Inside the theater wasn't any different from the outside: it was dark and every hoofstep made by Vinyl seemed to echo more loudly than it should have. Even though the rows of seats were near empty every other time she was inside the stage area, it was different when it was completely dark and with no play going on to provide background noise. Luckily, thanks to the desk mare flipping on some of the power breakers, a strip of lights lining the rows of seats provided some assistance in navigation.

"How did she get through here without the lights? Must've been pitch black." Vinyl grumbled, lighting her horn up after nearly tripping over one of the steps descending down towards the front row.

She eventually, with a little help from her horn, got down to the stage and began skimming the wall until her hoof landed on the door leading to the back stage. It was unlocked, so she assumed this was where the mare had gone; either that or the desk mare had come back here without turning on the lights earlier.

The backstage area was even darker than the theater, meaning that it was literally as dark as possible, but a small grunt from Vinyl and a brighter output from her horn made the previous imposing darkness nothing more than a blue hued afterthought. Though the thought that seemed to keep lingering back into her head was how in Equestria this Octavia mare managed to get back here without lights or a horn.

Vinyl brushed it aside as she arrived at room 18, a small sliver of light coming from under the door just like last time confirming her suspicions about whether or not the mare was inside. Vinyl worked herself up, twisting her neck from side to side and letting out a content sigh before knocking on the door.

It was quiet for a few seconds, not even a sound could be heard from the inside of the room as Vinyl leaned her ear up to the door to check. She was even ready to turn and leave until a voice suddenly called out from the inside.

"Come in." It was the same voice from before, of the grey mare, and it was even the same tone she had used before. The same near stoic, feminine tone.

She opened the door, trying not to think on the situation and consequentially make it harder for herself, though it didn't seem to work. She found herself clenching her eyes slightly as she lightly swung the door open so she could be fully seen in the doorway. Though to her surprise the mare wasn't even looking back at the doorway, she was hunched over a desk that had a few pieces of paper crumpled up and scattered around on the floor.

She seemed hard at work with whatever she was doing, and Vinyl had the urge to not disturb her. In fact, she found herself sitting there for an awkward amount of time, as if waiting for permission.

"Do you need something of-" The mare began to ask, turning around only to stop mid sentence the second her violet eyes met a matching shade of sunglasses.

"Oh, it's you." She said, her tone audibly souring, albeit subtle.

"Yeah...it's me." Vinyl said simply, her legs seeming to unlock as she progressed inwards.

"I'm surprised to see you here so early. Come to get a head start on insulting my profession again?" She asked, with assumed sarcasm, though Vinyl couldn't really pick up any difference in tone. Though she did manage to bite her tongue to stop herself from answering with her own sharp remark to the question.

"Ah, no, I'm not." She said simply, holding back her urges.

She figured simple was the way to go with this situation, best to not try and complicate things to much with this mare since she seemed rather literal.

"Oh?" She asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah," Vinyl began, her hoof slinking around to the back of her neck while her eyes jutted down to the floor, finding a new interest in the papers across the floor.

"I, uh, came here to - uh." Vinyl struggled, her throat seeming to refuse to let the words 'apologize' escape her lips.

"To....?" The mare asked, getting impatient.

Vinyl sighed in defeat before grumbling,

"To say I'm sorry..."

"Say again?" The grey mare asked flatly.

"To say I'm sorry."

"That is not any better than before." The mare was obviously running low on patience, and Vinyl was too for that matter; but her brain seemed to utterly refuse to apologize.

"To..." The white mare nearly popped a blood vessel before the words came out, though when they did they came out about as smoothly as a brick on a chalk board.

"...apologize."

There was a brief moment of silence, both of them with looks of near wonder at the words that had just been uttered, one of them doubting that the words had actually came out while the other had an unreadable look on her face.

"'To apologize.'" The grey mare repeated to herself.

"Yeah, so do you accept or what?" Vinyl quickly muttered, her eyes jutting down as her cheeks began to flush red.

"And you're sure you don't mind working here for no pay? I mean I really appreciate the offer, but not paying you seems a bit unethical." Bon Bon said, looking a bit apprehensive at Lyra's offer.

"Well you do make me breakfast, lunch, and dinner; the least I can do is work here a bit to pay for that instead of you wasting stock on me and Vinyl." Lyra said back, confident in tone and posture.

"Still, I'd feel a bit guilty..." Bon Bon protested again, but Lyra could tell she was easing into the idea.

"Okay, how about this: I work here for no pay now since I'm not exactly struggling for money, but if the time ever arises that I do need a bit of extra cash - you start paying me then. Sound good?" Lyra proposed.

Bon's face lightened up at the sound of that deal and she gingerly nodded in agreement, though her face twisted in what looked like confusion in the end.

"Speaking of which, what do you do for money Lyra? You're here all day and I never see you go anywhere else..." Bon Bon bondered.

"Well-"

She was cut short by the sound of the front door opening, a small ring of a bell to accompany it to make sure it was noticed, and a stallion walked in with a rather thoughtful look on his face. It was quite the look, as if he was having an internal battle over right and wrong.

"Rent?" Lyra asked, making sure that it was actually him; his appearance was a bit bland.

"Huh?" He was shaken out of his internal confrontation to look up. "Lyric, is that you?" He asked.

"'Lyra.'" She corrected.

"Ah, sorry. I'm usually good with names, being a land lord and all, but I've had something on my mind for awhile now and I think it's starting to get the better of me." He sounded tired as he trudged over to a booth and plopped down, his hoof holding up his head as he let out a sigh.

"Really?" Lyra asked, trotting over with a small notepad in her magical grasp.

"Just a coffee. Black please," He said curtly before getting back on track. "and yes, I have."

Lyra turned and gave Bon Bon a quick nod of understanding before sliding into the opposite side of the booth while Bon began prepping the coffee pot.

"Care to let it out then? Might clear your head." Lyra suggested.

"It's actually about Vinyl," He began, getting Lyra's attention with those four simple words. "She hasn't spoken to me at all as of late and Tip Top hasn't been telling me anything about what's going on at the theater. The few times I have seen her she's been either mopey or flustered; both of which didn't look natural nor healthy on her."

"Uh-huh." Lyra said simply, encouraging him to go on.

"Anyways, I can't help but a feel at fault here. I was thinking of calling off the deal all together and just waving the payment for this month, it'd put a bit of dent in my paycheck this month but I think I wouldn't mind that if it got her back to her old self."

He leaned in a bit.

"There hasn't been a single noise complaint since she started this whole thing and some of the other tenants are even asking questions about it. Call me crazy, but I think I miss a noise filled apartment building than this quiet one we have now."

"Well you're not the only one you know. Spill the beans to Vinyl about how the theater was his idea in the first place and I guarantee you she'd be more angry with him than with you. But between you and me, I don't think you should call it off." Lyra said, getting a bit of a surprised look out of the stallion at the mention of Neon.

"Really now? Why shouldn't I?" The stallion asked with a raised brow.

"That'd be letting her off easy. Yeah, she'd accept it, but I know it wouldn't sit right with her on the inside." Lyra said sagely.

Bon Bon walked over with a cup of coffee and set it down it front of Rent, smiling all the way before going back behind the counter without a word spoken.

"Just don't take it personally, once the week is over things will get back to normal and I think we will all have grown from it in the end." Lyra ended on a happy note, moving out of the booth and leaving Rent to his coffee just as the sound of the door opening and the chime of the bell triggered again.

"Welcome, please take a seat and I'll be right with you to take your order." Lyra said cheerfully, guiding a couple to a corner booth by the window.

Bon Bon soon walked over to the booth where Rent sat, leaning up against the table and smiling.

"Coffee okay?" She asked, shaking the stallion once more from a session of self thought.

"Oh, uh, yes. A bit sweet for black, but it saved me the trouble of putting in sugar." He smiled, a bit nervous around the mare, but talking with a bit of confidence.

"First batch is always a bit sweet. So, mind if I get your opinion on my latest employee?" She asked.

"Newest? Funny, I thought she must've always worked here with the way she went about seating just now." He said, the impressed look on his face speaking for itself.

"I actually just hired her today." Bon noted.

"Well she looks like a keeper to me." Rent smiled, taking another sip from his coffee. "Quite the wise one as well." He added, taking note of how effortlessly she took the orders of her second customers.

"I'm glad you think so." Bon Bon smiled, turning and begining to walk away.

"I just wish she was that confident in bed..." Bon Bon mumbled, causing Rent to nearly choke on his coffee.

"No."

"What?"

Vinyl couldn't process the simple word that the grey mare had spoken, a single word that had somehow managed to throw her so far off track.

"I said no. As in I do not accept your apology." The mare repeated matter-of-factly.

"Why not?" Vinyl said with a rising tone, the gear in her head beginning to turn ever so slowly as she began to understand the situation that had arisen.

"Because, the things you said are not that easy to forgive, I can not just pretend like you never said them. It's not that simple as just 'dusting off' your insults." The mare explained, her tone was as flat as slate and she didn't show the slightest bit of emotion in denying Vinyl her apology. Not anger, not smugness, not sadness, nor happiness.

She just simply spoke.

Vinyl had now fully realized what was going on, but still couldn't think of a way to react. She had honestly never considered the possibility that the mare might simply say 'No' to her apology.

"What then? Do you want something from me?" Vinyl asked, sounding a bit confused.

"No, I don't want anything from you; including your apologies. Now if you're done, I think it'd be best if you left."

And with that she turned around in her seat and began writing on her pieces of paper as if the whole conversation had never happened, not even hesitating to see if Vinyl had even left the room.

She hadn't either, she stood there still in shock from rejection.

"You've got to be kidding me." She said simply, getting the attention of the grey mare once more.

"Kidding you? I think not." She said, only bother to turn her head to side enough that her eyes could look at Vinyl's glasses.

"So I came all the way out here. got up way too early, and worked up the nerve to apologize to you. And you reject it? Don't you know how this whole thing is supposed to work?" Vinyl asked, sounding genuine enough to confuse the mare.

"What do you mean?" The mare asked.

"I mean, you're supposed to accept the apology and then we go about our lives as mild acquaintances. You know, fresh start kinda stuff?" Vinyl elaborated.

The grey mare could only raise a brow at the suggestion, though her face remained unmoved by Vinyl's almost desperate sounding words.

"Why would I voluntarily agree to make a 'fresh start' with someone who so obviously hasn't a care in the world for me? I believe, if my memory serves me right, that the exact words you used were 'Your music means nothing and so does your opinion.' Sound familiar?" The mare showed only the slightest bit of anger surfacing in her face, though it was quickly masked again.

"It's clear to me what you think of me: your first impression is always the most important one, and I must say that yours was quite a defining one."

"But-" Vinyl began, only to be quickly cut off by the grey mare.

"I don't think that there's anything you could say to me to make me feel any different about you. Not only that, but you've made me somehow feel annoyed in a theater. So I think I will be taking my leave early today." She said, getting up and trotting over to the corner of the room, hoisting a large cello case over her back, and trotting wordlessly by Vinyl again as if not a thing had transpired between the two.

Vinyl stood there for a minute, still mulling over the words the mare had said.

She looked around the room blankly, not looking for anything in particular but just looking for something to rest her eyes on while she processed and could come up with her next move. Her eyes wandered the room, glancing across the various posters of famous musicians, of which none Vinyl had ever heard of, and miscellaneous objects that were scattered here and there to make a cozy looking dressing room.

She surprisingly found her eyes resting on the desk that the mare had been sitting at, a pile of papers pushed off to the edges with a single sheet present in the middle.

Even from afar Vinyl could see the various blotches of ink scattered around the paper, marking that served as corrections or adjustments to the sheet the looked like it could only have been a song.

Vinyl moved forwards without thinking on it to hard, mindlessly walking up closer to the sheet to confirm her suspicions.

'That desk mare did say she was know for her supposedly legendary playing skills...' Vinyl thought to herself, looking over the detailed marks on the sheet.

Despite her...'displeasure' with the mare and her attitude, she had to give her some respect for her just from looking at the piece in front of her. It didn't take a genius to figure out that a lot of work had went into perfecting the sheet, and a quick glance to the other papers revealed that they were all waded up copies of the center paper; each with their own mistakes in them. That alone was enough proof that she had some dedication to the art.

A smirk snuck its way onto Vinyl's face as she took a brief glance behind her before gingerly placing her hoof on top the paper, an idea popping into her head as her horn lit up.

The mare at the front desk had her head hung low, her head bobbing up and down slowly in time to her evenly paced breathing, ever so slowly lowering down towards the table. She occasional shook a bit, her nose scrunching up and her head retreating a few inches upwards, but it was only delaying the inevitable touch down.

She suddenly shook awake, the sound of a door shutting off in the distance managing to wake her just enough, and to also gain her interest.

Her head craned around and stared at the main theater entrance.

'Must be that white mare, Vinyl I think her name was. Guess she found Octavia and said what she needed to say...' She thought to herself before looking up at the ceiling wishfully.

"I bet she's going back home to get some sleep, like most everyone else in town. Wish I could do that..." She said in a haze, a toothy smile creeping onto her face while she dreamed of collapsing onto her bed and diving under the covers.

Hoofsteps grew louder and louder until they made the distinct sound of going from the theater's carpeting to the hardwood floor that covered the entrance for the most part.

"You find her? She should be back i-" She cut herself short as she turned and saw Octavia trotting towards the door, gracefully as ever.

"Octavia? Where are you off to?" The desk mare questioned, a brow raised at the cellists apparent decision to leave - a first for her.

"I'm not feeling all that up to it today. Some... recent events have put in a less than good mood, so I was thinking of taking the day off and just lounging around at home." She said, turning to face the mare with a graceful turn of the neck that somehow kept her mane in perfect shape.

'It's like the world is against me today.' She thought before quickly moving to questioning the decision.

"Well, to each their own I guess but are you sure? You've never gone home early before."

The connection was, at that very second, made in the desk mare's head.

"Was it Vinyl?"

"Whom?" Octavia raised a brow.

"White mare. Purple glasses. Shaggy looking hair with two tones of blue in it." The mare began to list.

"You described her well, and I will admit she had a bit of a role in my decision." Octavia said calmly.

"So she drove you out did she?"

"I'd prefer not to talk about it, if that's okay with you. I think I'll go get some breakfast for once, It's been ages since I had a healthy meal in the early morning. Take care." Octavia said curtly, not giving the desk mare any opening to delve further into the events prior.

'Breakfast too huh? What did I ever do to you karma? Huh? Nothing, that's what.' The desk mare inwardly mumbled as she watched the cellist make her way out the door and down the streets that were just beginning to fill with the early morning's sun.

"That Vinyl must either be a pain to be around, really persuasive, or have messed up real bad to make Octavia leave." She said to herself, taking a sip of her coffee before re-positioning herself on the table, snuggling into her hoof and closing her eyes.

The bell chime of the bakery rang out once more as a new customer entered, though Lyra was too busy to bother seating them at the moment. Bon had just finished about three orders for three separate tables and it was the green unicorn's job to carry them, or rather levitate them, to their tables.

It was easily accomplished, but Lyra didn't want to screw up and made sure each of the plates got to their destinations by keeping her eyes glued to them as they floated across the room and gingerly laid themselves down in front of each of the customers. She even took the precaution of going one by one with the plates rather than all at once.

It was amazing how busy the shop was in the early morning today, flurries of customers had seemingly come in a short burst of business ponies who seemed to be in a major rush. Bon had already stressed what a help it was to have a unicorn as a waitress, and Lyra herself was beginning to see why as well with all these ponies demanding to not be late to whatever it was they were going to at such a horridly early hour.

Then again, she was working herself.

"Any more orders Bon?" Lyra asked, taking a peak back into the kitchen to see the tan colored mare bobbing side to side as she calmly prepared the next order.

"Not yet, but check back in about a minute or two." She said cheerfully.

"I think I heard the bell ring again, if you could, go check and see."

Lyra gave a short nod and put on her best smile as she turned and walked over towards the door, though the smile dropped a bit and her eyes widened at the sight of the customer.

"Octavia?" Next Chapter: Opposition Estimated time remaining: 33 Minutes