You have been extremely diligent in working on your public health project in Twilight’s absence, and when she walks into the library, you have great news for her.

“Ugh, that trip was terrible,” Twilight groans as she takes a seat next to you in the library. She’s disheveled, with her mane sticking every which way.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really,” she scoffs flatly. “Anyway, I’m sorry for being gone. I’m a little tired, but I’m ready to keep working tonight with you.”

You keep your attention on the book in front of you, and scratch your muzzle with a hoof to hide your smile. “Nah, that’s alright.”

“Please,” Twilight pleads tiredly. “I feel terrible about having to leave you here.”

“Twilight, all that’s important is that you get a good night’s rest. We have to leave to go to the Equestrian Epidemiological Society conference tomorrow.”

Twilight stares at you emptily with an open mouth as she processes your words in an exceedingly slow fashion. “Wait…” Her eyes widen gradually. “...What?”

“I submitted our abstract, and it wasn’t just accepted; we’ll be giving an hour-long joint talk on Friday.”

“...You’re serious?”

You nod, unable to keep yourself from displaying a cocky grin. “Buffed up CV, here we come.”

Twilight slowly and deliberately shakes her head in disbelief. “You are so incredibly hot when you take academic initiative.”

“What?”

“What?” Twilight replies quickly. “Anyway,” she quickly moves on, “when do we leave tomorrow?”

“Tickets already bought; we set off on the 6:15 train...Do you have fatigue-related aphasia or something?”

“Probably, and I should get to bed promptly.”

---

Twilight prances through the double doors of the Windstream hotel, practically bowling over the doorpony on the way. You follow dutifully along behind her, indulging her as she spews her excitement all over everypony nearby.

“I can’t believe it! My first academic conference! Not in a million years did I think you would get me to one of these! No offense- and, ohmygosh, I forgot that I’m giving a talk! I can’t believe it!” Twilight halts her happy hopping right in the center of the lobby and spins gracefully around several times before facing toward you. “Can you!?”

“Barely,” you reply. “It should be a lot of fun to speak tomorrow afternoon.” Unlike Twilight, who appeared to have recovered quickly from her fatigue the day before, your early morning and the half day’s train trip to Chicacolt had taken it out of you.

Twilight lets out a gasp and points to a lounge area off to the side of the lobby. “I can’t believe it! It’s a hotel bar!”

You look over at the bar. “It...is. Yes.”

“I’ve always wanted to drink with my fellow intelligentsia at a prestigious conference!” she gushes, bounding over that way.

“Twilight,” you protest weakly, “it’s only 1 o’clock and we haven’t even checked in yet!”

She makes a loud noise of vague dismissal as she disappears into the fashionably modern-looking annex.

Sighing, you follow her into the bar.

---

You sip contentedly on your scotch as Twilight cranes her neck around on the lookout for other educated conference attendees to converse with. “Are you sure I can’t go talk to the stallion at the bar? I’m pretty sure he’s in pharma R&D.”

You let out an exasperated sigh. “Twilight, he’s been screaming at his ex-wife on the cellphone for the last twenty minutes.”

“What about that griffon in the corner? He could be a grad student!”

“Or a disgruntled postdoc that keeps spitting on the floor of the hotel.”

Twilight crunches up her muzzle angrily. She downs the rest of her fruity cocktail quickly and crosses her hooves over her barrel. “To quote Rainbow Dash, this ‘sucks’,” she complains, using her hooves to make air quotation marks. “I want another cocktail!”

As if taking direct orders from the Princess, the bartender immediately begins working on another drink for Twilight.

“Please, please promise me this is your last one for the day?”

“Hhhmph. Fine.”

You relax your body and take another brief sip of your drink, savoring its astringent, smoky quality. “We just need to pass the time until some ponies start filtering into the bar, Twilight.”

“I’ll pass the time by drinking and waiting for my true fellow intelligentsia to arrive,” she pouts, sneering down at the table.

“That can’t be good for your outlook on this weekend,” you offer. “Come on, then! What happened to the happy Twilight of half an hour ago?”

“She is dead,” Twilight deadpans. “Murdered by a combination of high expectations and a low reality.”

You really can’t reply to that. Disgruntled as she is, her analysis is spot-on.

The bartender places two of the same sweet cocktail Twilight had been drinking in front of her. “One is free for the Princess of Friendship,” he offers, quickly scurrying away from the table.

You bite your lip.

Twilight’s ears perk up as she surveys her cocktails. “Well, at least I’m a Princess,” she says, sucking down half of her first cocktail with gusto.

“Oh boy,” you breathe quietly to yourself.

Twilight is taking her second sip when she gasps, almost choking on it. “I KNOW!” she declares slightly too loudly, causing your ears to flop against the sides of your head. “We can play truth-or-dare!”

“Truth-or-dare?” you parrot incredulously. “I’ve only played a single game of that since my school days.”

“Come on, it will be fun!” she gushes, finishing her first cocktail and pulling the next one in front of her. “I’ve only ever played it with my friends before! All the books on teen psychology that I have say it’s much better when it’s a mixed-gender group!”

“Oh, Twilight,” you whisper, shaking your head in pity at her lack of formative experiences.

“Maybe we’ll even attract fellow scholars into the game!” she continues, completely ignoring your comment. “Okay, you ask first!”

You sense that protesting won’t be very useful. Relenting, you sigh and resolve to play the game without grumbling. “Alright, Twilight. Truth, or dare?”

“Dare!” she declares proudly.

You get the sense that the alcohol is giving her courage, as well as general volume of speech, that she does not normally possess. You jump on the opportunity to avoid a catastrophe. “Give me your drink.”

Twilight’s ears flop to the sides of her head. “Aw,” she mutters, pushing her drink over to you with her trademark firm compliance to listed rules.

“Thank you.” You feel relieved that the crisis has thus been averted.

“Truth or dare?” Twilight asks you.

You pause. You had almost forgotten that you had to go next!

To respond ‘Truth’, proceed to Chapter 51.

To respond ‘Dare’, proceed to Chapter 52.

Next Chapter: Chapter 31 Estimated time remaining: 50 Minutes