"Vinyl?" Octavia said from the hallway. "You have a visitor. At least, I assume it's for you. Do you know something about a 'DJ Pamps'?"

Vinyl peeked up from where she was laid out on the couch, her eyes widening as her face began to heat up. "What?"

Octavia gave an uncertain shrug, as Vinyl got to her hooves and slipped past her to see who could possibly be calling for her. Had Pacific come to get an answer from her? Seemed odd she would come to the house...

Approaching the open front door, Vinyl tilted her head curiously as she saw a young mare standing nervously outside, wearing a black sweater over her cream coat. For a moment she couldn't place her, but then the thick square-rimmed glasses jogged Vinyl's memory - this was the girl she'd saved that night at the club.

"Hey," Vinyl said, dropping her shades over her puzzled eyes as she emerged into daylight. "How you, uh, how you doing?"

"Hi," said the mare, dipping her head shyly. "I, um, I hope you don't mind me knocking on your door like this. I just wanted to say thank you. For, uh, for what you did - I don't know if you remember, at the... club, you, um, you saved me..."

"Yeah, I remember..." Vinyl said, scratching her horn. "How'd you find where I live?"

"Pacific Glow told me," she replied. "I'm sorry, I know you're probably busy. I just wanted to thank you."

"Hey, no problem, kiddo," Vinyl said, flicking a hoof nonchalantly. "S'what I do. Gotta look after my clubbers, you know? Appreciate it though, thanks for stopping by. Name's Vinyl, by the way."

"Moondancer."

"Whoa, that's a cool name," Vinyl praised. "You must be big into the night scene, huh?"

"Actually... that was my first time in a nightclub," Moondancer said, dipping her head in shame. "And you saw how well that went."

Vinyl tsked, adjusting her shades. "Girl, you clubbed so hard you nearly put yourself in a coma. As debuts go, that's as hardcore as it gets."

"That's not really what happened..." Moondancer mumbled.

Vinyl held up a hoof dismissively. "Let me tell you something. Everypony's a complete moron on the dancefloor. That's what it's for. When you're on the floor, nopony cares who you are or what you do. They're just glad to be there, you know?"

Moondancer looked puzzled. "...no."

"What I'm saying is, don't worry about what happened. Nopony cares. If anything, I'm impressed."

"Impressed?"

"Well, yeah, I've done some pretty dumb stuff myself," - including walking home in a diaper full of poop, let's not mention that one - "but I've never passed out on the dancefloor. Heard you were packing some pretty badass magic, too."

Moondancer blushed. "I, um, yeah. Well, not really. It was just a morphic illusion with a low-level glamor enchantment. I was... trying to disguise myself."

"Oh, right, so only something that takes a doctorate in thaumology to pull off. Just the basics."

"Well, I didn't successfully 'pull it off', so it's hardly impressive," Moondancer sniffed.

Vinyl shrugged. "Hey, maybe that's a good thing? At least you can come as yourself now."

"I'm not going back there," Moondancer said immediately.

"Why not?" Vinyl asked. "Weren't you having a good time? Until you passed out, at least."

"I was, I just..." Moondancer faltered, adjusting her glasses agitatedly. "I embarrassed myself. I don't want to go through that again."

Vinyl gave her a serious look. "I'll bet you my entire record collection that everypony has either A, forgotten about it, or B, gives you a high hoof the next time they see you. Guarantee it."

Moondancer stared at her. "Are they all insane?"

"Hey, I said the same thing," Vinyl smirked. "I mean yeah, they clearly are, but they also know how not to let dumb stuff get in the way of having a good time."

Moondancer looked down at her hooves a little sadly. Crap. Probably said the wrong thing.

"Okay, look, I didn't mean you're dumb. You're not," Vinyl said sincerely. "Look, honestly, I got real respect for you, pushing your boundaries the way you did. I can see you're not exactly a party pony."

"No, not really," Moondancer sniffed.

"But you went out there, you put yourself in that basement, and you did it anyway. That's... that's hardcore. A lot of folks wouldn't even dare to try."

Moondancer regarded the DJ with a critical eye, as if trying to discern whether or not she was telling the truth. "But I didn't really. I pretended to be someone else. I cheated."

Vinyl shrugged. "Hey, if it gets you on the floor, I'm not gonna judge. Well, I guess that's a bit literal in your case." Seeing Moondancer's unamused expression, she quickly continued. "Why were you in disguise anyway? Afraid somepony might recognize you?"

"Something like that," Moondancer admitted. "I... I wasn't sure I could... you know... be a foal, in front of all those ponies."

Vinyl winced, feeling her own memories of her first night bubbling to the surface. She ignored them. "But you... you wanted to, didn't you?"

Moondancer nodded, even as she was slowly turning red. "It would be nice."

We have very different ideas of what "nice" means, Vinyl thought to herself. "Then look, come to the next one. Give it a whirl. Sure, maybe it's scary. A lot of fun things are. But what have you got to lose? And if you're not having a good time, come talk to me or Pacific and we'll sort you out."

Moondancer gritted her teeth as she considered this. "You're sure people won't be mad at me?"

"What are they gonna do, sit on you with their diaper?" Vinyl said sarcastically. It was only when Moondancer turned even more red that Vinyl realized... Oh my gosh, that's a thing, isn't it. Of course that's a thing. Gosh darn it. "Or... you know... okay forget that - look, they won't be mad. Nopony has anything to be mad about. Trust me. I know clubbers. Been doing this my whole life."

Moondancer took a deep breath, and gave a weak smile. "...Okay. I trust you. I... I'd like to come to the next dance."

"As yourself? No crazy illusions?"

"As myself," Moondancer affirmed. "I... I guess I'll just... try it and see what happens."

"Now that's spoken like a true clubmare," Vinyl grinned. "Next one's on Wednesday. Be there or be square."

Moondancer smiled, flicking her tail in satisfaction. "Thank you so much."

Vinyl nonchalantly waved off the unicorn's gratitude and bade her farewell, returning inside. She felt a pleasant warm feeling at having done another good deed, enough to take the edge off her ever-present unease somewhat.

"That was the mare you saved, wasn't it?" Octavia asked, peering in from the kitchen. "I overheard a bit of your conversation. I have to say, I'm really proud of you."

"Blegh, don't make it mushy," Vinyl said, although only half-heartedly. "She's a nice kid who wants to have fun, how can I say no to that? She just needed a push is all." Vinyl collapsed into a slump on the couch and let out a long, mournful sigh. "Tavi... what am I doing? I can't keep going to this place."

"To the baby club? Why not? The money's good and they really seem to like you," Octavia pointed out. "Sure, it's a bit... alternative, but that's not always a bad thing."

"Please don't call it 'the baby club'..." Vinyl groaned.

"What would you prefer?"

Vinyl pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Okay, I can't think of anything that doesn't sound worse... it's just... so uncool, you know?"

"I don't know, the way you described it to that unicorn sounded pretty cool to me. I'm half-tempted to see it for myself."

Vinyl's eyes widened, and she sat up sharply from her slump. "Whoa, no, no you are not!"

"Why not?" Octavia asked. "I enjoy a good dance as much as the next mare."

"Oh my god, I'm surrounded by dorks," Vinyl exclaimed, facehooving in despair. "Tavi, you don't... you can't go there. It's weird enough for me as it is."

"Well... that's kind of the reason, actually," Octavia said, a little bashfully. "You've been so wound up about this for days. I felt that maybe you'd feel better about it if someone was, you know... there to share the experience with you. So that you wouldn't feel so weird about it."

Vinyl looked at her, eyes widened in shock. "That's... that's actually really cool of you."

"Thanks for sounding so surprised," Octavia deadpanned.

Vinyl considered this for a moment, but then shook her head. "No... I don't know. I mean, don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the offer, it's just..."

"Just what?" Octavia asked, as the DJ tailed off.

"I kinda... don't want you to see me... dressed up?"

"I've already seen it. I thought you looked adorable," Octavia said with a sly smirk.

Vinyl made a strangled cry in her throat as her cheeks and muzzle turned red. She scowled at the giggling cellist. "I already said you were cool, don't make me take that back."

"Sorry," Octavia grinned. "But the club rule is that everypony has to wear a diaper, right? So if I'm going, I'll have to as well."

"C'mon, Tavi. You really don't have to do that just for me," Vinyl said, but she couldn't hide the happy warmth she felt, knowing that Octavia was willing to go that far just to make her feel better. "You know I'd never ask you to do that."

"Actually I don't think this particular situation has ever come up before."

"Argh, you know what I mean," Vinyl said. "'kay look, let me think about it, all right? I gotta... go tell Pacific the good news," she sighed.

"You're doing the next one?"

"Well I kinda got to, now. I sorta promised that kid I'd be there. It'd be a total lame move if I didn't show up now," Vinyl groaned. "I've really gotta stop making promises."

Berry grunted as she slid the load of her back, a hefty plastic-wrapped cube of folded adult diapers. She maneuvered it into the enormous fortress of padding that was now occupying a good quarter of the staff room. "Two or three more runs ought to do it," she remarked to Pacific. "Wanna grab a drink after this?"

Pacific grinned from behind the desk, holding aloft a note that had just arrived. "I think I might. We've got good news! Guess who's coming back on Wednesday?"

"I told you she would," Berry smirked.

"Yeah... although... huh," Pacific read the last line of the note, curling her lips uncertainly.

"What?" Berry asked, peeking at the short letter as Pacific passed it over to her.

Hey Pacific,

I'll be there on Wednesday.

Vinyl

PS. Might be bringing a guest. Any chance I can get hold of a VIP pass?

"VIP pass?" Berry read, a puzzled look on her face. "Who's she bringing, Princess Celestia?"

"She didn't say."

"Do we have a VIP pass?"

"Nope," Pacific confirmed. "Not even sure what we'd do for a VIP."

Berry shrugged. "Store does that super royal deluxe padding. Guess we finally have an excuse to try it."

Author's Note

And done!

Despite the hook at the end, I have no plans for a continuation, so if anyone else wants to take if forward, feel free. I'd still love to see more of this little 'verse!