Viva la Vodka

by Liquid Truth

In Vino Vodka

The night was young and so was the broiling sense of cosmic irrelevance. Down upon an insignificant planet in an insignificant nation in an insignificant town on the balcony of an insignificant library sat one insignificant pony, staring into the uncaring universe from a device made exactly for that purpose.

There was art in watching the night sky, Twilight found, and that art was to try to keep doing what she was doing without losing motivation to do anything at all after finding out just how small she was, just how meaningless her entire world was compared to everything else the universe had to offer. It was an art perfected by so many astronomers before her, something that a lot of other ponies had gone through and survived.

But her art wasn’t good enough, she figured. The stars were so unreasonably beautiful. Why were the stars beautiful other than a result of the evolutionary system to help ponies survive? Why was she looking at the stars anyway? Why should she stop some blob of chemicals messing around with the entire world’s chemicals and turning them into chocolate milkshake? What was the point of doing anything?

Twilight was losing, and she didn’t care because there was no point in winning it anyway. Her ears drooped and so did her head on the balcony’s railing. She was tired, and that didn’t matter. She was exhausted, and that didn’t matter. She had just saved the world again, but that didn’t matter. She was no more than Celestia’s student and will never do anything remarkable, but that didn’t matter.

A gust of wind blew and Twilight stood upright. A figure landed next to her and she wiped the tears running down her cheeks.

“Twilight, you ok?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, I’m alright. What are you doing here, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash sat next to her and leaned on the railing. “You’re drooping on your balcony.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Were you spying on me?”

Rainbow pointed forward, way forward but straight, to where a floating house could be barely seen by the lit windows. “I can see you from all the way there, you know?”

Twilight squinted at Rainbow’s condo. “I doubt it. I can’t even see it clearly.”

“Pegasi.”

“...Right.” Twilight sighed and leaned on the railing again, enjoying the freezing cold of the metal she touched, greedily sucking in her body heat. She tensed as she felt a wing draped upon her, and started thinking that maybe that wasn’t just something that Rainbow usually did to everypony. She turned her head and met a pair of magenta eyes, sharper than that of the eagles yet more beautiful than the moon.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?”

Twilight shook her head. “I said it’s fine, Rainbow.”

“Was it me?” At Twilight’s sudden stare, Rainbow added, “I left you all in the maze. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking clearly then.”

“I know, Rainbow.” Twilight threw her bangs up then let it fall back down to her forehead. “It’s not your fault. I told you, I’m fine. I’m just tired and maybe about to go to bed. You should, too.”

Rainbow didn’t, but Twilight didn’t move. The night was cold and her company was more than welcome, especially with her wing having good insulation covering Twilight’s back.

Twilight’s ears perked up as she heard a soft clinking of glasses. With a glance, she found that Rainbow had brought them a bottle of something. She looked at the pegasus with a raised eyebrow.

Rainbow smiled—not that one she always wore when bragging, the one that’s warm and not usually seen in public. She took the bottle out from a hidden bag under her wing, displaying a small clear bottle of clear liquid emblazoned by blue, bold words. “I brought a drink. Want some?”

She shouldn’t start drinking, she thought, but then what’s the point? And so she shrugged and nodded. Her friend cracked open the cap and gave the entire bottle to Twilight.

Twilight took it with her hoof and eyed it curiously. Was she supposed to drink it straight from the bottle? Probably not, but she didn’t want to break the comfortable position she was already in just to find a glass, and so she took a sip.

It tasted like water but made her want to vomit. Still, she took another sip before passing it to Rainbow, who took a sip with less effort.

The night was young, but that didn’t matter. Twilight couldn’t get herself to think about anything more than how soft and warm Rainbow’s wing was and how tightly it encased her from the uncaring outside world. It made her feel safe and secure in their own little world; it made her feel protected and that nothing could ever hurt her ever again. The grip made her want to lean in, just for more of that feeling of invulnerability, but she didn’t want to make it awkward and ruin it.

Rainbow passed her the bottle again, and Twilight took a sip. Twilight gave the bottle back, and just as fast the bottle came back for another sip.

“Rainbow?”

“Hm?”

Twilight took a sip. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.” Rainbow took a sip.

“Why did you do anything you do?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“I mean,” Twilight said before stopping to take a sip, then continued, “what do you think your purpose is? Why are you here?”

Rainbow shrugged while taking a sip. “Honestly? I don’t really know.” She gave Twilight a smirk. And the bottle. “So, I just do awesome whenever.”

Twilight snorted. Then took a sip. “Really?”

“Why not?” Sip.

“Why do?” Sip.

“Why not?” Gulp.

Twilight giggled. Then chuckled. Then took a sip. Then laughed. “Why not?” And then a gulp.

Rainbow laughed as well, and they shared a moment of meaningless laughter. A good kind of meaningless laughter, the one you did when nothing else had more meaning than it. And when they stopped laughing, they laughed some more, then took more sips until the entire bottle was downed. It was a small bottle, more akin to a glass flask, but nevertheless provided her with enough mental lubricant to go oh well, what the hell and lean on her friend and laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and found that doing things because it’s cool was probably a good enough excuse for anything.

And she declared that she would do awesome stuff. She chose to do awesome stuff. She chose to do awesome stuff not because it was easy but because it was cool!

Comments

[Shu kurenai]

And she declared that she would do awesome stuff. She chose to do awesome stuff. She chose to do awesome stuff not because it was easy but because it was cool!

this part is so funny, it doesn't make any sense! XD

[Yutah123]

10292640
The Rule of Cool?

Then again the rule is “doing something not because it’s right (it isn’t) but because it’s cool”

[Lavender_Raindrops]

10292640
It's very wise. The whole intro and first half of the story Twilight is doubting herself and wondering why she does anything when it was so hard and in the end felt pointless. The fact is everything is pointless if you look at the grand scheme of things. You can't, though. You can't measure your life's pursuits/goals/whatever against the infinite. Life is about making the best of the here and now...so thanks to Rainbow's attitude (not knowing what the point of anything is so just doing awesome stuff because) she decides to do the same thing. Do awesome stuff just because.

It's the kind of self-realization that takes many people a lifetime to come to...and some people never get there.