Chapter One: Pony on Melancholy

Rarity wallowed in melancholy at her desk with her head resting on her hoof. Normally she’d have a dramatic tantrum at the mildest amount of stress or frustration, but she didn’t have the energy. Her friends came to rescue her, and had suffered greatly for it. If she came back faster or sent word that she was ok, the whole conundrum could have been avoided. Fluttershy would still be alive, the others wouldn’t have been put through whatever torture they suffered, and they wouldn’t have been taken in a bloodlust and killed an entire community of Diamond Dogs. She wanted to apologise to her friends and beg for forgiveness, but she couldn’t muster the courage to face them. Besides, how could they possibly forgive her when she couldn’t even forgive herself? Drinking cheap champagne, she spent the whole night moping at her desk. As she drifted in and out of sleep, she allowed her guilt and sorrow to manifest itself in her absolute depression.

As light flooded the room, Rarity was awakened from her mournful slumber in the hopes that her experience had just been a bad dream. Drearily gazing around the room, she saw the mud she had tracked in, smelt the alcohol in the air and became aware of her dull, throbbing headache. The room seemed to grow darker and close in around her at the realisation that it hadn’t been a dream. Sighing to herself, she moved to the bathroom and proceeded to throw up in her toilet before making an effort to restore her appearance. Turning to the mirror, a bedraggled, ugly, messy pony with vomit on her mouth looked back at her. “I’m better than this,” she said. Staring at her reflection she thought to herself “Well, obviously you’re not.” How could this happen? How could she have allowed this to happen? After washing her face, she sighed deeply and proceeded downstairs to make herself the greasiest, soggiest breakfast possible. It was never the preference of the glamour pony, but she knew it was the best meal for a hangover.

After breakfast, Rarity returned to her study to continue moping. She poured herself another glass of champagne, but rather than drinking it she stared at it intently. “What’s the point?” she asked herself. Setting her glass down, she tried to think of the most positive course of action. In the past, other ponies had bent over backwards to help her get out of a poor mood. She knew that wasn’t going to happen this time. After all, she was in the wrong this time. She felt nopony but herself could correct her misdeeds. There was no point in delaying any further. She wanted somepony to honestly forgive her. She just had to bite the bullet and talk it out with her friends.

***

When Rarity arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, she was somewhat surprised at what she found. Applejack was engaged in a heated yet unintelligent and one-sided argument with an apple tree. The drunken work pony seemed to be prepared to take the issue to blows, and Rarity approached with caution, for fear of angering the powerful beast. “Forget you, I can eat all these apples,” Applejack slurred, staring aggressively at the tree. Rarity cleared her throat before interrupting the imaginary dispute by saying “Excuse me, Appleja-“ before being cut off when Applejack turned around hastily, fell over and picked herself up.

“Wha’s that? That you Rarity? I’m kinda busy with this here varmint, sayin’ mah mouth’s makin’ promises mah- well, mah mouth can’t keep.”

Rarity made some more awkward attempts at conversation over the next few minutes with no success; Applejack had her priorities set in stone. Just as she was about to give up and leave, she heard somepony behind her remark “Well, no surprises here.” Turning around, Rarity saw that it was Pinkie Pie, looking much better than she had the day before, however she was still heavily bruised, scarred and her hair was still straight.

“Hello, Pinkie.” Rarity said with a weak smile, “New hairdo? Looks good on you.”

“Something like that,” Pinkie replied with a look and tone of absolute seriousness, “but is that really what you want to talk about right now?”

Rarity had hoped to ease into the subject, especially with Pinkie. “So, how are you holding up, Pinkie?” she asked, trying to treat the issue with sensitivity.

Pinkie looked at Rarity incredulously and said flatly “Rarity, look at me. How do you think I’m holding up?” After staring at Rarity for a few moments, Pinkie looked past her at Applejack. “It’s disgusting, isn’t it? She thinks she can drown her feelings in cider. She’s going to waste the rest of her life because of this.”

“Oh yes, dreadful...”

“It looks like we’re all going to have to go through this individually. Again.” Without looking at the unicorn, Pinkie started walking back to Sugarcube Corner. “I’ll see you around, Rarity.”

“Pinkie, I’m sorry!”

“I bet you are,” replied Pinkie without turning to face her.

Rarity felt like a cold dagger had been sunk into her heart. There was no comfort to be found with Applejack in her current state, and Pinkie was evidently unwilling to forgive her. With Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale, she resolved to try and make some progress with Twilight.