Stargazing

"How did this happen?! What am I doing in your bed?!"

These were just some of the many different phrases that Octavia spluttered out of her mouth. Clearly, the liquor wasn't having the same effect on her as it was him, but that did not silence her yelling, which unfortunately for Starfall only amplified his headache, and by extension his confusion. He gripped at his head, trying to massage his tired, pain-wracked brain back into working order. "Calm down, Octavia. Ju-"

"Calm down?!"

"Just hang on and look at yourself."

"Well, you sure got a decent look at me!"

"No, I mean literally, look."

Octavia looked down with an exasperated groan, but... something about the situational puzzle was missing. There weren't any stains on the bed sheets, and they were still tucked in underneath the mattress at the corners. In addition, neither of their coats, manes, or tails were messy. As Octavia looked up confusedly at Starfall, he voiced what they both were thinking. "I don't think anything happened between us. I think we slept together, but we didn't... sleep together." The writer tried to spin his words into a comforting manner, mostly because he thought his head would burst open if Octavia started screaming again. To his surprise, Octavia didn't seem to have any sort of aggression in her. She just sat there, her breathing heavily thanks to her outburst.

Octavia's mind was swimming in an sea of incertitude. For one, it seemed they both indulged in more drinks than they both would have normally cared for and they did awaken in the same bed. However, all the other signs were non-existent. There was only two things that suggested the possibility of them having slept together in the metaphorical sense, but everything else indicated the contrary in that they may have just cuddled together... while they were drunk... at night... in the same bed... But surely that never happened?

After a few minutes for composure, Starfall spoke once more. "Octavia, I'm certain that-" he pointed towards the bed "-never happened."

The mare looked at him quizzically, "But... if we never... then what did happen?"

What had happened?

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"... so you could imagine the look on Lunar's face when he came in! He squeed and fainted the second I turned on the lights!"

Both Octavia and Starfall burst out laughing. He had just been recalling the story of his dear friend, Lunar Flame, and the stallion's fascination of rare artifacts. Lunar had always been a good friend of Starfall's; ever since the two met, they studied together, played together, and fought together at one time or another. They even learned the same magic abilities, and the fact that they both could control thermal elements made friendly duels only that much more interesting.

As the two's laughter died down, Asterian hung his head over his wine glass, staring down into it in a rather depressed manner. "That was the last time I saw him. We've been out of contact for two years, and I haven't heard anything of his whereabouts anywhere since he left." Octavia looked to her host for the first time since she had drank from her wine glass. She said in a caressing tone, "You mean he just... vanished? Just like that, and you never heard from him?" Starfall shook his head in response, keeping his eye on the velvet red substance in his glass.

Ever since Lunar's sudden disappearance, Starfall had felt a sort of hallow feeling inside. Lunar was the only pony that he could genuinely call a friend. Even now, two years after his vanishment, having heard no word and not knowing whether he was alive or not, he still felt sorrow at the memory of his one true friend. Sadness. Maybe one more glass of wine was in order. After all, one wouldn't hurt, so what could two possibly do?

He levitated the bottle skywards, motioning to Octavia. "More wine, Octavia?" She, in turn, floated her glass forward towards the bottle. It had been ages since she last indulged herself, and if Starfall had asked, who was she to turn down hospitality? "Thank you, Starfall." The wine bottle tipped over and refilled both of the unicorns' glasses back to the half-way mark. Asterian raised his to his lips and began to drink from his, caring a little less about the flavor and focusing more on taking his mind off of what ailed him. Octavia did not even sip from hers. It did not take a psychologist to conclude that something was wrong. "Starfall, is there something troubling you? If I'm overstaying my welcome, then I can just go."

The stallion lowered the goblet in haste, leaving a small drip of wine to splash down back into his drink. "No, Octavia, it's not that. I just... I miss Lunar. We were practically brothers, and it's not like him to leave without warning. I just wish... that our last meeting could have been spent with him conscious." Octavia let out a soft "Aww..." under her breath and sat back down. The poor stallion... I can only imagine what it would be like to lose somepony as close to you as a brother. She took another sip from her wine and mulled over the story that she had been told.

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"What happened?"

Asterian jerked his head back, snapping out of his trance. His memories of last night had begun to return to him, or at least, what he thought were memories. Was that what happened? No, there had to be something else, but what? Try as he might to return to his mindscape, his aching brain kept him from returning to discover the answer. "What happened?" Octavia repeated, this time with a little annoyance in her speech. Asterian took a breath, then tried his best to relay his vision back to her.

"Well, me being myself, I pulled out a bottle of wine for us to have a glass in toast to friendship. You and me talked around for a little while, then... I got caught on the whole story about Lunar Flame... I remember I was moping over him for a little bit, then... there was something about how you thought you had overstayed your welcome, and... I can't remember anything past that..." He let out a small, stifled grunt before adding, "Maybe I'll remember more when I've woken up and... cleared my head."

Octavia stared cluelessly at Asterian for a few seconds, but her mood quickly changed to one of content nature as she took in the data. "Well, I know I don't remember anything right now," she said with a giggle. That laugh of hers... It was music to Starfall's ears. He smiled at her before offering, "Would you... care to stay for breakfast? I mean, I understand if you don't, but seeing as how it's at that time of day..." The writer could have slapped himself for his own bumbling stupidity. You take advantage of her pity, get her drunk, sleep with her, and then you think there is even a chance she'll-

"Oh, why not?" she said with a shrug of her shoulders and a smirk. "Then again, that's probably what I said about the wine, and look where that got us. Maybe you could join me in another drink." Starfall could not stifle the welling of laughter from his stomach, and he let out a throaty chuckle at Octavia's jest. She had joked with him, only now to return the favor. He put on as charming of a face as he could before speaking in a lousy British accent, "My my, do ya think we'll both fit?" The mare smiled coyly at him and batted her eyelashes. Whatever confusion and agitation that had risen from their waking was evidently gone, but... was Octavia actually flirting with him?

The two unicorns walked down the narrow staircase and into the the living room once more. There sat the glasses and bottle from last night. The bottle, much to Asterian's relief, still had a measurable amount of the expensive wine remaining in it. He levitated the glasses into the air towards the kitchen sink to be washed. He then floated the bottle skywards, but as he was half-way towards the cellar, his hangover caught up with him and his magic failed. The wine bottle dropped to the floor with a crash, spilling the red liquid over the oak floors. After a splitting head-ache, Asterian rubbed his horn, "Oh... What a waste of good wine..."

Octavia ran over with a concerned look. "Are you okay, Starfall?" she gasped. Asterian nodded his head, still rubbing his horn to try and relieve him of his head-ache. As he sat there on the ground, the puddle of red slowly grew around the two of them, soaking Asterian's haunches and staining Octavia's hooves. Winters heaved Starfall to his hooves, which proved to be difficult through the shroud of her own hangover, but she managed to get Starfall upright. A few blurry seconds later, the stallion looked down to his wine-soaked backside and sighed in disgust. "Now this is a waste of good wine." The bottle had fragmented into the tiniest bits of glass, and the wine had spread outwards in an explosion of sorts.

Octavia came back over bearing two dark red bath towels, held aloft in her aura. She passed one of them to Starfall, who still seemed to be a little dazed from the mishap. He took the towel in hoof and began to scrub at his flank vigorously, trying his best to remove the wine before it could stain. After he had removed the red substance from him, he bent down to join Octavia, who had been vigorously cleaning the floor. "I'm sorry about this, Winters. My-My magic... It just- It just stopped working." Octavia shrugged at him with a hint of annoyance in her gesture. "It's fine, Starfall." Within just a few minutes the floor had been dried adequately, the glass had been removed from the area, and Starfall mentally declared the path safe to walk upon once more.

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The house was quiet once more. There was not a sound throughout the house, save the ambient crack of a fire burning in the chimney. Starfall lay in his antique fainting couch, which was just off-set from the fireplace. He always had wondered how the name of the furniture stuck. Why would ponies need to use a couch for the sole purpose of fainting upon it? Maybe it's a misnomer of some sort... Hmm... He let his head sink deeper into the rounded pillow, him being surprisingly cured from his earlier malady.

Octavia had already left his company, saying she had an errand to run. Her farewell had left Starfall's mind in disarray more so than his alcoholic haze. She said she hated to leave so early, but given the circumstances it was surprising she did not leave the second she woke up. She gave her goodbye to Starfall and then turned around to leave, but as she did so, her tail brushed against his cheek. To further confound matters, Starfall could have sworn she was swaying her hips. It couldn't have been mere coincidence that she would do that. Octavia was a respectable and modest young mare, so why would she happily jaunt her flank around in Asterian's face like that?

It didn't make sense. Then again, nothing makes sense when one is sleeping on a fainting couch and they are not asleep. Starfall was about to give up on his paradox when a vision flashed before him. His eyes went wide as another sliver of his memory returned to him. The world around him seemed to dissolve as he entered the realm of his own recollection...