Walk Alone (ARCHIVE)

Chapters

prologue
Dust on our Hooves
Pace your time away

prologue

Celestia's sun shone high over Equestria, giving light to a clearing in a forest, the only sounds in said clearing being the echoes of the rushing river nearby, and the gentle sobbing of an earth pony. The tears streaking down her face would be hard to see if they didn't darken her light blue coat, and she could always cover her eyes with her messy brown hair if anypony came by. In front of her were two small headstones, each one covered in vines and flowers from years of having remained undisturbed, it was hard to read the names carefully carved into them, but if you knew what to look for, you could clearly read "Jack Daniels" and "Strong Spirits"

The earth pony kept to her quiet sobbing, gently laying down the lavender flower upon the ground in front of the headstones. They were Strong's favorite, and Jack always did his best to bring them to her, which the blue earth pony remembered vividly, one of her fondest memories of her foalhood was seeing Strong's eyes light up when she got her flower. Another fond memory was that every year on Jack's birthday, Strong would surprise him with a night out, and they would always come back and Jack say the same thing; "Oh, little Fireball, how lucky I am to have met your mother, and how even luckier I am to have you as my little silly filly." Fireball missed those days, where she would come home from school and see her parents back from work, greeting them with a warm nuzzle before they would all talk about their days. By the end, she would help around the tavern, something she loved doing, she got to meet so many interesting mares and stallions and sometimes even meet famous ponies, which she was always star struck when it happened.

Now, years later, she runs it by herself, and she's alot more closed off. But she still comes here on her birthday, to pay tribute to the loving family she once had, and the one she wants to honor as best as she can. Yet, she could come here a million times and look at the graves, and it wouldn't get any easier, but she had to, it's rude to not visit your parents.

Fireball was taken out of her thoughts by the sound of leaves crunching behind her. In her startled state, she instinctively quieted her sobbing and lowered her head, not wanting to show that she was upset in any way. She hated worrying people like that, and she knew she would be a total mess if somepony intruded on her time.

"It's me, Fireball." out came a familiar, gentle voice. Fireball recognized it, and let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in, and turned to see a lime unicorn, adorned in sand green garments, with a similarly colored gardener's hat atop her almost-white mane. Her pink eyes were filled with genuine care, and as she walked over to Fireball, her horn let out a glow as she opened the brown saddlebag at her side, pulling out a small, metal bottle, passing it to fireball, who eagerly took a swig.

"Thanks, Trim." the earth pony choked out as she wiped her muzzle with her hoof. Trim simply sat down next to her friend, and stayed silent, knowing that nothing she could say would make this easier.

After what felt like forever of silence, Fireball cleared her throat and stood up, taking another, larger swig from the metal bottle, setting it back down on the ground where it once was, and turning around to head back to ponyville, waiting for Trim to join her. Trim grabbed the now empty bottle and began trotting along the forest path, back to the river bank.

The trip was silent, as neither could think of what to say, as if there was much to say. Trim knew that the thought of her family was still fresh on Fireball's mind, and that she wouldn't be able to change the subject, even if she had a spell that magically changed what the person was thinking at that moment, it was too important to her.

As they trotted along, Trim took quiet notice of the flora around her, trying to see if there was anything new she could find, or maybe even find something to help her make a new herbal tea she's been meaning to try. She did her best to not let Fireball know that she was doing this, but Fireball knew her too well, as this was her special talent and all. She didn't mind, as it would let the trip go on faster for her while Fireball brooded. Brode? She shook the silly idea from her head and tried to focus on something else she liked. But it was so hard after what just happened, it's been something that she's had to deal with for about 4 years, but she didn't wanna bring down her friend. She looked at Trim, took a second to contemplate, and wiped the tears from her muzzle

"So," Fireball started, her voice still slightly shaky, "what are you looking for?" Trim was taken aback a bit, thinking Fireball would stay quiet during the entire trip, but decided to tell her about the tea. Suddenly, the forest walk felt less sad, as the two talked about plants, tea, and whatever else Trim wanted to talk about. As they left the forest and ended up at the final stretch near the tavern, they were laughing and having a good time. As they approached the large wooden building, Fireball felt so much better. Fireball nuzzled her friend as they said their goodbyes, and when Fireball locked the door, she already missed her friend. Regardless, she started to clean up and get ready to open up for tonight, she had a business to run, afterall.

As she started on the dishes, she picked up a simple cup with a beautifully painted on butterfly pattern, and then her mind started to wander; this was that one animal caretaker's favorite. She always made sure to save it for the yellow pegasus, the smile on her face made that little gesture worth it. Her name was Fluttershy, and she was but one of the many citizens of ponyville who regularly came into the tavern, at least enough that Fireball could remember their favorite drinks.

An orange Earth pony with a strong southern drawl and a cowboy hat would always come in after delivering her order of apples and order a refill on her water bottle, and sometimes a shot of whiskey. She was always super polite, but other than business they didn't really know eachother.

The same could not be said for the pink earth pony with the curly mane who would bounce her way over from time to time. The first time she visited, she ordered a ton of sweet drinks and snacks, and wouldn't stop rambling about anything and everything. Thankfully, Fireball found it quite charming, and loves to listen to people talk about things they adore, so she and Pinkie got along relatively quick. Now whenever she comes to the tavern on her own, she will always have something new to tell Fireball about, which she loves to hear about, especially since half of them don't even sound like they actually happened.

The polar opposite of her would be Rainbow Dash, who was loud, bragged alot, and usually just disturbed the peace. It was never enough for a legitimate reason to kick her out, but she was just a bit too much for Fireball to handle. Thankfully, when she came with the rest of her friend group, she was drowned out by the noise of the other patrons, so she didn't hate seeing her. Although, it was funny overhearing a conversation, in which the only sentence Fireball understood was Rainbow Dash exasperatedly shouting "Caballeron could NOT beat windrider in a race, he's not even a pegasus!"

Other than that, the only thing she knew about the friend group was their orders. Well, that and that one of them had recently been dubbed a princess, which Fireball took a second to wonder how life would have been as a princess; Living in canterlot, overseeing a kingdom, following royal responsibilities and making sure your loyal subjects were happy. That alicorn magic must be nice, too. It would make cleaning up the tavern alot easier, and would certainly help out with just day-to-day life.

Fireball took a minute to take a deep breath, glad she could take her mind off of things for a while, think about the life she has now and not the one that she misses. It was nice to just take a step back and think about all that she's got in life, especially after spending the day thinking about what she's lost. The town was lovely, and almost unnaturally kind, and she was grateful to live so close to such a nice place. It could always be worse, she rationalized to herself. But she knew that things could also be better. She hadn't been dealt the best hand, and she knew this intimately, but as long as she could distract herself, there wouldn't be an issue, right? Out of sight, out of mind, as Strong always said.

Fireball sat down the last glass that she had cleaned and trotted to her front door, flipping the sign on the door so people would know that she's open for the night. After a quick stretch, she pranced over to her counter, ready for the travelers of the evening to come through and take refuge for a few hours, maybe hear a few more travelers' tales that she loved hearing. More things to distract her from her ever-present past would be greatly appreciated, especially since the old ones would somehow loop back to the things causing her strife.

But for now, she just has to wait.

Dust on our Hooves

As the sky's blue faded to a deep purple, more and more ponies from all walks of life walked through the doors of the tavern. Fireball expected this, as most people came away from their jobs to relax, or were making long journeys to Ponyville, only to arrive at night fall. It was rare for the latter to happen, so she would usually see a few regulars or other Ponyville citizens coming by for a drink or meal. There were a few ponies that Fireball hadn't seen before; namely a light purple bat pony with a faded pink mane, wearing a black suit with a green tie. She seemed to be deep in conversation with a grey griffon, who was gesturing his talons with every word he spoke. Though she couldn't hear it, Fireball could tell that both of them were passionate about the subject matter.

Other than that, the night was business as usual, with nothing all that interesting. Even as the red sunset faded to the black night, the commotion of the tavern was just enough to keep Fireball's mind occupied, even if it was just long enough to make it between each order she took. The familiar chaos kept her at ease, as she knew it was something that would distract her while still being manageable enough that she wouldn't get overwhelmed. This was where she was in her element.

As the night began to calm down, Fireball began to lament the idea that she'd have to close up soon. She tried to stay open as long as possible, in case anypony traveled in late at night and needed somewhere to rest for a bit, but she had to take care of herself before she worried about that. But worrying about herself also meant that she needed to distract herself from the rushing river of thoughts in her head, which she could avoid with the hustle and bustle of the tavern, and yet that would deprive her of sleep, making the issues even worse.

Fireball's heart was pounding so hard it was practically echoing throughout the tavern. At least, she thought it was, until she realized it was rapid hoofsteps coming towards the tavern. Just as she registered this information, a maroon Pegasus with a curly, pastel blue mane burst through the door, a wide smile slapped across his muzzle. Below said smile was a tan bandana around his neck and a palette covered in paint for his cutie mark.

The sound of the doors being slammed open were drowned out by the patrons talking, so the pegasus happily trotted over to an empty booth. Fireball scanned the horse over and over and over again, but she couldn't seem to recognize him. She had seen countless ponies come through those doors from all over Equestria, even meeting princesses (other than twilight), and yet she had no idea who this pegasus was. But, then again, it had been a while since a new face came in here, so she might as well familiarize herself.

As Fireball approached, the pegasus noticeably changed how he sat; going from slumping in the booth to sitting straight up, seemingly to not seem disrespectful. Fireball smiled softly to herself and pulled out her notepad. "Hey, are you new around here?"

The pegasus nodded and scanned the menu. "Yeah," his shockingly high voice practically squealed, "I just moved in recently, finally got settled in today. The name's Color, Color Palette!" He stuck out his hoof in a friendly gesture, which Fireball happily connected to her own in a hoofbump.

"Fireball," she returned the greeting, "Fireball Liquor. Now, what can I get you started off with?"

Color glanced back at the menu and smiled back at Fireball. "I'll just take a cider for now, thank you!"

Fireball closed the notebook once she wrote that down and trotted back to the bar, taking out a glass and putting it to the cider keg. She glanced back as she pushed down on the spout, and noticed Color balancing a fork on his nose, which brought a little smile to Fireball's muzzle. Somepony like this would fit in perfectly, maybe he'd even be a regular, another friendly face coming in every so often would be nice, and not just for the business he'd bring. Fireball loved memorizing ponies' orders and making them feel like they belong, so somepony new to bring that same smile to is like a blessing to Ms. Liquor.

As the sun shone through her window, Fireball winced in her sleep, turning over so that her back was to the wall from which that damned light was coming from. The only thing bothering her more than her rude awakening was the parched throat she almost always woke up with. She knew she would have to get up soon, not just to deal with her dehydration, but also she was a full grown pony, and had things to do today. She tried to rationalize that if she sat and rested for a bit to help her wake up, she would be able to help more effectively. This never worked before, but it'll work this time, right?

Groaning in indignation, she forced herself to get out of bed and walk down stairs to the kitchen. As she poured her glass of water, she mentally went over what she had to do today; help Trim deal with some critters that are over-eating her garden. It was nice to help out, but working so early in the morning after her late night shifts made it a bit difficult to get proper rest. But she valued her friend's happiness, so she would do it either way.

After a few minutes of stretching, Fireball slipped her scarf on and started making her way to the other side of Ponyville. Despite being up for nearly 30 minutes, she still wasn't quite ready to deal with the bright sun, but it didn't matter, she would just have to adjust. She'd also have to adjust to the noise of ponies trotting by and talking amongst themselves, but that didn't bother her nearly as much.

As she got closer and closer to the edge of Ponyville, she felt so much more awake, and the sun wasn't nearly as bad as when it woke her up, so Fireball decided to forgive that transgression. Another upside to being more awake was that she could deal with all the sounds of different pony conversations, and even return greetings sent her way, something very common for the sweet rural town. Despite the hundreds of ponies living there, everypony pretty much knew everypony, and everypony was unnaturally nice to everypony!

Right as Fireball was basking in the warmth of how this town made her feel, she suddenly felt her head collide with somepony else's, falling back into a sitting position and using her hoof to rub the spot of the hit. Looking up at what she had run into, she noticed a familiar dark red pegasus rubbing his curly maned head with his wing, the two making eye contact shortly after.

"Fireball! Long time no see!" the pegasus called out, much to Fireball's confusion. They had literally seen eachother last night.

"Hey, Color." Fireball replied, stifling her own pain with the conversation, "Where are you headed in such a rush?"

Color got up and started to flap lightly, keeping himself airborne. "I'm on my way to the part of ponyville that borders the Everfree forest, what about you?"

"Interesting, I'm headed the same way." she got back up and started trotting forth. "Maybe we can trot and talk?"

Color nodded and happily flapped along, following Fireball close to her side and keeping up and idle conversation. The questions were the usual things you ask somepony, asking how eachother's day was, if they were doing anything interesting today, and the like. Just anything to pass the time as they made their pretty short trek to the forest. Though the idea of asking slipped her mind, Fireball couldn't help but wonder what the pegasus would do once he got to his location.

As they approached the border and the sand green hat atop Trim's mane came into view, Fireball expected Color to head his own way. That wasn't the case, however, as he quickly rushed over to Trim and the two began talking. Fireball approached to figure out what the hay was going on.

Trim beamed at Fireball, though the nervousness in her eyes never left. "Oh thank Celestia you're here," she didn't even hesitate before rushing her sentence out, "I need all hooves on deck, think you're up for it?"

Fireball nodded and opened her muzzle to ask for more context, but was interrupted by a whimper coming from the garden, drawing the attention of everypony. Out in the garden, surrounded by flowers that all had nibbles taken out of them, stood a golden coated pegasus, frantically trying to talk to something. She occasionally reached down her hoof, but something in the ground grabbed her long, pink mane, startling her and making her jump back, rushing back to the group.

"I take it that didn't go quite so well, Fluttershy?" Trim asked almost rhetorically, but still trying to keep her tone gentle.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Fluttershy responded softly, almost embarrassed, "I tried to talk to them, but they wouldn't listen to anything!" She took a moment to check her hair, noticing the tip was frayed and torn. "I would've gotten more stern, but they got rough and I had to come back. Sorry, everypony"

Fireball trotted up to the distressed mare and gently wrapped one forehoof around her, a comforting gesture which Fluttershy leaned into, taking a bit of time to calm down. "You did your best, Flutters," Fireball consoled her friend,"we've got the rest covered. We all appreciate your help." The sentence was met with agreement from Trim and Color. "Now," the earth pony started as she let go of the pegasus, "let's take another crack at this. What's the plan, Trim?"

Trim's horn let off a slight pastel pink aura as she pulled a book out of her saddlebag. After rapidly flipping through it, she landed on a page depicting a small navy blue creature with a pattern like a starry night, large purple eyes, big pincers, and tiny little legs. The word above the illustration read "Nightmarab", and beside it was several paragraphs of text explaining them, but it was too far for Fireball or Color to make out any of the words. Setting the book down, Trim used her magic to pull up a pair of glasses, which she affixed to the end of her muzzle and began to read from the page. "Distant relatives to Parasprites, the nightmarab is a pest from the Everfree Forest. It usually resides in damp caves, but can sometimes tunnel through wet dirt into occupied areas. Usually presenting a problem for farmers." She looked up from the page to stare at the tormented garden, laugh to herself, then went back to the book. "They can't live more than 2 meters from a water source, but will travel far distances to find food."

Before Trim could carry on, she was cut off by Color exclaiming in pain, drawing everypony's attention. Attached on his backhoof was a navy blue set of pincers, and the starry body of one of the critters. Color began flapping around, trying to shake off the creature as frantically as possible, shakily shouting "get it off! get it off! get it off!" so fast that it was hard to really understand him.

As he flew around frantically, Fireball and Fluttershy chasing to try and help, Trim skimmed as quick as she could, looking for anything that could help out in this situation. Then again, two panicked ponies prying pincers from a perturbed pegasus wasn't particularly plausible. Still, it was a beastiary, it had to have something about how to control these pests in there somewhere.

"Their bite force is- no. They're herbivo- no, not that. Eureka!" she slammed the book with her exclamation, and ran over to the group, which was shockingly still. Well, Color was trying to fly away still, but Fireball and Fluttershy were holding him in place. Trim walked to the nightmarab and used her hoof to gently stroke behind it's eyes down to it's back. As she stroked, it's eyes started to flutter, and it let go, falling to the ground and snoring softly. Fireball stared in awe, Fluttershy in admiration of the cute critter, and Color in absolute terror of the thing that just latched onto him.

"We have to lure these things back to the forest," Trim began explaining, practically ignoring what she just did, "the best thing we can do is make them sleepy and they'll all go back! Then we can set up something to stop them from coming back!" The group looked at eachother, and back at Trim, trusting in her judgement. Trim nodded and turned to the group, pulling a sheet of paper from her saddlebag alongside a pencil, and she started to sketch out her plan. Once she explained it, each pony nodded and got into formation, ready to do their part.

As quickly as his wings could carry him, Color dragged as many clouds as he could over to the garden and the surrounding area, casting a large shadow over the whole area. Then, producing a brush from his saddlebag, he raced across each and every one, painting dark blue and black across the undersides. Adorning each and every one with unique patterns of little white freckles and beautiful splashes of greens and blues, forming the image of a night sky. Once he was done, he took off to the side and began flapping his wings as gently as he could, sending a gentle and cool breeze over the garden.

Once he was done, Fluttershy took to trotting through the center of the garden, singing a gentle lullaby to the critters below. In response to her singing, a few dozen nightmarabs poked their heads out of the ground to look at the noise, a few even yawning, before they all started to retreat to the ground. Fireball and Trim were already a few meters into the everfree forest, each one with a watering can to moisten the ground and lead them back to a cave, one which was thankfully a ways away from ponyville. When the two got done, they hoofbumped and began galloping back to Ponyville.

When they got back, they could see little lumps of dirt moving along their moistened path, and could even hear chittering and yawns coming from the creatures below. Trim started running in place, so ecstatic that her plan was working so well, but she quickly calmed down and used her magic to open a small pocket on the front of her saddle bag, from which she brought out a hoof-full of small, pink seeds. She tossed them haphazardly onto the ground they had just watered, and sat, satisfied at how well things had gone. "Hell yeah." she whispered to herself while looking up at the faux night sky.

It was at that moment that Fireball finally noticed that painting above, and she sat in awe. It was so well done; each color flowed effortlessly into eachother, and it looked almost like the real night sky, even constellations were in place where they would have been at that time at night, it was nothing short of phenomenal in her eyes. But, it was not to last, as Color dashed through each of the clouds, having them disperse into nothing, and letting the sun flow through again, much to the strain of the two ponies' eyes. While rubbing her eyes with her hoof, something finally clicked for Fireball, and she turned to her unicorn friend. "I forgot to ask you," she started out, rubbing one hoof on the back of her head, "how exactly do you and Color know eachother?"

Trim returned the glance when she finished rubbing her eyes, and her eyes lit up with revelation. "Oh! Well, a few ponies here in Ponyville went to his housewarming party. We hit it off pretty well, and he even agreed to help out with this." She punctuated that sentence by standing up and arching her back to stretch. "I would've invited you, but I found out, like, ten minutes beforehand when Fluttershy brought me along."

Fireball felt her stomach drop in a twinge of jealousy, but she tried her best to push it down as best as she could. She knew it was unhealthy to feel bad about something so little, but she still couldn't help but feeling that ache. Either way, she made sure not to show it at all, something she figured she was pretty good at. She was not. Trim could easily see her wince, but chose to ignore it and try to change the subject. "But," she took a second to stretch her back hooves in the way she stretched her forehooves as she spoke, "we can all head to the tavern if everypony's free. It'll be my treat."

Color Palette flew by and landed next to the two. "I'd love to come along!" he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up in excitement. Trim returned the excitement, turning back to Fireball to gauge her opinion. After a second, she sighed and trotted to the group, agreeing to bring them over. As they excitedly trotted along, Fireball glanced back at Fluttershy, who was staring at the ground, idly poking at it with one of her forehooves.

Fireball hung back and slowly went up to Fluttershy, who met Fireball's gaze with her own ocean colored eyes. "Wanna come with us to the tavern?" Fireball inquired, keeping her tone as soft as she could. "It'll just be the four of us, it'll be quiet. I'll even make something for angel if you bring him."

Fluttershy smiled softly at that comment. "I'd love to!" she quietly coo'd, before turning towards the road to her cabin. "I'll just go grab angel, I know he just loves the way you make his snack plates! See you soon!" and with that, she trotted off to her cabin, and Fireball ran to join the group.

Pace your time away

As the tavern doors swung open and the trio trotted in to find a booth, Fireball went to the kitchen and started rooting around to prepare for Fluttershy and Angel to come by, as well as bringing out some drinks for her guests. She began ornately decorating the plate; cucumber and carrot slices, alternating to create a floral pattern, with a cherry in the center. Then, she began to work on getting the oat shake that she knew the pink maned pegasus would order, as she always did, putting whipped cream and extra cherries for angel. Once that was done, she stretched her forehooves and began pouring drinks for the three who were already there; A glass of whiskey for herself, a fruity cocktail for Trim, and a simple cider for Color. She carefully lifted the tray of drinks with her forehoof, and took it to the table where the two sit, before taking her own seat and drink.

Trim sighed and laid her head on the table, nursing the sweet, colorful drink through her absurdly long and curly silly straw. Her horn let out a light pink glow as she pulled out a tiny journal from her saddlebag, taking a pencil out from the ringed binder, and she began to scribble in it, jotting down a simple reminder to water the path by her garden. Once she punctuated it with a heart, she set her notebook back into her saddlebag and went back to sipping the cocktail.

Once fireball finished swigging half of her glass, she set it down and turned to Trim. "So, Fluttershy brought you to the housewarming party, eh?" she asked, doing her best to make it sound like a casual question. "What was that like?"

Trim lifted her head and shot Fireball a I know why you're asking me look, but quickly went to answer the question. "Well, yeah." She started, swirling her drink with her straw, "Everypony else she thought of asking was either busy or already there, and since she lives basically right next door, she invited me." Trim punctuated that sentence with another glance at her friend, before turning her attention to Color. "But I did tell Color to stop by your tavern, did you ever do that?"

Color nodded excitedly before setting down his cider, wiping some foam from his mouth. "Thanks for that, by the way." he squeaked as he turned to Fireball. "I'm real glad I dropped by, the food's nice and the atmosphere is amazing! Besides, you're really cool."

Fireball giggled at the compliment and took another hefty gulp of her whiskey, borderline slamming the glass and using her forehoof to wipe her muzzle. "I 'preciate it." she gaily remarked.

Just as she got up to get the food, her attention was drawn to the sound of a jingling bell, hung above the door to notify her of new entrants. Expecting to see Fluttershy, she turned her head at near light speed to greet her friend, only for her grin to quickly turn to confusion. Instead of the shy golden mare with a pink mane, Fireball was met with an unfamiliar unicorn with a dark blue coat, adorned with star like speckles, all concentrated around his cutie mark, which was of a moon with a star shaped crater. His messy, dark purple hair almost covered his vibrant yellow eyes, which contained a hint of worry.

Not wanting to startle the stranger, Fireball spoke in her usual, quiet voice. "Hey, can I help you?"

He glanced at the ground, taking a second to think, then looked up at Fireball. He opened his mouth to speak, but then quickly shut it, seemingly as if backtracking on the idea of speaking. Something that Fireball found a bit suspicious. She took another step forward to look at the stallion, hoping it would prompt him to say something. This just prompted the unicorn to glance behind himself and step to the side, away from the door and the large window atop it.

Fireball sat down, Color and Trim now glancing over from their seats in curiosity. "Look, if you're not gonna tell me what you need, I'm gonna have to ask you to-"

"No!" the unicorn blurted out instinctively, prompting the barkeep to furrow her brow and cock her head. The stranger cleared his throat and sat proper. "I, uhh, just need a little bit of assistance." he said, more beads of sweat slowly forming on his face.

Fireball relaxed her face and let out a bit of a sigh, after finally getting some semblance of an answer. "Well, I guess that all depends on what you need." Her voice was soft, yet still had a very matter-of-fact tone. Doing her best to be stern yet not rude.

The stranger sat down and took a few seconds to breathe. "I was just walking to Ponyville when I got attacked by..." his voice began to trail off as his eyes frequently scanned the room, before finally lighting up and meeting Fireball's again. "Timberwolves!"

Trim trotted next to fireball and cocked her head to the side, one eyebrow raised to accentuate her confusion. "Timberwolves?"

The other unicorn nodded vigorously. "Yeah! They attacked me on the road from Canterlot, so I ducked in here for a bit." His voice has an oddly calm demeanor as he spoke, a little hint of excitement too. Although, Fireball could easily see this as him being glad he found some cover to hide from the wolves, as long as she decided to ignore the fact that timberwolves live in the Everfree forest, to the south of Ponyville, and the road he claimed to get attacked on was to the north of Ponyville.

"Well," Trim piped up, "how can we help out?"

The unfamiliar unicorn smiled and relaxed his body, which helped him stand a bit taller than everypony else. "Well, I need an ingredient for something I'm working on." His tone was much more stable and calculated, as if he were a professor addressing his students. "Has anyone here heard of moonbloom roses?"

Unsurprisingly, Trim's ears shot up and she started to wiggle a little in excitement. "Of course I have!" she near-shouted, before immediately quieting her tone. "But, nopony here has any. Besides, those only bloom under full moons, and we won't have one for, well, almost an entire moon."

The stranger let out a sigh and stretched his forehooves before turning to the door. "Well, if you ever get any, please drop by my tower on the road to Canterlot." he said before trotting towards the exit, stopping and laughing as he turned back. "Where are my manners? I'm Moonlight Gleam, and it was nice to meet you three. I have a feeling we're all gonna be good friends, especially you, Fireball." Finally turning back to the door and trotting out, almost trading places with the newly arrived Fluttershy, who looked at the group with a bit of confusion.

Trim and Color trotted back to their seats and began talking, while Fireball just stood, shellshocked.

How did he know her name?

Fireball stood there for what felt like hundreds of moons, only to get shaken out of it by a gentle voice asking if she was alright. She zoned back in to see Fluttershy, her big blue eyes full of worry for her friend. "You seem a little worried, did something happen?"

The earth pony shook her head, both to brush off any worries the pegasus had and also to put herself back in her usual headspace. She'll worry about this later, she wasn't gonna let some creepy stranger ruin her time with her friends.

Fluttershy's face lifted into a soft smile. "Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, you know you can come to me." Her quiet voice reassured her Earth pony friend as she went to the booth where everypony else was. Fireball felt so much better after that, and went to go grab the snacks she had prepared, as she could see an ornery rabbit peaking out of Fluttershy's mane, which Fireball knew meant he was getting impatient and hungry.

As she grabbed the fruit and veggie tray, she did her best to focus on her friends, doing her best not to freak out in front of them, especially not Fluttershy. While the mare was insistent on Fireball dropping by to vent, that wasn't enough to convince the earth pony to try that. She really didn't wanna bum out her friend, especially since she was a close friend of the princess and often left to go help her on important royal missions. The stress of that and the stress of her friend being in a bad spot would do nothing but bring her down, which Fireball couldn't bare to do. What mattered now was that everypony enjoyed themselves, worrying about the mysterious stallion would be reserved for tonight.

The sunset had just began to light the sky a beautiful orange, which was the indicator for everypony to head their separate ways. Fluttershy had a creature migration to prepare for, Trim had her plants to take care of, and Color wanted to head home to continue his relaxation. As each exchanged their farewells, Fireball couldn't help but feel a twinge of anxiety build up in her stomach, knowing that she wouldn't have anything to distract her wandering mind. But, regardless, she was glad she could spend time with her favorite ponies and a new friend, and made sure to make it clear that all three of them are welcome back anytime they need somewhere to put up their hooves. With that, they each headed to their homes, and Fireball turned to her tavern, picking up the many glasses that the group had left, most of which belonged to the very barkeep.

Balancing the cups and glasses on the snack tray she had brought out, Fireball carefully took the dishes to the sink, where she began to clean them. She dreaded cleaning the dishes, cuz it was a repetitive task that really let her mind go off, and this time was no different. Her head was filled with thoughts of Moonlight, and how he had seemed so completely off. His story of a timberwolf attack was possible, but certainly unlikely, and he acted so absurd about the entire event, almost as if he was scared of getting caught. Then, as if to add a mysterious cherry to the top of this unsolved sundae, he knew her name.

The thought of somepony knowing Fireball despite her having never seen them sat stubborn in her stomach, so much she could almost physically feel it weigh her down. She gritted her teeth on the rod which held the sponge she was cleaning with, and her face started to heat up. Her breath started to quicken, so she dropped the glass and rod into the full sink, turning around to stomp to the fridge to grab the half-full bottle of whiskey she started earlier. She took a hefty swig and slammed the bottle down, just hard enough to make a loud sound when it hit the counter. Fireball grabbed her pink and black striped hock-socks, tightened her similarly colored scarf around her neck, and went out her front door.

The deep blue of the night sky paired the Luna's moon took Fireball by surprise, she had gotten so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize the sun had finished setting. She shook off the surprise, and began to take a brief walk through ponyville, basking in the cold night air that gently nipped at her muzzle, and looking in awe at the critters that only came out with the moon. The night was always so peaceful in ponyville, especially in parts that were away from the Everfree forest, and it was the perfect place to get your mind off of your troubles. Fireball had been out here so many times she could basically tell every bat apart from eachother. It really was a shame that nopony else was typically out at this hour, but Fireball figured that the other ponies would make too much noise anyways.

The cool breeze did wonders at helping the earth pony calm down, even if the questions were still ripe on her mind. She figured that with her state of being tipsy and tired, she would have to figure it all out in the morning. But for now, she would just walk through the streets and gaze up at the night sky.

Fireball's thoughts were interrupted when she had collided with another pony, falling on her hind and getting knocked out of her trance. Once she recovered, she looked up to see a bat pony, adorned in an elegant pastel purple armor, emblazoned with a large eye, surrounded by purple bat-themed decor. Fireball immediately stood at attention and got out of the way of the figure, bowing her head in respect to the unexpected guardspony. Her shock was replaced by confusion when she looked around to see another bat pony guard, yet no Luna, to whom they were sworn protectors.

"Excuse me," Fireball spoke up, gathering all the courage to speak to such authority, "but, may I ask what brings you here? I expected the guards to stay at the castle with the princess." The guard glanced down at Fireball, then right back to the other guard, signaling for him to come over, which the stallion did.

"We're looking for somepony who we suspect stole several scrolls from the Canterlot library." the bat pony's gruff voice said without the slightest hint of emotion. "Eye witnesses say that it was a unicorn. They were in a cloak, but apparently a bit of a purple mane were visible. Seen anypony matching this description?"

Fireball just stood dumbfounded, eyes wide and muzzle agape, she found herself speechless. She shook her head to get out of her trance and glanced up at the guardsponies. "Well, I would say yes," she hesitantly confessed, "but a unicorn with a purple mane fits too many ponies. The boutique store owner just down the road fits the description, but she's close friends with Princess Twilight, so I don't see why she would do such a thing." she punctuated that by biting her lip, taking a second to think about her strange visitor. "But there as a unicorn with a purple mane who came into the tavern."

The guard who was silent before raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the other guard before piping up. "Well, if you have any more information, it would be invaluable to the search." Fireball solemnly nodded in response, reasoning with herself whether or not she should give this up. On the one hoof, he gave her a certain uneasiness that would work with a criminal, yet on the other hoof, if he was innocent and just a bit weird, she would be sending him to trouble that he didn't deserve. Fireball took a second to inhale and looked back up at the bats.

"He came in, we told him we were closed, and then he left. Nothing about where he was going or who he was." Fireball's obvious lie made a knot form in her stomach, one that got heavier as the noticed the guards looking at eachother, seemingly questioning if they would believe her story. They nodded at eachother and looked to Fireball, causing a bead of sweat to form on her forehead.

"Well, we appreciate your help, miss. Have a safe night."

With that, the guards continued their patrol, and Fireball went back to her trot, which became a speed-trot, and eventually a gallop once she looped back to the part of ponyville closest to her tavern. She barged into her building, shut the door, locked it, and hurried into the kitchen, grabbing the bottle she didn't finish and gulping the rest down as quickly as ponily possible, setting it by the sink once she was done. She just sat down on the floor and stared at the ground. She had just lied to the royal guards. Sure, she might have just saved somepony innocent from being prosecuted, but there was still the more-than-likely chance that he actually was dangerous, and now Fireball could get in trouble for hindering an investigation, something she was not ready to deal with right now. At least, not while she was sober. It was gonna be a long night for her, and the night had only begun half an hour ago.