Walk Alone

by AsheBlaster

Pace your time away

As the tavern doors swung open and the trio trotted in to find a booth, Fireball went to the kitchen and started rooting around to prepare for Fluttershy and Angel to come by, as well as bringing out some drinks for her guests. She began ornately decorating the plate; cucumber and carrot slices, alternating to create a floral pattern, with a cherry in the center. Then, she began to work on getting the oat shake that she knew the pink maned pegasus would order, as she always did, putting whipped cream and extra cherries for angel. Once that was done, she stretched her forehooves and began pouring drinks for the three who were already there; A glass of whiskey for herself, a fruity cocktail for Trim, and a simple cider for Color. She carefully lifted the tray of drinks with her forehoof, and took it to the table where the two sit, before taking her own seat and drink.

Trim sighed and laid her head on the table, nursing the sweet, colorful drink through her absurdly long and curly silly straw. Her horn let out a light pink glow as she pulled out a tiny journal from her saddlebag, taking a pencil out from the ringed binder, and she began to scribble in it, jotting down a simple reminder to water the path by her garden. Once she punctuated it with a heart, she set her notebook back into her saddlebag and went back to sipping the cocktail.

Once fireball finished swigging half of her glass, she set it down and turned to Trim. "So, Fluttershy brought you to the housewarming party, eh?" she asked, doing her best to make it sound like a casual question. "What was that like?"

Trim lifted her head and shot Fireball a I know why you're asking me look, but quickly went to answer the question. "Well, yeah." She started, swirling her drink with her straw, "Everypony else she thought of asking was either busy or already there, and since she lives basically right next door, she invited me." Trim punctuated that sentence with another glance at her friend, before turning her attention to Color. "But I did tell Color to stop by your tavern, did you ever do that?"

Color nodded excitedly before setting down his cider, wiping some foam from his mouth. "Thanks for that, by the way." he squeaked as he turned to Fireball. "I'm real glad I dropped by, the food's nice and the atmosphere is amazing! Besides, you're really cool."

Fireball giggled at the compliment and took another hefty gulp of her whiskey, borderline slamming the glass and using her forehoof to wipe her muzzle. "I 'preciate it." she gaily remarked.

Just as she got up to get the food, her attention was drawn to the sound of a jingling bell, hung above the door to notify her of new entrants. Expecting to see Fluttershy, she turned her head at near light speed to greet her friend, only for her grin to quickly turn to confusion. Instead of the shy golden mare with a pink mane, Fireball was met with an unfamiliar unicorn with a dark blue coat, adorned with star like speckles, all concentrated around his cutie mark, which was of a moon with a star shaped crater. His messy, dark purple hair almost covered his vibrant yellow eyes, which contained a hint of worry.

Not wanting to startle the stranger, Fireball spoke in her usual, quiet voice. "Hey, can I help you?"

He glanced at the ground, taking a second to think, then looked up at Fireball. He opened his mouth to speak, but then quickly shut it, seemingly as if backtracking on the idea of speaking. Something that Fireball found a bit suspicious. She took another step forward to look at the stallion, hoping it would prompt him to say something. This just prompted the unicorn to glance behind himself and step to the side, away from the door and the large window atop it.

Fireball sat down, Color and Trim now glancing over from their seats in curiosity. "Look, if you're not gonna tell me what you need, I'm gonna have to ask you to-"

"No!" the unicorn blurted out instinctively, prompting the barkeep to furrow her brow and cock her head. The stranger cleared his throat and sat proper. "I, uhh, just need a little bit of assistance." he said, more beads of sweat slowly forming on his face.

Fireball relaxed her face and let out a bit of a sigh, after finally getting some semblance of an answer. "Well, I guess that all depends on what you need." Her voice was soft, yet still had a very matter-of-fact tone. Doing her best to be stern yet not rude.

The stranger sat down and took a few seconds to breathe. "I was just walking to Ponyville when I got attacked by..." his voice began to trail off as his eyes frequently scanned the room, before finally lighting up and meeting Fireball's again. "Timberwolves!"

Trim trotted next to fireball and cocked her head to the side, one eyebrow raised to accentuate her confusion. "Timberwolves?"

The other unicorn nodded vigorously. "Yeah! They attacked me on the road from Canterlot, so I ducked in here for a bit." His voice has an oddly calm demeanor as he spoke, a little hint of excitement too. Although, Fireball could easily see this as him being glad he found some cover to hide from the wolves, as long as she decided to ignore the fact that timberwolves live in the Everfree forest, to the south of Ponyville, and the road he claimed to get attacked on was to the north of Ponyville.

"Well," Trim piped up, "how can we help out?"

The unfamiliar unicorn smiled and relaxed his body, which helped him stand a bit taller than everypony else. "Well, I need an ingredient for something I'm working on." His tone was much more stable and calculated, as if he were a professor addressing his students. "Has anyone here heard of moonbloom roses?"

Unsurprisingly, Trim's ears shot up and she started to wiggle a little in excitement. "Of course I have!" she near-shouted, before immediately quieting her tone. "But, nopony here has any. Besides, those only bloom under full moons, and we won't have one for, well, almost an entire moon."

The stranger let out a sigh and stretched his forehooves before turning to the door. "Well, if you ever get any, please drop by my tower on the road to Canterlot." he said before trotting towards the exit, stopping and laughing as he turned back. "Where are my manners? I'm Moonlight Gleam, and it was nice to meet you three. I have a feeling we're all gonna be good friends, especially you, Fireball." Finally turning back to the door and trotting out, almost trading places with the newly arrived Fluttershy, who looked at the group with a bit of confusion.

Trim and Color trotted back to their seats and began talking, while Fireball just stood, shellshocked.

How did he know her name?

Fireball stood there for what felt like hundreds of moons, only to get shaken out of it by a gentle voice asking if she was alright. She zoned back in to see Fluttershy, her big blue eyes full of worry for her friend. "You seem a little worried, did something happen?"

The earth pony shook her head, both to brush off any worries the pegasus had and also to put herself back in her usual headspace. She'll worry about this later, she wasn't gonna let some creepy stranger ruin her time with her friends.

Fluttershy's face lifted into a soft smile. "Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, you know you can come to me." Her quiet voice reassured her Earth pony friend as she went to the booth where everypony else was. Fireball felt so much better after that, and went to go grab the snacks she had prepared, as she could see an ornery rabbit peaking out of Fluttershy's mane, which Fireball knew meant he was getting impatient and hungry.

As she grabbed the fruit and veggie tray, she did her best to focus on her friends, doing her best not to freak out in front of them, especially not Fluttershy. While the mare was insistent on Fireball dropping by to vent, that wasn't enough to convince the earth pony to try that. She really didn't wanna bum out her friend, especially since she was a close friend of the princess and often left to go help her on important royal missions. The stress of that and the stress of her friend being in a bad spot would do nothing but bring her down, which Fireball couldn't bare to do. What mattered now was that everypony enjoyed themselves, worrying about the mysterious stallion would be reserved for tonight.

The sunset had just began to light the sky a beautiful orange, which was the indicator for everypony to head their separate ways. Fluttershy had a creature migration to prepare for, Trim had her plants to take care of, and Color wanted to head home to continue his relaxation. As each exchanged their farewells, Fireball couldn't help but feel a twinge of anxiety build up in her stomach, knowing that she wouldn't have anything to distract her wandering mind. But, regardless, she was glad she could spend time with her favorite ponies and a new friend, and made sure to make it clear that all three of them are welcome back anytime they need somewhere to put up their hooves. With that, they each headed to their homes, and Fireball turned to her tavern, picking up the many glasses that the group had left, most of which belonged to the very barkeep.

Balancing the cups and glasses on the snack tray she had brought out, Fireball carefully took the dishes to the sink, where she began to clean them. She dreaded cleaning the dishes, cuz it was a repetitive task that really let her mind go off, and this time was no different. Her head was filled with thoughts of Moonlight, and how he had seemed so completely off. His story of a timberwolf attack was possible, but certainly unlikely, and he acted so absurd about the entire event, almost as if he was scared of getting caught. Then, as if to add a mysterious cherry to the top of this unsolved sundae, he knew her name.

The thought of somepony knowing Fireball despite her having never seen them sat stubborn in her stomach, so much she could almost physically feel it weigh her down. She gritted her teeth on the rod which held the sponge she was cleaning with, and her face started to heat up. Her breath started to quicken, so she dropped the glass and rod into the full sink, turning around to stomp to the fridge to grab the half-full bottle of whiskey she started earlier. She took a hefty swig and slammed the bottle down, just hard enough to make a loud sound when it hit the counter. Fireball grabbed her pink and black striped hock-socks, tightened her similarly colored scarf around her neck, and went out her front door.

The deep blue of the night sky paired the Luna's moon took Fireball by surprise, she had gotten so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize the sun had finished setting. She shook off the surprise, and began to take a brief walk through ponyville, basking in the cold night air that gently nipped at her muzzle, and looking in awe at the critters that only came out with the moon. The night was always so peaceful in ponyville, especially in parts that were away from the Everfree forest, and it was the perfect place to get your mind off of your troubles. Fireball had been out here so many times she could basically tell every bat apart from eachother. It really was a shame that nopony else was typically out at this hour, but Fireball figured that the other ponies would make too much noise anyways.

The cool breeze did wonders at helping the earth pony calm down, even if the questions were still ripe on her mind. She figured that with her state of being tipsy and tired, she would have to figure it all out in the morning. But for now, she would just walk through the streets and gaze up at the night sky.

Fireball's thoughts were interrupted when she had collided with another pony, falling on her hind and getting knocked out of her trance. Once she recovered, she looked up to see a bat pony, adorned in an elegant pastel purple armor, emblazoned with a large eye, surrounded by purple bat-themed decor. Fireball immediately stood at attention and got out of the way of the figure, bowing her head in respect to the unexpected guardspony. Her shock was replaced by confusion when she looked around to see another bat pony guard, yet no Luna, to whom they were sworn protectors.

"Excuse me," Fireball spoke up, gathering all the courage to speak to such authority, "but, may I ask what brings you here? I expected the guards to stay at the castle with the princess." The guard glanced down at Fireball, then right back to the other guard, signaling for him to come over, which the stallion did.

"We're looking for somepony who we suspect stole several scrolls from the Canterlot library." the bat pony's gruff voice said without the slightest hint of emotion. "Eye witnesses say that it was a unicorn. They were in a cloak, but apparently a bit of a purple mane were visible. Seen anypony matching this description?"

Fireball just stood dumbfounded, eyes wide and muzzle agape, she found herself speechless. She shook her head to get out of her trance and glanced up at the guardsponies. "Well, I would say yes," she hesitantly confessed, "but a unicorn with a purple mane fits too many ponies. The boutique store owner just down the road fits the description, but she's close friends with Princess Twilight, so I don't see why she would do such a thing." she punctuated that by biting her lip, taking a second to think about her strange visitor. "But there as a unicorn with a purple mane who came into the tavern."

The guard who was silent before raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the other guard before piping up. "Well, if you have any more information, it would be invaluable to the search." Fireball solemnly nodded in response, reasoning with herself whether or not she should give this up. On the one hoof, he gave her a certain uneasiness that would work with a criminal, yet on the other hoof, if he was innocent and just a bit weird, she would be sending him to trouble that he didn't deserve. Fireball took a second to inhale and looked back up at the bats.

"He came in, we told him we were closed, and then he left. Nothing about where he was going or who he was." Fireball's obvious lie made a knot form in her stomach, one that got heavier as the noticed the guards looking at eachother, seemingly questioning if they would believe her story. They nodded at eachother and looked to Fireball, causing a bead of sweat to form on her forehead.

"Well, we appreciate your help, miss. Have a safe night."

With that, the guards continued their patrol, and Fireball went back to her trot, which became a speed-trot, and eventually a gallop once she looped back to the part of ponyville closest to her tavern. She barged into her building, shut the door, locked it, and hurried into the kitchen, grabbing the bottle she didn't finish and gulping the rest down as quickly as ponily possible, setting it by the sink once she was done. She just sat down on the floor and stared at the ground. She had just lied to the royal guards. Sure, she might have just saved somepony innocent from being prosecuted, but there was still the more-than-likely chance that he actually was dangerous, and now Fireball could get in trouble for hindering an investigation, something she was not ready to deal with right now. At least, not while she was sober. It was gonna be a long night for her, and the night had only begun half an hour ago.