Holding Hooves

by Ex-Ed

Somepony Saved My Life Tonight

Somepony Saved My Life Tonight

“Wherever you are
Whenever it’s right
You’ll come out of nowhere and into my life.”
-Haven’t Met You Yet by Michael Bublé

Things at the party were in full swing. Vinyl and her companion retired temporarily to allow Octavia and her classical group to perform a slow song for everypony to dance to. Pinkie was showing Pokey what a “sideways Pony Pokey” was (much to his and all the onlookers’ confusion) and Rarity had let Spike take her dancing. Spike learned it’s much harder to dance with someone who had different anatomy than you.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Caramel, Soarin’, and Twilight were all sitting a particularly large VIP table. The farm pony and pegasus talked amongst each other while the stallions got to know each other on the other side. Twilight was listening to both conversations with great interest.

Twilight herself didn’t have a date, but it didn’t bother her. As her usual reaction any big event, she was seeing it as a learning experience more than anything else. This was most likely the reason she was furiously scribbling down notes in a notepad throughout the entire night.

“...So he’s that colt who bought the only apple pie I was sellin’?” Applejack asked, looking at Soarin’, who was wearing his Wonderbolt costume, although without his mask on. "Thought he looked familiar."

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied, taking another sip of her punch. “In fact, we hit it off after I left the farm that day.”

Applejack would’ve normally cracked a joke at this point, but instead she paused. “Huh,” she said. “So I guess ya did follow up on what ya said. Hehe, sure did beat me to it though; I oughta congratulate you.”

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Well I can’t really argue with that, especially since it’s coming out of your mouth.” She chuckled a bit then stopped. She turned to Twilight, who seemed to be writing every word they were saying. “Are you a like a pony-tape recorder?”

Twilight looked up from her little notepad, which was held up by her glowing horn’s magic. She was currently taking notes on her old friends’ conversation this time. “No, why do you ask?”

“You’ve been writing everything we said in your book thing for the past ten minutes straight.”

“Oh,” Twilight said. “It’s nothing. I just thought I could get some information from this event.”

This time Applejack looked up. “Gettin’ information from a Hearts n’ Hooves party? Ain’t that a little… I dunno, weird?”

“Weird or not,” the unicorn replied. “I’m sure that I’ll learn something that’ll be worth sharing with Princess Celestia.”

Rainbow leaned over to Applejack and whispered, “She talks about the princess so often she might have forgotten there’s a second and third one.” Applejack held in a laugh.

Whether Twilight heard or not was a mystery, for at that moment a familiar “Hi!” was heard. The others looked over Twilight’s head to see that Pinkie and Pokey were both heading towards them. They both held a mug of cider in their hooves.

“How’d everypony doing?” Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced onto a seat next to Twilight.

All of the other partygoers at the table said “good” or “great”, bringing a big, triumphant smile to Pinkie Pie’s face. In Rainbow Dash’s case, she commented with “awesome!”

“Great, great!” She beamed, taking a sip of her cider. “Too bad Fluttershy couldn’t stick around. She loves big, loud, noisy parties!”

“Actually,” Twilight interjected. “She doesn’t.”

Pinkie spit her cider at Twilight, resulting in an aggravated moan from the unicorn. “She doesn’t?!” Before Twilight could react, Pinkie grabbed Twilight by her shoulders and started shaking her as if she were a ragdoll. “Do you realize that this invalidates everything I have ever thought of in my life?! DO YOU?!”

"PINKIE! CALM DOWN! SOMEPONY! HELP!"

While the party pony relentlessly turned the poor unicorn into her squeaky toy, Pokey exchanged glances with the other ponies. He nodded and charged some magic into his horn. When it started to glow, he poked her flank. Pinkie’s eyes went wide, then sleepy. She let go of Twilight and fell backwards into Pokey’s lap, sucking on her hoof like an infant.

“She might have had a little too much cider tonight.” Pokey said.

Applejack looked at Pinkie’s snoring body and then back at Pokey. “How many?”

“I stopped counting after twenty-six.”

Twilight sighed. She partially lifted a bundle of her soaked mane. “Well, I’ll be in the little fillies’ room getting all this cider out of my mane.”

“It’s in the back, on the left side.” The other unicorn replied, rocking Pinkie’s head as if she really were an infant.

She got up from her seat and headed towards the bathroom, leaving her friends behind. She made a mental note suggest Ciderholics Anonymous to Pinkie. She sidestepped away the dancing, unaware ponies. The second last thing she needed was to have her sticky self fall over somepony, the first being her sticky self falling over a stallion in a compromising position as he was dancing with his date.

Thankfully, neither of those happened and she had made it to the bathroom safely. Apparently, Pokey and Pinky's wild preparation did not exclude the restrooms either, as there were balloons, streams, and noise makers that were scattered festively around the place. Even the soap was a pink-and-white color for the night.

Twilight trotted to the sink and turned the faucet. As she let the water run on her front hooves, carefully trying to keep balanced on her hind ones, she couldn't help but think about how many ponies were out there dancing with each other. They all looked as though they were having a great time. Even though she too was having fun, it irked her slightly that they were partaking in a way that she couldn't, with a partner.

It was sort of weird, she thought, being that she wanted to dance with a partner, but did not want a relationship. It was because she only wanted to see what it was like. She remembered that what she wanted was called a "One-Night Stand". Expectedly, she had gotten that information out of a book (A Handy Guide to Defining Every Relationship-Related Word by Written Script).

She ran her wet hooves through her mane, wincing at separating the sticky strands of hair. Then she realized something; all of her friends managed to get dates within just a few days. So how hard could it be just trying to get one dance in?

But another voice in her head reasoned that it would probably take a miracle to get a dance in without some sort of great difficulty. It reminded her that her friends got dates from falling off ladders after getting hit by lightning, tackling celebrities and racing them, getting smashed in the face with a door, etcetera.

Twilight realized that in the middle of her internal rambling, she had finished washing her mane, no longer smelling of sweet, fizzy cider. Deciding to go back to her friends, she stopped the water and headed out the door.

The unicorn tried to maneuver through the crowd. Unfortunately, the current song was even faster than the last one, so everypony was wildly dancing with each other, paying no attention to the fact that other ponies were within five feet of each other.

As Twilight dodged another incoming hoof, she felt another hoof tap he shoulder, as if trying to get her attention. She turned to meet face-to-face with an earth pony stallion.

He had a very light yellow coat and a short, spiky, light blue mane and tail. His somewhat muscular build was decorated by his cutie mark of two bunches of green grapes. She might have seen him in town before, but... just who was he?

His confident, blue eyes met hers. He cracked a half-smile and said, "Hey, you're the librarian mare, right?"

Twilight, not really sure what he wanted, nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Great," Without warning, he stepped closer to the unicorn. He bent and whispered in her ear, "I love the book worm types..."

"Excuse me?" Twilight said, feeling a cross between disgusted and somewhat fascinated on what he was trying to do, mostly disgusted.

"You heard me," he said deviously. He pulled her closer. "Now how does going back to my place sound?"

Twilight backed off, liking the stallion less and less. "No thank you," she said, still trying to be diplomatic. "But my friends are probably waiting for me, and I should really get back to th-"

"Oh come on," The stallion interrupted. "They'll understand if you snuck out with a handsome stallion and a few ciders." He got closer to her face again.

Twilight felt a sudden urge to kick the intruding pony as hard as she could, but before the stallion could advance further, another stallion's voice yelled, "Hey! Back off of her!"

They both turned to the sound of the noise to see another pony heading towards them. He was a golden unicorn with a similarly spiky mane to the current suitor, as well as a similar, if not slightly less buffer build. His cutie mark was a blue star-a comet- with a crescent-shaped tail.

Unlike the first stallion, the second was much more familiar, to Twilight. He had stood next to her when Applejack had left for the rodeo contest. They had talked casually about astronomy for a minute or two before separating, but they would still say "hello" or a similar greeting when they'd pass by each other.

"Oh look, it's goodie two-horseshoes Comet Tail." The first stallion remarked sarcastically. "Come to save another fair maiden from me?"

"The last time I didn't," Comet Tail said. "The poor mare got pregnant, Goldengrape."

"It ain't gonna happen with this one." Goldengrape replied, pointing a hoof at Twilight. She felt readily offended at him referring to her as "this one".

"She has a name you know," Comet Tail retorted. "And I'm pretty sure she'd like you to refer to her as-."

Goldengrape interrupted with a sigh. "You know what, you're making this much more complicated than it should be. Do you realize how much effort goes into getting mare to-" He made two clicking noises with his mouth and whistled twice.

Apparently, it turns out that Twilight knew what it meant. "WHAT?!" She yelled furiously.

Goldengrape looked at the mare. "Hey, did I say you could talk?"

She just stared at him with a disbelieving look. How could anypony be this rude? Gilda and Trixie were nicer than this twit. "I am absolutely disgusted." Twilight finally said. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Whatever," he said, sounding remarkably like a disgruntled teenager to his mother. "There are plenty of other fish in the sea. 'Sides, you're not that pretty anyway." And with that insult, he stormed off into the crowd, most likely to victimize a more gullible mare.

Comet Tail sighed. "That guy's a bit of a... reputation."

"No kidding." Twilight replied. She looked at the stallion. "Thanks for getting me out of there, Comet Tail was it?"

"Yeah."

"Great to meet you... again." Twilight replied, sticking out a hoof. "Twilight Sparkle."

The stallion grabbed her hoof with his own and shook. "Nice to... more formally meet you."

Comet Tail shook her hoof about six times before finally realizing that he should've let go earlier. He blushed slightly and pulled his leg away, then intentionally looked elsewhere, trying to act cool. He was failing miserably.

Twilight silently nodded to herself. At least Comet Tail was a gentlecolt instead of that disrespectful earth pony.

"Well," Twilight said after the awkward pause. "My friends are most likely waiting for me."

"Yeah," Comet Tail replied, looking back at the mare, still with a pink tint on his face. "My friends are probably wondering where I ran off to. I guess I'll see you later?"

"Mm-hmm." Twilight nodded.

With the muffled statement, she proceeded to head back to her table. That was an... interesting experience, to say the least. She did, however, like seeing Comet Tail again. She made a mental note to ask him about a recent star should she run into him later.

Twilight was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a rather distinctive sound of a hoof being rammed into somepony's face. She hurried to the table and noticed a few changes.

For one, Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, and Big Macintosh had finally arrived. Fluttershy's wings were in poorly made slings, and she had several pained tears in her eyes. Big Macintosh was rubbing her back with a hoof. Pokey Pierce, sitting next to Big Macintosh, now had a black eye and his date was back to drinking cider in excess. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Caramel, and Soarin' were all betting on how much more cider Pinkie could drink before passing out in a diabetic coma.

Twilight stared for a minute before walking up next to Rarity and Spike. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Well," Rarity began. "Fluttershy came back in those slings with Big Macintosh at around the same time I came back to the table with Spike. Pinkie's date -Pooky was it?- suggested using a spell to fix her wings."

Spike continued. "He forgot to mention that it would involve stabbing her wings with his horn. So Big Mac punched him in the face."

"As for Pinkie Pie, she finally woke up from that last spell." Rarity said. She looked at the pony in question, to see her downing three mugs of cider at once. "She's at seventeen already."

----------

The party, at least for the little group, was back in order again, or lack of thereof. Fluttershy was soon able to get out of her slings, wings no longer broken. Some of the ponies occasionally left the table to dance to a song or to get a refill of cider or punch only to come back right after and continue socializing. Despite the absurdly high numbers they had bet, Rainbow Dash, Soarin', Applejack, and Caramel all lost after Pinkie hit forty-eight mugs of cider.

Twilight's mind was far away from the stallions she met earlier as she laughed at another one of Pinkie's jokes, but the idea of dancing with one was still on her mind. She was curious about what it was all about; what magical feelings it would show and make realized, how it would affect relationships, and if there really was a difference between the waltz and slow dance.

The party pony was in the middle of another story with her audience of Twilight, Fluttershy, Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. "So then I said, 'Petunias? Are you cra-'" Pinkie stopped mid sentence. "Hey Twilight, aren't you listening?"

"Hmm?" Twilight said, breaking out of her thought. "Oh, it's alright. Keep going."

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie continued telling her little made-up story of magic bats and walking flowers.

Twilight was acutely aware of how much cider everypony had consumed, especially Fluttershy, who was reddening in the face and giggling excitedly, though she only had two mugs. Big Macintosh must have been aware of this too, since he slipped Fluttershy's drink away when she was busy laughing her head off at the end of Pinkie's story.

Funny, Twilight thought. We're drinking non-alcoholic cider... She made another mental note to take Fluttershy to a doctor to see if getting intoxicated from drinking non-alcoholic drinks meant anything serious.

Speaking of cider, Twilight finished off what was left in her mug. Not wanting to go the rest of the night thirsting for more of the sweet drink, she excused herself from the table to get a refill.

Like she and her friends have done many times that night, Twilight dodged and slipped past the crowd while avoiding rogue hooves and flailing tails. She had, once again, safely made it to the punch table.

She put her mug under the pipe of the cider barrel. She heard a wooden clank and looked to see she had hit another pony's mug, most likely with the same intention as her. She looked up to see Comet Tail, staring back at her.

"Oh, my bad,"

"So sorry,"

The moment became awkward when the two ponies realized they had just said what they said simultaneously. The awkwardness increased tenfold when they stumbled trying to get their mugs back onto the table while both embarrassingly trying to avoid eye contact like a disease. After they accomplished that, they immediately pretended to become interested in something else, but still standing where they were.

After about thirty seconds of uncomfortable silence (strictly between the two ponies only), Twilight turned her attention back to the stallion, who was still staring at the floor, as if fascinated with it.

"So," she said, getting Comet Tail's attention. "Great party, right?"

"Yeah," he said shyly. He looked at the mugs that remained on the table. "Uhh... you can go first."

Twilight smiled awkwardly. "Thanks."

She put her mug under the pipe, but it started pour cider in without her turning the faucet. She noticed a light blue glow around it. No doubt Comet Tail was controlling it with his own magic. She looked up and met eyes with Comet Tail again. He grinned sheepishly and stopped using his magic to turn the faucet.

She had a distinct feeling that if somepony else was watching, they would most likely shove their hoof so hard into their face it would come out the other end.

"Err... Sorry." Comet said, taking a step back.

"It's okay," Twilight convinced. "Here, mine's full. You can go."

Before Comet Tail could do so, the music stopped suddenly. This made everypony (and Spike) look at the DJ station. The two DJs had done the stop on purpose, though there was a gray earth pony with a cello among them. A little further behind the earth pony were the rest of her quartet who were heading to the stage just a little bit away from the DJ station.

"Okay, my friend Octavia," DJ-Pon3 said. "Insisted that we do at least one slow song tonight. As much as I personally disagree, they think it's appropriate for a romantic holiday. Totally uncool, but whatever."

Octavia shot a dirty look at the DJ, who did not seem to notice. The male DJ just shrugged at the audience.

DJ-Pon3 took a swig of her cider and continued. "So grab your special somepony -or a pillow to sleep on- and get ready to waltz or whatever it is the dance is called. That goes for you too, awkward-looking unicorn couple by the cider station."

At once, all eyes turned to Twilight and Comet Tail, who both blushed at the many eyes suddenly watching them. Thankfully, they all near-immediately turned back to the DJ station at the sharp sound of Octavia hitting DJ-Pon3 on the head with her cello for that invasive last comment.

"Ow!"

Octavia took her exit. After DJ-Pon3 had recovered from her minor concussion she shouted, "Somepony sure seems moody 'bout not having a special somepony tonight!"

Many ponies left the dance floor, but several more jumped in as well with their dates and began to waltz.

"Err..." Twilight said shyly. She was inclined to dance with him by a slightly intoxicated DJ to a slow song. Plus, she was curious about what it would be like. "Do... do you want to dance?"

Comet Tail, for once, smiled in a relaxed way instead of his perpetual stressed smile that he seemed to always have when she was close. "S-Sure."

With the mugs of cider left forgotten, the two headed into the crowd, but this time to join them instead of dodge them. Secretly, they both privately hoped that they wouldn't dance that badly.

From there, the night should have been a magical experience for Twilight, who would dance with her partner under the moonlight, look deeply into his eyes, and share a kiss as everything slowed around them, realizing that everything she ever wanted was in front of her the entire time.

Then again, fate has a funny way of taking whatever plans you had and tossing them out of a six-story window onto a bed of coal.

A familiar stallion crawled out from under the table. He was grateful that the hosts of the party decided to put surprisingly thick covers on the tables. He looked around for the two ponies who were just here.

It was Goldengrape

"Okay, coast's clear." He called out to under the table once he was sure that Twilight and Comet Tail were not there.
From out under the table came two more stallions. One was a gray unicorn with a purple, somewhat messy mane with a scroll for a cutie mark. The other was an earth pony with an equally gray coat, though his mane was a very dark shade of it, almost black. Unlike the unicorn's cutie mark was three four-leaf clovers.

"Okay..." The unicorn said once he was out. "So... what exactly are we doing again?"

"For the last time, Written Script," Goldengrape warned. "We're gonna get back at ol' Comet for ruining my chances at getting date."

"Comet Tail?" The other stallion asked. "You mean that guy you held a grudge against back in Grade School for beating you in the science fair?"

Written Script spoke again. "You sure know how to hold a grudge. Can you tell me more about it? This gives me so many ideas for some short stories."

"Shut up," Goldengrape growled. "Lucky, do you have the goods?"

"Uh, yeah." The earth pony replied. He pulled a small vial of blue liquid from under the table. "Are you sure about this? If that stuff ends up being overly potent and doing something... drastic to him and we're found to be guilty... well, that'd be very unlucky."

Goldengrape snatched the container from him. "I really don't know or care at the moment."

He ignored his friends'(?) worries and quickly popped the cap off. He lifted the tiny container and poured some of the blue contents into one of the mugs.

The other ponies looked over Goldengrape's shoulders. The mysterious fluid mixed with the cider before finally fizzing and bubbling then dissipating.

"I'm not sure if it's supposed to do that." Lucky commented.

The song ended and the ponies were starting to return. Goldengrape realized that any second his enemy would show up. He quickly shoved the other two ponies under the table again, hoping that Comet Tail and Twilight had not seen them. Come to think of it, it was a miracle no pony had noticed them at all.

Comet Tail and Twilight returned to the table, both quite cheerful. They had danced very slowly, their calculative minds trying to remember the basics of waltzing without tripping over each other. Amazingly, neither had fallen once during their waltz.

"But if that constellation is supposed to be found within a small radius of the Big Dipper, wouldn't it have been discovered much sooner?" Twilight asked inquisitively.

"It would have," Comet Tail replied, stopping at the table to face her. "But as it turns out, there was actually a look-a-like constellation only a few thousand miles from the original, so the world astronomers got very confused."

"Fascinating," Twilight awed. "What was the name of the constellation again?"

Comet Tail grew an awkward look and quietly said, "True Lover's Stars..."

"Oh." Twilight said, turning slightly red in the face. She looked away from the stallion again. "Well... That's... er... creative."

"Y-Yeah," Comet Tail stuttered off-handedly. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm thirsty. I think we left our drinks here."

Twilight, relieved that the stallion had changed the topic so quickly. "Yes. Ah, I think those are the ones." She tilted her head towards the full mugs next to the barrel. The two unicorns used their magic to lift the mugs to them.

Unknown to them, Goldengrape and his acquaintances had migrated from under the table to behind a conveniently placed potted plant.

"Come on... drink it, you little sissy!" Goldengrape growled at Comet Tail in the distance.

Lucky and Written Script exchanged concerned glances. They looked back at the aggravated stallion.

"Goldengrape," Lucky said slowly. "Are you sure you're not taking this a little far?"

"Just shut up and keep lookout." Goldengrape snapped. He looked back at the couple, who were engaged in a quick conversation. "Just drink it already..."

Before Comet Tail could drink his cider, a record scratch sounded, followed by and interrupting high-pitched voice over a speaker.

"HEYA EVERYPONY!"

"You have got to be kidding me."

Pinkie, standing on her hind legs on the DJ table. The two DJs seemed to be as surprised as everypony else. Pokey was behind her, still worried that she was still a bit intoxicated from her cider binging.

"Pinkie Pie here, gracious hostess and party planner extraordinaire!" She announced into a microphone. "I just wanna tell you all that this party, minus a few exceptions, has gone well without a hitch! This Hearts and Hooves Party totally blew last year's out of the water! So let's raise our glasses, or mugs, or cups, or bottle, or whatever you're drinking out of, and let's keep this party going all night long!"

Everypony cheered and 'wooed' and did as Pinkie said, and raised their drinks high into the air. Satisfied, Pinkie jumped off the DJ set and made her departure, staggering slightly. Pokey followed close behind in case she fell. The music began again and several ponies were already drinking their cider.

Twilight tapped her mug against Comet Tails. "Cheers!"

And with no further hesitation, the two ponies took a happy swig from their drinks.

"Yes!" Goldengrape laughed. "Now it will only be mere moments until the poison flows through his veins, and sends him reeling into an uncontrollably immense state of pain and agony!"

Written Script and Lucky exchanged looks again.

"I just remembered that an alchemist fellow I saw earlier was carrying a bag of bits." Written Script mentioned.

"Well, that explains a lot." Lucky replied. "Here's to hoping we don't get arrested for Goldengrape's crazy plan."

Suddenly, Comet Tail choked.

He hacked and coughed, almost dropping his cider. Goldengrape smiled with delight from his hiding spot, though Twilight was very concerned. She patted him hard on the back and after a few more coughs, he stopped.

"Sorry, went down the wrong pipe."

"Oh come on!"

The two ponies instantly looked at the direction the loud complaint had come from. Goldengrape was hidden behind the thick, bushy leaves of the plant he was behind. Lucky and Written Script were both covering his mouth to prevent him from yelling again.

"That was... odd." Twilight remarked.

"Quite," Comet Tail said, still accusingly raising an eyebrow at the plant. He thought -no, knew- that Goldengrape's voice was the one he heard.

Twilight, unfazed by it, took another sip. "Does your cider taste a bit... off?"

"No, why?" Comet Tail asked.

"I don't know... Mine kinda tastes a little like-" She cut herself off with a pained groan. She quickly fell to the floor, starting to stutter. Her eyesight sudden became hazy and blurred, becoming worse with every second.

"Twilight! Twilight!" Comet leaned down to her side and tried shaking her. "Please wake up!"

For once, the nearby crowd actually did take notice of the panicked stallion and his consciousness-losing partner. They circled around him and Twilight, wondering what was going on.

Goldengrape's eyes went wide. "Oh horseapples."

Lucky nodded. "Well, that certainly wasn't lucky."

"In fact," Written Script continued. "It's almost as if it were just waiting to happen, like the suspense of waiting to get to the end, neck-at-neck with your opposition, and-"

"We get it!" Goldengrape snapped again. "You're a superstitious freak and you're an awful writer! I GET THE IDEA!"

"Hey!" Written Script retorted. "I am not an awful writer! I had one of my books published!"

"Oh yeah," Lucky recalled. "That dating dictionary, right?"

Written Script's ears flopped down. "... Why couldn't've my cutie mark been a music note? I don't even like writing."

"Shut UP!"

Back with the crisis at hand, more ponies arrived at the scene.

"Outta the way! Outta the way!" Pinkie shouted, pushing past several ponies. The rest of the Mane Six were behind her, along with their respective dates. "Ohmigosh! Twilight!" She turned to Comet Tail. "What happened?"

"Food poisoning. Really bad." Comet Tail said immediately.

Rainbow Dash pushed herself to the front from behind Fluttershy and Soarin'. "Twilight! Are you still awake?"

Twilight couldn't respond.

"Oh man oh man," she said. "Where's Nurse Redheart when you need her?"

"On vacation." Big Macintosh, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Pokey all said at once.

Twilight felt as though she would lose consciousness at any moment. All was a blur in her eyes, though the rest of the conversation she heard; however, she couldn't tell whose voice was whose.

"We gotta do something! We just can't leave her!"

"Don’t worry, Spike. We'll figure something out and she’ll be fine!"

"Well... I know some basic first aid... Just a little. Who is willing enough to perform chest compressions on her?

"If ah do it ah might just break 'er ribcage."

"Huh... that's the first time I've ever heard your brother talk, Applejack."

"Focus! I can probably do chest compressions as fast as I can fly." Her senses were fading. She assumed that whoever answered started pressing on her chest. Considering how fast it was, she assumed it was Rainbow Dash. "Anything else?"

"Well... Um, we're going to need to get her into a bed as fast as possible without disturbing her."

"Can't do it here, my bed was turned to ashes because somepony thought it was funny to set it on fire!"

"Okay, for once that wasn't me."

"Okay, okay, we can talk about the tragic death of your bed later, but we still need to get her into a bed!"

"I think I can help..."

Her head was spinning, and her sense of hearing was gone. She felt like throwing up at any moment. Still, one last thought managed to survive in her head before she blacked out entirely.

Dumb cider...

----------

Ponies would be talking about that night for years to come. Not only because of the hours lost in a Dance-a-thon, Wonderbolts show, or the fact that pretty much all the partygoers had lost the bet concerning Pinkie's ability to consume several times her own weight in cider. It would be remembered for being the only Hearts and Hooves Day in all of Equestrian history where something as close to a murder attempt happened.

The next day was a beautiful, sunny morning. The birds sang songs of love and there was not a single stormy cloud in the sky. The ponies were out, doing their daily business. The children were in school again, while several ponies shared teary goodbyes to each other at the train station.

Whatever happened that night, Twilight was not aware of. In fact, she was actually in her bed at the moment, still unconscious. There were a few dimly lit candles and the only other light was Celestia's sun pouring in through the slightly opened curtains.

The sick unicorn felt a sudden feeling of nausea that woke her up. Her senses were still dull; everything looked blurry and she wasn't even sure she was under a blanket.

Her brain took a moment before realizing that she was in a bedroom. A sudden flow of questions entered her mind. Was it hers? Or was she sitting in Pinkie Pie's bed? And that glare... was that the sun? How long had she been sleeping?

To get a better idea of where she was, she stirred what little bit of her body she could move. Apparently, whatever poison that was appeared to be more effective when it came to paralysis than most poisons, considering her little amount of motor control.

That's just great, she thought bitterly. How am I supposed to find out where I am?

"Ah, you're awake." A masculine voice said.

Twilight froze. Whoever just spoke to her must have been alone, judging by lack of other voices. She knew the voice was deep enough to belong to a stallion (or "Flutterguy"), though it didn't sound like anypony she had met before. Then again, her hearing was pretty off too, so it could've been anypony.

The first pony to come to mind was Comet Tail. She tried to speak, but no words came out. Instead, a sound remarkably similar to a dying animal came out instead.

"I'm really glad you're okay." The voice said again. "You wouldn't believe how worried I was. Considering all that poison that was in the cider, you are a very lucky mare."

She tried to vocalize her thoughts on his statement, but again, the dying animal was heard. She felt quite embarrassed to be in such a vulnerable position and only making weird sounds.

"I'll take it that you can't talk," the stranger said. "Hold on a second,"

Twilight's blurry vision of the ceiling was brought to her left, where the stranger was standing. She couldn't even tell what color he was. Everything was black and white.

"Can you move your head?" He asked.

Just who is this pony? She thought. The voice is too deep to belong to a mare. It can't be Big Macintosh; this guy doesn't seem to have an accent. Probably not Caramel either, and Soarin' was supposed to leave after the party...

Luckily, her paralysis did not get to her neck. She nodded lamely.

"Good," the stranger replied, relieved. "I know you probably might want to know who I am, but that is neither of our concerns. I just want to make sure you're alright."

Won't tell me his name? Okay, definetly not Comet Tail or Pokey. They'd tell me who they were...

Twilight nodded again. While she was still bedridden, she knew she would be safe at... whereever she was.

Gotta find out where the heck I am. She told herself.

She tried lifting one of her front legs. With some effort, it rose. Smiling inwardly to herself, she pointed her hoof at every direction she could.

The stallion followed her hoof before saying, "You're at the Ponyville Library. Your friends said you lived here."

Phew, she thought. That sure is a relief. But I still don't know who mister mystery is.

"Well," the stallion said. "I guess I should explain why I'm here."

The guy won't tell me his name but he'll tell me how he got here? Twilight thought.

"That party last night..." He began "Someone spiked the cider... Actually, it was your date's mug of cider. From what I can tell, you probably grabbed his by accident. Anyways, it was only a small dose, but that poison was extremely potent.

"It's a rare, illegal potion called 'Interius Ardens.' You may still have to be in bed for a few days, but you have had a very quick recovery. You must have probably been through a lot worse than some poison."

Twilight was shocked. Who would want to poison Comet Tail? Okay, Goldengrape did seem like a jerk, but it's not like he would go and try to flat out kill somepony. She spoke again, this time managing to croak out, "Who... poisoned...?"

"That, I have no idea. Comet Tail is actually looking into that as we speak." The stallion replied. "You seem to be getting better already. Once the dragon comes back, I'll take my leave." He seemed sad by the way he said that last part.

Twilight tried her best to speak again. She wanted some answers, and now. "How... did I get ... here?"

"Actually, I carried you back to your home." The stallion replied sheepishly. "And since you weren't awake by the time I got you into bed... Well, I stook around and waited until you woke up... I do have to admit... you looked very peaceful when you were asleep.'

Twilight was getting tired of this stallion's tricks. She tried to think of every stallion she'd met in her life. Her brother was all the way in Canterlot, Goldengrape was nowhere near this nice, and there were many, many doubts about this being Braeburn.

"I want," she coughed. "to know... who... you are..."

The stallion gulped. "I... I really can't answer that."

Twilight's pained face became cross. "Why?" She choked out. "Are you... hiding something?"

"Yes, and no." The voice's owner replied. "The thing is that if I were to tell you my name, I wouldn't know where else to go or what else to do."

She was getting increasingly more frustrated with this stallion's game. Just tell me your name already!

"And..." cough. "how... is that?"

"I told you, I can't tell you my name!"

Twilight's patience was boiling down. "And why not?!" She angrily shouted, hurting her throat in the process.

The stallion went silent. Twilight thought that she might have gotten him upset enough for him to stop talking. Finally, he spoke.

"Because I like you."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Yes, I really do. Ever since you first came to Ponyville, I've been admiring you from afar. I felt that I could never be good enough for you."

Twilight's anger vanished and was replaced with inquirey. "But why?"

"Well, it started back when you had just moved in to Ponyville. I thought I could say hi at the party Pinkie threw at your house and get to know you, but you disappeared. I thought you were at the Summer Sun Celebration, and you were. I was going to greet you again, but then Nightmare Moon showed up and you vanished again.

"It was only until after Nightmare Moon I heard about you. You... you were a hero, an amazing, talented, beautiful mare... I was just a nopony... I felt that I could never come up to you and reveal how I felt."

He sighed deeply. "It went on for a whole year. I'd just go with the crowd and pine after you from afar, wishing I had the courage to go and ask you out.

"Just when I thought that maybe, just maybe, things could work out, Discord broke free and attacked. When you and your friends beat him too, I felt that I could never, not in a million years, ever have a chance with you. I couldn't think straight, I was always sad, and I just didn't have the ambition to go and find somepony else. I was really in love with you.

"But then a golden opportunity showed up. You were poisoned and needed help. I volunteered to bring you home and take care of you until you felt better. I thought that if I could save you, I'd have at a chance with you..."

He made a sad, short laugh and sniffled. "I-I'm just being stupid. I never had a chance... Besides, you are going out with Comet Tail..."

Before Twilight could speak up, the sounds of footsteps was heard coming up the stairs.

"Must b-be Spike... I... I gotta go." The stallion said sadly. Had her vision not been blurred, she would've seen a few tears strolling down his face. "And... and..."

She didn't expect the sudden feeling of a pair lips on hers, nor did she expect it to be so... strained; as if he were waiting just to do this and feeling forced back.

The kiss ended almost the second it began. She could hear him whisper, "I'm sorry," before the sound of the clip-clop of hooves against the wooden floors began then started to fade.

Twilight didn't know what to feel. She had managed to get a date, nearly die, and break the heart of somepony all in a span of a few hours. It was too much to take for the girl. Was she supposed to be happy that she survived a fatal poisoning or feel guilty for unintentionally crushing a stallion's heart?

"Twilight! Are you feeling better?" Spike's voice said, interrupting her thoughts.

Twilight recognized a short, purple blur coming into her view. She nodded.

"Just let me rest. I'm still feeling kinda sick." She insisted. She was glad her voice was returning, no longer sounding like something that would make Fluttershy faint.

"Are you sure?" Spike asked. "I mean, if you need anything,"

"I'll be okay Spike," Twilight replied. "I promise. A lot has happened and I'm still really tired."

Spike nodded. "Whatever you want, Twilight."

As Spike left, the unicorn shifted under the covers and closed her eyes. Right now, she was feeling exhausted, sick, sad, and tired. Twilight just wanted to let go of it all and have herself a nice dream.

I'll figure this out later. She told herself. I'm tired.

She still had things to do. She still had to figure out who had the nerve to try and poison Comet Tail, as well as try to find the stallion she had met and settle things out.

But no matter what had happened, Twilight silently agreed with herself that this was by far the most interesting day she had ever experienced. Between the chaos of the celebration, she and her friends had managed to live through it and see another day. She was a little distraught by the fact the holiday had gone so terribly chaotic, but it was okay.

Besides, she still had a letter to write...

Comments

[Path_of_cloud]

Bad day for Twi and somepony else. Upside Pinkie apparently shattered a few drinking records and Spike got his date with Rarity.

Am I the only one who find it funny that Spike and Rarity, the strangest couple (also my favorite ever), were the only ones who had the normal "will you go out with me" moment. Everyone else's included some crazy happenings, although I guess you could count Secret of my Excess as their crazy happening.

.

[LandUnderWave]

You will eventually reveal who has a crush on Twilight, right? Right?? You gotta, it's already driving me crazy!

[Ex-Ed]

732404

Maaaaayyybeeee....

[LandUnderWave]

732674 Gimme a hint! Named pony or background pony?

[paxtofettel]

Bet you five bits it's Whooves.

[Dashie McCourty]

I feel REALLY sorry for the guy who has a crush on Twilight...

[CaptainAwesome]

734095 I hope it's the Doctor. He is epic. He also has a Timey Wimey detector.

[Jaohni]

My bits are on doctor whooves. That said, I don't think that the doctor has a deep-pitched voice, and plus, he has an accent, and we didn't notice any words that are English (English english) specific, so I doubt it's him, on the other hand...

"That party last night..." He began "Someone spiked the cider... Actually, it was your date's mug of cider. From what I can tell, you probably grabbed his by accident. Anyways, it was only a small dose, but that poison was extremely potent.

So it could be a human-turned-pony, so yeah, that does support it being the good doctor... I don't know, did anyone notice any weird stallions in episode one of the show? On a side note, this was a VERY in-depth look at what few context clues there are, and most of it is conspiracy theorizing...

[FirstToStrike]

Poor dude...

[Razvan563]

We need more, please sir doo more.

[zshunter]

Time for a crazy guess! Blueblood or Male Trixe

[Red Fox14]

Glad I found this awesome story here. Still wondering who Twi's secret admirer is.

[ScarletMarineCorps]

Let me guess, TwilightxComet.

[ScarletMarineCorps]

NEXT CHAPTER!!! NOW!!

[Ex-Ed]

2203852

EEK! Don't hurt me!

But in all seriousness, writing for the next chapter has begun a few weeks ago, but since I am literally working on 5 stories at the moment (two are not MLP related) as well as having a load of trouble with school, plus getting over some tougher times as of the late have kept me preoccupied. Still, I'm trying. It might take a while, but it will be released! Pinkie Pie Swear!

[StarBot]

Mebey just mebey it.... Comet
WAIT WAIT!!!!!
Proof that its Comet...
Comet has accent too...
Wait you did not know that...then
CRY SOME MORE!!!!

[Wurd]

WHY YOU NO UPDATE?!

[MajesticPoniesEverywhere]

I looked at the description and saw Pinkie x Pokey....

Before I looked at when you uploaded it, I was ready to fucking slap you.

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT PINKIE AND CHEESE SANDWICH ARE SOUL MATES!!!!!!!! But I forgive you.

[Luigiten1]

I think I can officially say this fic is ded