Permafrost

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”