Twilight could already hear Pinkie’s house reverberating with the beat from Vinyl Scratch’s favorite mix. She was pretty sure that all her friends were there—with the exception of Rarity, who had an order to fill tonight—and they would just be chillin’ until the whole gang got together later tonight.
Knowing Rainbow, she’d already be tipsy from Applejack’s special batch of hard cider and maybe a few shots of coconut rum. One never could tell at most of these parties just whether or not she was fully paying attention. Thanks to being a pegasus, all that alcohol would pass through her system in less than two hours. Unless she drank something really strong, she normally didn’t have a hangover. Now Fluttershy, on the other hoof, was AMAZING! A couple of years ago she had drank eight full shots of pure, hard liquor, and it had barely fazed her.
Now granted, Twilight thought as she reached the door, she had been a lot more “cuddly” than normal afterward, but it wasn’t anything to be concerned about.
She took a deep breath before knocking, knowing full well the welcome she would receive.
A pink pony popped up (seemingly out of nowhere) as the door opened.
“Twilight, you made it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, hopping up and down in seemingly endless energy.
Twilight rolled her eyes and answered, “Oh, Pinkie, you know I'd never miss one of your parties.” She brought her voice down to a whisper as she added, “Especially these ones.”
They exchanged a knowing glance as Pinkie closed the door and hopped back with Twilight to the kitchen. “So Twilight, what do you want to drink?” asked Pinkie.
Before Twilight could reply, the party pony broke off into one of her long and endless rambles.
“I bought enough stuff for you favorite drink, but then I thought to myself, ‘She might not want to start on that right away,’ so I bought some lighter stuff, ya know, to warm you up to the really heavy stuff…”
“Pinkie.”
“... And then I thought about it again, and realized, ya know what would go good with all this stuff? Quartz Cupcakes! So I went down to the Cakes’ place and they said that I could make some of them on my own because…”
“Pinkie.”
“.. They were a little too busy with other orders, not to mention their cute little twins, so I went back and tried to make some cupcakes, ‘cause you know I’m good at that, when I found out that the Cakes didn’t have any quartz crystals, and you know you can’t make Quartz cupcakes without quartz crystals, and—”
“PINKIE!!” Twilight erupted in frustration, shaking the kitchen a bit.
“Yes, Twilight?” Pinkie innocently asked.
Twilight sighed. Finally, it was somewhat quiet. “Some of Applejack’s cider would do just fine for now, thank you.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie,” said Pinkie as she trotted off to get some from her cellar.
Twilight returned to the main room to find her other friends. Fluttershy was just off to the side like she normally was, quietly sipping on AJ’s cider. Lyra and Bon-Bon seemed to have had one too many drinks; they were a little too preoccupied on the dance floor. Derpy was trying her best to dance to the catchy beat, but always seemed to stumble around.
Mixed in with a few other stallions and mares “getting on the floor,” Twilight noticed Rainbow and AJ not far from the dance floor.
Rainbow Dash was, not surprisingly, surrounded by eleven shot glasses of her favorite drink: coconut rum. However, Applejack was smart. She had been sipping on only her second mug of cider while she listened to Rainbow Dash’s latest story.
Dash had some kind of territorial instinct when she was drunk. She always lined up her shot glasses in a curve, cutting off her part of the table from anypony else. As she moved through her stories, the shot glasses somehow would act as a gauge of how long her stories were. At each “chapter” of the story, she would pause and toss back a shot of rum, then continue on with her story.
Currently, Twilight observed that there were only two shots left. This story was almost over. She approached behind Rainbow Dash quietly to hear the end of the story.
“And we went shmack!” said the pegasus loudly, slapping the table. “And we fell down to the ground and Twi, she casted as spell so that we wouldn’t gets hurt.”
Now since she already knew the rest of the story, Twilight observed her surroundings and noticed the one shot of rum left on the table. Under normal circumstances, she would have ignored it, but if one were to closely scrutinize it, it almost looked as if it was surrounded by a faint, blue glow.
A magic spell? Twilight thought. Who would be casting a spell over here, especially on Rainbow’s precious shot glasses?
She looked around but found no one even looking this direction, except for Fluttershy, but she was a pegasu…
She broke off mid-thought to see Rainbow pick up the last shot glass, drain the contents, and slam it back down on the table, all without the use of her hooves!
Twilight’s eyes grew wide in wonder and confusion. Her mouth agape, all she could do was stare at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus had just performed a levitation spell without a unicorn’s horn and she was drunk!
A pink blur broke her train of thought as it popped into view. “Here’s your drink, Twilight,” Pinkie said in her party tone.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” Twilight said, “but I’m gonna have a talk with Rainbow, and I need to be sober to do so.”
“Oh,” Pinkie said dejectedly. “Then what’ll I do with your favorite drink ingredients? They’re gonna go to waste!”
“Tell you what, Pinkie,” Twilight said, bringing her full focus back on her, “you run those things over to my house tomorrow, and sometime next week we’ll have a slumber party at my place and we can use them then.”
Pinkie perked back up immediately. “Awwww, SWEET! I love Twilight slumber-parties. They’re even better than mine!”
She disappeared to Celestia-knows-where before Twilight could say anything more. She decided to wait for Rainbow to sober up before asking her about her magic.
-----------------------
A couple of hours later, Rainbow woke from her nap and had to shake her head to clear the fog out. Damn, she thought, the side effects of drinking are really getting to me tonight. She looked around with somewhat clearer vision.
Vinyl was playing a slow, steady beat while whoever was left in the room mumbled to each other in a drunken stupor. Many of the ponies had left. In fact, Lyra and Bon-Bon were flirting with a none-too-sober Derpy as Pinkie escorted them out.
Applejack and Twilight were off to the side talking quietly. More often than not, Twilight shot a glance over to Rainbow with a raised eyebrow when AJ had said something “interesting” to her. Finally seeing that Rainbow was awake, (groggy, but awake) Twilight thanked the cowpony and trotted over to her position on Pinkie’s couch.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash. We were wondering when you’d wake up again.”
Rainbow rubbed her eyes groggily, “Oh, hey, Twi. Yeah, sorry. I think that rum hit me harder than usual.”
Only after a few seconds of silence (and a great many yawns by Rainbow, who was still trying to wake up) did Rainbow notice that Twilight was considering her strangely.
“What?” Dash asked, shooting Twilight a look.
“Oh, nothing,” said Twilight, shaking her head. “You just look so disoriented, that’s all.”
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, I have a slight headache.” She rubbed behind her temples, watching Twilight grow a smirk.
“Well, you’re lucky that you don’t use magic.” Twilight saw Rainbow’s figure visibly flinch at her statement. “I over-used it one time and woke up the next day with what felt almost like a migraine.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow laughed nervously. “Lucky me.”
Twilight turned to go, but stopped. An idea had popped into her head about how to confront Rainbow about her “magic.”
“Hey, Rainbow,” she said, turning back to her friend, who had just started to relax, “I ran into something today and I was wondering if, later on tonight, you could help me figure it out.”
“Pfft! Why would I know anything about if Miss Egghead with all her books couldn’t figure out what it was?”
Twilight rubbed the back of her neck like Rainbow would, trying to think of an excuse. “Uhh, call it a hunch?” She hoped it would be enough to persuade her friend.
Rainbow eyed her friend suspiciously before shrugging her shoulders. “I guess it couldn’t hurt, if it’s that important.”
Twilight sighed inwardly. She’d taken the bait.
They turned their attention to the door as somepony knocked lightly on it. Pinkie was immediately at the door and opened it.
“Hi, Rarity!” She greeted Rarity with the same energy that she had Twilight.
“I certainly hope that I didn’t inconvenience any of you. I had an order for Prince Blueblood that I simply had to fill.” Rarity turned to Pinkie Pie and told her that she would simply love some sparkling wine.
Rarity didn’t drink the Apple Family’s cider after one experience, during which she almost made out with Rainbow, who had also been drinking too much. Rarity shivered in disgust with herself. She hadn’t remembered the night, thank Celestia, but what her friends had told her was sickening enough.
Pinkie immediately returned with her drink and went to go sit next to Fluttershy.
-----------------------
An hour later, the latest mix finished, accompanied by applause from the six friends. Vinyl tried to bow, but nearly fell from lack of balance. It was clear she was a little drunk as she slurred her “You’re welcome,” in response to Pinkie’s “Thanks,” and started her trek next door to her house.
The friends stared at the now quiet and empty house and began to break up.
“Well, I’d love to stay with y’all,” said Applejack, standing up, “but Ah need to start on the trees tomorrow mornin’ and Ah can’t be snoozin’ out in the orchard. As it is, I’m gonna have one doozy of a headache in the mornin’.” She rubbed her head, already starting to slur her words.
“I’m inclined to agree,” said Rarity with a quiet hiccup. “I simply must get some rest before tomorrow.”
Fluttershy only nodded as she finished up her last bit of AJ’s special cider and set it next to the nine other mugs marking her place at the table.
“Well, I guess that’s our cue, Rainbow,” said Twilight, standing up from the table.
“Ooohh! You’re going over to Twi’s, Rainbow? I hope you have fun!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Rainbow was about to thank Pinkie and walk out, when the full meaning of that phrase hit her.
“Ewww, Pinkie you’re so gross!” Dash saw Twilight blush furiously. “I’m just going over to Twi’s place to inspect something!” Dash shot a questioning glance at Twilight just as a small giggle escaped Pinkie’s mouth.
This time, it was Rainbow’s turn to turn crimson. Pinkie could no longer hold back her laughter and instead began rolling on the floor, holding her sides. The two mares, now extremely uncomfortable, looked around at their other friends, who were also stifling snickers.
“It’s okay, guys,” Fluttershy said with a sweet smile, “we know Pinkie was only joking.”
“Yeah. Uh-huh. A joke. I knew that,” said Rainbow with an uneasy glance at Pinkie, who still laughing uncontrollably. She whispered to Twilight, “That wasn’t what you wanted me over for, right?”
“NO!” said Twilight in shock. “Of course not! You’re my friend and I would never embarrass you like that.”
“Oh, well, that’s good.” Dash smirked. “Although, if you really wanted to—”
“RAINBOW!” Twilight stepped back in shock again, and was about to retort with a few choice words when she realized that Rainbow had played the joke against her. The pegasus had now joined in Pinkie’s laughter, cackling loudly at her joke.
“I’m sorry,” Dash stammered after trying to catch her breath, “it was staring me in the face and I had to say it.” She burst back into laughter
Like an immature filly, thought Twilight. She smiled despite her anger. Okay, maybe it was a little funny. These were her closest friends, after all. She could bare Rainbow’s little joke, though she swore to herself that Rainbow would pay.
After everypony had settled back down, Pinkie graciously escorted her friends to the door and pulled them all into a group hug, making their eyes bug out and leaving everypony gasping for air. Finally, they all said their goodnights and departed home.