Smoke

“Mr. Deal? Mr. Deal.” I looked up with a start as I realized Day Planner was trying to get my attention. This was the third time today, and she’d gone from annoyed to concerned. I rubbed my face with a hoof and sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Day got up from her desk and crossed my office, magically sliding my work out of reach as she approached. Standing in front of my desk, she gave me an appraising look. “Mr. Deal, is something the matter? Each time you speak with Pirouette, you come back more distracted than the time before. If I’m to keep you completing tasks as quickly as possible, I need you focused. What’s the problem?”

One thing that hadn’t been taken care of when I fixed Pirouette was the mark under her eye where an unruly patron had hit her. Though she’d taken to including herself in the upcoming acts, until her eye mended, Pirouette was keeping herself offstage, and her mane over her cheek. Every time I saw her with her face half hidden, I had to stop myself from grinding my teeth. The style was attractive, nice and mysterious, but I knew what was underneath, and I knew that one of my customers had caused it. It was eating me.

“Day, were you here when that drunk hit Pirouette? That’s what’s doing it. I keep my staff safe, and that goes double for the mares putting on our entertainment. Nopony messes with my girls. They bring in the bits, I take care of them. That’s how it works.”

Day Planner nodded her understanding, and slid my paperwork back in front of me. “You were on vacation, Mr. Deal. You weren’t here. Pirouette knows you would’ve tossed anypony who lifted a hoof against her out on his ear. You’re back now. There’s no reason to brood over what you can stop from happening in the future. Please focus on your work, or let me know if you need to be relaxed.”

With a professional smile, Day returned to her desk, leaving me to my business. She was right, of course. I couldn’t take care of Pirouette while I was away, but that was in the past. What mattered at the moment was dealing with the work in front of me and keeping The Tall Tail running. If trouble cropped up again, I’d handle it.

That night was the debut of the new costumes. One of the dancers had put up a bit of a fuss, or so Pirouette had told me, but in the end she’d gotten all of her girls to agree. What was good for The Tall Tail was good for them, after all, and the outfits really weren’t that provocative. I was watching from my usual seat near the back, and if the girls were nervous or uncomfortable in their new wardrobe, they certainly weren’t showing it. Their performance was spectacular, every note perfectly hit, every step in flawless time. Pirouette had outdone herself with the choreography, but the mares on stage deserved just as much praise for their execution. As the stallions in the audience stamped their hooves in boisterous approval, I sat back and smiled. With performances like these, The Tall Tail would need more seating before long.

I had completely forgotten about my frustration from earlier in the day when Pirouette slipped up beside me, shouting in my ear to be heard over the applause. She didn’t need to speak more than a few words before the tension came rushing back, though. “Done? That stallion over at the bar, the one arguing with Jade? That’s the one who backhoofed me while you were away. I don’t think Jade’s cut out for our troublemaker.”

I nodded, glad Pirouette’s protective nature included more than just her dancers. “She’s not. I’ll take care of this.”

My best business face was on as I weaved between tables to cross the floor as quickly as possible. The occasional pony frowned when I blocked their view as I passed, but the show would be disrupted far worse if this weren’t handled quickly. I got close enough to more clearly see the stallion talking to Jade in the dim lighting and frowned: he was already so sloshed his wings were hanging loosely at his sides, and he lacked the age to handle his drunkenness well. Past him, Jade was looking upset. Before I was close enough to be heard over fading applause from the last act, I allowed myself a soft curse. This was absolutely my least favorite part of running a nightclub.

“Aw, c’mon, shishter! You’re mush too priddy to work behin’ a bar! I can show you a real good time!” The drunk stallion’s slurred speech was obvious as I approached, as was Bright Jade’s discomfort. Her relief when she saw me was obvious enough for the stallion to notice, turn, and scowl at me.

Before I even opened my mouth, the drunk pegasus started in on me. “Hey, why don’ you go fin’ some other filly, pal? Thish one’s shpoken for.” As he finished his warning, he set one hoof between his legs on the stool and leaned toward me, narrowing his eyes.

He could’ve been squinting to focus vision impaired by hard cider, and it was difficult to tell if he was actually leaning forward aggressively or just drunkenly. It didn’t matter which; this was the bastard who’d hit one of my girls, and he had the nerve to come back and mess with another. I could feel the smoke roiling inside me, eager to be used, but I forced it down angrily—dim lighting or not, there were too many eyes in the club.

Jaw set, I handled this the old-fashioned way. “Yeah, she is spoken for. By me. You need to leave, ‘pal.’ Now.” I kept my voice low, not wanting to disturb the show anymore than necessary. He didn’t return the favor.

“Yeah? Well I shay I’m stayin’ right here!” The drunk slid down off his barstool and onto his hooves, shoving me roughly when he continued. “Who d’you think you are, tellin’ me what to do?” Nearby ponies quit watching the new act on stage to stare at the pair of us. There was no question anymore; this was a worst case scenario. A fight was brewing.

Furious at this drunk punk pegasus for ruining the show, for hitting Pirouette, and now for forcing me to keep control over the smoke boiling wildly in my heart, my response was an outright snarl. “I’m the owner of this establishment. Get out, or get thrown out.”

The troublemaker didn’t shove this time. He just reached for his glass. “That sho?” was all he said as he let it slip from his hoof to shatter on the floor. Enough was enough.

I barked, “That’s it!” grabbed his neck in my forehooves, and backed up on my hind legs, dragging him toward the door. The show was ruined. Subtlety was pointless now, and this bastard was getting tossed bodily out the door before I’d even try to do any damage control. I had him about halfway there, with him spewing profanity the whole time when he slipped free. I did my best to catch him, but soused or not, his wings got him up and out of my reach.

Practically frothing at the mouth, he shouted “Nopony fucks with me!” before driving himself downward with a flap of his wings, plowing a hoof right into my muzzle. I dropped like a rock, and he landed on me, buffeting my forelegs as I covered my face on the ground. Struggling to get loose just got me hit, but at last I managed to toss him off for a moment and did something the dignity of The Tall Tail had never before had to endure: I grabbed a nearby chair, and brought it down over his head with all the force I could muster. It cracked, and the drunk collapsed.

Reeling from the blows he’d landed before I got loose, I collapsed to my haunches as a handful of mares in the audience screamed and were ushered out of the building by coltfriends, several of whom cast angry glares in my direction as they left. Even the guests who hadn’t been frightened began to shuffle out. There was no question: my beautiful cabaret was closed for the night. Damage control was pointless now.

Bright Jade and Pirouette forced their way through the departing audience, one calling out “Done!” and the other “Sir!” in the same worried tone. Jade reached me first and took a napkin from one of the nearby tables, blotting gently at my muzzle where it bled. I winced, as much for my expensive cloth napkin getting bloodstained as from the pain. Jade apologized and began dabbing even more carefully, upset enough for tears to form in her eyes. It was one more sin for that lousy drunk to pay for.

Pirouette pushed her way through the last of the exiting crowd and sat beside me, opposite Jade. With Jade handling the bleeding, Pirouette tried to calm me down, patting my shoulder, asking if I was going to be okay or if she should get a doctor. Calming wasn’t working. I humored a few of her questions, then asked the ones on my mind.

“I told you, I’ll be alright, Pirouette. Where’s Shot Glass? Why in Tartarus did it get to this point?”

My tone offered no room for the questions to be deflected, and Pirouette looked past me in the direction I’d dragged the drunk. “He’s behind the bar, still. Fidgeting.”

I ground my teeth and spoke through them, my jaw clenched. “Get him over here. Now.”

Pirouette nodded and hurried away. She’d never been afraid to push back when it was called for, but she also knew when it was time to do what she was told. I didn’t bother looking when I heard a hushed argument from the bar. Did Shot Glass really think he could hide? He stalled long enough for the hall to completely empty of patrons, and for the dancers to crowd around to check on their hurt boss, but eventually Pirouette shoved a reluctant gray unicorn through the ring of worried mares and stood him in front of me. If she’d been calm when she left, she wasn’t now. Her ears were laid back, and her glare shot daggers at the pony she’d forced over.

Keeping myself from shouting was the best I could manage in the way of civility, and the furiously roiling smoke within made my temper that much shorter. I addressed Shot Glass with a clipped tone. “Would you care to explain to me just why a customer was allowed enough to drink that this happened? Or would you rather explain why, when he was that drunk, I had to personally come handle it? Or perhaps you’d be so kind as to explain why, with me bleeding over here, Pirouette had to argue with you to get you to come when your boss called?”

Shot Glass shuffled his hooves nervously, trapped between Pirouette’s glare and my own, and withering under the stares of the entire dancing troupe. He began to make excuses. “I didn’t realize he was that bad, Mr. Deal! You came over before I noticed, and anyway, Jade was pouring his drinks!”

I narrowed my eyes as Shot Glass tried to dig out of his hole. When he mentioned Jade, she dropped her bloody napkin and glared up angrily. “Hey! I poured him his first drink! After that, he kept talking to me, trying to get me to go with him, and you kept sliding him more!”

My head was reeling from both fury and the beating it had taken, or I’d have been right in Shot Glass’ face, staring the liar down. My tone dripped with enough rage to make him back up a step nonetheless. “You’re the one I put in charge of the bar. If things get out of hand, that’s on you. You didn’t cut him off, you didn’t watch out for a new employee, and when I stepped in to clean up your mess, you didn’t lift a hoof. You’re fired. Get out of my club.”

Protest was on Shot Glass’ lips as he lifted a hoof, but it dropped along with his ears when I roared, “Now!” Several dancers’ jaws dropped. None had ever heard me raise my voice, but I’d never been left bleeding on the floor of my own business before, either. Head hung, my lone male employee slinked out the door, looking back only once. I finally calmed a bit.

Pirouette broke the awkward silence left in Shot Glass’ wake. “I’m sorry, Done. I know you hate firing anypony, but you did the right thing. This is twice in one month one of us was in harm’s way, and both times he didn’t cut that pegasus off.” Pirouette thrust an accusing hoof at the still-unconscious offender. “You did what you promised us, hon. You kept your girls safe.” Somehow, Pirouette managed to smile down at me after all the night’s trouble. I called the dancers in closer.

“Listen to me, everypony. We’re shut for the night. But Pirouette’s right; I keep my girls safe. I keep them happy. You support me, I support you. That’s the way it’s always been here, and it’s not changing. I’m hiring a bouncer ASAP. Take the night off with pay. Go on, shoo.” A few dancers wandered off with worried expressions, but most offered smiles or stepped up to pat my withers and offer a word or two of consolation. This was my place, and these were my mares. Nopony was going to take this away from me.

Finally I managed to take to my hooves again, and walked back to the bar, leaving the injured pegasus on the ground where he belonged. Pirouette walked ahead, pouring me a drink as Jade kept me steady despite my shaky hooves. I sat and turned up my glass, trying not to think of anything but the flavor of the hard cider while dancers filed backstage and Pirouette offered another reassuring smile.

Jade was less comforting. “I’m sorry, sir! I’m so sorry! I’ll make it up to you, I promise!” I let her babble long enough to finish my drink, but set the glass down on the bar with a heavy enough thud to stop her mid-word.

I spoke grudgingly. I’d already had more than enough of the night, and didn’t want to have to deal with anything else. “That’s enough, Jade. This isn’t your fault. It’s Shot Glass’ fault, and it’s that guy’s fault.” I jerked a hoof back toward the site of the brawl. “You’ve been doing fine. You got the mixed drinks memorized yet?”

Bright Jade furrowed her brow, confused by the change of direction. “Um… yes, sir? I mean, I haven’t made all of them yet, but I study them when it’s slow, and I’m pretty sure I could make any—”

“Good enough.” Leaning on the bar while I nursed another cider was comforting. Handling staff was not. “Pirouette, you’ve seen her on the floor as much as I have. Think she could take over for Shot Glass? It’s early, but I don’t want to find a bouncer and a bartender.”

An appraising glance at Bright Jade prefaced Pirouette’s reply. “Yeah. We’ll need to polish her up a bit, but that crystal coat shines better than any gown. Maybe just some practice with fancy pouring.”

I nodded and set the glass down again, more gently this time. “You hear that, Jade? You’re promoted. We’ll find you some help back there, but it’s gonna be busy for a while.” I didn’t voice my fear that the fight would keep things slow.

Jade nodded, eyes wide with surprise. “Yes sir! Thank you sir! I’ll do my very best for you, I promise!”

As awful as the night had been, her exuberance was too exhausting. Guard ponies pushing open the front door saved me from having to deal with her, but I was out of the frying pan and into the fire. I sighed. The worst was over, but the night had plenty of aggravation left in store.

Over the next few hours, statements were given, notes were taken, and a dazed but recovering drunk was hauled off to be checked out at a hospital and checked in at the local station’s drunk tank. Jade swept up broken glass and mopped where our “guest” had dropped his drink, and Pirouette did away with the broken chair and bloody napkin. As for me, I endured a long lecture from the guards about how The Tall Tail had always been the one part of Manehatten’s nightlife to give them no grief, and how they hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come. When they left, I crossed my forelegs on the bar and rested my head on them, thinking dark thoughts and cursing the worst night my beautiful club had in its ten long years.

With cleanup finished, Jade and Pirouette coaxed me off my stool and up the stairs. I’d heard them talking while I brooded down below, but had paid no attention. My mind had been on other things, and the bantering of mares was not a priority. When Pirouette departed at the door to my suites, winking at Jade as she turned, though, I wondered just what I’d missed. To my surprise, Jade took the lead, slightly nervously, and drew me straight to my bedroom.

I dropped myself onto the bed, stomach down, and muttered into my pillow. “Not tonight, Jade. I’m not in the mood.”

She didn’t argue, but a moment later I felt her legs on either side of my flanks, followed by hooves gently rubbing at my withers. Before I could raise any objection, she began to press and knead, and a groan escaped my lips. I let her go. There was no denying my tension, and a good massage might get me to sleep faster and put the night behind me. Jade continued kneading, working lower on my back as she went, gently enough to relax me nearly to dozing, and forcefully enough to work out the tension. I smiled into my pillow despite myself.

“Is this helping, sir?” Jade’s voice was quiet and gentle, almost as relaxing as her hooves.

I nodded. It was helping more than I’d imagined possible, and though I just wanted to get to sleep, Jade deserved a reward. I finally loosed the smoke that had been pushing to get out all night, slipping it up Jade’s body and into her once again. The massage dwindled and died.

I turned my head to look up at her from the corner of one eye, and enjoyed her lovely, expressionless face. “You’ve been a good mare, Jade.” Jade absently mumbled a thank you, and I continued. “I want to sleep, but you’ve earned a little something. Make love to me gently, quietly, so I can sleep. Just like you would if I were your coltfriend back home.” I rolled over, leaving the smoke flowing into Jade. Her distant gaze and distracted voice were just how I wanted her.

Jade leaned forward, softly planting her lips on mine, kissing as she caressed both sides of my face. She licked my lips and slid her tongue between them. Her mouth half open, I blew smoke in, and her lungs accepted it without hesitation, even eagerly. I felt her sex moisten on my lap as my shaft grew underneath her. She never broke the kiss, never stopped inhaling as she reached back, raised herself up, and slid my shaft into her wetness. Just lowering herself onto it had her moaning feebly into my mouth, and when my flare pressed against her depths, she shuddered and gasped, drawing the smoke into her mouth faster still.

Jade’s first, light orgasm tightened her around my rod, and I returned her moan, lowering my forehooves to pull her ass down, pushing harder against her back wall. When she slowly raised herself, I didn’t prevent it, enjoying the slick feel of her folds as she pulled back, and the softness of her lips as they continued to caress mine. When I was nearly out of her, Bright Jade tightened herself again and tilted her hips, scraping my shaft against an inner wall as she slowly brought our sexes together. Back and forth she rocked, slow and agonizing, but building up each time she dropped her hips. She wrapped her forelegs around my head, holding me tightly in our unending kiss as she sped her motions, scraping my cock against one wall and then another, moaning, shaking more and more, and practically breathing the smoke straight from my lungs. I’d meant to lie back and be gently fucked to sleep, but as the emerald mare on top of me moved faster and faster, sleep was less and less on my mind.

Our tongues played in each others’ mouths, and Jade’s light, quick rises and falls pulled me past my limit. I came hard, and Jade dropped her flanks, sealing my full length inside when she felt me burst. We both trembled and shook with our orgasms, costing me the flow of smoke that still poured into Jade’s ears and nose, but she made up the difference, greedily pulling it from my mouth. I filled Bright Jade from both ends, one with smoke and the other with seed, and neither flow stopped. Just as in the cave the night I first took her, I poured more into her than should have been possible. Just as in the cave, I felt more than my cum pouring out of me, and even more than in the cave, Jade swelled with it, her body lifting from mine by one inch and another as she filled. At last it stopped, and I broke the kiss.

Jade lay on top of me, still twitching with orgasms well after she’d stopped moving. Her eyes stared into the distance, pupils wide. Her tongue hung from her mouth, with its lips turned up in a truly ecstatic smile. I smiled, content with the reward I’d given my loyal mare. Jade was completely gone, but I knew she’d be there when I wanted her again.

I felt the smoke within me as strongly as ever, but it had finally quit seething. On the worst night of my life, I drifted off to sleep as peacefully as ever.