Chapter:14 Harsh Words and Harsh Hearts

The ride back to Canterlot was silent. Jackpot had closed himself off in one of the rooms on the train and drank what was left of his cider flasks until he passed out. Silver spent the time going through his packs while Enyi just stared out the windows the whole time. The only one of us who really seemed any kind of happy was Scarlet who was extremely giddy about how powerful that staff had made her magic. When we presented it to princess Flurry Heart, Scarlet nearly couldn't give it up.

“It just made everything seem so...straightforward.” Scarlet said to me, “It was like everything I had ever struggled with just faded away and became clear. And my magic! I mean did you see what I could do with that staff Ivory! It was wonderful! I was beating that bully Goldie even!”

“Well I really wouldn't say any of us were really beating her. Honestly, I think that avalanche might have saved us, especially if those Unicorns of hers managed to regroup and come after us with Goldie.” I said back.

“Well, I think we would have been fine.” Scarlet said, her voice still alight with happiness despite the dour mood in the rest of the train car.

“Hey Scarlet?” I asked.

“What is it Ivory?”

“What happened in the ruins after Jackpot and I separated from you?”

“Oh uh, Enyi must have taken a few wrong turns or something, followed by the rest of us in fact. We kinda got separated for a bit in there and it took a while for all of us to find each other again. I actually was the first one to find the staff and burial chamber you know.” Scarlet seemed proud of this fact, “The moment I picked it up with my magic I just felt like...felt like...” Scarlet's eyes misted up as her thought trailed off somewhere I couldn't guess as she giggled slightly.

“So Aurora didn't appear again?”

“Oh no, at least I didn't see her at all, although the staff was in her burial chamber I think. Well it looked like some kind of burial chamber or something. I might've seen a coffin or something but I don't really remember. Once I saw that staff everything else just kind of blurred out, if you know what I mean.”

“You don't know if any of the others saw anything?”

“Well we met up right after I found the staff and left the burial chamber so probably not. And now that the whole place is buried under a mountain of ice and snow I don't think anypony's gonna get back in there anytime soon.” Scarlet sighed.

“I am not looking forward to getting back to Canterlot.” I slunk my head down between my shoulders as a loud sigh left my mouth.

“Dear, I don't think any of us are.” Scarlet looked around at the other somber members of our group as they sulked around.

“I talked to Sable you know. Goldie had a radio transceiver or something and he talked to me.” I shivered a little.

Silver and Enyi each perked their ears up when they heard this.

“What was he like?” Scarlet asked eagerly.

“He seemed intelligent from what he said and how he spoke, he was definitely twisted and sick though. But I must say there was something off about his voice.”

“What was it?” Silver asked, coming over to the conversation.

“I don't know exactly. Something a bit familiar, no that's not it. His voice was softer than I imagined but when I really think about it underneath that, his voice almost sounded like Enyi's.” I took a glance over to Enyi.

“What do you mean his voice sounded like mine?” Enyi asked, very obviously confused.

“Well he kinda talked like how you do, you know he didn't use contractions much when he talked. And I could swear that under that low tone of his and the fuzzy radio that he kind had an accent similar to yours.”

“A Zebra?” Enyi said, partly contemplatively and partly in disbelief.

“That wouldn't make sense.” Silver said, mostly to himself.

“What wouldn't?” I asked.

“Oh, just that I always got the impression he was a pony of some kind. The few times I heard his name mentioned at A.I it just seemed they were always speaking about a pony.”

“Well I'm just saying what I think I might've heard so it might just be my imagination.” I said, shrugging.

“Well we should be arriving back in Canterlot in like twenty minutes so I suppose we can talk more then, or we can just wait until the morning.” Scarlet suggested.

“Yeah, I think we should all just take some time and think about what we want to say.” Silver agreed, “Besides, Jackpot really can't talk right now I think.”

“He is pathetic.” Enyi hissed under his breath.

“Goldie could have been lying or something Enyi. You shouldn't just say tha...”

“How can you defend him Ivory?” Enyi asked angrily, “His face was not one of innocence.” Enyi was right, of course. The look on Jackpot's face when he charged at Goldie was not one of a pony who didn't do what she had just accused him of.

The train arrived at the Canterlot station at its appointed time with Enyi and Silver taking our packs(they left Jackpot's saddlebag behind) back to the house. Scarlet stayed with me as we hoisted Jackpot onto my back and began to carry him out of the station.

“I think we should take him to Joe's for tonight.” I said, looking at Scarlet with my own exhausted eyes.

“Yeah, that might be best Ivory. It'll give Enyi some time to cool off at least.” she agreed.

I sighed, “Why does he have to be so difficult sometimes. He has to see we need Jackpot, right?”

“Well, from what he said on the train what Jackpot did was...” Scarlet's gaze trailed off almost as if she herself didn't want to say it, “Well, it wasn't a good thing.”

“Yeah I know but he's different now. It's the reason he joined up with me and Grit in the first place.”

“We can talk about this tomorrow Ivory. For right now let's just get him to that cider place and get some sleep ourselves.”

Even with Scarlet with me the walk over to Cider Joe's seemed a rather lonely one. Neither one of us talked much and Jackpot couldn't talk. When we got there the bar was empty, Joe helped me set Jackpot down on a small cot in the back room he usually slept in. Scarlet headed out while I went and took a seat at the main bar.

“Ugh.” I groaned as I threw my face down on the counter.

“What's the matter there Ivory?” Joe asked as he slid a shot of Applewhisk in front of me.

“I don't have any bits on me.” I said, staring up at Joe.

“On the house.” Joe answered back.

I slid the glass into my mouth and slid my throat back, allowing the cider to slide, burning, down my throat. “Jackpot's such an idiot.”

“Can't argue there.” Joe said.

“Can't argue with what?” Jackpot's voice suddenly slurred out as he wobbled his way out of the back room.

“Awake already?” I said, surprised.

“I'm never down for long.” Jackpot said, trying to sound impressive but coming out as mostly kind of pathetic as he slumped his body down on a bar-stool.

“You are not in a good position right now.” I said bluntly to Jackpot.

“Yeah, I figured Enyi wouldn't take that bit of news well.” Jackpot said in an exhausted voice.

“So it is true.” I mumbled to myself.

“Yeah, but I try not to think about it. The cider certainly helps.” Jackpot gave a wanting gaze towards Joe who just shook his head prompting a sigh from Jackpot.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked in a voice both worried and disapproving.

“Oh, so many things.” Jackpot mumbled.

“You know I'm going to have to defend you tomorrow right?”

“Yeah.”

“Against Enyi.”

“Yeah.”

I let out a groaning sigh, “This isn't going to go well.”

“Yeah.”

I gaze Jackpot an angry look, “Stop saying 'yeah'.”

Jackpot laid his head down on the top of the counter, “I wouldn't bother if I were you.”

I rolled my eyes, “Please Jackpot, any idiot can see that we really can't do this without you. If we ever run into Goldie again you are the only one who even has any kind of chance in getting us out of that situation alive.”

“Don't sell yourself short kid, a bit more practice and you'll be fine.” Jackpot mumbled.

“Don't give me that shit, we both know I don't stand a chance against her. There's only one artifact left and if she's there then she. Will. Kill. Us. All. Scarlet can't fight, Silver can't fight, Enyi can barely fight and I'm only a bit better than him. And she always brings help with her to. There's no way we can fight her and a dozen of her goons!”

“I think you should take my saddlebag Ivory.”

“Why?”

“Enyi isn't gonna want me around and I don't want to ruin the thing you got going with him. I think you should just take the helmet and go home.”

“Why does everypony I know turn into some kind of horrible person?” I asked, mostly to myself.

“Well in my defense, I've never really hid the fact I'm a terrible person.” Jackpot replied, trying to sound cheeky but only showing off how out of it he still was.

“Fine I'll take the helmet but I'm gonna give it back to you later so don't think about running off anywhere ok.” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Jackpot let off a slight chuckle, “Got it kid.” Jackpot slumped his face down onto the counter.

“So I guess I'll...” before I could finish I heard snores coming from Jackpot. I looked back up at Joe, “Can you make sure he gets up at a good time?”

“Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll carry him over if I have to.” Joe smiled.

“Thanks.” I said as I got up and headed out.

It was late when I finally got back to the house. As I trotted up to the front door I saw some papers stuffed into the front mailbox. I grabbed them in my teeth and carefully entered the code to the front lock before going into the dark and silent house. I took a quick glance around the dark rooms before heading on up to my room, I could see our saddlebags spread out on the couch in the front-room. I headed up to my room and opened the door to see the empty space laid out before me. I gave a disappointed sigh, hopped down onto my bed and began to sift through the mail that I had found. I got a slight jolt of excitement when I saw one of the letters was from Emerald, who was still off in the jungles of Eastern Equestria, so I opened the letter and looked inside:

Dear Ivory,

I'm so sorry this took so long to reach you but getting letters in and out of the jungle is no easy business I'll have you know(the mail-service out here stinks!). I've been super busy down here and I am proud to say we've found stuff down here that even Daring Do and Grit would be proud of! I must admit that without you I do feel kind of lonely as I have nopony to really share any of my finds with that would appreciate them as much as you would. The team and I are going to be looking at some caves I found near a large waterfall tomorrow and I have very high hopes that we will find something inside. I have so much to tell you when I get back and so much I want to talk with you about. Anyway, I would love to hear from you as soon as possible and all the amazing thing you've been up to in our time apart.

Love,

Emerald Flake

“I wonder if I could get Emerald to join my little team?” I puzzled to myself as I finished reading the letter. Unfortunately for Emerald however, I had no idea what the address for the middle of the jungle was to send a letter back to her. Even with all that was going on Emerald's letter did manage to cheer me up slightly. “I hope Emerald's ok.” I sighed to myself. I carefully set the letters down on a small table near my bed, stuffed my self beneath the covers and slowly drifted off to sleep.

*****

I opened my eyes slowly as a ray of sunshine slipped it's way into my room via the window. I stretched my hooves out and let out a large and very audible yawn as I slid out from under my blankets. I walked over to the corner of my room where I had thrown my things down and rustled up my saddlebags to pull out Abila's helmet. I grabbed the bag in my teeth and quickly stuffed it in a small box that was placed beneath my bed where I liked to store various items of personal value to me.

I began to instinctively sniff around when I noticed the aroma of pancakes being made from downstairs. I doggedly made my way downstairs where Enyi was Scarlet was baking the pancakes and Enyi was sitting on a chair in Grit's old study, looking over some of the papers from Luna Bay.

“Oh! Good morning Ivory! I took the liberty of going out and buying us some food earlier so I could have some breakfast ready for when you woke up.” Scarlet said gleefully.

“Wow, they smell pretty good.” I said, intoxicated by the delicious smell emanating from the stove where the food was being cooked.

“Yeah well, I just figured I would do something nice.” Scarlet said as a smile popped on her face.

“Is Silver around anywhere?” I asked.

“Oh no, last night he said something about some emergency popping up at work so he said he would have to leave for a few days or so.” Scarlet answered.

“Morning.” I said to Enyi as I trotted over and gave him a light bop on his head.

Enyi jolted up from his concentrated reading and darted his head back and forth before settling it on me.

“You startled me.” he said.

“Sorry. Anything good?” I asked as I leaned my head over towards what he was reading.

Enyi sighed, “Unfortunately this says nothing of interest.”

“Food's ready!” Scarlet called from in the kitchen.

Enyi got up from his seat and laid the papers he was reading gently down on a small table that sat on the side of the chair. I gave him a little smile which he reciprocated before he stretched out his front hoof and gave me a little hug(it felt nice). We all sat down on the couch in the front room as Scarlet floated several plates of pancakes out for each of us. We ate in relative silence before I said something to break up the monotony.

“I got a letter from my friend Emerald last night.” I said.

“Who?” Scarlet asked.

“She's a friend of mine who also works for Adventure Incorporated. I've known for like, ever and right now she's helping a research team in the Equestrian jungles.”

“Wow, that sounds like fun.” Scarlet said.

“And what we are doing is not?” Enyi said sarcastically.

“Coulda fooled me.” I said back in a like-minded tone, this got a little laugh out of each of us.

“You don't think she might want to come and help us do you?” Scarlet asked.

“No way, I don't want her anywhere near all of this and besides, I don't think she would handle all of this well.”

“Yes, I remember meeting her at the hospital after Grit was killed.” Enyi said. “I agree that she should be kept away at this point.”

After this the silence continued until we had all finished eating. Scarlet floated all of the dishes into the kitchen and we all proceeded to sit on the couch for a while with more awkward silence. Luckily this time there was a knock on the door before too much time had passed and I went to answer it.

“Seriously.” I said with exasperation. Standing on the other side of the door was Cider Joe with a not to good looking Jackpot slung over his shoulder.

“Sorry Ives.” Jackpot said, laughing a little. “Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed is all.”

I could tell Enyi was starring daggers from behind me as I stepped outside to help get Jackpot inside.

“Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen you away from your bar Joe.” I said as Joe transferred Jackpot to my shoulder.

“Yeah, I don't get out much these days, too busy runnin the shop.” Joe said as he successfully slid Jackpot onto my shoulder. “Be careful with him, he wasn't doin good all night.”

“Ok thanks, I'll be sure to be gentle.” I said as I waved Joe off before stepping back into the house and closing the door behind me with my back hoof. I was right, Enyi did not look happy when Jackpot came in while Scarlet just fidgeted around looking a bit nervous. I carefully slid Jackpot onto a chair in the corner of the room before going back to sit down with Enyi and Scarlet on the couch.

“Now what?” Scarlet asked.

“Now we talk.” I answered.

Jackpot did the best he could to sit himself up on the chair, his wings were laying limply on his side and he groaned a bit as he got more comfortable.

“You don't look so good.” Scarlet said worriedly to Jackpot.

“Just a bit sick is all.” Jackpot said, once again doing his best to not look like a hot mess.

“Yes, it is called the cider virus.” Enyi said, still angrily looking away from Jackpot.

“Oh come off it ya striped stick-in-the-mud.” Jackpot did his best to snap back which elicited a very angry stare from Enyi.

“Ok ok, let's calm down and talk about this.” I said, trying to diffuse the tenseness.

“For me there is nothing to talk about.” Enyi said. “I say jackpot must leave.”

“Wait a minute Enyi.” I said, “Think about what that means.”

“It means he will be gone and I will not have to suffer his many odors and absurdities any longer.” Enyi huffed.

“Can I say something?” Scarlet interrupted.

“Of course you can.” I said back as calmly as I could.

“Well it's just that I think that Jackpot should stay with us, so that's where my vote is going.” Scarlet put on her best I'm serious face and nodded her head assuredly.

“I told you what he did correct?” Enyi asked harshly towards Scarlet.

“Enyi, calm down...” I started to say before Scarlet put her hoof in front of my mouth to get me to stop.

“Yes you did but the way I am reading this whole situation is that Jackpot is helping Ivory to make up for all that stuff and that he is different now from back then.” Scarlet said, even more firm.

“What is it with ponies and their overly forgiving nature.” Enyi said, a bit angry and confused. “He killed children! Not to mention the others who lived in that village!”

“How did you not already know about this?” I asked, “I mean you knew he was there and about the stolen artifacts but not about an entire village getting wrecked?”

“I was not told...” Enyi started to say.

“How would you need to be told? A whole village disappears and you just never found out about it?” I asked, a bit harder this time.

Enyi let out a loud groan, “You would not understand.”

“Then tell me!” I shouted.

“Yes, tell us.” Scarlet agreed.

“I cannot.” Enyi said back with a nicker.

“Are you fucking kidding me!” I let out an even louder nicker of frustration. “We're never going to understand if you never tell us shit!”

Enyi sat there stone-faced for several moments before opening his mouth, “I would need to tell you things that are forbidden for you to know about us.”

“For the love of...” I stuffed my hoof in my face, “Why can't you tell me specifically Enyi? You know you can tell me anything right? If you want we can go somewhere in private and you can tell me there?”

“No.” Enyi said flatly.

“Why the fuck not!” I said.

“Um, we can calm down at any time you know.” Scarlet said, interrupting me.

“You're right Scarlet.” I took a breath and looked back at Enyi, “Can you say exactly why you can't tell me?”

Enyi sat there for a minute before answering, “That incident...was...taken.”

“Taken?” Scarlet said, confused.

“Yes. Our leaders do not like embarrassments such as that. The theft of the artifacts could not have been hidden but the destruction of a remote village could have been.”

“You'd be surprised how big of assholes those Zebra uppy-ups can be. It's part of why I thought hurting them wasn't as bad back then.” Jackpot suddenly put in.

“Shut up.” Enyi snapped at Jackpot.

“So the fact of dozens of Zebras getting killed and a village getting wiped out is just covered up?” Scarlet said, shocked.

“No, it was more than that. At the time it did not occur to me what had happened, both with Jackpot and with the Zebra, but when Goldie said what she did I knew then what had happened.” Enyi said.

“What happened?” I said, now very confused.

“No...it is not something we speak of.” Enyi answered(if you can call that an answer).

“What is it with Zebras and their stubborn resistance to talking!” I said, doing a bad impression of Enyi's own comment on ponies and their forgiveness, “I thought you said you didn't even like that about Zebras?”

“I still made vows when I became a storyteller. Vows that I intend to keep, despite my own personal feelings.” Enyi said back, not looking all too happy.

“Um, I think we're starting to get a little off track here.” Scarlet said, interrupting the intense match between Enyi and myself.

“Well either way, it's two votes to your one. Jackpot stays.” I said, wanting this to be the end of the matter.

“We do not have Silvers vote.” Enyi said, making sure we all heard.

“Oh, I doubt he'll vote to get rid of Jackpot. He knows how badly we need him.” I said back.

“And how exactly do we need him?” Enyi retorted.

“So you wanna fight Goldie yourself the next time we bump into her?” Scarlet said.

“We can find some other way.”

“What if there is no other way?” I said, “Plus, he's good at finding things, especially treasure. It'll make things easier for him to stay with us.”

The debate continued on for a good long while with Enyi and myself arguing back and forth with an occasional comment from Scarlet. Jackpot stayed uncharacteristically quiet(makes some sense, given the situation) and mostly stayed slumped in his chair, recovering from all the cider he had drunk the night before.

“How can you stand by a pony like him? He killed children Ivory! Not to mention his constant rudeness.” Enyi said, completely frustrated with the seemingly unending debate.

“Because I can see that he is not the pony he was back then. He's trying to be better Enyi!” I shouted back, equally frustrated. “You know what, screw this!” I said, finally giving up and stomping my way out of the house.

“Where are you going!?” Enyi shouted, angrily.

“I'm going to Joe's!” I shouted, grabbing Jackpot and dragging him out of the house.

“Was that a good idea?” Jackpot asked, now a bit more awake and alert than he was in the morning.

“Probably not.” I said, “But I just need to get out of that house for a bit. Why is Enyi being like this?” I was very frustrated and angry at him right now.

“Don't blame him too much.” Jackpot said, “He's not entirely wrong in what he says you know.”

“Don't you turn against yourself now Jackpot.”

“I'm not but I'm just saying that you shouldn't hold this against him.”

I was just a bit too angry to listen to Jackpot right now. I needed to get out for a bit and Cider Joe's seemed like the best place to go and blow off some steam and recollect my thoughts. I ended up being very happy with my decision as the bar was full up tonight. Several dozen ponies were filling up the place to where some had spilled out into the back. Cider Joe had even opened up Jackpot's obstacle course for ponies to try and complete(for a fee). Bumpkin and his brother Lumpkin were there and the moment they saw me enter they boomed up and led the place in cheering for me.

“Looky here brother!” Bumpkin hollered out. “We got a genuine adventure pony in the place!” he said with a laugh.

“Yes indeed we do brother!” Lumpkin beamed. “And she looks a little miffed. Tell us Ms. Ivory, what's the matter?”

“Hey guys, we're just looking to blow off some steam.” I yelled back.

“Well you've come to the right place at the right time!” Bumpkin yelled. “Hero is about to have some fancy new DJ's on her show and they're gonna premier some new music or something.”

“Yeah!” Lumpkin followed, “Joe here was about to fill this place up with some tunes!”

The two had obviously had a lot of cider to drink but at this point I wanted to follow suit. It didn't take long to convince Jackpot to join in on the fun as once he started to get some free drinks he seemed to perk right up from his slump. Joe had turned the music up very loud to the point where nopony could hear any other pony talk but nopony really minded. The whole bar seemed to be too busy dancing and having fun to the loud and energetic music.

“Alright my pones!” Hero shouted over the radio, “Y’all may have heard bout little ole BubbleRap and Snicker Doodle up from Marewaukee and how much I love em. So now for the first time ever on Hero Studio's I give you the DJ Pon-duo!”

With that I began to lose myself for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening. I spent the rest of the day drinking Cider, listening to music, schooling ponies on the course and generally laughing and joking with all the other ponies that decided to hang out at Joe's for the day.

“So, how many you up to Tinny?” I asked a rust colored Earth Pony mare who had been sitting next to me at the counter and getting into an unofficial drinking match with me.

“Four.” she said back.

“How long you been here?”

“Oh, about an hour or so.”

“HA! Is that all. Hey Jackpot! We up to nine, or was it ten!?” I shouted only to see Jackpot sitting in a booth laughing while being surrounded by three other mares who were laughing at something. I ignored this and got right back to getting more drinks from Joe before heading out into the back lot.

I ran through the obstacle course a lot after that, although I didn't do very good as I found moving in a straight line to be increasingly difficult. It didn't matter though as everypony just ended up laughing whenever somepony fell off and onto the ground. After a few hours of this(and more cider) I stumbled my way back inside for food and more dancing from the music on the radio. It took a while but I soon found myself sitting in a booth in the corner, exhausted but still feeling absolutely great at the same time. But before I could get much time to rest a slight tap on my shoulder interrupted my attempt at a quick nap before heading back out to do some dancing. I slowly turned my groggy head up only to see Enyi standing above me looking none too happy.

“Am I interrupting anything?” he said with an annoyed look on his face.

“Oh hey! Just the zebra I was looking for!” I managed to say as I leaned forward, nearly fallout out of the seat I was in.

“Am I now?” Enyi said, slightly sarcastically but still annoyed.

“Oh yeah totally!” I gave Enyi the best sultry stare I could, “I was just thinking about how cool those stripes of yours are and how I would just love to...”

“Let me just stop you there Ivory.” Enyi said, putting his hoof on my mouth to signal me to stop. “Will you be coming back to the house or are you just going to stay here?”

“Oh, I'll be coming somewhere tonight if I can help it.” I said laughing, thinking this just sounded super funny.

Enyi rolled his eyes and turned away, “Fine, you know where I will be if you want to start acting reasonable.”

“Aww, come on. Stay here with me. I got this room in the back and nopony who'll bother us.” I leaned forward for a kiss but ended up losing my balance and falling on the floor with a thud and a laugh. Enyi turned around and with a light nicker began trotting back towards the door, “Wait a minute! I got some stuff I want you to bring over!”

Enyi stopped and turned back towards me, “What stuff?”

“Oh you know, just some things.” I laughed at how coy I was being, “Well, there's Jackpot's stuff, you know all his little cups and stuff. You know what just bring the whole saddlebag with you.”

Enyi sighed, “Fine. I will bring back his things but I want you to come back with me when I get back.”

“Jackpot's right, you are a stick-in-the-mud.” I huffed in disappointment(and I was disappointed). Here I was, his amazing, beautiful and super awesome girlfriend and he was just totally snubbing me! “How about you stay here with me when you get back?”

“I would much rather remain at the house where it is um...quiet.” Enyi responded as he nodded his head towards the cadre of ponies dancing to the rather loud music in the background.

“Oh I see, you like a quieter setting, ok.” I said, curling a fiendish smile on my face before trying to stand up and failing miserably with my wobbly legs.

“Are you ok?” Enyi asked as he leaned his head towards the dozen or so empty glasses that sat on the table.

“Those aren't all mine!” I said, thinking that the fact the now more than a dozen drink glasses I had had were taken by Joe when I was done with them. “Those are probably somepony else's...well most are anyway...some are mine.” You know, really thinking about it, it was probable that some indeed were mine, probably about four or five of them to be exact...ish. “You wanna know sometin? It's getting really hard to talk right bout now.”

“I bet.” Enyi said, now starting to look a bit more uncomfortable.

“Aww com on! Just stay here wit me you sexy Zebra!” he really was to.

“Ok, time to go.” Enyi said hurriedly, “It is pretty clear you are not yourself right now. I will return with the items and then I will ask you to return with me again. If I come back and you are passed out I will carry you home.”

“Promises promises!” Oh the implications! Enyi rolled his eyes “Remember they're in my room! Probably! Just don't go looking too deep you pervert!” The fact he wasn't laughing showed my brand of comedy was just far too advanced for Enyi to understand. I know this because several ponies in the vicinity laughed when I said this.

As Enyi left I managed to stumble back on to my hooves and back up towards the bar. I pulled myself up onto one of the bar-stools and slumped my head onto the counter.

“You alright there Ivory?” Joe asked as he leaned over me.

“Ooooooh yeah! Just Peachy!”

“What!” Yelled a pony whose name was probably Peachy.

“Not you Peachy!” Joe yelled.

“Oh, ok!” Peachy yelled back.

“Can...just have a.....whatever?” I managed to mutter out.

“You and Jackpot have had quite the bit already, I don't think it's a good idea to have much more.” Joe said.

“Oh, we'll just sleep here...it's ok.” I said carefully, holding back a sudden urge to puke my guts out.

“Really, that friend of yours seemed to want to take you home.”

“Well then he will and I will still be fine so ANOTHER PLEASE!” that urge to puke suddenly came back.

“Ok, if you say so.”

After a few more I managed to hobble over towards the spot Jackpot was sitting at. With each step I took I found that walking had become even more difficult than I had previously noticed. It was slow going because my stomach suddenly started turning in on itself but with the numbness that had begun to spread through my body I could hardly notice. I got close enough to notice that Jackpot had passed out before sitting down next to him, closing my eyes and losing consciousness myself.

*****

“Um Ivory? Are you uh, ok?” a very familiar voice said through the intense throbbing that was shooting through my head.

“You said you're a doctor right? Don't you have anything that could help?” I heard another voice that sounded eerily familiar say.

“Well, not really. I mean this isn't the sort of thing they taught at school and since you're the pony who invented this drink it's a pretty new thing so I don't really know how to treat it.” the first voice said.

“A good splash of cold water usually gets them up at least.” the second voice said.

“I don't think we could do that inside and they really don't look well enough to be moved.” said the second voice again.

“I guess. Don't want them vomiting all over the floor again.”

“Again?”

“Yup.”

“You ever think of putting a limit on the amount of cider you give to ponies?”

“It's been suggested recently so yes, I have begun to consider it.”

As the two voices continued to talk I managed to very slowly and very carefully open my eyes. They were open just enough to make out some vague shapes but I slowly began to recognize the bright red mane of Scarlet through the gloom of my half-opened eyes and the dim room.

“Did she just move a little?” Scarlet's voice said.

“I think so.” said the voice that came from the body I recognized as Cider Joe.

Scarlet's face closed in on me, “Hey there; you awake?”

I managed to squeak out a very light grunt but even that made me feel intensely nauseous.

“You got anything to treat nausea?” Joe asked.

“Well, just slight nausea. Not the kind she's probably feeling right now.”

“Anything would help.”

“Well I did just learn something from a book that might help.” Scarlet said as she lifted her face away from my own. A few seconds later I felt a slight pressure being lifted from my stomach. Not enough to make me feel good enough to move but enough to make me not feel like I am constantly going to explode. A satisfied grunt was all I could get myself to muster at the current moment to signify my approval. “Any idea when she'll be really up?”

“Probably a few hours.” Joe said.

“It's already afternoon.”

“Yeah well she had a lot last night and I mean a lot.”

Scarlet sighed, well I guess I'll head over to see how Jackpot is doing and try this spell out on him.

After those words I closed my eyes and slipped back into sleep. When my eyes opened up again Scarlet was sitting in a corner helping Jackpot hold up and drink a glass of water.

“Ok, slowly there. You don't want to throw up everywhere again do you?” Scarlet said.

“Scarlet?” I said weekly, barely being able to move my head up to look up.

“Be back in one minute ok.” I heard Scarlet say, “Oh look who's up!” she said as she carefully laid Jackpot's head down onto a small pillow and trotted over to me.

“What time is it?” I asked as I quickly realized that trying to move was a bad idea.

“Oh, it's about five in the afternoon.” Scarlet said as she leaned over me. “Guess you had quite the night last night huh?”

“Are we home?”

“Uh no, we're still at Joe's.”

“I thought I remembered Enyi saying he was going to carry me home or something.”

“Before we do anything else, Joe says water can help so I have a few glasses here for you to drink.” Scarlet floated over several glasses of water before using her magic to tilt my head up enough to get me to start drinking. “Just go slowly. Jackpot tried to guzzle his down and ended up throwing up all over me.” Scarlet's face went a bit red when she said that as she gave a disapproving gaze towards where I saw Jackpot still laying.

I followed her advise and slowly sipped down the first glass of water Scarlet had floating near my mouth. After a few of these I laid back down for several minutes before the smell of food caused my nose to start twitching. I managed to lift my head to see Joe, in the next room over, standing over a stove, cooking up some waffles and toast. I was able to sit up before the urge to vomit everywhere nearly took hold of me. I managed to catch myself and shut my mouth up tight to catch any that thought it could sneak out. After that thoroughly unpleasant experience I saw Scarlet standing next to Joe rubbing her forehead as he cooked the food.

“Hey Jackpot, you awake?” I managed to say.

“No.” I heard him mumble.

“Nice try but I can hear you.” I tried to laugh but my stomach seemed to almost explode when I did.

From my spot I could hear Jackpot groaning, “I regret so much from last night.”

“It was my idea remember, so consider it my fault.” I groaned back. “Can you move?”

“Not well.”

I slowly sat myself up as I continuously fought back the urge to puke out everything of whatever I had consumed the previous night. After standing up all I could do was stand perfectly still as to move would almost certainly spell disaster for me and anypony who happened to be in front of me(it was Jackpot).

“Oh thank Celestia you're awake!” Scarlet happily yelled as she cantered over to to where I was standing and where Jackpot was attempting to stand. “I thought I was going to have to dunk you in a lake or something, it was beginning to look like you'd never get up and...”

I lifted my hoof up to signal for Scarlet to stop talking. “I haven't puked yet....counting that as a win....if I keep talking too much....I'm gonna lose.”

“Oh uh, of course. Joe has been a dear, telling me all about what happens when ponies drink too much. It's mostly stories about Jackpot.” Scarlet sighted a little bit.

Scarlet gently let me hang my hoof over her shoulder as she walked me over to one of the front booths where she slowly set me down. She cantered off and shortly after came back with Jackpot draped over her shoulder, giving him the same gentleness she gave me.

“If only I still had that staff. Then I could easily fix you two up right away.” Scarlet said, sighing to herself.

“Hey Scarlet?” I asked.

“What is it Ivory?”

“Where's Enyi? I remember doing...something...embarrassing, I think, last night so I should probably go and apologize or something.”

“Oh, so you don't know where he is? I was kind of hoping you did.”

“Wait, what!? Are you saying you don't know where he is?” talking was a bad idea. I quickly shoved my hoof into my mouth again to prevent myself from vomiting everywhere.

“Slow down Ivory. And no I don't. He left to get you, then came back a bit later, then came galloping down the stairs and out of the house with some saddlebags a little while after that.”

Suddenly my eyes went as wide as the fucking sun as I realized what exactly had happened. “Oh fuckfuckfuckfuck, shitty Luna fucking....Celestia.” my head fell down on the table with a thud and this time I couldn't stop myself from puking a bit on the table as the vomit began to pool beneath my face.

“Joe!” Scarlet yelled.

“Oh really you guys! Again!” Joe yelled, very obviously annoyed, “Maybe I should start putting some restrictions on this stuff.”

“Um, Ivory, what is it?” Scarlet said as she tapped my shoulder with her hoof.

I lifted my head to talk but unfortunately it was covered in vomit so Scarlet quickly recoiled and covered her nose as Joe hurried over with a rag and water.

“Watch the food, it's pretty much ready.” Joe said to Scarlet. Scarlet ran off to finish up the food as Joe carefully cleaned off my mouth and then the table.

“So where is he Ivory?” I heard Jackpot mumble from across the table.

“I told him to go and grab your saddlebag and bring the flasks over.”

“Dammit.”

“Yup.”

“Then he probably found the...”

“Yup.”

“I'm so sorry Ivory. This is all my fault and...”

“Just shut up please.” I was in too bad a shape to really feel anything right now but despite this my stomach seemed to churn all on its own as my mouth suddenly filled with more vomit. Joe, luckily, thought ahead and had an empty bucked I could use, and believe me...I did.

“Who found what?” Scarlet said, as she trotted back over with several plates of waffles, toast and even a couple glasses of orange juice.

“Hey Joe, can you uh...” Jackpot pointed his head on towards the door to another room. Joe very quickly took the hint and left the room, with a few waffles and toast that he carried on a plate in his mouth.

“The helmet.” I said.

“What helmet?” Scarlet said back.

“Abila's helmet.” Jackpot moaned.

“Abila? You mean that Zebra Enyi was always going on about?” Scarlet suddenly paused as she probably realized what we were meaning. “Wait, so the big magical thing that belongs to her...you two had it all along? How did you get it?”

“Grit.” was all I managed to say.

“Wait, when did Grit...” Scarlet's eyes grew even wider, “So all that stuff they were saying on the radio and in the papers about his was true after all. And you two knew about this?”

Jackpot and I exchanged guilty glances, “It was mainly me and Grit. We went to Khaweth a bit before we met you and Grit managed to get his hooves on it and smuggle it back to Equestria. Ivory didn't know about all of this at the time though and she only found out after Grit had died and I convinced her to keep it a secret.” Jackpot explained.

Jackpot kept talking but I stopped paying attention rather fast. I was still wrapping my head around Enyi being gone. If he went right for the train he could be past the Macintosh Hills and half way to the ocean and to Khaweth. I needed to catch up to him somehow and explain everything to him. He would understand right? It's not like he was super...stubborn. “Oh sweet Celestia he's gonna hate me forever.” I mumbled as quietly as I could. Still I felt I needed to at least explain what the situation was. Oh shit I don't have the time. We still need to go after the last artifact and apparently Goldie has one and OH SHIT! Enyi might have just made himself a HUGE target, but again there was not really a way we could catch up to him at the moment.

“Wait, so some members of the Zebra government let Grit take the helmet?” Scarlet said.

“Yup.” said Jackpot.

“Then why didn't they just tell Enyi?”

“Honestly, I really don't know but if I had to hazard a guess I would say probably because he would have said no, as would most storytellers I guess.”

“Well I don't like all this sneaking around and doing this partly legal, partly illegal stuff, but If Grit knew what he was doing...”

“Whatever his ultimate plan was he didn't tell us.” I suddenly blurted out. “Now Enyi's fucking...gone and...fuck all of this!”

I stuffed a waffle into my mouth, swallowed it, then went on to chug a glass of orange juice.

“Well what should we do now?” Scarlet asked.

“We're going after the last treasure.” I said.

“But what about...”Scarlet started to say.

“If he wants to fuck off then let him. We need to stop Sable and making sure he has as little access to as many of those artifacts as possible is the best way to go about it. If Enyi has the helmet then noponies ever gonna get their hooves on it. I say let's focus on what we can do and go from there.” I said, just wanting to get this whole fucking thing over with.

“But we don't even know where it is.” Scarlet pointed out.

“Then let's go talk to some Buffalo and go from there.” I said firmly as I tried to move before remembering moving was the absolute worst fucking thing in the world and I once again vomited whatever was left in my stomach into the nearby bucket, nearly overflowing it.