Black and Blue

by autobot

Drunk and Disorderly - Chapter 7

When the pair opened their eyes again they were stood in a dark, dingy alleyway, surrounded by tall skyscrapers. They could hear the night time din of Manehatten echoing down the alley, the stench of filth and waste coming from the nearby bins was pungent and burned the nostrils. Now when I say they, I really mean Soul - Red was still shaking away the excruciating pain that came with long range teleportation from black magic. It’s a painful thing, the dark arts. It hurts all normal ponies apart from the caster, but Red had generated a certain level of tolerance these days due to the sheer amount of magic Soul had used on him over the years. The pair even think he’s started to absorb it too, building up his own little reservoir within his soul… but that’s just a theory.

“Ooohhh sweet Celestia, that one stung!” Red groaned as his senses abruptly returned to him. Soul merely scoffed and began using her magic on herself, making sure she looked presentable before they entered the bar.

“I swear, Red,” chuckled a shadow behind them, “You say that every time!” Red simply turned around and met the eyes of the big grey earth pony stood in the shadows by a tacky looking steel door.

“And good evening to you too, Lockdown.” Red replied with a grin. “You miss me?” The bouncer Pony simply laughed and unlocked the steel door.

“Get in there you pair of trouble makers!” He said with his usual friendly grin, “The Unknown Cause are on tonight, you wouldn’t want to keep ‘em waiting now would ‘ya?” Red and Soul trotted inside, thanking Lockdown as he closed the door behind them; there was a series of bangs in the darkness, and finally a second door opened in front of them, letting them enter ‘The Blank Spot’.

‘The Blank Spot’ was no normal bar - far from it. It was the bar that served Equestria’s best-worst ponies. Criminal, rejects and lunatics alike would make their way to this place, a place they could be free of what society thought of them and how the world viewed them. All those who entered ‘The Blank Spot’ became equal; their past became irrelevant, once inside you were you. Nothing more, nothing less. The bar itself had a simple set up, a long wooden rectangular bar in the centre, a medium sized stage at the right end of the room and a big open dance floor on the left. Scattered everywhere were tables, chairs and stools, all of which were worn and aged. The lighting was kept to a minimum inside apart from the spotlights that pointed onto the stage, the smell of booze and tobacco was strong as ever and the sound of drunken chatting was music to the two Pony’s ears.

Red grinned as he took it all in for the hundredth time, he had always loved this place, it was like a second home to him - the home they kept going back to. Soul had a small smile on her face, after the day she’d had she was definitely ready for a good booze up! As the pair stepped forward into the dim light, both of their eyes shone, illuminating each others faces, causing a series of gasps from around the room. Like a ripple effect, the ponies sober enough to think turned to stare at the siblings. Slowly, smiles and grins began to appear and drinks rose. Without warning, the guitarist who was setting up with his band on stage began to play a riff on his guitar, the drummer and the bassist soon joining in. As the beat echoed through building the pair began to walk towards the bar, their hooves hitting the floor to the time of the music as they made their way past the groups of smiling drunken ponies. The band stopped playing as the two reached the bar and sat down.

“Welcome back you two, it’s been a while!” said the bartender, he nodded to his two regulars, glancing knowingly at Soul, who was now slumped against the bar. “Long day?” Soul merely groaned, which was pretty much the best answer he was going to get from her right now. Red simply rested a hoof on Soul and sighed.

“The usual please, chief,” Red said with a chuckle, the bartender nodded and went to get their drinks. As he did Red turned on his stool and whistled to the band who had finished setting up on the stage. “Yo Mann!” The drummer unicorn looked up from his kit and waved at his friend. “Strike up, mate!”
Mann nodded and motioned to the rest of the band to get ready. As the band began to play their first song the bartender returned, sliding over one bottle of vodka and a pony bomb. Red smiled as he took his vodka and screwed off the top, he had no need for shot glasses! He took a large swig of the bottle, the familiar burning in the back of his throat making him grin - oh how he had missed alcohol. Soul was doing the same, happily drinking away her sorrows and listening to the sweet music the band was playing.

The night went on like this until Red got sufficiently drunk, allowing him to relax a bit more than usual. The band had just finished a song when Mann called out to Red from the back of the stage, ”Red!” Red turned from the bar to face his drummer friend, “You gonna come sing something or what!?” A smile instantly plastered itself onto the pegasus’s face as he set his bottle down. He practically leaped onto the stage as the crowd gave a small cheer as Red took up position behind the microphone. His gaze shifted back to the bar, Soul sat there, now stuck in her depressive drunken state. Drink did this to her, after a few hours of hyper-ness she would slip down into nothing but sadness and sorrow, an almost unbreakable state… but that didn’t stop Red trying.

Red turned to the band and whispered about his song of choice, they nodded and took up their positions. Red cleared his throat and with a devilish laugh, he started the song:

Almost midnight,
I'm just sittin' at the bar,

Soul’s ears perked up at Red’s song choice. It wasn’t enough to do anything to her mood, but she still silently applauded her little Brother for trying to make an effort. Even when she was in this state, she still couldn’t help but love her Brother.

Wakin' up the devil,
Rattlin' the cage inside of me,
I miss him a little,
When he gets out, we're one hell of a team,
I know I ought to leave,
Him locked up and throw away the key,
But his hand's on the wheel and my hoof's on the pedal,
Wakin' up the devil.

I didn't come here lookin' for a fight,
But if you're gonna bark boy, you better have a bite,
I ain't been crazy in a really long time,
But you're about to meet a good friend of mine.

Pretty girls and whiskey,
Quarter bags and dimes,
Put it in my face, I'm gonna do it every time.

But try to keep him quiet,
Try to hold him down,
Damn it feels like heaven every time he comes around.

As the music faded Red turned his head and let out a long breath, trying to quell the emotions that rose up within him whenever he sang a song he held dear. The small crowd of ponies cheered as Red bowed and waved, he then gave the band all bro-hoof and thanked them for another great song. Red had sung with The Unknown Cause many times at the bar, it’s partly how he and Soul became so well known. Both of them had very unique singing voices, both of which they used only when they really felt the moment was right. Soul maintains the belief that her singing voice is nowhere near as good as everypony says it is, which is rubbish, but that’s just Soul.

Red floated down off the stage and trotted back over to where Soul was sat, she was still drinking away but… just on the side of her mouth a tiny smile was visible. She wasn’t happy, far from it, but hearing her little brother singing that song at least brought her a bit of enjoyment. Red ordered another bottle of vodka and let out a contented sigh.

“Not gonna go up and sing us a tune, sis?” Red asked, cocking an eyebrow at his sibling. Soul simply finished off her drink and stared at her glass, a grin flicking on her face for just a second.

“If you had asked me five glasses ago, then, maybe…” She looked at Red with eyes he’d seen a million times before, “But right now, I think I’ll leave the singing to the happy drunks.” Red simply laughed at this remark and went back to his drink. He spun round on his stool and lent against the bar, watching the band play, his hoof idly tapping against his stool with the music.

“We should totally get them playing in Ponyville you know,” Red said gently prodding Soul in the wing. She sat up and looked over her shoulder, starting to listen to the music rather than her own thoughts. Soul nodded slowly, giving her silent approval of the sweet metal ‘The Unknown Cause’ was producing. They sat there listening together for a few more songs until Red finally looked at his watch; it read four a.m. With a sigh he set down his last bottle and wobbled onto his hooves. “About time we left sis, still got plenty to do tomorrow.” Despite the amount of alcohol Red had consumed his thought and speech were still impeccable, it was just his body that acted completely hammered. Soul merely groaned as she joined him as he walked towards the door, saying goodbye to his fellow drinkers as he past them. Soul remained silent and simply walked behind her brother, looking more zombie than pony. The pair made it outside without incident and Soul weaved a new teleportation spell to get them from the bar to their apartment.

Red took his position beside his sister and with a flash of light, the spell was cast and home they went… well, sort of. When Red had once again regained his senses he was upside down on the roof, being soaked by a rain cloud. Meanwhile, Soul was now lying in her bed, all tucked up and cosy, and already falling asleep. Red, as you may have guessed, was not best pleased. Clearly, his sister was utterly and completely out of it, in many senses of the word. The mixture of alcohol and a rather stressful day had clearly bucked her magic entirely.

“Well… bollocks!” Said the now soaking black Pegasus as he got to his hooves, looking up at the rain cloud that was the cause of his dampness. With one swift blast of his wings he sent the offending grey mass away into the night sky. Red considered going down and shaking himself off in Souls bedroom as a form of revenge, but he valued his life so he didn’t. Instead, he floated down to his window, slipped inside, and promptly fell asleep on the floor. His last word before flopping to the wooden panelling was simply, “Bitch…”