Don't let the bed bugs bite
Author's Note
Quick note before we begin! You might notice Sugarcoat isn't as blunt as she is in Friendship Games. This was done on purpose. This story takes place after FG, and I think while Sugarcoat is an advocate of honesty, both her human and pony counterpart learned to be a little more considerate of others' feelings. 
Don't let the bed bugs bite
Sugarcoat strained to keep her eyes open as she addressed the crowd before her. She stood before the elite of Canterlot, hoping to persuade them in favor of a problem she had stumbled across.
"And so," she concluded, stifling a yawn, "I believe it would be in any sensible pony's best interests to investigate the recent growth of Poison Joke near the Canterlot Stadium."
The crowd's thunderous applause nearly deafened Sugarcoat as she descended from the podium. Sugarcoat had a talent for eliciting a response from ponies, so she couldn't really complain. The clamor indicated she had done her job well.
"Great job, Sugarcoat!" Sunny Flare met her at the door of Canterlot's townhouse.
"Thank you, Sunny," Sugarcoat replied, dipping her head in acknowledgement of her friend's compliment. "I appreciate you coming to watch my speech. To anypony but you, I would not admit this, but it helps to have a friend in the crowd."
"It's no problem at all," the turquoise earth pony responded as the pair left the court house. "I could tell you had most, if not all, of the ponies in there convinced. I'm sure that Poison Joke will be removed in no time."
"Good." Again, the urge to yawn overcame Sugarcoat. This time, she succumbed, letting her fatigue become apparent.
"Are you tired, dear?" Sunny asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.
"No. I was only up late reviewing my notes," Sugarcoat answered her curtly. "It's understandable if I'm tired this afternoon."
Sunny nodded. "Well, don't forget Lemon Zest invited us over for an music party this afternoon."
"I could never forget an event like that," Sugarcoat informed her. "As one of my friends, Lemon Zest's parties are important to me. In addition, that mare will never let me hear the end of it if I neglect to attend her festivities."
Sunny smirked. "You don't give Lemon enough credit for what she does. That reminds me." Sunny paused. "I need to trot off, now; I offered to help Lemon Zest set up."
Sugarcoat nodded. "You were always gracious when helping your friends. That is an admirable trait."
Sunny bid Sugarcoat a parting hug, then trotted off down the street.
Sugarcoat let a long sigh escape from herself. "I am not usually this tired. I suppose the day is almost over, and then I'll get some well-deserved rest."
"Sugarcoat!" Somepony's excited screech caught the poised pony off guard. A blue unicorn with a toothpaste-looking mane approached Sugarcoat, a smile plastered on her face.
"Hello, Minuette," Sugarcoat replied flatly. Lemon Zest was tolerable because she usually kept to herself while she was listening to music, namely all the time. Minuette was infuriatingly cheerful, and was incapable of taking a hint that her presence was not wanted.
"Sugar, I just listened to your amazing speech!" Minuette squealed, wrapping a hoof around Sugarcoat's neck.
"Get your hoof off me," Sugarcoat told her, narrowing her eyes and doing her best to shake off Minuette.
Minuette obliged and let go, but she continued to ramble. "I have a friend who lives up near the stadium, and let me tell you, she probably would be so busy reading she wouldn't notice if she walked into poison joke and grew elephant ears!"
"Your friend should pay more attention to her surroundings," Sugarcoat noted. "And if you were a responsible pony, you would help her overcome this flaw."
Minuette started talking about Twilight Sparkle and books and the moon and stars. How Minuette had been started on the topic, Sugarcoat had no idea. However, the celestial bodies' names all seemed to run together in Sugarcoat's mind.
I'm more tired than I assumed, if I cannot keep another pony's words straight in my mind, Sugarcoat reflected sullenly. That, or Minuette is being a bigger pain in the flank than usual.
"Minuette, I am feeling tired and I am not interested in your conversation," Sugarcoat told her bluntly. "I have decided to go home."
"Aw, don't leave!" Minuette whined, hopping up and down.
Sugarcoat's hopes that Minuette would leave her in solitude were proved wrong. Even as she returned to her abode, Minuette continued to follow her.
"I practice time magic, maybe I can send you back in time to get some sleep!" she offered.
"No thank you. I had a dream I fell through a portal and went back in time. It was not very pleasant," Sugarcoat answered, flattening her ears.
"Your loss!" Minuette shrugged.
At last, Sugarcoat trudged up the steps of her middle class house.
"If you don't leave, I'll order a restraining order on you," Sugarcoat said. She narrowed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and showed Minuette her most threatening glare.
"See ya, Sugary!" Minuette waved, unfazed vy Sugarcoat, and then cantered off down the street.
Sugarcoat yawned.
Horse apples. Minuette's constant chatter made it worse, she thought as she opened her door. The parlor looked as it usually did, neat and orderly. Sugarcoat continued upstairs to the flat which she used for her room.
Neat and orderly was more of an exterior show. Sugarcoat brushed past crumbled paper balls, wood work projects, and various clothing articles as she made her way to her bed. Sugarcoat found it surprisingly easy to think when surrounded by chaos. Organized chaos.
Sugarcoat sat down on her bed.
"Lemon Zest's party starts in two hours and thirty four minutes," she told herself with a quick glance to the clock on the wall. "I should be able to squeeze in an hour and a half nap if I want to awake early enough to prepare for the social and traverse Canterlot to Lemon's house."
With this decided, Sugarcoat set her mango glasses on the bedstand and curled up underneath her purple-and-yellow quilt. Accidentally, she let out a tiny, high-pitched yawn; it sounded more like a kitten purring than a yawn.
Sugarcoat's eyes fluttered shut, and she allowed a content smile to slip onto her face-
TAP TAP TAP!
Sugarcoat's eyes snapped open. Her smile morphed into a deep-rooted frown.
She got up and descended the stairs to greet whoever was rapping at her door.
"Hopefully 'tis a raven, and nothing more," she mumbled, referencing Edgar Allen Poeny, her favorite poet.
She swung the door open and came face to face with a pale pony wearing too much eyeliner.
"Hello, I'm Midnight Raven, and I am collecting donations for the Hearthswarming play put on by Princess Celestia's School for Gifted-"
Sugarcoat slammed the door in Midnight Raven's goth face.
"Oh, the irony," she muttered flatly as she returned to her chambers. Once more, Sugarcoat climbed into bed, ready to begin her hour of slumber.
It felt like only a second had passed since she dozed off, but Sugarcoat was suddenly woken by a loud drumming noise.
"Who in Equestria wants to prevent me from being well rested?" Sugarcoat muttered, pursing her lips.
Her gaze fell on the window opposite of her bed. An orange pegasus with a cobalt mane was furiously rapping on Sugarcoat's window.
"Indigo Zap." Sugarcoat's frown intensified into a scowl.
Indigo's tapping persisted, so Sugarcoat dragged herself out of bed and over to the window.
"I am tired," she said, yanking the window pane up to talk to her friend. "I want to go to sleep. You are interrupting me."
"So sorry, Sugarcoat!" Indigo's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I just found a super cool book I had to share with you."
In Sugarcoat's eyes, Indigo might as well have sprouted three heads. "When have I ever been such a bookworm that you would find books for me? When have you ever been so considerate as to share reading suggestions?"
Indigo's grin widened mischievously. "Since I happened to talk with Sunny Flare earlier."
Sugarcoat inhaled to calm herself down, then kept her expression neutral. "What exactly did Sunny tell you?"
"Nothing." Indigo tried to look innocent, but now she looked more malevolent than ever.
"I will look at your book during Lemon Zest's get together. If you'll excuse me, I am going back to bed."
"Wait!" Indigo cried right before Sugarcoat closed her window. "The book I got you, it's a poetry book! Lemon Zest got it from Twilight who got it from her friend Pinkie Pie whose sister wrote it!"
"Read it later," Sugarcoat told her, slamming the window shut. Sunny had obviously let slip that Sugarcoat had been feeling tired, and Indigo had decided to annoy her because of it.
Indigo's mouth hung open, not used to rejection, but Sugarcoat turned on her heel. She wanted to get rest, so she would get rest.
However, Indigo relentlessly persisted, banging on Sugarcoat's window for the next half hour. Sugarcoat's eyelid twitched, and she became more and more vexed with Indigo's behavior. She plopped her pillow over her head to muffle the sounds, but the effort was futile; she could still hear Indigo. Sugarcoat's other eyelid twitched.
Finally, Sugarcoat had had enough. She rolled out of bed and marched over to the window.
"Indigo Zap, you are one of the most insufferable ponies I have ever known," she stated, gritting her teeth. "Even though we've been friends for a long time, I will not hesitate to place a restraining order on you if you persist in your efforts to keep me from sleeping."
Indigo's mango eyes dilated. "No, not the restraining order! I swear I won't do it again!"
"Then get off my property," Sugarcoat replied, narrowing her eyes.
Indigo nodded frantically. "Yes, I will!"
Sugarcoat watched in satisfaction as Indigo quickly winged in the opposite direction.
"I made a very poor choice in companionship," Sugarcoat observed before shutting her window.
After a quick glance at the clock, Sugarcoat realized she had better get ready for Lemon Zest's party. Silently, she combed her mane, cleaned her glasses, and rested her head on her dresser.
"Today has not been very enjoyable."
Sugarcoat trudged downstairs. Her ears were flattened, eyes half shut, and her mouth was curved down in a more innocent frown than she usually wore. In other words, Sugarcoat looked absolutely pitiful. And she hated looking pitiful.
A couple minutes later, a gold pegasus trotted up to Sugarcoat.
"Sugarcoat! You look absolutely ready to party!" Sour Sweet chirped, flashing a sickly sweet smile at her friend. Her smile suddenly dissipated and was replaced with a look of disdain. "But this party isn't a slumber party."
"I'm tired," Sugarcoat replied in a dull monotone. "I am only attending this get-together because Lemon Zest is a dear friend of mine."
"Aw, you're so sweet!" Sour Sweet smirked. "Lemon Zest is going to love a half-asleep Sugarcoat showing up and doing absolutely nothing!"
"I frankly do not care," Sugarcoat informed her.
"Good for you!" Sour Sweet winked. "And for that insult, I'm going to leave you here to walk by your lonesome!"
Glowering, Sour Sweet spread her wings and took off, leaving Sugarcoat with herself.
Sugarcoat sighed. "Note to self: After becoming a well-rested, fully functioning pony again, re-evaluate the ponies you considering friends."
Sugarcoat yawned as she walked up the steps to Lemon Zest's house. The walk had only enhanced her sleepy state. She winced as neon strobe lights filled her vision.
"Hey, Sugarcoat!" A pink unicorn appeared in the doorway. Her figure was framed by the bright lights, making her look like a hallucination.
"Lemon Zest," Sugarcoat responded dully, fighting to keep her eyes open. "I'm truly surprised metal music isn't blasting into my ears at this moment."
"The stereo broke." Lemon Zest grinned sheepishly. "Sunny offered to help me fix it. After that, get ready for a Fall Out Colt medley!" Lemon Zest's sentence dissolved into excited, frenzied giggles.
Lemon Zest had only invited a couple hooffuls of ponies to her party, but to Sugarcoat it seemed like she had invited the entirety of Canterlot. Even without the music, Sugarcoat was overwhelmed by the ponies who were already screaming and laughing. Indigo Zap was flying over the crowd, dumping punch on several ponies.
Keeping her head down, Sugarcoat slunk over to the loudspeaker set Sunny was fixing.
"Oh, hey, Sugarcoat." Sunny greeted her without turning from her work. "Still tired?"
"Even more so than before," Sugarcoat informed her, leaning in to watch Sunny work with the wires.
"Try a fizzy drink," Sunny advised. "It might get you through this party."
"I would rather not," Sugarcoat replied. "Those things are, quite frankly, hazardous."
"Suit yourself." Sunny plugged in the loudspeakers. Suddenly, "Equestrian Beauty" was blasting into Sugarcoat's ears, nearly knocking off her glasses.
Sugarcoat tried to speak, but the music drowned out her words. Lemon Zest appeared from nowhere and tackled Sunny Flare in a hug. Sugarcoat retreated to a table in the back of the room, where a couple of ponies sat sipping punch. Sugarcoat rested her chin on her hooves, when suddenly the blue nightmare hopped over.
"Hi Sugarcoat!" Minuette's squeal was somehow audible over the blasting music. "How's it going?"
Sugarcoat glared at her, but made no attempt to converse.
"Do you want any punch?" Minuette offered. "I can go get some for you!"
"No-" Sugarcoat rubbed her left temple after Minuette zoomed off to find the punch.
"Dude!" Lemon screamed, trotting over. "You have got to join us on the dance floor!"
Sugarcoat's focus wasn't on Lemon Zest, but the cup of punch sailing over the unicorn's head.
"Lemon!" Sugarcoat called. The cup landed on the table; only a few driblets of water sloshed out.
"The punch is served!" Minuette called, standing next to Lemon Zest.
"I don't want punch," Sugarcoat grumbled, pushing the cup away.
"You need an energy drink!" Lemon Zest produced a bottle of Ponyade and began to dump it into the cup.
"Lemon Zest, you put that down right now!" Sugarcoat barked, rubbing an eye.
Lemon Zest paid her no mind. Minuette leaned in, watching as the last of Lemon's drink was emptied into the punch.
"Viola!" Lemon Zest's magic aura enveloped the concoction and she shoved it into Sugarcoat's mouth.
"Mmmph!" Sugarcoat had no choice but to swallow part of the mixture before she shoved the cup away from her.
"That was foul!" she snarled, glaring at Lemon and Minuette. "Shoving drinks at your guests is not considered proper etiquette!"
Minuette sniffed the cup. "It doesn't smell foul to me!"
Sugarcoat facehoofed.
"Cheer up, Sugarpie!" Lemon Zest wrapped a hoof around Sugarcoat in an attempt to comfort the latter. "The energy drink should kick in soon!"
Sugarcoat wriggled out of Lemon's grasp. "I don't-" Suddenly, her hooves tensed up. Sugarcoat's eyelid twitched as the sugar rushed through her system. She was still tired, but her limbs seemed to move of their own accord. She had to move.
"Alright, everypony, you'd better be careful because I now have the strength to murder you," Sugarcoat told Minuette and Lemon Zest as she jumped on the table. Bystanding ponies backed off to another part of the room.
The song ended, and a Panic! at the Party tune began to play in the background.
"Sugarcoat?" Sunny Flare and Indigo Zap trotted over, followed by Sour Sweet.
"Lemon Zest, your music playlist is not pleasing me," Sugarcoat said , jumping down and galloping over to the speaker. "Let me take it from here." Sugarcoat put on a classical record.
"Classical?" Lemon Zest asked, curling her lips in disgust.
"Oh, aren't you the perfect party guest?" Sour Sweet mocked.
Sugarcoat's eyes gleamed. "Let's play Pin the Tail on the Annoying Bipolar Mare!"
"I'm not bipolar!" Sour Sweet screamed as Sugarcoat chased her through the party guests.
"Sugarcoat's had too much sugar!" Sunny pointed out nervously.
"This is not even fun," Sugarcoat told them as she chased her quarry. Her legs ached, but yet she still needed to run. By Celestia's name, Sugarcoat anathematized energy drinks.
"Someone grab this lunatic!" Sour Sweet screeched as she barreled past Lemon Zest's friends.
"You have wings, dumbflank!" Indigo shouted.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Sour Sweet cried, but nevertheless, she took flight.
Sugarcoat stopped running, but she still remained prancing on her tippy toes. "This is very tiring and annoying. I would appreciate it very much if somepony where to knock me out so I could have a well rested sleep."
"My pleasure!" Sour Sweet snarled. "Lemon Zest, where do you keep you pans?"
Suddenly Sugarcoat whose fault the entire mess was. Spotting the blue unicorn, Sugarcoat galloped towards Minuette. Minuette's eyes went wide when she realized Sugarcoat was after her.
"You're not mad at me, are you?" Minuette asked, grinning sheepishly.
"I'm furious," Sugarcoat deadpanned. Before she could lift a hoof, two other ponies tackled her.
"Okay, Sugar, hopefully that energy drink will wear off soon," Sunny soother her, wrapping her hooves around Sugarcoat's forearms.
"Maybe we should give her some punch?" Indigo Zap suggested.
"Get off of me," Sugarcoat said. "I need to give Minuette a piece of mine.
Indigo and Sunny paid no attention to her request.
"I think I have an idea," commented Sunny. "I read about this technique in a book once. It's guaranteed to get you to sleep."
Sunny began rubbing the top of Sugarcoat's head. Up and down her hoof went. Sunny's touch felt like that of a professional masseuse's.
"Do you feel better?" Sunny asked, continuing to pet Sugarcoat between her ears.
"Yes," Sugarcoat admitted, yawning. "In fact..." She didn't finish her sentence, because her eyelids drooped, and Sugarcoat fell asleep.
"Why is her leg twitching?" Indigo asked, observing the leg in question.
"The energy drink is still in her system," Sunny responded, standing up. "Hey, Lemon Zest, wanna carry sleepyhead here up to your bed where she can be comfortable?"
"Sure thing!" Lemon agreed.
"Aw, I'm so glad Sugarcoat is asleep!" Sour Sweet commented, stilling on the wing. "This classical music is disgusting!"
While Sour Sweet changed the music from classical to pop, Indigo, Lemon, and Sunny carried their friend's dozing figure up stairs, where Sugarcoat could finally get some rest.
