After mixing another customer's wine, the bartender took the time to look at his watch. It was just past 8 o'clock, which was often the best time for the bar business -- no wonder he had more and more work to do.
"Cough..."
The soft cough in front of the bar attracted the attention of the bartender. He knew the owner of the voice. She is an old patron of the bar. Her name is Cozy Glow. She is a young mare in 16 or 17 years old. The ponies she knew called her Cozie.
Cozie has a peach body, and a wisp of sky-blue mane. Her eyes are always as bright as a young filly, and her face with a little baby fat has a few freckles. A shy smile appeared in her face.
"May I trouble you for a bottle of cocktail?"
Even her voice was so polite and sweet that the drinks she ordered were often low-alcohol cocktails like sodas. She was so cute, it made her be different with the atmosphere of the bar, but she never seemed to mind about it.
The bartender handed Cozie an open bottle of cocktail and went on his job. Cozie took up the bottle and sipped it lightly. She stared at the bartender for a while. He was handsome, but Cozie didn't like unicorns, and his blue body and silver mane didn't appeal to her.
"Mr. Bartender!" But she stopped the bartender. "Where have we met, please?"
Wasn't sure if it's the effect of alcohol, Cozie felt the bartender's action has stopped for a while. "I'm sorry, but you must have mistaken it, miss." He said, "You know, I just started working here yesterday."
"Well..." Cozie nodded."But thank you anyway!” Then she tried to give the bartender a sweet smile.
The lovely mare as Cozie is a "rare resource" here. Many stallions come to talk to her, even several fillies. But Cozie just carefully sipped the wine and politely declined all the good intentions of the visitors.
Hours and hours passed. Cozie drank slowly, even before she drank it to the end, she looked down at her watch more and more frequently.
Cozie looked tired. She yawned, but she didn't seem to leave. So she just lay on the bar, fiddling with the bottle cap, looking like she was asleep.
There was a loud noise coming from the door of the bar. Cozie raised her ears, then stood up and looked in the direction of the source of the sound. There were three mares, crowding around a strange female animal who seemed to come from a minority race, looking a little like a cat and a little like a pony. The characteristics of the two races and the glittering alien gold ornament around her neck made her look rather handsome and charming.
After a sip, she finished the rest of the wine.
"Another bottle?" The bartender suddenly got closer to Cozie's side.
"Well, thank you!" Cozie's smile was still so cute and shy.
The bartender took out a bottle of sweet wine and knocked the bottle at the edge of the table. The bottle cap fell in response. He handed the open wine to Cozie. "It is said that she is the Ahuizotl's daughter, who was written in ."He said, "No pony knows her name, but everyone calls her 'She Wolf'."
"She Wolf?" She sipped the wine and frowned at the bartender.
The bartender turned around and put a record on the record player. Cozie couldn't see his expression. "She's a dangerous and attractive girl." He said, "As if a wolf in sheep's clothing."
Cozie could hear the tune played at this time was "She Wolf" by Shakira Sheep. So she smiled irrefutably and took a delicate sip of the wine.
"Wow... The bartender knows a lot!" After the bartender turned around, Cozie said so. Her eyes were filled with worshipful light.
"It's normal for us to be well-informed in our business." The bartender shrugged and said, "It's the same everywhere."
Cozie shook the bottle and took a breath. She turned and peeked at She Wolf, and found that She Wolf was staring at her, too. Her heart beat a bit faster and her face became red, so she quickly avoided the "She Wolf" eyes and put the bottle on her lips, pretending that she was just drinking.
But the pink peach-flavored cocktail in the bottle hadn't actually been less at all.
"Excuse me." A calm and pleasant female voice said behind Cozie, which made the constant noise quiet a lot. Then she saw a figure sitting on a bar stool beside her.
Cozie leaned on the bar, her face buried deep in her arms, and deliberately turned her head to the other side. "A bottle of cocktail" . She heard the figure telling to the bartender.
The bartender nodded, taking out a bottle of light-blue blueberry cocktail and handed it to the comer, then took good care of the customers on the other side. Cozie heard the guys nearby knocking the cap out of the bottle.
"Hey, little girl, are you having a good time here?" The comer said so, her voice sounded a bit funny.
"Ha? Well, yes, having... very good!" Cozie straightened up and gave her a polite smile. "Thank you for your concern!"
"This place doesn't seem to suit such a good girl like you."An ironic smile appeared at the comer of her mouth. She took a gulp of sweet wine and said, "You can call me She Wolf. What can I call you, dear lady?"
"Sweet Wine." Cozie answered casually. She lifted the bottle with two hooves and took a sip of the sweet syrup inside with her small cherry-like mouth. "Actually... I didn't want to come to this kind of place, but you know, my classmates are drawing me here.”
"Ha, yes. Sometimes this kind of accommodation is really annoying. "She Wolf" turned her head towards Cozie. The gold ornament on her chest made a crisp noise as her body moved. "So you're the first time to come to the bar?"
She wiped her lips and nodded. Her eyes focused on the She Wolf's chest for a moment, then turned quickly to other side. She felt her heart beat faster.
"You seem to enjoy it." "She Wolf" laughed and said, "I can feel that you are a special pony, so I like you very much—Do you mind if we have a toast? To our meeting by chance!"
"Um... Good, good!" Cozie said timidly.
Their bottles were touched crisply, and they took a sip of each in their own way. They were all peeping at each other by drinking, so their eyes collided with each other. Cozie quickly avoided her sight, but it made She Wolf laugh more deeply.
"Hey, do you know what ponies do when they come to the bar?" She Wolf raised her eyebrows.
"Um, ... Probably... know a little." Cozie's face blushed deeply.
"Ha! Even if you are so cute, you will inevitably have some ideas." She Wolf winked at Cozie. "I know you have a goal already. But it doesn't work if you just sit down in waiting." Then she deliberately leaned over to Cozie's ear and said, "Unless your goal will suddenly appear, huh?"
She Wolf's nose blew on her gentle ears, itching and shivering all over her body. Then, consciously or unconsciously, Cozie rubbed her butt against the stool, which separated her from She Wolf a little.
"You look a little worried." She Wolf said.
"Huh? No, of course not. “ Cozie gave a strong laugh.
"Hey, listen," She Wolf said, gently holding her warm chin with her forepaws, which made the young mare have to turn her head to meet her eyes. "You gentle and kind pony should never be so sad. This is a bar. No pony will blame you for what you said. Why don't you talk about your anxieties?"
Cozie shook the bottle and watched the whirlpool of wine inside. Then she said leisurely, "Sister Wolf, do you have anyone......anyone you feel sorry for?"
"Sorry for?" She Wolf took a sip of the sweet wine and shrugged. " Maybe I am sorry for my father. I'm not the kind of bad guy he wants me to be, although I just become another bad guy."
"It seems that we are all the same." Cozie leaned on the bar. "I also failed the expectations of other ponies."
"Ha! But I don't regret it at all." She Wolf said, "My father left me nothing but this useless necklace." She gently pulled down the gold jewelry on her chest with her claw, which loomed her healthy clavicle up. "He said, this thing can make me own the whole world. But who knows? It doesn's work for me. I'm not interested in ruling the world. It just keeps those damn stallions staring at my chest."
"Eh....? Sorry, I didn't mean to......" Cozie covered her face with her hooves.
"Silly, I just hate those males. But in fact, I don't hate females, especially the cute guy as you. She Wolf gently rubbed her neck, which made the latter relax and closed her eyes. "So, would you like to share some of your stories with me?" She asked.
"Well, it's a long story." Cozie held her face in her hoove, picking up the bottle with her wing, and stared casually at the label on it. Then she said, "I once had a teacher who was probably the most patient and kindest teacher in the world. She trusted me very much, and entrusted many important tasks of the school to me, including both inside and outside school."
"Teacher's proud assistant, huh?" She Wolf smiled and touched the bottle with Cozie.
"Uh huh! That's it!" A sweet smile appeared on Cozie's face, of which was soon instead anxiety. "Since she was so sincere and kind that... she didn't realize it at all. I just pretended to be loyal to her, and tried my best to approach her.... for realizing an unrealistic fantasy. Later, I finally got the chance. I deceived and sent her away with a lie, and then seized the control of the whole school..."
"Oh!" She Wolf made a respectful sign, "Hey, I like this trick! How evil it is!"
"Yes," Cozie said with a faint laugh, "But unfortunately, I failed in the end.... Well, in fact, now I'm glad I didn't succeed at that time. To stop me, six important artifacts were destroyed. I was even jailed for this."
"Uh huh!" She Wolf's eyes were a bit blurred. "I didn't expect that under the lovely appearance, there would be such a wild heart."
"I think a lot in Tartarus. Maybe I was wrong in the beginning, or maybe I was right. But it is of no matter at all -- my biggest mistake was that I should have done it in another way." Cozie smiled at She Wolf. "Another way still needs that six artifacts, but they were destroyed. Fortunately for me, the six artifacts still had a backup which was buried in the Coloquitland Basin. Well, if you read the book, you will find that there are still a few artifacts acquired by Ahuizotl..."
"? Come on, it's just a story." She Wolf waved her claw.
"Ha, of course I know." Cozie laughed so harmlessly, "But I believe it must be real. So, I deceived the Cerberus into biting my cell and escaping from Tartarus with the teleport artifact stolen from the guard... of course, taking all the property collected in Tartarus away. Later, I traded them for a large amount of diamonds and restart myself in a new identity -- so that I could find the substitute of the six artifacts easily! "
After a short pause, she sipped at her wine. Then she turned to She Wolf and said, "I think if I could find them and give them back to my teacher... She'll forgive me, won't she, Sister Wolf?"
"Well, of course." She Wolf wrapped the mare in her hug. Strangely enough, she seemed to feel her heart beating faster. This is not a very good omen. "Everything's going to be okay, kid." But she touched Cozie's back comfortably.
"Sister Wolf....... Thank you!" Cozie raised her head, and her big eyes, as pure as a young filly, were filled with the light of devotion, which made She Wolf's heart stop for a second. The young mare buried her head in She Wolf's chest again. "If only I had met you earlier... I feel like I'm a little... you know..."
Before She Wolf could answer, she felt a sweet and moist touch coming from her lips.
"You're drunk, Cozy... Sweet Wine." She Wolf said. Then she patted her shoulder gently. "It's very late. It's too unsafe for you to be outside at this time. So...... " She bit her lip. "Let me take you home, you know, maybe a cup of warm coffee will make you feel better."
Cozie just hugged She Wolf tightly and nodded silently. The fragrance of her body made She Wolf a little confused, but she insisted on holding Cozie, saying a short farewell to leave her friends, and then took herself and Cozie together to the first carriage waiting for customers at the bar entrance.
The carter was a silver-haired unicorn, and She Wolf could barely recognize his cold-toned skin by the moonlight, while other details couldn't recognized easily.
"Where to?" Asked the carter.
"Where do you live??" Asked She Wolf.
"School of Friendship, Ponyville!" Cozie rubbed herself against She Wolf's chest.
"Go to the Greendrop Hotel, the one in Manhatten." She Wolf said.
The last thing Cozie could remember that night was she couldn't wait to kiss She Wolf, unlocking the button of the gold jewelry on her chest with her wings, and let it naturally and slowly fall onto the hotel carpet from her graceful body.
When Cozie woke up next day, it's almost noon. The hangover made her head ache, and it took her a little while to finally remember what happened last night.
"Wolf... Sister Wolf?" Cozie called her name, but no one answered her. Suddenly she realized that something was wrong, completely ignoring her slight headache, so she staggered up and struggled to reach the saddle bag she left on a desk, which was absolutely empty. There should have been all her diamond property.
Cozie rubbed her forehead with her hoof. Damn it. She should have thought so.
But then again, it wasn't a shame to lose those diamond. After all, she won't need them anymore.
Cozie lay on bed, taking deep breaths several times, and forced herself to calm down. Then she leaned against her pillow and explored the pillowcase inside, where she took out a gold ornament hidden secretly here last night.
Yes, it was the one that should have been worn on the chest of She Wolf. It was obvious that She Wolf hadn't found yet. Her jewelry was replaced as an imitation by Cozie last night.
"Uh, Stupid Wolf. To my surprise, she didn't realize that Ahuizotl gave her an artifact which could absorb the magic of the whole Equestria, but she used it as a necklace all the time! 'He left me nothing', huh! "A sly smile climbed up on her mouth. "When I give it to Twilight, she will forgive me, and then I can become her faithful assistant again. At that time, hem...."
".... she will naturally understand I am right." Suddenly Cozie's voice became crafty and sly, while her smile on her mouth becoming more and more fierce.
At that moment, the doorbell of the room suddenly rang. Cozie quickly dropped her smile, restoring her former lovely appearance, walking as graceful as possible to open the door.
"Hello?"
"Hello, can I help you?" Outside the door was a blue unicorn waiter. His silver mane made her feel as if she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't clearly remember where he was.
"Ah, no thanks." Cozie smiled. "The room is just a bit messy, but I can clean it up by myself!"
The waiter bowed to Cozie and watched her close the door. Then he looked away over the two rows of Royal guards that had standed on both sides of the corridor for a long time.
"She Wolf" is being captured tightly by one of the Royal guards. Her body was covered with chains, muzzles, fetters and so on. Actually, such detention is quite friendly, after all, without her as a guide, they wouldn't have known where Cozy Glow was hiding.
"Captain?" Said at the head of the Royal guards.
"Take action!" The waiter laid down his hoove as soon as the Royal guards kicked open the door and entered.
The End
Author's Note
This is a short story written by Chinese bronies. Now, it's time for bronies all over the world to enjoy the FIM fictions written by our native people. Hope you will like it!
