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// All Her Fault 
// Story: The Gemstone Quartet 
// by Lunafilly 
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Lyrica sighed and considered hanging up. It wasn’t as though she was making genuine headway as it was.
“I’m sorry that we canceled your performance, Miss Lilac, but you have to understand that when we receive a superior offer… well, the Grand Galloping Gala is a high-profile event,” said Lyra. 
“I am aware of that, Mrs. Heartstrings. But I was booked, I was told that I was to play, I was counting on this to pay my rent! I could lose my apartment,” Lyrica replied. Lyra was not moved by Lyrica's bid for sympathy, and Lyrica had been lying as it was.
“Miss Lilac, I know what it was like. We even have the same cutie mark, for Celestia’s sake! I know what it was like to be a struggling musician, but I can’t help you. Octavia Melody is getting known, she’s becoming a household name. This is the kind of thing we need to update our image,” said Lyra. Lyrica was about to protest further, but she heard a click. All her fault.
“Ponyfeathers. She hung up,” Lyrica said, whinnying and hanging her head. She walked into her bedroom, and stared at a yellowing photo tacked to a wall. It was an old snapshot of Lyrica and Vinyl Scratch, back before the latter had cut her hair and begun calling herself DJ PON-3. 
“Before she left me for her…” Lyrica muttered. She had promised herself not to think about her old marefriend too much, but ever since Vinyl had risen to fame as a popular musician, she had broken her own pact increasingly often. Vinyl had left her without warning; Lyrica had come back from the grocery store one afternoon to find her gone. Some time later, Vinyl Scratch had come back for her remaining belongings, and officially told Lyrica that it was over. Lyrica had become quite worried, and was even considering calling the Guard, until she realized that Vinyl had simply walked out on her. She had been mopping the floor and grinding her teeth, still preoccupied by her marefriend's disappearance, until Vinyl had strolled in casually, opened the door with her key and then threw it to Lyrica. 
"Listen, this isn't working out, and I want to see other ponies," Vinyl remarked, as if she had only went to the corner store and back. She lugged away her things, and Lyrica had only seen her once since, at a public event in Canterlot. Lyrica had known that Vinyl Scratch was attending, and was hoping to win her back.
Instead, of course, I found her with Miss Melody. She excused her new marefriend, and then she yelled at me. Long and hard. Telling me that she had never loved me, to buck off, to get out of her life. Lies, I hope. But not with my luck. Trying to put Vinyl out of her mind, she noted that she still had her Gala tickets. They shone in her hand, another reminder that Lyrica had lost and Octavia had won. After Vinyl was done breaking her heart, Octavia had come and broken her left hoof. 
"Stay away from my marefriend," she said, "and never come back!" Octavia was strong in a way Lyrica had never been, she was resilient, intelligent, and deadly. 
Well, at least Heartstrings didn’t revoke the tickets. She probably pities me. Lyrica had even received a second ticket, for a guest. She had already invited her sister, and as such couldn’t simply sell her ticket. Knowing that Royal would expect her to be playing, she decided to call her sibling and inform her otherwise. After she dialed, the phone rang for a while, until Lyrica was finally greeted by an answering machine. 
“Hello, you’ve reached Royal Ribbon! I’m afraid I can’t take your call at the moment, but please call back and do leave a message after the beep,” it said in Royal’s recorded voice.
“Hello, Royal," said Lyrica, "I’m just calling to tell you that I will not be playing at the Grand Galloping Gala, since they gave my job to somepony else. I will still be attending though, so I expect to see you there!” Lyrica made a valiant attempt to mask her attitude and end her message on a positive note, but her mood was still obvious, even over the phone. 
“I will go to the Grand Galloping Gala, if only to see the competition,” said Lyrica. She sat down on her couch, and picked up a novel, trying to lose herself in fiction. 
Maybe soon my reality will improve.
It was not to be. Lyrica ordered a pizza for dinner and burst into tears at her first bite. After that, she laid her face on the table and got a splinter in her cheek from the rough wood. She tried reading her book again, but could not immerse herself in the lighthearted romance. When Lyrica had put away the novel, she got up and ran around her armchair until she felt dizzy, then paced around her room breathing heavily. Lyrica had left her bed unmade that morning, and proceeded to make it before getting into it. This exercise in futility comforted her, but she could not relax being certain that she had been upstaged by Octavia Melody. She had known it for a year and a half—since Vinyl left her. But no entirely conclusive proof was obvious before (or at least Lyrica thought so) Lyra had essentially told Lyrica that Octavia was the superior musician.
Why else would she drop me and hire her as soon as she offered?  Lyrica smashed her pillow against her bedstead brutally, both completing the making of her bed and pretending that said pillow was her rival’s face.
“Take that, Octavia! You are an absolute disgrace. You unintelligent, sniping pig! Stealing away my career, and my mare friend!" she shouted, before hastily coming to the realization that somepony might have heard her. She walked into her bathroom, and slammed the the door shut with a kick. Lyrica brushed her mane carefully, before pinning it up into her usual beehive and manespraying it liberally. She wrapped it in a towel, and then laid down in her bed.
At least I'll look all right.  She dreamed of angry cellos attacking her, each hit removing a limb. By the time the dream ended, she was only a torso and head, slowly fading into a gray haze.
The next morning, she awoke to find herself exceptionally hungry. She walked into her kitchen and was intending to make a dandelion salad when the phone began ringing. Lyrica picked up, and was pleased to hear the voice of her younger sister.
“Hi, Lyrica; it’s me, Royal. I’m just answering your message. It really is too horrid about your performance. Who could be replacing you?” said Royal.
“Octavia Melody,” muttered Lyrica.
“Come again?” Royal said, finding her sister nearly inaudible.
“OCTAVIA MELODY!” shouted Lyrica.
“Goodness, Lyrica, don’t yell like that. Anyhow, I was going to ask you if you’d like to go dress shopping for the Gala with me today. I could take the train down to Ponyville to see you. I hear there’s a lovely little boutique down there,” said Royal. Lyrica smiled.
At least I’ll have something to take my mind off this mess.
“Royal, dear, I am a small-time musician. I can’t afford an entire dress. But I’d love to go shopping for jewelry and the like, certainly,” she said.
“Then it’s settled,” said Royal, “how does five o’ clock sound?” Lyrica nodded, before remembering that her sibling couldn’t see her.
“Oh, yes, that sounds good,” she answered, walking over to the phone set.
“See you then!” Royal said, before hanging up with another click. Lyrica put her phone down and sighed. The mere sound of being hung up on reminded her that she had lost her big break, or what could have been one.
What could have been. My entire life is one enormous “what could have been”. I might be a young mare, but that doesn’t stop me from being a has-been. A has-been that could have been. Lyrica flopped onto her bed, being careful not to muss her manestyle. She didn’t feel like having a dandelion salad any longer. Lyrica yawned, thinking that though she had only just awoken, a nap was beginning to sound quite tempting. She closed the curtains, crawled under the covers and fell asleep.