//------------------------------//
// Housewarming 
// Story: Latex and Lace 
// by starshine_dash 
//------------------------------//

The day pressed on and the smells of baking cupcakes gradually floated through the entire house and then out into the street, causing every pony wandering by to wonder whether or not Octavia had suddenly developed an incredible desire to bake or if there was a party in their near future. Either way, most of them then wandered to Sugarcube Corner in order to indulge their taste buds as their nose had been.

Inside the house, the kitchen was an exercise in controlled chaos. To any pony who peeked in through the window, they would wonder how anything could get done, but Pinkie Pie and the homeowner danced an intricate waltz of baking prowess as the piles of finished cupcakes slowly grew on the table until they had well over a gross and the sun was beginning to set. Octavia found herself shoved out of the kitchen and up the stairs to clean up before the party started while the party pony did her duty and made the kitchen absolutely spotless.

The earth pony showered relatively quickly and repaired her mane, choosing an unstained bow tie that would hopefully complement Vinyl's eyes if she could convince the unicorn to actually take off her glasses at some point. Maybe she could get the DJ to come out of her shell, as it were. Shrugging, she returned downstairs and sat down on a couch to relax while her marefriend finished putting together a playlist before the guests arrived.

"Hey," the white mare said as she took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just... staring at a computer all day..." she said and collapsed on the couch next to the cellist.

Octavia cleared her throat, "Um, sweetie. You uh."

Vinyl quickly put her glasses back on, "Thanks..." she said as the doorbell rang, "And just in time too!"

The cellist stood and moved towards the door only to be intercepted by Pinkie with two glasses of wine and ushered back into the living room. Pinkie opened the door and smiled at the couple that had arrived, "Twilight! Sunny! You made it!"

"Of course we made it, Pinkie. I wouldn't miss one of your parties, and it's one of Sunny's rare days off."

"I'm just glad to get out and stretch my wings for a while," the white pegasus mare next to Miss Sparkle said with a soft smile and a nuzzle at the lavender unicorn's neck. They entered the house and looked around, entering the living room.

"I thought I heard a familiar voice, How are you, 'Sunny,' well?" Octavia said with a small smirk.

"Never can hide anything from a musician can you?" Sunny replied and sat on a loveseat with Twilight. Vinyl levitated in the wine bottle from the kitchen and offered it around as Berry Punch and Carrot Top entered, the former laden with saddlebags full of booze.

"Hi Tavi, I heard you were horribly understocked, and I wanted everypony to try my new mixes."

"Oh? I thought you had the one?"

"I have two new blends. Berryshine and Berry's Punch," the brewer said with a smirk.

"Such original names!" Vinyl said with an affected gasp and haughty Canterlottian accent.

"Who are you and what have you done with Vinyl Scratch?" Carrot said with a grin.

"Why, you never thought that I was able to become one of the elite I occasionally play for?"

"Vi... Stop that, it's weird," Octavia said with a strange look on her face.

"Sorry... Wait, did you just call me Vi?"

"You call me Tavi, I figured it was only fair."

Vinyl smiled and nuzzled Tavi softly, "It's fine, I'm glad you can relax a little around me now."

The other couple smiled as yet another pair of ponies appeared in the living room, "Applejack! Rarity! Welcome to my home," Octavia said with a happy look on her face, "I had wanted to mention, but I had yet to get a free moment from this crazy mare in order to say. I am honored that you would allow me to play at your wedding."

"Oh please, darling. It is the least we can do after that horrible incident for which I must, at least partially, take some responsibility. I should have kept a closer eye on Pinkie."

"Now, sugarcube, don't go bein so hard on yerself. It was a bad night fer all of us."

Rarity just nodded as she was offered a glass of wine. Berry's flavors would come later after everyone had arrived. Eventually, Fluttershy arrived with an unfamiliar unicorn who was quite as shy as her date. Attempts to extract her name proved difficult and she was only capable of smiling and nodding or shaking her head in response to a question. Confused, Twilight pulled her pegasus friend aside to learn the truth before giggling and then clearing her throat to gather the attention of the attending ponies just as Rainbow Dash made her entrance, trailing a happy Pinkie Pie with a fresh bite on her neck.

The unicorn spoke up, "Everypony, before Octavia gets started on her party, I'd like to introduce you all to Fluttershy's new marefriend, Starry Skies. She's a little quiet, but I'm sure she'll open up once you get to know her."

Octavia nodded and stood, "Thank you for coming, everypony, when I told Pinkie only to invite 10 ponies, she must have decided to give you all invitiations of you + one. Still, I'm glad you could all make it and welcome me back to Ponyville."

Pinkie bounced over, "And it's also a New Pony in Ponyville party because Vinyl just moved here with Tavi!"

"Yep, I did," said the DJ, starting up the music and going over to Berry, "So, who wants to try Berry's latest alcoholic disasters?"

Berry looked like Vinyl had just ripped out her heart, stomped on it, peed on the ruins and then let a wild dog eat them, "Vinyl... How could you..."

"I'm only kidding, Berry! I'm sure they're top notch like everything else you brew."

Berry rolled her eyes and got out a bottle each of the new blend, "Now, I'll warn everypony now, before you drink any of this. This will knock you on your flank unless you are a seasoned veteran."

Mutters of "I'll pass" swept through the crowd, save for Vinyl, Rainbow Dash, and the unfamiliar ponies. Small dishes of the Berryshine were dolled out and they all looked at the clear, slightly glowing liquid with a curious expression, "Best to just do it like a shot ladies. Trust me on that," Berry said with a wink, downing her shot with an easy gulp, "Whoo! That's a good burn."

The other four mares shrugged and each took their own shots, wincing and coughing and almost falling over. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak, but her voice sounded like she had been gargling with rock salt for a week, "Damn, Berry. That's... Wow... Is that legal?"

"Only technically."

Vinyl was glad she was wearing her sunglasses, the burn of the liquor had caused her eyes to bug out in more ways than one. Sunny and Starry were quick to recover, though the latter looked to be wobbling slightly. The unicorn managed to get out a whispered, "We have not had such a drink in years..." before looking around in a daze as Berry poured out the second drink.

This viscous liquid was the same color as it's makers coat and looked tantalizingly delicious. Rainbow licked her lips and picked up the cup, "Well, ladies, down the hatch!" the pegasus said before taking the small shot. The other mares followed suit and shortly there were three flashes of light and four thuds, Berry's punch having lived up to it's name and knocking the princesses out of their illusions, along with Vinyl. Rainbow Dash squeaked out, "So... good..." before going out completely. The other three picked themselves up quickly and looked a bit flustered.

The other mares were laughing mostly as the now revealed Princesses of the Sun and Moon attempted to untangle themselves from their manes and reapply the illusion so they wouldn't hit their heads on the ceiling while Vinyl stood stock still. The laughter died down as 5 sets of hooves quickly moved into a semi-circle around the former unicorn.

Octavia shouted out a strangled, "NO!" and dove between the attack-ready mares and her marefriend, "Sunny, or Celestia, explain please!"

The white pegasus moved to stand in front of the cellist and looked around at the assembled Elements of Harmony, "Please, calm yourselves."

"Princess, Sunny Day, whichever you wanna be called, y'all are protectin' a changeling!" shouted Applejack.

"I am protecting a citizen of Equestria."

"WHAT?!" shouted Twilight, "But, Cele... Sunny! You yourself signed a law that any changelings are to be immediately captured and brought before a tribunal!"

"I did. However, the being behind me is not a changeling. She is and has always been Vinyl Scratch, your favorite DJ, or however you think of her. Something happened in her foalhood to change her into what she is. She simply wants a normal life."

Twilight processed the words coming out of her mentor com marefriend's mouth and could only stare. Fluttershy, meanwhile, ran over to join Octavia in comforting the sobbing DJ. Vinyl was covered by a small crowd of ponies, all trying to calm the sobs that wracked her form. Berry and Carrot had excused themselves to the kitchen shortly after the flashes and decided to just wait things out until Pinkie Pie shouted the all clear.

It took a while for the half-changeling to calm down enough to breath steadily again, though she still let out a small sniffle or sob as she stood and faced the admonished and shocked elements, "That's right. I just want to be the DJ you all know and at least tolerate the music of," she said with a half sob, half giggle at Octavia, "I can't change what's happened, but I'm the same pony I've always been."

"Well, ah can't rightly say I wanna know how yah got this way, Vi... but ah can say that ah'm sorry fer how we reacted," Applejack said to a chorus of nods, "and ah'd like to ferget any o' this happened... Y'all are still Vinyl ta me."

"It's okay AJ, I understand. Celestia did the same thing after the wedding."

"The wedding?" asked Twilight with a confused look on her face, "Oh! Shining's blast."

Vinyl nodded, "It knocked me out of my unicorn shape and directly into the kitchen. Luckily, the princess heard me out."

"I had heard of such things being done, but I didn't know any of the unfortunate subjects survived."

"And here I am. Now, I need another drink," Vinyl said, pinking up the bottle of Berryshine and taking a swig, coughing and shuddering as the liquid burned down her throat, "Waugh! Berry! This crap is definitely not for changelings! It tastes like EVIL."

Laughter filled the room as Pinkie sneaked her way to the DJ station and cranked up the tunes, "Well! Let's get this party going then!"

And so, the party queen had spoken, and the party began in earnest. Vinyl was unable to cover up her form thanks to Berry's little concoction, but she still enjoyed the party nonetheless. After a few glasses of wine, everypony was relaxed and getting amorous as cupcakes were "accidentally" dropped so frosting could be licked off. Late in the night, the ponies began to disperse into the night with the grateful thanks for attending and being there passing around before finally, Vinyl and Octavia were at last alone in the house.

The cellist stood at the bottom of the stares and looked back over her shoulder with half-lidded eyes at the DJ, "Vinyl, dearest. Shall we see how solid my bed is?"

Vinyl's wings sprang from her back and fluttered wildly, "Yes, ma'am!" she said with a slight tip as she wobbled over to follow the mare upstairs.