A Friend to the Night

by Silverintuition

Nopony is Perfect

Moon Struck parted ways with Princess Luna and tried to first find Rainbow Dash in hopes of fixing the misunderstanding herself. She didn't want to have to get someone else to take care of all the problems she caused every single time. So as she weaved her way through the other guests, she searched everywhere to find Rainbow. While trying to get past two unicorns chatting about the newest Manehattan fashions, she managed to trip and fall into a pale blue pegasus eating an apple pie. Or at least, he was until Moon Struck tripped into him and knocked it out of his hooves.

"My pie!" Soarin shouted, looking somberly at his half eaten pie on the floor.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you drop your pie! I can go buy you a new one, and I'll get this mess cleaned up, and I am so, so sorry!" Moon Struck quickly apologized, feeling so embarrassed that she couldn't even manage to go across one simple ballroom floor without causing somepony a problem. "Or I can buy you two if you would prefer, as soon as I can find where they are at at least." She continued, rambling on.

"Hey, it's okay. Accidents happen, right? Tell you what, you I'll show you where to get them, and we can split a pie since I had already eaten half of this one, okay?" Soarin smiled.

"Are you sure, I mean, you don't even know me." Moon Struck looked down at her hooves.

"Just because we don't know each other doesn't mean we can't help each other out, right?" Soarin said. "By the way, my name's Soarin, nice to meet you." He finished, holding his hoof out to Moon Struck.

"Oh uhm, I'm Moon Struck. Before the pie, do you know where I can get something to clean this mess up with?" Moon Struck replied.

"No worries, not the first time I've dropped something at one of these events, heh." Soarin chuckled before giving a sharp whistle, much to the discontent of the surrounding ponies. Suddenly, a unicorn guard appeared and sighed when he saw the mess. He cleaned up the spilled pie with his magic, gave a slight nod to Soarin, then walked off. "See, easy as pie," Soarin winked at the all too terrible joke.

Giggling as well, Moon Struck then said, "alright then, smart guy, lead on to the bringer of baked goods so we can replace your long lost pie."

Soarin led Moon Struck to an area with long tables set up full of different foods. Small finger foods and things that looked as if they would make her hungrier if she ate them, rather than filling her stomach. But at the very end was a stand filled with different apple treats. And a certain somepony stood behind the stand that she recognized, taking money from some other guests, who then walked off with a couple apple fritters.

"Why hello there Soarin, already back for another pie?" Apple Jack greeted Soarin as he stepped up to her apple stand.

"Sort of, you see, I had a little accident with the first one," Soarin said, shrugging his wings. Moon Struck stepped up next to him as he finished talking.

"Sugarbait, I'll get ya a treat, on me of course, in a sec, let me just wrangle up another pie for Soarin here, and..." Apple Jack started, smiling at Moon Struck.

"Actually, I'm here to pay for Soarin's pie. I sort of... knocked it out of his hoof as he was eating it, so I wanted to get him a new one to replace the first." Moon Struck said, cutting Apple Jack off.

"Oh, then don't worry about the price, Soarin. Here," Apple Jack replied, giving a new pie over to Soarin. "It's on the house, after all, we all make mistake," She rolled her eyes with a grin. "I know I've made a good few myself after all."

"It is very kind of you to give him the pie for free, but I really would prefer you let me pay for it, it was my mistake so it is my responsibility to correct it." Moon Struck stated, pushing a couple bits towards Apple Jack.

"Sugarbait, I understand that ya want to make amends on yer own with Soarin here, but as a friend I simply refuse to take yer money," Apple Jack replied, pushing the same couple of bits back towards Moon Struck.

"As a friend, then, you should allow me to pay my dues as I wish. You must have worked so hard to make all these delicious treats, I couldn't accept any of them without repaying you in kind. So the least you could let me do is to pay for the pie." Moon Struck said, slight annoyance in her voice.

"I could just pay for the pie myself..." Soarin started to say before getting cut off by Apple Jack.

"The least ya could do is accept the generous offer of a friend. The pie is on me, and that's final!" Apple Jack shouted at Moon Struck who had tried to push the bits back again. Soarin just looked back and forth from the two arguing ponies, still holding the pie in hoof.

"Uhh, I'm just gonna... uh go now, thanks for the pie," Soarin quickly said, rushing off back into the crowd with his new pie.

"Oh great, thanks to you being stubborn as a mule, Soarin probably thinks of me as some crazy pony. I was just trying to apologize to him and you messed it all up. I wonder if I can find him later and apologize again," Moon Struck lashed out in annoyance. As soon as she did, she regretted it though. Embarrassed again at her own foolishness, Moon Struck glanced at Apple Jack's hurt face. She knew she had messed up badly this time, and afraid of what Apple Jack might say to her, she took off running into the crowd of ponies gathered in the hall. Once she got far from where Apple Jack was, she found a dark corner to sit in and hang her head. Covering her eyes with her wings so nopony could see her crying, she sighed in anger at herself. "Oh Moonbait, you fool of a pony, how could you say that to Apple Jack like that? Stupid, foolish pony..." Moon Struck whispered to herself.

"Moon Struck? Are you alright?" Somepony asked Moon Struck, stepping up next to her, then sitting down. Moon Struck removed her wings from her eyes, trying to careful wipe away her tears without being seen. "Have you been crying?" The pony asked. When Moon Struck looked up, she saw Rainbow Dash sitting next to her, concern and worry covering her face.

"R-Rainbow? Y-you're not m-mad at me?" Moon Struck stuttered, hiccuping from trying not to cry.

"Mad? Why would I be mad at you? Oh wait, you mean about that coolness thing from earlier?" Rainbow replied, thinking back to when she had flown off to go hang out with the Wonderbolts earlier during the Gala. "Well yeah, I was a little upset that you thought Discord was cooler than me, but you're kind of weird like that. I mean, I know I am a super awesome pony, even if you don't include my being part of the Wonderbolts, but that you liked Discord more kind of hurt my feelings," Rainbow finished looking away from Moon Struck and out into the Gala crowd.

"I don't like Discord more! I like all of you in equal parts! You all have your own uniqueness, none of you can be compared to the others beside the fact that you are all amazing in your own way. I just... I'm just really bad at saying what I mean, and worse about saying things I don't mean." Moon Struck sighed, her eyes tearing up again.

"I figured that out after I had flown off unfortunately. It would be like if somepony asked me who of my friends is my favorite, the only right answer is that you all are my favorite and making me choose would just be dumb. When I went to find you again to apologize for getting angry, you were outside talking with Princess Luna. You looked like you were having a lot of fun, so I didn't want to interrupt. After all, I know how much you were looking forward to meeting her. So I just went back to hanging out with Spitfire and Soarin. Then somepony asked for an autograph and a picture, and I just couldn't say no, so I stepped away from Soarin to do that, then when I came back I saw him leading you away. I followed a little ways behind to see what was going on, when I saw him lead you to Apple Jack's stand. And I kind of saw you two arguing over the cost too." Rainbow said.

"Did... did you hear what I said after Soarin rushed off?" Moon Struck cringed.

"Yeah, I did," Rainbow said, looking at Moon Struck with concern again. "That was kind of a dumb thing to say, she was just trying to be nice after all."

"I know, I just... If she gave the pie for free, then it would be the same as her compensating Soarin instead of me. I would still feel guilty over it because it wasn't me who repaid him. But she was just being so stubborn about taking my bits that I got mad and annoyed at her, and I snapped without even thinking about what stupid words were falling out of my mouth until after they already fell out. Once I realized how hurtful the things I said were, it was already too late. I ran off before she could tell me she didn't want to be my friend anymore. I'm no good at this friendship thing, I just keep messing everything up. I hurt Rarity's feelings over the dresses earlier, I hurt your feelings, and now I've hurt Apple Jack's feelings too. It's just one dumb mistake after another. All I want now is just to escape from the Gala and not have to make anypony else suffer." Moon Struck whimpered.

"Hey, everypony makes mistakes. Don't tell anypony else this but, even I make mistakes. I know, it sounds ridiculous that someone as great and awesome as I am could make a mistake, but I have made lots of them." Rainbow said rolling her eyes." Back when I first became a Wonderbolt, when I was no longer a reserve, I forgot rule number one, to look both ways when crossing the runway. Well, let's just say I nearly got run over, but in my super awesome speed I got out of the way in time... to crash into a trash can. I got the nickname Rainbow Crash, and because I didn't bring up how it hurt at first, I ended up making bigger mistakes more often. In my first show, I changed the routine to try to stand out, but instead I crashed in front of everypony and made myself look completely ridiculous. Then I came clean with the rest of the Wonderbolts about how the nickname made me feel, and they all let me know the nicknames they all ended up getting as newbies. I realized that being called Crash really wasn't that bad a name by comparison. I still make mistakes, like tonight when I got upset at you and turned your words around. So I think if you just apologize to Apple Jack and talk it over with her, she will understand. Keeping it to yourself will just hurt you and her more." Rainbow finished, wrapping her wing around Moon Struck's shoulders.

"Maybe you're right," Moon Struck whispered.

"Of course I'm right, so just go talk to her," Rainbow said giving Moon Struck a little shove with her wing.

With a deep, slow breath, Moon Struck stood and looked one last time at Rainbow, "thanks, Rainbow. And, I am sorry for earlier. I should have tried to explain better, or I should have followed you at least."

"No sweat, now go on," Rainbow smiled before flying off to find the Wonderbolts again. Moon Struck watched her go, afraid to face Apple Jack after what she said. She knew she had to take Rainbow's advice, and to just apologize and explain, but her fears were stronger than her legs and she couldn't bring herself to take even a step towards where Apple Jack was. Sighing, she sat down again, tail wrapped around her and wings over her face once more.

"Come on, Moonbait, stop being such a silly filly and just go over to her. Rainbow's right, you just need to apologize, it will work out, right?" She told herself, biting her lip, worried if Rainbow really was right, and whether or not Apple Jack really would forgive her. She stood again, pulling her wings tight against her sides, and slowly made her way back over to where Apple Jack was still standing behind her apple cart.

Only this time, Apple Jack was not alone behind the cart. A small yellow coated filly with a bright apple red mane was standing next to her, wearing a light pink dress with pastel purple and green embroidery. She had a big pink pow pulling back part of her mane, and a big grin plastered to her face. "Hi there, would ya like a candied apple? Or maybe some apple corn? The apple fritters are especially delicious, why don't ya give one a try?" She was saying to anypony within earshot. Then she spied Moon Struck looking over at them, thinking she was looking at the goods and not the ponies running the stand. "Are ya looking for a yummy apple treat? We have lots of different kinds." She said to Moon Struck directly.

"Oh uhm, no, I'm not here for a treat. I just came to talk to Apple Jack." Moon Struck replied to the little filly.

"What do ya want now, still gonna try to get me to take yer bits?" Apple Jack snorted at her. "Did ya think somepony as stubborn as me would give in that easy? Well I have news for ya, I ain't gonna take yer bits, not now, not ever. So just go on and get out of here and get back to the rest of the Gala." She finished, turning away from Moon Struck.

"I just... I just came to apologize; but I can see I'm not wanted, so I'll... I'll just go away now." Crying, Moon Struck turned away. With one last glance back at Apple Jack she whispered, "I'm sorry, Apple Jack," before bolting back off into the Gala.

"Apple Jack! How could ya say that to her? Look at how much ya hurt her feelings! This ain't like you at all," Apple Bloom sternly told her big sister. "Ya better go apologize to her right now," she finished, pushing Apple Jack out from behind the stand.

"I suppose yer right, I should go find her; hope she's not too mad at me," Apple Jack sighed. "Ya okay to watch the stand while I'm gone, lil sis?" She asked Apple Bloom.

"Course I am, now hurry up," Apple Bloom replied before going back to asking different guests if they would like one of the apple treats.

Apple Jack gave a fleeting smile to her little sister before walking off into the crowd of guests.

Moon Struck rushed through the room, not caring who she bumped into, just so long as she could get out. She finally managed to rush back out into the garden and escape the prying eyes of the other ponies as she cried. Turning, she gave one last glance into the brightly lit hall filled with ponies dressed in their best attire, and she knew that place in the light was not one she belonged in. Stepping out into the garden surrounded by night, she looked up into the moon. "This is where I belong, alone with the moon." She sighed.

"Moon Struck? What are you doing out here?" Came a soft whisper of a voice. Moon Struck turned in time to see Fluttershy sitting a little ways away with a few small critters playing around her.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Moon Struck muttered, trying to hide the tears streaming down her face.

"Oh. Okay. Would you like to come sit with me? I know when I don't feel good, a nice warm snuggle with a cute little bunny always makes me feel better," Fluttershy said, holding a small gray bunny in her hooves, giving it a gentle hug.

"... sure, that sounds nice." Moon Struck replied after a moment. She walked over and sat next to Fluttershy, careful not to hurt any of the critters as she did so.

"Here," Fluttershy handed her the small gray bunny. Holding the small creature in her hooves, she gave it a small hug, pressing her face close to the bunny's soft fur. "Feel better?" Fluttershy asked.

"A little, I guess." Moon Struck said, setting the small bunny back in the grass. "Thanks, Fluttershy." For a while the two just sat together, Fluttershy cooing over the small animals, and Moon Struck just watching her in amazement. "You are really incredible when dealing with animals. Is there any creature you aren't good with?" Moon Struck finally asked as Fluttershy managed to stop a squirrel and chipmunk from arguing over a nut they had found under a bush.

"Well, I am terrified of dragons, honestly." Fluttershy said thoughtfully.

"But what about Spike? He's a dragon and you didn't seem afraid of him earlier," Moon Struck replied, confused.

"Well yes, but he's not a big, scary, fully grown adult dragon." Fluttershy answered as a small wren landed next to her, chirping for attention.

"Huh. I didn't think there would be a critter under the sun or moon that would scare you." Moon Struck thought out loud after a few minutes.

"Oh everypony has something they're afraid of. What scares you most?" Fluttershy asked calmly, no judgement or discrimination in her voice.

"Well... a lot of things, I guess. I'm afraid of spiders, and caterpillars. I fell out of a cloud once, it was beyond scary. But more than anything, I'm afraid of..." At this she stopped for a moment, looking away from Fluttershy, worried of what Fluttershy would say or think of her silly fear.

"You're afraid of...?" Fluttershy gently pushed the question, giving Moon Struck a kind smile.

With a deep breath in, Moon Struck slowly let the air flow back out before she looked up to the moon and said, "I'm afraid of being alone. I'm afraid I will mess up and lose you all as friends. I hurt Rarity, even though she forgave me, what if I do it again? Same with Rainbow Dash, I said the wrong things and created a painful misunderstanding. Then with Apple Jack, I said something I didn't mean because I let my stupid emotions get the better of me, and now she doesn't like me anymore. If I just could not be such a failure..." Moon Struck rushed the words, holding back her tears until they started to silently roll down her cheeks and fall off into the grass.

"I'm sure Apple Jack doesn't hate you. Just talk with her and apologize, I'm sure she will understand." Fluttershy replied, placing a hoof on top of one of Moon Struck's.

"I tried, she got mad at me before I could even get the words out to apologize and told me to go away." Moon Struck muttered. "That's why I had come out here, I had to escape to the only place I could feel safe and wanted. Beneath the night sky." She whispered.

"Then give her time, she will cool off and be willing to listen to you soon, I'm sure of it. Apple Jack is a good friend, she will forgive you." Fluttershy said before picking up one of the bunnies that was pawing at her tail. "Sometimes, it just takes a few tries and a little work. No friendship is perfect," she continued, nuzzling the bunny before setting him back down next to two others.

Moon Struck smiled halfheartedly at Fluttershy, wondering if she was right. It was hard to believe after how horrible she had been, but what if Apple Jack would forgive her? What if she could salvage the friendship that she thought she had already shipwrecked on the shores of her mistakes?

What if she couldn't?

Author's Note:

With the end of the Gala approaching, how will Moon Struck and Apple Jack make amends?

Next time, everypony!