Quills and Sofas Warehouse Sale

by Zontan

Last Call

Author's Note:

Another panic fiction. Written in about twenty minutes. The prompt was "Cocktails."

Tags: Rainbow Dash, Berry Punch, Applejack, Drama

“I’ll have another, barkeep,” Rainbow Dash slurred, half slumped on the bar.

Berry Punch stepped up to her, glancing at the line of empty glasses. “I think you may have had enough, Dash,” she said, sweeping them away. “Besides, it’s closing time soon.”

Rainbow scoffed, her wings fluffing in indignation. “I can handle it! I can handle anything! I’m Rainbow f—” she hiccuped, “—Dash!”

“Uh huh,” Berry remarked, unimpressed. “I don’t think that’s the case, is it? If it were, you wouldn’t be sittin’ here alone, chugging appletinis like they’re going out of style.”

“Nobody asked you,” Rainbow snapped. “Came here for drinks, not you butting in on my business.”

Berry raised an eyebrow. “Well now,” she murmured. “My mistake.” She pushed another glass towards Rainbow. “Here. Your drink.”

Rainbow grabbed the glass, tossing it back without looking at it. Then she coughed and sputtered. “What the heck?” she growled. “This isn’t what I ordered!”

“It’s water, and you should drink it,” Berry said, unbothered by the outburst. “You’ll thank me in the morning.”

“I don’t want your help! I want to sit here, and drink, and be miserable, alright? I don’t want water, and I don’t—” she hiccuped again “—your advice!”

“Fine.” Berry put down another glass of water, and stalked away. It wasn’t her job to help ponies that didn’t want to be helped. Besides, she’d tried her best.

Rainbow glared at the glass, willing it to become alcohol, but nothing changed. Finally, with a huff, she got up and stumbled out of the bar. She was too drunk to fly, and so she started to head for the orchard instead… and then stopped, kicked the dirt, and turned to stalk the other way.

“Rainbow!” a voice called from behind her.

“What!?” she growled. “You know I’m good for it, Berry—” But when she turned around, it wasn’t Berry Punch standing behind her, but Applejack.

“What do you want?” Rainbow hissed, her voice low.

“Ah just… ah wanted to say sorry, for how things worked out. I didn’t—”

“Fuck off, Applejack,” Rainbow snapped, shocking the other pony into silence. “I don’t need your pity.” She turned, and kept walking.

“Rainbow, I—”

“I don’t care! It’s too late! If you cared about my feelings, you should have… tried harder! Or something!”

“Rainbow, I’m trying to apologize, here. I know I coulda handled it better—”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want it. Go home, Applejack. Leave me alone.”

Applejack stopped, and sighed. “Is that really how it’s gonna be, then?”

There was a long moment of silence. “...yeah. Yeah it is.” Their eyes met, and for a brief moment, Rainbow’s face betrayed her. But then it settled back into an angry mask.

“...Alright then. You have a nice life, Rainbow. Sorry it worked out this way.”

Rainbow watched as Applejack walked away. She held steady for as long as she could, but Applejack still wasn’t quite out of sight when her legs buckled, and she dropped to the dirt, hung her head, and sobbed.

Comments

[Seer]

This was a really engaging and heartbreaking vignette mate!
It always hits me hard, that kinda feeling of someone losing out on something or permanently destroying something because of their stubbornness, so the end really got me

[Silent Whisper]

I'll say what I said during the contest: you brought feels to a drunk fight, my dude. And god dammit, it worked because you're such a strong writer! This one was really good. You're really good.