The 63 files

by punisher143

TwiScratch and OctaPie

The alarm sounded loudly and startled one of the two occupants awake, which resulted in him falling to floor. He rubbed his head and shakily got to his hooves before looking over at the other pony.

‘He’s STILL SLEEPING?!’ he thought at the sight of the unicorn snoring away. That problem was quickly solved with a swift kick to the midsection.

“Oomph,” was all the unicorn got out as he clutched his stomach and looked up at his attacker. “What the hell Octy?”

“The alarm went off and you were still sleeping. I swear Vinyl you could stay asleep if a bomb went off or the zeppelin crashed.” Octavio walked to the door and, with a little effort, managed to turn the handle and pushed it open. “Come on, we have to prepare to dock.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m coming,” Vinyl said and got up to follow Octavio. They worked their way through the small hallways toward the front, Vinyl taking a quick detour to get breakfast for the two of them. Octavio pushed through one last door and was in the cockpit. He sat in the left chair and turned off the auto pilot, which was pretty low tech when compared to other models, and started the complicated task of piloting the zeppelin through the thick overcast.

“Ugh, look at that,” Vinyl said as he walked into the cockpit with two cups of coffee floating next to him. He offered a cup to Octavio, which he took and nodded his thanks, before sitting down in the other chair. “I don’t remember the overcast being this bad.”

“Are you sure we’re close? I can’t see a thing.”

“You said that the alarm went off right? That means we should be about twenty miles away.” Vinyl took a drink of coffee and leaned forward. “I think it’s actually starting to clear.”

Octavio squinted through the overcast and saw it was clearing. A few seconds later it cleared enough for them to see their destination.

“Whoa,” was the gist of their reaction. Vinyl turned to Octavio with a huge smile.

“Well Octy, allow me to present you to Canter-city 03, popularly designated ‘Ponyville.”

“You’ve been here before, right Vinyl?” Octavio asked.

“Yeah, when I was a colt my mom took me here,” Vinyl explained and took a drink of coffee, “It wasn’t a happy visit though, my granddad died and we had to go to his funeral.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Octavio said.

“It happened years ago, but thanks anyway. It was so surreal at the time, I can’t really remember a time Mom cried that much.” Vinyl downed the rest of his coffee and threw the empty cup into a trash bin. “Want me to call in?”

“By all means,” Octavio answered and finished his own cup. Vinyl went about getting the radio ready for transmission, set the frequency, and picked up the transceiver.

“Canter-city tower, this is zeppelin 003, requesting permission to dock over.” The other end was silent for about ten seconds afterwards.

“Vinyl,” Octavio started but was shushed down by Vinyl. A second later the radio crackled to life.

“Zeppelin 003, this Canter-city tower, where are you, over.” Vinyl mouthed ‘I told you’ to Octavio before answering.

“We’re a small, twin ballooned zeppelin coming in from the west. We’ll await visual confirmation, over.”

“Roger.” A few tense moments followed, which caused Octavio to start sweating a little. “We have eyes on a zeppelin matching your description. Can you perform a simple maneuver to confirm over?”

“Roger, we’ll turn right twenty degrees, over.” Vinyl twirled a hoof and he and Octavio set about slowly turning the craft. Once that was done Vinyl picked up the transceiver and waited.

“We have visual confirmation. What is the nature of your visit, over?”

“Recreation and some trade, just some scrap parts we found. We don’t expect to be here longer than three or four days, over.”

“Stand by.”

“Vinyl, what if they won’t let us in?” Octavio asked.

“They will,” Vinyl answered simply. The minute or so of slowly approaching the tower in front of them was starting to get to them.

“Zeppelin 003, you are cleared for docking in port 032. Popping green smoke in 3…2…1,” no sooner had the radio operator said that a trail of green smoke drifted from the structure, “Can you see the trail, over?”

“Roger that, we see it and are coming in now, over.” Vinyl mouthed an excited ‘yes’ to Octavio.

“Roger, we’ll be waiting for you. Over and out.” The radio crackled out and Vinyl replaced the transceiver, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Well, that was easy,” he said and sat up straighter, “Let’s get going.” Octavio nodded and they focused on piloting the zeppelin to the dock. They started slowing down once they got close enough.

“Go release the tethers, ok?” Octavio asked and gestured behind him.

“Can do,” Vinyl said as he got up and walked to the tether releases, which were just four simple switches that would release four ropes with a hook on the end to drag them in. “One, two, three, and four! Tethers away!” Vinyl said and walked back to his chair. Out of the window he could see a group of claws extending out and, once they were out of sight, felt the craft shake as they were brought to the dock.

“Zeppelin 003, this is Canter-city tower, were you planning to glide down to dock, over?” the radio crackled. Vinyl picked up the transceiver to answer.

“Yeah, we were planning to glide in, over.”

“Roger that, we’ll prepare for your landing, over and out.” Vinyl set transceiver down and looked at Octavio.

“Come on, let’s not keep them waiting,” he said and walked out of the cockpit with Octavio following. Their side door out wasn’t that far of a walk and they were soon there and strapping on their gliders. Vinyl put a pair of goggles on, the world turning a slight shade of purple because of them, and waited for Octavio to do the same before opening the door. Vinyl couldn’t help but whistle at the drop.

“Man, would you look at that. How high do you think that is: three, maybe four kilometers?”

“Please don’t joke like that Vinyl, I always get nervous at this,” Octavio said. Vinyl chuckled at his friend.

“Alright, I’ll go first.” Vinyl backed up a little and took a running jump out of the ship. Octavio took a deep breath and did the same. The winds at this height brushed past Octavio’s face as he quickly gathered speed. Vinyl, as usual, was busy flipping and twirling in the air and most likely screaming in joy.

‘What an adrenaline junkie,’ Octavio thought to himself. Once he was at a reasonable height, he turned a knob on his glider which allowed a pair of metal wings to spring out from its sides. He tilted up slowly to slow his descent. He looked down at Vinyl and saw he waited a few more seconds before deploying his own glider. Octavio rolled his eyes and started gliding toward the landing platform. Octavio flared his glider and slowed down for a slightly less than graceful landing. But at least he landed at all when compared to Vinyl who had foregone landing entirely in favor of aiming for the safety balloon at the end.

“Whoo!” he called as he flew into the balloon and tumbled down it. Octavio shook his head and walked over to Vinyl, making sure to retract his glider along the way.

“You know Vinyl, one of these days you’re going to miss the platform, and then what are you going to do then?” Vinyl got up, being careful of the glider, and retracted it before answering.

“Eh, I’d probably just land on one of the lower platforms or, if I get lucky, I could glide all the way to the ground.”

“I don’t think that will happen, you’ll probably die from the fumes before getting close to it. Now come on, let’s go get our things.”

The world slowly faded in for Twilight, starting first with the sound of clockwork gears churning away. After spending her entire life living inside what is essentially a steam powered machine, you get used to the sounds. Twilight stretched her forelegs and rolled over in her bed and opened her eyes.

And found a smiling pink pony filling her vision. Twilight screamed and backed away from Pinkie, falling out of the bed onto the floor.

“Silly Twilight, do you know what time it is? It’s almost seven!” Pinkie said as she looked down at her friend.

“I was going to wake up Pinkie,” Twilight said and stood up. She wasn’t really shocked at the fact that Pinkie was fully dressed in one of her usual dresses. Now that Twilight thought about it, she doesn’t remember a time when didn’t have one of those dresses on. “So what did you have planned for today?” Twilight asked as she started putting on her own dress with her magic, although it wasn’t nearly to the extremes as Pinkie.

“I don’t really have anything planned, although I did want to go to the zeppelin terminals. Have you ever gone there to just watch the airships?”

“Not that I remember,” Twilight said and tightened one of her belts. “But I guess I do see the majesty of them, I’ve never been on one. Will any of the others join us?”

“I already asked the others, but they said they had other things to do. I think Rainbow said something about problems upstairs.” Twilight looked at Pinkie worriedly and subconsciously tied one last ribbon.

“Is it serious?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure there would have been an announcement if it was.” Pinkie hopped off the bed and walked over to Twilight, “So it will just be you and me for today. So come on, let’s go!” Twilight gave a last look at her dress and nodded.

“Alright, let’s go,” she said. Pinkie bounced excitedly out of the room with Twilight following. The pair made their way out to the cobblestone streets where Twilight looked up at the sky through the higher streets, gears, and pipes. They passed by a couple street vendors and bought a couple muffins for breakfast. “How are the others doing? I heard Fluttershy has had a few pregnant animals.”

“Mhmm and Applejack said he had one of the biggest harvests he’s had.” Pinkie answered and took a bite of her breakfast muffin.

“Really, I thought they were having problems with one of their irrigation system up there?”

“They were but they figured out what the problem was. I think he said one of the intake valves wasn’t sealed properly or something. Once they figured that out, everything ran smooth as taffy.”

“And Elusive is still doing well?”

“Mhmm, his new line is doing very well from what I heard. He even gave me these stockings!” Pinkie held out a hind leg so Twilight could see. The stockings were primarily pink with blue and yellow stripes running along it. If there were anything else to it, Twilight wasn’t the pony to know it.

“They’re um…nice?” she said.

“I know, and they’re really comfy too. You should get some.” The pair finished their muffins and reached a railing separating them from a ledge. Pinkie leaned over it and looked down into the thick cloud cover. “Hey, do you think the clouds down there will ever clear? From what we heard from the Princess’ the land down there used to be really beautiful. I can only imagine the kind of parties I could throw down there.”

“I heard the same too and I have to agree, but I can’t imagine anything other than the wasteland down there,” Twilight said joining Pinkie in looking over it, “All those trees starved of sunlight, I’m surprised there was anything even alive down there.”

“Fluttershy was crying almost every time we saw an animal. I wonder how much of that was natural and not Nightmare Moon’s doing?”

“I don’t want to think about it. Come on Pinkie, let’s get going.” Twilight continued walking and Pinkie lingered behind for a second before joining Twilight. The two friends continued making small talk along the way to the docks. Pinkie looked to the left and gasped loudly before zooming over to the railing.

“Twilight, look at that one!” Pinkie said bouncing excitedly. Twilight walked over to her excitable friend and inspected the zeppelin she pointed to.

“It’s kind of small, isn’t it?” Twilight asked, “I’ll admit it’s really rare to see a model like that, but I think it’s because it’s outdated. I think I prefer Princess Luna’s personal airship.”

“Not that, I haven’t seen that one before! Do you know what that means?!” Twilight thought for a moment before answering.

“New ponies to gree-“

“NEW PONIES TO GREET!” Pinkie shouted and grabbed Twilight’s shoulders. “WE HAVE TO GO MEET THEM!” She said shaking Twilight and drawing attention from the surrounding ponies.

“O-o-o-kay, Pi-i-inkie! We’ll go!” Twilight managed get out. Pinkie stopped shaking her, smiled widely, and dragged Twilight as fast as she could to where the craft was docking. When they stopped Twilight was dazed while Pinkie bounced in place smiling at the elevator. After a minute the elevator doors opened and two stallions, a gray earth pony and a white unicorn, walked out.

“Ooh, I definitely haven’t seen them before,” Pinkie said smiling even wider. Twilight shook her head and got a good look at them.

“Yeah, I think they are new. I wonder where they are from?” The two walked to a counter where a unicorn was going through some bags. The earth pony took off his goggles and said something to the unicorn, who nodded.

“They’re kinda handsome.”

“W-what?” Twilight asked surprised and Pinkie just shrugged. The unicorn apparently got bored of waiting and starting looking around. He stopped when he spotted Pinkie and Twilight, who smiled widely and nervously waved respectively. He nudged the earth pony, said something to him, and they both looked at them. Pinkie waved wildly at them and they talked a bit more. Whatever they said resulted in the unicorn shrugging and waving back at them.

“They seem friendly.” Pinkie said. The unicorn finished inspecting the bags, handed them over to the stallions, and probably said a normal greeting to the city. The pair nodded, took their bags, and walked over to Pinkie and Twilight. They didn’t even get a word in before Pinkie started talking.

“Hi, you must be new here right? I can tell because I haven’t seen you or your ship before and if I had seen you before I would know since I know everypony in the city! Those are some nice goggles you have by the way. Where did you get them? How much did they cost? Do you like cupcakes? What about muffins? Carrot cake? Chocolate cake? What about taffy? Ooh ooh, what about parfaits? Everypony loves parfaits! Have you ever met somepony and said ‘hey, you wanna get some parfaits?’ and they were like ‘nope, I don’t like parfaits.’ OF COURSE YOU HAVEN’T, PARFAITS ARE DELICIOUS! Anyway I’m Pinkie Pie and this is my friend Twilight Sparkle. What are your names?”

“W-what?” the earth pony asked.

“To answer your questions: yes, Canter-City 06, about 20 bits, yes, yes, haven’t tried it, and I prefer my parfaits with a little whipped cream and strawberries. Nice to meet you,” the unicorn said. Everypony, Pinkie included, was surprised that he managed to keep up with Pinkie’s rambling.

“You… caught all that?” the earth pony asked.

“Mhmm. Anyway, I’m Vinyl Scratch and this is Octavio Philharmonica. It’s nice to meet you both.” Vinyl flashed a grin at the two mares and held a hoof out.

“Uh, the pleasure’s all ours,” Twilight said and shook his hoof. Octavio cleared his throat to draw the other’s attention.

“You’ll have to excuse Vinyl, he can be a little… uncultured at times.” Vinyl huffed a little.

“Well excuse me, some ponies don’t have the patience to stand those boring high society parties that you always drag me to.” Octavio glared at Vinyl and raised his hind leg slightly. “Anyway, Twilight, Pinkie, it was nice meeting you, but we gotta get going.”

“Aw, but I wanted to show you around. It’s not every day you meet somepony new,” Pinkie said sadly.

“W-well that’s nice of you, but-“

“Vinyl, need I remind you that we don’t exactly know our way around the city. Besides, it’s not polite to decline help from a mare,” Octavio said and turned to the mares, “I assure you, we’d be more than happy to let you show us around.” Pinkie immediately perked up and bounced excitedly.

“That’s super! Come on, let’s go!” Pinkie said and started bouncing away and Twilight smiled awkwardly and followed her. Vinyl started whispering to Octavio as they followed them.

“What are you doing? We just met them, why are you…” Vinyl’s eyebrows raised a little and he smirked. “Oh, I see what’s going on.”

“What are you going on about?” Octavio asked.

“Oh don’t worry, a nod is as good as a wink to a blind bat. And I’ll admit they are pretty cute.” Octavio’s eyes widened as he got what Vinyl was saying. “So, which one are you interested in?” That question was rewarded with a punch to the shoulder.

“I’m just being a gentlecolt. I’m not like you where I would go with every mare that showed the slightest interest in me.” Vinyl’s face grew serious.

“Dude, that’s cold.” Octavio sighed.

“Maybe we should drop this conversation.”

“Yeah.”

The group walked through the streets and Vinyl and Octavio couldn’t help but marvel at the landmarks Pinkie pointed out.

“And that’s Celestia’s tower,” Pinkie said in regards to a clock tower in front of them, “my granny Pie said the section was built around this and that there are several towers just like this in the other cities.”

“Yeah, I think I remember seeing a tower like that back in 06,” Octavio said and turned to Vinyl, “You remember right? That tower we always climbed when we were foals.”

“Mhmm,” Vinyl hummed. Octavio sighed. Vinyl never really cared about these kinds of things.

“I take it you want to do something else?”

“Funny you should mention that! We should probably sell those parts to get some spending money. That doesn’t mean you have to stop touring though, if you really want to.”

“How considerate of you,” Octavio said and tossed his bag onto Vinyl’s back, “Just try to get a good price on those.” Vinyl saluted and started to walk away when Twilight spoke up.

“Actually, I needed to go to the market today. I can show you there if you want.”

Vinyl shrugged and said, “Sure, why not? How far away is it anyway?”

“Not that far,” Twilight said and turned to Pinkie, “I’ll catch up with you later Pinkie. Same place as usual?”

“Yeah that works, I’ll see you then.” Twilight smiled at Pinkie and she walked down the street with Vinyl.

‘Wait a minute, that means that I’m left alone with-‘

“Come on Octy, I still have so much to show you and we’re not even done with this level!” Pinkie said and dragged Octavio away with a yelp. When they stopped Octavio found himself standing in front of one of the most out of place buildings he had ever seen.

“I may not look it, but I am a baker and a party mare. And this is Sugarcube Corner, the best place to get sweets in the entire city!” Pinkie explained as she gestured to the cupcake shaped building. Octavio was fascinated by the building as Pinkie went on about frosting or something.

“Is… is that wood?” he asked.

“Mhmm, it’s completely wooden! Well except for the kitchen appliances and the bathroom, but that’s a given.”

“But isn’t wood expensive? The only other wooden building I’ve seen was the concert hall back in 06, and that building completely bankrupted all the ponies who invested in it. How did a baker get enough money to buy a wooden building?”

“I dunno. I think Mr. Cake’s great grandfather made the whole thing himself and made regular trips to the surface to get the trees he needed.” Pinkie leaned in closer to Octavio and smiled widely, “So, would you like a cupcake?”

“Uh, sure?” Pinkie smile grew bigger and she bounced into the bakery. Octavio sighed and whispered, “I hate you so much Vinyl,” and followed the bouncing mare.

“Oh come on, there’s no way this can be that cheap!” Vinyl said to one of the merchants. He had been trying for a long while to get a decent price on the scrap he had, but it wasn’t going very well.

“That’s all I’m willing to give. It’s in decent shape, I’ll give you that, but there’s also rust on it. Rusty materials is barely worth anything. So it’s one hundred.”

“For one or all of it?”

“All of it.”

“That’s a bunch of crap! Do you have any idea how long it took to find all of this? It has to be at least 150.” The merchant rubbed her face and groaned.

“Look kid, I know what you’re trying to do, but I’ve been around a lot. I’ll tell you what, 115, final offer.”

“…120.” She sighed at his insistence.

“Fine.” The merchant started counting out the money and Vinyl mentally patted himself on the back. Sure Octavio was bound to yell at him later, but for now he was done. He took the bits from the merchant and walked over to Twilight, who was busy looking over some tools.

“Find what you need?” he asked. She magically picked one up, shook her head, and set it back down.

“No, I don’t think they ha- YES!” She picked up another tool and smiled. “This is exactly what I need! How much for this?”

“For that one? Twenty bits.” Twilight quickly put the money on the counter and trotted away happily. Vinyl followed her looking bemused.

“So why do you need that?” he asked. Twilight stopped and laughed nervously as she tucked it into one of her belts.

“Well, it’s kind of a secret,” she said. Vinyl raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

“Well ok, must be big I guess. Where do you think Octy and your friend went?”

“Knowing Pinkie, there’s only one place I can think of. Follow me.” Twilight led the way down the streets and past several large gears, its purpose unknown to all but the maintenance teams. They had been walking for a few minutes when some nearby speakers screeched to life.

“Attention citizens! Due to a severe overheat for some machinery in the upper levels, the weather for your section will change to light snowfall with a minor chance of heavier snowfall for the remainder of the week. We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you a pleasant day.”

“More snow? I left 06 to get away from the snow,” Vinyl said angrily.

“You don’t like snow?” Twilight asked.

“It snowed all the time while I grew up. It was some kind of malfunctioning weather generator or something. Nopony bothered to fix it for ten years since it didn’t really hurt anything.” Vinyl stopped and sat on a nearby bench and Twilight sat next to him. “I remember when I first met Octy. We kind of hit it off as foals and he took me to his house. He lived on a different level than me since his family was better off than mine, and I remember being so shocked at the lack of snow. I always tried to find an excuse to go there.” Vinyl started laughing, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bore you with my reminiscing.”

“I don’t mind. I love hearing about other ponies’ lives.” Vinyl looked at Twilight curiously.

“Really, then what’s yours?” he asked. Twilight looked away, her cheeks slightly red.

“Well, it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…I’m kind of the… personal student of Princess Celestia.”

“Wha- really?” Twilight nodded and Vinyl blinked a couple times, although Twilight didn’t see that through his goggles. “Huh, I didn’t know the Princess had students.”

“Well, I’m kind of a special case. Princess Celestia said she’s never seen anypony with as much magical potential that I do, and I’m also kind of skilled with machines.”

“Well, we all kinda have to be somewhat skilled in that in this day and age. So I don’t really see-“

“I built my first steam generator when I was ten.”

“Pfft hahaha, ok point taken.” Vinyl stood up and motioned to Twilight, “Come on, let’s go find our friends.” Twilight nodded and led the way again. The pair continued to make small talk along the way.

“So what’s it like on a zeppelin?” Twilight asked.

“Really cramped and pretty dangerous. One bad part or leaked balloon or wayward spark and you’re going down. It’s still pretty fun though.”

“Hm…” Twilight hummed and looked up, “Oh, we’re here.” The pair arrived at Sugarcube Corner and Vinyl stared at the building.

“Wood?”

“Yeah, a lot of ponies say that.” Twilight opened the door and called into the bakery. “Pinkie, are you here?”

“Come in!” Twilight smiled and walked inside. The bakery gave off a warm atmosphere, which Twilight always enjoyed, and found Pinkie balancing a plate of cupcakes on her head as she walked to Octavio. “Hi Twilight! I was just showing Octy here all the different cupcakes we have. Do you want one?”

“Sure, I’ll have one of the usual.” Pinkie nodded and hopped toward the counter.

“Save me…” Octavio said to Vinyl pleadingly.

“Why?” Vinyl asked smiling widely.

“I’ve had a hundred cupcakes in the last half hour, and I don’t think she’s going to stop anytime soon!”

“So it’s been going well for you then?” Octavio stared angrily into Vinyl’s goggles.

“I’m going to kill you later.” Twilight cleared her throat to get their attention.

“So Vinyl, do you always wear those goggles?” she asked.

“It’s just something I like to wear. Only my closest friends get to see my eyes, right Octy?”

“Yeah, I should feel so honored that you consider me one of your closest friends.” Pinkie walked back over with a plate of cupcakes on her head.

“Here you go Twilight,” she said and handed a cupcake to Twilight, who nodded her thanks. “So Octy, how do you like the cupcakes?” she asked leaning against the table with her forehooves supporting her head.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Vinyl leaned toward Pinkie with that same grin on his face.

“For the record, Octy’s favorite cupcake is chocolate with vanilla frosting.”

“Oh really, why didn’t you say so? I’ll go whip some up right now!” Pinkie hopped away humming a tune and Octavio grabbed Vinyl’s vest and pulled him closer.

“Why would you tell her that?!”

“I’m just helping you out.” Vinyl said almost totally unfazed by Octavio’s anger.

“I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP!” Octavio yelled and growled a little.

“I’m getting hungry,” Vinyl said and pulled away from Octavio, who fell to the floor, and walked to the counter. Twilight giggled a little through a mouthful of cupcake.

“You two have an interesting friendship, don’t you?” she asked.

“You have no idea.”

“Hey Pinkie,” Vinyl called out.

“Yes?” she asked popping up from behind the counter.

“Do you have that cupcake flavor with the rainbow frosting? I really like those.”

“Seven Colors of Flavor? Yeah, we have those.”

“Great, I’ll have one.” Pinkie disappeared under the table and came back up a couple seconds later with a Rainbow cupcake. Vinyl placed a couple bits on the counter and took the cupcake. “Thanks.”

“That reminds me, I haven’t seen Dashie in a while,” Pinkie said staring at the cupcake.

“Who?”

“A friend of mine called Rainbow Dash. She’s a weather pony that works in the upper levels. I haven’t seen her for about a week.”

“She’s probably just busy or something.”

“But what if she’s been foalnapped?! She could be locked up in some dungeon as a mad pony walks to her with an evil smile.”

“Mad pony?” Vinyl asked and took a bit from the cupcake.

“Yeah, and it could be anypony! Maybe…even… ME!” Vinyl and Pinkie stared at each other for a second and Vinyl cracked up.

“Oh really, you? I highly doubt that you can hurt anything, let alone one of your closest friends.”

“I know, that’d just be silly. She probably is just working hard.” Pinkie looked over Vinyl’s shoulder. Vinyl followed her eyes to find Octavio and Twilight chatting away. “So… is your friend single?” Vinyl choked a little on the cupcake at that.

“W-what?”

“I was just wondering if he had somepony back home. If he does, I envy them.”

‘Is this really happening? I was kidding earlier!’ Vinyl thought and coughed a little.

“Uh, no, he’s single.”

“Oh that’s cool. Would you like another cupcake?” Vinyl shook his head from the conversational whiplash, looked down at the half eaten cupcake, and shrugged.

“Sure, why not?”

“Great, give me a minute.” Pinkie disappeared underneath the counter. Vinyl finished the cupcake and waited for Pinkie.

“You know,” Vinyl jumped and looked at Pinkie who had somehow teleported next to him, “Twilight’s single too.”

“Wh- huh?”

“I just thought you’d like to know, wink wink nudge nudge, say no more.”

“What are you-?”

“Say no more,” Pinkie said pulling down on her eye lid and smiled widely at Vinyl.

“I have no idea what you’re-“

“Your cupcake’s done!” Vinyl screamed and turned to Pinkie standing behind the counter with a cupcake sitting in front of her.

“Wha- buh- that’s- how did you?” Vinyl stammered and looked back and forth between where Pinkie was next to him and the counter and found Pinkie was in both locations. He looked back at the counter with Pinkie still smiling widely and sighed. “Forget it,” he said and grabbed the cupcake. He went back to the table and was glad that the second Pinkie was gone.

“Hey, did you guys see…?” he asked motioning back to Pinkie.

“It’s best not to think about it,” Twilight said and finished her cupcake, “I think Rainbow said it best when she said ‘there is no logic, there is only Pinkie Pie.”

“Truer words have never been spoken. Do you happen to know where a hotel would be?”

“There’s one not too far from here, we can show you there if you want.”

“That’d be great.” Octavio said and stood up.

“Aw, you’re going already?” Pinkie asked as she walked up with a plate of cupcakes on her head.

“I’m afraid so. Thanks for the sweets though, how much do I owe you?” Pinkie shook her head and smiled.

“Don’t worry about it, they’re on the house. You want me to pack these up for you?” she asked motioning to the cupcakes on her head.

“Yes, I’d appreciate it.” Pinkie nodded and bounced away. When she returned with a box they left the bakery.

“So how long are you going to stay here?” Pinkie asked as she somehow kept the box of cupcakes safely on her back.

“Probably only a few days,” Vinyl answered.

“Really?!” Pinkie’s sudden yell startled Vinyl and Octavio, “If that’s the case, I need to move my schedule up.” Pinkie then pulled out a notepad and started flipping through the pages.

“Uh…”

“Just don’t think about it,” Twilight said and pointed at a building, “That’s the hotel over there. It has good rooms and is relatively cheap. You should be fine there.”

“Do you two have anything planned for tomorrow afternoon?” Pinkie asked.

“Well no, we were just planning to sightsee for our stay here,” Octavio said.

“Alright then, your party will be tomorrow afternoon. I hope you’ll be ready by then.” Pinkie put the notepad away and smiled widely.

“Party?” the two colts asked.

“Yeppers, I am the premier party pony for the entire city. One of my parties are guaranteed to put a smile on your face.”

“That sounds awesome!” Vinyl said and leaned over Octavio’s back, “Count us in!”

“What?!” was Octavio’s response to that.

“Hey I just noticed your goggles, they look good on you.” Pinkie said pointing at the item.

“Thanks, at least someone appreciates my sense of style.” Octavio huffed and threw Vinyl off of him.

“Are those goggles just for show, or do they actually do something?” Twilight asked.

“They’re actually welding goggles that I tinted different colors, so they’re stylish and helpful.”

"Do you have more of them?"
“Of course, in all colors you can imagine.”

“…I don’t suppose I can borrow a pair for something?”

“For what?”

“Oh um…”

“Vinyl, it’s getting late. We better turn in.” Vinyl looked at Octavio and then to the setting sun.

“Oh wow, your right.” Vinyl turned to Twilight, “We’ll talk about that later Twilight. So until then, good night.”

“Good night,” Twilight said and waved at Vinyl, who waved back and followed Octavio inside.

“So Twilight, so want some advice from Aunt Pinkie about colts?”

“No.”

“I can’t believe you did that.” Octavio said and set his bag in a corner of the room, “Why would you just agree to a party like that?”

“Because I like parties, you know that,” Vinyl said as he lifted his goggles off his head, “Besides, I think Pinkie likes you.”

“She seems like the kind of pony that likes everyone, so I don’t really see the significance.” Octavio started to take off his bowtie when Vinyl turned him around and stared into his eyes.

“No Octy, I think she likes you.” Octavio stared into Vinyl’s red eyes until his eyes widened in understanding.

“Y-you mean…”

“She asked me if you were single.” Octavio’s eyes narrowed and he backed away from Vinyl.

“No, you are not playing matchmaker with me. That is unless you would like me to do the same to you.” Octavio undid his bowtie and smirked at Vinyl.

“Oh?”

“I saw the way you were staring at Twilight.” Vinyl blushed a little and Octavio’s smirk widened. “Tell me, if you had the choice what would you want from her?”

“Now that’s private Octy! And I should ask the same of you!”

“Obviously I would want something refined and elegant, which I doubt Pinkie would have.” Octavio brushed past Vinyl and opened the bathroom door. “I’m going to take a bath before bed. You can have it when I’m done.” The door shut behind him and Vinyl sighed.

“Yeah.”

Vinyl was the first to wake up for once. When he saw Octavio sleeping, he decided to leave him be and get ready for the day.

‘After all, I don’t wake up sleeping ponies for kicks.’

Vinyl dressed himself up in his usual vest and goggles, he did what he always did when he woke up first: stare at Octavio until he woke up.

He must have sat there for about five minutes before Octavio opened his eyes. Waking up to a purple goggled unicorn grinning madly at you not even a few inches away from you is not exactly a good way to wake up, so Octavio screamed at the top of his lungs and fell of the bed. Vinyl laughed loudly at this.

“Morning Octy, how ya feeling?” Vinyl asked.

“What do you think?”

“Pretty good, if I do say so. I’m going to get some breakfast, you want anything?”

“I’ll get my own breakfast, thank you.” Vinyl shrugged and left. Octavio sighed and put a hoof on his face. “Why do I put up with him?”

“Twilight, are you up?” Rainbow Dash asked as she knocked on Twilight’s door. After the third round of knocking the door opened up to reveal Twilight in her engineering garb.

“Rainbow? What is it, do you know how late it is?” she asked rubbing her eyes.

“Yeah, it’s 7:30 in the morning.” Twilight’s eyes shot open and she looked to find the sun already out. She yelped a little at the sight and shut the door. Rainbow rolled her eyes and waited a minute. Twilight opened the door again with her dress for the day on.

“Why are you here anyway? I thought you were working in the upper levels?” she asked hastily tying a ribbon around her neck.

“I was, but I managed to get some time off. So how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, had an interesting day with Pinkie yesterday.” Twilight finished tying the ribbon and started walking down the street with Rainbow following her.

“I heard about that, and about a couple of stallions. What did they look like?”

“W-why would you ask that?” Twilight asked blushing a little.

“No reason, Pinkie just told me they were kinda cute. Your opinion?”

“I don’t want to talk about this!” Twilight yelled.

“That good huh?” Twilight’s response was stopped when she saw a snowflake fell in front of her, followed by another and several more. “It’s started already? I thought they wouldn’t start until noon.” Rainbow looked back at her sparse clothing and shivered a little. “I better go pad up, I’ll see you later Twi.”

“Alright, see you,” Twilight said and waved at Rainbow as she galloped away. Twilight turned and continued walking down the street. A minute of walking later Twilight realized she had no reason to be out. She sighed and turned back to walk back to her house.

“Oy!” Twilight looked back and saw Vinyl trot up to her with a crepe floating next to him. Twilight smiled and waved at him.

“Hi Vinyl, how are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m fine, aside from the snow. You?” Vinyl took a bite from the crepe as Twilight answered.

“Oh, just going for a walk. I was just about to head back.” Vinyl perked up and swallowed his crepe.

“Oh yeah, I got these for you,” Vinyl said and levitated a pair of goggles up, “you said you wanted one of these right?” Vinyl floated it over to Twilight who took the goggles in her own magic.

“Yeah, I kind of lost mine. Thanks.” Twilight started trotting back to her house and was surprised that Vinyl was following her.

“What are you working on?” he asked.

“Oh well…” Twilight stared at the path ahead of her for a few seconds and looked at Vinyl seriously, “You won’t tell anyone will you?”

“My lips are sealed,” Vinyl said with a grin. Twilight stared at him for a second before looking ahead.

“I think you should just see it for yourself.”

Octavio adjusted his bowtie one last time before he deemed himself ready to go out. While flying on a zeppelin was adventurous and all, there was very little in the way of proper cleaning supplies. Octavio opened the door ready for a day without any distractions.

Absolutely. No. Distractions.

“Hi!” Octavio screamed at the appearance of Pinkie Pie at the door, today wearing a light blue dress. “How are you doing today Octy?”

“How did you find my room?!”

“Vinyl told me.”

“Damn you Vinyl,” Octavio whispered angrily. Pinkie placed both forehooves on Octavio’s shoulders.

“Come on, we still have so much to see!” she said and dragged Octavio, who gave off a yelp.

Twilight opened the door to her house and let Vinyl in.

“Nice place you have here,” Vinyl said looking around the house, “How much did this cost?”

“Nothing actually. When I first came here the princess had me stay here, but some things happened and I’ve been staying here ever since.” Twilight moved to a door and walked down a flight of stairs, “Can you stay here for a moment? I uh, need to clean up down there.”

“No problem,” Vinyl said and looked around some more. “What is this place anyway?”

“I think it used to be a skiff repair shop, but it closed down and was turned into a library when zeppelins started taking off.”

“Huh.” A minute of aimless wandering later and Twilight called up again.

“You can come down now.” Vinyl walked over to the stairs and started down them. When he reached the bottom he found Twilight working on something. She was wearing simple brown overalls with a white undershirt. Her hair was done up in a bun and she had Vinyl’s goggles over her eyes. Twilight looked over at Vinyl and felt a little self conscious when she realized he was staring. Maybe.

“W-what? Not every mare has to wear a dress you know.”

“I’m not staring at you, I’m staring at that,” Vinyl said and pointed at what Twilight was working on. It was a large piece of machinery that was a dark black and smooth all around. It must have taken a while to get it down there due to its size.

“Oh… right,” Twilight laughed nervously and rubbed her neck, “Sorry, I guess I just got used to it.”

“What the hay is it?” Vinyl asked and walked closer to it.

“I have no idea, it kind of fell from the sky about a month ago. I’m been trying to figure out what it is, but I haven’t made any progress. I know one thing though, it’s not pony made.”

“Wait, are you saying this is alien technology?” Vinyl asked and poked at the object.

“I’m not saying that, although it is an option. I was hoping to get into it to discern where it came from.”

“Do you need help with that?”

“Yeah, come over here for a second.”

“And that takes care of the history of these stairs! Interesting huh?”

“Riveting.” Octavio honestly stopped listening to Pinkie long ago. Pinkie frowned at Octavio’s uncaring attitude.

“Well alright mister uppity pony, what do you want to do?”

“Honestly, I just want to enjoy the sights and maybe a nice cup of tea.”

“Oh yeah, did you eat those cupcakes?”

“You forgot to give them to me.” Pinkie gasped loudly.

“UNNACEPTABLE! You need to have cupcakes!” Pinkie grabbed Octavio’s hoof, “Come on!”

“Oh no.”

“So Vinyl, what do you and Octavio do?” Twilight asked as she looked through the insides of the machine.

“Believe it or not we’re musicians.”

“Really?”

“Yeah but we’re as far apart from each other as we could get. See I’m more into dance music while Octy is into classical.”

“Hm, then how did you two become friends?”

“I’m sure Octy asks himself that every day. You almost done in there?”

“Hold on, let’s see if this does something.” Twilight grabbed a couple wires with her magic and carefully connected them together. Sparks of electricity jumped between the wires and Twilight jumped away from the machine. “Um…did it do something?”

Twilight and Vinyl backed away from the machine as it started beeping rapidly.

“Uh, I don’t like that beeping,” Vinyl said worriedly, “What should we do?”

“Run.” Vinyl didn’t need any more incentive as he and Twilight ran up the stairs. They barely managed to make it out of the stairs when the machine blew up, which could be heard for quite a ways away especially by a certain earth pony pair.

“What the hay was that?” Octavio asked.

“That came from Twilight’s house! Come on!” Pinkie took off at a gallop, Octavio following behind.

Back at Twilight’s house, Twilight coughed at the smoke as she lay on the floor.

“Well, that didn’t work well. Are you ok Vinyl?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” His voice was closer than she thought and she found out the reason was because he had landed right on top of her. “Are you ok?” he asked.

“U- uh…” Twilight stammered out more than a little embarrassed at the closeness. It didn’t make it any better when Pinkie Pie burst through the door a second later.

“Twilight are you ok, I heard something go boom!” Pinkie paused at the sight of the two unicorns. “Oh…” Octavio walked in a second later and looked at Vinyl for a second.

“You hypocrite.” Vinyl got off of Twilight and walked over to Octavio.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Octy, something blew up is all.”

“I’ll bet that’s what happened.”

“Actually that is what happened,” Twilight said as she stood up, “I was working on something and I must have done something wrong.” Pinkie walked over to the basement door and looked inside.

“Wow it’s smokey down there. Is your basement going to be alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll have to clean it up later though.” Twilight took off the goggles and cringed a little at the cracks in the lenses. “Um, sorry about your goggles Vinyl.”

“Ah don’t worry about it, I have a ton of them. So Pinkie, when did you want that party?” Vinyl asked stashing the cracked goggles away.

“Oh my gosh, thanks for reminding me Vinyl!” Pinkie said and dragged the assembled into a crushing hug, “I almost forgot with all the sightseeing and explosions! We have a lot of work to do!”

“P-Pinkie, I’m fine with helping, but I need to get dressed,” Twilight managed to get out.

“Ok.” Pinkie let Twilight go and dragged Vinyl and Octavio away by their tail and hoof respectively. Twilight looked at her smoking door and flinched.

“I am not looking forward to cleaning that up.”

A few hours later, after Pinkie worked overtime on preparations, Vinyl and Octavio’s party was well under way. The two of them were initially very baffled at the amount of ponies that showed up when it started, about twenty or fifty in a few seconds, but that went away when they were informed that this was kind of small for a Pinkie Pie welcome party. At the moment Pinkie was busy introducing them to her friends.

“This is Fluttershy, she takes care of the animals that live on level 7. She’s kinda shy though.”

“Um… hello…” the yellow pegasus said quietly. She was wearing what was probably the simplest clothing that Vinyl and Octavio had ever seen since she wore a simple white robe. Pinkie hopped over to an orange earth pony with a cowpony hat and a duster coat.

“This is Applejack, his family runs the biggest apple orchard in the city. Do you get apples from Sweet Apple Acres where you come from?”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Vinyl said and shook Applejack’s hoof.

“Thanks and it’s nice to meet ya,” Applejack said and shook Octavio’s hoof.

“This is Elusive,” Pinkie said in regards to a white unicorn who, in comparison to Fluttershy and Applejack, was wearing a very stylized outfit. “He runs Carousel Boutique on level 5.”

“A pleasure to meet you. Tell me, is that what the fashion in Canter-city 06 is like? It’s very simple and rustic.”

“Actually this is a little out of date, most of the new vests over there are really shiny.” Octavio looked at Vinyl with a surprised look on his face. “What? I keep up with fashion.”

“That’s… really weird for you.” Octavio said. Vinyl shrugged and looked back at Pinkie.

“This is Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie said and pulled Rainbow into a hug, “I already told you about her right? Fastest flyer in Equestria?”

“Yeah you did,” Vinyl said and shook Rainbow’s hoof, “It’s nice to know you haven’t been kidnapped.” Rainbow gave him a confused look and shook her head.

“Uh, thanks I guess.”

“You’re a flyer huh? Do you get to practice often?” Octavio asked.

“Not as often as I would like, what with airship traffic and all. But I do get it in when I can.”

“And you already know Twilight, so that’s all my friends. I better leave you to enjoy your party and let me know if you need anything.” Vinyl and Octavio nodded and the group dispersed except for Twilight.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“We… didn’t really want to say anything, especially around Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy,” Octavio said nervously.

“What do you mean?”

“We were just kinda surprised to see healthy pegasus with wings intact.” Vinyl whispered and looked around a little.

“Healthy?”

“It’s kind of a harsh subject, so I don’t really want to talk about it ok?” Twilight nodded and followed Vinyl through the crowd. Octavio sighed and counted down.

“Three, two, one.”

“Hi Octy!” Pinkie said popping up next to him.

“Pinkie.”

“I made a whole batch of cupcakes for you. You want some?”

“Yes, that would be good.” Pinkie smiled and led Octavio to the food table, which Vinyl and Twilight were walking away from.

“So…” Twilight started and Vinyl sighed.

“You’re wondering about what I said earlier right?” Vinyl asked.

“Yeah.”

“Alright, let’s get somewhere a little more private.” The pair moved to a table in the corner and set their food and drinks down. Vinyl sighed quietly before speaking, “So, do you want the hard or soft version of this?”

“Water it down please,” Twilight said and took a bite of her cupcake.

“Ok, here’s the deal. You see, back in 06, it’s really rare to see a healthy pegasus like Rainbow Dash, mostly because pegasus birth rates there are both very low and very prone to complications.”

“W-what?” Twilight said in shock.

“This is why I don’t really want to talk about it, since it’s kind of a grim subject. Let’s talk about something else ok?”

“Y-yeah. So what is your home city like?”

The party had continued for the next few hours relatively smoothly and both Vinyl and Octavio were surprised at how much fun it was. Vinyl had spent most of that time talking with Twilight in one of those long enjoyable conversations that don’t really go anywhere and Octavio found that Pinkie Pie’s cheery attitude was incredibly infectious and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. But as always the party started dying down at around 11 as ponies started going home.

“How late is it?” Vinyl asked.

“It’s getting pretty late,” Twilight said and stretched a little. “I should probably get to bed soon.”

“We should be doing the same soon Vinyl,” Octavio said.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Hey, would you mind if I walked you home Twilight?”

“W-what?” Twilight asked in surprise.

“It’s the nice thing to do and Octy would probably yell at me if I didn’t.”

“Wh- don’t drag me into this!”

“Hey!” Octavio screamed when Pinkie rested against his back, “As long as you guys are offering you can walk me home Octy.”

“What?!”

‘Wow, she doesn’t dance around the issue does she?’ Vinyl thought and smirked, ‘Might as well tease Octy while I can.’ “Oh come on Octy, a true gentlecolt would a mare home is she asks right?”

“Don’t you DARE trap me in my own ethics Vinyl!”

“So you’ll do it?” Pinkie asked.

“Yes! I mean- what was the question again?”

“Great, let’s go!” Pinkie grabbed Octavio’s hoof and dragged him away as he looked at Vinyl angrily. Vinyl just chuckled and waved.

“He looked pretty mad,” Twilight commented.

“Yeah I’m going to get it later, but for now I’m happy. Come on let’s go.”

“I’m really glad you enjoyed the party and that you’re nice enough to walk me home. You don’t look like the kind of pony who would do something like this, but then again you should never judge a pony by their looks. Like I remember this one time when-“

“I’m sorry, but is there ever a moment you’re not talking endlessly?” Octavio asked.

“When I’m asleep or really excited,” Pinkie said simply, “My house is just down here.” They took a right turn and continued down the street. Octavio watched Pinkie bounce up and down and had to ask.

“Hey, I heard from Vinyl that you had been asking about me.”

“Mhmm.” Octavio was taken aback a little at her answer.

“W-well, why were you asking about me?” Pinkie looked back at him with a smile.

“’Cause I think you’re nice.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not too bad looking either, but that’s not why I’m interested in you.”

“Interested?” Pinkie didn’t say anything and they continued walking. ‘Interested? Could she… no it can’t be. Nopony just decides something like that so fast.’

They arrived at Pinkie’s house a couple minutes later. It was a simple house with nothing outstanding about it, which seemed a little odd for Pinkie. Pinkie opened the door and looked back at Octavio.

“Do you want to come in?” she asked.

“I-I don’t wish to impose…”

“Don’t be silly.” Pinkie grabbed Octavio and pulled him inside. If the outside looked normal, the same couldn’t be said for the inside which was filled to the brim with all sorts of party supplies, some of which Octavio didn’t even know had existed. It was a miracle that Pinkie had managed to fit furniture in it.

“Stay here for a moment, I’ll be back in a second,” Pinkie said and walked upstairs. Octavio looked around the room and spotted a cannon. He walked over to it curiously and, upon finding a button, reached out to press it and…

“Freeze mister!”

Octavio jumped away from the cannon and turned to Pinkie, who had taken off her dress in favor of a shirt and some shorts. She walked over to the cannon and started checking it.

“That’s what I thought, I forgot to unload it. That would have been bad if you actually fired it.”

“What is it and why do you have a cannon in the first place?” Octavio asked.

“It’s my party cannon.”

“What?”

“Yeah, everything I need for a successful party on the go is in this cannon. I take one with me wherever I go.”

“You have more than one?!” The implications of such a thing existing, let alone more than one, were a scary thought to Octavio.

“Mhmm. You have to be prepared no matter what, since you never know when you’ll need a party.” Pinkie laughed a little and turned the cannon away from her.

“Right, I guess you have a point. Well, I better get going,” Octavio turned started walking to the door.

“Aw, you’re not even a little curious about what I meant earlier?” Pinkie asked.

“Honestly, I’m a little afraid to ask.” He placed a hoof on the door and Pinkie popped up between him and the door.

“Oh really?” Octavio was more than a little concerned with how she said that.

“Uh y-yeah,” he said feeling his cheeks grow warm at Pinkie’s proximity. “I-I mean there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just that-“ Octavio gasped a little when Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around his neck, “I’ve never been in this situation before.”

“Well, neither have I,” Pinkie said and brought her face closer to Octavio’s increasingly blushing one, “and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Octavio opened his mouth to say something when Pinkie kissed him. Octavio’s eyes widened as his mind tried desperately to process what was going on.

‘Why is she kissing me?! We’ve only known each other for a few days!’ Pinkie pushed Octavio up on his hind legs and he instinctively wrapped his forelegs around her. ‘What am I doing?! I have to get out of here and oh Celestia that’s her tongue.’ Once that happened, Octavio really couldn’t help it when he pulled Pinkie in closer. She giggled a little and deepened the kiss. Octavio closed his eyes and took in everything he could about Pinkie: how her mane smelled like cotton candy, how her near endless supply of energy seemed to flow into him, and when her tongue entered his mouth, how she seemed to taste like every kind of candy he could think of. Pinkie released the kiss and stared into Octavio’s eyes.

“You’re a pretty good kisser,” she said through pants.

“T-thanks.” ‘Wow, her eyes are beautiful.’

“So um… do you still want to go back to your hotel?” Octavio hugged Pinkie tighter and smiled.

“I can probably stay a little longer.” Pinkie smiled widely and kissed him lightly and let him go.

“Well then, I have the perfect idea.” She walked past Octavio, brushing her puffy tail across his body causing him to shiver, and started up the stairs. “Are you coming?”

“Yes ma’am.”

When Vinyl and Twilight left the party, Vinyl couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the sight of Pinkie dragging Octavio away.

“So, you enjoyed the party?” Twilight asked with just the slightest twinge of nervousness in her voice.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool. If Pinkie throws parties like that all the time I’ll have to come back more often.” Vinyl kept an eye on how she moved and she seemed to want to say something. ‘Best to not force it out.’

“Yes, I would like to see you more often. Y-you know, as a friend.”

“Or more?” Twilight gulped at the question.

“M-maybe. B-but I don’t mean right away, just maybe…when you come next… I’ll be quiet now.”

“Hey calm down, it’s alright. You’re a nice mare Twilight and I would be more than happy to indulge you.” Twilight blushed and looked at Vinyl.

“I-I don’t mean to push you into anything! It’s just… oh what are the words?” Vinyl grinned at her and bumped her slightly.

“It’s ok, I get what you’re trying to say.”

“Uh, thanks.” They grew quiet until they came up to Twilight’s house and she turned to look at him. “So uh, when will you be back?”

“I don’t really know, but I’ll send you a letter next time I come.” Twilight nodded and scrapped the ground for a moment.

“Oh whatever,” she whispered and kissed Vinyl on the cheek. Surprised at the action, Vinyl could only watch as Twilight opened her door and looked back at him. “I’ll be sure to see you off when you leave. Well, good night.”

“Yeah,” Vinyl said and Twilight closed the door. The snow started to fall heavily as Vinyl walked back to the hotel.

He didn’t really mind it much.

The next morning Octavio woke up to the sound of clock gears and light humming. He opened his eyes to find Pinkie lying next to him lightly stroking his face.

“Good morning,” he said and placed a hoof on Pinkie’s side.

“Morning,” she said and scooted closer to Octavio, “I, um…” the words were stolen from Pinkie’s mouth when Octavio kissed her. “Yeah, that.” Octavio laughed quietly.

“You know, out of all the things I thought would happen here, I didn’t expect this.” Pinkie nuzzled against Octavio and smiled.

“You’re taking this pretty well. Is something wrong?”

“No, why?”

“I’m just thinking out loud. Come to think of it, do they still do clothing exchanges in 06?” Octavio nodded and Pinkie smiled widely. “That’s good, hold on a second.” Pinkie pulled away from Octavio and leaned off the bed. Octavio averted his eyes while Pinkie searched the floor. When she came back up she turned to Octavio and held out a long piece of cloth.

“A stocking?” he asked taking the cloth.

“Mhmm, they were specially made for me. I can’t think of anything better to give, right?” Octavio smiled and folded the stocking into a square and set it aside.

“Thanks Pinkie, hold on a second.” Octavio leaned over the side of the bed and immediately saw what he wanted. He grabbed it in his mouth and handed it to Pinkie.

“A bowtie?”

“I take my bowties very seriously. I wouldn’t give you this if I didn’t care.” Pinkie hugged Octavio and put the bowtie on, with some help from Octavio.

“Thanks Octy. So, when do you have to get ready to leave?” Octavio hugged Pinkie.

“Later,” he said and kissed Pinkie forcefully and pulled her down onto him.

Leaving could wait.

Vinyl double checked both his and Octavio’s bags since Octavio didn’t bother to show up last night. He smiled at that, having a good guess as to what he was doing. He put his bag on and slung Octavio’s over his shoulder and left the room. On his way down he ran into exactly the pony he was looking for.

“Hey Octy, where’ve you been?” Octavio blushed a little at the question.

“Out.” Vinyl grinned widely and Octavio gave him an angry look.

“Well whatever, it’s none of my business. Come on, let’s get going.” Vinyl levitated Octavio’s bag onto its owner and brushed past him. Octavio rolled his eyes and followed Vinyl. He expected Vinyl to try and bring up what happened, but was surprised when he didn’t. After a short walk they had made it to where their airship was docked and found Pinkie and Twilight waiting for them. Octavio blushed a little at the sight of Pinkie wearing his bowtie and was thankful Vinyl either didn’t notice or didn’t say anything.

“Hey guys!” Pinkie said bouncing excitedly.

“Hi Pinkie,” Octavio said.

“Pinkie, Twilight,” Vinyl said with a happy tone when he said the latter’s name.

“Hi,” Twilight said nervously, “Um, Vinyl can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Sure. Hey Octy, can you go get the ship ready?” Vinyl asked and levitated his bag onto Octavio.

“Of course.” Octavio smiled at Pinkie and walked to the ship dock.

“Um, Pinkie?” Pinkie looked at Twilight and, after a moment, nodded in understanding and walked away. “So, Pinkie told me about an interesting custom from your city.”

“Clothing exchanges, right?” Twilight nodded, “Huh, I’m surprised Pinkie would know about that. But either way, she’s right.”

“Ok then,” Twilight said and lit up her horn, undid the ribbon around her neck, and levitated it over to Vinyl. “I want you to have this.” Vinyl took the ribbon in his own magic and looked it over.

“You sure? This is kind of a big commitment.” Vinyl said.

“Of course I’m sure,” Twilight said, “Think of it as incentive for you to come back to me.” Vinyl smiled and tied the ribbon around his foreleg.

“Well then, I should give you something too,” Vinyl said and took his goggles off and levitated them over to Twilight. She was a little disappointed that he kept his eyes closed. “These were the first pair of goggles I ever bought. So now I will come back to you.” Twilight grabbed the goggles and hung them from her neck.

“Thanks Vinyl. You’ll come back soon right?” Vinyl opened his eyes, stunning Twilight with its vivid red color, and smiled at her.

“As soon as I can.” Vinyl winked at Twilight and walked to the zeppelin. Twilight waved at him with Pinkie joining her a second later.

When Vinyl got to the cockpit of the zeppelin he sat next to Octavio and looked out at the waving mares.

“We are going to come back right?” Octavio asked as he prepared the zeppelin for departure.

“Of course we will. Come on, let’s get ready to go.”

“All right, tethers are retracted and fuel tanks are full.” Octavio and Vinyl performed their respective actions and the zeppelin very slowly pulled away from the dock and out into the open skies. “By the way, what happened to your goggles?”

“Only if you tell me what happened to your bowtie.”

“…Point taken.”

Yesh, this was a long chapter. Well, let me know what you think.