Flashing lights, pounding bass, and lasers that pulsed in time with the music. Confetti that fell from the ceiling. A giant video screen frenetically flashing images every second. Ponies going all out on the dance floor, or cheering wildly from their VIP tables. It was a fairly standard night by her standards, but Vinyl Scratch had the entire audience at the Diamond Club eating out of her hooves. In the middle of it all, was a stern looking dragon protecting the entrance to the stage where Equestria's premier DJ orchestrated the whole spectacle.

Spike was sure that he would have enjoyed the performance...had he not been working. But unfortunately, he had a job to do. It was his job to make sure the crowd didn't get too out of hand around the raised DJ stage, and to make sure nopony bothered Vinyl while she was in the middle of her set. Already, a few times that evening, a few drunk ponies tried to negotiate their way up on to the stage during the performance. But Spike was having none of that. One of them had even gotten angry at Spike for not letting him up on the stage. Obviously this particular stallion must have pretty inebriated to want to get in the face of a dragon. Luckily for him, one of the security ponies working alongside Spike that night dragged the drunk pony away before things got out of hand.

Spike was glad he didn't have to fight anypony. While he was imposing in size, he wasn't sure that he could use physical force if he had to. He was hoping that the nightclub clients would be deterred by his size alone, but apparently alcohol made ponies think they could take on any species in Equestria. At least the mares were somewhat easier to deal with. Numerous times that evening, random mares kept climbing on the speaker platforms to show off their dance moves to the crowd below. After convincing them to get off the speakers, Spike would help them down and then pass them off to another security pony to handle before going back to his post.

He was more than a bit surprised that the normally uptight Canterlot ponies could get so rowdy. No wonder Vinyl hired him to keep her safe. She was supposed to perform for a couple of hours, then Spike would escort her out of the club and back to the hotel they were staying at. However, their plans ended up changing. Near the end of her set, Spike was passed a note by one of the security ponies and told to deliver it to the club manager, who was on the stage with Vinyl Scratch. Spike dutifully climbed up the stairs to the DJ stage, and handed the note to the club manager. The white maned unicorn stallion with a green coat glanced at it, then nodded to Spike indicating that he could return to his post.

At last, the performance came to an end. To wild applause, Vinyl descended the stairs with the club manager in front of her. As she passed Spike at the bottom of the stairs, she tapped him with her hoof and motioned the dragon to follow her. With her personal security by her side, Vinyl Scratch followed the club manager to the door leading to the outside area of the Diamond Club. The club had two distinct areas. The inside part held the dance floor, DJ stage, and a number of VIP tables. The outside pool area was even more impressive. A large pool was in the center of a courtyard that gleamed with the reflection of thousands of diamonds...which is how the club got its name. In the middle, on floating platforms, mares hired by the club danced in time to the music. Surrounding the pool was more VIP tables. These were usually reserved for extremely important and wealthy guests, and most of the normal club patrons couldn't even get into this part of the club.

Apparently, one of these ponies with the bits to afford a piece of exclusive property, wanted to see the one and only DJ Pon-3 after her performance. The white maned unicorn led Vinyl and Spike over to one of the VIP areas next to the pool. There looked to be around a dozen ponies either standing around or sitting on the couches next to a table covered in drinks. It appeared like they were being invited to join an exclusive party.

"Here you go, Vinyl..." the club manager began. "One of our VIP's wanted to see you after the show. It was a fabulous show by the way..."

"Thanks, Greenheart..." the white unicorn acknowledged him. "If I need anything I'll let you know."

Greenheart nodded then trotted off back to the inside part of the club. Meanwhile, Vinyl Scratch scanned the group in the VIP area. About half the group appeared to be stallions, and the other half were mares. It wasn't long before she spotted who she was looking for. A unicorn stallion with a black mane and a white coat noticed her, and came over to greet her.

"Hey Black Marble!" Vinyl greeted him enthusiastically.

"Vinyl Scratch!" he greeted her back with a hug. "That was such an awesome performance! We saw the whole thing on the big screen outside...your shows are always the best!"

"Thanks for that," she smiled. "Thanks for coming out and seeing my show tonight! I appreciate the invite to let us hang out at your table as well. This is a pretty fancy setup you've got here."

"Hey...you know as well as I do, when you're in Canterlot you have to do it big or go home! Am I right?" Vinyl nodded in approval.

"So tell me..." he began. "Was the crowd in there as crazy as it looked like from out here?"

"You better believe it!" she exclaimed. "It's a good thing I have my private security with me tonight."

Vinyl pointed a hoof at Spike. Black Marble looked right at him and a sly smile came across his face.

"I recognize you. You're that dragon from Ponyville."

"Got it in one there buddy..." Spike smirked back. "You're the pony who's dating a friend of mine...so I recognize you as well."

This was the last pony that Spike wanted to see right now. Seeing Black Marble in a nightclub in Canterlot surrounded by mares made Spike want to go right back to Ponyville and report this to Rarity.

"I guess I shouldn't try anything with you like I do other mares eh, Vinyl?" Black Marble turned back to the DJ with a smirk. "You've got a pretty scary looking bodyguard. I wouldn't want him to buck me up if I got out of line..."

"Don't worry..." she waved a hoof. "Spike wouldn't do anything to my friends...right Spike?"

Spike would have loved dearly to do all sorts of painful things to the stallion in front of him. But instead he managed to grin through gritted teeth.

Black Marble laughed. "Is he allowed to drink when he's on the job?"

Vinyl shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me. Why don't you ask him?"

Before he could ask the question Spike interjected. "I'm not a kid anymore remember? If you're drinking pony alcohol then it won't affect me at all." He stared at Black Marble. "Unless, of course, you sneaked in some really strong stuff and are using it to get mares totally wasted..."

"Is this guy for real?" Black Marble asked incredulously to Vinyl.

"You tell me," Spike replied pointedly. "I'm just making sure that my client here stays safe this evening. You never know what somepony could put in a drink around here."

With that comment, the stallion and the dragon engaged in a stare down, much to the unease of the unicorn DJ witnessing it. She couldn't quite understand what was causing Spike to be hostile to her friend. For his part, Spike didn't trust the guy in front of him one bit...never mind that he was dating a close personal friend of his.

Finally, to Vinyl's relief, a grin broke over Black Marble's face. " You're alright kid. You don't back down easily, and I respect that." Spike felt relief as well, but he didn't outwardly show it

Black Marble called over the server pony that was working at their table. "I need a couple more bottles of champagne. Some shots as well. Keep adding it to my tab."

He turned back to Spike and Vinyl Scratch with a satisfied grin on his face.

"Let's kick this party up a notch..."

True to his word, Spike kept his eyes on Vinyl Scratch for the rest of the evening. The unicorn DJ was fully enjoying herself downing champagne and the shots of liquor that kept flowing. Spike had a few drinks himself, but like he had said earlier, the alcoholic content was nothing he couldn't handle. This couldn't be said for the mares that had gravitated to the party at their table. Spike counted at least another half dozen female ponies in the VIP by the time a yet another bottle of champagne came around. They were also pretty drunk and the stallions at the table were more than willing to keep them that way. After a while, the whole scene started to become really sleazy.

Black Marble himself had at least two mares sitting next to him on the couch the whole time. Spike kept alternating watching Vinyl Scratch and the dark maned stallion constantly. Even though he was being watched, Black Marble didn't seem to care. He would be flirting back and forth with the two mares sitting beside him, and they would laugh drunkenly at whatever he said. Or they would whisper in his ear suggestively. A few times he and Spike locked gazes. Black Marble would just smirk at the dragon watching him, almost like he didn't give a damn that Spike was there, then bring his attention back to his ladies. Spike was beginning to see why Fluttershy felt uneasy around him. What he couldn't understand, was how Rarity thought this guy was so great. In Spike's mind, he was worse than all the other stallions she'd fallen in love with.

Spike wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed, but finally Vinyl Scratch broke away from the party and came over to Spike. It was apparent that she had her fill of drinking as she began to nuzzle her dragon bodyguard. This, of course, caught him completely off guard.

"I think I'm ready to go home..." she slurred drunkenly into his chest. Spike wasn't sure what else he could do, so he gently put his arm around her and began to lead her away from the VIP area.

"Leaving already?" Black Marble shouted after her.

"Yeah...I'm totally bucked up right now!" she yelled back at Black Marble. "Thanks for having me! I'm staying across the street from your hotel at the Canterlot Crown...come see me if you want to party some more!"

Vinyl Scratch turned to leave and nearly fell over. Spike had to hold on to her even tighter to keep her upright. Black Marble and his entourage just laughed at the drunk DJ's antics. Spike did everything he could to keep his emotions in check and not go back over and start punching ponies in their faces. All he wanted to do was get Vinyl back to the hotel safely.

Once they were outside the club and on the street, Vinyl perked up a bit. She was still loaded, but was now determined to make her way back to the hotel on her own four hooves. Spike walked beside her just to make sure she wouldn't fall over on the sidewalk. The walk back to their hotel was only supposed to take fifteen minutes but it ended up taking much longer. Spike and Vinyl ran into some ponies who recognized her, and wanted to take pictures with the famous DJ. Since they weren't paparazzi, Spike let the ponies spend some time with Vinyl before gently pulling her away.

They finally made it back to the Canterlot Crown Hotel a half hour later. Vinyl insisted that she was fine to make it up to her room by herself. They were staying on the same floor, but in different rooms. Her explanation was that she needed her space to get into her "DJ groove." Spike tried arguing that he should keep an eye on her tonight, but that was immediately dismissed. Vinyl told him to relax, and that she was beginning to sober up. At that point, Spike gave up on trying to change her mind, so he bade her farewell in the hotel lobby. The blue maned unicorn made her way over to the elevator, entered it, then waved goodnight to Spike as the doors closed.

Although he was tired, Spike didn't feel like going up to his room yet. He also had a hunch that he needed confirming before he retired for the evening. Spike went outside and stood on the street in front of the hotel for a while. It was so late at night that there weren't many ponies out and about anymore. Across the street was the Canterlot Grand Hotel. According to Vinyl Scratch, this is where Black Marble was staying. Spike found it suspicious that he was staying in a hotel in his hometown. Why wasn't he staying at his own place if he lived there?

Spike wasn't on the street for very long when a group of ponies came trotting up the sidewalk on the other side towards the Grand Hotel. Seeing them coming, Spike turned and ducked around the side of the building so he still had a good vantage point but wouldn't be seen. As he had hoped, the group of ponies was Black Marble and his friends coming back to their hotel from the club. There were seven of them by his count. Black Marble had two stallions with him, a Pegasus and a very large earth pony. They also had four mares in tow, two unicorns and two earth ponies. The group entered the Grand Hotel lobby, and luckily for Spike he could see through the glass doors at the front.

The group stopped to talk for a few moments, allowing Spike to step out from his hiding place until he was right across from the front doors of the hotel. The Pegasus and earth pony stallions then led the two earth pony mares and one unicorn into what looked like the hotel lobby bar, leaving Black Marble and a unicorn mare with a yellow coat and a blue mane alone as they walked over to the elevator. The mare was leaning on Black Marble as they waited for the elevator to come. When the doors opened the mare let Black Marble in first, then entered the elevator behind him. When he turned around to face the doors, the mare hopped up on two hooves and put her forelegs around his neck. Just as the doors closed, Spike swore that he saw the two unicorns kissing each other.

Even though his mind was exhausted, Spike couldn't rationalize away what he had just seen. He wished he had a camera so he could have taken a picture for proof. Black Marble was, in his mind anyway, the sleaziest pony in all of Equestria. After this evening, he had ample reasons to go back to Ponyville and confront Rarity with the information that her coltfriend was a player, not to mention a complete flankhole. His mind was racing a mile a minute with trying to process everything he had seen tonight to the point where he was getting a headache. After a while, he came to the conclusion that standing on the street getting angrier by the minute wasn't helping him or anypony else. He resigned himself to the fact that he needed to go to sleep and hopefully in the morning he'd have a better idea of what he needed to do.

The train ride back to Ponyville was a quiet one. Spike spent most of it in silent contemplation. Vinyl Scratch spent most of it sleeping off her hangover. Spike had to drag her to the train station that morning to catch the train back home. The DJ was in pretty rough shape after the night before. Spike wasn't feeling much better himself, but it wasn't from excessive drinking.

He couldn't figure out how he was going to break the news to Rarity about what he witnessed her coltfriend doing the night before. Even without the drunk mare on the elevator, Black Marble had come across as the biggest jerk in Equestria. There was no way Spike could keep this to himself. But, he didn't know how she would react to his story either. Would she hear him out, or would she refuse to believe him? It was entirely possible, given his past feelings about her, that she would think that he was inventing a story out of jealousy to get her to end the relationship.

Of course, that wasn't Spike's intention at all. At least that's what he kept telling himself. He was a dragon after all, and dragon's were known for their greed. Was he doing this for Rarity's benefit...or were his baser urges driving his thoughts and potential actions? As he contemplated, he noticed the scenery outside was becoming more familiar to him. They were getting closer to Ponyville.

Across from him in their private car, Vinyl Scratch began to stir. The unicorn raised her signature sunglasses from her face, revealing bloodshot magenta eyes.

"Are we almost home yet?" She asked in a crackly voice.

"Yeah, I think so," came the reply. "How did you sleep?"

"Alright I guess...I still feel kind of rough though," Vinyl stretched her forelegs. Since she was awake, Spike decided to ask a question he'd been meaning to ask since the night before.

"How do you know Black Marble, Vinyl?"

The unicorn DJ blinked at him a couple of times before answering. "I went to high school with him. We even dated for a bit. It wasn't a long term thing though..."

"Really?" Spike replied. "Why'd you break up with him?"

"Honestly? He was kind of a douche. But I was young and stupid as well, so I guess it evened out. I haven't really been friends with him for a while though. I was actually pretty surprised to see him last night."

"You seemed really friendly with him last night," the dragon pointed out.

"I was also really hammered last night, Spike."

"Yeah..." Spike replied sullenly. These weren't the answers he wanted to hear, but they were becoming familiar ones.

"Why are you concerned with my ex-coltfriend?"

Spike sighed. "Apparently your ex is now dating a close personal friend of mine," he responded.

"A close personal friend..." Vinyl pondered out loud. Suddenly her eyes went wide. "Shut up! He's dating Rarity?"

Spike nodded. He was also surprised that Vinyl guessed it was Rarity. Unless his previous crush was so obvious that everypony in town knew about it.

"What's somepony like Rarity doing with a guy like him?" Vinyl exclaimed. "He's a total bucking player! You saw him last night with all those mares!"

"That's a question I'd like answered myself..." Spike admitted. Though, now that Vinyl had brought up the previous night, he was beginning to get angry again..

"Well...shit. Why don't you just go and ask her then..."

Spike stared Vinyl, shocked by her blunt honesty. "Are you serious?"

"Damn straight I am!" the DJ stated. "I know if it was one of my friends I'd ask them right to their face what in Tartarus they were doing with a total jerkoff! That's what friends do..."

Spike sat in silence and contemplated her words. It was becoming apparent that he needed to see a certain unicorn when he got home.

"Maybe you have a point there Vinyl..." Spike finally spoke after a long period of time.

Just then he could feel a jerk in the train's motion as it began to slow down. Spike looked out the window and saw familiar buildings. They were approaching Ponyville.

Author's Note

Almost 700 views and almost 60 likes...thank you, you guys are awesome! Thank you as well for being patient while I worked on getting this chapter out.

Next chapter...Spike finally confronts Rarity.