Fiery took in a deep breath, knowing he had to confront Vinyl about this. It wasn’t really any of his business, but for some odd reason, he felt it was necessary that she knew. If he was going to be living under the same roof as somebody who was high up in society, it wouldn’t be bad to get to know them for benefits, right? Hey, maybe she would even know of somebody that could send him home, right? At least, that’s how he was trying to justify it in his mind in that he was about to barge into somebody’s private affairs.

He raised his hoof to a level that he could knock on the door, and did so. A few seconds later, he couldn’t hear the sound of the music on the other side turn down any, so he knocked even harder. This time, the knocks seemed to have worked, as the volume of the music turned down, and the door magically swung up shortly after that.

Vinyl was at the turntable that she had set up in her room, smiling at her new guest. “Hey Fifi, what’s up?”

“Vinyl, we need to talk.”

“Sure, come on in.” Vinyl answered without a second thought. She used her magic to close the door as Fiery entered. “So what’s up?”

Fiery took in another deep breath and let it out in a sigh. He let the silence carry on for a little longer before turning to Vinyl. He took notice of all the various records and posters set up around the room, thinking of a way to start with small conversation. “H-How are you doing?” He asked, now having second thoughts about whether or not he should actually be doing this.

“Fine I guess.” She said with her usual grin. “Just been working on my next project and all for tomorrow night. Wanna hear a bit of it?”

Fiery shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

Turning her attention from Fiery back to her turntable, she began to fiddle around with various knobs and dials on the machine, until a beat began to play from the speakers attached to the machine. Fiery didn’t really understand how she was doing it, all he really knew was that the music she was producing sounded something like out of a club scene. It wasn’t bad, and was in fact kind of catchy, but with the reason he was here for, he couldn’t really get into the beat of the music...

After a few minutes of playing the beat, the music stopped as she pulled the needle off of the vinyl as it continued to spin. “So, what do you think?” She asked as she turned back to Fiery.

“It was nice… I guess.”

“You didn’t go out to a lot of clubs back on Earth did you?” She asked with a smirk.

“No, I really didn’t… Wait, how did-”

“Just a guess.” She answered for him.

“Oh.”

The next few minutes were an eerie silence as neither of them spoke. All that could be heard was the disc continuing to spin on the turntable. “So what’s troubling you Fifi?” She finally asked.

Fiery let out a sigh. Better get this over with... He thought to himself. “Vinyl… D-Do you… Are you possibly keeping anything secret from me or Octavia that would benefit us in anyway? I mean, I don’t really care about it... But I was just wondering that’s all.”

Vinyl raised an eyebrow, confused by the question. “… What in the world are you talking about?”

“T-Today… Today I ended up running into I guess someone who’s famous, Spitfire or something like that.”

“You mean the captain of the Wonderbolts?” Vinyl asked, genuinely surprised that Fiery might have actually known who she was. Fiery nodded. “So you mean she was in Ponyville doing an autograph signing or something?”

“I guess you could say that.” He lied, looking away from her.

“That’s cool I suppose... So something up with her that she announced or-“

He shook his head. “I was able to talk to her.”

“Oh, really? That’s cool. Why are you telling me though?” She asked, cocking her head to the side a bit before going to the turntable and picking the records up.

“Yeah, cool… Anyways, she told me about her boss and his two daughters. Apparently one of them lives here in Ponyville.”

“Really? Perhaps we should go and greet them sometime then?” She asked as finally put the records back in their cases and pushed the turntable into the wall.

“Uh, yeah, about that… She said that the daughter was living in one of the nicer homes here in Ponyville.”

“Yeah? Did she say where they lived exactly? What does their house looked like?”

Fiery shook his head in response. “She uh, also said that Vinny had made some business deals and had some money in the bank. About six or seven figures.”

Vinyl seemed to have frozen up at the mention of her nickname, the cords that she was carrying suddenly hit the floor. With her back still turned to Fiery, she stayed quiet for a few seconds contemplating if he really had figured it out. ‘Of course he has!’ The back of her mind told her. ‘If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be here asking me about it!’ “That so… I suppose Mr. Fancypants is proud of his daughter then?”

“He is.” Fiery replied with a smile. “But I never said the name of Spitfire’s boss.”

With a sigh, Vinyl turned to confront him. “Like I even need to act like I screwed up Fiery. I know you’ve figured everything out.”

“But why Vinyl?” He asked, losing his smile. “Why are you holding out on us? I mean, it sounds like you guys were in a major pinch and needed me to come along just so you two could get by and continue living here... So, why?”

With another sigh, Vinyl grabbed a cushion using her magic and placed it on the ground behind Fiery, motioning him to sit. “This might take a while, so you might as well take a seat and get comfortable.” He did so. Taking a deep breath, Vinyl let it out slowly as she began to tap her head with her hoof. “Alright, where to start…”

“Perhaps you can start as to why you’re holding out on us?”

“Yeah, I suppose I can… I guess it all started when I was a young filly. I grew up the majority of the time with my mother and big sister, as my father was and still is somepony big in Canterlot who is always making some kind of deal with somepony somewhere in the pursuit of more money. That all really changed when I began school here in Ponyville. Sadly none of the schools in Canterlot could really... stand me.”

“I was a special little filly I guess you could call me. I had an interest in just about everything when I was young, math, music, science, basically anything really. Anyways, to make this short and not take up too much of your time, I did well in school. Unfortunately my parents began to notice that I wasn’t acting like a good little noble filly like all the other fillies in school and was acting more tomboyish because of my usual antics. They both pulled me out of school and into-” She shivered a bit. “The Coltlic Private School for Noble Children where my sister was also attending.”

“I assume going there wasn’t really that good?”

“Not really, I basically did everything opposite that the teachers would try to get me to do. If you haven’t figured it out yet Fiery, I hate being told to do things.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Exactly. Anyways, after a few months of all that, my parents finally got the message. They pulled me out of the school and tried to figure out a place where I would actually try to learn and actually try to act polite and stuff. It took them a little bit longer to figure out that I wasn’t exactly ‘noble’ material.”

“So what happened?” Fiery asked listening intently.

“Well, when they finally figured out that I wasn’t the typical noble child, we all agreed that I would go to a school where I would fit in better. That school was Ponyville Elementary.”

“Neat…”

“Yes, neat… I was staying with an associate of my father’s named ‘Mr. Rich’, so I’m at least glad they didn’t boot me out to fend for myself, though I don’t think they would do that anyways. For the most part school was alright, just your typical pony growing up and all. Over the course of the years I met ‘Tavi and we grew close.” She seemed to sigh for the last time. “When we graduated from high school, we went our separate ways. She thought I had been goofing off in Ponyville the entire time, but I wasn’t. I had gone off to the business college in Manehatten thanks to my father’s connections. Sure music is my calling and all, but I also had the brains for other things you know? There, I basically learned how to become a manager of sorts. I may have gotten some weird looks from the other students thanks to my Cutie Mark and all, but I didn’t really care.”

“So how does this all relate to why you can’t tell us?”

Vinyl began to scratch the back of her head, getting uncomfortable. “Well… While I lived here in Ponyville, even though I had the smarts, I didn’t exactly like to show it off…”

“So…?”

“I’m not really trying to be mean to her, but, ‘Tavi sorta presumed that I wasn’t quite that intelligent. Remember that ‘scam’ that happened to me about the guy taking my 1,000 bits?” Fiery nodded. “Yeah, that was all a lie. The truth is, is that when ‘Tavi and I had graduated college, I began to get all these offers to work at these different places thanks to my dad... But I knew it wouldn’t help me at all in the long run. I made up the lie just so I could get away from Manehatten and start a small music business in Ponyville with my own money. So here I am producing and distributing my own albums… with the help of my father of course.”

“But… this business, it’s a secret from Octavia, isn’t it? That you’ve been collecting all this money on the side while she’s trying to figure out just how we can afford to stay here when the business we run is falling apart.”

“You make it sound as though I’m the bad guy for having a backup plan.” Vinyl said in a slightly upset tone, furrowing her brow and glaring at Fiery.

“No, I’m just stating the facts.” He answered.

“Yeah, well, I can’t afford to tell her, so neh.” She said as she stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her arms.

Fiery simply rolled his eyes. “And why can’t you tell her exactly?”

Putting her front hooves back on the ground, her face become one of regret. “Because… She enjoys me for being a goof. If she found out that I’ve been lying to her all these years, what do you think would happen? She’s always the serious one, she’s always the one who comes up with the plans, how do you think she would feel that I could do all of that too? Where she would be of any use then?”

The room fell quiet as Fiery began to contemplate what she had told him. ‘What would exactly happen?’ He thought to himself. He didn’t know the mares for too long and the last thing he needed was an all-out war between them thanks to his meddling around. As he continued to be in deep thought about what to do, he hadn’t noticed that Vinyl had crept up right in front of him until he noticed the two deep crimson orbs “Gah!”

“Please Fiery, you have to promise me that you won’t tell ‘Tavi about any of this.” She said with pleading eyes.

“Did you really need to sneak up and scare me like that to ask me?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, but Vinyl seemed to not care as she continued to look at him with the same pleading eyes.

“Please Fiery, I’ll… I’ll be willing to do anything…”

“You really don’t want Octavia to find out about this, do you?” Vinyl simply shook her head as she looked down at the pillow he had just been sitting on. With a sigh, he answered her. “Fine, since I don’t want to be the cause of a huge fight between friends, I suppose I can keep quiet about this.”

“Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Vinyl screamed out as she nearly jumped on top of Fiery and grabbed him, pulling him in for a hug. Fiery simply let her do her thing, so long as it didn’t escalate any further.

While she was thanking him though, Fiery spoke out. “But I need you to do one thing for me Vinyl.”

Vinyl stopped her hugging and looked at him with a worried look. She let go of him, suddenly becoming depressed and turning around so that her flank faced Fiery’s face. “Fine, I understand.” She said as she began to lift her tail. “Just… please be gentle.”

It took him a few seconds to figure out what Vinyl was trying to get at, but when he did, he immediately tried to break the thought up. “What?! NO! Noooonononono! God no!” He yelled as he waved his hooves in front of him, pushing Vinyl’s flank away. “Dear God, why would you think that?!”

“B-But, isn’t that what all stallions want? I-I mean, I’m grateful, but when a mare is in-“

“Look, I’m not like that!” He interrupted. “Besides, I may have a pony body, but I’m still human on the inside, and doing it with you just… it seems weird to me okay? Just because I have this knowledge doesn’t mean I’m going to blackmail you!”

“T-Then what did you mean by needing me to do one thing?”

With a sigh, Fiery answered. “What I meant is that even though I won’t be telling her about all of this, I think it would be good for you to at least tell her about the money in the bank. I mean, I might not have been here long Vinyl, but it really sounds like you guys are in some financial trouble. Having all that money could end up saving all three of us, or atleast two hopefully soon. Besides, if you really are worried that she might react negatively to it, make up a lie if you have to. Maybe tell her you won it in a lottery or something while you guys were separated?”

“Do… Do you really think that would work?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that the longer you hold onto that money and continue to stockpile it, the worse it’ll be if you guys really do get in trouble financially and you’ll have to reveal that money to save us.”

With one last sigh, Vinyl understood and nodded. “Alright Fiery, I suppose I can tell her about the money tomorrow.”

“Sure, I guess that works. I’ll even leave the house so you guys can talk it out, cool?”

She looked up and smiled, nodding. “Sure, that sounds good Fiery.”

“Good. Well then, I should get going to bed, goodnight Vinyl.”

“Goodnight… and Fiery?”

“Hmm?” He turned around.

“I guess… thank you, I guess. Thanks for not telling ‘Tavi about any of this.”

Again, Fiery shrugged. “I still think it’s a mistake not telling her about any of this, but it’s not my business to go telling other people’s secrets.”

As he left the room, Vinyl got up onto her bed, deciding that it would be best for her to retire for the night as well. As she got into bed and placed the covers on top of herself, she began to remember the good times she had had with Octavia over the years they knew each other. “Perhaps everything will turn out alright…”

Early the next morning, Fiery and Octavia had been sitting down at the dining room table eating their breakfast. Neither of them had really spoken a single word the entire time, and it was starting to get on Fiery’s nerves a bit. Deciding to break the silence, he took a break from eating his cereal and spoke. “So I’m thinking about going out for a little while today. Be nice to learn the layout of the town a little bit better, you know?”

Pausing eating her own breakfast, Octavia looked up at Fiery and responded. “Do you want me to go with you?”

He shook his head no. “Nah, that’s alright.” Just as he responded to her question though, he could hear the sound of their last roommate waking up from her slumber upstairs, putting a smile on his face. “So do you have any plans today?”

“Well, I thought I’d go to the market today because we’re running out of milk… Oh, but we’re low on bits, and we’re going to have to wait until my next paycheck to come in before we can do anymore shopping if we want to be able to pay the mortgage this month. I swear, sometimes I think it was a mistake not looking over the deal that Shady had made with the bank.”

Hearing that they were low on cash, Fiery lost his smile and cringed a bit, biting his lip lest he was going to reveal everything right there and then. “O-Oh, I see…So no plans of going out then?”

“No, I suppose not… Why are you so insistent of knowing whether I’m going out or not today?” She asked with a questioning look.

“Well, I, uh, well, you know, just thought that-“

“Hey guys.”

‘Oh thank God.’ Fiery thought to himself as he heard the sound of Vinyl’s voice. He turned around in his chair and smiled at her. “Hey Vinyl, have a good sleep last night?”

With a yawn, she nodded. “Yeah, I guess. Sucks though, going have to go back to sleep later today just so I have enough energy for my job tonight.”

“Vinyl, I’m genuinely surprised.” Octavia said in a low tone, but it was still high enough to catch the attention of the other two.

“Surprised about what ‘Tavi?”

“That you’re up this early I mean. You usually so lazy, staying up late into the night and falling asleep around four in the morning.”

With her usual grin, Vinyl plopped down into one of the chairs and using her magic, grabbed a bowl and a spoon from the kitchen. She replied, “What, can’t I make a change of habit for once? Besides, I have some… things to take care of today.”

Even though he wasn’t one hundred percent sure about it, Fiery took this as his clue to leave. “I guess I better get going. I also thought I’d take my guitar with me, see if I can’t do something that could perhaps earn me a few bits, y’know?”

“Well, alright then Fiery. Be careful.”

Fiery nodded to the concern of Octavia and then made his way up to his room to pick up his guitar. As he was on his way out, he was able to catch Vinyl by the door and whispered in her ear. “Good luck with you-know-what.”

Vinyl smiled a bit and nodded. “Thanks, I’ll need it.”

As Fiery left and shut the door behind him, Vinyl turned to Octavia, who had finished eating her breakfast and was now reading a book on the couch. She took in a deep breath, and began to go over what Fiery had told her in her mind. “’Tavi, I think we need to talk…”

Fiery had been walking through the town for quite some time, going by the places that he already knew about and making sure he wouldn’t end up getting lost. Going house by house and shop by shop, he was able to recognize certain landmarks to get where he was headed to: The park. He knew that if there was anyplace that was perfect to play, it would be there.

As he got closer to the park, he had noticed that a stage had already been set up in the middle of it. ‘Huh, wonder if something special is happening today?’ His thoughts were interrupted though, as he could hear arguing coming from behind the stage. As he peaked around the corner, he had seen a few ponies huddled around each other, apparently arguing with one another.

“How the hell could he just up and leave?! He knew what today was!” One of the ponies yelled. As far as Fiery could tell, it was a pegasus mare with a yellow coat and spiky, darker yellow mane with orange streaks in it. The pony next to her seemed to be a red unicorn pony slightly larger than Fiery and brown mane, almost the complete opposite of him in color schemes.

The red unicorn tried saying something to calm the mare down, his accent of British descent, but was cut off by her. “Would you calm down, Arc? I’m sure Blue will turn up in time. I mean, how long does it take to pick up a few groceries? Besides, if you hadn’t booked us this early…” He muttered the last bit under his breath.

“He’s in Canterlot doing an interview you dolt!” The pegasus nearly screamed, clearly frustrated.

“… Oh.”

With a groan, the mare facehoofed herself as she began to mutter under her breath about how much she hated her band-mates sometimes. “Alright-“ She said. “Since he’s obviously not going to be here in time because of him getting that stinkin’ interview, we’re just going to have find somepony else to fill his role!”

“And you honestly think we can do that? We have to go on in 40 minutes!”

As the two ponies were arguing, the third and final pony, a short, black-pinto earth pony and white mane seemed to have noticed Fiery looking at them from around the corner. He also seemed to have noticed the neck of the guitar Fiery was carrying. He grabbed the attention of the pegasus, poking her. “Yeah, what is it Chili?” She said in an annoyed tone.

“You mean somepony like him?” The short pony asked, pointing at Fiery.

‘Oh shi-‘ “Uh… hi?” Fiery said with an innocent smile as he came out of his bad hiding spot.

As the pegasus laid her eyes on Fiery, the first thing she took notice of was his guitar. A bright smile appeared as it seemed as though her entire face had also lit up with joy. “You!” She yelled out, pointing to Fiery. Using her wings to fly over towards him, she landed in front of him with the same delightful but creepy smile.

“Um… y-yes?”

“My friends and I just happen to be a certain predicament at the moment, but I think you could help us.”

“O-Oh, um, i-is that right?” Fiery asked back, now starting to back away from the crazed pegasus.

“Yes, you see, our fourth and final band-mate, Blue Light, just happened to have to go to Canterlot on some type of interview at the university there or something like that. Turns out, he would play the guitar for us, and with him gone, we have nopony else to help us.”

“Oh come on Arc, him? We don’t even know the bloke.” The red unicorn said in the back. “For all we know he could be worse than Blue!”

“Shut it Belgy!” The mare named Arc seemed to snap at the unicorn, before turning her head back to Fiery’s direction. “So, what do you say? Huh?”

Fiery thought to himself for a moment, considering the deal. He had brought the guitar along with him so that he could play in the park, perhaps get a few bits, but then his mind went back to the magic that the guitar would pull off each time he would play it. The reason he had thought it was a great idea to get out and do play was because the magic hadn’t happened the last few times he tried playing it in his room. However, to be fair, he had been alone during those times. Perhaps the magic only happened when others were around? Maybe if that was the case, then how would these ponies react to that magic? Would they upset that he had something impressive and possibly outshine them? Or would they be glad that he happened to come along and help them in their time of need, not even caring about the magic?

“Hello?” Arc waved a hoof in front of Fiery, who seemed to be in his own little world. “You okay in there?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry about that.” He answered as he snapped back into reality and pushed Arc’s hoof away from his face.

“So, what do you say?”

“I… I suppose I co-“

“Great!” She cut him off, shaking his hoof with such force that if she was strong enough, she could have probably picked him off the ground and shook him around. “You have no idea how much you’re helping us!” After she had let go of his hoof, Fiery had begun to shake it around, trying to have the flow of blood go through it once more as he had a small smile on his face. However he was beginning to regret his action.

“That’s nice and all, but uh-“

“Oh right! Introductions!” Arc had cut him off once more. She turned to the unicorn first and pointed her hoof towards him. “This here is Belgarion, or as I like to call him, Belgy. He plays the drums and can be sarcastic sometimes. Worst of all he tends to piss you off so much that you want to hit him, but he’s a good guy overall.”

“Hey! I take offense to that!”

Ignoring the unicorn’s comment, she pointed her hoof to the short earth pony next. “This here is Chili Peppers. He plays the piano for us and can be a bit shy, but once he warms up to ya he’s a real nice guy to be with.”

The earth pony seemed to have only nodded to Fiery, who nodded back as a sign of understanding.

Finally, Arc pointed to herself with a large grin. “And I’m Arc Flash, the best of us all!”

With a roll of his eyes, Belgarion muttered under his breath. “Oh boy, here she goes again…” Chili seemed to have heard him and nodded in agreement.

“I play the bass, along with main vocals when Blue isn’t here. If it wasn’t for me, these guys would still be moping around with nothing to do in their free time.”

“Oh come off it Arc, we all know that’s a bunch of bologna.”

Arc gave Belgarion a quick glance of hate at the comment, but turned back to Fiery with the same smile from before. “So what’s your name?”

“What, no introductions for our members who aren’t here?” Belgarion asked.

Arc grunted in annoyance. “Fine. We got two other members who aren’t here at the moment due to being busy with other things. First we got Blue Light, again, real nice guy and all, and even plays the guitar for us. He’s not here with us right now because he’s in Canterlot trying to screw us over with having an interview there for a job at the university like I said. The other one is named Jasper, and is a real cute kid, funny enough. He’s really 17, but the poor guy has the body of a baby dragon, guess it was some birth defect or something because usually he would have grown up by now. But because of how nice he is and not greedy and all... Anyways, the reason why he’s not here with us is more or less because he tends to skip out on practice to go help the mare of his dreams. He should be here in time to do our trumpet work and backup vocals.”

“Ah, I see. I guess I should introduce myself now… but before that, mind telling me why you’re doing this?” Fiery asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just, none of your Cutie Marks have anything to deal with music.”

Indeed, each pony had a Cutie Mark, but none related to music. Chili Pepper had a very appropriate Cutie Mark of two jalapeno peppers together; Belgarion had one of a silver tongue with a shield behind it; and finally, Arc had one of a wrench that was inside a gear.

“It’s just, it seems odd that none of your Cutie Marks have anything to do with music yet you choose to show off like this…”

“Yeah? And?” Arc responded with a raised eyebrow. “What, because we don’t have music-related Cutie Marks, that automatically means we can’t play any instruments?”

“W-What? No!” Fiery waved a hoof, defending himself. “I didn’t mean it like that, honest! I was just curious!”

Turning her frown upside down and grinning at the nervous Fiery, Arc pulled him in for a side hug. “That’s alright, we get what you mean. Sure, it’s sort of odd that we would want to do this, but just because you’re not destined for something doesn’t mean you can’t learn the skills and have some fun along the way, right?”

“I-I suppose not…” He answered, his neck wrapped around her hoof.

“Exactly! So anyways, what’s your name?”

“It’s Fiery. I, uh, play guitar as you can see…” He answered as he wiggled out of her grasp.

“Fiery, huh? Why does that sound familiar?”

“Because he was the one who told the mane six to go fuck themselves and then puked all over Rainbow Dash?” Belgarion answered his friend as well as making Fiery flinch at the memories.

“Oh yeah! That was pretty hilarious seeing that happen. Hey, they’re not mad at you, are they?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Fiery looked away as he answered. “I’d… I’d rather not talk about it.”

“That bad, huh? Alright then, I can respect that. Anyways, since you’ll be helping us, all you really need to know is that we aren’t really playing songs that are recognizable to the pony-kind. The songs are from, uh, abroad… yeah, let’s go with that.” Arc explained as she picked a piece of paper and handed it to Fiery. “These are the list of songs along with how to play them, these are the songs that we’ll be playing. They’re mostly songs that Chili thought that we could do-“ She said, making Chili smile a bit. “We would have you do a little performance for us to see how well you play, but with us running tight on time, we’re only going to have to trust you. You’ll have about half an hour to learn them all, so you better get cracking!” She said with a large smile.

“And don’t worry if you screw up, we aren’t all that great anyways.” Belgarion added, earning another look from Arc. “What? It’s true, isn’t it?”

“You don’t have to say it in front of the new guy though!”

Ignoring the bickering between the ponies, Fiery had taken the paper that Arc had hoofed him and began to look over it. As he looked over it though, he began to notice something awfully familiar about the songs. ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, With A Little Help From My Friends, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Getting Bet– It’s the entire god damn album! Why the hell do ponies have the Beatles?! Unless…’ Looking up from the sheet, he spoke up and decided to interrupt the bickering couple. “Hey, um…”

Stopping her arguing with the red unicorn, Arc’s ears perked up hearing Fiery wanting to ask something. “Yes?” She said as she turned to him.

“I have some questions I’d to ask about these songs.”

“Sure, go right ahead.”

“Well, this is kind of a weird thing to ask, but-“ He said while rubbing the back of his neck again. “Are you guys by any chan-“

“Moi kaikki.” A new voice chimed in from behind Fiery. All of the ponies turned to the see the owner of the voice, and as he turned, Fiery laid his eyes on a small, white and red lizard of some sort. A lizard with glasses no less. “Am I late?”

“Hey Jasper. No, you’re not late.” Arc replied to the lizard. She then turned to Fiery and introduced the small guy. “Fiery, this is Jasper, the baby dragon I was talking about.”

“En ole vauva…” The baby dragon muttered under his breath in an upset tone.

Belgarion walked up to Jasper and began to rub the baby dragon’s head with his hoof, talking in a mocking tone to the dragon. “Awww, is the wittle baby too tired to play with us and upset about it? That’s okay wittle baby, we’ll have enough fun for you.”

The dragon didn’t seem to like this talk though, as he began to glare at the unicorn. A few seconds later, as far as Fiery could see, Belgarion’s mane began to burn. A stream of fire was coming out of the dragon’s mouth, a smile appearing on the dragon’s face after he was done. The unicorn began to run around in place, trying to put his mane out as the others stood there and laughed at the unicorn’s misfortune.

“Shouldn’t have done that Belgy.” Arc said in-between laughs. “You know he hates it when you call him a baby.”

The unicorn had finally been able to put out his mane as Jasper turned to Fiery and put out a claw, presumably to shake. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Ah, this is Fiery, Jasper. He agreed to take over Blue’s spot since he couldn’t make it today.”

Fiery shook the tiny claw with his own hoof and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” The dragon said as he smiled back.

“Great! Now that we all know each other, we get ready for the show!”

Back at the house, Vinyl finally had Octavia all to herself. “’Tavi-“ She said. “We… We need to talk.”

“What about Vinyl?” Octavia said back, not even looking up from her book.

Sitting on the couch with her, Vinyl tried to make herself more comfortable as she tried to find the words she was looking for. “U-Um, s-so… how have you been?” She asked with a small smile. Octavia only shrugged.

“Alright I suppose. I have noticed one thing wrong though.”

“Y-Yeah?”

“My shampoo has been getting used more than it should be. You wouldn’t happen to be going into my bathroom and taking my shampoo for your own use, would you Vinyl?” She asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Averting from her gaze, Vinyl lied to her roommate. “N-No… P-Perhaps Fiery did it?”

“Uh huh… Well then, the next time you see him could you tell him to stop using my shampoo? Or at least ask before using it? We’re tight on bits as it is and I need to make it last until the end of the month.” She said as she went back to her book.

For the next few minutes the room had been quiet, as Vinyl again wasn’t really sure how to bring the subject up. To break the silence, she spoke out again asking about Octavia’s book. “You’ve been into that book a lot lately… Is it that good?”

Octavia nodded. “It might not be something that you would like, but it’s a biography about Hoofwig Behooven. So far I’m up to how hard and sad it was for him to write musical poetry, but couldn’t hear any of it because he was deaf.”

“Death…? You mean he was dead or something? How could he write something if he was dead?”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “No, not death, deaf! It means he couldn’t hear at all.”

“Oh… that had to suck for him.”

Octavia nodded. “Indeed.”

Again, the room had fell silent, making Vinyl become uncomfortable again. ‘Come on!’ She yelled inside her mind. ‘You can do this! Fiery was right, we need to talk to her about it! We’re in desperate times, we have to talk about it!’

“’T-Tavi?”

“Hmm?”

“I-I-I…”

“Yes Vinyl?”

“I-I-I can’t do it!” Vinyl screamed as she got off the couch and turned away from Octavia. “I just can’t do it!”

“What in Equestria are you talking about Vinyl? What can’t you do?” Octavia asked in a concerned tone. She got off the couch as well and began to walk up to her friend, wrapping a hoof around her shoulder. She could hear that Vinyl was crying now, but about what she wasn’t sure. “What’s the matter, Vinyl? Why are you crying?”

Vinyl planted her face into Octavia’s chest, still crying. “I-I’m a horrible friend, ‘Tavi!” She said in a muffled voice and between sobs.

“What? What are you talking about, Vinyl? You’re not a horrible friend at all.” She said in a soothing tone, trying to calm her friend down.

“I am! I’m the worst…!”

Sighing, Octavia could only pat the back of her friend as she continued to cry into her chest. As the sobs became less and less, she waited for an opportunity to ask Vinyl what she was talking about. “… Are you alright now, Vinyl?” She asked as the waterworks finally stopped. Vinyl though, shook her head. “… What’s wrong, Vinyl? This isn’t like you at all.”

With a small sniffle, Vinyl answered. “I… I can’t tell you…”

“But why not? It’s obvious that you want to, so what’s stopping you from doing so?”

“Be-Because, i-if I told you, you would end up hating me!” Vinyl replied as she began to cry again.

“Hate you? I could never hate you!”

Vinyl sniffed once more. “P-Pr-Promise?”

With a smile, Octavia repeated the phrase her sister ever used when she promised somepony something. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

With one last sniffle, and wiping her tears away, Vinyl took in a deep breath calming herself down before she began to tell her friend the entire story. She let the breath out and began to speak. “I… I guess I have to start all over again.”

Tilting her head in confusion, Octavia gave her unicorn friend a questioning look. “What do you mean by that?”

“’Tavi… How much do you really know about me?” She asked, but Octavia continued to look at Vinyl with the same look. Taking in another deep breath and letting it out, she began from the start. As she told her friend of how she her life was one giant lie, Octavia remained with a neutral look on her face, not showing any type of emotion that would suggest that she was disturbed by the news she was receiving. When Vinyl had finally finished her story of her life, including the money she had built up in the bank, Octavia made no initial response. “I-I’m sorry ‘T-Tavi… I shouldn’t have kept this a secret from you…”

Octavia said nothing though, presenting herself to be ever so calm.

Vinyl turned to her friend, and could see that she really didn’t know what to say to the truth coming out. Was she angry? Did she really not care? A thousand different possibilities were going through Vinyl’s mind as Octavia continued to just sit there, not saying anything.

“I-I understand if you’re angry with me ‘Tavi, b-but, you understand why I couldn’t tell you for so long, right?” Vinyl asked with a hopeful grin, but got no response again. With a sigh, she looked away from her friend, and began to tear up once more. “I-If you want, I’ll leave. I’ll pay my share of the rent and I’ll leave so that you and Fiery don’t have to worry about me or any of my antics again.”

Suddenly, she felt a warm embrace from behind her. She looked down and saw two grey legs were wrapped around her stomach, as she could feel the owner of said legs lying against her back. “’T-Tavi?”

“Stupid Vinyl, why would you ever think I would be angry with you?” Octavia said as she rubbed her muzzle into Vinyl’s back, not wanting her to go anywhere.

“B-But, I’ve been lying to you all these years!”

“And? It doesn’t mean you’re not the same old Vinyl I grew up with and became great friends with. Simply because you come from a better background than me and perhaps even smarter than me… sure, it might make a little upset that you hadn’t told me for so long, along with other reasons, but you’re still the same old Vinyl to me… What I’m trying to say Vinyl, is, you’re the same old goofy and playful mare that I came to enjoy being around.”

With a sniffle, Vinyl replied. “R-Really? You really mean that ‘Tavi?”

“Of course Vinyl. You’re the greatest friend I could ask for.” She said with a smile, holding her friend tighter than before. Vinyl had also begun to smile and placed her hooves on top of Octavia’s.

“And you’re the greatest friend this mare could ask for as well ‘Tavi…”

It was almost show-time for the band at the park as quite the gathering of ponies had taken their seats in front of the stage, all wondering what was going to happen. Most of them thought that the showmare Trixie had come back, quite possibly trying to redeem herself, while others guessed it was something else as they looked at the posters that were posted on the sides of the stage.

Meanwhile, behind the curtains of the stage, Arc had stuck her head out to see how many ponies had shown up. She was actually surprised at how many ponies had shown up, which only made her more nervous. With a gulp, she brought her head back in from the curtain and looked at the band. They had all been getting ready in their positions, but what made her worry most was the fact that an unknown pony was going to playing with them and had to learn thirteen entire songs in only a half an hour.

“A-Alright guys-“ She spoke up, clearly shaken up now that the time for them to perform had come. “T-This is it. It’s either now or never. Today is the first time we’ll ever be performing in front of a crowd, and if we screw it up here, we’ll become the laughing stock of the entire town. Don’t let that get you down though, as I know we can do it.”

Belgarion rolled his eyes. “Oh sure, because we’re obviously going to do so well now that one of our band-mates is in Canterlot doing his own thing, and we had to replace him with an unknown pony whom we know nothing about other than he has a guitar Cutie Mark and managed to piss off the heroes of the town.”

“Shut it Belgy, we don’t need you to be pessimistic now!” She said as she pointed a hoof at the red unicorn, only to point that hoof at Fiery right afterwards. “You read over all those notes I gave you?”

“Y-Yeah.” Fiery responded nervously. He knew he could play it, he just didn’t know how well the other ponies and dragon were going to do. “I guess the only question I have is… who’s going to be ‘Billy Shears’ if you and I are suppose to sing in the first song?”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Arc said with a smile. “Chili here is going to be ‘Billy’, aren’t you Chili?” She asked as she turned to the black earth pony. He only nodded in response. “See? We’ll be great!”

“I-If you say so…”

Arc took a look at her watch that was on her hoof, it was show-time. “Alright guys, I hope you went to the bathroom already and got everything you need, because there’s not going to be any breaks once we get playing. Got it?” They all nodded together. “Good, because it’s show-time!” She nodded towards the dragon Jasper who nodded back and began to pull the curtains back, revealing the band to the waiting crowd.

Fiery took in a deep breath, plucking a few chords on his guitar and could feel the magic flowing through his body. ‘Well, at least that works.’ He thought to himself as he began to imagine himself playing the songs. What he didn’t realize though, was that because the other ponies and dragon were indeed a lot like him, and that they too could feel the magic begin to work on them.

“Anypony else feel a bit ticklish?”

“Just the pre-show jitters Belgy, nothing to be afraid of.” Arc replied. She coughed and cleared her throat as she stood up on her hind legs like she had practiced all those times with her bass in her front hooves. She turned to Fiery and nodded, signaling to him that she was ready any time he was. Fiery nodded back as he too got on his back legs and put his guitar in a position that allowed him to play.

‘It’s now or never.’

As the crowd continued to talk amongst one another, Arc and Chili began to play at the same time, with Fiery following them shortly afterwards. Fiery opened his mouth to speak, and began to sing to the crowd. ”It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught a band to play, they’ve been going in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile. So may I introduce to you, the act that you’ve known for all these years, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band!”

As he sang the song, the crowd began to pay attention to the stage, and began to stomp their hooves in applause as the band played. And as the next lines of lyrics came up, Arc and Belgarion began to sing along with Fiery. “We’re Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, we hope you’ll enjoy the show! Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, sit back and let the evening go. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It’s wonderful to be here, it’s certainly a thrill, you’re such a lovely audience, we’d like to take you home with us, we’d love to take you home!”

“I don’t really like to stop the show-“ Arc sang. “But I thought you’d like to know, that the singer going to sing a song, and he wants you all to sing along! So let me introduce to you, the one and only Billy Shears! Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…!”

As Arc finished, both she and Fiery turned to Chili who had been in the back playing the drums. As she turned, Arc had become nervous, thinking Chili wasn’t going to be able to do the part. Fiery, on the other hoof, felt confident that because of how well they were doing so far, that Chili could overcome his fear and sing. ”Billy Shears!” They sang out, waiting for him to take the cue.

For what felt like forever, Chili hadn’t said anything. Arc, Belgarion, and Jasper were becoming nervous as the drummer didn’t say anything, but Fiery felt confident that Chili was going to pull through. What seemed to be a miracle to the other members though seemed to happen, as he cleared his throat and opened his mouth. “What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?” He sang both clear and beautifully. “Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song, and I’ll try not to sing out of key. Oh I get by with a little from my friends, mmm, get high with a little help from my friends, mmm, I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends!”

The rest of the concert seemed to go on without any problems occurring for the band. They had done great justice to each and every song that they had listed thanks to Fiery’s guitar, even if they didn’t have any clue about it. Out of the five of them, only four of them had gone to the local pub after the concert, as it was the only place they could settle down while not really distracting other patrons so early in the day. Jasper had decided to not go through the trouble of having to convince the bartender in there that he was at least old enough to enter.

“That was amazing!” Arc exclaimed as she took a large gulp from her beer afterwards.

“I’ll say. I never knew we could end up playing that well.” Belgarion added.

“It was almost like magic.” Chili chimed in, making Fiery flinch a bit.

“Hehe, yeah, like magic…” Fiery said quietly, only to drink his own beer shortly afterwards.

“I can’t wait to tell Blue about how well we ended up doing.”

“Pfft, forget him. Now that we got Fiery here, all Blue will be used for will be backup!”

“That’s not true Belgy. Besides, Blue has been with us since the beginning, we can’t go and kick him out just like that just because he just happened to be gone the day we had our first public gig.”

“And who was it that was extremely pissed off today when he didn’t show up?” Belgarion asked his friend as he raised an eyebrow.

Arc seemed to ignore the comment though, as she moved on to talking to Fiery. “So Fiery, how long you planning on staying in town?”

Fiery shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know. Days? Weeks? Years? I guess it all depends on what ends up happening really…”

“So you’re really unsure, huh…? Well, if you want, you could always hang around and help us out if you want. Knowing Blue, if he gets that job in Canterlot he’s going to end up taking it, he’s not going to have any time for us anymore.”

“You said he was having an interview at the university there?” Fiery questioned, and Arc nodded. “Any idea about what position?”

“Last I heard, he wanted to be a Physics professor.” Belgarion answered.

“I see… And what do you guys plan on doing?”

“Well, if our career in music doesn’t take off, I hope to be doing mechanical work, possibly making small gadgets and toys that I could sell off.” Arc said with a smile.

“I plan on possibly becoming some type of writer, or at least a critic.” Belgarion answered, taking another sip from his beer.

“Artist.” Chili said last.

“Artist huh…? At least you guys all know what you want to do.” Fiery said with a sigh.

“What, and you don’t? You could possibly make it big in music, just saying.”

“I’m hoping I won’t end up staying here long enough for something like that to happen.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Arc asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

Fiery took in a breath and let it go. “This might sound a bit crazy, perhaps you could even attribute it to me being somewhat tipsy-“ He motioned to the beer in his hoof. “But, when you gave me that list of songs earlier, I ended up thinking I noticed something familiar about the songs.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“Well, like they weren’t really from here.” He answered truthfully, looking at the other ponies. “I knew those songs, and… I think you guys are just like me, somebody lost in a strange new world and have no idea how to get back…”

For about thirty seconds, the entire booth had become quiet. Fiery could feel his cheeks becoming red in embarrassment as he thought he made himself out to be a crazy pony just then, but something else happened. After the thirty seconds passed by, the other three ponies in the booth began to burst into fits of laughter.

“Well I’ll be damned, we got another one here!” Belgarion said as he continued to laugh. Fiery, of course, was confused and had no idea what was going on. “So what happened? Building collapse on you? Wished on a shooting star? Plane get sucked into a fog that transported you here?”

“W-Wha?”

“M-M-Maybe h-he, maybe he died in a horrible accident?” Arc added, laughing even more.

“What in the world…?”

“No, wait, I got it! H-H-He was teleported here by Twilight when she tried to do an advanced spell! That’s why he told her to fuck off! Ahahaha!”

“I… Are you guys… are you guys implying that you are indeed not ponies?”

As she was able to calm herself down, Arc answered his question. “O-Of course we’re ponies, we just happened to be born on Earth before coming here. I was of course from America.” She said proudly.

“America.” Chili answered as he calmed down as well.

“Atlantis.” Belgarion added, but got looks from both Arc and Chili for his answer. “Alright, fine. I was from England… can’t a guy just have a little fun?”

Arc turned to Fiery and smiled again. “So where were you from before you came here? I mean, it’s obvious now that you said it that you’re not from here originally.”

“I-I… I came from America, Illinois to be exact.” He answered truthfully. “And… I sort of remember how I came here, something to do with some lady and her creating a portal… I don’t know, I was pretty drunk at the time. Next thing I know, I ended waking up in the middle of the forest not too far from here.”

“That so? Well, at least you’re lucky in that account. I ended waking up in the hospital in town, so many damn questions that made me seem so suspicious.” Belgarion said. “Well, at least you aren’t like Bruce. Man, would suck being in his position right about now…” The other ponies nodded in agreement.

“… Who?”

“Nothing, nopony you need to worry about. So Fiery, take it you’ve been here for about a week or so then?”

Fiery nodded in response before asking the same question. “How long have you guys been here?”

“Six months.” Chili answered.

“A year.”

“Three years.” Arc answered, getting looks from all of them. “What? So I ended up here a lot earlier than other people, don’t blame me for it. At least you guys got to see seasons two and three before coming here!” She pointed at her friends.

“Yeah, and?”

“I would give anything to see that, because I honestly can’t see you guys liking that show!”

“Look, we told you, a mass following emerged from that show because of how good it is!” Belgarion argued. “The animation is awesome, the voice work is awesome, the plot is awesome, everything about it is awesome! Why else do you think nothing but fans of the shows seem to be popping up here over the past three to four years?”

“Alright, fine, why don’t we ask Fiery about it then?” Arc asked, turning to the confused stallion at the end of the booth. “Fiery?”

“Um… yeah?”

“How and when did you become a so-called brony?”

Fiery sat there for a while, contemplating what she had meant by that question. After a few seconds of thinking, he gave up. “I give up, what’s a brony?”

“What do you mean what’s a brony? It’s what you are, isn’t it?” She asked as she turned to Belgarion. “Isn’t that what you guys call yourselves?”

“Unless they changed it in the past six months, yep.”

“I thought I was an equine for now though, a pony to be exact.”

“I thought you said everypony you had met that was once human were all bronies?” Arc questioned Belgarion, who only shrugged. Turning back to Fiery, she began to question him some more. “If you aren’t a brony, then how did you get here? How did you get your Cutie Mark?”

“As I said, I was sucked into a portal that was created by a woman, which even then I might be too sure if I had too much to drink or not. As for my Cutie Mark, it was on my ass the moment I came into this crazy world.”

“What? Now I know you’re not telling the truth!” Arc accused. “We all had to work for ours, and you’re saying that yours just happened to be on your butt the moment you came here? As if we would believe that!”

Fiery shrugged his shoulders. “Alright, don’t then, but that’s what ended up happening.” He said as he took another gulp from his beer glass, finishing it off finally. “Besides, if that’s true about you guys working for it, then why is it that your dreams don’t match your marks?”

“You can’t always get what you want.”

“I saw her today at reception, a glass of wine in her right hand, I knew she would go meet her connection, at her feet was her footloose man.” Fiery sung in a horrible attempt at a high pitched voice, earning chuckles from Chili and Belgarion while the other patrons at the pub were giving him strange looks before going back to their own drinks and food.

“Yes, yes, so you know somepony besides the Beatles, we get it, no need for you guys to laugh about it.” Arc told them before turning to Fiery again. “So you have no idea what a brony is, and yet you have a Cutie Mark when you arrived here in Equestria, a country and world you know nothing about…”

“Yep.”

“Yet, for some odd reason, all other humans who have arrived here are indeed bronies, and had to work for their Cutie Marks… can you see why I’m not believing you for a second?”

“Yep, but it’s not my problem.” Fiery simply stated.

“And just how is it not your problem?” Arc asked.

“Because I’m not responsible for abducting people from their lives on Earth and sending them here for God knows what reason. All I care about is trying to find a way back home.”

“Have you tried telling Twilight that you’re indeed human and that you need to see the Princess immediately?” Belgarion asked this time, trying to hold back his laughter, but that laughter faded as Fiery didn’t give the response he thought he’d give.

“Yeah, like I’m just going to waltz up to her saying ‘hey, sorry about telling you to fuck off when I was under the influence, but I really need you to do me a big favor and allow me to get close to royalty so that I might have a minuscule chance to get back to my home planet and to my old life’ or something along those lines.”

“Well, if you aren’t going to try to go out and search for a way home, what are you going to do to get back home?” Arc questioned.

“… Wait for a solution to fall into my lap.”

“…”

The other three fell completely silent at the answer, not entirely sure how to respond.

“You’re the lazy type, aren’t you?” Arc asked him, finishing her drink afterwards.

“No, I just have no idea where to start. I’ve only been here for a week, and, as much as I hate to admit, I need to stay here for a while to at least get some bearings and find some leads. Like I said, it might end up taking days, or years, but I’m determined that I’m going to go back home one day.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say buddy. The sooner you get used to life here, the easier it gets.” Belgarion commented.

“Trust me, I plan on not sticking around long enough for me to get used to this life.” Fiery answered in a defiant tone.

“But, didn’t you just say-“

“I know what I said!”

“Alright, alright… sheesh, no need to yell.”

After that little bit, the four of them had somehow managed to stay at the pub for nearly three hours, getting to know each other better and remembering the days of being back on Earth. Belgarion had managed to get completely smashed and pass out which forced Chili, who had drank almost nothing, to carry his red unicorn friend on his back to the apartment they just happened to share at five in the evening. Fiery on the other hoof, had agreed to walk Arc who had sobered up back to her own apartment she had been able to get by herself.

“You know, you don’t really need to do this. I can handle myself.” Arc told her new friend as they walked side by side.

“Perhaps, but I’ll need to learn the layout of the town sometime or another, and since you live in a part of town I haven’t been to yet…” He said as he shrugged his shoulders, careful to not let his guitar accidentally slip off his back.

“You wanted to learn the layout while you walked me home, got it.”

“You make it sound as if I’m using you for my own benefit.” Fiery joked, chuckling a bit to himself.

The two continued to walk to her apartment, talking about various things, mostly about Equestria and continuing their conversation about Fiery was adapting to pony life. “You know, I’m sort of surprised that you said you didn’t freak out as much as we did when we realized we were ponies.”

“I know what you mean Arc, but… I don’t know to explain other than it felt natural.”

“Maybe you’re really a pony who just happened to be living in the human world before coming back here.” She said with a wink before chuckling to herself.

“Haha, maybe I really am… Hey Arc?”

“Hmm?”

“How are you guys able to do it?”

Arc tilted her head, not sure what he meant. “What do you mean by that?” She asked.

“I mean, how are you guys able to get used to this life? Why don’t you want to go back home? Don’t you miss your family and friends?”

“Of course I do, but, is there a reason for me to go back? Did the world end up grieving for me when I went missing? It’s the same for all of us. The reason we’d rather stay here and not go back home… well, I think we can make a difference here in Equestria, then what we could’ve done on Earth.”

“So you’re essentially saying that it’s better to live here in a world that isn’t natural whatsoever and should really be only a cartoon-“ He said, having finally figuring out that he was indeed stuck in a cartoon world thanks to the other humans. Funny enough, he wasn’t all that too shocked about it. “And not back home where, if you tried hard enough, you could make a difference?”

“Is it not natural?” Arc asked as she raised an eyebrow. “Simply because things that end up happening here don’t end up happening on Earth doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t natural everywhere. To these ponies it’s perfectly natural. As for making a difference, let’s get real Fiery. You honestly think we could end up making a difference to help our world? Face it, if our race continues the path it’s on right now, a path that we have no way of changing, you might as well say that the human race is doomed.” She said in an upset tone.

“Didn’t expect you to be into politics.”

“It has nothing to do with politics, but rather has everything to do with actually having a brain and paying attention to the world. Trust me Fiery, you might as well forget about your old life this instant and enjoy your time being here. You might think it’s a curse being here, but I see it as a true blessing being in this world.”

“Wow, you’re, uh, quite… confident in your answer, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps I am, but that’s how I truly feel about this place… We’re here.” She said.

The two had reached a small brick house near the meadows of Ponyville, a house was floating up in the air not too far away from them. As the two ponies reached the front door, Arc fumbled for the keys for the door. “Hey, I have a question.” Fiery spoke up.

“Hmm?”

“If you’re a pegasus, why do you live on the ground?” He asked, motioning up to the house in the sky.

“Living on land is cheaper. Besides, you either need a team of pegasi or you need the skills yourself to create a cloudhouse. Rainbow up there from what I hear worked her tail off day in and day out to create that house. Cost her a fortune too.”

“Is that so… wait, Rainbow? Like, as in Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, what about her?” Arc asked as she turned her head to the stallion after unlocking the door.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t be here.” Fiery said, slowly creeping backwards.

“Why not? Do something to make her mad or something at you? I mean, besides the whole debacle at the party and all.” She asked again as she opened the door, and motioned inside. “If you’re so scared of her, perhaps you should wait inside my place until dark so she doesn’t catch you.” She said with a small smirk on her face.

“Yeah… thanks for that offer, but I much rather take my chances and walk home now rather than later.”

Arc shrugged. “Suit yourself… And Fiery?”

Fiery had already turned to begin walking home, but stopped and turned his head to face her once more. “Yeah?”

“I’m being serious… I know it’s truly hard to hear, but, let your old life go. I’ve been on the hunt for a way back for the past three years, and I’ve yet to get a whiff on a lead. Just… just think about it, okay?”

“Have you?”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Have you truly let it all go? Give in to the rules of this society?”

“I’m still not following.”

With a sigh, Fiery began to explain it better. “The reason why I’m bringing this up now is because I really didn’t want to bring it up in front of the other guys, but… if you’ve really adapted to this world’s laws and such then, what about the rules about mares?”

Arc kept quiet for a bit, her brain trying to understand what he had exactly meant. Then, it finally hit her. “You’re talking about the harems, aren’t you?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Fiery nodded as he fully faced Arc again. “Yeah… you see now why I didn’t want to bring it up.”

“But you brought it up anyways.” She said, crossing her front legs while stood on her back ones while she leaned against the doorframe.

“Well I can understand why a guy who’s into, well, ponies, would want to stay here, but what about you? If you did fall in love with one of these stallions, chances are you wouldn’t be the only one he would be seeing. Doesn’t that make you upset at all?”

With a sigh, she answered. “To tell the truth Fiery I’ve asked myself that a few times. After you live in the human world where monogamy rules and end up having a boyfriend while doing well in school and having a loving family only to be ripped from it all after only 17 years and being thrown into a world that seems to be almost the exact opposite of ours… yeah, you could say it makes me upset. But you know what? It’s like I said earlier. I’ve had three entire years to get over it, and you know what? I’m not mad anymore.”

“But, wha-“ But Fiery stopped, as Arc raised a hoof to silence him.

“I was just getting to that. Yes, I might have to share somepony I love deeply now, but… say that I truly do love that stallion, and he loves me more than all the other girls. Then I just know we would be happy, alone together, as we step down that aisle as the wedding bells ring.”

“So you basically want to imprison him, got it.” Fiery said under his breath, but Arc heard it and rolled her eyes as she smirked a bit.

“You colts and your drama about marriage. Anyways, isn’t it only natural for horses to live in polygamous societies? Why should it be any different here?”

“I guess you have a point there... So you’ve really been thinking that this entire time then?”

She nodded. “Basically… and Fiery?”

“Yeah?”

Arc motioned her head to the skies. “I might have forgot to mention this earlier, but the weather team was suppose to have storms this evening and through the night.” Indeed, the pegasi on the weather team had begun to collect rain clouds and were putting them in the sky across the town. “You might want to reach home before you get caught in that.”

Fiery looked up as well and had also saw the pegasi. “Oh, yeah, perhaps I should.” With that, he turned in the direction in home, said goodbye to Arc, and began to run home before the storms began. Arc however, continued to watch the pegasi assemble the clouds.

“The sooner you get used to life here, the sooner your life will be for the better…”

Fiery was about five minutes away from the house when the rain began to pour, making his coat and mane get drenched in the rain. “Shit, shit, shit, shit!” He repeated, worried about the guitar on his back. As he burst through the door of the house, both Octavia and Vinyl had jumped in surprise. “Hi girls, bye girls!” He quickly exclaimed as he ran up the stairs and into the storage closet, where some freshly dried towels should be awaiting for him and his guitar.

In the lower part of the house, Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other, then back up the stairs where Fiery had gone. “What do you think that was about?” Vinyl asked. Octavia could only shrug. “Huh… Anyways, I need to arrive at the club about an hour ahead of time, so got to eat dinner and such then I have to head out the door.”

“You’re really going out in this?”

“You think it would be better not bothering to show up?”

Octavia shook her head. “You don’t have to, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the club was dead tonight.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right about that…”

“FUCK!”

Both Octavia and Vinyl were startled at this sudden outburst, and both looked up the stairway. “Something we can help you with Fiery?” Octavia called out.

“Do either of you know where I can get a towel?! If my guitar becomes ruined I’m screwed!” He yelled back down.

“Did you look in the storage closet?”

“That was the first place I looked! God damnit! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-”

“Calm down, Fiery. There’s no need for you to start cursing up a storm!” She yelled as she got off the couch and began to climb up the stairs.

“Fuck you! If my guitar gets ruined- Rrraugh!” He clenched his teeth and screamed through them, wanting to hit the nearest thing to him. Fortunately for all of them he was too focused of scavenging his bathroom for a towel that hadn’t been used yet. Of course, he hadn’t spotted the towel lying in plain sight on top of his bed.

“What about this towel?” Octavia asked as she went to pick up the cloth and show it to Fiery.

Fiery rushed back into the bedroom and saw the towel. “Is it dry?”

“Yes, I think-“

Fiery snatched the towel out of her hoof before she could finish her sentence and began to feel it to see if it was truly dry. As if a mountain was lifted off his chest, Fiery, without really realizing it as he had a hundred other things running through his mind as he focused on drying his guitar before it became ruined, gave Octavia a large kiss on the cheek. “Oh thank you Octavia! You have no idea how much this makes me happy!” He said after the kiss, rushing to the guitar on the floor and began to wipe it down, hoping the wood wouldn’t crack.

Octavia though, was shocked at the gesture that Fiery had just given her. Touching her cheek with her hoof, she began to wonder if that really had happened. Nopony besides her parents and sisters had ever given her a kiss! Not even Ink Blot while they were dating strangely enough. Did the kiss mean something more? Or was it just a spur of the moment thing? She didn’t get to think about it for long though, as she felt the touch of a hoof on her shoulder.

“Hey, everything alright up here ‘Tavi?” Vinyl asked as she let go of her friend’s shoulder.

“Huh?! Y-yeah! Yeah… everything’s fine…” She replied, her hoof still to her cheek.

Throughout the rest of the night, Vinyl had found out through spell-mail that the club had closed for business that night because the storm was flooding the inside of the building. Fiery had been able to successfully wipe his entire guitar dry in time before any of the wood could crack or be warped from the rain-water. Finally Octavia, she went to bed early, continually curious about the kiss on the cheek.