The ride over to the party was a relatively short one. Around fifteen minutes or so, while they waited through a few stops. Some of the girls were excited, while the rest of them were a bit nervous about what they might experience here.

Twilight and Fluttershy were definitely the two who had the most reservations about the party. The former was already dealing with some anxieties from memories she had of parties in the past. When she was a high school student at Crystal Prep, she’d usually only ever get invited to parties so that she could be the butt of whatever joke or prank the other students wanted to inflict upon her. However, she was comforted in knowing that her friends wouldn’t do that to her and that she had them to help her through this.

“Don’t worry Twilight, you can stick with me and everything will be Okie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie said, patting Twilight on the back.

“Thanks Pinkie.” Twilight said with a genuine smile.

Rarity had been a tiny bit annoyed by what Twilight had done, but after thinking on it for a minute, and looking at it from Twilight’s perspective, she quickly came to understand where Twilight was coming from. She wouldn’t want Dusk to try to do something like that by himself. And Rarity was, on the regular, a very understanding person. So until Dusk, Ray and Singer could join them, she decided to partner up with Applejack.

“Now Rarity, yer prolly gonna wanna help me out here. The biggest ‘barn burner’ party Ah’ve ever been apart of was mah family reunion parties. Rowdy as they can be sometimes, Ah have a feelin’ Ah ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

“Not to worry, Applejack.” Rarity began. “We’re going to have so much fun, you won’t even have time to focus on how crazy the scene will be.” Rarity took this moment to pull her phone out and get a selfie of the two of them sitting beside each other.

“Ya reckon they’ll have any a’ that hard apple ale there?”

“I reckon- um…” Rarity cleared her throat when she caught herself almost using AJ’s lingo. “I’m sure they’ll have whatever your heart desires. Surely we will find something we like at least that we can drink responsibly.”

“Naaah, we ain’t drivin’ home, might as well live a little.” Applejack said with a wink.

“Oh bother…” Rarity sighed, but it quickly turned into a slight smile. “I suppose we are in for an eventful evening, then.”

Rainbow decided to buddy up with Fluttershy. She knew she’d be able to help Fluttershy with her hang ups as well, as Dash would often be the one Fluttershy would lean on for dealing with social functions. Though she found that this decision had one tiny consequence. Zephyr was there and he typically hung around with Fluttershy.

“Alright! We’ve got Rainbows tagging along with us, Sis!” Zephyr said, sitting behind the seat that Fluttershy and Rainbow were sitting in. “Yo, Rainbows, you up for a little spin the bottle later?”

“Hey!” Dash shouted. “I thought I told you to stop being weird!”

“While we’re doing the surfing lessons. I didn’t think that applied to all of the time.” He said, giving her a flirtatious wink, to which Rainbow began to clench her fists and growl in anger. This made her even more mad, but fortunately Fluttershy was there to diffuse the situation.

“Rainbow Dash, Zephyr, please! Can we all just get along tonight? I mean, I’m really trying here, but if you two are going to be going after each other all night, then I might as well ride the bus back to the hotel.”

“Fine… I’ll cool it on my declarations of love for one night.” Zephyr said, halfheartedly conceding.

“Declarations of cringe is more like it…” Dash muttered to herself before taking a deep breath and nodding her head in response to Fluttersy’s request. “For you Fluttershy, I can at least pretend to tolerate your clown of a brother.”

“Thank you!” Fluttershy beamed, followed by a swift hug.

“Alright, alright…” Dash laughed, patting Fluttershy on the head.

Sunset knew Flash had his own reservations about going to this frat house party as he didn’t view them in a very positive light, not to mention his encounter with Jock and Muscles the night before. But Sunset placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him.

“Thanks for going along with this, Flash. I know you had your reservations about coming tonight, but I really think we’re going to have fun.”

“I think you’re right. I guess I was just nervous about seeing that one guy again. But if Jake Featherstone wants to invite us to a party to make up for all of that, then I guess I’m good with it. Besides, I’m sure there will be a place where we can just sit and hang out together. I don’t really care about getting wild.”

“Uuuuuh… I don’t know. I heard they have a karaoke machine there. I might want to slam a few drinks down and get up on that platform and sing my heart out.” Sunset said with a playful nudge to his side as the bus finally came to a stop for where they were to get off. “I’m actually being serious though, I kinda want to do that.”

“Well if that’s what you want to do, we will do it.” He said as he gave her a kiss before following everyone else off.

Once they exited the bus, they went down the street to the house in question, and made their way down a slight inclined sidewalk that led to the beach house. The house itself was fairly large, and it had to be for it being a frat house. It appeared to be a two story house, painted yellow with dark brown shingles, and white trim around the windows. The higher floor of the house seemed to be where the entry way would be as the lower floor would be closer to where you’d exit to go to the back yard. Complete with an upper balcony porch for the outside of the upper level of the house in the back.

The scene outside had a few guys already drinking out in the front, and some of them were already doing weird dances due to earlier beverage consumption.

Once they reached said house, they came up to a tall man dressed in a black suit and sunglasses standing at the door. The guy asked who they were, to which Sunset responded.

“We are the Canterlot U party. We might be last on the list as we were just invited last night.”

“Hmmm… yep. There you are. Go on in.” The man said, opening the door, gesturing for them to go in.

“Oh, and we have three stragglers from our group, three guys that will be here later.”

“Noted.” He said as he continued to hold the door for them. “Go on in and enjoy the party.”

Once inside they quickly made their way through the house and out onto the back patio that led outside where the life of the party was. There were all sorts of games, a hot tub, a stage, plenty of snack tables, drinks of all kinds, especially alcoholic, and lots of people who were already partying down. In fact, it was telling of what kind of night they were in for when a drunk dude in his underwear ran by and jumped into some nearby bushes, causing all the girls to blush at the sight.

“I want to go home now…” Fluttershy said quietly.

“And now, you know what these frat parties are about.” Said Rainbow, being one of the few to feel somewhat at home with the tone of the party. “Look at that guy go!”

“My, my… that was certainly something…” said Rarity, who appeared to be almost as perturbed at that initial display as Fluttershy was.

“Wow, these guys really know how to party!!!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. “OM Goodness!!! Is that a fondue fountain?!? It is!!! Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie lost herself in her excitement and didn’t realize how hard she’d started to pull on Twilight’s arm, giving her little time to process her surroundings.

“Okay, okay, let’s go…” Twilight said, giggling at Pinkie’s excitement and trying to ignore the slight discomfort of having Pinkie nearly pulling her arm off all the while trying to not lose her balance while at the same time trying to keep up with Pinkie.

Zephyr took it upon himself to make kissy faces at some of the girls in bikinis congregating nearby and in the hot tub, though none of them were giving him the time of day to his dismay.

“Alright Captain Man Bun, since we are stuck dealing with you, what would you like to do?” Dash said, rolling her eyes.

“Huh? Oh, I dunno. Never been to a frat party before. Don’t mind me, I’m just going to be mingling into the crowd. Time to see if any ladies want to ride the “Breezy Train” tonight…”

“Zephyr… ew!” Fluttershy exclaimed out of embarrassment, facepalming while her cheeks flushed red.

“Fine, do your own thing. I don’t need to be weighed down by your shenanigans anyway…” Dash said.

“You do know where to find me, Rainbows…” Zephyr said with a wink and a two finger peace sign salute as he walked off.

“Ignoring you! Ignoring you! Ignoring you!” Dash growled with her teeth gritted.

At least she’d still have Fluttershy- wait, where’d Fluttershy go? Rainbow thought to herself as neither of the siblings could be seen from her vantage point.

“Great… I’m going to be spending all night watching out for both of them… lovely…”

Some fireworks were shot from behind the stage, catching everyone’s attention. Everyone in attendance stopped and stared as some of the lights were dimmed and a spotlight was shone at the center of the stage. There were some colorful laser lights shining in the air before being pointed downward onto the stage.

Jock and Muscles walked out onto the stage with a large rectangular piece of drywall, with both of them holding it up vertically. The Frat guys, girls and other invited or otherwise uninvited guests alike began to chant the words: “Mu Pi! Mu Pi! Mu Pi! Mu Pi!”

“MU PI! MU PI! MU PI!”

“Ayayaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!” Screamed Kyle as he burst through the drywall, fist first, somersaulting before standing up on his feet proceeding to then slinging his open energy drink can back and forth, making the contents fly onto unsuspecting people in the audience. Those who were used to this opening display cheered while a few groans from others could be heard as they wiped the sugary drink off of their faces or wherever it landed.

He then followed it up by chunking some unopened cans of the stuff in the crowd for people to catch it. One poor fool couldn’t quite catch it, and it hit him square in the forehead. But rather than writhe in agony on the ground, he popped right back up and let out a victory screech.

Jake Featherstone as well as several key members of the Mu Pi fraternity gathered onto the stage, standing next to Kyle once his distribution of free energy drinks had concluded.

“Something tells me that guy drinks a lot of those things…” Applejack muttered to Rarity, who nodded while slightly giggling. Most likely because of how corny that display was.

Rainbow halted her search for Fluttershy for a minute when she saw the display, and stood near Rarity and Applejack. Rainbow clapped her hands and whistled with a sense of fanfare. The aforementioned pair standing next to her both looked at her with bewildered expressions, wondering how she could possibly think that was cool. To each their own, Rarity thought to herself.

“Welcome friends and Mu Pi family to our annual Mu Pi Fraternity Back to Summer Bash!” Jake said, having been tossed the mic for the karaoke machine. “Here on Waytona Beach, we here at the Mu Pi Frat house have always prided ourselves in kicking off Summer Vacation with a bang, and this year is no exception. For me this is also a family affair, because the last two years each of my older brothers have taken their place as head Senior of the Mu Pi fraternity. From Drake, to Blake, and finally to me, Jake Featherstone.” He said as he slightly pushed his sunglasses down his face and flashed his white teeth, making some of the girls swoon out in the crowd. “And I wasn’t about to let my big brothers out do me. So this year we pulled out all of the stops! Since the inception of this fraternity in the year 1956, we MuPi’s have held our traditional Summer Bash as well as our Big Kahuna Volleyball competition. The latter of which, may I remind you, comes in five days!”

Cheers erupted from the crowd of people gathered all around. Flash and the girls dutifully applauded as well, so as not to seem rude.

“We have some guests of honor this year, all the way from Canterlot University. We will call you up on stage for our peaceful welcoming ritual, later on. So while you're here, please accept our utmost humble hospitality, and have a good time!”

Hands were clapping for the honored guests, and most of the girls there blushed from the honor they received from the leader. However, one member of the Canterlot gang started to grow suspicious. Flash Sentry. He wasn’t sure why, but there was something that didn’t sit right with him about this whole thing.

“Before we commence with our partying, let’s give our guests the Mu Pi greeting: Bah weep Graaaaghnah weep nini bong!”

The rest of the Mu Pi’s and some of their guests all joined in while the Canterlot gang, sans Pinkie who thought the chant sounded fun and wanted to join in, stopped and looked around at everyone saying the greeting.

“Well that was just weird…” Rainbow said before shaking her head and going back to searching for Fluttershy.

All the while, the party ramped back up again once the music on the boombox was turned back on and the next song started to play. Lights shone on the stage, people continued dancing, and many of the frat guys and their guests resumed their games.

“Party Rock is in the house tonight
Everybody just have a good time…
And we gonna make you lose your mind
Everybody just have a good time”

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Dusk and Ray had probably waited fifteen to twenty minutes before Singer finally came down to the lobby inside the building where they were lounging around waiting for him. Ray appeared to be dozing off and Dusk was reading a magazine he found on the table in the lobby.

“Oh…” he said as Dusk and Ray caught his eye. “I didn’t expect any of you guys to be around.” This caught their attention and they both quickly rose to their feet upon hearing Singer talk to them.

“Twilight didn’t like the idea of you trying to find the rest of us by yourself, so she hoodwinked us into staying behind and waiting on you.” Ray said playfully, garnering a slight elbow to the arm from Dusk. “What? I was just kidding!”

Singer smiled at the mention of Twilight. He was also moved that Dusk and Ray had agreed to wait and go with him to the party, when they easily could have gone with the girls.

“Thanks, you guys. That means a lot.” Singer said with a smile.

“It’s no trouble, really.” Dusk chimed in. “She really was insistent on it.” Dusk said with a slight wink.

“That’s my Twi, always looking out for me. She’s just a sweetheart like that. Though, I think I could’ve been alright going on my own, I definitely appreciate you guys waiting up.”

“You compliment each other well. She’s lucky to have you.”

“I’m lucky to have her with me for sure.” Singer smiled. “And you guys… You guys are just so cool, man. I knew I liked you guys for a reason.”

“Let’s not get too mushy, here.” chuckled Ray.

“Right. Right.” Singer said, taking a deep breath. “I just got done with a very interesting phone call, and I guess I’m still a little emotionally worked up.”

“Is everything alright?” Dusk asked, concerned that something might be wrong.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was a good kind of conversation, don’t worry. Just some personal real life stuff that may or may not come into play later. But enough about that, what do you say we get going, eh?”

Dusk nodded in agreement. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. We don’t want to keep our friends waiting on us too long.”

“Finally! Time to party!” Ray said. “I think Twi said she sent you the location.”

“Yeah, she did.” Singer said, pulling out his phone, and looking at the public transport app. “I think… yeah, there’s a bus that will be at the bus stop outside in five minutes that has a stop there.”

“Well I suppose it’s as good a time as any to take our leave. Let’s get this night over with. Once more into the breach!” Dusk said as he led the charge out to the bus stop.

“Yeah! Let’s do it, to it!” Singer said with a hint of excitement. He hadn’t really gotten to know Dusk, and to an even lesser extent Ray, very well outside of the holiday parties, Twilight’s birthday party several months ago, and as far as Dusk went, the double date he went on with himself, Twilight, Dusk and Rarity a couple of nights before. Now was his chance to do so.

The three of them made their way out to the bus stop and patiently waited for their ride to arrive. Not wanting to spend the wait in awkward silence, Singer spoke up.

“So, uh. You guys doing alright today?” Singer mentally slapped himself. What a generic way to start a conversation. He quickly gathered himself, however and had zero time to fall back into it due to Dusk quickly answering his question.

“I think I can speak for both of us that we are doing quite well today, and you sir?” Dusk said, clearly not thinking anything about the bland question.

“I’m great. I mean, you can probably tell, but being able to come out here and hang out with everyone is something I’ve looked forward to for quite a while.”

“Ya know, on that subject, I feel like we don’t really know much about you, Sing. I can call you that, right?” Ray stepped in.

“Yeah, of course. And what do you want to know?”

“Well, I mean. You’re a musician, right? What kind of music do you like? And what do you generally go for when you perform?”

“That is an excellent question, actually. I really listen to most genres of music, so I have songs in almost every one that I like, some in all genres that I can’t stand, but when it comes to actually performing, well, I tend to go more towards the hits from the eighties for the most part. I’m a big classical music fan, (rock, country, etc.) and not even just that era. I’ll do pretty much whatever sounds cool when I perform. Some modern music is cool… some of it… and I like the nineties, two thousands music, and I’d even go back further than the eighties. In fact, Elvis is one of my favorite vocalists of all time.”

“You definitely put off Elvis fan vibes.” Dusk said. ”How do you feel about Elvis Impersonators?”

“Can’t stand them. Like come on, guys! Nobody can or ever will again be Elvis! Unless you’re playing as him in a movie that features him, just don’t. Save yourself the embarrassment. Some of those so-called impersonators can’t even get his mannerisms right. Disgraceful!”

“You’re definitely passionate about that, I see.” Ray said.

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to come off that strong.”

“Don’t worry about it, dude. It happens.”

“What about you guys? I mean, I’ve heard from Sunset that you guys are mad-skilled on Mario Kart, but like, what else do you like to do? Are you musically inclined like the girls?”

“Not very much.” Dusk responded. “I can halfway carry a tune in a bucket, but even that isn’t much to write home about.”

“Well let’s just say that I won’t be winning any awards or get any calls for my drumming skills any time soon. I looked into picking it up as a stress reliever of sorts, but at the time I literally had no room for a set and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t keep a beat very well.” Ray said. “Though that hasn’t stopped Pinkie from offering to teach me.”

“Hey, you’re probably better than me. I tried to learn to play actual instruments back in my younger years and I couldn’t keep up. So I decided to stick with doing the vocals.” Singer admitted. “Stick to what you know, am I right?

“Right! And speaking of, I’m striving to be a writer. I’m currently working on a book of my own, and hoping that my classes help me in perfecting my craft. You might be able to deduce that Creative Writing is my favorite class.”

“That definitely makes sense to me, from what Twilight’s told me about you. And speaking of classes, are your thoughts on the art class out of curiosity? You’re in Twilight’s class there, correct?”

“Correct. So is Dusk. I actually joined for kicks and giggles. Art is alright but the teacher is why I’m really there. It’s kinda funny having an actual madman for an art teacher. Art is more of Dusk’s field.”

“Mr Discord is a madman alright…” Singer said, rubbing his head as he remembered one time in the past that the madman in question dropped the ball end of his cane on his head, knocking him out for a while.

“I’m sorry, did you call him Mr Discord?” Asked Dusk. “His name is D Iscorde, to my knowledge.”

“That’s his real name, sure. But Discord is what he wants people to call him. I guess ‘fifty’ years ago, when he was in college, that’s what all his friends called him.” said Singer, shrugging.

“I mean, I’ve heard that people called him that, but I didn’t actually think he wanted to be called Discord.” Dusk said, scratching his head. “Perhaps that one instance when Miss Luna reprimanded me for doing so is because she wants us to address him professionally as we would any other professor.”

“Bo-ring!” Chimed Ray. “Sorry Dusk, but being professional is for the birds.”

“Totally!” Laughed Singer. “So… art is your thing, eh Dusky?”

“Correct. I like to paint, sketch, use pastels, among other things. But one of my personal favorite classes is History with Professor Sombra. He and I talk quite a bit outside of class, and he is a good listener. Very knowledgeable as well.”

“Yeah he is, as far as I’ve noticed. He can be hard to read at times though, at least for me.”

“So what exactly are you taking courses for exactly?” Ray asked out of curiosity.

“Well, I’m obviously in class for art, film study, and history, but the most interesting one I take is Graphic design. Would be nice to learn how to design whatever I might need to in terms of shirts, websites and other things I’ll need in my future.”

“Do you have any classes with Twilight?” Asked Dusk.

“That’s the sad part, no I don’t. But that’s okay, I still see her between almost every class and it’s not like we can’t hang out afterwards. I’d love to have at least one with her, but we’ve managed so far. I often times am more able to get both of us snacks and lunches due to me being closer to the food court almost all day.”

“I’m sure she definitely appreciates that.”

“She does. She’s one of the few people that’s made me feel like I mattered to them for more than just a few minutes of the day.”

“How long have you two known each other?”

“Oh, gosh. It was Junior Year in High School. We transferred to the same High School about a month apart. We actually got assigned as science partners in class, and as it turned out we had a lot in common in terms of things that we enjoyed. She could have written me off like everyone else at school that day, but she didn’t. We’ve been close ever since.”

“I think we went to the same school.” Dusk said.

“No way?”

“It’s true. Unfortunately, I didn’t talk to anyone and kept to myself for the remainder of my tenure there. For obvious reasons.”

“Dude…” Singer said with a hint of guilt, remembering Twilight had told him once before that Dusk too, had gone to Crystal Prep, but he didn’t know Dusk went to his high school. “I wish I’d known…”

“It’s alright, really.” Said Dusk. “It’s all in the past and I’m happier now than I’ve ever been, so it’s not a problem.”

“And he gets to put up with me again!” Threw in Ray in his tongue-in-cheek way.

Dusk only chuckled reminiscently in response to this and patted his best friend on the shoulder. Singer couldn’t help but smile at this as well.

“So, you didn’t have friends before you met Twilight?” Asked Ray.

“Not at school. I was homeschooled for a few years before I transferred back into public schools that year. So I made friends here and there, but coming back onto the public school scene, I had no idea how regular school culture worked, and I ended up making a fool of myself, thinking I was cooler than I actually was and I became something of an outcast for the first few weeks.”

“That’s awful, man. Sorry you went through that.”

“It definitely wasn’t fun, but I think if I hadn’t gone through it, I would have been an arrogant showboater, and I wouldn’t have been humbled like I was when I met Twilight and we might not have been friends. It sucked back then, but I’m glad that I had that reality check. In a way it helped me mature a lot.”

“Well that’s one way of looking at it, I suppose.” Dusk said.

“What about you guys? You seem like you’re pretty close. How long have you been friends?”

Dusk went to answer but Ray held his arm out, basically calling dibs on being the one to tell the story. Dusk relented and allowed Ray to proceed.

“Funny story, actually. I remember walking along through school one day, hating every second that I had to spend there. And one day I see this small group of thugs…”

“Ray, they weren’t thugs.” Dusk stepped in.

“Hey, who’s telling this story?” Ray cleared his throat when Dusk backed up once again. “This group of hoodlums… happy? No? Oh well. They were picking on poor Dusk, so I stepped in and made them stop.”

“Then we both proceeded to get on campus suspension for a week.”

“Stupid ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy. Crystal Prep was the worst. Didn’t matter if you were the bully or the one being bullied, all parties involved in a scuffle get punished.” Ray said, clenching his fists at the memory of it.

“That is messed up…” agreed Singer.

“Fortunately, the one enforcing that awful rule, Principal Cinch, has since been relieved of duty, and now Dean Cadence is in charge.” Noted Dusk.

“Oh, hey! That’s Twilight’s sister-in-law. She’s definitely nicer than that Principal Cinch. Twilight told me all about her. Glad to hear that she’s no longer around.” Singer said, noticing that the bus was getting closer and was about to make the turn towards the bus stop they were waiting at.

“Well, I suppose we’ve been delayed to the party long enough. Maybe it won’t be so bad.” Dusk said as he watched the bus move closer and closer to them.

It finally made a complete stop and the doors swung open by the driver. Dusk, Ray and Singer, as well as a couple of elderly ladies carrying their little dogs who’d walked up while the guys were talking, all boarded the bus and prepared to make the short ride over to the frat party.

On the way there, the three guys continued to converse among themselves. The conversation had diverted from real life talk to geek culture talk when one of them briefly mentioned Star Wars. Their conversation touched on the prequel trilogy, “Rebels”, “The Bad Batch”, but most of all they mainly talked about “The Clone Wars”. Ray wasn’t as deep into the fandom as Dusk and Singer were, but he mentioned that “The Bad Batch” was a favorite of his. Right before the bus had made the stop that they were looking for, they’d moved into talking about their Mario Kart experiences, and which characters they liked to play, and some of their struggles with the higher skill set modes.

“I tell you, every time I take the lead and have that loud speaker item, I end up having to use it on a challenger for the lead and then I get blue shelled! Like every time!” Singer said as he led the trio out of the bus.

“Yeah, those higher CC classes make you have to really strategize your every move. And almost every time you’re wrong. Especially in the One Fifty and Two Hundred CCs.” Added Ray.

“I still haven’t finished the One Fifty CCs” Dusk added. “I dread to think what the Two Hundred is like.”

“It will consume your soul, Dusk. It will consume your soul…” Ray said with playful ominousness.

The bus suddenly pulled away and the trio stood there at the bus stop and had gotten quiet. Unfortunately neither Ray nor Dusk had thought to grab their phones before they left, so they were reliant on Singer’s phone. The screen showed that they were in the right place, but there was a problem. There were two large beach houses nearby and they both had massive parties going on.

“Oh…cheese…” Singer said as he looked back and forth to a big pink beach house on the left and a big yellow beach house on the right.

“It’s not that big of a conundrum, just look at the address again so we can deduce which house has the address we are looking for.” Dusk advised.

“Great idea I’ll just-…” as he scrolled back up to look for the specific address, the phone screen went black. “Come on! No!” His battery had died.

“Bummer…” remarked Ray. “What now?”

Singer looked helplessly at his dead phone, his face had gone from visibly flustered to morose within seconds.

“I don’t want to haphazardly go to a house and have it be the wrong one.” Dusk said. He too was lost for what to do in this situation.

“Well we can’t just stay out here either.” Countered Ray.

“Yes, I know but-…” Dusk said before being cut off by his bemusement at what Singer began to do. “Uh, what are you doing?”

Singer placed his left hand over his eyes and held out his right arm and began to point at each house. “Eenie meenie miney moe…” Singer said as his right hand landed on the pink house. “Let’s try this one.”

“That’s what we are going off of?” Asked Ray.

“Got any better ideas?” Singer retorted.

“Pink house it is…”

Dusk sighed concedingly. He wasn’t a fan of this unorthodox way of doing things, however Singer had a point. They’d need to take a shot in the dark since they were this close and were unsure as to which of these neighboring beach houses was where they needed to be. It was a risk but a calculated one. It wasn’t like it was a life or death situation. His thoughts went to Rarity and how he hoped she wouldn’t be too mad at him for not going to this event with her. He was hopeful that she would understand and that she, as well as the others, were alright in their absence..

Standing next to Pinkie Pie while she helped herself at the fondue table wasn’t exactly what Twilight thought she’d be doing tonight, but to be fair, she wasn’t really sure what would be happening outside of goofy party shenanigans. However, doing what she was doing right that minute sounded way better than what some of the Mu Pi guys were doing. Some were upside down drinking who-knows-what out of tubes, there were a few guys off to the side who had bongs and the resulting smell emanating from said things was starting to make her stomach turn. Twi had never been around this type of environment before, and it was beginning to make her uncomfortable. She tensed up when she caught the eye of some guys playing beer pong, who caught her gaze and began cat-calling her.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Pinkie, who immediately took action to help. She hopped over to Twilight, took her by her hand, blew raspberries at the flirty drunk guys, and had her get up and follow her to one of the picnic tables set up a ways away from the commotion.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Pinkie asked with concern once they had made it to their target spot, which at the moment was secluded enough.

“I’m… I’m fine. I just… I’m sorry, I don’t want to be a big baby about it, but this kind of partying is just making me feel a bit uncomfortable. I mean… the smells, the drinking, the guys in their undergarments, even more drinking. I’m not sure what exactly I expected, but this isn’t it. Don’t these people know what kind of effect that much alcohol will have on their bodies?!?”

Pinkie just stood there for a second, blinking and staring at her friend quizzically.

“I mean… what else did you expect? It’s a college party. People our age usually get crazy at events like this.”

“I don’t know. I kinda figured these parties were fun for a reason, but I had no idea this was the entire definition of fun.”

“You really should get out more.”

“You do realize you’re talking to a girl who reads encyclopedias for fun, right?” Twilight said with a bit of sass.

“Touché…”

Twilight sighed and sat down at the picnic table. “I’m sorry Pinkie.”

“It’s okay Twilight. We can sit out here together. It’s more peaceful over here anyway.” She said, patting Twilight on her head.

“But… Pinkie, you’re missing out on everything.” Twi could feel a slight twinge of guilt building up inside of her, but Pinkie only smiled and shook her head.

“Oh Twilight. You’re so silly. I don’t care about all of that junk. I came to have a good time with my friends, and that means you.”Pinkie wrapped Twilight in a tight hug, which made her smile. “Since Singer’s not here yet, would you want to do a little dancing with me? I mean, the action might be yucky, but the music is hop hop hoppin!” Pinkie said as she bounced around, and to her relief, it was making Twilight laugh and loosen up a bit and a big smile adorned her face.

“Come on, Twilight!” She said as she started to bust some moves.

“Alright, alright…” Twilight giggled as she got up to join in.

“Wooo! Get up and move your feet to the beat!”

They continued on for a brief moment before Twilight began to eye some of the stuff Pinkie had grabbed from the dessert table for them.

“Great idea, Twilight!” Pinkie said, noticing her looking in that direction. “Can’t dance on an empty stomach!”

Twilight noticed that Pinkie had picked up some of her favorites, like strawberries, graham crackers (both dipped in chocolate), and even a few chocolate bar squares. “Wow, Pinkie. You’re amazing!”

“Aaaaw, thanks! I know my friends and what they like. Oh, I also snatched this from the punch table. Figured you might be thirsty.” Pinkie picked up a small cup from the refreshments table that had been pre-poured and ready to go. It looked innocent enough so she’d grabbed one for each of them.

“Oh, thank you.” Twilight said as she took a drink, downing the entire small glass in a couple of gulps. Her eyes immediately widened as the drink had a taste she’d never tasted before. “Wow… that’s a bit tart. Not the best punch I’ve ever had.”

It was Pinkie’s turn for her eyes to widen as she began to suspect as to why hers and Twilight’s drinks had that extra kick to it. Once she took a drink of hers, her suspicions were confirmed. She chuckled nervously, debating to herself whether or not to break the news to Twilight. Twilight’s track record of taking alarming news well wasn’t particularly great.

“You ready, Pinkie?” Twi said as she stood up and began stretching her arms to loosen up.

“Uh huh…” Pinkie said nervously, trying to think of what she should do.

The two girls started to resume dancing randomly together to the tune they could hear on the loudspeakers, a song called ‘Funky Town’. Twilight was busy doing the robot while Pinkie did a series of other impressive dance moves before she spun around a few times and started to moonwalk.

While dancing, Pinkie couldn’t stop thinking about how she was going to break it to Twilight that she’d drank a spiked cup of punch. Pinkie could handle it, but Twilight was a bit of an unknown, and it worried her. She looked for something to give her a legitimate reason to go find some of the others. She couldn’t think of anything, so just just decided to wing it.

“Uh, Twilight. I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere!” Pinkie said as she sped off.

“Uh, alright then.” Twilight said with a shrug. Seeing no reason to keep dancing without Pinkie, she pulled out her phone and sat down at the picnic table for a minute while she waited.

Nothing appeared to be off about her. She wasn’t even aware of what she’d just taken a drink of, but she could admit that her brain was starting to get a little bit foggy. “Huh…” she said to herself, as she placed her hand on her forehead. “I must not have gotten a good enough nap this afternoon…”

“Twilight?” She heard a voice say behind her, which spooked her at first, so she quickly turned around to see a face that was familiar to her but not to anyone else that was with her. And it was someone she’d rather not talk to. “Twilight Sparkle? That can’t be you, can it?”

“T-Timber Spruce?” She said, visibly flustered and surprised. “W-What are you doing here?”

Timber had tan skin, and a full head of curly green hair as well as green eyes, and his chin was a bit pointed. He wore a lifeguard t-shirt, beach themed shorts as well as sandals on his feet and on his head, he still wore that dark gray stocking cap on his head that he’d worn the last time she saw him.

“I thought that was you. Fancy meeting you here, huh?” He said sheepishly.

Twilight crossed her arms and stood up, a deadpan stare on her face when looking at him. “Fancy isn’t a word I’d use…” she said coldly. Memories of betrayal, hurt and embarrassment came rushing back to her forethought. This reunion was anything but pleasant. “How… how are you even here?”

“I uh… I kind of live here now.” informed Timber.

“I thought you said you were moving across the country before you left…”

“I did, but I moved here about a year ago. I go to college here.”

“So you’re a part of the fraternity here?”

“Oh, no. The Mu Pis typically invite the lifeguards to their parties. Sometimes they like to haze rival college groups at their parties; masquerading it as a welcome party until they’ve gotten them. It’s a bit mean spirited but it’s all in good fun.”

“Mmm…” Twilight said, nodding her head. That little detail would have normally sent a lightbulb off in her mind that maybe she should warn her friends, however the awkwardness of seeing Timber again hindered any chance of that happening. Not to mention how foggy her mind was becoming due to the bad punch she’d drank.

A brief awkward silence filled the air. Twilight and Timber took turns alternating between looking at one another and shifting their gaze back towards the ground.

“So uh… how have you been?” Timber asked, holding out his hand as if to possibly exchange a handshake.

Twilight wasn’t having it, though. She crossed her arms again and shot a glare towards him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Oh come on, Twilight. I said I was sorry about what I did. I didn’t realize you were still holding on to all of that.”

“Well, I wasn’t. Not until you showed back up.”

“Look, I know what I did was wrong, and you have every right to be angry with me. But I was just wondering if maybe we could smooth things over and mend fences.”

Twilight looked down at the ground and appeared to be considering what Timber said. But the hurt was still there. It didn’t matter that they’d both moved on or that Twilight was in a better relationship now, Twilight just wasn’t in the mood for this.

“I’m sorry Timber, but no. Every time I think about what you did, I just… You lied to me, and made me look like a fool. I just can’t forget about that.”

“That was quite a while ago, though.”

“It doesn’t matter. It still hurts.”

“I know…” he said, as he tried to reach out, but Twilight just batted his hand away.

“I can’t deal with this right now.”

“Oh…” Timber said, looking disappointed. “I can’t say that I blame you. Will you at least think about it?”

“I don’t know. I just want to forget about what happened. I’ve moved on from it, and maybe you should too.”

“Have you really moved on, though?”

Twilight stood there in silence, not really remembering anything about what had happened recently, just remembering when she was betrayed by him. She’d tried to move on, but seeing him here and now just brought it all back up the surface again. She crossed her arms again and turned around in a huff.

“Well… if you change your mind, I’ll be around, here at the beach. If you ever want to let me make this right, you know where to find me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She said with a hint of irritation in her voice. “I’m really not in a good mood right now. So if you don’t mind...”

“Got it…” Timber said dejectedly. “For what it’s worth, it was great to see you again.”

Timber placed his hands in his pockets and walked away, leaving Twilight alone yet again. She sat back down on the table, gritted her teeth in frustration, placed her elbows on the table, and pulled on the crown of her head with her hands while letting out an irritated groan. This was definitely not what she’d needed right now. She was here on a nice getaway with her friends and… oh no! She thought, as her eyes widened as something important came to the forefront of her mind.

Not only did she fail to mention that she had a boyfriend just now, but she also realized a much bigger error. She’d never told Singer about Timber before. Not for any other reason than for the simple matter that she didn’t feel like he needed to know about Timber since the two had never met. An oversight on her part, but her past experience with Timber wasn’t something she liked remembering. She laid her forearms down on the table and buried her face into her arms and she sat there alone, wishing that Singer would just appear in the knick of time like he usually seemed to be able to, and tell her everything was going to be alright, and try to make her laugh and everything would be better. But that didn’t appear to be happening for a bit, now. Great. Just great. What else could go wrong?

After a few minutes of looking, Rainbow had finally found Fluttershy at the refreshment table, trying out some of the cookies that they had.

“Hey Fluttershy, what’s the big idea? I thought we were sticking together.”

“Sorry Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy began. “I didn't realize you weren’t following me. I was getting a little bit hungry.”

“Eh, it’s fine.” Dash said as her stomach began to growl. “A snack does sound good.” She grabbed a paper plate from the table and began to sample some of the food items, such as carrot sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, celery and the various dipping sauces they had for them. She also grabbed a few pinwheel rolls and slider sandwiches.

Fluttershy giggled as Rainbow began to take down her food. “Goodness, Rainbow. You really were hungry.”

Rainbow chuckled a bit, slightly embarrassed by her own display. “Sorry about that, my lunch didn’t stick with me.” She graciously took a few napkins that Fluttershy offered her before turning to an approaching sound heading their way. It was Pinkie Pie.

“Hey Dashie, Fluttershy.” Pinkie said, rubbing her right arm with her left hand nervously.

“Oh, hi Pinkie.” Said Fluttershy. “Um, where’s Twilight?”

“About that…” Pinkie said.

“Wait, what happened?” Rainbow inquired.

Pinkie took a deep breath and began to explain everything in her own rapidly excited mode. “TwilightDrankACupOfSpikedPunchOnlySheDoesn’tRealizeItYetBut…”

“Pinkie, can we get that at a slower pace please? That’s too much, even for me to understand all at once.”

Pinkie stopped to take a breath and then proceeded to tell Rainbow and Fluttershy what had happened, and that Twilight had unintentionally drank a spiked punch. Rainbow appeared to be annoyed by this while Fluttershy expressed concern.

“Oh my, we’d probably better go make sure she’s okay.” Suggested Fluttershy.

“Yeah for sure. I’d be willing to bet that Twi’s probably a bit of a lightweight, so she might not be right in the head the rest of the night.” Rainbow said.

“She’s over here, come on!” Pinkie said, leading Rainbow and Fluttershy back over to the picnic table where she’d left Twilight.

Meanwhile, Rarity and Applejack were standing near the stage, watching in laughter as Sunset and Flash were already cutting loose and having fun. Both of them had plastic cups with beer in them, and wasted no time getting onto the karaoke machine.

“War!” Shouted Sunset as she held the microphone as the music played while they were looking at the screen.

“Hughh! Yeah!” Flash shouted.

“What is it good for?”

“Absolutely nothing!”

“WAAAAR!”

“HUGHH!”

“What is it good for?”

“Absolutely nothing! AAAAAAAAAARGH!”

“Well they look like they’re enjoying themselves.” said Rarity as she giggled with Applejack.

“All that caterwaulin’s gonna have every stray cat in town declarin’ war, though.” Applejack said with a chuckle. “Well while they’re doin’ that, why don’t we try somma that networkin’ buisness you were wantin’ ta do?”

“You’d want to help me?”

“Sure, ain’t nothin’ better ta do, and Ah found somma that apple ale Ah was lookin’ fer, so Ah’m happy fer now. B’sides, Ah know you’d be more comfortable had Dusk been here. But while Ah’m no Dusk, Ah think Ah got what it takes to help. And Ah’d darn tootin be happy ta help in anyway that Ah can.” AJ said, smiling to her friend while tipping her hat.

“Why thank you, Applejack.” Rarity said embracing Applejack with a hug of gratitude. “Well, I suppose we could start with that group of girls over there.”

Applejack looked at the group Rarity had been talking about, and noticed that Zephyr had been standing near them. “And perhaps rescue them from “The Breeze Master”.” AJ said, making air quotations, before she cracked a smile holding back laughter after which she and Rarity burst into laughter at how ridiculous that nickname sounded.

“Better hop aboard the ‘Breezy Train’!” Laughed Rarity.

“Hello ladies…” said a voice from behind them. They both turned to see that Jock had caught sight of them and decided to approach them.

“Howdy there.” Applejack said politely, but warily.

“Oh wow, you’re actually a hick. I thought that cowboy hat was a party costume.”

“No way. This here hat is a family heirloom.” AJ said, proudly tipping her hat.”

“And sweat a classy lady, the one standing next to you…” said Muscles as he chimed in, coming in behind Jock.

“Oh, well I do pride myself in my demeanor and my taste in fashion.” Rarity said, blushing at the compliment, but quickly remembering herself. “However, if it’s flirting that you’re interested in engaging in, I’m afraid I must inform you that I have a boyfriend.”

“That is unfortunate. How about you ladies ditch your lame-o boyfriends and come hook up with us.” Jock said, very forwardly flirtatious.

“Aaaaaah… I must decline. I’m very much fond of my boyfriend, and my mind will not be changed on the matter.”

“Ah may not have me a boyfriend, but Ah don’t think Ah want someone who has ta build on his physique ta compensate fer somethin’ if ya know what Ah mean.”

“Dude, you gonna take that, Jock?” Asked Muscles.

Jock wasn’t perturbed by Applejack’s comments, but rather it made him double down on his arrogant behavior. “Come on, Cowgirl. You’re in the presence of Mu Pi Greatness.”

“Moo Pie?” Laughed Applejack in a slightly less sober manner than she would normally. “Sounds like somethin’ I find out in mah pastures back home.”

“It’s a sacred name that will not be besmirched!” Jock said, this time with a defensive stance. “It goes back all the way to…“

“Yada yada yada ‘1956’, Ah know, yer leader already gave us that lecture…”

“Applejack, I don’t really think this is the time to…”

“Hey…” Muscles said, suddenly stopping Rarity in what she was saying. She turned and looked in his direction as he spoke in a suave and what was intended to be a seductive manner, attempting to ‘steal’ Rarity away from Jock. He repeatedly moved his eyebrows up and down as he smiled at her, and blew kissy faces at her, and flexed his muscles in front of her. As if she was supposed to be impressed by that.

“Oh please, I’ve met chihuahuas with more charm than that. Absolutely pathetic.”

These burns that Applejack and Rarity were inflicting on these scummy Mu Pi’s didn’t go unnoticed by Zephyr who, deciding that this was more interesting than uninterested college girls shooting glares at him, took this as an opportunity to chime in.

“Oh yeah, you’re both stupid and ugly and your breath stinks! No wonder why these girls aren’t being moved by your charm. Or lack of, in your case.” Zephyr said, snapping his fingers.

“What did you say to me, man bun?!?” Jock said, focusing his wrath on Zephyr, now. “I’ll tear you apart, you overzealous Starbucks barista!”

Zephyr was unfazed, which further angered Jock. He took it even further and pulled out his phone and added that suggestion to his list of future jobs he could try. “Can’t believe I didn’t think of that one. I already suck at spelling peoples’ names.”

“You son of a-…” Jock said as it looked like he was going to lay into Zephyr, a very large hand cut Jock off as he was about to start shouting at Zephyr and the girls, by grabbing his mouth to keep him from speaking any further. The hand was that of Moose, Jake’s right hand man, who’d moved in on the commotion surprisingly unnoticed to this point.

“That’s a big fella…” AJ said, almost sounding frightened at the sight of him.

“Jock, Jake says he needs you back in the weight room.” Moose said with a thundering voice. “And stop picking on the pretty ladies…”

“Fine…” Jock said, pushing Moose’s hand away from his face.

Moose just had to shift his gaze in Muscles’s direction to get him to skedaddle on out of there. Once Muscles had left, Moose nodded to Rarity and Applejack and smiled at Zephyr, patting him on the head as he walked off. The aftermath left Zephyr’s hair an even bigger mess than what it was.

“Aaaaaw come on! Do you know how hard it is to get this hair to stay like this?!? Ugh!”

“I don’t know about you, Applejack, but this whole situation is starting to worry me.”

“Naaaaaaah…” dismissed a slightly tipsy Applejack, who’d still been holding on to her apple ale bottle since she picked it up earlier. “C’mon. Les’ go find the others.”

“A surprisingly sensible suggestion, given your… eeeeh… condition.” Rarity said, smiling sheepishly before she started off to find her friends.

“Dern tootin!” AJ said, walking slowly after Rarity.”Ah sure hope everyone else is havin as much fun as we is…”

“….as we are.” Corrected Rarity.

“Potato, tomato Rarity.”

Rarity took a deep breath and kept at it, trying to ignore AJ’s attempts to get a rise out of her. “You’re not getting to me, Applejack…”

When Rainbow, Pinkie and Fluttershy reached Twilight, they found her still sitting at the picnic table face down on the surface of the table.

“Uh, Twi?” Asked Rainbow, tapping Twilight on her shoulder. “You okay?”

“Fantastic!” Twilight said, suddenly shooting up and looking at her friends, her hair slightly frazzled, her eyes widened and screwy, even her glasses sat crookedly and a big goofy but fake smile adorned her face. Pinkie wasn’t sure if it was the bad punch or something else that was making her suddenly lose her mind, but she as well as Dash and Fluttershy instantly began to grow more concerned. “I’m just doomed. Doomed I tell you!” She reached up and fixed her crooked glasses, and let out a stressful laugh.

“You’re not doomed…” Pinkie said. “You just drank some bad punch. I’m uh… sorry about that, Twilight. That was my bad.”

“Well…” Twi said with a slight pause before starting to shout again. “Let’s all partake in some bad punch! Because we’re all doooooooooooooooooooooomed!!!”

“Aaaaaaw crap!” Rainbow said. “Somehow I knew that Twilight would be a lightweight.”

“My life is over!!! I’m doooooooomed! Haahahahahahaaahhahahaaaaa….” Twilight said, with a disturbing hysterical laugh before laying her head back down on the table.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy said. “I’d better stay with her until Singer comes.”

“Speaking of which, where are those slackers anyway?!?” Rainbow asked as she began to look hopefully towards anywhere the trio of guys could potentially make their entrance from. Nothing. “They sure are taking their sweet time.”

“Hey Sing…” Ray said, as they inched closer to the pink house. “Have you ever been to a frat party before?”

“Me? Nooooo! I normally avoid these types of soirées. Not really my style.” He said. “I basically came along because everyone else did.”

“Sound familiar?” Deadpanned Dusk to Ray, who coughed awkwardly. Dusk was getting less enthusiastic about this by the minute.

“Oh relax, Dusk. I’m sure we’re going to be fine.” Ray said, attempting to sound reassuring. “Once we find the girls, everything will be fine and dandy and we can all go laugh about it around the campfire.”

“Yeah, Dusk. Just do like me…” Singer said as he pulled out his shades and smoothly slid them onto his face. “And play it cool…”

The trio walked up to the front door pink house, where like the yellow house, there was a door attendant, but he didn’t have a list. He just let anyone in. “‘The Dude’ welcomes all guests!” He said as he waved them upon their entry. This definitely didn’t sound right. And if the plastic pink flamingos littering the front yard wasn’t an indication, then what they were about to walk into would very soon be.

“Thank you…” Dusk said unsurely, in spite of the attendant’s friendly demeanor. Something about this just didn’t look or feel right.

Singer and Ray looked less uneasy, just a bit bewildered by sight of the highly decorated house. Bowling trophies, model ships and boats (some in bottles), taxidermy fish, and various works of art decorated the house.

“Guys…” Singer said, now beginning to get nervous, after taking in the scenery of the place. “I think we’re at the wrong house party…”

Dusk and Ray didn’t have to look around much more to see that Singer’s statement was accurate. The people at this party were all at least a decade or two older than they were.

“Definitely not the right place.” Ray concurred.

“Aaaaaw that’s alright, maaaaaaan!” Said a low pitched and slow voice from off to the side. A taller man with long curly brown locks and a full beard, large black sunglasses that dwarfed Singer’s in size, wearing a tank top, a green Hawaiian style shirt, and orange swimming trunks as well as sandals, which were quite popular around this area. “‘The Dude’ is a friend to all. And all are welcome to party with him.” They assumed he was referring to himself in the third person.

“This dude is giving off some major Lewbowski vibes right now…” Singer said in a whisper to Ray, who only had a vague understanding as to what Singer had just referred to.

“Why not stick around for a bit, enjoy the party food, some entertainment, and some scotch before you go.”

“That’s very kind of you, but-“ Dusk said before getting cut off by Singer.

“Well it’d be rude not to.” Singer said without giving it a second thought. ‘The Dude’ led the guys outside to where his party was. “Just hold the scotch, I’m not really a drinker.”

“Right on, man!” The Dude said, patting Singer on the back. “I can respect that, bro.”

“Anyone called ‘The Dude’ must be on the level.” Singer said, briefly turning his head around and giving a reassuring wink to Ray and Dusk. Neither of whom would be helped by it.

“No…” Dusk said in a strained and exasperated whisper before he facepalmed.

Ray had remembered what Twilight had said about Singer getting easily distracted, and he silently nodded to himself upon seeing it for himself. Normally, small detours like this wouldn’t bother him. But right now really wasn’t a good time for this. Fortunately for them ‘The Dude’ left the trio fairly quickly to go greet some of his other “friends” just arriving on the scene, leaving Singer, Ray and Dusk alone at the refreshments table.

“Singer, my dude…” Ray said, moving closer to him in order to speak more discreetly to him. “Remember, we have a very pressing matter to attend to elsewhere. Does a frat house party at a yellow beach house ring a bell?”

Singer had already began sampling some of the food that ‘The Dude’ was so kind to offer. “Right, right.” Singer said as he tried a few more of the horderves that was in front of him. “No sense leaving on an empty stomach, am I right?”

Both Ray and Dusk had to admit that the food did look inviting, and with their stomachs also rumbling from hunger, the invitation having been extended to them, and the food becoming more and more enticing, they both conceded.

“Fine…” Dusk said. “But we can’t stay for too much longer.”

“Right. Of course.” Singer said. “We just eat enough to satisfy our hunger and then we go…” he trailed off as he noticed a seemingly refreshing large bowl of Ice Cream Punch. A bit odd, as those were usually reserved for baby showers, but it didn’t bother or confound Singer in the slightest. He instantly took the plunge with the ladle and began to drink a cup full.

Meanwhile, Dusk and Ray had found their own desirable snacks and put a few on their plates. Pinwheel rolls, carrot sticks, celery sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, and some small morsels of various meats with toothpicks sticking in them found their way on to each of the guys’ plates. They had to admit, it was all delicious.

Having had their hunger satisfied for now, Dusk had been the first to finish his drink and food and was thus the most eager to leave. Ray being not far behind him.

“Okay, as enjoyable as that was, we have overstayed our time here, and we really should go find Flash and the girls now.” Dusk said in an almost commanding tone.

“Hear that Singer?” Ray said, getting Singer’s attention.

“Yeah, I agree. Poor Twi’s not huge on loud parties, so we’d probably better step on it so I can go save her.” Singer said as he looked at his watch. “Crap! It’s starting to get late. They’re gonna kill us!”

“My point exactly.” Dusk said.

“Okay, yeah. Sorry, we will leave right… now…” Singer said as he began to get a little dizzy.

“Sing, you good?” Ray said. His answer quickly came as Singer began to take a tumble to the ground but Dusk and Ray’s quick action in grabbing him prevented that.

“Singer…” Dusk said frantically. “Singer, are you alright?”

“I… uh… I think so. What happened?”

“Oh no…” The Dude said, returning to check on them. “Tell me he didn’t drink the punch…”

“He did.” Confirmed Dusk. “Why? What’s going on?”

“Oh man, that’s our ‘psychedelic trippy punch’…”

“I’m sorry, your what?” Asked Ray raising an eyebrow.

“One cup of that will take you far out, maaaaan.” The Dude said almost entranced at the idea of drinking it, but he quickly snapped out of it. “Yeah, I’m sorry. But your friend is in for a wild night. Especially if he drank more than one.”

“Singer…” Ray said with a hint of dread in his voice. “Exactly how many cups of that did you drink?”

“Uuuuuuuh… three?” He said. “Pretty sure it was three.”

“Aw dude. You’re totally drunk bro…” The Dude said as he shook his head.

Those words rang through Singer’s ears and fear and dread began to flood his mind. Meanwhile, Dusk saw Ray playfully reach over for a cup, presumably to get a drink for himself, but Dusk batted his hand away.

“Nuh uh uh!” Dusk said. “One tipsy friend is enough. I haven’t the strength nor energy to keep up with two.”

“I was just kidding…” Ray said. “Sort of…”

Suddenly Ray felt the panicking Singer grab him by the shoulders as he began to shake him.

“Dude! I’ve never drank alcohol before! This is bad! I’m going to go… to go…” he paused for dramatic effect. “…feral! I can’t have this! I swore off alcoholic beverages! This can’t be happening to me!”

Ray’s face emoted the same level of freak out that Singer’s did, but because Singer was freaking out. Panic mode went into Ray and he had a knee jerk reaction to it that made him slap Singer across the face in full panic. Instant regret and shock adorned both of their faces.

“Dude, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Ray said with remorse in his features.

Singer showed no signs of hurt feelings, only shaking his head and screwing his eyes. “No… no… I think you should hit me again. I think it’s bringing me back!”

Ray shrugged and said “alright” as he lifted his hand.

Dusk, being the only sensible mind at the moment held Ray’s hand up, preventing him from striking Singer again. “Ray, you’re not hitting Singer in the face again. Singer, you’re not going to go “feral”, but the sad reality of the situation is that you are intoxicated and will likely experience some weird things tonight. The best thing we can do right now is to approach this calmly. Alright?”

“Dusk is right, Singer.” Ray said. “Let’s just go find the others and go back to the hotel. I don’t see this ending well.”

Singer sniffed as if he was about to cry, but shook his head in agreement. He allowed Dusk and Ray to help him walk out of the area so they could regroup.

The long walk out of The Dude’s house commenced. Dusk and Ray had to periodically help hold Singer up as the spiked punch was quickly starting to take a toll on him.

They started out the door and they could swear they heard some of the other people at that party begin to boo them for leaving so early. But they didn’t care.

“Let’s just keep going, Singer. We’re almost there.” Ray said, coaching Singer at last, out the door of the house.

“Okay…” Singer said, moping along as he followed them. “Sorry guys, this is all my fault.”

“Don’t beat yourself up too bad.” Ray said. “The important thing is that we now know for sure where to find the others.”

“Shouldn’t we find somewhere for him to sit? I can’t imagine that this ordeal is going to allow him to walk straight.” Dusk said, considering this important detail as they had finally made their way out of the house. They tried not to look back, but behind the departing trio stood ‘The Dude’ waving to see them off.

“Hmmm…” Ray pondered as he helped Singer walk straight. Ray saw an opportunity to take a quick break and sat Singer down on a vacant lawn chair at the edge of ‘The Dude’s’ lawn. “This would be much easier if we had a working phone. We could just call Singer’s mom and have her pick him up.”

“That might be a blessing in disguise. I’d hate to have to answer potential questions that Belle would have in regards to her son’s drunken state.”

“Right… yeah that’s definitely a problem. We could just find him a spot to sleep it off on the frat guys’ couch. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble until we’re able to find the girls.”

As Dusk and Ray continued to talk amongst themselves, Singer’s mind continued to become foggier and foggier. It wasn’t long before his attention span had gone away completely. What his friends had been talking about was beginning to get tuned out by the sudden loudness of the music coming from the Mu Pi’s party. The party of which had a trail of bubbles coming from it. While their backs were turned, Singer quietly stood up to follow the bubbles, leaving Dusk and Ray behind.

“I don’t know what the solution is, but we have to keep an eye on…” Dusk said as he and Ray both turned to Singer, only to find that Singer was no longer sitting there. Somehow, in their discussion, he’d given them the slip and they hadn’t a clue where he went off to.

“We literally just turned our backs for one minute… HOW?!?” Ray shouted in disbelief.

“This night just keeps getting better and better…” deadpanned Dusk.

To be continued…

Author's Note

After thinking it over, I decided to split this chapter up into two, since it was so long. Hopefully it makes it easier to read.