Today was the day.

The day of the opening ceremony of Apple Cider Season.

Usually, you wouldn't find yourself getting so hyped over a single party, but this was special. The last time you had met with the entire Mane 6 all together was your surprise welcoming party. Since then, you hadn't seen Pinkie Pie or Rarity once.

Your dream had came back, but at this point it wasn't really a surprise. You didn't feel the need to tell anypony as you had slowly but surely been getting used to it.

While it still creeped you out, nothing abnormal had happened since the voice had gone back to being indistinguishable.

Nevertheless, you jumped out of bed and completed your morning routine. As far as you knew, you didn't need to go into work today, as the whole Apple Family was busy preparing for the ceremony.

Now, a new issue faced you.

What were you going to do for the whole day. While the opening ceremony was usually held during the day, this time it was to be held at night.

You couldn't go into work, for obvious reasons.
You couldn't hang out with Rainbow as she was 'preparing for the ceremony'.

"Hey, Twilight, got any Daring Do books?" you asked after greeting her for the morning.

"Actually, we just got some in!" she answered, happily pointing over to a shelf that had previously been empty.

You thanked her before taking a book from the shelf. The book was simply titled 'The Adventures of Daring Do', so you assumed it was the first in the series.

You jumped onto the couch and flipped open the book onto its first page.

"Rainbow's been rubbing off on you, huh?" Spike said, smugly.

You weren't even aware he was in the room.

"Oh. Morning, Spike." you said, only glancing up from your book for a split second. Spike climbed onto the seat opposite you, like he normally does.

"Tell me, Storm. Was it you who took all our Daring Do books?" Spike asked with a suspicious tone. Looking up from your book again, you noticed he had a detective hat and coat on, as well as a notepad he was scribbling things down on.

"Are you seriously asking me that?" you asked, trying not to laugh. You found it quite hilarious that Spike thought you had taken all the books.

"Well, the only pony who likes Daring Do other than Rainbow Dash is you, and I've never seen Rainbow Dash take a book from the library before." he explained, still jotting down notes.

You glanced over to Twilight, wondering if she was gonna back you up, but she seemed to be engrossed in her study. She was sat at her desk, quickly darting her eyes between different texts.

"It was Rainbow." you said with a monotone expression, determined to get this over with as fast as possible.

"If you say so!" Spike said, quickly putting away his notepad and quill. Was that really all you needed to say?

Nevertheless, you went back to your reading.

Time passed incredibly quickly, and before long you were almost at the end of your book and the day was almost over. You had been reading for an entire day.

It didn't feel like that long, as the only thing that happened was the occasional conversation with Spike, but here you are 12 hours later.

Twilight slammed shut her large science book and got up from her desk.

"Storm, me and Spike are gonna be going to the ceremony pretty soon. Are you coming?" she asked, smiling warmly like always.

As if she even needed to ask.

"Definitely." was all you needed to say.

"We'll be going in 10 minutes." she added as her and Spike walked up the stairs to get ready.

You didn't really understand what there was to get ready for. This wasn't exactly an occasion where you needed to wear clothes. They were probably just getting their bits or something.

Thankfully, the bits you had been saving could now go towards something else, as Applejack was kind enough to give you unlimited free apple cider.

The 10 minutes passed quickly and both Twilight and Spike came back down the staircase carrying 2 bags of bits.

"Ready, Storm?" Twilight asked, opening the door with her unicorn magic.

You nodded at her, and followed the two out of the door.

The walk was quite long, and you desperately wanted to fly to save time, but you knew that wouldn't be fair to Spike. At last, you did eventually reach Sweet Apple Acres.

Many stalls were set up along the walk up to the farm house, all stacked with gallons of sweet apple cider. Paired with the now black night sky, and the soft glow of the firefly lanterns that were hanging from the trees, this atmosphere was unbeatable.

Up ahead, you saw the rest of the Mane 6, except for Applejack who was handling one of the many stalls.

"Hey, girls!" Twilight greeted them.

"Hey, guys!" Rainbow was the first to respond, followed by Fluttershy who you could barely hear over the crowds of ponies.

"Hello, Darling. And you too, Storm!" Rarity said with a flick of her mane. Honestly, you were slightly surprised to see her here.

"Stormy Warmy!" Pinkie Pie screamed as she pulled you into a hug. She shook up and down as she held you, almost giving you a headache.

"Pinkie, remember what we said about breathing?" Rainbow asked with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Oh, right. Sorry!" Pinkie said, laughing nervously.

"So what do all of you have planned for tonight?" Twilight asked, curiously.

"Well, I plan on staying well away from most of these stalls. Being around other ponies might ruffle my fabulous mane!" Rarity informed her, still tampering with her mane.

Every other pony just looked at her with confusion, including you.

"What? I simply must look my best at all times, and I am not risking my appearance just for a few drops of apple cider!" Despite wondering why she even came here if she had no plans to drink any cider, you found her reasoning quite funny.

"What about you Fluttershy?" you asked, trying to distract yourself from laughing.

"Oh, well, I was going to help Applejack manage the stalls." she explained, as quietly as ever. Before anypony could respond to her, however, Pinkie interrupted with her own plans for the evening.

"And I was gonna compete in the apple cider drinking competition!" she shouted, excitedly.

"Oh, yeah?" Rainbow added, her fore-hooves crossed, "We'll see who wins then, won't we?"

And that left you. You had nothing to really do other than drink cider all night.

"Hey, Storm, what're you gonna do?" Twilight asked you.

"Um..." was all you could say. Quite frankly, you didn't really know. You originally wanted to use your free cider privileges to get further onto Rainbow's good side, but she seemed like she already had plans.

"You can hang with me if you want!" a scratchy voice said to you. It was Rainbow Dash, but you thought she was busy doing the drinking contest with Pinkie.

"But aren't you doing the contest?" you asked, worried about getting in the way.

"That's not for at least another hour." she answered, making you feel a little stupid.

"Oh. Then, yeah, sure!" you said, a smile quickly forming on your face.

"Great! Let's go!" Rainbow was already flying slowly over to a stall.

"Um... Bye, guys!" you said as you turned back to the rest of the Mane 6. They all smiled and waved as you followed Rainbow Dash over to the stall.

There were a few wooden tables set up in front of the stall, and one of them was free. How convenient.

Both you and Rainbow Dash sat down at opposite ends of the table so that your were facing each other.

"So you think you can beat Pinkie in a drinking contest?" you asked in an attempt to make conversation.

"I think? No, I know I can!" she replied with feigned insult. She tried her best to seem offended, but you could see right through it. Despite this, you thought it was quite funny testing how far her ego could stretch.

"Are you sure?" you asked, stretching out the final word to add extra emphasis.

"Hey, I could drink a gallon of that stuff in 10 seconds flat." she said, confidently, now looking you in the eyes, "I'll prove it!"

With a smile on her face, she pulled out a bag of bits from her... pockets?

How did she do that? It was like she materialised the bag from thin air! Maybe it was some Equestrian magic you hadn't learned yet, but either way, you wanted to know how it was done.

You couldn't ask Rainbow though, as she didn't know the truth about you just yet. Maybe Twilight will know how it's done.

"Wait!" you shouted as she began hovering over to the stall.

"What?" Rainbow turned around to face you, slightly irritated. She was obviously quite impatient when it came to apple cider.

"Free drinks, remember?" you reminded her, with a sly smile. Rainbow flew back over to your table and took a seat again, this time next to you, rather than across from you.

"You mean you'd use some of your free drinks for me?" she asked, feeling slightly guilty.

"Sure!" you said happily. You didn't know how many free drinks you were allowed, but this was the whole reason you wanted the free drinks to begin with.

"Really?" she asked, still with a look of guilt in her eyes.

"Yes, really." you said, laughing slightly under your breath.

"Thank you, Storm!" she exclaimed, happily, before pulling you into a hug. While you were slightly shocked by her sudden break of character, you hugged her back, before she finally let go, "I mean- Thanks."

She rubbed the back of her head nervously as she rushed to regain her usual demeanour. Giving her a warm smile, you got up and walked over to the stall.

There to greet you was none other than Applejack, who was already preparing pints upon pints of apple cider for the vast amount of customers she was serving.

"Well, howdy, sugarcube! Ah expected to see ya'll here!" The orange earth pony greeted you in a hurry as she finished up serving the latest customer.

As the customer left, she finally diverted her attention to you.

"So what can ah get for ya! It's on the house remember." she whispered with a wink.

"Please could I get 2 fresh pints of Sweet Apple Cider!" you asked, politely.

"Ah know ya usin' your free cider on Rainbow Dash, there," she whispered to you, glancing occasionally over to Rainbow Dash. You felt yourself becoming a little nervous as she said that, "But ah'm not gonna be the one to stop yah!"

Cheerfully, she slid two glasses of apple cider along the counter of the stall so that it stopped right in front of you. 2 straws had already been placed in them.

You thanked Applejack before attempting to pick up the glasses. Much to your surprise, they didn't seem to respond to your 'magnet ability', as you called it.

You realised you would have to balance them on your hooves.

You slid each glass along the desk until they were resting on your hooves, and then slowly raised them into the air. You saw Applejack snickering, but decided to ignore it.

Somehow, you got the two glasses over to Rainbow Dash's table without them spilling at all.

"What took ya so long?" she asked with a mischievous smirk.

Truthfully, you didn't think you took too long, but all you had to say was the name Applejack for her to understand.

The two of you began to drink your apple cider, and as soon as it hit your mouth, you understood why Rainbow loved it so much. It tasted like pure apple juice, with a hint of alcohol mixed in there.
Thankfully, the cider for this ceremony doesn't contain alcohol, and instead recreates the flavour of it due to the large amount of drinks that are being served.

As you finally tasted your first drop of the angelic beverage, a smile slowly crept onto your face. Rainbow looked at you, slightly confused as to your sudden smirk.

"Are you ok?" she asked. But you didn't answer. Instead, you quickly downed the whole glass, savouring every last drop.

Rainbow's eyes were wide with shock. You had downed a whole pint of the stuff in less than a second.

"Woah..." Rainbow gasped in awe, "Never mind 10 seconds, that was 1 second flat!"

You looked at the empty glass, wondering how you just downed it so quickly.

"Y'know, you should enter the contest. There's enough space for 4 ponies each round, and not many enter it because they don't have the sheer awesomeness I have!" Rainbow bragged, but it did give you an idea.

You should enter the contest.

“Well, is there enough space for me?” you asked, worried that the 4 available places had been used up.

“Yep! Applejack has a private round that only has me, Pinkie and Applejack. So there’s space for you, alright!” she said happily before downing her own pint of apple cider.

Maybe you could actually win this. You would be against Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie, who would all give you a challenge. But nevertheless, it was a challenge you were up for.

With new determination, you looked up to Rainbow Dash.

“Where do I enter?”

Author's Notes:

So, I said I wasn’t gonna publish this today, but I’ve split what was gonna be 1 chapter into 2. Originally, this and the contest was 1 Chapter, but I split them in half so I could still get a chapter out.
Quick poll, if I was to make a chapter focusing on a character other than Rainbow, would you rather have 1. Rarity 2. Pinkie Pie or 3. The Cutie Mark Crusaders.
If there aren’t enough votes, I already have a chapter planned for one of these choices, so that’s fine too. The chapter most likely won’t be anytime soon, but I do want it within this act.

Other than that, thanks for reading :D