//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: Discharged 
// by The_Last_Centurion 
//------------------------------//

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc. 
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth. 


Chapter 9



I woke up to a strange buzzing noise coming from around my head. I tried to block it out, clenching my eyes shut and pulling my pillow closer around my head, but it only got louder. My mind groggily realized that my pillow was the source of the strange noise. I threw it off my head and onto the floor where it continued to emanate the noise. 
“Buck it all.” I cursed as I climbed out of the pull-out couch bed, still keeping my eyes shut. I rubbed my face with both my hooves and sighed. I was really tired and I just sat there as my mind started to warm up.
I opened my eyes and saw that it was still dark out. I glanced over to the clock in the library. It read a harsh 4:30. I got up and walked into the kitchen looking around for something to drink. I didn't know what in the world had made my pillow act so unnaturally, but my thirst came first. Priorities. I opened up the fridge and inside was the water pitcher, but also a full plate with a cover over it. A note was attached to the cover. Intrigued, I pulled it out with the water pitcher and put them on the table. I got a cup before sitting at the table. I poured the water into the cup, and drank ravenously. Then I took a look at the  note.
“Dear, Crimson,” it read in a fluid, refined hoofwriting. “I put some leftovers from dinner into the fridge for you in the morning, since you would be getting up far earlier than Spike or I. I hope the spell I put on your pillow didn't scare you too much, but I didn't have any alarm clocks, so I had to improvise. The Apple family starts working around 5:00 when the sun rises, so you have to get used to getting up early. Have fun and good luck! Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.” I snorted and almost chocked on my cold grilled dandelion sandwich. That's why I'm even awake at this time! I quickly looked at the clock back in the library. It steadfastly told me it was 4:40. 
Horseapples. It took us nearly 20 minutes to get to Sweet Apple Acres last night, and that was when we were all racing. I took one last bite of my sandwich and a final swig of water and hurried across the library and out the front door. 
Looked out at Ponyville in the predawn hours. It was serene, but my predicament caused me to miss out on it's cozy charm. I raced through the empty streets taking turns at full speed, sprinting straightaways and dashing out onto the road that led out of town to Sweet Apple Acres. I felt my heart beating hard in my chest along with hearing my pulse in my ears. I kept running faster becoming aware the dark sky were receding into a light pink hue. I breathed harder as I pushed myself to make it to Sweet Apple Acres. I crested the final hill as the sun's first rays broke the horizon. I slowed from a gallop to a canter as I descended down the hill. I came to Sweet Apple Acres' entrance. 
I stopped just outside of the farmhouse and sat in the dirty ground regaining my breath.
The door to the farm house opened up and Applejack poked her head outside.
“Don't tell me yer already tired!” She said bemused, her cowpony hat sitting cock-eyed on her head. “Come on in. We got breakfast if'n yer hungry.” she said as she reentered the house.
I got up and followed her into the farm house. The second I entered I was hit with the lovely smell of a well cooked farm breakfast. It felt like I floated to the table in the quaint kitchen following only the scent of a good breakfast. I saw Big Mac seated at the table while Applejack set another place. He was chewing on an apple strudel silently. I nodded to him as I came in and sat down at the worn table. He nodded back in acknowledgment and kept eating. I sat down to his right and Applejack across from him, to my right.
The table was covered in quite the spread of warm, healthy, farm cooking. Apple strudels, oats, muffins, haycakes, and small apple pies were laid across the homey table, all looking more appetizing than the other.
“Dig in partner.” Applejack said to me as she spooned some oatmeal onto her plate. “You're not getting outta here until 1:00. Yer gonna need the energy ta keep up with us farmponies.”
I served myself a little of everything and buckled down into my meal, more ravenously that I expected. 
I force-swallowed a large chunk of apple strudel and asked Applejack “Why am I only here until 1:00? Wasn't I hired to work all day?”
“Don't worry about it Crimson.” Big Mac said in his deep voice. “We stop harvesting around 1:00, and start producin' our goods. The production is a family secret.”
I snickered. “Really?”
“No offense sugarcube, but it's been a family secret since ferevah.” Applejack said. “Now finish up, we gotta get going.”
I cleaned my plate of food in record times and followed Applejack and Big Mac in putting the plates in the sink and leaving the house. 
The sun had risen in the time since I had first arrived, but still hung reluctantly low to the horizon, like it wanted to go back to sleep, just like me. The Apple siblings led my to the barn. Big Mac walked over to a cart filled with stacks of empty apple bushels and strapped it onto his harness. He then headed off to the north side of the acres without a word.
Applejack led me to another cart. It had a bar in the front, so more than one pony could pull it.
“We're gonna be coverin' one o' the east orchards taday. Big Mac has the one o' the north orchards, but he'll come around in a couple a' hours ta get our bushels and leave some empty ones.” she said as she ducked under the bar and left me some space to squeeze in beside her. 
I did the same as her but asked “He does a whole part of the farm by himself?” amazed.
“Eeyep.” Applejack chuckled. 
We both strained against the bar for a moment, then the cart started to roll and we led it east. Applejack and I walked in silence pushing the cart further and further away from the farmhouse and barn. We traveled down natural corridors formed by the friendly arboreal guardians, eventually stopping when we surrounded on all sides by apple trees. I got out from pulling the cart and looked back where we had come from. The farmhouse and barn were silhouettes.
Applejack grabbed a few bushels and put them around a tree. She motioned for me to follow her lead. As she grabbed two, I decided to grab ten and put them around a cluster of apple trees that grew close together. 
Applejack looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Ain't that a bit of an overkill there Crimson?” 
“You're forgetting how I buck apples.” 
“Okay....” she said skeptically before starting to buck the tree she picked out. I decided to get to work too, so I walked into the center of the cluster of apple trees and started to use my Colt Maga on them. 
We worked quietly and diligently and it felt good. Not only was the apple bucking a hard work out, I was also able to keep my mind off of my thoughts about the Battalion. The best part about it all was I was able to use Colt Maga freely again. Ever since I had received my cutie mark and started to learn Colt Maga, it had been therapeutic. The whole act of it, the work out, being able to use my skill constantly, and the emotional rush all made me feel better. Colt Maga had helped me out through the toughest times of my life when I was younger, when it looked like everything was just getting worse. Colt Maga managed to pull me out of my spiral of negativity and raise my spirits to unimaginable heights. The out of breath feeling I always had after using Colt Maga wasn't because I was tired, it was because I was filled with a feeling of awe. 
Applejack and I worked in a circle out from the cart, clearing trees of their fruit and clearing our cart of empty bushels. Applejack had taken a tree next to another cluster of trees that I worked on. We  were filling the final bushels that were in our cart. After I finished my final dropkick that filled my last bushel, I realized Applejack was watching me. 
I wiped the sweat from my brow and asked “What?”
“Nothin'. I jest never thought you would keep at that new-fangled way a' bucking apples.”
“Well I ain't a farmpony, so I gotta improvise.”
Applejack shook her head and started to carry a full bushel back to the cart. I did the same and we went back and forth between the cart and the trees carrying the full bushels to the cart, stacking them on top of another, completely filling the cart and then some. 
I sat down against the cart and breathed deeply. “So hat do we do now?”
“Now we have lunch before Big Mac comes with another cart full a' empty bushels.” she answered as she grabbed a bag I hadn't noticed from a side compartment of the cart. Inside were sustaining apple food products like granola and apple bars, dried apple slices, and the ever present apple pies. I took a few slices of dried apples and Applejack sat down next to me. She grabbed a granola bar out of the bag and started to snack.
“So Big Mac can really clear a whole orchard in a few hours?” I asked making idle conversation.
“He's the best apple bucker this side of Appleoosia. Ponies might think I'm the better bucker, but Big Mack is stronger an' faster than I am.” she said proudly.
“Then why do people think you're the stronger one?” I asked politely, not wanting to hurt her pride.
She sighed sadly. “Because most ponies are scared of him. If ya haven't noticed, he's pretty big. He was always big, even when I was a lil' filly. And he's real quiet too. He don't talk to much, so some ponies think he's unsocial or even dumb.” she stated angrily. “But he ain't! He's jest as smart as any other pony, if not a lil' smarter. That's why even though I own Sweet Apple Acres, I lestin to what he has ta say; not jest as a sister, but as a boss. He's quite the genius when it comes ta mechanical stuff. He even works on this thing he's making in the barn...But like I was saying, ponies don't get to know him because they can't see he's jest shy. They let their imaginations make him up.” she finished.
“Applejack,” I said soothingly “some of the biggest and supposedly 'deadly' creatures I have met in the Battalion, were just big old softees like your brother.”
“Like who?” she said suspiciously.
“Like the draconic ambassador from the Ruby Forests, Brightflame.”
Applejack's eyebrows rose in astonishment. “Well I'll be..”
“Yep. He was very quiet when I first met him, and believe me he's a huge dragon. I met him over some tea to discuss the flight of the next great dragon migration from the Ruby forests.”
“We saw one o' them migrations jest a little while back.”
“Yeah, but they were coming from the Diamond Expanse. The Ruby Forests are large forests that have trees as tall as a hill and are a deep mahogany with bright red leaves. The dragons who inhabit them get extremely large because the animals that live in the forests have grown gigantic to get to the leaves on the trees.”
“Whoowe partner.”
“Despite Brightflame being bigger than your barn, he was very timid. When he spoke, it was always in a whisper, and he always moved slowly and carefully around us ponies. Because he acted the way he did, some bureaucratic ponies thought he was stupid. I stood up for Ambassador Brightflame and stopped the bureaucrats from trying to take advantage of him. They thought that they could convince him that the next migration would fly around Equestria, not through it, potentially making the journey much harder for the dragons.”
“Why those sneaky lil' jerks...”
I nodded in agreement. “I told them that if they tried to abuse Brightflame's hospitality, I'd take my unit and leave, leaving the silly ponies unprotected from one big, scary dragon. Brightflame later thanked me and offered his friendship. We've been friends ever since.”
“Wow, Crimson. That's quite the story there. But is he really like big Mac.” she asked.
“Eeyep.” I said in a a best Big Mac voice I could muster.
We were both laughing as Big Mac came up to us pulling a cart full of empty bushels. We got up and helped him out of his harness. He looked dog-tired, but his eyes had a certain spark in them.
“AJ, I'm gonna take the rest of the day off after I take this cart back and get all the apples  washed and ready.” he said as the detached the pull-bar from the full cart and placed it against the cart of empty bushels. 
“What fer?” Applejack said amused. 
“Tah do stuff, AJ. I'm a busy stallion, I got things I gotta do.” Big Mac said gruffly as he attaced himself to the full cart quickly. 
Applejack obviously knew what Big Mac was going to do, but liked to tease him. “So yer goin' tah see Fluttershy I take it?” she asked deviously.
Big Mac was slowly trotting away from us, but stood up stiff when Applejack mentioned Fluttershy. He turned his head and gave Applejack a deadly glare, then broke into a canter and left quickly.
Applejack was snickering, pleased at the discomfort she caused him.
“Big Mac and Fluttershy huh? Are they a couple?”
“Yeah. They started going out a while ago. Apparently, Big Mac helped out Fluttershy with her animals during a big storm.” Applejack said nonchalantly. 
“Makes sense” I said as in realization. “They're both really shy.”
“Darn tootin'! Now lets finish up buckin' these trees.” she said and we went back to work. We worked harder than we did in the early morning, clearing the trees as fast as we could, since working in the afternoon sun would be horrible and hot. We finished the east orchard within a few hours of getting the new cart. We filled the cart with the literal fruits of our labors. Then we attached the pull-bar to the cart, struggled to pull the cart for a bit, then finally got it moving and back to the barn. Applejack and I pulled it into the barn and left it there. 
“We'll get 'em washed an' ready to make some delicious grub.” Applejack said wiping her hooves together to rid them of some dirt.
“So I'm done for the day?”
“Eeyep.”
“I be seeing you tomorrow morning. Bye Applejack.” I said as I started to walk away from the barn and out of Sweet Apple Acres.
“You had a good first day a' work, Crimson. Good Job.” Applejack called after me.
“Thanks!” I said, leaving the Apple's Acres.
I walked slowly along the winding road back to Ponyville and took in the scenery. I breathed in the clean air and looked around at the expanse of Sweet Apple Acres and realized how much work was cut out for me. The orchards followed me on my journey home for at least three hills. I felt a little apprehensive about the work, but I felt good after a nice long, hard day's work. 
As I entered Ponyville, the sun was high in the sky and warm on my back, but as always felt a little oppressive. I guess that happens when you are a child of the night. I walked to the library to find a little sign on the door saying it was closed. I tried opening the door, but it was magically locked. Great. I decided to take a walk around Ponyville in the meantime. It would help me get my bearings around the town, and also it seemed like a novel idea on such a nice day.
I was wrong.
I walked through Ponyville absorbing the sights and feel of the happy, nice little town. I walked through the center of town and throughout the market. The ponies there gave me small smiles and even waved, but all the smiles were distant and cold. I realized that they were just like the ponies in Canterlot that had seen my attacks: they were scared of me. I became really angry and sad. What was I? Some sort of mindless monster? I left the town square upset and just kept on walking without noticing where I was going. I finally broke out of my funk when I realized I walked to the town's lake. I looked out onto the placid waters and sighed to myself. Equestria had never truly experienced war. Of course the return of Discord and the Changeling invasion had been bad, but the common pony never experienced the brunt of the battle. Ponyville was the same. It was a town untouched by war. I remembered I should be proud of that since it was me and the Battalion that kept Equestria that way. But still, they just would never understand.......
Then I was tackled from the side.
“Hahaha! I knew that was you Mooney!” said a familiar voice I hardly expected to hear in Ponyville.
I got up from the tangle of me and the other pony. “Muffin-brain, isat you?” I asked.
The gray pegasi got up off the ground and flipped her blonde mane out of her face. She gave me her familiar lovely crooked smile, that matched her crooked stare. When I realized I wasn't dreaming, I gave her a hug, and we laughed out of our happiness of our reunion. Reluctantly I let go of the embrace, but stayed close beside her.
“Last time I saw you was after you got out of the hospital for the detached retina thing. How have you been holding up since then?” I asked my dear friend.
“You don't have to worry about me anymore Mooney.” she held up a hoof with a ring on it and I gave her a stunned look. “I'm married now.” she giggled out.
“Who's the lucky stallion?!” I asked her. 
Just then, a stallion with a chestnut brown coat and a dark brown mane came running up to us with a worried expression on his face.
“Ditzy, are you alright?” he asked in a Trottingham accent.
Ditzy pointed to him. “Mooney, I'd like you to meet my husband, the Doctor.”
I reached out a hoof to shake his and he grasped my looking confused.
“Your name is 'The Doctor'?”
“Oh, on this planet I'm called Doctor Whooves. But you can call me anything you want chap. No love, who is this fine pony you bumped into?”
This planet? Was he crazy?
My judgments about him disappeared as I saw how he lovingly looked at Muffin-head and sidled up next to her. 
“Doctor,” she said gently to him. “he's Crimson Moon. He's a good friend from back when I was in the Lunar Battalion.” 
The Doctor got an enlightened look on his face and grasped my hoof again and shook it vigorously, smiling like a fool the whole time. 
“I've heard so much about you mate. Ditzy says you're like the older brother she never had.” he told me with appreciation. 
“Why don't you come over to our house for a spell?” Ditzy said. “That is, unless you're busy.”
I looked over to my married friend. “I have all the time in the world.” I told her.
Ditzy and the Doctor burst out laughing. 
What did I say?
“Well, not yet you don't Crimson....:” Ditzy said lucratively.
“Dear, should we show him the old girl when we get back?” the Doctor said strangely.
“You read my mind love.” she said as she kissed him gently.
I shook my head at their unabashed love, but coughed gently as their kiss started to last a little long. 
“So where do you live?” I asked.
“The house is right near Fluttershy's cottage, but we live everywhere.” said Ditzy.
Oh god. Please tell me this stallion hadn't turned Muffin-head into a hippie.
We started to walk towards the elusive Everfree forest and the Doctor started to make amicable conversation with me.
“So old chap,” he said “how did you meet my lovely wife?”
“Well, we were both in the Lunar Battalion together, but I think you already know that. But what you probably didn't know was that she was a rival of mine, being the captain of Ganymede Unit.”
“You never told me that love.” the Doctor said to his wife astonished.
Ditzy blushed and I went on. “She and I would always get into prank fights whenever we were stationed at the same place.”
“Like when we were both in Canterlot.” Ditzy reminisced. “I don't think the gardeners will ever get over all the frosting that ended up in the Royal Maze.” she laughed.
I laughed too. “Or that spell in Cloudsdale. They be afraid of falling up forever!”
The Doctor was amazed at hearing all the stories of the things Muffin-head and I did in the Battalion. Our conversation made the bad mood I was in evaporate. Not only did my bad mood disappear, but so did the distance to the married couple's house.
Their house was in a little alcove on the edge of the Everfree. It was a very strange house, to say the least. It had a normal first floor, boxy and square in the architecture of normal pony-buildings. However, the second floor seemed impossibly strange. It was a circular room, much like Carousel Boutique, but it hung over the first floor. The roof was a spire and there was a small shed on the side of the house. Despite it's awkward appearance, the house seemed to blend perfectly in with nature itself, looking right at home on the edge of the vast Everfree.
“Come on it. We can have tea and muffins.” the Doctor said.
We entered the majestically strange house and Ditzy and I sat in the drawing room in two small reclining chairs around a small coffee table.. While the Doctor went off to gather the muffins and make some tea. I turned to Ditsy and started to look at her remorsefully. 
“I'm sorry I wasn't there in Neighvada when that riot broke out.” I said to her sadly, her smile losing its luster. “If I was there I would have never let those crowds attack your unit. And then that guy with the flyball bat wouldn't have been able...” Ditzy held up a hoof silencing me.
She gave me a small sad smile. “It was unexpected. Nopony would have know that was gonna happen. The doctors said that I was lucky getting off with just a lazy eye. It might have been tough for the a while, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Believe me.” she said knowingly. “I met the Doctor because of my eyes, and my world has never been the same.” she smiled.
“So what about you? What brings you to Ponyville?” she asked trying to steer the conversation towards happy topics.
“I have a mental disease.” I said solemnly.
Ditzy put moth hooves to her mouth and gasped, shocked. “I'm so sorry Mooney. Oh my gosh....”
“We all got our things.” I told her with a forced smile. “Yours is with your eyes, mine is up here.”  I said pointing to my head with one hoof, and making small circles around the side of my head with the other. Ditzy's expression lightened and she giggled. The Doctor came in carrying a tray full of muffins, cookies, tea, and other small snacks. He sat down in his own chair and took a tea cup and plate.
He looked at Ditzy with a smile before he told me. “Try the jammy dodgers. They're amazing.”
I looked at him with my eye raised. “You sound just like Luna. She had these things every time we met up for tea. Did you give them to her?”
The Doctor looked amused. “Well, there goes on of my little surprises.” he said a little downcast.
“Really! Where do you get them? These are amazing, but Luna would never tell me where to find them.”
“If Luna's shown him the room I don't think he'll be surprised by the TARDIS, Doctor.” said Ditzy happily.
“Bloody hell! Come on Crimson!” the Doctor said energetically. “Let me show you my oldest companion!” he said as he lifted himself out of the chair and went through the door he came in through.
Ditzy giggled as the Doctor came back in to grab a jammy dodger, and motion to us to follow. Ditzy shook her head amused and followed him through the door. I did the same following them through a kitchen full of strange appliances and out the back door to the outside shed. 
The shed itself looked like any other gardening shed most ponies had, but was a little larger. The Doctor opened the doors and went inside tailed by Ditzy and I. I entered the shed in darkness, but the Doctor found the light switch and turned it on. The lights illuminated a large blue box used to call the police in large cities like Canterlot or Trottingham. We even had a few up in Stalliongrad, but they weren't to necessary: Everypony who is sane knows it's too cold to steal and commit crime up north. But this large blue police box had the words 'PONY BOX' printed on its side above two doors that led into it. 
“This is the TARDIS, Crimson.” Ditzy said as she and the Doctor entered it.
I followed in suit and found another similarity between the Doctor and Luna: they both had secret rooms that were bigger on the inside. I mentioned this to the Doctor as I closed the doors of the TARDIS.
“But Luna's room can't do this!”he said as he flew around large central console pressing it's buttons. He stopped at a large lever, putting his hoof on it and giving me a manic smile he must've taught a certain princess. “Allons-y” he shouted as he pulled the lever.

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I stepped out of the TARDIS fourteen hours later when it landed behind the library. The sun was setting and my body was confused for a while, but that was to be expected. Traveling around the galaxy for a couple of hours then going to an all night rave in Neighples and then traveling back in time to get to Twilight's before dark was quite the unnatural endeavor. But that didn't mean it wasn't fun. 
My first step out of the TARDIS and onto solid Ponyville earth was shaky and I almost fell to the ground. 
“Watch it there chap.” the Doctor said as he caught me. 
“Thanks, Doc..” I said. Ditzy was just as plastered as I was, but she was leaning on the door of the TARDIS giggling at me.
“Still can't hold yer drinks Mooney.” she said with a slur.
“Pshhht. I can still beat you in a race plastered.” I challenged.
“Now's not the time for that mate. Don't you think Miss. Twilight will want to know where you were?”
“A course! You're a good pony, Doctor. Got a good head on yer flank and whatnot.” I said with a hiccup. The Doctor walked me to the back door to the library and leaned me up against it. 
“Good nighty chap. You might want to sleep in tomorrow, since your pony metabolism will have a hard time braking down this much alcohol.” he said smartly as he walked back to the TARDIS.
“Crimson!” Ditzy shouted from the TARDIS “Goodnight!”
“Good night you two!” I replied earnestly with a wave before I reached for the door handle.
“Wait!” cried Ditzy. “If you ever need anything” she said gentler “you can always come to us.”
“Thanks Muffin-head.”
She broke into a big smile as the Doctor sidled up to her. “Get some sleep Mooney!” she shouted back at me. The TARDIS doors closed and it slowly faded from existence making its peculiar sound noise.
I stood there on the doorstep for a moment trying to remember the places we went to throughout the galaxy. I remembered something about a planet inhabited by big monkeys and another place that the Doctor said he and Ditzy had their honeymoon. I could remember that I liked the planet, but not why. Most of my current thoughts and memories were distorted by our antics at the Neighpolitan rave. The various glow-rings around my hoof almost fell off as I opened the door and entered the kitchen from the back, only to find Twilight were looking over a map of Ponyville with the other elements of harmony in the main room of the library. Spike must have already been put to bed.
“...So he was seen at the pond, but after that....” Twilight said worried.
“Don't worry sugarcube, I know we'll find him.” an honest country voice replied comfortingly.
“I just hope he didn't go into that horrid forest.” an elegant voice stated.
“Oh, I would have seen him before he went into the Everfree. The animals would have told me that a new pony was walking into the forest.” a soft voice said.
“Twi, you want me to do another fly-by over Ponyville? I bet I could find him in 10 seconds flat!” an energetically confident voice proclaimed.
I saw that Pinkie was sitting back from the conversation. 
“Hey Pinkie.” I said quietly, not wanting to be rude.
“Hay is for horses silly!” she whispered back.
“Wait? Aren't we.....”
“How was the party, Crimson?”
“How'd you know I was at a party?”
“My Pinkie sense was acting up. Two leg jerks, a backflip, and a reverse worm always mean a pony got out of a bad mood and went to a party.”
“That's actually spot-on.” I said amazed.
“They usually are.” she replied shrugging her shoulders. “Plus, only one place sould have produced all those glow-rings.”
“So what's this little meeting about?” I asked.
“Twilight was going to form a search party for you when you didn't come home for dinner.”
“Oh there's no reason for that.” I said flatly.
“I told them that......” 
I snuck up behind Twilight and listened in onto their conversation. Everypony around the table were looking down at the map of Ponyville, trying to trace my route earlier today.
“Sightings of Crimson stopped at the pond, so he couldn't have gotten far.” Twilight restated, putting a hoof under her chin.
I laughed next to her, making her jump 10 feet into the air along with everypony else except for Pinkie Pie. 
“Couldn't have gotten far huh? You wouldn't believe where I was for the last 14 hours.”
My words went unheard as two mares tackled me; one a rainbow maned pegasi and the other a lavender unicorn.
“Crimson!” they shouted in delight and surprise, while the other three mares looked at us amused but held back.
I got up from the entanglement of limbs and body parts to find the pegasi fluttering above me giving me a noogie and the lavender unicorn giving me a lecture.  
“....ever do that again! Do you know how worried I was?” I partially heard her saying.
The vast amount of alcohol made me especially playful. “I love you to.” I said semi-jokingly to Twilight as I blew her a kiss. She immediately turned a shade of red that would rival any of Applejack's apples. Rainbow stopped pestering my head as she fell down laughing at the sight of Twilight's face. I turned to face the other three mares. Applejack wore a smirk as she looked at me and my foolish grin. 
“Gawd, yer a fool Crimson.” she said. “Don't do that again, ya hear?” she said seriously.
“Yes dear, Twilight will have wrinkles much too early if she has to worry about you all the time.” Rarity said.
“You made us all worried Crimson.” Fluttershy said almost inaudibly. “If it's okay with you, please tell somepony where you're going.”
I realized that the time I was gone only caused them to fret. My smiled faltered.
“Alright I'm sorry all. I was just having such a good time with an old friend. Plus you don't have to worry about me, I can handle myshelf.” I said starting to let the inebriation take over. 
“But we do sugarcube.” Applejack said caringly. 
“We don't want to see one of our friends get hurt.” Fluttershy said with such endearment it almost broke my heart.
“Alright” I said seriously “for your sakes it won't happen again.”
The three mares looked relieved. 
“Well, we ain't needed around here, so I'm gonna head back home. I got a big day a' work cut out fer me. You too Crimson.” Applejack said leaving.
“I guess I should leave as well.” said Rarity, tossing her mane. “You can come by the boutique at anytime and pick up your uniform dear. Goodnight everypony.”
“I should get back and make sure the all the little creatures are snuggled up. Goodnight.” Fluttershy said as well.
Pinkie Pie walked past me, dragging a cyan pegasi in hysterics by her mane out the door. “Goodnight everypony!” she said impossibly between clenched teeth. “Oh and Crimson, take tomorrow slow.”she finished as she left the library dragging Rainbow all the way.
I turned to face the final mare. She was obviously angry and still red from my moves earlier, but she also had tears sliding down her face. 
I was taken back in shock. How did I cause this?
“ Twilight, I...”
“Do you know how worried I was?” she said in a purely sad voice that cut me deep.
“I'm sorry.” I said ashamed of myself. What made it even worse was that the sunglasses that were sitting atop my head fell to the ground, making me cringe in even more unadulterated shame.
However I heard a tinkling laugh. I raised my look from the ground to Twilight's face. She was drying her tears and looked at me with a sad happiness.
“Do you know how ridiculous you look?” she said.
“I am kinda drunk right now, so I presume I look fantastically amazing.”
Twilight giggled. “You look like you've been through a wood chipper and then dressed by Vinyl Scratch wearing a blindfold.”
“Ouch. That's harsh.”
She picked up my new sunglasses off the ground with magic and put them on the table. 
“Where did you even go?” she asked before helping me to the couch.
I told her about meeting Doctor Whooves and reuniting with Ditzy Hooves, and our adventures of this afternoon.
“I knew the Doctor had the TARDIS and married Ditzy, but what surprises me more is that Ditzy was part of the Lunar Battalion, and a captain nonetheless!” she said somewhat amazed and amused at my story.
I placed my hooves on my head and found out I had some golden laurels on my head from the party. I placed them on the table next to my sunglasses and started to take off my glow-rings. 
I was struggling with the ones around my neck when Twilight said “Let me help you.”
She moved closer to me and had me sit up straight as she worked on the pesky little clasps on that held the rings together. Instead of using magic though, she used her hooves. One by one the came away from my neck and came to rest next to their siblings on the table, and Twilight's hooves slipped down my neck to come to the last ring resting on my shoulders. 
I looked into her eyes as she worked with the ring, her movements becoming hasty as she worked under my gaze.
“Twilight, I'm sorry that I made you worry so much tonight.”
“Really?” she said as the final ring fell away from my shoulders. Her hooves didn't though.
I put my hooves around her and said “Yeah, I really wish I could make it up to you.”
“You could have brought me back a souvenir. I always wanted to visit Neighples.” she said a little shyly. “It's the city of amore, or so the locals say.”
“Know what?” I said coyly leaning closer to her. “I did bring something back for you.”
“What?” she said her eyes sparkling in the low lights of the library.
I leaned in and gave her a powerful, full mouthed kiss. I pushed it a little far, leaning so much she almost fell back, but I pulled her away from the ground and held her as she stayed in our embrace breathlessly.
“A good old Neighpolitan kiss. I brought enough only for you though.” I said playfully.
Twilight looked energized and the happiest I had seen her in all my time in Ponyville. I was about to kiss her again but a childish voice from the stairs stopped me.
“Could you two get a room? Or at least leave the house? I am trying to sleep.” said an obnoxious purple and green dragon who was inspecting his claws while sitting on the bottom step of the stairs.
We broke reluctantly from our embrace and Twilight started to blush again. She coughed and turned to me.
“Umm, when we were out.” she started to say before Spike cut her off flatly.
“We got you a bed. It's in your room.” he said indifferently.
“Yes. It was the last type the had left for some reason. I'm sorry, but it's a camping bed, so I'll find you a better one as soon as possible.”
“Why don't you just let him use yours?” Spike said nonchalantly.
“But where would I...OH! SPIKE! GO TO BED!” she said realizing what he implied.
“I was in bed until you two woke me up.....” he said begrudgingly as he sulked back up the stairs.
Twilight started to follow him up, but paused on the spiral to look at me. 
“Goodnight Crimson.” she said above me, her voice carrying all I needed to know.
“In Neighples, they say Buona Sera, mi amore.” 
She smiled brighter than anypony I had ever seen and finished the walk up her stairs, leaving me in the dark as the candles in the library went out by magic.
I turned and entered my own room to find a small bed waiting for me. The 'camping bed' as Twilight called it was actually the type of bed we used when we were out on missions out in the field, far away from the safety of our barracks or even civilization. I slipped under the sheets placed on it and blew out the candle on my nightstand. I then sunk happily into my comforting and familiar bed resting my head on my pillow and sinking into a deep sleep. I was tuckered out from the time traveling, partying, and rush of emotions of the day.