Several hours later we were all around the table, drinking tea from freshly-crafted glass mugs. Photo was explaining why she was here in her own unique way. The story had started with her waking up, to her breakfast; to the fact that she took Daring's cover art photographs and worked with her regularly, then back to her breakfast.

"So, I am eating my daisies, vhen in comes my morning magazines. I am reviewing them, vhen vhat do I find but this vision of beauty vaiting in a magazine! So little details, alas! But, Ponyville! My assistant lives there, my greatest Star lives there- I know Ponyville!"

"Lantra, we have a problem."

"Ach, hello, Turner. I vas just mentioning you."

"Oh, hello boss. Look, Lantra, we-"

"So, vhere vas I… Ach, yes. So, I left to come here, and everypony on the street vas talking about the cute mare vith the funny eyes."

"Yeah, that. We're way too late for any kind of control."

"Indeed! She is all across Equestria vith a vinning smile, open heart, and open marehood. Vhy vould you try to control that!?" Elizabeth chocked on some tea, and Derpy started crying again.

"Miss Finish, I-" Daring's hoof cut me off.

"I've got this, Lantra. Look, Photo, what are you getting at?"

"Getting at? Vhy my Daring, she can be a Star! I vill bring her back to Canterlot for more photos!"

Elizabeth found her voice again. "Absolutely not!" Derpy was not in a state of shock, supported off the floor by my back. "She will not be doing any more photos!"

"Mom, I think she means normal ones. Probably sexual, but not like that."

"No! Simply no!"

"Miss Elizabeth, this is Derpy's choice, not yours." Whooves pointed out gently.

"Well, that answers things for me. Photo, when do you want to snap sis?"

"She's not-"

"Tonight! I must get this out there before another pony finds her!"

"Right. I also need you to do some shoots with me- deal?"

"Oh? Vhat shoots? Not that there's not a deal…"

"I need the cover for another book."

"Ach, you just make those so often. Very vell, that is not-"

"And I'm doing a Playcolt shoot too."

"WHAT!?" I winced at the surround-sound effect. Even Derpy had shouted.

"Yeah. See, I don't care. But, you do sis. So, maybe if we've both done it, you'll feel better. So, deal Photo?"

"HAY NO!"

"I asked Photo, Mom…"

"Let us go to Canterlot!"

"All right! Come on, sis!"

"Well, I guess I know what I'm doing tonight. I'll go start setting up, boss."

"Well I am not coming. If you girls want to ruin your lives and future this way, then I suppose it is your choice, but do not expect me to support you in it!"

"Well… You'll be there, right, Lan?"

And so, I found myself stuck in the last place I wanted to be. Well, no, that wasn't quite true. I'd take being in Canterlot over Celestia's throne room, or back in space, or the dungeons, or even in this city locked outside. Oh, wait. I am!

Apparently, even though I want to be in there for the photos, and even though Derpy wants me there for comfort, and even though even Daring apparently wanted me there for who knows what reason, I was locked out. I felt justifiably upset about this. After all, Whooves was still in there! And don't give me 'I need him to work the lights and effects'. I can do that too! No stallions meant no stallions, so if one was in there, both should be able to be!

…Besides. I wanted to see those two showing off…

Right. No sense moping about here. What would there be to do around here now? Looking about, I was met with austere stares. Yep, still such a friendly place. All righty, where to go… Ah ha! A bar! Bartenders know what's going on in town, no matter where you are.

I wandered in, and a blast of noise nearly shoved me back out. What the hay!? Working quickly, I bent the waves of sound around myself and stepped further in. Apparently, I had mistaken some kind of dance club for a bar. The whole center of the colored, strobe-lit floor was covered in ponies. I was absolutely scandalized to see the stallions often on their back legs grinding their hops against mares, or even other stallions! And the victims were grinding back!? I stared around angrily to find somepony to demand an explanation of, and two ponies caught my eye. The first was the bartender- the only calm, solid looking pony here. …Except for those bits of metal in his eyebrow. I headed directly for him.

"What can I get ya, stranger?"

"Vodka and water. Am I really that obvious?"

"Nah." He started pulling down the bottle and pouring. "We just always have the same crowd when Pon3s playing, so new faces stand out."

"who's playing?"

"DJ Pon3. Up there, behind her speakers."

I glanced up at the other pony I'd noticed. Her blue mane was spiked up as always, whipping back and forth with her head. The colored lights flashed back at me off her sunglasses. I turned back to the bartender and my drink. "I thought her name was Vinyl?"

"Shh!" The bartender shot a concerned look at the only other pony at the bar, but he was too busy spooning his bottle and hiccupping to realize we were there. "How do you know her? Talk fast."

I suddenly realized several very large, massive stallions were watching me from around the room like a piece of hay to be threshed. Ok,what had I said? "She lives in Ponyville near me. She helped build my house."

That bartender visibly relaxed and nodded to the bouncers. "All right, I'm sorry. We've had problems with DJs being stalked before. Yes, her name is Vinyl Scratch. We require all players to have a stage name, though. So, please, whole she's at work or outside Ponyville, DJ Pon3."

Intersting… It felt like very pony around me was turning out to have two names. First Whooves was Turner, then Derpy-Ditzy, and now Vinyl-Pon. What next, Twilight is secretly Dusk Shine? I pondered this for a while as I watched Vinyl, draining my glass. The bartender was back quickly. "Would you like more?"

"Sure, why not? So, you said there's a problem with stalkers here?"

He nodded darkly. "Yeah. Especially with Strobe Flash, or regular DJ. He still uses his real name because he was here before it all started. He's had several mares stalk him, and others bother him all night."

"Isn't that flattering, though?"

"Maybe, but he doesn't swing that way." I blinked twice, so he expounded. "A colt-cuddler." Not wishing to seem rude, I nodded in false understanding, said goodnight, and left the bar.

I found Daring wandering in the street without her hat. "Hey, done already?"

"Oh, hey Lantra. No… Photo's changing up the sets for my Playcolt shoot…"

"Ah. …So I'm definitely not allowed in there now."

"Yeah, much as I wish… "

We stood in silence for a while, and then I remembered what the bartender earlier had said. "Hey, Daring… what's a 'Colt-cuddler'?"

She raised an eyebrow in the same way I did regularly. "Why do you ask?"

"Someone at the bar I was in mentioned it."

"Ah. It means somecolt's gay."

"Gay?"

"You've really never heard that term?"

I was beginning to think I should have asked somepony who knew how long I'd been gone. "No. I don't get out much."

"Well, it means a stallion that is sexually attracted to other stallions."

If my head could have exploded with shock, confusion, and rage, it would have. I was locked in place, trying to figure out how, in a world so full of beautiful mares, colts could be interested in each other!? Besides, where would it go…? I shuddered at the implications. I was yanked back to reality by Daring pressing up against me.

"I'm terrified of this…" she muttered quietly.

"You? Terrified? You escape trap-filled dungeons without a thought. You battle dictators that want to destroy the world. How can this scare you?"

She sat down next to me at a closed coffee shop with a sigh. "Most people don't know I'm a real pony… This will prove it for all time- my life will never be the same again. Also, I…" She muttered something.

"Sorry, what?"

She turned deep red. "I'm still a virgin. I've never stretched any boundaries in this particular area."

I gaped. "Never? No stallion in any way?"

"No… I've never found one as amazing as one, and I'd never met him until very recently."

"But, you get caught by evil stallions regularly. Don't they…"

"You know, you'd really think so. They seem to have their brains stuck in dust. Still, not complaining."

"Evil overlords certainly have changed since my t-…. Studies."

She looked at me oddly. "Yep. You know what this night could do with?"

"What?"

"It's a perfect night for a peaceful light rain… If only…"

I mentally shrugged. A simple request for a frightened mare who could use the comfort. Not like she'd know I'd caused it. I magically touched the clouds. A bit of negative energy to draw out the particles already in the air… Out of nowhere a light rain sprinkled down. She glanced up happily, basking in the droplets for a minute. "All right, they probably want me back." She stood up and started walking back through the rain, her flank swaying slightly. She paused and turned back at the door. "See you around, SkyTear."

I blinked after her vanished form. Did she… I started walking through my rain, working through my mind. What Elizabeth had said about Daring's feelings wouldn't stop running around in my head like Bastet after a butterfly.

I broke into a clearing, and found that my feet had carried me to familiarity. I was at the edge of a garden, in which a group of classical musicians was playing to themselves. I was more than happy to lie down and listen. They were very skilled, but only a brown mare with a cello was really catching my attention. I'd always loved stringed instruments, and she was definitely impressive with hers. What I was noticing, however, was her aura. She looked and acted just like the other over-regal musicians, but a large part of her aura was jumping faster than a vibrating string. I felt myself drifting off, and left the feeling carry me away, with an eccentric aura bouncing me around, and my gentle rain wherever I could go.

All right, firstly- Lantra's feelings are for once not fully mine. He takes a much more disgusted stance on gay relationships than I do (although I too feel dread at the idea of the particular ...mode of copulation.) I felt it fit his character as somepony who has been dropped into a modern era from 1000 years ago. Imagine if you tried to explain gay marriage to someone from 1013. All things considered, I think he took it fairly well. So, please don't abandon the story or yell at me for that, that is *not* how I think/feel.

Hopefully you all liked the glimpses of Vinyl and Octavia. I know I did. Oh, and yes, I know I'm bad at writing Photo Finish's accent... I'm sorry. Hopefully you enjoyed anyway!

I don't own MLPFIM. That simple.