Dust gently rained on the only six patrons of The Lucky Mare. Huddled into one window-side booth, the tightly knit friends had seen better days. Bandages covered their bodies, and their slightly disheveled manes were covered in ash and dried blood. Their silence spoke for their mood, beaten and broken.
Pinkie Pie and Rarity entered the booth at the same time, Pinkie leaning against Rarity for support on her bandaged leg. Once they sat down, the uncomfortable silence continued.
The party pony broke the silence by throwing a bag of bits down onto the table. “Can somepony buy us all drinks with that? I'd get them myself, but... major owies.” She rubbed the back of her head slightly, her hoof gliding over the rather large bump she acquired from the battle less than an hour ago.
“Sure thing,” The alicorn of the group piped up, her one eye not covered by a bandage gleaming. Applejack and Rainbow Dash scooted out of the booth, letting their winged companion pass by. The bag of bits jingled as Twilight walked off to the bar, mustering just enough strength to keep it afloat in her purple grasp.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Pinkie blurted, stopping Twilight in her tracks. “What does everypony want?” The mares in the booth all quizzically looked at her. “Unless it’s, like, cider for everypony.”
“Eh, I’d be ok with that,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, her expression betraying the searing pain she felt in her left wing. “As long as you don’t drink it all, Pinks.” The party pony’s face was slightly tinted red.
Rarity gently tapped a hoof on the table “Mmm, I’m usually not a fan—save cider season—but the times call for it.”
Applejack grinned for the first time since she took her seat, taking her eyes off of the wounded pegasus sitting right next to her. “Looks like six ciders, Twi’.”
Twilight quickly nodded and went over to the bar, where the bartender began to pour the six their drinks. “Laughter’s the best medicine,” Pinkie chuckled. “But cider really helps.”
“Six ciders!” Twilight happily yelped, slamming the six mugs down on the table. Fluttershy slightly jumped, being torn out of her thoughts, but was relieved to see the frothy drink.
“Thanks Twilight.” Pinkie flashed her friend a tired smile before collapsing her head on the table.
“Yes,” Rarity brought the mug up to her lips with her hooves, as magic strained her cracked horn. “Thank you darling.” She took a large sip.
“T-Thank you Twilight” Fluttershy squeaked, taking a tiny sip of her cider.
“Thanks Twi!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash answered at the same time, followed by a giggle.
Pinkie Pie raised her mug, clearing her throat for a toast. “To us totally kicking some bad guy butt!”
“Here here!” Rarity added in, clinking mugs with her friends. Applejack reached out with her right hoof, but the pain caused her to retract and hold the mug with her left hoof instead.
Rainbow Dash finished her mug in one chug, followed by an incredibly loud burp that made Rarity wince. “You got that right, Pinkie!” Dash cheered.
Fluttershy’s eyes were fixated on her mug before she spoke up. “Shame about your leg, Pinkie.” She whimpered, remembering the showdown earlier that day.
“Aw, it’ll be okay,” Pinkie reached across the table, squeezing Fluttershy’s hooves. “I drink lots of milk.” She nodded, drinking more of her cider.
Applejack raised a skeptical eyebrow at Rainbow Dash, who was now drooling over the farmpony’s cider. “Ya drank your entire mug already?”
“Well duh, you can get pretty thirsty when fighting a huge monster!” The daredevil responded like it was obvious.
The group continued to sip in silence, a heavy weight bearing down on their consciousness.
“I suppose we can’t really blame you,” Rarity sighed, closing her eyes. “It can’t keep going like this…”
“What do ya mean by that, Rares?” Applejack asked her friend as Dash stole a sip from under her nose.
“Well,” Rarity stated matter of factly. “Just look at the state of Rainbow’s wing.” Dash cringed, remembering the searing pain of her wing being slammed against the badland rocks by their foe.
“Hey, it was nothin’.” Dash bragged, sticking a hoof to her chest. “Sure I won’t be flying much for the next few weeks, but we totally kicked some major flank back there!”
“But what I mean is--” Rarity cut herself off with a sigh, brushing her once perfect mane out of her eyes. “Nevermind, I’m probably being overdramatic.”
.
“Is this about your horn?” Twilight inquired, pushing the mug of cheaply made cider away from herself.
“Not really, no,” Rarity confirmed, tapping her horn which currently had a crack going down the middle. “I know they grow back.” She motioned to her other friends “But legs, hooves, wings… They don’t.”
“Nah,” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “They just fix themselves instead!” Rarity ignored Pinkie’s crippling lack of medical knowledge.
“So what is it about, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked her good friend.
Rarity gripped her mug, before speaking softly. “...We might not be this fortunate forever.” She took a swig of the flat cider, unsure of what to say.
“Are you implying that we’re going to…” The princess of friendship lowered her voice. “Die?”
Rarity didn’t answer for a bit, simply looking at her front hooves. “Just seeing the grim reality of it all, darling.”
Fluttershy whimpered. “You really think we're going to be killed some day?
Rarity uncomfortably fidgeted in her seat before speaking up “Darling… Just look at yourself!” She motioned at Fluttershy’s right side of her flank, which was covered with bandages. “If the fire had been just a bit closer…” Fluttershy’s eyes widened at the idea. She had never expected an animal to be so… Mean to her.
“Rare,” Applejack warned, noticing Rainbow Dash squirm slightly. “Ah don’t think that’s a good thing to talk ‘bout.”
“Hey, we're all safe now, so that's all that matters.” Pinkie smiled to her friends before drinking more cider. “Even with the owies, there's no place I'd rather be than right here with you guys.”
“As much as I hate to say it, Pinkie…” Twilight trailed off, sipping her cider again. “Rarity’s right. Someday, it might not be all of us here to celebrate after defeating a threat to Equestria…” She motioned at her friends, before taking a deep breath. “Or any of us…”
“Oh c’mon, Twi!” Rainbow Dash protested. “Do you really think some dumb creatures could kill us?” Her guise was convincing to most, but Applejack noticed her pupils dilate near the end.
Twilight pointed to her temporarily blind eye, slightly flaring her nostrils. “Have you looked at my eye recently?” She raised her voice, causing Dash to shrink down into the booth.
Pinkie frowned. “Forget it, you’re all killing the mood right now.”
Twilight calmed herself down before looking at her friend. “Sorry Pinkie…”
“No no… sorry, it’s fine,” Pinkie reassured her alicorn friend. “We’re just super zapped and owie all over.”
Rarity stifled a chuckle, before offering the rest of her cider to Rainbow Dash, who happily accepted. “That’s one way of putting it, I guess.”
Rainbow Dash yawned, all resemblance of a cool athlete quickly transforming into one of the most adorable ponies in Equestria as her eyelids drooped. She leaned against Applejack, who wrapped a hoof around her best friend. As the rest of the group smiled, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Today kinda sucked, didn’t it?
“You can say that again, Dashie!” Pinkie chirped with her trademark optimism. “But hey, at least we beat that mean ol’ dragon, right?” The ponies nodded.
“I hope the beds here are comfortable… We deserve that much.” Rarity watched Dash down her gifted mug of cider, seemingly uncaring of its putrid taste.
“Ah think that the Princess of Friendship and her Friends could get some nice rooms, don’t ya agree?” Applejack proposed, earning a giggle from the entire group.
Pinkie Pie yawned, not bothering to finish the rest of her rancid cider. “”I’m so tired, I could sleep through Applejack’s snoring.”
“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Not even I can sleep through that!” The friends shared a laugh, Applejack included.
“See?” Pinkie Pie was the last to stop laughing. “We’re fine!”
Applejack shot Pinkie a weary smile, looking at her wounded hoof. “Ah guess we are.”
Rarity grimaced, staring at the setting sun. “Just… The idea what we won’t one day…” She shook.
“It’s scary…” Fluttershy trailed off, shivering.
Rainbow Dash squeezed Applejack tighter, trying and failing to hide her terror. “H-hey,” She mumbled. “It’s not so bad guys…”
“‘s okay sug’.” Applejack returned the hug, attempting to comfort the prismatic pegasus.
“It’s…” Pinkie started, thinking of how to cheer her friends up. “It’s gonna be okay girls, I know it will. It just doesn’t doesn’t look like it right now ‘cause we’re tired.”
“Pinkie, are you sure?” Twilight cut in. “I mean, I almost lost an eye, Rarity could've been magicless forever, Fluttershy was almost barbequed, Dash could've never flown again, and you... You almost had your entire back leg come off! How can you say this is ok?” The friends were silent for a minute, all assessing their injuries.
Pinkie slightly flinched before regaining her composure. “'Cause we're still here, together. And that's what counts the most right now.”
Twilight slowly smiled before speaking up again. “I guess you’re right, Pinkie.”
Rainbow Dash wiped something from her eye, which totally wasn’t a tear. “I… I think I could use that room about now…”
“I think we all could, darling.” Rarity agreed with a curt nod of her head.
“I-I think that would be for the best…” Fluttershy added.
“C’mon sugarcubes, lets go see what the rooms are like,” Applejack rose from the booth, her friends following suit. “We’ll go and see Redheart when we get back to Ponyville, okay?”
The six trotted up to the bartender, sans Pinkie who was being carried by Twilight. Rarity rung the bell to get the Bartender’s attention, who lazily glanced up at them. “Plannin’ on staying the night?” He offered. The only response he received was their tired stares. Their injuries spoke for themselves.
“So…” The barkeep looked at the six wounded ponies. “Six rooms? That’ll be sixty bits, ten each.
“Um,” Rainbow Dash blushed. “Make that five.” Rarity giggled as Dash wrapped a hoof around Applejack.
“Somepony's having a sleepoveeeeer~” Pinkie sang, smiling at the two flustered ponies.
“Yeah… Heheh…” Rainbow Dash kicked at the ground, trying to hide her embarrassment. “That.”
“Well then,” The bartender slammed his hoof on his desk, stopping the awkward moment in its tracks. “Fifty bits for five rooms it is!” Each pony put down ten bits, with the exception of Applejack and Rainbow Dash who put down five each.
“Thank you, sir.” Twilight sparkle politely thanked the bartender before leading the friends upstairs.
“Enjoy your stay!” The bartender waved without looking up from the bits.
Rainbow Dash lay in her bed, facing away from both the door and Applejack. She uncomfortably squirmed as Applejack got under the covers, unable to find sleep’s sweet embrace.
“Can’t sleep neither, ‘sug?” Applejack asked Dash, who had slowly begun the inevitable process of stealing the covers.
“Nah…” Rainbow Dash fidgeted in her bed, considering her options. “Just not feeling tired, y’know?” Applejack had heard enough lies from Rainbow to know when she wasn’t telling the truth. And she definitely wasn’t telling it now.
Applejack sighed. “Ya still gonna hide things from me? After all that back there?” Dash stirred, obviously upset.
“It’s just…” She trailed off with a sigh. “Do you think Rarity was right?”
Applejack thought for a moment. “Maybe?” Rainbow Dash stirred across from her. “No? Shucks, I dunno,” She admitted.
Tears formed in Rainbow Dash’s eyes as she turned to face her apple-bucking marefriend. “I…” She uncharacteristically choked back a sob, any traces of the confident pony ready to face the challenges of the world slowly draining away. “I just don’t wanna die, AJ.” The tears began to flow freely. “I don’t wanna die, I don’t want Twi to die, or Pinks, or Flutters, or Rarity… Or you…”
Applejack embraced Dash in a tight hug. “Me neither, hon. But… we’ll get by, I’m sure.” She let out a weak laugh. “Heck, you crash so many times and get right back up, I’m surprised anything can getcha.”
“I know, but the things in Tartarus keep getting bigger and meaner. What if something like Tirek comes around and we can't fight it?” Dash stressed.
“Well, we beat him, so it makes sense that'd we beat something jus' like him too,” Applejack reasoned.
“But what if we can't beat something like him next time! Or our Rainbow Power doesn't work! Or he ends up just killing us instead of capturing us! Or if--” Rainbow Dash’s worrying was silenced when she saw Applejack crack a small smile.
“Then we’ll deal with it as it comes, Rainbow.” Applejack drawled, her voice cracking. Although she wasn’t saying it, Dash could tell that Applejack was frightened herself. “We're all smart ponies. I'm sure that, together, we'll be able to think of something.”
Rainbow Dash laughed, her features brightening slightly. “Heh… I guess we are.”
“Well…” Applejack grinned, ruffling Dash’s mane. “You are when ya wanna be, at least.”
Rainbow Dash glowered before answering. “You too, AJ.” She embraced her marefriend in a hug as they started to drift into sleep.
“Heh heh,” Applejack cackled, closing her eyes. “Night, Rainbow”
“Night AJ,” Dash closed her remaining eye as the sun went down. As the Bartender went to his own room in the back, he walked under the rooms of the six guests.
Of the pegasus, fearful of the fate that awaits her in the future.
Of the unicorn, just relieved to be alive.
Of the alicorn, worrying over the fates of her friends.
Of the earth pony, both happy to be alive and scared stiff of death at the same time.
Of the lovers, taking comfort from death in each other.
All ready to face the new day.
