Chapter 11: Full Circle
I found it rather strange in retrospect. Most of the time, our full group only got together during times of celebration or times of land-shaking crises. But ever since Celestia helped me settle the dissonance between the memories of my two lives, our main six plus others had been gathering almost every other day. The reasons were different, but they all revolved around some pony remembering who they used to be.
So it was, we were in Golden Oaks Library again. We were all waiting for the one to regain consciousness. This time, we had a slight change in the filly sitting around. Scootaloo was dragging her front hooves along the floor. The rest of her body was barely lifted off the ground by her frantic wings. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that she would be the most worried about the situation.
Spike had prepared tea and cookies and passed them around. I was amazed that he managed to keep both himself and the snacks from getting run over by the preoccupied Scootaloo going around in circles. Perhaps he was used to maneuvering around Twilight when she had one of her little episodes, no pun intended.
"Do you think we pressured Rainbow too much?" wondered Fluttershy.
"No way!" Pinkie snatched a couple extra cookies and hid them in her mane. "Dashie said she wanted to wait and we agreed that it was okay."
"And we made it clear that she needn't rush into this." I gently blew some of the steam over my cup of tea.
"Still, that doesn't mean she got the full message." Applejack's tail twitched. "I probably could have held back a little on the whole 'part of yourself' speech."
I gasped, faked a spit, clicked my tongue, and shushed in that order. "Please, you call what you told her a speech? Darling, your custom order for the rough draft of your Gala dress was longer than that."
"Wait, you still remember that order?" Applejack scratched the mane under her hat, then stopped to glance to the side. "Oh... I forgot who you were for a second. Forget I asked."
"No worries, darling." I waved a hoof dismissively. "I forgot who I was for at least two days, not including the time my memories were muddled and trying to fight each other for control."
Pinkie blinked. "I don't remember your memories duking it out."
"It's a figure of speech, Ms. Pie." I rolled my eyes. "What I mean is that I was very, very confused for what felt like a long time."
"Ohhhh." Pinkie nodded. "Okay!"
At this time, a door shut from upstairs. Multiple hoof steps clicked and echoed off the wooden walls. Twilight was leading slowly. Next to her was Rainbow Dash, holding a colorful ice-bag against her head. Scootaloo gasped, dropped her hind legs to the floor, and stared with wide eyes.
Fluttershy spoke up first. "How is she?"
"Well, it's a little grazed," said Twilight, "but she isn't bleeding. Once she woke up and gained awareness of her surroundings, I managed to cast the memory spell."
Twilight helped walk Rainbow over to a seat. Rainbow groaned, laid back, and closed her eye closest to the ice bag.
"You alright, Dash?" Spike untied his apron and hung it on one side of the snack cart.
"Yeah, great... never better..." Rainbow sighed. "Ask me again when my head stops pounding."
"What were you expecting to happen, pulling a stunt like that?" Applejack shook her head.
"I know, I know..." Rainbow clenched her teeth briefly. "This just seemed like the quickest way to get us all up to speed."
Pinkie leaned her head over, neck stretched across the whole length of the couch. "So... did it work? Who is past you?"
Rainbow closed her eye and chuckled. "A Blue Angel pilot. Go figure, huh?"
"Truly?" I smiled a little. "If that's the case, you probably have the most synergy between your lives out of all of us."
"I don't know." Rainbow turned to look to her right. "Aren't drug hippies supposed to be animal-lovers?"
"Hey..." Fluttershy mockingly acted offended before she giggled.
Rainbow turned to her left. "And who's to say Twilight can't find some woman to love in the near future?"
"Now hold on!" Twilight blushed as her tail straightened out. "I still don't fully know if that's appropriate! I mean, I'm not looking right now... not that I ever would! I mean, hold on!"
"And I suppose next you'll tell me that making a dress is just like mixing a drink?" I prodded.
"Or once a business person, always a business pony?" Applejack smirked.
"Or that random action runs in the reincarnation?" Pinkie snapped back to normal length and spread her hooves open. Confetti soon followed the edges of her reach.
At this point, all six of us had managed to devolve into laughs. Spike shrugged and chomped down a cookie while observing us. Scootaloo was looking around at us with a confused look on her face.
She leaned over near Spike. "I still don't get what's going on."
"Meh, apparently they're all living their second lives after living as some other creatures in another world and another time." He took a sip of tea. "At this point, I've just learned to roll with it."
Scootaloo shook her head and trotted up. "Rainbow Dash? I'm... really sorry about hurting you."
Rainbow shook her free hoof dismissively. "Nah, I'm over it. It's partially my own fault for insisting so much that you hit me. I should be sorry for making you worry so much. Since we're both apologizing, how about we just call it even?"
The poor filly looked like she was fighting really hard against shedding tears. "O-Okay."
"Aw, get up here." Rainbow opened her wings. "I'm not so cool that I can't accept a little sappiness now and again."
Scootaloo nodded and hopped up. She and her idol hugged it out. The sight was just so precious. I wish I had brought a camera. Then again, I might have gotten chewed out if I had. Rainbow could mistake such a lighthearted gesture as blackmail material to burn. It was all hypothetical anyway.
---
After a few minutes to calm down, Scootaloo sped home on her scooter. That left us: the six reincarnates and a dragon. It was about as normal as anything ever gets around here. Soon, the small talk turned into little short stories about our human lives. Twilight and I were telling the others about the television series.
"No way! For realsies?" Pinkie asked that before waving her hoof toward any direction she could think of, trying to greet whatever audience existed beyond the invisible fourth wall.
"And does it match up with our lives to a tee?" wondered Applejack.
"Well, there are some discrepancies," admitted Twilight. "I mean, I didn't sing that long about my brother before we went to Canterlot for the wedding."
"And the 'camera' didn't follow every single one of us all the time." I giggled. "That would have been too much to show in the half-hour run time every week."
"Hope it captured our good side, at least." Rainbow lifted the ice bag briefly before setting it back down.
I hummed. "Some good, some bad. I think they were going for a level of balance."
"When done right, a dramatic failure makes the eventual success truly shine." Twilight nodded.
"Kind of makes me want to watch it right now." Fluttershy smiled.
"So, has it ever shown events that are in the future?" wondered Spike.
"I don't know." I contracted my nonexistent lips. "I think someone leaked rough sketches from a fourth season episode, but I don't recall seeing an actual episode after Shining Armor and Princess Cadance got married."
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, the most recent part I ever saw was the first eight minutes of the third season. Something about a lost empire coming back and the princess sending me off to find out what's going on... but I've yet to see anything like that being mentioned in real life."
"Sounds pretty awesome," commented Rainbow. "I'm all for kicking the rear of another super-villain."
Applejack looked at her. "What does a super-villain have to do with a lost empire coming back?"
Rainbow's visible eye rolled. "Have you ever seen Star Wars?"
"Mm." Applejack nodded slowly. "Not a perfect comparison, but point taken."
---
Hours slipped by. The sun was setting by the time our collective voices calmed down. Applejack moved her hooves in a way that I could hear all of her joints cracking. She smiled and worked her way out of the library. Fluttershy followed soon after. Pinkie Pie threw a dart with her mane, and somehow hung onto that dart with her hoof to carry her out the door.
Twilight used her magic to float some of the dirty dishes. Together with Spike, she went to the kitchen to take care of all of that stuff. I thanked them for their pleasantries and hospitality, and turned to leave.
"Hey, Rarity?"
I looked back at the remaining occupant. "Yes, Rainbow?"
Rainbow pulled the ice pack off and held it next to her. A patch of her mane looked scraggy and down to a cluster of tiny follicles. The eye on that side of the face didn't look too bad, though there was a dark bruise just above that.
"I'm just wondering... when you first remembered you used to be a human... you didn't hit your head then, did you?"
"I... huh..." I slowly shook my head. "No, I suppose I did not. It happened right while I was finishing the touches on an ensemble. Next thing I knew, I sort of had amnesia of ever being Rarity and only knew my human life."
"Isn't that weird?" It looked like she was trying to raise her brow, but the bruise was making that hard to tell. "The rest of us had to hit our heads. I mean, Fluttershy fainted but her head hit the floor. So... that still counts, kind of."
"Our mental situations certainly are peculiar." My tail instinctively swung left once and right once. "And that's saying something, given our more recent history with insanity and/or panic. Panicking in front of a Cloudsdale audience, losing composure due to a slight mishap of a fashion show... that kind of thing."
Rainbow chuckled. "Yeah. I just wonder what made you special, in that you didn't have to whack yourself first."
I shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know, Rainbow Dash. Maybe some pony will tell us someday. Maybe we'll never know."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." She groaned and rubbed her head with the pack (which at this point wiggled like only water was left in it). "Ugh... so much egg-head thinking in my brain. I think I was also a nerd in my past life."
"Well, you do need to keep in mind a lot of numbers when flying a plane," I pointed out.
"True..." Rainbow shook her head and sighed. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to ask you."
"Very well then." I continued on my way out the door. "Hopefully, you feel better the next time we meet."
"I will!" She raised the pack like a saggy fist.
---
Summer was moving into fall. Although the sun felt warm, there was a slight chill on the air. The pegasi must have been bringing in the cross-breezes that they could. I had packed a small, marble blue cloak that was just perfect for the occasional gust. That was what I put on before briskly trotting home.
"Fall is coming soon," I muttered as I walked. "Then winter will follow. That means we will have to start getting ready for Chri-er... Hearth's Warming." I hummed to myself. "I have a few ideas already to stay ahead of the trends, but what about the more personal attire?" I smiled and picked up my pace. "To the drawing board!"
---
A few more days passed by. One evening after finishing up some major orders, I decided to go out for another of my walks. I was wearing the red scarf and orange tail bow set specifically for today. No reason to go out without my best look, I reasoned. A few buildings were still in the repair stages after that Pinkie Pie clone fiasco. I shuddered to myself just remembering the ceaseless chatter and destruction.
I needed a drink of sorts. Contrary to what some might expect, I didn't remember actually getting to drink much during my past life as a bartender. It had been my job to stay sober enough to serve, tell pretenders that their crayon-drawn birthday cards were not acceptable currency, and to clean up after closing hours.
"Hmm," I muttered out loud. "Do I still have the know-how for that?"
At a calm pace, I trotted my way over to Martinis & Darts. It was an aptly named pub and informed its clients exactly what they could expect. I magically pulled the door open before stepping inside. It wasn't too different from how I remembered a typical Earth bar. Only instead of televisions hanging on the walls, there were three movie projectors depicting some prerecorded sporting events over near the side wall.
There were a few ponies scattered throughout the small establishment. One of them was over by the dartboard area, shaking a lot and tossing darts all around but never inside the circle. Two that were sitting next to each other were blankly watching one of the projections. I made my way over to a seat at the main bar when I spotted a familiar mane.
"Fluttershy?"
She nearly jumped backwards off the chair, barely grabbing the counter with her hooves in time. I held my breath as she struggled to right herself and the chair underneath herself. As soon as she looked stable, I exhaled and pulled up next to her.
Fluttershy pulled the long mane hairs away from her eyes with one hoof. "Oh, Rarity. I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"I could say the same for you." I idly skimmed through a menu. "Are you alright, darling?"
"Yes, I think so." She smiled in an attempt to be reassuring. "I just thought... maybe... one time at a place like this... might be okay."
"I'm sure it is, but..." I looked around briefly, seeing no one else paying us too terribly mind. "... are you as a whole okay with being here?"
She shook her head. "I'm not going to switch one addiction for another, if that's what you're really asking. I just... want one experience, and then it's back to my safety room for the next foreseeable nights."
I looked her over for a few seconds, then nodded. "Okay. I believe you."
She twiddled her hooves a bit. "So... um... would you happen to have any recommendations? I've never actually had a hard drink before."
"For real?" I opened my eyes wide. "I'm simultaneously shocked and proud of you for staying sober throughout both of your lives so far."
"Th-Thank you?" She scratched her mane in uncertainty.
"Hmm... have you had anything to eat yet this evening?" I wondered.
"Er, yes. I had a meal right after feeding all of my little friends." She tilted her head. "But... what does that have to do with drinks?"
"It's simple, dear Fluttershy." Idly, my tail brushed away a stray fuzz ball on Fluttershy's wing. "Every pony has their own tolerance level before the amount they drink becomes a problem. That tolerance can increase somewhat if you have something else in your stomach that can absorb that drink."
She held a hoof under her muzzle. "So... a starving man wouldn't be able to handle drinking as much as the person who just walked out after a buffet?"
"Exactly!" I gave her a nod and looked through the menu a little more thoroughly. "Since you've eaten, you shouldn't have to worry about limiting the type. Now, the quantity of drinks might still be an issue if you tackle too much on your first outing, but that doesn't mean we can't get creative with the flavors."
---
After a little insistence, I convinced the bartender to let me construct our beverages from its separated parts. I had to get creative with the proportions because the glasses didn't look like they would hold that much. Still, after a few delicate pours of the individual ingredients and a careful stirring, I managed to get it looking like the familiar color of a Long Island ice tea. One cross-section of a lemon went onto each glass before I floated over a couple bits to manager.
"I didn't know you could make an East Isle tea," they commented.
I chuckled. "Force of habit."
"Cheers/Cheers!" Fluttershy and I toasted before sipping.
"Huh... this is better than I was expecting." Fluttershy looked down at the contents in surprise.
I nodded. "I figured I shouldn't overwhelm a first-timer with something that tastes too heavy with hops or bitter root."
She nodded silently before taking another sip. I practically saw gears turning behind her eye. It wasn't quite the same kind of thought processes as Twilight went through whenever mumbling about something that held her super-focus. With Fluttershy, it was more of an internal thought, sealed away behind a one-way mirror. If you tried to look in, you would only see your reflection. But as much as I wanted to know, I decided to let time decide what she would allow herself to be said openly.
Her hooves pressed together with her glass between them. "Do you miss your old life?"
"Philosophy in a bar." I magically squeezed the lemon over my cup. "Where have I heard that one before?"
"I'm serious." Fluttershy frowned.
"I know you are." I nodded. "I'll admit, there are days where I'd rather deal with less magically created problems and more of the... um... I was going to say mundane, but..."
"Yes, it's hard to remember what mundane is after getting used to our current struggles." Fluttershy looked up at a blank spot on the ceiling.
"But these are still our lives." I poked the ice cube with a gentle magic nudge. "We're here now because our first lives ended."
"Yeah... I guess it was wrong for me to dwell on what isn't there anymore."
"It isn't wrong to remember what happened," I pointed out. "You just have to remember to come back and look at what's happening now."
Fluttershy gave me a wry smile. "Are you sure you were a bartender and not a counselor?"
I chuckled. "I had to wear many hats in my trade. Not all of them had a respective degree to back me up. That's where experience kicks in, and a little bit of luck." I took another sip from my drink. "Anyway, I miss my old life in some ways, but I won't mourn the loss. Desmond isn't dead. He just goes by a different name."
"Huh. That's a good way to look at it." Fluttershy nodded. "Thank you."
"No problem at all, darling."
---