Your Family and You

It was the clinking of glass that woke me.

I say ‘woke’, but I didn’t really feel rested. My head was throbbing, my neck was stiff, and there was a bad taste in my mouth. A thick film of old alcohol covered my tongue and throat. Smacking my lips, I attempted to shift into a more comfortable position, only to wince as my cheek peeled off of whatever I had been sleeping on. Ugh, that’s disgusting…

Eyes still closed, I rolled over, expecting to find the soft comfort of bed sheets. Instead, I got a hard piece of wood to the face. Reeling backward, I clamped to my nose as pain lanced through it. “Mother fucker!”

The world spun as my head throbbed again. With stars flashing before my eyes, I rubbed my nose before glancing at my hand. I breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing my fingers come away clean. Despite the pain, at least I didn’t have to deal with a bloody nose as well. Rubbing my sore schnoz, I glanced around to see what I had hit.

Much to my confusion, I discovered that I wasn’t in bed as I had previously thought, but rather, I was strewn out on the second-floor balcony of the library. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that when I rolled over, I had smashed my nose into one of the wooden balusters. Several empty bottles of whiskey laid off to the side, so that explains the source of my headache.

The sound of clinking glass came again and this time I was able to determine that it was coming from below. Rolling carefully onto my side, I peered between the balusters and down into the library proper.

The place was trashed.

A dozen or so pizza boxes covered the table, a few of them still containing several slices of pizza. What looked like three decks of cards had been thrown about, a couple of them even stuck to the walls. Along with them, the pieces of the Hail to the FUNgeon game were discarded as well. Bottles of whiskey and cider lay scattered about the floor, all of them completely drained.

Ebony was passed out in the corner of the room, her head propped up on the keg she was cuddling. Primrose was asleep on the couch, a raspy snore escaping her lips every few seconds as she slumbered. And as for Avera… a quick glance upwards confirmed that she had taken refuge in her usual alcove in the wall, although she appeared to be upside down.

I studied the scene before me until the throbbing in my head grew worse. Wincing in pain, I leaned my face against the balusters, the cool wood feeling wonderful against my aching skull. As I rested though, the sound of clinking glass came again.

Cracking open an eye, I watched blearily as Pyresteed picked her way through the battlefield of bottles. Her bare feet were silent on the wooden floor, only making sound whenever she bumped into one of the bottles.

She worked her way around the room until she reached the stairs. I lost sight of her when she started to climb them, but then she reappeared beside me a moment later. Keeping my head pressed against the bannister, I turned to stare up at her.

“Alpha?” she cocked her head to the side inquisitively.

“Bathroom,” I croaked back.

She cocked her head to the side as she contemplated what I said before nodding. Wordless, she bent down and rolled me onto my back. I groaned at the movement and groaned again as she hooked her arms under my legs and back. She then proceeded to lift me bodily into the air with very little difficulty.

It came as a shock to everyone in the library when we discovered that, despite being a head smaller than me, Pyresteed was unbelievably strong. Like, strong enough to lift the couch that Ebony and I were sitting on in order to get the apple that had rolled underneath. Her lithe frame belied some serious muscles.

Holding me against her chest, she hauled my ass up another flight of stairs before we reached the bathroom. The jostling of her steps did not help my discomfort, and just as she was pushing open the door, the throbbing sensation moved from my head to my stomach.

“Put me down,” I mumbled. When she gave me a confused look, I began to struggle. “Put me down!” She did as instructed and I barely managed to get to the toilet before my stomach decided to purge everything.

“Alpha!” Pyresteed squeaked, alarm in her voice.

“Ah, fuck me,” I grunted before hurling again. “Okay, I’m feeling a little—hurk!” Again, I gave tribute to the porcelain goddess. After the third round, my stomach finally settled. Spitting into the toilet, I groaned again before flopping against the wall.

Pyresteed crept closer. “Alpha… live?”

“I’ll live,” I grunted. “I’m not happy about it, but I’ll live.” Holding my head in my hands, I groaned. “Fuck, that tasted nasty.”

“Alpha hurt, yes? Pyresteed help?”

Cracking an eye open, I stared up at her through a bloodshot eye. After a moment, I nodded gingerly. “Alright. Can you turn the water on for the bathtub?”

This caused her to perk up. “Bath?”

“Yeah, you know… the bathtu—”

“Bath!” Excitedly, Pyresteed turned and scampered over to the wooden tub in the corner. I heard her rummaging around before the loud gush of water filled the room. With it came a pleasant steamy aroma that hung in the air.

“Make sure it’s not too hot,” I called out to her, pressing my cheek against the cool toilet. There was a splash followed by a hiss of pain. A squeaking sound brought about more steam. “The blue one,” I said, my eyes closed. “The blue one, not the red one.”

“Oh…” More squeaking and the steam slowly began to disperse.

For the next few minutes passed slowly; me leaning against the toilet and Pyresteed splashing happily in the water as the tub filled up. I was so focused on getting my head to stop pounding that I didn’t even notice the water had ceased until a gentle pair of hands were picking me up again.

“Alpha, bath!” That was the only warning I got before Pyresteed dumped my ass into the full tub, clothes and all. Water cascaded over the rim and splashed down to the floor, soaking the bathmats in the process. I didn’t struggle, choosing just to lie there as my clothing now clung to my submerged form, enjoying the subtle warmth of the water.

“Good job,” I deadpanned.

“Bath!” Pyresteed knelt beside the tub. The front of her shirt was now soaked, the wet material clinging to her pale flesh. Dipping her arms into the water with me, she rested her chest against the rim.

Sighing, I laid my head back and closed my eyes. “Thank you, Pyresteed.”

“Pyresteed help?”

“Yes. Pyresteed helped.”

She let out a pleased sounding chirp before resuming her splashing.

As I laid there, soaking, a small smile touched my lips. The warmish water felt good and I could feel my headache slowly receding. I was no longer nauseous either if the grumbling in my stomach was anything to go by. Cheesy eggs and hashbrowns sounded amazing right now.

A soft crunching reached my ears and I huffed softly. “Pyresteed…” Cracking open my eye, I looked over at her.

“Hmmm?” She paused, glancing over at me innocently even as she had a half-eaten bar of soap between her lips. We stared at each other for a moment before she slowly continued snacking. Her blue eyes watched me curiously as she chewed, the bar disappearing into her mouth.

“Forget it…” I sighed.

Her response was to burp lightly, a small stream of bubbles spewing forth.

“That’s what I thought,” I mumbled, resting my head against the lip again. For several seconds I was silent, then I turned to look at her again. “Hey, can you get me a glass of water?”

Pyresteed froze in the process of grabbing another bar of soap. “Glass water?”

I nodded. “Yeah, a glass of water. From down in the kitchen?”

She was silent, her eyes darting back and forth, before she suddenly bolted to her feet. And just like that, she was gone in a flash, leaving behind a trail of water in her wake.

Closing my eyes, I went back to my relaxing. Head still resting on the lip, I placed my arms on the rim of the tub as well. My wet shirt clung to me, sending goosebumps down my arms as it chilled my skin. It felt really good against my heated flesh.

I dozed, floating in and out of consciousness for a few minutes until I heard the bathroom door creak open. A moment later, a cold something pressed against the back of my hand and it took my brain a second to realize it was a glass of water.

Reaching up, I grabbed the glass.

“Thanks, Pyrestee—” I began, only to freeze when I felt the familiar tingling feeling of magic. Opening my eye, I saw that the glass was surrounded by a rosy cloud of magic. A glance off to the side revealed the owner of said magic.

Twilight looked exasperated.

We stared at each other, neither saying anything. From downstairs, I could hear the clink-clink of bottles being picked up, and the telltale sound of a broom being used.

Twilight cleared her throat.

“Oh, you’re back…” I said lamely.

“Yes, I’m back,” Twilight said with a nod. There was a pause before she asked. “Do you mind telling me why the first thing I see when I get back is that the library has been completely trashed? Pizza boxes, bottles, and cards everywhere?”

“We, uh… we were having a game night last night,” I answered. “You know, food and games and a very good time?”

Twilight just continued to stare at me, her expression unchanged. “Game night, huh? Then, might I ask… why are there currently three ponies out there, all of whom are completely passed out?”

“It… it was quite the game night?”

“...”

“What?”

“You’re hungover again, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question; she damn well knew the answer.

Closing my eyes, I rubbed the bridge of my nose with a groan. I had been hoping that she’d get home later in the afternoon, but it would seem luck wasn’t with me this morning.

“So what if I had a few drinks last night?” I asked. “I didn’t do anything strenuous. Ebony went to go get the pizza and Avera went to get the cake from Sugarcube Corner. Nothing bad happened. Why is it such a big deal?”

Twilight gave me an incredulous look. “Why is it such a big deal? Because we’ve been home from only a couple of weeks, and you’ve been hungover for half of the mornings. It’s too much. Drinking on occasion is one thing, but you… you’ve been doing it so much more than you used to. It’s… it’s…” She paused and a sniffle escaped her. “Please. I’m… I’m starting to worry about you…”

Silence fell over the bathroom. From the half-open door, we could hear the faint noises coming from downstairs. By the sounds of it, the others had been stirred into wakefulness and were in a similar state to what I had been in earlier.

Another sniffle came from Twilight, and I sighed. Reaching over, I grabbed a hold of her foreleg and pulled. She offered little resistance as I heaved her into the bath with me. Water splashed over the edge again, but neither of us cared as she got comfortable on top of me. I waited until she was situated before wrapping my arms around her and holding her close, resting my head on hers. The smell of lavender filled my nose.

She hummed, nuzzling my neck as she breathed in deep.

Giving her a gentle squeeze, I murmured softly. “It’s going to be okay, Sparkle Butt. Everything… everything’s going to be okay…”