Second Chances

Second Chances
By Hero541
Chapter 12: I’m Not Drunk Yet

For the rest of the day, Josh lay on Rarity’s couch, a large glass of water nearby, and the feeling like his insides were on fire still nagging at him. He quickly left Sugarcube Corner (after three hours in the lavatory) and returned to the boutique. Rarity had still been a little upset by the events that occurred that morning, but told Josh to lay down somewhere and rest. Her only comment after he told her what happened was, “I guess you really can’t have coffee, can you?”

Josh wasn’t sure what time it was at the moment, but he knew it must be getting a little late. Rarity walked into the living room, her tiny red work glasses balanced atop her snout and a tired look in her eyes.

“Finished.” she proclaimed, plopping down in her chair, “At least, for today.”

Josh looked up, having not even heard the mare enter, and smiled at her.

“Long day?” he inquired, sitting up on the small couch for the first time in hours.

“Like you would not believe.” answered the white unicorn, rubbing her temples with her hooves and removing her glasses.

Rarity proceeded to tell Josh all about her day, how a customer came in very irate that her order was just barely slightly off color from when she picked it out. Rarity pointed out to the mare that that was the color she had chosen when asked, and did warn her that it was a bit obtrusive. The customer looked offended at that, and stormed out of the shop, refusing to pay for the gown.

“Probably better I just not do business with those kind of ponies, yes?” she said, looking to Josh for confirmation.

Josh just nodded his head in agreement. An uneasy silence hit the room as Rarity and Josh looked each other in the eyes, both thinking about the events from earlier that morning.

“I’m… sorry about this morning.” he started, sinking down a little on the couch.

“I appreciate the apology,” said Rarity, sitting back in her chair a little more, “but I’m hardly the one you need to say sorry to.”

“I’m not gonna apologize to Vinyl. After she sent out her little bully to beat me up like that, there’s no way she’s getting a ‘sorry’ from me.”

“That’s not what I was going to say, dear.” said the unicorn, “I meant you might want to apologize to Sweetie Belle.”

Josh winced a little as he thought back to the morning, how she’d been so scared, she’d hid under the table and cried. Though he was known to be sort of a jackass from time to time, he couldn’t stand the sight of a child upset. Especially not one like Sweetie Belle, who he’d been steadily getting closer to over the course of the last few days.

“… Yeah.” he replied simply, unable to make eye contact with Rarity.

As they sat there, the front door opened, and Sweetie Belle walked in. She walked into the living room and immediately saw Rarity, who she smiled at. However, when she saw Josh, she became rather apprehensive.

“Sweets… come on over here Sweets. We need to talk. Please?” he said, afraid that the little filly would run off.

Rarity took that as her cue to leave, and walked out, hugging Sweetie Belle as she went. Sweetie turned back to Josh, still a little afraid of the tall human sitting on the couch.

“Sweetie Belle,” he began as she nervously trotted over to him, “I’m really sorry about all that this morning. I didn’t mean to scare you or anything like that.”

“Y-you were really s-scary.” said the little filly, trembling a little.

Josh’s heart couldn’t take much more of seeing her afraid. He got off the couch and knelt on the ground, carefully scooping Sweetie Belle up in his arms and peering into her big green eyes.

“I know I was scary, Sweets.” he continued, gently cradling the filly in his arms, “And I should know better than to act like that, especially around a filly like you. I promise, I won’t ever be loud or use foul language like that around you again, okay?”

As he finished his sentence, Sweetie Belle’s eyes lost their fearful look, and she smiled at Josh.

“Okay.” she said, reaching up and wrapping her tiny hooves around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Josh returned the embrace in full measure, gently squeezing the unicorn filly. Slowly, he reached a hand under her warm little belly and began to tickle her, causing her to giggle uncontrollably in his arms. He laughed along with the tiny pony, watching as she tried to use her hooves to push his hand away. Eventually, she jumped down and began to run around the room, Josh playfully chasing after her. Rarity stood in the entryway to the living room, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face as she watched the tall human catch up to Sweetie Belle, scoop her up once more, and hug her tightly.

*****

A week and a half passed by with little incident. Rarity was getting more and more busy as the days went by, and Josh pretty much stayed out of her way. Twilight came around from time to time, keeping Josh informed on what was going on with trying to send him home. Pinkie Pie felt bad about making Josh sick with her cookies, so she baked him a special batch without coffee in them, which Josh heartily enjoyed every morning. All throughout this time, Josh would go to the Frosty Mug during the day, making small talk with the bartender or any of the other patrons, and order as many drinks as he could, occasionally managing a small bump or two of coke in the bathroom to keep himself feeling a little normal.

Right now, he stood near Rainbow Dash’s cloud home, watching the cyan pegasus do all sorts of tricks. Every now and then, he’d see an impressive stunt she’d done and clap a little. At this point, she was trying to make what she called a “Sonic Rainboom”.

“How do you even make one of those?” asked Josh, watching the pegasus dart around, trying to gauge her speed.

“If I get flying fast enough, I can break the sound barrier and make a giant rainbow explode out from where break I through.”

“Sounds like the most colorfully destructive thing of all time.” said Josh, trying to imagine what it would look like.

“It’s the most awesome move ever! I’m the only pegasus to ever be able to do it.”

Josh was about to say something when he heard someone shouting behind him.

“What was that?” he asked, turning to see the source of the noise.

Peering into the distance, he saw a lavender unicorn galloping towards he and Rainbow at full tilt. In only a few minutes, Twilight stopped in front of the pony and human, gasping hard as she tried to catch her breath.

“Jo…Josh… I… have… news… for…you…” she said between gasps, reaching a hoof to her chest.

“You okay Twi?” asked Josh, looking at Rainbow as the polychromatic mare swooped down and patted Twilight on the back.

“I’ll… be… fine… Just…” she inhaled sharply, doing her best to regain her ability to form a coherent sentence.

“Jeez, Twilight,” said Rainbow, continuing to comfort her friend, “you’re really out of shape. You may wanna get a little more exercise and cut down on eating so many of Pinkie’s treats.”

Twilight glared at Rainbow as Josh snickered a little. After a few more minutes, Twilight regained the ability to breathe, and looked to Josh.

“I have… great news for you, Josh.” she said, still a little out of breath.

“And that would be?”

“I’ve… found a way… to… send you home.”

Josh simply stared at the unicorn mare, her words slowly sinking in.

“Y- you have?” he stammered excitedly, his eyes growing wide.

“Uh huh. You see, I can’t learn the spell to do it. That requires a lot of magical power, which I don’t really have.”

“Okay.” said Josh, prompting Twilight to explain further.

“However,” she continued, a smile coming across her lips as Josh leaned in closer to hear her, “Princess Celestia has all the magical power we’d need to get you home!”

Josh felt his hope die a little. Only the princess who ruled their world could send him back? What were the odds she’d even agree to do that?

“That’s… great, Twi.” he said, scratching the back of his neck nervously, “But, I somehow doubt the princess of Equestria would agree to send me home.”

“All I’ve gotta do is send her a letter explaining the situation.” said Twilight, her smile never faltering, “After all, being the princess’ personal protégé has its benefits. You can be home in no time at all!”

Josh looked to Twilight once more, that sweet smile making him feel warm inside. He was finally gonna do it. He could go home…

Without warning, he reached out and picked up Twilight, hugging her tightly and swinging her around.

“I’m gonna go home! I can’t believe this! Thank you, Twilight! Thank you so so much!”

He blushed and placed her back on the ground. She was unsteady from the spinning and the loss of the ability to breathe once more, and stumbled around before collapsing to the ground, a smile on her face.

“Well,” said Rainbow, landing on the ground next to Josh, a smile on her face while her ears lay flat against her skull, “I
guess this’s probably goodbye then, isn’t it?”

Josh looked towards the pegasus as Twilight got up once more. He felt a sudden pang of guilt hit him as Rainbow’s eyes began to glaze over.

“Hey Dash,” he said, smiling at her, “I don’t think I’m ready to leave just yet. I still need to say my goodbyes to everypony, especially Sweetie Belle and Rarity. I figure that’ll take me at least a week or so…”

Rainbow beamed up at him, “But what about your tour you said you were on back home? Don’t you still have that to do?”

Josh thought back to the tour. He’d been gone almost two weeks now. Liam was a great agent, but even with as good as he was, there was no way he could keep people excited for a tour if the star didn’t show up.

“That tour was probably cancelled a long time ago.” he said, waving a hand dismissively, “I’m in no rush.”

Rainbow smiled at him again, unfurling her wings in excitement.

“Tell you what Dash,” he said, turning and walking away, calling over his shoulder, “meet me at the bar in about an hour. I’m gonna go back to Rarity’s and let her know the good news. Once I meet up with you, we’ll celebrate a little.”

*****

Rainbow Dash was a fucking lightweight. Josh had gone to the boutique to tell Rarity the good news, then let her know he was going to the bar with Rainbow. Upon his arrival at the pub, the pegasus insisted on playing a drinking game with him. They had only had four shots of tequila each, and Rainbow was already slurring her words and talking nonsense.

“So, I told her,” slurred the pegasus, her eyes beginning to droop a little as she looked to the human, “There’s no way you can clear all those clouds faster than me. But, she did it. So now I owe her 100 bits…”

Josh simply looked at the drunken pony before him, resisting the urge to laugh as she swayed back and forth on the stool. Besides the fact the alcohol was so diluted to him, he was also much larger than Dash, making his tolerance greatly higher than hers.

“Rainbow,” he said, looking into her droopy magenta eyes and placing a hand on her shoulder, “you’re drunk. You may wanna head home and sleep this off.”

“I’m… fine.” said Rainbow, lazily knocking his hand away with a hoof, “I just need to take a little nap…”

Rainbow slumped on her stool, then collapsed to the floor, snoring loudly as she hit the ground.

“She’s fuckin trashed.” said Josh as Frosty walked over, a giant smile on his face.

“Heh. She’s not much for the harder stuff, so I’m surprised she didn’t get drunk earlier.” remarked the unicorn, swabbing out another glass as usual, “If I may ask, what’s the occasion that called for a game like this?”

“I can finally go home.” said Josh, turning back to the bar.

“That’s great! Congratulations!” said the barkeep, eyeing Josh, “I suppose that means you’ll be paying your tab then?”

Josh felt his heart drop into his stomach a little. He hadn’t even thought about his tab before now. All he had to ever do now was walk into the bar, and Frosty would fetch a drink for him without a second of thought. He hadn’t had to drop a single bit for alcohol since he got here, even covering a few other patrons to the bar who he liked to talk to from time to time.

“You can pay, can’t you?” asked the bartender, raising an eyebrow.

“Well… I don’t exactly have a job while I’m here…” said Josh, looking anywhere but at the unicorn cleaning out the glass.

Josh figured he’d have been long gone before now, so the tab hadn’t bothered him too much.

“That’s too bad.” replied Frosty, picking up another glass and beginning to swab it out, “I was hoping to get some payment for all the drinks I’ve been giving you.”

Josh shrank again as Rainbow continued to snore from the ground, mumbling a little in her sleep.

“Tell you what,” said Frosty, setting his glass down that he’d been swabbing, “I like you Josh. You’re a good guy, and you always manage to strike up great conversation. I’ll make you a little deal.”

Josh looked up to the unicorn, listening intently to his words.

“We’ll play a little drinking game of our own. Sound fun?”

Josh smiled devilishly. Frosty looked like he could handle a fair bit of liquor himself, but he still had no chance of being able to beat Josh.

“I think I can do that.” said the human, eyeing the bartender, “So, what’re we drinking?”

Frosty laughed a little, “Not we, my friend. You. You’ll be the one drinking here.”

Josh looked confusedly at the unicorn.

“I’m not like Rainbow. She’s a good girl, but doesn’t use her head real well. I know for a fact that your tolerance level will be much higher than mine. I’ll be more of a referee in this little game.”

“What’re you gonna do? Feed me a shit-ton of drinks till I pass out or something?”

“Nope.” said Frosty, reaching under the counter and pulling out a large bottle full of red liquid, “Just three.”

He handed the bottle to Josh, who read the label.

“Dragons Fire?” he asked, handing it back to the bartender.

“Yup. It’s made with actual dragons fire. That’s the nice part about having Spike around here. I get a free supply of it whenever I want.”

Josh eyed the bottle, watching Frosty open the top of it and inhale deeply, savoring the smell.

“If you can take three shots of this stuff and not pass out,” said Frosty, levitating out three shot glasses, “I’ll forget your tab. Plus, I’ll let you have anything you want here for free, anytime you want.”

Josh fought the urge to giggle like a school filly. What a moron he thought, watching Frosty pour out the three shots, I’ve already got this in the bag. He’d win the game for sure, plus he’d get anything he wanted from then on free of charge. He may have to stay a little longer than a week.

“However,” continued the unicorn, breaking Josh from his vision of victory, “if you fail, I’ll make sure that you pay me back every last bit you owe me. Got it?”

Josh nodded and picked up the innocent looking little glass.

“Cheers, Frosty.” he said, and downed the shot quickly.

A feeling of burning shot from his mouth, down his spine and through his entire body. He winced and slowly blinked his eyes as the alcohol hit his tongue. Looking to Frosty, he saw a smile creep across the barkeep’s face.

“You ready to give up yet?” he said smugly, picking his glass back up to clean it out.

Josh swallowed before answering, “No way.”

As the alcohol hit his stomach, he felt the effects almost immediately. The room was beginning to get blurry already, and his head was swimming. He looked towards the second shot, determined to win. Slowly, he threw it into his mouth, the horrible burning coming back as soon as it entered. Upon swallowing the red fluid, his head swam even more and things were moving painfully slow.

“If you quit now,” said Frosty, eyeing the now inebriated human before him, “I’ll cut what you owe me in half.”

“N-no fffuckin way.” slurred Josh, fumbling for the third shot.

The glass seemed to be getting farther away from him as he reached out to it. After a few seconds of fumbling for it, he finally grasped it in his hand and prepared for the worst. He threw it into his mouth quickly, downing it as fast as he could. He hiccupped, a small spurt of fire exiting his mouth.

“There,” he slurred, wobbling dangerously, “I won your fffuckin…”

He passed out almost instantly, sliding off the stool and joining the snoring Rainbow Dash on the floor.