Trembling fingers fidgeted nervously on the sparkwheel of the young girls lighter as she flicked her thumb against it again and again, failing to create the small flame needed to light the cigarette perched delicately on the edge of her red lips. A few more failed attempts later resulted in her pocketing the small red device in her jacket pocket, alongside what little money she had left from the night's excursions. She brought her hand closer to her face, examining the blurred mess of stamps from the various bars and clubs she’d been to the past few nights, smiling at the evidence of a weekend well spent stamped across her pale skin. She looked up with glazed over eyes as the two men she’d been dancing with from before made their way through the densely packed smoking garden to where she was, feeling herself groan as she hadn’t quite managed to lose them in the euphoric chaos of the dancefloor. Forcing her grimace into a smile as they arrived, she flicked her rain slicked hair away from her face, making a motion with her hand for a lighter. The taller one’s blue clipper sparked to life as he held it in front of her, the cigarette meeting fire in her mouth as she took in a deep breath, feeling herself relaxing as the smoke burrowed deep into her lungs. The man lit his own cigarette, before extinguishing the flame and securing it safely in his jacket in one smooth, practiced motion.
The girl’s lips trembled slightly as she exhaled, the noxious smoke leaving her lungs and filling the air surrounding the trio with a hazy smog, the scent embedding itself in her clothes and skin, lingering long after the slow burning embers had reached the cigarette butt. The two men were talking to one another in an excited tone, but about what the girl couldn't begin to tell. She leant her head back against the mesh wall and glanced up at the night sky. The rain hadn’t stopped falling since that evening, drenching the unfamiliar cities night life in the cold autumn rain, the girl included. Her once carefully dyed hair, which as of late had grown long, with the once vibrant colours fading as the lack of care took its toll, now hung limply from the precipitation of that night, bringing with it a not unwelcome cold chill against her neck that soothed her hot skin. She squinted her eyes in vain as she tried to make out the stars, her addled mind vaguely recalling a time when she’d been stargazing with her friends, how the clear night sky seemed almost alight with stars the longer they stayed gazing at it. She smiled, genuinely, at the thought of that night, a small part of her wishing for just a moment to be back there, back safely under the stars with… her. Clumsy hands moving against her body brought her crashing back into reality, a strange laugh escaping her mouth as the man with the lighter began moving against her, his hands creeping slowly up her body as she continued laughing. She brought her head towards his with an empty smile, their lips clashing against one another in an equally as clumsy kiss. She withdrew from the kiss after a few moments, the sharp taste of vodka and peppermint lingering on her lips as they curled into a sickly, somewhat hollow smile.
She quickly downed the remains of her drink as large, unfamiliar hands groped and grasped at her own, leading her stumbling away from the temporary respite of the smoking garden and back into the black out noise and neon strobe lights of the dance floor. Her boots slipped slightly on the wooden steps leading out of the garden, causing her to stumble forwards and scrape her shoulder against the wall. Grabbing the railing to steady herself, her vision swam in front of her eyes as the flow of people half carried, half pushed her back inside. Half lidded eyes took in the bright lights and stark darkness that dragged her down, while pounding bass and half understood lyrics added fuel to the dizzying sensations that racked her body with every movement. With an energetic shout, the girl closed her eyes and resigned her body to the heaving pulse of the crowd, crashing through the delicate line that separated the carefree from the careless. Her eyes shot open as she felt some ill defined silhouette move up behind her, an unsubtle grab of her thigh snapping her senses back to the present moment. She spun on her heel, a flimsy laugh escaping her lips as she began dancing with the newly found stranger. Foreign lips breathed hot, alcohol infused breath down the girls neck as they danced in the heavy darkness, the brief flashes of strobe lighting giving away little to place the two strangers as anything more than poorly outlined shapes in the ever shifting darkness. The girl grasped at her nearly forgotten drink, taking a large swig as her dance partner began planting warm, messy kisses along her neck. Downing the beverage in one, she leant her weight against the faceless man as the burning in her throat subsided, the white heat searing through her nerves as the song shifted, eliciting a large cheer from the crowd as the intro ramped up and the floor burst into a renewed flurry of motion.
Needing another drink to distract her racing mind, she pushed the man she’d been dancing with away from her, stumbling her way towards the bar for another refill. He made to protest, but quickly gave up and found another dance partner, soon forgetting the girl with the colourful hair. She turned to face the floor while she waited, the bright lights dancing in front of her in their dizzying patterns prompting a fresh wave of nausea to assault her senses. Propping her head against a nearby pillar to steady herself and gripping the sides with her arms, the girls eyes traced along her now exposed arms, her jacket sleeves having slid down to her elbows from the action. Not liking what she saw, she hurriedly pulled her sleeves down again as if not looking would somehow obscure the truth, diverting her attention back to the bar, more specifically her fresh drink that had been slid across the beer soaked surface to her perch by the barkeep she now saw most nights. He acknowledged the girl with a small smile and a slight nod of the head, to which she returned with an uncoordinated gesture of cheers, spilling part of her drink down her clothes as she brought it down to her mouth. She downed almost half again, wincing slightly at the familiar fire igniting in her throat as the foul tasting liquids made their presence known. She tipped the glass back again, intending to finish her beverage before re-joining the dancefloor, but her stomach had other plans. She grimaced as she felt the all too familiarly scalding heat make it’s way up slowly from her stomach.
Pushing away from the bar, she stumbled across the dancefloor towards the bathroom, bursting through the door and falling down in a sprawling heap over the toilet of the first empty stall she found. Her hands clutched the sides of the bowl roughly as she coughed up her stomach's contents, the erratic rhythm of her breathing ringing out across the empty bathroom accompanying her forced chokes and pathetic cries, a stark contrast to her previous carefree dancing. Another heave of her shoulders accompanied the girls weak coughs, expelling the last of the wanted poisons from her body. Pushing her hair out of her face, she held her head above the bowl for another few moments, waiting for any more quarrels from her body. Satisfied with it’s reply, she clambered to her feet, using the walls of the cubicle to steady herself against the incessant pounding in her head. Feeling her head clear up enough to stand without support, she pushed off from the wall, using her sleeves to wipe away the few salty tears that threatened her mascara. A quick look in the mirror fixed her hair, and she spat a few gobs of saliva into the sink to help combat the swirling flavours battling on her tongue. The door to the bathroom opened briefly as a small group of girls came through, accompanied by the distorted sounds of dance music intertwined with shouting and laughter. The girl ran the taps for a few seconds, washing away any traces of her being there before she turned to face the now closing door. One of the newcomers, noticed the girl from earlier in the night, remembering the uniquely coloured hair of the girl she danced with upon seeing her again, and the two ran towards one another to embrace, a chorus of shared laughter emitting from the pair as their rough collision spun them against the now closed door. The pair locked glazed over eyes for a moment, the girl finding herself lost in the strangers familiar green eyes, with more giggles rattling out over the background of muffled music as the newcomer took a pen from her pocket and began clumsily writing her number on the girls hand. After she was done scribbling the almost incomprehensible digits she pocketed the pen once more, blowing a kiss at the girl with the rainbow hair before leaving to join her friends. She stayed against the door for a moment, tilting her head sideways to get a better feel for the pounding music just beyond her as she closed her eyes. Pushing away from the door, the girl shook her head to dispel some of the dizziness and slid through the door and back into the frenzied melee of the dance floor. She stood on the fringes of the pulsing crowd, bobbing her head to the music as she surveyed the scene before her with a smile. The pounding bass, the wild, distracting sensations, it was everything she surrounded herself with in the dying hope she'd escape, at least for a single, fleeting moment.
Shaking her head, the girl launched herself back into the heart of the crowd with a small skip and a cheer, surrendering herself to the whims of the night as her senses were assaulted by wave after wave of dizzying lights and screaming music, finding herself all over yet another faceless figure as the night wore on.
***
A rough, cold hand grabbed her own, an empty smile decorating the girls mouth as she was led stumbling away from the nightclub. The brisk autumn breeze blew the fallen leaves across the now empty road, causing the girl to shiver slightly as they crossed the road to the other side. The girl tilted her head up to the sky, letting the pale starlight soak into her eyes as she-
***
Cold numbed hands clasped her own as they led her to yet another unfamiliar door, letting go of her for a second as the man she was with fumbled with the key for a few seconds, trying and failing to unlock the door. A few failed attempts later the key clicked into place, a wave of heat blasting the pair as the girl was half led, half dragged into the strangers apartment. Knowing where this encounter was headed, the girl quickly kicked off her boots by the door and allowed the stranger to lead her towards the back of the apartment. She head the door click shut as the stranger moved up behind her and begin running his hands along her body, a small sigh escaping her lips as she let it happen while moving her own trembling hands against the strangers body delicately as she felt herself being pushed towards the bed.
The pair crashed down on the bed, the girl closed her eyes as foreign lips crashed against her own, lifting away just moments later so to focus on her body. She kept her eyes closed as the stranger undressed her, trying to get her breathing under control. She tried keeping her mind focussed on why she was doing this, the reason she went home with different strangers every night, the goal she had for the end of this. ‘Just a few more times’ the girl ran through her mind over and over as the stranger continued, as sharp gasp escaping her lips as he began running his hands over her body once more. ‘Just one more hit’ she thought as she opened her eyes, finding her sight drawn towards the open window, where the faint glimmers of starlight shone through the dark veil of the night sky. Her heart leaped at the freedom the stars once held for her, though the girl forced herself back into the moment, focussing on her current situation as she tried to forget the reasons she was there in the first place. Large hands groped at her body, dragging her away from her daydreaming and back to that unfamiliar place. The girl lifted her head to meet the strangers kiss, closing her eyes once more as his hands moved down her body once more.
***
The girl was woken suddenly by pain. She moaned quietly as she drew her legs up towards her body in a vain attempt to combat the pain that racked her body, dragging the discarded duvet over her naked body to combat the cold. She quickly saw that she wasn’t alone, almost immediately noticing the sleeping man next to her. . A quick scan of the room told her that she was in some hotel; which one exactly she didn’t know. She removed herself from beneath the duvet delicately, taking care not to wake her ‘partner’. She limped towards the bathroom, doing her best to ignore the dull ache of her body she cleaned the previous nights makeup from her face and rinsed her mouth out with water. She quickly collected her clothes from the floor, checking them for the phone, money and I.D as she did. She counted the wad of notes she’d been given, a small smile finding its way to her face as she counted them. ‘Results of another successful night’ she thought to herself almost sadly, sliding on her black leather boots before safely pocketing the cash. The girl left the room quietly, gliding down the empty hall and towards the elevator. She pressed the button and waited for the elevator to arrive at her floor filling the time in between by checking her phone. She ignored the usual deluge of messages she was sent, her half awake mind barely paying attention as she flicked through until she came to one particular name. She froze, the sight of a name she’d thought long left behind stalling her completely as she waited in the empty hallway.
***
“You see that one?” The girl beside her said, extending her hand towards the clear sky. “That’s Orion. You can see him with his bow just there” She finished, tracing the group of stars with her hand. Rainbow Dash grinned happily, following her lovers hand as she outlined the constellation with her free arm, the other arm hung comfortably across her chest.
“I think I see it now yeah” Rainbow Dash replied, gazing up in wonderment at the beautiful night sky above the pair. The sounds of laughter crept up on her, momentarily diverting her attention from the pairs midnight rendezvous and back towards the campsite. Pinkie was towering above the group on her seat, apparently retelling some story of hers while the rest of their friends laughed at her over the top dramatics. Rainbow Dash smiled at the sight, turning her head back towards her lovers as she huddled against her. She returned the hug, happy to spend eternity upon that small slope with the one girl she loved the most.
“I love you Rainbow Dash spoke aloud, causing the girl next to her to smile wide as she shifted her gaze from the sky and to her girlfriend.
“I love you too Dashie” The girl replied as Rainbow Dash turned to face her, finding herself lost as she did so constantly in those beautiful, fiery eyes.
***
She found herself stood in place, frozen in front of the now opening elevator doors. Trembling hands pocketed her phone in a desperate attempt to forget what she’d read, the girl finding her usual composure cracking as the memories she’d buried and forgotten in order to get by resurfaced violently. The doors rang out, signalling that they’d opened fully. The girl looked up at the empty elevator, staring across at the mirror image of her in the back of the elevator. She took in her own sight, noting the bagged eyes and dishevelled look she’d gained over the past few months. She remained frozen, trying in vain to get her breathing under control again in the dimly lit corridor. The elevator door remained open for a little while, before the doors began closing slowly once again. She thought briefly about dashing forwards, of keeping the door open so she could get inside, but she remained where she was, her body paralysed. She watched as the doors slowly clasped shut, the yellow light the elevator had bathed the hallway in now replaced by the sickly green, fading light emitting from further down the hallway.
She remained where she was left in the darkness for what seemed like an eternity, her hand moving towards the pocket where she’d stashed her nights earnings. She carefully pulled them from her pocket, a small formation of tears threatening to form on her eyes as she counted the notes, setting the usual amount she needed. After she’d counted the money she needed, she carefully placed the rest back in her jacket pocket, pulling out her phone with her free hand. She sent a text, an excited buzz reverberating through her body as the anticipation masked her previous distress. She ran her hand through her hair, pushing away any errant strands as she pocketed her phone once more. She knew what she should do, what her heart wanted, but she couldn’t. She wiped the newly forming tears from her face and, turning away from the elevator with a sigh, the girl with the rainbow hair elected to take the stairs.