//------------------------------// // Drinking Occurs and Things Are Said That Shouldn't // Story: Side A - The Guard // by daOtterGuy //------------------------------// It was the night of the promised time for Flash to meet up with Cocoa and the rest of the guard. He had of course forgotten to tell Cocoa about the time and place, which was apparently not needed as Cocoa had told Flash he already knew after he had raced after him. After confirming that Cocoa was going to be there, Flash had proceeded to spend the entire week stressing about the upcoming day. It was, dare-he-say-it, his first date with Cocoa and he was desperate not to screw it up. Shining was happy to point out that everything would probably be okay. His reasoning being, that if Cocoa could handle Flash with a concussion, he could probably handle Flash without one. That hadn’t really helped as Flash now feared that he was too ridiculous. Or worse, he wasn’t ridiculous enough. Regardless, one thing Flash didn’t have to stress over was how great a night it was. The stars shone brightly in perfect clarity and a cool breeze lazily drifted through the streets at the optimal temperature and velocity. It was a perfect night and Flash was very thankful for it. Shining on the other hoof, thought it was the worst possible thing. “It’s wrong.” Shining stated to his travelling companion, Flash, as they walked down the main thoroughfare of Canterlot. Flash stopped his worrying for a moment, “What is?” “This night.” Flash, confused, asked “Why? It’s the best night we’ve had in weeks.” Shining narrowed his eyes, “Exactly.” Flash blinked quizzically. “... I’m not following. I have a reason to be stressing out because I really should have chosen a better possibly first date, or hang out, or whatever then drinking with the rest of the guard, but-” “Flash,” Shining interrupted, “Have you ever been drinking with the Guard?” Flash winced, “No, but I’ve been on the receiving end of what happens.” Shining also cringed, “Oh, right. Sorry, I didn’t really think about that.” “No, it’s fine, but this is the first time either of us have gone drinking with the guard. How would you know anything about it?” “You know how I’ve wanted to join the guard since I was a colt?” Flash nodded, “Well I ended up talking to a lot of ponies in the guard to learn what it was like and also what to expect.” “Okay, I’m following so far, but that still-” “You know the bar we’re going to?” Flash thought for a moment. “The Grinding Stud, right?” Shining nodded in affirmation, “What about it?” “We have a bars all over Canterlot.” Shining stated. Flash, unsure where this was going replied, “Yeah.” “A lot of them with a better reputation.” “Yeah…” “But we’re going to the Grinding Stud, a low end bar, on the other side of Canterlot.” Flash blinked, “Okay, when you say it like that, it is kind of strange.” “Flash. Why are we, the Guard, and trainees at that, going to the other side of Canterlot to drink at a bar with a bad reputation?” “... because the Guard really likes this bar?” Shining shook his head. “No, Flash. Because the guard is banned from all the other bars in Canterlot.” Flash stopped trotting as did Shining. Flash stared at Shining. “No, that can’t be right.” Shining just looked at Flash with narrowed eyes. “Okay, no.” flash shook his head in denial, “The Guard can’t be th-” At that moment, Flash and Shining were startled out of their conversation by a noise up ahead of them. They had been travelling with the rest of the guard, but decided to stick to the back of the herd as to avoid Crash Beat who had been increasingly insufferable as the night wore on. He had been, and still was, trying to rile up the other guards and start random cheers and hollering. It reminded Flash of the Jocks from high school who would, for no particular reason, start pony piles in the middle of the hallway. Not that Flash didn’t join in too, but that still didn’t make it any less strange. At this particular time, Crash had, for some reason, grabbed a nearby wooden plank from a trash pile and smashed his head through it while yelling his head off. For some reason, another one of the guard, Bumper if Flash remembered that lime green coat right, gave Crash a chest bump. “I mean,” Flash waved an idle hoof attempting to think of an explanation, “he could just be super enthusiastic.” “... you sure about that?” “I mean come on Shining, he can’t be drunk all ready. We aren’t even at the bar.” Shining looked at Flash. Flash looked at Shining. Both looked at Crash. “... Did Crash always have red cheeks?” Flash noted. Shining worked his jaw. “No, I’m pretty sure Crash has always been orange.” “... I can still call off my date, hang out thing.” Flash stated simply, “I could call off the whole night. Try to ask him out somewhere else tomorrow.” “After having been unable to even after trying to ask him to go out 22 times?” Flash pouted. Shining mulled over his thoughts for a moment. “You know, I’m curious actually. Like I’m watching somepony attempting to do something I know they will fail spectacularly at, but I just want to see how.” “... I’m never getting an actual date am I?” Without hesitation Shining resolutely stated, “Nope, probably not.” Flash took a deep breath, sighed heavily and resigned himself to his fate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The bar was, in Shining's opinion, odd. It was a flat stone building squished between two tall, cobblestone apartments that towered above it. The entire building was bright with a myriad of swirling colours and neon pizzazz. The Grinding Stud was in bright, bold fuschia lettering on the front with an animated sign of a winking stallion. Shining decided he would start with tacky, and end with gaudy. Flash decided it was his new favourite building because he was always impressed by bright glowing colours. Both thought it looked misplaced. With no hesitation, the rest of the guard piled in with some rowdy cheering. Flash and Shining hung back. “I like it.” Flash stated. Shining took in Flash’s starstruck eyes and excited attentiveness, “Really? You don’t think maybe it's kind of obnoxious?” “Nope.” Flash grinned widely. “It looks sweet, like awesome stuff happens here. Way better than what I pictured.” “I do admit, I was picturing something more rundown, but what did you picture?” “A seedy tavern full of mean ponies.” Shining frowned. “Really?” “Oh yeah, I was totally thinking you wouldn’t make it out of this bar alive.” “Wait, what?!” “But clearly this place is called the Grinding Stud because only the studliest of stallions come here.” “Wait, no. Go back. Why did you think I was going to die?” Flash ignored Shining. “Let’s go in. This should be fun.” “No! Not until you tell me what you meant earlier.” Flash, knowing Shining probably wouldn’t drop it, brought out his secret weapon. Pouting. Shining made it a whole 24 seconds before caving. It was his personal best. “Okay, fine.” Shining grumbled, “Let’s head in.” Flash grinned brightly and dragged Shining after him into the bar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The inside of the building did not match the exterior. The entire inside was made of dark wood with small, dimly lit chandeliers interspersed to create an feeling of intimacy. There was a long wooden counter that took a good quarter of the room with a large selection of alcohol on the shelf behind the counter. Wooden tables with long benches covered the main floor and were arranged with areas between for servers quickly trot through carrying drinks. The bar was surprisingly busy, but nowhere close to the same crowded as the main bars in Canterlot center. It was odd to Flash that all the patrons of the bar were stallions. Ah well, I’m sure its nothing. The guard could quickly be found by how loud they were. They had set up in a corner of the bar and were already into the drinks. Crash himself, could be found already starting on a tankard of beer. Overall, Flash decided he liked it because, under his logic, he must be one of the studliest of stallions as per the name of the bar. Shining was just waiting for everything to be set on fire. Both stallions took a seat at the end of the table with the rest of the guard. Flash made a point of ensuring that Shining, and not him, sat next to a rather loud Chevalier who was flirting with one of the female guards. Flash was still mad about the hat and just glared at him. A slim, violet stallion in a green vest with a perfectly coiffed teal mane and a dazzling smile saddled up to next to Flash. “Why, hello there Twinkleshine and Mr. Guard, what can I get you?” “Ah, sweet nicknames” Flash said enthusiastically, “which one am I?” The stallion giggled, “Twinkleshine, of course.” Flash pumped his hoof. That was the name he was hoping for. Shining rolled his eyes. “Do you have to use nicknames?” The server smirked, “Well of course I do, Mr. Guard. Gives a nice personal touch and I am all about making everything special.” Shining shrugged, “Alright. Do you have any drink recommendations?” “We have our special tonight, the Tropics. A blend of Mango, Papaya and vodka.” “Aw, that sounds awesome,” Flash said excitedly, “I’ll have one of those.” “I’ll have one too.” “Great, I’ll get right on getting you those drinks” The server then winked and said, “Don’t forget, the guard always gets a discount. Be back in a flash.” As the server trotted off, Flash let out a snort, “Back in a Flash, hah!” Shining rolled his eyes, “You would find that funny.” “Well, yeah puns are the best. ” Shiny snorted. “Anyways I have a great feeling about tonight. Everything is going to be great.” The server quickly returned sliding two tall glasses of a bright orange and yellow drinks that reminded Flash of a sunset. Both had mango slices on the rim of the glass. “Two Tropics for Twinkleshine and Mr. Guard.” The server winked again and trotted off. In no time at all, Flash took the glass and chugged down a third of the bright beverage. It was sweet, tangy and Flash decided it was the best. Flash slammed his glass down with a wild grin and shouted, “Yeah!” Responding to the outburst, the rest of the guards let out a resounding cry further punctuated by downing their own drinks. Shining blinked and took a small sip form his glass, “... Yeah?” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It turns out that Flash really liked tropical drinks. After having downed his first Tropics, he had then asked the server for a list of all the tropical drinks available and had simply started going through the list. It was halfway into a Mai Tai that Cocoa showed up. Flash could swear he waltzed into the bar. He had the airs of somepony of a higher class than those around him and he looked dazzling in his black jacket and flower patterned tie. He looked like he was shimmering in the dimly, lit lighting of the bar. Or he was drunk since Flash had the alcohol tolerance of about two drinks and he was at number six. “Cocoa!” Flash yelled while waving his hoof excitedly. Cocoa turned towards the noise, smiled when he saw it was Flash, and trotted over. He took a seat in between Flash and a guard that was making wild accusations at his drink about sleeping with his wife. “Good evening, Flash.” He greeted, and gave a nod to Shining who returned the gesture. Flash, who was already drunk and decidedly a shameless drunk, hugged Cocoa in a tight embrace, nuzzling him. “I’m so glad you could make it. I thought you weren’t coming.” Cocoa smirked, bemused by the orange pegasus’s actions and turned to Shining with a questioning raise of an eyebrow. Shining shrugged, “Flash has an alcohol tolerance of about two drinks and he’s on his sixth.” “Nuh uh” Flash said petulantly, “I lasted until three this time.” “Not much better, Flash.” “I’m sure it is a large improvement,” Flash gave a dopey grin at Cocoa’s praise, “Though I wouldn’t mind you letting go so I can get comfortable.” “No.” Flash grumped. “No?” Cocoa questioned. “Why is that?” “Because your fur is super soft and comfortable.” Shining’s eye twitched. Not this shit again. “Well then I shall simply get comfortable as is.” The server, Fizzy Pop, Flash had asked for his name after drink number 4, came over and grinned. “Well what can I get you tonight, Grumps?” “I see you still use the same nickname as always, Fizzy.” In response, Fizzy winked, “Chocolate Liqueur?” “As always.” Shining was surprised at this, “You come here often?” “Not by myself usually. Mainly my father drags me out here when he has a craving for their admittedly decent spiked berry punch.” Cocoa pondered a thought with his free hoof, “Or if he was feeling particularly frisky.” “Oh, that’s kind of odd. There aren’t any mares here.” Cocoa just looked blankly at Shining, “Well, I would certainly think that wouldn’t matter as my father prefers stallions.” Shing blushed furiously. “Oh, sorry I didn’t know.” “No problem... Shining was it?” Shining nodded in affirmation, “I can’t expect everyone to know my father’s preferences.” “Well that’s cool, but why would he come here specifically then?” Now Cocoa was just staring straight at Shining, “Is it not obvious?” Shining blinked in incomprehension. Cocoa sighed and then gestured to the rest of the bar, “Shining, take another look around and this time look carefully.” Shining did so and took another gander around the bar. He didn’t really get what he was missing. All the patrons were stallions. Most of them were in groups of two. They all sat really close together and intimately. So close in fact, that Shining almost assumed they were… “Oh.” “Indeed.” “You’d think I would have figured it out from a bar called The Grinding Stud.” “Yes, it’s not exactly a subtle name for a gay bar.” Flash, deciding that he was being ignored which was simply unacceptable, hugged Cocoa tighter and whined, “Cocoa, I thought you came to talk to me not Shiny.” Shining just gave Flash an ‘are you serious?’ look, while Cocoa continued his streak of bemused indifference. “Oh, my apologies. I suppose you are the one that invited me.” “Yeah, so you should be paying attention to me and like talking to me and stuff.” Flash pouted. Cocoa snorted. At that moment, Fizzy returned with Cocoa’s drink. It was a wide and stout glass of a dark, frothy, liquid. “One Chocolate Liqueur for Grumps.” Fizzy looked directly at Flash next. “Anything for you,  Twinkleshine?” Flash took that moment to let go of Cocoa and chug his Mai Tai. Slamming his glass down, he turned to the server, “next one on the tropical menu, please.” “One painkiller coming right up.” Fizzy said trotting off. “You know, everyone is so friendly, and the drinks are great. I should come here more often.” Cocoa provided agreement while taking a sip of his liqueur while Shining grumbled about how Flash probably shouldn’t come back without supervision. Crash Beat, who largely been just chugging along through several tankards of beer, took notice of the new addition at the table and sauntered over. “H-hey. Hey you!” Crash hiccupped. “Stupid, fancy pony.” Cocoa quirked an eyebrow in Crash’s direction. “I presume you mean me?” “Yeah,” Crash hiccupped again. “You look like you can really,” another hiccup, “pack ‘er away.” “I do have a particularly high tolerance, yes.” “D-don’t you use yer big, fancy words on me. You and me, we going to have ourselves a drinkin’ competition.” “That hardly seems fair to you, as I have had barely one drink and you are on drink…” Cocoa counted the tankards in Crash’s corner, “sorry, tankard number three.” “Don’t matter, cuz Imma go’in to win anyways.” “Alright, though after I would prefer just to enjoy the company.” Crash laughed, but was interrupted by his own hiccup, “We’ll see, loser.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsurprisingly to no one, Cocoa won by a significant margin. Crash put up a good fight, but by the time both had reached their fourth tankard each, Crash couldn’t get his head off the table. Cocoa, as a graceful, dignified winner and just a little tipsy, drained the rest of his tankard and slammed it down on the table. “Booyah, loser.” Cocoa struck a victory pose, while the rest of the rather dwindling number of conscious guards let out a resounding cheer. Shining rubbed his temples, while Flash joined in the cheering. Cocoa sat back down. “I appear to be ever so slightly tipsy.” Shining snorted, “Ya think?” “Nah,” Flash waved a hoof, “I think your just right amount of tipsy.” Fizzy, Flash’s now most favourite server ever, slid him item number eleven form the tropical drinks menu: the Pineapple Sunrise Piña Colada. Wasting no time, Flash chugged the fruity concoction down in one go, “Woo! Go Cocoa!” Cocoa nodded in acknowledgement. “That was awesome.” Cocoa nodded again. Flash then leaned into Cocoa and gave a huge yawn. “But like I knew that, because you’re so hot.” Cocoa frowned. He pushed Flash off of him. Flash let out a small yelp and wobbled on the bench a little before settling down. “Aw, why did you do that?” “Flash.” Flash stood to attention and looked over with a dopey grin. “Yeah?” “Why is it that you’re pursuing me?” Flash stopped grinning and brought a hoof up to mull over his thoughts. “Well, your super cool and handsome and hot and interesting and you make great chocolate and-” Cocoa sighed, annoyed, “Physical attraction and being ‘cool’ doesn’t really necessitate the amount of fervour you put into pursuing me over the course of the past twenty or so days.” “Oh, wait you want to know why I did that,” Flash snorted and waved a hoof as if it was the most obvious thing, “that’s because you seem really lonely.” Cocoa and Shining, who had been trying to make himself scarce while this was happening, both stared at Flash. “... Pardon?” “Well, the concussion started this whole thing” Shining snorted in agreement, “but after I recovered, you just seemed kind of alone.” Cocoa just looked at Flash without saying a word. Flash took that as consent to continue. “So, then I thought, ‘hey, I’m also lonely’ and then that you seemed to be okay with me being so, well, crazy and that maybe you thought I wasn’t so bad?” Flash grinned, but to Shining and Cocoa it seemed forced. “Well, anyways after trying so hard to get you to come here, and then that you said yes, well I thought that maybe if I tried hard enough you’d want to be, maybe, I mean only if you want to be, lonely together?” Before Cocoa could say anything, Flash then hurriedly said, “But, of course, we wouldn’t be lonely anymore since like being together kind of defeats the whole ‘being’ alone which means we’re just together and not lonely, but you know.” Flash just waved a hoof helplessly trying to come up with the words. Cocoa was quiet. He was processing what he had heard and he found himself unable to parse it. Meanwhile, Flash yawned loudly and his eyes began to droop. “Sleepy...” Flash face planted into the table and started snoring softly. There was a quiet moment from the soft and sometimes obnoxiously loud snoring from several of the guards at the table. Crash in particular sounded like a fog horn that had been beat with a plank a few too many times. “You know,” Shining started conversationally. “I’ve known Flash since high school.” Cocoa’s ears turned towards Shining, letting Shining know that he was listening. “He always put his all into whatever he did. Even if he was bad at it. Hoofball? Great runner. Studies? Passably good. Guard?” Shining stopped and took a small sip from what was only his second drink of the evening. “Shaping up to be a good one.” “I’ve wanted to join the guard since I was a colt. Flash… I don’t think he knew what he wanted to do. When I told him I was joining, he immediately said he wanted to join too.” “I think he just didn’t want to be left behind.” Cocoa turned towards Shining. “... Where is he staying?” “On the barracks.” “When he’s off training as I know he is right now?” Shining was quiet a moment, “staying with me at my parent’s place.” Cocoa finished off the liqueur that had been forgotten over the course of the drinking challenge. “When he wakes up” Cocoa said tentatively, “tell him I wouldn’t mind trying out being ‘lonely together’ as he said.” Cocoa got up off the bench, “I’ll handle the tab.” Shining shot up off the bench, “the entire tab?!” “No.” Cocoa stated simply, “For you, Flash, and myself. Think of it as repayment for… a good evening despite the shortness of it.” He glanced casually at the other passed out guards at the table, “they, however, can fend for themselves.” Cocoa smoothed out a crinkle in his jacket, “Also, let Flash know that he can repeat what he said again another time.” And with extra emphasis, “when he’s sober.” With that Cocoa trotted to the counter, paid the bill, and left. Shining waited in quiet contemplation for a moment and took another sip of his drink. Now, how the buck am I going to get Flash back to my parent’s place? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The morning after was, in Flash’s humble opinion, tartarus. He had a hangover. A bad one. A super bad one. The kind of hangover that made you question whether it was better to just grit through the pain or end it all with blunt trauma to the head. It was also distinctly tropical themed as he could feel the heat underneath his fur and it was causing every surface of his body to be uncomfortable and itchy. His body also felt like it had been dragged halfway across Canterlot, which, as he realized he was back in Shiny’s parent’s house, might be true. Flash groaned loudly, and got up into a sitting position on his familiar sleeping spot: the soft, purple living room sofa. Shining, for his part, was sitting in an armchair nearby reading what looked to be an old issue of Power Ponies. “... Shouldn’t we be at the barracks?” Flash said, cringing slightly at the noise. Shining turned a page of his comic. “Nope. We have temporary leave to see family, remember.” “... Right.” Flash said groggily. He tried to remember what happened last night, but his brain was not cooperating. He gritted through the his pounding migraine and forced himself to remember what had happened at the bar with Cocoa. He managed to sort through his memories and recalled what he had said before he fell asleep. “I came on to too strong again, didn’t I?” Flash visibly cringed. Shining was quiet a moment as he finished through another page of his comic. “No. Surprisingly,” Flash gave Shining a surprised look, “you might have actually endeared yourself to him.” “Shining, you know I can’t bear to hear big words after a hangover.” “You did well, Flash.” Flash mulled that over for a moment. “Did he say anything after I passed out?” “Cocoa told me to tell you that he looks forward to seeing you again.” Flash looked hopeful, “And that you should tell him how you feel when you’re sober.” Flash winced at that last part, but, as he looked off into the distance of the living room’s familiar, but still tacky floral print wallpaper, he couldn’t help but feel hopeful. “Hey, Shining?” “Yeah.” “Do you think…” Flash bit his lip nervously. “Do you think this time I might have a chance?” Shining didn’t say anything for a moment “Yeah. I do.” It took a moment to sink in, but then Flash grinned. “Guess I got my work cut out for me.”