Right now...
The bar door opened with a creak.
The stallion behind the table looked up. "Good afternoon, Miss Scratch."
The mare nodded back with a glint of her shades. "Hiya, Joe."
"Heh... you know my name's not Joe, right?"
"Whatever, Joe. How about a tall glass of lemonade to start off?"
"Sure thing." The stallion fetched a glass and a bottle. "Gonna wait on the hard stuff until later, huh?"
"I don't drink unless I'm in the company of my friends, Joe." Vinyl suppressed a yawn as she dragged a saddlebag full of music sheets over to her table. "First and last rule of being a modern electronic barfly."
"Well, maybe you should tell that to them, next time, huh?" Joe gestured with a smirk.
Vinyl stopped in her tracks. She blinked.
Rainbow Dash already sat at the table. She cradled a glass of cider in her hooves. Two empty containers rested on the table's edge. The mare stared out the window, her eyes glazed to the last vestiges of daylight.
The bartender cleared his throat. Vinyl looked towards the counter. The stallion mouthed: "For the last two hours." He then trotted off to finish preparing the musician's drink.
"Ahem..." Vinyl trotted over and gingerly sat in her usual spot within the booth. "Soooooo..."
"Rnnngh..." Rainbow's throat produced a deep bass breath. "No, I wasn't at the awards ceremony. So don't ask why."
"What awards ceremony."
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked bitterly as she took a sip. "Nice try."
"No. Seriously." Vinyl arched an eyebrow above her shades as she laid her music sheets out. "I have no friggin' clue what happens during the day. I just woke up two hours ago. I have a long night of ochestrating ahead of me."
"What are you, a vampire?" Rainbow slurred.
"Very cute." Vinyl exhaled. "At least your humor is dry."
"Meh..." Rainbow scooted slightly away from the empty glasses. "This isn't as stupid as it looks."
"No, I suppose the cider shots strolled in here and drank themselves."
"Lyra gets herself sloshed all the time. You never give her grief about it."
"She's also a smug bastard who could stab my eyes out with one headbutt." Vinyl shuffled through her sheets. "Come on. Are you going to let it out or is Bon Bon going to have to force you to talk when she gets here?"
"Bon Bon doesn't intimidate me."
"She's annoying as Hell when she whines."
"True." Rainbow sighed. "Too true."
"So...?"
Rainbow grumbled, leaning back in her booth. "Same old same old."
"Applelicious blues?"
"Rrrgh..." Rainbow groaned, clutching her head. "I don't wanna friggin' talk about it."
"Sure you don't."
Rainbow glared at her. "Okay. Correction. You don't want to friggin' hear about it."
Vinyl muttered out the side of her muzzle, "Implying that I can't do two things at once."
"I'm serious, girl."
"So am I." Vinyl looked up. "And if I was sick of your so-called 'troubles,' I would have skipped out and chosen a new drinking hole ages ago."
Rainbow blinked.
"Come on." Vinyl waved a hoof while scribbling with a floating pen. "Lay it on me. I'm working on this gothic electronica bullcrap for a plebeian session in Las Pegasus."
"If you hate the material so much..." Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "...why do it?"
"Cuz sometimes we learn the most about ourselves when we're at our worse."
"... ... ..."
"Plus, it covers the bar tab." Vinyl looked up as the bartender drifted by, dropping off a tall cold glass of lemonade. She took a sip and looked at Rainbow. "So... how about it? Let the manure flow from your muzzle already."
Rainbow slumped back in her booth with a prolonged sigh. "... ... ...have you ever wanted to die so bad... but you're not sure you have the energy to last that long to see it through?"
"Hmmm... what day is it?"
"Erm... Tuesday?"
"Damn." Vinyl grunted. "I was going to say 'last Tuesday.'" She looked up. "Okay, how about 'next Tuesday'?"
"Heh..."