Waking Up
How much did I drink last night?
That was the first thought that came to Posada’s mind. The second was that she was evidently not in her bed, and the third was that she would really like something to drink, particularly if it alleviated the artillery bombardment of a headache she was having even just ever so slightly.
The sky danced; blurgh. She did not need this at all. And whatever was that soft thing pressed into her side-
‘’Finally awake, eh?’’
She recognised that voice. That was…
‘’Wallnut?’’
Posada shot up and saw many things. One: she was in a bed with three others. Two: Wallnut was one of those three others, casually lounging against the wall on the other side. Three: the other two people in the bed were a pink-ish mare she’d seen on Wallnut’s side last night, and-
Skystar!
‘’Keep your voice while they’re asleep,’’ the thestral advised in a lazy tone. ‘’Try and recollect your memories. All I know is that I drank a whole lot last night.’’
Posada had a feeling she’d done much the same; but she hadn’t had that much to drink, right? Right?
‘’You drank a ton too.’’ Was he reading her thoughts. ‘’Stars, I’ve never seen a Seapony drink that much in one night, and I’ve seen a lot of Seaponies in my time. I didn’t know you were that happy with Colthage’s defeat.’’
Posada, at least, could comment on that. ‘’It was deserved.’’
‘’True,’’ Wallnut agreed. ‘’We blew them right up. Fuckers’ll be sorry now. They’re not gonna mess with us anytime soon, I’ll tell you what.’’
‘’Please stop talking,’’ she requested in a low voice.
‘’It helps clear the booze,’’ Wallnut countered easily, too easily. He’d, unlike her, clearly done this before.
‘’I appreciate the initiative,’’ Posada retorted, ‘’but not now.’’
‘’Fine, fine.’’
At that moment, the mare stirred. ‘’Urgh,’’ she groaned. ‘’What day is it?’’
Wallnut bent down and pressed a soft kiss to the mare’s cheek. ‘’It’s the morning after, Rose.’’
‘’Urgh,’’ the mare repeated, before moving her head up to return a kiss to Wallnut’s cheek, which made him blush ever so slightly. ‘’I’m never drinking with you again.’’
‘’You said that the last three times,’’ Wallnut pointed out.
‘’Mhm.’’
‘’We’re not alone, by the way.’’ Wallnut jerked his head at Posada, who waved awkwardly at the mare as she turned her head.
‘’Ah. Well, leastways I wasn’t alone with you.’’
‘’That’s hurtful.’’
By now, the booze had cleared enough that Posada managed to be able to recall the name of the mare. ‘’Good morning,’’ she offered to the Pony who she was reasonably certain was called Rose Rain.
‘’Morning,’’ Rose yawned back. ‘’Whose this between us?’’
‘’Commodore Skystar, I believe,’’ Wallnut answered before Posada could embarrass herself by failing to do. ‘’Truth be told I cannot remember how the two of them got into our bed, but…’’
‘’Oh, let them be, Wallnut,’’ Rose chastised as she flipped herself around, before snuggling up against Wallnut’s side and resting her head just under his. ‘’Either we invited them or vice versa, what does it matter? We’re not going to have foals with them anyway.’’
‘’True,’’ Wallnut chuckled.
‘’Foals?’’ Posada repeated before she could help herself.
‘’Not yet, I don’t think.’’
‘’Yeah, bit too early for that. Say, when is she waking up?’’
I have no idea what is happening anymore.
At that moment, Skystar cracked an eye open. Then the other too, and she then stretched and yawned. ‘’Good… morning?’’
‘’Good morning,’’ Wallnut and Rose said at the same time.
Skystar turned to look at them. ‘’How did you get here?’’
‘’Well, I can barely remember last night,’’ Wallnut replied, ‘’but I think either you joined us or we joined you. Either way, we probably had a fun time, though I remember jack of it.’’
‘’Same,’’ Rose added, before nuzzling Wallnut’s neck.
Clearly unsatisfied with that answer, Skystar instead turned to Posada. Because of course she did. ‘’Good morning, Posada,’’ she said. ‘’Do you know how I ended up here?’’
Posada had been trying to remember ever since she’d been awake, but the memories just wouldn’t come back to her no matter how hard she tried. So she shook her head. ‘’I don’t, sorry.’’
‘’That’s alright,’’ Skystar said cheerfully, ‘’because I do.’’
Posada almost had a heart attack then and there.
‘’Y-you do?’’
‘’Yeah, 100%,’’ Skystar said as if that was no big deal at all. ‘’Since you don’t, do you want me to tell it to you?’’
‘’Uhh…’’
‘’Okay! So, we were getting into our drinks of course, and then you decided you wanted to show me something, and then it all gets a bit blurry but I think we ended up just sort of sitting on this bed and talking about things? And then Wallnut and uhhh…’’
‘’Rose.’’
‘’Right yeah, and Rose joined us and then I think we just sort of fell away into sleep from the alcohol while you two were uhhh…’’ And here Skystar stopped to glance at Wallnut and Rose, who were also clearly interested in the story.
‘’Having fun,’’ Wallnut supplied with a wink.
‘’Behave, you.’’
‘’Right, having fun! And then we just slept I think, and now we’re awake!’’ Skystar smiled brightly. ‘’That’s it!’’
Posada took a moment. Thought long and hard. Calculated the odds. Filed through her mental cabinet of questions she could ask. ‘’What did we talk about?’’
‘’Oh, lots of things!’’ Skystar replied. ‘’The war and communism and the navy and North Zebrica and Aris and probably some other things I’ve completely forgotten about!’’
Posada suppressed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t said anything embarrassing, or Skystar hadn’t remembered it. She didn’t remember it either, so hopefully nothing had actually happened, and they could get past this embarrassing episode right and quick.
‘’Oh, one more thing!’’ Skystar suddenly said. ‘’You did do something I initially forgot about!’’
‘’And what-’’
Skystar pressed a very quick and sloppy beak-kiss to her cheek. ‘’I thought that was really nice of you!’’
That was the last thing Posada heard before she fell unconscious from shock.