Chapter One: Future Sight

“Fried rice with vegetables?” asked a waiter, holding out a delicious-looking platter of rice.

“Mine, thank you,” said Octavia, raising a hoof. The waiter placed the platter in front of her.

“And that would make these spring rolls yours, yes?” he asked, turning to Vinyl and gesturing to a tray he had been levitating with magic. The white-coated unicorn nodded enthusiastically. The waiter gracefully gave her the tray, told both mares to call out for him or another waiter if there was anything else they needed, and then left.

“Man, I am absolutely starving!” exclaimed Vinyl, rubbing her hooves together. The two mares had come to a restaurant after a busy day, both because they wanted a taste of something a bit more exotic than they would normally have, and because they were too exhausted to cook something that evening.

“Completely agreed, Vinyl,” said Octavia. “Although, um, it would be rather nice if I could get the hang of these chopsticks,” she commented, struggling to work out how to hold them with a single hoof.

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it, beautiful,” said Vinyl, grinning as she levitated her chopsticks, which were holding a spring roll, towards her mouth.

“Sometimes I envy your magic, Vinyl,” said Octavia as she vainly attempted to pierce a grain of rice with one of her chopsticks. “Not right now, of course; I am sure that I shall look more elegant than you currently do once I get the hang of these.” She frowned: her chopstick technique was not working quite as well as she had thought it would.

“More elegant than moi?” asked Vinyl. “With my luscious blue mane?” she added, shaking her head slightly so that her mane briefly had a wavy effect to it.

“You’re getting hair on your food, Vinyl,” pointed out Octavia calmly.

“What? Urgh!” Vinyl quickly put down the food she was levitating and attempted to clean up her meal as best she could with her telekinesis, being only mildly successful in the end. For several minutes, Vinyl quietly ate her food as Octavia quietly attempted to work out how to use chopsticks using her hooves.

“So, any plans for tomorrow?” asked Octavia, eventually breaking the silence after growing frustrated with her chopsticks and needing a break.

Vinyl shrugged as she ate one of her last rolls. “Maybe start a new song, read a book, something like that? I’ll see how much free time I’ve got during the day; since Natural Twenty’s coming over for dinner and we promised we’d have a good meal on the table for him I’d like to cook something pretty sweet.”

Octavia nodded, grateful that Vinyl had volunteered to prepare dinner. Whilst her own cooking skills were hardly shabby, she was very inexperienced compared to her partner. “What do you think you’ll make?” she asked.

“I dunno. Soufflé?” Vinyl suggested. “I’ve never tried making one, and it sounds like fun! Also like a disaster waiting to happen, but still! A fun meal!” She grinned at Octavia.

Octavia smiled back. “Well,” she commented, making a vague attempt at using her chopsticks again as she spoke, “whatever the level of disaster is, it can’t be any worse than today was, can it?”

Vinyl gave a small chuckle. “Really, babe, you thought that today was a bad day? Why’s that?”

“Well, maybe not bad, but it was certainly…interesting,” said Octavia. “After all, it is not every day that one fights spirit zombies, foul beasts that they are.”

“I don’t know what you’re complaining about, the spirit zombies were fine,” said Vinyl before taking a bite into another spring roll. “It was the zombie spirits that pissed me off!”

“There were zombie spirits there too?” Octavia asked, using a chopstick to idly move her fried rice into a larger pile. “How could you tell?”

“More moaning,” said Vinyl, winking at Octavia.

Octavia snickered, in spite of herself, midway through moving a precariously balanced grain of rice to her mouth. (It fell off a moment later without her realising). “I suppose that if anyone knows about that, it would be you, wouldn’t it?” Octavia asked, smirking. Only Vinyl could turn a conversation from spirit zombies – and zombie spirits – to one about sex, thought Octavia.

Vinyl smirked back at Octavia. Crap! she thought. What do I say to that? Is she prompting me to make a sex joke, or will she just tell me to stop being vulgar in public? I guess I prompted this, but…crap, it’s been silent for too long.

“Why don’t you tell me?” Vinyl asked Octavia. Phew, that leaves it open for Octavia to steer the situation where she wants it to go. Good save, Vinyl!

Internally, Octavia sighed. Oh, great, now she just wants me to praise her sexual exploits. Very mature, Vinyl. “I wouldn’t know,” said Octavia drily.

Vinyl winced, although a moment later she turned it into one of her trademark grins in the off chance that Octavia had momentarily seen her reaction. Ouch! Is…is Octavia annoyed at me? I…maybe I’ll just shut up and see what happens next.

The table was very quiet for the next few minutes. To any outside observers, it was an ordinary scene – Vinyl was leaning back on her chair slightly and waiting for Octavia to finish her meal (she had given up on using chopsticks and switched to a spoon), whilst the grey mare quietly ate. If an outside observer could see the internal thoughts of the two ponies, however, they would probably be surprised at what they saw – Vinyl’s worry and Octavia’s frustration were not the usual emotions to expect from the duo.

“So,” began Vinyl as Octavia began to finish her meal, “what do you want to do when we get back home?” She fluttered her eyelashes at Octavia. “Practice your cello?” Vinyl leaned forwards a little bit. “Read a book?” She leaned forwards a little more. “Or lie on the couch, cuddling your sexy ma-”

“Probably the former,” interrupted Octavia, oblivious to the leg that Vinyl had slowly began running up and down one of her own.

“Oh?” asked Vinyl cockily. Crap. So much for my little test; I guess she really is pissed off at me…welp, too late to back out now? “You sure about that?”

Octavia rubbed a hoof against one of her eyes. “Yes, although it’s not as if I plan to stay up late tonight regardless,” she said. “I have that interview tomorrow, remember?”

“Your what now?” Vinyl asked, genuinely confused.

“My interview tomorrow?” Octavia asked, a hint of agitation creeping into her voice. “The one I’ve been practicing all week for? The one which, if I pass, will have me be in an ensemble for the first time in quite some time?”

“Oh, y-yeah, that one,” said Vinyl. “I guess I forgot about – wait, this interview’s to join an ensemble?”

“Yes,” said Octavia just before finishing the last bit of her meal, “alongside a piano player, a harpist…you know, all of the regular players.”

“Right, right…” said Vinyl. A moment passed before she added, “So, would this, like, be a touring ensemble, or…?”

“…From what I gather, they are currently planning to play three or four concerts in Canterlot with whomever ends up getting the cellist position, before moving around Equestria for several months,” Octavia answered, her voice suddenly a bit more cold. “So, yes, I suppose they are, although I suppose I could be wrong about the information.”

“I –” Vinyl faltered, not sure what to say. Octavia might be leaving her – temporarily, Vinyl reminded herself - and going on tour around Equestria? For several months? And she hadn’t mentioned it to Vinyl yet?

Vinyl was fiddling with her chopsticks, unsure what to say, when Octavia asked, “Is something the matter, Vinyl?”

Vinyl looked over to her marefriend. Octavia had a genuine look of concern and surprise on her face, but was she just playing along? Was she annoyed at Vinyl, and that was why she was just revealing this information now? (Which implied that she had intentionally not mentioned it before now in case of a situation such as this, where she wanted some ammunition to use next time Vinyl was being annoying, although Vinyl didn’t want to think about that too much…)

“I-” Vinyl started again. For a moment she wondered what she could say to Octavia to make her think everything was okay, when a new thought came into her head- why should I be the cool mare as always, saying that everything’s okay and not saying what’s on my mind? “I’m…actually kinda a little hurt by the fact that I’m only finding out now, the day before you audition for the job, that if you get it you’ll probably be going away for a while,” Vinyl admitted, regretting telling the truth even as she spoke the words. “It’s – I want you to get the job, I really do, but I just – why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Octavia took a deep breath, then opened her mouth to say something to Vinyl. Then she closed it and took another deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Once she was ready, she answered, in a low voice, “Why didn’t I tell you before?”

Vinyl knew she had said the wrong thing.

“Why didn’t I tell you before?” Octavia repeated. “Maybe because I wasn’t sure whether you were going to listen to something that didn’t come out of those headphones of yours. Or maybe because I didn’t think you cared about another pony’s thoughts and plans.”

“Octavia, that’s-” began Vinyl, but she was interrupted without a moment of hesitation.

“Or maybe, I – oh, that’s right, I –” Octavia paused, and stopped herself. Her voice had grown louder as she had spoken, and she needed to calm herself down again before continuing. “I did tell you, and you told me you were fine with it. But I suppose that you being drunk at the time means that you didn’t really mean it, correct?”

Vinyl tried to think of a response to that, but couldn’t think of one. Had she gotten drunk recently? Okay, so she’d had a few pints on Monday, and Wednesday when she saw how close she was to finishing that bottle of whiskey she’d put in some effort to do so, but surely she hadn’t been drunk drunk, had she? And even if she had been, since when was that a big deal to Octavia?

“Well?” asked Octavia. “Anything to say? Perhaps, ‘Sorry, Octavia, I forgot that you had told me. Good luck tomorrow’?”

“Well – I-” stammered Vinyl. She was feeling a lot of emotions at the moment, but one sprung to the forefront: anger at being talked down so easily. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have told me whilst I was drunk!” she countered. “Or…or maybe I did screw up a little, I’ll admit that. But that’s no reason to fly off the handle at me!”

Octavia scoffed. “‘Screw up a little’?” she asked. “That is putting it lightly. Vinyl, when will you realise that we’re in a relationship? That I want you to care about me as much as I care about you?”

“What are you talking about? I do care about you!” said Vinyl defensively.

“No you don’t, Vinyl!” shouted Octavia, standing up and slamming her hooves down onto the table. “You never go out of your way for me! You never ask me how I’m doing, or support me! You’re selfish, ignorant, rude, idiotic –”

“Ahem.” Octavia was brought out of her rant by the same waiter who had been serving her and Vinyl throughout the evening. For a moment she had temporarily forgotten that she and Vinyl were in public, and so the reminder caused her to be momentarily stunned. Octavia awkwardly sat down, acting as though nothing were out of the ordinary in an attempt to save face. Vinyl, for her part, looked both annoyed and hurt by Octavia, but had the good sense not to say anything at the moment.

“I – y-yes, what is it?” Octavia asked the waiter, half-expecting him to throw her and Vinyl out.

“Complimentary fortune cookies, as given to all our customers,” said the waiter, placing a tray upon the table with two fortune cookies upon it. In spite of the volume of Octavia’s rant, he appeared professional enough not to mention it.

“Thanks,” said Vinyl. Octavia was just staring at them, lost in thought.

“Would you like the bill now?” asked the waiter to the two mares.

Vinyl looked at Octavia, and both of them nodded in unison. “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks,” said Vinyl. The waiter bowed slightly and then went away to retrieve it.

There was silence at the table once the waiter left. Vinyl wanted to reach out for a fortune cookie, but even as she contemplated the thought, she knew that Octavia would scold her for thinking about eating and avoiding the claims Octavia had just made about her. But…Octavia being quiet is nice, even if she’s still probably peeved at me, thought Vinyl. This…I can handle this. So Vinyl sat there, not doing anything in an attempt to stop rocking the boat.

Octavia, for her part, was still staring at the fortune cookies, as though they held a great revelation about the world she lived in. After what felt to Vinyl like an infinite amount of time, she spoke. “Sorry,” she said quietly.

That scared Vinyl more than if she’d yelled at her again. What was going through Octavia’s mind at the moment? “Octavia, I-”

“No, I just – shut up for a moment, alright?” Octavia said, though it was quiet and non-aggressive. Not that that stopped Vinyl from flinching slightly, her ears drooping as she did so. “Vinyl, I- I shouldn’t have…erupted at you like that, and especially not here, in public. I didn’t realise that I had all of that pent up inside me and I…well, you saw what happened. Sorry about that.”

Vinyl opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Octavia once more. “I- I’m not going to deny that I shouldn’t have done that, but I… I guess there’s some stuff that gets to me somewhat.” Vinyl nodded slowly. “How about…for now we can put this aside, but…I think we should talk.” Octavia had mostly been speaking to the table, but as she finished, she looked up to Vinyl, staring at her marefriend, the beautiful unicorn she’d fallen in love with, in the eyes. “How about it?”

Vinyl didn’t want to say yes. She didn’t want to talk to Octavia about how their relationship was apparently falling apart more than either of them had been aware of, or to admit that it was mostly her fault. To admit that she was a bad marefriend, and possibly a bad pony in general. She knew that Octavia was doing what seemed like the best situation – and what probably was – but she didn’t want to agree to it. Why couldn’t they just pretend the argument had never happened, go home, and return to their eternally-lasting and fun relationship, with no need to have a serious discussion?

“Sure thing,” said Vinyl. Her voice cracked slightly as she spoke, but she thought that she managed to cover it up with a casual grin as an immediate follow-up.

Celestia’s mane, I need a drink, thought Vinyl.

“Well then,” said Octavia straightening her hair briefly with a hoof, “with all of that unpleasantness behind us, shall we?” She gestured to the fortune cookies, not noticing that she was shaking slightly.

“Sure thing,” said Vinyl. For a moment she levitated one of them with her magic, then thought better of it and dropped it. “You choose yours first,” she offered politely.

Octavia couldn’t help but smile at the gesture, no matter how small it was. “Thank you,” she said, hovering a hoof over the tray before choosing the fortune cookie which Vinyl hadn’t previously levitated. “I must say, it is rather nice of the establishment to provide us with these for free.”

“They give ‘em away for free because they taste like crap,” said Vinyl, snapping hers in half. “The only thing anypony cares about in them is what’s on the paper, and that…that…” She trailed off as she began reading her fortune, her eyebrows narrowing as she did so in what may have been confusion or anger.

Octavia had been about to break open her fortune cookie, but hesitated upon seeing what effect Vinyl’s had had on her. “Vinyl?” she asked. “What is it?” Does it say something pertaining to our relationship? she briefly mused, before dismissing the thought.

“This is…weird, Octavia,” said Vinyl, levitating the piece of paper up to the light so that she could read it better. “Tell me, have you ever heard a fortune like this?”

“Not understanding,
The perspective is now swapped,
The jade tiger sleeps.”

Vinyl frowned, read over it again in her head to make sure that she’d read it correctly, and then dropped it down to the table carelessly. “What the hay is that supposed to mean?!”

“How odd,” commented Octavia. “Let us see what mine says.” She cracked open her fortune cookie and held up the strip of paper within to the light as Vinyl had.

“Well?” asked Vinyl impatiently. “What’s it say?”

“Even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one,” read out Octavia. “I…think it’s supposed to be a metaphor?”

“What’s a devil?” asked Vinyl.

“It’s a…” Octavia’s voice suddenly grew quite silent. “I…I don’t actually know,” she said quietly. “You’re right, these fortunes are rather strange.”

“Burn the heretical paper!” said Vinyl. “Burn it!”

“How about I store it in my saddlebag for now?” Octavia suggested, sweeping it away. As she did so, she noticed the waiter, finally arriving with the duo’s bill. “Shall we?” she suggested, gesturing to the waiter. Vinyl agreed that it was time to go, and in spite of Octavia’s insistence, paid for both meals in full.

The walk back to their Canterlot home was mostly uneventful, aside from Vinyl briefly getting the urge to ascend a tree, but throughout it all, Octavia couldn’t help but feel nervous. What was happening to her and Vinyl? Neither of them had mentioned the argument at the restaurant – a fact that she was very grateful for – but Octavia couldn’t help but feel worried. If she and Vinyl had a fissure in their relationship that neither had been aware of, what would they do next?

Eventually, the duo arrived home, and in spite of the fact that it was barely past nine PM, both mares agreed that it was time to go to bed. Fighting zombie spirits and spirit zombies during the day had drained both of them more than they had realised, and the emotionally-draining argument didn’t help any further.

“So…good night, I suppose?” said Octavia, standing outside her room and facing Vinyl.

“Y-yeah,” said Vinyl, slightly awkwardly. She avoided Octavia’s gaze for a moment, and appeared to hesitate for a moment before hastily saying, “Want to sleep in my bed tonight?”

Octavia wanted to. She really did want to; it would be nice stress relief to curl up next to Vinyl and pretend that nothing was wrong between them. But as much as she desired it, Octavia couldn’t bring herself to say yes and commit whilst their relationship was in the state it was in.

“…Sorry, Vinyl, but not tonight,” said Octavia. “It…it does not feel right at the moment.” A disappointed look appeared on Vinyl’s face, which was near-instantaneously wiped off when Octavia leaned in, kissed Vinyl, and added, “I can give you this, however.”

Vinyl blushed, although Octavia couldn’t see it in the dim light of the room. “I guess we’ll have a talk tomorrow, huh?” she said.

“If that is what you feel comfortable with,” whispered Octavia.

“Ha. Well, I don’t really feel comfortable with it at all, but get this freaky thing out of the way nice and quickly, yeah?” asked Vinyl.

“You don’t feel comfortable with this?” Octavia asked. She was surprised for a moment, before realising that she could empathise herself. “That makes sense,” she said.

“Yep. Tomorrow’s going to be one freaky day,” said Vinyl, smirking in the darkness. “Good night, beautiful. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Both mares silently retreated to their rooms, with neither of them feeling comfortable or sleeping well that night.

Chapter Two: Dissension

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“Ouch…Vinyl, your horn is hurting me,” mumbled Octavia hoarsely. One could say that she had woken up to an intense pain in her skull, but that would be implying that she was fully awake and ready to leave bed. Her eyes still closed, Octavia lazily reached out with a hoof to gently push Vinyl’s head aside and to a less painful position, only to find empty air there.

What? wondered Octavia a few moments after the implication sunk in, surprised. She opened her eyes to see the other side of Vinyl’s bed empty. Then she remembered that she and Vinyl hadn’t slept together the previous night, a memory which was shortly followed by the vague recollection that she and Vinyl had had a fight. Octavia closed her eyes and groaned. It had been such a good morning before she remembered that, in spite of how little of it Octavia had actually been awake for. Vinyl’s bed was newer than Octavia’s – Vinyl had broken her previous one by bouncing on it too much – and so it was a bit softer, the blankets were warmer, and –

Hang on a moment, thought Octavia, realising that something was wrong. If I didn’t go to bed in Vinyl’s room last night, then how did I end up here? And where has Vinyl gone?

Opening her eyes a bit easier now that some more serious thoughts had entered her head, Octavia reluctantly put her hooves to the mattress and leaned forwards, about to -

“CELESTIA!” shouted Octavia, noticing her hooves for the first time and recoiling violently. They were a pale white, exactly like Vinyl’s. Octavia’s heart had shot up to a million miles a minute upon seeing hooves that were not hers, but it swiftly slowed down as she examined them and realised that they were just as functional as her regular ones. But how had they gotten that way?

In her focus on her new hooves, Octavia had failed to notice that her legs and what she could see of the rest of her body were also coated in this strange, new white fur, but as she adjusted to the strange colouring, a thought occurred to her. Reluctantly, Octavia reached up to touch her mane. Yes, her luscious, lengthy, smoothly combed mane was gone, replaced with a shorter, shaggier mane which Octavia knew from touch was similar to Vinyl’s. Moving her hoof forwards along her head, Octavia also found what appeared to be a horn jutting out of her head, the apparent source of the pain in her skull.

Knowing what the conclusion would be, but still needing definite confirmation, Octavia got out of bed properly and walked over to the dresser that was in Vinyl’s room. The small, round mirror which was supposed to be on top of it wasn’t there, but that was hardly a surprise to Octavia. Looking downwards, Octavia began sifting through the debris that made up Vinyl’s floor. It was mostly made up of clothes - which Octavia rarely saw Vinyl wearing - and old food packets, but every now and then Octavia found something which felt slightly more out of place, like the spiral-bound notebook which Octavia haphazardly tossed aside, or the set of photos she and Vinyl had taken in a coin-operated photo booth a while ago (why are they on the floor, Vinyl? Octavia briefly wondered).

Finally, Octavia found the mirror, and upon looking into it, saw her suspicions confirmed – the face reflected back in the mirror’s shiny surface was not her own grey-coated one, but Vinyl’s. Octavia twitched her – Vinyl’s – ears and waved a hoof at the mirror to confirm that, yes, it really was her doing this. She frowned. What the hell was this? Was this some stupid prank of Vinyl’s, or was it something different?

Octavia bit her lip. She didn’t know whether she wanted to scream or to cry. Her own body, changed into…this. Or…her mind transferred. For the moment, Octavia wasn’t quite sure what was going on. She knew that she probably shouldn’t feel this way, but dammit, was it so much to ask for that she at least got to keep her own body? That she was allowed to take that for granted?

Octavia dropped Vinyl’s mirror dismissively, took a deep breath, and then crossed the ocean of mess and exited Vinyl’s room. Whatever the hell had happened to her, she should go see Vinyl before anything else. Perhaps it was just a prank after all? Or perhaps Vinyl would miraculously know of a magical spell which could undo this? Reasoning that Vinyl would be in her own room, Octavia walked the short distance to her door and knocked on it.

“Vinyl?” asked Octavia softly, surprising herself slightly as she properly heard her voice for the first time. As was to be expected, it was Vinyl’s hoarse tone which came out, but it still felt odd to Octavia even though it logically made sense. “Are you in there?” Octavia added after hearing no reply. “I, um…I have something to show to you.”

“Hee…” Octavia strained her ears. That was Vinyl’s – well, her own – voice, giggling, wasn’t it?

“Vinyl?” asked Octavia. “May I please come in?”

“Hee hee…sure, Octavia!” called out Vinyl.

Octavia hesitated a moment, wondering what would be causing Vinyl to giggle, before pushing down the handle and entering her room. As always, it was clean, neat, and well-organised, with the few existing examples of mess being confined to small patches of the room. Just as Octavia had suspected, Vinyl – or rather, what she suspected was Vinyl in her own body – was in the bed. Vinyl was lying on her back with her eyes closed, still giggling under her breath. Every now and then, her body would twitch or shake, although why that was, Octavia couldn’t tell.

“Vinyl?” Octavia asked cautiously. “Is everything alright?” After a moment of no reply, Octavia added, “I don’t suppose you’re laughing because this is all some hilarious joke of yours gone horribly right, are you?”

“Ahh…oh, gosh, Octavia,” said Vinyl, rolling over and opening her eyes, so that she was facing Octavia. “I – ah, heh…” She snickered again. “Earth ponies sure are great, aren’t they, Octavia?” Vinyl finally got out.

“I beg your pardon?” asked Octavia.

“It sure isn’t a feeling a unicorn would understand, is it?” continued Vinyl. She was still lying on the bed, but she was rolling back and forth slightly in apparent joy. She had a large grin on her face, something which looked odd to Octavia (not because I never smile, she thought to herself. It’s because I’ve never seen my body from this perspective.)

“Vinyl, are you alright?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow in concern. She was beginning to suspect why Vinyl was in such a good mood, but didn’t want to be the first to raise it.

“Earth ponies really are great!” said Vinyl, giggling uncontrollably once more.

Octavia slammed a hoof into her face. “How about we just get you out of bed and let us talk about this?” she suggested wearily. She had barely been awake for five minutes and Vinyl was already driving her insane.

“Heh…sure, Octavia, if you say so,” said Vinyl, climbing out of bed, although not without Octavia giving her a helping hoof. The two ponies headed to their lounge room, ignoring breakfast for the time being in lieu of the more pressing problem.

“So…I don’t suppose you know anything about this little problem we have, do you?” Octavia asked.

Vinyl shrugged. “I’d say that it’s a spell of some sort, but how to get rid of it or why it’s targeting us? No clue.”

“Damn,” said Octavia. “I’m certainly out of ideas. In that case, what do you suppose we should do now?”

“First thing – we need new names, so that we can differentiate between each other!” declared Vinyl. “It means that it’s not confusing when describing bodies and minds!”

“But it’s just us here,” said Octavia, slightly confused. “And we know who is who. Who would be confused by this?”

“For example, you are?” continued Vinyl, having completely ignored Octavia.

“I suppose that I am myself, but in your body,” said Octavia, reluctantly deciding to humour Vinyl. “But since we know that it’s me – and again, it is just us here – you can simply refer to me as Octavia. Why wouldn’t that work?”

“Or… you could be Voctavia!” said Vinyl, holding out her hooves to her marefriend as if presenting her with something.

Voctavia gave Vinyl a look.

“Okay, see, I know it sounds dumb, but you’re yourself on the inside, but Vinyl on the outside, so that’s why it’s Voctavia,” explained the former unicorn. “Whereas I’m myself on the inside but you on the outside, so I guess that makes me…Octavinyl!” finished Octavinyl. “Won’t this be fun?”

“Please never call us those names again,” said Octavia. “May we please focus on the more serious matters?”

“Sure, sure,” said Vinyl. “Maybe you should cast a spell to see whether there’s any lingering magic in the air; see whether we can track the source of this?”

“Me?!” exclaimed Octavia. “Why do I have to cast the spell? I’ve never done magic in my entire life!”

“Yeah, but between the two of us, which is the one in the sexy unicorn bod- oh my gosh OCTAVIA!” exclaimed Vinyl, suddenly getting excited and jumping on the couch she had been seated on. “HAVE YOU EVER HAD ONE OF THOSE FANTASIES THAT YOU THOUGHT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN, BUT, BUT, BUT THEN THE OPPORTUNITY ACTUALLY COMES UP AND IT’S A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY AND-”

Vinyl’s excited speech was silenced as a pillow flew through the air and hit her in the face. “Hey!” her muffled voice came from behind it a moment before it fell to the ground. “I was in the middle of explaining my brilliant plan there!”

“Don’t even – Celestia, what was I thinking, going to you to discuss this maturely and sensibly?” sighed Octavia. “Of course you can’t be serious about this, because you can’t be serious about anything!”

Vinyl scowled - a look which was fitting given the body she was in. “Hey, excuse me for trying to make light of the situation. I’m just saying this crap to help stop us from getting too worked up about all this.”

“Sure, Vinyl, that’s what you say now,” growled Octavia. “But if I actually went along with one of your silly suggestions, you wouldn’t hesitate; you wouldn’t back out. You’d go the full mile with your zany scheme.”

“Don’t you ever, ever, imply that I wouldn’t put your safety and care above my own needs,” snapped Vinyl. “Just because I like to joke around doesn’t mean I don’t know when it’s appropriate to be serious!”

“Oh, and this isn’t an appropriate time, Vinyl?” replied Octavia. “We wake up in swapped bodies every other day of the week, hmm?”

“Hay, this might not be a great situation, but I’d rather this than having to deal with pirates, or the terrorists we accidentally joined, or, or, or ninjas!” Vinyl retorted. She paused after a brief moment of thought, her rage seemingly dissipated. “Or is it ninja?” She shook her head and cleared her thoughts almost immediately. “Look, whatever. The point is, we can get through this. We can deal with this; this isn’t something impossible where our lives are on the line.

“Are our lives inconvenienced? Hay yeah they are, this is flat-out freaky! But I reckon we can get through this like we get through everything else we get through, only even easier than usual since there’s less threat to us. So am I gonna goof around a little more? Of course I am! Because I know that I can afford to! Because I know that we will work as a team, and we will trust each other, and we’ll deal with this problem the same way we’ve gotten through everything else up to this point – by working together.”

Octavia was silent. She hadn’t considered it that way, but Vinyl was right. Compared to some of the other troubles the two mares had been through, swapping bodies was comparatively minor. In addition, it was nice to hear Vinyl’s words about working together. “I – you’re right, Vinyl,” she said. “Sorry.”

“S’all right,” said Vinyl. A moment later she added, “It hurts to have you not trust me to do the smart thing. Um…sorry for putting you in a situation where you feel you can’t trust me, by the way.”

Hearing that stung Octavia. She chose her next words carefully, not wishing to hurt Vinyl, but neither did she wish to lie to Vinyl to make her feel better. “I…I would like to trust you a bit more,” admitted Octavia reluctantly. “And I suppose that I should more than I currently do, should I not?”

To Octavia’s surprise, rather than Vinyl saying something arrogant or blasé, the former unicorn simply smiled, and said, “Only if you feel comfortable with it.”

If Octavia had been closer to Vinyl – sitting next to her, or laying across the couch and using her former body as a pillow – she would have kissed Vinyl at hearing that. As it was, she simply looked away slightly (were here cheeks heating up? Well, even if they were, it was always hard to see when Octavia blushed because of her dark f- wait, crap, I’m in Vinyl’s body!). “So, um, about this situation then…” said Octavia, attempting to re-rail the conversation.

“Oh yeah, the body swap thing! I bet it was those spirit zombies we fought yesterday that did it!” said Vinyl. “Or zombie spirits, whatever. Maybe both of them!”

“Hmm, now that you point that out, we certainly haven’t encountered strange magic like that before, at least not that I can recall,” commented Octavia. “What did they say before we rung the final bell in the temple, and cast them back to their former plane, again?”

“I totally remember this one – I took note of it because it sounded really weird,” said Vinyl, picking up the pillow Octavia had thrown at her earlier and placing it under her front hooves. “Something along the lines of… ‘Foolish mortals! You may have defeated us, but the stars tell that the harbinger of doom approaches you! But you will know him not, for he appears to you in the form of a friend, one whom you would never suspect after knowing for so many years! We shall enjoy watching him inevitably leading you to your doom…doom…doom’. That’s what his voice sounded like – it was fading away and being all echo-y.”

“Well, regardless, if they were boasting, one would suspect that they would have mocked us for this situation were they responsible for it,” suggested Octavia. “Although I do wonder whether there’s any merit to their final words. Are we expecting any old friends any time soon?”

“Only Natural Twenty tonight for dinner as far as I know,” said Vinyl, shrugging. “And we both know he’d never betray us or turn out to be evil.”

“Agreed,” said Octavia. “He’s such an excellent game master, and it shall be good to see him again.”

“Yeah, I’m looking forwards to cooking that soufflé for him,” agreed Vinyl. “I hope he likes – oh, crap,” she suddenly said.

“Vinyl?” asked Octavia, frowning. “What’s the matter?”

Looking at her hooves, and then displaying them to Octavia, Vinyl asked, “How am I supposed to cook something awesome for Natural Twenty with these blunt hooves?”

“Hay!” exclaimed Octavia. “My hooves may not be as precise as your magic, but that does not mean that they are blunt and useless.”

“Pfft. Watch this,” said Vinyl. Shifting her position backwards slightly, she touched a hoof to the pillow she had been lying on, and then lifted up her leg. She did this several times without explanation. “See? Can’t pick up anything properly. And if I use two hooves…” Attempting to pick up the pillow with her front two hooves, she was successful in her task, but fell forwards due to the lack of balance or support a moment later. “I don’t know how the hay you Earth ponies pick up things with one hoof all the time. Did I forget to put on your invisible magnetic horseshoes this morning or something?”

“Trade secret,” said Octavia mysteriously. “Anyway, given how much effort I understand you unicorns have to put into learning your magic, I fail to see why it’s inherently better than what every other species uses when we need to pick something up. It seems like a lot of effort for little payoff.”

“Well, yeah, I can see why you’d think that, but telekinesis is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to magic, baby,” said Vinyl. She was still struggling with the pillow, but it was more playful this time. “And even then, telekinesis can do all kinds of cool things – pick locks, break windows, create a distraction somewhere out of sight – you name it, it can do it!”

“I can’t help but notice that those are all tasks related to burglary,” commented Octavia drily.

“Says the former member of terrorist organisation COBRA,” countered Vinyl. In response, Octavia stuck her tongue out at Vinyl. “Anyway,” continued Vinyl, “the point is that magic is awesome! Try levitating…” Vinyl looked around the room for something Octavia could safely levitate, then spotted the perfect item. “Try levitating this pillow,” Vinyl suggested, pointing to it with a hoof. “If you can lift this up after I couldn’t with your silly hooves, you have to agree that magic is cooler than hooves.”

“Agreed,” said Octavia. “Though you will need to explain to me exactly what I am trying to do, and give me at least a few tries with the magic. That way, when I fail to do it you can’t say I didn’t give magic a fair chance.”

“Sure,” said Vinyl. “Levitation’s simple – there’s a reason most unicorns learn it, or a lumination spell, as their first spell. Now, all you’ve gotta do is concentrate on the pillow.” She shuffled backwards a bit to allow the pillow room to be levitated up once Octavia used her magic on it, which would definitely happen because magic was definitely better than silly Earth pony hooves. “Now, while you’re looking at it, do you feel a sorta… I dunno how to describe it exactly…tingle, in your horn?” Vinyl asked.

“…I think so,” said Octavia, concentrating.

“Cool,” said Vinyl. “Now, you know when you get pins and needles, and you focus on them to get rid of them faster?”

“Um…no?” asked Octavia, still trying to concentrate.

“Oh. Well, you know when you break a leg, and you use Zen techniques to ignore the pain and use it even better than before it was broken?”

“You’ve never broken a leg,” pointed out Octavia. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing exactly, and had her eyes scrunched up tight. Her tongue was sticking out slightly.

“True, but I’ve read up a lot on the theory,” said Vinyl. “Anyway, basically just, like, focus on the tingly thing, then think about the pillow moving a lot, and then the rest should come naturally!”

“Are you sure I should be able to do this?” asked Octavia. “I mean, young unicorns train a bit in using magic before they can do even properly, correct? I don’t think I can cast this spell on the first try like this.”

“Pfft, whatever. You’re in my damn awesome body; that thing’s got years of magical experience in it,” claimed Vinyl.

“Well…if you say so, Vinyl,” said Octavia. “I just concentrate on the pillow and think about moving it?”

“Yep! Easy-peasy,” said Vinyl.

The room was silent for a minute or two as Octavia concentrated on the pillow, as Vinyl had instructed her. A few times the pillow was surrounded by the magical aura from Vinyl’s horn, but nothing else happened. For her part, Vinyl didn’t mock Octavia or condescendingly suggest more tips; she simply sat back and hoped.

“This is impossible,” said Octavia, finally giving up. “Vinyl, I can’t do magic.”

“One more try?” asked Vinyl. “Then if you can’t do it after that, I’ll agree that hooves are better than magic.”

“Deal,” said Octavia after briefly thinking it over. Once more, she closed her eyes, focused on where she imagined the pillow to be, and concentrated on the slight tingle in her horn. She still wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing since Vinyl’s instructions hadn’t exactly been informative, but Octavia tried her best. A few times the tingle felt…more intense, somehow, and so she concentrated on that, and tried to imagine the feeling; to replicate it.

“Any luck?” asked Octavia, opening her eyes as she got a particularly intense tingle. Her jaw opened slightly in surprised as she saw what was happening – the pillow was, as she had wanted it to be, levitating in the air. For a moment she nearly lost her concentration, which would surely cause the pillow to drop again, but she managed to hold on and watch it. The pillow was only barely hovering above the couch, but as Octavia watched, it very slowly ascended vertically.

“Yeah! You go girl!” said Vinyl, cheering on Octavia.

“I’m – I’m doing magic!” Octavia said. In spite of the friendly argument she and Vinyl had had about the merits of hooves versus magic, she could honestly say she was happy with this outcome. She was doing a spell all on her own! How many Earth ponies could claim that? “Is it – do you think I’m doing well for my first time?” Octavia squeaked, which sounded strange in Vinyl’s voice.

“This is way better than the first time I managed to get a levitation spell working,” said Vinyl proudly. “Look how high it’s gotten!” The pillow had, by now, ascended quite high above the couch, and was nearing the ceiling.

“I’m not going to deny it, I am very pleased with this,” Octavia admitted. “You’re correct, Vinyl; magic is quite cool and efficient. How do I get it down?”

“Oh, just stop concentrating and it’ll fall,” tutored Vinyl. “It’s just a pillow, it won’t hurt anypony if it hits them.”

“Certainly,” said Octavia. She stopped concentrating on the tingle in her horn and the pillow in the air, and immediately the magical aura disappeared from both.

The lack of gravity affecting the pillow, however, did not.

“Um…is that usual for levitation spells?” asked Octavia after a few moments of both ponies staring at the pillow, still slowly ascending.

“Not to my knowledge,” said Vinyl. “Don’t worry though, I can get it down.” Standing on her hind legs and placing a front hoof against the back of the couch for support, Vinyl made her best attempt to swat down the pillow, but by now it was already out of reach. “Well, horseapples,” said Vinyl, collapsing back down to the couch, “now we have a pillow on the ceiling.”

“Do you think I should, you know, get it down?” asked Octavia hesitantly.

“Pfft, whatever. Knowing our luck you’ll just accelerate it and it’ll punch a hole through the ceiling,” said Vinyl. “Anyway, that was a nice little distraction, but that still doesn’t solve the problem of what I’m going to do about cooking for Natural Twenty.” Vinyl put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Unless…Octavia, how do you feel about me teaching you how to cook? You’re always saying how much you love my food, so this’d also mean that you could cook for yourself the few times I’m unable to, in addition to making some crap for Natural Twenty tonight.”

Octavia shook her head. “Sorry, Vinyl, but I have that interview today, remem- oh crap!” Octavia swore. She jumped from the armchair she had been sitting on and to the floor, panicking now. “I have the interview today and I completely forgot about it! How am I supposed to play the cello as – no, how am I supposed to explain what’s happened to the interviewers?! What will they think? What if they prefer my playing in your body and we need to find a way to swap bodies whenever I have a concert or practice with this group?!”

“Relax, Octavia, it’s all cool,” said Vinyl, getting up from the couch and stretching out. “I’ll just go to the interview in your place and pretend to be you since they’ll never know the difference. We swap bodies back before you get the job, and then you get your fancy schmancy new job with no problems.” Vinyl kicked a back leg once or twice to stretch it out properly, then seemed pleased with how her current body felt.

“Vinyl, darling, I appreciate the gesture, but you don’t know how to play cello,” Octavia said gently. “Recall what happened last time you tried?”

Visions of burning hot flames and smoke rose, unbidden, in Vinyl’s mind’s eye. “Those poor orphans…that new orphanage was going to be so big and comfortable for them…” Vinyl muttered, staring blankly into the distance. She shook her head slightly and said, “Right, well, uh, sure, last time wasn’t so great. But have you ever heard of a little thing called muscle memory?”

Octavia raised an eyebrow. “You mean…you think that you may be able to play the cello using the natural skills of my body? It didn’t exactly work when I tried casting that spell…”

“Hay, even I’ll admit that physical muscles are different to magical ones,” said Vinyl. “And I mean, you’ll give me a quick lesson in the time we have, right?”

Octavia thought about it. Unless she could miraculously return to her body before the interview, was she likely to find a better solution? “I suppose that is as good a plan as any,” she agreed. “And in turn, I shall attempt my best to prepare a meal for Natural Twenty – I take it you won’t mind giving me a few pointers before leaving for the interview?”

“Of course not!” said Vinyl. She walked over to Octavia and gave her a hug – something which felt very odd given that it was her own body she was hugging. “See, I told you that by working together we could do anything! You’ll teach me how to play the cello, I’ll teach you how to cook, and then by this evening we’ll be telling Natural Twenty how well everything in our day went. After all of that’s done with, we’ll have plenty of time to search for a way to return to our regular bodies!”

Octavia had already been returning Vinyl’s hug, so she gave an extra tight squeeze to her marefriend upon hearing that. “You are absolutely correct, Vinyl. Working as a team, we really can do anything!”

“Yeah!” said Vinyl, withdrawing from Octavia and holding out a hoof. Octavia immediately bumped it with a hoof of her own. Both mares simply stood that way for a few moments, smiling and basking in the fixes they’d found for what could have been a horrible time.

“This is all going to end in tears, isn’t it?” asked Octavia, suddenly deadpan.

“Oh, hay yeah,” said Vinyl, nodding sagely.

Chapter Three: Tempest

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“Alright, let’s try this from the start,” said Octavia, restraining a sigh. “Place the bow against the strings of the cello.”

“Like this?” Vinyl asked, adjusting her hoof to a different position to that it had been.

“Well…that’s a bit closer, yes,” admitted Octavia, “but try adjusting it so that the hair of the bow is against the strings rather than the shaft.”

“Oh, right!” said Vinyl. She adjusted her hoof again. “There we go. Am I ready to learn yet?”

Octavia studied Vinyl’s position, trying her best not to cringe. She succeeded this time, but it was a close call for a few seconds. “That’s definitely…progress, but the bow hair should be perpendicular to the cello strings, not the way that you have it.” Vinyl’s hoof was currently holding the bow out almost as though it were a sword, with the tip pointed in the same direction she was facing. With the advice Octavia had given her though, she readjusted so that it was finally in a vaguely sensible position.

“Cool,” said Vinyl. After a few seconds she said, “So, now am I ready to learn?”

“After one more change,” instructed Octavia, ignoring the groan that came from her former body. “You must stand up before you can begin playing the cello if you wish to look professional.”

“What? That’s stupid,” complained Vinyl. “I see celloists… celloers… cello players sit down and play all the time!”

“Since when?” asked Octavia, frowning in confusion.

“Sometimes I flick through your magazines when I’m bored,” said Vinyl, waving a hoof dismissively. “And if they’re allowed to do it, why aren’t I?” It was her turn to frown in confusion as a new thought occurred to her. “And for that matter, why don’t you sit down while you play the cello?”

“According to a public relations manager working for an ensemble I was once part of claimed, if I stand up during a performance, due to the overall aesthetic the crowd reacts something along the lines of forty percent more positively than they would have otherwise,” explained Octavia.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of,” said Vinyl bluntly.

“I completely agree,” agreed Octavia completely. “But as ridiculous as it is, ever since finding that out I have strived to perform upright as much as possible, in spite of the strain it puts on my legs, in the off chance that it really does help with the crowd’s opinion of myself and whichever group I am part of at the time.”

“Pfft,” scoffed Vinyl, “well, I still maintain you shouldn’t do it, but I know that you really want this job, so I guess that means that I’d better stand up if I’m going to be doing this audition later.” Holding the fingerboard of the cello with one hoof and the cello’s bow with another, as Octavia had taught her, Vinyl started to push herself up from the armchair she was seated in and into a standing position, but fell back almost immediately.

“Do you need me to balance the cello for you?” asked Octavia, moving around to the other side of Vinyl’s armchair.

“No…I, uh, I got this,” said Vinyl, pushing herself up. It seemed that once more she was going to fall backwards, but this time she managed to force herself forwards with a little momentum, and balance herself, even as her legs shook from the strain and attempts to balance herself properly.

“Alright!” said Vinyl confidently. “I really do have this! Now, what am I going to play? Whatchya gonna teach me, hot stuff?”

“Start off by placing your hoof on the furthest-most string, and slowly sliding the cello bow across the strings,” instructed Octavia. “I’ll teach you the notes first; that is the most important thing, after all.”

“Right, so I just –gyorg!” The moment Vinyl had begun moving the hoof holding the bow, the subtle shift in balance affected the rest of her weight enough that it was only moments before she was once more falling backwards and sinking into the armchair, Octavia’s cello following moments after. Fortunately, it was relatively unharmed by the incident.

“That was great! Let’s do that again!” said Vinyl enthusiastically, scrambling into a slightly more dignified position.

“Or perhaps we could take a break?” Octavia suggested weakly. “We’ve been at this for nearly an hour now and considering how long it took to teach you simply to hold the cello properly, I feel as though we may need a break for a short interlude.”

“You sure, pretty lady?” asked Vinyl, carefully placing Octavia’s cello out of the way in such a manner that it wouldn’t carelessly fall down the moment either pony looked away. “I know I’m kinda slow with this stuff, but I am trying to do my best for you. And it’s fun!”

Octavia knew that Vinyl was being honest when she said she was doing her best, and that was what made it so frustrating. She wanted – no, she needed – Vinyl to play the cello at her skill level, or at least close to it, if she wanted a chance of getting the job. But what more could she do than what she already was? What more could she ask of Vinyl? It wasn’t possible to force the former unicorn to learn everything quickly enough, and even if it were possible, Octavia wouldn’t have done it to Vinyl. So she was hoping that with a quick break, Vinyl’s mind would clear and she could hopefully pick up some of the basics a lot faster afterwards.

“It’s no problem at all, Vinyl,” said Octavia, her smile slightly more forced than she wished for it to be. “How about you teach me some of your cooking techniques? Then when you come back from successfully getting me the new job, you can be confident that the prepared meal for Natural Twenty will be equally succulent as if you had prepared it yourself.”

“Sure!” said Vinyl enthusiastically, jumping up from the armchair. “What do you want to cook?” she asked as she and Octavia slowly made their way into the kitchen.

“I sincerely doubt that I’ll have the skills to cook the soufflé as you wished to, so I suppose I should start with something smaller,” said Octavia after thinking over it for a few moments. “That way we should hopefully have a nice dessert prepared for Natural Twenty before you leave for the interview, and I can focus on dinner whilst you are out.”

“Yeah, I like that plan!” agreed Vinyl. “I mean, I’d rather you cook a soufflé for Natural Twenty so that we have something awesome to give him, but I trust you to cook something pretty great anyways for him. What were you thinking of?”

“Ha, you’ll have to try harder than that to get me to try a soufflé,” said Octavia. “And as to your question…how about I attempt that Black Forest Cake recipe of yours? It blows me away each time I eat it.”

“Sure,” said Vinyl. By now the two mares were in the kitchen, so she started opening cupboards (somewhat clumsily – she still hadn’t entirely gotten the hang of Earth pony hooves) and retrieving bowls and measuring cups. “Let’s spin this, baby!” said Vinyl, the phrase sounding slightly strange in Octavia’s voice.

“Naturally,” said Octavia. “Do you have a recipe book somewhere? I’m not sure whether I’ve ever actually seen you use one when cooking.”

“Pfft. And ruin a perfectly improvised meal?” Vinyl asked. “Where’s the fun in that?” Whilst Octavia had been neatly arranging the implements Vinyl had been retrieving, the former unicorn had been getting out ingredients now, and was haphazardly sliding them along the kitchen bench to Octavia.

“I would rather follow a recipe myself, but I shall trust your judgement,” said Octavia positively. “What do I begin with?”

“Throw some of that flour and sugar into a bowl…yeah, a little more than that…or do you think we could do with some more than that?” Vinyl instructed, casually looking over Octavia’s shoulder.

“I’m…not sure. I don’t wish to put in too much or the ratio of ingredients will all be off,” said Octavia, hesitating as she sifted flour into a bowl.

“So what? We put in too much now, at least later down the track we know we need to put in a bit more of other things to compensate, dig?” Vinyl said. “Now, add that cocoa powder in… yeah, that’s good that you’re mixing it together a bit. Don’t forget the baking powder!”

“…I think that was too much baking powder,” said Octavia, grimacing as she shook the container a little too much.

“Eh, who cares?” asked Vinyl. “Nopony’s perfect…and hey, Octavia?”

“Yes, Vinyl?”

“You got some flour in my mane! Get that crap outta there!”

Octavia blinked, a sudden, impulsive thought occurring to her, stopping her from saying the words she had been about to say. “Oh, you don’t like flour in your mane?” Octavia asked mischievously. “It would certainly be a pity then, if I were to do…this!” Holding a cup with a small amount of flour in it in one hoof, Octavia lightly threw it at her former body. Most of it missed, but a small amount floated through the air and, before Vinyl could react, hit her in the face.

“Urgh! Ptah! Ptah!” spat Vinyl. “What is wrong with you? This is your body!”

“So you don’t mind if I keep doing it?” asked Octavia, flashing one of Vinyl’s trademark grins back to the unicorn. She clumsily lifted a measuring cup into the air with Vinyl’s telekinesis and dipped it into the jar of flour which Vinyl had retrieved earlier.

“Aww, no fair, using glorious unicorn telekinesis!” complained Vinyl. She looked around for something similar to throw at Octavia, but gave up almost immediately as a better idea came to her. She dashed forwards to Octavia and wrapped her front hooves around her. “There’s only one thing left to do – hug you until you give up!”

“Argh! My one weakness!” Octavia laughed. As she returned Vinyl’s hug, her distracted mind released its grip on the measuring cup of flour, spilling it all over the kitchen bench, but she didn’t care one iota. All she cared about was returning her marefriend’s warm embrace as much as possible and showing how much she cared for Vinyl whilst speaking only the language of love.

Octavia pushed herself into Vinyl, nuzzling into her neck. It didn’t matter to her that it was her former body she was so joyfully embracing, only the mare whose mind was currently occupying it. Right now, Octavia didn’t care about the cake, or the body swap, or even the interview she was supposed to be preparing Vinyl for. She cared only about Vinyl being there, faithful as always. Where this sudden burst of passion had come from, she couldn’t say, only that she needed to express it to Vinyl in whatever way she could.

“Uh, not that I’m complaining, but we might want to get up from the floor,” said Vinyl, interrupting Octavia’s thoughts.

Octavia opened her eyes and blinked. She looked around her. When had she and Vinyl fallen to the floor to cuddle? It can’t have been very long; she had only been nuzzling her for a few brief moments. Or at least, that’s what it had felt like to Octavia. Well. It had felt too short, at any rate.

“I’m fine here,” said Octavia, pressing herself into Vinyl the small amount she was able to.

“Okay,” said Vinyl. There were a few moments of silence as Octavia continued her work, before Vinyl added, “Should we be doing this?” The question surprised Octavia.

“What do you mean?”

“Last night was…hectic,” said Vinyl awkwardly. “And we kinda haven’t talked about it, even though we said we would. So…is this just us not thinking things through and acting on our emotions?”

“Why do you ask?” Octavia asked after giving it some thought. She would be lying if she said that she didn’t think Vinyl had a point, and in any other situation, their roles would probably be reversed, with Octavia stopping the two ponies before they got too far. But with the mood she was in, she didn’t want to think about it. Somewhere in the back of her mind though, she wondered whether Vinyl often if not always felt the way she did right now, which would certainly explain some things about the unicorn.

“Because, well…I don’t want to hurt you by going along with something like this without thinking,” said Vinyl. “And I don’t want you to hurt me. It feels like…like there could be this horrible tempest, just waiting in the wings, ready to sweep us apart and away from each other, and if we don’t weather the storm properly, we’ll just be cast away from each other; lost in the typhoon forever.”

“That’s a terrible metaphor,” commented Octavia.

Vinyl jokingly punched her before continuing. “Well, whatever. That’s why I’m asking: what is this?”

It was a surprisingly mature question from Vinyl. Why were the two mares, who had had a large argument last night, now cuddling each other on a cold kitchen floor? Octavia went through a few answers in her mind, trying to work it out, before settling on the answer she should have known from the start.

“This,” she said softly, “is proof that we may not be as far apart as we think we are.” She tilted her head forwards and softly kissed Vinyl on the nose. “Perhaps we will be hurt if we go along with something like this…this cuddling and such. I won’t deny that. But I would rather take a chance and go with my feelings for a potential good thing than give up and turn my back on it to avoid being hurt.” She softly kissed Vinyl again, still not caring that it was her former body.

“I think…I think that I like that answer,” said Vinyl, stroking Octavia’s mane with a hoof. There were a few moments of silence between the two. “You’re very beautiful, you know,” said Vinyl.

Octavia chuckled. “You’re just saying that because I’m in your body right now, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Ha, no, although I see where you’re coming from,” said Vinyl. “I just think you have a very beautiful body. I should know; I’m occupying it right now.”

“Well then, thank you for the comment, Miss Scratch,” said Octavia, giving Vinyl another light kiss.

“Any time, Miss Philharmonica,” replied Vinyl softly.

Octavia’s breath caught. “Vinyl, you…you’ve never called me Miss Philharmonica before,” she said, stammering slightly.

“No,” said Vinyl, “I haven’t.” The former unicorn was still softly stroking Octavia’s mane, and in that moment, Octavia couldn’t think of anything more romantic.

“…I wish that my last name was Philharmonica, so that it meant something,” said Octavia after giving it a moment of thought.

“Mmm,” agreed Vinyl. Softly, slowly, she pressed herself away from Octavia. “C’mon, hot bod,” she said, yawning as she got up, “how about we get off this cold floor and get back to cooking?”

As much as Octavia wanted to pull Vinyl back down to the floor, or to complain, she could see the wisdom in Vinyl’s words, so she reluctantly pulled herself to her hooves (or rather, Vinyl’s).

“Right, well then,” said Octavia, attempting to regain her composure, “I’ve mixed most of the dry ingredients: what’s next?”

“Okay, so you’re going to want to grab that egg…”

===============================

Hesitantly, cautiously, Octavia placed an item down. It looked very out of place in the kitchen, but still, she had no time to worry about the effects of the item on the aesthetics of her home when its functionality was what mattered to her. “There,” she muttered under her breath to herself, “that should be the last one.”

As Octavia took a few steps back to admire her hoofiwork, she heard a thumping at the front door. Barely a moment after she registered the noise, the door burst open, revealing a pony wearing a…full-body hazmat suit?

“Um…hello?” asked Octavia after a moment of hesitation. “May I help you?” She had seen some strange things in her time, but this was something else. Who was this mysterious pony? Was it a door-to-door salespony, showing off a stylish new fashion? Was it a beekeeper, wearing and showing off a stylish new fashion? Or, worst of all, was it an assassin from the surviving remnants of COBRA, come to kill Octavia whilst disguised as a beekeeper who was showing off a stylish new fashion?

Without answering Octavia’s question, the pony reached up with a hoof and removed the suit’s bulky mask, revealing the occupant of the suit to be –

“Vinyl!” exclaimed Octavia. “What in Equestria are you doing in that…thing?”

“Well,” said Vinyl, sounding slightly nervous, “it’s a hazmat suit.” She stopped there and swallowed. Octavia made a gesture for her to continue. “And, y’know, it’s, um, kinda worn when necessary. Like when there’s radiation around?”

“Well, yes, that makes sense,” said Octavia. “But why would you be wearing it? Actually, wait, I have a much more important question: how did my interview go?”

“Er…” Vinyl looked around, as though worried that a COBRA assassin disguised as a stylish beekeeper was going to leap out of the shadows and throttle her. “Would you believe that both those questions are related?”

Octavia went it over in her head. “Wait, are you saying -?”

“Yes.”

“B-but surely your cello playing isn’t that bad-”

“That’s what I thought, too,” said Vinyl sadly, “but…yeah, it, uh, turns out that I was wrong.”

“W-well then,” said Octavia, taken aback slightly but attempting to maintain her composure, “thank you regardless for your attempt at…” She trailed off without noticing, before unexpectedly saying, “Radiation? Really?”

“I tried,” said Vinyl sheepishly. “Although I think considering what I was up against, I didn’t do too bad- what the hay?!” Vinyl exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen. “Octavia, darling, I don’t want to alarm you, but there are friggin’ bear traps all over the kitchen!”

“Ssh!” said Octavia, grabbing Vinyl and ushering her away from the kitchen. “Don’t say it too loudly, or it will hear you!”

“What will?” asked Vinyl, slowly removing the hazmat suit as she spoke.

“Well, you remember how before you left, you told me that the secret to making a good meal was to improvise with whatever you have around?” Octavia said, her turn to be sheepish. “I followed that advice and I um, ended up somewhat opening a portal to the Dark Dimension,” she said, her voice mumbling towards the end.

“Uh, what?” asked Vinyl, frowning.

“Never mind the details, the important thing is that I’ve started some damage control,” said Octavia, waving a hoof. “By the way, do you know where we can buy…” She ran her hoof over the page of a book open on the kitchen bench for a moment before finding what she was looking for. “…bloodstones?”

“What?!”

“I’m not quite sure what they are, but according to this book I hastily borrowed from the library, we’ll need them if we want to seal the portal,” Octavia explained.

“Lucky for you I have a few bloodstones in the cupboard,” muttered Vinyl, “and no, I won’t say why.” She went into the kitchen, edging carefully around the bear traps, and opened up a cupboard. “I keep them right here, next to the – hey! Where did the bloodstones go?”

“We already have bloodstones?” asked Octavia, a few steps behind. “I didn’t see any in there when I was arranging the glacé cherries on the – oh,” she said, the truth dawning on her. “I think I know how I opened the portal now.”

“You put bloodstones on top of a cake?!” Vinyl exclaimed. She followed it up with a groan and a facehoof. “Please tell me that you at least didn’t arrange them in any sorta specific pattern.”

“Only the pattern that the whispering voices from another, older, place told me to put them in,” Octavia explained, her voice taking on an odd tone and echo. “Although now that I think about it…that might have been my own voice, whispering of its own accord. I’m not quite sure; my memory of the past few hours is a bit hazy. Still, hopefully we should be able to – Vinyl?” Octavia had just noticed Vinyl’s expression, a moody and sullen one. “Vinyl? What’s on your mind right now?” Octavia asked.

“Oh, nothing,” sighed Vinyl. “I was just remembering the days when I would come home and not only be inside my own body, but not have eldritch abominations summoned into my kitchen which I’d have to deal with because my marefriend didn’t think.”

“I didn’t think?” Octavia asked. “With due respect, Vinyl, that’s a bit rich coming from you.” She didn’t want to get into an argument with Vinyl again, but at the same time, she didn’t like Vinyl’s blunt criticism, and was trying to gently point out Vinyl’s hypocrisy.

“Hay, I may make dumb decisions, but at least I deal with the fallout on my own,” said Vinyl dismissively.

“Since when?!” exclaimed Octavia. “And how is placing bear traps around the kitchen not a solution?”

“What the hay is wrong with the situation when placing bear traps around the kitchen, a place where bear traps are not traditionally found, is the solution?!” retorted Vinyl. The former unicorn was, by now, standing on the opposite side of the kitchen bench to Octavia, leaning with her front hooves on it. She somehow felt more comfortable with a large physical object between her and Octavia.

“Maybe it wouldn’t have come to this if you hadn’t been storing your bloodstones – whatever the hay those even are – in our kitchen cupboard!” countered Octavia. “Have you ever mentioned that to me? Because I sure don’t recall so!”

“I didn’t mention them because I didn’t think I’d need to,” Vinyl growled. “And I still wouldn’t have needed to if I hadn’t been doing your stupid interview for you.”

“Yes, thank you for that, Vinyl,” Octavia said. “Thank you for taking my cello, and somehow using it to – hay, wait a minute! Where is my cello?”

Vinyl’s anger dissipated in an instant and was replaced with a somewhat more awkward look.

“Vinyl,” Octavia stated, all emotion drained from her voice, “if anything has happened to that cello, I do not know what will happen, but rest assured, it will make everything that…that that thing I accidentally summoned into our oven has done look trivial by comparison.”

“Has it even actually done anything?” Vinyl asked.

“Well, no, not yet,” admitted Octavia, emotion flowing back into her. “Although one of its tentacles attempted to drag me into an abyss it created by slicing through several different dimensions.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” agreed Octavia. A moment later, her voice was once more cold and indifferent as she asked, “Vinyl, where is my cello?”

Vinyl sighed. “Octavia, I’m really sorry. I was going to tell you at a more appropriate time, but…in the maelstrom of chaos that I accidentally released when I first touched the bow to its strings, the cello…it was destroyed.”

Octavia was silent.

“I’m…I’m so, so, sorry, Octavia. I- I knew I shouldn’t have gone to the interview as you in the first place, but I- I’m sorry, I know it must be a family heirloom or, or-”

“Actually, I’ve only had that cello a few years,” interrupted Octavia. “I think I bought it a little before I met you, as a matter of fact.”

“Oh. Not a family heirloom?” asked Vinyl. Octavia shook her head. “Oh, huh, if you’d asked me I would have pictured…does this mean that you’re not annoyed at me?” she asked hopefully.

“Of course I’m bloody annoyed!” Octavia shouted. “Just because I- no, I’m not explaining this to you; you should know better.” Her breath caught as she seemed prepared to add more, but after a moment of hesitation, she turned away from Vinyl and stormed off.

“Octavia?” Vinyl asked awkwardly.

“I’m going to my room, Vinyl!” called out Octavia. “Don’t disturb me!” A door slammed, punctuating the sentence.

“…That’s my room, Octavia,” Vinyl called out, even though she knew Octavia wouldn’t react well to what she perceived as Vinyl pointing out her mistake.

“What’s the difference at this stage?” muttered Octavia to herself without thinking as Vinyl’s words reached her. She was lying on Vinyl’s bed on her back, facing the ceiling, but after a moment of contemplation, she rolled over and put her face into Vinyl’s pillow, doing her best to muffle out the sounds and sensations of the world, and experience naught but her emotions.

Octavia didn’t know what she wanted to feel right now. Logic dictated that she should want to feel happy, but you couldn’t feel happy continuously, right? So what other options were there? Being angry at Vinyl felt wrong, no matter how right Octavia felt about her stance, and her feelings hadn’t quite crossed over into disgust at the former unicorn yet.

That meant that Octavia felt…sad, yes, that felt about right. Sad that she had let herself get angry over something stupid like her cello, which she had been planning to replace soon anyway. Sad that she had screwed up and made Vinyl angry at her. Sad that after a fun time cooking together things were still falling apart. Yes, the more Octavia thought about it, the more things she found that made her sad.

Where had it all gone wrong with Vinyl? Things had started out so simply between them, and evolved so beautifully…Octavia began to go over some of her memories with Vinyl from the very first time they had met, but then remembered that she hated clip shows, and so stopped thinking such thoughts. But still, that didn’t stop her from remembering the main beats of the story she and Vinyl had shared together.

Thinking that Vinyl was an idiotic, selfish pony who cared only about herself. Hearing Vinyl call her by her proper name for the first time. Agreeing to move in with Vinyl, and then several months later, going out drinking with Vinyl, because she secretly didn’t want to disappoint the unicorn. Kissing Vinyl for the first time on that boat. Fighting ninjas (or was it ninja?) to save Vinyl, even as she realised how she felt about the unicorn. Going on a date with Vinyl for the first time, and then the two of them mutually agreeing to start dating several days later.

Yes, Octavia had formed many wonderful memories with Vinyl. They had been through thick and thin, they had been through highs and lows, and after all of that, they had still stuck together. So why were things falling apart now of all times? Why weren’t things getting better? Somewhere, deep inside her, Octavia knew that with the way things were going, she should probably prepare to dump Vinyl and move onwards, abandoning their relationship as a lost cause. It was the logical thing to do, and it pained Octavia to think so.

Octavia didn’t want to break up with Vinyl; she just wanted to push through this rough patch and have everything return to the status quo. Even as she thought that, though, she knew that breaking up with Vinyl was probably the smarter option in the long run. Did she realistically see herself and Vinyl working things out, with the way things had been between them for the past few days? Octavia wanted to say yes, but there were times where she wondered what she even felt towards Vinyl on days when the two of them weren’t arguing. Wouldn’t it be better for Vinyl if they broke up now rather than attempting to make something that couldn’t work, work? Even…even if Octavia didn’t feel like it was what she wanted to do.

“Octavia, you idiot,” she mumbled into the pillow, “why did you have to fall in love with such a stupid pony?” Why did you have to fall in love at all…for this much pain, was it all worth it?

It took her a while, but slowly, eventually, Octavia rolled over and sat up in bed. She felt very dazed, as though she were piloting Vinyl’s body via remote control. She wasn’t going to just barge into Viny’s (her) room and break up with the mare – especially not whilst she was in possession of Vinyl’s body - but she could at least patch things up between the two ponies as they were now so that it wouldn’t come as such a raw shock to Vinyl.

“It’s for the best,” sighed Octavia to herself as she caught herself procrastinating, “it’s not as though Vinyl will even care. She’ll be with some other pony within a week, and it will be somepony who actually likes drinking, and being silly, and mares with great manes…” Octavia got up from the bed and stepped into the pile of debris surrounding Vinyl’s floor. It was time to kick start the beginning of the end.

But then, Octavia noticed something. Something she had found earlier that day, but which hadn’t fully caught her attention at the time. In the swath of mess that comprised Vinyl’s floor, Octavia had spotted a small, spiral-bound notebook, which she vaguely recalled tossing aside that morning whilst looking for Vinyl’s mirror. What she hadn’t noticed at that time was the hastily scrawled note on the cover of the book – My Diary.

Octavia stared at that diary for several long minutes, unsure what to do. She knew it would be invading Vinyl’s privacy to read it – not for a second did she think that just because she was in Vinyl’s body, it automatically gave her access to Vinyl’s privacy – but her curiosity was urging her to read it. Go on, read it, it said to her. Find out what she really thinks of you. Find the pages where she says that she’s never truly loved you, or that she’s only been sticking through this all recently because she feels sorry for you. It’ll make everything easier when you break up with her.

Swallowing her guilt, Octavia slowly reached down with a hoof and picked up the diary. It makes sense to start at the beginning, I suppose, she thought. Opening the cover as she sat down on the bed, Octavia began reading Vinyl’s innermost thoughts.

Thursday. Got back from the Amarezon Jungle last night, and hay, guess what, Diary – I totally got that treasure for my dad! It turned out to be a flower, which kinda explains its supposed healing properties. With a bit of luck, it can save him from that mysterious disease he inexplicably caught. If it doesn’t…welp, guess I should have looked for a proper cure, which… yeah, no, that’ll be kinda crappy. Let’s not think about that.

But hey, want to know the cool thing about the Amarezon trip, Diary? Other than getting the flower, I also totally met this pony called Tavi. Whoops, that is to say, Octavia. For some reason she prefers to go by her full first name, which is weeeeeiiiiirrrrd. But yeah, I totally suckered her into coming with me to find the flower, and even though she was a bit stuffy at first, she turned out to be really cool! She knew all of this cool stuff for surviving in the jungle, and she adjusted surprisingly well. She said she lives here in Canterlot, so maybe I’ll see her some time? She didn’t give me her address, but I wonder whether she’s registered with the public records office.

Oh man, and the other weird thing about the Amarezon – there was this weird pegasus guy there who called himself – get this – Baron von Darkhoof! What the hay kinda name is that? Anyway, luckily that’s the last I’ll ever see of him, because…

Octavia flipped through a few pages, seeing nothing else in the current entry that piqued her curiosity after a quick scan. She randomly stopped a few pages further along, and decided to try reading another entry.

Thursday. Hey Diary, you remember how I said Octavia’s been acting weirdly recently? Well it’s hit the epitome of weirdness recently, because get this – not only did she actually come out drinking with me last night, which I was totally expecting her to try and get out of, but at the end of the night we…well, I know how dumb this sounds, but we kinda…slept together?

Not in like, a sex way – which is good, because I’m pretty sure I’m not into mares – but she said that she wanted me to sleep with her – while she was drunk off her hooves, of course – because it was cold and stuff, and then we just sorta cuddled and stuff. So yeah, that was really unexpected. Though even as I say that, I guess that when you’re drunk, you’re kinda less inhibited, so she did just kinda want me to cuddle with her? Wait, does that mean that she wants to cuddle with me more often? That…okay, I’d be lying if I said that I disliked cuddling with her, but that’s kinda…I dunno. It should feel weird, but instead it feels kinda like a, ‘Yeah, whatever, I’d be up for that if you asked, but I won’t prompt you’-type thing, if that makes sense. Huh. I’m not sure whether I realised that until I wrote it just then, Diary. Well. Maybe I’ll flirt with her a bit more – jokingly, natch – and see how she reacts to that.

Well, that doesn’t surprise me as much as it should, thought Octavia to herself. She knew that Vinyl cared about her, or at least tried to, but it fit the former unicorn’s personality perfectly to just flirt with Octavia at times for laughs. Very classy, Vinyl, thought Octavia. She flipped a few diary pages ahead.

Thursday. So, last night went pretty well, yeah. My set went pretty well, and Hypno Hustler’s one following was pretty good from what I heard of it. It was also pretty And then of course ninjas – or is it Celestia damn it all

So, uh, Diary, you remember when I said I kissed Octavia and I pretended that I didn’t like it but her lips kinda felt soft and nice? And how I said I was feeling bad last week because she was hanging out with some friends and I wasn’t invited even though I sorta didn’t want to be there?

Diary, I…I kinda think that I might like Octavia? Or even…could it maybe be love? We were fighting ninjas and it kinda looked like we might die – again – and just…knowing that Octavia might die felt, like, bad. Not just the sort of badness that I’d feel if it was one of my other friends, or even the sort of badness that I felt when I heard that dad was sick. Just this…utter wrongness, you know? And think that the reason I feel that is because I like her.

Celestia, I don’t know what to do. Does Octavia like mares? Does she notice me as more than just a friend? I just really want to go and ask her out and have her say yes, but I feel this…argh, there’s no damn way that she’ll say yes! And if she says no, which she will, then great, now I’ve got this crush on my housemate, who won’t want to live with me any more when she realises how awkward things will be between us after she says no screw this

Diary, if my writing today feels kinda ramble-y, it’s because I’m finding it kinda hard to think. I just – I know what I want, and it’s to be with Octavia. Dammit. I suppose I’d better go ask her out so I find out. No more procrastinating. Right now. No, now. After this sentence. Actually, after this entry, yes.

I just Dammit, this is so scary. I act like such an idiot around her, and I guess I act dismissive towards her (hey, look at who’s the armchair psychologist now) because that’s what I’ve always done with people I’ve gone out with, and hay, even my fans, to an extent. Vinyl Scratch: always on the move, because if I stop and stay in one place for too long, I might get attached, or hurt, and I can’t let that happen because – well, just because I’ve never been dumped, it doesn’t mean that I don’t see how much it hurts the other pony. I dunno. Is that a stupid reason? I guess if I want to go out with Octavia I should act a bit more serious around her, but…it’s scary, is all. I want to tell Octavia so badly how I feel about her, but I guess that even if this miraculously works out, it’s something I’ll have to ease into.

There was some more to the entry, but Octavia’s eyes were glazing over as the words as her mind processed the emotions she was feeling. Vinyl was…scared? All of this time? All those times she’s done something stupid, or been dismissive…it’s just her way of helping to protect herself? It was a strange emotion that Octavia was feeling, although confusion certainly came close to it.

Vinyl had been scared of asking out Octavia, and if this entry was still true, to an extent, then Vinyl was still scared of being hurt. Octavia had never considered that, but upon reading this entry, it felt like it all made sense. What’s more, it made Octavia not want to break up with Vinyl. It made Octavia want to stay with Vinyl forever.

“Vinyl was scared, but she still asked me out,” whispered Octavia to herself, voicing her thoughts out loud. And I… I may not be pleased with how things have been between us recently, but I think that I understand her a bit better now. Octavia had made her decision. She wasn’t going to make a guarantee that she and Vinyl would definitely stay together forever – that would be stupid – but she could sure as hay do her best to get through this –what had Vinyl referred to it as? A tempest? – this tempest with her marefriend.

Leaving Vinyl’s room, still feeling a bit dazed, Octavia walked out to the kitchen, hoping that Vinyl was still there. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t, and so Octavia headed to the next natural place that Vinyl would be: her own room.

Getting no response when she knocked on the door, Octavia slowly opened the door. “Vinyl?” she asked softly. All of the lights were off, and the room was dark. “Vinyl?” Octavia asked after not getting a reply. It was hard to see in the darkness, but it didn’t look as though Vinyl was anywhere in the room.

Octavia nearly jumped into the air in surprise when she heard a vague, low noise coming from the bed just as she sat on it. Squinting in the darkness, it took Octavia a moment to realise that Vinyl was currently lying under the covers, with the blanket over her head. “Vinyl, are you feeling alright?” Octavia asked. Another quiet noise came from the bed, which once again was indecipherable. “Hang on a minute, Vinyl, I’ll join you,” said Octavia. “Maybe I’ll be able to hear you better then.”

Lifting up the cover, Octavia crawled under it, where sure enough, she found Vinyl lying on her side, facing away from Octavia. “You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?” Octavia asked, smelling the strong aroma of alcohol below the cover.

“Sorry,” mumbled Vinyl. There was the sound of liquid moving around, and Octavia realised that Vinyl was still drinking.

“You have nothing to apologise for, Vinyl,” said Octavia, shifting her body closer to the former unicorn. After a moment of hesitation, Octavia wrapped her hooves around Vinyl as best she could.

“Y-yes I do, Octavia,” said Vinyl. Her voice was very shaky, and she was talking slowly. It looked like she had gotten quite drunk, which was impressive given both the amount of time that had passed and how resilient Octavia’s Earth pony body normally was to alcohol. “I screwed up everything as – as usual, and I made you angry, like I always do, and then I…” Vinyl went silent for a few moments. “Can you leave me alone? I’m…I’m not feeling good.”

“No, I said that you don’t have anything to apologise for, Vinyl, and I am not just saying that to make you feel better,” Octavia said sincerely. “I’m always getting angry at you over little things, even when you haven’t done anything wrong. I – I’m sorry if that makes you feel inadequate, or scared. I don’t mean to make you feel that way.” Octavia softly kissed the part of Vinyl’s body that her mouth was nearest to, which in this case was a shoulderblade.

“…Thanks,” said Vinyl after a few moments of silence. “I, uh…what got you thinking this?”

Octavia hesitated. This could be awkward. “I…I read your diary, Vinyl,” admitted Octavia, “and I am sorry for it. I don’t have any sort of excuse for why I did other than my curiosity. But regardless, I read a bit about your feelings, and now that I have, I think that the problem has never been you. I think the problem has always been my misunderstanding your way of expressing your feelings.”

“Maybe I’m just bad at expressing my feelings to you,” said Vinyl, although her tone was a little more light-hearted than before.

“Well then, that is my fault for not being able to see through to what you’re properly attempting to say,” said Octavia. “I apologise. And I apologise if I’ve ever made you feel awkward or uncomfortable or…or anything else along those lines.”

There were a few moments in which Vinyl began to process these words, and then, slowly, she rolled over, so that she was facing Octavia. “Really?” she asked softly.

“Of course,” said Octavia. “Though I won’t deny it’s a little unsettling that you don’t believe me immediately.”

Vinyl laughed then, a rich, hearty thing. Being in Octavia’s body when she did so, it sounded different to one of her usual laughs. It felt nice to Octavia, and she hoped there was some way she could get Vinyl to laugh that way in the future once they went back to their original bodies.

How long the two mares lay there for, neither could say. It felt like hours, even though all that they were doing was lying there and occasionally kissing, or stroking the other’s mane. But that was all that they needed. Without words, they had reached an understanding. They had made it through the roughest part of the tempest and would be fine after all.

Eventually, Vinyl reluctantly pushed Octavia away from her, stretched, and got up. “Man, not that this isn’t great, but you know what would make this even better?” she asked, her voice still slightly slurred from the alcohol.

“Oh – no, Vinyl, not now – maybe later tonight..? ”

“Oh, no, not that,” said Vinyl as she picked up a bottle that had fallen over and spilled some of its contents onto the bed. “No, I was thinking, it’d be great if we were back in our original bodies again, eh?”

“Definitely so, although it has certainly been a bit of a learning experience for the two of us,” said Octavia. “It’s as they say – walk a mile in another pony’s horseshoes before judging them. Perhaps we wouldn’t have been able to make up like this if we hadn’t swapped bodies.” She nodded once, pleased with her assertion.

“The hay are you talking about, babe?” asked Vinyl. “If we hadn’t swapped bodies, I wouldn’t have had to go to your interview, so I wouldn’t have broken your cello, so you wouldn’t have gone to my room and found my diary. That has nothing to do with experiencing stuff as each other, it’s just a bunch of random crap that happened as a result of us switching bodies.”

“Eh, close enough,” said Octavia, waving a hoof. “I wonder what caused us to swap bodies, though? We never found out.”

“Who cares?” Vinyl said, lying back down in bed and putting a hoof around Octavia. “I’ve spent – what, a day or something? – as you, and even though it’s interesting to see how you Earth ponies experience things, I’m kinda ready to go back to my body.”

“Myself too,” said Octavia, yawning as a sudden bout of tiredness hit her body, “although I must say, having telekinesis is fun. Until we swap back, I could…could… I could get used to this…” Octavia’s voice drifted off as everything went black, and she lost consciousness.

Barely a moment later, Octavia opened her eyes, her loss of consciousness apparently already over. Although a side effect of it seemed to be that she was feeling light-headed. “That was…odd,” said Octavia, slurring slightly. “Vinyl, did I just fall unconscious for a moment? And…did you swap positions in the bed with me?”

“Aargh!” shouted Vinyl , attempting to literally leap out of the bed with joy, but getting tangled in the sheets and falling flat on her face. “It worked! I dunno what did, but it did! We’re back in our original bodies!”

“What?!” Even though Octavia had been staring at Vinyl directly – the unicorn back in her original body, as she had stated – it wasn’t until Vinyl said that that Octavia realised what had apparently happened. Looking down at her body, she confirmed that, yes, she really was herself again. “But…what caused this? Was it something we’re unaware of, or something we said, or –” Octavia gasped as she realised what it was. “It was the understanding! You realised that you had understood how it was to be me, whilst I realised how things were from your perspective! And just then, when we talked about it, it somehow triggered the switch back!”

“I dunno, really?” asked Vinyl. At the moment, she was levitating random objects in Octavia’s room for the sheer fun of it. “That sounds dodgy as hell to me.”

“I don’t see how it could be anything-”

“Even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one,” Vinyl read out from a random piece of paper as she levitated it past her head.

“ – else than – oh, that’s just my fortune from last night,” Octavia said.

“Yeah, I thought I’d heard it before. Did you see this stuff on the other side though?” Vinyl asked, hovering the paper through the air to Octavia. “I sure didn’t.”

“Huh. I wasn’t aware that it was double-sided,” Octavia said, taking the paper in her hooves.

“Well go on, read it out!” said Vinyl. “Don’t leave us hanging!”

“Congratulations! You are one of ten lucky winners to have won one of Lucky Fortune’s Authentic Ancient Spells®! You will swap bodies with the next pony whose eyes you look into, twelve hours after looking into their eyes,” read out Octavia.

“WHAT?!” Vinyl exclaimed.

“Wait, there’s more. This body swap shall last for twelve hours. Please make the most of it, and don’t forget that for legal reasons, you must tell the pony of the spell when you look into their eyes! Otherwise you could get sued!”

“That’s the stupidest thing in Equestria!” Vinyl shouted. “We swapped bodies because of a random lottery draw?!”

“I don’t know, Vinyl,” said Octavia, “as we said, it was good to experience- WAIT A MINUTE, I COULD HAVE POSTPONED THE INTERVIEW IF I’D KNOWN THAT DAMN THING WOULD WEAR OFF! DIE, INFERNAL PAPER!” As furiously as she could, Octavia ripped up the piece of paper into tiny bits. She then stood there for several moments, panting slightly as she watched the scraps of paper, as though they would leap up and attempt to cast the spell on her and Vinyl again. Vinyl had backed away slightly, rarely having seen this side of Octavia, and unsure how to react as a result.

“Well then,” said Octavia sweetly after a few moments, when her breathing had returned to a more normal rate, “it’s fairly late, and we haven’t heard from Natural Twenty yet. Shall we go rescue him from the eldritch abomination in the kitchen?”

Vinyl and Octavia's Freaky Day

by DoctorSpectrum

Chapter One: Future Sight

Chapter Two: Dissension

Chapter Three: Tempest

Epilogue: Fate Reforged