"What do you mean, you’re leaving for the weekend?" I asked Sunset rather bewildered.

"The girls and I have a performance at a party away from here, along with other groups, so I wanted to know if I could take those two days off." Said Sunset.

"Look, Sunset, it's not the fact that you're leaving, it's that you could have told me with a little more in advance." I complained. "If you had warned me three days ago, I could have organized myself better."

"I'm sorry, boss, I know this is so sudden, but we were recommended by one of Applejack’s cousins, and she couldn’t say no."

"Okay, look, I think I’ll close the pub this weekend and I also take a break. Maybe I can help Big Mac with his heartache."

"Wait, are you going to close the pub?" Asked Discord after sipping his beer. "What am I supposed to do all this weekend alone?"

"You can rent a movie and buy a bag of popcorn, what do you tell me?" This guy makes me crazy sometimes.

"Thank you so much boss." Sunset responded giving me a hug. "I’m going to call the girls and tell them to count with me." She said while retiring to talk on the phone.

"I can’t believe you're going to close the pub for a whole weekend." Discord said indignantly.

"Hey, I have the right to rest sometimes too." I replied. The truth is that a break won’t hurt me. After the last events it was just what I needed.

Suddenly my mobile phone rang, I did not recognize the number, but I answered.

"Hello?"

"Alo, mon ami." It was me, or they were speaking to me in French?

"Err... sorry, but I think you’ve got the wrong number." I replied.

"Bourbon, don’t you recognize me anymore?" I thought for a moment, until I recognized that voice.

"Wait, Danny, is that you?"

"Ouais, ça va?"

Danny, old Gator Danny. He was a friend of mine for a long time who lived in the bayou, I hadn’t seen him for a few years, since I finished college and returned to Canterlot, but we’ve kept in touch since then. Although he often had the habit of speaking to me in French, I didn't know if he was doing it to annoy me or because he really enjoyed speaking his mother tongue. I think it was a bit of both...

"I'm not complaining, truth to be told; how about you, you crazy Cajun?"

"I was going to propose something to you." I decided to listen carefully. "This weekend we have a party in the bayou, there will be music, food, BOOZE..." What a clever bastard, he knew how to play his chards on me... “I thought that maybe you wanted to come and have some fun... Cajun style."

"Well now that you say, I have this weekend off. But I can’t go, I have a friend who feels so bad for his ex-girlfriend and needs my help." I really wanted to see my friend, but I could not leave Big Mac alone...

"Bring him man! If it's for a girl, there'll be many gals here, even from outside of town; I've heard that a band only of girls is coming to town and they’re all hotties."

I laughed at Danny's comment, although he gave me a good idea. "You know? I think it's a good plan, a totally new environment could help Big Mac. Ok, count on us, we'll see you on Saturday. "

After hanging up, a smile spread across my face from ear to ear. Since I opened the pub, I'd hardly had time for me, much less leave the city. This was the opportunity I needed, now I just had to convince Mac...

Hours later I closed the pub to get lunch. Cheese, Mac and I ate quietly until I decided to bring up the festival thing...

"Hey guys, an old friend who lives in the bayou called me this morning and invited us to a Fais do-do they are preparing, it’s a kind of Cajun hoedown. What do you think?"

"A party at the bayou?" Cheese asked surprised. "I don’t see why not, it's been a long time since the last spree."

I knew that Cheese would be easy to convince, but now was Big Mac’s turn. "Bourbon, I don’t know, I don’t feel like partyin’.” He said somewhat discouraged.

"Oh, come on Mac, are you going to spend all weekend lying on the couch and weeping over Sugar Belle?" Asked Cheese.

"He's right, how long do you plan to be like this?" I asked. "Look, I think you could use a change of scenery. What you need is go somewhere new, some place that would really help you to disconnect."

Big Mac looked at us, although my purpose was to go out and have fun, everything I told the eldest of the Apples was true. If he allowed himself to be absorbed by routine, he would never forget Sugar Belle.

"I guess we would go in mah truck, right?" He said. Great, I already had him almost convinced.

"How else? Cheese doesn’t have a car, and I think we would be very tight on my bike..." I replied sarcastically.

"Okay, I think changin’ the mood will be good for me, but I warn ya, Bourbon." Suddenly Big Mac turned to me, looking at me seriously and pointing me with his finger. "No uncontrolled drunkenness."

"I'll try..." No way, actually I knew I was going to drink up to the bayou water if they let me.

Saturday at last! It was early in the morning and I was finishing showering. Cheese Sandwich and Big Mac were almost ready, and they were waiting for me while they had a coffee.

"Bourbon, why are you always the last one?" Cheese complained while I got dressed.

"Stop complaining, I'm out already!" I yelled.

My attire wasn’t nothing special, jeans, a simple shirt and a denim vest; Well, it wasn't really a vest, but an old jacket that I cut its sleeves long time ago...

The icing on the cake was my hat. A straw hat worn and with several bullet holes.

"Hey! Yer old hat! Man, I didn’t see it in years." Big Mac said.

“I'm not used to wearing hats lately, although it's also true that it seems like it was centuries ago the last time when I went out for a party." I replied smiling.

"Do you remember when you almost lost it in the desert in Mexicolt?" Commented Cheese Sandwich, laughing.

"Shut up, don’t remind me, I almost had a heart attack." When I was ready, I turned to my colleagues. "Well, we're leaving?"

"Eeyup." Big Mac said.

As expected, Big Mac drove his truck while I guided him to reach Danny's village in the bayou. Cheese Sandwich was getting a good nap at the back of the pickup while we listened some music to get us into mood.

"Hey Mac, why don’t we stop and rest a little? We still have 20 minutes left." I asked.

"Eeyup, we also have to refuel." The gas meter was almost empty.

Soon we found a honky tonk with a gas station. While Mac stopped to refuel, Cheese and I went into the bar to drink and relieve our bladders.

The atmosphere was quite relaxed, a few cowboys and bikers and occasional truckers drinking to the sound of blues songs.

"It's nice to have a beer and not being the one who serves it, you know?" I said to Cheese Sandwich as we sat at a table.

"It has to be stressful to work in the pub." He commented.

"Yes, it is, but, honestly, I would not change it for anything at this moment."

"I toast for it." Cheese and we crashed our beers and took a drink.

Soon Big Mac arrived, with another beer in his hand.

"I'm looking forward to partying." Said Cheese Sandwich excited, banging the table like a drum.

"When don’t ya feel like partyin’?" Big Mac asked rhetorically.

Suddenly a moan from a man was heard from the bar. I looked up and I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was Applejack, who had grabbed a guy by the arm and pinned him down.

"What the fuck?" I got up in the direction of the bar to meet Big Mac's sister. "AJ? What are you doing here?"

"Bourbon?" Apparently, Applejack was as surprised to see me as I was to her. "This varmint has tried to grab mah ass."

I watched the guy who tried not to notice the expression of pain he had at that moment. The worst thing is that I knew him too...

"Holy shit... Six-Shots McColt?" I asked.

"Bourbon Maverick?" He asked looking at me. Applejack left him surprised that we knew each other. "Well, well, what brings you here? Have you followed me to take back what is mine?"

"You know too well that I had nothing to do with it. Maybe if you weren’t playing fool in that game of poker things would have been very different." I said looking at him serious.

"Oh, excuse me sir, you fooled me once and never again, but I don’t hold a grudge on you. Also, today I have a fine business, so I don’t care if you stand between me and another girl." McColt turned to look at Applejack and then looked at me. "By the way, be careful with this filly, she's too much woman for you, drunken Lyrish."

McColt left looking at me badly, I didn’t take my eyes off him until he left the bar. Another girl entered the bar after leaving McColt, nothing more and nothing less than Sunset Shimmer.

"Boss? What are you doing here?" Sunset asked surprised.

"That’s what I wanted to ask you two." Then the pieces fit together. "Wait, are you going to the bayou? You have that concert there?"

"Yup, we were recommended by a relative of mine, Fiddly Twang, do ya go there, too?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, and not alone I’m afraid." I nodded toward the table where Big Mac and Cheese Sandwich were. When they saw us, they approached the bar as well.

We chatted for a while laughing at the incident with McColt and we went out to meet the rest of the Rainbooms in front of a bus that looked like it was a school bus. The girls were also happy to see us and once their vehicle was full of gas, they followed us to Danny's house.

The bayou area had a peculiar beauty. The trees and the swamp, and all those animals that populated it, from majestic herons to ferocious alligators.

Actually, the town wasn’t very big. The girls had to park the bus in the outskirts, and they all followed me to Danny's house.

My friend lived in a more or less large house, with a large garden overlooking the marsh and a small stable where he kept a horse. Danny was sitting on the porch steps at the main entrance.

"Don’t get up gentleman, I don’t want you to try hard." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, then I don’t need to receive you, go back where you came from." He replied.

After a silence of five seconds we both laughed, and Danny came over to give me a hug.

"It’s been a long time you Lyrish drunkard!" Danny told me.

"It's the second time that they call me that today...You look fine, you crazy Cajun! Hold on, let me introduce you." Then Danny and I went to where the rest were. "Guys, this is my friend Gator Danny."

"Enchanté." Danny said.

"Well, they are Big Macintosh and Cheese Sandwich, my roommates; and they are Sunset Shimmer, my waitress; Applejack, Big Mac’s sister; Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie."

Everyone greeted Danny and he offered to show us his house and grounds.

"I’ll go to see Fiddly Twang and tell her we're here, Mac, do ya wanna come?" Applejack said.

"Eeyup."

The Apple siblings left, leaving the rest with Gator Danny.

"Come with me, y’all must be tired, do you want something to drink?" He asked.

"Don’t ask me twice." I answered, anticipating the others.

“Y’all can also leave your luggage inside.”

Inside the house, Danny offered us a drink; Cheese, Sunset and I drank beer, while Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie preferred cider.

"So, where do you two meet?" Sunset asked, referring to Danny and me.

"We met at Mardi Gras, or rather, I found him at Mardi Gras." Danny said laughing.

"What does that mean?" Rarity asked curiously.

"It turns out that this moron was drunk and alone in the streets and I found him stumbling. I offered him accommodation, he stayed at ma maison and since then we have been good friends. "

"Hey, I wasn’t that drunk..." I complained.

"Oh really? As soon as you came to the village you fell into the water! He came out looking like the Swamp Thing." Everyone in front of Danny's story broke into a laugh. I simply looked away with a stern look on my face and I just took a sip of my beer.

"The next day he was so honte that he offered to pay me for the accommodation."

" You also surpassed me the next day. He ended up drunk, lying on a bench in the street and said: 'Mon amí, can I tell you something?' I was confused, but I went to listen to him, to which he replied crying: 'I don’t want to break up with my girlfriend!' Now it was Danny's turn to be ashamed. Well, my story also had parts that were the very definition of cringe.

"Well, I was young and idiotic; mostly idiotic. But now I see that all of that was for good, she was a bitch." Danny said. "By the way, I have one thing for you, Bourbon."

The Cajun went to a piece of furniture and from one of the drawers pulled out a corn pipe.

"Here, a present for you."

"Man, thank you very much. If you have tobacco, I'd kiss you on the mouth."

"Ouais, but in return you have to help me with the food, I'm going to prepare my famous piquant." Danny told me.

“Of course, man, whenever you want.” I answered.

"Alons, let's go outside."

Danny and I took a few things out of the fridge and took it to the garden. There he had prepared his barbecue and the rest of his stoves. While Danny prepared the meat, I cut the vegetables of the Trinity: green pepper, celery and onion. Man, how I hate to chop onions, I can’t stop crying...

"Hey Danny, just one thing, Fluttershy is a vegetarian so let's see if we can do something for her." I explained to my friend.

"Who? That cute pink-haired girl?" I nodded. "How didn’t she say it before?"

"Because she's very shy, but hey, can you think of something?"

"Well yes, look for a few okras and more of the Trinity, taking advantage of the piquant we will also make a veggie gumbo."

I did what he asked, and I came back with more vegetables, but that meant having to chop more onions... well, Fluttershy deserved it.

"Do y’all need help with somethin’?" Asked someone approaching the garden.

It was Applejack who had arrived with Big Macintosh and another girl I didn’t recognize. She had a long blue hair, wore a green shirt and a denim skirt, an orange bandana over her neck and a white hat on her head. In her hand she carried a small case, probably a fiddle.

"Let me introduce you, she is Fiddly Twang, our cousin." Applejack explained.

"Nice to meet y’all," she said, lowering the brim of her hat slightly.

If I have to be honest, that girl reminded me a lot of Octavia Melody, the CHS cellist and who now shared a flat with Vinyl; that’s it, if Octavia dressed like a country girl and changed her cello for a fiddle.

For some reason she gave me a strange look... or so it seemed to me. I kept cooking until she approached.

"Hey good lookin', whatcha got cookin'? "She asked me, approaching where I was preparing the piquant.

"Wait, isn’t that an old song?" I asked laughing a little.

"Maybe." She said smiling and putting his finger in the pot, then he brought it to his mouth savoring it. "Mmmmm, piquant; Gator and you are good chefs. "

"Well just wait to really check it out, Fiddly." Danny answered laughing.

The same were my imaginations, but I would swear Applejack looked worried.

"So, flirting with Fiddly Twang?" Danny approached me and asked smiling mischievously.

"What? No... well, I don’t think so."

Being honest is not that I care much. Fiddly Twang was an attractive girl, there was no doubt about that, but I didn’t feel very comfortable really...

Sometimes I think I'm an idiot.

The food was ready. We serve the gumbo and the piquant with rice. They were delicious.

"Boss, Gator, this is delicious," said Sunset Shimmer.

"It's a family recipe." Danny said.

"It's very good, but this chicken has a strange texture." Rarity asked.

"Yeah, that's because it's not chicken." Danny replied.

"What is it then?" Dash asked puzzled.

"Alligator." Answered the Cajun laconically.

At that moment all except the Apples, Danny and I stopped eating with wide eyes. Well, Fluttershy was not eating the piquant, but she was still very surprised. Pinkie on the other hand shrugged and continued eating as if nothing.

"You see? That's the expression I was hoping for." I said to Danny.

"So, you knew it..." Twilight told me.

"Yes, if I told you something before eating it wouldn’t be funny."

"Well, the taste is fine, in fact, I almost care more about the spice," said Sunset drinking water. She already had three glasses in a row.

"Hey, if ain't hurt in the bite, be sure the piquant ain't right." Danny said. Too bad that not everyone liked spicy like us.

After the food came the booze. I enjoyed like a child with a good dram of Southern Comfort.

"Ah, that's the stuff!" I said savoring the drink.

"Yeah right; hey Fiddly, do you sign up for a couple of sessions?"

"Of course!"

"Does anyone know how to play the accordion?" Danny asked.

"Me!" Cheese said.

"I’ve got a Cajun accordion, but I think I can teach you a couple of tricks."

Gator Danny and Cheese Sandwich entered the house and came out with a violin and a diatonic accordion. Danny was explaining to Cheese the differences between his accordion and the Cajun accordion.

"Bourbon, I guess you brought your guitar or your banjo, why don’t you go get it while I teach Cheese a couple of songs?"

"Good idea, I’ll be right back. Can anyone join me? "

"Mahself," said Fiddly Twang.

Fiddly accompanied me to the Big Mac truck and took my guitar and banjo from there.

"Do you know how to play both?" She asked me.

"Yes, I started with the guitar when I was a kid and then I learned to play the banjo thanks to a guy I met in my father's town."

"That's cool, I've been playin’ the fiddle since I was a child too, whenever there's an Apple Family reunion, it's me who plays it." It wasn’t strange for me to imagine the Apples dancing in a hoedown. As far as I knew there were quite talented country musicians in that family, and Big Mac, Applejack and Applebloom were no exception. Applejack played great guitar and bass, but the icing on the cake was her voice, she had a beautiful voice.

When we arrived, the first thing I heard was Cheese Sandwich playing the accordion.

"Hey Bourbon, do you remember that song I taught you a long time ago?" Danny asked me.

"That of a guy who asked a woman for permission to marry her daughter?" I asked.

"That one. Come on, take out the guitar, and you Fiddly take out the fiddle! "

"At your orders Gator." The young violinist replied.

Once we were all in position, they started playing Cheese the accordion and Danny the fiddle. Once we joined them Fiddly Twang and me, Danny started singing.

A simple song, and, still, pretty. I think that kind of music was what made me fall in love with the Cajun lifestyle. Well, that, and the food, of course.

After that, Gator continued playing another song that I knew well. A song that spoke about his grandfather’s country. I even allowed myself the freedom to do a little guitar solo, which followed a fiddle solo and an accordion solo. I was glad to see that the girls danced to the sound of Cajun melodies.

"That was super duper fun!" Pinkie said excitedly. "You have improved a lot with the accordion Cheese."

"Thanks, Pinkie." Cheese Sandwich answered with a smile.

Suddenly there was a noise coming from inside Danny's house. He came running and I followed him to see what happened. Apparently, the noise was coming from a ham radio and they were trying to get in touch with Danny.

"Gator, answer, over." the voice said on the other side of the frequency.

"Go ahead.” Answered Danny.

"We've seen strangers in the bayou, near Grand Marie's lair; Could you go take a look? Over."

"Merde, I’ll be there in five minutes. Over and out."

Danny disconnected the radio.

"What's up, buddy?" I asked worriedly.

"They say there's something wrong in the bayou, I'm going to check it out," he replied.

"I’m coming with you."

From my backpack I took out a shoulder holster with a revolver in it and hid it under my vest. If you had to go into the bayou, you preferred to be prepared.

About to leave the house, the rest of the group decided to accompany us. We arrived at a small dock where Danny had a large airboat. As only a few of us could go in the boat, Dash, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy accompanied us; the latter and Twilight were very interested in seeing the fauna of the bayou.

After starting the engine and turning on the music player we navigate through the waters of the marsh.

"So, where did you say we were going?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"To Grand Marie's lair, I've been told they've heard strange noises out there," Danny explained.

"Who or what is Grand Marie?" Rarity asked.

"The largest alligator of this bayou, and she's albino. It is also protected, and they say that it is the oldest inhabitant in the region, some say she’s almost 200 years old. "

"200 years?" I couldn’t believe what I heard. " If that's true, that creature must be huge."

"And she is, mon ami. She certainly is..." Danny looked at me with a sinister smirk.

I admit that it gave me chills, the simple fact of imagining a gigantic alligator near the boat caused me not to take my eyes off the water at any time.

Fortunately, Gator was not a fool and he had a rifle with him, I thank myself for having my gun at hand...

Soon we reached the area of the lair, and apparently there was nothing strange until we noticed a boat with a couple of guys carrying cages. In them there were several baby alligators.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Danny yelled, grabbing his rifle.

The strange guys were armed, of course. But we were as quick as them at the time of drawing and we aimed at them with our respective weapons.

“Ugh, fuck me... Bourbon is that you?" I recognized that voice instantly.

"Fucking McColt. It seemed too much of a coincidence to have met you before... What the hell are you doing here? "

"Ain't that obvious? Selling moonshine can be profitable at times, but selling exotic animals, that's where you get real money, "explained McColt.

"Do you capture them to sell them? You are despicable." Fluttershy said indignantly. I've never seen it like this before.

"And who are you, another hippie environmentalist who wants to screw us the business?" McColt replied.

"Hey! Respect the lady." Gator said without stopping pointing him with his rifle.

"Look, I don’t intend to continue with this, you're not going to screw up this business Bourbon; say goodbye."

At that moment McColt and his buddy fired without giving us time to react. We crouched closing our eyes, but no bullet hit us, on the contrary, it seemed as if they had bounced against something.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was a huge diamond in front of us and I saw Rarity whose hand shone brightly. Did she materialize that boulder?

"But, what the...?" I snapped to say.

"Any creature, please help us." Said Fluttershy out of nowhere.

Suddenly the water near McColt's boat began to move, and before we knew it something emerged from it.

It was a huge albino alligator, the biggest thing I had ever seen, and he went straight to attack McColt's boat. That ruffian shouted like a pig in the slaughterhouse while the huge beast bit the hull of his boat.

"Mon Dieu, that's Grand Marie's hospitality." Gator said almost laughing.

But how could she appear like this all of a sudden? Did… did Fluttershy call her?

McColt didn’t waste any time and started the engine to get out of there like the devil's soul. Despite having lost a piece of the boat it could sail without problem.

"What the hell was all that?!" I asked between surprised and scared.

"Questions later," said Dash. "Go after them, I’ll go back to town to warn the others and call the police."

"How do you plan to go back alone?" Gator asked.

"Just do what I say." Before we knew it, Rainbow Dash vanished leaving behind a rainbow trail.

For a moment I was dumbfounded, but after realizing that McColt was running away, I yelled at Danny to start and that's how our persecution began.

Although Danny's airboat was large, he wasn’t far behind in speed and we were not short of McColt's boat. They started to shoot at us, of course, but luckily Rarity did whatever it was before and hid us behind huge diamonds that bounced the bullets .

"Twilight, you have to take their weapons off!" Rarity shouted. At this point I did not ask myself how Twilight was going to take those cocoons from their weapons.

"I need to be closer!" Our nerdy friend yelled.

In a moment when Rarity disappeared the diamond because she was tired, I took advantage and fired my revolver against McColt’s boat. I didn’t want to kill him, only to disable his boat, although I have to admit that I would not worry if I hurt him with a bullet.

While I responded to the shots and Rarity defended us with her diamond shields, Danny accelerated more and more until leaving us almost to slipstream of McColt.

"Twilight, do it now!" Rarity shouted.

Twilight looked with concentration at McColt and his buddy, suddenly her hand shone with a purple color and the weapons of our enemies were wrapped in an aura of the same color. Suddenly, the weapons began to float before the look of disbelief of McColt and his henchman. Scared, McColt put the boat at full speed while we continued chasing them.

"Is there no way to stop them?" I asked.

"If there was at least one way to overturn the boat," Danny said.

"Oh, I got it!" Pinkie yelled suddenly. I had no idea what had crossed her mind, but I had long since learned not to question Pinkie in almost anything...

Our crazy friend took some confetti out of her pocket. Was she thinking about making a cake? Pinkie put the confetti in her hand, it flashed and threw the confetti near McColt's boat. Without warning, the confetti exploded causing a wave making the criminals to lose their balance and fall into the water.

McColt and his buddy rushed back to the boat, but the noise of our weapons forced them to stop.

"Don’t even think about it McColt." I said as I pointed the revolver at him.

He didn’t say anything, he just stared at me with a cold expression full of hate...

We kept those two goons under control until the sheriff arrived in an airboat along with Rainbow Dash, Sunset, Applejack, Big Mac and Cheese.

"You’ve done a good job, thanks to you we have finally caught this alcohol smuggler, what we didn’t know is that now he was involved in illegal wildlife trade..." commented the sheriff as he thanked us for the effort.

"Bourbon, you bastard! You’re gonna regret this! "McColt yelled as they took him handcuffed.

"Watch the back door while you're in prison McColt..." I said smirking. Maybe it wasn’t so clever to piss off McColt in this situation, but I could not help it.

"Danny, can you take those baby alligators back to Grand Marie’s lair?" Asked the sheriff.

"Bien sûr sheriff. Allons, let's take these little ones with mommy." Gator said, and the Apples, Sunset, Rainbow and Cheese got on their airboat.

When we arrived, we left those little fellas in the lair, and I could see Fluttershy literally talking to some alligators. Suddenly, Danny noticed one thing.

"Hey, wait a minute..." he said as he opened one of the cages and pulled out the animal inside. "This is not an alligator."

Gator showed a small caiman that he held in his hands.

"If it's not an alligator, what is it?" Cheese asked.

"It's a dwarf caiman, it's strange, this isn’t a local species."

"Oh my gosh, it's so cute!" Pinkie Pie suddenly said.

"Well, what are you going to do with him?" I asked.

"It's not from the bayou, that's quite sure; McColt must have captured it somewhere else before." Danny deduced. "Hey Pinkie, if you like it, why don’t you keep it?"

"Really?" The pink-haired girl asked, eyes shining.

"Hold on a second Danny, are you fucking serious? Pinkie, you can’t have an alligator in your house." I tried to appeal to reason, what my Cajun friend proposed was crazy.

"Come on Bourbon, it's a dwarf caiman, they don’t grow much more than a medium dog." Danny handed the caiman to Pinkie. The argument did not convince me so much.

"I'd love to keep him," Pinkie said smiling as she held the little creature.

"Uhm, I can help you with this little baby Pinkie, if you want." said Fluttershy approaching.

"You too Fluttershy?" I asked, about to give up.

“Come on Bourbon, look at his cute little face.” Pinkie put the caiman just an inch from my face, although it could be cute, his inexpressiveness made me nervous, he was staring at me with his mouth and eyes wide open.

"Ok, Pinkie, do what you want, let’s see what your sister says about that animal. But if someone in the building starts screaming in fear, I don’t want to know anything."

Cheese Sandwich approached Pinkie to see the animal more closely. "And, what’s going to be his name?"

"I got it, I'll call him Gummy," Pinkie said, giving a caress to the alligator, he did not seem unfazed, just opened his mouth while looking at nothing with that lost expression.

"Great... now there's going to be a caiman in the building, by the way, girls, if you don’t mind, could you explain me what the hell was what happened before?!" I yelled, eager for answers...

A few hours later I was sitting on a log around a fire, drinking a beer while some Cajun music played. The Fais Do Do was really going great, people had worked hard to have everything ready.

The Rainbooms played their songs and everybody loved it. After them, a band played a tribute to the Creedence, and, as my favorite songs were played, I dance a little. Or at least I tried.

For eating, there was gumbo, crawfish pie, jambalaya... and of course liquor and beer.

Suddenly a pair of hands covered my eyes, leaving me somewhat surprised.

"Hey boss, what's up?" Said a female voice.

“Sunset, we aren’t at the pub, you don’t have to call me ‘boss’ here.” I said while laughing a little.

“I’m starting to think that beers are glued to you by some surgical operation.” Sunset mocked me while sitting next to me.

“Some kids born with a silver spoon in them mouth, I was born with a bottle under my arm.” We both laugh at my bad joke.

“Hey, isn’t that hat a little bit old and worn-out?” Asked Sunset with curiosity.

“It is, it was my great grandpa’s; he was a nice man, but kinda trigger happy… all these bullet holes were made in a gunfire with a guy who look at him suspicious in the local saloon. He won the duel and since then he always thought this hat gave him luck. It’s been from generation to generation…”

"Wow, what a story. I hope I haven’t offended you."

I closed my eyes and made a gesture with my hand showing that I didn’t care about her comment.

"Well... so y’all have magic... and you’re really a pony from another world."

Although the girls had explained me the whole story before, I still didn't give credit.

"So hard to believe?" Said Sunset laughing. "Keep in mind that you missed many things after leaving the CHS."

"Yeah, you can say that again... so, Applejack is super strong, Rainbow Dash's superfast, Twilight has telekinesis, Fluttershy talks to animals, Rarity invokes diamonds just because and Pinkie can cause explosions by throwing confetti... what can you do?"

"Well... when I touch people, I can hear their thoughts, and when I concentrate, I can explore their memories." I looked at Sunset curiously, although now that I thought about it...

“Wait a second... of course! That's why that time you woke me up with a hangover at the pub, you knew I was drinking and singing with Berry Punch." Sunset shrugged her shoulders while looking at me with a smile of embarrassment and caressing my arm.

I kept thinking about how burdensome that power had to be in everyday situations, what would happen when she gets laid with someone?

"I learned to control it some time ago, although you would be surprised by what many guys think while they’re in bed."

"Did you read my mind right now?" I asked scared.

Sunset laughed. "Sorry, I could not resist."

I really couldn’t get angry with Sunset. As I drank my beer, I watched the atmosphere around me, on stage Danny was playing with Fiddly Twang and other individuals. Fiddly sang a cheerful song while people danced, well not all...

"Just look at that, apparently some people don’t waste time," I said to Sunset pointing to a scene in front of me. Pinkie Pie sitting on Cheese Sandwich’s lap literally devouring him with kisses.

"Wow, definetly they know how to have fun. I’m surprised they took so long, especially after what happened in the prom." Said Sunset.

"Oh, but these two..." Sunset didn’t let me finish, she just nodded. "So, the girl Cheese was talking about that much in Mexicolt was Pinkie Pie... Now everything fits."

"And speaking of girls, are you going to tell me once and for all what the hell is going on between you and Applejack?" Direct to the point, that was Sunset.

"What are you talking about?"

"Bourbon, I'm not an idiot, I've noticed how you look at her; Listen, I just want to help, tell me what happens, in case that you don’t remember, I have my methods to find out." She said that by showing her hand and waving her fingers. I was against the sword and the wall.

"Do you really want to know? All right, all yours... "I said extending my arm. "But first I have to confess a thing to you, I’m not completely Lyrish you know? I was born in the land of my father, in a town in a region called Applelachia. I had a normal life, until my mother, fed up with how things were going on in her marriage, started fooling around with an old friend of her youth, and my father out of spite went away with my mother's so called best friend... back then that affected me a lot, especially in my interpersonal relationships. I lost faith in love and friendship at the same time. After getting into troubles in Applelachia, my father told me to get away from home, he took me to a school far away, he gave me money, and so, with a mat, a guitar and my clothes I ended up in Canterlot... Now you can look freely."

Sunset listened to my story carefully without saying anything. She seemed to doubt what she was going to do, but she touched my arm and his eyes shone white. I felt as if I was beginning to remember certain things from my past, and I knew that Sunset was experiencing them too...

I was trying to put the code of my locker to get certain things, but that stupid thing didn’t open.

Great... another tale to start another shitty day.

When I arrived at the CHS I didn’t try very hard to make new friends, besides being the new kid I was a bad-tempered asshole, so no one was really interested in being my friend, well except that funny girl with the wild pink hair; she was a bit weird, but I wasn’t going to judge others by their behavior or their way of being as long as they didn’t try to fuck with me...

"Set aside losers!" Said a female voice at the end of the hall.

And speaking of wich, the example of what I said before comes in. From a distance I could see a girl with red and yellow hair dressed in an orange skirt, a purple top and a leather jacket. When she passed by me, she tried to practice her air of superiority, although I just looked at her with disdain. Well, also I kept staring at her ass.

"What happens loser? Are you looking at my perfect rear?" Said that pretentious bitch.

"Well yup, it's always better that looking at your face." I said completely tactfully. Nobody in that school dared to say anything to that girl, Sunset Shimmer, but I couldn’t care less.

"What did you say?" Bingo! I had pissed her off.

"Oh sorry, I think you've misunderstood me, I apologize." I said. "I wanted to say that I'm not interested in looking at your face, you boastful bitch." One of my faults is that I don’t mince my words. But I was sick tired of this, one thing was that chick who called herself 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' and spoke mostly in the third person, but that chick was harmless; This Sunset Shimmer, I didn’t know where she had escaped from, but she had practically the whole CHS under her control when I arrived, however, I wasn't going to get scared by her.

"You... you’re going to regret this," she said red with anger as she walked away from there.

"Uh, I’m trembling in fear..." I said sarcastically. In any case, I continued minding with my own bussiness. "This fucking lock..."

Fed up with the lock, I kicked it hard and I managed to open it.

From there I only got the important thing: a pack of cigarettes and a flask.

"I remember that!" Said Sunset, releasing my arm suddenly. "You were a total dick... and yes, I’m talking about total dicks."

"Look, now that you're a good girl and I like you, I can tell you: I'm sorry for calling you a boastful bitch, but at the time I wasn’t very interested in making friends, much less that a high school bully messed with me."

"Yeah, well, I think I deserved that..." Sunset scratched her neck in embarrassment. "In fact, I remember trying to get revenge on you for that, but you practically disappeared from the school, what happened?"

"Well, I never liked to get attention, but keep looking and you'll find answers." I offered my arm back to Sunset and continued putting her magic into practice.

Nothing like a good cigarrette in high school toilets. While I was lost in my thoughts, I heard someone entering. To my surprise he knocked on the door of the toilet where I was.

"Occupied, if you want to spin, there are more free sites..." I shouted.

"Are you Bourbon Maverick?" Said the one on the other side.

"What do you want from me, an autograph? Why don’t you let me smoke in peace?" I didn’t have the nerve for this bullshit.

"I'm Flash Sentry, I want to talk to you about what you said to my girlfriend before." Wait, did he say girlfriend?

I got up from the toilet and opened the door looking surprised at the guy I had in front of me. He was a boy with spikey blue hair and with the looks of a rocker.

"Please, don’t tell me you're the boyfriend of that crazy bacon haired bitch..." I said looking surprised, he returned a similar look.

"Hey, mind your tongue! Look, between you and me, I know that Sunset is... a hard person, but..." Flash could not finish since I interrupted him.

"Hard person? That's a nice way to say 'a pain in the ass'." I said taking a good puff. I know I was tempting my luck, but seriously, I hate when people interrupt me while I'm smoking. "Listen, I'm sicked tired of this bullshit, so why don’t you let me smoke my cigarrette in peace and give your girl a good fuck to see if she turns nicer..."

Flash looked at me between angry and surprised, I think at that time he didn’t know whether to hit me or just insult me...
"Look, I just wanted to warn you; you offended her, and she is very vindictive. Just ask the last person who tried to stand up against her." He seemed sincere in his words. I found it hard to believe that such a nice boy was really Sunset's boyfriend.

"Can I ask you something?" I said and he nodded. "What the hell did you see in Sunset Shimmer to date her? I mean, she’s hot and so, but being a beast under the sheets doesn't seem enough for me..."

"What are you talking about?" Flash said confused.

"Why are you Sunset's boyfriend? Clearly, she must have something, but come on, I can’t see anything good in her despite being a hottie... "

Flash remained silent looking at the void...

"Oh boy, if you need to think about it, bad stuff." I said, puffing on the cigarrette.

"I really don’t know... it was her who asked me out, and I... well, I accepted and we’ve been dating until now." Flash looked lost.

"Are you happy?" I asked laconically.

"Sorry?"

"I asked if you're happy with your life."

"Yes, well, I think so..."

"Being happy is just a transient state, but if you aren’t able to know when you are, you should stop and think about what makes you happy and what not." I said, I don’t know why I was giving advices to this guy, but for some reason I felt that I had to.

I took one last puff on the cigar and throw it into one toilet. I looked at the time and I remembered with distaste that I had a math class. I wasn’t going to put up with that... sober...

"And now mathematics... so excited to see that donkey’s face."

“You mean professor Cranky?”

“The one and only.” After saying that I took out my flask and took a couple of drinks.

"What are you drinking?" Asked Flash.

"Whiskey, you want some?"

"No, no. I don’t drink." Flash said surprised.

"You will someday, you are a musician, one day you will realize that in that world wherever you go you won’t be alone, but apart from the guitar your only faithful friend will be alcohol."

"I don’t know if that's the most pessimistic thing I've heard or the most poetic. Anyway, thanks for the advice, you know? I think you would be a good psychologist." Me? A psychologist? I laughed at the comment.

"I doubt it so much." I answered, leaving with the flask in my hand.

A while later I was in class pretending to listen to Cranky Doodle. I hate math, the problem is that I was sleeping after drinking almost all the flask of whiskey.

"Bourbon Maverick, do you know the answer?" Professor Cranky asked.

"Who the hell cares?" I asked without realizing what he was saying.

"Excuse me?" Cranky asked.

"I don’t give a damn..." I said raising my head. “Math is bullshit."

All the students stared at me.

"Oh my gosh..." Rainbow Dash said between laughs covering her face with her hand.

"Go to vice principal Luna's office! Right now! "Cranky shouted.

"Huh... am I going to meet all the sourpuss gals in this school?" I whispered.

I staggered from the desk, stumbling over almost everything with laughter and strange looks from everyone.

"Are you okay?" Cranky asked.

"Yes, it's just a sugar crash..."

And so, I just got out of class and closed the door.

"Did you really go drunk to class?!" Sunset asked.

"As I told you, I used to do a lot of stupid things back then." I explained.

"And you were drunk to see vice principal Luna?" Sunset's face.

I didn’t say nothing, I just put on a strange face and scratched the back of my neck.

"Bourbon..."

"Just look what happened..." I said extending my arm and Sunset touched it again with his hands.

Vice principal Luna welcomed me into her office, although I had no idea why it was so dark. It was as if it were an interrogation room, but with Luna playing ‘bad cop, worst cop’ all by herself...

"Bourbon Maverick, are you drunk?" Vice principal Luna asked, visibly annoyed.

"Yeah, so what? You don’t expect me to put up with Cranky's boring class sober, would you? "I answered without giving it more importance.

“You cannot bring alcohol to the institute, in fact, you cannot drink, you don’t have age for that!"

"Please... I've been drinking since I was sixteen, things in the mountains were going faster."

"You're not in Applelachia! This is a reason for you to be expelled, Bourbon."

"Hey, this CSI stuff with the dim light is fine, but I'm not into that kind of kinky shit, it seems like the set of a cheap porn movie."

"Excuse me?" Luna blushed. Although I was somewhat drunk, I could swear that the vein in her forehead was swelling.

"I say, how long have you been since you get laid? Maybe you just need a good one-night stand to get rid of that grumpy face." I suddenly had a deja vù; but even drunk it was at that moment when I knew, I fucked up...

"Ok that’s enough! We agreed to accept you at Canterlot High School at the insistence of your father, but I will not consent to this. You are expelled until further notice! GET OUT!"

After yelling at me, she pushed me out of her office... I was embarrassed to admit it, but watching Luna so angry got me kinda horny...

"Bourbon!" Shouted Sunset. "How could you say Luna that what she needed was to get laid?"

"I was drunk! I already told you that at that time I was kind of an asshole."

"Look, I do not know if you're my idol or an idiot. The Sunset of then would have set you up a party that's clear. Anyway, I do not know what all this has to do with the question I asked you. "

“That should be better explained in the next chapter.” Said a voice behind us.

"Wah! Pinkie? Where did you come from? "I asked surprised. Why did these things surprise me at this point?

"We needed some beers, you know, we have a dry mouth..." She said winking at me and pointing to Cheese, who was waiting for her and greeted us shaking his hand.

"Thanks Pinkie, but I don’t need more details." I said smiling. Sunset just laughed.

Author's Note

Well, I know it's been a while since the last update but I had a lack of inspiration problem. 😅
Hope y'all enjoy it!