A deep scent of recently harvested hay and the fresh smell of an orchard filled your nostrils as you walked down the worn dirt road. It was always nice to get away from the heart of Ponyville and step into its' outskirts every so often, especially when it was to see somepony as awesome as Applejack. As you looked out to your right at the giant farming grounds and saw a severe absence of snow, you figured either Applejack and Big Macintosh were very good at shoveling snow, or that the Cloudsdale pegasi decided to hold off on the intense weather for a few days. Even though you loved snow, you welcomed the break. You followed the road for about a quarter of a mile and you saw the sign for Sweet Apple Acres start to come in to view down the path. The sign read "Sweet Apple Acres" and below that, "Apple Family Ranch" etched into a large piece of oak.

The real reason why you came all this way was to talk to Applejack about getting a job, but you recently began visiting random ponies' houses just so you could get to know everypony and so that you wouldn't look like a recluse. The fact that so many ponies knew about you made this hobby relatively easy. Otherwise, you would get be getting some calls from the police right about now. Applejack wasn't a boring character by any stretch of the definition, so even if you couldn't land a job, you knew you'd still enjoy talking with her.

Thankfully, as you looked back to the fields, you saw that neither Applejack nor Big Mac were working. The sun was nearly directly above you, so you figured that they were inside eating lunch. The dirt road abruptly ended and turned into a circle with the Apple family barn on your left, and a multi-story house on the right.

The old wooden steps leading up to the porch creaked in protest as you put your weight on them. You looked down somewhat carefully before putting your first hoof down in fear of getting splinters. Multiple rocking chairs and a small bench-swing decorated the porch. There was a large barrel of apples next to the swing that had every kind you could think of. They looked so ripe and juicy that your mouth began to water and you had to hold yourself back from trotting over and stealing a bite or two. Perhaps it was a recently formed appetite for apples, since you were now a pony. You swallowed some saliva in your mouth to keep from drooling.

After reaching the porch, you walked up to the screen door and gave three solid knocks against its wooden framing. You could hear the clatter of metal utensils coming from inside and some muffled chatter that quickly died down after you knocked. You didn't have to wait long before you could see the outline of somepony behind the screen coming around the corner. Large thumps vibrated the wooden porch below your hooves as the outline of the pony got larger and larger the closer it got to the door. It didn't take much thinking to figure out who it was.

The door opened and you were greeted by none other than Big Macintosh, who didn't seem to entirely recognize you at first. Since you hadn't gotten a chance to meet him yet, and since he didn't seem like the type to get too involved with affairs outside of the farm, you couldn't entirely blame him.

"Can ah help ya?" He sounded a tiny bit rude for greeting someone he didn't know, but then again, you were the one interrupting their lunch.

"Oh... Um... Hey! I'm Alex, nice to meet you!" You held out your hoof to shake his and he shook it, albeit a little hesitantly. It was a start. "Anyways, I was just dropping by because-"

"Well shake mah reigns, look who it is!" Applejack trotted up behind Big Mac with a large smile on her face, apparently overjoyed to see you.

"Uh... You know 'em?" Big Mac turned to her with his eyebrows tilted in confusion.

"Well duh, Big Mac, everypony knows 'em! Don't 'cha remember that human fella who came over here?"

"Eeyup."

"That's him!"

"But... Ah thought he left a while back."

Applejack put a hoof to her face and shook her head as you sat there with a humble smile on your face.

"Big Mac, ya big dummy, that is him! The princesses done turned him into a pony cuz' he decided to stay! Don't cha pay attention tah anything that happens in Equestria?"

"Oh..."

"Get it now?" Applejack walked past him and opened the door further.

"Eeyup." You couldn't help but chuckle a little at the two siblings.

"Anywho, we were just about tah start eatin' lunch. Come on in, make yerself a plate."

"A-are you sure? I don't wanna intrude or anything..."

"T'aint no problem atall! We got plenty a' grub so get as much as yah want!" Your stomach was getting a bit empty and the nip in the air made it a little worse, so you took her up on her offer and followed the two inside.

It was surprisingly warm inside despite their front door only being a thin screen, but as you saw there were log fireplaces lit in nearly every room on your way to the kitchen, you found out why.

You had grown surprisingly used to the overly-exposed parts of a mare, but you still couldn't help but to steal a peek at Applejack's rump as you followed her down the hallway. It was extremely tight and firm, which was to be expected of somepony who did as much physical work as she did. Vinyl's was far superior in many ways, but Applejack's still managed to arouse you a bit. It embarrassed you to think that you were actually beginning to rate mares' plots and scolded yourself for being such a pervert.

Suddenly, Applejack's head turned around and caught you staring at her. Your eyes quickly shot up to the ceiling out of embarrassment. However, when you looked back at her, she didn't look upset or even slightly annoyed. Instead, to your surprise, she smiled at you and giggled a little. You would've just laughed it off with her if it weren't for her shooting a tiny wink at you before turning back around.

Wait... What?!

You exclaimed mentally while biting down on your lip desperately to try and not make your shaft grow. Before you could even start to comprehend what just happened, you were in the dining room with the entire Apple family.

"Hehh? Who's that?" Old Granny smith exclaimed out of confusion.

"Granny, this is Alex. You know, our special guest from that other world?"

"Oh yes... Come 'ere boy, lemme get a look at 'cha" A little embarrassed, you stepped forward to her and gave her a nervous smile. She pinched your leg fur a little and turned your chin towards her.

"Ehh, not too shabby. Shucks, if only I were still young."

"Uh...T-thanks?" Your face turned red and your eyes drifted away from her.

"Granny, stop that! Yer embarrasin 'em!" Applejack tried to protest but she started giggling herself.

As if you're helping, Applejack...

So many things were going through your head at once as you tried to concentrate on relieving the blush on your cheeks. Not only did you just get hit on by somepony that was old enough to be your grandma, but what in Equestria was Applejack up to? Could it have been that the same heat that Vinyl was having a couple of days ago somehow spread around and eventually got to AJ?

A small tug on the fur on your leg broke you out of your thoughts and spiked your nerves, making you jump. However, as you looked down, you were greeted by a cheerful smile by Applebloom.

"Oh...hey." You smiled apologetically and leaned down to the cute little filly. "Whats up, Applebloom?"

"H-how do ya know mah name already?"

"I...Uh..."

Applejack cleared her throat to cut down on the multiple digressions. "Applebloom, be a good guest and get our friend Alex here a plate, why don't 'cha?"

"Sure! Ah'll be right back!" She scurried off into the kitchen. Applejack scooted a chair back for you to sit in and you took it with a warm "Thank you".

"Now, Ah assume you came here to talk about gettin' yerself a job, right?" Applejack asked you as she took her cowboy hat off and hung it on the back of her chair.

In all the commotion, you nearly forgot about it. "Mhmm."

Applejack and Big Mac shared an awkward glance at each other.

"What's wrong?"

"I-it's nothin...It's just that..."

Big Mac broke the ice, which surprised you. "It's tradition 'round here not 'ta use magic to do tha work."

Your initial reaction was to feel a little offended, since you had no choice whether or not to be a unicorn. Now that you thought about it, you did, to an extent. However, the sense of unfairness still lingered. You chose not to start anything, though.

"Oh... I mean, I could still do physical work without using my magic."

"Ya could..." Applejack tried her best to be as fair as possible. "If it were us, it'd be fine, but some of the other family members that come 'round here from out of town might look down on us 'fer it. I'm sorry, Alex. I know 'taint fair..."

"Nono, its okay!" You smiled and waved your hoof dismissively. "From what you're telling me, I'm guessing it isn't your fault anyways."

You heard a clatter on the table in front of you and looked down to see a large steaming hot slice of apple pie. Your mouth began to water as you smelled the deep sweet aroma of the cinnamon mixed with freshly cooked apples.

"Apple pie for lunch?" You giggled a little.

"We usually do a lot of work 'round lunch time, so the extra sugar gets our juices flowin' real good. Go ahead! Try some!"

Applebloom smiled widely, anxious to see your reaction to the pie. You looked around the table to see everypony doing the same. Unable to resist the pie's allure, you took the fork next to your plate and shoveled a large bite into your mouth. It was a little too hot and you realized that you should have blown on it first. However, the heat died down and it was replaced by a sweet apple flavor that made your eyes close in delight. It was accented by slightly sour apple chunks in the center that, combined, made it one of the best pies you ever tasted.

"So how's my pie taste?"

Applejack teased with a naughty twinkle in her eye from across the table. The obvious sexual innuendo almost made you spit the pie out in surprise and embarrassment, but you managed to keep it in. You swallowed it with one big gulp. Either nopony else in the room picked up on the suggestive comment, or they were too entertained by your reaction to say anything about it.

"Well?" Applejack taunted you more by biting her lip.

"It's amazing. Probably one of the best pies I've ever had."

"Woohoo!" Applebloom shouted, obviously pleased that you liked it.

Thankfully, Applejack backed down from her bedroom eyes and gave you a break. However, you weren't halfway through your second bite before a knock came at the door.

"Ah'll get it." Applejack got up from the table and brushed her tail against your fur as she trotted past. She acted as if it were accidental, but you knew in your gut that it wasn't. You took another bite of the pie, making sure to blow on it first. You heard the door creak open from the front of the house followed by some faint muffled talking that you couldn't understand. You went back to the pie as you could hear two sets of hooves coming back down the hall.

"Sir Alex..." Twilight's commanding motherly voice snapped your attention from the pie. You froze as you immediately remembered where you were supposed to be at that very moment.

Your cheeks turned red as you laughed nervously. "I told you not to call me that..."

"What time is it?"

"Um..."

"Half past one, if my gooks n' gears in this darned thing ain't messin up again." Granny smith tapped her watch with her hoof and looked at it with one eye.

"Alex, what time were we supposed to start magic training?"

"Erm...One?" You smiled innocently.

"Come on, mister. We've got work to do." She took your hoof and pulled you up from the table, leaving your half-eaten pie.

"Plus, you've got a meeting with Princess Celestia today at three. I hope you haven't forgotten why you're here in the first place." She smiled and led you out of the door.

You were barely able to turn around to give the Apples a wave goodbye before exiting the house and following Twilight back down the dirt road. You focused your eyes on Applejack through the window who was waving back. To your surprise, she gave you another wink.

"Hey, Twi?" You turned your head back around.

"Yeah?"

"Is there like... Some kind of sexual season going on right now?"

"Uhh... 'scuse me?" She raised an eyebrow at you as the two of you continued trotting.

"I mean, Vinyl said she was in heat a couple of days ago, and I could have sworn Applejack was starting to hit on me a little back there..."

"Well... I've read some books on it before. From what I read, mare heat cycles do tend to affect mares around them subconsciously. So, I suppose it's not too unlikely that Vinyl's heat cycle triggered cycles in other ponies around her, eventually reaching Applejack. It actually seems like a fun research subje- Wait... she was hitting on you?!"

"Yeah... At least it felt like it."

"Hmm... That doesn't really sound like something Applejack would normally do. I'm not really sure what to tell you other than to not give in. You've got a marefriend now, remember? I'm sure it's just their hormones talking, anyways"

"And you stay away from alcohol as well, Ms. Princess. We both know where that leads." You chuckled under your breath.

"Alex! I thought we said that was under the bridge..." Her face turned bright red.

"Sorry, sorry. I just like teasing you from time to time." Twilight punched your shoulder with her hoof as revenge. It wasn't too hard, but hard enough to sting a little.

"Ow..."

"You should be thankful that I haven't told Vinyl about that."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry... I won't bring it up again."

"Good." Twilight tilted her chin up and smiled victoriously, but then snapped back to attention. "Oh, speaking of Vinyl, that reminds me of something."

"What's that?" The two of you found your way onto the main road of Ponyville.

"Somepony came up to me today and told me to give you a message."

"Huh? Who?"

"Um... I... Dunno..."

"So somepony came up to you... But you didn't ask what their name was or even noticed what they looked like?"

"T-they said something about wanting to meet you tonight behind Sugarcube Corner. She said to tell you that it would be a new moon tonight and that you would understand what it meant."

"So... We know it's a mare since you said she... You're hiding something, aren't you?" You grinned.

"Oh! Hey, look at that! We're here already!" Twilight quickly unlocked her front door and went inside before you could poke any more holes in her story. You put your hoof to your face and groaned, but let the issue slide.

"By the way, what were you doing at Applejack's place anyway?" Twilight tossed her keys onto the coffee table.

"I was following up on her job offer." You closed the door behind you and made sure it was locked.

"Really? How did It go?" Twilight turned to you with a hopeful expression.

"They said that it 'wasn't tradition' to let unicorns work on their farm because they didn't like using magic or something."

"Oh...I'm sorry, Alex."

"It's alright, I can understand where they're coming from. Is there any place else that might be looking for employees?"

"Well..." Twilight rubbed her chin and looked up at the ceiling in thought before chuckling a little.

"What?"

"I was going to say you could be my personal assistant, but Spike may not like that."

You smiled and nodded. "Yeah... After what happened with Owlowiscious, I have a feeling that might not sit well with him."

She gave you a blank face and sighed before turning around and beginning to sort miscellaneous books that were laying on the floor.

"One of these days, you're going to have to explain to me how you know so much about these things."

You crashed on the couch and exhaled. "Even if I told you, you probably wouldn't understand."

After she put back the remaining books that were scattered about, she pulled one off of the top shelf and floated it down to you while she trotted into the kitchen to make some tea. You looked through the pages that she had opened the book to and smiled once you read "Basic Levitation" on the top left corner. She carried on the conversation from the kitchen.

"Today, we're going to be learning something a little more practical rather than a bunch of boring old theories."

You noticed that Twilight added a sarcastic tone to the "boring old theories" part. It was probably because you had been moaning and groaning about taking magic lessons but not actually using magic during past lessons with her.

"Sweet!" You flipped through the pages and began to read aloud.

"Basic Levitation. First discovered by... blah blah blah... perfected by Starswirl the Bearded. It can range from performing menial household chores to constructing giant dams. It's values are paramount when taking your first steps into the world of magic. While the principles of the ability are somewhat straight-forward, the execution and techniques may vary from subject to subject... May vary? What's that mean?" You picked your head up from the book as Twilight put down some tea for you and curled up onto the arm chair across from you.

"It means that everypony has their own way of doing it, so you shouldn't get bogged down by rigid rules and techniques."

"Sounds like my kind of spell."

"I figured that. There are some ways to do it that seem to work for many others, so let's start with some more common techniques. I usually think about reversing the gravitational pull on the object and imagining a larger mass above it that makes a positive relationship-"

"Uh..." You looked at her confusedly.

Twilight sighed. "In layman's terms, try imagining that the planet is above the object, rather than below it. Here-" She took out a hawk feather from a nearby drawer. "Try this first, and then we'll work our way up to larger objects."

"Okay..."

You stared at the dark brown feather and squinted your eyes in concentration, imagining a giant planet above the object. Twilight had an eager smile on her face, but you did your best to drown her out and focus. Before long, you could feel your horn tingle and a bright transparent light formed around the feather. Your spirits lifted when it happened since the only thing you had been practicing over the last few days was spell targeting. You bit your lip and imagined the planet getting bigger and bigger, and the feather seemed to react at first. It slowly lifted into the air, but the familiar ache in your forehead began to form after a while, hinting that you were over-using your magic.

"Hmm... It doesn't seem to be working well... You have a good spell target, though. Keep trying, Alex."

You relaxed your "magic muscle" that Twilight had been training you to use and took a deep breath before closing your eyes and trying again. You pictured a planet the size of the sun hovering just over the object and tried to forget about the ground beneath you that was pulling the opposite direction. Peeking through your right eye, you were pleased to see that the feather was nearly a foot off of the table, but the ache in your forehead came more quickly than last time.

"Okay, relax."

"Geez, this is hard..." You took a sip of tea before slumping into the couch and rubbing your head.

"Actually, I don't think it's your fault. You're using plenty of magic on it, but its just not reacting. It's almost as if there's a barrier between the connection between you and the object. Or, at least, that's what it looks like. Maybe we should try another way of doing it?"

"Sure..."

Twilight picked up the book and floated it towards her, flipping forward a few pages. She hummed a tune to herself while keeping her smile on. After a few seconds, she stopped on one page and traced through the lines of text with her hoof while looking closely to focus on the tiny text.

"Ah, here we go. Let's try this one." She placed the book back on the table. "Think about actually lifting the object with your hoof this time."

"Seems simple enough."

You stood up from the couch and stared at the feather. Once the familiar white glow surrounded it, you slowly exhaled and did as Twilight said. The small fibers of the feather fluttered gently just as before, but as you imagined picking or pushing it up with your hoof, it remained still.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!!!"

Your heart nearly jumped out of your throat as your attention quickly turned to the open window to your left. You were just barely able to see a glimpse of a blue pegasus before it crashed onto the balcony outside and rolled through the balcony doors and into the room. Books and papers went everywhere. It wasn't until the pony tumbled and rolled over the rug that you jumped up and backed away quickly.

"Oof!" The pony abruptly stopped via slamming into the side of the couch. Cautiously, you peeked over the couch and looked down.

"Rainbow Dash! That's the third time this month!"

Twilight scolded the nearly concussed pegasus who was laying on her side and moving her head around deliriously, trying to regain focus. Her eyes, which were almost identical to Vinyl's, spun around in their sockets. You quickly trotted around and bent down to her.

"Oh my god, are you okay?!"

She shook her head and blinked a few times. "Wha... What happened?"

You checked through her mane frantically to make sure she didn't split open her head, but were relieved when you didn't see a drop of blood.

"A-Alex?" She looked up with you as her eyes began to readjust.

"Here, let me help you."

You picked her hoof up and tried to pull her on all fours. Eventually, she pulled back and stumbled slightly before balancing herself. She wobbled over to the couch and laid down on her side, revealing a large bump on her head. You quickly rushed into the kitchen and put some ice inside of a towel.

"Ugh, my head..." You could hear the couch springs creak as she shifted her weight on it.

"Ya know... You could've picked the grass to crash in." Twilight narrowed her eyes at her while cleaning the recently made mess.

"Twilight, let's make sure she's okay first before we fuss at her, alright?" You were too nervous on Rainbow's health to realize that you sounded a bit pushy. Your peripherals caught a small string laying on the kitchen table, and you used it to tie the makeshift ice bag closed.

"Okay, Okay. I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. How are you feeling?"

"Well, nothing seems broken, but my head feels like a- Nnnghhh... That's cold..."

You made sure the ice bag was directly on the bump and then trotted around to sit next to her on the couch, keeping a close eye on her.

"That should numb the pain and reduce swelling, just don't move it, okay?" Concern was written all over your eyes.

She fiddled with it a little bit before finding a comfortable spot for it and then laying her head down on the pillow that you had just put down for her.

"Thanks, Alex... You're the best."

"I'm just glad you didn't get knocked unconscious... What happened?"

"Well... I think I was trying to do a pretzel loop or something... I can't really remember."

Twilight cleared her throat purposefully. "Let's continue, shall we?"

"Huh? Continue what?"

"We were having a magic lesson."

Rainbow laughed softly while keeping her eyes shut to rest. "Lessons? Lessons are for eggheads. I learned to fly all on my own!" She flapped her wing a couple of times triumphantly before wincing in pain and tucking it back.

"Oh? And I suppose reading is for eggheads too, right?" You grinned at her and chuckled under your breath.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, but cut herself off and closed it again shortly after. "Well played, Alex."

"Come on, Alex, stay focused. Let's try this again. Remember, lifting with your hoof."

"Right, right."

You could feel the eyes of the two mares bearing down upon you, even when you closed your eyes. However, you were eventually able to forget about them. Just like before, you felt your figurative magic muscle contract and you felt the *click* of the spell target enveloping around the feather. You took a small pause to collect your thoughts before-

"Uh, is it supposed be sitting still?"

"Rainbow! Shush!" Twilight held a hoof to her mouth.

"Heheh... Sorry."

Even though you were able to disregard the sudden distraction, you knew that you wouldn't be able to lift it using the "hoof lifting" technique. You pinched your stressed temples and gave up.

"Not working?" Twilight's head tilted to the side, which was accompanied by a slight frown.

"I don't know... It just feels like I'm trying way too hard, but nothing's... Clicking. I guess..."

"Hmm... Okay. Let's go a different route. This time, just go with whatever naturally comes to mind."

"Huh?"

"Yeah! Do it your own way, just like I said!" Rainbow smiled up at you.

"Okay, Dash." You giggled a little at how cute her tiny voice cracks were when she got excited.

There were a few finches tweeting on a nearby branch outside as you brainstormed long and hard for ways to help you levitate, but you did your best to ignore them. At first, your mind drifted towards the idea of imagining picking the feather up instead of pushing it up from beneath it, but that would likely have the same outcome. The thought of making the object magnetic and holding a magnet above it sounded good, so you closed your eyes and tried it out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop!"

"Huh? What's wro-"

You opened your eyes, not expecting to see a giant bright orb swirling around above the coffee table. It nearly blinded you when you looked directly at it, but you could tell that it was getting larger and larger. In addition, it initiated a royal freak-out session when it began pulling you, Twilight and Rainbow Dash towards it's center.

"Alex! What the heck did you do?! Make it stop!!!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!!!"

You grabbed a hold of Rainbow to make sure she didn't get sucked into the bright blinding behemoth of energy. You shut your eyes tight and went with your first instinct. Instead of thinking about magnetic attraction, you fabricated the idea that the feather and the magnet that you were imagining earlier both had the same charge so that they would push away from each other. You heard the orb whine in a high pitched manner as you kept thinking about it as if your life depended on it.

The whining from the orb immediately stopped, but when you opened your eyes, you were greeted by a not-so-soft force that knocked you back, making the couch fall back with you as well. You blacked out right before your head slingshotted directly against the floor.

"I guess you're not coming tonight?" Vinyl looked over her shoulder at Octy while packing her speakers into her giant luggage bags.

"Maybe... I'm not sure." Vinyl took that as a "no".

"Alex will be there. You could dance with him. I wouldn't be jealous."

Vinyl stopped and thought about it for a moment.

"Okay I might get a little jealous..." She waved the issue aside with her hoof. "Look, that's not the point. I just want you to let loose and have some fun every once and a while, you know? I don't want you to be a recluse or anything..."

Octavia took a sip of her red wine and then held her head in her hooves.

"I appreciate the concern, Vinyl, I really do. It's just that-"

Both of their heads snapped up and their ears perked to the sudden *bang!* that sounded in the distance.

Vinyl raised an eyebrow and she lost concentration on the small speaker she was levitating. It was just about to make contact with the floor before Vinyl quickly reacted and caught it at the last second.

"Tha heck was that?!"

"No idea..."

Octavia could have sworn that it came from the direction of Twilight's house, but she was too worn down and had too much wine in her belly to really care at the moment. They both knew that the unicorn was always up to experiments and simply brushed it off as just that.

"By the way, you're drinking a little more than usual... Is something wrong?" Vinyl finished stuffing the rest of her cables and cords into the luggage pockets and zipped them up tight before approaching Octavia slowly with concern in her heart.

"I'm fine, Vinyl. I'm just..."

Due to the alcohol in her system, she nearly decided to spill the beans about Alex at that very moment, but her better judgment miraculously made its way through and stopped her.

"It's a long story." She sighed and cursed herself mentally for nearly making the mistake of the century.

"Oh...Okay..." Vinyl's concern didn't wane one bit. "Octy, I know we don't always get to talk a lot because of my work and my sleep cycle or whatever, but you're still my best friend and I don't like seeing you like this. So, if you need to let something out, don't think twice about askin' me."

Octavia looked up at Vinyl with a smile on her face from the sudden sympathy from her roommate.

"Aw... Thank you, Vinyl. That means a lot."

Vinyl trotted back to her, leaned down, and hugged Octavia's neck softly. She responded by pushing her cheek against Vinyl's hoof and grasping onto it with her own.

"I won't be back until late as usual, so I'll see ya in the mornin'."

"Alright. Be safe, okay?"

"I will!"

Vinyl made sure everything was ready and opened the front door while simultaneously lifting the handle on her luggage bag and dragging it out behind her.

Octavia took the last sip of wine from the bottom of her glass as the door shut behind Vinyl, leaving a brief chilly draft that made her shiver a little in her chair.

"Damnit, Vinyl... Why do you have to be like that..."

She knew she should feel grateful for her roommates recent change of behavior, even though she felt in the back of her mind that it was only because of Alex acting as social glue between them. However, the caring gesture earlier simply made Octavia feel worse about what she was planning on doing later this evening.

After cleaning up the kitchen a bit and washing her glass, she made her way to the bathroom to polish her look. It was nearly a daily routine for her, especially when she was going to rehearsal or even to just take a trot around town. However, because her appearance tonight was most likely one of the most important nights of her life, she took out her lipstick, eyeliner and eyelash enhancer just for good measure.

It was things like this that made Octavia wish she was a unicorn. There were just some parts of a pony's anatomy that couldn't be reached by hoof. However, she had figured out a few tricks to help her out. After straightening her mane and making sure her bow tie was presentable, she fastened a mane brush to a fixture in the wall and dragged her tail against it.

"Hey Octy, ya in there?"

She nearly yelped in surprise.

"Oh... Uh, yes! Do you need something?"

"Yeah, I think my mane brush is in there, could ya hoof it over to me? I wanna make sure my mane doesn't go crazy tonight." Vinyl chuckled lightly from behind the door.

Octavia opened a few drawers underneath the sink until she found Vinyl's brush. She could tell it was hers because of the bright blue fibers intertwined in its bristles. The door slowly cracked open and Octavia stuck out the brush to her, but not before Vinyl took a peek inside and saw that she had her eyeliner and lipstick out.

"Goin someplace special tonight?"

"No, no! Just washing my mane is all!"

She quickly got in front of Vinyl so that she couldn't see inside. A bashful smile formed on her face, which didn't help her case. The DJ raised an eyebrow at her, but knew better than to pry into her roommates business too much.

"Alright... Well... I'm out so I'll see you tomorrow." She was in too much of a hurry to say a proper goodbye.

Octavia let out the huge breath of air that she was holding in her chest the entire time and then quickly went back to the sink to apply her eyelash enhancer.

She knew that after tonight, everything would change. It may be for better, or it may be for way worse. Vinyl might find out and kick her out, or even worse, disown her as a friend. Plus, she hadn't even thought about how Alex would take it. She felt terrible for being the instigator for so much drama.

One eyelash done, on to the other.

Then again, what was the best case scenario? Alex might somehow break up with Vinyl and... She blushed like a rose to the thought of them being lovey-dovey towards each other, not to mention making love. She bit her lip and tried not to grin too wide as her body shivered in excitement. Her smile attracted her eyes to the mirror that she was in front of. Even though she was the master of humility when it came to beauty, she occasionally couldn't deny how gorgeous she was.

Second eyelash done, on to the lipstick.

She knew it was pointless to dwell on what might happen in the future. That was because she was going to tell Alex how she felt about him either way. She could deal with losing Vinyl as a friend, relatively. She could deal with Alex not returning her feelings, relatively. But she would never survive another year, or even another month, watching the two fall in love with each other and standing idle while the stallion that made her heart beat fast was oblivious to her feelings for him.

Tonight was a one way trip. There was no going back, and there would be no second chances. She looked for the lunar chart that was sitting behind the medicine cabinet and opened it up, just to make sure. Tracing her hoof along the moon phases, she finally found the phase for tonight: a new moon.

Once she was finished in the bathroom, she started to walk out, but paused with her hoof on the doorknob. Her anxiety hit her hard. The next time she would be returning home would be when everything was said and done.

However, in her nervousness, she completely forgot that Vinyl was supposed to set everything up five to six hours before she actually performed, and that the actual club wouldn't open until then.

"Great."

She groaned to herself, opening the door and heading for another bottle of wine.

"More waiting."

Author's Notes:

If there are any grammatical or spelling errors, please PM me and let me know so that I can fix them asap. Thanks for reading! <3
~Canadianbrony91