Lyra tried to stay quiet as she got dressed after her shower. She slowly slid her clothes on, but the door squeaked when she turned the handle. She flinched. Usually she would have used her magic, but that noise always seemed to wake up unicorns. She waited, hoping against hope that Vinyl would remain asleep.
“Where're you goin'?” Vinyl asked, her voice muffled by her position face down on her bed.
Lyra winced. “Oh, you know, out and about,” she said airily.
Vinyl rotated her head slightly. “You're going to hang out with Bon Bon, aren't you?” she asked. It wasn't quite an accusation, but the pain in her voice was evident.
“Maybe?” Lyra winced again. She wasn't a good liar.
Vinyl rolled back over. “Have fun,” she said into her pillow.
Lyra frowned. Vinyl was her closest friend, and it hurt to see her in pain like this. Still, she had thought all night last night and even a little while laying in bed this morning, and she had decided that anything she could think of to say just wouldn’t help Vinyl. She headed out the door, hoping fervently that Vinyl would be ok.
* * *
“-and that's what makes my chocolate the best chocolate this side of the Griffonia border,” Bon Bon finished proudly.
Lyra continued eating her square. She licked her lips, but didn't make eye contact. “Yeah. It's delicious.”
Bon Bon's eyes narrowed as she began to suspect that Lyra wasn't paying complete attention. “But some chocolatiers use children's tears* as their main ingredient instead of the cocoa butter. Those are just so hard to come by, but they really add volume and a smooth, silky texture to the mixture.”
Lyra nodded. “Yeah, I could see that.”
“You're distracted,” Bon Bon accused.
Lyra shook her head. “No I'm not; I'm paying-” Her voice trailed off as she saw that Bon Bon had pulled down her shirt and was flashing her.
Lyra grinned wolfishly as she took in the sight. “How long-?”
Smirking, Bon Bon tugged her shirt back up. “The whole conversation; but you weren’t watching. Sucks to be you!”
“Nuh-uh,” Lyra retorted.
“Anyway, now that I actually have your attention, what's bothering you?”
Lyra sighed. “I'm thinking about Vinyl. Octavia broke up with her, and she's pretty devastated.”
“Why?” Bon Bon asked.
“Because she really loved her, I guess.”
“No, why did Octavia break up with her? Did she cheat on her? Forget her birthday?” Her voice darkened. “Lie about her gender?”
Lyra cracked a smile and shrugged. “I don't know; but she did say no in a pretty crushing way.”
Bon Bon shrugged. “So did I; and we're still together.”
Lyra leaned over and gave Bon Bon a tight hug. “That's true. And I've never been happier.”
Bon Bon briefly returned the nuzzle before coughing and straightening up slightly. “So what are you going to do about it? Go to Octavia's apartment and see what she says about it?”
* * *
Octavia was sitting at her kitchen table, glaring at her fifth cup of coffee and a whole packet of staff paper that had remained stubbornly blank all morning when she heard voices outside her window. Normally, that wouldn't be too big a cause for concern; but as she listened, she could tell that these voices definitely weren't grounds crew.
“I still can't believe we're here right now.”
“It'll totally work. Great idea, by the way.”
“I was being facetious!”
“Still going to work. Ok. This one's hers. Now crouch and let me on. She's on the second floor.”
“How do you know where she lives?”
“Vinyl checked to see if her equipment would fit if Octavia ever asked her to live with her. Now crouch!”
Octavia snorted. Had Vinyl moved in, her neighbors would likely have tried to have her evicted within the hour.
“This is not what I had in mind when I invited you over this morning!”
“Yeah, well, I can't lift you, so this is our only-”
There was a solid thump, as if someone had just been dropped onto the ground. “Are you calling me fat?”
“No! No, no, of course not! It's just… you're just stronger than me because you're an earth pony and such; and I'm a unicorn and I'm light, because of magic and stuff.”
Octavia could have sworn she heard a 'squee' sound from what could only have been a sheepish smile.
“Hmf. Nice save, but you're still in trouble.”
And then there came the sound of grunting, and then a knock on her window. Now morbidly curious, Octavia got up and walked over to see a very familiar-looking unicorn knocking. She set her pencil down on a nearby table, leaned over, and slid open the window. “Good afternoon,” she said pleasantly.
“Hi,” Lyra said, resting her hands against the siding. “We need to talk.”
“About what? And how did you get up here?” Octavia looked down and saw that Lyra was being held up by an earth pony. She pursed her lips. “That doesn't look particularly comfortable,” she observed.
“Nope,” Bon Bon said with a slight grunt. “Not at all.”
Lyra looked down and scowled. “Can't you just enjoy the view while I have this conversation?”
Bon Bon harrumphed, but did crack a smile.
Lyra turned back to Octavia. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you break up with Vinyl?”
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “That’s a little personal, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, kinda; but Vinyl’s been my friend since forever, so I think that gives me a little personal leeway.” She grinned again.
Octavia exhaled through her nose. “Let’s just say we had an interaction that shed doubt on her intentions.”
Lyra squinted. “Translation?”
“They had a falling out and now she thinks Vinyl is up to no good,” Bon Bon translated.
Lyra looked down and grinned. “Thank you.”
“I try.”
Lyra looked back up at Octavia and frowned. “What could she have possibly said?” she asked. “You're her whole world, Octavia. Trust me. She would never have said anything hurtful on purpose. Awkward, yeah—every other thing she says comes out awkward—but if she knew you had been hurt, she wouldn't let anything stand in her way of making it right.”
Octavia paused. Lyra certainly seemed earnest; though calling Vinyl's actions 'awkward' was a definite stretch.
Lyra continued. “She's currently laying on her bed, replaying all her dates with you in her head, trying to figure out what she did wrong. She doesn't even think it's you; she thinks it's her fault. She thinks it’s something she did. Maybe it was. I don’t know. But please, at least talk to her. Give her some closure. Whatever she did, I'm sure…” She paused, and then scowled. “Wait, don’t tell me. When she did the thing, she was wearing her sunglasses, her ears, and a tail.”
Octavia blinked. “Yes; how did you know?”
Lyra facepalmed hard, which forced Bon Bon to perform some fairly impressive footwork to keep her marefriend balanced on top. When she'd regained her balance, Lyra grumbled, “I told her. I told her that was a bad idea.” She looked up. “So, Vinyl’s an introvert.”
Octavia cracked a smile. “I noticed.”
“And so she's created this whole DJ Pon-3 persona to be someone she can't be. She lets herself go, but just for those instances. She doesn't even remember what she does when she puts those glasses on. It’s like she’s a whole other person.” Her voice dropped slightly. “Please. She's miserable without you. She hasn't showered, she barely eats, and she hasn’t even touched herself in days. Whatever she did as DJ Pon-3, she didn't mean it. She loves you, I promise. Please, go talk with her.”
Octavia bit her lower lip. “I'll need to think about this,” she finally said.
Lyra nodded. “Ok. You do that.”
They waited for a moment. Octavia coughed lightly, but Lyra didn't move.
“Are you done thinking yet?” Lyra asked hopefully.
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “You mean you wanted me to go now?”
“Sooner the better,” Lyra said with a wide smile. “She's really messed up. I'm getting worried about her. She's eating all the ice cream again.”
It was Bon Bon’s turn to facepalm.
Lyra waited five more seconds. “How about now?”
“Just about,” Octavia said, more to humor Lyra than anything else.
They waited a moment longer. Bon Bon shuffled uncomfortably under Lyra’s weight.
Octavia exhaled and then nodded. “Very well. I’ll go speak with her.”
“Now?” Lyra prodded.
Octavia cracked a smile. “Very well; now. Anything else I can do for you?”
Lyra looked around, and then looked up sheepishly. “Yeah. Tell me, what’s the safest way down from here?”
LOL