CH3-CH2-OH. Ethanol. A compound created by fermenting certain sugars with yeasts. Normally, all of these terms and definitions would swim through Dusk Shine's mind after hearing the word 'alcohol'. But, since his mind was already swimming with the stuff, the most he could muster was, a good drink. The violet colt sat at the bar-stool, in between two of his friends - Bubble Berry and Rainbow Blitz - as he took another swig of his Applejack Daniel's. His face was red enough to be seen through his dark coat in the dim lights, and he was giggling uncontrollably after one of Blitz's "hilarious" jokes. He slammed his hoof on the counter as he laughed, going on for a few seconds before the laughter ebbed away. The bookworm looked up and glanced towards his two companions, only to see them staring at him in near-disbelief.
"W-what? Why you guys starin' at... *hic* me?" Dusk asked, getting only slightly anxious about their prying eyes; the rest being drowned in the booze.
Berry just smiled and giggled in his usual, almost-obnoxious way, before responding, "Heehee, well, Shiny, we just never knew you were such a light-weight! I mean, look! You've only had one and a half bottles of hard cider, and you're already drunk off your butt!" He giggled once again, snorting once before gasping for air.
Blitz just rolled his eyes and stared back into his own glass - half vodka and half Applejack Daniel's - before muttering under his breath... something about eggheads. Dusk couldn't quite hear it properly; he was much more preoccupied with Berry's continuous drinking, glass after glass. How could he keep himself from chanting, "Chug! Chug! Chug!" in his inebriated stupor? Well, he rightly couldn't.
The establishment they were drinking at was the famed, Club Pon-3, residing straight on the west outskirts of Ponyville - so as to not disturb the sleeping ponies on the east side - where Vinny Scratch was the owner, proprietor, and disc jockey. They decided to come here because they had all been so busy with prior engagements, and the almost-level-headed ponies each saw they needed some sort of break. Only Blitz, Dusk, and Berry remain, after the first half of the group decided to leave. Elusive claimed that he needed his beauty sleep, and that "getting wasted and partying won't help with that". Applejack had the most understandable reason - he lived and worked all week on the farm, and he needs to rise early every morning. Butterscotch was... well... nopony could really tell. He just kinda disappeared sometime after Blitz grabbed him and tried to make him dance. Oh, well, they all thought. They're just missing out.
There wasn't long of a silence between the three as Blitz's pager went off. All of the weather team had to carry them in case of a weather emergency. "Ah, crap. Sorry guys, I gotta run. Have fun getting more drunk." He stood up and walked out of the club, leaving the two colts by themselves in the bouncing-loud place.
Dusk was managing down his third bottle of the apple alcohol, almost grimacing by the time he finished it. It was starting to leave a bad taste in his mouth, but once again, since he was drunk, he didn't care for anything. Meanwhile, Berry was knocking back so many different drinks. Some variations with vodka, some straight alcohol, so much it made Dusk's drowning brain hurt.
After what seemed like the 47th glass that Berry had, he finally seemed to show signs of being tipsy. A light dust of pink adorned more pink as the alcohol started to make the pony blush. Dusk laughed and snorted before managing to choke out, "H-hah! Berry, you're finally - *hic* - drunk! Dude, it took like.... I don't even know how many glasses!"
The baker blushed even more before retorting, "Well, I AM the greatest party pony in Equestria! That includes all sorts of parties!" He swayed in his stool before falling onto the ground in a drunk, giggling mess. Witnessing the hilarious event, Berry's drinking companion stood - quite slowly and carefully so as to not befall the same fate - out of his seat and helped his friend up off of the floor. He quickly stated, "Okay, *hic*, I think we've had enough. Time to go, you crazy stallion." Berry looked disappointed, but nodded in agreement anyways. They leaned on each other for support as they walked out the front door, their drinking ended, but the party was most likely far from over, if what Dusk knew of his friend was true.
It didn't take too long for them to reach the town square, though their trip was delayed by the constant slipping and falling that the two did. They reached the library door and entered the large tree/house. Dusk was quite sure that Spines had put herself to sleep; the place was clean and spotless and no more chores were to be done, and the lights were all off. He concentrated magic into his horn - which was quite difficult to do considering how much he drank - and managed to light the candles that adorned the walls. Now, a low, orange light flickered throughout the place, giving it more of a warm, homey feeling.
Berry coughed suddenly, and the purple librarian turned around to see him still standing outside in the cold. He stared at him and flatly asked, "Why are you standing outside? You know you don't need permission to come in." After this obvious statement was pointed out, Berry grinned and hopped inside, now standing next to Dusk once again. The librarian realized that he had sobered up slightly, now able to form full sentences. "Well, since it's pretty dark out, you might as well stay the night here." He yawned and began to walk up the stairs, motioning for him to come up with him. "I have a guest bed you can sleep on. All you need to do is get it from under my bed."
"Okie Dokie Loki! Thanks Shiny! I thought that I'd need to walk all the way across town to get back to the bakery!" Berry stated, quite loudly, as they entered the bedroom. Dusk promptly shushed him, warning not to wake Spines up, as she was likely very tired. The bed was quickly pulled out and they were both about to climb in and pass out, but Berry tapped Dusk's shoulder, and the latter pony turned his head. Right then, a pressure was felt upon the librarian's lips. It took him a second to realize what it was - Berry was kissing him! On the lips!
Dusk's cheeks flushed a deep crimson and he tried to will himself to pull away. His body just wouldn't follow his brain; the shock disrupted his mind's commands. Berry finally pulled away, and he flopped down on his guest mattress and instantly passed out with a goofy grin on his face. Meanwhile, Dusk still stood there, still as a statue, in a faux catatonic state. His still tipsy mind poured out questions - What just happened? Did he just... kiss me? Why did he kiss me? Why couldn't I move away? Why am I slightly... turned on by it?
He fell on the bed and covered himself with the blankets. He tried to get to sleep that night, and only seemed to succeed with a very unwelcome guest between his legs...
It Was A Drunken Mistake... Right?
Dusk awoke to Solaris's sun, which - quite unwelcomely - shone through the window of the upper floor of the library. He checked his bedside alarm to find that he had slept through half of the day, the time being 2 PM. He groaned and pulled the covers back over his head, which was beating like a taiko drum. The thoughtful unicorn went over the events of last night in his head.
Let's see... guy's night out... got drunk - which would explain the hangover... Berry and I got back here... and then it's hazy... but something else happened, I'm sure of it. What else happened?
He groaned once more and got out of bed - or rather slipped and rolled out - and began to prepare breakfast. Spines was nowhere to be found, but Dusk was quite sure that she could take care of herself in town by now, so he only made one stack of pancakes to eat and a cup of coffee to try and wake him up a bit more. Taking the plate and mug in his magic and setting himself and the meal at the dining table, he was about to start eating when suddenly he heard a loud crashing noise and saw none other than Bubble Berry himself tumbling down the stairs.
Dusk gasped, "Oh goodness! Berry, are you okay!?" He shot up out of his seat and helped his friend up. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"No, Dusk, I'm fine, I just slipped down the stairs is all. Man, last night was fun, wasn't it - ooh! Pancakes!" The pony pretty much instantly shook off whatever little amount of pain and concern for himself he had as he jumped towards the stack of pancakes, devouring them in one fell swoop. "Mmm, Shiny, these are good! I didn't take you for such a good cook!"
A flat look and a similarly flat answer was given. "It's pancakes. How hard could it be to make pancakes?" He took no heed to the fact that his only stack of pancakes were eaten, and instead reached out for the dark, bitter, hot drink he'd come to love almost as much as tea. He allowed himself a sip, letting the warm liquid pass his lips, leaving them as warm as they were when the pony in front of him kissed him.
Wait. WHAT.
Dusk's mind instantly replayed the memory of Berry's drunk muzzle pressing against his as they kissed. He spat out the coffee he just sucked down as he stared blankly at Berry - who just happened to be in the firing range.
"Shiny? Why'd you just spit your coffee on me? Was it too hot? You of all ponies should know that you should let it cool first. You look like you're shocked. What'cha thinkin' about, huh?" Berry's face was dangerously close to Dusk's again. The latter instantly looked away with a blush on his face. The former just stared unblinkingly.
"D-don't you remember what happened last night?" Dusk almost shouted.
"Well, duh, silly! We went and partied, but then everypony went home, so we decided to go back here together and sleep! Though," he started giggling in-between his words, "you were pretty drunk, so I can understand why you don't!"
Dusk stared in bewilderment at the pony staring at him from on top of his dining table. D-does he not remember that he kissed me? "Um, Berry? Do you remember anything else that happened?"
The pink colt hopped down on the floor and put a hoof to his chin before answering, "Well, I remember some other stuff, but it's not important."
"NOT IMPORTANT? What do you mean "not important"!? You kissed me last night! You kissed me on the lips! You tried to stick your tongue in my mouth!" Dusk shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the pony in front of him to suddenly shy away with a visible red blush on his face.
"O-oh... did I? Well, umm..."
What? Berry's acting shy all of a sudden. That's strange... it was just a drunken mistake... right? Wait... where'd he go?
Indeed, the aforementioned pony was missing from his current spot, having bolted off while Dusk was in his mental questioning. The library doors were still swinging, in fact.
"Why did he get so nervous? We were both drunk, and I've heard around that things like that happen then... is he hiding something from me? No, it's Berry. Berry would never keep secrets from his friends..."
In any case, Dusk carried on through with his tasks. Strangely enough, he didn't catch a sight of mane or tail of his friend that day...
"Dude, where's Berry? He was supposed to meet us here! Now we have to wait to eat!"
It was a week since Dusk had last seen Berry. Honestly, he wouldn't be worried if he at least informed Mr. and Mrs. Cake that he was going somewhere. But after going to Sugarcube Corner the day beforehand, they said that he had just upped and left during the night after locking himself in his room.
Elusive, Blitz, Applejack, and Butterscotch were with him at the Hay Stack - a simple restaurant - after he had all called them there. After Rainbow's remark, the fashionable unicorn spoke up. "Honestly, Rainbow Blitz, can't you simply wait for him? I understand that you are hungry - so are the rest of us - but patience is befitting of a gentlecolt. Now, Dusk, if you wouldn't mind mentioning to us why you called us all here?"
Dusk himself wasn't feeling too well after hearing the bad news from the Cakes. He wasn't sure that the rest of their little gang would take it well, either. "W-well, guys... haven't you noticed that Berry hasn't been around lately? I just asked the Cakes, and they said that he ran away last night!"
...
...
...
"Er... guys? Why are you huddled up like that?"
Indeed, the four ponies were huddled together, whispering amongst themselves. This went on for a while, as did the growing of Dusk's frustration, before they broke up and Elusive asked, "Well, dear, that certainly is bad news! What happened?"
The lavender librarian's face grew solemn as he explained what happened after Blitz left the bar to that morning a week before - excluding the part where he got a boner before he fell asleep, of course.
"O-oh, my... that does sound serious..." the nearly mute Butterscotch commented.
"Y-you should go find him! You know, to patch things up, get him back here!" Applejack almost blurted out. Dusk could have sworn that he saw the farmpony look to his left and right while saying that...
Either way, he IS right... I should go talk to him. "Alright. I will. Thanks, guys." He stood from his seat and walked away, leaving the other four ponies to their own devices.
"So, y'all really think Berry's taken a fancyin' for Dusk, Elusive?"
"Why of course, dear! He does this every time he falls in love, doesn't he?"
"Well, now that you mention it, that last hot mare he was with last time shot him down and this happened, right?
"Oh, my... you're right..."
