I woke to what had to have been the worst music I had ever heard. I was terribly confused as to why anypony in my house would be playing such awful music. As far as I knew, we were all classical musicians.

“Turn that horrid music off!” I grumbled into my pillow. The music instead turned up, shaking the room with its beats.

“Not digging the wubs?” An angry voice asked. I blinked into full awake mode and turned to face whoever spoke. When I saw Vinyl Scratch, I remembered everything that had happened. The fighting and my very rude behavior pushed its way forth and I cringed at the memory.

“Vinyl, could you turn it down please? There’s something I would like to discuss with you.” There was no way she could have heard me. My Canterlot-Noble voice was far too quiet to hear over such noisy music.

"I'm sorry, what?" Vinyl yelled over the music. She stretched out the vowel in ‘what’; an obvious action to get on my nerves. I shook my head, wanting to throw something at her for being so obnoxious and rude, but today was supposed to make up for last night. No projectiles, not even a pillow, allowed.

"Vinyl," I repeated. "TURN IT DOWN!" My throat hurt from shouting over the ear-deafening music, but it was worth it. Vinyl just gave a roll of her eyes and turned it off. I cleared my throat and nodded in thanks.

“What’s up?” Vinyl still seemed cold. I didn’t blame her in the slightest.

“My behavior last night was unforgivable, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you hated me for the rest of my life, but it seems only right to apologize for my actions. It was wrong of me to treat you the way I did.” Vinyl stared at me, her tinted glasses gleaming in the sunlight from the window.

“Kay,” she said, turning back to her machine.

“Is that all you have to say?” I asked before she could start it up again.

“Yeah,” Alright, Vinyl, stick to one syllable answers. I’ll do all the talking.

“Well, I suppose I’m sorry for assuming that you would instantly fall for me. I was wrong to say such a thing. I’m also sorry for yelling at you for what you said about Lyra and Bee Bop. That was uncalled for, and I should not have allowed my temper to get the best of me. It would mean so much, Vinyl, if you were to forgive me.” I watched the unicorn carefully, waiting for her response.

“Octavia, I’m used to this. Everypony is fine with me until they find out that I’d rather be with mares. They look away, they turn up their noses, and they pretend they don’t have a problem.”

“I don’t have a problem,” I retorted, keeping my voice calm. I refused to have a repeat of last night. “My father always told me to judge a pony on who they are, not what they are.”

“That doesn’t change anything. You still feel weird around me, and you’re still going to hang out with Lyra and Bee. They’re going to fill your head with lies, and then you’ll hate me more than you do now.”

“Vinyl Scratch, we are going to get one thing settled out right now.” I said firmly. “I do not hate you. I have never once hated anypony in my life, and I am not going to start now. Do I make myself clear?” Hate was a strong word, and I did not want this poor mare thinking that I hated her. I may have disliked her music, and her attitude, and her personality…but I did not hate her.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Quite alright, Vinyl,” I smiled. “So, is it safe to say we’re friends?” She looked at me, or I suppose it was at me, and half-smiled.

“I dunno, I’m still pretty mad at you, but we can try hanging out again. It’s our last free day before classes start up, right? I say we go back to that café and get ourselves some smoothies.”

“That sounds nice,” I agreed. We left the room and we were nearly to the café when Vinyl suddenly turned around and began running as fast as a pony could. I was standing there, shocked, when she returned, a pair of big bulky headphones around her neck.

“I’m workin’ on somethin’,” she explained when she caught me staring. I resisted the urge to ask-I would most likely get a lesson on ‘wubs’- and continued to the café. I ordered a strawberry smoothie, having a secret fondness for the tangy yet sweet fruit. Vinyl told them to throw everything together and put it in a glass.

“Thank you,” I said politely when the barmare gave me my drink. Vinyl simply downed it in one, belching loudly.

“Most ponies say ‘excuse me’,” I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

“I’m not most ponies,” Vinyl replied. She slipped the headphones over her ears and used her magic to fiddle with the machine in front of her. I could hear steady, loud noises, but I could also hear a loud strings section. Perhaps I had already rubbed off on her.

“Octavia, can I talk to you?” I recognized Lyra’s voice. I turned around and saw that she was alone. Her eyes were rimmed with red, as though she had been crying.

“Hello, Lyra,” I said cheerfully. “Are you alright?” Vinyl snorted, and I shot her an angry look. She still had no right to treat my friends rudely.

“I just got into a fight with…with Bee. She’s really upset with me right now, and I need somepony to talk to,”

“Of course,” I excused myself from the table, leaving a few bits to help pay for the smoothies. “Where would you like to talk?”
“My room, if that’s alright. I usually share it with Bee, but she went into town to get away from me.”

“Lead the way,” I said in the most comforting voice I could. There was a nagging in my head with Vinyl’s voice, trying to tell me that Lyra was a fillyfooler, but I pushed that aside. Lyra would have told me. Friends don’t keep secrets.

Unless they knew how you treated Vinyl.

“Here,” Lyra said. She used her magic to open the door, and I followed her inside. Her room was much nicer than mine. There were no albums across the floor, and no bulky machines. There were two lyres, and the room smelled of mint.

“What happened?” I asked kindly. Lyra collapsed into tears, hugging me and burying her face into my shoulder.

“I should have told you last night, but I didn’t want you to judge me!” she sobbed. I patted her back awkwardly. In Canterlot, most ponies did not start sobbing into your shoulder.

“It’s alright, Lyra!” I tried to raise my voice so she could hear me. “Just tell me now!”

“I…I’m like Vinyl!” Her voice squeaked.

“You’re a fillyfooler?” I breathed.

Now you know to listen to Vinyl.

“I am, and…and…”

“Vinyl already told me about Bee Bop. What happened?”

“I told her she could at least try to be nice to Vinyl, and she thought I liked Vinyl and…and…she left me! She went off last night to meet somepony,” Lyra’s sobs echoed across her room and I tried to be comforting. I was an only foal, so I didn’t gain any experience in comforting a crying pony. All I could do was pat her back in an awkward fashion.

“You’ll be fine,” I couldn’t really think of anything else to say. What does one tell a pony when they come crying to you that their marefriend has left them? They should really make rule books for this sort of thing. ‘A Celestian Guide to Relationship Advice’ or something like that.

“Get this though,” Lyra’s voice quivered. “She left me for a…for a stallion!”

“I thought she was a—”

“—Fillyfooler?” Lyra sniffed. “She’s into both,” I looked around the room for some tissues. Lyra’s nose was very runny from all her crying. When I couldn’t find any, I reluctantly pulled the handkerchief from inside the pocket on my bowtie.

“Here,” I offered. She took it with her magic and blew her nose loudly. Thank Celestia she didn’t offer to return it.

“What do I do, Octavia?” Lyra asked in a pitiful little voice. I offered her the only clichéd advice I knew.

“There are many other ponies in Equestria. You’re bound to meet somepony else. I know a mare who works at the candy shop not too far from here. We were friends in filly school, but she moved away when she told everypony she was a fillyfooler. Her name is Bon Bon, you might like her.” My thoughts strayed to my old friend, and I wondered if she really did still work at the candy shop.

“Can you introduce me?” Lyra asked hopefully, a light in her amber eyes. I shrugged.

“I don’t see why not. Just let me tell Vinyl where I’m off to and we can go,”

“Thank you, Octavia! You’re fantastic!” Lyra glowed with excitement as she stopped leaning on me. “I’ll meet you at the Academy entrance!” She dashed off and I walked at a normal pace back to my room. Vinyl was there, crouched over her machine. She seemed to be hiding something, and her glasses were perched on top of her head.

“I’m going to the candy shop with Lyra. She’s upset, and I’m going to introduce her to a friend. You’re welcome to come if you’d like,”

Good, Octavia. Be polite.

“I’m kind of busy with something, but thanks.” Vinyl turned back to the machine and began pushing buttons.

“Suit yourself,”

“Hey, Octy?”

“Please do not refer to me as ‘Octy’. My name is Octavia,” I despised nicknames. Why would anypony want to butcher the name they were given? Especially when said pony’s name was as sophisticated as mine.

“Alright, Octavia,” Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Can you get me something?” The unicorn held out a bag of bits. “I want some hard candy. I need something to suck on while I work.” I took the bits and nodded.

“I’ll be back in about an hour.” I said, turning away.

“Oh, and Octy?
”
“Yes?” I ignored the fact that she had once again called me ‘Octy’.

“I guess we can be friends…you’re not as bad as I thought. I’m still pretty mad at you though. You were kinda mean,” I rolled my eyes, but smiled anyway.

“Alright, Vinyl,” I left the room and shut the door behind me.

~XoXo~

My usual co-writer helped me a bit with this chapter.