Disclaimer: Please don't sue me.

   "...So, she'd been trying to get at my equipment for the past - I don't know - hour, before I finally had to call security. She was hot, though. I was sad to see her go."

   The navy-blue stallion chuckled and raised the bottle to his lips, trying not to let the vibrations running through it cause an accident. The cream-white stallion nearby laughed above the deep, thumping music.

   "Yeah, that sounds like you, Josh. Always after the next piece of flank -"

   "Can it, Shaun."

   He laughed again. "What're you gonna do, O Soft One? Synth me to death?"

   "Oi, right. Look at Rus' over here," he retorted, leaning back against the table and throwing a hoof over the cherry-red stallion with the cropped mane nearby.

   "I've never needed bass, mate." He grabbed the bottle from Josh's hoof and leaned back, laughing with the others as Josh tried reaching for it desperately.

   He paused and sighed angrily, watching Chris polish off the last of his whiskey. He chuckled. "Yeah, you're just so hardcore with your keyboard and colours and six pairs of sunglasses that you don't need real music."

   "Not my fault."

   "No, it's the weed's fault, isn't it?" Vinyl interjected, stepping out of the cold night and through the neon curtains. "How's it goin', guys?"

   "Ah, look, the mare's late. Again. Where you been, girl?" Shaun asked, grinning.

   "It's a free country, P," she snorted, and walked over to the to the small, lopsided oval of ponies loosely grouped around one of the 'enthusiastic' pink and green tables. She sat down next to a light green mare and sighed happily, feeling the slow kick of the music pounding from the front of the room.

   "Yo, Sy. This is Koda, right?" she asked the mare.

   "Hmm?"

   "Playing right now." She already knew the answer, of course. Every musician has their own special spice to add to the metaphorical music soup. She could recognize Koda's special 2-step reverb beat from a block away on a crowded street in New Yoke.

   "Yeah. He's been going nonstop for three hours." A fluttering sigh came from behind her loose mask. "What stamina."

   "Nice try. He's taken. Been tied down to - what's her name - Violet for months now." Syrenas groaned, making Vinyl laugh. "Refresh my memory; who's up next?" she asked.

   "That'd be me. Been working on a liquid drum-and-bass for a while now, trying it out tonight. You playing?"

   "One more time? Sometimes, I swear, it's like your accent's got a mind of its own."

   Syrenas snorted. "Are you playing?" she repeated, louder, before muttering to herself angrily.

   "Nah, I'm just here to take Koda home. I have to talk to him about something." There was a pause in the conversation as she chuckled quietly to herself. "You think he has stamina. Half the time I have to practically carry him back."

   Syrenas clicked her tongue. "Oh. That's too bad, I hear you're one of the best."

   Vinyl laughed. "You're kidding, right? I've never even been published before. Unlike all the guys back here." She turned her head to the silhouetted stage, closing her eyes behind her glasses. "Mmm. I come here every so often just to listen, not to play." She turned back to Syrenas. "How do you keep your mask on?"

   "What?"

   "Just popped into my mind. I've been wondering for forever."

   "It - it just sort of stays on by itself -"

   "No, I mean, how can you bear to keep it on? It's always so hot in here."

   Syrenas snorted, barely audibly. "You comin' onto me, Scratch?"

   Vinyl sighed impatiently, leaning on the table against her hoof. "How many times do I have to tell everypony? 'Bi' does not equal 'wants everypony'."

   "Just checkin'. Makin' sure. Positive?" she teased, winking.

   "Oh, buck off, Sy."

   The track suddenly drained away with a warble, the low announcer's voice crackled over the PA, "That was a no-nonsense cut from Koda7. Next up, I need Syrenas Voice up here. Sy?"

   As the lime-green unicorn stood and walked away from the table with a friendly little wave, Vinyl shook her head and groaned, stretching her forelegs back. It smelled like alcohol and smoke all of a sudden; either somepony just attempted to mix a blue blazer and had failed horribly, or her nose had finally picked up on the smokers hanging round outside the club.

   She coughed twice and stood, making her way through the crowd to the off-ramp leading from the stage. An absolutely exhausted-looking silhouette of her friend came bleeding from the shadows, his equipment cart in tow.

   Vinyl scoffed as he passed her. "What the hay happened to you?"

   Koda coughed. "I put the - put the wrong oscillator on the wrong side. It screwed everything up. I was basically running back and forth and back and forth. Celestia, it is smoky in here."

   "Trust me, I checked," Vinyl chuckled, walking up alongside him. "Nopony's on fire."

   "I gotta get out of here," he almost whispered, coughing again.

   "Yeah. Because you have asthma," Vinyl snorted.

   "I do!"

   "Oh, right," she laughed, patting Koda playfully on the back. "We should get going anyways."

   She waved as she passed the group of stallions, her other hoof still on Koda's back. Reactions were immediate: Shaun giggled and Chris let out a sharp wolf whistle.

   "Threesome," Josh coughed.

   "Yo, shut it, Josh."

   The city was also so peaceful at night. There wasn't much of a sound besides the monotonous clicking of two sets of hooves on the cobblestone. Some street-lamps flickered, others outshone those around them, bathing the street in a dull golden glow.

   Vinyl inhaled deeply, feeling the coolness of the night fill her head. Her mediation was cut short by Koda's still-exhausted voice. "Thanks for helping me home again, Vinyl."

   Vinyl chuckled softly. "I don't do much."

   "No, but it's nice to have somepony to talk to," he replied in the same tone. "The world is quiet when you alone inhabit it."

   Vinyl stared at her friend from behind her glasses. "... I think your collabs with the Spacehorse have gotten a bit out of hoof. That's some deep stuff right there."

   Koda laughed shortly, his dual chuckle bouncing off the sides of the now-towering buildings to their right and left. They weren't far at all from his apartment. Almost forgot.

   "Speaking of having somepony to talk to, I noticed you chatting it up with somepony I totally didn't recognize last week," he commented.

   Vinyl laughed loudly, before realizing where she was. She stopped herself short. "I was, like, just about to ask you about that!" she said, pulling a bent-up piece of parchment out from her saddlebag with her magic. "Look. She sent me a letter, quick-delivery.

Dear Ms. Vinyl Scratch,

   I came upon your address today while tidying up my work area, and memories of the night I was introduced to your genre of music came flooding back to me.

   I must say, these memories sparked my interest, and I've decided to try to contact you. Maybe we could meet sometime to discuss our own individual music? You live, surprisingly, very close to me -

   -and blah dee blah dee blah, but the point is, it looks like she's asking me out," she finished, sounding worried. "What do I do? Do I just - just walk up to her house and start talking, or do-"

   "Vinyl, calm down!" Koda interrupted. "Oh, and stop, we're here." He turned to open the door, but Vinyl stopped him with a hoof on the shoulder.

   "Wait, Koda, what do I do?" she asked frantically.

   Koda thought for a moment. "... Don't take the words of strangers for face value. Delve into the depths of their intent first." With this (and a terribly confused look from Vinyl), Koda walked with a bit of a swagger into his apartment.

   Vinyl stared at the door for a moment, before pounding it with a hoof and nearly yelling, "You're an existential bastard, Koda!"

   She only stayed long enough to hear his teasing comeback. "I know you are, but what am I?"

   The music echoed hrough her skull, vibrating her chest, sending chills down her spine. Just the way she liked it.

   The headphones were doing their job. She could feel the bass echo through them, reverberating through her. The tables spread out in front of her were lit up with orange and green, the only light filling the room. Everything she'd done so far was perfect for garage. But that wasn't what she wanted.

   She sighed, tapping her hoof on the table restlessly. Suddenly, while she was glancing at the shape editor, an idea hit her. If she blended the right 404 with the right shape, it could reinvent the sound. It could throw the entire track out of garage and into full-blown dubstep.

   She grinned, and her hoof hovered over the button. She stared at the dull orange glow, blinking, breathing deeply. Suddenly, the glow became a visual white noise. She could feel her eyelids growing heavier by the second. Thoughts of all kinds flooded her mind, all vying for the position as subject for the first dream.

   One unexpected thought reached in and grabbed Vinyl by the concentration. She gasped herself awake, and leapt out of her seat, trotting into the kitchen.

   She threw a mess of papers off the top of the fridge, levitating record after pamphlet after bill down to eye level, shaking her head each time she examined something. Finally, her magic sensed something slightly heavier, and she brought it down to her with relief. Still there. Still there.

   She smiled and grabbed a bottle of... something from the counter, popping off the cap and pouring a half-glass for herself before turning and walking back into the living room.

   The book between Vinyl's hooves was literally covered with a fine layer of dust. She shifted around a bit on the couch, kicking a sock and a fork off the end and getting comfortable before wiping it off gently.

   The pages flipped by, one by one, each bringing new colour to the dark room. She finally came to a page she remembered far too well. Page 57. She ran a hoof over the picture softly.

   She raised the glass of golden liquid to her lips and took a slow sip. Tonight, she wasn't drinking to get drunk. Just to drink.

   She didn't bother going to bed. She merely reached out with a finger of turquoise magic and flicked off the light, holding the book tightly to her chest as she felt sleep take her in its warm grasp.

   "I've never forgotten you, Octavia."