Bottoms Up! (Closed)

If there was a list of places you were unlikely to find a mare such as Pumpkin, the Rusted Horseshoe would hold a special place near the top of that list. Having grown up in this town, Pumpkin knew most of the ponies that passed their evenings their and to be completely honest, they were not the type of ponies whose company Pumpkin particularly enjoyed. Most of them were loud and nearly all of them were drunk, and quite a few of them found it perfectly acceptable to make lewd comments to her, their whiskey tinged breath blowing in her face.

No, this was not exactly the place for a mare like her. Even more so because she very rarely drank. As someone who prided herself on her self control and reservedness, alcohol and her were not exactly the best of friends. True, there had been times when she'd had to much. Mostly though, the pounding headache and nauseous shame she felt in the morning were reason enough to avoid the poison.

But tonight, in particular, the mare had her own reasons for showing her face at this institution; the band. Though not a huge connoisseur of music, she adored the blues. On top of that, as someone who used to perform here for meager tips while saving up to make her dreams a reality, she felt she owed it to the local bands to pitch in a few bits.

As she made her approach, the sound of the crowded bar could be heard nearly halfway across town. Once she'd reached the door the din of conversation, mostly drunken, was nearly deafening. Pumpkin hesitated at the doorway. With a deep inhale and a reminder to herself that the music would start soon, she nudged the door open. To her relief the music began to play and she felt the tension in her shoulders relax. Most of the bar had pulled stools forward and sat or stood around the stage. Quietly, Pumpkin made her way to a table closer to the bar, as far from the crowd as she could manage, and took a seat, keeping her hoof over the little satchel of bits she'd brought with her. She hoped that the music would soothe the other patrons and that she'd be able to enjoy the music without interruption.

The sweet sorrowful sound of blues washed over her and she felt at home in the little corner of the bar, to be honestest she'd never felt too comfortable up on the stage herself, though she loved to sing. To her pleasure, a lot of the more rowdy patrons were lulled by the tones. So it was true what they said about music soothing the savage beast. Still, she couldn't complain about being able to actually hear the sweet sounds she'd come to listen to and after awhile the rest of the bar seemed to melt away leaving only the musicians.

The sound of a voice, just close enough to be heard snapped her out of the immersion and she realized she'd completely forgotten about the bartender behind her. She scolded herself for being so rude, after all, ponies in the service industry had to stick together. She smiled good naturedly at the bartender who had addressed her and not wanting to be a non-paying customer replied, "Do you have any tea, sir?" The answer to which she of course knew. She always ordered tea here, preferring it over some of the more adult beverages.

She noted the surprised look on his face and a small smiled formed on her lips from amusement. She was well aware that she was one of the few, or very, patrons that did not order an alcoholic beverage. Pumpkin couldn't help it though, neither of her parent's had ever drank much (aside from her father when he was a much younger man and tended to party a little more than acceptable, especially in her grandfather's opinion). Pumpkin herself had only drank a few times and found there was really no need for it. She didn't like to make a fool of herself and she didn't like to loose control of her emotions and behaviors, which pretty much solidified drinking as something she had very little interest in.

The stallion returned with her tea and she smiled, receiving the levitating drink gratefully. She took a long draw on the straw feeling the cool refreshing liquid fill her mouth and run refreshingly down her throat. She turned back to him, "No thank you sir, I prefer my tea black." She reached into the little bag of bits and slid out enough for the tea, as well as a rather generous tip and rose from her seat, turning around to place the money on the counter. "Thank you very much," she added with a smile, before returning to her seat and taking a few sips of her beverage.

Pumpkin found herself smiling as the second song began. This band had certainly improved since the last time she had heard them play. This was one of her favorite songs that they played and she found herself tapping her hoof along with the music as it started up. She took another draw of the clean refreshing ice tea and smoothed a bit of her auburn mane out of her face so she could see a bit better. She could feel the bartenders eyes on her, but not in a threatening way, she waited to see if he would speak.

His voice faltered and Pumpkin wondered why, but that was not the type of thing you asked ponies. She turned her head just a bit so that she could face him somewhat, and nodded enthusiastically. "They've been playing here in town for years, they've come a long way from when I first heard them." She chuckled a bit thinking back to the sounds of inexperienced musicians trying to harmonize with each other.

Pumpkin noticed the slight change in his demeanor up on her response. Perhaps this pony had just been hesitant to engage her in conversation, which would explain the faltering of his voice in the first place. She hoped that she had not come off unapproachable, as she was always happy to chat especially about such nice topics such as music which was something Pumpkin herself had a particular soft spot for. So he was a newcomer here to town, that explained why she hadn't seen him around before. She nodded, "I'm not much for cities and crowds myself. This is about my limit for rowdy ponies and loud noise." Pumpkin chuckled a bit.

She took another long sip from her cup and sat it back down on the table. "You flatter me, I'm not as connected as I'd like to be. I mostly just know the local musicians from when I used to perform here a bit. There's a couple of other good artists in town though."

Pumpkin chuckled a bit in reaction to his enthusiasm over her musical "career". He had a quite a lot of questions, and it was clear music was certainly a topic of interest to the stallion. She tried to decide where to start, "Well, it certainly wasn't anything serious. I used to sing cover's here for tips when I was saving up money for the cafe." She smiled a bit in recollection, "It wasn't so bad, I liked the singing and the extra bits, not so much the attention though." She wondered if she'd given him the wrong impression; he seemed like someone who really knew his music and she was far from a musician. She'd never written a single line herself, preferring to sing the lines someone else had come up with.

The disappointment was evident on his face, but Pumpkin was not particularly sure why. She wondered if he had expected her to be some kind fabulous undiscovered musical genius, something she surely was not. True, she had a nice enough voice but she didn't have any kind of deep and driving muse from which to draw inspiration from. She had grown up in a nice family in a nice enough town working hard. She'd never had much of a romantic life either so that was out of the picture. She shrugged it off, she wouldn't know what to write even if she did have something to write about.

The embarrassed look on his face inspired a small giggle from her, "No damage done, sorry to have disappointed you by not being more venerable. And its pretty easy to book a night here to perform, you should give it a shot," she offered him a warm smile.