Stability Chapter 4

It was one of those secrets.

Lyra awoke, still completely dumbfounded by the events of the previous night. She looked to her left to see that the space Bon Bon would normally occupy was empty. The mare shook her head as she began to talk to herself.

"Of all the things that Octavia had to tell her, she had to tell her that? I mean, not that I'm complaining... That was... Different..." The unicorn let out a lengthy sigh. "I'm going to have to have a word with that pony. Spreading those things around about ponies is not cool. Well... It was nice..."

Lyra groggily hopped out of bed, her weighted eyelids urging her to fall back over; last night had completely worn her out. Her eyes half closed, she scanned the room for a clock, finding it in its usual place. The numbers that stared back at her forced her eyes open with a start.

"Twelve-thirty!? Cinnamon Swirl will have my head!"

Her horn glowed and her magical aura enveloped her work uniform. She hurriedly trotted down the stairs, running into Bon Bon as she turned the corner. The mare found herself in a tangled pile of limbs; she suddenly didn't mind the delay.

"Well aren't you in a hurry. I'm surprised you have so much energy after last night."

Lyra could tell that her marefriend could see her blushing. She shook her head vigorously. "Sorry, Bon Bon. I'm late for work and need really need to get going." The unicorn hopped to her hooves and helped the other mare up, grasping her uniform with her magic once more.

Before she could sprint out the door, the earth pony restrained her with a loving hoof, drawing her in close. Their lips passionately locked for a little longer than Lyra expected; nothing to complain about. It felt like time stopped for a moment before her marefriend halted her assault, releasing her imprisoned lips.

Lyra stood dazed for a moment before shaking her head once more. She couldn't afford any more beautiful distractions, no matter how much she wanted them. Her hooves started back up again as she resumed her rush. "Love you, bye!" she shouted while she exited the sweet shop.

Immediately, the pony entered deep-thought-mode as she found herself slowly trotting down the road

She really did love that mare she lived with, which made it that much harder to decide what she was going to do about her job. She searched her brain for an answer that would satisfy both her boss and her marefriend. Without that job, there goes an almost good amount of income, but this upcoming saturday seemed really important to Bon Bon, and if it was important to her lover, it was important to herself.

The unicorn almost entered full gallop down the road leading to her workplace as a sudden realization hit her: she was still late. She occasionally tripped when she attempted to put on her uniform while running. Her shirt mostly buttoned, the café peeked over the horizon.

She barreled through the front door, tripping and then clambering back to her hooves as she tried to make her way to the back of the restaurant. Her back was soon met with the ground, her body flipping over in her rush the moment she entered her boss' office.

"Tartstrings? Do you realize how long I've been waiting for you to show up?"

Lyra cowered on the floor, preparing herself to be fired on the spot.

"Celestia, look at you. You look like you just came from a wild mare's bedroom."

The unicorn nervously tried to chuckle, but it came out as more of a squeak; she knew that wasn't far from the truth at all. She slowly picked herself up to her hooves trying to look natural by dusting herself off and running a hoof through her mane. "Well, you see, I was just-"

"I don't care about your life. Now get to work. You have one strike."

"Yes ma'am. It won-"

"And fix your Luna-dang shirt already! Honestly, how hard is it to hire some skank to dress you up in the morning?"

Lyra looked down to see that she had missed a couple, or six, buttons putting it on. Although she absolutely hated her marefriend having any relation to the word "skank", she grumbled and complied. Lucky for her boss' safety, she let the accidental reference slide.

With a sigh, she turned and trotted out of the office. She was greeted with a very loud and obnoxious Everfree Café.

"Oh, Celestia," she muttered to herself. "The lunch rush."

"Where the hay are my hay fries?"

Lyra looked at the floor as she trotted over, hardly ready to begin to tend to the needs of the customers. "And it begins."

***                        ***                        ***

The mint green unicorn's hooves scraped against the dirt. Her head hung low as she wobbled on the path to Bon Bon's sweet shop. Today, however shortened her work day was, was absolutely exhausting for her. The customers only seemed to become more and more irritating as the day went on, and her boss' manure-like attitude helped push her to her breaking point. Her decision was definitely made; there was no way that she would be coming in on Saturday just to serve these subpony monsters. It was much, much more attractive to spend the day with the mare she loved.

The door creaked open slowly when the mare pushed it open. Bon Bon was right about business being slow, although it was rather late for customers. She slowly walked through the house, removing her dirty work uniform and calling out to her marefriend with a classic "Honey, I'm home!"

She turned a corner into the kitchen and soon found herself trapped in the loving embrace of a cream colored more. Instantly, she returned the hug, adding a small kiss to go with it.

"Listen," the earth pony told her as she broke away. "I thought about the whole ordeal with your boss wanting you to come in on Saturday, and I decided that I don't mind if you work that day. I realized that the only reason you took that job was for me, and it was one of the kindest things anypony has ever done for me."

Lyra felt her gaze softening. She snickered a little before breaking out into full laughter.

"What is it?" Bon Bon questioned, looking her body over and fluffing her mane. "Do I have something in my teeth? Did I use the wrong conditioner again?"

The unicorn slowed down her laughter. "Oh, no. It's nothing like that. It's just that I made a choice too, and I don't think we're on the same page here"

"What? Are you going to finally cancel your subscription to Fillyfooler magazine?"

"Well, no, but- Hey! They have good articles!"

The earth pony rolled her eyes. "Right. So what is this choice?"

Lyra draped a caring hoof around the mare's shoulder. "I decided that you're far more important to me than some crappy job and a crappy boss."

"Wait, so you're quitting?"

"More of preparing to get fired, but all the same, it's for our own good."

Lyra watched her marefriend look down and shake her head. The pony looked up to reveal one of the most beautiful smiles that the unicorn had ever seen. She felt her body hit the floor as she was tacked by the mare, her torso tightly squeezed by Bon Bon's hooves.

"Hey! Bon! We don't have a couch fort under us this time!"

The cold of the kitchen floor was cancelled by the warmth of the pony on top of her. Her lips were pecked with small, loving kisses from the earth pony. Lyra questioned how long this would last before it escalated, the lack of oxygen she was getting under the weight of the pony worrying her.

"You know what, Bon Bon?" the unicorn wheezed.

"What's that?"

"You do have something in your teeth."

The mare hopped off of her, a horrified expression on her face. Lyra took a deep gulp of air while she hopped to her hooves.

"Gotcha. I just needed to breath."

Bon Bon shook her head. "You... You really know how to kill the mood. My weight has never been a problem before..."

Lyra immediately saw the cause for alarm, rushing over to the pony and not as forcefully wrapping her in her hooves. "No, no. Don't you ever think that." She kissed her deeply. "It's just that usually we're covered in pillows, or on something soft. Kitchen floors are rough on the back; you and I both know that."

The earth pony smirked, reminded of past adventures. "But really? My teeth? If I had wings, they'd be drooping right now."

"I'm just saying that a nice warm bed is a lot more comfortable than a cold hard floor." Lyra searched her brain, trying to find something, anything that could give her another shot tonight. Her eyes brightened as they came up with something. "And about your teeth..."

"Yeah? What about them?"

The mare leaned up to the earth pony's ear. "I could help clean them for you."

"Well, there we go. My imaginary wings are back up again."

Bingo.

***                        ***                        ***

The pair laid together, Bon Bon resting her head on Lyra's lap and idly examining her hooves while the unicorn flipped through the ironic weekly issue of Equestria Today. The mint pony heard her marefriend let out a sigh while she turned another page, but pinned it on satisfaction as opposed to attention needing.

"Lyra?" the mare said, slightly shifting.

The unicorn turned another page, completely engrossed in whatever she was reading.

"Lyra," the pony said a little more forcefully.

Luckily, that got her attention, the golden-eyed pony answering with a "Hmm?"

"I know you're reading Fillyfooler magazine."

Lyra looked up from the pages. "Pfft. Am not." The earth pony tore away the fake cover, revealing the posing mares on the front. "Okay, I am. What's it matter?"

"Well, I mean, you never let me read." The cream mare put on her best pout.

Her eyes lighting up, the unicorn put down the magazine. "Oh, really? I didn't think you liked this sort of stuff. Here." She hoofed the suggestive pages over to her. "Sapphire Shores did a big, and I mean big, reveal, and Photo Fini-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the magazine hitting the wall. Before she could protest, her marefriend spoke up.

"Listen, something has been bothering you, and you need to tell me what it is."

"What? No, nothing is bothering me. I'm perfectly fine. I'm not anxious or anything," the unicorn stammered.

"I never said you were anxious."

"Oh. Well, you implied it."

"Lyra, tell me what it is."

The mare took a breath. "Fine, I'll tell you." Her eyes frantically scanned the room for some sort of device she could use as an excuse. "Could I get that magazine back?"

"No."

"Alright, fine." She looked upon her current marefriend. "It's Octavia."

"What about her?"

"Don't you find it kind of weird that she would tell you about... me?"

"You aren't exactly normal yourself, dear."

"Everypony's laughing," Lyra scoffed. "But really, why would she tell you about that? I'm kind of worried that she may want to..."

"Want to what, Lyra?"

"That she may want to take me away from you."

Bon Bon almost laughed. "I suppose you'll get to ask her tomorrow. I don't know where you get your reasoning sometimes, Lyra. If anything we're much closer since she let that secret of yours slip."

"Well... yeah." Lyra blushed. "But still, it's strange."

The earth pony climbed up the body of her marefriend, planting a firm and, from Lyra's perspective, delicious kiss on her lips. "Don't worry about a thing. I'm not letting you out of my hooves. Ever."

The unicorn smiled at that. She was happy to have such a caring marefriend.

"And besides, I'm positive that I'm the only mare that would take you."

It was Lyra's turn to roll her eyes. "Thanks, Bon Bon. You always make me feel so much better." She stuck her tongue out at the mare to further her point, but quickly drew it back in fear that it would end up in Bon Bon's mouth. It was hard to be cute with her.

"Anyway, I think it's about time for this foolish filly to go to bed." Bon Bon kissed the mare, rolling back over to her side of the mattress. "Goodnight."

"Yeah," the unicorn replied, turning out the lights with her magic. "Goodnight."

Silence enveloped the room quickly. Lyra took it as an invitation to shuffle over and open the drawer to her magazine stash. She immediately grabbed the old issue on top.

"Put it back."

The unicorn grumbled, loudly shutting the drawer.

***                        ***                        ***

Dawn broke upon Lyra. She stretched, sat up, yawned and licked her lips to force her mind awake. To her delight, they still tasted like Bon Bon. The mare hopped out of bed, scratching her hindquarters and making her way to the bathroom for her morning shower. She could hear her marefriend downstairs making preparations for Octavia and her company that would be arriving soon.

The sound of the water flowing forth instantly began to calm her nerves; it had been a stressful past few days for her, and she really needed some relaxation, however brief it may be. She stepped into the artificial downpour, stretching once more.

The soothing water flowed through her mane, her mind immediately drifting into contemplation mode, as it had done so many times before. Images of the gray mare that had re-entered her life almost haunted her. She stared at the situation at hand. Was it really alright for her current lover to be best buddies with her ex-marefriend? It just screamed problems for her.

Worse; what if she wasn't trying to take her away from Bon Bon, but Bon Bon away from her? No doubt that the cream earth pony she loved was an unbelievably attractive mare, and Octavia was as well. What's to stop them from getting together? It continued to solidify in Lyra's mind how lucky she was to have her and how tentative that seemed.

She let out a deep and almost depressed sigh, levitating some shampoo to her mane and reaching up with her hooves to wash it. The warm water's ability to provoke thoughts was a double edged sword, bringing as many questions as it did answers. She felt like she could contemplate indefinitely if it wasn't for a knock on the door.

"Lyra? When are you going to be out? Other ponies need to shower too."

Back to reality.

"Well come on in; there's room for two!" She was testing the waters, trying to gauge Bon Bon's chance of leaving her.

To her disappointment, it wasn't a yes or even a laugh. "Lyra, this is serious. Octavia will be here any minute with some friends. I need to make sure they help out the shop, and I can't do that if I smell like... You know exactly what I smell like."

She did have a point. "Alright, alright. I'm getting out," the unicorn grumbled, opening the shower door and levitating a towel. She magicked open the bathroom door, wrapping and drying her mane. With a smile, she turned to her marefriend who was impatiently waiting on the other side.

"Y'know, I like the way you smell."

She received a kiss in return. "I know you do, Lyra. I know you do." The earth pony smiled. "Now if they arrive early, let them in and tell them I'll be down in a minute. I don't know how exactly they'll be helping out, but Octavia seemed pretty sure she could help us. Oh, and one more thing." She stared at her marefriend. "Please be nice to our guests. They're doing us a massive favor, and we don't want to scare them off."

Lyra continued to dry herself off with the towel. "Yeah, they're probably these snobby Canterlot types. Octavia always did like to surround herself with them. Don't worry, I know how to deal with their kind." With a wink, she tossed the towel into the trash bin and trotted down the stairs, watching just long enough to see Bon Bon rolling her eyes.

The kitchen happily greeted her and vice-versa, her magic reaching out and grabbing various breakfast items and stuffing her face with them as fast as she could. No sooner had she seated herself upon  a nearby chair that the doorbell rang.

Grumbling and continuing to eat her food, she trotted over to the door. Running on autopilot, she reached out to the door, stopping when she remembered what Bon Bon told her. The piece of toast hanging from the corner of her mouth was quickly gobbled up along with the rest of the breakfast Lyra was levitating. She cleared her throat and opened the door.

"I have a package for you!"

Lyra almost jumped back in surprise at the sight of the grey pegasus. She quickly recovered, looking around to make sure nopony else saw her surprise. Regaining her bearings, she trotted towards the door with a smile, always glad to see the perpetually happy pony. "Thanks, Derpy," she said as she received her thin package.

"No problem Miss Heartstrings! Have a nice day!" The mare flew off, accidentally gyrating in the air before gliding on a steady plane. Lyra laughed at her antics. She always wondered how a featherbrain like her could be so happy all the time.

She shrugged, shutting the door and levitating the package in front of her. "Oh!" the unicorn exclaimed, looking over where it's from. "It must be my new issue of Batmare. I'll have to read it tonight." Her gaze narrowed. "Especially if Bon Bon really wants to get rid of all my copies of Fillyfooler.

Her magic enveloped nearby scissors and hovered them above the package before she heard another knock at the door. With an irritated sigh, she dropped them, lethargically trotting over to the front of the candy shop. She sometimes wondered why people didn't just walk in. It was a store, after all.

The door opened with a creak, revealing a white unicorn idly standing on the other side of it. Again, Lyra was surprised, but this time for a different reason. Her eyes slowly scanned the mare in front of her; she didn't look like some sort of snobbish Canterlot nobility that Octavia would hang out with. Not that Lyra had been around high-class elite recently, but she was positive they didn't wildly spike their manes. This pony looked like an absolute party animal.

"Hello? Can I help you?" There was no way this could be a member of Octavia's company. The pearl-white unicorn opened her mouth respond, but slowly shut it awkwardly. Lyra questioned if the mare was mute. In a flash, the mare's eyes, or what could be seen of them through her glasses, lit up, her horn glowing and levitating out a piece of paper.

"Oh yeah, 'Tavi said I should read this note so I don't embarrass her or something." This only perplexed Lyra more, but the pony continued on, clearing her throat and beginning to recite the words on the paper.

"Miss Lyra Heartstrings and Miss Bon Bon-- can you believe she wrote 'Miss'?-- My name is Vinyl Scratch, and I will be providing entertainment this evening outside of the store. I will be playing the filth that young colts and fillies enjoy entitled 'dubstep'-- her uneducated opinion, not mine-- in hopes that such noise will draw ponies to Miss Bon Bon's sweet shop here."

Lyra stood, baffled. Who was this mare that apparently Octavia, of all ponies, had sent? Definitely couldn't be one of her friends, that was for sure. "Excuse me, Miss, uh, Vinyl. Is-"

"Drop the 'Miss'."

"Right, Vinyl. So Octavia sent you here to do what exac-"

"Keep your panties on. There's more in the note." She coughed once more and started again. "Octavia will be arriving momentarily to assist me in my endeavors-- I don't even know what that means-- to draw customers and blah blah blah. Whatever." The pony tossed the note behind her. "Anyway, you must be Lyra. Nice to meet you." The green unicorn felt her arm shake as it was vigorously shaken by one called Vinyl.

Lyra raised her eyebrow, thoroughly confused as to why, of all ponies, Octavia sent her. That note didn't help her at all. "So, Octavia hired a DJ?"

"Pfft. No. I came here because it was in my best interests. And she asked nicely. Who can say no to that sexy bowtie toting mare?"

Yeah, and Bon Bon was worried about Lyra embarrassing her.

"Anyway, where do I set up?"

The sudden host looked past the mare, immediately intimidated by the piles of music equipment. "Um, anywhere is fine, I guess. Let me go get Bon Bon."

"Cool. It will be up in a jiff."

Lyra nodded, slowly walking backwards away from the mare. She didn't know if she should be impressed with or scared of the DJ. Once she was out of sight, she turned and almost galloped up the stairs, heading up to where Bon Bon was readying herself for the day.

"Hey, uh, Bon. Octavia's friend is here."

"Friend? Like, singular?"

"Yeah."

Bon Bon looked at her, visibly confused. "I was under the impression that she was bringing an orchestra or something."

"Well we may still have more than we bargained for. Take a look." Lyra led her to the window where they could see that pony called Vinyl fumbling with some tangled cables leading up to massive speakers.

"Oh... My... Are those lights?"

"Looks like it."

Bon Bon shrugged. "Well I Octavia said that she would help bring business. I suppose police may count."

Lyra had to snicker. "You haven't even met her yet. Come on, let's go."

The earth pony ran a brush through her mane a couple more times before following her marefriend out of their bathroom and back down the stairs. Lyra questioned why she put so much time into her appearance when it was just going to get messed up by making and selling candies all day.

The door opened just in time for the pair to be blasted with a wave of sound from the massive amplifiers. Vinyl looked over at them. Lyra was sure she saw the perplexed look on her and Bon Bon's faces, as the white unicorn quickly shouted "Sound check!"

Lyra could tell that her marefriend was fighting the urge to facehoof.

"I don't believe we've met. My name is Bon Bon." Despite the situation, the earth pony still introduced herself as she would any other pony.

"Vinyl!" The mare responded, shouting over her headphones. Lyra wasn't sure that the Vinyl even heard Bon Bon.

"Well it's nice to meet yo-" Bon Bon was interrupted by another wave of sound tearing through the speakers.

The DJ slowly removed her headphones, placing them on the soundboard in front of her. With them she placed her glasses and shook her mane. Lyra was impressed; the unicorn had already set up everything she needed. That magic works wonders. She was about to open her mouth to address the pony, but she was cut off by a familiar and welcome voice.

"There you are, Vinyl. Glad to see that you're all ready and set up. I hope you at least had the decency to greet our gracious hosts." The gray mare approached, a bagged cello slung across her back

"Of course I have. That's Tauntaun and that's Skyra." Closer than Lyra's boss ever got. Octavia shot the DJ a heavy gaze. "Just messin' with you, 'Tavi."

The earth pony sighed. "Well, you haven't destroyed everything in your path yet, so that's a good sign."

Lyra heard the white unicorn grumble something along the lines of "That was one time." Octavia approached her and her marefriend.

"I'm terribly sorry about her. She's... She's something else. But she's good at drawing ponies, nevertheless, and I know how much young fillies and colts like her hip new music." The pony sighed, looking at the cello on her back.

"Oh, cheer up, 'Tavi. No need to be a Debbie downer all the time." Vinyl had dismounted from her position on top of her makeshift stage.

Octavia turned from Lyra and Bon Bon. "I'd be much, much more cheerful if you didn't go around embarrassing me everywhere we visit. Honestly, I don't know why I drag you around sometimes." The classical musician let out a startled "eep!" as Vinyl's hoof made contact with her flank.

"Because you know I make it worth your while."

My... That's... Inappropriate, Lyra thought to herself. A smile quickly broke across her face. I think me and her are going to get along just fine.

Octavia made several attempts at responding, but was too flustered to address the unicorn. The deep red hue of her face confirmed so.

"Wait..." Lyra observed. "You two are together?"

The gray mare still couldn't speak, so Vinyl took over. "Yep! She'll never admit it, but she just can't get enough of me. I can't tell you how many times we've-"

"You can stop there, Vinyl!" Octavia finally broke through her embarrassment. "You don't need to tell everypony we meet about that."

The DJ quickly wrapped her hooves around the mare, pecking her on the cheek and whispering something that Lyra couldn't quite make out. It was obviously a doozy based off the intensity to which Octavia's blush returned.

Bon Bon found this to be an optimal time to cough. "Well, I guess if you're all ready, we can start... whatever it is you're here to do."

Vinyl's eyes lit up. "On it!" She quickly darted up to her DJ plat form, throwing her glasses back upon her face. She quickly levitated out a record and tossed it upon her turntables. Lyra looked over to see Octavia covering her ears with her hooves. The green unicorn assumed that it was because she disliked the music.

She was wrong.

Her hooves almost slipped out from under her at the blast from the massive speakers. Her hooves found her way to her own ears, covering them with as much force as she could. It was just so... loud. She quickly realized that it wasn't headphones seated upon the DJ's ears; it was ear protection.

Lyra assumed that Vinyl got the hint to turn it down from seeing all the ponies covering their ears on the floor. "Too loud?" she inquired.

Not that any of the other ponies would have heard her over their ringing ear drums.

Seeing Bon Bon, laying on the ground, Lyra quickly dedicated the next passing moments to helping the candy maker to her hooves.

"Oh Celestia. I think we'll draw as many noise complaints as we will customers."

Good, she was still alive after that blast.

"Yeah, but even complaining people like candy," the unicorn responded. "So either way, perfect for business. If anyone asks, we don't know her."

Bon Bon smiled in return.

Lyra turned around to see what damage the wave had done to the delicate ears of Octavia, but was surprised to see that Octavia had not only recovered, but was trotting towards them. She supposed that the grey mare was already so used to the sounds of Vinyl's bass. Closer inspection revealed that she was carrying some papers in her muzzle.

"What are these?" she questioned.

"Noise permits."

"Ah." She levitated them out of Octavia's grasp. "I could see how we would need those." Bon Bon eagerly snatched them, taking them inside. "I can tell that this isn't your first time with..." Lyra looked at the pony balancing a record on her nose. "Her."

Octavia nodded, not feeling the need to respond.

"How long have you two been together?"

"About three or so years."

Three years? Lyra's thoughts began to spin. That's about as long as long as me and Bon Bon have been together. She cleared her throat. "So about after we..."

"Broke it off? Yes."

The unicorn subconsciously decided that now would be a good time to stare at the ground and idly dig at it with her hoof. Silence engulfed them. She wasn't sure if Octavia was even still there, but decided to ask a question anyway. "How... How did you two meet?"

"Oh, well I was walk-"

Their conversation, if it was even deserving of the term, was interrupted by another wave of bass from the speakers. Vinyl had a mic levitated in front of her face. "Alright, are we going to start this thing or what?"

"You sure this will work?" Lyra questioned how effective blasting music would be to attract customers.

"Not sure, but, if anything, it will give Bon Bon's store more publicity. Where is she, anyway? I'd like to have a quick word with her."

"Probably doing some last minute preparations inside. Go on in, it's just about time for the store to open."

Octavia nodded. "Could you tell Vinyl that we're ready to start."

"Sure thing. She sure looks ready." The DJ looked almost bored. "Well, ready enough." Lyra had actually be wanting an opportunity to talk with that mare. It seemed to her that they had the potential to share a few jokes together.

She excitedly trotted over to the unicorn. The white pony jumped up upon seeing her. "We gonna start this? Can I finally spin some records. Lyra nodded. "Alright! Let's do this!"

Lyra could have sworn that the next wave of bass woke Luna up.

***                        ***                        ***

"...then I told her 'You're my little candy-ass,' and I think that's what really won her over."

"Nice, nice." Vinyl took another sip of her cider.

Octavia's idea to attract customers had gone perfectly. Better than perfect. It got to the point where Bon Bon had to bring Lyra and Octavia inside to help with all the customers. Even better for them, the police only showed up once, and, after seeing the appropriate permits, bought some candy and pledged to return. It was only when the candy maker's stock, including her emergency supply, had run out that they had to call it quits late in the afternoon.

Lyra and Vinyl found themselves sitting in the living room, drinking cider and sharing past stories while their marefriends were off in the kitchen doing something or other. The green unicorn was having so much fun that she had almost completely forced out of her mind that she would be fired on monday for skipping the day she was asked to come in. It just didn't matter to her.

"Wait 'till you hear this one," the DJ said to her, looking to her left and right to make sure the gray mare wasn't listening in. "This one time, back when we were in the 'let's try this dating thing out for a bit' stage, I took her to Dream Pasture concert. I don't think she got the memo for what to wear, because when I go to pick her up, she comes out in a dress and with a fan in the cleft of her hoof."

"No way! Really?" Lyra was surprised at how some of the white unicorn's musical tastes ran parallel to her own. Despite being raised on classical, she still enjoyed nice progressive tracks.

"Yup. So I tell her to go change because it's not one of those symphonic performances that she likes so much. She didn't let me help her out of the dress, so I had to sit outside the door. She comes out, and she still has that dinky little bowtie on."

"Wow, so she really didn't get the message?"

"That's not all." Vinyl took another sip of her cider. "When we get there, I take her to the bar, because, y'know, she really needs to loosen up a bit, so we're at the bar, and she asks the barcolt-" she cleared her throat and put on her best Octavia-voice, "Excuse me, sir, but may I have a glass of your finest champagne?"

Lyra couldn't contain her laughter; not because of the story, but because Vinyl's impression of the mare was spot on. She narrowly prevented herself from spilling the cider all over the rug in front of the couch. "That's good. Now I'm going to have to try to top it."

"Yeah, good luck." Vinyl smirked. "All though you'd probably have some good 'Tavi stories as well. Lay one of them on me."

The mint unicorn searched her brain for a moment, landing upon something. "Alright, prepare yourself, because this is a good one." Instead of clearing her throat, she took a deep swig of cider. "So me and her are in high school heading to-"

She was cut off by a polite cough. "I hate to interrupt," came the proper voice of Octavia. "But Lyra, may I have a word with you?"

"If you don't want me to tell the story, I won't."

"Story?"

Vinyl snickered. Lyra was caught. The unicorn quickly dodged. "Oh, nothing. Let's have that word."

She emptied the cup of cider and followed the mare into the kitchen. She was surprised when it was empty except for her and Octavia. Her false assumption had been that she had wanted to make idle conversation with both her and Bon Bon.

"We haven't had a real chat since... you know. That time at the restaurant doesn't count as a chat by any stretch of the imagination."

"You're right." Lyra saw an opportunity to jump on something that had been eating at her. "Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you about. About you and Bon Bon."

"Go on."

"How could you tell her... that?" The unicorn didn't know exactly what to say.

Octavia returned a genuinely perplexed look. "Tell her what, exactly?"

Lyra lowered her voice. "You know... that."

"I still don't follow."

The mint mare sighed audibly, an embarrassed look flowing across her face. I'm going to have to say it out loud, aren't I? She drew the grey classical musician in close and lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "How could you tell her that I like to get my belly rubbed?"

Octavia couldn't help but laugh. "Quite frankly, I'm baffled that you kept that a secret. If it wasn't for that crazy truth-or-dare game that one night, I don't think the world would have ever found out."

"It's embarrassing!"

"But you enjoyed it when Bon Bon did it, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then there's no problem with it. I'm not normally one to discuss bedroom adventures, but I feel like this was important enough for her to know."

Octavia was acting strange to Lyra. At any other time, the classical musician wouldn't dare speak of such things. Maybe she snuck off and raided their wine cellar when they had their backs turned.

"It was my job to pass that knowledge on, of course."

Lyra found another question knocking on the back of her mind. "Why?"

The grey mare looked visibly surprised by the question. "Well, because you deserve to be happy, of course."

The unicorn still found her behavior to be rather strange. "But that's not your job anymore. Ever since we, you know..." She searched her mind for the proper term. "Chose to see other ponies, you don't need to make me happy anymore."

Octavia looked deep in contemplation, silence surrounding the pair. Lyra stared at her inquiringly. At least a minute passed before the proper pony decided to open her mouth once more.

"Maybe..." Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I miss that job." The unicorn's eyes opened in shock as the mare in front of her leaned forward.

Oh my Luna! Lyra's thoughts were racing at a thousand miles per hour. Those are Octavia's lips! And they're against mine!