Well, Steady had been right.
The ale was crap in the Chimera and Bucket. I'm not even sure it should strictly be called ale, it was made from some local plant that had been discovered while the railway was down. It was way cheaper than importing and almost made a sort of ale, which I guess is why it was still in use.
Luckily, they also had a local sky-melon wine which I thought was excellent.
This is where my alicorn resilience came into play. It allowed me to keep up with everypony else and not stand out without getting completely sloshed in the process.
The place was also packed and the later in the morning it got, the more ponies showed up. It was busy and the ponies were laughing, talking. Somepony was using a guitar in the corner.
Not sure I should call it playing, but she sure was using it.
Ponies seemed happy at least. I would have expected more bats to be honest, but this was the lower town. It made sense that dayponies outnumbered bats in this place.
I lifted my cup and sipped my wine. I'm usually not a big fan of wine, but this was alright.
"Hi, haven't seen you here before."
I blinked at the voice and looked, spotting a bat slip into the chair next to mine, "Oh, Hi," I said.
She was... well, beautiful. Dark mane, dark tail, coat a pale grey and cutiemark of an orange split in two.
"I'm Sweet Slice," she said with a smile, "New in town?"
"Night Wind," I introduced myself, "Ah... yeah, a few nights ago. Just finding myself around."
She smiled, flicking one ear, "That's a lot easier with help. Mind some company?"
I hesitated and then shook my head, "Not at all," I said with a smile. We really need to include this in the advertisement for Nocturnis. Very friendly locals.
A stallion could get into so much trouble.
"So what do you think of Nocturnis so far?" she asked, shifting one wing a bit.
"It's interesting," I admitted, "Very different. But it seems... nice."
She nodded, "It can be," she said, "Sometimes is, sometimes not."
"Sometimes not?" I asked, "When is it not?"
Sweet flashed me a fang as she smiled, "You haven't been here for the rain period yet. You're basically stuck inside for a month if you're lucky."
"If you're lucky?"
She nodded, "I make a lot of bits during that time, doing deliveries. To each other, from stores... nopony wants to go out. I make more during the rain period than any other three months combined."
"Oh," I agreed, "That makes sense."
"So a tip, unless you want to brave dashes between rainstorms, save up bits for when that starts," she advised me before she eyed me, "...I might give you a discount. You are new after all."
"...Thank you..." I admitted and finished my wine.
Sweet smiled and finished her own, "Can I get you another?"
"Oh... yeah, sure," I said and shifted my wings slightly as I looked around the bar, "Lots of ponies this morning."
"Oh, this place is usually busy, but especially so tomorning. It's when they're having a band playing."
I eyed the mare using the guitar, "So I see..."
That got a laugh from Sweet, "No, that's Honey. She's usually here every morning. No, the music should start in twenty minutes or so," she said before slipping off through the crowd.
Damn, if I really were Night Wind, I would be in so much trouble right now. I did not look after her as she walked off.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
...Don't look at me like that, I'm married, not blind.
She returned with a pair of tankards of wine held on one hoof before slipping back into her seat and putting them on the table. I took one and gave it a sip. Yep, same stuff as I had before, "So... been here long?"
"Couple of years," she said and shrugged her wings, sipping her own wine, "Some ponies came here and built the place with Prince Page, but I'm a fairly late arrival. My sister and I moved here when it looked like the place wasn't some sort of trap."
"Trap?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sweet shrugged, "Never know with sunnies. I never really thought it was something like that, not with Prince Page. But my sister was worried so we held off until we were sure. What about you, any family come with?"
I shook my head and sipped my wine, "No."
She nodded a bit sadly and then did the same.
"So... Sunnies cause any trouble now?" I then asked with a frown.
Sweet shook her head, "We usually only get guards from the so called training base. There is the occasional drunken brawl, but stallions, you know."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
She shrugged and sipped her drink, "Anyway, nothing really serious. The town guard puts a stop to it and nothing really serious would ever gain wing. The Prince would step on that hard, like whatever horseapple come out of Canterlot at the moment."
"Like?"
"Eh, mostly just heard about it secondhoof," she said, "Some of the merchants trying to play hardball with the prices."
I sipped my wine, "Sounds like any other merchant to me."
She just shrugged, "Just what I hear," she said and then grinned, "Hey look, that's my sister," she said.
I turned just as some ponies entered the small stage, carrying instruments. The mare with the guitar did look almost identical to Sweet, just with a cherry cutiemark.
"Older?" I asked Sweet.
She nodded, "Cherry Slice is a year older than me," she confirmed and sipped her wine, "And the one in family with some musical talent."
She was quickly proven correct as they started to play.
They were actually pretty good.
Sweet smiled at me, "Come on, let's dance!"
I grinned, "In this mob?"
"Yeah, It’ll be fun!"
I eyed my wine before I nodded, "Yeah, alright."