A Mile In Her Horseshoes

Chapters

Well This Could Be Problematic
Totally Not Ripping Off Freaky Friday
New Perspectives
Losing Sight of Your Body
The Situation Continues to Deteriorate
Clusterbuck
A Somewhat Unpleasant Reunion
Not-So-Quick Fix
In Preparation of Wubs
Stage Four Octavia
The Last Ingredient
Potions and Emotions
Two Months Later

Well This Could Be Problematic

Apple Bloom carefully positioned the eyedropper over the beaker in front of her. Beads of sweat rolled down her face. The purplish-blue liquid in the beaker looked back at her, patiently awaiting the arrival of the orange substance she held.

“Just relax, Apple Bloom,” her mentor said from behind her. Princess Twilight Sparkle waited as patiently as the beaker for Apple Bloom to finish her work. “You only need to add two drops and then you're done."

“You can do it, Apple Bloom!” A voice called from a distance. She shifted her gaze from the beaker to Scootaloo. Her friend had barricaded herself at the other end of the library behind a fortress of books.

“We’ve got total confidence in you!” Sweetie Belle chimed in, also behind the book wall. Apple Bloom wanted to derisively snort at her friend’s hypocrisy, but she really couldn’t blame them for hiding. The notes in her Potions 101 book had stated very clearly that two drops of seapony tears must be added to the concoction. Any more or any less would result in yet another explosion of failure.

“You’re doing great, Apple Bloom,” Twilight encouraged, despite Apple Bloom’s lack of movement in the previous ten minutes. “Now just carefully add the two drops and you’ll be done for the day.”

Apple Bloom nodded, flinging a small amount of nervous sweat onto the floor. She shakily gripped the dropper in her mouth and lifted toward her concoction. She bit down on the dropper, sending a single drop into the flask. Her heart pulsated at an extraordinarily high rate. Apple Bloom bit down again, sending the second drop in. Immediately she recoiled, fearing a third drop had sprung free. Luckily it hadn’t.

Instead, the seapony tears spread through her concoction like a murky cloud, changing the color to a hue that resembled apple cider. Apple Bloom let the dropper fall to the floor with a sigh of relief. She was not going to blow up today.

“All right, AB!” Scootaloo cheered, finally leaving the safety of the book fort. “You finished it!”

Sweetie Belle inched out as well. “We can use it to switch bodies now, right?”

“Eh… not quite.” Apple Bloom stared down at the glass beaker that held the project she’d spent the last twenty Twilight Times working on. "Ah mean ya could try it, and in theory it would work, but right now it's incomplete."

Twilight fired up a levitation spell and brought the Potions 101 book up to her face. “Hmmm… it looks like the last ingredient you need is crushed zap apple seeds, right?”

Applebloom nodded. “Eeyup. And luckily the zap apple harvest is in tomorrow so I’ll have ‘em soon enough.” Twilight's brow knitted together, letting Apple Bloom immediately know there was a flaw in her plan. “What is it, Twilight?”

“Unfortunately Apple Bloom we won’t be able to have Twilight Time that day. There’s a Princess Summit in Canterlot and well…” Twilight sheepishly unfurled her wings. “You know.”

“Oh.” Disappointment flashed on to her her face. Sure she could always save a zap apple and hope it would stay fresh upon Twilight’s return, but they tended to turn rotten really quickly. If she tried just hanging on to the seeds, she’d lose them without a doubt.

Apple Bloom glanced down at her potion. She’d poured countless hours of work into making it. Waiting another year for the zap apples to re-arrive was out of the question as well.

“I’m sorry, Apple Bloom.” Twilight said, sensing she had let her pupil down. Suddenly, an idea sprung into the filly’s mind.

“Hey Twilight, what if Ah just take the potion home with me?”

Her mentor scrunched her face up, considering the request. In order to sway things in her favor, Apple Bloom put on the most responsible face she could possibly manage.

“Well… I guess it couldn’t hurt. As long as you promise to be careful.”

“Ah do!” Apple Bloom replied giddily.

“Okay then,” Twilight said. “I suppose there’s no harm in it.”

“Yes!” she screamed loudly, throwing out her forelegs in victory. Unfortunately, that action knocked her body-switching potion into the air. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gasped but were too far away to do anything. Apple Bloom dove to catch it, but didn’t make it in time. An inch from the floor, the beaker was wrapped in a lavender aura.

Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Twilight.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Yeah, no problem,” Twilight replied, though her face made it look like she was having second thoughts about this whole thing. “Maybe we should–”

“Come on Twilight,” Apple Bloom interjected. “That was an accident. Ah swear it won’t happen again.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to worry,” Scootaloo added.

“We’ll make sure she doesn't break it,” Sweetie Belle said.

Twilight cringed, knowing the track record of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She glanced at the glass beaker she was levitating and bit her lip. “Well…”

“Plus, ya already agreed,” Apple Bloom argued. “Ya wouldn’t want ta go back on yer word, would ya?”

Twilight sighed, defeated. “Fine. But let’s at least put your potion into something less… fragile.”

Considering what had just happened, Apple Bloom nodded with no hesitation.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted.

“Yeah?” He replied, poking his head out from the kitchen.

“Do we still have a leftover mug from cider season?”

He blinked. “Uh, yeah I think so… why?”

“Just get it for me, please.” Spike disappeared back into the kitchen for a minute.

“Ya want ta put mah potion in a cider mug?” Apple Bloom questioned, guessing at Twilight’s plan.

“Well sure,” came her response. “They don’t break easily, and as long as the top is sealed it won’t leak or anything.”

Spike returned with Twilight’s requested mug. She levitated it out of his grasp and the young dragon walked away, muttering a slightly sarcastic “you're welcome” to Twilight’s unspoken thank you.

Twilight levitated Apple Bloom’s potion out of the beaker and delicately placed it into the mug. She sealed it with a lid, and allowed the mug to gently float into Apple Bloom's waiting hooves.

“Now just be extra careful with it, okay Apple Bloom?” Twilight said sternly.

“No problem, Twilight,” the small filly replied already excitedly walking to the door with her friends.

“Oh!” Twilight called out. “And whatever you do, don’t drink it.”

“Ah know not ta drink an unfinished potion,” Apple Bloom said with a hint of irritation.

“What I mean is, just add the zap apple seeds and don’t do anything else! We’ll get around to testing your potion, but in a controlled environment. You understand?”

“Yeah, sure thing Twilight,” Apple Bloom muttered. “See ya when ya get back from the summit thingy.”

“Bye girls.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle offered their hasty goodbyes as the three of them bounded out the door. Apple Bloom was more than a little excited to take her project home, and was holding her potion filled mug close to her body.

“I can’t believe Twilight let you take this home,” Scootaloo remarked from her scooter.

“Me neither!” she replied. “Ah’m so excited! This is mah first time workin’ on a potion outside of Twilight Time!”

“It’s a shame we can’t use it until she gets back though,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed.

“Of course we can!” Scootaloo slowed her scooter down to be level with her friends.

“But Twilight said–”

“Twilight said you couldn’t use it, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo elaborated. “She didn’t say anything about me and Sweetie Belle using it.”

A mischievous grin broke out on the yellow filly’s face. “Hey, yer right Scootaloo!”

“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle interjected. “That seems a little dishonest.”

“Well it’s not like Twilight will ever know,” Scootaloo argued.

“She’d catch on,” Sweetie Belle said. “It would be hard to not notice two fillies switching bodies for crying out loud.”

“Actually, this potion is only supposed ta last an hour,” Apple Bloom clarified. “If y'all use it while Twilight is away, then the effects would wear off before she got back.”

Scootaloo clapped her hooves in triumph. “Well there you go, Sweetie Belle, we can do it.”

“Just because we can doesn’t mean we should,” Sweetie Belle retorted.

“Oh quit being such a stick in the mud. Besides, you might just get a body-switching Cutie Mark out of this.”

Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to respond, paused to think about it for a moment, and then sighed. “Fine, we can switch bodies I guess.”

“Awesome!” Scootaloo declared. She pumped her hoof in the air happily.

“I feel like I’m going to regret this decision.” Sweetie Belle stopped as she neared Carousel Boutique. “I’ll see you girls later.”

“Bye Sweetie Belle.” Apple Bloom waved to her friend as she walked home.

Scootaloo would have probably said goodbye as well, but she was already zooming ahead on her scooter, likely on her way to her own home.

Deciding that she should probably just head back to the farm, Apple Bloom chose the quickest route and began walking.

There definitely was a certain skip in her step as she made her way home. She couldn’t help but feel happy about being allowed to work on her potion. Granted, the thought of going behind Twilight’s back in order to test it didn’t add to that happy feeling, but she was happy nonetheless.

She whistled a tune to match her mood as she passed through the Ponyville marketplace. It was early afternoon, and dozens of ponies were around. Apple Bloom instinctively tightened the grip on her cider mug.

It took all of thirty seconds to worm her way through the crowd. During this time, her grip did not loosen on the mug. She only allowed her hoof to become a little laxer when she had passed through the throng of ponies.

Wham!

An unseen entity collided with Apple Bloom, causing her to stumble backwards and the mug to go flying from her grasp.

“Oh crap, sorry about that, kid,” the pony she’d walked into said.

Apple Bloom shook away any remaining disorientation and looked up. The pony she’d inadvertently hit was a tall white unicorn with an electric blue mane and dark purple shades. She looked vaguely familiar to her, as if Apple Bloom had seen this pony at one of Pinkie Pie's parties.

“You all right?” the unicorn asked.

“Yeah, Ah think so,” Apple Bloom said.

“Okay good,” the unicorn breathed with relief. “Last thing I need right now is an angry parent suing me for foal damaging or something.”

“Ah’m fine,” Apple Bloom stated more firmly. “Ah just need my…” she trailed off when she looked to find her dropped mug and saw two identical ones on the ground.

“You had some cider too?” The wild mane pony asked. “Aren’t you a little young to be drinking that stuff?”

“What? No, my mug didn’t have any cider in it. It’s a body-switching potion!”

The unicorn blinked. “Uh huh, sure it is.” A blue aura enveloped the two mugs, and one drifted over to Apple Bloom. “Look kid, I’ll admit I’ve done a little underage drinking myself, so I’ll pretend I never saw you holding this. Though, you should definitely come up with a better lie than 'it's a body switching potion' the next time you're caught.” The mug dropped in front of Apple Bloom and the unicorn mare turned to walk away with the other one.

“Wait!” Apple Bloom called out. “Are you sure this one was mine?”

The mare looked back. “I have no idea, but what does it matter? They’re both cider.”

Apple Bloom stamped her foot into the ground irritably. “No they’re not! I told you, my mug had a body-switching potion in it!”

The white unicorn laughed. “Yeah, sure it does.”

“I’m serious!” Apple Bloom insisted.

“Ugh, fine. If that’s the way you’re going to be, then I’m ninety-nine percent sure that your ‘body-switching potion’ is in that mug. Okay?”

“Really?” Apple Bloom asked skeptically.

“Yeah, whatever.” The white mare disappeared into the crowd before she could reply, apparently done talking.

Apple Bloom glanced nervously at her mug. She uncapped the lid to look at the liquid inside. It looked exactly like the potion she had brewed a few minutes ago… but then again it also looked a lot like apple cider. She recapped the mug and bit her lip nervously.

“Well… she did say she was sure,” Apple Bloom consoled herself. Of course, this was based off the word of a pony who was apparently okay with somepony her age drinking alcohol. “Ah guess this one is mine.”

The yellow filly continued her walk back home. While her step didn’t have a happy spring in it anymore, she didn’t allow herself to become too concerned. After all, she probably had gotten the body-switching potion back.

Right?

Totally Not Ripping Off Freaky Friday

Vinyl had a happy beat in her step after running into that filly. …Not that nearly knocking over some kid in the middle of the street was making her feel good. She'd felt that way prior to running into her.

She was actually happy because Club Stirrup’s DJ had just broken his leg.

…Okay, that sounded even worse.

The broken leg thing was a bummer for that guy, but it still made Vinyl’s day. With good old whatever-the-hell-his-name-was incapacitated for the time being, there was a job opening for the first time in years at Ponyville’s only dance club.

So with her usual bravado, she strolled right on into the club, found the owner – or manager or whatever – and a few other employees and proudly declared, “'Sup, bitches. I’m here for the job.”

This was met with blank stares, and the unspoken agreement to kick her out.

Fortunately, Vinyl’s lack of job applying skills was quickly made up for by her amazing DJ-ing skills. She had narrowly been given a chance to display her talent, and blew away the owner.

Literally.

She had turned up the volume on the amps just a little too loud and sent him flying backwards. Luckily, he was unharmed, which was good. If he had gotten a concussion she probably wouldn’t have landed the job.

Vinyl saw her house on the horizon. Unconsciously, she quickened her pace. The cider mug next to her began to lag behind because of this, so she willed it to catch up to her.

She’d be lying if she said her earlier encounter with that random filly hadn’t been weird. After all, what kid tries underage drinking and this uses such a lame excuse to get out of it? Vinyl eyed her cider mug and snorted.

“Body-switching potion,” she internally snickered. “What bullshit.”

Stopping at her front door, Vinyl refocused her magic. The keyhole on the door glowed in an azure aura as she began maneuvering the tumblers on the inside. The lock clicked open after a brief pause. She smiled, grateful for never needing to carry around a key.

When she pushed against the door her effort was met with a heavy resistance. After shoving harder, Vinyl was able to get the door to budge slightly. Squeezing her head through the interstice, she saw what the problem was.

Her sound system was blocking the door.

“Of all the fricking–” her sentence was cut off by her own grunting when she pushed harder against the door. The equipment on the other side began to budge more and more until Vinyl could finally worm her way inside her house.

"I should've just used the back door again," she grunted with her stomach pressed against the sound equipment. Finally she was inside. “Why the hell did I even put this here?” Vinyl lowered her shades to look around, and noticed the massive mess that was the living room.

Soda cans and empty pizza boxes littered the floor. A few suspicious stains decorated her couch, along with magazines that may or may not have been dirty. The coffee table – or rather, what had once been a coffee table – was flipped over and broken. Scorch marks covered her fireplace and had an empty beer jug where the logs were supposed to go. Lastly, the ceiling fan was slowly rotating overhead; one of the four blades was broken, and the other three were covered in the mutinous pizza slices Vinyl never got to eat.

Most would assume that such a feat of filth could only be attained after an epic and wild party night, but they would be wrong. This was merely the product of the DJ living on her own for two days.

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl said, observing the mess that would have made a more civilized pony faint. “That’s why I moved the turntables. The living room was getting too crowded.”

Choosing to ignore the sight before her, Vinyl went into the kitchen. To say it was in worse condition than the living room would be an understatement. Instead of pausing to take in her other mess, Vinyl merely trudged through it. The fridge door was conveniently open for her already, so she set the cider mug inside and flicked it closed with her magic. When she did, the tiny calendar her roommate kept on the door was made visible to her. Today's date was circled in red, and labeled with the fancy cursive scrawl that her roommate always used.

Vinyl luckily didn’t have to try and read the illegible writing – and thank Celestia for that – because it jogged her memory right away.

“Awesome, Tavi’s coming back today.”

Octavia Melody had been Vinyl's roommate for nearly three years now. They had both arrived in Ponyville around the same time, and being the only two serious musicians in town Octavia thought it would be ‘prudent’ – Vinyl still hadn’t looked up what that word meant – to room together. She had agreed, seeing as it would save money. Not to mention Octavia was crazy hot.

Unfortunately, one week into sharing a house, it became glaringly obvious that Octavia did not swing that way. Vinyl still stuck around despite this, and the two actually became good friends. Sure they had different mannerisms, tastes in music, and contrasting levels of awesomeness – Vinyl’s was much higher than Tavi’s – but they got along just fine.

Currently though, Octavia was away for a massively important audition for the Manehattan Philharmonic. Their first chair cellist had left for reasons Vinyl didn’t care about, and the very second she’d gotten the news Tavi dropped everything, packed up her cello, and dashed off to Manehattan for the hope of auditioning. The only thing she had said was that she’d be back in two days.

It would actually be a relief to have Tavi back. At least she would care enough to clean up the house.

Before Vinyl left the fridge she levitated a pen over and marked tomorrow’s date to help remind her that was her first gig. A banging sound suddenly reverberated through the house, followed by a mare’s groan of annoyance.

“Vinyl Scratch!” a posh and refined voice yelled from outside. The DJ haphazardly flicked away the pen and went back to the front door.

An angry purple eye was glaring at her through the crack of an opening.

“Hey, Tavi, how’s it going?”

“Oh everything’s just dandy, Vinyl,” Octavia deadpanned. “I got off the train after riding it for nine hours straight, lugged my rather heavy cello case through town, got my hoof run over by an orange filly riding a scooter, and when I finally get home with the hope of getting a nap in, I find the door is blocked by your equipment!”

“I have a feeling you’re not as dandy as you say you are.” Vinyl smirked.

“Just move your turntables, Vinyl,” Octavia demanded. She complied, and began tugging at her equipment. With a little help from her magic, Vinyl managed to pull it back enough so Tavi could enter.

“Oh hey,” Vinyl said as Tavi walked through the door. “Can you do me a huge favor and not freak out when you see the living room?”

Octavia blinked. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much,” Vinyl replied.

“Is there another inebriated harlot lying face down on our floor?” Octavia asked. Vinyl took a second to realize she was talking about the drunken hooker incident.

“No, I told you that was a onetime thing.”

“One time too many,” Octavia mumbled under her breath. “Seriously, what did you do?”

“Promise you won’t freak out?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Octavia sighed. “I have a feeling I won’t be able to keep that promise.”

“Fine.” Vinyl relented to logic. “The living room is a bit of a mess.”

There was a pause as Octavia absorbed this information. “Well, I suppose I expected as much. Can you let me in now?”

Her roommate didn’t sound particularly mad at the moment, so Vinyl stepped aside and allowed her to enter. Octavia took great pains to place her cello delicately off to the side before checking on the living room.

Needless to say, her jaw hit the floor. “Dear Celestia!” she shrieked. Vinyl winced at the assault on her eardrums. “How did you do this in just two days?”

“What can I say? I’ve got skills,” Vinyl remarked. Octavia grunted angrily, and Vinyl sensed she might be too close to crossing the line.

“I’m sorry, Tavi,” she apologized. “I shouldn’t have let it get this bad.”

“Well I suppose part of it is my fault,” Octavia admitted. “I should have known better than to leave you on your own for two days while I cavorted about Manhattan.”

“Oh yeah, I meant to ask about that. How did your audition go?”

Octavia smiled. “I’ll tell you, but only if you help with cleaning up this mess.”

Vinyl exerted a groan, but in a playful manner. With a flick of her horn a closet at the end of the hall was opened. Inside was an assortment of cleaning materials that Octavia had stockpiled after her first month of rooming with Vinyl. They each grabbed a garbage bag and some cleaning rags. Octavia opted to bring some disinfectant and a surgical mask to cover her snout. Vinyl rolled her eyes at this and the two began to work.

“So I’ll ask again, how did your audition go?” Vinyl shoved pizza boxes in her garbage bag.

“Fantastic actually. My competition wasn’t exactly staggering, so I think my odds of getting in are very good.” Octavia went to work on some of the stains on the couch which had crusted over. Vinyl heard her gagging through the mask.

“You mean you don’t know if you’re in?”

Octavia shook her head as she scrubbed down the sofa. “They said they’ll mail out the results in a few days.”

“Okay,” Vinyl said.

They worked in silence for the next hour as they cleaned, Octavia because she had nothing more to say, and Vinyl because she couldn’t believe what had been just said.

In all honesty, Vinyl hadn’t actually thought that Octavia would have gotten an audition. After all, hundreds of cellist had probably flocked to Manehattan, so the odds of her actually getting a chance to audition had been slim. Now, Vinyl had learned that not only had Octavia auditioned, but she did well too.

She gritted her teeth. If Octavia got into the Philharmonics, then she’d have to leave Ponyville – and subsequently Vinyl – behind. The thought of losing her friend made her stomach flop around like a fish out of water.

As horrible a pony as it probably made her, deep down Vinyl hoped that the letter Octavia received would be one of rejection.

Immediately after thinking that thought, she bit her lip out of guilt. What the hell, Vinyl? she berated herself. You should be happy for Octavia.

The last piece of ceiling pizza was scraped down by her magic and tossed into the fifth garbage bag of the day.

Octavia finally ripped off her mask as she surveyed their work. “Well that didn’t take too long.”

Vinyl glanced at the small clock – which they had found in the toilet – on the fireplace mantle. “Yeah, I guess so.”

A blue aura enveloped the garbage bag as it was thrown onto the other four in the corner of the room. She decided to remove them some other time, seeing as how Celestia was already lowering the sun.

“Well, I’m starving,” Octavia announced. “How about some dinner?”

“Sounds good to me,” Vinyl agreed. They began walking towards the kitchen, and suddenly Vinyl remembered what a deplorable state it was in. “Tavi, wait!” Too late. Octavia’s purple pupils shrunk to the size of peas at the sight before her.

The following shriek definitely shattered Vinyl’s eardrums.

“I still can’t believe you let it get this out of hoof,” Octavia reprimanded. Her surgical mask was back on now, as well as some rubber gloves on her hooves. Vinyl really couldn’t blame her this time.

The kitchen had been slowly and painstakingly cleaned – even more so than the living room – until it was somewhat usable again. It took them twice as long too.

“I said I was sorry,” Vinyl said. “Cut me a little slack.”

“I don’t have any slack left to cut for you, Vinyl,” Octavia huffily retorted. “I mean, the inebriated harlot–”

“Just say drunk hooker, Tavi. No point in being fancy when booze is involved.”

Octavia groaned. “Fine. As I was saying, the ‘drunk hooker’ is still your worst ever, but this one gave it a run for its money.”

“I get it, I’m a slob. Geeze Tavi, how many more times do I need to apologize?”

“About twenty more times will do it.”

Vinyl rolled her eyes to this, though Octavia wouldn’t be able to tell through the purple shades on her face.

“I think I know an easier way to get back on your good side.” She smirked. Octavia arched an eyebrow up to her forehead as they tossed the final garbage bag into the massive pile.

“Oh? And what would that be?” Octavia dubiously asked.

“Apple cider,” Vinyl told her. Tavi’s gray ears perked up automatically.

“You didn’t,” she said with a girlish squeak.

“I had to get up crazy early to get it, but yeah, I did.” She trotted over to the fridge and popped it opening, revealing the mug. Octavia’s eyes widened at the sight of her favorite beverage. Vinyl’s teeth showed, as her grin got a little triumphant. “So I take it I’m forgiven?”

Octavia nodded. “You have all my forgiveness.”

Wrapping the mug in her blue magic, Vinyl lifted it out of the fridge and kicked the door shut. “Well then what do you say we crack this bad boy open and get smashed?”

“Not quite the phrasing I would have used,” Octavia murmured. “But sure, I could use a little pick-me-up after a day like today.”

“Awesome.” Vinyl ripped the lid off the mug as Octavia went to fetch some glasses. Looking down into the mug, Vinyl noticed a distinct lack of fizzing from the liquid.

Ah great, don’t tell me it’s gone flat already. Vinyl looked towards Octavia, who was returning with two champagne glasses. Despite Vinyl’s earlier warning of mixing fanciness with alcohol, she let it slide. After all, she was just about to mix Tavi with alcohol.

Vinyl poured them both full glasses, and then set the mug down on the table.

“Cheers?” Octavia offered, extending her champagne glass. Vinyl clinked hers against it, then through back her head and downed the cider in a single gulp.

It tasted… different than regular apple cider. It was definitely still as tangy, but not quite as… apple-y as usual. It was actually pretty hard to stomach, but lucky it slid down Vinyl’s throat before she was subjugated to more of it. The following aftertaste was new as well, combining sour and bitter into a sensation that made her spine shiver.

Octavia noticed the weird flavor as well, based on the face she made. Ever the polite one, she sampled the cider again before bringing up the topic, and she clearly got the same result as the first time.

“Um… Vinyl, are you sure you bought apple cider?” Her friend looked a little woozy. The weird taste must have really done a number on her.

“Yeah, of course. I have no idea why it taste like lizard piss cider instead.” Without warning, her magic gave out and the champagne glass fell to the floor, shattering.

“Vinyl!” Tavi scolded. She seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open, and Vinyl felt herself experience the same problem.

“Sorry,” she bent down to scrape it up, but her legs suddenly felt really wobbly. She took a header onto the kitchen tiles, cutting her cheek on a glass fragment as she did.

“Vinyl…” Octavia trailed off. Vinyl heard a thump and knew that Octavia was on the ground too. She struggled to open her eyes and make sure her friend was all right, but when she did, she found herself staring at her own unconscious body.

What the fu–

Her head slumped over and she was out like a light.

Author's Note

And now the fun begins.

Well, fun for us I mean. Octavia and Vinyl on the other hoof are going to being experiencing the exact opposite.

New Perspectives

Vinyl groggily opened her eyes. Light rushed into them, which caused her to grunt in discomfort. Everything was blurry, but Vinyl could make out enough to know that she was lying down. Slowly, her vision came into focus, and she could tell that the light was coming from an open window in the kitchen.

What the hell? It’s already morning?

It wasn’t the first time Vinyl woke up while lying face down on the floor. Probably wouldn’t be the last either. Slowly, she battered away her remaining sleepiness and sat up.

“That cider was a little too strong.” Vinyl rubbed her sore temples. She paused with confusion upon hearing her voice. It sounded… different. It was kind of calmer and not nearly as party-inducing as before. Maybe the cider scorched my throat enough to screw over my voice. It’ll probably be fine.

There was a sharp throbbing in her head, but other than that, she seemed to be fine. “Hey Tavi, are ya down here?” She called out.

“Urgh…” came a shoddy response. Octavia lay behind Vinyl, but she didn’t bother turning around to look at her collapsed friend. It would be an effort she wasn’t willing to attempt. “Not so loud Vinyl. My head hurts.” Vaguely, Vinyl thought her friend’s voice had also changed, but she attributed it to being a shared drinking symptom.

“It’s called a hangover, Tavi. They tend to happen after you have fun.”

“I am never going touch alcohol again. Not even cider. I just can’t handle it.”

Vinyl removed her gray hoof from her head. “Yeah, well–” she abruptly froze in midsentence and stared down at her hoof. A plain gray hoof stared back at her.

Her pupils shrunk down to the size of peas at what she was seeing. Unnerved, Vinyl flipped her hoof over and back a few times. It was gray on both sides. A familiar gray too, Vinyl felt like she could recall seeing it before. Multiple times in fact.

That cider screwed up my brain more than I thought. I’m sure my hoof isn’t actually gray.

She turned to face her friend, wondering if she would think her hoof was gray as well. “Heh, hey Tavi, would you get a load of this–” Vinyl cut herself off a second time when she saw what was lying on the ground behind her.

She was staring at herself.

On the floor in front of her, a white unicorn with an electric blue mane lying face down on the tiles. A pair of purple shades – her purple shades – was lying right next to her. There was a tiny pool of blood on the kitchen floor, and Vinyl noticed it was seeping from a cut on its – her – cheek.

“Holy hell.” Vinyl's mouth hung agape at the sight before her.

“What’s the matter?” her body spoke using her voice. It sent an unnerved shiver down Vinyl’s spine, and she clamored backwards.

What is happening? This can’t be the cider playing tricks on me anymore. Is that… really me? Vinyl scrunched up her face in confusion. But I’m me. At least… I think so…

Vinyl stared back down at her hooves. They were still gray. Out of curiosity, she reached for her mane. It was still there, but when Vinyl pulled it forward to see it, she gasped. It wasn’t the cropped and jagged piece of awesome that she was used to. She was instead looking at a long, silky black mane that was all too familiar to her.

Ignoring the pounding hangover in her head, Vinyl struggled up and reached for the nearest reflective surface. Her off-color hoof found the champagne glass from last night. She brought it her face and stared her slightly refracted image.

Two purple eyes blinked back at her. The reflection in the glass wasn’t her face at all; it was Octavia’s. Vinyl felt her jaw slid open in shock and the Octavia in the glass repeated the action. To make sure she wasn’t crazy, Vinyl slapped herself in the face. After a wince, she looked back at the glass and still only saw Octavia’s reflection.

“This is really, really bad,” she muttered.

Her old body shifted slightly, and Vinyl flinched as she saw this. It was beyond bizarre to watch her body move independently of her.

“Vinyl, are you trying to do some sort of impression of me?” her old body asked; its eyes still closed. “Because I am warning you now, my head and face hurt far too much right now for me to put up with any foalish trite.”

“Uh… T-Tavi is that you?”

Vinyl’s body moved again, this time slowly standing up. “Obviously, Vinyl. Who else would I–” She froze, her eyes finally opened so she could see what was going on. Vinyl stared into her own eyes with a feeling of surprise and fear. She had no doubt her roommate was experiencing the exact same emotions.

The two of them then began screaming.

Apple Bloom woke up with just a little bit of ennui. Her ear involuntarily flicked down, then up as she tried to summon the will power to climb out of bed. She was more or less fighting a losing battle until the corner of her eye caught something.

On her nightstand was a cider mug, and its contents caused her to catapult out from underneath her covers. Today was the zap apple harvesting day, and Apple Bloom was jittering with anticipation over finishing her potion.

With fervent joy, Apple Bloom grabbed her mug and raced down the stairs, ready to pick the first zap apple that came across her eye.

Today is going to be a great day!

Vinyl and Octavia finally stopped screaming five minutes later.

“Oh my Celestia!” Octavia cried out in Vinyl’s voice. “You’re in my body!”

“And you’re in mine,” Vinyl noted with panic.

Octavia glanced down and saw her now white hooves. She let loose a squeak of shock, then dug her hooves into her new electric-blue mane and screamed again as the full force of the realization took hold.

“Tavi, calm down!” Vinyl tried to grab her friend's shoulders and steady her. This became counterproductive when Octavia swatted them away - undoubtedly more unnerved than before - and screamed at an even higher pitch.

“Tavi!” Vinyl shouted. It still had no effect. Gritting her teeth in annoyance, Vinyl outstretched her hoof and slapped the crazed mare inside her body. “Get a freaking grip, Octavia!”

Her breathing was still spasmodic, but at least she’d stopped screaming. Vinyl was grateful for that much; her headache was already bad enough. She looked down at her hoof, noticing a small amount of blood sticking to it. She'd hit the cut cheek.

“You slapped me.” Octavia held a hoof up to her stinging face.

“Technically, you slapped me,” Vinyl retorted. Then she laughed, much to her friend’s dismay.

“Are you serious?” Octavia roared. “How can you even joke about this? We are inside each other!”

Vinyl – despite her own desire to freak out – couldn’t stop herself from using Octavia’s trademarked snort-laugh. Octavia’s white cheeks inflamed with a blush as she realized what she just said.

“You know what I meant,” she grumbled.

“Sure I do.” Vinyl smugly grinned. “You know Tavi, if you wanted my body there was an easier way to get it.” The horrified look Vinyl saw on her face was enough to make her snort-laugh again.

“Why will you not take this seriously?” Octavia demanded with a stamp of her hoof.

Eventually, Vinyl calmed down. “You’re right.” Vinyl wiped a tear from her eye. “You’re absolutely right. This is some serious shit we're in.”

Octavia winced. “Can you please not use my voice to utter profanity? It’s unsettling.”

“Whatever,” Vinyl muttered.

“How could this have happened?” Octavia cried, moving back onto the subject of their bodies.

“As if I know. Did you come in contact with anything magically freaky in Manehatten?”

Octavia shook her head. “No, absolutely nothing. I went straight to the auditions and then to a hotel. Granted the pillow mints tasted awful, but I highly doubt that’s what caused us to switch bodies.”

“Yeah it’s unlikely that caused us to… switch… bodies…" There was something familiar about that phrasing to Vinyl. "Wait a minute, switch bodies… body switching… Oh crap, body-switching potion!” It all makes sense. That kid from yesterday had been pretty adamant about having a body-switching potion in her mug of cider. “A motherfricking body-switching potion, of course!”

Octavia’s eyes widened. “A what kind of potion?”

Vinyl grinned sheepishly. “Oh yeah… Hey Tavi, here’s a story you’ll get a kick out of.”

“Why am I afraid to ask?” Octavia said to herself.

“Well you see…” Vinyl began hesitantly. “I may have run into a kid yesterday who was also carrying a mug of cider, and when I asked her about it she said it was a body-switching potion. I told her that was a lousy excuse to use when she was caught underage drinking, and you kind of have to agree. I mean, whenever I was caught with some booze I always had a story prepared. Like this one time, I told my teacher that a plane full of crocodiles and vodka was flying over my head, and the pilot had to–”

“Vinyl!” Octavia interrupted. “Get to the point.”

“Right, sorry. Anyway, I kinda got my cider mug mixed-up with hers, and well… I guess she wasn’t lying about that body-switching thing, right? Pretty funny, huh?” Vinyl chuckled a little. She glanced at her roommate.

Her old body had never held such a stoic expression before. Vaguely, Vinyl pondered the idea of asking Octavia to play poker for her.

“You… mixed up the cider… with a body-switching potion…” It sounded calm, but Vinyl knew her own voice well enough to tell Octavia was building up a fury-frenzy.

“Heh… yeah,” Vinyl awkwardly put a hoof behind her head. “My bad, Tavi.”

Vinyl saw her eyelid twitch as Octavia’s rage built up. “You… mixed up the cider….”

“Yeah… we kinda established that already,” Vinyl reminded her. It was probably only fueling the flames to come, but she had a hard time filtering out sarcasm.

Octavia threw her face into her hooves. “Sweet Celestia, I’m in the body of an insufferable, incompetent moron!”

“Hey, I’m not incompetent!” Vinyl shouted.

“I think you finally managed to top the drunk hooker incident, Vinyl.”

“Well, at least this time we don’t have to worry about a toilet on the front lawn.”

“Vinyl!” Octavia shrieked, giving her a shove. “Do you not realize how much trouble we’re in? What if we’re stuck this way forever? Do you really want that? I might get a call back to Manehattan any day now and you can’t go in my place!”

The smile was chased off Vinyl’s face. “Yeah… and– holy shit! I have a gig tonight, Tavi! Ah crap, I can’t miss my first show at Club Stirrup. I’d never work in this town again!”

A look of mild surprise passed across Octavia’s new face as she absorbed the fact that her roommate had a job. It went away as quickly as it came, however; replaced with the fear for their current situation.

“W-what are we going to do?” she quivered, voice deep with concern.

The question caught Vinyl off guard. Normally Octavia had a plan to fix whatever mess Vinyl created. If neither of them knew what to do, then they were most certainly screwed.

“I-I don’t know, Tavi. Should we tell somepony about this? Go to an emergency room or something?”

“No… they’d think we’re insane,” Octavia asserted. “And the last thing I need the Manehattan Philharmonic to see is ‘resident of an insane asylum’ on my resume.”

“Well then where else can we go?”

Octavia pondered this for a moment. Her ‘thinking face’ on Vinyl’s face was unsettling, but she supposed there was just no getting used to switching bodies with your best friend.

Then again, I do now have access to any part of Tavi that I want…

No! Bad thoughts, go away! This is serious.

“What about the princess?” Octavia’s suggestion broke through Vinyl’s thoughts.

“Twilight?” Vinyl asked. “I dunno, doesn’t she normally make situations like these go from bad to worse?”

Octavia frowned, the bad memory of a parasprite trying to eat her bowtie likely at the forefront of her mind. “Well… you could always learn to play a cello with concert level precision in the next few days, as well as practice and perfect mannerisms in order to be passable as a proper lady.”

The kitchen was hit with a sudden silence as Vinyl tried to comprehend what Octavia just said.

“Hey, Tavi?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go to Twilight.”

“I thought so.”

Vinyl reached down with a gray hoof and plucked her dark shades from the ground. Shoving them onto her face, she proceeded to yank off Octavia’s bowtie. “All right, come on.”

Octavia held her mouth agape. “You are not going out like that.”

Vinyl raised her eyebrow, though Octavia couldn’t tell thanks to the shades. “Why not? This is how I always go out.”

“In your body, it’s fine,” Octavia retorted. “But in my body I would never wear something so… well…”

“Cool?”

“I was going to say lascivious,” Octavia griped. Vinyl shrugged, not knowing or caring what that word meant. “The point is my body is not wearing those glasses.”

“Well you don’t exactly get to make the call when it comes to your body right now,” Vinyl slyly told her. “So the glasses are staying put.”

Octavia harrumphed loudly. Her face perked up when she got an idea. “Fine,” she relented, picking up the discarded bowtie. “In that case I’ll wear what I want.”

“Oh no!” Vinyl said. “I’m not letting you walk around with that on my neck. I look like a…”

“Sophisticated and responsible member of society?”

“I was going to say dork,” Vinyl returned.

Octavia growled. “Well then, how about this for a compromise,” she suggested. “You wear my bow tie, and I’ll wear your stupid sunglasses.”

Weighing her options carefully, Vinyl relented. She’d end up looking like a dork, but at least she wouldn’t look like a dork.

… Oh Celestia, this body-switching crap is going to be confusing.

Octavia held out the bow tie to Vinyl expectantly, and she tried to call upon her magic to put it on. Nothing happened.

Blinking, Vinyl looked up to check on her horn before realizing it wasn’t there anymore.

“Crap,” she said dejectedly. Octavia cocked her head, confused. “I-I guess I don’t have magic anymore.”

Octavia looked up at Vinyl’s horn, now squarely on her head. “Oh, yes, it would appear so.” She noticed the upset look on Vinyl’s face. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah… yeah, I’ll be fine. Let’s just get this fixed, all right?” Octavia nodded. “On the upside,” Vinyl said, trying to secure her chipper, light-hearted mood from earlier. “This is probably the first time in your life you’ve ever been horny.”

Octavia’s white cheeks flushed. “V-Vinyl!”

Laughing, Vinyl snatched the bow tie from Octavia’s outstretched hoof and reluctantly hoofed over her shades. “Come on, we gotta princess to find.”

Vinyl trotted out the door, hearing a few grumbling complaints from Octavia as she followed.

Losing Sight of Your Body

“How do you even see out of these, Vinyl?” Octavia demanded as the two of them briskly trotted through Ponyville. “They're so dark.”

“You’re eyes will adjust. Er… my eyes will adjust… I think…”

Octavia sighed, not wanting to think about whose eyes would be adjusting to the shades. She just wanted this whole ordeal over and done with. She noticed Vinyl had yet to turn her gaze back to the road.

“What? Is something wrong?” Vinyl opened her mouth to reply. “I mean besides what is obviously wrong.”

Vinyl scrunched up her face, annoyed that Octavia had shut down her sarcastic quip. “You’re just bleeding a lot.”

Octavia’s eyebrows arched, not that Vinyl could see them under the shades. “I am?”

Vinyl indicated where Octavia was bleeding by pointing at her cheek. Octavia wiped her face and brought to her vision a hoof stained with a surprising amount of blood.

“Oh… oh my,” Octavia whispered, suddenly feeling faint. How did I lose that much blood without knowing?

“Relax, that’s more my problem than yours technically.”

“Well it’s my problem now! What if I die while in your body?” Vinyl actually laughed, causing Octavia to flinch. She wasn’t – and never will be – used her body laughing at her manically with her voice. “This is serious!”

“Yeah, I’m sure it is.” Vinyl laughed. “Geeze Tavi, you got one cut. What? Do you think you’ll bleed out or something?”

“Maybe. You don’t exactly have a high intake of vitamin K.” The dumbstruck look on Vinyl’s face just made Octavia sigh knowing she had wasted words. “I’m saying you could bleed out if the cut is deep enough.”

Vinyl snickered. “Worst case scenario, I get a scar. Which would actually be great, 'cause scars are bitchin’.”

“Vinyl,” Octavia seethed, “what did I tell you about using my voice for profanity?”

Vinyl rolled her eyes, her purple pupils mocking Octavia with her lack of control over them. Vinyl then made a fart noise with her mouth.

“That’s even worse!” She shouted. Vinyl cracked up at her fuming, which just made Octavia grit her teeth in anger. “I swear to Celestia, Vinyl, if you do that again I will–”

“PPFFRRTT!”

Octavia opened her mouth to berate her best friend, but was cut off yet again.

“Octavia, darling, is that you?” a gentle, posh voice called out. Octavia felt her eyes go wide at the sound of her friend Rarity. She turned, seeing the unicorn no more than twenty yards away, and she was approaching them. “It is you.” Rarity smiled. “Where have you been, darling? I haven’t seen you around town in a few days.”

There was a pause, and Octavia looked towards Vinyl, expecting her to say something. Vinyl was lazily staring off into space, until she caught sight of Octavia glaring at her and snapped out of it.

“Oh, right, that’s me,” Vinyl turned to Rarity. “Right, sorry. Hello… you…”

Octavia wanted to facehoof really bad right now. Rarity just awkwardly shifted, having not expected that sort of answer. Vinyl eventually realized she still had to answer a question. “Oh yeah, I was in Manehattan.”

“Oh really,” Rarity remarked. “I’ve had quite a few interesting experiences in Manehattan myself. What were you there for?”

Octavia impatiently tapped her hoof as Vinyl replied. She actually seemed kind of engaged with Rarity, which was bad. They were doing nothing but wasting time by staying here with Rarity, whom she knew from experience could get exceptionally chatty. At any normal time Octavia would be fine with it, however now wasn’t a normal time. Not normal in the slightest.

She nudged Vinyl’s leg. “Ahem, Octavia if you don’t mind, we have somewhere to be.”

“Huh? Oh yeah.” She turned back to Rarity. “Sorry, we… uh… gotta go.”

Rarity’s eyes darted from Octavia to Vinyl. “Oh I see, your friend looks like she needs to go to a hospital.”

“Uh, no, actually we were just going to go to Princess Twilight and–”

“Twilight? Oh goodness no, she has absolutely no medical training. Besides, she’d probably make a situation like this go from bad to worse.” Rarity’s expression faltered. “Uh… please don’t inform her that I said that.”

“No prob', dude,” Vinyl said in the most un-Octavia way possible.

Rarity blinked. “Yes, well, certainly you two should get to the hospital now.”

“Actually we really need to talk to Twilight and– oww.” The cut on her cheek suddenly split open further as she spoke. It was like a hundred tiny fires bouncing around on her face.

“You doing okay, Ta– I mean Vinyl?”

“Not really,” Octavia groaned. “I think I really do need to go to a hospital.”

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “But what about that…” She glanced over at Rarity, who was still in earshot. “That thing that we really gotta do that involves Twilight?”

“I’m sure whatever it is you two need to do can wait,” Rarity told them.

“It really can’t,” Vinyl muttered. “Like, it seriously can't. You have no idea.”

“Well then, Octavia, why don’t you go to Twilight’s? I can see to it that your friend gets to the hospital.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Oh, absolutely. I just finished a new line of dresses, so I have nothing else planned for today. You don’t need to worry about inconveniencing me.” Vinyl and Octavia shared a brief look.

“Uh–” Vinyl shoved a hoof into Octavia’s mouth.

“Can you excuse my friend and me for just a moment?” Vinyl asked. Rarity nodded and waited patiently as the two of them slid out of earshot.

“Vinyl, we need to get to Princess Twilight now,” Octavia hissed. “We don’t have time for a detour with Rarity.”

“Oh, so that’s her name.” Vinyl smirked and glanced back. “It’s every bit as hot as her.”

Octavia’s jaw slid open. “Are… are you attracted to Rarity?”

“Immensely.” Vinyl winked at Rarity seductively. After an awkward look, Rarity forced a smile and a dainty wave.

“Vinyl!” Octavia almost shrieked. “You can’t be attracted to her… you’re in my body and I’m not homosexual!”

“Oh, so I have to be straight because I’m in your body?” Vinyl snorted. “Fine, but by your own logic that makes you a fillyfooler.”

“Shut up. I don’t care which one of us is homosexual right now; I just want to get to Princess Twilight and fix this mess! Ahh…” The cut split open wider, and Octavia bit her lip to quell the pain.

Vinyl raised her eyebrow. “Look, Rarity offered to take you to the hospital. I’ll go to the Princess and straighten this mess out while you get my face fixed, okay?”

Octavia opened her mouth to protest, but all that did was agitate her cut and force her to relent. “Urgh, fine.”

“Great. Also, could you do one more thing for me?” Vinyl put on her cheesiest, most innocent smile, which on Octavia’s face just made her look constipated.

Octavia narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Could you do me a massive solid and… you know… put the moves on Rarity for me?”

“…What?” Octavia blinked slowly. “You want me to do what?”

“Just enough to get her interested in me,” Vinyl hastily assured her. “Once we switch back I’ll take it from there.”

“You’re asking me to make Rarity attracted to you?” Octavia went slack-jawed.

“Well yeah,” Vinyl nonchalantly replied. “You already know what she likes and dislikes and stuff. Just use that to make me seem like a good match for her. Then when we switch back I’ll hump her brains out.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But Tavi…”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Well for one, I don’t even know if she’s homosexual.”

“Oh really? Well I can fix that.” Vinyl turned around. “HEY RARITY, ARE YOU A FILLYFOO–” Octavia’s hoof clamped over Vinyl’s mouth before she could utter another syllable. Her eyes darted over to Rarity. The seamstress's face was somewhere between shock and confusion.

“If you swear not to do something as asinine as that again, then I’ll consider your request,” Octavia growled into Vinyl’s ear. “Deal?”

“Deheel,” Vinyl mumbled through Octavia’s hoof. She set her foreleg down, freeing Vinyl’s mouth.

They trotted back over to Rarity, who was looking at Vinyl awkwardly.

“Octavia, are you feeling all right?”

“Never better,” Vinyl responded. “Thanks for offering to get Vinyl here to the hospital.”

“Not a problem. So long as you don’t have to go to the hospital either.”

“You are acting kind of strange, Octavia. You’re not your usual self at all,” Octavia threw in.

Vinyl rolled her eyes again. “I’m ever so sorry Rarity for my abhorrent behavior earlier. I’m just so terribly stressed right now that I’m not myself. Can you ever forgive me?”

It took Octavia all of her willpower not to slap Vinyl for her horrible impersonation. Luckily, Rarity ate it up.

“Think nothing of it, darling. We all have our off days after all.” Rarity smiled empathetically at Vinyl, who grinned suggestively in return.

“Okay,” Octavia butted in. “Uh… Rarity, could you get me to the hospital now? My face is really starting to hurt.”

“Oh right, absolutely… Vinyl wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” Octavia grabbed Rarity by the hoof and dragged her away from Vinyl. “Now hurry up… please.”

Rarity picked up her pace, obviously not partial to being pulled. Octavia really didn’t care at this point; she just had to get Rarity away from Vinyl before she spontaneously combusted out of frustration towards her friend.

“Bye Rarity, hate to see you go, love to watch you leave.” Octavia glanced back and flinched as she saw Vinyl observing Rarity’s… more intimate areas as they walked away.

“What?” Rarity called out, turning her head.

“Just keep walking,” Octavia demanded, her cheeks flushing a little. I swear, the second I have my body back I will destroy that mare.

“Granny,” Apple Bloom whined. “Can Ah please have a zap apple seed now?”

Granny Smith gritted her teeth before responding. She was in the process of peeling zap apples, which unless done carefully could lead to a jolt of electricity running through her old bones. It was dangerous work, but Granny didn’t trust anypony else to peel the apples correctly. “Ah told ya, yougnin’, Ah’m still at the peeling phase. Removing the seeds won’t be fer a while longer.”

“But Granny!”

“Be patient, Apple Bloom.”

“But Ah want it now!”

Granny Smith suddenly flinched, the raw skin of the zap apple giving her a shock. “Dangnabbit Apple Bloom, ya dun made me lose mah concentration.”

“Oh.” Apple Bloom’s head sank. “Ah’m sorry, Granny.”

Granny Smith sighed. “Why don’tcha play outside fer a while, Apple Bloom. Maybe yer clumsy brother bruised an apple so bad that we can’t use it. Ya can get yer seeds from there if ya want.”

Apple Bloom perked up. “Okay, thanks Granny!” She bolted out the door and out into the fields. She had to get the seeds soon, knowing that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle would be over to test the potion before too long.

Granny Smith just shook her head as her granddaughter ran out. "Ah swear, one o' these days that filly will cause some real trouble."

Vinyl sped through town, eyes glued to the massive castle that was impossible not to notice. Despite her discontent with being trapped in Octavia’s body, she couldn’t help but wear a smile on her face. Things were quickly starting to look up for her.

“It’s not like Tavi’ll pull it off,” Vinyl murmured to herself in an attempt to keep her hopes from getting too high. “Though it sucks I’m going to miss seeing her try to flirt.” Her mouth curved upwards even more at the thought.

The castle was closer now, its reflective surface nearly blinding Vinyl when she got too close. She swore, shutting her eyes. Of all the days to not wear my shades. Blinking, Vinyl kept her gaze bent towards the ground as she approached. Once she reached the door she ignited her horn to open it… or rather, she tried to.

“Right, no magic,” Vinyl lamented, glancing at her bare forehead. Settling for other methods, she pounded the door with her hoof for a solid minute until it begrudgingly swung open.

“What is it?” a sleepy dragon asked. Vinyl recognized him after some thought. He was always around Princess Twilight with a quill and paper. She assumed he was her secretary or something.

“Uh… S’up, is the princess in?”

The dragon raised an eyebrow. “What do you need?”

“Magical emergency,” Vinyl tersely replied. She would explain the full story, but first she needed to find a way to tell it without making herself seem like an idiot.

The dragon looked her over, noting her forehead. “But… you’re an Earth pony.”

“That would be the emergency.” The dragon showed no sign of comprehension. “Okay look, long story short. I’m a unicorn – name’s Vinyl, by the way – I just drank a body-switching potion and so did my roommate, now I’m here, so get the bucking Princess out here already.”

“Wait… did you say you drank a body-switching potion?”

Vinyl nodded, and the dragon groaned to himself. “Great, nice job Apple Bloom. Twilight’s gonna pop a vein when she hears about this.”

“My roommate's already popped like, five of ‘em. Can you get the Princess out here now?”

The dragon weakly smiled. “Yeah… about that… she isn’t here.” His words sent a jarring panic through Vinyl.

“WHAT!”

“She went to a Princess Summit in Canterlot, and won’t be back for at least a week.”

“Are you kidding me?” Vinyl wailed. She grabbed the dragon and shook him frantically. “Please tell me you’re kidding me!”

“Will. You. Calm. Down!” the dragon demanded. Vinyl stopped shaking him and sheepishly set him down, embarrassed by her outburst. “Thank you.”

“So… she’s really gone.” The seriousness of the situation slapped Vinyl across the face.

“Yeah… sorry about that. I don’t really think I can help you. You’re gonna have to wait until Twilight gets back to get this fixed.”

“Well I can’t do that,” Vinyl snapped. “I have a DJ-ing gig tonight and my roommate doesn’t exactly have the skills to do it for me.”

“You’re a DJ?” The dragon asked excitedly. Vinyl gave him a sharp look. “That’s not important right now, sorry.”

“Do you know anypony that can help?” Vinyl pleaded. “I don’t think I need to stress how much I want my body back.”

“Well, I could always send a letter to Twilight to let her know what’s going on, but I doubt she’ll be able to get back earlier. Other than that, I guess you could talk to the pony who made the potion, but I doubt she could help you.”

“You mean that kid? What’s her name again?”

“Apple Bloom. She’s usually hanging around the clubhouse with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. It’s somewhere in the apple orchards if you want to try and find her.” While the dragon spoke he grabbed a quill and some paper from inside, scribbling down a quick note.

“'Kay, I’ll look there. Thanks for the help… uh…”

“Spike,” he answered for her, finishing up his writing. Spike rolled up the note and breathed a green flame onto it. The parchment dissolved into smoke and floated away. “There, Twilight should be getting that in a few seconds.”

“Dude, that was bitchin’,” Vinyl remarked as she watched the smoke fade away.

“Huh? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that word before. What does it mean?” For the first time, Vinyl realized how young Spike sounded.

“Uh, it means… you know what, not important. Thanks for your help, Spike.” Vinyl gave a quick wave before turning around and running off. She had to find Apple Bloom quickly, but she already knew that Octavia was going to be beyond mad when she learned that Twilight was gone.

The Situation Continues to Deteriorate

“Thanks fer the help, Big Mac.” Apple Bloom slipped the four tender zap apple seeds into her saddlebag. They sank snuggly into the cotton pouch, right beside her potion mug.

Big Macintosh was hardly paying attention to her. He was occupied with nursing his electrocuted hooves. The zap apple had put up a fight, doing all but sprouting a mouth and biting Big Mac in order to prevent him from getting the seeds out. After several attempts of peeling with his mouth and forelegs – which had proved to be beyond disastrous – he opted to smash the apple brutally against his plow. The tool in question was covered in the sticky guts of the zap apple and would likely electrocute Big Mac the next few times he used it.

“Are ya sure you're okay?” Apple Bloom asked a teary-eyed Big Macintosh.

“Eeyup.” His response sounded like he was biting back pain, and Apple Bloom felt a little bad.

“Do ya want me ta get the first aid kit?”

“Eenope.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes to this. Even a foal could see Big Mac’s quivering lip and redder-than-usual cheeks. He was doing his best to hold back a cry of pain, but would likely run for the nearest bandage the second Apple Bloom left.

“Okay then, Ah’m gonna go.” Apple Bloom trotted along, not stopping when she heard her brother clamor towards the house.

She saw the clubhouse approaching through the trees, and picked up her pace. The cider mug bounced against her side as she cantered. When she reached the clubhouse, she ascended the steps and practically ran through the door. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were already on the other side.

“Hey girls.”

“Do you have the seeds?” Scootaloo anxiously asked. Apple Bloom patted her saddlebag.

“Sure do.”

“All right, let’s just do this really quick, okay?” Sweetie Belle fidgeted, looking nervously around the room.

“Geeze, chill out. You’re acting like we’re about to do something illegal.”

“We might as well be!” Sweetie Belle protested. “Twilight is a princess and she told Apple Bloom not to try out the potion until she got back.”

Scootaloo sighed. “I’ve already explained the loophole to you once, now come on, let’s switch bodies already!”

Apple Bloom unloaded her supplies, and uncapped the lid to the potion. All the lab equipment was currently at Twilight’s castle, and nopony particularly felt like going all the way there just to see if Spike could get a few things for them, so Apple Bloom opted to use a more crude method to grind up the seeds.

She raised her hoof and loudly stomped down on all four seeds at once. Moving away her limb, Apple Bloom saw that the seeds were cracked and splitting, but far from crushed.

“Great,” she muttered. “This could take a while.”

“Allow me.” Scootaloo cracked her neck to the side, and then proceeded to jump about to pound the seeds furiously, in what looked like a weird dance routine. Apple Bloom stifled a giggle, and after a few minutes, Scootaloo was done.

“Here goes nothing.” Apple Bloom grabbed the spoon she taken from the breakfast table, scooped up a tiny amount of the zap apple mush, and dumped it into the potion. She stirred it vigorously for a few seconds, expecting the potion to change color like it usually did when new ingredients were added. Odd… but oh well.

Confident the seed powder had dissolved, Apple Bloom pushed the concoction towards her friends. “Well, drink up y’all.”

“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo. “Because it still seems like a bad idea to me, especially considering our track record with potions.”

“Seriously, do I need to say it again? Body. Switching. Cutie Mark.” Scootaloo accentuated each word as if they were supposed to wave away all of Sweetie Belle’s doubts.

“Also, ya get a pair of wings out of this,” Apple Bloom threw in.

Sweetie Belle let out a reluctant groan. “Okay.”

Scootaloo grabbed the mug and moved it towards her lips.

“Just start off with a sip,” Apple Bloom interrupted. “We gotta save some of it fer when Twilight gets back.”

“Fine.” Scootaloo pressed the mug to her lips, and drank one tiny gulp of the liquid. She tore the potion away from her mouth, coughing. “Oh crap!”

“What?”

“That thing scorched my throat on the way down,” Scootaloo rasped. “Anyway, your turn, Sweetie.”

Sweetie Belle took the mug cautiously, and took an even smaller sip than Scootaloo did. “It’s not that bad. Kinda taste like apples.”

They paused, waiting for something to happen.

“Did ya switch yet?” Apple Bloom inquired.

Scootaloo touched her hooves to her face and felt around. “Nope. Nothing.”

“Huh… Maybe y’all should try a little more?”

“So… uhm… how exactly do you know, Octavia?” Rarity casually asked in an attempt to stir up some small talk.

“We’re roommates,” she lied. Well… it wasn’t really a lie; it was more along the lines of a half-truth.

“Really?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “That’s funny, Octavia’s never mentioned you before.”

For good reasons. “Octavia considers me to be a bit of a disappointment. I can’t really say she’s wrong either. After all, I break her possessions by accident all the time, I keep her up all night with my obnoxiously loud music, and I’m an embarrassment to be around in public.” Octavia smiled. It felt good to hear Vinyl finally admit these things, even if it was just her making Vinyl’s voice say them.

“Really? Well I can’t believe that. You walk and talk just like a proper lady.”

Octavia glanced over her posture and realized Rarity was right. Her habits from her former body were shining through rather blatantly. She had to convince Rarity that she was actually Vinyl. Adjusting her sunglasses, she slouched slightly and began dragging her hooves. “Uh… I dunno what you’re talking about, dude.”

Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof and giggled. She actually giggled. “That – heehee – is quite hilarious, Vinyl. So I take it you were just trying to impress me before?”

“Uh… yeah?” Octavia guessed.

“Well don’t make yourself uncomfortable for my sake. Just be who you are and I’m sure we’ll get along swimmingly.”

You clearly don’t know the beast that is Vinyl Scratch. Octavia cleared her throat. “Well… uh… in that case, dude, it would be, like… righteous if we could get to the hospital soon. Losing all this blood is really a bummer.” She cringed. Celestia, I sound like a moron. Maybe I should just stop; it’s not like I’m fooling anypony.

“Well you’re in luck, Vinyl, we’re here.” Rarity indicated right ahead. The Ponyville General Hospital stood welcomingly in front of Octavia, and she breathed in relief. A few tiny drops of blood were dripping out of her cheek as she eagerly darted inside.

“Finally!” She rushed right up to the front desk. “Excuse me, I need some help.”

The pony at the counter glanced up from the magazine he was reading, glanced down, and this recoiled as his eyes shot back up. “Oh my, you’re bleeding!”

“What an astute observation.” Octavia impatiently tapped her hoof. “So can I get a little help to stop that?

“Yes of course,” he fumbled for a clipboard sporadically, his eyes hardly leaving Octavia’s cut.

Geeze, the way he’s acting you’d think nopony ever comes in here with an injury. Then again, it’s rare that I ever see anypony walking around with blood running out of their cheek in Ponyville.

The stallion was finally able to position the clipboard correctly; he grabbed a pen and asked. “Alright ma’am, what’s your name?”

“Oc–” She paused and coughed a little to cover her error. “Sorry, it’s Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch.”

“Right, okay.” He wrote it down. “So, uh… nature of your ailment?” Octavia squinted, and pointed to her cheek. “Oh, yes… silly me.” The stallion scribbled a few more things down on the paper. It was at that moment that Rarity trotted by her side.

“There you are, Vinyl. You really left me in the dust back there.”

“Rarity?” Octavia bit her lip. “Uh… what are you doing here? I thought you were just making sure I got to the hospital.”

“Nonsense. What kind of pony would I be if I just left you here without making sure you got the proper care?”

I wouldn’t have complained. Octavia forced a smile anyways.

“I’ll be right back with a doctor, ma’am.” the stallion at the front desk walked away, leaving Octavia alone with Rarity.

On normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have minded this so much. Of course, switching bodies with her roommate and then telling said roommate she would consider “putting the moves” onto one of her close friends were far from normal circumstances. Octavia was really hoping it would never come to that.

“Is your face still in pain?” Rarity innocently asked. Octavia felt her coat rip open just a little more, and she bit her cheek.

“I had been ignoring it,” she admitted. “But now that you’ve brought it up, that’s going to be rather difficult.”

“Oh… sorry, dear.” Rarity bit the inside of her cheek and winced apologetically. “My goodness you really are bleeding quite a lot.”

“Gee, you think?” Octavia sighed, but the only thing that accomplished was sending another twinge of pain through her face. “Sorry, I get sarcastic when I’m in pain. Losing all this blood probably isn’t doing me any favors.”

“I’ll say. Perhaps we should make an effort to remedy that.” Rarity looked around the waiting room until her eyes settled on a box of tissues. Her magic grabbed a bunch and lifted them up to Octavia’s cheek, pressing gently against her face. “Better?”

“I guess.” Octavia pushed her hoof onto the tissues so Rarity could release them.

“Out of curiosity, darling, how did you get so cut up?”

“Well Viny– er... I bought some apple cider and had a little mishap with a wine glass.”

“Really? Drinking apple cider out of a wine glass is something I’d expect from Octavia, but you don’t really seem the type. Not that I mean that in an offensive way, of course.”

Octavia opened her mouth, primed with a response that was more than a little sarcastic, but she was interrupted by a voice.

“Vinyl Scratch?” Octavia was slow to recognize that was meant for her, and eventually turned her head to face the familiar figure of Nurse Redheart.

“Yes, that’s me.” The lie rolled off her tongue easily, and the nurse waved her on in. With her peripheral vision, Octavia saw Rarity stand up too and move to follow her. Great. Why do you have to be so friendly?

“Buck. Buck. Buck. Buck. Buck.” The steady, rhythmic chant of swears flowed from underneath Vinyl’s breath as she ran through Ponyville. There wasn’t any time to lose; especially considering Octavia would probably be out of the hospital soon.

If she learns that Twilight’s gone, she’ll be so pissed… and then she’ll take it all out on me! Not to mention she probably won’t help me get inside Rarity’s pants. Thinking of which, I wonder how that’s going… Her thoughts of Octavia’s attempt at flirting caused her to trip over a divot in the road and land on her face.

“BUCKING HELL!” Vinyl screamed with a mouthful of dirt and assorted plant life. She spat, and wiped her tongue with her hooves until she realized how pointless that was, and returned to spitting. “Gah, that shit tasted like… well… shit.” Vinyl forced herself upwards, and began dusting herself off.

When she looked back up, there were several pairs of eyes staring at her. Mares and stallions alike were giving her looks that ranged from the stink-eye to glints of concern. Most were sporting agape jaws to accompany their looks of disbelief especially the foals.

It was at that point that Vinyl realized that she did not appear to them as Vinyl Scratch, the swear-like-a-sailor-all-the-damn-time kind of mare, but instead as Octavia, the pole-up-her-plot-too-prissy-to-even-consider-swearing kind of mare.

Oops.

She handled damage control quickly at least. Vinyl cleared her throat and eloquently delivered her apology in the most refined way she knew. “My bad, guys. Sorry.”

When that did nothing to assuage the shocked ponies before her, Vinyl resorted to plan B. She ran.

Yep… Tavi’s really gonna hate me now.

“Hmm…” Dr. Stable – a middle-aged unicorn with a mane as thin as Octavia’s patience right now– mumbled curiously as he scrutinized her cut cheek.

“Hmm?” she asked, wondering if he meant anything by that.

“Hmm,” he mumbled again, with monotone this time. Using his magic, Dr. Stable levitated a magnifying glass over to her bleeding face. “Hmm…”

Octavia rolled her eyes. She could feel her cheek slice open a little bit more each time she moved and was more than ready to just have a bandage slapped on it so she could leave. Not knowing where her body was or what Vinyl was doing with it was driving her up the wall. I really hope she isn’t swearing again.

“Hmm…”

“Oh, just tell me what the problem is!” Octavia erupted. Dr. Stable blinked and backpedalled.

“You do seem to be delaying her treatment,” Rarity quipped from the back corner of the room. Octavia could feel the frustration in her voice, and couldn’t blame her. It was unlikely that Rarity had been expecting to wait around for thirty minutes while the doctor did seemingly nothing.

“I was just making sure of a few things,” Dr. Stable assured her. He set the magnifying glass down and cleared his throat. “Vinyl, you appear to have some tiny shards of glass still stuck in your cheek.”

As if to rejoice in their discovery, the glass shards cut her cheek open more. “Ah!” Octavia bit her lip. “I noticed.”

Dr. Stable lit up his horn. “Yes, well, the process of removal should be very easy. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t just do it yourself, considering your magic.”

Octavia was befuddled for a moment, before she remembered she was technically a unicorn now. “Uh… I can’t… I don’t really… um…”

Rarity walked into her field of vision. “Vinyl, have you’ve been having magical dysfunction?”

Unsure of what to say, Octavia merely nodded.

“Curious,” Dr. Stable muttered. He narrowed his eyes and leaned in a little. “How long has this been going on?”

Since I switched bodies with my roommate after drinking a random potion. “Uh… a while?”

Dr. Stable and Rarity shared a look. “Perhaps I should look into that.”

“Can’t you focus on the glass shards in my face first?”

“Already done.” Dr. Stable lifted up a tray that held several minuscule, red-stained pieces of glass. He grabbed a length of medical gauze and taped it over her wound.

“But… I didn’t even feel it.”

“You’re welcome.” Dr. Stable grabbed his notepad. “I’ll write you up a prescription for pain killers, and then we can focus on your magical dysfunction.”

“Don’t bother.” Octavia hopped off the examination table and made her way for the door. “I’ll be fine.” Assuming Vinyl managed to get to Twilight and figure out a way to fix this.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her,” she heard Rarity say to the doctor. As she walked out the door Octavia heard hoofsteps follow her.

Great, and now Rarity’s sticking around a little longer. Octavia sighed. It doesn’t matter, I’ll just check out and… wait… does Vinyl even have health insurance?

Clusterbuck

“Vinyl, please wait!” Rarity rushed forward to catch Octavia as she trotted out the doors of the hospital lobby.

She had to admit, it wasn’t a surprise to find out Vinyl didn’t have health insurance. She was surprised, however, to learn that Nurse Redheart had already covered the cost of the visit. In the nurses own words it was a “thank you for the you-know-what”. Octavia actually didn’t know what, but the seductive wink Nurse Redheart gave her – after slapping some adhesive bandages and a prescription in her hoof – did leave room for the imagination.

Octavia was just happy the whole exchange occurred before Rarity could catch up to her. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been quick enough to fully slip away.

“Vinyl.” Rarity trotted in front of Octavia. “I’m serious. You should go back and get your horn looked at.”

Resisting the urge to scoff, Octavia tersely replied. “There’s really no need. I’m more than fine, all right?” She prepared to brush passed her.

“You are not fine, Vinyl! You can’t even use magic for pony’s sake. Doesn’t that scare you a little?”

“Not really,” Octavia answered honestly. Considering her earth pony-ness, a lack of magic wasn’t all that new. Though now that she was technically a unicorn, the thought of using her powers intrigued her. Refusing to dwell on the possibilities now, Octavia attempted to side step Rarity.

“Darling, listen to me.” Rarity stepped in front of Octavia. “I can’t imagine how embarrassing it must be to admit to having magical dysfunction, but I sincerely think you should get some help. It may not seem bad now, but it gets worse. One day your magic stops working, the next, your horn becomes limp.”

Octavia fought down a look of revulsion. Thankfully Vinyl’s sunglasses blocked her expressive eyes, but she still had to keep her mouth from morphing into an expression of disgust. “Okay then…” She surreptitiously inched away. “For the fourth time, Rarity, there is nothing wrong with me.” Other than the fact that I’m trapped in the body of my roommate! Beyond that however, everything’s just peachy.

“I still don’t see why you’re refusing help, darling… but I suppose I can’t force you on this one.”

Sweet Celestia, she’s actually going to relent! “You’re absolutely right. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be.”

“Very well then, but, um… at least put on a bandage before you go. The glass may have all been collected, but you are still bleeding quite profusely.” Rarity held up a hoof to her cheek to indicate the waterfall of blood still on Octavia’s face.

“Yeah that’s probably a good idea.” Turning her attention to the roll of bandages in her hoof, Octavia attempted to peel one off. Several seconds of frustrated fiddling later, Rarity spoke up.

“Would you like some help, darling?” Octavia sighed inwardly, but nodded. Rarity ignited her horn and levitated the bandages up in a blue aura, before removing a single strip. Rarity leaned in close to her face as she began to place the bandage, likely to get the best precision. Octavia felt the sticky surface grip her cheek as Rarity’s magic smoothed the bandage over her cut cheek. With the job done, Rarity seemed to forget that their faces were in such close proximity, so Octavia cleared her throat and backed away.

“Thanks... dude.” She turned, prepared to trot over to Princess Twilight’s castle and catch up with Vinyl. Upon walking away, she heard hoofsteps. Turning, she saw Rarity following her.

“Oh, um, it would appear my work is done here then.” She backed away. “Sorry, I won’t over stay my welcome.” She turned to leave. “I hope we can meet up again sometime, Vinyl. You really are a delight to be around.”

Octavia watched her start to leave, her roommate’s asinine request suddenly coming to mind. She groaned internally. “Actually… uh, dude.” Rarity looked back, stopping. “I got this… uh… gig, tonight at Club Stirrup. Would you like to attend?”

“Club Stirrup you say?” Rarity paused. “It’s… not my usual venue, but I suppose it would be nice to branch out a little. I’ll try to be there around eight then.”

“Uh… righteous.” Celestia, I sound like a moron.

Rarity giggled. “Goodbye Vinyl, and I do hope you will reconsider getting your horn looked at.” She waved. Octavia returned the gesture, along with a forced grin. As soon as Rarity was gone, she turned and bolted.

Vinyl, I really hope you have a cure.

“Finally!” Vinyl exclaimed as she broke through the dense foliage and spied a tiny tree house not far ahead. “I thought I’d never find this bucking thing.” Granted, she was saying that after searching for only five minutes, but she only had Octavia’s body, not her patience.

Vinyl trotted forward, hoping that Apple Bloom would be inside. If not, the hunt will be forced to continue, much to her dismay. As she approached the top step of the tree house, she heard voices coming from the inside.

“No! Ya can’t have anymore. Ya already drank half the dang thing, and clearly it don’t work.”

Well there’s a country twang that sounds a little familiar. Vinyl allowed a smile to break out on her face; she’d only be stuck in Octavia’s body for a little longer.

Barging in, Vinyl was immediately met with a confused yellow face. There were two other fillies in the room, but Vinyl was only focused on the one she came here for.

“’Sup,” she greeted.

Apple Bloom blinked.“Uh… hi?”

“We need to have a little chat, kid.”

“Ooooh!” an orange filly called out. “Looks like Twi-hic-light found out about your potion mess up.”

“That isn’t Twilight,” the other filly promptly stated, swaying as she stepped closer to Vinyl. “Clearly she’s a Diamond Dog.”

“Oh yeah,” the orange filly murmured, squinting her eyes. “My bad.”

“Are they drunk or something?” Vinyl asked Apple Bloom.

“No they….” She shook her head. “Wait, who are ya? Why are ya even here?”

It suddenly dawned on Vinyl that Apple Bloom had never seen her before… or rather, never seen her as Octavia before. Before she could open her mouth and find something to say that would clear up the confusion, she was cut off.

“Am I Sweetie Belle yet?” Vinyl watched as the orange filly poked a hoof into the face of the other kid, who she guessed was Sweetie Belle.

“I think so.” Sweetie Belle blinked in rapid succession. “I don’t remember having three heads though. Or being really blurry. Or orange.”

Vinyl glanced at the mug near Apple Bloom and inhaled the sticky, fermented apple scent that hung in the air. The behavior of the two fillies before her pieced together the last of the puzzle for her.

“You gave them the cider, didn’t you?”

“Cider?” Apple Bloom’s face scrunched into confusion. “Ah don’t have any cider.”

Vinyl pointed to the mug next to her. “That’s cider.”

Apple Bloom groaned. “Why does everypony seem ta think that? No it ain’t cider, it’s a–“

“Body-switching potion?”

“…H-how did ya know that?” Apple Bloom's eyebrow shot up in suspicion, but her jaw hung loosely with nervousness. Her eye's failed to choose one emotion to express, and she ended up showing both shock and fear.

“Remember bumping into an awesome white unicorn the other day and dropping your cider?” Apple Bloom’s eyes widened, but she nodded. “Yeah… that was me.”

“But ya aren't–” Understanding suddenly began flooding Apple Bloom’s face. “Oh…”

“Now you get it.”

Apple Bloom’s mouth morphed into a wide grin and her eye's lit up with joy. “Holy cow! It actually worked! Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, did ya hear that? It worked!”

Vinyl blinked in shock as a yellow blur began bouncing around the room with joy. Her friends drunkenly staggered to their feet, whooping and hollering. In the midst of celebrating, Scootaloo hoof pumped the air, accidentally making contact with Sweetie Belle’s jaw. She went down giggling giddily, almost unaware that she’d been punched.

“Hey!” Vinyl barked, cutting the celebration short. “Look, I’m not usually a wet blanket, but being in Tavi’s body seems to be having that affect on me. So can you – if it’s not too much trouble – fix this shit?”

“Hehe… shit’s a funny – hic – word.” Scootaloo giggled.

“Ya don’t need ta worry too much. The body switching potion only lasts about an hour.”

Vinyl arched her eyebrow. “Oh really? That’s good news. I guess all my worrying’s been for nothing… EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT I DRANK THE BUCKING THING LAST NIGHT!”

Apple Bloom fell on her hindquarters from the force of the shout. She shook her head, confused. “Wait… last night?” Her pupils suddenly shrunk to the size of marbles. “Oh no… the zap apple seeds!”

“Zappy whatsits?”

“Zap apple seeds!” Apple Bloom repeated with a rising panic. “They were supposed ta be the last ingredient of the potion but Ah only added them ta the cider!” Her head swiveled to her two friends, both of which were having fun saying “shit” every time they spoke. “And Ah… Ah gave it ta them!” Apple Bloom dug her hooves into her mane. “Oh Celestia, Ah just got mah best friends drunk! This is awful!”

“Yeah, yeah, we can discuss who’s going to jail for giving a couple of fillies some booze later. Right now, I’m a little more concerned about the fact that I’m NOT EVEN IN MY OWN BODY!”

“The Diamond Dog sounds mad,” Sweetie Belle piped up. “Should I find a jackhammer, or some shit?”

“I’ll get it,” Scootaloo replied, promptly turning and walking into a wall.

Ignoring them, Apple Bloom looked up. “Don’t worry, Ah can fix this!”

“Yeah, I doubt that,” Vinyl snorted. “You’re really lucky that I already sent a letter to Twilight.”

“YA DID WHAT?” Apple Bloom exploded. “No, no, no! This is terrible. She can’t know Ah mixed up the potion! Ah’ll never git ta go ta a Twilight Time again!”

“As uh… awful as that sounds, I’d be more concerned about what the mare who has my body is going to do to you when she finds out there’s no cure.”

“Look, Ah can fix this! Ah just need time, all right!” She hit her head with her hoof repeatedly. “Come on, think!” Vinyl opened her mouth to interject that head trauma wouldn’t really help the situation, but suddenly Apple Bloom perked up. “That’s it! Zecora!”

“That zebra who always digs potholes in the town square?” Vinyl knitted her brows together. “What can she do?”

“She’s a potion expert! Ah’m sure she can whip up a cure in no time!”

“Really? Epic! Can you go see her right now? I gotta go find Tavi and make sure she knows what’s happening.” And check her progress with Rarity, while I'm at it.

“Yeah.” Apple Bloom turned her head. “Girls, Ah–” She froze, seeing only Sweetie Belle behind her. “Uh… where’s Scootaloo?”

“She… uh… went to find a jackhammer or some shit.” Sweetie Belle wobbled. “She took my body with her… the jerk.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “Oh no!” She faced Vinyl. “Ah gotta stop her!”

“Why? I’m pretty sure no one’s dumb enough to give a jackhammer to a kid.”

“But she’s drunk. In public!”

Understanding dawned on Vinyl. “Okay, yeah. You better find her first I guess.”

“Meet me at Zecora’s hut in an hour.” Apple Bloom rushed out the door, stopping to turn around and barked an order, “Sweetie Belle, don’t go anywhere! Ya understand?”

“Yep. I got it. No shit from my – hic – end.” She flopped down on her stomach.

“An' stop usin’ that word!” Apple Bloom bolted out.

Suddenly, Vinyl had a horrible realization. “Wait!” she called out. “Where’s Zecora’s hut?” No response. Apple Bloom was already out of earshot. Sighing, Vinyl turned back inside. Sweetie Belle was inching towards the cider bottle using her hind legs to propel her. Vinyl stepped in and grabbed the mug. “Nope. Sorry kiddo.”

“You shitty Diamond Dog,” Sweetie Belle mumbled.

Wow… I’m a really bad influence, aren’t I? Sweetie Belle gurgled something about Diamond Dogs again, before the massive amount of alcohol in her system forced her into unconsciousness. Well, at least she’s not going anywhere. The cider must be pretty strong though if she passed out after only half a glass. Either that or this kid’s as big a lightweight as Tavi.

Curious, Vinyl swirled the mug in her hoof for a moment, sniffed it, and took a sip. “Not bad.” Remembering she still needed to find Octavia, Vinyl ran out of the clubhouse too, cider in tow. She hoped it would be enough to calm down her undoubtedly seething roommate.

A Somewhat Unpleasant Reunion

Octavia was feeling just a little bit frantic right now. This was reflected by how her hooves flew across the ground as she raced through Ponyville. Several ponies flung themselves out of her path as she tore through the town, and many chose to send a few choice words her way as they fell into the dirt.

Going to Princess Twilight did not turn out the way she’d hoped. Instead of Vinyl already being at the castle with a quick-fix style remedy, the only one there was a dragon who claimed Vinyl had stopped by earlier only to leave. Apparently it was to find the pony who made the potion, but that didn’t really matter to Octavia right now. Vinyl had just taken her body off to some unknown location to converse with some unknown pony, without even telling her!

“I swear, the next time I see her I’m going to—”

“Hey, Tavi! There you are!” Octavia skidded to a halt at the sound of her voice. Turning, she saw Vinyl — or rather, Vinyl in her body, which still wasn’t any less disturbing to her — running up.

“—throttle her,” Octavia finished.

“What was that?” Vinyl asked, trotting the last few steps up to her.

Octavia felt every muscle in her body tense up as she did her best to keep from leaping at Vinyl and attacking her in frenzy. She might not have been able to resist if Vinyl wasn’t currently in her body. At the very least, Octavia was going to give her a chance to explain herself. “Oh nothing. So, where have you been?”

Vinyl’s smile evaporated as she realized how angry Octavia was. Knowing she was trotting on thin ice, she chose her next words carefully. “Want some cider?”

A half-empty mug of cider pushed its way into Octavia’s field of vision. She swatted it to the ground.

“Hey!”

“Considering the last time you offered me cider, I think I’ll pass.” Octavia narrowed her eyes and prepared to bombard Vinyl with a mixture of scolding and questioning. Vinyl opened her mouth first.

“Considering the last time I gave you cider we switched bodies, I figured you’d be overjoyed when I offered you this.”

Octavia froze, and her eyes darted down to the amber liquid currently being absorbed by the dirt. “A-are you telling me that was the antidote to switch us back?”

“What?” Vinyl asked as she bent over to retrieve the mug. “No, I was just trying to prove a point. If last time it was a body-switching potion, you should have—” Octavia slapped her. “Ow!”

“You’re insufferable!” Octavia fumed. Vinyl stood upright, rubbing the back of her head and cringing. “What have you got to say for yourself?”

“Uh… my body sure hits harder than yours does, that’s for sure.”

Octavia’s brow lowered. “I do not have the time, nor the patience to put up with this, Vinyl. Please tell me you’ve made at least some headway in the search for the cure.”

“Well… there’s some bad news, good news, kinda shitty news, better news, and then definitely shitty news. Which do you want to hear first?”

Sighing, Octavia shook her head. “If you could stop using profanity with my voice, like I asked you to, then I would prefer for you to start with the bad news.” She glanced around, noting that ponies were still ambling about. It was around noon, so the flow wouldn’t be letting up anytime soon. “But… perhaps we should do so at home. Where we are less likely to be thrown in a madhouse.”

Vinyl rolled her eyes. “All right, sure, let’s go. Oh, and you gotta let me know how it went with Rarity.”

Octavia forced a smile. “Absolutely, because clearly that’s where our primary concern lies.” She grabbed Vinyl’s hoof and dragged her along.

“Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom yelled out. No response. The streets of Ponyville were relatively packed. Several ponies shuffled about, going through the motions of daily life. Apple Bloom, however, was not partaking in her usual routine. In fact, trying to find her drunk friend in the crowded market place before said drunk friend got a hold of a jackhammer to kill fictional Diamond Dogs was pretty outside the norm for her. She would expect something like this to happen when she was twenty-two, not twelve.

“Scootaloo!” she called out again. No response. “Come on where are you?”

At first she had assumed Scootaloo would be at the hardware store. It seemed like the most logical place for one to go when one was looking for a jackhammer. When that turned out to be a bust, Apple Bloom realized that Scootaloo would’ve gone there, but Drunkenloo was a different story. There was no way she would be following any sort of logical reasoning.

With this in mind, Apple Bloom scoured the marketplace for anything that a drunk might confuse for a jackhammer. It took a while, but she finally was able to use this reasoning to track down Scootaloo yelling at the dumpster behind Quills and Sofas.

“For the twelve-teenth time, I’ll only give you six bits for the jackhammer. Take it or leave it, bucko.” The garbage offered no response. “I told you I’m not trying to haggle, you little shit. Six bits or not at all.”

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom ran up to her friend, ecstatic to have found her.

In a drunken daze, Scootaloo turned her head. “Apple Bloom?” She then looked next her. “You never told me you had a twin!”

“Huh?”

Scootaloo pointed to the empty space next to Apple Bloom. “Your twin. Right there! It’s almost like I’m seeing double.”

“Ah’m pretty sure ya are seein’ double,” Apple Bloom said flatly.

“What’s 'er name?”

“Scootaloo, Ah don't...” Apple Bloom thought about arguing over the existence of her nonexistent twin, and decided to just roll with it for now. “Her name is... Apple Fedupwiththiscrap.”

Scootaloo pursed her lips together. “Cool name.”

“Yes, it’s amazin’. Now come with me back ta the clubhouse; ya gotta stop runnin’ ‘round town like a chicken with its head cut off. If somepony sees ya actin' all drunk like, ya could end up in jail.”

Blinking slowly and propping herself up against the dumpster, Scootaloo grunted. “Did you just call me a chicken?”

Apple Bloom groaned. “Just come on already.”

“All right, all right. Chill out. Just let me grab my scooter.” Scootaloo moved behind the dumpster for a second and returned with her scooter in tow.

Apple Bloom blinked. “When did ya pick that up?”

Scootaloo looked down, looked back up, and thought about it. “I can’t remember.” She climbed onto it and prepared to push off.

“Uh… should ya really be drivin’ that thing while you’re drunk?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “What’s the worst that could happen?” She kicked off the ground, and launched herself into metal frame of the dumpster.

“That,” she replied.

“Shut up, Apple Fedupwiththiscrap!”

“Yeah, sure,” Apple Bloom said. “I’m fed up with this crap, all right.” She lifted her friend up, and dragged her across the ground back towards the clubhouse.

Vinyl sat reclined in the kitchen, her chair tipped back, and her hind legs resting on their dining table. As Octavia poured what precious little remained of the apple cider into a short champagne glass, she glanced over and frowned.

“Please get you hooves off the table, Vinyl. They’re filthy.”

Begrudgingly moving her legs down, she replied. “You know, technically they’re your filthy hooves, Tavi.”

“Well then keep my filthy hooves off the table.” She paused, and then shook her head while Vinyl snickered. Octavia made her way over to the table, and took the open chair near Vinyl. “So, according to this filly — Apple Bloom, right? — the potion was incomplete, which is the reason why we haven’t swapped back yet?”

“Yes.” Vinyl reached for the glass of cider, but Octavia swatted her hoof away and took a sip herself. Pouting slightly, Vinyl folded her forelegs and leaned back in her chair.

“And Princess Twilight will likely be unavailable for the rest of the week?”

“Yep.”

“And the only one who can help us is the zebra whom you keep referring to as Pothole Lady?”

“You’ve seen her!” Vinyl exclaimed. “Every time she comes to town she always stops in the middle of the road and digs a hole! I’ve tripped in those things like eight times by now.”

“Right… I’m just going to assume you mean Zecora.”

“Yeah, right. Anyway, I told Apple Bloom we’d meet her at Pothole Lady’s house in an hour, and that was about…” Vinyl glanced at the nearest clock dangling from the wall. “…twenty-ish minutes ago.”

Octavia blinked, as Vinyl had neglected to mention this earlier. “Do you have any idea where Zecora lives?”

“The Everfree Forest… I think.” Vinyl pursed her lips together and looked at the ceiling. She appeared to be in deep thought, but Octavia knew that to be impossible. “Yeah… Everfree Forest.”

“And you don’t think that’s just a little vague?”

“Well, er… probably. Look, we have plenty of time to find it.” She leaned forward, relaxed demeanor turning serious all of a sudden. “Right now, there is something very important I need to ask you.”

Octavia raised an eyebrow, nonplussed. “Which is?”

Vinyl cleared her throat. “How did it go with Rarity?”

Groaning, Octavia slapped her forehead.

“Oh, that bad, huh?” Vinyl reclined again, sighing slightly. “Yeah, I figured you’d have a hard time flirting; it’s not your strong suit.”

“Okay, first of all, this isn’t something we need to worry about right now. I think we should be more concerned with getting back into our bodies!”

Vinyl gave a short nod. “Valid.”

“Secondly, it actually went fairly well between me and Rarity. She even plans on attending your performance at Club Stirrup tonight.”

Vinyl’s eyes bulged out to the size of dinner plates. “What?”

Octavia wryly smiled. It felt good to shatter Vinyl’s expectations and leave her jaw unhinged. Not that she was particularly proud of flirting with one of her friends, but not much she can do about it now. “Oh yes, Vinyl. I managed to get you a date. You're wel—”

“I completely blanked on my DJ-ing gig!” Vinyl screamed. Her eyes darted to the nearest clock, and she hyperventilated. “Oh crap, it’s in less than eight hours! We gotta get that cure now!” She rocketed out of her chair, and pointed to the door. “To Pothole Lady’s house!”

“Yeah, wherever that is.” Vinyl didn’t hear Octavia’s muttered quip, however. She was already clamoring out the front door. “Hey! Wait for me!”

Author's Note

This chapter was either going to be slightly shorter than most, or it was going to be more than double the length of most, considering I might have wanted to fit in the part where they go to Zecora for a cure. I settled with shorter, so I'll be writing the rhymes in the next chapter, along with some other stuff.

Not-So-Quick Fix

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Vinyl had lost track of the amount of times she’d asked that question. If she had to guess, it was probably six.

“For the twelfth time, no.” Octavia groaned as they trudged ahead through the Everfree. The thick underbrush crunched beneath their hooves with each step. It was the only sound that could be heard for a while as they continued on. Occasionally, Octavia would stop and look around for a bit before moving on. It was becoming very boring, very quickly.

“Are—”

“No Vinyl!” Octavia whirled around. “I’m not sure where we’re going, all right! Now could you just be quiet for five minutes while I try to figure out how to get to Zecora’s home?”

Sensing that Octavia was slightly irate, Vinyl made the wise call to shut her mouth.

“Thank you.” Octavia sighed, pushing a tree branch out of her way. “Now if we can just find Zecora’s hut and be done with this mess.”

Vinyl didn’t have time to duck as the branch snapped back. It clocked her in the face, sending her sprawling on her back. She clamped her hooves over muzzle, feeling hot, sticky blood covering her face. “Ah! Dammit, Tavi! I think you broke your nose.”

She heard Octavia stop and backtrack. She bent down, but almost retreated when she saw the blood. “Oh my Celestia! Vinyl, are you all right?”

Rolling to her side, Vinyl groaned. “I’m reeling in a pool of my own blood— scratch that, your blood, Tavi. What do you think?”

“Hang on,” Octavia said, ignoring the sarcasm. She reached down and hoisted Vinyl upright. “Can you walk?”

“You hit me in the face, not the legs,” Vinyl grumbled. Cracking her eyes open, she looked around. “Hey, did that branch whack me so hard that I’m hallucinating, or is that tree actually glowing?”

“Huh?” Octavia followed Vinyl’s line of sight to a large tree not more than fifty feet away. “It’s not glowing.”

“Great, so now I know I have a concussion too.”

“No you don’t. Or uh, I don’t… Look the tree isn’t glowing, it just there's a light on from the inside.”

Vinyl squinted. Her vision was elucidated after a little while and she could make out a set of windows and a door. “I didn’t know trees grew into readymade houses.”

Octavia laughed, but it was stunted before lasting longer than a second. “No, they don’t. I think somepony, or in this case, somezebra made it.”

The puzzle pieces took their sweet time clicking together in Vinyl’s brain. “Oh… it’s Pothole Lady’s house, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Vinyl. Yes it is.” Octavia gave her a pat on the head. “But if you call her Pothole Lady to her face, I swear to Celestia, I’ll hit you.”

Vinyl snickered as they walked toward the tree. “You wouldn’t hit your own body.”

“No, I’d hit yours.”

Raising an eyebrow, Vinyl asked. “So you’d punch yourself in the face if I call her Pothole Lady? Awesome.”

Octavia groaned loudly. “Just remember, we need her to help us.”

“Right, right. Don’t chase away the one zebra in a hundred miles who can help us.” She sighed, clutching her nose. “Geeze, even with my voice your nagging sounds awful.”

"I don't nag," Octavia grumbled under her breath. They stopped at the door and she gave it too sharp knocks. A small scuffling noise came from behind the door and soon it gave way to Zecora.

“Ah, you must be the body swapping two. Please come in, I’ve been expecting you.” She stepped aside and allowed them both to walk through. Vinyl was intrigued immediately by the décor. A series of carved masks hung from the walls, along with painted porcelain jars of varying sizes and shapes that lined the floors. Shelves around the room were packed with bowls that held exotic looking plants and rocks. In the middle, a huge cauldron bubbled wildly.

“Wow, you’ve got a real cool Zebrican vibe going on in here.”

Octavia nudged her with a fetlock. “Obviously, Vinyl.” The death glare that followed blatantly told her to knock it off.

“Might I ask what happened to your face?” Zecora spoke, indicating Vinyl. “You’re blood is getting all over the place.”

Vinyl glanced down and saw that a few drops of crimson had landed on the earthy floor of Zecora’s hut. She would hardly define that as all over the place, however. Maybe Zecora was as much of a clean freak as Octavia.

“I hit a tree.” Vinyl shot Octavia a sideways glance. “A naggy tree.”

“I have a salve that can help you heal. Afterwards we can focus on the whole body ordeal.”

Vinyl nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

“Oh hey, the Diamond Dog is back,” a familiar voice slurred. Vinyl whirled her head over to the other side of the room. The orange filly from earlier — she thought her name might be Scootaloo — was propped against the back wall. Next to her, Apple Bloom was biting her lip and trying to push a vial of purple liquid into her friend’s mouth.

“Come on, Scootaloo! Just drink this already!” Apple Bloom glanced over at both of them. “Ah’ll be with y’all in a minute. If she doesn’t get this inta her system soon, she’ll be a babblin’ drunk for a mite longer.”

“I told you I don’t want that shit!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

Octavia exchanged horrified looks at Scootaloo and subsequently Vinyl. “You didn’t tell me the fillies got drunk!”

Vinyl toyed around with the idea of coming up with an excuse, but decided better of it. “Whoops.”

“Whoops?” Octavia replied with a stunned gape. “Whoops? You supply alcohol to a foal that ends up inebriating her and all you have to say for yourself is whoops?”

“Actually, it was two fillies,” Vinyl amended, much to Octavia’s horror.

“By the way,” Apple Bloom interjected, shoving the vial in Scootaloo’s mouth. “What didya end up doin’ with Sweetie Belle?”

“She passed out, so I left her at your tree house.”

“Ya did what?” Apple Bloom shouted. Octavia’s jaw hit the floor.

“Well, I mean, what was I supposed to do? I didn’t feel like holding her hair back while she puked into a toilet, so…”

Apple Bloom facehoofed. “Oh great. What made ya think ya could just leave her there?”

“I lack a sense of responsibility,” Vinyl replied with a shrug.

“Unfortunately, I have the joy of being able to confirm this. And even so, I still can’t believe you, Vinyl.”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Don’t worry about it. Ah’ll make sure ta pick her up before I head home.”

“Good luck with that; she’s going to have a massive hangover.”

Zecora returned with a small bottle in her mouth. She motioned for Vinyl to reach with her hoof, and proceeded to slather it with a thick cream. “Now just rub that onto the broken bone,” Zecora told her, after setting the bottle down. “And it will be better by the time you get home.”

Vinyl eyed the mustard colored cream in her hoof. “Uh… okay.” Tentatively, she dabbed the cream on her nose. It made a hissing sound as it touched her coat, which admittedly disturbed Vinyl, but she rubbed it in as per instructions. It took a moment, but she suddenly felt the bone tingle and begin to snap back into place. “Aww, shit!” Vinyl cried feeling every tiny movement. “I think I’d prefer to leave it broken!”

Octavia winced. “Vinyl, I’m so—”

“It feels like a bucking pole was just shoved up my nose!”

“—sorry,” she flatly finished, the wind taken out of her apology. She turned to Zecora as Vinyl continued clinging to her face and over dramatically wailed. “Why don’t we focus on the cure?”

“Indeed, a reverse potion is what you need. Apple Bloom tells me that a zap apple seed is what was missing from her brew. If so, there is only one thing I can do.”

“What is it?”

“We gotta make a new potion ta cancel the effects of mine,” Apple Bloom said. Zecora gave a nod of affirmation.

“Ow, my head,” Scootaloo groaned. Apple Bloom’s attention returned to her friend, who now appeared to be coming too from her drunken state. “What happened?”

“Thank Celestia you’re back ta normal.” Apple Bloom skipped with happiness.

“Did… did I switch with Sweetie Belle?”

“Eh… no. Not even close.” Apple Bloom offered a smile, before taking in a deep breath. “Ya see, Ah sorta mixed up mah potion with some cider, and these here ponies accidentally drank it an’ switched bodies. But since mah potion was incomplete, they’re stuck this way an’ I’m tryin’ to help fix them. Also, Sweetie and ya got real drunk.”

Scootaloo blinked and looked at Octavia and Vinyl. A confused mutter was all she offered.

“So, can you give us that antidote now?” Octavia asked, turning her attention back to Zecora.

“Unfortunately, the remedy is far from complete. I’ll need a full day of work to make it ready to eat.”

“A full day?” Vinyl jumped into the conversation, still wincing as her nose continued to heal. “Look I don’t want to rush you or anything, but I kinda have the most important gig of my life TONIGHT and, in case you didn’t notice, I can’t show up like this! Not to mention Tavi isn’t exactly qualified to go in my place.”

The shouting forced Zecora to take a few steps back. She chose her next words carefully. “I’m sorry, but the ingredients need to brew this potion are extremely rare. I’ll have to track them all down with great care.”

“Bucking fantastic, so what exactly are we supposed to do?”

Apple Bloom looked between them. “Uh… Ah’m no expert on these er… gigs, but why can’t yer friend go in yer place?”

Vinyl facehoofed, and subsequently yelped in pain when she smacked her nose. “Are you kidding? Tavi isn’t trained to be a DJ. Sure she’s got the ears for music, but none of the skill needed to pull off an epic night of wubs. And uh… No offense Tavi, but you aren’t cool enough to be a DJ anyways.”

“As if I’d want to— Excuse me?” She scoffed. “I’m certain I’m more than capable of cuing up records and adjusting volume, Vinyl.”

Vinyl snorted, and then winced, clutching her nose. “There’s a lot more to it than that. You gotta be able to carry the energy from one song to the next, and make sure the crowd doesn’t get bored in the middle of a song.”

“It becomes clear as I watch you two, that resolving your situation gives you much to do. Return home for now and prepare for tonight. I’ll send Apple Bloom to retrieve you when the potion is just right.”

Vinyl and Octavia exchanged a look. “Well,” Vinyl started. “I guess we don’t have much of a choice. I need to show up at Club Stirrup at eight, which means you have to be ready.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to be there.” Octavia huffed.

“Tavi,” Vinyl’s tone shifted, becoming much more serious. Caught off guard, Octavia blinked in surprise. “Look, DJing is my dream job, and this might be my one chance to actually do something with it in Ponyville. Besides… it’s only for one night; what’s the worst that could happen?”

Octavia felt her resistance soften as Vinyl gave her puppy dog eyes. In her body. It quickly became too much for her. “All right, fine. I’ll give it a shot.”

She was wrapped in a sudden, and short embrace. When Vinyl backed up, she was grinning. “Thanks, Tavi. Now let’s go!” Octavia let out a short yelp as Vinyl grabbed and yanked her towards the door. “See ya later, Pothole Lady!”

Zecora blinked as the left, the last statement providing some confusion for her. She shook her head and turned back to her cauldron.

“So…” Apple Bloom spoke up. “Ah git ta help… right?”

“No no no!” Vinyl groaned deeply. She uselessly punched the nearest amp. “Tavi, you’re doing it all wrong!”

Octavia shrunk behind the turntables. “Sorry… I guess. Look, it’s…” She paused.

Vinyl’s disapproving scowl turned into a smirk as she saw an opportunity arise. “Yes?”

Sighing, Octavia decided to finally relent. “Okay, it’s hard being a DJ.”

“Ha!” Vinyl hoof pumped the air. “I knew it! It only took six hours of practice to admit it, but I fricking knew it! You, little miss perfect Octavia, can’t DJ.” Vinyl laughed for a bit longer, then froze. “Oh shit, you can’t DJ…”

“I could do it if it weren’t for these stupid records.” Octavia tapped indignantly on the grooved disk. “It takes five minutes just to switch them out.”

“I keep telling you, it’s because you’re not using magic.” Vinyl flopped down on the living room couch and kicked her legs up against some of the sound equipment. “Hooves weren’t fashioned for this sort of work.”

“Hooves weren’t fashioned for cellos, and I can play mine just fine.”

“After years of practice, yeah. We’ve got about…” Vinyl glanced at the clock and her face fell. “…one hour to get you performance ready.” She rocketed upward. “Okay, we’re going to have to skip the part where I teach you how to be awesome.”

“But I though you said ‘being awesome’ was the most important part of this.”

Vinyl waved her hoof dismissively. “Yeah, I did. But if you can’t change out the records in a second or two, the whole party will grind to a halt. Besides, I have a contingency plan for the awesome part.”

Octavia cocked her head. “You do? What—”

“Never mind it,” Vinyl cut her off, slamming a hoof down on the turntables. Octavia jumped slightly. “Look, you won’t be able to do this unless you use magic.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Right, because that can happen.”

“You have a horn,” Vinyl observed.

“Yes, but does that matter? I’m technically an earth pony, Vinyl. I don’t have unicorn magic… right?”

Vinyl shrugged. “I don’t see why you can’t; you’ve got my body now. Have you even tried to use magic?”

“No,” Octavia admitted.

“Heh, what? You swapped bodies with a unicorn and you’re telling me you haven’t been the least bit curious about trying out magic?”

She grumbled slightly. “I’ve been busy. Between panicking and trying to figure how to switch us back, and panicking some more, when was I supposed to find time to figure out how use magic?”

“Fair point, but now’s the perfect time to learn.”

Blinking, Octavia asked, “You honestly think I can figure out how to master magic in one hour?”

“Master it?” Vinyl laughed. “Hell no. But figure out basic levitation? Sure, why not? You’re smart…ish. Besides, my body isn’t a young filly who’s never done a spell before. I’ve been doing levitation for years.”

“Okay…” Octavia looked down at the record before her. “So what do I do?”

“I dunno.”

“What?”

Vinyl flinched. “Hey, don’t get pissed. I’ve never taught somepony how to use magic before.”

“Well how do you do it?”

“Well, whenever I need to use magic, it just happens, you know?”

“No!” Octavia slammed her hoof into her face. Repeatedly.

“Oh…” Vinyl pursed her lips in thought. “Well, just concentrate on the record and imagine picking it up.”

Octavia arched an eyebrow. “And that will work?”

“As long as my horn does the sparky thing, then yeah.”

“The sparky thing. Really?” Octavia sighed. “All right, I’ll give it a shot.” She stared down the record, eyelids narrowing. She poured all of her focus into making it levitate. Her teeth clenched shut and she held her breath. After a few more seconds, she felt her whole body shake as her muscles became tense.

“Okay, stop. Stop.” Vinyl laughed. “You look like you’re about to take a shit.”

Octavia exhaled, snapping out of her intense focus. “Well, what do you expect me to do then?”

“Hmmm…” Vinyl looked at the horn atop Octavia’s head. “Maybe it just needs to be warmed up a bit.”

“Warmed up? What do you…” Vinyl stepped closer. “Uh… what are you doing?”

“Just hold still, Tavi.” Vinyl reached up, her hooves targeting the horn.

“Vinyl, what are you— Ah!” Octavia squeaked timidly as Vinyl grabbed her horn. She began rubbing it fiercely. “Oh Celestia! Vinyl stop!” Octavia tried to push away, but Vinyl held firm, following wherever she tried to move.

“Hey, I said hold still!” Vinyl pressed down harder as she continued to rub Octavia’s horn.

“It… Oh Celestia it tickles!” Octavia burst out laughing. “Vinyl — hahaha — stop please! Ahaha!”

“Hang on! I thought I saw a spark!” Vinyl brought up her other hoof and bore down.

“S-stop! Haha, p-please!” Octavia squirmed but couldn’t escape. She wanted Vinyl off her head.

“Maybe I should use my teeth…”

“No!” Octavia felt of sudden surge of energy to her forehead, and the pressure on her horn flew off.

Vinyl was sent back first onto the couch. “Oof.”

Octavia inhaled deeply. “Never do that again!” She glared at her friend. Vinyl’s eyes were wide with shock for a moment, and then she grinned.

“Look up, Tavi.”

“What?” Octavia glanced up. Her eyes darted up, and she could see the base of her horn glowing a soft blue. “I… I’m doing it!”

“Bitchin’. Now try to pick up the record.”

Octavia looked to the turntable. The record sat idly. Closing her eyes, she imagined lifting it up. Cracking her eyes open, she was delighted to find that it was levitating in the air.

“Ha! You did it!” Vinyl hopped off the couch and clapped her on the back. “Now let’s go. We’ll need to get there early and set everything up.”

“What… do you think this will be good enough?” Octavia asked, indicating the floating record.

“It’ll have to be. Now come on!” Vinyl grabbed Octavia and pulled her out the door.

Author's Note

Horns are now ticklish. Go nuts.

In Preparation of Wubs

Vinyl bit her lip as she attempted to connect the extension cord for her turntables. For the sixth time in a row her hooves slipped, and the plug missed.

“Dammit,” she seethed. Really starting to miss that magic of mine. She tried again, yielding only the same frustrating results. “Hey, Tav—” She bit her lip suddenly as an orange pony with a red, spiky mane walked past her field of vision. Vinyl silently cursed herself for forgetting they were in public.

All around her, the staff of Club Stirrup were engrossed in setting up for another night of wild partying. The bartender was meticulously cleaning out glasses, the over-sized bouncer was cracking his neck to look more intimidating, the tech guys were already rigging up the seizure-inducing lights and the fog machine, and the manager was yelling at everypony to do a better job.

Even Octavia was working, or rather, practicing. She hadn’t dropped the soft glow of her horn since they’d left and had taken to lifting as many objects as she could. Vinyl could tell by the bright look on her face that she was enjoying the use of magic as well.

“Hey, Vinyl,” she called. It took Octavia a moment to remember that was her and she turned. “I could use a hoof over here.”

Octavia set down the record she was holding and trotted over. “Yes, what do you need—” She glanced around, noting that a few ponies were still in earshot. “—Octavia?”

Vinyl smirked. “Oh please, call me Tavi, won’t you? You know I love it.”

Her eyelids lowered in annoyance. “No.”

With a single laugh, Vinyl indicated the two cords below her. “Worth a shot. So can you plug these in for me?”

Not willing to pass up up the opportunity to use magic again, Octavia focused a blue aura around the two plugs, and levitated them up to eye level. Narrowing her eyes, she slowly brought them together. As they sluggishly inched closer, Vinyl grew impatient.

"Oh just do it already!"

Octavia let out an "eep!" of surprise, forcing the cord together as her horn sparked and fizzed before losing its magical glow entirely. Both mares stood frozen for a moment, before realizing what this meant.

"Vin— er, Octavia, what were you thinking?" She raised her hoof to slap her, but set it down after realizing she couldn't hit her own body.

"Sorry." Vinyl winced, eyeing the now dim horn.

"Now what are we supposed to do?"

"Relax, I'll just do the thing again." Vinyl reached to rub her horn again, but Octavia swatted it away.

"Are you mental?" Octavia hissed, pulling the sunglasses of her face and drilling Vinyl with her eyes. "Do not do it here! There are ponies watching!"

Vinyl's eyes shifted around the room. Most ponies were across the dance floor, and were faced away. She wanted to roll her eyes at Octavia's paranoia, but if she wasn't comfortable with it then they wouldn't get it done.

"Fine, you look for a place for me to rub your horn and let me know when you've got one."

Octavia tilted her head. "Why don't you find one?"

"Because you're the one who's too prissy to do it here. Besides, I've got something I need to do real quick."

"Very well then." She shuffled off.

"And put my shades back on!" Vinyl called after her. Grumbling an inaudible protest, Octavia slid the sunglasses back on her face.

Vinyl trotted passed her equipment toward the bar. It was a tiny place, but prominently displayed near the center to entice ponies into drinking away their money. Despite its size, Vinyl was sure it would have exactly what she needed. The bartender glanced up as she neared the counter and gave a curt nod.

"'Sup?" she asked, hopping onto a stool. "Got any vodka on you?"

He set down the glass he was holding, which clinked noisily. "Bar doesn't really open til the the club does."

"That's only—" she glanced at the clock behind him. "—five minutes from now. Besides, it's for the DJ."

With a tight-lipped smile, he pondered her request. "Okay then." He retrieved a shot glass and a tall bottle. Biting the cork off, he poured her a shot. "It's on the house."

"Bitchin'." One sip of this, and Tavi will go into party animal mode in no time.

The bartender smiled for real this time. "No problem, gorgeous."

Vinyl barely repressed a snort. "Nice try, man, but you aren't even Octavia's type."

His eyebrow rose. "Did you just refer to yourself in the third pony?"

She bit her lip, kicking herself for the slip. "Don't judge," she said, covering her slip and grabbing the shot glass. "Octavia does what she wants."

"Whatever," he replied, trying to cover the shame of his rejection by vigorously scrubbing down a glass that he had previously cleaned.

Vinyl flashed a wicked grin and turned, nearly bumping into Rarity in the process.

She came to a halt two inches away from her snout. “Oh, hey. Er…” Vinyl cleared her throat, and in the most Octavia way possible restarted. “Salutations, Rarity. It’s quite a delight to see you.”

“Hello, Octavia,” Rarity returned with a smile that showed off a set of perfect teeth. Her indigo hair curled right into Vinyl's face but she didn't mind, and was more focused on her bright blue eyes which seemed to sparkle as she spoke. “I didn’t really expect to see you here.”

Holy shit she’s even hotter up close. “Oh you know, I’ve got to be here for Vinyl. She’s always such a good friend to me that I have to return the favor every now and again.”

“Right...” Rarity backed up slightly, likely uncomfortable from being so close.

“So what brings you here?” Vinyl asked, despite knowing the answer. Any small talk she could make with Rarity now might help her out once she was back in her old body.

“Oh, Vinyl mentioned this little ‘gig’ of hers at the hospital and I thought to myself—”

Vinyl immediately zoned out, having forgot how much small talk bored her. As Rarity continued chatting, Vinyl’s attention wandered. Her gaze lingered on Rarity’s features for a moment, but then turned to the rest of her. What surprised her was that Rarity had actually donned a light blue gown, as if she expected some level of class while at a rave.

She would’ve snickered, but her eyes were busy groping her curves, which were everywhere. Vinyl didn’t know a mare could have such a good figure, but Rarity was another example of why she didn’t know anything, apparently. It was good news too; if Rarity was one to take care of herself body-wise, then that meant they could be doing some very interesting things for a very long time. Vinyl grinned at the thought.

“—and I almost wasn’t able show up because of it,” Rarity finished.

Vinyl blinked as she realized Rarity had been speaking, and nonchalantly wiped her cheek, half expecting there to be drool. “Oh, uh… cool.”

“Cool?” Rarity said, agast. “Somepony gave my little sister alcohol for pony’s sake. And taught her an obscene word at the same time. It’s anything but cool!”

Ah, dammit. She winced. I’m really glad I’m not me right now. “Oh, er… I didn’t mean cool in the sense that it was good, I meant…. temperature?”

Rarity tilted her head slightly. “I suppose it is a tad drafty in here, but—”

“Vi—, er, Octavia, there you are!” Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief when Octavia appeared next to her.

“Vinyl, hi.” Rarity’s confusion morphed into a smile. "I was hoping to get to see you before you went on.”

“Oh uh… ‘Sup Rarity? Can you excuse me and Octavia for a moment?” Octavia forced a smile. “We have something rather important to do before the show starts.”

“I see…” Rarity had a poor time of hiding her disappointment, as her eyebrows dipped down slightly. Vinyl almost cheered, realizing what this meant. “Well, I suppose I’ll get to see you when you finish?”

“Yes?” Octavia offered, grabbing Vinyl and tugging her away.

“Catch ya later!” Vinyl called as her hooves dragged against the dance floor. She turned and trotted to convince Octavia to stop pulling her. “So where are we going?”

“Bathroom,” was Octavia’s curt reply. “It’s the only place I could find.”

“‘Kay.”

The traversed the club in a few seconds and found the mare’s room. Octavia opened the door to reveal a mangy, single room with a toilet in one corner and a sink halfway pulled off the wall on the other. The floor was littered with sheets of toilet paper, some of it looking less clean than it should.

“Oh Celestia, I hope this isn’t used,” Octavia murmured.

Vinyl rolled her eyes and set the shot glass off to the side. “Horn please.”

Octavia glanced at her, and burst into a giggle. Vinyl felt her face flush as she realized how bad that sounded. Not wanting to be the subject of a “walked into that one” situation, she smirked. “Guess I’m rubbing off on you, little Miss Dirty Mind.”

She shook her head. “Being in your body must be messing with me.” Tentatively, she lowered her head, pointing her horn directly at Vinyl. “Just… hurry up okay?”

“Right, yeah.” She reached up, grabbing the horn with one hoof. A shudder raced along Octavia’s body, almost knocking her hoof away. “Geez, I haven’t even started yet.”

“Sorry, I guess expecting it is making me nervous.”

“Oh relax, Tavi. It’s not like I—” Vinyl let the thought drop and bore down on the horn, knowing Octavia wouldn’t expect it then. Her friend gave a sharp laugh of discomfort as she dug in harder and rubbed. Octavia stumbled back, biting her lip to prevent breaking into all out laughter.

Vinyl grunted in annoyance as the horn had yet to spark, or even flicker. She brought up her other hoof, using Octavia as balance, and began rubbing on the other side. Unable to hold it in, Octavia let several giggle loose, barely choking back the rest.

A faint glow emitted from the horn, encouraging Vinyl to bare down with even more ferocity. Tears bloomed in Octavia’s eyes and she let loose of torrent of laughter.

“Oh, Celestia — ha ha — Vinyl please stop! Ha ha HA! Please, I can’t take it!”

“Almost there, Tavi! Don’t quit on me now!” She gritted her teeth as the glow flickered, but several more seconds of rubbing proved to be fruitless. “Okay, this isn’t working…”

“Well then — ahaha — please stop!”

“No can do. In fact, I think I just got a new idea.” She opened her mouth wide, pulling Octavia’s head closer.

“Wha—AH!”

Vinyl enclosed her teeth around the horn, gently at first, but added pressure quickly. She dragged them across Octavia’s horn, as her friend shrieked at the feeling.

“Gah! Vinyl, stop!” Octavia flailed her limbs to no avail. Her horn glowed brighter it finally sparked. Vinyl paused when she noticed this, giving Octavia the time she needed to toss her off.

She cackled as Octavia struggled to calm down. “See Tavi, that wasn’t so bad.”

“I really hate you sometimes,” she replied, a little winded.

“Thanks, you always know how to make me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.” She nonchalantly reached for the shot glass. “So, you ready to DJ your first, and hopefully only, rave?”

Octavia dried her eyes. “Not entirely… I still don’t feel like I’m ready.”

“Here.” Vinyl offered the shot glass. “Maybe this will calm your nerves.”

She eyed it suspiciously. “What is it?”

“What does it look like?” Vinyl swirled the crystal clear liquid in front of her face. “It’s water, obviously.”

Octavia glanced from the drink to Vinyl, who was doing her best poker face — though considering she was with Octavia’s features there was no way of telling if it was a poker face, or a constipation face — and reluctantly wrapped the glass in a blue aura.

Vinyl grinned. She knew from experience that Octavia had four stages of drunkeness.

Stage One Octavia was a sappy drunk, often brought about by a glass or two of cider. While in this stage, Octavia usually got very sentimental and would often say how much she appreciated whoever was around her, which more often than not tended to be Vinyl. It was always good to have a tape recorder of some kind nearby for when she hit this phase, mainly because it was fun to mess with her using it after she sobered up.

Stage Two Octavia was an angry drunk with the mouth of a sailor to counteract everything Stage One Octavia said. It was also a good idea to keep a tape recorder on standby for this one as well.

Stage Three Octavia was something that Vinyl had long since dubbed as party animal mode. This Octavia was an inhibitions free psychopath that actually knew how to have fun. It was the perfect phase to be at for a rave such as this, so long as Octavia didn’t make out with anypony or steal a carriage in her drunken spree.

Stage Four Octavia was the crash, heavily identifiable by the fact that Octavia blacked out at the speed of light.

As the drink neared her friend’s lips, Vinyl found herself hoping that she’d gotten the right amount of vodka. It was a powerful enough drink to hop over Stage One entirely, but if Octavia took too little she would be stuck on Stage Two, which would be a disaster. But if it turned out to be too much then they would skip right on over to Stage Four, which would be another disaster entirely.

She got an entire sip in before realizing that the drink wasn’t water. She attempted a spit take, but Vinyl shoved a hoof in her mouth to prevent this. Left with no other choices, Octavia gave a wide-eyed glance of confusion before the alcohol slid down her throat.

“Mrph hff lurr pler?” She mumbled into the hoof. Vinyl freed her mouth and she tried again. “This was your plan?”

Vinyl gave a sheepish grin. “Yep… sorry ‘bout that. But this should get you ready, if that’s any consolation.”

“On the contrary it… is… not…” Octavia’s speech slowed as her eyes lowered. Vinyl hissed in protest and for a moment worried they were going to hit Stage Four.

Her worries proved to be unfounded, as Octavia’s eyes jolted open, like a computer that had just finished rebooting.

“Wowzers!” she exclaimed. “I feel great! Like, really great!” She swept passed Vinyl to the door of the bathroom and kicked it open, yelling “Woohoo!” to the club patrons as she did so.

“The turntables!” Vinyl shouted, hoping Octavia wouldn’t forget. “Go for the turntables!”

“Sure thang.” She winked, flipped her sunglasses down and rushed to the sound equipment as ponies began wandering in. “All right, bitches!” she shouted into the microphone. “Who’s ready to dance till you puke, and puke till you pass out?”

Vinyl watched with a proud smile as Octavia levitated a record into place, and set the needle down. A split second later wubs blasted from the amps, the overhead lights went out, and the rave began.

Stage Four Octavia

Vinyl burst from the center of the rave. Her hooves were killing her, despite only an hour of dancing. She decided it was likely a byproduct of being stuck in the body of Octavia and slowly hobbled over to one of the empty stools at the bar.

The same pony who had tried to hit on her was still tending the bar. When he notices it was her approaching, he awkwardly looked down at the table, probably trying to find a glass to scrub.

"Cider," she barked, plopping down on the stool. He nodded, and disappeared to grab it,

It was then that Vinyl took notice of her surroundings, particularly the mare next to her. Blue dress, curves, indigo hair, and a face no sane fillyfooler would forget.

Okay, gotta be smooth... and no flirting. "Hey, Rarity," she shouted over the pulsating music.

She blinked and turned, cut from her thoughts. "Oh, hello, Octavia."

"Doing okay?"

"Just fine, why do you ask?"

"Well, you're sitting alone at the bar in the middle of a rave." Her cider appeared in front of her. "And you don't have any alcohol."

Rarity gave a tiny smile. "I'm just not entirely comfortable here is all."

Aw dammit, please tell me this isn't what I think it is. "Oh, uh, yeah... I feel ya." Rarity raised an eyebrow and Vinyl realized how un-Octavia she just sounded. "I mean, I understand completely. This loud music is frankly quite atrocious."

"Oh, it's not the music. I honestly have a bit of a soft spot for club music, truth be told." Vinyl hoof-pumped internally. "I'm just not one for dancing in this... manner." She glanced at the lewd scene behind her. Mares and stallions packed themselves together tightly in the center of the floor, rubbing against each other suggestively. Vinyl squinted, unable to make out the details through the spasmodic lighting.

"It does get rather... intense."

"Precisely, which is why I usually avoid these types of places. I'm only here tonight because of Vinyl."

They both looked over to Octavia. She had a pair of headphones pressed to her ears with one hoof and the other thrown into the air. Her head bobbed to the beat as the song slowly faded.

"All right, you psychopaths," she shouted, whipping a new record into the turntables. "Who's ready to kick it up a few notches?"

The crowd replied with a deafening roar, which was soon drowned out by more pounding music.

Vinyl grinned. Stage Three Tavi is a natural. She glanced at Rarity, whose eyes seemed transfixed on Octavia. She realized now might be her best chance to do a little reconnaissance.

"So... Uh, now that you've met her, I'm curious— what do you think?"

At that moment Octavia released another "woohoo", flinging both hooves in the air.

Rarity grinned. "Well she's certainly energetic."

Vinyl leaned in. "Yeah, and..."

"And funny... And a little stubborn."

"How so?" Vinyl asked.

Rarity raised her eyebrow. "You live with her, you should know."

"Well uh... yeah. I just... Er, Vinyl wanted... me to ask..."

Rarity blinked. "Vinyl wanted you to ask what I thought about her?"

Ah shit. "Uh... technically..." Vinyl winced internally and tried to read Rarity's expression.

She pinched her lips together, looking at the floor before staring at Octavia. Vinyl could tell she was deep in thought. Shooting a glance at the clock, she realized Octavia's shift would be ending soon and so would her buzz. She was already swaying with a little exhaustion. Stage Three Octavia was about to hit Stage Four.

Without giving Rarity a goodbye, Vinyl hopped off her stool and ran to catch her friend, knowing it was going to be a long walk home.

Bright lights — the last vestiges of an epic night — danced across Vinyl’s vision as she trekked home. Her hooves ached from dancing, each step shooting fire up her legs. Draped across her back in a seemingly lifeless heap was Octavia. Stage Four Octavia, to be precise. She snored heavily as Vinyl squinted to see where they were going. She was glad to have avoided any serious drinking earlier, or they probably would have gotten lost eight times by now.

Vinyl grunted under Octavia’s dead weight. Celestia, Tavi needs to work out more. Or maybe I’m just getting fat… Nah, definitely the first.

“Hey, Tavi? Snore if you think you need to work out more.” There was a brief pause, and then a thunderous snore echoed through the night. Vinyl grinned. “Yeah, I thought so too.”

Octavia’s body started to slip a little, but Vinyl shifted to the opposite side with plenty of time before her head hit the ground. Up ahead, their shared home was finally coming into view, having been obscured by the inky night for a long time.

Okay, few more steps. Come on body, don’t wimp out on me now!

She made it to the door mat and tried to turn the knob, only to get the most unwelcome surprise of the day — other than waking up in Octavia’s body, of course.

“Dammit all,” she seethed with a kick to the ground. “Locked.”

Instinctively, she tried to ignite her magic and unlock the door that way, only to remember that she didn’t have any.

“Double dammit.”

That means the only one who can get us in is Tavi. Gently, Vinyl wiggled Octavia off of her back and laid her on the ground, lightly tapping her cheek to wake her up. “Hey, Tavi, wakey wakey.”

Octavia mumbled something unintelligible but didn’t budge.

Vinyl decided to crank it up a notch to annoying. “Hey Tavi, Tavi, Tavs, Tavers, Tavinator, come on already.” She poked Octavia as well, multiple times. Eventually, Octavia grumbled, and stretched.

Her eyelids cracked open, and she glared daggers at Vinyl. “What?”

Vinyl was suddenly walking on thin ice. In the hysteria of the club, it had slipped her mind that when awoken, Stage Four Octavia was liable to enter into any of her previous stages, and it seemed now Stage Two was the winner. The next words out of her mouth had to be carefully chosen.

“Uh… we’re kinda locked out of the house right now.”

“Well I don’t have a bucking key right now,” Octavia grumbled. She brought up a hoof and rubbed her temple.

“Yeah, I figured… but do you think you can use my magic to get us in?”

Octavia sat up, grimacing. "My head feels like hell, I'm sleepy and my ears ache. What do you think?"

Vinyl raised her hooves in mock surrender. "Point taken, I'll just find a rock to break the window open."

"No!" Octavia growled. She reached over to smack Vinyl, but her muscles mutinied and her hoof fell limply. "Don't even think about it, you little shitter."

"...Okay, you got a better plan?"

Octavia grunted as she tried to stand. Her legs wobbled under her weight, but she managed to stand. With a contempt sigh, she pointed her dim horn at the door. "Fine, I'll open it."

"Uh, Tavi—"

"Shut it, I'm magicking over here."

Vinyl closed her mouth, willing to give Octavia the benefit of the doubt.

Twelve minutes later, that proved to be a mistake.

Her whole body shook — mostly from drunkenness, but partially from exertion — and her horn had yet spark even a little. Her face was contorted into an grimace, and the veins on her neck bulged with her effort.

"You sure you don't want me to rub it?"

"I got it!" Octavia snapped. She pressed her horn against the keyhole, as if that would some how work.

"Okay, enough." Without waiting for a reaction from Octavia, Vinyl grabbed her horn and rubbed it fiercely. Octavia's self-control was battered away by her drunkenness. And she couldn't resist laughing hysterically.

Vinyl grinned as she saw a small glow emit from the base of the horn. With only a little more effort, magic exploded from Octavia's forehead.

"Hah!" She yelled in triumph. A split second later Vinyl heard a click and the door knob unlocked. "First try!"

Vinyl shook her head, confident that Octavia was so wasted that she couldn't remember her previous eighty-nine attempts.

"Nice job, Octavia."

"I'm going back to sleep," Octavia declared, ignoring the praise. She closed her eyes and her legs gave out. Vinyl dove, barely catching her in time.

"Real nice job," she grumbled, hauling her unconscious friend inside.

The house was dark, but Vinyl was able to make out the stairs. They seemed like an insurmountable mountain and her legs wobbled at the thought of taking the first step.

"Hey, Tavi, good news. You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

Octavia gave a soft snore, which Vinyl took for an enthusiastic yes. Stepping in, she felt something papery crunch under her hoof. When she took another step, she heard it again and realized it was stuck to her hoof.

Vinyl grunted. Freakin' booze.

Glancing down, she noticed it was an envelope, which had probably been shoved in through the mail slot. She shoved it to the back of her mind and carried Octavia into the living room. Tossing her haphazardly, Vinyl heard Octavia mutter an "oof" and slowly move.

Wincing, Vinyl realized she may have just woken a sleeping beast. For a brief moment she debated fleeing, but thought better of it when Octavia didn't immediately snap at her.

"Tavi, you doing okay?"

Octavia sleepily opened her eyes. "Vinyl?" She turned her head, looking around. "I'm... home?"

Okay, we must be in Stage One. "Yeah, I brought you here after you crashed."

Octavia smiled warmly. "Aw, thank you, Vinyl. I really appreciate that."

Yep, definitely Stage One. "Well, I'm going to head up. G'night."

"Good n—" Octavia burst into a coughing fit. Vinyl backed up, eyes popping.

"You all right?"

She coughed again. "Throat... sore..."

"Ah, that's probably the vodka."

Octavia coughed. "Oh right. Thank you, I never would've been able to go on without it."

Vinyl grinned. "Uh, no prob." Whoa, Tavi actually thanking me for getting her drunk? That's a first.

She coughed a little more. "Could you get me a glass of water, please?"

"Sure thing." Vinyl trotted over to the kitchen, and heard the paper crunching noise again. She glanced down and saw the envelope still stuck to her hooves. Oh right, that thing.

Peeling the envelope off, she flipped it over to the front side. Her eyes lazily scanned it as she grabbed a glass and trotted over to the sink. It was labeled for Octavia — most of their mail was, so that wasn't all that special — but the real kicker was the return address: The Manehattan Philharmonic.

Vinyl's eyes bulged and she nearly dropped the glass. Oh crap, this can't be...

Vinyl bit her lip, and turned the envelope over a few times. If it really was Octavia's acceptance letter — or at the very least a callback — then that would mean she'd be going back up to Manehattan soon. For good. And with Zecora working on the reverse potion, that meant Octavia would have her body back and would have no reason to stay.

A lump formed in Vinyl's throat. The letter inside was thick, suggesting it wasn't one of rejection, but the only way to be certain would be to open it.

I can't do that... it's Tavi's... Her hoof inched up, poking at the sealed flap. Then again, I am... kinda Tavi right now... right? The paper gave way. Besides, I'm sure she doesn't want the anxiety of having to open it herself. With a rip, she tore into the envelope and yanked the letter out.

"Dear Ms. Octavia Melody," she read aloud. It was barely a whisper, with Octavia in the other room. "We are h-happy to inform you that..." She wanted to stop there, but forced herself to go on. "...that you have exceeded expectations with your initial performance, and we would like to extend to you the opportunity of a c-callback..."

Vinyl finished the rest of the letter in her head. Nothing else was all that important to her after that anyway. It merely went on to detail the time and place she was expected to show up and mentioned that she was highly favored to get in, so long as she didn't completely bomb at her callback.

Her callback...

Octavia got a callback...

Vinyl tried swallowing, but the lump in her throat felt bigger than an elephant. Shakily, she set the letter down and leaned against the counter. The room felt like it was spinning and not in the drunken way.

She blinked, and realized that tears lined the rims of her eyes. She's... really going to leave Ponyville... and me...

I'm going to lose my best friend.

In hindsight, she should've seen this coming. Despite all the times she teased her, she knew Octavia was talented with a cello. The fact that Vinyl of all ponies had stopped falling asleep during her practices was proof of that. She knew Octavia was destined for greater things than the tiny town of Ponyville... but why now? Why not in a year? Or two?

Vinyl knew she should feel happy for Octavia and on some level she was. It was just overshadowed by the realization that their friendship was going to be snuffed out. The realization that she wouldn't have anypony to tease anymore, or to slap her on the back of her head when she did something stupid. She wouldn't have her four stage drinking buddy, or the pony who constantly put up with being woken in the dead of night by her experimental wub ideas, or who would save her career when they accidentally switched bodies.

Each realization weighed on her like an anvil. Glancing down at the letter, Vinyl bit her lip. Her head whirled around to make sure that Octavia hadn't walked in. When she was certain the coast was clear, she crumpled the letter up, kicked open the nearest trash can and dumped it in.

A pang of guilt thumped in her chest, but she pushed it down. What, do you want to lose Octavia? she asked it. It softened, but didn't dissipate.

Wiping her eyes she quickly filled a cup with ice cold water and trotted back into the living room while wearing a tight-lipped smile, as if everything was okay.

Octavia hadn't moved, but sat up a little when she saw Vinyl. She smiled warmly when Vinyl extended the cup without a word.

"Thank you, Vinyl," Octavia said, taking a long sip.

"No big d—" Vinyl stopped short, nearly choking on the word. "No big deal, Tavi."

"It is to me. Thank you for being such a great friend."

Octavia couldn't have hurt Vinyl more if she'd shot her point blank. Vinyl's smile grew tighter to mask the pain.

"Hey like I said, no big deal. Listen, I gottagotomyroomrealquickfornoreasonsorrybye!" She bolted, leaving a slightly confused Octavia behind to eat her dust.

Vinyl bit back a few more tears, that pang of guilt coming back with a vengeance. She slammed her door, buried her head into her pillow and screamed until she fell asleep.

The Last Ingredient

Apple Bloom couldn’t fight back a yawn as she trudged through the dense underbrush of the Everfree Forest. The sun was barely poking over the horizon and even though she was used to getting up early, this was a little much even for her.

But at least she wasn’t Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle right now.

Both fillies were ready to pass out, a fact made apparent by their drooping heads and sunken eyes. Scootaloo sluggishly pushed herself forward on her scooter, her eyes half-open, while Sweetie Belle kept bumping into the same tree when she tried to walk.

“Zecora?” Apple Bloom asked, her voice cutting through the silence. Zecora turned her head back, eyebrow raised questioningly. “Why did ya make us get up so early again?”

“The last ingredient we need is the Mutationis root; without it, the potion would be rendered moot.” Zecora pointed to the ground below them, which was covered by the ensnaring plant-life of the Everfree “The Mutationis can only be identified by it’s peculiar hue. In the early dawn’s light, it will turn the color blue.”

“Fantastic,” Sweetie Belle mumbled. “Now can we just find this stupid root already? Rarity will freak out if she learns I left home to do this. I'm supposed to be grounded.”

Scootaloo groaned. “Relax, we’ll be fine. Even if…” Her words trailed off as her cheek pressed into the handlebars of her scooter. A second later she was snoring.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom yelled. She flinched awake, her scooter hitting a root and sending her face planting into the dirt.

“Ah! Shit!”

Sweetie Belle gasped. “Scootaloo! You shouldn’t use that word!”

Pushing herself up and dusting herself off, Scootaloo grunted. “Hey, get off your high horse, Sweetie Belle. You were saying it just as much as me yesterday.”

“Well… yes. But I was drunk. We were both drunk. And that word is part of the reason I’m grounded, so, clearly, it’s not something we should be using.”

“She’s right,” Apple Bloom interjected. Scootaloo brushed the dirt off of herself and retrieved her toppled scooter. “Ya should avoid it as much as possible.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just find the stupid root so I can get some sleep.”

“Ya sure are grumpy when ya’re sleepy, Scoots.”

Scootaloo scowled as a response, so Apple Bloom turned away. She felt guilty about making her friends wake up early just to help her fix her mistake, but she needed their help. They were closer to the ground than Zecora and had younger eyes than her. Combined, there was no way they would miss the root.

Turning her face toward the ground, she scanned for any shades of blue. It was far from easy; the dirt was overgrown with roots popping out of the ground mere inches away from each other. They tangled and twisted atop one another as well, as though they’d coordinated to be like this specifically to spite Apple Bloom’s search.

“Consarnit,” she grumbled, rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes. “Ah got nuthin’. How ‘bout y’all?”

“Nothing.”

“Zilch— No wait!” Everypony froze and looked to Scootaloo. Her snout was pointed to the dirt, eyes glued to a thin, but unmistakably blue, root poking out of the ground. “Is this it?” Without waiting for an answer, she drew in close, ready to close her teeth around the plant and give it a swift yank.

Zecora whipped into action before Scootaloo even had a chance. In a black and white dart, she closed the distance between them, wrapped her hooves around her and pulled her back. Scootaloo coughed as Zecora’s forelegs squeezed around her neck.

“What was that for?” Sweetie Belle demanded as Zecora released her grip.

Glancing down at the plant Scootaloo had almost touched, Zecora sighed. “I am sorry for the choke, but I could not let her touch the poison joke.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened as she saw the spotted blue petals. “Oh, yikes.”

“Thanks… I guess.” Scootaloo rubbed her throat, wincing into the dirt. “So I guess these roots are bad too?”

Zecora shifted to get a better look, and Apple Bloom followed suit. A deep blue root was practically being suffocated underneath several plain ones. It was all but invisible, save for one tiny gap that Scootaloo must’ve caught when she was lying on the ground. Zecora smiled at the sight.

“Not quite, Scootaloo. This time, it’s the right shade of blue.”

“Wha— really?” Scootaloo smiled, her eyes becoming misty. “We have the right root? I can go back to sleep now?”

“Yes, you may got back to your rest." Scootaloo's face slammed into the ground with a relieved sigh. "Apple Bloom, can you go find our swapped duo at my behest?”

“Ah won’t let you down!” She started to give a mini-salute, but was interrupted by a yawn escaping her mouth. “Then Ah’ll probably need some sleep too. Sweetie Belle, Scoots, do ya wanna come with me?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Are you crazy? I can’t afford to stay out another minute.”

Scootaloo’s only response was a soft snore into the dirt..

“Okay then. Zecora, Ah’ll just meet ya back at yer hut.” She turned and dashed back through the path they’d come, a smile plastered onto her face. Finally her mistake was about to be fixed, and no lasting harm had come of it.

Vinyl was putting her entire friendship with Octavia in jeopardy each second she spent chewing pancakes.

She sat at the kitchen table, a fluffy concoction smothered in syrup in front of her, and a trash can burning a hole in the back of her head from five feet away. Every time she came up for air from her meal, her eyes would dart back over to the steel container. She didn’t have X-ray vision, but didn’t need it to be able to tell that the crumpled callback letter still resided on top of a heap of microwaveable hayburger meals.

Each time she caught herself staring at it, she whipped her head around to make sure Octavia wasn’t watching. If her friend caught her staring at the trashcan with a guilty expression, she’d likely be inclined to check inside, which would be a disaster.

Luckily, Octavia was still snoring in the other room and even when she did snap out of the blissful ignorance of sleep, a not-so blissful hangover would quickly take it’s place. Vinyl just hoped she could come up with a believable excuse to take out the trash before the hangover faded. Unfortunately, there was no way that Octavia — hangover or no — would ever believe she would just take out the trash without some ulterior motive.

As syrup stuck to the roof of her mouth, Vinyl felt yet another pang of guilt just for considering throwing away Octavia’s future. She honestly didn’t want to, but she wanted her best friend to stay even more. Besides, she’d passed the point of no return. Even if she fished out the letter and gave it to Octavia, it was covered in wrinkles and ketchup stains at this point, a dead giveaway for what Vinyl had attempted. The only thing returning it would do would be getting Octavia out the door faster.

Come on, think! Vinyl demanded as she guiltily shoved pancake in her mouth. There’s gotta be something I can do.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Vinyl grunted in annoyance, but pushed her plate away and got up. Whoever was knocking clearly wasn’t patient, as they incessantly continued pounding the door until Vinyl angrily threw it open.

“What?” she demanded angrily to empty space. Perplexed, she blinked and looked around.

“Down here,” a familiar voice said.

Vinyl tilted her face towards the ground and saw Apple Bloom. “Kid, you better have some bucking amazing news to share, otherwise—”

“The potion’s almost done!” Apple Bloom chirped happily. “We found the last ingredient and Zecora’s brewing it as we speak.”

“Wha— really?” Apple Bloom nodded. “Hell to the yes! I’m gonna be a unicorn again!” Vinyl hoof-pumped into the air.

Grinning ear to ear, Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah know it’s great. And now when Twilight gets back she won’t be mad and Ah won’t be banned from Twilight Time!”

Vinyl laughed. “And I’ll be back to my awesome, horny self.”

Apple Bloom’s face contorted into a slack-jawed look of disgust. “Uh…”

A groan piled up in the back of Vinyl’s throat as she realized how bad that must’ve sounded. “That came out entirely wrong, I swear.”

The look of disgust didn’t fade. “Sure… Ah wonder though if Zecora has a potion to wipe mah memory of that.”

“We’ll find out when we get there.” Vinyl trotted out the door.

“Wait!” Apple Bloom yelled.

She froze. “What?”

“What about yer friend?”

Vinyl facehoofed. “Aw dammit, I forgot.” She trotted back in to find Octavia still passed out on the couch. She turned to the kid. “Okay look, Tavi’s still a little blacked out right now and waking her up would be a bad idea.”

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Why? Does she get cranky when she’s woken up?”

Vinyl waved away the question. “Sure. Look I’ll go with you and bring the potion back when it’s done, okay?”

“Okay… but what if yer friend wakes up while yer gone? Won’t she wonder where you are?”

“Oh… hmm…” Kids today just have to think of everything, don’t they? Well… everything except labeling their body swapping potions. “Okay, hang on a sec.”

Dashing back into the house, she grabbed a sticky noted and hastily scribbled a message. Or rather, she tried to be hasty about it. Vinyl was so used to writing with magic, that the concept of putting the pen in her mouth was almost foreign to her.

Eventually she managed to write out some chicken scratch to the impatient tune of Apple Bloom tapping her hoof. Remembering that Octavia would also be battling a monster hangover when she woke up, Vinyl made sure to grab some water, aspirin and her sunglasses. She left the makeshift care package on the coffee table and followed Apple Bloom out the door.

I’ll just have to deal with that letter later.

Potions and Emotions

Octavia woke up and immediately regretted doing so. Her head was throbbing and her vision was blurred. She rolled over, her body rubbing against a blanket that felt like sandpaper. Letting loose a groan, she squinted and was able to make out her living room.

Her forehead burst with pain and she winced.

What happened to me? Why does my head— Oh… Memories from last night bubbled to the surface of her consciousness. The most notable were the hammering noise of techno music and the metallic bite of alcohol still lingering on her tongue.

Blinking, Octavia looked around the room and found it barren. “Vinyl?” No answer.

Opening her eyes a little wider, she hissed as her pupils were seared by the sunlight peeking in through the window.

“Gah!” Slamming her eyes shut, she struggled with the blanket around her, throwing it over her eyes. Inhaling several warm gulps of air, she peeked her eyes open again. The blanket constricted the light, making it substantially more bearable. Eventually, she had to remove it; feeling like she might suffocate in the sea of stitching.

The sunlight slammed into her pupils again the instant she removed the blanket. Hissing, Octavia shut her eyes. She fumbled around, trying to find anything that could permanently block out the light. Her hoof wormed around on the coffee table, before bumping into something.

Octavia’s mouth tightened as she realized what it was: Vinyl’s sunglasses.

Well… better something than nothing I suppose.

Keeping her eyes pressed shut, she pushed the shades onto her face. Peeking her eyes open just a crack, Octavia looked around. The room around her was now bathed in a dark purple tint. In the last twenty-four hours, Octavia had really come to detest that particular color, but now she found that it softened the harsh light to an almost tolerable level. Her pain eased slightly, Octavia pushed herself up.

Huh… no wonder Vinyl wears these all the time. She blinked, reminded that she still had no idea where her roommate — and subsequently her body — was. Anxiety tugged at her stomach and she looked around. “Vinyl? Vinyl where are you?”

No answer.

No no no! Vinyl, if you’re off cavorting around town with my body I swear to— Octavia attempted to stand, but her hangover battered her back onto the couch. Groaning, Octavia rubbed her temples. Ugh… how many stages did she drag me through last night?

“Vinyl?” Octavia called out a little louder. Her hangover disapproved but she needed to find her roommate. “Vinyl, I am not amused. Come out here right now and tell me what you—” She paused, her eyes glancing down at the coffee table before her. A tall glass of water with melting ice cubes sat before her and next to it a small red pill that she immediately recognized as aspirin.

Octavia couldn’t have smiled wider if she’d found a cello made out of solid gold.

She swooped down, grabbed the aspirin and popped it into her mouth all in one smooth motion, then chased it with the water. Her hooves refused to cooperate unfortunately and a large portion of the water ran down her cheeks and chin. She didn’t stop drinking, however, until the entire glass was drained. Tipping her head back and tapping the bottom of the glass, she let the ice slide into her mouth.

Setting the glass down with a relieved sigh, Octavia wiped her mouth. Already her hangover felt a million times better, though given how awful it was to start with, that wasn’t too great of an improvement, but still, once the aspirin kicked in she knew she would be right as rain.

Before she tried standing again, her eyes fell on one last thing on the coffee table. A small slip of paper with scratchy writing on it hung slightly over the edge. Grabbing it, Octavia lifted it closer to her face, trying to decipher the writing.

Hey Tavs,

Apple Bloom stopped by and said Pothole Lady was almost finished with the potion to fix our bods. I would have woken you up, but figured dealing with Hangover Tavi was a bad idea. I’ll just bring the potion home when it’s done, so you can just chillax for a few minutes and not poke around the house or anything and try to beat back that monster headache you probably have right now.

K bye.

Oh and PS, that Rarity chick was totally into you/me last night, which is bitchin’. Well… for me at least. So thanks and junk.

Octavia groaned as she set the paper down. “Of course she didn’t wake me up. It’s not like I want to switch back as soon as possible.” She pushed herself off the couch, feeling a dull pang in her head.

Ignoring it, Octavia wormed her way around the furniture, aiming for the door. She had to get to the Everfree Forest as soon as possible. Celestia knew what Vinyl might do to mess up their chance to switch back; at the very least she could get the fix-it potion mixed up with something else entirely.

Octavia reached the front door and flung it open, only to find herself snout to snout with Rarity. Her hoof was held in a pre-knocking position and as Octavia inhaled she could detect the faintest hint of a lilac perfume emanating from Rarity’s coat.

They stood frozen for a moment until Rarity blinked and smiled. “Oh, hello, Vinyl. Thank you for saving me the trouble of knocking.”

“Oh, uh… Rarity.” Quick, what would Vinyl do in this situation? Her eyes darting around, Octavia leaned her body against the door frame in an attempt to mimic Vinyl’s suave, devil-may-care attitude, gave a smirk that undoubtedly came off as awkward and said, “Uh… ‘sup?”

Rarity pressed her hoof to her mouth and gave a brief snort of laughter. “Hello to you too. May I come in?”

Octavia blinked. She knew she had to get to the Everfree Forest for the potion soon, but at the same time didn’t want to be rude to her friend. Stuck between her choices, she forced out a smile while she tried to think of a solution. Unfortunately, her stomach beat her to the punch with a low rumble.

With an arched eyebrow, Rarity looked at her. “Goodness, darling, haven’t you eaten anything today?”

“Would an aspirin count?” Octavia asked.

“Absolutely not. Vinyl, you should know to never skip breakfast.”

“Well, yes, it’s just that—”

“Come on.” Rarity brushed passed Octavia. “I’m not letting you leave this house until you eat at least something.”

Octavia groaned inwardly but shut her front door. She knew how commanding Rarity could be at times and didn’t doubt that she would prevent her from leaving.

“All right, but can we make it quick? I’ve got somewhere I need to be.” Octavia trotted after Rarity, who had just found the kitchen and strolled inside like she owned it.

“Oh I’m certain it won’t take to long to make a presentable meal.”

“You know, just cereal would be fine” Octavia followed her into the kitchen.

"Nonsense, I'm sure I can whip us up a more proper meal than that." Rarity opened the pantry, assessing the food within.

Octavia tilted her head slightly. "Us?"

She froze, then buried her face in the pantry to shield her expression. "Oh... I was just feeling a bit peckish myself. I hope that's all right?"

Trotting over to the pantry, Octavia reached in and pulled out a box of corn flakes. Her foreleg brushed against Rarity's as she did. "You're fine, Rarity. After all, it's just breakfast."

"Of course, darling." Rarity gave a dainty smile, but failed to conceal the faintest shade of pink flushing on her cheeks.

Octavia pulled back slightly. It is just breakfast... Right?

When her stomach thundered again, she let the subject drop. Octavia had failed to realize how absolutely starving she had been when she first woke up. The headache had drawn most of her attention after all, but now that the aspirin was starting to kick in, she felt hunger's iron grip over her stomach.

At her insistence though, they didn't prepare any other food besides the cereal, so Octavia went on the hunt for clean bowls and spoons. Vinyl hadn't exactly been keeping up with the dishes while she had been away, but luckily there was just enough.

Since she still hadn't worked out the kinks in her levitation, however, and choosing to avoid the incredible awkwardness of having to ask Rarity to rub her horn, she settled for the slightly less awkward balancing act. She shoved the spoons handle-first into her mouth, hooked one foreleg around the bowls and the other around the cereal. Her free legs shakily propelled her toward the table.

"Do you need any help?" Rarity asked.

“I gert igh!” Octavia insisted through the spoons. A split second later, she demonstrated just how much she had it when her balance failed her. Gravity yanked her down and everything she was holding scattered into the air.

Her eyes shut in anticipation. Instead of connecting with the tiled floor and shattering her nose — or rather, Vinyl’s nose — she lurched to a stop mid-fall, hitting something much softer than the ground.

Peeking her eyes open, Octavia found that she landed right into the hooves of Rarity, who had just managed to catch her. Her horn was alight with a blue aura, her magic cradling the bowls, spoons and cereal.

“T-thanks.” She pushed herself out of Rarity’s hold.

“Not a problem; though it was a very lucky catch.” Rarity levitated everything onto the table, her meticulous nature shining through as she flourished the bowls equidistant from each other and parallel with the spoons. Octavia smiled slightly, knowing that she wouldn’t be sharing breakfast with somepony as slovenly as Vinyl for once.

“Well, I appreciate it.” Octavia took a seat and filled her bowl to the brim.

Rarity slid into the seat next to her, their sides brushing against each other. Octavia flinched slightly as Rarity’s fuzzy coat intermingled with hers, though it seemed that she was the only one who minded. Cautiously, she scooted a few inches away.

As Octavia dove into her food, Rarity poured herself a contrastingly smaller amount. She chased the flakes around her bowl with her spoon, not pausing to eat any.

Octavia finally came up for air when her bowl was left with nothing but the dust of devoured corn flakes. She reached for the cereal box again, not even feeling partially full.

“I, um… saw your performance last night,” Rarity mentioned as the corn flakes clinked into the bowl.

Octavia paused. “Oh, uh… cool. What did you think?”

Rarity smiled. “I enjoyed myself, though I will admit that your style of music is far from my favorite. Even so, you seem to put your own je ne sai quoi into it.” She inched closer. “And… I liked it.”

Octavia dropped the cereal box sending corn flakes scampering across the table. She wasn’t the best at interpreting signals, but she could read Rarity’s mannerisms like a picture book. While Vinyl would undoubtedly be overjoyed at this development, Octavia found it difficult to breathe. Rarity had, or was at least developing, a crush on her.

Oh Celestia…

“Hey, I just realized that we didn’t get any milk. Did you want milk? Because I could really go for some milk right now.” Octavia jolted up as if electricity had pulsed through her body. It was so fast that her chair fell over, not that she noticed or cared.

Rarity blinked, nonplussed at the sudden change in her attitude. “Um… sure, I suppose milk would be nice.”

“Great.” Octavia forced a smile, all of her teeth showing. “Just great. I’m going to grab some milk then.”

She crossed to the fridge, her legs stiff with panic. Octavia swallowed several gulps of air, almost forgetting to exhale in the process. She needed to calm down somehow, but simply couldn’t stop thinking about Rarity’s feelings.

It wouldn’t be a problem if she was back in her own body, because then she could just let Rarity down easy, but this was Vinyl who Rarity had feelings for. Despite not liking mares herself, Octavia refused to ruin something that was important to her friend. Even so, it didn’t mean she was going to be comfortable with it.

After walking for what felt like a mile, she finally reached the fridge and tore it open. It was nearly empty; a testament to Vinyl living by herself for a few days. Octavia reached to the back, spying a tall carton that contained what she desired. By the time she finished dragging it out, Rarity had caught up to her.

“Vinyl, are you all right?”

“Fine. Great. Yeah…” Octavia flubbed her next few words, ending her incoherent sentence by holding up the jug and exclaiming, “milk!”

Rarity lowered her eyelids, unconvinced. She brought up her hoof, resting it on Octavia’s. With a nudge she got her to set the milk down, but her hoof lingered. “Are you absolutely sure? I hope I didn’t upset you.”

“Uh…” Octavia looked down at their still touching hooves. “You’re fine, I just… realized some things.”

“Oh.” Rarity looked down, a blush creeping onto her face. “You mean...”

“Yes.”

Rarity’s hoof finally lifted off her’s. “I see. I guess I wasn’t being too subtle, was I?”

“Uh… no.” Octavia sighed. “Look Rarity, maybe you should… think about this… uh, you and me… before you let anymore feelings bubble up.”

Rarity’s lips tightened. “What are you saying, Vinyl?”

Gah, there’s no way around this. Sorry Vinyl. “It’s just that… our personalities aren’t very compatible and I feel that that should be taken into account.”

There was a brief pause. Then, much to Octavia’s surprise, Rarity gave a rather unladylike snort.

She put her hoof to her mouth a second later to cover it, but the brunt of her reaction had slipped out, confounding Octavia.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, Vinyl, you can’t be serious.”

“What?”

Rarity let out a small giggle before elaborating. “You think I haven’t noticed by now? You’re not exactly who you pretend to be.”

“What?” Octavia reiterated, voice climbing an octave. She did not like where this was going.

“I’ll admit you constant use of sunglasses and hair gel make for a convincing disguise, but deep down you’re really a sophisticated pony such as myself.”

She blinked. “Uh…”

“I mean, your posture is near perfect and you constantly drop your little slang words for a more proper diction. Even the way you walk is a dead giveaway.” Rarity smiled. “And I can understand why you do it too. With a Cutie Mark for being a disc jockey, no pony could fault you for wanting a more… radical image. I certainly don’t.”

Octavia sucked in air through clenched teeth. “Thanks?”

Rarity gave her a tight lipped smile. “So… um.... now that you’ve learned about my… feelings, I…”

Oh no. “Uh… right… about that…”

Rarity sighed, her head turning to the floor. Clearly she had been able to read Octavia’s tone with just those four words. “You don’t feel the same way.” Her voice was flat, laced with disappointment.

Octavia ground her teeth together, Vinyl’s upset face flashing before her eyes. “No, it’s not that!”

Perking up slightly, Rarity arched her eyebrow. “Really?”

Sweet Celestia, I can’t believe I’m about to do this. “Rarity, I think you’re great and wonderful and talented and at the same time so considerate of others. I don’t think I could picture a better pony for Vinyl, er… myself.”

Rarity smiled. “Wow… thank you, Vinyl. That was really sweet.” She leaned in, lips pursing.

Octavia’s eyes bulged. Oh no, please don’t kiss me. Her hooves backpedalled, but not far enough. Rarity’s face was inches away from her’s now. “W-wait just a second now.”

She lurched back, knocking into the trashcan right behind her. The force was so great that it sent her down along with it. Rarity wasn’t able to catch her this time, and she ended up banging her head on the tiled floor, a wave of spilled trash accompanying her.

“Oh my goodness!” Rarity rushed to her side, a hoof covering her mouth. “Darling, are you all right?”

Octavia tried to lift her head, and winced. The impact brought back her old friend, the headache. “Peachy. Just peachy.”

“I am so sorry.” Rarity bent down, maneuvering around the garbage to help Octavia up.

“I got it,” Octavia assured her. After what had just happened, she didn’t feel up to touching Rarity anyway. She moved her hoof to buttress herself against the floor and ended up rustling some paper. She was about to kick it away when she saw writing on one visible corner. It was bent and crumpled, but still legible.

Dear Ms. Octavia Melody…

Octavia froze. A letter? Addressed to me? But I didn’t receive any… Wait a moment.

She rolled onto her belly, scrambling to retrieve the paper. Unfurling it, Octavia found the bulk of the letter was unbelievably stained by whatever had been in the garbage can, but nevertheless she could read it.

“Vinyl?” Rarity inquired, voice a little concerned. “Are you—”

“Shh!” Octavia snapped. “I’m reading.” Her attention swiveled to the paper. “We are happy to inform… exceed expectations… opportunity of a callback. A callback!” She rocketed upward, slapped with the realization of who this letter was from. “I got a callback! They want me back!”

She needed to hug somepony, or something for that matter. Luckily Rarity was nearby and found herself startled with a full body wrap around. The awkwardness of it all didn’t phase Octavia, who was experiencing such ecstasy that she would have hugged a cactus out of delight.

“Vinyl, dear, calm down for a second. What callback are you referring too? And what was it doing in the garbage?”

Octavia pulled away, about to happily relay the good news about the Manehattan Philharmonics, when she jutted to a stop. Glancing at the maimed letter in her hoof, she furrowed her brow. “What was it doing in there? I didn’t throw it away and the only other pony who would have access to my mail is—” Her dark purple shades failed to prevent her vision from going bloodshot red. “Vinyl…”

Rarity blinked, nonplussed. “I’m sorry?”

The words didn’t reach Octavia’s ears. Everything around her was completely shut out in realization that Vinyl had taken her future and shoved it into the trash as if it held no more relevance than an old apple core, or a used pizza box. Octavia’s body shook with fury.

“She. Is. Dead!”

Rarity opened her mouth slightly, her ignorance of the situation “Who is dead— Vinyl? Where are you going?”

Octavia didn’t answer as she blazed out of her house. She galloped at full speed for the Everfree Forest, letter still in hoof, rage tearing through every fiber of her being.

Four short miles away, Vinyl impatiently tapped her hoof while glaring at the bubbling cauldron before her. Zecora stood opposite of her using a large wooden spoon to swirl the concoction. She was pouring laser-like focus into the task, which gave Vinyl hope that it would be completed soon.

Unfortunately for the both of them, hope only fed her impatience.

“Is it done yet?” she asked.

Zecora’s eyes shot upward, hammering Vinyl with an annoyed stare. “The potion is not yet ready, we have to wait until the bubbling becomes steady.”

Vinyl bit her lip, glancing at the spasmodic boiling below her. Unable to tell when such unpredictableness would be considered steady, she found herself growing more uneasy.

“Ya can relax, Vinyl.” Apple Bloom poked her head over the rim of the cauldron. “Zecora knows what she’s doin’.”

“Well can she know-what-she’s-doing a little faster? I really… I need to be back in my body again. And get home before… uh… before Tavi knows I’m missing.”

“I know the feeling,” another filly spoke up. Vinyl turned to see one of the two fillies she had been somewhat ignoring since her arrival pacing off to the side. “If I don’t get home before Rarity does, then I’ll be in even more trouble.”

Vinyl blinked, memories of a pretty face and a nice set of curves flashing across her eyes. She moved away from the cauldron, grateful to find a distraction with which to kill time. “You know Rarity?”

The filly nodded. “Yeah, she’s my sister.”

Oh shitsticks. Vinyl had recognized the kid before her as one of the ones she had indirectly given cider to. With the knowledge that she was also the sister of the hottest mare Vinyl had ever seen was definitely cause for some concern.

“And, uh… the whole being in trouble thing probably has something to do with the buzz you had going the other day?”

She nodded. “I’m grounded until the day I die and then some.”

“That sucks ass,” Vinyl astutely remarked. When the kid gave her a look, Vinyl kicked herself for swearing in front of foals again. “Hey uh… you didn’t tell her the whole story behind the cider, right? Specifically the part where I might’ve accidentally been the whole reason for it?”

Mercifully, the filly shook her head. “She doesn’t know anything yet. My head was too fuzzy last night to comprehend anything outside of her screaming ‘Sweetie Belle, this is completely unacceptable!’ and when I woke up this morning, all there was was a note telling me not to leave before she got back.” She nervously glanced toward the door. “Which for all I know could’ve been an hour ago.”

As Vinyl sighed in relief, Apple Bloom walked over. “Sweetie Belle, if ya’re so worried, why don’tcha just go home?”

“I’m not walking through the Everfree Forest alone. It’s dangerous.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “No more dangerous than the three of us walkin’ in it alone.”

“I’m still not taking any chances.”

“Then take Scootaloo with you.”

Their heads swiveled to the other side of the room and Vinyl followed their line of sight. Toward the back was the orange filly from yesterday who had been even more boozed-up than Sweetie Belle. She was curled in the fetal position with her head resting on one of the many urns lying around with her eyes closed.

With the lack of any talking, they could faintly hear Scootaloo mumbling in her sleep. Vinyl could’ve sworn it was something about Diamond Dogs and jackhammers, but didn’t hear it too well.

“I think I’ll pass,” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Fine, suit yerself, but if Rarity comes chargin’ in through that door lookin’ fer ya, Ah won’t make any excuses.”

“So… about Rarity,” Vinyl said, bringing the conversation back to something that interested her. “Do you think she’d ever go for a date with a really awesome DJ by any chance?”

Sweetie Belle blinked. “Uh… maybe?”

“Cool… hey, she doesn’t like to do anything freaky in the bed, does she?”

Sweetie Belle’s lips tightened. “You mean, besides sleep?”

Before Vinyl could open her mouth and essentially destroy Sweetie Belle’s innocence, she was beaten to the punch by a rhyme. “Vinyl, worry about your love life at some other date. For now, I’d say this switching potion is great.”

She whirled around, an ecstatic smile threatening to conquer her face. “Whoa, it’s done?” Zecora gave a curt nod and Vinyl trotted back over. “Huh… I guess it’s true what they say: a watched pot never boils. Er… or a watched cauldron something something steadily bubbles.”

Zecora lowered her eyelids, unamused. Vinyl coughed. “So, it’s ready you say?”

“Indeed, this potion is exactly what you need. You and Octavia must merely drink it at roughly the same time and place and then, once again, you will be wearing your own face.”

“Bitchin’.” Vinyl glanced over the murky green liquid and then examined the cauldron. “So am I just supposed to push this thing home, or…?”

Zecora bent down, disappearing behind her side of the cauldron. Vinyl stood on the tips of her hooves to try and see what she was doing, but this proved fruitless a second later when Zecora stood back up with two glass bottles in her hoof. She gestured with them at the cauldron.

“Oh… put the potion in the… yeah okay, that makes more sense.”

Zecora gave a grunt of affirmation and dipped the bottle into the potion. When they were both full, she stuck a cork into both, sealing the green substance in there for safe keeping.

“Thanks a million for doing this, by the way,” Vinyl said as the bottles exchanged hooves. “I think I might’ve died if I had to stay in Octavia’s body for more than a day or so, let alone the week it would’ve taken Princess Twilight to get home and fix this.”

“Oh no, Twilight!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Ah’d completely forgotten ‘bout her! She’s gonna be so mad when she finds out what happened!” She started hyperventilating, making Vinyl think she might actually pass out.

“Relax kid, I know a thing or two about getting out of trouble. I’m sure if I just tell her it was a prank or something then she won’t be pissed at you.”

“That idea is awful, in every meaning of the word,” Zecora interjected. “The best thing to do is to let your honesty be heard.”

Vinyl gave a mock wince. “I’m pretty sure that’s not a smart move. Besides, what Twilight doesn’t know won’t hurt her, so why shouldn’t Apple Bloom lie through her teeth?”

“Because if she is open with Twilight about all that occurred, she will be respected for her honesty, don’t you concur?” She turned to Apple Bloom. “Twilight will likely be cross when she finds out, but lying to her would cause more rage to come about. Telling the truth is the right path to take and I suggest doing it now before it’s too late.”

“So… ya’re saying that Twilight will be mad at me if Ah tell her the truth, but she’d be even madder if she found out I lied?” Zecora nodded.

Apple Bloom's eyes shifted left and right as her mind raced. Vinyl chewed her lip, weighed down by the logic behind what Zecora had said. It made sense, in a way. Thinking back to the letter she had shoved into the trash in a moment of panic, Vinyl wondered if she should go back and fish it out. It was pretty uncool of me to throw it out.

At the same time though, she knew Octavia would be absolutely livid when she found out. If there was one thing she wanted to avoid, it was that.

"Ah reckon Ah hafta tell her,". Apple Bloom decided, cutting into Vinyl's thoughts.

Zecora smiled and rustled the filly's hair. "You have made the right choice, Apple Bloom. Anything else would've just caused you gloom."

"Hey, listen, I gotta get home." Vinyl held up the potions. "Thanks again and stuff."

Before Vinyl could turn around, the door to Zecora’s hut slammed open. The forced was so strong that it shook some of the bottles lining the shelves around the cottage and rippled the potion in the cauldron.

Whirling around, Vinyl saw her body standing in the middle of the doorway, mouth creased in a frown, eyes hidden by her sunglasses. It took her a moment to realize who it was, but she smiled when she finally did.

“Hey, Tavi, good to see you woke up.”

No response.

“So guess what I’ve got.” She dangled the two bottles in the air, sloshing around their lime-green contents.

Still no response, though the frown did deepen.

Vinyl finally got the message that something was wrong, and she lowered the bottles. “Tavi, is something up?”

“How can you just stand there and act like you didn’t do anything wrong?” Octavia’s voice was cold, almost as if she was numb with anger.

Sweat creeped onto the back of Vinyl’s neck. “You uh… you upset that I didn’t wake you up? ‘Cause I totally would have it’s just that—”

Octavia raised her hoof, clutching a sheet of paper. Vinyl’s heart all but stopped pumping, her worst fear confirmed. She didn’t even need more than a passing glance to realized the crumpled mess in Octavia’s hoof was the letter she had thrown out last night.

“Oh…” Shit, shit, shit!

“Oh?” Octavia asked incredulously, slamming her hoof on the floor. Ripping off the shades, she drilled Vinyl with her eyes. “That’s all you have to say for yourself? Oh?”

“W-what do you want me to say?”

Octavia narrowed her eyes. “Oh… I don’t know. How about an apology for throwing my future away! Or at least an excuse. Literally anything other than just ‘oh’!”

“Okay, okay… I’m sorry, Tavi.”

“That’s not good enough!” Octavia screamed.

Scootaloo jolted awake at this point with a “huh?” of confusion. Her surprise didn’t last long when she quickly joined up with Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Zecora as a wide mouth spectator as the scene unfolded.

Octavia advanced, forcing Vinyl to back up. “You betrayed my trust! You threw my dream job — the future of my career — in the garbage like it was nothing!”

“Octavia…” Tears stung Vinyl’s eyes. “I didn’t mean… I didn’t want…”

“And the absolute worst part of it all? I don’t even know why. Why, Vinyl? Why would you do something so… so horrendous?”

Vinyl took another step back, her hind legs making contact with the cauldron. She had no where left to go with Octavia still angrily advancing.

“Well?” came the angry demand. “Answer me!”

“I just… I couldn’t… I didn’t…”

“Vinyl!”

“You were going to leave!” Vinyl shouted, squeezing her eyes shut. “You were going to go off to Manehattan and just… leave me behind. You’re my best friend Octavia… I didn’t want to lose you.”

Octavia blinked, none of her fury dispersed. “What made you think I would’ve left you behind?”

“Oh please,” Vinyl shouted, eyes open again. “I can’t just go with you to Manehattan. No club’s going to want a DJ that’s had one gig in a tiny town. My career would never take off.”

“So it’s about you, huh?” Octavia’s glare could’ve frozen fire. “This is about your career. What you want.”

Vinyl’s eyes bulged. “No, that’s not what I—”

“After everything I’ve done for you, you can’t deign to let me have this. I’ve paid your half of the rent for Celestia know’s how long, picked up all your messes and even after you switched our bodies, I saved your career and flirted with one of my closest friends just to make you happy!” Tears of anguish welled in Octavia’s eyes. “And you couldn’t let even let me have my dream. Not when I’ve worked so hard for it… you just walked all over it like the doormat you think I am.”

“NO!”

Octavia grabbed Vinyl by the shoulders, causing her to drop the potions. “Liar!”

“Enough!” Zecora shouted, stepping forward. “You are becoming too rough!”

Octavia didn’t listen, tightening her vice-like grip. “I swear, if you weren’t in my body right now… Oh forget it.” She raised her hoof, ready to slap Vinyl, or much worse.

Vinyl pushed against Octavia’s hold. It was strong, but she was stronger. If she could just roll out of the way…

Glancing into the angry, hurt eyes of her friend, Vinyl paused. Octavia was furious, and with good reason. Vinyl knew she was in the wrong, not matter what her justifications were. She stopped struggling, shut her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

But that would have to wait.

A sweaty, exhausted pony burst through the doorway, indigo mane flopping wildly from her frantic run to catch up to Octavia.

“Vinyl!” She cried.

Vinyl’s eyes snapped open. “Rarity?”

Rarity blinked in confusion as she absorbed the scene. “Octavia?”

Octavia turned, hoof still raised. “Rarity?”

“Rarity?” Squeaked out a shocked Sweetie Belle.

Rarity’s head whipped in the direction of her sister’s voice. “Sweetie Belle?”

The poor filly’s pupils shrunk in fear. “Uh… Apple Bloom?” She ducked behind her friend.

Rarity turned around accusingly. “Zecora!”

Zecora opened her mouth to respond, but Octavia beat her to the punch.

“Rarity, now is not a good time,” Octavia growled, her rage still undampened.

Rarity glanced back to her, pushing the thoughts of her sister to the back of her mind. "Vinyl, what are you doing?"

"It is a very long story," Octavia replied, hoof still raised. "One that I really don't wish to discuss right now."

"Can you at least put your hoof down. Honestly, Vinyl, this isn't like you; you are not a ruffian."

Octavia snorted. "You don't the faintest idea what Vinyl is like."

Rarity tilted her head. "What?"

"Look, Rarity, you deserve an explanation," Vinyl interjected. "You see, I... er, Vinyl did something incredibly stupid and Octavia just found out about it. Naturally, she got angry and wanted to slap Vinyl upside the head." She glanced at Octavia's hoof, still poised to strike. "Really wanted to slap Vinyl upside the head. Despite how sorry Vinyl was, Octavia stayed rightly pissed off. Things got violent and... here we are... in a situation Vinyl never wanted to be in with her best friend."

Octavia gritted her teeth, but her hoof started to lower.

Rarity cocked her head, more confused than ever. "I'm sorry, but when did we start referring to ourselves in the third person? And what are you even talking about?"

Vinyl ignored Rarity. "The point is that Vinyl is sorry. Extremely sorry. Like, sorrier than a... thing that's really sorry."

Octavia set her hoof lowered her hoof and released Vinyl. Her face was muted from expression as she calmly picked up the two bottles Vinyl had dropped. She held one out to her.

"Drink." It wasn't a request.

Vinyl tentatively took the bottle, knowing she wasn’t off the hook just yet. In fact, she was in all likelihood still very much impaled on said hook.

“Is anypony going to give me a proper explanation of what’s going on?”

Octavia twisted the cork off her bottle while Vinyl opted to just bite her’s off and spit it at the ground. If that bothered Octavia, she didn’t show it.

“So… are we going to do like a countdown, or—”

“Just drink it.”

“Okay, all right… geez.” Vinyl hesitantly brought the concoction to her lips. With a quick whiff she found it didn’t have a smell. Her eyes darted upward to see that Octavia had already downed half of her potion. Knowing she couldn’t afford to wait any longer, Vinyl guzzled hers down.

The taste stung the inside of her mouth immediately, causing her to almost gag. Her first body switching potion had tasted like lizard piss, but that was far too kind a monomer for something this retched. She wanted to spit out, but found it was already sliding down her throat. She tore away the bottle coughing.

Octavia’s mouth scrunched in discomfort as she finished her potion. Setting the bottles down they stood, waiting.

Rarity glanced from one to the other, confusion masking her face. “Um… what exactly was that for?”

Vinyl blinked. “Well it was supposed to—”

SNAP!

Vinyl squeezed her eyes shut as a torrent of pain gripped her body. It lasted only a fleeting second, but it left her muscles feeling like pudding. Barely standing, she opened her eyes only to be greeted by blurry vision.

Blinking, she managed to clear up her line of sight. The first thing she was able to focus on was the cauldron on the other side of the room.

Wait, wasn’t that behind me… Snapping to attention, she looked up and saw Octavia — gray coat, bow tie and all — rubbing her forehead.

“It worked!” She cried out, hoof pumping the air. For a moment, she relished being able to use her own voice “It worked it freakin’ worked, Tavi!”

“I’m aware Vinyl,” Octavia deadpanned.

“Wait a second.” Vinyl turned to her sunglasses, which Octavia had left forlorn on the wooden floor. With a flick of her horn they levitated upwards, ensnared by her blue aura. She set them back on her face with a grin. “Hell yeah, everything’s back to normal!”

“I’m sorry,” Rarity interrupted, “but what in the name of Equestria is going on?”

“Oh uh… right. You’re still totally in the dark.” Vinyl clicked her tongue and sucked in air. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Then would you care to explain?”

“It’s kind of a long story… like, sit-down-and-drink-some-alcohol long.” She looked around. “And there aren’t any chairs here.”

“Um… all right.” Rarity glanced over Vinyl, as if she wasn’t sure she was talking to the same pony she had been. Vinyl remained silent and Rarity looked around. “Do… you want me to come over later then?”

“Oh, uh… yeah, that’d be cool. Thanks.”

Rarity furrowed her brows. “Right then. Sweetie Belle!”

“Wha— Ah!” Sweetie Belle, who had been scaling the back wall in an attempt to sneak out the window, fell to the ground.

“Home, now!” Rarity’s voice had gone from cute and confused to icy in mere seconds.

“But, sis, I can explain.”

“Then you can explain at home. I feel as though we’ve wasted enough of Zecora’s time.”

“Yes, thank you,” Zecora turned to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “And you too.”

“Aw, but Ah’m not gonna get in trouble with Applejack!”

“Can’t I just go back to sleep?”

Zecora shook her head firmly.

“Aww…” Both fillies moaned in unison, but followed Sweetie Belle and Rarity out the door.

Vinyl turned to Octavia. “Well, we’re going to have a crapload of explaining to do, aren’t we?”

“You mean you are.” Octavia’s voice was back to numb. She walked over and picked up her callback letter.

“What do you mean?” Vinyl asked, pulling her shades up.

“I have an audition in Manehattan to get to, remember?”

“Wha… but… that isn’t until Thursday!”

“Yes.” Octavia smoothed out the paper as best she could before calmly folding it up. “It will give me time to find an apartment.”

“An apart—” Vinyl stopped short. “You’re moving out?”

“Yes. Whether I get into the orchestra or not.”

Vinyl held her breath, knowing her tenuous friendship with Octavia was fizzling into nothing. “But… I said I was sorry… Octavia…”

“You did apologize, Vinyl, but I don’t care. Some things can’t be fixed by simply saying ‘sorry’ and this is one of them.” She made contact with Vinyl’s eyes. “Goodbye, Miss Scratch.”

Vinyl watched her leave, legs glued to her spot on the floor. Octavia politely shut the door behind her and that was it. She was alone. Almost.

Zecora trotted up next to her, a placid look on her face.

“I guess it’s just you and me, eh, Pothole Lady?” Vinyl looked to the floor. “I really bucked up…”

“You did, I suppose. But from failures is how one grows.”

Vinyl sniffled. “Thanks for the words of wisdom. Say, you wouldn’t happen to have any booze around, would you? I kinda need a pick-me-up.”

Zecora lowered her eyelids.

“Oh come on, don’t be like that.” Vinyl hooked her foreleg around Zecora’s shoulder, trying desperately to make the best out of her situation. “We could totally be drinking buddies. What do ya say?”

Zecora faced forward, unamused. “Get out of my house.”

Two Months Later

Her bow slid across the strings of the cello, causing a low rumble to reverberate throughout the concert hall. Its sound bounced off the arched ceiling above the stage and blended seamlessly into the harmony of the orchestra around her, filling the empty practice hall.

The symphony rose in intensity as the tone of their song changed. As it approached its apex, she flourished her bow across the strings, adding a delicate, yet deep ring into the mix. The cellists around her quickly followed suit, most having realized they were a quarter-note behind.

Following the climax of the song, Octavia could now relax. She closed her eyes and her hooves still continued working, plucking the C string with the consistency of a metronome. The rest of the orchestra brought their instruments to a low hum as the song faded. When the last chord was played, one hundred and thirteen bows lowered. To finish, their conductor flourished his baton before setting it on his podium.

Octavia smiled as she rested her back on her chair. Practice had become routine in the past few weeks, which was a welcome change of pace to what she was used to.

She looked around at her now familiar environment, cellists all around her. After nailing her callback, she’d been given the tenth chair and despite being impressive in it’s own right, Octavia still felt a little disappointed. She knew that securing first chair would be near impossible, despite that being the position that had initially opened up, but it still didn’t stop a latent feeling of failure to weasel into her success.

Octavia knew not to dwell on it for long, however. Instead, she took the what-might-have-been situation and used it to motivate her. Between her raw talent and proclivity for practicing, one day she knew she would secure first chair.

“All right everypony, that was… decent,” the conductor addressed them. “Let’s take a short respite before we continue. Ten minutes.”

Before the last word slipped past his lips, everypony was up and moving. Octavia set her cello against her seat, mirroring the ponies around her and left her bow by her sheet music. Her fellow cellists were already stretching and walking around, most opting to chat with each other.

In contrast, Octavia remained mute. She had barely been on the orchestra long enough to know anypony beyond an acquaintance level and didn’t have enough free time now to try and rectify that. Instead, she chose to stretch her legs and walk around the stage.

The noise of everypony else faded into the background as she traversed down into the mass of seats. Darkness bled into her path, as nopony on the orchestra wanted to waste money to light the entire concert hall for their practices. Seeing wasn’t a problem though, as she stuck close enough to the stage to see ahead of her and she didn’t plan to walk too deep into the audience.

She started humming the infectious tune they had been playing under her breath, eyes staying firmly glued to the path ahead. At the edge of the row, she prepared to turn back around and make her way back.

“Hey.”

Octavia froze, struck with the familiarity of the voice. She turned, and found herself facing a pony she hadn’t seen in months: Vinyl Scratch.

For a moment, she wasn’t able to speak. Vinyl hadn’t changed at all since the last time she saw her.

She was sitting two rows up, leaning forward. Her spiky mane was pushed back by the purple shades that rested on her horn, and her mouth was creased in a tight-lipped smile. She also bore a faded pink scar on her cheek, a souvenir from one of the worst experiences of both their lives.

“H-hello, Vinyl.”

“Practice sounded pretty good,” Vinyl said, tapping the back of the seat.

Octavia blinked, surprised that her ex-roommate was attempting to make small talk. Almost like she was ignoring… well, everything. “Thanks,” she finally managed.

Vinyl’s smile showed her teeth, but Octavia could tell it was forced. “So uh… how’s life going for you?”

“Pretty good.” Octavia cleared her throat. Now that her surprise had faded, she was ready to address the elephant in the room. “What are you doing here, Vinyl?”

“You mean in Manehattan, or here specifically?”

“Vinyl.”

She pushed out a laugh. “Okay, okay… I, uh… I came here to talk to you. Assuming you no longer want to stab me that is.”

Octavia gave a cursory glance around. “I think that feeling has passed. Besides, there’s nothing sharp enough around here to do the job.”

Vinyl laughed genuinely this time. “Cool… anyway, I…” Her head sunk. “Damn this is hard.”

“What?”

“I’ve been trying to think of the right way to apologize for the past two months, Tavi. I thought maybe seeing you would help, but my mind’s still blank.”

“Well I suppose you can’t blame it; that is it’s natural state after all.”

“Ha ha.” Vinyl smiled. “Manehattan hasn’t changed you one bit, Tavi.”

“That’s nice to hear. So… about that apology.”

“Right, right… guess I gotta wing it.” Vinyl inhaled deeply. “I bucked up.”

Octavia snorted. “That much is obvious.”

“Save all snarkiness until the end, please.”

“Fine.”

Vinyl inhaled again. “I never meant to hurt you, Tavi, I just… I got really scared. And when I’m scared I tend to do stupid stuff.”

“Really? Just when you’re scared?”

“Hey, what’d I say about that snark?”

Octavia held up a hoof in mock surrender. “Apologies, please continue.”

“Yeah, so… I saw your callback and… panicked. I knew it was wrong to hide it from you Tavi, but… I didn’t want to lose you, y’know? Pretty ironic, considering what happened.” Vinyl covered her face with her hoof. “Celestia, I suck at this.”

“I’m not letting you off the hook just yet; keep going.”

“Right well… not much left to say besides I’m sorry, I guess. And I am sorry. Incredibly sorry. Doesn’t excuse the fact that I treated you like shit.”

“No it doesn’t,” Octavia said bluntly. Vinyl’s head sunk further. “But… I guess I’m not really all that angry at you anymore.”

Vinyl’s head snapped back up. “What? Really?”

Octavia looked back to the stage. “Well, I got into the Philharmonics, didn’t I? And honestly, my anger sort of… fizzled after that happened.”

Vinyl’s jaw slammed down. “Seriously?” Octavia nodded. “But… why didn’t you tell me? I’ve thought you were pissed at me for weeks!”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Well, just because I wasn’t angry doesn’t mean I wanted to talk to you, Vinyl. Angry or not, you betrayed my trust; I had yet to forgive you for that.”

“Oh…” Vinyl bit her lip. “Makes sense I guess…”

“But it’s not like your life turned out too bad without me around. You have Club Stirrup and Rarity.”

Vinyl’s eyes drifted to the right. “Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhh…”

“Oh Celestia, what did you do?”

“In regards to Club Stirrup, or Rarity?”

Octavia narrowed her eyes. “Both.”

“Yeesh. ‘Kay, why don’t I get the hard to explain one out of the way first: Rarity.”

Octavia sighed. “Please tell me you didn’t just have a one-night stand with her and end it there.”

“I said this was hard to explain, Tavi.” Vinyl chuckled slightly. “Actually, sex never was the problem, seeing as how we never got around to it.”

“Wait, what?” Octavia’s eyes bulged. “You didn’t get around to having sex? Did I hear that right?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, who are you and when did you switch bodies with Vinyl?”

They both laughed at that one before Vinyl continued. “I am serious, though. Rarity kinda had a pole up her plot about that stuff and… well… I decided she might be worth the wait.”

“Really now?”

“Yeah, crazy I know. That wasn’t the reason things didn’t work out between us though.”

“Then what was?”

A half-grin spread along her face. “You.”

Octavia did a double-take. “Me?”

Vinyl snorted. “Yeah, you. You see I never actually got around to telling her about the body swapping stuff, mostly cause I thought she might freak out, so I just lied through my teeth about the whole thing and took her out to dinner. The entire time I was myself and she was… a little put off by it. I think she kept expecting me to act like you.”

“So what you're saying is…”

“Rares totally had the hots for you, she just didn’t know it.”

Octavia felt weak in the knees. “Oh, Celestia…”

Viny laughed again. “Yeah, pretty crazy, I know. And seeing as how neither of you would’ve been up for a three-way, or anything freaky like that, I had to break it off with her. Shame too, she was pretty nice.”

She braced herself against a chair, having stopped listening. “Rarity… liked me?” Her stomach flopped uncomfortably at the idea.

“Crazy, huh? Just imagine if she knew about the swap.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Heh, she might’ve even built you a little shrine.”

“Stop.” Octavia gripped herself, still coming to terms with the fact that her friend could’ve been enamored with her. “That’s ridiculous, Vinyl; I can’t picture Rarity building a shrine for anypony, let alone me.”

“It would be hilarious, though.”

“It would be disturbing, you mean.”

With a roll of her eyes, Vinyl snickered. “Whatever.”

“Why don’t we switch topics. You mentioned something about Club Stirrup?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I don’t work there anymore.”

Resisting the urge to facehoof, Octavia sighed. “You got fired, didn’t you?”

“Nope, I quit,” Vinyl happily amended.

“Why?” Octavia asked incredulously. What reason could Vinyl have for wanting to leave a perfectly good job?

“Some big shot from The Pasture saw my skills and offered me a new gig.”

Octavia blinked in surprise. The Pasture was one of the largest, loudest, and raunchiest nightclubs in all of Manehattan. “Really? You don’t say.”

“I do say.” Vinyl grinned wildly. “I got a shift for Wednesdays and Thursdays. Pays something like a hundred bits an hour too.”

“That’s… impressive. Though, given that you’re barely working in the week that’s not too great.”

“Yeah.” Vinyl’s smile faltered. “I’m still trying to get a few more nights in the week, but they gave me that spiel about paying my dues and blah blah blah.”

“I got the same thing, actually.” Octavia tilted her head toward the orchestra.

“Aw that sucks. Guess Manehattanites are just blind to the super-talented, am I right?”

She couldn’t suppress a laugh. “Right.”

Vinyl gave a light smile, and stood up. “Well, it was great to catch up, Tavi, but I should probably split before your break ends.”

“I suppose so.” She shot a glance back at the stage and noted that ponies were already heading back to their instruments.

“I’m uh… glad everything’s cool between us.” Vinyl lightly bumped her shoulder. “I guess I’ll see ya around then.”

“I dunno… it’s a pretty big city. And given my practice schedule…”

Vinyl’s ears drooped. “Oh yeah… well goodbye then. I guess.” She slid her sunglasses over her eyes in an effort to conceal her disappointment.

Octavia watched as she walked away. Her teeth caught her lip and bit down. As she watched Vinyl walk away her stomach flopped. She hadn’t realized it, but in the past two months, she had really missed the stupid wit of Vinyl Scratch and all the asinine fun that came with it. Her surprise visit had helped her remember it and made her not want to lose it again.

I can’t believe I’m about to do this.

“Vinyl, wait!” She ran, catching her friend after a few seconds.

“Yeah, what?” Vinyl turned, eyebrow arching over her shades.

Octavia took in a breath. “You know, the rent in Manehattan is just awful. Would you, maybe... want to share an apartment?”

Vinyl paused for a moment, and then smiled.