Superfluous

"I wonder where they could be? Fluttershy said she was getting released at three today." Twilight looks at the clock on the wall. It read 3:46.

"This is pushing fashionably late and into being just plain rude." Rarity huffs and tosses her head to the side to get her mane out of her face.

"I'm sure they're just a little behind. You know the hospital never releases you at the time they say they will." Rainbow Dash shrugs a bit. She's had her fair share of hospital visits and knows how they work.

Pinkie Pie doesn't say much, she's too busy doing last-minute adjustments to the streamers and balloons. Ponies being late always made her antsy and second-guess herself. And now that there was a human in the mix, she was more nervous than ever.

"Here they come! Everypony shush!" Applejack calls out to the large gathering of ponies at Sugarcube Corner as she stares out a window near the front door.

=-(+)-=

"So will there be any booze at this shindig? I would love a beer." I look around at the buildings lining the dirt road of Ponyville, admiring their design. This place is really interesting from an architectural standpoint. It reminded me a lot of a replica medieval village I visited on a school field trip as a kid.

"Applejack most likely brought a keg of her apple cider. It's really good and is alcoholic."

"Ah," I say flatly. "I can't really do apple cider anymore. Too many bad experiences. Any liquor?"

Fluttershy turns her head to look into my eyes and sees the pain on my face. She frowns and leans against me as we walk. "Most likely. But we can stop and get you some if you'd like."

I drape my arm over her shoulder and idly pet her side. Some of her actions reminded me a lot of the Great Danes my family would foster when I was a kid. They liked to walk next to you and put their weight into you as if they were making sure you were still there. "Nah, I'll be fine. Probably shouldn't drink too much with painkillers still in my system."

"Okay. If you change your mind, we can always go. There's a store right down the road from Sugarcube Corner."

"I appreciate it. But I'll be fine." I pat her side again as Sugarcube Corner comes into view. "Jesus Christ. That has to be Sugarcube Corner." I stare at the gaudy, sugar and cake-covered building that looks like it's right out of a Brothers Grimm tale.

"It is. The Cakes own it but Pinkie lives and works there. She throws a lot of parties there too."

"How can anyone stand that much partying?"

Fluttershy sighs a bit, stopping just outside the store. "I have no idea. We all love her to death, but she can be a bit…" Her train of thought is interrupted by movement in the window and a light turning off.

"I get it." I take my arm from her side and then take a deep breath. "Ready when you are, Flutters."

A small blush spreads over her cheeks as she walks up the few steps to the door and then opens it for me.

The inside is dark but I can see a few shadows scurry to cover and the sounds of hooves on the tile. I slowly walk up the steps and into the bakery. The floorboards creak beneath my heavy boots. The lights flick on and over two dozen ponies all stand up at once, shouting "Surprise!"

Party streamers fall from the ceiling as a multitude of different colored ponies converge on me. I notice a banner above the counter in front of me says something in their weird hieroglyphic language. Even though I was expecting it, my heart races and my anxiety shoots through the roof. I try my best to be polite as everyone introduces themselves but quickly lose track of the names and just smile and nod.

A bouncy pink pony with the most tangled mane I've ever seen walks up to me with a large grin as the group starts to disperse. She quickly takes my hand and nearly shakes it out of its socket. "Hi! Nice to meet you! My name is Pinkie Pie! Do you like your party? I hope you do because we all worked reeeeally hard on it!" There was a tinge of passive-aggressive annoyance in her voice.

Freeing my hand from her, and making sure my arm is still attached, I give her a nod. "Yeah, it looks great. I had no idea there'd be a party. Thank y'all for doing this." I offer a smile.

"Of course! Anytime there's a new pony in Ponyville, I have to throw them a party! Well, you're not a pony but you know what I mean!" She still has that massive smile on her face. I could feel my jaw locking up just from looking at her smile.

"Well, I greatly appreciate it. Fluttershy told me so much about y'all. All good, of course." I fake a laugh at my bad joke. Small talk has never been my thing, now more than ever. This was such an alien world and my anxiety was already high.

"That's Fluttershy for you!" She giggles as she walks over to Fluttershy and puts a leg over her shoulder. "Always such a chatterbox!"

Fluttershy just smiles faintly and hides behind her mane, clearly hating being the center of attention. I felt her plight.

By now most of the ponies have dispersed and are talking and eating in their own little groups, leaving me with the main group of Fluttershy's friends.

Applejack is the next to speak up and shakes my hand firmly. "Nice to meet ya. I'm Applejack. Twilight told me all about you. Said you grew up on a farm? If you're ever looking for work, we'd love to have you at Sweet Apple Acres. Someone with your build would be mighty useful."

"Uh, yeah, sure. That sounds like a great idea. I'm not too sure I have many other marketable skills here, so the work would be greatly appreciated." I give her a nod. I liked her already. She reminded me a lot of my sister. The hat was also a great touch.

Rarity extends a hoof. "Nice to meet you, Lillith. I am Rarity. I hope you are enjoying your clothes. I tried my best with what I was given, but I would love the opportunity to get your measurements and tailor something for you. Something with less…" she swallows, looking me up and down. "Black."

I look down at my outfit. Minus the band logo, this is pretty much what I wore every day. Black shirt, a choker or collar, black jeans, my Doc Martens, and either my Pabst Blue Ribbon hat or Professional Bull Riding hat. I had a thing for PBR, apparently. "I appreciate the offer. I'm happy with my everyday clothes. Though I wouldn't mind a dress. I had this really cute dress back home and never really got the chance to wear it."

Rarity's frown from my comments quickly turns into a smile. "I would love the chance to create a dress for you! Just think about it, the first dress created for a human! By me!" She giggles and is quickly lost in her thoughts.

"Right…" I look at Fluttershy who just shrugs.

Twilight walks over with a small purple and green lizard and smiles. "Hello again, Lilly. Glad to see you up and about. How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but great outside of that. Thank you again for the healing spell. It seems to have fixed a lot of the issues I had." I smile at her and then look at the small lizard that comes up just above my knees. "Who's your little friend?"

"This is my number one assistant Spike. He's a baby dragon. Say hi, Spike."

Holy shit, an actual dragon. I thought Sawbones said they didn't live in Ponyville.

"Um, hi. I'm Spike." He says, avoiding eye contact.

I crouch down to his level and smile at him. I offer my hand. "It's nice to meet you, Spike. I like your scales. They remind me of a friend back home."

He quickly looks up. "You have dragons back home? Twilight said you didn't!" He looks up from me to Twilight and then back to me.

"Well, not exactly." I realize what I said and let out a nervous chuckle.

Eject.

"There are no actual dragons like you, but there's a group on the internet called furries, and they… create…"

Eject.

"Fictional characters. One guy I knew had one that looked similar to you."

E-ject.

"...huh." He gives me a confused look as I stand back up.

Everyone around me looks a bit confused. "It's not important," I say as I rub my neck nervously.

Should've ejected.

"Right, well. Could I get you something to drink? An apple cider maybe? I brought a keg all the way from the cellar at Sweet Apple Acres and just tapped it. It's still ice cold!" Applejack motions towards the table with a keg resting on it.

I must've made a face as Fluttershy speaks up before I do. "Lilly is still on some painkillers from the hospital and shouldn't drink. Doctor Sawbones said she should be okay twenty-four hours after her last dose. So about six tonight."

"Ah, well, more for us then. C'mon, Dash. I know you've been wantin' some of my cider."

"About time! I was about to start drinking without you all!" She says as she and Applejack walk towards the table with the keg. I hadn't noticed it until just now, but Rainbow Dash hadn't said a single word to me and even barely looked at me.

As they leave, I look over at Fluttershy and smile. "Thank you," I whisper and pat her side. She gives me a nod in response.

"I think I'm also going to go get some cider. Rarity? Pinkie?" Twilight asks, motioning for her friends to follow her. She looked like she had something important to tell them. They both nod and make their way to the keg along with Spike.

"Is there somewhere quiet we can go for a minute? I need to sit down," I ask Fluttershy. My social anxiety was still high and my back hurts.

She nods and leads me through the crowd to a more quiet and secluded corner. I sit in a padded booth and take a deep breath. Fluttershy sits across from me and puts her hooves on the table. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just… anxious. Really need to go by my truck and get my medicine." I rub my neck again. "If it's not too much trouble, could we possibly do that tomorrow?"

Fluttershy puts her hoof on my hand and nods. "Yes, of course. If you feel like you're up for a small hike."

I look down at my hand then up at her and into her eyes. "With you, I can do anything."

Her cheeks flush bright red as she moves to hide behind her mane. I enjoyed teasing her, it was one of my favorite things to do with my partner when we were together. "O-oh, w-w-well um…" She stammers, trying to find the words but can't.

I give her a smug grin and pat her hoof. "A hike sounds great. Wouldn't hurt to get a few extra steps in, explore the area, all that jazz. I just hope it's all still there."

After finally regaining her composure, Fluttershy clears her throat. "I don't think anypony would go out into the Everfree Forest. Especially to steal from you. You're a bit of a town celebrity at this point." She motions to the crowd of ponies in the bakery diner.

I look across the groups of ponies talking and notice a mint-colored pony staring at me with golden-yellow eyes. We make brief eye contact and then she quickly looks away. I shrug it off and look back at Fluttershy. "Fair enough." I lean back in the booth. "Do you think any of your friends would want to come?"

"We can ask them if you'd like. I'm sure they would be more than happy to come along," she says with a smile.

"Hella." I nod and then look back at the crowd. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are headed over to our booth with a few mugs. "Oh Lord, here we go," I mumble to myself. Rainbow Dash scares me. Not because she's big or intimidating, but because she doesn't like me. That scares me more than anything. I'll admit it, I'm a very sensitive person and people possibly not liking me for reasons out of my control terrifies me.

"There y'all are!" Applejack says as she sets two mugs of cider on the table. "What're y'all doing all the way over here? The party's still goin' on!"

"I just needed to sit for a moment. The walk here really took it out of me." I shrug and scoot over. "Y'all want to join us?" There's my accent again. It also comes out when talking to people with thick accents. As much as I liked Applejack, she brought out a side in me that I'm not the biggest fan of.

"Well, shoot. I guess we could relax for a couple minutes. Pinkie has been drivin' me plum crazy with her antsiness," Applejack says as she scoots into the seat next to me. I hadn't noticed before but she has an intense smell of dirt, apples, and sweat. "Here you go, Fluttershy. We got you a cider." She slides the wooden mug over to her. "You looked like you could use a drink."

"Oh, thank you." She takes the mug and then sips it.

Rainbow Dash silently slides into the booth with Fluttershy and looks down at her mug of cider.

"Is everything okay, Dash? You've been quiet." Fluttershy looks at her friend sitting next to her with concern.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just…" she takes a deep breath and then sighs. "Just thinking is all."

"About what, Sugarcube?" Applejack asks.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes quickly flick from me and then back to her mug. “Nothing important. Just thinking about my Wonderbolts training.”

“You’ve been working on that for months. Relax for the night. This is a party after all.” Applejack sends her point home by chugging her drink and slamming the empty mug on the table. “Don’t make me sic Pinkie Pie on you.”

Dash’s eyes go a bit wide and she quickly picks up her mug. “Let’s not do that.”

Fluttershy smiles softly at her friend’s exchange and sips her cider.

I look at my empty hands. “Damn, now I’m feeling left out. Y’all got anything a bit harder than cider?”

“Oh, big pony in town. Thinks cider is too weak.” Applejack laughs and slaps my back. “I got something I think you’d like. Wait right here.”

Rainbow Dash watches Applejack leave then looks at me. “Okay, look. I didn’t want to say it in front of Applejack. But…” She looks at Fluttershy. “Are you two going to be a thing? I-I’m cool with it, I just…” She rubs her neck as she looks for the correct words.

I glance at Fluttershy who has a face as pink as her mane and is quickly sinking into the seat then back at Rainbow Dash. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk about it, but yeah. I think so. We’ve both talked about our feelings a bit and it seems like that is the way it’s going to go.”

Rainbow Dash nods softly. “Gotcha. I figured as much. Saw you guys all cuddled up on the way in and just wanted to talk about it. Fluttershy is like a sister to me and I can get a little protective.” She wraps a foreleg around Fluttershy and leans against her.

“I get it. I have a sister that constantly falls for shitty guys. I’m a little protective of her too.”

Rainbow Dash nods then sticks out a hoof. “No hard feelings?”

“No hard feelings.” I reach out and fistbump her.

Fluttershy puts her hoof out and hoofbumps us then lets out a tiny “Yay.”

I pull my hand back as Applejack comes up with a small tray with shot glasses and a clay bottle with XXX painted on the side. "Alright, everypony. I got a special surprise for y'all."

"No bucking way! You did not bring your moonshine!" Rainbow laughs.

"Yup! And this pony thinks she's hardcore," Applejack says as she motions her hoof towards me. "I'm gonna put that to the test." She sets the tray on the table. "You and I are gonna go shot for shot."

"You reeeeally don't want to try to match me shot for shot. The Craigs have a fabled history of alcoholism and I'll be damned if I fail them now. Bring it."

Applejack takes the bottle and pours two shots. "I'm gonna make you eat those words!" She slides a glass to me and then gives a countdown. We both slam back the orange-tinted liquor.

Much to my surprise, the moonshine was very smooth with a hint of apple and cinnamon. It reminded me of the apple pie moonshine my friend makes.

"Damn, that's smooth as shit." I take a deep breath, admiring the burn as it sits in my stomach. "Tasty too."

Applejack slides the bottle toward me with a devious grin. "I'm glad you like it. This recipe has been in the Apple family for generations."

I nod and grab the clay bottle then pour two more shots. "Might have to order a few bottles from ya. Reminds me a lot of the stuff my buddy Gauge makes back home."

"I usually just make this for special occasions, but I might be able to do that," she says as she takes hers again.

I raise the shot glass. "Kippis!"

"Cheers!"

We both shoot again. This is gonna be a long night.