“Ya’ll deserve so much better than ‘er, anyway,” Applejack slurred, leaning over a bit too far, leaning against the equally drunken Fluttershy at her side. “Ah... Ah mean... really! Yer...” Applejack hiccuped, head slumping to the side to land against Fluttershy’s shoulder.

Fluttershy seized up at the feeling of another pony leaning against her, but she relaxed slightly as she bit onto the top of the cider bottle in front of her and pulled her head back, taking a deep drink. She set the bottle back on the table, now empty. “R-Rainbow Dash shaid... hic... shaid the same thing...”

“W-well, that’s because she’s right!” Applejack nodded fiercely. Her head jerked up and down fast enough to knock her hat clear off her scalp, her signature piece of clothing tumbling to the floor in front of the pair. “Yer... she’s... hic...” Applejack stopped to catch her breath, stifling another hiccup.

“Hold on, lemme get that back ‘fore onna us loses it,” Applejack said, reaching forward with a hoof to recollect her hat off the floor. Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle as Applejack attempted several times to grab hold of it, failing each time to jab the leather headgear with her hoof.

“‘Tain’t funny, girl!” Applejack chided her, despite giggling herself. “Damn thing keeps movin’...” The hat was, in fact, not moving at all, though it could have fooled the drunken pair. Applejack gave one last lunge at the hat, loosing her footing on the floor and falling forward.

She slumped forward, looking rather silly as she did, but at last she gripped the hat between her front hooves and clutched it tightly. Both of them fell into full on drunken laughter - Applejack’s hearty laugh echoed through the room while Fluttershy only gave a quiet giggle.

Their laughter slowly died out, Applejack ceasing her rocking side to side on the floor as she rolled with merriment. Their eyes locked for a brief moment before Applejack spoke up. “Actually, Ah got somethin’ Ah wanna ask ya. Prolly jus’ a rumor, but Ah’m curious...”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said, tilting her head out of curiosity. “Well, what is it?” She asked, followed by a hiccup. Her front hooves slid out to the side slightly, steadying her balance - she’d already drank enough to where sitting up was going to give her grief.

“Ah heard... now, like Ah shaid, maybe this is jus’ a rumor, but...” She hiccuped, then continued. “That pegasai, yeah? Pegasai can really hold their booze.”

“Oh, um... I’m not so - hic - so shure...” Fluttershy said, swallowing hard and blushing slightly at what she perceived as a compliment - after all, holding your liquor was a good thing, right?”

“Wanna find out?” Applejack giggled at her own question, still laying on her back. She reached a hoof up and poked at Fluttershy’s chest, grinning wide.

“What did you have in mind?” Fluttershy recoiled slightly at the poke, squirming and giggling a little. She wasn’t quite sure what it was that made her feel so comfortable about the touch - perhaps it was the already copious amounts of alcohol flowing through her, but she felt so safe around Applejack. She was sure part of it was her timid, but kind, nature wanting to latch onto someone else after her failed relationship, but the circumstances were still odd.

Applejack slowly, very slowly, rolled over onto her side. As careful as a drunken cowmare could, she pushed herself back onto her hooves, then pointed with her nose towards the barrel, complete with a spigot, against the opposite side of the kitchen. “That.”

“W-what?” Fluttershy turned around, eyes widening slightly at the massive cider barrel resting in place. She hadn’t even bothered to stand up - she simply spun in place. With this much cider in her, she didn’t trust herself to stand. “Oh, Applejack. I could never drink - hic - all of that...”

“Naw, of course not!” Applejack giggled again, reaching over to slap Fluttershy on the back with a hoof. She made sure to do so extremely lightly, however, knowing that a more gentle approach was necessary with Fluttershy. “But, ya know. Jus’ whatever ya could.”

“Um, well...” Fluttershy mulled the idea over in her mind, but the alcohol still in her veins slowed down her thoughts. “Y-yeah, I guess that would be... f-fun?”

“Yeah, atta girl!” Applejack snickered to herself as she gave Fluttershy a nudge with the hoof placed on her back, stumbling but catching herself before she hit the ground again. “Go on an’ uh, get under there.”

Fluttershy gave a weak smile and lifted herself to her hooves, very carefully steadying herself against the table before lifting her legs one at a time to walk towards the barrel. It took a few attempts, but she eventually found herself able to take her first drunken step, and the rest followed much more easily.

Reaching the barrel after a few moments, the tired and inebriated pegasus simply flopped onto her side, stretching a wing out to roll herself onto her back, face now pointed towards the cider spigot.

Applejack was not far behind, standing right next to the barrel. She had to lean against the wall to stay upright, but she was there. “Ready?”

Fluttershy stared up at the spigot above her, eyes crossing as she attempted to focus in on it. It swerved and split into two images, but she finally grew confident enough in its position to reach up, mouth open, and clamp her lips around the open end. She could vaguely taste old cider on the lip, but it wasn’t enough to cause an issue.

“Here goes!” Applejack grinned wide and punched the lever open with a hoof, the flow of cider rushing down the spigot and filling Fluttershy’s mouth.

Author's Note

I have absolutely no recollection of writing this, but it was in my Google Drive, last edited June 9th, 2012.