Last One for the Road

“Raid!”

Air Raid stared at her black coffee. She looked at it but she didn’t see it. The black coffee had gone cold ten minutes ago, but the lime green mare either didn’t notice or she didn’t care. If she was honest, it was probably a bit of both. Like her mug of coffee, Air Raid didn’t hear when her name had been called out.

“Raid!”

Like a marionette being controlled by a very clumsy operator, Air Raid reached for her stone cold mug of coffee. She was at the café. Their café. Café Diem. Ponies drank coffee at cafés. Not really seeing or hearing, she lifted the cold liquid to her lips and took a sip. ‘Cold…’ the thought crossed her mind. It wasn’t hot. Wasn’t coffee supposed to be hot? She didn’t really care. Then again, she didn’t care about most things these days. ‘Not since Darkie’s…since Darkie’s…since what happened to Darkie…’

She didn’t care about the late spring sun on her back. She didn’t care about the several ponies seeking her autograph who had gone away disappointed. She didn’t care about her rivals or her slipping position in the championship tables.

She just didn’t care. Not anymore.

“Air Raid!” For the third time, the pink stallion sat on his seating pad opposite his friend at their outdoor table, called out her name, this time punctuating each syllable with a crash of his hoof on the table top that rattled both mugs on their respective saucers.

Slowly, very slowly, like a drunk pony trying really hard to process a complex thought through an alcohol induced haze, Air Raid looked up from the café’s table top at with a considerable effort forced her grey eyes to focus on her friend. It took a moment, but finally she saw Slingshot. “What?” She asked dully. Her voice sounded strange in her ears, like she hadn’t used it in a long time.

She hadn’t. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spoken to Darkstar. Despite what Aqua Splash had said about coma patients being able to hear, she didn’t see the point in talking to a pony who wasn’t talking back.

“Oh, finally!” Slingshot sat himself back on his seating pad and, looking – properly looking – at his friend, he couldn’t help but feel a huge pang of sympathy for her. Since Darkstar’s viciously brutal attack and subsequent hospitalisation in a coma, the lime green mare had let herself go.

‘Actually,’ he thought with a grim smile, ‘letting herself go would be a step up from where she is now…’ looking at the state of her this much was certainly true. Her blue mane was tangled and matted, with dirty greasy streaks in it. Her lime green fur was dirty in patches. Her hooves were cracked and uncared for. Her wings were a mess. Feathers out of alignment, broken secondaries rubbed up against bent primaries. Feather mites had caused several tertiary feathers to simply fall out. There were bags under her bloodshot grey eyes you could carry a week’s groceries home in. Worse than all that however was the scent. Weeks old stale body odour and bed sweat combined with her overall appearance to produce a mare who seemed homeless rather than one of Equestria’s most successful racing drivers.

“What?” Air Raid asked again, her voice sounding as cracked and hoarse as before.

Slingshot took a deep breath and a sip of his own milky coffee to steady himself for the storm to come. “I’m worried about you.” Indeed he was. She hadn’t been out of Canterlot Royal hospital in over two months, and it had been three months since her last win.

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend!” He exclaimed. “We have a tournament coming up over in Whinnyapolis next week and…”

“I don’t care.” Air Raid interrupted her co-driver and reached again for her cold coffee. She had to try three times but eventually she got it and, sipping it, wondered if coffee was supposed to be hot. Then she wondered if she’d had that thought before.

“You’ve done no training for it and it’s a ranking tournament…” Slingshot trailed off to silence. The pink earth pony just couldn’t believe what he was hearing from his teammate, from his sister, for want of a better term. “You…you what!?”

“I don’t care.”

“You…you don’t care…” the three words felt like a death sentence to Slingshot. He never ever thought he’d hear them come from Air Raid’s lips. “You don’t care.”

“No. I don’t care.”

“Raid…Raid the Whinnyapolis five hundred is a big ranking event!” A note of passionate desperation entered his voice then. “You need the ranking points! Raid, you’ve raced just four times in the last three months. Three of those were D.N.F’s and the last one was a DQ for not following a flag command!”

“Yeah, so?” Air Raid wasn’t really listening. She reached for her coffee just to find out it was empty. She wondered who had drank her coffee.

“So? So?” Slingshot was at the end of his rope. “What do you mean, ‘yeah so,’ Raid?” He rubbed the bridge of his nose with a forehoof, counting up to ten then on to twenty as he brushed his other hoof through his white mane to calm down. “If you don’t race, and don’t place in those races, then the sponsor’s pull out!”

“And?”

Snarling and raging internally, Slingshot drained the remnants of his milky coffee before slamming his mug down on its saucer. “Raid, you’ve already lost two of your four sponsors! Donut Joe’s are only just hanging on and I don’t know about the Canterlot Times, but carry on like this and they’ll leave too!” He had tried his best to keep Saffron Masala and Sassy Saddles on side, but with no results to show for their money he could hardly blame them for jumping ship to other drivers. ‘Speaking of jumping ship…’ once more he thought of Windcharger.

Air Raid sighed a very deep sigh. Slingshot didn’t understand. He couldn’t understand. She’d lost everything that mattered to her: Wildfire, her Wily, was who knows where, Dusky had retreated to his royal hideaway with Vocal Chord, Brightstar was determined to stay in Fillydelphia, Darkstar was in her coma and now Cyclone had left her too. Winning races just didn’t matter anymore. “I don’t…”

“Don’t tell me you don’t care!” Slingshot yelled at her. “Don’t you bucking dare, Raid! No racing means no points. No points means no championship wins. No wins means no sponsors. No sponsors means no money!”

“So that’s it.” Air Raid said quietly.

“Huh, what’s ‘it’?”

“You aren’t worried about me.” Air Raid’s voice was somewhat deadened, her grey eyes dull. “You’re worried about your bank balance. Nopony buying your salt lick for you? No stallion paying your bar tabs? Need the Bank of Air Raid to line your pockets?”

“What!?” To say Slingshot was stunned was an understatement indeed. Had it been able to do so, his jaw would have hit the table top.

“You heard me.” Air Raid looked her friend, a pony she counted as a brother, straight in the eyes as she spoke. She knew she was skating on very thin ice, a realisation reinforced by Java’s sudden appearance at the raised voices, but she was well past caring. She shouldn’t even be here. She should be in the hospital, with Darkstar.

“How. Dare. You!” He reared up, thrusting himself to his hind hooves and pulled his forehoof back as if to land a punch.

“Hey! Hey! What’s going on here you two?” Java, the cream coated earth pony, came running out of his café, ready to get between two of his best customers if need be.

“N-Nothing Java,” Slingshot took several deep breaths and sat himself back down. “Two more coffees please, on me.”

Air Raid never moved, never flinched nor attempted to protect herself in any way. She watched Java take the empty mugs away before she spoke. “On you?” She asked, a trace of a sneer on her lime green face, “On me you mean. You wouldn’t have anything if it wasn’t for me.”

“Raid…I’m not getting into that with you.” He took another breath and decided to try a different tack. “Look, sis, I know the last few months have been hard but…”

“Stop.” Air Raid slammed her hoof down on the table. “Stop right there. You don’t know anything, Bro.” She spat the last word like it was an accusation rather than a term of endearment.

“Don’t I?” Slingshot countered. Oh he knew plenty alright, he’d just chosen to keep quiet about it all. Not anymore. “I know I’ve had your back against the entire racing circuit since day one. I know I’ve fought for you when the first sponsor left and then the second. I know I begged Donut Joe to stay with you until the end of the Whinnyapolis five hundred!” The pink earth pony stallion stomped his hoof on the floor and brushed away his white mane. “I know I stood by you over Wildfire! I know I supported you over Dusk! I know I let you cry on my shoulder when Brightstar decided to stay in Filly!”

“What do you want, ‘Shot?” Air Raid asked, too lost in her depressed fugue state to get annoyed or show any passion whatsoever, even at the mention of Wildfire’s name. “A medal? Perhaps Celestia will give you the Celestia Star for services rendered…”

‘Buck you, Air Raid!’ Slingshot thought, grinding his teeth together in an effort to remain calm. He bit his tongue for a few moments while Java bought the refills over on a tray and laid them down on the table, a mix of revulsion at Air Raid’s physical state and a look of begging desperation to the pink stallion. Slingshot merely nodded. Thankfully, the café owner got the message.

“Raid…sis…you know it’s not about the money,” Slingshot tried a different approach. “We need to race. You need to race. Yeah, shit’s happened but you, we, need to carry on!” He sighed, and took a mouthful of his milky coffee. Again, his partner merely stared at her mug, and the steam rising from it.

“Carry on.” Air Raid mulled the two words around as if she were testing them out for use. “Carry on. Hmm…how, Slingshot? How do I carry on, when Darkie needs me?”

“She doesn’t need you, Raid.” Slingshot said very carefully, breathing deeply through his nose. He was losing it, he could feel it coming.

“Darkie needs m…”

“Darkstar doesn’t need you!” Slingshot interrupted her and raised himself up again on his hind hooves. “She has a team of doctors and nurses! I need you! The team needs you! Luna damn you Air Raid!” At the completely blank look he received from his partner, something snapped in Slingshot’s brain. “You wanna know something, Raid? Dusk was right.” Now, the lime green mare did look up at him. Her blue eyes twitched.

“You wanna be blamed? You wanna be a martyr? Fine! Guess what, Raid? It is your fault, all of it!” Slingshot yelled in her face. “Dusk had it right! You dumped Wily in the hospital! You shoved Dusk away! You didn’t watch Cy when she was under the influence of those potions! You were too obsessed with Darkie to go with your marefriend to that summit in Las Pegasus and Darkie…Darkie…”

Slingshot paused. He knew he’d crossed a line. By the look on Air Raid’s face he could tell he’d gone too far.

“Oh no, please,” Air Raid said quietly, dangerously. “Don’t stop on my account. Please tell me how Darkie is my fault as well.” The dishevelled pegasus leant forward and rested her chin on her forehooves. “I’m all ears. Bro.”

“My opinion? You’re using Darkie to compensate for Wily and Cy. That won’t bring either of them back.” He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Raid, look…I-I’m sorry alright?” Slingshot tried to back himself up. However it was too late. What had been said had been said. “I ah, I shouldn’t have said all that.”

Again, Air Raid’s eye twitched. “No. No, you absolutely should. This has obviously been bothering you for a while, hasn’t it? What else has been bothering you?” She paused to let her question sink in. She knew her partner was upset with her. She’d known for a long time. All those messages from Windcharger and Cliffjumper that Slingshot didn’t know she knew about, her rivals trying to poach her partner from her were nothing new, but this…she had no idea he was this upset with her.

“I ah, I don’t know what you mean, Raid.” Suddenly defensive, he took a sip of his coffee, wishing he hadn’t said anything to begin with.

Now Air Raid sighed. “Then…then I’ll make it easy for you, shall I?” She looked him dead in the eyes. “I know Windcharger’s been after you. I know she isn’t the only one. Cliffjumper too.”

“W-What…h-how’d you know about that?”

Air Raid actually laughed. “You’re serious, right?” With her cracked and dirty hoof she lifted up her mug and drained her coffee. “You never thought that Windcharger didn’t send me a copy of every text and email she ever sent you?”

Slingshot’s heart skipped a beat.

“Or that she never sent me copies of your replies?” She actually smirked at his mute wide eyed look of shock. That told her everything. His silence literally speaking volumes. “I don’t like you Windcharger but you get results at least and you don’t have Raid’s extra crap on your shoulders…” Air Raid let that hang in the air for a few moments. “Is that how you feel?”

“Look, Raid…we’re a quarter of the way through the season and you’re way off Windcharger…”

“Is. That. How. You. Feel?”

“Yes.” The pink earth pony stallion made the admission with a very heavy heart indeed. “Darkie is nothing but a transparent attempt to make up for you abandoning Wildfire…and you’re throwing away both of our careers.”

“Then go to Windcharger.”

“Raid, wait, let’s talk this through!” Slingshot couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Air Raid, his partner, friend, sister, was telling him to leave. It was clear she’d made her choice.

“What’s to talk about, Slingshot? You want me to race and to win. I’m not leaving Darkie’s side.” She couldn’t look him in the eyes. “I’ll say it again. I don’t care if you think I’m overcompensating. I. Am. Not. Leaving. Darkstar. I can’t be any clearer, ‘Shot. If you wanna go race, do it with another driver.”

“Fine.” Slingshot didn’t raise his voice. In his heart this decision had been made a long time ago. The writing had been on the wall for a while, since Fillydelphia. Bottom line was he needed to earn money. He stood up and reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a fifty bit note. “For the drinks. Get yourself another and get yourself cleaned up.” He dropped the note on the table. “Mind how you go, sis.” It sounded hollow when he said it, but he turned his back on the openly sobbing wreck of a mare and walked away without looking back.

If he looked back, he doubted he’d have the resolve to keep on walking.

“Slingshot…” Air Raid whimpered as she wept tears down her already tear stained face, making fresh tear tracks on the lime green fur of her cheeks, “D-Don’t go…please…” it was too late though. Slingshot’s white tail had already disappeared around the corner, leaving her sat alone outside Café Diem in the late afternoon sun.

The slight breeze picked up and blew the fifty bit note off the table. Air Raid didn’t care. She watched it blow away like Slingshot had blown away. The last bastion of support she had left had just walked out of her life and like a damn fool she had let him. Like he had said. It was all her fault. Rather rudely, her phone chose that moment to ring, interrupting her lousy mood. Reaching into her own bag, Air Raid pulled out her phone and, seeing it was Brightstar, answered it by the second ring. “Uh…wh-what’s up, Bright?” She asked, her voice heavy with weariness like she hadn’t slept in days and a distinct sniffle that betrayed a hastily recovered bout of tears.

“No, what’s up with you Raid?” He asked, his left ear perked up at his friend’s tone. “You sound like you’ve driven through Tartarus the long way round. Twice.”

Air Raid sniffled and choked back a few barely held tears. “I’m fine. Totally absolutely fine.”

“Bullshit Raid. Tell me what’s up or I’ll get Moony to come and spank you again.”

Air Raid had to admit that prospect was tempting. A griffon’s spanking was like being flailed by several tiny knives, sharp enough to make you bleed but not too sharp that they caused lasting damage and, under any other circumstances the lime green mare would’ve jumped at the opportunity. “Oh…it’s, it’s nothing really, I’ve just had a falling out with Slingshot that’s all.”

Brightstar almost dropped his phone. ‘A falling out with Slingshot?’ He thought incredulously. “No Raid, that’s not ‘nothing’. What happened?”

“Um…well, ‘Shot, he um, paid a visit earlier; wanted to know why I haven’t been racing when we’re only a quarter way through the season. He was pissed we’d missed eight races off the Canterlot circuit, said the sponsors were gonna drop us, well me, if we didn’t start entering some. I said there was no way I was leaving Darkie’s bedside. We uh…had a ‘disagreement’. He said Darkie was nothing but a transparent attempt to make up for abandoning Wildfire. I um…I yelled at him to get out, and he did. He just left.”

“Oh Raid…Raid I’m sorry,” Brightstar comforted, “Hey, it’s Wednesday now, how about we drop Athena with her nan and come up on Friday for the weekend, give you a bit of a break?”

“I don’t need a break. I need to be here for Darkie.” Came the ever stubborn reply.

“Raid…I’m willing to bet you haven’t been out of that hospital in three months.” Brightstar asserted firmly. “At least Darkie doesn’t have to endure the food. We’re coming up on Friday, you’re going to go home and rest, even if Moony has to hoof-cuff you to your bed.”

"Bright I…thanks Bright.” Air Raid’s stubborn defence crumbled before the weight of her tears, like a worn out old dam struggling to hold back the weight of the water behind it.

“Get some rest Air Raid, before they put you in a bed next to my sister.” Brightstar said kindly as he hung up. “We’ll see you soon hun.”

~ ~ ~

Slingshot sighed as he trotted into Trixie’s Place. He liked this club. Of the many bars and clubs all along Canterlot’s Central Strip, the pink earth pony stallion preferred this one. The Bass-ment club was okay, but he wasn’t in the mood for mindless noise blasted at almost unbearable decibels. No, this evening he was more in the mood for a quiet drink – or several quiet drinks, for that matter – and possibly some ‘fun’ in the upstairs afterwards.

Seating himself at the bar, Slingshot was quickly served with a bottle of his favourite lager, Abbott’s Ale, which thankfully the barmaid knew he liked and he settled in for an evening of his second favourite pastime. Stallion watching.

Seated at the other end of the long bar Windcharger took her half empty bottle of beer in her green aura and drained it before dumping it unceremoniously on the bar. The pale grey unicorn lifted up her hoof to stop the barkeep from replacing it with another and a thought flashed through her head.

A thought relating to Slingshot. It seemed most of her thoughts these days were about him, frustrating thoughts as no matter what she offered him, he simply refused to join her team. Smiling, she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out her cell phone. It had been a good several hours since she had last contacted him, and she didn’t want the prized acquisition to think she’d forgotten him.

Without knowing the stallion she so desperately sought was seated just a few feet away from her, Windcharger wrote out her text to him. One more attempt couldn’t hurt, after all.

Over at the other end of the bar, Slingshot had just lifted his bottle to his lips when he heard his cell beep, alerting him to the receipt of a message. Putting his beer down on the bar he reached for his phone with a grunt and a sigh. His first thought was that it was Air Raid. A small part of him wanted it to be Air Raid. Looking at his screen he smiled when he saw who the message was from. ‘You again, huh ‘Charger?’ he thought ruefully.

‘If you're tired of sitting in the stands, we can use you on our racing team.’

Again he smiled, marvelling at Windcharger’s timing, seeing as how Air Raid had just given him free reign to go and do as he wished not an hour previous. Part of him wanted to say no, and indeed he had started typing out his refusal, when he paused. Why shouldn’t he work? He was a damn good co-driver, one of the best, and sat in the stands he was wasting himself. With a reluctant sigh, he began to type out a new, different reply.

'Still trying to get me huh? I'm at Trixie's Place. Get me a beer and we'll talk’

Windcharger almost fell off of her seating pad at the bar. This was all her Heaths Warmings come all in one go. She didn’t dare to hope…could it be that finally she’d get her wish? Her hooves were shaking so much she used her green magic to type out her response.

‘In Canterlot?’

‘Yup, I’m propping up the bar as we type.’

Windcharger didn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe it. He was here, at the same bar as her, and willing to talk shop! Hurriedly she cleaned her blue rimmed glasses and at her end of the bar she stood up on her hind legs in order to look over the heads of the intervening ponies for the frankly very easy to find pink pony. She spotted his shockingly white mane amid the sea of bodies. Smirking, she typed out a reply to his text. ‘If you want a beer so bad you could at least come over and sit next to me.’

Slingshot looked at this latest text. So Windcharger was in the bar. ‘Alright, you got a deal.’ He hastily typed out the response and pressed the send button before standing up from his seating pad and, looking around at the other ponies propping up the bar, saw the grey unicorn’s jet black mane. She was still stood on her hind legs or he doubted he’d see her so easily. Walking over he again doubted his decision. He had no particular love for her, but he had none for an empty wallet either. “Windcharger…” he greeted her as politely as he could.

“Nice to see you, Slingshot.” She returned the greeting with an easy reassuring smile and moved her bags to make room for him at the bar. To the bartender, Windcharger said, “A beer for this fine stallion, please.” While the stallion there reached into the fridge under the bar, the grey unicorn turned her attention back to Slingshot. “So, what brings you to the club?”

Nodding his head at the rather attractive stallion who served him, Slingshot took the now vacant seating pad next to her at the bar. “Blowing off steam, looking for something new.” He answered truthfully, then he looked her dead in the eyes. “Looking for you, amongst other things.”

“Sorry for me saying this,” Windcharger said as she took another sip of her beer, “but it seems things have slid even further downhill between you and Raid.” This wasn’t really ‘news’ any more than ‘Oh hey, Celestia raises the sun everyday’, was news. Everypony on the racing circuit knew of the recent fractious nature of Slingshot and Air Raid’s relationship. Something she was eager to capitalise on.

Slingshot sighed. He was frankly sick of sighing and he really wished he’d stop it. Still, it suited his mood. “There is no 'me and Raid'.” He said quietly, the admission practically killing him to say out loud. “Not anymore.”

Windcharger took a moment to sip her drink and steady herself. She didn’t want to appear too eager, not after literally months and months of chasing her prize. And here he was, almost in her hooves. “So…room for you and me?”

Slingshot nodded. “That's why I'm looking for you.” As much as he hated it, and as much as it seemed like he was sleeping with the enemy…he shook his head and lifted his beer to his lips, reminding himself this was business.

“The Trottingham Series is in two weeks, will you be ready by then?” Windcharger asked, all business, she knew from the circuit that Air Raid was supposed to be entering the Whinnyapolis five hundred, and that track was nothing like Trottingham’s raceway.

“I'll be ready,” Slingshot performed his best eye roll. As one of the best co-driver’s on the circuit to date – a fact, not self-aggrandisement or ego – he knew all of Equestria’s tracks backwards. “You don't need to worry about me.”

“If you're on the team I get to worry.” Windcharger lifted her glass and paused, gauging his reaction to that little statement before she swallowed her mouthful of beer. “Text me your requirements and I'll have a contract for you by the end of the week.”

“Thank you, 'Charger.” Slingshot smiled. ‘Uh…I guess that pretty much seals it, doesn’t it?’ Strangely, it didn’t feel as ‘wrong’ as he thought it would. Still, there was one thing he wanted to attend to before they went any further. One last thing he could do for Air Raid. “I have a favour to ask, if you don't mind.”

Windcharger shrugged. “I'm open to favours.”

“I know you've been e-mailing Raid our conversations thus far.” Slingshot spoke straight and to the point, as was his way. “That stops.” The way he said it gave no way for negotiation. At all. “You've read the newspapers, seen the news. You know about Darkie. Raid's in a shitty place right now and I don't want you gloating.” While he was no longer her partner, and this was business, Air Raid was still very dear to him, and this was the least he could do.

‘Aw…Air Raid baiting is my favourite sport!’ Still, after a short pause she cleaned her glasses and nodded. Leaving her hated rival alone was a small price to pay for securing Slingshot, and besides it was no fun if she never answered her taunting e-mails. “I can do that. You're the one I want, not her. Life can suck, but it doesn't have to suck for you.”

Sipping his beer, the pink stallion smiled. “You're right on that.”

Satisfied she’d gotten what she finally wanted for so very long, Windcharger took her bottle in her glowing green aura and upended her drink before paying the bartender with a bag of bits that included buying a second one for her new partner. “Time to go. Things to set in motion.” Standing up from her seating pad she raised her hoof for a hoof bump. “Welcome to the team.”

Smiling, Slingshot bumped Windcharger’s hoof. “I'll be around your place the day after tomorrow. I wanna feel how you drive. Partner.”

“Cool.” The grey unicorn nodded. “With you I feel I can let loose.” Feeling like she could grow wings and fly, she headed off to exit the bar for the burgeoning night. There were things to do. Now.

“Hmmm...we'll see.” Slingshot thought out loud and drained his bottle of beer and had a thought. He was of course familiar with Windcharger’s driving style, but he’d only ever saw it from the outside. He had no idea if she short shifted or snatched her gears. “Driving as fast as you can go is different to driving as fast as the car will go...”

~ ~ ~

Once Slingshot had drunk the second beer that Windcharger had bought for him, he sat back on his seating pad and thought. The pink earth pony thought and smiled as he reflected on the day’s events. He closed his hazel eyes and let the background noise of the ground floor bar wash over him like a cleansing balm to soothe his spirits.

It certainly had been a day and a half. In the space of a few short hours he’d seen his long standing partnership with Air Raid come to an end. He had joined Windcharger of all ponies. He laughed at that. He never thought he’d be riding with ‘Charger’s team.

‘Ah well…everything changes, and we must change with it lest we get left behind…’ he thought to himself with a wry smile as he opened his eyes. He wasn’t really sorry about parting with Air Raid. If he was honest with himself their partnership had ended a long time past, they just hadn’t done anything about it. Like a loved one dying of an incurable illness.

‘Time to see who's here!’ With that thought in his mind, the pink stallion ran his hoof through his pure white mane and trotted off up the nearby staircase to the 'Stallion's Floor’ to see what talent was in tonight. Like Windcharger had said, life sucked, but it didn’t have to suck for him. ‘No sense moping’, he thought as he pulled his white satin socks from his saddlebag and slid them one at a time up his legs. ‘The past is in the past, and that’s that’. He reached into his bag and took out his panties.

After pulling up his white satin panties over his balls and sheath, Slingshot dropped his saddlebag in at the little lobby area and he entered the main part of the floor, walking over to an empty table. Taking the seating pad there the pink stallion got himself comfy and took a few moments to look around, sizing up the various talent on display.

One of Vocal Chord’s songs was being played over the music system, he didn’t pay that any mind however as his keen eyes scanned over the twenty or so stallions dancing on the dance floor. Some were bare, a few were wearing suits, a few like himself were wearing socks while a rare one or two were in full mare’s dresses. All of them however were with a partner or in threes.

A cursory glance around the sides though revealed a rather familiar lone pegasus stallion nursing a beer bottle a couple of tables away looking his way. ‘Hmm…I know him…I’m sure’, Slingshot thought as he sized up the very handsome pony and, deciding he just might have a chance, gave him a wink.

Over at the other table, and suddenly aware he was being watched, the white coated pegasus looked up just in time to catch the wink and he smiled and, liking what he saw in return, gave the pink earth pony a modest little nod. Downing what was left of his drink, he set the empty bottle back on his table.

Seeing his opportunity hoofed to him on a plate, Slingshot got up and trotted over to the Stallion’s Floor bar. One quick purchase later and the pink earth pony returned with two beers on a tray balanced on his back. “Thank you.” The white pegasus nodded as he took the offered drink from the tray when Slingshot laid it on the table. “You are a cute one, and I don't think I've seen you in here before.”

“You're welcome,” Slingshot took the empty seating pad opposite the familiar pegasus, “and thank you…” he tried and failed completely to hide the definite blush colouring his pink cheeks.

“Very pretty indeed.” The white stallion said again as he took a sip of his new beer. “I'm Sliver…”

“Silver Chord!” Slingshot blurted out, very thankful indeed that the noise of the music meant his exclamation didn’t carry further than their table. He took his drink in his hoof to cover up his more intense blush. “I'm ah, I’m Slingshot.”

“My, but that is a fast paced name.” Silver smiled at him sympathetically.

Slingshot nodded. “I'm a race driver...aaaah I mean I’m a co, co-driver…” he amended himself as quickly as he could, but he couldn’t hide the slip. ‘DAMN!’ The pink stallion silently cursed himself, ‘Real nice and smooth...idiot!’

“Ah,” Silver smiled and took another slug from his bottle. “So, you've stopped by to take me for a spin, or maybe for a test drive?”

“Perhaps even in a car?” Slingshot wanted so very much to kill himself. ‘I should stop. Now.’ When Silver Chord merely snickered at his predicament, Slingshot mumbled, “I'm ah...rubbish at this, sorry.” Quickly he decided to change the subject. “You come here often, then?”

“I do,” Silver Chord nodded, his mid length messy silver mane wafting in front of his electric blue eyes. “To enjoy the eye candy, and the drinks here aren't too expensive.”

“You are a cute looking stallion.” Slingshot said, thankfully starting to sound more like himself.

“No.” Silver Chord playfully shook his head, again sending his messy mane over his eyes. “I'm handsome, you are cute.”

Slingshot lifted his white sock covered hoof and with a giggle he tentatively brushed that cute mane from those very, very blue eyes. “Oh, yes you are…”

Silver Chord extended a hoof across the table and caressed Slingshot’s with his own. “Are you just checking out the scenery or looking for a bit of action?” He asked seductively, his eyes half lidded.

“Action.” Lowering his foreleg, Slingshot answered without hesitation. He had never been one to hesitate. Again he reached over the table and touched the messy maned stallion’s hoof. “Action. Definitely. With you.”

“Good choice.” Silver breathed an inward sigh of relief. This pink pony was rather cute, after all. “You like music?”

Slingshot took a sip of his beer. Purely for nerve. “I like your music.”

“Ah,” Silver Chord smiled. ‘Another groupie fan…’ was his first thought, but then he banished it quickly. This cute pink pony didn’t seem the typical simpering fan. “So you know of me and my music?”

“I do,” Slingshot nodded eagerly. He had followed the guitarist’s career for the past few years, both as a solo artist and as a supporter for Vocal Chord’s band. “And I love you...Ugh...it, I mean it!”

Silver Chord simply laughed. “You can love my music, but it is far too early to love me.” Again he caressed the earth pony’s sock clad hoof. “After all you don't even know me outside my music.” At that he gave Slingshot a wink. “Still, I think I'll give you a chance.”

Slingshot laughed and relaxed a little, helped by the presence of the handsome stallion’s hoof on his own. “Oh...I must seem like Equestria's biggest fancolt right now.” He let out a cute giggle when the white pegasus nodded. “I'm sorry, Silver. But thank you, for the try out.”

“A little bit of rehearsal never hurt anypony.” When Slingshot gave him a half lidded look of his own, Silver Chord ran his hoof up and down the sock. “Are you local to the area, or visiting?”

“Mmmm...l-local…”

Silver Chord nodded. “Your place, my place, or somewhere neutral like right here?” He asked during a break in the seemingly incessant music.

Slingshot didn’t even have to think about it. “Your place works for me.” Sure it might seem risky, but faint heart never won handsome stallion.

“Now I'm curious.” Silver raised his eyebrow up into his messy silver mane. “Second date will be your place. Got a ride?”

“I sure do,” Slingshot replied with a smile. “A sweet little thing parked outside.”

“Good, as I'm not sure you can keep up with my flying.” Silver Chord snickered and, after he had finished his drink he stood up from the seating pad he’d been sat on.

Snickering in turn, Slingshot quickly finished the beer he had left barely a moment later. “Ready, handsome pony?”

“Oh yes I am, my pretty.” Silver Chord ruffled his feathers and pointed with a wingtip at the entrance to the Stallion’s Floor and the lobby beyond. “Lead the way while I follow those sexy panties.”

“Hmm yes sir!” Slingshot blew his date a kiss and the pink earth pony sauntered out with an exaggerated sway to his hips and his white tail hiked up so that his satin panties, stretched over his balls, showed of his undercarriage. Walking out he stopped in the lobby just long enough to pick up his saddlebag from where he’d dropped it off earlier. Silver Chord, who had just his waist pouch, just followed him out.

Once they were both outside – Slingshot having led his date through the rest of the club with his tail hiked up all the way - was the pink stallion’s gleaming white corvette stingray with its stylised golden eagle on the hood. Trotting over to his pride and joy, Slingshot opened the passenger door ready for Silver to get in. Silver Chord, for his part, gave an appreciative whistle as he drank in the beautiful looking car. “I can see you aren't after me for my money.” Getting inside he grinned, “Maybe you can be my sugar daddy.”

Smiling, Slingshot shut the door and trotted around to the driver’s side and got in, his right sock clad hoof resting rather high up on his date’s left thigh. “I do alright at what I do.”

‘So I see, this is a beauty of a car…’ Silver Chord thought as with his seat belt on he gave his designated driver his address. Slingshot nodded. Turned out the white pegasus lived over in the Upper South Quarter of the Residential District where Mane Street met Bridle Way. He knew where that was. Firing up the car he stepped on the gas and took off. As Slingshot drove, Silver Chord took the time to study him instead of the surroundings as he drove. He drove perfectly, not too fast, if anything a little slow. His hazel eyes never left the road, he never missed a shift.

Silver let his hoof stray slowly over to Slingshot’s hind leg. “With you behind the wheel I feel safe enough to catch a nap,” he said with a smile, “But I'm enjoying the scenery.”

“Best at what I do, handsome.” Slingshot returned the smile. “See anything you like?”

“Only the whole package.”

“Sweet talker as well as good looking.” Slingshot blushed a little as he drove along the thankfully empty roads. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Silver was just watching him drive, almost as if he were sizing him up. The pink stallion had a hunch he was waiting till they got to his place, which as it turned out wasn’t to be that long a wait as presently he pulled onto Bridle Way and parked outside Silver Chord’s house. “Here we are.”