Rainbow was laying back on the couch in their room, as she had been for the past few hours now. Considering it wasn't a cloud, this firm green piece of furniture was quite comfortable, though it could have been because the two pegasi inhabiting the room had nothing but cotton-candy clouds to sleep on for the past few days. She would never tell anypony, but her wings ached due to the constant usage from the past four days of travel. Of course, Fluttershy's muscles probably hurt much more than her's, but Rainbow had to admit, that yellow mare had more in her than both of them thought.
Looking around the room, she took it all in again. The room was a pale green, with the exception of the blue ceiling, intended to give a sense of a calming outdoor scene. Most of the furniture, including the desk, two chairs, and the bed, were a dark brown, further enhancing the illusion of an outdoor feel. The bed itself was, like that flank at the front desk said, a comfortable queen size, and considering how tranquil the yellow pony on it looked, must have been quite comfortable. The bed inside the couch was, hopefully, just as good, but if not, Rainbow probably wouldn't have cared considering how perfect the couch itself already felt. If it was up to the cyan mare, the pair wouldn't leave the room for the rest of the night.
“Grrrrowlll”
Her stomach had second thoughts.
“Hey Fluttershy, I'm hungry. What do we have to eat?” she called out, not bothering to look at the mare she was calling out to.
“Oh... umm... let me see...” a voice behind Rainbow spoke meekly. For a few minutes, the groans of bed springs squeaking and the sounds of rummaging through saddlebags dominated the stale air. Finally, the voice called out again, “Well... umm... we have the canned peas I brought...”
Her stomach twisted, punishing the cyan pegasus for even thinking for a split second about eating something like that. Rainbow turned over, “That's it!? No way!”
“Sorry Rainbow. We... umm... I guess we ate everything else already. We should probably see if we can buy some things in the morning...”
“Yeah, well,” she started, Rainbow rolling over onto her hooves, planting them onto the rug underhoof, “lets go downstairs to that whole dance hall thing, and see what they have to eat there.”
Fluttershy's eyes grew wider, “You mean in the bar!? Rainbow, are you crazy! Its so loud in there, and if one of us gets caught... I mean...”
Rainbow dismissed the skittish warnings with a wave of her hoof, “Oh don't be a scaredy pony Fluttershy! Its a 'dance hall', not a bar! And we aren't going to get into any crazy brawls or anything. We're just going to get something to eat. Alright?”
“I don't know...”
Rainbow walked closer to her companion, “Don't worry! I'll be right there next to you the entire time. Nobody would dare mess with THE Rainbow Dash!”
Fluttershy looked down at her hooves, her voice now even more quiet than before, “But... nobody knows who 'The Rainbow Dash' is here...”
Once again, the cyan pegasus caught herself waving her hoof in the air dismissively, “I don't deal with the minor details like that. That's Twilight's thing.”
“But... knowing who you are is the whole poi-”
“Minor details!” Rainbow said, her voice raising in pitch slightly. Closing her eyes to calm herself, she let them open to view the deep blue pools that were Fluttershy's eyes, “Anyways, I'm going down. If you don't wanna come, that's fine, I guess. Want me to pick up anything for you to eat when I'm down there?”
Rainbow watched Fluttershy as she shifted on her hooves nervously, hiding her face in her mane, trying to decide what to do. “Umm... I don't... I mean... I...”
Before her mind realized what she was doing, Rainbow found herself with both of her forehooves on the jittery mare's shoulders. In response, her friend looked through her mane, only one eye visible through her full pink hair. Giving the best smile she could, Rainbow tried to comfort her counterpart, “Hey, its fine. No sweat, ok? I'll only be a little bit. I'm just going down to get something to eat, and I'll be right back up. I have a key, so make sure to lock up.”
A small smile returning to the buttery pegasus' face, she softly nodded in response. Satisfied, Rainbow gave her a final pat on the shoulders, turned around, and after throwing her cloak around her body, started to make her way towards the door. As she opened it, she yelled a final time in a mock deep voice, “And remember, no talking to strangers young lady!”
Fluttershy responded with her own mocking voice, this one sounding like a filly, “Yes mommy.”
With small chuckle, Rainbow closed the door to their room, and began her slow walk to the stairs. Carefully, she walked down the narrow stairs, until she once again found herself in the modestly kept entryway, where the once 'so laughable you could kick him again and again and again' Quill was slumped over the front desk. Completely unmoving except for his slow breathing, he lay on the desk with an empty bottle of a very sinful drink laying on its side, a light drool spilling from his mouth. Pausing for a second, she watched as he muttered to himself about something unintelligible, only catching the words “candy” and “oregano,” but the subject otherwise unknown, though the cyan mare was completely uncaring. Continuing to walk, she made her way towards the sounds of the crowded dance hall.
The room was very large, the décor sparse, and the wood panel walls giving the hall a rustic feel. The lighting, as expected, was poor at best, with Rainbow needing to stand at the doorway for a few seconds to let her eyes adjust to the sudden dimness of the room. Music came from some unknown source, a peppy song playing as a dozen ponies danced in the center of the room with varying degrees of skill, most of those ponies lacking any degree of competence. Surrounding the forty hoof square dance floor, a ring of tables filled the room, nearly every single one seating ponies in various levels of inebriation. All around Rainbow, half drunken stallions, and a few mares, sat in their spots, talking the night away with their drinks.
Fluttershy was right, this WAS a bar.
Awesome.
Pushing through the large crowd of many stallions and mares, Rainbow eventually was able to make her way up to the bar. Finding an empty stool, she paused for a second, attempting to instinctively fly upon it. Realizing her wings were still bound, she sighed, and instead carefully pulled herself up upon the high stool. Adjusting the cloak that hung around her shoulders to make sure that her wings were not peeking through the protective garment, she looked at the line of ponies at the bar around her. Only half of the stools were filled, while half of those that were filled only contained ponies in the same mental state as Quill in the entryway: passed out from drunkenness. Looking back forward, she and the barkeep locked eyes for a moment.
The stallion looked very similar to a male Zecora. His mane and coat were striped a very light and darker gray, though the stripes on his coat were mainly restricted to his face, back, and legs. His mane was cut much shorter than any typical pony would cut it; the hair buzzed to a length only a few inches long on all sides. His imposing dark blue eyes pierced the gap between the two as they studied her for any tells she might be allowing through her face. However, the most surprising thing that Rainbow found was that for the first time since she and her friends had arrived in this future, she had found a pony with a cutie mark. His mark was also nearly identical to that of Zecora's; a dark gray spiral starting from the center of each of the sides of his flanks, slowly moving outward until it ended with a point. Surrounding this spiral, ten outwardly pointed triangles stood proudly, giving the entire mark the final detail to make certain that it symbolized the radiant sun.
Rainbow smirked, then cleared her throat, “My mighty fine stallion indeed, would you prefer to know what I need?”
The stallion raised an eyebrow, but nodded a reply.
“If you would get me some good and tasty food, it would be quite satisfactory... uhh... dude...”
Narrowing his eyes slightly, he slowly spoke in a low voice, “Sure.”
“Ah yes, thank you most wonderful striped zebra. I will let you know if I further need ya!” Rainbow smirked at her latest rhyme.
“Please stop that, and what specifically do you want?”
“I would... wait... huh?” Rainbow stopped, blinking at the bartender, “but... I thought you zebras rhymed when speaking and everything.”
“Only the ones with mental problems or are the closest followers of the God of Chaos speak so crazy like that, though I guess those two groups are the same thing. Now instead of speaking like a mad pony, could you finally tell me what you are going to be having? Just saying 'food' means I'm going to give you the most expensive thing on the menu.”
“Oh... sorry... uhh...” Rainbow quickly looked around, not noticing any menus to speak of, “do you have any sandwiches? Daffodil if you have them. And just a glass of water for a drink.”
“One fresh daffodil sandwich for the crazy mare.” He turned around to start his way towards the kitchen, but just before he disappeared into the back, he turned back towards Rainbow with a smirk, “And work on your rhymes. Some are worse for wear.”
As the zebra disappeared from sight, Rainbow allowed a smile overtake her face at his comment. Letting her mind wander, she tried to imagine how her other two groups of friends were doing. Twilight and Rarity, while definitely girly girls, were not to be trifled with, and were probably breezing through everything that was being thrown at them. The only thing slowing them down was the distance they had to travel on hoof and their physique; neither which Rainbow really thought would delay them too much. On the other hand, Applejack and Pinkie were probably breezing through as well, Applejack having an unstoppable endurance and Pinkie with impossibly large energy reserves. Of course, with those two, a likely outcome was that either Applejack was going to kill Pinkie, or Applejack was going to kill herself because of the constant talking Pinkie spilled from her mouth.
In any of these cases, Rainbow was starting to regret making that bet with them.
Much sooner than she expected, only about ten minutes, the zebra came back, and plopped a plate filled with a diagonally cut sandwich. Rainbow was slightly surprised that also sitting on the plate was a heaping pile of fresh hay fries. Looking back up at the zebra, she must have been wearing a very perplexed face, because he merely shrugged, “Hey, you're cute, and you made me laugh, so the fries are on the house. The sandwich is still ten cords though.”
Realizing that she left her money in her room, the cyan mare stammered, “Uhh... I kinda left my purse in my room... is there any way I can run up and grab it real quick?”
Shrugging, the zebra sighed, “Eh, don't worry about it. Happens more often than you'd think. I'll just put it on your hotel bill.”
Smiling, Rainbow decided to risk the most pressing quesiton, “So, what's your mark mean?” she asked, pointing a hoof towards his cutie mark.
Looking at the sun shape on his flank, he asked, “What? My tribal tattoo? It just signifies what tribe I am a part of in the homeland. My tribe is the Sun Watchers, one of the largest, and while I live outside the tribal boundries, I'm still loyal to my tribe first.”
Somewhat disappointed at his reply, she tried to smile, “I see... interesting...”
Turning back towards Rainbow, he smiled, “Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm getting called over by some crazy drunkard over there.”
With a mutual nod with each other, the zebra hurried over to the other side of the bar where a patron was summoning him with slurred speech, demanding more drink. Looking down at her plate, she picked up the sandwich with full anticipation on its low quality, and took a bite. Surprisingly, while not nearly as good as something Applejack or Fluttershy would whip together, the sandwich was actually pretty good. Testing the fries, she found that they were favorable as well. In fact, she would've been completely engrossed in her food if her ears hadn't picked up a sound from behind her.
“Umm... excuse me... pardon me... oh, I'm terribly... eep!”
Turning around, Rainbow smiled as she saw a very familiar bright yellow cloaked mare trying, and failing, to make her way through the crowds of ponies. She smiled at how silly Fluttershy looked as the timid mare attempted to apologize to every single pony that she even got near, and to some she even apologized two or three times. Every time she was ignored, and her fruitless quest to get closer to her cyan companion was hopelessly hindered by the wall of ponies. It didn't help that Fluttershy was trying to be extra careful with her cloak, making sure her entire body, including most of her head, was covered like it was a security blanket. Rainbow started to wave a hoof in the air, somehow getting her attention, and after several long minutes, Fluttershy finally sat herself next to Rainbow.
“Hey Fluttershy,” Rainbow smiled as she munched on a hay fry, “Why'd you come down so quickly? No no no, let me guess; your stomach couldn't wait for your food either, huh.”
“Oh... umm... yeah... I got hungry. That's why I came down,” the timid pony said, lowering her head slightly. Fluttershy's mane now covered the majority of her face, but even with the covering and the dim light of the watering hole, the cyan mare could still make out that her friend's face turned a slight shade of red as she spoke.
Rainbow decided to ignore it, “Well, you can have half of my sandwich if you want.”
“Oh don't worry Rainbow. I can get my own.”
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow held out the half of the sandwich she hadn't started on yet, “With all of these hay fries? I won't be able to finish anyways. Come on, its really good!”
The yellow pegasus looked at the sandwich for a few seconds before she turned her gaze back towards Rainbow. As Fluttershy let a small grin grow on her face, Rainbow couldn't resist smiling even wider in response to her timid friend's happiness. Taking the sandwich in her hooves, Fluttershy took a small bite out of it, chewing slowly, apparently savoring the flavor of the sandwich. A slightly larger smile grew on the mare's face as the satisfaction of the tastes the generous sandwich so willingly provided filled her mouth with pleasure.
An idea flashed through Rainbow's head, and before she could think it through, she raised a forehoof in the air as high as she could, “Hey barkeep! Two drinks for us! Hard and fruity!”
From the other side of the bar, the mare could hear the zebra call back, “Two drink, strong and girly, coming right up!”
Smiling, she turned her gaze back towards Fluttershy, and nearly died in laughter at the sight that the yellow pegasus was giving her. In complete shock, Fluttershy's eyes, when one wasn't twitching, were wider than any other pair Rainbow had ever seen in her entire life, including Pinkie Pie's at her finest. The poor, defenseless, and partially eaten half a sandwich that was previously held by the mare now lay unceremoniously on the counter, destined to never be eaten. Fluttershy's mouth worked uselessly at first, as she tried to think of a good response to give to Rainbow.
Rainbow ate another hay fry.
Several seconds later, Fluttershy found her voice, “Rainbow! What are you doing!?”
Smiling, the rainbow maned pony replied, “Just ordering us some drinks to liven things up a little.”
“But... I...”
“Its just one drink 'Shy! Don't tell me that... you...” Rainbow stopped, and blinked for a second, then narrowed her eyes, “... have you ever drank before?”
“Umm... does sipping my dad's wine one time cou-”
“No that doesn't count!” Rainbow nearly yelled as she slammed another hay fry into her mouth. Rainbow spoke again, more thinking out loud than anything else, “We are SO not prepared for a proper 'first time drinking' experience here, but it'll have to do.”
“Rainbow...”
Rainbow turned towards Fluttershy suddenly as she raised her voice, placing a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, “Alright, Fluttershy! Are you ready to stop being a filly, and become a true mare?”
Fluttershy's face instantly flushed a deep red, “Wha... what!?”
Rainbow rubbed the arch of her muzzle, “Ok, that came out wrong. Very... very... very wrong. No, I did not mean... ugh! What I mean is are you ready to go on your first real drinking binge?”
“I don't know...”
Two small glasses were set in front of the mares, Rainbow smiling at the perfect timing, “Well too bad, because tonight, we are seeing what kind of stuff you are made of!”
Rainbow grabbed her glass with her hooves, and eyed the mare on the stool next to her. Rainbow watched as Fluttershy slowly reached out with her hooves, and took her drink in her grasp gently. Pausing, Fluttershy looked at the liquid inside, swirling it slightly as she watched the sinful essence coat the inside of the glass as if she was inspecting the contents. Rainbow patently watched the whole scene unfold in front of her, fully aware of the fact that the skittish pony in front of her was willing to drink her first drink in a situation like this was an amazing feat in itself. Nearly fifteen seconds after Fluttershy picked up her glass, she looked back into Rainbow's eyes, trying to figure out if there was any way out of this. Giving up, she sighed, and downed a small sip of the liquid.
Engrossed in the sight, Rainbow forgot about her own drink for a few minutes as she watched the scene before her. As expected the yellow pony grimaced at the drink, the burning sensation traveling down her throat until it hit her nearly empty stomach. Rainbow took a small sip of her own drink, and was stunned to find herself, a pony who claimed could drink anything straight, grimacing at the strength of the concoction, the burning in her throat making her giddy with excitement. The two ponies smiled at each other, giggling at the experience. Surprising her again, Fluttershy took another small sip, and in just a few more minutes the two mares finished their drinks.
And their second.
And their third.
And their seventh.
Thirty minutes, and twelve drinks, later, Rainbow found herself holding onto the bar counter as the damn zebra refused to stop spinning the room. Beside her, Fluttershy was doing no better, unless you were counting drinks downed, in which case the two were tied. Instead of just sitting there, Fluttershy was constantly giggling, her face red with an emotion that Rainbow couldn't place, and didn't care enough to try. Of course, it wouldn't have been so bad if Moore Drink-fur-us, as Rainbow had started to call him, hadn't cut them off. He said it was because of something like them drinking grizzly bears under the table, but Rainbow thought that was crazy; she only knew one bear, and he was too busy collecting volleyballs to drink more than once a month.
“Hey Rainbow, would you like to dance?”
Suddenly remembering her friend, Rainbow turned her head, and looked into the blue oceans that were Fluttershy's eyes. There was a sparkle in them that Rainbow had never seen before, a sparkle that gave them the most vibrant of life, enticing the pegasus to gaze into their beauty.
“Sure 'Shy.”
Giggling excitedly like a little filly, Fluttershy hopped off of her stool, somehow not falling over, and proceeded to pull Rainbow along with her, who also somehow didn't fall over. In a strange turn of events, the brash pegasus was being pulled into action by the timid mare, until the pair found themselves in the center of the modest dance floor. The dance floor was nearly empty by now, many of the ponies previously occupying it either leaving for their homes or busying themselves with their drinks, leaving the two pegasi with a large expanse to carry out their intimate dance.
A soft song played as Fluttershy turned towards Rainbow, and smiled. Rainbow was all too happy to return the gesture, and before she could say anything else, found Fluttershy pulling her close, until their heads were resting against each others neck, nuzzling each other. Fluttershy took the lead, and started to dance with a simple movement, settling into merely swaying side to side as they circled each other. Rainbow quickly found herself closing her eyes in the warmth and bliss of the moment, never wanting something this wonderful to stop for anything.
For the first time that night, Rainbow was glad her wings were bound to her body.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Applejack sat restlessly at the dinner table, which was just slightly too large, with the three seated only filling a fourth of its capacity. The chair provided to her never quite getting comfortable enough for the mare to finally get settled and relax. The chair was slightly too high, leaving the poor mare to hunch over a tad too much to have the proper back support when sipping on her soup in front of her. The cushion on the chair itself was just slightly too soft, resulting in Applejack sinking a little too much into the seat, the feeling of envelopment coming to mind. One of the legs was just slightly too short, giving the chair a very annoying wobble whenever Applejack shifted her weight. The worst was the back, which had a cross piece just slightly too low, giving the mare a pain whenever she leaned back after a back-aching sip of her drink. No, this chair was not doing it for the earth pony.
Of course, Applejack wasn't focused of any of these things.
Her mind was too busy watching the scene unfolding before her eyes. Lord Xavier, the grotesque abomination of nature, as Twilight would call him, sat at the head of the table, his chair raised just a little bit higher than everypony else, giving him a sense of power that Applejack saw through easily. His coat of feathers was slightly made up, giving the glancing appearance of having a full coat of feathers, though upon even the most basic of inspections showed he merely dyed his naked skin. He was silent for now, allowing himself a moment to take a drink of the wine before him; his somewhat broken beak forcing much of what he attempted to pour down his throat to merely dribble down his chest. As if by some mockery, his silvery mane actually looked quite good, and was the only redeeming factor of his appearance that Applejack could find.
The food itself was alright. The appetizer before was some kind of salad-like dish, but was made up of a lot of fruits and vegetables that Applejack had never seen nor heard of before, and none of them tasted nearly as well as the fruits that Sarlaka provided only a week ago. She tried it once, and after that one taste, decided that the best course of action would be to pick at the offending dish until it was promptly taken away by one of Lord Xavier's servants. The main dish that she was currently eating was something much more approachable: A carrot, potato, and onion soup. It was alright; the carrots were slightly overdone, the onions seemed a day or two too old, but the broth was perfectly done, and she couldn't ask for better potatoes. Accompanying every single dish so far, wine was given in massive amounts, Lord Xavier was on his ninth glass already. Applejack was pacing herself quite a bit, and was only just starting on her second glass.
The dozen guards lining the walls all around them, watching their every move was unnerving too.
To Pinkie's credit, she had done much better at pulling off the 'noble pony' persona than Applejack could have ever imagined the party pony could. Every single dish had been eaten by the pony without a single complaint about the lack of sugar. Even the weird appetizer dish that was an affront to all things delicious, she ate and appeared to enjoy. The wine was something that Applejack couldn't even begin to understand, for Pinkie was drinking just as much as Xavier was, and she looked like she hadn't ingested a single drop of the drink, meanwhile Xavier looked a little less for wear. While the orange mare was a little peeved at Pinkie at first over all of this, especially in the bedroom an hour ago, she had to admit, the impersonation of a kind yet forceful noble mare had saved them many times so far.
As the bowls for the soup were taken away, and a fresh glass of wine for Pinkie and Xavier were provided, Xavier spoke for the first time since greeting them to dinner, “Well, I have to say my little pony friend, for the rate you drink, and how well you are able to retain your motor skills, you are quite an interesting specimen! What I would give to... study you.”
Pinkie gave a small giggle, “Oh Lord Xavier, you are too much! I admit that I have actually been studied before, and it was quite an interesting experience.”
“Oh? Sounds very... intimate.” Xavier took another large sip of his glass, polishing it off, and licked his beak-like muzzle to gather up whatever spilled wine he could. “So Miss Pie, you absolutely must tell me about what sort of adventure a beautiful mare like yourself is on. What has that insane dragon lord sent you to do? Hmm?”
Pinkie shook her head slowly, “Oh how I wish I could divulge that to you, but alas, I was explicitly told not to tell anypony about it.”
Xavier smiled, “Ah, but you can tell me, for I am not a pony.”
Pinkie uncharacteristically, at least for her persona, raised an eyebrow, “Umm... but you have hooves, a mane, a-”
Xavier slammed his front hooves on the table, knocking over his empty glass of wine, and shot a glare at Pinkie, “I will say one more time, and one more time only, I am not a pony. Got it?”
Applejack saw Pinkie nodding furiously, the shock of the outburst silencing her. For the next few seconds, the entire table was silent, the tension so thick, even a knife would have issues cutting through it. Fortunately, it was then that the servants brought out dessert, and more wine. The dessert was a simple chocolate cake with a white frosting, while the wine was a very dark port, perfectly chosen to go with the rich flavors of the pastry. Xavier immediately took the glass of wine, and downed the entire thing in one gulp. Slamming the glass on the table, he found it instantly refilled, and downed half of that glass as well. Finally, after the servants topped off his glass again, along with giving Pinkie and Applejack their change in wine, they dug into the cake, and Applejack let the mixture of tastes coat her tongue.
She nearly chuckled; of course the taste was slightly off. It wouldn't have gone with the rest of the meal if it didn't.
Ten minutes, and several glasses of port for Xavier, later, and he once again spoke, albeit with a slurred speech, “Soooo Missss Pie. Has anyone told you how simply rrravashing you look!”
Pinkie giggled, though Applejack could tell there was a hint of shock in the way it was forced, “Oh Lord Xavier, you flatter me too much! I am not that good looking.”
“Ooooh! But you arrrrrrre! Misssss... uhhh... Jackle! Isn't she the hottest pony this side of... uhhh... here?”
Applejack, caught off guard for being drawn into the conversation, looked at Xavier, then Pinkie in confusion, “Uhh... Ah think tha-”
“She's jusssst simply...” He ran his tongue across his beak, “... rrrrravishing!”
“Well, then lets propose a toast!” Pinkie interjected, raising her glass, “To beauty... for beauty's sake!”
Lord Xavier shakily raised his glass, Applejack joining them silently in the gesture, and the three took a sip from their glasses of drink. For Xavier, this must have been at least his fifteenth glass of wine tonight that he downed, though Applejack suspected that the number was closer to twenty. Applejack took a light sip from the glass, making sure that her wits were sharp, refraining from drinking more than she was absolutely required do, this being only her third drink, and the second was barely touched. As for Pinkie, Applejack was even more surprised now than she was a several minutes ago, for this small pink pony had been drinking this griffin-pony thing under the table, and was no worse for wear.
As she looked at the pink mare take her sip, Applejack's eyes grew wide for a split second as realization hit her. As Pinkie took a sip of her drink, she didn't actually let any pass her lips at all! However, when it looked as though all eyes were on Xavier, she quickly dumped the drink onto the floor under the table, staining the poor rug underneath. Applejack just looked as Pinkie quickly put the glass back to her lips, then slammed her glass down, as though she had drank the entire glass' contents. Finally, the pink mare met eyes with her orange counterpart, and gave Applejack a wink.
With one final bite, Xavier polished off the dessert in front of him, being the last to finish the piece of chocolate cake. Smiling as much as he could, he let his glazed over eyes fall back upon Pinkie. “Soooo... Pie... how did you... like our little date?”
For the second time tonight, Pinkie's giggle had a hint of wariness in it, “This dinner was quite nice, and while I admit I wish we were not forced to stay against our wishes like so, I think the food more than makes up for it.”
“Oh... you didn't wanna stay with the great Lord Xavier the Conqueror?”
“Well... our mission is very important, but like I said, I am glad that we did have the wonderful-”
“Well... thennnnn I must apologize in the... umm... best way that I know how!” Xavier shouted, standing up from the table, he nearly fell over on his face as he started to walk around the table, towards Pinkie. Suddenly, his face contorted slightly, “Lady Pie, pleasssse allow me the pleasure of letting you join me tonight in my bedroom.”
Pinkie's eyes shot open, and any acting that she had been doing of being drunk was gone, “Excuse me? You want me to... to...”
“I would like to show you the reason they still call an aged griffin like myself “The Conqueror.” he said as he wrapped a forehoof around Pinkie's midsection. Even from here, Applejack could see the fearful shivers that traveled down the mare's spine.
Even with the forwardness of Xavier, Pinkie's voice retained its noble persona, “I must respectfully decline your request to partake in... such activities.”
Xavier nearly pulled Pinkie off of her chair as he pulled her face next to his, her eyes shooting wide in shock. The lord merely smiled, and spoke as though he was whispering to only Pinkie, though his voice much louder in his drunken state, “You know, I've heard that line many times before, and it hasn't stopped me yet.”
Having enough, Applejack jumped up on the table, and readied herself for a charge, “Hey! Ya better get ya hooves offa her, or else Ah'll-”
That was all Applejack was able to say before she felt a hoof slam itself against her side, knocking the wind out of her. She let out a yelp as the hit sent her off tumbling off the dining table and onto the rug below, her hat tumbling off of her head. It wasn't more than two seconds after she slammed onto the floor that she had five guards standing over her, their collapsible spears extended and pointed at her neck and side, readying themselves in case Applejack resisted. From here, Applejack could only see Xavier's legs and Pinkie's bushy tail. The orange mare's breathing picked up as adrenaline flowed through her body, urging her to fight the hopeless and suicidal battle before her.
And she was about to do it too, until she heard the unnaturally stoic voice of a mare nearby, “I see... well Lord Xavier, I suppose that a sta... griffin as experienced as yourself must know a few things. And considering the situation we are in, I see now that it would be most... unwise to reject such a generous offer.”
“I thought youuuu'd seeeee it my way,” Xavier replied.
Applejack saw Pinkie's hooves plant themselves onto the ground, and watch the eight legs of the pair of ponies start to walk towards the door that was behind the chair where Xavier was sitting earlier. Applejack struggled for a second, but a hoof sharply connected with her side, again knocking the wind out of her. Gasping for breath, she could only watch as the pair made their way towards the open doorway, away from Applejack's protection. She was supposed to be protecting Pinkie, and here she was, lying on the ground, failing her. The heat of angry and hopeless tears started to burn the sides of Applejack's eyes as Pinkie was forced into the doorway, the door being far enough away so Applejack could see the entirety of Pinkie's body from under the table. However, before her pink friend could be lost from sight in the dark and terrifying hallways, she turned, and gave Applejack a look that chilled her to the bone.
Applejack had seen Pinkie show many faces in her life; ones of happiness, sorrow, anger, and even depression, but this was a look that she had never seen before coming from her. The look spoke many words, and displayed to the orange mare every thought that her normally bubbly and giggling friend had on her mind.
Fear.