~Chapter 25: The Best Laid Plan~
That morning, Downpour woke up extremely disoriented, with a pounding headache and his body sprawled across the damp ground. His throat was as dry as sand and his muscles were on fire with pain from being worked so hard the day before. The now empty vial of powder he had been abusing was lying beside his head the pegasus noticed, when he finally managed to force his bleary eyes open. Downpour stared at it for what seemed like an eternity before eventually forcing his stomach off of the ground and standing on shaking legs. He checked out his surroundings, bewildered about how he had ended up at the edge of the forest.
Downpour’s last fuzzy memories were of speeding down the path as fast as he could manage in the dark, as the storm continued to rage all around him. The strung out stallion had stopped only when he needed another taste of his magical drug and even then, it was only for a few seconds. He must have crashed soon after the last dose wore off, but at least he had made it to his destination. Only a few hundred yards away he could see houses silhouetted against the fiery sunrise. At least he hadn’t slept long, Downpour thought as he attempted to move an unsteady limb forward. The pegasus’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground with a thud, coating his sweat encrusted hide with more grime.
The fact that Downpour hadn’t eaten much yesterday caught up with him at that moment and he rolled onto his aching side as his stomach turned. The pony’s blue eyes drowned with tears as he was wracked with dry heaves. Stomach bile seared a path up his esophagus and filled his mouth with a sour taste, but there was nothing else for his body to force out. Downpour hacked and coughed, body shaking violently with each wretched sound, as he succumbed to the side effects of his prolonged drug use. The powder was a fickle mistress, he was learning.
Downpour’s brain felt like it was going to swell until his skull cracked open and it made it hard for him to think straight, but the pegasus knew that he needed something to drink very soon, before his stomach turned against him again. He spotted his cloak lying on the ground a short distance from where he was currently curled up and started crawling towards it. He utilized his wings like oars, as he had done back at Ursa’s house, and began scooting himself over the muddy ground. The stallion cringed as his aching stomach passed over a root sticking out of the ground, scraping his underside as he passed. It left a long mark from his chest all the way to his more delicate areas.
Downpour sighed with relief when he finally managed to reach the bags and he immediately ripped them open, searching for a flask of cider to quench his thirst and ease his boiling insides. The pegasus screamed in frustration as he came up empty hoofed and it caused him to break out in another fit of raspy coughing and wheezing. His coughing soon devolved into gasping sobs as he dropped his head onto the earth in defeat.
“For the love of Luna, somepony please put me out of my misery,” Downpour whined into the empty woods. Anything would have been better than wallowing in the pain and the mud any longer and eventually he closed his eyes and let his mind drift back to sleep, where there wasn’t any pain.
Draft awoke in the morning with his forelegs still wrapped around Ursa’s midsection and he lay there for awhile, enjoying the warmth that the shaggy earth pony’s body provided. The sound of the rain was gone and the sun was cresting over the trees, its life giving light barely shinning through the shelter over their heads. The pegasus shifted his body slightly, attempting to return blood flow to one of his limbs that had fallen asleep, but he accidentally woke up the green stallion he was with.
“Mmm, good morning,” Ursa said sleepily as he rolled over to face the pegasus.
“Good morning, Ursa. How did you sleep?” Draft asked as he stared into the tired green eyes in front of him. Ursa swiped away a few strands of his blue mane that were covering his face and smiled. Draft beamed back at him.
“I slept very well. Despite the storm last night, it was actually fairly warm under these blankets,” Ursa replied. They both chuckled at that.
“Yeah, we had it pretty good,” Draft agreed. “But I wonder how my brother’s night was.” The thunder had been so loud the night before that Draft had been awakened by the sound a couple of times. If his brother hadn’t found a shelter from the rain, the stubborn pegasus would probably get very sick. The thought worried the young stallion, but Ursa reached out a large hoof and stroked it gently across his cheek.
“You worry too much, Draft. I’m sure your brother isn’t stupid enough to have stayed out in the rain all night,” Ursa’s reassured him as his hoof moved to the back of Draft’s head and pulled the smaller pon forward into a kiss. Draft’s worries disappeared in an instant as he sunk into the larger stallion’s embrace, his mind melting into blissful soup. The kiss lasted for only a few seconds, but it felt to him like hours.
“Maybe you’re right,” Draft whispered as he pulled back from the sensual connection. “I suppose we’ll run into him sooner or later anyway. We’re both headed to the same place.” Ursa nodded his head and propped it up on one hoof, looking back at the grey pony beside him.
“That’s the spirit. Now what do you think about lighting a fire and having a nice hot breakfast?” Ursa asked with a grin. “And maybe some cider as well,” he added, rising off of his bedding and towering over Draft.
“That sounds excellent,” Draft replied. His eyes wandered up and down Ursa’s fit body before finally resting on the stallion’s green eyes once again. “Do you want me to light the fire while you get the food out?”
“Um, no. How about you just lay there while I do this?” the crystal pony replied. Draft opened his mouth to object, but Ursa wouldn’t listen. “I insist. I should have kept my mouth shut around your brother yesterday and it’s partially my fault that the whole mess happened the way it did, so consider this my penance.” Draft rolled his eyes and yawned.
“If you insist I guess,” the pegasus laughed quietly. Draft laid his head back down and let Ursa prepare everything for him. It wasn’t the earth pony’s fault that his bother had reacted the way he did, that was Downpour’s own fault, but if it made Ursa happy to fix him breakfast, then Draft wasn’t going to argue the point.
A cool breeze blew past, sending a shiver through Draft’s body, so he pulled Ursa’s blankets over the top of his own for added warmth now that the body heat was gone. The cozy stallion yawned widely, briefly considering closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep again, but breakfast wouldn’t take long to make. He decided to wait patiently and pass the time by sorting through his thoughts. The grey pegasus had quite a few conflicting feelings to resolve before he spoke with his older brother again.
Draft had accepted the fact that he was gay, that much was easy enough, and also that he really liked Ursa. The emerald green earth pony was one of the nicest stallions that he had ever talked to, but Draft wasn’t sure if that was enough of a reason to try building a deeper relationship with him. All of these feelings he had were relatively foreign to him and it was both terrifying and exciting at the same time.
Downpour would be a slight problem now, no matter how he proceeded, because of how stubborn and short tempered the older pegasus was, but there had to be a way to convince his older brother that Draft’s sexuality didn’t change the fact that they were siblings and that he was the same pony he had always been. Draft considered approaching the subject with calm logic, but it didn’t seem like a method that would get through to Downpour. Ignoring the problem was obviously out of the question, but it was possible that Ursa could beat some sense into Draft’s ignorant brother. The thought of Downpour getting what he deserved made Draft chuckle under his breath and Ursa glanced over from where he was cooking with a bewildered expression on his chiseled face.
“What’s so funny over there?” Ursa asked.
“Nothing, I was just thinking about everything,” Draft replied with a smile.
“Everything? Well that’s quite a bit to think about.”
Draft rolled his eyes dismissively at Ursa’s dumb joke and replied, “You have no idea. There has been quite a bit on my mind, but I’ll figure everything out eventually.” Draft grinned at the large stallion, who was stooped over the fire, roasting something that the curious pegasus couldn’t see from his current position.
“I should hope so,” Ursa replied with a chuckle.
Draft spent the next few minutes contemplating his options while Ursa finished making their breakfast, but all that the winged pony knew for sure, was that he liked Ursa and his brother was just going to have to deal with that fact. It was enough of a decision for the time being. Ursa called Draft over to eat a few moments after he had reached that conclusion and the pegasus begrudgingly kicked off his blankets, the morning air immediately sapping his extra heat. He stretched out both of his sleek, grey wings and ambled over to the fire, where there was warmth and food waiting for him.
“Wow, even out in the woods you can cook some great smelling food. Thank you,” Draft told Ursa as he eyed each delicious piece of fried apple slices and roasted carrots. The green stallion blushed slightly at his compliment.
“You are very welcome and here’s some cider to wash it all down,” Ursa replied as he held a flask out to Draft. “So, is this a good apology?”
“You didn’t have anything to apologize about in the first place,” Draft explained. “But yes, this is great, Ursa.” Draft started eating with fervor, pausing only to take quick breaths and down gulps of cider. The fried apples were covered in a blend of cinnamon and other less obvious flavors that caressed the pegasus’s taste buds and the carrots were warm and juicy, the flavor seared inside to perfection. A hot meal did wonders on Draft’s mood and by the time he had licked the last taste from his lips, the grey stallion dropped to his back and let out a satisfied belch.
“Whoa, you finished that off quick,” Ursa observed. His mouth hung open in awe at the speed with which Draft had consumed everything causing him to forget taking a single bite of his own food as he had watched. “Uh, can I get you any more?” Draft shook his head slowly in reply and caressed his swollen stomach gently with one hoof.
“I think I may have eaten that too fast,” Draft mumbled.
“You think so?” Ursa asked sarcastically as he laughed at the overstuffed pegasus sprawled on the ground before him. Draft waved a hoof dismissively at the earth pony and sighed. Ursa rolled his eyes and began eating his own breakfast while Draft let his stomach settle down. By the time Ursa had finished eating the gluttonous young stallion was able to get back to his hooves and walk again.
“Alright, let’s get our stuff packed and see if we can catch up to the dumbass. I’d rather not leave him unattended for too long when he’s all pissed off like he is. That’s a recipe for disaster,” Draft said as he slowly started packing up his gear. The thought of Downpour trying to vent his anger in a foreign country made him shudder.
“I’m sure he won’t get into any trouble. Chances are that he made it to town and is waiting for us there,” Ursa replied as he began to help the pegasus get everything ready for the walk. “Hay, I wouldn’t be surprised if he only made it a mile in that weather and then took cover for the night. That would have been the smart thing for him to do.”
“On a list of words that I would use to describe my brother, smart isn’t exactly near the top,” Draft responded.
As soon as they had the supplies tucked into their saddlebags, the two stallions set off northward down the forest path. The sun had been doing its best to dry the earth, but the trail was still plagued with large puddles and plenty of mud. Their hooves sloshed through the muck as they walked sided by side. The blue tips on the pegasus’s tail were covered up by dirt before they rounded the first corner. Hopefully I can take a bath soon, Draft thought as he stepped over an especially large puddle of rainwater.
One confusing nightmare after another tormented Downpour’s hungover brain as he slumbered in the midst of the forest. Visions of twisted shapes and figures, vague shades of ponies and griffons, stalked his dreamscape. They screamed in a blood crazed fury, the words unintelligible and fearsome all at once. Dark reflections of his inner torment attempted to mirror those that he cared about. The setting of his demented visions was a prison and although he was not in chains, there was still no escaping the creatures that stalked the dark corridors. Then the setting would shift into another, equally horrible place in which he was trapped. No matter how fast and far he flew the shades were always lurking right behind him, preying on his fear.
Downpour screamed aloud in the physical world, each nightmare eliciting a physical reaction from the sleeping pegasus. His heart raced and sweat coated his matted hide as his limbs thrashed about, attempting to fight off the enemies in his own mind. To a passerby he would have seemed possessed by a foul beast from the deepest caverns of Tartarus and in his nightmares, he may as well have been. There were no travelers on the road that day however and nopony to save Downpour from his dementia, aside from the two stallions he had been in the process of fleeing from when he collapsed.
The sun made its way higher into the sky, casting light on the wretched form of the sleeping pegasus while the cold winter wind began to blow through the barren trees that surrounded him. Had Downpour been awakened, he may have found joy in the fact that the storm clouds overhead were being carried off, but in his current state, the small blessing went unobserved. When his screaming finally began to die down, the forest grew quiet once again.
“It looks like we may actually have a nice break from the rain today,” Ursa observed as he gazed skyward.
“About time I had a little good fortune on this trip,” Draft said with a smile as he sidestepped a patch of mud in the road. “I just hope it lasts.” The pair had been walking most of the morning, but had yet to cross paths with Downpour. Draft figured that Ursa had been right once again, his brother had most likely taken refuge from the storm or perhaps made it to town. His older brother was probably sleeping in an inn right now, enjoying the luxuries of a roof over his head and a soft pillow on a bed. The thought irked Draft slightly. No matter how badly Downpour behaved or what mistakes he made, he seemed to always come out ahead in the end. Draft often wished that he had his sibling’s dumb luck. As they rounded yet another unnoteworthy bend in the trail, the two stallions were met with the sight of an emaciated Downpour, passed out along the side of the path, much to their mutual surprise.
“Is that… your brother?” Ursa asked when he saw the shape of somepony sleeping in the middle of the woods.
Downpour appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but also looked as if he was near death. Draft flew to his older brother’s side upon seeing him in such a state. When he got closer, Draft could see the filth and sweat covering Downpour’s body and the stench of vomit coming from a puddle nearby. Fearing that the worst was happening, Draft grasped his brother’s shoulders in his hooves and attempted to shake him awake
“Ursa!” he shouted to his large companion when Downpour failed to respond to his shaking. “It’s Downpour alright. I-I think he’s sick!” Draft opened his sibling’s eyelids, only to find them rolled back into his skull. “Oh shit!” A cold fear gripped Draft at that moment, as he realized that his brother was going to die if he didn’t do something.
Ursa skidded to a halt beside the grey pegasus, concern evident on his face as he asked, “What’s wrong with him?” Draft looked into Ursa’s face with tears burning his eyes and blurring his vision.
“I told him to stop using that stuff, but h-he didn’t lis-listen,” Draft stuttered, beginning to lose his composure as tears streaked down his face. He tried slapping his brother to wake him, as well as yelling and shaking the unconscious stallion even more, but it wasn’t working. Then Draft got a crazy idea. He couldn’t use magic to heal, but there was another way that he could still revive his brother.
“What are you doing!?” Ursa questioned in alarm as Draft began ripping everything out of his bags with a focused haste. After tossing aside blankets, food and clothing, the pegasus finally found what he was searching for. His hooves fumbled a few times in his urgency, and he cursed the fact that hooves weren’t the most dexterous of appendages, before managing to pull out the small vial of liquid adrenaline that Spark had left them before they parted ways.
“I think this’ll work,” he told Ursa as he fumbled a few times with the metal needle that attached to the top of the lid. Honestly, Draft wasn’t sure that the adrenaline wouldn’t just kill his brother instantly, but he hadn’t been left with much of a choice. There was another healing potion, but that was only effective on wounds, it couldn’t reverse the effects of magical toxins or mental maladies. Once the needle was ready, Draft prepared to stab it into his brother’s heart. “Okay. One, tw-”
“Wait! What in the hay are you doing right now?” Ursa asked. The crystal pony had a look of horror on his face as he watched Draft preparing to stab his brother in the chest.
“It’s adrenaline. It’s supposed to wake him up and get his blood pumping again,” Draft hurriedly explained as he psyched himself up for the task before him. Ursa didn’t seem very assured by his explanation.
“It’s supposed to wake him up? But what if it doesn’t?” Ursa’s voice trembled as he questioned the pegasus.
“If it doesn’t work, then he dies. If I do nothing, then he dies!” Draft screamed at the earth pony. “So if you have a better idea then you have three seconds to tell me what it is… no?” Ursa shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut as Draft raised the container of adrenaline above his head. “One, two, three!” Draft’s last count was punctuated by the slamming of the needle through his brother’s chest. Downpour immediately shot up with a scream bordering on insanity and began crawling backwards across the ground with confused terror contorting his facial expression.
“What the bucking hay!?” Downpour yelled as he cast a bewildered gaze around himself. His wings were jutting out and his body trembled as the adrenaline coursed through his veins, forcing his heart into an intense rhythm. Draft looked into his older brother’s eyes and broke down into hysterical laughter, mixed with uninhibited sobs. “What the hell are you two stallion lovers doing?” Even after brushing shoulders with death, the bluish pegasus managed to be offensive. Ursa opened his eyes and fixed Downpour with a stare of malice.
“We just saved your ungrateful ass, that’s what we were doing, you dense bastard!” The green stallion shouted as he got to his hooves. “You should be kissing your brother’s forehooves and thanking him for bothering to save your worthless carcass right now!” Ursa took a few steps in Downpour’s direction and stood towering over the shaking pegasus. “But instead, you’re sitting here calling us names, like you’re some high and mighty beacon of perfection!” Downpour stared up at the earth pony in astonishment, his mouth hanging agape.
“Ursa, calm down. He’s probably just startled by everything that just happened. Give him a few seconds to breath and collect his thoughts,” Draft said as he wiped away tears of sorrow and joy. “Then you can kick his ass for being an insensitive prick.” Ursa took a deep breath to calm him before he stepped back from Draft’s brother, but he still looked as if he was ready to throttle the stocky pegasus. The blue maned stallion pushed a few strands of hair out of his face and walked off in a huff.
“Wha-what the?” Downpour struggled to force out the words as he slowly collected his wits. “What just happened?” he finally asked in a wavering voice.
“What happened was, you were being a moron and not listening to me when I told you to take it easy on that magical powder. You were overdosing and I stabbed you with a dose of adrenaline to keep you from dying. I’m surprised you didn’t get sick last night,” Draft explained in a fairly even tone. “If it weren’t for us two stallion lovers, then you’d be halfway to the afterlife right about now.” Downpour stared back at them with realization creeping its way into his head.
“Well, thanks I guess,” Downpour replied as he took a flask of cider from Draft’s outstretched hoof. “But this doesn’t change anything you know.” Ursa facehoofed and walked away, probably to avoid pummeling the tattooed pony’s face. Draft took a seat on the ground near his brother and sighed deeply.
“I don’t get it, Downpour. Why should anything be different in the first place?” Draft questioned. “I’m no different than I was last week.”
“Except last week I wasn’t aware that you liked cock,” Downpour said with a scowl as he quenched his thirst with the last of the cider that Draft had offered him. “I’d say that makes things a little different.”
“All crassness aside,” Draft replied with minor irritation, “who I decide to have relationships with is none of your business and has no effect on you at all. Not only that, but it makes me happy to be honest with myself about who I really am. Why does that bother you so much? Do you really want me to stay miserable for the rest of my life?”
Downpour opened his mouth and closed it a few times, not sure about what he wanted to say, until he finally replied, “Of course I don’t want you to be miserable, but being gay just isn’t natural and I don’t think I can accept it.” Draft hoped his face didn’t betray the pain he actually felt from his brother’s words. The one pony he thought he could always trust had just let him down. “I’ll still finish this mission with you two, but I don’t want to see anything sexual or I swear you and me are going to have problems and Ursa too if he gets in my face again.”
Draft managed to keep the sorrow out of his tone as he responded, “Okay, Downpour. I was hoping that you might be able to understand, but I’ll accommodate your request until we finish this task. After that, I’m not going back to the house though. I’ll be finding somewhere else to live.” Draft got back up to his hooves with head hung low.
“That’s probably for the best,” Downpour admitted. Draft passed by Ursa and continued walking towards the town, which he could see off in the distance.
“Are you okay?” the emerald coated stallion asked Draft as he caught up with him. “Did you two get everything worked out?”
“Yeah. He hates me and I’m moving out, but we’re going to put up with each other until we finish what we started,” Draft choked. A tear formed in one of the pegasus’s grey eyes, but he quickly blinked it away. No amount of tears spilt would change anything and he didn’t feel like wasting anymore of them on a lost cause.
“Where are you going to live when you move out?” Ursa asked as he ducked under a low hanging branch jutting into the trail. “Do you want to move in with me?”
“Thanks for the offer,” Draft replied, shaking his head slowly, “but we hardly know each other. I like you, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know the real you yet. Hay, I don’t even really know the real me and I grew up with him.” Draft broke out in a smile, but the sadness was still just under the surface. Ursa chuckled softly at his words.
“Well, just remember that the offer is on the table if you ever want to accept it,” the earth pony replied.
“I will Ursa,” Draft answered as they passed a sign stating that they had reached the city of Calvary, home to the best arena in the Crystal Empire. Downpour passed the same sign a few minutes later, having chosen to keep his distance from the other two stallions. The less they interacted for the rest of the trip, the less likely the brothers would be to get into a scrap over their differences.
Downpour trailed behind his brother and Ursa as they headed toward a cheap inn near the center of town. The sky was clear of clouds and the sun shined down upon the streets as he walked, but his mood had not improved with the weather. If anything the pegasus was becoming more irritated the further they traveled. Though he was still angry at his brother’s decision to be gay, Downpour placed most of the blame on Ursa for messing with the younger stallion’s head. He knew his brother wouldn’t have started having these twisted ideas if the green stallion hadn’t pressured him and he began to conceive of methods he could use to try and help his younger sibling.
“Here we are,” Ursa said as they approached a large, plain building with a sign overhead that bore the name ‘Retour l’Auberge’ on a sign above the main entrance. “It’s not much, but it’s pretty cheap and it’ll give us a place to sleep tonight.”
The three ponies entered the front doors and walked up to the oak desk, where a pink mare with a bored look on her face sat, twirling a lock of her light blue hair with one hoof. She looked over to the three stallions with a smile as she welcomed them to the inn and asked how many rooms they would need. Ursa approached the desk and leaned against it as he spoke with her.
“Hello, we’re going to need a room for the night. How much is that going to cost?” the earth pony asked. Downpour scowled as he stepped up beside Ursa. There was no way that he was going to spend a night in the same room as his brother’s wannabe lover.
“Actually, make that two rooms,” Downpour said to the pink earth pony. “Do you accept Equestrian bits here?” She looked surprised for a moment before answering.
“Umm, yes we accept Equestrian bits,” the mare replied. She told Downpour how much it would cost, but as he began to pull out his bag of money, Draft yanked him away from the counter.
“What the hay are you thinking? We’re not made of money, Downpour. What if we need those bits before we make it back to Canterlot?” the younger stallion asked.
“I don’t care, they’re my bits and if I want to spend them on a separate room from you and your coltfriend, then I will.” Downpour practically hissed the words at his brother as he pulled away and walked back up to the counter. He pulled the bits from his dirty cloak and dumped them out in front of him.
“I thought you said that you were going to be paying in Equestrian bits?” the innkeeper asked him with a perplexed tone as she examined the coins. Downpour picked one up and looked at the design. Sure enough, it was from the Crystal Empire. The king and queen’s profiles were etched on each side.
“Draft, did you switch my Equestrian bits with these when we were crossing the mountains?” Downpour asked the grey pegasus as he started counting out coins to pay for his room.
“No. I thought that you did before then. I noticed them when we were back at Ursa’s place. Those are the bits that you stole from Sergeant Strike, right?” Draft asked as he stepped up to see the coins for himself one more time.
“I could have sworn they were, but why the hay would he have money from the Crystal Empire?” Downpour asked, his previous irritation forgotten for the moment. It wasn’t very common for military leaders to spend vacations in foreign countries that had unstable relationships with their own, as far as the pegasus knew. Maybe he collects coins from around the world or something, Downpour thought, as he pushed a stack of bits over to the pink pony behind the counter.
“That’s a good question,” Draft replied quietly as he stepped back from the desk to let Ursa pay for their room. “Maybe we should ask him on our way home.” Draft chuckled quietly, but Downpour wasn’t in the mood to joke around with his sibling. The only thing he wanted to do right then was take a bath and get something to eat. Downpour also wanted to take a nap, because even though he had slept most of the morning, it hadn’t actually given him much rest.
“Yeah, you go ahead and do that. I already told you that after we’re done here I’m not traveling with you anymore,” Downpour responded flatly as he took the room key that the blue maned mare offered him. The innkeeper pointed the pegasus to his room and he left the other two stallions without another word, his mind already fixed on taking a long, hot bath.
The rooms weren’t very large, but they were only spending one night, so Draft supposed that it wouldn’t really matter. He and Ursa had taken turns bathing, only because the tub was cramped enough with one stallion in it, and they were now lying side by side on the soft bed. Having a mattress to sleep on was going to be one of the best parts of the pegasus’s day, second only to the wonderful breakfast Ursa had prepared for him that morning. The two stallions let out simultaneous sighs of contentment as they relaxed.
“What do you feel like doing with the rest of the evening?” Draft asked as he stretched out on the bedspread. The beige colored room wasn’t much to look at, but the bed was very comfortable and he wouldn’t have minded staying there for the rest of the night. “Is there anything to do in this town?”
“There are a few restaurants we could go to if you’re hungry or we could check out the shops and see if we can find you a new set of wing blades,” Ursa replied. “I know how much you’ve wanted new ones.” Draft’s eyes lit up at the mention of new weapons. Ever since he had ditched his old ones in the Crystal Mountains, the pegasus had felt naked, which was strange, since ponies didn’t normally wear clothes anyway.
“That would be great. Where’s the shop at?” Draft questioned excitedly.
“I haven’t been here in awhile, but there used to be at least two blacksmiths that I knew of. I’m sure one of them is bound to be open still,” Ursa replied as he sat up from the bed and got to his hooves. “We may want to hurry though. It’s getting late and I imagine the shops will be closing soon.” Draft launched himself off the bed like a bolt of lightning and flew over to the door.
“I’m ready if you are,” he said eagerly. Ursa chuckled and followed the impatient pegasus out into the hallway. They followed the wood floor back out into the lobby, nodding politely to the innkeeper as they passed the front desk, and out into the cold evening air. It was bracing after their warm baths, but Draft hardly noticed due to his excitement at purchasing a new set of swords.
“I think that it’s this way,” Ursa informed the pegasus as he headed west down the empty street. It seemed as if almost everypony had returned to their homes to escape the cold already and the stallions only saw a few others as they traveled. Draft hovered along side the larger pony with a smile plastered across his grey face. He was very eager to try out some new wing blades, although spending more money probably wasn’t the best idea.
“I knew I could find it!” Ursa exclaimed as he pointed to a small shop with smoke billowing out of twin chimneys on the roof. They walked up to the door and the green stallion held it open for his smaller friend, motioning for the pegasus to enter first.
“Wow,” Draft commented quietly as he gazed around the store. There were more weapons than he had ever seen lining the walls and tables around him. He saw swords, daggers, lances, shoes and all manner of other weapons on display. His eyes widened in amazement as he rushed over to the closest table and began examining the wares that it held. This was even better than a warm bath for the pegasus and Ursa smiled at his antics, as Draft tested out the different pieces of merchandise, searching for the perfect weapon. It was going to take him quite awhile to find the perfect fit amidst everything.
Downpour had taken a bath, eaten dinner and was now wandering the streets of Calvary looking for some evening entertainment. Most of the stores were closed, but he knew that there was something fun to do somewhere in the city. He just needed to find out what it was and where to find it. There were a slew of bars of course, but the pegasus could get drunk anywhere, so he made up his mind to leave the bars as a last resort. The streets were nearly empty as he flew around aimlessly, hoping to stumble upon some hidden gem of excitement.
Just as Downpour was beginning to consider giving up on the hunt and heading back to the last bar he had passed, he saw a building that was still brightly lit and had music blaring from inside. Curious, the foreign stallion decided that it was the most promising place he had found and began heading for the front doors. As he came closer, the pegasus admired the bright red paint with lime green trim that adorned the oddly shaped building. It was very gaudy and he figured that it must be a pretty fun place if they had gone with such flashy colors.
“Whoa there, its five bits to get in,” said a midnight blue unicorn, who was standing so still beside the door that the pegasus hadn’t even noticed him.
“It cost money just to get in?” Downpour asked the unicorn with an indignant tone, although on the inside he knew that it must be for a good reason. “Alright, just give me a second.” He rummaged around in his pocket and pulled out the bits. The stallion levitated the money from his hoof and nodded him in. Downpour smirked as he stepped through the doors and was met with the loud sounds of music, mixed with the excited yells of stallions that were clearly enjoying themselves.
It took a few seconds for Downpour’s eyes to adjust to the dim lighting that was directed at different stages around the large room, but his jaw dropped as soon as he gazed at the scene surrounding him. Every platform held a different, unbelievably attractive pair of mares that were dancing provocatively together, while drunken stallions practically threw money at them. The stunned pegasus had found paradise hidden in Calvary. He made his way through the intoxicated crowd and over to a bar that was tended by a middle aged earth pony with an ear missing on his left side.
“Welcome to the Full House Gentlecolt’s Club. I’m Spade, the owner of this fine establishment,” the black stallion told Downpour as he took a seat in on an open stool at the bar. “I don’t recall ever seeing you in here before. You must be a tourist.” Spade cleaned a glass with a rag as he talked and all the while Draft could hear the sounds of enjoyment from the patrons behind him.
“Sort of, I’m from Equestria. The name is Downpour and I’m… here on business, I guess,” Downpour replied slowly as he eyed the many bottles of liquor on display behind the stallion. There were more varieties than the winged stallion had ever seen in the entirety of his life, each one looking more delicious than the last. Paradise had nothing on this place, Downpour decided, as he gawked at the massive selection.
“Equestria, ha, what are the odds? That’s where I’m from originally. I moved here years ago with my girl and opened this bar when I got sick of working for other ponies day in and day out,” Spade told him as he put away some clean glasses and grabbed a beer for another customer further down the bar. “So, what’s your poison, Downpour? You look like a rum drinker to me.”
“Rum sounds good. How much for a double?” Downpour asked as he reached for his bag of coins. At the rate he was spending money, the bag would be empty by tomorrow night, but he wanted to have a good time. It would help take his mind off of everything for awhile, which he really needed right then.
“First one’s on me,” Spade replied as he poured a triple shot of dark rum into a small glass and dropped a couple of ice cubes in after. “It’s not everyday that I get to see somepony from back home.” Spade grinned and Downpour matched his smile.
“Thanks,” Downpour laughed as he tipped his glass to the bartender. “I’m loving this place already.”
“Everypony does,” Spade assured him before chuckling quietly. “Feel free to walk around and find a pair of ponies that you like. There’s no shortage of mares to choose from.” Downpour tossed back his drink in one gulp and nodded in answer. It wasn’t long before the intoxicated pegasus had taken a seat at the front of a stage where a teal mare was dancing with her identical twin. The beautiful pegasus were practically rutting on stage as their bodies rubbed and caressed each other to the beat of the music. Downpour knew that if anything could change his brother’s mind about finding mares attractive, this would be it.
As he downed another few drinks, Downpour started to formulate a plan to get his brother back to normal again. Between the fifth or sixth drink, he had stopped counting, and his third private dance, the bluish pegasus had convinced himself that it was a foolproof idea. All he needed was the help of a few of the mares that worked for Spade and he could have his brother as straight as an arrow come morning. A devious grin crossed the drunken stallion’s face as a large flanked mare with a violet kiss for a cutie mark ground herself against him methodically.
Draft pranced down the hall, hooves barley touching down on the wood floors as he half skipped and half flew on his way to the bedroom. It had taken until closing, much to the irritation of the blacksmith, but the pegasus had found a set of wing blades nearly identical in size and style to his old ones, except the new set was guaranteed by the blacksmith to be lighter and stronger than his old ones. Ursa followed along behind the happy pony, although he wasn’t bouncing around as much as his winged companion.
Draft got to the door of their room and saw a note had been placed on the front of it. It was addressed to Draft from his brother and read:
Draft, please meet me in my room without Ursa. I’d like to have a talk so that we can clear the air between us. We’re brothers after all.
From Downpour
Draft folded the note and opened the door to his room. Ursa walked in just as the pegasus was putting away his new weapon.
“My brother wants to talk with me. I think he might have finally realized how big of an ass he was being to us,” Draft told the green earth pony.
“It’s about time he stopped acting like such a foal about this,” Ursa replied as he sat on the bed. “Where is he at?”
“His note said to meet him in his room,” Draft replied.
“Did you want me to go with you?”
Draft shook his head as he responded, “No, Downpour said that he wanted to talk to me alone. I’ll be back in just a bit.” Ursa rolled his eyes and fell back on the bed.
“Okay, but don’t be surprised if I’m already asleep by the time you get back. It’s been a long day,” the crystal pony told him before yawning tiredly.
“It shouldn’t take long, but goodnight, just in case you do fall asleep,” Draft replied as he walked out their bedroom door and closed it behind him.
Draft sighed as he made his way down the hall to his brother’s room. He had seen which door the mare at the front desk had pointed to when she was giving Downpour directions on where to go, so it was easy enough to find. The nervous pegasus took a deep breath before knocking twice on the wood. There was no answer, so he tried the knob and to his surprise the door opened for him. He walked inside and closed the door behind him, but the pony he was expecting was no where to be found.
“Sweet Celestia! I-I’m so sorry. I thought this, uh, was my, um, my brother’s room,” Draft stuttered upon seeing two mares kissing each other on top of the bed. The flustered stallione could have sworn that he had found the right room, but that definitely wasn’t his brother on the bed. Draft started to back up, but heard a click as the door was locked behind him. He whipped his head around, only to see his brother drunkenly grinning back at him.
“You made it. I wash beginning to wonder if you got my le- letter or not,” Downpour slurred before taking a swig off of the flask in his hoof. “Draft, I’d like you to meet Desire and Passion.” His brother pointed a hoof in the mares’ direction. Who was who, Draft couldn’t tell, but the kissing pegasus were obviously twins. Both of them were teal colored with blue manes, but one had a pink stripe in her hair while her counterpart sported a red stripe. They were currently absorbed with the task of licking each others cutie marks and Draft blushed bright red at their shameless show of intimacy.
“What the hay, Downpour? Is this some kind of joke or something?” Draft asked as he looked away from the lesbian ponies and back to his intoxicated older brother.
“I jusht figured that if you actually got the chance to have a good rut with shome hot mares then you might not jump on the first gay stallion to show you a little affection,” Downpour replied with a stupid grin. Draft couldn’t believe how low his brother had stooped this time. The grey pegasus couldn’t even speak he was so angry. “Well?” Draft’s answer was a hoof to his brother’s jaw, sending the shorter stallion to the floor of the room. All the while, Desire and Passion continued their sexual show on the bed. Draft screamed once in irritation before kicking the door open and storming down the hall to his room, fuming every step of the way.
Ursa was already fast asleep when Draft entered the darkened room, so he quietly climbed into bed next to the earth pony, wrapping a foreleg around his large chest for comfort. Every time Draft gained back a little bit of respect for his brother, Downpour did something inconceivably moronic. The younger stallion tried to take deep breaths and calm his nerves, but it ended up being the sound of Ursa’s steady breaths that lulled him into a sense of relative peace once again. An hour had passed before Draft’s fury eased and he was able to close his eyes long enough to fall asleep.
Downpour got to his hooves a couple of minutes later, the room spinning slightly from the blow to his head, paired with the copious amount of alcohol in his bloodstream. When he was steady enough to walk, the stocky pegasus made his way over to the bed. “Shit! I really thought he’d go for that,” Downpour sighed. He was going to have to try something else tomorrow.
The two mares halted their touching and kissing momentarily to ask, “What would you like for us to do now?” There voices were in perfect unison and drenched in sexuality. It caused Downpour’s body heat to rise and his blood to pump faster just listening to their sultry whispers.
“Well, I’m not about to waste all of the bits I paid Spade to get you two sexy mares into my room, so I guess it’s just the three of us for tonight,” Downpour replied as he felt warmth begin radiating from his loins.
The twins fixed Downpour with seductive smiles and pulled him further onto the bed, until the pegasus was lying on his back with his wings fanned out. As he stared up in drunken amazement, the twins straddled the drunken stallion’s body and began grinding their hips against him in perfect rhythm as they kissed and petted each other. Had he been sober, Downpour may have taken into consideration how his marefriend, Strata, would feel about him sharing a bed with two foreign mares that hadn’t even told him their real names, but in his rum addled mind it seemed like the best idea ever, so he went along without any argument.
Downpour spent the night with the two sexiest mares he had ever laid eyes on, confused as to how his little brother could have possibly turned them down. They were masters of the art of lovemaking and numerous times throughout the night, Downpour had to excuse himself for a break, just so that he could regain some stamina. Alcohol alone wasn’t enough to keep the exhausted pegasus going. Desire and Passion entertained themselves in his brief absences, refusing to stop for even a moment. It was nearly sunrise by the time Downpour collapsed onto the bed from pure sexual exhaustion and fell into a drunken sleep.