How the Other Half Lives

by Adda le Blue

Five

The doors were swept open in a burst of orange light. Alpha swaggered into the cafeteria with half-closed eyes and a wide grin. Her forehooves struck the linoleum with confidence, one directly in front of the other; her swaying tail tossed the hem of her dress this way and that.

The post-graduate campus's cafeteria would be mistaken by anypony but student or faculty for one of Canterlot's low-end diners. Tables and booths were scattered about in a manner that at first seemed carelessly casual, and an older stallion Alpha had come to know well served drinks from behind the bar on the far wall.

A few of the tables and a few of the stools at the bar were occupied by couples, friends, and the lonely, and every head turned to watch her as her hooves carried her toward the bar out of instinct. She didn't need to look at the ponies around her; she could feel them watching. She could almost hear their whispers, their self-impressed bravado and their jealous muttering. They wanted her. They loved her! She shifted her right shoulder to make sure the strap was still straight and tossed her mane over her left as she reached the center of the room.

There she stood, basking in the warmth of their admiration. Most tried to hide their glances, but she knew. She looked from one face to the next, faces she recognized and others she didn't, some smiling and some frowning furiously... Somepony waved to her. She didn't know him, but she waved back before she turned away and promptly forgot about him. Her eyes swam over the field of colors pastel and vibrant, browns and blues and greens and grays... And a purple one; a stallion with a short-cropped cerise mane and the loveliest eyes. It was him.

She sighed in appreciation as her eyes drank in the sight of the well-toned muscles in his chest that strained against his coat, and the way the white javelins on his thighs bent and flexed when he shifted those smooth, hard flanks... Longshot was a dream made flesh wrapped up tight in heliotrope. He was the hero of the school's track-and-field program and still managed to have more skill with the arcane than most of his classmates. Perhaps some small-minded and jealous unicorns thought he had too much talent for one pony; to Alpha, he was just perfect from short-cropped mane to hooves rough from many hard days' work to his beautiful cyan eyes...

...which were staring back at her, and had been for some time. Even worse, he had stood and taken a step in her direction.

Alpha took a step back. It's him he's coming this way what do I say? she whimpered internally. What do I do?

She still hadn't made up her mind by the time he stopped only a foreleg's length from her. “Fairy Lights, right?” he asked.

Alpha's breath caught in her throat. No! she wanted to scream. No, I am Alpha and I am a beautiful mare! She chewed her lip as she stared deep into those eyes, those lovely cyan eyes...

She fell in. She nodded.

Unbeknownst to Alpha, she was quaking like a leaf; Longshot saw it and laughed confidently from deep in his throat. “What's got you so wound up?”

Alpha chuckled with him but it came out wrong, almost a choked sob. “Um...” she tried. “I, um...”

“You nervous?” he asked with a knowing grin.

“Y– No...” She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “Yeah.”

He took another half-step closer; she nearly took one back, but her hooves had become too heavy for her to lift. “Why?” Longshot pressed.

“Because you—” Her teeth clicked shut. She squeezed her eyes tight and shook her head. “I mean...” Her voice was nearly a whisper. “It's just that I didn't expect to see you here tonight.”

“You must have been expecting to see somepony,” he said easily, “looking as beautiful as you do tonight.” Alpha bit her bottom lip to stifle a moan. “I can tell you went all out. Who's the lucky stallion?”

“Me,” she mumbled dreamily. Longshot snickered, showing off a dimple in his right cheek; Alpha's brow scaled her forehead. “I-I mean you! I mean...” Her mouth dropped open and her cheeks burned red with shame. “I didn't mean...”

“Whoa, there,” he chuckled. “I think I get the picture.” He closed the gap between them and kept going, passing his head over her back, her rear. “You're not wearing that for anypony in particular, are you?” he growled happily.

Alpha kept her muzzle pointing straight, but she couldn't help but follow his tail with her eyes. “I was just trying to feel pretty...”

“Filly, you don't have to try,” Longshot assured her with a winning smile. He reappeared on her right side and she tried not to jump away. “You always are.”

The heat in Alpha's cheeks rushed downward along her spine. She lifted a forehoof to her chest to steady her breathing. The hoof traced slowly along the left bump of her heart-shaped neckline as she tried to find the words to say. You too? she tried. Thanks? Wanna go do something?

Longshot's ears perked up. “Like what?”

Alpha twitched violently as she realized that she'd said the last line aloud. “Oh!” She glanced at the floor, the ponies around her, her hoof... anything but the stallion beside her. “I... I don't know.” She tried to meet his gaze, but was scared away by those soulful blue eyes.

“Well,” Longshot said slowly, “why don't I buy you a drink while you decide?”

A flush washed over her from the tip of her muzzle to the dock of her tail. “Yes,” she breathed, the words almost a hiss.

Longshot smirked and offered her a shoulder; Alpha licked her lips and leaned into it hesitantly. “Oh goddess,” she whispered as the touch of flesh on flesh sent shivers down her spine.

He stared down at her with mixed excitement and uncertainty. “You alright?” he asked.

Alpha looked up into his eyes with such passion that he couldn't help but beam back. “I'm wonderful,” she whispered. She leaned more heavily into his frame and together the pair made their way to the bar, their hoofsteps echoing together through the renewed buzz of gossip.

Tending it was none other than one of Alpha's favorite ponies on campus. He was a middle-aged stallion with a blue-green coat speckled with rusty red guardhairs. He boasted a thick moustache and sideburns to match his carmine mane. His ever-present apron of a teal so dark as to look almost black was nearly immaculate; he must have washed it since Alpha had seen him last. His reddish-brown eyes twinkled as they approached. “Look at you two,” he said with a smile. “A beautiful young lady and her handsome prince. You look ready for a ball at the Palace!” He placed his forehooves on the counter and leaned in to touch noses with Alpha. “It almost warms my old heart.”

A nervous giggle bubbled out from between Alpha's lips, and before she could stop it the rest followed. Alpha shook with the force of the laughter that escaped her to fill the cafeteria from one wall to the other. She collapsed onto a stool and had to hold onto the bar to keep herself upright.

Longshot smiled nervously and gave the bartender a look, uncertain of whether to be angry at him for setting her off or hide behind him in case she got worse. “She's fine,” the older stallion assured him. “Give her a minute.”

She eventually regained enough control of herself to nod. “I'm sorry!” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “I'm just so happy...”

“So what'll you have?” the barkeep asked her.

“Perry,” Longshot interrupted.

The barkeep rolled his eyes. “And for the lady?” he said pointedly.

Again came the smile, but at least she was able to keep her mirth in check. “Birch beer,” she chirped. “Warm.” His eyes lit up in recognition, then pinched tight at the corners. After a moment's thought Alpha nearly bit her tongue. “I mean, um...”

He just shook his head, snagged a pair of mugs in his telekinetic grip and stomped off toward a cabinet Alpha had visited herself on many an occasion. When the old stallion returned it was usually with a smile, but this time a touch of bitterness tainted his expression. Gone were his humor and pleasantries; he placed the mug on the table forcefully enough to send the crack of glass on wood echoing through the room. “Where's your friend?” he muttered sourly as his sea-green aura tossed a half-dozen ice cubes into the other mug and worked the tap of a barrel under the bar, releasing a strong aroma of pears.

Longshot had looked ready to fight for her honor, but the barkeep's words made him turn his glare toward Alpha. “Wait, are you with somepony?”

“No!” she cried defensively. Her eyes darted from one stallion to the other. “He's not my coltfriend. He's gay!”

The barkeep's frown lessened but didn't fade. “Enjoy your drinks,” he muttered, and with that he made his way to the other end of the bar.

Longshot's glare followed him; his hooves were spread wide on the top of the bar. “What was that about?”

Alpha shook her head. “I come in here with... this friend of mine every once in a while,” she explained. “We're such good friends that some ponies just assume that we're dating.”

“Which you're not,” he concluded, but the tail end of a question was tacked on at the end.

“Right.”

“But what does he care?” Longshot tipped his head toward the barkeeper. “It's none of his business!”

“He's, um...” She had to pause and line the words up in her head in advance. “My friend may have told him about some things that made it seem like there was more going on than there really is.”

“'Some things', huh?” Longshot said with a wink. “Is that how your friend figured out he's gay?”

Her mouth dropped open. “No!” she squeaked, her cheeks flushing. “We haven't done anything! I just know he's gay.”

“Yeah, I know,” Longshot chuckled. He nudged her beneath the ribs with a hoof. “I'm just playing.”

Alpha drew away from his touch. “I mean, he's, like... He's always staring at colts...”

“Hey, it was just a joke!” he said with a placating gesture of his hooves. “Jeez. This guy's really bothering you, isn't he?”

Alpha looked up to see the barkeeper occupying himself with a few barrels and a checklist at the far end of the bar. “He's fine,” she muttered, but her eyes seemed to have glued themselves to the bar. “He's just trying to help.”

“Really?” Longshot said with a humorless smirk. “He's not doing a very good job of it.” Alpha tapped her hooves on the bar, one on either side of her birch beer. “Do you want to go somewhere else?”

“No, it's fine,” she sighed. “We can just ignore him.”

He shrugged and lifted his perry in a haze of cyan. “If you want.” A few sips gave him time to plan his next move. “So, what's with the dress?” he asked casually.

“Oh, I don't know,” she replied, her shoulders slumped and her eyes still on the bar. “I just wanted to do something special tonight.”

“It looks really good on you.”

That cut through the dark cloud that had fallen over her. “You think so?” she asked, her voice higher than expected.

“I mean it!” he assured her. “It really, uh... brings out your eyes!”

Alpha let out a breath that could almost be considered a laugh. “It does not,” she argued, but the corner of her mouth was lifted in pleasure. “You're just trying to be nice, aren't you?”

He smiled back for a moment. “Well, I can't pick just one thing to compliment you on.” He leaned back on his bench and eyed her up and down. “You look really good.”

She ducked her head, but her shoulders straightened. “Thanks.”

“Like, the mane, the dress...” He threw out his forehooves to encompass her ensemble. “You...”

“Oh, piffle,” she muttered through a smile like sunshine. “I know what you're up to—He's watching me!”

“What?”

Alpha's frown had returned and her eyes were fixed on the barkeep. “I caught him,” she hissed. “He was staring at me and when I looked up, he looked away.”

“Look, Fairy Lights, we can leave if you want to. We've got our drinks.”

“But this is my place...” She scrubbed her hooves across the bar, the familiar grooves of its waxed surface were unable to soothe her nerves this time. “I like it here—Carmine, please!”

The cafeteria fell silent.

Alpha had stretched her neck out to its fullest extent and was glaring at the bartender with pain and fury in her eyes. Carmine stared right back with no expression. After a moment he lifted a forehoof and twirled it.

Her stomach sank into her hooves. She twisted her head around and, just as she feared, there stood a orange-coated mare with bright blue eyes, an emptied glass held high, and the flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. “Uh...” The glass floated past them to rest on the bar. “Another juice medley, please,” the mare said with a self-conscious grin.

Alpha slowly turned her eyes back to the drink between her hooves. “Sorry, everypony,” she mumbled as loudly as she dared.

Longshot's foreleg dragged her into his chest. “Hey,” he said softly. “It's not your fault.” She shook against him and said nothing. “I mean it,” he insisted. “He's trying to get into your head. I know he is. Can't we just get out of here?”

When she finally found her voice it was that of a mouse. “Could we please find a booth?” she begged, her eyes downcast.

“Yeah,” he said immediately, standing and helping her to her hooves. “Sure. A booth sounds great.” He took her shoulder once more and led her away from the bar. “Show's over, everypony,” he said angrily. Alpha shuddered, but the others went back to their games and conversations, or at least pretended to.

When they finally reached the far wall Alpha collapsed into the first booth she could find. “Oh goddess,” she whispered. Worry tightened her eyes and left faint creases in her makeup. “I'm s-so sorry, Longshot.”

Longshot frowned as he slid onto the bench beside her. “He's the one who should be sorry,” he said with a pointed glare in Carmine's direction.

“No!” she said angrily with a firm shake of her head. “Just... this whole night. I-I shouldn't have m-made a scene... I shouldn't even have talked to you, I shouldn't...”

The rest of her words were muffled by his shoulder when Longshot grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her close. “You didn't do anything wrong, Fairy Lights,” he said softly. Her hooves pressed against his chest but he held on tight with one foreleg; the other hoof touched down on the soft space behind her ear and slid through her mane. Alpha jumped and shivered against him. “You don't deserve to be treated like that,” he continued. “A mare so beautiful deserves better than that. You deserve to be treated like a Princess.”

“Oh goddess, you're so sweet too,” she moaned into his chest. If only we had come to know each other under different circumstances...

He loosened his grip. “What was that?”

She turned her muzzle away from his flesh, maybe nuzzling his pecs just a little more than necessary. “I said... you're very sweet,” she replied with a faint blush. “And kind.” She pulled her forehooves against her chest and her chin burrowed between them. “You should hate me.”

“So you're not having your best night,” he said dismissively. “Maybe I can make it better.”

“You shouldn't,” she said firmly, but her hooves snaked around him and held on tight. “I don't want you to get hurt.”

Longshot smirked and his hooves traveled over her shoulders, along her barrel to rest atop her hips. “Worth it,” he said wistfully.

She shifted her hips beneath his touch, her heart's discomfort at war with her body. “I-it's really not.”

“Hey. I'd do anything for my Princess.”

Alpha's eyes widened and her pupils shrank. She forced her hooves between their barrels and pushed herself away to stare into his eyes. “Y-your...?”

Longshot watched confidently as the blood rushed to the surface of her cheeks and her chest. “If you'll have me.”

Alpha was suddenly acutely aware of just how sensitive her teats were. She could feel her gown sliding across their tips like two electric shocks with each shift of a limb. “Um...”

“You're turning pink from tip to tail,” he said softly, his eyes roving along her length.

“Sorry,” she muttered self-consciously. She twisted away from him and cradled her birch beer to her chest. The room-temperature glass gave her only passing relief. “I'm just feeling a bit warm.”

He grinned fiendishly and leaned closer until his mouth was just a hair's breadth from her ear. “Then maybe we should get you out of that dress...”

She jolted as if he'd touched her. Her heart was pounding in her ears; her tail flicked and twisted against her rump. “I...”

“What do you say, Princess?”

Her breath came out a whine. “I want...” The warmth coursed through her. A strange and wonderful sense of pressure was building deep within her hips and just against the taffeta of her evening dress as it slid against her skin with each shift of her body. “I don't...”

Suddenly his hoof gripped her own. “It's okay, Fairy Lights,” he said slowly, lifting her hoof to shoulder level. He leaned forward and frowned faintly at her, emotion making those beautiful, wonderful, caring cyan eyes sparkle. “I don't want to pressure you into anything you're not ready for.” His lips were almost pursed over her hoof.

“I'm ready!” she squeaked.

The smug grin nearly returned as he placed his other hoof atop hers. “Then would you do me the honor of allowing me to walk you home, Fairy Lights?” he beseeched her. “We can take the long way, stop by the park.” His eyes narrowed, casting a darker light over his smile. “Nopony will see us there.”

A sudden heat wave knocked the breath from her lungs. “I shouldn't,” she panted. She shook her head. “I can't!”

“W—” Longshot's smile faltered for a fraction of a second. “Why not?” he asked. “You want this. I want this.” His hoof stroked her shoulder perhaps more firmly than he'd intended. “Just go with it.”

She stared at the hoof upon her. “Because...” Because I'm a liar! A thief! The very worst of ponies! “B-because...”

A blue hoof clopped down on the counter between them, and Alpha was surprised at how well terror and relief could complement each other. The feeling was something new and indescribable, but it strong enough to break her. A heaviness she hadn't felt in months settled into her shoulders as she followed the limb up to a familiar pair of brown eyes. She whimpered beneath the glare of her own eyes.

“You,” 'Alpha' mumbled, eyelids drooping and head bobbing on a neck too tired to support it. “Outside.”

“Whoa, there,” Longshot said softly, but the words bore a dangerous edge. “You look like you've had a few too many ciders. Why don't you go to your dorm and get some sleep?”

'Alpha' turned slowly toward him. “'I am not salted,” she slurred in Alpha's voice. “Now.”

Longshot's hoof landed atop 'Alpha's' and held it in place. “I'll take care of her,” he said firmly. "You leave now."

“Longshot, wait!” Both stallions turned to her with shock on their muzzles. “Just... Just give us a minute.”

“A minute?” 'Alpha' muttered.

“Two minutes,” she begged. “Just wait here. I'll...”

“You'll what?” her friend snarled. She leaned in closer. “Are you trying to have sex with him?” she whispered angrily.

Longshot heard him just fine and his ears flattened against his scalp. “That's enough out of you,” he growled. “Fairy Lights, just say the word.”

“No.” She stood and lowered her gaze to the floor. “No, this is...”

“Come on, Fairy Lights,” 'Alpha' spat. She ducked her head toward the side door. Alpha took a step away from the table.

“Fairy Lights!”

She placed one hoof in front of the other, head hanging low and hooves like pendulums, until the oppressive heat of the late spring met her at the doorway. She couldn't make herself look back at the poor colt she left behind as she made her way into the alley. Alpha closed the door behind them.

The stallion behind the counter beckoned to Longshot. “Come on over, kid,” Carmine sighed. “I think you're gonna be here a while.”

Comments

[Jake The Army Guy]

Oh-ho, shit. This is getting interesting...

[Specimen021]

Yeah, this is getting really good and really akward in the same time.
Expecting some sweet revenge from Fae, but she should probably wait with punching until they switch back, so she doesn't have to wake up beaten-up by herself.

[Adda le Blue]

4611760
I'm glad you think so. I'm going to try my hardest to get the next chapter out by the end of the night, but if I'm to be honest... yeah. Two chapters a day is a pipe dream.

4611980
Awkward? I have no idea what you're talking about! iambrony.dget.cc/mlp/gif/131645489062.gif
Oh, just you wait.

[Adda le Blue]

Oh, my brain's melting... I don't know if I'm gonna make it... The last five hundred words I wrote may have been drivel. I really need some caffeine.

[ferret]

It's so hard to fight off the effects of this mysterious sleeping potion. It seems to be slowing my pace just the right amount such that I discover Alpha at the exact worst possible time. Who brewed this thing? Do I detect a faint aftertaste of essence of Irony?

[RemareShadows]

The Train, she has no tracks .

[blank check]

Aaaaaaa

What the fuck is happening with Carmine

Everything is happening so fast

And Alpha you little bitch