The town square was a bustling, cheerful crowd of ponies, all getting their weekend shopping done before the work hours rolled in. If anypony had looked around them at their fellow consumers, a few of them may have noticed the walking mess that was Vinyl Scratch.
Of course, nopony actually did, and so the DJ marched through town almost without a second glance. Vinyl only slowed her pace when the colourful sign emerged from the crowds and surrounding buildings.
Bonbon’s Confectionary
Heaving a sigh of relief, she made her way through the jostling throngs of ponies, and raised her hoof to the back door. Vinyl hesitated. What was she going to say? She could envision it now.
“Hey Bonbon! Just stopped by to tell you that I probably screwed up me and Octy’s relationship for good, and I need you to bail me out!” Yeah, that would go over well.
Vinyl inhaled through her nose slowly, gathering courage. Finally, she brought her hoof down on the door, and held her breath. Seventeen long seconds later, (Not that Vinyl was counting) a mint green unicorn answered the door, her face a mask of confusion. When she saw Vinyl, it broke instead into a grin.
“Hey Vinyl!”
“Oh, uh… hey Lyra.”
Vinyl hadn’t accounted for meeting the lyrist here. She had already queued up her speech for Bonbon, which included a number of pleas, and a monologue. As Lyra brought her inside, she was already working her brain overtime, trying to revise it to appeal to the unicorn instead.
Once inside the living room, Lyra turned on Vinyl, now completely serious.
“This is about…” she took a breath. “This is about you and Octavia isn’t it?”
Vinyl’s heart sunk. Apparently word gets around. The shame radiating off of her was enough that she was surprised Lyra wasn’t affected. She nodded her head.
Lyra sighed, exasperated. “I thought so. Honestly Vinyl, you act like I’m going to hit you or something.”
Vinyl’s mouth dropped. Someone that was willing to listen? Who was verging on sympathy? That was new to her. “You’re… you’re not mad?”
Lyra rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m mad you idiot! You almost ruined your one chance at true love! I’m not just going to sit by and berate you on what you could have done while she slips away! What kind of friend would I be?”
Vinyl’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, though no sound came out.
“Don’t worry, that’s rhetorical. And take a seat for Celestia’s sake Vinyl!”
Vinyl plopped down onto a sofa, still in shock. Had she really thought that her own friends would alienate her?
Lyra sat down opposite her, and adopted a sort of psychiatrist stance. It quickly loosened up when she realized that Vinyl was uncharacteristically quiet.
“So, uh… I’m not really sure where to go with this.” Lyra admits, hanging her head. “The best I can probably do is to just listen to what you have to say. A shoulder to lean on right?”
Vinyl nodded glumly. “I guess so. I really only came here to talk to someone about this anyway. I’m… kind of a mess right now, and I don’t know what to do. And… and… I’m scared Lyra. I’m scared that my best won’t be enough.” Tears begin to fall down Vinyl’s face, and she holds her head in her hooves. “I-I hurt her, I really did. I thought I was helping her, I p-promise, but I’m really afraid that even if I go to her with my all, if I go and apologize, she’s going to turn me away. I can’t h-handle her looking at me like that again Lyra. L-like she doesn’t even know me, like she never l-loved me…”
Lyra listened, not saying a word as her friend poured out her heart and soul in front of her. Her fears, her insecurities, her weaknesses.
“And I can’t handle that again. I’ve been t-trying to convince myself that I can do this without her, but I can’t. I can’t keep going on like this, hiding in m-my apartment, going out and smiling… I-I can’t even smile anymore Lyra. I don’t know how, and when I try, I just feel like I’m putting on a grimace.”
“I can’t keep going on like this, I can’t. But it’ll just get worse if she hurts me again. If-if she tells me she hates me all over again. I’m avoiding it. I keep putting it off, w-when I should have just gone to her on the n-next day. I-I should have done something immediately instead of waiting for two bucking weeks… Even now, I’m just sitting here telling you about it, when I should be over at her rehearsal right now with flowers. I should be, but I’m not. Because I’m scared. Because even if she takes me back, she’ll never look at me the same way. Because I know I’ll never be good enough for her.”
Lyra got up off her chair and sat down next to Vinyl, putting her hooves around her.
“Because I’m selfish.” Vinyl continues, paraphrasing Octavia’s offences. “I’m thoughtless. I’m disgusting.” She finishes in a whimper.
Lyra hugged her tighter. “No, Vinyl, no you’re not. You’re just a pony. And everypony makes mistakes. It doesn’t matter how perfect you are, you will make mistakes. Big mistakes. And Octavia’s smart enough to realize that. And if she isn’t, she’s not worth your time.”
Vinyl continued to sob, all her energy gone. She just sat there, in Lyra’s embrace, not wanting to move. Lyra kept consoling her, lowering her voice.
“When Bon and I first started dating, I screwed up. Big time. I never could find the time for her. I just went about my business, assuming that my relationship was steady. But it wasn’t. The few times I saw Bon, we were arguing. One night, I came home drunk. Really drunk. We had a big row over some things, and I said some hurtful stuff. When I woke up the next morning in an empty bed, I knew I was in trouble.
Vinyl listened to the story in a daze. “What did you do?”
“I looked for her all over town, and couldn’t find a trace of her anywhere. I went back to our shop, and arranged all of her favorite candies in a box. I went, and I bought some flowers and a card. I put them on the front counter, but it didn’t seem like enough. So I took one of her favorite pictures of us, placed it in the card, and wrote on the back-”
“You are my sweet tooth.” Lyra whipped around to see Bonbon standing in the doorway, reciting the contents of her apology like she had known it forever. “You are my sweet heart and the hope and love pumping through my veins. You brighten up the darkest days, and to your time I was a waste. But everypony makes mistakes.”
“Oh, umm… Hi Bon!” Was Lyra’s frantic response.
But Bonbon wasn’t finished. “And then,” she says, taking the seat next to Lyra and poking her. “This little ruffian cut out a cardboard heart, ripped it in half, and taped the pieces on the inside of the card with a Band-Aid.”
“Dear Celestia that’s corny.” Vinyl choked.
“Yes, yes it was very corny.” Bonbon laughed, seeing the look of devastation on Lyra’s face. “That’s how I knew it was sincere. ‘Cause Lyra doesn’t do corny. Ever.”
“And for good reason.” The unicorn in question mumbled.
Vinyl smiled. A genuine smile for the first time in weeks. Lyra still looked shell-shocked. “How long were you…?”
“Pretty much the whole thing. The store is dead right now, so I figured I’d check on you. Make sure you weren’t eating my upholstery again. I have to say, this was a lot more satisfying.”
Lyra’s face went red. “That was one time! I thought you were going to let it go!”
Bonbon giggled, and kissed the tip of Lyra’s nose affectionately. The two seemed to have forgotten that they were in the same room as a very heartbroken mare. Vinyl didn’t mind though. It gave her something to think about.
“This box of chocolates… you mentioned it before.” Vinyl said distractedly, startling the ponies next to her. “You turned it into a product… the-”
“Handy Dandy Confession Pack?” Bonbon guessed, rewarded by a nod. “Yup. It’s almost sad how many of those things we sell.”
That was a surprise. Ponies screwed up often then? As bad as she had? Huh. Vinyl’s thoughts were interrupted by Bonbon casually adding, “Y’know, when Octavia and I were in college together, the only thing she seemed to eat were pecans. Pecans in salads, pecans in sandwiches, pecans in chocolates…” she dragged out the last word and looked at Vinyl pointedly.
Vinyl deadpanned. “You… you don’t happen to have a pecan themed ‘Handy Dandy Confession Pack’ do you?”
***
Before Vinyl left, she asked Lyra if she could come with her to the Club she had lost her glasses at, and have a couple drinks. All it had taken was some ‘pretty please?’s and a big bout of puppy dog eyes to make Bonbon roll her eyes and approve with an irritated huff.
Lugging her ‘Apology in a box’ up the stairs to her apartment proved to be difficult. Vinyl didn’t want to do anything to damage it in the slightest way. When she stepped through her door, box first, she almost trod on the letters. She placed her package on the table in the kitchen, making sure to put it down away from any dishes or puddles of drool. Then she trotted back to the entry hall, and picked up the letters after closing the door.
The first envelope was plain white. Boring. Thought Vinyl as she flipped the bottom one up to the top. Her heart stopped. She almost dropped the letter.
Stamped onto the front of the envelope, was the Philharmonica crest. With shaking hooves, she opened it, dropping the wrapping to the carpet.
Ms. Vinyl Scratch.
You have been requested to attend the funeral procession of Mr. Gregory Philharmonica, on the twenty first of March at 3:00 PM in the Canterlot Gardens. Please note that this is a black tie event.
Sincerely, Mrs. Lyrena Philharmonica.
Vinyl stared at the invitation for a couple of minutes, reading and rereading the letter uncomprehendingly. She left the empty envelope where she dropped it, and stumbled her way to the living room still gaping down at the summons in shock. She collapsed onto her couch.
Finally, she was able to rip her eyes away from it, and set it face down on the coffee table. She then turned her attention to the blank envelope.
“Okay,” Vinyl breathed, collecting her thoughts once more. “This one can’t be any worse than-” she cut herself off at the first sentence on the letter.
“You have got to be bucking kidding me.”
Dear Vinyl,
Hey, it’s Frederick. If you have something planned for tonight, cancel it. Meet me at SugarCube Corner at seven tonight. I’m not taking ‘No’ for an answer. Be there by eight at the latest, or I’m coming knocking.
In your best interests, Frederick.
P.S. Yes it’s about Octavia.
Vinyl flopped back on the couch speechless. It looked like her glasses, and hanging out with Lyra would have to wait. She took the two letters into the kitchen, placing them beside her Handy Dandy Confession Pack. She cast a glance over to the calendar leaning up beside the phone.
It was a good thing that her system was pretty much shocked out, because otherwise, she would have shot straight up and hit the roof. As it was, she let out a little yelp and scurried out the door in record time.
The calendar showed the eighteenth, still three days until the funeral. The clock beside it however, displayed 7:10 in glowing orange numbers.
Vinyl was going to be late. For a very, very important date.