Living in the Limelight

Chapters

Just an ordinary supply run for a highly illegal drug
I Hung My Head
The Pink Intruder
Three humans and a Pony

Just an ordinary supply run for a highly illegal drug

It was hard for me to believe it had been three months already, /Pon-E/ had come out of nowhere, and since I had the cash to spare, I’d taken a gamble and ordered it. After that, I spent a month waiting and hyping up the drug in the thread. Whoever the producer was, they knew how to market it. Every day we waited had more videos of a couple of Ponies getting into shenanigans; we even saw one earn her cutiemark on stream. I chuckled at the memory of going pony for the first time. Luck must have been on my side as I was amongst the first wave of deliveries and had gone pony the day my Pon-E arrived. Spending 12 hours in my room was kind of boring, but I still looked back on it fondly. The problem with being among the first wave was that I was starting to run out. Who’d have expected that using it three to four times a week would knock through a pack of sixteen doses? Regardless, I wasn’t alone in my supply issues. My newfound “herd”, as we’d nicknamed our friend group, had run out.

”Afternoon, Fleetwood, you waiting here long?” A voice called, which pulled me from my reminiscing. I looked up to see Sam walking toward me. The same red hoodie he wore even as a pony adorned Sam’s otherwise modest form. At first glance, it was hard to believe that the bombastic speed addicted Pegasus was the same as the human standing before him. The biggest giveaway was the cocky smirk that seemed permanently etched onto his face or muzzle. I remembered our first time meeting as humans, and he was radically different. Aside from his newfound confidence, having a group of friends like the herd had done us both a world of good, it seemed. It was nice. We came from radically different walks of life but still gelled together as a close group.

“Normal names in public, Sam. You know the rules.” I chided. Sam as always rolled his eyes. We’d done this dance practically every time we met in human form since we became friends. I had to admit that it wasn’t a very long time, all things considered. We’d organised in the thread before hosting our first meet up, almost the day after my Pon-E was delivered. Out of the users in the thread, there were Five in Atlanta who had made themselves known. Sam, of course, had arrived already dosed up. Dropping from the sky on the group to our first meet up, proclaiming himself as “Sabre, the fastest pegasus in the United States.” When pressed about the name, it turned out to be from some American jet. Needless to say, we’d still not let him live that down.

“So, what’s the sketch with the order then Freddy” Sam replied, emphasising my name as if to prove he was saying it; I could only chuckle in response. By the brilliant logic of being the largest pony, I was put in charge of the group, and by extension, the organisation of our resupply order and storing it.

“Of course, they’d pick the earth pony to do the work….bucking lazy pegasi,” I thought to myself before shoving that thought out of my mind. Today wasn’t a day to be negative. The walk over wasn’t too bad, the sun was shining, and Sam wasn’t as frustrating as usual. All in all, it was shaping up to be a good day.

“So….we just walk in, collect our illegal drugs, and walk out like nothing happened?” Sam continued, having taken the momentary silence as a reason to. As he fell once more into silence, I checked the email for proof the package was ours to collect the damn thing. It was a little odd; my first package had been from Ekaterinburg in Russia, whereas this was from a place called Ithaca in New York for some reason. I supposed whoever was making this stuff must have been sending it to dummy distribution hubs for each wave?

“The email said it should have been delivered yesterday so we can collect it then take it back to my place. Dad’s been a little weird the past few days, but he won’t care,” I said whilst shoving my phone back into my jeans. We’d agreed to meet just down the street from the post office, meaning if all went well, we could head straight from here back to my place and store the Pon-E there without anyone being the wiser.

”Faust bless the US postal service. You take the lead, Fred.” As they walked in, I couldn’t help but notice the choice of words. Pon-E wasn’t supposed to leave any lingering side effects, but we’d been keeping a list of slip-ups like that for word choices. The last thing he needed was to drop an Anypony or hoof into conversation with an average person. Thankfully the post office was largely empty, so instead of taking the hour or two that I’d planned for, the errand shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes.

I Hung My Head

Kian was worried; Freddy had been acting strangely for the past few months. Out of nowhere, he’d started going out more, heading to parties almost every other day and joining a local football team. Kian wanted to be proud. Finally, his boy was going out and engaging with others. Even if it was selfish for him to admit it, he’d been hoping Freddy would eventually start going out more. The amount of time the boy spent cooped up in his bedroom wasn’t healthy. However, something felt wrong, even though he wanted to overlook this sudden change and hope it was brought on by his Son trying to change for the better, and People don’t just suddenly break life long habits.

And so, Kian found himself alone sat in his desk chair after Freddy had dashed out the door to meet with some friends today. With his head in his hands, the middle-aged man weighed the options before him. If his gut instinct was right and drugs were involved, then his concern was warranted, and he’d ensure Freddy could get the help he needed. Or…

Or he was wrong. He and Freddy had never seen eye to eye, and he knew it. With a shuddering breath, Kian forced memories of Freddy’s early years out of his mind. Whether deep down Freddy blamed him for what had happened, he didn’t know, but despite his best efforts, Kian couldn’t connect with his only Son.

Perhaps, the man mused, it was because of their different youths? He’d spent his youth taking buses or trains all over Nottinghamshire to catch concerts. Unfortunately, after spending a decade or so in the music scene in the 80s…. Well, drugs were familiar to him. However, it had been towards the tail end of that time when Kian had met the love of his life, which in turn led to having a son to worry about in the first place.

Freddy however? He spent most of his life shut away in his room playing worlds of Warcrafting or something like that. It hadn’t been so bad initially; his mother had a way to encourage Freddy to blossom. Once she was….Kian forced down another breath. That was not a time he’d like to think about on the best of days. Regardless, for such a sudden change, certainly, he wasn’t paranoid to suspect outside involvement? Maybe Kian was jumping to conclusions favoured by his own biases, and it’d turn out that Freddy had just gotten a girlfriend.

Freddy had gone out, saying he was going to be gone for a few hours. Kian knew this was the chance he needed to make sure drugs weren’t involved. It would be worth it for peace of mind, and Freddy would never know if all went to plan. The stairs creaked beneath the middle-aged man’s feet as he climbed them, painfully aware that this was a massive violation of his Son’s privacy. Still, he was Kian’s Son, and hell itself wouldn’t stop him from making sure.

Kian wasn’t going to remain inactive and let drug use ruin his Son’s life. He’d not been there when She’d needed him before, and he refused to fail his boy like that. As Kian climbed the stairs he realised, it must have been a few years since he last went into Freddy’s room. After he turned sixteen, it had become his responsibility to clean and take care of. In exchange, Freddy had a pretty generous allowance. At least Kian thought it was. He didn’t know any other parents to compare with. Pushing open the door revealed several bizarre posters adorning the walls. The man furrowed his brow as only one thought was on his mind. “Why are they all horses?”

With his brow furrowed in confusion, he started to look around the room. More horse-related things caught his eye. The walls were adorned with posters of the same eight horses, two of which looked like normal-ish horses if you ignored their bright colour schemes. One had a horn, so that must be a unicorn. The rest all seemed to have wings, although three had horns as well as wings? Kian was utterly confused, but pulling his attention away from the repeating cast of his Son’s wall decorations, he focused on his Son’s desk.

Kian remembered going to Ikea with his boy to buy the damn thing, the utter pain that it had been assembling it for his Son at the start of his GCSEs. Now? Kian barely recognised the contents on the desk, a new laptop, as well as a few notepads. Although what caught the man’s eye was a framed piece of artwork sitting on his Son’s desk. Picking the frame up to inspect it revealed yet more horses. However, these were different from the ones on the wall. The artistry was, admittedly, rather impressive. They managed to look realistic whilst retaining a cartoon-like appearance.

God, these horses were weird. Yet again, the repeating motif of bright, flashy colours. The image had five of them in total. Two had wings, Kian’s brain thankfully supplied the proper term for them, pegasuses he thought or was it Pegasi? In the back was a green one with a horn, so there was a unicorn again. In the front were two somewhat normal looking horses, no horns or wings to be seen, and the one at the head seemed to have more reasonable colours.

It took a surprising effort to divert his attention away from the artwork, but once he had, Kian began to rummage through the desk. His Son’s first phone with the screen smashed to hell. A fond memory came to the front of Kian’s mind as he looked at the battered iPhone, the excitement his Son had shown when he was given it. It was the first time since His mother left them that Freddy had shown any real emotion. More rummaging reveal bundles of cables that Kian couldn’t even begin to identify, HDUSBMIs or something of the kind. He was old fashioned, but he liked his records and the analogue sound system he had downstairs, none of this digital stuff.

Just as he was about to close the draw, Kian’s hand brushed against something inexpertly hidden. The top of his hand had brushed against what felt like a plastic bag. The bag was just taped to the underside of the inside of the draw. His heart sank as he remembered using nearly the same trick when he first started using back in ’82. One soft tug and a small resealable opaque bag plopped onto his hand. Kian’s heart practically hit the floor as he gently pulled it out of the draw and shook the contents out onto the palm of his hand.

A small white and red pill was all that had fallen out, the black text on it simple red “1 Pon.” He could make out another two letters that had smudged or the ink faded like the pill had been in someone’s pocket for a considerable length of time. Unable to stop himself, he muttered. “What the hell is this supposed to be?”

He was expecting something recognisable; with a dark chuckle, he realised he must be getting old if the drugs are this different. From a cursory investigation, it had some clear gel inside from what he could tell. His best guess was that it was some sort of hallucinogen. It didn’t quite seem like a performance-enhancing drug, nor did it have the distinct odour of dope. Kian groaned as he felt his knees give out, and he collapsed to the floor of his Son’s room. At the same time, a little nagging voice in the back of his mind. “Surely it couldn’t hurt.” It whispered, after all, nearly twenty years, cold turkey deserved a reward of some kind, didn’t it? If a twenty-year-old was doing it, it wouldn’t be that strong, and Freddy had said he’d be out for a few hours, so…

The Pink Intruder

Sam trot- Sam walked alongside me as I shook my head. Fucking slip-ups with my words were happening more often. It was a little concerning, if anything. I nearly said everypony instead of everyone in the post office. Thank christ, I played it off like I just had a massive stutter. Still, our little resupply run was successful.

We had nearly two hundred and fifty dosages of Pon-E in our backpacks between the both of us. All that remained now was a walk down the sunlit street to our bus stop, then a brief crosstown ride to my house. What followed was a particularly tense bus ride with a cop standing opposite us the entire way. After that, we were finally at the doors to my house. Who’d have thought drug smuggling was so easy? “I’ll let us in. My old man should be around so just act normal.”

“Like I’m not normal?” I deadpanned at Sam.

“The feather brain that names himself Super Sabre wants to start talking about being normal?” as expected, Sam wilts under my gaze. I still can’t believe that he’d named himself after an aircraft. Or the fact the ass had gotten a cutiemark before me. Lucky motherbucker. Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I started to fish for my keys, searching through my pockets before something made my brain try to flick my ears.

I could have sworn I heard someone’s voice from inside the house? A stillness overtook both of us. As we stood on my front porch, straining to listen for any more noise from inside the house.

“You hear that?” evidently, Sam had heard it too. We resumed waiting for a few moments until we were rewarded by another sound from inside. It was faint, muffled by the front door and probably a few walls inside the house. If I was a pony, I would have been able to hear whatever the sound was. Fucking human ears feel like wearing earmuffs after you get used to equine ones. I had to resort to pressing my ear against the door like some sort of cartoonish burglar.

I was rewarded, though, with my ear pressed to the door; I could make out the sounds from inside more clearly. It was definitely dad’s stereo system. The subtle crackle of vinyl was unmistakable.

“WOOO!”

However, the girlish whooping? that was odd. The sound of a bass guitar and drums filled the air before giving way to what I think was a keyboard. The song was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“An Ill wind comes arising, Across the cities of the plains.”

She was singing? A strange woman had broken into my house, raided dad’s vinyl and was singing with the stereo at max volume. Was she trying to get caught? Where the hell was dad? I knew that Atlanta had an issue with drug users, but this was ridiculous. I snickered at the irony of that statement before finally retrieving my keys.

“There’s no swimming in the heavy water!”

“No singing in the acid rain!”

“I’m gonna let us in, stay behind me, sam” The click of the door unlocking was masked by the unknown woman hitting an admittedly impressive high note. The song itself continued on, the rumbling of my dad’s speakers giving us some cover to sneak into the house without risking her hearing us.

“Fred, you’ve not got the whole Earth Pony strength going right now. Shouldn’t I take point?” I looked back at him and shook my head. This was my damn house...well, technically dad’s but regardless. If someone broke in, I’d be the first to deal with them. With a hand held up to tell Sam to stay back, we slunk from the door towards Dad’s study.

“You sometimes drive me crazy, but I worry about you!”

She was still singing, thankfully unaware we were even in the house. Whatever this chick was on must have been strong as hell to have her this checked out of reality. Sam and I stopped at the doorway to the study. We were able to hear the sound of something on the carpet as whoever was inside danced around. Although they didn’t quite sound like shoes or feet. I held up three fingers.

“Cruising under your radar.”

two fingers

“Watching from the satellites.”

one finger

“Take a page from the red book.”

I put my last finger down, we stormed around the corner. Only to see a bright pink pony with a mane like she’d been electrocuted holding my dad’s decorative mic.

“What the fuck”
“What the fuck”
“Hi, Freddy!”

The bright pink Pony stared at us, smiling wide enough she could probably win a pinkie pie look-alike contest. My temples throbbed as if to warn me of an oncoming migraine, resulting in a frustrated growl from me. Needless to say, I was not sure why the fuck there was a pony in my house, especially one that wasn’t in our group.

“Why the fuck are you in my house? You’re lucky we haven’t called the cops.” I snarl at the pink intruder, who merely smiles back at me. We can’t call the cops because we’re literally drug mules right now, but still, she doesn’t know that. A side-eyed glance from Sam suggests he realises I’m bluffing.

“What? Cops? Why would you call them?” She asks with her head cocked to the side in confusion. Yet the large smile doesn’t even waver as she sways slightly on her hooves.

“You’re not supposed to be here, this is my family's house, and last I checked, I don’t recognise you.” She just giggled and waved a hoof at me in response. Her antics either in line for someone thoroughly high or one of the more radical changes I’d heard about under the influence of Pon-E. I remember a post in the thread had talked about people more or less losing any sense of inhibition under its effects. Resulting in antics that would have fit the show pretty damn well...or some activities that belong in the cloppier side of the fandom.

“Oh, don’t be silly, of course you know me!” She insisted as her goofy grin widened.

“I really don’t. Sam, go to the kitchen, under the sink. I think we’ve got duct tape.” He headed off with a nod, leaving me alone with the Pony. Only now, as the vinyl continued into a very heavy drum solo, I realised there was a pattern to her movements. She’s been bouncing up and down to the music as it continued to play the entire damn time.

“Why’d you want duct tape? Not like I’m hurting Anypony.” She said as she rose to her hooves, her subtle bouncing to the beat adapting into a full dance. I had to admit she seemed remarkably coordinated. Most of us hadn’t been that put together until our fourth or fifth time on Pon-E.

“You broke into my house,” I growled at her, my anger fading despite my wishes. Fucking ponies are hard to be mad at. Again, she burst into a bout of giggles before her legs folded, and she collapsed to the floor, pounding it with a hoof. The sound of somepony performing their best impression of dying of laughter filling the room.

“Oh, this is gold! You don’t even recognise me, boy, howdy. These must be strong.” Before I could even say anything, she practically bounced on her hooves over to the cabinet. With ease, I didn’t expect even considering her surprising level of coordination. She bumped a hoof into the door, swinging it open to reveal my dad’s vinyl collection. The grin she wore turning up slightly at the corners, the mischievous twinkle in her eyes managed to unsettle me a little. “Let’s turn this into a game then! You guess who I am? I’ll give you a hint!”

“Sam, get that fucking tape!” I yelled, my patience having worn thin enough I could practically see through it. Seemingly unaware of me being on the verge of snapping at her. The pink Pony slid an unmarked vinyl out of the rack, swapping it with the one on the turntable with an ease that would make Pon-3 jealous. If she was real...then again, Lunanon turned into Luna, so it is possible, I suppose.

After setting the needle and hitting play, she plopped her plot down beside the turntable and looked at me, her smile still all the same. The twinkle in her eyes seemingly had grown as she waited in silence. Even with the absence of a beat, she seemed to be swaying to something. Soon enough, the vinyl crackled softly before the sound of a children’s toy filtered out into the room.

“Wait…” to confirm my suspicions, an acoustic guitar started up moments later.

“Come on, use that noggin!” The Pony encouraged before starting to bop her head back and forth to the guitar as it only intensified. Regardless of what was going on, she seemed to be having a great time.

“Why the fuck would you play this tra….” The last time I had heard this track was after it had happened. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes as the facts started to slot together. I had a dosage of Pon-E upstairs; this mare knew dad’s vinyl collection like the back of her hand...hoof? She also remembered this track. The realisation dawned on me, my jaw dropped as I looked down at her only for the mare to burst into laughter, as she wiped a tear away with a foreleg.

“it’s a shame this is all a trip.” Her words hung in the air, even prompting her little dance to stop for the briefest of moments. The music faded away as I looked down at the mare before me. Her smile had died as she spoke. The spark in her eyes barely lingered before she perked back up as the track changed.

Sam returned, duct tape and scissors in hand, bursting through the door with a look of triumph on his face.” What’d I miss?”

“That’s my dad, and evidently, she thinks this is all a drug trip,” I muttered, feeling like I was on autopilot. This whole situation felt way too surreal like a camera crew should jump out soon and reveal this was all some elaborate prank. Sam, helpful as ever, burst into laughter, slapping his knees as he struggled to stay standing. At that moment, I thought that I really should have got Lily to come with me to grab the resupply. At least she’d be helpful if something insane like this had happened.

“So, we were out for what? About an hour? So she’s like this for another eleven…” Well, that could be worse, I supposed, it was a Saturday, so at least dad didn’t have to head into work today. We weren’t gonna be able to sort this on our own, and I knew it. With a sigh, I pulled out my phone and flicked through the contacts, leaving Sam and the mare formerly known as my dad alone for a moment. Time to let the others know that we’re gonna likely to be getting a new member.

“So then, what’re you gonna call yourself? Can’t just use a boring human name.” Oh, for fucks sake Sam! The one thing you don’t fucking do on your first time going Pony is name yourself. We’d fucked that up already, but god damn it, did he not manage to fucking think for once. The mare rolled onto her stomach and stared up at him, visibly thinking as she scrunched her muzzle. Idly I noticed that she was more expressive than most of the other ponies I’ve met, potentially a side effect of whatever the hell is happening inside her head?

“Limelight!” Well, shit, she’s named herself now. Sam and Limelight started to chat as I took the opportunity to turn the music off. I needed to make a call, and listening to Give us the rope in the background wouldn’t be exactly helpful.

Limelight’s reaction was immediate, the second the needle squeaked as I lifted it from the record. I heard a panicked scream from behind me before she ploughed into me, her hooves frantically scrambling for something from the pile of Vinyls beside the place and trying to bat at the needle.

”putitbackputitbackputitback”

“W-what?” I blurt while Sam stood back, seemingly shocked that she tackled me. Her ears splayed as she clamps her hooves over them, her whole body starting to shake as she screwed her eyes shut.

“PUT THE MUSIC BACK”

Faced with the prospect of an earth pony having a meltdown within bucking distance of my chest, I reached for the turntable. By the time the album starts from the top, she’s covered in sweat, her chest rising and falling as she hyperventilated. Hooves still pressed over her ears with her eyes shut. I could see the white sweat foam building around her neck and chest. Gradually as the music played, she calmed down, from a full-fledged meltdown to merely shaking like a leaf. Despite my reservations about this whole situation, I pulled her into a hug. Pony or not, she was family. With each stroke of her sweat-soaked mane, she managed to get her breathing more under control.

“what the fuck was that?” Sam asked across the room, reminding me why his lack of tact was so helpful. I didn’t want to ask that awkward question, yet my brash featherhead of a friend would blurt it out. Limelight began to rock herself in my arms, shuddering the entire time. It was strange. I was used to seeing that madcap smile, not this almost shell shocked stare with ears folded against her head hard enough they looked like they were going to bury themselves in her skull.

“don’t wanna talk about it.” her reply came, barely above a whisper as she pressed her face into my shirt, smearing sweat and tears into the grey fabric. Sensing she wasn’t likely to leave my arms, for now, I sighed.

“Can you call Lily? I think Limelight is gonna need some help cleaning herself up, and I am not willing to do that.” I asked, looking across at my friend with pleading eyes before he excused himself to head outside.

Author's Note

Kudos to anyone who can guess all 3 songs referenced in this chapter, also hopefully the little song lyric bits aren't too bad. I figured colouring sections that were sung as well as colouring them to a colour that fit the character would work for clarity.

Three humans and a Pony

By the time Lily arrived, Limelight had calmed down enough that she seemed "normal." I was slumped in dad's armchair, unable to do anything but watch as she danced across the room. The Pink mare's hooves flew across the wall to wall shelves of vinyls, retrieving records and swapping them out to create a constant stream of music. It was bizarre. There was an almost manic energy to her actions, yet every single move in time with the beat of whatever track she was playing. For Faust's sake, she was even humming in the moments of silence before a new song started to play. Sam and I were pulled from the impromptu concert by the sound of a fist pounding on the front door.

" Sam, can you let me in? What's the deal? You call me at work, use the other names and then say I need to get here as soon as possible?" Lily called from outside, prompting me to glare at Sam. We had rules about secrecy for a reason. We didn't want to risk being arrested for a drug that literally could change your body shape. I shuddered at the idea of the government inevitably trying to weaponise Pon-E.

"Let her in, Sam, let's get this over with"

" I was gonna." Sam protested as the door's lock clunked open. The rustle of plastic bags made me wonder what the fuck Sam had actually told Lily was going on. As Lily stepped into the room, she immediately drew Limelight's attention. The pink mare snapped around and bounced over towards the newcomer, smiling happily.

" Hi!" In probably the most pony way possible, Limelight greeted Lily by attaching herself around Lily's leg in a hug. I remained seated as Lily placed her bags onto the floor and knelt to start scratching Limelight's ears. Lily hadn't taken Pon-E at our first proper get together and consequently always seemed to be able to identify right where to scratch. Seriously, hooves were fun, but a hand could make you melt in a god damn puddle.

"Uh, Fred, who is this?" She asked, yanking me out of my memories. I supposed I should just be honest with her about this whole situation. It was weird as hell, but then again, so was the entire concept of Pon-E.

"She's my dad."

" What." Lily looked at me like I was mad as Sam groaned and stood from his chair across the room. He crossed the room and pulled Limelight off Lily's leg before lifting her up to show to Lily like you would a dog.

"He took Fred's last Pon-E, and we found her in, I suppose her study, and she was listening to music. We had a conversation, then Fred tried to kill the tunes, she had some kind of panic attack, and... Well, look at her." Limelight's coat was still damp with sweat, the remains of white foam around her neck. She needed a bath at the very least. Based on the fact she'd been prancing around for nearly two hours now, she probably would also need something to eat and water to avoid being dehydrated when she turned back.

"So, let me double-check if I understand this correctly. Your dad turned into a mare?" Lily started, only for me to nod in confirmation, still trying not to think about the situation's implications. We both wordlessly elected to ignore Limelight, nuzzling Sam's chin as he put her down. "Then you found her, in here, and caused her to have a panic attack. Now she needs a bath, and we're gonna have to prepare to deal with the fallout of this shit show?"

"Pretty much hit the nail on the head." Sam helpfully added from behind us. He and Limelight were fiddling with the turntable as she changed the record for what must have been the twentieth time already.

"And you called me because of fucking rule three. Why did we write that bloody thing." Lily complained to nobody in particular. She knew full well why we'd written the rule considering she'd suggested the fucking thing. Rule 3, regardless of your human gender, pony gender takes precedent when pony. Women wash mares. Men wash stallions. Sam and I shrugged, prompting an aggravated sigh from Lily before she scooped up Limelight and disappeared upstairs.

"So...what now?" Sam voiced the question lingering at the forefront of my mind. The absence of the pink mare providing some reprieve from the rapidly moving tripping hazard she had proven to be.

"Fuck knows. When dad's back to normal, I'll ask him if he wants to come with us to our next get together. That is if he remembers this whole situation, cause I'll be honest, something seems off about Limelight." The two of us sat in silence. Seemingly we both had to digest the incoming shake-up to our groups dynamic and the fact our rules had their first real challenge. The silence grew more oppressive moments after we'd sat down as the record finished almost perfectly after we heard the door shut to the upstairs bathroom. All we could hear from upstairs was the pink mare belting out what I think was a rendition of tears for fears along with the occasional shriek from Lily.

" She's gonna be soaking wet, calling it." Sam said, breaking the silence as we both chuckled softly at the memory of Lily attempting to keep Slipstream from splashing water literally everywhere. Who'd have expected a pegasus getting given a bath would react like a dog in water, except a dog can't start flying around the room yelling profanities.

After what must have been twenty minutes, the joyful singing got louder and louder. A squeaky clean limelight trotted into the room; her ears twitched before she bolted and started another album playing. Sam and I waited for a moment before a soaking wet Lily staggered into the room. She looked like she'd been dragged into the bath at least twice.

"Do not comment. I know you both are going to." her expression made it clear she was not ready for any of our usual bullshit. So we didn't comment. We just laughed instead. Lily responded with a glare hard enough I was half expecting one of us to burst into flames. Thank Faust, she didn't have her horn right now; gotta count the small blessings. Lily's glare softened almost instantly as she looked over my shoulder.

"Look at Limelight." I turned to look and saw the pink mare sat on her flank, gently bobbing her head along to the music. As we watched, she intensified, with her ears joining in her movement as a guitar solo grew in speed and fervour. It was cute, despite the building dread about how the hell I'd handle this discussion when dad was back to normal.

"Hey, Limelight," Sam called out over the sounds of Michael Schenker giving it his all on the guitar. The mare looked at Sam, still bobbing side to side. The smile we'd first seen on her face had returned in full force.

"You wanna come to meet other ponies sometime?"

"Hay yeah! That sounds fun!"

"Well, that settles it then. Next time we get our little gang together, you can come too." Sam turned back to us and left Limelight to her music whilst I turned to my thoughts. On the bright side, we now had a DJ if we ever wanted to throw a full-on party; however, the downside was I'd have to explain a lot to my dad. Maybe Lily would like to pitch her crackpot theory about Lunanon living in Atlanta because she recognised the house in a few of Lunanon's pictures. Although, after I'd given him a crash course on Pon-E, the show might not be a bad idea now that I thought about it...

Author's Note

This took far longer than it should have, and for that, I apologize. However, with this complete, we now have the stage set for Luna to encounter the Atlanta Herd and the wider plot to start rolling.

lemme know what you all think!