Freshly showered and feeling confident, Berry Punch stepped out of her apartment. She was quickly interrupted by a small plume of acrid smoke, courtesy of Autumn Leaf.
Autumn coughed, mostly out of surprise at Berry’s appearance than from whatever (likely illegal) substance she was smoking. "You're looking good. You got a hot date this early?" she asked.
Berry Punch rolled her eyes. "My soulmate died years ago and I will never find a better pony. I'm out job hunting."
It was Autumn's turn to roll her eyes. "Good luck. You'll need it."
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Berry asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve been around the block a few times. You don’t just ‘find a job’ here. Most of us have stopped looking ‘cause it’s never going to happen."
Berry shrugged. “Well, I needed something to do today, and I didn’t feel like taking up smoking,” she ribbed gently.
Autumn chuckled mirthlessly and took another drag, very much unoffended. “I said that, too, but you'll come around eventually. We all do." She exhaled again. "You think I came out here to get high every day? I'm a singer.” She jerked her head towards her flank. To be perfectly honest, her coat was so dusty, dirty, and matted that Berry Punch wasn't really sure what her cutie mark was supposed to be, but after cocking her head and squinting hard, she realized it was a stylized microphone.
Autumn continued, “I can do things with music so powerful you would have to hear it to believe it. I can make grown stallions cry, I can make you fall in love, I can save your life or drive you to drink.”
“I didn’t need any help with that,” Berry muttered.
“But no. I landed here. And now I'm never getting out. No one ever does.”
“Well, I’m not no one. I am Berry Punch, and I am going to be successful here. And when I do, I’ll take you and Sandy out for dinner at the fanciest restaurant this town has.”
“You do that,” Autumn said, without a trace of bitterness or challenge in her voice. “It’s been forever since I’ve had a good cheesecake.”
“Cherries on top?”
“You know it.”
Berry smiled as she turned to leave. “Consider it done.”
“Ruby can come over here if she wants,” Autumn called after her. “Being cooped up in a small apartment all day is a bit lonely.” Her voice got quieter, but Berry could still hear. “I would know...”
Berry thought for a moment. Leaving Ruby alone was bad, she knew that. Leaving Ruby with a drug-addict was almost just as bad, though, if not worse. Why, what if she left for another fix and didn’t feed her lunch? What if Ruby got seriously hurt and Autumn was so out of it that Ruby didn’t get the attention she needed? What if...
It suddenly dawned on Berry that she had been describing herself before being turned. With a deep stab of guilt, Berry nodded and returned to her door. “I’ll tell her. I bet she’d like that.”
* * *
Berry Punch exhaled in relief as she entered her apartment that afternoon. She was feeling very successful. She had visited five bars in hopes of finding a job that went well with her cutie mark. She'd talked, she'd shown off (in one, she had demonstrated how she could mix a drink blindfolded), and all in all, she felt fairly confident. Why had she even worried? In fact, she felt like celebrating.
Berry stopped breathing (literally) and looked around. Ruby was with Sandy, and the door was closed. Surely, she would be there a bit longer, right? It wouldn’t be a problem to celebrate real quick before picking her up.
Berry smiled a small, self-indulging smile. She didn't have a large supply of blood bags, but when it's time to celebrate, you splurge a little. She trotted into the kitchen, reared up, and pulled a bag from her blood stash up on top of the cupboards (someplace Ruby wouldn't be likely to go). With one sharp tooth, she ripped off a corner. She briefly paused, listening for Ruby's little hooves, but heard nothing.
She smiled before lifting up the corner and... no. No. Berry, what’s wrong with you? You don't just celebrate by drinking from a bag. Setting the bloodbag down, she opened her cupboard and rooted through it, searching for a wineglass. Yeah. A long-stemmed one. This one. The one from her wedding day. The one with her cutie mark on it. The one with the hairline crack on the... hey!
Berry Punch examined it closer. Sure enough, there was a little crack along the base. It must have been damaged in the move. She frowned, briefly mourning the loss of her favorite wineglass. But it should still work, right?
Filling it from the bloodbag, she held it up, admired it in the light (a throwback to her wine-drinking days), and held it to her lips.
At this point, almost as if it had been rehearsed, Ruby Pinch ran in, holding a drawing in her mouth. “Mommy, mommy! I saw you come home and I wanted to show you this! Lookit.. momma...” Ruby's voice trailed off as she took in Berry's empty hooves and guilty expression. She put her hooves on her hips. “Mommy, are you drinking?
“No...” Berry said a bit too quickly, cursing her inability to lie well to her daughter. Ruby circled suspiciously, but Berry circled just as fast.
Her practiced tail held the full glass upright between her croup and her dock. It was almost scary how quickly her body remembered this position; which, while good for holding glasses, did mean that she had to walk around with her tail lifted. This, in turn, had earned her some good tips when she was first starting out bartending. What memories...
Suddenly, Ruby's eyes widened in horror. “Mommy! You're bleeding!” Ruby cried.
Berry looked down and saw that there was indeed a thin trail of blood flowing down the inner part of her leg, just at Ruby's eye level. She quickly realized that the cracked glass was now leaking.
This definitely could have gone better.
Ruby scampered around her mother, trying to see where it came from and if she could help in any way. Oh, why did Ruby have to be so caring? Berry shuffled in a tight circle, keeping her daughter in front of her.
Berry thought quickly. Awkwardness was key here. “Er... Remember when that special time I told you that there was... uh... You remember our talk about how a filly becomes a mare?”
Ruby nodded, still worried about her bleeding mother.
“This is one of those times,” Berry lied, really hoping that Ruby bought it. After all, it was summer, and some mares went through their cycles about that time, right? Of course, being a vampony, her body technically wasn't alive, and she hadn't gone through estrus in about two years. She still wasn't sure if that was a perk or a con yet, but was definitely leaning towards perk, especially after what had happened to her cousin Cheerilee this past year.
Ruby paused to digest this information, and her eyes widened. “Oh... Oh! So I should... I should probably go,” she said, decidedly looking anywhere but at her mother.
Berry nodded sheepishly.
Snatching up her drawing, Ruby darted out of the kitchen.
Berry exhaled in relief. There was absolutely nothing that couldn't be made more awkward with the mention of the estrus cycle. (1) Now for faking it... would Ruby notice it?
Berry snorted. She would. Ruby was just that observant.
She turned around to grab the glass with her teeth. Now, her motivation for drinking it was stress relief, not celebration. That one had been too close. Ignoring all wine protocol, she drained the glass in one go. It calmed her. It felt right.
And somehow, felt so wrong at the same time.
* * *
Berry Punch leaned against the railing, watching the foals play below. They seemed to be playing tag, but as usually happens with young playful foals, the rules had been discarded for a more open play. The fact that Sandy always seemed to choose to chase Ruby first was not lost on her.
She frowned slightly. She didn't really trust Sandy. Or Autumn, for that matter. Then again, vamponies are not known for giving their trust; no predator is. Any predator that trusts their prey will quickly go hungry (if they don't wind up dead), and that worked out fine because any prey that trusts a predator gets eaten quickly.
This pleasant tangent was interrupted by the door behind her opening, and a mildly intoxicated Autumn stepping out.
"Hey, Berry," she said, walking up to the railing as well. "Any cheesecake today?"
Berry rolled her eyes. "Nah. Waiting to hear back from five places, though."
"Are you really," Autumn said slowly. "Best of luck to you. If they all turn you down..."
"They won't."
"But if they do, you can come recover at my place anytime. Blow off some steam, you know?"
Berry raised an eyebrow. "Is that a sexual invitation?" she asked, having heard that line far too often as a bartender.
Autumn waved a hoof and shook her head. The combination of movements caused her to lose her balance, and Berry, having seen this far too often too, quickly caught her neighbor before Autumn's face became good friends with the metal railing.
"Thanks," she said. "And no. You're pretty, I'll give you that, but it'll take more than your face to turn me all wonky."
"Pretty sure it's too late for that," Berry jibed as she set Autumn back down.
"You know what I meant."
"About what?"
Autumn paused. "...I forget."
Berry gave a tiny snort of laughter and turned back to the game. She watched in amusement as Sandy climbed one of the threadbare trees in the courtyard and jumped off, intending to tag a golden pegasus filly who was sticking her tongue out and taunting him, but ended up missing and landing on a green unicorn colt. She couldn't help but crack a smile. Dangerous? Probably; but more to himself than to Ruby. Probably.
Autumn had seen his performance, too (although from a more shaky viewpoint) and she grinned. "He's a tough little colt, isn't he?"
"Yeah," Berry replied.
"And he loves his momma," she added proudly. Then Autumn paused, took a look at herself, and visibly wilted. "I need another drink," she mumbled before turning back around and heading back inside.
Berry had seen that far too often as well. Impulsively, she grabbed Autumn by the tail and pulled her back out easily. "It can wait," she said around the taste of dust, dirt, and who knows what else was embedded in her tail. "Stay and watch a while."
Autumn struggled, hooves scrabbling against the ground in an attempt to get back inside. At least, she looked like she was struggling. Berry really didn't feel much resistance at all.
After about three minutes, Autumn finally stopped. "Fine, but I get to drink twice as much tonight."
"Whatever," Berry said as she spat out her tail.
Both mothers watched the game in silence. At least, until Autumn noticed Ruby chasing Sandy.
"Ah, young love..." Autumn breathed wistfully.
No.
No no no.
No no no no by Celestia's flowing tail no.
"Eh," Berry shrugged. "I don't see it happening."
Autumn stared. "I was joking," she said. “They don’t even have their cutie marks yet.”
"Oh."
“Perv.”
There was a moderately awkward silence.
"Well, I guess I'll go take a nap or something then," Autumn finally said. "See you around."
"Right," Berry said.
She was mildly disappointed. It is really hard to dislike somepony when you see yourself reflected in their eyes.
* * *
Berry Punch scowled as she walked up the stairs back to her apartment.
“Something tells me you didn’t have a good day,” a voice broke in.
Berry looked up to see Autumn, laying on her back in a hammock, holding Sandy on her stomach and stroking his mane as he slept.
Berry was about to ask where she had gotten such a thing (and where she had found the drive to actually set it up) when a more urgent thought occurred to her. “Where’s Ruby?” she asked.
Autumn pointed with a rear hoof. “Coloring on the table.”
Sure enough, the filly had heard her mother arrive and rushed outside. “Mommy! How was your day? Did they say you were the greatest mommy ever and they wanted you to work for them?”
Berry’s mind flew back to earlier.
* * *
“I’m sorry, but there’s no place for you on our staff at this time,” he said.
Berry nodded, mentally translating that phrase. That was the polite way of saying Get Thy Flank Out. Berry Punch left the office and slumped on one of the chairs out on the floor. Seriously? But she was perfect for this job! She slouched and growled. Why wasn’t she welcomed with open forelegs and bags of bits?
Maybe it’s because I’m fat, she wondered. Bartenders do usually tend to be eye candy as well. She poked her stomach experimentally. Sure, she had a bit of a pudge, and she definitely wouldn't be asked to model anytime soon; but she didn't look that bad, did she? Most stallions these days preferred their mares with a bit of sustenance anyway, right? So what if she carried a little more mass on her thighs? Foaling isn’t easy, you know. It’s a miracle she looked as good as she did.
It was at this point that she realized that she had not been thinking these things, but had, in fact, been talking out loud.
There were ponies. Many ponies.
And they were all staring at her.
Oops.
If Berry had been able to blush, she definitely would have. As it was, she merely brushed her mane back and left.
* * *
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can hire you now.”
Berry Punch nodded, thanked the stallion (who flinched at her offered hoof before bumping nervously) and walked out of the office. She fought the urge to bite her lip. Sure, good for relieving stress, but sometimes vampony strength was a little unpredictable and she had bitten off her lip at least twice before. Plus, biting off your lip hurt. And then there’s the whole ‘oh did anyone see me?’ because that’s amazingly hard to cover for.
Anyway... Berry Punch brought herself back into the real world. She paused before leaving. When she worked with other ponies, she would often talk about them behind their backs as soon as they’d left. Sure, often they were too drunk to do anything about it even if they did hear, but it was a habit. She walked closer to the door, held her breath (before remembering that she didn’t need to breathe anyway) and pressed her ear against the door. As a filly, she had often done this with a glass to hear better, but her vampony hearing worked just as well.
“You didn’t hire her?” the younger pony asked. “She was perfect, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, but... something was off about her.”
“Off?”
“I dunno how to describe it... Maybe it’s her eyes? There’s something about her that just gives me the willies.”
Berry snarled. She’d heard enough. Vamponyism was definitely a curse.
* * *
“I’m afraid we don’t have room on our staff for you at this time.”
Berry fought the urge to flip the desk into his face. Instead, she pulled a smile on her face. “Thank you for your time,” she said, and left.
Maybe she was actually going for a world record. How many different ways could she be rejected?
She shook her head. This wasn’t helping her wallet or her attitude. She decided to go home.
* * *
Berry Punch shook her head and ruffled her daughter’s mane. “Not yet. But I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.”
Her excellent hearing picked up Autumn give a tiny snort. Her forelegs tightened further around her daughter. She would show her. She would. Berry Punch was not a failure.
...right?