An ugly mug slid into her hooves and she looked up in surprise. A stallion with fat, drooping cheeks and half his teeth missing grinned lecherously at her from down the bar. Applejack scowled at him and pushed the mug away. “No thanks, partner.”
The rowdy shouting of working stallions having fun would have bothered any other pony, but Applejack was a regular and they were all just part of the scenery. There was nothing particularly interesting about this bar, nothing that made her keep coming back, yet every day after work she found herself sitting in the same stool, drinking the same drink, saying the same things. “Barkeep, fill ‘er up!” she called at the mare behind the counter.
“I told you hun, call me Berry,” replied the bartender as she took Applejack’s empty mug and restored it within moments, brimming with the murky liquid that seemed to vanish quickly.
“And Ah told you to stop callin’ me ‘hun’.”
It was an exchange they had every single night. Sometimes Applejack wondered when it had started and how long they had been doing it, but the days seemed to blur together in her mind and there was no way to tell. For the millionth time she thought about asking Berry, though it was likely she didn’t know either. “Had a heavy workload today. Ah handled most of the western fields on mah own.” The words had a tired pointlessness to them. Berry didn’t care. Heck, Applejack herself didn’t care. She just said it because that was what she always said, or something close to that at least.
“Oh you poor thing,” Berry said idly as she stacked some empty mugs.
“Good haul this year, though. Nopony is going without apples for a while.” Applejack resisted the urge to slam her face into the bar just to do something, change something, break the unbearable monotony!
“Glad to hear that,” said a male voice to her right. She turned to see a pegasus with light blue fur sitting on the stool next to her. His dark azure mane was windswept and slightly dishevelled, yet he had the appearance of somepony not used to bars like this.
“Are ya sure you’re in the right bar, sugarcube?” asked Applejack, frowning.
“That depends,” the pegasus replied, fluttering his wings uneasily, “Do you know who I am?”
She squinted, looking at him carefully, but no names came to mind. “Nope.”
He gave her a nervous smile. “Then yes, I’m sure.”
For a moment they stared at each other, one smiling, the other with a single eyebrow raised in confusion. It didn’t last very long. Applejack shrugged and turned back to her drink, taking a sip. She had to make that mug last a while. She remembered the next lines in her repetitive routine. “Ah have to start making plans to clear out the dead apple trees tomorrow.”
Berry started her usual vaguely sympathetic response when the pegasus interrupted. “Why’s that?”
Applejack did a mental double-take. Nopony ever actually asked her anything; they just treated her like background noise. “Scuse me?”
“Why do you have to make plans to clear out the dead apple trees tomorrow?” he asked, not a trace of boredom on his face. He still seemed inexplicably anxious, however.
“Well… ‘cause if Ah don’t clear ‘em out now, they’ll get in the way later on.” Even Berry seemed a little confused by the break in routine.
The stallion didn’t seem to notice. “How so?” His voice was so earnestly interested that Applejack concluded he definitely wasn’t from around Ponyville.
“If Ah leave them, more trees will keep dying and soon they’ll get too many for me to handle on mah own.” It was so strange speaking to somepony who seemed to actually hear her words.
“I see your point then. Smart thinking.”
“Thanks?” she mumbled. Berry had wandered away, taking the opportunity to escape from the farm pony’s tales. “Name’s Applejack, Ah run Sweet Apple Acres.” She held out a hoof and he took it quickly.
“I’m… Wind,” he replied after a moment.
Applejack chuckled. “Now ahm not a very good liar, but you are just awful, mister. It’s fine if y’all don’t wanna tell me your name.”
The pegasus just laughed nervously.
After a few seconds of semi-awkward silence, Applejack took the initiative. “So what about you, Wind? Where do you work?”
“I, um, I’m in a… band.”
The farm pony gave him a hard look. “If you’re just gonna feed me lies all night then ahm gonna stop talkin’ to ya.”
“No, wait! I… I am in a band… of sorts.” He cleared his throat. “I’m one of the lead players, too.”
“Uh-huh,” she said flatly.
“Really! I am! It’s me and a mare named Spit – er, yeah, Spit. Unfortunate name. Parents were drunks.”
Applejack snorted with laughter. The pegasus was very bad at lying, but his attempts to cover himself were extremely entertaining. “So you and this… Spit, ya play music all day and get busy all night, is that where this is goin’?”
His eyes widened. “Me and her? Oh no. Oh Celestia no. I’m not what you would call fond of her.”
Now that was an odd turn for an elaborate lie to take. “An’ why’s that?”
“Even though we both have the same job and do the same things, it’s her that the ponies cheer for when they watch us perform. She takes all of the credit and I’m left with nothing for my hard work.” He sounded so bitter and angry that the farm pony wondered if there was some truth in his claims after all.
“Have ya thought about starting your own band?” she asked, taking another sip.
‘Wind’ scratched the back of his neck. “It’s… not really that simple. We’re the only band that… does the stuff we do.” Another nervous chuckle.
Applejack sighed and turned toward the pegasus. “Alright, ahm interested now. What kinda stuff does your band do that nopony else does?”
“Can we talk about something else? I came here to forget about my day, not relive it.”
He had a point. “Fair enough.” She turned back to her drink. “You in Ponyville for long?”
“Not really. The rest of my te – band is in Cloudsdale. I’ll be heading back there in the morning.” He finally ordered a drink, simply gesturing to Applejack’s mug when asked what he wanted. The assistant bartender, a grey pegasus mare with strange eyes, was sloppy and spilt half the drink before placing it in an absurdly gentle fashion in front of him. She beamed at his mumbled thanks and fluttered away to attend to other patrons.
“Well,” Applejack raised her mug towards her weird new drinking buddy, “Here’s to a safe journey, friend.”
Wind knocked his glass against hers, frowning as he did so. “Friend? Are we friends?”
“Ah suppose. If ya want.” The farm pony kept her tone neutral.
He rushed to clarify. “I wasn’t complaining or anything. I just… don’t make friends that easily.”
“No kidding,” muttered Applejack.
“It’s true. This might surprise you, but I don’t go to bars very often. Or clubs. Or anything.”
“Really?” she asked sarcastically, starting to smile at his cluelessness.
“Yep. Heck, you’re the first pony I’ve talked to outside of my team in weeks.”
The farm pony ignored the slip up, genuinely becoming interested in this odd blue pegasus. “Y’all picked the wrong pony to talk to, then. I’ve been told ahm as boring as bushwater.”
“I’m not sure what bushwater is, but you’re not nearly as boring as it,” he said earnestly.
She laughed a bit, but after a moment couldn’t help herself. “…Really?”
Nodding furiously, he replied, “Definitely. I’d much rather chat with you than with the stuck-up ponies I normally spend time with.”
“Aw shucks sugarcube, we just met.” Applejack liked the way he reddened from embarrassment. It made him seem so much more real than the same old workers who frequented the bar.
“I… Um, you see…”
“Calm down, ahm just teasin’ ya. So,” she decided to take the heat off the poor stallion, “You a big drinker?”
He seemed grateful for the topic change. “Me? No, not really. Are you?”
The Element of Honesty scooped up her mug and drained it in ten seconds, slamming it down on the bar just to see his stunned reaction. “Yeah, ya could say that.” She chuckled. “Mah friends are a little different though. Ah know these two pegasus mares; one won’t touch any sort of drink ‘cause of a particular birthday party, and the other drinks so much so fast she knocks herself out in the first ten minutes.”
Wind spat his drink across the bar as he burst out laughing, splattering an unimpressed Berry as she carried a tray full of drinks. He was coughing and laughing too much to apologise, but he made several strange hoof gestures in the attempt.
The two ponies drank their way further into the night, both of them losing track of the drinks they bought, too caught up in the conversation. Applejack felt more alive than she had in weeks. This one pegasus was bringing a colour and liveliness to her night that she hadn’t experienced in a long time with his odd mannerisms and awkward flirting.
As good things tend to do, their hours of fun ended. Berry ushered the last of the patrons out of the door, sending them stumbling into the night. Wind was leaning on Applejack for support, his face flushed and a goofy grin adorning his face. “You’re preeeetty,” he giggled.
“Ah knew it was a bad idea to let ya keep drinking after you fell off the stool the first time.” They trudged a few steps before he stumbled. The farm pony helped him up. “You’re actin’ like a schoolfilly, Wind,” she teased.
“I’m Soarin. Why d’you keep calling me Wind?” His confused expression broke into realisation. “Oops.”
Applejack wasn’t surprised. “Ah kinda figured it out around the point where ya demanded free drinks because you’re a Wonderbolt. Managed to put the pieces together.”
“So what now?”
“Heh, ‘what now’ is ah walk ya home so ya don’t wake up in a gutter.”
Soarin stood up straighter as they walked and put a hoof around Applejack, half for support and half for other reasons. “Is that all?” he whispered in a ludicrously deep voice.
She snorted back laughter. “Maybe. Ah haven’t decided yet.”
“So there’s a chance? Cause I was getting kind of put off by your laughter every time I made a move.” He tripped on a rock and pressed closer, brushing his cheek against Applejack’s for a moment before correcting himself. He was very warm to the touch.
“Sugar, ah was laughing because you kept trying to talk while drinking.”
“Oh yeah.”
They made slow progress through the dark streets of Ponyville, following the jumbled directions Soarin dredged up from his booze-addled mind. Eventually, they found themselves outside a small yet elegant hotel. The blue pegasus had sobered up slightly by then and no longer needed much support.
“So…” he said awkwardly.
“Spit it out, oh mighty Wonderbolt.” Applejack poked his chest.
“D’you wanna come with me?” Soarin blurted.
“Ah meant ask me up to yer room, but ah suppose your honesty is nice. Either way, the answer’s yes.”
It took a moment for him to get it. “Oh! Um, I didn’t mean… wait, you do?”
“Soarin honey, y’all have given me the best evening I’ve had in a long time. It’s only fair for me to return the favour.” She leaned forward and pecked his lips, the quick, moist pressure filled with promises of things to come. He was slightly dumbstruck as she walked towards the hotel entrance. Her tail flicked softly against his cheek and she looked back for a moment. “Don’t think that means ya get out of having to do any work!”
Soarin quickly raced to catch up, the beginnings of a grin upon his face.
"promises of things to come" - I am so sorry about that. I didn't even see it until I re-read it on here.
On another note, I'm really sorry Spiili. I was working on so many things at once that the quality of this story suffered.
On a third note, booze in Equestria?
Silly drunk Soarin?
Applejack is a pro drinker?
Berry Punch ISN’T a pro drinker?!
What the heck did you just read?
