So, I can safely say that the plumbing in that house of mine still worked. I mean, granted it wasn't for the reason I had originally expected I'd check it for, but enough drunken nights had told me otherwise. Sometimes, it really did pay to have some sort of reference as to what to do when you're tired, slightly dazed, and nauseous. Especially now, what with having just started walking on two legs again.

Honestly, had I been told I'd suffer a hangover from being possessed while in the form of a pony... Shit, actually, that'd still only be the third weirdest thing I'd heard since I got to Equestria.

Anyhow, dry heaving into my toilet - which thankfully was, and I put an emphasis on was, relatively clean at the time - a few more times, I finally managed to pull myself away enough to reach for the actual tank lever to quite literally flush away what remained of my sickness.

As the sound of running water from the refilling tank calmly filled the room, I grabbed toilet lid and pulled it down as I lifted my own head out of the bowl and rested it on said cover.

Either I could stay there in the silence of my bathroom for a bit and possibly pass out for a minute or two until my stomach said I was free to go, or I could just wash my mouth out, stand myself up, and head back out of the bathroom to ensure every other guest I currently had in my home that I was fine.

As I thought this over with my head on the toilet seat, I was certainly becoming more and more tempted by the former of the two options.

Just as my eyes drooped a bit despite the horrible and acidic taste in my mouth, a knock at the door suddenly came through loudly and clearly.

That single knock felt more like a full-on battering ram being used against the entrance to a palace at the moment though, what with the headache I was dealing with.

I lifted my head and passed the palm of my hand over my face before deciding to address whoever was at the door.

"... Yes?" I called, trying my best to clear my throat and make myself sound as not-absolutely horrible as possible.

The action itself irritated my throat quite a bit as I slowly rose myself onto my feet and made my way over to the sink that was firmly planted just a short distance away from the toilet.

"O-oh, um, I hope I'm not intruding or anything, but it's just that you seemed really sick when you left, and the princess was worried, and, well..." Recognizing Halfy's voice and overall timid nature as I essentially drowned myself with sink water in an effort to clear out the taste and discomfort in my mouth and throat, I withheld a mental chuckle or two as I realized how bad that actually might have seen from not only Halfy's but everyone else's point of views as well.

It would've been like watching a drunk best friend try to wander around the house in search of, well, anything that could constitute a container. Experience told me exactly how that looked with ease.

Gilda still owed Zecora an apology for the mess she made that day inside of her cauldron.

"... A-are you okay?" Halfy then finally settled on, myself spitting out the water alongside any other impurities that I could rid myself of.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I promptly responded, wiping the excess water away from my mouth with a short glide-over with my wrist. Standing myself straight up, I took note of the mirror part of the medicine cabinet above the sink, looking over my reflection.

Overall, I couldn't deny that I looked like a mess - baggy eyes, a tired stare, I might as well have looked like I was just recovering from some kind of major disease.

"Just... felt a bit nauseous is all."

Yeah, and whatever was left of that 'nausea' was now safely going down whatever sewage pipes or magical filtration system awaited it upon being flushed down the toilet.

"O-oh..." I heard Halfy then give out in brief response, her voice lowering as she did so.

More curiously, however, even after I had answered her I could still hear her shifting ever so slightly just outside the bathroom door. I could imagine her drawing circles into the floor with her hood, as I had recalled her doing on a few other occasions.

"W-would it be alright if I came in?"

I found the question odd at first before I quickly remembered: I wasn't at her house anymore. We were at mine. I couldn't help but click my tongue against my teeth as I realized just how out of it I really was.

"Uh, sure, go ahead. The door's unlocked." I responded, giving myself another quick once over in the mirror before I was more or less satisfied with how I looked. The doorknob twisted before the wooden door separating Halfy and I was opened.

On an unrelated note, I still have no idea how ponies are able to open doorknobs with hooves. I mean, unicorns I can sorta get, what with their magic, but the rest? Yeah, it was a guessing game there.

The door initially barely opened by just a crack - small enough to keep anybody from entering but large enough to allow one to get a quick view inside - and I watched in admittedly silent amusement as Halfy's eye came into vision, along with the half of her face that held it.

She seemed to look around the bathroom for a short moment or two, almost as if she was confirming that this was the bathroom after all.

After a moment or two, she finally settled her eye on me, to which I reacted by giving off a small smile and a friendly wave. For a moment, I could see a smile of her own flash across the limited features of her expression I had a sight of.

A moment afterward, the door completely opened, revealing the rest of the previously more or less hidden pony that stood behind it. She took care in her actions it seemed, going so far as to make sure the door didn't swing too far out or too quickly as she held onto the handle... somehow.

"Afternoon." I then greeted her jokingly, hoping to ease her still visibly tense mood.

I was well aware of the fact that it was morning and that the sun was up, what with Nightmare Moon having had to control my body the rest of the way here not moments ago, but a small part of me wanted to say otherwise, and I wouldn't argue against it.

"A-afternoon." Halfy returned, seating herself on the tile floor before, with a soft and sudden squeak, shooting back up into a standing position. By my guess, she noticed how cold the tile floor was a little too late.

I barely withheld a laugh as I saw this and it became even more difficult to do so as Halfy gained a notably more red tone to her.

A little more hurriedly and stiffly than before as she likely tried to keep herself from making the same mistake of sitting on the floor again, she spoke up.

"I-I wanted to talk to you." She said, to which I gave a nod to continue.

She almost didn't seem to expect that gesture, going silent for a moment or two before she went on.

"Well, I-I wanted to know about-" As she spoke, her gaze went back up to me again, and, almost immediately, she paused.

"A-are you sure you're okay? You look... um..." Noting the fact that she clearly didn't want to say anything that may have been taken the wrong way, and that I'd apparently need to wash my face some more, I shook my head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little nauseous from what happened." I reiterated, before then rolling my wrists so as to gesture for her to continue with her previous statement.

She looked momentarily confused for a moment as if she had completely forgotten what it was that she initially was going to ask before she then remembered with a near silent 'oh'.

"R-right. So, I wanted to know about..." And again, she trailed off.

I wasn't sure what it was she wanted to know about; I didn't even have the slightest of guesses. Still, while Halfy wasn't exactly the most talkative of ponies, she normally wasn't completely silent either.

Whatever it was she wanted to know, I had figured it wasn't something easy for her to bring up.

"Why did you help me back then?"

I took a moment or two just to stare at her. I didn't really know what to make of what she had just asked me.

"Um... you mean back in Ponyville?" She nodded softly, confirming my suspicions. I gave an answer as though she had asked me the simplest question in the world.

"Oh. Well, because they were bothering you. That's why." I told her with a smile and a shrug before turning back towards the mirror. I opened the medicine cabinet to see if there was anything that might come in handy right about now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was as simple as that.

'Because they were bothering you.'

There was no ulterior motive, no point of future judgment, and certainly no foreseeable advantage that may have arisen from the action. Instead, Jeremy had done so purely because he disliked the fact that those ponies from before were acting as they were to her.

To Halfy, this was certainly proof of Nightmare Moon's earlier claims.

That is to say, it wasn't that she didn't believe her. It was not like that at all.

She simply felt it necessary to hear it herself, from the mouth of Jeremy. Granted, it was technically told to her from Jeremy's mouth before just as well, but those circumstances were different in themselves.

She hadn't told Nightmare Moon about her intent to do so while she was on her way here, and she knew that she would likely find out once she came by to thank Jeremy on her behalf as she had asked - if only to find out that Jeremy had in fact already known of her gratitude - but it was something she felt that she absolutely had to do, if that made sense. And it certainly did to her.

"T-that's all?" Halfy stuttered though a part of her hoped she wasn't irritating Jeremy with her badgering.

"Pretty much, yeah." He returned, his response just as simple and swift as before.

Halfy... wasn't particularly sure what she was expecting. She had imagined that Jeremy had committed his actions out of good intention, as foretold by her alicorn friend, and she had received the answer she had more or less hoped for, yet she still felt it necessary to ask if there was some other reason.

Perhaps it was out of habit?

Though, as she pondered this, she didn't notice Jeremy looking through the opened medicine cabinet that lay behind his bathroom mirror, giving out a soft hum as he looked over the contents within.

"Good news, by the way, there are some painkillers in here, along with some cough drops, some pain cream from Zecora, and a few bandages I had for emergencies." Jeremy then spoke out, bringing back Halfy's previously - albeit shortly - lost attention, his tone already seemingly uplifted. This, however, did not last particularly long.

"The bad news, though, is that that's all I have. And, on top of that, I'm pretty sure I'm running low on painkillers." He accentuated the 'and' as he spoke as if purposely wanting to make it sound as though it were an interesting combination of seriousness and a joking tone.

"W-what makes you say that?" Halfy inquired, to which Jeremy, with barely a flick of his wrist, gave her all the response she needed by grabbing hold of the container and giving it a short shake. About one or two small objects could be heard moving around inside.

A near silent 'oh' came from Halfy at this, Jeremy scratching the back of his head as he gave out a sigh.

"Well, if that's all we have, might as well use it, right?" Jeremy then optimistically gave out, earning a small chuckle from Halfy. The first she'd given since she'd come by to ask about what had been on her mind.

Truthfully, Jeremy had figured that Halfy thought him to simply be joking, but the headache he felt was very much real.

He accepted that it would pass with time, yes, but he still was well aware of just what said time would be like. A notably grumpier and all-around less responsive version of himself.

He was admittedly not a fun person to be around mid-hangover. The only reason he was okay at the time was that nausea from before had all but passed completely, and that was often the main cause of his annoyance.

"Um, o-okay. I'll just go back to wait in the living room the- Ah!" She found herself yelping mid-sentence, quickly catching Jeremy's attention as he looked away from the still unopened medicine container in his hand towards her.

Halfy had, without realizing or attempting to, moved out one of her forelegs a smidgen too far away from her in her attempts to turn and leave. In doing so, she had added some momentary stress and pressure to the area on her shoulder where the bruise from earlier had been.

It had only been a scant second or two; barely a moment of what, to her, seemed more akin to discomfort than actual pain, but to Jeremy, it was more than enough to garner his worries.

"Are you okay?" He questioned concernedly, taking a step or two towards Halfy's direction in the process.

Halfy, however, simply glanced back at him, forcing down her discomfort so as to respond.

"O-oh, I'm fine. Really." Suffice it to say Jeremy held his doubts. It also wasn't particularly hard to guess just what may have caused her to yelp the way she had.

"It's your shoulder, isn't it?" He questioned bluntly, his tone taking a sudden shift.

"R-really, I'm okay, you don't need to-"

"Sit the hell down." Jeremy said firmly. Halfy, not used to hearing Jeremy like this, quickly obliged, planting herself down on the floor exactly where she stood without another word. Another shiver rushed up her spine as she did so, but she wasn't certain if it was because of the cold floor or her nerves.

And so mid-hangover Jeremy had reared his head for the first time in quite a while, if only for a scant second. Jeremy shortly after realized this fact and gave himself a mental kick in the head as a result.

Nonetheless, Jeremy was quick to grab the medicinal cream that sat upon the cabinet behind the mirror, alongside the roll of bandages while Halfy watched all the while from her seated position on the floor.

Barely saying another word as he made his way over to her, Jeremy took his own place on the floor next to Halfy - the same side where her bruise lay - and placed the two objects he held down nearby him.

Halfy's gaze silently followed him as he went through his own set of motions, opening the clear and unlabeled glass of cream he had with him first. He gave out a momentary grunt as he twisted it open with a small but notable pop; just as quickly as her gaze followed him, it was shot away as he looked back to her, a small amount of the unguent substance dabbed on the tip of his fingers.

The wall ahead of her was her newly attained primary focus. Silence filled the room as Halfy slowly awaited... something.

She wasn't particularly certain as to what she expected to feel; warmth, cold, smoothness, roughness, it was simply unknown. So, instead, she prepared herself mentally for anything.

Said 'anything' came in the form of a sudden cold and clammy feeling against her coat, which slowly made its way down to her skin. Suffice it to say she couldn't so much as partially hold back the shudder she gave out, nor the odd squeak that she released as a result.

"Yeah, that's about the same reaction I had when Zecora first put this stuff on me." The human commented with a chuckle as he continued to dab the cream over where Halfy's bruise had been.

"It doesn't bother you too much, does it?" He then questioned, glancing at Halfy as she kept her eyes pointed forwards with her utmost focus.

"N-no," Halfy replied, another shudder escaping her mid-sentence, "it's just... strange."

"No argument here." And with that, the two fell back into an awkward silence, though the two did lose a notable portion of their previous tension. It wasn't long before one of them spoke up again though.

"Hey, uh, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did happen back in Ponyville?" Jeremy then suddenly asked, to which Halfy's breath momentarily stilled.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, pretending to be unaware of what he had meant. Jeremy was having none of this though.

"Why were those pieces of shit bothering you?" Halfy dared not respond. Instead, she started counting the tiles on the floor in front of her, hoping that it would distract her for a moment.

Jeremy momentarily withheld his ministrations, tilting his head slightly as he looked more directly towards Halfy rather than the bruise of hers he was treating. As he had half expected, her head was now firmly pointed to the ground, rather than the adjacent wall, her lips holding firm as she gave out a clear and impossible-to-ignore vibe.

Feeling as though he may have hit a rough spot by accident, Jeremy quickly made to move the subject aside, much like Halfy had previously done not a few moments ago.

"... Or, if you prefer, you don't have to tell me and we can just move o-"

"Because I'm not normal."

And with that, it was now Jeremy's turn to be silent. Not because of the suddenness of the response, not because of the fact that he actually gained a response. No, it was because of the very simplicity of the response, and the seemingly practiced tone that came with it.

Despite this though, Jeremy took a breath, momentarily shaking his head before then returning to what he had previously been doing.

"... not 'normal', huh? If I had a nickel, or rather a bit, for every time I had heard something like that..." Jeremy trailed off, barely noting the slight twitch of one of Halfy's ears as he did so.

"Well, I suppose if I were to go on from that, I would ask what you think doesn't make you normal." Another ear twitch signified she had heard, but a lack of her turning her head gave off an opposite signal.

Halfy, again, did not provide an immediate response. Instead, she found herself gesturing she gave as she quietly rose one of her forehooves to the bandage across her eye. Her lips seemed to purse for a moment or two, before just as quickly returning to normal.

Jeremy noticed with ease as he then pulled away from Halfy's bruise once more, satisfied with how it had been covered in the odd cream to the point that one particular spot of her fur seemed a completely different color than its usual shade of purple.

"Okay, so, that's one then." Jeremy calmly concluded aloud as he stood from the floor, referring to Halfy's gesture before grabbing and closing the salves container. Shortly thereafter, he stood and began moving towards the medicine cabinet, replacing the jar in its previous place. "I take it the other thing has to do with your parents? That is to say, according to what that one pony said before I..."

"Hoofed him in the face?" Halfy offered.

"Well, when you say it like that... yes, definitely." There was no hint of regret in Jeremy's voice. In fact, it seemed as though he found a slight sense of amusement towards the fact. This same tone came through to Halfy just as well, eliciting a small, but still somehow relieving chuckle from her. "By the way, it unfair just how good hooves are for hitting things. I say that from both the giving and receiving end."

Halfy's previously blank face seemed to crack a gentle smile for a moment or two, before then just as quickly returning to normal.

"My parents were... not normal either, no." She then finally replied with a sigh just as Jeremy once again sat beside her, bandages at hand as he picked them up from the floor he had left them on.

"And why's that?" He further inquired, hoping that he wasn't pushing too far for answers. Thankfully for him, however, if Halfy did feel as though this were the case, she didn't show it.

"I-I guess it's mostly because of my mom. N-not that I blame her for anything, that is, but..." Gently grabbing her bruised forearm, Jeremy gave a silent request for Halfy to lift it with a pair of soft taps, to which she responded by doing as she was asked. A slight flinch came from her as she did so, but not nearly as severe as before, displaying that the medicinal cream was already taking effect.

"We're talking about the same mother that managed to keep one of the last plants related to Nightmare Moon alive and then gave it to you, right?" She nodded, a smile once again coming through on her features, though this time seeming to be more out of nostalgia than anything else. "Then am I to assume that was the reason she was thought of as weird?"

And with that, Halfy then shook her head, to Jeremy's mild surprise.

"No. Though, if anypony did know, I doubt it would have made things better." Jeremy blinked, undoing the roll of bandages as he slowly wrapped them around Halfy's upper foreleg.

"Then why?" And the ear twitched yet again. It was as though, since entering, Halfy had unknowingly become stuck in multiple repeating cycles, be it of silence, ear twitching, or whatever else it may have been that Jeremy hadn't noticed. It was odd, but certainly not distractingly so. Not by Jeremy's standards, at least.

"My mom was... well, I guess you could say she was a scientist of sorts. H-her cutie mark, from what I remember, was even on a pile of papers with some more scientific stuff written on it, and a ribbon on top. I never understood what it meant, and I remember her once telling me that she sometimes forgot too." The smile on her face didn't fade for even a moment as she momentarily basked in her memories, Jeremy watching as he continued wrapping the bruised and cream-covered section of her limb, noting that her head had now raised from the floor as well, instead pointed towards the wall again.

"She was one of the smartest ponies I'd ever known. In fact, in her work, she'd found out a lot of important things. Why some flowers, like Poison Joke, hold the magic properties that they do, ways to improve how some medicines worked, and more." At the mention of Poison Joke, Jeremy visibly shuddered, recalling a rather unpleasant experience he held with that plant. It was also at this moment that Jeremy realized that Halfy had all but stopped stuttering, or so much as even wavered as she spoke. It was as though she was a different person altogether, simply from speaking of her mother.

"But... nopony remembered her for that. Instead, they remembered her for... another of her studies." This quickly caught Jeremy's attention.

"Which study?" He asked. The response he got was quick, concise, and unexpected, causing him to freeze for a second or two.

"Changelings."

One word. One single word that, to him, seemed normal, yet somehow foreign in this context. Was it out of surprise? Confusion? He wasn't sure, but whatever it was was definitely there. And it was clearly visible by his reaction as the bandages in his hand momentarily slipped, himself barely able to catch himself before he messed up too badly and caused Halfy any further discomfort than he already likely had.

Recovering shortly after, Jeremy spoke.

"... Changelings?" Halfy nodded.

"Yeah. My mother focused most of her work around species besides ponies. She even wrote a book about all the other pony species that a lot of other ponies read. 'The Anatomy and Culture of Non-Ponies'." Jeremy blinked, vaguely recalling seeing said book in the several shelves worth of reading material that Halfy had back at home. "But changelings were always of particular interest to her. Mostly because very few ponies actually knew anything about them. How they worked, what they acted like on their own, nopony knew. Most of her life was based on that study. In fact, she even met my dad during one of the trips she took to study changelings, at least from what she told me."

Jeremy blinked again, adding one last thin layer of bandaging before tearing it from the roll and tying off the end so it wouldn't simply fall off.

"And I take it thats what ponies found to be 'not normal'? The fact that your mother studied changelings?" Halfy nodded. The smile that had once been on her face was now completely and utterly extinguished.

"... And that's weirder than being the only human, how?" He then questioned, much to Halfy's subsequent confusion.

"H-huh?" She then asked, turning her head towards Jeremy as he still held onto her foreleg.

"Or what about being the only griffon for miles that everyone thinks has an attitude problem? An alicorn that everyone thinks is evil and brings nightmares to life? Or, and heaven forbid she let us forget, a changeling queen with a pension for attitude." As he spoke, a grin on his face, Halfy just looked at him in honest uncertainty. Seeing this, Jeremy clarified.

"What I'm saying, Halfy, is that being 'not normal' is hardly an excuse for what happened. Nopony should be treated that way for something that they can't control. So your mom studied changelings and something is wrong with your eye - I don't see any problem with that, so why should anypony else? In fact, those things your mom told you about changelings have probably helped you a lot with a certain you-know-who that's probably grumbling in the living room right about now."

"I-I... I..." With barely so much as the slightest of motions to warn her, Jeremy put the roll of bandages on the floor before then placing his free hand lightly on her head, ruffling her mane slightly.

"Halfy, don't think that just because you're a little different, it's a bad thing. There's not really any such a thing as 'normal'. And if anypony tells you otherwise, well they better hope I, nor Gilda, Zecora, Nightmare Moon, or even Chrysalis are around to hear it."

Looking towards her, his smile not yet fading as he did so, he gave a pair of light taps towards the bandages on her arm, letting her know he had been finished. Realizing this, Halfy gave out a slight 'oh' before lowering her foreleg to the floor.

Standing herself up on all fours, Halfy tested her leg, giving it a quick stretch forwards and backward, side to side, before then repeating the process by actually moving entirely in those same directions.

"Any better?" Jeremy questioned, to which Halfy responded with a cheerful nod in his direction.

"Great. Now, uh, having spoken about your eye, there's one thing that's bothering me." Once again grabbing hold of the roll of bandages next to him, Jeremy held it out in Halfy's direction.

"That bandage seems like it's gotten pretty dirty by now. You might wanna replace it before you get sick." Looking to Jeremy, then to the bandages, then to Jeremy again, Halfy moved one of her forelegs for the roll on Jeremy's palm. Her hoof slightly brushed against his hand as she used the crook of her leg to grab hold of the bandages before then sitting down and simply looking at them.

"O-oh." She responded, her other foreleg moving to the bandage that she currently wore.

As Jeremy said, it was indeed very much different from the clean bandages she currently held and had wrapped around the bruise on her foreleg. It was less white so much as it was an odd mixture of dirt brown and filthy gray, small bits of it torn here and there with traces of small wooden splinters, debris, and so forth.

How long had it been since Halfy had placed that bandage on? Months now? She certainly didn't bother bringing a spare when she moved to the Everfree forest, that much was clear to her. So, perhaps months weren't too far off after all?

Either way, Halfy once again found herself looking to and fro between the bandages and Jeremy, her other bandage under her forehoof in the meantime.

For a moment, Jeremy was oblivious to the issue Halfy felt as a result of being given these new bandages. A few seconds later, however, Jeremy then finally realized the problem.

"Oh, right! You probably want me to leave for this?" Not wanting to have told him this outright, and glad that he had eventually understood, Halfy gave a slight nod as a response.

"My bad." With a slight laugh, Jeremy picked himself off the floor with a grunt, a part of his lower back slightly sore from having been sitting on the cold, hard floor for so long. He would never understand how ponies were able to seat themselves so comfortably seemingly anywhere.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then." Making his way over to the bathroom door, Jeremy grabbed the handle and gave it a swift tug as he gave one more glance back to Halfy.

"If you need anything, just-"

"Gah!" Before he could say anything more, both Jeremy and Halfy found themselves practically jumping back as something fell into the room with a yell, landing face down on the floor.

At first, Jeremy was too shocked to really figure out what it was. However, upon second glance, Jeremy took note of a certain combination of feathers, fur, and a beak, allowing him to easily guess who it was, overriding whatever shock he felt and replacing it with chagrin. The familiar groaning and grumbling voice only furthered the point.

Watching as the figure partially lifted itself up and rubbed a talon against its head, Jeremy crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe.

"Gilda... why were you leaning against the door?" Almost as if it was at that very moment that she believed she had been seen, Gilda's eyes could be seen darting open as she swiftly made to sit herself up and look between the two other occupants of the room. She had done so so quickly that it was a surprise she hadn't sustained a self-induced whiplash.

"Huh, uh, what? No, no, dude, I wasn't leaning against the door. I was uh... trying to get in the bathroom, yeah, that's it! I had to go, you know, do my thing and, uh, you just happened to pull the door open when I got here. That's it." As if her explanation didn't seem rushed and improvised enough, Gilda then proceeded to finish her attempt at 'winging it' with a clearly forced chuckle, before then taking a confident stance, as if she believed she was a master at acting.

Jeremy, however, was not convinced.

"... Right. Well, you're gonna have to wait your turn, sooooo..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know, it's surprising how light a griffon is when you pull them out of a room by their tail. I mean, not like I know from experience, but hypothetically speaking of course.

Oddly enough though, I think Gilda would testify otherwise as to how 'hypothetical' I was being. Especially as she and I stood outside the bathroom, the door closed while she held and blew onto her slightly aching tail.

"Man," she said with a slight squeak, which she quickly rid herself of by clearing her throat, "why is it always the tail?"

In response, I gave a slight shrug.

"Well, that depends on whose fault you think that is, doesn't it?" I joked with a chuckle, crossing my arms as I watched her look back at me with a slight glare.

"Oh ha-ha. You're lucky I'm more focused on bug-breath than I am you at the moment, or I would get payback so quick."

"Noted." I responded, momentarily raising a finger as I added that threat of hers to a mental list of 'things to worry about later'. "Now, you gonna tell me why you were spying on Halfy and me yet, or am I gonna have to ask Nightmare Moon to get the ice water again."

At this, Gilda gave out a shiver.

"Yeah, no thanks J. I'd prefer not to wring out my tail for the eighth time this week." As she said 'eighth' I couldn't help but to wonder as to where she got that number from, or perhaps how much I had actually missed whenever I slept.

"The actual reason I was there was because NM wanted me to check in on you and Halfy since you were taking so long." I rose a brow at this.

"And 'checking in' requires leaning your head against the door?" I returned with a smirk. A smirk that was quickly wiped away as Gilda put on a familiar face that I had grown wary of over time.

"Actually," she then began to return, lidding her eyes by quite a bit and seeming to puff out her chest ever so slightly, "I only started listening in when I heard that 'friend' of yours give out a yelp through the door. I mean, at first, I was skeptical, but I guess it makes sense for you to do that kind of thing in a bathroom," pausing, Gilda raised a talon and dragged it over the bandages on my chest, "you stud you."

I'm not terribly proud of what I said, nor do I regret it.

"... You wanna find out what 100 pounds of torque can do to a tail, Gilda?" Gilda didn't so much as flinch, crossing her forelegs over one another and tilting her head slightly as she looked at me with a knowing smirk.

"Bad hangover?" She accurately surmised, to which I swiftly gave her confirmation.

"Extremely."

"You never were good with handling those."

If anyone knew that more than anyone else, it was her. After all, she and I had gone out for drinks more than a few times in Ponyville, much to Zecora's chagrin whenever I had to wander back over to her home. Yeah, walking drunk through the Everfree was not an entertaining experience; yet I ended up doing it so many times that it eventually became a habit.

Not to say I was an alcoholic or anything like that. If anything the only reason I ever went out to drink was that Gilda would convince me to, but it essentially became the ritual of any Sunday whenever Gilda was free to go out drinking.

Of course, pony brand drinks were never really strong. That is to say, not for anything that wasn't a pony.

It was certainly an odd experience, watching as some of the ponies around me at the time went from sober to absolutely wasted in a matter of one or two cider glasses while Gilda and I were there downing our eighth with barely so much as a tingle. Maybe it was the low alcohol content of the actual cider that they served because God knows there wasn't any beer or vodka in Ponyville, and maybe it was the apparent natural light-weightedness of those ponies, but it practically was like a challenge for Gilda and me to so much as get a buzz. But we managed, and beyond.

Anyways, what was I talking about again...?

Oh, right, the whole 'bad with hangovers' thing.

"No, Gilda, no I was, and am, not." Unsurprisingly, Gilda ended up holding back a laugh, momentarily covering her beak with her talons and giving off a suppressed chortle, before then returning her attention to me.

"So would you say this one is a one, or a ten?" She questioned. To anyone else, this question would simply seem out of the blue and without reason. To me, well, like I said she and I had had enough drinks, and she had seen enough of my hangovers to have made a veritable scale for me and her to rank our states after those supposedly 'fun nights'.

... The term 'fun nights' sounds really bad actually, now that I think about it. Especially considering who they were often with, and how she would likely use the term to her advantage if she ever heard me say it.

"Somewhere along the lines of a three. I mean, I'm not nauseous anymore, so that's good." Gilda nodded in response, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Magic sure is fun, isn't it?"

"Shut up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... And now it wouldst seem as though another hath been lost in their journey." A certain shadow alicorn commented aloud as she looked down the hall she had just asked Gilda and Halfy to go down in order to check on her human friend. Honestly at the rate the situation had been going, had Chrysalis not been there to tell her that the three were fine due to what she could sense of their emotions, she would have believed that the hall had been enchanted and was whisking her friends away one at a time. Or, perhaps, the house was simply larger than she had believed it to be.

And could she be blamed for being concerned in the first place? Jeremy had not been in the best of shape for some time now, as evidenced by the bandages that still laid wrapped around his torso. Add the possible sickness of a sudden magical surge in one's body to top such a thing off. He must have felt absolutely awful.

Jeremy had told her in one of their discussions from long ago that, in his original home world, magic did not truly exist. This was a shocking discovery in itself, but the reason this truly even came to mind was that it gave Nightmare Moon another point of reason to worry.

She had seen the effects of magic on creatures that normally did not use it if suddenly brought about in large quantity, and most of the time this would lead to a supposed 'magical overload', as it were. Some effects were even stranger, though thankfully rare.

More than likely, this was exactly what Jeremy was suffering at the moment. After all, two powerful spells were cast on him at the same time, and from two different origin points as well; one a pony, and the other a changeling. Even a unicorn would have at least felt dizzy under such circumstances.

Truly, Nightmare Moon felt as if she should have taken this into account. She had wanted to simply go towards her friend and cast a common cure-all spell she knew towards simple ailments such as nausea, headaches, and the like, but she knew that this would only further his ailment just as well. The only real way to deal with magical overload was time, after all. So, that is what she would have to give him.

Yes, that was it, time...

She wondered if maybe she disguised herself and went outside for a while, she could find a doctor. Just in case, that is. After all, she couldn't really be too sure could sh-

"For the love of the empress and all those below her, including myself, stop pacing for one second and sit down!" The changeling monarch that sat atop of living room couch growled angrily, having lost what little patience she may have held for the alicorn - which in fact was already little, to begin with - as her hooves gave off what must have been their hundredth set of clops against the floor.

Her mind was having its own set of issues to deal with.

They had finally made it to their destination with, surprisingly, little to no issue, and yet here that alicorn was continuing to concern herself over something that really needed no concern in the first place.

It was frustrating.

Placing a crater-filled forehoof of hers over her face for a moment or two, as if attempting to ease a headache that she really wouldn't be too surprised to have, she was more than prepared to continue telling her off, or to at least combat whatever argument Nightmare Moon would give.

And as luck would have it.

"How are we to calm ourselves? It has been far too long for the three to make their returns as of this time, well over what was deemed necessary, and yet thou lays there as though nothing has occurred, or will!" Nightmare Moon returned in a clearly aggravated state, momentarily allowing her emotional wall to crack by just a sliver; enough for Chrysalis to see a clear concern and nervousness hidden behind it, but not enough to see any further. Realistically though, it wasn't hard to imagine what the rest of her emotional state was.

No, to Chrysalis, that was far too predictable.

"I 'lay here' because I'm still not used to using my own magic for such a long period of time. Let alone on another being and me at the same time." Chrysalis responded matter-of-fairly.

"Verily, we question your investment at times." Chrysalis blinked at this.

"Did you think my warning from before was a joke?" The changeling then spoke out slowly, already preparing a notable amount of magical force into her horn. Thoughts already popped into her head as to what possible curses she could bring about with the magical stockpile she had. "Because it wasn't. As I said before, if you ever questioned whether or not I cared for him, I would-"

"However," Nightmare Moon then suddenly interrupted, her voice un-wavered or so much as slowed by Chrysalis' aggression, "we also cannot completely question the care of those we are to assist, can we? After all, were there truly any such danger to be left to the imagination, thou would make haste to clear it, wouldn't thee?"

Chrysalis stayed silent at this, unsure of what to say, whether they should say anything. At the same time, she felt the magic in her horn slowly return to whence it came.

"... Your point being, what? That you don't think I care, but you do too? Clearly, you have no real idea as to what to think of me. Something I find strange because, before, you were more than willing to claim you knew me. To say I was nothing more than a hindrance that you would rather be rid of." Nightmare Moon dared not refute her. Not because of fear, but because she simply did not wish to waste the effort.

"True." She instead simply stated, her billowing mane ever so slightly shifting with a sort of decisiveness to it. "However, times do change, as our time of banishment has clearly displayed by this point."

"So, what, you suddenly trust me now?"

"Nay. We do not trust thee entirely. We hold much more of that such concept of trust in our other compatriots: Halfy, Miss Gilda, Miss Zecora, and we need not mention Sir Jeremy, of course." She answered, by now turning towards the changeling and sitting herself down on the floor. It was a welcome change as opposed to continuously walking around without any real purpose.

"Rather, we hold a different concept of trust tethered to thee. One that, though we do not mean to speak poorly of them in any regard, is not yet held by Miss Gilda, Halfy, or Miss Zecora."

"Oh? And whatever could that be?" Chrysalis began sarcastically, believing this to be some sort of belying insult of sorts. "An exoskeleton to cover my cold insides perhaps? Certainty of betrayal? Or, perhaps, the ability to shatter a mirror with a single glance? Come on then, enlighten me as to what it is you 'trust' me to do."

The response Chrysalis received was not one she had expected.

"Trust that, should we fail in our part to keep Sir Jeremy safe, thou wouldst be the most likely to take action no matter what the risk."

Chrysalis grew silent, unaware of how she would go around responding to this. Yet, she would not need to. The sound of approaching footsteps halted their conversations.

The alicorn turned her head towards the sound, her previously serious expression all but melting within an instant as she instead dawned a smile for whom she saw.

"Ah, Miss Gilda, we see thou hast returned with Sir Jeremy." As said griffon and human, came into sight from the hallway they had previously been, one could note the slight glint of soreness on the face of the griffon, alongside a slightly twitching portion of their tail.

"Yeah, wasn't all that hard to do. Though, Halfy might be held up a bit. Had to powder her nose, or whatever it is the nobles around here call it, if you catch my drift."

The alicorn's head seemed to tilt ever so slightly at this.

"We... do not understand what 'drift' thou speaks of, Miss Gilda, but we do understand as to what it is thou mentions." It was easy enough to see from the griffon's face the mixture of exasperation and doubt as she heard the alicorn respond.

"Uh... when I say, 'catch my drift', it means 'if you know what I mean', NM..." At this, Nightmare Moon's eyes momentarily seemed to widen in a sort of fascination, as though she had discovered the secret to the universe.

"Oh, is that so? Verily, this information will prove very useful, we are certain!"

"Uh... Yeah, sure thing." Gilda then responded with an awkward smile, before then giving Jeremy a light nudge for whatever reason and making her way elsewhere. Said elsewhere, unfortunately, for a certain changeling, was on the other half of the couch.

"Yo, scoot over a bit. You're hogging the couch again."

"Sorry, but the cushions already have enough feathers in them without your feather-brained self coming over. Besides, if I really am a 'couch hog', as I'd imagine you would phrase it, then add that to my list of privileges as a queen." The griffon took exception to this.

"Last I checked, you need subjects to be a queen, ya pest." And the changeling took exception to this.

"Why you-"

"So help me, I will walk over there and bury you under that couch if you don't shut up. I already have enough of a headache without needing a couple of pains in the ass as well!" All of the beings in the room looked toward the human in shock, not having expected the outburst. Jeremy glared at the two on the couch, very much annoyed by the two's instantaneous argument breaking out upon seeing each other. The griffon, however, recovered rather quickly and let out a snort.

"Pfft! Wow! Nice one." The changeling and the alicorn turned to face her, a brow raised as they saw her with a smile over her beak, despite the fact that she had just been told to be quiet.

She took notice of their stares quickly, glancing at the two and giving a shrug.

"What? He never told you he gets grumpy when he has hangovers?"

Next Chapter: Chapter 28: Work Before Play [Here Again] Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 21 Minutes