya know). I was in too much shock that anypony, especially Vinyl, would think that I was…that…with Bon Bon. “You mean you weren’t? I had just assumed…” She trailed off, letting her statement finish itself. Me? I was still baffled anypony could come to that conclusion. I mean, we were only living together, for pony’s sake! Actually, that sounded pretty condemning…dangit. With this new revelation, I fell to my haunches, covering my face with my hooves. “Oh, Luna…is that what everypony thinks…?!” As if beating myself up over getting kicked out wasn’t bad enough. At least it explained the looks I sometimes got whenever Bonnie and I ate out. ‘As if that’s any consolation…’ I thought dourly. Vinyl shuffled her hoof. “Well, now I feel like a jerk…” She muttered awkwardly, “How ‘bout I take you to dinner to make up for it and say ‘Sorry’?” My head shot up as I turned to look at my clock. Good Luna, it was already five?! Where did the time go?! Sulking. Right… I looked back at the white DJ in front of me. “Sure, okay.” I let out a sad smile. I could use some cheering up. I peeked over my hooves. Everypony was staring at us. I wished they weren’t. It wasn’t doing anything to help my embarrassment. So far, Vinyl’s attempt to take my mind off things wasn’t working. I had made the mistake of telling the unicorn a more in-depth version of what had happened. Somewhere in the midst of her cackling, Vinyl Scratch regained enough control over her voice to force out a single humiliating question. “How do you forget your own birthday?!” Yeah, Vinyl, laugh it up. I wasn’t using that bit of self-respect, anyway. Her chair toppled backward, taking her with it. That’s okay. I didn’t need that bit of dignity, either. I lowered my head back into my hooves and let out a long groan. We walked down the street back to my motel room. The sun was making its merry way over the horizon, and Vinyl, unable to stop herself, giggled into the ever-darkening air. “And then…and then you…the marshmallows!” Vinyl sputtered between hysterical gasps, once again succumbing to her laughter in what was quickly becoming a cycle. “Yeah. Hilarious.” I deadpanned, quickening my pace. One by one, my ‘friends’ were turning against me. I needed to be alone. Vinyl quieted down at that. It was one of her more admirable traits – one of reasons why I loved her so much (as a friend – I didn’t swing that way). She was able to recognize when she made a mistake. When she did, she always strived to fix things. It didn’t always work, and it wasn’t guaranteed that everypony would get through unscathed, but her heart was always in the right place. “Hey,” she ventured, her voice much softer now, “You okay?” I turned and gave her my best glare, adding more and more snark as my reply went on. “Oh, I don’t know, I lost my house and one of my best friends, my own stuffed doll hates me, I’m almost out of bits with no income, and the one pony who I’ve opened up to about all of it is laughing in my face. Why wouldn’t I be okay?” After two seconds of silence, I turned forward once more and resumed walking back to my temporary residence. I didn’t want to lash out at Vinyl, and I really needed to get my thoughts in order. I heard hoofsteps behind me, and then a tap on my shoulder. “Hey…” I kept walking. “Lyra…” I started trotting. “Look, I’m sorry.” “That’s nice. Remind me when I care.” That may have come off a bit harsher than I meant it to… “Lyra, I’m sorry. I messed up. I get it.” I stopped. “I get that, Vinyl, but unfortunately, your apologies won’t make anything any better.” She stayed quiet again. I was just about to start walking when she gasped. “But I have an idea that might…!” Vinyl opened the door to her place. The lights were still off. “Are you sure she’ll be up for this?” I asked as we walked in. “I already told you, I’m positive she’ll be all for it.” The lights flicked on. On the opposite side of the living room, looking at us like a disapproving mother catching a foal past curfew, sat yet another mare I was familiar with. “All for what, Vinyl?” Octavia asked, one eyebrow a substantial height above the other. “You’ll love this, Octy! Lyra wants to have a threesome!” “WHAT?!” I don’t think I could’ve shrieked any louder or any more high-pitched. You couldn’t have gotten a more extreme reaction out of me if you had said ‘Oh, by the way, there’s a landmine next to you’. Octavia simply facehoofed as Vinyl succumbed to gravity in a fit of hysterics. I frantically looked between the two other mares in the room. “What? No! You said I could stay here for a few days! Octavia, you gotta believe me, that is not what I had in mind!” Dammit, Vinyl, Octavia was one of the few ponies left who still respected me to some extent! I was not going to let her mess that up, too! The cellist got up and walked to us. “I figured as much from your shocked expression and Vinyl’s incapacitation.” Yikes. I forgot she knew a bunch of big words. She stopped in front of Vinyl and, with a straight face, bopped her on the nose. The DJ snorted and immediately fell still and silent. “So what’s this about her staying with us that I’ve heard nothing about?” Vinyl stood up and coughed to hide the ghost of a blush on her face. “You remember me telling you what happened to Lyra? Well, she’s got no place to stay, and I figured that we, being the good neighbors and friends we are,” she batted her eyelashes (an action nearly missed due to her glasses), “Could help her out by letting her stay with us until she can get back on her hooves.” Octavia stood there, giving no clue as to her verdict. I started to worry. We had already gotten my stuff and I had already checked out of the motel. If she refused, I was out of luck. I threw myself at her hooves, hugging one of them. “Please, Octavia! I’ve got nowhere else. I…” A thought struck me, “I can pay rent! Sorta…in chores!” I gave her a sheepish smile. Five seconds passed. Nothing. Finally, she smiled. “I think we can make something work.” “Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” Vinyl dragged me away from her. “Woah, there, Lyra. That’s my fillyfriend you’re hugging.” I blushed a bit. “Thanks, Octy.” The gray mare just smiled. “Oh, and Lyra? Make sure you brush your mane in the morning. You look like you got run over by a wagon.” With that, she made her way upstairs. Vinyl snickered. “Well, it’s pretty late, so I guess you can crash here tonight.” She gestured to the couch. “We can work out a space later. Oh, and I guess as far as the chores bit goes, you can just help me with mine for now.” “Like what?” I was a little curious to see how they had divided the chores up amongst themselves. She smiled devilishly. “You ever heard of a ‘Dubstep Dishwasher’?”