You Can Do It!
Beep.
Why can’t I move?
Beep.
Why are my eyes so heavy?
Beep.
I can barely feel my legs. What in Tartarus—
Beep.
And what is that incessant—
“Beeping!”
My eyes shot open as the shout escaped my cracked lips. There was a commotion from somewhere nearby; gasps from other surprised mouths made a cacophonous harmony with the banging of what I guessed were chairs falling over.
Beep.
“Oh, Celestia—”
“Somepony get the nurse, quick!”
“She’s awake, she’s finally awake…”
Beep.
I swallowed hard and squeezed my eyes together again, trying to block out the persistent, lid-piercing light from above. I blinked a few times and allowed the light to slowly restore my vision. Though my body remained immobile, I was able to move my head slowly to the side.
My friend Aqua Lung sat beside me, her blue hoof to her mouth. Luminous Spark lay on the ground, her blazing mane askew, having fallen off her own seat if the collapsed chair next to her was any indication. I blinked a few more times and shifted my eyes around.
Beep.
I tilted my head to the other side, still trying to work my mouth properly. I was surrounded by thin, white curtains on either side. A strange apparatus displayed seemingly random zigzags on a screen. A tall stand next to the squiggle-box housed a half-empty bag of some clear solution. Following the cord from its origin, I noticed that it ran underneath the white blanket covering me.
Beep.
That damnable box, that’s what keeps making the noise. Why won’t it shut up?
Beep.
Oh, now you’re just being irritating.
Beep.
“Berry Punch, how are you feeling?”
Minty Shake had returned. Behind her solid green flanks, she brought with her a smiling Nurse Redheart. Minty approached my bed, drooping bags highly present beneath her gorgeous golden eyes. “We really thought we’d lost you, Berry. You scared the living daylight out of us all.” She placed her left hoof on my bedside and used her other to caress my forehead gently.
Beep.
Lost me?
“Please, Berry, promise us you’ll never do that again.”
Do what?
Beep.
“I… I… uh, promise?” What is going on?
My eyes shot open as my three friends descended upon me and covered me in a triple hug. Water glistened off Aqua’s cheeks; Luminous did her best to blink back her own tears; Minty kept a wan smile upon her face, holding herself slightly further back from the other two.
Beep.
“Girls, please. Give Miss Punch some breathing space.” Nurse Redheart and her clipboard appeared next to me, her eyebrows now lowered at me. My friends lightly released their group hug and stepped back, allowing Redheart to scrutinise me. She grasped my right foreleg just above the hoof and held it, her eyes on the machine with the squiggles and her lips moving soundlessly.
Beep.
“Your pulse seems normal. Temperature’s still a little high, but not life-threatening. How are your motor functions?”
“Er…”
Beep.
“Never mind, let’s see. Open your eyes. No, wider.” A bright light illuminated my face, filling my vision, though the pain was milder than expected. “Good. Pupils... reacting... well. Check.”
Beep.
“Excuse me? Nurse? What exactly is going on? What's with all these tests?”
Beep.
“And can you please silence that infernal machine?”
Beep.
I watched as Redheart nodded softly, padding her way around the other side of my bed and lightly pressing a button on the side. I waited a few more seconds…
…
Nothing.
Thank Celestia.
“Your vitals seem pretty good, for the most part.” Redheart and her clipboard had returned to my side, Luminous and Minty looking over her shoulders. “You may be eligible for discharge in a few days. Of course, I’ll be regularly monitoring you, so I’d really appreciate it if you took it easy for at least a week after that. And I’ll have to change your drip soon too, I suppose.” She gave a nod to me, then turned to Aqua. “Don’t lay it on too thick, at least at first. She might have some short-term memory loss, but I’m sure she’ll be okay after a while.”
“Thank you, Nurse.” Aqua gave Redheart a grateful smile as she made for the door.
“One more thing, Miss Punch.”
I looked up.
”You’re lucky to be alive, luckier still to have sustained minimal injuries. The Pale Pony was robbed last night, and he and everypony else knows it, too. Do not waste this second chance.”
It was all I could do to incline my head in acknowledgement. ”Um... sure.”
Once she'd departed, I tried to sit upright, the pillows behind my head and back beginning to slip out from beneath me. A sharp pain jolted through my back, sending me into rapid, minute spasms. For a second, my body shook beyond my control.
“Hey, hey, Berry, don’t stress yourself too much. Settle down, girl.” Minty was once again beside me. “She and Doctor Horse are right, though. You should really take it easy, follow their advice.”
“Look, I’m fine, girls. Please, can somepony tell me why I’m in this bed, these—” I glanced under my blankets “—pajamas, what in Tartarus this thing is sticking out of me—”
“You got drunk and fell off your balcony.” Luminous held a hoof over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that...”
“Settle down, Lumie. Let the mare’s brain catch up to her. But yes, Berry, that’s pretty much what happened.” Aqua held my hoof again as fresh tears began to stream from her purple, bruised-looking eyes. “You’re lucky the fall wasn’t very far. You had to have your stomach pumped, though. That wasn’t pretty.”
“What?” I blinked at Aqua and Luminous. “But I haven’t had a drink since… since…”
Suddenly the memories all came flooding back.
“You talk about yourself like you have the mental wherewithal of a potato. Give yourself some credit! From what I can tell, you seem like a pretty smart pony. You communicate well, a staple of intelligence.”
“It depends if the potato's baked.”
“It doesn't matter if the potato is baked, raw or mashed. The potato needs to smile more.”
“They... they don't smile, they're potatoes.”
“I mean, you, you silly potato. Life is an amazing thing—enjoy it!”
“That’s right, keep telling me to enjoy a life where I’m restricted by my failing liver, my lumbering body, my gastric reflux… You and everypony else would be better off without this deformed potato. It amazes me why you all even bother associating with me at all. Not all of us are fit for friendships, or companionship. The closest thing I thought I had… it ended when he simply got bored and walked away. That’s proof enough for me that he never cared, and that nopony ever will.”
Berry.
“Believe it or not, I’m actually not interested in living long enough for the cancer, strokes and dementia that I undoubtedly have coming my way to settle in. I’m not sure I’m willing to go that far just yet, but it’s probably only gonna take one more to push me over the edge. Being hit with reality hurts.”
Berry!
“It’s funny how much much we fear death, yet when it becomes a very real possibility, accepting it is… surprisingly easy. Good riddance, too. It’s not like I’ll be missed.”
“Berry!”
I shook my head, jerking at the sound of Aqua’s voice. “Oh, sorry about that. Just kinda lost in thought.” I shuddered. “...I said a lot of really crazy stuff last night, huh?”
Aqua, Minty and Luminous shared concerned looks. “Crazy doesn’t begin to cut it,” Luminous said.
“Girls. Did I really fall off the wagon?” I watched as their gazes all shifted to me, their eyes downcast.
“You fell, Berry. You fell real hard,” Aqua said. “You kept going on about how without alcohol, your life had become boring and meaningless.”
“Even more boring and meaningless than normal!”
“Lumie!” Minty shot her a dark look.
“What?”
Minty rolled her eyes. “What she means is, more so than you normally harp on about it.” She turned a blank look my way. “Which isn’t true, by the way.”
I sighed at my friends. Now that I’d been awake for a few minutes, even more memories began to return. Life had been a long, painful, drawn-out struggle between my mind and my under-gifted body. The reflux, the addiction, my self-esteem woes…
“I mean, you can really do so much,” Aqua resumed. “You’re so much smarter than you want to admit to yourself. All it’ll take is a little commitment to something, but you can’t seem to get off those video games. Honestly, if you put half as much effort into something truly meaningful as you do repeatedly speed-running Swifty The Echidna with your eyes closed, Celestia knows what you could achieve! But since you gave up drinking, they’ve absorbed your life.”
“Heh, that’d be a nice excuse,” I choked out. “The real problem is it’s not easy for me to do much of anything because I don’t have any skills.”
“You’re super-bucking-amazing at bashing the slop out of yourself. That’s a skill.”
“Lumie!” cried Aqua and Minty simultaneously.
“Really, girl, you have got to keep a lid on those outbursts!” Minty put her face in her hooves for a second, before looking up at me again. “She has a point, though. For too long you’ve been doubting yourself: afraid to try, afraid to accept help, afraid of rejections so much that you fail to ever make a move toward friendship or otherwise.”
“We’re your friends, Berry Punch,” Minty said. She brought herself closer again to the bed and put a hoof around Aqua. “We care about you. You may not, but that just means we have to try that much harder to help you see the truth.”
“What I want to know is, who’s filling your head with this mumbo jumbo?” Minty cocked her head, a single eyebrow raised. “Because I’ve never seen you so negative as in recent weeks.”
“You’re not worthless.” Luminous approached the crowded bedside and placed her hoof around Aqua’s other shoulder. “Despite what you’ve been feeling the past year or so, we can see your worth. You’re our friend. We love you. Promise us once more—never pull a crazy stunt like that again.”
I stared into the multi-coloured eyes of my friends. I knew so many ponies in my life: my mother, father, extended family I rarely saw, acquaintances from nights on the town and my old school… But these three…
Aqua Lung, her heart worth its weight in gold.
Luminous Spark, the mare who’d never been afraid to speak her mind and stand up for me.
Minty Shake, the only mare I knew with an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming to match mine.
Three of my best friends, all united by my selfish act.
To think that I’d almost left them behind…
“Thank you, girls. I promise I’ll never get blind rotten wasted and fall off my balcony ever again.”
All three of my mares looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Seconds later, their faces began to crack.
“Well, that's something at least,” Aqua said. “Filly steps, Berry. We'll help you get back on track.”
All three leaned leaned over and gave me another group hug. As I felt their love permeating through me, I wondered how I could ever let any of them down.
“We’ll be watching you like griffons for the next few weeks, you know that?” Minty said.
“You’ve got a long road ahead of you, Berry dear, but we’ll be there for every step.” Luminous’ brilliant pearly whites clashed with her flaming coat and mane.
“We can’t fight your personal battles for you, but we can be there to fall back on if you ever feel like giving up.”
I smiled at Aqua. “I’ll be counting on it.”
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I'm talking about the feels that are coming out of me.
Shazaam
I JUST SPENT THREE HOURS LISTENING TO JETHRO TULL IN ANTICIPATION OF AQUA LUNG...
...
My heart was not ready.
I feel this, I really do...I pulled a friend through an open window last month after he jumped...Nearly broke his ankle, but I wasn't about to let him fall three stories to the pavement.
Ceru..
You brought up so many buried emotions..
I need a cup of tea and a shower to contemplate life over once more..
Thank you for this. It opened my tear ducts forcefully and whipped them with the Lash of Feels till they bled mighty crystalline droplets of liquid pride.
And that's what happens when Ceru writes from the
~Dash The Stampede
4193762
Wow. Cool feedback, man
Honestly, Jethro Tull never entered my mind. The three OCs are meant to represent three of Chrono's followers, but only he will know which. There's something special about a lot of the spoken words, too.
Also, I'm sorry about the epic feels. I didn't mean to make you cry, I promise!
4193855
No worries, Ceru. It was a beautiful read. I made something for you, Should be in your feed.
...
>mfw that was an unplanned poem
Hoh, this isn't half bad.
Gonna have to keep an eye on you.
Dawww
Cerulean, you mushy-mushy you...
I hope he makes it through this and actually has something to say. I should draw him a birthday pic too...
Not bad. Not bad at all.
4194034
That I be considered worthy.
4194676
You have my sword.
Aqua Lung = Cerulean Voice
Luminous Spark = Luminary
Minty Shake = Erm... Mondai Shunketsu? 007 Delta?
4196316
Here's the man of the day
Looks like you snagged yourself a bonus packet of goodies
This is a nice birthday present, and I'm
totallynot jealous.The feels were there, and I felt them, but I actually thought you could have done a bit more with the story. Though, you said it was only a little something you whipped up, so I'm not too mad at you for not writing more.
Overall, a good read and worth my time, like everything you write.
Just a minor nitpick, and as far as I can remember, the only error I spotted.
4196511
We've spoken about this, but that's actually not an error, if anyone else questions it. Blame my Aussie dialect
Uwaahhh! I'm the worst friend ever.
This is why I'm not legally allowed within a hundred yards of an AA meeting.
Do love you, 4196316 . Even if I am a big mouthy jerk. We all do. Just lay back and let it permeate through you.
And I do hope things get better for you. Because you're utterly awesome and deserve it. And while I can't sit back and take some inventory of the skills you knock yourself for, one thing I do most certainly know is that you're an amazing friend. And that means a whole hell of a lot to me. And it's a really, really awesome trait to have.
i.imgur.com/6MrWqNZ.png
The length had me concerned but it actually wasn't that bad
4198069
Thanks, Mayhem
Making my birthday more special.
That story is really very well-written! Thank you so much for writing it... It was a great pleasure to read it and feel it.
4202018
Thanks for your comment, Ry and I appreciate it
This was really well done.
I felt a lot of sympathy for Berry in this. It really sucks when negativity gets a hold of you and you start to see yourself as worthless. Thinking that no one will care when you are gone is one of the most soul-crushing things that you can do to yourself.
Thanks for the good read.
This doesn't have a sex rating. Damnit. I was hoping she'd taken it up the butt long and hard and she was concerned by how sore her anus felt.
Pass.
Why does no one tell me when a good Berry Punch story comes out?
Well done, not bad at all.
hi hi
I've never liked the fan interpretations of Berry Punch as a drunk. However, this is an excellent story, taking something awful and making something positive out of it.
4203323
Thank you. I, too, tire of seeing her used and abused as a drunkard, and I really wanted to portray her as an actual troubled soul rather than just a mare who loves the turps too much.
I'm glad you enjoyed it
The feels are nice in this story. Well done.
This was the perfect kind of bittersweet.
4216518 pleased you enjoyed it
I was aiming for that middle ground.
4216518
4216608
It's even more bittersweet since the person the story was written for/about is still borderline suicidal (due to a worthless life) and always will be.
Well, this is how it goes, I guess.
Thank you guys.
Someone gets depressed and jumps off their balcony, but... well, I don't care about any of these characters. I don't know them. So why do I care about Berry Punch doing this?
I just never connected with the story because I hold no connection with the central character - whether she lives or dies means nothing to me, and the reveal of her wanting to off herself just kind of felt... eh. I didn't care.
4504946
That's okay. This is the only fic I've written where it was only intended for a select few viewers.
Honestly, I'm surprised it took anyone so long to call out the disconnect. Thank you for the read.
4504969
You're welcome! I haven't really read a whole bunch of your stories; read this one because of the Royal Guard post. Have a couple marked RL though, so I'll have to get to them at some point.
4505008
That would mean a lot to me. I hope my other efforts manage to at least not bore you to death
This is quite a good short story. It has what I want from a small piece like this.
My lone complaint aside from a couple very minor grammatical things as that "buck" is not a swear word. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go farm my girlfriend.
You ever get that feel where a story is nice, but it just doesn't do anything for you? I feel like you could have done more with this, though I'm not exactly sure what, which I know is extremely unuseful. Still, you get a a star and green thumb.
4535556
I know what you mean. There's a lot that I could have done with this, but in all honesty I wasn't really too concerned with the possibilities. It's just a little piece of encouragement for a friend of mine and that's all I ever meant for it to be.
Ta for the watch, too.
4535577 Me watching you means you are required by law to write a 100 word guest slashfic for THIS anthology.
4504946
That actually makes sense. The character in question is me, and people wouldn't really care if I lived or died IRL either. (Is that unintentional brilliance on CV's part?)
4203323
>"fan"
Read up on your WoG. That was the team's intention when she was introduced.
5036599
What the heck does an ethnic slur for australians have to do with anything?
5036805
Word of God. Statements from the creators. Her little punch bowl drinking scene was a "she's an alcoholic" joke.
5036805
Gotta say, that gave me a chuckle.
Berry Punch confirmed Greek.
5036934
No, it wasn't. Sabrina Alberghetti was a storyboard artist on that episode, not a writer, director or producer. Those people would have been Meghan McCarthy, Jayson Thiessen & James Wootton, and Lauren Faust, in that order. Sabrina's drunk joke was cut out, by "the team," because they didn't find it appropriate. Lauren Faust herself stated that she picked the name Pinot Noir for the character because she liked the drink. Liking a drink and being an alcoholic are two completely different things though.
Fluttershy was originally an Earth Pony, and Pinkie Pie a pegasus, in the creator's intention, but just because someone thought about it once, doesn't make it the case.
5037038
She was still a part of the production team, is she not? If Berry can't be an alcoholic based on a member of the production team using her as an alcoholic, then Derpy can't be derpy, as that was originally an animator joke.
5037690
Now you're just equivocating between possibility and intent.
Anyone is welcome to whatever headcanon they would like. However at the end of the day, Alberghetti proposed a drunk pony, and others on the production team who had the authority to do so, vetoed it, leaving us with a pony drinking from a punchbowl, neither belching or staggering. Anything else is a fan interpretation.
If someone wants to think that Princess Celestia is actually a Queen and that Princess Cadence is actually a wingless unicorn, because Lauren Faust originally wanted them to be, that is entirely up to them.
If someone wants to think that Derpy Hooves is a mailmare who travels through time and space in a police box with her unicorn daughter Dinky and a stallion with no formal name other than "Doctor," that's up to them too.
I like this story because it has honest compassion for people with mental health issues, rather than making fun of them. It's as much about hope and possibility as it is about failure and personal weakness.
5037884
I just came back to this story and reread this comment. It warmed my
Thank you.
This was a great story.
9935723
I'm glad you enjoyed it.