Dark looked at Night before his eyes traveled over the gathered males before him.
"What do you man by 'last day as a free stallion'?" Dark asked.
Shining chuckled as he approached him. "What dad is talking about is your bachelor party, Dark."
Now knowing what they were getting at and why all of these guys that Dark knew were gathered like this, Dark's blinked in surprise.
"Really?"
"Well, duh," Rainbow said with a grin. "What do you think that the rest of us were doing that's kept us so busy?"
"But I thought that only guys attended bachelor parties?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, they do, but me and the other girls have been busy working on your bachelorette party, Twilight."
Twilight's eyes widened in realization. "So that's why I haven't seen you, Sunset, the Dazzlings, or any of our human counterparts?"
"Yep. We know that you getting married tomorrow is really important and all, but this is just as important too."
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.
"So, what do you say we get going, Dark?" Shining asked, causing Dark to look over to Twilight.
"What do you say?" he asked.
"Well, I say that you should go with them and have yourselves a fun time," Twilight smiled before turning firm. "Just as long as you don't drink that cider again. You know the one I'm talking about."
"Don't worry, Twilight, we won't."
"Great!" Discord exclaimed. "In that case, let's get going. The night is young and we have a full night of partying ahead of us."
"Just as long as he's back and in shape for the wedding," Twilight warned them.
"Will do. Now then, off we go."
Giving a snap of his claws, Discord teleported him and the other males there off to the Crystal Empire. With them now gone, Twilight and Rainbow turned towards the door when Twilight paused and facehoofed. Seeing this, Rainbow glanced over to her.
"Something up?" Rainbow asked.
"Dark's teleportation sickness," Twilight sighed, causing Rainbow to wince.
"Oh... yeah. Well, maybe being teleported by Discord isn't as bad."
Twilight gave her a deadpan look. "He's Discord, Rainbow. What makes you think that him teleporting Dark wouldn't be as bad as me or somepony else?"
"Uhhh... wishful thinking?" Rainbow weakly chuckled with a shrug. "Anyway, we can let them deal with Dark's teleportation sickness. I'm sure Discord could just snap his claws and cure him of it or something. But enough of that. Right now, you need to get your flank through those doors so we can get your bachelorette party started."
Up in the Crystal Empire, the guys arrived in a flash of light. As they each blinked away the spots in their eyes, their attention was turned to a groaning sound. Blinking their eyes clear, they all looked down to see the source was Dark, laying sprawled out on the crystalline floor.
"What's wrong with him?" Iron Guard asked.
"Oopsie-doopsie, I completely forgot," Discord said with a chuckle.
"What?"
"That Dark gets teleportation sickness."
Shining looked over to Discord. "How can you forget something like that?"
"It just slipped my mind at the time. Besides, it's nothing that a simple snap of my claw can't fix."
Doing just that, Discord snapped his claw and listened as Dark's groaning ceased. Several long seconds later, he and the others watched as Dark stood up and shot an angry glare at him.
"Did you plan that?" Dark asked in annoyance.
"Nooooo.... okay, maybe," Discord smirked.
"... one of these days, Discord. One of these days," he ominously said with a small grin.
"One of these days, what?" Discord asked, only to get silence in response from Dark.
Not bothering to answer him for now, Dark kept quiet and looked around to see that they were in fact in the Crystal Empire. However, by the looks of it, they had a little bit of a walk until they reached the castle. Seeing Shining motioning for them, Dark and the others followed him. Several minutes later, they were about to pass the crystal statue of Spike holding the crystal heart when Dark stopped. However, it wasn't from the sight of Spike's statue, but of the one beside it.
It was a statue of him in a rather unique pose that displayed both power and contemplation. The statue depicted Dark kneeling as his wore his Coliseum armor. While his tail was curved around him and his wings were partially unfurled, in his right claw he held his Death Reaver sword in reverse as its blade was planted into the ground at his side, and in his left, with the statue's gaze peering at it, was Sombra's crown.
"You like it?" Shining asked, having noticed Dark seeing the new statue of him and walking up to him. "The crystal ponies finished it up a few weeks ago."
"It's... I don't know what to make of it," Dark admitted, eyeing the statue out. "I mean, this is really incredible of them to do and all, but do I really deserve this?"
Shining shot Dark a questioning look. "Seriously? Dark, you killed thousands of undead, resurrected dozens of our guards, and still had enough strength to fly off and defeat Sombra for good."
"Sorry. I'm just not used to having stuff like this done for me I guess."
"It's fine... so?"
"So?"
"Do you like it?"
Dark looked over the statue again before letting out a small smile. "It does seem kinda imposing, but yeah, I like it."
"Good to hear. Did you also read the plaque on the face of the statue?"
Curious, Dark walked up in front of it and read it over.
"'Bane of the Tyrant King'?" he read out loud in confusion.
"It's what the crystal ponies started to call you after you left, kinda like how they call Spike the Brave and Glorious."
Nodding in understanding, Dark started to read it over. It was then that noticed that there was more writing below it and began reading it out loud.
"Breaking their lines.
Thousands of soldiers.
Run for their lives.
Legend arise."
"Again, it was their idea. As it turned out, some of the crystal ponies saw your Flare spell destroying Sombra's forces. In turn, they found it fitting that these words be placed on your statue."
"Huh... I suppose..." Dark unsurely said. "While I could agree with most of that, I'm not so sure about the legend part."
"You're a bit late on that."
Turning their heads to the new voice, the guys all saw Gray, Saph, and Emerald coming towards them.
"We saw the flash of light and came to check it out," Gray went to explain. "We then saw that you were all standing her at the new statue and heard you talking about the writing on it."
"Yeah, but like I was just telling Shining, I'm not so sure about the legend part."
"Sorry, but it's a bit too late for that," Saph informed Dark. "The crystal ponies have already decided on it. Us included."
Dark sighed in defeat before shrugging. "Alright. I guess it can't be helped at this point."
"Nope," Shining chipperly said. "Now, how about get inside and get this party started."
With a round of cheers, Dark chuckled and followed Shining as he again led them towards the castle for a long night of partying.
Over in Canterlot, Twilight was enjoying her own party. After she'd passed through the doors, she found herself being coiled up in a hug by Aero with Aques following shortly after with a tender and less enthusiastic hug of her own. Hugging them back, she looked around to see all of her pony and human friends there, along with her mom, Cadence, Celestia, Luna, and of course, the Dazzlings. With Twilight and everyone present, they could finally start their party.
As the party continued with games, non-alcoholic drinks, and music, Twilight made sure to thank everyone for their hard work, including the Dazzlings again.
"I still say that we should've hired a male stripper," Adagio commented.
"But ponies don't normally wear clothes, so it wouldn't really work," Sunset countered. "Besides, considering who and what Twilight's fiancé is, would it really be that good of an idea?"
"She's got a point, Dagi," Sonata agreed with a shrug. "I mean, Dark is Death after all."
"Don't remind me," Adagio shuddered, recalling the feeling of terror she felt when she touched Dark and peeked into him.
"While I thank you for the thought, Adagio, I'm gonna have to side with Sunset and Sonata on this one," Twilight said.
"Well that's too bad," she sighed in defeat. "And here I had the perfect stallion in mind."
"... it's not somepony that I know, is it?"
"I doubt it."
"Then who is it?"
Adagio shrugged. "Some stallion that we saw fight in the Coliseum."
"Which one?" Sunset asked.
"The one who kept throwing his weapons," she replied, unaware of a tall figure looming over her from behind. "I mean, did you girls see the way his muscles where? And that moustache, oohhhhhh~"
While Adagio was busy fantasizing, Sunset, Sonata, and Twilight slowly backed away from her.
"Uhhh, Dagi?" Sonata nervously called.
"What is it?"
"Look behind you."
Arching an eyebrow, Adagio turned around to see a mass of midnight-blue in front of her. Looking up, she then saw Luna as she glared down at her with a heated expression.
"I surely hope that you are not talking about the gladiator Craven," she threateningly said.
"So that's his name? I like it."
Not liking how she was speaking, Luna began lighting her horn before she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Looking to her side, she saw Celestia with a small grin on her face.
"Now, Luna," she began teasing, "this is not the time for you to get possessive of your crush."
Despite the music and everyone being scattered around, Celestia was still just loud enough for the entire room to hear her and go silent, including the music. With everyone's eyes now on Luna, her face started turning a deep shade of purple.
"HE'S NOT MY CRUSH!" Luna exclaimed with the Royal Canterlot Voice.
"Really?" Adagio asked with a sultry grin. "In that case, you won't mind if I take him out and show him a-"
"Finish that sentence and I will send you to the- I mean..."
"AWWW. Aunty Luna's finally found herself a special somepony!" Cadence gushed.
"He's not my special somepony!" Luna denied, only to get a pat on the back from Celestia.
"We know, dear sister. We're just teasing you about your little crush is all."
Luna gave a pout and looked away from them. "Well stop it."
"Well I don't think it's so bad," Twilight said before smirking herself. "After all, when I throw my bouquet tomorrow, all of the unmarried mares will have to gather around, which will include you and Princess Celestia."
"I will not be participating in the catching of the bouquet."
"Sadly, that's not your call to make, Lulu," Celestia smirked. "It is a sort of custom that all of the singles gather to try and grab the bouquet. Besides, if you'll recall, you participated in it during Big Macintosh's and Miss Cheerilee's wedding."
Hearing the snickering coming from around her, Luna cleared her throat and straightened her posture in an attempt to regain some of her lost dignity.
"So," she began, trying to redirect their conversation topic, "how do you think the guys are doing for Dark's bachelor party?"
"Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots!"
"Everypony!"
Up in the Crystal Empire, the crystal castle was glowing like a disco ball with greens, reds, and blues while Dark's bachelor party was in full swing. While Shining was the one who had planned and was in charge of it, he also brought in a bit of help. That, and it also helped him that the entirety of the crystal guard wanted to help as their thanks for Dark resurrecting them during Sombra's attack.
Inside the castle ball room, Dark, Shining, and the other guys were all either dancing and singing on the dancefloor to the music provided by their DJ, eating food at the buffet tables, swimming in a pool of beer, having drinking games, or tried making their way through one of several inflatable obstacle courses set up throughout the castle, some doing it sober while others tried it drunk. All in all, it was easily the funnest party that any of them have ever had, and it was all thanks to a certain pony that Shining was recommended.
"Dude, this party is awesome!" Dark exclaimed to Shining once the music had died down enough for him to hear.
"You can thank Pinkie Pie for that," Shining said. "She's the one who recommend that I get him to set this thing up."
"Really?"
"Yep. She said that he's the greatest party planning pony around."
"That's quite the compliment if it's coming from Pinkie. So, who's this pony that Pinkie recommended?"
"That would be me."
Surprised by the voice suddenly answering from behind him, Dark spun around to see a thin earth pony stallion with a light-tan coat wearing a yellow shirt, a fluffy brown mane, and strangely, a rubber chicken sitting on his back with a number two written on its stomach.
"Hi there. Name's Cheese Sandwich," he introduced with and enthusiastic hoofshake. "And this guy here on my back is my best friend, Boneless Two."
Collecting himself from the vicious hoofshake, Dark flexed the soreness out of his claw.
"It's nice to meet you, Cheese Sandwich," Dark said. "My name is-"
"Dark Flame. Yes, I know who you are already."
"Heh. I suppose you would since you're the one who put this together."
"Oh, no. I may be the one who put this together, but it was Prince Shining Armor here who got me to do this. Besides, how can I turn down a bachelor party for a friend of Pinkie's?"
"So you know Pinkie," Dark said.
"Oh, yeah. We go way back. She's actually the one who got me interested in becoming a super-duper party pony. Then, after we collaborated on Rainbow Dash's birthiversary party... well... we've been keeping in touch ever since."
A coy smile met Dark's lips. "Oh. So, does that mean that you two are a thing?"
Cheese Sandwich gave a chuckle. "Sorry, but we're just friends. Although, I might ask her out someday. After all, we both have a lot in common."
"Yeah. I could see you two being together."
"Me too," Shining agreed. "But while this is interesting and all, how about we go get something to eat."
"And something to drink," Dark added. "I'm starting to get pretty thirsty." He then glanced over to the table surrounded by Emerald, Saph, and a few dozen crystal guards. "And I think I know just where to go."
Back in Canterlot, Pinkie felt a shiver crawl up her spine that caused her attention to be drawn north.
"What's wrong, me?" Pinks asked her counterpart, having noticed her change in behavior.
"I'm not sure, me," Pinkie replied, "but I'm getting this feeling like the guys are talking to Cheese Sandwich about us being a couple."
"Isn't that a good thing, though?"
"It would if it weren't for the fact that none of us in our group other than Twilight, Twi, Dark, Sunset, Flutters, and Discord, are supposed to be shipped in this story."
"What about in the next chapter with-"
"They're not apart of the list of ponies, Spike, or the Crusaders, so they don't count. But still, be surprised when it happens, okay? We don't want to give anything away to them."
"You mean 'them' as in the readers, or 'them' as in the other characters?"
"Umm... both?"
"Okie-dokie-Pinkie," Pinks giggled with a salute before bouncing off with Pinkie following after her.
"Hey, Pinks?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think we might be overdoing it with the forth wall breaking?"
"Nope. Why? Do you want us to overdo it? If so, then I've got an entire list of jokes, memes, references, and other material that we can do."
Reaching into her mane, Pinks pulled out a furled scroll and gave it to Pinkie to look over, watching as she read it with the occasional nod or snort.
"Okay, we'll have to try some of these-"
"Yay!"
"-but not right now."
"Awww. But why not?"
"Because too much of a good thing can be bad for you."
"What about our sweets?"
"With all of the energy we burn off every day, we kinda need the sweets, so they're an exception."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense."
Nearing Twilight and the other girls, Pinkie returned Pinks' list and joined them.
"I still can't believe that you girls brought only the non-alcoholic cider," Rainbow complained slightly before gulping down a mug of cider.
"That's because we didn't want to run the risk of mixing them up and letting Twilight accidentally drinking the alcoholic ones," Cadence explained.
"And I for one don't mind one bit," Twilight nodded before taking a swig from her own mug.
"Besides, we're underage to drink any alcohol," Twi reminded them.
"Maybe in our world we are," Dash began with a smirk, "but if I remember what Sunset said correctly, then here in Equestria, we're old enough to drink."
"That's still no excuse for us to, Dash."
Celestia nodded in agreement. "She's right. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should."
"Ugh, fine," Dash groaned before looking at her mug of cider with an idea. "Hey, who wants to have a drinking competition?"
Rainbow's ears immediately perked up at this. "I'm in!"
"Meh, sure, why not?" AJ shrugged.
"Well, if you're in, then so am Ah," Applejack said.
"As will I," Celestia announced, earning her a surprised look from Luna.
"Are you sure, Tia?" she questioned.
"It's not alcoholic, so I don't see any reason why I can't."
Luna gave a nod. "In that case, I too shall join in the drinking competition."
Before any of them could blink, Pinkie and Pinks had pulled up a table with several mugs and barrels of cider for them.
"In that case, we'll be the judges," both Pinkies said simultaneously.
Watching eagerly as the two princesses and their friends took their seats at the table, Pinkie and Pinks both began to fill up their mugs before they both froze in place.
"Is something wrong?" Velvet asked them.
"I just have this feeling," Pinkie slowly answered.
"Like what, darling?" Rares wondered, this time with Pinks answering instead.
"Like the guys are doing something similar to this, but with alcoholic cider."
"Lucky," Dash muttered.
"And Dark?" Twilight asked, watching as both Pinkies shared a look and nodded.
"Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug!"
The room was in a cheering frenzy as Dark, Shining, Gray, Emerald, Saph, Iron Guard, Steel Hoof, Anvil, Big Mac and Night all sat at a table chugging down another mug of alcoholic cider. Several others had been apart of their drinking contest too, such as Kite Shield and some crystal guards, but they'd dropped out either before they could no longer hold their liquor, or in the case of an unfortunate few, after. Pyre, Fissure, and Discord were invited to join them, but each of them declined on the grounds that possibly besides Dark, they would drink them all under the table.
Now going into their twelfth round, Night, Steel, Gray, and Emerald where looking a bit worse for the wear, while the other remaining competitors were holding out, some better than others. While Iron and Saph were starting to look a bit worse for wear, Dark, Shining, Big Mac, and Anvil were still holding strong, with Dark having finished his drink before the others.
"This cider, I like it," he said approvingly before throwing his mug on the ground. "ANOTHER!"
"How are ye holding up so well, lad?" Anvil curiously asked. "I heard that ye barely drank."
Dark stood proudly. "I'm part dragon, that's why."
"Really? That's yer reason why?"
"Yep. Otherwise, I would've been out of it after like the forth mug."
"How much do you think you can drink?" Night wondered.
Curious now, Dark glanced at the pile of cider barrels with a grin. Lighting his horn, Dark magically brought the barrel over to him and uncorked the top.
"Cheers!"
Throwing his head back, Dark stood on his hooves as he lifted the heavy barrel of cider and began to chug it. After the first few seconds of watching, everyone began to cheer for Dark as he gulped one mouthful after another of the golden, burning liquid. As Dark continued to chug down the cider, the others continued their chanting. It wasn't until after almost three minutes had passed that Dark slammed the now empty barrel down with a triumphant belch that echoed off of the crystalline walls. Seeing that Dark had chugged an entire barrel of hard cider by himself in under three minutes, the entire room erupted into cheers while Dark raised his claws in victory... only for them to fall over his stomach a few seconds later.
Concerned that he might've overdone it, Night and Shining found themselves by Dark's side.
"Hey, you alright?" Shining asked.
"Ooohhhhh. Stomach," Dark groaned.
"Think we should get him to the medical wing?" Night asked.
A second later, a loud grumbling could be heard from the depths of Dark's stomach. As Dark continued to groan, the rumbling in his stomach continued to grow. However, while everyone was starting to gather around to see what was wrong, Cheese Sandwich's eyes widened.
"Oh, no. Not again," he fearfully said before pulling out a pair of gas masks for himself and Boneless Two.
Those few who saw this were about to ask him, but before they could, Dark suddenly lifted his tail and produced the loudest fart that they'd ever heard. But, that wasn't all, though, as not only was Dark passing gas loud enough to shatter windows, but he also somehow managed to shoot fire out from his rear, taking several ponies behind him by surprise.
For thirteen straight seconds this continued until it finally began to sputter out, leaving a small stream of smoke from Dark's butt as he sighed in relief. Taking a few moments to take in what had just happened, everyone just stared at Dark before a few of them began to cheer for his grand show of flatulence. However, it was short-lived.
The cheering quickly died down in place for ponies choking and gagging as they smelled the horrific smell that accompanied it. While most of them ran around and tried to open windows to let the fresh air in, some were too blinded by their stinging eyes to see, and those few unfortunate ones were huddled around a trash bucket as they emptied their stomachs.
"Oh my Celestia!"
"That's horrible!"
"It smells like dead burnt possum and skunk dipped in a sewer and slathered in melted moldy cheese!"
"My eyes!"
"It's in my mouth! Oh, Celestia, it's in my mouth!"
"It burns!"
Watching as the ponies, Discord, and the two Scaleless Dragons were panicking and trying to flee from the smell, Dark stood up and laughed and took in a deep breath.
"My beef stronnng!"
Coughing beside him, Shining tried waving a hoof in front of his face as he looked up at Dark with reddened, teary eyes.
"Your beef wrong."
Having enough of this, Discord, holding his breath, snapped his claws and cleared the castle of the foul stench. With fresh air filtering in, everyone besides Dark and Cheese Sandwich, began gasping for air to clear their lungs out, most doing so while in a coughing fit. Once the coughing had died down a bit, Night walked over to Dark with his bloodshot eyes.
"That's it, no more alcohol for you," he declared, earning a unanimous murmur in agreeance.
"But what the heck was all that about?" Discord wondered. "You weren't like that when you drank during Big Macintosh's bachelor party."
"I also didn't chug an entire barrel of hard cider either," Dark reminded them.
Shining coughed a few times before he spoke. "Okay, so from now on, you only drink from a mug, nothing bigger, and for our sakes, no more barrel chugging."
"Okay."
Not wanting to dwell on this any longer, Discord suddenly had an idea and floated over to Cheese Sandwich to whisper his idea into his hear. As Discord continued, Cheese Sandwich's eyes widened as his eyes twinkled.
"You know what? That's a really good idea!" he exclaimed excitingly. "Why haven't I thought of that?!"
"Because you're not me," Discord smirked.
"Okay, everyone!" Cheese Sandwich called and clapped his hooves, gaining everyone's attention. "I just got a really great idea from Discord! Now, who here's heard of the Lady of the Rings?"
Seeing every hoof and claw shooting up into the air, Cheese Sandwich nodded with a smile.
"Great! In that case, who wants to reenact some of its battles?"
With a chorus of cheers, Cheese Sandwich and Discord shared a look before Discord snapped his claw and changed the scene. Thanks to his powers of bending reality, they found themselves now placed upon a tall wall protecting a stone fortress carved from the mountainside with a single stone bridge leading up to its wooden gates. While the guards were posted on the walls with bows and arrows, and a sword and shield, up in the keep overlooking them were Dark, Shining, Night, Discord, Big Mac, Cheese Sandwich and Boneless Two, Iron Guard, and Gray, all of whom were in some form of hard leather armor and chainmail. Except for Discord, who was wearing his Captain Wuzz outfit.
"Huh, so you've chosen the Battle of Hooves' Deep," Shining noticed, looking up at the dark clouds as the rain poured down on them.
"Well, it was either this or the Siege of Ponedor," Discord shrugged.
"Maybe we can do that one next if we survive this?" Dark asked.
"Oh, no need to worry about that. Nopony is going to die in this, I made sure of that."
"Thank goodness for that," Night sighed. "That would be one hay of a party spoiler if somepony did die."
"Speaking of 'party'," Cheese Sandwich began, pointing out in the distance, "looks like the guests have arrived."
Sure enough, marching towards them was an army of changelings wearing thick black armor, and armed with broad shields and swords, and extremely long pikes.
"Just so we're clear," Night nervously began, "what happens if we die here?"
"Oh, nothing bad I assure you," Discord idly dismissed. "If you die, then you're sent to the throne room back in the castle to watch the rest of the battle. I promise that there won't be any excruciating pain, only a little bit of it. After all, taking all of the danger out if it wouldn't make this as much fun now, would it?"
"Well that's good to know," Iron Guard muttered under his breath.
"Looks like they're just about in range," Gray announced.
"In that case," Shining began, looking to Dark, "since this is your bachelor party, Dark, how about you take lead?"
Dark looked to Shining curiously. "Are you sure?"
"Yep. Go on ahead."
"In that case, as soon as they're within range of our archers, have them fire at will. While I thoroughly enjoyed watching the show on your guys' gem projector, Night, I'd rather not wait until they're practically at our walls before we start firing."
"In that case, I might as well head on down and join the others in some fun," Discord said, but was stopped by Dark before he could leave.
"Hey, do you and the others by chance have any explosive arrows?"
"Sorry, but while I can give us some and make us some catapults and trebuchets, I'd rather keep it as close to the original material as I can."
"Fair enough I guess. Okay, good luck down there."
"Luck? Oh-ho-ho-ho, Dark. For me, I don't need such a thing."
Dark, Shining, and Night raised an eyebrow and spoke in unison, "Twilight."
"... really? You had to bring that moment up?"
"Well, ya did pretty much walk into it," Big Mac shrugged.
"Ehh, whatever."
Waving them off, Discord teleported off from the keep and onto the wall with the crystal guards. Taking an open spot, Discord brought up his bow and notched an arrow. Following his example, the guards each notched their arrows and drew their bows. Several seconds later, the command to fire was shouted out, signaling them to loose their arrows and send them flying towards the oncoming ten thousand changeling army before beginning to notch another arrow to fire.
"You know," Shining began as they watched the battle below, "this is actually a good idea to prepare them when King Inferno decides to attack."
"True, this could double as a form of training," Dark agreed. "But, if it's alright, I'd rather not think about that at the moment. Right now, I just want to have some fun with my friends, adopted family, and future family."
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed before noticing some spare bows and quivers filled with arrows.
Seeing his gaze, the others all shared a smile before they each grabbed a bow and quiver for themselves and joined in the fight from their spot in the keep. Unleashing a volley of arrows themselves, they began to fire at will, laughing and enjoying the fun that they were having together. That is, until a thought crossed Night's mind.
"Hey, Shining?" he called.
"Yes, dad?" he replied, loosing another arrow.
"I just thought of something. Is it really a good idea to be letting your guards fight like this right after all of the alcohol that they just drank?"
"I wouldn't worry too much about it. Besides, Gray and I trained them after all, so I know how tough they are."
Several long hours later, Dark woke up with a yawn and stretched his joints out, earning him a satisfying pop from each of them. Rubbing his eyes with his claws, he then sat up from his spot on the table to see the entire ball room littered with sleeping stallions stinking of alcohol, Pyre and Fissure having nodded off at one of the tables, and Discord, who was once again hanging by his tail, this time from the chandelier as it slowly spun around.
Standing up, Dark glanced towards the window to see that the sun had broken over the horizon. With a small groan, he then looked around for Shining and Night, but couldn't find either of them. Getting up, he then quietly made his way to the throne room in search for them, figuring that they would both be too tired to make it to their rooms. Sure enough, when Dark entered the throne room, he saw Shining sleeping upside down on the throne with Night lounging on the small ramp leading up to the dais.
Quietly, Dark maneuvered his way around the stallions that had fallen asleep in the throne room and made his way up to the throne. Once there, Dark nudged Shining until he snorted away. However, this was a mistake for Shining as upon seeing the sunlight, he immediately slammed his eyes shut and winced as he felt a throbbing in his skull.
"Ouuuuuch," he groaned.
"You doing alright?" Dark asked, getting another groan from Shining.
"Not so loud, Dark. Now, what do you want?"
Dark was about to answer Shining, but instead he paused as the reality of today had slapped him in the face. With a heavy gulp and wide eyes, Dark uneasily collected himself.
"Uh... Shining... I'm getting married today."
Shining's eyes shot open, this time ignoring the pain that came from the light of the sun. Rolling over, he stood up and casted a cleansing spell to clear him of his hangover.
"Everypony get up!" he shouted, causing the entire room to groan out in pain as the others awoke to Shining's louder than usual voice.
"Where's the fire, Shining?" Night groaned, massaging his temples from where he laid.
"Dad, Dark's marrying Twilight today!"
Hearing that, Night immediately bolted up onto his hooves. "You heard him boys! We've got a wedding to get to!"
"I'll go wake the others," Dark said to Shining and Night before flying out of the throne room and towards the ball room. Once there, he flew up to Discord, still hanging by his tail upside down. But, before Dark could say or do anything to wake him up, he heard Discord talking in his sleep, or, more specifically, singing.
"You spin me right round, baby, right round like a record, baby, right round right round~"
"I can't believe this," Dark muttered with a facepalm. "Discord! Wake-up!"
Slapping his face, Dark woke Discord up, earning him an unhappy glare from him as he folded his arms.
"Was that really necessary?" Discord asked, feeling just a little bit irked by being slapped awake.
"Considering that we're supposed to be on the next train to Canterlot for my wedding? YES!"
Forgetting about the others, Dark's shout at the end there caused the room to be filled with groans and moans of displeasure and pain as the hungover stallions all began to wake up, along with Fissure and Pyre, who as it turned out, didn't get drunk off of the cider from last night.
"... fine. I'll give you this one," Discord submitted. "Now then, what do you need me to do? I doubt you woke me just for the sake of waking me."
"Can you cure these guys of their hangovers like you did at Big Mac's bachelor party?"
Silently, Discord continued to swing upside down from the chandelier as he snapped his paw, instantly curing each of the stallions of their hangover.
"Okay, guys," Dark loudly announced, no longer worrying about the pain of their hangovers, "get yourselves cleaned up and ready! We've got a train to catch and a wedding to get to!"
Hearing that reminder, each of the stallions frantically got up to their hooves and made for the exit to their homes to get themselves ready. Within thirty seconds, the ball room was empty besides, Dark, Discord, Pyre, Fissure, and Cheese Sandwich.
"So," Pyre began, looking around them, "how're we gonna clean up this mess?"
"Simple." Snapping his claw, Discord cleaned up the leftovers of the party. "There, all done."
"Thanks a lot," Cheese Sandwich thanked. "That sure saved me a bunch of time."
"Sure, no problem."
Dark looked over to Cheese Sandwich "So, Cheese Sandwich, will you be coming with us? I know it's kinda last minute, but with how good of a job you did, I think that you've deserved it."
"You bet I will!" he happily exclaimed. "Just give me a moment to find Boneless Two and we'll meet you at the train station."
Waving him off, Dark, Discord, Pyre, and Fissure left the now clean ball room to go see how Shining and Night were doing before getting themselves ready to leave for Canterlot.
Over in Canterlot, Pinks woke up on the floor of the ball room with the others. That is, all but Twilight, who retired early for some extra sleep in preparation for tomorrow, and Celestia and Luna. Taking a look around, she saw that while most of her friends where here, Sunset, Twi, and both Rarity and Rares were gone. Shrugging to herself, she got up and stretched out when she saw her double still asleep on the ground with a smile on her face, laying on her back with her back-right hoof twitching every so often. Feeling a little mischievous, she slowly and quietly made her way over to Pinkie, and straddled her waist.
"Ohhhhhh, Pinkieeeeeeee. Time to wake uuuuupppp."
Upon receiving no reply, Pinks raised a hoof and slapped Pinkie across the face, gaining no reaction at all.
"Rise and shine, Pinkie!"
*Slap*
"Wake-up!"
*Slap*
"Up and at 'em!"
*Slap*
"... fine then..."
*Slap*
"That's for all clown jokes!"
*Slap*
"That's for never calling just to say 'hi'."
*Slap*
"That's because I get hot when I slap ponies! Hahah!"
*Slap*
"That's for all of the furry midgets in my world!"
*Slap*
"That's because I feel like it!"
*Slap*
"Why!"
*Slap*
"Won't!"
*Slap*
"You!"
*Slap*
"Wake!"
*Slap*
"Up?!"
*Slap*
"Wake-up!"
*Slap*
"That's because the author wanted to do a Deadpool video game reference!"
*Slap*
"That's because I like slapping fleshy things with this hoof!"
*Slap*
"That's for being in more episodes than me!"
*Slap*
"That's for making me love you!"
*Slap*
"That's for making me hate you, which, now that I think about it, really isn't healthy since you're me and I'm you."
*Slap*
"That's for never taking anyone to the dance!"
*Slap*
"That's for always partying late!"
*Slap*
"That's for being pink!"
*Slap*
"That's for stabbing me in the heart in video games when you would sneak over to my world for a visit!"
*Slap*
"That's for not letting me fly one of our secret projects except when I almost crashed one of them!"
*Slap*
"That's for being the worst wingman in the female equivalent to bro-mance in bro-mance history! Wait, would it be wingman, or winggirl... wingmare... meh, whatever."
*Slap*
"That's because I want to see how much longer I can keep doing this!"
*Slap*
"That's for all the hunky bronies out there! Hey, call me!"
*Slap*
"That's for being a total worrywart with the forth wall breaking!"
*Slap*
"That's for never washing the dishes when I was staying over!"
*Slap*
"That was for last year's white elephant gift! Who wants a white elephant?!"
*Slap*
"And finally!"
*Slap*
"That's because this whole segment was because the author needed to add more words to make this chapter longer so that it could be over seven thousand words long!"
*Slap*
Looking back down at her, Pinks saw that despite all that she was put through, Pinkie remained asleep with a smile on her face, completely unfazed by the comical bitch-slapping she received.
"Meh. Guess she's not waking up," Pinks said with a shrug before getting up off of her double and walking off. "Now, where was that dining hall again?"