A Bar in the Middle of a War
Music was bustling as Octavia entered a curious little bar in downtown Manehattan. The jubilant and hip feel of the bar made it seem like the troubles of the war were nonexistent. As Octavia took a seat at the bar, she took the time to look at all of the ponies in the bar. They were not the stuffy and uptight ponies she was used to associating with in Canterlot. Instead, they were just average colts and mares, living day by day, taking them as they come. Those colts that were in the bar were actually soldiers, reminding her that the war was not gone, just hidden under alcohol and music.
As she turned to order her drink, she noticed something curious about the bartender. He didn’t look much like a pony; instead he looked like a dragon. It would explain why he would be here serving drinks rather than on the front lines. The conscription laws only drafted ponies, nothing in there saying that dragons had to be drafted. This dragon certainly seemed awfully young to be in the bar, serving alcohol no less. But she brushed it aside, assuming that it takes longer for dragons to age than ponies.
“So what can I getcha’ sweetheart?” Asked the dragon in a distinct Manehattan accent.
“A shot of your best dry gin.” Replied Octavia, putting a rather large sum of bits on the bar table.
“Ooo~ Tough gal, ain’tcha?” Said the dragon. “Well you seem to have the cash for it so here you go.” The dragon took the bits as he poured her poison of choice, looking at her with interest.
“So Whas’ a doll like you doin’ in this little bar here anyway?” asked the dragon, curious as to why someone who could drop bits like that as if it was nothing would be at this hole-in-the-wall bar. “Shouldn’ya be at some fancy restaurant or sumtin’?”
“Is it that easy to figure out that I come from the upper class?” inquired the grey pony.
“Ain’t too hard figure out lady.” Replied the dragon rather bluntly. “Tha’ way ya’ carry yerself and ya’ money speaks for ya’. Where ya’ from anyways? Lemme guess, Canterlot?”
“You got me.” Retorted Octavia as she downed the gin without so much as a wince. “Another.”
“I don’t get it, yer from Canterlot, prolly’ have some important job, got the bits, yet you come to this lil’ place and down liquor with a straighter face than some of tha’ soldiers.” Asked the dragon once again, pouring another shot for this strange mare.
“Eh, the Canterlot style isn’t really my thing.” Spoke the mare. “Yeah I’ve got the job and the money, but I can’t stand the ponies. They really are in a world of their own. Not caring about the common working pony, makes me sick.” The grey mare downed another shot, throwing more bits on the table. “Another.”
The dragon was taken aback; a mare that came from the world of high class of ponies, caring about the common pony. It was unheard of. Most of the ponies in her class didn’t care about the little pony, caring only about how many bits they were making. The fact that this mare hated the way her peers looked down upon everypony else who didn’t have money made her even more outlandish. He liked it.
“So whadda’ ya’ do for a livin’ anyways?” asked the dragon, hoping he wasn’t prying too much as he poured yet another shot for her.
“I’m a musician.” Replied Octavia as she drank her next shot.
“Oh yea’?” inquired the dragon, even more interested now. “Whaddya’ play?”
“Cello.” Octavia replied. “Why?”
“Just curious. Well, If ya’ ever feel like it, yer’ always welcome to play here.” The dragon retorted.
“I might just have to do that.” Octavia said with a small smile. “The band that’s playing now is actually quite good.”
“Yea, this new kid’s sumtin’ special. What was his name again? Ol’ Blue Eyes I think.” The dragon said.
“Ol’ Blue Eyes, huh?” The mare asked, turning to look at the band. “Certainly got a voice.”
“Eeeyup.” The dragon said in agreement.
“So what’s your name?” Octavia asked, taking an interest in her bartender.
“Spike. Yours?”
“Octavia.”
“Hmm.” Both of them said simultaneously as the stared at each other. After a minute or so, they finally broke eye contact, feeling embarrassed.
“So, uh, how long have you worked here?” Octavia asked, clearing her throat.
“I’s been here as long as the bar’s been here. It’s been what? Five years?”
“So you’ve been bartending for a while now.” Octavia said in reply.
“Yea, I’ve done my fair share. How’s about you? How long ‘ave you been playin’?”
Octavia looked down with a slight frown on her face.
“Practically my whole life; when I was younger, my parents wanted me to be a successful musician, so they made me practice whenever I wasn’t working on my studies.”
“Sounds rough. You never went an’ played wit’ other fillies?” Spike asked, clearly concerned.
“There’s no time for play in Canterlot.” Octavia replied, the sadness in her voice as clear as a summer night. “If you spend anytime playing, you’re wasting valuable time. All of us had to concentrate on building the best careers…”
It was evident that the alcohol was making Octavia’s mood worse. She quickly began tearing up, the flood of memories of hitting her like a professional boxer’s hook. Noticing this, Spike decided to try and change the subject.
“So’s this yer’ first time in Manehattan?”
Realizing what Spike was trying to do, she smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Sorry about that. I don’t usually do that.” Said Octavia as a blush splashed onto her visage.
“It’s fine. I gotta’ tell you though, I feel for you’se. I think’ every filly needs time for fun.” Replied Spike as he poured her another drink and put it in front of her. “Here. Dis’ one’s on the house.”
“Why thank you.” Octavia said appreciatively. “You’re quite the gentle…dragon?” a slightly confused look appeared on her face.
Spike just met this with a chuckle. This chuckle seemed to fade into a slightly embarrassed look.
“Ahh, don’t mention it.”
This seemed to cause a lull in the conversation as both of them found that they were unable to look at each other. Spike finally managed to break the awkward silence after what seemed to be forever.
“So uh, were ya’ plannin’ on doin’ anythin’ later t’night?” Said Spike, slightly nervous, but calm.
This question seemed to take Octavia by surprise as her eyebrows became raised. She pondered for a moment and let out a soft smile. “Well now that you ask, no I don’t think I am doing anything later tonight.”
This time it was Spike’s eyebrows that were raised. He wasn’t really expecting answer like that.
“Well I can call in a favor an’ end my shift early. I’d like to take ya’ somewhere if you’d like?” Said Spike, worried she wouldn’t trust him. Such a thought is easily understandable.
As Spike guessed, Octavia initially met this with skepticism. She pondered again, I mean she barely knew him; she should say so no.
“Do you trust me?”
Octavia was broken from her thought by this, turning to look at Spike who looked at her with honest eyes.
“What?”
Spike repeated his question. “Do you trust me?”
She thought about this for a moment; did she trust him? She looked at his eyes again; glittering with hope and something else…something deep…
She slowly responded “Yes…” then just looked at him.
“Well that’s that! Lemme’ go call in that favor!” Spike said, breaking the moment and leaving Octavia alone with her thoughts.
“That was…weird. Why did I say yes? For all I know he could just take me to a dark alley and do Celestia knows what. But he wouldn’t do that…I know he wouldn’t.” This had just made Octavia even more confused with her thought process.
“Alright, I’m ready, shall we?” Spike said as he appeared behind Octavia, startling her and letting out an “Eeep!”
“Yes, Lets…” Octavia said as she recovered from her fright.
“Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Oh, that’s alright. So where are we off to?” Replied Octavia, curious of where a dragon who she barely knew might think is a good place to take somepony.
“Oh don’t worry. I’m takin’ ya’ somewhere special! I think you’ll appreciate it.” Spike replied.
This statement was met with a slight nervousness as Spike refused to tell her where they we going. They left the bar and took a walk through the streets, making conversation on the way.
“Ahh Manehattan…Ain’t no other city like it!” Spike said, admiring the architecture of the city. “The city’s got so much…Ahh... what’s the word?”
“Character?” Octavia interjected.
“Yeah! Character!” Spike said as he motioned to the buildings. “Look around; every building, everypony has a story to tell. They’ve all had their ups and downs, yet keep their chin up!”
“It certainly is a unique city…”Octavia said as she looked around. “What was it like; to grow up on the streets of Manehattan?”
Spike looked down to the ground with a slightly pained look on his face. “It was tough. I got into my fair share of fights when I was a kid. My family didn’t earn a whole lotta’ money y’know? So we never had a lotta food. Then again, nopony really had a lot of money during the depression.”
Then, Spike looked up with a resolute look and stoically said “But it made me tough! Gave me character! Just like everypony else who grew on the streets!”
“I feel bad for you though, not bein’ able to play at all when yer’ a filly is a sad thing! Which is why, I wanted to take you here.” Spike said as he motioned to his right.
It was an empty lot that had been turned into a playground. There was everything a filly needed to have fun: A swing set, monkey bars, a metal slide, a merry-go-round, everything. Octavia was taken aback. She had spent the entire time they were walking trying to figure out where the purple dragon was taking her, not realizing it had been so obvious. At first she was relieved that it wasn’t some shady place, then a little saddened, hoping for something a little more romantic. But after all those feelings and thoughts passed, she realized; this was the perfect place to take her.
Octavia had never been to a playground before. She had seen them and the little fillies that played upon them, always asking her parents if she could go play too. Those requests were always refused. It was something she had always wanted to do, but never getting the chance. This dragon knew what he was doing.
“Spike, I…I don’t know what to say…” Octavia said, at a loss for words.
Spike simply replied. “Ya’ don’t hafta’ say anything. If youse’ never got to play when youse’ was a filly, then what’s stoppin’ ya’ now? Ain’t no parents here to tell ya’ no. Go ahead!”
At Spike’s behest, Octavia gingerly approached the merry-go-round, pushing it slightly. Spike then approached and grabbed one of the bars, saying “Get on! I’ll push.” This statement was met with confusion from Octavia not really knowing how merry-go-round operated.
“Yer’ supposed to get on it an’ have someone spin it.” Spike said in response to her confusion.
“Oh; heheh…” Octavia chuckled embarrassingly, stepping on the merry-go-round.
Spike slowly began to push the merry-go-round, it picking up speed over time. Soon, Octavia began to slide off of it forcing her to grab the merry-go-round.
“Spike, um, are you sure this is safe?” Octavia asked hesitantly.
“Nope! That’s what makes it fun!” Spike said excitedly as he started pushing even faster.
“Wait what-” Octavia said before the merry-go-round began to go even faster.
Octavia felt centrifugal force try to hurl her off of the merry-go-round and held on for dear life. At first thinking how could anypony think that this is fun, she soon started thinking that seeing how long you could on hold on is kind of fun! She then realized her grip was slipping and before she knew it she had let go of the merry-go-round and flew towards spike at 80 miles an hour, crashing into him and sending them tumbling back through the grass. It took a while for both of their minds to adjust to what just took place, Octavia’s mind trying to readjust to a non-spinning world and Spike’s trying to come to grips with the fact a full sized pony was just launched at him.
There, they both lay, close to each other as they caught their breath. They looked into each others eyes again, seeing something. A spark…
“That…Was…So much fun!!” Octavia exclaimed, breaking the moment.
“Fun fer’ you maybe…” Spike said as he grabbed his head.
“Heheh…oops…sorry.” Octavia said sheepishly, blushing.
“Dun’ worry ‘bout it.” Spike retorted.
While playing on the merry-go-round was fun, Octavia felt that another high impact collision wouldn’t really be wise, so instead she decided to head towards the monkey bars. As she approached them she wondered something.
“How the heck are ponies supposed to climb on these things?? We can’t grab anything!”
“Y’know, I always wondered what these things were for…” Spike said inquisitively. “Oh well, wanna’ play on tha’ slide?”
After confirming she wasn’t the only one confounded by the purpose of monkey bars, she walked over to the slide, climbing up it.
“So what exactly are you supposed to do here? Just slide down?” Octavia inquired.
“Yep! That’s all there is to it!” Spike said in response.
With that Octavia slid down and on rolled onto the grass, giggling as she tumbled.
“Need a claw?” Spike asked, extending his claw out to help up Octavia.
“Thanks…” Octavia replied with a blush.
With that they made their way to the swing set. Octavia sat with curiosity, obviously inferring that she was supposed to sit in it.
“Here.” Spike said as he walked behind her and pushed her forward.
And with that, she slowly got pushed higher and higher.
“How high do ya’ wanna’ go?” Spike asked.
“Higher!” Octavia replied, sounding like a little filly. This gave Spike a wider grin as he finally achieved what he set out to do.
Soon Spike stopped pushing and got onto a swing of his own, swinging along with Octavia.
“See? Ain’t this fun?” Spike asked.
“Yeah! It really is!” Octavia said giddily.
“Betcha’ I can go higher than ya’!” Spike challenged.
“You’re on!” Octavia retorted.
The two ended swinging on the swing set for at least 20 minutes, enjoying what it felt like to be young again. Eventually the two slowed down, tired from swinging so much and started to talk.
“Spike, I really want thank you.” Octavia said, gratitude overflowing in her voice.
“Ahh forget about it…” Spike said.
“I would never!” Octavia exclaimed, standing up from the swing set. “Spike you acted like nopony else. Instead of taking me to some dark alley, you kept good on your word. You knew exactly what I needed. You let me have the fun I never had as a filly…”
“Well, I kinda’ figured ya’ needed it...” Spike said, averting his eyes from Octavia and blushing.
“You’re right Spike, I did need it...” Octavia said as she got closer to him.
“You really ain’t like no other pony y’know that?” Spike said, finally locking eyes with Octavia.
“And you’re like no other dragon I’ve met…not that I’ve met a lot.” Octavia said with a slight giggle.
Their faces grew closer and closer to each other, until they finally kissed.
It was a feeling unlike any other. As if both of their happiness melded into one powerful emotion. Thoughts raced through both of their minds, flashing at blinding speeds. Both thinking this night could not be any more perfect and wondering what will happen next. All they knew is they didn’t want this feeling to ever go away. They wanted to be by each other’s side, knowing that if there anything was wrong with one of them the other would come running. They were happy.
After what felt like forever, they finally broke their embrace.
“So…where do we go from here?” Octavia inquired.
“I dunno’. I mean ya’ gotta’ go back ta’ Canterlot right?” Spiked said disappointedly.
“Yeah…” Octavia agreed, looking downwards.
“Well…if ya’ ever come back… ya’ know where to find me…” Spike said sadly as he got off the swing and started to walk. “Oh, and tha’ drinks will always be on tha’ house…”
Octavia raised a hoof towards him but was at a loss for words. Tears started to well up in her deep, mulberry purple eyes. She just couldn’t find her voice. She couldn’t find the words to say. All she knew is that she didn’t want to be apart from him, yet she couldn’t make a sound.
That is, until he almost turned the corner.
“SPIKE, WAIT!” Octavia yelled, tears in her eyes.
Spike looked back and saw this and, tearing up himself, ran to her; hugging her tightly.
“Look Spike, I don’t know how we are going to fix this, but I don’t want to leave you.” Octavia said as she held Spike tightly.
“Me neither hun’.” Spike said, tears in his eyes. “But what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know…” Octavia replied remorsefully. “Unless…”
“What?” Spike inquired.
Suddenly a look of joy came over Octavia’s face. “Spike I know how we can fix this!”
Six months later…
Music was bustling yet again in the bar as Spike served drinks to his customers, chatting with them and also watching the show that was playing.
“A shot of your best gin.” A familiar voice said.
“Geez, ya’ can’t keep downing this stuff!” Spike exclaimed. “I know I said tha’ drink are on the house, but this stuff is expensive!”
“Sorry…”
“Ahh forget about it. I mean ya’ gotta have some benefits right?” Spike replied. “I still can’t believe ya’ gave up yer’ job in Canterlot for this little place.”
“I didn’t give it up just for this place. I gave it up for happiness…” Octavia said as she leaned in to kiss Spike.
Spike then poured two shots of gin and handed Octavia one, taking one for himself.
“Well then, here’s to a lifetime of happiness!” Spike said as he raised his glass to Octavia’s.
“Cheers, my love.” Octavia said warmly as they drank their gin. “May we never be apart…”
Fin
