Vinyl Scratch, better known to her fans as DJ Pon-3, stood in the disc jockey booth at Neon Flanks. The place was one of her more regular gigs since they would usually book her for one weekend a month (alternating between her and three others). The management paid fairly for the most part, and the crowd was always a decent size.
How good a crowd was part of her job. After all, ponies came to the club to hang out, dance, and have fun. Part of that meant that there had to be some great music for them to enjoy. That was what she did, play the music to get them in a good mood and moving.
Vinyl shifted as she looked out over the dance floor, scanning the crowd. The dark glasses she wore kept out the worst of the lights, allowing her to see without too much trouble. She adjusted her headphones to hear the music a little better, and lit her horn to try and get more of a feel for the general mood of the crowd. An understanding of her crowd's general mood would allow her to better adjust the music that would be the most effective.
Near the center of the crowd, something got her attention. It looked like a stallion was trying to get a mare to dance with him, despite the facts that the mare was a: clearly not interested, and b: already dancing with another mare. Worse, it did not look like he was taking no for an answer.
After quickly checking the remaining duration of the song currently playing, Vinyl set up another to play as soon as it ended. That would give her about five minutes to deal with the matter. Satisfied, she slipped out of her booth and onto the dance floor.
Being one to visit the clubs as much as she worked at them, making her way through the crowd was pretty easy. For her it was mostly a matter of fitting the movement to the rhythm of the music, and knowing who was dancing with whom so as not to try and get between them. It was made easier since some of the ponies would actually move out of her way to let Vinyl through. A few of them even stopped dancing to watch her.
"Come on," the stallion was saying. "You're hot. I'm hot. Why don't we dance together? Who knows, you might like it so much you'll want to do some dancing back at my place." He let out a chuckle. "Who am I kidding. There's no might about it."
The mare looked at him from the corner of her eye, took several steps to one side (away from him), and continued dancing. Not taking the hint, the stallion moved with her.
"Anyone tell you that you got a nice flank?" he asked. "I bet you're the type that likes to get it slapped."
"Hey," Vinyl called out as she placed a hoof on the stallion's shoulder. "I don't think she's interested. Time for you to move on."
"Keep your hooves off me!" the stallion snapped, swatting at Vinyl's arm. "And mind your own business. This is between me and this hot-flanked mare." He turned back to the mare in question.
"Come on," he called out to her. "I promise it will be a night you will never forget. The don't call me Rock just because I'm tough you know."
"Seriously," Vinyl said as she moved to step between the stallion and the mare. "Learn to take a hint. She's not interested. Drop the matter and move on."
"Why you gotta be buck blockin' me?" the stallion, Rock something or other, asked as he glared at Vinyl. "Is she some groupie slut of yours or something?"
"Okay," Vinyl snarled. "I'm done trying to be polite. Get this through your thick skull." She pointed a hoof at him. "Leave her alone or I'm going to get a bouncer to throw your worthless plot out of here. Do you understand?"
Instead of saying anything, Rock reared up on his hind legs and kicked out. There was a meaty thump as his hoof struck Vinyl in the nose.
Vinyl let out a cry as white hot pain flared through her head, causing her to stumble back. Without thinking about it, she used her magic to lift up her sunglasses. One hoof reached up to touch her nose. Pulling it back, she found the her white fur was stained red.
Blood.
The moment that Rock punched Vinyl, the very atmosphere of the club changed. Many of the other ponies stopped dancing, turning their attention to the bloody-nosed DJ and the rather angry looking earth stallion. If any of the witnesses had been asked, most would have said that the entire place turned dead quiet the moment that Rock punch Vinyl. This statement would have technically been inaccurate since Vinyl made certain the music would keep playing while she was away. It was simply forgotten about though, as all attention was turned on the pair of ponies to see what would happen next.
A smaller number, those closer to the center, swear up and down that the mare's normally violet-red eyes turned into a bright ruby red color.
Vinyl Scratch continued to stare at the stain on her hoof from her nose for a moment. Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. One of the bouncers was starting to move forward from his position near the wall. Vinyl caught his attention, held her hoof for him to stop, and gave a shake of her head. The bouncer gave a nod and stopped where he was.
Vinyl then turned all her attention back to Rock, her eyes narrowing. She had to resist the urge to sniff.
"That's how it is?" she asked. Several of the ponies shivered as a chill went down their spines and took a step back.
"Big bad stallion think's he so tough." She took a step forward. "Has to hit on a filly that is clearly not interested and sucker punch a pony that was just trying to help." She tilted her head back and toward one side, looking at him from the corner of her eye. Her tongue slipped out to lick along her upper lip, tasting the blood.
"Well I'm ready for you this time," Vinyl said as her eyes narrowed more. "Think you have the stones to take me take me on with my knowing? Or..." she let her gaze shift down toward his underside "..have you been exaggerating the size of your...'twig and pebbles?'"
A part of Vinyl knew that it was a bad idea to provoke him. The two of them could have probably ended it after that and let things get back to normal. She could have the bouncer just toss him out while she went back to the booth and continued to play. A few of the ponies would have a story to tell, but most of them would be more than happy to get back to their dancing.
But she could not let that happen. She could not just walk away. She had to deal with this, and she had to do it herself. First, Vinyl could be a very stubborn mare. Any challenge that came up, she would try to face and take down. There were -- admittedly -- times that she had failed and was forced to give up, but that stubborness had also been what had kept her going until she had actually been able to make a living off her musical skills. Second, there was the matter of her reputation. Although some would respect her for walking away, others would see it as weakness. There would then be some ponies that thought they could do better than her at her job, and have to show her up, as well as those that would think they could cause all sorts of trouble at her shows without any consequence. Third was the stallion. If he was allowed to just walk away after harassing one mare and assaulting another with just being thrown out of a club, he was probably not going to learn his lesson. Granted, he probably was not going to anyway, but the best chance for a pony like him was for somepony to thoroughly teach it to him the hard and painful way.
Although if he backed down, her reputation would remain in tact and it would make her consider that maybe she was underestimating his ability to learn.
Rock took another swing at her, putting all his weight in it as he aimed a hoof for the mare's head.
Vinyl had been in more than her fair share of fights, and had learned a few things. She did not have the raw physical strength of earth ponies, nor did she have the speed and agility that pegasus ponies were so well known for. She did have magic, which she could use in a fight, but it was not really meant for it, and certainly not in this situation. As such, like most unicorns, she had to rely on her wits. While not as well trained as Octavia, she did know enough to (hopefully) make this a quick victory.
Vinyl dropped low, letting the attack go over her head. She kicked out with one of her front legs, driving the blade of her hoof into the fetlock joint of stallion's supporting front leg. The impact made it difficult to support the stallions weight and -- with the smooth surface of the dance floor -- slipped out from under him.
Not giving Rock time to regain his balance, Vinyl lunged forward. She kicked out again, this time driving her hoof into the knee joint of the leg he had tried to punch her with. This kept him from regaining his footing, and had the bonus of being incredibly painful from hyper-extending the joint.
More than anything, Vinyl wanted to finish this whole thing quickly and decisively. She tilted her head to one side as she lunged hard. Moving up and forward, she drove the side of her skull into the underside of his jaw (she had to be careful of her horn when she did this since slamming that into him would probably hurt her more than him). She could feel the thump of impact and thought she felt something shift. She might have hit harder than she intended and cracked some of his teeth, if not breaking his jaw.
With a hard push, she shoved Rock backwards and watched him fall. Vinyl braced herself, watching to see if he would get up. After twenty seconds, the stallion was still on the floor. He was alive, but clearly not conscious. Vinyl motioned toward bouncer that had been stopped earlier. He nodded and moved forward once more. As the bouncer moved in to take the unconscious stallion, Vinyl made her way back toward the DJ booth.
Something cracking under her hooves made her freeze.
Lifting her hoof, she looked down and found her sunglasses. She had completely forgotten about them when dealing the that stupid stallion. They must have dropped off her forehead when she was in the fight. Now she had just stepped on them. If they were not damaged before (and that was very unlikely), they were definitely destroyed now. If she was lucky, she could get them fixed, but would be without them until Sunday. If not, she would have to buy a whole new pair, which would take a lot more time and money. She collected as much of the remains as she could, and went back to her booth.
"Alright mares and stallions," Vinyl said into the microphone when the song had ended. "Things have gotten a little tense here tonight. So, let's change things up. Grab the pony you care for and hold them close for this next song." With that, she put on a slower, more romantic song. A smile spread across her lips as she watched the ponies cuddle close and move gently to the beat. Times like this, she kind of wish there was a way to slip away for a song and dance with Octavia. Maybe the two of them could do a little dancing together tomorrow before they both went off to work.
Vinyl groaned as she rolled over, pulling the sheets tighter and burying her face in the pillow. Silently, she cursed whatever being it was that decided ponies had to wake up after having slept so wonderfully. It was days like this that she wondered if she had somehow offended Princess Celestia without being aware of it, so as revenge the sun shone especially bright so that its normally life giving light would stab through her lids and impale her brain.
By the time she had finished performing at Neon Flanks, packed away her equipment into the storage area for the next night, made her way home, and showered (so as to wash away the smells of sweat, smoke, and in this case blood), it was well after sunrise. It was a danger of the careers for both of them, staying up late into the night and sleeping through the morning. Although Octavia had a tendency to get to bed sooner and wake up earlier than Vinyl regardless.
After several minutes passed, there was no choice but to admit defeat. Vinyl was wide awake, and not even the warm soft darkness of having her head buried deep in the pillows and catching traces of Octavia's scent would not change the matter. No matter how much she wished, she was not going to get back to sleep.
Vinyl reached out to grab her glasses off the nightstand. Then she swatted one of the pillows beside her, mentally smacking herself for the effort. Her sunglasses got smashed during her fight the night before (that was the way she was going to remember it anyway), which meant they could offer her no protection. She would have no choice but to face the cruel, vicious light of day attacking her without any sort of defense to aid her.
For a moment she considered how much easier things would be if she actually were a vampire. If she were a vampire, she would be able to sleep all day without a problem... so long as she actually avoided getting caught in the sunlight that was. Then again, if she were undead, why would she even need sleep? Did vampires really need to sleep all day? It probably got really boring being cooped up in a coffin with nothing to do. Maybe if she were a vampire and did not need sleep, she could just stay in the garage and work on her stuff. Although if that were the case, she would probably be driven insane with boredom if she was stuck in garage all day, even with all her music and equipment.
Finally, Vinyl came to two conclusions. First, it was probably better that she was not a vampire after all. Second, she could not put it off any longer. Groaning, the mare rolled out of bed and dragged herself from the room, eyes closed and nose nearly touching the floor.
"Good afternoon, Vinyl," Octavia said, receiving an incoherent growl in return. The gray earth mare sat with a cup of tea at the table, with a small plate of cheese and crackers on one side, and two newspapers on the other.
"You are awake earlier than usual," she continued. "It is only a quarter past two." She picked up one of the crackers and took a bite.
Vinyl let out another grunt as she walked into the kitchen, but said nothing else. Her horn began to glow a pale blue with magic as she prepared the coffeemaker. Once the water and grounds were put in, she just stood there and waited. Once it was finished, she picked up the pot, and dumped it back into the machine's reservoir. She had never actually checked to see if doing so actually made the coffee stronger, but it did no harm either.
As the coffee started its second run through the machine, Vinyl grabbed one of her large mugs. She filled it halfway with cream and added however many sugar cubes (she never bothered to count them). This time when the coffeemaker finished, she added the coffee to her mug. Vinyl brought the mug to her mouth and chugged down the entire thing. Licking her lips to catch the last drops, she began to make her second cup.
From her spot, Octavia gave a shake of her head.
"I still don't understand why you drink that... concoction...when you add so much cream and sugar that there is no possible way to taste it."
"I told you," Vinyl said as she finished making her second cup, "Nopony drinks coffee for the taste, it's terrible. We drink it because it helps us wake up." After taking a sip, she moved to the table to sit beside Octavia.
"Vinyl? Where are your sunglasses? Normally you keep them on until your third cup."
Vinyl's eyes went wide and her body tensed. She was suddenly glad she had set the mug on the table, otherwise she may have dropped it from being startled.
"My sunglasses?" Vinyl repeated, shifting in her seat. "Oh...uh... They broke."
Octavia tilted her head and quirked and eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Vinyl continued with a rapid nod. "See, what happened was... they fell off during one of the song and wound up on the dance floor. Before I realized what happened, they had been stepped on and broken." It was sort of the truth, just with the parts about her fighting or being the one to step on them being omitted.
"So, anything interesting in the paper?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.
"Oh quite interesting," Octavia replied as she passed the newspaper over to Vinyl. "Especially in the Entertainment section. In fact, it was so interesting, I picked up another to see it had additional details." she picked up the one still beside her.
Vinyl looked at the gray coated mare curiously for a moment before taking a hold of the paper. Curious by her fillyfriend's comments. Quickly, she made her way to the Entertainment section, and stopped. Vinyl's eyes went wide.
There, on the page was a photo of her with her head held high as a stallion reeled backwards. The title read "DJ's KO."
Vinyl turned to look at the newspaper that Octavia was holding up. On that one, it showed Vinyl getting punched in the nose. That one was titled "Vinyl's Scrape."
"Uh...." Vinyl's mouth hung open as she looked back and forth at the two pictures of her and her fight. Her mind worked quickly, trying to come up with some sort of explanation.
"Hey, Tavi," she said with a grin, "I'm in the paper. Isn't that awesome? It's like I'm a real major celebrity now." She grinned as wide as she could, tapping her hooves together.
"Awesome?" Octavia repeated. "Awesome? Vinyl, they have pictures of you getting into a fight at a club and you're asking if I think that is 'awesome?'"
"Octavia, calm down. I-"
"I will not calm down!" Octavia shouted, slamming a hoof into the surface of the table and causing it to crack. "You were in a fight, Vinyl! With some arrogant stallion that was drunk and quite possibly on who knows what else." Tears began running down her cheeks. "You could have been severely hurt. You could have been killed! You... you.."
"Woah, woah, woah," Vinyl said. Getting up she walked over to Octavia, and wrapped an foreleg around her neck. Octavia looked at the white unicorn, then buried her head against the other mare's neck and held her tightly.
"What's gotten into you?" Vinyl asked, looking down at the mare buried in her neck. "We've both gotten in our share of fights before. Yeah, you've scolded me over it, but you've never reacted like this." She ran a hoof through the dark grey mane.
"I know," Octavia said from Vinyl's neck, nuzzling into the soft coat. "I don't know what's gotten into me. I just...."
She pulled away and wiped at her cheeks, slowly taking a deep breath to collect herself.
"I've been..." she thought for a moment, "on edge more, I suppose is the best way to put it. I can't say why, but lately I've been worried about losing you."
Vinyl looked at Octavia, letting it sink in. Moving closer, she pressed herself against her fillyfriend.
"I guess you're just maturing," Vinyl said. "That and all the weird things that have happened in the last year or so, I guess it makes sense to be a little more worried than usual." She gave Octavia a kiss on the cheek, causing her to smile.
"Thank you," Octavia said. "Don't think for one moment this gets you out of trouble though, Miss Vinyl Scratch. I am still upset with you for getting into a fight in the first place."
"He hit me first," Vinyl pouted. "Gave me a bloody nose. All I was trying to do was get him to leave some mare alone."
"Be that as it may," Octavia continued, "you still did not need to confront him on your own. You could have just as easily let the club's security deal with the matter."
"I know."
"What if he returns to get revenge?" Octavia asked. "Or what if he has friends who desire to avenge his humiliation?"
"I doubt that's going to happen," Vinyl replied, "but if it makes you feel any better, I'll get an escort the next few times I leave the club."
"What?"
"It's a policy the club has. If anypony feels threatened, they can have one of the bouncers escort them. So if there really is a danger of him or his friends coming to get me, I can get somepony to walk with me until we're somewhere safe."
"I would appreciate it that," Octavia said with a smile. She gave Vinyl a kiss on the cheek.
"...You know," Vinyl said with a smirk, "if you're still upset-"
"No, Vinyl."
"You could-"
"No, Vinyl."
"Aw, come on."
"No, Vinyl."
"We already have the riding crop."
"No, Vinyl."
"What about the corset?"
"No, Vinyl."
"At least the boots?"
"....maybe..."
"YES!"
