Rotten Apples

Chapters

Forever Autumn
(By Sneaky) The Letter
For Whom the Bells Toll
The One Eyed Pegasus
(Sneaky) Love Hate and a Golden Toliet
(Sneaky) Carnage
(Sneaky) Love and Blood
Sweet Applejack

Forever Autumn

It was about noon on the 18th of September, a time where the once clean roads of regions throughout Equestria were now being smothered by the deep layers of brown leaves, shed from trees like tears as if mourning the nearing death of summer and the birth of a colder Autumn and then a bitter winter. On the road to an apple orchard not far from Ponyville was a melancholy looking figure. The pony’s slow, trudging body language and the appearance of a lonely tear on his majestic face betrayed his true feelings to anyone who might have seen him. As he trudged a luke warm breeze caught his face, blowing back the golden unicorn’s mane revealing his tear stricken eyes to non-existent passers-by. At long last the unicorn had finished his painful exodus from the town and had reached the door of the barn house. He looked up at the tall majestic structure of the building and sighed; he raised his hoof and knocked about three times on the door of the building. After a brief pause the door opened beholding the small frame of a filly. Dr Stable smiled weakly at Applebloom and asked politely.

“Hello Applebloom, could I see either your sister or your grandmother, I would like to buy some apples?”

Applebloom who was originally surprised and rather pleased by the appearance of the visitor was now suddenly concerned by the melancholy appearance of Dr Stable. She saw past the weak smile and looked instead to his tear stung eyes and his rough unchecked mane that resembled something like tumble weed. Applebloom smiled weakly but continued to raise her eyebrow at the unicorn.

“Okay Dr Stable,” she immediately disappeared into the house again, where Doctor Stable could only just hear her calls to her elders.

“Applejack! Granny smith! We got a customer.”

“I’ll get it!” said the frail old voice of Granny Smith; however he was instead answered by her granddaughter Applejack who smiled weakly.

“Sorry for ye waitin Doctor, she is a little…aged.” She said letting of a little chuckle, suddenly she was shocked, a little more so than Applebloom was, by the appearance of the Doctor.

“Oh my….Doctor you look worse than a rabbit when the wolves have done with it. What in tarnation happened to you?”

Dr Stable sighed again and put down his face so she could no longer gaze into his distressed eyes. “It’s…..nothing…..could I please just buy a few apples…..?”

Applejack never liked to see anypony upset, she may have not known Dr Stable that much, apart from when Rainbow Dash was in hospital or when Granny Smith needed her hip sorted but she couldn’t just let this slip. She sighed and gave the doctor a very concerned look.

“Look I’ve got some cider in the barn; maybe you could have a drink and tell me what’s wrong.”

The doctor sighed, he looked up again and saw the face of the orange earth pony, she smiled back at him and the doctor immediately felt a sort of sharp pain which immediately turned into a weird, addictive feeling he had not felt in a while. He kept his head up this time and politely said.

“Alright, thank you Miss….”

Applejack chuckled raising a hoof to interrupt him.

“Just call me Applejack Doctor…”

The Doctor impersonated what the Earth pony had done before smiling weakly.

“Please…call me Jonathan. I am Dr Jonathan Stable.”

Applejack smiled at the progress she had made into getting his trust she smiled enthusiastically and nodded.

“Alright, Jonathan then.” She said, trotting over to the barn slowly. Jonathan however was frozen to the spot, He was dumbstruck by the kindness of a pony he barely knew and the feeling that was now entering his body, he no longer felt the crushing sadness he had felt before, he was feeling…butterflies in his belly! Applejack turned to look at the stationary dumbstruck pony and chuckled.

“What’s wrong Jonathan, stuck in the mud?”

Jonathan shook his head quickly, getting himself back into the real world, he smiled weakly however still walking quite sadly, but with an almost faster speed, as if he wanted to get as close to Applejack as possible, as if he needed to get closer.

When she arrived at the barn Applejack opened the door gently making sure not to knock anything that could possibly be being stored behind it. She smiled at the interior, quickly making a check of everything, the piles of apples, the piles of hay and most importantly, the few spare barrels of cider. She carefully rolled one of the barrels of the pile carefully with her front hooves making sure that it did not roll out of control at last she put it near the entrance where Jonathan was standing and propped up the barrel carefully, he went back to the barrel pile to collect a wooden mug she then passed the mug to Dr Stable who sighed and gingerly accepted it. He carefully placed his mug at the bottom of the tap of the barrel. Applejack smiled and carefully turned the tap on with her hooves, taking extra care not to overfill the mug. She then smiled weakly at the doctor.

“Now be careful, this is the strong batch you should drink it slow-“Applejack’s plea was ignored by the doctor as he grabbed the mug, not caring about using his slow magic and quickly drank the strong contents of the mug in almost two seconds, he then slammed the mug down again, his face showing early warning that he was about to burst into tears and demanded another mug.

“Jonathan, I really hope you not trying to drown your sorrows…you being a doctor should realize---“

“NO! I NEED IT!”

“No you don’t Jonny. You don’t NEED the cider.”

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WENT THROUGH!”

Jonathan soon was in crying hysterics, his face now crimson as his ocean blue eyes spurt forth an ocean of tears.

“NOT A CLUE.” He went silent now, suddnely he collapsed on the floor, no longer screaming and instead just sobbed, leaving almost a puddle on the floor.

Applejack sighed and smiled weakly trotting over slowly to the crying unicorn; she carefully placed her hoof on his back, stroking him slowly like a loving owner does to a dog. The crying unicorn looked up at the orange pony showing his tear stained face. Applejack smiled warmly at him and unexpectedly put her head close to his and gently nuzzled him.

“Now tell me Sugarcube, what’s got you this upset?”

The Doctor sighed and looked up at her and that addictive feeling came back again, he saw the beautiful face of the orange pony, the cute freckles that rested majestically on her face as well as the her long adorable pony tail that she had turned her mane into and her soft, groomed orange hair. He felt that addiction again….He knew he could talk her.

“It’s a very long story.”

Applejack smiled at her companions co-operation giving him another nuzzle.

“I’ve got plenty of time; Big mac is doing the apples today.”

Doctor Stable smiled and began his story.

“It was almost exactly this time three years ago….Since……My wife was taken away from me. She was…a bit like you, a beautiful hardworking pony, except she was a unicorn like me, we had met at medical school and we had fallen in love almost instantly, we got on more than bees with flowers, and probably needed each other as much as them. About five weeks before she died we…. decided we wanted a…foal...” Jonathan chocked the last word out before nearly bursting into tears again; Applejack lovingly patted and cooed him, stroking him with her hoof slowly.

“It’s okay sugar cube. Keep going.”

Jonathan swallowed and closed his eyes.

“Her name was Arwen featherton, her cutie mark was a phoenix feather, as she also prepared for the autumn so well by collecting up all the leaves and helping the animals gather food, to show from the cold ashy death of summer…a new season, Autumn could be born... I was at her side when she died……It was Autumn two years ago she…….she…..Was about to give birth to our baby foal….and he….he.” Jonathan could barely finish the sentence and soon was close to collapsing into tears again, Applejack had to go close to him, nuzzling him like a beautiful lioness to try and emotionally prop him up.

“Keep going Sugar cube.”

Jonathan closed his eyes croaking out pathetically.

“He was born dead, and the other doctors……couldn’t restart his heart….and Arwen…my sweet Arwen….she she……..died from the blood loss….and the sight of….her dead foal……”

He paused and tears soon rolled in fountains down his golden face, Applejack continued to hug him tightly and cooed more so and softer.

“Oh no no no no Sugar cube. It’s okay…it’s okay.” She patted him gently, Jonathan raised his head again looking at Applejack, and he saw that she was crying as well. He sniffed and raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you crying Applejack?” He croaked.

“It’s because….your story….was so sad….and it is sad to see a friend of mine so…..distressed.” She hugged him tightly nuzzling him smoothly and gently, her face stained with tears from nuzzling her new found friend. She then smiled warmly and cuddled him close and soon she felt a sharp pain, almost identical to what the unicorn had felt previously and before she knew what she was doing she had slowly licked his cheek. She immediately retracted her face going as red as the apples she picked.

“I’m so sorry…..I wasn’t thinking!”

Jonathan smiled weakly. “Yes….Thought kills action….”

Applejack looked at the poetic pony and chuckled, she rested her hoof softly on Jonathan’s head, just resting it there, and slowly she started stroking his mane, untangling it, straightening it, returning it into a mane instead of demented tumbleweed. While this was happening Dr Stable blushed a bright red, forgetting his sad nature and chuckled.

“Applejack……what are you doing.”

“Fixing something, just wait there a second.”

After about another minute her work had been done and Jonathan’s beautiful chocolate mane had returned. She chuckled slightly at the improvement.

“I might not be one of those fancy fashion people like Rarity, but I know a handsome looking Pony when I see one.”

Jonathan was now as red as a tomato; soon ideas were rushing through his head. Does she like me, I think I like her too, is it just the cider talking?

Applejack started laughing, amused by her friend’s crimson colour.

“Awww you’re so cute when ya blush, even cuter then you are normally.”

Applejack looked into Jonathan’s eyes; she fell in love with those majestic and beautiful ocean blue eyes. He loved his repaired chocolate brown mane and his golden hair. He also looked adorable in his cute reading glasses, whatever resistance she had before was gone, she could barely help herself as she leant in slowly into Jonathan, as if she was about to nuzzle him again, but before he could think she kissed him deeply, accepting now the feelings she had felt before. Jonathan blushed deeper but didn’t resist, he kissed her back, passionately stroking her, forgetting how he had previously started the day. They retracted slowly, barely believing what they were doing; they smiled at each other and gave each other a loving nuzzle, confirming their new bond. It was now Applejack's turn to blush as she thought.

“You can pick apples right?”

(By Sneaky) The Letter

The perfect weather and beautiful sunset taunted Dr. Stable as he slowly dragged himself towards home.

Groaning, he opened the mailbox as per usual.

Junk mail. Why do these stupid businesses send us this crap? It's just gonna get thrown out.

He brought it in anyways, slamming the door behind him and throwing it on the counter.

A certain envelope caught his eye for a second, but he was too tired to care.

Couch spotted.

Prepare for impact.

With a satisfied groan, he sank into the sofa, relishing the plush cushions and savoring the long-awaited relaxation.

Ah, rest at last...

"Joooonathan!"

Dr. Stable felt a ping of frustration prick his forehead as Applejack's voice sounded through the halls of their home.

If she yells like that again-

"Jonathan, sugar! Where are ya?"

"What!?" he snapped, sitting up. As soon as he saw her, he quickly regretted snapping at her. She stood, stricken at her husband's unexpected reaction. Her emerald eyes wavered, mouth hung agape.

His features softened, and contorted with fear at the prospect of his beloved wife being angry, or worse, hurt by him.

"Applejack, I-I'm sorry. Please, I just had a really rough day."

She ignored his apology. Instead of listening, she did a one-eighty degree turn and walked back the way she came.

Jonathan followed. He wasn't about to let it go at that. "Please listen, Applejack. I know what I did was uncalled for, but you have to forgive-"

As if the universe were conspiring against him, his intentions of convincing Applejack were flaunted as one hoof tripped over the other and he ended up in a tangled mess on the ground.

Why can't anything go right today?

*Smooch*

He looked up, surprised to see a smiling Applejack standing over him.

"Ya big klutz. I can't stay mad at ya for long."

Red as a beet, he stumbled his way back onto his hooves.

"So you're not mad at me?"

"It's what I said, ain't it sugar?" she said, nuzzling him.

Though he was glad she seemed so ready to forgive, it made him a tad suspicious.

"So, Applejack?"

"Yes?"

"What was it you were going to tell me?"

Applejack stopped nuzzling, and looked up at him. Just from her expression, he could tell it had taken some working up just to attempt to bring it to his attention, and that his snapping at her had almost been a nervous relief. Now, she was again faced with the task.

"Jonathan... Ah know this wasn't planned, and we've only been married for about a year, but..."

She blushed red, repeatedly averting her eyes and bringing them back to meet Jonathan's.

"...I'm pregnant. Ah just found out a few days ago."

The words echoed in the hollow cave that was his mind. Pregnant? His Applejack?

He stood frozen, causing Applejack to shift on her hooves. They hadn't talked about it much, so she was kept in suspense as to whether he would be happy or not.

"A baby, huh?"

Her forehooves crossed, anticipating what was next. "Yeah. You ain't mad, are ya?"

His features softened, as he realized just how worried she had been. "Oh, Applejack. Oh Applejack." It was all he could say. Being wordless, he instead expressed himself by picking her up and twirling her around.

Applejack had always tried to impose the vision that she was a strong pony. She didn't often let others make her seem weak or helpless. But right now, she couldn't help but melt into her stallion's strong arms, and let him protect her. From what, she didn't know. But she could pretend.

She sighed upon landing on her feet again. Taking one long moment to stare into his, she kissed him deeply. Passion coursed through their veins, and as they broke the kiss, a look Jonathan knew all too well played on Applejack's face.

"Bedroom?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Give me five. I'll call you when ah'm ready," she said, walking past him seductively and letting her tail drag along his nose.

He sighed deeply, watching her swaying hips work their way into the hallway entrance. Wanting those five minutes to pass quickly, he decided to keep himself occupied.

The letters. What was it that caught my eye earlier?

He started sifting through them. Eventually he found the guilty party, a letter from the Canterlot Palace.

Canterlot Palace? I wonder what this could be...

Upon reading it, his face turned a sickly pale.

"Sug-aaar! Better get in here, before ah get cold!"

He just continued to stare at the letter.

No. Please no. Just when things were going right!

"What are ya doin'!" Applejack's head poked around the corner. Her mane was undone, flowing over her like golden silk. "Quit teasin' me, and git in here!"

She saw his face, and realized something was off.

"Jonathan, hun? What's wrong?"

Walking over, she noticed the letter he was holding, and snatched it from his grasp.

"Let's see this... Oh."

She turned to him, tears welling in her eyes as the impact of it hit her like a train.

She sniffled. "Jonathan... Please tell me everything'll be okay..."

He pulled her in and hugged her close. It was all he could do to comfort her without lying. They cried together, not wanting to believe in the future that was yet to come.

For Whom the Bells Toll

Jonathan looked sadly onto the letter that was laid in front of him on the table, barely believing what was happening to him in less than a few hour’s notice. He turned his head slowly and looked sadly out of the train’s window to take one last glance at what he would leave behind.

He saw the yellow form of his brother Caramel as he grudgingly raised and waved his hoof again. He saw a group of not so familiar ponies waving goodbye to their friends and family, some for more happy reasons, other for similar. Jonathan searched through the crowd, his eyes digging for any kind of familiar faces and soon they came into view.

Jonathan gave off a weak smile as the tall and strong figure of Big Macintosh came into few, at the sides of the gentle giant was the small fragile frame of Applebloom whose face was now branded with a deep sadness but what really made Jonathan sit up in the trains seat was the emerald eyes of his beloved. Applejack’s hair was still not tamed and remained un-tied from the close encounter she and Jonathan had almost engaged in. Big Macintosh did not raise his hoof, he did not need to, his face did not show the familiar signs of deep sadness, and his face remained as neutral as it ever was, but it was his eyes that betrayed his true feelings, there were no tears but they looked hurt, longing and empty. Applejack’s mane was still un-tied and her hat rested carefully on her head, her emerald eyes and face were still stained with tears and even as she looked at her lover on the train tears were already being produced and began to leak onto her freckled cheeks.

Jonathan soon showed the same sadness and closed his blue eyes as a tear trickled down his cheek.

Suddenly Big Mac lowered his head and the two other members of the Apple family nodded, Applejack, her eyes still streaming tears took off her hat and with surprising strength chucked it into the air. With a huge amount of luck it did not fly away and instead went up and then landed again next to Applejack much like a ball does. Jonathan had no idea what this was supposed to mean until he heard it. After this signal the bells of Ponyville played a tune, the very tune the lovers had the bells play at their wedding. Jonathan’s ocean blue eyes soon began to stream tears as he looked at his Applejack; he slammed his hooves against the window, heavily frustrated at path being made for him. Applejack smiled weakly as her eyes streamed tears as if to reassure him things were going to be okay.

At this moment the train made a deafening roar as the engines were turned on and soon Jonathan was swept away. From everything and everyone he had ever loved.

It would take a full hour of the journey to Canterlot for him to calm down, luckily for him he was one of the only people on this journey and had the whole carriage to himself. He finally settled back into his seat, finally taking his hooves away from the window and instead closed his eyes tight running out of tears to cry.

He looked back at the table and placed on top of it were three items. First was a small bag with spare clothes and a sandwich that had been hastily made in the thirty minutes notice the letter gave them. He turned to the other object which was a small box and he smiled weakly at it. He opened the lid slowly with his magic and soon levitated slowly and carefully analyzed the contents. They were all scrolls but instead of words the scrolls bore pictures, pictures of the wedding that had taken place almost a year ago. He knew that when Spike had offered to take them that they would be of great value. He smiled at the picture of him and Applejack embracing after the ring had been placed over his horn and the other ring placed over Applejack’s tail. He chortled in pleasure at the next picture of all the wedding guests with him lying on his back, propped against Applejack nursing a bump on his head which he suffered when one of the bride maids had miss heard flowers as flower pots. Though it had been rather painful at the time, no one could stay angry at poor little Derpy. Jonathan quickly flicked through the rest of the pictures until he carefully placed them back in the box, fearing they might cause another sob.

He then looked at the letter and his blood nearly boiled, the envelope of the letter was extravagant for what it was, it was made of very fine paper and had the royal stamp of the two princesses on it, though Jonathan had doubted and could barely believe that Lunar and Celestia would agree to or approve and order of such barbarity. Jonathan was not careful as he used his magic to almost tear the letter from the envelope and soon re read it again in a futile hope that maybe the letter had re wrote itself from the last time he read it. Sadly for him it was not true and still bore the barbaric order.

By order of High Princesses Celestia and Luna and High Council of Equestria.

You Dr.J. Stable must go to the city of Canterlot and enlist for conscription of Medical help to assist the army in its recent struggles with the fascist forces of General Monkel. Refusal or resistance to obey this order is an act of treason and will be met with extreme force.

Sincerely Princess Celestia.

Had Jonathan not needed it to get into Canterlot he would ripped up, crumbled and then violently burnt the letter and then trampled on the ashes, he had to leave his love, family and life to play doctor in a conflict he knew nothing about. Who the hay was General Monkel anyway? This question frustrated and annoyed the doctor for the rest of the three hour journey, making him fidget and slam the table every so often in anger.

After what seemed to be forever the train finally reached Canterlot, of course going through the guard post first to expel any changelings that could of got onto the train, apon reaching the Canterlotian train station Jonathan was shocked by the sheer number of guards, he had heard stories of how many had been at the Royal Wedding but he was pretty sure this number trumped any magnitude of guards that had been at the wedding.

The station was literally gleaming just from the glint of armour yet there was very little movement, the guards staying in one place and sticking there. As Jonathan carefully trudged of the train with his goods placed carefully in a saddlebag that Applejack gave him it appeared that every guard began to look at Jonathan as if he had a mark of death branded on his forehead. Soon he realized why however as he looked at his flank which bore as normal his heart monitor cutie mark. There was now a deafening silence as Jonathan grudgingly walked on, as if the guard’s knew what had happened to him and were giving him an honourable moment of silence.

As Jonathan walked aimlessly through the streets of Canterlot he could see more evidence of the severe state of emergency. Everywhere he looked, from the spiral towers of the city to even spas and restaurants the city was swarming with guards or ponies bearing military arms. After what seemed like hours of wandering Jonathan heard a distinct calling.

“Doctor Stable! Doctor Stable!” At this calling Jonathan turned quickly to see a very heavily armoured unicorn trot up to him, Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows as he saw the white haired and blue maned unicorn approach. He had seen him somewhere but could not remember were from. Soon the purple armoured unicorn had reached him and did a small salute.

“Hi, are you the doctor from Ponyville?”

Jonathan sighed and nodded, slightly saddened by the mention of his home, suddenly however he could hear a weird tapping, he looked up again to see the unicorn tapping the ground excited with an almost crazy grin on him.

“Do you know a unicorn known as Twiley...Oh I mean Twilight Sparkle. If so how is she?”

“Oh yeah she’s great actually she is doing a-.” He sighed in a melancholy nature however he soon realized where he had seen this unicorn from; it was from Twilight’s photo album that Spike had shown him to show the results of some of his other works. He raised his eyebrows that the captain of the royal guard and now Prince of the Crystal empire, would take such an interest in a lowly doctor from Ponyville. He soon quizzed Shining Armor on this and he chuckled.

“I took an interest in you because you’re a friend of Twiley and any friend of Twiley is a friend of mine also I am not captain of the guard any more, I am high general now, one rank below field marshal Haig.” At this he proudly pointed to a large medal on his armour while blushing. Jonathan sighed sadly.

“Wow…that’s great.” He said very unenthusiastically. At this Shining raised an eyebrow but almost immediately he realized what was the problem and he sighed.

“Look...Jonathan I think, yeah well I am not happy with this conscription of doctors. No one is, not even the princesses, only Haig really wanted and he managed to convince them it was necessary. Twiley told me about your wedding to….JackApple…No Applejack that’s it and being a married stallion myself I can understand how painful it is to be separated from them for just a few hours. Let alone months and it was not even your choice.”

Even though Shining was speaking in a voice softer than silk he could see his words were about to set Jonathan into tears again, he sighed again and gave him an encouraging smile.

“Why not treat yourself here in Canterlot; I can give you a couple of spare bits. Why not go to the…..pub. There’s a pub here called the one eyed Pegasus. Many other ponies in a similar situation to you are there. Maybe you can have some fun, maybe make some friends before we depart in two days or so.”

Shining then took from a pocket in his armour using his magic a small money bag this, which he then carefully placed in Jonathan’s saddle bag and he smiled giving Jonathan a small hoof punch on the shoulder.

“Come on…Applejack wouldn’t want you to be sad.”

Jonathan looked up at last at Shining who was actually wincing, wandering if it was the best idea that he had mentioned Applejack. However Jonathan actually smiled.

“You know your right. Thank you for the bits. Where is this pub again?”

Shining smiled encouragingly. “It’s on Liberation street, it’s called the one eyed Pegasus. Actually in fact it’s about 7 o’clock now. Happy hour will have started. You better hurry before the queues get too long.”

With this Jonathan gave a weak smile and looked at a nearby sign post, he smiled as he saw the label of liberation street and headed in that direction. Shining smiled at him and quickly made himself a mental note.

Keep a very close eye on that one.

The One Eyed Pegasus

Jonathan looked up at the building which would serve as his pleasure base for today or maybe until he was deployed. The building stood out from the rest of the Canterlot structures. Instead of being made of the rich white stone with spire towers nearby and with colourful canopies the pub was actually made of fine timber, the pub had only one window with a large sign above it stating the name. The one eyed Pegasus, as well as a classic pub illustration of the name of a grinning grey Pegasus with an eye patch. Jonathan slowly breathed in, after that incident with the guards he had no idea how people would react to seeing that he was a medic, he certainly didn’t want that awkward watching feeling again. Slowly he approached the strong wooden door of the pub and gingerly opened it.

The sight that met him was unbelievable, especially for a place like Canterlot. The pub had an aura of cosiness. There was a fire brightly burning on the west wall and there was a bar on the east wall with a mahogany bar table around it. Scattered around the pub where other tables made from this fine wood with a variety of people eating and drinking there. He saw guards taking off their helmets and sharing a laugh as they downed a pint of cider. He saw a family having a meal there with the foals having a more foal friendly drink of apple juice. However to Jonathan’s despair the pub was packed. The tables or certainly the single ones were all occupied with costumers. Jonathan stood there; shaking his head vigorously in the hope there might be at least one table to sit on. It appeared somepony had noticed his distress and soon he heard somepony say something to him.

“Hey…..You…there’s a space here.”

Jonathan turned quickly towards the news and saw a large wooden table, around it sat four other ponies and each one of them was looking at him. One was smiling at him, a stallion unicorn with a grey coat and a white stripe going down his dark blue mane. He continued to smile and using his magic he pulled the spare chair from under the table out, the chair being between the smiling Pegasus and a brown earth pony.

“Well do you want a seat or not?” said the unicorn carefully, as if he sensed that Jonathan was a shy type.

Jonathan adjusted his glasses carefully blushing. “Why…err. Thanks.” Jonathan carefully trotted over and took the seat gingerly as if sitting down in a wrong manner would cause all the other ponies to run him through. After taking his seat a Pegasus with a light blue coat and a similar white stripe going down her same coloured mane chuckled.

“Wow brother you can lead a pony to a table. Now let’s say if you can make it drink, unlike Daniel over here.”

She then playfully prodded a snow white stallion unicorn that was blushing bright red. He nervously whispered reminding Jonathan a bit of Fluttershy.

“I just don’t like alcohol okay……”

The other unicorn chuckled.

“Rubbish, you’re just a light weight, what about that time you went to that Royal guard meeting. You had one pint and you were singing some song about goblins.”

The shy unicorn soon almost stood up, his hazel eyes suddenly going fierce as he stared down the guard.

“I am not a lightweight Benethor!” Suddenly realising what he had done after he looked at the shocked expression on the female Pegasus’s face he shrank back into his seat while Benethor’s eyes were still wide in surprise.

“Okay Daniel….”

The Pegasus soon slapped Benethor on the head he howled in pain and rubbed his head.

“Hey what was that for.”

“Well had you not been such a stupid younger brother you would have realized how rude we’ve been to our new guest. We haven’t even introduced ourselves!”

Benethor kept rubbing his head wincing and scowling at his sister, mostly due to the embarrassment.

“Well okay…Well I’m Benethor but you have probably already heard.” He then pointed to his sister. “This is Caterina, the only Pegasus ever in our family so she has always been very strange…”

Benethor received another whack for this after a brief moment of howling and rubbing he continued.

“The unicorn over there is Daniel, he is a medic apparently before this conflict and conscription business he was an eye surgeon.”

Daniel lifted his snow white hoof and waved chuckling and winking at Jonathan.

Benethor rolled his eyes at this knowing how awkward Daniel could be and lastly he pointed to the till then quiet Earth pony.

“And this is Marius, the most hypercritical pony in all of Equestria.”

Marius raised his eyebrows. Until that moment he had been indulging himself in a book, only stopping to take a brief look at Jonathan, at the insult he closed his book and placed it on the ground and breathed in.

“As I have told you many times Benethor yes I am a socialist. It is not my fault that my parents happen to be one of the richest in Equestria.”

Benethor however continued to wind him up.

“So do you want to have parents lynched in the streets, would you be able to live with yourself without your solid gold toilet?”

Marius seemed to be easily irritably and soon barked at Benethor.

“It doesn’t work like that…you…err….idiot!”

Caterina slammed her hoof on the table loudly, stopping the whole chatter throughout the pub and screamed at Marius.

“NO ONE CALLS MY BROTHER AN IDIOT EXCEPT ME!”

Caterina soon looked around and observed that everyone was looking at him and she blushed and placed her hoof back under the table and slowly everypony returned to their business, Benethor slowly lent over to his sister and whispered.

“Thanks sis.”

Caterina bitterly scowled at him and then smiled at Jonathan.

“You haven’t said much. What is your name anyway?”

The yellow unicorn smiled encouragingly while taking off his saddle bag and putting it on the ground as if to release some nervous energy.

“My name is from Jonathan, I’m a doctor from Ponyville.”

Marius grinned a bit before patting a hoof on Jonathan’s back making him feel very weird.

“See, finally a pony from a great background. Ponyville, a village of the people, set up by the people and run by the people.”

Benethor rolled his eyes, Jonathan could tell this wasn’t the first time Benethor had heard Marius socialist ramblings.

Marius retracted his hoof and Jonathan looked at him, he was a handsome pony with admirable facial features. His green eyes gave a strong glance but they were still young. Marius made Jonathan remember a time in his youth were he had been rebellious. Putting up posters of at the time banished Princess Lunar and generally being a living Tartarus to raise. He looked at Marius as just a young pony going through a rebellious phase in his life. He was certainly the youngest out of all of them, by how much he was not sure.

Daniel also smiled at this introduction, seeming to be comforted by the fact there was another doctor in the ranks of the group. Jonathan deciding to break the ice asked politely.

“Are we getting drinks? Or are we getting food?”

Benethor smiled at him.

“Of course were getting drinks, if you want food that’s fine, also you don’t have to be so polite you’re not talking to Celestia.”

Jonathan then nodded gaining some confidence he raised an eyebrow.

“Is there a menu? And who is paying.”

“Not me!” Snapped Marius and everyone apart from Jonathan scowled at him, Jonathan decided to bail him out by pulling his coin purse from his saddle bag. However as he pulled it out Jonathan lost concentration and his magic stopped making him drop the bag of coins on the table and the coins rolled out. The other ponies gasped as they saw five big golden coins roll out.

“I thought those were a myth…” said Daniel gobsmacked.

“Where did you get those guineas...” said Benethor in a shocked manner.

“Well err….Shining Armor gave them to me.” Said Jonathan nervously, Marius scowled.

“Great, he’s friends with the aristocracy.”

Caterina ignored Marius and gulped.

“There like 100 bits each. Just one of those coins is us for the night.” Everyone then looked hopefully to Jonathan and seemed to say all together.

“Could you pay for us?”

Jonathan blushed and nodded.

“Well it’s not my money anyway so I guess.”

Caterina soon read out the orders again just to make sure it was right, they were written crudely on a piece of paper she held in her hoof.

“Okay Jonathan wants a Dragon bitter, Benethor wants a Griffons claw, Daniel wants an Apple juice and Marius wants a glass of champagne.”

At the mention of Marius’s order Benethor face hoofed. Caterina chuckled at her brother and did not mention her order, she then looked at everyone making sure that all the orders were correct.

“Okay then I will just go off to get them.” She then walked off to get drinks; the guinea perched in her mouth carefully. When she was in the distance Benethor then grinned and leaned into Daniel.

“How are you going to get her to fancy you if you get a girly apple juice while we’re all getting smashed? Come on colt up and get a real drink.”

Daniel shook his head vigorously and growled at Benethor.

“I don’t fancy her!”

“Yes you do!” Everypony else said, even Jonathan and Daniel gave him a pleading look of betrayal.

Jonathan chuckled. “Sorry it’s true though, you’re so nervous around her and to be fair if I wasn’t married I would probably fancy her too.”

Daniel was blushing redder than a tomato again with Marius chuckling with Benethor.

“Benethor you shouldn’t encourage him, do you really want him banging your sister? The one pony that can beat you being pounded by the pony that won’t even have a pint.”

Now it was Benethor’s time to blush.

“Say one more word about my sister and your dead got it.”

Marius grinned and rested back in his chair contented.

“Okay Ben.” Chuckling now at the nickname he had made.

Soon Caterina came back with the drinks on a tray she was holding carefully in her mouth. She placed it down and everypony was surprised there was a lot more drinks then they had ordered and Caterina giggled.

“Well we had a lot of change, I thought we might just use it to get some more in case any of us get thirsty after the first or second.”

She then looked at the still blushing Daniel and scowled at everyone.

“Have you guys been bullying poor little Daniel again!” She then gave Benethor another whack as well as managing to reach over the table and whack Marius and then surprisingly whacked Jonathan again. Jonathan yelped as well.

“What was that for?” He asked, still stunned and in pain from the whack.

Caterina giggled a bit before passing everypony there drinks.

“Because I know you had something to do with poor little Daniel.” She then gave Daniel a jokey kiss on the cheek which made all the other ponies snigger and Caterina scowled.

“What is so funny?” She said, her hoof raised for more whacking.

“Nothing!” Everypony said making Caterina settle down and beginning to drink from the large wooden mug in front of her. Everypony else started as well. When that beautiful liquid entered Jonathan’s mouth and his throat he could already feel his confidence grow and his distant misery of his lost home shrank into almost nothing. Loving the drink’s taste on his tongue and the feeling of confidence he quickly downed his first drink and moved onto the next. The others apart from Daniel followed his example and soon after about an hour they had drunk about five of these drinks each. The effects of their indulgence were soon obvious.

“……And then Caramel, my bro just blushed and guess what, he forgot the bloody rings! So everyone began searching for them under their seats, all the while the preacher kept on going while Applejack and I were searching for rings in his mane!”

Jonathan was laughing as he drunkenly recalled his chaotic wedding while the ponies around him roared in laughter. Jonathan then burped and threw his glasses next to the saddle bag and climbed onto the table his body swaying.

“I am gonna sing a song *hic* for you guys. I got told it by my bro in law *hic* Big Mac so *hic* what was I saying? Oh yeah *hic* this song is about all you *hic* guards out there. Like Benethor *hic*.”

Ponies had all started looking at Jonathan, most of the families had left and being quite late the guard shifts had ended and the pub was swarming with guards who needed a drink after their long shifts. Soon they were hitting there Hooves on the ground chanting.

“SING SING SING SING!”

Jonathan hiccupped again and had a wide grin on his face.

“Okay…here we go *hic*.”

Then he began his song, surprisingly it was free of hics and his drunken slur as if Jonathan was extremely disciplined when it came to singing, most surprising was his voice was good and beautiful, normally he was very shy with singing, only doing so when heavily drunk or when Applejack teased him into doing it. The song was a folk song from Ponyville about an experience a Royal Guard had there while drunk.

(song)“Well a Royal Guard clad in armour left a bar one evening fair

And one could tell by how we walked that he drunk more than his share

He fumbled round until he could no longer keep his feet

Then he stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street