Identity Theft

Chapters

A Change of Scenery
Rebirth
Discovery
Forgotten
Illumni
Rave
Prologue

A Change of Scenery

Authors note: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I didn't think my prologue would be so widely liked and fav'd, but i thank you all for the support.

This chapter is quite a bit longer, and I hope you all enjoy where it takes you.

It was early morning. The crisp summer air was still very thick as dew was beginning to form on the grass. Jake rolled over in his sleep. His mind didn’t acknowledge the fact that he was sleeping in a completely foreign place or even the fact that he was no longer human. His mind did however notice that the room was a bit chilly. He pulled his comforters up to his neck. They were soft and large, but most importantly they were warm.

Some people say they never dream, but Jake never seemed to have that problem. While his dreams were not always meaningful to him, he was able to recall his nighttime adventures pretty often. His current dream was not one that would make it into his list of epic adventures, but it was a dream welcomed nonetheless.

This sandwich is amazing.

A bit of drool escaped the corner of his mouth. It was not an uncommon thing to happen to him during the night, and his current food based epic was encouraging it more than usual. Still he slept, unaware of his changes and his vastly changed surroundings.

Eventually the sun rose. Amber waves crept across the base of his room and illuminated the specks of dust floating in the air. The smell of an equestrian morning began to fill the room. It was pleasant, not unlike the smell of a rainy afternoon on Earth.

Jake soon smelled the fresh air and stirred a bit. He pulled his comforters up a bit as his eyes opened lazily. For a few moments it was just another morning. But soon enough his brain kicked in.

I’m awake.

He tensed up a bit. He wasn’t really sure what to expect. He was sure that his heart rate was a bit higher than normal and he was almost afraid to move. Still, he couldn’t help but be giddy with excitement.

I wonder who I am.

Slowly he pulled at the cozy blankets that covered him. He didn’t get very far without thumbs. It took a second, but soon enough he had the sheets off of him a bit.

These hooves are gonna take a bit of getting used to.

He looked at them. They were a part of his body, yet they were completely new. He flexed his forelegs a bit as he tried to get an understanding of his upper limbs. Flipping his hooves around, he tried to figure out how he might pick things up. He found his fetlocks to be particularly useful.

These aren’t too bad I guess.

As he rolled onto his side to mess with them some more he found his mane obscuring his field of vision. He instinctively pushed it out of the way when he realized something.

My mane is blue.

He sat up in his bed and pulled his mane in front of his face. As he studied it he began to smile.

Electric blue mane and white coat.

Jake had an idea of who he was. He prodded his forehead and found even more confirmation. There was only one thing left to see. He pulled the blankets off of himself completely to see a moderate sized ebony musical note on both of his flanks. He laid back on his pillow and released a happy sigh.

I always loved Vinyl.

He laid there in contempt for a few moments before something occurred to him.

Vinyl Scratch is a girl.

His eyes bolted open. The reality of the situation brought about a bit of shock. He slowly lowered a hoof under his blankets to confirm his previous thought.

Whoa.

She quickly brought her hoof back to her chest.

That’s gonna take some getting used to as well.

She sat there thinking her whole situation over. She closed her eyes and tried to get a grip on her new life.

Okay. I’m Vinyl Scratch. I’m a pony. I’m a mare.

Those words hung in the air for a moment. It was something she knew was likely to happen, but it was still a bit of a shock. Nothing could have prepared her for this moment.

At least I’m not Rarity. That would be too much change for me to handle.

She rolled onto her flank again.

Vinyl Scratch. I guess I better get used to that.

Vinyl lifted the blankets again to take a peek at the changes.

And that. That one might be harder.

She looked to her bedside table and saw the necklace she had last night hanging slightly over the edge. It was exactly as it was on Earth. She leaned over to it, and carefully lifted it above her neck and over her head with her hooves. It was tighter than she liked it, but it would do.

Finally, some familiarity.

She took a second to look it over. It was a hand crafted piece, made by her former girlfriend. They had had an … interesting history but they ended up sharing about a year and a half of their lives together. Really the only reason it didn’t work out was college. The distance had its effect on them--as it does a lot of relationships.

Their breakup was heartbreaking, but expected. Vinyl still felt for her, but she knew it would be better to go their separate ways. Vinyl kept the necklace she made her as a keepsake. Vinyl knew she would find love again, and it reminded her just how good it could be.

She polished the trapezoidial clay stone at the end of it with a hoof. It was held together by clever weaves of fine black thread, mixed with beads that gave it a western look.

You were always so good to me.

She took a long breath as she thought about what to do next. She soon decided that getting out of bed would be a good first step. She swept her hooves out to the side and put some weight on them for the first time. She dropped onto her front legs and wobbled a bit. Slowly she took her first few steps and found her center of gravity. It wasn’t easy, but she was able to walk out of her room.

As she walked into her living room she took notice of her surroundings. The living room had a pretty normal looking couch, a few recliners and a table with some magazines on it. She took a peek over the couch to get a glimpse of one of the covers. The title read “Covermare”. She had a subscription to Covermare. She looked around to find her kitchen so she could grab a spoon to gag herself with.

The kitchen was pretty small, but then again so was her apartment.

Looks like Vinyl isn’t as super-famous as I would have thought.

She looked up at her cupboard. It seemed so far away from her on all fours. She tentatively balanced herself on her hind legs as she reached for the handle on the wooden piece. Inside were some plastic cups without handles. Her eyes narrowed.

How the hell am I supposed to hold these with hooves?

She moved the cups out of the way and found some glassware with hoof shaped handles.

Much better.

She grabbed one and turned on the tap. The sound of water filling her glass was oddly relaxing. She took her drink to the couch and sat down. It was really awkward with her new body structure. As she sat there she noticed that the couch was really long, almost long enough to seat four ponies.

Strange.

She adjusted herself. Sitting like this was really uncomfortable. It took her a second, but she picked up on what was wrong pretty quick.

Only Lyra sits like this stupid.

She shyly stepped onto the couch and sat down on her hind legs. She pulled her forelegs under herself and laid down on her stomach.

Oh yeah. Way better.

She let her head rest on her front legs.

This always looked so uncomfortable when my dog did it.

She was beginning to understand this whole pony thing a bit more. It was certainly different, but she thought she could get the hang of it. She was beginning to get lost in thought when she was interrupted by a scream from nearby.

”NOOOOOOO!!!” echoed a very effeminate voice.

Vinyl’s ears popped up instinctively and she hopped up from the couch.

That sounded like it came from the other room.

Vinyl decided it would be best to respond in a similar matter.

“WHAT’S WRONG!?” She yelled.

Woah. My voice is so… girly.

Vinyl waited a second for a response. After a moment of silence she figured she wasn’t getting one. She quickly decided to find out where the sound came from and she hoped that whomever screamed wasn’t hurt.

Vinyl carefully crossed the floor towards the only room she hadn’t been in yet. She slowly poked her head into the half open door and looked in.

“Anypony in here?” She asked shyly.

“DON’T LOOK AT ME!” came as a response.

Vinyl looked away. “I’m not looking.” She tried to think of what to say. “Uh, what’s uh, wrong?” She half stuttered. “Are you okay in there?”

She peeked towards the source of the voice regardless of her previous statement. In the room was a bed and a lump hiding under the covers which she assumed to be another pony.

Roommate. Aha!

Vinyl slowly walked towards the bed. “Hey, you alright?” She asked, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible. “I think I’m your roommate. But I can’t promise that.”

The lump under the blankets grew a bit. Vinyl thought she could see the outline of the lump’s head, but she honestly wasn’t too sure. It was kinda lumpy.

Vinyl could tell that this lump wasn’t coming out anytime soon. “What’s the matter?” She asked.

Give me something to work with hun.

She blinked.

I’m even thinking feminine.

The lump seemed to have found a comfortable position, as it stopped fidgeting and slumped over.

“I-I’m… different than I expected.” The lump spoke rather pessimistically.

Vinyl facehoofed.

We’re all different. That’s kinda what the objective was here.

Vinyl tried to think of a way to cheer her up. “We’re all different. We wanted to be different. Isn’t that why you came here?”

The lump was silent for a moment. Vinyl took the moment to appreciate how funny her roommate looked while slouched over under the covers. She looked like a little kid trying to hide from monsters in the night. It was kinda cute actually.

The lump spoke quietly. It was pretty obvious she was scared at this point. “I’m a girl. I don’t want to be a girl.”

Ooohhhhhhh…

Vinyl quickly understood.

This guy isn’t taking the change so well.

Vinyl wasn’t sure exactly what to do. After a moment of hesitation she decided to take a seat on the end of her bed. If nothing else, she was going to try to be as friendly and understanding as possible.

She spoke with a soft tone. ”It’s alright.” She sat there staring at the lump.

Really? That’s the best you can do?

She cleared her throat. “I uh, I used to be a guy too.” The lump made an irritated groan.

This may be harder than I thought.

Vinyl was running out of options. ”Look, can we talk? Face to face?” She tried to sound friendly. “Could you come out from there?”

The lump didn’t budge. ”Could you grab me a glass of water?”

Vinyl smiled. “Would you come out to drink it?” She asked hopefully.

“Yeah, whatever.” The lump replied.

Close enough.

Vinyl fetched the glass of water and returned to see the pony curled up on the bed. That’s when Vinyl saw who she was rooming with for the first time.

Octavia. I could have guessed that.

Vinyl greeted her with as big of a smile as she could manage. “Here you go Miss. Octavia.” Octavia half smiled as she took her drink.

“Thanks” she said.

It was quiet for a moment. Both ponies tried to think of something to say but words were hard to find. Finally Vinyl broke the silence. “So uh, you gonna be alright?”

Octavia sighed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Vinyl curled up on the bed as well. “So, you mind if I call you Tavi?” Vinyl was hoping she wouldn’t. Octavia was a mouthful of a name. Plus it sounded super formal, and Vinyl had never enjoyed formal things much.

“That’s fine” she said, sipping at her water. She set the glass to the side and stretched out a bit. Vinyl gave her plenty of space to figure out her body.

“Moving around is kinda weird at first, but it’s not too bad after you get started.” Vinyl spoke. “I can almost walk normal now!” She added with sarcasm.

Tavi smiled. Her day was not starting out the way she would have liked, but at least she had a roommate who seemed to be handling it all better than her.

“I never thought I would have to learn how to walk again.” She said softly as she edged towards the corner of the bed. “Am I going to fall down?”

Vinyl laughed. “Well, I managed to stand up without injury, so you should be fine.”

Octavia set a hoof on the floor. She put a bit of weight on it and lifted it back up to her chest.

”That’s freaking me out.” She said.

Vinyl couldn’t hold back a smile.

Even I wasn’t this bad.

“Look, it gets better once you have them all on the floor.” She tried to explain. “It’s like having four legs.” Come to think of it, that’s exactly what it was. Still, Octavia was uneasy. She timidly placed a hoof on the ground, then another. Soon enough she was on fours wobbling for balance.

”I…I think I’m good now.” She took a step and wobbled again. She regained her balance and took a few more. Quickly she began walking at a decent pace.

“Now you’ve got it!” Vinyl cheered. “You look like you’ve walked on all fours for years.” Vinyl fibbed. She liked to lie. She would make a poor Applejack.

Tavi smiled back at her. “Okay. I think I can do this.” She walked out into the living room and Vinyl quickly followed suit. She took a quick look around the house when she noticed that it was very bright outside.

“What time is it?” Octavia asked. Vinyl had no idea. “Um, I dunno. Let’s find a clock or something.”

They looked in the living room to no avail. They browsed the kitchen and quickly found a wooden clock above their sink. It was almost noon. Octavia and Vinyl had slept in.

“I’m actually kind of hungry.” Octavia said. “Feel like taking a look around Ponyville and grabbing lunch?” Vinyl’s stomach growled. Lunch sounded very good.

“Sure thing.” Vinyl said. “Let me find my wallet?”She had no clue how ponies carried around their money.

Maybe I have one of those saddlebags.

Vinyl quickly went to search her room for anything that might prove useful. Her floor was as clean as it could have been, which surprised Vinyl a bit.

I kinda figured she would be sloppier.

Vinyl searched her drawers next. She found a brush for her mane, some hoof trimmers, a few bottles of mane product and some accessories. She took notice of the few articles of clothing she had. In the drawer were a few bracelets for her hooves, some socks and a bowtie, the latter of which was probably only for attending her roommate’s formal events. She also took a closer look at the socks.

I can’t remember ponies ever wearing socks.

She lifted the thin, charcoal silk up in her hooves. After brief consideration she decided to try one on. She managed to get the first bit over her hoof, but she couldn’t pull them up any further with her hooves.

How do I do this?

She pondered the question for a moment and then got an idea. She lightly pinched the silk with her teeth and pulled the sock up her leg. It came quite a bit higher than she expected. She walked in front of the mirror to see how it looked.

The long black stocking gripped her hind leg tightly. Vinyl blushed and looked away.

Kinky.

She pulled the sock off quickly and put it back where it belonged.

And that is why ponies don’t wear socks in public.

She continued searching for her bag. She checked the rest of her drawers to find nothing but some loose change.

She moved on to the closet. As she opened it up she was quite surprised. The entire closet was filled with musical equipment. Amps, cables, mics, she even had a P.A. system and it looked pretty high quality.

Awesome. I almost forgot about being a DJ.

She closed the closet when she thought of something.

I have no idea how to DJ.

Sure, Vinyl knew enough about music and theory from when she wrote stuff on Earth, but she had no idea how to mix tracks live like a DJ would.

I guess I’ll figure it out eventually.

She continued her search for the bag. She took a peek under her bed. What she saw scared her on a level she could not imagine. She quickly left her room, face flushing red like a tomato.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

Octavia was waiting on the couch. Unlike Vinyl, she had found her bag with no problem and was waiting to leave. Octavia could see that Vinyl was blushing. She smiled. “Everything alright?”

Vinyl almost ignored her. “Yup. Just really awkward. “She said. “Have you seen my bag out here? I can’t find it.”

Octavia smirked. “You should leave your things where you can find them.” She joked.

Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Thanks. I’ll take that into consideration next time.” She walked towards the front door to see if her bag was left out on the ground. Sure enough, a black bag with an ivory version of her cutie mark on it.

“Found it!” She said.

Octavia stepped off of the couch. “About time. Shall we take a tour of Ponyville?”

Vinyl held the door open for her. “Ladies first” she said.

“That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day” Octavia replied sarcastically. “Shall we eat now or later?”

Vinyl licked her lips. “The sooner I eat the better” she laughed.

* * *

It wasn’t long before the pair found a pleasant looking restaurant. They took a step inside and were greeted by a lovely looking mare in a black dress.

“Velcom to zee Café de Roughage. Vould you like a seat?” She said.

Nice accent.

“Yes, a table for two please?” Vinyl asked politely.

“As you vish Madame.” She said as she escorted the two to a booth.

Vinyl and Octavia followed close as they took in the restaurant. It was very classy and formal. More so than Vinyl would typically appreciate, but she figured her first meal here should be relaxing.

“Vat vould you like to drink today?”

Vinyl looked at the menu. They didn’t appear to serve soft drinks and she had no idea what any of their alcoholic drinks were like. She tried to think of what might be a drink here.

“Um, do you serve any ciders?” Vinyl asked. Cider seemed like a reasonable comparison to beer.

“No Madame, vee serve only qvality spirits here.”

Okay, so cider is basically beer. Good to know.

Vinyl tried to think of what to get. Nothing on the menu meant anything to her. She didn’t speak fancy.

“I’ll have the house wine?” She questioned.

That seems like a thing.

“Of course Madame.” She looked to Octavia. “And for you?”

Octavia, while usually depicted as being fancy, had no idea what any of the wines were.

“I’ll have the same thing.” She decided.

The waitress nodded in approval. “Vould you two like to purchase zee bottle?”

Vinyl and Octavia exchanged looks.

“Sure. That sounds great.” Vinyl decided.

“I vill be back vith zee drinks.” She said as she walked towards the kitchen.

Octavia waited until she was out of earshot before she spoke. “I didn’t think about this until just now, but why are there ponies working today?”

That was an interesting question.

Octavia continued. ”Did she really adapt to this so quick that she is already at her job?”

Vinyl wasn’t sure what to think. It was strange knowing that today was the first day of being a pony for everyone here. “I guess we can ask her when she comes back.” She said.

It wasn’t long before the mare returned with two glasses of wine.

“Your drinks” She said as she curtsied a bit.

“Thank you.” Vinyl said. “Also, if I may ask, how did you adapt to all of this so fast?”

The waitress was confused. “I beg your pardon Madame?”

Vinyl tried to reword her question.

“How are you working already? Aren’t you still, you know, getting used to all of this?”

The waitress blushed a bit. “I am sorry Madame, English eez not my first language. I have lived here in ponyville for two years if that eez vat you are asking.”

Vinyl’s eyebrows lifted. “Two years?” she asked.

“Oui, Madame. I vill be back soon to take your order.” She regained her composure and left the table.

That was pretty weird.

Octavia was uneasy. “What did she mean by that?”

Vinyl wasn’t entirely sure. She tried to think of how somepony could have possibly lived here longer than just today. She quickly remembered something that Daniel Graff had mentioned last night.

“You remember how Daniel said that some ponies would be controlled by people working on this program?” Vinyl asked her friend. Octavia nodded slowly. “Yes but, that accent… her facial features and mannerisms… they were all so real!” she said.

Vinyl agreed. The last exchange they had was extremely realistic. “Did you recognize that pony from the show?” Vinyl asked.

“I didn’t recognize her.” Octavia agreed. She had never seen the pony before.

“I guess it wouldn’t be very realistic if they told us they weren’t really in here.” Vinyl suggested. Octavia was still very perplexed.

“It’s still very unnerving.” She said. Vinyl had to agree. It was definitely a strange day so far.

The mare returned shortly after their discussion to take their orders.

“Vat vould you like to eat today Madams?”

To be honest Vinyl and Octavia hadn’t been reading the menu too much. They were caught up in figuring out what was going on with the waitress. Vinyl scanned the menu for something she might recognize.

Eggplant soup, Buttered squash over linguini, Caesar salad… Where is all the meat?

Vinyl chastised herself.

Ponies are vegetarian stupid. There is no meat.

Vinyl was starting to have a mini heart attack. Meat had been a staple of her life for as long as she could remember. It pained her when she realized she would never consume another steak.

That’s actually incredibly disappointing.

She sighed. She had never much liked vegetables, but it looked like they were all she was going to be able to eat. She finally decided on a dish that looked moderately appetizing. “I’ll have the sautéed peppers over noodles” She finally decided.

At least the spices will be distracting.

Octavia ordered the eggplant soup, which sounded incredibly inedible to Vinyl.

“How are you gonna eat that?” Vinyl asked with more than a bit of disgust showing.

Octavia just smiled. “My mom used to make eggplant soup a lot. It’s actually pretty good.”

Vinyl felt bad for Tavi. She must have had a terrible childhood.

“I’m going to miss meat a lot I think.” Vinyl sighed. Octavia joined her. She was fine with vegetarian meals, but she was going to miss the occasional flesh based meal as well.

“I guess we will get used to it.” She said.

Vinyl took a sip of her wine. “Yeah, I guess we will.”

Soon enough the waitress brought them their meals. Vinyl’s peppers smelled amazing and she considered that they may actually be alright. The mare set their dishes on the table along with their silverware.

Octavia’s plate came with a spoon that had a little loop around the end, obviously for letting her grab it with her hoof. Vinyl’s plate did not. Her fork was loop-free.

She quickly got the waitress’s attention. “Um, my fork doesn’t have one of those loopy things.”

The waitress was confused. “Oui, Madame, eet does not.”

It was Vinyl’s turned to be confused. “So how do I pick it up?”

The waitress laughed. “You are a unicorn, Madame.”

Vinyl scratched her head. “Oh yeah, heh. Thanks.”

The mare gave her a questioning look and excused herself.

“If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask.” She said as she left the table.

Vinyl stared down at her fork. Never before had a piece of dinnerware been so intimidating. She thought out her plan of action. She could either learn to pick up the fork with magic, or she could just lift the plate up to her face and eat it like that. She figured the latter option would be less than classy. She was going to have to learn magic.

Challenge accepted.

Octavia gave her new friend a mischievous grin as she began to sip at her soup. “Not feeling hungry?” she knew this lunch was going to be hell for her friend, and she wasn’t about to let her go easy.

Vinyl was genuinely terrified.

There are so many ways that this could go wrong.

She sat there for a moment before she attempted anything. She figured she had to try to lift the fork up with her mind. She set her hooves on the table and prepared herself for the task at hand.

Let’s do this.

She stared down the silverware and prepared for war. She focused on trying to lift the fork with her mind. She scrunched her face up and bit her tongue as she focused. Octavia couldn’t help but laugh at the faces she was making.

“What the hell are you doing?” She giggled. Vinyl felt defeated. She pressed her face up close to the fork, looked up at her friend and smiled softly. “I have no idea what I am doing.”

Octavia had the biggest smile on her face. For a pony who was depressed about waking up female, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

“Why don’t you just, think about lifting it or something? I think you may be trying too hard.”

Vinyl sighed.

I guess that could work.

She regained her posture and closed her eyes. When she opened them she simply imagined the fork lifting off of the table and floating in the air. Sure enough, a cyan glow emanated from the dinnerware as it slowly lifted off the table. Vinyl squeed in delight and the fork dropped.

“I did it! I lifted the fork! WOO!” She exclaimed. Octavia clapped her hooves together in praise.

“That was actually pretty cool” She said. I’m almost jealous.

Vinyl was incredibly excited. From now on she was going to use her magic as much as she could. She could barely keep still as she and her friend continued their meals. Now the only question she had was how much to tip a waitress that wasn’t real.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true, she did exist, she just didn’t live here and the money wouldn’t matter.

She figured twelve percent should be fine.

* * *

Vinyl hated to admit it, but her vegetarian dish had been one of the best she had ever had. She had no idea how rich the flavors of peppers could be. She figured it had to be due to her new taste buds.

I think I might just make it here.

Vinyl and Octavia were walking back towards their apartment. They had spent the majority of the day walking around Ponyville and learning where everything was located. They bumped into the occasional pony that they recognized along the way. A lot of the ponies were still learning how to do stuff and it was really entertaining watching the pegasai learn to fly. Vinyl never thought she would see Rainbow Dash struggle to get airborne. She was almost as klutzy as Fluttershy.

The two roommates exchanged small talk as they returned to their home. It was getting late, going on eleven, and they were pretty tired from their day of exploration. As they entered their apartment they both laid down on the couch. They got themselves comfortable facing each other so they could talk some more.

We’re getting along pretty well so far. This is nice.

“So, did you enjoy yourself today?” Vinyl asked.

Octavia closed her eyes and grinned a bit. “Yeah, it was pretty fun.” Vinyl thought she seemed to be getting used to the whole ordeal. They were both adapting to their new lives faster than they would have thought.

Vinyl thought about their conversation from earlier. She knew she was struggling with the concept of being female. To be honest, she hadn’t thought about it much after they had lunch. She didn’t seem to be thinking too differently. The change was purely cosmetic.

Still a pretty big change though.

Vinyl figured she should probably make sure her friend was taking it alright.

“So, getting used to the whole concept of being a girl?” She laughed. She knew it was going to be awkward to talk about but she figured she may as well address it. It’s not like it was going away.

Octavia sighed lightly and lowered her head. “Yeah. I’m used to it.” She conceded.

Vinyl smiled. “That’s the spirit. I think we can get through this!”

Octavia didn’t seem to feel any better. She kept her eyes closed and sunk her face into her hooves.

Vinyl was confused. “What’s wrong? I thought you said you were getting used to it?” Vinyl thought she had helped solve the problem, but there appeared to be something deeper.

Octavia spoke with a quiet voice. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Vinyl sank a bit. She knew her friend was hurting, but she didn’t know how to help. She had never been good with solving problems like this.

Vinyl tried to coax her out of her shell. “C’mon, let’s talk about it. What’s wrong?” She didn’t care how long it took to break her, she was going to help.

Octavia lay silently for a moment before agreeing to anything. She wasn’t sure if she trusted Vinyl too much yet. She was a good friend, but she had only known her for a day. “You have to promise not to judge me.”

Vinyl was very eager to respond. “I pinkie promise. What’s wrong?”

Octavia sighed. “Being female isn’t shocking to me.”

Vinyl tilted her head in confusion. “Okay, so you’re getting used to it?”

Octavia shook her head. “It’s not shocking because I’ve always been female.”

Now Vinyl was really confused. “Wait, so you were female before you came here?” She asked.

Octavia nodded. “Yeah. I’ve always been a girl.”

Vinyl could admit, she was lost. “Okay, so then why were you all upset this morning? You stayed female.”

Octavia buried her head again in her hooves. “That’s the problem.”

“What do you mean?” Vinyl asked.

Octavia sounded embarrassed. She almost stayed quiet but she decided against it. “I’m upset because I wanted to be a boy. ”

Vinyl’s eyes popped wide open.

Oh, shit.

Rebirth

Author's note: I actually experienced way more emotion than i would have expected writing this chapter. It's a bit shorter than the last one, but i think it should do nicely for today's update.

I'm not sure I will be able to hold my pace of a chapter a day, but i will try to keep to it. I don't plan on rushing through this, so I only plan on releasing chapters that are fully thought out. Anyways, i hope you enjoy this as much as i enjoyed writing it.

Octavia hid behind her hooves. Her face tucked deeply away from the world, she let flow a stream of silent tears. Vinyl was speechless. She had never had a friend who openly let loose this much emotion. Maybe it was because all of her friends were guys and they tried to tuck it away. Maybe it was because no one felt close enough to her to share their emotions. Either way, Vinyl had no idea what to do.

This is way deeper than anything I have dealt with.

She sat on the couch next to her. She wasn’t sure what her next move should be, but she knew she had to do something. Seeing her friend like this was too much to bear. She didn’t have to react however, as Tavi began to stand up.

“I’m so sorry Vinyl, this isn’t your problem its mine.” She quietly retreated from the couch and fled to her room. Vinyl sat there confused.

Look at you, acting like a true friend.

She mentally slapped herself. She hopped off of the couch and walked to the kitchen. She wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to help, but she was going to try.

She picked up a carton of milk from their fridge and carefully floated it over to their counter, careful not to spill. She grabbed one of the glasses with a handle from the cupboard and filled it to the top. She set the drink in the microwave and let it run for a moment.

I hope this isn’t too clichéd. I want her to take me seriously.

After the drink was warm she slowly approached Tavi’s door. She knocked twice with her spare hoof.

”Hey, can I come in?” she asked quietly. There was no response. Vinyl was afraid she was either ignoring her or she had already fallen asleep. “If you uh, want to be alone that’s fine. I totally understand, but I’m here.”

Here for what? You have no idea what to say.

“Even if I can’t fully understand, I can listen.” She added. “We can talk about it.”

A minute or so passed with no response.

Am I annoying her?

“I uh, I’ll just let you have your space I guess.” She stammered. “I’m here if you need me.”

Vinyl backed down from the door. She figured the best way to help was to give her space. She just needed time to think.

She carried the milk with her to her bedroom and silently closed the door. She set the drink down on her side table and flicked off the light with her magic. She climbed into bed and pulled her blankets up to her neck and rolled over. The necklace from home rested against her cheek, slightly cold to the touch. She pulled it close to her chest and sighed.

How can I help my friends when I can’t help myself?

She lifted her necklace up and over her head and set it on her nightstand. Quickly, she pulled the blankets back over herself.

She closed her eyes and surrendered for the night. She had nearly drifted off to sleep when there was a light knock at her door.

Vinyl’s ears twitched and she rubbed her eyes. Sleep was going to have to wait. “It’s open” She said softly.

Octavia peered shyly through the door. Her eyes were red and her coat around her face was pretty damp. “Can I come in?” She asked.

Vinyl quickly responded. “Yeah, let me get the light.” She flicked the switch with ease and motioned for her to lay down.

Octavia closed the door behind her and slowly approached the bed. She crawled up next to where Vinyl had been and laid down. Again, she placed her face just inside her hooves.

You don’t have to hide.

Vinyl sat back down on the bed and remembered the glass of milk. She grabbed it and nudged Tavi with her other hoof.

“I warmed up some milk. I hope that’s not too tacky.”

Octavia lifted her head and turned to face her roommate. “It’s not tacky it’s sweet.” She faked a smile and accepted the offering.

Vinyl’s smile wasn’t forced. “I didn’t add any sugar, it shouldn’t be too sweet.” She joked.

“That was tacky.” Octavia added with a smile. Vinyl was pretty sure it was genuine this time.

Slow and steady Vinyl.

She let Octavia sip at her milk in relative silence. She wasn’t sure what she should do next so she decided not to rush it. When Octavia finished her drink she silently handed the glass back to Vinyl.

“Thanks Vinyl.” She said with a sigh. “I wish there were more people like you.”

That made Vinyl grin. She may not have been able to do much, but it was helping.

“No worries.” She said. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Octavia was tired. She didn’t feel like crying anymore, which was nice, but she didn’t exactly feel good either. Even so, she felt comforted by the fact that for the first time in a long while someone was trying to understand her. The only question now was if she would let her in.

Throughout her entire life everyone she let in to her true self had hurt her. Admittedly, she hadn’t told many people about her secret, but not a single one of them had understood. She had lost a few good friends because of it. She wasn’t sure she wanted to lose another.

Octavia decided that her new friend was trustworthy. After all, she had helped her through her first day here in Ponyville. She slowly stood up on the bed and stretched. It felt much better than she would have expected it to. It managed to make her a bit more relaxed.

She pointed to the spot next to Vinyl with her hoof. “Mind if I lay down here?”

Vinyl had no objection. “Go for it.” She nearly whispered.

Octavia laid down next to Vinyl. The dent in the bed made from Vinyl’s sleeping brought them a bit closer to each other than Octavia had planned. She was hoping it wasn’t too personal.

Octavia turned to face her new friend and was surprised at how close their faces were. She blushed a bit and tried to give her a bit more space. “S-sorry.” She stammered.

Vinyl giggled at her blushing.

I’ve never giggled in before in my life.

Vinyl looked at her friend who was obviously embarrassed. It was a moment she found incredibly adorable.

I regret nothing.

Vinyl tried to ease the pressure. “We’re both mares here.” She said. “You don’t have to get all embarrassed.

Octavia smiled and moved a bit closer. “Yeah, but that seems to be the problem for me.”

Vinyl’s smile turned to a look of concern. Now was her chance to help.

“So,” she said “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you feel this way?” Maybe she was overthinking it, but she thought that might have sounded a bit condescending. “I mean, like, when did the idea first come to you?” She hoped that sounded a bit friendlier.

Octavia curled up a bit and nuzzled into her pillow. It was soft and warm and it made her a bit less tense.

“To be honest I can’t remember when it first happened.” She said quietly. The way she spoke was influenced by a hint of depression and guilt. Vinyl may not have been a psychiatrist, but she knew a pained voice when she heard one.

You shouldn’t have to feel guilty about feeling that way.

Vinyl didn’t want to interrupt her thought process, so she just absently brushed Octavia’s mane. Vinyl thought it may have been too invasive at first, but Octavia didn’t seem to mind it.

She finally spoke again. “It’s always been a part of me.” She said. Vinyl could understand that. There are some things that just define who you are as a being. Vinyl couldn’t remember the first time she heard a song on the radio, but her parents used to play nothing but eighty’s music. Growing up in the ninety’s, she was often ridiculed for liking the “Old School” stuff.

Vinyl smiled. She knew damn well that the eighty’s had their moments. Not all of it was perfect, but she loved that era of music. Growing up with that made her appreciate music of so many different styles.

Music was a part of her, she had known that since she was just a kid. She thought back to when she first picked up an instrument. Her father had gotten her a guitar for Christmas, and her brother had gotten a drum kit. She spent hours trying to learn her chords, but there was always a distraction.

Her brother loved the drum kit he got. Like any novice, he wasn’t any good at it, but it didn’t take long before he found some rhythm. That’s when Vinyl noticed it for the first time, the element of music that would have her truly hooked. The beat.

It didn’t take long for Vinyl to hop on the kit when her brother wasn’t playing, and unlike her brother she never seemed to get off of it. She didn’t ignore the guitar she had gotten, but the drums we’re way more fun to play.

Five years later she had forgotten everything about guitar except for a few basic chords. Her knowledge had been replaced by countless hours of jamming along to rock and metal on her acoustic drum kit. While metal wasn’t her favorite genre, she couldn’t help but love the heavy bass. Vinyl had learned to feel the music, and while she may not have been the best drummer, it was what she did.

Vinyl knew exactly what Tavi meant when she said it was just a part of her. She may not have understood how exactly, but she knew what it meant to be defined by something.

“I know what you mean by that” Vinyl said. “When something is a part of you it defines who you are. If you take that away there’s a gap that can’t be filled.” Octavia smiled. Maybe Vinyl would be the first to understand.

She was beginning to feel a bit more open to talking. “To be honest I don’t really know why I want to be different. It’s just always been at the back of my mind.” Octavia said. Vinyl tried to take in as much information as she could. She wanted to know where Tavi was coming from.

“I never fit in with the girls when I was growing up. Sure, I had friends, but our interests were limited.” Octavia rolled over a bit and stared up at the ceiling. The slow turning fan cast light shadows on the pastel white as it turned. “They were always so superficial with their makeup and stuffed bras.” She laughed. “The only time they liked sports were when a hot guy was playing. I liked sports because they were fun to play.”

She paused a second to try to find words. “I guess I just never fit the stereotype for girls.” Vinyl agreed she wasn’t like most girls, but that was hardly a bad thing. Vinyl found most girls to be fairly annoying.

It was Vinyl’s turn to speak. “Just because you aren’t like most girls doesn’t mean you can’t be one.” Vinyl was hoping she was being constructive and not rude.

Octavia sighed. “I know, but it’s more than that. Since I was little I’d… well I’d always felt differently about guys.” She turned to face her friend. She noticed just how red her eyes were for the first time. “I never felt attracted to guys. I wanted to be like them more than to be with them.” Vinyl thought she understood. She had never felt attracted to her friends, but she knew how good it was to have a bro.

“I think I get that.” Vinyl said. Octavia was happy. No one had ever listened for this long. “I remember when I was younger I used to hang out with the guys a lot. They were cool and they were always doing something fun.” Her smile faded. “My parents got the wrong idea. They thought I had a crush on one of them.” Vinyl imagined her running around with a bunch of the guys. She had to admit, she would have probably gotten the wrong idea as well.

“One night my parents thought it would be a good idea to set me and one of them up on a date.” Octavia continued. “I didn’t really argue because I thought my friend knew me better than that.” She looked down towards her hooves and let her eyes close slightly. “I didn’t think he would take it so seriously.”

Vinyl could see where this was going. She could also imagine how the night could have been incredibly awkward.

Octavia sighed. “My mom made me dress up nice. I thought he would think that it was funny that I showed up so formal.” She adjusted her legs a bit. “It was… surprising when I saw him all dressed up.” She continued. “It looked like he actually wanted to be on a date.”

Vinyl nodded to indicate she was listening. She didn’t have much to add, but she wanted her friend to know she wasn’t zoning out.

“When we sat down for dinner, I joked about how formal we were.” Octavia’s eyes had a glazed look. “He said that I looked beautiful.” Vinyl smiled. Even though the guy didn’t know what was going on, at least he was a nice.

Octavia continued her story. “I didn’t want to be beautiful.” She said. “I didn’t want him to spend the rest of the night flirting with me. I just wanted to be his friend.” Octavia turned to Vinyl. “Is it wrong to just want to be friends?”

Vinyl couldn’t help but smile.

Ultimate friend zone.

“Of course it’s not.” She said. “But I’m sure he was just trying to be polite.”

Octavia frowned. “I know. But I didn’t want him to treat me like a girl he was trying to pick up.” She said. “I wanted dinner to be like he had it with his friends, splitting a pizza and talking about nothing important.”

Vinyl could see the issue. She tried to think back to her own life, and she admitted that none her female friends had been the same as her male ones. It wasn’t fair, but it was something that happened.

Vinyl tried to propose a solution. “I’m sure he would have been fine with just being your friend.” She said. “What happened after dinner?”

Octavia closed her eyes. “When we finished he offered to take me back to his place.”

Uh oh.

Vinyl knew firsthand what that line meant for a guy. She also knew that it wasn’t something Octavia would have been interested in.

Octavia continued. “I figured maybe we would play some video games or something. Like maybe we could just hang out.”

Vinyl sighed.

So naïve.

“Needless to say, that’s not what happened.” She finished.

Vinyl smiled. “I bet not.” She said. “What did happen?”

Octavia laughed a bit. “What do you think?” She said. “We went to his room and everything changed.” Octavia was getting more and more comfortable talking with her new friend. “He motioned for me to sit on the edge of his bed, in front of the TV.”

Any trace of emotion left Octavia’s face. “I was expecting for him to bring out controllers or something, but instead he grabbed my hand.”

Vinyl sighed. She hated to admit it, but she probably would have done the same thing.

“The next fifteen minutes or so were really awkward.” Octavia said softly. “I ended up getting so embarrassed that I just went home.”

Vinyl sat quietly in thought. She had to admit, that night sounded pretty unpleasant.

“He asked why I didn’t like him the next day at school.” Octavia said. “I just told him I wasn’t into him like that, but that I wanted to stay friends.” Her eyes started to tear up again. “He said that was fine, and he went to eat lunch with the guys.”

It was at this point that Vinyl figured out why the whole ordeal had been so sad for Octavia.

“He left me standing there.” She whimpered. “For the first time in years I wasn’t invited to their table.” Her eyes were very misty at this point. “I sat alone in the corner for the next week.” She continued. “I figured I’d give him some time and apologize.”

Vinyl rubbed her hoof through Octavia’s mane again. It seemed to calm her down a bit.

“I went to talk to him again a few days later.” She said, silently crying. “He said he wasn’t mad at me, and that we were still friends.”

Vinyl smiled a bit. “That’s good right? He wasn’t mad.”

Octavia let out her first audible sniffle. “Yeah, that’s great, but he never invited me to do stuff after that.” Her eyes were starting to turn really red. “We were less friends and more not enemies. After our date he didn’t want to hang out anymore. I was just a girl who wasn’t into him.”

Vinyl was beginning to tear up a bit at this point.

I can’t even imagine how that must feel.

“I couldn’t be his friend because I was a girl.” She said. “I tried again later to explain how I felt. I wanted him to know why I wasn’t attracted to him.”

“What did you tell him?” Vinyl asked.

Octavia sighed. “I told him I just wanted to be one of the guys. I didn’t like him that way because I didn’t like any men that way.” She paused. “I told him I would be a guy if I could.”

Octavia shivered a bit. “He didn’t take that well.”

Vinyl was listening more intently than she had ever listened in her life. “What did he say?”

Octavia closed her eyes hard. “He said I was starting to freak him out, and that I should leave.”

Vinyl let loose her first tear.

What a prick.

Octavia looked miserable. Vinyl pulled the blanket up over her and tried to calm her down.

“I ran home crying.” She said. “I spent the rest of my day in bed with my blinds closed and the door locked.” She was breathing hard now. “I lost my best friend because of my broken personality.

Vinyl quickly corrected her thinking.

“You are not broken.” Vinyl stated. “That guy was a prick for being so judgmental.” Octavia didn’t seem to listen. “If I was a normal girl, I would have wanted a relationship. I would have still been his friend.”

Vinyl moved a bit closer to Octavia.

“If you were like other girls, you wouldn’t be you. You shouldn’t have to change who you are to be important to someone.” Vinyl stated.

Octavia narrowed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what I shouldn’t have to do. The world doesn’t work that way.” She sounded pissed.

I know it doesn’t.

Octavia quickly lost her flair of anger. “I lost my best friend by telling him the truth. He didn’t like who I was or the way I felt.” She continued. “I never told anyone else my whole story. Sure, I let people know I was a tomboy, but I never told them why.”

Octavia was curled up under the sheets. There was a damp spot where her head had been resting, and she looked completely heartbroken.

“I didn’t want to lose anyone else.” She concluded. “So I kept to myself. I never even told my parents. I didn’t want them to think badly of me.”

Vinyl couldn’t take watching her friend like this anymore. She scooted up next to her and wrapped her hooves around her back. She didn’t care if it was awkward, her friend needed someone.

“I’m sorry” Vinyl said, embracing her friend in the hug. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Octavia didn’t move. She just laid there absorbing her friends embrace. Vinyl had understood where she was coming from. She had told her everything and Vinyl had no response but understanding. For the first time in her life someone knew who she really was.

She started to cry, much harder than before, but unlike earlier she was happy. “No one has ever been there for me Vinyl.” She managed to whisper through her sobs. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Vinyl was crying too. She knew she would never feel the pain Octavia felt, but she was glad she trusted her enough to share it.

Octavia tried to hold back her sobs. “I’ll uh, I’ll be honest.” She said. “The only reason I told you all of this was because I didn’t know you that well. I figured if you didn’t understand it wouldn’t hurt so much if you hated me.”

Vinyl knew it was true. Still, she was glad she opened up to her.

“It’s just, when I woke up female this morning,” Octavia said. “I was angry. I felt cheated.”

Octavia managed to stop the tears long enough to talk. “That night at the convention, when Daniel said we would become a random pony,” she paused long enough to catch her breath. “I… I thought it could be a second chance, that I could have a chance to be me freely, without people judging my life.”

She sighed. “I knew the odds were small of being male, but I figured maybe fate would be kind to me.”

Vinyl held her close.

Fate can be very cruel.

“When I woke up like this…” She whispered. “I was just so upset. I wanted to be me.”

Vinyl nuzzled her friend’s cheek.

“You will always be you Tavi.” Vinyl assured quietly. “I know who you are, and I feel sorry for everyone who never got the chance.”

Octavia rested her head against her friend. “Thank you Vinyl. It’s nice to have someone so understanding.”

Vinyl closed her eyes. It was late, they must have talked for at least a few hours. She figured they would be able to sleep in, so it didn’t matter much anyways.

Octavia didn’t want to move. She had spent so much of her life feeling alone, she never wanted this moment to end.

“Vinyl?” Octavia asked.

Vinyl’s ear twitched and she opened her eyes. “Yeah Tavi?”

Octavia blushed slightly. “Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?” She hoped that she wouldn’t be intruding.

Vinyl smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She pulled the blankets up over them both and she turned off the light with her magic. She could feel Octavia’s sigh of relief on her chest as she snuggled a bit closer to her.

Vinyl closed her eyes again, this time with a great smile. She held her new friend tight as she felt her fall asleep. Her heart felt almost as warm as her body under the comforters.

Quickly Vinyl joined her friend in sleep. It had been a long day and she was happy to have helped a friend. Deep within her grasp Octavia wore a gentle smile. She had gone out on a limb to show her friend her true self, and Vinyl had understood and accepted her. For the first time in years Octavia fell asleep without feeling alone.

Discovery

It was going on noon in Equestria, and Vinyl and Octavia were still asleep. It had been a long night, and they had slept far past sunrise as Vinyl had predicted. Vinyl’s room had no windows, and the only light that made its way inside came from under the door.

When Vinyl woke she was surprised at how warm her chest was. It was not uncomfortable, but more of an unusual sensation. In all of her years she had never woken with someone so close to her.

Vinyl smiled as she remembered the events of last night. She hugged her roommate again and dug the side of her head into her pillow. She wondered why she had never felt this close to one of her friends.

The guys would never be caught together like this.

She wondered if they were watching her right now. She knew there was no way she could ever know and quickly dropped the thought. Instead she focused on her new best friend.

Octavia was curled up tighter than Vinyl could have imagined possible. Her hair hung a bit in front of her face and Vinyl pushed it up and to the side. Regardless of how much pain Tavi was in last night, Vinyl thought she looked content.

It was dark in the room, but Vinyl felt far too rested for it to be early in the morning. Carefully, she unwrapped her friend and pulled the blanket up over her. Slowly, she sneaked out of the bed and left the room to check on the time. It was going on noon.

Good thing I don’t have anything to do today.

On that note, Vinyl pondered what exactly she would do with her time. She considered tinkering with her DJ equipment, but she decided the first course of action would be to take a shower. Maybe it was because of the extra heat while sleeping last night, but she felt sweaty.

This should be interesting.

Vinyl walked into the apartment’s bathroom. The main difference between Earth and Equestrian bathrooms were the size of the showers. The shower here was much larger than the one she remembered from home and it seemed to have an extra showerhead.

Huh.

She turned a handle on the wall and water quickly poured down the upper showerhead. She let it warm up for a few moments and she slowly stepped inside. She had heard that cold showers could be very relaxing but she was never fond of them. She made sure the water was as hot as she could tolerate after she stepped inside.

She let the hot water pour through her mane. She used to have fairly long hair on earth, so she was used to cleaning a head full of it. She stood looking straight into the stream of water, letting it dance across her face. She hoped that their apartment had a good water heater, because she had always taken long showers.

She absently turned to the side of the shower and tried to rest her forehead against the wall like she used to. She stubbed her horn on the tile as she tried to lean forward.

Ow.

She rubbed her appendage with her hoof in slight frustration.

Well that’s annoying.

She decided it would be best to just stand in the middle when she took her showers.

After a few minutes of relaxation she remembered why she was in the shower in the first place. She looked through the selection of shampoos and conditioners in a rack on the side of the wall. There was an assortment of fancy shampoos, gels and body wash products on one side of the rack. Vinyl assumed that they must be Octavia’s.

Vinyl checked the other side of the rack to find just two bottles. There were two different kinds of Axe shampoos and she couldn’t help but laugh.

Vinyl would use Axe.

She lifted a bottle of it out of the rack with her magic and squeezed a bit out over her mane. With a spare hoof she massaged the product into her mane and closed her eyes to keep any from causing her irritation. When her mane felt clean she washed the suds from her body. She was about to get out when she realized something.

I still feel sweaty.

She thought about why she wouldn’t feel clean when it hit her.

Oh god. I have to clean my entire coat.

Vinyl sighed. It took her a few minutes to wash her mane, who knew how long it would take to wash her entire coat. She looked around the shower to see if there was an easier way to wash herself than to use shampoo all over. She noticed that the other showerhead rested quite a bit lower than the one she was using earlier. She also noticed a hoof sized plate next to it. She figured it must be there to switch shower heads.

I wonder what this does…

She pressed the pad with her hoof and was immediately shot in the face with a heavy stream of water. She turned to the side and cursed the water jet.

I swear to god…

She took a deep breath and tried not to get too mad at the shower. Her eyes hurt a bit, but the jet felt good against her side. She figured the jet must be how ponies wash their coats.

That thing needs a warning sticker.

She slowly turned her body so the jet could wash the sweat off of her sides and flank. It was like a massage and she was beginning to enjoy it. She continued her spin until she was facing away from the nozzle. She was starting to feel very clean and relaxed. She didn’t fully think out her plan however, as her turning quickly led to being sprayed in a very sensitive area.

“EEEP!” She squealed as she jumped and turned in the air. She quickly sat on her rump. It wasn’t a painful sensation, but the spray definitely caught her off guard. As she sat there the nozzle blasted the side of her head with a steady stream of water.

I will fucking end you.

She scooted over to the shower head and turned it off. The gentle spray of the first head returned.

So much better.

She finished her shower still a bit twitchy from her surprise. The next time she showered she was going to watch the pervy jet like a hawk.

She levitated a towel down from the rack and started to dry herself off. She must have spent five minutes scrubbing herself but she was still damp.

How the hell do these ponies get dry?

She decided damp was better than soaking and let her coat be. She made sure her mane was nearly dry before she left the bathroom. As she entered the living room she saw Octavia sitting on the couch.

“Hey Tavi.” She said smiling. Octavia turned around and burst out laughing.

“Oh my god.” She laughed. “What happened to your mane?”

Vinyl blushed. She had completely forgotten to check how she looked in the mirror before she left the bathroom. She quickly trotted back into the room, Octavia laughing behind her.

Vinyl wiped the mirror down with a towel to get rid of the fog. When she saw her mane she couldn’t help but laugh too.

Oh jeeze.

She sneaked past Octavia into her bedroom and grabbed the brush that she had found yesterday morning. She sat down on her bed in front of her mirror and tried to figure out what she was going to do.

I guess I’ll just brush it out and go from there.

It took longer than she expected it to, but eventually Vinyl returned to the living room. Her mane resembled her signature style close enough for her to stop trying for it. Octavia must have thought so as well.

”Oh, so you do know how to use a brush.” She laughed. “You had me worried there.”

Vinyl ignored her and made a beeline to the fridge. She didn’t know what she was going to make, but she was going to eat something.

“I think I’ll take a shower now that you are done with it.” Octavia said as she walked into the bathroom.

Vinyl laughed. “The shower is a perv, be careful!” She yelled.

She’ll find out the hard way.

Vinyl continued her raid of foodstuffs. She found an assortment of breads and cheeses and what appeared to be a shelf entirely dedicated to different kinds of flowers. She grabbed what she thought looked good out onto the kitchen counter. Hoof to her mouth she pondered what to make.

A dandelion and hayseed sandwich sounds great right now.

She put away the other flowers and greens and started cutting the hayseed bread. She was halfway done preparing her meal when something occurred to her.

I’ve never eaten a dandelion. I’ve never had hayseed bread. How do I remember that it tastes good?

She stared at the flowers. They somehow seemed familiar, but she knew she had never eaten one before. She shook the feeling off and finished making her lunch.

Must be instinct or something.

She took her plate over to the couch. She had a habit of watching TV while eating since she was young. The couch was a place to eat in her heart. As she got settled she took her first bite of the sandwich. It was a simple flavor, but it was welcomed.

I guess I’m just a natural chef.

She leaned into her next bite when she heard a noise from the other room.

“EEEP!” came a panicked scream from the shower.

Vinyl smiled. It was turning out to be a good day after all.

* * *

Vinyl sat on her bed looking at all of her sound equipment. Most of it was familiar. She had experience playing with a cover band when she was younger. The amps and cables all made sense to her., still, she couldn’t keep from staring at the stuff she had never seen before. Among these were various things she assumed to be useful in DJ-ing.

There was what appeared to be a turn table, a few different mixers and phasers and a collection of CD’s. She hopped off of the bed. She was going to need to understand this stuff eventually; she figured she might as well start now.

She walked over to her turn table. It appeared to be digital, which was a relief. It still looked like an old school vinyl mixer, but it could mix digital tracks electronically.

At least I don’t have to work with old records.

She examined the table a bit closer. The discs seemed to resemble records, but when tampered with they would just adjust digital properties of the music. Vinyl laughed to herself.

Guess I get to scratch vinyl after all.

She browsed over the rest of her equipment. For a pony who made a living with music, her base capitol seemed to be rather small.

I wonder if I have any stuff in storage?

She knew an apartment could only hold so much stuff. Maybe this was just her mobile equipment for shows.

She walked back out to the living room. It was still early by her standards, but the sun had already started to set. Octavia seemed to be taking a nap on the couch.

“Hey Tavi.” Vinyl said. Octavia responded with a grumble. Vinyl rolled her eyes. You don’t take a nap this late in the evening. It ruins your sleep schedule.

“I’m gonna go check to see if we have anything in storage somewhere. Wanna come with?” Vinyl asked. Octavia rolled onto her feet. “Yeah, I guess.” She said. Vinyl frowned. “You seem so enthusiastic. What if we have like, a cello farm or something?” Octavia smiled. “Okay, one, I don’t think cellos grow on farms, and two, I’ve never played a cello in my life.”

Vinyl smiled. “The great Octavia can’t play the cello?” she joked. Octavia grinned. “Guess I don’t live up to the role. I used to play bass though as a kid. Maybe they are similar.”

Vinyl smiled. “Only one way to find out.” She said. “To the cello farm!” she mocked as she headed for the door. Octavia shook her head as she followed her friend. She reminded her of her old friends. She hadn’t had a good friend in a long time.

* * *

Vinyl and Octavia stood at the front desk of their apartment complexes main building. They were next in line to talk with the only person working so late at night.

Finally a peach colored mare with her boyfriend got a replacement key for their apartment and headed for the door.

“Hey Vinyl, hey Octavia, how can I help you mares tonight?” A ruby colored mare asked them.

She seems nice enough.

“Hi.” Vinyl said. “Octavia and I were wondering if we had anything in storage?”

The mare had a puzzled look on her face. “Storage?” she asked. “I don’t believe you have anything stored with us.”

Vinyl sighed. “No electronic equipment?” She asked. “Or a cello farm?”

The mare blinked in confusion.

Octavia stepped up to the desk. “She’s kidding. Thanks though.” She said.

The mare shrugged as they turned to leave. “I’m sure anything you might have misplaced is in your recording studio. Maybe try cleaning the place?” She added.

Vinyl stopped. She turned around slowly with the most giddy childish grin she could manage. “Did you say recording studio?”

* * *

Vinyl sprinted for the address that the mare had given her. It was only a block away, but she was too excited to walk. Octavia followed closely behind. “You have your own recording studio?” She asked her friend.

Vinyl came to a halt at the front door to the building. It was decent sized, and she could only imagine what was inside it. “Yeah.” She responded. “My own recording studio. I didn’t even know Vinyl made music.” She fiddled with the key. “I thought she just DJ’d.” With an audible click the door opened.

Vinyl stepped inside her studio for the first time and nearly fell over.

It’s beautiful.

It wasn’t especially large, but Vinyl’s studio was definitely functional. The walls were coated in anti-reverb mufflers and the ground was covered in wires. The back wall had a number of guitars and a few other things like a tambourine and microphones littered across it. What caught Vinyl’s eyes though was inside a soundproof recording box.

That’s the most incredible drum kit, and it’s mine.

She pointed towards the room and looked at her friend. She made the most high pitched noise Octavia had ever heard in her life. Vinyl took off towards the room, squee-ing like a little filly all the way. She quickly opened the door and searched for a pair of drum sticks. She found them on the ground and tried to pick them up.

For a moment she had the most horrified look on her face.

I can’t play these with hooves.

She lifted the drum sticks with her magic and tried to play a quiet beat on the hi-hat. It only took a few seconds to realize she couldn’t control how hard she was hitting. She lowered the drum sticks in defeat. For the first time since waking up in Equestria she missed her old life.

I can’t play drums any more.

Octavia could tell what was going through her friends mind. She looked to the ground. It wasn’t her problem, but she still felt bad for her.

As her gaze crossed the ground she noticed something strange. There was a pair of gloves, no, gauntlets, that had a strange appendage on the side. She studied them quickly and got an idea.

Vinyl was sitting slumped on her drum throne when she came in. “Vinyl, I think I found something.” Octavia said.

Vinyl looked to her friend. “What is it?” She asked. Octavia winced. It was the first time she had heard her friend sound depressed.

“I think these will let you drum.” She said. Vinyl’s ears perked up a bit. “I think you put these on, and the drum sticks can sit in this little thing right here” She said pointing to the contraption.

Vinyl looked them over. The slots were definitely meant for holding drumsticks. The only question was how much control they would give her.

“Let me try those on.” She said. She took the gauntlets and strapped them onto her hooves with her teeth. She used her magic to lift the drumsticks into the little slots on the sides of the drumming ware.

These actually feel pretty natural.

She positioned her hooves on the proper foot pedals. She was sitting a lot taller than she was used to, but her hooves felt even more solid on the pedals than they did when she was on Earth.

This isn’t nearly as awkward as I was expecting.

She set off with an easy rhythm. It was simple, but it was performed flawlessly.

Octavia knew her friend was a good drummer, but she always thought she may have been sizing herself up a bit. She was quite surprised when Vinyl picked up the tempo and complexity.

Vinyl wrapped up her warm up with a smile. She stripped her gauntlets off and walked over to her friend. “That was great” She said. “It’s just like at home.”

Octavia smiled. Her friend showed off some impressive beats. She wasn’t a percussionist however, and drums alone didn’t quite satisfy her musical tastes. She got an idea.

“Do you think you have any music in this place?” She asked. Vinyl’s eyes lit up. “I don’t know.” She said. “I bet it wouldn’t be too hard to bring music here.”

They searched the main room for material for Vinyl to jam to. They found a couple albums that they recognized to be Equestrianized, like 'The All Amareican Rejects, Jethro Colt, and Bob Marely' but also a few whose names were untouched, like 'Jimi Hendrix, Green Day and Linkin Park'.

Vinyl kept searching. She could jam along to any of those bands, but she wanted to find a song she knew by heart. She lifted up a stray throw pillow and giggled.

Found it.

She took the disc to the player and popped it in. “Find something good?” Octavia asked. Vinyl smiled. “Yeah. I think so.”

Vinyl put back on her gauntlets and asked her friend for one last favor. “Hey Tavi?” she asked. “Play track five!”

Octavia nodded and pressed the skip button appropriately. “You ready?” she asked. Vinyl nodded in excitement.

The music started and Octavia’s ears immediately rose. It didn’t take much for her to recognize a song from one of her favorite bands. Vinyl’s work on the high hat was good to say the least. It wasn’t a hard drum beat, but the execution was nearly flawless.

She’s not bad. Octavia thought. A few bars ran and Vinyl opened the first verse with a snare riff. Octavia was excited to hear a drum performance, but what Vinyl did next caught her completely off guard. Vinyl started to sing.

It was a song Octavia had heard a thousand times before. She followed the lyrics along in her head.

Push it out, fake a smile, avert disaster just in time.

Octavia was stunned. Vinyl’s drumming alone was impressive, but her vocals weren’t bad either. She stood there, jaw slacked and listened as Vinyl continued with the first verse.

I need a drink, cause in a while, worthless answers from friends of mine.

Octavia couldn’t help but smile. She was expecting nothing like this from her friend. She watched as Vinyl got completely lost in her music. Her mane bobbed gently back and forth as she gracefully moved from snare to tom and crash to ride.

It’s dumb to ask, cool to ignore, girls possess me but they’re never mine.

Octavia saw her friend play the riffs with such ease, she knew she must have played this song countless times. The drums were spot on, but Octavia was paying more attention to Vinyl’s voice than anything. She sang in a way that most artists have to train for. Each syllable was drenched in emotion. The way Vinyl held her eyes closed and bobbed to the rhythm told Octavia exactly what she needed to know.

She’s singing from experience. She thought.

Vinyl’s voice echoed with a tenderness she could never have achieved on Earth. It was soft, it was gentle, it was feminine. Octavia knew there was a reason Vinyl picked this song. Whatever the reason, she was glad she did.

I made my entrance, Avoided hazards, Checked my engine I fell behind.

Vinyl opened her eyes for a brief instrumental part. She looked to Octavia and saw the biggest smile on her face. Vinyl smiled back and gave focus back to her drums.

Octavia couldn’t restrain herself any longer. She had listened to this band since she was just a kid. To Vinyl’s surprise, Octavia joined her on the Chorus.

She makes me feel like it’s raining outside.

They both sang. Octavia knew she wasn’t much of a singer, but she didn’t care. This opportunity was too good to pass up.

And when the storm’s gone I’m all torn up inside.

I’m always nervous on, days like this like the prom.

I get too scared to move ‘cause I’m a fucking boy.

Octavia laughed to herself at the last line. She never pictured herself singing along to this song with anyone, but she was glad she made an exception.

Her friend continued on with the song. Octavia watched her perform more closely than she would have thought. Vinyl’s every movement, every nod of her head, Octavia followed. Not even the steady rise and fall of her chest escaped her knowing. Octavia was surprised by what she paid attention to most. It wasn’t the beat, or the singing that Vinyl was able to create. The room became almost silent to Octavia. The only thing she cared about was a pair of bright rubies trying to hide behind a cyan forest of a mane.

They were outstanding. Every glint of ambient light that managed to streak across them cast off more elegantly than she could have ever imagined. She lost herself in the growing tides of a sea of red. She was completely left behind by reality. She was hopelessly lost, but she had never felt so certain of her location. She had never felt like this before.

”Did you like it?”

Octavia snapped out of her daydream. Blushing hard she turned her head away. “Yes,” she said. “Oh god, yes it was amazing.” Vinyl caught her blush. She wasn’t sure exactly why she was blushing, but she caught it.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” She said, taking her gauntlets off again. “It felt really good to play.”

Octavia smiled as she walked to the CD player to get the disc back.

It felt good to watch.

Vinyl closed the door to the sound room and placed her keys in her bag. “That’s enough of that for me tonight.” She said. “I’m pretty tired.”

Octavia nodded, still a bit embarrassed by her previous train of thought. “Yeah, me too”

The two mares exchange small talk on the way home. It was nothing important but Octavia enjoyed every moment of it.

When they got home Vinyl poured herself a glass of juice and retreated to her room. “Night Tavi, today was real fun.”

Octavia gently smiled. “Yeah, it was. Night Vinyl.” She watched her friend enter her room and close the door.

She stared at the door for a good five minutes. She wished she could be in there again, like the night before. She had felt so good being close to somepony. Vinyl was the first mare in her life to be so perfect.

She walked back to her room and laid down in her bed. She stared at the ceiling as she waited for sleep to overcome her. She felt a bit anxious. She wasn’t sure what Vinyl thought of her, but she was beginning to realize something very quick. She was starting to see Vinyl as more than a friend.

Forgotten

Author's note: Holy god its been a long time since I've updated. I'll be honest. I wasn't sure that this was going to get finished. I had kinda dropped this project for a while, but my friends have suckered me into working on it again, and I will admit, I missed it

HOPEFULLY this will start coming back at a decent pace. No promises, but I do think you can consider "Act II" of this story to come along smoothly. Here's to another batch of great chapters! I present, after a long break, chapter 5.

Vinyl watched the rain fall down her cyan mane. Her flank was covered in filth and her coat was knotted. Her eyes were glazed. She had been staring at the ground in front of her hooves for the past thirty minutes. An insect was trapped in the puddle at which she stared-flailing, grasping for the land which would be its salvation. A grim smile escaped from Vinyl’s waterlogged muzzle as she squelched the bug with a hoof.

Sorry bro. Life happens.

Vinyl resumed her previous escapade. Nothing mattered to her but that puddle on the ground. It was like an ember lost in the tide of a raging forest fire. She was looking for something in that crater of rain, but she didn’t know what it was.

She had a way of zoning things out. The trees whispered to her in the storm, but she was deaf to their songs. Lightning flashed in the lands in the distance, but her sight remained monotonous. She had dug this hole herself, and no force of nature could illuminate its depths.

The occasional raindrop blurred her vision, creating ripples in the only vision of her world. She saw in that distorted reflection more than she thought she could. It was dark and it was broken, but moreover, it was victimized.

And I deserve it.

* * *

Vinyl stirred in her sleep. She opened an eye and curiously checked her clock for the time.

Two thirty.

She groaned and turned over, pulling her sheets to her face. She closed her eyes, but sleep would not be kind enough to take her. Thoughts raced through her mind. She wanted no part of it, but it wasn’t her choice. She closed her eyes as much as she could bear and curled up as tight as she could. Thought after thought tormented her mind until finally a single tear escaped.

I’m such a pussy.

Eyes watery, she turned to face her nightstand. She pulled open the drawer with her magic and lifted the source of her pain to her bed. She stared at the necklace for a good five minutes before she finally brought it to her chest.

Why won’t you leave me alone?

The stone on the piece was ice cold, but to her it felt so warm.

Why can’t you leave like you did before?

Vinyl was shaken. She always hated remembering the past, and when her dreams reflected it she always woke a bit shaken. Her face was visibly wet, she was no longer tired and her pillow smelled like sadness. Vinyl looped the piece around her neck and took a trip to the kitchen sink to wash her face.

The water was warm, and the towlet that she found smelled nice. She wiped her face down and turned off the flow.

I can’t sleep like this.

Vinyl tossed the rag on the counter and grabbed herself a mug from the cupboard. She searched the fridge for something she always felt lightened her mood.

I haven’t had this since I was a kid.

She poured herself a glass of cider and stuck it in the microwave. She set the timer and watched it count down. She had never been patient in her life, but something about the wait was soothing. She stopped the machine before the beeps went off – She didn’t want to wake Tavi.

Tavi.

She grabbed her mug and sat down on the couch. With her magic she floated a nearby blanket over her shoulders and sipped away at her drink. She coughed at the first taste, surprised.

I forgot this was alcoholic.

She smiled a bit and continued with her spirits. Cider had always been one of her favorite drinks, alcohol could only improve it.

Vinyl sighed in remembrance of her previous adventures with alcohol. She remembered back to the night that she had a huge fight with her best friend. She laughed at how stupid the conflict was but cringed at how poorly it had been handled.

She had been playing Halo with her best friend. She was showing him a map that she had made and she received less than positive criticism. She hadn’t handled the situation very well. There had always been a bit of tension between the two ever since they fought over dating the same girl. Tyler ended up dating her through high school, and while Vinyl hated to admit it, she had resented him for it. It wasn’t until years later that the two had finally made amends, but the time between was…difficult.

Vinyl had been over defensive of her creation. She argued with him for a good time before the night ended in screams at her friend.

Vinyl shuddered.

Her dad had come downstairs after the event. The amount of profane language and screaming made him worried. She proceeded to tell him what happened. She didn’t exactly tell the truth however. Her recollection of the event, blinded by her selfish anger caused her to paint a nasty image of her formerly best friend. Her father had listened to her reasoning and took her side. Her friend wasn’t allowed at her house anymore, and she knew at that moment that she had made a mistake.

She went to her bedroom as she was ordered. She thought back about everything that just happened and realized that she had gotten demonic over a stupid game. That she had just trashed her friendship between her and the only guy she had ever been bro’s with. All ruined because of her jealousy for a girl. The girl, moreover.

Vinyl stared at the ceramic tied around her neck.

You won’t ever leave me alone will you?

Vinyl thought back to her solution to her pain. She remembered sneaking down to the pantry of her parent’s house. She remembered falling down in the middle of the floor crying. She hated herself. She was the biggest bitch that she knew. She had thrown away her friendship in the most selfish way she could imagine. She wanted her mind to just shut up. She wanted to stop hating herself. She wanted to disappear.

She laid against her pantry door and opened the nearby cabinet. She reached inside and grabbed a bottle that she had yet to experiment with. Her mother had always kept a bottle of Vodka with the rest of her family’s drinks. Her mom had been known to host Christmas gatherings and the like, so she stowed away her base drinks until the seasonal drinking came to her home.

Christmas is coming early.

She drank from the bottle, coughing most of it up onto the floor. She was sixteen, and had never had more than a glass of wine at a time. A final tear dripping from her eye she tried again. Her throat burned at the sensation. It hurt, and it was hard to swallow the poison, but she pressed on. She easily finished half of the bottle before she finally recapped it and literally climbed up the stairs to her bed. She crashed, plagued with the thoughts of her now ruined friendship. She dreamed of being killed in a car accident. She woke up with a smile.

Vinyl sipped away at her cider. A slight smile across her face

I still can’t believe he forgave me.

Vinyl’s eyes were half glassed as she stared at nothing in particular. Her drink reminded her of how she used to handle things in her life. It reminded her that alcohol did nothing but numb the pain. It wouldn’t fix any problems, but it could make them wait.

She was nearly finished with her drink when she heard a voice.

“Are you okay Vinyl?”

Vinyl smiled.

Tavi.

“I’m fine.” She responded.

Octavia looked at the drink with doubt. “I don’t believe you.” She said.

Vinyl smiled. “I don’t either Tavi.”

Octavia sighed. She hated seeing people like this. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. Vinyl shrugged. Octavia motioned towards her room. “Something is bugging you” she said. “I may not have known you for very long but you aren’t exactly hard to read.”

Vinyl laughed to herself. I’m easy I guess.

Vinyl let out a deep breath before she pulled the blanket off of herself. “I’m just having a bit of a rough night.” She said standing up.

Octavia took this as a good sign. “Will you come lie down with me then?” she asked.

Vinyl smiled weakly. She knew she wouldn’t be sleeping for a while, but lying down sounded good. “Sure.” She said.

Vinyl followed her roommate into the dark. She noted that Octavia’s room smelled different than her own. That, and it was clean. Vinyl had never been tidy, so the room came as a pleasant surprise. Octavia motioned towards the right side of the bed as she climbed in. Vinyl gladly obliged her.

“So what’s up Vinyl?” Tavi asked. “You always seemed so…carefree to me.” Vinyl smiled. She was a pretty carefree pony. She didn’t think about it much, but she could see how she would appear so happy to others. “Something is eating at you.” Tavi sounded genuinely concerned. “Talking about it can help.” She said. “You taught me that. You made me feel like me again.” She smiled at her roommate. “I want to be there for you too.”

Vinyl smiled at her friend. She had only known her for a few days, but she could tell that she was a keeper. “I just overthink things sometimes.” She said, looking at her necklace. “I feel like I’ve moved on, but sometimes I can’t help but think about the past.”

Octavia looked at her friend. She noticed that she was absently stroking her necklace. The beads on it had a sort of tribal feel. It was amateur by all means, but it still looked very pretty. “Where did you get the necklace?” She asked.

Vinyl smiled. “An old friend made it for me.” She replied. “She said it was something that would keep me strong when I was away.” Vinyl’s speech was a bit stuttered. “She told me that if we both kept it that everything would be okay.”

Vinyl was shaking. Octavia wasn’t quite sure what Vinyl had been through, but she knew that that necklace meant something big to her. She wanted to pry for answers, but she didn’t want to rush her friend. Vinyl seemed to be in a lot of pain, she didn’t want to spark a fire.

She moved a bit closer to her quivering roommate. She could feel her movements through the mattress. “It’s very pretty. Who made it for you?”

Vinyl rested her head on the pillow. She closed her eyes and let the tears flow down her face. She brought the blankets up over her head to hide but Octavia stopped her.

“It’s okay Vinyl. It’s okay to cry.” She wrapped a hoof over her friend’s shoulder. She looked at her friend’s face. She could see her eyes straining, trying as hard as they could to block the world out of sight. Her tears fell steadily as an early spring creek. With every twitch of Vinyl’s ears, with every muffled sob Tavi felt the need to help.

“Tell me what happened.” She said. She rubbed her hoof down her friend’s back. She was cold and shaky, but it seemed to calm her. Vinyl didn’t move an inch. Her cries softened a bit as she tried to regain her posture.

“I-Im sorry Tavi” She whispered. Octavia brushed Vinyl’s mane out of her face.

“Don’t be.” She said. “Now tell me what happened.”

Vinyl rubbed her eyes with her hooves. She closed her eyes for a moment to regain her strength before she continued. Using her magic she lifted her necklace back over her head and set it on the bed between her and her roommate.

“My Ex made this for me.” Vinyl spoke. “For our first anniversary.”

She still feels for her.

Tavi smiled. “It’s quite nice.” She said. “What happened between you?”

Vinyl tried her best to smile. “We had our time.” She said. Tavi knew damn well what that meant.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “I can’t imagine it’s easy.”

Vinyl closed her eyes. “It’s not.” She said. She curled up a bit into the blankets as Tavi adjusted herself.

“How did it happen?” Tavi asked. “Was it mutual?”

Vinyl laughed a bit to herself. “Not exactly.” Tavi frowned. She had hoped that their breakup had at least been dignified.

“What happened exactly?” she asked. “If you don’t mind telling that is.”

Vinyl sighed. “It’s a bit of a story.”

“I love stories.” Tavi responded.

“Suit yourself.” Vinyl said. “I had gone off to college. I was planning on going to medical school because my dad was a doctor and I didn’t want to disappoint him. The state school was about four hours from my home. It wasn’t too far, but it was long enough to make frequent trips difficult.”

Vinyl adjusted her pillow a bit as she rested her head. “Before I left we spent the last few nights together. I told her that I didn’t want to leave her behind, but school was important to me. She understood. She was always good at understanding.” Vinyl sighed. “She always listened to me. No matter what I had to say. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to. I told her that while I was gone I wanted her to stay happy. I didn’t want her to dwell on the fact that I was gone." Vinyl’s eyes closed. “I told her that she could…you know, fool around a bit if she wanted to.”

Tavi sighed. She knew instantly what went wrong, and she felt horrible for her.

“I told her that I didn’t want her to feel alone. That I loved her so much that I didn’t care if she felt the need to fool around while I was gone. I didn’t want to act like I owned her. I wanted us to be stronger than sex.” Vinyl said. She was silent for a few moments before she finished. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but I gave her permission to leave me.”

Vinyl looked at Octavia with teary eyes. “When I came home for Christmas, she introduced me to her friend.” Vinyl whimpered. “I was happy to meet him. I knew it was likely that they had had a few experiences, but I didn’t care. I trusted her.”

Vinyl teared up again. “When she introduced me, he seemed so happy to see me. I went to shake his hand and…” Vinyl broke down. She couldn’t hold it in anymore. “He…he….he had a necklace.” She cried. “With the same stone mine had.”

Octavia hugged Vinyl tight.

What a bitch.

“I’m so sorry Vinyl…I don’t know what to say.”

Vinyl was in all out tears. “She said she loved me. She said that if I kept my necklace that she would never forget me. That she would never forget the shit I went through fighting for her. That she would never forget the times when I tried so hard to make her happy. That she would never forget the first time I said I loved her.”

Vinyl was nearly shouting through her tears, holding onto Tavi as much as she could. She looked her in the eyes as she sobbed.

“She told me she would never forget the night I asked her to marry me when I was done with college.”

Vinyl bit her lip. The mattress was getting soaked. “But she did. She forgot everything I ever did for her. I was just another guy she was trying out. She forgot how much I fought with MY best friend to get to her. She forgot how I threw him away to love her.”

Vinyl was nearly out of tears. “She forgot that she was leaving me broken.”

Octavia held her friend close. She was crying for her now. She had no idea that her friend had been so crushed. She was amazed she could hold it in so well.

Vinyl’s whimpers came to a close. “She forgot that I loved her.” She coughed a bit to clear her throat. She held her necklace up to Tavi. “She forgot what this meant. That this necklace meant that everything would be okay.”

Octavia looked into Vinyl’s eyes. They were so deep. She could see the layers of her soul within them. She grabbed her friend’s necklace and held it up.

“Stick your head out Vinyl.” She said.

“Why?” Vinyl asked, still a bit choked up from her rant.

“Just trust me.” She said.

Vinyl considered the action for a moment before deciding nothing bad could happen. She leaned in towards Octavia.

Octavia lifted the necklace back around Vinyl’s head. “She may have forgotten Vinyl, but that doesn’t mean you should.” She said. “She may have left you broken, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rebuild. She told you everything was going to be okay. Live to that promise. You will find love again.” Octavia encouraged.

Vinyl smiled weakly. “Maybe.”

Octavia smiled. “You are beautiful Vinyl. She doesn’t know what she is missing out on.”

Vinyl blushed a bit. “I don’t know about that, but I appreciate the gesture.” She said, breaking eye contact as she looked down

Octavia lifted a hoof to Vinyl’s head. “Hey” she said. “I’m not kidding. You really are beautiful Vinyl.”

Vinyl couldn’t help but stare. Tavi was just so welcoming. “You really think I could find love again here?” she asked.

Tavi smiled. “If you are open to it, then I promise you will, but you have to decide for yourself when you are ready to move on."

Vinyl closed her eyes and smiled. Her eyes were damp from crying, but she looked happy. “I’m ready.” She whispered. She curled up again under the blanket with only her head breaking the surface. She felt warm, and she felt cared for. She knew she would never recover her past love, but for the first time in years she felt truly optimistic. She was surprised that she felt happy, but what was even more surprising caught her completely off guard. She felt a pair of foreign lips upon her own.

Vinyl opened her eyes slowly to see Octavia had moved as close to her as she could. Tavi opened her eyes and smiled gently at Vinyl. “How do you feel about clichéd shipping?” she asked with a giggle.

Vinyl smiled. “I never thought it was clichéd” she replied, returning the original kiss. Vinyl wrapped her hoof under Tavi’s neck and pulled her as close as she could. “I’ve been needing this.” Vinyl whispered. Octavia smiled. “You aren’t alone in that.” She replied.

After a brief exchange Tavi nestled her way into Vinyl’s coat. She wrapped her hooves around Vinyl’s body and rested her head on the pillow. Vinyl embraced her as best she could as she closed her eyes. She pulled the blanket over them both as she drifted back to sleep.

I think the nightmares are over.

Illumni

The sun shined brightly through Octavia’s window. Vinyl covered her eyes with her hooves, still half asleep. She rubbed them in response to the sun’s rude gesture. “Erghghghh” She whined.

Vinyl’s eyes strained as they tried to keep out the sun’s radiation. Her struggles to fight the pesky star nudged her into her friend. Vinyl froze for a second as thoughts of last night rushed to her head.

I almost forgot about that.

Quietly she snuck her hoof back to her side of the bed. She slowly nudged her foreleg under Tavi’s head and cuddled up closer to her. She embraced her friend as best as she could.

Today is gonna be weird.

She lied in bed for another twenty minutes before Tavi finally stirred. She had a fairly similar response to the light as Vinyl.

“Erghghghh” Octavia whined. Vinyl giggled.

“Good morning sleepyhead.” She said. Octavia smiled back at her.

“How long have you been awake?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“About twenty minutes.” She said. “Why?”

Tavi laughed. “You were watching me sleep for twenty minutes and the best you could come up with was “Good morning sleepyhead’?”

Vinyl sighed and smiled. “Isn’t it a bit early to be so cynical?”

Tavi looked at the clock. “I don’t think it’s too early for anything at noon.”

Vinyl laughed. “Yeah I guess that’s a good point.” She said rolling out of bed. “What do you want for lunch?”

Tavi followed her closely. “Um,” she thought “maybe something with those carrots we got the other day?”

Vinyl nodded. It seemed like a good enough plan.

The two spent the next hour laughing with each other while they tried to put together some kind of a salad. Seeing as they had both been pretty big meat eaters, salads were not really their forte.

“Shouldn’t we add like, cheese or something?” Vinyl asked.

Tavi raised an eyebrow. “You put cheese on salad?”

Vinyl looked at the bowl confused. “I think I did. Like, cheese and tomatoes and eggs and stuff.”

“Do ponies eat eggs?” Tavi asked.

“That’s a good question.” Vinyl thought out loud. “I don’t really know.”

They both stared at the bowl.

“We can still use dressing right?” Vinyl asked worried.

“Oh yeah. God, could you imagine salad without dressing?” Tavi laughed.

“That sounds like grass.” Vinyl added.

“Actually,” Tavi said “Grass doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t” Vinyl said, taking her bowl to the couch. The two sat down to enjoy their lunch and exchange conversation. They were almost finished when they heard a knock at the door. The two exchanged looks, wondering who the visitor could be. Vinyl stood up and walked into the front room. She took a peek out the peephole and smiled. Answering the door she greeted her guest.

“Derpy! What’s up?” Vinyl exclaimed happily. The blonde mare smiled as only she could.

“You’ve got mail.” She said, dropping the letter she was holding in her teeth in the process. She looked at the ground and smiled. “My bad” she said.

Vinyl smiled back. “No worries.” She said, taking the mail from her. She dropped it inside and called for Tavi to take it to the counter. Vinyl turned back to talk with the newly met mail mare.

“So, how long have you been working as a mail mare?” Vinyl asked. She still had no way to tell which ponies were real or not.

“I’ve been working since sunday.” She replied happily. “It’s a lot of fun, and the pay is really good.” She swung her mailbag over her shoulder. “How is your job going Vinyl?” she asked.

Vinyl’s eyes widened.

I’m supposed to be working?

“Uhh…” she said blushing. “I actually didn’t realize we were all working already.”

Derpy smiled and giggled to herself. “Thats funny.” She said “Everyone got mail on Monday telling them to visit the mayor to see what their jobs were. Except for us mail mares. We got our jobs early.”

Vinyl was confused. “We haven’t gotten any mail until just now.” She said. “Who was supposed to deliver it?”

Derpy tilted her head slightly in thought. In the background Vinyl could hear Tavi yelling. “Vinyl! We’re supposed to be at work!”

Derpy smiled and laughed. “Oh yeah, that was my job.” Vinyl rolled her eyes.

“Why didn’t you deliver it to us?” Vinyl asked.

Derpy was confused. “I did.”

Vinyl blinked. “I mean, why didn’t you…oh forget it. Thanks for the mail Derps.”

Derpy smiled. “You’re welcome!” she said as she turned around and flew off, taking out a branch of the nearby tree with her. Vinyl sighed.

That’s our Derpy.

She closed the door and returned to her living room. Tavi was re-reading the letter from the major. “Vinyl, we are supposed to be at work right now.” She said with a slightly panicked voice.

Vinyl tried to calm her down. “Relax. Let’s just go down to town hall to get this all sorted out.”

Tavi was still worried. “Are you sure? I mean, we just got here and we are already missing our jobs. What if we get fired?”

Vinyl laughed as she tried to reassure her. “Relax Tavi,” she said “Derpy, was delivering our mail. I’m sure we’re not the only ponies who missed their first day of work.”

* * *

“You are the only ponies who missed their first day of work.” said Mayor Mare, slightly irritated.

Vinyl’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious!?” she pleaded. Mayor mare nodded as she adjusted her glasses.

“Yes. Everypony arrived on time to their jobs yesterday.” She looked up from her paperwork. “Except you two.”

Vinyl blushed and scratched her head. Octavia was in full out panic, hyperventilating in the corner. “I’m sorry mayor. We would have gone to work, but we don’t know where we work.” Vinyl explained. “Actually,” she added “We don’t even know what our jobs are.”

The mayor sighed. “Alright. Well I guess we should get this sorted out.” she said. She leaned over to the side of her desk, which was really quite nice, to find the appropriate files. After a bit of searching she pulled up two manila folders.

“Alrighty then,” she said “I have your files here.” She adjusted her glasses again and coughed to clear her voice.

“Vinyl,” the mayor spoke “It would appear that your profession is listed as ‘Disc Jockey’”. She looked at Vinyl with sarcastic eyes. “I would never have guessed.” She said monotonously.

She’s so charming

The mayor continued. “You were supposed to play at ‘The Cloudhouse’ last night, and you are scheduled to play at ‘The Salt lick’ tonight at ten thirty.” She looked up at her client. “Would you like me to give you a list of venues and important contacts?”

Vinyl sighed. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Thank you.” She took the paperwork and looked it over.

At least I’ll be keeping busy.

The mayor returned to her search. “As for you, Miss Philharmonica,”

Philharmonica?

“Your profession is listed as being the first chair cellist in the Canterlot orchestra.” She looked at Tavi over her glasses. “That sounds like a great career.” She added with a smile.

What’s that supposed to mean.

She handed Octavia some papers explaining where her recitals would take place and when the group met. “So,” The mayor questioned “Is there anything else I can do for you today?”

Vinyl pondered the question for a moment. “I don’t think so.” She said. “Thank you so much for your help.” Vinyl added gratefully.

The mayor rolled her eyes. “Hmm. Well I do hope you are on time to your music thing from now on.”

Vinyl furrowed her eyebrows. Well good day to you too.

Tavi smiled and led Vinyl towards the door. “Thank you so much for your help.” She said “I don’t know what we would have done.”

The mayor smiled politely as she straightened her desk. “It was no trouble dear. If you have any more questions you know my hours.”

Tavi and Vinyl closed the door behind them as they left the mayor’s office. Vinyl huffed to herself in annoyance.

“She totally hates me.” She said irritated. Tavi grinned nervously.

“I’m sure she meant well.” She lied. She had to admit, the mayor didn’t exactly seem friendly towards Vinyl.

Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Whatever. We have bigger problems to deal with.” She pushed open the door that led to Ponyville square and she trotted down the steps. She looked towards the only clock tower in town. “It’s almost two o’clock, and I have to perform at a club tonight in less than nine hours.” She looked at her friend. “I have no idea how to DJ Tavi. No bucking clue.”

Tavi smiled weakly. “I’m sure you can figure things out. Let’s just go home and look through your stuff.”

* * *

Vinyl sat on the edge of her bed, not so silently having a mental breakdown. It was almost nine and she had made almost no progress with her equipment. She knew how to turn everything on, and how to get music to start playing, but she was really struggling with transitions and, well, everything else really.

There was a knock on her door, and she turned to see her roommate peeking in from the front room. “How are things going in here?” she asked. “Have you made any progress?”

Vinyl held her face in her hooves. Progress wasn’t exactly what she would call the last 6 hours of her life. “I can turn it on.” She groaned through her hooves. “I can turn it on, and I can get a song to start playing.” She rubbed her temples absent mindedly as she thought her situation through. She looked to her friend and laughed nervously. “I am so screwed, Tavi.”

Octavia sighed. She didn’t want to admit it, but her friend was not in a good situation. She walked over to her bed and sat down next to her. She gently kissed Vinyl on the cheek and then shared her gaze at the party equipment. “I’m sure you will put something together.” She assured her.

Vinyl blushed slightly. “I dunno Tavi.” She responded. “I’m gonna get chased off the stage.”

Octavia smiled. “That’s loser talk. You are going to go out there, and you are going to do great.” She sounded pretty sure of herself. Vinyl smiled a little and tried to relax. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

I got this.

Vinyl sat there for a minute or two before Octavia nudged her with her hoof. “I’m glad to see you calming down a bit” she said “but I think you should probably start getting ready to leave.” Vinyl nodded and silently dismounted the bed. She pulled a little wagon-like trolley out from her closet and started loading her equipment into it.

Tavi smiled as she watched her pack. “Are you going to pull all of your stuff on that little wagon thing?” she asked.

Vinyl finished lifting the last cable into the trolley as she responded. “That was the plan.” She looked up to her roommate. “Why?” she asked.

Tavi smiled. “Oh no reason.” She said. “It’s just kinda cute.”

Vinyl frowned. Cute wasn’t exactly the look she was going for. She was hoping to present more of a Deadmar3 vibe.

“What?” she asked. “A girl can’t pull her speakers to a show in a cart?” She stepped back for a second and looked at it. She had to admit. It was kinda cute.

Damnit.

“Well, I can’t really change this. And I have much bigger problems than how I am gonna look while setting up.” Vinyl said with a sigh. She really was scared about how the night was going to play out. She took a deep breath and swallowed her pride. Grabbing her cart’s handle with her aura she walked towards the front door. Tavi followed close behind.

“Alright,” Vinyl said “I guess I’ll see you when I get back, if you aren’t asleep.”

Octavia laughed. “Wait, you think I’m not coming to watch?”

Vinyl thought for a moment. “Hmm, I guess I didn’t think about that.” She finally answered. “Octavia never seemed like the partying type.”

Octavia smiled as she followed her friend out the door and onto the sidewalk. “Well I guess you don’t know me that well. I had my fair share of parties growing up.”

Vinyl smiled as she walked. That would have been a sight she would have liked to see. “Well I guess you haven’t always been a stale upper crust earth pony.” She teased.

“How rude!” Octavia joked with a fake posh voice “My bloodlines are most certainly upper upper crust.”

Vinyl laughed with a snort, which Tavi immediately called her out on.

“Nice laugh hun.” She teased with a grin.

“Oh hush.” Vinyl said with a blush. They stopped for a moment at an intersection. They checked both ways for traffic and moved on, a ritual the two had developed as a sort of inside joke.

They were getting close to the night’s venue and Vinyl was getting really nervous. Octavia couldn’t quite tell, but it looked like Vinyl was shaking while she walked. The finished the rest of their walk in near silence and arrived at the back door to The Salt Lick. Vinyl knocked and waited to be let in. They waited for fifteen seconds or so before they questioned their methods.

“Should you maybe have a key?” Octavia asked, confused as to how they were supposed to get inside.

“I doubt they would give a key to the place to someone who performs here.” Vinyl thought out loud. “If they did, that would be pretty dumb.” Vinyl looked around for anything that might help their situation. She walked around to the side of the building to see if there was another way in.

Octavia checked the wall for anything else that could be useful. She saw a security camera hidden slightly by the roof. She stared into the camera.

“Hey Vinyl,” She said, still staring into the camera. “There’s a security thingy over here.” Vinyl walked back from the corner of the building to see what Octavia was looking at.

“Nice find Tavi.” She said. “That’s way more promising than those trash cans over there.” Vinyl stared up at the camera with her friend.

“Do we need to like, wave at it or something? Vinyl said, waving her right hoof in front of her face. “Or do some kind of secret hoof shake.”

Octavia just stared at her friend and gave her a single, drawn out blink that screamed – Really Vinyl?

Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Well you think of something.” She said sitting down on her equipment and crossing her hooves “Cause I’m fresh out of ideas.”

Octavia tilted her head to get a new angle. A few seconds passed and she got an idea.

“Hello!?” She said very loudly towards the camera. She cleared her throat. “Is there anypony in there!?”

Vinyl laughed. “You think that will work? It’s a camera, it’s not like they can hear y-“

Vinyl was cut off by the sound of an intercom. “Who’s asking?”

Octavia glanced at Vinyl with a smirk and Vinyl simply shrugged.

“We are here to play a…a gig…or something!?” Octavia declared. Vinyl facehoofed. She hopped off of her stuff and approached the camera.

“I’m supposed to play here at ten thirty. You should like, let us in.” She yelled.

There was a brief silence. “What’s your name? I need to see if you are on the list.” The speakers said.

“The name’s Vinyl.” Vinyl spoke “Vinyl Scratch. That’s V-I-N”

“You aren’t on the list of performers.” The voice interjected. You have a stage name or something miss?”

Vinyl thought for a second. “Um. I guess it could be down as DJ Pony. Or…DJ Pon-Three, or whatever it is.”

The mares waited for a moment while they heard pages turning through the speakers.

“Ok, yeah, I found you, you guys can come on in.” There was a sound of a door unlocking and a well-muscled stallion opened the door.

“Thanks.” Vinyl said, as she pulled her cart behind her.

“Nice wagon.” The stallion laughed as he moved out of the way.

Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Bite me.” She said.

“Touchy touchy, I was only joking.” He laughed. “Actually it’s kinda cute.”

Gotta get a new cart.

Vinyl set her stuff down and watched the stallion close the door behind her friend. He was much larger than either of them and he had a dark gold coat. It had a similar look to that fancy dijon mustard.

“So, where do I set up?” she asked. The stallion had a confused look on his face. “I would set up where you normally do.” He said. “Haven’t you played here before?”

Vinyl blushed. “Oh yeah, right.” She covered, scratching the back of her head. “I don’t remember places very well I guess.”

The stallion laughed. “Can’t say I blame you. You do have a reputation of getting pretty smashed after your performances.” He said.

Oh god why.

“I do?” Vinyl blushed. “I uh…Well I dunno about that…”

“Relax, I’m kidding.” The stallion laughed. “Follow me. Stage is right over here.”

Vinyl awkwardly followed her escort to the stage. Octavia followed close behind and nudged her friend on her shoulder.

“I’m gonna go settle down at a booth and maybe get a drink.” Tavi said. “I’ll be watching you close when you go on, so don’t screw up.” She laughed.

Vinyl gave her a hug. “Thanks Tavi. I’ll try.” She then followed the stallion backstage to get set up.

Octavia waved to her friend as she left. She managed to find her way down a small set of stairs in the back and progressed towards the scene’s seating. She found a spot that had a decent view of the stage and sat down. There was a stallion with a blue and red tipped mane playing some rougher house tracks on the main stage. He looked like he was having a lot of fun.

Tavi glanced to her left to see a maroon stallion serving drinks to a few mares who were seated at the bar. She couldn’t tell what they were saying but it was pretty obvious he was flirting with them. Octavia scanned the room for a clock and found that it was almost nine thirty. Vinyl would be on in half an hour. She figured now was as good of a time as any to get a drink or two.

She propped herself up out of her seat and casually approached the bar, dodging a few less than sober ponies along the way. She approached the bar with a smile and asked what they were serving.

The bartender smiled. “We can serve almost any drink you can think of miss.” He said cleaning a glass. “What are yah having?”

Octavia paused to think. She knew the names of a few drinks back home, but, entertaining as it was, everything here seemed to be named after horse puns.

“Um. Do you serve Manehattens?” she asked. Manehattens sounded like a thing.

The bartender laughed. “Sure do. Best in town. I’ll fix one up for you.”

Octavia sighed. She was glad that worked.

“Here you go miss.” The bartender smiled. “Is there anything else I can do you for?”

Tavi smiled gratefully. “No thank you, this is fine.” She said. “I’ll be sure to come back if it’s good.” She laughed.

The bartender smiled. “Sounds good. Have a nice night ma’am.” He said moving on to take a new order from an especially tipsy mare.

“Do you think they could like, mix a bunch of them together like you do with soda? That would be so awesome.” A rainbow maned mare said to her friend.

“It would be!” a pink mare responded. “Give us two everythingtogethers!” she asked the stallion with a giggle.

The bartended laughed awkwardly. “Whatever floats your boat miss.”

* * *

Octavia sipped away at her manehatten. Vinyl would be on stage any minute and she was starting to feel pretty relaxed. She sat back in her chair and listened to the venue. The ponies attending weren’t especially loud, but she could still eavesdrop on nearby conversations. It was a bad habit of hers, but she always found it entertaining.

She closed her eyes with her head rested against the back of her booth and a smile on her face. The night was calm and she felt like she could almost fall asleep.

“Octavia!?” came a voice from right in front of her.

Tavi jumped in her seat and nearly knocked her drink onto the floor. Her eyes were wide open and she looked a little to her left to see a red headed mare laughing hysterically.

“Oh god, I’m sorry.” She laughed “I didn’t mean to startle you.” She smiled at Tavi, still chuckling. Tavi smiled back after calming down a bit.

“It’s nothing, just scared me a bit.” She laughed. She recognized the pony but she was having a hard time remembering the name. The red headed pony turned her head to shout something at one of her friends and Octavia caught a glimpse of her cutie mark.

Roseluck

“So how are you doing Rose?” Octavia asked, getting comfortable in her seat. “You come here often?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “That was lame Octy.” She said. “I was totally expecting better.” Rose turned for a second to yell at her friend again. “Carrot Top, I’m over here, look who it is!” She turned back to Octavia. “I want you to meet my friend Carrot Top, we’ve been rooming together since inauguration.”

Octavia was confused. “Inauguration?” she asked.

“Oh, that’s just the day we all started our lives here.” She said. “Everypony in town started calling it that, so why not right?” She walked away from the table to physically pull her friend away from the crowd she was talking with.

She’s an assertive one.

She returned with her friend. She had an orange mane and a yellow coat. She looked a little tipsy, but she wasn’t drunk.

“Oh my god.” She said. “Octavia! Girl how are you.” She approached Octavia with a hug. Rose smiled as she watched the unfolding awkwardness.

Carrot Top put her hooves around Octavia and hugged her like she was her long lost twin. Octavia smiled nervously and looked to Rose for help.

“Alright Carrie, that’s enough lovin’ for tonight.” She said as she pulled the mare off of Tavi.

“Sorry ‘bout that. She gets real friendly.” Rose blushed.

“Oh my god Its Lyra!” Carrot Top said, pointing to a blue stallion who was most definitely not Lyra. “Lyraaaa!” she shouted as she trotted off to greet her friend.

“Oh horseapples.” Rose said. “I’ve gotta stop her from making a fool of herself.”

Carrot Top was now hugging a very surprised stallion who was looking around the room for help.

“Well, keep her from making more of a fool of herself.” She said. “I’ll come join you in a bit Octy. I always like meeting new ponies but I’ve got to get Mrs. Friendly home.” She said walking towards the situation. “Don’t go anywhere!” she said with a smile.

Octavia blinked and returned to her drink.

That just happened.

She sipped away at the last of her spirits when she saw the current DJ announce that his show was over.

“I had a blast guys, but it’s time for me to bounce.” He said. “The party isn’t over though, don’t worry. We’ve got the one and only DJ PON-3 up next so get yourselves a drink and get ready for a night of solid beats.” He said into the microphone. He packed his stuff up and pushed it into the back room. He came off the stage the same way Octavia had gotten in and he sat down at the bar to get a quick drink and have a chat with the bartender. The bartender seemed a lot less flirty this time.

Octavia scanned the stage to catch a glimpse of her friend. She thought she could see some movement in the back but she wasn’t too sure. She figured she would be on soon enough and decided to grab another drink from the bar while she waited. Maybe this time she would try a brandy.

* * *

Vinyl looked out onto the stage. Her stage. She couldn’t really see much into the night club, it was mostly just lights and beams and it smelled like booze and cheap pizza. She saw the previous DJ pack up his things and tell the audience he was done. His set was pretty great from what she heard of it and the audience seemed to eat it up.

He brought his things backstage and moved them into the corner by the door. He was headed for the bar when he caught a glimpse of Vinyl.

“Hey Vinyl, what’s up?” he said approaching her. He held his hoof out for a bump. Vinyl turned around, half zoned out in anticipation of the event.

“Huh? Oh! Hi, yeah, what’s up? She said. She knocked his hoof with her own and laughed.

“Brohoof, amirite?” she laughed. The stallion rolled his eyes.

“If I had a dime for everypony that has said that to me since I’ve been here I would be able to retire. He said with a laugh.”

Vinyl laughed along. “I bet.” She said. “You headed home?” she asked looking at his stuff.

He smiled. “Yeah, but not quite yet.” He said. “I’m gonna go hang with my bud at the bar for a few and get a drink.” He started walking towards the stairs. “You have a great set now. I don’t wanna hear trash down there while I’m cooling down.” He joked as he walked off the stage.

Vinyl laughed to herself.

Don’t hold your breath

She stared out into the lights. She knew the eyes would soon be on her. She fiddled with the handle on her cart. She wanted to do this. She had always wanted to do this. She closed her eyes and tried to stay calm and focused. She took in a deep breath as she prepared to go set up.

She exhaled and smiled. She wasn’t sure exactly how the night was going to go, but she felt ready to give it her all. She started her walk towards the stage but she didn’t make it more than a few steps. Something felt wrong to her.

This is missing something.

She looked at her cart. All of her sound equipment was there. She wasn’t missing any of her CD’s or mixes. Everything seemed to be in order.

Then she saw it. She smiled and laughed to herself with glee.

Oh this is gonna be good.

She reached down into her cart of music stuffs and pulled out a pair of purple shades. She put them over her eyes and made sure they fit snugly. Across the room she checked out her style in the mirror. She had to admit, they looked pretty badass.

Returning to her cart she grabbed the handle with her magic and walked onto the stage. The white pony entered the stage with her trademark grin and shades. The audience applauded as she made her debut and started getting her gear together.

Vinyl took a deep breath as she plugged in her last accessory. Win or lose, it was her time to shine. She leaned into her mic and smiled.

“Is everypony ready to party?” she asked. The crowd cheered. Vinyl smiled. Hopefully she could keep the club this active all night. She adjusted a few knobs for the frequency and one for the treble. She opened the case to her first disk and brought her laptop to her audio program. With a final mouse click she started off the first track.

All or nothing I suppose.

Rave

Octavia returned to her booth seat after a quick refill from the flirtatious bartender. She had decided to go with a brandy, feeling it would help her live up to her debonair demeanor. She sipped slowly while she waited for Vinyl to go onstage. She smiled to herself – The brandy was a good decision.

She managed to distract herself by observing all the other ponies that were at the club. She recognized a few of them. Rose had finally managed to escort Carrot Top out of the club, even though she fought back rather clumsily. Eventually she just sort of collapsed and gave up. Tavi couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.

A bright flash on the front stage caught her attention as a white mare walked out proud with her purple shades.

I had almost forgotten those.

The mare smiled and the audience applauded as she set up her stuff. Octavia smiled nervously. She was about to witness a miracle or a train wreck. She hoped, for the sake of her friend, and her friend’s ego that it was the former.

Octavia tried to relax. It was just DJ’ing right? Worst case scenario Vinyl played track after track with no interesting transitions. Probably not the most interesting night, but the ponies here couldn’t be sober enough to be fine critics could they? Surely Vinyl’s reputation couldn’t be shattered by one poor performance.

Then again, Tavi knew nothing about clubs. As hard as she tried to reassure herself, she knew that anything could happen. That’s what frightened her the most. She continued to sip away at her spirits, trying to remain calm. Two and a half hours and it would all be over, for better or worse.

She was brought to attention by a voice that came over the PA system.

“Is everypony ready to party?” the voice asked.

The crowd applauded. Octavia smiled, but trembled slightly. The first track played. Octavia did not recognize the song, as she didn’t listen to much house, but it seemed to have a decent enough beat. She exhaled a bit as she noticed ponies start to go back to talking with one another. Some of them were on the main floor dancing and others were like her, sitting in a booth, nodding along slowly to the music.

Everything seemed to be going well enough, to which Tavi was grateful. She swirled her drink in her glass absent mindedly when she noticed a pony sit down next to her.

“Hiya Octy.” Rose said, slipping beside her new friend with what Octavia assumed to be a martini. Octavia flinched a bit out of surprise, but returned the gesture.

“Hey Rose.” She said “You sure have a way of sneaking up on ponies.”

Rose laughed. “That’s weird, everypony says that.” She took a sip from her drink, poking the olive with a toothpick. “I guess I’m just really outgoing.” Her smile was genuine. Tavi could feel that she was just happy to be around everypony. She might have been a bit over the top, but she was really friendly and something about that made Tavi smile.

“It’s not a problem.” Tavi laughed “Just something I noticed.” She looked back up at the stage to see how Vinyl was doing. Vinyl was onstage constantly checking her settings. She looked paranoid but Tavi knew she was just being careful.

Rose caught her attention with a question. “You come to places like the often Octy? I don’t see you around town much.” Octavia and Vinyl were a bit of a mystery to the mare. She had seen most all of the other “changed” ponies around town. Vinyl and Octavia were good at keeping hidden.

“We tend to stay at home a lot.” Tavi responded. She didn’t think much of it, but the two of them had been fairly reclusive. She wasn’t sure if they had just been enjoying each other’s company and getting to know each other, or if they were both just fairly anti-social.

Perhaps it had something to do with the two of them growing closer. It had only been a few days since she and Vinyl had started sleeping together, and that was in the most basic definition of the term. Vinyl liked to joke about it, but the two of them had done nothing other than sleep in that bed. Tavi viewed it more as a close friendship than anything, but she was more than willing to see what would come of it.

Tavi smiled at her new friend. “We’ve been keeping each other company mainly. I guess we didn’t think much about socializing with everypony else.”

Rose nodded in understanding. “Makes sense.” She said. “I was really close with my roommate when I got here too.”

Octavia was interested. “Who are you rooming with?” she asked.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Mrs. Friendly from earlier.” She laughed. Octavia joined her. It made sense now that she had been the one to take Carrot Top home when she had gotten a little…loopy.

“She’s great, don’t get me wrong, she’s just so…” Rose tried to find a word.

“I think that sums it up pretty nicely.” Tavi laughed. “She seems very…open” she added.

Rose nodded in agreement. “Oh yeah. She ain’t afraid to speak her mind.” They both laughed and took a sip from their drinks. “So, I came here with Carrot Top,” Rose stated. “Who is your date?”

Octavia was confused. “Wait, you two are like, a thing?” Tavi didn’t think that two ponies would be able to hit it off so quickly. They hadn’t been in Ponyville very long.

Rose smiled as she answered. “Yeah, we just started dating a few days ago.” She looked both happy and excited. “At first we weren’t sure about it cause, well you know.” Rose blushed.

“I think I do.” Octavia answered cautiously. “I’m not quite sure though.” She distracted herself with her drink. “My guess would be that it was a bit awkward, seeing as you are both mares.”

Rose laughed. “Yeah, I guess that could be awkward, but that’s not quite what I meant.”

Octavia was curious. “If that wasn’t the awkward part then what was?” Tavi felt like she was missing something important.

Rose blushed. “Well, I’m not sure if its taboo to talk about, but we all had past lives right?”

Tavi knew what Rose was talking about, but she didn’t see how it could be considered taboo. “Yeah,” she answered. “We are all new here, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t talk about it.”

Rose looked around paranoid. “Well, we’re supposed to be on like, TV right?”

Octavia blushed. She had honestly forgotten about that part of the deal. She wondered now what her family would think looking at her new life.

“I honestly had completely forgotten about that.” Tavi responded. “Is it wrong for us to talk about our past lives here? If it is, Vinyl and I have been breaking the rules a lot.”

Rose leaned in towards Tavi. “I doubt it’s illegal or something, It’s just kinda weird to talk about.” She said. “Like, if they were watching us talk about our past that would weird them out. We are supposed to remain anonymous I think.”

That made sense enough to Tavi. She tried to think how their situation might look from the outside. She had to admit; hearing who all these ponies used to be might be a bit strange for a TV show.

Rose was whispering to Tavi now. “It doesn’t matter I don’t think, just keep it on the down low.”

Octavia couldn’t help but giggle. They were acting as if they were some underground thug ring, or like they had just talked about Fight Club or something. She thought they might be acting a bit melodramatic.

“You still didn’t answer my question.” Tavi laughed. “Not to get in the way of any conspiracy theories, but what made the situation between you two so awkward?”

Rose laughed. “To be honest?” she looked around to see if anyone else was within earshot. “We both used to be guys.”

Octavia giggled.

“Hey that’s not funny.” Rose smiled. “It was really, really awkward at first. I mean, at first we thought it would be really gay, because we both used to be guys.” Rose blushed. “But then we realized we were both girls, so it would be gay either way.”

Octavia was nearly crying at this point.

“I guess since we both like mares it just sorta worked.” Rose finished. She stared at Tavi who was resting her head on the table looking at her. She was struggling to breathe in a way that only extreme laughing can manage. She finally sat up and wiped her eyes.

“Oh god,” she wheezed, “I wish I could have seen the looks on your faces. I bet that was priceless.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well we got over it pretty quick.” She took another sip from her martini glass. “We actually slept together for the first time last night. It was really nice.”

Octavia’s eyes widened. “By sleep together do you mean…?”

Rose blushed. “Nononono, not like that.” She laughed. “Oh god, no, we shared a bed. I don’t think either of us are quite ready for that yet. We’re still getting used to the, uh,” She took a moment to think of a proper word. “Perks, of our new bodies.” She laughed with a smile.

Octavia was fully amused. “Yeah, these bodies are something aren’t they?” Octavia looked over her shoulder, examining her flank.

Rose cleared her throat. “So, as I was asking earlier,” she said. “Who are you here with? You alone or on a date?”

Tavi smiled. “I’m here with someone. I wouldn’t say she’s my date exactly, but we are warming up to the idea of a relationship.”

Rose was excited. “Who is it?” she scanned the room for possible subjects. Octavia rolled her eyes and gestured towards the stage. Vinyl was bobbing her head along to the current track, waiting for a spot to transition into the next song.

Rose laughed. “Oh god, if that isn’t the most clichéd thing ever.” She looked at Tavi smugly. “You’re dating Vinyl? That’s like the most overdone ship ever.”

Octy didn’t care. “Perhaps, but she’s really sweet. I’m glad I met her.”

Rose chuckled. “Isn’t that just so adorable.” She said in baby talk. Tavi laughed and suggested they should get another round to drink. Rose had no objection and lead them to the bar. “I’ll buy this round, but you are getting the next one.” She laughed.

* * *

Vinyl felt like she was starting to get the hand of being a DJ. She had managed to fumble her way through the first few tracks without any big problems and now she was starting to fade in and out of songs. She by no means could mix a track live, but she could manage a playlist.

This isn’t so bad.

She put on the next track and relaxed. She was feeling more and more comfortable up on stage. She didn’t notice it but she had sort of started bobbing along to the music. She wasn’t overly into the music like Skrillex or somepony, but she looked like she was having fun.

She liked to watch the silhouettes in the crowd when she wasn’t mixing tracks. She couldn’t see the faces of anypony, but she liked to see what they were doing. It was just something she did to pass the time.

She had been looking for Tavi in the crowd. She couldn’t quite make her out for sure, but she thought she could make out her frame conversing with a pony near the back.

Is Tavi actually socializing?

Vinyl laughed to herself. Sometimes she thought mean things. She was sure Octavia was quite capable of making new friends. It would certainly be better than her sitting in the back all night lonely.

Vinyl snapped out of her daydream. The current song was almost finished and she didn’t have a new track ready. She looked to her playlist and saw that she was on the last song on the CD. Vinyl realized that she couldn’t swap CD’s without stopping the music, something that the club would not be a fan of. She had to think of something quick.

She scanned her equipment. She had a live mix feed with turntables and she had an extra import that hooked up to an actual record player. The song was nearly finished and she had to act fast. In one quick motion Vinyl tried to use her live mixer to rewind the track a bit and reach for a record from the box on the floor. She stumbled a bit, pushing the mix table a bit more than she was expecting. She grabbed a record and pulled herself back up to her stand, pulling the table a bit with her.

As she stood up she looked around to see if anyone had seen her fall. Unexpectedly she heard a light applause from the crowd.

Did I do something?

She paid attention to the track. It had been rewound about a minute and was at the most interesting part of the song. She tried to think how the song could have gotten there. After brief consideration she blushed.

I just mixed my song by falling down…

She silently set her record up on the player and got ready to transition to the next track. She was happy she got out of the situation unscathed, but she wasn’t exactly proud of what just happened. As the record started playing she popped in a new CD and got the next playlist of songs ready. Everything seemed to be in order for the time being.

Vinyl tried to shake off the incident and returned to her music bobbing. For the next hour she would try to keep from daydreaming too much.

* * *

Octavia laughed as she took a drink from her third brandy. That’s what she said!?” Octavia couldn’t keep herself from bursting out.

Rose was laughing pretty hard too. “Yeah, I kissed her and she asked Do I kiss back? Oh god it was funny.”

Octavia could imagine the two of them standing there all awkward after their first kiss. “I wish I could have seen this awkwardness!” she pleaded. “Why do I miss all the fun!?”

Rose nudged her with her hoof. “That’s because you stay inside all day sharing sap stories with your marefriend.”

Tavi acted hurt. “How dare you insult her?” she laughed. They both laughed. They were pretty drunk. Their table was half covered in empty glasses and they were starting to share personal experiences. Regardless of how serious something was, they would find a way for it to be funny.

“So that was my first kiss with Carrot Top.” Rose said. “How have things been with you and Vinyl? Is she as sultry as I would assume?”

Octavia smiled. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked. Rose just shrugged and said it was something she would expect from her character.

“Vinyl is sweet. She genuinely cares about who I am and she wants me to be happy. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Rose smiled. “That’s pretty gay Octy. How does she kiss?” she laughed. “Give me something to work with.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “You are so romantic Rose. Shakespeare reincarnate I’m sure.” Octavia finished off her last glass for the night. “She kisses quite well, if I must say so. Thank you for asking.”

Octavia checked a nearby clock. It was almost time for Vinyl’s set to end and she was excited to congratulate her on her show.

“So how far have you two gone?” Rose asked.

Octavia was a little shocked at how much info Rose was prodding for, but she waved it off as the booze talking. “Kissing is about it. We haven’t been together long.” She smiled at Rose. “What about you. You and Carrot Top explore yet?”

Rose blushed. “Well, I can’t say we haven’t fooled around a bit I guess.” For the first time of the night Rose actually looked a little embarrassed, or even a little shy. “Nothing serious, but a little foreplay.”

Octavia grinned. It was her turn to pry. “Did you like it?” Tavi asked.

Rose blinked. She tried to hide her face a bit with her forehoof but it didn’t help much. Having spent almost all of her life as a guy, she was a little reluctant to talk about her new experiences. “I didn’t hate it.” She said.

Octavia chucked to herself. “C’mon. It had to be better than that. I know you aren’t used to being a girl but you can at least be honest with me. We’re both drunken mares here.”

Rose laughed slightly. “Yeah.” She said quietly. “It was pretty hot.”

Tavi patted her on the back. “I’m sure you will enjoy it even more when things get heated.”

Rose cleared her throat and downed the last of her Manehatten. “So how about you and Vinyl? Anything spicy between you two?”

Octy smiled. She was half day dreaming about everything at this point and the thought of something a bit extra with Vinyl was certainly no nightmare. “No.” She said. “We’ve cuddled and kissed, that’s about it.”

Rose was feeling a bit more daring. “Have anything planned?” she asked with a grin.

Octavia wished that she had some sort of plan. Ever since they shared a moment last night she couldn’t help but think about possibilities. “Not really.” She said. “I don’t think you can really plan something like that.”

Rose laughed. “Of course you can!” she exclaimed. “It’s not even hard.”

Octy was interested. “What exactly do you mean?” Rose leaned in towards Tavi and whispered in her ear. It didn’t take long before a grin broke out across Tavi’s face. Rose had an idea, and Octavia liked it.

* * *

Vinyl packed up her things after saying goodnight to her crowd. She had received about the applause she would have expected, and she felt pretty good for simply not failing her set. She packed the last turntable onto her wagon-like thing as she noticed Octavia and a mare she recognized greet her backstage.

“Nice set Vinyl.” Rose said. “You almost recovered from that trip smoothly.” She laughed. Vinyl blushed.

So they did see.

“Thanks Rose.” Vinyl said. “That is your name right?” she added.

Rose nodded. “Roseluck.” She said. “But Rose is fine too.”

Tavi approached Vinyl and gave her a big hug. “That was a great set Vinyl. You did really well.” She released her grasp with a smile and stood closely next to her.

“Thanks.” Vinyl said. “I’m just glad I got through it.” She pointed to Rose as she grabbed her wagon. “Making new friends I see.” She said with a smile.

Octavia smiled back. “Yep. Rose and I had a few drinks and got to know each other. She lives right next door to us so I figured that would be a good idea.”

Vinyl offered her hoof to the white and crimson mare. “Nice to meet you.” She said.

Rose smiled and shook her hoof. “Likewise.”

Vinyl stretched and started heading for the door. “Well, It’s late, and I’m tired, so I think Tavi and I are gonna head home.”

Rose walked with her. “Sounds like a pretty good idea. I need to make sure Carrot Top didn’t get into any trouble while I was gone. She has important stuff in the morning, so she needs to be asleep.”

Rose and Octavia hugged and went their separate ways. “Later Octy. You two have a fun night.” Rose said with a wink as she walked away.

Vinyl and Octavia waved as she walked off. “She seems nice” Vinyl said.

“Yeah, she’s pretty friendly. I’m sure we will have her and Carrot Top over from time to time.” Octavia replied. The two walked home in near silence, probably due to them both being pretty tired. They eventually arrived at their front door and Vinyl opened it with her keys.

The two walked inside and Vinyl made a beeline for the bathroom. Octy remembered what Rose had said earlier and smiled. She walked up to the bathroom door and knocked. “You don’t mind if I sleep in your room again do you?” she asked.

“That sounds good.” Vinyl replied. “You can go ahead and lie down, I’ll be in in a second.”

“Okay, thanks hun.” She said. She made her way into Vinyl’s room and closed the door. She pulled the sheets off of the bed and lied down.

Vinyl exited the bathroom with a flush and walked to the kitchen for a quick glass of water. She didn’t feel dehydrated, but her long set had made her really thirsty for some reason. She set the glass down in the sink and sluggishly walked towards her room. She opened the door and was surprised to see the lights were still on.

Octavia was lying on the bed with a smile, looking over her shoulder. She smiled at Vinyl, stretching her legs. “Hey Vinyl.” She said with a near purr.

Vinyl’s eyes were wide. She was at a loss for words. To be fair, she was having a hard time thinking as well. She stood blankly for a few moments before Tavi motioned for her to join her on the bed. Vinyl stood motionless. She couldn’t think about moving at the moment. She had only one thought in mind as a bead of sweat formed on her forehead.

She found my socks.

Prologue

Author's Note:

Yeah, this is my first fan-fic. PLEASE point out any grammatical errors, weird wording issues and stuff like that. I got the idea for this fic a few days ago, so its not completely polished. I hope you all can enjoy it anyways though.

ON WITH THE STORY!

“I honestly never thought that anything this good could happen to me” Jake said with a smile that would put Pinkie Pie to shame. “I’ve always had life pretty good, but this is just too much to comprehend.”

There are too many flashing lights in this place. Jake thought.

Jake remained still in his seat while the reporters moved on to ask the other winners questions. One particularly large man with a badge was trying his hardest to get to the front of the press. Armed with a directional microphone and half of a tuna melt, he fought his way to the front lines.

People will do anything to get a good story.

Jake checked his phone while the press temporarily moved on to another target.

7:30. Only a half hour of this to go. Then I can get ready for the greatest moment of my life.

Jake sat patiently as just about every question he could think of was thrown at him and his peers.

“Are you going to miss your family?”

“How do you feel about what you may become?”

“Are you scared?”

The last question in particular made Jake laugh a bit.

Of course I’m scared. There isn’t a man in the world who could go into this without some anxiety.

After what seemed like an eternity of twenty questions the man of the hour arrived to pop the press bubble. He was wearing an off colored suit and a ridiculous tie.

“Ok, its eight o’ clock. Winners, if you could follow me into the back room we can start the preparation for tonight.” He said.

Jake and the others stood and stretched. Two hours of sitting and being yelled at by every major news station on the planet wasn't exactly relaxing, as it turns out. It took a minute to push through the waves of media and close the doors, but soon enough Jake was surrounded by near silence.

In front of the group was a small auditorium, furnished with theater chairs and a podium for the briefing. The “Winners” as the press liked to call them, took their seats and waited for the real show to begin. It was only eight in the morning and it had already been a long day.

Daniel Graff, President of the Integrative Entertainment Corporation took his spot on the stage while everyone got settled. He was the kind of person who loved attention, and he wasn’t afraid to show it.

“Ahem.” He adjusted his mic slightly to account for him being a tad shorter than the average man. “Good morning. How are you all on this…” he paused to find the proper word. “exciting, day?”

Exciting was a bit of an understatement. This is the most important day of the lives of everyone in here.

Daniel continued. “I assume you all got a good night sleep?” He smirked. He knew there was no way anyone in this room would have been able to sleep last night. “Today is a big day for you all.”

Jake rolled his eyes. This is the most melodramatic thing I have ever been a part of. Get on with it.

Daniel could tell at this point that everyone was beginning to get a bit impatient. Understandable, but still, he wanted to savor the moment.

“Alright, alright.” He surrendered. “I bet you are all wondering why I have gathered you here today?” Even he knew that joke was bad.

Half of the room sighed. It was going to be a long morning. Not that anyone could really complain. Most of the room would willingly cut off an arm or leg to have the opportunity to be here. A man with a bad taste in suits and a cringe-worthy sense of humor was nothing.

I still can’t believe I’m sitting here right now.

It was hard to believe that only a few months ago life was normal for everyone in the room. It had only been two months since the event was announced, and no one really expected to win the drawing that they hosted. Jake was one of the few who got this opportunity.

I still can’t believe it all happened this way.

* * *

It was the end of summer, and the convention was coming to an end. BroNYCon 2014 had been the biggest brony event in history, with over twenty thousand attending. It was safe to say that the community had grown faster than anyone could have expected.

Jake Stone and his best friend Tyler had been working their booth all morning. Tyler would sell Jake’s albums and Jake would sign them and talk to the fans. They both enjoyed doing it, and it was really great to see all the supporters.

“It’s always nice to meet a fan” Jake said, shaking the hand of one of his more active YouTube subscribers. “Where would you like me to sign? On the cover or on the disk?”

They would always ask to sign the disk. Jake was beginning to wonder why he asked the question in the first place.

As he finished signing he could tell his customer was excited. “Thanks man, I’ll be sure to tell my friends about this” he said as he walked off.

“No worries man, have a nice day!” Jake smiled. A few years ago he had never even released an album. Now he had his own booth at BroNYCon. He wasn’t as popular as Tomb or Glaze, but he had enough fans to feel important, and being important felt nice.

The money wasn’t bad either. Jake was able to sell his albums for five bucks each. He didn’t really need the money, but his friend Tyler spent all he had getting here, so a couple bucks would at least let them get something to eat for lunch. Subway sounded pretty good.

Jake signed his last CD and smiled at a young girl who was giddy with excitement. “Looks like you’re the last one. Did you have fun at the convention?”

She laughed. “Yeah. This whole thing has been surreal. I never knew there were this many bronies!”

Jake smiled. Neither did he. It really was crazy to see this many people here. Maybe it was because of the movie Hasbro made.

“It’s pretty great isn’t it?” He handed her the disc. “Well I’m glad you had a good time.”

Jake looked at the clock and decided it was time to head out. He and Tyler packed up their stuff and got ready to head back to the hotel. Jake was folding the table when there was an announcement over the P.A system.

“Is this thing on? Ahem. Hello everybody, you don’t know me, but my name is Daniel Graff, and for everybrony here that has ever wanted to go to Equestria, do I have a surprise for you. Could I get everyone center stage here?”

As bad as the pun on everypony was, Jake and Tyler were interested.

“What do you think he has?” Jake asked his friend as they set down the table.

“Probably just a pony ride or something, but still, let’s check it out.” Tyler joked.

* * *

The crowd was huge. Jake and Tyler settled for a spot in the back and looked towards the man on stage. He was kind of stalky, middle aged and he had a really tacky suit and tie.

“Who do you think dressed him?” Jake laughed.

Tyler rolled his eyes and waited for the man to speak.

Daniel checked the volume on his mic and began his presentation.

“I bet you are all wondering why I gathered you here today”

Jake and Tyler exchanged looks. Yeah. This is gonna be lame.

Daniel continued “I know most of you aren’t going to believe me when I say this, but I have a really interesting opportunity for you all. As you all probably heard from E3 this year, we have some pretty interesting technology coming out.”

That was an understatement. This year E3 presented a system that allowed people to insert their minds into a computer. It was all over the news. Microsoft said that they would be able to develop games for it soon if the technology became a bit more stable.

Man I would love to play Halo on that.

“Many of you may have heard of something called “Integrative Entertainment”. It’s pretty neat stuff isn’t it, the idea of going to a world that is completely fictional, yet completely real?”

Jake and Tyler exchanged looks.

If he is going where I think he is with this, this is going to be the best convention ever.

“Some people said that our technology was unethical. They said we were doing God’s work.” Daniel laughed a bit. “Well if our work is godlike, I’d say that’s something to be proud of. Now, at E3 we said we had some projects that we would be releasing soon. Hell, we said we would be releasing information in just a few weeks! Well the weeks have passed.”

The lights dimmed. A projector screen lowered in the background and Daniel suddenly became very focused.

“In the last two years, the brony community has grown. You all are a part of a sensation that has changed the way we view maturity. Integrative Entertainment has been in progress for years. We have known what we have wanted the technology to be, but we didn’t know what we wanted to have for a story.”

Daniel smiled. “Well, a year ago we were inspired, not only by the growing masses of bronies, but by what they stand for. A year ago we learned what we wanted to contribute to.”

He flashed his arms on stage with passive flair.

“I present to you all, Project Equestria!”

He took a bow. He was the king of drama.

“One hundred lucky members attending this convention will be given a chance to live the brony dream. If you are selected, and if you so choose to participate, the following will happen. First, we will take you to our headquarters in LA, and we will prepare you for what is to come. Next, we will allow you to use our new system, which will take you to the digitally created world of Equestria. You will become one of the ponies from the TV show, and you will get to live there.”

The room was silent.

Oh. My. God. There was no way this could be legit.

The room was stunned. No one could believe what they were hearing. Finally, a brave young man asked the question they all wanted to know the answer to.

“Are you joking?”

Daniel grinned. “Not at all my friend. Not at all.”

* * *

Jake adjusted his seat in the auditorium. He and the other winners were a bit anxious, and Daniel’s routine was getting a bit old.

“Now. Before we progress I want to remind you all of what you have signed up for here.” Daniel proclaimed. “It is not too late to leave if you aren’t completely comfortable with what is about to happen.”

No one budged. This was not an opportunity that anyone here would be willing to let go.

“As I explained at the convention, there are a few things about this system that are a bit controversial.”

If you considered the entire world being at unease about it to be controversial.

“As I explained from day one, you are about to become a digital representation of one of the ponies from the TV show. Your mind will exist inside our computer systems. Computers or not, it will feel very, very real.”

I hope so.

“As I also explained, this technology is new, and it is as of now irreversible. By volunteering to do this, you are volunteering to leave this world forever.” For the first time in his life he looked serious. “You can’t come back from this machine. Is that clear?”

Everybody nodded.

“Ok. Again, you can leave if this is uncomfortable.”

The room, as a whole, was extremely uncomfortable. No one, however, would leave. Everyone here wanted this more than anything in the world. Equestria, unlike Earth, was a place that was truly good. No one would pass that up.

“Furthermore” He said. “There are only one hundred of you going in. As you probably know, there are more than one hundred ponies in Equestria.”

Eeyup.

“The ponies that are not being controlled by you will be controlled by people here on the outside.” He said. “We have pretty complicated systems set up, but we are pretty sure you won’t be able to tell the difference between the two.”

Bet he already got dibs on Celestia.

Daniel gave a slight smile. “Moving on, as you all know, the population of Ponyville is mostly female. Of the 100 ponies we selected for you all to represent, 82 of them are female.” Daniel paused as he looked around the room. “As I’m sure you all know, most of you are male. To be exact, 76 of you volunteers are male. We don’t want to let you all pick which pony you will become because there would obviously be fights over who gets to be the more popular characters. You will all be assigned a random pony.” Daniel looked around the room again.

“That means a lot of you males are going to find out what it’s like to be female. Are you all comfortable with that?”

Everyone nodded.

He continued. “And unlike the show, in this world being female means you will actually be female.” He smiled. “Do you get what I’m saying?”

Everyone nodded again.

My sex is not important enough to me to make me pass this up.

Daniel resumed his speech. “Okay then.”

He shifted his balance a bit. ”As you all know, we do love this show, but we are doing this for a profit. To make money, we are going to broadcast Ponyville to the general public.” Daniel adjusted his mic a bit. “You will all have someone who is focused on keeping a virtual camera on you most of the time. Obviously there are a few exceptions as we do respect your privacy.”

I don’t care if I am a tool for your economic goals. I need this.

“Are you all okay with this?”

Again, everyone nodded.

Daniel looked to his crew. “Well, those are the main things, we can discuss smaller details as we get going. This show is set to kick off at midnight. Are you all ready to get going?”

Everyone stood up and nodded.

“Let’s do this.” He smiled.

* * *

It was eleven forty-five. Fifteen minutes until Jake would literally become a pony. He wasn’t sure if he was excited or if he was afraid. It was probably a bit of both. These last few months had been stressful. Ever since he had the winning draw at BroNYCon he was making life altering choices.

Naturally, there were people in Jake's life who did not want him to be here. His family was completely against it, and when he told them that he was going to do it anyway they didn’t understand.

I bet dad still hates me for abandoning them. It’s not my fault. Why can’t they understand how much this means to me?

Jake sighed. Some people would never understand what it was that made him feel this way. This opportunity was just too much to let slip by. If he decided against it he would be incredibly depressed for having given it up. His parents wouldn’t want that would they?

Jake closed his eyes. It didn’t matter anymore. What was done was done. He remembered back to when he told everyone he was going to do it. Dad freaked out and drove off. Probably to a bar, which was weird because he never left like that. Mom had told him that she understood. She probably didn’t, but it was nice to hear the support. His brother, and non-brony friends thought it was cool he would be on TV, but they didn’t understand why he would want to be a pony.

To be honest, hearing anyone say “I want to be a pony” is kind of odd.

“My family doesn’t get it” He said to himself. “Almost no one does.”

With that he brought his hand up to his chest and felt a loose necklace around his neck. Jake and the others had been required to strip down to their underwear so the technicians could properly apply nodes to different areas of their bodies. The only thing they were allowed to have with them was a small keepsake. Daniel said that they could all have a small token of Earth to bring with them into Equestria. He said the programmers would make sure they would have it when they woke up in the morning.

Jake smiled at the thought of being able to take a small bit of his life with him. He gripped the necklace tightly. That necklace had memories.

Are you still happy for me?

Jake rubbed the handmade piece as he waited for the event to begin.

This is my last night on Earth.

He still couldn’t decide if he was excited or scared. There had never been a moment like this for him. There had never been a moment like this for any of them really. It was a new experience, and he was living it first-hand. Or first-hoof. God this was strange.

Suddenly, he felt the pressure in the room change. A thick fog filled the room and Jake knew it was the beginning. As he breathed in the chemicals he began to lose consciousness.

Tomorrow I wake up in Equestria. He thought. And as soon as he did he was out. Flashes of light captured his essence and began to build his new life in a new world.

Tomorrow Jake would wake up someone else.