Tapping.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Starlight could feel a tapping on her horn. It really annoyed her to no end.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Ugh make its stop!

Taptatatatatatap!

"ARGH! What do you want with my life horn!?" she screamed sitting upright and fell off something and onto the ground. "I ah, what? Where am I?"

She rubbed her eyes taking a look around to see where she was. She was surprised to find herself still in the park by he lake. She looked around and saw nopony. She then thought how she'd ended up here? That was when she noticed the bench and a white mare sitting on it with a worried look.

"Miss Scratch?"

"Hey." the white unicorn replied somberly. "Sorry about my behavior earlier. How's the head?"

"Ugh, my head is fine for now."

"Whew! Good! I was worried for a while there!" the mare grinned picking Starlight up and setting her down on the bench,resting the pink mares head on her lap. "So, did ya like the show?"

"Oh shush. You barely showed anything." Starlight complained.

She then wondered why she did. Was she really looking forward to the white mare showing herself off to her? Was She slowly turning into some sexual deviant?! No surely that was not the case.... Nope. Defiantly not a sexual deviant. This mare on the other hoof.

"You have a lovely mane miss... actually I never did get your name?" she said looking into Starlight's eyes. Her crimson eyes were entrancing as if they were a portal to an absolute void of passion covered by her smug grin. Starlight gulped looking into the eyes. She just couldn't pry her gaze.

"Glimmer. Starlight Glimmer." she said mindlessly as she gazed deep into the eyes.

"Nice name."

"Thanks. You have a nice name as well, Miss Scratch."

The white mare chuckled lightly. "Call me Vinyl or V."

"OK, Vinyl." Starlight said with a smile. *Achoo!*

"Oh, somepony is cold." Vinyl said standing up and bringing Starlight with her. "Come on. Let's go to my place. You can meet Octy. You'll love her!"

Starlight looked at the mare like she was crazy. "I'm sorry who?"

"Oh her real names Octavia Philharmonica. She's a great friend!"

Starlight thought back to the mare at the bar, Platinum, she recalled the mare offhandedly mentioned this mare Octavia. The pink unicorn shrugged walking along the road with the white mare. The two walked along the waterfront under the bright moonlit night. It would have been a lovely stroll, even romantic, had Starlight not been shivering cold. She looked over to Vinyl and her wet fur, and realized she was n't shivering at all.

She pressed her body against the white mare feeling an unusual warmth. She normally wouldn't have initiated such contact with another, especially a mare she just met. The cold however was driving her body to seek warmth and the only source was the mare beside her. Vinyl blushed slightly from the contact and looked at the pink mare feeling her shiver from the cold.

Her horn lit in a light blue aura and made it surround the pink pony like a light barrier. Starlight felt warm from the magical glow and looked up at the mare who was grinning smugly.

'Body warmth spell of my own design. Helps keep the body warm." she said, gently pushing her body into Starlight.

The other unicorn felt her heat rise in her cheeks and lower body and it wasn't from the spell. She looked away from Vinyls eyes and down the road feeling warmer with each passing second. Once her body reached a certain point the spell seemed to stop keeping her in what felt like a warm summer day.

"It's nice. Thanks." Starlight thanked the mare.

"Don't worry. I should have done it sooner. Sorry." she replied blushing. "I really just do it to myself never really spend time with anypony."

"Why not?"

"Well, with my work and Octavia it leaves little time to seek friends and spend time with them."

"Oh, sorry to hear that."

Starlight felt bad for her. She knew what it was like to lose friends and it sucked. She thought about her friends over the years and thought of how foolish she'd been in her pursuit of equality. She messed up with her friends in her town she ran, she messed up letting Sunburst go. She wish she could do it all over again, but knew she couldn't. Instead she'd have to make up with what she had. Right now she had a potential friend in Vinyl and she wouldn't mess this one up.

"I understand how you feel, Vinyl."

The mare cocked her head as they continued down the road exiting the park to the empty streets of Ponyville. "What do you mean?"

'I had friends once. Then I made a mistake and lied to them." she sighed looking at the moon. A feeling of envy and sorrow too hold of her heart threatening to tear her apart. "It was such a small thing to me, but I was foolish and didn't realize how big of a lie it was until, until somepony showed me. But I was too arrogant to see. Now I may have lost those friends forever."

Vinyl didn't respond and Starlight took it as a sign to continue her story.

"I was once in charge of a small town I helped create. As the, leader, I was in charge of... can I ask you something?"

"Sure doll what is it?" Vinyl said in a loud cheery voice.

"If I tell you this will you promise not to judge me?" she asked the white mare pleadingly.

Vinyl grinned and leaned forward to kiss Starlight's forehead. Her soft lips connected at the base of her horn sending a jolt down the mares spine. After the kiss she looked dead straight into Starlight's eyes rubbing her cheek and said, "Starlight, I would never judge you on the past unless you did it again. I'll let you make your own impression."

"Thanks."

"Sure. Now what's wrong?" Vinyl asked reassuringly to her. "What you did can't be that bad."

The pink unicorn sighed looking down and away from the mare beside her. "You won't say that after I tell you what happened."

"What did you do then?" Vinyl asked not out of impatience but genuine curiosity.

"I use to brainwash ponies into believing what I believed to be equality-" Starlight admitted but was cut short by Vinyl.

"See? That's not sooo, bad-"

"I also stole cutie marks believing they were the source of inequality and misery among friends." Starlight finished in a dark tone.

For a brief moment, Vinyl was sure Starlight had become a different pony. Her voice was dripping with pure hate and bile at the mention of her deed and especially cutie marks. She felt a chilled run down her spine from the pink mares words and watched ash she looked down with, regret? Shame?

The mare did a complete 180 on her in a moment. She looked utterly devastated at what she said and vinyl could tell it was eating away at her. So Vinyl did the thing she was best at.

"So does that mean you can use other ponies talents?"

Starlight glared a the mare who had the silliest grin on her face. It was the face of a child that eagerly awaited a new trick or a piece of candy. Starlight found it impossible to not crack a smile at her and chuckle.

"You are so bad!" she laughed swatting the mare playfully over the head making the white pony laugh. "But seriously, to answer your question, no I can't use other ponies talents."

"Aww, why not?"

The pink unicorn scoffed brushing her mane to the side. They were now walking down an empty street heading towards Vinyl's home. She then followed the mare down a narrow alley and stuck close by her as she answered, "Cuite marks don't work like that. If I tried to use another ponies cutie mark it would have to be compatible with mine."

"Compatible?"

"Mmhmm. To put it simply my talent is magic of the mystic arts. So if I were to take a ponies cutie mark and use it, properly, it would have to be in a magical category of talents." she explained picking up a stone with her aura. The small stone floated up in her magical glow and was contorted into various shapes. "I couldn't use a cutie mark for smiting, being a doctor, or even a botanist. And that's because it isn't compatible with my talent. Sorry. Cutie marks are, difficult to explain but that's the best way I can explain it."

"Hey don't apologies. I get the idea." Vinyl replied rubbing her nose against Starlight's cheek. She quickly pulled away, much to Starlight's dismay, and ran to a strange house on the side of a open road with very few houses around it. "Hey we're here!"

It was a strange little home Starlight observed. It was split down the center into a brown half and a pink half. Every window had a musical note of some sort and piano keys for the holds where plants grew under the windows. The brown half on the left had either a chimney or pipes from what looked like a pipe organ, but Starlight wasn't sure which. Even the roofs two halves were slightly different from one another.

It was tacky at best in her mind but she learned recently that everypony has different tastes. She watched as Vinyl hopped at the doors impatiently waiting for her.

"Come on! Octy's home and I want you to meet her!"

Starlight shook her head at the mare still holding onto her smile as she walked closer as the sound of elegant music reached her ear. Soft, precise, it was such a beautiful tune played off a stringed instrument, that much she could tell. She followed Vinyl into the house where she say a house split down center with a grey earth pony mare off to the brown side of the house playing a cello as large as she was. Her black mane and tails swayed as she did bending her elbow to strike with her bow. Vinyl went over to talk to the pony who stopped playing and spoke softly to her with a Manehattenite accent.

Starlight found herself entranced by a second mare in the same night. Who would have thought two such lovely mares lived under the same roof? Starlight thought as she watched the two mares talk. She observed the grey mare and her perfectly curved body finding herself inspecting every angel she could past Vinyl. She was beautiful. She was graceful. She was-

"Vinyl! I told you not to bring hooker ponies into the house! I mean really! I thought I told you, ugh, of all the irresponsible things I swear by my mothers grave Vinyl I'll get an ulcer from your antics!" the mare named Octavia screamed pointing at Starlight. "Honestly you never learn do you? You can play with her at the club, but not in our home." *Humph!*

... She was a bucking bitch!

Author's Note

Hey everyone sorry for the late update for those of you who actually liked this! Hope you're ready cause things get serious from here!