Vinyl had only ever been to the palace dining hall once, and even then never to meet someone specific. The event was catered so she never even got to order directly from the palace staff. When she got there, there was a doorman. He seemed to recognize her, or at least her Moniker.

“I didn’t know there was an event today. Then again, I always loose track of what the nobility does with the place.” The stallion said. Vinyl rolled her eyes behind her shades.

“Actually I’m meeting someone. No event today, at least from me, or you wouldn’t be able to hear yourself think.” She said with a snarky grin as she made to move past him.

“Well then, name for your reservation?” The stallion asked, looking at his list. Vinyl froze. Shit. Reservations.

“Uh, Vinyl Scratch?” She said with uncertainty. The stallion just looked at her.

“You forgot to reserve your date, huh? You wouldn’t be the first. Unfortunately there’s a three day waiting list, so you’ll have to reschedule.” He said, though he at least wasn’t a dick about it. His tone actually seemed apologetic.

“Can you at least look? She might have had more foresight than I do.” Vinyl asked. The man quirked an eyebrow but looked. She noticed his surprise, one of the first names was indeed hers.

“Ah, it seems you’re a lucky mare. Go right in, I’ll assume you can find her. Whoever she is.” He said with a bit of a snicker.

“You don’t know the half of it, pal.” Vinyl replied, letting out a sigh of relief. The Stallion watched after her for a moment as she apparently saw who she was meeting as she waved and quickly left his line of sight. He thought for a moment and balked a bit, that was the direction to the balcony seats and there was only one mare seated out there. He made a mental note to go have a peek on his break, but for now another couple had turned up.

Vinyl grinned at Twilight as the purple wing waved her over. She was talking happily to Princess Luna, who was standing next to her. They both looked at the newcomer and smiled.

“There you are! I was hoping the doorman wouldn’t turn you away so I made sure to get your name on the reservations list.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, I almost had a panic attack when he asked about reservations!” Vinyl said, chuckling awkwardly as she rubbed a hoof on the back of her head.

“It is good to see Twilight well after such a night, from what I hear you took great care of her.” Luna said with a knowing smile. Vinyl froze as she remembered that the Princess was here.

“U-Uh, yeah… I guess you did see how bad she was. It’s fine, though. I have to take care of myself like that all the time, taking care of someone else was a nice change of pace. Those seltzers work wonders when combined with a clear of mind spell.” Vinyl said, not really wanting to step much closer. Last night was awkward enough, but she had no idea how to act around Princess Luna. The two picked up on it.

“Don’t worry, Vinyl, she’s not staying long.” Twilight said and motioned for the unicorn to sit. Luna nodded and stifled a yawn.

“I was just on my ‘morning’ fly and I noticed Twilight sitting alone and thought to say hello. I won’t interrupt this friendly meeting, though. You’re both in good hooves and I have night court to prepare for. Come visit before you head back, Twilight, we would like to say our goodbyes in the flesh.” Luna explained, ending with a small smile and extending her wings.

“Sure thing, I wouldn’t dream of it.” The younger Alicorn said happily. Luna quickly leaned into Twilight for a quick hug with their wings before she lazily took to the sky again. Twilight looked back to Vinyl, who was still standing in the doorway to the balcony area, and rolled her eyes as she motioned for her to sit again. She wasn’t the only one, however. A few other couples on the balcony had refrained from entering the open air tables until Luna had taken her leave.

“You may be used to it since you practically live with them, but two meetings with one of the Princesses in the span of 24 hours is NOT a normal occurance for me. Not even that one time she stopped into a club I was working for a pick me up. She just ordered her drink, paid, and left.” Vinyl said as she finally took her seat across from Twilight. Twilight seemed surprised by that.

“Luna came into a club for a pick me up? When was this?” She asked. Vinyl snickered.

“No, Celestia did. And it wasn’t that long ago, here in Canterlot. I was offered a gig for some schmuck's 21st birthday party in the lower city. She was all disguised and stuff, but she kept her mane the same. I almost dropped her drink when I noticed it. She gave me the bits, winked, downed the entire thing and was out of there.” She explained.

“What did she order?” Twilight asked. Vinyl looked into the air in thought for a moment.

“It was something straight, either Applejack Daniels or some top shelf brandy. I can’t remember.” Twilight just rolled her eyes at that.

“Yeah sounds like her after an overtime day court.” She said, almost like someone talking about a naughty sibling. Vinyl snickered at that.

“Man, I wish I could be so buddy buddy with royalty like that. Half the time I wouldn’t think they even notice me at all, but I know Celestia is all about her little ponies.” Vinyl said, leaning back in her chair as a server came by with menus. Vinyl somehow managed to pale at the prices on the menu.

“Well, I’m technically royalty. Well, was, and I sure as hay noticed you. And order what you want, this one’s on me. I owe you that much for this morning.” The Alicorn said with a smile as she didn’t pick her menu up.

“I’m not usually that into richie rich food, so you go ahead and order for me. If it’s food I’ll eat it. If it’s good food, I’ll eat it quickly.” Vinyl replied. Twilight smiled and nodded. Just as the server left with the orders and drinks were brought to them, though, they were interrupted by a sharp gust of wind as a particularly colorful pegasus was suddenly standing next to their table.

“Yo Twilight, where you been?” Dash practically screamed. She got a few looks but she wasn’t paying attention to them. Twilight seemed unphased by the mare’s sudden entrance, but though Vinyl was used to it she still nearly fell out of her chair. The Pegasus and the Alicorn raised their wings in a high-feather.

“It’s a long story, I crashed with Vinyl. She made sure I didn’t vomit all over myself too much.” Twilight said with a bit of a frown before returning to a smile. “Then I had to go back and do more of my paperwork…” She practically groaned. Dash seemed to just notice Vinyl there and grinned, stepping forward and hoof-bumping the unicorn.

“Then you were in good hooves then. What’re you doin’ here together then? Don’t tell me you guys are secretly dating or something.” The Pegasus remarked. The two laughed a bit.

“No! At least not yet. I owe her for this morning and last night.” Twilight said, glancing at Vinyl quickly when she said not yet. Vinyl grinned. She was implying that she was thinking about it, and she wanted to see if Dash would pick up on it.

“Oh, well yeah I guess that makes sense. You better come back to the palace common room before everyone goes to bed tonight, though. Applejack said she was super worried when she was lugging our flanks out of there, you were pretty drunk.” The Speedster said a little seriously.

“Don’t worry, I’ll probably be there after we finish up here.” Twilight said, waving a wing to dismiss their worry. “And I wasn’t THAT drunk. Not until the very end.” She continued. Dash shrugged and flicked her wings a bit in preparation for takeoff.

“Alright, whatever. See you later then.” She said and was just about to take off when she froze and gaped at the two when they shared a look.

“WAAAAAAaaait wait wait, not yet?” The Pegasus balked. She was about to question further but was flung off the edge of the balcony by a lavender puff of magic. She shot back up a bit, sticking her tongue out at Twilight, before she shot off in some random direction.

“I am never going to hear the end of that, but worth it.” Twilight said with a satisfied smirk. Vinyl just snorted.

“You know, I was going to ask the same thing.” The Unicorn said with a lopsided grin. She finally took her shades off then and was giving Twilight a bit of questioning look.

“After I left, I felt like going back and just sitting with you again. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, not until you showed up. And even now, I was kinda hoping you’d sit next to me so I could wrap my wing around you.” The Alicorn explained, ending with a bit of a shy smile. Vinyl grinned at that.

“Well, I never like sitting next to someone at dinner. usually, at least, because that makes it awkward to try and hold a conversation. Plus you look like a couple of goofs to everyone else in the room. And while I don’t care about looking like a goof, I do that for myself quite smashingly I should think, I want to hold an actual conversation with you for a while.” The Unicorn retorted. Twilight giggled a bit, but further conversation was interrupted by their meal arriving.

“Oh MAN this looks good! I was worried that this place had crap proportions like every other rich place.” Vinyl said, looking at her dinner of sauteed vegetables in some kind of sauce she didn’t know with a large side of grilled carrots and broccoli with garlic cloves and a garlic drizzle.

“They usually are, but I asked the chefs to do double the proportions. I am an Alicorn afterall, and I figured if you didn’t finish yours you’d have leftovers.” Twilight replied. Vinyl just gave her a look and dug in. The conversation apparently had to wait until dessert.

They talked for two hours, took a walk around the city for another hour, and finally Twilight walked Vinyl home. Twilight could only ignore the press she noticed every now and then watching her talk and giggle with her newest friend, but she she didn’t particularly care. She decided to give them a real headline and, when Vinyl was about to turn into the apartment building, she snatched a kiss from her. Vinyl wasn’t going to complain and just gave her a shit eating grin before they departed. They were going to meet up again with the rest of the Elements for a wonderbolts audition the next day. Twilight had gotten her hooves on VIP tickets since Dash was one of the ones auditioning.

Celestia couldn’t suppress her giggle the next morning as she had breakfast with Twilight. She was reading a morning paper and, as Twilight walked in, made sure to keep the front page facing her at all times. She giggled another few times, almost getting bored of trying to make her student notice right away, but finally the clanking of silverware back onto the plate signalled her choice of newspaper had finally been noticed. She inched the paper down to peek over the edge, seeing Twilight’s wide eyes and open mouth. In feigned confusion, she bent the page over to look at the front page she had known was there all along.

‘EX-PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA HAS A NEW FLING, AND A THING FOR CLUBBING’

“Oh this? I hadn’t even noticed.” Celestia said, feigning interest in the headline in the most innocent tone she could muster. Her face betrayed her, though, even if Twilight hadn’t known her well enough to know exactly what she was doing. The picture on the front page was a photo snapped of her goodbye kiss with Vinyl the previous night.

“When Luna told me of your night, and previous evening with the mare, we had our hunches. I can’t help but wonder why a DJ of all things would interest you, but then again I haven’t exactly had the most run of the mill suitors in the past.” The Princess chuckled as she turned to the appropriate page.

“‘Ex-Princess of Equestria Twilight Sparkle was seen yesterday evening dining with a well known DJ for a local nightclub. They spent the rest of daylight together and the Princess kissed the DJ goodnight. Could this be the true reason Twilight Sparkle resigned her crown?’. Oh that’s poppycock and they know it. I’ll never hear the end of this in court if this is what the good paper is saying.” The Princess continued. Twilight shrank in her chair, though. Celestia actually had to lay her paper down to see the younger alicorn.

“They make it sound so dirty, and everyone knows that’s not why I resigned!” Twilight pouted. Celestia chuckled and continued her breakfast.

“It’ll pass over before long. Once it becomes old news the tabloids will latch onto something else in a week’s time at the latest.” She said. Twilight grumbled in agreement before returning to their own meal. The silence was a little stale, though.

“Twilight, do you actually care about this mare?” Celestia suddenly asked. Twilight seemed startled by the question, but nodded as she swallowed her bite.

“I do. I mean, I care about all of my friends. I think Vinyl and I finally became full on friends last night, we were just acquaintances before. She kinda kissed me the night before last, though, and I kissed her back. I like her and all, but that’s not all there is to it…” Twilight started, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

“Twilight, if you don’t want to talk about it right now you know I’ll always be here when you need me.” Celestia said warmly. Twilight sighed and thought about her words.

“We… resonated.” Twilight said slowly, almost like she was admitting to sneaking a cookie out of the cookie jar. Celestia was confused for a moment. Just a moment though.

“Resonated? What do you mean resonat….ed….” She started, before realizing what Twilight just said. It was rare that Celestia was shocked into silence, but she recovered quickly with a sly smirk.

“Well then, if you resonated while that drunk I’m surprised a kiss is as far as you went.” She said, gauging Twilight’s reaction. The younger Alicorn flushed up, which slightly concerned Celestia.

“I mean, it didn’t! B-But… she joked about it, and the thought definitely crossed my mind. She wants to make sure we get to know each other better first, though, which is why I invited her to dinner! We’re going to see Dash audition with the others tomorrow too so she can make friends with the other Elements.” Twilight softly started before quickly changing the subject. Celestia’s resting smirk didn’t do Twilight any favors, but she didn’t say anything else on the prior manner. For now.

“Well then, you may have found yourself a keeper. She’s got a good head on her by the sounds of it, I’d love to meet her personally. Take your time with that, though. Even the other elements are wary of my sister and I, they haven’t spent their life with us as you have. Vinyl especially, I wouldn’t want her time with you tained by nerves until you become more comfortable together.” The Princess said.

“Well… aren't you coming to the auditions too? We’ve got the VIP box. You can chat with her there, not during some formal event or a private meeting. Worst case scenario we can put a few drinks in her to settle her nerves, the box has an open bar.” Twilight suggested with a lopsided smirk. Celestia chuckled a bit.

“I suppose I was planning on going, I should definitely do so now.” She said and stood after finishing her meal. “I have my duties to attend to. I’m proud of you, Twilight. You’re really growing into your own mare.” She said, stopping at the door and looking back. Twilight smiled and quickly rushed over to hug the Princess.

“Thank you, Princess. You were right, I’m a lot happier now.” The Lavender Alicorn said. They enjoyed the embrace for a moment or two longer before separating. They bid each other goodbye and Celestia left while Twilight returned to her breakfast. Her smile fell as she looked at the paper still on the table.

Reason number forty-two why she retired her crown: The Press.

Author's Notes:

Not every chapter will have a name, I gave up on naming every single chapter a long time ago. Hope everyone enjoyed, it's fun writing a more lighthearted SoL style story for once. Certainly refreshing my writer's block.