In Another Life II: Chance's Folly

by Bateman66

The Outing

The Sugar Bowl was probably the coolest hangout in the history of hangouts. Its cramped interior, greasy food and loud employees really sealed the deal in creating the atmosphere of a homely main-street diner. It was hard to tell if it was the manager making snide comments at the customers, or the fact that somepony always left the door open that the joint always seemed to keep ponies coming back.

On this particular summer afternoon, as several preteen colts and fillies hung around outside chatting about whatever school yard gossip they could muster in a season without school, an important event was formulating inside.

Alistair hacked once, coughed twice, and spit a great big chunk of his food onto the plate. Wiping his mouth with his hand, he winced in disgust at what he’d just eaten.

“Yu dn’t lk haybugers?” asked Commodore, sitting across from him with a mouthful of food.

He shook his head wearily. “No, I don’t think I do.” He reached forward and drank from his glass of water, but even then did he gag at the left over bits of dried…whatever he just ate, in his mouth.

Jam smirked. “I take it you’re not very keen on the herbivore’s diet?”

Alistair responded by pretending vomit to fully emphasize his opinions on the meal. Commodore laughed at this and bits of food came spurting out of his mouth. Jam and Alistair giggled.

“Shut upppppp” said the blue colt, mildly amused and mildly annoyed.

It was hard to tell how long the three had been there. It all started with a single order of fries, then another, then some drinks, refills of the drinks, consideration of ice cream, and now full meals for each person. A clock sat somewhere in the place, but none of them had glanced up at it since they had entered.

The sun still sat in the corner of the sky, letting down a fair amount of light, but it was apparent to anypony with eyes that it wouldn’t be there for much longer.

Alistair yawned. “Have you guys seen the new Incarnate movie?”

Commodore nodded. “Yeah, I saw it with my Dad a few days ago. It was ok. The ending was kind of lame though, especially since they left it off at a cliffhanger. They didn’t do that with the last one.”

“They weren’t expecting for the first one to have sequel”, responded Jam. “They actually felt a necessity to tie up all loose ends instead of leaving it off for a third movie.”

“I really hate how they always do that. Just end it already, two movies is enough.”

“Such is the world of Manehattan film productions” joked Alistair.

Commodore raised one of his eyebrows. “Dude, this isn’t to be rude or anything but…you seem to know a lot about pop-culture, considering the time you’ve been here.”

He tapped the top of his head with his pointer finger. “Encyclopedias and newspapers, my friend, you have no idea how much you can learn from em’.”

Commodore looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meet to put you out or anything, I was just…”

He put his hands up in defense. “It’s fine, it’s fine, no offense taken. And besides, you can write that down with the others.”

“What?”

“The others. The other stuff you wrote down earlier, for the interview.”

The shaggy blue pony had to think for moment to recall what he was referring to. “Oh, yeah, the interview! Gosh, I’d forgotten all about it.”

Jam rubbed the back of his head. “Jeez, I forgot about that too. How long have we been here?” He craned his neck around to get a good look at the restaurant’s clock. “Wow, guys it’s almost seven.”

Commodore face hoofed. “Aw man, I gotta be home soon. I have to babysit my brother again.” He stamped his feet against the ground in frustration.

“You have a brother?” asked Alistair.

“Yeah, four years younger than me and a big pain if you ever get to know him.”

“How so?”

Commodore sighed. “He does these…things, you know? Really annoying garbage that he always seems so successful in pulling off.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“You will if you meet him, trust me.”

Alistair shrugged and took a sip of his water. Jam and Commodore bounced into their own conversation.

“So Jam, in Sensei Mauri Ferrai Tensei, I was able to max out the emperor arcane to full PP.”

“And?”

“I think we might stand a chance in beating the Hand of Fate, if you can port your character onto my system.”

“Do you have the right adaptor?”

“I do, got it at the Game Hut yesterday.”

“Alright, sweet. I think my guy has enough ED but his DPS may be a bit lacking.”

“Just grind in the dungeons, you can max up levels quicker that way.”

“I would if I had enough quick-save beads.”

Alistair continued to listen to their long, impossible to decipher discussion about a game he never played. He sipped his water for as long as he could, until the two finally got bored.

Jam bumped his friend in the shoulder. “Commodore, I have to start heading home. I told my mom I’d be back by seven thirty.”

“Alright” he said rising out of his chair, “let’s get going.” The two got up and walked towards the door. Alistair quickly got out of his chair and followed after them.

Out front, a few colts still hung around from earlier. They were difficult to get rid of. Their bikes were propped against the front of the building as they stood around in a circle, discussing a topic so important that they had to speak as loudly as possible for everypony to hear it. They were noticeablely younger than the three, perhaps by about one or two years. Still, that didn’t stop them from being jerks.

“Hey bud!” one of them called as they passed by, “Hey guys, I wanna talk to you!” The three continued to walk with their backs to the group, pretending to not take any notice. “Hey nerds!” another one called, “Whatcha’ doin’ with the hero? You get somethin’ special for him?”

“Yeah” another one shouted, “I didn’t know a monkey-man could be a nerd!” The group of colts burst out laughing, high hoofing each other in an odd show of victory. The three made their way across the street, the roar of giggles still incredibly audible behind them.

Jam and Commodore balled their hooves tightly and grit their teeth, but continued to move along as if nothing happened. “Freakin’ hate those kids” muttered Commodore. “Bunch of dips” agreed Jam.

Alistair said nothing, breathing deeply as he stared down at the ground. Stopping for a second, he turned around to face the punks. They were a few shops away now, but they still took notice of Alistair glaring at them. Picking up with their act, they went in full force.

“Oooooooo, he’s a big hero!”
“What a tough little hero!”
“I’m so scared!”
“What’s he looking at?”

Raising his right arm towards the colts, he pointed his index finger towards the group of bullies. Propping up his thumb, he shaped his hand into something menacing, something resembling a gun. He stared daggers at each and every one of them.

“What the heck is he doing?”
“Jeez, this hero’s messed up!”
“Hey bud, whatcha doing?”
“Is he going to start crying?”

Biting his lip, he uttered a single word aloud, loud enough for the colts to hear. “Bang.”

Before they could laugh, a concentrated bolt of blue light shot out of his finger tip and screamed towards where they sat. The beam smacked into the side of The Sugar Bowl, charring a spot on the bricked wall. Not thinking twice, the group of macho colts scattered while screaming and hollering to one another in fear. Turning around, Alistair stormed back towards a stunned Jam and Commodore.

“Let’s go, I want to get out of this place.”