//------------------------------// // 8: Two Ponies Walk Into a Bar [Sad] // Story: Thirty Days, Thirty Twilights // by Esle Ynopemos //------------------------------// ((Prompt: Two ponies go to a bar. One gets extremely drunk.)) Applejack walked into a bar. On her left was Rainbow Dash, already warming up for a competition of shots she was certain she would win, despite Applejack having drunken her under the table the last six times in a row. On her right was Pinkie Pie, debating aloud which sugary drink she should order first. Pinkie planned to drink them all by the end of the night, but the order mattered. Behind Applejack was Rarity, whom the three of them had badgered into coming with. The unicorn was not a stranger to alcohol—in fact, Applejack hoped Rarity wouldn't join in on the shots, because she suspected she would join Dash under the table if they went up against Rarity's deceptively hardy constitution—but it had taken some convincing to get her to enter the low-class dive that was Pinkie, Dash, and Applejack's favorite haunt. Fluttershy was not with them. They had invited her along, but did not push very hard when she declined. It wasn't a surprise that crowds of drunk ponies were not Fluttershy's favorite thing. Twilight, also, had not come along. Busy with things at the library, she had said. That had been a lie, but Applejack hadn't called her out on it. There was something eating at that mare, but Applejack trusted Twilight to speak up when she was ready to talk about it. She didn't let her concerns draw away from the grin on her face as she and her three friends found a table and ordered their first round. “I'll admit, it isn't as filthy on the inside as I had believed,” Rarity remarked, drawing her hoof across the finished wood and inspecting it for dust. Applejack chuckled. “That there's a glowin' recommendation. They oughta get that printed on a plaque.” She waved her hoof through the air. “'Not as filthy as I thought.' - Rarity.” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie cracked up, while Rarity simply rolled her eyes. Their first round of drinks arrived; a strawberry daiquiri for Pinkie, a martini for Rarity, and a couple shots of whiskey for Rainbow and Applejack. Applejack raised her glass. “Cheers.” Glasses clinked together, and the start of a grand night together was upon them. * Twilight Sparkle walked into a bar. She entered alone. None of her friends came with her. She had waited a good ten minutes after they had left her library and chosen a bar on the opposite end of town from them to be sure of that. She wasn't certain why she hadn't gone along with them. Practically speaking, it would have been the best opportunity to tell them about the letter she had received earlier that day, and practicality had always been a trait Twilight sought. Perhaps she just didn't want them to see her cry. Perhaps she didn't want Applejack to see her cry. Twilight Sparkle entered the bar, alone, and sat down. She couldn't remember what she ordered, and when it arrived, she stared at the glass dumbly. It didn't really matter what was in it. What mattered was that when she drank it, a few of the words on that note from Celestia disappeared. She took another, and tomorrow morning's train ticket in her saddlebag was erased from memory. Another drink, and her things were back in the library where they belonged, not hastily thrown into boxes bound for Canterlot. Four more drinks, and she forgot the reason she needed to say goodbye to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Twilight Sparkle held up her glass, squinting at it through bleary, unfocused eyes. This was the drink, she decided. This was the one that was going to make her better. She had been searching all night for this drink. This was the drink that would make those three little words go away. Three pesky little words that she couldn't manage to say, even when Applejack had been right there and it was likely her last chance to say them. “Cheers,” she muttered, and those three words disappeared. * Two ponies went to a bar. It wasn't the same bar. They didn't go at the same time. They didn't go together. Two ponies went to a bar. One had a good time with her friends. And one became terribly, violently drunk.