“I met her in a Manehattan bar.”
You couldn't see through her dark glasses, but there was a twinkle of reminiscence in her eyes. The sad smile on her face was harder to hide though.
“Sounds like the precursor to a noir flick.” The pony across from her chuckled before taking another sip of her coffee. The notebook floating in front of her face was already full of notes, questions and responses. The reporter had been told a lot about Photo Finish, that she was near impossible to work with for one, but the interview had gone rather well up to now. She was talkative enough to a point where the interview was basically writing itself.
“Hmm, zat is good. I insist you imagine my story in black und white.”
The reporter almost choked on her coffee, she sounded deadly serious. The ponies walking back and forth in the background didn't even bat an eyelid at her words, it was obvious they were used to her by now. It was either that or they were paid not to care. When she had agreed to come down to a photo shoot to do the interview, she had been a bit apprehensive of the eyes of the models and helpers, but it was Photo Finish herself that had proved the most unnerving pony in the room. “So... getting back to the question?”
Photo Finish looked directly into the eyes of the reporter, her face an expressionless mask. “I met her in a Manehattan bar, I had failed yet again to secure a modelling job and I needed a drink.”
“This was a few years back, y--”
“No interruptions.”
The reporter bit the inside of her cheek, “Okay.”
“Black und white.”
The reporter found her eyes drawn to the other pony's black and white dress. She had never really had an eye for fashion, but she had been given this job because the fashion correspondent was off sick. Oddly enough she was the only mare in the office when they heard the news. 'Strange how the buck got passed to me.' she thought sarcastically.
Photo Finish took a breath and quickly sighed.
–
It was a day like any other. The sharp stench of defeat lay heavy in the air, or maybe it was alcohol and stale cigarette smoke. The bar was a dive, but it served alcohol and that was all she needed right now.
All eyes were on her as she entered. For a brief moment she relished in it, loving the attention that the ponies were giving her, but then she remembered where she was. This wasn't the kind of place you wanted to be seen if you had any interest in keeping a good reputation. Photo Finish obviously didn't hold the attention of the barflies for very long because soon enough they were back to nursing their drinks. This had an unusual advantage, however. When everypony had calmed down, singing could be faintly heard from the far corner of the rather long room. The voice was accompanied by a smooth jazz backing; a snare-heavy drummer, an over-enthusiastic saxophone player and a straight-laced mare on double bass.
Photo Finish couldn't hear the words very well from over by the door, so the melody blended into the rest of the music, becoming a fourth instrument. It was nice, considering where she was.
The bar was half as long as the room and there was plenty of space to sit, but she chose a seat near the far end. If she was going to suffer drinking here then she'll do it where the music was in her ears. “Barkeep,” she said as she sat down, “Vhat are your vines like?”
The bartender, a dusty stallion with an unremarkable face, took a moment to let her accent sink in, he busied himself with cleaning a glass so as not to seem rude. “We don't serve wine, fraulein.” He chuckled to himself.
“Zhen give me something that doesn't taste like gnat urine.” Photo Finish stared at the stallion, silver locks falling into her eyes playfully. There was nothing playful about her eyes though, they were cold steel and they didn't suffer mockery.
“One cosmopolitan comin' up.” The bartender began to fiddle with a few bottles behind the bar.
She shrugged, it didn't really matter what she ended up drinking. Perhaps she just wanted to talk to somepony. When the bartender came back, he gave her the drink and sauntered to the other end of the bar, however. The red drink looked nice enough though.
“Rusty, the usual please!”
Photo Finish was mid-sip when she heard the shout, someone had come up behind her without her even noticing. She then became strangely aware that the music had stopped.
As the bartender came over, holding a drink suspiciously similar to the one she had, her eyes followed him until they landed upon the one he was serving. She was wearing a cocktail dress, black and sparkly as the night sky. It contrasted with her pure white coat and in the dim light of the bar, it almost seemed to shine as much as her dress.
“Hey, have you been here before?”
It took a while for Photo Finish to realise that the mare was talking to her. Those blue eyes of hers were warm and welcoming, it was a wonder she missed them.
“Zhis is my first time here. Vhy do you ask?” She replied defensively.
The mare giggled. “I guess you lucked out then. A cosmo is the only drink Rusty knows how to make. I don't really know why he decided to run a bar, seems kinda silly to me.” She raised her glass to Photo Finish before taking a sip.
“Vere you singing earlier?” Photo Finish had noticed that the small stage in the corner was empty, aside from the instruments. It didn't take a genius to realise that this mare and the ones sitting nearby were the ones performing.
“Yeah, that was me.” She downed the rest of her drink and brushed a lock of pale pink hair over her shoulder. “Sometimes I think Ol' Rusty just hires us for his own amusement. It sure isn't to keep the clientèle happy, if there actually are customers in here, they're usually as glum as this lot.” She gestured to the rest of the bar and Photo Finish could see her point, there weren't many other ponies and all of them looked defeated.
Photo Finish would bet a few bits that even she looked quite a state.
“You look different though, you don't seem like the type to frequent scummy bars.” After a glance from the bartender, she added, “No offence, Rusty.”
“I vas merely looking for a place to drink.” She didn't want to sound like a sad sack, but it was hard to lie to those eyes.
“You wanna talk about it? No one visits a crap hole like this for the atmosphere, after all. Sorry again, Rusty!”
Almost against her own will, Photo Finish found herself spilling all of her problems. She told her about her many failed attempts to break into fashion modelling, she told her all about how she had pinned everything on her move to the city, how she was barely surviving on what little money she had. All the while, the other mare silently nodded her head along to the story with an empathic look on her face.
“Zhat is how I ended up here.” Photo Finish ended her story with a deep sigh. Her glass had been drained half way through, but the bartender had come over to fill it up, along with the other mare's glass. Her second cosmopolitan didn't last as long as the first however, she soon downed the rest of her glass without a second thought.
“Perhaps you just weren't meant to be a model.” From any other pony, Photo Finish might have tried throwing a punch, but from her it felt like sound advice.
“Wow. Blunt.” It was the double bass player. She was resting her head on a hoof and looked generally disinterested in whatever was happening, but her eyes kept darting between Photo Finish and her vocalist friend.
“We're not keeping you here, Octavia. If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, you're free to leave at any time and I'll make sure you receive your cut of the pay.”
The grey mare harrumphed, “It's not like I want to leave.” She didn't speak up after that.
“Our resident social butterfly, as you can plainly see.” She rolled her eyes sarcastically. “She slaps the bass like it's going out of style though. Can't fault her in that department.”
Photo Finish cracked a smile.
“So what's your name anyway? I never asked.”
“Pho-- It's Vinter. You?”
“Well, 'Winter', my friends call me Redheart... because it's my name.” She laughed embarrassedly.
Photo Finish found herself smiling again. “It's nice to meet you, Redheart. You have a lovely singing voice.”
“Thank you, I appreciate all the compliments I can get these days. Both those and work have been a little thin on the ground lately. Dusty here is the only stable gig we've got.” Redheart smiled encouragingly, apparently waiting for something. When Photo Finish didn't react, her smile faded a little. “Get it? 'Stable gig'? No?”
“I'm sorry, I haven't lived in Equestria very long. I'm still learning zhe language.”
“You speak it rather well, considering.”
Photo Finish swirled the remnants of her drink around the glass. “So vhat is your story? I've told you mine.”
Redheart looked around at her friends, none of them seemed bothered with the question. “We're all students. We're studying different subjects, but we formed a little music group to blow off some steam one day. When we didn't suck as much, we decided to take our show 'on the road', as it were, to earn a little extra cash.”
“So vhat are you studying?”
“Me? I'm enrolled in the local medical school. I'm trying to become a nurse.” Redheart laughed a little, “Emphasis on trying.”
“Your cutie mark seems to agree with your career choice.” Photo Finish found herself staring at the red cross on the other ponies flank. Her gaze lingered there for a few seconds too long and Redheart seemed to notice.
“Like what you see?” The white pony laughed at the easily visible blush on the other ponies cheeks. “I'm just messing around, but in all seriousness, my special talent is caring for other ponies. If my special talent was learning long lists of medical jargon, I'm sure I'd be doing much better in my studies, but as things stand all I've got going for me is my bedside manner.” Her expression changed to the cheeky smile that Photo Finish had learned to associate with the nurse-in-training's joking around. “Not to mention my 'inside bed' manner.”
Photo Finish began to laugh and even Octavia cracked a smile that refused to go down.
“Actually, I think I should get going.” Octavia was on her hooves, the two other members of the band following suit. “I need to get home so I can pretend to be asleep when my room mate gets back.”
Redheart looked puzzled. “I thought you liked her?”
Octavia looked away quickly, a scowl on her face. “It's not that. It's just... she gets touchy-feely when she's drunk. Apparently it isn't as fun when I don't react to it.” Try as she might, Octavia couldn't help blushing with embarrassment. She left the bar soon after, the two other band members following shortly after.
There was a short silence following their departure. Photo Finish stared into her glass, her eyes darting to the nurse in training every few seconds. She had come to this bar looking for a quiet drink, but right now she would do anything to stay with Redheart, even if it was just for a few more minutes. “Vould you... like to go somevhere else? It isn't zhat late in zhe evening.”
“I'd love to, but I think I'm a little overdressed at the moment.” Redheart pulled at her sparkly black dress, the sequins flashing with the small movement.
Photo Finish gathered her courage, most of it coming from the all of the alcohol she had imbibed. “Please, I just vant my last night here to be a memorable von.”
Redheart's eyes widened, “Y-your... last night?”
“I've already bought my ticket for zhe cruise ship. In zhe morning I leave for home... zhere is nothing for me here.” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. The cold steel was gone, only rain clouds remained.
She felt warm hooves on her shoulders. Photo Finish opened her eyes to be met with Redheart's blue ones, the exact colour as a clear summer sky, they contained all the warmth of the sun. Redheart wiped the tears from her eyes and merely smiled.
“Winter is cold and lonely, it's almost always cloudy and grey, but in the end, Spring will always follow. The sun melts all of the snow and the clear blue skies come back to us to keep us all company.” Redheart laughed, her voice like a warm breeze running through a wind chime. “I think that's enough with the metaphors. Look, I like you, so I'll give you a reason to cheer up. I'll give you something to remember me by.” Redheart took her by the hoof and dragged her from her seat.
“Put our drinks on my tab, Rusty.” She winked at the bartender and left the bar, a teary-eyed, red-faced Photo Finish following behind her.
–
“Wait... wait! What happened next!?” The reporter was on the edge of her seat, a manic fervour in her voice. “You can't just end it there!”
“I can und I vill.”
“Can't you just give me a little hint? Please.” She put on the best puppy dog eyes her work in the business had taught her.
“Use your imagination.” She was glaring again, the reporter didn't know how she knew, but she was glaring. “Zhere is only von logical place that story could go.”
“Did you ever go back and see her again?” The reporter asked curiously.
“No.” Photo Finish's response was curt and cold. Even as a reporter, she knew that were some subjects you should tread carefully around, especially if you wanted your subject to keep talking.
“So... getting back to my question. Is there anything in your life that you regret?” Photo Finish didn't move and it took the reporter a few seconds to realise why.
“Oh.”
Author's Note
Again, this was my entry into The Great Shipping Collab, which was run by Garbo802. The Collab was organised through the Fimfiction group "The Collab Cage" which is run by Peregrine Caged. You should come check the group out, it's a lot of fun. Monthly fic challenges, general collabs and a great way to just have a bit of discussion.
The point of this particular collab was to write a shipping fic between two randomly selected ponies. There was a big list and you got to pick one to write about. I claimed Photo Finish/Nurse Redheart because it seemed awkwardly awesome. Turned it into some kind of cheesy Noir thing because I'm a nerd like that xD
