//------------------------------// // Drink Debacle Devastation // Story: Punchdrunk Promenade // by Chapter 17 //------------------------------// “Let’s take a break!” Poppy suggested after one of her favorite songs ended. “Okay, I’m kind of thirsty anyway!” Chappy replied over the music. They retreated away from the dance floor, to the farther end of the yard with tables full of party platters flanking a big punch bowl in the center. It was also something of a relief that they could talk at reasonable volumes again. “Oh hey, bonus, I can hear myself think,” he noted as he ladled out two cups of punch and levitated one over to Poppy, who gratefully took a drink. “Mmm, yeah, I thought you liked DJ-Pon3’s records though?” she half stated, half asked before licking the taste of the punch from her lips. “I do, but I don’t usually listen to them that loud,” he answered. "Ah… oh, hey, Thunder Crackle’s waving us over!” Poppy said, directing his attention over to some of the nearby sitting tables where the blue pegasus mare they had seen before was indeed trying to coax them into joining her and the two other pegasi she had with her. One of her companions was a light grey coated mare with a sky blue mane wearing a red dress and a perpetual scowl, and the other was a purple coated mare with an orange mane wearing a black dress and a pair of glasses. “But we don’t even know them,” Chappy pointed out as though Poppy was overlooking that fact. “Yeah, I know. That’s why we go over to talk with them, so that we do know them,” she responded like a normal pony. "What would we talk about?” he asked, prompting his marefriend to look at him silently a moment before blinking and sighing. “What am I going to do with you?” she asked in reply before biting onto the collar of his tux and giving it a tug with a little growl to make her desire to have him follow her unmistakable. “Okay, okay!” he relented, the stallion and his floating punch cup following behind her as she approached the group of friends. “Hey there, Poppy Crafts was it? My stallion’s told me a few stories about you,” Thunder Crackle greeted warmly before shifting her eyes to Chappy. “And you must be-” "That creep who was abusing poor Poppy in line in front of everypony! How dare you!” the mare in the red dress said with a miniature charge directly into Chappy’s personal space, knocking his punch cup aside. His eyes widened in surprise and he took a couple steps back. "Abusing?! What?” Chappy replied incredulously. “I didn’t lay a hoof on her!” ”Not in front of us at least! This is probably just the outward manifestation of the torment you’ve been inflicting on her to maintain your ill gotten dominance of the relationship!” she continued, cutting him off by sidestepping as he attempted to go around her. “Star Beam stop it,” Thunder Crackle said with a roll of her eyes. “They were just having an argument. Couples arguing is a thing that happens sometimes.” “Oh please, you’re so steeped in your internalized mare hatred that of course you would take his side in this! You let Blazer objectify you by calling you ‘his mare’ and everything,” Star Beam pointed out derisively. “Uh... yeah. And I call him ‘my stallion’ too,” Thunder Crackled replied in a tone that made it painfully obvious how completely done she was with the current argument. “I should’ve known better than to invite you to this thing considering recent events.” “Um, Poppy? You kind of chose socializing on Legendary difficulty. I’m going to go find something on Normal... or Easy,” Chappy stated while backing away, briefly looking down at the now emptied punch cup that had once held the promise of slaking his thirst. He picked it up with his magic again, intent on refilling it. “Yeah I’ll… I’ll find you later or something,” Poppy said with a nod wearing a worried expression that made it clear she was having second thoughts herself. “Just don’t go plant yourself on a wall or something.” “Oh don’t worry Poppy I’ll be fine,” he assured her shortly before looking over to see a completely empty punch bowl. ——— “Okay, no problem,” Chappy said to himself from his spot near a hedge. “I’ll be out there and talking in a few moments. And in the meantime I’m not planted next to a wall. This is a hedge. That is totally different. Still thirsty though. But in a few seconds I’m going to be thirsty and out there meeting ponies… now. Going now.” … "Nnnnnnnnow.” … “Okay not then, but now, really.” … “Now. Now?” … “Now please? Please now.” The mind was willing, or at least willing to appear willing. But the body refused to leave the safe confines of his spot subconsciously chosen precisely for it’s location away from anypony’s attention. “Yeah good job guarding that hedge, you’re doing your kingdom proud,” Blazer deadpanned as he walked past flanked by a few buddies who snickered at his passing comment. Chappy opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it, failing to find any worthwhile retort before a frown spread across his face. … “Well what the hay am I supposed to say when he’s literally just pointing out exactly what I’m doing?!” he said back to the hedge that had become the embodiment of his disappointment with himself. ——— "So isn’t lightning bucking just par for the course for a weather pony?” Poppy asked before taking a sip of her punch. “Yeah, but just any regular old lightning cloud isn’t the sort of thing a specialist like me is brought in for. I’m the pony they send in alone when a gigantic lightning packed cloud is so dangerous that they can’t risk an entire team of weather ponies being seriously injured if just one of them makes a slightly wrong move,” Thunder Crackle bragged ever so humbly with a deservedly smug grin. “Wow, and you’ve never gotten struck before?” Poppy queried further in amazement. “Oh I’ve gotten struck before. You don’t get to my level of expertise without getting zapped a few times. I mean that’d be like you getting good enough to sell paintings but having never gotten a drop of paint on yourself,” she corrected. “Hehe, yeah that does sound kind of silly,” she agreed with a nod before turning to one of Thunder Crackle's friends. “What about you… uh… wow I never even got your name?” “It’s Sky Chirp,” the bespectacled pegasus mare replied, adjusting her glasses. “It’s no surprise. I’m always pretty quiet at events like these. You spend all your time bird watching and managing migratory routes for the various bird species of Equestria, your social life kind of withers a bit.” “Well at least none of those birds steal your precious years of wonderful life away for nothing,” Star Beam remarked bitterly as she glared down into her cup of punch. When later asked to recall the events of that evening, Poppy would swear she saw the liquid boiling at that very moment. “What is her problem?” Poppy whispered to Thunder Crackle discreetly. “Her boyfriend kind of dumped her a couple days ago, it wasn’t pretty,” she whispered back, apparently underestimating her friend’s hearing. “I’ll have you know I dumped him! Because he was nothing but a lout who always talked of these big plans but then the second things start getting difficult he calls the retreat!” she spat back. "Correct me if I’m wrong but weren't you always nosing in and trying to get your hoofprint on everything he did? Then if your butting in ruined everything you could call him a failure, and if it didn’t, you’d take all the credit, and he just got sick of it,” Sky Chirp corrected her, displaying a fearlessness that could only be borne of naivete. “Yeah well... at least I’m not such a workaholic that I’ve never even had a boyfriend!” she shot back before taking another drink. "Weren’t you just telling her ten minutes ago that she was better off not having a boyfriend so she could focus on her career?” Poppy observed before a cold wave washed over her in the form of Star Beam’s resultant death glare. “Hey… shut up.” … "Uuuuuuugh fine here’s another slow song,” the DJ grumbled over the sound system as her contractual obligations were once again pointed out to her by the event organizer. "OhheyIbetterfindChappy,” Poppy stammered quickly before practically stumbling out of her seat and retreating into the crowd away from the grumbling pegasus mare. “Can we not invite her back over? I don’t think she’s really getting along with us and-” Star Beam started before turning her gaze and realizing she was only talking to the seat formerly occupied by Thunder Crackle. ——— “Did you see that shot Knuckle Pluck made just before the final buzzer?!” “Yeah, that was incredible! But he wouldn’t have been able to do that if it weren’t for that pass from Blade Trotter!” “Too right, those two are a fantastic team! Hopefully they’re going to… take this… all the way to…” … The conversation petered out as the three stallions turned to the odd pony out that had been standing near them for a few minutes unnoticed. … “Oh uh… hi?” Chappy said in what wasn’t quite a greeting, his empty punch cup still floating next to him. “Who are you?” one of them asked with a none too friendly facial expression. “Right, name! Uh, Chapter Seventeen.” “What are you doing?” another asked. “What? Nothing I was… you know, strolling by, you guys sounded like you were having fun so I… kinda just listened in I guess?” he explained. “Oh, so you saw that game too huh?” “Yeah uh, totally! That was a pretty game changing moment when he passed that ball,” Chappy tossed out in a bid to actually join the conversation. “…” “What?” he asked, looking around a bit anxiously. “Nothing, we were just kind of wondering when they started using balls in hockey.” … "OH HEY LOOK I’m out of punch I better go get more!” Chappy blurted out as he made a hasty retreat, never to return. As fortune would have it there actually was another fresh bowl of punch that had been brought out, providing a bright side to his latest disastrous attempt to socialize. “Finally, I was getting really-” “Dance, now!” Poppy proclaimed as she pulled him back onto the dance floor. “What the, wait, I just need to get some-” “Chappy I need to have something to do right now to seem like I’m not avoiding somepony on purpose, please just help!” she interrupted again, pulling him further away from the punch bowl. "What? Why? Who?” he asked while reluctantly following her. Behind him, a procession of equally thirsty ponies lined up and managed to collectively ladle out the entire contents of the bowl in record time. “Star Beam, she had a break up two days before this and still came to the prom!” she said in the harshest of whispers she could manage to properly express her disbelief. "So why do you have to pretend to not avoid her while avoiding her instead of… you know, openly avoiding her?” He took hold of her, starting the same slow dance from before. "Because Thunder Crackle and Sky Chirp are actually okay ponies… well, I don’t know much of anything about Sky Chirp but she might be okay. I can’t just snub the whole group because of just one of them, that’s… rude,” she elaborated. "Okay, so just pull Thunder Crackle aside and tell her you’re still interested in being friends but that you’re not going to just ignore the way Star Beam is acting.” “I can’t do that either! Star Beam being able to act the way she’s acting means I can’t object to the way she’s acting!” … “Um… okay… try that again?” Chappy requested following an attempt to make sense of her statement that had only caused his brain to return an error message. “If Thunder Crackle is putting up with it, that must mean Star Beam is a really close friend of hers, else why would she? If I make it an issue, it might really aggravate her, and she might not want to be friends anymore,” she replied, obliging him. “So you’re going to put up with some mare off her rocker just because not doing so might irritate her friend? Why the hay do that?” She frowned. “Well maybe if somepony came out with me more often I wouldn’t feel like I have to hold on so hard to every new friend I finally make.” His eyes widened, ears lowering slightly in guilt as their dance came to a stop, leaving them standing awkwardly in each others hooves in the middle of the floor. After a moment she had a similar reaction, and though the dance resumed it was spent in a heavy silence trying to avoid one another’s gaze. ——— "Did you find out what was wrong with the water fountain yet?” the caterer asked the groundskeeper as he watched yet another bowl of punch be decimated by thirsty ponies that had no other option. “Nope, nothing I can see. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow when we can get a plumber in here to take a look at it good and proper. I can gallop over to a nearby store to pick up more punch mix and bottled water if you need it though,” the groundskeeper offered. An irritable looking grey unicorn looked at the tiny bit that was left in the bowl and let out a growling sigh before ladling out the last sip and taking a curious sniff at his cup. “Thanks so much, we really appreciate-” “Hey,” Chappy said to the caterer. “Yes?” “Is this punch spiked?” he asked. “Um, no it’s not.” ”Why not!?” ——— She sat on the bench looking somewhat deflated for the first time that evening. The way that conversation had happened had not been necessary. There were many times in the past, probably hundreds, when she had pointed out some mistake he had made or bad habit he should address. None of them had been spiteful until now, no matter how frustrated she’d been about it. “Maybe he was right,” Poppy mumbled to herself, starting to question her own motives. Was this an attempt to get them a night out of the house and help him open up a little like she had said? Or was this some attempt of hers to prove Shoreline wrong by molding her boyfriend into some fantasy in her head no matter what it did to him? Or maybe she was just overthinking all of this and she wasn’t reacting well to the stress of her first night out in ages going a bit awry. She let out a heavy sigh and continued examining the grass as the ponies around her continued to have a much better time. “Ah, there you are,” Thunder Crackle started as she emerged from the crowd. “What’s wrong?” Poppy looked up in mild surprise and tried to shrug off her sour mood with quite inadequate results. “What? Nothing I was just… catching a break, having some alone time. You know how it is,” she lied while putting on a smile. Thunder Crackle smirked and nodded knowingly. “Yeah… Star Beam’s a real pain in the flank tonight isn’t she?” Following a momentary loss of words the cream colored mare offered a none too confident chuckle. “Um…I wasn’t going to say anything.” “I understand. Don’t worry though, I actually had the same idea you did and snuck away for a dance with Blazer,” she assured her while taking a seat next to her on the bench. Despite her dance with Chappy having been less of an escape than she had hoped, she kept her smile on. “Oh good, I was kind of worried I would’ve left a bad impression.” “Nah you’re fine. Don’t worry, Poppy.” “That’s a relief,” she said, managing a genuine smile at the news. “So now that we’re in better company, how’s Blazer been? I know I asked him already outside but, you know how stallions get when somepony asks them how they are and all.” “He actually is doing great as far as I can tell. I really think he and I are going to go far if things keep up like this,” she mused fondly as her eyes wandered over to the stallion in question talking and laughing with his other friends on the other end of the prom grounds. He seemed to notice something, excuse himself, and move away into the crowd though. “You know I should thank you for letting him get away in high school like you did. I might not ever have met him otherwise.” “Uh… what do you mean ‘let him get away’?” Poppy asked with raised eyebrow. “We were just really good friends for a while then sort of… drifted. You make it sound like we were dating!” “What?” Thunder Crackle replied with a small bit of confusion before the dawning realization became apparent on her face. “Oooooh…” ——— “So then Phonin went back in time and then just solved everything, completely negating the significance of past events and the roles of pretty much every other character?” one stallion asked another mare amongst his group of friends as a grey stallion with a still woefully empty cup wandered into earshot. "Pretty much,” the mare replied with a sympathetic shrug of her shoulders. “Guh, I hate it when authors have some super powerful magic pony who can make everything better with how awesome they are without consequence show up out of nowhere. If you’re going to go that far, you might as well put on a horn and wings then go full on alicorn ex machina on us,” the stallion replied with a roll of his eyes, eliciting a bit of a laugh from his fellow literary aficionados. "Hey, you all talking about Battlecraft? I love that series!” Chappy chimed in, hoping some common interests might spark a succesful social interaction and cheer him up a bit. … “What?” he asked, ears lowering again as a reply did not seem forthcoming from the ponies now staring at him strangely. “Aren’t you that creepy stallion who was beating up his marefriend in line?!” one of the stallions asked, his expression turning into a scowl that was mirrored by his nearby friends. Chappy’s eyes went wide for a moment before his face descended into a deadpan stare. “You know what? Yes. I am that creep. In fact I didn’t just beat her up, I murdered her outright in front of everypony, just to save you all the hassle of upping the ante each time you gossip it along the chain. I can prove it too!” he confessed sarcastically before pointing his hoof toward Poppy. “Look, there she is, without a scratch on her, being completely straight up dead while having a conversation.” “Oh yeah? How do we know you’re telling the truth?” another stallion piped up in reply. “Oh, darn, you caught me. You’ve foiled my plan to murder my marefriend like I didn’t, and then replace her with the twin sister she doesn’t have, so that nopony would think anything was amiss because there’s actually not. Good show Sherclop. Good show. You know, she brought me out to try and get me in touch with my social side, but based on how things are going tonight I’m starting to remember why I never bothered developing one in the first place. Enjoy your night, and also Phonin dies when Skarrosh blows up Kerramor in the end,” he replied, departing promptly upon spoiling the book for everypony involved. "Pfft like they’d actually blow up Kerramor,” the mare said dismissively before a round of murmured agreements spread through the group. … "Right?” she repeated a bit less certainly. Chappy retook his place at the hedge non-wall, no longer caring for how sociable the rest of the evening wound up being. He kept his eyes on the empty punch bowl, oh so very thirsty and intent on getting a cup from the next batch of punch once it was brought out. “I don’t know what totally inoffensive thing they said to you, but I’m sure you just cried like a foal and went home with the ball was an entirely reasonable reaction on your part,” Blazer said before taking a drink from his cup. “Mm, good stuff.” “Is it just me, or have you had it out for me from the second you-” “So not only are you the type that’ll go into paranoid defensive mode at the drop of a needle, you’re also the type that’ll cautiously ask the pony they’re getting paranoid and defensive toward whether or not they’re justified in getting paranoid and defensive toward them. You do this instead of, oh I don’t know, outright stating it as fact like a real stallion would. Nice. I know you don’t handle direct interaction well, so I’ll do your thing and ask a question about the question I’m going to ask. Do you mind if I ask you a question?” he asked with a mocking tilt of his head before crushing his own cup and tossing it into a nearby waste bin. Chappy said nothing, turning his head to maintain his vigil on the punch bowl. "Silence. Very mature. I’ll assume that means yes, because you can’t even assert yourself enough to correct me. Why are you with Poppy?” he asked bluntly as he moved into Chappy’s sight line. "What’s that supposed to mean?” he replied with a raised brow. “Do you think it’s a good idea? Because let me tell you I’ve only been seeing glances of you two for just this one evening, and it’s pretty clear to me that neither of you actually do. See, Poppy Crafts is what we call a ‘normal pony’. She goes out and does things. Like, real things. Because she has a life. Meanwhile, what, you’re like a... writer or something?” "Yeah.” “I figured. It’s kind of the default ‘job’ of a pony who has ideas but no skills to make them happen like a real artist could. Plus I’ve never seen your name at any bookstores, so you probably just get printed in a magazine or something. So at the end of the day you’re pretty much worthless on top of worthless, and at your age you’ve had more than enough time to prove yourself at anything else if you were capable of it… so you’re, you know, not.” "Your point?” “My point is you’re a sinking ship while everypony else is sailing on smoothly like normal, and Poppy is one of your passengers. Do you want her to go down with the ship, or are you going to push her into a lifeboat?” he asked quite casually. “I’d expect this out of a single stallion. Don’t you already have a marefriend?” he asked in return, ignoring the pegasus stallion’s question. "Yes I do, and we’re quite happy together. In fact when I first saw her, I asked for a date then and there because I thought she looked like a million bits. Turned out we had a lot of fun together, and shared a good many ambitions and interests, so here we are together in love after I took the initiative. Meanwhile Poppy took a liking to you for some reason you can’t quite understand because you have no self esteem, but you’ve probably never asked what that reason was, because you’ve always assumed it was pity, but were afraid of being proved correct, and you’re probably not going to say anything in reply to this because you know I’m right.” "…” Blazer stepped forward and gave Chappy a couple condescending pats on the shoulder. “You and I both know Poppy needs a different stallion than you. Do the right thing. Break it off with her and let her be free and happy. Then do the rest of us a favor by slinking back into whatever hole you crawled out of to keep doing whatever sad, stupid thing you do to pass time so you don’t bother anypony anymore. And hey if you want to go the extra mile, all the better! So glad we had this chat.” He gave him a parting nod and retreated back into the crowd to find his friends. Chappy stood there mutely a while before slumping down to a sitting position. After a moment’s pause he looked over at the empty cup he’d been levitating all this time… then crushed it into a ball and tossed it into a bin before busying himself looking at the grass. Suddenly it was like being in school all over again. ——— “So he liked me liked me?” "Yeah, from what he’s told me,” Thunder Crackle confirmed with a nod. “He spent two years hoping you would notice him but then realized it wasn’t going to happen.” “That’s about the point where we started drifting apart… that stinks! You mean to tell me he stopped being my friend just because we weren’t going to be a couple?” Poppy asked with a frown. “I don’t know, I wasn’t there. What did he do?” the other pegasus asked in return. “He… well I guess we were still technically friends, only we didn’t really talk or hang out nearly as often. Probably... because he was off actually dating,” she thought aloud, ending with a sigh of resignation. “You know, I guess I was about as entitled to his friendship as he was entitled to a relationship with me. Oh well… it’s good to know my friend did well after school and I’ll leave it at that,” she continued, ending with a genuine smile. “Besides, there's too much going on in my life to worry about the past… at least I hope there still is.” The smile faded a bit as her thoughts returned from the past back to the present. “What do you mean?” “I was telling Chappy about the situation with Star Beam while we were dancing, and he did that thing stallions always do where they try to solve the problem for you when all you want is for them to just listen,” she explained, earning an understanding eye roll and nod from the other mare. “I was irritated enough already, so when he did that I kind of, um… snapped at him and made some remark about the problem he was already trying to fix. He didn’t react well, and I don’t know what he’ll do now.” Her front hooves rubbed together anxiously as she spoke. “And you’re… worried he’ll break up with you over it?” Thunder Crackle asked to try and fill in the uncertain implication, her suspicion confirmed with another nod from Poppy. “Really? That seems like a needlessly little thing to break up over.” “It wouldn’t just be that. It’s like… we had all these slight issues that I thought were only little ice cubes, but tonight seems to be dunking our heads underwater so that we can’t help but see the icebergs underneath. You know what I mean?” “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it. But for what it’s worth, you two look like any other couple that argue sometime, and I don’t see them break up often,” Thunder Crackle offered reassuringly. “Thanks. I hope you’re right,” Poppy replied before she caught sight of Chappy approaching out of the corner of her eye. “I really hope you’re right.” "Hey Chappy,” Thunder Crackle greeted him, getting a respectful nod in reply. “Hi Thunder Crackle,” he added before turning to Poppy. Neither of them said anything at first, and then Chappy attempted to break the silence with a hesitant opening of his mouth, looking as though he was trying to say the last thing he ever wanted to say, thus provoking a concerned look from the cream colored mare. His mouth closed, and then he broke eye contact, spending a moment more in thought before his face took on a more determined expression and leveled itself with his marefriend’s once more. “I have decided that you will be allowed to dance with me again,” he said in a most faux official manner while offering his hoof. Poppy blinked at the sudden change in his demeanor and then couldn’t help but giggle. “Oh! Well thank you so much for the privilege,” she replied facetiously as she took his hoof, the two ponies smiling as they took to the dance floor together again without any baggage. “I’m sorry about earlier,” Poppy said to him before they got too close to the sound system for a non shouted conversation. “Don’t worry about it. In fact don’t worry about any of this. I’m done with that,” Chappy replied confidently. “Done over thinking? Done worrying? Did you finally find some new friends while I was talking with Thunder Crackle?” she asked, her eyes lighting up. “Nope, and I’m not going to!” Chappy answered oddly cheerfully. “I have no reason to believe that anypony here wants anything to do with me, and I’m fine with that.” Her ears lowered in sadness at hearing this. “But… you’d be passing up so many experiences cutting everypony out like that.” “No,” he objected with a brief shake of his head, then took a moment to think of the right way to get his point across. “It’s like… the difference between fishing and hunting. You prefer to go out and actively hunt for enjoyable social interaction. What I prefer is to put a line out and wait patiently for enjoyable social interaction to happen, but I don't need it right just immediately now. They’re two different methods, but we both still make our catches in the end.” “I've never done either of those!” “Point being-" "You haven't either!" "Poppy." "Sorry!" "The point is, I took your advice and gave hunting a shot, but I’m no good at it. So I’m just going to cast out my line, be patient, and if nopony bites, so be it! I’m not here for them. Plus there’s no reason I can’t be a fisherpony and still go out and do things with you like I said I’m going to,” he continued, moving aside briefly for another couple that was passing through. "I guess not… I still don’t get how your ‘fishing’ method works though. It sounds like it’s just going to keep you lonely,” she confessed worriedly. “And I don’t get how somepony can just go out to talk with ponies and everything turns out fine. But then again, I’m not going to, and you’re not going to get my method either, because we’re different ponies. Now are we going to dance or am I going to have to go look handsome somewhere until some other mare asks me?” he playfully threatened with a smirk. She immediately took him by the shoulders and stared adorable death into his very soul. “Don’t you dare… also,” she started before pulling a hidden bottle of hairgel out of her dress. ”Gah!“ the stallion exclaimed as his hair was unexpectedly reinforced before a pair of cream colored hooves pulled him onto the dance floor. ——— For a time the evening started to go smoothly again. The two ponies socialized or refrained from socializing exactly as suited them, the tense feelings gave way to mutual, relaxed acceptance, and rather than everypony pretending to have a good time, good times were actually had. Poppy and Chappy were at the tail end of another slow dance when the lead catering manager stepped up to the stage and delayed the next song to make a quick announcement. "Good evening! Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I’m sure you’ve noticed the punch shortage… only made worse by the drinking fountains being out of order. We’re running low on punch, so instead of a punch bowl we’ll be serving up partially filled cups so that we can distribute it a bit more evenly. That’s all, thanks again for coming,” he concluded before handing the mic back to the DJ. “And it’ll probably be non alcoholic despite my best efforts,” she added, eliciting a wave of light laughter through the crowd and earning another completely ineffective mean look from the event coordinator. “Oh good, you said you’ve been having trouble getting any punch,” Poppy brought up ever so helpfully to her stallion that might well have been coughing up sand at that point. “I wanted to go talk to Thunder Crackle some more, would you mind grabbing some punch for us while you’re getting yours?” “I’ll try, they’ll probably be having a one cup per pony policy though, so don’t hold your breath,” Chappy replied with a glance over to the table that was now setting out half full plastic cups of punch. “Thanks Chappy,” she responded in appreciation before giving him a peck on the cheek and heading off into the crowd again to look for her friend. The grey unicorn dutifully located the end of the line that was still forming and took his place. Stealing a glance ahead, he saw that even for how quickly he’d claimed his spot in line there were still plenty of ponies ahead of him that might just deplete the supply of punch before he got there. Still, a chance at punch was obviously superior to no chance at punch, so he stood his ground. Besides, the wait couldn’t be too long. The ponies in line ahead of him weren’t exactly filling out paperwork after all. As he neared the table he couldn’t help but notice the pony serving up the punch stopping another passing pony and whispering something to them before they nodded and took off again. Then the cups began to dwindle without being replaced. He mentally counted the ponies ahead of him and then did the same for the cups on the table and was relieved when he found that there would be one cup left for him… or maybe Poppy. He knew she would be likely to share or even outright let him have it, but damned if he wasn’t going to at least bring it by first. “Lucky you getting the last one! Don’t worry, we sent somepony to go buy more, she shouldn’t take too long,” the pony who’d served up all the punch explained. "Thanks,” Chappy responded with a nod before reaching for the cup which suddenly vanished in a blur of red. He looked to his right to see Blazer with the purloined punch in hoof. “Great job keeping my place in line there, slick,” he flippantly remarked with an upward glance at the unicorn’s mane. Cirrus Blazer turned to leave with a smug grin of satisfaction on his face when his punch cup lit up with a light blue aura and levitated out of his grasp and back over to Chappy. He immediately turned on the unicorn wearing an offputting friendly grin barely concealing a vicious scowl. “Oh! Okay. Wow. I honestly didn’t expect something so not spineless out of you. But you’re going to want to set that on the table, apologize, and walk away, or else I’ll have to do something equally not spineless like, say, snap that muzzle right off your stupid face and shove it down your useless throat.” Chappy’s eyes widened with an accompanying cocked eyebrow as he took a step back. “Seriously?” "Did I bucking stutter?” Blazer answered with an oddly amicable sounding chuckle. “No, not about that. Are you seriously going to get into a fight over a half full cup of punch? Because if a character I was writing did that, nopony would find it believable unless he was just looking for an excuse because of something else, and I really doubt you’d beat somepony up over ‘just a friend’. In fact, things are getting a lot clearer all of a sudden!” Chappy began, setting the punch cup back on the table and taking a step toward Blazer. “Hey can I have that if you two are going to-” the stallion that had been in line behind Chappy chimed in before being swiftly silenced by two simultaneous seething stares. “N-nevermind!” “Yeah, I can see it all now,” Chappy resumed wearing a glare of his own once the would be interloper had snuck away. “Cirrus Blazer as a freshman spots this lovely blonde mare and figures he’d like to have a go at that flank, so he’ll lavish time and attention on her until she gets the point instead of asking her out directly because none of us were born with spines, and not all of us had grown one by high school. I know I sure as hay hadn’t. So he keeps doing that for a while, but it’s not working. Eventually he gets the point, and then he moves on in a healthy matter, except for that Chappy stallion she kept bringing up. He subconsciously built him up into some kind of awesome super pony in his head, because if the girl he wanted was going to be with Chappy instead of him, Chappy must’ve been so incredible that he never would’ve stood a chance. Then he finds out tonight that Chappy's just me and that cuts him deep because how could any mare choose me over him? Obviously he can’t take this out on Poppy because that would be horrible, but he can take it out on me all he wants, which is still horrible but nopony gives a flying feather about two stallions fighting so why the buck not? But then he thinks that maybe he doesn’t have to take anything out on anypony if he could just make me break up with her. Then he could make sure she gets with another stallion that’s more up to his standards so that he could feel better, and he’s probably not going to say anything in reply to this because he knows I’m right.” Blazer’s response was to spend a silent few moments regarding the unicorn with a contemptuous glower before he lifted him off his front hooves by the collar with one hoof and brought back the other in a bid to cave in his face.