//------------------------------// // Gambling and alcohol, what could go wrong? // Story: Boast Busters // by TheKing2001 //------------------------------// Trixie yawned as she rolled over in bed, making eye contact with the snoring stallion next to her as she poked him with a hoof. “Wake up, Bright. I don’t know if your sister is here or not and we both know her walls aren’t soundproof,” Trixie said coolly as Bright opened his eyes and blushed faintly as Trixie kissed his cheek. “It’d be awkward to explain to her why the two of us are coming out of the same bed room in her house.” “And good morning to you too.” “Morning,” Trixie responded with a smug grin and wrapped her tail around his. “I take it we aren’t going to talk about last night?” “From what I remember, you randomly came into my room and started kissing me before being on top the whole time,” Bright said casually as a rare blush crossed Trixie’s face. “Yes, that’s how it went. It was a mistake,” Trixie sighed and nuzzled him. “It can’t happen again.” “Why not?” Bright questioned and stared at her. “I mean, you know I still care about you and you still do about me. It’s also not like you were complaining last night.” “Trixie- I will always love you but we went down separate paths. You have your business in Cloudsdale, I have my show career. Middle school was a long time ago after all and I owe you for being my friend but things have changed,” Trixie sighed and rested her hooves on his chest. “And I know you still love me but things just didn’t work out the way we wanted.” “I mean, I could always just move the business here,” Bright suggested as Trixie gave him a look. “Your business is working with clouds. You can’t do that on the ground,” Trixie reminded him flatly. “We probably shouldn’t tell Raindrops what happened, we both know she’s been subtly trying to get us together again for years.” “Yeah you’re right,” Bright finally sighed and nodded as Trixie rolled onto her side to face away. “Five more minutes?” “Five more minutes,” Trixie agreed readily and he wrapped a hoof around her as she sighed contently before yawning. “I’m gonna regret this but I love you.” “Love you too.” Raindrops stepped away from the cracked open door and shook her head with a faint smile as Bright nuzzled Trixie’s mane. “Still sleeping?” Roseluck asked as Derpy blushed as Raindrops returned to the kitchen. “Or did you catch them going at it?” “Nah, they were talking about stuff,” Raindrops answered as she went back to making breakfast for her two friends. “I really should soundproof this house. The things I heard and the cursing will never be forgotten. It was practically my worst nightmare, hearing them.” “I can imagine,” Derpy muttered and Raindrops turned her stove off. “I ship it. No offense.” “I ship it,” Raindrops reminded her and slid some hashbrowns on a plate. “I introduced the two of them to each other, remember? I still remember hiding in a bush and stalking their first date.” The three paused and listened to Trixie laugh about something and three smiled faintly. “So what about her ex friend? We still don’t have any idea on what to do here. Not even Sunset does and she always has a plan,” Derpy interjected as the three looked dejectedly at the ground. “Bad timing. Sorry.” “No, it’s okay. But somepony else apparently has an idea on how to get into his head,” Raindrops gave a faint smirk that lacked any warmth as she looked out the window. “We just have to wait and let her do her thing.” “And who is she?” Roseluck raised an eyebrow curiously as she and Derpy accepted the two plates pushed in front of them. “Well,” Raindrops started as she chewed on her own breakfast and swallowed. “Berry Punch and Sprinkle Medley.” “You got help from the town drunk and the weather teams hiring manager?” Roseluck demanded as she stared at the pegasus. “Hey, Berry is pretty sharp and smart when you catch her sober,” Raindrops defended the mulberry mare. “And her daughter is pretty cute too.” “Yeah when you catch her sober,” Roseluck grumbled and Derpy smacked the back of her head with a wing and a disapproving frown. “Sorry.” “And Sprinkle Medley is very calculating but most importantly, is a very good card player,” Raindrops continued. “I wanted to get her marefriend, White Lightning involved but Whitey is in Cloudsdale with Cloudkicker and Iron Hearts on official weather business. Something about the budget I guess.” “You guys have a budget?” Derpy asked and Raindrops set down her glass of orange juice. “Apparently. That’s way above my pay grade.” “So what are they going to do exactly? You already throat punched him last night. I don’t think there’s anything else you can do to get your point across,” Derpy pointed as Raindrops shrugged. “Contray to Trixie’s opinions, Berry and Sprinkle quite liked Trixie back in school but she never really noticed because they were a few grades ahead of us. All I had to do was name dropping Trixie and that it was helping her and they were all in. Lyra, on the other hoof, fully understands how difficult being a show mare is given her less than popular music career. She’s a damn good lyre player but only a few ponies even know what that is anymore. Hence why she was there last night and is getting Wild Card to visit Sprinkle and Berry downtown for a game of cards. Gambling is an addiction, after all.” The two other ponies gave each other wary looks. “Well, this isn’t going to end well,” Roseluck proclaimed as Raindrops scowled at her. “Well, not with that attitude. Trixie is always saying you can learn a lot about a pony by sitting down and doing something they enjoy. Fake enjoy being in their company and they’ll let something slip. Something you can use. Trixie was a lot more manipulative back in school than she is now. Don’t get me wrong, she still has her moments where she is but it’s a lot less than it used to be.” “She tried to bribe me with muffins to mail a letter without a stamp last week,” Derpy commented. “Exactly. Where it used to be every day, now she only tries to bribe ponies every other day. Progress!” “I think we have different definitions of progress Rainy,” Roseluck scrunched up her muzzle in thought. “I hope those two get something to use at least.” “Me too Roseluck, me too.” Berry Punch set down three glasses of wine as Sprinkle gave her wings a flutter and watched Berry pour them each full of a red liquid. “Are you getting drunk?” Sprinkle deadpanned as Berry grinned. “Well, later yes. But if we get Wild Card drunk enough, more chances of him telling us any information on what else he plans to make Trixie’s life miserable. If I had a bit for every time I talked about my sex life, I wouldn’t be scraping bits together every week for Ruby’s school supplies and groceries,” Berry explained as Sprinkle softened her glare. “Yeah that checks out,” Sprinkle rubbed her neck sheepishly. “That was rude of me, sorry.” Berry gave a bitter laugh as she slumped next to the mare. “Nothing I haven’t heard before and believe me, I’ve heard far worse,” Berry grumbled as she rested her head on her forelegs on the table of her bar and idly watched Sprinkle open the deck of cards. “He’s coming,” Lyra called out as she slammed the doors open with her hooves and continued galloping into the empty bar. “Did as you asked, said there was a high stakes card game at Berry’s Berries.” “Awesome,” Berry added a fourth glass as she and Sprinkle watched Lyra dive behind the bar, coming up with a silver suit case and opening it, tossing some black sunglasses and an blonde wig on. “Lyra, what are you doing?” “Did you have that behind the bar this whole time?” “Yeah for blending in emergencies,” Lyra answered as she climbed over the bar and sat down next to the two. “And it’s not Lyra now. Call me,” Lyra paused for dramatic effect as she grinned. “Fine Flanks.” The two mares stared at her in silence with wide eyes, Berry taking a sip of her wine. “Yeah no.” “Hell no.” Lyra huffed and crossed her forelegs as the other two laughed, watching the door open and a unicorn trotted in, pausing only to look around before sitting in front of the three. “Got the bits?” Berry asked as she pressed a hoof against his chest. “If ya don’t, hit the bricks bitch.” “Yeah I got em,” Wild rolled his eyes before setting down a bag of bits. “Gonna count em too?” “Maybe,” Sprinkle scoffed as she picked up the bag and peered inside before she gave a satisfied nod. “It’s all there.” “Who’s your friend?” Wild pointed at Lyra. “She’s not so bad looking.” “Oh uhm I’m Concerto,” Lyra made her voice more scratchy and tomboyish and propped her head up with a hoof, giving a false smile. “I’m Lyra’s cousin, you know her?” Sprinkle resisted the urge to either slam her head into the table or hit Lyra. Both seemed like decent ideas at the time. Especially if he had noticed her cutie mark at all during the walk over. “I’ve met her briefly. What are we playing? Black jack, three card hold em, roulette, poker?” Wild asked with a smirk and leaned back in his booth. “We can play blackjack,” Sprinkle answered and hoofed him two cards face up. “Eighteen.” She placed a card face down in front of her and peeked at it with a small smile. While she was a weather pony, she was incredibly good at blackjack. It was the only form of gambling she was good at. Most of the time she gave her friends their lost bits back. She didn’t like taking her friends money. Especially Berry whom she always hoofed her bits back after, with a little of her own added to it. “Hit or stand?” Sprinkle asked as Berry and Lyra both held their breath, watching. While they did lose a majority of the time, they always enjoyed watching Sprinkle best other ponies around town. “Stand,” Wild Card answered and Sprinkle nodded, flipping her own card. “Twenty. Dealer wins,” Sprinkle announced as she scooped up the cards and reshuffled with her wings, allowing the cards to fall before catching them perfectly with a hoof. “Go again?” “Sure.” “So tell me, what ya doing around town?” Berry asked as she passed out glasses of wine. “I’m a bar tender. It’s my job to pass out drinks and listen to ponies. So whatcha got goin on?” The two went through multiple card games and glasses of alcohol, Wild losing each time and getting more irritated as he finally looked at Berry who was waiting impatiently for a response. “Not much really. Working on a few things. The usual,” Wild Card answered before sipping at his wine. Berry forced a seductive smile on her face and leaned over to him, brushing against his face as Lyra buried her face in her hooves. “Like what?” Berry asked and smirked. “I got some plans of my own.” Sweet Celestia, Lyra thought to herself. She knew Berry often tricked ponies by being overly seductive but she’s only ever seen it once and never like this. “Uhm making some posters, vandalism maybe,” Wild slurred as he examined his now empty wine glass with wide eyes. “Woah, that was strong.” “It’s my special blend for you. Multiple whiskeys, wine, a few beers,” Berry rolled her hoof with a smile. “The usual for ponies I don’t really like or ponies that ask to get really fucked up. You fall in the former category, unfortunately.” “Unfortunately,” Lyra echoed dryly and lifted her head, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Anything else we gotta know?” “Talk about a lightweight,” Berry scoffed and the three stared in surprise at the snoring unicorn in front of them. “I’ll take him home if you two wanna head on out. Lock up the bar please.” The two nodded and Berry hoisted Wild onto her back with a grunt, taking a shaky step forward. “He’s heavy,” Berry complained and groaned. “He needs to lay off the Hayburger, fucking hell.” The two only laughed in response. White Lightning paced back and forth in her bedroom, only pausing to peer outside as the front door opened. “I’m home,” Sprinkle Medley called out as she shut the door and locked it. “Oof!” White Lightning tackled her and eagerly nuzzled her with a warm smile before kissing her. “Somepony missed me,” Sprinkle snickered before kissing her back. “Ooh you’re warm.” “Yeah well, when my wife randomly disappears for hours I get worried. You know how dangerous the Everfree is,” White Lightning pointed out with a frown. “Where even were you?” “Gambling and taking that rude stallions money. Rumors were right, he’s awful at it. He’s even awful at blackjack!” Sprinkle giggled behind a hoof as she raised a bag of bits. “Granted, I snuck a majority into Berry’s register so her finances are a bit better and shoved some in Derpy’s house, but we made a few thousand bits tonight.” “Sweet Celestia,” White Lightning whistled before she pointed her flank at the fire she had made hours ago, pausing to verify the fire alarm was working still. “It’s kinda cold tonight.” “It is,” Sprinkle admitted and rested her wing on the other pegasus. “Come on, I’m ready for bed and it’s late.” “Agreed,” White Lightning commented as the two trotted away to their bedroom. White Lightning didn’t necessarily know how earth ponies and unicorns could sleep in beds that weren’t made of clouds. Cloud bed were so much softer and she could make her own. White Lightning plopped backwards on her bed and folded her wings against herself with a content sigh. While she was originally against living on the ground, it did have it’s benefits. Primarily being close to her friends on the ground and such, the market and more. “How was work?” Sprinkle asked as she stuck her muzzle on White Lightnings shoulder. “It was work. Got to set up some rain clouds and I hid a few like Raindrops wanted. Why she wants a thunder cloud, I’ll never,” White Lightning mused and dragged the blanket over the two. “Probably looking to rain on someponies parade. Did you get it? Rain on someponies parade and her name is Raindrops?” “Hilarious,” Sprinkle scoffed dryly before giving a faint smile. “Why did I marry you again?” “Let’s see. I’m nice, keep the house clean, I’m attractive and you said yourself nopony else could use their tongue like me,” White Lightning shrugged with a suggestive smirk. “Obviously, the tongue thing won you over.” “Oh, shut up,” Sprinkle whapped her upside the head playfully. “That wasn’t the deciding factor and you damn well know that.” “Yeah I do,” White Lightning conceded before smiling fondly. “But it certainly was a plus.” Sprinkle blushed as she nuzzled White Lightning before responding. “Yeah, it’s definitely a plus. One I wouldn’t mind going for right now.” “I don’t have work tomorrow,” White Lightning commented casually as she rolled to face Sprinkle. “Nor do I.” “Good.”