The Life I Lead

Moonbeam opened his eyes and was immediately greeted by the angry sun spitting its light through the window and scalding his eyes.  With a grunt of pain, he rolled over, and he immediately became aware of his stomach, which for some reason seemed to be full of magma.  He lay still for what seemed like hours, waiting for his stomach to finish doing backflips.  He didn't have the urge to vomit, which was good, but that still begged the question: what the hell happened last night?  He tried to think back to the events of the previous evening, but it soon proved much more difficult than it had any right to be.  The last thing he remembered was walking downstairs to speak to Rarity, but nothing after that.  Frustrated, he stumbled out of bed towards the bathroom.  Maybe a splash of cold water would wake him up.

It turned out that a splash of cold water does, in fact, do wonders waking a pony up from pseudo-sleep, but Moonbeam wasn't sure whether he should be pleased with the results.  Granted, he wasn't expecting to like what he remembered, but the events of the night before still gave him the all-too-familiar feeling of emptiness.  He leaned heavily on the sink, front hooves supporting the rest of his body.  He stayed there for a long time, going through the events of the night before in his head.  After a couple minutes, he got himself upright, trudged out of the bathroom and headed towards the stairs.  As he made his way down the stairs, he caught a whiff of pancakes coming from the kitchen.  Although his stomach probably couldn't handle food at the moment, he ambled in anyway and took a seat at the table, and laid his head in his arms, trying to ease his headache.

"Good morning, darling!  I'm making pancakes, want some?"  Rarity said cheerfully as she around expectantly, still mixing the batter with magic.  Moonbeam kept his head in his arms and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that dear?"

With a grunt, Moonbeam picked his head up, looking groggily at the marshmallow mare.  "Nyet."  And with that, he put his head back down.

"Hangover?"

"Da."

Rarity stuck out her lower lip, looking at Moonbeam sternly.  "You shouldn't have drank so much, Moonbeam.  You could've gotten hurt."

"It is not as if I was flying drunk, Rarity.  I can handle myself."

"Moonbeam,"  she said flatly, "I care about you.  You are a good pony.  You're smart, kind, and even though your humor can be a bit dark, you are quite funny.  What Rainbow heard is staying with Rainbow; she's the most loyal pony I've ever met.  Nopony else knows or will know, unless you tell them yourself."

Moonbeam picked his head up again, and locked eyes with the marshmallow mare.  "Rarity, I know that.  If I didn't, I probably would not have come back last night."

Rarity nodded and returned her attention to her cooking.  "That's good to hear.  What did you and Rainbow talk about anyway?"

"Mostly it was her keeping the vodka away from me, which wasn't too hard, apparently.  Then it was me whining, and then she told me something about her."

"And what did she tell you?"

"It is not my place to tell you."

Rarity's smile dimmed.  "I see.  And by the way, Rainbow says it's your day off, so don't worry about weather patrol."

The stallion was obviously pleased to hear that.  His hangover probably wouldn't mix well with the strenuous labor of weather patrol.  "Well, thank Celestia for that."

Finally in the last stages of making her pancakes, Rarity began pouring the batter onto the skillet.  "Which gives you plenty of time to meet the rest of my friends!"  With the last of the batter out of the bowl, she turned around and beamed at the stallion sitting at the table.  Moonbeam, however, did not see Rarity.  His head was once again cradled in his arms, where muffled Stallian curses could be heard.  She stuck out her lower lip, and put on her signature Rarity pouty voice.  "Oh come now, Moonbeam!  You'll love my friends!  They're the nicest group of ponies I've ever met!"

Moonbeam poked an eye out from his shelter.  "Are they mares?"

Rarity chuckled.  "Of course, silly!  Why do you think I want you to meet them?"

Moonbeam let his head fall back down on the table with a thud, which rudely reminded him of his hangover.  "Chyort voz'mi!"

Rarity cocked her head curiously.  "What was that, dear?"

"Nothing."

~~

That afternoon, Rarity dragged Moonbeam out to the park outside of Ponyville for a picnic with Raritys friends.  Moonbeam was comforted slightly when he saw the librarian-he couldn't quite remember her name-and Rainbow among the group.  He still felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the other three mares nonetheless.  Once everypony was introduced, they all sat down to eat.

"So, Moonbeam, where exactly are ya from?  I've never heard an accent quite like yours before."  The farmpony, Applejack, spoke up between mouthfuls of apple pie.

"Stalliongrad, in the North."  Moonbeam answered quickly, unwilling to be the center of attention.

"Stalliongrad, eh?  I've heard it's mighty cold up there."

Moonbeam quickly realized that, being a newcomer, he would be the center of attention whether liked it or not; so he might as well deal with it.  "Da, it is very cold in the winter, but the ponies and dragons who live their don't mind.  We are used to it."

This time, it was the cream-colored pegasus that spoke, eyes wide in fear.  "Did you say 'dragons?'"  She whispered.

Moonbeam nodded.  "Stalliongrad pre-dates most of Equestria, and is a separate state.  It was founded by ancient Pegasi and Dragons shortly after ponies arrived in Equestria."

"H- How did they ever get to become friends with dragons?  They're so big and scary!"

"Well, Pegasi were originally a warrior race, very aggressive and brash.  The Dragons respected our prideful nature and the two founded Stalliongrad." Upon hearing this, Rainbow Dash straightened up and stuck her chest out, grinning broadly.  "Stallian is actually the language ponies spoke in the Old Land."

"Pegasi were like that?"

"Da, for the most part.  Rainbow is a good example of the Stallian mentality, but there were exceptions, those who were a lot like you, no offense."

"None taken."

And with that, the pink earth pony, who had been introduced as Pinkie Pie, somehow managed to wrap her tongue around the circle of plates, and lassoed the food into her mouth in one big mouthful, which she chewed vigorously with a content smile.  When Moonbeam witnessed this, his eyes widened considerably as his brain stripped a few gears trying to figure out if what the pink pony just did was even possible.  "Wait, did that just happen?"

The six mares burst out laughing, with Pinkie spewing crumbs into the air in the process.  Rainbow was the first to recover, and exclaimed, "It's Pinkie Pie.  You'll get used it."

~~

An hour later, along with a few more "Pinkie moments," Moonbeam was very well acquainted with Rarity's group of friends.  They almost immediately accepted him as one of their own, telling him all about the town of Ponyville and its inhabitants.  The more he learned, the more it sounded like paradise.  After a long conversation about Ponyville, the librarian, Twilight, asked him all about the northern provinces; the culture, the language, and the history.  Twilight seemed to want to know everything about life in Stalliongrad, asking question after question.  Truthfully, Moonbeam wasn't sure why he was so reluctant to meet Rarity's friends at first, and he was genuinely enjoying himself among them.  They were all very nice, just like Rarity had told him.  It was a welcome change, as most of his life he was at the bottom of the social hierarchy.  Since Ponyville was such a small town, the resident ponies all treated each other in the same way: like extended family.  It was a concept that was completely new to the stallion, and it certainly took some getting used to.  In Fillydelphia, the number one rule to survival was to not attract attention, and so Moonbeam was slightly unsettled by all the friendly smiles and greetings he would get walking down the street with Rarity and her friends.  For the first time he could remember, Moonbeam went to bed that night looking forward to what the morning would bring.