“Good evening sir, and welcome back to the Soirée!” the chirpy waitress greeted, familiar with my regular visits. “Are you ready to order?”
“Single malt, please. Neat,” I replied, the fatigue and frustration clearly evident in my voice. “Actually, could I just get the whole bottle?”
“Long day, huh? I’ll be back shortly.” the magenta unicorn disappeared past the mass of tables, leaving me alone in my booth with nothing but the ambient music to drown out my thoughts. The Soirée was an establishment in the Cirrus Hotel's lobby, and a place I'd find myself visiting every time I had a layover in Cloudsdale. Partly because it's in the hotel, and partly because I get quite a decent crew discount that most hotels never beat. Despite being a recent addition to the city, the hotel was already a major success, being both a crew hotel, and built with enchantments that allowed everypony, pegasus or otherwise, to walk freely about.
The waitress returned, placing a coaster and a tumbler in front of me, along with a sizable bottle. "Aaaaand just in case you like your whiskey chilled, but not watered down, here's a bucket of ice for the bottle." she set the condensation-coated container down on the side of my table against the wall. Placing a snack plate filled with savory biscuits, peanuts and pretzels nearby, she flashed me another smile and attended to her other customers.
Pouring myself half a glass, I stared halfheartedly at the caramel-colored liquid momentarily, before downing a significant portion of it, coughing once as it burned its way down my throat. Returning the glass back to the table, I leaned back and closed my eyes. It really had been a long day. I remained that way, taking an occasional sip every so often, until a few minutes later I was interrupted by a gentle prod on my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I found myself looking straight at a pair of pale pink eyes of a pegasus.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” the grey-blue mare spoke up. “You’re one of the crew from EAL, right? That was your group that signed in about an hour ago?”
“Yeah, I’m one of the cabin crew.” I answered halfheartedly, topping up my glass a little.
The mare slid into the seat opposite to me, the bow in her mane catching slightly on the booth's edge. After a quick adjustment, she leaned forward, her eyes twinkling in awe. “Wow, I’ve always wanted to be one. What’s it like?”
Mentally, I sighed. You’d think that somepony sitting alone with an entire bottle of alcohol would want to be left in peace, but apparently she couldn’t take the hint. Then again, I could just vent my frustration to this stranger.
Hmm...I might just crush her dreams by doing that, though.
"The name's Red Eye." I began.