An Island built in the sky

by Brotato

Ch. 12: A toast to bad news

Chapter 12

A toast to bad news

True to her word, Rainbow Dash reappeared faster than any pony could say 'Chimmy Cherry Changa' three times fast. Although one pony could probably pull it off easily. Rainbow lowered Tale next to Hammer then landed next to her friends who were standing across from them. Tale took a moment, after the uncomfortable flight, to rub behind his foreleg.

"Not exactly the most comfortable flight, but it got the job done," Tale said to himself. He turned his gaze toward Hammer and smiled. "Good to see ya still in one peace. I'm not surprised though. You've faced worse creatures in Caelondia. Heck, I remember once..." He trailed off as he realized something. "Ah, sorry. My storyteller is showing."

"Maybe another time, Tale." Hammer gave him a light pat on the back. "Right now can you see if this thing can send us back home? Or if it's even functional?" He noticed the monument in the middle of the island seemed covered in soot.

"Sure thing. Should take a couple minutes to look over the entire island for any problems. In the mean time, maybe you could show your new friends around." He motioned toward the five other ponies standing in front of him. Giving everypony a quick nod goodbye, he parted away.

"Yeah... of course," Hammer said, not too fond of suddenly being the tour guide of the Bastion. He motioned the others to follow him into a nearby building.

"What's in there?" Twilight asked as they approached the building. In front it had black cutouts of two bottles, one shorter than the other. The shorter one had what seemed to be a comma with two circles cut out to represent eyes.

"The distillery," Hammer responded simply.

"Distillery?" A hint of excited curiosity in Twilight's voice. "As in... chemistry?" Hammer let out a loud chortle as he found her word choice amusing.

"Also known as beer, booze, spirits, liquor... chemistry," Hammer listed off nonchalantly with another chuckle. "You sound like you've never heard of... alcohol..." He slowly realized she was serious when Twilight was still looking at him with a small smile, clearly interested in learning about it.

"Do you even know what Beer is?" He received a collection of head shakes from the five ponies.

"Liquor?" Still no luck.

"What about wine? By Roathus's great thirst, please say you at least know what that is."

"Oh! yes darling," Rarity stated. "I've been known to have a glass of wine every now and then."

There may be hope for this world yet. Hammer jerked his head toward the building behind him.

"Okay then. This place behind me is full of all sorts of...wine. Out of curiosity, is there any laws about drinking in Equestria?"

"Of course!" Rarity spoke up once again. "Nopony would be so uncouth as to give a foal wine. Don't worry dear, we're all old enough to enjoy a nice drink every now and then. To be honest, I am quite curious about your world's tastes."

"Alright, but some of these drinks might seem strange. Don't say I didn't warn you."

---

"And then I nosedived down and caught Rarity and the wonderbolts. Creating a sonic rainboom while doing it too!" Rainbow Dash yelled, clearly enjoying too much of the distilleries drinks. Hammer glanced at the current bottle she was holding and noticed the familiar blue with leaves and vines wrapped around it.

Bastion Bourbon. With the hints of citrus and berry, mixed with a slight buttery flavor, it was an easy favorite to new drinkers. Hammer would usually drink it hot, making it resemble tea. Very comforting, alcoholic tea. Only one more bottle left too, Hammer noticed with sadness.

He looked at his other friends and saw Rarity had helped herself to a heart shaped bottle, filled with a yellow liquid. The stopper and a single thick bronze curl of filigree went down the front of it.

Lifewine. Women always did love the simple hint of cream and nut it had.

Continuing to look, he saw Fluttershy with a bottle of hearty punch, which she quickly regretted as her tongue was held out from the spiciness. Pinkie Pie, to his amazement, mixed Lunkhead liquor with Bull brandy, making a potent drink that looked and had the consistency of paint thinner and smelled like leather.

"I hope you don't plan on drin-" It was too late. The crazy pony threw her head back and chugged the entire thing down like it was a glass of water. Slamming the mug she used to mix the drinks, she let out a heavy sigh.

"That was good!" She said as she started to smack her lips like she ate a spoonful of peanut butter. The thick drink seemed to at least have some affect.

"Darling, please be careful. You're supposed to enjoy it with small sips." She happily took a tiny sip of her own to demonstrate.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash was still yelling. "Last thing we need is somepony getting-whoa." Her body tilted backwards, risking to tumble off the chair. She pulled forward, but too strongly, and hit her head on the bar counter with a 'thud'. Quiet snoring could be heard coming from the pegasus shortly after.

"Rainbow Dash does have a point." Twilight pointed out, chuckling at the snoozing pegasus. She finished off her small hot cup of black rye. The smell resembling pineapple preserves served piping hot. "Though I have to say this drink is amazing. My mind seems... clearer now? It's difficult to describe. Are there special side-effects to these drinks?"

Hammer finished off his shot glass of Stabsinthe. He sucked on something in his mouth. Puckering his lips, he spat something sharp out of his mouth. A long green needle shot in the air and stuck itself against the dart board across the room.

"Nope," he joked. Just as he set the half-empty Stabsinthe bottle back on the counter, the bar doors swung in.

"Hey, Hammer," Tale spoke as he stepped through the doorway. He motioned with a hoof to come toward him. Hammer jumped off the stool and quickly stepped over with a slight buzz.

"Glad you could join us, Tale. I managed to keep the others from drinking the last bottle of Graver Gimlet." He spat out another needle, hitting a nearby wooden column. Tale looked at the needle for a moment and frowned.

"That's a bad habit you're starting to enjoy," Rucks pointed out with displeasure. "Anyway, I did a full check-up and managed to learn some new things. Before I say anything, do you want the good news or the bad news?"

"Good news first, then I can heavily drink if the bad news is really terrible." Hammer stated, half-joking.

"Very well." Tale cleared his throat. "I checked the entirety of the island from top to bottom, inside and out. The sails below us can still unfurl for travel, so I can safely say we have a form of travel. However..." He continued, wiping the grin off Hammer's face.

"The bad news?" Hammer asked tentatively. Noting the sad expression on his face.

Tale walked back outside and dragged a large, blackened piece of metal that scratched the floorboards. It was shaped like a large funnel on one end, while it had numerous holes on the other, like a muffler. It had the length of possibly his entire pony body. It was obviously nonfunctional since there were several large ruptures in the metal that didn't need to be there.

"This part distributes the energy from those cores and shards you collected. Without this piece, we can't fuel the bastion properly. If there are even cores and shards here, I don't think we have a way to repair this piece of junk." He kicked the piece of metal, making a sharp clang.

"So essentially. You're telling me we're stuck here?" Seeing Rucks nod his head sadly, Hammer didn't say another word as he trotted purposefully back to the half-bottle of stabinthe with a straight face . He stopped an inch from grabbing it.

Need something stronger, he grunted.

Going to the cabinet that held the rest of the booze, he grabbed a sphere-like, dark-purple bottle with a silver topper. Taking off the topper, he immediately began chugging the entire thing down. The last thing he remembered was the ground rapidly approaching, coming close to give him a hug.

Comments

[Kage no Brony]

My reaction to Hammer's drinking:

Hey, it's not time to give up yet! The bastion can be repaired, and the Cores may be scattered across Equestria! Seeing how they're powerful artifact gems, your magical unicorn allies may be helpful in locating them.

Only when you're sure the Cores are nowhere in Equestria can you give up! Of course, there's also Artifact gems native to Equestria... THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!

__

Great story, looking forward to the next chapter.

[Brotato]

788449 *Shoves cupcake in your mouth* DONT GIVE THE READERS IDEAS!

[Kage no Brony]

788485

MMMM... cupcake...

[Brotato]

Cool points to anyone who knows what Hammer drank at the end.

[Midnight Blues]

Loved the game. the story is good. When this story eventually ends please don't make a permanent cut of from Equestria,Either they can travel back in forth or permanently there are my favorite endings. Also, make it so he can use all his weapons. Either turn him human or transform them all to pony form. Kid without his weapons isn't very fun.

[Brotato]

789719 I'll... uh... see what I can do?

[Davidp1522]

789719 Are you demanding things of the author? How foalish of you.

[daosoman]

dreadrum.......

[Brotato]

794630 Yep!

[Paper Crease]

Oh how I loved that game so...

Anyways, I do like the weapon inclusion. Also, are we gonna see more from... Whatshername... Zia anytime soon?

[Rainbow_Dashtruction]

789483 He drank Dreadrum, knew it off by heart.

[sirraf]

ahh floor my old friend. how i have missed you. lol