Afterparty

by FlutteringLillies

Chapter 1: Rainbow

Rainbow Dash could only feel her head throbbing. Slowly the rest of her sluggish, heavy body filtered into consciousness. Her legs and feet came into focus next. They ached too and she vaguely remembered her moves on Pinkie's living room turned dance floor. Heh. She'd torn it up, even drunk. It seemed she was finally paying for all that awesomeness now. She gripped her pounding head and managed to croak out a single, groaning syllable. “Ughhh…”

After a solid half minute, Rainbow pulled her hands from her head. Something briefly kept her hand and hair together, something sticky, then it broke apart. Rainbow examined the substance on the tips of her fingers. She guessed it was alcohol or maybe soda. A little bit gross but not alarming. She’d just wash up in the bathroom. When she actually managed to get up.

Rainbow Dash didn’t rush for once, she simply lay there and let her mind slowly sort through the sensations the rest of her body was sending. Her limbs and chest brushed freely against the sheets and blankets atop her. She registered for the briefest moments that she was naked, then forgot about it. She usually slept naked. Though if more than just her friends were in the house, she'd probably need to get dressed before leaving… whatever room this was. Getting up was first priority though.

She’d only squinted through her blurry eyes thus far and when she tried to open them more, a hissing came unbidden from the back of her throat. Her hand shot up, blocking out the small knives of light stabbing through the blinds. She didn't really get much of an idea of what was around her as she covered her eyes with one hand and held her head with the other.

"Fuck." She said softly as the pounding in her head eased just the slightest bit. Still, that barely helped and her entire body worked together, rebelling and making it clear she should never do whatever she did last night again. Well, she could remember the drinking, but not much else. "I think this might be my worst hangover like... ever."

She started to reach forward, feel her way out of the bed and onto her feet. She hurt like hell, but knew that the best way to deal with this was water and maybe some food if she could keep that down. Plus, clothes. She needed clothes. She had to keep some decency at least.

As she started shifting off the bed, she heard something to her right. A rustling, then a groan. Feminine but low. Then a swear. From a voice she recognized.

Her first thought was that she'd hooked up last night. Which. Nice. Her second sluggish thought as she started turning around to look at the other girl in the bed was 'Oh. Shit. I hooked up with one of my friends.'

She recognized the red hair and blonde streaks immediately, and when Sunset Shimmer poked her head up from under the covers, Rainbow Dash's eyes got wide and her slow, lazy pulse caught up to her rapidly spinning brain.

Sunset seemed to go through a similar process as her, opening her eyes, covering her eyes, swearing, but her hangover wake up process was interrupted by Dash's voice. "Yo."

Sunset didn't startle. She was much too out of it for that. She simply turned, propping herself up slowly with an elbow. The blanket slipped down her shoulder, exposing one of her breasts. Dash tried not to think about that, or look. Sunset's confused, then concerned expression gave her plenty to stare at. "Dash?" She said. Then. "Dash." Then. "Oh. Sh-shit. Dash."

Sunset's eyes were wide, then squinting as more light pierced them. "Did... did we?" She said as she brought a hand up to her eyes again.

Dash sat up completely. Her head and stomach protested in equal measure. "I... I don't know," she said. Which was technically true. She remembered dancing with Sunset. Grinding against her maybe? Not much else. She remembered the stickiness on her hand. Whatever the fluid was, it was clear. Her eyes wandered over to Sunset, then down to her crotch, covered by blankets. "I mean-"

The door burst open with a loud sing song, "Helllooooo~"

Sunset and Dash both cringed and covered their ears. Pinkie was at the door, mixing a bowl of something in her hands. "If you aren’t—“ She stopped, looking between Dash and Sunset.

"Oh! There you are! I was wondering where you two ended up after you started making out on the couch last night." Pinkie started stirring the bowl in her arms again. "We have water, coffee, and milk downstairs, and pancakes should be ready soon. Take your time though. I know you both went pretty hard last night." She grabbed the door and started to close it, then popped her head back in.

"Oh! And wash the sheets please! Thaaaat is my parents bed. And like. I get that sometimes you just gotta fuck, but you both were pretty loud so I'm kinda just assuming you made a mess. And uh... don't exactly wanna explain sticky sheets to my parents, y'know?" Pinkie made a face, nose and eyes scrunching closer together. Then she finally stepped out, door closing behind her.

The confirmation didn't jog Rainbow Dash's memory much. She did remember something warm against her mouth, a tongue against her own, but that was it.

Sunset didn't seem much clearer on things either, looking between Dash and the door, baffled and speechless. Their eyes met when Sunset looked her way again, and as soon as they did Dash’s gaze flashed back to the floor. The world spun a little bit as she did, and as nausea rose she could feel heat doing the same, pooling in her cheeks. Questions about where this left her relationship with Sunset started bubbling to the forefront.

They didn't get far though. The wall of pain in her head stopped them with a chaotic, skittering crash. She put a hand to her head, another to her eyes. She was too hungover for this shit.

"Look," Rainbow said to the floor instead of Sunset, but who else could it be for? "Can we talk about… whatever the fuck that was later. I need- I need water. And food. And Tylenol."

"Sounds good." Sunset replied, her voice hoarse and low.

Dash didn't need any more response than that. She stood. Something stabbed into her skull, then flipped her stomach. Her head swam and she almost sat right back down.

Instead she swayed there for a bit, until her whole form steadied enough to support itself. She bent down and grabbed her clothes, skipping the bra. When dressed she headed for the door. Each step wasn't particularly fun, but she managed to drag herself there. She smelled cooking pancakes as she stepped into the hallway. That and... was that bacon? Her mouth watered, and her rumbling stomach carried her the rest of the way. Down the stairs and into a seat at Pinkie Pie's family dining room table.

Applejack was already there, coffee in hand and head down, hat over her eyes. She looked at Dash for a second, but didn't say anything, only waved weakly in greeting. When Sunset came down the stairs a minute or so later, Applejack looked up again, and this time her eyes darted from Sunset, to Rainbow, and back. Still, she said nothing, and only waved to Sunset as well.

They heard Pinkie in the kitchen say something. Someone responded but Rainbow didn't catch their voice. She only knew someone else spoke because Pinkie responded a moment later.

After that there were some steps, a twisted door handle, and Fluttershy walked into the room, looking tired, but not in horrible aching pain. "Hi girls..." She said softly, which to Dash was a feat all its own. Her head hurt too much to say anything right now.

True to that fact, no one at the table responded to the greeting with words, just waves and in Sunset's case, a slight groan. Fluttershy didn't seem to mind. She just sat down and waited like the rest of them.

Pinkie came in next, two plates piled high with food in her hands. One was stacked with fluffy warm pancakes and the other was a pile of crispy, still sizzling bacon. The table was already set, including syrup and butter, so Dash started reaching for food, not really thinking about manners until Fluttershy thanked Pinkie and the other two girls followed her example.

In lieu of a thank you, Rainbow Dash spoke as she shoved a piece of bacon into her mouth. "Pinkie Pie. You're a goddess."

That seemed to be an appropriate substitute because Pinkie smiled and held up a hand in front of her like it was a notebook. "Something to drink, ladies?"

"Coffee." Sunset said.

"Just water." Fluttershy said as she spread butter on a pancake.

"Water." Dash said. Then she swallowed her bacon and added. "And Tylenol." Then after she grabbed more bacon, but before she could shove it in her mouth. "Please."

Sunset and AJ seconded that request and Pinkie made another note directly into her pink hand. "Alright. Comin' right up!" Her voice was too loud for Dash's headache, but she'd cooked them breakfast and delivered it to them, so Dash wasn't about to complain.

"Oh!" Pinkie snapped back around right before she walked through the kitchen doorway again. "Shy and Sunny I've got veggie sausage patties too. Those will be out soon."

Fluttershy and Sunset thanked her, and she really went to go get drinks this time.

There was only chewing for a while, but halfway through her pancake, Fluttershy asked to the table. "Where are Rarity and Twilight?”

"Rares is in the bathroom. Has been since she woke up twenty or so minutes ago. She came out here, saw me, and immediately walked down the hall and locked herself in there. She did look a right mess, but I don't know why she thinks me or Pinkie would care. Twilight, I don't know." Applejack said it all to her plate, but with food in their stomachs they could probably manage small talk if not eye contact.

Fluttershy looked over at Sunset, then Rainbow. "Have either of you seen her?"

They both responded negative and Dash watched as Fluttershy frowned.

"She's a big girl, Shy. If this were her first Pinkie party I'd be more concerned, but she's been hanging with us for almost a year now and she's like you, not that big into alcohol." Dash assured her.

Fluttershy nodded, but still looked mildly concerned.

They went back to silent eating for a couple minutes, until Rarity and Pinkie stepped into the room at the same time. Pinkie was carrying several glasses of ice water, a bottle of Tylenol, and a mug of what was presumably coffee. Rarity's hair was a little frizzy, but other than that she looked completely put together, eyeliner winged, blemishes concealed, even a light coating of lip gloss. She betrayed herself when she opened her mouth though. For one her voice cracked weirdly, for two she said, "Oh thank fuck. Painkillers. Hand them here darling." She reached out a hand. There were mild grumbles from the table, and Rarity raised an eyebrow as she picked out a water glass at random, grabbed two pills, and gulped them down.

"We asked for em first, sugarcube." AJ mumbled as Pinkie passed out the rest of the drinks.

Dash took hers gratefully, washing down pancake with several greedy gulps. She left just enough to still take the Tylenol. Rarity sat down as Dash drank, handing over the pills to AJ with an apologetic smile. "Oops."

Applejack, for her credit, didn't say anything else. She just took two pills and passed them to Fluttershy, who took one and passed them to Dash, who took two and passed them to Sunset. Once the bottle had been passed around completely Pinkie looked to Rarity. "Coffee?"

"Pinkie Pie. My savior. My triumph. My goddess. Please."

Pinkie giggled and bustled off again. Rarity's grateful smile turned into a slightly puzzled frown as Pinkie disappeared. "How. Is she so chipper? She was drinking just as much as I was last night."

Dash shrugged. To her there was no explaining the mystery that was Pinkie Pie.

"She drank more water than you too." Fluttershy supplied.

"Still." Rarity narrowed her eyes. Then shrugged and seemed to let it go, grabbing for food.

"Um..." Fluttershy looked at Rarity as she pulled several pieces of bacon and two pancakes onto her plate. "Have you seen Twilight?"

"On Maud's bed. Likely still asleep. Or she was when I woke up at least. Not sure how she managed to stay asleep through Pinkie Pie's wake up call, but she looked peaceful and she is still breathing, so..."

They all looked at Rarity, and Applejack was the first one to speak. "Did you..."

"What?"

"Y'know..." Applejack waved her hands vaguely, but apparently that and her embarrassed tone was enough.

Rarity gaped at her and stopped dripping syrup on her food. "Applejack!" She said, incredulous. The word was almost a surprised, offended scoff.

"Well. You weren't very specific. I think it was a legit question." Rainbow Dash offered from her side of the table.She kept her eyes squarely on Rarity, then slid them down to her food as soon as she was done speaking. Looking, talking at Rarity was safe. Sunset had happened to sit furthest from her after all.

Rarity turned on her, indignation still clear on her face. "We slept in the same bed. Because that was the easiest way to do things. Thank you very much." Her face calmed and she turned back to her food. Then, she smirked and kept going.

"Just because you had your tongue down Sunset's throat halfway through the party doesn't mean we all suddenly went feral and jumped our friends."

Sunset spluttered on her coffee, spitting it back out into the mug and coughing. Applejack patted her back roughly as she coughed and a moment later she was back to deep, steadying breaths.

Rainbow half choked too, gripping the table and swallowing once, twice, thrice to get a bite of bacon she hadn’t chewed properly down her throat.

"What?" Rarity asked as she picked up a fork and knife and started cutting into her food. "You weren't complaining, darlings. Oh you definitely weren't complaining."

Fluttershy's face was bright red, Applejack was hiding behind her hat again, really only Rarity seemed nonplussed about the whole thing. She just sat there, calmly eating. As she chewed, her expression changed from satisfied to curious and her eyes went from Rainbow Dash to Sunset, then back again. Rainbow sat stock still, and she felt very much like the deer she’d almost hit with her van last year. Rarity swallowed, and a sly, dangerous smile spread across her face.

"Now, hold on. I lost track of you two after a while. I thought I heard something upstairs but..." When everyone at the table shifted uncomfortably. Her smile turned delighted. "Well then. My my you two."

"Can we talk about literally anything else?" Sunset said into her food. Her face was mostly hidden by hair.

"When shall I expect an invite to the wedding?" Rarity asked as she took another dainty bite.

"Rarity!" Rainbow and Sunset barked her name in unison.

She giggled around her bite. Then swallowed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I just think it's cute is all. I was kind of thinking it might take alcohol for everything to come out and for you two to start dating but-"

"We aren't dating." Sunset snapped.

Rainbow felt a little tug at her chest, but she still nodded along all the same. "We haven't even. Like. Talked about anything. Not dating though."

Rarity looked between the two of them. "You... but you said." She pointed at Sunset. Then at Rainbow, "And you... I thought." She looked summarily confused at this point. "And then... if you. Upstairs." She pointed above herself with both fingers.

"Rares. I barely remember last night. Like I remember the park, then getting back, dancing, then... some blurry stuff. And that's it." Rainbow shrugged.

Sunset chimed in. "Yep. I'm in the same boat. We... probably drank too much last night."

"We definitely drank too much last night." Rainbow corrected.

Rarity frowned. "Oh. Oh my. Then..."

At that moment Twilight walked in, bleary eyed and stumbling. "Food..." She mumbled like a zombie.

"Over here Twi Twi." Pinkie had stepped back in, with more coffee and water along with a small plate all resting on a waiter's tray. She was tapping on one of the chairs. Twilight wobbled over to it, and sat. Pinkie immediately set coffee and water in front of her. Twilight grabbed for the water without looking. Dash wasn't sure she'd even known what she was about to drink before she put the water to her lips, but she sucked it down regardless, draining the whole glass as Pinkie handed Rarity her coffee and set down the cooked fake meat for Sunset and Fluttershy.

She rushed back over to grab Twilight's glass, then Dash's and replaced both of them with new glasses of water. "Thanks Pinkie." Dash said, and took more greedy gulps of water. Her head was really starting to feel better at this point. "Shouldn't you eat too though?"

"I already ate silly! I nommed on pancakes and bacon and toast while I was chasing everyone but you girls out. Gave em all breakfast of course! Well okay brunch, it is almost noon now after all! Whatever. I just knew I couldn’t send them out onto the streets without a patented Pinkie-Pie-hangover-recovery-meal. I even had bottles of water." She reached into her hair and pulled one out, smiling broadly.

"That's mighty considerate of you Pinkie." AJ tipped her hat.

"Oh! Nah that's not too big a deal! When it comes to parties this big you gotta plan everything or else somebody might leave unhappy and that's no good!” Her bright smile waned a little, turning trepidatious. “Speaking of unhappy, you girls will help me clean this place up, right? My parents knew I was doing a big senior skip day thing today but uh... if things aren't all nice and neat when they get home… well okay, they'd understand but they're gonna be tired after traveling to Fillydelphia for the conference and I don't wanna burden them more by making them pick up cups and do laundry and-"

"Pinkie!" Dash cut in. Her voice eased as she said. "Course we'll help. Or at least I'm in."

The girls around the table followed suit in agreeing to help clean, though most of them specified they wanted to finish their food first. Pinkie was fine with that, and only made one last trip to the kitchen for a pitcher of water this time, before she too sat down at the table. No food in front of her, but clearly happy to be sitting down and eager to chat with her friends.

"Sooooo... how was last night?" Pinkie was looking from Rainbow to Sunset, but Twilight, still buried in her food, didn't notice. She gulped down a huge bite and replied.

"Super fun as always Pinkie! I think... we should maybe cool it for graduation though? Flash threw up in the backyard and I thought I heard someone... oh! Nothing's broken upstairs right?"

Sunset Shimmer groaned and pressed her palms into her face. Dash echoed her, and said with a sigh. "We weren't that loud right?"

"Uh. Sorry Dash, but, ya kinda woke me up actually? I was in the room across the hall. Marble's?" Applejack stopped to turn to Pinkie, who nodded.

"And uh. I don't. Some of it I don't exactly remember but... I heard way more than I ever wanted to."

Sunset groaned again, and Twilight finally caught on to exactly what was being talked about. Her face went from purple to red. "I... that was. You two?” A beat, then. “Did you break something?"

"No!" Dash and Sunset responded in unison.

Twilight shrunk back and though they were both flustered and frustrated, they apologized anyway.

"It's alright I just. I didn't realize. I mean. You were..."

Annoyance flared back into Sunset's face. "We get it. Loud."

Twilight drummed her fingers along the table. "I was going to say I didn't realize the two of you were… a thing." Twilight's face was still glowing red and she seemed very preoccupied with the way her fingers were tapping the table.

"We aren't, a ‘thing.’" Rainbow corrected this time. Her voice was quiet but sharp. She was just glad that they were all at the table now and neither of them would have to set the record straight again.

"But..." Twilight looked between the two of them. Then realization crossed her face, followed very closely by a slight wince. "Right."

"Right." Sunset said matter of factly as she stood, plate clattering as she took it with her. Rainbow's eyes flicked to hers, but when their gazes connected they went right back down to the swirling patterns in the wood.

For several seconds the only sound was Sunset walking across the floor, her boots on wood, and then the door squeaking open. Quiet reigned for several more seconds. Until AJ, closest to Rainbow, asked. "Are... y'all gonna be alright RD?"

"It'll be fine." She grumbled into the table.

"Have you two... talked about it?" Twilight asked now.

"We agreed to wait until after the hangovers cleared some. Not really a fun conversation to have when your head is pounding like a jackhammer."

"Ah." Twilight said softly.

A beat, then two. "Maybe... now would be a good time darling?" Rarity suggested. "We can wait in here while you... hash things out?"

Rainbow groaned, then picked her head up and nodded. She moved to stand, but as she did, an engine revved outside. They all recognized the rumbling sound of Sunset's motorcycle, and Rainbow could only stare, opened-mouthed, as it faded into silence.

"Or... not." Rarity said with a frown.

Author's Note:

Welcome to my first real story on this site. I threw together Longing pretty quickly but it's not particularly polished because of that. This is my first attempt at something much more put together and cohesive. I hope you enjoy!

Comments

[Stahlseele]

Go on . .

[xbox432]

Hmm, yeah, this was a well done and pretty realistic take on a "morning after". I think you got all the characters personalities down, and the conversations felt fluid. Or, well, as fluid as you could reasonably expect hungover teenagers' conversations to be.

I'm curious to see what the next chapter will bring. Will we be staying with Dash's PoV, or moving over to Sunset? And just when will they have their talk? Hopefully they don't procrastinate on it.

[Reba_McIntosh]

Enjoying this so far. Can't wait to see where you go with it!

[zachary12]

nice work

[Cojo5536]

Finally, a new SunDash story.