//------------------------------//
// The Morning After, Part I 
// Story: Starlight's New Drinking Buddy 
// by Heartland Picker 
//------------------------------//

The next morning...….

It was about 9 AM before Ben woke up...…...in one of Twilight's guestrooms. Huh? Before another thought could cross his mind, the one thing he knew to expect came around: the hangover. Oh, God. Too much liquor again. Ugh, next time I drink, I need to take it easy. Granted, he knew he wouldn't likely commit to this anytime soon, but he wasn't getting any younger. He was at least thankful that he quit doing the Thirsty Thursday specials for the cheap keg beer. It was fun during trade school, but I'm getting too old for that shit. Thankfully the chill of fall was still in play, with gray overcast clouds being scheduled. Thus the pounding headache was at least duller than usual which made it easier to focus on getting out of bed, after which he noticed that he still had his jeans on. At least I didn't pass out butt naked in the middle of the floor again. Lord I was crazy back in the day, trying to make ol' Bocephus proud. Still, how wild did we get last night? Thus his focus came to finding the closest source of the best discovery since fire and bacon: coffee.
This was when his nose caught the tantalizing aroma of a strong, dark brew coming from what he guessed to be the castle's kitchen. This helped him regain his faculties, thus he opened the door to the hall. As he walked out, he noticed that Starlight had also woke up and trotted out. Ben spoke first. "How you feelin'?" Probably a dumb question to him, but pony physiology might be better suited to handling hangovers than a human.
Starlight, despite the dark lines under her eyes, responded, "like Big Mac just landed on me after attempting a high-dive in the middle of the desert, but I've been worse off." She paused for a moment to take in some air, then followed up. "What about you, though? You look like you just faced the wrath of breaking a Pinkie Promise followed by trying to fight the Dread Maulwurf."
Ben would have joked about calling it a manbearpig had it not been for his own current state. "Meh, I've had worse mornings, but more pressing matters. First we need some coffee and water. After that I'd like to ask Twi' about what happened last night."
Seeing no other option, Starlight just sighed out "yes, coffee would be a good idea, plus I can't remember much after that weird drinking challenge that you seemed so proud of."
Ben nodded, looking a bit guilty. Thus they proceeded to the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen, they found Spike working on eggs while Rarity and Twilight were bringing over wheat-based Prench toast and bacon respectively. Ben was grateful to see that they had used pork as well as Bromegrass bacon, but couldn't think much else other than that there were three full, steamy coffee pots set nearby with four large mugs. Both Ben and Starlight went straight for the coffee first, Ben not bothering to add anything. Equestrian domestic coffee tended to be good enough to drink as such anyway to his taste. Starlight, however, had taken a moment to add some minced alfalfa to hers after her first drag.
Ben, being more well-versed in handling hangovers, spoke first again. "Ahh, that hit the spot. Ladies, Spike, thanks for breakfast......and for letting me sleep off last night's side inebriation here, despite whatever had happened. The coffee is amazing as always, I honestly don't know how you equines do it."
Rarity would have commented by reciprocating appreciation for his gift with instruments, but figured it would be more fun to tease him a bit before doing so, thus she simply smiled smugly. Twilight, however, decided to pose the question with an all-knowing smile of her own. "Neither of you remember anything past dinner, do you?"
At this point, both of last night's drunks were drawn away from the plates of food they were close to wolfing down, were both erect in their seats suddenly alert. Ben, in particular, started to exude sweat that wasn't a result of the liquor. Oh, shit, what kind of hell did we get into last night!?
Starlight was more worried because she had never drank to the point of amnesia until now. Add on the fact that Ben is scared stiff, I'm getting nervous.
Twilight and Rarity looked at each other for a brief moment, then bust out laughing in hysterics, barely able to breathe. Rarity then spoke up in between wheezing. "Oh-hohohohohoho! Darlings, you should see the looks on your faces! Haha-ha-hahaha! I'm so sorry, but -haha- that was worth it just for your expressions at the moment! Teeheehee! Relax, you two didn't stir up any serious trouble, but you definitely had fun!"
Starlight just deadpanned at the two wannabe hyenas, making it perfectly clear that she was not the least bit amused by the two newly self-appointed jesters. Ben however, started to laugh lowly at their jibes. "Okay, ladies, so we didn't raise a ruckus last night, but what did happen after the shotguns?"
Rarity spoke up again, still in teasing form. "We never said that you two weren't noisy, darlings! However, you two each left an impression on the town! Teehee!"
Twilight had eased up on her laughing by now and started to speak. "Okay, so here's what happened after you two finished eating...."



The night before, after the shotguns.....
"Okay Starlight, here's how the Coachgun works: you have two tables standing twenty feet away from each other. Each table will have two beers set for each player. Starting at one table, you shotgun two cans of beer at the same time, then walk them to the next table while balancing both cans stacked only on the tips of two fingers: with you being ponies, you guys get to use your snouts. I know what you're thinking! No magical assistance of any kind in this game! When you reach the next table, you repeat the whole process. If any cans hit the floor, that called 'falling off the stagecoach', and you have to start the pace over. If anyone is caught cheating, the perpetrator faces a penalty drink: one shot of Jenny Bean bourbon per offense. Sound fun?"
Next minute, Ben and Starlight were chugging their first set of beers. While Ben was adept with, for lack of a better pun, hanging in the balance, what he noticed during the first pace nearly made him facepalm. Starlight, like most other ponies, had absolutely no problem with balancing the most awkwardly-shaped objects on her snout, even with a nice buzz going on. Thus, he proceeded to 'fall off the stagecoach' four feet into the first leg, for which he mentally berated himself further while proceeding to start over.
However, Ben was quick to make up the loss, refocusing to maintain balance by accelerating while the stack threatened to fall forward. It was his go-to technique for the walking portion when the booze kicked in. When he made it to the other table, luck came to is aide in that Starlight was having a bit of trouble with the drinking part, needing to accommodate the sub-par taste and large intake of beer by keeping to smaller drinking holes. This, however, was only a minor note, since he knew he would need to chug fast if he wanted half a chance of regaining control of the game. Since he was conditioned to the taste of PBR back home, the second stage of chugging was no problem.
Both Starlight and Ben had finished their beers simultaneously, and were proceeding with the final stretch of the game. Starlight, not being familiar with the side effects of a good buzz, was showing small signs of struggle with balancing her cans. Ben had defaulted on his previous technique, but overlooked one key factor: round six of the night is when he's more cocky than a middle-aged man on a full dose of Viagra. This resulted in falling off the stagecoach for the second time of the night. Starlight, however, let her nerves get the best of her about a second later, thus giving her the same result. After this, they were neck-and-neck. However, with Ben being as stubborn as ever, he got cocky at the last second, thus fell behind by needing to balance to the side, thus Starlight took the victory.
Ben came back up with both of the cans he dropped. "Starlight, as much as I hate admitting it, you have bested me at a game of my own creation. As the victor, I have to honor one request at your behest, thus I am your bitch."



At breakfast.
Starlight's eyes shrank to pinpricks. "Oh dear Celestia, I wasn't too cruel, was I?"
Although Ben was sweating bullets again, Rarity and Twilight started laughing again. "Oh heavens no, darling, at least not as far as I could tell," Rarity tittered. "Although, your choice of words couldn't be more appropriate! Oh, what happened next was just plain juicy, for certain!"