//------------------------------// // The Plan // Story: The Bridesmaids // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Vinyl Scratch “They've turned the corner. Were all clear!” Lyra announced excitedly. I grinned, “Heh, you can always count on her to leave early enough to look up. So everypony, Lyra and I have a little plot for you guys.” Bon-bon raised an eyebrow. “This had better not be another-” I cut her off, “Nah, It's nothing like what you're thinking Bon. It's about those two. Lyra and I were talking the other day and well...” I pointed at Lyra with a frown, “You explain it. It's your plan.” Lyra nodded eagerly, “Right! So well you know how Cole's been single forever?” Bon-bon nodded, “Yes. She's asexual right? I mean she's never shown an interest in anypony as far as I can recall.” Octavia nodded in agreement. “I can't recall anypony she has expressed affection towards after she gradated from high school.” “Well, Vi and I were over at her house the other week and by accident I switched her diary with a book I borrowed from the library.” Lyra stopped talking as Bon-bon shot her an accusing look. I felt the need to back Lyra up. I gave Bon a 'trust me' grin, “No really, I was with her the whole time. She tripped on the rug, the book slipped from her magic and well, it looked almost the same as her diary. Both of them were on the bed see?” Bon-bon's disapproving look vanished, “Oh. Sorry hon.” “It's fine! Anyways Vi and I stopped for lunch afterwards and I was eager to read a little bit because I hadn't gotten to read any of Hidden Watcher's stuff regarding... Er- I'll just get to the point. It turns out that Cole's actually been crushing on Shine this whole time. As in like, all eight years since that time we went camping. Now I can't get all the details because well, I returned her diary sneakily so she wouldn't know I had it, and she had actually blacked out large portions of the text.” I nodded my head in agreement. “Seriously. It looked like some kind of declassified military thing. It was kind of creepy.” “You are absolutely sure that she's in love with Shine?” Bon-bon asked in a concerned tone. Lyra nodded, “Yeah. The tons of poems, drawings, and little scribbled down fantasies were not at all subtle. I have no idea how or why she hides it so well when we are all together. I did find one line in there which said she's afraid that if Shine docent make the first move that she will run away. Like, leave all of us and start a new life run away.” “It's just not healthy. Cole's repressing all that I mean. And you girls know how totally dense Shine can be.” I sighed. “Oh yes. We're very well aware.” Octavia giggled. From the look on her face I could tell she was remembering the time Shine had walked in on the two of us cuddling and assumed we were just cold. She went and got us a blanket. It was hilarious. Bon-bon nodded as well, “Yeah... for a smartypants she can be pretty dumb.” “Well anyways,” Lyra said pacing the living room, “After learning how our good friend's heart has been yearning I decided we had to do something... So I um... well I tampered with the mail and made sure that the five of us would win the contest to be Princess Cadence's bridesmaids.” “Lyra!” Bon-bon gasped, “Do you even know just how illegal that is?” “Yeah. But so what? This is a mission for love! Besides, they would have found me out by now, so I got away clean. Though I do feel bad of taking advantage of Derpy's muffin obsession like that.” Lyra admitted with a strained grin. I hadn't been aware of just how Lyra had arranged for us to win until now. Octavia looked at me all funny like. That sort of 'don't encourage her' look she threw my way whenever Lyra and I got up to some sort of trouble. I returned her look with a quick shrug, “What? I didn't know how she did it until now myself.” Octavia sighed as she walked over to Lyra, “Ok, so you are apparently willing to commit crimes for what I assume is some sort of mission to 'hook up' two of our best friends.” “Yes.” Lyra replied with a serious look on her face. “Seriously Tavi, Cole's miserable. She's stuck so deep in the friendzone that Shine's literally bought her a best friends necklace. Even worse, far as I can tell Cole has never loved anypony else and probably wont.” I sighed, “Cole did seriously use the word 'unique' to describe Shine like... Twenty percent more than anypony should have.” I said trying to back up Lyra's point. “Ah pony feathers...” Bon-bon groaned, “They would be a cute couple. I'm in. What are we doing?” Octavia moaned in distress as she gave me a pleading look. I levitated my glasses up to give her eye contact. It's how I showed her I was serious. My glasses aren't just for show, those purple lenses stop migraines. Asfedia is a total dick. “Tavi, seriously, Shine won't notice without a good hard shove and Cole's totally obsessed.” Octavia sighed totally defeated. She trotted over to stand next to me. “Alright. So long as no more crimes are committed. I do have a good name to maintain you know.” I grinned happily, giving her hoof a playful brush with my own, “Good to have you on the side of well meaning mischief!” I joked. Lyra giggled and whispered something to Bon-bon. I knew she noticed my little lovey-dovy gesture. I'm pretty much amazed she hasn't spilled the beans and gotten Tavi and I disowned by her old mare. Tartarus, I wish she would be. A few million bits are not worth the shadowy love life. “Well, we are all going to a wedding. A Royal wedding, of the Princess of Love herself to a stallion who is so much of a white knight that he is literally named Shining Armor. It's almost a singularity of romanticism, you just need Bon-bon's sweets and an official admission of human existence to have literally all the romance in the world.” Lyra announced dramaticaly. I blinked. “Um... wow. Bon, are you two ok at home or are her tastes just way to weird?” Bon-bon laughed, “I manage.” Lyra shot me a look, “Hey! I'm not wired! Well I am, but it's the good kind of weird! Stop derailing me please. Um... right! So we have this super romantic setting, we just arrange for the two of them to keep getting into romantic moments together. I've already made sure they have a single room with one bed booked. All we need to do is give them space, have room service show up with lovely dinners, romantic music mysteriously play through the window... You get the idea.” “And if all that fails, we are going to be near Princess Cadence the whole week. You know, the one pony on this planet who can tell us anything we need to know to get Cole some of that flank.” I added. Everypony gave me a look. “What?” I asked, “Shine's kinda cute.” Octavia glared at me hard enough to make me think her eyes turned red. “Not the cutest mare I know. But if well a certain one didn't ex... I'm just digging a grave here aren't I?” Lyra and Bon-bon nodded, “Oh yeah.” I kicked my hooves against the floor nervously. Octavia took a breath and calmed down over a few minutes of awkward silence. “I forgive you.” She mumbled quietly. Bon-bon quickly spoke up, “So, we spend the week doing everything possible to hook them up and as a backup plan we have Cadence, who I am pretty sure will help. I mean, that's her job. Ensuring ponies live happy together. Sounds like a plan!” “Yes, that seems like a good strategy, but it's not really a plan now is it?” Octavia asked, “What exactly will we do day to day? We can't simply make this up was we go along. Love is like a symphony, it needs to have an ebb and a flow. If you simply fling notes, bars, and measures together you wind up with dubstep.” “Hey!” I protested glaring daggers at Octavia. “You know full well that song you keep asking me to play is dubstep!” “Er- Well, most ponies dubstep. Yours is different. You put effort into it. It's music, not noise.” Octavia admitted, ears drooping in embarrassment. Lyra tapped a hoof to her jaw in thought, “It's still a good point though. We need a real plan.” “Well, we could start with a mysterious lovly dinner on the first night. I know an excellent restaurant in Canterlot which delivers to the hotels. Oh. How many bits do we have for a budget?” Bon-bon asked looking concerned. “I got like, five hundred bits saved up for whatever money. Anypony want to chip in?” I asked. Octavia hummed, “Well I suppose I can spare a little of my money this month. Between Vinyl and I we have seven hundred and forty bits we can spend.” “Well... I can't spare anything. Basic income pays the bills, but ponies haven't been giving as much for my music lately. And I had had... expenses.” Lyra admitted. “And I can spare thirty bits.” Bon-bon finished, “We have a budget of eight hundred then. With everypony's permission, I would like to be in charge of the budget. I am the one with a business after all. Do you trust me to handle the money?” Bon-bon asked, her face sliding into the same serious look she had while doing her candy shop stuff. “You are the best choice.” Octavia said in support. I nodded. Lyra gave Bon a grin as her answer. She nodded gratefully before launching off into planning mode. “Alright. Let's brainstorm. How much should we reserve for meals? We need at least two fancy dinners, one at the beginning, and one at the end. After all we want the last night to be the biggest push in case the others fail right?” Everypony agreed that seemed like a good idea. It took a little arguing but eventually we decided to reserve a third of the money for meals. After that the plan started to shape up quickly. A theater in Canterlot was going to be putting on a special performance in honor of the wedding. It was some old famous love story which Octy smacked me for forgetting was the first play I took her too. I swear that mare went bipolar at the boarding school her folks forced her to go to. Yeah sure, she was a little out of control as a filly but she came back from that place almost completely different. Sometimes it's like her old self reaches through the 'prim and proper mare' she became to smack some sense into somepony. Celestia knows why but that's what got me to i her. It was weird. She came back after two years, different mane cut, calm soft toned voice, and her guitar traded in for a cello. Not a one of us even recognized her. Until she got pissed that we didn't know who she was and went ballistic. Then we knew exactly who she was. I also knew that the pony she had become was awesome. That wild, untamed, part of her got a makeover into an old fashioned noble mare persona. After I realized it wasn't an act, that Octy really was different now I totally had to ask her out. She had gone from that crazy friend I liked because of all the stuff she got up to into a sort of living dubstep. Soft flowing notes punctuated by intense bursts of pure wub. A mare to match my music. Sweet discordant perfection. I still count myself lucky that school didn't force her to like stallions. Our group started as a gathering of nerdy lesbians, so I hoped she would be ok with trying a date. But I was pretty scared that part of her had been just as changed as everything else. Turns out the only part of the 'new' Octy which was an act was, convincing her parents she wasn't into mares anymore. The two of them are some of the most awfully old school ponies I know. If the family business and her inheritance didn't mean so much to Octy, I'd just file a restraining order on those two and treat my girl right. Instead, after she jumped at my offer of a date our relationship operated under a total cloaking device. Tavi even hired some gay stallion to pretend to be her coltfriend so her folks wouldn't think we were together. He was pretty cool about it. He even helped me sneak into her room a few times by distracting her folks. I have no idea what happened to that guy. I hope he found some nice stallion, won a million bits, or something. At least my folks are cool about it. I couldn't lie to them when they asked if I had a special somepony yet. I remember my dad asking me when the wedding would be. He wasn't even joking, he was totally serious. He had been all “We will need at least half a year to ensure everyone in the family can turn up.” and everything. I explained everything about our relationship to them., I thought maybe dad could do something to prevent her folks from locking Octy out. Apparently law and authority don't work that way. Ah well. I'm still just happy I found my special somepony, even if I have to wait for her folks to kick the bucket before it's official. As my brain reminded me just how important Octy was to me I realized something just as important. How miserable Cole had to be. “Girls... We have to do this. Like, we have to hook them up.” Octavia nodded, “Yes, we all agreed to help Cole out of her predicament.” “No I mean like... Ugh,” the words just wouldn't form like I wanted them to. “It's important to have that somepony you know? I... I just remembered exactly how much somepony means to me. I get to spend time with her, Cole can't. It's just...” “Depressing?” Bon-bon offered. “Yeah.” I sighed. “Well we got a great plan! I'm sure we will fix the problem.” Lyra proclaimed happily. Octavia nodded in agreement. “Our group has faced more difficult things in the past than this.” “When have we pulled off something without Shine though?” I asked mid frown. “Before she joined our group, duh.” Lyra rolled her eyes. “You don't remember middle school? Getting out of gym class by faking a timber wolf attack?” Octavia asked with a small grin at the memory. “Huh... ok, point.” That was one of the most difficult things I could remember doing. “Well then this should be cake right?” Everypony nodded in agreement. “We should get some sleep. We have three days to get everything arranged.” Bon-bon reminded as she gave Lyra an affectionate nuzzle, “Come on hon, let's get going.” “Ok.” Lyra walked to the door and opened it for Bon, waving to us before walking out, “Later girls!” Bon's wave came a split second later before she closed the door. I gave the two of them a few molments to get some distance from the house before turning to Octy with a feeble grin on my lips, “Hey, um... sorry if I made you mad earlier...” She smiled softly, “It's fine. I shouldn't get mad at you for the way you speak.” “No, I get it. Really.” I stepped over to her and put my arm around her shoulders, “Don't worry Octy, nopony could ever fill your chair.” She smiled again, nodding down the hall to our bedroom. The one spot in Equestria we can just be us. “What like now?” I asked hopefully. She laughed, “No Vinyl, just some snuggling.” My ears fell in disappointment. “Fine... but you have to make breakfast tomorrow.” “Deal.” She answered, giving me a kiss on the cheek before trotting down the hall.