Something to Rave About 2: Second Night

With some peppy electro-pop running to get ponies into the groove, Vinyl stood back and watched the clubgoers spill onto the floor, all of them buzzing with the excitement that they'd been holding in while they stood in line outside.

Vinyl didn't recognize anypony, but then she'd also had her attention on a bunch of other things last night. All she remembered was the various get-ups she'd seen ponies in - not just the varied array of colorful diapers, but also bibs, bows, bonnets, and a bunch of other baby things that Vinyl recognized but couldn't name. She wondered where they even got all this stuff. Pacific had mentioned a store at one point, but Vinyl had never seen a store like that in Manehattan.

Then again, she'd never seen a club like this either, so that didn't count for much. Presumably the stores were underground too, only open to those in the know.

A few ponies gave her whoops and cheers as they entered - evidently they had been here last night, if they recognized her. She returned their appreciation with a weak smile and hoof pump. She wasn't about to disappoint a fan, no matter how she personally felt.

She just watched as the dancefloor began to fill up with waddling babies, a few of them decked out in ridiculous outfits. Like, way more ridiculous than hers, for sure. The occasional sound of two diapers pomfing against each other got more frequent as more partyers arrived, and Vinyl chose to mix into something with a little more thump to get the house moving and grooving.

With the party in full swing, Vinyl could see Pacific out there too now, her ponytailed silhouette distinctive even in the mass of flickering color and churning hooves. Her pacifier bounced against her chest as she rocked to the beat and mingled with her patrons. Vinyl had to give it to her, the girl could move, even with the considerable weight of padding she was hauling on her flanks. Vinyl was sure she'd be a truly excellent dancer if she didn't insist on handicapping herself.

"This mix is gold!" Pacific shouted, after her route took her close to the DJ crib. "All good here?"

"Yeah, we're all good," Vinyl replied.

Pacific gave her a gesture of acknowledgement, and disappeared back into the crowd in a whirl of colored neon.

Well, most of us are all good. Vinyl thought sourly. While she appreciated Berry's earnest suggestion to have fun, that didn't make being in a diaper any more comfortable. She still couldn't figure out how anypony tolerated it, let alone enjoyed it.

After a few long dance tracks, the crowd was nicely warmed up and ready for a change of pace. Vinyl easily obliged them by mixing into some new electro-swing she'd acquired recently. The genre hadn't really caught on in the mainstream clubs yet, but Vinyl felt like this might be the right place to test out something new and different.

To her pleasant surprise, the club seemed thrilled with this new sound. Hooves began stumbling over each other as the partygoers collectively tried to adapt to the new rhythm and failed miserably. It was like watching a slow motion train wreck that she could personally orchestrate. Sheesh, better not give them any complextro, I think the ceiling might cave in...

A clingy spike of mane tickled at her forehead, and she brushed it away in irritation. This new onesie was a more comfortable fit than her old one, to be sure, but it was also keeping her way warmer than she wanted to be in a basement club full of partying ponies. She really needed something to cool off with.

But I can't drink... ugh... she groaned. No, let's not be stupid. Gotta keep hydrated at least. She walked to the front of her crib and leant against the top bar, waving to get Berry's attention.

Maybe it was just a special talent Berry had, but she seemed to be supernaturally capable of spotting somepony who needed her, even across a decently crowded dancefloor in a dark, flickering room. She finished serving up somepony sitting in a high chair in front of her bar, then began a slow waddle across the floor to the DJ area.

"Beer?"

"Yeah," Vinyl nodded.

"Busier night than usual. Kinda reckon I know why, too," Berry noted, with a light smile. "You were quite the hit last night, you know. I've heard 'DJ Pamps' coming up in conversation a few times already."

"DJ what?" Vinyl asked, cupping a hoof to her ear.

"DJ Pamps."

"They're not calling me that," Vinyl said flatly.

"I think it sounds pretty radical." Berry said.

Vinyl wasn't about to take the opinion of somepony who was currently dressed as a talking pink rug. "I'm not letting them call me that. Vinyl's fine." She wasn't about to let them use her regular Pon-3 handle either. The fewer ponies knew she was here, the better.

She waited patiently while Berry returned to the bar, and the earth pony shortly came back with Vinyl's beer, handing the baby bottle off to her.

"Everything going okay so far?"

Vinyl took the golden bottle in one hoof, cradling it against her neck while leaning over to check her table. "Yeah, s'all good. No accidents so far."

Berry nodded. "Good good."

It was only until Berry had left that Vinyl realized what she'd said. "Wait - I meant incidents! Gah!" She groaned and suckled on her bottle sulkily. I'm not drunk enough for this.

DJ Pamps. Ugh. What idiot came up with that? She'd definitely told the club her real name, or at least Pacific had. It was bad enough to be saddled with a diaper, but there was no way she was going to be saddled with a dumb moniker too.

Then again, she considered... maybe it was best if they didn't remember her real name after all? At least then nopony would connect her to this club, and she'd eventually be forgotten as just some random DJ who played here a couple of times. She could live with that.

She sucked down the remainder of her beer, relaxing a moment to savor the delicious taste, and letting out a little burp as she enjoyed the pleasant buzz. Holding up the empty plastic bottle to her face, she looked through it across the writhing floor to Berry's bar, ready to order another. But then, just in time, she remembered. Ah, dang. I didn't mean to drink it that quickly, did I? S'posed to be pacing myself. She floated the bottle back down and settled it on the crib wall. Tonight was going to be different. No more beer for her. Nope.

"Nope nope nope nope nope," Vinyl told her bladder, as she leaned heavily against the inner side of the crib. "We're not doing this. We're not. We're not."

Her bladder made a rather persuasive counterargument consisting of several stabs of pain, punctuated with some abdominal discomfort for emphasis.

It had been going so well, too. She'd paced herself admirably. After that first drink, she'd not accepted another one in the whole first hour. Being encased in her diaper, Vinyl was under no illusion what drinking too much would mean for her this time. That first night, she hadn't been prepared. This time, she wasn't going to make the same mistake.

Of course, she had to drink something. Vinyl wasn't that irresponsible. Staying hydrated was important in any situation, but especially so in an underground club full of bouncing dancers, blazing lights, and high-tech sound equipment. And so, she'd called Berry over and ordered one of those beers, to maintain her health and as a reward for her good behavior.

Plus it was good for her to loosen up a bit, anyway. A bit of alcohol made for some great social lubrication, which was important in a job like hers. And hadn't Berry told her to have fun? Yeah, it was definitely Berry's fault. Making her drinks too drinkable, that was her problem. And serving them in baby bottles, seriously. That just made them easier to drink. Vinyl hiccupped and groaned as the movement jostled her bladder.

After two beers, Berry had reminded her of her promise to take it easy. Silly Berry. You'd think a barmaid would know that she - a seasoned DJ and drinker - could easily handle this much booze.

No, what Vinyl couldn't handle was this stupid onesie. It was still too warm and that just wasn't what she needed right now. There was already plenty of warm in the club.

After three beers, she sensibly and maturely reminded herself to slow down. Sure, having fun was fun, but if she drank too much, things would certainly become... not so fun.

"You're drinking too much," Berry warned her, the next time she was summoned to the DJ crib. "You told me you'd take it easy."

"I'm drinking because it's hot," Vinyl protested. "Gotta stay hydrated, you know? You should know that."

Berry snorted. "And you should know perfectly well that beer is not what you should be drinking, in that case. If you're dehydrated, I have plenty of mineral water and apple juice."

"Gin and tonic?" Vinyl tried hopefully.

"Get out of here."

"Ugh, fine... I'll take an apple juice," she huffed.

At least Berry let her have a beer after she finished that. That was nice of her.

No wait. That was terrible of her. That's what caused this stupid situation in the first place.

Vinyl groaned at another urgent ring from her bladder, and squeezed her legs together as much as she could, which wasn't a lot with the amount of padding parting them. She felt the diaper bunch up and squeeze against her groin, which almost helped a little.

I can do this. Just gotta last until the end. Make my excuses and leave, apologize that I can't stay longer... I'll let Pacific pay me next time, I know she's not gonna screw me over.

Of course, if I knew when the end was, that would be useful... Vinyl never tended to clockwatch her gigs, so she didn't have any way of telling the time right now. Usually the night ended when it ended. Usually she was having fun.

She suckled the teat of her empty bottle, savoring the lingering taste of rubber-tinged beer and blinking through the fuzz of her alcohol-fueled state. The gaps between songs gave her brief moments of distraction from the incessant keening of her bladder, but otherwise, she resigned herself to watching the revellers hurl themselves like idiots under the flickering club lights. The hypnotic undulation of padded pony rears helped her to zone out a little, but her sharp need kept making itself known every time she almost managed to forget it.

Then suddenly, her ear flicked, and she felt a jolt of awareness. In an instant, she straightened up.

There was a frigid sensation in her body that had nothing to do with the beer, or with her bladder. Something was... off. Something was wrong.

She looked out into the crowd, seeing the same chaotic scene of ponies jumping up and down and enjoying the music, but her deeper, intuitive sense had picked up something that her eyes hadn't yet. Something had happened. She didn't know how she knew, she just knew. She always knew. She could read club atmosphere like pegasi could feel the weather.

Her eyes squinted, catching a slow-motion ripple in the crowd as awareness started to percolate through the partygoers who were closer to the situation. Her head tracked the movement. There was an awkward undulation in the throng of colored legs, and as they briefly parted, Vinyl saw it - a pony slumped on the ground, unmoving.

Before she knew it, Vinyl was on the other side of the crib bars, shuffling herself toward the disturbance. Her horn caught the taste of sickly, fizzling magic.

"Outta the way," she ordered, swinging a hoof to command some space. The crowd awkwardly shifted back at her approach, letting her into the crowd.

A cream-colored unicorn, dressed only in a blue diaper, was laying on her side in the center of a small circle of worried ponies. She wasn't moving at all, or even blinking, her eyes staring glassily into the distance. The unpleasant magic tingle in Vinyl's horn got more intense as she closed in, and combined with the faint lingering sparkles of magic dancing about the girl's body, that told Vinyl everything she needed to know.

"Move," Vinyl said, pushing aside a mare who was worriedly trying to attend to the fallen girl. She had no time to explain - she crouched down, slid her hooves under the unicorn's shoulders and hauled her up into a sitting position, hugging their chests together. With a hoof behind the unconscious mare's neck, she maneuvered her until they were face to face.

"What happened?" Berry asked, shuffling in from beside her.

"Magical exhaustion," Vinyl explained, leaning her head forward and gently locking horns with the girl. Fortunately, she knew what to do about this. She concentrated her magic on the other unicorn's horn, letting her aura wrap around it, and started gently modulating the intensity. The sounds of the club became indistinct as she focused all of her concentration on the magical rhythm, feeling for feedback, until with a feeling of relief, she finally felt a weak magical pull from the other horn.

There we go. "Just giving her a bit of a charge," Vinyl said, slowly ramping up the energy to push some of her magic into the other unicorn's horn and boost her depleted reserve. It wouldn't be a lot, but it would at least keep her out of danger.

A warm trickling began between Vinyl's legs. Squatted as she was, she felt it dribble straight down into the padding beneath her butt, and her eyes widened. She could feel all of it, the extremely wet liquid cascading down her, running down her crack, and with her concentration focused on her magical efforts, she couldn't do a thing to stop it. Why now... ugh, fine! She ignored the horrid dribbling and redoubled her focus on her current task, trying valiantly to avoid being distracted by the enormous puddle that was now blooming warmly inside her padding.

Her breathing deepened at the feeling of relief that she suddely felt in her hindquarters, and at the same time, the other unicorn stirred, her eyes fluttering in confusion as she found herself muzzle-to-muzzle with the club's DJ.

"Wh-What...?" she mumbled. "What's happening..."

"Steady, girl," Vinyl said. "We've got you."

Pacific Glow entered the throng, crouching beside the girl. "Vinyl? What happened? Is she okay?"

Vinyl separated their auras and pulled away. "She exhausted her magic," she explained. "I've given her a boost, she should be okay now."

The unicorn suddenly burst into tears, hugging Vinyl awkwardly. "I'm so sorry!" she croaked. "I didn't - I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, girl, these things happen," Vinyl said, fumbling herself to her hooves as Pacific helped the unicorn up. "Just go easy now."

"Here, sweetie," said Pacific, taking her by the forehoof. "Come with me and sit down for a bit, okay?"

The crowd parted as Pacific put a hoof around the sobbing mare's withers, giving some words of reassurance as she led her to the backstage.

Amazingly, Vinyl was still in time for the next song if she got back now. She trotted back over to the turntables, feeling a soggy squish-squish-squish every step of the way. She was surprised the entire club couldn't hear her sloshing shamefully back to her post.

"Vinyl," Berry said from behind her. "Well done. That was... that was pretty damn amazing."

"It happens," Vinyl said modestly. "She's not the first unicorn to overstep her limits."

Vinyl perched her hooves on the outside of the crib, sighing. She was utterly soaked, she could feel it, feel the bottom of her diaper clinging warmly to her butt. It was disgusting. Even though the padding was keeping it well-contained, she was sure she - and everypony else - could smell what she'd done.

And she couldn't even change. For that, she'd need to go into the staff room, and that was where Pacific had taken the mare, presumably to have a heart-to-heart with her. She couldn't go in there now. It would be super awkward. She screwed up her eyes a bit, blinking away a few tears that had collected there.

"Are you okay?" Berry asked in concern. "You gave her some of your magic, didn't you? We don't want you passing out too."

"I'm fine," Vinyl insisted. "I do know my limits."

To her relief, Berry didn't make the obvious sarcastic quip about her alcohol consumption, and just gave her a respectful thump on her shoulder. "You know where I am if you need me, just wave."

Vinyl waited for her to leave, then hauled herself over the crib bars. With the pressure gone from her bladder, it was an easier jump, but the weight of liquid soaked into her diaper added a different dimension of difficulty. As she vaulted the top, she felt a heavy flap of her padding catch in just the wrong way and get sandwiched between the bars and her buttocks, giving her a horrid moment of sloshy wetness that she really could have done without. She at least managed to stick the landing this time, arriving with just enough time to bring in the next track.

I just can't win, can I? She wanted to feel good about helping out a clubgoer in need, but the only thing she could feel was her soaked bottom and the tug of her waterlogged padding. She certainly felt relieved now that it was all out, but the relief was tainted by the constant reminder of her shameful deed.

Tears began to well up again, but she angrily shook her head. Dammit Vinyl, stop being a baby. You've got a job to do. Feel sorry for yourself later.

She straightened up and pursed her lips in a professional deadpan, her eyes scanning the dancefloor to assess the damage. Most of the diaper mob had gone back to dancing, but the shock of the recent event had left a real dent in the atmosphere. She had to fix that.

The current song was about to end, but this time, she didn't bother mixing into the next track, and simply nudged the volume down, dimming the music to background noise. This called for different measures.

"Hey, fillies," she announced into her microphone, nudging a few more sliders to give her voice some edge. "Nothing to worry about. Just a dancefloor mishap, we're taking care of her."

She heard some loud whoops and stomps of appreciation aimed at her, and couldn't help but smile despite her low mood. "Awww, you guys. Just doing my job. How's everypony doing tonight? Nopony else better pass out, you hear me?"

She listened for the cheer from the crowd, while she dug out a record from the box and began setting it up on the other turntable. "Oh, I'm sorry," she replied curtly. "Didn't realize it was naptime already. You guys want me to shut the music off?"

An outraged cry bubbled up from the partygoers, as Vinyl hid her smirk behind her mane. "Pffff. They told me this club was for babies. I thought you guys knew how to scream?"

She waited for the roar from the crowd, then cut the master sound feed entirely, plunging the club into silent darkness and throwing everypony into momentary confusion. Her hoof dropped the needle on the other turntable and she slowly edged up the volume.

Hush, now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head...

The crowd began to cheer and laugh as they recognized the familiar lullaby, backed by an trancy electronic track that got their hooves moving once again. Vinyl stepped back and breathed a sigh of relief.