Berry Punch sighed as she walked through the garden. The ground was unusually not trying to throw her to the ground, making walking rather boring. Sobriety did not suit her well, but today was important, so she had made an exception. Today was special. She glanced at each of the stones around her as she trotted, looking for that somepony who would be there waiting for her.
A small smile graced her lips when she saw him.
“Hey,” she said. “It’s been a while.”
The previous day
Cheerilee descended the steps carefully, trying not to make too much noise. Her sister hated being woken up before noon, and Cheerilee enjoyed the relative peace of the morning before the typically hungover mare woke up. She turned and opened the pantry to grab a bowl and the box of oats before heading over to the table in the center of the kitchen. That’s what she would have done, at least, if Berry Punch hadn’t been sitting at the table.
“Berry! You’re… awake. So nice to see you in the morning. How’s your head? Is something wrong?” Cheerilee stepped slowly over to her sister, startled both by the fact that she hadn’t noticed the smell of alcohol hanging in the air, nor could she locate the bottle Berry was undoubtedly drinking from. She inhaled deeply through her nose, and further to her confusion realized she hadn’t missed the smell – it was, in fact, not present.
“Hey Cheers,” the purple earth pony managed through a yawn. “Yeah, I made it an early night yesterday. Hey look, it’s tomorrow’s gonna be the 18th so… you know…” she trailed off, looking down at her hooves.
Cheerilee’s ears perked up. Right, that’s this weekend. How could I have forgotten?
“You need me to watch Pinchy again?” she asked – no, offered, now realizing why her sister was at the most sober she’d been in… almost exactly a year, to be precise.
“Yeah, that’d be great of you, Cheers. It’s not too much trouble, is it?”
“No, of course not, Berry,” Cheerilee replied, smiling. Her sister was a drunk, and a bit of a freeloader, but she was her sister, and Cheerilee loved her. “We’ll just make our annual trip to the petting zoo.”
“Thanks, Cheers. It means the world to me.”
“I know it does.”
Six years ago
The party was in full swing, one of the biggest in recent history in Canterlot. It didn’t have any particular reason, nothing in particular was being celebrated, just every now and then the Princess decided to throw a huge party. According to the event planners, a party this big hadn’t been thrown in the better part of a century. The Princess was even planning on getting out her own personal private reserves, or so the rumors said, and that was an opportunity Berry Punch was not going to miss. As an alcohol… connoisseur, Berry felt it in her bones to make sure she was in Canterlot to try some of the wine good enough to be generally withheld from the public.
She had, of course, been already drunk when she arrived, but that made no difference. Some ponies grew quiet when they were drunk, some became easy to anger, but Berry Punch? No, she was different – Berry was a partying drunk. An intoxicated Berry Punch was nearly as festive as her hometown’s own Pinkie Pie, albeit much less aware of what was going on at the time. She was a beast on the dance floor when she was drunk, the alcohol relaxing her muscles and making her far more flexible than was reasonable to expect of a mare her age. As she twirled, spun, flipped, and slid, eventually she had found herself nose to nose with a large gray unicorn stallion in shining golden armor with light green eyes. He seemed nervous, a little surprised at the sudden invasion of his personal space, but whatever – he was at a party, a party thrown by Celestia herself, why on earth would he expect to have his personal space respected? Berry grabbed him by the forehooves and pulled him close to her, somehow finding it within her drunken self to lead the timid pony through the steps of several dances.
Somehow, throughout the course of the next several hours, the two managed to remain quite close to one another, if not always as dancing partners, and eventually the party (the first night of it, at least) began to wind down. Berry, having consumed nearly twice her volume in fine alcohols, could see even less straight than normal, much less walk straight. She stumbled towards the door, swaying and bobbing to the last beats of music coming through the magically amplified speakers, and suddenly found herself supported against a gray unicorn stallion, in shining golden armor, with light green eyes. She didn’t even know his name, but he made her feel safe, even if he seemed a little unstable himself.
Berry Punch awoke in an unfamiliar bed.
It was not the first time this had happened, nor was it likely to be the last. She looked around, surprised to find only one pony beside her – a gray unicorn stallion, his shining golden armor beside the door, with a vibrant red mane. Berry Punch smiled, last night had been fun for at least two ponies. The large pony was sleeping heavily beside her, and she gently slid out of the bed, and after a few moments of opening doors, managed to locate the bathroom. The warm water felt good in her mane, slowly allowing more alertness to creep into her. She grabbed a shampoo bottle, somewhat darker and more traditionally masculine than she was used to, and eased the suds into her mane as she gently washed it. She’d found, in her many years as a professional drinker, perhaps the most important thing to reduce the effects of a hangover short of unicorn magic was a good, careful shower, forcing the most of your dexterity.
A few short minutes later, she had decided to heck with that, and after toweling off, exited the bathroom, and the apartment, the nameless gray stallion still asleep on his bed.
A week later, the party had ended, and Berry Punch had returned home. Her sister was always telling her she drank too much, but Berry didn’t care, and ultimately Cheerilee wouldn’t do anything to stop her. It was a Saturday morning, and while Berry found herself up surprisingly early, it just meant she could get an earlier start with her friends Jack and Daniel, and Cheerilee would leave her mostly to her own (de)vices. A sudden knock at the door interrupted the both of them, though, Cheerilee being a little quicker on the uptake given her sobriety. The lighter mare set down her book and trotted to the door in the time it took Berry to process the knock.
“Get the door, Cheers,” she mumbled.
“Already on it,” her sister replied, opening the door.
“Good morning! My name is Chain Mail, ma’am! I was under the impression this is the residence of a ‘Ms. Berry Punch,’” a giant bouquet stated.
Cheerilee sighed.
“I’m going to assume, for my own sanity, that there’s a pony behind those flowers somewhere. Yes, this is the residence of ‘Ms. Berry Punch,’” she replied, her tone snarking upwards at the idea of giving her sister any sort of formal title. She backed away from the door, and leaned over her shoulder. “Berry! You have a visitor!”
“Stop your yelling, Cheers!”
“Yes ma’am. Thank you ma’am,” the flowers spoke again, unmoving.
“You may come in, Mr. Chain Mail.”
“… Yes ma’am. Thank you ma’am,” the flowers bobbed as they brushed against the doorframe, and Cheerilee was momentarily concerned whether or not they would fit in the door at all. To her surprise, they did, and behind them stood a light gray unicorn stallion in shining golden armor, with light green eyes.
“A member of the Royal Guard, huh? Normally I wouldn’t question what you might be wanting with my sister but the flowers have me genuinely curious,” the schoolteacher stated, more talking to herself than to Chain Mail.
“Ah… well, ma’am, you see…” the guardspony mumbled, blushing as he looked towards the ground.
“Oh. Oh this should be good,” Cheerilee chuckled to herself, now having a pretty good grasp on the situation. She turned her head to see her sister stumble into the room, half-heartedly dragging a bottle in one hoof. The party mare’s eyes opened wide when she saw their guest, though.
“Miss Berry Punch?”
“… That’s me.”
“Miss, as an apology for the impropriety that took place between us, I formally ask for your hoof in marriage,” Chain Mail nearly yelled, setting the flowers aside (as best he could, given their volume), and summoning a box from somewhere in the center, and bowing down on one foreleg as he offered the enclosed ring to the astonished mare. Cheerilee tried and failed to suppress laughter, covering her face with a hoof in a vain attempt at stifling the noise. Chain Mail opened one eye and shot her an annoyed glance but said nothing.
Berry Punch, on the other hand, was still processing the information. Flowers, a ring, on one knee… okay, I know what that means, but why? Oh, oh right. That’s probably why.
“Whoa okay there coltscout, you aren’t the first to have done me any ‘impropriety,’ and you almost certainly won’t be the last, let’s not do anything too hasty now,” Berry said to the stallion.
“While that may be the case miss, I would like to make sure I’d be the last. The whole situation doesn’t sit right with me and I’d like to make it up to you.”
“There’s nothing to make up, what happened happened and that’s the end of it.”
“But miss, if there are any foals-”
“I’m on every kind of birth control there is for mares. There’s not going to be a foal.”
“But miss –”
“If it’d make you feel any better… gimme a minute,” Berry muttered, irritated, as she turned and trotted off to the bathroom. As the door closed behind her, Cheerilee turned to face the stallion.
“Let me guess, first time,” she stated, not asking a question. Nonetheless, the guardspony answered with a blush and a refusal to meet here eyes.
“Oh this is just pricele-” Cheerilee began, only to be interrupted by a scream from the bathroom. Faster than she would have thought possible, Berry Punch rocketed down the hall and into her, bowling over her sister.
“I’m pregnant!” Berry exclaimed, her voice and face filled with a dozen different emotions. Fear, a little anger, but, shockingly, mostly… excitement, happiness, something bordering on joy even. Standing up off her sister, Berry ran to the cabinet and immediately began pulling bottles down, full bottles, expensive bottles, and throwing them in the trash bin.
“Oh my gosh Cheers I don’t even know what to think but I know that this is gonna be the most time I’ve spent sober in twenty years!”
Six months had passed since the unexpected proposal. Berry’s belly swelled, but not with alcohol, and a proud, if scared, Chain Mail was never far from her side. Berry had agreed, after the seventeenth request, to marry the stallion after the foal was born, and proudly wore the engagement band on her foreleg. Sobriety was treating her surprisingly well, her mane was fluffier, her coat shinier, and her trot less staggered, and she treated herself better. Handling the pregnancy and caring for herself and her unborn foal was the most serious Cheerilee remembered seeing her sister take anything, the mare refusing to even go to the side of town the liquor store was on to prevent any sort of temptation. Everything was going perfectly, and Cheerilee couldn’t have been happier for her sister.
Then the recall orders came. There were reports of a dangerous criminal in Canterlot, and rumors that an attempt on the Princess’ life was imminent. All of the members of the Royal Guard, throughout Equestria, were being called back to Canterlot to maintain the tightest possible security. The suddenness of the orders came as a shock to Chain Mail and Berry alike, but both understood how serious this could be and how important it was for both the Royal Guard and the country. A tearful goodbye and a train whistle later, and Chain Mail was gone. On the bright side, though, the assignment was only to last for a week at most, and Chain Mail had put in a request to be officially transferred to Ponyville afterwards.
A week later a knock came at the door of the Punch household, and, albeit now for a different reason, Cheerilee made it to the door ahead of her sister. Where she had expected one guardspony, though, she found two, their bodies rigid and their faces stone. The one on the right was wearing saddlebags, and telekinetically retrieved a piece of parchment bearing the Princess’ own wax seal. Cheerilee’s breath caught in her throat, knowing this meant one thing and one thing only. While rarely seen by those outside of her private circle, the Princess’ personal hoof-writing was recognizable in an instant. Cheerilee quietly thanked the guards and turned to bring the news to her sister, forgetting to even close the door.
The funeral was a quiet affair, apart from the inconsolable bride-to-be. Berry wept the entire day, and much to Cheerilee’s shock, never even so much as looked at anything alcoholic. She spent the next months in a state of shock, only being convinced to eat properly when Cheerilee pointed out potential health hazards to the child. Berry made sure never to miss a meal after that, but that was it.
Something wonderful did happen, though, and that was the birth of Berry’s daughter. Right on time, and with a miraculously painless and easy delivery, Ruby Pinch came crying into the world. A small bundle of light reddish purple fur with a mop of a mane and light green eyes, she was the first thing to bring Berry Punch out of her depression. With Cheerilee’s help, and a lot of determination, Berry was a surprisingly competent mother, even if she had largely returned to her drunken ways. Cheerilee speculated it was simply that she’d built up an immunity, but Berry herself insisted no matter the situation, she was always sober when she was with her daughter.
And so a small filly grew up with her loving mother and wonderful aunt, never really wondering why once a year her mommy went away for a day and she went to the zoo with her auntie.
Berry Punch sighed as she walked through the garden. The ground was unusually not trying to throw her to the ground, making walking rather boring. She did have to admit that came with its benefits, though, as it made carrying the large bouquet of white flowers much easier. Sobriety did not suit her well, but today was important, so she had made an exception. Today was special. Today she wore her engagement band. She glanced at each of the headstones around her as she trotted, looking for that somepony who would be there waiting for her.
“Hey,” Berry said. “It’s been a while, hasn't it? You wouldn’t believe how big she’s gotten…”