In The Night

If you’ve made it this far, you above all the rest, deserve to sit amongst the Greatest of ponies, you deserve to have a wish come true. Go ahead, make a wish, but don’t tell me, keep it secret. All you need to do is believe and that wish will come true. Come on, have a little faith. But back to the story, I’m sure you’re all wondering exactly the opposite of what I think you’re wondering. Think twice about that last line.

I woke up to a loud bang from outside, and another, and another. I look outside, only to see fireworks in the deep blue sky, the sparkles from the fireworks blending in with the stars of the night. I looked at the time, 9:05 PM; I’ve slept a little too long. I’m not sure if visiting hours are still open, like they’d let me see Vinyl anyways, I’m no pony special, but one can hope. Yeah, one can hope.

It seemed to be snowing outside, too. Every year in Manehattan during the first snowfall, the city hall sets off fireworks into the night. It’s a celebration that signals the beginning of winter, usually lasting only the night, and by the looks of it, it only just begun. I always liked fireworks, simply listening to their constant booming always seemed to sooth me.  I used to fall asleep to them, now, for some reason, I can only wake to them… funny how things change.

I should get going now, better late than never. I think I’ll put the glasses in my bag, I’ve worn them long enough. Strange how easily I can take them off now, yeah, funny how things change. I got my coat and scarf, I knew clear as the crystal kingdom I would need these bad boys, the Manehattan winters were always brutal, this year was no different. The moment I opened the door, I knew what to expect on this night, yeah, some things never change.

It was a typical new years’ winter night in Manehattan, ponies walking each and every way, parties here and there, sky lights shooting up into the sky, music being blasted so loud, the elders can’t help but nag at the partyers, the streets crowded with shoppers and common oddities stands. The city was as lively as it ever could be. It’s actually a quite amazing site, almost like Las Pegasus at night, except there isn’t pegasi and drunkards everywhere, well, pegasi at least.

All the skyscrapers with little animations going about on them, lights beaming and swirling into the sky as if they were trying to signal some sort of Pegasi air squad down, and this was all I saw, being in the suburbs has its kinks. I could hear all the commotion coming from the city center, all the voices, all the music and fireworks sounding away into the distant night. Over here the most it was, was a simple block party, over there it’s like the entire city showed up.

The streets over there were always filled with ponies, I swear all this entire city knows is how to party and have a good time. However, the excitement here was foal’s play, compared to Canta Barbra. I went on a trip with CloudChaser to Canta Barbra once; she said it was the party capital of Coltifornia, and me, being the party addict I was back, I agreed to go. She wasn’t lying when she said it was the party capitol of all of Coltifornia. The streets there were unbelievable, couches, chairs, beds, drug addicts, drunkards, C.O.P.S. running rampant all over the city. We were only there for a week, visiting one of CloudChaser’s friends, but that was one heck of a week, all of which its own story.

It’s crazy how much havoc goes on in this world, yet people have fun in it all. It kind of makes me wonder why everypony hated Discord; I guess his chaos wasn’t exactly the partying type. I wasn’t alive then, but they say every street was filled with irrational colors, and interdimensional worm holes. Now I’m not sure about all that nonsense, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the prettiest thing to see.

As I walked to the main city I saw numerous fillies playing ding-dong Spinach, and sometimes setting off firecrackers at the doorsteps, making whoever jump in panic. For some reason most ponies hate spinach, how ironic is that. They’d usually set the bag of spinach on fire, meaning we’d have to stomp on it to put it out. That never really worked out for the victim; it was a lose-lose situation, unless the pony actually liked spinach.

I had a bunch do that to me once, fortunately I managed to catch the little buggers and call their parents. How I adored the look on their sad, crying little faces when their parents came and told them their punishments. I’d always laugh in secret, though, least I get a scolding from a frustrated and irritated parent.

Not all of the streets were full of chaos. Some were full of complete insanity, usually near the University of Mareymount. The C.O.P.S. had to break up the parties. The Colt Officer Pony Squad never actually took any parties down, though. As a matter of fact, most of them would simply join the party; gunshots were usually fired into the air. I remember some pony got shot once, sadly no pony noticed until the early afternoon, poor stallion died from bleeding out.

All these parties remind me of my college and party days, before I got an actual job. I used to drink like I had sand dunes in my mouth; I was the one everyone bet on when doing the beer bong and drinking contests, I won them all of course. Never did have sex, though, yeah, imagine that. I was about to once, next thing I know his mom comes into the room. You should have seen his sorry flank stumble to floor as if it were made of butter. His spaghetti fell all over the place as his mom yelled at him, he was crying like a newborn foal. His mother simply eyed me, as if I were some whore, meant only to be a whore.

I used to do a lot of crazy things when I was in college, but as soon as my job and school started getting serious, so did I. No doubt it was hard getting over the alcoholism, after the withdrawals had gone over I went to my doctor to get myself checked out, I managed to burn all most all of my liver, had to take some meds to repair what was able to be repaired. I managed to save it though, lucky me, I didn’t need a transplant like some others.

As I was fantasizing about my early life I stumbled over some pony lying on the ground. He seemed to have passed out, poor stallion, he’s gunna have one heck of a morning when he wakes up. I remember once I was drunk and I kept hearing a doorbell ring, yeah, a doorbell. I felt like I was flying, too. Funny what alcohol does to a pony, you never really know either, kind of makes you wonder how you even survived the night.

I finally reached my checkpoint, The Bridge that connects the suburbs to the main city. As strange as it may seem, the bridge was the quietest place out of everywhere else. You were either in the city or in the suburbs; no pony really crossed the bridge unless they were going to work, which is never on during the first week of the celebration. The streets were usually too messy and messed up to even try and go through them, only made sense to just wait ‘til the cleaners came and fixed the place up. They did a good job too, it was like nothing even happened, they even manage to get the smell. Their motto suited them perfectly, too, “Here in a flash, and gone without a trace!” It makes a pony wonder what goes on during their cleaning.

The bridge was nice and quiet, a nice breeze flowing through the support beams, the water reflecting the fireworks going off near the Statue of Harmony. There would usually be boats going through here like wildfire, but I guess everypony celebrated this occasion, of course there were Yats strewn about in the middle of the quarry, but they just sat there, having their own little piece of paradise.

I reached the end of the bridge, now here comes the hard part: getting through the city in one piece. Of course, this is where most ponies get absolutely lost in the excitement, but I knew my way around this city from head to hoof. A Pegasus can easily fly over all this, but that would be near impossible unless you had blinders and reflective sunglasses. Without any of those, you’d probably crash into either the hordes of ponies, or collide into one of the buildings. Each would be pretty devastating, but the crowds would be better than having a piece of glass stuck in your head.

As I started getting close to the “Streets of Ado” as some people called, I could already smell the “Stench of Wonder.” They call it that, because every time during things like this, there is always an aroma that disperses across the entire city. Whether it’s a mass mixture of all the perfume, cologne, deodorant, and whatever else, or the overwhelming assortment of thousands of Pony hormones, we’ll never know. Thankfully, the substance wasn’t toxic, at least to me, other it might be, but that it their problem.

Now here I am, above all the commotion though a small passing created to go through all this mess for those who actually had things to do. The lights going everywhere, Pegasi News Crews recording the masses, the Billboard animations filled with the music waves, the crowds jumping up and down to the beat of the music, Yeah, this is the night life. Lights stretching a couple of miles down the city, fireworks being blasted through the middle of the crowds, ponies drinking, and dancing.

The entire city was filled with this, every turn you take, it’s another whole lane filled with commotion beyond belief. The music and lights could practically blind and deafen a pony if they weren’t careful, usually near the epicenter of all this. It was kind of sad for that to happen, but hey, they knew what they were getting into. My hearing and sight has been a little distorted because of my actions during my younger life, sometimes I hear a little ringing noise, and I ended up having to wear glasses whenever I have to read something. At least it’s better than being blind or deaf; I’d take impaired hearing and sight over complete loss any day.

Once again, as I was fantasizing about things, I came across a fallen drunkard. This fellow was bleeding from his ear, and guessing from that, I’d imagine he must’ve come from the mosh pit. As I continued my walk, I had a couple of idiots bounce up to me, usually just complimented my body and asked for a good time. I hated those losers, I’ve been locked in an ice cold freezer once, as well as being an actual loser, so I’d like to imagine I have a pretty good idea of who’s cool, and who’s nothing but a try hard wannabe. I even had a couple of mares lean on me and rub my flank and mane; I hated them, too. They always had an overpowering scent of perfume, or their breath smelled of cheap cider and cigs.

From my experience, it was always easy to tell who knew what they were doing, and those who didn’t. Those who knew what they were doing always had a posse or group they’d ‘bang’ with, and those who had no clue were the ones I just mentioned, the sad, sad ponies trying to be cool. But, that was the night life, only those with experience knew how to handle themselves would end up have a good time, and those who didn’t ended up either on the floor, acquired some sort of disability, mugged, violated, or just plain lost in something they never should have come to.

Of course, I was younger when I was doing things like, and things have changed. Now, I don’t really enjoy going to parties like this anymore. I’d only go if CloudChaser invited me to one, or I was feeling bored out of my mind. As a matter of fact, I’m more than sure CloudChaser is among all these ponies, but the chances of me finding her in this mess is 1 out of Luna knows how many. She always adored the night life and the excitement that came with it; it seemed to dissipate on me. I was actually hoping CloudChaser was kidding about that “All Night Jig,” I knew she wasn’t, but it helps to have a little denial sometimes. It just might save you in the end.

I finally managed to get near the outskirts of this city to where the hospital is located. The music and shouting was still very much audible, but not as intense as it was. This was the part of the city Ponies would come to when they were about to pass out or have some fun time. Usually pass out, but you should expect anything when there is a massive party going on throughout the entire city. I came across a couple of passers, saw a fun time couple getting it on, they were just kissing, though, but they were certainly enjoying it, she was getting hoofed all the while, too.

It was the alley ways you had to worry about, least you get dragged in and get mugged or worse. Muggers were always earth ponies, their big muscular stature always gave them the leg up. They’d always have a certain tactic when mugging each kind of Pony. For pegasi it would be a lasso, or they’d jump on top of the Pegasus and weight them down. Sometimes, if they were your hardcore muggers, they’d break the wings to make sure their victim was completely vulnerable and not give them a hard time.

Unicorns were pretty much the same, break the horn, and get what you needed. Unicorns never came down places like these, though. Because once the horn was broke, it’s game over for them. You could repair the horn if you got the fragment and got them to the hospital in time, but most of the time, they’d have to get an aesthetic horn. You couldn’t tell the difference, but once they tried to cast magic, you’d know they broke it somehow. Earths, however, would just be game of who’s stronger.

When I finally made it to the outskirts of the city where the Hospital was located, I saw something I never expected to see. The hospital was almost completely surrounded by ponies. I guess they were all here for the same reason I was. Tents were scattered all across the hospital, small lights signaling others. It was quiet over here, unlike the city center; I guess people don’t watch the news any more. I looked at my watch, 12:52 AM. Must’ve taken a little longer to get here than I thought. There were guards guarding all the possible routes into the hospital, guess they weren’t letting anyone in.

As I walked toward the entrance, flowers and peddles were scattered all over the ground and entrance. Everypony was looking at me as if I was being sentenced to death. I could hear their whispers.

“What does she think she’s doing?”, “Isn’t that...”, “Do you think…”, “How does she expect to get in?”, “does she think the guards will let her in?”, “Poor mare doesn’t know what she’s getting into.”, “She has a lot of guts walking up to the guards like that.”, “Why her?”

I felt like quivering into the ground and just sneaking in through the dirt, if only some things were possible. I finally arrived to where the restricted tape was, the guard only halted me and said “You must be new here, sorry; the hospital isn’t letting any visitors in. A music Icon…”

“Yes… I know.” I retorted before he could continue.

“Then go on, go back home, things here are being taken care of.” He said in a soft tone, as if trying to assure me. But I’m not dumb; I know everything is not okay. I stood there for a few moments, until he said something else. “Come on, Filly; don’t make this harder than it should be.”

I turned my head to look at the Ponies behind me. Their faces are only silhouettes, the illuminating city in the background projecting the light that fades them. I turned back to guard, looking at him with a sad stare. He quivered a little; he’s uneasy.

“Filly…”

I reach into my bag and pull out Vinyl’s glasses. The guard just stares at me, his expression sad, and pitiful.

“I think you better go in.”

All is quiet, only the sound of silence. I enter the Hospital, no nurses, no doctors; they had left. I looked at the patient rooms on a clipboard.

Vinyl Scratch Room# 114 Patient# 225 10TH Floor, Urgent Care Status: Stable

Sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso, and lower foreleg. Heart trauma and internal bleeding occurred. Patient now stabilized, awaiting remove of .32 caliber bullets. Insertion points: Chest Cavity, Left Ankle, Rib cage x2.

Doctor: Dr. Hoofdini

… I feel lonely.