"A few sips couldn't hurt."

“Oh, we’re here, wherever this is! Don’t worry Rarity, I’ll get the door!” Twilight announced upon reaching the giant crystal entrance, once again charging her horn to maximum power. At least that’s what it looked like to Rarity, given the bright violet glow it was giving off, along with the sparks shooting from it.

“Nonononono that’s okay dear! I’ll get it, it’s no problem at all, really!” said Rarity while rushing a hoof to her horn as if that would stop the magical powerhouse that is Twilight Sparkle. Thankfully the all-powerful alicorn listened and ceased action. Rarity was beginning to think that she was all that stood between Twilight and the utter destruction of the town.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Rarity used her own magic to slowly pull open the heavy front doors of the castle. Once she had gotten both her and Twilight inside, she shut the door and steadily knelt down with Twilight still leaning on her.

Once Twilight was safely on the ground, she took the time to close her eyes and lie down herself, taking in a deep breath, and an even longer exhale.

“Thank goodness we’re here. Alright Twilight darling, give me just a sec and I’ll help you...to...bed?”

When she opened her eyes to look at Twilight, who she could’ve sworn was just lying down as well, she was slowly spinning in circles while staring up in the air all the while, drawing a curious head tilt from Rarity.

“Um, Twilight, what are you doing?” she asked, expecting a ridiculous answer. What she got was pretty close to that.

“Wow Rarity. Your house is as beautiful as you are! Why would you ever want leave?!” Twilight asked, beginning to stumble from how dizzy she was making herself. No matter the circumstance, it was weird hearing that from her given how Twilight used to try and get away from this place.

Rarity giggled, nonetheless. “Well thanks dear," she responded, going over to stop Twilight from spinning to prevent her from further disorienting herself, "that compliment will not go unacknowledged, but one, this is a castle, and two, this is your humble abode.” she finished.

“Whaat?! No way!” she said before gasping. “That’s why you called me a princess earlier! I live in a castle, just like a princess would!” she yelled, beginning to spin again, but Rarity stopped her, not wanting to clean up a mess if Twilight became too disoriented.

“That’s right dear.”

“A beautiful princess, right Rarity?” Twilight asked, nudging Rarity a bit, as the unicorn just rolled her eyes playfully.

Now surrounded on all sides by walls, and no longer encumbered by one drunk Twilight Sparkle, she was a little more relaxed now. She might have just left her in the care of Spike, but he didn’t seem to be around. Twilight had mentioned before the party that Spike was out with Big Mac and others, so he was probably going to be gone for a while longer, if not the whole night, which he did from time to time.

Sweetie Belle was with her friends at Sweet Apple Acres with Granny Smith while they all went out, and Opal had enough food and water for the night, so she didn’t mind staying here with Twilight for a minute to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. Or break anything. Or shoot more planet destroying beams. At least long enough for her to get tired and fall asleep. Speaking of that, it still amazed her that Twilight was still standing. Something to do with her alicorn biology maybe? That had to be the case, as a normal pony would've been dead ten times over. The thought of Twilight drinking herself to death scared the absolute mess out of her. She put those thoughts aside for now to respond to Twilight.

“Oh, you remember me calling you beautiful, but forget where you lay your head every night?”

“What? I lay my head here? This sure doesn’t feel like a comfortable place to lay down. It’s cold, just like that bartender for not giving me what I asked for.” she pouted, putting her cheek down on the floor, then shivering from how cool it was.

“Well, he just didn't want to help you kill yourself Twilight, and I'm glad he made that decision. If he ever makes a commission, I will gladly do it for free." she said, before looking off to the side and grumbling,"...and I'm charging Rainbow Dash double for her next one."

"Wait...if this is my home....and I'm a princess....then that means...." she spoke in what she thought was a whisper before trotting, er, stumbling over to Rarity and putting both hooves on the unicorn's chest. Twilight almost slipped and fell off Rarity, but the unicorn made sure to catch her, Twilight holding onto Rarity's forearms tightly and using them for support.

“Then that means you’re my prince. Every princess with a castle needs a prince, and I choose you.” Twilight said, drawing another small laugh from Rarity, in turn, drawing a small pout from Twilight.

“Hey, I’m serious. Only the most beautiful of creatures can by my prince, so I nominate you.” she said proudly.

She decided not to ruin Twilights fun by saying that she would technically be a princess in a sense. Rarity, for reasons she couldn't truly understand, begin to play along with the alicorn. She was less tired all of a sudden, and maybe she wanted to make up for making her cry earlier. She behaved so innocently, almost like a child. Well, aside from some inappropriate comments she had made prior to their arrival at the castle. While she still condemned her actions that led to this, so far it didn’t seem too much trouble arose from the whole ordeal. At least no one was blasted to smithereens. Besides, she’s never seen Twilight like this before, so she was interested to see where this would go. Call it, an experiment for research purposes. Rarity laughed to herself, thinking that a report on what happened tonight would be the one report in the world that Twilight would hate to read.

“Oh my, I am truly honored my princess, who has become so open with me about my looks all of a sudden.” she said, followed by Twilight proudly putting a hoof on her own chest.

“Hey, I gotta tell it like it is, and what it is...like... it is, is that you’re the most beautiful thing within Equestria, and anyone who thinks otherwise will immediately be sent to the dungeon.” she sputtered, tapping Rarity’s chest every few words. Rarity giggled at Twilights attempt at a coherent sentence. She also found the thought of a prince, or someone of the sort, incarcerating someone else just for her quite flattering. She wouldn’t agree to let it happen, she just found it flattering was all.

“What? Just Equestria? Not the world darling?” she asked playfully.

“Uh, wait! That’s what I meant! Can I take it back?!” Twilight pleaded.

Rarity looked off to the side as she tapped her hoof on her chin, feeling slightly guilty for delighting in Twilight’s panicked look.

“Hmmm alright, I guess I can allow that. Equestria is still a vast place after all.” she finished, while Twilight hoof pumped with a quiet “Yes!” to which Rarity laughed in response. She felt slightly bad for teasing a drunk Twilight, but she just couldn’t help herself.

Once Twilight was done with her post-compliment celebration, she trotted down the main hallway, squinting her eyes while looking left and right at the walls. Twilight sure was lively and full of energy now, but Rarity still didn’t think it was safe to leave her alone, so she trotted after her. Most ponies would be out cold by now, but here was Twilight, prancing around like a kid in a toy store, though continuing to stumble here and there. Was she sobering up, Rarity wondered, before watching Twilight trip on nothing, then stare around to stare at the spot she tripped on like its whole purpose in life was to impede her progression.

“Where to now, my princess?” she asked while keeping a brisk pace right behind Twilight, prepared to catch her should she fall or something.

Twilight, not seeming to have heard her, continued to scan the walls. “They were around here somewhere...aha!” she yelled as she laid her eyes on a bouquet of purple flowers that were hung on the wall right above one of the stained-glass windows. Upon hearing that, Rarity assumed that Twilight finally remembered that this was her castle and where things were located for the most part.

Twilight used her magic to...unfortunately pull out a chunk of the wall right next to where the flowers were. Rarity winced at the damage done to the beautiful castle, but at least she didn’t shoot off another huge blast. Seriously, she did not want that to happen again.

“Whoops, let’s try that again.” she said while dropping the piece of crystal she had excavated from the wall on the ground beside Rarity, causing the unicorn to jump and yelp in surprise. Rarity didn’t much care to have the words “Death by crystal wall”, written in any mortuary report, or uttered by anyone when referring to how she died. She preferred to pass peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by loved ones thank you.

“Um Twilight, maybe I should-”

“No no, it’s okay, I got this.” she said, squinting her eyes and licking her lips in concentration.

Twilight's second attempt at getting the flowers was successful. It was just a shame that she broke off the piece of the wall that the flowers were affixed to as well.

“Ah, there we go!” she said while levitating the flowers down to her, as well as the chunk of crystal that the flowers were still attached to, to present in front of Rarity. In hindsight, Rarity should have tried harder to stop her the second time, but Twilight told her about the fruit incident with her parents during her magical exam, so she was in no rush to be in between her friend and unfocused magic, especially now that she was more powerful. She'd probably just blow Rarity up at this point.

“Oh my, um, for me, Twilight?” she asked with a hoof to her chest, just glad that Twilight stopped doing damage to her own home.

“Of course. Beautiful flowers, for a beautiful prince.” she said, while levitating the slightly roughed up flowers towards Rarity. Rarity pitied the poor, half destroyed flowers, but took them out of their holder, nonetheless.

“Well, thanks dear. These flowers are absolutely divine, I-“ Rarity said, before being cut off by the sound of the chunk of crystal Twilight was still holding being dropped on the ground. What immediately followed was the wailing of a mare, once again in distress.

“Twilight, what’s wrong now?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

When she looked up from the flowers, Twilight was crying like a child who had dropped their ice cream on the ground, which was a suitable choice of words, given her behavior this evening.

“I was trying to get the flowers off the wall, but now there’s a giant hole in the wall, so the castle isn’t beautiful anymore, so that means I’m not beautiful, and now you’re gonna hate meee, because who could love an ugly princeeeess” she finished, falling into despair once more and crying waterfalls.

Seemed Twilight had finally realized what she had done to the wall. Rarity could only describe Twilights rambling as that of a foal trying to explain how they hurt themselves to their parent, so she guessed she would respond as such.

“Nooo sweetheart, that’s not true, you’re still the most beautiful princess in the world. Your castle doesn’t determine your outer beauty.” she told Twilight while grabbing her shoulders.

“But Rarity, what kind of beautiful princess lives in an ugly castle?” she asked, waving a hoof around their heads. “No one, that’s who! I’m condemning this place, effective immediately!” Twilight yelled, turning her horn to the wall and seemingly getting ready to fire another earth-shattering blast until a panicked Rarity grabbed Twilights face and brought it back to her, sighing in relief as Twilight powered down her horn.

It was official. Rarity was now the sole guardian of Ponyville, as long as Twilight kept preparing to destroy it every five minutes.

“Dear, it’s going to take far more than one little imperfection to ruin a structure as amazing as this.” she said while holding a hoof in the air. “Besides, fixing something this minor is mere…..foals play, for mares of our talent and stature. Observe.” she finished with a nervous chuckle.

Looking at it again, she had no idea if the crystal chunks were going to go back in so easily. They had so many edges, and were oddly shaped. They weren’t exactly puzzle pieces that you could just slide back in or somethi-

“Oh, well would you look at that?” she said, slightly shocked by what she was able to accomplish. She had managed to lift up the pieces, as heavy as they were, and slide with them back in with surprisingly minimal effort. Thank goodness for Twilight pulling them out so cleanly. Now that she thought about it, she wondered if the castle could have grown back the pieces on its own or something. She wouldn’t be surprised, given the circumstances of its creation and all.

“See darling? Nothing a little magic can’t fix.” she said, drawing a small smile from Twilight. Just when they thought everything was okay, the crystals she had put back in, along with an even larger piece, somehow proceeded to fall from the wall and shatter once they hit the ground.

“Uh oh...” said Rarity, as she looked to Twilight, who was already making a whining noise in preparation to start crying again.

“Don’t cry darling, don’t cry! It’s alright!” pleaded Rarity. At the same time, she held her shoulder while stroking her back, attempting to stop Twilight before she fell into another fit of wailing.

“We’ll find some way to fix it, we just need time figure something out!” said Rarity, trying to give Twilight the most reassuring smile she could muster. “Please don’t be sad. You are just as beautiful as the day I first saw you, long before you had this castle, and you have only become more of a marvel to look at over the years.” she finished.

“Have I really? You’re just saying that to make me feel better.” Twilight said, looking down at the floor, before Rarity pulled her head up with her hoof. “I’m still ugly.” Twilight added.

“My precious Twilight, I mean that with my whole heart. I would never lie about that.” Rarity said, but Twilight continued to pout with moisture filled eyes, occasionally glancing at the floor.

Although Rarity had mostly said to make her feel better, it didn't mean that she was lying, most certainly not. Twilight had always been a sight for the eyes, and Rarity secretly appreciated her naturally well sculpted body, often finding herself staring at her a bit too long at times, but she swore she only did that because she was just appreciating her looks, and nothing more. It might be why when they go out for lunch, Rarity would occasionally attempt to persuade Twilight not to get the most calorie filled item on the menu, out of fear of the alicorn ruining her perfect figure.

Rarity wasn’t sure what would work for a Twilight who had basically reverted back to being a child, but she knew what worked for Sweetie Belle.

“Twiliiight, do you still not believe me? Is my cutie princess going to pout all night?” Rarity said while grabbing both Twilight’s cheeks. Twilight responded by calmly pulling her head away, but Rarity could tell Twilight was trying to hold in a smile after she said that.

“I’m not cute, I’m beautiful.” she said, pouting even harder while crossing her forearms. Rarity smiled, while putting the side of her head on Twilights.

“Well, how about this? This prince would be happy to see her cute “and” beautiful princess with a big smile on her face, and we know she would be happier herself if she did so.” Rarity said, poking Twilight slightly in the stomach with every third word or so, causing the giggles that she had been trying so hard to keep contained to come bursting forth.

“There she is, my giggling little princess! I was wondering where she went.” Rarity said, almost falling into a genuine fit of giggles herself from watching Twilight. She took a moment to just look at Twilight, as she donned a genuine smile from watching Twilight act so bubbly.

“Oh, isn’t she just just something else?”Rarity said to herself as her smile grew.

Rarity went from being annoyed, to somewhat intrigued by Twilight as the night went on. She had seen her other friends drunk before, but never Twilight. Even Fluttershy had gone off the deep end a time or two before.

“Rarity? Rarity, you okay?”

Rarity had snapped out of a trance that she didn’t realize she was in and noticed that Twilight was now staring at her.

“I...didn’t realize I was staring at her for so long.” she told herself.

“Oh, *ahem* yes darling, I’m okay. Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Oh nothing, just that you’re such an amazing friend. You always know what to say to make me happy, and...you have amazing eyes, you know that?” Rarity blushed at that comment, but before she could say anything, Twilight had pulled her into a hug.

This wasn’t like the forceful hug that she was subjected to earlier while outside, but a soft, meaningful one. Twilight buried her head into Rarity's neck and moaned contently causing Rarity to blush even more, but not moving an inch. She questioned why she became so flustered over something they do all the time, but then eventually returned the hug.

The compliment about her eyes caught her off guard a bit, but she didn’t know why, since Twilight had been saying stuff like that all night.

“Oh, of course darling, someone as beautiful as you should be happy all the time...and you have amazing eyes too.” she said, glad to return the compliment, but then began hearing sniffles, which she responded to be rolling her eyes again, out of view of Twilight thankfully.

“Twilight, whatever you’re upset about, I’m sure it’s fine dear. Everything’s okay.” she assured Twilight while rubbing her back up and down, assuming Twilight was crying over something that wasn’t a huge deal.

“N-no, I’m not sad anymore, it’s just, you really are an amazing friend. I don’t deserve you, and I never will.” she said, beginning to sob on Rarity’s shoulder, making Rarity sigh with slight exasperation, but then smile genuinely.

“Twilight, how could you say that? I love being your friend, more than anything dear.” she said, causing Twilight to pull back from the hug to look at her.

“More than your dresses?” she asked.

“Twilight you’re more than a dress, you’re a pony, and one of my favorite ones at that.” she said, turning to wink at Twilight, causing her to blush a bit.

“Really, do you mean that?”

“I do darling.”

“I still wanna hear you say it. Say it say it say it say it-“Twilight repeated, hopping up and down. Rarity rolled her eyes for the millionth time that night, before laying them back on Twilight and cutting her off.

“Okay, okay Twilight. My goodness you’re so rambunctious.” she giggled. “I love being your friend, mooore than I love my dresses. Happy dear?” she said.

“Very.” Twilight said, erupting into giggles once more. The rate at which ponies cycled through emotions while drunk was always so fascinating. She should know, given what she could remember from her own personal benders, as well as witnessing many other’s successful attempts at getting plastered.

For a few seconds, Twilight stared at Rarity with all the love and affection a child would show to their mother, then pulling her into another hug and speaking into her shoulder.

“Rarity?”

“Yes Twilight?”

“I’m thirsty.”

Rarity, as if her exhaustion had caught up to her once again, inhaled and exhaled while giving Twilight a tired looking smile.

“Of course you are darling, but you know what, me too.” Rarity said, remembering how parched she had been herself, and slightly pushing Twilight away as she prepared to get up.

“Should we make our way to the kitchen? I think the cure for our dehydration has evaded us long enough.” she asked Twilight. Rarity stood up, followed by Twilight quickly getting up as well and basically throwing herself onto Rarity while nuzzling her neck heavily, drawing a blush from the unicorn who was now laughing at Twilights antics.

“Ohohohahaha I’ll take that as a yes darling! C-care to give your prince a little space though?” asked Rarity, not exactly sure what to make of slightly aggressive contact. Not like it’s something new or anything, so why should it really bother her?

“Nuh uh! You’re too warm Rarity, and you smell really good.” said Twilight, pushing her head and nose further into Rarity’s neck, causing her to jump a little in surprise and blush even harder. “And a prince needs to as close to her princess as possible.”

“Hm, guess...I can’t argue with that.” Rarity said, wondering why she was secretly glad that Twilight chose to stay attached to her. Like she told herself earlier, Twilight was a comfortable pony to hug, so maybe that’s all it was. Pushing those thoughts to the side, Rarity hummed with a smile while Twilight placed her head on hers as they made their way down the corridor and towards the kitchen.