The Party Will Still Be There

As every year, the holiday party in Ponyville castle is split between the main and banquet halls. Detailed signage hangs at corners and intersections in a bid to keep unfamiliar guests - and, indeed, a fair few repeat visitors as well - from getting lost in the labyrinthine crystal hallways. The mistake the party's organizers made was that to avoid overshadowing the Hearth's Warming decorations about the place they designed them to match the theming, to blend in a little with the festive atmosphere; a task performed a little too well.

So, when Applejack finally finds her way back from a trip to the little filly's room, she grumbles a bit under her breath about how she never did much care for the stupid place and how it felt like the building personally had it out for her from day one.

"Applejaaaaack!" a chipper voice cries out as lilac wings enfold her. They smell strongly of bourbon, and their owner says in a mock-serious tone, "You're late."

"Hey Starlight," she reaches up blindly to give her a couple clumsy-yet-affectionate pats on the cheek, "You're drunk."

"I am not drunk!" Starlight Glimmer protests drunkenly, then repeats, "You're late."

"I ain't late, Starlight," Applejack ducks smoothly out of the embrace, brushing against some of the lower-down feathers, "I been in the main hall for most of the past hour and a half. Got a bit lost lookin' for the bathroom is all."

"Hehe, that still happens to you too, huh?" Starlight slurs, mirth amplified by tipsiness.

"Yeah, yeah, yuk it up," she rolls her eyes, grinning, then casts them out across the room, "You seen Pinkie or Cheesecake tonight? Been wantin' to check in on them."

"I think Cheesecake is downstairs. You mushta just missed them. But Pinkie, yeah, she's over there with Twilight," Starlight points with a wing, clumsily knocking Applejack's hat off her head, and sure enough there are two of Applejack's closest friends, barrels up against each other so close they may as well be glued together, "They've been together allllll night. Insheparable."

A warm smile slips onto Applejack's face at the sight. She and Rainbow made it a point to check in on Pinkie as frequently as possible since last June, but each time they'd been met with the same effusive, shining smile that had graced their lives for decades, hardly even touched by the sadness of those first days after Cheese's passing. She hadn't been fooled, of course, having lost too many ponies in her own life not to recognize the front, but nor had she pushed the matter; PInkie would take things in her own time.

She hadn't been surprised at all when she heard about the widow breaking down into tears while decorating Sugarcube Corner, an activity that had been shared between the Pie and Cake families as far back as anypony cared to remember. Applejack's first Hearth's Warming without her Granny had been much the same. She does regret, just a little, having been out of town at the time and thus unable to go to her comfort, but the years have tempered her compulsive need to shoulder her friends' burdens.

In the end, she's just thankful their other friends were there to pick Pinkie up after her fall.

"Ooh! Trixie, Trixie, come try this fruitcake!" Applejack only half hears Starlight calling out as they trot off in separate directions.

"Hey Twilight, Pinkie. Happy Hearth's Warming Eve," Applejack says.

"AJ!" between one moment and the next Pinkie Pie goes from Twilight's side to wrapped around Applejack in a clasically signature Pinkie-hug, voice as cheerful as she's ever heard, "Happy Hearth's Warming!"

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Applejack," says the Princess of Friendship, prompting a raised eyebrow and a thin-pressed smile.

"Twi, c'mon now. It's a holiday, don't gimme the royal treatment."

Twilight Sparkle chuckles apologetically, and it's only a little forced, "Sorry, AJ. I got away from Canterlot a week ago and I guess I'm still decompressing a bit from all the nobles squeezing a last-minute audience in before the recess. Happy Hearth's Warming," she says again, more but not entirely genuinely.

Eh, she'll take it.

"Is Dashie here yet?" Pinkie asks.

"Yeah, still downstairs, 'less she also went looking for the bathroom and got herself lost," Applejack answers with a wry little grin.

"Oh no - do you think we should put together a search party?" Twilight puts a gold-clad hoof to her chest in mock concern, "We can't have the Captain of the Wonderbolts lost and alone in these cold crystal halls, not even a roll of toilet paper to comfort her!"

Pinkie giggle-snorts, "Gasp! Can you imagine?! Why, she might even have to resort to crashing through a window, just like the old days!"

The three of them share in a round of belly laughs, even if Applejack does shoot a surreptitious glance around the room to make sure her wife isn't sneaking up with a bucket of ice cold something-or-other to get back at them for it.

"It's always good to see you girls," Applejack says warmly as their fit dies down.

"We see each other every moon," Twilight reminds her with a grin.

"Outside of the council meetings, ya smart-aleck," she smacks her playfully with the back of a hoof, "And I also just wanted to say... to apologize for not checkin' in on you sooner, Pinkie. After I heard about what happened at Sugarcube Corner, I mean."

"Applejack, I'm not sure now is the best time to-"

"No, it's fine, Twily," Pinkie says, finally un-sprawling herself from across Applejack's withers, then to both of them, "I'm doing a lot better- and I'm okay right now, really. And I totally get it, AJ - you're extra extra busy this time of year."

"That ain't no excuse-" Applejack starts to protest but stops herself before the others can interrupt, though it's a near thing going off the way they open their mouths and take sharp breaths in. Habits are hard to break, but she has been trying. Instead, she changes tack, holding up a hoof to silence the retorts, "Agh, I know, I know. Still, I do feel bad I wasn't able to make some time. Glad to hear you're doin' better, though - you sure look it."

"Mhm," Pinkie nods as she trots over to Twilight, giving her neck a little walk-by-nuzzle before she turns in place and is back where she was before, shoulder-to-shoulder, "Twily's been great while I've stayed with her - she's hardly left my side all week, waiting on me hoof-and-hoof."

Pinkie leans forward and, in a conspiratorial stage whisper that Twilight can hear too, says "It's actually a little overbearing, honestly, but I'm not gonna say no to a free vacation with a personal maid!"

Twilight rolls her eyes even as she drops a wing down and around Pinkie, pressing her a little closer against her side.

"I just want to make sure you're doing okay after losing Cheese. Grief can be a very powerful thing, and it's important to have people you can turn to through it," Twilight's voice is matter-of-fact as she says it, and yet - there's something a little too warm in the crinkle of her eyes, a little too calm in the curve of her smile. Applejack almost doesn't catch it, almost thinks nothing of the weird, niggling little feeling she gets when she looks at the blissful expression with which she regards Pinkie Pie.

But she's known her too long, and the mask still isn't quite perfect.

"Yeah," she agrees, "And don't go forgettin' you got all of us for that, okay sugarcube?" Applejack wishes she hadn't seen the way the muscles in Twilight's wing stiffened at that, or hopes she's imagining it, or that she could just write it off and enjoy the rest of her night.

"Awww, you guys..." Pinkie tears up a little, a sight entirely too common for these past months, and the next thing Applejack knows she's smooshed up in a group hug that smells like peppermint and raw magic, "I love you all so much."

"We know, Pinkie. We love you too," Applejack blinks a couple times to get the sting out of her eyes, chuckles a little to hide the little choke in her voice, "But hey, ain't this is a party? Not hardly the time for that kinda downer talk."

A theatrical gasp. "You're right, Jackie! Whaddaya say we go grab some nog and REALLY get this thang goin'?"

"Hah, naw, I think I saw Ocellus just now, might go say hey to her now I've checked in on you. You two go on ahead."

The two mares in Pinkie's wake share a knowing grin before Twilight follows her across the crowded room, albeit at a much calmer pace. Immortality or no, it's amazing how she can still bounce and jump around like that at their age, carrying on as if not a day had gone by since- well, since ever, really. With a shake of her head and a quiet laugh, Applejack turns to mingle.

But despite herself, she keeps glancing over to the two of them while she talks with other guests; when she does eventually make a visit to the refreshments; as she obliges some young, starstruck little thing from the school to a dance, because every time she does, there they are, tangled up in each other like a mare clinging to a life raft - and there she is, with the sinking feeling she can't tell which is which.

So when Spike eventually pokes his head through the doorway, calling for Twilight to come give him a hoof in the kitchen, and The Princess finally steps away from Pinkie Pie for longer than two seconds, Applejack follows.