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                   Faults and Blessings                    
                       -by Kiratsu-                        
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                      Old connections                      
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Old connections
A cyan Pegasus paced through the nighttime sky as she finished ridding it of any wandering clouds. Her wings stretching out to either side of her as she flew around without a particular destination in mind. Her rainbow striped mane whipped back wildly as she soared higher into the dark night, completely enveloped in her thoughts. The edge of Ponyville could just be made out on the horizon from where she was.
All my work her is finally done, but I’m still riled up enough to do some training. She thought to herself as she worked her way higher above the few remaining clouds. A slight breeze blew under her downy wings as she peaked out at a reasonable height before she tilted forward and began a nose dive straight towards the ground. She’s done this many times before but the feeling is as if it were her first. Her stomach felt as though it could pop right out of her as she quickly descended. Downy wings pressed up against her sides as she let herself catch full speed towards the earth below.
Moments before an impact could happen she pushed her wings back out catching herself and just grazing the tall grass with the bottoms of her hooves. She glided like this for many minutes as she reached even further past the outskirts of Ponyville. A row of trees came across Rainbow’s path and she took advantage of her low flying skills as she weaved in and out of them, just missing branches in some instances. Once the trees cleared she tilted the back of her wings downwards and ascended up towards the twinkling stars once again.
Her coat glistened as it caught the radiance of the moonlight. Blue fur rustling and swaying to the melody of the whistling gales whizzing past the Pegasus. Magenta eyes roamed over the hillsides of southern Ponyville, scanning over the wondrous scenery that lay below. Eyelids soon covered the magenta globes as a deep breath was taken, savoring the sweet aroma of the Equestrian nights. Only a few seconds passed before she let out an exaggerated exhale as her eyes opened once more.
Nothing beats being free up here. She thought to herself. This is what I live for. The breeze under my wings, the rush of training, the seemingly never-ending sky to look ahead to. A contented sigh was let out as she became lost in her thoughts once again.
Deciding she had traveled out plenty far as it was she tilted her body and began her trek back to the small town of Ponyville. The grassy slopes below her rolled up and down as she soared over them at her cruising speed. She didn’t slow down and appreciate nature often, at least not as often as Fluttershy would enjoy, but when she did she realized there is a certain peace to it. The mostly silent aura only filled with small critters that would be more likely found at her friend’s cottage than outdoors seemed to give a tranquil vibe to the night.
Wing flaps were barely audible as the mare glided upwards and levelled out at a height that would easily clear the upcoming buildings. Her feathers reached out, caressing the wind as the edge of the town grew closer. Once the small homes were below her she took her time to look down at the few bustling ponies that bustled through the night. Some just beginning their shifts at their nighttime jobs as the one’s they relieved began their trot home back to their families. Few lamps lit the streets of Ponyville as ponies went about their ways.
As she turned her head back in front of her she caught a glimpse of a bright light out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she veered into the direction of the minor disturbance. As she neared the light she noticed that it was, in fact, a neon sign that hung above a double doorway into a darkly painted building. The closer she got the better she was able to read the bright sign.
“The Scratch Shack?” Read the bright, neon blue letters. She pondered the name of the place as she soon landed in front of the large doorway. Scratch… Scratch… Where do I know that name from? Her mind worked over the thoughts in her head before coming to a conclusion and Rainbow’s eyes opening wide. No way, she didn’t! Before she could really process any other thoughts she bolted forward through the doors and rammed head first into a large stallion just on the other side of the large wooden obstacle.
“Oh buck…” She grimaced to herself as she rubbed her forehead with an aching hoof. There was a huff from another pony and as she turned her head she noticed a large black stallion with a silver mane and same colored eyes, eyes that were glaring at her.
“Oh! Hey! Sorry ‘bout that! Hehe… I got a little excited…” Rainbow trailed off slowly moving her eyes towards the ground, rubbing the back of her, rather sore, neck in nervousness.
“Mhmm, well, I accept your apology but I do not believe Miss Scratch will be pleased to see her lobby in such a disaster.” The dark pony said in a deep voice that almost matched Big Mac’s. Upon hearing this Rainbow took the time to look around her at the chairs that were strewn across the floor in a mess that looked as though a literal tornado came bursting through the doors. Well, in a way, it sort of had happened that way. The walls were scratched thanks to chairs being flung into them. The bright blue of the walls almost matched her own coat color she noted. Looking around more she noticed a few potted plants in the corners. Well, they used to be potted anyways. She bit her lip as she knew this was going to cost her but she also knew that she could pay it off. Then something else the stallion said came to the front of her mind.
“Wait, you said Miss Scratch, this is her place right? Like, she runs it and all that jazz? I came in to uhh, see her, yeah! To see her, but I guess I got a little carried away…”  Rainbows voice fluctuated from excited to nervous as she began to get up on shaky hooves, with some assistance from her wings, of course.
The stallion raised an eyebrow at this. “You’re here to see Miss Scratch?” He asked curiously, “I don’t recall her mentioning anything about a rainbow streaked mess coming to greet her.”
“Hey now, I’m not a mess!” Rainbow said, the stallion just looked at the clutter surrounding the two of them and then back to her. “O-okay, maybe a little. And she wouldn’t have said anything because I just got here.”
“Believe me, I can tell that you just got here filly. Now, if you would be so kind as to clean this place up, then we can talk about you seeing Miss Scratch.” The dark stallion said as he turned about face and trotted back behind a counter that miraculously was unharmed in the insanity that had just presented itself moments ago. Rainbow gave out a huff in response before she went to the chair nearest her and tilted it back upright.
Why do these things always happen to me? Dash thought to herself as she moved the chair to its rightful place next to the wall. She moved on to the next and a slid it beside the first, causing a loud screeching noise as she did so. Just as Rainbow had tipped her third chair back to its proper position the back door swung open with a loud thud, causing her to jump slightly. Loud, pulsing music streamed through the catastrophe of a lobby. Rainbow peered towards the door as a white mare stood there with a double-hued blue mane and large purple glasses covering her eyes. The mare’s lips curved up into a smile as she looked towards Dash.
“Rainbow Dash! What a surprise to see you here! Although with the noises I just heard from out here I’m not quite as surprised anymore.” The white mare spoke cheerfully as she began trotting over to where Dash stood. Rainbow quickly snapped out of her daze and rushed into the white mare, hugging her tightly. Dash isn’t normally one for showing any sort of feelings, especially with other ponies around, but she hadn’t seen Vinyl in many years.
“Vinyl!” Dash exclaimed as her hooves wrapped tighter around the young mare. “It has been so long.” Realizing what she was doing Dash pulled back, putting all four hooves back down on the ground before giving an obviously fake cough. Vinyl simply laughed.
“You never change do ya Dash?” Vinyl smirked, “Guess that’s for the best.” Dash rolled her eyes and gave a friendly punch into Vinyl’s shoulder.
“When it comes to me you know the answer, everything is, and is for, the best.” Rainbow smiled widely. Vinyl reached up and took her glasses off, revealing her deep red eyes that seemed to give off a bright reflection from the lights above. Blinking a few times to let her eyes adjust to the light Vinyl then nudged Rainbow towards the back door where wubbing music was still emanating from. Vinyl paused as the stallion cleared his throat, she looked back at him.
“Miss Scratch, I do believe that that pony there should at least clean up the mess she made before divulging in the festivities?” The stallion said flatly with his deep, gruffy voice. Vinyl pondered the thought for a moment.
“Actually, Night Wolf, why don’t ya just leave it for now, the insurance ponies should be able to take care of it, I’m sure things like this are covered under the insurance.” Vinyl said as she recalled just what exactly she is paying for every month. With that Night nodded in agreement and went back to his duties as bouncer/receptionist.
“Night Wolf? That’s an awesome sounding name.” Rainbow said as she trotted alongside Vinyl into the ‘back room’. The back room was actually a large dance floor with a few seats and tables running along the outside edge. Dash noticed a stage with speakers that stood about two ponies high with a turntable in between them. The only lighting in the club were spotlights that roamed over the already gathered crowd of ponies on the dance floor, as well as some black lights for effect.
“Yeah, he’s pretty much our security here. How I got him to fill that spot I will never know, just one of my many talents I assume.” Vinyl gave a soft chuckle as she stopped and turned to Dash. “So, what do you think of my club? Pretty jammin’ huh? These walls are sound proof so the wubs can get as loud as I want ‘em.”
Dash continued to look around in amazement and started noticing that not only was the music loud, she could feel it. The ground reverberated with the beat of each wub that blasted out of the speakers onstage. Her eyes roamed over the scene and noticed what looked like a bar on the opposite side of where they were standing. Dash’s excitement grew ten-fold as she turned back to Vinyl.
“You even have a bar?!” Dash enthusiastically let out as Vinyl just smiled and nodded. Knowing what the next question was going to be, Vinyl opted out into just nudging Dash to follow her and walked on ahead. The two mares walked through the crowd instead around the edges like Dash had expected. Ponies danced and shimmied all around the duo as they bumped and squeezed past the club-goers. The music transferred into more of a trance like state and the partiers started getting closer to one another. Dash, although enjoying some of the attention, felt like some ponies were getting too close for her own comfort.
Suddenly two ponies that were grinding against each other fell back into Vinyl and Dash, causing the four of them to all topple over each other and end up entangled on the floor. Groaning slightly and pulling herself out of the heap, Dash finally got on all fours and turned to yell at the two who caused the scene.
“Hey! What the buck are you two trying to start, huh?!” Dash began ranting. Just before she could begin her tirade once more one of the two random clubbers turned to Dash with wide eyes.
“Ohhh, heeeeeyyyyy Rainbow Dasssshhhhh.” Slurred an obviously drunken mare with a light aquamarine coat and bloodshot golden eyes. Yes, most definitely drunk. Dash gave out a defeated sigh, she wasn’t going to start a fight with some drunken mare, especially one who knows her.
“I’m sorry but, who are you? I don’t think I remember meeting a drunkard like you before.” Dash sneered. The mare simply giggled at the insult.
“It’s Lyraaaa, ya know, Bon Bon’s marefriend?” The mare stood there, staring at Rainbow, making herself feel more and more self-conscious the longer the stare continued. Lyra looked expectantly at Dash waiting for her to come to realization who she was talking about. After a few moments of silence, aside from the blasting music of course, Dash noticed the other mare that was with Lyra. After getting a good look at the cream-coated mare Dash finally did recognize who it was.
“Oh! That Bon Bon, the one that helps fit dresses for Rarity and Makes sweets for some of Pinkie’s parties!” Dash exclaimed, proud of herself for making the connection, turning back to Lyra. “But then how do you know me? I haven’t seen you around before.”
“Ohhhh, that’s because I visit Twilight a lot to talk businesssssss. She talks about all her friends. Pluuuuuuus, everypony knows Rai-hic-Rainbow Dashhh, the head of the weather ponies.” Lyra slurred out then hiccupped again at the end of her articulate speech.
That makes sense, she doesn’t know me, she just knows of me. Rainbow nodded slowly and then back to Vinyl who was keeping a very dazed Bon Bon up on her hooves. Lyra followed Dash’s gaze and gasped over-enthusiastically at the sight of her marefriend hardly being able to keep steady. Soon Bon Bon was surrounded in a bright golden glow as she was raised slightly off the ground. Dash, having seen this happen multiple times thanks to Twilight’s doing, didn’t react until she noticed it was Lyra’s horn glowing and not Vinyls.
“Wait, Lyra, don’t you think that it would be a better idea if Vinyl helped her out since you’re… in this state?” Dash questioned worriedly in hopes that Lyra would come to sense. She didn’t, however. Lyra simply harrumphed and trotted off to the outskirts of the crowd with Bon Bon in tow. Before Dash could chase after them Vinyl held a hoof out in front of her and told her not to worry about it.
“Night will get them and ensure they both get home safe.” With that Vinyl turned back and tugged on Dash’s tail. Giving up, Dash quickly followed and was more on-guard in case any unexpected surprises decided to pop out once again. Fortunately they made it out to the other side of the bouncing crowd without another incident. Vinyl’s horn glowed as Rainbow was suddenly lifted up onto a seat next to her at the bar.
“Hey Falling, two cider on the rocks please.” Said Vinyl as the tan unicorn turned back and quickly made the two drinks, handing each of the two a large mug filled to the brim with cider, only a few ice cubes floating on top. This guy knows how to please his customers. Dash wasted no time and chugged her drink down in under ten seconds flat.  Vinyl levitated her own drink up and too a swig.
“I was certainly right about you never changing Rainbow.” Vinyl gave a soft laugh before turning to fully face Dash. “So, what brought you here? I thought you gave up on the whole club scene years ago?”
“Oh, I was flying back home at the speed of sound and I saw a bright light catch my eye. So I turned to check it out and saw The Scratch Shack written in neon letters. And I just figured it was connected to you, that’s all. I’m not getting back into the club scene. And by the why, shouldn’t you be DJ-ing? Not sitting her drinking with an old time friend? No offense.” Dash answered honestly.
“It’s alright, no biggie. But yeah, this is my place. But I’m not working tonight, I created this mix a while back and just let it play as I enjoy my own created scene, ya dig? It took a long time to get here but I finally got my own business like I wanted all those years back.” Vinyl gave a sigh as she smiled softly, reminiscing in the olden days as she finished off her mug of cider.
“I totally dig, this place is buckin’ awesome! And I remember your dream all that time ago. Which reminds me are you and what’s her face still together? The fake guitar pony?” Dash asked with a serious face, trying to recall the actual name of the mare and of the instrument she played.
“First off, it’s a cello. And second, yes, Tavi and I are still together. Not saying we had no rough patches but man, am I glad we pulled out of all of it.” Dash listened as how elated Vinyl sounded when she spoke of Tavi. Do I sound like that when I talk about… nah.
“Well then, I can drink to that.” With that Dash held out her hoof for another round of cider to be dealt out by Falling. The two mares drank that round and the next. They talked about what has been happening in their lives since they last spoke and what futures they have set out for themselves.
Much later into the night the two mares decided it was time to head home and catch some much needed rest. Although there was no dancing, it still seems as though the music drains the energy out of you, or it was the cider, but more than likely the music. Dash, in her drunken stupor, was unable to fly home of course and Vinyl offered her to come and sleep in the guest room at her place.
“Tavi is out on a t-hic-trip to Canterlot for a Symphony of some s-hic-sort.” Vinyl attempted to keep her speech clear and understandable, attempted being the key word here. “You can use her r-hic-room for the night”
Dash simply nodded, not feeling like trying to speak as she wobbled beside Vinyl, barely catching herself from tipping over multiple times. The two sauntered slowly to Vinyl’s estate which was, not too surprisingly, right around the corner from the Shack. Vinyl meandered on up to the door, fumbling with her keys wrapped in the blue glow of her magic aura. Eventually the front door was opened and the two trotted awkwardly through the doorway, Dash closing the door behind them. Dash didn’t pay any attention to the house as she was too exhausted to care at the moment. Vinyl led the way and eventually got to the last door on the left side of the hallway, creaking the door open.
“Here’s Tavi’s room, don’t b-hic-break anything and all should be fine.” With that Vinyl turned one-eighty and opened the door to her own room and trotted to her bed and promptly dove into the plushy softness. Dash began trotting forward and everything went black just a moment later.
A door opened with a loud creak, causing Rainbow to slowly open her eyes. Her entire body was stiff and she lacked the motivation to get up and stretch out. She noticed how warm her body was under the thick blankets on the bed she was in. An audible gasp was heard from somepony at the door. Rainbow remembered coming over to Vinyl’s place after drinking too much cider the night before. Guessing it was Tavi coming back from her trip seeing some stranger in her bed was probably a shock. Easy enough to explain though.
Rainbow lifted her head up, aching the entire time, her hoof immediately finding its way to her temple and giving it a rub. Her eyes fully opened and looked towards the doorway, standing there, indeed, was a grey earth pony carrying a large case for an instrument. Her mouth hung open in her gasp as she stared at Rainbow in shock. Jeez, didn’t think I’d be that mortifying.
Then Rainbow felt a stir next to her and she curiously looked down. Lying beside her was a sleeping Vinyl Scratch, curled up into Rainbow’s side like a clingy feline. Rainbows face grew red as she quickly looked around her. This is not Tavi’s room. Looking down, this is not Tavi’s bed. Looking up at the shocked earth pony Rainbow knew, but didn’t understand. She was in Vinyl’s room.