Viva la Vodka

by Liquid Truth

Veni Vidi Vodka

The librarian of Golden Oaks Library stretched her hooves and yawned. She took a stamp from under the desk and stamped the book’s card and marked it returned. She gave the member card that was laying about some filing cabinet and gave it to the pony standing on the opposite side of the desk. “Thank you for returning your books on time, Cheerilee.”

Cheerilee gave her a smile. “Thank you, Twilight.” She pocketed her member card and asked, “Do you have plans for tonight?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not much into celebrations.” The teacher nodded and left, and Twilight waved her hooves while saying, “Enjoy your new year’s eve!”

As the library’s doors closed, the librarian cheered. That was the last of the patron of the day, and now she can celebrate the new year any way she wanted. She could go on a dinner, or maybe just lay about and sleep, or throw in some fireworks!

But no, she had plans. New year meant booze discount, and so the day before she had swept five bottles of 100-proofs. New year, new me, and so Twilight decided that she’d push her alcohol tolerance to the roof so next year she could drink more without getting wasted.

The doors of the library locked and secured, Twilight went to the balcony and readied her stock. She looked up at the many ponies walking about happily and merrily and ready for a new year, and she smiled, because she was also ready for a new year!

The sunset came soon after and darkness came. It was her cue, and she took a bottle and cracked it open and chugged and chugged and chugged. It was her strategy to cram as much alcohol into her system as possible before her blood noticed it and deny any more entrance to her stomach. How much could she possibly drink? A lot, probably, and she chugged and chugged and chugged.

The moon rose and maybe it was not the moon. Twilight grabbed another bottle and found that it was already empty. She turned it upside down and drank the last of the trickle anyway. She slithered on the floor to reach what she saw was a bottle, and she tried to grab it, and she failed and she giggled and she tried again to reach into something, something, she couldn’t remember what she was trying to take. Her vision was fading and her heartbeat slowed, and she smiled and she laid down and she fell asleep, down to slumber and into the realm of dreams and madness and happiness. Nopony would remember her anyway, she had no fear of somepony barging in and stopping her from drinking more.

One pony did remember, though, and as the fireworks went boom her magenta eyes went pinprick. Four other ponies glanced and only saw the last of the rainbow trail she left behind, along with her glass of drink still suspended in mid-air before dropping. They shrugged and thought that Rainbow would come back anyway, probably for something ridiculous.

But Rainbow didn’t come back. She shot straight into the balcony of the living library and found an unconscious lavender horse among a pool of sticky clear liquid. Her heart still beating hard and her breath still labored, she took Twilight’s hoof and felt for any pulse. She let out a breath she didn’t know was holding as she found it, albeit irregularly.

Rainbow slapped the unconscious Twilight. No response. She checked her breathing and found that it was almost unnoticeable. And it was slowing down. Her pulse began to fade.

Rainbow took her on her back and dashed to the hospital.

---

The night had died.

Twilight woke up slowly, first starting to dream, then starting to form things and stuff with her mind. She slowly felt her hooves, and they hurt. She felt her chest, it’s burning. She felt her stomach, there was a civil war there. She felt her eyes, they were stinging even though she hadn’t opened them yet.

Everything hurt. But there was also another feeling on her back, and that was soft. Her mind slowly formed the conclusion that she wasn’t on her own bed, with how soft and clean it was there. But there was also the smell of cheap vodka, so she was probably at her bed but she didn’t notice how soft her bed actually was.

Another thing she felt after a while was something on her hoof. It was sticking and slithering about like a leech. She took her other hoof and tried to pull it away, and nearly jumped as another hoof kept it in place.

Her eyes shot opened and she regretted it. She immediately shut it back at the glare of the ceiling light. She tried to ask who that was, but all that came out was a helpless groan.

“What were you thinking, Twi?”

That voice. A voice she hadn’t heard for a long time, the last voice she’d expect to ever come back. She tried to speak her name, but she could only mumble and groan.

Her brain came back. She knew her brain came back because now she could feel again. She could feel the bedsheet around her wasn’t her own, and she found that she was in a hospital. She felt the smell of antiseptic all around her, not cheap vodka, they were merely identical. She felt the IV tube on her hoof, not some annoying leech. She felt Rainbow’s grip on her hoof keeping the needle from snapping inside her. She felt like dying, and she knew she felt that way because a few hours before she really had been dying. She felt like crying, and she cried. She once more felt Rainbow’s wing draping over her and once more she felt invulnerable from the rest of the world, but most importantly, she knew that she was now invulnerable from herself.

They spoke many things, those damned wings. They told her once that Rainbow would be there when she’s drunk, and she did. They told her that the world would not defeat her, because she had a friend, and she won against the oppression of the careless universe. They told her that she wouldn’t hurt anypony, and they protected Spike.

And now they told her that she’ll never hurt herself anymore because they’ll protect her from herself. And Twilight knew that it was true.

Among her crying and sobbing, she managed to let out a single laugh. The Element of Loyalty, of course. She curled herself inside the wing and continued crying.