//------------------------------//
// Pinkie Party Preparations 
// Story: Latex and Lace 
// by starshine_dash 
//------------------------------//

Octavia woke early Saturday morning and extricated herself from the legs of her unicorn companion. Pinkie would no doubt be over soon with decorations and sweets in preparation for the party. The cellist had long ago given up understanding the pink menace that inhabited Ponyville and instead simply took her parties in stride, so long as the pony polkey was left at home. That detestable song flowed through her head for a moment before being banished by a shudder and some cold water on her face.

Despite everything that happened last night, things had gone rather well. The date was relatively a success even with the restaurant being insane and the confessions afterward being a bit more insane than normal. Brushing her teeth, Octavia started at herself in the mirror. She had freaked out initially because changelings absolutely terrified her. Upon hearing Vinyl's story though, her opinion of the mare had changed. The DJ had a hard life, having to hide what she truly was. 'Oh who am I kidding, my situation doesn't even compare...' she thought to herself as she worked on her mane and made sure her bow tie was perfectly level.

Descending the stairs into the kitchen, intent on some tea and breakfast, the earth pony's mind continued to mull over the situation. She still had fallen in love with Vinyl for who she was, not what. The fangs might be somewhat of an issue and having little knowledge of changeling mating habits surely didn't help. 'The hay am I thinking!? It's way too early for that, the cellist cursed herself and slammed her fridge closed with her flank, trying to distract herself from a situation brewing between her hind legs with preparing the tea pot for the stove.

Her mind began to war between itself, 'Are you sure you don't love her because she cast a spell?

'Vinyl has been nothing but kind since we met.'

'All the more reason to believe you're under her spell!'

'Please, if I were under some charm I wouldn't be having this conversation.'

'The fact that you're having this conversation means you are at least somewhat worried.'

'Fine, I admit, the thought is there, but I still love her. Besides, if she wanted to turn me into a mindless love-slave she would have by now, without revealing what she was.'

'So you think that just because you're both freaks you're meant to be?'

'Look, I am sick of second guessing myself. If she's got me under a charm, someone will find out eventually. Besides, I bet her wings tickle delightfully when she's mounted.'

'Now who's being ridiculous.'

Upstairs Vinyl stirred awake slowly, confused by the lack of a warm body snuggled against her own. Realizing she was alone, the unicorn jolted fully into alert mode and dropped her illusion, using her enhanced nose to trace the pheromones of her marefriend. Her sensitive ears twitched at the tinkling of dishes from the kitchen. Reapplying the form she was most comfortable in, the DJ exited the bedroom and sped downstairs, "Octavia?!"

"In here, Vinyl," came the sultry voice from the kitchen.

"Oh thank Celestia. I thought you'd left me."

Octavia simply raised an eyebrow and stared her companion down, "Yes, I managed to so convincingly fake my love for you that I fooled your changeling anatomy so I could escape while you slept."

Vinyl blushed and looked over at a particularly interesting wall tile, "R-right, sorry. Can't blame me for being a little paranoid."

The cellist sighed and sat back down at the table, pouring two cups of tea, "I suppose not. I admit, it will take a bit of getting used to, but, I want you to know that I'm not going to be repulsed if you ever drop the illusion, willfully or not."

Vinyl grinned nervously and sat down across from the mare, "Well, I guess that's good to know. I was worried for a moment that the fangs would scare you off from letting me-" she cut herself off with a hoof to her mouth as a blush spread over her face, all the way down to her chest. If she hadn't been wearing her shades, the cellist would have been able to see that the other pony's eyes had gone so wide as to nearly displace her forehead.

For her part, Octavia blushed as well, feeling a twitch which she denied by shifting her in her chair, "I admit the thought had occurred to me, but don't you think that would be moving a little fast?"

"I wouldn't know... This is my first relationship..."

"Oh my... I mean, I can kind of see why, but... You haven't even tried before?"

The unicorn shook her head, "The fear of them finding out I'm a half-changeling fusion spell created freak was kind of overpowering. I only told you because you told me about yourself first, and I felt your love starting to bloom so I figured I should be honest..."

"Who's half-changeling? DJ-PON3 is half-changeling!? That's cool, and terrifying, but mostly cool! Omigosh why don't you ever use it during your act! You could look like anypony. Imagine somepony showing up to see Princess Celestia herself playing set!" came a bubbly voice from the sink of all places. The two turned slowly to see Pinkie Pie leaning against the counter with a smile and huge collection of baking supplies and pans sitting behind her. All of them, even the metal, having been silently placed there at some point.

"Pinkie! You can't can't tell anypony!" Octavia shouted, looking desperate.

"Please, Pinkie. I don't want everypony to know yet..."

Pinkie made a series of motions describing a series of actions that began with zipping her lips and ended with some other charades that neither pony understood entirely, "Your secret is safe with me, Vinyl! What are friends for? OH! Can I see!?"

Vinyl sighed, and with a blast of green flame, returned to her "natural" state, raising an eyebrow at Pinkie, "Satisfied?" she asked, the buzz having returned to her voice.

Pinkie just grinned and nodded, bouncing over to the counter and tearing open a bag of flower. The DJ converted back to her unicorn form and just sighed, rubbing her forehead with a hoof.

"Pinkie Pie... May I ask... Why are you in my kitchen with what looks to be half of Sugarcube Corner's baking supplies?"

"Oh, well, Mr. and Mrs. Cake are really busy making another MMMM for Rarity and AJ's wedding and they needed the whole kitchen but I ran out of cupcakes last night for the party so I thought I would just come over and borrow your kitchen to make the treats for your housewarming party. I invited a bunch of ponies but I followed your rules and didn't invite more than 10 individually and don't worry I'll do my own dishes and make sure the kitchen is clean before everypony gets here. I already decorated the living room and moved the furniture so we could dance and set up Vinyl's kit in a corner so she can spin some tunes if she wants, otherwise I can."

The pair just blinked while Pinkie continued talking and then shrugged at each other. Octavia stood and moved over next to the party pony, only to be absorbed into the workflow, cracking eggs and separating them as needed. Vinyl stayed away. Her last attempt at baking had resulted in a collapsed wall, three injured pegasi, and a very very strange story for the other resident's grandfoals. The DJ adjourned to the living room to put together a playlist for the night. One thing stuck in the back of her mind. If Pinkie Pie of all ponies knew what she was, why not just out with it? The answer could wait until later, for now, she had some tunes to mix into one long seamless track of perfect mathematical precision.