Forgery

by DarthMaul22

Chapter 7

I laid back on the couch in the living room. I had a simple blanket and pillow to keep me warm overnight. Not my first choice, but it was already late when I got there, so I didn’t blame Octy and Scratch. Besides, beggars can’t be choosers, right?

The place was dark, save for the bathroom light, just in case I needed to see. The only noises were the annoying ticking of a clock I couldn’t see and a hushed conversation upstairs. I could barely hear my hosts, let alone make out their words. Instead, I focused on the doll stuffed figure sitting on my stomach.

“So, got anything to say this time?” I asked him, “Any snide remarks or witty banter about my ‘lazy plot’?”

Humie just sat there, wisely staying silent. Whatever. I set him down on the floor. We weren’t exactly on speaking terms right now, anyway. I turned away from him.

Was this it? Was this what I had become? A schizophrenic unicorn feeding off the generosity and kindness of her friends? I sighed. The thought left a bad feeling in my stomach. I felt guilty, staying here for even one night. I had no right to impose on Vinyl and Octavia. They had their right to privacy, just like I used to.

Before I assaulted Bon Bon…

I shook my head sadly. I still couldn’t believe I had done that. I mean, a marshmallow gun? Such a waste of good food. The eggs, too.

Oh, and I guess the whole ‘attacking Bon Bon’ thing.

There were a lot of feelings surrounding the situation with Bonnie. Regret, disbelief…

Most importantly, though, I just wanted to apologize. Even if she didn’t accept the apology, I just wanted to let her know I regretted doing all that. I didn’t want to lose our friendship, strained as it was. I curled into myself and sighed again.

That’s all our relationship was, really. Just two great college friends who moved in together after graduation. There was no fooling around or experimentation, or anything. It was all platonic.

But then…

Why was this hitting me so hard?

I held my hooves over my ears, effectively gluing them to my skull. There was a throbbing in my head more powerful than the hangover I had gotten after one of Vinyl’s gigs. Ironically enough, I hadn’t had a single drop of alcohol the night before.

Perhaps then, it was not the alcohol that caused hangovers, but the mare that was involved?

“Oh, yeah! We crank that bass up to eleven, it’ll clean the dishes on a microscopic level!” Vinyl shouted over the mess of wubs and other sounds I suspected had been put through about fifteen different distorters.

The morning had started out well enough. A few cramps from sleeping on the couch, Vinyl immediately eager to do something she’d find amusing…nothing different from what I expected. After a quick shower (my singing was pretty good, thank you very much), Vinyl wanted to start with her morning chores. I went with it. I had promised, after all.

Then we started doing the dishes. Oh, sweet Luna.

“Yeah! Feel that bass!”

I wasn’t going to feel anything other than the throbbing in my head for days at this rate. I had already tried to get her to stop, but she couldn’t hear me over the sheer volume of her mish-mash of noise.

I had to get out of there. That would require uncovering my ears, though, since I couldn’t teleport like a certain other unicorn I knew. The front door would require going all the way across the kitchen and through the foyer. A bit too far for my ears’ tastes.

I looked at the invention of hell (known by some as a Dubstep Dishwasher) and tried to glare it into submission. After that didn’t work, my eyes drifted above the sink. A window! And it was open! Could it be?!

Taking the chance, I uncovered my ears and charged toward the sink. Immediately, my thoughts were drowned out by even more bass, offset by the shrill, autotuned sounds of anything ranging from a random bit of speaking to a fork in a garbage disposal.

I forced myself onwards. If I could get through the window, it would all be worth it. Before Vinyl could react or voice her objections, I was already on the lip of the sink and leaping through the window proper.

I could already sense a change. The natural light of the sun was easier on my eyes than the artificial lighting in the kitchen. The smell of autumn leaves and dirt replaced the faint odor of soapy water. I could even feel a breeze on my hooves.

The sounds didn’t change much, though. That dishwasher was loud!

That changed when my head passed through, though. Already, the ‘music’ was growing fainter. I was so close to freedom, I couldn’t help a smile from breaking out on my face.

My waist caught.

No! My freedom! I didn’t want to listen to distortion! I flailed my hooves, trying to get a grip on something – anything – to push me the rest of the way through. I could already see it. Vinyl would grab me and pull me back in. Then, she’d tie me to a chair, complete with a blindfold and gag.

“Silly Lyra, you can’t escape that easily.” Vinyl swooned, double-checking her knots.

I tried to beg her to stop, but my pleas only came out as muffled screams.

“What’s that? You like the music?” I shook my head frantically, “Well, in that case, I’ve got something I’m sure you’ll love…” She walked out of the room, her hoofsteps barely audible over the still-wubbing kitchen appliance.

I tried to force the knots apart, my magic failing me in my panic. I didn’t know what she had in mind, and I wasn’t exactly keen on finding out. To my despair, Vinyl came back before I could make any headway on my bindings.

“Here we go!” Vinyl exclaimed as she came back. One second later, I felt a soft fabric envelop my ears, only slightly muting the sounds around me. I also felt the telltale headband that told me what I was now wearing.

Headphones.

“Now to plug this in…” Vinyl’s voice trailed off. I was even more scared, now. Vinyl was a DJ and a fan of all manner of electronic music. Any headphones of hers would be studio-grade and, more likely than not, have one hay of a bass boost. “Here we go!”

Instantly, the music got louder. Even louder than it was before. The pounding from the speakers was increased tenfold. I screamed. The wubs and distortion pervaded my skull, drowning out all coherent thought and asdfgkoaanlkajlkpalkgpkjgpjhgafuh…

A perceived eternity later, I couldn’t hear the music. I felt myself stop screaming and Vinyl took off the headphones. I felt something warm trickle past my cheek, and not one sound entered my ears.

Finally, after what seemed like minutes, my rear hoof managed to snag the faucet. I stumbled out into the street and landed with an ‘Oof!’.

I scrambled to my hooves. A few passersby were giving me funny looks. I was used to it. There was also a noticeable clear area of about ten feet from my hosts’ door (gee, I wonder why?).

Desperate to get away from the earth-shaking bass behind me, I galloped off with no real destination in mind.

I stared at the door. I was still trying to figure out why I had come here. It wasn’t like there was anything I could accomplish. Maybe it was just the stubborn part of me refusing to let things go.

I sighed as my gaze shifted to the rest of the exterior of Bon Bon’s house. I took in every detail from the nicks in the wood to the silly little window gardens she insists on keeping. It felt like it was the last time I was going to see it, and that saddened me a little. Why, you ask? I was still trying to figure that one out.

I scolded myself for looking at the building that way. Of course I was going to see it again – it was close to the center of town. Even with that reasoning, I couldn’t shake a sense of finality. I wondered how Bon Bon was doing, and whether or not she would just forget about me and move on.

I had no intention of knocking to find out, however.

What if I was wrong, though? What if she regretted her decision, just as I regretted mine? Would I be passing up the one chance I had to patch things up?

I stopped that hopeful train of thought. I was only setting myself up for disappointment and heartbreak. Bonnie was completely justified in kicking me out. She had told me after every one of my little ‘schemes’ to stop with the crazy stuff, but I never listened. I kept doing it over and over and she had finally had enough. I had already blown my chance.

I let out a wistful sigh. Dwelling on it wasn’t going to do my any favors, not to mention improve my mood. After a few seconds, my stomach started to complain at me. I noticed it was doing it a lot, lately. I shrugged and headed toward a restaurant I knew of nearby. I figured I may as well eat. After all, I had skipped breakfast in lieu of wubs.

I was about two blocks away from my destination when I heard somepony call out to me.

“Lyra?”

I turned and greeted the cellist. I was still a little down from earlier. She was wearing a pair of saddlebags. “Oh, hey Octavia. What’s up?”

“Well, Vinyl told me what happened,” I winced, “And I wanted to come out and find you.”

“Well, you found me.” I said with a half-hearted chuckle.

Octavia gave me a worried glance. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I lied. Despite my efforts, it was still getting to me.

Her look turned doubtful, but she didn’t voice any objections. “Where are you headed?”

“That restaurant over there.” I gestured with a hoof. “I kinda skipped breakfast.”

“Do you think I could accompany you?”

“Sure, I guess.”

Octavia and I ate in silence. Most of the tables in the place were full, their occupants creating a moderate level of background noise. Octavia had ordered some fancy soup I couldn’t remember (or pronounce) the name of, while I had ordered a fairly simple salad.

Not unlike the one during my last meal with Bon Bon…

After a while, we had both finished our meals. Neither of us said anything, as we were both unsure how to break the ice. At least, I’m assuming Octavia was thinking the same thing as me right then. Cut me some slack, I’m not a mind reader.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I wish I could take it all back,” I started dejectedly, “I honestly do. I honestly do wish I could take it all back. And not just because I’m homeless…”

“But Vinyl and I agreed to let you stay with us until you could get back on your hooves…”

“…Okay, fine. I’m not completely homeless.” It’s rude to interrupt ponies, Octavia, “Anyway… you know, if I was ever to see her again… you know what I’d say? I’d say ‘I’m sorry’. Sincerely. I am sorry I was violent…and assuming…and I am genuinely sorry. The end.”

A few seconds passed with Octavia giving me a disapproving look. Was it something I said?

“Did you seriously just monologue about your marefriend?”

“Wait, hold on, she’s not my-“

“And are you really pulling the ‘Woe Is Me’ card?”

“I-“

“Lyra, I can understand being upset about the situation, but acting all helpless and depressed as if there’s nothing you can do about it is something I will not stand for.”

“But-“

“Do you see this, Lyra?” She held up her left hoof. On it, she sported a golden band. Engraved on the band were two tied eighth notes.

Her wedding band.

“Do you have any idea the chaos that led up to this?”

“No, but I’m not trying to marry Bon Bon, so…”

She snorted and smirked, as if humoring me, before continuing. “Look…did Vinyl ever tell you about the time she broke my record player?”

“No?”

“That doesn’t surprise me. It wasn’t one of her better moments. Anyway, one day, Vinyl got it into her head to play some of her ‘music’ on my record player that I had owned for years. Now, what happened next would’ve been more forgivable if she’d asked to use it, but…she didn’t.

“Now, neither of us could’ve predicted that her love of bass would blow the speaker to pieces, but I was just so angry that…I told her that I didn’t want to see her again. I…might have overreacted…”

I knew what she was trying to do, but this story of hers had my curiosity piqued. “So then what?”

“Well, of course she was apologizing profusely on the spot, but at the time, I didn’t want to hear it. She left, and we didn’t see hide nor hair of each other for almost a month.”

I lowered my gaze. This wasn’t doing much for my self-esteem. I mean, a month? It wasn’t even a week, and I was feeling depressed!

“So, what then?”

“So, one Tuesday – I remember it was a Tuesday because I had had a rehearsal earlier, Vinyl comes to my doorstep. With her glasses off, even. She had been out of my mind for a while by this point, so it was rather awkward for both of us. But then she got her nerve together and apologized, looking me straight in the eye.”

“…and then you kissed, right?”

She blinked. “Pardon?”

“Well, seeing how you were going, and where you are now, I mean…”

“Lyra, this was quite a bit before our first kiss. The point I’m trying to make is that you should try apologizing to Bon Bon. I’m sure it will work out.”

I was silent for a moment. “Are you sure?”

“Vinyl and I did, didn’t we?”

I immediately thought of half a dozen things to say to the contrary, but held my tongue for fear of invoking the wrath of a cellist.

“I guess it’s worth a shot.”

She smiled.

I zoned out, thinking out my next few moves. If the whole ‘apologizing’ thing worked, then I would just be back where I started: essentially mooching off Bon Bon. What would that say about me? That I didn’t learn a thing? No, I wanted to show that I knew better, and I wanted to show it by doing something meaningful like help paying the mortgage, or getting her a new hat, or something.

But to do that, I needed money.

Thing was, music performances were planned months in advance. I’d need to look around for openings. It was right about then that I spied a newspaper poking out of Octavia’s saddlebags. An idea hit me.

“Hey,” I asked, “Is that today’s?”

“What?” I pointed at the printed material in her bags, with her gaze following my hoof a second later. “Ah, yes, it is. Why?”

“Could I take a look at it real quick?”

“Sure.” She hoofed it to me, and I picked it up in a mint-green aura of magic.

It was a desperate idea, and had little chance of working, but I didn’t want to feel like a complete foal for skipping the easiest place to look for orchestral openings of any kind. Not if I was going to be serious about patching things up with Bon Bon.

But when I opened it up to the classifieds, instead of finding any positions in an upcoming masterpiece performance, my eyes spotted a hauntingly familiar name.