The bar is always open

"Uhh." painfully escaped from my mouth when I felt that my face was lying on something wooden and flat. Which is strange considering that I usually sleep upside down in a tree. Hmm, maybe I was unlucky and accidentally took the strongest beer I had.

Groaning slightly, I lifted my face from the wooden surface and blinked several times. It is surprisingly very dark. Darker than at night. Maybe a specific phase of the moon? I looked up at the sky, trying to find the moon. Absolutely unsuccessfully. But I managed to see that the sky seemed to be moving slightly. Wait.

Is that the cloud with the infection? But how does it get here so fast!? How long have I been sleeping!?

I looked around in fright, trying to figure out at least where my new friends were. But there was no one. The boats were gone, and there were no traces of the presence of others. I don't know why, but I turned my gaze to the bar. And I found my notebook there, from which a sheet had been torn out.

Turning slightly, I found a piece of paper torn from my notebook. It was attached to a bottle that was on one of the shelves. Carefully approaching it, I read aloud what it says: "Your beer is disgusting. Don't ever do that again. Ember, Twilight, Chrysalis. . ."

I bit my lip and muttered, turning away from the note: "I'm certainly not as good at brewing as Dad. And like a grandfather. And I'm not even close to as good as my brother. . ."

So stop thinking about it, Amber! There is a bigger problem.

I nodded slowly to myself and let out a long sigh before looking up. The cloud has not gone away and no solutions have appeared in my head. I carefully leaned two hooves on the bar and asked cautiously: "So, how do I know that this thing has started to harm?"

Before I could take a breath, I suddenly felt that my eyelids began to feel heavy and my right hoof experienced a severe burning sensation. It happened so fast that I lost my balance and fell on my side, right on the sand. My gaze instantly slid to the source of the pain. My right hoof. It quickly lost its shape, like some kind of fruit, but several times faster. Worst of all, I could feel the pain moving to other parts of my body.

Is that how it ended? Will it be over the day after my most successful day?

I closed my eyes, unable to move because of the spreading pain. But suddenly the words "Amber!" pierced my mind.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, barely gathering the strength to open my eyes. And to see absolutely nothing.

"Amber, wake up!" A woman's voice shouted louder and suddenly I felt all the strange sensations disappear.

Blinking several times, I saw that I was looking down at Ember, who had her hands on her hips. My gaze wandered around a bit to understand what was going on and calm my mind a little bit. My tail caught on one of the branches of a mango tree, which allowed me to hang upside down while I was sleeping. The bright scorching sun was reflected from the delicious fruit. A clear sign that I was woken up earlier than expected.

Although I'm not complaining. It's better than if the nightmare continued.

I looked at Ember again and said, slightly rubbing my eyes with a hoof: "Eh, good afternoon? I'm sorry, I didn't know what to say when I woke up so early."

"In this situation, it would be more correct to say good afternoon. It's three o'clock in the afternoon. Well, about that. After all, we only have a sundial. And I doubt pony did them right. She replied with her arms crossed.

"I can hear everything, Dragon Lord!" Twilight's voice shouted from afar.

"And just so you know, dragon, I personally checked her work and confirmed its quality!" The irritated voice of Chrysalis was added from about the same side as Twilight's voice.

Well, at least they don't fight as much as they did last time.

I sighed and said, trying to ignore the hot light, "Well, um, why did you wake me up? Not that you need a serious reason! If you just want to talk, you can wake me up anytime. . ."

Ember briefly waved her paw and said, resting the other on her side: "Pony wants me to look for some things on the island. Do you have any food supplies so that I don't have to take care of it during the search?"

I stared at her for a couple of moments as my mind slowly started working. I don't think she'll be pleased to know that I don't stock up at all. As soon as my gaze slid to the mango that was hanging on the same branch as me, an uncertain sentence fell from my lips: "Maybe I'll throw you a couple of such sweets?"

Ember stared back at me and asked: "Do you really think that if this was an option, I wouldn't have taken the fruit myself?"

I'm so stupid . . .

Ember shook her head and said with a strange tinge in her voice, "Okay, don't cry. Most ponies don't know anything about dragons, so I'll explain it to you. I need crystals as food. As a last resort, meat."

I was silent for a couple of seconds before excitedly saying, "I can go with you! As a filly, I was taught to hunt hares and mice. Although I'm more used to doing it when it's snowing around. . ."

To her surprise, Ember almost immediately laughed out loud and said with a smile: " Really? Pony, what's hunting for small rodents? Are you a cat? "

I frowned and said looking away: " There aren't many other sources of food in the eternal cold north. "

Ember giggled briefly once more before saying, raising her paw, " Okay, don't be offended. Get down from there and follow me. "

Hooray, I'll be useful!

I nodded actively before relaxing my tail and detaching myself from the branch. By flapping my wings several times, I was able to flip over in the air and land on the ground, lifting a lot of sand into the air. Ouch.

I swear, I heard Ember briefly chuckling as I shook my head in an attempt to disperse the cloud of sand. But as soon as I finally got over the problem, she cleared her throat and said, turning around on the spot: "Ready? All right, follow me, pony-kitten."

That's a nice nickname, I suppose? Uh, I don't like it anyway.

My thoughts were instantly interrupted when Ember began to walk confidently towards the tree line, deep into the island. I quickly ran to the bar, stumbling slightly due to my recent awakening and perhaps because I woke up so early. Wow, and the sun is so hot.

"I almost want to pour the whole bar over my head. " I muttered when I got to my bar and grabbed two bottles with my wings. For myself and Ember.

For me and Ember to not care about drinking in the backwoods for at least a while. Hmm, for some reason it seemed to me that this requires clarification. But for whom?

"I'm getting distracted again. It's a bad habit." I muttered to myself, slowly shaking my head.

"Are you coming or not?" the distant voice of Ember asked with a strong tinge of irritation.

Almost falling, I rushed to her, along with two bottles of beer in my wings. After a few moments of running, I stopped next to Ember and said, panting, "Uhh, I'm here. And I took drinks with me so that we wouldn't have to take care of the water in the forest."

I felt her gaze on me followed by a slow question: "And what will you do if both bottles turn out to be with normal beer?"

Oh, it's just beer! Even less than beer. Just a little thing, juice.

I took another heavy breath in an attempt to regain my strength and said tiredly, putting a hoof on my chest: "Oh, don't worry. The strongest beer here has a maximum strength of fifteen degrees. Give or take a couple of degrees."

"You say that like it's a normal indicator for beer." Ember said, rolling her eyes.

I took my hoof off my chest and said, staring at the ground: "Well, actually it's not enough. Like, I've never seen a pony that makes such weak drinks!"

Ember looked down at me for a while before waving her paw and saying, "Okay, you're really weird. Funny, weird, mostly. Let's go and find the right things. Time is not infinite."

Exactly. The cloud exists not only in my nightmare.

I briefly looked at the cloud. It certainly did not cover the island, as in my nightmare, but it still became much closer. Sighing, I took a cautious step towards the line of exotic plants and said with a slight nod, "Okay, I'm ready."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Ember said with a nod before starting to walk quickly forward. At first it seemed to me that the pace of a simple walk would be enough. But it soon turned out that in order to keep up, I almost had to run after her!

Maybe it's because I woke up so early. The sun is baking.

As soon as I thought about it, I felt the shadow of a tree cover me. Deciding not to study my savior, I asked, trying not to show fatigue: "Well, um, what do we need to find?"

Ember glanced at me briefly and suddenly slowed down so that I didn't have to almost run. In response, I nodded gratefully and she finally began to speak as she walked: "So, the unicorn told me that in order to continue creating the medicine, she needed several small animals and a bunch of plants. The more we bring, the better."

"Uh, for what?" I asked tensely, looking closely at Ember. How can this be related to the creation of a medicine?

Suddenly, my interlocutor pulled out a long sword as if out of nowhere and cut several dense leaves that blocked the way with it. My eyes widened slightly and I took a cautious step back. From everything I said, it looked like something was wrong. But what?

I have no idea. How could I have made a mistake by saying just two words? Of course, anything is possible for me, but not to the same extent!

Ember turned her head to me and asked confusedly, "Hmm? I didn't hear the question, repeat it."

I let out an incredibly long sigh of relief before taking a small step forward and saying slowly, "Why does Twilight need animals and herbs? Like, I saw some test tubes in her bag, but I still don't find a connection. "

She shrugged and said, cutting down a few more obstacles: " She said something about some antibodies, an experiment that she needed to conduct and then a set of completely incomprehensible words began."

On the one hand, it's too bad that I don't understand any of this either. On the other hand, I have something in common with Ember. We're almost like friends! Well, I suppose.

After a couple of awkward seconds, during which Ember cut through the plant barriers, I finally gathered my strength and said, "So, how are we going to choose animals and plants? Just the first thing that comes across or what? "

In response, Ember only briefly grunted before cutting through the plant barrier once more and replying: " I planned to just grab one animal for each claw and do the same with the plants. How's the idea? "

" Well, uh, let's try to find some wide place first. Well, so that we can see a lot of plants and animals from one point. " I suggested cautiously. Just don't ask any questions, please.

"Why, if we can just take the first thing that comes along?" Ember asked laconically, suddenly stopping and looking down at me.

Do I need to say that the sword as long as my body, which she holds with one paw, makes her even more imposing? Oh, I've already said that.

I looked away for a moment, as if I was looking for something interesting. Which is impossible considering that there is a thick leaf of some kind of plant an inch from my face. After a few more seconds, I coughed awkwardly and took a quick glance at Ember. She's still looking at me and seems to be frowning slightly. Sighing, I said reluctantly, "Well, you know, I like writing poetry. And I just thought that the spacious jungle landscape would give me more inspiration. "

After the answer, my gaze focused on Ember by itself and refused to break away from it. At this time, she raised an eyebrow slightly and asked confusedly, " Don't you ponies focus your whole life on what you have painted on the flank? You have a fan made up of bottles painted here."

Uh. . .

"Oh, look, I see a light! Probably there we will immediately see a beautiful landscape where there will be many animals and plants to collect!" I said excitedly, jumping towards the bushes and starting to make my way forward through them. Yes, it was the best plan that was born in my gloomy mind. In my defense, I can say that I woke up extremely early.

"Hey, don't even think about running away from me!" Ember shouted with suddenly high anger in her voice. No, it would be more correct to say that this is pure rage. To be honest, I'm not sure I've ever heard of anyone being so angry. Oh, oh.

Without any intention, my hooves started moving even faster as I struggled to hold the bottles in my wings. Yes, even in such a situation, I remember about my alcohol. The secret tactics of prioritizing the Ferment family?

Probably?

I resisted the urge to shake my head and continued running towards the light, which became more and more visible as I moved. Yeah, in any other situation, I would have covered my face with my wings and started looking for a shadow. But when you're being chased by a dragon with a huge sword, priorities change.

"Come back!" Ember's voice, laced with irritation, shouted almost immediately after I remembered her. Probably shouldn't have done that. But if I forget about her, nothing will push me to endure the sun! Trouble.

Suddenly, I realized that my last step had not met any resistance from the plants. For a moment, I was blinded by the bright light of the sun and just kept running by inertia. Even the hint of stopping was met with an angry shout from Ember: "If you stop now, then maybe I'll leave more than half of you intact!"

I need my body completely!

I kept running for a couple more seconds until my half-blinded eyes noticed a large branch above me. Given Ember's armor, she's unlikely to be able to take off. Right?

"It doesn't matter." I exhaled when I made a jump with the last of my strength and unfortunately could not control the right wing. It jerked in an attempt to help me, but dropped the bottle in the process. Well, at least one is left!

My thoughts were interrupted by a painful collision with a large branch, which I nervously grabbed with my front hooves. After a couple of seconds of struggle, I was able to pull myself up and sit on a branch. Victory.

Well, if you don't count somepony. Or somedragon, in this case.

Suddenly, Ember burst out of the line of greenery with a sword raised above her head. She stopped for just a moment before she discovered me and let out a furious roar from her mouth along with black smoke. And it was at this moment that my mind started thinking about an absolutely inappropriate thing. I dropped one of the bottles. But why was there no sound of it falling?

"Get down from there. Ember hissed, holding out her free hand to me. Well, it's a small relief that she doesn't want to cut me in half. On the other hand, she still looks extremely furious.

" Eh, there's no point in getting mad! Look, I really brought us into the light! " I said without looking, waving towards the bright sun.

I'd watch it if I wanted to go blind again.

Instead of answering, Ember just continued furiously walking towards me with her arm outstretched. With every step she took, my eyes adapted better to the hated sun. When Ember's paw was only a couple of hooves away from me, I said carefully: "Stop, watch your step!"

Unfortunately, she took another step forward. And her hind paw met only emptiness. Slowly, Ember's eyes opened wide and his mouth opened slightly. While she was falling forward by inertia, into a cliff. Yes, it was so lucky that it was the branch that I jumped on that turned out to be right over the cliff, followed by a long fall.

"Stop, don't fall down!" I exhaled in fright when, without hesitation, I stretched out a wing with a bottle so that Ember would grab. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, grabbed the bottle with her paw and hung on to it with her eyes wide open.

And she's heavy . . .

"Uh, can you please throw away all the heavy stuff? Like your sword?" I asked when I wrapped my hooves around my wing as support. Although it did not significantly reduce the pain and tension.

In response, Ember stared at me with her mouth slightly open and abruptly closed her mouth before releasing the sword, which began to fall down reflecting the bright light. I sighed when I felt the reduced pressure on my wing, but when Ember grabbed the bottle with her other paw, everything became as before.

No, it actually got worse.

I tried my best to pull up the Ember, but having failed, I asked again: "Can you, uh, take off your armor? It's really not very easy for me to hold it all with a wing and a little hoof help."

She stared at me again with wide eyes. In response, I just raised an eyebrow in embarrassment. Is my ability to say something wrong so comprehensive?

As if noticing my concern, Ember sighed and lowered her right paw from the bottle before running it under her cloak. After a few moments, I felt the weight drop significantly from my wings and saw several steel plates falling far down after the sword.

Now we need to try one last time and talk to her. Sounds like one of the best plans I've ever had.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled Ember up with difficulty with my wing and when she was close enough, I stretched out both my hooves to her. After a second of hesitation, she grabbed my hooves with her paws and with a final push, I pulled her high enough so that she could catch her hind legs on a thick branch.

"Phew, it's good that everything ended well." I exhaled wearily as I lay back on a thick branch and shielded myself from the sun with one of my wings. To be precise, the one that I didn't hold Ember and part-time, which I can still feel.

There was a pleasant silence in the air for a while after my words. No birds, no words, just a light wind that blew parts of my purple mane into my eyes. Additional protection from the sun, so there are no disadvantages.

"Thank you very much. And I'm sorry for what happened earlier." Ember replied quietly and slowly.

What a strange tone. Hmm.

I carefully removed the wing from my face and asked slowly sitting up: "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ember stared at me and asked incredulously: "I screamed at you, chased you, and at least looked like I was going to kill you. But after that, you saved me and you want to talk about it? Are you serious? "

I cocked my head to the side in embarrassment and asked: " What else was I supposed to do? "

" Let me fall. That's what any dragon would do to its enemy. " Ember replied with her arms crossed.

But it's just like that. . . wrong!

I blinked in surprise several times and pointed one hoof at myself and the other at her before saying, "But we are not enemies! We are both in a difficult situation, we share the same island and you liked my alcohol. We are at least distant and unfamiliar, but still friends!"

Ember stared at me and asked with a hint of annoyance: "Just how can you be so indescribably naive? Just HOW!? "

I recoiled slightly before saying awkwardly raising my hooves, " Well, yes, I can be funny to others. And maybe naive. But if I wasn't, then the people around me would be angrier and then everything around me would be worse! If there are a lot of angry people in one place, they get angry at each other and everything gets even angrier. Isn't that how it works!? "

Ember just looked at me for a moment and said with a contrite sigh: " You're just unbearably naive. It's just impossible to argue with you."

Well, then, how about. . .

"How about not arguing then, but just talking? For example, tell me why you were so angry when I started running?" I asked, carefully placing one hoof on top of Ember's paw.

In response, she was silent for a while before tucking her knees up and looking straight ahead at the huge rift in the ground. After a few seconds, she said: "I'm the dragon lord, do you understand?"

"I understand. After all, as soon as Twilight arrived here, she confused my name with yours! " I replied with a slight chuckle.

Ember only grinned for a moment in response before suppressing it and continuing to say, " As soon as I found out about this disease, I tried to organize the evacuation of dragons to distant islands. Which was extremely difficult and incomplete. Many simply did not believe that a powerful being could die from something invisible."

I don't like your tone, Ember.

She suddenly focused her gaze on me and said, "Don't tell anyone the next part, okay? Just say yes."

"Yes," I replied instantly.

Ember nodded gratefully and slightly pulled back her cape with her paw, just enough so that I could see one of her wings. It looked flat and crumpled like some kind of dough. Plus, it was a paler shade compared to the rest of Ember. Swallowing, I slightly moved away from her and asked cautiously: "Uh, are you sick?"

In response, she sighed and covered the wing with a cape again before saying with a blank look: "Yes, that's how it is. I don't know how much longer I have left. But in any case, as soon as the dragons found out about it, they immediately scattered in all directions. "

" And I feel guilty for those who decided to fly towards Equestria. I don't want to let anything out of my control anymore. If I had been tougher, it would have been a better leader, more dragons would have been able to escape for sure." Finished Ember with a final exhale.

So that's why you're so angry. You didn't want anyone else to run away from you. . .

For a while I sat next to Ember on a thick branch and looked down at a huge hole in the ground. There were many plants and animals to be seen there, but it is unlikely that we will be able to safely descend there. Well, Ember definitely won't be able to. But the view is still beautiful.

I looked up slightly and asked, "So, maybe we need to get down from here and find out why we came here at all, right?"

Ember sighed and said slowly getting up, "Yes, I guess. Can you get down from here by yourself? "

I stood on all fours and looked towards the cliff. He's not very far from the branch, probably five hooves or a little more. After a couple of seconds of thinking, I said, " Yes, I can."

I hope.

I stood for a few moments gathering my strength before making a leap forward and landed surprisingly well. Uh, no, I stumbled a little anyway, but it's still good.

My ear twitched slightly as Ember landed on my left. We were both awkwardly silent for a few seconds before I asked slowly, "So, where are we going to collect animals and herbs?"

Ember looked around for a couple of seconds before shrugging her shoulders and saying, "I don't think it's particularly important. In the end, we can always just go ahead to find the shore and find the other two sooner or later."

I nodded slightly and lightly tapped my hoof on the ground, trying to figure out where to go. Suddenly, my gaze focused on the strange grass that grew in front of one of the big trees. The upper part of each blade of grass looked like a bird with a sharp beak and scarlet feathers on its head, which rushed straight up.

Hmm, I suddenly thought about it. Why does a plant need to be so beautiful? I don't think the animals that surround it will be able to appreciate such a quality. Although never say never, right?

At first I wanted to stretch out a pair of wings to pluck a few of these blades of grass, but I couldn't move my left one. Well, yes, overexertion. I can't even open it to let go of the bottle. Smiling awkwardly, I looked at Ember and said, "Uh, can you take the bottle from my wing and help me pick this grass?"

"Of course. And once again, I'm sorry for the chase that happened. " Ember said before carefully pulling the bottle out of my wing and squatting down to my left. Then the two of us gathered some of these strange blades of grass before I got up and Ember repeated it almost immediately.

Am I in charge now? Uh, I don't really like it.

Sighing, I began to walk slowly forward and let my gaze wander in search of something we needed. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the swaying of a branch of one of the low trees. Well, low only relative to the huge trees standing nearby, the top of which was difficult to see.

Suddenly Ember asked: "I understand that you have done so much good and I appreciate it. And it's like I have no right to demand anything else from you. But can you tell me why you reacted the way you did to the question about the cutie marks?"

Uh, maybe if she shared something with me, then I should also in return? Uhh, even if I don't want it.

I turned away from the tree and slowly continued walking forward while I gathered my thoughts. After a few seconds, I finally said slowly, "How should I say it? Well, um, I have a problem with the interpretation of my cutie mark."

"What else can a fan consisting of bottles mean besides the fact that you are preparing alcohol?" Ember asked, confused.

"No, I'm sure that means that I sell drinks well! It's just, it's just, I made a mistake somewhere when I created my bar." I replied, closing my eyes for a moment as I walked forward.

"It always seemed to me that pony couldn't go wrong in an area where she was talented." Ember commented thoughtfully.

Me too. Me too.

I sighed and said nervously shaking my head slightly: "It's just that my talent can't be brewing! Because in this case, it turns out that I am talented, but to a much lesser extent than anyone in my family! I can't be the worst, right? Is that right!?"

My mounting stress was contained when Ember grabbed my shoulder tightly and said, "Hey, take it easy. I do not know how good your relatives are at brewing. But I can definitely say that you are a good pony. And this is important. "

I froze in place and rubbed my cheek lightly while I thought about Ember's words. It's not like one phrase completely wiped away all my problems. But the effect is still there.. It feels. Sighing, I said, carefully placing my wing on Ember's paw: " Thank you. I'm really very pleased. Although I'm still very nervous. "

I felt Ember's smile as she took her paw away, and said with a brief grin, " I didn't expect anything more."

In response, I nodded and asked, taking in the tropical landscape in front of me, "So, let's go look for something else for Twilight?"

"Yes, that's a good idea. Ember replied, stepping forward to take the lead again. I don't mind either.

The main thing is that everything will be fine from now on.