I woke up to the plain white ceiling of my new home. I yawned relaxedly. It felt good to wake up in a comfortable bed with Celestia’s sun gently nudging you awake. But as friendly as the sun would be, there wasn’t too many others that would do the same.

It was nice for the princess to give me 100 bits per month, but it wouldn’t last me the whole time. Maybe if I starved myself it would work out, but I definitely needed a second job. I continued to search for another job, but I faced the same problems as before. Bad reputation.

As I roamed through Ponyville aimlessly, I finally caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash. Somehow, I managed to miss her the past few days I was in Ponyville. I rushed to catch up with her. She turned around to see me, and I noticed her ears droop.

“Umm… hey Rainbow,” I said.

“Oh, hey Rave…” Rainbow said nervously. She looked side to side to see if anypony was watching. “Can we talk another time?”

She began to fly away, but I caught a good portion of her tail in my mouth, and I pulled her back to the ground. I fought back hard to stop the tears coming to my eyes. I was really hoping Rainbow would at least hear me out, I mean she is the Element of Loyalty. Not only that, but she was the best friend I had in Equestria. It hurt a lot to see her trying to avoid me.

“Come on Rainbow,” I started, “can’t you at least hear me out?”

“No!” Rainbow yelled, clearly agitated after being forced onto the ground. “What makes you think that I’ll listen to you?”

“Because you’re the Element of Loyalty, and that means you should listen to your friends when rumors appear.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “So you’re telling me, this whole deal with Ditzy Doo and Rose is a rumor?”

“Well… no, not exactly. But can you at least hear my side of the story?”

Rainbow put a hoof up to her head to consider the notion.

“As a true friend?” I added.

Rainbow looked at me and sighed. “Fine.”

“Woohoo!” I shouted. I continued to tell her about the entire situation, another rant about how this was not completely my fault and that booze is evil, but also delicious.

“I guess it’s not that bad when you put it that way,” Rainbow told me after I finished my story. “Did you apologize to Ditzy yet?”

“Well, I haven’t seen her at all the past few days,” I answered. “Have you seen her?”

“Not personally, I’ve heard she’s been staying at home a lot more lately, ever since…. well, you know, you. But, have you told anypony else your side of the story?”

“I keep on trying, but everypony keeps on shutting me down before I can actually tell them anything,” I replied.

Rainbow sighed. “Well, I’ll try my best to tell the others about what happened.”

I embraced the cyan Pegasus in a friendly hug. “Seriously? Thanks so much, Rainbow!”

I pulled away from her to see her cheeks flustered. She chuckled nervously. “No problem, Rave. Listen, can you not do that, at least until everypony knows what really happened?”

I looked around to the ponies in the area. They were all shaking their heads at us. Clearly, I was tarnishing Rainbow’s good reputation.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it. See you around, Night Rave!” And with that, Rainbow took off to the clouds. I waved good-bye as I watched her fade away into the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And what makes ya think ah’ll let you in here ever again?” Big Macintosh asked as I approached Vinyl’s club.

Funny thing. You would think that I would learn my lesson about drinking considering what happened to me. But alcohol works in strange ways. Once that good stuff goes down your throat, you can’t help but want some more. I was ashamed in myself for wanting it, for needing it. But it was my second time around, my body is more used to it in my body, right? I’m not going to lose myself in drink like last time.

“But Big Macintosh! You already swindled like 100 bits in me just for entering here. And it’s free admittance!” I retorted.

“And?” Big Mac replied.

“Well…. I…. but…” I facehoofed. “Fine. How’s twenty bits sound?”

Big Mac looked up in thought. “30 bits.”

‘But… wha… uggghh…” I took out forty bits and handed it to Big Mac. Anything for a drink. Was I wasting my money? Oh yeah, definitely. But like I said, I needed this.

I entered the club, and there it was again, the deep bass blasting from the stereo. Sounded like Skrillex back on Earth, but not quite the same. I went over to the bartender and asked for a drink.

“Oh! It’s you again. You earned yourself quite a reputation since the last time I saw you. Lucky for you, the mare from a few nights ago isn’t here,” he told me.

I shook my head at him. “Just shut up and get me a drink.”

“Touchy. What do you have in mind?”

I raised a hoof to my head. I had absolutely no experience with drinks, all I knew was that they tasted good. “The least strongest thing you have,” I finally replied.

“So… orange juice?” the barcolt said with a mighty laugh.

I facehoofed. This stallion was really beginning to bug me.

“I apologize,” the barcolt said after finishing his outburst of giggles. “How’s about a margarita then? It’s not too bad for a lightweight like you.”

“I’m not a…” I started, but decided to stop myself, realizing there would be no point in arguing and the faster the transaction, the better.

We exchanged my beverage and five bits and I took a seat alone in the corner of the large room. I raised my glass and felt the sweet tanginess reach my tongue. No wonder Berry Punch likes this so much. Maybe I’ll invite her for a drink sometime.

I must’ve been sitting and drinking for quite some time, for the next thing I knew, a white unicorn was sitting right next to me.

“Ahh!’ I screamed when I finally realized the pony sitting there. I let out a deep breath when I recognized the electric-blue maned mare next to me, Vinyl Scratch.

Vinyl snickered. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Umm… I wasn't scared… I just… you know what, it’s fine,” I stuttered.

Vinyl laughed again. “What happened? Why aren’t you out there with your light show like you normally are?”

I sighed. “C’mon Vinyl, surely you heard of what happened.”

Vinyl shook her head. “Well not really, all I have been hearing is rumors.”

Again, I went on with my rant about alcohol and Rose and such. Vinyl continued to nod every once in a while and take a sip of her Buck Daniels.

“Doesn’t sound too bad. I’ve had plenty of nights where I woke up in somepony else’s house.”

“Vinyl, it’s not the same thing. Everypony in town hates me! Well, maybe except Rainbow Dash.”

Vinyl laid a reassuring hoof on my shoulder. “I don’t hate you. Sure, what you did was wrong, but you can’t be blamed for that kind of stuff, nopony has control over what they do when it comes to booze.”

“Finally! Somepony that understands,” I replied.

“Listen, how’s about we make a deal?” Vinyl took off her glasses. “I’ve been noticing a lot more ponies stay longer whenever you’re doing whatever you do, so I was thinking that…”

I couldn’t make out the rest of what she was saying. I was lost in the vast beauty of her gorgeous red eyes. They were like two perfect shining rubies staring right at me. I was mesmerized by them.

“Hello? You there, Rave?” I felt a hoof make contact with my cheek.

“Ow!” I yelled. My cheek began to burn where the DJ PON3 hit me. “You didn’t have to hit me!”

“Sorry about that. What were you thinking about?” Vinyl asked.

“Your beautiful red…” I started before I caught myself. “beautiful red… carpet.” I looked down at the brown wooden floor beneath me. I mentally gave myself yet another facehoof.

“Umm… maybe you should lighten up on the alcohol…” Vinyl responded.

“Don’t be silly…” I said. The sweet alcohol running through my veins tired me, and I fell asleep on the spot.

“Umm… Night Rave?” Vinyl said looking over my sleeping body.

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