Fictional

by Meteorite Shower

Chapter 10

After a few more exchanges, the group split off to enjoy the party in their own way. Applejack began looking over the food, Silverfire mingled with the crowd some more while still wearing his saddlebags, and Sunny followed Meteorite back to the table she previously occupied.

"So, how's the party?" Sunny asked, taking a seat to Meteorite's left.

"Ahm… hm," Meteorite mused carefully, taking a moment to figure out how to slip her new saddlebags off. "It's… good? I just haven't… really been in the mood for it, I guess."

Sunny looked concerned. "Aw, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Meteorite answered, a bit too quickly. "Well, I mean… today's been a bit overwhelming, you could say."

This did nothing to appease Sunny, and she continued to frown. "How so?"

Meteorite waved it off, sitting down. "Ahh, nothing I wanna talk about. Just… a lot of things to take in." She glanced over to where Applejack was, now talking to Pinkie. "She's been a lot to take in."

Sunny followed Meteorite's line of sight. "Oh, you mean… Pinkie? Yeah, she certainly is something! Did you know she threw me a welcoming party too?"

Meteorite turned back to Sunny, unmoved. You don't fucking say. "Yeah? What was that like?"

"A bit like this, actually! Kinda nice," Sunny said with a smile. "Made me feel really welcome."

"Mm," Meteorite murmured, distracted by her thoughts. Feel welcome, huh… I guess I have been kinda fighting that, haven't I…

She was soon shaken out of her musings by Silverfire approaching the table, with yet more food. "'Sup," he greeted while placing his plate down, "why're we over here at the back? This the VIP table or something?"

Meteorite failed to bite back a smile. "Sure. Let's go with that."

"Sweet," Silverfire as he moved over to the chair to Meteorite's right, and took off his saddlebags, carefully putting them down beside him, with an oddly familiar glass-clinking sound from within. Meteorite raised an eyebrow at the saddlebags.

"Got… something in there, Silverfire buddy?"

"D'ah… no?" Silverfire replied guiltily. He wilted as the two mares continued to stare at him, until he caved in. "Alright! Fine, it's not like you weren't gonna find out anyway…" He reached into one of the pouches, and retrieved a brown bottle. He placed it down on the table, facing Sunny and Meteorite.

"'White Tail Cider'..." Sunny read the label out loud. "That's odd, I didn't think White Tail Woods had any fruit-bearing trees."

"Probably doesn't," Silverfire shrugged. "This is made in Canterlot. They probably just picked the name 'cause it sounds good."

Unless you're from a country where you have to watch out for white-tail spiders… Meteorite thought cynically, subtly shaking off a shudder. "So. Cider, huh?"

"Yup! This is my personal stash that I keep-" Silverfire paused suddenly, uneasily studying his companions. He cleared his throat and reluctantly continued. "-that I keep hidden in the basement. Please don't tell Steel."

With a quick glance at each other, both Meteorite and Sunny gave a small nod. "Secret cider stash, huh?" Meteorite asked, glancing towards the entrance. "And not Sweet Apple Acres branded cider?"

Silverfire whipped his head around, spotting Applejack still a fair distance around, now preoccupied with talking to Twilight, who had just arrived with Spike. Spike hopped off Twilight's back and onto a nearby table, piling up food onto an already procured plate.

"Please don't tell Applejack either," Silverfire added sheepishly.

"Okay, ya gotta tell us what's going on," Meteorite said with a bemused smile.

"Ah geez…" Silverfire muttered with a defeated look. He pulled the cider bottle close to him, turning it over in his hooves. "Well- Alright, listen. I like having a bit of cider every now and then, yeah? But well… ya know, Steel doesn't… agree with having it around the house. Says it's 'unprofessional' and stuff. So I kinda… hafta hide it from him. And I ain't dumb enough to buy the local stuff either, because well, if Steel don't like it, I'm sure AJ and her family won't either."

Meteorite frowned, quickly glancing at Applejack across the room. "I'm… sure she won't mind that much." There was a pause as she considered it. "Maybe."

"Ya see?" Silverfire said, casually pointing the bottle at her. "Ya don't know. So, what I thought was, if I'm not having it at home, but like, at a party or something, then that's okay, yeah?" He hesitated as he looked with uncertainty between the two mares. "It's okay, yeah?" he repeated.

Both Sunny and Meteorite silently exchanged slightly worried looks before turning back to Silverfire.

"Yeah I… I don't see a problem with that," Meteorite said carefully. "As long as you don't overdo it."

"Yeah!" Sunny chirped up, leaving Silverfire looking relieved.

"Ya know, you two are alright," he told them, now twisting the cap off his bottle. Raising the bottle to his lips, he then stopped as he considered something. "Sorry. You… uh… want any of this?" he asked, now offering the bottle towards them.

Meteorite eyed the bottle warily. There was no doubt that it was alcoholic, especially the way Silverfire was talking about it. The very thought of it was a little jarring against the world she found herself in, but… at the moment she wasn't exactly feeling up to lambasting its presence.

Plus, she could do with a drink right about now.

"Yeah sure," Meteorite nodded, reaching forward and grabbing her empty water glass with both hooves, and sliding it over to Silverfire for him to fill up. After he had done so, including another glass for Sunny, Meteorite carefully took a sip, feeling her insides warm up.

Oof, yeah, that's… there's that familiar kick. Definitely something in this.

"Not bad," she remarked pleasantly, taking a larger sip. Soon after though, a few coughs and splutters came from her left. She turned to Sunny, who was desperately trying to regain her composure.

"You alright there?" Meteorite asked, slightly amused.

"Yeah," Sunny croaked, lightly clearing her throat behind her hoof. "We-Went down the wrong way…"

---

The party carried on through the afternoon's approaching dusk without much thought to its intended recipient as the trio of friends mostly ignored the party in kind, talking amongst themselves and drinking Silverfire's cider, of which Meteorite was clumsily turning an empty bottle in her hooves. Apparently, the cider manufacturer had taken a minimalistic approach to informative labels, so although the front of the bottle displayed a fanciful sepia-toned drawing of White Tail Woods, Meteorite had to take a guess at how much alcohol she was having. Her current estimate was 'probably more than a bit'.

"Y'know, this iss… pretty good," Meteorite murmured as she awkwardly tried setting the bottle back on the table. "Good stuff."

Silverfire nodded in agreement as he took a swig from his own bottle. "Yeah. Y'know, I'm actually kinda glad Steel didn't wanna come. Having a good time, just the three of us."

"Mhm!" Sunny chimed in, her eyes lidded as she nursed her drink. However, Meteorite soon found herself frowning in confusion as she leaned on the table, propping her head up with her hoof.

"Maaan, what's his deal anyway?" she bemoaned. "Just when I was thinking he's might not be such a bad guy, he totally skips on my party. Like uh, wha? I… I don' ge' it…"

"That's just Steel," Silverfire said, casually waving it off and spilling a bit of cider in the process. "He's always been like that, even when we were colts and the rest of us were outside running around, he'd be inside doing homework or whatever."

"Hmph, figures…" Meteorite yawned. There was a slight pause afterwards as she made a few connections.

"Wait, so…" Another pause to mentally confirm that her facts seemed correct. "So. You two… knew each other then? Back then?"

"Well yeah," Silverfire responded with a lopsided smile, "he is my older brother, y'know."

Meteorite froze as she processed this, save for blinking a few times. "You what?"

"You didn't know that?"

"...No," Meteorite eventually got out. "Can't say uh… can't say it ever crossed my mind."

"Yeah…" Sunny quietly piped up, "I've got to admit, I just thought you two were friends." The table fell silent as Silverfire slowly drank from his bottle as he thought this over.

"Huh."

"How are you two related?" Meteorite asked suddenly, ignorant to her rudeness. "I mean, you're you're… you, and he's… him."

"I dunno, we just are," Silverfire shrugged. "Look, I know he's a bit… y'know, but he's a good guy, y'know? Looks out for everypony."

"I guess…" Meteorite muttered, back to holding up her head with her hoof. "Something I just have to keep in mind, I guess…"

"Exactly."

The rest of the party grew louder as the trio temporarily ran out of things to say, busy contemplating the recent conversation. A short while later however, cutting above the noise of the crowd was a short sharp shout of "Sunny!" Instinctively, Meteorite looked up into the crowd, along with Silverfire and Sunny, and saw two pegasi mares, both yellow but with different mane colours, waving at each other.

"Sunny!" The green-maned pegasi greeted again over the noise, "didn't expect to see you here!"

"Likewise!" the pink-maned Sunny responded happily. "Good to see you though, Sunshower!"

"Heh," Silverfire chuckled lightly, turning back to his companions. "For a moment there thought they were calling you, Sunny."

Sunny didn't respond, only offering a small affirmative squeak as she looked down at the table, her face wearing an obvious troubled expression. Meteorite cleared her throat lightly.

"You okay, Sunny?"

Sunny didn't move from her position, only her concerned eyes flicking up at Meteorite then over to Silverfire. After some consideration, she sighed and sat upright.

"I…" she began in a small voice, "Can I tell you something?"

Both Meteorite and Silverfire nodded, albeit confused by where this was going. Sunny sucked in some air and exhaled before continuing.

"Sometimes… sometimes I don't… I don't like my name…"

"Whaat?" Silverfire cried out incredulously. "But it's such a pretty name! It suits you!"

Sunny stared back at Silverfire briefly before looking away, a faint blush across her cheeks. "Th-Thank you… I… I'm not saying I hate it, just… it's such a common name… Every time I hear somepony call my name I think they're calling for me but they're not…"

The name Sunny Skies flitted through Meteorite's hazy memory, and she conceded that maybe it was a pretty common name. Briefly, she wondered how unique her own name was.

"Well, what can you do huh?" Meteorite half-shrugged, idly pawing a hoof at her almost empty glass. She reconsidered her words and continued. "I mean, I mean… what can you do? I mean, it's not like you can change your name, right? …Can you do that? I dunno. Can you change your name?"

"Yeah, I could…" Sunny said unhappily, "but I don't want to. Like I said, I don't hate it… not enough to change it."

"Well um…" Meteorite sucked her cheeks in, thinking. "Okay… what about… like a nickname or something? Just… more name and less… nick? I'unno."

Sunny tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I'unno," Meteorite repeated, half-annoyed at being required to think further, "just something like…" She puffed out air as she stared upwards, deep in thought. "...how about… 'Flo'?"

"Flo?" Sunny repeated, confused.

"Yeah! Y'know, like… Flora, but… Flo."

"Hmm…" Sunny mused, mulling over the idea. She glanced up and over at Silverfire, who was quietly listening. "What do you think, Silverfire?"

"Well I still don't see anything wrong with Sunny, but if you like it, go for it!"

Sunny rubbed her chin thoughtfully, and spoke to herself. "Hm… 'Hi, my name's Flo'…" She frowned. "No… that's not right…"

Meteorite shrugged, drinking what's left in her glass. "Well, it was just an idea."

"No no," Sunny protested, "I… I mean I'm not quite sure. Let's try something. Ask me my name."

"What?"

"Ask me what my name is."

Meteorite raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Okaay… what's your name?"

Sunny waved her hooves back and forth. "No no no, pretend we haven't met! Introduce yourself!"

"Sunny…" Meteorite lightly scoffed, "I'm not in the-"

"Pleeease?" Sunny pleaded.

Despite, or perhaps due to, her half-drunken state, Meteorite was finding it hard to stand firm and caved. "Alright," she sighed, clearing her throat. "Heey, hi there, I'm- I'm Meteorite… Oh! And uh, this is Silverfire." Silverfire smiled and gave a small wave. "What's your name?"

Concentrating, Sunny clucked her tongue before beaming with a wide smile. "Hi there! I'm Sunny Flora, but you can call me Flo if you like!"

"Hi Flo," Silverfire greeted brightly, and Sunny slowly grinned.

"I… I think that's it! I'm gonna start introducing myself like that and maybe it'll catch on!" She turned to Meteorite with a grateful smile. "Thank you!"

"Aw," Meteorite began dismissing her with a wave of her hoof, "I was just-! I was just throwing ideas out there, Sunny."

"Call me Flo," Flo said warmly.

"Sorry… I mean Flo," Meteorite said with a sheepish smile. Flo quietly squealed in delight.

---

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

---

"Is that how you spent your welcoming party?" Rarity asked with a mildly disapproving tone, albeit laced with concern. "Getting drunk on cider?"

"Only a little," Meteorite guiltily replied, tapping her hooves together.

---

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

---

Well into the night and with the party finally dying down, Silverfire and Flo unsteadily left Sugarcube Corner. Once outside, the pair turned about, waiting for Meteorite as she stumbled her way through the doorway. She stepped with uncertainty, each leg out of sync with the other three, eventually collapsing against the side of the building in a desperate bid for support, but failed as her body slid downwards into a sitting position against the wall.

"I… maaaay have had a bit too much," she slurred.

"Ya don't say," Silverfire murmured, failing to hide his amusement. Flo slowly approached Meteorite, looking her over cautiously.

"Come on, Me- Meteorite," she hiccuped, "we hafta get back home. Do ya think ya can walk?"

Meteorite stared at her, before looking down at her hooves. "I dunnoooo…" she drawled, already losing to the urge to grin. "I think I'm seeing double… four Krustys!" That set Meteorite off into a giggling fit at her own joke, but once she had calmed back down, Meteorite noticed Flo's concerned face hadn't even cracked a smile, and she pouted.

"Awww," she grumbled sadly, "my friends would've gotten it…"

A look of hurt flashed across Flo's face.

"I don't get it?" Silverfire mumbled, confused. Flo shook her head in response and turned to face him.

"Me neither… Silverfire, I dunno if- if Meteorite has it in her to make it safely back home. Do ya think you could carry her?"

"Yeah, should be no trouble."

Flo nodded, and turned back to a still downcast Meteorite, lightly shaking her shoulder to get her attention. Meteorite glanced up and blinked Flo into focus.

"Hey, Meteorite? Silverfire's gonna carry ya home, alright?"

"Awww…" Meteorite cooed with gratefulness as she took a moment to bring Silverfire into focus, "You don' have t' do that…"

"Yeeeeah…" Silverfire mused, "I think I kinda do."

"If you say so," Meteorite mumbled, frowning as she awkwardly moved to stand up. "'m… I'm not… in a… right frame of mind to argue, I don' think…"

"Come on Meteorite," Flo said gently. "Grab my hoof and I'll guide ya."

"Easier said than done!" Meteorite giggled a little too deliriously in response.

With Flo's guiding hoof, and a few stumbled missteps, the group eventually got Meteorite across Silverfire's back, laying crossways in an almost perfect imitation of Silverfire's saddlebags next to her.

"Oh, shoot!" Flo cried out suddenly, stepping back, "Meteorite's forgotten her saddlebags! I'll go back in and get 'em!" Silverfire gave her a nod as she went back inside, before turning his head slightly to look at his passenger.

"How're you holding up back there?" he asked.

"Not great, if I'm honest…" Meteorite replied with a hint of singsong to her voice. "I don' think I… drank that muuuch… 'm usually… good about that…"

"Well…" Silverfire began, although immediately at a loss of what to say. "you can sleep it off when we get home."

"Yeeeah I can… Le's go then… hi-ho an' all that…" Meteorite yawned, before dissolving into another round of giggles. "Heeee, hi-ho Silverfire… tha's funny…"

Silverfire really wasn't getting these jokes.

"Not yet," Silverfire told her, "we gotta wait for Sunn- I mean, Flo, remember?"

"Oh yeeeah…" Meteorite droned.

"Heh," Silverfire continued, "I gotta say though, it's not often I get to carry a mare back to her place."

He got a faint snoring in response. Silverfire frowned in disappointment.

"Shoot…"

---

The walk back to the farm cottage had been a surprisingly quiet one for the pair, save for the occasional snoring from Meteorite. The moon was full and lit the way back home, although it was a well travelled path, for Silverfire at least. Flo uneasily walked beside him, occasionally looking over at the slumped form of Meteorite.

"She's gone for the night, huh?" Flo mused, with a slight hush so as to not wake her friend.

"Sure seems like it," Silverfire agreed, before remembering to drop his volume, although it might have been in part due to his guilt. "I kinda feel bad about it, ya know?"

Flo looked at him curiously. "Why's that?"

Silverfire shook his head slightly. "I feel like I messed up by bringing my cider and ruined her party. I mean, look at her."

Flo did so, though it was very difficult to gleam anything past the bushy red mane hanging down over Meteorite's head.

"I don't know… She looked like she was enjoying herself earlier though." Flo frowned, mid-thought. "I think. It's hard picking up what she's thinking sometimes."

"Yeah?" Silverfire perked up. "You don't think I messed up?"

"Uhh…" Flo nervously mused, trying to consider the right words. "I think… the cider was unexpected, but welcomed." She unsteadily placed a hoof to her chest. "It certainly was to me!"

After a short while of resuming their pace, Flo continued. "I think she just overdid it tonight. Also, she did look happy to see us! So no, I don't think you messed up, Silverfire."

Silverfire looked over at Flo's kindly smiling face, and found himself smiling in return. "Thanks Flo," he said softly. Flo giggled at the use of her preferred name, and ended up wandering closer as they headed down the path.

"You're very welcome, Silverfire."

---

Meteorite found herself being rudely awakened in what was clearly the middle of the night. Also, her bed was hard and oddly-shaped and she was very uncomfortable and-

Oh yeah. That's right.

"Yo, Meteorite," Silverfire called softly, arching his back sharply in an attempt to wake her. "We're home, you awake?"

Meteorite lifted her head and blurrily opened her eyes. A brown shape with probably a concerned expression looked back at her.

"Yeah 'guess…" Meteorite murmured, shuffling backwards in an attempt to slide off Silverfire. Her hind legs touched the ground, followed by a clumsy landing of her forelegs, and she unsteadily swayed as she looked up at what was probably the front door of the cottage. It was big and rectangular, so that was a good guess she reckoned.

"How're ya feeling?" came Flo's voice from the other side of Silverfire.

"Uhh…" Meteorite began, trying to focus. "Tired? I guess?"

The brown shape rounded behind Silverfire and slowly morphed into Flo. "Do ya think you can walk now?" She reached out a hoof. "Take my hoof if you need it."

Meteorite unquestioningly did as she was asked, and took a few uncertain steps with Flo to help her balance. After a while she let go of her, and tried a few steps on her own. Her footing was shaky, but she seemed stable enough.

"Think I can manage…" she eventually nodded, turning around with a tired smile. "Ta."

Flo and Silverfire looked relieved as Silverfire turned to the front door, holding it open.

"Ladies first," he bowed slightly.

Flo beamed at him as she entered the cottage, followed by Meteorite drunkenly giggling to herself. However, drawn towards the lounge room by the glow of a lit lantern, the group's light-hearted atmosphere dissipated quickly. Sat in one of the lounge chairs was Steel, faintly paying attention to a book in his hooves. Glancing up, Steel firmly closed the book shut while putting it to one side, and one by one stared down the trio.

"I see you've all made it back in one piece," he paused to take in Meteorite's unsteady stance and internally sighed. "I suppose that is the best I could hope for. You all do understand we have to be up early tomorrow, yes?"

Silverfire leaned forward from between the two mares, looking at the clock. "'s not that late," he weakly protested.

"It's well past nine," Steel reaffirmed, standing up and walking over. "Late enough to not fully recover from whatever sugary foods and-" He stopped to sniff the air briefly. "-copious amounts of cider you all had, it would seem."

"Wasn't that much…" Flo murmured guiltily. She looked over at Meteorite, who was currently preoccupied with both standing and looking absolutely done. "Ah, she- she hasn't-"

"I'm gonna bed," Meteorite muttered suddenly, taking her companions by surprise as she pushed past them and down the hallway. Steel watched her for a moment with quiet indignation.

"Miss Meteorite, I am not fini-"

"Yeah yeah whatever…" Meteorite said louder, not looking back. "I'm too tired to care. You wanna yell at me, yell at me in the morning."

"I'm not yelling at-" Steel replied quickly, but realized his protests were falling on deaf ears. As Meteorite rounded the corner of the hallway end, Flo hurriedly stepped forward.

"I… I better go make sure she's okay!" she said sheepishly before also disappearing down the hallway. With the sound of the bedroom door closing, Steel let his gaze linger for a bit, furious that the situation had gotten away from him. Eventually he turned to face Silverfire, who had a sheepish grin of his own.

"Tough break, bro."

"Yes, quite," Steel murmured with quiet anger. "I… had not anticipated that Miss Meteorite would have been so disrespectful."

"Well, she's tired," Silverfire said while rubbing his head, before something came to him. "Ah, and uh, she's probably upset with you anyway."

"Me?" Steel said incredulously, "what could I have possibly done to upset her?"

"Well, you didn't go to her party."

Steel stared levelly at him. "Silverfire, I told you, I do not care for frivolous things like parties."

Silverfire nodded unsurely. "Yeah, I told her that, but… she did look pretty disappointed when she noticed you weren't there." For a moment Steel dropped his guard in surprise, and Silverfire continued. "I think she felt let down by you not being there."

Steel looked away, his brow furrowed into a concerned frown as he held a hoof to his chin, deep in thought. "I…" his voice croaked briefly, "Why would she care?"

"I dunno dude," Silverfire shrugged before grinning, "maybe she secretly likes you."

Steel rolled his eyes at him, unimpressed. "Please. I think it's perfectly clear what she thinks of me…" Steel began to trail off, hesitating. "At least, it… was clear. Hm…"

"Ah well," Silverfire yawned as he stretched, "that's mares for ya. Can never tell what they're thinking half the time." He turned around to leave, but clinking sounds from his saddlebags made him freeze suddenly.

"Silverfire…" Steel began sternly. "You didn't happen to be trying to sneak some cider into the cottage, are you?"

"W-What, me, no!" Silverfire quickly stammered. "No no, these uh… these are empty bottles! That I brought back to… recycle, yeah!"

Steel continued to be unimpressed. "Really? Then I suppose you don't mind showing me."

Silverfire hesitated, unable to think his way out. Eventually he sighed and unhooked his saddlebags, and unceremoniously handed it and the five or so remaining bottles over. Downcast and not bothering to wait around for the inevitable reveal, he headed down the hall to his and Steel's room.

Sorry guys, he thought glumly, couldn't sneak ya back in.