The young batpony fluttered over the marketplace as it was bustling; it was late afternoon, following that great night prior. Nightsong was still smiling, in the best of moods. A warm, full stomach- Vinyl had made enough for leftovers for lunch!- and now a party planned for the next evening… She couldn’t believe her luck! But now she needed something to wear. This was a club, after all, and she wanted to show Vinyl Scratch that she cared enough about her passion to dress for the event.

Nightsong landed with a slight skid on the cobblestone road, just outside the Boutique- just in time to come nearly face to face with a unicorn walking out with a series of bags held in her magical grip. She was a middle-aged mare, with ebony fur and a short cut white mane, matching the piano key cutie mark on her flank. Her blue eyes widened slightly as they took in the batpony, narrowing just so. The younger mare could spot the put on smile a mile away.

“Ah, hello!” the mare intoned in a high falsetto, accented just slightly with a Fillydelphia twang, “You must be the new batpony in town that Miss Belle was going on about. I am High Standards.”

The mare held out a hoof, smiling slightly wider when Nightsong shook it gently, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss…?”

“Nightsong,” she replied quickly, “I-it’s nice to meet you too. I-I saw your shop in town; it’s very impressive. I-I make instruments too, actually.”

That got a surprised blink out of the mare, and a little grin out of Nightsong in response.

Not all of us are junk merchants...

“Mostly wood-worked ones, but I’ve dabbled in brass work in the past,” she went on, confidence growing, “Just sold a cello to Octavia, in fact.”

“Really now?” High Standards replied softly, seeming impressed, “Congratulations! How did you meet her?”

“O-oh, I live with her and Vinyl Scratch now. T-they’re my roommates.”

There was a slight change in the mare’s expression- quickly hidden, but Nightsong had noted the twitch of an ear and the shuffling of hooves at the mention of the mares.

“Ah, I see. Well it was a pleasure… Nightsong, yes?”

High Standards shifted her bags in her magical grip before quickly walking by. Nightsong bit her lip slightly as she watched her go, suppressing a sigh. Well, not everypony was going to be as friendly as those she had met so far. And at least this mare was cordial. Certainly a plus from-

“Ah hello Nightsong, darling!”

Rarity’s melodic voice trilled out of her home-store as the white mare peered past her door, beaming at the potential customer. It sent little shivers down Nightsong’s sides as she smiled back, putting High Standards to one side of her mind as she hurried towards the pony she had already met. The unicorn stepped back to allow Nightsong through her door, lightly shutting it behind her.

“And how are we, this morning? Come to check on your orders?”

Nightsong blushed hotly. Oh buck! She quickly waved her hooves and wings in the negative.

“N-no, not at all, Miss Rarity!” Nightsong stammered out, “I’m n-not here to rush you at all. I just uh, wanted to see if I-I could add something…”

Rarity giggled softly as she watched the spluttering batpony, holding up a hoof to calm her, “I’m just teasing, dear. Your dresses are done. How else can I help you?”

Blink. Done? Nightsong smiled slowly, deeply impressed by the grinning, self-assured mare in front of her. Nerves blew away with an exhale, and the batpony gave a little nod.

“I-I’m glad to hear that, Miss Rarity,” she started a bit sheepishly, “Because I need something… w-well, something to wear to a club, b-by tomorrow night.”

A sparkle of light came to Rarity’s eyes along with a devious little grin, and she did a little dance in place.

“Club-wear, you say?” she practically purred out, making poor Nightsong’s heart skip a beat, “Come, come, let me show you what I have in your size.”

Nightsong gulped sheepishly as she slinked after her, ears splayed. Oh dear. What had she unleashed…

Vinyl Scratch’s ears twitched as a quiet voice pulled her out of concentration. It was the afternoon of her gig, and she was getting the last of her songs saved to her board before heading to the club. Octavia had ducked out earlier to hang out with Lyra and Bon-Bon- their friends would be coming to Vinyl’s gig as well, and would be meeting Nightsong there. Vinyl wasn’t too worried about them meeting- Lyra would adore the exotic mare, and Bon-Bon was the epitome of easy-going. But what had her curious now was this quiet, beautiful singing…

A flash of her horn saved her board’s settings before Vinyl hopped down, ears swiveling to catch the direction of the singing. Downstairs. She tip-toed her way down, grinning slyly. If Octi was gone… Peeking around, Vinyl’s grin only widened as she found the source. Nightsong.

The young mare had her wings stretched while she sat on their couch, running something clutched in both hooves in slow, purposeful movements, singing quietly to herself. Closing her eyes, Vinyl tried to place the language- not Germane or Trotsky… ah, must be Thestral again. It was beautiful. Lots of little batpony clicks and chirps scattered about, and the words themselves flowed over each other. It would make for an absolutely perfect vocal set up for trance music.

Vinyl made sure to wait for Nightsong to finish her little ritual, with a bowed head and soft smile, before announcing herself with a purposefully loud hoofstep on the last few steps. The batpony glanced up in surprise, purple eyes widening cutely, as was the light blush under her fur.

“Nice set of pipes you have there,” Vinyl told her quietly, shooting her a little wink, “Sing often?”

“Not for other ponies,” Nighty replied shyly, glancing down with…

Vinyl smiled slowly. That looked an awful lot like regret- and DJ Pon-3 did not do musical regret. The unicorn darted over to put a foreleg over the batpony, grinning at her cheerfully.

“We can change that, y’know,” she told her plainly, grinning until her infectiousness got a grin back, “All you have to do is ask, Nighty. Octy would love to have you perform with us.”

The young batpony blanched at that, ears splaying atop her head and tail swishing out across the faux-leather couch.

“Y-you two are accomplished performers! I would take away from-”

“Ah, ah, ah.”

Vinyl’s magic lightly held Nightsong’s muzzle closed while she smirked at her new roomie, “No putting yourself down, Nightsong. You’re a stellar craftspony, and I just heard you singing. You’d be kickass at the club. You’re still coming tonight, right?”

Nightsong was nodding even before Vinyl’s magic slithered away, blushing deeply.

“Of course! Heh, I-I was getting ready right now, actually. Miss Rarity has my uh… my outfit.”

Oh-ho. Does she now. It took some self-control not to gaze at Nightsong hungrily. Rarity made the absolute best club-wear in Ponyville- possibly in most of Equestria. She was one of Vinyl’s many business partners, making club merchandise and clothing with the DJ Pon-3 logo. Vinyl could only imagine just what her friend was making for the young, sleek batpony to wear. This party was going to be fuckin’ experience.

She and Octavia had gone out to plan with Rarity the night before, something to surprise Nightsong with. No wonder Rarity had been smirking the whole time. Vinyl had tried to plan something fun- tall, soft faux-leather boots and a collar, with little cuffs and buckles- but Tavia had quickly put a stop to that, and put a scruff on Vinyl. She was right, of course- too soon for subby gear. But, Goddesses willing, one day!

“Excited?”

Nightsong gave a little shiver and smiled dreamily at Vinyl, wings lifting just slightly off her back.

“You have no idea,” she replied softly, ears perked up, “I’ve always wanted to go to a dance club. I’d see them in some of the towns, but they were pretty expensive to get in.”

For batponies. It was unspoken, but Vinyl could see it in Nightsong’s expression. Poor filly. She resisted the urge to give her another hug- Vinyl could see that Nightsong was steeling herself. She nodded in respect of that and patted her shoulder.

“I’m glad to have you going, Nightsong,” she told her quietly, “And you and me? We’re gonna go to one of Octy’s big gigs in a few weeks, and we’re gonna make it a blast.”

Vinyl rocked her flank against Nightsong’s side; the younger mare was blushing furiously, but smiling and looking excited, prancing in place.

Sweet Cadence, I want to buck her into the ground, right now.

Instead, the seemingly easy-going mare just laughed to herself and ruffled Nighty's fluffy ears before turning to head back upstairs.

Deeeep breath. Just hold on, Vinyl. That’ll come soon enough.

“Oh you’re right, she /is/ cute, Octavia.”

Lyra Heartstrings grinned slyly as she stared out the window of Bon-Bon’s shop, out at the local market. Nightsong had set up a little booth for the afternoon, with a few of her smaller works on display. The mint-green unicorn gave a little squee as she watched the batpony talk animatedly with Time Turner, a local inventor.

Bon-Bon chuckled quietly as she sat with Octavia at a tea table, sipping some oolong, “She is, gotta admit. You and Vinyl…?”

Octavia let out a soft breath but nodded, “We hope to try, yes. She’s attracted to us, that’s for certain. I just don’t want to jump the gun, as it were.”

Lyra smirked back at her, eyebrows lifted skeptically, “So you take her to one of Vinyl’s parties? You know how the ponies there are.”

That got a bit of a blush to Octavia’s cheeks. Vinyl was a big proponent of legalized sex work, and any shows she hosted allowed those kinds of ponies to work in and around it. Vinyl’s hired security, mostly friends from Canterlot that Octavia knew as well, knew the bad type to watch out for, and those they needed to protect. Octavia fully supported Vinyl’s decision in that regard, but it often made her parties a tad… mmm… raucous.

She coughed demurely into a hoof and waved it in the air.

“We’ll keep an eye on her,” she promised the mares, smirking a bit, “You know how Vinyl gets during these things.”

Lyra chuckled, “I almost hope some idiot tries something, just so I can see her plot get kicked by Scratch’s magic again. Brutal.”

But effective. Octavia still remember those sonic pulses flinging private guards into the air, shattering plastic face masks and rending their batons… Vinyl couldn’t keep up the magic long, she was not a trained spellcaster and Octavia had had to treat her marefriend for magical exhaustion more times than she would have liked to admit. But she had a respectable mana pool, and anypony that knew her, also knew not to mess with her.

“Hopefully nopony will be that foolish. I want Nightsong to have a good time.”

Octavia smiled softly and winked at Bon-Bon before downing her tea, “And the both of you. You are coming, yes?”

“Well if we can find a nice, private booth, we sure hope-”

“Lyra!”

Octavia giggled softly at her friends, Bon-Bon having launched out of her seat to chase a laughing mint unicorn around the confectionary. This was going to be a very good night…

Getting ready for a fun one!