I arrived back very late after the walk I had taken to give Matt some space. It must have been almost two in the morning when I finally made my way up to the front door and cautiously opened it to avoid waking Matt if he had gone to sleep. Letting out a sigh I walked up the stairs and decided to quickly peek my head into Matt’s room to check up on him. I nudged his door open slightly with my hoof and saw him lying face down in his pillow with the lights still on and he hadn’t bothered to climb under his blankets. I shook my head a little and walked over to where he lay and noticed the dampness of his pillow and came to the conclusion that he had probably been crying for the time I was away. It had looked like he was straining to hold back tears when I had left and I was just glad he had been able to get to sleep and get some rest. Walking to the cupboard in his room I opened it and as I predicted there was a spare blanket that I threw over him to at least keep him slightly warm before I turned off the lights and made my way through into my own room. I heaved myself onto my bed and noted that the walk had taken a lot more out of me than I had originally thought. I collapsed onto the soft mattress and pulled the blankets over me and adjusted my position so my wings weren’t being restrained or crushed and I found the comfort I had been looking for. The moon hung over the top of the cottages at the other side of the street and I found myself staring at its immense beauty as the cloudless night allowed it to light up the streets of Ponyville and after a short space of time my heavy eyes slowly drooped and finally closed into a peaceful slumber.
I awoke late the next day maybe about 11 o’clock or so and I dragged myself over to sit on the edge of my bed as I rubbed my eyes. Letting out a yawn I stretched and unfolded my wings to give them a long stretch too. I dropped to my hooves and shuffled my way through to the bathroom to brush my mane and teeth before heading out to see if Matt was up and about yet or whether he was in his room still. There was no noise from the kitchen or living room so I assumed he wasn’t downstairs and I nudged his bedroom door open slightly and found him still in bed almost the same way I had left him last night except he had freed his face from his pillow and there was the occasional snore. It didn’t seem like he would be up for a while so I decided I would go for a walk to the Horse and Hare pub that was a few streets away for a drink and a bite to eat. I quickly scrawled a note telling Matt where I was and that I would be back soon and placed it on the kitchen table before walking out onto the street. It was bright out but there were a few scattered clouds about that gave the air a slight chill to it. I shuddered slightly at the chill and decided a brisk flight to the pub would be the quickest way of getting there. Extending my wings I gave a large flap and I was pushed into the air and propelled forward and I gave them another couple of hard flaps to gain some altitude before I hurt myself on the chimneys of nearby houses. Flying took a lot of concentration from me seeing as I had just learned how but once I was in the air and heading towards my destination I would relax a little and enjoy the feeling of being seemingly weightless.
Concentrating hard I managed to land safely outside the Horse and Hare and began to slowly walk up to the door. The door creaked slightly as I pushed it open and it was made from a heavy wood which required quite a bit of effort to push open. The inside was decorated like an old British pub with lots of dark wood and green felt seats with matching stools lined up along the bar. A fireplace roared on the wall opposite a small cluster of comfortable looking sofas surrounding a large coffee table. There were not many ponies sitting around and it was nice to have found such a quiet place where I could just relax with a pint and not think about recent happenings. I made my way over to the bar and sat myself rather awkwardly on one of the available stools and looked at all the different bottles of wine and punch that were lined along the shelves behind the barman.
“Good morning, what can I get for you?” The barman asked me politely and I looked along the selection of wines but made the decision it was too early for wine and I settled on a wheat beer and paid the 2 bits and took my first sip. It was delicious and thirst quenching, much better than cider anyway but I hadn’t tried any wine or punch yet. I found myself wondering if they had whiskey in Equestria and I scanned the bar trying to find a bottle that was maybe hidden away but couldn’t see any sign of any. My train of thought was soon interrupted though by a plum coloured earth pony with a slightly darker mane that was sitting at a stool just a few down from me with a couple of empty glasses in front of her.
“Hey! I haven’t seen *hic* you around here before. Are you new *hic* in town” She asked me turning to face me and I noticed her cutie mark and realised it was Berry Punch. Her cheeks seemed a little red and her eyes looked slightly glazed over so it was obvious that she had drank a lot more than just the few glasses in front of her.
“Yeah I’m pretty new here. I only moved in about three or four days ago now.” I watched her pick up her glass and take a long drink before giving me a funny look of false recognition.
“Do I know you from somewhere? That accent seems so different from *hic* anypony else’s yet it seems familiar to *hic* me” She narrowed her eyes to try and get a good look at me through blurred vision but from the look she gave me afterwards it seemed that she had given up trying to recognise me.
“I don’t know where you’d know me from, I mean I’ve done a couple of shows on Ponyville FM in the past couple of days if you ever listen to the lunchtime show?” I hoped she didn’t listen in but after taking a sip of my beer her eyes lit up and she seemed to get quite excited.
“That’s it! That’s where I know you from! You *hic* present with Record Spins now, don’t *hic* you? Your name is… ugh it’s a *hic* funny one… Ronnie? It’s Ronnie right?” She seemed proud of herself until I corrected her but she didn’t seem too down heartened by getting my name wrong. We chatted away over our drinks for a while but she seemed to get more and more distant and the conversation eventually died out completely and I found myself eyeing up the menu which had some delicious looking food on offer. I signalled the barman over and placed an order with him for one of the carrot, parsnip and gravy pies with chips on the side then I made my way over to one of the tables to get comfortable. The door of the pub opened and the light blue unicorn I lived with walked in and looked around looking for me so I waved him over. He took a seat opposite me at the table and placed one hoof on his head and leaned on the table to support his head. He was looking glum and he didn’t make eye contact or even say a word to me for a few minutes until I could take it no longer and broke the silence.
“Would you like a drink? Or maybe you would prefer some food first” I asked him trying my best to make eye contact but to no avail, he just kept avoiding my gaze so I gave up on that front.
“A drink would be nice but then again some food would be too.” He answered with a tone to his voice that made him sound a million miles away. I called the barman over and Matt ordered a hay-bacon sandwich and a pint of wheat beer. We both sat waiting on our food in silence and I began to feel slightly awkward.
“Hey Matt” He looked up at me from the other side of the table making eye contact for the first time “you know what I think we need to do today? I think we need to forget about everything that’s happened in the past 2 days so why don’t we drink here today and hit up a nightclub tonight?” I suggested hoping that he would say yes because I was dying to go to Bass Drop nightclub that Record had told me about. It wasn’t a well-known club but it was apparently one of the best for atmosphere and ponies.
“Yeah I suppose we could do that. It might be nice to just get smashed and not worry for a night.” His answer pleased me and I held up my glass and he let a small smile creep onto his lips before picking his up and tapping it against mine.
“Cheers!” I said before taking a few large mouthfuls and slamming my glass down on the table. At that point the food arrived and it smelled good. It wasn’t as great as some of the other restaurants in Ponyville but it tasted good and it was relatively cheap so I wasn’t about to complain. We stayed silent over the course of the meal and after I finished I sat back in my seat and let out a satisfied sigh before finishing my beer and waiting for Matt to do the same. After he had finished it was approaching one so we decided to pick up some more drinks for after the nightclub even though we planned on drinking a lot while we were out.
We casually walked into the centre of town and we soon found a shop that sold all kinds of different drinks and I was excited to find out if whiskey was a drink that they had here. Upon entering the shop an older pony greeted us from behind the counter and he asked us if we needed any help but we decided to have a browse first before choosing what we would have. The shelves were stocked with all different types of wine and beer and we began to get slightly confused over the selection that was on offer. I walked slowly over to the other side of the shop and sitting on the top shelf was exactly what I had been looking for. Applejack Daniels Finest Equestrian Whiskey from Sweet Apple Acres which I had only seen in fan art before this. I asked the pony if I could have a look at the bottle and he politely agreed and fetched a tall ladder from the back of the store and passed it down to me. I held the bottle in my hoof and admired the dark golden colour of the whiskey in the bottle and the label was finely printed and had a brief description on how it was distilled and made. On the front of the label was a picture of Applejack smiling with her hat pushed back high on her head and it seemed like it was perfect. I decided to buy that bottle and Matt had chosen a couple of bottles of wine to try.
After paying for our purchases we made our way back to the cottage to drop off the bottles and decided on our next move. It was almost half past two now and we were getting impatient to just head out and start drinking. I decided to have a taste of the whiskey I had bought and poured myself a small amount into a glass. Taking a sip it tasted sweet like apples but with a strong kick from the alcohol content in it. It was one of the best whiskeys I had ever tasted and I could tell I would enjoy it in the days to come.
Once again we headed out to the Horse and Hare after getting bored in the house for half an hour and the walk was a little more enjoyable this time with the whiskey warming my insides and the company of Matt to have a chat with. The pub wasn’t far away so it seemed like no time at all until we arrived. We settled down at the bar on a couple of stools and ordered another couple of pints from the barman which we tucked into quickly. Bass Drop opened at 6 but nopony would get there until around 8 or 9 so we settled on taking it easy and relaxing into our drinks for the next few hours. We finished our first pints pretty quickly and ordered another couple and with me starting to feel the buzz from the alcohol I called Berry over for some more chat and even Matt seemed to cheer up a bit with some drink in him. We sat and chatted a couple of hours away over a few drinks and more ponies showed up who Berry knew so they came over and joined us in a few drinks and chat so the night was starting pretty well. The barman was kind enough to allow us some music to be played and I was having a blast. Although I didn’t know the ponies I was talking to they had some great stories to share and I shared some with them from back on earth but missed out the details about humans and other things.
“Hey Berry! How’s it going?” I heard a very familiar voice from behind me say after the door to the bar squeaked open and slammed shut again. I turned to see who the new addition to our group was and laid eyes on the blue Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane and rainbow lightning cloud as a cutie mark who was making her way over to the group.
“Hey Rainbow! I’m not doing *hic* too badly thanks yourself?” Berry answered enthusiastically from my left and moving to greet her.
“Yeah I’m not doing too badly, had a pretty hard day on weather patrol and training so I thought I’d come for a cider and see you for a while” She trotted over and took a seat beside Berry and the two started chatting away while Matt was engaged in a conversation with two other unicorns that had taken a seat nearby.
“Oh! By the way *hic* this is Ronnie!” She waved a hoof in my direction “He’s on Ponyville FM and he has a funny accent that I can barely understand sometimes” I felt a little embarrassed by this and decided to start pronouncing words a little better for the night.
“Oh hey Ronnie, nice to meet you, so where are you from if you have this accent?” Rainbowdash looked past Berry to make eye contact with me and I took a sip of my drink while taking the time to think of an answer to this.
“Actually it’s Robbie but whatever” I let out a slight laugh and continued “I’m originally from Neighdinburgh in the north of Equestria where it’s a lot colder but my family moved to Manehattan when I was just a young foal so I don’t remember much about living there” I took another long sip of my drink as I judged Rainbowdash’s face to see if she had bought it.
“Did you ever go back? Like on holiday or something. Surely your parents took you back to see your friends?” She replied looking at me while taking a drink of cider.
“Actually my parents aren’t exactly… around” I said before finishing what was left of my beer as the events of the previous couple of days flooded back into my head.
“Hell I know that feeling” she raised her glass to me and I picked up my empty glass and clinked it against hers. I introduced her to Matt shortly afterwards and it was almost time to head out to the club for the rest of the night out. I invited Rainbow and Berry along with us and they seemed more than happy to come. We all finished our drinks and made our way out into the now quite chilly street. I was beginning to notice my speech slurring and my walk was becoming slightly erratic as we walked into town to join the other ponies who were all out for the night. After searching a street for the club we eventually found it down a set of stairs leading into a basement and we made our way inside to continue the rest of our night.
I awoke the next morning with a groan and opened my eyes slightly to avoid my head feeling like it was going to explode. It was bright outside and I sighed and laid my head back down on my pillow. I could get some more sleep before having to get up for the day as it was still reasonably early. My head was feeling like someone had hit a bass drum beside my ear all night and even my eyes felt heavy and sore. I sighed and let out a slight groan as I rolled over to get comfortable. I took a deep breath to try and stop the room from spinning and I noticed a faintly familiar smell, a mixture between alcohol, a rather sweet smell and a slight hint of sweat. I figured it was probably just me until I felt something tickle my nose and move beside me. I slowly opened my eyes and gave them a moment to focus on the rainbow coloured mane that had been tickling my nose. I let out a small shocked gasp and quickly jumped away from her while still managing to stay on the bed. She let out a small groan and sat up slightly before confusedly looking around my room then she slowly turned and looked at me.
“Morning” Said Rainbowdash and she lay back down into the pillows and let out a satisfied sigh.
“Eh.. Morning Rainbow” I replied not really knowing how to handle this situation. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure thing but make it quick because I’m going to pass out again soon” She yawned and turned to face me briefly.
“Did… Anything happen last night? Like…” I timidly asked her not knowing what the answer was going to be. I was raking my brain for any hints of what had happened after we got to the club but nothing was coming to mind, the whole night was a blur.
“Well not technically…” She said and I breathed a sigh of relief “but I don’t know if you count curling up to sleep together anything though so yeah.” She then rolled back to lie down.
“So you going to join me because you can’t of had enough sleep yet” She patted the bed beside her and I didn’t see why not so I lay back down facing her and then she did the unexpected by moving closer to me and placing one of her forelegs around me and still being a little drunk from the night before I did the same before she pulled herself up against me. Soon she was breathing lightly and I could tell she had fallen asleep again and my eyes were beginning to get heavy again and the grips of sleep took me once more.
A few hours of comfortable sleep past which seemed like the most restful and fulfilling sleeps I have ever had, but whether or not the company helped that was a different story altogether. I opened my eyes and it was a lot later than the early morning incident. Rainbowdash had pressed her muzzle to mine and we were still in the exact position we had been earlier in each other’s forelegs and I didn’t exactly hate the experience. She was warm and her coat and mane were extremely soft and I couldn’t resist running one hoof through her messy morning mane. She began to stir with this and I placed my leg back where it had been before across her body. Her eyes slowly opened and she gave me a small smile and nuzzled my nose a little which made me give a weak attempt at a smile. It was an odd experience seeing this side of Rainbowdash, she never seemed like the type to cuddle up or be anything like this. She looked so sweet when she was lying in this drowsy and yet approachable state.
I decided it would be time to get up and get on with the day and I gave her a final little nuzzle and pressed my lips to her forehead before I sat up and slowly rose to my hooves. I heard Rainbowdash sit up behind me and she gave a light groan with the bright sunshine that was beaming between the curtains.
“So what’s for breakfast Mr Chef?” I heard her tease from behind me. I didn’t remember telling her I could cook but then again I couldn’t remember most of the previous night so I just gave a weak laugh and ran a brush through my mane and brushed my teeth.
“Well let’s go and see what we have in the kitchen shall we?” I opened my door and stepped into the hallway and Rainbow closely followed me down the stairs. The living room was a state, the picture above the fireplace was askew and there were a few empty bottles lying on the floor along with about quarter of a bottle of Applejack Daniels. I strained to remember arriving home but nothing came to me as I wandered through and heard some light snoring from the sofa. Berry was passed out on her back with her mouth wide open, and saliva running out of one side of her mouth. I shook my head slightly and made my way into the kitchen which had remained relatively untouched apart from the glasses that were on the table and a couple of knocked over chairs. Rainbow seemed as much dazed by the mess as I was and I cleared away the glasses before opening the fridge to see what we had for breakfast.
“Well let’s see… We have some apple pie left over from dinner a couple of nights ago, some apples, carrots and some bread if you fancy a sandwich.” I turned to face Rainbow to hear what she would like and she opted for a slice of apple pie and I agreed that sounded best. After cutting 2 slices and setting one down in front of Rainbow I sat on the chair next to her and we tucked in. We ate breakfast silently; the only sound was coming from the sofa in the living room where Berry was passed out and snoring quite loudly. Rainbow and I exchanged a few glances across the table which resulted with us smiling and looking down at our breakfast once again. Eventually we finished up and I took the bowls and placed them in the sink before turning the taps on to get them washed.
“I’ll give you a hoof with that, after all I did help create a lot of this mess” I heard Rainbow say from behind me before she stood by my side at the sink. She did her best to dry the dishes as I washed them but for Pegusi it is a little difficult to hold a towel and a dish but we made it through with the occasional splash of water being aimed at Rainbow or the towel whip to my flank for a bit of fun. I picked up the towel and began to dry my hooves rather awkwardly and I felt Rainbow’s head nuzzle into my neck and I leaned my head to the side to rest on hers.
“So you two had fun last night then?” I heard a mocking voice say from the doorway which made me jump slightly. I turned and Matt was standing in the door looking a little bedraggled but otherwise seeming his usual self.
“I would tell you if I could remember” I said back to him giving him a smile but I was feeling a little awkward because I didn’t know what he actually thought about “liking” ponies in that way. But I guess now that we were ponies we could just go with what feels natural so I doubt it would be that big of a problem.
“Well we made a great mess of the place DJ Rob-B” Matt gave me another one of his infamous mocking looks.
“DJ Rob-B?” I asked very confused now and Rainbow let out a laugh because she had obviously remembered something from last night that I had no recollection of.
“Do you not remember? Oh this is going to be priceless! Well you see, when you were at Bass Drop last night you kind of invaded the DJ’s booth at one point and asked if you could play a mix and you did play a pretty decent one. But all the same you looked like a proper idiot with those massive headphones on as if they were a beard.” His eyes lit up as I groaned and placed a hoof to my face in embarrassment.
“Please never let me drink that much again.” I groaned at Matt and he mockingly said that he would let me get that drunk again but only because it was hilarious. I sighed and Rainbow gave me a look that made me stop caring and instead made me fall in love with her eyes, they looked so deep yet almost surreally beautiful. It sent shivers down my spine and I then realised that I had been staring for quite a long time so I broke my gaze and stood there feeling rather awkward. The awkwardness was not to last however as a loud snore, snort then groans informed us that Berry had woken up. Slow heavy hoofsteps made their way over to the kitchen door where Berry emerged holding her head in one hoof and groaning like a zombie. She sat down at the kitchen table where Matt had made himself comfortable while eating an apple and I sat a glass of water down in front of her.
I decided that it would be a good idea to clean up the living room so we had somewhere comfortable to sit and just relax through the hangover. Apparently someone had brought more alcohol with them last night because there were quite a few more empty bottles than we had originally bought for after the night out. I sighed and began the clear-up and started with the bottles and putting the Applejack Daniels back in the cupboard. Then I had to get the cushions straight on the sofa again before adding the final touch by lighting the fire and almost collapsing onto the sofa. The curtains were still drawn as I think it was too bright outside for anyone to cope with right now, and I put on some quiet orchestral music on the radio. Rainbow, Matt and Berry soon joined me in the living room with Matt taking a seat in the armchair, and Rainbow sitting next to me on the sofa with Berry managing to squeeze in on the end beside Rainbowdash. We sat not saying anything for quite a while just being content with that and my head was pounding so I didn’t mind. The orchestral music was suiting the feeling of the room perfectly and Rainbow rested her head on my shoulder, and I leaned my head on her once again feeling slightly better with that.
It seemed like hours went by before anyone said anything and my headache started to fade away the longer I rested my head on Rainbows and she gave me the occasional nuzzle to make me smile and it worked very well. I gave her a few nuzzles back and she also smiled, and gave a small giggle sometimes, it was very cute to say the least and seeing her smile also made me smile. It was comfortable sitting on the sofa curled up with Rainbowdash, she was so warm and it was comforting that she was there even though I was feeling terrible. I definitely hadn’t expected this to happen yesterday at all but I was happy that it had happened and I was okay that I was sitting curled up with a pony that seemed to like me.
The day went on with us all sitting in silence broken up by a few small conversations but nothing that lasted more than 5 minutes. I had needed to make a couple of quick dashes to the bathroom to vomit but Rainbow was there to hold my mane back and comfort me afterwards so I was perfectly content with the way things were going. Matt although he didn’t seem to be suffering admitted that he felt terrible and returned to bed rather early and Berry had left to go home and relax so that left me and Rainbow alone which I was quite anxious about but it turned out to be absolutely great. We curled up in front of the fire and had some light conversation about what had happened the night before. It turns out that nothing had been happening between us for almost the entire night until we arrived back at ours after deciding that it would be best if Rainbow didn’t fly home. When we arrived back home we drank a lot more and Berry had wandered off with Matt to pick up some more drink from her house and that is when things started to happen between me and Rainbow. I was drinking my whiskey with her and we were having some normal drunken chat and we were sitting rather close together on the couch and after a few accidental bumps and some flirty jokes Rainbow had rested her head on me so I wrapped my foreleg around her and she had pulled in closer to me. Rainbow telling me what had happened made a strange mix of emotions brew up in my head, I was mostly happy but there was a strange tang of nervousness that I had never felt before like it was almost too good to be true. But for now I was happier than I had ever been on earth and we sat for hours just talking and having a laugh. The sun was starting to set on this hung-over but otherwise great day.
“So what are your plans for tonight?” I asked her looking into her eyes and giving her a smile. She looked thoughtful for a moment then answered.
“Well I’m still not feeling too great so would it be alright for me to spend another night here so I can get myself back to normal?” She gave me a slightly nervous look and I gave her a reassuring smile to relax her a little.
“Of course you can. You can either crash on the sofa or you can bunk with me again, it’s your choice” I gave her another smile and from the way she curled in closer to me I could tell that she had made her choice to stay in my bed again. The night dragged on and Rainbow started to yawn and her eyes looked heavy and I suggested going to bed. She agreed and made her way up the stairs closely followed by me and I hopped onto the soft mattress and held the blanket open for her to climb in. She slid herself under the covers and wrapped one of her forelegs around me and I made sure she was nicely tucked in before doing the same. I let out a sigh of comfort and she half opened one eye before leaning in and giving me a peck on the cheek which made both of us blush a little but I returned the peck before smiling and moving closer. Lying there with her in my embrace was comfortable and warm. I was enjoying her company more that any person I had embraced like this before and I was truly content. Then, once again, the unexpected happened. As I was lying lost in my thoughts about the day I felt pressure on my lips. I opened my eyes slightly to see Rainbow had pressed her lips against mine in a firm but gentle kiss. I happily returned the kiss and after what seemed like an eternity of perfection we finally broke apart and fell asleep. Today had truly been a perfect day for me.