//------------------------------// // The Hangover // Story: Luna's Student // by MyWorld93 //------------------------------// Disclaimer: Welcome to another moment with the disclaimer. Today I brought a new friend in to tell you what I used to tell you. Give a big hand for COMMANDER VOLCOTT! A brown haired man with a mustache wearing a grey suit faces the audience, “Oh! Hello everyone out there. It’s very nice to meet you all. Normally I’m in charge of running the brigade, which is not the easiest job let me tell you, but today I’m here to act as the disclaimer.” He smiles at the camera, “When reading Luna’s Student please sit in a bright room well away from the screen. I hope you understand.” He turns to leave the stage before seeming to remember something, “Oh right, MyWorld93 owns no part of the MLP or Galaxy Angel universes. They are owned by Hasbro and Broccoli respectively. Please enjoy the story.” Chapter 10: The Hangover Written by: MyWorld93 My remaining time with Dr.Disim was highly productive. Although we didn’t get into the details of what possible options there were for me to work on my issues, we did discuss them in generalities. By the end of the session, I felt that I had a better understanding of what I should do, which for the moment amounted to staying away from Twilight. There weren’t many other options that could be discussed on such short notice, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it. Sadly, we wouldn’t be able to discuss what else could be done until next session. I’d already tried to ask him what he believed should be done, but he wasn’t willing to tell me anything about it. Speaking of which… “Dr. Disim?” He glanced up from his notebook, in which he had been writing things I couldn’t see from the angle involved, and looked me in the eyes. “Yes?” “You said that we would get into more detail about what I can do to solve my little issue next session, but when will that be?” I personally think it is a necessary thing to know about when one is supposed to come back to a meeting. “That is a good question. Will you be available next week at this time?” I gave that a little bit of thought. Considering that I had only awoken from a coma today, I was positive that I didn’t have any plans for next week. That was assuming of course that my teacher hadn’t put any plans into place for me, which was fairly unlikely. As such, that time should work out quite well for me. The worst thing that could happen was that I would have to reschedule and somehow that seemed to be fairly minor issue. After I finished working through this lengthy thought process, I gave the doctor a simple nod. Dr.Disim made a notation in his notebook, “Good, good. I’ll see you next week. You should receive a call a day before the appointment to notify you that you have it.” I blinked, was someone going to be yelling at me that I was supposed to be here for my appointment? Perhaps a call was something that had been developed after I had been placed into stone… Well it couldn’t hurt to ask. “Dr. Disim, what do you mean when you say that I’m going to receive a call?” He looked rather surprised by my question, which only confirmed my belief that a call was something that had been developed after my imprisonment. I suppose he realized that fact, as a look of dawning comprehension spread across his face, “Ah, right… you’ve been out of the loop for quite a while,” That was an understatement if I had ever heard one, “Well a call is when some uses a device known as a telephone to talk to you over a long distance.” That… That was amazing, ponies could talk to each other over a distance? That would have saved a few lives in my time, my previous time anyway considering that my time was really now, ponies would have been able to call for help when they were on the verge of being assassinated. I suppose it was another item to add to my quickly growing list of research items. “Now, our time for tonight’s session is over.” Dr.Disim’s voice broke me from my thoughts. I quickly noticed that he was looking towards the clock and followed his gaze. Wow, it was far later than I had thought it was. I couldn’t believe that this much time had passed already, I heard the doctor stand up from his chair, drawing my attention to him and found that he had trotted over to the door and was currently holding it open for me. I suppose that was my cue to leave the room. You know… I should probably thank him for his help. He hadn’t yet been able to solve my problem, but I was much closer than I had been. I stopped right next to him, right before exiting the room, and held a hoof and gave my thanks, “Thanks for the help doc, looking forward to seeing you next week.” He seemed slightly surprised by my statement, but still shook my hoof and responded with a, “You're welcome”. The exchange finished, I trotted my way into the hallway and heard the door slam shut behind me. Well… that was a little rude of him, but I couldn’t fault him for it. If I’d been working all day and then been told that I would need to work for a few more hours beyond what I had planned I’d be in a big rush to leave as well. So I ignored his action of slamming the door and began my short trek down the hallway towards the waiting room. Even though the best option that Dr.Disim could give me to deal with my fear of Applebloom and Twilight had been to stay away from, I felt unsatisfied by it and as such used my time on this short walk to contemplate it. I felt that there had to be an option that I was missed, something that would be obvious in retrospect once it happened Unfortunately for me the only option that came to mind was to have Twilight wear that beard the entire time, but that wouldn’t be fair to her at all. Besides, it wouldn’t work well at all. It could fall off. I was broken from my thoughts when my nose erupted in a short burst of pain. I opened my eyes, having closed them when I’d hit whatever I had, to see the doorway to waiting room standing placidly in front of me. For half a second I considering hitting the thing back for having hurt me, but that would have been extreamly silly. It was my own fault for not paying attention to where I was going. I really need to start paying more attention when I’m trotting. I was getting tired of running into these kinds of problems. Dissmising that last thought I opened the doorway and trotted on through. I took a look around the room, expecting that the room would be empty which was exactly what I found. There wasn’t any reason for anypony to be here. So I continued my pathway to the other side of the room. “Hello Dawn." I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden noise in the otherwise quiet room. I quickly shifted my attention to where the sound had come from, utterly baffled as to how I had missed somepony else being in the room. There shouldn’t be any way they could have hidden from me… Unless of course it had been my teacher, which was exactly who it was. Sitting calmly with a small smile on her face, likely caused by my reaction to her statement, was my teacher. Even though I knew that the whole appearing out nowhere trick was likely a prank on me, I couldn’t stop a smile from growing upon my lips. No matter what my teacher did to me, I was always happy to see her. Still, even if I was happy to see her, it still left one question for me to ask, “So what are you doing here?” My teacher gave me a slight smile before replying to my question, “I thought that was obvious, I’m waiting for you of course. I wanted to find out how your session went.” A feeling of happiness grew inside me, it was always nice to hear that ponies care about you. Still, the question she asked was rather loaded, I’d need to think a little on how to answer it. I’d learned a bit more about my problem which was good, but it wasn’t a panacea by any means. I suppose that there is only one answer to this question, “I think that it went very well.” She gave me a curious look, “Would you mind elaborating?” “Dr.Disim and I believe that we found a possible cause as to why I had such a strong reaction to Twilight.” Curiosity laced Luna’s response, “Oh? What did he suggest?” “Well… we didn’t go into too much detail, but we believe that it was likely caused by my time in stone. Specifically, I thought that it might have been caused by thinking that what happened to Diamond will happen to Twilight.” While the clinical setting earlier had kept me from feeling the fear from that thought, now that I was in a less formal setting I felt the fear of such a thing happening flow through me, but I continued through it, “But we couldn’t say for sure if that was the actual cause or not. The doctor didn’t want to focus too much on that idea because it was possible that it would cause me to act like that was my problem even if it wasn’t.” An expression of thoughtfulness spread across my teacher’s face, “That seems to be a rather productive concept, especially considering what I have seen happen to some ponies who get it in their heads that they are failures.” “What do you mean?” I had to admit that I was curious about what she meant, what happened to ponies that focused on the idea that they were failures? “I saw ponies be called failures for their entire life. They often stopped trying to do anything because they were never told they were good at anything.” That actually made sense, if I was to believe that the cause of my problem was that Diamond had been killed, I would only focus on solutions that solved that problem, which would be problematic if the problem was caused by something else. It also brought another idea into my mind. Perhaps I could try believing that I wasn’t afraid of Twilight and because I believe it, perhaps it would eventually cause me not to be. Well… it was worth a shot anyway. The next time that I saw her, I would simply tell myself over and over that I wasn’t afraid of her. “Dawn, what are you planning to do now?” I glanced up back towards my teacher. I suppose that was a good question really, what did I want to do? There wasn’t much time left in the day, so it couldn’t be anything time consuming. A yawn almost worked its way out of my throat. That gave me an idea, I think I know what I want to do now. “Honestly, after everything that’s happened today, I’d like to go to bed.” Now that I’d said that aloud, a rather obvious problem with it flowed into my mind. My teacher, or at least I think it was my teacher, had arranged for me to stay at Twilight’s home, in which Twilight lived, and I was currently incapable of staying within her presence for any period of time… The image of me galloping away, screaming into the night and awakening everyone in a twelve mile radius flowed into my mind. I shook my head to clear it of that thought. Well that obviously wasn’t going to work. Unfortunately, I didn’t have many other options. Being stuck in stone for a thousand years makes it difficult to meet ponies. Perhaps my teacher had another suggestion. “Teacher.” Luna looked at me with interest, a small smile on her lips that made me wonder if this was a good idea. She was a known prankster after all, “Since… well… I mean…” This is rather emberrasing to ask. I may have felt that I could tell my teacher anything, but that didn’t make requesting things any easier, especially when they already went through some effort to get you the thing you’re requesting changed. Still, it needed to be asked, “Since I currently am unable to stay within Twilight’s presence for very long, I don’t know if it’s a good idea for me to stay with her. Do you know another place I could stay… at least until I get over this little problem?” A devilish smile grew upon my teacher’s lips, the white of her teeth contrasted strongly by the black color of her coat… honestly it was rather frightening. I had to wonder if this was a good idea at all, or if galloping away right now would save me a lot of trouble later on, “Oh… I have a perfect idea.” Why did that sound entirely ominous? My body began to shake with fear and anxiety, I knew that my teacher would never harm me on purpose, but the way she was acting made me wonder if that creature had come back to take her over. “Uh… Mind letting me in on it first?” She shook her head, “Now, where would the fun be in just telling you. You’ll find out when we get there.” Then she laughed a small giggling laugh that I dreaded hearing from my teacher, it never meant anything good. “Would you at least tell me who it is I’m staying with?” Through her giggles, which made understanding her fairly difficult, she cryptically answered me, “With someone you know very well.” I couldn’t make out her next statement through her renewed giggling, but soon enough she stopped and continued her previous statement, “Now why don’t you follow me.” She walked out of the room and I followed. No matter how uneasy she was making me feel, she was still my teacher and that meant she would try to help me… right? The devilish smile was still present on Luna’s lips and mirth still tainted her voice, “So what do you think Dawn?” My tone was flat as I replied, “I think that this building needs a paint job.” It was moments like this that I wondered if my teacher’s prankster nature wasn’t getting the best of her. The building in front of me was completely out of line with my expectation, with the cryptic nature of Luna’s speech, I had expected something either awe-inspiring or disgusting beyond belief. Perhaps even a house full of a creepy and ooky family that lived in a haunted house with a hoof galloping around without any body attached. This place on the other hoof was the complete opposite of that, it was incredibly… I suppose bland would be the best term for it really. The tall, boring, grey buildings that surrounded it seemed bright and cheerful in comparison. I laid my questioning gaze up my teacher, a question upon my lips, “Who did you say lives here again?” I know that she’d told me that I knew the pony that lived here very well, but considering that everypony I thought I knew well was dead… well it didn’t leave me much to go on. Perhaps a dragon I’d met once lived here? They were the only creatures that I could think of that would live long enough. That devilish grin she currently wore seemed to widen a tiny fraction, which I hadn’t believed possible, and her voice showed her enjoyment of my torment, “Your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandniece.” Pinkie Pie lived here? Well… that didn’t really fit with her cryptic clue about who lived here, unless she’s referring to how much she seems to act like Blueberry. Either way, the fact that Pinkie’s house is so bland is rather surprising. It simply doesn’t fit her personality at all, especially considering the kind of houses Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack live in. I had expected her house to be the most ridiculous, perhaps even a giant Pie. I shook my head as I responded, “I still can’t believe it. I must be missing something. It doesn’t make sense. Pies are known for living in the very strange homes, usually ones that are uninhabitable to anypony else.” My family house had been, I don’t know if it’s still around honestly, bright pink and seemed to be growing out in all direction, literally at times. We even had rooms with doors that went nowhere, walls that moved, and ponies walking through walls. We even had a poltergeist for a while, but he ran away after Blueberry began to popping out of the ceiling and scaring him. I miss poor Blinky and his friend Spooky the ghost. They were fun to play with. I think that if her smile had been any larger it would make up most of her face, “I’m sure it will make more sense soon enough.” Well that statement was rather strange, I had to wonder if I was missing something about this building. Perhaps it looked different during the day? Perhaps it was actually made of mirrors and it reflected light during the day? For some reason, the idea that Pinkie’s house was strange in some manner or other made me feel better about this whole thing. While I had been in thought my teacher had been trotting closer to the building, I quickly followed in her hoofsteps. As we moved closer to the building, something rather odd began to happen. Specifically, my tail began to spaz out like crazy, quickly reaching the levels it had when Rarity had been around. Considering how that experience had been I decided to pause for a few seconds to see if anything was going to jump me, most likely Pinkie Pie. However, nothing happened, which probably surprised me more. Perhaps whatever was causing my tail to spaz out like crazy was inside the building? With any luck it wasn’t Rarity, I don’t think I can take another dose of her today. A thought popped into my head, perhaps my teacher know about what had happened with Rarity and was pranking me by having her here. Or worse! She might live here on her off days. A shiver ran down my spine. That was a scary thought, living with Rarity… I was grateful that my teacher didn’t think to try that one. I don’t think I’d survive a week. I suppose Luna hadn’t bothered to wait for me because when I broke from my thoughts I didn’t see her anywhere and the doorway was wide open. I was rather surprised that she would leave the door open like that, any pony who did that a thousand years ago would have been dead faster than one could blink. It seemed rather strange that my teacher would simply leave the door open like that. Was there something I was missing here? That thought continued to haunt me as I trotted through the doorway Luna had left open, fighting my tail the entire time. While generally I was one to listen to my tail, right now I needed to go in there, I simply needed a place to sleep. The moment I passed through the portal, I felt and heard it slam shut behind me. That wasn’t very comforting. Trying to look around I came to know a rather obvious fact; I was totally blind in here! I literally couldn’t see my hoof in front of my face, and believe me I tried. This was not good at all, somepony could attack me from any corner and I wouldn’t be able to see them. The second thing I realized was that my tail stopped shaking and the shiver I’d been feeling run up and down my spine subsided completely. That was actually scarier than having those things continue to happen. I’d never had my tail go from completely crazy to absolutely nothing. That time with Rarity didn’t count, she cheated. The final thing I noticed was that I couldn’t see my teacher anywhere around me, which was a bad thing. Had something happened to her? I know that she was the one leading me, which likely meant that she knew what was going on, but I couldn’t help worrying. I didn’t think she would have left me like this. Perhaps if I asked she would answer? “Luna? Where did you go?” My voice echoed through in the darkness, reverberating off the walls. When the echo died down, the sound of giggling reached my ears. I bent down into a defensive posture, while I knew that my lack of magic would hinder my ability to defend myself I wasn’t completely helpless without it, just mostly helpless. While I hadn’t gotten into that many fights before, especially without magic, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be ready. I waited patiently for something to attack me, perfectly prepared to deal with it. For a few seconds nothing happened, but the lights flickered on, blinding me with their intensity. Whoever was involved in this was smarter than I thought. Most ponies wouldn’t even think to use a light as a source of an attack. Now I was both blinded and anxious, not a good combination. I focused on using sound to try and locate whatever was coming after me, “SURPRISE!!” The screeching cacophony of voices nearly knocked me onto my flank. I began to focus a spell through my horn, but quickly abort it when the pain began to overwhelm me. Why did I keep forgetting that I didn’t currently have any magic to use, I’d think the pain would keep me from doing it anymore. I shook my head and tried to regain my balance, none of that mattered right now. I needed to deal with whatever was currently coming after me. This preparation was made all the harder because my eyes were still adjusting to the light, but luckily I could still see a large blob of colors in front of me. My heart began to beat faster and faster, there was no way I could protect myself against such a large group, but as my eyes adjusted more I became less anxious and more surprised by what I saw in front of me. The building was packed with ponies, a rainbow of colors from wall to wall. This was absolutely ridiculous, there were far more ponies than would possibly fit in this building. It simply should not be possible. My thoughts, and stance, were broken by the arrival of a pink blur that stopped right in front of me, but quickly resolved itself into a certain Pink pony who spoke quickly and excitedly, “Were you surprised, huh, huh, were you?!” My arm reached out on their own and gave Pinkie a hug before quickly releasing her. For a second there I’d thought my sister was here, this was exactly like something that she would do. “Sorry about that Pinkie.” No matter how much she reminded me of Blueberry I shouldn’t treat her as if she was her. “Don’t worry about it silly, I know you were thinking of your sister Blueberry.” How did she know that? I don’t remember telling her about Blueberry, though considering how long I was in a coma for I suppose I could forget anything. Besides that, how would she know that I was thinking about Blueberry right now anyway? I suppose I should be used to this, but I don’t think Blueberry ever read my mind. My thoughts were again interrupted by the pink pony as her excited voice rang out, “Besides I like hugs from family members and friends. It makes everyone feel all snuggly wuggly all the time.” Well that was true. It did make a pony feel snuggly wuggly, and a number of other things. Still, this left one question for me. “Pinkie, what exactly is going on here?” There weren’t many things I could think of that would involve this many ponies, and for some reason the first one that came to mind was a lynching. “Why a Party Silly!” That was a much better reason than a lynching and made perfect sense to boot. Pies were well known for throwing very large and crazy parties and since Pinkie’s Flank Marking was a balloon it likely meant… wait… “Pinkie, what does your Cutie Mark,” I paused for half a second to contemplate how wrong it felt to say that word and how much I wanted to throttle Celestia for changing it, “mean?” I know that it was a nonsequiter, but I needed to ask. I could only hope that I was wrong about what it meant, if it meant what I think it does… I can only hope it doesn’t. Her reply was as excited as any of her other statements, “It means that my special talent is throwing PAAARRRTTTEEESS!” The over-the-top movements and streamers that flew out from Pinkie Pie couldn’t distract me from my thoughts. That had been what I was afraid of… A Pie that was born to throw parties… There was a story about one of those from almost a hundred years before I had been born. From what I heard it had been alright when she was younger, she only threw elaborate, but not dangerous parties, but when she got older, the kind of parties she threw were crazy. Everypony, even the princesses, were invited and attended. The wine and spirits was said to flow freely and well… ponies were almost sent back to the dark ages due to lack of work ethic. Hopefully, Pinkie won’t drive the country into a workless frenzy like that. With any luck she’s still in the simple great party stages, otherwise this I’ll need to gather some ponies together for an intervention. Well… better enjoy this party before the partyocalypse occurs. “So what’s the party for?” There weren’t that many things that I could think of that fit the occasion. “You getting out of stone of course! I Pie Promised you that I would throw you a party after you got out!” I don’t remember that it was a Pie Promise, but I didn’t plan on stopping her anyway. I like parties and a Pie party tends to be the most fun. I should know I threw a few of them of myself. The biggest I can remember was when I threw Luna a birthday party. It was Luna’s, I don’t have any idea really she wouldn’t tell me, but I was going to guess couple thousandth, birthday. I had been granted the lead role in planning the party because I was both her student and a Pie. In other words, they wanted a big party, something that would be talked about for ages to come. “Okay put the moon cake over in that corner over there.” I pointed towards a corner over near the wall and watched as one of my cousins moved the big cake over into a corner. I’d never be able to understand how they’d baked that cake in such a small oven, but I’d given up feeling surprised. I’m not even sure I felt surprised by things like this anymore anyway. That reminded me. I needed to ask Blueberry how the preparations were coming for the decorations. Where was she anyway? Honestly, she was the best at hiding that I had ever seen, so rather than search for her, I did the obvious thing. I asked for her to show up. “Blueberry, could you come here for a moment?” The moment I finished that statement, I felt something light weighing down my tail. “Hi Dawn! What did you need me for?” I had to smile at the cheerfulness that filled her tone, even if the fact she was currently in my tail was rather odd. “Just wanted to ask how the decorations are coming.” “Oooh, Ooooh, they’re coming along great!” She spread her forelegs wide, “Just look, they’re all around you!” Looking around the room I found that she was right. Streamers with stars hanging from the end decorated the dark ceiling magnificently, making it appear to be the night sky outside, which perfectly matched what I was asking for. Blueberry had done a great job as always. She never seemed to make a mistake when it came to making the party decorations look great. Reaching out I gave Blueberry a hug, “Thanks a lot Blueberry. It looks great.” “You’re welcome! I always like throwing a party bash, but I’ve never gotten throw one for a Princess.” With her statement complete she ducked back into my tail and back to wherever she had been before, probably the kitchen baking with the others. The party that night was explosive, almost reaching the levels of the legendary Pie Party Planner. Ponies were dancing the night away and imbibing drinks to their hearts content. Luna and Celestia were both showing everypony else their moves, while Diamond and I danced nearby. Blueberry was bouncing all over the place, completely outshining the rest of us. Everypony said it was the most enjoyable party they had ever been to. “Oooh! Look at all the colors.” What was Pinkie talking about? I noticed that there was something in my hoof. Where did I get this cup from? I suppose while I had been lost in that memory I had gone and grabbed a cup from somewhere. Putting my nose close to it I gave the drink a sniff. Hmm… doesn’t smell like there’s any poison on it, not that I really thought Pinkie would poison me anyway, but good habits are hard to break. “Hey, Pinkie?” She looked up at me with a big smile on her face as ponies walked all around us, “Did you see where I got this drink?” “You don’t remember? Your tail grabbed it while you were in lost in you really cool flashback. I thought I was the only Pie who threw parties and now I know that it’s almost a Pie tradition!” She lifted a hoof to her face, a questioning expression grew upon it, “Why didn’t my family ever party than?” I didn’t know the answer to that question, I’d never heard of a Pie who didn’t like to party. Perhaps their version of a party was different from our own. “Oh.” I realized that I felt thirsty and took a drink of whatever was in the glass. It tasted a pretty good, but a little off. While I was positive that it wasn’t poisoned, it still tasted a little off. I took another quick glance around me, trying to figure out how many ponies were actually here. Giving up on that fruitless endeavor I decided to ask the pony who invited them, “So how many ponies are here anyway?” I still couldn’t believe how many I could see. The cacophony of colors that populated this small house was overwhelming and for many ponies could probably cause permanent retinal damage. “Pretty much everypony in town.” I had to blink at that. I don’t think any Pie I knew, besides the legendary Pie Partier, had ever managed to get the entire town to come to their party. That also might explain why the town was so empty when I had been walking around it. She must have been setting up this party all day. Still, the fact that she had fit them all in this one building was amazing. A new voice broke me from my thoughts. I couldn’t quite make out what she had said, but the accent provided me with the name of the speaker, “Hello Applejack. Good to see you again.” I have to admit that I hadn’t expected Applejack to speak to me this soon, considering how she’d acted when I’d last seen her. An awkward pause filled the air for a time. I’m not one to let such a thing linger, but Applejack broke the silence before I had a chance, “It’s nice ta see ya.” There was a slight strain to her tone, but it was barely noticeable, especially over the din of the party. A second awkward pause filled in the time. It’s silence almost drowning out the din of the party. I couldn’t take it for much longer. “So… How’s it going?” “It’s goin alright I suppose.” She took off her hat and looked me in the eyes, “Listen, I wanted ta apologize for how I acted earlier. You couldn’t have done anythin’, being stone and all. It’s just that I have a temper when it comes to anythin happenin to my family and I acted on it.” There wasn’t any good reason not to accept her apology, especially when I didn’t think that she needed to make one, “Apology accepted. So should I still come to the farm tomorrow?” “A course ya should. Even though it was a accident ya still gotta follow the rules of the Apple family.” Well that answered that question. Now I only need to find out the time. Perhaps she was also reading my mind because she answered my question before I could ask it, “Be there around eight thirty.” “I’ll be there.” “See ya tomorrow.” With that she wandered off into the crowd. With Applejack walking through the crowd, I suddenly realized that Pinkie had seemingly disappeared as well. Where had she gone anyway? Well I suppose it doesn’t matter, maybe if I look around a bit I’ll spot a pony I knew. I looked around, but the multitude of different ponies surrounding me made finding any one pony an effort in futility. I tried for a little bit longer, but quickly gave it up as a lost cause and made my way over to the punch bowl which oddly had a very large clear area surrounding it. "Hey Dawn!” The shout would have been loud in anywhere else, but the noise of the party nearly drowned it out until it sounded like a whisper. Turning around I came face to face with a rather familiar looking Night Pegasus. “Hey Rainbow, enjoying the party?” I absentmindedly drank the cup of punch that my tail handed me, the strange taste was still in there, but it was still pretty good. “Heh, it’s great! Pinkie’s Parties always are, but now that I’m here it’s twenty percent cooler!” I knew she had an ego, but I still hadn’t expected that line. I drank another cup of the punch, “So where did you go anyway?” She blushed, “Oh nothing important.” Okay, now I was curious. What could she have been doing that would make her blush? She didn’t seem the type to blush at anything, if only because she wouldn’t think about it. Normally I would leave it alone, but for some reason I felt a little braver right now. I took another drink, my tail keeps handing them to me, before asking about, “C’mon, tell me.” She blushed harder, I didn’t even know she could do that, “Well..I..I… visited a few dreams.” Her blush grew to atomic proportions, what kind of dreams had she gone into… I took another drink. Whether or not this next statement was true, it would definitely make her blush even more, “So you went into another pony’s wet dream?” The atomic blush and gaping mouth told me that I had guessed right on the money. Now how could I continue to run with this prank… Oh I know, “So let me guess, it was Big Mac’s dream?” I took another drink. “HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?!” My drink flew right from my mouth onto Rainbow, “Ewww!” Wiping my mouth with a hoof, I offered my apologies, only to see her fly off towards what I could only guess was the restroom. Hopefully she would come back so I could apologize. While I waited I drank several more glasses of the punch, but remained focused on what was going on around me. Strangely the world began to go out of focus, I supposed the light must be getting to me. Soon enough a blue blur landed right next to me, but I had trouble remembering why that was important… there was something that I was supposed to do here. Oh right… I was supposed to apologize. “I’m… hic… sorry for… hic… spittin on ya earlier… hic.” I thought I saw…. Something or other… I didn’t know in her eye… Next thing I know I’m on the other side of the room looking around in surprise… How’d I get here again?... Eh…. Doesn’t matter. Hey what was the pretty purple blob over in corner “Hic.” It looks so familiar… Oh… it’s that mare that I like… now what was her name again? Sparklelight? Twistle? Ah…. It doesn’t matter. “Hey… hic… Twilie.” I tried to put my arm around her. Oh hey mister floor, when did you get here? The look of surprise that appeared on her face was so adorable; I wanted to squeeze her face, “Dawn?” “That’s my name, hic.” Ah she was so pretty… Wonder what she tasted like. I bet it’s something purple… like blueberries. “Are you drunk?” Ah… so kind of, uh… her to ask… She’s such a nice mare, “Of… hic… course not… I only had… hic… punch.” Why was… the world… spinning? “The punch? Which punch did you drink?” She looked straight into my eyes, they were so pretty. I could drown in them… It took me a while to work through the haze and answer her question, “Uhh… the pink one? Or maybe the green one?” “Which one was it?” “Oh.. hic… I remember… I mixed them… Well my tail mixed them.” I nodded my head. I knew… what I was talking about, I think? I felt something hit me in the side of the head…hic, a lightbulb? Hic… that gave me an idea… “Twilight… hic… would you like… hic… to go on a date next… hic… week?” “What really? S…” I missed her answer because at that moment I fell unconscious on the spot. “Morning handsome.” Huh? Who’s that? I tried to open my eyes, but they felt heavy, like something was keeping them from opening, “Uh-uh, no peaking. You know what happens when you do that.” The voice was very familiar, but the seductive bent to the voice was rather different. Who was it…? That was when it hit me like a truck, “Twilight?” “Of course it’s me darling. Who else would be with you besides your wife?” If my eyes weren’t being held shut, I would have been blinking my surprise away furiously, “We’re married?” You’d think that running away in fear all the time would preclude any attempt at being married. You’d also think that I’d remember going through the ceremony. “Of course we are. Why else would we be in our bed… together.” The sultry tone in that response… I needed to open my eyes now and see what is going on. I forced my eyes open. The first thing I saw was Twilight serenely lying next to me smoking a cigar… “AHHH!” “Oh horseapples, you opened your eyes.” “AAAHH!” I burst awake, adrenalin running through my veins, my breathing quick and shallow. I glanced around wildely, fully expecting Twilight to be lying next to me with that same cigar in her mouth. Not seeing her anywhere, my breathing slowed down to a much more regular pace. Now that my mind wasn’t reeling from my pleasant, yet terrifying, dream I began to wonder what that was all about? Why in the world would Twilight be smoking cigar? I don’t even think she smokes. I shook my head slowly, even in my dreams I couldn’t escape my fears. The short burst of adrenalin that had rushed through my system started to flow out of my body only to be replaced by a feeling of pain. Ugh, I hadn’t felt like this in years. Not since the last time I drank a glass of alcohol actually, which likely meant that someone had spiked the punch… again. Why do ponies always feel the need to spike the punch bowl? Is it the universes idea of a joke? Maybe Spike did it just to match his name? I knew this is my own mind and the only one that would laugh at that joke is me, so who cared that I made it. Well none of that really mattered, I couldn’t change the past any more than anypony else could. I’d need to deal with the pain from the aftermath of alcohol like any other Unicorn… with magic. I began to form a spell that all Unicorns in high society are taught near birth, it wasn’t a good idea to be drunk around those who were likely to want to kill you, when a new pain hit me square in the horn. Oh… right, no magic. This was really going to be a painful day wasn’t it. Now I not only had to deal with a hangover, but also the effects of straining my magic. It wouldn’t last too long, my family was notoriously good at metabolizing the effects of alcohol, but it was going to be very painful for the time being and I needed to be at Applejacks pretty soon. What time was it anyway? I turned towards a clock that seemed especially bright, another explosion of pain hit me straight in the horn. Ugh, this is really going to be a painful day for me. I suppose the pain was worth it though, I know the time now, it was almost eight in the morning… Oh… crud…. I’M LATE! Ignoring the pain in my head, I rushed blindly around Pinkie’s house trying to find the exit. Applejack had specifically told me to be there this morning at eight thirty and somehow I had the strangest feeling that my headache would be getting much worse if I was late. “Hi Dawn!” Pinkie’s entirely too loud for the morning tone rung out through the air, worsening my severe headache. My strain was poorly hidden in my response, “Hi Pinkie. Sorry, no time to talk. I need to hurry to Applejack’s.” “Oh, oh, but there’s something you might want to know about last night!” That almost stopped me in my tracks, before I thought about the possible consequences of not getting to that farm on time. Applejack may have forgiven me, but considering what had happened when she had gotten mad the first time, I didn’t really feel like re-experiencing it. Somehow I thought that would be much worse than whatever Pinkie was talking about. “Tell me about it later, right now I really need to fly.” The last thing I heard was Pinkie talking quite a bit about how Unicorns couldn’t fly, she is really far to like my sister. She takes things far too literally. I galloped with all my might to reach the Apple Farm. I really didn’t want to deal with what could happen if I was late. I mean look at how they deal with ponies who accidently kill one of their clansman… while one is stuck in stone. I could only hope that I would get a fair sentencing. My rush to get to the Apple Family Farm came to sudden end when a particular thought hit me… I had absolutely no idea where I was going. Seriously, how did I not think about that… Well, it’s not really worth thinking about too much, I should just do the obvious thing. Ask my tail, it would know where I should be going. I directed my eyes towards my tail, “Hey tail, can you lead me towards the Apple Family Farm?” My tail made a small movement, but sadly didn’t start to point towards any direction, I’m getting the feeling it didn’t know the directions to the farm any better than I did. I don’ t know why I had expected it to be able to do so. Well, that left one other choice, ask another random pony. Hopefully they would know the way, I mean farms are generally hard to miss aren’t they? Looking around I tried to see if there was anypony around, of which there were apparently none. Well, that was just my luck and that plan seemed to be a bust. Well there was one last place that I could look. Glancing upwards I wonder if my luck is getting any better, as there is a single yellow Pegasus pony flying around in the sky… Honestly, I’m almost positive that I know her… Wait… Now I remember, that’s Fluttershy isn’t it? Well that’s just perfect! “Hey Fluttershy!” Hopefully she heard me up there, she’s fairly high up after all. It seemed that my silent request was granted because she gave a gasp before beginning to flutter in midair and looking around wildly. I couldn’t help feeling that she was scared because of me and that I should probably apologize for scaring her. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to do that until she was down here on the ground. “Hey Fluttershy, could you come down here please!” She turned to face me, considering how high up she is, I couldn’t help but wonder how she had heard me and why it seemed that she was blinking. My eyesight was not nearly good enough to see someone at this kind of distance, not without magic anyway and I didn’t have any of that at the moment. Still I did the obvious thing and waved before pointing towards the ground. Well, my tail pointed towards the ground, I clapped. It seems that she had received my message because she began to float towards the ground. The yellow Pegasus landed without a sound, which is honestly very impressive. I had never heard of a Pegasus that could land that quietly, but I suppose it fit this particular Pegasus, quiet and meek seemed to be her namesake. The memory of her screaming and staring at me floated in my mind’s eye and I shuddered a bit. Most of the time anyway. “Hey Fluttershy, thanks for stopping.” “Why wouldn’t I have stopped?” Well, I don’t know why, but that wasn’t what I expected to hear at all. Her eyes glanced towards the ground before coming back to my own, “Oh I hope that was okay, I’ve been reading some books on assertiveness.” Well from what I knew of her, which admittedly is very little, that seemed like a good idea. I got the feeling she ended up acting the doormat a lot. “That’s no problem, you’re doing pretty well as far as I can tell.” “Oh! Good.” She smiled happily at me, honestly she looked adorable. I was about to add more to conversation when I remembered how late I was, “Listen Fluttershy. I’m sorry if this sounds a little rude, but would you mind leading me to the Apple Farm? I kind of need to be there very soon and I’m already almost late.” “You’re asking me for help?” I didn’t know why that was surprising, “Of course, just follow me.” So I did. Author’s Notes: Okay, I’m sorry that this chapter took so long, but it had a lot of things happening and a case of writers block. This chapter did not want to be written and I honestly think it shows. Hopefully you still enjoyed reading it. Please remember that while thumbs make me feel better about my writing, reviews are the only way to make it better. Thank you all for your continued readership and help.