Author's Note

Disclaimer:
The author does not condone irresponsible use of alcohol. (Or who knows what that Pinkie had in there... ) Unless you are a little pink horse with serious disregard for the laws of physics, you better abide by the legal laws too. (It's just too impossible to control Pinkie, she can basically do anything. ) And no "but"s! You have been warned.

After the party

The last night was a blur. I was pretty sure that I had lots and lots of fun, and kinda sure that I didn’t do anything I would regret later, but I could not recall much more. “Well, except how I ignored Pinkie breaking physics on a couple occasions, try to forget that! I wonder how long my relative immunity to her antics would last... Ah, how wonderful it is that you don’t need to use hooves to swing at a pinata, or to pin the tail on the pony. Or to “dance”, for that matter... Phah! I feel like I actually avoided using my hooves for that, trampling others’ hooves and tails notwithstanding. Okay, there could have been one thing that I have a slight chance of regretting, my dancing was terrible. I stepped on quite a few hooves, Shy’s included. I danced with her, there was that slow dance... Ow, I should probably count myself very lucky that I didn’t do something I could well regret a lot. What did Pinkie put in her punch? Or was that the apple cider? I feel like I was as drunk as never!”

My head didn’t hurt much, but my throat was dry and I really needed to visit a bathroom. I opened my eyes, and found myself in the library’s bedroom. I was alone, thankfully. I got up and went to the bathroom, without stopping my thoughts.

“They probably dragged me in there after deciding that I was in no condition to continue partying, or to be transported to Shy’s cottage. Or maybe they were worried for Shy... Ugh. I really hope they won’t hold on to the last night’s impression of me. I’m not willingly drinking any more alcohol, ever.”

“Still, it’s weird. I don’t think anypony else got nearly as drunk as me. Or at all, really, if my memory is to be trusted. Maybe my physiology is different... I might not have been a pony at all not so long ago, after all.”

After washing up and deciding that I looked presentable enough, I tried to make the bed the best I could, not really able to use hooves for it and all. I looked at the clock next to the window.

“What? It’s almost six o’clock? But the sun is... Oh, never mind, this clock is powered by weights and obviously isn't working right now. Maybe I'll get it ticking again if I'm going to spend much time here...” The sun indicated that it was somewhere around noon, anyway. I went downstairs.

Surprisingly, the library looked like the party never happened at all. My saddlebags were propped against one of the bookshelves, as if I just dropped them there the previous day.

“Maybe all that was just a dream?” Something colorful in the periphery vision caught my attention. “Or maybe it was Pinkie. She has party residue instant cleanup ability, if I’m not mistaken.”

I walked closer to the colorful thing, which turned out to be some cupcakes on the kitchen table, covered by a giant transparent punch bowl from the party. There also was a folded pink note “For White Coat” under the glass. It took me a little time after the fact to figure out some remaining words, and I didn’t quite get the ‘Pinkie Promise’ bit, but I got the gist of it all immediately.

”I’m soooooo sorry for the hot sauce!

I bring that special hot sauce for myself mostly. I keep it far from food, and nopony else ever takes more than a couple sips since it’s hot sauce! It makes a good prank, and they have a little more fun after that!

You, though... You drank, like, the whole cup! That’s waaaaaay too much for most ponies. I’m reeeeeeally sorry that I didn’t stop you in time. I had to drink the rest immediately so that you could not have more, but suspected nothing and enjoyed your party! Don’t worry, this stuff does not affect me nearly as much! Also, you didn’t actually do anything too out of the ordinary, so don’t worry about what the others could see or think, too!

Now I understand how dangerous it was to bring it to parties. It won’t repeat again, and this is a Pinkie Promise! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Please, pleeeease don’t tell anypony about it!

And if you enjoyed it, I’m so glad for you! Just please, please promise me you’ll never ever do it again. You were sooooo hard to keep in check that night! I could hardly have any fun myself, and you still almost kissed Fluttershy during that slow dance, see how serious it is!? I had to tell her that you cannot be held responsible and why you weren’t quite yourself. Please don’t tell anypony else!

I hope we are still friends! Please don’t tell anypony!
Pinkie Pie

P.S. More food and drinks in the fridge! Please don’t tell anypony!”

“So... Hot sauce. That’s...” I snorted. “Dammit, Pinkie, it actually makes too much sense for you! And you really were somewhere around me awful lot that night, huh.” I tried to remember more from the party. “Yeah, I think I liked it. No, not a chance I’d even dream of ever repeating it. In a nightmare, maybe, where it goes all wrong as it should.” I munched on a cupcake. “I do remember the moment with Shy. Pinkie switched the music just in time. She probably overreacted after that, though. I don’t even think Shy noticed anything herself, she’d at the very least blush like a madmare if she did. I hope she didn’t take Pinkie’s ramblings too seriously.

“Mm, these cupcakes are so good! Especially when you can enjoy the taste properly.” I chewed some more. “Okay, if I was the only one really affected, except Pinkie herself and Shy not really, I guess I have the right to let it slide. Now then, to translate the rest of the note!”

It took me a little bit to figure out that Pinkie stretched some words for emphasis, and a few minutes after that to figure out a few words that I didn’t know and to verify those I knew. The last one, ‘fridge’, got my brains in a knot for a bit.

“Those pony fridges use freezing and preservation spells in runic form, if I got the dictionary’s description right. I was a bit surprised that they existed here, but I knew they existed somewhere. My language has a name for them, I definitely know it and am familiar with the concept. However, I was sure they weren’t magical, that they worked on a different principle. But for the life of me, I cannot recall what it was! And the power? There sure wasn’t a steam engine or anything as big, and whatever the power source was it feels important!” My memory was killing me. For once, something else was giving me much more headache than Pinkie, even if she technically was responsible for mentioning the fridge at all.

“Ugh. Enough! It does not matter. Fridges that are really important right now work on magic and that’s all there is to it.” I breathed deeply a few times. “Whew. I should not get so worked up about things like that. Why does it bother me that much, anyway?” I reflected on my latest thoughts, trying to just observe them and avoid touching their subject. “It feels like I know a lot from before the incident, yet I forgot some important things. And I didn’t even forget them completely, or, rather, I didn’t forget about them. The links are here, they just end abruptly. I seem to have a lot of vague ideas about my earlier life, yet no specifics whatsoever. Like how I think that I wasn’t a pony, yet have no idea what I was. It’s like... Everything that could clue me on to my my earlier life was erased or locked away, but not much else was touched? Like it was not random...”

I just sat there, stunned by the realization. “Someone selectively erased some of my memories? Maybe the same one who’s responsible for my magic loss? Yet they bothered to keep my ‘safe’ memories. What even was the point of those injuries I sustained then...” I tossed these ideas a bit more and came to a conclusion.

“Okay, then. Someone might have deliberately put me where I am. There might be a conspiracy. If there is something big, I cannot really take it on all alone, especially in my current state. I need to get used to living here, to gather as much information as I can, and to make friends who I’d be able to confide in and who’d be willing to help me. Maybe restore my magic somewhere along the way. It’s going to take time, probably months or even years. And then we might just be able to figure this out and do something.

“And if I’ve just dreamed that ‘other world’ up, well, it only really replaces the last bit with ‘live a life’. So, on to the fridge!” Pinkie wrote that she left more for me there, so I started opening cupboards to figure out which one was the fridge.

“Oh my! That looks like enough food to last me for weeks! If this magical ice box can keep it from spoiling for that long, that is. And apparently, I can stay here at the library, for now at least. Just what I needed to get myself going without imposing on Shy’s kindness any more, huh?” That was weird.

“Pinkie throws a welcoming party for me, but maybe she just does that for everyone. I accidentally drink a lot of Pinkie’s special hot sauce, because it’s too weak for hot sauce. Somehow, nothing like that happened on any of her previous parties, while I'm sure she throws a lot of them. Then absolutely nothing goes wrong, Pinkie makes sure of it. And finally, she tries to bribe me with absurd amounts of food, which just so happens to be exactly what I need now. So basically, after some Pinkie and coincidences, the overall effect is that she gave me what I needed for nothing in return, and I’m not supposed to think that it was charity. Calling that incident a cover up would be absurd in general, but Pinkie is just crazy enough.”

I facehoofed. “I’m pretty sure I’m overthinking it. What’s it with me and seeing conspiracies everywhere? In any case, I should not look a gift horse in the mouth.” I paused. “Wait, did I just...”