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Post by Aby on Aug 28, 2014 12:13:54 GMT -5
19.
Precisely 19:26.
The sun was about to drown in the ocean as ponies watched from the sandy beach. Amazed by the incredible feat, they all believed, Luna is currently performing. Since it was Friday, most of the ponies and younger ones were watching the sundown.
Like it was a miracle.
A few citizens, who didn't find much interest of watching the summer sun hiding, were gathering in the place where they could all forget. Forget their week of labor and adventures trough drinks, dances and music. Rumbling could be heard trough half the village, not just any rumbling. Music. Escapeness from a group that came to play as part of their "tournée" around Equestria. Most popular groups found themselves stopping in this village, finding calmness and taking vacations from the big crowds from the cities.
As the gigantic sphere of fire started disappearing in the horizon, the Horseshoe Saloon was celebrating the beginning of the weekend. Festivities gathering more and more ponies as time passed.
Some of them were here only for the music, some of them were here for the drinks, some for the dance and most of them for the combo. Between the wooden walls of the Saloon, all kind of ponies were having a great time, all together singing and drinking. One of them, who just happened to arrive who's heart was already beating to the sound of the music, was obviously the white stranger of the village. Aby. A mug of cider waving around, she sat at a table close to the band as she sang along, nobody hearing her singing but herself. Spilling her drink here and there, along with many other drunken sailors, nothing in the world had importance as of this moment. As another song reached an epic ending, the next one started immediately. As she looked around, ponie's voices echoing in her head, drums pounding to the beat of her heart, she felt at home for the first time since she left the north. Festivities similar to this one almost every night. To this thought, the mare downed her mug in one sip, lifted her mug and stood on her table singing and stomping on the table as if she was part of the band.
She didn't have to think of where to sleep, what to eat and how to raise some money to survive. She just had to sing as she danced her native dances on the small round table, spoiling the drinks that were sitting on it. Her sky-blue mane and tail dancing trough the air, her eyes were closed.
The improvised dancer turned to be quite agile after she jumped over the crowd, using the tables as a bridge to join the band in the front. No drinks could stop her for doing so.
She danced all the way trough the song, nothing to stop her from having a moment of happiness, having none to worry about and no shame for doing so.
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Post by Low Key on Aug 28, 2014 14:01:29 GMT -5
It was a busy night for Low Key. The management had finally hit it big and got a rather famous rock group to perform at the saloon. Ponies were lining up out the door and the drinks were flowing. He had never been this busy in the few months that he had been working here, but it wasn't anything he couldn't manage. Fortunately for him, the crowd that came in wasn't too sophisticated, which meant less time remembering complex cocktail recipes.
Just beer.
A lot of beer.
Seriously, assuming this place was still standing after tonight, the management might just be able to afford a larger dining area.
Low Key was jarred out of his daydream as a customer yelled for another beer refill. As he took the mug in his magic, Low mentally noted that this was this stallion's 8th that night, and judging by the deep blush on his cheeks, he was probably one away from passing out. After refilling his mug and placing it back up on the counter, Low took notice of a mare quite skillfully dancing from table to table. While quite harmless at the moment, he knew the bouncers would spring into action should she try anything stupid.
Turning back to the customers at the bar, he took out his convenient rag and made himself look busy.
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Post by Aby on Aug 28, 2014 23:15:11 GMT -5
A lot of heat was coming from the stage and our white firework just came out to take a nice break.
After the song, she came off the stage and serpentine-walked toward a table close to the back of the Saloon. Almost missing the seat, she had to maintain herself while she sat. Holding her head between her hooves, she looked around and saw the coffee shop owner at the bar.
What is she doing here?
What was her name again... Oh yeah, Pumpkin. She must've saw me back there, damn. I probably looked like an idiot. Whatever...
Aby felt herself turn left and right, beer was taking it's punch...
She got up and barely made it to the bar, asking the bartender that looked pretty dull;
"Excuse me sir, could I have any water please? I need to dilute that down..."
"And because I'm pretty freakin' thirsty." She thought.
All of that dancing took much of her en energy.
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Post by Low Key on Aug 28, 2014 23:40:27 GMT -5
(( Wasn't aware that this thread was simultaneous to my other one ))
As Low quickly gave the mare a once-over, he silently concurred that water was indeed what she needed for more than one reason.
Giving a quick nod to her, he levitated out a drinking glass and filled it a quarter way with crushed ice and the rest with water from the spout. He then levitates it over and places it before her. Before he can say anything to her, another patron calls for a beer refill on the other side of the bar. How many was this one at? Damn, he'd be running out of beer soon.
As he refilled her glass, the sudden realization of the statement hit him.
They were running out of beer.
As he set the refilled glass before the other mare, he did his best to hide the growing tightness in his chest. To be sure, he had had his fair share of tough guys trying to intimidate him, but every time the bouncers had him covered. Now, as busy as they were, the bouncers were having trouble enough keeping order. Surrounded by rowdy drunks, Low Key could feel the tension rising, and he suddenly felt very small. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, silently offering a prayer to Princess Luna that he survive the night.
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Post by Aby on Aug 29, 2014 0:08:31 GMT -5
(It's not my intention to imply the other thread into this one, I just love subtely bringing them by.).
"Thank you" She quickly drank her glass down. Damn it felt good.
The mare observed the bartender's gesture as he looked at the crowd and his clients. He seemed nervous a bit.
"Say..." Waving her empty glass of water.
"There's a lot of ponies in here tonight and I think they look a liiittle too merry for their own good. Does it get tense sometimes? Lived any classic bar fight in here?" Insisting on having conversation.
"I don't have all of my head at the moment but I kind of recognise when things starts to spin out of control." She giggled.
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Post by Low Key on Aug 29, 2014 11:02:12 GMT -5
Was he really that readable? Well, she seemed understanding enough, perhaps she might have an answer to this problem. Low Key made his way over to her and placed his forehooves on the counter, "Yeah, they happen on occasion, but the bouncers take care of them before anything gets seriously damaged."
The same look of worry came over him, "Tonight, however, is different. We're absolutely slammed and our resources are strained." After looking around to the other patrons, he leaned in close, "Should I be worried if the beer is running low? I've never run out of product before, and, well..." He looks around at all the ponies packing the saloon. "What would their reaction be? I mean, they could always just switch over to some other drink, but, and call me paranoid, I don't think many of them are in the mood to reason."
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Post by Aby on Aug 29, 2014 12:40:27 GMT -5
She glared at the crowd again, unsure of what could happen next.
"I suggest you to take a look at the number of drunken ponies versus the number of those bouncers you have. Do you think it's enough if any kind of fight would occur? What if everybody was involved?"
She paused.
"I don't know much of the characters of you southern ponies, but up in the north where I lived, fights were a usual thing."
"And bars were at least twice as big! I mean, I was only a filly, but it was still much bigger." She laughed a bit.
"It might sound ridiculous, but if you need any help, I'm kind of looking for a job around... I understand that I'm just a mare, but I can handle a few drunken peeps myself."
She adopted a more serious tone as she stared into his eyes.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 29, 2014 12:46:25 GMT -5
Which was, unfortunately, precisely when a manic looking Sugar Sweet burst into the establishment. Her mane was standing on end, and there were scorch marks on her hooves, and... yes, it looked like wisps of smoke coming out of her mane too. Her eyes were bright as she spotted the bar, and scrabbled her hyperactive hooves (Which made a curious clinking noise at each step) across the hard floor to get to it, where she all but threw herself on the bar, trying now to get the numerous bits off of her hooves. Looks like they're magnetised to them.
"Ugh, quick! I need ethanol! Lots of ethanol! How much is a bottle of anything!?"
Her speech was quick, almost frantic, and loud, though that may be because she did just experience a small explosion in a contained environment.
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Post by Low Key on Aug 29, 2014 14:41:53 GMT -5
Low Key gave the white mare another once over. Oh yeah, she looked like she could handle herself, easily. She obviously didn't have the muscle mass of the bouncers, but she nonetheless looked like a mare you would not want to fuck with. He was still a little bit nervous about being surrounded by possibly violent drunks, but he could rest assured that she would be able to protect him until the others got here.
"You'd be surprised to know that we don't usually serve a full house. We knew that these guys were big and we tried to prepare for a few dozen patrons, but we never expected this many. As for employment, I'd talk to the management. I'm su-"
Low's speech was interrupted by an orange-coated mare bursting into the saloon and quite nearly throwing herself over the bar. Jarred from her panic, he stammers, "Uh, t-two bits, ma'am!" Without waiting for a response, he grabs a glass, fills it with beer and levitates it to where she is laying on the counter.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 29, 2014 22:33:57 GMT -5
"No, no no!" She scolded, sliding off of the bar and shaking her hoof madly, trying to get the eight or so bits left magnetised to it onto the bar, "Not beer! Ethanol! Lots of it! I need a spirit! The higher proof, the better!"
She took the beer and skoaled it anyway, slamming the empty glass on the bar and shaking her head a bit, her hair waving wildly, "Bottle! Not glass! Whole thing! It's important!"
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Post by Low Key on Aug 30, 2014 13:31:20 GMT -5
In spite of the adrenaline, Low Key did his best to calm down and think. Of course, having a half-crazed mare yelling at you didn't exactly help with his concentration. Still, he took a deep breath, and began to compartmentalize the problem.
Ok, so what was ethanol? He knew he should have paid more attention in his high school chemistry class, but now was not the time to remember that he celebrated passing that class with only a C. Ethanol...ethanol...sounds like alcohol...RIGHT!
Low Key's horn lit up and a clear bottle was pulled off of the shelf and landed before the mare.
Everclear. 190-proof. The balefire bomb of alcohol. Low Key liked to think that the only ponies who drank more than a single shot either had iron livers or vomit fetishes. In most cases, it tended towards the latter.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 30, 2014 18:13:40 GMT -5
"yesssssssssss~" She purred, looking at the bottle before her, eyes bright, "This is it! Perfect!"
She picked the bottle up and looked it over.
"Pristine condition, 95% alcohol by volume ration. Lots of potential. So much potential!"
She squee'd to herself, then remembered she was in public and looked at Low Key, the pony who had (So patiently) put up with her manic excitement.
"It's not perfect," She admitted to him brightly, quickly (Despite her previous statement), "But it'll do! I'm gunna filter it see? If I can break it aaaaaall down into base elements, then take the alcohol in its purest form, I can use it as a fuel source!"
She smiled brightly at him with a final, "It's gunna be AWESOME!" before looking at her hooves. She'd pushed the little stack of bits forward a little, and frowned when she realised that, once again, they'd magnetised to her hoof, and were now stuck. Again.
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Post by Low Key on Aug 30, 2014 21:52:55 GMT -5
How many mood swings is this pony going to have? Still trying to recover from the rush of adrenaline that was still flowing around inside, he took stock of exactly what was going. After a swift recap, he quickly did an estimate of her bill. The bottle of everclear probably wouldn't be missed considering most ponies usually go for the 151-proof, but it would still put the bar back 20 bits. Then there was the glass of beer he gave her in a panic, which was automatically two bits. If he was going to charge her, he decided he better make his move before she runs off in a manic panic.
Low Key moved up close to the counter and stated bluntly, "That's 25 bits for the bottle and beer."
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 31, 2014 0:30:12 GMT -5
Sweet was, once again, trying to prise the coins off of her hoof, but they were now sticking to her other hoof, much to her disgust. Even shaking her hoof didn't disrupt the magnetic attraction enough to get them to fall. In fact, all it seemed to do was make them more difficult to remove. She looked helplessly at Low Key, and held out both hooves, both covered in bits.
"Um..." She began nervously, "I... can't get them off?"
It was at this point she became painfully aware of another pair of eyes staring at her. She could feel them burning into her flesh and she flushed a bright red. But if she wanted to finish this project, she had to walk out with the spirits.
"Can you help me please?" she asked Key.
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Post by Low Key on Aug 31, 2014 10:35:20 GMT -5
Low Key's professionalism was the only thing that kept him from rolling his eyes. His horn lit up and he attempted to pull the bits off of her hoof. He would have just used his own hoof, but he had a thing about physical contact. He did not need any extra helpings of awkwardness in his life. (( Sorry for the short post, but I don't know of what else I can say  )) |
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