Chapter 1

And thus the decision was made. Two bottles of vodka, one whiskey, and two rum. This'd last a day or two.

Berry Punch loaded up her saddlebags with her new alcohol and payed the shop-owner. Quickly hurrying home to take care of her supposedly 'overly protected little filly', Berry Pinch.

An alcoholic pony was a rare sight, though one that actually cared for their foal was even more so. However this thought never crossing Punch's mind, she just naturally felt an equilibrium between a mother's work and her personal 'play'.

Their home was of typical Ponyville flair, it stood tall and tan, with a pink hearted door and a balcony on the second floor. The roof was made of an unknown substance, perhaps wheat or straw. Pinchy loved collecting it when bits fell off, and placing it back on good-as-new.

Punch arrived home in time to see her daughter come back from a day at school. Pinch never liked her class. They made fun of her for not being social, which Punch consistently felt bad for causing. Today seemed like an especially hard day, judging by the young filly's face.

"What's wrong, Pinchy-dear?" asked Berry Punch, concern on her fact.

"The other foals were making fun of us today, and I couldn't stop them" replied the hesitant filly, tears welling up in her eyes.

"What did they say to get you so upset?

"Well, they said that it was weird that I was a unicorn with an earth pony mother, and that I'd probably never see my dad. Then Diamond Tiara stole my lunch, and threw it out the window."

"Did you go to your teacher? I'm sure she could have kept them straight."

By this time the pair was inside and Pinch was full-out crying.

"Do you want to meet your father?" asked Punch, trying to calm the filly down.

Pinch wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at her mother. "You know who he is?" she asked surprised.

"Sadly I do, it's a story for another time and it'll be hard to track him down, though I'll do it for my little girl" stated Punch. "Now, you go upstairs and do your homework, I'll call when dinner's ready.

The little filly ran up to her room and Punch laid down on her favorite couch, laying the bottle of whiskey purchased earlier on the floor next to her. It had been a hectic day, she met with Pinch's father yet again to pick up child support and have a quick drink.

She had been meeting with him often every since the night-at-the-bar-gone-wrong in which her daughter was conceived. He tried to convince Punch to marry him, though his style of life was simply not appropriate for a young filly to be living in. Not that her's was much better, but better is better.

The stallion was a close-in. He was distrustful of everypony, and lived in a small shack at the edge of town. Spending most of the time at a shady bar, drinking his cares away with little care for whatever happened around him.

By the time Punch realized she had dozed off, it was getting dark. She made a couple sandwiches, and ate with her daughter who had calmed down. After spending some time with the filly and sending her off to bed, the exhausted mare laid down and drank her favorite brand of whiskey before passing out on the floor.

Around 2 o'clock in the morning a knocking at the door woke Punch up. Wiping at the spilled alcohol on her coat, she stumbled groggily to the front door. Upon opening the passage to her home, she saw a white pegasus stallion in armor standing outside, a serious look strewn across his face.

The male abruptly handed Berry Punch two letters, one addressed to her and the other to her daughter. Then he departed, vanishing in the night sky.

Berry Punch trotted upstairs to her room, better to sleep there than the couch. Laying on her bed, she opened the letter addressed to her. The paper inside was crumpled and stained, the majority of the words were smudged or were poorly articulated.

Despite the poor appearance, the contents were what truly mattered.