The first thing that hit Vinyl was the smell. Even outside the club, it was overwhelming. The only way to describe it would be a sick mixture of alcohol and sweat. It takes you back at the first sniff, but when you've clubbed as long as Vinyl Scratch, you grow to get used to it, and even enjoy it. She walked up to the large red double doors, going right through security, after the bouncer recognized her, he stepped back and gestured for her to enter. Behind her, were a total of four ponies. One was the dark brown stallion that offered her free drinks, which that alone would have followed the pony anywhere. There were two blue Pegasus mares, who looked like they were sisters, twins maybe. Finally, there was an awkward looking stallion , who looked a little too young to be going into clubs, but Vinyl was not one to care.
Right as she opened the doors, she was nearly blinded by a green laser light flashing in front of her. She blinked in surprise, expecting it, but still caught off guard. The club was packed wall to wall, ponies of all different shapes and sizes bouncing at the exact rhythm of the beat that would be deafening to those who hear it for the first time, but it was more than natural to Vinyl. To her, she wasn't hearing music, she was hearing small voices whisper on the track, in perfect harmony and synchronization. Some would call her crazy, and she wouldn't reply, because she wouldn't tell anypony her thoughts to begin with.
She took a look at her surroundings. In front of her, was a large, open dance floor, which would be impossible to get inside now, due to ponies being so close together, they have enough space to hop up and down in unison with the music. If you have to leave, or go to the bathroom, well, your bucked. To her left, was a staircase leading upstairs, and an assortment of round tables and booths, which were translucent, so when the strobe lights hit them, they reflected all around anypony who sat at that booth. And to her right, Vinyl could see a bar, which was surprisingly less crowded than the rest of the club, maybe because there were servers trotting about, and bringing drinks to ponies that were willing to pay.
Vinyl and the brown stallion walked over to the bar, after seeing the stallion call her over, and patted his hoof on a stool next to him. She took a seat, and looked up to being stared at by the bartender, a beautiful mare, with a luscious green mane, that drooped over her eyes, and she had a very seductive gaze. Vinyl's heart skipped a beat for a moment, before she snapped back, blinking a few times, before speaking up.
"I'll take a Barcolti, straight up."
"Anything for you, darling." The bartender said with a wink, before turning around to fix her drink. Vinyl turned her head towards the stallion that would be paying for this, and she smiled.
"Hey, thanks for buying this for me, what's your name? Gotta know who to thank, right?" She asked with a grin as the bartender handed set the drink in front of her.
"Take it easy with that stuff, Sweetcheeks." She said before heading to the other side of the bar to serve another customer.
"Name's Thumbtack. Why my parents would give me that name, I may never know. I'm from Applelossa, came here a couple of years ago to try to make it big in the city. All of my friends discouraged me to come here, saying I wasn't cut out for city life, or nobody'll like me here. When I saw you, I knew you were famous, and I just wanted to get to know ya! Do you like me, miss Vinyl?"
After hearing his name, which is all Vinyl was interested in knowing, she toned the stallion out, taking a swig of her drink. She wasn't interested in talking to this nobody, she just came here to party, and took the chance when he said he would pay for her drinks. Without wasting any time of actually tasting the drink, she swallowed it immediately, cringing in her seat when the strong alcohol moved down her throat, burning more with every inch it goes, before she finally finishes swallowing the drink, opening her eyes, exhaling sharply, then taking slow deep breaths, a smile growing on her face. She gestured over to the bartender to fix her another glass, which she happily obliged. Vinyl drank the next glass even faster than before, slamming the empty glass on the bar, bringing her hooves up above her head, tilting it up, screaming,
"Woooh!! Yeah! Let's get this party started!" She hopped off of the bar stool, jumped onto a nearby table screaming as loud as she can into the crowd, competing with the music blaring,
"What the buck's up, Manehattan!" She yelled, and when the party-goers looked up and saw a wasted Vinyl Scratch, they all cheered and hollered, some even crying (although that might be from all of the drugs that they were doing that night) When Vinyl saw all of those ponies screaming for her, she got that feeling she always gets when she does a show, and oddly enough, she had just got an idea that she has never gotten before, and she was wondering to herself why she had never done this at one of her shows. Without thinking twice about it, Vinyl jumped off of the table, leaping over the platform, going directly towards the audience.
Hopefully these ponies are smart enough to know I wanna crowd surf, not land flat on my face. She thought to herself. She was in no mood to go to the hospital that night.
Luckily, the crowd wasn't filled with complete nitwits, and they all stood on their hind legs (or tried to) and raised their hooves up, some using their magic, to hold Vinyl up, as she floated over them with fines.
"Whoah, how in Equestria did she get so wasted with only two drinks? It's not that strong." The bartender said to Thumbtack, which he replied with a shrug.
"I guess she can't really handle alcohol too well." Thumbtack said with a sly looking smile at the bartender.
"Sorry, but as you probably could already tell, I only go after mares."
"Oh... I see..." He said, his voice drifting, swallowing another rejection. He suddenly felt both sadness and anger, an eternal darkness and emptiness inside of him that he hadn't felt before that night. He really couldn't understand why even though he's a nice guy, and all he wants is to be respected, he still gets bullied and stepped on by bigger ponies.
"I'll have a Barcolti too." He said, and just as the bartender turned around, he added,
"In fact, make that a whole bottle."
Looking at the clock next to her bed, Octavia gritted her teeth when she saw that it was a little past two in the morning. She had been tossing and turning for hours now, and she just couldn't get any rest. At first, she thought it might have been too hot, so she turned on the fan in her room, and laid on top of the bed sheets. That didn't work, in fact, it made her feel chilled, so she threw a couple of layers of blankets over her, and laid still, just listening to the sounds of her breathing, and the ticking of the clock. Time itself seemed to slow down, and she couldn't understand why she felt like she was going crazy right then. She wished that Vinyl was with her, laying in the same bed, telling her she loved her Octy... She couldn't take it anymore, so she threw off the blankets, and hopped out of bed.
She went into the kitchen, turning on the coffee machine that rested on the counter. She knew that she would probably regret having coffee this late at night, but she couldn't sleep anyway, so she thought why not? She poured herself a cup, and sat by the window. She had lived in this apartment for about a year and a half now, and she still wasn't used to it. It was a top floor penthouse suite, with big, spacious rooms that opened into each other, and the whole apartment took up the entire top floor of the building, making a complete circle around it. Octavia didn't mind having nice things, but she thought this might be a little extreme. Nopony needed this many nice things, even a pony such as herself.
Looking out the window, she could see almost all of the Manehattan skyline, the lights glimmering across the land, and she was even able to see a few ponies on the ground, going about their business, all having somewhere to go. And where did she have to go? She recently realized that her life was tremendously mundane, being the same thing every day, all scheduled. That was how she was raised, and she hated it. It made her very bored, especially in this stage in her life, that's why she was so excited when Vinyl came into her life. She was the most amazing pony she had ever met, and she felt lucky to be with her. She just wished she was with her right now...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Looking at the clock, she frowned, wondering who could be at the door. She got up cautiously, her heart skipping about, as she stepped up to the door, looking through the peephole. She was both relieved, and surprised when she didn't see anybody standing at the other side. She took a step back, opening the door, and peeking her head out. There was no one to see from both ends of the hallway, and she was about to close the door, dismissing it as a prank by some foals, when she looked down, and saw an envelope. She raised an eyebrow, scooping it up with her hoof, and examining it. There was no return address on it, and it was addressed to her, in quite hoofwriting. She took one last glance down the hallway, before quickly running back inside, shutting and locking the door behind her. She took a seat at the kitchen table, one made of beautiful wood from Sweet Apple Acres, and even though she has had this table for a while now, you could still smell the wood, and that was incredible.
She set the envelope on the table, and after a few moments of fumbling with the letter opener, she managed to rip open the envelope and pull out the single piece of paper that was folded inside. She looked in it to see if there was anything else, and there was none. She shrugged, and unfolded the paper, and her heart skipped a beat when she read what was written in fancy script:
You don't know what you have until you lose it,
Appreciate what you've got while you have it...
Shoot for the stars, but be warned,
What goes up, must come down, so don't be torn...
Octavia couldn't believe what she was reading. She wasn't really sure what it was, or what to make of it, but either way, he hooves were shaking, and she couldn't stop reading it over again, trying to make sense of it. You don't know what you have until you lose it? Octavia did believe in that, but she wasn't sure what she had that would miss if she lost. She thought for a moment to contemplate it. It didn't take her long, but when she figured it out, her heart sunk, and a tear flowed from her eye.
"Vinyl..." She whispered in a dry and terrified voice. Her and Vinyl had been going out for about a year now, and their anniversary was nearing, and she couldn't be more anxious. Octavia remembered that Vinyl had a gig tonight, and she was probably at the after party at the club near the auditorium. She thought for a moment, before getting up, and ran out the door, not caring how she looked, or what other ponies would think of her.
"Oh dear Celestia, Vinyl, I hope I'm not right about this one."
"Wooo! Party like it's your motherbuckin' birthday!" Vinyl exclaimed to a pink pony that was grinding up against her.
"Hey sweetie, you single?" The mysteriou pink mare said to Vinyl, hoping she didn't have to repeat herself due to the music.
Vinyl's brain attempted to process what the mare said, but it was pretty difficult at this point, as she was stumbling more with every step, her vision was blurred, and her mind was somewhere else. But luckily, she heard what the mare said, and she still had a speck of common sense left in her, so she replied,
"Sorry, babe, but my flank's taken. Beat it."
The mare was taken back at this, and then shrugged before walking away, eventually leaving the club.
The party had winded down, and the club was close to closing. The music still played, and bartenders still served drinks, but there were maybe 50 ponies left in the whole club, and it was pretty much dead at this point. When you looked at the place when it's empty, it looked beautiful. The dance floor, like the tables, are like giant panes of morrors, and when the colorful strobe lights shined on them, they illuminated the entire club. It was tricky to most ponies, to get used to the bright lights shining all the time, but Vinyl was more than used to it, plus she had her shades on, so it made it a lot more calming to look at.
Suddenly it hit Vinyl. The feeling that eventually hits every party-goer, she just unfortunately got it early. The sickness. That uneasy feeling that tells you that you're about to chuck up everything you may have eaten or drank for the past six hours. Vinyl made her way to the bathroom, remembering its general location, trying her best to maintain her balance, as she swayed back and forth with every step. When she got to the bathroom finally, she busted open the door with one big push, and she fell face first on the sticky and filthy tile floor. She attempted to get up, her stomache doing slips at this point, and when she finally stood upright, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and she feel right back on the floor, the last thing she heard being a voice saying,
"You're perfect...."