Chapters Las Pegasus, a city devoted to sex, sin, drugs, gambling and crime. It's one thing to vacation here like everyone seems to do. But in order to live here you have to be one tough motherfucker, and if you're not then you'd better get used to being one dead motherfucker. Now there is a lot of organized crime in Las pegasus (and plenty of unorganized too.), but one syndicate is on the top. An anonymous crime family that has a lot of influence over people and businesses here in Pegasus. Their leader is known as Masc, and they are the Masquerade brotherhood. They use these stupid fucking nicknames and always wear masks and a suit with pins for however many people you've killed and a bunch of crap like that. But in the past few weeks a mare by the name of Lavender Breeze has been snooping, and stumbling on information and secrets not meant for her prying eyes...
Chapter 1: Addiction
My "name" is Viber, it's been a long time since anypony has called me by my real name. I was a regular resident of Las Pegasus, getting high, working, and living in a 5 apartment housing unit. Not in that particular order, though. Getting drunk, gambling, and losing a good portion of my paycheck, coincidentally in that order. But I picked up a dirty habit. Focalin, Dexmethyliphenidate.
Before I started railing Focalin my drug use wasn't a major concern. I'd smoke herb a few times a week, drink some syrup once or twice a month, do mushrooms or acid on the weekends, maybe some K every once in a while at a party or if I happened to have it. Of course there was smoking and drinking too but I'd always drank and smoked since my mother died when I was just a colt. But once I started railing Focalin that was the point of no return, really. I was smoking at my buddies showing him the electronic I compose with synthesizers and software. I mentioned having some creative block and he recommend I try Focalin popping 1 or 2 every time I got blocked up. So that's what I started doing, it was cheap then only costing me about 6-8 bits a week.
One day I was having a Snythesizer jam session with another friend, a really strung out pegasus who was more of a nodder than a tweakhead, the kind of guy you don't let use your washroom. He watched me wash down two Focalin XR.
"Nah, Nah bro, you're doing it wrong. You gotta break open the capsule and snort 'em." He said seeming really spaced out. But still managing to spit out his sentence in short raspy bursts.
"And what would that accomplish?" I retorted with a smirk.
He gave me this look that was halfway between Disbelief and annoyance, and then gave me the most vague explanation I've ever heard to describe the effects of a substance.
"You get high."
"Nah, I'm good."
"Whatever dude, your loss."
"Yah, my loss " I retorted sarcastically.
About and hour after he left, I got pretty curios so I broke open a 40mg tablet and railed it. 10 minutes later it hit me while I was making a song on the computer.
I'd never taken a stimulant to get high before, so the feeling was extremely new to me and I had no idea what to expect. The effects kicked and my respiratory system sped up, I began to cough and struggle for air due to the speed at which my lungs were expanding and contracting.
"Holy Shit!" I managed to gasp between breathes and coughing.
I stopped coughing after about 10 minutes. I felt awesome, I could feel my heart pumping very fast and my blood flying down my veins each time my heart beat. I was slightly unfocused and slightly twitchy, but I felt on top of the world. I was awake and alert as all hell despite it being 3am. I think I pumped out 5 songs in 3 hours, when usually average 1 song every 8-12 hours in multiple sittings. I had 6 pills of varying dosages left and that kept me going until about 8pm that night. I started to crash at 9 and passed out at 10.
When I woke up the next day it was 3pm, and I felt just terrible. I was tired as all fuck, my entire body was heavy and my neck was especially sore, I was completely uninterested in anything including waking up and just feeling overall bad. I saw some Focalin on my end table, probably as a result from shaking hands when setting up my lines, I quickly fixed it into a line and railed it. It didn't help much because it was so small, but it did help me drag my ass out of bed.
I remembered reading somewhere that caffeine and nicotine are both stimulants, so I fix myself up an extra strong brew and had a smoke, I was almost back to normal after my Cuppa Joe and cigarelo, so I decided to get dressed and have a small something to eat even though i'm not hungry at all. I went to the washrooms brushed my hair teeth and combed my mane, once I looked half decent I phoned my dealer.
"Hey Gold Rush, got any more Focalin or has somepony bought it up?"
"Nah Viber, I got like a literal metric fucktonne."
"Great! Are you free?"
"Yah kiddo. Why you need?"
"Yah I need, I'll be down in 30."
"Cool, wanna buy some herb too?"
"err... Not rea-- Fuck, why not. Get me a Q[uarter ounce]."
"Word, see you in 30."
"Word, Bye."
I hung up the phone and shoved it in my left pocket, picked up my wallet and shoved it in my right pocket and headed out the door.
I pulled into my dealer's Driveway, and got out of my car. I waked in without knocking like always, Gold was sitting on the couch smoking a fat, tightly packed joint; I sat down beside him.
"Cindy99" He gestured to the joint. "Want a haul?" He asks.
"Yeah, word man." I'd heard of Cinderella99 before, it's supposed be some seriously good shit.
After 3 drags I felt pretty high. I then bought the Q of Cindy and a bunch of 10, 20 and 40 mg Focalin tablets, the circle tablets, not the extended release capsules. The XR capsules are better for eating. I say goodbye and I rail 30mg of Focalin before I go. Gold offers me kills on the joint, and I get 6 more puffs of it before it burns itself out, at this point I'd pretty much smoked myself retarded plus the Focalin I railed. The Weed is the best I've had, 9 puffs of really good kush barely does anything to me, so this Q should last a long time, and hopefully this Focalin will too.
It was a week after I bought the herb and focalin, everything since leaving gold's pad is a blur. I remember going to a casino, winning some, losing more. Smoking and railing with a friend. Driving around town stoned and stimmed listening to vibrasphere.
It was 4 hours after putting up the sign, and I was jonesing pretty bad. I weighed out a half gram of that cindy (I had 2 grams left still.) and rolled a joint. My tolerance had gone up so it'd take at least half of that joint to get me stoned. I was puffing away and was halfway down to filter, just crossing that border between buzzed and stoned when I heard a knock on the door.
"just a minute!!" I yelled out.
I put the half smoked joint into the ashtray on my desk and went into the washroom to put in some visine, then I combed my hair. I raced back into the main room and swung open the door expecting to see one of my neighboors. Instead I saw the most beautiful mare I'd ever laid eyes upon. her coat a pale purple, a straight black and pink mane and tail, deep green eyes and a perfectly set face.
"U..hm... H..i?" I managed to say barely above a whisper.
She smirked and failed to suppress a giggle at how awestruck I was by her.
"Hehe, hi. I'm Lavender Breeze!"
"uhh...err..r...ehem... e..hh..."
I suddenly felt stupidly high.
"You're here about the uhh, the... Room for rent!? Right?"
"Sure am!" she blurted enthusiastically
"Oh, well come on in.."
I gestured for her to sit on the couch, I sat back down at my computer desk. I picked up my joint and took 3 long, hard puffs. Suddenly my anxiety about talking to this absolutely stunning mare disappeared.
"Ever smoked weed!?" I blurted out.
"No, not since highschool." She said, playing with her mane.
"wanna puff?" I asked.
"Sure, why not" she sounded unsure, and laughed nervously.
I watched as she took a big long puff, she held it in for as long as possible. After about 10 seconds she exhaled, coughing like crazy. After about 5 seconds she stopped coughing, then burst out laughing like some kind of idiot. I got her to calm down.
"How often did you say you smoked weed in high school?"
"Dude, like 3." she said spaced out and kind of giggling.
" A week, a month? Or what?"
"Like a lifetime" she said and then burst into full out laughter again.
I remembered that I was renting her a room.
"The rent will be 260, by the way."
"That's fine!" she blurted.
"I'll be back in an hour or two make yourself at home."
I hand her the rest of my joint, pull out a cherry cigarelo lit it and was out of there.
Chapter 4: Escaping Ambush
I had been living with Lavender for 3 weeks, Everything was fine. But On the last day of week 3 the Masquerade brotherhood found us. I was chilling, smoking a blunt at my computer when I heard the knock on the door.
Knock, knock.
"WHO IS IT!?!" I screamed.
Knock, knock.
"Just a minute!"
I was running towards the bathroom, to get my shit together for whoever it was that was at my door today, when the door burst of it's hinges and three unmistakable masked figures jumped into the room. Masqs (Members of the Masquerade Brotherhood.) had broke into my apartment, and obviously wanted something from me. They weren't about to get it.
I lept up, stuck my leg out and spun around, my hoof collided violently with the masq in fronts jaw knocking it clean out of place. I grabbed the .357 revolver from the masq's hand and aimed it at his head. BANG, bits of brain and blood were now all over my face, my mane coated in pony parts. I suddenly remembered the other two in the room. I whipped around as the bullet soared past my head, I leaped forward and bashed number 2 into the wall with my fore hooves. I blasted his face off with his own combat shotgun using my magic. Suddenly the third, probably an initiate rushed at my with brass hooves. I grabbed his hoof mid-rush twisted it and slammed him to the ground. I heard a wicked snap as his left fore hoof bent opposite to it's regular direction.
"Get out of here, Kid. While you still can." I scowled, and then spit on the ground at his hind legs. His mask cracked in half as he went to get up.
"I'm sorry, I jus-"
"GET OUT KID!"
The kid limped off in a hurry. Lavender stepped out of her room, and her jaw dropped. I suddenly realized the once green room was completely red with pony blood. Then another realization dawned on me.
"They were here for you, weren't they?"
"Mhmm.." Lavender manages to squeal lips quivering.
"It's okay, we're both wanted by them now, we can't stay here."
I leaned in and kissed her gently and held her for what seemed like hours. It was only 10 minutes.
"Where will we go?" Lavender whimpered, barely audible
"I know a place..."