The nearly run down tavern in the poor part of Manehatten. Everypony knows it. It's at the end of the alleyway near the end of the market. Looking down the alley, it's the building directly across, facing the entrance. It looks run down, but music can be heard escaping from the front door and boarded up windows. Stallions and mares are seen conversing outside the doors. On the right of the alleyway, the inn for ponies that attend the nearby campus. None of the lights are on. It isn't late at night, but it isn't a hard guess to where they all might be. On the left side, a solid stone wall. Over the wall, there is a wooden pallet that stretches a few feet, the wood is covered with various pieces of parchment, all of them advertisements that nearly everypony had developed the habit of ignoring them. "Join the Canterlot Guard" one says, while "Lost Mare" is stuck right next to it. However, that wall has never been of any importance, so let’s just skip past it.
Inside the tavern, every table is filled. The tavern doesn’t have an absolute limit of how many ponies can be in the inn at a given time, but it’s slightly ridiculous that ponies are using crates and barrels as extra chairs. There are four waitresses working tonight, almost all of the staff. Three of them can be seen navigating the crowd, expertly balancing trays of cider on their back. The fourth waitress is tucked away near the back, sitting in the lap of a pony who may or may not be her coltfriend, it’s nearly impossible to tell with the company these waitresses keep.
“Okay, okay, your turn.” Four friends sit together in their booth. A dark brown earth stallion takes his glass. He looks at the other three stallions at the table, a huge smile on his face.
“I’ve never used magic to influence a mare to go out with me.” He says, his eyes locked on the white unicorn sitting directly across from him. The other two stallions laugh, while the brown one raises an eyebrow at the white unicorn. The white unicorn giggles nervously. “I hate you.” He mumbles as he levitates his glass to his lips. He takes a long drink from his glass, letting the alcohol slide down his throat. A quarter of his glass is gone by the time he puts it down.
“Hang on.” The red pegasus sitting next to the brown stallion interrupts. “I want to hear this story.” The blue earth stallion sitting across from the pegasus agrees. “Mustang seems to know about this, but we’re in the dark.” The blue one says. “Is it your marefriend?” The red pegasus asks, leaning further up on the table in interest.
“No!” The unicorn quickly answers, earning him a laugh from the red pegasus.
“Well, we’re waiting.” Mustang says, taking his glass in his hoof and leaning back against the seat. “It’s a real interesting story.” He adds before taking a sip.
The white unicorn sighs. “Fine.” He rubs his forehead with his hoof. “You guys remember Rose?” He asks as he looks around the table. Mustang and the red pegasus nod their heads in unison. “No, please tell me it wasn’t her.” The blue one says in a somewhat sad tone.
The unicorn tilts his glass back and forth, swirling the alcohol inside. He stares at the liquid. “Sorry, Swift, but I tricked her into going out with me.”
“Details” Mustang presses. The blue pegasus slumps in his chair, glass in hand. He downs the rest of his alcohol.
The white unicorn sighs. “I’m sorry, Swift, but I used my magic to sabotage every other stallion’s attempt to ask her to some dance in primary school.” The unicorn locked eyes with Swift. “Including yours.” He adds.
Swift slams his glass against the table. “Buck you, Latern!” He shouts, turning to face the white unicorn. The unicorn lifts his hooves over his head. Swift takes a few breaths before settling back down. He looks around, and notices the ponies in the immediate area around him are staring. Swift sinks into his chair, and over the course of a few minutes, things return to normal. The table of friends share no more words, their game is over.
“I’m going home.” Swift breaks the silence. He throws a small pile of bits on the table and walks out, not saying bye to anypony.
“He seems upset.” The red pegasus says in a sarcastic tone.
“Not cool, Solar.” Mustang says as he elbows the red pegasus in the side.
“Just trying to lighten up the mood.” Solar says.
“Well, one of us is going to have a good night.” Mustang says, winking at Latern.
Solar looks up, confused. “What is he on about?” He asks Latern.
The white unicorn reaches into his saddlebag and pulls out a flower crown. Solar’s eyes widen upon seeing it. “No…” he says.
“Yupp, our little Latern is going to pop the question.” Mustang says like a proud father. Lantern’s eyes turn red as he carefully places it back in the saddlebag.
“Well, go on, how are you going to do it?” Solar presses.
“She has a meeting tonight with some group of students. They are introducing new mares into the group, and letting go of the graduating seniors. She always crosses through the field in front of the quad to get to the street. I’ll be waiting there.”
“How sweet.” Solar says sincerely. “When?”
“In an hour.”
“An hour?!”
“Yeah.” Lantern gets up and levitates his share of bits onto the table, while also putting on his saddlebag. “This will be the last you see me as a single stallion.” He says, a wide smile on his face.
Solar stands up on the table, raising his glass. “To my friend, Lantern!” He shouts. Mustang raises his glass. The ponies in the bar get quiet and look over to Solar. “My friend, Lantern, is proposing tonight, and I’d like to share some words my own father shared with me when I left for college.” The ponies in the bar raise their glasses. Mustang passes Lantern a half full glass, so he is not left out. “Here’s to lying, cheating, stealing and drinking.” Solar says, a few ponies respond.
“Aye!” they shout.
“If you’re going to lie, lie for a friend!”
“Aye!”
“If you’re going to cheat, cheat death!”
“Aye!”
“If you’re going to steal, steal a heart!”
“Aye!”
“And if you’re going to drink, drink with me!”
“AYE!”
Solar lifts his poison to his mouth, while all the other ponies in the building do the same. Lantern down his glass. The ponies in the bar stamp their hooves and cheer as the white unicorn trots out of the bar. He could hear their celebrating all the way on the other side of the market.
A few hours pass, it’s two hours past midnight. A while unicorn opens the door to the same tavern he left earlier. It’s quiet now. A barmare cleaning a glass, an elderly stallion reading a book, and the snoring of another stallion that’s passed out in one of the booths. Lantern approaches the bar and sits down in one of the stools.
“Cider” He says, tossing his saddlebag on the bar. He brings his head into his hooves. The barmare recognizes him, she also recognizes the kind of behavior he is showing. She doesn’t say anything. She simply fills up a glass and places it in front of him. “On the house.” She says.
“Don’t pity me.” Lantern mumbles as he reaches for the glass. The mare frowns a bit, but leaves it at that. It isn’t long before he asks for another. The mare fills up his glass, and hands it to him. “Another.” He requests after a few minutes. She does the same, as does he. Another. Then another. “Sir, maybe you’ve had enough.” She suggests as she takes the empty glass from his hooves.
“I’ll know when I have enough.” He says, choking on his words.
“And when will that be?” The barmaiden asks, some empathy in her voice.
“When I forget what her name is.” The unicorn brings his head to the bar surface, putting his hooves over his head. He hears the silent clink of a full glass hitting the surface of the bar, near his head. “Thank you.” He mumbles.
“Somethin troubling you, lad?” A voice Lantern does not recognize penetrates his hazy mind. Lantern looks up at the seat next to him. A yellow stallion, the one that was reading his book, has taken the stool that was next to Lantern’s.
“Personal problems.” Lantern says.
“Mare problems?” The stallion presses.
Lantern sighs. He grabs his newly filled glass of cider and downs it. “Yeah. Mare problems.”
“Want to talk about it?” The stallion asks.
“No.” The unicorn coldly replies.
The stallion scoffs. “Maybe I can help.” He adds.
“How so?” Lantern places his empty glass on the bar and taps on the surface twice, signaling the barmare to refill the glass. The mare locks eyes with Lantern, silently asking if he was sure. His eyes looked so innocent before he left, but now they are full of intensity and anger. The mare quickly looks away, going over to the fountain to refill his glass.
“What if I told you I knew where a rare gem was.”
“What if I told you I didn’t care.” Lantern says. “A gem won’t help me.”
“This one might.” The stallion retorts.
The mare places a new glass of cider in front of Lantern, who wastes no time bringing it to his lips. “How so?” Lantern asks between sips.
“There are legends about this gem.” The stallion puts his book in front of Lantern. Lantern’s blurry vision obscures his ability to understand the writing, but he stares at the page anyway. “This gem is said to be so beautiful, that it can influence the minds of anypony who places their gaze on it.” The stallion says excitedly.
“How do you know you won’t fall victim to it?” Lantern inquires, tapping on the table twice.
“Because the gem has to be in a pony’s hooves, and the pony must know exactly how to use it.”
“And you know how to do that?” Lantern questions.
“Without a doubt.” The stallion says.
“So why do you need me?” Lantern asks as he grabs his newly filled glass of cider.
“I’m getting old, I need a young stallion to assist me in this journey.”
Lantern looks into his glass of cider. “You’re asking me to leave my friends and family over some legend.” Lantern ponders out loud.
“Some time away may do you some good. After all, don’t you want to forget about her?”
Lantern stares into the glass of cider, pondering all that the stallion has told him. The barmare also has directed her attention to Lantern, overhearing the elderly stallion’s offer a few seconds later.
“Sure.” Lantern says.
“Wonderful!” The stallion exclaims. “Barmare! Another round, this lad's tab is on me tonight!"
