Chrysalis rolled over in her bed with a groan, trying to ignore the knock at her door. She hadn’t been asleep for hours but she had refused to get out from beneath her warm blankets for as long as possible, and the reason for such lethargy was the white powder covering everything that could be seen outside of her window. She really hated winter.
A voice was added to the incessant knocking, calling her false name. It was Time Keeper. She wondered idly if she had renamed him Snowball because of its association with winter. Chrysalis buried her head with a pillow to block him out. He couldn’t get in to bother her, she had been sure to lock the door after Spike had gone down for breakfast.
The minutes passed and the pounding finally ceased. With a smile, she rolled over once more. She had won and was going to remain in her bed where it was toasty and comfortable.
Had Chrysalis been paying attention, she may have noticed the sound of somebody fiddling with her window. Had she not rolled to face away from it, she may have seen Time Keeper hovering just outside as he tried to pry it open. Had she remembered to lock it she might have avoided what came next.
“Fuck that’s cold!” She screeched, tumbling out of bed in a tangled mess of quilt and sheets. She lashed out with her magic, trying to shut the open window and stave off the icy gale that had invaded her inner sanctum, only to find that Time Keeper had already closed it behind himself.
“Next time open the door.”
Chrysalis glared in response, barely visible within the pile of bedding.
“I’ve never met a pony who hated winter as much as you.”
“I’m not a pony.” She reminded him sourly. “Changelings don’t do winter.”
“That may be, but you’re Twilight Sparkle right now, and Twilight Sparkle has been a complete recluse for weeks! You need to go out and spend some time with the element bearers.”
“Is something supposed to happen soon?”
“No, her first winter in Ponyville was uneventful, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to cut yourself off from them. You’ve worked hard to cultivate your relationships with them and I don’t want to see it all go to waste because you neglect them all winter.”
“That’s awfully charitable of you.” Chrysalis said, suspecting that at least one of them was being sarcastic, but couldn’t quite figure out which.
“What can I say, tis the season.” His smile was forced.
“Fine, I’ll go spend some time with the bearers. Maybe I can convince Rarity to make me some warm clothes.”
“If you had actually paid any attention, you would have known that she already dropped a coat off for you to try last week.”
“Well, why don’t you go find it for me. I’ll be right down once I finish putting my bed back together.”
“If it means you'll actually listen to me for once, fine, I'll go get your stupid coat.” Time Keeper said as he trotted out of the room.
“I assure you, I can listen when I want to,” Chrysalis followed him to the door and slammed it behind him, “I just don’t want to.”
The door rattled uselessly as he tried to open it again.
“Come on, really?” His voice was muffled, but his frustration came across clear through the barrier. Eager to close off his other entrance, Chrysalis headed for the window and with a triumphant grin locked that too.
“Whatcha doin?”
“I’m locking Snowball out of my room, Pinkie.”
“Ah, I getcha! Your room is your private throne room, emphasis on the private. I like my privacy sometimes too, but wait, throne rooms aren’t really all that private—”
“Pinkie?!”
“Hi, Twilight!”
“How did you get in here?”
“The window was open.”
“What?" Chrysalis could've sworn it it had only been open long enough for Time Keeper to get in, but realized it wasn't worth questioning Pinkie's disregard for reality. "Ok, why did you come through my window?”
“I saw Snowball going through it and figured that’s just what we’re doing now.”
“I…but…” Chrysalis paused to take a deep breath. Still not worth questioning. “Not that I don’t like seeing you, but maybe next time try using the door. Let's just go downstairs.”
“Okie dokey!”
They descended to the first floor, finding an irate Time Keeper glaring up at her.
“Don’t start.” Chrysalis warned. Seeing that Pinkie Pie was following behind her, he shrugged and wandered into the basement. Even he knew not to question Pinkie Pie by now.
“Okay, Pinkie, why did you come here?”
“I came to invite you to a Hearth’s Warming Eve party tomorrow night!”
“Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
“I know it’s a little early, but I get so busy with baking when we get closer to the big day, plus we haven’t seen you in weeks so I figured we could all get together at Sugarcube Corner after closing tomorrow and have some fun!”
“Right.”
“Here you go!” Pinkie shoved an envelope at her taken from her mane. “It’s your official invitation! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go invite the others!”
Without waiting for a response, or even for her to open the envelope to read it, Pinkie bounded towards the exit.
“See? Using the door just like you asked! Bye, Twilight!”
“Wait, Pinkie!” Chrysalis tossed aside the invitation on a reading table and chased after her, but upon stepping through the door she was already gone. Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if Rainbow Dash was kidding herself when she boasted that she was the fastest pony in the group.
She returned inside, all too aware of the chill she had let in. The envelope contained one letter, its contents which cordially invited her to join Pinkie and friends for a Hearth’s Warming Eve celebration at Sugarcube Corner at 8pm the next evening. She set it back down, frowning and looked over to the bookshelves lining the walls. She trotted over to the “H” section in the hopes of learning what Hearth’s Warming Eve even was.
_____________________
Chrysalis stood shivering as she knocked on the door to Sugarcube Corner. She didn’t know why she was there. She shouldn’t have come. She had been uneasy ever since reading up on Hearth’s Warming Eve. For ponies, it was a celebration of the peace brought by the pony tribes coming together to found Equestria and their ability to fend off the windigos that fed off their hatred and anger. She, however, could only think of it as a celebration of the ponies’ ability to force an entire species of creature that fed off their emotions into starvation. Hardly a story comforting for a changeling. Yet, she had gone anyway.
She heard a pony shout from within that they were coming. Moments later, light streamed out into the dark night as Pinkie Pie opened the door.
“Hi, Twilight, happy Hearth’s Warming! I’m so glad you’re here! Come on in, everypony else is already inside!”
“Thanks, Pinkie.” Chrysalis responded through chattering teeth and followed her inside the bakery.
“Here, let me take your coat!”
“Later, I’d like to keep it on for a while, I’m freezing.”
“Suit yourself. Feel free to help yourself to some of the snacks on the table, and if you’re thirsty there’s punch over there, too!”
Chrysalis’ gaze followed where she pointed, noting with little interest the sprawl of colorful foods, as well as two bowls filled with liquid, one green and one red.
“The green one is safe for foals, while the red one is for the adults that want a little something extra that just might warm them up, if you catch my drift.” Pinkie winked.
“Something that could warm me up does sound nice.”
Chrysalis headed straight for the drinks and poured herself a cup of the red one. It had an overpoweringly unpleasant fruity smell, with just the slightest hint of something vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place a hoof on what it was. Did it really matter, though? Whatever ingredients Pinkie had put into this stuff, she already knew she would hate it, but if it would warm her up as she suggested then maybe it would be worth the stomach pain. Wrinkling her nose, she downed the entire glass.
“You look absolutely marvelous in that coat!”
“Are you complimenting me, or your own work, Rarity?”
“Oh, I can surely appreciate my own craft, but the model is just as important as the outfit!”
Chrysalis stared at her. “Is this going to be another attempt at convincing me to eat more?”
Rarity laughed. “Well, aren’t you the suspicious one? Not this time, I know you wouldn’t listen if I tried. Regardless, come join us, we were about to play cards. Old Mare, I believe.”
“I don’t know how. I didn’t have much opportunity to play cards growing up.”
“Oh, you poor thing! Don’t you worry, we shall rectify that tragedy soon enough!”
Chrysalis shrugged and followed her to a table where the others were already sitting. Applejack was shuffling a deck of cards and glaring at a smirking Rainbow Dash. Chrysalis rolled her eyes. She didn’t need to have been there to know those two were getting overly competitive again. As AJ began dealing, Rarity explained the rules to her.
“Now, the game is simple, all the cards are dealt and we place any pairs we have on the table. Once that’s done, we take turns taking one card from the player to our left until only the joker remains, and whoever holds that card at the end loses.”
Chrysalis gave a vague response as she picked up her cards and found the joker in the mix.
“Ha! Somepony doesn’t have much of a poker face!” Dash laughed.
“What?” Chrysalis started.
“You’ve got the joker. Your face gives it away.” Applejack explained.
“I do not!” Chrysalis answered indignantly. “My…poker face is impeccable!”
“Um…maybe we shouldn’t tease her, she’s only just learning.” Fluttershy suggested.
“Perhaps this should be a practice round so that Twilight can get used to the game?” Rarity suggested.
“Yeah, sure, we can show her how it’s done. First tip? Try to keep it a secret if you have the joker, especially if somepony’s about to take it out of your hand.” Dash said.
“I can keep secrets far better than any of you!” Chrysalis snarled.
“We’ll see.” Dash smirked.
There was a clink as Pinkie set a glass full of red punch in front of her.
“Here you go, Twi! I noticed you finished yours already, so I got you a refill!”
“Thanks, Pinkie.” She deadpanned. AJ and Dash chuckled.
“Yup, a true master at hiding your feelings.”
The night progressed, and game after game Chrysalis somehow kept losing. She was growing frustrated, and the stomach ache she was getting from politely sipping the drink that Pinkie kept refilling wasn’t helping her mood.
"Ha! You lose again!" Dash taunted her as she laid down the last pair of the game.
“You guys are cheating!” Chrysalis shouted as she threw the joker onto the table.
“Maybe we should play something else.” Rarity said.
Chrysalis closed her eyes and rubbed her temple with a hoof. She was starting to feel a little woozy and her head was pounding. Concentrating was getting harder by the minute, and even maintaining her disguise was beginning to put a strain on her despite usually being effortless. Was she getting sick? She knew she shouldn’t have gone out into the cold. She reached for her drink, eager to hide her frustration behind the glass for a moment even if it meant imbibing more of the disgusting stuff, but accidentally knocked it over instead.
“Fuck.” She muttered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you another!” Pinkie hopped up from her seat only for Rarity to pull her back into it with her magic.
“I think she’s had quite enough.”
“A real light weight, huh?” Dash snorted. “There’s barely any alcohol in that stuff.”
Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed as she stared at her, the words barely recognizable in her altered state. “Alcohol?”
“Oh dear, didn’t Pinkie tell you? The red one has alcohol in it.” Fluttershy explained.
Time froze as the gravity of the situation sank in. With nearly violent force, she shoved her chair backwards and stood up.
“I need to go!”
Chrysalis took one step only to stumble and fall. Applejack rushed to her side and helped her up.
“Whoa, you okay there, sugar cube?”
The world was beginning to spin and she could feel a pressure on her horn. She was running out of time. She physically shoved AJ away, mumbling something unintelligible as she did so, and stumbled for the first door she saw. She threw it open, practically fell through it and slammed it shut behind her, thankful to find a lock which she swiftly used.
It was a bathroom, with barely enough space for a toilet and a sink. She sat on the former, closed her eyes and focused on her throbbing horn. She could handle this. She was powerful. She was a master of control and there was no way she would let a little alcohol make her out to be a foal.
With an audible crackling of magic, a blindingly painful constriction upon her body and a tearing sound, she knew she was wrong. She opened her eyes, looked in the mirror above the sink and stifled a wail of frustration. She had lost control of her disguise and sat there in the full splendor of her natural, changeling form. She stared aghast at the torn remnants of the beautiful coat that Rarity had made for her scattered on the floor. A gentle knock drew her attention.
“Twilight? Are you okay? Do you need some help?” Rarity called through the locked door.
“I’m fine.” She blurted without thinking and shoved a hoof into her mouth, realizing what she had just done.
“That…didn’t sound like Twilight.” Fluttershy said.
“Hey, Pinkie, who else is here?” AJ asked.
“Nopony. Mr. and Mrs. Cake are out visiting family right now.”
“Then who’s in there with Twilight?” AJ again.
There was a heavy pause where all Chrysalis could hear was her own breathing, and the frantic beating of her heart. The door began to rattle.
“Twilight? Who’s in there with you?” Rarity’s voice was heavy with concern.
Chrysalis stared at her image in the mirror and frantically focused on transforming. A loud, crackling noise arose as a small shower of green sparks spewed from her horn.
“What was that?!”
“Outta the way, Rarity!” There was a heavy thud as something crashed into the door. “Ow…”
“Don’t be so rash, Dash, lemme handle this!”
“Hey, the Cakes are going to be reeeeal angry if you break another one of their doors!”
“Sorry, sugar cube, I’ll send Big Mac to help you fix it, but right now we need to help Twilight!”
Chrysalis’ eyes darted around her tiny prison and fell upon an even smaller window. It would be a tight squeeze, but she could probably fit through it. Probably. She opened it with her magic, thankful she at least could still control that, and struggled climb up to it. She had barely gotten her head and a single foreleg through before realizing that she was horribly mistaken. Before she could do anything else, the door splintered into pieces from the thunderous force of Applejack’s mighty legs. There was a collective gasp and Chrysalis sheepishly extricated herself from the window.
Both sides stood in silence staring at each other, Chrysalis awkwardly sitting on the toilet and the bearers crowded around outside the shattered door. The silence was broken as she began to giggle uncontrollably. What a ridiculous situation. Her, a changeling queen, stuck in a bathroom trying to escape from her “friends” through a window several sizes too small for her. Said “friends” shared worried looks with each other and Rainbow Dash stepped forward to confront the laughing monster.
“Where’s Twilight?!” Rainbow’s jaw was set so stiffly, and her tone so serious.
“So angry, so protective, so scared for your friend. Do you even really know her? Would you still care if you did?” Chrysalis thought aloud through her giggles, barely aware that she did so. They were all so scared, she was well acquainted with such body language. It was hilarious, all that emotion and effort over the one they cared for, yet they were blind to see that the one they were frightened of was that very same pony. Her chest began to hurt, probably from the laughter. No. It wasn’t from the laughter. For some reason she didn’t feel like lying to herself right then.
“Answer me!”
Chrysalis leaned into her laughter, ramping it up to near maniacal levels. If all they saw was a monster, then she’d play up the part.
“I have abducted Twilight, fools! You’ll never see her again, for she is mine now!”
“What? But how—” Rarity’s voice was drowned out by shouts of panic as Chrysalis charged at them. Most dove out of the way, and the ones that didn’t were easily shoved aside by her greater bulk. Moments later she had crashed out the front door and was fleeing into the cold night.
Upon reaching an intersection, she slid to a halt. Where was she going? Back to the library? No, she couldn’t let anypony see her going there like this. How about the hospital, she always seemed to end up there when she was unwell, and she certainly felt sickly, but no, too many ponies there that would see her. How about Applejack's farm? There weren't many ponies there, and she could easily hide in the rows upon rows of trees or something. Yeah, that sounded good.
Wait, did she just tell them that they'd never see Twilight again? What was she thinking? That was the dumbest thing she could have said! The pounding in her head made it hard to think of what she should have said, but it definitely wasn’t that.
“There she is!”
Before Chrysalis could react, a blur of fur and feathers rammed into her, sending her and the living missile that struck her to the ground, where they both slid across the ice. A flurry of hooves stomped down on her, sending waves of pain through her body. She grabbed onto the one who was pounding her with her magic and flung her away. Seeing that Rainbow Dash was now hurtling toward the wall of a nearby building, she snatched her out of the air without even thinking and set her on the ground gently before she could be injured by the impact.
“Huh?” Dash blinked in confusion.
“Uh…” Chrysalis tried to say something, but couldn’t make sense of what her racing mind was trying to push out of her mouth. Instead, she chose to light up her horn once more and agitated the snow on the roof of the building next to Dash, causing a miniature avalanche to bury the pegasus, who cried out in surprise.
Chrysalis took advantage of the others' efforts to dig Dash out from the snow to flee. Where was she going again? Oh right, the Apple family farm.
Her breathing was ragged by the time she reached it. She had neither seen nor heard from her pursuers in ages, so she slowed to a gentle walk through the snow that had piled up between the dormant, leafless trees. She frowned. She had forgotten, it was winter and the trees had no leaves. There went most of her potential cover. She began to shiver now that the exertion of her running no longer kept her warm, the white clouds formed by her breath giving a constant reminder of the low temperature. For some reason she didn’t really seem to care about the cold at that moment.
She came to a halt and kicked at the pristine, powdery snow in front of her. It was so pretty with the way it sparkled in the moonlight. If only it could snow while it was warm and then she might’ve been able to appreciate it more. Why did something so beautiful have to be so bitterly cold? Using her magic, she scooped some up and compacted it into a sphere. She sent it into a gentle orbit around her head as she contemplated the further mysteries of snow. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a lone, desiccated leaf adorning a solitary tree branch. With a thought, she launched the snowball at it, missing horribly, and then giggled at the pointlessness of what she just did.
She looked beyond the solitary leaf at the star filled sky, clear of any clouds. The same sky that perhaps some of her changelings were looking at that same moment. The thought provided her with bittersweet comfort. Hopefully they were having a better Hearth’s Warming than her, not that they actually celebrated the holiday. Changelings had no place in the mythical tales of Equestria’s origins. It was about fighting off creatures that fed on their emotions, not welcoming them into their midst.
She heard shouting in the distance behind her, and when she turned to look, her heart sank. An obvious trail in the snow led straight to her. Why hadn’t she flown? This night was just one bad decision after another, starting with actually attending that stupid party.
She shook her head. No time to dwell on that now. She buzzed her freshly remembered wings, lifting herself in the air and flew straight for the barn that was up ahead, yanking the door open and then more crashing than landing inside. Much to her delight, it was warmer there. Unfortunately, the stench of farm animals that it was heated for nearly caused her to vomit.
She scanned the dark interior with her excellent night vision for a good place to hide, spotting some sleeping pigs. She tried to change into one of them only to send another loud shower of sparks from her horn. A solitary pig woke and stared at her as if to ask her what she thought she was doing. Right. If she could do that, she wouldn’t be there in the first place.
Up above in the rafters, she spied a series of thick support beams running from one side of the barn to the other. They looked sturdy enough to hold her weight, so she flew up to one and balanced herself on it. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable place to sit, but if she were careful, she could avoid falling at least.
Maybe half a minute later, the barn door creaked open and a glowing light spilled inside. Chrysalis froze in place, doing her best to not move a muscle.
“We’ll check in here!” Pinkie shouted as she hopped inside, startling the pigs awake.
“But—”
“We’ll be fine, dear, go check on your family!” Rarity cut Applejack’s protest off. If there was anything more said between the two, Chrysalis couldn’t make it out. Moments later, Rarity walked inside, the glow of her horn nearly blinding her.
“Oooo, piggies!” Pinkie Pie rushed over to the formerly sleeping swine who now squealed their displeasure while running from the invasive pony.
“I think we have more important concerns than,” Rarity gave a very slight pause as she wrinkled her nose, “piggies.”
“Right, serious face time.” Pinkie’s smile vanished in favor of an almost comically exaggerated scowl.
“That’s better, I suppose.”
Rarity shook her head at the other’s antics and cast her eyes around. The light of her horn didn’t reach very far, so Chrysalis’ hiding place thankfully remained draped in shadows. The minutes passed agonizingly slowly as their search continued below.
“Looks like she’s not here.” Pinkie said.
“So it would appear.”
Chrysalis let out a sigh of relief as she watched Pinkie trot out the door. Her legs were getting sore, so she adjusted her positioning slightly as Rarity made to follow her.
CREEEAK
Chrysalis’ heart stopped at the sound the beam she was resting on made. Her eyes were glued on Rarity as she stopped half way out of the building, and then backed up inside with her brow furrowed suspiciously. Her head was tilted up, and her eyes searched the dark rafters until they settled on an area that felt dangerously close to where she was sitting. It was so hard to tell where exactly she was looking from that distance. Could she see her? Seconds passed. If she could, why was she just standing there in silence? Why didn’t she cry for help, or shout at her? Seconds passed. If she couldn’t, why didn’t she leave? Why was she staring so?
A nearby fluttering of wings caught Chrysalis’ attention, and Rarity’s too. A barn owl, likely irritated by the nightly visitors, flew from its perch on the same beam that Chrysalis sat on and over to another a few meters away, giving off an annoyed hoot as it landed. Rarity’s eyes focused on the new area for a few more seconds before momentarily returning to the spot the owl had come from. She nodded to herself and left the barn once more, closing the door behind her with a thud.
Chrysalis waited several seconds before relaxing, silently thanking the owl for its intervention. That was much too close. She didn’t really want to blast a hole in the roof of AJ’s barn so that she could escape again, even if she had the energy to keep going. She let her legs dangle over the edge of either side of the beam and laid her head on the dusty wood in between. She would rest a couple of minutes before finding a safer hiding place. Just a few minutes she thought as she closed her eyes.
_______________________________
Chrysalis awoke with a groan. She didn’t know what hurt worse: her body or her head. Where was she? It smelled like pig manure and old, dirty hay. Each and every grunt from the animals below felt like spikes being driven into her skull. Wait, below?
Chrysalis nearly fell off in a panic as she realized that she was hanging from a length of wood near the ceiling of a barn. After taking a moment to calm her breathing, she flew down to the ground. How did she get there, and why did her brain keep trying to break through her skull to run for freedom?
“Twilight?!” A young voice called out, recognizably Apple Bloom. Her call was soon echoed by the much deeper voice of Big Macintosh.
“Twilight?! Answer if you can hear us!”
Memories of what had happened flooded back and she groaned once more. She had thought that her last encounter with alcohol had gone poorly, but it had nothing on last night. Now she had to find a way to explain her sudden reappearance as Twilight to the bearers after saying that they’d never see her again.
First things first, though, she had to ensure that she could transform again. With a quick flash of verdant flame, she turned back into Twilight. So far so good. Next step was to get out of the barn unseen and find a more sensible place for her to return from. She was about to place her ear upon the door when it swung open and she was face to face with two thirds of the Apple siblings and a nastily bright view of the rising sun. There went her hopes of going unnoticed.
“Twilight!” Apple Bloom screeched and Chrysalis winced.
“Could you—”
“Where have you been?” Big Mac interrupted her.
“The whole town’s been looking for you!”
Chrysalis stared at her dubiously. The whole town looking for her? Yeah, right. The kid seemed to get the wordless skepticism.
“Well, maybe not the whole town, but a lot.” Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “Is she in there?”
“Who?”
“The one who took you! Sis’ tells me that she was real big and ugly, all black and full of holes!”
Chrysalis inwardly sighed at the insulting description but set those feelings aside. She had to come up with some kind of explanation fast, but the pounding of her head was making it so hard to think of something. Screw it, she’d just play dumb and hope for the best.
“What happened to me? All I remember is getting really drunk last night at Pinkie’s party and then waking up here with the pigs. I just thought I made a fool of myself or something.”
“Really? You don't remember the thing that took you?”
“Really, Apple Bloom.”
“Oh.” The filly seemed disappointed at not being able to see the monster. Chrysalis smiled in spite of herself.
“Don’t worry, next time you’ll get to kick her butt for sure. Now, maybe you could be a little quieter, I have a massive headache from last night.”
A deep, rumbling chuckle escaped from Big Mac’s lips. “Can’t hold your liquor, can you? Don’t worry now, we’ll get you up to the house with some hot, black coffee and a warm bed.”
“I think just a bed would be nice.”
Big Mac shrugged and turned to lead her away.
________________________
Chrysalis was half asleep in their guest room when the door opened and five ponies squeezed their way inside. Her headache had mostly diminished by this point, but she had a feeling it was about to come right back again. Slowly, she sat up in the bed and faced them.
“Twilight, are you…?” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked as her words trailed off.
“I’m fine. Just tired and—”
The air was knocked out of her lungs as Dash crushed her with a tight hug.
“Don’t you ever do that again!”
“I’m sorry?”
Chrysalis was confused as one by one the other ponies joined in a group hug with her at the center. When they finally let go, Chrysalis noticed the dark bags beneath their eyes. Clearly they hadn't slept at all last night.
"You guys look worse than I feel."
Rarity grimaced. "We've had better nights."
“Big Mac says you don’t remember what happened?”
Chrysalis shook her head at Applejack’s question. “I think I just blacked out from drinking too much. I woke up in your barn of all places.”
“The barn?” Rarity tilted her head. Chrysalis laughed, hoping it would come across as embarrassed rather than nervous.
“Yup. Crazy, right? Pinkie?” She addressed another pony in the hopes of deflecting to another topic.
“Yes?”
“Promise to never let me drink again, I clearly can’t handle alcohol at all.”
“Right. Sorry. I promise.” She nodded with downcast eyes.
“And I’m sorry, too! I let her get away!” Dash added. “If I had just…”
“Stop beating yourself up over this, it wasn’t your fault. I may not know the details, but I’m sure you gave her so much trouble that she’ll think twice before messing with you again.”
“Yeah…yeah, she better not try that again or I’ll really hurt her next time.”
Chrysalis winced from the memory of Dash’s violence last night. Her attack was probably the biggest part of why she was so sore this morning. She really needed to stop putting herself in positions where that mare had the chance to hurt her.
“You guys really should go get some rest.”
“That is probably for the best.” Rarity nodded as she tried to hide a yawn. Soon everyone was yawning.
“I don’t really want to leave her. What if she disappears again?” Pinkie said.
"Really, I'm fine, just go."
“Me neither.” Dash added despite her protests. Fluttershy and Rarity voiced their agreement as well and they all looked to Applejack.
“I guess I could pull out some blankets and sleeping bags.”
Fluttershy smiled weakly. “That would be great.”
Within half an hour, all five of them were sleeping soundly on the floor in makeshift beds, even Applejack who had her own room just down the hall. Though she had tried to get them to leave, she was actually glad to have them stay. Hearing them sleep so close by was oddly soothing. She could almost imagine they were a group of her little changelings scattered about as they hid from winter’s frosty bite. With that thought in mind, she slowly let herself drift off to a comfortable sleep.
_____________________________
To Princess Celestia:
Winter sucks. Alcohol sucks. I got drunk and hurt my friends. I am never drinking again.
From: Twilight Sparkle