Invincible

At exactly ten minutes before the doors opened to Club Dub, Talitha and Sugar Bomb were already standing close to the end of a long line waiting outside the building. Sugar Bomb standing to Talitha's left side, bounced up and down persistently, trying to see over all the ponies in front of her.

"Aaaanndd it's my turn again!" , Sugar Bomb squealed happily while reaching a height high enough to fall and land on top of Talitha's head. Sugar Bomb started to wave her hoof back and forth in front of Talitha's face, her fearless boss/leader, who she discreetly looked up to as a rather strange motherly role model since her own parents were both dead.

Both of Sugar Bomb's parents were well renown lawyers, who helped a lot of ponies escape charges for crimes they believed were too minor for imprisonment. They did everything by the book and did everything they could legally to help their clients. Their last case, a pony, by the name of Flint Rock, was being accused of smuggling illegal explosives and artillery.

At first, Sugar Bombs parents believed the whole thing was a huge misunderstanding since Flint Rock was a simple sales pony who made and sold fire works. However, on a strictly business visit to Flint Rock's home, Sugar Bomb's parents brought the barely born Sugar Bomb along with them, since it was SUPPOSED to be a quick in-and-out visit. Sugar Bomb's mother however found a garage full of all the ingredients anypony would need to create the explosives and artillery Flint Rock was being accused of smuggling.

Sugar Bomb's mother went and told her husband what she saw and claimed they should refuse to help fighting for Flint Rock's innocence. Overhearing that his lawyers were going to report him, Flint Rock locked Sugar Bomb and her parents inside of his home and burned all of his merchandise to make it look like it was an accident.

Sadly, unlike Sugar Bomb, her parents didn't survive the series of explosions that inspired Sugar Bomb to become a demolition expert. Talitha was actually on her way to the very location Sugar Bomb's parents died, to purchase some of the artillery. Seeing Sugar Bomb, who had surprisingly left the burnt home completely untouched, Talitha took her as her own since her smile reminded her of the daughter she once used to have.

Talitha never told Sugar Bomb the truth about her parents, and Sugar Bomb was much too young to ever remember that day correctly.

Sugar Bomb began to knock on the top Talitha's head with one of the tiny hammers she had tucked underneath her ball cap. She called Talitha's name after every three knocks until she got a response from her.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Talitha?" No response. Sugar Bomb stayed persistent.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Talitha?" Same results.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Talit-"

"WHAT THE FLYING SHIT DO YOU WANT, SUGAR BOMB?! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY TRYING TO IGNORE YOU?!" Talitha snapped at the filly, who immediately shut up.

Choking back on the tears she wanted to let out for Talitha yelling at her for no reason, Sugar Bomb pointed at the front of the line and asked, "Why are we standing in line? It's so long!" Sugar Bomb's face fell when she realized the only reason she could see the door from her distance was because of the neon lights around it.

"When you said we were 'going to a party', I thought you were speaking metaphorically.", Sugar Bomb admitted, adding too quietly for anypony to hear her, "And I'm pretty sure the reader thought that too...."

Moving her eyes from looking up and back towards the front of the line, Talitha growled deeply, agitated by Sugar Bomb's impatience and whining voice, "I did."

"...then why are we in line?"

"Because I like getting a good buzz before I work."

"A buzz!", Sugar Bomb's voice went up two octaves higher when she sang with happiness. "Are we getting a pet bee? Bees are cool! They're like changelings, except they take honey instead of happiness....and nopony likes them.....what exactly are we doing her anyways? I can't go in there. I'm barely old enough to ride the tea cups ride. Ohh, Talitha we should go do that again, but this time without the whole you punching that mime in face part. Remember that, Talitha? You thought he was waving at you but he was just doing his act. And then his clown friend came to help him, but you dodged his foam bat and kicked him in the testi-"

The possibility of somepony seeing Talitha throw Sugar Bomb into a wall were pretty slim, save for the crossed eyed pegasus standing behind them. Unfortunately for Talitha's patience, she needed Sugar Bomb as a distraction. Unlike Talitha, most other ponies would "aww" at the sight of Sugar Bomb doing her Princess Celestia impression. It mainly just consisted of Sugar Bomb drawing a sun over her cutie mark area and praising it like the sun, but adorable none the less.

Talitha was going to use the distraction to sneak into the back area of the club. In her theory, somepony back there, more than likely the DJ/Manager, Reverb, knew the true identity of Dark Wing or could at least point her in the direction of somepony who could. There was no guarantee Talitha's plan would even go through flawlessly, but she didn't want to sit around with her hoof up her ass waiting for Dark Wing to appear back up again. The Club Dub was the only public place Dark Wing had ever made a guest appearance at with an invitation.

A little less than an hour after the doors opened, Talitha and Sugar Bomb arrived at the entrance. Talitha was able to "influence" the bouncer at the door to believe Sugar Bomb was a full grown pony with the curse of dwarfism, and using about an extra twenty pieces of golden bits on top of both her and Sugar Bomb's entry fee.

Talitha lead the way past the bouncer when he unhooked the rope blocking her path to the door. At the door inside, a Unicorn held the door open for Talitha and Sugar Bomb using his magic, bowing at them with smile and holding his hoof out towards Talitha. When Talitha didn't seem to capture what the Unicorn was gesturing for, he asked her, "Ma'am, tip, please?"

"Tip? I'll tip you on your ass if you don't get of my way. The hell would you get a tip for anyways?" Talitha asked, holding up the line behind her.

"A-a tip for holding the door, Ma'am?"

"Holding the door open? Fuck that. I'll open the door myself." Talitha pushed and shoved the underweight Unicorn on to the floor with him landing hard on his flank. "Move, bitch!", Talitha barked and kicked at the fallen Unicorn. He scurried away to safety on the other side of the street full of heavy traffic.

If holding a door lead to a few bits as a tip, Talitha was going to take upon herself to use the money to pay for her drinks. Taking the Unicorn's position of holding the door, Talitha bit down on the back of Sugar Bomb's coat collar and placed her at the front of the door as a door stop. The young couple that had been patiently waiting behind Talitha smiled and thanked her for holding the door open for them. Talitha greeted them both back with a polite "Go fuck yourself" before thrusting her hoof at the young stallion's head when he tried to chest up to her.

Kicking Sugar Bomb into the corner of the door, Talitha said to her, "Stay, I'll get you when I need you", and walked into Club Dub without even so much as asking poor Sugar Bomb if she wanted a glass of water or something.

Ponies came by and dropped their pocket change at Sugar Bomb, mistaking her for being the actual door holder. Accepting her fate, Sugar Bomb shrugged and smiled and waved at each couple and group that tipped her generously.

"Aaaand this is where MY part in this chapter ends. See you in chapter 2, reader!", said Sugar Bomb as she waived good bye.

***

Back inside Club Dub, Nimbus was sitting by himself, wearing an uncomfortable silk tie Nora gave him to wear for tonight. He tugged and adjusted the tie more times than several, failing to make it more bearable to wear. The material rubbed uncomfortably against his bare chest and pulled a couple hairs off his coat on the back of his neck. He pulled and loosened the knot at the bottom of his neck until the knot sat a good inch below his collar line. He leaned back in his chair and exhaled a breath of relief when he was finally able to scratch at the itch where the tie was preventing him to reach.

"Thought I'd never get that stupid thing off...Dressing up is dumb. Seriously, why am I wearing this crap?" Nimbus lifted his hooves up in front of him to look at the white shirt cuffs he was forced to wear with a sports coat. He looked to his right at Flower Butt, who was still holding and slowly stirring at the White Russian Nimbus had bought her a few minutes ago.

"You look cool though.", Nimbus told Flower Butt. The compliment was less than flattering to anyponyelse, but Flower Butt noticed Nimbus's intention and gave him the first smile he'd seen from her.

"Oh, thank Celestia's sweet shinning ass." Nimbus said, before taking his third shot in the part thirty minutes he'd arrived at the club, along with a sip from the unrepeatable name of a green glowing mixed drink the bar tender had recommended for him. "I was beginning to think you couldn't understand me." Nimbus watched as Flower Butt's smile faded away she when stared at the three empty shot glasses.

In an effort to save himself from looking like an alcoholic, Nimbus made the excuse, "I'm not a drinker, really!" Nimbus held his hooves up innocently. Denying the habit he was being accused of, Nimbus's glassy look made a completely opposite argument.

The expression on Flower Butt's face was less than convinced.

"This?" Nimbus pointed to the three empty shot glasses. "I'm just doing this to give myself some courage." He leaned the elbows of his fore legs on the counter top of the bar, looking at the fresh cut he had on his neck and the still visible black eye he had from when he saved Flower Butt the night before, in the reflection of one the clear vodka bottles on the opposite side of the bar.

"I can go to a Trotting Talon base and shut it down without as much as a second thought, but I can't go out in public and talk to a mare.", Nimbus said, not expecting a response, but believing that Flower Butt would listen either way. "It's just that, ever since I left Rainbow Dash, I feel like I've forgotten how to talk to them."

"You jus' gotta spit that game, Bruh!"

Confused on how Flower Butt could talk like that, Nimbus quickly spun on his chair to face her, but came to realize it was Reverb who had really been speaking to him. "Oh, hey, Reverb!" Nimbus greeted the DJ warmly while trying to hide the three shot glasses back behind the bar.

"Bruh", Reverb used the magic fro his horn to levitate Flower Butt's drink away from her and clash it with Nimbus's own drink. "Where's that love at? 'Mere and gimme a hug, Bruh!"

Looking at Reverb's open arms, ready for an embracing hug, Nimbus chuckled and tipped his glass against Reverb's. "No offense, but I'm not much of a hugger."

"Horse shit, gimme a hug, Bruh!" Reverb set down Flower Butt's drink back in front of her and wrapped Nimbus in a wrestler's strength bear hug.

"Whoa, okay okay, you're friendly." Nimbus laughed. He knew Reverb was a really social pony and a true stallion to his word. If there was one stallion Nimbus could open up to about a problem or feel comfortable with, it was Reverb. Nimbus hugged Reverb back and repeated, "You're a really guy, you know that?", but when Reverb started to stroke Nimbus's back, Nimbus's added, "Ooookay! A little too friendly..." Nimbus looked at Flower Butt from over Reverb's shoulder and mouthed the words "Save me!" at her, but only got a small laugh out of her instead of her help.

After nearly breaking Nimbus in half with his impressively strong hug, Reverb finally let go of Nimbus and asked him, "Bruh, when did you start playing in the bat cave?"

Thinking Reverb was comparing Nimbus's Dark Wing persona with that of his favorite comic book hero, Nimbus rose his voice at him, "I'm not Bat Mare, damn it! I'm Dark Wing!"

Reverb leaned away from Nimbus a bit, not knowing why he had gotten so worked up or why he had just screamed his alter ego out in the middle of a public area. Reverb knew who Dark Wing was when he first asked her to appear at his club to meet the Wonder Bolts. He had no idea that a stallion would be the true identity of the mysterious masked vigilante, but he welcomed Nimbus back all the same. Though, Reverb DID throw away all the pictures of Dark Wing he had under his bed once he found it she was really a dude.

"Nah, Bruh. I meant: When did you start dating the Bat Pony?" Reverb leaned his head towards Flower Butt.

"Oh." Nimbus blushed embarrassingly. "I thought you meant-" Nimbus looked all around him to notice the immediate crowd that had surrounded him now. "N-never mind, but uhh I'm not dating her.", Nimbus explained  to Reverb. Catching himself from being misunderstood, Nimbus picked up the volume in his voice and said, "Not that I'm not attracted or anything." , when he faced Flower Butt.

Saving herself from having to hear Reverb ask if she was single, Flower Butt lifted herself out of her seat and took off to the ceiling out of sight from anypony and hung there for the remainder of the night.

"...well, that sucks.", Nimbus said, looking up at the section of the ceiling where Flower Butt had flown off to. "So much for taking her out for a nice evening.'

The word evening lit a light bulb in Reverb's mind, forcing him to make a clicking sound with his tongue when he asked Nimbus, "Bruh, you lookin' to talk to a mare tonight, right? That's what Sky Forge told me."

There was no denying or trying to lie his way out of why he had chosen to come out tonight. It wouldn't be surprising that Sky Forge probably told Reverb to find Nimbus tonight. There was nothing really particular wrong with Sky Forge trying to find friends for Nimbus, he just couldn't wrap his head around why she was being so persistent today with him going out.

"Yeah, actually.", Nimbus said in a low tone, hoping the group of mares in the table behind him didn't hear Reverb asking the previous question over the music.

Unexpectedly, Reverb placed a bit too friendly hoof on Nimbus's shoulder and whispered in a manner that was questionably seductive, "I can help you with that tonight." Reverb's smile was just as uncomfortable as his words were.

Swallowing with fear, Nimbus told Reverb, "I don't think I like where this is going." Nimbus tried to remove the arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner, but Reverb was again maintaining his grip around Nimbus.

"Nah, stupid, not me. I was talking about Octave.", Reverb cleared up for Nimbus but still keeping the hoof on his shoulder with circular rubbing motions.

Not sure if Reverb knew Octave's true identity, Nimbus referred to Evening Primrose by her new name, "Oh, right, her." Even as a changeling, Nimbus thought she was pretty attractive, and to his knowledge she was a reformed criminal. It wouldn't hurt to see where things went with her.

The idea in Nimbus's head were spoken out loud from Reverb's mouth when he whispered in Nimbus's ear, "Plus, she's a changeling. So, she could be whoever you want her to be."

The alcohol was kicking into Nimbus's system and enhancing his level of imagination for his lustful fantasy. Nimbus cleared his throat and fixed his low hanging tie tight back around his neck. "W-where is Ev-Octave anyways?" He hoped that if things did go smoothly with Evening Primrose, she wouldn't bring up anything about what happened in Said-So's place.

Reverb had been keeping his eye on Octave since before he started talking to Nimbus. He picked up Flower Butt's untouched drink and tipped  it in Octave's direction before taking a sip. On nearly the opposite side of the club, Octave could be seen talking to a (rather handsome) stallion in the V.I.P. area.

Nodding generously, Nimbus thanked Reverb and walked his way slowly to Octave, who was sitting as far away from the stallion Unicorn she was intentionally avoiding.

The stallion brushed his shoulder against Octave's wing as he tried for the fourth time tonight to hit on her. " You should really consider yourself lucky that I found YOU."

"uh-huh.", was all Octave had to say to the tan colored Unicorn. Sure, he was blessed with incredibly softer features than any other stallions, and smelt  better than most of them too, but his self-absorbed attitude shut Octave's legs just as fast as when she opened them for him at first glance. "Toledo, right?", Octave asked him.

Toledo took a personal offense to Octave's ignorance of his name. "You have to ask? You should already know who I am before I even walked through the door! I'm the number one fencer in seven different countries, including this one. How could you have not heard of me? I have my own line of mane styling products."

Octave continued to refuse looking at Toledo as she mocked his sport, "Fencing? You mean playing tag with sharpless swords? Yeah, that's a real stallion's sport."

Toledo went to grab Octave's foreleg tightly and pull her close to show her what a "real stallion" was, but Nimbus had reached the V.I.P. area just in time to use his quick hoof-eye coordination to detect the grab and slap Toledo's hoof away from Octave before he could even realize somepony was standing beside him.

"Take a hint, Taquito.", Nimbus warned Toledo, pronouncing his name wrong. He glared and flared his wings at the sword fighting professional he knew absolutely nothing about.

Octave didn't know Nimbus had just stopped Toledo from possibly sexually assaulting her,she was even more surprised that Nimbus was here.

"Nimbus?", Octave asked when all she saw was the back of his head. She had been actively looking for him when she first walked into Club Dub about twenty minutes ago but was easily thrown off her concentration when Toledo had approached her about five minutes into her search.

"I been looking for you all night.", Octave said, intentionally looking at Toledo as she did so.

"You know this-" Toledo looked at the rough marks and brusies all around Nimbus's face that were hidden from Octave's perspective. "Hobo?", Toledo added soon after decided what social group to tag Nimbus in.

"Hobo?", Nimbus repeated. Nimbus padded his chest, knocking loose one of the buttons on his sports coat without noticing. "What about me says: Hobo?"

To answer Nimbus's question, Toledo leaned in to sniff what scent Nimbus had placed on his natural coat. "You're wearing Hatchet antiperspirant, popular and targeted towards the young generation in middle school, which obviously you're not." Toledo grabbed and flipped Nimbus's tie to the other side to see what the brand was on the back. "There's no brand on your tie and it's not even custom." Toledo dropped Nimbus's tie back down to his chest and tilted his head at Nimbus's sports coat. "And the buttons on your coat are old used guitar picks...."

Nimbus rub at the top button guitar pick on his coat. "These have sentimental value, you perfume wearing, transvestite looking, narrow faced, toy sword fighter, prince wannabe, prissy, goggle eyed, hamster mother having, mother fu-"

Toledo charged up a spell and lit up everything in a red glow within a one yard radius, despite the flashing rainbow of lights  dancing all around. "I will not be bullied by a low class pegasus who can't even dress himself much less know the difference between cologne and perfume."

A heavy click was heard behind Toledo when somepony threatened him, "Then perhaps you would appreciate a royal audience with somepony more regal?" A Unicorn with a uniquely styled mane aimed a large caliber handgun at Toledo's back, keeping it perfectly out of sight for anypony else to see.

The Unicorn behind Toledo was completely unrecognizable, but she looked at Nimbus and asked him, "Are you okay, Nimbus?"

Nimbus peered at the strange Unicorn, trying to find out if he could recognize her but there was no face or name he could place on her. How she came to know him was a mystery. Another pony who Sky Forge sent to find Nimbus? "Y-yeah, I'm okay, Ms...." Nimbus waited for her to pronounce her name but wasn't granted his wish.

"You have no knowledge of my name nor who I am, Nimbus." the Unicorn told Nimbus, pressing the gun deeper into Toledo's back when he tried to turn around. There was nopony else inside of the V.I.P. except for the three of them and their area was too far for anypony to see what was going on.

"Right..." Nimbus said, leaning on his wing towards Octave's direction and asking her, "Do YOU know who that is?"

Octave shook her head and looked up when she thought she heard some scratching up on the ceiling above her. There was nothing there when she looked, but one of the over head lights above her went out for a quick second when something or somepony zoomed over it. She tapped on Nimbus's shoulder and whispered, "but I don't think she came alone." Octave wasn't at all aware of the bat pony who was following Nimbus the entire time discretely.

The crawling on the ceiling was just Flower Butt using her bat pony abilities to walk around on the ceiling as she checked up on Nimbus.

"That's just Flower Butt, she's with me.", Nimbus told Octave. Nimbus looked up and mouthed the words Come on down to Flower Butt but got a negative response to his invitation.

"Who?", Octave asked, running the name back in forth in her head, questioning as to why anypony would give their child such a name. She looked up again to see a pair a red glowing eyes staring at the direction of Toledo and the strange unicorn behind him. The eyes shifted to Octave quickly, making Octave look back down at the floor in a small panic.

Toledo growled and pushed his way past Nimbus with Flower Butt hissing quietly at him when he did so. "I don't have the time or patience deal with you and your harem, Nimbus, but it'll be a warm day in hell when I catch you by yourself." Toledo left Nimbus with that threat and left the V.I.P

"I'm not the sharpest box in the crayon, but I thought it was a cold day-" Nimbus started to say to Octave, but she immediately walked ear shot away from him before he could finish his predicable lame joke. Watching Octave move away form him, Nimbus pulled his tie up and farther away form his neck. "Tough crowd."

The strange unicorn from earlier took a stance beside Nimbus and holstered her pistol. "Perhaps if I possessed a more violent personality, I would have enjoyed acquainting that pony's face with a brick."

Nimbus turned his head slowly to the gun-wielding pony and asked her, "I'm sorry, who are you?" He squinted his eyes at her as if it would help him identify her.

The gun wielding pony laughed and introduced herself with a strong pose, "It's no surprise you can not indicate who I am, we have never been socially acquitted." She had a saddle that holstered her large caliber pistol that hid her cutie mark fairly well. "I'm Princess Gunilda, from the land of Makar. Please, do not let my crown-less appearance question my royal title, even though I am half Equestrian."

From the looks of it, Gunilda did have a incredibly clean appearance. Her coat was neatly brushed and her mane was carefully cared in just about every aspect. She took a seat and pushed the piece of paper, with Toledo's name on it, on the floor without thinking twice. "Take a seat, Nimbus. I mean to discuss business with you, then I shall be on my way and allow you to continue with your...."Gunilda looked up at Flower Butt, who was still hanging upside on the ceiling above the three of them, but with her wings concealing now, and then Gunilda looked at Octave, who was standing on Nimbus's left side. "Double date", Gunilda said carefully not too sure if Nimbus was seeing the bat pony above her or the pegasus in front of her.

"I'm not with either one of them.", Nimbus said, instantly biting his tongue once he realized he just said that with Octave within ear shot. He planning on trying to get to know her on a more personal level, but he might have just ruined any and every chance of that happening. Trying to rectify his mistake, Nimbus took his seat and motioned for Octave to take a seat beside him, but she gave him a rude look and trotted off to the V.I.P bathroom with her nose up in the air the entire way there.

Gunilda leaned in over the table and apologized to Nimbus, "If I have become a burden to your night tonight, I apologize in advance."

Nimbus waved a hoof Gunilda. "Don't worry about it." Nimbus looked up at Flower Butt who had poked her head out from under her wings and ducked back behind them when she saw Nimbus looking at her. "I promised someponyelse a nice night out anyways.", Nimbus smiled, looking at Flower Butt shivering with embarrassment.

"Charming.", Gunilda said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I understand you're in possession of an item your co-worker, Nora, had asked you to hold on to."

Now that Nimbus remembered, Nora did tell him to look for a visitor tonight, but he had thought Nora was trying to hint that she got a pony for him to hook up with. Obviously, this is not what has happened.

"She said, and I quote, Keyword: Should have it, unquote. ", Gunilda added. She unfastened one of the many pockets on her saddle bag and dropped a small bag of silver coins, which were the common currency in Makar. The coins were dramatically much larger and heavier than the bits in Equestria and definitely held much more value due to the quantity of silver in each coin.

Nimbus looked at the bag of coins and reached into his coat pocket to retrieve the wand he had. He slid it across the table to have Gunilda grab it with her magic before it got half way across. "It is a good idea that you're more reasonable to deal with than your friend, Nora.", Gunilda said, pocketing the wand into her bag.

Before grabbing the bag in both hooves, Nimbus stopped and asked, "Why, what did Nora do?"

Gunilda slid out of the booth and shrugged her saddle bags further up on her shoulders. "She refused to allow me to purchase the wand from her and asked me what my intentions were and how I found out she had one."

Nimbus glided across from his side of the booth and stood in Gunilda's way of her only exit, except for turning around and going into the Mare's bathroom. "Uuumm, I usually leave all the questions to her, but how did you know we had a wand?", Nimbus was watching the position of Gunilda's pistol as he asked.

A small glow of magic surrounded the grip of the gun when Gunilda admitted, "You have been a much more generous audience than your accomplice, so I will tell you. Broker informed me Nora had one and did not want to see her getting herself in trouble in case the pony known as Talitha got a hold of her first."

The music in the club seemed to drastically die down at the mention of Talitha's name again. "What kind of a threat IS Talitha?", Nimbus asked Gunilda. "Just out of curiosity." Nimbus had asked Nora to do some digging on her and see what they could learn about Talitha, but she came up with nothing.

The smile Gunilda gave Nimbus would have have been pleasant if it wasn't for the words that followed right after them, "You mean other than the fact she has been watching you since you started talking to me?"

Sweat dripped down Nimbus's neck as he was too afraid to turn back around to see if Gunilda was telling the truth. There was no possible way she could have known he was coming here tonight, Nimbus didn't even know he was coming here tonight until this afternoon. Even if this was a convenience that she was here the same time he was, why would she possibly be looking directly at him other than all the other ponies in this place? Could she have known that he was Dark Wing? If she did, how?

"Do not worry.", Gunilda reassured Nimbus. "I' will stand by if she decides to approach you. You are-", Gunilda eyed Nimbus up and down before kissing her hoof and placing it on his cheek. "Pleasant company." Gunilda walked past and left Nimbus staring forward blankly, whipping him in the face her soft tail. "I will be on the dance floor if you wish to join me.", Gunilda offered before she disappeared into the crowd.

Nimbus stayed in the same frozen stance from when he found out Talitha was staring at him, but for an entire different reason this time now. The threat of Talitha was no longer on his mind when he had a bat pony up above and a gun wielding Unicorn on the ground covering his six. Seeing his options tonight, Nimbus began to weigh them. "Mysterious mute bat pony." Nimbus looked up at the ceiling where Flower Butt was hanging. "Female changeling." Nimbus changed his sight to the Mare's bathroom that Octave had ran and hid into. "or possible Unicorn Princess." Nimbus looked to the dance floor where Gunilda was dropping and lending her saddle bags to one of the security guards to carry for her.

This had been Nimbus's first night out in a LONG time and, needless to say, his chances with any of the poni-creatures he just named were pretty fair to good. Nimbus looked at the mirror in the booth he was sitting at in the V.I.P. and slicked his mane back. "Sky Forge was right, I SHOULD get out more often."

On the opposite side of the club, Rainbow Dash was sitting in the same seat Nimbus had left just moments ago. Within a few seconds of her arrival, she already had three ponies surrounding her asking if they could buy her a drink even right after they just watched her purchase her first one.

"I'm just waiting for a friend of mine." Rainbow Dash admitted. She liked getting attention more than any other pony could possibly endure, but their was nothing enjoyable about having three stallions who reeked of alcohol and only interest was to take her back to their place or nearby hotel for reasons that didn't need an explanation.

"I could be your new friend." , one of the stallions offered to Rainbow Dash, massaging her shoulders behind her, only to have them shoved off with a flare from Rainbow Dash's wings.

"With as much offense as I could make this sound, I want nothing to do with either one of you.", Rainbow Dash said to all three of the stallions without turning around in her chair.

The same stallion who was massaging Rainbow Dash's shoulders earlier leaned on the counter and began to rub her foreleg but immediately got his hoof thrown off when Rainbow Dash turned around and elbowed him in the face. "I said: Beat it!" Rainbow Dash reminded him while looking at his friends with the same threatening look.

"Listen, girly-" The stallion said to Rainbow Dash, but he didn't get to finish his sentence when he got grabbed and thrown to floor by Talitha who had switched her view from Nimbus to Rainbow Dash after hearing her yelling.

"No, you listen here, bitch." , Talitha barked at the down horse. The red paint markings underneath her eyes were beginning to melt, making it look like she was crying blood and giving her a scary image in every colorful flash of lights that shined on her. "If you're looking for action tonight, I got it right here." Talitha made a challenging pat across her chest with her strong hoof.

The stallion looked at Talitha's large size and picked himself up, looking like a frail puppy in the rain. He left with his friends behind him and said nothing to Talitha. One of the other stallions stayed back to stare Talitha down, but he quickly ran off towards his friends with his tail between his legs when Talitha growled and took a powerful heavy step towards him.

There was no telling what the stallions would have done if Talitha hadn't gone out of her way to help, and Rainbow Dash didn't care why she did, she was just thankful for it. Rainbow Dash probably would have easily taken care of the stallions herself if it wasn't for the stupid dress she was wearing tonight, limiting her aerodynamic capabilities. She was a black belt in karate after all, as well as a instructor. Looking at Talitha when she looked over her shoulder, Rainbow Dash said, "Thanks".

Talitha turned around and went back to her seat without addressing Rainbow Dash back or introducing herself.

"What was that all about?", Sky Forge asked Rainbow Dash, coming out of nowhere.

Rainbow Dash jumped up out of her seat and got one end of her dress stuck on the corner of the chair she was sitting in. The dress pulled her down and would have tipped her over but Sky Forge caught Rainbow Dash's chair before she could fall.

After straightening herself back up on her chair, Rainbow Dash told Sky Forge, "It was just some stallions giving me trouble, and I totally would have dealt with them myself, but that strange-" Rainbow Dash took another look at Talitha. "I think she's a mare, came over and helped me. It's all cool though."

"By help you, do you mean: did all the work for you?", Sky Forge teased, pulling on the front of Rainbow Dash's dress to expose a bit of what Rainbow Dash was hiding. Rainbow Dash didn't bother fixing it though, she was trying to get attention after all, but attracting the wrong kind.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. How was helping Rarity with her sisters party?"

Sky Forge smiled and rolled her eyes at Rainbow Dash's question. "Oh, it wasn't all that bad. I mean I hate and can't absolutely stand little kids now, and I might stab myself in the stomach if I ever get pregnant, but other than that, it wasn't so bad."

Rainbow Dash laughed and went back to drinking the cider she had bought and hadn't had time to drink from yet. The liquid was warm to her lips already when she drank, but still refreshing none the less.

"Any luck yet?", Sky Forge asked, looking around for Nimbus to see if he had shown up yet. She found him standing by himself in the V.I.P. area not too long after. He wasn't very far to not recognize, which meant Rainbow Dash hadn't seen him yet or vice versa.

"Luck with what?", Rainbow Dash asked. She knew exactly what Sky Forge was asking about but decided to play naive to see how and why she was persistent with her coming out tonight.

"You know...A little wink wink jab jab.", Sky Forge said, blinking both her eyes and tapping on Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

Rainbow Dash brushed off Sky Forge's hoof off her softly with her opposite wing. "I get the feeling that you don't understand the concept of winking and/or jabbing."

"You need somepony to play around with, Rainbow Dash.". Sky Forge began to fidget Rainbow Dash's dress again, loosening the back a bit and lowering the shoulder straps down some.

"...are you trying to get me laid?", Rainbow Dash asked. Sky Forges intentions were completely unreadable. Rainbow Dash tried to fix the straps on her dress and everything else Sky Forge was messing with, but Sky Forge would just change something else on the dress every time Rainbow Dash fixed it.

"Don't you want to?", Sky Forge countered with a question of her own. "Now, come on, what kind of stallion are you into?"

It had been some time since Rainbow Dash had really talked a stallion much less get really personal with one. Finding somepony interested in her wouldn't be that hard, considering she got hit on as soon as she sat down. "I really don't have a preference. I guess as long as he's a pegasus, so I don't piss my mom off. Oh!" Rainbow Dash couldn't forget the most important detail of all. "And he has to be cool! Like, really cool!"

Finding a pony with Rainbow Dash's standards wouldn't be hard to find at all. Sky Forge thought she could have taken Rainbow Dash to a farmers market and find her somepony there, but farmer markets weren't really all that "cool".

"Okay. Pegasus. Cool. Hmm..." Sky Forge already was going to reunite Nimbus with Rainbow Dash, but she was going to play innocent and act like she didn't know Nimbus had been there the whole time. "Well, I'm no expert, but I think you should raise your standards a little higher. Maybe somepony in the V.I.P. area?", Sky Forge urged Rainbow Dash to look over in that specific area.

Falling into Sky Forge's trap and looking to the V.I.P. area of the already V.I.P. party, Rainbow Dash didn't see anypony that stood out to her. "There's not really anypony there..."

"Look a little longer and harder. Long. Hard. and Deep."

Rainbow Dash assumed Sky Forge's sexual reference was a little intended, but waved it off. "I seriously don't see anypony there interesting." She stated again. "There's just some ponies in a group, but they're all with somepony already."

Sky Forge looked to the V.I.P. as well and looked for Nimbus but he had disappeared completely from the spot she last saw him. "W-where did he go?"

"Where did who go?"

"Ni-...somepony I had my eye on.", Sky Forge corrected herself by biting her tongue figuratively, but Rainbow Dash caught on to the name as quickly as she could fly.

"Nimbus?!", Rainbow Dash's interest perked immediately. Now everything was making sense to her. Sky Forge's persistent push towards tonight, dressing her up, the sexual references....Sweet Celestia, the sexual references!

"You're trying to hook up me and Nimbus?!", Rainbow Dash screamed at Sky Forge. Sky Forge cringed and ducked her head between her shoulders. "He's like a brother to me! I can't do that!"

"Oh, shut up, squeaker.", Sky Forge shot back at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash cheeks blushed red with embarrassment and anger. Embarrassed because Nimbus told Sky Forge about her "squeaking", and angry because Nimbus told Sky Forge about her "squeaking".

"Yeah, I know about the squeaking and what happened in your guy's old club house.", Sky Forge made a "shame on you" gesture to Rainbow Dash as she confessed about Nimbus and Rainbow Dash's little secret. "Like a brother, my tail. By the way, you two are nasty."

Rainbow Dash sat back down calmly and looked straight towards the mug in front of her, it was still fairly full and quite warmer than the last time she drank. She chugged the mug down to the very last drop, despite how distasteful it was. After wiping the foam of the cider off her upper lip, Rainbow Dash dropped another secret she knew Nimbus didn't tell Sky Forge,  "Did you Nimbus tell he cried for about thirty minutes afterwards?"

The bass in the club dropped low the same exact time Rainbow Dash's patience did. "Why you didn't you tell me he was here?"

"I really wanted to surprise the two of you, and I thought you would be really happy to see him!" Sky Forge defended herself.

"I am happy to see him again! I'm going to even happier when my hoof is kicking his-!" The last word from Rainbow Dash went unheard as the bass from the song dropped again.

Sky Forge dropped her head into her hooves. "This isn't what I wanted to happen at all. I made plans and everything."

It was clear that Sky Forge was feeling guilty for making Rainbow Dash angry. "It's not your fault. I'm not even THAT mad. I'm just...shocked to hear Nimbus is here.", Rainbow Dash said as she tried to make Sky Forge feel a little less guilty. She knew Sky Forge's heart was in the right place, but she went about the whole thing the wrong way.

"It's been five years since I've seen him and-" Rainbow Dash fiddled her mug between her hooves and rolled it around on it's bottom edge , "I don't know, I'm just..." Rainbow Dash shrugged and mumbled something Sky Forge couldn't hear over the music again.

"You don't know and what?", Sky Forge asked Rainbow Dash to repeat herself by screaming over the music.

"I don't know", Rainbow Dash shrugged again the same as before. "I'm just a little...", and just like last time, Sky Forge couldn't understand Rainbow Dash over the loud bass playing in club.

"You're what?", Sky Forge screamed. She thought what she heard was Rainbow Dash admitting she was nervous, but that couldn't be right, at least not until she heard Rainbow Dash say it much clearer the third time.

"I'm nervous, okay?!", Rainbow Dash pulled at the dress she was wearing and pointed to it. "I mean, look at me! I look like a skank! "

"You're in a club trying to get some, that's what you're supposed to look like.",Sky Forge laughed and hollered. "I can't believe it, the awesome, fearless Rainbow Dash is scared to talk to somepony!"

"This isn't funny!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "I look stupid. Seriously, why is there even a cleavage cut in this dumb thing? I have nothing there." Rainbow Dash began to pull and bite at the dress, ripping and pulling the seams apart.

Sky Forge fought with Rainbow Dash to keep the dress on. "Stop it! It's a rental!" Sky Forge looked around and saw all the ponies, stallions and a few mares, looking and jaw dropping at the sight of Rainbow Dash stripping off her clothes. "You're making a scene!"

Rainbow Dash kicked Sky Forge off and threw the dress over her face as she breathed freedom from the garment. "You like it so much, you wear it. I'm looking for Nimbus how I want to." She dove off her chair and hovered above the crowd. She searched the large crowd in front of her first but saw no sign of Nimbus. She looked to the dance floor to quickly see Nimbus in the middle of it dancing with a Unicorn.

"Who in the flying hoof in that?", Rainbow Dash yelled with flaring nostrils as she zoomed and dove towards the dance floor and behind Nimbus.

Nimbus was too busy looking at his hooves to notice or have felt the air behind him when Rainbow Dash landed. He wasn't such a great dancer when it came to dubstep, or any music in general. The moves Nimbus was throwing at Gunilda made her stop dancing a long time ago, giving her the clear view of Rainbow Dash as soon as she landed.

Using a sinister smile, Rainbow Dash looked at Gunilda and asked her, "Mind if I take this dance?"

A second thought never crossed Gunilda's mind as she pushed Nimbus into Rainbow Dash with her magic. "He's all yours. Take him."

Nimbus's face landed into Rainbow Dash's chest with his mouth fully open. He quickly pushed himself back up and apologized to her before he realized who he just motor boated. The music went deaf to him as he stared into the familiar face of his first real friend he ever had. It was like hitting the lottery after his first try, he had to blink twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Nimbus choked as he tried to say hi but ended up saying "Hyack" instead.

Rainbow Dash didn't say anything and just continued to stare at Nimbus with a half-smile. She enjoyed watching the now full grown Pegasus she knew through the majority of her childhood freak out and stammer on every word he tried to properly pronounce.

Nimbus hadn't changed too much since she last saw him, but he was no colt anymore. He face was stronger, his mane was just as long if not longer than her's, his shoulders were impressively broader, a sign of him working out still. The feature that stood out the most about him was the bruises and single cut underneath his eye. It reminded Rainbow Dash why they were friends, Nimbus wasn't scared of pain, or at least refused to show he was.

Finally, after about three attempts to construct a sensible sentence, Nimbus was able to say, "How did you find me?"

Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash answered, "A little bird told me."

"Gilda?", Nimbus asked. He hadn't seen Gilda just as long as he hadn't seen Rainbow Dash. "How did she know where I was?"

Smacking Nimbus upside the side of his head, Rainbow Dash simultaneously said, "NO, DUMBASS! I'M SPEAKING METAPHORICALLY."

The crowd that were originally surrounding Nimbus and Gunilda, to watch them dance, now  gasped deeply when they all bared witness to Rainbow Dash striking Nimbus in the middle of the dance floor.

No real harm came to Nimbus though, Rainbow Dash used to always smack him around whenever she felt like it. She never did it to actually inflict punishment, it was just her own method of personally reminding Nimbus not to be so stupid.

Nimbus laughed as he rubbed the red mark Rainbow Dash had left on the side of his head. "Some things never get old, huh?"

Rainbow Dash just continued to stare at him, struggling to decide whether to strangle Nimbus for being away for so long or hug him aroound the neck until he stopped breathing.

The music drastically changed from the heavy dubstep to a song that was played back when Rainbow Dash and Nimbus were still in school.

"Wow." Rainbow Dash said, instantly remembering the song as soon as the piano started. "You are the cheesiest guy, you know that?"

Nimbus looked over to the DJ booth to see Reverb smiling and giving him an air hoof bump. "What song is this?", he asked just right before he saw Rainbow Dash started to quietly sing along with the song when it started.

"Dude, this is OUR song!"

"We have a song?" Nimbus asked, not even remembering a time when Rainbow and he even had a moment that would relate to this type of music. "When did we establish this?"

"You don't remember?!", Rainbow Dash poked at Nimbus's chest, pinning his tie between her hoof and his chest.

"Dude.", Nimbus swiped off Rainbow Dash's hoof off his tie and chest gently and took it into his. "I don't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning."Thinking back on the subject, Nimbus couldn't even remember where he had breakfast this morning.

Rainbow Dash quickly caught on to what Nimbus was doing when he grasped her hoof tightly in his opposite hoof and the other on her shoulder. "The hell do you think you're doing?"

"You said this was our song.", Nimbus said before looking over his shoulder to see everypony around them staring at the two of them. "and I think everypony here is kinda expecting us to dance to it." Nimbus lowered his voice and added, "And just between you and me, I'm really not liking the attention, so, can we just get this over with?"

Rainbow Dash slapped Nimbus lightly and moved his hoof further down her back. "If we're going to, we're going to do it right."

Nimbus second guess how low down Rainbow Dash's back his hoof was supposed to be. "*s my hoof supposed to be that close to your umm butt?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and  slapped him again. She stepped left and started to lead the both of them. "Sometimes you really need to just shut up and stop talking."

"Am I tal-"

"Kind of like right now for instance.", Rainbow Dash instructed Nimbus with a harsh tone and pinching his hoof in between hers.

Biting on both his top and bottom lips, Nimbus shut up and followed Rainbow Dash's lead. The pace was slow, really slow, but they were still able to stay in sync with the music. Only managing to stay quiet for a couple seconds, Nimbus said, "This is a really long song."

"It's on a loop.", Rainbow Dash told him, pulling her bottom hoof out from Nimbus after he stepped on it for the second time now. "Wasn't this part of your plan?"

"Plan?" Nimbus whispered. He just as clueless as she was as to what was happening right now.

"Yeah, your plan.", Rainbow Dash asked in way that wasn't really a question. "Getting Sky Forge to invite me here on the very same night you left, having the DJ play the same song we last danced to, making me come back to you again?"

"Again?", Nimbus asked. "I was the one who left, not you."

"And I let you.", Rainbow Dash rested her head on Nimbus's shoulder and laughed when he stumbled over his two left hooves. "and you're just as bad a dancer as you were back in the tenth grade."

Nimbus was goign to argue the fact that he'd improved since then, but seeing how she was the one leading, he agreed with Rainbow Dash using the shrug of his shoulders. "At least I haven't stepped on your back like last time."

"You've stepped on my front hoof like three times in the past thirty seconds.", Rainbow Dash admitted with a grumble and stomping on his hoof, making him yelp quietly. She picked her head up off of Nimbus and added, "There's actually somepony I want you meet when we're done here tonight."

Despite having two hearts, Nimbus's heart speed double their normal pace. "Celestia's sweet shining ass...we have a child together don't we?"

Rainbow Dash squeezed and twisted Nimbus's hoof in hers, making him yelp louder than before. "No, stupid. I was talking about my mom." She eased up on his hoof and laid her head back down on his shoulder again. "I've always hated when you said that."

"You mean Celestia's sweet shin-"

"Repeat it and I'm going to shoulder toss you in front of all these ponies.", Rainbow Dash warned in a nonchalant tone.

"Roger that.", Nimbus said only to have Rainbow Dash purposely step on his hoof again. "Ow! What did I do that time?"

"Don't say that either. You're not a solider."

"Anything else?", Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash dryly, seeing Sky Forge smiling and waving at him behind Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

"Two things."

"Greeeaat", Nimbus's tone was about as excited as a rock farmer was to wake up in the morning.

"First, tell Sky Forge I can see her and I'm going to kick the crap out of her."

"Way ahead of ya.", Nimbus nodded, feeling that his shoulder had fallen asleep from the weight of Rainbow Dash's head resting on it for so long. "And the other thing?"

"Don't ever leave me again."

Nimbus chuckled, "Weren't you just giving me a hard time for being-"

"Shut up.", Rainbow Dash ordered with a swift kick to Nimbus's shin.

From a table too far away for either Rainbow Dash or Nimbus to see, Talitha was watching the both of them. Her drink had gone warm and was still half full, but she was too busy watching her son to worry about wasting a couple bits.

Legally, Moon Bolt, the Pegasus who claimed to be Nimbus's mother several years ago, was and still is the rightful parental guardian of Nimbus, but Talitha was his biological mother and the one who gave birth to him, as well as to his twin sister. The father to the twins was never discovered, mainly due to the fact Talitha didn't bother to look for him.

Shortly after they were born, Talitha was in financial bind and knew she couldn't raise both of them without the risk of losing custody of them both. So, instead of losing both of them, she gave up, or more sold Nimbus to Moon Bolt to pay off her debt. If she had known Moon Bolt was just going to drop Nimbus off in front of the door steps of an orphanage, Talitha would have kept him.

Aero Dynamic, Nimbus's twin sister, didn't know Nimbus existed until Talitha told her when she finally turned ten. As soon as she got a name, Aero Dynamic found out her twin brother was staying in Cloudsdale, but Talitha forbid her to search for her brother until she confirmed that he was truly her sibling.

Indeed, Aero Dynamic's theory was right. She had found her brother with little effort, but Talitha lied and told her the information she found was outdated. Without Aero's knowledge of it, Talitha got a blimp ride to Cloudsdale as well as a Unicorn friend of hers to help her walk around the city. When Talitha made it to the location the orphanage had told her Nimbus moved to, she refused to knock on the door and barge into Nimbus's life. She saw him through the window, laughing and playing with Rainbow Dash. He looked too happy there for Talitha to take him away from the place he called home.

Talitha sighed as she saw Nimbus dancing with Rainbow Dash, not aware that were being reunited after five years. She looked up at digital clock over the DJ booth and said to herself, "It's four minutes 'till midnight, too late to try looking for Dark Wing tonight. Plus..." She looked at Nimbus one last time before removing herself from her chair. "I'm in a good mood tonight, nopony needs to get hurt."

Thrown against her back, Sugar Bomb fell and landed behind Talitha. She bent down and looked at the upside down face of the tiny pink filly. "Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

"And miss the party? No child should miss a party."

Talitha gaze shifted from the unconscious Sugar Bomb to the mask wearing pony known as Loony Bin. Even with the mask on, Talitha could see he was smiling at her with the rise of his cheek muscles.

"He's grown since the last time I took you to seen him, hasn't he?", Loony asked Talitha, referring to the time he casted a cloud walking spell on her so she could see her son in Cloudsdale. "You'd be surprised if I told you saw him again a few years after that."

Talitha snorted and pushed Sugar Bomb to safety under the table by kicking her. "Whatever business you have here, leave my son out of it."

"Just like you said, Talitha, it's just business, nothing personal." Loony Bin looked over to the dance floor at Nimbus with Talitha stepping in front of his vision shortly after. "He thinks he killed his foster father's killer five years ago, but he merely killed the scape goat."

Talitha remained quiet, not knowing what Loony was talking about, or who exactly Nimbus had killed five years ago.

"The stallion he referred to as his father stopped me from enjoying a rather exotic meal that got away. So to compensate for taking my meal away from me, I took away his life."

"Oh, Loony, that line is so clever it turns right back around to being stupid." Talitha shook her head. "I don't care if you're here on business, you can tell Said-So I said he can take your job, turn sideways, and stick up his candy ass."

"Your boy pissed off the wrong pony, Talitha. I, personally, don't want to do this, but" Loony shrugged and added "Shit happens."

"Shit always happens, but nopony ever bothers to wipe.", Talitha commented. Out of the corner behind Loony, Octave came up behind him and whispered something into Loony's ear while looking at Talitha with a smile on her face.

Loony lifted his head back up after lowering it to listen to Octave. "Good news, Talitha. You're boy is no longer my target tonight."

"Good idea." Talitha said.

"I'm after his sweet heart instead.", Loony told Talitha while licking his chops with saliva leaking through his mask.

"hmmm" Talitha looked back at Rainbow Dash to see her dancing with Nimbus still."Bad alternative.", Talitha said, rotating her shoulders and popping them. She knew Said-So liked hurting his target's hearts and emotions before laying the hammer down on them. "How much longer do I have to cancel this party of yours?"

The bell tower miles away from the club rang and could still be heard over the music once the minute hand met the hour hand at midnight. Loony Bin let the saliva continue to leak from his mask down to the floor. "It's too late. Reservations have been made and it just started.", He said to Talitha, watching her look over her shoulder once again at Nimbus and Rainbow Dash.

"At least I still have time to crash the party." Talitha said, ready to make the first move on Loony Bin or Octave/Evening Primrose, whichever she pinned as more of a threat. "This isn't what I expected at all, but I'm still going to make this the best night ever!"