Turning loose

He shook his head at the naive colt. "Heh, yeah. Around the castle. Every city has dark places."

Shala had never been to Canterlot but the mention of dark allies brought up unpleasant memories from her life in Manehattan. "Good thing this is a town and not a city or there would be more city drunks here."

She couldn't help but see Intel eye her drink and sighed before pushing it over to him. "On me, Smarty McFly." Before he could respond she was ordering another.

Second nerd I offer alcohol too...I better be careful or ill attract more.

A quick glare, and a sip of the offered drink. One drink wouldn't hurt if he was careful. He realized how much that sounded like famous last words when he felt the liquid go down his throat.

"Actually, the nobles became tired of having to see poor ponies in their vicinity, so you actually have to go looking for trouble in order to find it."

Intel actually doubted the validity of that statement, because he never did go looking for aforementioned trouble. He did know that the concentration of guards there was much, much higher than anywhere else in Equestria, and that there was a joke that compared a slice of pie in Canterlot being more expensive than the whole pie in Manehattan.

"Must be a jolly happy place to live." Shala said rotating her new glass on one hoof. Her voice had a slight condescending tone to it. "I take it you were born into this 'more wealthy' way of life?"

Though rather direct, Shala was anything but subtle. She had her fair share of 'privileged' ponies before. Where she was from, she was considered middle poor class. She thanked Celestia that that sense of class didn't follow her. She wondered why such a pony was out here out of his element, though the same could be said for her.

Indigo scoffs. "Yeah, like Princess Celestia would allow stuffy nobles to decide who gets to live where."

Another sip. A sideways glance at the frazzled hair pony.

"But the Sun Princess doesn't look to kindly to those who stir up trouble for trouble's sake either. Having a Goddess in the city does wonders for law and order. So the best the nobility can do is make stuff more expensive. By willing to pay more for their goods and services, prices rise or something, etc."

A bigger sip. "Two Goddesses, actually. Forgot the Moon Princess. My family thinks she's a wonder. What do you ponies think?"

Shala may dislike the nobility and enjoy being a grouch, but she found Indigo's words a little on the harsh side. Then again she did just laugh at this pony for his name. Whisky strikes again?

"What you believe in about your goddesses quickly goes out the window in the Manehattan slums." She took a pause to drink. "Haven't met em. Don't think I care to. Glad it isn't worse." She shrugged. Shala honestly didn't have much an opinion on the matter. There was a lot less room for that kind of speculation with her family but she could see how simple towns like this got a more healthy dose of it.

He looks down at the table and shakes his head, magically catching his monocle when it flies off and corrects it. He throws his head back and downs another shot, slamming the glass on the table then sits for a moment, finding himself stuck on what to say. He had found himself in a situation where his own hatred for the upper classes conflicted with actuality. While Princess Celestia herself didn't decide who could live in Canterlot, those who owned the land, mostly nobles in Canterlot's case did decide and if the sun princess didn't have any direct control over city development and while the nobles did, she had effectively given them the power to control who moved in and didn't. Instead of correcting himself he just stays silent.

"I'm getting the feeling that you guys don't like the nobility much."

Oh boy, this required much more than a sip.

After cringing from the gulp, he continued, "Yeah, they don't gain much likability, nor do they exactly deserve it. This is coming from one of them, by the way."

And another one to finish the glass.

"The Designs. They..." Intel cringed again, more from the upcoming task of explaining than they whiskey. "I'm going to need another drink."

With that statement, he reluctantly raised a hoof.

He looks down at his empty glasses, deciding he doesn't want anything else to drink for tonight.

"The Princesses both have my affections, but I simply do not like anypony who thinks they're better than anypony else, without them actually being better in ability. And even then I don't like them if they constantly lord it over everypony."

"Opposite side of the spectrum here. Can't say I hate nobility directly..but the fact they are already better off..." Shala just realized she may have drank too much. She hadn't had anything but constructive things to say lately. So she just did the next best thing and ordered four shots of tequila. "I think I'm enjoying this far more than i should..."

Note to self: Shala probably will regret herself in the morning. Do you want to be like that?

Intel stared at the whiskey in front of him. A sip.

"Nobility essentially runs like this. What my ancestors did is kudos for me. If your great-great-grandfather or something led a charge in some battle or another, that translates to your right to being a ponce today."

Another sip.

"Now, that I think of it, it usually is war they boast about. Strange, cause Equestria doesn't experience many."

A bigger sip.

"Of course when your family is famous for designing stuff, once isn't enough."

...

"Ohh, no. It doesn't matter how many ponies are better off with your sewerage system, you have to pull out something like that. Each. And. Every. Generation."

*Gulp*

"aaand they have the, nerve! Of looking down on you despitethefact that they essentially owe the existance, tence- sorry of Canterlot! because of my forefathers pens!"

*Gulp*

*Longer gulp, finishing the glass*

"Then! Kicked out of Canterlot because of a single! Bloody! Momentofmadness!"

Yeah, that's probably enough.

Indigo stares, listening to the pony's grievances and watching him drain the last of his glass. He looks down at his own, and back up to Intel, a bit ashamed of himself for talking about his culture in a negative light. "Let it all out if you have to..."

Shala giggled to herself at seeing Intel break down a little. Guess these ponies do know how to drink when they need to. Her attention though was on the four shots before her soon enough.

"I wonder if I can finish them all.." She said aloud before lifting each one and downing them in rapid secession. Once done she tried to rest her head in the table. Instead it slammed down rather hard. She blushed and giggled to herself before giggling louder, almost cackling.

"I....don't know what time it is!" She cheered in pride, oblivious to most all else.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

"Well done you." Intel said dully, "On that bombshell, I think I better ask if this place has any vacant rooms." He motioned towards the door. "No, wait." He turned towards the bar.

---

A pony walks up to the bar and the bartender says...

It was the pony's lucky day. There was a vacancy for tonight where he could lie down, for a small fee, of course. The pony known as Intel smiles at this information and goes back to his fellows. He bids them farewell as he plans to get up early the next day to visit the town's mechanic for reasons he doesn't say. He expresses his sincere hope to meet them all again, then stumbles to his lodging.

...the bartender was a strange one.

He shakes his head, wondering what the hay he's gotten himself into for inviting an alcoholic pony to live in his home.

"Alright you drunk, I think you've had enough."

"Eeemmmnnope." Shala attempted to say to Indigo. Even so she still put a few bits in the counter and gracefully flopped onto the floor. "I...I done no wrooong." She stumbled to her hooves and leaned against a wall she found. That wall may have been Indigo but she hardly knew better or cared.

"Did...you bring a pillow?" She hoofed at his frizzy mane. How nice. A mobile bed.

He looks ahead of him, more than mildly annoyed at his unkempt mane being being hoofed and called a pillow. Sure he washed it to make it nice and fluffy, but it was far from being that fluffy. He got up from his chair, testing his legs first for weakness from the alcohol before deciding his next course of action. "Yeah, let's go with that. A pillow."

What happen next was probably no surprise as she rested her head on the 'pillow'. "So...frizzy." Her horn lit up as she began to braid a few strands.

Alright, that's it. He levitated her onto his back. "Alright, you. Just lay your head there, we're going home for you to sleep this off."

Shala protested at first at being levitated but soon found herself more comfortably situated. She sure was glad he was leading the way. She had no idea where to go. Probably because she had not ever been there. In the meantime she silently braided the frizzy pillow.

He walks out with her on his back, carrying her to his house to be tossed onto the couch to sleep off her drinking. Her first day here and already drunk off her flank. Even if she is a criminally insane mane braider while drunk, at least she's a playful drunk instead of a mean one.

By the time Indigo got around to dumping her off she was sound asleep. She mumbled to herself but it had nothing to do with the time for once. Softly she sawed logs sprawled out in the couch.