Dope

She sits at the bar, her only company an empty glass of hard cider. Behind her ponies chat mindlessly not paying any heed to her as she sits stoically. Her violet eyes slowly follow the edge of the glass up to the bartender, staring at her while cleaning a glass. Her eyes meet his, it's when she opens her mouth she realizes how dry it is.

"One more?" Her voice comes out in a rasp that is barely audible above the noise of the band setting up for their set behind her.

"This would be your third ma'am." The bartender raises an eyebrow. He could've sworn he's seen this pony before. He sets the glass he was cleaning onto the bar.

"I promise this drink is my last one" Her words spill out of her mouth like the syrup from the maple trees outside of Appleoosa. She sets the bits on the table and he fills her glass with the prized golden liquid. "You got a pen?" Her question startles the bartender and he slowly pulls out a pen from his shirt pocket. Wordlessly, she takes it in her mouth and unfolds the large napkin to her right. Sloppily, because penmanship was never high on her priority list, she starts to write.

To my friends,

I know I fucked up again. I have before but this time I really did it. You remember how I wanted a dream so badly? I chased it so hard I nearly killed myself numerous times? Well what happens when you finally get that dream?

I became a Wonderbolt. My lifelong dream was achieved. I thought I was untouchable. The best athlete Equestria has ever seen. But I was wrong. I was so wrong. Truth is, there were others better than me, faster than me, more agile than me. I was just a mare with a dream and a weird mane that got her made fun of in flight camp.

How was I going to stand out? I heard a few ponies in the locker room talk about a flight-enhancing drug. I forgot what it was called. I needed to be faster. You remember right? I always wanted to be faster. One sonic rainboom wasn't enough. I needed to do two or even three. So I tried it.

And it was wonderful. I flew faster than any other pony in my division. I could do alley-oops and barrel rolls into death-defying dives ending in sonic rainbooms. I was top pony. Even Spitfire was impressed. Soarin' was nearly kissing the ground I walked on and Fleetfoot begged for me to hang out with her. I was all I ever wanted to be.

And then I crashed. I needed the drugs more than I needed flying. I would skip practice to shoot up. I'd get higher than I could ever fly before. Then the high would wear off and I'd end up in my barrack, alone on a mattress staring off into the ceiling. I lost my only friend.

Celestia, forgive my sins. I can't loose you all. Don't leave me for I'll surely hate myself until I die. And then I'm here, and why I'm writing this letter to all of you. I got kicked off the Wonderbolts. They said it was from "doping" or something. I guess that's what it was called.

I miss my friends. Truth is, my heart breaks without you. I fear every day that I might not awake without you there. It's just, I've been hurting low from living high for so long.

I'm sorry and I love you. My friends, all we've been through, I need you more than the dope.