The Exile and the DJ

“So where did you and Vinyl go?” Stratocaster asked, as I sat down at a small, round table with him and Octavia.

“Oh, uh...” Probably not a good idea to tell him the truth, I thought. “We were dancing.”

Octavia gave me a wink and a nod, but didn’t say anything; she knew her coltfriend wouldn’t like hearing what Vinyl and I had really been doing.

Strat, on the other hand, eyed me suspiciously.

“Dancing, huh? That’s funny, I don't remember seeing you out there.”

“Well, uh, you know, it’s dark, and there are a lot of ponies here; I’m sure you probably just missed us.” I laughed sheepishly, trying to think of anyway that I might change the subject. “So, Octavia, how are you feeling?”

The mare giggled, as she pulled her collar down, and pointed at her neck. I looked at the area that she was indicating, and breathed a sigh of relief; the spot was still there, but just barely. In fact, if I hadn’t known that it had been there before, I probably wouldn’t have seen it.

“I’m still feeling a little loopy, and I can’t seem to stop laughing, but I feel much more relaxed than I was.”

“Thank Celestia for that,” Strat said. “Seriously Tavi, you really wore me out on the dancefloor.”

I bowed to both ponies apologetically.

“Again, I'm really sorry that that happened to you, Octavia; I honestly had no idea that my tea mixed with alcohol could have that sort of effect on a pony.”

To my surprise, Stratocaster was the one who spoke first.

“It’s alright,” he said. What shocked me even more was that he said it with a smile. “You didn’t do it on purpose, and the side effects weren’t permanent, so no harm done.”

Stratocaster stuck out his hand, and I took it, happy to know that he wasn’t upset with me.

“Well then, I don’t know about the rest of you, but all that dancing has made me thirsty. You two want anything?”

Octavia nodded.

“Just water; Celestia knows what’ll happen if I have anymore alcohol.”

The three of us laughed, as Strat got up from the table.

“Hey, Zander, wanna help me with the drinks?”

I quickly nodded, and rose from the table, eager to keep the mood between us positive.

Stratocaster led me around the orgy of dancing ponies (who by now were just moving to prerecorded music while they waited for Vinyl to set up) over to the counter. I thought he was going to wave the bartender over to get our drinks, but instead, he turned to speak to me.

“I’m sorry I got so upset earlier,” he said, looking rather embarrassed, “I tend to be a little sensitive when it comes to pranks, and I thought you or my sister were trying to screw with me, so I snapped.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder to let him know I understood.

“Strat, you had every right to be angry; I know I’d lose it too if someone did that to my marefriend.”

“Yeah, well, knowing your marefriend, she’d probably get some sort of thrill out of it.” Strat waved the bartender over, and ordered three glasses of water. “Speaking of Vinyl, there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about.”

Here it comes, I thought, the “what are your intentions with my sister” speech.

“You should know that Vinyl’s been with more than her fair share of stallions, and most of them have been complete assholes who wanted nothing more than to get into her pants.”

I nodded my understanding, remembering what Vinyl had told me about her ex-coltfriend, and how he thought of her as nothing more than a friend with benefits.

“Now, she and I don’t exactly get along, but I still care for her - she is my twin sister after all - and I need to know that you won’t treat her like the others did.”

Strat looked me dead in the eyes, possibly looking for some sort of hint that I was just like the others, but I just smiled at him reassuringly.

“You don’t have to worry, Stratocaster; I really like Vinyl, and I would never try to take advantage of her like that. I promise you, I’m not that kind of a stallion.”

Strat seemed pleased with my response, because he held out his hand, and we shook again.

A few seconds later, the bartender returned with three glasses of water.

“Here you are lads,” he said, sliding the glasses in front of us. “That’ll be three bits.” I went for my satchel, but Strat was quicker on the draw, and tossed three gold coins the bartender’s way.

“You know, Zander, I really do hope you last longer than Vinyl’s other coltfriends; Celestia knows a stable relationship might actually do her some good.”

“I’ll do my bes-”

The music that had been blasting over the speakers suddenly died, and the lights went out, bathing the club in pitch darkness. At first I thought that something must have happened to the power, but then I heard the chanting start.

“Pon-3! Pon-3! Pon-3! Pon-3!”

A low bass line began to pulse like a heart, with a beautiful melody played on a keyboard, and an electronic drum beat on top of it. It started off rather slow, and quiet, but soon began to swell. When the song reached it’s climax, it suddenly stopped.

“Pon-3! Pon-3! Pon-3!”

“Time to drop the beat!” Came Vinyl’s voice over a loudspeaker. Then there was a sound, like somepony scratching a record, a flash of magenta light, and-

BOOM!

The music picked back up again, but much louder, faster, and with a lot more electronic sounds. Now I don’t know a whole lot about club music, but I could definitely hear a huge difference between what Vinyl was doing, and what had been playing earlier. I couldn’t quite explain it, but there was something more upbeat, something more beautiful, and fun than any of the other songs that I had heard since I entered the Apple Core Lounge, yet there was nice hard edge to it that struck at something in my heart. It was pure Vinyl Scratch.

I looked past the crowd of excitedly dancing and cheering ponies, to the raised stage, where Vinyl was stationed behind a large setup of turntables and mixing boards, and various other pieces of equipment that I couldn’t even begin to guess the names of. She looked so natural up there, so happy, swaying to the music, as she added effects, made minor adjustments to the melody, and pumped her fist in the air. To me, it seemed impossible for one pony to make such amazing music on her own, but she did, and she did it with such ease. Even Strat, who clearly wasn’t into this style of music, looked impressed with what his sister was creating.

Once we snapped out of our trance, and things began to return to normal, Stratocaster and I made our way back to the table, and sat down. Before we even had time to settle down, Octavia snatched the water out of her coltfriend’s hand, took a huge swig of it, then set it on the table.

“Come on,” she said, taking Strat’s hand, and leading him back towards the dance floor.

Stratocaster rolled his eyes, but chuckled, as he put his glass down, and got back up.

“Here we go again,” he said, as they left to join the mass of ponies.

I went to wave them off, but Octavia doubled back, and grabbed my hand.

“You’re coming too, Zander,” she said, tugging me along. “Vinyl will be upset if her coltfriend isn’t out dancing to her music.”

She was right; what kind of coltfriend would I be if I didn’t get up and support my marefriend?

“But I don’t really have anypony to dance with.”

“Just dance with us.”

“Really? But-”

“Dude, it’s alright,” Strat added. “Despite what Vinyl might have taught you, you don’t have to dance like you’re about to start rutting on the dance floor.”

As if to demonstrate, Octavia and Stratocaster went over, and joined group of mares and stallions who were just sort of bouncing along to the music, and pumping their fists in the air. It seemed harmless enough; certainly far less explicit than how Vinyl and I had been dancing earlier. That looks simple enough, I thought, as I went over to them, and began mimicking what they were doing as best as I could.

It was very awkward; no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find the right moves to fit in with the others. Luckily everypony was either too drunk to notice, or they just didn’t care, because nopony looked at me, or pointed and laughed.

As Vinyl seamlessly went from one song into the next, a buxom, blonde, pegasus mare in a red dress that barely covered her thighs, walked up, and without saying a word began to try and dance with me. Feeling slightly uncomfortable by the situation, I apologized to her, and gave her some bullshit excuse before turning back to Octavia and Stratocaster. Throughout most of Vinyl's set, I continued to find myself in similar scenarios; a mare or two would make their way over, and begin dancing with me. Whenever they did, I would politely excuse myself, and return to my little group; I just didn't feel comfortable dancing with other ponies, especially when my marefriend was right there, probably watching. Eventually the abundance of attention I was receiving had become so overwhelming, that I had to leave the dance floor altogether. Maybe it was out of courtesy to me, or maybe they had just had enough of dancing; whatever the reason, I was soon joined at the table by Octavia and Strat, the former sliding her chair next to her coltfriend's so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

We spent the next half hour just sitting there, and talking. Stratocaster recalled the first time he ever saw Octavia; a sweet story about seeing her at a high school music competition, and for him it was love at first sight. He also told me how by some miracle, a couple of years later Vinyl had become Octavia’s college roommate, and how when Stratocaster and Vinyl were at their cousin’s wedding, who should happen to be there playing cello in a string quartet but Octavia. The two were then formally introduced, and they’d been together ever since. It was a pretty adorable story, made all the more sweet by how the two looked at each other and held hands as they told it.

“So how did you meet Vinyl,” Strat had asked, when they had finished telling their tale.

Not wanting to be rude, I told them about that night, about how Vinyl had come into my uncle’s bar just as I was closing up, hoping to drink away her troubles after she caught her former coltfriend cheating on her. I told them about how she and I bonded over our personal troubles (without telling them anything specific about my past), and how we were both somehow able to find some sort of solace in each other. The only parts I felt were best left out were how I stripped Vinyl out of her wet clothes, how she had come on to me, and pretty much anything about the next morning before she left. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Octavia had been filled in on some of the more sensitive details, but I was sure Stratocaster definitely wouldn’t want to hear any of it.

When Vinyl was finally finished with her set, she thanked the ponies for being “fucking amazing,” then flipped the switch, turning the prerecorded music back on, before packing up, and leaving the stage. On her way over to where we were sitting, she stopped by the bar for a few seconds, then made her way over to our table, carrying a tray with four shot glasses.

“Honestly, Vinyl,” Stratocaster groaned, as his sister sat down, and started passing out drinks, “don’t you think we’ve had enough to drink?”

Vinyl ignored her brother.

“Here's to another successful show,” she said, raising her glass, and then downing it.

Strat and I looked at each other, shrugged, then did our shots as well.

As if she had forgotten her protests from earlier about not wanting any more alcohol, Octavia reached for her glass, and brought it to her lips.

“Whoa, hey,” Strat said, snatching the little glass out of Octavia’s hands. “You might want to play it safe with the alcohol, Tavi, remember? What if the poison joke reacts again?”

He was right; since I had no idea how long poison joke remained in the system after alcohol consumption, and physical activity, I had to agree that it would be best if Octavia refrained from drinking alcohol for the rest of the night.Thankfully, Vinyl saw things the same way, and decided not to push it. Instead, she turned her attention to me.

“I thought you said you didn’t dance, zebra boy,” she said rather teasingly.

I felt myself blush, feeling rather embarrassed.

“Y-yeah, well, your music was really good, and I just couldn’t help myself.”

Vinyl gave me a wide smile, looking rather pleased. Then that happy look quickly turned sly.

“I also saw that you were very popular out there. Did you get to dance with a good piece of tail?”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t think it would be appropriate to dance with another mare.”

“Dancing’s fine, I just don’t want you to take one of them out back so she can suck your cock.”

“Oh come on, Vinyl, that happened one time,” came a voice from behind me.

I turned around and saw that a large pegasus stallion, with a dark gray coat, an even darker mane, a row of silver piercings in one ear, and his left arm in a cast was standing behind me.

“Nightshade,” Vinyl muttered. As she stared at the stallion, a wave of emotions, ranging from sadness, to hatred, seemed to wash over the mare’s face. “What part of ‘stay the fuck away from me do you not understand. Or did you come here because you want me to break your other arm?”

The stallion just chuckled, and gave a confident smile.

“I was just poppin’ in for a drink, maybe see about pickin’ up a hot mare. I heard you performin’ up there; you sounded great.”

“Well thanks, that means a lot.” She gave the stallion a very sarcastic smile, and the middle finger. “Now why don’t you run along, before I find a way to make you literally go fuck yourself.”

Nightshade’s smile faded a little, but that didn’t stop him from leaning in, and placing his hands tenderly on my marefriend’s shoulders. Must. Contain. Desire. To punch this guy, I thought, gripping the sides of my chair to prevent myself from attacking the stallion who was getting a little too friendly with Vinyl.

“Come on, Vinyl why don’t we get outta here, and go back to my place for a little fun?”

Vinyl shuddered with disgust at the sound of Nightshade’s voice so close to her ear.

“Ok, first of all, I am here with my coltfriend,” she pointed at me, and all I could do was glare at the stallion standing behind her in response, “and second, I broke up with you because I found out that you’re nothing but an asshole scumbag, and I want nothing to do with you. So Fuck OFF!”

I’m not really sure who moved first, but the minute we saw the rage in Nightshade’s eyes, and the way his grip on Vinyl’s shoulders tightened, Stratocaster and I jumped out of our seats, and rushed the stallion, pushing him away from Vinyl.

“She said get lost, asshole,” Stratocaster said, getting in between Nightshade and his sister.

Nightshade just chuckled, acting like he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Relax, Strat, I’m just tryin’ to have a nice friendly conversation with your sis.”

“Didn’t look too friendly to me,” I added, standing next to Strat.

The stallion’s mouth formed a rather creepy grin.

“So you’re the new meat, huh?” Nightshade asked. “Hope she’s not ridin’ you too rough. Vinyl can be quite the dirty filly, but in the best way imaginable. Why, I remember this one time we got hammered after a show, and Vinyl was so fucking horny, so we ducked into the back alley, and fucked like we were trying to repopulate Equest-”

Wham!

I couldn’t listen to him talk about Vinyl anymore. I raised my fist, and charged at Nightshade, landing a blow on his left shoulder, knocking him back a couple of feet.

“Zander, stop, you don’t have to do that,” Vinyl cried from somewhere behind me, but I wasn’t listening; nopony was going to get away with talking about my marefriend like that.

I went in for a second strike, but Nightshade anticipated my move, jumping out of the way, and bringing his elbow down on my back, right on one of my scars. I gritted my teeth, trying to hold back the cry of pain that just wanted to escape my throat.

“Oh my Luna! Zander, are you alright?” Vinyl called.

I wasn’t. In fact, I was in excruciating pain, but I didn’t want anypony to know that, especially not Octavia and Stratocaster who knew nothing of my injuries. So I nodded that I was alright, and straightened back up to face Nightshade. When I turned around to confront that asshole again, I was relieved to find that the burly bouncer had come in from outside, and now had Nightshade in some kind of lock, and was dragging him outside.

“I told you, you wouldn’t be let back in here if you were gonna be starting something,” He said, as he pushed him through the front door. "And I don't want to see you in here, harassing our patrons ever again."

When it was finally all over, Black Velvet came over to check on us.

"Everything alright here?" He asked.

Vinyl nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks for getting that bastard out of here."

"I'm just sorry I let his sorry ass in here in the first place. He said he was just gonna have a few drinks, promised he'd behave himself. I swear I had no idea that he was gonna blow up like that."

"It's alright, I'm just lucky to have had two brave stallions her to look out for me." She wrapped her arms around me and Strat, and squeezed affectionately, the sudden application of pressure on me back making me wince. Vinyl must have noticed, because she called after the bouncer as he was returning to his post.

"Hey Velvet," she said, feigning a yawn, "could you call us a cab. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm about ready to hit the hay."

Stratocaster checked his watch.

"Sweet Luna, it's already one in the morning" Stratocaster groaned, "I gotta get up early and help the band pack up our stuff before we go back to Canterlot tomorrow."

"Sure thing, kids," Black Velvet said, taking a cellphone from his pocket, "I'll have a cab here for you in fifteen minutes."

True to his word, fifteen minutes later, a big, yellow taxi pulled up outside of the Apple Core Lounge, and the four of us clambered in. By this time, the stinging in my back had thankfully subsided. Still, that didn't stop Vinyl from shooting concerned looks my way every five minutes, as the cab hurdled down the still fairly busy streets of Manehatten.

When we finally reached the subway station entrance that we had first emerged from, I got out, and tossed some bits to the driver. To my surprise, Vinyl Scratch climbed out of the cab right after me.

“I’m gonna make sure zebra boy makes it home alright,” she told Octavia and Stratocaster, “he’s new to this part of the city, and he might get on the wrong train or something.”

I blushed at Vinyl’s joke. What’s sad is it’s probably true, I thought.

“Hey, Vinyl,” Strat called, just as Vinyl was closing the door, “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for accusing you earlier for what happened to Octavia.”

Vinyl looked elated.

“Awww, that’s alright, bro; I know I was an obvious suspect, what with all the grief I've given you over the years.”

The two siblings exchanged smiles, and a brief wave.

“Have a goodnight you two,” Octavia said, waving at us.

“Yeah, you too. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Vinyl was about to close the door to the taxi, but leaned back in again. “And when I say that, I mean that I want you to do everything I would do. I mean it Tavi; when I get back to the dorm, I want to find our room looking like a bomb went off, and reeking of sweat and shame.”

“Get out of here Vinyl,” Strat said, pushing his giggling sister out of the cab, and closing the door.

We watched as the cab drove off down the street, then around the corner, and out of sight. Then Vinyl took me by the hand, and smiled her rare, sweet smile, as she led me down the stairs towards the subway, and back home.