“How do you even see out of these, Vinyl?” Octavia demanded as the two of them briskly trotted through Ponyville. “They're so dark.”

“You’re eyes will adjust. Er… my eyes will adjust… I think…”

Octavia sighed, not wanting to think about whose eyes would be adjusting to the shades. She just wanted this whole ordeal over and done with. She noticed Vinyl had yet to turn her gaze back to the road.

“What? Is something wrong?” Vinyl opened her mouth to reply. “I mean besides what is obviously wrong.”

Vinyl scrunched up her face, annoyed that Octavia had shut down her sarcastic quip. “You’re just bleeding a lot.”

Octavia’s eyebrows arched, not that Vinyl could see them under the shades. “I am?”

Vinyl indicated where Octavia was bleeding by pointing at her cheek. Octavia wiped her face and brought to her vision a hoof stained with a surprising amount of blood.

“Oh… oh my,” Octavia whispered, suddenly feeling faint. How did I lose that much blood without knowing?

“Relax, that’s more my problem than yours technically.”

“Well it’s my problem now! What if I die while in your body?” Vinyl actually laughed, causing Octavia to flinch. She wasn’t – and never will be – used her body laughing at her manically with her voice. “This is serious!”

“Yeah, I’m sure it is.” Vinyl laughed. “Geeze Tavi, you got one cut. What? Do you think you’ll bleed out or something?”

“Maybe. You don’t exactly have a high intake of vitamin K.” The dumbstruck look on Vinyl’s face just made Octavia sigh knowing she had wasted words. “I’m saying you could bleed out if the cut is deep enough.”

Vinyl snickered. “Worst case scenario, I get a scar. Which would actually be great, 'cause scars are bitchin’.”

“Vinyl,” Octavia seethed, “what did I tell you about using my voice for profanity?”

Vinyl rolled her eyes, her purple pupils mocking Octavia with her lack of control over them. Vinyl then made a fart noise with her mouth.

“That’s even worse!” She shouted. Vinyl cracked up at her fuming, which just made Octavia grit her teeth in anger. “I swear to Celestia, Vinyl, if you do that again I will–”

“PPFFRRTT!”

Octavia opened her mouth to berate her best friend, but was cut off yet again.

“Octavia, darling, is that you?” a gentle, posh voice called out. Octavia felt her eyes go wide at the sound of her friend Rarity. She turned, seeing the unicorn no more than twenty yards away, and she was approaching them. “It is you.” Rarity smiled. “Where have you been, darling? I haven’t seen you around town in a few days.”

There was a pause, and Octavia looked towards Vinyl, expecting her to say something. Vinyl was lazily staring off into space, until she caught sight of Octavia glaring at her and snapped out of it.

“Oh, right, that’s me,” Vinyl turned to Rarity. “Right, sorry. Hello… you…”

Octavia wanted to facehoof really bad right now. Rarity just awkwardly shifted, having not expected that sort of answer. Vinyl eventually realized she still had to answer a question. “Oh yeah, I was in Manehattan.”

“Oh really,” Rarity remarked. “I’ve had quite a few interesting experiences in Manehattan myself. What were you there for?”

Octavia impatiently tapped her hoof as Vinyl replied. She actually seemed kind of engaged with Rarity, which was bad. They were doing nothing but wasting time by staying here with Rarity, whom she knew from experience could get exceptionally chatty. At any normal time Octavia would be fine with it, however now wasn’t a normal time. Not normal in the slightest.

She nudged Vinyl’s leg. “Ahem, Octavia if you don’t mind, we have somewhere to be.”

“Huh? Oh yeah.” She turned back to Rarity. “Sorry, we… uh… gotta go.”

Rarity’s eyes darted from Octavia to Vinyl. “Oh I see, your friend looks like she needs to go to a hospital.”

“Uh, no, actually we were just going to go to Princess Twilight and–”

“Twilight? Oh goodness no, she has absolutely no medical training. Besides, she’d probably make a situation like this go from bad to worse.” Rarity’s expression faltered. “Uh… please don’t inform her that I said that.”

“No prob', dude,” Vinyl said in the most un-Octavia way possible.

Rarity blinked. “Yes, well, certainly you two should get to the hospital now.”

“Actually we really need to talk to Twilight and– oww.” The cut on her cheek suddenly split open further as she spoke. It was like a hundred tiny fires bouncing around on her face.

“You doing okay, Ta– I mean Vinyl?”

“Not really,” Octavia groaned. “I think I really do need to go to a hospital.”

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “But what about that…” She glanced over at Rarity, who was still in earshot. “That thing that we really gotta do that involves Twilight?”

“I’m sure whatever it is you two need to do can wait,” Rarity told them.

“It really can’t,” Vinyl muttered. “Like, it seriously can't. You have no idea.”

“Well then, Octavia, why don’t you go to Twilight’s? I can see to it that your friend gets to the hospital.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Oh, absolutely. I just finished a new line of dresses, so I have nothing else planned for today. You don’t need to worry about inconveniencing me.” Vinyl and Octavia shared a brief look.

“Uh–” Vinyl shoved a hoof into Octavia’s mouth.

“Can you excuse my friend and me for just a moment?” Vinyl asked. Rarity nodded and waited patiently as the two of them slid out of earshot.

“Vinyl, we need to get to Princess Twilight now,” Octavia hissed. “We don’t have time for a detour with Rarity.”

“Oh, so that’s her name.” Vinyl smirked and glanced back. “It’s every bit as hot as her.”

Octavia’s jaw slid open. “Are… are you attracted to Rarity?”

“Immensely.” Vinyl winked at Rarity seductively. After an awkward look, Rarity forced a smile and a dainty wave.

“Vinyl!” Octavia almost shrieked. “You can’t be attracted to her… you’re in my body and I’m not homosexual!”

“Oh, so I have to be straight because I’m in your body?” Vinyl snorted. “Fine, but by your own logic that makes you a fillyfooler.”

“Shut up. I don’t care which one of us is homosexual right now; I just want to get to Princess Twilight and fix this mess! Ahh…” The cut split open wider, and Octavia bit her lip to quell the pain.

Vinyl raised her eyebrow. “Look, Rarity offered to take you to the hospital. I’ll go to the Princess and straighten this mess out while you get my face fixed, okay?”

Octavia opened her mouth to protest, but all that did was agitate her cut and force her to relent. “Urgh, fine.”

“Great. Also, could you do one more thing for me?” Vinyl put on her cheesiest, most innocent smile, which on Octavia’s face just made her look constipated.

Octavia narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Could you do me a massive solid and… you know… put the moves on Rarity for me?”

“…What?” Octavia blinked slowly. “You want me to do what?”

“Just enough to get her interested in me,” Vinyl hastily assured her. “Once we switch back I’ll take it from there.”

“You’re asking me to make Rarity attracted to you?” Octavia went slack-jawed.

“Well yeah,” Vinyl nonchalantly replied. “You already know what she likes and dislikes and stuff. Just use that to make me seem like a good match for her. Then when we switch back I’ll hump her brains out.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But Tavi…”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Well for one, I don’t even know if she’s homosexual.”

“Oh really? Well I can fix that.” Vinyl turned around. “HEY RARITY, ARE YOU A FILLYFOO–” Octavia’s hoof clamped over Vinyl’s mouth before she could utter another syllable. Her eyes darted over to Rarity. The seamstress's face was somewhere between shock and confusion.

“If you swear not to do something as asinine as that again, then I’ll consider your request,” Octavia growled into Vinyl’s ear. “Deal?”

“Deheel,” Vinyl mumbled through Octavia’s hoof. She set her foreleg down, freeing Vinyl’s mouth.

They trotted back over to Rarity, who was looking at Vinyl awkwardly.

“Octavia, are you feeling all right?”

“Never better,” Vinyl responded. “Thanks for offering to get Vinyl here to the hospital.”

“Not a problem. So long as you don’t have to go to the hospital either.”

“You are acting kind of strange, Octavia. You’re not your usual self at all,” Octavia threw in.

Vinyl rolled her eyes again. “I’m ever so sorry Rarity for my abhorrent behavior earlier. I’m just so terribly stressed right now that I’m not myself. Can you ever forgive me?”

It took Octavia all of her willpower not to slap Vinyl for her horrible impersonation. Luckily, Rarity ate it up.

“Think nothing of it, darling. We all have our off days after all.” Rarity smiled empathetically at Vinyl, who grinned suggestively in return.

“Okay,” Octavia butted in. “Uh… Rarity, could you get me to the hospital now? My face is really starting to hurt.”

“Oh right, absolutely… Vinyl wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” Octavia grabbed Rarity by the hoof and dragged her away from Vinyl. “Now hurry up… please.”

Rarity picked up her pace, obviously not partial to being pulled. Octavia really didn’t care at this point; she just had to get Rarity away from Vinyl before she spontaneously combusted out of frustration towards her friend.

“Bye Rarity, hate to see you go, love to watch you leave.” Octavia glanced back and flinched as she saw Vinyl observing Rarity’s… more intimate areas as they walked away.

“What?” Rarity called out, turning her head.

“Just keep walking,” Octavia demanded, her cheeks flushing a little. I swear, the second I have my body back I will destroy that mare.

“Granny,” Apple Bloom whined. “Can Ah please have a zap apple seed now?”

Granny Smith gritted her teeth before responding. She was in the process of peeling zap apples, which unless done carefully could lead to a jolt of electricity running through her old bones. It was dangerous work, but Granny didn’t trust anypony else to peel the apples correctly. “Ah told ya, yougnin’, Ah’m still at the peeling phase. Removing the seeds won’t be fer a while longer.”

“But Granny!”

“Be patient, Apple Bloom.”

“But Ah want it now!”

Granny Smith suddenly flinched, the raw skin of the zap apple giving her a shock. “Dangnabbit Apple Bloom, ya dun made me lose mah concentration.”

“Oh.” Apple Bloom’s head sank. “Ah’m sorry, Granny.”

Granny Smith sighed. “Why don’tcha play outside fer a while, Apple Bloom. Maybe yer clumsy brother bruised an apple so bad that we can’t use it. Ya can get yer seeds from there if ya want.”

Apple Bloom perked up. “Okay, thanks Granny!” She bolted out the door and out into the fields. She had to get the seeds soon, knowing that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle would be over to test the potion before too long.

Granny Smith just shook her head as her granddaughter ran out. "Ah swear, one o' these days that filly will cause some real trouble."

Vinyl sped through town, eyes glued to the massive castle that was impossible not to notice. Despite her discontent with being trapped in Octavia’s body, she couldn’t help but wear a smile on her face. Things were quickly starting to look up for her.

“It’s not like Tavi’ll pull it off,” Vinyl murmured to herself in an attempt to keep her hopes from getting too high. “Though it sucks I’m going to miss seeing her try to flirt.” Her mouth curved upwards even more at the thought.

The castle was closer now, its reflective surface nearly blinding Vinyl when she got too close. She swore, shutting her eyes. Of all the days to not wear my shades. Blinking, Vinyl kept her gaze bent towards the ground as she approached. Once she reached the door she ignited her horn to open it… or rather, she tried to.

“Right, no magic,” Vinyl lamented, glancing at her bare forehead. Settling for other methods, she pounded the door with her hoof for a solid minute until it begrudgingly swung open.

“What is it?” a sleepy dragon asked. Vinyl recognized him after some thought. He was always around Princess Twilight with a quill and paper. She assumed he was her secretary or something.

“Uh… S’up, is the princess in?”

The dragon raised an eyebrow. “What do you need?”

“Magical emergency,” Vinyl tersely replied. She would explain the full story, but first she needed to find a way to tell it without making herself seem like an idiot.

The dragon looked her over, noting her forehead. “But… you’re an Earth pony.”

“That would be the emergency.” The dragon showed no sign of comprehension. “Okay look, long story short. I’m a unicorn – name’s Vinyl, by the way – I just drank a body-switching potion and so did my roommate, now I’m here, so get the bucking Princess out here already.”

“Wait… did you say you drank a body-switching potion?”

Vinyl nodded, and the dragon groaned to himself. “Great, nice job Apple Bloom. Twilight’s gonna pop a vein when she hears about this.”

“My roommate's already popped like, five of ‘em. Can you get the Princess out here now?”

The dragon weakly smiled. “Yeah… about that… she isn’t here.” His words sent a jarring panic through Vinyl.

“WHAT!”

“She went to a Princess Summit in Canterlot, and won’t be back for at least a week.”

“Are you kidding me?” Vinyl wailed. She grabbed the dragon and shook him frantically. “Please tell me you’re kidding me!”

“Will. You. Calm. Down!” the dragon demanded. Vinyl stopped shaking him and sheepishly set him down, embarrassed by her outburst. “Thank you.”

“So… she’s really gone.” The seriousness of the situation slapped Vinyl across the face.

“Yeah… sorry about that. I don’t really think I can help you. You’re gonna have to wait until Twilight gets back to get this fixed.”

“Well I can’t do that,” Vinyl snapped. “I have a DJ-ing gig tonight and my roommate doesn’t exactly have the skills to do it for me.”

“You’re a DJ?” The dragon asked excitedly. Vinyl gave him a sharp look. “That’s not important right now, sorry.”

“Do you know anypony that can help?” Vinyl pleaded. “I don’t think I need to stress how much I want my body back.”

“Well, I could always send a letter to Twilight to let her know what’s going on, but I doubt she’ll be able to get back earlier. Other than that, I guess you could talk to the pony who made the potion, but I doubt she could help you.”

“You mean that kid? What’s her name again?”

“Apple Bloom. She’s usually hanging around the clubhouse with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. It’s somewhere in the apple orchards if you want to try and find her.” While the dragon spoke he grabbed a quill and some paper from inside, scribbling down a quick note.

“'Kay, I’ll look there. Thanks for the help… uh…”

“Spike,” he answered for her, finishing up his writing. Spike rolled up the note and breathed a green flame onto it. The parchment dissolved into smoke and floated away. “There, Twilight should be getting that in a few seconds.”

“Dude, that was bitchin’,” Vinyl remarked as she watched the smoke fade away.

“Huh? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that word before. What does it mean?” For the first time, Vinyl realized how young Spike sounded.

“Uh, it means… you know what, not important. Thanks for your help, Spike.” Vinyl gave a quick wave before turning around and running off. She had to find Apple Bloom quickly, but she already knew that Octavia was going to be beyond mad when she learned that Twilight was gone.