Vinyl bit her lip as she attempted to connect the extension cord for her turntables. For the sixth time in a row her hooves slipped, and the plug missed.

“Dammit,” she seethed. Really starting to miss that magic of mine. She tried again, yielding only the same frustrating results. “Hey, Tav—” She bit her lip suddenly as an orange pony with a red, spiky mane walked past her field of vision. Vinyl silently cursed herself for forgetting they were in public.

All around her, the staff of Club Stirrup were engrossed in setting up for another night of wild partying. The bartender was meticulously cleaning out glasses, the over-sized bouncer was cracking his neck to look more intimidating, the tech guys were already rigging up the seizure-inducing lights and the fog machine, and the manager was yelling at everypony to do a better job.

Even Octavia was working, or rather, practicing. She hadn’t dropped the soft glow of her horn since they’d left and had taken to lifting as many objects as she could. Vinyl could tell by the bright look on her face that she was enjoying the use of magic as well.

“Hey, Vinyl,” she called. It took Octavia a moment to remember that was her and she turned. “I could use a hoof over here.”

Octavia set down the record she was holding and trotted over. “Yes, what do you need—” She glanced around, noting that a few ponies were still in earshot. “—Octavia?”

Vinyl smirked. “Oh please, call me Tavi, won’t you? You know I love it.”

Her eyelids lowered in annoyance. “No.”

With a single laugh, Vinyl indicated the two cords below her. “Worth a shot. So can you plug these in for me?”

Not willing to pass up up the opportunity to use magic again, Octavia focused a blue aura around the two plugs, and levitated them up to eye level. Narrowing her eyes, she slowly brought them together. As they sluggishly inched closer, Vinyl grew impatient.

"Oh just do it already!"

Octavia let out an "eep!" of surprise, forcing the cord together as her horn sparked and fizzed before losing its magical glow entirely. Both mares stood frozen for a moment, before realizing what this meant.

"Vin— er, Octavia, what were you thinking?" She raised her hoof to slap her, but set it down after realizing she couldn't hit her own body.

"Sorry." Vinyl winced, eyeing the now dim horn.

"Now what are we supposed to do?"

"Relax, I'll just do the thing again." Vinyl reached to rub her horn again, but Octavia swatted it away.

"Are you mental?" Octavia hissed, pulling the sunglasses of her face and drilling Vinyl with her eyes. "Do not do it here! There are ponies watching!"

Vinyl's eyes shifted around the room. Most ponies were across the dance floor, and were faced away. She wanted to roll her eyes at Octavia's paranoia, but if she wasn't comfortable with it then they wouldn't get it done.

"Fine, you look for a place for me to rub your horn and let me know when you've got one."

Octavia tilted her head. "Why don't you find one?"

"Because you're the one who's too prissy to do it here. Besides, I've got something I need to do real quick."

"Very well then." She shuffled off.

"And put my shades back on!" Vinyl called after her. Grumbling an inaudible protest, Octavia slid the sunglasses back on her face.

Vinyl trotted passed her equipment toward the bar. It was a tiny place, but prominently displayed near the center to entice ponies into drinking away their money. Despite its size, Vinyl was sure it would have exactly what she needed. The bartender glanced up as she neared the counter and gave a curt nod.

"'Sup?" she asked, hopping onto a stool. "Got any vodka on you?"

He set down the glass he was holding, which clinked noisily. "Bar doesn't really open til the the club does."

"That's only—" she glanced at the clock behind him. "—five minutes from now. Besides, it's for the DJ."

With a tight-lipped smile, he pondered her request. "Okay then." He retrieved a shot glass and a tall bottle. Biting the cork off, he poured her a shot. "It's on the house."

"Bitchin'." One sip of this, and Tavi will go into party animal mode in no time.

The bartender smiled for real this time. "No problem, gorgeous."

Vinyl barely repressed a snort. "Nice try, man, but you aren't even Octavia's type."

His eyebrow rose. "Did you just refer to yourself in the third pony?"

She bit her lip, kicking herself for the slip. "Don't judge," she said, covering her slip and grabbing the shot glass. "Octavia does what she wants."

"Whatever," he replied, trying to cover the shame of his rejection by vigorously scrubbing down a glass that he had previously cleaned.

Vinyl flashed a wicked grin and turned, nearly bumping into Rarity in the process.

She came to a halt two inches away from her snout. “Oh, hey. Er…” Vinyl cleared her throat, and in the most Octavia way possible restarted. “Salutations, Rarity. It’s quite a delight to see you.”

“Hello, Octavia,” Rarity returned with a smile that showed off a set of perfect teeth. Her indigo hair curled right into Vinyl's face but she didn't mind, and was more focused on her bright blue eyes which seemed to sparkle as she spoke. “I didn’t really expect to see you here.”

Holy shit she’s even hotter up close. “Oh you know, I’ve got to be here for Vinyl. She’s always such a good friend to me that I have to return the favor every now and again.”

“Right...” Rarity backed up slightly, likely uncomfortable from being so close.

“So what brings you here?” Vinyl asked, despite knowing the answer. Any small talk she could make with Rarity now might help her out once she was back in her old body.

“Oh, Vinyl mentioned this little ‘gig’ of hers at the hospital and I thought to myself—”

Vinyl immediately zoned out, having forgot how much small talk bored her. As Rarity continued chatting, Vinyl’s attention wandered. Her gaze lingered on Rarity’s features for a moment, but then turned to the rest of her. What surprised her was that Rarity had actually donned a light blue gown, as if she expected some level of class while at a rave.

She would’ve snickered, but her eyes were busy groping her curves, which were everywhere. Vinyl didn’t know a mare could have such a good figure, but Rarity was another example of why she didn’t know anything, apparently. It was good news too; if Rarity was one to take care of herself body-wise, then that meant they could be doing some very interesting things for a very long time. Vinyl grinned at the thought.

“—and I almost wasn’t able show up because of it,” Rarity finished.

Vinyl blinked as she realized Rarity had been speaking, and nonchalantly wiped her cheek, half expecting there to be drool. “Oh, uh… cool.”

“Cool?” Rarity said, agast. “Somepony gave my little sister alcohol for pony’s sake. And taught her an obscene word at the same time. It’s anything but cool!”

Ah, dammit. She winced. I’m really glad I’m not me right now. “Oh, er… I didn’t mean cool in the sense that it was good, I meant…. temperature?”

Rarity tilted her head slightly. “I suppose it is a tad drafty in here, but—”

“Vi—, er, Octavia, there you are!” Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief when Octavia appeared next to her.

“Vinyl, hi.” Rarity’s confusion morphed into a smile. "I was hoping to get to see you before you went on.”

“Oh uh… ‘Sup Rarity? Can you excuse me and Octavia for a moment?” Octavia forced a smile. “We have something rather important to do before the show starts.”

“I see…” Rarity had a poor time of hiding her disappointment, as her eyebrows dipped down slightly. Vinyl almost cheered, realizing what this meant. “Well, I suppose I’ll get to see you when you finish?”

“Yes?” Octavia offered, grabbing Vinyl and tugging her away.

“Catch ya later!” Vinyl called as her hooves dragged against the dance floor. She turned and trotted to convince Octavia to stop pulling her. “So where are we going?”

“Bathroom,” was Octavia’s curt reply. “It’s the only place I could find.”

“‘Kay.”

The traversed the club in a few seconds and found the mare’s room. Octavia opened the door to reveal a mangy, single room with a toilet in one corner and a sink halfway pulled off the wall on the other. The floor was littered with sheets of toilet paper, some of it looking less clean than it should.

“Oh Celestia, I hope this isn’t used,” Octavia murmured.

Vinyl rolled her eyes and set the shot glass off to the side. “Horn please.”

Octavia glanced at her, and burst into a giggle. Vinyl felt her face flush as she realized how bad that sounded. Not wanting to be the subject of a “walked into that one” situation, she smirked. “Guess I’m rubbing off on you, little Miss Dirty Mind.”

She shook her head. “Being in your body must be messing with me.” Tentatively, she lowered her head, pointing her horn directly at Vinyl. “Just… hurry up okay?”

“Right, yeah.” She reached up, grabbing the horn with one hoof. A shudder raced along Octavia’s body, almost knocking her hoof away. “Geez, I haven’t even started yet.”

“Sorry, I guess expecting it is making me nervous.”

“Oh relax, Tavi. It’s not like I—” Vinyl let the thought drop and bore down on the horn, knowing Octavia wouldn’t expect it then. Her friend gave a sharp laugh of discomfort as she dug in harder and rubbed. Octavia stumbled back, biting her lip to prevent breaking into all out laughter.

Vinyl grunted in annoyance as the horn had yet to spark, or even flicker. She brought up her other hoof, using Octavia as balance, and began rubbing on the other side. Unable to hold it in, Octavia let several giggle loose, barely choking back the rest.

A faint glow emitted from the horn, encouraging Vinyl to bare down with even more ferocity. Tears bloomed in Octavia’s eyes and she let loose of torrent of laughter.

“Oh, Celestia — ha ha — Vinyl please stop! Ha ha HA! Please, I can’t take it!”

“Almost there, Tavi! Don’t quit on me now!” She gritted her teeth as the glow flickered, but several more seconds of rubbing proved to be fruitless. “Okay, this isn’t working…”

“Well then — ahaha — please stop!”

“No can do. In fact, I think I just got a new idea.” She opened her mouth wide, pulling Octavia’s head closer.

“Wha—AH!”

Vinyl enclosed her teeth around the horn, gently at first, but added pressure quickly. She dragged them across Octavia’s horn, as her friend shrieked at the feeling.

“Gah! Vinyl, stop!” Octavia flailed her limbs to no avail. Her horn glowed brighter it finally sparked. Vinyl paused when she noticed this, giving Octavia the time she needed to toss her off.

She cackled as Octavia struggled to calm down. “See Tavi, that wasn’t so bad.”

“I really hate you sometimes,” she replied, a little winded.

“Thanks, you always know how to make me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.” She nonchalantly reached for the shot glass. “So, you ready to DJ your first, and hopefully only, rave?”

Octavia dried her eyes. “Not entirely… I still don’t feel like I’m ready.”

“Here.” Vinyl offered the shot glass. “Maybe this will calm your nerves.”

She eyed it suspiciously. “What is it?”

“What does it look like?” Vinyl swirled the crystal clear liquid in front of her face. “It’s water, obviously.”

Octavia glanced from the drink to Vinyl, who was doing her best poker face — though considering she was with Octavia’s features there was no way of telling if it was a poker face, or a constipation face — and reluctantly wrapped the glass in a blue aura.

Vinyl grinned. She knew from experience that Octavia had four stages of drunkeness.

Stage One Octavia was a sappy drunk, often brought about by a glass or two of cider. While in this stage, Octavia usually got very sentimental and would often say how much she appreciated whoever was around her, which more often than not tended to be Vinyl. It was always good to have a tape recorder of some kind nearby for when she hit this phase, mainly because it was fun to mess with her using it after she sobered up.

Stage Two Octavia was an angry drunk with the mouth of a sailor to counteract everything Stage One Octavia said. It was also a good idea to keep a tape recorder on standby for this one as well.

Stage Three Octavia was something that Vinyl had long since dubbed as party animal mode. This Octavia was an inhibitions free psychopath that actually knew how to have fun. It was the perfect phase to be at for a rave such as this, so long as Octavia didn’t make out with anypony or steal a carriage in her drunken spree.

Stage Four Octavia was the crash, heavily identifiable by the fact that Octavia blacked out at the speed of light.

As the drink neared her friend’s lips, Vinyl found herself hoping that she’d gotten the right amount of vodka. It was a powerful enough drink to hop over Stage One entirely, but if Octavia took too little she would be stuck on Stage Two, which would be a disaster. But if it turned out to be too much then they would skip right on over to Stage Four, which would be another disaster entirely.

She got an entire sip in before realizing that the drink wasn’t water. She attempted a spit take, but Vinyl shoved a hoof in her mouth to prevent this. Left with no other choices, Octavia gave a wide-eyed glance of confusion before the alcohol slid down her throat.

“Mrph hff lurr pler?” She mumbled into the hoof. Vinyl freed her mouth and she tried again. “This was your plan?”

Vinyl gave a sheepish grin. “Yep… sorry ‘bout that. But this should get you ready, if that’s any consolation.”

“On the contrary it… is… not…” Octavia’s speech slowed as her eyes lowered. Vinyl hissed in protest and for a moment worried they were going to hit Stage Four.

Her worries proved to be unfounded, as Octavia’s eyes jolted open, like a computer that had just finished rebooting.

“Wowzers!” she exclaimed. “I feel great! Like, really great!” She swept passed Vinyl to the door of the bathroom and kicked it open, yelling “Woohoo!” to the club patrons as she did so.

“The turntables!” Vinyl shouted, hoping Octavia wouldn’t forget. “Go for the turntables!”

“Sure thang.” She winked, flipped her sunglasses down and rushed to the sound equipment as ponies began wandering in. “All right, bitches!” she shouted into the microphone. “Who’s ready to dance till you puke, and puke till you pass out?”

Vinyl watched with a proud smile as Octavia levitated a record into place, and set the needle down. A split second later wubs blasted from the amps, the overhead lights went out, and the rave began.