I could hear the heavy beats coming from the club. The muffled thumps of the kick was all that I cared about. I wanted to go out and get a little buzzed.
"Ok, smashed." I whispered to myself, snickering a little. It was five days into my week in Las Pegasus, and I hadn't even experienced the night life once. It was mid July so the place was packed, ponies darting everywhere, their colors all molded into one giant mass. They looked so organic, the mass rippled with the rise and fall of their hooves. It was almost hypnotic to watch. I was pulled out of my trance when the line to the club started to move again.
"One pony closer." A stallion sneered behind me.
I lost myself in the beats again. They were so rythmic that I couldn't help but bob my head along. Then something else caught my attention.
"Is that," I paused to think for a moment "jazz?"
My curiosity got the better of me and I broke out of the line. The music seemed so familiar, the fast paced beats pulled me closer. I turned a corner and before I could comprehend what was happening, I was standing just outside of the place I didn't want to be. The bright flashing lights, the smell of cigarettes, the excited yells of ponies inside. I backed up to read the sign.
"Oh no."
I was staring at entrance to a casino. Memories started flooding back, the highs of winning hands and the all too familiar lows of losing it all after I got too confident. I could feel my ears press flat against my neck. My stomach lurched and felt terrified. I could feel the urge to enter the building course through me. I wanted to leave, but I couldn't move. I was petrified as I relived every bet I made, every roll of the dice, it was all coming back.
“Screw it, one hand can't be that bad. Can it?”
I pushed the doors to the casino open and I stumbled in. The familiar smell of cigarette smoke wafted over me, is smelt like someone was burning a massive amount of wood lined with rubber. It was overpowering and I soon found myself unable to think of anything else. Suddenly, all of the fear that I had felt before washed away leaving me numb, almost like the everything before was just a dream.I felt comfortable, the rhythmic clinking of the slot machines melded together with the laughter of the ponies who had just a bit too much to drink and they cries of the ones who just realized they lost it all.
