Permafrost

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Chapter 1

Double Diamond’s emotions were getting the better of him. There was so much he wanted to enjoy, so much he should be happy about. None of which seemed to matter, because all that escaped his mouth was a defeated sigh as his eyes almost reflexively scanned over a picturesque view of the ocean most ponies would kill to see.

He had started to feel rather unsettled as of late. He’d started wondering why he wasn’t utterly ecstatic every single day since he arrived in San Franciscolt. There shouldn’t even have been a snowboard shop, much less one hiring. The local thermometers didn’t even go below 50. Nevertheless, he managed to stumble into a relaxed, nearly idyllic lifestyle most ponies would write off as a fantasy. The kind that let him sit in a ten bit a cup coffee joint and just reminisce. He didn’t even have to try. How lucky.

“Stupid bucking stallion.” Diamond muttered under his breath. “You get your life saved. You just walk into the second most expensive city in Equestria and settle in on a velvet cushion, and you can’t be bothered to be so much as grateful. Somepony else deserves this life. They’d appreciate it. I’d be just as useful being a mindless drone again in…”

Another sigh. The stallion thought of all that effort Princess Twilight and her friends put into freeing him from the village. How courteous Trans-Equestria had been as well. He hadn’t even known airships had the hold space to carry that much baggage, yet they didn’t charge him a bit extra.

His therapist said it would take time to heal from what the village did to his head, much less the underlying issues that caused him to go there in the first place. Or, at least, what she thought they were. Diamond knew lying during a session was unproductive, but he was embarrassed to think about why he’d ever been that stupid in the first place. He could barely think of what it would be like to come clean

“Oh sorry doc.” It was almost too easy to imagine himself splayed out on the couch, hoof idly waving about as Dr Pendulum scribbled out some notes. “Almost toooootally bullshitting you on the parental abandonment thing. My parents were totally there! They were good Solarists too, and they would’ve raised a perfectly healthy, respectable son. Shame they got some faggot little twink that loved to play in the snow.

“Didn’t even have the dignity to be normal either. First time I got turned on by something outside my head was when the schoolyard bully tied me up with a jump rope. He caught me trying on one of the filly’s outfits from the school play and wanted me to stay put so he could get his friends to make fun of me too. They spent half an hour taunting me before the drama teacher found us. I was at full mast the whole time. Celestia’s beard that was a fun call home.”

The venom as his parents said those words… ‘Colt Cuddler.’ They echoed in Diamond’s head, coating it in vitriol. “‘You’re not a Colt Cuddler, Are you? Didn’t we raise you better than that?’ And there ya go doc. Those two sentences got me desperately trying to bed every mare that so much as breathed in my direction! I wasn’t raised to be a Colt Cuddler, I was raised to be a self-deprecating trainwreck that tried to kill himself twice before hearing about some self-help commune in the mountains... Even then, I wanted in because I thought meditation and prayer would make me stop being such a disgusting bucking faggot. I’d do anything not to hear those words again”

That same, familiar feeling of a spike through his barrel came rushing back as he tried to continue his trip down memory lane. He was glad the stay-in cups of the Dockview Cafe were ceramic, a paper cup would’ve left him covered in hot chocolate with how tightly he was holding it. Being here was supposed to make it easier, right?

Party Favor told him as much while they were being put up in Canterlot.

His friend was the first pony he’d told the truth to since his parents had made him hate the words to say it. He’d seemed so nonchalant when the topic was first breached. Most of the Refugees were set to depart in the morning. Everyone was cracking jokes about what brought them to the village in the first place, and when it was Party Favor’s turn, he just said;

“Guess I picked the wrong place to try finding a coltfriend”.

Diamond could feel a small stir of distaste in his stomach at the thought of somepony who’d been his friend for so long being a colt cuddler. He knew he had a visible reaction by the small dip in the unicorn’s expression, but things simply moved on, and the conversation stayed as lively as it had been. He figured the subject had simply passed.

Favor took him out on the hotel balcony when everyone else was asleep. Diamond knew he was an easy read, and figured he’d just get told off for seeming so distraught over a dumb joke. But the Unicorn just seemed to smile and said something that honestly took the athlete some time to compute.

“Not used to hearing much about Colt Cuddlers huh? Or maybe you wanted to take me up on the Coltfriend offer and just didn’t know what to say?”

The words were so fundamentally different when he said them, Diamond almost wondered if they meant the same thing. It rolled right off his tongue like every other word he’d ever heard the stallion say. In their brief little conversation, Favor recommended Diamond move somewhere where he’d be safer exploring himself.

It was two months since that conversation. Since Double Diamond last told a single soul about who he was. He still felt like the same broken pony that stumbled into Starlight’s village, the haze of what was supposed to be a Redroot overdose clawing at the edges of his vision. He was in the very crucible of colt cuddling, and he barely knew where to start.

One more sigh, and a sip of cocoa to clear his head. That was about all the self confrontation a pony could handle for one day. It was time to give himself a break. He could actually feel his ears raising back up as he wrestled his satchel over the arm of the chair, idly pawing through the contents until he reached a book with a featureless spine.

It felt like the one consolation prize he had gotten out of the whole fiasco. He’d ended up getting it tossed at him by total accident. A pony had simply overshot the News Kiosk employee he was aiming it at. “A Garden of Leather Roses” by Love Song. Bound blank so a pony reading it on an airship ride wouldn’t look like a total lecher.

Double Diamond only really felt appreciative of that fact after realizing he’d read the whole thing cover to cover by the time they’d arrived at the San Fransicolt skydocks

Since then he had reread it no less than ten times, and picked up a few other books by the author for his now growing collection. As kinky as they all were, there was an unmistakable tenderness that was intertwined with the prose. From a shivering femcolt being gently untied from a web of silken ribbons to chapter long tableaux of erotic punishment and submission, it was crystal clear that if either side was pushed beyond their limit, everything would be stopped on the spot until things were made right.

Diamond couldn’t understand why, but something about that idea tugged at his heartstrings. Being pushed, being able to have the word no being totally ignored, but one silly word passed the lips of either pony, and the whole world bent at the knee. It was quite hard for him to believe that two ponies could share the kind of trust. But all the same the sliver of hope that it could happen made the delicate waltzes of flesh and leather described in those quickly-wearing pages even more enticing.

The stallion unslotted the bookmark, placing it on the small coffee table as he re-read the last few lines to get reacquainted with his position in the story. Bitter Root was just about to take Chrysanthemum down into his private chambers below the castle, fully expecting the revelation to end their still budding relationship on the spot. But it didn’t.

Diamond had probably mouthed Chrys’ exact words every time he’d read it past the first, once the shivers they sent down his spine subsided. Bitter Root’s adorably defensive little speech about what they could do together was nice, but something about the younger stallion’s words spoke to him.

“This place couldn’t scare me. Not with you here. If these are your instruments, then use them to make my body sing like you truly want it to. I want to live your music. To be your own private concerto”

That sort of release, that utter trust… Double Diamond couldn’t tell how long he’d been looking for it. Even the glimpses he found through something like fiction only made the craving more intense. He wanted to be someone like Chrys. A naive, trusting young stallion ready to throw himself into the hooves of a pony with his best interest at heart. He cried every time he read those words, but kept convincing himself they were tears of joy.

Double Diamond couldn’t stand to stop reading until the aftercare was well and done. The scene didn’t feel complete until every last sugary “I love you” was uttered, every sore spot was properly kissed, and the snuggling was back to it’s nominal levels (at least for two ponies whose pastime seemed to be bucking like rabbits). It made him want to melt back into the crook of the chair, imagining it as the plush embrace of another stallion, ready to hug his troubles away.

There was one pony who he knew he could tell all this to. A pony he knew wouldn’t judge, because he’d been through so much of the same. But who knew where he was…

Suddenly, Double Diamond didn’t feel much like reading anymore.

The bookmark was quickly replaced as the stallion got ready to head out. He actually had things to do on his day off, so it was best that he didn’t spend the whole day with his muzzle buried in smut anyways. He had to get his scarf dry-cleaned if he even wanted to pretend it was presentable. He also had to buy some groceries for the upcoming week. A pony has to eat to live after all. As he shifted his satchel over his shoulder, he hoped maybe if the day would improve, it could get him in the mood to read a bit more before bedtime.

He always felt like he was imposing on the employees when leaving a stay-in mug behind on the table, but it was their specific instruction. Still, the thought that some ponies would be so inconsiderate as to not even want to clean up after themselves was upsetting. He had to keep himself from telling the staff that ponies should be picking up after themselves. Busy or not, Diamond always felt it was worth a tiny bit more effort to make another pony’s day easier.

Celestia’s sun floated lazily across the San Franciscolt skyline like it did every single day, not seeming to care about the hustle and bustle it shined down upon. Despite the heat, the stallion’s scarf was back around his neck the moment it was returned to him, restored to its fluffy glory. Sure, it scored him a few strange looks as he wandered through the open stalls of the farmer's market, but it was nothing he wasn’t used to. He even had a stallion strike up a small conversation, though it seemed as if they both quickly lost interest.

Diamond really wished that the reason he shopped at the open air market was because he wished to share the virtue of the common working pony. That he wanted to be like the various high horses about town, oh so concerned about the health of local businesses. That he wasn’t being selfish, and didn’t mind paying a bit more for the produce he’d be bringing home in his saddlebags. But if he was being honest with himself, while the local megamart was closer and cheaper, it simply didn’t have a dumpling stand.

And so he wandered, listlessly munching on dim sum while admiring the selection of rhubarb. It was a routine Diamond didn’t mind sinking into. It got him eating healthier than when somepony else was feeding him, and at least a lot of items were still less expensive than they’d be in say, a grocer in a city like Canterlot. Still, these ponies ran small farms, and it was hard to argue them out of well owed compensation, even when the price stung a bit.

Diamond had grown accustomed to doing some pony watching as he trotted down the various lanes of the market, passing the time as he shopped. His understanding of the flow of market life had expanded to the point where he was fairly certain he could see a few of the stealthy little signals that let Colt Cuddlers find one another.

The first thing he picked up on was that when two stallions were talking to one another, they both usually had a bandana tied somewhere on their bodies. He’d also seen particular things when stallions had something around their neck. They’d tend to act a bit more sheepish when confronted, and yet they also seemed to relish the hungry looks of the other stallions they passed. That sort of dual nature left the athlete scratching his head.

Double Diamond, while a perceptive pony, was not always the most clever.

He also didn’t quite feel he was the most charismatic. He’d told himself that at least once, he’d try talking to somepony he thought could be another Colt Cuddler. He didn’t know how he’d even begin to breach the topic, but having a conversation with someone like himself wouldn’t leave him feeling so isolated in such a large crowd. But for yet another day, all he left with was a bag full of produce, and a head full of unanswered questions.

His last stop for the day was one of the local bookstores, located at nearly the exact midway point between the market and his house. It was run by a rather mousy looking pony named Chapter Mark, whose exact gender Diamond never managed to catch. What he did catch however was the small sign in the window that bragged about their ability to get nearly any book. It even offered a small monetary prize if they could be stumped.

Diamond went in the first time with an expectation to leave with an extra 15 bits. He left with the rather shocking knowledge that the bookstore wouldn’t even need to import any of his requests. Not only did they already have a Love Song section, but it was expanded with each subsequent release. He even got to hear Chapter gush about how “A Garden of Leather Roses” was the absolute perfect jumping on point for anypony looking to build a collection.

Diamond felt the tiniest pang of regret that he hadn’t even opened his copy of “A Silken Sky” yet. There was such insistence in the bookseller’s voice as to how perfect it would be for him that he’d bought it on recommendation alone. His dozenth re-reading of Roses had interrupted however, so he figured it would be best to tune out Chapter’s excited ramblings so nothing got spoiled by accident. The pony seemed quite giddy upon his arrival, but it wasn’t quite the state he was familiar with. this wasn’t just excitement, Chapter was downright giddy. This was something more than the latest volumes to arrive

The bookseller seemed liable to detonate from sheer joy at any moment, looking up at Diamond with a grin that bridged the gap between their ears. It took them a few moments to find the right words (or from what it seemed, remember how to speak) but the ones that came out were surprisingly more eloquent than the usual rambles.

“Diamond, get to the back right now! There’s another pony here who’s a Love Song fan, and he wanted to know if there were any I could introduce him to!” To Diamond’s surprise, Chapter actually started prancing in place from excitement. “You’ve got to talk to him, he’s cute, funny, and he loves GoLR as much as you do, he’s… he’s coltfriend material! I have been resisting the urge to ship you two since he said he’d stick around. Now go back and make some magic!”

While the unicorn’s magic dragged him along by the scarf, the white stallion’s brain went into overdrive. How did Chapter know he was gay? It was truly a perplexing question. Diamond’s theory was that maybe the hint got dropped at about the seventh volume of gay bondage smut he’d purchased.

More so, what was he going to say? The fact that they were both colt cuddlers was clear as day given the subject matter at hand, but with that laid bare, where would the conversation lead? If he had even a single ounce of experience, Diamond was at a horrific disadvantage in comparison. He didn’t know anything about this pony’s interests, and if the topic was purely on sexuality, it would feel like he had a one-track mind.

His hooves barely crept forward as all the possible disastrous scenarios flooded his thoughts, he hadn’t even seen this pony, and he was already a nervous wreck. What kind of first impression was he going to end up leaving if he showed up looking like he was about to disarm a bomb? If Diamond couldn’t calm down, he figured, the situation really would blow up in his face.

He dug through everything he could think of before hitting on a decent train of thought. Party Favor was a perfectly nice pony. Even if they’d met under absolutely horrid circumstances, he still seemed as amicable as anypony else. The only thing Diamond could think of that set him apart was that he was a colt cuddler.

Diamond was finally able to smile. That’s how he should approach things, like he was just meeting Party for the first time. All he needed to do was be friendly and chances were, all his other worries would never come to pass. As he turned the corner, the stallion was ready to finally meet another colt cuddler… just like his friend… just like him.

And there he was. Standing in front of the Love Song section, leafing through one of the novels. His mane as wild as the day they’d last parted at the Canterlot skydocks. Somepony he knew without a doubt, was a colt cuddler.

“Oh, Hey Diamond!” Party Favor chirped excitedly

Chapter 2

Double Diamond wished that there was a clock visible from where he was standing, because it felt like he’d said nothing to Party Favor for hours. Party had said three words, to which even a simple “Hi” would’ve sufficed as a response, yet Diamond couldn’t force out a single syllable.

He wanted to ask how party had been. How the flight over had treated him. Why he’d taken that flight in the first place. What possessed him to come all the way to San Franciscolt. To walk into this bookstore. To just waltz straight back into his life again after two long months of absence. Still, nothing came out. He just had too much to ask.

A part of him was absolutely furious. While getting settled in was rather easy, the main reason he’d went to San Franciscolt in the first place was that it was advertised as a place a stallion could discover himself. Having a helping hoof could’ve maybe let him actually explore himself a little bit deeper. Or at all. But no, nopony was there to help him. He didn’t even know why Party had stayed in Canterlot in the first place if he was just going to come here like this.

But the rest of Diamond just wanted to forgive him. What was in the past didn’t matter, especially if there was even the slightest of chances that the stallion might stick around for more than just this passing encounter. They both knew what the other was into, and they were both okay with it. As much as he didn’t want to admit it to himself, this could very well be the start of something wonderful. Or the end of all the hope that had kept him going up to this point.

The first thing that he wanted to know… No, the most important thing in this entire situation was to find out just why Party Favor came all the way out here in the first place. Chances were that answer would tell him far more than any other individual question he could think to ask.

“Party… Celestia’s Mane… I mean, I’m happy to see you again, but what the buck got you out here dude? Not enough parties in Canterlot?” As much as he tried to joke around, the words still came out shaky, coated in the nerves Diamond tried so hard to suppress. He wanted to kick himself for approaching a friend with so much trepidation. Even if something didn’t feel right, the pony in front of him was probably the only reason he hadn’t tried to off himself a third time.

“Well I heard this cozy little book nook had one of the biggest Love Song collections anywhere in Equestria and I wanted to peruse the wares! What I didn’t expect was that the other fan Chapter mentioned was my favorite slope bunny. I didn’t figure you’d be into this kinda stuff… I hope you’ve got more surprises like that in store!” For those last few words, the stallion’s chipper tone shifted to a somewhat musical vibrato, his eyes lowering to half moons.

Diamond was taken aback. Was Party flirting with him? Already? The fact that they were standing next to a monumental smut collection aside, the sudden advance caught him completely off guard. “Dude, unless you were planning parties for Celestia, I don’t think you’d be willing to drop that kind of airfare just to browse clop fodder.”

“Oh, I…” Party Favor took a bit of a pause, seeming like he was searching his thoughts. “I got a good deal to get over here. Besides, stuff was getting kinda samey in Canterlot. Everypony wanted a garden party, or some quiet little soiree. Not that they didn’t have big, noisy parties; it’s just that they wanted a track record to host those, and I came here to get one. See the side of the city you’ve probably been rockin’ for the past few months.”

Diamond blushed in embarrassment. He hadn’t just heard about the parties happening across San Franciscolt, he’d seen plenty of evidence. Technicolor fliers were plastered across every inch of wall the city would give, sometimes even over one another. They sounded so interesting. A lively nightlife with DJs both new and familiar, catering to every taste imaginable. They seemed so inviting in the streets, the eye catching neon glow practically calling out to anyone. But he could never bring himself to actually go to one.

He could never decide on exactly one reason why, but something always came up. Sometimes the cover charges made him shy away, but he was usually afraid he’d seem out of place, or he wouldn’t know how to dress. Deep down, maybe there was some lingering worry that he’d lose himself in an unfamiliar atmosphere, or that maybe it would be too familiar, and he’d just be a buzzkill like back in school.

The party planner noticed the sense of malaise tainting his friend’s expression. At first, he’d thought to ease the conversation into a certain subject, but subtlety was for ponies at ease with themselves.

“I also came out here to meet up with you again D. If all I wanted was parties to my name, Manehattan or Baltimare would’ve done just as well for my track record. Nowhere else in Equestria has you though, and that’s what made the choice so easy. Might as well know somepony in town, right?… Well, I mean, other than the cutie behind the front desk, but even I didn’t expect that warm of a welcome”

“Yeah, Chapter’s life story comes free with admitting you like Love Song books.” Diamond couldn’t help but snicker. Even with as little as they’d said to each other, it felt more like Party Favor had come back from another room, not a whole other region of Equestria. Just as silly, slightly lewd, and easy to talk to as ever.

“But back to the subject at hoof,” the party planner gained a dopey grin as his forehoof reached over to contact the bookshelf. The athlete simply sighed, it seemed he’d made sure to pack his propensity for terrible puns as well. “You’re not getting away before storytime. Come on, spill, how did innocent little Double D find his way into this hardcover den of iniquity?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Diamond chuckled, rolling his eyes slightly as he tried to picture the sort of story Party might be expecting.

“Oh trust me, San Fransiscolt’s a weird place, I could see it happening.” The planner retorted.

“I didn’t even get it here, some guy at the skydocks in Canterlot must’ve tossed the wrong book when he was arguing with a newsie. It was the only thing I had on the ride over, so I decided to give it a read, and I was hooked on the spot. I basically found this place by accident, that first one was what really started it.”

As he spoke, the stallion dug through his saddlebag, producing the blank-covered volume he’d become so familiar with. As he inspected it, the azure stallion gave a mock expression of disappointment.

“Reading smut on an airship ride… I’m not sure if I should be disappointed or proud of you. What are you gonna do next, go out after dark? Go clubbing? Try some sushi? Where will the madness eeeeeend?” The sudden shift into hammy delivery was paired with a melodramatic hug that ended with Party Favor sliding off of Diamond and onto the floor, his eyes scanning noticeably upwards with a knowing grin “Or who knows, maybe you’ve got the urge to try that stuff for yourself now?”

Diamond wanted to deny it, but his expression was far too incriminating to even try. Half the time when he was reading, he’d put himself in Chrys’ position. Tied up, mewling under his breath, and waiting for whatever would be dished out next. He’d even tried tying himself up at home every so often as he clopped, but he wasn’t the best at knots. Though even with his novice ropework, he already knew how much better the struggling made absolutely everything.

The idea of somepony else tying him up far more securely than he ever could on his own made Diamond’s knees weak, something Party could easily see from his carpet-level view.

“I-I mean… yeah… but I’ve heard stuff like that… I’ve heard it’s kinda dangerous… y-you’re tied up, and you can’t do anything to stop your partner… You’re utterly at somepony else’s will.” The athlete’s voice was trembling as he shifted his back hooves, trying to dull his arousal.

“Isn’t it just the best?” Party spoke with a dreamy, almost nostalgic expression, striking a sensual pose before rolling back to his hooves. “The idea of being spread out, bent to the will of a pony who wants you to feel more pleasure than ever before. There’s no way to stop them from taking you to your limits, and leave you teetering on the edge, begging to be brought to your peak…”

Party had almost become lost in thought before looking back over to Diamond. Every single bit of the stallion told a story he was happy to see. The shocked expression was the first component he savored. While there was a major element of surprise, there was almost a twinge of curiosity, like he wanted to hear more. His front hooves were stone still, but his back hoof was up, visibly making small rowing motions like an excited mare.

And he definitely was excited. although, Party didn’t want to call too much attention to the athlete’s slowly growing arousal. The planner figured that he probably knew.

It took a few seconds for Diamond to get his thoughts together. He wasn’t sure if he agreed with everything Party said, but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t turn him on. Beyond the thought that it seemed like his friend had been through it before, he started to wonder just what he’d want to go through. Everything he’d read on the subject of BDSM sounded erotic beyond measure. However, he also knew reading something and going through it were two different things.

“Party… have… have you done this sort of stuff before? I mean… I’m not one to judge, we both know where we are, but…” There were so many things he wanted to say, so much he wanted to admit, and so many ways he could lead the conversation. But he could be honest with Party Favor, and he knew as much. He needed to be honest and let the words flow.

“But I’d want to know what it’d be like before trying it out myself.”

The shock faded quickly from the blue stallion’s face. Of course it was only natural for Diamond to be surprised at himself, even a bit of embarrassment at his own frankness. But he had it. The proof he needed to know what he wasn’t just hunting for a box of grid squares.

The smile curling up on the side of his lips was only natural. He knew Diamond to the core after their stint together in Starlight’s village. He couldn’t ask for much more trust than the athlete had just displayed, so he figured he could return the favor.

“I… happen to have some first-hoof experience. About a week or so after you left I found myself in the company of some ponies that liked this kinda stuff. I’m not gonna lie to you D, it was intimidating, but they kinda helped me ease into things… by giving me a couple Love Song books to look over.” A soft giggle welled up in his throat. He hadn’t even gotten to the juicy parts yet, and the stallion in front of him was practically tripping on his scarf to lean in for more.

“The books do a pretty good job of explaining what everything’s like. I can tell it’s been written by somepony with experience in the field… but actually being in the moment… D… It’s so much more intense than words can do justice. A good dom can take everything you are and just shape it into the image of bliss. Your world just hangs on the sound of their voice. Their command can bring you to your knees…”

“Or a single pleading whisper can leave you awash in an ocean of pleasure,” Diamond responded with a smirk. “I’ve read that speech enough to recite it in my sleep dude, paraphrasing it isn’t gonna get past me”

“Well, you might as well get used to it D. I’ve learned one thing with all the ponies that I met. You’ll be hard-pressed to find somepony into BDSM that isn’t a gigantic nerd. Catching yourself lapsing into prose is just going to be something you’re gonna have to live with. Care repeating the end of that speech back to me if you know it so well?” The athlete merely grinned and rolled his eyes. He felt if he was paying more attention, he could’ve seen this coming a mile away.

“Please, Chrys, you’ve heard my music. It’s brought you here, and I understand if right now you’d want to run as far away as your hooves would carry you. I’d get it. Hearing and being are two different things. But, I’d ask you trust me again, now, like you did at Rosemont. Even if you’re afraid, I’d want to shepherd you through that fear. I want to bare my soul all over again. I want you to be able to feel everything I am. I just ask your trust that my chambers are devoted not to pain and fear, but love and art.” Diamond bit his lip. The continuation to Chrys’ line was almost reflexive in his midnight reveries. It took no small effort to prevent himself from giving that same invitation to Party Favor.

“See, you’re a nerd just like everypony else. If you ever wanna do that kinda stuff, you’ll fit right in.” Party snickered to himself, moving back to briefly perusing the shelf.

“But I’m not sure if I’d want to do it with just anyone. I’d have to be able to put a lot of trust into somepony to even consider doing anything I read in one of these books… If I’m not careful who I’d pick, whoever had me tied down could…” Diamond felt a chill run down his spine. He didn’t want to think of what would happen next.

Diamond was snapped back to reality with the feeling of a warm hoof gently rubbing his tensed shoulder. The blue stallion across from him was smiling reassuringly up to him. The whole conversation had been an emotional roller coaster ride for the athlete, and right now he was right back to blushing as hard as he thought he ever could.

“I know it can be intimidating to find somepony to do it with. It is a lot of trust to give, and I’m a lot more of a risk taker than you. But if you’d still want to try it out… since you know I’d never dream of hurting you D… you’d trust me enough to be the one to do it, right?”

With that being said, Diamond could actually feel the heat radiating off of his cheeks and a good portion of his coat standing on end. Apparently he was wrong. Party certainly wasn’t incorrect about how much the athlete trusted him, with his body and his life. Still, something going from a wild pipe dream to an open invitation over a matter of sentences wasn’t something that was simple to process. Every last synapse in his brain tripped over one another to voice it’s opinion.

“Party!? I mean… I want to… I’d love to… but I couldn’t. Please don’t think I wouldn’t trust you… If anypony did it I’d want it to be you. I’ve…” The stallion rubbed the back of his neck with a front hoof. This was going to be the embarrassing part.

“I’ve never been with a stallion. At all. I haven’t even tried to play with my tailhole yet. I keep trying to get around to it, but my nerves always get to me at the last second. The worst I’ve ever done to myself was clopping with my back hooves tied together. I’m about as much of a loser virgin as you can get,” Double Diamond let out a self-conscious chuckle. “Never even kissed a stallion. Some colt cuddler I am, huh? “

The feeling of Party Favor’s muzzle against his wasn’t something he could take in all at once. It was like time stood still as the athlete came to terms with what was happening with him. The subtle taste of cake on his breath coupled with the soft flowery scent of his shampoo made the fluffy texture of his coat against his own feel like he was nuzzling into a downy pillow at some luxury spa. One that decided to nibble on his lip before pulling back, looking the most satisfied Diamond had ever seen him. The party planner’s rosy cheeks were simply the cherry on top of the whole situation.

“That’s one thing off the list, hey D?”

Diamond’s mouth was hanging open, his entire body radiating heat as he stared at the stallion. He tried to find some thought left in his brain that he could try to force out of his muzzle, but Party’s little maneuver seemed to do a pretty good job of clearing every last one of those out of his head. Instead of rational thought, a strange mix of emotions filled his brain. First was surprise of course, followed by a little bit of indignation. His first kiss with a stallion was now immortalized as a spur of the moment decision in the expansive smut wing of the local bookstore. Wonderful.

He was happy though, that it happened to be with Party. At the moment, the unicorn was the first and last candidate for stallions he wanted to be closer to. If his first kiss was going to be with his rather eccentric friend, it was liable to happen literally anywhere. It wasn’t the most romantic setting, but that didn’t stop his heart from beating a million times a minute. The location didn’t matter. The feeling of their lips together took diamond to another world. It only made him want more.

The stallion leaned forward slightly, only to meet a hoof on his chest, and a rather playful smile on the unicorn’s face. While Party always seemed to be up for some little games, Diamond certainly wasn’t at this moment. His pleading expression voiced everything on his mind without even saying a word, though it seemed as if the party planner wasn’t about to be swayed.

“Oh? So one taste and now you’re hooked… maybe I should start charging for them,” Party Favor practically purred every word he spoke. Watching his friend fall head over hooves for him was a treat, but he didn’t want to make the athlete feel like he was being led on. He was going to let him know just how to get what he wanted.

“Say, if you’d want another one of those, why don’t we spend some time together? You’ve been in the city longer than me, D. So I was thinking, why don’t you help me do a little bit of exploring? See the sights, try some local foods, and maybe I’ll be in the mood to help you with a little bit of self-exploration by day’s end.”

“O-of course! I’m off work for today, so why don’t we head out to see a few places around town?” Diamond was so excited by the prospect he didn’t even realize that he was prancing in place like an excited foal getting his pick at the toy store.

The excitement however, banished all doubt from Party’s mind about what he had to do next. He tried his best to feign being aloof despite how much it made him feel like an absolute ass. He knew from experience just how easy it was to get caught up in the moment, to agree to something that got you in way over your head. They both did. It had to be done.

“Hold on D, I’m not sure how much I’m ready for today. I’ll tell you what though. Why don’t you end up finding me once you have a chance to think about it? I’ve got some stuff to do in the city, but I’ll probably be somewhere around here.” He expected the glare. The pout. But if Diamond wasn’t going to take the time to think about it on his own, it was best if someone else gave him the time.

“Tomorrow, then. Right here. I want you in this exact spot in twenty-four hours so we can talk about what I decide on,” the stallion marked the spot on the ground with a surprisingly aggressive thump of his hoof, his eyes piercing straight through the unicorn. “And don’t think I won’t be here right on time, I get off at four and this bookstore is a half-hour walk away from Slope Shredders. I have the day after off too, so the rest of my day is free.” The ‘and I’ll spend it hunting you down if you’re not here’ didn’t need to be voiced as far as Party was concerned, he was the exact same way when he was told to sleep on it.

“Alright, you’ve got me cornered. You’ll see me tomorrow no problem. Slope Shredders though… That’s not the kind of name I’d expect to hear around here. Wasn’t that where you got your scarf from?”

Diamond nodded, “Yeah, but at the one in Manehattan. Apparently, the one here was actually the first one Frostfire opened though. Truth be told, I expected all the sporting stuff around here to be surf shops, finding a store that even acknowledged winter existed blew my mind.”

Party felt a little bit of a rise in his chest. Frostfire was a name he knew, and that meant he’d get to give Diamond a pleasant little surprise. Still, that was for later, and while he didn’t exactly want to abandon Diamond again, he did have things left to do before day’s end.

“Well with that Froststone Slalom opening downtown, you better get used to being busy. Speaking of, I… Actually kinda am myself. Still have some stuff to do before I turn in for the night, and I’m sure you do to. It was amazing to see you again D... See you tomorrow.”

It was pulling a bandaid off. Neither of them wanted to leave, but they couldn’t exactly stay here forever. Still, Party’s silent little hoof wave as he departed was a somewhat bittersweet coda. Even if it wasn’t a conscious choice, he did the same motion when Diamond left for the sky docks, a detail not lost on the athlete.

Diamond figured he could interpret it two ways. He could let the memories of the unicorn’s first departure sting him again, or he could pay more attention to the fact that no matter how long it took, Party still found his way back. It was no surprise to the stallion which option his thoughts desperately rushed to.

But still, he was left standing there. Alone. He tried to level himself out, but his thoughts were still racing. They were flowing down old paths. Places he didn’t want to go anymore. He tried to remember what the doctor told him. How to breathe to calm himself down. But it wasn’t working. He’d let Party walk out on him. Again.

Of course he wasn’t going to stay. All a colt cuddler wants is a cheap buck. All they want with emotions is to play with them. Diamond wanted to shut it out. But no… he was weak. A little faggot who couldn’t control his own thoughts, much less what other ponies did to him. He wasn’t worthy. He couldn’t make those sermons stop playing over and over in his head. His parents weren’t staring over his shoulder anymore. Why the buck did it still feel like someone was judging him if nobody else was around?

He barely even processed Chapter’s excited ramblings as he left the store, nearly breaking into a full gallop as he headed home. Diamond wasn’t sure what he wanted to do when he got there. Cry. Scream into his pillow. Maybe both. He just wanted to go numb. To stop thinking. It felt like the only way he could get his mother’s voice out of his head was if he didn’t have one anymore…

He wished he was two separate ponies just so he could beat himself half to death over how stupid he’d been. He was running home, his medicine was there, it was supposed to help reduce episodes like this and stop them prematurely, but it was hard to think of any other ways to cope. His brain was reading back an itemized list of how many times in his life he’d screwed up. From ever being stupid enough to trust Malty, to just seconds ago, when he let himself get conned into thinking he could live a happy life. He ran up the stairs to his apartment and jumped into his bed, letting go of what minimal restraints on his sobbing being in public imposed. His eyes burned. His throat was hoarse. He needed something to stop the pain.

The stallion looked up from the tear tracks running down his bedside to the nightstand next to him. It would be so easy. Dawnflower was supposed to be ten times more potent than Redroot. One little gulp and he wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Just let go. Slip away. Nopony would miss him…

But before his hoof even touched the tincture bottle, he stopped.

What if Party was there the next day, and he wasn’t? Diamond was so caught up on how he’d feel, he never even considered the opposite scenario. His friend flew to San Franciscolt just for the chance to see him again. He probably had to search the whole city just to find Chapter’s store. Go on a hunch just for the chance to meet face to face again. Somepony who did all that, for the slimmest chance of seeing him…

They’d definitely miss him if he was gone.

In that brief moment of lucidity, a thought occurred. Since he’d moved to San Franciscolt, his parents hadn’t even tried to check on him. For ponies who could afford an airship as easily as airfare, a letter was an afterthought. They didn’t care. Not even after all the self flagellation he’d put himself through to be the son they wanted instead of the stallion he wanted to be. Why should he care about them if they outright refused to return the favor?

But at the same time if that was true, why did he still feel so ashamed of himself?

Diamond rolled over, not really sure what to think. He wasn’t sure what was more powerful, the shame over having kissed a stallion, or the desire for a dozen more. He’d mapped out more filly’s mouths with his tongue than he could care to remember, but all that time didn’t hold a candle to the inferno that quick little smooch lit inside him. He didn’t even know a kiss could feel like that.

He figured there had to be an explanation for what was going on in his head. That Party might know. Even with the obvious answer staring him dead in the face, it almost felt like it would pay off to ask someone. Even if Party’s little journey through self-discovery hadn’t taken him through an identity crisis, the unicorn could probably be probed for some of the basics.

At least assuming Diamond could muster the courage to ask.

He knew he probably shouldn’t be making assumptions, but at the same time, laying in bed, it was hard not to let his mind wander. Perhaps, Party had intended San Franciscolt to be somewhat of a training ground for him before they reconnected. Somewhere he’d meet some other colt cuddlers, and get all the dumb questions out of the way. It could’ve worked too, were it not for those meddling mental issues. So he was stuck, needing to ask what he thought were the simplest of questions about himself to a pony that had figured himself out long ago.

How thrilled the planner would be, Diamond pondered, having to live alongside someone else grappling with issues he himself conquered long ago. He knew it was in Party’s nature to be helpful, but the athlete could also imagine how tiring it could be if the situation were somehow reversed. He threw his head back against the pillow in frustration. They’d left on such good terms, and he was already predicting ways everything could go south.

How like him.

The sound of the dock bells broke him out of his own head. Even in this beleaguered state, Double Diamond realized he was stuck in a rut. Trying to figure out the innumerable paths to disaster wasn’t giving him any solutions on how he might avoid them. So it was time for bed, whether or not he wanted to. His body felt exhausted, and the stallion recognized the value in not letting his brain overwork itself further.

So he tried to set the stage for his dreams. Party. On a high balcony. Wearing a tux. He was smiling. They were both smiling. Where it went didn’t matter. Where they decided to go didn’t matter. What was important was that they were together. The stallion nestled into a pillow as his form finally slacked into the soft mattress. No matter where things were going to go in the future,

he still had his dreams.

Author's Note

A big thank you to everyone out there for putting up with the wait, I should have another chapter coming up soon! another big thank you to Seraphem, Katarina Mau, Paper Ponies, and Shrinky Frod for helping with the editing on this one!

Chapter 3

One thing that was great for Diamond about working at Slope Shredders, was that it never felt like the day dragged on. He always had something to do no matter what part of his shift he was on. The best part though, was the customers. The athlete could chat with other ponies about his favorite hobby, whiling away as much time as a customer wanted, talking about something he loved, and he was getting paid for it.

Yet today Time decided to plant its hooves and move no faster than a snail creeping across sandpaper. Something about actually having a big event to wait for took a nice hearty screwdriver to the gearworks of whatever great celestial clock made the hours pass. It was official, For the first time since he’d started this job, Double Diamond was bored to tears.

It wasn’t for lack of trying either; he’d kill to be as invested in his work as he was any other day, but he just couldn’t forget about the time. He was still able to lose himself in the conversations with his customers but the moment they left, Diamond found himself checking the clock. Things like stocking, which usually only felt like a harmless time sink, felt like his whole muzzle was against a grindstone. It wasn’t making time go any slower, but it certainly wasn’t making it go any quicker.

He was stuck at a point of what could happen. Nothing was definite yet, and the amount of time it took to get there only advanced at a rate of one second per second. He’d barely even gotten off of his lunch break (in which he failed to convince the butterflies in his stomach to accept food amongst their ranks), and the three and a half hours standing between him and freedom felt more like a life sentence.

He couldn’t even find a way to justify asking Frostfire for an early out. He knew his boss was entirely fine with letting him off early if he asked while it was slow. But it wouldn’t help. Because on the clock or not, that gulf of time was still going to be there. And the more he thought about it, the longer it seemed. Yet, work didn’t help to take his mind off of anything.

But just as he accepted his four hour sentence to a purgatory of speculation, awaiting the moment he both feared and anticipated would define his life, the door opened. Before he could turn his head out of the stock room to see who it was, Frost of all ponies came darting out of his back office, ensuring Diamond he had this one. Something was up when captain laziness himself wanted to take a customer.

He wanted to go take a look, but he didn’t want to even risk getting into a spat with his boss. That didn’t mean he wasn’t curious though. The only voice he could hear was Frostfire’s, and it sounded like whoever he was talking to was familiar with him, at least to the point where only minor epithets like “dude” came up. Diamond kept checking through the stock, if for no other reason that a sudden cessation of the noise he was supposed to be making could tip them both off.

After a few minutes of idly pushing boxes around the storeroom he gave up hope of seeing who Frost’s guest was. Then, the stallion heard about the last thing he was expecting.

“Hey, Diamond, come here, your friend wants to see you!” Frost’s eager summons left the athlete dumbstruck. He really didn’t know if any of the store’s patrons could really be defined as his friends, much less that any would do so willingly. He also didn’t think he had any real friends in San Franciscolt outside of Frostfire, save for someone who’d really have no reason to be in a snowboard shop. Or that he was liable to see until after his shift was over.

And yet again, in total defiance of all logic, there stood Party Favor. He was still eagerly chatting up Frostfire, as if the two had known each other for years. The stallion wanted to ask what was going on before he was interrupted.

“Diamond, seriously, you should’ve told me that you knew Party waaaay before now man! I should send you to buy my lottery tickets dude, anypony lucky enough to score a date with this motherbucker has got to have at least a jackpot and a half still in them, mare or stallion. Seriously, you should’ve told me, I would’ve given you the day off with pay!”

Diamond’s mind quickly unpacked what he’d heard, making all the connections it possibly could so he wouldn’t sound like a rambling lunatic when he spoke. Recapping to himself:
1: Party and Frost really were friends. It was mentioned the day before, but never really registered.
2: Frost was okay with colt cuddlers, seeing as he didn’t just get fired on the spot.
3: No, Frost WAS a colt cuddler. That story about the stallion in the picture on his desk being “an old guard buddy” was a total lie. Maybe the fact that they looked like they were going to jump into bed the second the camera was put down should’ve tipped him off.
4: Or maybe the copy of Playmare he spotted sticking out of his desk drawer should’ve done the same, Snowboarding-themed or not
5: Perception was not his strong suit.

“Well I would’ve told you, but I scheduled it for after work today. I figured it wouldn’t matter if you let me off early.” A thin veneer of false confidence was about all Double Diamond could muster at the moment. His fears about whether or not Party would be there had been obliterated, only to have their ranks replaced with burgeoning paranoia over how things would go.

“Well then D, I didn’t know you were going to get all responsible on me.” Party took his turn in the conversation with a hint of sarcasm, a smile curling up on the edges of his ‘hurt’ expression. He circled around the counter towards Diamond, his tail swishing back and forth with a playful air to it.

“E-even still, how did you expect me to find you if I did know you were coming? We were supposed to meet at the bookstore half past four, you didn’t say where you’d even be before that.” Diamond didn’t realize he’d made a slip in his verbiage until the brief moment in which the hurt on Party’s face looked genuine. He wanted to apologize, recuse himself, but only a second later, Party was back at it.

“Aww, don’t you know D? I’m wherever the party is! All you have to listen for is loud music and you can just ask for me” It was like someone went back and recorded over the moment earlier with a more intentional response. Party was already chuckling, draping his front hooves over both athletes’ shoulders. “Speaking of which, we’re going to be making up some lost time for you today. There’s a gig going on later tonight and we’re going, come Tartarus or high water”

“Wait, what party? I didn’t see any fliers up for something going on tonight. I thought we were just going to hang around San Franciscolt?” Diamond felt rather bewildered by the whole affair. He’d figured Party might want to take him to a big event at some point, but he’d also thought they’d basically laid out plans the day before. He wasn’t trying to get out of it either, the stallion figured if there was something, the city would’ve been covered in flyers weeks ago.

“Thank your boss for the Invite. The froststone’s going to be set up at the big slalom tomorrow, but first, they’re stress testing the power by blowing the roof off the place! The unicorn hoof-pumped, using the scarf clad earth pony as a brace. By the time his front hooves reached the ground again, he was almost to the point of prancing in anticipation. “They’re testing out how well the place dampens sound too, so they brought in a whole stable of DJs! Scratch, Pegboard, Neon, and Sunny have as much time as they want, and there’s enough drinks being brought in to fill a swimming pool!”

“Wait, just how many ponies are going to this? I-I thought someone like Vinyl Scratch wouldn’t get out of bed if there were less than a thousand ponies cheering for her” Diamond moved straight from confused to mortified. He couldn’t force himself into a smaller affair alone, but that wasn’t the worst of the matter, since apparently Party had used the D word. “And… aren’t… other ponies going to be able to tell that we’re there ...together?”

Frostfire and Party Favor shared a look the athlete couldn’t quite interpret. They were smiling. They had to know something.

“Don’t worry about that Dubbs. This is a real know-somepony-who-knows-somepony event, the only reason we managed to even talk stadium DJs into playing a construction site is the kind of aether pipeline that could make an indoor weather system, with energy to spare. Technically, we shouldn’t even be doing this, so everyone in attendance knows the rules of proper equestrian society don’t exactly apply. You two won’t be the only Colt Cuddlers there… and let’s leave it at that for now” Frostfire had the biggest, dopiest grin on his face as his little speech continued. Diamond really did get the impression the whole affair was going to be clandestine. Ponies from an unknown network getting together to behave badly, and make an awesome time of doing it.

“Yeah, because your dopey flank is gonna be there too, so that’s at least three” Party shot right back at Frostfire with a sarcastic smirk before turning back to Diamond. “Otherwise, it’s just a genuine underground party, the kind you don’t get to go to unless you know somepony who knows somepony, and as a pony who’s gone to a lot of parties, they’re the best kind”

“So wait… the ponies at this party are going to be okay with ponies who aren’t exactly normal?” The stallion was excited to hear of at least one place he wouldn’t have to hide himself. Yet he still found himself pawing at the ground, unsure how to interpret his friends’ reactions. He knew he shouldn’t be nervous, that they wouldn’t put him in harm’s way, but he couldn’t stop his nerves getting to him.

“D, to spare you the usual analogy about washing machines that gets thrown around the party scene, nopony there is normal. You’ll meet everypony from the eccentric to the downright crazy, so as long as you can swing and let yourself go a little crazy, you’ll fit right in.” It sounded like wonderful chaos. Somewhere that all his little doubts about himself would be washed away in the roil of loud music and newly minted friends. Party’s pitch wooed him, but the calm, confident, even excited expression sold it.

“So when’s the party? If it’s in a building like that, it doesn’t have to wait until night, does it?” It felt like such a dumb question, but Diamond wasn’t going to pretend to know anything more than he did. Frost looked a bit incredulous, but the blue unicorn was definitely in the mood to humor any question.

“There’s no official start time set. It’s just sort of when everypony shows up. That’s probably going to be around 8 if I had to guess, but that’s only if you want to see every second. I planned on showing up past that so we could go on our date proper. I’d still love to hear what you have to say about the city”

Oh right, Diamond thought, the date. He’d been so nervous over the course of the day wondering about the possibilities of it happening that worrying about the course of events wasn’t even on his mind… up until Party had actually shown up. Even up to this point in the conversation, the constant stream of revelations had nearly cowed him towards accepting the date was merely happening, as if it was a force of nature.

Once the athlete had a chance to breathe though, paranoia seized its chance to take back ground in his thoughts. He’d be awkward. He’d seem like he wouldn’t want to be there. He’d manage to say something especially dumb. Maybe worse, he’d slip up and say something that made it obvious they were on a date.

But the moment that trepidation started to show through, Diamond felt a hoof on his shoulder. He looked to it’s source, a somewhat concerned Party Favor with a reassuring smile on his muzzle. The unicorn rubbed his shoulder a few times before putting his front hoof back down, taking a step closer.

“I’m sure everything’s going to be just fine. You’ve either looked worried or scared this whole conversation, and I figured you deserved something to calm your nerves” Party leaned in gracefully and kissed the earth pony on the cheek. While this did seem to remove some of the tension from Double Diamond’s frame, he seemed just as mentally frazzled as a moment before.

“Well that’s great and all, but you two should be saving that kinda stuff for a romantic dockside lookout!” Frostfire interjected with all the grace of a daschund smacking face first into a plate glass window. “You’re off for the rest of the day D, Paid too! What the buck are you still doing in here? Go! Enjoy the sights! Bond!”

Diamond may have joked that Frost was trying to shove them out the door if it weren’t for the fact that he was quite literally pushing him towards it already. Party kept pace with the two stallions, watching them with an amused expression. By the time they’d gotten there Diamond had begun to trot of his own accord, looking back at his boss with all the thankfulness a simple smile could muster while he gathered the words to express it properly.

“You two dorks have fun now, I’ll see you at the party… and If I see you two together on the dance floor, you’ll have the day after tomorrow off with pay too, so don’t rush out of bed,” one more suggestive eye waggle, and the door was slammed in their face. Which, granted, wasn’t nearly as effective with a glass door, but the message was clear.

Diamond turned to Party, his hoof scraping on the ground again. Now that they were alone again, none of the words he wanted to say would come out. The pit in the bottom of his stomach felt heavier than the rest of his body. He had to say something, so why couldn’t he? He wanted to take the lead, show his friend the sights. Instead, he was starting to feel more like a pull toy. For all the worth he felt at the moment, the unicorn might as well just put a leash and collar on him and walk him like a dog… and he didn’t want to think about why that sounded like such a good idea.

Yet still, the unicorn seemed like an absolute bastion of support. He simply waited wordlessly, keeping the same patient smile throughout. The moment Diamond found the tongue to speak however, it seemed like his stomach was irate that it wasn’t invited to the floor beforehand.

“We should probably go get something to eat… I was about to go on my lunch break before you got here.” Diamond’s smile was thin and sheepish, but Party was just happy to see one grace the earth pony’s face. He didn’t need to know that he’d spent the lunch he’d taken trying to pace a hole in the breakroom floor.

“Sure! Were you planning on going anywhere? If you didn’t have plans, I passed this really tasty smelling food cart on the way over here, I think they were selling noodles of some kind? It’s got a red tiled roof and cloth over the serving area if you’ve seen it before…” Diamond had vague memories of a pink earth pony with a mane like cotton candy after he got rescued from the village, but he couldn’t immediately recall just why they were coming back.

“Oh yeah, that’s Akito’s, I’ve gone there a few times, and he’s never disappointed before,” Diamond nodded, trotting in the general direction where the cart was usually set up. “I was trying to think of something a bit more special for today, but I guess if you’ve never had full-fledged Neighponiese ramen, it’d be a good place to start out”

Party eagerly followed along, moving up to a brisk trot once he was sure the earth pony knew where they were going. It wasn’t long before a shift in the wind brought the rich scent of strong stock and light smoke. The unicorn gave his friend a soft poke to the barrel, almost breaking into a full gallop.

“Dude, D, that smells ten times better than when I passed it before! What did he put in the pot while we were in the shop?” Diamond could only chuckle in response to his friend’s sudden eagerness.

“We talked about it once, actually. Akito says the broth for the real thing takes forever and a half to get going. He has to start the next day’s batch before the dinner rush is even fully over. It kicks into gear just before it’s ready.” Through the bustle of the city streets the tiled roof of the stand slowly rose into view. The athlete was overjoyed only seeing only two backs in the cart. It only had four seats, and Party Favor wouldn’t be getting the full Akito’s experience if he didn’t get the chance to see the chef himself at work.

The stallion brushed aside the curtains covering the main dining “room”, helping his friend up onto the seat next to him. In such a contained space, the smell of boiling ramen and other ingredients was absolutely intoxicating, rich aromas mingling together to give the air a savory perfume that wafted across the wooden counter.

Moments later, a steel grey pony stepped out from the back, a huge bowl of ramen balanced on one hoof, and a cocky grin on his face. When he noticed Diamond, he tossed the bowl up to give him a little wave. Without even a glance back, the stallion’s tail whipped at the bowl, bouncing it onto the table in front of the customer it was intended for. The chef strutted forwards, leaning up against the counter in front of the two ponies.

“Well well, if it isn’t Diamond! And I couldn’t say I’d be able to predict seeing you in here with anyone but Frostfire. So, may I ask your name stranger? Mine’s Akito, same as the stand you’re sitting in. I’d tell you how long I’ve been serving San Franciscolt, but at the same time, I’d rather you taste it for yourself,” the pony spoke with rather clear Neighponese accent, though it had been tempered by his time in the city.

Party seemed more than a bit surprised by the display, leaning over the table and cordially offering a hoof to shake. Akito eagerly accepted, carefully studying everything he could see about the unicorn in front of him. Only after they broke away was the chef’s cutie mark visible, a steaming porcelain bowl with two chopsticks resting on top.

“My name’s Party Favor, I’m a friend of D’s from back in Canterlot. I figured he’d be able to show me all the best places around the city to go, and I can already smell that we’re off to a good start,” the stallion responded. His expression changed to surprise however, when the chef withdrew the two menus that were laying in front of them, starting to head back into the kitchen. He didn’t know what to add, glancing over to the athlete next to him for some sort of explanation.

“Oh, Akito gives every new guest their first bowl free, I guess the exchange is that they would trust him enough to put his best offering forward. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get somebody’s tastes wrong before,” Diamond offered, his tail swishing gently behind him on the stool.

The two made idle chatter for a few moments before a pair of bowls came flying out of the kitchen, landing perfectly in front of the two stallions. Both were steaming hot, and brimming over with various toppings. Diamond’s was familiar to him, but he’d never seen Party’s before. It was laden over with mushrooms, fat strips of hay bacon, and to top it all off, a soft boiled egg, perched on the side. He felt hungry, but Party looked utterly transfixed.

“I think he put on more toppings than soup. If I couldn’t smell it, I’d wonder if there’s even any under all the food.” The unicorn picked up a pair of chopsticks with his magic, admiring just how deep the bowl went. Party glanced over to the pony that accompanied him, glad to see what seemed to be a pleased expression on Diamond’s face.

“I take it Akito’s still got a perfect record?” Diamond mused, letting a string of noodles cool in the air.

“Definitely, I have a feeling I’m going to want to stop here every day I’m here.” Party could only force out those few words before absolutely diving in, shoveling down a slew of different toppings before getting down to the noodles. The athlete thought he was hungry, but Party was going at his soup like he hadn’t eaten since they’d last spoke.

Only a few minutes later and both bowls were totally empty, Diamond placing his own down as he finished slurping down the remaining broth. It was a bit strange eating with Party because it still seemed so familiar. Not like eating the tasteless gruel and muffins they served in the village, but rather those sweet few days in Canterlot. Eating pizza and takeout around a big table with everypony, all happy to be themselves again. Even if the same words weren’t being said and the laughter wasn’t in the air, Diamond felt the same warmth just being able to sit alongside Party and simply be.

“I thought I’d be able to go for another bowl halfway through, but now I feel like I could run for the rest of the day without needing to eat.” Party sighed in satisfaction, twirling his chopsticks in the air. Diamond chuckled, taking out the small hoofful of bits he needed to pay for his meal.

“We’re not so different after all it seems. I bought a second bowl before I finished my first time, and Akito brought it out in a takeout container. Good thing I didn’t mind eating Akito’s two days in a row. It’s not as good reheated, but that doesn’t stop it from being amazing,” the athlete offered, leaning against the counter and kicking his back hooves. All that was left to do was wait for Akito to collect. Then he could worry about finding something interesting for the two of them to do.

It was hard for Double Diamond to distance himself from any sort of concern. Party was never anything but genuine, but it almost felt too easy to get back into his good graces. That little barb of nagging doubt only clouded his judgement. Every single option he’d come up with ultimately just boiled down to just how his friend might be disappointed. He didn’t feel he had any good options, and with Akito leaving with the bits, he had to find a way to stall for time.

“Hey, um… why don’t we go walk along the bay some? The view is really nice, and it doesn’t get as crowded as the rest of the city can be”

“That sounds great!” Party chirped, practically jumping to his hooves from the stool. “I’ve always wanted to go along one of those romantic piers everyone says San Franciscolt has, the view of the bay must be great by the time you get to the end.”

Diamond’s stomach dropped into his hooves upon the mention of the word romance. He didn’t want it to be too obvious that they were two stallions on a date, and walking down a pier giving one another goo-goo eyes was about as obvious as they could get. He was just thinking of a bit of casual sightseeing to kill time. Even still, the fact that he wanted to reject the idea simply because Party wanted to do what they’d set out for was making him feel like a complete ass. His friend deserved better.

“Alright then, let’s get going. Moonlight Pier is going to be the best option if you want a Bay view. Plus, if we just wanna have fun, there’s a pretty decently sized midway on the boardwalk leading out there.” Diamond started off alongside his date, helping direct the unicorn towards where they wanted to go.

The longer they trotted along, the more the spires of San Fransiscolt proper seemed like a distant painting, the kind of simple outline that got printed on the bottom of a tourist brochure. The piers barely felt like they were part of the city, the noise of their surroundings reduced to a point where it was possible for Diamond to hear his own thoughts again. Not that he entirely welcomed the change, but that was simply something he had to deal with. But it could have been worse.

The idle chatter with Party was doing a decently good job at keeping Diamond’s habitually wandering mind in check. It felt like such a trite observation that a pony who’s special talent was ostensibly being a master of ceremonies could keep conversation flowing without issue, but it made the walk down the pier seem so much more vivid than he remembered it being on his own.

In what felt like no time, the pair arrived at the end of the pier, able to fully admire the panoramic view San Franciscolt had become famous for. The skyline of Oakwood lay shimmering in the distance, framed by the horizon on one side, and the Golden Bridle Bridge on the other. And smack dab in the center was, in Diamond’s opinion, the biggest eyesore in a city of avant garde statuary and neon graffiti, Alcoltraz. At least Party didn’t seem to mind, he was practically grinning from ear to ear.

The conversation hit a natural lull as the two stood together and admired the sights. While there had been a small hoofful of ponies lingering around when they got there, it was only a few minutes before the two were totally alone. Maybe, the athlete thought, if he was feeling particularly brave, he could try moving to hold hooves with his friend as they took in the sights.

“So… you were worried that I wouldn’t show up today? Could I ask why?” The questions caught Double Diamond completely off guard, tearing his eyes off the view and back onto Party, who was looking right back at him with a rather concerned expression.

“I’m sorry dude, I wasn’t thinking when I said that. I mean… yeah, I was sorta concerned that you wouldn’t be here today, but really, that doesn’t matter. You showed up! Buck me, you showed up early, that’s worth quite a lot in my book,” Diamond offered.

“But… why were you worried? I didn’t want to stress you out with the delay, but I didn’t want you to make a rushed decision… if you didn’t want to, I wanted to give you the time to work up the nerve to say no.” Party sighed, one hoof moving to rest on the thick hempen ropes that spanned the pier.

“Tartarus, why do you even think I’d want to say no? Talking with you was about all I wanted to do since I got here, most of the time I was wondering where you were.” As the stallion continued, a rather sudden look of understanding, followed by concern crossed the unicorn’s face. Diamond paused, moving his hoof next to Party’s. “I’ve been wanting to just hang out with somepony for who knows how long. I thought you’d jump at the chance to set plans, but… you just kinda left and I didn’t know why”

There was so much that Party Favor wanted to explain right then and there. To come clean and give a day by day account of his life up to that point. His eyes wandered to the prison, to the unseen depths of the bay, and right back to Diamond, to the kind of gaze that would accept any answer, as long as it told him why… something Party wasn’t allowed to say just yet.

“I wanted to, I really did, but I had some stuff to do last night, and I didn’t know for sure when I’d be able to set some time aside for you D. If I had to just go run off right now, how would that make you feel? That’s what I wanted to keep from happening” Party faltered, trying to offer every part of the truth he could.

“I don’t care how much more time we had together, I just wanted more time with you! I couldn’t care less if it was an hour or a second, I just wanted to make the most of what I could get before you walked out of my life again!” Diamond whimpered, his hoof shivering on the rope. “The way you talked about San Franciscolt, it sounded like you’d be on the first airship after me, but that didn’t happen… I wanted to think every day was just going to be the day you showed up at my door. That you’d help show me all that wonderful stuff that you talked about back in Canterlot. I thought you just expected me to find myself without you, but I just ended up chasing my tail.”

Before the earth pony could let out another word, or inch closer to the verge of tears, he found a pair of cobalt hooves tossed around his shoulders. It may have been months late, but that simple embrace was all Diamond wanted. He could feel his friend’s coat wicking up the tears forming at the edges of his eyes, but a few tiny sniffles were all that needed to be let out. Because after all those months of absence, Party was there for him again.

“I’m not walking out of your life any time soon. I helped put tonight together for us, and I’ll start as many parties as it takes to make sure you never feel like that again. I hope this isn’t too soon, but buck it. It needs to be said. I love you, D. I’m done abandoning my favorite snow angel.”

Sympathy. Fear. Disgust. Flattery. Offense. Understanding. Hatred. Those three words sent Double Diamond’s mind into a hurricane of emotion. He was at war with himself. There was the part of himself that he wanted to nurture, and it stared down the part of himself that refused to die after so long. A part of him that seemed to want to take him with it. He was a colt cuddler… he was spitting on Celestia’s hooves... In that state of fugue, Diamond lifted his head to look his friend in the eye.

The unicorn was close to tears himself, but the hoof in the dyke seemed to be the hair of a light hearted grin. Not a single untrue word was spoken. He had a true friend that he never really lost. He was still Party’s favorite snow angel. He was loved. Whether or not he could stand to love himself. His emotions finally settled. He knew how he was feeling.

Smitten.

Chapter 4

“That’s what it means?” Diamond blurted out in shock, poking lightly at his own scarf. Seeing Party Favor’s smirk made it obvious it was true, but the realization after the fact only made him feel all the embarrassment at once.

They’d stopped at Diamond’s favorite pony watching spot, the farmer’s market, at the unicorn’s behest. From the moment he heard the athlete talk about the rumors, Party was clearly hooked. Since the moment they arrived, it was clear where his eyes were, taking in the various details of all the ponies around them. It was also rather clear he’d found something of interest, as their conversation slowly ground to a halt. It was a few moments before Party began speaking again.

Whether he was familiar with it or had just cracked the code was irrelevant. Diamond’s mind began to process all his previous observations in the context of what Party was telling him.

“Yep, think of it like a pet and owner thing, you put a leash around your hoof so you can hold on, and the pet has a collar around their neck. So if you hide your hoof, that means you want to hold the leash, take control, and be on top when the fun starts.” The unicorn almost sounded too chipper in his explanation not to have some firsthoof experience.

“And… hiding your neck means…” Diamond didn’t want to say it, as if keeping the words from passing his lips would rectify the fact that he’d been sauntering around a hookup spot wearing an advertisement for his flank. He wondered for a moment how many stallions he’d accidentally shot down without even realizing it.

“Wearing a collar!” Party chirped to the athlete's further embarrassment. “Sometimes literally”

Diamond looked incredulously towards Party at the last statement. He could believe that he was oblivious to just where he was up to now, but wearing a collar in public? He’d thought about it in a rare dark fantasy, but he couldn’t think of anypony mustering the courage to go through with it.

“Actually, it’s easy to spot if you know what to look for… That stallion there,” Party gestured subtly towards a rather slight looking pegasus with a bandana around his neck waiting for an order of fried noodles. “See the back of his neck? No knot. That bandana is threaded into something solid enough to keep it in place. It’s also loose enough that the neckline can hang a bit.”

Diamond almost couldn’t believe it. But sure enough, no sooner did the pegasus depart with his order that a slightly more aggressive stallion with a bangle on his left hoof started to chat him up. Moments later, they disappeared into the crowd. His jaw was almost on the cobblestones below them, a quick look over to Party, who was glancing right back with a rather amused look on his face..

“Maybe I should put a little something on my hoof so nobody bugs you while we’re here” Party quipped, softly poking Diamond’s shoulder.

“Well… how much longer would you want to stay here? The sun’s not going to be up for too much longer, If you and Frostfire were so excited about this party, shouldn’t we try to show up on time? If there was somewhere else that you wanted to stop we can, but I don’t think we should spend more than an hour here with how far the slope is from here,” Diamond offered, reflexively shrinking back out of embarrassment.

“Well, I was actually hoping we might be able to catch a few partygoers here before we started heading over.” The idea was slightly confusing to the athlete at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. If this was a hookup spot, and they were going to a clandestine party, then it was just as likely they might be looking for somepony to go there with.

“So, what would let us know if somepony’s going?” Diamond queried, looking for more obvious signs in the crowd, like flashy clothes or unique accessories. Those things were uncommon, but he’d seen them before.

“Well, I might actually know some of them from other parties I’ve gone to. A few of them live here, and they’d want to bring someone along,” the unicorn started to trot, trying to index the crowd. Diamond figured he knew what he was looking for, so the athlete just settled for trotting alongside his friend.

A sudden burst of excitement (and momentum) from Party tipped the athlete off to the first guest they’d found. At first glance, Diamond thought the unicorn was a mare, but after some careful observation, some things stuck out. The muzzle slope contrasted a cute, fluffy mane. Some very minor mannerisms didn’t quite fit such an effeminate tan-coated form… Diamond had read about femcolts so many times, but this was the first one he’d ever seen in person. After a short bit of chatter, Party eagerly called him over to introduce them.

“Double Diamond, this is Coco Cream! He’s a friend of mine that I met at a party back in Canterlot. I thought you two would get along well” the stallion nodded softly in response, smiling rather widely. Of course, the first thing the athlete's eyes magnetized to was the bandana tied around his neck.

“It’s great to meet you, Diamond. Your friend told me you were planning on coming later tonight. He also told me this was your first Underground party, and all I can say is you’ve picked a good one to start! CTS really pulled out all the stops for this one,” the femcolt trailed off with a rather distressed glance from the stallion next to him..

“CTS?” Diamond inquired, one eyebrow piqued. In all the discussions he’d had that day concerning their planned destination, that acronym had never come up once.

“They’re the planners for the event. Really clandestine group, It’s how they’re able to get this kind of venue when nopony would usually be allowed inside. I think the forepony for the project might be one of their contacts. They’re active in the San Franciscolt nightlife, but they thrive on secrecy.” Coco wilted back like he’d gotten a message. Party wasn’t telling him something, but he knew there was a good chance that he had a valid reason.

“So that’s why they use the acronym? Does anypony know what it stands for?” Diamond figured Party’s response to his question would give him some idea of what was going on.

“I’m pretty sure only the members know for sure. They need to stay this secret dude, if the crazies in the Solar church found out about the kind of get togethers they throw, they’d have a fit. They’d twist the hooves of the city guard until they took action,” Diamond’s stomach dropped. This kind of party was the sort of thing Solarist propaganda abused to illustrate why colt cuddlers were vile degenerates. He had an inkling they weren’t as bad as those bucked-up tracts solar evangelists left in public restrooms, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he laid his own eyes on it.

“Well that’s quite a way to kill the buzz. Remember, the Solarists don’t get a say where the sun doesn’t shine.” The voice sounded almost musical, cutting through the general thrum of the crowd with an air of sophistication markedly different than anypony else he could hear. However, there wasn’t a pony attached to that voice, but rather a dragon with blue and green scales, and a softly curved set of horns.

“Fridis!” The two of them seemed to magnetize to each other like long lost friends. Once the hugging and quick, friendly banter was over, the dragon glanced over to Diamond, realizing he hadn’t properly introduced himself.

“Terribly sorry, Introductions are in order. I’m Fridis, I’m a diplomat for the Dragonlands currently stationed at the San Fransiscolt Consulate.'' The dragon gave a small bow before rising to meet Diamond’s gaze. “I’m quite familiar with your friends Party Favor and Coco Cream, I believe we may have met as you seem familiar... but I’m terribly sorry. I can’t recall your name at the moment.” Diamond mulled over the query before realizing where exactly he’d be seen by a dragon he’d never laid eyes on.

“Oh, no, we haven’t met, but I have a feeling you may have seen my face before in the Canterlot Sun. It would’ve been in the article about the Elements’ raid on Starlight Glimmer’s village. I never picked up a copy myself, but I’ve been told I was rather prominent in one photo” Diamond felt a need to make as clear as he could he didn’t deserve whatever notoriety he had. Meanwhile, Fridis’ expression shifted from contemplation to understanding.

“Oh, yes. Terribly sorry for what happened, but I can see where the recognition came from. Your lovely visage was front page news, so ponies might recognize you even if they never picked up a copy of the paper that day.” The athlete glanced to the side; several encounters he’d had suddenly made a lot more sense.

“It’s not a problem, I’ve tried to move past it as much as I can. San Franciscolt has felt like a rather welcome change from the mountains.” Fridis nodded politely, considering a few ways to divert a conversation that visibly made his new acquaintance uncomfortable. Diamond meanwhile, was trying to think of a topic anywhere between past trauma, and the now extremely obvious scarf dangling from Fridis’ neck.

“Well then, I can only hope the little bash tonight is more than enough change for your liking. CTS parties are always something to look forward to, but this one seems like a rather special treat!” Coco took a few idle steps to turn and look at the crowd proper.

“For once, it seems like they got enough room for everypony that might want to come,” the femcolt added, moving alongside his friend, which brought the group up to a slow trot through the sea of ponies. “Not to mention, Fire’s actually here this time! I think a decent portion of the herd’s along for the ride too. We’d probably have ponies bursting out of the walls at this rate if the place was smaller”

“Yeah, I think Frostfire may have helped score the venue too, he’s been talking to nearly everypony involved in the construction since day one. I think he’s gonna be the only pony in San Fran allowed to sell slope tickets outside the gate once it’s finished.” Diamond trailed off, noticing Coco’s look of confusion before his eyes widened, then shut for a short giggle.

“Oh, I didn’t know you knew Frostfire. He’s a real slope star, but he’s not who I’m talking about. My Master’s name is Firewire. He went off to grab some dumplings with Shutter, they should be somewhere around here,” Coco craned his neck, trying to peek over the crowd with a few prancing hops. The last one seemed to strike home, their speed increasing through the crowd to a point most of them couldn’t see, but Diamond knew as his favorite takeout spot in the entirety of the farmer’s market. If he knew they’d wanted dumplings, the athlete probably could’ve directed them by reflex, if not by the savory smell that always seemed to be wafting across the market.

The crowd began to thin as they drew closer to the collection of benches. A good number of the chess players and bridge clubs were familiar faces to Diamond, so the two newcomers sitting together would’ve stuck out even if they weren’t wearing a matched set of bandanas. Now that he knew they were in complementary positions, he couldn’t really shift his attention to much else.

The third pony with neckwear seemed to be a rather demure looking red stallion, his rear hooves crossed as he daintily picked up the dumplings piece by piece, a far cry from the usual “thoroughly apply muzzle to plate” methods used by most non-unicorns. He kept his glasses neatly perched, glancing over to the stallion sure to be their second guest.

He seemed like the first partygoer to have a full stallion’s build, which fit the grey bandana tied around his hoof. Not a single stain was seen on his dark blue coat, despite how idly he tossed the dumplings into his mouth, never breaking eye contact with the pony next to him. The banter between them seemed somewhat reserved, as if there were topics that they had to prevent the conversation from drifting to. But when they noticed Coco parting the crowd, the chatter ground to a halt as they both jumped to their hooves.

“Master!” Coco chirped, charging down the blue stallion and wrapping him in a tight hug. “I found some other ponies going to the party later tonight, and they want to go in a group! I hope you don’t mind a few extra sets of hooves on the walk to the place” Judging by the puppydog eyes the femcolt was making, it was clear that he’d not mentioned anything beforehand. Either those eyes were absolute kryptonite, or it wasn’t that big of a problem to begin with.

“Well, I knew Fridis was here so I was ready for that, but I didn’t think you’d want to bring along anypony else,” the stallion rubbed his pet’s head, confidently trotting up to Diamond and Party. Shutter fell in behind him, seeming to shrink back quietly against his master’s form.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Double Diamond, and this is my friend Party Favor. We were planning on going to the party at the slalom later… so we figured it might be a little bit more fun to have a bigger group on the way there. I hope it’s not too much trouble, but we found Coco, and he seemed pretty excited about the idea,” the athlete offered, along with his hoof. The stallion gingerly shook it, glancing back to the small herd behind him.

“Glad to meet you Diamond, I’m Firewire, and the darling little wallflower on my flank is Shutter Speed.” Fire smirked as if he knew the sheepish grin his comment would’ve elicited from the bespectacled stallion was on his face.

“It’s nice to meet you Diamond, and it’s nice to see you again, Party,” a soft murmur rose up from behind the stallion, Shutter’s head poking up just enough to be seen. Diamond was starting to sense a pattern forming. Most of these ponies knew Party, and he knew them well enough to know they’d be there. While he still felt there was a missing piece in the whole equation, the athlete felt rather flattered the unicorn was willing to introduce him to any part of his circle of friends.

“So do you all live in San Franciscolt? I’m not the biggest for the party scene… Okay, I’ve never gone to one, but I’m surprised I’ve never just seen you guys somewhere like Next Chapter bookstore.” It may have came off as a bit invasive, but it was something the stallion honestly wanted to know. Fridis chuckled before responding.

“We might as well. And as for why you haven’t seen us... Well I suppose you may not have been looking. You might be wearing a scarf, but you’ve seemed rather transfixed by my own this whole time. Maybe we have crossed paths, it’s just that this time, your friend was here to point some things out.” Diamond flushed, not really sure how to address the comment, or what he’d been doing. He’d been fixated on what he figured was minutia to these ponies.

“I guess you’re right. This place really was a mystery to me before. I’d heard rumors, but I never put anything together. I guess I just got distracted seeing the place with a pair of new eyes… sorry.” Fridis chuckled, trotting up and putting a claw on Diamond’s shoulder.

“No, I apologize. Perhaps I came off as a bit harsh, but you have been making yourself a bit obvious. A lot of ponies at this party are going to have a rather similar motif to their attire. Just do your best to think of it like a particularly good mane style, or a unique cutie mark. It’s great to remember somepony by, but it’s nothing worth obsessing over,” The dragon seemed just as pleasant as ever, his head perking up when the market’s bell struck the hour.

“Buck me sideways, I didn’t realize how late it was getting. If we don't want to run, we’ll need to get heading!” Party’s exclamation helped both to break whatever mild tension had formed, and served to get everypony moving again. “I still think Diamond planned on a little bit more sightseeing before we actually got to the slalom, if that’s alright with you guys. I hope you don’t mind the company D?”

In a way, he did. More eyes on him meant that he felt a bit more nervous trying to get close to Party, no matter how ridiculous the assertion seemed with present company taken into account. But, he supposed he’d want to get used to it. If he couldn’t even bring himself to a platonic distance in such a supportive group, what would that say to his friend?

“Not at all. I didn’t really have that big of a plan though. There’s just this dumb little arcade by the boardwalk that I wanted to show off-” the stallion had barely started to explain himself before being cut off.

“Ooh, I love arcades! Do you know if they have Fighting is Magic? The one machine by my place got taken down,” Coco chirped, prancing in place.

“Well now even if I didn’t want to go in the first place, then I’d certainly be going now. Once Coco hears that an arcade might be involved, he’s all in.” Firewire glanced towards Diamond to lead the way, which finally had them headed out towards the boardwalk. Once they were free of the crowd, it was a clear shot all the way to their first waypoint.

The shimmering lights of the arcade’s facade made it grab more eyes than anything on the strip, the sounds of the cabinets becoming clearer the closer they got. Almost immediately, Coco and Shutter hopped onto one of the fighting games, and Party was pulling Diamond towards a part of the arcade he hadn’t checked in quite some time. As the athlete glanced back, he noticed Fridis and Firewire, both seeming content to just watch things unfold.

“Did you see a game you like?” Diamond questioned, turning his attention back to Party, who was still dragging him along by the scarf.

“Buck yeah! They’ve got a Dance Locomotion setup! It’s not exactly real dancing, but it’s a good way to get your heart beating before we actually get to the party. Think of it like a warm-up,” the unicorn started to swing his flanks slightly, the pair slowly approached the machine.

“I think I tried it once… you like it? My hooves didn’t really want to match up with my eyes when I played,” intentionally leaving out the part where he had stumbled flank over teakettle and got chewed out by a regular player whom he had bumped into.

“You probably picked a difficulty you weren’t ready for. It’s not all that uncommon for ponies to mistake “Standard” as a jumping on point. You’re definitely in good company if you did that.” The unicorn tossed a few bits into the machine from a distance, seemingly just so he could swagger up to the beat of the Vinyl Scratch song that started to play. “Just do a few rounds on light, and you’ll get the hang of it really quick”

Party smiled over to him as the actual menu popped up, seemingly more than happy to pay for the privilege of having a dance partner. The athlete was quick enough to pick out a song they both liked, and it was time to move their hooves. The eight arrows seemed easy enough for Diamond to navigate on a lower difficulty, even though he felt thoroughly shown up by the deft movements of the unicorn next to him. By the end of the song the earth pony actually felt like he was having fun.

“Good Job!” the unicorn panted, a good degree of hoof crossing and jumping had noticeably made his heart rate spike.

The scores had rolled over on the screen, and Diamond scored one letter grade higher than his dance partner. “Looks like you won this round.”

“Dude, that’s like ceding to a perfect hoof stand because you didn’t quite stick the landing on a triple backflip.” Party chuckled in response to Diamond’s comment, his attention snapping back to the song selection when it came up.

“Hey, you still earned it. Besides, if you can keep up a groove on this set up, you shouldn’t have a problem when we’re dancing to the same song later tonight,” Party added.

The songs scrolled past in rapid succession, and Diamond couldn’t find the space to respond between the loud chittering of a hundred songs beginning for a split second before being cut off by the next. He’d noticed they’d attracted at least one pony, a spindly white unicorn with a blue mane and a rather colorful hoodie that Diamond swore he’d seen somewhere before.

The loud punch of the selection noise tore his attention back to the screen. Maybe it was intentional, but Party had gone from a song from one DJ appearing that night to another. The intensity of the song quickly built up, so he had to focus on it, as opposed to the questions that he was thinking about asking. It was certainly a step up from the last one, to the point that he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen long enough to see what kind of moves Party was pulling to keep up with the flurry of arrows.

Both of the routines ended with a four-hooved jump, to the sound of adulation. This time though, it wasn’t coming from the machine. The athlete looked over his shoulder to see one pony had turned into a good half-dozen, in a whole rainbow of exotic styles. Even though most of them had bandanas in one place or another, Diamond did his best not to dwell, turning back to Party as the scores rolled over.

“Looks like we’ve got an audience, still nervous about numbers?” Party jibed between pants. Diamond scoffed, leaning against the machine.

“Seems like numbers don’t matter when you’re having a good enough time. We might have to give up the machine after this round though” the stallion smirked. Even though he knew he was being outshone, it still felt good to get a B to Party’s C.

“I will, but you might not have to. I don’t know how it works in San Franciscolt, but Canterlot rules are that you don’t have to get off if you get a B or above,” the unicorn announced.

“We’ll honor that, White and Frosty probably needs another round to get ready for the party, if that’s where you’re headed too.” Diamond turned to see who was speaking, and saw the pink femcolt hanging over the bars.

Then he laid eyes on the collar.

This one wasn’t hidden behind a bandana or scarf, and the mesh shirt the stallion was wearing did absolutely nothing to hide it either. It was fine black leather, buckled below its tightest notch so it hung ever so slightly off his neck. A warm gold and orange band around the center reflected the neon glow of the machine, and the gold, heart shaped tag dangling from a sturdy looking D-ring caught that light as well. To Diamond, it was as elegant as it was depraved. It was transfixing.

“What’s wrong snow bunny, never seen a pony in a collar before? You’ll need to get used to it!” the femcolt chided jovially, seeming infinitely more playful than harsh in his observations.

“Not fully exposed at least. I guess you’re a real first, party boy.” It didn’t come out as eloquently, but Diamond wanted to try matching his enthusiasm.

“If I was gonna use party boy to describe anypony, it would be your friend over there. I don’t think I’ve seen somepony throw a gig half as crazy as he has. He’s the only stallion I can think of that made staying in Canterlot worth it,” the pony responded.

“Sounds about right, and he knows how to find a party too. He wanted a warm-up before our little group got there.” The earth pony glanced back to find the unicorn looking right back towards him.

“Well I hope you wouldn’t mind, but something tells me your little group isn’t so little any more.” As the stallion hopped down from the bar, the gathered partygoers nodded almost in unison. “But I should let you get back to your warm-up. Maybe try to impress us if you’d be up for it?”

Diamond kept eye contact, one of his rear hooves moving back and kicking the button to start the round to an audible gasp of surprise from Party Favor. He turned around, wondering just what he could do in a video game that would surprise his friend that much.

“Hope you didn’t get too attached to your B, hitting random on the last song tosses in some crazy hard songs from a hidden pool. I might actually lose on this one...” The unicorn took up his stance on the arrows, glancing back to the screen. The splash screen proudly read “Flurry (Axxelerated remix)- Vinyl Scratch.” As he was informed by the murmuring of the crowd behind them, it was the song with the hardest step chart on the machine.

“Well then, if I am attached to it, then maybe I need to give it my all!” The comment was met with a few cheers from behind them, which only made Diamond double down. He wanted to know if he could show off.

That small burst of confidence was something Party certainly didn’t want to quash. Despite himself, he shifted the concern in his expression to confidence. They were still probably going to lose. If the unicorn had anything to say about it though, it was at least going to be a fun loss .

The song started out normally enough, but then the namesake of the remix kicked in. Diamond almost tripped over himself as the BPM of the song shot up, but managed to save himself at the last second. He’d cribbed a trick from his dance partner, shifting his stance before his hoof hit the pad and using that as a launching point. That could only save him so many times though. Another BPM shift, and the arrows started to get overwhelming. His meter bottomed out, and Party’s was hanging by a thread.

It seemed like the song was about to reach some sort of critical mass, but the tempo instead decided to cut itself in half. Diamond got his chance to stabilize, but to his dismay, he watched his friend dip below the threshold during a series of tricky jumps. But only after he missed one and they didn’t immediately lose did it finally click.

They’d saved each other. They would have both lost if they’d gone it alone, but because they partnered up, they became one another’s lifeline. Diamond took the chance to get back into the groove long enough to give Party some time to build up his meter. He had a plan.

Frostfire had taught Diamond how to do a front hoofstand, and he used one to nail a hold arrow. The related ones didn’t matter, he knew he could drop low, because Party had his back. The cheer from the crowd was for his maneuver, but in Diamond’s head, it was for his partner too, setting up so he could make it.

For the rest of the song, the pair took it by ear. It was a pendulum swing of showboating and support. Each swing brought some virtual chiding, but it was worth it for real applause. It didn’t even take a single word to make the switch, just the smile and a nod. They were dance partners. They were in sync.

One last blast of bass, and the song was over. Diamond couldn’t even hear the machine complain about their respective performances. He could barely even focus on the burning in his muscles. The sounds of celebration filled his ears, and his mind. He nodded towards Party, who nodded right back, and both of them turned around in synch. Diamond was even bold enough to take a bow.

When he raised his head, he noticed a few familiar faces in the crowd. Namely, Fire, Fridis, and Shutter were in the dozen plus ponies that were there cheering for them. He didn’t even glance back to see if he kept his rank by some small miracle. He simply walked into the crowd alongside his friend, soaking in all the energy the atmosphere would offer. For the first time since he knew he was going, the athlete almost felt ready to party.

The two stallions sauntered off the pad and joined up with the crowd. It only felt natural to take up a spot right next to the ponies they knew, even if everypony else was giving them plenty of attention. The newly formed mass of ponies spent a decent amount of time conversing and joking amongst themselves, shifting amongst various games.

The last to join the assembly was Coco. The small line of stallions whose collective flanks he’d kicked across the arcade followed soon after, all clearly partygoers by their attire. Scanning across the crowd, Diamond counted more than two dozen ponies, all dressed in styles he’d only read about. It was a wild menagerie of socks and collars, mesh and Lycra, and somehow, with a simple scarf, he actually felt like part of the crowd. So after everypony was done with gaming for the night, it only felt natural for him to follow along.

Chapter 5 Author's Note

Thanks a ton to Brasta Septim for helping with primary SGL editing on this chapter! I've been waiting on releasing this for a while, so i figure i might as well drop chapter 5, which was split up from it's original 20k length. this is still a larger chapter, but it's probably not gonna be the longest by the time this fic is over ;3

Chapter 5

They hadn’t even arrived at the party proper yet, but the group already had the air of a celebration. Everypony spoke as if they’d long since known one another. What baffled Diamond is that same camaraderie even extended to him. On the walk, he’d been hugged no less than a dozen times, complimented twice as often, and one stallion even offered to take him home if Party didn’t.

They were almost off the boardwalk when the group heard the sound of the dock bell. By the time it stopped, so had the conversations. Then, to Diamond’s surprise, more than a few ponies started cheering.

It had started out as a few excited whistles, but by the time this new, seemingly random sentiment had a chance to permeate through the crowd, almost everyone had expressed some form of excitement. A thousand possible reasons for what just happened mulled through Diamond’s head, but none of them made sense. He glanced over to his part of the group, but mainly to Party.

“I know, it’s weird, but there’s a reason. If you still want to know tomorrow…” Party paused, shaking his head. “Well, if you haven’t already figured it out, chances are I can give you all the answers you’ll ever want. So if nopony lets it slip, you don’t have to take time out of your fun trying to piece things together.”

Diamond wanted to say something in response, or ask what difference half a day would make, but he simply let it slide. Party hadn’t misled him yet. If he wanted, or needed to keep him in the dark, then there was a legitimate reason.

The venue finally crested the skyline, the tarps and scaffolding of the construction site making it stand out from its surroundings. There were a few ponies milling about, but the ones that wanted entrance seemed to just walk right in. As they approached, Diamond actually started to feel intimidated. A few flashes of movement out of the corner of his eyes, and the goggle wearing ponies patrolling the facade moved from invisible to obvious. The athlete tried to ignore them, and the powerful looking bows slung across their backs. The place was on lockdown. Whoever CTS was, they certainly weren’t up to pulling any punches assuring the safety of their events..

Then Diamond heard it. He could’ve easily mistook it for the terrible roar of some ancient sea beast if it didn’t rattle the supports of the unfinished slalom. First one, then another, and several others in rapid succession. They were blocks from the venue, but Diamond realized that they were probably calibrating the speakers. If it hadn’t registered before how much power was at the disposal of the various DJs set to play, it was at that moment that it fully sunk in. These ponies planned to party hard.

The majority of the group that they were with was simply waved through, disappearing under one of the tarps into what looked like a shadowy void. Diamond expected to simply walk past too, but scrunched up against the hoof placed to his chest.

“Hey there frosty, I’m going to have to ask what you’re here for!” the stallion barked, his hoof coming back to the ground when Diamond stopped.

“For the party, would I be here for anything else?” Diamond questioned as he tilted his head, trying not to get too standoffish. As far as he was concerned, all that was going to do was delay this for longer. He’d have to maneuver, not break through.

“Of course you are, but I don’t think I’ve seen you at a single party around San Franciscolt. How’d you hear about this one?” the bouncer growled, taking a step in front of the athlete.

“Did you not see the group I’m in? Party wanted to bring me, my boss wanted us to go, and out of the group of three dozen stallions that you just waved through, you decide to pick me, of all ponies, out of the crowd?!” The bouncer’s comment had made Diamond lose his cool, but he was quick to back down. He saw the cold, anonymous gaze of a few archers turn his way, one even starting to toy with how his bow sat between his wings. But the moment the larger stallion stepped forward, the unicorn accompanying him stepped between them.

“Yes, I did want to bring Double Diamond to this party, and the only reason I let you stop him is because I thought you just wanted to give him a hard time. Come on Brick, you’re better than this. Now, you know not to stop two stallions on a date, badge or not, and I’m going to be taking mine in,” Party announced.

It was almost as if the unicorn had stepped in and popped the bouncer with his horn. He took a sweeping step aside, almost looking ashamed of his actions. The authoritative voice Party had spoken in seemed perfectly natural, and went totally unchecked by the rest of the environment. Even the guards on the scaffolding went back to searching for active threats. He expected to simply be led in by his friend, but nopony was budging in their part of the queue.

“Why don’t you say you’re sorry for hassling my friend, Brick,” the unicorn stated flatly, almost as if a commanding officer speaking to an inferior.

“Hey, you’re right. I shouldn’t have done that… My name’s Brick Wall, and I’m…” the earth pony halted his concession to glance between the stallions in front of him. “Site security. Friend of Party’s actually. There was a nasty rumor going around about some Sol Invictus sleeper trying to get in, but that’s no excuse for me to raise a ruckus at the first fresh face. You picked a hell of a party to start at, kid.”

“Double Diamond,” the athlete smiled, offering a hoof to shake, which was gladly returned. “And so I’ve been told. Though hearing something about sleepers makes me think I’m walking into one of those old spy movies.”

“I ain’t talking about how nasty those prudes can get. You’re supposed to be having fun, and I think if you’re still on that train of thought later, your buddy can fill you in.” Diamond’s reflexive glance to his friend was somewhere in the middle of expectant and disingenuous. Even if he did figure the situation out by night’s end, he almost felt like lying about it, simply to watch how Party planned to lay it all bare for him.

Speaking of which, the blue stallion was waving him through.

“Hey D, Fire and everyone already got waved inside. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to catch up with them, but I’m certainly not above trying, especially because I think we’ll have a lot of fun doing it.`` The stallion’s steps were already synchronized to the low thump of the music that was audible through the building.

“Maybe later. You had some pretty high expectations for this little shindig, and I’d say we should at least try to enjoy it a little bit before we try to find anypony else,” Diamond commented as he slipped under the tarp.

His eyes started to adjust in short order, and he began glancing around to get his bearings. They were passing through the incomplete box office, several of the facings still unfinished. The smell of raw concrete hung in the air, but it was mixed with a hint of something else wafting in from ahead. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, sweet but musky, and mixed with the slight ozone tinge of a magically charged environment. A small hoof-full of ponies were milling about in the area, each seeming like they were trying to cool off from some unseen heat source.

The row of green doors that lined the wall in front of them hung loosely on their hinges, none of them apparently locked. As the pair approached, a trio of stallions headed the other way with somewhat mischievous looks in their eyes. Things really did seem to be heating up. But what Diamond saw when he opened the door was far beyond anything in the scope of his imagination.

The center of the room was dominated by a writhing tower of speakers, curling up into the central DJ’s plinth. The booth was currently empty, but a small set of underlights gave it the apparent glory of a high throne. It’s dominion was the dance floor, glowing under the gaze of roving lights and rainbows of lasers. It was a place of control, the next to ascend would stir the hundreds of ponies below into a living gyre. To rule the dance floor with an iron hoof.

And that sea of bodies was something else entirely. The veneer of secrecy observed outside the walls was almost entirely cast off. Collars of all styles and colors were exposed, and several of the raised hooves had leashes tied around them like an armband, matched with just as many masks. Those few that kept their peculiar accessories didn’t seem out of place though. They simply blended into the kaleidoscope of styles on vivid display, dancing and swirling like a muster of peacocks. Each and every pony stood out, and in doing so, they became a singular yet incoherent entity of joyous motion.

The rest of the stage before them was filled with set pieces that only matched the intensity of the central blocking. Neon lights flowed out from under each and every booth. The twin bars had diadems of ornate bottles just a hair out of reach of the patron, plucked and mixed by stallions as neon streaked as the beautiful miniature world they occupied.

Diamond could barely find words to describe his thoughts. The living tableau before him was impossible. It was fiction given form. His only point of reference for a party on such a grand scale were the ones in his books.

For a brief moment, he entertained the idea that he’d somehow stepped through the door between fiction and reality. That a scene this grandiose must mark the beginning of some epic journey that would take him to white satin parapets, and black steel dungeons. That he’d finally get to live a Love Song novel, instead of desperately running away into one every time he couldn’t stand the world he lived in. That he’d get the happily ever after they all seemed to have.

He felt he had to snuff the idea there though. That would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it?

The stallion followed his friend into the thick of the party, already having a little bit of fun matching his steps to the beat of the music. He wasn’t quite ready to start dancing yet, but he was absolutely ready to let the music move him. The atmosphere was projected by everypony already lost in the beat, and it was utterly infectious.

Only a few steps in, the stallion was flank-checked by a pegasus who was, of all things, rollerskating by holding a tray. He looked like a carthop plucked from one of those vintage themed pull-ins and infused with neon, with the lithe, effeminate body to match. Diamond turned his head to catch the offending pony, but all he really glimpsed was a swathe of motion, and what he could swear was the outline of a thin, cocksure, and even flirtatious smile.

“Liking your first glimpse of the so-called Ultralife, D?” Party laughed, poking the athlete in the shoulder the moment he turned back for confirmation.

“It really is a lot to take in, but I’m liking everything I’ve seen so far. Who knows how that’ll change the moment somepony gets up on that booth,” Diamond responded, now paying attention to the path they were on as they were starting to weave between groups of ponies.

“Well if that’s what you’re waiting for, then I don’t think you know how much you already love it,” Party retorted, steering them towards the bar. “You drink? They’ve got everything under the moon here, and the only thing your bits are good for is a tip.”

“Not often,” Diamond confessed. “I used to before… Nevermind, I have once or twice in San Fran, so I’m not against it, they have some good cocktail places here.” The pause came from a need to shake a thought out of his head. This wasn’t the place for reflecting on bad times.

“Then you need to get at least one,” the stallion raved. “They’ve got some crazy good bartenders, and the food to go with it!” The closer they got to the bar, the livelier the local atmosphere seemed to become. There were ponies sipping on tumblers and highballs filled with a whole spectrum of ornate looking drinks and openly conversing lewd plans for later in the evening. Some of the rowdier guests had even taken to using the table as an impromptu dance platform.

“I mean, I can see the baskets and stuff,” Diamond paused to catch a sweaty overshirt which he placed on a chair next to it’s currently gyrating owner. “But I didn’t really take this as a food sort of place. I’m guessing that’s what the roller derby is out here for.”

“Yup, It’s kind of hard to keep a party going at its peak without something fueling it, especially when you’ve got ponies moving like that. Nopony would deliver here, and CTS doesn’t want ponies to feel like they want to bounce before they’re ready. So, you can make a request at the bar, and they’ll do their best to get something worked out for you,” Party responded.

They’d arrived at the bar, and it was an absolute blur of activity. Lines of ponies downing bombs, bottles flying between the barkeeps, and excited partygoers flying up to make a request, only to disappear back to the dance floor moments later. The pair found two open stools, taking a seat and flagging down anypony that cared to notice.

A rather sultry looking stallion finally answered their call, rearing up over the bar before resting his head on his hooves between the two ponies. Diamond couldn’t quite place it, but something about the mere glance of those bright blue eyes made his stomach do a backflip.

“Well then, you two lovebirds look pretty fresh. Looking to get in some early indulgence, or did you forget to grab a bite on the way here? Either way, I’ve got whatever you need” The particular stress on the last few words would’ve been off putting if it weren’t for the surreal environment they were in. Diamond didn’t even get a chance to think of clarifying before Party jumped in.

“I’ve already got an order brewing in my head. You might have to lead my plus one by the hoof though, I decided to make our first date his first party.” The stallion chuckled, watching the new unicorn tilt his head towards Diamond.

“A total newbie? I didn’t think we got those anymore. Welcome to the temporary homestead of the Lunarch Lounge, and to the party proper if nopony’s done that yet. The name’s Silver Julep, and I’d normally be flirting with somepony as flawlessly toned as you, but I’ll respect that you’re another unicorn’s hoof candy tonight… whoops,” the unicorn purred, sticking out his tongue once he was finished and floating a halo of bottles around his head. “Now what do you want to start off with? Wait, before you ask, the answer to “what have we got” is everything. We can make a liquid rainboom, but I assume you’ll want to remember your first party.”

“Double Diamond.” The athlete extended his hoof for a bump, but flinched from surprise when Silver decided to kiss it instead. Before he spoke, he moved it back slightly, but something in him ultimately decided against it, leaving it to rest on the table. “Um, what do you think would be a good party starter? I-i kinda think we’ll try to do everything on offer as long as we’re here.”

“Well, I’d give you a Partystarter, but it’s a Pinkie drink, and those knock you on your flank faster than the sum of their parts. In fact, if you chance by a menu, try avoiding anything written in pink.” the stallion cautioned, pausing and rolling his eyes before returning to his hooves and stretching. “Buck me. You want to get schwifty, and all I’m telling you is what to avoid. Diamond. Doubles. D. What do you like? Candy, cake, fruit? All I need is a place to start from and you’ll have a drink.”

Diamond actually took a moment to consider, put more at ease by the unicorn’s antics. While he waited, the stallion had taken up doing rather intricate bottle tricks, simply passing the time with a little bit of visual flair. “Well, I like tropical stuff, but I think I need something different... maybe something a bit more off the beaten path than a piña colada?”

Silver smiled, letting the bottle he’d just released spin in the air while he grabbed a shaker from under the bar, letting it fall in and fill. “Well well well, it seems like we’ve got a tourist looking for something off the resort. Unlike those killjoys at the Velvet Courtesan across the way, I’ve got just the thing. By the time the show starts, you’ll be ready to sway like a palm tree in a hurricane.”

It felt like the unicorn added a million things into the shaker by the time the cap came on, but when the drink finally flowed into the cup, it was glowing the same neon hues of the surrounding festivities. Of course, martini glass or no, Silver couldn’t resist capping it off with a cheesy little umbrella and a shit eating grin, pushing the green cocktail towards the stallion.

“I call it a Category four. I’d tell you what all went into it, but that would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it? All you need to hear from me is that it’s everything you’ll need for the festivities.” the athlete nervously picked up the drink, swirling it slightly and taking a soft sniff. It had a sweet, fruity smell, but there was something unique to it. It had a pleasant, vaguely herbal top note that seemed to make the world hang for a moment as he tried to focus in on it.

“It smells really good,” Diamond muttered just above the level of the music, which was taking a slight dip in volume. The bartender nodded in response with a knowing look.

“I’ve got a little bit of everything behind the counter. There's some special bitters in it, based off an old zebrican potion that’s supposed to help with self reflection, but it should have the magic sucked out, not that I ever bother to check. I’d say it’s not the same drink without it,” the encouraging smile from both the unicorns in present company was more than enough to encourage Diamond to take the first big gulp.

The first thing to wash across his tongue was the distinct flavor of melon and coconut, tinted with a fruit that he wasn’t sure if he’d ever tasted before, but was far rounder than the strong acidic blast of pineapple. The bite of the herbs made the earth pony’s tongue tingle, bringing what could be an otherwise cloyingly sweet drink down to something he could keep sipping on, or knock back in one gulp.

All the embarrassment he felt earlier felt so silly in retrospect. This was supposed to be some sort of Ur-party, but if the music and drinks were even a tenth as good as they were here, the stallion realized his sheepishness in attending other parties was only hurting him. He hadn’t really indulged in the company yet, but the small preview he’d gotten earlier in the day was giving him high hopes.

“Wow, this is amazing!” the stallion exclaimed, taking another long sip.

“Never had a disappointed customer, even when they call for a little improv.” the unicorn set down the shaker, dumping what little remained into two shot glasses, finishing one himself and offering the other to Party.

“No way did you just make this on the spot,” Diamond swirled the glass, looking at it with befuddlement as if it was going to answer his question.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. A bartender’s like a magician D, giving away all our secrets just lets somepony else steal our act.” The bottles were once again stashed, with the silver coated unicorn scanning the bar for other patrons trying to flag down a bartender. Just before he seemed ready to duck out, Diamond simply knocked back the rest of his drink, slamming the glass back down on the bar.

“Hey! I’ve never been to a big party like this before, but I know how clubs tend to work. Why don’t you make double whatever Party’s going to get. I want him to have a drink as good as I just had, and I’ll gladly keep you mixing right here” Diamond slurred his words ever so slightly. Even if the actual liquor hadn’t entered his system yet, the headrush had already hit.

“That is a losing proposition dude, I think you might want to get something else, but I am not a pony you should try to keep pace with,” Party advised, turning towards Julep. “But if you’re up to it, I’d like to see you make a Black Satin Tie-Down.”

“Well I’m glad my raw animal magnetism is working on somepony tonight, though I’d heed your friend’s warning sweetheart, you seem to hold your liquor about as well as a snow cone!” Silver playfully taunted, grabbing a few bottles without looking.

Just as Diamond was about to make his infinitely clever retort, before the first drop of liquor entered the shaker, a rather excited looking pony practically jumped up to the bar, seemingly from nowhere, like he’d phased through the floor.

“I need a bomb or something quick like… yesterday. I was just downstairs and Type X is here, and he’s heading up! I wanna have something in me before he grabs the booth.” The pony chirped in excitement… or at least, Diamond swore it had to be.

The longer he looked, the more something seemed off, the edges of the stallion’s coat seemed to be more blending into the space around it than stopping at a hard point, and the eyes had a fiery, jubilant glow that seemed to cast its own light. His mane almost seemed to be imagined into some perfect idea of a style, but that didn’t seem to be quite right either.

After a little bit of thought, it finally dawned on him.

“That pony’s on fire.” Diamond stated flatly, looking at his own hooves, then back to the new arrival’s, who was unique in the smoke trailing from the edges of his hooves.

“I mean, it’s a bit early in the night, but I’m sure he’ll get into it before vinyl hits the boards” Silver observed, pouring some Absinthe into the shaker.

“Dude, what the buck did you put in my drink?” The athlete snapped

“Mangosteen Juice?” the bartender responded, dropping in a little bit of orgeat.

“Does that make it look like the pony five seats down has smoke coming out of his hooves like he’s an applebucking power plant?” Diamond yelped in response, now looking between the ponies in front of him and the mystery pony, who’s attention he’d briefly caught.

“I mean, I guess? It’s supposed to be one of those superfood things, so in the strictest terms, improving your eyesight makes you see reality better. So yes, if you hadn’t drank it he’d still be there, it’s just you could have marginally better definition.” Silver noticed the stallion hadn’t gotten too much of a response from the other occupied staff, tossing him a bottle of Mead and trying to nod him over. However, it seemed like he had other plans, traipsing off towards the crowd.

“So there’s actually a pony over there leaking vapor like the Manehattan red line on double boiler?” Diamond inquired.

“Wait a second, you’re being legit. You’ve never actually seen a Sparkling before tonight, have you?” Silver’s slight guilt at his snark towards at his legitimate inquiry was tempered with legitimate surprise.

“Considering the next question I was going to ask was what the hell is a Sparkling, you’re going to have to be a bit easier on me,” Diamond snarked right back, watching as the twin drinks were poured, skillfully separated in midair by a simple bar knife held on a tilt.

“Well, I’m not exactly some high concept magical theorist, but as far as I know, Sparklings are what happen when you get a city like San Fran using a whole bunch of magic, and give them some sort of passionate catalyst, like a huge party, or even something like an orgy. Give them that spark, and bam, they’re a thing. As long as they have a stable flow of magic, they’re around forever as far as I know. Buck, there may even be a sparkling born tonight, as is with how much Aether and party we’re throwing around,” Silver explained, pushing the beverages towards the two stallions present.

“And the whole being on fire thing?” the athlete questioned, taking an experimental sniff of the new drink.

“They’re not on fire, being made of magic just kinda makes them a hair unstable. You’re basically watching them return to the air they kinda came from. I’d compare it to dry ice, but I don’t have any blocks of that stuff in my little black book”, Silver chuckled, starting to clean out the shaker he’d used.

Diamond nodded as he took the first sip of the drink. When he was younger, he was almost similarly surprised to learn something like griffons exist. Something that wasn’t a pony just seemed so alien to him at the time. He’d long since come to terms with the world being full of so many more sentient races than ponies. Sparklings deserved that same courtesy.

And if one was simply going to walk up, he’d certainly be in the mood to socialize by the bottom of the glass. The solitary sip took a sledgehammer to his senses, mixing the strong bite of black licorice with the inherent sweetness of cherry, making the spot of almond seem almost creamy by comparison. That complexity also served to distract from the fact that the huge amount of booze in the drink was liable to send your average pony sprawling. This was the libation of someone who knew how to party with ruthless efficiency, and extract the maximum amount of fun.

That was the portrait of Party, to Diamond. Currently the unicorn was sitting on his stool, taking a long, satisfied pull of a drink he clearly hadn’t had in some time. The neon lights cast a multichromatic sheen through his frizzy mane, and cast off-colored shadows to highlight the curves of his muzzle. A Luna-sent avenger of fun and excitement, happily reclining with his neon halo and 100 proof eucharist.

“What the buck is up everypony!” the wall of sound projected from the speakers almost knocked Diamond muzzle first into his drink. “We haven’t even gotten started yet, and I already see an army of faces, all off duty and ready to party!” The whole bar had turned around to face the stage, watching the pre-show unfold in front of them.

It was the sparkling from only moments earlier, already whipping the crowd into a frenzy. “You’re all still sober enough to count to Five, right? Well we only just learned how! Yesterday, we had the top four artists on the Electronic charts, but a special somepony dropped in, and we’re starting a countdown! I want you all to lose your bucking minds! Give it up for the King of Dubstep, second only to her lordship Vinyl, your boy, Type X!”

A cocksure stallion in a militia-style flat top and hoodie strutted up to the boards from some unseen passage. The moment he appeared, a few ponies in the crowd moved up to their hind legs, crossing their forehooves above their head. Not only did he have fans in the audience, Diamond noted, but they seemed to be totally die-hard.

“Before I even touch this bucking setup, I want you to do me one big favor San Fran.” The musician purred into the microphone, “I want you to scream”

And scream they did. Hundreds of ponies, cheering on the musician with his name proceeding him. They cheered for a party that let them looser than some had the capacity to imagine. Mostly though, they just seemed to like cheering.

“Now get ready to top yourself four more times. Hit it!”

The deafeningly loud sound of a klaxon set the beat to the first song in the set. Diamond almost couldn’t believe the power of the setup in person, the music ringing in his ears with such intensity that he could barely hear his own thoughts. He saw that Party was shouting something, but it was inaudible over the din. If he was going to hear a word, the athlete was going to have to start leaning intimately close.

“Once we finish with our drinks, why don’t we go hit the floor for a bit?” Party asked.

“Dude, I have no idea how to dance to this. I barely know how to dance to Vinyl’s stuff, and that’s because I’ve seen her videos,” Diamond responded.

“You really can’t do it wrong D. As long as you can keep a rhythm and move, you can basically do anything you want. I’ve been to his concerts before, and it’s all about getting what’s inside you out.” The unicorn leaned back, taking another long drink as he admired the crowd. There were far more lights than there were even moments earlier, even a few sparse lasers cut through the thick atmosphere.

Against the fair warning, Diamond matched Party’s pace drink for drink. He was definitely enjoying the beverage, but he didn’t want to make his friend wait when they were finally going to make a move to the dance floor. That moment came two songs into the set, and now three drinks into the evening. With a pair of empty glasses lingering at the bar, they were off.

As Diamond scanned along, the unicorn’s statement proved itself true. He couldn’t seem to spot two different ponies dancing with the same style. Many didn’t seem to even be using any style at all, simply allowing the music to move them. Without even realizing it, Diamond was starting to do the same, his hoofsteps synchronizing to the beat of the music, which helped him keep pace with the upcoming crowd.

“Getting into it D?” Party gently elbowed his friend, giving him an eyebrow raise. “Just keep on moving to the music, and you’ll be having more fun than you ever thought was possible”

“I’ll get my flank kicked if I keep moving for the entire night. I’d gone out dancing before we met, and if I was out on the floor for more than an hour, I could barely roll out of bed the next day.” Diamond did occasionally check where they were going, but the majority of the time, his eyes were fixated on Party.

The stallion seemed so at home. While granted, Party was both part of his name and the specialty of his cutie mark, he seemed to exude a totally natural comfort with all the chaos around him. Conversely, the bounce in his step and swagger in his hips gave his minor serenity the aire that he could launch into wild, exuberant motion at any possible moment. Even with all that, the unicorn certainly wanted to make sure his date was having a good time too. Diamond had caught him looking back half a dozen times already.

Their eyes locked, but before either of them said a word, Party hip-checked Diamond. It wasn’t a light hit either, knocking him off the path they were on by a few steps. The athlete returned to Party’s side with a mischievous grin, bumping his flank right back with a chuckle.

“Two can play at that game,” the stallion taunted, watching his friend saunter back carefully. He wanted to make sure he was poised to make the first strike, or at least hop out of the way. But instead of taking an expected action, Party just moved up side to side with his date, moving in lockstep so they wouldn’t trip over one another.

The smile on Party’s face hadn’t changed one bit, broadcasting conflicting, but equally positive emotions. It was an expression of serene playfulness, or maybe something else, like relaxed energy. Beyond anything else, it seemed like the unicorn was having a good time specifically because the athlete was, and was there to share that with him.

“I’d say if you keep playing around like that, you won’t be the only one trying to kick your flank into motion.” The stallion openly swung his front hoof over the athlete's shoulder, “Though I’d still like dibs on that if you’re still offering.”

“I-i’m liking my new scarf,” Diamond stammered, the small amount of bravado the back and forth had mustered draining in an instant as he caught a glimpse of the unicorn’s hoof dangling over his chest.

Throughout his life, Double Diamond had done very little flirting. It was something he wanted to do more often, but he could rarely bring himself to do. This meant he was even less prepared to respond to somepony flirting with him, especially a stallion. What few compliments he’d received earlier in life were praising him as the big stud he wanted to project himself as, usually from mares with a more delicate disposition. But now, as far as the athlete was concerned, he was the mare in the situation. And slowly, he started to come around to the thought that tonight might just end up the same way.

“And I’m liking my hoof candy. So, are you ready to start moving, or would you want me to take a little bit more time trotting along the edge of the dance floor?” The unicorn carefully wove the two of them between smaller groups of dancing, or moshing, ponies, taking the lead with every step. Party no longer had to act a part, and leading his date along by the hoof was something he’d been wanting to do all day.

“I know this sounds dumb, but it’s really just as easy as moving to the music?” Diamond watched the crowd as they traced around it. The further in he tried to look, the more the crowd seemed to look like a singular mass. The athlete couldn’t even see the stage without actively craning his neck up.

“It’s not dumb, you’re just nervous. How’d you learn to dance to all the standard club stuff?” Party shouted over the music.

“I dunno, I sorta just watched the crowd, then just watching my partner and how other ponies would react to those kinds of moves” Diamond yelled in response. “I never took a class or anything. I never got many compliments, but nobody said i sucked.”

“Perfect, then you can learn in no time at all. Just do whatever feels right, watch the stage, and just keep apprised of the ponies around you.” Party stopped near a small dip in the crowd where the floor itself was visible, “Ready?”

“I’m not sure, what if I don’t feel like I’m fitting in?” the athlete asked.

“Then we go wherever you want. I’m not going to try and force you to do something you don’t like. I’ll just walk towards some stuff I know you’ll love, and hope you’ll follow,” the unicorn purred in response, slowly trotting towards the dance floor. Diamond sighed, composing himself, and rejoining his date atop the neon tiles.

“Glad you decided to join me,” Party taunted, already starting to move his flanks to the beat of the song. Diamond started to circle around, with Party then matching him step for step. Their hooves landed on the downbeat, and as the song went on, they both started to add in some small moves to their flow.

The set went on and so did their little dance, their eyes locked on one another nearly the whole time. It was a lot more fun than what Diamond had expected, but that was possibly because the whole time he found himself looking straight into Party’s eyes. The unicorn was the more experienced dancer of the two, so it was only natural that he took the lead. Simply by following his friend’s prompts, Diamond started to feel like he was really dancing with his date.

As his blood started to pump, the smile on his face grew. For once, past all the doubt he’d piled onto himself over the course of the day, he felt like he was having fun. His anxieties didn’t seem like they could ever catch up to him. Diamond was overjoyed to be able to just lose himself in the moment. Lose himself to the rhythm and the atmosphere, and just go wherever it would take him, especially if Party was going there too.

So when the unicorn finally went in for a kiss, it didn’t feel right to do anything but accept. He didn’t feel a need to lean in, if Party was going to take the lead in the dance, then he wanted his date to take the lead in the romance too. It certainly wasn’t a playful, bubbly kiss either, even with the minor threat of bumping into somepony else as their eyes had fallen shut.

It felt more intense than any kiss Diamond had shared with another pony. He wanted it to keep going, to have it go further. He licked at the unicorn’s lips to beg for it to go deeper, but was instead met with a slow, almost coy withdrawal of the muzzle pressed against his.

“There’s time for that later D, I think you’ll have a bit more fun taking things as they come. Besides, I don’t think you’d be happy if we walked off now, this baby’s barely even started!” Party guided his date along by the hoof, bringing them back into rhythm with the new track blasting over the amps.

The temptation to simply join with the crowd was always there, but Party insisted that was an experience best saved for the headline act. So the two ponies simply spent their time dancing to the remainder of the set, daring to skirt ever closer to one another until their moves started to bring their flanks up against one another, brushing gently together with their eyes locked.

It wasn’t terribly much longer after that the set ended, leaving the two stallions panting and leaning up against one another in a sea of celebration. Once the house mix returned, the crowd blossomed out around them with plenty of room to walk. Party gave Diamond a peck on the cheek, which earned a somewhat embarrassed nuzzle in response.

“For somepony who’s never danced to dubstep before, I’d say you’re a pretty fast learner,” the unicorn praised his dance partner, tugging him in close with a hoof like before. It was certainly much warmer than when they were walking to the floor, but sharing body heat wasn’t necessarily something the athlete was against at the moment. They nestled up against one another just like they did on the way onto the dance floor, but this time, wandering along towards the other side of the festivities.

Diamond usually didn’t have an eye for it, but he began to notice how well the whole affair was brought together. They had no issue navigating to the opposite bar despite the dancers
now crowding around the tables. He started to spot the skating ponies from earlier again, ferrying drinks and food between tables when they weren’t flirting with the patrons. They were able to simply glide through the apparent chaos with little effort.

It really was perfect, every little detail came together to make something too amazing to exist anywhere else in the world. They were less at a party, and more the ideal of one.

It took a moment to hear over the noise of the crowd, but Diamond heard a familiar sounding set of voices calling both Party and himself. The corner of the bar was filled by Firewire’s herd, their bandanas seemingly long forgotten, and their collars on proud display. As the pair got closer, Diamond could see that while their neckwear seemed to have different colors and styles, each of them, save for Fridis’, bore a lock with the Dom’s cutie mark on them.

“I hope you’ve been enjoying the party! I’m glad you stopped over, you can get something from the best bar so they can win the night,” Coco glanced between them, smiling knowingly. Even as they walked up to take a stool, he’d noticed Diamond seemed to be hovering just a hair closer to his date.

“It’s been interesting. Party taught me how to move to a whole new genre of music, and I learned that a new kind of pony exists.” The athlete scanned between the femcolt and the bar, looking for a server. He was actually starting to get peckish.

“Ooh, Saw your first Sparkling on stage, huh? They really look like something else if you’re not ready. They have the same kinda sparkly weirdness as changeling fire, so I’d thought that’s what they looked like when they molted,” Coco chuckled to himself, apparently a few drinks down into the evening.

“Well, he was at the bar before, but yeah… speaking of bars, what did you mean by win the night? I think the bartender at the other one mentioned they were run by two different places.”

“Yup, This fine establishment is the Velvet Courtesan, and you were at that little pitstop calling itself the Lunarch Lounge. Whichever one serves more ponies by the end of the night gets bragging rights until the next time CTS throws a party big enough for two bars. Some ponies don’t like to take sides, but some ponies are also wrong.”

The conversation simply evolved from there, branching to every little thing they could think to bring to the table. They barely even noticed the new artist taking the stage, only that they had to talk louder to continue. Not only was everypony present becoming fast friends, but the friendships already formed only got stronger by the moment.

But for Diamond, the real experience was just watching Party be himself, and just how amazing that was. There was just something about how he laughed that seemed so warm and genuine. He always leaned in when he was talking to somepony like he was utterly invested in the most minute details of what they had to say. He always seemed to care so much that everyone else was having a good time, but it never seemed like it strained him.

Even when he was talking to other ponies though, it always felt like the unicorn’s gaze stayed mainly on him. He never needed to say something twice to get Party’s attention. If he wanted something from the bar, there was always one more hoof helping him flag down the bartender. He hadn’t even realized his date had ordered food, and yet there was a steaming hot basket of pizza sticks in front of him the moment his stomach grumbled. He could barely recall mentioning his favorite snack to Party, a dumb little concoction that barely existed outside of Manehattan. But he remembered. He would probably memorize the number of hairs on his tail if it mattered enough to him.

As the party slipped by, Diamond could feel his chest rise when he laid eyes on his friend, and a gentle flutter in his heart whenever their gazes met. The longer they spent together, the harder he was falling for the unicorn. And, surprising himself, he was okay with that.

Another artist had come and gone from the podium, but Double Diamond was utterly wrapped up in the company he had. The bar had proved nice, but as the conversation went on it almost seemed a hair stifled by the distance of all parties involved, an issue only amplified by the volume of the music. He could hear Party just as well as he wanted to, but shouting across the bar was starting to get annoying.

In the middle of one of those shouting sessions though, he’d noticed something. A group of ponies about the size of their own had left a booth, and were making their way down to the dance floor. The only issue was, he didn’t want to try corralling the group into something. It just felt… off. Something Party should be doing. As it turned out, it was something he was more than happy to do once it was suggested.

“Hey, if you guys don’t plan on hitting the floor until Neon Lights is up, why don’t we grab that booth before ponies start coming back in?” The unicorn proposed to unanimous approval. He left a small note for the bartender on a napkin, nodding them towards the empty booth with their beverages in tow.

The walk served as an opportunity to mingle a bit better, but Diamond didn’t expect Coco’s cocktail glass to be hovering in front of his face, seemingly containing some sort of reflection of the cosmos in it.

“I saw you eyeing it up after I ordered, so try it. It’s a Zap-Apple Cosmo with Silklead.” Diamond eyed the drink, exchanging the beverage in his hoof with Coco’s.

“Certainly smells good. Is Silklead one of those flavored vodkas everyone likes to advertise?” The athlete inquired, inspecting the cocktail over the sound of the femcolt’s giggling.

“I forget this is your first CTS party with how cute you and Party looked out there. It’s a Zebrican cocktail mixer that’s supposed to help you feel more in tune with whoever’s best suited to hold your leash as it were.” Diamond almost couldn’t stand to meet his eyes with all the eyebrow wiggling he was seeing in his peripheral vision.

“Huh, is Zebrican stuff common at CTS parties? The Lunarch lounge had some bitters that were supposed to be based on a truth potion or whatever.”

“Oooh, you tasted some Acclarion. You’re not getting the effects though, all the stuff at the lounge doesn’t go through the distillation that makes it magical. Shame though, Acclarion and Silklead work crazy well together. I’d get a drink with some here, but I think they might’ve gotten a bad batch. My last Old fashioned was just that,” the femcolt joked.

It only took the stallion one last swirl of the drink before he took a sip, and a sizeable one at that. He wasn’t always the biggest fan of Zap-apple’s fruit punch profile, but it was balanced out by the tartness of the cranberry, and what he could only assume was the perfume of the Silklead. It was a sensation the stallion hadn’t quite felt before, but not an unwelcome one. The scent almost flowed into an indescribable emotion. He couldn’t place it at first, but the familiarity as it floated up through his head brought him somewhere. Warm and sensual, as if his steps were all predetermined by the playful tug of gossamer puppet strings.

Then something snapped him into a realization. This is where he went when he lost himself in his Love Song novels. This was Chrys being lead along on a golden chain to a velvet pillory. This was hanging off of Bitter Root’s shoulder like an evening cape, smiling in clandestine pleasure as if he was daring to get caught with his tail plug in. This was Waveform hanging onto Skytracer as he was pounded into a cloud he could fall through just as easily as his partner could stand on it. That dreamy, half-lucid state where he wanted to follow the world through to it’s inevitable conclusion.

“Wow, you must’ve really liked it to down half a glass that quickly,” Coco taunted, taking his drink back. “Liking Silklead so far?’

Diamond nodded as they headed to the table, “More than I know how to say.”

He could feel the strings pull him along, and he was happy to follow. The moment Party began scooching into the booth, he was hot on his hooves. When the stallion was finally sitting still, Diamond felt a small chill across his skin despite the heat of the room. In the moment, the only logical option was to cuddle into Party’s side, and accept the hoof that was gently draped across his shoulders.

Moments later, he started to feel it. It was like a soft glow, emanating out from his date, and warming him from the core as opposed to just the gentle heat seeping into his side from the unicorn’s body. The sparkle in the stallion’s eyes made his heart skip a beat, and it seemed as if he could tell. The smile that crossed Party’s lips was as warm as the rest of him, and seemed to be just as radiant. It lept right back to Diamond, drawing his gaze away, and making him cool down with a giggle. The moment he felt he was finished they came right back as he felt a nuzzle against his mane.

“Somepony took a sip of somepony else’s drink,” Party cooed, drawing his date in closer to snuggle more intensely.

“Mmh, not telling.” Diamond didn’t even think that his tongue sticking out couldn’t be seen, but it was even audible in the pouting tone of his voice. “And even still, so what if I did? I can handle my liquor.”

“Debatable, but something tells me that the sip you totally didn’t take may not have been of a certain other beverage?” The unicorn glanced across to the rest of the group, that was very visibly enjoying how cuddly the previously rather tense stallion had become after such a small drink.

“Mmh, news to me I guess, maybe if you hug me a little bit tighter, I’ll figure it out,” the athlete sighed, resting his hooves on the planner’s, scooching their flanks up against one another’s.

“Wow, Silklead’s certainly helping you calm down, isn’t it?” Party asked. The two stallions were now leaning against one another, propped into an equilibrium that let them relax against the other’s weight. They’d all but shifted into a spooning position, one of Diamond’s hooves propped up on the booth as the other hung lazily down onto the floor below.

“Who said anything about Silklead? I never did, and I can’t imagine anypony else had your ear,” the stallion cooed, leaning his head back against the nape of the other stallion’s neck. His muscles were relaxed for a mere moment, then a single nip on the ear left him nearly curled up into a ball.

“Well first, if anything is saying you had a nice big drink of Silklead, it’s the fact that you’re crawling all over me. You walked in here nervous about going hoof in hoof, and if it was the booze, you would’ve been all over me on the dancefloor,” the unicorn prattled off idly

“Mmhff, maybe don’t get too nippy and I’ll consider that when the next DJ starts,” Diamond’s voice held a slightly annoyed tone. Even the gentle nibble was still radiating sensation through the whole of his head. The athlete spent a few moments rubbing his ear in an attempt to relax it, but it didn’t quite seem to sort itself out. However, the moment Party’s hoof met his mane and started to rub, he absolutely melted back onto the unicorn. He felt almost no embarrassment as one of his back hooves thumped against the booth.

“And you’re acting like it too. I’ve had a few sips of Silklead myself, and I know how good it feels to get a nice petting session while finishing a cocktail. I think I’m gonna spare you the belly rubs though. Nopony would mind, but I think I want some collateral to get you through the door of the next CTS party in the area.” It took the earth pony a few moments of whimpering and gasping as Party let up from the slow deliberate circles he was tracing in his mane to figure out how to put words together into a sentence.

“I already wanted to go to the next one of these. Buck, I’d pay for airfare to Ponyville if it got me through the door again.” Diamond rubbed back into Party again, if only because the friction of their coats felt so electric, and the unicorn seemed happy to apply. Even if he wasn’t aware, the table shared more than a few excited, knowing looks amongst themselves.

“Well I think if you’ll be willing to travel that far, you won’t have terribly much time to prepare. I’d say you’d even be better off trying to join them at that rate. That would mean a whole lot of new ponies, and a whole lot of the same stuff that made you all antsy when you walked in. You really think you’d be ready for that?” Party inquired, gently poking at the crown of the Earth pony’s head for emphasis. A gesture met with a half--hearted wave of the athlete's forehoof.

“Well, if all the parties are going to be like this…” Diamond’s sentence stopped in its tracks. A passing thought occurred to him; he was far more uncomfortable than he should’ve been walking in. He couldn’t even place his hoof on why in the moment. In retrospect, that was possibly the stupidest he’d been in quite some time given how much fun he was having now, doing something that probably would’ve sent him clamoring for the exit if he was told how the night would turn out on his way in. The biggest barrier to him having fun was, quite frankly, himself. He’d had so many preconceptions about just what everything was going to be. It had taken having Party toss him in face first in order to realize what he was missing by always hanging back. Something did need to change, and it wasn’t anypony else around the table.

“Then I think I need to get over myself and just go,” Diamond stated, his hoof waving idly in the air. Party chuckled and tousled the athlete's hair for good measure. The sudden, unexpected stimulus was enough to squeeze a moan out of Diamond.

“Being that open minded about things is liable to take you places. Keep it up for the rest of the night, and I might be able to show you the after party tomorrow.” Diamond wasn’t quite sure why the table seemed to light up with chatter after that statement, as mysterious as it seemed to be. But while Party seemed to have two new mysteries for every one that was answered, it was starting to feel a whole lot more fun than frustrating. If every answer brought him to some place like this, then he never wanted to stop asking.

“Sounds like a plan,” Diamond responded, turning to face Party in his seat, their muzzles only inches apart. He could smell the unicorn’s breath drift and eddy around the curves of his muzzle, smelling ever so slightly of liquor. He looked into Party’s eyes for a few moment before he felt a gentle, silken tug to draw his head ever so slightly forward.

Even if he’d motioned into it, the party planner was the one to complete the advance, landing a few light pecks before going in and committing to a deeper kiss, coupled with a rather tight embrace. Every second the kiss lasted, Diamond felt the beat of his heart grow in his chest. He could feel his date’s pulse just as easily as his own, and the rise in its tempo drove him to keep going, and forget the world around them. Anypony could watch as far as he cared, all they would get is jealousy.

One blissful eternity later, and the two split off from one another to take a short breather. Even though Diamond still couldn’t help but shy from his friend’s gaze, he didn’t feel the need to look anywhere but at the pair of shimmering blue eyes that admired him right back. A part of him wondered how everypony else at the table reacted, but the rest of the stallion was far too wrapped up in a certain wonderful colt to care.

He easily could’ve stayed there all night, just lying chest to chest with a frizzy-haired dreamboat, losing himself to the romantic gaze that was returned to him. But that same gentle tug returned, this time to his tail. The music that had provided a hazy neon atmosphere to the first make-out session he ever enjoyed came to an unexpected crescendo, followed by cheering. The booth’s enchantment made the conversation resonate far louder than the music, but it’s sudden absence was immediately noticeable. Against his immediate wishes, he followed Party’s gaze to survey the table and floor.

“Did Pegboard just end his set early?” Coco questioned, the dancers on the floor starting to blossom back out to the tables.

“Seems like it.” Shutter answered, “I’m pretty sure that means either Vinyl or Neon plans to go a bit longer. Or maybe they’re going to do something extra cool for the finale”

“Cooler than what Vinyl had planned for this little sock hop? Doubt it,” Firewire declared, starting to scoot out of the booth.

“Well then master, who let you in on this little dossier of insider information?” Scarlet responded as she landed on her hooves.

“Yours truly,” Fridis revealed. “I happened to mention to Fire that a few of the boys from AV nabbed the certain rock from the consulate, and he had it pegged to be brought here almost as soon as I’d shut my mouth.”

“A rock?’ Diamond inquired, heading for the dance floor.

“I’d love to answer… but if it really is here, something tells me you’d be more excited seeing it than hearing about it.” Fridis’ muzzle held a coy smile that made it clear nothing more would be divulged.

“Trust me D, if it’s what I think it is, it’s absolutely going to be worth the hype,” Party interjected, drawing the athlete's gaze in the other direction. Diamond was still curious, but the unicorn’s comment was just enough to make him wait. By the time the athlete bothered to scan his surroundings, the group was almost to the dance floor. He’d been so wrapped up in the company, that he hardly noticed time passing at all. He didn’t have to find something to do like he used to at clubs. Going along with the flow of events felt so much better.

Chapter 6

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Chapter 7

It seemed to start out light, but not a single flake seemed to hit one of the dancers, weaving down to the ground before disappearing into white mist. The stallion reached out curiously to catch one, only to have it dissolve in his hoof without sensation. Party simply chuckled at the display and pulled the athlete closer.

“Did they turn on the froststone or something? It’s really pretty and all, but I’ve never seen snow like this. It isn’t cold?” The stallion questioned his friend, who seemed to have a much better idea of what was going on than he did. The only other thing out of the ordinary he noticed was the slight glow of magic from the tables. Neon being a pegasus, she didn’t seem to be a likely candidate to be causing it.

“It’s only the start of the main event. Remember that thing Fridis was talking about? That’s what’s making the snow,” the unicorn asked, slowing his dancing to pull the athlete close.

“It’s not a froststone. This snow isn’t real, It’s just-” Diamond speculated as he watched the air above them start to form picture perfect clouds that the few airborne pegasi didn’t even seem to disturb as they flew past.

“An Illusion? Now you’ve got it.” The party planner chuckled, moving his hoof up to ruffle the athlete's hair. “It’s a manifold crystal the dragon empire sometimes loans out to ponies who want to use it in arcane projectors. the Day Grass observatory visitor's center uses it to help show the foals what the stars look like up close. It has the power to simulate an accurate starfield in a theater sized room and make it move seamlessly, and theoretically it’s as powerful as the aether pipe shoved into it.”

“How big is the one at the visitor’s center?” Diamond pondered, his eyes looking up in wonder as the clouds started to morph into birds and fish, playfully chasing the pegasi and leaving trails of illusionary snowflakes, which fluttered to the ground in a Diamond rain.

“They’ve got a garden hose, and we’ve got a fire hydrant.” Party answered, watching along with his date. The spectacle above the floor all but stopped the motion on it, and every eye turned up to watch the forming display. The wings and tails of the beasts sprang to life with energy, tongues of illusionary lightning linking the “clouds” together, and to the tables. As the measures flowed on, the athlete came to a realization.

“Wait, isn’t this a mix of a Vinyl Scratch song?” The beat began to accelerate towards a crescendo, Neon pumping her hoof in the air as the largest illusion, an eagle, took a mount on the back edge of the spire. It cradled it’s wings, posing majestically as if it was a piece of heraldry. The electricity from its feathers traced along the edges of the platform, and onto the outstretched hooves of the crowd.

Finally, at the few, scarce beats before the drop, Vinyl Scratch herself swaggered up to the tables.

Her mere presence at the table seemed to multiply the force of the drop exponentially, even past the deafening roar of the crowd. It was clear that Neon was still doing most of the work, but Vinyl’s occasional adjustment of the levels made worlds of difference. It was clear that she had something else that was taking up the most attention, however. The great eagle behind them spread its wings, screaming and dissolving into a flurry of cloudy feathers. It was clear in that instant, Vinyl knew how to work the tables like nopony else present. For now, she seemed content to illustrate the world of Neon’s music, however, she was priming herself to take everypony present into her own world once the pegasus took her leave.

In the three songs before the end of the set, Diamond started feeling a little bit claustrophobic. Even though the fantastical projections were clearly visible from every corner of the building, nearly everypony had packed in to get as close to center stage as possible. He was thankfully able to stick next to his date, but any hopes of meeting up with any of his new friends until after the end of the festivities were quickly dashed. Compared to how close they got to the central spire though, it didn’t seem like the worst change of plans.

Those final songs painted a tantalizing picture of what the crowd was about to experience in an utterly unbridled Vinyl. With each measure, it seemed like the illusions were being stretched to new limits. The airborne illusions shifted from mere clouds, taking on the shades of fine oil paintings and stained glass. They swept just above the hooves of the crowd, laying down trails of musical notes that eddied and whirled in the breeze as easily as their phantasmal progenitors. The DJ wanted the crowd’s desire for her to take the stage to match her own in ferocity.

So, With the end of the last song of her set, Neon made a slightly unpredicted move to vacate the tables as quickly as possible, barely soaking in any of the fervor of the crowd. She wanted Vinyl to take the stage, so she hopped right off of it. It seemed even a superstar like Neon Lights wanted to be part of the crowd for a Vinyl Scratch performance.

But for a moment, she simply stood, smiling and looking down over the crowd. Oddly enough, she didn’t quite want to continue the hype train, even making a small motion down with her hoof to quiet the crowd slightly. In a moment, the low murmur of the crowd and the flutter of wings was all that was audible. Only in that anticipatory atmosphere did Vinyl lean into the mic and speak.

“I wanted to let you all know, I’m gonna be pushing myself tonight. I was told that we were stress testing this aether pipe, so I’m going to be using every last wisp of the stuff I can get. I’m going to go bigger, go harder, and go louder than I think I’ve ever gone. I might even end up straining something. So I want to ask one thing of you all, even my little club bunny, who I know is sitting out there, somewhere in the audience.” Her tone was surprisingly somber, despite her confident smile keeping everypony above and below her fixated on what was coming next.

“I may never rock this hard again, so I need everypony here to do the same. If you’re going to lose your mind, do it. If this is the night you wanted to try moshing, I want you diving face first into that pit like it’s going to save your bucking life. If you always wanted to kiss the stallion or mare you brought along, I want you to forget what everypony told you and make your passion known. I’m doing this because I’m safe here, and you are too. This is a night to be whoever the buck you are, or even whoever you want to be. Because that’s what tonight’s about. That’s what The…” the mare caught an apparent mistake, chucking as she switched tracks. “That’s what CTS is all about.”

The crowd started to cheer, some more loudly than others. Vinyl almost seemed a tad emotional up on the platform, which began to spark to life beneath her. The cheering steadily rose as the unicorn prepared, the audience hyping themselves up over time. Diamond could even see a yellow-coated mare hopping up and down out of the corner of his eye, to whom the unicorn blew a kiss. Things were going too slow however. It seemed DJ-Pon3 had a limit on how long she could go without noise.

“WHAT THE BUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR? LOSE! YOUR! MINDS!”

The roil and scream of the crowd was drowned out almost immediately by the initial blast of bass. This was different than any of the artists before. The sound felt truly unstoppable, moving through bodies as opposed to around them. It almost took as long as the space between the beats for the audience’s hearing to fully return. In about the last moment he could have for the rest of the night, Diamond heard Party say something.

“Just hold on and move with the crowd. Don’t worry about dancing, we’re here for the show.”

And without any further ado, the show began. As the melody worked itself into something proper, small tendrils of light wrapped around the central platform, concealing the speakers under hundreds of prismatic strands. The glow from Vinyl’s horn was intense, just as intense as the one from her cutie mark. The strands wove more finely together, meshing into the form of a great tree trunk, which was rendered down to the tiniest scratch in the bark.

Her first song was, surprisingly enough, a cover. Neon had written infinite bloom, and Vinyl was currently making a love letter in response. As the beat continued on, the branches of the “tree” interwove themselves and spread out, going in a moment from barren wood to leafy, with buds sprouting between the foliage. For the few ponies who bothered to look down, they were treated to the detail of what appeared as silken blades of grass.

But when the beat dropped, the visual splendor truly began. The buds burst open all at once, and petals of all forms and hues began to rain down, rocked gently to the floor on the warm updraft made by the density of the crowd. Pinpricks of light streamed in through the now dense canopy of the stage, sprinkling the scene with golden-white light. The sweeping synths of the song, paired with the exultant arias that carried the melody lent a bizarre sense of tranquility to such intense music. Diamond swore he could even smell them, though perhaps he didn’t care if it was just in his head.

The scene only lasted for two “verses” the song was allowed to play for. The set had to keep going, and going through songs in full would threaten to break the flow. the tree catching alight from an unseen source, and soaking itself in violet flame. The leaves and flowers fell away to reveal rolling clouds, shining spears of radiance piercing through them from an illusionary sun. the essence of the music changed from calm and mystical to a triumphant radiance, as if it would cascade into Celestia’s battle march at any moment. The clouds wrapped Vinyl’s plinth, turning it to a great edifice of marble, colonnades supporting the sides.

But it had control. This light knew its place, illusion or not. One more song through, and the illumination cleanly faded into a wondrous shade of night. The night sky was above them, not stopped by the roof, or even the light pollution San Franciscolt was guaranteed to be giving off at this late hour. Luna’s glory was there with them, and the more Vinyl’s magic wore itself into the music, the brighter and more entrancing the stars became. Comets streaked overhead, and a great copse of trees edged the show floor. Vinyl had all but gone, center stage replaced with a single glowing ring of fairy mushrooms, containing a swarm of fireflies. The music dynamically wrapped around to become mysterious, haunting, but in the end simply ambient.

Behind that illusion, even Vinyl was impressed with her work. She sat and let the music play, watching the stars with so many other ponies.

The invisibility couldn’t last the whole concert though, The mare wanted her fans to be able to see her face. Briefly, a smattering of mirrored panels appeared to be hovering in the air. They flickered out, then back into visibility, spiraling into a complex geometrical form which faded away, revealing the unicorn pumping her hoof to the beat. The sky sped up, dragging the points of light into lines, and increasing the luminosity of the scene.

By the end of the song, the skybox had entirely faded into white, returning into a rolling field, and a pale grey horizon, dotted with airships. Vinyl shifted tracks to a personal favorite of hers, Bombardment. When the crossfade finally completed, things started to get intense. Trails of magic screamed across the sky between opposing vessels, with major explosions reserved for high points in the rhythm. The sounds of the battle weren’t even present, but the thrum of the bass was enough to make that detail seem insignificant at best. Ash and embers began drifting down into the revelers like the snow had moments earlier, heralding that this increase in intensity was only the beginning.

The songs faded in and out, each one scoring a new leg in the journey Vinyl had planned out. Impossible vistas were quickly swapped out for neon-lit cityscapes, which fell into ruin with the flick of a hoof. Every call Vinyl made to the crowd was responded to in kind with absolute fervor, which Double Diamond found himself quickly swept up into.

It was quite easy to go along with the actions of the crowd, and not just because his date seemed just as jubilant as everypony else. The force of the sound flowed through the entire room, Joining the assembled together in a rather visceral manner. The music moved them as one, and that sense of acoustic solidarity became utterly infectious when paired with the illusionary fantasia woven by the white mare on the tables.

It was something far beyond what the athlete had ever experienced before. The ebb and flow of the rhythm danced within him, and he knew the same was true for anyone he could lay eyes on. That thought gave way to a sheer sense of unity with everypony present, that they all were together, though their perspectives might be different, Living this impossible dream. He felt the music with every fiber of his being, letting go of what small hold he had on himself and losing himself to the beat.

The songs began fading into one another perfectly, Vinyl’s skilled hooves guiding the beat (and the world that hung upon its fidelity) with peerless finesse. The environments became increasingly immersive as the show went on, the crowd feeling as if they could reach up and feel the icy breeze of a tundra tussle their coat. She brought them to a wide coast with sandstone towers, and in the moment, the air tasted of salt, and the floor was cold like an inbound tide.

The music commanded their hooves to dance in one moment, and their blood to boil with fervor the next. The music became more than a performance, and the illusion more than a light show. In that moment, Vinyl’s control was greater than any of the princesses, because she knew the crowd allowed it to be so. She returned that trust by weaving nothing less than the ethos of a world turbulent in it’s change, but utterly gorgeous in every iteration.

Every set however, no matter how earth-shaking, had to come to its end. She brought every artist that had been on before her to do at least one song alongside her. She blended in all the crowd favorites. But she could see in the air that even though the crowd was still as hyped as ever, fatigue was starting to set in. she wanted to push limits, but not enough to hurt anyone. But she could tell one thing; there was just enough energy left in the room for one hell of a finale. She’d taken them anywhere she wanted, now she was going to take them everywhere.

They’d returned back to a previous location, the starlit clearing from an earlier part of the set. But this time, it didn’t wipe away as the music faded into a soft introduction. The trees and grass fell away, but the stars above them remained, getting closer with each passing second. In no time, the whole venue was covered in an intricate star field, motes of twinkling light interspersed with wispy nebulas, which churned as the music began to rise in timbre. The crystal had been borrowed by observatories, so she knew that while this was taxing on her to maintain such complexity, it wasn’t about to blow anything out.

With the starfield now encompassing the entirety of the enclosed space, Vinyl knew she could push herself to the apex she’d hoped to be able to reach.

The stars began to swirl together for the drop, assembling above the tower in swirling strands that began to take a familiar shape. A softly defined muzzle, slender hooves, a blue mane like a cresting wave, and finally, a pair of goggles. It might have seemed narcissistic at any other moment to assemble an image of oneself from the cosmos, but Vinyl wanted to show that she was putting every last bit of herself into her final song.

The duplicate moved the same as Vinyl, manipulating a set of galaxies in place of the turntables that her actual hooves were touching. Whenever she moved to hit her launchpad, pulsars formed at the touch of her hooves, casting roving spotlights over the crowd, who’d clustered in to watch this grand finale as closely as possible. The only reaction the mare hoped to incite was awe. Wrapped up in the moment that she was, she could barely take in the stunned faces of the audience. However, when she started to pump her hoof in the last few measures of the song, the sheer amount of ponies that matched the motion made it look like the whole building was moving.

When the last true beat dropped, she stood up straight and released control of the projector, letting the outro play. Her image dissolved, the stars faded out one by one, and as the last few twinkling notes faded, the floor lights slowly returned, the locus faded onto a solitary remaining star, which Vinyl reached out and snuffed with her hoof to a final, chiming chord, which faded into dead silence.

The ensuing celebration came almost exponentially, the sound of one pony cheering reminding two others that there was a world to come back down to, and that there was a mare that got them away from it in the first place. Even with the fact that there had been absurdly loud music playing all night, Diamond was pretty sure that the sound of the crowd was the loudest thing he was ever going to hear in his life. He could stand the ensuing tinnitus though, as he knew Vinyl absolutely deserved it. He swore he could hear a muffled thank you to the city before Vinyl dove off the stands, and was carried over to the mare she’d acknowledged earlier.

But Diamond had his own plans to keep up with, turning towards his date, who was already looking in his direction. Party’s attention snapped to the athlete almost immediately after noticing where his eyes lay, looking at the earth pony almost expectantly. He looked like there were a thousand things going through his head, so it made sense that the most pertinent of them all popped out first.

“Dude, that was awesome! I knew that we were going to pull out all the stops for this one, but I had no idea it was going to end up looking like that! I don’t even think I’m disappointed that there won’t be an encore with an ending like that!” Diamond eagerly nodded back, making sure that he was going to be sticking next to the unicorn.

“I’m not even sure if I can go to any of those big concerts again, I think I’d almost… Wait, what do you mean we?” the earth pony inquired, letting the unicorn give a helping hoof navigating them into the slowly forming river of bodies headed off the dancefloor. Even as he watched Party try his hardest to find a safe out, the stallion’s brain was very quickly connecting a large number of dots. His date could see that, which is why he decided to nip it in the bud before Diamond’s assumptions went too far.

“Yeah, We… a lot more ponies than you think here are part of CTS. myself included. It’s one of the reasons I was able to get you in so easily. I wanted to show you a really good time, because it seemed like you were in serious need of one. I didn’t mean to be so deceptive, but really, It’s going to be explained tomorrow. I promise. It’s a lot to explain and a lot to think about, but that’s not what you needed to think about tonight,” Party stammered through his explanation as Diamond simply stared, his decision to bed the unicorn being rapidly justified post-factorum.

“Dude, I’ve got no idea what the buck is going on, so I’m just trusting you to make it all make sense when we wake up tomorrow morning.” the words simply slid out of the athlete's mouth. The stallion didn’t think about how he’d phrased it until he saw the mild shock in Party’s expression. Of course, by the time he’d thought to respond, that look had settled down to a vastly more satisfied one.

“Don’t worry, I will. It’s a bit out there, but I’ve got proof to back it up. So judging by what you just said, I guess I’ll ask if you’d prefer my place or yours?” Party queried playfully, which only made Diamond glance away in embarrassment. For everything he wanted to do, actually having the opportunity to really think about what was being said gave him pause. He was beginning to wish there was a way to live in the moment the rest of the night. The last thing he needed was to be doubting himself with an excited stallion waiting on the bed.

Just then, the spark of an idea formed.

“Hey, why don’t you head out and wait by the doors? I’ll be out in a second with the decision,” the athlete remarked. His friend didn’t respond verbally, but rather with a mildly confused look in his direction.

“Don’t worry, the last thing I’d want to do is ditch you. You know the majority of the places I go in the city by now.” It took a few moments, but they were finally on the main concourse heading towards the door. The pair stopped for a few moments as Party stopped to think, eventually nodding and slipping back along with the crowd.

“Alright, I’ll give you a few minutes, but you said it yourself, you know what you’re getting into if you’re trying to run” And with that, the pony disappeared through the open bay of doors that lined the wall. Diamond was alone, and could do whatever he wanted, as long as he didn’t spend too much time doing it. It was time to get a drink.

This time around, the trot to the Lunarch Lounge wasn’t quite as intimidating as it was before. There were still more than a few ponies patronizing the bartenders, it was mostly just empty tables and groups of three or four ponies chatting. The only large group left seemed to be a whole gaggle of Sparklings, most of which he’d seen at one point or another. There was a new face however, the white winged sparkling in a beanie, whose mouth seemed to be running at a mile a minute as he spoke to his surrounding kin.

Diamond knew who he wanted his drink from when he finally reached the bar. Silver Julep was an absolute savant of his craft the first time around, so he didn’t have a doubt in his mind that an encore would be any less impressive. That was, until, the unicorn came jetting across the bar, wearing an expression of stress and consideration that looked like he was trying to balance a flaming book on his head. Still, he stopped on a dime the second Diamond tried to flag him down.

He didn’t seem to realize exactly who’d done it at first, but by the time he’d turned to face the pony, his face had shifted to the same relaxed smile that he saw during his first visit to the bar. He started to speak, seemingly on autopilot as he glanced over his flank.

“Welcome to the Lunarch Lounge, last call’s in an hour and a half. I apologize in advance if you wanted something with Acclarion, we got the wrong shiiiii-” his little speech hung on that syllable as he realized who he was addressing. That coy smile shifted like a changeling in a hall of mirrors, going from shocked, to mortified, to confused, briefly revisiting shock, and finally, settling on slightly concerned relief. “Shit, Hey, Diamond right? How’s your night been? Party leave you behind or something?”

“Nah, he’s waiting outside, and I’m trying my hardest to get myself out there with him,” The athlete took a seat, garnering Silver’s undivided attention.

“Had a good time?” The unicorn inquired, wiping down the bar between them. It seemed as if there was something he wanted to say, but wasn’t. So Diamond decided to, in his mind at least, cut it off.

“An amazing time. The best time of my life. Such a good time i’m headed somewhere with Party for the night. Or i want to. But I’m super nervous and I’m worried I’m going to buck it up.” the stallion’s head sunk into his hooves to hide his blush. Instead of just nosing the bar, he found his gaze brought back up by a strangely reassuring scritch behind the ear.

“Normally I’d say virgin jitters, but something tells me I should hold off on that.” Silver noted, slightly to the athlete's exasperation.

“N-no, you’re right, I think. I’ve never really been with a stallion before I guess” Diamond responded.

“Then you’re here for something to calm the nerves. And I’m here to tell you that won’t work. Party’s not going to want to touch you unless you tell him what you want with a clear head.” Silver chided, glancing back towards the bottles.

“But my head was so clear through that whole performance. I knew what I wanted.” The athlete complained.

“And you knew you wanted Party. Buuut…” the bartender coaxed.

“But I’m just a mess right now. I thought this party would change me, but it’s like I’m back to square one the second the music stopped. I mean, during Scratch’s set, I was more into him than when I tried some of that Silklead stuff” Silver did his best to nullify the change in his expression, but his eyes shot open noticeably. “Yeah, I know, sheltered little snow angel, trying all sorts of weird potions. Wasn’t half bad though, I liked it, and plus, it kinda shocked me into knowing what my heart was up to in the first place”

“And now your heart wants a tumbler of Las pegasus luck up to the fettock so you can confess your undying love to Party-sempai right?” the unicorn chuckled to lighten the mood.

“Anything that’ll make the words come out of my muzzle is good with me. What was that drink you mentioned earlier? A partystarter?” the athlete grinned. “I’m looking to keep the party going, so I think I’ll have one of those”

“And you’re out the gates the second after you down it, right?” Silver mused as he pulled out the shaker.

“Absolutely.” Diamond shot back. “If I’ve learned anything in the last few minutes, I can’t give myself time to overthink without ending up as my own worst enemy

“Your funeral I guess. Do me a favor though, next time you can walk straight, hit me up. You’ll know where to find me, name’s the same as our little island here.`` Even as the bartender finished with his entendre, he was still in the process of making the drink. A process that involved seemingly every high-proof liquor they carried, an entire slice of white layer cake, and a cherry, which somehow lit on powder-pink-fire when it was tossed into the shaker. By the time it was finished, the drink had apparently reduced itself, quartering in volume so it could fit in a martini glass.

“That’s it?” Diamond looked over the glas incredulously. “Is there more in the shaker or something?”

“That’s the whole beast. A sip could probably take out an ursa major. If you wanna knock back the whole thing, then I’d suggest running out to Party so you can talk before you lose the ability to coherently speak.” Silver taunted, not entirely expecting Diamond to immediately go for the latter option.

The taste was seemingly impossible, fitting a profile closer to sugar and cake than rum with a proof that had to be measured in scientific notation. The breath out however, was almost pure alcohol. A rather stark reminder of the full ingredient list.

“As much as I’d love to sit and chat, you’ve got like, two minutes if you’re lucky. See ya” Silver stated plainly, a smirk emerging on the end of his face. “Go on, I know he’s waiting, and you do too”

The effects were starting to set in quickly as Diamond made his way to the doors, but that just meant it would be easier for him to say it. Even if he was starting to trip over his own hooves, he knew he had to be able to say it. It had to sound genuine, because it absolutely was. Diamond raced through the doors, back through the box office, and out through a side door. He could even see Party’s tail through it. He excitedly slurred out the stallion’s name, skidding through the exit.

“Excited for something D?” right in front of him, stood Party Favor, smiling attentively.

And there, stammering for a response, stood Double Diamond. Perfectly sober.

“I just-” The athlete paused. “ Am I going crazy, or did something happen when we left? I still had a bit of a buzz going, and I think it just sorta disappeared?”

“When you walked through the doors, right?” the unicorn asked the question with a playful cantor, glancing up towards the facade of the building.

“Yeah,” Diamond trailed off in response, following his friend’s gaze.

“A little piece of CTS magic. Nothing too intimate is allowed during parties, because your partner might not be in a state of mind where consent would mean all that much. So when you’re somewhere you’re allowed to fool around, we want to make sure ponies are in the proper headspace.” With the ambient light had been reduced to that of distant street lamps, the dim violet glow of runeworking was visible over the doors.

“So that’s some sort of nullifying spell?” the earth pony inquired, wishing he could make more than what he felt was a kindergarten level question about magic.

“It removes all forms of intoxication, magical or otherwise. It had to be reworked like a million times so it didn’t accidentally remove prescription stuff like Dawnflower or Silverbell extract from what I’ve been told,” Party nodded his friend along, following along with the stream of ponies towards the city proper. “If you wanna know more, there’s not much I need to keep you cooped up here to explain.”

The earth pony merely shook his head, observing the crowd as he began to trot along. Many of the ponies had already re-obscured certain pieces of their outfits, but far more seemed to be confident that Luna’s veil would be enough to let them slink through San Franciscolt without a care in Equestria. Present worries and future plans set aside, the stallion could almost say he was jealous.

“So, what was it that you seemed so excited about earlier?” Diamond had been so caught up in observing the crowd that Party’s question nearly made him jump through his own scarf.

“Oh, it wasn’t much,” The athlete deflected.

“I’m not buying that for a second, you wanted to get something out of your system,” Party taunted, his eyebrows waggling. “And you sounded like you took a shot right to the inhibitions beforehand.”

“Shut up dude, so what if I had one for the road?” The embarrassment was clear as day in his voice, the impact deepened by the tatters of his plan.

“Because I’m wondering what you had to say that you wouldn’t just be able to ask me outright,” Party mused, appreciating how much cuter the stallion looked with some pink on his palate

“Does it matter? I’ll say it when it needs to be said,” It hurt to avoid the issue, but just ripping the bandaid off and saying that he wanted felt out of the question. He was back to chewing on his cheek, trying to figure out what the right situation was to request casual sex.

“Well, actually, I’d say it probably does. If you had more plans for the evening that is,” Party stated, moving back to watching the crowd instead of just his date.

“What do you mean?” Diamond asked.

“Well, I’m staying at Blue Bay resort. That’s clear across town from Frostfire’s shop, which I can only assume is a short trot from your house. I’d love to have you walk me back, but I’d also love for you not to have to bookend the best party of all time with a few dozen miles and no trolleys to catch back.`` The unicorn was clearly offering a kindness, but it came with a caveat. He was on a clock to get over himself.

“Well, I did have a few thoughts,” Diamond admitted, still trying to force the words out of his mouth. “A few more knowing what side of town you’re on.”

“So you’d wanna stay with me for the night?” There was a spark of excitement in Party’s question, if for no other reason than to encourage his friend.

“More or less, I wouldn’t mind staying over at all if there’s a pharmacy nearby” Mentally, the Stallion was beating himself up for putting conditions on his acceptance of such a gracious offer. He’d feel bad if his date rescinded due to his dodginess, but he also knew that he’d understand completely.

“What do you need a pharmacy for?” Party questioned, looking back over to his friend.

“Oh, I’d need to get a dose of Dawnflower extract so I don’t have to run back and grab a dose from home right after we get up,” Diamond responded. “But if you’d be up for it, there’s a cool bubble tea shop a block away from Blue Bay, and I think it’s open 24 hours, so I’d say we have one place that we could go to wind down.”

“You still take that stuff? I thought that was just a temporary thing to help you settle back in.” the unicorn stated with some concern.

“Really I should’ve been on it the entire time. I mentioned to the docs at the Canterlot screening that I had been taking redroot extract for anxiety issues, and they said it was nowhere near the dose I should’ve had. Pendulum actually upped my dose about a week after I started going to him,” the athlete allowed himself to ramble

The look on Party’s face was almost cause for concern until he realized just how little he’d talked about that part of his past. How simply saying that had probably cast several sooner forgotten memories for him in a whole new light for his date. For all he knew, the unicorn could be viewing him as a totally new pony already, moreso even as time went on. But just then, Diamond also realized he had a comment that was quite time sensitive.

“Hey, if you wanted to catch the last trolley to the resorts, we should’ve split off half a block ago. 5th Street station is on the intersection with Terrace.” The poke to his friend’s side snapped Party back to the present, giving them just enough time to ford across the river of bodies.

“Dude, D, I’m sorry, I never knew.” Diamond didn’t like hearing regret in Party’s voice, but the support that surrounded it lessened the sting.

“It’s okay, I never wanted anypony there to know. We all had our reasons to go, and mine was… well, I wanted to be as confident and self assured as everypony else,” he reassured Party, picking up the pace to make sure there wasn’t any risk of having to go on hoof.

“You alway did try to stick your neck out, but well-” Party cut himself off, knowing a trip down memory lane wasn’t going to benefit setting a single hoof past where Diamond wanted to go. “The past is what it is, and I’d say you’re a buckton more confident now than ever.”

Diamond didn’t exactly enjoy scoffing at the compliment, but even the idea seemed funny. “Oh sweet summer filly, if only you knew how wrong you were.”

“Oh can it. Even if I hadn’t shown up at the board shop early, I knew by the look on your face that you would’ve been there for that little meeting even if you hadn’t basically admitted it. Now that you mention it, I can totally picture you wanting to hole up in your bedroom. But that’s not you anymore, you took some risks tonight that even surprised me!” Party chuckled, hoping it would be received as a compliment.

“Well of course, but that’s because you were there. Put me in a situation like that alone, and I’m that one colt at the pool milling around under the diving board for “big ponies”. I’d have missed the party of the century, and made up some excuse as to how it was for the better anyways.” Diamond rolled his eyes, at himself more than anypony else. They were still in a small crowd of partygoers, but the conversations had become much more restrained as they bunched together at the trolley-stop.

“Well color me impressed! If I’m the kind of pony that can make you act like this, then you’ll make me want to stick around even more than I already did. I might even ask Frost what you were like when I wasn’t helping to mold you into Solarist ‘Enemy Number One’,” Party planted his flanks on one of the available cushions, patting the one next to him. “And to get back to the question you asked earlier, yes. There’s totally a MediMart down the street if you’d still wanna stay the night.”

“I can save you the time. Boring. I couldn’t find the willpower to do anything cool or exciting, and outside of my occasional check-ins with Chapter, I settled into a routine like I’d checked out of life,” Diamond sighed as he sat, glancing around for the trolley.

“Wait, you never went to a single one of the events around here? Doesn’t Frost still hold those monthly house parties for his employees?” Party’s confusion made the athlete feel rather pathetic.

“No, he does, and I flaked. Both times. You probably figured what I meant at the pier was just referring to major stuff. Nope, I was that lame,” Diamond chuckled self-derisively.

“D…” Party murmured, his hoof sliding closer to his friend for support.

“I actually wanted to ask a question, Party,” Diamond requested.

“Anything, I’m all answers right now. No more secrets.” Party knew he had eyes on him, but he couldn’t care less.

“Did you- Did you really mean what you said? That you loved me?” Diamond asked at the lowest croak that he could make his voice produce. Party had to stop himself from his usual jokey reaction, wanting to make absolutely sure that his date knew his response was genuine.

“Absolutely. I really wished things hadn’t gotten so hectic in Canterlot. Who knows, I may have even said it sooner if I could’ve. It just seemed like something you’ve needed to hear for a long time. Which is a shame, because you can only really hear it from somepony who means it.” Party capped off his little speech with a kiss on the cheek. “Still true now, in case you were wondering.”

Diamond couldn’t find words again, but now it was for a totally different reason. The miniature war going on between the two halves of himself was reaching a fever pitch. The time was rapidly approaching where he knew he could no longer reconcile one with the other. He was either going to have to snuff out his Solarist hangups, or the pony he let himself be earlier that evening. One was going to have to go, and he would have to pull it out at the root himself.

“I have a question, if you wouldn’t mind.” Party placed his hoof next to Diamond’s, so the two were touching. The soft nod from his friend was all the permission he needed to continue.

“You asked if I was serious at the pier, but were you serious at the bookstore? A Garden of Leather Roses isn’t exactly material a bored housewife from Ponyville reads for some saucy bedroom ideas. Sure, it’s court drama in part, but there’s a whole lot of kink. Everypony’s favorite speech leads directly into a scene with some pretty heavily symbolic breaking play. Buck, the title’s a reference to a line about a total slave mentality.”

Diamond nodded. “Totally my first, and I loved it.”

“Nice to know, but I meant something different. If you had the right partner, would you really want to try something like that? I don’t just mean tiedown stuff, I mean stuff like false resistance. Safe words. Stuff like that.” That question really set the athlete pondering. The context was somewhat obvious enough that even a pony like him was capable of peering between the lines. But he really wanted to give an answer to Party as honest as he was being with him.

“Yeah. it makes my stomach turn, but kinda like at the idea of going on a big roller coaster. On the one hoof, I’ve heard all sorts of stuff on how evil it is. But on the other, I’ve read what it can be like. You backing it as even being remotely true has me really interested, but-” the stallion trailed off, trying to make sure he wasn’t about to mis-speak.

“But what? Is there something you’d need to make you comfortable?” Party asked.

“Trust. Accountability too I think, but I’d need absolute trust to be there more than anything else. If I can’t count on no or stop to work, I’d want to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the pony doesn’t just want an excuse to get me into a compromising position to begin with. I want to know that when I say the safeword, I’ll be untied as fast as possible. Really, I think I’d have to have that trust in somepony, and have them trust me back. Maybe I could work up the courage to try it with somepony else in time, but it’d have to be after I’ve done it once, and know at least one thing I like.” Diamond started to squirm in his seat, but Party’s offer for a shoulder to lean on was enough to calm him down.

“Can I ask you one last thing, Diamond?” Party smiled, holding his date’s hoof gently.

“Shoot,” he cooed.

“How much do you trust me after tonight?” the unicorn asked.

“Really? After the night you showed me? More than anypony else I can think of.” Diamond answered frankly.

There were a few moments of silence, during which, unfortunately for the tender moment they had going, the trolley finally pulled up. The many partygoers made sure to take their time, giving the pair the precious few seconds they felt were needed.

“Hey, Party?” Diamond mumbled, somewhat upset that they had to move.

“Yeah D?” the party planner answered his date.

“I’ve never been too good with emotions, but I wanna say I love you too,” the earth pony’s murmur was barely audible above the engine of the streetcar, but when he opened his eyes, he was glad to see Party’s smiling face looking back at his.

The two leaned against each other for support, taking the long seat at the back of the car together.

“Still wanna go out to that bubble tea place? You seem like you need to get to bed,” the unicorn inquired.

“It’s open 24 hours, It can wait until morning,” Diamond responded.

“Noted,” the unicorn droned.

“Hey, Party?” The stallion mewled.

“Yeah?” he responded

“I want to ask a favor. It’ll take a lot of trust though”