After a few minutes of thinking-and slight grieving-I decided to join the party. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs I was greeted warmly by the party goers, and an ecstatic Pinkie Pie. She literally carried me to the center of the room, in one arm while standing on her hind hooves. My mind was hard at work to try and figure out how she did that, but I stopped myself after I remembered Twilight had said she did this often, very often. Pinkie kept an arm around my neck as she introduced me again, "Hello everypony! This here is my good friend James Phoenix!" She started, I tapped her shoulder with my hoof.
"Maybe I should introduce myself." I offered, she giggled and bounced away with an 'Okie Dokie Loki!' I stood up onto my hooves, and cleared my throat, "Ahem. As Pinkie said I'm James Phoenix, if there's any questions you have go ahead and ask." I said, not wanting to outright tell them I'm immortal. They smiled and continued the festivities, dancing, eating, chatting, the usual even back home. I trotted over to a table that was covered in snacks and beverages and took a wooden mug-my hoof was able to slide between the handle and the cup without difficulty- and served myself some golden colored liquid from a barrel and sat down at a vacant table.
I brought the mug up to my muzzle, and inhaled deeply. I smelled apples, I took a sip and my suspicions were confirmed; it was apple cider. Of course they don't have alcohol. I thought to myself as I drank the, still amazing, cider. I put the mug down and eyed the guests, an old habit kicking in, I look at a grey earth pony with a black mane wearing a pink bow tie who was chatting with a pink mare with a blonde mane and a daisy on her flank, Average sized pony, violet eyes, distance. about 4 yards, no weapons visible, no ways to conceal weapons... "Hello James." a mare said. I shook my head as it pulled me out of my own little world. I turned to the owner of the voice, a blue mare with a pink mane that was pulled back behind her head and stopped at her shoulders. She was smiling sweetly.
"Hi." I answered, my voice as monotone as usual, it stuck that way no matter what I try it'll stay the same. She seemed to get nervous at my tone, I offered her my mug, "Want some?" I asked, "I can get more." She waved a hoof with a giggle.
"No thank you, I can see you are tense, I am Aloe, I run the Spa here in Ponyville with my sister Lotus. You can stop by tomorrow and we'll give you a massage for free. Think of it as a... Welcoming gift." she was still smiling. I returned her smile with a small one of my own.
"I'll think about it. Thanks for the offer." she nodded and walked away.
I returned my attention to the crowd and the, extremely, loud music. I watched as the guests danced, my eyes rolled over each and every pony, after much practice I was able to tell from a distance several things, a light brown stallion with dark brown hair and two horseshoes on his flank was trying to hit on the pink mare with the daisy cutiemark, and failing. Rarity was speaking with Twilight, I knew they were talking about me because the white unicorn glanced at me every now and again. As my eyes traveled around the room I locked gazes with Dash. The rainbow maned pegasus was glaring at me for some reason, I didn't break my even gaze as I drank the rest of the cider, I held the mug as I stood up and walked back to the barrel of cider and refilled my cup, it filled nearly to the brim before it stopped flowing with a few drops falling into the cup. I trotted back to my table, hearing Dash trot to the empty barrel, I knew it was her because she was muttering, "He better not have drank it all." I sat down in time to see Dash twist the knob, it shook and dust spewed out, her jaw dropped.
I couldn't stop a chuckle. I lifted the frothy mug to take a drink of the sweet nectar when a hoof slammed onto the table. I lowered the mug and saw Dash angrily staring back. "You flankhole! You took the last of the cider!" she continued to glare at me. I laughed.
"You were just too slow I guess." I said, raising the mug again. I knew I hit a nerve from the way her right ear and eye twitched.
"That's it! Let's settle this here and now." she said, stopping me from drinking my cider.
"What do you have in mind?" I wondered, the mug staying right under my muzzle, its aroma floating up and into my nostrils.
She smirked, "A hoof wrestle. Loser buys the winner two barrels of cider." she seemed very confident I guessed that a 'hoof wrestle' was the pony version of an arm wrestle. I put the mug down on a nearby table.
"You're on." I said. We both put our elbows on the table, our hooves wrapped around each other and we stared the other down as we began. I had to admit she was stronger than I thought, our hooves stayed above the center of the table, not moving an inch in either direction. Our little strength match was attracting a lot of attention. Over the course of three minutes we both began to sweat as everypony was surrounding us and cheering for us both.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Pinkie holding up two foam fingers one said Go James!, the other said Rainbow Dash #1. A few minutes passed and her strength began wavering as our hooves slowly tilted towards my left. I smirked as she was struggling more and more as our interlocked hooves moved closer to the table. Right before I won she began straining harder and I began losing. It slowly returned back to it's starting place and down to my right side after seven more minutes. I felt my hoof come into contact with the wooden table and Dash let go and flew into the air triumphantly, "Yes! In your face James!" she poked my nose as she said those words. A large smile stretched across her face, "You owe me two barrels of cider. I hope you can pay for it." she laughed and took the mug of cider I placed aside and drank the whole thing in one go, slamming it down on the table when she had finished, foam covered her upper lip and she wiped it off before flying off giggling like a schoolgirl-or in this case schoolfilly. Applejack trotted up beside me.
"That was a close one. Don't worry James, I'll let ya have the cider for free." she said. I smirked and laughed loudly.
"I can't believe she beat me." I chuckle, "Thanks Jack."
Her smile left immediately, "Don't call me Jack." I regained my poker face.
"Sorry Applejack. And again thanks for letting me have those barrels. It'll save me a lot of money." I told her. She smiled and patted my back hard.
"Dontcha worry 'bout it sugarcube." she said before returning with the rest of the crowd. I walked back to the buffet table and grabbed a bottle at random since Dash had drank my cider. I brought it up to my mouth and upended it, as soon as the liquid touched my tongue it began to burn. I dropped the bottle as I began coughing from the little hot sauce that went down my windpipe. I became the center of attention as I stopped coughing.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me." I told them to stop their worried murmurs. It took a little to actually convince them that he was fine but once that was done I returned to my empty table and called over the brown stallion who had struck out. "So your name is Caramel Apple? Are you a relative of Applejack?" I asked him after he told me his name.
He nodded, "Yeah she's my cousin. Why'd you want to speak to me?" he asked, he didn't have as strong of an accent as his cousin but it was still distinguishable.
I put my forearms on the table, hooves together. "I know you were hitting on that blonde mare with the daisy cutiemark." I said, he blushed, "Look I know a few things that I've seen over the years." I began giving him a few little tips to help him. I continued to give him advice for a while and ended with the most important rule, "Don't rush it, whatever you do." He nodded and thanked me for the advice before walking away. I laid down and sighed before I realized something, I sat up with my eyes wide, I was holding that bottle with a single hoof and I didn't know how I did it.