“You want me to help you with anything Twilight?” I asked eagerly as my mentor sighed and shook her head.
“No Starlight, everything is caught up. Especially since you’ve cleaned the library four times this week.”
“And I thought Twilight was a neat freak,” Spike chimed in from his spot on the library floor with a comic book. Twilight rolled her eyes and shot him a glare as I snickered.
“I’m not a neat freak!” Twilight snapped and we both gave her flat stares. “Okay, maybe I take neatness a bit too seriously but that’s not a bad thing! I don’t want bugs or mold in the castle!”
She had me there. I’d scream if I found a spider in my bed. I despised spider’s but I’d never tell Fluttershy that. I knew Spike was terrified of them as well.
“So how’s your health Starlight? Any more negative depressed thoughts?” Twilight asked curiously as she levitated a book in front of her.
Ever since my whole redemption thing, Twilight had apparently read up on mental health in her books and I had met all the requirements of somepony with depression. Which sure maybe a little but not that bad in my opinion.
“I mean every now and again I get the negative thoughts but it hasn’t been so bad,” I admitted and traced a hoof on the table. “I’ve been taking my medication and all that like Nurse Redheart wanted.”
“Excellent!” Twilight beamed at me and clapped her hooves together excitedly. “In that case, I have a friend I want you to meet.”
“Okay?” I said with a shrug. Couldn’t be that hard. I’ve met plenty of Twilight’s friends.
“Go to Berry’s Grove on the edge of town. She should be there, she’s there most nights. She likes the dingy atmosphere of the bar. Look for an amber unicorn with a fiery mane. But be careful, she’s a bit jaded and bitter these days.”
“You’re sending me to a bar?” I asked in surprise. The last time I accompanied Twilight to a bar required me and Rainbow to drag the Princess home.
Mhm. Probably the only place you’d be able to find. You and her might have a lot in common after all.”
“Uh huh,” I said with a shrug as my horn started to glow.
“Oh and I want you to walk there.”
I grumbled as the light faded from my horn, trotting to the door.
“Fine.”
I stared up at a bar with the words Berry’s Grove in neon lights with the G not lit up. It was pretty far away from all the other buildings.
A light turquoise pegasus with two lightning bolts for a cutie mark stumbled up to me and before I could greet her, she pressed her lips to mine and my eyes widened.
“Hey there,” she slurred out once she pulled back and I turned bright red. “What’s your name?”
“Uh Starlight?” I offered weakly as I scrunched up my muzzle a bit. She reeked of bad alcohol and partially bad decisions too.
“Wanna come back to my place?” The mare gave me a lopsided grin and I turned even redder as a lilac unicorn with two dolphins on her flank ran up.
“Sassaflash, no kissing random ponies!” The unicorn chided and pulled Sassaflash back with her magic. “I’m so sorry about that. She gets super friendly after she’s drunk.”
“It’s fine,” I mumbled as the mare nodded and dragged her friend away. “I hope that’s the last kiss I get tonight.”
I inhaled and pushed onwards into the bar as I raised an eyebrow. It was half full of primarily mares and few stallions. A mulberry earth pony was leaning on the bar and talking to a golden earth pony with a carrot on her flank.
“You’re insane, you know that Carrot?” The mare at the bar commented with a grin as her fellow earth pony laughed.
“You’re damn right I am! Crazy in a good way!” Carrot laughed and wrapped a hoof around a mug. I rolled my eyes and approached the bar as the two eyed me.
“Hey there,” the mulberry mare tossed me a lazy grin. “Names Berry Punch. What can I get for you?”
“I’m looking for a special somepony,” I said as Berry Punch and Carrot both gave me grins.
“Aren’t we all?” Carrot said and her grin turned mischievous. “What’s your type?”
“Not like that!” I corrected hastily. “Twilight sent me here. I’ll take a water please.”
“Oh please,” Berry Punch scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You don’t come into a bar and order water. I’ll get you something pretty decent. Not too strong but not too light either.”
“Oh you don’t have too,” I said and watched her walk away as Carrot wrapped a hoof around me.
“Relax, Berry is a good bartender. It’s her special talent after all,” Carrot reassured me as a glass slammed down in front of me.
“Try it,” Berry Punch urged with a smirk. “And then I’ll help you find this pony you are looking for.”
I groaned under my breath and levitated the glass to my lips, tentatively taking a sip.
“Wow,” I mumbled and gave the glass a newfound appreciative look. “I like the vanilla and caramel flavors.”
“Good. Now who did the Princess send you to find?” Berry asked curiously as I took another longer sip.
“Didn’t give me a name. Amber unicorn with a fiery mane, comes here most nights.”
“You mean her?” Carrot asked and pointed a hoof. My eyes followed the hoof pointed in a direction of a booth in the back with a single mare sitting with a glass and a few bottles of whiskey.
“Yeah her. Do you know her name?”
“No clue,” Berry Punch admitted as she and Carrot shook their heads. “Never got the chance to ask. She does come in every night and leaves a decent amount of bits when she leaves. Only rarely does she require help.”
I bit back a curse and nodded as Berry Punch took my empty glass.
“On the house,” she told me as I shrugged. “I don’t know much about that mare. Doesn’t talk much unless spoken to, ordering drinks or on karaoke night.”
“Alright thanks you two,” I said and trotted over as Carrots conversation floated over.
“Isn’t that the new mare who lives with Princess Twilight in the castle?” Carrot asked as I paused to finish listening.
“Yeah I think so. She seems pretty friendly so far,” Berry commented as she gave her friend a new mug full of some liquid. I gave a shrug and approached the mare.
“Hi there,” I said and smiled warmly as her cyan eyes flicked over to look at me. “Can I join you?”
“Don’t see why not,” the mare replied and gave me an approving look before her eyes settled on my flank. “Here for business or pleasure?”
“Uh business,” I clarified after a moment.
“Damn. It’s been a few weeks since my last lay and you’re easy on the eyes. You aren’t a screamer are you? I fucked Roseluck one time and I’m pretty sure you could hear her screaming all the way to Canterlot,” the mare mused and swirled her glass as I blushed.
“I have no idea if I am or not,” I muttered and quickly shook my mane. “My names Starlight Glimmer. Twilight sent me to find you.”
“Ah Twilight huh? How is she?” The mare grumbled as she pushed her mane aside.
“Decent. She’s giving me friendship lessons and all that. Said something about us having something in common.”
“Well what did you do?” The mare asked curiously and propped her head up with a hoof. “Do something awful?”
“I uh brainwashed a town into giving up their cutie marks and then got ran out of said town. Then tried to erase Twilight meeting her friends in a drunken fueled revenge quest,” I admitted and tapped my hooves nervously on the table.
“Oh that’s a good one,” the mare chuckled and gave me a snicker. “I stole her crown, ran away with it and turned into a demon, mind controlling a whole high school to take over Equestria. Evidently I failed.”
I waited a moment until she chuckled.
“So friendship lessons huh?” She asked and leaned back. She took a long drink from her glass before setting it down. “I got one for you. Make as many friends as you can, save the world and be respected by all. It’s bullshit.”
“I-what?”
“Piece of advice, friends are overrated. Trust no one, alright? Trust only yourself, your intuition and that’s all. You’ll be better off that way.”
I gave her a stunned look as she refilled her glass. This didn’t entirely sound like what Twilight would say.
“That doesn’t sound like something Twilight would say,” I said and the mare snorted.
“Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. Probably not no but she sees everything through a rose colored lense. She’s a good friend and I love her like a sister but she’s blind. She’s probably my only friend I have. Listen to me, friends will just back stab you and use you to save the world. Hey, thanks for the help saving us from the sirens and then at one sight of a frame job, boom here comes the backstabbing,” the mare sneered and slammed a hoof down on the table. “It’s bullshit, alright?”
“Uh okay?” I said weakly as a mint green unicorn approached warily.
“Come on, it’s closing time. Let’s get you home,” the green mare said.
“Oh fuck off Lyra. Probably here to push me around some more.”
“I’ve literally never pushed you or anypony around,” Lyra said as her ears flattened against her head. “It’s time to go home, Berry is closing up her bar for the night.”
“Ugh fine! But I’m bringing my whiskey with me and I’m going alone!” The mare snapped and shakily stood up with her alcohol in her telekinesis.
Lyra and I made eye contact as the mare grumbled under her breath.
“We should probably follow her,” I suggested as Lyra nodded.
“I was just about to suggest that myself. The last time she tried to go home alone, she ended up fighting a rosebush outside of Derpy’s house.”
I winced at that as we followed her outside, watching the mare stumble down the street. Now I know where Sassaflash had came from.
“Hey, I just remembered you never told me your name!” I called out as the mare paused. She tossed me back a lazy smile and I watched her curiously with Lyra next to me.
“Sunset Shimmer.”