//------------------------------// // Lesson #3: Never Give Up // Story: My Little Caboose: Blue is Magic! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// "Well, here we are." Vinyl said as they stopped in front of a tall building. "This place looks familiar." Tex coughed. "Lesson three, never give up!" Pinkie shouted as she and Pip soared over Tex and Vinyl's heads. "You'll get used to her eventually, we all do." Vinyl noted when she saw a strained expression on Tex's face. She then opened the door and walked in. "Now come on, I'm already late." "By how long?" Tex laughed. "About an hour. Maybe three." Vinyl said impishly. "But it's not the weekend, and most ponies are still working, so the boss is a little bit lenient when it comes to that." "Lucky you. The last boss I had was an asshole." "You seem to know a lot of those kind of ponies." "If only you knew the half of it." Tex said as she began to look around the bar. "Listen, I'm going to go start, so you go by the bar and wait for somepony to drop by. Talk with 'em." Vinyl said as she began trotting away. "And be sure to tell them how awesome you think my music is, and if they ever need a DJ they should look me up." Vinyl walked up to the music stand and flipped a couple switches and music began to play. Tex walked up to the bar and stood next to it, waiting for someone to come by. "What can I get you?" The mare at the bar asked. Her eyes went wide when she saw Tex. "Oh, h-hello." "Berry Punch, was it?" Tex asked icily. "Yes." Berry Punch nodded quickly. "H-how are you liking Ponyville?" "It's not too bad when everyone isn't running away from you." "Sorry about that." Berry Punch said ashamedly. "It's just..." "This place doesn't see a a lot of violence." Tex finished. "I'm not going to hurt you, so I'd like it if you'd stop acting like it." "Not just that, but to take on three pegasi is sort of... well I wouldn't say out of the question, but still." Berry Punch said, then leaned in closer. "Most ponies just find it odd that a mare's talent is for hurting people directly. But the more people you do it to that deserve it, the more likely ponies are to accept you. Right now, ponies just think that you hurt the first thing that you came across." "Hello everypony." A voice boomed from behind Tex. Oh god. Tex thought as she turned around to see Grif standing at the entrance, looking around the club. "Someone you know?" Berry Punch asked. "I don't know him." Tex grumbled quickly, turning away from him so he could not see her. Please don't see me. "Tex! How's my old buddy doing?" Grif called out from the other side of the club as he caught sight of her, trotting happily over to her. Fuck. "Get me and my pal a drink!" Grif smirked as he came to Tex's side. "I don't want want any drink that you give me." Tex said threateningly. "Aw, come on. I insist." "It doesn't matter that you insist, you have to pay for it, you id-" "On it." Grif said, placing a couple of bits on the counter. "A couple of glasses of hard cider, coming up." Berry Punch nodded and grabbed the bits, before walking away to pour a few drinks for them. "Where'd you get money?" Tex asked. "Fluttershy's kind enough to pay me a tiny bit every now and then for helping her." Grif smiled, but it faltered slightly after a couple seconds. "Funny, I told her not to pay me, but every now and then I wake up with a few bits next to me." "You mean you have a job too?" "Sitting in the shade watching animals run around isn't what I'd consider a job, but y'know." Grif said dismissively. "What are you doing here anyways?" "Came to check up on my bestie." Grif sighed happily. "Why don't you leave?" "Come on Alli, don't be like that." Grif pouted, patting her on the back. "I know we have our- excuse me. I mean you have your issues, but that doesn't mean we can't resolve them now, right?" "So you're friends?" Berry Punch asked as she pushed to glasses of hard cider towards them. "The best." Grif corrected her, quickly drinking his. "Thanks for the drink, I guess." Tex muttered, reaching for the drink. Grif grabbed it out of her hoof and chugged it even faster than he ahad drank his own, and wiped his mouth. Tex's eye twitched and her til whipped to the side. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you had said something about not wanting any drink I gave you." Grif laughed. "Was I mistaken?" "So how do you two know each other?" Berry Punch asked. "Oh me an Allison go way back, isn't that right?" Grif smirked, throwing his foreleg around her to pull her closer. "Yes, we do." Tex muttered tensely. "Really?" Berry Punch asked. "I thought you said-" "Don't worry, Allison can just be a bit of an idiot sometimes. She forgets a lot of things." Grif chuckled, tapping on her skull. "Hear that? Sounds practically empty." "Funny." Tex grumbled. "Well it's nice to meet you Grif." Berry Punch said with a smile. "Isn't it?" Grif asked, dropping another few bits onto the counter. "Another round please." As Berry Punch turned away, Tex grabbed Grif's wings and yanked them. He shot towards her and she grabbed him by his throat and lifted him off the ground. "Something you want to tell me?" Grif asked sweetly, flapping his wings lightly so she could not suffocate him. "If you don't leave right now, I swear I'm going to-" "Hurt me in a public place? How will that make you look?" Grif interrupted. "So far you've been treating me... well not really as a friend, but you haven't said that you hated me. What will it look like if you hurt an innocent person?" Tex lowered her hoof to the ground and made looked away from him. "Poor Tex. Having to choose between having to choose between doing what she loves and being accepted." Grif said with fake sincerity. "It must be so difficult for you to choose-" "Don't touch me there, you pervert!" Tex suddenly yelled. "Wha-" Tex grabbed the back of Grif's neck and slammed his face into the counter. He reached for his nose to stop the flow of blood that was now coming out, but Tex grabbed his left foreleg and twisted it sharply, causing him to cry out in pain. Grif turned towards her to loosen her grip, but as he did she slammed her hoof into his crotch. "What's going on here?" Berry Punch asked, running up to them to see what was the matter. "That pervert touched my ass!" Tex said weakly, sniffling lightly. Berry Punch looked down to see Grif on the ground, holding his testicles as he rolled back and forth, blood steadily dripping out of his nose. "I feel violated." "Get out of here. Now!" Berry Punch snapped, pointing to the door. Grif nodded weakly and began dragging himself out with his wings. "I apologize about that, if I had known he wou-" "Between you and me, he's not really a pervert." Tex said honestly. "Then why-" "He's just an asshole." Tex said and thought hesitantly for a moment, before sighing thoughtfully. "And as much as I'd love to spread around the fact that he's a pervert, I'm trying to stay away from doing that sort of thing now." "Okay." Berry Punch said, adding a thin smile. "Can I get you a drink to get you through this difficult time in your life." "I thought you'd never ask." Tex chuckled. The music soon came to a stop, so Berry Punch walked away to go pour a few drinks for Tex, and the pony that tapped on Tex's shoulder. "What happened back there?" Vinyl asked. "Some guy I knew being an asshole." "You seem to attract a lot of attention like that." "Another day, another idiot." Tex shrugged. "So what'd you think of my song?" "Not bad. It really set the mood for the fight." Berry Punch came back with two tall glasses of cider and placed one next to Tex and the other next to Vinyl. "I still can't believe how rude he was to do that." Tex said jokingly. "Stallions." Berry Punch noted as Tex began to drink. "Can't live with them, can't live without them." "Nope." Tex agreed. "But that won't stop me from trying." "I'll drink to that." Vinyl smiled.