//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: What Do You Do With A Drunken Pegasus? 
// by Donraj 
//------------------------------//

	Fluttershy was not having a good day.
She had spent most of it in her cottage. A good deal of that time had been dedicated to sobbing uncontrollably, as the large puddle of tears surrounding the sofa testified. Now however she had switched to curling up under a blanket whimpering and sniffling. Her animal friends were gathered in a semicircle on the edges of the puddle, keeping a cautious distance for fear that any stimulus might set the waterworks off again. They looked to their lagomorph leader for guidance. Angel screwed up his courage and waded through the puddle towards the sofa. He started to reach up to pat her comfortingly but then he had a flash of inspiration. He reared up on his hind legs and fell backwards into the puddle with an audible splash, then feigned a low moan of agony. 
The ruse had its desired effect. Fluttershy’s head instantly shot out from under the blanket, grief replaced by sudden concern. When she saw her bunny friend laying on the floor she shucked the blanket off with a quick flap of her wings and swooped down to pick him up. She held him cradled in her forelegs as she turned around and deposited him carefully on the sofa. 
“Oh, are you okay, Angel bunny?”
Angel nodded, covertly giving the other animals a thumbs up when she looked away. 
Fluttershy sat down beside Angel and stroked the back of his head with her hoof, a gesture that did more to comfort her than the bunny. The usually quarrelsome bunny looked up at her and gave her a hug. Fluttershy blushed slightly.
“Oh Angel, I just don’t know what to do. It’s like she becomes a different pony when she’s drinking, but the next day she doesn’t seem to remember a thing!”
Angel frowned, then bounded off to the closet. Fluttershy watched as he jumped up and came back down with a flask of medicinal alcohol. He looked up at her hopefully.
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. It would be wrong.”
Angel stomped his feet and pointed at the flask again. Fluttershy hesitated.
“Well, I mean, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to relax her just a bit so we could talk. Maybe that way she would remember afterwards…”
Angel hopped back over to the couch and gestured for Fluttershy to lay down. She did, and some birds swept in to pull a blanket over her. “Okay Angel, you win. I’ll think about it in the morning. For now I’m just going to…” She fell asleep midway through the sentence.
Angel frowned thoughtfully. Clearly the quiet one needed his help if anything was going to be done.

†

Flying is an interesting experience for the habitually ground bound. Angel, despite his name, was one of that persuasion. He clung to the enormous eagle’s back as the mighty avian soared ever higher. Finally seeing his target below Angel let go, only to fall on a cushion of clouds. He opened his eyes to see Rainbow Dash’s cloud home in front of him. Good. It was as the shelled one had said. The clouds were specially treated to support non-pegasi. 
Angel hopped into the cloud home commando-style. He found the parlor empty save for a slowly hovering turtle. Tank turned to regard him lazily, blinking once to express his surprise. Angel threw himself into an elaborate series of pantomimes, explaining his purpose and postulating that Tank’s owner would benefit from what he was about to do as well. Tank frowned, picturing the probable fallout, and shook his head. Angel threw him the finger and proceeded to hop into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and found a large bottle full of a pale green liquid. Angel pulled the flask off of his back and grinned wickedly as he unscrewed the top on the sport’s bottle. He dodged to one side as Tank floated over and feebly attempted to stop him, then poured the clear liquid into the sport’s bottle, filling the half-full thing to the brim. That done, he twisted the bottle shut and put it back in the refrigerator. He turned to regard Tank, who was hovering there with a disapproving expression, and was about to make a rude gesture when both pets heard noises coming down the hallway from the bedroom. Angel froze, then scampered off to find a hiding place.

†

Rainbow Dash yawned as she made her way into the living area of her cloud home. She smacked her mouth hungrily and then sleep-walked over to into the kitchen and the refrigerator. A flying turtlecopter rose up to greet her. She waved absently.
“Heya Tank. What’s up?”
Tank nudged his head at the refrigerator, molasses slow. Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Alright dude, I’ll get your snack.”
Rainbow Dash proceeded to open the refrigerator and pulled out a turtle snack, which she tossed over her shoulder into Tank’s bowl across the room. That done, she pulled out a sports bottle and began to screw open the top. Tank hovered over and tried to nudge it out of her hooves. Rainbow Dash scowled.
“No Tank, your snack is over there. This is mine. It is not for turtles.” She turned and walked away, leaving the morose-looking turtle behind. She took a swig of the electrolyte rich fluid and started doing her stretches. She took another swig. “Hey, this stuff tastes better than usual.”
Rainbow Dash started towards the living room but found herself lurching forward suddenly. She giggled and took another gulp as she caught herself on the sofa, having just missed the table in front of it. She felt her wings poof up dramatically. She waved back in the general direction of Tank and the kitchen.
“Kay Tank, I’m gunna go fly now! Be good!”
With that she stumbled out the front door and took off.
Tank puttered into the living room and watched the door to the cloud home close behind his owner. He blinked once. This would not end well.


†


Fluttershy was awoken from her nap by the sound of a family of buffalo having their intestines ripped out.
That was what it sounded like anyway. Fluttershy flinched at first, but quickly worked up her nerve by reminding herself that some animal was clearly in need of her help. She opened the door and peered out cautiously. “Hello?”
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! You have always been with me through thick and thin!
The pained screams resolved themselves into words. Rainbow Dash was standing on her front lawn, swaying on her hind legs with one foreleg held over her heart and singing. Loudly. Her volume increased as she saw her friend’s face.
“And your face is the one I want to wake up next though until the end! Fluttershy! Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy stood stock-still as Rainbow Dash continued her song, blushing as she heard the increasingly sappy and adoring lyrics. Finally the song reached its crescendo and Rainbow Dash stopped to give her a wink.
“Hey Fluttershy! I-I thought I’d drop by and tell you how much I…”
With that Rainbow Dash fell over face first, her skull making an audible thunk as it hit the ground. Fluttershy rushed over to check on her.
“Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?”
“Huh, whazzat? Fluttershy? What are you doing here? Why is my head ringing?”
Suddenly Fluttershy felt something tugging on the end of her mane. She looked down to see Angel standing there, holding what looked like a bottle of the cider Applejack had given her a few weeks before. He thumped his foot excitedly and gestured toward Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy started to protest, but stopped as she looked down at her dazed friend. She snatched the bottle, uncorked it and popped it into Rainbow Dash’s mouth.
“Here you go Rainbow. Down the hatch!”
Angel beamed.