“How are you finding things?” Octavia looked over at the other Earth Pony, a smaller blue mare with a two-tone darker blue mane as they walked through snow-dusted Canterlot streets.
“It’s going pretty well. I’m learning how to use four legs, winter probably isn’t the right time for that.” Sonata Dusk wasn’t entirely lying. She’d been in Equestria before, in fact was born there, but as a siren she’d had a fishy tail and levitated through the air when outside the water.
“I understand. When I heard about the exchange program, I was wondering how anypony could get used to such a change in their forms.” The musician considered the benefits of bipedalism. She’d have much less difficulty maintaining the upright stance required by her instrument.
“It’s certainly something.” Sonata didn’t care to mention that she’d been through a few more form changes than most. Stuck as powerless humans in the other world, she was now a prey species rather than a predatory siren here.
Still, that was no reason to blubber. She wasn’t sure how or why she’d been approved for the “Exchange Program” Sunset had set up. Apparently both the principals and the ponies thought she was a Canterlot High student? Well, she could pretend to be a harmless, fangless teenager with the best of… ooh shiny!
“What’s that? What’s that?”
“Ugh.” Octavia nearly spat with disdain. “My… professional rival has a show tonight, it seems.” The neon-lit signs of the club pulsed with promises of excitement, or possibly the bass was affecting the electrical connections.
“Can we go in? Please? Plllleeeeeeeeaase?” Sonata pranced in place, trying her best to give her “hostess” puppy-dog eyes. Not literally of course, even humans got weird about eyes sometimes. And ponies? Forget it.
“Hmph.” The gray mare sniffed and sighed. “Very well. I suppose I shall have to permit her the satisfaction.”
“Woohoo!”
The two approached a small line of ponies queued in front of the doorstallion. “Octavia Melody. I am on the list.”
“Indeed you are, ma’am. Come right on in.” The doorstallion gestured for them to proceed with his forehoof, and they did to some light grumbling of those outside.
Opening the door produced a wall of sound as they entered, the flashing lights inside far more intense than the neon outside.
“Ugh. I didn’t bring my earplugs.” Octavia’s ears were flat against her head as she looked up at the booth, where a white Unicorn waved back at her.
“Woohoo! Now this is something I can dance to.” Sonata bounced forward, then faceplanted in front of a few club attendees. “Or, uh, if I didn’t have two left feet.”
“Yes, quite.” Octavia tutted as she extended a foreleg to help her companion up. Lowering her voice, she continued, “And don’t say things like that. Say hooves.”
“Sowwie.” Sonata took a breath and puffed out her cheeks to unsquash her muzzle.
“Honestly.” The gray mare pulled her companion to her hooves. “If you wish to dance, I suppose I can help you somewhat. It would not do to have my guest embarrass themself.”
“Ohh! Could you?” Sonata bounced in place with her eyes as big as saucers.
Octavia sighed. “I suppose I shall have to. Now, for a song like this, tuck your knees slightly and follow my lead.”
Sonata did as instructed, and in no time the two of them were swaying along and bopping (as much as ponies could) to the beat.
“I can’t believe somepony got you doing this again, and it wasn’t me.” Sonata and Octavia turned to the new voice, a white Unicorn mare with two-tone blue hair and wearing sunglasses. The same unicorn she’d seen waving.
“Vinyl.” Octavia suddenly went still and rigid, turning to address the new speaker. “Shouldn’t you be up there, doing your thing?”
“Aw, don’t be like that. It’s not like this place has nobody who can cover for me if I want to talk to my best friend, who I haven’t seen in a while, who just happened to walk into this club.”
“Trouble between the two of you?” Sonata grinned slightly. Then she remembered that with the gem broken, she was not at the moment a siren that fed on conflict and anger. She was a pony, who should be trying to fix this or something. That’s what ponies do, right? I never actually interacted much with a pony not under our spell. Other than Star Swirl. And I guess Sunset Shimmer a bit. And, uh yeah not anypony else.
“It’s… It’s nothing you should need to concern yourself with.” Octavia huffed.
“...yah.” Vinyl seemed equally evasive.
Is this a friendship problem? Technically I should be causing those, but I don’t want to blow my cover right now. I guess I have to help. “Ah, c’mon, tell me, I’ll be curious all night if you don’t.” Sonata punctuated this by grabbing Octavia’s head with her left foreleg, and Vinyl’s with her right rear leg, and trying to pull them together.
“Now… now see here!” Octavia spread her hooves and exerted her strength to pull her head free of the grip with a popping sound, sending Sonata stumbling back into Vinyl.
“Yeah, uh what she said.” Vinyl tilted the discombobulated Sonata forward, dislodging herself. “We’ll deal with it ourselves.”
“The night is… young. Let us dance.” Octavia looked like she was sucking on a lemon, obviously not enjoying the prospect of dancing but thinking it would be better than remaining here talking with Vinyl.
“Yeah… I gotta go back up there now.” Vinyl wasn’t looking at either Octavia or Sonata.
Octavia’s dance lessons eventually helped her avoid falling on her face at least. Those other ponies should have gotten out of her way.
“Sorry, dear. I don’t know what the deal is.” The plump blue Earth Pony mare shook her head apologetically and then nosed over a tray with her order on it. Pastries weren’t as yummy and savory as tacos or the anguish of furious rage, but they were sweet enough and her body seemed to like them ok. The large variety of fillings helped.
Ponyville was where her host lived “primarily”, using her Canterlot apartment only for performance days and when she got too tired after shopping. Surprisingly, it was split down the middle and shared with Vinyl, the Unicorn she was feuding with or something.
Proving you were trustworthy was a pain in the neck, and ponies had a lot more neck than humans did. Or at least most humans.
She looked at the tray ladened with assorted pastries, her late breakfast, and frowned a bit, leaned in, then engulfed one in a single bite, chewing furiously. It was somewhat nostalgic, of the time before she could manage a good levitate and move on to eating pony emotions.
“Something got you down?” A purple Unicorn sat down at the table with her. She had a cloak on, but it was cold so it wasn’t that odd. Most ponies would wear a saddle if it wasn’t snowing, but Sonata wasn’t a fashion expert. Something about the stripes in her mane looked familiar but she couldn’t place it.
“Ah, nah.” Sonata chewed more slowly and thoughtfully. What should I say here? I don’t want anypony asking too many questions about me. But I’ve been asking ponies about Vinyl and Octavia all morning. Maybe I owe them some questions? She swallowed. “Uh, I mean, I’m a little worried about the mare I’m staying with. Octavia. She’s acting mean to the mare she lives with, Vinyl.”
“Ah. That. I should probably have said something about it to her, but I was hoping it would work out on its own.”
Sonata knew she’d heard that voice, but she couldn’t place it at all. Apparently the human world had counterparts to a lot of these ponies? She’d barely interacted with the human Octavia and Vinyl, after all.
It probably wasn’t important.
“Well, really if I knew what caused this I could probably solve it, just as a third party who wishes the best for them with no ulterior motives.”
“Uh huh.” The pony seemed convinced. “I would say that’s a great idea, although I’m not sure that’s quite the approach needed here. You see, the root cause of this spat is actually Vinyl misplacing one of Octavia’s teacups.”
“Oh, then we just need to find it and give it back.”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. Vinyl did give it back.”
“Huh?” Sonata shook her head from side to side. Logic had failed her again! “Then why are they still mad at each other? Did a Sire – Changeling eat all their forgiveness?”
“No. It’s the way Vinyl gave it back. She claimed that Octavia had simply misplaced it herself.”
“Huh, I don’t get it.”
The Unicorn sighed. “It’s… a matter of pride. Neither of them wants to admit they were wrong, and each time they choose to not to make up, it digs them in deeper.”
Sonata scarfed another pastry, then considered. “It’s Vinyl’s fault, she should be the one to give up.”
Her conversation partner looked back at her curiously. “I suppose, by the tiniest of margins, it is. But the majority of the error is distributed evenly, due to neither party being willing to ‘let go’ of the issue.”
“Well, maybe we could distract them from their feud with something and they’d cooperate and forget it ever existed.”
“Uh.” The purple mare raised her forehoof, paused, then lowered it. “Well, if you want to try that, come back to Sugarcube Corner and let me know how it works.”
“Thanks, uh, miss?”
“Twilight.”
Sonata was sure she’d heard that name somewhere, but it sounded like a typical Unicorn name. Always with the sky and light stuff.
Octavia and Vinyl were in the split house they shared, eating dinner at separate tables with their backs to each other. It was time to put her plan into action.
She stood precisely between the two of them “Oh no! Ack Uch!” She staggered and gagged. “I am dying, blagh please help me, my friends!”
Then she fell over.
It was time for things to work out.
The two ponies got up, looked at each other, and walked over to the fallen pony.
They shared a look.
"Is that the best you got?" Vinyl broke the silence.
“Your acting needs some work.” Octavia declared flatly.
“Yeah, the way your eyes looked back and forth between us while you were trying really hard not to move otherwise was a giveaway.” Viny concurred.
Sonata rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. What they were saying wasn’t true. Those were just lies Aria told her when she told her she wasn’t allowed to do sneaky things!
“Still, it’s very amusing.” Octavia continued, smiling. Sonata's eyes widened. This was her chance. She could still make it work.
“But…” Sonata flailed her forelegs, making the other two step back, then brought them down with enough force to push her back up, clattering to a standing position.
As the other two closed back in she reared up and wrapped a foreleg around each of them. “You’re happy with each other again! You’re friends!”
“Uh.”
“Um.”
The two ensnared mares looked at each other, then nodded with surprised looks on their faces. “I suppose we did coordinate a little.” Octavia replied, her mouth drawn up in a small smile.
“Yeah, nice working with you again.” Vinyl’s grin was somewhat less subtle, which is to say not at all.
“Yay, friends! My plan worked flawlessly!” Sonata had the least subtle smile of all, grabbing the other two into a hug so forceful their smiles were replaced by attempts to gasp for air. “Oops, sorry, hug too hard.” Sonata’s smile shrank into a sheepish one as she let the other two go.
“So other than the crushing and asphyxiation, things went well?”
“Yes, I suppose.” Octavia sipped at her cup, taking in the outdoor cafe. Most of the tables were covered by snow and unoccupied, but this one was snow-free and felt like springtime. It had been rather scary getting a small glimpse of how Canterlot changed the seasons with magic when she wasn’t expecting it.
“I’m glad I approved her visit. I’ll let Sunset know how her behavior has improved.” Princess Twilight idly stirred her cup with her magic.
Author's Note
This was a bit of a tough one to write, I'd never really used either of these characters before.
