//------------------------------// // A Melody Redefined // Story: The Royal Ponyville Orchestra // by Distaff Pope //------------------------------//         The last few days have been… I can’t remember half of one day, I was asleep for another day, and yesterday… well, what happened yesterday will not be included in this journal.         It all started innocently enough on the morning of our departure as I went about my morning routine, showering, grooming, and generally working to make myself presentable when it finally came time to put on my collar and bowtie. In years past, I had seen it as thread connecting my old life in Manehattan and my new life in Canterlot, a reminder that despite what my parents had told me, a musician could, in fact, be respectable. A reminder that no matter what happened, I must always act properly. Without a second thought, I dropped it into the trash bin, and went back to packing up my belongings.         “Hey,” Vinyl said as stepped out of the bathroom, her mane combed to the side and gelled, or as she called it, styled, “You almost ready to go?”         I flashed her a crooked smile, “I just finished packing, the only thing I have to do now is fix my mane.”         She raised an eyebrow, “Your mane looks like it normally does, or is this one of those things where you freak out because a single hair is out of place?”         “Actually,” I said, as I ran a comb through my hair and hastily undid all of my meticulous styling, “There aren’t enough out of place.”                  Vinyl’s brow furrowed in confusion as I ruined my perfectly groomed mane and tail, “Uhmm Tavi, are you alright? You just like… I don’t think I’ve ever seen your mane this messy, and that includes the few times I wake up before you. I mean, just look at yourself.” She gestured for me to look in the mirror, and I saw that she was absolutely right. My mane was now swept to the side and it’s hair obscured my left eye, although I suppose I didn’t need the mirror to tell me that..         “This is wrong,” I said after a second of thought, “It needs a bit more color, do you have any dye with you?”         “Uhh… no, most ponies don’t use mane dye because it can’t really differentiate between mane and coat. I remember the first and last time I tried to dye my mane with an actual dye, I wound up turning half my coat electric blue.”         “So what do you do instead?” I asked as I strapped my cello case to my back, already suspecting her answer.         In response, Vinyl pointed to her horn, “Magic. It’s easier and it lasts longer. There’s really no downside beyond the fact that you need to either have a horn or know somepony with a horn, and luckily for you, you have me.”         I smiled and kissed her neck, “Do you think you could help me dye my mane? I still think the pink stripe we discussed last night would look quite fetching.”         Vinyl sighed contentedly, “I suppose I could,” she said, her horn shining with magical energy, “Just promise you won’t get too crazy trying to redefine yourself.”         “Of course.”         She pressed her horn against my temple and I felt the magical energy permeate my scalp and sink into my mane’s hair follicles before diffusing and spreading out. Contrary to what modern biology would lead you to believe, I could actually feel the magical energy altering my mane as a strand of hair obscuring my vision turned pink before my very eyes. The magic subsided and Vinyl pressed her horn against my flank, allowing the process to repeat. And although she might have lingered there a few seconds longer than was necessary, I certainly didn’t find myself inclined to complain..         I turned to examine myself in the hotel mirror, and I must admit that I was wrong when I said the pink stripe would make my mane look fetching. It made my mane look fantastic, and I gave my tail an experimental swish to see how it looked in the mirror.         In my excitement, I wrapped my forehooves around Vinyl’s neck and drew her into a passionate kiss (Vinyl terms it a make-out session, but I find the term deplorable), that lasted for a span of several minutes and ended with us back in the bed for another span of time.         “Well,” I said, clapping my forehooves together before getting out of bed, “We have spent enough time relaxing,  and if we want to make our cruise on time, we need to head up to the top of the Equestria State Building.”         “Wait,” she said as she wrapped our items up in her telekinetic field, “The thing docks on top of a skyscraper? Can this ship get any cooler?”         “Yes to both questions,” I said as we walked out of the room, my cello case strapped to my back, “It’s a little known fact, but the spire on top of the Equestria State Building was designed for rigid airships to dock with. I don’t know why so many ponies don’t know that since almost all the Manehattan postcards have an airship floating right next to it.”         “I just thought it was because it looked cool,” she said, shrugging before turning back to the room door, “Oh, Tavi, what happened to your bowtie thingy? Do you want me to go get it for you?”         I shook my head. “I didn’t forget it Vinyl, it was a part of the old Octavia that I thought should be discarded.”         “Huh, okay…” Vinyl stared at the door for several seconds before bringing one of her bags in front of her and rummaging through it, “Sorry, I just remembered that I left my toothbrush back in the room? Mind if I get it real fast?”         “That’s fine,” I said, leaning against the wall, “I hope you don’t mind if I stay out here.”         “Nope, that’s super cool,” Vinyl said before darting back inside and reemerging several seconds later. “Got it,” she said, pointing to her saddlebags, “Anyways, let’s get a move on, I don’t want to miss the cruise.”         “It’s fine,” I said as we headed down the hallway, “I’m sure thirty seconds won’t kill us, now then, I believe we were talking about how airships are able to dock with the Equestria State Building?”         The two of us continued our conversation as we took the elevator down to the hotel lobby, with Vinyl periodically working to steer the conversation away from how the Equestria State Building was made before deciding to distract me with an impromptu kiss. If this is a thing we are going to start doing whenever we want to derail the other pony’s train of thought, then it has my full approval.         “Hey,” Lyra said as we entered into the hotel lobby, “You girls finally made it, Bon-Bon thought the two of you might have lost something in your room, but I figured you two were just-”         She was cut off as Bon-Bon stuck her hoof in Lyra’s mouth, “We were just wondering what kept you, but now that we are… Octavia, are you alright? You changed your mane.”         “It’s fine,” I said, smiling, “I just thought I might try something different with my mane today.”         “I see,” Bon-Bon said after a moment’s thought, “You also forgot your bowtie.”         I shrugged, “I just thought it would be nice for a change. After the meeting with my parents, I decided all those little things weren’t that important.”         “You… Maybe you should tell them about what happened yesterday, since they weren’t there and all,” Vinyl said, “You know, it might help explain just why you decided to dye your mane and throw away your bowtie. Also, sorry for not meeting you all for dinner last night, we kind of had a busy day.”         “It’s fine,” Bon-Bon said, “We didn’t get back until late last night, anyways.”         “Good idea,” I said, shooting Vinyl a quick smile, “That story should take up most of our walk.” I nodded at my friends, “Are you girls ready?” “Yep.” “Uh-huh.” “You know it.         “Well, let’s get going, it’s new day, and a new Octavia, and I can’t think of anything that can ruin this cruise,” I kissed Vinyl’s cheek, “And thank you for all your assistance.” Apparently the “new Octavia” had forgotten my rule on not flagrantly tempting fate.         She smiled as we headed out of the hotel lobby, “Happy to help. I mean, if you’re happy then I’m happy,” she paused in thought for a second, “And I used the word happy way too much, like… it stopped sounding like a proper word.”         “Isn’t that the coolest,” Lyra said, “It’s called semantic satiation, it’s basically when you hear a word so much that its sounds stop having any special meaning and it just sounds like noise, see happy, happy, happy, happy happy happy happyhappyhappyhappyhappyapeaapea apea, apea, a pea.” She continued her recitation for another few seconds before Bon-Bon finally broke and shushed her.         “Thank you for the lesson dear, but ponies are beginning to look at you funny and I don’t think I can hear the word ‘happy’ one more time without losing my…” She paused and glanced nervously at me, “Patience.”                  “Sorry,” Lyra said, looking appropriately cowed, “It’s just such a cool way how sound can carry  meaning inside of it, especially when you can see that system break down.”         Bon-Bon glanced at Vinyl, “This is your fault, you know, you’re the one who suggested she take that linguistics class back at the academy.”         As we walked, I filled Lyra and Bon-Bon in on yesterday’s events while they occasionally chimed in with their thoughts, until eventually a shadow fell over the city and the four of us looked up to see the largest airship in Equestria blocking out the sun. Unlike other airships, which had a wooden gondola, this one was made using a metal alloy that had been enchanted with weight reducing properties, and the cords that bound the gondola to the rigid body were made out of silk webbing granted to Equestria by the Spider Queen Arachniss. The living quarters alone were about as big as the Equestria State Building was tall, and the rigid body (The thing that kept the airship afloat) was more than three times that. It’s presence over the city cast several Manehattan districts into an early evening, and my companions’ jaws actually dropped..         “That… I knew it was big, but I didn’t think it was that mind-numbingly enormous,” Vinyl said, trying to collect herself. “Who in their right mind would build such a thing.”         “Duke Valiant Heart the Third,” I said, my eyes still transfixed on the zeppelin. “He had it constructed as a way of showing his love and devotion to the crown, while simultaneously impressing the rest of the nobility with his vast wealth. It was designed to be a floating palace, and he intended for it to be used by the nobility to tour Equestria. Of course, once Celestia saw it she commended Duke Valiant for crafting such a marvelous airship and then declared that everypony in Equestria should be able to see his labor of love for themselves, so she turned it into a cruiseship that anypony in Equestria can purchase tickets for.”         My friends were staring at me now, apparently shocked by my knowledge of things that related to my old home town. “I was quite taken with the airship as a filly and was a rather voracious reader when I stumbled across anything even tangentially related to the Valiant.”         “So,” Vinyl said, “What you’re saying is that you like big boats and you cannot lie.”         I laughed at her atrocious reference to one of the few songs released in the past century that I had actually heard of. The old Octavia would have groaned and derided Vinyl for making such a terrible joke, but I didn’t want to be that mare anymore, even if that involved laughing at a joke was truly horrendous.         Vinyl shuttered at my laugh. “Hey, Tavi, if my joke’s not funny, you don’t have to laugh at it. I mean, it was kind of a groaner.”         “A lot of a groaner,” Bon-Bon added.         “What was wrong with my laugh? I thought your little joke was cute.”         “Yeah, no… you laughed like…” She trailed off, “You know what, nevermind, it’s fine.”         There was a brief silence as we finally reached the Equestria State Building, before Bon-Bon spoke up, “Wait, I’m sorry to bring this back up, but did Duke Valiant name the Valiant after himself?”         I nodded, “He wanted everypony in Equestria to know his name. Of course, he claimed he wanted a name to represent the spirit of Equestria, but since most of the early blueprints for the ship call it Valiant Heart III very few ponies who are knowledgeable of the airship’s history tend to believe that story.”         “Okay,” Vinyl said, “I have to hand it to Luna for picking out probably the only vacation  in Equestria that you possess an encyclopedic knowledge of.”         “It’s hardly encyclopedic,” I said, “There are other ponies who are far better versed on the history of the Valiant than I am. I am merely an aficionado that is rather fortunate to have a friend in the palace.”         I smiled as I looked at the rigid airship, “Now having said all that, Princess Luna did choose the perfect destination for me.”         “Really?” Vinyl asked, “You didn’t seem that excited when I first told you.”         “Two things to keep in mind,” I said as we entered the Equestria State Building, “The first is that when you first told me, it was shortly after Nightmare Night, so my mind was understandably on…” I trailed off as my mind began to venture down darker paths best left untread, “Let’s just say other things. The second is that any kind of enthusiastic reaction didn’t strike me as proper at the time. If I showed affection towards this gift and not another, it might have seemed I was playing favorites, so I deemed it best to stay properly neutral any time I was given a gift. Obviously, my opinion on appropriate gift reaction has changed recently.”         “Tavi, I love you, but yeah… that seems kind of crazy. Not the craziest thing I’ve heard you say, but its kind of up there. Like,  if I get you a good gift I want you to say that you like it and if I get you a crap gift tell me that too so I don’t get it again. Just… try to say it in a nice way.”         The four of us continued our conversation as we headed up towards the boarding level of the Equestria State Building, or more accurately we went to five levels below the boarding level to wait in line for three hours. Three soul-crushing hours. On the upside, there were no impromptu musical numbers or sudden appearances of an ex-flame, so it beat Anthro-Con in that respect. Then again, most things would.         Thankfully, we managed to check-in and board before Lyra’s choice in conversational topics (Hint: It was about humans and what she had been learning from the engraving she “borrowed”) drove me completely insane. The second we stepped on board the Valiant, a giddy squeal escaped my lips. Like I said earlier, I had always dreamed of being inside the Valiant, of seeing the crystal ballroom with my own eyes, and spending time on a marvel of Equestrian engineering. The water gardens alone cost a small queen’s ransom and a large section of the ship was dedicated to more base pleasures where the alcohol flowed like water. In fact, they had recently added a rather large nightclub next to the piano bar, and when looking through all of the Valiant’s amenities, I remember thinking just how lovely it was that the piano bar (Of interest to me) and the piano bar (Of interest to Vinyl) were so close together. Standing inside the Valiant at that instant was the culmination of a lifelong dream that I had almost completely given up on after leaving for Canterlot. I must remember to write Luna a letter of thanks when I return.         “Glad you’re happy,” Vinyl said after kissing my neck, “Remember we got this vacation so you can relax and unwind. So, you know, take things easy and enjoy yourself for the next few days. The last I heard from Royal says the orchestra is doing well and that they eagerly await your return.”         “Wait a minute,” I said as we headed towards our suite, “You’ve been talking with Royal?”         “Yeah, in case anything cropped up, we all decided it would be best to have some sort of way of communicating in case something came up, so Luna is helping us relay dream messages. We also thought it would be best not to worry you about that stuff and instead have you focus on relaxing, so I probably shouldn’t have mentioned anything.”         Vinyl shrugged, “But hey, if you are trying to be more relaxed and carefree then it isn’t a problem is it?”         “Of course,” I said, smiling. Apparently, my commitment to being less proper was doing some good as I felt absolutely no… well, minimal concern that my friends had been conspiring behind my back. In fact, at that moment I was so focused on taking in every last detail of the Valiant that my mind simply didn’t have the time or inclination to fret over that detail, “Shall we tour the ship?”         “Sure,” Vinyl said, “I mean, they took our luggage from us at check in, and we have our room numbers so… Sure, let’s see some ship.”         One boat pun I could handle, but two was too much. “Vinyl,” I groaned, “I am working to be more care free and less proper, but your insistence on making terrible… I hesitate to call them puns but a better word escapes me at the moment, is testing my resolve.”         “Ha, I knew you weren’t in love with my totally lame pun earlier,” she said as we moved to look out one of the viewing windows to see the Manehattan skyline below us as ponies went about their daily routines and taxis filled the arteries of my birth city. It was actually quite beautiful from this far up now that the smells and less seemly sights had been obliterated by distance. “Also, you’re having trouble not caring about things? That seems kind of… counter intuitive doesn’t it?”         I nodded my head, “But bear in mind I spent twenty years obsessed with propriety and making sure every last detail of my life is perfect. I am basically basically just trying to act like you in the hopes that it will help me go in the complete opposite direction.”         For an instant, Vinyl’s brow furrowed, but just as quickly, it vanished, “Well,  this is your vacation, so do what you want, just… please try to take it in reason, and I mean, be yourself, cause no matter how hard you try you aren’t going to make a convincing me in a thousand years.”         “I take it you don’t approve,” I said, noting that Lyra and Bon-Bon had managed to vanish at some point during our conversation.         “It’s not that I don’t approve, it’s just that I’ve been to enough after-school specials to know that bad things happen when you try to be somepony else, and that you should be yourself. I mean, you are trying to to break free of your parent’s plan and that is cool and all, but if you start acting like somepony else then you’ve just kind of reshackled yourself, right?”         That was… I don’t mean to insinuate that I found Vinyl to be unintelligent, after all, she had far more education than I, but I never expected her to say something so profound so plainly. It even made me stop and reconsider my plans for a few moments. Vinyl was right, I would make a terrible her, but if I stayed Octavia, then my parents would win. My mind wandered back to the few brief moments I spent as my marefriend during Nightmare Night, the throbbing bass of the air, the way the world was electrified, and just how appealing it was. No, maybe I couldn’t be her, but history had shown that given proper circumstances, I could be very much like her. If I couldn’t be Vinyl Scratch, I thought, but I could be Octavia Scratch (Note: That portmanteau is terrible, never refer to your insane ambition to emulate your marefriend by that term again).                  “Anyways,” she said breaking the lull in the conversation as she patted me on the back, “Just try to have fun this week. There’s no pressure and no matter what you do, things will be fine.”         After a few more minutes of gazing at the Manehattan skyline, we walked to our room, which was simply outstanding. When Luna told us she had purchased tickets, she neglected to inform us that she had gotten the two of us the Royal Suite. It was… It had a foyer. With a fountain in it. Made of crystal. Then, the hub room had a jacuzzi, a massive viewing window, and our alicorn-sized bed was situated comfortably in a loft that overlooked the lower level and also gave us a lovely view outside of the ship.         “Hey Tavi, do you think you can suffer severe mental trauma while working for one of the Princesses more often? Cause… This is kind of worth it.” Vinyl said after we finished surveying our lodgings.         I meekly nodded my head in agreement, “If me dying multiple times is what it takes, I would be willing to, although I would prefer it if you had a turn as the fate’s plaything.”         Vinyl flipped through the list of activities and amenities aboard the airship, “Check it out, there are like, two different spas for you to go to, a crazy awesome nightclub for me, a piano bar we can go to together and…” She trailed off and started laughing.         “And just what is so funny?” I asked as I walked up behind her to look at the booklet.         In response, Vinyl pointed at a small entry listed under the activities taking place in the Violet Room. “Be awed as the Great and Powerful Trixie takes the stage every night at 8:00 to amaze and stupefy audiences with her feats of magical prowess,” I said, reading aloud, “Well, while I can’t say I am wild about stage magicians, I really don’t see anything that hilarious.”         “Oh right,” she said as her laughter finally subsided, “You weren’t in Ponyville either time she showed up, although the second time wasn’t really that funny for anypony involved. Still, I can’t believe she got a job working on an airship.” “Care to tell me the story?” I asked as I made myself comfortable on our bed. “Sure,” Vinyl said, joining me on the bed, “So Trixie was a travelling stage magician, she came into town making all these crazy claims, a few ponies decided to call her out, an ursa minor attacked town, and she fled the town in shame. There were a few other details but that is the gist of it.” “Alright,” I said, furrowing my brow in thought, “Exactly how is the showmare getting heckled the villain in the story, and how does it relate to an ursa minor attack?” Vinyl tapped her chin, “Well, she did show up later wearing an evil amulet that made her mad with power the next time she came to town.” “Why did she do that?” I asked, still struggling to understand the story. “Because, after she got shown up by Twilight, her career was kind of ruined.” “And you were planning on visiting her and apologizing for how your town ruined her career, right?” I asked, still not understanding how Trixie was the villain in the story, beyond a brief mention of coming back wearing an evil amulet. “Actually, I was planning on letting everypony know that she went totally evil and enslaved a town.” “Did that happen before or after she put on the amulet that made her mad with power?” I said, now getting slightly irritated with Vinyl. Granted, donning an amulet to get revenge was a bit excessive, but after the past few days I have a hard time judging a mare for making poor decisions while in a stressful situation. “Well, after,” she said, suddenly very interested in her mane, “I mean, why are you taking her side?” “I’m not,” I said, “It just sounds like she started off as the victim here. How would you feel if ponies started heckling you while you were performing?” Perhaps there is a soft spot in my heart for mares driven mad by Ponyville.” “First of all, I don’t think I could hear any hecklers when I am up on stage, but if I could, I suppose I wouldn’t be super cool with some ponies trying to steal my show.” “So don’t you think we should apologize to her? Perhaps congratulate her on the new job?’ “Alright,” she groaned, “But if she starts being a jerk then I am walking.” “Fair enough,” I said, resting my head on her stomach as the engines hummed to life and pushed us away from our moorings. With that issue resolved, we spent time enjoying the view of a city drifting below us, the evening sun reflecting beautifully off of the Manehattan skyscrapers.         “Hey,” Vinyl said, “ Want to head down to the hot tub for a little while? Admire the view from a different angle.”         I smiled, enjoying the warmth coming off Vinyl’s stomach, “I am perfectly fine here, but if you want to spend time in the jacuzzi, I would be happy to join you.”         We headed towards the jacuzzi, before Vinyl decided that a place as nice as this had to have some wine stored somewhere. She was right of course, and a few minutes later, we were sipping wine while enjoying our hot tub. The time spent in the jacuzzi was wonderful, and as I felt the wine dulling my senses and filling me with a slow languid joy, I felt all my reservations dissolve.         “Do you know what we should do?” I asked, turning to face my marefriend. “We should get tattoos.”         Vinyl furrowed her brow, “Tavi, that… that doesn’t make any sense, we are covered in fur, so even if we did get a tattoo, nopony would ever see it. Also, I’m not even sure if its possible for us to get tattoos.”         “Alright,” I said, shrugging, “Well, we could always go down to the bar and get something to drink?”         “Sure,” Vinyl said, moving to get out of the hot tub, “Piano bar?”         I shook my head, “Let’s try out the nightclub, it sounds fun.”         My marefriend stared at me for a second before responding. “Are you sure? Those places can be kind of loud at times or,well, all the time.”         “Of course,” I said, “A change in environs would do me a world of good, and I’ve always wanted to check out a nightclub.”         “Alright,” she said after a brief pause, “I mean, if that is what you want to do this is your vacation. I will go get Lyra and Bon-Bon.”         If I may momentarily digress, I would like to take this opportunity to say how incredibly surreal it is to recall my thought process, or lack thereof. While I had been working to be more carefree, the total loss of my inhibitions was not something I had planned on, and writing down the whole list of my transgressions is not going to be a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination. Especially… Well, as the night wore on, my actions became more and more regrettable.         Once we had rendezvoused at the nightclub, which is apparently not particularly crowded in the late afternoon, I ordered a whiskey while my friends ordered their poisons of choice.         “Wow, Tavi,” Vinyl said, “I didn’t really peg you as a whiskey girl, I mean, wine sure, but not whiskey.”         I shrugged. “Whiskey is a drink of subtlety, with so many little tastes for the palette to appreciate, it isn’t obnoxious and cloying like the fruit punch and alcohol you ordered..”         Vinyl pursed her lips in thought, “Yeah, okay, that sounds kind of like something you would say.”         “Of course it does,” I said, laughing, “After all, I said it.”         The bartender returned with our drinks, whiskey for me, and an assortment of fruity cocktails for my friends. Lyra’s drink stands out in my mind as it was approximately the size of a punchbowl and given the name “Shark Attack.” Had we been sailing over the open ocean, I would have said the name was an ill omen, as things stand now, I find the name tactless, back then, I thought it was hilarious.         “Hey Lyra,” I said, looking around the empty dance floor, “I will give you thirty bits if you drink  that whole thing in less than a minute.”         “What? No. That’s dumb,” she said, “I want to savor this beauty, not chug it like some sorority sister trying to impress her friends.”         “Alright,” I said turning to face the bartender, “Another Shark Attack please.”         “Uhmm, Tavi, what are you doing?” Vinyl asked as Lyra and Bon-Bon exchanged glances.         “Simple,” I said as the bartender went about mixing my drink, “I thought it would be a fun little game to try and drink that in one go and since Lyra isn’t game, I thought I would try.”         “Sorry, but haven’t you already had a good bit to drink tonight? Like, there was that bottle of wine, the whiskey you just ordered, I mean, maybe drinking an entire Shark Attack in a minute isn’t the best idea.”         “Of course it is,” I said as I downed the rest of my whiskey, “I’ve never felt better in my life. It’s like… Like I’m finally free to do whatever I want, there’s no voice in my head telling me what to do, and I have to say that I am just in love with this feeling.” To make my point, I leaned in close and nibbled at the tip of Vinyl’s ear. Her body went slack and I could feel her qualms melt away. It’s hard for me to imagine how in Equestria I could ever take satisfaction in manipulating Vinyl, but I did, and even if Vinyl says it was just the alcohol and medication interacting with each other in strange and interesting ways, I have to accept that the mare doing all these strange and terrible things was still fundamentally me, and that is one of the most challenging things I have had to struggle with since I came to Ponyville.         After I had silenced Vinyl’s objections, we spent the next several minutes performing the sloppiest and least dignified kiss imaginable. Vinyl terms them “make-out sessions,” but I find the term objectionable and refuse to use it as a descriptor in this journal. Not that I am against the concept of such things obviously, but the words leave a bad taste in my mouth.         If I had even the slightest bit of self-control at this time, I would have stopped what Vinyl referred to as us “making out,” (Damn her, the term is a useful hand even if I find it distasteful) immediately for fear of embarrassing Lyra and Bon-Bon, but as should be patently obvious, I did not and instead allowed myself to indulge in base pleasures with no thought paid to how it might affect those around me. As for Vinyl, I suppose she was too busy enjoying some aspects of the recently liberated me to care.         Thankfully, we were eventually interrupted by the bartender who had arrived with my drink, and as promised, I proceeded to down the entire thing. It was far too sweet and drowned out the taste of the alcohol, which makes me wonder just why anypony would order it as opposed to fruit punch, but at that moment I was far too elated to care.         “Alright,” I said, slamming the glass down on the bar, “Pay up.”         “Uhmm… Tavi,” Lyra said, “I don’t think anypony took your bet since none of us are in academy anymore or even young enough to be in…” She trailed off as she remembered that I was the youngest of the group and probably would still be attending the academy if I would have been allowed in, “Oh.”         I shrugged again, as it had quickly become the new Octavia’s favorite gesture. “It’s fine Lyra, nothing to be worried about. Now, let’s do some dancing.”         “Actually Tavi, if you want to dance we should probably wait until there are a few more ponies out there, believe me when I say you don’t want to be the only mare on the floor at a place like this unless you like announcing to a club filled with sketchy ponies that you don’t know the unwritten rules of the nightclub.” Vinyl said, “Besides, nopony dances in these clubs in the early afternoon.”         My desire to dance wilted, and I instead found myself scanning the nightclub for any ponies who looked interesting until my eyes settled on a mare with a blue coat, a powder blue mane, a wand and moon for a cutie mark, and a figure that was absolutely stunning. “Hey Vinyl, look at that mare over there,” I said pointing a hoof in my direction.         Vinyl’s gaze followed the direction of my hoof before landing on the mare in question. A second later, she was laughing hysterically as Lyra and Bon-Bon joined in snickering, “Tavi, do you remember that magician I was telling you about earlier?”         “The one you ran out of town for having the audacity to use a stage ponysona?”         “Uh yeah,” Vinyl said, “And the one who took over town.”         “Are you trying to say that that mare is her?”         Vinyl nodded.         “Let’s go say hi to her,” I said as I sauntered towards the mare in question. After a second, the other three mares followed after me.         “Hello,” I said as I took a seat next to her, “It’s Trixie right?”         She nodded after taking another pull of bourbon. “Indeed it is, can I assist you? Perhaps you wish an autograph from the Great and Powerful Trixie?”         “Actually, my friends here recognized you from your show in Ponyville, now I thought that the brash overconfidence was a stage ponysona, and the only reason you showed up… whoever you showed up was because you don’t abide hecklers, but I personally disagree with them and was wondering if you could shed a bit of light on the subject matter.”         Trixie finished her drink and turned to examine my friends closely. “I recognize the two of you,” she said, pointing at Lyra and Bon-Bon, “But I don’t recognize her.”         “Uhmm, I was in the back of the audience,” Vinyl added. lamely.         “I see,” she said, furrowing her browt, “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere else though.” She stared intently at my marefriend for a few minutes before tapping her hoof on the bar, “That’s it. You were DJing at that Canterlot nightclub, The Body Electric, DJ-P0N3 right?”         Vinyl nodded.         “Well then, you behave differently than DJ-P0N3 does, correct? For instance I noticed during your show that you had the habit of referring to yourself in the third person, a habit I am familiar with, but I am assuming you don’t do that when you are lounging around the house.”         My marefriend ran a hoof through her mane and laughed, “Yeah, kind of noticed you do the same thing.”         “Indeed, the Great and Powerful Trixie is also far more… well, I want to say she is more egotistical than I, but I remember that when I did my Ponyville show, my ego matched hers,” her gaze drifted downwards and there was a brief lull in the conversation, “The subsequent years have served to humble me.”         “Okay, well that still doesn’t explain why you tried to take over Ponyville,” Bon-Bon said. While they spoke I was busy ordering another drink, this time deciding it would be fun to have some scotch. The fact that I survived the night continues to baffle me.         “Also very true, but I’d like to say taking over Ponyville was never my intention. In fact, I originally tracked down the Alicorn Amulet in the hopes of using it to jump start my career by beating Twilight Sparkle in a magic duel. I planned for it to be a friendly duel but… Do you know what it is like to be unable to perform your special talent and instead be forced to farm rocks for a living? You’d do almost anything to get your life back on track, and it makes you rather susceptible to the whisperings of an evil amulet, at least it did for me.”         “Wow, when you put it like that, we almost sound like the bad mares,” Lyra said rather enthusiastically.         “From my perspective, you are, now-”         “Hey, hey Vinyl,” I said as the alcohol began to take effect, “She’s kind of cute right, do you think we could make an arrangement? You know, with like… the three of us going back to our room and-”         “Let me stop you right there,” Trixie said, “I am already in a lovely relationship and have no interest in jeopardizing it for some drunken party pony. Also, isn’t it a bit presumptuous of you to assume that I’m a fillyfool- Hey, where are you going?”         At some point in her tirade, I had lost interest in what she was saying and decided to get away from Vinyl’s incredibly angry glare. “Hey alcohol, more bartender please… Wait, no, scratch that, reverse it.”         The bartender obliged me as Vinyl finished up her goodbyes with Trixie and stomped over towards me, “Just what in the hay do you think you are doing? I get that you want to be a bit more free spirited and fun, but there is a line Tavi, and guess where propositioning a mare in public without talking to me beforehoof falls?”         I thought for a second as I drank the latest scotch and the world grew fuzzy, “The… fun side?”         I would like to record Vinyl’s justifiably angry response, but I don’t remember it. In fact, I don’t remember a vast majority of what happened after that. There are snippets of course, me grinding up against several mares on the dance floor while Vinyl abstained from dancing and instead fumed in the corner, drunkenly dancing on a tabletop in a manner that I thought was provocative but more than likely looked like the spastic flailings of a mare having a seizure, Vinyl angrily dragging me back to our room to chew me out for my atrocious behavior and ordering me to sleep it off, me sneaking out of our room to continue my alcohol-fueled rampage, and finally, terrorizing an entire kiddy pool with my drunken shenanigans shortly after dawn before Vinyl finally tracked me down and brought me back to the room.         The next thing I remember, I felt like my head had been shoved inside one of the ship’s engines, and for the longest time I wondered if I had died. As I remembered more and more of my night, I wished I was.         Thankfully, it was dark out, and if not for that small mercy, I fear my head might have imploded in on itself, and after several minutes of wishing death upon myself, I opened my eyes to see just where I ended up, and if the aftermath of whatever I did was as bad as I imagined.         As soon as I opened my eyes, Vinyl’s voiced boomed inside of my head. “Glad you are awake.”         “Whispers please,” I groaned while shoving my head into a pillow.         “Right,” Vinyl whispered, “You probably have the mother of all hangovers right now. Look Tavi, I’m not going to mince words, I’m pretty pissed right now. I mean, I’m pissed with myself for not remembering all the warnings on your meds advising you not to take with alcohol, but I am still pretty upset with you for just… humiliating me last night.”         I groaned as I recalled what few memories I had of last night (and apparently the morning after) and felt as if I was about to vomit, although a large part of that might have been due to the rather excessive amounts of alcohol I consumed. “I’m sorry Vinyl, I… I knew what I was doing, but it was like all the parts of me that inform me when I am about to do something colossally stupid took the night off. I would more than understand if you thought my behavior last night was unacceptable and appropriate grounds for a... break-up (I had wanted to pick a word that didn’t sound like something you’d overhear at primary school, but was unable to find a suitable synonym. Note: Invest in a thesaurus for future journal entries).”         My eyes watered as I spoke, and it was difficult to tell if it was caused by my head feeling as if it were an overripe melon or the fact that there was a very good chance that I had ruined my relationship with the mare I cared for most in the world.         She nodded, “I thought about it, and I mean I really thought about it around the time you propositioned the third mare that evening, but first of all, I couldn’t storm off all upset because leaving you alone would be in violation of of that form thingy I signed, and second of all, once I got to thinking about it I remembered that letting you drink alcohol while on your meds was a very bad idea. Guess I found out why last night.”         “So you aren’t going to break up with me then?” I asked as I tried to get up on my hooves before deciding anything that involved movement wasn’t a good idea at the moment.         Vinyl shook her head, “Can’t blame you entirely for something that is partially my fault, and I figure that I am just as responsible for your drunken train wreck as you are. Also, I had, like, a day to think things over while you were passed out and vomiting.”         “I vomited?” I asked, looking around for any signs to back up her claim.         She nodded,“Oh yeah, lucky for you, I learned plenty of spells for cleaning that stuff up back in academy.” She said, laying down next to me. “The bedsheets are as cleans as if they were just laundered.”         I smiled as she wrapped her foreleg around me, “I don’t know how you do it Vinyl, I tried being impulsive and free-spirited and the results could charitably be described as an absolute disaster.”         “Two things,” she said, wrapping a forehoof around me, “Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t do every damned thing that pops into my head. I mean, sure I express myself freely and I love a good time as much as the next mare, but I don’t just do whatever I feel like all the time. If I did that, I probably never would have graduated from academy. Second, and most importantly, all that fussiness you were trying to do away with yesterday is what makes you you, and it’s what made me fall in love with you in the first place. Sure, I think it would be good if you expressed yourself a bit more and talked with me about what is bugging you as opposed to bottling every issue you have up until you have a crazy mental breakdown, and you know, if you try to change who you are just to spite your parents then it still kind of feels like you are giving them power.”         “That…” I mulled over her words, “I keep forgetting how inciteful you can be when you set your mind to it.         She nodded and kissed my cheek, “Yep, I try not to make a habit of dispensing wisdom all the time, otherwise ponies will be hounding me day and night, but I figure I can make an exception for you. Now how do you want to play things from here?”         “What do you mean?” I asked.         “Well, I mean, are you going to go back to being Tavi classic or are you going to keep trying to figure out this whole free-spirit thing? Because I should warn you if you have another night like last night, then we are done. Hay, we would have been done last night if it weren’t for the fact that I kind of dropped the ball as well.”         I sat up and tried to think coherently without having my head crash in on itself. The two tasks proved difficult to manage simultaneously, but I managed to persevere. “I think… I don’t think I ever want to have a night like last night again.” My hoof drifted up to my now exposed neck, “And I think I made a mistake throwing away my bowtie and collar.”         Vinyl smiled and went over to her dresser, “Remember when I said I left something in the room? Well, that wasn’t quite true. See, you left something in the room and I thought you might want it back later.”         As she spoke, something white and pink floated over towards me and a cursory examination revealed it to be my lost bowtie. “You saved it for me.”         “Sure did,” she said, sitting on the bed next to me, “I thought you might want it back later and I also think that you look absolutely bangin’ wearing it.”         “Banging means good, correct?” I asked as I donned my familiar collar.         “Of course, it’s like a higher version of sexy, so if you see a mare who makes you feel like your heart is trying to jump out of your mouth, you say that she looks bangin.’ I guess you are going back to Tavi classic?”         “Not quite,” I said as I finished adjusting my bowtie, “While I don’t think I will be acting impulsively any time in the foreseeable future, I will try to express myself freely, and I think keeping that little pink stripe in my mane and tail will be a lovely reminder of that goal.”         “So, just to make sure I have this clear in my mind, you are going to start sharing your feelings with me AND keep that pink skunk stripe?”         I nodded.         “Awesome, that’s like classic Tavi with a wonderful new twist, and you found a way to look even sexier.”         “Thank you,” I said as I felt blood rush to my cheeks and a smile form on my lips, “So if all that is taken care of, what do you want to do now?”         “Well,” she said after kissing the back of my neck, “If I recall, a certain somepony said we could spend all of Tuesday in our room, and while I suppose we did wind up spending a lot of the day in our rooms, I don’t think it is what either of us had in mind, so I think a redo would be pretty fun.”         She was wrong on that last bit, the redo was absolutely amazing, and I think that is all I feel the need to say about Wednesday.