It was a cold day.

Surprisingly cold, given the time of year. The sun was beginning to set and sent long dark shadows that stretched out from the trees and buildings in protest of the brightly lit sky. It was actually kind of pretty and took my mind off having to explain to my parents why I was going to be coming home so late. I glanced back to my new friend as pulled me halfway across town. He refused to tell me why or who it was exactly that he wanted me to meet, and honestly I was beginning to grow a bit worried that perhaps trusting a pony whose name I still didn’t know was a bad idea. I frowned as we made a turn into an alleyway, reluctance washing over me.

He stopped and turned to me as if sensing my anxiety. “Come on, it’s just around the corner.” He said with a smile, gesturing forward with his hoof. I bit my lip and turned to look back the way we came. There were plenty of ponies around, surely one of them would be able to hear if anything started to happen. I nodded and followed after him.

As we made our way through, I realized it was really less of an alleyway and more of a backstreet. Small businesses and shops lined each side wherever space was available. Some had full interiors while others simply set up shop in small garages. A few ponies milled about, but most were simply closing up for the night.

“And here we are!” he exclaimed with a flourish toward a lonely looking business as we turned the corner. He stood proudly before it as if it were his own. Before us was a rather humble looking shop, or so I believed at first. The door seemed to be made of finely crafted cherry wood and the wall around the large window beside the door was similarly done with waving designs. The sun was just high enough still to put a glare on the window and block off my view of the inside. My eyes looked up, just above the small awning.

“Bella Luna?” I asked, reading aloud the name of the place. I turned to him, an eyebrow already raised high. “You… brought me out to a bar?”

“I’ve always thought of it more as a café that doesn’t usually serve coffee. Come on!” He trotted to the door and pushed it open, a little bell jingling to signal visitors.

“What?” I asked, “We aren’t old enough to be going into bars! My parents would kill me if they ever found out!”

I started to turn and walk back the way we came, regretting the whole trip. Explaining how I felt and why Moony was never going to come over again to my parents was already going to be hard enough, but if they ever caught wind of their daughter going to a bar clear across town? “Hey, hey!” He said, rushing to cut me off and holding up a halting hoof. “Listen, I didn’t bring you all the way out here just to try and get you drinking.”

He saw my brow furrow at how his words implied he wanted more than just that, and he cut himself off before he said anything else he might regret. “Listen,” he continued, taking a step back to give me space. “I’m pretty close with the owner, and I think she can help you with your… situation, with your friend. And even if she can’t directly help, I can promise she will never judge you how you feel.” He slowly made his way back to the door, pushing it open again and gesturing inside. “You just need to trust me.”

I let out a heavy sigh. My eyes darted back and forth down the street, making sure no one was watching us before pushing my legs to rush inside. I thought I heard him mention something as I passed by about being careful of something being loud before I was stopped dead in my tracks. All of my senses were hit at once and I nearly stumbled.

The room was filled with the most wonderful aroma that immediately reminded me that it had been hours since I had last eaten. I reflexively brought my hoof to my stomach as it growled while my nose tried to distinguish each scent. My eyes soon caught up to my nose, taking in the dark but calming atmosphere. What felt like a hundred different lights hung from the ceiling, their low orange glow reflecting off the finely finished wooden tables and bar. The entire room seemed to be glowing with lights turned just low enough to leave the room in a perpetual dusk.

A few ponies still milled about finishing meals and enjoying the evening with one another, and one seemed to have fallen asleep on his own in one of the booths by the small stage in the corner. My eyes followed to the bar where a lone unicorn mare was positioned, a rag wrapped around her hoof as she cleaned spotless glasses. Behind her was a wall covered in bottles of all shapes and sizes. The wall itself was lit up from behind, causing the colors of drinks inside to form a wonderful mosaic.

“It’s beautiful in here,” I mumbled more to myself than anything else. My friend chuckled and patted my back, the sudden touch pulling me from my stupor.

“Happens to everyone on their first time in. Come on, let’s go introduce you.”

I nodded and followed closely beside him as we made our way toward the mare attending the bar. My eyes were still lost in everything around me; it was like walking through a work of art. Suddenly a gasp brought me back to reality, yanking my attention back to the bar. The mare had finally taken notice of our approach and nearly dropped the glass she had been holding. Her eyes were wide and she looked like she had just seen the dead rise before her.

“Hey, H-”

“SUNNY!” The mare slammed her hooves down on the bar and screamed toward a door to our left that presumably led to the kitchen. “HE FINALLY BROUGHT A MARE! GET THE CAKE!!”

I couldn’t help but jump at the sudden screech that broke the once so peaceful silence. The stallion, flustered and blushing, quickly jumped up to the bar to be level with the mare, “No! I did not ‘bring a mare!’ She’s only a friend. A. Friend.”

The mare deadpanned back to him and the two sat in silence for a moment before her head fell back in a long, drawn out sigh. Her eyes rolled toward the kitchen door, “Nevermind, they’re only ‘friends.’”

I followed her gaze to catch sight of another mare halfway out the door, pushing a cart with a somewhat sloppily made ice cream cake with “FINALLY” written in frosting across the top, except whoever wrote it had realized they were running out of space and removed an L. The other mare seemed to sigh and quickly tugged the cart back into the kitchen.

The bar mare huffed and continued polishing her glass as she leaned against the bar toward me. “So, you single then?” she asked me, waggling her eyebrows and wearing a cocky smile. Now that she wasn’t screaming, which must have happened often enough due to the fact that none of the other patrons moved and the one pony was still passed out in the corner booth, it was easy to catch her accent.

“That’s not why I asked her to come all the way out here!” He interjected, throwing an accusatory hoof toward her. The two frowned at each other as he slipped into a chair. He turned to me, “This is my cousin. I think she can really help with your problem.”

“Proprietor of the fine Bella Luna establishment, proclaimed ‘fireball of Manehattan,’ and estranged heiress to the Orange family fortune assuming I haven’t been fully cut out of the will yet.” She spoke proudly as she reached out to shake my hoof, which she then used to tug me up into one of the seats with a surprising amount of strength. “Call me Halo.” She added with a wink.

I smiled and nodded to her, brushing my mane back. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

Halo’s smile faded almost immediately and her brow furrowed, looking at me as if I had suddenly started speaking to her in a completely foreign language. She turned to her cousin, “What did she just call me?”

He chuckled and reached to pat my back reassuringly, “I’m gonna go see if Sunny needs help in the kitchen.” He pulled himself from his seat and strode past the bar and double doors, leaving them to swing and brush against each other a few times before settling.

My attention returned to Halo, whose own attention had returned to scrubbing her glass. A small smile adorned her features. Looking at her closer without the distractions of the previous bickering, she was actually a rather pretty mare. She had a blonde colored coat with a short, fiery mane which I could only assume was in part the reason to one of her nicknames.

“So,” she said, turning her bright green eyes toward me, “What’s her name?”

“I-I’m sorry?” I stammered, taken aback by her question. How did she know? He couldn’t have told her, he had only recently found out and they had only just arrived!

She could easily see my panic and started to laugh. “Listen kid, there’s only two reasons why Blue would bring you all the way out here to meet me. Either A, you’re lookin’ to start a small business and you’re lookin’ for some tips, or B,” She set the glass down upside down and leaned in with a grin, “There’s a mare involved. And I don’t mean no offense, but you don’t look like a mare tryin’ to make a few bits.”

I blushed and brushed my mane back only for it to fall back into place. “Am I really that easy to read?” I asked, suddenly having a hard time keeping eye contact.

“Only as much as a colorin’ book.” The barmare chuckled. “So, tell me about her. Start from the beginning.”

Distant memories of my childhood flooded back all at once. The days of an ignorant youth who thought they were bigger than the world. There were bad times, of course, but who would ever think of those times over the times she spent with my closest, dearest friend. “Her name is Moonlight Glow,” I began, “And she’s the most beautiful mare I’ve ever-”

“Hold on, hold on,” Halo interrupted, gesturing with her hoof for me to pause. I looked at her quizzically as she reached beneath the bar and pulled out an unmarked bottle full of an amber liquid. She popped the top off with her teeth as she flipped the glass she had left back over. She then swung the bottle over and had it filled without a single drop being wasted before hiding the bottle away once more. Halo then seemed to drop down suddenly, only her head visible as she made her away around the bar to my side. As she came into view, I was finally given a good look at her body. She was… surprisingly short, given her age and personality. Had she been standing on a stool this whole time?

“Sunny gets mad when I drink behind the bar.” She said, a little bounce in her step as she hopped up into the previously occupied chair beside me. Halo grabbed the drink and downed it in the first second, a blissful sigh escaping her lips as she relaxed back, her half-lidded eyes turning back to me. “Want some?” She said, holding out the empty glass as if to offer it to me.

“No, no, I’m not…” I said, holding up my hoof to politely decline before eying the mare. “Are you even old enough to be drinking?”

Normally I would have never asked such a question, but today was a day of surprises and getting relationship advice from a barmare half a head shorter than me was unexpected enough. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind too much.

“Are you?” She replied, cocking an eyebrow and pulling her empty glass back. I shook my head, to which she just smiled and sunk back into her chair, “Good, more for me then. So, most beautiful mare in the world, killer bod’, eyes to die for, absolutely stunning personality that makes your heart sing when ya think of her. Am I right so far?”

I blinked and nodded slowly. The comments were rather vague and could have applied to anypony that was in love, but she mare wasn’t exactly wrong in any way.

Halo set her glass on the bar and began to play with it with her hoof, gently tipping it over to make the last dribble of alcohol run from side to side. “And for my next trick, I’mma guess she said no.”

I bit my lip and looked away. My heart, having been raised so high from my old memories, now began to sink back into the depression it had begun in.

She sighed again. This time there wasn’t any bliss or cheerfulness in her breath, instead it simply sounded tired. “Did Blue ever tell ya why he thinks I can help ya so much?”

I frowned and furrowed my brow gently at her question, “I’m sorry, who exactly is… Blue?”

Halo groaned and spun around to glare in the direction of the kitchen doors. “Damn kid… Been such an introvert all his life, don’t even bother introducin’ himself when he meets a mare before tugging her all around town.” The mare sunk back into her seat, crossing her hooves and leaning against the bar. “True Blue, part of the Grape family. Might’ve heard of his daddy, King Blue.” She pointed toward the wall of bottles behind the bar, specifically toward a rather expensive, vibrant blue bottle of wine with the words King Blue written in beautiful cursive written across it. Halo sighed again and shook her head, “Kid has got a lot to live up to. But hey,” She turned back to face me, putting on a fresh smile. “We ain’t here to talk about him. We’re here to talk about you. First though, we’re gonna talk about me, and why I know exactly what you’re goin’ through.”

Author's Note

Well this only took forever to get through. And the next chapter was supposed to be a part of this one too, but its been too long and I needed to get something out.

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment with any feedback!