After The Fall

After much bugging and nagging from Vinyl, Dax got up. After watching the sunset they headed towards the club. Needless to say the club here was something else. It was in the center of the city atop the tallest tree. Located in the great mesh of leaves and branches it was well insulated from the rest of the city. In fact it one could probably detonated a bomb inside the club and the most someone on the main levels of the city would notice was a slight rustling.

And when night fell Vinyl became an entirely different person. She was still Vinyl but more mischievous and eccentric. The more Dax thought about it the more he realized he’d never seen her DJ before. She’d seen his performances and thought they were amazing. They were nothing special to him, just a talent that started as a way to avoid getting injected with sedatives.

They walked along the high walkways of the city towards the club. Vinyl wore her purple shades. Which was a little weird since she wore them at any time of day, during the day when it was reasonable, but at night? How the hell could she see with them on? She also walked with a swagger and friskiness about her. She was turning into DJ PON3. Her alter ego.

Dax had to admit it was fun to watch. It wasn’t so much of a transformation as more of as an awakening. Vinyl slowly became the crazy DJ everyone knows and loves.

The club was in sight. The entrance was carved into the side of the tree, almost like a gaping mouth. But inside, faint lights and a soft beat managed to escape the darkness. Dax knew from experience that the music was a lot louder and the lights brighter. Vinyl looked giddy like a kid ready to enter a toy store.

“Oh my gawd I can’t wait!” Vinyl yipped.

“Are you always like this before you go buck wild?” Dax asked with amusement.

“I don’t know. Octavia says so but, meh, what does she know?”

“Wasn’t she your roommate in college?”

“Oh shut up. Look we’re here.”

There was a bouncer who stood behind a velvet rope. The typical big muscular guy who was supposed to be intimidating. Dax certainly wasn’t as huge but was confident he could turn him inside out if he desired.

There was a line of people waiting to get.

“Excuse us, coming through, yeah please move, Ah here we are.”

“Are you on the list?”

“Fuck the list! I’m Vinyl Scratch!” Vinyl said removing her purple tinted glasses revealing her red eyes.

“ID?”

“Ugh! Fine,” she held up her ID card, “Good enough for ya?”

“Yeah you’re good.”

“Thank you!” Vinyl walked forward and into the club. Dax however was blocked.

“Oh wait he’s cool! Let him in!” Vinyl yelled.

“Who is he?”

“Uh he’s my, uh, my Body guard! Yeah my body guard!”

“Fine.”

The man moved and Dax followed Vinyl in.

“Good thing you said something. As body guard it’s my job to stay with Madam Disk Jockey at all costs,” He laughed mimicking a pompous Victorian accent.

“Oh shut up. Come on. There’s a party in there and I wanna join it!”

Dax rolled his eyes as he followed Vinyl into the club. Yeah, party girl to the core.

***

The lights flashed and beat pounded away inside the club. It was wild blend of music, lights, and sweat that all came together on the dance floor.

Dax was sitting in a booth overlooking the dance floor while Vinyl danced the night away. Dax was content to watch from a safe distance. He’d attended enough parties to know to stay away.

He looked at the drink in his cup. It was a strange mix of two unknown drinks that had a blue and green swirl to it. It was pretty tasty, with a tangy blueberry flavor. He laughed as Vinyl pulled off some of the craziest and wackiest dance moves he’d ever seen. He had to admit, this girl was giving Naomi a run for her money with the dance moves.

He laughed and leaned back against his seat. The booth he sat in offered a wonderful view of the dance floor while some sort of muffling spell kept the music from getting too loud up there.

“Dax! There you are! Come on! Let’s dance!” Vinyl yipped.

Dax threw his eyes opened. Oh no. Dancing was not his forte. He never did well in situations where his social behavior would be judged.

“What? Oh no no no no no no no.”

“Come on!” Vinyl slurred slightly, “It’s just one dance big guy! Now come on!”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the booth and down the stairs to the dance floor. No this was the entire reason he was a DJ. So he wouldn’t get dragged onto the dance floor by Naomi or someone like Vinyl who appeared to be slightly drunk.

“Vinyl, are you drunk?” Dax asked.

“Well Duh! Being drunk is half the fun! Now come on! Dance with me!”

Dax sighed. Well if he had to be dragged into something he didn’t want to do, at least he wasn’t drugged into doing it. And at least it was Vinyl whom he’d only known for a few weeks and not someone he’d known for… most of his life… who had his back when times were tough… who…

NO! Don’t think about that! She’s DEAD! And there’s nothing you can do to bring her back! What would she say?

“Stop being a Debby Downer! Be happy! Smile!”

Fine, I’ll try.

He still had his drink in hand. He took a hug sip, knowing full well it wouldn’t do anything but felt he needed the psychological support, and let himself be dragged onto the dance floor.

***

Well overall that went well. Though Dax was still a little confused. When he was dancing with Vinyl all his inhibitions disappeared. Though most of it was a blur. When he did finally manage to refocus himself he was back in the booth with Vinyl passed out next to him.

He laughed, “Vinyl my dear tomorrow will be hell for you.”

He’d seen this before; the hangover highway. Started off nice the night before but by the end it felt like there was a fully automatic machine gun going off in your head.

He leaned back and relaxed. Funny, the last time he’d actually tried relaxing in a club was the time Danny spilled a tray of seven beers all over him. Needless to say Danny ended up doing push-ups on the club floor.

Dax looked at his watch. It was getting late. They should be going. He stared at Vinyl. She was plastered. He laughed. She reminded him so much of Naomi. Only Naomi stayed conscious when she was drunk. He remembered a few times his number two showed up at his door… a little… frisky so to speak. He had to politely turn her down and escort her home. And the next day after such instances he rarely saw her since she would avoid him like a plague out of embarrassment.

He sighed and stood up. He roused her from her slumber.

“Vinyl.”

“Ugh, come on daddy. Five more minutes,” she moaned from the booth.

“Vinyl come on. It’s getting late and we have to go.”

“Dad I don’t want to go to school.”

“Vinyl I’m not your father,” Dax sighed, “Now come on, we have to get back to the yacht.”

He wasn’t sure if she was sleep walking or what but she got up, still looking quite asleep, and leaned against him. He rolled his eyes.

“Come on girl. I’ll walk you home,” he laughed as he pulled Vinyl to her feet and helped walk her out of the club. He got a few looks as he left along with some unwanted attention. Dax managed to get the stoned DJ out safely and onto the walkways. Dax looked down over the edge of the railing. He sighed. It was gonna be a LONG walk down to the yacht.

He started walking but soon realized the weight at his shoulder was beginning to gain some weight. He looked to his shoulder. Vinyl had reentered her deep slumber and was out like a light.

“I’m gonna have to carry your ass aren’t I?”

She didn’t offer a response other than a quiet snore. Dax sighed.

“Yeah I’ll take that as a yes.”

He reached down and placed one of his arms under her legs and lifted her up so she fell gently onto his other arm. Gosh she was heavy for her size. He carried her down the walkways towards the shipyard. He noticed her body. She seemed to keep in shape quite nicely. He stared at her face. Her glasses rested just above her eyes on her forehead. Her red eyes were closed and her blue, lipstick, coated lips curved upwards in a content smile.

She’s so much like Naomi and yet she’s her own person. In another world they could have been sisters, Dax thought. He carried the ‘sleeping’ DJ down the tree walkways towards the main levels of the city. It was night time and so no one was out, either at the club or in their homes asleep.

He finally reached the shipyard. The lights in the yacht were still on and the gang plank was down. Dax walked towards the vessel and stepped on board. Voices could be heard talking on the deck upstairs so he decided to head there.

“Now Pinkie Pie, where exactly did you go today?” RD’s voice asked.

“Oh Dashie, you’re such a silly girl sometimes. You wouldn’t understand where I went. Not unless you can break the fourth wall,” Pinkie yipped.

“Darling, what is this ‘Fourth Wall’ you keep talking about?” Rarity asked.

“It’s a quantum barrier that separates our reality and temporal plane from the other infinitely many other universes out there. You wouldn’t understand,” She said in a matter of fact manner.

“Pinkie, sometimes I wonder about you,” Twilight said.

Dax walked up onto the deck and set Vinyl down in a nearby deck chair. He sighed and plopped down in a nearby chair himself.

“Well Hiya Dax,” AJ said, “What’ve you been doin today?”

He sighed, “Well I’ve had to carry sleeping beauty here home,” he nodded towards the sleeping DJ who turned over in her chair before getting comfortable and falling  back to sleep.

“She alright?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. She’ll have on hell of a hangover tomorrow but other than that she’ll be fine.”

“It seems you two have gotten pretty close,” Rarity said.

“Yeah I guess,” Dax said as he leaned back, “I mean she is showing me around and everything.”

“No I mean-” She was cut off by an elbow to the ribs, “Ow Twilight! What was that for?”

Dax raised an eyebrow, “…O…K then. Well I’m gonna go get some sleep. See you all later.”

“And take ‘sleeping beauty’ with you!” Dash called.

The rest of them giggled. Dax gave Dash a glare before picking up his cargo and carrying her to her room. He calmly opened the door and set her down on her bed.

He closed the door and returned to his room for the night. He flopped onto his bed and fell asleep.

***

Vinyl opened her eyes. She groaned when she realized that waking up today was something she shouldn’t have done. She sat up in her bed and held her head. The pain of a hangover smashed and pounded her brain along with various aches and pains throughout her body. She was also slightly dizzy and thirsty.

“Oh. Celestia damn it! Ah this fucking hurts!”

She turned and looked at the clock next to her bed; 12:30.

“Shit,” she said momentarily forgetting about the pain in her head. She had slept in late. Even for her 12:30 was pushing it. She shot out of her bed a little too quickly, aggravating her already throbbing head and ran out of her room to the top deck of the yacht. Everyone was sitting around the table eating lunch.

“Vinyl darling you’re awake!” Rarity said cheerfully.

“Ow…” The DJ responded, “Can you say that a little quieter next time? My head still hurts like hell right now.”

“Really?!” Pinkie shouted completely ignoring what Vinyl had asked, “Even after two days?”

Vinyl’s eyes shot open, “TWO DAYS!” she yelled loud enough for her own voice to aggravate her own head.

“Yup! Dax brought you back here after you went out like a light in the club.”

Dax spoke up, “You had a little too much to drink after we quit dancing. Some kind of purple looking thing along with some blue stuff? Anyway you stayed asleep all through yesterday. Though I figured the hangover would have worn off by now.”

“Oh. I know what I had now. A Dragon’s fire and an Aqua Vita. Yeah in hindsight I probably shouldn’t have had those,” Vinyl grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head.

“Why?”

“Well both of the Dragon’s fire gives LONG lasting hangovers- ow, and the Aqua Vita has this herb thing in it that makes you sleepy.”

“Well that would explain the two days of being out and the hangover,” Twilight said.

“Well how about some food there Vinyl?” AJ asked, “Ya’ll haven’t eaten anything in a day and a half.”

“Yeah that sounds good.” She walked over to the table and grabbed a sandwich from the plate. She bit into it, savoring the nourishment the food offered after her slumber.

Dax walked up to her with a cup in his hand, “Here, drink this.”

“What is it?” The DJ asked.

“Don’t be paranoid, it’s just water. You’ve been out for a day and a half and are probably a little dehydrated. Drink.”

She smiled and sipped the liquid. Her aches began to dull and her thirst and dizziness left her.

“Thanks. How’d you know I was dehydrated though?”

Dax rubbed the back of his head, “Well when you’ve been out for a day and the last thing you drank was an alcoholic beverage, it’s not too far off to predict that you’d need water. Plus it’s unhealthy to go that long without water… I think.”

“You think?”

“Well my race can only live about three to four days, if you’re lucky, without water.”

“That’s the same for us,” Twilight spoke up.

“Hmm. So our similarities go beyond simple cosmetics.”

“Yeah I guess. How many chromosomes do you have?”

“46. Why?”

“Only 46?! Celestia we have nearly twice that number!”

“Well I guess that’s where our differences begin.”

“Just wondering, where are we?” Vinyl asked.

“Oh we’re airborne again,” RD said, “We left just this morning.”

“Crap. I was hoping to see more of the city with Dax.”

“Jeez girl,” RD laughed, “What are you, his girlfriend or something?”

Vinyl cringed and turned red. Dax was merely indifferent.

“Sorry Rainbow Dash but no. And I doubt anything like that will even happen between us. We’re just friends, right Vinyl?”

“Y-yeah. Uh, just friends,” The DJ stuttered.

Rainbow leaned back, “Ugh you’re boring. You don’t aggravate easily do you?”

“Believe me, there’s nothing you could say that would get me mad. I’ve dealt with a lot worse.”

“Oh really? Like?”

Dax deadpanned, “I was drugged and dragged to a party against my own will by one of my friends. Oh and Ajax was the bitch that betrayed me and let her do that. So there’s not a lot left in that you could do.”

“Curses,” RD said, “Well we can still mess with other people that aren’t you.”

“Heh, been there done that.”

A silence followed. Everyone sat around the table eating. The flight was enjoyable so far. No planes or other objects were around to disrupt the beautiful and calm flight. Various mountains of clouds drifted by as the yacht sailed through the air. Even the occasional bird decided to rise up and rest on the masts before leaving and descending back through the clouds.

Soon lunch was over and everyone set out to own devices. Pinkie Pie set out to fix her party cannon as to have it fit more than Dax thought should be physically possible inside of it. Rainbow Dash did the usual: napping. Fluttershy fed and tended the birds that landed on the yacht. Rarity sat on the deck getting a tan. Twilight read and AJ did inventory of the food and supplies before going off to get supper ready.

Dax went to the front of the ship and sat near the mast, listening to music. He failed to notice Vinyl, who had nothing else to do, sit next to him near the mast.

“Thanks for binging me back here ok,” she said.

Dax didn’t hear her at first but removed his headphones when he noticed her presence.

“Eh what?”

“Thanks for carrying me back when I was plastered is what I said,” Vinyl laughed.

Dax laughed to. Funny. Her laugh was almost musical. Heh, it was pleasant to listen to.

“Don’t worry about it,” Dax smiled, “I’m sure you would have done the same for me.”

“Like hell!” Vinyl laughed, “You probably weigh a ton!”

“Well you weren’t a walk in the park either darling.”

“Please! I’m as fit and sexy as a fox!”

“Well you weigh as much as a bear.”

“Oh you enjoyed carrying me and you know it.”

Dax scoffed before continuing, “Yeah uh I’m pretty sure you enjoyed it more.”

Vinyl turned red, “Whadda ya mean by that?”

“I’m not saying anything.”

Rainbows scratchy voice cut through the conversation, “Oh dear Celestia! You guys aren’t talking about sex are you?!”

Dax and Vinyl both turned red and yelled back up in a synchronized voice, “SHUT UP RAINBOW!”

Rainbow Dash laughed and returned to her nap.

“Ugh,” Dax sighed, “I swear that girl is gonna drive me crazy.”

“Not before I do!”

“Don’t even consider that a challenge because you will lose!”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really.”

“How ‘bout this: when we get to Las Pegasus we can go all out and go crazy, and the first one to do something… I don’t know sketchy loses.”

“What do you mean by sketchy?”

“I don’t know, like does something crazy at a rave or something or confesses something.”

“Hmm. Alright. But you’re so gonna lose.”

“Bring it on hotstuff.”

They laughed and shared a hug, enjoying each other’s company. Vinyl leaned against her friend. She smiled contently. She’d never felt as safe around anything or anyone else as she did around him. It was a new and strange feeling if not unwelcome. She enjoyed his company and she was pretty sure he enjoyed hers. They did have a lot in common. They both were active, they both loved music if for different reasons, they both made music and again for different reasons but still. Their personalities clicked like puzzle pieces.

“Whatcha listening to?” Vinyl asked.

“Hmm? Oh nothing much.”

“Can I listen?”

“Are you sure? I mean you do have a wicked hangover right now.”

“Dude, I’m a Disk Jockey Party Girl. If I had one bit for every time I got a hangover I’d be richer than Celestia.”

“Well if you say so.”

“Cool.” Dax pulled out a pair of spare ear buds from his pocket and plugged them into his watch that also functioned as a music player. He hit the play button and let the song continue.

Vinyl’s eyes widened. The beat was calm and quiet yet it had a strange relaxing like quality to it. She felt herself lean farther back onto the deck and leaning against her protector.

Wait, when did that happen?

Well let’s see Vinyl, uh how about when he blew his own cover to save you from those criminals? Or how about when he tossed those two guys out of the bar when they tried to… well you know. Or when he jumped off of the boat to save your sorry ass when you nearly fell to your death? That sound familiar?

Fuck you.

She smiled to herself and enjoyed his company and the calming melody that played through the earphones. Soon the pain she had been feeling all but vainished.