Author's Note: I am SO Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I've been under a lot of stress at work in between my work shedule being goofy and having a linen closet smash my knee and other crap; it's been a long time coming so here it is; without further ado...

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Chapter 5

Lyra gave a low groan as she slowly started to stir; pressing her hooves to her temples as she fought off the pounding in her head from the hangover she found herself suffering from. She would ask herself why she had thought it was a great idea to drink a whole bottle of vodka when she returned home from the bar; but just thinking about thinking made her headache worse. Before she could think of anything else, the memories of the night before came rushing back.

Bon Bon was leaning against Vinyl and whispering into her ear as the unicorn held her close. Vinyl's head turned slightly and Lyra felt her eyes upon her behind those shades she wore almost religiously. A small smile tugged on the alabaster unicorn's lips as she turned back to the cream colored mare she was holding and whispered back.

Lyra pressed her hooves into her temples once more as she let out a pained snarl at the memory, as if demanding it leave her be. Finally, she forced her eyes open and blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the sun lighting up the room she had been sleeping in. Rubbing her eyes for a few seconds before dragging herself off the couch she had fallen asleep on the night before, Lyra gave a long sigh as she trudged to the bathroom to find something, anything, that would alleviate her headache.

Bon Bon was resting her head on Vinyl's shoulder, her eyes closed slightly as she held Vinyl's hoof in her own, giggling at the mock argument between Gabriel and Hope over which branch of the pony military was better. Octavia was staring between Vinyl and Bon Bon then back to Lyra; almost as if waiting for something to happen. Lyra stood and stormed to the bathroom to splash some water on her face in an attempt to force herself to sober up enough to see if what she thought was happening was actually happening.

The memory was as unwelcome as the pang of pain it brought with it as her headache worsened for a brief second as the memory faded back into the darkest reaches of her mind. Lyra gave an annoyed sigh as she looked through the cabinets for some medicine, soon finding the bottle she sought. Using her hooves to try to open the bottle, Lyra found it rather tedious work and tried holding it with her hooves and rotating it while holding the cap with her teeth. It took several tries, but she managed to open the bottle; before dropping it by mistake and sending the pills in every direction.

Giving another frustrated sigh, Lyra grabbed the bottle up and dumped what few pills remained onto her hoof before separating two of the little blue and red pills and dropping the rest back into the bottle. After popping the pills into her mouth and chugging a glass of water, Lyra then stared at the pills all over the floor and decided she'd deal with it later. For now she needed her headache gone, as well as answers; answers to the questions burning in her mind about what was going on between Bon Bon and Vinyl.

It had been an hour or two since Lyra had returned to the table to discover Vinyl and Bon Bon still being flirty and whispering to one another before bursting into giggles. Bon Bon was tracing Vinyl's jaw with her hoof and whispering something into her ear before glancing at Lyra out of the corner of her eye. Lyra had pretended not to notice and instead had asked Octavia if she noticed anything unusual about Vinyl and Bon Bon's behavior. Octavia had noted it seemed odd, but had stated that she had nothing to judge on due to not knowing them well. Lyra had then excused herself to go to the restroom once more, returning a few moments later to catch something about not telling her something. She had abruptly about faced and stormed out with Bon Bon tailing her, begging her to listen.

Lyra scowled as another memory surfaced, forcing her headache to worsen briefly before drifting into the fog of the outer reaches of her mind. Struck by a sudden idea, and briefly forgetting her headache; Lyra charged down the hallway she had been standing in and tried to open the door to Bon Bon's study. Of course, it was locked; the mare left her study locked when she wasn't inside. Lyra then did the one thing she had promised to never do, she broke into Bon Bon's office. Blasting the door off its hinges and into several splintered pieces which might have been overdoing it; but Lyra's headache hadn't helped her control her magic when she tried to use it to open the door.

Taking care to step over the mess of splinters and chunks of wood that now littered Bon Bon's once clean office, Lyra went over to her desk and started opening the drawers. She remembered, somehow, that Bon Bon had once mentioned that she kept the key to Vinyl's apartment there for when she had to check on it whenever the DJ was out of town for an extended period of time. Rummaging through the top drawer of Bon Bon's desk, Lyra found something rather interesting; two sets of keys, both of them for Vinyl's apartment. However, one set was labeled as 'Vinyl - Apartment 1' and the other was labeled as 'Vinyl - Apartment 2'; both with different addresses on the back of the label.

Lyra had been quietly looking outside, wondering where Bon Bon had gone off to after she left the building. Ten minutes later, Bon Bon had passed by with Vinyl on her back; heading in the direction of Vinyl's apartment. Lyra had to turn away from the sight and went to the kitchen to rummage through the cabinets for the bottle of vodka Bon Bon usually kept hidden away. Lyra had lost count of how many shots she had before she passed out.

Staring at the two sets of keys that lay before her, Lyra pressed a hoof to her head as a throbbing sound filled her ears from the headache reminding her that she had too much to drink. Scowling as she tried to force any other memories back into the fog of her hungover mind, Lyra started to turn to leave when something in Bon Bon's desk caught her eye. There appeared to be an old photo of Bon Bon with a white unicorn that had a blond mane styled somewhat similar to Gabriel's, although not quite as short. Staring at the photo for a few moments, Lyra noticed that Bon Bon seemed to be wearing a fancy dress while the unicorn wore a suit designed for mares. Flipping the photo over out of curiosity, Lyra read the note on the back:

"Vinny and Me - Prom 'King' and Prom Queen"

Lyra raised an eyebrow, she remembered that Bon Bon and Vinyl had grown up together and had even dated for several years; but she never realized they had been Prom queen and... Wait, King? Something in Lyra's mind clicked at that word; she knew Vinyl was a mare and thus could not be a 'king' which stood to point that... Lyra pressed a hoof to her head as the throbbing started up once more; she would just ask about the photo at a later time.

Lyra continued to shuffle through the various drawers of Bon Bon's desk while she had the opportunity and suddenly felt something sticky on her hoof. Quickly yanking her hoof out of Bon Bon's desk, Lyra stared at the culprit; a melted hard candy of some sort. Her face scrunching up in disgust as she flailed her foreleg around trying to get the candy off; she was rewarded when the red menace flew off her hoof and stuck onto the wall next to a picture.

Not immediately noticing the direction of the candy's travel, Lyra turned back to Bon Bon's desk and started digging through the drawers once more. There were several various ticket stubs to shows and musicals Lyra had never known Bon Bon had gone to see. Lyra stared as she got to the bottom of one drawer and found a mess of random bottle caps and wine corks from various expensive imported liquors; the kind you had to pay top bit for. Lyra stared at the corks and caps in confusion, where had Bon Bon gotten the bits to get such expensive alcohol; or had they been gifts from some pony Lyra didn't know the existence of?

Lyra's hungover mind began running into several different directions as she tried to wrap it around what Bon Bon was seemingly hiding from her. Shutting the drawer she had been looking in and opening another, the first thing Lyra took note of was the insane amount of candy wrappers; several of which had Vinyl's cutie mark on. There were also several with Lyra and Bon Bon's cutie marks on them, and underneath them lay several sheets of parchment with various candy recipes scribbled out in Bon Bon's hoof writing; and more than a fair few with what appeared to be Vinyl's writing if Lyra's memory was serving her correctly.

Lyra was confused on why Vinyl would be writing down candy recipes; as far as she knew the DJ had zero interest in making candy, much less knew any recipes. Lyra's head was starting to spin from the amount of information her brain was trying to process; which only made her headache worse. Shaking her head to clear it for a moment, Lyra opened the middle drawer of Bon Bon's desk and spotted several folded up pieces of parchment; causing Lyra to wonder what they were. Part of Lyra felt guilty for going through all of her marefriend's private belongings like this, but at the same time Lyra wanted to know what secrets the cream mare was hiding from her and why she was hiding them.

Using her magic to levitate one of the folded pieces of parchment from the desk, Lyra tried her hardest to ignore the pain from her headache. Carefully opening the parchment, Lyra felt her heart racing at what she might find. She felt her throat start to constrict as she stared at the parchment; some sort of love letter to Bon Bon from Vinyl, or 'Vinny' as the old signatures read. Lyra folded the letter back up and dropped it back into the drawer, her eyes clouding up with tears as she shut the drawer; not wanting to look through her desk more than she had already done.

However, Lyra found herself attracted to the bottom drawer for no explainable reason, other than she had already gone through the others and might as well finish the job. Giving a sigh, Lyra pulled it open and was taken aback by what she found; every note, composition, photo, and a few other assorted things from the mint colored unicorn. Lyra then spotted a small box that contained a golden necklace with Lyra and Bon Bon's cutie mark bonded together and decorated with several gems; a gift to Bon Bon on Hearts and Hooves day.

Something clicked in Lyra's mind at that point, she had been so focused on whatever she thought was going on between Bon Bon and Vinyl that she had almost forgot what she herself had with Bon Bon. Sighing as she tucked everything back in the drawer and grabbed the two sets of keys; Lyra turned to leave before spotting 3 pictures on the wall as well as the candy she had flung off her hoof only moments before. On the left was a picture of Lyra and Bon Bon on their first date; as well as the receipts from their dinner and the ticket stubs from the show they had gone to see.

Lyra shifted nervously from right to left as she patiently waited for her date to arrive; she had only met the mare a couple of weeks ago and had taken a liking to her rather fast. Doubt started to creep into the back of Lyra's mind as to whether the mare would actually show up, she had seemed rather wary of accepting the invitation to go out with the unicorn. Lyra had almost given up and left but suddenly the cream colored mare came trotting up to her with a bright smile on her face. Lyra had asked her if she was ready to go see The Three Horseketeers; to which Bon Bon had said 'yes' excitedly.

Afterwards, Lyra and Bon Bon had gone to Sardi's for dinner, Bon Bon's treat of course; despite Lyra insisting that she should pay seeing as she was the one who invited Bon Bon out. Bon Bon had laughed it off as she waved a hoof and told her that since she paid for the show it was only fair that Bon Bon should pay for dinner.

The memory was more than welcome as far as Lyra was concerned, a smile tugging on her lips as she remembered that night fondly. The aspirin seemed to have started working as her headache was starting to fade away, and Lyra couldn't have been happier about that little fact. Ignoring the larger picture in the middle to look at the picture frame on the right, Lyra felt her stomach and mood drop as suddenly as it had perked up. There on the wall hung what must have been the documentation of Bon Bon and Vinyl's first date; tickets to see the Pony of the Opera, as well as a rather hefty dinner order from some fancy named restaurant called Château du Cheval.

Lyra stared at the picture of Bon Bon and Vinyl with what appeared to be the cast of the show. She then noticed that the backdrop of the picture was a poster from the play, autographed by each member of the cast and even a few members of the crew. Giving a frustrated sigh, Lyra turned to the picture frame in the middle; a portrait Bon Bon had gotten drawn by a now well known artist.

Lyra, Bon Bon, and Vinyl had all been out for what Vinyl dubbed as 'all of us on a date because we are that awesome'. Lyra had found out a bit about Vinyl and Bon Bon's past and realized that the two were pretty close; closer than she had realized before hoof. As they had been about to leave, Bon Bon had noticed the artist and wanted to get a picture of the three of them to commemorate the day's events. Vinyl and Bon Bon were tugging on Lyra's forelegs as she tried not to laugh at the antics of the other two having a mock fight over who would get to take her home.

Tears burned at Lyra's eyes as the memory played out in her mind, and she stared softly at the painting. Lyra finally realized how foalish she was being to think that Bon Bon would intentionally hide something from her and decided that maybe she was just overreacting to something minor that she needn't worry about. Lyra turned to go back to Bon bon's desk with Vinyl's keys when she noticed the painting was crooked and there appeared to be something behind it.

Tilting her head to the side slightly, Lyra dropped the keys on the floor for a moment as she carefully took the painting down and stared at what appeared to be a safe embedded into the wall. Staring at the safe, Lyra's brows furrowed slightly; she knew that she shouldn't pry and that Bon Bon probably only had some bits or important work documents stored inside, but curiosity was slowly taking hold of her.

The safe looked somewhat new, yet Lyra would guess it to be around a year or two old; most likely Bon Bon had it before Lyra moved in with her. Still, Lyra was curious to know what kind of 'treasure' Bon Bon must have hidden away. As she looked around for ideas of where Bon Bon would stash a key, she noticed a glimmer of metal on the back of the painting she had just removed.

'Silly Bon Bon, leaving a key where anypony could find it!' Lyra thought to herself as she used her magic to levitate the key taped to the back of the painting to the keyhole on the safe. However, once she turned the key, the safe simply let out a loud beep and revealed a keypad to input a keycode.

'Well, buck. I guess she wasn't so silly after all... Now what would Bon Bon have for a keycode...' Lyra tried all kinds of combinations of numbers, each simply causing the safe to beep loudly at her error. Lyra's headache was starting to return and the unicorn was growing tired of messing with the keypad. Off-hoofedly, she looked at the date on the tickets for the Pony of the Opera showing that Bon Bon and Vinyl had gone to see and tried typing it in.

A loud series of clicks and whirring told the unicorn that she had succeeded in unlocking the safe, even though Lyra was now a bit upset that Bon Bon would have the date she went out with Vinyl as the keycode; the unicorn was still curious to see what the safe held inside. Drawing in a breath and reaching a hoof out to open the safe, Lyra bit her lower lip with anticipation as she slowly opened the safe.

Inside were several bottles of wine that appeared to be imported from Prance, and from what Lyra knew about some of the brands, they ran a pony to about a thousand and a half bits a bottle. Lyra's eyes widened as she stared at the bottles of wine, her jaw hanging open as she pulled one out slowly and carefully, staring at it with a mixture of awe and anger. How had Bon bon afforded even one of these bottles?

Lyra set the bottle back into the safe as she took note of what appeared to be a tangled mess of Licorice rope and some peppermint sticks. Her brow raised as she pushed the licorice aside and saw what appeared to be a piece of folded paper. Lyra started to reach for it, however, something prevented her from taking it. The mint unicorn realized that all she had done since she had gotten up was tear apart Bon Bon's office looking for 'evidence' of her cheating; only to find nothing but remnants of her past among various other things.

What bothered her most, however, was the fact that Bon Bon was hiding a lot from her at the same time; perhaps this piece of paper was just another recipe or some sort of sacred love note. Hating herself for doing it, but knowing she had to know what it was; Lyra wrapped the paper in her magic and carefully opened it.

The mint unicorn's jaw dropped as she stared at the paper; having assumed that it was nothing important, she found that she had been beyond wrong. Before her eyes was some sort of contract or something, Lyra had never been sure what to call the things; signing over a quarter of the Cadbury family enterprises over to Bon Bon. It was only as she was skimming the paper that Lyra noticed Bon Bon's last name; Bon Bon Cadbury. Lyra facehoofed; how could she have never realized that 'Bon Bon' was not her lover's full name?

Lyra shook her head, trying to figure out exactly how Bon Bon had never once brought up the fact that her parents were owners of the biggest candy making company in Equestria. Scratch that, why hadn't Lyra even asked her about her parents? Now that Lyra thought about it, she should have asked to meet Bon Bon's parents when the mare went to visit them a few days ago. With this new information on Bon Bon, Lyra seemed to have forgotten all about Vinyl and Bon Bon's supposed 'relationship'.

Putting the paper back into the safe and scowling heavily now as she tried to work out Bon Bon's reasoning behind her actions, Lyra started to pace back and forth in front of the safe before letting out a frustrated snort and slamming the safe door shut. Picking up the keys she had dropped earlier and deciding it was best to go confront the two about all the secrets they had been hiding, Lyra turned to leave Bon Bon's office before spotting something on the chair. Something she had not noticed until then, and something that caused her to let out a rather loud snarl through the keys in her mouth.

"OH BUCK NO!"

---

Bon Bon jerked awake violently as she woke from a dream; a rather odd one to be sure. Rubbing her eyes with her forelegs before yawning slightly and carefully climbing over Vinyl to get a drink of water from the bathroom. After a few minutes of staring into the mirror at her bloodshot and sunken in eyes, Bon Bon went back to the bedroom to go back to bed. Bon Bon noticed Vinyl's broken shades laying on the nightstand as she trotted back into the bedroom. Remembering that Vinyl kept several spare sets in her top dresser drawer, Bon Bon trotted over to the broken pair and put them inside their case before returning with a new pair. After putting the new pair of shades down, Bon Bon gave a yawn and climbed back into bed, snuggling up to Vinyl as she did so.

"Mmm... Peppermint... You do know how to spoil a mare..." Vinyl mumbled in her sleep as a smile tugged on her lips. Bon Bon gave a small giggle as she closed her eyes as she slowly fell asleep once more.

The two would not remain asleep for much longer as a mint unicorn burst the door open a half hour later, panting hard and yelling at the top of her lungs.

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU TWO WERE HOOKING UP BEHIND MY BACK!"

Vinyl let out a terrified squeal as she flailed around, after being violently woken up by Bon Bon kicking her out of the bed in reaction to the yelling. Bon bon tried to wiggle out of the blanket she was tangled in while Vinyl tried to figure out what exactly was going on. Lyra scowled at them as she threw the keys violently at Vinyl's face; she wasn't sure why she did it, but she felt a little better when Vinyl let out a loud squeak and covered her nose where they had bounced off.

Before either pony could react further, Lyra wheeled around and stormed out of the room. Bon Bon struggled to escape the sheets that had her trapped as Viny attempted to gain her balance as she scrambled to her hooves and blinked in the bright light of the sun filtering through the blinds into the room. Fumbling around with a hoof on the nightstand as she covered her eyes with her foreleg, Vinyl grabbed her spare shades from a drawer just as Bon Bon managed to free herself and take off like a rocket out of the room to stop Lyra.

"LYRA, WAIT!"

Vinyl gave a sigh as she slowly trudged out of her room, hearing Bon Bon and Lyra having a mild argument about why Lyra should stay to listen to what the two had to say. As she was passing by the guest room door, Vinyl paused for a moment to crack open the door to peer in. The grey mare within appeared to be asleep; her breathing slow and deep. Smiling softly, Vinyl shut the door and went to join the duo arguing in the living room.

"Trust you? You were the one who BROKE into MY office, went through MY stuff, and now states I should trust you!" Bon Bon was livid, it was clear to see from the fire in her eyes and in her tone. Lyra took a few steps back as she tried to ponder a retort. However, Vinyl stepped between the two before the mint unicorn could say anything.

"Now, that is enough! Look at the two of you; you used to be so close and now you're yelling at each other over stupid things. Cut it out, or at least keep the volume down. Geeze," said Vinyl as she rubbed her temple with a hoof, trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation. However it was Bon Bon who spoke up first.

"Vinyl," Bon Bon spoke in a tone one might use when explaining something to a foal, "you do realize what she's accusing us of, right?" Vinyl gave a sigh as she pressed her hoof harder against her temple as she nodded.

"I'm well aware, Bonsie. Bu-" Vinyl was cut off as Lyra stomped her hoof on the floor with a snort, effectively dirtying and smashing the jacket she had dropped previously.

"Shut up, Vinyl! You think you can just waltz in here and tell me what to do like you own the place?" Lyra hissed, forgetting momentarily that Vinyl did, in fact, own the place. Bon Bon couldn't help but to smirk at Vinyl's raised eyebrow as the alabaster colored unicorn turned slowly, for dramatic effect, to Lyra.

"Why; yes, Miss Heartstrings. I do believe I can just 'waltz in here' like I own the place. Mostly because I do own the place. Also, you're stepping on your jacket, Lyra," Vinyl said as she moved from between the two. The mentioned unicorn simply scowled before digging her hoof into the jacket more and scuffing it along the floor, not realizing that it had gotten caught on a slightly protruding nail head. A soft 'riiiiiip' sound drew Vinyl's attention back to the mint unicorn as she lifted the jacket off the floor to inspect the damage, although Lyra really didn't care about the jacket.

Bon Bon recognized the jacket first, and moved to grab it before Vinyl could get a good view of it. However, the cream earth pony was a second too late as Vinyl suddenly lunged towards Lyra; causing the mint colored unicorn to stumble backwards as she dropped the jacket in fear. Before Vinyl could actually grab Lyra, Bon Bon tackled her to the ground and slammed herself down on Vinyl's back; pinning her to the floor with her full bodyweight as she glared angrily at Lyra.

"It's bad enough that you broke into my office then went through all my personal belongings; but to take something without permission and deface it? Tell me one good reason right now why I shou-" Bon Bon was cut off by a loud growl from Vinyl as she started thrashing around, trying to get out from under the cream earth pony.

"YOU NO GOOD LITTLE-" Vinyl was cut off as Bon Bon smacked her in the back of the head, causing Vinyl's glasses to slip slightly, which in turn caused the mare to let out a sharp yelp and quickly cover her eyes.

"Shush, Vinyl, you'll be okay. Now as I was say-" Bon Bon started to speak but was cut off once more by Vinyl.

"SHE RIPPED MY JACKET! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT JACKET'S GONE THROUGH WITHOUT IT EVER GETTING RIPPED? I WILL END YOU!"

Vinyl yelled once more, but before she could continue, Bon bon shoved a hoof in her mouth as she paused to inhale. Lyra stared between the two, her mouth working as if trying to speak but no words came out.

"Pardon me, but am I interrupting something?" asked a soft voice from the hallway, causing all three mares to stare at Octavia who was rubbing her right eye with a foreleg as she watched the three mares. Then before Bon bon or Vinyl could stop her, Lyra took off running throwing the door open with her magic. Bon Bon was on her hooves a second later, chasing after Lyra and yelling.

"YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME, LYRA HEARTSTRINGS! YOU WILL NOT KEEP RUNNING FROM YOUR PROBLEMS!"

Vinyl pushed herself onto her hooves once more before scooping her jacket up off the floor before Octavia could get a good look at it. The grey earth pony quietly watched the DJ as she quickly hid the jacket behind her back and offered a fake smile.

"Sleep well, Octavia?" Vinyl asked in an obviously false cheerful voice, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Octavia. However, she chose to ignore the act for a brief moment, worried about what had happened between the friends on moments before.

"Vinyl, what were you three arguing about? Oh, and do not pretend not to know what I am talking about. You were yelling rather loudly about wanting to 'end' Lyra. Also, why are you hiding that jacket behind your back?" Octavia asked. Vinyl simply rubbed her forehead with a hoof, here eyes darting around the room; although Octavia could not see this through the shades the unicorn wore on her face.

"Uhm... N-nothing really, just... stuff. J-jacket? What jacket? Oh gee would you look at the time, I have to... uh... go to place to see pony about that thing... Uhm.. BYE! Lock the door on your way out!" Vinyl stammered as she about faced and took off out the door with her jacket held close to her in a blue aura. Octavia stared at the door the unicorn had hastily retreated out of before shaking her head and sighing. As the grey mare was about to leave she noticed a glint of silver on the table next to the door, a set of keys on the lanyard Vinyl had been wearing a few nights ago when they met,

Octavia grabbed the keys in her mouth and quickly trotted out of Vinyl's apartment, making sure to lock it before darting down the stairs in hopes of catching Vinyl. It would seem, however, that fate had other plans as Vinyl was gone by the time Octavia got to the lobby. Giving a sigh, Octavia noticed that there was a light blue colored unicorn at a desk situated at the front of the building; it was obviously the reception desk.

Trotting up to the receptionist, Octavia realized there was a pegasus talking to the receptionist. Patiently waiting for the stallion to finish his business, Octavia looked around at the walls covered in various posters of a 'DJ P0n-3' who must have been Vinyl. There were also a couple of pictures of Staccato and the rest of her family scattered around the halls.

"Octavia Philharmonica?" The voice drew Octavia out of her pondering on why this place would have pictures of the Staccatos all over the place and turned to the stallion addressing her. It was only now she recognized him; Artemus Legato. The rich brown colored stallion had a blonde colored mane and tail, although his mane seemed to have a few touches of gray.

"Master Legato? W-what are you doing here?" Octavia asked in surprise, clearly not expecting to see anypony of upper class in this establishment.

"Oh, I was just coming to visit my daughter, but it would seem she left her apartment a short time ago. So I thought I would pay a visit to her step-mother while I was in the area. If I may inquire, what brings you here?" Artemus replied as he offered a kind smile to the grey earth pony. Octavia set the keys on the counter as she listened to Artemus speaking.

"I was paying a visit to a friend who realized she had an appointment to keep and left in such a hurry that she forgot her keys," Octavia stated as she shifted slightly. Artemus rubbed his chin in thought as if remembering something while Octavia spoke.

"I just remembered, Giorgio wanted me to ask you if you were free this week. He wanted to speak to you about setting up another concert at your earliest convenience. I was actually going to send you a letter later today, but this saves me the trouble of sorting through the files to find your address to mail it," said the stallion with a chuckle before looking past Octavia to an earth pony waving at him, "Ah, looks like Quartz is ready to see me. I will see you later, Miss Philharmonica."

"Of course. I should be able to see Master Staccato tomorrow," Octavia inclined her head and stepped aside as she spoke, watching Artemus trot away. Turning back to the receptionist, OCtavia smiled and spoke up, "Vinyl left her keys in her apartment this morning; would you please make sure she gets them?"

The receptionist gave a nod and assured Octavia that she would return the keys to Vinyl as she put them in a drawer to give to Vinyl later. Octavia then turned and left the building, looking around to get an idea of where she was before trotting in the direction of her apartment, pondering over what was going on between the trio of friends and just why Vinyl had been in such a rush to leave previously.

---

Meanwhile, Vinyl trotted up to a large building with a sign flashing the name 'Livewire' in bright letters. The outside of the building was not very out of the ordinary in comparison to the rest of the clubs in downtown Trotlanta; but the interior was a far-cry from 'ordinary'. Vinyl trotted down the long twisting hallway that made up the entry to the club's interior; each step illuminated by a brightly colored neon light that would disappear once her hoof moved from the floor. The walls were also light by motion activated neon lights that pulsated several different colors and lit up the various pictures of DJs, both famous and local.

Trotting into the mane area of the club and up to the bar, Vinyl smiled to herself as she took in her surroundings. The dance floor had the same floor design as the hallway; every hoofstep would cause a light to light up until the hoof was moved from the spot. It was an ingenious idea that very few clubs had heard of, much less tried. To her left there were several booths for ponies who wanted to sit down with relative privacy from other ponies; and to her right were tables where Ponies could sit and chat or set their drinks while dancing. Various posters and covered the walls, most were old tour date and location posters from various DJs; most of which were even autographed.

The bar behind Vinyl was an interesting piece in itself, the entire bar was made of tempered glass and had neon lights that lit up when a drink was set upon it, in a similar fashion to the step-activated floor. The wall behind the bar was stocked to the ceiling with various bottles of drinks from across all of Equestria and even a few outlying areas. It had taken more bits than Vinyl would ever admit to spending to retrieve some of those bottles, but it was an investment well spent if she said so herself.

"Good day, Staccato," said a voice, snapping Vinyl out of her musing as she looked around her club. Turning to face the source, Vinyl found herself looking at her bartender and manager; Tankard. the white colored earth pony had an onyx colored mane with several blue streaks running through it; his copper colored eyes were bright as he grinned at Vinyl as she recovered from the start he had given her from his sudden appearance.

"Hello, Tank. How was the club last night?" Vinyl asked, having finally managed calm her racing heart. Tank chuckled as he trotted from behind the bar as Vinyl moved to check on her turntables overlooking the dance floor; she had never really liked others messing around with them when she was not in the building, but it wasn't a party without a DJ.

"As well as could be expected, Vinny," Tank said as he stood outside of the dj booth and leaned against the wall, watching Vinyl work on the various controls and ensure that it hadn't been destroyed while she was away. Content that everything was well and in the same condition she had left it, Vinyl pulled out a record and set it on the turntable and turned it on. Playing around with her switches and knobs as she started getting back into her swing of DJing while speaking to Tank she glanced over her shoulder.

"How did that new DJ work out?" She asked as she used her magic to make the record spin a tad bit faster, speeding up the beat before releasing her magic and letting the record play at its normal speed. Vinyl moved from her deck to look at Tank as he spoke up.

"She did rather well, if you aren't careful she might just replace you as the primary dj here," Tankard said teasingly as he trotted back down the stairs to the bar with Vinyl following after him, leaving the record on for now.

"Is that so? I guess I'll just have to step my game up, huh?" Vinyl replied as she chuckled slightly as Tankard offered her a glass of water. Taking it with a 'thank you' and taking a sip, Vinyl stared into it for a moment before sighing and pressing a hoof to her temple as she noticed the jacket she had set on the counter only a few moments ago.

"What's wrong, Vinny?" Tank asked, noticing her mood and frowning slightly in worry. Vinyl looked up and smiled slightly before removing her jacket from the bar and trotting to a door concealed in the wall beside the bar. Tank quietly followed behind her as they went to Vinyl's office in the back of the club.

"Bon Bon and Lyra are having problems; Lyra's convinced that there's somethin' goin' on between Bon Bon and myself. Bonsie and I haven't dated since we were in college and even if she wasn't with Lyra we wouldn't be dating right now because we both agreed that we were always better as friends. Anyway, I'm guessing Lyra found my jacket somehow and flipped out about it. She didn't know it was mine but that doesn't excuse her ripping it! I snapped at her and Bon Bon had to restrain me and Lyra took it as an opportunity to run out. Bon Bon took off after her and then this chick we've been hanging out with, that rising cellist star Octavia, came out asking what was going on and I booked it out of there with my jacket. Lyra might already know who I am and that's bad enough, but if somepony of the upper class finds out who I really am then it'll be high school all over again and-" Vinyl was cut off by Tank raising a hoof to silence her as he frowned slightly.

"Vinyl, all of this crap is because you and Bon Bon are keeping your identity and her identity a secret; just come out and tell her who you are. What are you so afraid of?" Tank asked with concern in his voice as he looked at the unicorn who had started pacing around the room.

"I... I can't... Not after what happened last time," Vinyl whispered.