//------------------------------//
// A Night At The Club 
// Story: A Night At The Club 
// by The Iced Lance 
//------------------------------//

                                                                                                A Night At The Club.

(***)

Ashen Spectre hated a lot of things.
No, that's putting it mildly. He hated many, many things.
Nopony knew how he became such an angry recluse. Many would say it's because of his social skills, others would say it's because he is rumoured to practice black magic,  and others would say that it's because he has no friends.
Nopony knew why, except Braveheart. 
Ever since the day he befriended Ashen, Braveheart tried every conceivable idea to get Ashen out of his eldritch tomes of arcane knowledge and to have fun, or at least, romp around in the night life.
Almost every idea.
Braveheart decided to invite Ashen Spectre to party all night long in  The Bucking Stallion, a nightclub on the outskirts of Ponyville, in hopes of drawing out the happiness locked inside of Ashen’s psyche.
Only accepting the invitation because it would be rude of him not to, Ashen reluctantly went with Braveheart to go clubbing.
But Braveheart knew that this plan of his was a gamble, because the club had something tha Ashen hated with an absolute passion.
Rap, dubstep, and Hip-hop. Anything that ties with those music genres, Ashen hated it. 
Soon, Braveheart went over to Ashen’s cottage, and they both took the train to Ponyville.
They arrived at dusk.
They were trotting the streets, passing under streetlights and the occasional group of ponies.
“I’m telling you, you're gonna have a blast tonight!” Braveheart said rather excitedly,  while humming a tune.
Ashen rolled his eyes, and levitated another one of his books in front of his face with his magic, tuning out Braveheart’s chatter.
Braveheart noticed and frowned. Braveheart used his own magic to make the book disappear. 
Ashen immediately turned to him and growled. “Where is my book!?
“I hid it,” Braveheart replied, “you will get it back as soon as we are done visiting the club.”
Ashen Spectre’s eyes burned with anger. “I swear, if you damaged that thousand year old text-”
“Stop being such a spoiled colt. You wanted to come.”
Ashen muttered a few choice words and continued to trot alongside Braveheart. 
After awhile,  Ashen spoke, “so… what kind of place is it?”
Braveheart rolled his eyes, “I told you already, it's a nightclub. Haven't you been paying attention?”
“I have, and you know how much I hate dubstep or anything related to it.”
Braveheart sighed and stopped in his tracks. He turned to Ashen.
“I know. It's just that… you seem so sick of life. Its like you no nothing but misery.”
Ashen narrowed his eyes, “you no nothing about me.”
“Really? I know that you grew up in Baltimare, were your parents ended up in the morgue when one tried to save another’s life, and the other tried to stop an armed robbery, and you lived on the street for most of your life. I know that you were enlisted in the royal guard, and it was you that sent a royal guard captain, your superior, to the hospital in a knife fight. I even caught you practicing black magic.”
“When did you-”
“Awhile ago. Let's just say that i’ve seen and heard many stories like yours.”
Braveheart looked at the fading dusk. He began to walk again and said, “come on. Let's go have some fun.”
Ashen was still for a moment,  then began to walk beside Braveheart, towards the outskirts of Ponyville.

(¥)

Ashen could hear the bass from twenty feet away, pulsing from the club like ripples in a pond. There wasn't a line in front of the joint, but there was a large stallion guarding the entrance.
Braveheart and Ashen Spectre made their way over to the stallion.
“Alright, who you jokers supposed to be?”
“Braveheart and Ashen Spectre. We should be on the list,” Braveheart said to the brute.
The stallion pulled out a clipboard with some papers on it, and used his magic to levitate it. He flipped through the pages with his hoof.
He nodded, “yep, you guys are there.” he moved out of the way, but then put his hoof in Ashen’s path.
“What's the meaning of this?” Braveheart asked.
The stallion replied, “he's carrying.”
Braveheart looked to see that there was a knife strapped to Ashen’s flank, cleverly concealed by magic.
Braveheart said to Ashen, “I told you not to bring any knives with you!”
Ashen rolled his eyes, “the knife is the reason i’m still alive. If you both have a problem with it, then i'm not coming inside.”
“Come on, Ashen. Don't be like that. Just hand him the knife so you can go inside,” Braveheart said.
Ashen’s eyes seemed to twinkle in a sinister way. He trotted past the bouncer, who was in trance like state, and past a stunned Braveheart. 
He turned to Braveheart and said, “you coming or not?”
Braveheart swore under his breath as he followed Ashen into the club.

(*)

“You shouldn't have done that, Ashen.”
A smug smile formed as Ashen said, “my dear Braveheart.  What are you talking about?”
Braveheart was not amused, “you used black magic in public, on another pony! What if you were caught? Do you even know the sentence for using such forbidden techniques?!”
“I assure you, there is no way in Tartarus that the bouncer never even knew what hit him.”
Braveheart sighed and shook his head. He made a mental note to himself that he would have to explain to his friend the consequences of using the dark arts.
“Hang tight, i’m gonna get a drink.”
Braveheart walked away, thinking to himself that maybe he shouldn't leave Ashen to his own devices or he should simply allow him to breathe. After all, he would have to be some kind of fool to even think about using his dark magic in this club , a club mostly filled with earth ponies and unicorns.
Ashen shrugged and began to wander around the mass of dancing ponies, trying to ignore the blasts of bass and the laser lights. He soon found a nice and empty corner to sit In and watch from afar, for even Braveheart knew that Ashen couldn't dance for shit.
Amid the lights and dubstep, Ashen thought long and hard on how Braveheart knew his life story. He told nopony his story,  and even mind wiped some ponies if they knew the slightest true detail about him. His life, interests, and even his home had been kept behind the veils of secrecy. So the important question was:
“Who has been watching me?”
He shifted his gaze over to the DJ, and recognized her immediately. 
It was Vinyl Scratch, or more commonly known by her stage name, DJ Pon-3. She was jamming out to various beats, mixing and tuning the music currently playing, causing the dancing crowd to shout with approval. Her name was famous around these parts.
Movement was detected out of the corner of Ashen’s eye, and he turned his head to see such motion. 
It was a gray mare with mulberry eyes getting harassed by a stallion who probably was high on something, be it hormones or drugs. They were In the back of the room, away from the other ponies.

Ashen watched as he saw the grey mare politely decline the stallion’s offer of… whatever it was. He asked again, and she declined again.
Then the two began to argue, their words impossible to hear over the sound of dubstep. The stallion was getting more and more pissed, while the mare lifted her chin and said something that went along the lines of “fuck you”
The stallion lashed out, grabbing the cello that was behind the mare with his teeth. The mare grabbed the cello with her hooves, trying to pry it from the stallion’s mouth.
The scene reminded him of a childhood nightmare. A nightmare that cost him his mother.
Then the stallion took the cello from the mare, reared up and came down on the instrument, snapping it in half. He then back-hoofed the unfortunate mare, sending her to the ground.
That one action triggered a deep, blazing hatred inside Ashen Spectre. A hatred that cost him his innocence during his upbringing. It was the hatred that forced him to kill his mother’s assailant all those years ago.
He strode over to the pair of ponies, his hatred causing his eyes to spout purple mist, but the eyes did not glow green.
He came up behind the stallion and tapped his flank. As soon as the stallion turned, he socked the stallion in the face, causing some teeth to fly. The stallion flopped to the ground, crashing into the table of refreshments, spilling soda and other drinks all over. Ashen stood over the broken stallion and continued to beat him black and blue. The stallion put up a feeble attempt to defend himself against Ashen’s onslaught of blows, but could only weakly curl up into a fetal position as Ashen continued to educate the stallion in a lesson about pain. The blows did not stop, and the stallion was getting more and more wounded. Then, Ashen remembered that he has a knife.
He was gonna kill him.
Then, Ashen felt a magic aura restrict his movements and levitate him into the air. He struggled against the magical restraints, shouting to the stallion all kinds of words that are usually reserved for sailors during a brawl.
Ashen’s fury left him as the stallion high-tailed it out of the door, swearing revenge.
The magic turned Ashen towards the crowd.
The music was silent, and the crowd had their attention on him. Their fear was filling the room as they regarded the renegade.
Braveheart was in front of the crowd, using his magic to keep Ashen confined and in the air.
“What do you think you're doing?” Braveheart said, keeping his voice as calm as possible.
Ashen Spectre gritted his teeth and said, “what does it look like?”
Vinyl galloped past Braveheart and knelt at the side of the gray pony.
“Octavia? Octavia! Octavia, can you hear me?!”
Octavia got up with the help of Vinyl, staggering to her hooves.
Vinyl turned to Ashen,  her eyes lit with fury. “YOU DARE HURT MY FRIEND?!”
Ashen couldn't see because of his magical restraints,  but he was pretty sure everypony was burning a hole in his soul with their stares.
“That's not true.”
Vinyl turned to her roommate, “what do you mean?”
Octavia shook her head and spoke, “it wasn't him that hurt me. He didn't even lay a hoof on me. It was a different stallion, one I have not seen before. He was the one that smacked me, not the one floating in the air before you. The one floating rescued me.”
Vinyl’s eyes went wide. She turned to Ashen as Braveheart let the unicorn down. “I’m sorry, I didn't know,” She said.
Ashen only gave her and the crowd the death glare before trotting out of the club, trying to cool himself down.
After that whole episode, and after everypony was still for five minutes,  Vinyl went back to her DJ stand and began to play her music again. 
Octavia and Braveheart were still looking at the door. Braveheart whispered something in Octavia’s ear.
Then Octavia trotted out of the door, with Braveheart close behind.

(^) 

Ashen was one hundred feet away from the club, staring intently at the stars above, a single tear sliding down his cheek.
He quickly wiped it away. After all, he still had a reputation to uphold.
He turned to see Octavia behind him staring like he had two heads. Braveheart was in the door entrance,  watching carefully. 
Ashen stood tall, trying to intimidate Octavia, trying to get her to leave and leave him with peace.
Instead,  Octavia said, “you cry? According to the rumors, you lost your ability to cry long ago.”
Ashen gritted his teeth, “I don't cry. Go back in the club. I don't want you near me.”
Normally,  that statement would make anypony cry and leave, but Octavia simply produced a CD from out of nowhere and held it out to him.
Ashen regarded the CD with suspicious eyes, narrowing as he said, “what is this?”
“Braveheart told me that you like orchestra and/or classical music. This is a thank you gift.”
He slowly took the CD from her hoof, and used his magic to teleport it home. Octavia nodded and said, “I hope I see you soon.”
With that, she trotted back into the club.
Braveheart trotted next to Ashen, saying, “sorry about the night. I wish it would of played out differently. Anyways,  nice try, trying to conceal the dark magic you used to fill his mind with fear.”
Ashen shook his head, “nothing could be done about it. You staying here?”
Braveheart smirked. “nope. I’m going with ya. Somepony has to make sure you don’t get in trouble.”
Ashen smiled, “whatever, mom.”
They stood there awhile, laughing.
Braveheart settled down and said, “You know, how did you get your cutie mark?”
Ashen looked him in the eyes, “ritual sacrifice, and keen eyesight.”