"Lyra?" Octavia replied with an equal amount of surprise at the sight of the green mare.

Lyra was just getting over her initial shock of seeing the cellist, a shock caused by a wide array of reasons, when she noticed even more customers filing in right behind her. Not wanting to cause an inconvenience for other customers, or cause a traffic jam for the sidewalks on the outside of the bakery, she quickly set herself back to work.

"Here, let me seat you and we can talk a bit more." She suggested, leading the gray mare around the floor and over to a secluded area when only a few other customers were sat.

"Hang on, let me seat a few others and we can get comfortable. I can start off with a drink while I'm away." Lyra smiled, levitating out the notepad and pen.

"Just some tea will be fine." Octavia said curtly, understanding the importance of work all while not wanting to be too much of a burden.

"Gotcha, gimme one sec." Lyra chirped, turning and quickly pacing off and returning to the line of customers waiting to be seated.

Octavia took a small notice of how efficiently Lyra was working, she levitated various notes over to the window to the kitchen all while seating many customers with beaming smile across her face. A quick crane of the head revealed one hard at work Bon Bon who was rushing around the kitchen with a determined look of her own as she mixed and added various ingredients to a multitude of bowls scattered about. She had a bit of powder on the bridge of her noes that gave her quite and adorable look as she scuttled around the kitchen.

It wasn't too long of a wait before Lyra returned with a visibly hot cup of tea and a biscuit wrapped up in a mossy green hue, placing them down quickly but gently in front of Octavia before sitting down with a sigh of relief.

"Sorry for the wait, a little surge of customers came through, but it looks like its died down for now." She said, her smile a tired but happy one.

"Seems like quite the business you have here." Octavia remarked, lifting the cup of tea up to her nose and sniffing it elegantly.

"Well, its not mine, but I'll admit its homely."

"Oh? So you're not the owner?"

"Nope, Bon back in the kitchen is. I'm just pitching in to help get the work load off her; I honestly have no idea how she could handle all these ponies by herself." Lyra noted, taking a quick scan of all the customers drink levels.

"Hm," Octavia hummed in thought. "I had no idea you worked here. Or even worked at all for that matter."

Lyra stiffened a bit at the remark, but breathed deeply and calmed herself down; letting the unintentional insult slip by without comment. She knew Octavia wasn't the best at saying what she meant exactly how she meant it, but knew that she was just stating what she thought without any hate or disdain behind it.

Probably.

"Anyways, what brings you around here at this time? You're usually at the theater by now, even if it is only about half past seven." Lyra asked with raised brow, watching carefully as Octavia paused mid-sip at the comment before continuing with her drink.

"Well, if you must know, I happened to come across a mare this morning. I blue haired devil that had insulted me earlier, apparently wanting to make amends, though after I turned her down she made herself look rather arrogant. So, I left and came here."

Lyra stiffed at the vague description of Vinyl, but made no visible motions.

"So, uh, why did you turn her down?" Lyra asked with an awkward chuckle.

"Hmph," Octavia scoffed. "I can't stand it when someone asks for forgiveness after insulting another wholeheartedly. Forgiveness is earned, not given away." Her tone was rather sour at that point.

"Well, you gotta start somewhere, right?" Lyra halfheartedly suggested.

"To each their own." Octavia said with a slate tone, obviously getting heated.

Lyra didn't need to be told that that was her cue to leave, she didn't need Octavia mad at her and Vinyl. Who would be the median then? Bon Bon?

Lyra excused herself, claiming that she needed to go check up on the other customers, but was actually only getting out of the way of the heated cellist. Though while walking away she couldn't help but think to herself,

'I honestly should have seen this coming, Octavia is the type to hold a grudge so it makes since that Vinyl would get rejected. I wonder how Vinyl will take it though? She's not used to being rejected and she's definitely the type to get what she wants, when she wants it.'

She smirked slightly.

'I guess it'll depend on whether Vinyl really wants it or not.'

She dropped to a frown.

'Though it's hard to see Vinyl really wanting to honestly apologize to someone life Octavia.'

Her ears perked up once more.

'But maybe being rejected was what she needed to jump start the process! Maybe not getting the acceptance was just enough to make her want it just to show Octavia up!'

Lyra patted her head in approval.

"Good ol' brain. Always coming up with good ideas." She said to herself before being shaken from her thoughts by the shouts of rowdy and rich customers.

"Waitress! I need a refill!"

"Me too!"

"I ordered my soup at least ten minutes ago! How long does it take to chop vegetables!?"

"If I don't get my bread sticks I'll sue!"

Lyra nearly jumped at the screams before rushing to work.

"C-Coming!"

A sigh came out of the desk mare as she sat slumped over her desk with a bored expression on her face, casually staring out the front door of the theater at the early hustle and bustle of the streets. It was still a bit dark out, though the sun was definitely peaking its way over the hills afar as it shined down onto her desk, stopping just short of her own self.

Suddenly, one of the ponies broke from the stream of sidewalk traffic and made for the theater's front door. The desk mare, however, didn't perk up or even visibly change in the slightest.

The stallion waltzed into the front entrance with a gusto about him that one could easily call arrogant, his smile permanently smug and his posture exaggeratedly refined.

'Oh brother...' She inwardly sighed, though outwardly she was as unmoved as a statue.

"Ah, Sign In, how are doing today my sweet blossom?" He cooed with his voice dipped in a loving tone, though Sign had seen him pull this act with more than a few mares around the theater.

Rather than giving him the satisfaction of a response, she wordlessly lifted up the sign-in sheet and pen and dropped it on the table with as little care as possible.

"Your silence is the only answer I needed, darling." He swooned, gracefully bending down to sign the sheet, though he stopped mid way through his signature with a set of wide eyes.

"Sign, whom might the 'Vinyl Scratch' be? Did someone new enter the theater while I was away?" He asked, though he didn't expect a response.

"Oh! Is it a she?! Did another mare join?!" He asked with excitement as he spoke to the sky.

"And if she is here this early, she must be as much of an enthusiast as I. Oh, I must search for her immediately."

He turned to face Sign In with a beaming smile and a wicked look on his face.

"Do you have any a clue where I could find this unknown specimen?"

Sign had progressively more and more uneasy as the stallion rant continued, though her mind slowly began to wrap around an idea as a smile crept to her face. She turned and pointed towards the main entrance of the theater.

"In the back dressing rooms, I'll show you a bit later." Sign said simply, remembering Octavia storming out and not a peep was later heard from the white one. Who knows what could have happened in there.

"I thank you darling, please make haste, though do not think that this means we're through!" He pranced onward, leaving Sign In to her thoughts. Her hysterically imaginative thoughts.

"I'll have to head back there in a while. Today might be a bit amusing after all. " She said to herself.

It was fairly slow after the small show Sign got at the beginning of the day, the other theatergoers weren't nearly as flamboyant as the first stallion and if they were they didn't want to show it. They slowly came in one after another and the sheet slowly began to fill up to what was the normal length.

"Might wanna head back in a bit. Vinyl hasn't came back yet and I pretty sure he must be getting antsy." Sign said to herself with a sigh, getting up and trudging over to the ticket booth and grabbing her keys before heading back to the main theater entrance.

As she expected, the theater was in full swing already. Many of the ponies were settled in groups and discussing some thing or another while others were rummaging through boxes and pulling out tacky costumes of all shapes and sizes. It was the morning ritual of the place where everybody grabbed what they needed and lined up the first few performances of the day. After that, all the other performances were scrapped together behind the curtains.

It was honestly amazing how these minds could keep coming up with original content, albeit tacky and cheesy content -  a cliche at most - but it was new content no less. Repeats happened, but they didn't seem to mind and clapped anyways. Though it was definitely the musicians of the groups that stood out. Sign knew that almost every pony here went home and thought of new things, but music could almost always sound different.

She shook herself out of the awe of it all and made her way over to the dressing rooms entrance, not even bothering to get the stallion from earlier.

Sure enough, the second her keys jingled as they made their way up to the door, the sound of stampeding hooves came into ear shot as a stallion lined himself up behind Sign In. He was dressed in a ridiculous outfit, complete with frills and leather and everything else you could want to see out of a medieval Canterlot outfit.

"Are we to see my rose now?" He asked eagerly.

"Roses got thorns you know." Sign In said sagely as she shuffled through the keys before ringing out the correct one.

"But that is what pruning is for, my love."

"I'm not going to talk to you in riddles, so please don't do the same to me." She sighed, pushing the door open and letting the stallion flood in and race towards the back of the hall.

Sign made her way at a reasonable pace, she didn't want to be too close to that mare when he got near her. It was practical suicide if what she thought was going to happen would happen.

Sign made her way back to room 18 just in time to see the form of a stallion be thrown out by a haze of blue; his body landing upside down with his outfit almost comically ruined. Sign stifled a laugh as she stepped over him and into the doorway of the room to see a white figure hunched over and seemingly hard at work with a hoof moving feverishly.

"Mind if I come in?" She asked simply, getting the flick of an ear from the white form as a response.

"Shut the door: if that creep comes in again I might actually hurt him this time." She said, her voice was rather stale but Sign could still obviously pick up her intention to deliver on her promise.

She followed Vinyl's orders and shut - and locked - the door behind her as she stepped through, watching with curiosity as the white mare worked on whatever it was in front of her.

She took no hesitation, and asked in a rather agitated voice:

"You're here about Octavia right?" Not skipping a beat in what looked like pen motions.

"Uhm, not my first reason, but since you bring it up," Sign paused, letting Vinyl take over.

She let out a sigh as she placed the quill down, lifting a hoof up and covering her mouth as she yawned. She looked beat, despite the inability to see past the blockade of purple.

"I pissed her off earlier, like yesterday I think, and now she's mad at me. Turns out my friend knows her and when I went to brag to her about making princess cry, she got mad and threatened me if I didn't apologize. So, I came here and tried just that only to be reject by Miss Snoot and watch her storm out. So, at the fear of my bakery privileges, I'm trying to think of a way to get her to accept that apology." Vinyl said with a gasp for breath at the end.

"And you're doing that by....writing?" Sign asked, taking note of the paper she was writing on.

"Meh," Vinyl shrugged. "it helps me think, even if I don't have a shred of a clue of what I'm putting down."

"You don't know if you're even composing well?" Sign asked, her brow continuing to climb its way up her forehead.

Vinyl sheepishly smiled while her shoulders met her jawline in a larger shrug.

"Heh, I had music classes in the morning when I was in school. I also wasn't a morning type." She laughed a bit.

'This mare...' Sign inwardly eye rolled.

"So, any luck?" Sign asked.

Vinyl sighed.

"Well, none yet. I bet if I had some breakfast I could think of something, but I skipped it to get here early." Vinyl said with a tinge of sadness in her voice, patting her empty gullet with sympathy.

"Really? Why don't you just go get some now?"  Sign suggested.

"I would, but I have to be here all day. Or else Tip will tell on me." Vinyl sighed with annoyance.

"I can cover for you if you need me to." Sign.

Really?!" Vinyl's eyes lit up.

"Sure," Sign shrugged. "I got nothing against you, and between me and you, Octavia was probably the only talent in this building. I'd like to get her back too, all the others are pretty much a toned down version of that stallion outside." She said, gesturing to the closed door behind her.

"Hm, I think I'll take that offer."

"As if you wouldn't."

Vinyl chuckled a bit before beginning to pack up her saddlebags, a vague smile on her face as she stuffed the paper from the desk into them. Sign decided not to press the matter, but kept it in mind as she watched the white mare finish her packing and throw the saddlebags over her back.

"I'm guessing you have something in store for Tip Top?" Vinyl asked, pulling the strap to her saddlebags tight.

Sign shrugged. "Something like that."

"Well, I'll leave you to it." Vinyl said, smiling as she left towards the door.

"My love, you have ret-" A rich accent spoke up, only to be quickly shut back off with the sound of loud boom just as the door shut; leaving Sign standing alone in the room.

"Hmm," She wondered. "how to deal with Tip..." She placed a hoof on her chin and rubbed before smiling to herself and starting towards the door herself.

"I'll deal with it when the time comes." She said cheerfully.

Lyra was in the middle of delivering a notepad full of orders to Bon Bon, trading the small sheet of paper off and taking out multiple platters worth of various foods. She had since begun to get the hang of floating orders off to their tables without needing to look, and had even sent a few off at the same time. She also got a bit of downtime whenever she made a trade with Bon Bon, since Bon had to cook the food.

The bell rung out once more and her head swiveled to the door, her eyes widening for the second time that morning as they landed on a slouched and tired looking Vinyl.

"Vinyl?" Lyra quirked, her voice lowering as her eyes jutted calmly off to where Octavia sat for a moment.

"Lyra? You work here?" Vinyl asked, a brow reaching over the rims of her glasses as she trotted over to Lyra.

"In a way, just started today. But why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be at theater by now?" Lyra asked, taking the occasional look to Octavia's section when she thought Vinyl wasn't looking.

She saw the edge of the daily paper sticking out from the booth, a gray head buried deep inside as she skimmed over the various articles. Lyra inwardly sighed at the sight.

"...but the sign in lady said she'd cover for me today." Vinyl said with a proud smile before it dropped to a frown, bringing Lyra's attention back over to the white mare who had apparently been talking the entire time.

"But the whole apology thing didn't go over all that well, she just kinda said 'No' and walked out..." Vinyl grumbled off throughout the entire sentence, apparently finding her hooves suddenly interesting.

At that moment an idea popped into Lyra's head; a devious and sneaky idea that if she could put into action and go about it the right way, she might just be able to fix all of this mess. She never had liked one of her friends hating another, so she did as much as she could to either fix or prevent the problem; but since preventing was out of the question at this point, she could only hope to fix it.

And with the opportunity that was sitting just around the corner, how could she not see it as fate to bring the two together?

"Oh don't worry about it Vinyl, I'm sure she just needs some time to cool down and then she'll be more than willing to accept your apology." Lyra smiled.

Vinyl smiled at the reassurance, but the smiled quickly faded to an agitated stare as she picked up on the tone of Lyra's voice. A tone that practically screamed 'plotting something'.

"I gotta few tricks to still pull myself Lyra, so you can stop your scheming." Vinyl snapped, though it did nothing to stop Lyra from following through with her plan.

The door bell behind Vinyl rang out and a stallion walked in, patiently waiting behind Vinyl to be seated.

"Eh, alright, but only for now. Anyways, let's get you seated, I got orders to be ready for." Lyra half-lied, all but shoving Vinyl over towards the booth where the gray mare sat.

They turned the corner, Lyra practically breathing anticipation as she ushered the unsuspecting white mare into a booth where the gray mare sat with a newspaper covering her face. Vinyl hit the cushioned seat with a deflating sound, the seats molding under her weight, and looked a bit confused at the idea of being placed into a seat when another was already there, and voice her confusion as so.

"Lyra, aren't there other seats open? I can see one right over there..." Vinyl said, craning her neck, body, and hoof around and pointing to an open table.

A set of gray ears twitched behind the paper as it slowly lowered to reveal a set of purple eyes with a hint of annoyance and anger. Octavia jutted her eyes to the now smiling Lyra with a pen and paper at the ready. She then proceeded to let out a sigh, shutting her eyes as if to gather herself before opening them with a new found tolerance.

"Lyra...are you behind this?" Octavia asked slowly, like a mother asking a foal who had been caught in the act.

A set of white ears twitched this time as Vinyl craned back around, simply staring at the face of the gray mare before breathing out heavily. The action was followed by a sharp inhale.

"I said no plotting!" Vinyl yelled to Lyra, catching a few sharp glances and turned heads from a few other patrons.

"Already plotted." She smirked, not phased by the white mare's outburst that she had seen plenty of before.

Octavia shook her head in disappointment, as if scolding the two, before suddenly getting up and sliding out of the booth. She gently took her cello case by the straps and hoisted it onto her back, nodding to Lyra, and turning to face the exit.

"I think I'll take my leave." She said as she began to take her leave, only to be stopped by a unicorn's protest.

"Not without paying your not." She smirked again.

Octavia felt around her case only to discover the lack of a lump: her purse was missing. Though she didn't have to think to long on it as the sound jingling coins drew her attention to the hooves of a green mare, and in them, her purse.

Octavia sighed in defeat, seeing no other option than to endure Lyra's shenanigans.

"Wow, she sure has you on a leash." Vinyl commented, only to receive a bored looking stare from the gray mare across from her, which of course did nothing to make Vinyl feel regret.

The white mare then tried to leave herself, sliding out of the booth and moving past Lyra - who put up no resistance - and got about half way to the exit before Lyra spoke up.

"Take a step out of that door and I'll make sure you never see another pastry again."

Vinyl sighed in defeat as well, solemnly making her back over to the booth and sliding in. She let out a huff, propping her head up on her hoof and staring away from both Lyra and Octavia.

"Good girl." Lyra commented, enjoying the death stare Vinyl shot at her out of the corner of her eyes.

"Now, may I take your order?" Lyra asked cheerfully. Next Chapter: Lock up Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes