Fermented Hearths

by Test4Echo

Chapter 3 - Warmed Hearts

"I don't know about this, Rara," Berry whimpered as she and Coloratura stepped out of her carriage and immediately began crunching and scrunching the snow beneath their hooves. The freezing air, now much colder than even a couple of weeks ago, caused their breaths to hang like clouds of soft cotton.

Along the horizon against the Everfree Forest, the winter sun barely peeked up over the canopy, which was covered in deep sheets of white. Sparkling snowbanks reflected the final rays of Twilight's blinding light, their dusty forms being swept up in a slight breeze.

Although Rara's carriage was situated near the outskirts of Ponyville, it was still surrounded by Hearth's Warming cheer. Snowponies dotted the empty plains, and the few houses that were this far out were decked up in various lights, magical candles, or glass orbs and holly. Icicles drooped from practically every building's roofs, adding to the frozen look of the town.

Deeper into town, Berry could barely make out the sound of some ponies singing carols in the town square. In the opposite direction, the first indications of the Apple's Hearth's Warming Eve celebrations could be heard, with some different folk music carrying over the slight hills and pointing them toward the warm glow of campfires and lanterns in the distance.

Berry shivered as poking and scratching fingers of ice felt to slip up her legs. She glanced down at her hooves, which were currently in a borrowed pair of boots from Rara. They were almost the same size, to the point that she'd have to work hard to knock them loose, but that still allowed more cold air than she wanted into them.

Just be thankful, Berry, she told herself as she pulled her borrowed coat a bit tighter. Honestly, she should have just had her ratty old scarf and toque. She didn't deserve to be given such a plush parka that Rara had donated to her. Besides, the colors didn't really match her coat.

However, that protest had already been raised, and Rara insisted, to the point of not going if Berry didn't dress up for the weather. It still rubbed Berry the wrong way, though.

Moving her attention to Rara, Berry felt a small pang of hurt as she saw how much more radiant Rara appeared compared to her. Sure, Berry didn't look as much like death anymore, but Rara, with her neatly bundled mane, her cobalt-blue parka, and a dainty set of boots on her hooves just exuded charm and class. Things that Berry completely lacked.

Sensing that her friend's mood was falling, Rara frowned and declared, "You'll be fine, Berry. AJ is looking forward to seeing you up and about!"

"Is that because you told her to be?" Berry grunted, earning a small gasp of shock from Rara. Flattening her ears against her skull, Berry looked aside and muttered, "Sorry. Didn't mean it."

"I'd never ask AJ to fake something!" Rara shot back, her face flushed with a bit of anger. "You know that, Berry!"

"Yeah, yeah," Berry placated, holding up both her hooves and motioning for Rara to settle down. As she went back to all four hooves, Berry briefly brushed down part of her parka, making sure that she felt the single, folded piece of paper that she was bringing with her. It was Hearth's Warming Eve, after all. Sure, plenty of ponies didn't exchange things until the next day, but a party felt appropriate.

Softening her expression, Rara started to canter through some of the outer streets of Ponyville, toward Sweet Apple Acres. With a peek back at Berry, she hissed conspiratorially, "Besides, AJ couldn't keep a poker face if her apple tree's life depended on it!" She waved for Berry to follow her. "Come on! I'm already starting to freeze, and AJ promised there'd be lots of warm food tonight!" She giggled. "Tonight's the one night I don't need to watch what I eat."

Momentarily, Berry remained fixed in place and rigid as a statue. When Rara noticed that she wasn't trailing her, she paused and looked back, giving Berry a worried pout. Berry felt her heart thrash against her chest a couple of times, and she worked out a couple of tremors from her hindlegs. They weren't nearly as uncontrollable now, especially if she had Redheart's medication beforehoof, but they still plagued her.

At least she didn't have to drink anything to keep off dangerous symptoms, though.

She glanced down at the small wrist device on her right foreleg. According to Rara, Redheart had programmed it to give a warning if any discernible BAC levels were detected. As an extra accountability measure, of course. She didn't remember it ever going off, though.

Forcing a smile upon her face, she trotted after Rara, who returned the smirk with one of her own and then started back up through the Ponyville streets. As soon as Rara stopped looking at her, though, Berry's countenance fell. She let out a small sigh of disappointment.

She'd always heard about the Apple family's Hoedown, namely from some gossip spread after Princess Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack's other friends started attending. Sometimes she felt jealous, since it was effectively an exclusive club, reserved for Applejack's family—all of it—and then some of her close friends. Inwardly, she reminded herself she should have been thankful Rara got her the opportunity to attend and maybe strengthen some friendships, but all she really felt was irritation that she was dragged from her warm room.

Besides, socialization could be nerve-racking at times. Especially if... certain ponies were there.

She faintly flushed. At that moment, Rara happened to check on her, and caught her pink cheeks. A playful smile dancing across her face, Rara asked, "So, Berry, what do you think you'll do while we're there at Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Probably just go in a corner and cry," Berry grumped with a tad bit of sardonicism in her tone. At Rara's bemused, slightly nonplussed expression, Berry rolled her eyes. "I don't know. I'm not familiar with many of Applejack's family, aside from who else are here in Ponyville."

"I heard that some of AJ's eligible cousins will be there," teased Rara, a light titter on her tongue, which broke into proper fits of chortles as Berry's face burned a bit brighter. "Never know who you could meet." She ended her statement with a little trill.

"I hate you," Berry grumbled.

"No, you don't."

Groaning and hanging her head, Berry watched some of the snow slowly slip by. Rara was right. She didn't.

As some of the snow on the ground brushed against her muzzle, Berry held back a sneeze before she had a small lightbulb moment. Whipping her head up enough that she sprayed a bit of white powder into the air, she looked around at the drifts that had built up against the houses on either side of the street.

A sinister smirk built on her face as she slowly slunk toward one of them, her hooves barely making a noise, and certainly being unnoticeable over Rara's own tromping. Plus, Rara was now humming, quite resplendently, an old Hearth's Warming carol and was barely paying attention. She was too focused on taking in the lights and glittering snow, especially as the first stars started to peek through the evening sky.

Gutturally giggling, Berry scooped up enough snow that, even though her forehooves jittered a bit, she was able to pack it up into a fairly tight ball. After holding it in her forehooves for a moment to warm it and melt into something that would hold together, she tip-hoofed after Rara.

"Say, Berry, do you think that if AJ saw you getting an interest in... who was it, Brae—" Rara had started to turn around to ask Berry another question about her choice of ponies, but she stopped when she saw Berry about a foot from her, already mid-swing of her forehooves. Before she could even yelp in surprise, she got a face full of snow as the snowball that Berry crafted exploded right on her nose.

When the cloud of snow cleared, Rara's aquamarine fur on her muzzle had been painted completely white. Some of the snow carried up the bridge of her nose. Rara spat a bit of water out of her mouth. As she finally opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times, she sputtered as she saw Berry's slightly wicked sneer, "What was that for?"

"I told you I hated you," Berry quipped, although she could barely keep her mock anger showing for long. Guffawing a couple of times, she offered to help Rara wipe the snow off her, but Rara simply waved her away and carefully made sure not to disturb the mascara around her eyes.

When she was done, now with a darkened muzzle from the wet snow that had been absorbed, she huffed, "I suppose I struck a chord?" She quickly added, "No pun intended."

Berry merely snorted. She was sure that her snowball had been answer enough.

"That was a good hit," Rara added as she slightly twisted a forehoof in the ground. It was an almost imperceptible move, and before Berry could react, she used it to kick up a large cloud of snow from a smaller drift on the ground. Impressively, she wiped the entire section clean of precipitation.

"Gah!" Berry exclaimed, covering her face with her forelegs, although not in time to avoid getting at least partly splattered with fine ice particles. Spitting and lolling out her tongue to get rid of the snow and small bits of dirt and gravel carried with them, she saw that Rara had the same evil grin that she had a moment earlier. "Okay, you got me," Berry mumbled. "Truce?"

"Truce," Rara agreed, taking off one of her boots to hold out a bare hoof for Berry to bump. Reluctantly, Berry did the same. "You got me good, honestly," Rara stated. "Still, AJ and I got into a proper war one winter, so you didn't learn any of the tricks I did." She snickered.

"I guess not," grunted Berry.

Both of them were shivering somewhat from the injections of freezing cold they had given each other, but they soon started laughing at how they both acted. For once, Berry felt like she was just being a normal pony, doing normal pony things. She even had some fun without having to be buzzed first.

"Maybe we shouldn't keep AJ waiting, though?" Rara proposed, jerking her head further down the street. As the path it led to was covered in snow, the only indication that it led to Sweet Apple Acres was because of a few hoof tracks going through it, plus ruts from a cart. From the size of one set of hooves, Berry surmised they were from Big Mac. Probably went into town with Sugar Belle earlier that day for some final supplies for the Hoedown.

"Yeah, probably should." As Rara faced toward the farm again, Berry nervously fondled the pocket with her paper. It thankfully didn't feel like it had gotten wet at all. She sighed in relief.

For the next few minutes, they both trudged through the snow toward Sweet Apple Acres in quiet. Aside from the noise coming from the farm up ahead, which by now was lighting up the sky with whatever forms of illumination they had, the world was silent. All the birds and other animals had either migrated away or gone into hibernation, or were hiding in Fluttershy's sanctuary, waiting for the spring temperatures to welcome them back to Ponyville, so they could chirp, caw, or chitter at all hours of the day.

The sun had truly set by this point, only leaving an orange glow along the very edge of the horizon. Tonight was a new moon, so as they went further outside of Ponyville, some more of the night sky could be seen in whatever wasn't polluted by the farm lights. Berry gasped as she took in the fabric of hundreds of points of light weaved together expertly.

Rumors had always abounded that Twilight still let Luna control parts of the night, especially her tapestry, the stars. Although Berry was sure that Twilight could do a nice artistic job if she put her mind to it, she was sure that the alicorn was busy enough with what other duties she had inherited from Celestia and Luna at retirement. These had to have been the hoofwork of the original Princess of the Night.

Long filaments of stars traced into tendrils of beautiful, laced arms that seemed to reflect the unity of ponies with their neighbors. Maybe she was looking too much into it, but she swore that it looked like linked limbs, working together to make as amazing a display as possible.

"Pretty, huh?" Rara asked as she noticed Berry falling behind to gawk at the night sky. "Don't think that even my star status could top one of those." Thumbing her nose in the direction of the stars, she asked, "Want to stay here for a moment?"

"N-No," Berry finally mumbled, jerking her head back down to stare awkwardly at Rara. Scratching a hoof on the ground, she coughed, "I've already held you up more than I should have." She sighed. "I still don't know why I'm coming."

Rara frowned. Sauntering toward Berry, she rested a hoof on Berry's shoulder and stated, "Because you're a friend of AJ, and you're definitely one of my friends." She drooped down to gaze right into Berry's eyes, almost pressing her muzzle into Berry's. "You. Are. Coming."

As Rara pulled back, Berry tiredly nodded. There was little point arguing by now. About the only other option was going early to Ponyville General to start rehab, and she would rather not remember her Hearth's Warming of 1012 to be sitting in a white room with machines monitoring her.

Seeing that she had finally won through to Berry, Rara smirked and led her friend forward. Soon enough, they reached the outer gates of Sweet Apple Acres, and Berry felt her ears serenaded by the sounds of fiddles and happy hollering as a few ponies, all with cutie marks of apples or apple-related activities, danced around a couple of bonfires outside the Apples' barn.

Snow topped the wooden gate, and icicles reached down like glistening crystal stalactites. The farmhouse was dark, save for a few lights in the kitchen. Silhouetted in the lantern light from it, Berry could see Granny Smith and she assumed Sugar Belle hurriedly rushing around to prepare different meals.

The entire orchard was bare of any leaves, as the trees laid dormant until the next growing season. Deep drifts of snow had blown in various directions through it, partly obscuring some piles of leaves that hadn't been raked up before the pegasi got to work.

When she saw her friend's bewildered and stunned expression, Rara nudged Berry with an elbow. "See? Lots to do and see." She motioned toward the barn. "AJ said there'd be lots more to do in there. I'm sure you can find something to do with others!"

Speaking of Nightmare Moon herself, Applejack poked her head out of the barn, revealing a mass of ponies mingling and chattering inside. Steam practically belched out of the structure from all the ponies' excess body heat. Pushing back her Stetson, Applejack beamed when she made out Rara and Berry at the entrance to the farm.

"Rara!" she called, galloping out from the barn and quickly making her way to the pair. When she got closer to Berry, she nodded and stated, "Berry. Good to see ya felt like coming out." She smiled warmly.

"Didn't have much choice," Berry grumbled.

At that, Applejack's face widened into an uncomfortable smile. "Well, I mean, I'm sure that Rara would have let you stay back if you insisted." Rara shook her head emphatically. Stuttering once or twice, Applejack backpedaled and stated, "I-I mean, you're a friend, Berry! I wouldn't not invite you."

"You didn't all those other years." Berry furrowed her brow.

Applejack chuckled uneasily. "W-Well, yeah, okay, uh, ya got me there." She scratched the back of her head, sensing Berry's mild irritation. With a soft sigh, she hung her head. "Well, shoot, Berry. I'm just trying to be neighborly." A genuine grin lit her features. "I am glad that Rara brought you here. And seeing you back on your hooves, too. We were all worried 'bout ya."

"Right," Berry muttered.

As the pause in conversation grew, Applejack finally drawled, "So, Rara." Rara peered at her expectantly. "Wanna see who can build the best snow fort in ten minutes?" Applejack's eyes sparked with fire as she held back a smirk.

Switching her gaze between Applejack and Berry, Rara hummed reluctantly. "AJ, I want to make sure that Berry has a good time. Maybe sometime before I leave Ponyville?"

"Oh." Applejack hung her head. Pawing at the ground, she stated, "All right. I suppose I weren't thinking of Berry." She forced a smile on her face. "Let's all get in before we become colder than an ice cider press." She winced at Rara's glare. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Berry mumbled. Behind her, Applejack and Coloratura exchanged a worried glance, and Applejack tiredly pushed her hat a bit forward on her head as a few flakes of snow started to fall from the nearly-cloudless sky.

Approaching the barn, Berry paused at the door, feeling her heartbeat race and her breath come in a few short, harried gasps as the din of conversation filled her ears and mixed with the music playing outside. Her pupils shrinking a bit, she nearly collapsed into the snow before she was snapped out of her funk by Rara showing up next to her. Her friend rested a hoof on her back and flashed her an encouraging smile. Berry nodded back.

By now back to her usual jolly self, Applejack declared, "Hope y'all like it loud, because we got that in droves!" She pushed open the door, revealing that the barn was almost completely packed with ponies, assorted in colors and attire, almost all sporting apple cutie marks. A stark standout was Sugar Belle, who was weaving between some different Apples who were chatting around a couple of tables. Her magic held multiple plates of Hearth's Warming desserts. Despite how hectic it was, she was clearly having fun as she gave a wave to Rara and Berry and then quickly spoke with another Apple near a long table with punch bowls.

For a second, Berry's world shrunk to just her and the bowls, and she began to inhale quickly before Applejack nudged her. "Get some of it, Berry! It's some of Cousin Honeycrisp's best punch!" When she saw Rara's look, indicated by a nod toward Berry, Applejack quickly added, "Oh, uh, nonalcoholic, of course." She chuckled.

Almost immediately a weight seemed to lift from Berry's back, and she actually beamed appreciatively at Applejack. "T-Thanks. I might—" Before she could finish, Sugar Belle trotted by and thrust a small cup of the punch into Berry's grasp, along with giving one to Rara.

"Good to see you, Berry!" she chirped, and then, with a smirk, ducked back into the crowd to head toward the door nearest to the farmhouse.

Holding back a couple of sniffles, Berry's chest welled with emotion at the warm greetings she got from a few other Apples nearby. Even if they didn't recognize her, they welcomed her like one of their own. She swiped at a couple of tears and sipped at the punch. As soon as the sugary treat hit her tongue, she let out a small moan of delight. Applejack was right. It was great!

A bit tangy, but a nice, carbonated feel to it and a sweet bite to it in the end. And definitely no "happy juice" in sight, either. She'd be able to tell instantly.

At Berry's brightened expression, Applejack bellowed over the constant chattering, "See?! Told ya it was her best!" With that, she twisted to Rara and cried, "Rara, Cousin Sharp never believed me that I was friends with ya. Mind changing her mind?" There was a glint of mirth in Applejack's eyes.

That spark was mimicked in Rara's as she took a gulp of her own punch. Bobbing her head, she exclaimed, "You bet! Can always provide a special hoofsy for her!" Snapping a small stamp from inside her jacket, she waved it for a second, the shape of a horseshoe visible in the lantern light. Also, when she extracted it, she brought with her a tiny box that was wrapped in a bright blue and grey paper. It caught some of the light and glinted back into Berry's vision.

After putting away her stamp, Rara turned to Berry. Hoofing over the box, she stated, "Hold onto this, Berry! It's for you!" She indicated the small slip of paper on the top that read not to open it until after the festivities. "In case we don't bump into each other until the night's over," she quipped. "I want to make sure you get it."

Dumfounded, Berry simply stared at it for a moment, and Rara and Applejack quickly slipped through the crowd toward one of the corners of the barn where a dark green pony was watching the two of them with ever-dilating pupils. When she finally broke from her surprise, Berry murmured hesitantly, "W-Wait, I have—" She saw that she was alone, in a sea of ponies. "One for you..."

She sighed and slipped the box from Rara into a pocket inside her own parka. Already, she was starting to sweat from how much warmer it was compared to outside, and she guzzled down the rest of the punch and dropped the disposable cup in a garbage bag nearby. Slipping off the parka, she kept it draped across her back, so that it wouldn't get lost. Or dirty.

A few laughs broke out from a table near the farmhouse exit, and she could see that Pinkie was currently doing her best impression of a chicken as she must have finished some story. Berry rolled her eyes. Sometimes Pinkie's antics were a bit too much to bear. Next to Pinkie was a light grey mare with a dark grey mane, who was doing her best impression of melting into the floor from embarrassment. Or fear. One of the two.

After a couple of seconds more of her imitation, Pinkie grabbed hold of the mare and gave her a big hug while finishing the tale. Another round of guffaws came from the table, while the mare caught by Pinkie blushed heavily, refusing to even try to escape Pinkie's grasp.

Pinkie was slapped by a pale-indigo hoof and an angry-looking earth pony pulled her down. With a whine heard halfway across the barn, Pinkie obeyed and soon things quieted down. At least until the grey mare shot Pinkie a glare as she caught Pinkie pouring something from a small bottle into her punch. Pinkie grinned awkwardly.

Slowly, the mare grabbed her cup, got up, walked over to another garbage bag, and then dunked the rest of her drink into the trash. She trotted over to the punchbowl and snatched a new cup. When she sat down at the table again, Pinkie whined, "Come on, Marble. I swear it'll help you loosen up a bit!"

Berry flattened her ears and focused somewhere else. Pinkie probably had good intentions, for all that spiking a drink could do, but the less temptation that Berry had, the better. Instead, she caught a few ponies around a picture of the stereotypical Santa Hooves. Currently, his white beard was a pincushion for different attempts at pinning wings on his sides. His normally happy face looked afraid, as he was falling toward a chimney with a massive bag of gifts.

It was apparently popular with more than just foals, even though Berry couldn't recall the last time she did something like that for Hearth's Warming. At least when she was a young filly and her dad wanted to entertain her. It was a tad boring, if she were to be asked.

However, she could make out that the current pony currently up was none other than Pinkie's sister, Maud. Berry snorted. For once, Maud had swapped up her normal simple frock with another simple frock, but with red and white lacing. Clearly her coltfriend had gotten her to liven it up.

As one of the other players spun Maud around about half a dozen times, Berry could discern that Maud was also holding in one of her forehooves her rock, pebble, thing. From the one or two times she interacted with Maud, Berry recalled that it was treated like a living object. Are all the Pies touched in the head? she wondered to herself as she wandered closer to the game.

There was a free chair, so she sat down and raptly watched as the Apple attending to Maud let go. For a moment, Maud unsteadily stood on her hind hooves, but she soon wobbled toward the picture of Santa Hooves with a wing pin. Ponies held their breaths and the air around Berry grew electric with anticipation as Maud neared the board. Suddenly a cheer broke out as Maud pinned a wing nary a couple of inches from a proper wing socket.

As Maud pulled off her blindfold, she also removed a tiny one from her rock. "Boulder helped guide me," she stated. "He deserves all the credit." Not even the slightest hint of emotion was betrayed in her words. Was she even happy?

"Technically," a mud-colored, gaunt earth pony declared from the front of the crowd, "Boulder only helped steady you. He was just as blind as you were."

Blinking, Berry thought she caught the faintest hint of a smile on Maud's lips. It could have been a twitch, for all she knew, though. Either way, Pinkie's sister trotted over to her coltfriend, Mud Briar, then stated, "Let's go get some food. Boulder could eat a horse."

"Technically, he'd want to eat a pony," Mud Briar replied, looping a forearm with one of hers. "Let's see what morsels Sugar Belle has prepared whilst we focused on the frivolities."

Thoroughly perturbed, Berry watched them trot off toward the food and drinks table before she was tapped on a shoulder by the Apple supervising the game. "Wanna go for a spin, hun?" the mare asked, a warm smile on her lips.

Berry hesitated. Pulling a forehoof up to her chest fearfully, she eyed the blindfold and inwardly asked herself, What if I'm horrible? Would ponies find her amusing, or the game? Would she even like playing?

"You okay, hun?" the mare inquired, tilting her head and looking with concern at Berry. "Did you need to sit this out?"

Shuddering and doing her best to hold back the tremors that were working their way up her forehooves, Berry shook her head. She gulped, her mouth feeling a bit dry. As a bit of sweat trickled down the back of her neck, she made sure that her parka was safely stowed on her seat, and she stated, "N-No! I'll, I'll do a round."

"That's the spirit! Go help ol' Saint Nicker get into the chimney!" The mare chuckled and pushed back her braided mane. Passing Berry a wing pin, she then wrapped the blindfold around Berry's head and guided her toward the clear area. She firmly began to spin Berry around, all the while Berry hearing the din of conversation change direction. Some nearby cheered her on, although none knew her name.

Finally released, Berry staggered and nearly collapsed as her hindlegs quivered and a wave of fear gripped her. However, after making sure she stayed standing, she stumbled forward, waving her empty forehoof vainly in front of her. When she felt she was close enough, and she also scraped her hoof against a wall, she slammed the pin into the board, and then whipped off her blindfold.

"Ha!" she exclaimed, although her pride soon turned to bemusement as she saw that she had managed to poke Santa Hooves right on the flank.

Everypony was silent for a moment, before one foal in the group started to giggle, followed by some of the younger mares and stallions. Admittedly, Berry had to struggle not to giggle along with them. Of all the places she could stab the pin.

A smirk playing on her face, she went back to her seat and grabbed her parka. For another minute or two, she watched others play, although she was starting to be chatted up by different attendees. The constant explanations of who she was, and who she was related to or friends of began to drag on her. After the fifth time she was prodded on if she was second cousins with a certain pony at the Hoedown, she abruptly got up and excused herself.

Panting slightly, she worked her way to one of the other corners of the barn. Her breath was beginning to become a bit painful and short. Too many ponies, not enough time to recollect herself. Gasping, she slid back into the corner, falling to her haunches as a soft whimper filled her chest. She was doing so well, and now that good ol' anxiety was beginning to rear its head.

She licked her lips. Something to wet her whistle might help...

Squeezing her eyes shut, she scrunched her muzzle and smacked herself. No! She'd not give in. She wouldn't abuse Rara's trust!

After she had managed to keep her lungs from collapsing entirely from panic, she slowly got back to her hooves and peered around the barn. From its middle beams that supported the roof, a large orb of candles, protected behind crystals, burned brightly as a representation of the star that appeared shortly after the Three Tribes united and banished the Windigos. At least, that was what the stories said.

Some more Hearth's Warming-y decorations were scattered along the walls, mainly holly or paper-craft snowflakes. Near the back of the barn, just outside the pens for the animals, a large Hearth's Warming Tree shone brightly, casting brilliant points of light throughout the nearby area.

Berry caught Rara giving a hoofsy to Applejack's cousin Sharp. The mare, completely overjoyed, pressed both her hooves to her cheeks and then rushed to hug Rara, who laughed and returned it. After a moment, Sharp took off to speak to some other ponies who shared some similarities, and Applejack and Rara just laughed.

Inspecting her surroundings for a moment like she knew she was being watched, Rara finally met gazes with Berry, and she smiled widely, even making sure to pull her cheeks a bit further with a forehoof. She flashed a hoofs-up to Berry, which Berry just returned with a small wave.

Consternation appeared on Rara's face, and she muttered something to AJ. AJ waved her off. Breaking from her other friend, Rara slipped through ponies on the dance floor and made her way to Berry. "You okay?" she inquired when she got to Berry. She checked the little coven that Berry had managed to make for herself. "Are you having—"

"I'm fine," Berry fibbed, glancing away from Rara. "Played Pin the Wings on Santa Hooves. Ponies just kept asking too many questions."

"Well, the Apples do like to know how everypony knows everypony..." Rara admitted with a shrug. Eyeing Berry with a bit of skepticism, she arched a brow and prodded further, "Are you sure you're fine? I can hang out with you for a while."

Berry just held up a hoof. "I don't want to keep you from your own fun, Rara." She sighed. "I'll be fine in a few minutes. Just needed a breather."

Nibbling on her bottom lip, Rara opened her mouth as if to protest, but then she was ganked by a pink blur. For a brief second, her front half stood still while her rear was dragged on by Pinkie. She let out a yelp as reality finally stopped bending around the pink anomaly.

"Oh my gosh, Rara! You have to meet my sister, Marble! She's, like, your bestest biggest betterest fan ever!" Pinkie screamed, carrying her voice over most of the nearby crowd. Her voice soon faded though, as she rambled on to Rara about all the things that Marble had of hers, starting with a small shrine. Berry didn't catch what Marble did with that shrine, though.

With her escort gone again, Berry pressed both her forehooves against her face, and she moaned in defeat for a moment before she heard a younger voice state, "Hey, Berry Punch!" She glanced up, seeing Applejack's younger sister, Apple Bloom, and her two friends. They'd really all sprouted the last couple of years, now all lanky teens rather than short little fillies that she remembered them to be.

Trotting up to Berry, Apple Bloom beamed happily, "Applejack said you'd be comin'! Good to see ya!" She gave Berry a small hug, which warmed Berry's heart a smidgen as the giant pink bow on Apple Bloom's head bounced with the motion. Both of the young mare's friends greeted Berry, too.

"Why are you just hanging out in a corner?" Scootaloo inquired. "Kinda a lame way to spend a party, right?"

"Scoots," Sweetie Belle chided with an eyeroll. "Not everypony has to be like Pinkie Pie every second while a party is happening."

"Well, sorry that I don't like being boring!" protested Scootaloo as she crossed her arms and humphed. Her wings buzzed a bit in disgust. Perking up, she exclaimed, "Oh, hey! Secret Craft Reindeer! Count me in!" She bolted over to an assembling group of ponies around a number of cheap boxes. She immediately pointed to one and was passed to it, before being hoofed a paper with a name on it, Berry surmised. Scootaloo soon bolted to a corner and began to bang together something from the components in the box.

"Always on the move," Sweetie sighed, rolling her eyes again. "Sorry, Ms. Punch."

Berry didn't really respond, as she was focused elsewhere on a stallion that caught her eye. That, and his luxurious, golden mane. Almost instantly when she laid eyes on him, Applejack's cousin Braeburn, she felt her face flush and her mind tingle excitedly.

"Uh, hello?" Sweetie inquired, waving a hoof in front of Berry's face. "Ms. Punch?"

Berry just grunted something incomprehensible, and then she shook her head. "What?" she mumbled, then rested her gaze on the two young mares. Blushing more profusely, she scratched the back of her neck, brushing against the parka on her back. "O-Oh, sorry, just wigged out there."

"Hey, what's that?" Scootaloo interjected, popping up from behind the corner of the wall. She jabbed a hoof at the monitoring device on Berry's fetlock. "You got some cool magitech from Twilight? Can I see?"

"I think Twilight would want to get my sis or somepony else to help first, Scoots," Apple Bloom quipped, fixing a tired glare at her hyperactive friend. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be in that there Secret Craft Reindeer?" Thrusting a hoof back at the assembled group, Apple Bloom raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Oh, buck! Right!" Scootaloo darted back to her craft station.

"Like I said: always on the move," sighed Sweetie as she facehoofed hard.

Berry's attention was jerked back to Braeburn as he let out a loud whinny of excitement and hugged both Big Mac and Sugar Belle. As he did, a round of applause echoed through the barn, although Berry didn't catch what was said. Apple Bloom followed her stare, and she asked, "Oh! Did Mac finally announce it?"

"You mean about Sugar Belle?" Sweetie prodded, moving a bit closer to her friend.

"Yep! I'm gonna be an aunt soon!" Apple Bloom exclaimed before she froze and looked at Berry. "Oh, sorry, Berry. Didn't mean to exclude ya." When Berry didn't really respond, Apple Bloom furrowed her brow, and traced Berry's gaze. She wasn't actually watching Big Mac and Sugar Belle, but she figured that it was in reality Braeburn. A sly smile formed on her muzzle.

"Say, Sweetie," she began, earning a hum from her friend. "Wanna relive a memory?"

"Uh..."

Apple Bloom jerked her head toward Braeburn, then indicated the somewhat tunnel-visioned, flustered Berry. "Maybe fix that old mistake?" She winked.

"Ohhhh..." Sweetie drawled, realization dawning on her face as she finally caught Apple Bloom's drift. Rubbing her forehooves together, she nodded eagerly and then checked for what Scootaloo was doing. Seeing that she was about to hoof the small paper pony she made to her assignee, Sweetie waited for all of five seconds after Scootaloo was done to yank her back. She muttered a small apology.

"You guys! You want me to stick to one thing, and then you—" Scootaloo started with a snort before Apple Bloom pressed a hoof against her muzzle.

"Hush," she barked. Pointing at Berry, she made a small motion of weaving Berry through the crowd and dance floor to Braeburn. On top of that, she mimicked some chatting, an offer of food, and most importantly, dropping a mistletoe over Berry and Braeburn's muzzles. She grinned. "Perfect plan, huh?" she hissed.

Her friends nodded, then exclaimed, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MATCHMAKERS, YAY!" They were loud enough to turn some heads, including Applejack's.

"Y'all learned nothing from Cheerilee and Mac?!" she boomed, although she shook her head when she saw that Apple Bloom was already dragging a thoroughly surprised Berry through the barn.

As she was hauled through the room, Berry struggled, but between three overeager fillies, one with earth pony strength, another with middling magic, and a third being a pegasus, she didn't have a good way to break free of their three-pronged grip. Whining and whimpering, she watched in fear as she was brought closer and closer to Big Mac and Sugar Belle, the latter of whom was munching on some crackers and a single pickle.

Sugar Belle whispered something to Mac and then slipped back through the farmhouse doors out to the kitchen. Big Mac just gave Berry a single, appraising look, and then was swarmed by a few more congratulating family members. When Braeburn noticed that his cousin was bringing a new mare near him, he shook himself and blinked in shock.

"What's going on?" he asked, completely confused as he stared perplexedly at Berry. "Hello there."

"H-Hi," Berry mumbled as she was finally released by the young mares. Her front hooves were a wobbly mess, there was absolutely no way she'd walk away from this interaction. Inwardly, she cursed her nerves, and the niggling tickle, the enticing itch, ratcheted itself up tenfold.

I wasn't prepared for this! she protested inwardly as she gawked at Braeburn, who was just as stricken with shock. If she could read ponies at all, she could tell that he at least wasn't turned off from her immediately. Think, Ber, think! she chided herself, racking her brain for anything to say.

Feeling a nudge on her rump, she saw Apple Bloom pushing her to go forward a bit. She only whinnied in fear and shook her head emphatically.

While the awkward silence persisted, she spotted where Pinkie had yanked Rara to speak with Marble. She tried to ignore that Pinkie somehow had stretched out Rara's torso, and was now casually compressing her back to a normal length like an accordion. When Pinkie finished with a strained shove, she hurriedly pulled Marble over and seemed to beg Rara to give a hoofsy to Marble and sign a small piece of paper.

For her part, Marble was doing everything she could to hide beneath her mane. Applejack soon marched over and began arguing with Pinkie about something, probably pushing her sister so far.

Meanwhile, Rara was disconcertingly standing in middle of the spectacle, holding out a stamp for a hoofsy, while she also clasped on her other forehoof the autograph that she'd done. She was actively holding the paper closer to Marble, who was, in turn, cringing as far away as possible from the pop star.

Although she was too far away to hear Rara, Berry read her lips as Rara insisted, "Please! Take it! For a fan!"

Marble simply quivered and completely hid behind her mane. She peeked through it when Maud sauntered past and directly to Rara. Rara put down her autograph and turned to Maud, who held up Boulder, and said something that Berry couldn't read. Apparently, it was enough for Rara to tilt her head in confusion, but she grabbed another paper and made a quick autograph.

On top of that, she grabbed her stamp, and lightly pressed it on Boulder. Maud silently took the autograph and walked off.

A far-off look on her face, Rara blinked when Marble emerged from her figurative shell and pointed toward the hoofsy stamp. Smiling, Rara eagerly pressed it onto Marble's fetlock and exclaimed, "Hoofsies!" She then passed the autograph to Marble, who swiftly snatched it and looked away, a vibrant pink on her face.

Before Marble could return to her seat, Rara leapt forward and swept her up in a strong hug. The pink that Marble's face was before was now a dark beet red, however, she didn't struggle to escape. When Rara finally let go of her, Marble whimpered a bit, and then slunk, humbly, to her seat, where she stared at the autograph she had gotten in rapt awe.

"H-Hey, y-you okay?" Berry blinked as Braeburn verbally prodded her. When she didn't respond, he asked Apple Bloom, "Bloomy, what'd ya do to her?"

"I didn't do nothing!" Apple Bloom protested. "She was the one gawking at ya!"

Although she didn't make any noise, Berry blushed at Apple Bloom's rather honest take. Since she was still staring where Rara was, she saw her friend notice her, then wave again. When Rara spotted that Berry was next to Braeburn, a sultry smirk formed on her muzzle, and she winked once as well as gave her another hoofs-up.

At that, Berry simply whimpered and whined, her ears folding back against her head. Everything was going too fast. Why couldn't she just have been left in her corner, regain her composure at her own rate, and then approach Applejack's cousin, if and when she wanted to? Everypony was just so nice, but they were pushing her well beyond what she normally looked for in a social situation.

Well, that is when she wasn't strung out on a bender, which she thankfully wasn't. If she had been near blackout, like she probably would have been without Rara's help, who knew what she'd try to do with Braeburn. She winced as her own mind wandered, and the first, demeaning voices of her cravings returned.

Gritting her teeth, she sniffed and wiped at her muzzle. The tears didn't go unnoticed, as Braeburn reached out and asked, "Hey mare, are you okay?"

Before she could answer, her overwhelmed mind completely drawing blanks, she saw that Rara was observing her closely. Worry was quickly spreading across her face, and she had started to move toward her friend, although a few ponies at that moment got up from another table and blocked her from moving further.

Breathing in once, Berry nodded. She could handle it. It'd be a bit hard, but even without—

"Everypony warm your gullet!" Granny Smith exclaimed as she knocked open the door to the farmhouse and carried out with her a large tray of wooden steins. The liquid inside sloshed and splashed, their frothy heads bubbling and burbling tantalizingly.

It took only a second for the smell of ethanol to hit Berry's nose, and her world seemed to slow down as she stared longingly at the tray, which Granny set only a few pony-lengths away. The appley-sugary scent mixed with the enrapturing scent of booze, making her mouth water and her legs to steady.

Pounding in her head, her heart beat frantically against her sternum as she ignored Braeburn's protests of surprise as she slowly trudged closer to the tray. With each step, she struggled to stop moving, but her body seemed to move with a will of its own.

What are you doing?! she screamed at herself, pleading her hooves to stop moving. You're going to throw everything away! No! Turn away! STOP! Her throat clenched, and she snuffled a couple of times, which only made things worse. Almost all of the tray had been grabbed, but about half a dozen steins remained, each one's head slowly sinking into its respective container.

The foam was a light golden brown, matching the small glimpses of cider that was underneath. At the very sight, Berry's tongue threatened to loll out, and she instinctively thrust out a hoof to fit into the handle. In one final attempt of willpower, she paused for a moment, feeling the cool cider chill her fetlock, then she pulled the stein back.

There was nothing in her world at this point, just she and her cider. The only friend she actually needed.

"Bottoms up," she mumbled to herself as she opened her mouth and let the first drops of cider hit her tongue. Immediately, jolts of pleasure shot through her mouth and into her brain, as more of the delicious drink slid down her throat into her gut. In a matter of seconds, she had drained the stein and slammed it down on the table with a sigh.

Already, the faint buzz of her first drink gave her a warm feeling, and she smiled, turning back to look at Braeburn. Some of her confidence was returning. She was back.

"Berry! Are you okay?!"

Berry's world crashed into a million pieces as her stomach lurched and she almost regurgitated what she had just imbibed. Like a vice had twisted her chest, she looked over at the pony who addressed her. Completely confused and worried, Rara stood next to her, at the end of the table. She must not have noticed the cider Berry had had yet. Berry just looked at her wrist and stein for a second. It was deathly quiet around her.

"Berry?" Rara inquired, stepping a couple of paces closer. Her eyes rested on the stein. "Oh."

"I-I-I-I—" Berry began, her brain a mess as more of the cider hit it, making any reply she could formulate nothing more than a jumble of grunts and whimpers. As Rara stared at the stein for another second, her face began to grow red, which made Berry whimper pathetically.

With a final stammer to try and explain herself, Berry simply screamed, "SORRY!" Before Rara could do anything, Berry threw the stein to the floor and bolted toward the door. She veritably crashed through it, making the ponies out in the cold playing their instruments yelp in surprise.

As she galloped away, she could barely hear Rara scream, "What. The. BUCK, AJ?!"

"Don't look at me!" Applejack protested. "I made sure to tell the kitchen no booze!"

"Eh, is she allergic or something?" Granny inquired, confusion laced in her words.

Before Berry could hear any more of her friend's rant, she had run past the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres and had begun to retrace her and Coloratura's tracks from earlier in the evening. Bolting past the spot where she observed Luna's stars, she soon raced into town, spraying snow from her frantic charge. Hot tears streamed down her face, freezing as they turned to droplets that flew from her cheeks. Soon icicles were resting on her fur, although she could barely feel the cold on her muzzle.

Ragged breaths escaped her lungs as her mind raced and barely processed where she was going. She zoomed by The Smiling Mare, not giving its warm façade a glance. Nearly stumbling into a pile of snow, she instead whinnied, steadied herself, and bolted through the center of town, nearly disrupting the carol sing.

Nopony there had a chance to fully make her out, especially with her parka, which was partly flopping off her as a leg stayed wrapped around her neck, muddying her figure.

Through winding streets and frigid alleyways, she galloped on instinct, barely paying attention to where she was going. All that went through her head was how she had messed up, again. Like she always did. She knew that going out was a mistake, and that she should have just stayed in the carriage.

No, she shouldn't have been a stupidly stubborn pony and actually accepted Redheart taking her back to Ponyville General so she could get as much help as she needed. Everything in the past two or so weeks, all the aid, even the couple of extra treatments that Redheart spared, were wasted. Ruined. Like what she always did with her life.

Her gasps for air and thudding hooves were the only noises that were audible at this time of night on Hearth's Warming Eve. The night air was devoid of any and all animal sounds. If she strained hard, maybe she could have heard a bit of ice falling here and there, but otherwise it was just her and her thoughts, alone in the cold.

Her vision a blur, she rounded a few more corners and finally started to slow. Feeling like it was on fire, her chest pleaded with her to stop. She coughed, hacked, and nearly choked on the sweet, cold air that worked its way down her throat. More tears streamed from her face.

When her world finally stopped spinning, she could feel the buzz of the cider's alcohol keeping her brain slightly muddled. It took her a second to place where she was standing. Right outside her house.

The windows were dark, the front door closed. Somepony had been kind enough to keep her path to the entrance cleared of snow, though. Some hoof tracks around the building indicated it had been visited recently.

Reaching to her money pouch, Berry tapped her flank when she realized that she didn't have it with her. Even if she did, it didn't have her house key. She shivered as the cold started to infiltrate her body, and she gave a soft "brr" as she rubbed her forehooves on her chest.

In her near-manic state, she looked all around for somepony to help her. She would have called, but her voice was too haggard from all her galloping. Gagging and coughing, she hacked up a bit of phlegm and felt a couple of heaves come from her gut. However, she worked back the nausea, and then she marched toward the nearby window of her kitchen.

Taking only a second to think, she punched out with a forehoof toward the pane. There was an earth-shattering crash, and slicing shards of glass cut into her fetlock and hoof as the window exploded inward. She kicked a few of the stray pieces off, and then scrambled through the window, a couple more knicks being given on her stomach as she slid in. Landing with a thud in her kitchen, she rubbed her head, and then saw the rivulets of blood trickling down her right forearm. It had ripped off the monitoring device in the process.

She barely registered that, though, as she staggered, sobs starting to work their way up her throat. Hiccups jostled her body, and she stumbled up the stairs to her room. She didn't glance at any of the pictures on the walls. They were all more reminders of her stupidity, anyway.

Even in the near-pitch black second floor hallway, she found her way to her bedroom. Illuminated by one of the street lamps that was outside her window, she saw her simple bed, done up neatly like she had never been gone for most of December. A few odds and ends were scattered around her bedroom, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for somepony who usually slept in.

She preferred a neat ship, after all.

Her brain was still buzzing from the booze, and no amount of joy that that small sensation could bring her could overwhelm the sense of foreboding doom that she had. As a crushing weight bore down on her very soul, she trudged, staggered, and nearly tumbled into her bed. She almost cracked her forehead on the wall, instead just barely scraping her scalp on the plaster.

The burning sensation from the near miss didn't even register to her, as she screamed into her mattress, hot pools building underneath her muzzle from her crying. For a solid minute, she just screeched and shouted, berating herself for failing, again, only coming short of punching herself because her right forehoof was smarting too much.

When she finally got the first bouts of rage out, she soon wailed harder, rolling over onto her back and bawling toward the ceiling. Her blubbering cries asking why went unanswered, at least verbally. In the back of her mind, she knew the answer. It was because of her damn cutie mark. What kind of twist of fate gave a pony a cutie mark of booze, for buck's sake?

She couldn't fathom an answer. All she knew was that it was her destiny. Probably would have been better if Coloratura hadn't found her.

Her energy finally spent, she went limp, barely conscious of her right forehoof brushing against the floor and catching on a small latch. It took her a second to notice the feeling, then she fluttered her eyes open, her vision blurry through tears.

Mechanically, she leaned forward and then grabbed the latch with her teeth. It was painted the same color as the wood stain, and was almost impossible to see unless somepony was actively investigating every inch of ground. After she gave it a small tug, it pulled back to reveal a miniature bottle. Its contents were dark in the lamplight, but she only needed to read the label.

Princess' Buck Triple Barrel Scotch. Extra proof. More than enough to knock her out and make the miserable night a thing of the past.

Uncorking the bottle, Berry didn't even hesitate as she slammed back a mouthful, the bitter, smoky taste of the scotch falling onto her tongue and burning it as she swallowed. Wincing as it went down, she felt her mind stumble as another shot of numbing pleasure washed over her. Before she could properly think, she chugged another gulp or two and swayed in her seat.

With bleary eyes, she blinked back a couple of tears as the fire in her stomach made her whimper. Hooking both hooves around the bottle, she sipped at it again, her world becoming hazier by the moment.

***

Gasping for breath, Coloratura came to a halt outside where the tracks from Berry led her. She furrowed her brow, surprise not really registering to her as she recognized from Applejack's tour of Ponyville when she first arrived that she was outside Berry's house. Besides, the big plaque of Berry's cutie mark over the entrance of the house partly gave it away, too.

Really, it wasn't entirely shocking that Berry would run here, since she was probably running on one hundred percent emotion and instinct. Coloratura simply winced when she pictured the last image of her friend's face, twisted in fear and guilt as she barely held back her absolutely burning rage at the complete lack of empathy on Applejack's part. It didn't matter if Applejack said it was Granny's fault, Sugar Belle's fault, anypony's fault. Ultimately, the buck rested at her hooves.

And... her, Coloratura's, own.

Holding back a sigh and a small sniffle, she wiped some of the sweat that was on her brow as she forced back some of the guilt. Maybe she shouldn't have been so insistent that Berry should have come with her, but Berry was simply going to be miserable if she didn't have a bit of social time in the lead-up to Hearth's Warming. It simply wasn't acceptable!

Gritting her teeth, Coloratura cursed under her breath as she dug out from her parka the key that Redheart had given her a week or so before. When that happened, Redheart had reported that she had found every single bottle of alcohol that Berry kept with her. It was enough to stock a bar for a year, at least. However, as somepony with experience, she had that intuitive hunch that Redheart had been duped.

Sure, Redheart was not stupid, but it had also been after her shift at the hospital that she did that, plus she had fifty other things on her mind. A trained professional could only do so much. If Berry had had that many visible drinks, she would have probably had more hidden.

She took in the stars for a second, saying a soft prayer to Luna before she looked at the simple house. It was little different from the others on the street. Just a simple thatched roof, plus some normal plastered walls. Also a shattered window.

At that, Coloratura shook her head, some of her looser curls swishing across her muzzle, and she mumbled to herself, "Berry, what have you done?" She could catch the red glint of blood on the broken glass.

Fiddling rapidly with the lock on the door, she soon unlatched it and trotted in. The door creaked shut. When it clicked, she fumbled for a light, since she could see that this area of Ponyville was also powered by magic. She fumbled in the dark, but soon she felt a switch and pressed it. Instantly, there was a flickering and then a single light matrix crystal powered on over the foyer.

It was... surprisingly clean. In fact, if a pony were to come in without knowing Berry, they'd be hard-pressed to figure out that she was a pony with problems. There were a couple of extra scarves, plus a winter coat, hanging on a rack, along with some winter boots. Aside from that, it was clean, save one or two pictures on the wall.

Taking a second to look at the pictures, Coloratura smiled as she saw that they were of Berry with some different mares in the South-East. Looked like they were on a vacation around Baltimare, if her memory served rightly. Berry had a wide smile on her face, and the others were laughing. Not a drink could be seen.

That was a tale replicated in the other picture. While a different location, it was also without alcohol. Coloratura noted it, but before she could explore much more, she heard some blubbering and sobbing. Jerking her head up, she strained to listen for where it was coming from.

Another whimper followed by a choking wail was cut off by a cough, but she pinpointed it to the second floor. Dashing as fast as she could, she galloped through the kitchen, only briefly noticing the pile of glass and splatters of blood on the tiles. The red trail continued, leaving a few dribbles here and there on the stairs leading to the second floor.

Hitting a second switch that she saw at the landing, she pursued the light trail of blood toward a bedroom that had its door halfway open. She burst inside, her heart thrashing against her chest and her mind pleading that she wasn't too late.

As soon as she saw Berry, lying weakly back against the bed, she breathed a sigh of relief. While it wasn't great, at least Berry was still alive and breathing. She was sitting in a pool of blood, which had come from the cuts on her right forehoof and fetlock, along with a couple of visible gashes on her stomach and chest. Miraculously, the majority of them had been light enough that they had already clotted up. Only a couple were still oozing a bit: one on her chest, and one that was where Redheart's monitoring device had been broken off.

"Berry..." Coloratura tutted, concern welling up inside of her, as well as her own tears. When Berry didn't even acknowledge her, Coloratura hesitantly cantered forward. She saw the bottle of scotch grasped limply in Berry's good forehoof, and she whined softly.

As she arrived to stand over Berry, the mulberry-colored pony barely looked up. Her head was clearly heavy, and Coloratura could see in the light from the hallway that the bottle was already half-empty. She whimpered sadly and kneeled down to Berry.

Berry reeked.

When she reached out to take the bottle from Berry, her friend mumbled a protest, but didn't really fight Coloratura taking it out of her grip. Once the container was free, Coloratura hastily pulled back. Berry just remained limp against her bed. Her eyelids fluttered a bit, but she didn't try to move.

Looking out into the hallway, Coloratura spotted a bathroom and she bolted toward it, pouring the rest of the bottle into the sink and then washing it down as best she could with a blast of water. She left the bottle in the bathroom and then dampened a washcloth before she entered Berry's room again to take a better look at her friend.

Berry's fur was matted, mostly with tears, but also stained a bit with blood. Her mane was disheveled, and it looked like she bruised her head, as a bump was beginning to form on her crown. Heavy-lidded eyes barely recognized Coloratura as she blocked the light from the hallway.

Gut wrenching, Coloratura gently sat down next to Berry and carefully wrapped a forearm around her friend, while gently placing the washcloth against Berry's chest to stem the rest of the bleeding. As she did, Berry pathetically struggled to get out, but only managed to nearly topple herself over. However, Coloratura's grip was strong, and she kept Berry from collapsing.

"Hey," she finally stated, doing her best not to retch at the stench of alcohol on Berry. "It's me. Rara."

"Go... away..." Berry slurred, gazing out into the hallway. She winced once or twice as her eyes started to register the light. "You... don't... want... to be... here." She failed at holding back a belch.

"You're right. But I won't leave." Coloratura lightly pressed Berry against herself, which only made Berry whimper. "You need me here. Now. Not later."

For a moment, Berry simply remained still, and Coloratura briefly thought that she had passed out, but then Berry groaned and flopped her head back onto the bed. Spluttering a couple of times, she coughed out, "Just... go." She sniffled. "I'm just pathetic."

"No, you're not." Coloratura saddled herself so she could at least try and look Berry in the eye. "That's the alcohol talking. You, Berry Punch, are not pathetic." She lightly poked Berry's chest.

"Yes, I am," Berry muttered back, stuttering a few times as she tried to formulate her words as a response. Coloratura got a full gasp of her breath, and it made Coloratura wrinkle her nose at the smell. As Coloratura pulled back, Berry hacked, "See? Pathetic."

"You remember what I said about myself?" inquired Coloratura pointedly. Berry simply remained silent. "Do you?"

"...Yes."

"You're. Not. Pathetic. If anypony is, it's me." Coloratura tapped her own chest a couple of times. Holding out one of her forelegs, she stated, "You can't see it, because it's furred over, but there are scratches that'll never heal all over here. The withdrawals of powdered crystal made me feel like there were bugs crawling under my skin, and I tried to rip them out." As the memories of her first few days resurfaced, Coloratura grimaced. The itchy sensation even managed to return for a second, but she closed her eyes and breathed. "They had to keep me tied up whenever I started scratching, because I could have seriously hurt myself."

Sighing, she made sure she gave Berry a reassuring hug. "What's going on with you, it's not nearly as bad as what I had." When Berry woozily shook her head, and mumbled something unable to be understood, Coloratura furrowed her brow. She firmly pressed a hoof against Berry's chest. "You. Are. Not. Pathetic."

Breathing irregularly, Berry simply choked and whimpered. She hung her head, and a couple of tears slipped down her cheek. "Yes, I am!" she wailed, the whining noise causing Coloratura to wince, although she did her best to hide her discomfort. "I'm a failure!" she slurred. "Just... washed up!" Making whooshing noise, she moved a hoof to indicate water blowing past her. She almost managed to escape Coloratura's grasp.

"Can't, can't, can't stay clean," she murmured, tears staining her muzzle. With a snort, she wiped at her nose with her bloodied forearm and smeared red all over her face. She winced and whined as she reopened a couple of the cuts. "See? Failure."

Instead of trying to argue further, Coloratura simply pulled Berry into a tight hug, first caringly pulling her friend forward and then warmly wrapping her forehooves around Berry. For easily a minute or two, they were both quiet, with Coloratura simply making a few shushing noises here and there. She patted Berry's back comfortingly.

"Why do you say that?" she inquired.

"Th-The A-A-Apple thing," drawled Berry, although she didn't move and instead just said this into Coloratura's shoulder. In a way, she was like a giant foal at the moment, which only triggered Coloratura's instincts further. "I-I guz-guzzled that cider without thinkin'."

"And?"

"I failed."

"No, you just had a misstep," Coloratura chided, squeezing Berry tighter. "Don't worry, AJ and Granny Smith got to hear exactly what I thought of that. I specifically told AJ nothing like that. You were coming, and this was supposed to be your night to get back a social life."

"Well, that bucked up bigly, huh?" Berry snarked, a soft, gurgling laugh building up in her throat. She was racked with a couple of coughs instead, then she moaned and went a bit limper.

"Well, AJ realized that she should have been clearer with Granny Smith, and Granny really wants to make it up to you. She thinks that she might have called the Grim Reaper a bit too early on you." Coloratura chuckled, a sad noise that was similar to some birds mourning a lost one. "Glad her fears were unfounded."

When Berry didn't answer, Coloratura simply stayed silent for a moment, gently rocking her friend back and forth comfortingly. Berry's body was shivering, and Coloratura could tell that she was running a lower than normal body temperature. Not hypothermic, but certainly noticeable. Leaning nearer to one of Berry's ears, she asked, "You want to hear something else?"

"...What?" Berry's words were coated in loathing.

"AJ made sure that every last opened barrel of cider was dumped, just to show that she cared about your health." Coloratura tightened her embrace as she felt Berry shake and whimper. Soon, a few soft sobs from Berry made her own waterworks start. It quickly became difficult to tell whose tears were dampening her fur.

When Berry continued to cry, Coloratura inquired, "What's wrong now?"

"I-If I'd stayed," blubbered Berry, her shivering growing more pronounced. "I'd have been fine!" She kicked on the ground. "I would have even bucked Braeburn at this rate!"

Ignoring the outburst, Coloratura sighed and rubbed Berry's mane again. The crying had slowed a bit, and now she could at least take a brief glance around her friend's room. It was filled with different memorabilia, including a couple of things from her shows. A few notepads, done up with doodles and other sketches rested on a dresser, and a few bits of clothing were scattered on the floor. Probably she was in a hurry the last time she went to work.

Lamplight from the street cast the rest of the room in a yellowy-orange glow, making it seem almost inviting. It was quaint, actually. A far cry from her penthouse suite in Manehattan, or one of her summer retreats.

When Berry finally stopped moving, aside from some soft breathing, Coloratura let her go and gently lifted her up into a sitting position. "Hey, you still with me?" She got a slow nod in return. "I'll take you home. You can sleep this off, okay? We can start again tomorrow."

"But it's Hearth's Warming..." Berry murmured, a dejected tone building in her voice.

"Don't care. We're going to work together on this. Okay?" She got another nod. "Good." At that, she grunted and got to her hooves, at the same time helping Berry's to hers. Berry could barely stand, as her limbs refused to properly coordinate, and Coloratura instead had to wrap Berry's injured hoof around her withers.

Making sure that Berry was at least somewhat secured in her borrowed parka, Coloratura soothingly stated, "It's okay, Ber, you'll get over this." Berry just grunted.

As they marched into the night, Coloratura started to hum. The words of Equestria, the Land I Love softly serenaded Berry until she was brought back to Coloratura's carriage. Until she was home.

***

With a resolute sigh, Berry watched as the stream of whiskey circled the drain as Rara watched her pour the last bottle of her secret stashes in her house down the drain of her kitchen sink. The kitchen, now with a boarded window and a slightly red-stained tile, was filled with about two dozen bottles that had been hidden throughout the house. Although it was Hearth's Warming Day proper, Rara had insisted that they do this, today. Berry had readily agreed.

Her head was still pounding from the hangover from her relapse the night before, and she could sometimes barely keep from throwing up, but as she and Rara went through everything, tearing open every hidden compartment, every masked floorboard, every buried container, her demeanor began to improve.

Only a few of the words that Rara had spoken to her the night before stayed in her memory. Most of it after she got back to her house was a blur at best, blackness at worst. But Rara had filled her in, and her smarting right foreleg, wrapped in bandages, was a stark reminder of how desperate she had been. Thankfully the cuts were all surface, but she could hear Redheart's nagging voice saying she should praise Celestia that an important vein or artery hadn't been gashed open.

Speaking of Redheart, the device that she had put on Berry had been discovered, split in twain from Berry's frantic break-in. When they found it, Berry winced and was certain that she would never hear the end of breaking a new piece of equipment direct from Canterlot. Still, at least now she was finally going to start at the rehab center, regardless of what ponies said. She realized that she wouldn't have a choice, though, once Rara left.

Whenever she thought of her friend's imminent departure, she felt a small tug on her chest. Although Rara promised that they'd keep in touch, and that she'd personally ensure that Berry got tickets to any nearby shows, it didn't stop the pain of separation. Along with that, Rara stated that she would make sure to pop in to Ponyville General occasionally while Berry was going through rehab, as much as the thought made her shiver. The idea of being monitored at first by magical machines and then by hospital staff while living for weeks, if not a couple of months, in the hospital, depending on how long it took her to properly detox, made her quiver in fear, even though she wanted to cooperate as much as possible.

Still, it was for the best. Nurse Redheart promised that after the first week or two of treatment, she could start to learn a new hobby to fill the gap that booze took up before. Maybe a bit of gardening was in order for her, since she could get some help from the Flower siblings in town. Either way, Redheart and the others would ensure that she'd get the care she needed to keep brain occupied. All it took to get started was some selfless friendship from Rara.

Before they had even gotten ready for the day, Applejack had checked in on them, before she and the rest of the Apple family held their morning present-opening. She had presented to Rara, who in turn gave it to Berry, a small container of apple seeds. While simple, Applejack said it was to represent growth and new beginnings, and Berry had to concur. After their next winter wrap up, she'd make sure to plant one or two in her backyard, and maybe in about a decade, she'd have her own supply of apples.

Once Berry had been able to get out of bed, pain or not, they had grabbed some food, and then their hunt for all her hidden stashes began. With a small shake of her shoulders, she listened to the last gurgle of her booze stash go down the drain. She stared at the sink for a moment, and Rara rhetorically inquired, "Feels good, doesn't it?"

"I suppose," Berry replied, her own voice crackly and strained from her screaming the night before. Plus, the hangover didn't help. "I... guess it's one more weight off my shoulders."

"Yep!" Rara exclaimed, pulling up beside Berry and giving her a strong hug. "I know that I asked that you do this today, but if you had said no, I wouldn't have pressed." She smiled, which made Berry avert her gaze bashfully. However, the grin only grew wider. "It took a lot of grit and willpower to get back up after falling off. I should know."

"Yeah..." mumbled Berry as she kept her eyes glued to the floor. The tiles reflected her haggard appearance, but for once, Rara was about as disheveled as her. More dark circles lined her eyes, and her mane was, for once, not done up fancily. Rara claimed she was allowed that luxury once or twice a year, especially around Hearth's Warming.

"Hey," Rara stated, pulling Berry's chin up so that she could look into her friends' eyes. "Everypony makes mistakes and sometimes takes a step back. You're just starting, so it's to be expected." Pressing a hoof right against Berry's heart, which was beating nervously, Rara added, "It's a long road to being rehabilitated, and mare, do I know it's a never-ending road. If you buck up, get up, dust yourself off, and start over. Get the help you need, let all your friends know you're hurt, and keep walking."

"And have you told AJ about your problems?" Berry interjected pointedly, which made Rara wince and scratch the back of her head.

"Work in progress," tittered Rara as she bashfully looked at Berry. Berry simply smirked.

"Hypocrite," Berry snarked, although she had an amused grin.

"Meanie," retorted Rara, lightly booping Berry on the nose, which led to her scrunching in reflex. After working out the sensation, Berry stepped out of Rara's embrace and took a look around the main floor of her home. Although it really hadn't changed, in fact, it looked like a bomb had gone off as they tore through every inch of her home finding stashes that even she forgot about, it somehow seemed more alive, more... welcoming.

There was an oppressive air that seemed to have just vanished. No more looming sensation that while she was at home, she was one drink away from blacking out and having a headache for the rest of the following day. Instead of glaring judgmentally at her, the images of her, or her coworkers—friends—offered expressions of hope and joy of her new future.

A couple of tears worked their way up through her eyes and trickled down her muzzle. One picture of her at her desk at the bank, with a small placard of being the best boss ever, called to her to release the last few emotions that she was holding back in a single outburst. Instead of a wail, though, it was a happy laugh, as she fell to her haunches and felt another weight lift from her shoulders.

It was going to be a new day. And then another one after that. And another after that.

Rara first joined in uncomfortably, but then soon it became genuine as she sat down next to Berry and simply shared in her joy. She gave another small embrace, and then they both let their giggles die out. Soon, they rested in each other's friendship, which left Berry's jaw sore with the massive grin she was holding.

Suddenly, her eyes shot open, and she darted to the parka that Rara had lent her. Digging through the pockets and ignoring Rara's call of concern, she finally withdrew her gift and Rara's. She bolted back. Flopping down, she muttered, "This is for you." She passed the paper over to Rara.

For a moment, Rara gawked at it, then gently took it in her hooves. She unfolded it, her eyes growing wide as she gasped, "You drew this?!" She flipped it around to show that it was an image of her, the one that Berry had started when she announced they were going to the Apple's Hoedown. Now that it was finished, the silhouette was clearly pony-shaped, and the light from the streetlight nearby cast them all in a warm glow. A caption read, "Dazzling Everypony's Hearts."

Tears formed upon Rara's cheeks, and she blubbered in glee. "It's... it's great! I love it!" Diving forward, she squeezed Berry tightly before she motioned for Berry to open her gift.

Reluctantly, Berry tore open the box and she paused. It was a small necklace of Rara's cutie mark. The metal string barely reached around her neck when she tried it. Confused, she arched a brow and looked at Rara. Rara smirked. "It's from my foalhood. I thought I'd give it to you as a symbol of our friendship!" She beamed brightly.

"I... I don't know what to say..." Berry murmured.

"Then don't!" Rara proclaimed. With a cheer, she bellowed, "Happy Hearth's Warming!" She saddled up to Berry and nuzzled her affectionately. Berry slowly returned it, and for once initiated a hug with her new friend.

Before they could get much further, her stomach growled, and she blushed as Rara gave her a knowing grin. "Hungry again?" Rara asked, which Berry nodded to. "Okay," she mockingly sighed, getting up to her hooves. Helping Berry up, she inquired, "Where to?"

Pondering for a moment, Berry hummed, and then she stated, "I guess we'll have to see." After they both bundled up, they trotted out the door and soon were waltzing down one of the bright, snowy streets of Ponyville. Their hooves crunched satisfyingly in the fresh snow, which was still falling like a soft dusting of icing sugar onto a cake.

Despite it being Hearth's Warming, the town was starting to fill with ponies, since tomorrow night was going to be Rara's charity performance for the Manehattan Institute for Studying Addictions. For once, the sleepy town of Ponyville, normally catatonic on a major holiday like today, was alive with activity. As it was after lunch, most of the tourists had come from Canterlot or other regions within a short train ride. Probably by evening, fans from Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and even Baltimare or Bales would show up. In her mind, Berry could envision ponies coming all the way from Vanhoover on the West Coast to see Rara.

Ponyville's population would probably double in less than a day.

Thankfully, since it was snowing, families were not paying active attention to them, plus Rara had done her best to hide most of her mane underneath her hat. She was still a subdued elegance, but if ponies weren't actively searching for her, then they'd probably not spot her.

For a couple of minutes, they walked silently, their breaths creating small clouds of condensation as they listened to the laughter and chatter from tourists. Posters had been put up by some of Rara's crew, who had arrived late on Hearth's Warming Eve and hurried to get their jobs done before Hearth's Warming Day properly arrived. After all, what kind of boss would Rara be if she was like Svengallop and forced them to work on the holiday of the year?

The posters were rather simple: only a silhouette of Rara at a piano, with a few stars along the top of the page. On the bottom, the crowd was made up of ponies and creatures of all shapes and sizes, including a few that were supposed to be caretakers of any charges in them. Rara's form was in the middle of cheerfully singing a note, and the caption of "Broken but Working Charity Drive" was proudly highlighted in bold letters.

Both of them stared at it for a moment, and then Berry was the one to elbow Rara in the ribs. "You know how to draw out a crowd, huh, Rara?" She smirked when Rara blushed faintly.

"I explicitly told everypony on Tweeter that they should come tomorrow. It's not until after the sun sets, anyway!" A nonplussed frown formed on her muzzle. Letting out a small sigh, she shook her head, which flung a few free flakes off her hat. "I guess it's still not as bad as Real and Unplugged, though. You'd swear everypony couldn't live without me."

"Right, that was the tour you held after... two and a half years of hiatus," Berry mumbled, finally putting two and two together. She caught Rara's mischievous grin. "Wow, I'm a dummy."

Laughing in a tinkling little titter, Rara simply bumped Berry back. "You're fine! It wasn't like you knew until I told you about my rehab." She huffed. "But seriously, I need to push that ponies need to spend more time with their friends and family, especially on a day like today." Rolling her eyes in mild irritation, she muttered, "It's not like I do that enough already."

"Maybe they'll get it one day," Berry replied, squeezing one of Rara's hooves encouragingly. She chuckled a bit as she felt her stomach rumble, and heard Rara's.

Blinking in surprise, Berry breathed out, blowing a few flakes wide, and she exclaimed a low, surprised gasp as she noticed the building which they were standing outside of. A large line had begun to trail in front of the door on the other side of the wall. The large sign hanging over the entrance had a brilliant, cheerful mare with a stein of ale in her hoof. They were right outside The Smiling Mare.

In the cold weather, ponies were huddled close together as they waited to be let in. Berry trotted around to see that there was a small piece of paper in one of the windows promising that they'd feed every hungry and thirsty pony who came to their doors. Inside, she could see that Straight Shot was already there, busily cleaning the bar, while Flowery Prance was hastily grabbing beer and shot glasses.

Charred Grill was angrily poking his head out of the kitchen to shake a hoof at Keen Figures. The latter was lazily sitting at a booth, rubbing his hooves together as he saw the line of ponies on the street.

As a test of the draft mechanism, Straight Shot poured a glass of beer and checked that the head was properly made. When he looked out the window, he spotted Berry staring in at the pub, and he gave her a wave. Flowery also passed by and did the same.

Berry just stared at them, a bit shell-shocked. A twisting sensation wrung at her gut, but she didn't even feel like going an inch closer to the pub. In fact, she took a couple of steps away.

"Berry?" Rara asked, although she remained silent otherwise while Berry contemplated the pub in fear. A few ponies looked at the pair in confusion, although one neighed and quickly darted off, obviously recognizing Rara and searching for something to get her to autograph.

After what seemed like an eternity, Berry shivered and knocked some of the snow that had landed on her mane off. She fondled the small necklace she had around her neck, and she smiled warmly. Looking back at Rara, she declared, "I don't think I'm thirsty." She smirked. "There's a Neighponese place open nearby. Wanna try it? I've eaten there a few times. It's pretty good."

"You bet!" Rara declared, her face breaking out into a bright grin as she watched Berry trot confidently away from the pub. Some other ponies in the line glanced at them quizzically. They were both gone by the time the one fan came back with a paper, now without a pony to sign it.

For a moment, the pair simply enjoyed each other's company on Hearth's Warming. Although it would be seen by many as probably one of the worst ways to spend the holiday, Berry inwardly beamed at the time she had spent with Rara. Disappointments and all. When Rara saw her friend's smile, she grinned and flashed brilliantly white teeth. Rara wrapped a hoof over Berry's withers in a gesture of friendship.

As the two of them waltzed down the street, the muted sunlight leaving a bit of glimmer on the snow, and the lights of the houses glittering in the fresh crystals, she licked her lips and remarked, "You know, despite traveling all across Equestria, I've never eaten at a Neighponese restaurant."

Berry chortled. She shot Rara a confident, lopsided grin. "Then you're in for a treat! Just wait until they sing Celestia Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Holding back a snigger, Rara pressed a hoof against her muzzle, but she quickly failed and demanded, "What?!" Seeing that Berry was serious, she lightly whacked Berry on her right shoulder. "You're joking!" Berry simply shook her head.

Sharing a giggle, they hugged and took a left, soon seeing the small establishment in the distance. With a smile, Rara stated as she nudged Berry, "Well, whatever they do there, I know it'll be a fond memory. Happy Hearth's Warming, Ber!"

With a soft blush, Berry blinked away a few tears and quickly embraced her friend, "Happy Hearth's Warming, Rara!"

They walked off together, two broken ponies, celebrating the perfect holiday in the most broken way possible, their happy laughter echoing off into the mid-afternoon sky.

FIN

Author's Note:

This character combination is definitely not because, as I write this portion of the author's note (November 25th), that I watched the previous night The Mane Attraction, and I was reminded how fun (and adorable) a character Rara is. Absolutely not.

Anyway, hoo boy! That was a long and storied read, was it not? It might be a long one, but I'm extremely proud of how it turned out, as it was with two characters I never thought about writing, let alone writing interacting together, and it was certainly a topic that I didn't intend to do without prompting. As someone who knows about the struggles that many go through with problems just like these, I pray that you'll receive the help that you need this Christmas season.

Thank you, once again, to Everfree Pony for editing all of this. It was certainly a lot, and this is honestly as about as condensed that I could make the idea. It was simply something that I couldn't quite get out of my brain. Another thank you is due to slushpony for the cover art, as I felt that this story deserved something unique for it, and the art that was provided certainly fit the bill.

Lastly, I want to say thank you to Winter_Solstice for even planting the idea in my mind in the first place. I hope that you enjoyed this work of passion. Merry Christmas and Happy Hearth's Warming!

Until next fic!
T4E

Comments

[Gonderlane]

I think it's easy to sing praises, but I'll do it anyway. This was absolutely phenomenal. You do such an amazing job of setting the scene, painting such a vivid image for the reader while still doing a fantastic job of keeping the story flowing. Not to mention the way you write characters, I never would have imagined seeing these two, not just in a story together, but written in such a way that gives a blend I will probably never see again from any other author. You made me love Berry and Coloratura a lot more. This is how you do characterization.

And the most important parts of the story, the most touching ones, hit as good as you intended them to, if not probably more. Easy to put in words, but I could tell I was drawn to the emotional scenes, especially the one with Berry rushing home. I'd say this is a hard thing to do since I almost never get pulled into stories like this, but these scenes definitely made me emotional.

This is already one of my favorite stories, and this'll probably stay on my mind for some time.

[Test4Echo]

11784323
Thanks, Gonder! The thoughts you left here and also DMed me really made my day. I'm pleased that you were able to get into the fic so much, as that's what every author wants from their stories.

[Test4Echo]

11784129
You don't know how much that means to me. I'm overjoyed at your response. I am sure that you'll enjoy the rest of the story when you have time to read it.

I suppose, yes, my one sign of inexperience (for good and bad, I suppose?) would be those drink combinations, but I'm glad it didn't detract from anything for you.

You're welcome again! Thank you for the story prompt which led to this fic. A belated Merry Christmas and Happy Hearth's Warming!

[musoperatica]

To The Author - Late merry Christmas and a happy new year!
anyways i saw this in new stories section bout 4 days ago and looking at said cover art/image going like ''hm? interesting concept. gotta read it''

in chapter two: rara's confession to berry about being a drug addict while in mane attraction was very in-cannon & absolute highlight in this whole fic!!! really incredible work👏

note/p.s: you're probably wondering why i'm tagging my message as that.
it's specific meant for said person/author whose written the story & to prevent random users from jumping into the conversation!

[Test4Echo]

11787021
Thank you for the kind words! I'm pleased that you enjoyed that section of the story, it was one of my favourite parts to write, and it made me like Rara even further.

A late Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, too!

[musoperatica]

11787334
No problem!
i wish that hasbro showed her a little bit more as a character not just a one-off guest appearance, never read the comics for mlp. although i'm glad 4 gen mlp ended the way it did cause now they're going broke! still am not forgiving them not releasing the last two seasons of mlp: friendship is magic on DVD & leaving the equestria girls film series without a conclusion/ending!

p.s: interestingly enough i had written a fic way back in 2017 that used Rara/Coloratura & berry punch in major roles
but it's left unpublish due to irl problems...nothing personal mind you just issues that couldn't be fixed in time!! if u wanna know more details just PM me, i'll answer back asap

[Test4Echo]

11787393
I don't believe that either had major roles in the comics, sadly. Especially Coloratura. We all need more Coloratura.

Also, never say never with your story. Maybe you'll get it posted some day, you know? I'd be interested if it ever did see the light of day.

[musoperatica]

11787852
Yeah. that's what i thought definitely we need more of her😇👍👍

Oh i could republish it again but not right now...way too busy with other things at the moment.

p.s: about that i'd rather explain the details of my story in a PM (private message) because there's a lot information & kinda worried bout you not liking the content surrounding it!?!

[Test4Echo]

11787897
Send me a PM if you want.

[new55]

That was a good story.

[Test4Echo]

11822391
Thanks again. I am pleased that you liked it.