Detour

by Jetset0099

Scotch And A Manehattan

The scene in front of Trios was busy. Ponies flocked into the club for a night of good music and food, running in quickly to get out of the rain. The building was on the main road, just south of the town square.

Many heads turned as the Dodge pulled up in front. The engine shut off, and both of them got out.

"Boy Mac, this place is busy."

"Eeyup. A'hve heard that this club is quite popular 'round these parts."

They left the truck sitting out front and walked in. Immediately, they were greeted by a yellow unicorn stallion in a white dress shirt and black bow tie.

"Good evening. Welcome to Trios. We are very busy tonight, so there might be quite a wait."

"How long ya thinkin' partner?"

"Around thirty to forty minutes."
Just then, a black earth pony stallion with a yellow mane came out of a door behind the front desk.

"Macintosh! I was beginning to think you'd never stop in. And you must be Jake. Am I correct?"
He shook the owners hoof.

"You bet. But how did you know it was me?"
He laughed in a deep baritone.

"I was in the crowd when you gave that little speech on top of your vehicle thing."
Jake smiled.

"Ah yes, now I remember. And you are?"

"Oh right! Where are my manners? My name is Brasstacks, and I own the joint. I'm glad you two could make it tonight. We have a jazz band here tonight that is one of the best in the Northern Equestrian region. It should be a hit!"
He looked over to the waiter.

"Mr. Strat, will you please show them to a table."
The waiter shuffled on his feet and gave him a nervous look.

"Um, I told them there's a thirty minute wait. We're very busy tonight sir."
Brasstacks chuckled.

"Not a problem at all! Show them to my personal table, and put them on my tab."
Mac raised his hoof.

"Now Mr. Brasstacks, ah thank y'all kindly fer yer gesture, but it's too much. Ah wouldn't feel right gettin' food and drinks fer free."

"Macintosh, you're the one that provides me with half of the ingredients to make said food and drink. It would be WRONG if you didn't get them for free. Now run along! The band is starting in ten minutes."

The waiter led the two through a wooden doorframe into the main room. The club had dark oak wood for the walls and ceiling, crystal chandeliers hung in various places.

They were standing on a raised platform overlooking the room. Two identical staircases on either side wall led down to the lower level. On that level, directly built in to the wall below the platform, was a U-shaped bar jutting straight out, then curving back around into the wall. The two bartenders were in the middle of the U, hastily mixing drinks for the crowd surrounding it.

Strat led them down the left staircase and to the center of the entire room where a round table with a white tablecloth was sitting amongst the others. It looked as if it could seat about six or so, and was the only empty table there.

They sat down and looked toward the stage. It took up about half of the back wall, leaving ten or so feet on either side. The red curtain was down, and behind it they could faintly hear the sound of the band setting up. The waiter cleared his throat.

"Can I start you two off with any drinks tonight?"
Mac looked at the menu, then came to a decision.

"Ah'll have a glass of the Scotch."

"Excellent choice sir."
He turned to Jake.

"And for you?"

"I'll have the Manehattan Cocktail."

"Very well. I'll have those for you two in a moment."
He walked away towards the bar to put their order in.

Jake glanced over to the bar and saw Noteworthy sitting there beside Twilight.

"Uh, Mac. I'm sure you don't get into the gossip, but is Twilight dating Notworthy?"
The farmer turned to look over to where Jake was looking.

"Hmm, ah'm not rightly sure. But it ain't none o' mah business either way."

Noteworthy looked over to Jake and waved. He got down off the barstool and made his way over to him with Twilight following. He went up to Jake and shook his hoof.

"I never expected to see you here! You sure did pick the right night I guess."

Twilight spoke up.

"How is everything so far Jake?"

"Great. I'm getting out on the town tonight as you can see. I'm trying to get more acquainted with the town since I'm going to be here forever."
The unicorns face turned to confusion.

"What do you mean Jake?"

"To make an extremely long story short, the man who sent me here followed me, but wound up getting here before me with some speed of light theory stuff. It was Fritzer Mach, just like I thought. He said there's no way back to Earth. So I'm here forever. But I'm past all the emotional stuff. I just have to live the rest of my life to the fullest I guess. Why don't you two join us."

"Thanks Jake. We weren't able to get a table anywhere."

They sat down across from the pilot and farmer. Just then, their drinks arrived.

"One Scotch for you sir, and the Manehattan Cocktail for you. Enjoy."

He walked away back to the bar. Noteworthy held up his drink.

"Well then Jake, if your going to spend the rest of your life here, better make it a damn good one. Here's to your new start."
All four of them clacked their glasses together. Mac looked over to Twilight.

"Ah didn't know y'all liked jazz."

"Well I didn't know much about it, but Noteworthy here got me into it, and finally convinced me to come here. This is my first live jazz experience."
Jake chimed in.

"Well you're going to love it. I remember playing in my jazz band back in high school. It was a blast."

Just then, Brasstacks walked up to the table.

"I see you have some friends here as well Macintosh. Very good! Any friend of Mac's is a friend of mine."
He turned to the two new ponies at the table.

"My name is Brasstacks, and I own the place. I hope you all have a great evening of entertainment. Speaking of such, the band is about to go on. I'll see you all around."

With that the black earth pony left and made his way up to the stage. As he approached the microphone, everyone in the club got silent. He cleared his throat.

"Good evening ladies and gentlecolts! My name is Brasstacks, owner of Trios, and I want to welcome you all here on this fine Friday night."
The audience applauded.

"Yes well, tonight we have a very talented band performing. Specializing in modern swing, and funky tunes that will leave your hooves tapping, they have done numerous gigs around Equestria, including being requested by Princess Celestia herself for her birthday a couple years ago. So sit back, relax, and take in the sounds of The Equestrian Music Repertory Ensemble!"

He ran off the stage just as the red curtain came up. A big band was set up, consisting of four trumpets, four trombones, five saxaphones, drums, piano, and bass. The conductor raised his hoof and started moving to the tempo.

"A one, a two, a one two three four!"

Comments

[Bread Shot]

:O First? eh screw first i want to be 1337th!
1337th!!!

[WymaBean]

Well ok then you do that man.

[dargondarkfire]

so is notwory dating twilight then?

[myhe01]

herP ER DARp iDk Wut I iS Doin

[TangoForce141]

Man why no tuba. I play tuba in jazz band but.

[Jetset0099]

2440348 that's cool lol I never took tuba to be a jazz instrument. I play trumpet myself so that's why I wanted Jake to play it.

[TangoForce141]

2440959 hey I play both trust me its hard to play both tubas big trumpets small

[Jetset0099]

2441228 I tried to play trombone once, and I couldn't get the slide positions right. Low brass isn't my thing lol.

[TangoForce141]

2441555 don't blame ya it's actually kinda hard sometimes

[Jetset0099]

For this next chapter, I want to try something different. Most people put YouTube videos in their story's so you can hear the song, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm going to be making all new original jazz songs that are related to the MLP world, and you guys can use your imagination to come up with however you think the song should sound. If anyone is displeased with that I apologize, but I think it'll be a cool new way of doing things. Thanks for reading!

[Nightshade Dawn]

2438996 hey if your 1337 then I'm 1347 yay that's how old we are!