Limits

Chapter 1: It’s Way Past Midnight…

Vinyl was at her peak.

She was high above the crowd, behind the turntables and multitude of speakers, in a large glass-walled booth that had a number of lights and strobes emanating from it in tune with the music she was blasting. Her audience screamed and pounded their hooves in approval with each new song and sound that boomed out. The ever-partying crowd of ponies only grew larger as the night drew on. She looked over the huge crowd, all dancing in tune with the thumping bass and erratic melodies that shook the shiny neon-and-black walls and floors of the club. Some looked a bit too happy, and she chalked it up to some ponies having either too much to drink, or consuming some... more illicit substances. To each their own, she supposed. Clubs like this always felt like home to her, regardless of how they might appear to others: the equipment, her children; and all the roaring fans, her family.

As she blasted the final song of the night, the ponies’ numbers began to dwindle. She took a deep breath, and with deft movement that could come only from years of practice and experience, she launched into yet another fast–paced, earth-rocking song, shaking the whole club with the beats as she threw her hooves up in the air. As the final song died down, and ponies began to file out of the club, the exhausted DJ swung a matted, sweaty lock of neon blue mane out of her face, and started to take down the equipment she had brought. As she levitated her headphones into her saddlebag, she couldn’t help but feel a rather ominous presence nearby. She looked over, and noticed a rather shady mare just standing near the entrance. She’s probably just waiting for someone. She thought to herself, paying it no further thought.

After most of the guests had left, and she felt she could step down from the booth without being swarmed by adoring ponies, she carried her equipment over to the bar; not for alcohol, as much as she would have loved that, but to simply wind down from such an energetic performance. She picked up a bottle of water in her magic, and downed half of it in one gulp.  But then was that ominous feeling again. She glanced over to see the same rather skinny, but still attractive and young, earth pony mare with an icy white mane take a seat next to her, and turned a bit. Her mane hid her face, but Vinyl could hear her silky but ominous voice all the same.

“Well, well, well… if it isn’t Vinyl Scratch, AKA, DJ Pon3. Big fan.” Vinyl could hear the sarcastic, almost mocking tone in the mare’s voice. Vinyl downed the last of her water, and turned to the offending creature.

“Cut to the chase. What do you want?”

The mare looked hurt, if for a moment only. “You’re an up and coming DJ, yes?”

Vinyl looked at her with a ‘Thank you, Captain Obvious’ look. Where’s she going with this…? She thought to herself. Vinyl growled. She was known to be a very lax person when it came to most things, but this mare was getting on her nerves, big time.  “You’ve got ten seconds to prove that you’re not wasting my time.”

The mare chuckled. "Please, I know your type- fame just keeps climbing higher and higher. But after a while, that's not the only thing that gets higher, is it?"

“It’s never been a problem, and it won’t become one. Beat it, newspony.”  Vinyl knew that wasn’t true, but she didn’t like to talk about her previous addictions. The mare smirked.

“Newspony? Oh, no no no. I was merely making a business proposal.” She slid a piece of paper with an address scrawled onto it, before standing up. “If you ever need a fix -and I know you will-, don’t hesitate to visit.” She walked out of the club without another word, save for a confident smirk.

That was three weeks ago. And needless to say, the mysterious mare had been taken up on her offer. After the first few times, however, it was no longer in Vinyl’s total control when she got her fix. Her subconscious decided when she pumped herself full of H, as though it was controlling her mind, turning her into a robot whose only directive was to get another high.

Vinyl wandered the streets of Manehattan, her vision a bit hazy. Taking precautions against being practically attacked by newsponies or fans, she wore a long coat that hid most of her appearance. She was exhausted from her show. Every once in a while she would lean against a wall to steady herself for a moment. She looked about as the attention of the various street urchins made itself known. She groaned inwardly and sighed as she saw the stallion she was eager to find. She hurriedly walked up to him, as he smirked to see her eagerly returning to him, like a moth to a flame.

“Back for more, I see?” Vinyl glared at him from behind her tinted glasses, with a small smirk.

“Bite me. You know the drill, Rocks.” She said as she looked around quickly before producing a moderately sized bag of bits and tossing it to him. The gangly, dark green pony looked inside the pouch, grinned, and tossed a bag to her in exchange, which she quickly caught with her magic. She quickly thanked the dealer pony before hurriedly trotting away. She couldn’t afford to be caught like this; it would certainly mean the end of her fame. The green stallion chuckled harshly to himself, and returned into a dilapidated building nearby.

A few minutes later, a certain unicorn mare was holed up in a dark alley, senses drowning in an intense euphoria. Wave after wave of white-hot bliss flooded through her veins, threatening to sweep her consciousness away. All of  this was caused by a mere heated substance contained in a syringe. As Vinyl pierced herself with the needle, she all but moaned, overtaken by yet another surge of pleasure from the offending substance. This searing flood of ecstasy dragged on for yet another minute, and another, and another...

A few hours later, finally coming down from her high, Vinyl sighed, half from the loss of the pleasure, half from some deep-down feeling of remorse. One of her first sober thoughts drifted to her marefriend, how she had been blowing what was supposed to pay her half of the rent on drugs, and the look on her marefriend’s face when she would inevitably, at some point, have to explain where the money had gone, and she began to sob. “I’m sorry, Octy…. So sorry…” She choked out past her tears. Where but a short while ago she had felt on top of the world, she now felt truly dropped at the bottom of the heap.

Vinyl crept slowly through the doorway of the apartment, trying to make as little noise as possible. She swore under her breath as her flank bumped against the table by the door, causing the table to squeak across the hardwood floor slightly. The mare pricked her ears up, listening for the stirring of her lover, Octavia. Hearing nothing from the bedroom, she continued into the house, shutting the door silently behind her. Her hooves found soft purchase on the plush, albeit old, carpet of the living room. As she entered the common area, she suddenly felt like she was being watched. And unfortunately for her plans of getting into the apartment unnoticed, she was right.

“Hello, Vinyl.” A familiar female voice rang out, clearly miffed, but silky as ever. As a lamp flickered on, she cringed at the sight she was met with. A grey mare with a charcoal mane, wearing a thick robe and sitting in the chair, forehooves crossed. The piercing look in her eyes directed sternly at Vinyl said it all.

Great… Vinyl thought to herself. She is pissed. With a capital P-I-S-S-E-D.

“Vinyl, it is far past midnight. I was worried sick! You said you’d come home right after your performance, and this has happened time and time again! Frankly, I’m beginning to get fed up. Where in Tartarus have you been all these times?” Octavia fumed, just barely keeping her voice level. Vinyl ran a hoof through her electric mane as she struggled to come up with an excuse.

“S-sorry Octy…. I always try to come home after my gigs, but the boss usually makes me stay late, and if it isn’t that, it’s my damn agent hounding me about the next performance, or some newspony demanding an interview and not taking no for an answer… I’m really sorry.” She muttered rather rude comments about the aforementioned ponies for effect. To Vinyl’s relief, Octavia seemed to buy that as her sharp expression softened, albeit only somewhat; but nonetheless...

“It’s alright dear… I understand. Honestly though, you really need to be in touch more; every time you don’t come home when you say you will, it worries me. I just don’t want you to get into trouble. Ok?” She gave a small smile before pecking her lover’s cheek. Vinyl smiled and nodded, an icy ball of guilt forming in her stomach when she thought of the actual reason she had been so late coming home.

But she can’t know about that…. She thought to herself. I could never do that to her...