“Oh, that conversation! Yeah, I remember now! We agreed that I needed to slow down on my drinking!” The purple alicorn explains as she’s standing over me on my bed…
I nod while still on my back, “Golly right!” and continue as my curls bounce on my forehead. “So exactly where in that conversation did you hear the words, get sloshed on vodka, anyway?”
She frowns, “I think it was towards the back?”
I sigh, “Didn’t you just say you wanted to be reformed?”
“I think so?” Her eyes go to the ceiling…
I nod, “Well, right! And if alcoholism is you’re demon or you’re Tirek this time, or whatever, than so be it! I’m here for you!”my eyes go skyward. “Although I’m still not sure why?”
She adjusts her eyes down towards me, “The reforming spell!”
I widen mine and peal them at her, “Oh, golly! There’s a funky reforming spell basically forcing me to behave now!”
She smiles, “It doesn’t quite work like that Cozy… “
I adjust my gaze to her, “What are you talking about you vodka smelling alicorn weirdo?”
She giggles, “Well, the spell itself is painful yes!”
“So you knew!” I cut her off! I feel incensed now, but I know I need to contain myself! I’m probably vibrating in rage though?
She sighs and looks down, “Y-yes and believe me when I say that I’m truly sorry about that!”
“You’re drunk!”
She nods, “That too! But let me explain!”
“Oh, do tell?” I inquire while perking my ears in her direction… This had better be good!
She sighs, “It’s extremely painful because it brings out your true self… “*
I frown and lower my ears, “Come again?”
She smiles coyly, “You see Cozy, we really didn’t know that much about you at first, but I know what I saw… And so, I did some research on you!”
My eyes widen and ears perk again, “What?”
“We know about your mother and we know how you lost everything that was dear to you… “
“You mean the fire?”
She smirks and mimics my speech, “Oh, please Cozy Glow! You and I both know the fire has nothing to do with it!”
I sigh as I stare up at the ceiling… “You’re not wrong!”before turning my gaze back right to the alicorn… **
She nods, “Yes Cozy! I had been planning to release you for months now!”
“But you got drunk like you always do and Discord decided to push things along, huh?”
She slowly forms a smile on her muzzle, “Well yeah! Yes he did and I’m kinda glad for it too… “
I frown, “What?”
She nods, “Yeah, I’ve never seen Hyacinth so alive than when she’s with you!”
“What?” I repeat myself.
She giggles slightly, and nods, “Sure you’re a recovering villain and sure, you’re not perfect… But that’s just part of your charm!”
I stare at this other pony carefully… “You’re an idiot, you know that Twilight? Complete nimrod!”
She giggles more, “Yeah, and your Hyacinth’s best friend!”
“By default!” I add as my little body shakes!
She shakes her head, “Be that as it may, you now have an obligation and responsibility to her!”
“What?”
She smiles and nods, “Yup! You need to be there for her and since the spell cleared away the evil from earlier, you’ll do just that!”
I frown and study this pony very carefully… While I’m still not sure I like the sound of this, I’m aware that I have no choice… “Your breath still smells like vodka!”
“And you’re still Hyacinth’s best friend!”
I don’t know why this annoys me? “So uh, you got anything else to drink? I mean, are you done getting drunk for now, or?”
She frowns, “Well, I got a few swigs of the vodka left, but that’s it until I make it to the liquor store, later on!”
I adjust my view to her, “Which you won’t be doing, right?”
“No! Maybe?” Her eyes go up, “I mean uh, probably later on, yeah?”
“Oh, golly!” I exclaim!
She sighs, “Look! Not drinking is a bit of an adjustment for me and well, I’d like to um, well, ease into it, you know?”
“You know, NOT drinking at all, and straight up QUITTING would be a lot better, right?”
She sighs, “I-I know Cozy! It’s just that, well… “she stares off to the side, “I don’t wanna!”
I frown for the umpteenth time, “At least your honest! Maybe uh, not be drunk all the time, instead? How about this! You won’t start drinking again until much later on? When me and Hyacinth aren’t here?”
She turns back to me, “Actually, drinking with you and Hyacinth was kinda fun!”
My eyebrow raises, and I say, “What?” for what seems like the thirtieth time!
She smiles and giggles, “Yeah, I like you two because you help me stay grounded!”
I frown deeply as a horrifying thought suddenly occurs to me…
<*****>
Hyacinth stares at me from underneath her wavy two-toned mane, the left light purple, and right lavender, as she widens her lilac eyes, “So tell me Cozy! What’s been going on with Twilight?”
I nod, “Oh, golly! She’s agreed to slow down on her drinking, but I don’t really know exactly how much, and I’m starting to get her to understand that she has a problem!”
Hyacinth sighs and nods, “Right! But does she have anymore booze?”
I frown, “Well, she mentioned a couple of shots of vodka, but I think that’s it? I don’t think she has any booze left?” and bring my eyes to the ceiling, “Although I’m also pretty sure she’s gonna make a liquor run soon?”
Hyacinth frowns, “That’s not good! Can you try to convince her not to do it?”
My muzzle goes downward as well, “That’s the thing! I already tried that, but she isn’t listening!”
“Well, what do you think she’ll do now?”
I sigh and honestly reply, “I think she’ll probably finish her daily duties or whatever it is she does, make a trip to the liquor store, and she’s probably gonna want me there when she starts drinking later!”
Hyacinth widens her lavender pupils, “Uh, r-really? What makes you say that?”
<*****>
I widen my eyes at the sober purple princess from my side of the small purple dinette table… I think she’s got a thing for purple? “Oh, golly gee! It’s nighttime now, you wanna get drunk, and you want me here with you, because you believe my presence provides stability or whatever, huh?”
Twilight frowns from the other side of the table as I see a big bottle of Pony Walker black label in front of her, “Uh, yes! Essentially! I mean, Hyacinth can’t be here, since she’s in the Crystal Empire, but uh,”she smiles, “I got you!”
I stare at her with my same wide glare, “Obviously, since I can’t legally be anywhere else!”
She sighs and nods, “Right! And you’ll keep me level, uh, right?”
“Define level?”
“You’ll make sure I won’t drink too much!”
“Not drinking at all would be way better, you know!”
“I agree!” Discord says from 2 feet away at my left!
Twilight turns her neck right to Discord, “Get the hay out of here!” and forces her horn to glow and Discord soon vanishes in a puff of white!
… Then, it was just me and her again…
I can only stare at the Princess of Friendship with my enormous gaze while she says, “I’ll be careful! But I’m not letting you, Discord, or ANYPONY else tell me what I can and can’t do!”
“Uh, oh golly… Right! Yes! Of course!” I say and smile at her like an idiot with a wide toothy grin…
Twilight smiles, “Right!” before magically opening the brown bottle on the table and raising the bottle to tilt it back towards her muzzle so she can take a mighty belt…
“And there goes round one of single malt Scotch!” I say, although I’m still not sure where Scotch comes from? I lean forward and stare intently, because despite Twilight’s problem here, I really don’t have much experience with drunk ponies! “Uh, at least you upgraded your whiskey this time! How do you feel?”
She sighs and smiles… “Better”
I raise an eyebrow, “Better?”
She stares at me, “Y-yeah… It’s not so bad being all alone now… “
I frown, “Alone? You got me!”
She stares at me intently, “That’s not what I mean.”
“Well, what do you mean?”
She sighs again and wistfully stares off to the side, “They’re gone now… They were here earlier and now, and now they’re not…” and forms a grimace on her muzzle. “Death sucks!”
“You mean, your friends from earlier?”
She turns her neck back to me, “Who else would I mean, Cozy?”
“It’s part of life, Twilight!”
She lowers her view slightly, “I know that, but do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard ponies say that to me?” before exhaling softly and visibly relaxing her shoulders… She then uses her magick to take another belt of Scotch…
I frown while taking in this reaction, “That doesn’t really help, huh?”
The bottle lowers back to the table at a perfect angle, and she sighs, “Not really, no!” as I smell the scent of Scotch whiskey on her breath now…
“You know, they might be gone, but you still got what you got now, right?”
Her eyes widen, “What do you mean?”
I raise my view, “Well, you still got Rarity for the moment! And you got me and Hyacinth, now!”
“But you’re both still fillies!”
“So? You’re still gonna outlive me, you know, and eventually, Hyacinth will be a lot closer to your age! Uh,” I stare downward, “I’ll probably be dead by that point?”
I stare at the table and I can almost feel her violet gaze on me while she says, “So maybe, I should treasure the time I have with you now and be ready to let go later instead?”
I raise my view back up to her and while she is in fact, taking another swig of Scotch, I’m beginning to think I might see a way out here? “Well, right! I mean, sure, I’m not gonna be around forever, but I’m here now, with you, you know?”
She smiles… “Thanks for talking to me about this Cozy!” and takes another, smaller swig of Scotch, before gently lowering the bottle back to the table…
I stare at the alicorn princess carefully while she stares at the back wall behind me with a calm relaxed look in her violet gaze… “So uh, what are you gonna do now?”
She lowers her gaze to me, “What do you mean? Get drunk, obviously!”
I widen my eyes again, “Oh, golly!”
And as I watched the Princess of Friendship take yet another mighty belt of Scotch, I finally began to understand her… The alcohol makes her numb so she doesn’t have to deal with the fact that her friends are gone… I began to wonder if there really was a way out or if she was doomed to be addicted for the rest of her long alicorn life?
(To be continued… )