To New Horizons

You and Starfire make sure the bar is properly stocked before unlocking the front door and putting the open sign out on the street. A few ponies make their way in for some cider, luckily nopony’s really looking for lunch yet. Seeing today’s going to be a slow one Starfire decided to go back into the kitchen and at least set everything out for Eclipse.
Not too long after she set everything out for him the unicorn makes his way downstairs and enters his kitchen without saying a word. “What's gotten into him?” You quietly ask Starfire only for her to shrug. After an hour open, pony’s start asking for food. Though it's mostly salads. You already had to enforce the one drink cut off till four on a few ponies, but they didn’t hassle you over it. All round a pretty smooth day so far.

You pour yourself a glass of water and keep it on the lower counter behind the bar, you know from experience that eventually somepony comes to the counter for conversation, and you never really hated it. Speak of discord himself you get what you asked for. Four filly’s enter the bar with a mare wearing a ranchers hat following close behind. “Here’s the regulars.” you think to yourself before taking a sip of water to prepare yourself for the inevitable conversation.
You knew four of these patrons, but one filly was new, and a little scared looking too. The mare was Applejack, An emerald-eyed earth pony with orange fur and light yellow mane. Her cutie mark being three apples. She always ordered an apple cider with a hayburger and some buttered toast on the side.

Apple Bloom is a pink-eyed, red-maned, yellow-furred filly who ordered the same as her sister minus the apple cider and substitute it with apple juice. Scootaloo who is a purple-eyed pegasus filly with a purple mane and orange fur. She always ordered the cheese sandwich with milk. The last regular of today was Sweetie Belle, who is a green-eyed unicorn with white fur and a pinkish mane. She ordered milk and salad. The fourth filly was avoiding eye contact with you, she was a Pegasus with a cyan coat, purple eyes and a blue mane.

The group approached the counter and seated themselves on all four bar stools. “Welcome and welcome back to the Skyward Sword bar and inn! What can I do you mares today?” You hated being so formal with these ponies. Maybe next time you can figure something besides the standard to say. “Oh cut the formality’s Sky, We’d been here ever since ya opened the front door.” Applejack stated with a smile.

“Alright, noted. You lot want the usual? Cause if ya do you gotta get a table.” You tell them smiling right back. “Well ya, but we got something to talk to y’all about.” Apple Bloom said with a semi-concerned look on her face. You shift a concerned look to Applejack and her smile falters a little. “Ya, what do y'all need?” You ask as you take another sip of your water.

“Well you see. Whirlwind here is trying to get her cutie mark. And well, we are running outta things for her to do. So we thought that maybe she’d get it for adventuring. So, I guess what I’m asking ya is to see if she’s up for it.” Apple Bloom says as she gestures to the cyan pegasus. You look at her up and down, causing her to shyly look away. “So you think you wanna be an adventurer aye?” You ask and without saying a word she nods.

“Please mister Sky, please at least give her a chance.” Scootaloo begs as she throws a foreleg around Whirlwind’s neck. You sigh and look at Applejack, who shrugs and looks almost pleadingly at you. “What the hay, get some food and talk to me when you all are done, only then will I see if she’s got what it takes.” You say as you look at the group of filly’s. Whirlwind looks up at you in amazement.

“R-Really mister?” She asks timidly as the group in front of you is in almost shock. “Course, you just gotta go eat your food first, rule four about adventuring is that you eat good when you can.”You reply with a smile across your face, the four filly’s erupt into cheers and run off to a nearby table. Applejack gives you a serious look before speaking. “You ain’t seriously gonna take her on an adventure are ya?”

“Hay no, I’m just gonna have her pick a weapon to practice with and tell her the rules of adventuring.” You reply as you grab a towel and wipe off the counter the filly’s were in front of. “Don’t ya think that's a bit risky with the Crusaders?”Applejack whispers to you while she keeps an eye on the filly’s. “Well, how I figure is that either I teach them right, or they all wander into the Everfree forest looking for an adventure unprepared.” You state matter of factly to Applejack who sighs at your answer.

“Ya, I guess you're right... Business going well?” That caught you a little off guard, she’s never really asked you about the bar before. “Business has been pretty slow as of late. But adventuring season really ain’t for another month. How about you? Apple farm doing well for itself?” You ask as you signal to Starfire to get the usual and you point at the new filly. She catches the hint and goes over to the table to take her order.

“We ‘re doing….. As well as can be.” Applejack states with a forced smile, man did she ever suck at lying. “Ok AJ, what’s got you lying in my bar tonight?” You tease as you lean on the counter with a smile and take another swig of water. She almost jumps at the fact your calling her out. “Oh...It's just, nothing you needa be concerning yourself with. Me and Big Mac will handle it.”

“Come on AJ, we’re friends, your concerns are mine. I’m a big stallion I can handle it.” You continue to tease finally getting Applejack to chuckle and loosen up a bit. “Look, not here alright? Can we talk in your guildhall what’s it after your lesson with the filly’s?” Applejack asked, concern written all over her face. “Ya, of course. That bad eh?” You ask, all joking set aside.

She only nods and starts to trot her way to the table the filly’s picked. “Whatever it is, We got your back Applejack.” You stated as she looks back at you, relief washing over her face as she takes a deep breath and recover’s herself. She then makes her way over to the filly’s and sits down at the table. As if attracted to gossip itself Starfire makes her way behind the counter next to you and taps you on the shoulder.

“What was that whole thing about?” She asks giving a few concerned glances towards AJ’s table. “I ain’t gotta clue, but whatever it is really seemed to upset her.” You say as you drink the last of your water and go to refill it. “Well, I hope it isn't too bad. Should we close up a little early for a guild meeting or ride it out to our usual nine pm closing?” Starfire asks as the two of you look out across the semi-empty bar, making sure nobody’s eavesdropping.

“Well, if we aren’t to busy we’ll close shop round seven. If were packed we’ll go to our normal. Oh and tell AJ the cider’s on the house, she seems like she needs to get the edge off a little.” You tell Starfire who nods before a ding rings from the bell in the kitchen, food’s done for the group.

“Hey, mind helping me wait tables. Doesn't look like your too busy over here.” She asks as she turns halfway to the kitchen. Not like you were doing much anyway, besides wiping down a clean counter. “Sure.” You reply as you two make your way through the swinging door to the kitchen, Starfire using a door wedge to prop the door open. “We really need to install a kitchen window.” You think to yourself as you walk through the door.

You barely enter the kitchen behind Starfire, Eclipse constantly complained about your feathers winding up all over the place. It was a standard kitchen with a few fridges on the left, an island counter in the middle of the room and stoves, fryers and a sink on the right. Ingredients were floating all over the place surrounded with a dark purple aura. It always surprises you how well Eclipse could multitask like this, chopping veggies and cooking hayburgers all at the same time.

No matter, before you knew it you had a warm serving plate on your back with a couple hayburgers and a salad, you raise your wings a little and press them against the serving plate, being sure you won’t accidentally drop it. Starfire grabbed her serving tray with her mouth and you watched as Eclipse magically assembled the food items onto the plate, putting at least two salads, a milk glass and three apple juices onto it.

Seeing the clear lack of cider you knew you’d have to make a second trip to pour her some. Which was fine, it was your job anyway. The two of you started to make your way out of the kitchen but a twine basket with some silverware wrapped in napkins halts your path. You look at Eclipse who looks extremely stressed and annoyed at you for almost forgetting the silverware. You sigh and take the basket handle in your mouth before the two of you proceed out.

The two of you march your way over to Applejacks table and you set the basket down before you use your wing as a slide for the serving tray. Starfire merely sets her serving tray down on the other side of the table and walks over to you. “Sorry, we didn’t have room on the trays for your cider AJ. I’ll go get that now.” You say apologetically as Starfire starts handing out silverware. “No problem Sky, food looks great. Now girls what do you say?” Applejack says as she gives an almost mom look to the CMC.

“Thank you Star and Sky.” Is all the CMC said. You and Starfire chuckle at this. You always laughed at how everyone in the guild had a name referring to the sky. It was almost like the universe was playing a weird joke on you guy’s, or it had absolutely no creativity.

Nevertheless, Starfire replied as you make your way back to the bar counter. “You’re all welcome, hope you enjoy the meal!” With that you make your way behind the counter and grab a tankard with your hoof, getting on your hind legs you pour some apple cider from a barrel tap and secure it in your wing.

Once secure, you make your way back to the table where Starfire is clearing the tray’s off, loading both of them and the semi-empty basket on her back as you approach. You set the apple cider in front of AJ and before she can thank you, you say. “Drink’s on the house. Seems like you need it.” Before she can argue you continue. “Enjoy your meals and talk to me when you're done eating about your first lessons.” You state as you and Starfire quickly make your way away from the table before AJ can attempt to argue against the free drinks.

Once behind the bar counter, Starfire gives you a concerned look. “First lessons?” She asked, looking generally puzzled. You roll your eyes and sigh as you pick up your tankard of water. “Ya, the CMC asked me to teach one of their new members how to adventure, and well. I saw that we weren’t too busy and offered to give them a brief lesson.” You smile sheepishly as Starfire chuckles. “We finally have an official guild and your already taking on apprentices?” Starfire jokes as she lightly punches your shoulder.

“Hey, I’m just seeing if the filly’s got a spirit for it is all. I didn’t promise anything that big.” You reply as you nervously drink some more water. Your still a young adventurer yourself. Taking on an apprentice is a bit ahead of yourself, you still got a lot to learn. “Well, in any case. I think it’s cute.” She says as she shifts her attention between you and the door, making sure no new customers come in.
“Cute enough you’ll cover for me while I go teach them?” You tease with a smile across your face, earning yourself a hard punch in the shoulder. “Don’t use my words against me!” She sarcastically yells as she pretends to get mad at you. You can only chuckle at this until you get an answer. A bell from the kitchen signals you two to get back to work.

“Fine, but you need to pour table five three tankards of Canterlot ale, and they oughta be ready when I come back.” She jests as she makes her way into the kitchen. You nod and happily set to pulling out three tankards from under the bar counter and happily fill them from the barrel of Canterlot ale. You set the three tankards onto the bar counter and await for Starfire's return.

You take this time to look over to table five. “Three unicorns are sitting there enjoying idle conversation, they don’t seem like the adventuring type. Nor the rich stuck up type. Perhaps they’re just getting a little taste of home. You can’t blame them either, even you have a Cloudsdale mead on occasion. But everypony loves Sweet Apple Acres apple cider. It was a top seller at the bar, speaking of which. You gotta set a pre-order for some barrels here pretty soon and hold them until the offseason. ” Your mind continues to wander until you jump at Starfire’s hoof nudging you back to reality.

“You mind putting those drinks on the tray?” She asks as she glances over to the Canterlot ale. “Oh ya sure, sorry.” You reply as you put all three tankards of ale on the tray. The tray had a hay burger and two salads. One of which had sliced tomatoes mixed in, while the other had veggies. “No problem, oh and word of warning. Your apprentice seems like she’s almost done with her meal.” She teases as she walks off to table five.

“She’s not my apprentice!” You quietly shout after her, causing her to laugh. With this, you glance over to table three and see the filly’s patiently waiting on Applejack to finish her hay burger. “Man, they really are serious about this, huh?” You think to yourself as AJ catches your eye. The two of you stare at each other for a few seconds before the sound of hoofsteps catches your attention.

A couple new patrons enter the bar and stop at the door. You nod to them as they enter, both were mares. One was a cyan coloured pegasus with a rainbow mane and purple eyes. Her cutie mark being a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of it. You’ve seen her in the bar a few times. Not really enough to catch her name. The other mare was a purple unicorn with either a black mane or dark blue, maybe dark purple? You could never really tell the difference between the two being, slightly colour blind and all.

The mare had a strip of light purple going down certain parts of her mane and tail. You think there was another color in there but you really couldn't point it out. Applejack seems to recognize them though and waves them over. They both cheerfully trot over to the table and you grab a couple menus from under the bar counter. You let them have a little bit of idle conversation before you leisurely trot over and place the menus in front of them.

“Welcome to Skyward Sword’s bar and inn! My names Skyward and that's the menu. If you need anything wave me or Starfire down and we’ll happily get it to you asap.” You say with a smile across your face. “Thanks Skyward, I’m Twilight and this is….” The purple unicorn is cut off by the rainbow maned pegasus.

“And I’m Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pony in all of Equestria!” She states in a rather cocky manner while extending a hoof out to you. You take her hoof and shake it as you chuckle. “Pleasures all mine. In any case, I’ll let you mares find something you like. If you need me I’ll be over by the bar.” You start to walk away but Applejack’s voice halts you in your tracks.

“Hold on there Sky.” She says, causing you to return back to standing at the table. All eyes seemingly on Applejack. “What’s up AJ?” You ask as she looks to you then to her friends. “Sky here has offered to have his guild hear out the issue at Sweet Apple Acres, and Sky my friends here have offered to do the same. Does either side have an issue working together?” She asks as she looks to everyone around the table.

“I see no issue,” Twilight states as she smiles back at Applejack. Rainbow huffs and glares at you for a few seconds. “Friends of yours are friends of mine AJ.” Rainbow states seeming not too happy with the extra help. Which was a complete one-eighty from how she acted not even ten seconds ago. Soon Applejacks gaze falls on you and so does the rest of the tables. “Well?” She asks as you pull up a chair from a nearby table.

“The more the merrier, just saying though. I don’t talk shop in the bar and the guild does not under any circumstances do escort missions.” You state matter of factly as you take a seat at the table. “Why is it y’all hate escort missions so much again?” Applebloom asks in her poor naive youth.

“Well, you see. We got a job from this shopkeeper to escort him to Canterlot to meet a wizard to lift a curse, it was something like a prestidigitation curse. But it only activated when he went outside. The moment we stepped outside thirty timberwolves magically appeared in the street where we had just walked down not even five minutes prior. Mind you this was in the center of town here. Anyway, we said screw it and told the guy to find some other ponies to deal with that. He understood and when we left his home again, the Timberwolves were all gone, and that's why we will never, EVER do an escort mission again.” You explain, leaving the group at the table slack-jawed.

“What about the shopkeeper? What happened to him?” Scootaloo asks causing everypony at the table to look at her then back to you. “Well, you see. We weren’t just going to leave the poor stallion to live out his day’s in his home. So we sent an urgent letter to the Canterlot wizarding guild to send somepony down to lift the curse. In the end, the guy was freed from the curse and he thanked us for contributing to his freedom.” You continue with a smile across your face, seemingly defusing any tension the group may have built up over the story.

They almost all seemed to sigh in relief when they learned that you didn’t just abandon the poor stallion. Though during your story you notice Whirlwind was completely enthralled by it. You actually feel a little pride when you notice that. “Maybe she is cut out for this after all.” You think to yourself as Rainbow Dash’s voice snaps you out of it.

“Well that is cool and all, but when CAN we talk about the issue at hoof?” She asked with a little impatience in her voice. “Depends.” You look at Applejack before continuing. “How serious is it?” She ponders this for a second before looking back and forth, making sure nopony’s eavesdropping. “The orchard is at stake and if it continues for much longer, we could miss the next apple harvest.” She replies, causing your stomach to drop.

You whistle loudly to get Starfire's attention and you wave her over. Garnering a few looks from other patrons. After giving them a hard stare they all go back to their own business. Once over she nods to the two new mares at the table. “You call?” She asks you as she gives you a semi-concerned look.

“You got the time?” You ask, knowing that there isn’t a clock in the bar itself. “Ya, it’s round three pm. Why?” She asks still sounding pretty concerned. “We’re closing early tonight, tell Eclipse food and drink stop round six forty-five and we should all meet up in the guild hall by seven.” She nods and makes her way back to the kitchen. You return a look to the ponies at the table.

“Everypony ok with meeting back here by then?” You ask, causing Rainbow to groan, but everypony else at the table agrees to return at the specified time. Including the filly’s who were overjoyed at the fact they were going to get their first lesson today. They all make their leave and you return the chair you took to its original position. You make your way back to the bar and go back to your bartending duties.