Rainbow woke up on the bathroom floor with Applejack lightly combing her mane. She felt terrible and wished she had never drank before in her life.

“Applejack,” she groaned as she sat up carefully, her stomach cramped horribly painfully and she quickly leaned over the toilet to dry heave for a minute while Applejack stroked her back.

“Sugarcube, ya don’t have anything left. Ya woke up a dozen times last night, Ah couldn’t even give ya water,” she said softly, placing a hoof on Rainbow as Rainbow let herself fall back to the floor, her right side was cold so that was the side she fell to. “Ah tried ta move ya but that wasn’t happening, it kept comin’ outta both ends, and I wasn’t gonna clean up the whole house all night.”

Rainbow groaned in a low tone before she forced a foreleg up and moved it over her muzzle, letting it fall. “Really? Ah’m sorry, AJ. Ah don’t ever wanna get drunk again. I had the weirdest… Applejack,” she said softly, “ I saw Lime, she told me,” she stopped to cough her lungs clear before she spat in the toilet. Applejack pulled the string and it flushed, water flowing down the tube and taking the foul stench away.

Rainbow laid back again, waiting for her vision to stabilize. “She told me, that it wasn’t my fault, and that I have to live. What do you think she meant?”

“Rainbow, Ah I think she meant what she said, but ya know, maybe ya should ask Twi, she’s more inta that stuff. Are ya okay ta be moved ta bed? I got a bucket all ready for ya,” Applejack said sweetly as she patted Rainbow on the side.

“Ugh, my everything hurts, even my feathers. Why are you so awesome to me?”

“Cuz, Sugarplum, I gotta be awesome ta be with ya. Can’t imagine my life without ya, even as a best friend. Now, hang on and hold it all it, if’n ya gotta go, just let me know. Ready?” she asked as she angled her head behind Rainbow’s back.

“Eeyu- *urp*, I am,” Rainbow replied through a wince of cramps and a throb in her head that hadn’t gone away head.

With a swift motion she was on Applejack’s back. With a squeal of pain she raised her hooves to her head and pressed her temples as she was bounced to their bedroom just down the hall to the right. “AJ, even my feathers hurt.”

Carefully she was placed into bed where she laid limply, her head in her hooves as she shut her eyes tight.

“Well, Sugarplum, looks like Ah’m takin’ a day off the farm.”

“N-no, I’ll be fine. Just a hangover, had thousands. Leave the bucket and get to work, can you swing by and tell the weather office Ah’m really sick? It ain’t a lie, and they’ll believe ya,” she mumbled as the covers were pulled over her.

“Ya sure, love? I can miss a few chores, Big Mac’ll understand.”

“Nah, just go. And, can you send Twi over? I need to talk to her.”

“Ah’m here for ya.”

“No, a professional. I-I have a problem that only she can help with, hopefully.”

Applejack bit her lip lightly and frowned. “If’n ya need to, I understand, but Ah don’t want secrets between us.”

“First, get the shades, Celestia must have it out for me,” Rainbow grumbled at the morning light entering the room, “second, I’ll tell you soon, but I need to get this offa my mind.”

“Well, the thing is ya haven’t seen Twi for a bit, her new marefriends have been takin’ a lotta her free time. Kinda clingy and all, but that’s their thing, not my place ta gossip. I’ll send Rarity over if ya wanna gossip.”

“Gnn. No Rarity, no Pinkie, maybe Fluttershy with tea and a cure from Zecora for this ache.”

“Now Dash, ya know that yer gonna have ta suffer through this, I ain’t sending a cure so ya can forget what put ya here. Okay, I’ll go. One last thing.”

“Ugh, what now?” Rainbow grumbled as Applejack turned to the window and darkened the room enough for Rainbow to open her eyes slightly.

“Promise me you won’t do this again,” she said softly, “Ah was so worried you were gonna… Just please, don’t do this again. If we need to, we can drink a drink socially to help you, but no more of this, please Dashie.”

“Wow, you’re using all my nicknames,” she mused as she licked her lips, “I quadruple Pinkie Promise. This is the last time I drink more than a couple in a week ever again, in secret or public, never again.”

She felt a kiss on her forehead and a light huff on her head as Applejack leaned back. “I love ya, see ya tonight.”

“Heh, eeyup. Just shower before you come to bed,” Rainbow said peeking an eye open to see Applejack crack a smile.

---

“She laid in bed, covers drawn to her chest, her wings fluttered slightly as she woke from her rest. Slowly she began to stir-” A female voice sang softly.

“Who the feather’s talking?” Rainbow muttered as she woke up.

“She muttered into her pillow while she wallowed in-”

“Gsh-shuttup! What the hay? Who’s there?” She said opening her eyes and regretting it immediately. She hadn’t had a migraine this bad in a long time, even her eyelids hurt. Hooves to her eyes and a squeal in pain was her next response.

“Woah, she’s excitable,” the new voice that was singing with a slight southern drawl said, “I like her, can I take her home?”

“Calm down, girls,” Twilight’s voice rang in Rainbow’s head, “I’ll need you to leave in a minute. Rainbow, these are my marefriends, Blu and Ashy.”

“Them. Out. Now,” Rainbow demanded.

“She spoke harshly to her new best friends and cast them out with-”

“Get out!” Rainbow screamed in frustration before turning the scream internally as the pain swole, clasping her head tighter as she hissed in agony. “Twilight, can my brain explode?!” she asked in a panicked whimper.

Twilight giggled and shooed her marefriends away as she took a spot by the side of the bed and sat on the floor. “No, Rainbow Dash. Unless there’s a dark spell cast on you, that is. And I heard rumor one was cast here in town last night, maybe it was on you.”

“W-what?” Rainbow stammered between throbs in her head, “a-am I cursed?”

“The dark spell was alcohol, and a lot of it. You’re cursed, all right; with the mother of all hangovers.”

“Ugh, I didn’t need you to tell me that. Can you, ya know. Make it a little better?”

Without a word or hesitation Twilight's horn lit and dimmed. “Is that better? I cast a mild pain relief spell. Applejack said I could use that, but you had to suffer your consequences and learn your lesson. Speaking of learning lessons; it’s been a while since Celestia has given me any projects to work on. Ever since I told her about my relationship she’s only sent me one letter.

“It was only one word and said ‘Finally’. What she meant by that I don’t know. I thought-”

OH great, lecture mode is in full blast. I guess I asked for this by asking her over, but I wanted help, not a lecture. How’m I gonna talk when she’s going on like that, has she even blinked in the past minute? My head does feel better, but it’s only a little help and my stomach is killing me.

How have I not thrown up yet? Oh yeah, nothing left. Sad, I really wanna hay burger. Oh! A MacBurger with blue cheese and hayfries with ketchup and horseradish sounds really good. Do they have hot sauce there? I can bring my own next time. Maybe I’m cramping cuz I’m almost in heat again. Stupid thing, being in heat. But, at least I can’t get pregnant any other time.

Estrus, what a weird egghead word. At least it’s not messy, but makes me really horny. Glad I have AJ, or else I’d be under any colt that’d have me. Not going through that again, condoms aren’t cheap and suck; they are so smooth I can’t feel hardly anything and-

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight’s voice faded into Rainbow’s mind.

“What? Uh, yeah, I totally agree Twi.”

“See! I knew you would understand, every other pony I talk to is all ‘you’re just a third wheel in their relationship’, or ‘they’re using you’, but you understand I’m an integral part of their, our relationship and sex isn’t all I’m there for.”

Rainbow looked to Twilight with an uncomfortable smirk. “Twi, when it comes to love, you’re wrong: there’s no spell or egghead book that can teach you what to do, trust me.”

“W-what’re you talking about? I love mares, I always have. You can’t just change like that, it’s not a choice.”

“Twi, look at me. I was with dozens, maybe even a hundred colts since I started, and now I’m with AJ. Try it, ya might like a good rut once in awhile. I remember that it was great, depending on the colt, but ya gotta remember they’re all diff- Hey, you’re here for me!”

“Well, for once you were doing such a good job lecturing, I didn’t want to stop you. I don’t know, maybe you’re right. Know any good colts in town?”

“Nnope. You have to find one yourself. I heard Ditzy is a bit of a matchmaker when she’s not working. Find her and ask her, now, do you mind?” Rainbow asked, almost pleading with her eyes.

“Okay, anything we talk about is between us. So, I heard you had a dream last night that bothered you? Tell me about it all and what led up to it.”

Rainbow told Twilight about her dream as best she could.

“Well,” Twilight started tapping her temple with her hoof, “it sounds exactly like it sounds. There are some reports of ponies having dreams of lost loved ones after their passing, but scientific studies are sketchy on that topic since nopony has ever been able to enter the dreams of another.

“However now that Princess Luna is back I guess the research could advance-”

“Egghead,” Rainbow sighed rolling to her back, “stop it. I need your help. I really blame myself for this one. Usually I can pass it off, but I’ve never killed a pony before.”

“Rainbow, you didn’t kill her. In any way. I spoke with the trade guild leaders and she was approved to sell medicated honey as well as regular honey. She’s banned from selling medicated honey until they hold a council meeting, but it was on her and the guild, not you.”

“I bought it.”

“She delivered it.”

“I didn’t tell her Lime had a drug problem.”

“She should have known from the state she was in. Look Rainbow, we can go for hours like this, and I’d enjoy it,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes, “but, you have to understand that you aren’t at fault here. Yes, you bought the honey. Yes, you had it delivered.”

“And I killed her.”

“Rainbow, this’ bigger than that. And, what about you? What if you drank yourself to death last night, like in your dream?”

Rainbow remained silent as the dull pulsing pain in her head became the lesser of her concerns.

“Would it be right for Applejack to blame herself for letting you out of her sight? Would it be okay for her to blame the bartender? Put him out of business with all of his debts to crush him? What about the grain suppliers and fermenters, would it be their fault you drank yourself to death?” Twilight said holding her expression, however her voice was slightly trembling.

Staring at Twilight through her eyes, narrowed from the pain across her body, Rainbow moved her jaw, trying to form the right words.

“I’m a idiot.”

“‘I’m an idiot’, Rainbow Dash, sorry,” she said softly.

“What do I do? I can’t think this about now.”

“Rainbow, your sentence structure is atrocious, is it because of the migraine?”

“Mirgaine? Mngop p.”

“Rainbow, are you okay?” Twilight asked, growing concerned.

“Hurts big.” Twilight cast her spell again, stronger this time.

“There, the spell I cast was enough to take the pain away. You’ll be okay, I’ll talk to you again soon, rest it off.”

“Twi,” Rainbow said under her breath as she began to fall asleep,” undo it. No more taking the pain away.”

Twilight looked at her friend with a deeper respect. “Okay, just don’t hesitate to call out, we’re gonna be downstairs until Fluttershy gets here.”

Rainbow hummed softly in approval. “Thanks, Twi. You’re a great friend.”

Twilight leaned in to kiss Rainbow on the forehead before leaving. After the slight peck she felt Rainbow’s foreleg grab her around her neck and pull her tightly to her chest.

“Ack, what the-?”

Rainbow replied with a loud snore, directly in Twilight’s ear. With a wince she teleported to the door and took in a deep breathe. “So, she’s a cuddler, never woulda guessed,” she said watching Rainbow grasping at anything until she bunched up the sheets and blankets enough to hold close to her.

“Sweet dreams, Rainbow. Get better.”

---

Rainbow woke and scrambled over the edge of the bed for the bucket, only to have Fluttershy scurry into sight and push it to Rainbow’s flailing grip. A minute of dry heaving echoed through the room as Fluttershy laid on the bed, patting Rainbow’s back and holding her mane back.

“Feel better, Rainbow?” the soft voice asked as Rainbow hacked her lungs clear and spat into the empty bucket.

“Yeah,” she replied with a rough cracking voice, “never better.”

“Well, I have tea from Zecora. Twilight and her, friends, have left,” she hesitated, “I’m laundering your couch with the help of Mister Bear, but it’ll be a couple days before it’s clean enough to sit on again.”

“W-what?” Rainbow asked as she laid back into the bed, covering her eyes with her hooves.

“Well, um, hmm,” she went silent.

“They ‘mated’ on the couch, didn’t they?”

“Oh my, well. If you can call it that, I guess.”

“Who’s that new mare that was with Twi and Blu?”

“A country pony passing through that caught Blu’s eye,” she started as she climbed off the bed and went to a try set up on the dresser, pouring some tea into a small cup. “You see, here, drink up,” she said softly, passing the cup to Rainbow Dash, who was more than happy to sip it.

“Blu’s a DJ.”

“Yeah, everypony know that.”

“A traveling DJ,” she said with emphasis on traveling.

“Oh, I get it. And Twilight-”

“Is staying right here. She’s too swept away with this infatuation to notice.”

“Oh, so when Blu leaves she’s going with Ashy?”

Fluttershy nodded to her closest friend as she took the now empty cup from Rainbow. “So, how’s things with you two?” Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy giggled softly. “We’re great. Pinkie’s everything I need, and likewise.”

“I never woulda thought you’d be so happy with her. Have you two, ya know” Rainbow looked to Fluttershy with a wink and a poke into the air with her hoof.

A bright pink blush took hold on Fluttershy’s face.

“Oh my gosh, owowow,” Rainbow grabbed her head, “you did it? Finally?”

“Oh, well, not really, kind of, but, oh dear,” she replied after she replaced the cup on the tray.

“Did she tongue you? Does she really taste like cotton candy? What’s she keep in her mane for that stuff?”

Fluttershy couldn’t respond verbally, only with a shake of her head before she looked away.

“Woah, did you cum?! Was it like a waterfall?” she teased.

“Oh my, no. Rainbow, please stop.”

“C’mon, you want me to get better? Then spill the beans. I want allll of the juicy details of my best friends getting it on.”

Rainbow had sat up and winced with every heartbeat as it sent a pain into the right side of her head, but she gave her total attention to Fluttershy.

“F-fine. Oh dear, s-sh-she watched, and I watched.”

“What? You watched animals do it? That doesn’t count,” Rainbow said with a snort.

“N-no, we, watched,” she squeaked softly.

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy for a full ten seconds before she got it.

“Holy Celestia, you masturbated to each other?! Owowow. Wow ‘Shy, didn’t know you had it in ya; Pinkie yes, but you, heh-heh.”

“O-oh my. Don’t tell anypony, it was our first time.”

“Well, tell me all about it, c’mere and tell me,” she implored as Fluttershy shrank into herself. “Fine, I’m coming to you then,” she said making a lot of noise ruffling the sheets and blankets.

“N-no. Don’t get out of bed, please. I’ll come to you.” Climbing onto the bed Fluttershy laid next to Rainbow, on her belly. “What do you want to know.”

With a sly grin Rainbow winked.

“Fine, but no pony knows and you better not tell.”

“You know I won’t, and since I’m never, ever getting drunk again it won’t slip. Except to AJ. So, spill.”

“And not to those friends at your parties.”

“Not even them. Only Applejack, my fiance. Well…”

“Fine,” Fluttershy said perking up and turning to face Rainbow, pulling a pillow under her barrel for support. "It was just another night, she was over and we were reading when she starts to scoot closer.”

“Ooo, okay, then?”

“She likes to lay on my lap sometimes, it’s comfy, she says.”

“Yeah, I bet that’s the only reason.”

“She laid on my lap and,” she began to blush again, “moved her hoof to my legs, and went up to my-” She gasped and stopped, pursing her lips; the word lost to her.

“Pussy?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“And then? C’mon, don’t leave me hangin’.”

“S-she, her hoof, and small circles. Deeper, then,” she was beginning to pant recalling what had happened.

“Details, ‘Shy, this’ what best childhood friends do. Talk about everything, so tell me or I’ll tell you about the last time me and AJ did it.”

“No, please,” was the instant reply. The detail and motions Rainbow put into her stories were too vivid for Fluttershy. “She leaned up and kissed me, then went to start doing those little circles again, but I wasn’t feeling ready. She, kinda was sad, but I-I, um, well, I started.”

“Woah,” Rainbow stated flatly, her eyes widening, “wow. Woah! You started masturbating in front of her?! No way, that’s awesome!”

“Well, kind of I did. Then she leaned back and put her legs over mine and started.”

“Woah, don’t stop, keep going.”

“That’s what she said,” Fluttershy said with a smirk. Rainbow let out a laugh at the quick response. “And that was it, we just did that until it was over.”

“That was it? Just a quickie?”

“Well…”

“What else happened!?” Rainbow screamed, rolling to her belly and facing Fluttershy, listening with rapt attention.

“She got there first, then opened it up, so kept going, looking at her. She’s pink, Rainbow.”

“Everypony knows tha-. Ohhh, heh heh, like that. You didn’t know that?”

“I-I never looked or needed to know about ponies’ back there,” she said moving her rear legs slightly, “so, I was almost there and she was so open and pink and, I kind of got there, too.”

“That was it? I thought something cool happened,” Rainbow said, letting her ears fall.

“Then I sucked her hoof until it was clean and she did the same to me.”

“You tasted her hoof?! After you, how was it?”

Fluttershy giggled into her left hoof and held the other out to Rainbow. “What? Why’re you, wait,” she sniffed the air then looked to the hoof aimed at her, leaning closer she sniffed. “Holy Luna that’s cotton candy! She really tastes like it?”

Fluttershy giggled and nodded.

“Wow. Uh, congrats, ‘Shy. Wanna trade for a night?”

Fluttershy’s giggle stopped and she scowled at Rainbow, narrowing her eyes, her upper lip trembled.

“Uh, joking. Just, a joke. She’s all yours,” Rainbow said as a tremble of fear ruffled her wings. That was worse than the stare, what was that?

Her smile softly returned. “Good. Now, how about more tea?”

With a nod Rainbow was alone in bed as Fluttershy flew over her to the dresser to get more tea.

“So, what’s this I hear about you blaming yourself for what happened? You know she was in my care.”

“I know, I’m sorry, ‘Shy.”

“I had never lost a pony before, but many times I’ve had to deal with the deaths of my critters. It was the first time we’d sung a pony to sleep,” she said as she poured the cup of tea.

“You’re taking all that really well, she died right in front of you.”

Hoofing the tea to Rainbow she continued. “I have to see it often, sometimes too often. It’s sad, and I’m scared of monsters and the pain of death. The loss of my friends and loved ones, even Angel. But I know that it’s part of life.

“I learned years ago, when I almost died falling from the clouds when we were fillies, that life is fragile. In an instant it can end, and all any of us can do is live until it happens.”

“Woah, so, like, you’re not scared to die?”

“Terrifed, but do you know what scares me more?” Rainbow shook her head. “To have regrets.”

“What?”

“To have my life full of things I wish I’d changed or done differently. What you’re doing Rainbow Dash, is regretting what happened. What you should do is accept it and move on.”

“It isn’t that easy, ‘Shy.”

“No, it isn’t. But you learn from it, just like failing a stunt, you have to move on if it’s too tough or easy. You have to make new ones and teach yourself to get over the old ones.”

“Oh,” Rainbow said finishing the tea and setting it on her lap, “I get it. I can’t think of this like a failed trick, just go on to the next one. Like, when she died, I have to move on and get a new friend.”

“Maybe not like that, friends are easy to get. You have to learn how to get past the pain and get on with life. It’ll take time, and you’re going to be different. When it’s over and you’re better you won’t even know it, but your life will be better. Your heart will be stronger for it.”

Fluttershy hopped onto the bed and hugged Rainbow. “You’re going to be fine, no matter how bad it seems, you’ll always have her in your heart and memories,” she ended the hug, climbed off the bed, took the cup in her hoof and sat beside the bed.

“Now, you’re looking better, but you need rest. Lay back and I’ll get more tea, sing you a song, too.”

Rainbow laid back and snuggled into her blankets. “Thanks ‘Shy, I’m so glad to have met you.”

“Me too, Rainbow Dash.”

The rest of the day was spent with Fluttershy taking care of Rainbow.

Next Chapter: Recovered Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 38 Minutes