“Ugh,” I moaned, opening my eyes to a bright window. I shut them again, unable to take the light. “Tia, not so bright,” I mumbled only half-aware at what I was even saying. My head was pounding from the night before. I could barely remember what had happened. All I could recall was going with Twilight to her library, and I was fairly certain I had made a fool of myself during the trip.
Opening my eyes slowly to let them get used to the light-flooded room, I saw that I was lying in a bed in what looked to be the upper-story of her library. At least I had somehow made it to a bed during my drunken trip. “Good Morning, Princess,” A quiet voice said next to me. Turning my head slowly to the left, I saw the familiar purple unicorn standing next to me with a grin on her face. “Really, I should be saying ‘good afternoon.’” She chuckled a little, giving me another cute smile. I would have returned the gesture, had my head not felt as if it had just been hit with a boulder. “How are you feeling?” she asked, levitating a tray with some breakfast food onto the stand next to my head.
I let a small groan escape my lips, as I wasn’t yet ready to face the day, no matter how late it may already be; I just wanted to go back to sleep. I rolled over shutting my eyes, and Twilight must have taken notice. “Still pretty bad I assume?” she asked, laying her hoof on my side. Picking it back off, she resumed in her cheery tone. “Well I can help you out there. I found a hangover spell while you were…resting. It took me a bit to find a book with the right spell, but Spike helped me out. Anyway, this book that we found showed me a spell, although it warned me about a few side effects that…”
I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying. I was just praying that she would be quiet soon, because her talking wasn’t helping my throbbing head. I pushed my hooves against my eyes, willing the headache to stop. Twilight, meanwhile, kept rambling on, and for once, I wished that I was back on the moon. At least there all my friends would listen to me and keep quiet, even if they were all rocks. I remember one year though, a metal ball floated past rambling about space. I only saw it for a bit before it moved on, but I knew if it had stayed long, it would have driven me crazy. The annoying thing just would not shut up about all the stars.
“By the beard of Starswirl!” I jolted awake as my brain exploded into a swarm of thoughts while it simultaneously felt as if somepony back-hooved my face. I kicked the tray that Twilight had set next to the bed, sending the contents flying. My eyes were wide open, and, apart from a slight headache, my body felt fully awake. “What in the hay did you just do?” I asked, picking myself up from the floor I had fallen to when whatever hit me had hit me.
“I said that the hangover spell would be a bit of a jolt at the start,” Twilight responded with a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. Are you ok?”
“Yes,” I said, panting a little from the shock that had just overcome my body. “I guess I just wasn’t ready for that yet…”
“Well you’re awake now,” Twilight started replacing a few books I knocked off the shelves during my leap out of what must have been her bed. Blushing a bit, I cleaned up the remains of the breakfast that Twilight had made for me. Using magic caused a slight pain to go through my head, but it wasn’t that bad, and I felt bad for making a mess of Twilights guest bedroom. I didn’t remember even making it to this bedroom, much less a bed last night. The entire night was just a jumbled mess of scenes, too blurry to make out at the moment.
“How much of last night do you remember?” Twilight asked, shelving the last book and picking up a glass that I had missed on my jump out of bed. “You had quite a few drinks while we were having the party.”
“Well,” I started, blushing a little more, ashamed at my behavior, “I think I may have tried to fly a little.” My wing felt a little sore as if I had crashed into something, and I recalled hitting the ground pretty hard once. I only hoped that I wasn’t doing anything stupid to cause the soreness.
Twilight chuckled a little before telling me, “Yes I remember you thought you would be able to get to my house quickly by flying to it. You jumped up, but only one wing responded, and you fell quicker than a rock.”
“Right,” I giggled nervously, “I also remember playing with a rock… I may have called the moon my friend…” I was straining my mind to remember what had happened after my incident with the flying, “I remember standing outside your front door and we…we…”
We had kissed. I finally remembered what I had done last night as my mind slipped in and out of consciousness last night. I blushed violently. I wouldn’t have been surprised if my entire face had changed from its normal dark blue hue to a bright red. I wished that I could just shrink away, and I considered teleporting back to the castle. I closed my eyes and envisioned my room, about to cast the spell when Twilight interrupted me.
“Princess did you mean it?” Twilight asked, as I opened my eyes back up to her quizzical look. “Did you mean what you had said, and what you had done?” She didn’t seem angry, though, which surprised me. I was considering what I should say, because ever since she and her friends had saved me from that monster, Nightmare Moon, I had had my eye on her. “Princess?” she asked again, seeing that I wasn’t responding.
“Well,…I just… you…” I was stuttering, trying to come up with a good reason why I had pulled her in for a huge smooch on her own doorstep last night. My headache was back again, and I could barely think straight. I couldn’t avoid the matter any longer, and I didn’t want to lie to her.
“What Princess? What is it?”
“Well…” I started again. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I had to tell her the truth. “Yes, Twilight. I meant it, all of it. You’re my first real friend, and… I just thought that you would be ok with it…But I was drunk. I shouldn’t have done that… I can understand if you’re mad at me…”
“Princess,” Twilight interrupted me, “I’m not mad at you, but as for…well…having a relationship…” she blushed a bit, turning away from me. The air was tense and I already knew what she wanted to tell me. “I have my eyes on somepony else is all…I hope that’s ok with you…”
Inside my heart crumpled a little, but I tried not to show any emotion. “That’s quite alright Twilight Sparkle,” I said, trying to blink away a small tear as well as keeping my voice from wavering. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get going. I have some work to do.” I lit up my horn focusing on my bedroom in Canterlot Castle once more.
“Princess wait-” Twilight managed to get out before a loud pop sent me on my way. I opened my eyes to see my own bed. I laid down on it and put a pillow over my eyes. Whatever Twilight was going to say wouldn’t change anything. I was her second choice, and it hurt to be that. I was so caught up in meeting the love of my life that I failed to see she was just trying to be friendly. I was being selfish, and I knew it, but that didn’t make the pain any better…