Everyone was talking about last night and it wasn’t about the cozy storytelling and snacks. Last night, before the last of the campfires were put out, Our Sun made her appearance at the end of the driveway.

“She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen,” Thunderlane gushed over breakfast. I nodded, but didn’t look up from the johnnycakes I was making.

“Hey!” Flitter whined near the stallion.

“You don’t agree?” Thunderlane asked. I didn’t look up to catch her non-verbal answer.

Princess Celestia was majestic. Not just because of her wings and horn or her graceful stature. It was the way her perfect white coat reflected the light of her aurora. Without her crown or ceremonial armor breaking up her appearance, she looked like a white flame gently stepping through a dark world.

Understandably, some ponies thought she was a ghost. A few thought she was a trap. The vast majority of us immediately ran to her, like lost children who found their mother. I was in that last crowd. Foals and ponies were woken up. We shouted her name. We bowed. Ponies cried.

“Berry?” Nathan spoke up next to me. He was on spatula duty, helping me. I looked up at my human friend. “Flip?”

I looked back down at the flatbreads and realized I had been staring at them but not actually paying attention. I nodded and Nathan flipped them. My mind was on the night before like everyone else’s but I don’t think it was for the same reasons.

Everyone swore she looked right at them. I did too but I was second guessing that now. Ponies called out to her, spoke to her, and a few dared touch her. Princess Celestia, for her part, remained the image of mythical grace and supernatural beauty. She told us she had been protecting the world from Discord’s influences but didn’t elaborate.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash came to check on the commotion and then led her into the house. Then the Mane Six were gathered for whatever she came to talk to them about. Ponies peeked through windows all night, trying to catch another glimpse of her. The Mane Six said she was gone now but no one saw her leave. Some ponies still thought she was hiding in the house.

Princess Celestia disappeared as quickly and mysteriously as she appeared and I was trying to understand why.

She didn’t have to walk up the driveway. She arrived late enough that some ponies were still awake but not enough to be totally overwhelmed. Just enough ponies would have been awake to spread word of her appearance...

She didn’t seem busy; it didn’t seem urgent; but she didn’t stay or promise to come back. There was endless speculation for why she showed up: a way home, government asylum, a war, Discord’s defeat. I thought none of those fit.

My blasphemous thought was that maybe she was only a motherly figure on the show because it was based on Twilight's memories. Compared to the almost private relationships ponies had with Princess Luna, Celestia came off as an almost distant, mostly absent mother...

Or maybe that was just my personal bias.

“Uh oh, the foals are coming back to wipe us out!” Flitter teased. I looked up at where she was pointing. There was a small giggle of fillies and colts coming our way. My Pinchy was among them. I glanced down at the dutch oven full of johnnycakes from the last few batches, wrapped in a kitchen towel to stay warm. There was more than enough to share with them again.

“Knock yourself out,” I encouraged the little group. I saw Ruby pick one up in her magic but give it to another foal. Other foals started grabbing the flat breads, breaking several in the process. I glanced back at all the batter left in the mixing bowl.

“Duo, how’d it go?” Thunderlane asked a little gray colt in the group.

“She, uh, she was busy,” Duo said before nibbling on his cake. Minuette came over to the foals, preserves and fruit butters floating with a butter knife next to her.

“Raspberry apple butter will cheer you right up!” Minuette recommended as she started gently spreading it on the flat cake Duo was holding in his magic.

“Practicing with her rapier and yelling in Spanish again?” Thunderlane asked.

“Yeah…” Duo said with a sigh. He took a bite of the cake that had some of the butter smeared onto it. He did seem to perk up a bit.

“She didn’t seem as angry today?” a pegasus filly with blue-green hair offered as consolation. She had a flying sundae topped with a large cherry for her cutie mark. I wanted to say she was Cherry Cloud. It was easier to remember all these ponies’ names when I had their cutie mark as a hint. The ones without marks were a lot harder. Especially since I had been meeting a lot of foals in passing.

I looked at my Pinchy.

“Didn’t have any advice for him?” I nudged.

“What do you mean?”

“Like how he should get her attention?”

“...No? Not really. I’m pretty rusty on the whole ‘dating’ thing.”

“Oh. But... you dated in junior high. It’s probably kind of like that now, right?”

My daughter gave me a ‘really?’ look while another filly, Winter Song, gave me a disapproving head shake.

“No, just… no,” my daughter said and didn’t seem to want to elaborate. I think I just accidentally called the little, little ponies simple-minded kids. Foals are surprisingly complicated; whatever Ruby got out of the foal friends, it was a different sense of camaraderie than with our friends.

Minuette snuck up while they were talking and hoofed Ruby a johnnycake smeared with strawberry preserve. She took it but didn’t seem excited about it.

“I already had three earlier…” she complained but seemed to reconsider. She looked up at me. “Mom, split it with me?”

“I’m good. You’re running off again, right? You should eat it,” I deflected. I was kind of hungry but I wanted her to eat more first before she ran off again with her foal friends.

“...yeah,” she admitted. “There’s a teacher named Pencil Lead who said he'd try to teach us some of his spells today.”

“Oooh, can I come?” Minuette asked.

“Of course!” Pinchy agreed. I wondered if I could invite myself along for that or if that’d be weird, being hornless.

“We got the TV in two hours too,” a blue colt reminded the group. They always watched Friendship is Magic. It was “educational”.

“Great! We’ll head out as soon as Mom eats,” Minuette agreed and stared at me.

“Huh? What?” I asked. I looked at her and she was grinning back at me.

“You only had one!” She accused me with a hoof. Carrot showed us how to make the johnnycakes right before she ran off with Comet to help collect firewood with a bunch of others then I took over. I helped myself to the hot chocolate but I was too busy thinking I guess. “What’s on your mind, Berry Punch?”

“Nothing?” I said to the pony who immediately didn't believe me. The 'problem' with old friends, especially ones you dated at one point, is that they know you too well.

While we were debating my eating habits I saw Vinyl Scratch and Pinkie Pie walking and hopping, respectively, in our direction. Pinkie Pie had a grocery bag in her mouth. I waved at them to cut off the conversation.

“Yo, Berry!” Vinyl shouted and waved back when she saw she had my attention. “Party’s on!”

“A party??” the blue colt asked.

“A party!” Pinkie Pie repeated as she hopped closer. As soon as she reached us she dumped her bag out. Party hats, candy and loose paper confetti spilled out onto the ground. She immediately started fixing a hat onto the nearest foal.

“...Yeah!” Vinyl said before looking back at me. “Music’s gotta be in the barn, and everything’s got to be put back by nine, but Applejack said it’s on!”

I started crunching the numbers and wondered how early we’d have to start. We only had like twelve hours until we had to pack up. I looked over at the bowl of batter left, frowned, and started spooning cakefuls out onto the griddle. Carrot Top made way too much batter.

“Do you need any help?” Minuette asked the party ponies.

“Totally!” Pinkie answered first. “Do you know how to make pies? For throwing?”

“Uh… you just use whipped cream on a paper plate, right?”

“You’re hired!” Pinkie Pie said before shaking Minuette’s hoof. She turned to Vinyl. “We’re going to need six cans of whipped cream, a bag of water balloons, ten pounds of candy, one pound of coffee and a bottle of aspirin.”

“Uh... I’ll add it to the list!” Vinyl agreed and flashed a piece of folded paper. “Berry?” Vinyl got my attention. “Chris is doing a supply run for us. While I was talking to my musicians, Lyra told me that you make a mean punch.”

“Oh. My punch?” I half-asked half-stated as I glanced at the foals then back at her. “It’s not exactly foal-friendly.”

“They’ll be other stuff to drink,” Vinyl hoofwaved my concerns.

“And supervision, right?” my little Pinchy asked the pink party pony placing the penultimate party hat on her. “I don’t think everypony knows what their livers can tolerate now.”

“Of course! Somepony responsible!” Pinkie Pie agreed as she placed the last party hat on herself and unwrapped a piece of candy before tossing it into her mouth.

“So, would you make it for me?” Vinyl asked. “It could be your contribution to the party!” I checked with Ruby first who seemed skeptical but didn’t say anything. A party sounded fun. Maybe that was what I needed to get out of my head.

“...Yeah, okay,” I agreed. I reasoned I didn’t have to have any punch, I just had to make it.

“Awesome! Refreshments taken care of,” Vinyl said before floating a pen and paper at the ready. “What all do you need?”

“Well… vodka, gin, white rum, white tequila, ...a bottle of lime green gatorade and a box of red wine, anything sweet,” I listed off.

“Woah, woah,” Vinyl said as she stopped writing. “Is this just for your punch?”

“Uh, yeah…”

I saw her glasses slide down for a second, exposing raised brows, before she pushed her glasses back up and started writing again.

“Ooooh,” Pinkie pipped, eavesdropping while foals began climbing her like playground equipment.

“Alright. So… it’s basically all alcohol? Any soda or juice? Or is it just the gatorade?”

“The gatorade is the stand-in for sour mix. The wine is the modifier,” I explained.

“Why not just get sour mix?”

“Too fancy.”

I saw a terrified but excited grin form on Vinyl’s lips. “Alright! Cool. I’ll just go ahead and ask for some soda and juice to finish out the bar you’re starting.”

“Get some angostura bitters and simple syrup while you’re at it then.”

My daughter cleared her throat to get our attention.

“This is going to be an all-ages party, right?” she asked.

“...and ginger ale and club soda,” I added. I could throw together some mocktails with those.

“Don’t worry, the whole farm will be a party! I have treats and games planned!” Pinkie said. She hopped up and several foals fell off of her. Vinyl, finished with her list, caught one falling headfirst in her magic and let her down gently.

“Alright, I gotta get this to Chris,” Vinyl said, flashing the shopping list. “Then it’s time to start setting up!”’

“You want any help with that?” I offered. I had nothing else to do today but eat and sleep. Feeling useful would help.

“After you eat something, silly pony,” Minuette said as she levitated the cake smeared in strawberry preserves to my mouth. I gave up and bit into it. She leaned in to whisper to me as I chewed. “We can talk later.”

So, after we cleaned up from breakfast, we all went in different directions to help. The news of a party quickly spread and ponies started figuring out ways to contribute. I saw temporary structures go up and the smell of campfire putting food in the air.

Our communal food supplies seemed to rotate in and out and I think Carrot Top was trying to get some of her Mason jars back. I know with what essentials she had left she was still going to try and bake something somehow and was keen to show others who were asking how to cook on a campfire. She seemed to be in a teaching mood today.

Blossomforth started taking an interest in Carrot Top lately and was involved with that. I know Cloud Kicker wanted to help with some party plans up in the cloudhouse circling over the farm. I think Comet Tail was helping with the construction and fires; he certainly got a handle on fires last night. I think Nathan was following Pinkie Pie and the foals around, lending a hand and being a big brother.

I helped Vinyl and the rest of the music ponies set up their “venue”. Mostly I just stacked cots and cleared ponies’ belongings out from the aisle. Minuette showed up for a while and helped string up old Christmas lights. Then got distracted with preparations elsewhere. We didn’t talk about anything; there were a lot of ponies around. And I didn’t know if I could articulate my concerns.

The speakers that were set up weren’t big or commercial but there were more than I’d have expected. The black A-Team van with the red stripes I saw a few days ago was pushed in through the back of the barn. With its back hatch open I saw it had a ridiculous car stereo. The kind that you would think would rattle everything off of the vehicle. During the sound tests they were using fandom music and that drew even more ponies to the barn out of curiosity. Applejack was among them and after seeing the setup coming together, I overheard negotiations about how loud the music was allowed to get. Regardless, the back of that van with its doors open ended up becoming part of the ‘stage’.

Chris eventually showed up, arms weighed down with as many grocery bags as a man can carry when determined not to make a second trip. His three kids were following after him and laughing, picking up his slack with the last of the bags.

“I come bearing booze!” he announced to the crowd forming in the barn. A few ponies cheered as he went over to the closest pony-height table. “Aaaagh!” He made a show of how heavy all the bags were as he let them slide off his arms and set them down. “Phew! Enough to kill a horse!” He said as he stood up and flexed his arms. He spotted me and grinned. “Well, okay, maybe not you.”

For being surrounded by cartoon ponies, he still ended up being one of the most animated people in a room. His three kids set their own bags down near his. I decided to see how things were with one of them.

“Oh hey, Yoko?” I called to her. She froze and looked at me the way a child does when someone unexpectedly calls out to them. “My daughter was looking for you. Have you talked to her lately?” Admittedly that was a bit of a lie but I was curious what all was going on and wanted to make sure the two were still friends.

Yoko shook her pigtails ‘no’, but seemed curious now. The two other kids, a boy and a girl who looked more blood-related, looked at each other then silently shared a look with Yoko. I went on.

“They’re probably helping Pinkie Pie. I think they’re kind of in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage?” I suggested.

“Oh yeah!” Chris said as he picked out a few of the bags. I saw one was nothing but whipped cream canisters. “She’s going to need these for... something. Go drop them off and have fun!” He insisted. The kids took them and started heading out before Chris called out after them. “And be on your best behavior!”

“Yes, Mom!” they called back in unison. Chris seemed to freeze up and look at me and the other ponies in the conversation, then broke into awkward chuckling.

“Inside joke; kids,” he said as he rolled his eyes and let them come back to me. His expression changed to a slightly cockier grin. He pulled out a bag of ice and a tall beverage dispenser.

“Anyway, Berry! Are you ready to… PUNCH??” he said as he sat the dispenser down on the table. “I have to try this. I’m curious if it’s actually sixty-dollars good or if it’s just liver damage with extra steps.”

“A bit of both,” I admittedly modestly. He laughed.

“I’d hope for nothing less,” he assured me as he started pulling bottles of alcohol out and lining them on the table next to it. “If you want to tell me how to do it, I'll be your hands.”

“Alright,” I took him up on the offer and directed. “Couldn’t be easier: first dump in the ice then about the same amount of the wine as gatorade.”

Chris obliged my instructions and seemed amused to see all the gatorade getting added to the wine. The liquid turned a familiar murky wine color which the ice lightened to a complex red. “And now just equal parts of all of the spirits.”

“Now, when you say ‘all the spirits’...” Chris said as he eyed the table for more instructions.

“The vodka, the gin, the rum and the tequila,” I elaborated. “In equal parts.” Chris whistled and started opening each of the bottles.

“So, is this like a Long Island but wine instead of soda?” he asked. He was pouring for a few seconds from each of the bottles before rotating to the next.

“Yup!”

Chris chuckled. “God help us.”

While he finished topping off the container, I started to hear a soft beat begin playing all around me then stop. It was different from all the music that played before. I looked towards the ‘stage’ just in time to hear a lyre begin taking over instead. Lyra and Octavia were standing in front of a hot mic.

The two mares made coy eye contact, nodded in unison, then Lyra started plucking a lovely melody. Then Octavia accompanied it by singing, slow and smokey:

There were cheers and a few good-natured wolf whistles in the audience. Then more cheers as Vinyl Scratch, sitting behind them in the back of the van, adjusted something on a panel in front of her on the floor and brought the volume of the music coming from the speakers up. Octavia flashed the DJ a half-lidded expression of approval before she started plucking a deep bass to join her singing and Lyra’s plucking.

I turned back to Chris, who was now gently rocking the whole, very full, container back and forth, trying to make sure it was all incorporated well enough. After he was satisfied, he picked up two disposable cups and handed one to me.

“Bottoms up!” he said as he filled his cup with the punch. I watched him fill his up then he looked at me and smirked. “Not going to make me try this by myself, are you? You gotta make sure I got it right.”

Thinking he was helping me again, he took the empty cup he handed to me and started filling it up before giving it back. I looked at it and then at him.

I wasn’t intending on having any punch, but he was right: I needed to make sure it was right.

“To strong friendships and even stronger livers!” Chris toasted. I looked around at the ponies gathering around. Everyone around us not looking at the live performance was eyeing me and the punch curiously.

What the hay; it was a party.

I knocked my cup with the human’s and we sipped.

The taste of the wine hit first but was quickly bulldozed over by the heightened sour of the gatorade that gave way to a strong, sweet body. The floralness of the rum and gin danced together before leaving behind a small bouquet that the wine carried away, leaving behind a dry kiss.

“Damn, it’s like if you made riot punch for a wedding,” Chris summarized before making a strange cackle. He drank a bit more and grinned at me. “Not bad! Damn good even!”

An electronic beat took over Octavia’s bass. Just in time too, because beautiful, aggressive cello strokes began to well up in the air of the barn. The audience started to get giddy as Octavia and Lyra both began singing over the former’s rapid playing:

Ponies cheered as the humble first live song of the day came together, stitched together with love and an electronic backing.

I downed the rest of my punch.

This atmosphere; this positivity. I needed this.

I looked up at Chris who gave an approving ruffle of my mane for the punch.

I still had it in me.

Ponies started to approach the refreshment table now, curious about the punch.

“Anyway!” Chris said after he finished his cup. “Trixie’s probably waiting for me. Have fun, ponies!”

Chris waved and I waved back. Another pony got my attention.

“I don’t suppose I could just have a rum and coke?” he asked me, gesturing to the bottles behind me on the table. I looked at the bottles, the mixers and then at this pony and line forming at the one beverage dispenser we had set up.

“Oh. I… don’t see why not. We got plenty left,” I agreed. The soda wasn’t even opened yet. Most of the bottles were at ambient temperature but it was a cool day and a simple request. I jumped the line to get more punch, then went to open the soda.

“Would it be okay if I get a gin and juice?” another pony asked.

I saw nothing wrong with playing bartender for a bit.

The music in the barn alternated between live music from a patchwork band and mp3s of brony songs. Everypony seemed to know the lyrics and everypony who didn’t swayed and danced anyway. After a few more cups of punch and quality assurance on some drinks I made, I started to know all the lyrics too.

The collection of booze only grew as ponies brought whatever they had. A few I wanted to try because comparing two spirits back-to-back is how one really learns the difference. One group insisted I try the Zinfandel wine they had been saving and I wasn’t going to disappoint even if I still didn’t love wine. Then Cherry Berry brought more of that cider she made the night before and I had to have a cup of it while it was still hot.

By about that point in the day, I was craving salt. I got into the snacks. Of course, the salt and sugar just made me more thirsty so I drank more.

I helped one filly make an Orange Fizz. Then another, a virgin ‘maregarita’. Eventually there were so many foals asking for drinks I decided a second punch was in order. Applejack had brought out an old punch bowl for me to use initially and I ended up using it to make something with orange juice, apple juice and the lemon-lime soda getting neglected. It needed a little bite so some of the ginger ale disappeared into it too. The foals were happy with the result, especially when a unicorn took over ladle-duty; my hooves were getting a little uncoordinated.

“Berry?” someone asked as she stumbled towards me. It was a blue pegasus with wavy purple hair. I didn't know her but a lot of ponies knew me. “Do a shot wiff me?” She slurred a bit as she fumbled a flask out of her hoodie. She flashed it at me. I was engraved on it!

Well, I had to now!

“What’re we drinking?” I asked the mare over the happy EDM playing.

“Barr Hill?” she offered. Gin! As if I was going to be fussy. I gestured and she gave me the flask. I uncapped and aimed a pour at my upturned muzzle. The juniper had a honey aftertaste and fit the atmosphere. I passed the open flask back to the excited mare. She did her own pour before screwing the cap back on and giving me a hug that turned into nuzzling. I nuzzled her back for a bit, she was clearly an affectionate drunk too.

Eventually she had to get that flask back into her hoodie. She nearly rolled over and flashed me to get it in there but eventually she got it.

“Where’d you get that?” I asked the mare shaking her messed up hair out of her face.

“Poniconvenshun!” she excitedly explained. “My name’s-”

“Berry Punch!” somepony else shouted as she entered the barn. I turned and saw Carrot Top approaching me. “What are you doing?! I thought you were with Ruby.”

“No? I’m here,” I said and took a sip from my cup. As I did Carrot Top smacked it away. “Hay…”

Carrot was quick to get muzzle-to-muzzle with me.
“You were quitting,” Carrot told me. I could smell the campfire smoke on her, but it would have been easy to mistake it for coming from the burning emeralds in her eyes.

She was mad.

I backed up a bit, right into the drink table.

“Why are you drinking?” she questioned me then looked at my friend who backed away.

“Because... it’s a party?”

“And you’re an alcoholic! After all you’ve been through??” she asked.

“I was- I am, but…” I trailed off. I looked around at the ponies nearby staring at us. Plenty of them were drinking and having a good time. And I helped with that. Even the foals had their own non-alcoholic punch. The only problem here was Carrot Top being a teetotaler.

“But what?” Carrot Top brought my attention back to her.

“We’re just having a good time. I was asked to make a punch… and I was watching the bar,” I explained pointing at the table behind me.

“And of course you can’t not drink in an environment with alcohol…” Carrot said with a long sigh. Her anger fell away.

I guess she realized there was nothing she could do now: I was already drunk. She couldn’t undrunk me.

“How much have you had?” she asked as she looked around for evidence. As she did I spotted something resting on a towel on her back.

“Did you make a pie?” I asked. She looked at me then back at her pie.

“Yeah, I made a couple. I was teaching some ponies how to bake on an open fire,” she explained.

“...how did you make a pie though?” I asked, thinking about her campfire setup.

“I brought my rolling pin. The filling’s just applesauce; I was out of fruit,” she went on. That didn’t answer all my questions but the real answer was just that Carrot Top was talented and she was telling me because she was proud. Of course she made pie.

I looked back at the spread of spirits and mixers and my punch to confirm I was in my element too.

“You’ve had enough,” Carrot said when she saw me eyeing them.

I hadn’t but that’s not why I was looking. Explaining what I was thinking sounded hard right now though. Instead I decided to help her get her pie up onto the table.

It wasn’t easy moving something while standing on your back legs. I fumbled a bit but I got it up onto the counter.

“You’re drunk,” Carrot tried to point out again.

“I’m not,” I insisted vaguely as I got back onto all fours. I was a bit but that wasn’t the point. All the music and ponies disorientated me. I had the perfect buzz going.

And Carrot Top was harshing it.

“How much have you had then?” She asked again.

“Um,” I thought as I looked at the cup she spilled and then went to pick it up. I didn’t want to litter. Looking at that spilled cup though, I decided I didn’t need to answer that question. “You know what? I am a little drunk but that’s okay. It’s a party! I’m not sad-drinking! I’m just keeping up with everypony,” I tried to explain.

Carrot Top looked me over, seeming to size up my reasoning. She sighed when she reached a verdict.

“...alright,” she said, seeming to cool and change gears. “Will you come help me? I need your help with the other pie.”

Well, that sounded okay.

Carrot Top started to lead me out of the barn. Before I got far away I turned and shouted back at the barn.

“Hay!” I said and stumbled a bit from not looking where I was going. “Keep an eye on the alcohol!” I shouted back at nopony in particular. I turned back and followed Carrot. She led me back to her ‘kitchen’. There were a few ponies waiting there for us.

“Comet!” I shouted to my other yellow friend as I approached. He was talking with another stallion over smoldering ashes but they stopped when I came up. “Why aren’t you at the party? I made my punch!”

Comet’s eye grew wide.

“Your punch? With the wine and gatorade?” he asked. He seemed to find my hooves interesting as I came around and plopped down next to him.

“That’s the one!” I agreed. I saw him sniff in my direction.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Well yeah, it’s a party,” I explained again.

“You’re quittin’ though?”

“Am I?” I asked. I physically relaxed. “I’m just stressed out. I needed to relax.”

“‘Stressed out’? What’s going on?”

“Don’t-don’t worry about that. Just come on,” I said as I tried to goad Comet Tail to get up. Once I got him up I used him to keep my balance as I did.

He was so warm and fuzzy. I could smell him too. He was like someone popped a bottle of champagne and poured it down a stallion’s sweaty chest into an absinthe-rinsed flute.

As soon as we were back on our hooves I started heading back to the barn to show him the punch.

“Watch her! I’ll finish up here,” Carrot said in a huff behind me. I turned around and saw Comet Tail nodding to her and turning to follow me like I wanted. Of course, I wasn’t looking where I was going so I ran into somepony and apologized.

She was fine. Once I got up, I made it to the barn at about the same time Comet Tail did.

“...Berry?” Comet Tail asked.

I looked away from the cups I was getting out for us and back at him.

“...What’s your higher power?” he asked with a cryptic frown on his face. I was taken off guard by the question but I knew the answer. I smiled.

“Friendship.”

“Then you’ll understand when I say, as a friend, I think you should stop.”

“...drinking?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed as he approached and placed a hoof on me. “You’re getting sloppy.”

“I’m having fun,” I explained. “I’m good at this!” I went on. I pointed at my punch and then at my cutie mark. “It’s what my cutie mark is telling me.”

“...okay,” he started diplomatically. “Let’s just take the drinking slowly; moderation?”

“Of course! Yeah,” I said and nodded in agreement. Some ponies were making drinks but I saw the line clear for the punch; the social lubricant was flowing. I poured some punch.

I turned and brought, on three hooves, a cup back over to Comet Tail. He seemed insistent to meet me halfway and take the cup quickly in his magic.

“Go ahead,” I said, gesturing. “‘Absolutely nailed it. I think it was the wine brand.”

Comet Tail looked at the punch, then at me, then drank it. He nodded, appreciatively.

“Yeah, it’s good,” he agreed.

“See??” I pointed out. At least I think I was making a point.

He sipped a bit more of it down then seemed to agree a little bit more.

Comet sighed and took in the scene of the party a bit more.

Up closer to the stage, in the middle of the barn aisle, ponies were dancing and singing while a pony on stage with a guitar was absolutely rocking it. Further back near us ponies were laughing and gushing about things that made them happy, they were snacking and drinking and just enjoying themselves.

Comet looked back to me and seemed to study me for a moment before slowly nodding in approval.

“Okay, we can figure out how to handle your alcoholism after the party; let’s just take the alcohol slowly; eat something,” Comet compromised with his previous statements. “We can talk about what’s on your mind later.”

I did want to vent, but not just yet. My stallion friend coaxed me to the snack table and while we were browsing Carrot Top showed up with her second pie.

She got the pie setup and Comet even helped her cut slices out but she still wasn’t happy that I was drinking. Comet assured her he’d keep an eye on me and make me use moderation.

“There’s no such thing as moderation when you’re addicted to something,” she warned him. As much as they butted heads on my sobriety, they didn’t argue in the moment.

Instead Carrot eventually left again and Comet kept trying to feed me snacks. I could tell what he was doing, but I wasn’t going to say no to being magic-fed chips. Besides, the alcohol made me crave salt and the salt made me crave alcohol.

We stayed near the bar, for practicality reasons. I was the de facto one “watching” the bar. A few foals tried to get into the punch that wasn’t for them, and another wanted one of the beers someone had brought. I was helping.

I saw the rum and club soda wasn’t getting as much love as I’d thought it should. So I made up a rum and club soda with a splash of orange juice. It created a bit of a weird rum rickey but I liked it. Comet didn’t stop me because I insisted I was experimenting. The experiment paid off too: the next ponies that came up at the table in curiosity, I convinced them on the drink.

After a few hours I had the alcohol wrapped around me in a thick buzz which the music lovingly brushed and I brushed up against Comet Tail, both physically and conversationally.

Carrot came back with Minuette in tow. Minuette was still dripping wet from hanging out with Ruby and Nathan. Apparently there had been a pie fight followed by a water balloon fight. Ruby was away drying off.

“I thought you were going to stop drinking?” Minuette asked me too.

“No more sad drinking; this is a happy occasion!” I explained. She didn’t seem totally convinced of that.

“Couldn’t it be a happy occasion without drinking?”

I didn’t know how to answer that but Minuette and Carrot stayed with us for a while. Minuette even had some of the punch, something Carrot wouldn’t do.

We all enjoyed the music at least. During the touchy ones we sang along to, I nuzzled and hugged them all. Carrot Top was less receptive but Minuette hugged me back. My stallion friend still smelled the best though.

After a while I got an offer at just the right time from Comet.

“You want to get a cigarette?”

“Hay yeah I do!” I agreed. Comet turned and started to work himself through the crowd to get behind the van. I was quick to grab a little more punch before I followed him. I brushed through the sea of fuzzy bodies smelling of sweet pony sweat. My eyes were fixed on my friend. I loved watching the way his tail swished from one side to the other as he walked. Stallions really had a different silhouette from behind: a lot more taut. I was close enough I could pick his scent out from the crowd.

Distracted, one of the ponies in the moshpit bumped me and I spilled my cup all over her leg. She jumped. I apologized. Comet looked back just at the right moment. The mosher laughed and nuzzled me and it was all waved off.

Eventually we were back past the van and found our stall. The straw inside it was starting to smell like our group. Whatever that was, it was comforting.

We grabbed the cigarettes and made our way out the back of the barn. While Comet lit the cigarettes I helped him work on his drink. He took it from me and gently slipped me a cigarette.

Even though they tasted worse from putting the butts back into the pack, it was still a welcome compliment to the alcohol. I leaned into Comet Tail’s soft fur to enjoy his warmth and smell.

“So what’s goin’ on?” he asked. I knew what he was getting at.

Maybe I was finally drunk enough to explain it.

“Am I a good mother?” I asked.

“What? Of course you are. You got her all the way here.”

“Yeah but, I had to. That was do or she dies,” I tried explaining. I pressed my forehead against his side and closed my eyes. “What about… day to day? I don’t know the first thing about being a mother.”

“You’re doing pretty great so far?”

“What if I mess up?”

“Then just apologize,” he explained simply. “Why would you mess up?”

“Was I there for her in Equestria?”

Comet seemed confused. Probably because my mind was all over the place.

“What?”

“After high school I was barely around. What if I was just exactly the same? Ruby has all these big expectations of what her life was like and is supposed to be now… but what if I was just the town drunk and she had to take care of herself? She's so independent. What if she never had the childhood she wanted?”

“You can still give it to her.”

“But what if I can’t? What if I fail her?”

Comet Tail slipped a foreleg over my back and I gently pressed into his jaw. The way he was holding me, I could almost imagine him on top of me. I needed something rough right now: Everclear; a horsecock; a semi truck. Something to wreck me.

I inhaled from my cigarette so that I wouldn’t bite it instead.

“You know, if you don’t wanna be an alcoholic, you probably shouldn’t drink,” Comet pointed out.

“Everypony expects it though.” My special talent even had something to do with mixing drinks or punch.

“Does your daughter expect it?”

He brought me back to what we were talking about: Ruby. I changed my mind. I wasn’t drunk enough to address this.

“I can’t do this.”

“Berry?” He said my name. I could smell the dry aftertaste of wine on both of our breaths and smell his coat.

I think he could smell me too.

I let my cigarette fall out of my mouth so that I could nuzzle his jaw and get a hoof around his neck. He pulled away from the nuzzling and placed a hoof against me to keep me at bay.

“Berry?” he tried again. I looked at him and he seemed unsure about me now.

“Will you help me?” I asked him. I certainly wasn’t drunk enough for this conversation either but I felt ‘motivated’. He stared at me for a moment.

“Maybe,” he half-committed. “With what?”

“I’m... stressed out,” I tried to be coy. The way my tail flagged to my other side behind me wasn’t. “...please? Just make me feel like something is in control in my life.”

“You’re in control of your life.”

“Then I want you to buck me!” I demanded and tried to push his leg away and kiss him.

He pushed me away and I tried again. Despite me being the earth pony he easily overpowered my drunkenness.

The world rolled. When it stopped he was on top of me.

I thought I was going to get what I wanted until I saw his expression. Comet’s normally calm facade looked scared: like prey unsure what to do with a trapped predator.

I went limp seeing him like that. My face felt warm with embarrassment and shame.

I scared him.

Eventually he got off of me and took several steps back. I managed to get back to my hooves despite the world spinning. Comet kept his distance. I saw his ears pointed my way but his tail pinned between his legs.

“I’m… I'm sorry,” I apologized shakily. He nodded warily.

“I know. It’s… okay. You’re just drunk,” he made excuses for me. He shouldn’t have had to defend me coming onto him.

“Let’s head back inside with our friends,” he suggested. Almost as if we could just pretend I didn’t just do that. I wondered if he would tell them eventually. I wouldn’t blame him.

“I shouldn’t,” I said and reached for excuses. “There’s alcohol in there. I’m… going to clear my head then go see Ruby.”

“...are you sure? You’re going to go see her? I could... walk you there?”

“No, you don’t have to do that. I’m going, really. Just… stay,” I insisted. I wasn’t sure if I believed myself. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I was just saying what I needed so that I could get out of this situation and find something to make myself feel better.

The words were almost automatic; like a survival instinct.

“...okay,” he agreed. I think mostly because he didn’t want to be around me right now. With his permission I started walking away.

“Hey, Berry? We can talk about this after, okay? Your friends are here for you.”

“I know.”

I stepped away and disappeared around the corner of the barn. I glanced back to see if he was following. I saw him watching me, but he stayed where we parted. I was bumping into the barn so I turned back around. Needed to watch where I was going.

While I stood there wondering where to actually go, I heard flapping above me.

“Hey, Berry!” Blossomforth said as she landed down beside to me. Cloud Kicker quickly touched down next to her as well. I looked at the two mares and felt my tail wag slightly. I looked at Cloud. She had a grin ready for me.

“You alright?” Cloud asked.

“Yeah, fine,” I explained. I was. Sort of. “I was just setting up the bar.”

“Ha. Smells like it. Blossom and I just came from One Cloud Lane. It’s fun up there but they didn’t have anything to drink other than rainwater.”

The first comment about smell made me look from Cloud to Blossomforth. I wondered if I smelled like alcohol.

Blossomforth smelled wonderful; like somewhere between straw and clean linen air dried in the sun. I leaned in and nuzzled her to get a better feel for her scent. It wasn’t the kind of scent I could get drunk off of, not like Comet, but she was soft and warm. After a moment of hesitation she nuzzled me back.

“...Punch?” Cloud asked. I was cuddling her marefriend in front of her.

I was still properly drunk and because I wanted a rebound, I felt like I almost could do it.

I kissed Blossom right on the freckles then pulled away, leaving behind a slightly confused mare. I looked at Cloud.

“Hey, you two want to… you got a place we can go?” I asked. Cloud tilted her head.

“...what’re you asking?” she asked with a look that showed she knew exactly what I was asking.

“Can I ‘cash in my raincheck?’”

Cloud gave a satisfied grin.

Then shook her head.

“You’re drunk as a skunk right now. I can smell you from over here.”

“Wh-what?”

“You’re drunk,” Cloud repeated. “And I can tell you’re going through something right now. I’m not going to take advantage of that.”

Of all ponies...

“Tell you what though, let me know if you’re still interested tomorrow after you sober up, alright?”

“Yeah… okay,” I agreed and sighed.

“Is there anything else on your mind other than getting under some tail?”

I really didn’t want to have that conversation with this mare, especially not after she was my second rejection of the night.

I shook my head.

“So where are you going now? The party’s that way,” Blossom said gesturing back towards the barn.

“Just… going to go check on Ruby,” I explained.

“You want us to come with you?”

“No. You two go have fun,” I assured her. I started heading off in the right direction and let them be. Presumably they turned and headed in.

I didn’t have to go far to be recognized again. I made a lot of friends on the farm it seemed.

“Berry Punch!” a mare called to get my attention. I spotted her. She was the perfect mare for how I felt right now: Harmony Trebleheart. She was walking in a group my way, or more accurately towards the party behind me. Alcohol and snacks floated around them in their magic; offerings for the party gods.

“Heey,” I greeted as I walked up to them. Trebleheart seemed to stop and look me over.

“...how’s the party goin’?” she asked.

“It’s good, but… getting kind of crowded,” I explained. “I was going to go check on the foals.”

“We just dropped off some foals actually. They’re doing great. They’re playing Extreme Pin The Tail On The Pony.”

I had several questions. I prioritized one.

“Did you see Ruby over there?”

“I did. I was gonna say ‘hi’ but she was talking with Fluttershy and it looked hush-hush so I just waved at’em both.”

“...oh.” Well I didn’t want to interrupt that.

Harmony saw my hesitance. She looked at her friends still standing there with us.

“Where are my manners,” she scolded herself. “Berry Punch, this is Crankshaft, Axel, Amethyst and Mayor.”

I wasn’t going to remember all those right now. Crankshaft and Axel were stallions though. I noted that to myself.

“You wanna go back to my place? You look like you could use somewhere quiet to hang out.”

“That sounds nice actually,” I agreed.

“Mind if I follow? I wasn’t really feeling up for a party,” the second stallion admitted.

Trebleheart’s little party ended up splitting up: I went with her and Axel back to the camper. Half the alcohol and snacks came with us. I was led the way back towards all the parked vehicles and we weaved through the maze of them to her vehicle.

The vehicle wasn’t locked so we all climbed right into her little home.

The closed blinds and dusty air inside was a surprisingly nice reprieve from the bright, earthy afternoon that was going on afterside. Even the music was muffled this far out.

I found a nice spot on the bench to sit down and Harmony sat down next to me. Some cans came out, a bag of chips was opened and I got to know some more ponies.

Harmony had no running water so she offered bottled water in compensation. I saw she had PBR in her cooler which was just as good and meant I wasn’t weakening my buzz. I downed a few in quick succession during whatever we were talking about. Eventually though I wanted in on the bottle of Crown Royal she was sipping out of.

Later, her cramped water closet was hilariously hard to use as a drunk four-legged creature but her hospitality was lovely.

Axel was pretty quiet until we got talking about all the cars on the farm. Apparently he and Crankshaft kept their caravan of cars running on their drive here. They knew who most of the owners the vehicles were seeing as they spent the majority of their time on the farm over here.

Stories were harder to follow with more alcohol in your system but it also made them more interesting: He told me his wife left him when he became a pony.

Also that big moving truck on the property was Chris’s apparently.

After we got into the thick of it there was a knock on the camper door before Crankshaft let himself in.

“How’s the party?” Harmony asked.

“They didn’t blow up my van yet,” Crankshaft noted.

“Well, that’s good. Did the girls stay?”

“Yeah. Mayor saw the bar and Amethyst is keeping her company.”

Harmony smiled quietly and gave an appreciable nod.

After Crankshaft cracked open a cider he brought back he settled in and we kept drinking like that.

Eventually, we were out of beer. The liquor was all gone. I could tell Harmony had a little too much trying to keep up with me; she was practically laying on me napping.

I checked my last can of beer and after I was sure it was empty I got up to throw it away. That was about when I realized just how late it was. It had slowly gotten darker in here and I hadn’t noticed.

“I should get going; check on my daughter. You should go check out the party,” I suggested. I didn’t know if I should go see her, or if I was going to now, but it was a believable alibi.

“Aw, if you say so,” Harmony said as she slid off the bench and into me. She gave me a sloppy nuzzling. “Be safe! We’ll see you around, Berry.”

I said my goodbyes to the group. Then I stumbled outside. The stairs to the camper got steeper.

I wandered through the maze of parked cars. The setting sun reflecting off the windows and side mirrors was annoying. I got turned around. The music from the party was gone so I couldn’t use that to navigate. I eventually made it out though and spotted the barn.

Some ponies were dispersing and others looked like they were picking up. It looked like the party was over now.

I was a little disappointed I missed like half of it, but there was still a crowd! I wanted to help pick up.

I thought about what we were going to do with the leftover alcohol. There would surely be left overs. I could probably have one. Especially one of the ones for my punch.

I didn’t spot any of my pony friends but I spotted a familiar bipedal one. I went right up to him and nuzzled his side to get his attention. He nearly dropped the bags he was carrying when I snuck up on him.

“Heey, Nathan,” I said looking up at him.

He gave me his patented goofy smile.

“Berry! We were looking for you,” Nathan told me. “Have you been having fun?”

“More or less,” I explained with a slight tail wag. “Where’s the afterparty?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” he said. “But I think we were all going to bed early tonight.”

“What? Why? We’re partying tonight!”

“We were,” Nathan agreed and petted my head: right behind the ears. I leaned into it and had to brace myself with his leg when I leaned too far. “Did you hear what the Cutie Mark Crusaders were saying?”

“...huh? No. What were they saying?”

“Uh. I was told I can’t repeat it.”

“Can’t repeat it… did something happen?” I looked at the drink table for evidence of foal play. We put a good dent into all the liquor at least. The soda and juice were gone. There were several abandoned cups on the table, some half-empty.

“Kind of? Not yet,” Nathan said, continuing to give me nothing to go off of. I sniffed one of the half-empty cups and got whiffs of gin and orange juice. I bit onto the lip of the cup and drank it.

Somepony put bitters in it. Good choice.

“Mom?” said a voice from behind me. I nearly did a spit take. Instead I let the cup fall from my mouth. I turned and saw my precious daughter, Minuette and Comet Tail. Minuette looked like she caught me doing something I wasn’t supposed to, I couldn’t look Comet Tail in the eyes, and my daughter looked confused. Her messy mane didn’t hurt the look.

“Pinchy!” I said and went to her. She took a step back when I staggered but she let me get to her. “Did you have fun tonight?” I hugged her and she struggled a bit out of my grip.

“Stop; your coat’s wet,” she whined. I let her go.

“Sorry. Probably spilled something,” I explained. She still looked at me confused.

“I thought you weren’t drinking anymore?” she asked a bit quieter than I would have expected. I started petting my daughter’s mane.

“I am. This is just…” I said looking at the spilled cup. “...a party! It’s okay: it was happy drinking! I was bartending too.”

“But Comet said you were sad,” my precious gem countered. “Where were you? We were really worried and looking.”

“Aw, Ruby I was just with some friends! …I was going to come see you!” I hugged my daughter. I loved her so much. I needed to feel her warmth. She smelled clean, like someone shampooed her hair.

“Mom, stop, you smell like alcohol,” she whined again. I got a kiss on the top of her head before I let her go again.

“Your mane smells nice. Did you get a bath?”

“I had whipped cream in my hair,” my daughter explained but seemed frustrated now. “Why were you sad? We were looking everywhere for you.”

I looked up at Comet Tail and Minuette. I didn’t know what they said. I didn’t know what I should say.

“I…” I looked at her and had to look away. Those eyes. I couldn’t have this conversation now. I didn’t want to hurt her. She already looked hurt.

I was too drunk for this.

“I’m too drunk for this,” I said so. “We can talk about this tomorrow.” I said and tried petting my daughter. She didn’t seem to like that.

“Hey, Berry? We should get you to bed!” Minuette suggested. “You need to sleep this off.”

“Bed? The sun’s not even down yet,” I said looking outside past my friends. I spotted Carrot Top coming this way and thought to run for a second.

I definitely couldn’t run right now.

“It’s going to be an early morning!” Minuette said with a suspicious grin. I looked at her and then at Nathan.

“What happened?” I asked Nathan. I was really confused why no one was telling me what was going on. Nathan looked at me then looked at my daughter nervously.

“Pinchy, are you not telling me something?” I asked the filly in front of me.

“Berry?” Comet got my attention. He had a solo cup in his magic in front of him. “It’s nothing serious. We should just get some sleep. Especially you: you should sleep that alcohol off.”

Comet Tail offered the red Solo cup to me. There were a lot of clear spirits at the party but I knew there was water in this cup.

I was pretty drunk admittedly. I sipped it.

“I’m heading to bed too. We’ll talk over breakfast,” Carrot agreed from the back of our group.

I looked at all the ponies around us and realized that the party was long picked up. There were no speakers out, the van was pushed out. The lights were down. Just the party food and drink was left out.

The ponies weren’t picking up the party: they were packing.

I looked at my daughter then to Minuette.

“Are we going somewhere?” I guessed. That mischievous smile formed on her face again.

“We’ve already said too much,” Carrot Top accused the group as she walked around Comet Tail to get closer to me. “I don’t want us getting all excited and worked up about this. We need to be rested.” She looked at me. “Especially you.”

Carrot Top saw the cup of water in my hooves. She pushed it up to my muzzle. “Drink up, Berry.”

So, I downed my water and Minuette persuaded our group back to the stall with promises of a cuddle pile. I was all for drunk cuddles.

Carrot took her spot in the hay. Minuette used her as a pillow. Comet Tail laid back to back with me and my little Pinchy let me hold her as long as I didn’t breath on her. The last thing I remembered in the warm fuzzy sea was flapping and the edge of a wing on my back.

There were no dreams, only blackness. I was a little disappointed: I had been dreaming a lot lately. Predictably I also woke up as soon as the alcohol in my body dried out, leaving behind a headache. I started to realize there may be a pattern with going to ‘sleep’ drunk and not dreaming.

Without getting up I stretched my limbs and my neck. I managed to strain my neck in the process and let out an uncomfortable moan. There were a lot fewer bodies around. When I opened my eyes the only one I saw was my daughter, stirring now too.

“Mom? Are you awake?” she asked in a hushed whisper, shifting to apparently see if my eyes were open.

I pulled her in close to me. She was wrapped in a roll cage of my limbs, tucked against my barrel.

“Yeah,” I said with morning grogginess. I closed my eyes back. They were too heavy. It was too late to be awake… but there was the sound of ponies quietly shifting around outside the stall. “What time is it?”

“Sometime after midnight.”

I was wondering what was going on but I was too tired to get into it.

I was going to go back to bed.

Then my daughter kept talking.

“Mom?”

“...hmm?”

“...did you have fun tonight?”

An oddly innocent question. I was wondering what this was about.

“Yeah… did you?”

“...I was worried about you.”

There it was. A sense of guilt was sitting on me now.

“How long were you looking for me?”

“A few hours. Comet said you were coming to see me.”

I wanted to pet her head or nuzzle her but she wasn’t in the good spot for it so I just held her.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know…” my Ruby still sounded disappointed though.

I had a feeling she wasn’t going to mention the alcohol. That was on me. I wanted to make her feel better. I’d tell her anything to do that.

“I’m sorry, Pinchy,” I apologized again. “I was being stupid… I’ll… I’ll stop.”

She was quiet at first and I wasn’t sure if I said the right thing or if she even heard me but then she replied. Apparently she had been building up her courage.

“...will you?”

“...I don’t know,” I admitted the hollowness of that last promise. If I could find a balance that’d be best but there was nothing balanced about my relationship with alcohol. “But me stopping is what you deserve.” I was still too scared to share the theory that this may have been how it always was. That would go against any promises I made to change.

“What about you?” she asked me.

“What?”

“You deserve to be sober too,” she told me. I snorted at first because that sounded more like a punishment.

“I don’t deserve anything. Things just happen,” I tried to quote Carrot Top and failed spectacularly.

“...what? Mom, that’s awful!” my daughter scolded me. She definitely seemed more awake than me now. Nihilism generally made poor pillow talk.

“No, like what Carrot says; we don’t deserve things. We just have things to give?” I tried backtracking. I wondered if Carrot ever gave Ruby the tough love talk. Probably not.

“You just said I deserve you being sober though.”

Oh.

She got me there.

It took me a second to sort my thoughts.

“...I want to give my sobriety to you,” I corrected.

“Well I want you to still drink a little if you want,” my daughter told me. “I just want you to be there.”

“...sorry,” I apologized but wasn’t sure if I was supposed to. “...you were having a lot of fun with your foal friends. I figured you didn’t need me tonight.”

My daughter squirmed around in my legs and I had to let up my grip a bit so she could turn around to nuzzle my face. Even in the dark I could still imagine her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ll spend more time with you. Just… please don’t get so drunk. It looks like you’re hurting yourself when you get that drunk.”

That sounded terrifyingly accurate.

“...okay. Moderation,” I agreed. I didn’t know how well I’d keep to my word, but I’d give it to her at least.

We continued laying there for a few more minutes until Ruby finally sat up.

“I think I smell something,” my daughter said.

“Sorry, was it me?”

“Mom,” she hissed. “I meant I think I smell chocolate.”

Carrot Top must be up to something.

My daughter put her watch on and then I got up and we stretched before we left the stall. She went one way though and I needed to go the other.

I assured her she didn’t need to come and I just had to pee out a liter of processed alcohol and I’d be right there.

I went out the barn’s backdoor and out to the edge of the woods where we had been going. Once I got close I started thinking maybe I should have agreed to the buddy system: I didn’t know where I was stepping.

Just before I started I could swear I heard sniffling.

“Hello?” I called out. “Sorry, someone here?”

There was silence. I swear I heard them though. They had stopped because of me.

“Hay, are you okay?” I asked the darkness again. I really had to pee but just going when someone was nearby would be weird and just leaving seemed rude since they got quiet for it.

While I was waiting for what to do I heard a restrained sniffle, like someone trying to clear their muzzle so they could breathe easier. My ears’ reaction pointed me in the general direction.

I walked towards them.

“Hay, …are you hurt? It sounds like you’re crying,” I tried again. I heard someone stepping away from me. There was definitely someone out here. Between being half-awake and their crying and reluctance I couldn’t imagine any maliciousness. “I just… I gotta pee and this is sort of the bathroom… ”

After another long moment of silence I heard… a chime. There was a hesitation and then a pale blue light coming from a unicorn horn. A phone was pulled from somewhere, a hoodie or a cloak. Between the light of her horn and the phone wrapped in magic in front of her face I could make out that she was a tall, pink unicorn with several colors in her hair. Judging by the mascara running she had definitely been crying. Knowing I could see her now, she looked up from her phone at me.

“...hi,” I greeted awkwardly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was… ‘the bathroom’,” she explained as she started walking away, using her light to find her way.

I really had to pee… and I wasn’t supposed to be gone long… but I haven’t been making good choices lately so I followed after her.

“Where’re you going?”

“Somewhere… somewhere I-I’m wanted,” she explained with a sob hitching in her voice.

Home?

We were heading towards the driveway and I saw a car’s headlights come on at the end of it. I saw car doors open and from the light on inside I saw several people step out. One was a tall, dark unicorn.

Now in the light of the headlights, she looked back at me. Confusion and defeat marred her stunningly beautiful face.

No, not home. She was crawling back somewhere. Somewhere she intentionally left.

“Please… stop following me,” she begged. This mare clearly needed someone to have a heart-to-heart with right now. Instead she had me and I had a hangover and I still really needed to pee.

“I think… my friend is making cocoa? You wanna go talk about this?” I suggested. She looked at me like she didn’t understand what I was saying. I looked around for someone else to intervene. There were other ponies awake but no one else close enough to see she clearly didn’t want this.

The black unicorn that got out of the car had approached her and now I could see there was a red cloth around his back. A cape?

“Cadance, is this pony bothering you?” a deep, low voice came from him. The humans at the car looked to readjust themselves to have better access to something in their pockets.

I think I peed a little when I realized they might have guns. If I had to judge from looks alone, they seemed dangerous.

The pink unicorn looked at me, almost longingly, and shook her head.

“No,” Cadance denied and turned to walk to him.

I knew that name from somewhere, it took me a little longer than necessary to remember, what with being half-awake and hungover, that it was the name of Shining Armor’s wife.

But Shining and Rarity were now-

“Cadance? You don’t want this,” I told her. I could tell that much.

I needed to explain to her what she already knew: that wherever she was going it wasn’t the home she wanted. She must have come here for her husband but found out about him and Rarity. I needed to explain to her that just because the life she had probably dreamt of wasn’t there anymore, she didn’t have to do anything drastic. I needed to explain that there were ponies here who would have adored her, like Blossomforth or humans, like Nathan. So many ponies were awake now, all she had to do was come back and talk to us. She would have been welcomed into the herd and found friendship here; she could have found a new family like I did!

The family that I had been ignoring and hurting tonight…

I couldn’t explain any of that to her though: my head hurt, my throat was dry, I had to pee, and I was wrestling with my hypocrisy.

Sombra ignored me and walked Cadance back to the car. Once he helped her into the back he climbed in after her. The humans got back into the car and as casually as can be, they turned the car around. Then, just like that, they drove down the driveway and left the farm.

I stood there for a few minutes, wondering what exactly I had just witnessed but eventually my biological needs got me off the driveway and back to the treeline.

After I was finished, I made my walk back to the barn and chastised myself. If I had just said the right things… if I knew the right words… if I wasn’t so hungover…

Eventually though, I was back at the barn and back into my own troubles.

“Berry? Are you okay?” Minuette found me walking back. “You look pale. Did you throw up?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, not really explaining what happened. I didn’t know, really.

Minuette walked me through the barn, where I had made an ass of myself hours ago, and out towards the low fires where a mass of ponies were gathering.

The smell of coffee and chocolate was stronger here, coming from all of the mismatch of cups everypony was drinking out of. Ceramic mugs, metal cups, glasses, solo cups from the party, even bowls. Minuette gently weaved through the crowd towards a particular fire where the smell was stronger; an army of small pitchers and pots sat near.

I spotted Nathan helping ladle something for a filly. Then I saw Carrot Top putting a new pot of water near the fire about the same time she spotted me. Once I saw her the rest of my friends came into focus: Minuette was leading me to them.

Comet Tail saw Carrot was looking at someone and turned around. My daughter, seeing him looking at someone, turned around and spotted me too. They both smiled, happy to see I was here now.

I heard some ponies break out into hushed laughter nearby and then someone else ‘shush’ loudly. I spotted Blossomforth, wings pricked, as Cloud Kicker apparently just shared something embarrassing with another pegasus.

“Heey, morning, Berry!” Vinyl cheered with a raised glass as I passed.

I started picking out a lot of ponies among the shadows: there was Octavia Melody, Thunderlane, Lyra Heartstrings, Harmony, and countless other ponies I had met over the last few days.

“You alright, man?” a human asked me and I looked up and realized it was Chad, Minuette’s tentatively-former fiance.

“Uh, yeah,” I answered in disbelief. Minuette led me right up to the fire and sat me down next to my daughter and Comet.

All of my friends -my family- were here. And Chad was here too.

“Mom?” my daughter asked. I could smell hot chocolate coming from her repurposed teacup. “Did you throw up?”

That was apparently the theory for my long pee break.

“No, I… I’m good,” I didn’t explain. I looked around at all the ponies. It seemed like everypony was awake, in the middle of the night.

I turned back to Comet Tail, who I needed to apologize to still.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

My daughter answered.

“Fluttershy thinks they found the portal to Equestria!” Pinchy finally spilled. “And the Cutie Mark Crusaders were telling some others- who told some more ponies and it sort of became an open secret.”

Equestria…

“...what, really? When? Where?” I asked all the standard questions.

“They said it’s a hundred miles north of here in a city called Dubuque. They left a few hours ago to check it out.”

“Why didn’t we go with them?”

“There’s too many of us,” my daughter explained, gesturing to the mass of ponies waiting in the shadows. “They went ahead to make sure it’s really there and that it’s open.”

“Shining Armor and Big Mac stayed behind. Once they get word we’re heading out,” Comet Tail added.

Before I could ask more questions Carrot Top approached me with a cup and offered it to me. It smelled like coffee and chocolate.

“Drink up, we have plenty of coffee,” Carrot informed me. I accepted the cup and sipped it. It was a rich, chocolatey coffee with milk. The sugar made it go down easily.

“Oh, that’s right! Berry!” Nathan called out as he started coming over to me. “Do you have a headache? Pinkie said some of these were for you,” he said as he pulled a bottle of aspirin out.

I accepted some of the tablets too. Once I had them swallowed I looked back at my daughter then at Comet Tail. I felt my tail tuck underneath my legs in shame.

“Comet, I…” I started but got interrupted again by Carrot Top. She brought me a plate.

“You can talk later. We could be leaving at any minute,” Carrot Top warned. “I want you to eat this and get three more cups into you.”

I accepted Carrot’s form of care with only one question.

“Is this… straw?” I looked at what was on the plate with the johnnycakes from this morning, smeared with ample butter.

“It’s hay, actually,” Carrot corrected me. “Your binge probably depleted all of your minerals; there’s lots of minerals in hay.”

“Electrolytes!” Minuette exclaimed.

“And there’s antioxidants, sugar and caffeine in the mocha. We need you at your best,” Carrot explained.

I obeyed and started eating. I ate the hay first, which as far as grass goes, wasn’t bad when it was clean like this, just really plain and easy to eat. I looked around at my friends who were watching me recover from my hangover, specifically Comet Tail.

“I’m sorry, all of you,” I said before I was cut off.

“Stop,” Carrot demanded with one hoof raised to me and the other pointed towards the house. “...and keep eating.”

“They’re coming out!” someone in the mass called out. Everyone started turning towards the barn and a shush fell over the crowd, silencing it. Shining Armor and Big Mac had stepped out onto the porch.

“Listen up!” Shining Armor shouted in a loud, commanding voice that carried across the farm.

The ponies on the farm grew silent all at once. All eyes were on the two stallions on the porch. The greatest news for all the lost ponies in the world may be about to be broken. An entire people would act on these words. I wondered if he had any guilt with Cadance on his mind right now or if he could truly put his personal problems aside to focus on what he was about to do.

“We found Equestria!” Shining announced.

The mass of ponies around me erupted into cheers, hugging and crying. I was hugging my friends and family, so many emotions swimming together: joy, fear, relief.

“Tonight, we are refugees no more!” Shining Armor called out over the crowd, only to elicit another wave of emotion. He continued. “Tonight… we will be in Equestria! Tonight, we are Equestria!”

There was more cheers and crying. Far too loud for the time of night. Shining Armor and Big Mac went on explaining where the portal was and the plan on getting there: a massive caravan, essentially. It was like Ruby and my friends had said.

I looked around the excited crowd then to Minuette.

“So, how do you want to do this? Are we going to pile into Chad’s car?”

There were at least a hundred ponies here, if not a few hundred; a sea of ponies. Not everyone arrived here by car, some were dropped off, and I’m sure we wanted to take as much as we could through the portal. There was no way we could get all of Carrot Top’s stuff into that little car and I wasn’t sure if she was going to leave anything we moved from her grandparents’ place to here behind. I’m sure a lot of ponies felt the same: all they brought to the farm were the things they couldn’t live without.

Before Minuette and the rest of us could come up with a plan, we started to hear panicked screaming swallow the cheers and crying in a corner of the crowd.

“Changelings!” a pony screamed.

“Chrysalis is attacking!” another shouted after her.

We all turned and saw a black swarm beginning to fill over the farm. Ponies were running, screaming, from the pony-sized creatures with glowing eyes pouring out of the semi-trailer truck, the one that I thought Chris owned. From their blue, sometimes green eyes, there must have been over a hundred of them.

I looked around at my friends to figure out what to do.

My green-eyed cutie was smiling up at the horsebugs blotting out the sky, in awe.

“Pinchy?” I asked. She looked back at me then at the rest of us staring at her, wondering why she was smiling. She pointed towards the changelings.

“We could ask Yoko’s family for a ride?”

Equestria, here we come!

Thank you for being patient. This chapter was a beast! There was a lot to fit in here. It sort of just took on a life of its own, as a party does!

Many OC ponies mentioned here (Duo, Pencil Lead, Axel, etc) are lifted from On Our Own.

Everypony has A Love For Madness and I just had to find a way to shoehorn it in, didn't I? Unless, I still have a few notes left on her... ? If you weren't aware, Sombra in that story is supposed to be the one in The New Boss.

Yoko's secret has been revealed! Were you surprised? Then that means you didn't read A New Hive!

Who is that drunk Berry Punch fan that made a fool of herself? Has she no decency?

Most of this chapter was a culmination rather than introducing more stories admittedly. Mostly I was weaving the mane story, A New Hive, and mine together and showing off what some of the background ponies could be doing! ...you have read the mane story, right?