There was a bottle of wine sitting on a stool. This itself, would not have been cause for alarm. However, upon closer inspection it was obvious that this bottle was not normal. Something uncanny and disturbing had come to light. It had a face on it. It was not a face that instilled good vibes at all. The cartoonish caricature gave off an aura of pure ill-intentions. Suddenly, the bottle started to grow. Getting progressively bigger, it eventually crushed the stool it had once sat on. After growing to the size of a house, the bottle's face changed. The expression contorted into a sort of realistic face with demented satisfaction and it started to move nearer. The face became more and more twisted as the mouth opened up to reveal hundreds of sharp teeth. They soon became all that was visible as the mouth began to close around its helpless victim. Soon there would be nothing left. There was no escaping the gaping mar of the bot-
A loud knock at the door startled Berry Punch from her slumber so suddenly, that she rolled out of her bed landing with a thud. She rubbed her head and looked at the clock on the wall. The time read 4:27 PM. It looked like she had spent another day sleeping in. This was the fifth straight day.
More knocking at the door persuaded her to get up and see who it was. Anything to make that obnoxiously loud sound go away. Her head felt like it was going to explode out of her ears with every step she took. Berry Punch had decided that whoever had woken her in this manner was going to get a hoof through their face if they didn't have a good reason. She rubbed her eyes and opened the door. She became less tense when she saw the familiar mane of Colgate in front of her. The blue unicorn had a look of slight disappointment on her face.
"It took you awhile to answer, Berry. I've been knocking for a good ten minutes. I was afraid that maybe you weren't home."
Berry Punch sleepily rubbed her eyes. "Sorry, Colgate. I guess I didn't hear you at first."
"Don't tell me you overslept again."
"It's not like I did it on purpose. I've been trying to stop."
"Well, it looks like you aren't trying hard enough."
Colgate sighed. It was obvious that Berry Punch was hungover. There was no doubt that she had been out late drinking again. A part of her almost wanted to yell in her ear just to teach her a lesson, but it wouldn't solve anything.
"Well anyways Berry, I came by to see if you wanted to go to the market with me today."
Berry Punch yawned. She was still tired from the previous night's debauchery. Maybe just a couple more hours of sleep would do the trick.
"Sorry Colgate, I think I'll pass on this one. I should probably do some straightening up around the house. I'll have to catch up with you next time."
As she started to back away into the house, Colgate moved forward.
"Well, at least let me help you out. I'm in no hurry. Besides, it's been awhile since the two of us have been alo-"
Colgate was immediately cut off by Berry Punch's hooves pushing her backwards. She was about to protest, but didn't have time as Berry Punch let out a quick "no thanks" and slammed the door in her face. Colgate turned away to go home. She was starting to worry about Berry. Sure, she had always had a tendency to drink, but never this bad. I can't let her keep this up. She's destroying herself and hurting others in the process. Tears started to form in Colgate's eyes as she changed her course and began to head straight for Twilight Sparkle's library. She needs help. I can't keep seeing her waste her life away like this. Twilight will know what to do. She just has to. As the worried unicorn made her way to seek help for her childhood friend she made a promise to herself. She would not rest until a solution was found. Even if it meant watching over her 24/7, she would do what was best for Berry Punch. She just hoped that Twilight would have some kind of idea.
Berry Punch was glad that distraction was over. This hangover was killing her and the unexpected wake-up from her friend was no help. At least it was good for getting that horrible nightmare to end. The dreams themselves weren't that common, when she could remember them, but something about this one really did not sit well with her. She started to slump back towards her bedroom, but decided that it was probably late enough in the day to stay awake. Rubbing her eyes, she made her way to the couch. Sitting down was a struggle with her headache, but after a few minutes she had managed it.
She looked around the room. Wine bottles, scattered here and there, were the main set piece in her untidy house. Berry Punch hadn't lied to Colgate when she said that she had been meaning to straighten up, but the point seemed moot in her current state. When had her house started to look this bad. Maybe I should have taken Colgate up on her offer to help out. This thought was discarded almost as soon as she realized that she would have almost certainly been subjected to constant badgering about the state of things. That was the last thing she needed. Surely, there was nothing wrong with her lifestyle, she had always been a heavy drinker. So what if Colgate was concerned for her. As far as Berry Punch was concerned, this was her life and it was only up to her how she was to live it.
She found a nearby bottle of wine, only half empty, next to her. There was no telling how old it was, but that didn't matter to her. Drinking was the only way to cure this hangover it seemed, and within thirty minutes or so she was back to her normal self.