Stories From Spike's Speakeasy

Spike rubbed his temples in an attempt to stave off the headache that once again reared its ugly head. 'I told you, Twilight Sparkle....I TOLD you 'don't cast a spell if it's in a language you aren't fluent in...but did you listen? No!' He grumbled to himself. It had been over two week since he'd landed in this other version of Equestria because Twilight attempted to cast something from a book written in Germane.

A language where she really only knew enough to say 'Who peed in the pool?'. Needless to say, he wasn't to thrilled to learn he was the one to suffer the results of her goof.

Now here he was, in an Equestria that, while he recognized most of the ponies and such here, there were so many more differences. Pretending to be a tourist, he'd managed to piece together most of the major ones relevant to him; neither Canterlot now Ponyville existed in this world, both towns mushed together into a place uninspiringly called 'Equestria City'

Seriously, who calls a town that? At least Ponyville had a reason for its name.

Also, they didn't really have princesses here. Apparently...alicorns were just luck of the genetic draw here. The Cadance, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight of this world were all natural born, oddly enough, instead of an ascension.

And, though a bit more unexpectedly, not being princesses meant Luna never had the issue of ponies not being awake at night, so no Nightmare Moon and no prophecy about her coming back. At first that had him wondering where the others were until he saw the Twilight, Pinkie, and Starlight of this world walking together like lifelong friends.

He'd been tempted to say something, but had learned that, no princesses also meant Twilight hadn't gone to a school for gifted unicorns...and never hatched a dragon egg.

Which meant he didn't exist here. To say that was a bit of a shock was an understatement. Then again, that'd probably freak anyone out.

"Gah...get a grip, dragon." He muttered, shaking his head. "You got bigger things to worry about. Namely how you're gonna eat while you're here." Due to his nonexistance in this Equestria, he had zero reputation and most folks had shown to be leery of a dragon that looked like he'd just wandered into town from nowhere. So that meant funds were drastically limited and he had no clue how long he'd be stuck in this world.

And thus left him in his current situation. If he was gonna eat, he needed a job, except his current conditions left him limited.

Now, he was standing outside a place in one of the city's back corners; Gemstonez. The neon sign above the door had a sapphire with what looked like a mare posing seductively in it. However, it was the 'Help Wanted' poster on the door that had really caught his attention. It didn't really specify what kind of help was needed, but his growling stomach made it hard to care.

A quick knock on the door had a small window open and a familiar-looking set of green eyes peer out at him. "Sorry sugarcube, we're closed. Come back later this evenin'."

"I-I'm here about the job opening." He replied, wondering why that southern twang sounded like someone he knew. It was kind of deep and sounded kind of easygoing, but it was still pretty damn feminine.

When the door opened, though, he wasn't quite ready for the sight that greeted him. "M-Macintosh??" He blurted out; standing there was a tall - a good foot on him -, and muscular red mare with an orange mane. Dressed in slacks, suspenders, and a button-down shirt that did little, if any, to hide the still feminine and impressive curves she had, along with the fact the shirt was open enough to show a little cleavage from the DD-breasts straining the shirt a bit. The necklace she had on even resembled the heavy collar the big farmpony liked to wear. All in all, this mare could pass for Big Mac's twin sister.

It didn't help that she...well, she was pretty hot to boot.

"'Fraid ya'll got me mixed up with someone else, sugar. Name's Big Macareina." She replied, giving him the same relaxed smile Mac often had.

"Heh, s-sorry...just...you remind me of a friend back home." He replied, trying not to let his eyes trail down.

"Ah, no harm done." She waved it off. "So, here 'bout the job, huh? Miss Ember's the one to talk to 'bout that. C'mon." She motioned for him to follow.

Soon as he stepped in, the autumn chill from outside was burned away by warmth and a surprisingly spicy, welcoming aroma that filled the place. It also showed what she'd meant by 'closed'.

'Gemstonez' was a nightclub. Numerous empty tables dotted the floor, surrounding an extended stage, an extensive-looking bar lined one of the far walls, and the place was lit up just enough to let them see where they were going. In an odd way, the place felt...inviting. At the moment, at least. 'Wait a second...' He thought, as the amanezon led him backstage. "Did you say 'Miss Ember'?"

"Eeyup." Macareina replied, stopping at a windowed door. "She took over 'bout five years ago after her pa, old Skinflint Scorch got caught helping himself to the bank account. Ah've only been here 'round two, but the place is definitely seeing better days with her in charge." She knocked on it and a voice he knew instantly spoke up.

"Come in."

'Holy...that IS her!' He blinked in badly concealed surprise when he saw the cyan-colored dragoness sitting at a slightly cluttered desk, wearing a tight-fitting white sleeveless t-shirt.

"He's here 'bout the job opening." Macareina said once they were in the room.

"Really?" She gave him a calculating look. "Been wondering when someone'd come for that. To be honest, I didn't expect another dragon to be interested. What's your name, big boy?"

"Spike. I'm kind of new in town." He tried hard not to blush at how she started looking him up and down. "More or less wandered in a couple weeks ago and my financial situation is making food a little hard to come by."

"Well..." She stood up, giving him a view of her bare legs and the skin-tight shorts she had on. "Normally we need a resume and application...I can't quite explain it, but there's something about you."

"There...there is?" He asked. 'How come I never noticed Ember had legs THAT nice?!'

"Can't quite put my finger on it.." Ember tapped her lip. "Questions for later. So, what are you good at?"

"Um..well, I did a lot of odd jobs back home. Mostly cleaning, cooking, a lot of heavy lifting, gem digging, helping out some of the local farm, stuff like that."

"I see." She and Macareina both looked at his arms. "Tell you what; come in tonight and we'll start you off a few jobs. See where you'll fit in."

"Sure. That works pretty good."

"All right. We open at nine. try and get here by seven-thirty so we can let everyone know about you."