Chapter One: An Unintended Encounter

Pinkie Pie's parties are always the best, and this one was no exception. The guests had long departed, leaving only a small, familiar group of friends talking and laughing with each other in a circle near the buffet table.

"Ah reckon this is as good a time as any ta show y'all what ah brought," Applejack said after realizing the blue pegasus, shouting and gesturing around about her latest tricks, probably wasn't coming to a close anytime soon.

"Ah didn't bring it out earlier ‘cause ah only have enough for the six of us. That and mah sister and her friends were still here," she remarked, searching around for the saddlebags she had sat down when the party started.

"It isn't your Playcolt centerfold is it AJ?" Dash said, pausing her story when she saw a chance to poke fun at her friend. "Cause they really didn't capture your good side, lemme tell ya."

"Har-har Rainbow, you know ah turned that offer down, a plot like this is too good ta share with the whole world." Sighting her bags she grinned "T'night ah have a different golden treasure ta share."

"Ooh~Ooh~OOH! Is it some of the super-secret alcoholic cider you keep in your cellar?" Pinkie Pie enthusiastically squealed.

"Goshdarnit Pinkie, ya ruined tha surprise. Y'all have no idea how hard it was ta sneak this past everypony t'night, let alone keep it secret in mah cellar all these months," Applejack said wondering why she even bothered. Pinkie seemed to have some kind of almost supernatural way of knowing every secret in Ponyville. Or at least every secret she thought would be funny to know. She made a mental note to ask Pinkie about that during her next visit to the farm.

The other pegasus in the room chimed in, her voice barely audible even though the party was over and the music had long ago stopped. "Is it okay to have alcohol here? Don't we need permission from the Cakes?"

Pinkie gave a short chuckle "It's fine Fluttershy. We host bachelorette parties here all the time. Grown-ups gotta party too silly-filly." Fluttershy blushed. "There is one rule though. If booze is involved then it's adults only." Pinkie puffed out her chest and gave a quick salute, acting as authoritative as she could as she pointed at the "Code of Conduct for Parties" hanging on the wall. She giggled again.

Twilight's ears perked up, her attention momentarily drawn from the conversation she was having with Rarity about modifying her wardrobe to accommodate wings. She looked up to the poster her pink friend was pointing at.

"Guess I should send Spike home."

The morning was unusually harsh and bright. Alarmingly quiet as well. As Fluttershy came to she heard none of the usual birds and squirrels that normally woke her up. She ached all over and her neck was sore, but she couldn't focus on any of that through her pounding headache.

This light was not helping.

She pulled the curtains shut and peered into the now darkened room. The bedclothes were strewn about the floor and the nightstand was tipped over. There seemed to be a large amount of muddy hoofprints on the floor.

The floor itself was wooden, the walls too, even the ceiling. It all seemed to be cut from a single, giant piece. A large, neatly sorted bookshelf engulfed the wall next to the door.

After a moment’s thought Fluttershy mumbled groggily "Is this Twilight's house?” Her thoughts were cloudy and her head felt like Harry the bear was learning to tap dance inside of it.

"Pinkie had a party, AJ brought cider, something about a Playcolt magazine," she sighed. "I'll just ask Twilight about it. Sweet Celestia I hope she made some coffee."

As she peeked out of the bedroom she caught the scent of waffles being cooked. The smell was delicious but very strong. Fluttershy's head once again began pounding. She decided it would be better to visit the bathroom before the pain caused her to purge on the floor.

Trotting down the hallway she passed Twilight, each giving the other a sleepy groan rather than a greeting. Pushing open the door Fluttershy was greeted by the large wall mirror, usually kept spotless and shining, now covered in dried mud and yellow fur. Her reflection showed a bedraggled mane, matted with dried mud. Large patches of dirt that somehow evaded her notice till now covered her face and chest.

A glance towards the toilet confirmed what she had begun to suspect. It seemed she had already been here. The lip of the toilet and the surrounding floor was covered in muddy hoofprints, dried vomit and a single yellow feather.

"I'll have to apologize to Twilight, I hope she's not mad at me," she said to her reflection. As she turned the knob on the cold water and splashed her face, soothing her still throbbing headache a bit, something caught her eye. Two large dark marks, one on either side of her neck.

She grabbed a nearby washcloth, wet it, and ran it across her face and neck. The cool cloth gently removed the caked on dirt and further soothed her head. Looking back into the mirror she saw her face, now clean and bright. Something was off though, the dark marks were still there.

She gently poked at the larger of the two with the washcloth. She winced in pain. It was a bruise. A swarm of thoughts began rushing through her mind. Her eyes grew wide as she tried desperately to get a closer look in the mirror. Her heart began to race, fueling the throbbing in her head. “Try again. Pinkie had a party. Applejack brought cider. It got late and Twilight said… wait...”

"TWILIGHT!" she yelled, "I NEED YOU IN HERE!"

It seemed as though the words had barely left her throat when the door swung open, a purple blur rushing to her side. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Did some…thing…"

Looking past the trembling yellow pegasus her sentence trailed off as the mess came into view. Twilight fell silent, she could feel her eye begin to twitch but shook it off. "Fluttershy, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, I woke up here and I think I have a hangover and there's barf everywhere and the room was messed up and there are bruises on my neck and I don't know where they came from and I'm sorry if we had a fight and I don't remember what happened but I'M SO SORRY TWILIGHT"

Twilight's eyes widened "You don't remember what happened? Oh no, this is bad, this is very very bad!" Her panicking hooves danced nervously in place. Her eyes darted quickly around the room. “Hangover, vomit, mess, hickeys… COFFEE!” She rushed out of the room, leaving the teary eyed Fluttershy confused and frightened behind her.

“Hickeys?” Fluttershy repeated. She wiped the gathering tears from her eyes and looked back into the mirror. The marks on her neck could easily be hickeys. She looked closer at the dirt on her chest. It appeared to be a hoofprint. There seemed to be more prints covering a fair bit of her coat.

After a few short minutes Twilight’s voice came down the hall. “Fluttershy, I’m back. Are you still in there?”

Fluttershy turned her attention to the doorway, breathing a sigh of relief. “I’m here.” She walked to the open door where Twilight was waiting just out of sight to the side.

“Sorry I ran out like that Fluttershy. To be honest, I don’t really know what to do in this situation. But there is some coffee brewing to help with the hangover, and I’m sure one of these books has a spell that will help you remember last night.” Twilight pointed to several books of various size floating behind her. As she began to set them down in a stack beside the door, she opened a particularly large one in front of her and quickly started flipping the pages. “Just give me a second to find it.”

"I dunno Twilight, please just tell me," Fluttershy said with a sniffle. Already on the verge of tears, she didn’t think she would be able to handle remembering the entire night at once. “I have to know where these bruises came from, and why I’m covered in hoofprints.”

"Oh, sorry, I probably should have lead with that. It wasn’t a fight, those bruises are hickeys. They are there for the same reason the hoofprints are. And I imagine that’s also the reason the room is messed up." She closed the book and set it atop the stack. Placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder she continued. “You really don’t remember any of this?”

Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't. But how did I get hickeys? We didn’t get... uhm... intimate, did we?" Fluttershy asked, her voice fading into a tiny squeak with the last few words.

"Well... no."

"Oh good. You were so tired when I passed you in the hall and then the hickeys. I just assumed..." Fluttershy looked away. “I mean, you’re nice and all, but...”

"Well the two of you were really loud and kept me up most of the night. I had to send Spike to stay with Rarity because of the noise you were making." Twilight squinted. "I know you weren’t thinking clearly, but you really should try to be more considerate. Spike is just a baby after all."

Fluttershy's pupils shrank. "So I did... but not with... who was..." Struggling to keep what little of her composure remained she pleaded "Twilight, I'm not like that, I don't do those things. Please tell me this is just a joke"

Seeing the shame in Fluttershy’s eyes Twilight took a step backwards. "It's… it’s not a joke Fluttershy. I know you wouldn't NORMALLY do those things, but last night... You should talk to her about this. She's probably just finishing breakfast right now."

"She?"

Twilight breathed deep "It’s probably better if you see for yourself. Why don't you take a quick shower first, it will help you calm down. I'll have Spike clean up this mess when he gets back. Come to the kitchen when you are done."

Twilight was right, the shower was just what she needed. Her headache was all but gone and her coat was shiny once again. The soothing water had calmed her enough that she felt truly ready to face whatever she did last night, and whoever was waiting for her in the kitchen.

As she drew back the shower curtain the filth of the bathroom came into full view. Fluttershy felt the knot in her stomach return at the thought of her and some mare, entangled in muddy hooves, seemingly rolling around everywhere.

She closed her eyes tight and rushed out the door into the hallway. Nervously opening them again she glanced around, hoping not to encounter any more remnants of the previous night. To her left a trail of muddy hoofprints lead to the bedroom To her right was the stack of books and an otherwise empty hallway. Fortunately, the kitchen was in the opposite direction of the mud.

Sweet Celestia I REALLY hope the coffee is ready. Fluttershy thought to herself. Sniffing at the air she was not disappointed, the warm smell of coffee and waffles permeated the atmosphere. As apprehensive as she was to greet what awaited her in the kitchen, her stomach drove her onward more than she would like to admit.

"Twilight, I think you forgot those books by the bathroom," Fluttershy called out as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. Her heart sank when she saw the two familiar faces.

"I had better go get those. Humidity does terrible things to books. I'll leave you two alone," Twilight said, trotting out of the room. She put on a nervous smile, more for the excuse to leave the impending awkwardness than anything else.

Fluttershy would have preferred to have anypony else, any random mare from anywhere in Equestria, standing in front of her now. She didn't even know how to begin to deal with this.

"Glad ta see yer up. Ah reckon you'll want some breakfast. Twi an' me already had our fill so grab as much as ya want, there's plenty left." Applejack grinned, the worry on her face was plain to see.

"Good morning Applejack... err... did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." Applejack gave a hollow chuckle. “After a night like that ah s'pose anypony would sleep like a log." Her smile vanished as she turned her gaze to the cup of coffee she was swirling in her hoof. "Twilight said ya don't remember nothin' 'bout last night, is that true?"

Fluttershy shuffled her hooves. "Well, I remember the party, drinking some of your cider, then everypony moving to the library because it was getting late. That's about it."

"Ah don't get it, ya didn't even have that much cider," AJ said, not looking up from her mug "Ah've never seen somepony get blackout drunk from so little. Though ah guess that does explain all the hurlin' ya did."

"I may have had a teensy bit of blackberry wine before I came to the party. It helps me relax around the big crowds at Pinkie's parties."

"Blackberry wine huh? Where'd ya get somethin' fancy like that?" Applejack asked, trying desperately to avoid the elephant in the room as long as possible. Wishing with all her might that it would simply go away if she just didn't look at it.

"Sometimes ponies will send me gifts for caring for their sick pets." Fluttershy smiled at the thought of all the sick critters she had helped to get well. The moment quickly returned to her though. "Did we really… um… ya know… do… it?"

"Yeah… We did.” Applejack sat down her coffee mug, still practically full, next to the sink. “Listen, ah never would have let it go that far if ah'd known what kinda state you were in. Ya told me you were fine though, insisted that ya knew what you were doin'."

Fluttershy was silent.

Applejack glanced at the clock on the wall. With a sigh she said "Ah’ve gotta get to work now, why don't ya stop by the farm later?" She slowly walked out of the room, stopping briefly to look over her shoulder as she reached the doorway.

Fluttershy shuffled her hooves, staring at the floor. "Okay, I'll be there."