Fallen Pegasus

“Of all the places to get a drink, I had to walk into that one.”

It was a cold night outside, yet the streets of Manehatten were buzzing with life, ponies living there lives and having fun into the late hours. But for one orange pony, it wasn’t so fun.

Standing on the Bucklyn Bridge, Scootaloo looked out over the water. ‘Just one big failure’ she sighed. The buzzing water far below looked so inviting, all she needed was a little push. And the world would be a better place. She drew a deep breath..and stepped away from the edge.

‘Not today, Not today.’ 'Time for a drink' she thought as she made her way back to the city.

============={OOO}=============

Slowly making her way through the Manehatten night scene Scootaloo looked around for a nice place to forget the world. She was looking so hard she didn’t even notice the couple in front of her when she smacked right into them.

“Well I say”

“Such nerve”

“Sorry..” Scoots managed to get out before the couple walked away with their heads held high.

Scoots looked around when she spotted a sign in an alleyway, “The Fallen Pegasus lounge” ‘well it doesn’t get more accurate then that’ She thought as she laughed at the coincidence.

She walked down some stairs and went inside; To immediately be greeted by the sound of soft sad jazz and the smell of strong liquor. The inside of the of the place looked classy and a little too expensive for Scootaloo her tastes. Not that she was short on money or anything, the place usually just didn’t sport her kind of crowd. And by the looks of the people in the fancy close here tonight this place didn’t seem like an exception, although the crowd looked a lot less stuck up then what you would find in a Canterlot Lounge. For one these people seem to actually be having fun.
She made her way passing two mares who seemed to be excited about something, though Scootaloo couldn’t hear what. When she could to the bar, the bartender looked up with a smile, she was a white unicorn mare, with a black and red mane, and pair of cards as a cutiemark. Scoots quikly averted her eyes when she realized she was starring at the mares flank. When her eyes finaly came back to the barmare; she saw that the mare could barely contain a giggle.

Before scoots could say anything, the barmare opened her mouth “Don’t worry about it, you’re pretty cute yourself” ‘wait what?’ “If I didn’t knew my marefriend would kill me, I would have taken you home without a doubt” she added with a wink.

Scootaloo was looking at her with wide open mouth, blushing profusely.

“So orange what’s your poison.”
“Uhm..my poison??” Scootaloo said as she was regaining her composure.

“What are you ordering, that’s why you’re here right? For the booze?”

“Uhm yeah, I’ll a have a glass and a bottle of Wild Pegasus.” Scoots said, “No Ice” she added.
“I like your style, kid. On bottle coming right up.”

Scootaloo looked around while the barmare was grabbing the bottle, ‘maybe this joint isn’t so bad after all’ she thought as the bottle and a glass were put down on the bar.

“Hey, I have to have to check on tonight’s entertainment, I’ll hope you stick around for the show..ehm..”

“Scootaloo.”

“Scootaloo, funny name, anyway hope you’ll stick around.” The mare said as she walked away from the bar.

“Wait I you haven’t said your name..”Scoots tried to say, but the barmare was out of hearing range.
She poured herself a glass and tasted the sweet amber goodness that was Wild Pegasus. With burn in her throat that longed for more, she poured herself another glass, and another, and maybe a few more. It wasn’t long till she started feeling a lot better than she did earlier that night, and also a lot lighter in the head. She realized that she hadn’t seen the barmare for a while, some stallion had taken her place at the bar. As she looked around she saw the white coated mare talking to a gray Pegasus with a purplish mane ‘must be the marefriend’ Scoots smiled.

Suddenly the lights dimmed and the spotlights above the stage started to shine down. A brown colt walked up on the stage and grabbed a microphone.

“Stalions and Gentlemares, it’s a great night out tonight. I see a lot of familiar faces here tonight, as well as some new ones. Now I don’t want to ramble on to much; so enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy each other, and most of all enjoy the show.”

All the light went out, the slow sound of a piano started followed by a pair of trumpets, and then the rest of the brass. A cello could be heard somewhere in the background. A single spotlight lit up the stage, and from the darkness came a slow beautiful and haunting singing voice, slowly it grew louder as a shape moved into the light. The shape turned out to be a beautiful young unicorn mare with bright green eyes. And Scoots mouth fell wide open when she saw who it was.

‘Sweetie Belle’

Scootaloo’s old friend, her fellow crusader. And Scootaloo was shocked, there she was, right there. She could hardly believe it.
The young mare with the golden voice was dressed in a black dress simple yet elegant. ‘No Doubt made by Rarity’ Scoots remarked as she followed Sweetie Belle with her eyes. The singing unicorn was making quite the show as her crowd looked in awe. When she stopped the whole room exploded into applause, the next song was little slower than the last. And Sweetie Belle was walking around slowly looking at her audience. Some of the stallions in the audience looked like they could faint at any moment, a few mares too. But none of that reached Scoots because she only had eyes for the unicorn on stage.

When the song finally stopped the room again exploded in applause, when the applause was starting to die down again Sweetie opened her eyes and looked around only to stop at the bar, to see Scootaloo sitting there with a big smile. Sweetie Belle smiled back and gave scoot a quick wave as the music started again and she became lost in the next song. Scoots waved back and poured herself another drink. ‘This is beginning to be a pretty good night.’ Scoot thought.
Sweetie Belle sang a few more songs when she thanked the audience with her sweet voice and went backstage. The piano player started playing the regular jazz again. And a the barmare from earlier was dragging a cello backstage. Scootaloo finished the rest of the bottle and was about to get up when the stalion behind the bar put two drinks on the counter.

“I didn’t order these.”
“They are on the house. Compliments of our owner.”
“Uhm okay thanks…”
Scootaloo was about to take a zip when a familiar unicorn sat down next to her.

“My free drinks are already here, yay.” Sweetie said.

Taking a second to realize what was going on Scoots finally managed to say. “Hi..Sweetie.”
“Hey, Scootaloo.”
More silence.

“Soooo….” Sweetie started “What did you think of the show?”

Scootaloo smiled, “You were amazing Sweetie Belle, I mean wow I still need to recover from. That was awesome.”

“Glad you liked it” Sweetie mumbled while looking slightly flushed ‘wait a minute is she blushing? Nah’
“So what brings you here, Scootaloo?”

“Oh I’m in town to visit uncle Redsteel, needed a change of scenery and take care of some stuff, you know?”

“I meant what brings you to this place.” Sweetie smiled.

“Oh well that’s easy, the promise of alcohol did that.” Scoot said proudly. Making Sweetie Belle. “Honestly Sweetie If I knew you’d be performing I would have been here a lot earlier. It’s great running into you. It’s been way to long.”
“It’s great to see you too, and yeah you’re right it’s been like what? 2 years. What have you been up to anyway?”

‘Crap’ That wasn’t something Scootaloo wanted to talk about, she hadn’t really been doing anything, mostly a lot of commercial skywriting, it wasn’t that bad of a job, but it also wasn’t anything to boast about. Especial since both her old friends did so well, Sweetie with her singing carreer and Apple Bloom with her job as big shot architect. Nervously she replied: “Oh this and that.” ‘This and that? Real smooth Scoot, Celestia damned brain.’

“This and that?” Sweetie Belle asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh you know, flying stuff..” Scootaloo added trying her best not to seem nervous.
“Right…Well I’m glad you’re keeping busy.” Sweetie smiled seemingly forgetting het earlier skepticism.

‘ Glad you keeping busy’ what’s that supposed to mean? Still Scoot was glad that she had a chance to change the subject.
“So how’s Apple Bloom?” Scoot asked.

“Well, I haven’t seen her for a while, but last time I checked she was doing really well, Celestia had her working on some secret project. Wouldn’t tell me a thing.”

“A secret project for Celestia?” Scootaloo was impressed and maybe a little bit envious at her friends success.
“Yeah, she said Applejack was really impress…” Sweetie suddenly stopped as the music changed in a more energetic swing. “I love the song, Benny Goodcolt is just the greatest, come on Scootaloo let’s dance.”
“Wait?”Scootaloo looked at her friend in terror. “You wan’t me…to dance? Me?”
“Yeah”

“Not going to happen.”
Sweetie seemed a little dismayed by that. “Why not?”

“I don’t dance.”

“Not even for an old friend?” Sweetie looked at Scootaloo with her big eyes and she pouted her mouth. “A friend you haven’t seen in ages?” Scootaloo remaind strong. “Please…..” Oh no “Pretty pleasssee” And she cracked.

Sigh “Fine.”
Sweetie didn’t hesitate a minute and dragged scoot from her bar stool onto the dance floor. While Scootaloo didn’t know how to dance, Sweetie Belle surprised her by taking the lead, and soon they actually moved kind of decent. And not long after that Scootaloo even dared to look somewhere else than at her feet. Has she looked up a few seconds earlier she might have seen a blushing unicorn. But when her eyes met Sweetie Belle’s all she saw was her smiling unicorn friend.

After a while they finally sat down.

“Okay maybe I do dance.” An out of breath Scootaloo managed to say.

“Yeah you did okay.”

“Okay?? I ruled the Dance floor.”

Sweetie Belle couldn’t contain her laughter, and burst out in giggles. And although Scootaloo tried to look insulted it wasn’t long before she joined in laughing as well.

“Hey, you, want, to, get, out, of, here?” Sweetie managed to say in-between giggles.

“Sure Sweetie Belle, what did you have in mind?”

“You’ll see, I have to get my stuff from backstage? Wait for me here?”

“Yeah, I still have to pay for my drinks anyway.” Scootaloo replied

“Just tell them your with me, that should take care of it.” Sweetie said teasingly

“Oh look at who’s miss big shot now.” Scootaloo teased back.
“Oh hardy har har” Sweetie Belle ‘laughed’ as she got up and walked way.
Scootaloo walked over the white barmare from earlier, who just finished talking to some stallion sitting at the end of the bar.

“Oh hey orange, nice dancing” The barmare teased.

“Yeah, Yeah, bite me.”

“I just might.”

Recovering from that statement Scootaloo replied with a blush: “Uhm yeah, what?...Anyway I still need to pay my tab.”

“Oh you don’t need to pay that, consider it on the house, any friend of Sweetie Belle is a friend of mine.”

‘miss big shot’ Scootaloo mumbled in herself.

“Oh” the mare continued “Might I just say, you two make a great couple.”

“Yeah than…” Scootaloo was about to finish that when she realized what the barmare had just said. “Wait, no! It’s not like that…We’re just friends.”

The barmare just smiled back, Scootaloo was just about to say something more when Sweetie stepped up besides her.

“Ready to go Scootaloo.”
“Uhm yeah, let’s go.”

“Just Friends..” The Barmare whisperd.

Scootaloo was about to walk away, until she remeberd something: “Wait, what’s your name?” She asked the barmare.

“Oh I go by many names, but you can call me Blackjack.”

“Well by then Blackjack, and thanks for everything.”

“Have a great night Orange.” Blackjack said with a wink.

Scootaloo shook her head as she caught up with Sweetie.

============={OOO}=============

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked through the city for about 20 minutes, barley talking at all. When suddenly Sweetie Belle nudges Scootaloo into a Pony Joe’s.

“What’s so special about this place Sweetie Belle?”

“Look out the window.” Sweetie Belle said as she went to order.
And that’s when Scootaloo saw it, the Donut shop had a perfect view of the Manehatten harbor, with the statue friendship in the distance, and because it was night the time, all the separate lights made the city look like a giant, urban, Hearts Warming’s eve tree.

“Quite a sight isn’t it” Sweetie Belle said as she sat down levitating a box of Donuts.

“Yeah. It really is.” Scootaloo said, not looking outside.

“Anyway, we have so much to catch up” Sweetie Belle continued. “So I was telling you about Applebloom earlier, did you know….”

============={OOO}=============

They had talked for what seemed like hours, about home, about friends, about the good ol’ days as the crusaders. When Scootaloo eventually looked out of the window again, the sun was already starting to rise.
“Wow, we really forgot the time didn’t we.”
“We sure did Scootaloo.”

“Oh crap, I have to see my uncle in two hours” Scootaloo realized as she looked at the clock.

“Oh, I guess this is goodbye then.” Sweetie said, slightly sad.

“Yeah, I guess so. I had a great time tonight though, we should really do this again.”

“Definitely, I had a really great time too. Oh Wait! I know, Rarity is having some big party next week and she wanted to invite you, Applebloom and the rest of Ponyville will be there to.”

“That sounds like a great idea!”

“Great, see you then, It’s next Thursday at around nine PM.”

“See you then Sweetie Belle.” Said Scootaloo as she rushed out of the shop. Leaving behind a smiling Sweetie Belle.

As she walked towards her uncle’s apartment Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel good about the night she just had, although it had left her with a strange feeling in her stomach.