"I'm sorry." Vinyl smiled out from behind her shades. "I didn't realize how effective it would be, I thought you were just playing games." She inhaled deeply and offered her hoof.

"It's alright." Maud lifted her hoof and casually clopped it against the offered one. "How was it?"

"The first few times it felt really strange, Cheerilee was using the 'fully stallion' command. The strangeness was mostly in that I… I like being a mare… back there." Vinyl blushed a little, having to fight her urges to just shrink back and hide from such intrusive questions. "But some parts are really good… REALLY good." Her blush grew.

"So a full change isn't what you want." Maud made the question redundant with her tone. "I could suggest having you try 'fully mare' for a week or two, but I can see that isn't you." Maud gave Vinyl one of her smallest smiles to reassure her.

"What am I? I just… is there even a label for a freak like-" Vinyl found herself halted by a gray hoof at her snout.

"Bi-gender." Maud drew her hoof back.

Cheerilee knocked gently on the door before entering, finding Vinyl and Maud seated on a couch together. Envy kicked in for just a moment, a moment of "seeing her stallion talking to another mare," even if they weren't sitting close. Clearing her throat, she waved. "Sorry I am late, classes still need teaching." She trotted over to Vinyl, only to have the target of her affections get up and lean in. The moment their lips touched she felt the hunger, the strength behind Vinyl's intimacy.

Finding the self-confidence of "being a stallion" rubbing off on her—at least in private—Vinyl completely ignored Maud watching as she made sure Cheerilee knew how much she loved her. "Hey Cheery." She breathed the words as she drew back from the kiss. "We had only just started."

"Did you tell Maud about all the messed up attempts?" Cheerilee saw dawning light in her lover's eyes—she giggled at Vinyl. "Nothing worked, we tried everything you suggested." She faced Maud, but was guided to a seat on the couch, with Vinyl pressed in against her. "But I came up with something-"

"It was amazing, Cheery is so clever." Vinyl put a foreleg around Cheerilee's withers.

"I noticed Vinyl seemed to relax with music, and even more with just a back-beat. So I used that to relax her, then my voice to put her under." Cheerilee tilted her head so her cheek pressed to Vinyl's mane.

"Interesting." Maud payed close attention to the body language the two mares shared. "Did you take notes?"

"Not notes…" Cheerilee blushed a little. "But I do have a special diary, where I write down the interesting things I noticed. Would you like to read it?" Sudden realization hit Cheerilee, of all the things she had written in said diary. "Err, it… uh… it goes into a lot of detail…" Her nervousness was plain, but the moment the emotion started to show she felt the leg hugging her squeeze reassuringly. "You okay with that, Vinny?"

"If all this hypnosis stuff didn't do a single thing more for me, it would be worth it to help other ponies who are like this… like I was. Share what you think can help." Vinyl gave a last reassuring squeeze and relaxed a little.

"You aren't the first pony to have trouble finding her place, and you won't be the last." Maud lifted up the cup of tea she had been nursing, taking a sip from it. "So it has helped, even if it wasn't exactly right?"

Cheerilee snorted and leaned up to nuzzle the underside of Vinyl's snout. "She has confidence, she walks around like she knows who she is. She-"

"She is right here." Vinyl booped Cheerilee on the snout. "I feel more right than I ever have. I might not be as 'stallion' as what the hypnosis made me think, but it helped me find what I needed to relax, to realize it isn't bad to act how I want."

"In private." Cheerilee looked up, saw Vinyl's face crack a little. "Where it is just us, she seems so happy, so right. But then we go outside." The cracks in the confidence Vinyl had built showed.

"So the next step is to devise something to help show you that confidence in public." Maud set her cup down after the last sip.

"Outside? Hypnotized?" Cheerilee looked a little worried. "What if somepony does something that freaks her out, or that causes the hypnosis to change?"

"That is why you need to be careful with the wording. Remember, with this hypnosis, nopony can be made to do things against their wishes." Maud looked at Vinyl. "Are you willing to try?"

"A month ago I would have thrown this all in the air and stormed out. I would have laughed at your hypnosis and never looked back." Vinyl turned and kissed the mare snuggled at her side on the bridge of her nose. "But it works. It works and it has shown me that what I was wasn't what I want to be. Even my music was down, depressed. What do I need to do?"

Maud gave the mare a real smile, one that touched her eyes and lifted her eyelashes a bit. "I'll explain it, and you can try that for a month."

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

Vinyl relaxed on the couch, her eyes closed. In her ears the beat bopped, bouncing and flowing through her brain like silk. Cheerilee was on the mix deck, as usual. Vinyl loved how devoted the other mare had gotten to learning how to use the equipment.

"If you want to slow down, relax, you can say the word 'Breezietale' and until you want to obey me again, you will not have to. If I say the word 'Featherbrain,' you will not have to obey me until you want to again." Cheerilee watched Vinyl's lips curl up in a smile and she too couldn't stop grinning, happy to simply be able to help her friend. "Your mind is your own, once the beat stops none but you can command it. Until the end of the day you feel like a stallion should feel, you act like a stallion should act. Vinyl stay relaxed," Cheerilee watched the unicorn twitch a little, "you will only care about my opinion-"

"Breezietale." Vinyl's eyes opened and she looked up. "I don't know if I can do this…" The thud of headphones hitting the deck had her turn to see Cheerilee crash into her, hugging her tightly. "Cheery, I don't know if I can do that last bit, it…"

"Then we skip that, we just see how you can handle it, how ponies react to how you act." Cheerilee leaned down and kissed Vinyl's forehead. "Will that be okay?"

"Yeah…" Vinyl stared up into Cheerilee's bright eyes. "Yeah I didn't use the big word. I can feel the music pulling at me."

"Then relax again, I will modify things." Cheerilee kissed the tip of Vinyl's horn and gently snugged the cans back over her ears. Striding back to the seat, she got up behind the deck and put her own headset back on. "You are relaxed again, listening to the beat, calming down. You will only feel as I have instructed, your mind will be your own." Cheerilee reached up and flicked the switch, ending the music.

Vinyl realized she felt no different, she felt just like she had been feeling for the better part of the month. Reaching up, she slipped the headphones off. "So, end of the day, and we can go anywhere in town?"

"Well, anywhere at all. Either of us can break the effect, but apart from that it ends tomorrow morning." Cheerilee watched as Vinyl rolled up to her hooves. "So, want to go for a walk?"

"Uh." Vinyl's heart started beating faster, she felt panic threaten to rise up. "Maybe I should have let you do that last bit." She shook her head and smiled though, stepped up and stood over Cheerilee a little and inhaled as deeply as she could. The wonderful scent that Cheerilee wore found her nostrils and Vinyl leaned down and stuffed her snout into the mare's mane.

Cheerilee stood still, feeling the "stallion" in Vinyl take strength in her, in how she smelled and, when she felt the lick at the base of her neck, how she tasted. It wasn't a small part of Cheerilee that loved this, it was every part of her.

"What do we need for dinner?" Vinyl huffed a little more scent and started walking for the door.

Her eyes dancing in delight, Cheerilee laughed. "Buck dinner, let's eat out." She trotted over and slipped out, stepping up beside Vinyl.

The house had felt like a sanctuary, a place where Vinyl could be herself and not worry about anything, but now she saw what it really was. Turning, she looked at the cute little building and saw that it was a prison. "Well, what about a step further, let's go somewhere fancy."

"Vinyl, Cheerilee," the accent was unmistakable, only two ponies in Ponyville had that inflection and cadence, "ze rumor mill will churn more if you walk around like zat." Lotus Blossom was smiling wryly. "I love ze new look, Vinyl."

It was a direct confrontation for Vinyl. She used to avoid the spa for the exact reason that it made her feel less like how she wanted to. Having one of the spa ponies compliment her on her new look was quite an odd experience. "Uh, thanks." She felt Cheerilee lean into her a little more.

"You like it? I cut her mane myself." Cheerilee beamed up and nuzzled her snout under Vinyl's, the gesture unmistakable to anypony as being much more intimate than "just friends."

"It iz lovely, but it haz grown out a bit, yes?" Lotus was experienced with getting intimate with ponies, without implying anything sexual: it was her job, after all. She leaned in close and lifted her hooves to check on Vinyl's mane. "Yez, it haz grown out a bit, you should come by, I have a young stallion who does hair, amazing work."

"Well, we were going to go to Canterlot for dinner, weren't we?" Cheerilee lifted a foreleg a little, rubbing it along Vinyl's own. "But I think if we spend the afternoon at the spa we could always go tomorrow, looking even more amazing."

"Amazing?" Vinyl froze at the compliment, the other mare hinting that she looked—at least in part—amazing. "Uh…" She looked to Cheerilee and saw the excitement on her face. "Sure, if nothing else I think I know somepony who deserves to be pampered." She leaned in and nuzzled Cheerilee's mane.

Vinyl found herself almost strutting along, making small talk with Lotus on their way to the spa. Cheerilee seemed just as excited as she was, the prospect of an afternoon together, outside the house, was apparently a good one.

"Sizter, we have guests!" Lotus literally strode into the spa and clopped her hooves together twice. It wasn't just Aloe who leaped out to come to attention. A pegasus stallion with a stylized mane and tail as his cutie mark took his place beside the co-owner of the spa, and to the side of him another mare stepped up, what looked like waves on her flank.

"You don't need to make a fuss-" Vinyl closed her snout in the face of Lotus Blossom's look.

"This iz important. We have guezts, nothing shall be zpared." Lotus gestured to Cheerilee. "Zteaming firzt, lightly zo, then a zoak, massage, and mud pack." She clopped her hooves together twice, her sister rushing up and taking Cheerilee's hoof to lead her away. "We will ztart with the zteam, but we need to be zure her mane can zurvive. Five minute inspections, the moment her hair droopz she comes out. Light rinse, wash her mane and tail, then you must perform your art, Zephyr."

Zephyr Breeze stared in a little shock at Vinyl. He was about to say something, his mouth drifting open, when a tap came at his back leg. It is such a drama fitting in here, but they really appreciate what I can do! He watched as one mare, then the other, were led away.

It was a whirlwind, Vinyl was led along behind Cheerilee to the steam room, where they got to relax together and snuggle for a while. For the third time Aloe poked her head in, but this time her eyes widened on seeing Vinyl.

"Come now, pleaze. We have much work to do." Aloe beckoned to Vinyl and smiled when the mare trotted after her. "We can do anything here, of course. Would you like further treatmentz than my sizter zuggested?"

Vinyl shook her head, but glanced down as she did. Something looked a little off, and a smile curled the corners of her mouth up. "Do you trim stallion's fetlocks?" She lifted her head back up at the piercing look from Aloe. Fears assaulted her, worry that she might just get kicked out and have their day ruined for going to far.

"Of courze we do. I will have Bulk perform that, he iz juzt a darling at it." Aloe led the way into the main part of the spa, guided her to a large couch to relax on. "Juzt lay here, I will have Zephyr along in a moment to work hiz magic."

Vinyl looked around, there weren't any stallions in the spa, only mares. A touch of nerves hit her until the tall pegasus from earlier walked in. He moved like he owned the place and, somehow, he helped her relax a little.

"Oh, look at that mane and tail, almost perfection." Zephyr was suddenly lost in his art, something about the strange customer just seemed to fit with the short mane and tail. "Lay down, let moi take care of everything. When I am done, you will be so far beyond perfection nopony would deny it!"

The flood of words startled Vinyl, she dropped down on the couch and stretched out. She heard sloshing and remembered what Lotus had said earlier. "How do you keep sane here, you are the only stallion, right?"

"Who, little old me? Oh no, Bulk works here too, and besides, it is just like anywhere else in Equestria." Zephyr normally kept his mouth shut, was ordered to in fact. But the first rule is to make the client relax! "How short do you really want it? I have seen plenty of stallions with manes longer than yours, but I think if we tuft it up a bit more, get some spikes into it… oh back at the school they would have a fit if they saw me doing this!"

"What do you mean?" Vinyl perked her ears, curious toward the stallion despite his apparent self-absorption. "You mean I am a freak for wanting this?" For the first time in her life, anger boiled up at the thought.

"Darling please. I went to Manehatten's top fashion school, flamboyant narcissism wasn't just tolerated there, it was mandatory. They taught me how to do things the right way, how to listen to my client, how to make of them what they want. I work mare's manes all day long, moi, working to the same tired styles. You are a star, a bright, burning beacon of hair-care delight!"

Vinyl almost rolled over, the speech sang to her in a way she hadn't thought any words could encompass. "So… you are cool with-"

"Cool with styling your mane and tail how you want them? I think I have already said, it is a pleasure." Zephyr was gently rinsing and washing the lightning-blue mane, the mare's tail already done. "Now lay down straight please, it is time to trim away all the hair that isn't yours."

Rolling to her belly, Vinyl looked at the strange stallion and grinned. "You are pretty awesome, Zephyr, wasn't it?"

"That is moi." Zephyr reached up, a comb in one hoof, another in his mouth, and a pair of scissors in his remaining forehoof. He started trimming, true to his word trimming more than actual cutting.

Holding still, Vinyl saw herself in a mirror, with Zephyr tending to her mane. "You like music, Zeph?" She saw that where he worked looked, as he promised, even tuftier.

"I love music almost as much as I love styling manes." Zephyr changed position, eyed his word, and started to trim again. "Why do you…" He was speechless. Zephyr stepped back and blinked. "DJ-PON3?" His voice was raising, a shake trembled through him.

"Yeah, got my first comeback show this week." Vinyl hadn't planned to have a show again yet, but telling Zephyr cemented the idea in her head. "Free tickets if you want to come."

Zephyr rushed forward, returning to his work before either of his bosses noticed. "I would be positively tickled to go." He trimmed the last bit and stood back again. "There, tell me how perfect this masterpiece is."

"Really confident, aren't you?" Vinyl lifted herself up and looked. "Well, uh… you were right." She stared at the mare in the mirror, watched her smile back in delight. "You really nailed it."

"Now, you just sit there and I will work more magic on your tail." Zephyr practically preened under the compliments. "And here comes Bulk to work on your fetlocks."

Bulk squinted a little and looked from Zephyr, to the mare on the bed, then back. "I AM AT THE RIGHT PLACE? SAYS I NEED TO TRIM FETLOCK HAIR."

"Yeah." Vinyl turned to the huge stallion, but was suddenly distracted by Cheerilee walking out of the back room. She gave a wave to her fillyfriend. "Uh, right, I want you to trim my fetlocks down."

The big stallion set his trimmers down on the bed. "THEY LOOK EVEN AL-" Zephyr was poking him in the ribs. "WHAT?"

"She wants you to trim them to the delightfully neat fashion that you did for Shining Armor, when he and Princess Cadance visited." Zephyr shot a wink to Vinyl.

Furrowing his brow, Bulk looked to Vinyl. "REALLY?" Her nod led to his shrugging. "OKAY!"

And so Vinyl found herself laying across the couch, Zephyr behind her, Bulk in front. She watched as the huge white pegasus started on her hooves. He brought his trimmers in, then looked up at her. "It's cool, I want you to do it, please."

Bulk was still confused, but the rules of the spa were ingrained. The first little snip shed some of Vinyl's fur, then another, and by the time Bulk had the third done the blue hoof underneath was visible. It was his craft, and Bulk quickly got into the work, trimming one, then the other. "BACK ONES AS WELL?"

"Please." Vinyl examined her forehooves and stretched her back legs out. "This looks awesome. You said Shining Armor got his done like this?" Excitement and delight bubbled up in Vinyl, she couldn't stop turning each hoof around, examining the perfect, even cut. "What else did he have done?"

"Hoof and horn polish, I trimmed his mane of course, as well as Princess Cadance…" Zephyr froze, gazing off into a distance nopony else could see. "I have never felt so alive…"

Vinyl giggled at the dreamy expression Zephyr wore. "I got to play at her wedding, Princess Twilight—she wasn't a princess then—even sang along to one of my songs." She felt the gentle touch of Bulk working on her back hooves. It wasn't long before he was done, it really looked simple, but she was sure there was more to it than just snipping a ring of hair.

"ALL DONE!" Bulk got up to all fours again, fetching his tray of trimming equipment. "I WILL FETCH ALOE." He knew his duty, he spun around and trotted off.

"You can stand up on the bed and look." Zephyr gestured to the mirror. "I won't tell on you." He watched the mare stand up, standing proud and admiring herself in the mirror; his cutie mark tingled just a little. "Perfection."

The word echoed in Vinyl's ear, she felt herself nodding to the summary as she admired the pony in the mirror, feeling like it was the first time she had ever done so.

Author's Note

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and ~~I~~ they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, ~~I~~ they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! ~~I~~ They will pick one question per chapter.

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