ATTENTION: What you are about to read may appear to be coming out of left field at first. You may read the first 1000 words or so and think: “where’s the damn Flutterdash?” Bear with it for a few paragraphs, it is colliding with the main story. The following sequence is also setting up the characters for the sequel to this story, so just maintain :)

The denizens and tourists of Canterlot crowded around the entrance of a riotous public house. The door was wide open as shot glasses were flung out into the streets accompanied by the soundtrack of a shouting mob. Amid this chaos, emerged two unicorns. The first was Ponyville’s resident harpist, Lyra Heartstrings, who walked out soberly with a look that was totally unimpressed with both the loud commotion inside, and the crowd that had gathered to pay witness. The other unicorn literally stumbled face-first into the street in front of the pub, and struggled to get back up. Tilting her head upward, the blue hair and red contacts showed that it was Vinyl Scratch (Stage name, PON-3), Canterlot native and current freelance DJ working out of Ponyville.

Vinyl and Lyra, as you may recall, were partnering with Pinkie Pie to form a band. Lyra was their bassist (her uncanny ability at the harp made her adept at all plucked strings), Pinkie was the multi-instrumentalist (she played whatever instrument the song called for (sometimes 10 at once)), and Vinyl layered everything with a really cool electronic texture. On paper, it would seem like everypony in Equestria would be clamoring to have the trio perform.

However.....let’s just say their personalities created conflict when it came time to search for gigs.

Lyra, while not nearly as eccentric as her two colleagues (unless it concerned the topic of humans), did have the distinct quirk of being almost completely absent-minded and being unfazed by most things in life. As long as she had pants in her drawer, a sandwich on her plate, and her beloved Bon Bon under her foreleg, she could take leave or anything else that came her way. This meant that Ms. Heartstrings was rather unmotivated when it came to prospects such as finding a gig, and when the time came to actively seek slots at various locations, the human enthusiast made a rather piss-poor and lazy sales pitch. Vinyl Scratch being her accompaniment only further compounded this.

While Pinkie and Vinyl both had very energetic, erratic bearings, Miss Scratch was definitely the one to take things too far. Whereas Pinkie Pie was very bouncy, fun and always had the happiness of everypony as a goal (when sober), Vinyl was very id-driven and was incredibly prone to violent impulses (regardless of what she had been drinking). Consequently, whenever somepony who ran an establishment was not impressed by Lyra’s half-hearted sales pitches, Vinyl would proceed to throw a fit: one that would result in everypony inside getting into a massive brawl that Lyra had to drag Vinyl out of before the Royal Guards showed up. This process was one that they repeated often.

“Lyra, do I have cuts or anything?” Vinyl asked her companion as they trotted around the shopping district several blocks away from the pub.

“Not from the looks of it. I swear, Vinyl, one of these days you’re gonna have us banned from Equestria. So what are we gonna tell Pinkie?”

Vinyl snorted. “What? You think she’s gonna care that we blew another gig-opening? News flash! Pinkie’s never upset about that kinda stuff.”

Lyra nodded. “I suppose. I mean, it’s whatever, really.”

A brief silence ensued before Vinyl said, “It would be nice to actually get a gig.”

“Well, we could play on the streets for change. Like in music school, when you, Octavia and I did it for booze money.” Lyra chuckled at the fond memories of their younger selves living the bohemian dream.

“You know my equipment won’t plug into anything outside.”

“Then use your magic.”

“There’s magic, and then there’s pure fantasy, Lyra. I’m sorry we’re not all blessed with the enchanted ability to inexplicably play strings with hooves!”

“Okay, okay, jeez. Don’t get so defensive.” The green unicorn rubbed her chin with her hoof. “Well, we could try to get gigs at Sugarcube corner. Pinkie throws parties there all the time.”

“Hay no. Those cakes won’t let me near their foals. It’s not fair, really. Everypony knows Pinkie can get just as crazy as me when she’s had enough to drink, but they still let her foal-sit those little brats!”

Lyra shivered at Vinyl’s tirade, recalling the recent night of drinking that lead to Pinkie tearing through half the town and almost assaulting many innocents (including Lyra, herself).

Vinyl took a few deep breaths after finishing her rant before continuing, “In any case, I think we need to let Pinkie do the talking when it comes to the sales pitches.”

Lyra chuckled. “I think you’re right.” The unicorn’s smile then faded. “Speaking of which, where the hay is Pinkie? That’s been bothering me all day.” Lyra was of course, unaware of the fact that Pinkie was currently being held against her will in Twilight Sparkle’s library to contain her Pinkie Promise rage.

“Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that. That’s been bugging me too.”

An awkward silence came next as it occurred to both unicorns that Pinkie could actually be in some sort of danger.

“She can’t be in any real trouble or anything. It’s Pinkie Pie.”

Vinyl gave a hesitant nod. “You’re....probably right.” Somepony then caught the DJ’s eye. “Hey! Maybe that pony knows where she is. Isn’t that one of Pinkie’s friends?”

Lyra pointed her eyes into Vinyl’s direction and caught view of a certain cyan pegasus sitting alone at a cafe. “Oh yeah, that is Rainbow Dash. She should know where Pinkie is.”

The two unicorns approached Rainbow’s table at the cafe, taking notice of Rainbow’s less-than-content mien.

“Hey Rainbow Dash. What’s up?”

Rainbow turned her head up and aside to see her acquaintance. She gave a nod, but did not alter her countenance. Instead, giving a glumly monotone, “Oh, hey Lyra. Back atcha.” The cyan pegasus then returned focus on her mostly uneaten sandwich and several bottles of Blueblood’s Private Reserve .

Lyra loudly cleared her throat and wiped away the droplets of perspiration on her forehead. Things were getting uneasy, as the two unicorns noticed-in addition to Rainbow’s less than stellar mood-that her eyes were very red upon close inspection. Questions upon questions.

However, in an attempt to alleviate the awkwardness, Lyra chose to hone in on a different topic. “So...Rainbow. You’ve met Vinyl Scratch, right?”

Rainbow once again turned to the two unicorns and limply extended a hoof to the DJ. She flatly uttered without making eye contact, “Yeah, a couple times. You’re in Pinkie and Lyra’s band, right?”

As Vinyl took the hoof and shook it, she blurted, “So what’s up? Have you been crying or something?”

Lyra smacked her forehead with her hoof and let out a resigned sigh. Despite being friends for years, she and Vinyl were still a long way from being on similar mental wavelengths. Regardless, the matter of Rainbow’s exterior behavior was now out in the open.

The cyan pegasus let out a deep sigh and plopped her head on the cafe table, shaking the flimsy furniture’s foundation and nearly breaking the beer bottles made of the best barley.

A realization suddenly came to Lyra. The green unicorn cleared her throat again and asked hesitantly, “So Rainbow...where’s Fluttershy at?”

A sniffle came from the daredevil that eventually developed into full-blown waterworks. Vinyl’s assumption was correct. Rainbow Dash was crying, and unless Vinyl and Lyra had it all wrong, these were the tears of a pony in heartache. The pegasus’s moans and cries became louder and more frantic and her breathing became heavier. The cloth on the cafe table was doing a poor job of absorbing the tears, as droplets permeated across the material onto the ground.

The two unicorns looked at each other with grave concern before nodding each other. Without speaking, Vinyl used magic to lift the grief-stricken daredevil from this degrading public display. Lyra and Vinyl (levitating Dash with all the magic she had) decided to take their crying acquaintance to a quiet place where she could articulate her problems with a clear head and dignity....another pub.
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In what seemed instantaneous, Fox Trottingham’s entirety was absorbed in steam. The sensation combined with some choice rum running in her veins brought her back to the bygone days of hustling and performing her flank off in the countless corridors of Equestria’s music scene, and then, rejuvenating herself with whatever deliciously sinful vices she could get her hooves on. The maroon earth pony looked longingly at the unicorn who took her back to her youthful exploits.

“Rarity...how the haaaaaaay do I thank yoooou?”

“O(hiccup)oh, Foooooxy, think nothing of it, d-darling.” Rarity drunkenly slurred. The fashionista was not the kind to sneak in rum. Her spa dates were a time of relaxation and sober contemplation, and frankly, getting wasted would be most unladylike. However, considering; A: the very stressful day everypony was having, and B: rarely, would she ever have a chance to get schwasted with a pop-star in the comfort of Ponyville, the unicorn figured it would be nice, for once, to turn her beauty therapy into a steamy soiree.

“Well, all I gotta say is you really know how to help a mare get over some jerk. I ain't even missing for...what’s his face.”

Rarity outwardly guffawed at the earth pony’s tipsied boast. Inwardly, she was giddly squeeing at the top of her metaphorical lungs.

‘Just what I expected!’ the unicorn’s inner-soliloquy began. ‘In all likelihood, she’ll leave that demonic brute! She honestly needs better, she’s just so wonderful. I wonder if she needs a place to lodge? Ooh, I could offer her one of my guest bedrooms. We could stay up at night, talk, maybe drink some wine, and then she’ll get a little tipsy and I can run my hoof down that silky white mane of hers and....’

The unicorn’s eyes widened to the size of.....not dinner plates, but those little ones you put the teacups on. A startling revelation dropped on her mind like a coconut. Rarity had a crush on this mare!

Now, in principle, this wouldn’t be a problem, quite the contrary. In her younger, “unladylike” days (to put classily), Rarity partook in wild dalliances with stallions and mares of all kinds while hitting the clubs of Canterlot. Nothing too heavy ever came out of it, just some awkward groping. Nevertheless, it aroused Rarity’s curiosity (among other things) when it came to relationships with mares. When the fashionista matured and got her business underway, she set aside her previous curiosities and experiences as part of a wild phase and set her sights on fulfilling her fillyhood dream of giving Prince Blueblood her hoof and having a fairytale wedding.

Of course....we all know how that ended.

After the Gala, Rarity briefly became disillusioned with stallions altogether. In her drunken stupor following the disastrous date with Blueblood, she openly expressed to Rainbow Dash her desire to explore the other sides of her..um..romantic appetite. However, to this day, Rarity denies that conversation ever happening. It’s not necessarily because of her self-outing, but because of all that filthy vomiting she did on her bed. Seriously, she BURNED the whole thing the following morning.

Well, regardless of whether or not she was open about them, Rarity still had her curiosities. She wanted to know what a relationship with a mare was like. Perhaps what the unicorn had been missing wasn’t a knight in shining armor, but a fair maiden like herself. Make no mistake, Rarity honestly felt that she had a special somepony missing from her life. The way she jumped for Cadence’s bouquet at the Royal Wedding, shoving four ponies out of the way accentuated her burning desire not to be alone anymore. For Celestia’s sake, her closest companion was a cat of all things.

So yes, it shouldn’t have been a problem that Rarity developed a crush on a mare. It should have been less of a problem since it was one as lovely and wonderful as Foxy herself. There was one teency problem, however: Rarity had known this mare for less than 24 hours.

No...just no. This shouldn’t be it. This was too sudden, too...contrived, frankly.

‘This isn’t a real romance.’ Rarity thought to herself. ‘This is one of those trashy stories that Twilight refuses to stock in the library! My subconscious was honestly entertaining such frivolity. What is your problem, id?!’

Rarity couldn’t deny, Foxy was a wonderful pony. Aside from her pop stardom, she was just so fascinating on so many levels. Plus, Foxy was the first pony in a long time to truly admire Rarity’s work beyond a superficial level. Rarity’s friends loved her work, no doubt, but their comments were never beyond the range of “looks good” or “wow”. Also, beyond that, Rarity loved making conversation with this mare. Their time spent together today was something that the unicorn would always have fond memories of.

So while she had made a truly great friend, Rarity refused to entertain these carnal fancies she had for this mare she had just met; a married one, at that. Even though Saltine was a brutish bastard who was totally undeserving of somepony like Foxy, Rarity couldn’t live with herself if she turned out to be the pony who Foxy walked out on her husband for. No way in Equestria would the fashionista ever become somepony’s rebound.

So while she was curious, Rarity refused herself any further notion into the idea. Honestly, falling for a stranger so quickly would have been as ludicrous as, say...falling for one of her closest friends.

Twilight? Some ponies might find neuroticism charmingly endearing, but not Rarity.

Applejack? Why not go native and live with mountain goats?

Spike? Don’t even get her started, that’s so completely ridiculous. Besides, the unicorn’s intuition was telling her that a certain sister of hers was beginning to catch the dragon’s fancy.

Pinkie? Well....um....she didn’t know what to say about that one. Pinkie certainly wasn’t the most refined pony (really, she was the antithesis of refined), but she had a certain “eclectic” charm to her. Did she even like mares? She didn’t really give indication as to whom she liked. Rarity deduced that it might be interesting to find out.....maybe....just maybe....

The unicorn stopped her train of thought entirely at that. Like her drunken conversation with Rainbow after the Gala, she would never think of that again.....ever.

Speaking of which, I’m sure you’re wondering what Rainbow is up to with Lyra and Vinyl.

Okay, I understand if you think this chapter is a little filler-ish. Rest assured, it’s not in the grand scheme. I am planting the seeds, characters, and plotlines for the sequel to this story methodically. Trust me, all of this crap pays off. I’m not dumping Foxy from upcoming events. As always, constructive criticism is wanted. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading! Next chapter: the Flutterdash conflict FINALLY comes to an end! Next Chapter: 13. Get Your Flank Back Home Estimated time remaining: 42 Minutes