It was a quiet night among the street of Canterlot, darkness curling around every corner and bend of the desolate streets that ran through the city. Each of the streets that were lined with normally bustling businesses and cozy housing were now quiet and lifeless at such a late time of night as the residence of Canterlot were all snugly tucked into bed.

The dimmed specs of light the covered the black sea of Canterlot were its street lights, and it was quite the sight to behold if one were looking at the city at such a late hour from a building high up. But even the most enthusiastic of tourists who would wait in the longest of lines were already well in bed by now.

Well, of course there was always one exception.

The sound of a glass bottle hitting a wooden table with a loud thump echoed through the near empty bar, the mare holding it grinning ear to ear with a gleam in her eye that showed her still intact sobriety. She roughly placed the bottle with a collection of others, increasing the small cluster of bottles from two to three.

Seconds later, another bottle hit the table with a much more erratic sound and a stallion let out a gasp for air as he moved his hoof to his mouth, knocking over the still half full bottle in the process and spilling it; letting it pool around two other bottles. The stallion hopped down from the bar stool and ran off towards the bath room, the look in his eye one of nausea.

"Lightweight..." The mare chuckled under her breathe as she watched the sight with mild amusement until the sound of her name being called out interrupted her.

"Vinyl! You gonna drink with us this time or what?" Shouted a feminine voice.

"Yeah," Vinyl replied, her ears perking up at the opportunity for more drinks "be right over."

She upped from the stool and trotted soberly over to a booth set off in the corner of the bar where two other ponies sat together, each of them with drinks in hoof. A light blue stallion eyed her from behind dark sunglasses and chuckled as she went to slide into the booth, taking a seat next to a green unicorn.

"Have any fun?" He asked, gesturing towards the pile of bottles she had just left with a nod of the head. Vinyl merely sighed, looking genuinely sad before answering,

"No, he asked the barkeep for light stuff." She said, climbing into the booth and sitting down with a huff.

"Well not everyone can hold it like you can." He replied, sitting back in his own seat.

"I'm amazed you haven't had liver failure yet." The green unicorn mumbled under her breath while eyeing the drink she was tilting back and forth in a bored fashion.

"Can we just drink already Vinyl?" She asked in a whining tone, "I thought we were coming here to drink, not wait for the world to end."

"We're not waiting for the world to end Lyra," The unicorn said, her face still down in the table, "we're waiting for my landlord to show up for drinks and I don't wanna be too messed up when he gets here to talk about my missing rent."

"Well why did you accept that drinking offer from that poor guy then?" The stallion asked, pointing over to the stallion who just stumbled out of the bathroom, and also getting a stare from Vinyl.

"Shut up Neon." She said simply.

"I still don't see why we can't drink..." Lyra mumbled just before the sound of the bar's door opening up rung out, making every head in the bar turn to watch the new patron walk in. Which, in total, was about six heads.

"Finally." Vinyl mumbled, smiling at the sight of her landlord before waving them over.

The stallion caught the signal, though it would have been hard to miss with the total of six ponies sitting in the bar and the one in the bathroom. He made his way over, brown mane bobbing up and down faintly with every trot, and his simple green eyes shifting to the other two ponies at the table other than Vinyl. He was a rather bland looking individual with a dull, rust colored coat that seemed even more dull with the dim lighting of the bar.

"Hello." He said simply, arriving at the table under the discomforting stares of Neon and Lyra.

Vinyl however, perked up at the sight of him and greeted him with a smile and a nod towards the empty seat next to Neon. Despite him taking the seat awkwardly and constantly shifting his eyes to the other stallion, he seemed to be trying to relax.

Vinyl smiled forcefully, though it looked outwardly genuine to anyone but her friends, before turning towards the bar keep, whom was already watching the party, and nodding as a signal to get the liquor flowing.

"So," Vinyl said, turning back to her party and taking a quick look at all three of them,"guess were all here then." She said with an awkward chuckle before beginning introductions.

"Lyra, Neon, this is Rent Out." She said gesturing towards the stallion who, to his credit, smiled slightly and nodded to them both.

"So, uh, Vinyl. I really appreciate the offer for drinks, but I really should be at home by now. Couldn't we just do this tomorrow night?" His body language suggested that he was just extremely uncomfortable with the situation rather than being tired. Of course, he was probably just expecting Vinyl to be here rather than two others.

Vinyl had weaseled with ponies long enough to know how to go about situations such as these.

"Well, I understand." She said, sounding genuinely sad about him leaving and with enough emotion to make Neon and Lyra cut her glances and stiff up a bit. He seemed revealed at those words, but stiffened at the next ones.

"At least stick around for one drink though. Hate for you to have come out this far expecting booze then not get any." She was playing her cards smart, taking advantage of the seemingly "push over" attitude the stallion had and that she had observed in him as her land lord, and using it to force him into a drink.

All that was left now was to inform the barkeep to bring something a bit "stronger" than usual.

The time came, needless to say, and just as the nervous and anxious landlord was about to order, Vinyl interrupted him, telling the barkeep to bring something that none of the others at the table could recognize by name. She knew the drink all too well however, and grinned when the barkeep brought it back.

"Cheers." She said simply, a grin on her face while she clinked glasses with the other three before downing the liquid that burned at first taste.

She chuckled to herself as she watched the landlord's eyes go wide and his gag reflex trigger, but downed the concoction despite his bodies protests.

The booth that was previously full of quick glances and uncomfortable shifting was now a lively corner in an otherwise dead bar. Shouts and laughter came from them just as quickly as the barkeep kept bringing by new bottles to keep them sated, she didn't care; she was getting paid one way or another and with how intoxicated they were already she managed to slip in a few glasses of water and light beers instead of what they wanted.

Neon had just come to the end of a story, much to the encouragement of Lyra, and was about to begin another until Vinyl stepped in with her original intent for this hole meeting still intact. Her mind was starting to fade from the alcohol, an impressive feat considering what she was drinking was heavier than the others and they were already seemingly wasted.

"Say Rent, you remember that rent I owe ya?" She slurred lightly, getting a brief look of hard concentration from Rent before he nodded.

"Well, I don't suppose you could let me off with a warnin' this time? I'm a bit tight on money as of late." She was internally pleading that he'd be drunk enough to accept her idea.

"Hmm, well I think it's against regulation for me to just wave the entire payment on a bribe..." He said, struggling to pronounce the words 'regulation' and 'payment'.

'Damn.' Vinyl thought.

"...but, I don't think that there's anything against striking a deal. Pay is pay." His smile grew to a wicked one.

Vinyl leaned in a bit, using what was left of her sober side to try and listen carefully.

"I'm listening..."

"Well," He said, "maybe you could, you know, do something for me if you don't wanna pay so bad."

The look the table was giving him encouraged him to elaborate lest the table get angry.

"Nothing like that! Jeez, get yer mind outta the gutters..." He said quickly, his hooves coming off his beer to hold them up in an "I surrender" type fashion.

"I was talking about something like a dare. Course it'd have to be a big one to fill in for your rent, but I think your creative noggin could do it no problem. But if you mess up, can't do it or, or anything like that, then you pay me the rent with a bit extra for, you know, the whole 'Bribing me' thing." He said with a devious smile.

Vinyl slumped at the thought of still having to give some form of payment, the annoyed and flat look on her face was enough to signal that much, but she begrudgingly accepted the offer with:

"Meh, I'm goin to the bathroom."

Neon's head craned as he watched her trot out of sight before he slinked closer to the landlord, a devious idea coming to mind at an attempt to get back at the white mare for a few drinking bets he himself had lost.

"Hey buddy, you wanna get your rent and still wanna watch her squirm?" Neon asked, dipping his black glasses down to look into the landlord's green eyes with his own bold, blue ones.

"That would be great, considering all the noise complaints I have to put up with her renting from me, "His smile only widened at what he said next, "but knowing that crazy mare she'll do anything and everything to get outta payin me."

"That's cause you don't know where ta hit her." Neon said in a drunken sage tone to the landlord, who now had a raised brow.

"You see, what your about ta get into is gonna be a one way fight; because your on offense and you don't know where to hit. Vinyl's tough and not the type to go out easy, so you gotta know where to hit to even get her thinkin' about goin' down."

He paused to take a drink before continuing after a sigh.

"Vinyl has you at a disadvantage right now, but I think I'll even the odds a bit." He said, gesturing for the landlord to come closer and whispering something into his ear.

"Are you sure? That seems awfully easy..." He said in drunken distrust.

"Just trust me when I say that there's no way she'll get through it." Neon reassured him with a coolness about him as he leaned back in his seat.

Meanwhile, Lyra had watched the entire conversation in mild amusement with a mix of disdain, but ultimately decided to stay quiet for the course of it and open another drink with a smile. She now had a bit of dirt on the cocky stallion, thanks to good ear.

The sound of heavy hoofsteps coming turned Neon back to his normal personality and he greeted Vinyl with an all too peppy tone. She looked a bit confused at his greeting, as she had only left for the bathroom, but brushed it off and quickly got back to business with weaseling her way out of rent.

"Alright, so I'll take your whole 'dare' thing over the rent. What's the dare?" She was straight to the point like she always was when she had to do something less than willingly.

The landlord gave a quick, shifty, glance towards Neon before swallowing and saying the words he had been told to say.

"Spend a week," He gulped, "in the Community Theater."

Vinyl stiffed up immediately at just the words he had spoken, her eyes widening a bit as her mind took a second to process what he had said.

"H-huh?" She stammered.

Neon could only smile, and was soon joined by Rent once he saw her reaction.

"Is something wrong?" Rent asked, his brow raised and a sly smile creeping onto his face out of relief that Neon's idea was already working.

"N-Nah, um I just...uh." Vinyl was at a stand still, and was inwardly cursing to the heavens of the pony's choice of dare.

'Anything would have been better than having to sit through a week sitting through ideas for plays to reflect the sadness of today's youth or to some pathetic excuse for a musical performance that has a deeper meaning or whatever else those creeps do down there.' She thought, her situation akin to that of a rock and a hard place.

"S-So just a week of sitting through a theater? N-No problem." She said, laughing awkwardly at her own bluff.

"No no, I know that would be too easy for someone like you, so I was thinking you'd help with the theater too." The drunk landlord said with a giggle.

Both Neon and Vinyl's eyes went wide at that, Vinyl nearly fainting after the words registered.

"You sure? I-I mean she might not know what to-" Neon said, not intending for him to take it that far, but he was only interrupted by the landlord.

"Nonsense, I'm sure we all know how good she is with music. She'd fit right in!" He said happily with a drunken slur.

"I'm not too sure 'bout that..." Neon mumbled, turning his head to Vinyl with an expectant and anxious look.

Her face scrunched up in hard concentration, her mind racing over her options back and forth. On one hoof she could say no and just pay him the money she owed him, and had already gathered on a side note, or she could tough it out and not have to pay the rent and have a little bit of cash left over to spend on herself at the cost of spending an entire week at her version of Tarturus.

"Well Vinyl," Rent Out said with a devious smile, "what'll it be?"

Vinyl let out a sigh after another brief moment of thinking over her options.

"I'll do it." She said sullenly.

Both Lyra and Neon looked a bit surprised at that, Neon even going as far as to gasp. The cocky landlord leaned back and smiled a bit wider, he was getting paid either way, despite the forms of payment being different.

"Vinyl, are you sure?" Lyra asked as seriously as she could after her third.

"Yep," Vinyl said with a more sober tone than the mint green unicorn, "I'll do it."

"Great!" Rent Out said with a drunk horse's enthusiasm.

"But I hope your ready for a night of drinking, cause I plan on getting my headache from booze tonight, that way I don't have to get one from the theater tomorrow!" The white mare said with new found vigor, raising her hoof to signal the barkeep to bring another round.

"Vinyl I don't think that's how that works..." Lyra said, but she may as well had been talking to herself at that point. Vinyl had set herself to doing something, whether it be to get drunk of her flank or to go to community theater for a week, and now she was going to do it.

And soon enough, the barkeep brought the first round of many to come. The first round being a lighter assortment for the other three if they still wanted to drink, but that may as well have been a warm up for the white mare; for as soon as the others didn't want to drink anymore, she immediately told the barkeep to kick it up far more than a notch. The smell of already heavy amounts of beer coming from the corner began to turn into a stench that crept across the entire floor of the bar, becoming so obvious that eventually the barkeep began spraying some air freshener around her station and began to cover her nose whenever she went to deliver another bottle to the increasingly drunken DJ.

The hours passed on and eventually the bar-mare asked them to leave, eventually giving up on them arguing over who would pay the bill and decided to put it on a collective tab. They stumbled out, each of them laughing and giggling incessantly, before they eventually stumbled there separate ways.

"Should I take Vinyl?" Rent Out asked, his eyes struggling to stay open and is body swaying lightly to every slight gust of wind.

"No, I got thish," Lyra slurred, despite the sound of her claim, she was a little less drunk than the others.

"My housh is closher anywaysh." She continued.

The other two nodded a bit too hard and a bit too many times before stumbling away, Vinyl being mindlessly led by the hooves and voice of Lyra; She was far too drunk to protest.

Vinyl's eyes creaked open, recoiling instantly at the bright shine of the light from the window across the room. She groaned in protest and rolled over, rolling a bit too far and tumbling out of the bed and onto the floor, which only resulted in another moan of disagreement. She tried pushing herself off the ground, but found that it felt as though her joints were something equal to rubber.

She laid there for awhile longer, her eyes shut and her consciousness fading until the door behind her opened and the familiar, and for some reason louder than usual, voice rang out to her.

"You up?" The voice was from Lyra, and it sounded like she was screaming.

"Not so loud..." Vinyl replied, her own voice sounding like a shriek.

"I'm barely talking Vinyl, the shower is ready when you are." Lyra said, her voice followed by the sound of a door clicking shut.

The white mare grunted in response before rolling over, finding the carpet suddenly much more comfortable and appealing. She sat there for a few minutes, sleeping through another visit from the mint green mare undisturbed before being forcefully dragged to the shower by the same mare.

Spurred on by her uncomfortable landing position and the chilly feeling of the tile floor of Lyra's bathroom, Vinyl climbed up using the sink and shambled her way over to the shower and even managed to steady herself enough to turn the shower handle to on. The hot water of the shower definitely helped with her headache, and the heat of the water made the bottom of the shower a rival to the bed's job.

That is, until an agitated green mare told her to get out and shut off the hot water; forcing the mare to get out.

Vinyl herself was greeted by Lyra in the living room, who was armed at the mouth with a smirk.

"Have a nice shower?" She asked innocently.

"Yeah actually, the cold water helped wake me up." Vinyl responded honestly, she knew the best way to make Lyra mad was to take it in stride.

"Don't mention it," Lyra said, huffing, "your gonna need to be as awake as possible for your first day at the theater." She said, her smirk back with new found vigor and delight.

Vinyl was beat on that topic.

"Yeah..." Was her only response.

Just as a fog of silence began to roll in, the phone rang out and grabbed both of their attentions. Lyra, being closer to the phone and actually able to use her magic, answered with a very mundane tone. Her eyes lit up when she heard the voice that answered, and a smile slowly crept onto her face as they continued to talk.

"Oh! So good to see you!" She answered, getting a raised brow from Vinyl who patted her head to realize her glasses were missing.

"Uh-huh, she's here...Of course!" Lyra said, levitating the phone over to Vinyl and into her grasp,

"It's your landlord." She said, a snarky smirk on her face.

Vinyl hesitated a bit before sighing and taking the phone from Lyra's hazy green magical grasp.

"Hello?" Vinyl asked, hoping Lyra was just kidding.

"Good to hear you Vinyl! I hope that headache wasn't too bad for you this morning, I know mine was and I also know that you drank a lot more than I did." He said, overly perky.

"What do you want Rent Out?" Vinyl deadpanned, but it didn't even begin to put a dent in Rent's cheer.

"Well, I just wanted to remind you that  today is your first day of..." He took a second to savor the words, "Community theater."

Vinyl groaned.

"Anyways, I even took the liberties to see what your schedule is for your one week and it is as follows; Your first two days will be pretty bland with you just watching some of the theater's ponies preform some of their own stuff. But after that it gets real fun..." He said with joy.

"...and that 'fun' is...?" Vinyl asked.

"Oh, I'll let that be a surprise." You could practically hear the smile on his face, "and before I forget to tell you, I've also gotten into contact with one of the ponies at the theater to inform them of your week long visit, and that they should inform me if you miss a day. They will also be telling me if you don't interact, but I know how you are so I'll only want you to perform once."

Vinyl groaned again.

"Think of it as a one mare field trip." He added.

"Anything else?" Vinyl asked, trying hard not to sound agitated.

"Nothing more than have fun and that I expect you to be present at the theater when it opens - which is in about an hour." He cheered.

Vinyl hung up the phone and tossed it over to Lyra, who had been smiling the entirety of Vinyl's conversation, and continued to do so until Vinyl asked her if she was okay

"Oh, I'm fine," She said with her signature smirk, "I just can't wait to see how long it takes you to cave to the theater and pay your rent." She said cockily.

"Me too..." Vinyl replied in earnest.

A sudden rumble erupted from the white mare's stomach, gurgling with enough gusto to cause the mare to clench her stomach and smile up at Lyra sheepishly.

"Um...so do you think we could..." She began, but Lyra already knew where that was going.

"Yeah, I'm starved myself. We could stop by Bon-Bon's to get some breakfast; Celestia knows your gonna need it." She smirked.

"That sounds good, but I bet you seeing your little mare friend sounds even better doesn't it?" Vinyl smirked, catching the violent glint in Lyra's eye before rushing out the door with the mint green mare not too far behind her.

Next Chapter: Insurance Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 57 Minutes