I managed to steal a spot early on in the night at the club. I don't know why Vinyl kept the club open 7 days a week, but she was the owner, I wasn't going to question her methods. And she certainly seemed to keep the place running smoothly. I headed out to help her set up at 6, the club opened at 7 and closed at midnight during the week. Vinyl was already getting things set up by time I got there,
"Yo."
I immediately followed suit,
"Hey."
I sent out the copies to get the rest of the jobs done. Vinyl glanced at me while we were working, "So, what gives?"
I looked at her, "What do you mean?"
She looked at me flatly, "You call me up asking to snatch a set tonight? Come on, Ryan, something's up, what is it?"
I shrugged, "Oh, nothing major. It's just that Twilight's brother and his wife are visiting, and his wife really wanted to come here."
Vinyl nearly snapped off the tap she was cleaning, "Her brother, Captain Shining Armor, and his wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza are coming here tonight?"
I set down the last of the chairs, "Yeah."
"Dude, why the buck didn't you tell me?"
I looked back at her, "Vinyl, what's the big deal?"
She walked over to me, "The Captain of the Royal Guard and personal guard of the Princesses, along with his wife, the ruler of the Crystal Empire are coming to my club. How is that not a big deal?"
I put up a hand to stop her, "Vinyl, what's wrong with you? They're just two more customers, if we single them out, things will get kinda awkward."
She didn't stop looking at me incredulously, "Yeah, well they're going to be pretty hard to miss in here."
I kept at my work, "They'll be glamoured, they'll look just like everyone else. Seriously, Vinyl, what's up? You're usually the one that has to calm down everyone else, not the one being calmed down."
She shook her head and went back to cleaning the taps, "Nothing, I've just got some personal stuff going on right now. Family troubles."
I pulled up short and turned to her, "Is everything okay?"
She shrugged, "I don't know, my brother's just acting like an idiot again."
Fail popped up on my shoulder and hopped over onto the counter,
"V, you sure you don't want any time off, get this shit sorted?"
She looked at him, "Fail, it's not that serious."
I sat back and watched them. Fail put up his hands defensively, "Hey, I'm just saying, family's one of the things you should stay on top of, above all else."
She cocked an eyebrow at him, "And where's this sudden sentiment coming from?"
He leaned up against one of the bottles out, "Because the three of us have had to deal with plenty of shit with family. It's a slippery slope. That, and most of the time when a girl says something is fine, she's lying."
I headed into the back to help the others finish things up. When I came back out, Vinyl was sitting on one of the bar stools, Fail looking at her with a victorious grin, "Sounds good. And hey, give Stringer one upside the head for me."
That got a small smile from her, "Alright, just for you, Fail."
He quickly scratched her head and turned to me, "Yo, boss, we alright with running things here for a few days while V sorts out some family shit?"
I looked over to Vinyl, "When are you leaving?"
She got out of the chair, "Tomorrow morning, I should be back for the weekend."
"Oh yeah, we can handle that."
Fail made his way back to my shoulder, "But let's see your A-game for tonight, alright, V?"
She mock-saluted him, "Yes, sir."
He flashed her another grin and disappeared.
"Was that genuine kindness we just saw from you, Fail?"
"Hey, just because I'm not a little bitch like you doesn't mean I can't be nice."
I ran a quick check of the extra eyes I set up, and everything was done. Now all there was to do was wait for 7 to roll on around.
Just like clockwork, the regulars trickled in at 7 on the dot. Twilight and co. didn't show up until around 8. I'm still not sure what Fail said or how he said it while I was in the back, but it worked, Vinyl was tearing it up. Cadance made a bee line to the dance floor, and I have to say, she has moves. Shining went over to the bar, and Twilight went over to one of the seating areas, just watching everything going on. After a little while it was my turn to go up. I kept noticing Cadance watching me, guess that meant she was impressed with how I was doing. Things were going until halfway through the set when Safe sounded the alarm,
"Boss, we have a suspicious drink, someone just dropped a pill in."
"Roofie?"
"No doubt. Tracking him now."
I tried to keep a cool head and keep playing,
"Boss. Boss boss boss, he's giving it to Twilight. Gray stallion, up at her seating area."
I stopped dead, snapping to the area, finding him immediately. I calmly clicked the pause button and grabbed the microphone, "Fillies and gentlecolts, one moment please."
With a flick of my wrist, two tendrils snapped out of my hand, crossing the room in under a second, one smashing through the glass, the other wrapping around the stallion's neck and yanking him back into my grip. Holding him by the throat, I grabbed the microphone again, "I'll be back in just a moment."
I clicked Play and walked out the back door with the stallion in tow.
I walked back in a few minutes later feeling much better and resumed the set, "Sorry about that, everypony, we're good now."
It took a few minutes for them to get back into it, but they at least didn't all walk out like last time I settled an issue in the club.
Another hour later and my set was done. Safe and Shining went over to calm down Twilight. I glanced at the clock as the set began to end,
"Alright, everypony, sadly that's all the time I've got for tonight. But y'all keep the party going for me, alright?"
There was a round of cheers and I stepped down, handing the stage off to Vinyl. Cadance fell into step with me as we walked up to them,
"Ryan, what was up with that earlier?"
I kept my eyes locked on Twilight, "Later. Twilight, are you alright?"
She looked at me, seeming a bit twitchy still,
"Yeah, but why did you do that, Ryan?"
I exchanged a glance with Shining and looked back to Twilight, "Come on, let's get out of here, I'll explain on the way back."
She sat there in silence for a moment before nodding slightly, "Okay."
We all headed out, I looked at her once we were a block away, "Sorry for reacting like that. Remember when I broke up that brawl at the club my first night?"
She nodded, "Yeah, I remember."
I hooked a thumb back towards the club, "That was the guy that stabbed me in the head, and because of that he's permanently banned from the club. Now, I don't know how he managed to get past security, but I was taking no chances with him that close to you."
"Well, why were you out back for so long?"
"Was waiting for the police to show up." I stopped and knelt down, Shining and Cadance keeping a slight distance. I put a hand on Twilight's shoulder and looked her in the eye, "Listen, Twi, I'm sorry if I scared you with that, I was just working off of reflex there."
She stood there for a minute quietly before nodding, "It's okay. I guess it mostly just kind of shocked me."
I smiled and gave her a quick kiss, "Alright then. Let's head home."
Twilight decided to head off to bed earlier than usual, which Safe reassured me wasn't because of anything in her system, just stress. That left Shining, Cadance and I sitting around the fireplace. After a few minutes of silence, Shining looked at me,
"So, what did he really do?"
I glanced over at him,
"Pardon?"
"The stallion that you grabbed, what did he actually do? Because I'm not buying your story at all."
I stared into the fire, "He tried to drug Twilight. Slipped a pill in a drink and tried to get her to drink it."
He got up immediately, "What!?"
I quickly shushed him, "For god's sake, sit back down, and lower your voice. Yes, he tried to drug her, I intervened."
He was absolutely seething, "Where is he?"
"In an alley by the club with the shit already beaten out of him, so don't bother."
Cadance was looking at me in shock,
"Why would he do such a thing?"
I sneered at the thought of him, "Some scumbag kid passing through, thought he'd try and get a few mares while he was here. I persuaded him to pass through quicker, and to avoid passing through again in the future."
Shining looked at me again, "You could have beaten the tar out of him then called the town guard. I could have overruled anything he said..."
Cadance looked at him, "Shining Armor, that is not what you use your power f-..."
I cut her off, looking at him, "I swore that I would destroy anyone that would try to harm her. I'm a man of my word."
He leaned back in his chair, "Better hope he doesn't contact the guard over this, could become a real pain."
"What's he gonna tell them? 'I tried to date-rape a mare and got the shit beaten out of me for it.'?" He nodded slightly, I got up, "I'm going to get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning."
Cadance smiled at me sweetly, "Good night, Ryan."
I returned the smile, "You guys know where the guest bedroom is?"
She nodded, "It's only a double, but we can squeeze."
I started to head upstairs. Shining called after me, "Ryan." I stopped and looked back at him, "Thanks for watching out for Twilight."
I gave him a nod, "S'what I do."
I went upstairs and held Twilight as close as I could.