Fermented Hearths

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Razzled Berries
Chapter 2 - Colored Tales
Chapter 3 - Warmed Hearts

Chapter 1 - Razzled Berries

Distant starlight twinkled in the frigid night air. Painting the quiet town of Ponyville in a soft and subtle glow, they left more than a few ponies wandering outside on such a cold evening in mild wonder. As the days had grown cooler and Nightmare Night passed everycreature had begun to put their attention toward the other most popular holiday of the year, Hearth's Warming. Brilliant garlands and vivid ribbons adorned various buildings throughout Ponyville. In the center of town, near the town hall, a massive pine had been chopped, set up, and decorated with assorted baubles.

Passersby would take a moment to stare at the wondrous display of old and new magic. Because Ponyville was one of the earliest adopters—and testbeds—of the Manehattan-invented matrix power system, strings of magically-powered lights ran up the branches like multicolored shooting stars. Their steady glow reflected off the old-style ornaments, making their basic enchantments glimmer even brighter.

Some ponies, and especially newcomers from foreign lands, had yet to fully adopt the Hearth's Warming cheer. Their houses stuck out like dark, sore hooves. Foggily musing on the figurative black holes of holiday cheer, Berry Punch observed a hippogriff immigrant leave one of the homes and daintily hang up a single, faint light over the door.

From her vantage point at one of the booths near the bar of The Smiling Mare, Berry tiredly fiddled with one of her emptied glasses, drawing a few doodles in the condensation on the glass. Tendrils of ice slowly crept up the exterior wall's window panes, looking like long, reaching grabbers ready to wrap their lengths around anything that got in their way.

She had been raptly watching them, her mind practically empty of whatever thoughts that had plagued them earlier in the day. Almost nothing remained in her brain as she eventually downed another shot of her drink. She winced at the fiery sensation of the liquor sliding down her throat, and she finally gave a small sigh as it rested in her gut. Absentmindedly, she lazily drew a quick, squiggly-lined pony looking back at her with a smoochy face. It made her snigger.

As the shot sent a small radiance of warmth through her, she shivered and poured herself another from the half-consumed bottle of vodka that had been left for her. Unfortunately, the tender, Straight Shot, had only given her a small bottle, so she had had to gingerly meter out how much she drank. She had to make sure that it lasted as long as the other ones she had out, after all.

Filling the shot glass to the brim, she downed it and then coughed, flicking one of her ears as she heard the doors to The Smiling Mare open and the customers be greeted by Flowery Prance. From the back kitchen, somepony swore as there was a crash and clatter, and then there was a howl as a cat bolted from behind the bar and out into the night.

"If I see Fluttershy and that walking flea-breeding-ground again, I'll—" began Charred Grill as he charged out of the kitchen after the cat. When he saw that the customers, even Berry, were staring at him, his flushed face switched from rage to sheepishness, and he went back into the kitchen, grumbling.

Soon enough, the din of conversation returned as ponies at different booths chattered at each other, each completely focused on their own little lives. A crackling fireplace in the corner near Berry provided a bit of extra warmth along with the vodka, but she still felt cold. Some of it must have been seeping in from the windows.

"Berry!"

With a jolt, Berry unsteadily twirled toward the voice that had called her. In the process, one of her hooves crashed against the two or three empty pint glasses that she'd had earlier, and almost knocked them over. A pale grey glow of magic encompassed them, as Straight Shot, who was standing in front of her table, sighed and shook his head.

"Horseapples," Berry slurred a bit as she tried to straighten herself up. Although she had been staring at the ice forming on the window for so long, she found it difficult to keep her vision steady on him. Holding back a small burp, Berry asked, "W-What is it, Shotty?" She giggled. "Here to get me another?"

Straight stared at her for a moment. Bringing the pint glasses next to him, he stated, "Berry, you shouldn't have any more. Besides, you still haven't paid your tab." He tapped the long list of items that had been scratched onto a large piece of paper that was now resting on her table. Berry squinted to try and make out what was on them.

When she did, her vision started to cloud, and she muttered, "Since when did I have tw-tw-twenty Cattle Buckers?"

"You had two," Straight replied. Sighing, he listed off what she had had for the night. "One small bottle of vodka." He glanced over and added, "Half-finished. Four Crimson Comet Ales, two large glasses of Prenchian Pinot, two Cattle Buckers, and three Golden Harvest Lagers." At that, he ripped off the paper and then slammed it down on the table.

Berry winced. It was starting to get a bit hard to concentrate, but she was pretty sure she got all that.

"Come on, Shotty," Berry drawled, leaning forward a bit and smiling awkwardly at him. Although her body felt a bit numb, she could sense that she was flushed and made sure she poured on as much charm as she could. Something she was very good at whenever she was loosened up a bit. If anypony were to ask her, that is. "Can't you just give me a teensy bit more?" She swallowed hard as another burp threatened to break out.

Straight gritted his teeth, and he politely retorted, "Berry, I just can't keep giving you drinks. There are laws about this." At Berry's rather crestfallen expression, he rubbed his forehead and looked back at the rest of the clientele in the room.

At the moment, he and she were completely unnoticed, their growing disagreement the least of anypony's thoughts. Through her doubled tunnel vision, Berry could see that there was an argument raging within himself on what he should do.

Cracking her neck once and shifting herself a bit closer toward him, she grinned. "Hey, it's me, Shotty! You know my limit. Do I look like I hit it?" She giggled.

"If I say yes, will you not cuss me out like last time?"

"N-N-N-Nope."

Glaring at her for a moment, Straight finally grunted and growled, "Celestia dammit, Berry, fine!" He leaned forward, which caused her to stagger back into her seat. From her prone position, she gave a weak and awkward wave and giggled uncontrollably. When her laughter finally died down, Straight huffed, "I've seen you walk off worse. Pay up now, and I'll get you one more thing." He held his forehooves close. "And it'll be tiny, got it?!"

"Y-Yes sir, commander, sir!" Berry cried, making a sloppy, mocking salute. Straight just snorted and motioned for Berry to pay up. While she eased herself back up onto the booth's bench seat, he cleaned up the rest of her glasses, and took away the bottle of vodka. At that, Berry let out a soft whine.

"I'm not letting you spike your drinks like last time, Ber," he huffed. After setting everything onto the bar, he waited, impatiently, for Berry to dig out her money purse and give him the bits she needed to pay.

When she finally found it, craftily buried underneath her scarf and toque, she paused as peered at the list of drinks. "Say," she asked, "did you add another zero to this one?" She tapped, off-mark, next to the line with her lagers.

"No," Straight retorted back. "Each one costs twelve bits, Ber. They've cost that for a while. Thirty-six bits for those, and then another—" Quickly furrowing his brow, he did the mental math on the drinks. "Another ninety-six for everything else. Grand total, one-thirty-four." He tapped on the table. "If you so please."

"Fine, fine," Berry griped. Cracking open her money purse, she rifled through her money and began to pull out, as best she could, the proper tender. Each coin clanked loudly on the tabletop, partly to make a point, partly because she could barely keep from keeling over every time she placed it down. "Damn bucking inflation."

When she had finally placed everything on the table, she pushed herself back and glowered at him with every bit of frustration she could muster. Straight could barely hold back a chuckle at her expression, though, as he swiftly counted through the money. "What else do you want, Ber?" he inquired.

"Another Lager," she huffed. "Give me the kiddie size." A soft pout worked its way onto her face as Straight mentally recorded her request.

"Be thankful that I'm an honest barkeep, Ber," he stated as he swiped the money that was on the table into a small pouch on his chest. "You gave me one-forty. That'll cover the lager. If I wanted to swindle you, I'd just ask for more." At that, he turned and added, "Just be really thankful. 'Tis the season, and all that."

"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed. Angrily, she waved him away with a hoof. Who was he to cut her off just when she started feeling comfortable again? Well, aside from being bucking freezing, but that was beside the point. Just to keep herself a bit warmer, she wobblingly wrapped her scarf around her neck and pulled part of it up toward her muzzle. She shivered again.

It didn't take her long, though, for her to pull it back as the smell of booze filled her nose from her own breath. As she did that, Straight came back with a pint-sized—unfortunately not literally—glass of the golden beauty itself. Its head was still frothing and foaming with minute bubbles, all begging for her to imbibe them and feel the sweet, delicious bite of hops on her tongue.

"Not so fast, my pretty," slurred Berry as she gently wrapped a forehoof around the glass and took a sip. The sugary head carried only the hint of the hoppy body, tantalizing her with an appetizer of the flavors to come. Most of the conversations around her had dimmed to a drone, mainly because she found it harder to even hear her own words, let alone think her own thoughts.

Shaking her head a couple of times, she ridded herself momentarily of the doubled glass, since she needed to focus to keep that golden liquid safe inside. She turned to wave appreciatively at the bar, where Straight had gone back around to service another customer.

When he noticed her, he just gave her a tired nod, his greyish eyes glowing with uncertainty toward her. She just stuck out her tongue playfully and motioned for him to straighten up his spiky, short dark green mane. He simply nickered back and poured the customer their drink.

She went back to nursing her beer, taking occasional sips until she got to about halfway through the glass. It had barely lasted her two minutes.

Groaning and letting go of the glass for a second, she rubbed her forehead as she heard Flowery Prance trot by. The faint whiff of something delicious caught her nose, and Berry mournfully whimpered as she felt her money purse. Briefly following the waitress bringing another table its customers' delightfully foamy ciders, Berry held back a small cough, which was almost followed by a retch.

Breathing rapidly for a moment, she kept her queasiness down, mostly by taking another sip of her drink. When her stomach stopped gurgling and complaining, she peered into the crowd, as she thought she maybe heard a familiar voice. She maybe saw Carrot Top, but it was hard to say. Everything was a bit foggy. Had Charred Grill burned something else?

She couldn't keep it up for long, as the bright chandeliers on the ceiling started to sear into her eye sockets. Whimpering and falling back into her seat, she looked at her beer, the bubbles within the drink itself creating columns of enticing ecstasy, and she blubbered to herself, "What're you doing here, Ber?"

It wasn't uncommon for her to grab a beer or two after work, especially once it got colder and she needed something to keep her blood pumping and warm. Plus, it helped to calm her nerves after a long day dealing with ponies at Ponyville's only bank. Since Twilight's School of Friendship showed up, they'd had to start fielding both normal transactions, plus working with larger institutions and even banks in other countries, to facilitate student loans for internationals.

Assuming, of course, that said country the student was coming from even had a banking infrastructure. Yaks, for example, believed that everything should have just been tit-for-tat. While admirable that they were so family-focused and community-minded, an IOU in place of tens of thousands of bits effectively meant indentured servitude for either the student or the parent or guardian enrolling them.

That didn't go well, but thankfully only a couple of her staff had had to be taken to hospital with broken spines, so it was covered by insurance. Except then premiums went up, and then yaks began to badmouth her branch and all of it just meant she needed something more to calm herself.

Granted, that was the first year the school was open, and now that Twilight was in charge of Equestria, standardizations were coming in across Equus and Griffonia. Still didn't stop the stress of managing the bank, though. Especially today, since she had to explain in excruciating detail to an older griffon why the school cost money. Being verbally assaulted was just a bonus, as well as the griffon's flawless logic that his daughter would be worth more to sell later if she graduated.

Not only was economics 101 in order, but calling Canterlot's diplomatic corps later about the incident was even more fun. Simply thinking on what hazy events she could recall made her drain the rest of her drink without a second thought.

As the last bitter traces of the hops faded from her mouth, she woozily smacked the glass down and exclaimed, "One more!" She winced at the piercing headache that was building in her temples, worsened by her outburst.

When Straight didn't come back to her, she whipped her head to glare at him. As she did, her whole world swam, and darkness started to creep in along the very edges of her peripheral vision. Holding her head in a hoof for a second, she then snapped, "Ey! Shotty! Another!"

A few ponies stopped their jabbering to glower at her, but she paid them absolutely zero attention. Straight Shot finished filling a pint glass for a new customer, and then he brushed down his greyish fur coat. Trotting from behind the bar to grab Berry's empty glass, which still carried some rings of bubbles inside it, he simply stated, "No. That was the last one, Ber. Yell all you want, but you're not getting any more tonight."

"W-Wh—" Berry stammered as her mind momentarily lit up in anxiety. "I-I was just getting started, Shotty! I had a long day at—"

"You've been here for three hours!" Straight shot back. At that, Berry fell back with a whine, a couple of tears bubbling to the surface as she looked at Straight in fear. He glanced at her with worry, and then his posture slumped. "Look, Ber, sorry for snapping at you, but still." He put the glass on the bar. "You've been here since you got off work. You just... need to call it for the night."

Berry didn't respond. Instead, a soft choking sound escaped her lips before she burst out into proper sobs as she rested both her front hooves on the table and cried into them. Immediately making a shushing noise, Straight rushed over, especially after he spotted his manager, Keen Figures looking out from his office. Patting Berry comfortingly a couple of times, Straight stated, "Hey, hey, it's all right. I'm not mad at you."

"But you yelled at me!" Berry bawled.

"Okay, I did. I shouldn't have done that." Straight shushed her again. "Ber, it's been a tough day. I get it. But you need to go home. Sleep this off. Things will be better tomorrow." Under his breath, he grunted, "Minus the migraine."

"Is it Berry again?" Keen asked as he started to move toward Straight and Berry. At Straight's nod, he huffed, "Celestia, Twilight, Luna, Cadance." Grinding his teeth firmly, he snorted, "Cut her off yet?" When Straight nodded, Keen grumped, "Well, send her off." He checked the clock. "If you want, escort her back. It ain't a break, though."

As he marched off, Keen grumbled, "I swear, she's going to make this entire establishment run dry."

"Okay, okay," Straight stated as Berry began to calm down. Only a few sniffles came from her shaking form. Gently pulling her chin up, Straight asked, "Do you want me to help you home?" With a yelp, he was squeezed tight as Berry leaned forward into a hug and pulled him tight. "I-Is that a yes?" he prodded, coughing a couple of times as Berry constricted him further.

"N-No!" Berry replied cheerfully. "I-I got this. Thanks for being a pal, buddy!" Instead of giving him a noogie like she intended, she gave one of his cheeks a firm squish a few times and almost bopped him in his right eye. She released him, which made him gasp for air, and then she flopped over to grab her toque.

"I really should go back with you, Ber," Straight insisted, returning to the bar and grabbing his own scarf and toque. As he fastened some boots onto his hooves, he looked up to see that Berry had already stumbled her way to the exit. A few ponies had followed her jerking movements with their eyes.

"I'm good!" Berry screamed, resting heavily on the door out and waving back at him. "Stay straight, Shotty!" Unsteadily standing on her hind hooves, she pointed randomly in both directions at different customers. "And buck you all! I'm out!"

Before Straight could protest any further, or go after her, she pushed the doors open and then staggered out into the cold night. As she did, she almost bumped into a couple of customers who were outside. "Excuse you," she stuttered, feeling the absolutely frigid snow bore into her hooves and fetlocks.

The air was silent in the early winter night, as the pegasi had fulfilled their snow quotas for that time of year, leaving the surface of pretty much everything white, although Ponyville's houses were far from encased, like they would be in another month. Each step she took lightly crunched and scrunched underneath her hooves.

"Scrunch. Crunch. Scrunch. Scrunch. Crunch. Uh..." she mumbled to herself as she swaggered along, with every few steps causing her gait to grow unsteady. Every minute that she was out, she felt like her body was growing number and more deadened, which was totally fine with her. Forgetting the events of the day tended to be a plus of her endurance sessions at the pub. In fact, when her head wasn't pounding in pain, the buzzing and floaty feeling she had felt awesome.

Did she even have a day today? She couldn't remember it. It was great!

No stupid customers. No stupid employees. Just her and her booze. Just like how it'd be on Hearth's Warming, too.

She licked her lips. A special surprise from her, just for her, was in the making, if she remembered rightly. If she remembered at all. If she didn't, then she probably would have to write down the list of Hearth's Warming presents from herself to herself. Perhaps some different drinks from Canterlot, or maybe the new Griffonian schnaps that had been imported recently, or whatever the buck those kirins made over in Kiria...

As she was contemplating her wide choices of treats, she paused and felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Holding a hoof to her mouth, she did manage to keep things at bay, although she tasted a bit of bile in the back of her mouth.

She looked to the nearest street light. On it, a sign marking a street was something that she could discern, but aside from that, she couldn't quite tell what it said. Had she been going the right way? She was heading to The Smiling Mare, right?

Smiling happily, she staggered a bit closer to the streetlight, and she giggled, "Maybe just a little peek." Then she fell forward, directly into a small bank of snow around the base of the lamp made earlier by ponies clearing the street.

***

Nary a moment or two later, the sound of laughter drifted up the street. A pair of lonesome figures pranced happily up its cobblestone surface. Both were dressed snugly for the weather, one wearing a large Stetson hat, while the other was bundled in a bright, dark blue coat along with a tight-knit toque that hid most of her locks of mane.

Like wind chimes, the second pony giggled as the first exclaimed, "And then I told Mac, Granny was expecting him and Sugar Belle to make like rabbits the moment they were back from their honeymoon to Las Pegasus. All them great-grandfoals she was missing out on!" The first pony chortled, "Shoulda seen the look on him and Sugar's face as I told him all the presents Granny left for them."

"Oh my Celestia, AJ," the second mare declared, pulling Applejack into a friendly embrace. "I still can't believe that Granny is that... upfront."

"Ya better believe it, Rara," Applejack replied while lightly bumping her companion in the flank with her own. "That Granny Smith, woo, nelly. Like a switch flipped once the prospect o' her being the first Apple of her generation to have great-grandfoals got into her brain."

Breaking out into another series of laughs, they both paused at the end of the street corner as they came around a bend. Their breaths puffed out in soft clouds of condensation, as the residual chuckles worked their way out of their systems. At last, Applejack sighed and scratched the back of her head. "Well, I suppose we should be splitting up for the night. Lots o' time left before ya have to head back, though, right?"

"Of course, AJ. It was great to catch up." Coloratura pulled her into another hug. "Sorry that it just took almost the end of Equestria for me to make time to see you again."

"Aw, ya don't need to apologize none!" Applejack replied, a soft blush working its way onto her cheeks, highlighted by the single nearby streetlamp as she turned away from her friend to avoid the warm smile she was being given. "Y'all are busy, so I—"

"What is it, AJ?" Coloratura turned to follow Applejack's gaze, and she let out a low gasp as she laid eyes upon Berry, who was still facedown in the snow drift. There was little sign that she'd be moving any time soon. "Oh my Celestia!" The mare dashed over with Applejack hot on her hooves.

Skidding to a halt, she glanced back at Applejack for just a second as Applejack exclaimed, "Hey, that's Berry Punch!"

"I don't care who it is!" she snapped back. "We have to see if she's okay."

Applejack scratched the back of her neck for a second, and then trotted up to her friend. "For sure, but, uh, you should probably know that this is kinda normal for Berry." She shrugged. "I don't like going around putting ponies down, but—"

"She's the town drunk?" Coloratura interjected.

"Well, it ain't exactly talked about, but yeah," Applejack admitted, uncomfortably shifting back and forth on her hooves. As the yellow light of the streetlamp beat down on her and her friend, she looked at Berry, who barely coughed once, and the small splatter of pinky-brown snow near where her head was buried.

"AJ!"

"Aw, sorry, I was just rambling and—" She didn't finish. Shaking her head, she ran around to the other side of Berry, working with her friend to gently pull Berry from the drift of snow, which had clearly absorbed some more bile and stomach juices. Berry was barely breathing.

"We need to get her inside. Now!" the other mare exclaimed, carefully propping Berry into a more upright position. As soon as she did, Berry gasped and coughed, mumbling a few things incoherently.

"B-But where?!" Applejack whipped her head around, searching for anything that could be used as temporary shelter. Looking up at the street names, she mentally pathed out where they were in relation to Sweet Apple Acres, the hospital, Twilight's old castle, Carousel Boutique, and Scootaloo's house. "We're about as far out as ya can be from—"

"She's hypothermic!" Immediately, the other mare ripped off her jacket and wrapped Berry in it before carefully rolling Berry onto her left side and placing her head at a slightly upward angle. Leaning down next to Berry, she listened intently before jumping back when Berry coughed a couple of times. A few dribbles of spit slid down Berry's chin.

Briefly holding a hoof in front of Berry's mouth, Coloratura declared, "She's breathing steadily, we should take her to my place. It's not far!"

"I-I should nab somepony from Ponyville General! C-Can you handle her by yourself?" Already, Applejack was mapping the fastest route she could take from here to the hospital to grab Nurse Redheart, or whoever was able to be spared at the time. Heck, she'd even take the bedpan cleaner, so long as they knew how to look after Berry.

With a grunt, the other mare stared at Applejack with an arched eyebrow. "At least help me get her resting on my back?" Applejack managed to haul Berry to rest gently on Coloratura's back, keeping the same position that her friend put Berry in.

"Are you good to go?" Applejack inquired, antsily prancing in place.

When Berry was secure, Coloratura said , "Yeah, I am. But aren't you—"

Before she could even finish that question, Applejack tore off into the night, kicking up a spray of snow that peppered her friend and Berry in icy crystals. Coloratura tsked and tried to shield Berry from getting anything else cold on her, while also keeping her balanced. After ensuring that Berry was not going to slip from her side, Coloratura whined, "All right, Berry, just work with me here a bit longer."

With a bit of effort, especially after Berry moaned and shifted a bit on her own accord, the mare began to limp with her new charge out toward the edge of Ponyville's town limits. As the lights faded, and the night grew oppressively dark, she muttered, "Your light isn't going out tonight on my watch."

***

The first thing that Berry sensed was blinding pain. Eliciting a small cry of anguish, beams of sunlight snuck through cracks in her eyelids, which felt dry and heavy, and jabbed right into the back of her skull. Her head screamed at her, feeling like it wanted to split open at the slightest movement, while her temples both had the sensation of a whole pack of nails being driven right into them.

Her throat was parched, about as dry as the deserts south of Appleloosa, if tales were to be believed. No, scratch that, it was so dry that it'd probably suck moisture out of completely water-free air. In her mouth, her tongue was an absolute mess, feeling like a heavy, tingly weight that flopped and lolled about without reason.

Even her teeth didn't seem right, as they had a thick film on them that only made her tongue feel even ickier. As she ran her tongue across her cracked lips, she swore that she must have been trampled by yaks hired by that griffon at her bank. Every part of her ached, although her head definitely got the worst of it, and her energy, despite clearly sleeping for hours, was being sapped away every second she was conscious.

A cozy blanket had been pulled over her, which provided only the slightest amount of warmth, since her body, along with being in complete torture, was freezing. Instinctually, she shivered and pulled the sheet a bit closer, and then gingerly cracked an eyelid open.

Instantly regretting her decision, she covered her eye when a golden ray of Celestia's—or Twilight's, depending on who you asked—sun battered her retina. From the incredibly brief moment that she had vision, she could see that she was in a small, plush bed, and that she was facing a finely lacquered and sealed wooden wall, plus an ornate window.

Wherever she was, she wasn't at home.

But she could barely register that worry as another spike of pure mental pain pulsed through her brain when she moved a single inch in her bed. Moaning, she rubbed at one of her temples, but instantly wished she hadn't. The mere action had only made the migraine twice as bad. She sniffled and snorted a couple of times as it finally brought on a couple of tears.

"Hey you, you're finally awake!" she heard a voice declare quietly. It still didn't stop it from feeling like somepony had used a megaphone directly in her ear. Something she could recall from experience, since Pinkie had done just that one time for a party she attended.

Berry heard some shuffling on sheets, followed shortly by a set of hooves thudding onto a wooden floor. Each hoofbeat sounded like a giant tramping toward her, but after a couple of seconds, her roommate sat next to her. "How do you feel?" the mare asked.

Instead of answering in words, Berry just curled herself into a fetal position, which was another mistake as her bones and joints protested against their movement. All of them felt like they were being melted yet frozen simultaneously, which only amplified the headache still pounding away in her head. She didn't even want to think about the rollercoaster that was currently doing loops in her stomach.

Berry merely hissed at all the pain.

In the ensuing silence, which whoever was with her respectfully allowed her, Berry felt her chest well up with tears. She dry-heaved once or twice, as her stomach clenched and unclenched, and then a few whimpering sobs started to work their way out. It soon turned into a whine, and some tears trickled down her muzzle, the fur of it matted and dry. As she sobbed, the mare with her soothingly exclaimed, "Hey, hey, hey! It's okay. You're safe."

"S-Sorry," Berry finally croaked, although the tears didn't stop coming. She wiped at her nose. "I-I-I-I... Sorry..." In her chest, her heartbeat started to skyrocket as the stress of appearing so pathetic shot adrenaline through her veins. If she wasn't so sore and tired, she'd have beelined for the nearest pub, watering hole, or anywhere to find something to calm her down.

And she hated herself for that craving.

As her own state became more apparent to herself, the tears only began to pick up again, and she whimpered, "I just... don't know..." She gulped back a few more retches. "Where am I? Wh-What happened?" She grimaced, not that her fellow pony could see. "I don't remember..."

Letting Berry work out some of her emotions, the mare finally stated when Berry calmed down a bit, "I'll explain, once I can look you in the eye." There was a sad giggle. "Take your time, though."

It was an odd request, but Berry couldn't begrudge the extra time to just stew in her thoughts. Although it took her a minute or two, she finally worked up the courage to crack open her eyelids again. The sunlight was still painful, but it wasn't quite as bad as a short while before. Now she could see that it was actually filtered through a dark blind, which left the room fairly dim, although not completely pitch black.

Good going, Berry, she chided to herself. Hope you didn't do anything stupid last night.

Sometimes, she'd retort back to herself mentally or verbally, but she knew that her self-critic was right. Another mess-up to add to her list that was both long and short. Long, in that she knew it happened, short, because she didn't remember what occurred during those blackouts. Occasionally she wondered if it was really a good thing that those who knew her rarely told her what she did.

All this time, her... rescuer, she supposed, waited patiently for Berry. Resigning herself to being scrutinized in her wretched state, Berry slowly and painfully twisted herself around. It was an awkward motion. Instead of something like a smooth whirl, it was more like a beached whale trying to loll itself to the side, and then flop around to face a different position.

After finally managing to untangle her hooves and face her roommate, she stared straight into the meekly smiling face of a greyish aquamarine earth pony. "Hi!" the mare chirped in a slightly sing-song tone, some of her curly indigo-blue locks flopping back as she did. "Good to see you're able to do that!"

Berry didn't respond, as her brain tried to place through all the mental fog where exactly she'd seen the pony before. The name was on the tip of her tongue, as she swore that she'd seen the mare relatively recently.

Behind the mare, there was indeed a second bed, although it looked like it had been set up there recently, and was not permanent to the room. A slightly sun-faded poster of Countess Coloratura on her Real and Unplugged tour rested over the other window in the room, which was above the second bed.

Berry blinked.

Switching her gaze from the poster, then to the mare, and then back to the poster, Berry's brain immediately clicked where she'd seen her roommate. "C-C-Countess Coloratura!" she squeaked, pulling up her blankets to cover her head and hiding from the pop star.

It could not have been happening. It was all a dream, or a hallucination, or something else that her more than likely strung out on booze brain was making up. There was no way that she had been found by the celebrity of Manehattan and all of Equestria. Absolutely not.

After hearing a small giggle from Countess Coloratura, Berry cautiously pulled down the sheets from her head, and she peeped nervously again when she saw that Countess Coloratura was definitely not a figment of her imagination. That, or she was definitely tripping hard at the moment.

"I-I-I-I am so, so s-sorry th-that you found me, and I didn't m-mean to—" she began. Closing her eyes and counting to five, she opened them again and stated slightly more calmly, "Countess, I apologize for how you found me. I can go so that I don't—"

Before she could finish, Countess Coloratura reached out and gently placed a hoof over Berry's blabbering mouth. She gave a strong shush. "Call me Rara," she stated, retracting her hoof from Berry's muzzle. She flashed Berry a concerned glance. From where she was sitting, she was far enough away that she could keep out of Berry's personal space, but close enough she could immediately catch Berry if she fell out of the bed.

"Applejack said that you're a friend of hers, and any friend of AJ is a friend of mine!" She smiled warmly, which only made Berry cringe back in fear. Apparently Countess Coloratura wasn't the only one to find her last night. How many else knew what happened?

Countess Coloratura added with a shrug, "Besides, it's not like I'm going onstage in the next five minutes, so no need to call me by my stage title." She winked at Berry, probably to try and put her at ease.

"N-No, I can't. Y-You're the Countess! I-I can't believe that—" She sighed. "Besides, Applejack isn't that close of a friend." She whimpered a bit and drew herself into a tighter fetal position, wrapping the blankets, which she could now tell were actually three separate ones, including a duvet, snugly around her.

"Well, AJ would say otherwise," Countess Coloratura stated, her eyes sparkling a bit with warmth. "Not everypony has to know every minute detail of each other's lives to still be counted as a friend." At that, Berry's face grew hot and she pressed her ears against her head. It was the only part of her that wasn't freezing, since despite how many layers she was buried under, she still felt like she was being sucked into a snowbank.

Nodding her head, Berry finally muttered, "Okay, thanks, uh, Coloratura."

"Rara," Coloratura corrected, although she didn't press it any further after that.

As Berry drifted her gaze, she observed that Coloratura had set up a small table alongside the temporary bed. Some washcloths, compresses, as well as some bottles were resting on it. On top of that, a small crystal, which glowed with a sickly, yellowy-green glow, reflected some of the sunlight. From the sun's angle, Berry guessed it was sometime in the afternoon.

Coloratura's face was haggard, as she clearly had not slept much of the night. When she determined that, Berry felt a tug of guilt on her chest, and she bashfully avoided Coloratura's inviting grin.

Pressing a hoof to her forehead, Berry did her best to hide her ashamed expression and instead checked out a bit more of the room. Over the pounding headache, which was definitely made better by her last immediate action, she spotted that there were a few set props and sequin-studded outfits strewn around the room. She could hear a faint buzzing of a ceiling fan, although thankfully the light it probably had was off.

Additionally, posters from Coloratura's various tours were attached to the walls. They went all the way back to her Perform This Way tour, which was her first as Countess Coloratura.

It was one that Berry recalled vividly, since it was her first trip to Manehattan.

Eventually, her mind clicked that she could only be in one place. She was in Coloratura's tour coach! But what was Coloratura doing here? As far as she recalled, there wasn't any announcement of another tour, nor a big charity event going on like last time. Granted, if most of the adverts had been while she was... hugging her booze, then perhaps she simply didn't have memory of it.

Gulping a couple of times, Berry saw that there was a glass of water next to her own bed, and she started to reach for it. Coloratura intercepted her hoof, though, and gently pushed her back to instead be the one to let her sip at the water.

Thoroughly humiliated, Berry flattened her ears against her skull and guzzled down some of the water, before Coloratura pulled the glass back up. "Take it slow," she said as she placed the glass back on the table next to Berry's bed. All the while, she had a warm, but worried smile on her face.

With a dejected sigh, Berry worked up the courage to inquire, "So, what happened? How did you... how did you find me?"

As soon as she asked, a dark cloud seemed to roll across Coloratura's face. Seeing that Berry was going to stay put, she sat on her own bed, and she stared at Berry for a moment as she steepled her forehooves together and rested her chin on them. Coloratura inhaled deeply. "AJ and I found you, passed out in a snowdrift."

Berry winced. "Oh."

"Not just 'oh', Berry. If we hadn't come along, I don't think you would have been found until it was too late." Coloratura sighed. "It wasn't just snow that you were knocked out in." At Berry's realization of what that meant, she continued, "For Twilight's sake, if I hadn't acted first, you might have choked before AJ knew what to do.

Whimpering and drawing her front hooves close to her chest, Berry tried to hide herself as best she could from her rescuer's gaze. Every emotion told her to just ignore it and tune it out, but how Coloratura was saying it, it made her brain want to know more. She wanted... just wanted to know.

"So, when we made sure you weren't going to suffocate in your own puke, I made sure that you were taken here." She tapped the ground with a rear hoof. "You were closest to my carriage, so I took you there to watch you while AJ got help from Nurse... Nurse Redheart, I think." Pointing over to the spell matrix, which Berry now figured must have been virtually overflowing with something or other, Coloratura stated, "That's what that is, by the way."

Berry barely registered, as all that she could think of at the moment was how Redheart saw her, again, at one of her worst points. In the back of her mind, she wondered if Redheart didn't have a bet pool going with the other nurses and doctors on when she'd finally croak. Would serve her right.

"Be thankful Ponyville is a testbed for new magic, or Nurse Redheart might have had to directly pump your stomach," Coloratura declared, which brought Berry out of her reverie. "While it doesn't handle heavy alcohol poisoning well, for what you had, it could absorb enough alcohol from your blood with that little wrist strap thingy there that you'd no longer be in any danger." She shrugged apologetically. "Sorry that it can't remove the hangover, though."

At that, Berry groaned with the reminder of her cripplingly painful migraine. While she was enraptured by Coloratura's tale, it was like the hangover came back with a vengeance when it was mentioned. She did, however, drift her attention over to the small strapped device that was on her right forehoof. Everything was so agonizing that she never noticed it rubbing slightly against her until Coloratura indicated it.

"Neat, huh?" Coloratura asked. "Don't know how it works entirely, but Nurse Redheart said it just pricks you a bit, can monitor your BAC, and is a receptacle for one of these." She pointed out the matrix again, which she slipped into a pack by her bed. "Anyway, Redheart said you were still hypothermic but stable, and since Ponyville General was dealing with a small outbreak of Chaos Feather Flu, one less pony to ward and watch would ease everypony's load. So, now you're here!" When she finished, she waved both forearms wide to emphasize the room.

Furrowing her brow and gazing at Berry intently, she stated, "I don't know what happened before any of that, though, but I think maybe you were trying to get home?" She tilted her head. "AJ said that you had to have been going the wrong way, though." She sighed. "So, yeah, that's all of it." Tiredly flashing Berry a smile, she also quipped, "Oh, and I made sure to watch you in case you had any problems. Nurse's orders, too." She chuckled before she yawned and shook herself to stay awake. "No biggie."

"Yes biggie," murmured Berry as she finally found the words to say. Ashamedly pulling the blankets tight around her, she practically surrounded herself with their plushy comfort, only leaving her muzzle free so that she didn't suffocate. She heard Coloratura belt a small laugh at how she looked. "Major biggie."

"No, not at all," Coloratura cooed, coming up to pull back the blankets enough so that Berry could see her.

That only caused Berry's eyes to well up in tears, and she rested her head into the mattress instead, soon staining the sheets with her crying. "I messed up. Again," she bemoaned, some wracking sobs making her shake and quiver. She barely heard Coloratura make a concerned shushing noise.

Soon, her whole body was vibrating as her wails became rather audible, even through the mattress. How could she have been so careless and stupid, especially since she'd known that it was going to be a colder night? She could have just walked right on by, but no, she had to have given in and gotten just a "little drink". Of course that'd always turn into a big one, and then a major one, and then—

She just stopped. Why bother processing it all when she'd probably be right back to another bottle once she could walk steady? Drink away the failures and then just make another one, right?

As she continued to sob, Coloratura rested a hoof on Berry's back. "Hey, it's okay. What you're feeling is okay. You'll feel a bit better once it's all out."

Through bleary, reddened eyes, Berry just looked up at Coloratura and stared at her, slightly dumbfounded. Weakly wiping at her muzzle, she sniffled and snorted, but didn't say anything, as she was simply too panicked at her lack of control to really process what was said.

Lightly squeezing Berry's side with a forehoof, Coloratura beamed reassuringly. "I know what's going through that head of yours right now." She pointed at Berry's forehead.

"You don't," Berry retorted, sullenly glancing away and placing her head limply on the mattress. She sighed. "Nopony does. Don't lie. Applejack wouldn't take kindly to that."

"Am I, though?" Coloratura hummed knowingly and let go of Berry. Brushing aside a bit of her mane, she yawned again and rubbed at an eye before she muttered, "I know more than you think." At Berry's quizzical eyebrow raise, she simply shook her head. "Don't worry about that right now, though. Get some more sleep. You're exhausted because being blackout drunk isn't really, well, conducive to resting."

Exuding a bit of levity and mirth, she cackled softly, "And probably your head feels like Celestia just sat on it after eating her normal allotment of cake." At that, she burst into a fit of giggles, which even Berry felt the urge to follow along with. It soon turned into a proper bout of laughter, although Berry soon winced and held her forehooves to her temples.

Drawing some air between her teeth, she grimaced harder and moaned softly. What else could she really say to Coloratura, though? She was simply being too nice. She was the queen of pop, for buck's sake, and she was just treating Berry, with all of her problems, like a normal pony? Sure, she had said all those words about being authentic and the like during the Helping Hooves festival, but seriously, what celebrity actually believed most of what they said?

Seemingly Coloratura—Rara—did.

Berry closed her eyes. It was true that sleep sounded very enticing right now, even more than another drink. When Coloratura saw that Berry was getting ready to rest, she withdrew to her own bed and grabbed the small bag with the absorption matrix in it. She momentarily looked at it, a sad frown on her face.

"Nurse Redheart will be stopping by for the last portion of her shift." She peered at a nearby, thankfully silent, clock. "Should be later this evening. She'll check up on you, and properly dispose of this." She hoofed the matrix back into the bag, and placed the bag around her withers. "I wanted that to emphasize how close things were.

"In the meantime..." She spun around, although Berry was now thoroughly working on keeping her eyes sealed shut. "Just sleep things off. The worst has passed, you just need to recover for a bit." Jabbing a forehoof toward Berry as the latter cracked an eyelid open, she added, "And don't feel like you've ruined my visit here. I'd never have forgiven myself if I just ignored you. You're not ruining anything."

"I didn't even—" Berry began with a cough.

"No, but you were thinking it. I know you were," Coloratura quipped, which earned a small, pained nod from Berry.

Her tone growing a bit happier, or at the very least, forced to sound happier, Coloratura exclaimed, "Consider this a Hearth's Warming gift from me, to you, my new friend!" At that, she started to skip out. "I'll help you in whatever way I can, and in whatever way you need." She poked her head around the door. "Sounds like a plan, Berry?" As she grinned widely, her teeth veritably sparkled in the sunlight that filtered into the room.

Holding back a couple of sobs, Berry mumbled, "Okay." As Coloratura trotted out, she repeated, "Okay, Coloratura." It didn't take long for the floodgates to open, as she cried herself into a stupor that sleep willingly embraced.

***

Through the haze of sleep and the continued mental fog of her hangover, Berry heard a pair of voices going back and forth outside her room's door. Whether it was because her blankets had ended up over her head again, or because she was still recovering from the hangover, she couldn't quite determine, but either way, their owners' were muffled and hard to discern.

Orange sunlight slipped under the bottom edge of the curtains that were used to keep the room darkened, which meant that the rays of sun painted portions of the opposite wall in brilliant splendor. One beam rested directly over Coloratura's poster of her Real and Unplugged tour, which made Berry whine pathetically. Memories of the morning came flooding back, adding to the overwhelming shame that was forcing her deeper into her mattress.

Her left hindleg spasmed. Within seconds, pain shot up through her muscles as they cramped and pulled her entire hindleg tight. Howling in pain, Berry tried to adjust herself, and the voices that were on the other side of the door stopped, and hoofbeats moved closer.

The door burst open, and both Nurse Redheart and Coloratura marched in. When Berry saw them, she managed to whimper out, "Cramp! Cramp! Cramp!" Before she could even finish, the first signs of the muscle relaxing sent waves of pleasure up her flanks, and she gave a sigh and mumbled, "Better."

Trotting around Redheart, Coloratura offered Berry more water from the glass by her bed, which Berry eagerly took. After she had drained the third or so that remained, she hoofed it back to Coloratura, who replaced it with a full one from a tray that she had brought in with her.

Redheart gave Coloratura a side-eyed glance. She was still dressed in a warm parka, which made Berry shiver just looking at it. Alternatively, it might have been because Redheart was visually examining her, with the scrutiny of a medical professional too many years in the trade could only give. Her nurse's cap was a tad askew, probably from rushing over to Berry's room.

When Redheart saw that Berry was looking at her, she put on a strained, beaming grin, which did little to actually comfort Berry. "Good to see you awake and kicking, Berry," Redheart quipped as she moved closer to Berry's bed. "You have to thank Countess Coloratura—"

"Rara," Coloratura interjected.

"Countess Coloratura for you still breathing," Redheart finished as she sat down and undid her parka. She simply let it fall to the floor. Eyeing the complete supper of a salad, pureed soup, and a cookie that was also resting on the tray that Coloratura brought in, Redheart added, "Maybe hold off on feeding her full-sized portions until tomorrow? Her stomach absorbed far too much alcohol to have settled down yet."

In response, Berry's gut growled and gurgled, as she kept her gaze longingly on the small salad and chopped peach that Coloratura had made. At that, Redheart rolled her eyes and huffed, "Nevermind. You never cease to amaze me, Berry."

Berry hung her head. Although Redheart was always helpful to her, for the couple of times that she ended up needing a bit more assistance than just getting home, she couldn't stop from feeling judged by the nurse's stare. In all honesty, she definitely deserved that ire, since it wasn't like Redheart hadn't strongly recommended that she look at some different support programs.

Nothing had really gone this far, though. What would be recommended by Redheart afterwards was something that she couldn't possibly imagine. All she knew was that Redheart would not take it lying down. It was undeniable, given how much fire and passion was in her eyes. And, if Berry was right, worry.

"Berry. Look at me," Redheart ordered, which Berry dutifully obeyed. However, she couldn't keep at it for long, as Redheart shone a brilliant, pinpoint light into her eyes, rapidly swapping from one to the other.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Berry screeched as it felt like the entire majesty of the sun was concentrated down into a pinpoint beam and delivered directly into the back of her retina. "It burns!"

"Well, nothing out of the ordinary for having a massive hangover." Redheart smirked. "And that's a medical term." Coloratura tittered once or twice, but she pressed a hoof against her muzzle fast enough that she silenced any more that threatened to escape her lips.

"Haw, haw," Berry retorted as she wiped at her eyes to try and get as many tears from them as possible. Despite the device no longer being in use, her eyes still stung and smarted from the bright light, and multiple afterimages flashed through her vision, blocking parts of it entirely. To compensate, she had to crane her head further to keep looking at the other mares in the room. "You're so funny, Redheart. Forgot to laugh."

"Dammit, Berry, I'm a nurse, not a comedian." Redheart rolled her eyes. "If you want good care and a kind bedside manner, I'm your mare. You want to laugh and roll onto the floor, and maybe break a few ribs, talk with Pinkie Pie."

"Sorry," whined Berry as she hung her head again. As Redheart gently took her foreleg with the device that Coloratura had indicated earlier, Berry gave no resistance. She heard a few clicks and a beep or two as Redheart hummed and hawed over it. One or two jolts went down her foreleg as Redheart tapped something on the device, then there was another clack as it stopped making any noise.

"BAC is almost back to zero. Berry, you might have to let Princess Twilight analyze your liver at some point. It's a marvel of biology that it's lasted this long." Although, from Redheart's smile, it was clearly meant as a compliment or at least not a disparaging statement, it didn't really resonate any ease to Berry. All it managed to do was make her feel self-conscious about her abdomen. Somehow, she could almost feel her liver struggling to break down the rest of the alcohol.

Although she surmised that that had to be the end of Redheart's prodding, it was far from the case. After pulling back some of her blankets so that she could get a better look at Berry's physical appearance, Redheart rested a hoof against Berry's neck. Berry, again, offered no resistance, as she simply lay on her side and stared plaintively at Coloratura's poster across from her bed.

The pressure from Redheart's hoof was beginning to get a bit unbearable, and she would have protested if Redheart hadn't finally declared, "Pulse seems normal and strong. No palpitations. No unusual sweating." She hummed. Placing a fetlock against Berry's forehead, she waited a moment and stated, "Body temperature is still a tad low, but it's within safe range. No longer hypothermic, not that I expected her to be at this point." She released Berry.

As soon as Redheart was done, Berry shivered and pulled her blankets closer to herself as she clattered her teeth together because of the chill that she just got. She observed Redheart as the latter trotted around the room, scratching a few things in a notepad. As she did, she also dropped a matrix crystal, which was glowing a much fainter yellow-green, into a pocket on her parka, which she passed by in her rounds.

The silence was beginning to kill Berry, as she awaited what Redheart's final verdict would be. She bucked up. She knew it. Redheart knew it. Buck, Coloratura knew it, and probably would blather later with her other pop star friends about how she met some loser drunk from Ponyville. Whatever semblance of respect that she still had for herself was effectively nonexistent. Then again, why did she even care at this point? If she couldn't control her impulses while she was Ponyville's open secret, then what did it matter if some Manehattanite mocked her behind her back?

After a bit more scribbling, Redheart slapped her notepad closed and put her pencil away. "Well," she began as she shared a glance with Coloratura, "you're doing far better than I had hoped after Applejack brought me here last night." She pointed at Coloratura. "But you better thank each and every lucky horseapple you have that Applejack and Countess Coloratura—"

"Rara," Coloratura corrected.

"—were out and nearby last night." Redheart finished with a snort as she shot Coloratura another side-eyed glower. However, her expression quickly changed when she turned her head and smiled at Coloratura. Berry couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. Redheart appeared to have had a long day, since her mane's bun was partly undone and frazzled, and dark circles were visible under her eyes. All her joy, no matter how close to Hearth's Warming it was, could have been sapped for the day.

"So, I want to thank you, Countess—" Coloratura simply nickered "—for helping Berry when she needed it most. Your quick thinking saved her life." As she faced Berry again, which made Berry feel like she was going to be scolded like a small foal, Redheart sighed exasperatedly, "You're lucky you didn't walk away with brain damage, Berry. You definitely had a risk for it."

Berry whimpered. Crystally tears trickled down her muzzle, but she didn't bother to wipe them. Redheart was right. She was always right.

"By Celestia's flaming flank, what possessed you to tempt fate now of all times?" Redheart shook her head. "How much you drank would have been dangerous in the summertime, but winter? That's like mixing a lead and mercury cocktail." She tsked a couple of times and then looked back over to Coloratura, who was doing her best to keep her expression from growing cross. However, given that her brow was wrinkling a bit toward a scowl, she was clearly failing.

"Since she's recovered enough that I can safely move her, I will intend to bring her back to Ponyville General tomorrow morning." Struggling to fight back a yawn, Redheart arched her back, much like a cat and then rolled a shoulder to work out a muscle kink. "Grauy—" She coughed and blushed "—Doctor Stable was able to pull a few strings and a couple of nurses could be spared from Canterlot to help us with the Chaos Feather Flu outbreak." She groaned as she rolled her neck and got a couple of pops. "We now have enough bandwidth to monitor her and start to wean her off the drinks." She snorted. "Afraid cold turnip isn't an option."

Although Berry didn't exactly know what Redheart meant, she felt a twisting, sinking sensation in her gut, and her blood ran cold. A few tremors worked their way up her forelegs, and as much as she tried to get them back under control, she couldn't.

In the back of her mind, she fearfully thought, Uh oh. Already, the craving for another drink, something to warm her body or to give a buzz to her head was returning with a vengeance. Given how late in the afternoon, or even the early evening it was, normally it'd be about this time that she'd be at The Smiling Mare for a beer or two. Maybe a nice, hot cider.

She shook her head. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it, she told herself. All this while Coloratura was arguing with Redheart about something, but she wasn't paying attention. All she knew was that she couldn't go to the hospital. Everypony, and she knew it'd be everypony, would find out. She'd be a laughing stock. Probably more than she already was by now.

"She has to go, so that medical professionals can—" Redheart was insisting before Berry gave a small whine.

"I don't want to!" Berry finally whimpered, drawing her quivering hooves close to her chest. She stared in fright at the two ponies, and she repeated, "I don't! I can't!"

Taking a long, deep breath, Redheart put on a smile and calmly stated, "Berry, I know that it's a hard choice for you to make, so at this point, I'm going to have to pull rank and make it for you." She scratched the back of her neck. "I can't in due diligence let you keep hurting yourself like this. Ponyville General may not be the biggest hospital around, and there may be a bit of an outbreak issue, but Princess Twilight always gives us some of the best programs around. We can help you."

However, as tears started to stream down her face again, Berry shook her head emphatically and buried her muzzle in her pillow. "No!" she screamed, a flash of anger working into her brain. Maybe they'd fix her, but did Redheart even know what she was asking? All her coworkers would find out. The bank might replace her. Manager wasn't an irreplaceable position, after all, and she had reviews coming up.

Furrowing her brow, she snapped, "I can't!" Almost immediately, like a switch flipped, she blubbered pathetically, "Everypony will see me as the town idiot who almost died!" She rolled over and then, through the jitters, mimicked ponies talking with her hooves. "'Oh gee, there goes Berry Punchdrunk, wonder where she's going to pass out today!' 'Maybe Berry Blackout could finish that drink for ya!' 'Hey! Let's see if this new drink will be strong enough for a yak! Let's just get—'"

She paused when Coloratura placed a hoof on her shoulder, and saw that even Redheart was looking at her worriedly. Not as a doctor at a patient, but as an anxious friend. At that realization, Berry shattered. Weeping and covering her face with her hooves, which were still shaky, she shook Coloratura's grip free and rolled away from them.

She barely heard Coloratura trot back to Redheart and start talking about something. Over the course of about half a minute, Berry's sobbing subsided, and she tried to listen in on what was being discussed. To her disappointment, Redheart and Coloratura were both too quiet for her to discern. Occasionally they did jabber a bit higher, but nothing more than a couple of words. All she managed to glean was that it was about her.

After another minute or two, they finally stopped, and Redheart cleared her throat. Berry, face downcast and her heart heavy, rolled over. She could feel that her mane was a mess, and her facial fur was nothing but a matted disaster. Her bloodshot eyes took in that Redheart was doing her best not to scowl too harshly, but couldn't hold back a small frown. Next to her, Coloratura was beaming brightly, and she nudged Redheart to speak.

Grunting, Redheart snapped quickly to Coloratura, "This is not a good idea."

"I don't care," Coloratura hissed back melodically.

Redheart whinnied. Shooting a deadpan look at Coloratura, she then looked back at Berry and grumbled, "It seems that your luck continues, Berry." She sighed. "Your gracious host has demanded that you be allowed to stay here over the Hearth's Warming season. To help ease the burden of Ponyville General, I'm sure." Furrowing her brow, Redheart grunted, "So you have about two weeks before you're back to me and the hospital. Understood?"

Berry nodded. Her mind was racing as she tried to figure out how Coloratura was able to convince Redheart. Normally, the nurse was rather stubborn.

"During that time," Redheart continued as she grabbed her parka and donned it. "You will do exactly whatever she tells you, as I've given her instructions. Understood?" She brushed down some of the hairs along the parka's neck.

Mechanically, Berry nodded again. If she was being honest, all that she really heard was that she was under Coloratura's care. That was enough to make all other thoughts simply leave her head. There was a mental haze, sure, but not from being drunk. At least, not from being alcohol-drunk. Maybe celebrity-drunk.

Counting on the tip of her hoof, Redheart began to list off some things that Berry would have to do. However, Berry didn't pay attention at all, as she simply stared, dumbfounded, at Coloratura. The pop star occasionally glanced between Redheart and Berry, but mostly kept her gaze, which she made as warm as possible, on Berry. Deep down, Berry felt like she was going to be sick.

Not because she was hungover, no. Simply because somepony wanted to do this.

Instead, she simply started to whimper and sniffle a bit.

"Berry," Redheart began, which broke Berry from her stupor. Berry could see that Redheart was giving her a look of worry. "These are important. It'll be hard to start, but the Countess has promised she'll help. Can you do that for her? For us?"

Barely comprehending the question, Berry nodded one last time. Afterwards, she rested her head on her pillow. Even the mental effort of the last twenty minutes had been exhausting, and all she really wanted was to sleep. Still, she remained attentive to what Redheart was now speaking with Coloratura about.

"I can leave some medications to help with some of the withdrawal symptoms, but I'll leave it to your judgment," Redheart stated. There was a clacking sound as she put some bottles on the table near Coloratura's temporary bed. "I don't like saying this, but if she starts getting them really badly, let her drink something. Going cold turnip could be disastrous." She leveled a hoof at Coloratura, who kept the same, confident and welcoming smile. "If you do, log it, send it to me, and I'll make a note of it."

"Absolutely, Nurse," Coloratura declared with a nod of her head. She even gave a quick salute. Redheart merely snorted.

On top of that, Redheart marched back toward Berry, carrying a smaller crystal matrix, which glittered in the room's light. Berry eyed it worriedly, but Redheart smiled tiredly, although it was reassuring. As Redheart did, Berry could tell that she was causing undue strain on the nurse. Sure, she and Redheart were far from friends, but Redheart had been nothing but caring to her when she was at the hospital in the past. It was undeniable she thought about every patient.

Redheart motioned for Berry to put out her right forearm, which Berry reluctantly did. Firmly taking it, Redheart did a final inspection of the matrix, and she nodded. One end of the matrix was slightly tapered compared to the other and she slid it into a tiny receptacle next to the main matrix indent. Seconds afterward, there was a small flash and a shimmer of magic over the device, and then it gave a soft beep.

She glanced back at Coloratura. "This will monitor Berry's BAC. If it gets above anything but baseline, it will sound an alert. Not that I think Berry will infiltrate anything in here, but still." She shrugged. "It's sensitive within a few hundredths of a percent. It isn't perfect, so please make sure to record any relapses."

Coloratura nodded, her face rather placid at this point.

Facing Berry, Redheart placed a very warm hoof on Berry's shoulder. Briefly, her frown deepened, as she felt the uncontrollable shivers that were constantly going up and down Berry's body. "And at least tonight keep a close eye on Berry," she told Coloratura without breaking eye contact with Berry. "She's probably going to have it rough." At that, Berry whined and peered at the floor.

Gazing directly into Berry's soul, she added, "Follow everything the Countess tells you. When she's left after her charity performance and Hearth's Warming, you'll be spending some time in Ponyville General for rehab, public perception be damned. Am. I. Clear?"

In defeat, Berry simply whimpered and nodded her head. "Yes," she finally choked out. Exhausted, she closed her eyes as she momentarily listened to Redheart say something else to Coloratura. Soon, Redheart trotted toward the door.

"If I do not speak with you again, Countess, I wish you a Happy Hearth's Warming," she stated. There was a pregnant pause, and then she added, "Stay safe, Berry. Happy Hearth's Warming." At that, she left with a click of the door. It was enough to bore into Berry's skull through the rest of her hangover, and Berry hissed.

Almost instantly, Coloratura walked over, and she gently squeezed one of Berry's forehooves with a hoof of her own. For a brief second, Berry's tremors ceased, and she barely smiled in a wordless thanks.

"I'll check on you later tonight," declared Coloratura. She finally let go of Berry's hoof, which was getting a bit cold and clammy. Cantering to the door herself, she paused and then called back, "I mean what I said, Berry. I know what's going through your head." When Berry didn't respond, she simply stated, "Goodnight, Berry."

Before she left, Berry coughed out, "Goodnight, Rara."

Chapter 2 - Colored Tales

Cursing to herself as a bit of milk spilled off her spoon, Berry let her utensil fall back into her small bowl of cereal, which made the internals splash and sploosh around. Some more droplets of white soon decorated the counter as she winced from whacking an elbow on its surface while she tried to wipe off some of the mess that she caused to herself.

"Hey, it's all right," Rara calmly pointed out as she munched on her own breakfast. Mostly fresh fruits and veggies. The strawberries that she had crunched just right, despite being out of season, which made Berry convinced that either Rara had some strange earth pony magic to keep them fresh, or she got them expediently imported from regions of Equestria that didn't get harsh winter weather.

These last few days have been bucking Tartaraus, Berry griped to herself. She didn't bother answering Rara, as she was focused instead on cleaning herself, and then the table. Both of them sat in Rara's kitchen, which was also part of her tour carriage. Calling it a carriage, Berry had learned on her second day there, was rather inaccurate. A better descriptor would have been moving fortress, since not only was there the bedroom that she was in, which she learned was actually Rara's, but there were also two guest chambers for her backup performers, plus a rehearsal room, all within walking distance of each other. And, of course, the small kitchen. And a bathroom. Everypony needed one of those. According to Rara, it was powered by a matrix-enabled motor engine instead of being pulled by workers. That reduced staff needs to only one driver.

While the kitchen wasn't anything fancy, it was still chock-full of different things that she could eat. At least when she was hungry, anyway. Occasional bouts of ravenous hunger were quickly replaced by feelings of complete nutritional apathy. Although she hadn't, if she had eaten during one of those, she probably would have barely been able to keep it down.

Currently, the table that they occupied was decorated by a couple of winter flowers, in bright purple bloom. She couldn't remember the exact name of them, but she knew that she had seen them around Ponyville before, usually sheltered underneath some house's eavestroughs or in a nook of a rock or something. They never struck her as special, but apparently Rara liked them.

Aside from that, it was a typical kitchen. Pots. Pans. A few cupboards. A lot like her own. At that thought, a twang of guilt and longing struck her. She'd had to give up her house keys, which was one of the first items that Redheart had instructed Rara to enforce. Although Rara didn't say what Redheart wanted with them, or if she even gave them to Redheart, Berry could put two and two together. Redheart wanted to clear out Berry's house of anything alcoholic.

Redheart was right, too.

While most ponies just thought she frequented, and occasionally spent too much time in, The Smiling Mare or a couple of the other pubs around town, she did also have a rather large, and wide, selection of drinks at her house. Even just thinking about it caused another shot of unease to race through her, which sent her already quivering hooves into an even greater jitter.

To at least keep her hindlegs from being nothing but a jiggly mess, she took to tapping impatiently with them instead. From Rara's flattened ears, she could tell that it was annoying her, but she couldn't quite stop. If she didn't have them do something, then she would have had her mind running a mile a minute instead. Granted, it was still sort of doing that, but the worst of her restlessness could be abated in other ways.

As a ray of sunlight broke through the frosty window, which was decorated with a couple of small bands of holly along the top, it carried itself down toward the sheets of music that Rara was currently reading over. Berry had yet to actually ask about them: were they new songs, or was she just reacquainting herself with old ones?

Either way, the ink must have been extremely high quality, because it practically glimmered in the yellow sunbeams.

Picking up her spoon again, she tried to get just one single spoonful of food into her mouth. She drew a sharp breath as both her forehooves wobbled. In vain, she attempted to steady her one forearm that held her spoon as she angled it toward the food. With a violent shudder, her hoof dropped it. "Buck!" she swore as it clattered to the ground.

Rara glanced up, then followed Berry's gaze to the wooden floor, and she simply replied. "It's fine. I can clean it up after you're done." She quickly leaned back and pulled out a fresh spoon from a nearby drawer and passed it to Berry. "See? All good!" She smiled disarmingly, the sunlight glistening off her freshly washed and curled mane. Whenever Berry took more than a second to look at her, she felt completely inferior.

Rara seemed to always clean up wonderfully, and she looked good even when tired or disheveled. Despite actually trying to wash herself today, Berry looked like she had just stepped off an ice rink that had nothing but yak skaters that forgot to put on deodorant. She felt like it, too.

"Can't do anything bucking right," she grumbled to herself as she snatched the spoon that Rara had given her and jabbed it back in the cereal. Morosely, she just stared at the food and started to sniffle a bit. Breathing in deeply, she steadied herself. Mood swings were probably the worst part of everything, but she tried to keep herself under control. Yesterday she hadn't burst out into tears randomly. That was for when she accidentally stubbed her hoof on the way back to her bed.

"Yes, you can," Rara countered from where she sat looking at her sheet music. She plopped another strawberry into her mouth, then passed a few to her. "At least eat these." Peering at her, Rara then looked around the vase of flowers and arched an eyebrow. "Have you taken Redheart's pills yet?" she inquired.

Blushing faintly, Berry shook her head. "Haven't yet."

"Then maybe try those first before you eat anything more?" Rara proposed as she tidied up her sheet music and then placed them in a small binder that was next to her chair. Folding her hooves together, she prodded, "Do you need me to grab you a glass of water?"

"I can get it myself!" Berry snapped back, although she immediately flinched and rubbed a temple with a hoof. Gnashing her teeth together, she whimpered, "Sorry. Um, I can, I can get one myself when I'm ready."

"It's not a bother," Rara declared as she hopped off and swiftly snatched a small glass from a cupboard and then filled it with a bottle from the nearby fridge. When she came over to Berry, she let Berry grab the cup, but she made sure that she kept a steadying hoof on the bottom so that it wouldn't spill. Berry sighed, cracked open a small container filled with some white pills, and popped a couple in her mouth.

After guzzling a bit of water down, she indicated for Rara to stop helping, and she managed to put the glass on the table herself. Already the jitters in her hooves had lessened, although they didn't stop. They never stopped, except for the third night of her "stay". When she started running a fever and getting sweats, Rara had reluctantly gone out to get a small, at least by Berry's standards, drink.

As she said later, it wasn't like Redheart didn't warn that going cold turnip wasn't smart, given how long Berry had been dependent on drinks. However, it didn't stop the overwhelming guilt Berry had felt from giving in to the temptation. So far after that, though, she'd been good, but it didn't stop things from being difficult.

"Hard to believe it's been almost a week," Berry mumbled softly.

"And just see how far you've come already!" exclaimed Rara, pumping a hoof in the air excitedly. "Did you ever think that you'd get through a whole week with only one drink?" She smiled, supportively and invitingly. It only left Berry feeling worse off. Why was Rara constantly so uplifting to her? Couldn't Rara see that she was a lost cause?

"I guess not," Berry finally admitted with a limp shrug. Now that her hoof tremors were little more than very light shivers, she was able to properly feed herself from the cereal bowl. She munched tiredly on the grain, the sugary goodness at least giving her a bit of energy. She popped one of Rara's strawberries into her mouth.

Through chews, she spluttered, "I guess it could be worse."

"Well, a lot of things could be worse," Rara pointed out. "But hey, don't worry about it. Every little step forward is that much closer to success!"

"Right," Berry huffed as she rolled her eyes. At that, they both fell silent for a moment, with Rara's smile faltering only slightly. Seeing that her new friend—she supposed—was obviously a bit hurt, Berry averted her gaze and mumbled, "Sorry."

"It's okay!" Rara beamed a bit brighter again. Blinking a couple of times, she exclaimed, "Oh, right! These were in my mailbox earlier this morning." She giggled. "Ponies have started to notice where I am, and I have to fight off hordes wanting some hoofsies!" Tittering again, she slowly died down when she saw Berry didn't appreciate the joke. She coughed into a hoof. "Anyway, these are for you."

She hoofed over four separate letters, all from ponies she knew at her work. In a bit of a stupor, Berry opened the first and briefly read it. Aloud, she mumbled, "'Hey Ber! Heard that you finally partied a bit too hard earlier and that you're getting some support. Us girls here will be able to handle things while you're recovering, and don't worry about Golden Ball. If she comes around moaning about our bank compared to Canterlot or Appleloosa, we'll tell her where to stuff it! All the best, Amethyst Star.'"

"That was sweet," Rara commented, a warm smile upon her features. "What about the others?"

Tearing each of the others open, Berry quickly read them all aloud. Like the first, they were from her coworkers, all expressing their support and hope for getting better from her... her problem. When she finished the last one, she looked up at Rara and saw that the pop star's eyes were watering with fresh tears, which only encouraged her own well of emotions to burst.

With a soft snort, Berry wiped at her nose and mumbled, "I didn't realize that they cared about me that much." She sniffed hard again and grinned dopily. For once, her body felt light as a feather, not because of how drunk off her flank she was, but just because of some kind words of ponies she knew. It was... different.

It was nice.

"Because you're a likeable pony, Berry," Rara pointed out as she got up and cleared out their dishes. "I mean, even AJ didn't stay mad at you for long because you were 'stealing' my time." She pressed a hoof against her muzzle in a soft giggle. "She always did have a jealous streak in her at points."

"It still doesn't make sense," Berry mumbled as she listened to Rara start cleaning up the dishes in the sink. Although the carriage didn't have running water per se, the water matrix it was equipped with did have enough that it could keep dishes and ponies clean between recharges. All other water had to be bought.

"What doesn't make sense?" Rara inquired.

"Just, why are you doing this?" Berry swallowed hard and stared intently at her hooves. With a bit of effort, she did manage to stop them shaking for a moment, although her restless tapping on the ground had yet to halt. She didn't even realize she was still doing it until just then.

"What do you mean?"

"Rara, I'm a nobody from a nobody town. Supposed friend of Applejack or not, why are you of all ponies helping me?" Berry blew a raspberry, and kept her tongue stuck out derisively. "You're the pop star. I'm dirt compared to you."

"Don't say that," Rara interjected as she sat down. For the first time that Berry had really seen her, she looked... it was hard to exactly nail down, but Berry wanted to say uncomfortable. Uneasy, maybe? However, the look disappeared when Rara glanced at her, eyes now leaking a couple of tears that was smearing her mascara down her cheeks. "You're not a nopony, Berry. Don't ever say that."

"But why not?!" Berry huffed, crossing her hooves and glancing away. Angrily kicking a hindleg against the ground, she gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes shut. "Do you think that I just want to keep waking up without knowing what I did the night before?! Do you?!"

As a surge of anger washed through her, she whipped her head around to scowl at Rara, who had flinched back a bit in concern. Berry slammed a hoof against the table, causing the vase to bounce once or twice and almost fall over. "I don't! But I don't know anything else!" Now tears were streaming down her own face. "But it makes me happy, I guess. I'd be going out to Hearth's Warming parties starting tonight, probably, if it weren't for my. Stupid. Brain!" Bucking a hoof against the table, she finally deflated as some of the snap rage left her.

Barely above a whisper, she exhaled and stared at the ground. "Why does anypony even like me? Is it even me?" She whimpered. "Or is it boozy me?"

"Berry." Rara got up and then motioned to the countertop. It admittedly looked sparkling clean, as it glittered in the sunlight from the window. "You tried cleaning all this yesterday. Remember why?"

It was a bit hazy, but Berry gave a nod.

"You wanted to give a reason for yourself to stay. You wanted to help me help you." Rara smirked as she walked over to Berry and pressed a hoof gently against her chest. "Ponies like you because you're you. You're the bank manager, right? You help ponies with their problems, even if they're... a bit blind to it." She shrugged. "I think you could get more definite answers from your coworkers, though." Dragging over one of the letters from Berry's fellow bank workers, Rara stated, "This all sounded pretty sincere to me, and I'm a much better reader of ponies than I used to be."

Some of the jittering had already come back as Berry's blood pressure felt like it was soaring. While her mind raced, she struggled to find anything to say to counter Rara's point. The longer she pondered it, the more she concluded, deep down, that Rara was right. Still, there was no way that she could be. Not with all Berry's buck-ups.

Finally, in a humiliating whine, Berry mumbled, "You're wrong."

"Am I?" Rara scrutinized Berry, a few more tears trickling down her own muzzle as she did her best to keep her voice steady. "Do you really think that I'm that naïve now?"

"No! Not that, I just—" Berry never finished, as she coughed a couple of times, and she pressed a hoof to her chest. Her heart was thrashing against her chest, and the old cravings came roaring back with a vengeance. Every prod and push from Rara only made the headache that was building in her head to soar even higher and harder.

Before Rara could say anything else, some sobs began to slip out of Berry in awkward, unmarelike hiccups and chokes. Squeezing her eyes tight, she rested her forehead on the table and whimpered, "I'm sorry."

Amazingly, Rara didn't reassure her that things were going to be all right. Instead, she was silent and merely laid one of her forehooves on Berry's. Berry could feel her clammy on her fetlock stick to the frog of Rara's hoof. After a moment, Rara gave a soft press to show that she was still there, and then she sighed, "Berry, I know what you're going through."

"You don't," Berry growled deeply.

At that, Rara let go and grew mildly pensive, which, after Berry had finally managed to get her breathing under control, caused her to look up. Rara's eyes were red with tears, which were now freely pouring like a waterfall around her muzzle. A pained, discomforted smile was on her face. In a choking voice, Rara stated, "I think you're very, very wrong, Ber."

"Only my 'friends' call me that," retorted Berry in a pouty tone.

"And I said you're one of my friends." At that, she straightened herself a bit and then pulled the chair she was using earlier over so she could look at Berry better. Mixed emotions were fighting for control of her expression, ranging from mournfulness to irritation to fear. Finally, it settled on a mild discomfort as she moaned and played absentmindedly with one of her locks of mane.

A couple of times, she started falsely, opening her mouth and maybe even stuttering once or twice, but she'd always cut herself off. Outside, a pair of foals, or some group of friends, ran past her carriage. The two of them heard the sound of laughter as they frolicked in the snow. Snow which had become much deeper.

In the back of her head, Berry wondered if she had gone on her bender a week earlier or later, if she'd even be having the conversation with Rara that she was at that moment. Since Rara was still quiet, she pushed herself back from leaning on the table. Her own eyes smarted as their raw surface met warm air, but she saw that there was only pain in Rara's own.

In a final, saddened sigh, Rara muttered, "What you're feeling right now, it's the withdrawals. They feel like Tartarus, make you question yourself, condemning you for all your 'stupid' choices, promising that if you just take another hit, it'll fix everything. Am I right?" Coldly, she stared directly into Berry's soul, which made Berry shiver.

Propping herself straighter, Rara continued, "And, maybe, when you do, it does feel a bit better." She held her forehooves an inch apart. "But only a tiny bit, right?" At Berry's continued shocked silence, she nodded. "I'm right, aren't I? You're fighting that lie right now, aren't you?"

For a moment, Berry simply stared at her, but as the poignant quiet permeated the kitchen, save for the soft dripping of water from the faucet that Rara didn't quite twist all the way off, Berry whined and shrunk back. That was all the reaction that Rara needed, to smile knowingly. With a feeble stammer, Berry countered, "Y-You talk like what it is, it's like, alive." She tapped her head. "It's just my bucked-up head." Even she didn't really buy her argument, though, which showed in her slouched posture.

"Sure, the drugs aren't alive, but that doesn't make them any less controlling, does it?" Rara arched a brow inquisitively, and Berry nodded. "Now do you see that I speak from experience?"

"Yeah..." Berry murmured before she scratched her chin. What exactly did Rara mean, though? Everything that Berry saw pointed to Rara being entirely functional and without really any problems. Outside of being a bit too famous, if that was even a possibility. Honestly, she would have rather had that problem at the moment than her own.

Momentarily contemplating her still-tapping hindleg, she finally focused on it long enough to get it to stop, although that gave her a stronger urge to start trotting around the room instead. With sheer willpower, she did manage to quiet herself entirely and respectfully looked back at Rara.

Berry tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?"

At the query, Rara flinched and averted her gaze. Suddenly the flowers on the table seemed to be extremely interesting. She rested an elbow on the table, and thusly her chin on its fetlock. She licked her lips a couple of times. What was left of her mascara she wiped off with a hoof, which stained her aquamarine coat an ugly black smear.

"I should have been more prepared to answer that," she admitted as she gave a small laugh and looked back at Berry. "But I guess I wasn't." Berry simply looked at her quizzically.

Sighing and kicking a hoof against her chair, Rara gazed directly at Berry, although, after a second, Berry figured it was more like she was peering through her rather than at her. A slightly whimsical, pained expression formed on Rara's muzzle as she huffed, "Do you remember my agent, Svengallop? He liked to plaster his name on my posters in my earlier tours."

It did seem a bit familiar, but Berry couldn't quite place the history. Rubbing her chin a couple of times, she hummed and gave a defeated shrug. "Can't quite remember."

"I think you showed up for one of my test rehearsals," Rara quipped, a faint smile on her lips. She was still looking off with a thousand-yard stare. At that mention, Berry flushed and scratched the back of her neck. That she did vividly remember. For weeks afterwards, her coworkers were gushing about how she was lucky enough to stumble across the rehearsal while Rara was warming up for that night at the Helping Hooves concert.

Rara's smirk grew wider. "Yep. You were. He was that pasty white stallion with the horrible manestyle." She chuckled softly.

"Oh," Berry drawled, recognition now coming to her. "That dick?"

Rara laughed. It sounded like wind chimes blowing together in a display of beautiful, friendly chords. "Yeah, 'that dick.'" She pawed at her seat. "Well, even AJ doesn't know this, but he didn't just control my stage persona." Fluttering her eyelids a couple of times to hold back some tears, she choked out, "He even controlled me, Rara."

"Aren't they the same thing?" Berry wasn't sure if it was Redheart's drugs or the fact her mind was completely frazzled and wanting to focus on ten things at once, but she wasn't quite following.

Once more, Rara gave a laugh, although it was much more pained this time. "If only." Berry finally followed Rara's gaze to see that her very first tour poster, even before she became a hit with the Countess persona, Colors of Equestria, was on the wall. A somewhat younger Coloratura, probably just out of her late teens, was on it, wearing her mane and outfit much like how Rara did now with her tours: much looser and curled, although she already had some long bangs characteristic of the Countess. In fine print on the bottom, there was a credit to Svengallop, and a promise for a new, exciting future after that tour.

"Oh."

Rara smiled. "That was just after I got to Manehattan. Svengallop decided to give me a small, regional tour to test my chops. It went well. Ponies loved my songs, they loved me, but he thought I was too 'old-fashioned' or too 'home-filly'. I needed to be a star." She waved both her forehooves in front of her face as she finished. "So, he made Countess Coloratura, Lady of Pop. But it wasn't me, it was just a show. When we started Perform this Way, I was so freaked about playing a persona, that I literally fainted just before a show." She giggled. "Hard to believe now, really.

"Well, they woke me in time for me to go onstage, but he offered me something that could 'help' me." She flexed both her forehooves to mimic quotes. In her gut, Berry got a heavy, twisting feeling. The cereal was not sitting well with her at the moment.

"It was just a 'goodwill gesture'. He 'cared' about me, you see." She snorted. "More like cared about his ticket to big paychecks." Grimacing, she stuck out her tongue and nickered. "I didn't take it. That time. I didn't even know what he was offering, but it made me feel dirty. So, I did that show, nearly bombed after I almost threw up from nerves and forgot my lyrics. Broke down later that night." Her scowl deepened. "He offered again to 'help', but I still said I was going to be fine.

"Queue the next show, in Canterlot, and Princess Celestia was attending. Talk about no pressure. And once again, he was right there, suggesting that I try out some 'great, new invention' from some mages in Canterlot." Sighing, she scraped at her seat again. "I didn't want to disappoint the Princess, so... yeah, I accepted it. It couldn't have been that bad, right?"

Berry's gut was effectively doing loops inside her. Although this was far from her own story, it seemed to mimic it in many ways, at least with the initial hesitance to give into whatever was her vice of choice. Had she even really fought against it, though? It embraced her so readily, like a long-lost friend.

Apparently her unease was visible, as Rara just gave a small titter. "It's okay. I need to get this out." She exhaled. "So, yeah, he brought me his 'wonderdrug'." She snorted derisively. "It was powdered matrix crystals. Probably don't hear about it much because it was banned shortly after discovery by Princess Celestia. Take some matrix crystals, grind them up until they're sand, give to your junkie of choice. Even when they're not powered, the crystals have some innate magic, and when ingested..." She sighed again. "It's just one heck of a high. You're on top of the world, your mind is sharp as a tack, you can focus on anything, and you're the talk of the party.

"And that's how my first show in Canterlot went. Strung up on powdered crystals, hitting my first, truly jaw-dropping performance with it. I felt like I was the Lady of Pop. I was the Lady of Pop. At least until I crashed a few days later." Sniffing and wiping at her muzzle, she smeared some of the streaked mascara that was on her hoof back onto her nose. "The first hit always lasts the longest, and then you want that feeling of perfection so much, you need another." She grinned tiredly. "And that's how he kept me in line for so long. Only get some of it when it was close to performance time, otherwise, struggle with being normal."

"Woah." Berry mentally smacked herself for such a stupid statement.

"Yeah, woah. Managed to crank out half of my new album on that first go," chuckled Rara. Brushing aside a bit of her mane, she moaned and hugged her hooves close to herself. If Berry didn't know better, she would have surmised that Rara was second-guessing herself. "The withdrawals are probably some of the worst around. Mood swings, depression, constant migraines, uncontrollable jitters, unsatiable munchies, can even cause hallucinations." She smiled sadly. "Had most of them. Once they started hitting, that was when I couldn't back off, try as I might.

"That was why, if you ever found out, why I was so..." She winced and lightly bobbed back and forth a couple of times. With a grimace, she continued, "Why I was so out of it at first when AJ tried to talk with me. Sure, Svengallop had some control, but AJ first found me when I was just coming off, and then when she accused Svengallop of controlling me, was just in the first bits of withdrawals." With a soft whimper, she tittered morbidly. "If it weren't for him actually giving me a hit during that one rehearsal where I finally dumped him, I might not have ever done that." She stared at Berry. "AJ saved my life, in more ways than one.

"Didn't quite realize what all happened though. It can mess with your memory sometimes. Wasn't until after the show last night that it hit me that Svengallop just left. My only chance of feeling 'normal' was gone." She sniffed. "Had to quickly give AJ an excuse for why I couldn't stay for at least one day. Pretty sure that AJ believed I didn't appreciate reconnecting with her like she thought I did. That little part of Rara that Svengallop couldn't control—the me that wanted to please the foals—shattered that night. I was broken. Massively." Rara paused momentarily, clenching her eyelids shut as Berry assumed a vivid memory of that night reared its head.

After taking a few deep breaths and sniffing back a couple of tears, Rara exhaled deeply. She gazed resolutely at Berry. "All I had left were a couple of tiny packets of the stuff, which he gave me before I kicked him out as a 'just in case' when he was off getting all his five-star treatments from Pinkie Pie." Flaring her nostrils, Rara blew heavily through them and she snarled, "The snake.

"Those barely got me back to Manehattan, and then I was found later in my changing room by one of my roadies after I collapsed. If he didn't think fast and roll me over, I'd not even be here because of that seizure." She clicked her tongue. "Then, off to rehab for me! Two and a half bucking years of my life. But now I'm clean. Svengallop didn't even bother 'exposing me' because, well, I guess he thought I would be washed up without him." She snorted. "Probably helped that most paparazzi didn't know what I looked like under all that makeup, and Sapphire Shores just released a new album after the charity event, anyway."

With a sad smile, she splayed her forearms wide and exclaimed, "But here I am, just a bucked-up Coloratura, thanks to a two-timing, backstabbing, psychopathic agent."

She sighed. "And, well, that's why I want to help you. And others. You heard Nurse Redheart. I'm here for another charity drive. It's for the rehab center that helped me in Manehattan." Smiling softly, tears sparkling in her eyes and trickling down her muzzle, she stated, "Because there's a lot more ponies bucked-up, just like us."

Both of them were quiet for a moment. By now, the leaky faucet was making quite loud dripping noises in the cup of the bowl that it was filling. Rara folded her ears against her head, and neither paid any heed to the snowfall that was coming down outside, which hid the sun and made the entire kitchen appear in a dull shade of grey.

Rara winced. "Uh, don't tell this to AJ. I want to broach the subject myself."

Completely flabbergasted, Berry could only nod stupidly as she tried to process all the information that Rara gave her. Never in a million years would she have considered Countess Coloratura of all ponies to be just as messed up in the brain as her. In one way, it was rather invigorating, but also it was frightening. Whatever problems she, Berry Punch had, were nothing compared to getting hooked on a literally banned stimulant.

As that thought settled itself into her thoughts, she sighed and hung her head defeatedly. Rara let out a small hum of worry, and tilted hers. Both of them at this point were in figurative puddles of their own tears, with Berry's face matted and mussed with hers, and Rara's streaked with mascara instead.

Before she could stop them, more began to flow from Berry's eyes, and she whimpered softly. Her shoulders shook, but before she could break out into proper sobs, Rara darted over and pulled her into a hug. "What's wrong?" Rara inquired, constricting Berry a bit tighter in her grasp.

"J-Just, you know what it's like, b-but, mine, they're... nothing compared to that!"

Shushing her, Rara stroked back some of Berry's messy mane and smiled, making sure that Berry looked back at her. "Not true! Everypony's problems are different, and I'm making bucking sure that I help you start with sorting yours out! They're no less important than mine." She shrugged. "I am just farther along."

Leaning forward, Berry rested her head on Rara's chest, tears of not sadness this time, but joy, running down her muzzle and matting Rara's fur. Between choked sobs, Berry just murmured, "T-Thank you. I-I don't deserve it."

"It's what friends are for," Rara replied, giving a soft stroke of Berry's mane. Deep within her throat, she started to hum some melody that Berry didn't recognize. Whatever the case, it was rather soothing, and soon some of her crying ceased. In the bottom of her chest, she felt the first bit of hope well up inside of her.

After a minute of being serenaded by Rara, she finally returned the hug with a strong squeeze of her forearms. Rara returned it even harder, and the two of them simply stayed together, two friends, broken together.

***

Sticking out her tongue in concentration, Berry scratched out a couple of lines on one of the sheets of paper that she had grabbed from Rara's first guest room, which Rara was currently using as her own chambers. Inside that, there were stacks of sheet music, some different records and recordings, as well as notes and little reminders to Rara from herself to do something. Despite it all, it was actually rather organized.

However, despite being told that she was fine to wander the carriage to stretch her legs, work out any jitters or the like, she still had a lump in her throat from violating her friend's privacy. Still, the itching desire to do something was insatiable. As she pondered her next stroke, her hind hooves were again tapping anxiously on the floor. Although she was doing her best to concentrate and stay calm, her heartbeat thudded loudly in her ears and a bit of sweat trickled down her forehead.

Every little sound that her room made whenever the wintery wind blustered against the carriage caused her to flinch in worry, in case somepony was sneaking up on her. Occasionally the shadows cast by the single light she currently had on seemed to morph into twisted silhouettes of ponies, sometimes assembled around drinks, or maybe offering her one.

Still, she pressed on despite the distractions and worries. Hearth's Warming was only a week or so away, and being effectively trapped under medical watch wasn't conducive to doing anything for the holiday. But that didn't stop her in her mission.

"What're you up to?" she heard Rara inquire from the doorway.

Berry jerked up with a yelp and nearly dropped the pencil that she was holding with a forehoof. Frantically, she whipped a second sheet of paper, which had some half-finished warmup drawings on it, over her current object. "N-Nothing!" she exclaimed, her heart hammering in her chest. She heaved heavily as Rara didn't take the hint and instead waltzed inside.

Checking the window, Rara arched a brow at the snow and then turned back to Berry. "Doesn't seem like nothing," she quipped with a smirk. "Pretty late, too, don't you think?" As if to emphasize, her clothing indicated that she was probably off to bed in a moment or two, since she wore a thin, semi-transparent nightgown decorated with her cutie mark.

"Not tired," Berry mumbled. Partly true. Insomnia was a bit of a pain in the flank. But if she admitted it was more that she had an idea that she couldn't get out of her brain, then Rara would probably only ask her what it was. Shrugging dismissively, she straightened the paper that she was using as cover for the other and avoided Rara's gaze. "Thought I'd occupy my mind."

Hopefully, Rara would leave, and then she could get back to what she wanted to do. Instead, the pop star sat near the end of the table, which Berry had moved, and she inquired in a friendly tone, "You draw?" Berry reluctantly nodded. "Neat!" Her pearly whites reflected starkly in the lamplight. "This might surprise you, but I'm not very good at it." Suppressing a snigger with a hoof but failing as some of it hissed out her nose, she stared brightly at Berry while her eyes twinkled in mirth.

"I might be able to write lyrics and pen a beautiful melody, but I couldn't probably even give you a good stickpony." At that, she burbled a soft chortle and scooched a bit closer to Berry's side. Craning her neck to look at Berry's sheet, she let out a soft whistle. "Those are pretty good. I didn't think you'd be an artist." She finished with a fancy, Prench accent.

"I'm not," murmured Berry as a soft blush formed on her cheeks. "Just have time on my hooves between dealing with obstinate bank customers." Groaning, she hoofed over a different paper, which she had used as her first warmup. Far from her best work, but it was a pretty harmless still life of apples or other fruits, along with a glass of water. A bit out of proportion, but she hadn't drawn for weeks at that point, so it was to be expected. "Here," she grunted.

Rara took a moment to take in the sketches. "You must have had a lot of time on your hooves, then. You sure that isn't your special talent?" She glanced at Berry's partly hidden flank.

Huffing a bemused snort, Berry griped, "Pretty sure it's about getting wasted, and that's about it."

Rara clicked her tongue and went back to inspecting the page that Berry gave her. Flipping it over a couple of times, she checked the reverse side's additional sketches, and then rested it on the table. "What're you drawing now?" she asked, getting up so she could see what Berry was holding down.

Desperately keeping the two sheets together, Berry turned the paper enough so that Rara could see that it was a rough outline of a pony. Berry breathed a silent thanks to Celestia that she had nixed the picture before she got past the posing stage. "Just refreshing my hooves at ponies," she admitted. Her hind hooves started beating against the ground again.

"Can I check it out?" Rara prodded, leaning down to start to snatch the paper.

"I-I'd rather not," Berry stuttered. At Rara's confused look, she coughed. "It's pretty rough. Not worth looking at, honestly."

"You sure? I think it looks—"

"It's just practice." Biting her lip, Berry rested both her now shivering hooves on top of the paper and stared intently at Rara. Both their gazes met for a moment, and then Rara sighed and nodded her head.

"All right. I'd like to see the finished result, though." Berry simply gave a noncommittal grunt. Walking back to the doorway, Rara started to close the door, but before she left, she peered back and declared, "Oh, I made sure that AJ invited you to the Apples' Admittedly Awesome Hearth's Warming Hoedown!" She smiled brightly. "About time you meet some ponies again!"

At that, Berry's stomach sank, and her blood ran cold. Quivering and stuttering a couple of times, her eyes widened in fear, and her ears folded against her head. "Y-You what?!"

"Berry, you have been cooped up for over two weeks. Anypony will go stir-crazy in those conditions." Rara chimed lightly, "It'll be a nice welcome back to having a social life!" Trotting out, she gently clicked the door shut, leaving Berry with a fluttering heart and sweat trickling down the back of her neck.

Letting the sketch page slip from her grip, she stared at the true piece she was doing. Currently about half-finished, an image of Rara dressed in a studded leather jacket leaning down to help somepony, who had been left shadowed against the invisible light source, out of the snow.

Berry furrowed her brow. "Of bucking course."

Chapter 3 - Warmed Hearts

"I don't know about this, Rara," Berry whimpered as she and Coloratura stepped out of her carriage and immediately began crunching and scrunching the snow beneath their hooves. The freezing air, now much colder than even a couple of weeks ago, caused their breaths to hang like clouds of soft cotton.

Along the horizon against the Everfree Forest, the winter sun barely peeked up over the canopy, which was covered in deep sheets of white. Sparkling snowbanks reflected the final rays of Twilight's blinding light, their dusty forms being swept up in a slight breeze.

Although Rara's carriage was situated near the outskirts of Ponyville, it was still surrounded by Hearth's Warming cheer. Snowponies dotted the empty plains, and the few houses that were this far out were decked up in various lights, magical candles, or glass orbs and holly. Icicles drooped from practically every building's roofs, adding to the frozen look of the town.

Deeper into town, Berry could barely make out the sound of some ponies singing carols in the town square. In the opposite direction, the first indications of the Apple's Hearth's Warming Eve celebrations could be heard, with some different folk music carrying over the slight hills and pointing them toward the warm glow of campfires and lanterns in the distance.

Berry shivered as poking and scratching fingers of ice felt to slip up her legs. She glanced down at her hooves, which were currently in a borrowed pair of boots from Rara. They were almost the same size, to the point that she'd have to work hard to knock them loose, but that still allowed more cold air than she wanted into them.

Just be thankful, Berry, she told herself as she pulled her borrowed coat a bit tighter. Honestly, she should have just had her ratty old scarf and toque. She didn't deserve to be given such a plush parka that Rara had donated to her. Besides, the colors didn't really match her coat.

However, that protest had already been raised, and Rara insisted, to the point of not going if Berry didn't dress up for the weather. It still rubbed Berry the wrong way, though.

Moving her attention to Rara, Berry felt a small pang of hurt as she saw how much more radiant Rara appeared compared to her. Sure, Berry didn't look as much like death anymore, but Rara, with her neatly bundled mane, her cobalt-blue parka, and a dainty set of boots on her hooves just exuded charm and class. Things that Berry completely lacked.

Sensing that her friend's mood was falling, Rara frowned and declared, "You'll be fine, Berry. AJ is looking forward to seeing you up and about!"

"Is that because you told her to be?" Berry grunted, earning a small gasp of shock from Rara. Flattening her ears against her skull, Berry looked aside and muttered, "Sorry. Didn't mean it."

"I'd never ask AJ to fake something!" Rara shot back, her face flushed with a bit of anger. "You know that, Berry!"

"Yeah, yeah," Berry placated, holding up both her hooves and motioning for Rara to settle down. As she went back to all four hooves, Berry briefly brushed down part of her parka, making sure that she felt the single, folded piece of paper that she was bringing with her. It was Hearth's Warming Eve, after all. Sure, plenty of ponies didn't exchange things until the next day, but a party felt appropriate.

Softening her expression, Rara started to canter through some of the outer streets of Ponyville, toward Sweet Apple Acres. With a peek back at Berry, she hissed conspiratorially, "Besides, AJ couldn't keep a poker face if her apple tree's life depended on it!" She waved for Berry to follow her. "Come on! I'm already starting to freeze, and AJ promised there'd be lots of warm food tonight!" She giggled. "Tonight's the one night I don't need to watch what I eat."

Momentarily, Berry remained fixed in place and rigid as a statue. When Rara noticed that she wasn't trailing her, she paused and looked back, giving Berry a worried pout. Berry felt her heart thrash against her chest a couple of times, and she worked out a couple of tremors from her hindlegs. They weren't nearly as uncontrollable now, especially if she had Redheart's medication beforehoof, but they still plagued her.

At least she didn't have to drink anything to keep off dangerous symptoms, though.

She glanced down at the small wrist device on her right foreleg. According to Rara, Redheart had programmed it to give a warning if any discernible BAC levels were detected. As an extra accountability measure, of course. She didn't remember it ever going off, though.

Forcing a smile upon her face, she trotted after Rara, who returned the smirk with one of her own and then started back up through the Ponyville streets. As soon as Rara stopped looking at her, though, Berry's countenance fell. She let out a small sigh of disappointment.

She'd always heard about the Apple family's Hoedown, namely from some gossip spread after Princess Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack's other friends started attending. Sometimes she felt jealous, since it was effectively an exclusive club, reserved for Applejack's family—all of it—and then some of her close friends. Inwardly, she reminded herself she should have been thankful Rara got her the opportunity to attend and maybe strengthen some friendships, but all she really felt was irritation that she was dragged from her warm room.

Besides, socialization could be nerve-racking at times. Especially if... certain ponies were there.

She faintly flushed. At that moment, Rara happened to check on her, and caught her pink cheeks. A playful smile dancing across her face, Rara asked, "So, Berry, what do you think you'll do while we're there at Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Probably just go in a corner and cry," Berry grumped with a tad bit of sardonicism in her tone. At Rara's bemused, slightly nonplussed expression, Berry rolled her eyes. "I don't know. I'm not familiar with many of Applejack's family, aside from who else are here in Ponyville."

"I heard that some of AJ's eligible cousins will be there," teased Rara, a light titter on her tongue, which broke into proper fits of chortles as Berry's face burned a bit brighter. "Never know who you could meet." She ended her statement with a little trill.

"I hate you," Berry grumbled.

"No, you don't."

Groaning and hanging her head, Berry watched some of the snow slowly slip by. Rara was right. She didn't.

As some of the snow on the ground brushed against her muzzle, Berry held back a sneeze before she had a small lightbulb moment. Whipping her head up enough that she sprayed a bit of white powder into the air, she looked around at the drifts that had built up against the houses on either side of the street.

A sinister smirk built on her face as she slowly slunk toward one of them, her hooves barely making a noise, and certainly being unnoticeable over Rara's own tromping. Plus, Rara was now humming, quite resplendently, an old Hearth's Warming carol and was barely paying attention. She was too focused on taking in the lights and glittering snow, especially as the first stars started to peek through the evening sky.

Gutturally giggling, Berry scooped up enough snow that, even though her forehooves jittered a bit, she was able to pack it up into a fairly tight ball. After holding it in her forehooves for a moment to warm it and melt into something that would hold together, she tip-hoofed after Rara.

"Say, Berry, do you think that if AJ saw you getting an interest in... who was it, Brae—" Rara had started to turn around to ask Berry another question about her choice of ponies, but she stopped when she saw Berry about a foot from her, already mid-swing of her forehooves. Before she could even yelp in surprise, she got a face full of snow as the snowball that Berry crafted exploded right on her nose.

When the cloud of snow cleared, Rara's aquamarine fur on her muzzle had been painted completely white. Some of the snow carried up the bridge of her nose. Rara spat a bit of water out of her mouth. As she finally opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times, she sputtered as she saw Berry's slightly wicked sneer, "What was that for?"

"I told you I hated you," Berry quipped, although she could barely keep her mock anger showing for long. Guffawing a couple of times, she offered to help Rara wipe the snow off her, but Rara simply waved her away and carefully made sure not to disturb the mascara around her eyes.

When she was done, now with a darkened muzzle from the wet snow that had been absorbed, she huffed, "I suppose I struck a chord?" She quickly added, "No pun intended."

Berry merely snorted. She was sure that her snowball had been answer enough.

"That was a good hit," Rara added as she slightly twisted a forehoof in the ground. It was an almost imperceptible move, and before Berry could react, she used it to kick up a large cloud of snow from a smaller drift on the ground. Impressively, she wiped the entire section clean of precipitation.

"Gah!" Berry exclaimed, covering her face with her forelegs, although not in time to avoid getting at least partly splattered with fine ice particles. Spitting and lolling out her tongue to get rid of the snow and small bits of dirt and gravel carried with them, she saw that Rara had the same evil grin that she had a moment earlier. "Okay, you got me," Berry mumbled. "Truce?"

"Truce," Rara agreed, taking off one of her boots to hold out a bare hoof for Berry to bump. Reluctantly, Berry did the same. "You got me good, honestly," Rara stated. "Still, AJ and I got into a proper war one winter, so you didn't learn any of the tricks I did." She snickered.

"I guess not," grunted Berry.

Both of them were shivering somewhat from the injections of freezing cold they had given each other, but they soon started laughing at how they both acted. For once, Berry felt like she was just being a normal pony, doing normal pony things. She even had some fun without having to be buzzed first.

"Maybe we shouldn't keep AJ waiting, though?" Rara proposed, jerking her head further down the street. As the path it led to was covered in snow, the only indication that it led to Sweet Apple Acres was because of a few hoof tracks going through it, plus ruts from a cart. From the size of one set of hooves, Berry surmised they were from Big Mac. Probably went into town with Sugar Belle earlier that day for some final supplies for the Hoedown.

"Yeah, probably should." As Rara faced toward the farm again, Berry nervously fondled the pocket with her paper. It thankfully didn't feel like it had gotten wet at all. She sighed in relief.

For the next few minutes, they both trudged through the snow toward Sweet Apple Acres in quiet. Aside from the noise coming from the farm up ahead, which by now was lighting up the sky with whatever forms of illumination they had, the world was silent. All the birds and other animals had either migrated away or gone into hibernation, or were hiding in Fluttershy's sanctuary, waiting for the spring temperatures to welcome them back to Ponyville, so they could chirp, caw, or chitter at all hours of the day.

The sun had truly set by this point, only leaving an orange glow along the very edge of the horizon. Tonight was a new moon, so as they went further outside of Ponyville, some more of the night sky could be seen in whatever wasn't polluted by the farm lights. Berry gasped as she took in the fabric of hundreds of points of light weaved together expertly.

Rumors had always abounded that Twilight still let Luna control parts of the night, especially her tapestry, the stars. Although Berry was sure that Twilight could do a nice artistic job if she put her mind to it, she was sure that the alicorn was busy enough with what other duties she had inherited from Celestia and Luna at retirement. These had to have been the hoofwork of the original Princess of the Night.

Long filaments of stars traced into tendrils of beautiful, laced arms that seemed to reflect the unity of ponies with their neighbors. Maybe she was looking too much into it, but she swore that it looked like linked limbs, working together to make as amazing a display as possible.

"Pretty, huh?" Rara asked as she noticed Berry falling behind to gawk at the night sky. "Don't think that even my star status could top one of those." Thumbing her nose in the direction of the stars, she asked, "Want to stay here for a moment?"

"N-No," Berry finally mumbled, jerking her head back down to stare awkwardly at Rara. Scratching a hoof on the ground, she coughed, "I've already held you up more than I should have." She sighed. "I still don't know why I'm coming."

Rara frowned. Sauntering toward Berry, she rested a hoof on Berry's shoulder and stated, "Because you're a friend of AJ, and you're definitely one of my friends." She drooped down to gaze right into Berry's eyes, almost pressing her muzzle into Berry's. "You. Are. Coming."

As Rara pulled back, Berry tiredly nodded. There was little point arguing by now. About the only other option was going early to Ponyville General to start rehab, and she would rather not remember her Hearth's Warming of 1012 to be sitting in a white room with machines monitoring her.

Seeing that she had finally won through to Berry, Rara smirked and led her friend forward. Soon enough, they reached the outer gates of Sweet Apple Acres, and Berry felt her ears serenaded by the sounds of fiddles and happy hollering as a few ponies, all with cutie marks of apples or apple-related activities, danced around a couple of bonfires outside the Apples' barn.

Snow topped the wooden gate, and icicles reached down like glistening crystal stalactites. The farmhouse was dark, save for a few lights in the kitchen. Silhouetted in the lantern light from it, Berry could see Granny Smith and she assumed Sugar Belle hurriedly rushing around to prepare different meals.

The entire orchard was bare of any leaves, as the trees laid dormant until the next growing season. Deep drifts of snow had blown in various directions through it, partly obscuring some piles of leaves that hadn't been raked up before the pegasi got to work.

When she saw her friend's bewildered and stunned expression, Rara nudged Berry with an elbow. "See? Lots to do and see." She motioned toward the barn. "AJ said there'd be lots more to do in there. I'm sure you can find something to do with others!"

Speaking of Nightmare Moon herself, Applejack poked her head out of the barn, revealing a mass of ponies mingling and chattering inside. Steam practically belched out of the structure from all the ponies' excess body heat. Pushing back her Stetson, Applejack beamed when she made out Rara and Berry at the entrance to the farm.

"Rara!" she called, galloping out from the barn and quickly making her way to the pair. When she got closer to Berry, she nodded and stated, "Berry. Good to see ya felt like coming out." She smiled warmly.

"Didn't have much choice," Berry grumbled.

At that, Applejack's face widened into an uncomfortable smile. "Well, I mean, I'm sure that Rara would have let you stay back if you insisted." Rara shook her head emphatically. Stuttering once or twice, Applejack backpedaled and stated, "I-I mean, you're a friend, Berry! I wouldn't not invite you."

"You didn't all those other years." Berry furrowed her brow.

Applejack chuckled uneasily. "W-Well, yeah, okay, uh, ya got me there." She scratched the back of her head, sensing Berry's mild irritation. With a soft sigh, she hung her head. "Well, shoot, Berry. I'm just trying to be neighborly." A genuine grin lit her features. "I am glad that Rara brought you here. And seeing you back on your hooves, too. We were all worried 'bout ya."

"Right," Berry muttered.

As the pause in conversation grew, Applejack finally drawled, "So, Rara." Rara peered at her expectantly. "Wanna see who can build the best snow fort in ten minutes?" Applejack's eyes sparked with fire as she held back a smirk.

Switching her gaze between Applejack and Berry, Rara hummed reluctantly. "AJ, I want to make sure that Berry has a good time. Maybe sometime before I leave Ponyville?"

"Oh." Applejack hung her head. Pawing at the ground, she stated, "All right. I suppose I weren't thinking of Berry." She forced a smile on her face. "Let's all get in before we become colder than an ice cider press." She winced at Rara's glare. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Berry mumbled. Behind her, Applejack and Coloratura exchanged a worried glance, and Applejack tiredly pushed her hat a bit forward on her head as a few flakes of snow started to fall from the nearly-cloudless sky.

Approaching the barn, Berry paused at the door, feeling her heartbeat race and her breath come in a few short, harried gasps as the din of conversation filled her ears and mixed with the music playing outside. Her pupils shrinking a bit, she nearly collapsed into the snow before she was snapped out of her funk by Rara showing up next to her. Her friend rested a hoof on her back and flashed her an encouraging smile. Berry nodded back.

By now back to her usual jolly self, Applejack declared, "Hope y'all like it loud, because we got that in droves!" She pushed open the door, revealing that the barn was almost completely packed with ponies, assorted in colors and attire, almost all sporting apple cutie marks. A stark standout was Sugar Belle, who was weaving between some different Apples who were chatting around a couple of tables. Her magic held multiple plates of Hearth's Warming desserts. Despite how hectic it was, she was clearly having fun as she gave a wave to Rara and Berry and then quickly spoke with another Apple near a long table with punch bowls.

For a second, Berry's world shrunk to just her and the bowls, and she began to inhale quickly before Applejack nudged her. "Get some of it, Berry! It's some of Cousin Honeycrisp's best punch!" When she saw Rara's look, indicated by a nod toward Berry, Applejack quickly added, "Oh, uh, nonalcoholic, of course." She chuckled.

Almost immediately a weight seemed to lift from Berry's back, and she actually beamed appreciatively at Applejack. "T-Thanks. I might—" Before she could finish, Sugar Belle trotted by and thrust a small cup of the punch into Berry's grasp, along with giving one to Rara.

"Good to see you, Berry!" she chirped, and then, with a smirk, ducked back into the crowd to head toward the door nearest to the farmhouse.

Holding back a couple of sniffles, Berry's chest welled with emotion at the warm greetings she got from a few other Apples nearby. Even if they didn't recognize her, they welcomed her like one of their own. She swiped at a couple of tears and sipped at the punch. As soon as the sugary treat hit her tongue, she let out a small moan of delight. Applejack was right. It was great!

A bit tangy, but a nice, carbonated feel to it and a sweet bite to it in the end. And definitely no "happy juice" in sight, either. She'd be able to tell instantly.

At Berry's brightened expression, Applejack bellowed over the constant chattering, "See?! Told ya it was her best!" With that, she twisted to Rara and cried, "Rara, Cousin Sharp never believed me that I was friends with ya. Mind changing her mind?" There was a glint of mirth in Applejack's eyes.

That spark was mimicked in Rara's as she took a gulp of her own punch. Bobbing her head, she exclaimed, "You bet! Can always provide a special hoofsy for her!" Snapping a small stamp from inside her jacket, she waved it for a second, the shape of a horseshoe visible in the lantern light. Also, when she extracted it, she brought with her a tiny box that was wrapped in a bright blue and grey paper. It caught some of the light and glinted back into Berry's vision.

After putting away her stamp, Rara turned to Berry. Hoofing over the box, she stated, "Hold onto this, Berry! It's for you!" She indicated the small slip of paper on the top that read not to open it until after the festivities. "In case we don't bump into each other until the night's over," she quipped. "I want to make sure you get it."

Dumfounded, Berry simply stared at it for a moment, and Rara and Applejack quickly slipped through the crowd toward one of the corners of the barn where a dark green pony was watching the two of them with ever-dilating pupils. When she finally broke from her surprise, Berry murmured hesitantly, "W-Wait, I have—" She saw that she was alone, in a sea of ponies. "One for you..."

She sighed and slipped the box from Rara into a pocket inside her own parka. Already, she was starting to sweat from how much warmer it was compared to outside, and she guzzled down the rest of the punch and dropped the disposable cup in a garbage bag nearby. Slipping off the parka, she kept it draped across her back, so that it wouldn't get lost. Or dirty.

A few laughs broke out from a table near the farmhouse exit, and she could see that Pinkie was currently doing her best impression of a chicken as she must have finished some story. Berry rolled her eyes. Sometimes Pinkie's antics were a bit too much to bear. Next to Pinkie was a light grey mare with a dark grey mane, who was doing her best impression of melting into the floor from embarrassment. Or fear. One of the two.

After a couple of seconds more of her imitation, Pinkie grabbed hold of the mare and gave her a big hug while finishing the tale. Another round of guffaws came from the table, while the mare caught by Pinkie blushed heavily, refusing to even try to escape Pinkie's grasp.

Pinkie was slapped by a pale-indigo hoof and an angry-looking earth pony pulled her down. With a whine heard halfway across the barn, Pinkie obeyed and soon things quieted down. At least until the grey mare shot Pinkie a glare as she caught Pinkie pouring something from a small bottle into her punch. Pinkie grinned awkwardly.

Slowly, the mare grabbed her cup, got up, walked over to another garbage bag, and then dunked the rest of her drink into the trash. She trotted over to the punchbowl and snatched a new cup. When she sat down at the table again, Pinkie whined, "Come on, Marble. I swear it'll help you loosen up a bit!"

Berry flattened her ears and focused somewhere else. Pinkie probably had good intentions, for all that spiking a drink could do, but the less temptation that Berry had, the better. Instead, she caught a few ponies around a picture of the stereotypical Santa Hooves. Currently, his white beard was a pincushion for different attempts at pinning wings on his sides. His normally happy face looked afraid, as he was falling toward a chimney with a massive bag of gifts.

It was apparently popular with more than just foals, even though Berry couldn't recall the last time she did something like that for Hearth's Warming. At least when she was a young filly and her dad wanted to entertain her. It was a tad boring, if she were to be asked.

However, she could make out that the current pony currently up was none other than Pinkie's sister, Maud. Berry snorted. For once, Maud had swapped up her normal simple frock with another simple frock, but with red and white lacing. Clearly her coltfriend had gotten her to liven it up.

As one of the other players spun Maud around about half a dozen times, Berry could discern that Maud was also holding in one of her forehooves her rock, pebble, thing. From the one or two times she interacted with Maud, Berry recalled that it was treated like a living object. Are all the Pies touched in the head? she wondered to herself as she wandered closer to the game.

There was a free chair, so she sat down and raptly watched as the Apple attending to Maud let go. For a moment, Maud unsteadily stood on her hind hooves, but she soon wobbled toward the picture of Santa Hooves with a wing pin. Ponies held their breaths and the air around Berry grew electric with anticipation as Maud neared the board. Suddenly a cheer broke out as Maud pinned a wing nary a couple of inches from a proper wing socket.

As Maud pulled off her blindfold, she also removed a tiny one from her rock. "Boulder helped guide me," she stated. "He deserves all the credit." Not even the slightest hint of emotion was betrayed in her words. Was she even happy?

"Technically," a mud-colored, gaunt earth pony declared from the front of the crowd, "Boulder only helped steady you. He was just as blind as you were."

Blinking, Berry thought she caught the faintest hint of a smile on Maud's lips. It could have been a twitch, for all she knew, though. Either way, Pinkie's sister trotted over to her coltfriend, Mud Briar, then stated, "Let's go get some food. Boulder could eat a horse."

"Technically, he'd want to eat a pony," Mud Briar replied, looping a forearm with one of hers. "Let's see what morsels Sugar Belle has prepared whilst we focused on the frivolities."

Thoroughly perturbed, Berry watched them trot off toward the food and drinks table before she was tapped on a shoulder by the Apple supervising the game. "Wanna go for a spin, hun?" the mare asked, a warm smile on her lips.

Berry hesitated. Pulling a forehoof up to her chest fearfully, she eyed the blindfold and inwardly asked herself, What if I'm horrible? Would ponies find her amusing, or the game? Would she even like playing?

"You okay, hun?" the mare inquired, tilting her head and looking with concern at Berry. "Did you need to sit this out?"

Shuddering and doing her best to hold back the tremors that were working their way up her forehooves, Berry shook her head. She gulped, her mouth feeling a bit dry. As a bit of sweat trickled down the back of her neck, she made sure that her parka was safely stowed on her seat, and she stated, "N-No! I'll, I'll do a round."

"That's the spirit! Go help ol' Saint Nicker get into the chimney!" The mare chuckled and pushed back her braided mane. Passing Berry a wing pin, she then wrapped the blindfold around Berry's head and guided her toward the clear area. She firmly began to spin Berry around, all the while Berry hearing the din of conversation change direction. Some nearby cheered her on, although none knew her name.

Finally released, Berry staggered and nearly collapsed as her hindlegs quivered and a wave of fear gripped her. However, after making sure she stayed standing, she stumbled forward, waving her empty forehoof vainly in front of her. When she felt she was close enough, and she also scraped her hoof against a wall, she slammed the pin into the board, and then whipped off her blindfold.

"Ha!" she exclaimed, although her pride soon turned to bemusement as she saw that she had managed to poke Santa Hooves right on the flank.

Everypony was silent for a moment, before one foal in the group started to giggle, followed by some of the younger mares and stallions. Admittedly, Berry had to struggle not to giggle along with them. Of all the places she could stab the pin.

A smirk playing on her face, she went back to her seat and grabbed her parka. For another minute or two, she watched others play, although she was starting to be chatted up by different attendees. The constant explanations of who she was, and who she was related to or friends of began to drag on her. After the fifth time she was prodded on if she was second cousins with a certain pony at the Hoedown, she abruptly got up and excused herself.

Panting slightly, she worked her way to one of the other corners of the barn. Her breath was beginning to become a bit painful and short. Too many ponies, not enough time to recollect herself. Gasping, she slid back into the corner, falling to her haunches as a soft whimper filled her chest. She was doing so well, and now that good ol' anxiety was beginning to rear its head.

She licked her lips. Something to wet her whistle might help...

Squeezing her eyes shut, she scrunched her muzzle and smacked herself. No! She'd not give in. She wouldn't abuse Rara's trust!

After she had managed to keep her lungs from collapsing entirely from panic, she slowly got back to her hooves and peered around the barn. From its middle beams that supported the roof, a large orb of candles, protected behind crystals, burned brightly as a representation of the star that appeared shortly after the Three Tribes united and banished the Windigos. At least, that was what the stories said.

Some more Hearth's Warming-y decorations were scattered along the walls, mainly holly or paper-craft snowflakes. Near the back of the barn, just outside the pens for the animals, a large Hearth's Warming Tree shone brightly, casting brilliant points of light throughout the nearby area.

Berry caught Rara giving a hoofsy to Applejack's cousin Sharp. The mare, completely overjoyed, pressed both her hooves to her cheeks and then rushed to hug Rara, who laughed and returned it. After a moment, Sharp took off to speak to some other ponies who shared some similarities, and Applejack and Rara just laughed.

Inspecting her surroundings for a moment like she knew she was being watched, Rara finally met gazes with Berry, and she smiled widely, even making sure to pull her cheeks a bit further with a forehoof. She flashed a hoofs-up to Berry, which Berry just returned with a small wave.

Consternation appeared on Rara's face, and she muttered something to AJ. AJ waved her off. Breaking from her other friend, Rara slipped through ponies on the dance floor and made her way to Berry. "You okay?" she inquired when she got to Berry. She checked the little coven that Berry had managed to make for herself. "Are you having—"

"I'm fine," Berry fibbed, glancing away from Rara. "Played Pin the Wings on Santa Hooves. Ponies just kept asking too many questions."

"Well, the Apples do like to know how everypony knows everypony..." Rara admitted with a shrug. Eyeing Berry with a bit of skepticism, she arched a brow and prodded further, "Are you sure you're fine? I can hang out with you for a while."

Berry just held up a hoof. "I don't want to keep you from your own fun, Rara." She sighed. "I'll be fine in a few minutes. Just needed a breather."

Nibbling on her bottom lip, Rara opened her mouth as if to protest, but then she was ganked by a pink blur. For a brief second, her front half stood still while her rear was dragged on by Pinkie. She let out a yelp as reality finally stopped bending around the pink anomaly.

"Oh my gosh, Rara! You have to meet my sister, Marble! She's, like, your bestest biggest betterest fan ever!" Pinkie screamed, carrying her voice over most of the nearby crowd. Her voice soon faded though, as she rambled on to Rara about all the things that Marble had of hers, starting with a small shrine. Berry didn't catch what Marble did with that shrine, though.

With her escort gone again, Berry pressed both her forehooves against her face, and she moaned in defeat for a moment before she heard a younger voice state, "Hey, Berry Punch!" She glanced up, seeing Applejack's younger sister, Apple Bloom, and her two friends. They'd really all sprouted the last couple of years, now all lanky teens rather than short little fillies that she remembered them to be.

Trotting up to Berry, Apple Bloom beamed happily, "Applejack said you'd be comin'! Good to see ya!" She gave Berry a small hug, which warmed Berry's heart a smidgen as the giant pink bow on Apple Bloom's head bounced with the motion. Both of the young mare's friends greeted Berry, too.

"Why are you just hanging out in a corner?" Scootaloo inquired. "Kinda a lame way to spend a party, right?"

"Scoots," Sweetie Belle chided with an eyeroll. "Not everypony has to be like Pinkie Pie every second while a party is happening."

"Well, sorry that I don't like being boring!" protested Scootaloo as she crossed her arms and humphed. Her wings buzzed a bit in disgust. Perking up, she exclaimed, "Oh, hey! Secret Craft Reindeer! Count me in!" She bolted over to an assembling group of ponies around a number of cheap boxes. She immediately pointed to one and was passed to it, before being hoofed a paper with a name on it, Berry surmised. Scootaloo soon bolted to a corner and began to bang together something from the components in the box.

"Always on the move," Sweetie sighed, rolling her eyes again. "Sorry, Ms. Punch."

Berry didn't really respond, as she was focused elsewhere on a stallion that caught her eye. That, and his luxurious, golden mane. Almost instantly when she laid eyes on him, Applejack's cousin Braeburn, she felt her face flush and her mind tingle excitedly.

"Uh, hello?" Sweetie inquired, waving a hoof in front of Berry's face. "Ms. Punch?"

Berry just grunted something incomprehensible, and then she shook her head. "What?" she mumbled, then rested her gaze on the two young mares. Blushing more profusely, she scratched the back of her neck, brushing against the parka on her back. "O-Oh, sorry, just wigged out there."

"Hey, what's that?" Scootaloo interjected, popping up from behind the corner of the wall. She jabbed a hoof at the monitoring device on Berry's fetlock. "You got some cool magitech from Twilight? Can I see?"

"I think Twilight would want to get my sis or somepony else to help first, Scoots," Apple Bloom quipped, fixing a tired glare at her hyperactive friend. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be in that there Secret Craft Reindeer?" Thrusting a hoof back at the assembled group, Apple Bloom raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Oh, buck! Right!" Scootaloo darted back to her craft station.

"Like I said: always on the move," sighed Sweetie as she facehoofed hard.

Berry's attention was jerked back to Braeburn as he let out a loud whinny of excitement and hugged both Big Mac and Sugar Belle. As he did, a round of applause echoed through the barn, although Berry didn't catch what was said. Apple Bloom followed her stare, and she asked, "Oh! Did Mac finally announce it?"

"You mean about Sugar Belle?" Sweetie prodded, moving a bit closer to her friend.

"Yep! I'm gonna be an aunt soon!" Apple Bloom exclaimed before she froze and looked at Berry. "Oh, sorry, Berry. Didn't mean to exclude ya." When Berry didn't really respond, Apple Bloom furrowed her brow, and traced Berry's gaze. She wasn't actually watching Big Mac and Sugar Belle, but she figured that it was in reality Braeburn. A sly smile formed on her muzzle.

"Say, Sweetie," she began, earning a hum from her friend. "Wanna relive a memory?"

"Uh..."

Apple Bloom jerked her head toward Braeburn, then indicated the somewhat tunnel-visioned, flustered Berry. "Maybe fix that old mistake?" She winked.

"Ohhhh..." Sweetie drawled, realization dawning on her face as she finally caught Apple Bloom's drift. Rubbing her forehooves together, she nodded eagerly and then checked for what Scootaloo was doing. Seeing that she was about to hoof the small paper pony she made to her assignee, Sweetie waited for all of five seconds after Scootaloo was done to yank her back. She muttered a small apology.

"You guys! You want me to stick to one thing, and then you—" Scootaloo started with a snort before Apple Bloom pressed a hoof against her muzzle.

"Hush," she barked. Pointing at Berry, she made a small motion of weaving Berry through the crowd and dance floor to Braeburn. On top of that, she mimicked some chatting, an offer of food, and most importantly, dropping a mistletoe over Berry and Braeburn's muzzles. She grinned. "Perfect plan, huh?" she hissed.

Her friends nodded, then exclaimed, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MATCHMAKERS, YAY!" They were loud enough to turn some heads, including Applejack's.

"Y'all learned nothing from Cheerilee and Mac?!" she boomed, although she shook her head when she saw that Apple Bloom was already dragging a thoroughly surprised Berry through the barn.

As she was hauled through the room, Berry struggled, but between three overeager fillies, one with earth pony strength, another with middling magic, and a third being a pegasus, she didn't have a good way to break free of their three-pronged grip. Whining and whimpering, she watched in fear as she was brought closer and closer to Big Mac and Sugar Belle, the latter of whom was munching on some crackers and a single pickle.

Sugar Belle whispered something to Mac and then slipped back through the farmhouse doors out to the kitchen. Big Mac just gave Berry a single, appraising look, and then was swarmed by a few more congratulating family members. When Braeburn noticed that his cousin was bringing a new mare near him, he shook himself and blinked in shock.

"What's going on?" he asked, completely confused as he stared perplexedly at Berry. "Hello there."

"H-Hi," Berry mumbled as she was finally released by the young mares. Her front hooves were a wobbly mess, there was absolutely no way she'd walk away from this interaction. Inwardly, she cursed her nerves, and the niggling tickle, the enticing itch, ratcheted itself up tenfold.

I wasn't prepared for this! she protested inwardly as she gawked at Braeburn, who was just as stricken with shock. If she could read ponies at all, she could tell that he at least wasn't turned off from her immediately. Think, Ber, think! she chided herself, racking her brain for anything to say.

Feeling a nudge on her rump, she saw Apple Bloom pushing her to go forward a bit. She only whinnied in fear and shook her head emphatically.

While the awkward silence persisted, she spotted where Pinkie had yanked Rara to speak with Marble. She tried to ignore that Pinkie somehow had stretched out Rara's torso, and was now casually compressing her back to a normal length like an accordion. When Pinkie finished with a strained shove, she hurriedly pulled Marble over and seemed to beg Rara to give a hoofsy to Marble and sign a small piece of paper.

For her part, Marble was doing everything she could to hide beneath her mane. Applejack soon marched over and began arguing with Pinkie about something, probably pushing her sister so far.

Meanwhile, Rara was disconcertingly standing in middle of the spectacle, holding out a stamp for a hoofsy, while she also clasped on her other forehoof the autograph that she'd done. She was actively holding the paper closer to Marble, who was, in turn, cringing as far away as possible from the pop star.

Although she was too far away to hear Rara, Berry read her lips as Rara insisted, "Please! Take it! For a fan!"

Marble simply quivered and completely hid behind her mane. She peeked through it when Maud sauntered past and directly to Rara. Rara put down her autograph and turned to Maud, who held up Boulder, and said something that Berry couldn't read. Apparently, it was enough for Rara to tilt her head in confusion, but she grabbed another paper and made a quick autograph.

On top of that, she grabbed her stamp, and lightly pressed it on Boulder. Maud silently took the autograph and walked off.

A far-off look on her face, Rara blinked when Marble emerged from her figurative shell and pointed toward the hoofsy stamp. Smiling, Rara eagerly pressed it onto Marble's fetlock and exclaimed, "Hoofsies!" She then passed the autograph to Marble, who swiftly snatched it and looked away, a vibrant pink on her face.

Before Marble could return to her seat, Rara leapt forward and swept her up in a strong hug. The pink that Marble's face was before was now a dark beet red, however, she didn't struggle to escape. When Rara finally let go of her, Marble whimpered a bit, and then slunk, humbly, to her seat, where she stared at the autograph she had gotten in rapt awe.

"H-Hey, y-you okay?" Berry blinked as Braeburn verbally prodded her. When she didn't respond, he asked Apple Bloom, "Bloomy, what'd ya do to her?"

"I didn't do nothing!" Apple Bloom protested. "She was the one gawking at ya!"

Although she didn't make any noise, Berry blushed at Apple Bloom's rather honest take. Since she was still staring where Rara was, she saw her friend notice her, then wave again. When Rara spotted that Berry was next to Braeburn, a sultry smirk formed on her muzzle, and she winked once as well as gave her another hoofs-up.

At that, Berry simply whimpered and whined, her ears folding back against her head. Everything was going too fast. Why couldn't she just have been left in her corner, regain her composure at her own rate, and then approach Applejack's cousin, if and when she wanted to? Everypony was just so nice, but they were pushing her well beyond what she normally looked for in a social situation.

Well, that is when she wasn't strung out on a bender, which she thankfully wasn't. If she had been near blackout, like she probably would have been without Rara's help, who knew what she'd try to do with Braeburn. She winced as her own mind wandered, and the first, demeaning voices of her cravings returned.

Gritting her teeth, she sniffed and wiped at her muzzle. The tears didn't go unnoticed, as Braeburn reached out and asked, "Hey mare, are you okay?"

Before she could answer, her overwhelmed mind completely drawing blanks, she saw that Rara was observing her closely. Worry was quickly spreading across her face, and she had started to move toward her friend, although a few ponies at that moment got up from another table and blocked her from moving further.

Breathing in once, Berry nodded. She could handle it. It'd be a bit hard, but even without—

"Everypony warm your gullet!" Granny Smith exclaimed as she knocked open the door to the farmhouse and carried out with her a large tray of wooden steins. The liquid inside sloshed and splashed, their frothy heads bubbling and burbling tantalizingly.

It took only a second for the smell of ethanol to hit Berry's nose, and her world seemed to slow down as she stared longingly at the tray, which Granny set only a few pony-lengths away. The appley-sugary scent mixed with the enrapturing scent of booze, making her mouth water and her legs to steady.

Pounding in her head, her heart beat frantically against her sternum as she ignored Braeburn's protests of surprise as she slowly trudged closer to the tray. With each step, she struggled to stop moving, but her body seemed to move with a will of its own.

What are you doing?! she screamed at herself, pleading her hooves to stop moving. You're going to throw everything away! No! Turn away! STOP! Her throat clenched, and she snuffled a couple of times, which only made things worse. Almost all of the tray had been grabbed, but about half a dozen steins remained, each one's head slowly sinking into its respective container.

The foam was a light golden brown, matching the small glimpses of cider that was underneath. At the very sight, Berry's tongue threatened to loll out, and she instinctively thrust out a hoof to fit into the handle. In one final attempt of willpower, she paused for a moment, feeling the cool cider chill her fetlock, then she pulled the stein back.

There was nothing in her world at this point, just she and her cider. The only friend she actually needed.

"Bottoms up," she mumbled to herself as she opened her mouth and let the first drops of cider hit her tongue. Immediately, jolts of pleasure shot through her mouth and into her brain, as more of the delicious drink slid down her throat into her gut. In a matter of seconds, she had drained the stein and slammed it down on the table with a sigh.

Already, the faint buzz of her first drink gave her a warm feeling, and she smiled, turning back to look at Braeburn. Some of her confidence was returning. She was back.

"Berry! Are you okay?!"

Berry's world crashed into a million pieces as her stomach lurched and she almost regurgitated what she had just imbibed. Like a vice had twisted her chest, she looked over at the pony who addressed her. Completely confused and worried, Rara stood next to her, at the end of the table. She must not have noticed the cider Berry had had yet. Berry just looked at her wrist and stein for a second. It was deathly quiet around her.

"Berry?" Rara inquired, stepping a couple of paces closer. Her eyes rested on the stein. "Oh."

"I-I-I-I—" Berry began, her brain a mess as more of the cider hit it, making any reply she could formulate nothing more than a jumble of grunts and whimpers. As Rara stared at the stein for another second, her face began to grow red, which made Berry whimper pathetically.

With a final stammer to try and explain herself, Berry simply screamed, "SORRY!" Before Rara could do anything, Berry threw the stein to the floor and bolted toward the door. She veritably crashed through it, making the ponies out in the cold playing their instruments yelp in surprise.

As she galloped away, she could barely hear Rara scream, "What. The. BUCK, AJ?!"

"Don't look at me!" Applejack protested. "I made sure to tell the kitchen no booze!"

"Eh, is she allergic or something?" Granny inquired, confusion laced in her words.

Before Berry could hear any more of her friend's rant, she had run past the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres and had begun to retrace her and Coloratura's tracks from earlier in the evening. Bolting past the spot where she observed Luna's stars, she soon raced into town, spraying snow from her frantic charge. Hot tears streamed down her face, freezing as they turned to droplets that flew from her cheeks. Soon icicles were resting on her fur, although she could barely feel the cold on her muzzle.

Ragged breaths escaped her lungs as her mind raced and barely processed where she was going. She zoomed by The Smiling Mare, not giving its warm façade a glance. Nearly stumbling into a pile of snow, she instead whinnied, steadied herself, and bolted through the center of town, nearly disrupting the carol sing.

Nopony there had a chance to fully make her out, especially with her parka, which was partly flopping off her as a leg stayed wrapped around her neck, muddying her figure.

Through winding streets and frigid alleyways, she galloped on instinct, barely paying attention to where she was going. All that went through her head was how she had messed up, again. Like she always did. She knew that going out was a mistake, and that she should have just stayed in the carriage.

No, she shouldn't have been a stupidly stubborn pony and actually accepted Redheart taking her back to Ponyville General so she could get as much help as she needed. Everything in the past two or so weeks, all the aid, even the couple of extra treatments that Redheart spared, were wasted. Ruined. Like what she always did with her life.

Her gasps for air and thudding hooves were the only noises that were audible at this time of night on Hearth's Warming Eve. The night air was devoid of any and all animal sounds. If she strained hard, maybe she could have heard a bit of ice falling here and there, but otherwise it was just her and her thoughts, alone in the cold.

Her vision a blur, she rounded a few more corners and finally started to slow. Feeling like it was on fire, her chest pleaded with her to stop. She coughed, hacked, and nearly choked on the sweet, cold air that worked its way down her throat. More tears streamed from her face.

When her world finally stopped spinning, she could feel the buzz of the cider's alcohol keeping her brain slightly muddled. It took her a second to place where she was standing. Right outside her house.

The windows were dark, the front door closed. Somepony had been kind enough to keep her path to the entrance cleared of snow, though. Some hoof tracks around the building indicated it had been visited recently.

Reaching to her money pouch, Berry tapped her flank when she realized that she didn't have it with her. Even if she did, it didn't have her house key. She shivered as the cold started to infiltrate her body, and she gave a soft "brr" as she rubbed her forehooves on her chest.

In her near-manic state, she looked all around for somepony to help her. She would have called, but her voice was too haggard from all her galloping. Gagging and coughing, she hacked up a bit of phlegm and felt a couple of heaves come from her gut. However, she worked back the nausea, and then she marched toward the nearby window of her kitchen.

Taking only a second to think, she punched out with a forehoof toward the pane. There was an earth-shattering crash, and slicing shards of glass cut into her fetlock and hoof as the window exploded inward. She kicked a few of the stray pieces off, and then scrambled through the window, a couple more knicks being given on her stomach as she slid in. Landing with a thud in her kitchen, she rubbed her head, and then saw the rivulets of blood trickling down her right forearm. It had ripped off the monitoring device in the process.

She barely registered that, though, as she staggered, sobs starting to work their way up her throat. Hiccups jostled her body, and she stumbled up the stairs to her room. She didn't glance at any of the pictures on the walls. They were all more reminders of her stupidity, anyway.

Even in the near-pitch black second floor hallway, she found her way to her bedroom. Illuminated by one of the street lamps that was outside her window, she saw her simple bed, done up neatly like she had never been gone for most of December. A few odds and ends were scattered around her bedroom, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for somepony who usually slept in.

She preferred a neat ship, after all.

Her brain was still buzzing from the booze, and no amount of joy that that small sensation could bring her could overwhelm the sense of foreboding doom that she had. As a crushing weight bore down on her very soul, she trudged, staggered, and nearly tumbled into her bed. She almost cracked her forehead on the wall, instead just barely scraping her scalp on the plaster.

The burning sensation from the near miss didn't even register to her, as she screamed into her mattress, hot pools building underneath her muzzle from her crying. For a solid minute, she just screeched and shouted, berating herself for failing, again, only coming short of punching herself because her right forehoof was smarting too much.

When she finally got the first bouts of rage out, she soon wailed harder, rolling over onto her back and bawling toward the ceiling. Her blubbering cries asking why went unanswered, at least verbally. In the back of her mind, she knew the answer. It was because of her damn cutie mark. What kind of twist of fate gave a pony a cutie mark of booze, for buck's sake?

She couldn't fathom an answer. All she knew was that it was her destiny. Probably would have been better if Coloratura hadn't found her.

Her energy finally spent, she went limp, barely conscious of her right forehoof brushing against the floor and catching on a small latch. It took her a second to notice the feeling, then she fluttered her eyes open, her vision blurry through tears.

Mechanically, she leaned forward and then grabbed the latch with her teeth. It was painted the same color as the wood stain, and was almost impossible to see unless somepony was actively investigating every inch of ground. After she gave it a small tug, it pulled back to reveal a miniature bottle. Its contents were dark in the lamplight, but she only needed to read the label.

Princess' Buck Triple Barrel Scotch. Extra proof. More than enough to knock her out and make the miserable night a thing of the past.

Uncorking the bottle, Berry didn't even hesitate as she slammed back a mouthful, the bitter, smoky taste of the scotch falling onto her tongue and burning it as she swallowed. Wincing as it went down, she felt her mind stumble as another shot of numbing pleasure washed over her. Before she could properly think, she chugged another gulp or two and swayed in her seat.

With bleary eyes, she blinked back a couple of tears as the fire in her stomach made her whimper. Hooking both hooves around the bottle, she sipped at it again, her world becoming hazier by the moment.

***

Gasping for breath, Coloratura came to a halt outside where the tracks from Berry led her. She furrowed her brow, surprise not really registering to her as she recognized from Applejack's tour of Ponyville when she first arrived that she was outside Berry's house. Besides, the big plaque of Berry's cutie mark over the entrance of the house partly gave it away, too.

Really, it wasn't entirely shocking that Berry would run here, since she was probably running on one hundred percent emotion and instinct. Coloratura simply winced when she pictured the last image of her friend's face, twisted in fear and guilt as she barely held back her absolutely burning rage at the complete lack of empathy on Applejack's part. It didn't matter if Applejack said it was Granny's fault, Sugar Belle's fault, anypony's fault. Ultimately, the buck rested at her hooves.

And... her, Coloratura's, own.

Holding back a sigh and a small sniffle, she wiped some of the sweat that was on her brow as she forced back some of the guilt. Maybe she shouldn't have been so insistent that Berry should have come with her, but Berry was simply going to be miserable if she didn't have a bit of social time in the lead-up to Hearth's Warming. It simply wasn't acceptable!

Gritting her teeth, Coloratura cursed under her breath as she dug out from her parka the key that Redheart had given her a week or so before. When that happened, Redheart had reported that she had found every single bottle of alcohol that Berry kept with her. It was enough to stock a bar for a year, at least. However, as somepony with experience, she had that intuitive hunch that Redheart had been duped.

Sure, Redheart was not stupid, but it had also been after her shift at the hospital that she did that, plus she had fifty other things on her mind. A trained professional could only do so much. If Berry had had that many visible drinks, she would have probably had more hidden.

She took in the stars for a second, saying a soft prayer to Luna before she looked at the simple house. It was little different from the others on the street. Just a simple thatched roof, plus some normal plastered walls. Also a shattered window.

At that, Coloratura shook her head, some of her looser curls swishing across her muzzle, and she mumbled to herself, "Berry, what have you done?" She could catch the red glint of blood on the broken glass.

Fiddling rapidly with the lock on the door, she soon unlatched it and trotted in. The door creaked shut. When it clicked, she fumbled for a light, since she could see that this area of Ponyville was also powered by magic. She fumbled in the dark, but soon she felt a switch and pressed it. Instantly, there was a flickering and then a single light matrix crystal powered on over the foyer.

It was... surprisingly clean. In fact, if a pony were to come in without knowing Berry, they'd be hard-pressed to figure out that she was a pony with problems. There were a couple of extra scarves, plus a winter coat, hanging on a rack, along with some winter boots. Aside from that, it was clean, save one or two pictures on the wall.

Taking a second to look at the pictures, Coloratura smiled as she saw that they were of Berry with some different mares in the South-East. Looked like they were on a vacation around Baltimare, if her memory served rightly. Berry had a wide smile on her face, and the others were laughing. Not a drink could be seen.

That was a tale replicated in the other picture. While a different location, it was also without alcohol. Coloratura noted it, but before she could explore much more, she heard some blubbering and sobbing. Jerking her head up, she strained to listen for where it was coming from.

Another whimper followed by a choking wail was cut off by a cough, but she pinpointed it to the second floor. Dashing as fast as she could, she galloped through the kitchen, only briefly noticing the pile of glass and splatters of blood on the tiles. The red trail continued, leaving a few dribbles here and there on the stairs leading to the second floor.

Hitting a second switch that she saw at the landing, she pursued the light trail of blood toward a bedroom that had its door halfway open. She burst inside, her heart thrashing against her chest and her mind pleading that she wasn't too late.

As soon as she saw Berry, lying weakly back against the bed, she breathed a sigh of relief. While it wasn't great, at least Berry was still alive and breathing. She was sitting in a pool of blood, which had come from the cuts on her right forehoof and fetlock, along with a couple of visible gashes on her stomach and chest. Miraculously, the majority of them had been light enough that they had already clotted up. Only a couple were still oozing a bit: one on her chest, and one that was where Redheart's monitoring device had been broken off.

"Berry..." Coloratura tutted, concern welling up inside of her, as well as her own tears. When Berry didn't even acknowledge her, Coloratura hesitantly cantered forward. She saw the bottle of scotch grasped limply in Berry's good forehoof, and she whined softly.

As she arrived to stand over Berry, the mulberry-colored pony barely looked up. Her head was clearly heavy, and Coloratura could see in the light from the hallway that the bottle was already half-empty. She whimpered sadly and kneeled down to Berry.

Berry reeked.

When she reached out to take the bottle from Berry, her friend mumbled a protest, but didn't really fight Coloratura taking it out of her grip. Once the container was free, Coloratura hastily pulled back. Berry just remained limp against her bed. Her eyelids fluttered a bit, but she didn't try to move.

Looking out into the hallway, Coloratura spotted a bathroom and she bolted toward it, pouring the rest of the bottle into the sink and then washing it down as best she could with a blast of water. She left the bottle in the bathroom and then dampened a washcloth before she entered Berry's room again to take a better look at her friend.

Berry's fur was matted, mostly with tears, but also stained a bit with blood. Her mane was disheveled, and it looked like she bruised her head, as a bump was beginning to form on her crown. Heavy-lidded eyes barely recognized Coloratura as she blocked the light from the hallway.

Gut wrenching, Coloratura gently sat down next to Berry and carefully wrapped a forearm around her friend, while gently placing the washcloth against Berry's chest to stem the rest of the bleeding. As she did, Berry pathetically struggled to get out, but only managed to nearly topple herself over. However, Coloratura's grip was strong, and she kept Berry from collapsing.

"Hey," she finally stated, doing her best not to retch at the stench of alcohol on Berry. "It's me. Rara."

"Go... away..." Berry slurred, gazing out into the hallway. She winced once or twice as her eyes started to register the light. "You... don't... want... to be... here." She failed at holding back a belch.

"You're right. But I won't leave." Coloratura lightly pressed Berry against herself, which only made Berry whimper. "You need me here. Now. Not later."

For a moment, Berry simply remained still, and Coloratura briefly thought that she had passed out, but then Berry groaned and flopped her head back onto the bed. Spluttering a couple of times, she coughed out, "Just... go." She sniffled. "I'm just pathetic."

"No, you're not." Coloratura saddled herself so she could at least try and look Berry in the eye. "That's the alcohol talking. You, Berry Punch, are not pathetic." She lightly poked Berry's chest.

"Yes, I am," Berry muttered back, stuttering a few times as she tried to formulate her words as a response. Coloratura got a full gasp of her breath, and it made Coloratura wrinkle her nose at the smell. As Coloratura pulled back, Berry hacked, "See? Pathetic."

"You remember what I said about myself?" inquired Coloratura pointedly. Berry simply remained silent. "Do you?"

"...Yes."

"You're. Not. Pathetic. If anypony is, it's me." Coloratura tapped her own chest a couple of times. Holding out one of her forelegs, she stated, "You can't see it, because it's furred over, but there are scratches that'll never heal all over here. The withdrawals of powdered crystal made me feel like there were bugs crawling under my skin, and I tried to rip them out." As the memories of her first few days resurfaced, Coloratura grimaced. The itchy sensation even managed to return for a second, but she closed her eyes and breathed. "They had to keep me tied up whenever I started scratching, because I could have seriously hurt myself."

Sighing, she made sure she gave Berry a reassuring hug. "What's going on with you, it's not nearly as bad as what I had." When Berry woozily shook her head, and mumbled something unable to be understood, Coloratura furrowed her brow. She firmly pressed a hoof against Berry's chest. "You. Are. Not. Pathetic."

Breathing irregularly, Berry simply choked and whimpered. She hung her head, and a couple of tears slipped down her cheek. "Yes, I am!" she wailed, the whining noise causing Coloratura to wince, although she did her best to hide her discomfort. "I'm a failure!" she slurred. "Just... washed up!" Making whooshing noise, she moved a hoof to indicate water blowing past her. She almost managed to escape Coloratura's grasp.

"Can't, can't, can't stay clean," she murmured, tears staining her muzzle. With a snort, she wiped at her nose with her bloodied forearm and smeared red all over her face. She winced and whined as she reopened a couple of the cuts. "See? Failure."

Instead of trying to argue further, Coloratura simply pulled Berry into a tight hug, first caringly pulling her friend forward and then warmly wrapping her forehooves around Berry. For easily a minute or two, they were both quiet, with Coloratura simply making a few shushing noises here and there. She patted Berry's back comfortingly.

"Why do you say that?" she inquired.

"Th-The A-A-Apple thing," drawled Berry, although she didn't move and instead just said this into Coloratura's shoulder. In a way, she was like a giant foal at the moment, which only triggered Coloratura's instincts further. "I-I guz-guzzled that cider without thinkin'."

"And?"

"I failed."

"No, you just had a misstep," Coloratura chided, squeezing Berry tighter. "Don't worry, AJ and Granny Smith got to hear exactly what I thought of that. I specifically told AJ nothing like that. You were coming, and this was supposed to be your night to get back a social life."

"Well, that bucked up bigly, huh?" Berry snarked, a soft, gurgling laugh building up in her throat. She was racked with a couple of coughs instead, then she moaned and went a bit limper.

"Well, AJ realized that she should have been clearer with Granny Smith, and Granny really wants to make it up to you. She thinks that she might have called the Grim Reaper a bit too early on you." Coloratura chuckled, a sad noise that was similar to some birds mourning a lost one. "Glad her fears were unfounded."

When Berry didn't answer, Coloratura simply stayed silent for a moment, gently rocking her friend back and forth comfortingly. Berry's body was shivering, and Coloratura could tell that she was running a lower than normal body temperature. Not hypothermic, but certainly noticeable. Leaning nearer to one of Berry's ears, she asked, "You want to hear something else?"

"...What?" Berry's words were coated in loathing.

"AJ made sure that every last opened barrel of cider was dumped, just to show that she cared about your health." Coloratura tightened her embrace as she felt Berry shake and whimper. Soon, a few soft sobs from Berry made her own waterworks start. It quickly became difficult to tell whose tears were dampening her fur.

When Berry continued to cry, Coloratura inquired, "What's wrong now?"

"I-If I'd stayed," blubbered Berry, her shivering growing more pronounced. "I'd have been fine!" She kicked on the ground. "I would have even bucked Braeburn at this rate!"

Ignoring the outburst, Coloratura sighed and rubbed Berry's mane again. The crying had slowed a bit, and now she could at least take a brief glance around her friend's room. It was filled with different memorabilia, including a couple of things from her shows. A few notepads, done up with doodles and other sketches rested on a dresser, and a few bits of clothing were scattered on the floor. Probably she was in a hurry the last time she went to work.

Lamplight from the street cast the rest of the room in a yellowy-orange glow, making it seem almost inviting. It was quaint, actually. A far cry from her penthouse suite in Manehattan, or one of her summer retreats.

When Berry finally stopped moving, aside from some soft breathing, Coloratura let her go and gently lifted her up into a sitting position. "Hey, you still with me?" She got a slow nod in return. "I'll take you home. You can sleep this off, okay? We can start again tomorrow."

"But it's Hearth's Warming..." Berry murmured, a dejected tone building in her voice.

"Don't care. We're going to work together on this. Okay?" She got another nod. "Good." At that, she grunted and got to her hooves, at the same time helping Berry's to hers. Berry could barely stand, as her limbs refused to properly coordinate, and Coloratura instead had to wrap Berry's injured hoof around her withers.

Making sure that Berry was at least somewhat secured in her borrowed parka, Coloratura soothingly stated, "It's okay, Ber, you'll get over this." Berry just grunted.

As they marched into the night, Coloratura started to hum. The words of Equestria, the Land I Love softly serenaded Berry until she was brought back to Coloratura's carriage. Until she was home.

***

With a resolute sigh, Berry watched as the stream of whiskey circled the drain as Rara watched her pour the last bottle of her secret stashes in her house down the drain of her kitchen sink. The kitchen, now with a boarded window and a slightly red-stained tile, was filled with about two dozen bottles that had been hidden throughout the house. Although it was Hearth's Warming Day proper, Rara had insisted that they do this, today. Berry had readily agreed.

Her head was still pounding from the hangover from her relapse the night before, and she could sometimes barely keep from throwing up, but as she and Rara went through everything, tearing open every hidden compartment, every masked floorboard, every buried container, her demeanor began to improve.

Only a few of the words that Rara had spoken to her the night before stayed in her memory. Most of it after she got back to her house was a blur at best, blackness at worst. But Rara had filled her in, and her smarting right foreleg, wrapped in bandages, was a stark reminder of how desperate she had been. Thankfully the cuts were all surface, but she could hear Redheart's nagging voice saying she should praise Celestia that an important vein or artery hadn't been gashed open.

Speaking of Redheart, the device that she had put on Berry had been discovered, split in twain from Berry's frantic break-in. When they found it, Berry winced and was certain that she would never hear the end of breaking a new piece of equipment direct from Canterlot. Still, at least now she was finally going to start at the rehab center, regardless of what ponies said. She realized that she wouldn't have a choice, though, once Rara left.

Whenever she thought of her friend's imminent departure, she felt a small tug on her chest. Although Rara promised that they'd keep in touch, and that she'd personally ensure that Berry got tickets to any nearby shows, it didn't stop the pain of separation. Along with that, Rara stated that she would make sure to pop in to Ponyville General occasionally while Berry was going through rehab, as much as the thought made her shiver. The idea of being monitored at first by magical machines and then by hospital staff while living for weeks, if not a couple of months, in the hospital, depending on how long it took her to properly detox, made her quiver in fear, even though she wanted to cooperate as much as possible.

Still, it was for the best. Nurse Redheart promised that after the first week or two of treatment, she could start to learn a new hobby to fill the gap that booze took up before. Maybe a bit of gardening was in order for her, since she could get some help from the Flower siblings in town. Either way, Redheart and the others would ensure that she'd get the care she needed to keep brain occupied. All it took to get started was some selfless friendship from Rara.

Before they had even gotten ready for the day, Applejack had checked in on them, before she and the rest of the Apple family held their morning present-opening. She had presented to Rara, who in turn gave it to Berry, a small container of apple seeds. While simple, Applejack said it was to represent growth and new beginnings, and Berry had to concur. After their next winter wrap up, she'd make sure to plant one or two in her backyard, and maybe in about a decade, she'd have her own supply of apples.

Once Berry had been able to get out of bed, pain or not, they had grabbed some food, and then their hunt for all her hidden stashes began. With a small shake of her shoulders, she listened to the last gurgle of her booze stash go down the drain. She stared at the sink for a moment, and Rara rhetorically inquired, "Feels good, doesn't it?"

"I suppose," Berry replied, her own voice crackly and strained from her screaming the night before. Plus, the hangover didn't help. "I... guess it's one more weight off my shoulders."

"Yep!" Rara exclaimed, pulling up beside Berry and giving her a strong hug. "I know that I asked that you do this today, but if you had said no, I wouldn't have pressed." She smiled, which made Berry avert her gaze bashfully. However, the grin only grew wider. "It took a lot of grit and willpower to get back up after falling off. I should know."

"Yeah..." mumbled Berry as she kept her eyes glued to the floor. The tiles reflected her haggard appearance, but for once, Rara was about as disheveled as her. More dark circles lined her eyes, and her mane was, for once, not done up fancily. Rara claimed she was allowed that luxury once or twice a year, especially around Hearth's Warming.

"Hey," Rara stated, pulling Berry's chin up so that she could look into her friends' eyes. "Everypony makes mistakes and sometimes takes a step back. You're just starting, so it's to be expected." Pressing a hoof right against Berry's heart, which was beating nervously, Rara added, "It's a long road to being rehabilitated, and mare, do I know it's a never-ending road. If you buck up, get up, dust yourself off, and start over. Get the help you need, let all your friends know you're hurt, and keep walking."

"And have you told AJ about your problems?" Berry interjected pointedly, which made Rara wince and scratch the back of her head.

"Work in progress," tittered Rara as she bashfully looked at Berry. Berry simply smirked.

"Hypocrite," Berry snarked, although she had an amused grin.

"Meanie," retorted Rara, lightly booping Berry on the nose, which led to her scrunching in reflex. After working out the sensation, Berry stepped out of Rara's embrace and took a look around the main floor of her home. Although it really hadn't changed, in fact, it looked like a bomb had gone off as they tore through every inch of her home finding stashes that even she forgot about, it somehow seemed more alive, more... welcoming.

There was an oppressive air that seemed to have just vanished. No more looming sensation that while she was at home, she was one drink away from blacking out and having a headache for the rest of the following day. Instead of glaring judgmentally at her, the images of her, or her coworkers—friends—offered expressions of hope and joy of her new future.

A couple of tears worked their way up through her eyes and trickled down her muzzle. One picture of her at her desk at the bank, with a small placard of being the best boss ever, called to her to release the last few emotions that she was holding back in a single outburst. Instead of a wail, though, it was a happy laugh, as she fell to her haunches and felt another weight lift from her shoulders.

It was going to be a new day. And then another one after that. And another after that.

Rara first joined in uncomfortably, but then soon it became genuine as she sat down next to Berry and simply shared in her joy. She gave another small embrace, and then they both let their giggles die out. Soon, they rested in each other's friendship, which left Berry's jaw sore with the massive grin she was holding.

Suddenly, her eyes shot open, and she darted to the parka that Rara had lent her. Digging through the pockets and ignoring Rara's call of concern, she finally withdrew her gift and Rara's. She bolted back. Flopping down, she muttered, "This is for you." She passed the paper over to Rara.

For a moment, Rara gawked at it, then gently took it in her hooves. She unfolded it, her eyes growing wide as she gasped, "You drew this?!" She flipped it around to show that it was an image of her, the one that Berry had started when she announced they were going to the Apple's Hoedown. Now that it was finished, the silhouette was clearly pony-shaped, and the light from the streetlight nearby cast them all in a warm glow. A caption read, "Dazzling Everypony's Hearts."

Tears formed upon Rara's cheeks, and she blubbered in glee. "It's... it's great! I love it!" Diving forward, she squeezed Berry tightly before she motioned for Berry to open her gift.

Reluctantly, Berry tore open the box and she paused. It was a small necklace of Rara's cutie mark. The metal string barely reached around her neck when she tried it. Confused, she arched a brow and looked at Rara. Rara smirked. "It's from my foalhood. I thought I'd give it to you as a symbol of our friendship!" She beamed brightly.

"I... I don't know what to say..." Berry murmured.

"Then don't!" Rara proclaimed. With a cheer, she bellowed, "Happy Hearth's Warming!" She saddled up to Berry and nuzzled her affectionately. Berry slowly returned it, and for once initiated a hug with her new friend.

Before they could get much further, her stomach growled, and she blushed as Rara gave her a knowing grin. "Hungry again?" Rara asked, which Berry nodded to. "Okay," she mockingly sighed, getting up to her hooves. Helping Berry up, she inquired, "Where to?"

Pondering for a moment, Berry hummed, and then she stated, "I guess we'll have to see." After they both bundled up, they trotted out the door and soon were waltzing down one of the bright, snowy streets of Ponyville. Their hooves crunched satisfyingly in the fresh snow, which was still falling like a soft dusting of icing sugar onto a cake.

Despite it being Hearth's Warming, the town was starting to fill with ponies, since tomorrow night was going to be Rara's charity performance for the Manehattan Institute for Studying Addictions. For once, the sleepy town of Ponyville, normally catatonic on a major holiday like today, was alive with activity. As it was after lunch, most of the tourists had come from Canterlot or other regions within a short train ride. Probably by evening, fans from Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and even Baltimare or Bales would show up. In her mind, Berry could envision ponies coming all the way from Vanhoover on the West Coast to see Rara.

Ponyville's population would probably double in less than a day.

Thankfully, since it was snowing, families were not paying active attention to them, plus Rara had done her best to hide most of her mane underneath her hat. She was still a subdued elegance, but if ponies weren't actively searching for her, then they'd probably not spot her.

For a couple of minutes, they walked silently, their breaths creating small clouds of condensation as they listened to the laughter and chatter from tourists. Posters had been put up by some of Rara's crew, who had arrived late on Hearth's Warming Eve and hurried to get their jobs done before Hearth's Warming Day properly arrived. After all, what kind of boss would Rara be if she was like Svengallop and forced them to work on the holiday of the year?

The posters were rather simple: only a silhouette of Rara at a piano, with a few stars along the top of the page. On the bottom, the crowd was made up of ponies and creatures of all shapes and sizes, including a few that were supposed to be caretakers of any charges in them. Rara's form was in the middle of cheerfully singing a note, and the caption of "Broken but Working Charity Drive" was proudly highlighted in bold letters.

Both of them stared at it for a moment, and then Berry was the one to elbow Rara in the ribs. "You know how to draw out a crowd, huh, Rara?" She smirked when Rara blushed faintly.

"I explicitly told everypony on Tweeter that they should come tomorrow. It's not until after the sun sets, anyway!" A nonplussed frown formed on her muzzle. Letting out a small sigh, she shook her head, which flung a few free flakes off her hat. "I guess it's still not as bad as Real and Unplugged, though. You'd swear everypony couldn't live without me."

"Right, that was the tour you held after... two and a half years of hiatus," Berry mumbled, finally putting two and two together. She caught Rara's mischievous grin. "Wow, I'm a dummy."

Laughing in a tinkling little titter, Rara simply bumped Berry back. "You're fine! It wasn't like you knew until I told you about my rehab." She huffed. "But seriously, I need to push that ponies need to spend more time with their friends and family, especially on a day like today." Rolling her eyes in mild irritation, she muttered, "It's not like I do that enough already."

"Maybe they'll get it one day," Berry replied, squeezing one of Rara's hooves encouragingly. She chuckled a bit as she felt her stomach rumble, and heard Rara's.

Blinking in surprise, Berry breathed out, blowing a few flakes wide, and she exclaimed a low, surprised gasp as she noticed the building which they were standing outside of. A large line had begun to trail in front of the door on the other side of the wall. The large sign hanging over the entrance had a brilliant, cheerful mare with a stein of ale in her hoof. They were right outside The Smiling Mare.

In the cold weather, ponies were huddled close together as they waited to be let in. Berry trotted around to see that there was a small piece of paper in one of the windows promising that they'd feed every hungry and thirsty pony who came to their doors. Inside, she could see that Straight Shot was already there, busily cleaning the bar, while Flowery Prance was hastily grabbing beer and shot glasses.

Charred Grill was angrily poking his head out of the kitchen to shake a hoof at Keen Figures. The latter was lazily sitting at a booth, rubbing his hooves together as he saw the line of ponies on the street.

As a test of the draft mechanism, Straight Shot poured a glass of beer and checked that the head was properly made. When he looked out the window, he spotted Berry staring in at the pub, and he gave her a wave. Flowery also passed by and did the same.

Berry just stared at them, a bit shell-shocked. A twisting sensation wrung at her gut, but she didn't even feel like going an inch closer to the pub. In fact, she took a couple of steps away.

"Berry?" Rara asked, although she remained silent otherwise while Berry contemplated the pub in fear. A few ponies looked at the pair in confusion, although one neighed and quickly darted off, obviously recognizing Rara and searching for something to get her to autograph.

After what seemed like an eternity, Berry shivered and knocked some of the snow that had landed on her mane off. She fondled the small necklace she had around her neck, and she smiled warmly. Looking back at Rara, she declared, "I don't think I'm thirsty." She smirked. "There's a Neighponese place open nearby. Wanna try it? I've eaten there a few times. It's pretty good."

"You bet!" Rara declared, her face breaking out into a bright grin as she watched Berry trot confidently away from the pub. Some other ponies in the line glanced at them quizzically. They were both gone by the time the one fan came back with a paper, now without a pony to sign it.

For a moment, the pair simply enjoyed each other's company on Hearth's Warming. Although it would be seen by many as probably one of the worst ways to spend the holiday, Berry inwardly beamed at the time she had spent with Rara. Disappointments and all. When Rara saw her friend's smile, she grinned and flashed brilliantly white teeth. Rara wrapped a hoof over Berry's withers in a gesture of friendship.

As the two of them waltzed down the street, the muted sunlight leaving a bit of glimmer on the snow, and the lights of the houses glittering in the fresh crystals, she licked her lips and remarked, "You know, despite traveling all across Equestria, I've never eaten at a Neighponese restaurant."

Berry chortled. She shot Rara a confident, lopsided grin. "Then you're in for a treat! Just wait until they sing Celestia Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Holding back a snigger, Rara pressed a hoof against her muzzle, but she quickly failed and demanded, "What?!" Seeing that Berry was serious, she lightly whacked Berry on her right shoulder. "You're joking!" Berry simply shook her head.

Sharing a giggle, they hugged and took a left, soon seeing the small establishment in the distance. With a smile, Rara stated as she nudged Berry, "Well, whatever they do there, I know it'll be a fond memory. Happy Hearth's Warming, Ber!"

With a soft blush, Berry blinked away a few tears and quickly embraced her friend, "Happy Hearth's Warming, Rara!"

They walked off together, two broken ponies, celebrating the perfect holiday in the most broken way possible, their happy laughter echoing off into the mid-afternoon sky.

FIN

Author's Note

This character combination is definitely not because, as I write this portion of the author's note (November 25th), that I watched the previous night The Mane Attraction, and I was reminded how fun (and adorable) a character Rara is. Absolutely not. :twilightsheepish:

Anyway, hoo boy! That was a long and storied read, was it not? It might be a long one, but I'm extremely proud of how it turned out, as it was with two characters I never thought about writing, let alone writing interacting together, and it was certainly a topic that I didn't intend to do without prompting. As someone who knows about the struggles that many go through with problems just like these, I pray that you'll receive the help that you need this Christmas season.

Thank you, once again, to Everfree Pony for editing all of this. It was certainly a lot, and this is honestly as about as condensed that I could make the idea. It was simply something that I couldn't quite get out of my brain. Another thank you is due to slushpony for the cover art, as I felt that this story deserved something unique for it, and the art that was provided certainly fit the bill.

Lastly, I want to say thank you to Winter_Solstice for even planting the idea in my mind in the first place. I hope that you enjoyed this work of passion. Merry Christmas and Happy Hearth's Warming! :pinkiehappy:

Until next fic!
T4E