Second Chances: Between the Lines

Second Chances: Between the Lines
By Hero541
The Night Out, Part 2

Twilight was a fucking lightweight. Josh had figured that right off the bat, and so had Rainbow. However, neither one of them could stop her as she ordered drink after drink. In the span of only an hour, she had gone from a tequila sunrise to just straight shots of whiskey and gin. After that, she’d decided to top it all off with two martinis, a vodka tonic, and three shots of tequila.

“How the fuck is she not dying from alcohol poisoning right now?” said Josh as Twilight downed another shot of tequila.

“I don’t know, but we’d better cut her off before she does something she’ll regret.” said Rainbow, finishing her second martini.

Twilight wobbled dangerously back and forth on her stool, a huge, drunken smile painting her face. Her left eye was only half open and bloodshot. She looked towards Frosty, slurring heavily as she spoke.

“Hey, Fffrosty. I think I’m ready for another d-drink.”

“Sorry, Twilight.” responded the barkeep, grabbing her last shot glass and beginning to clean it, “I’m cutting you off for the night. You’ve had enough.”

“No. I’m good fffor another round. I p-promise.”

“Twilight! You’re drunk as fuck. You need to go home and sleep this off.” said Josh, standing and preparing to leave.

“Whoa, slow down there!” said Rainbow, grabbing Josh before he had the chance to leave, “We can’t send her home. Especially not on her own!”

“Why can’t we send her home?”

“Spike means well, but he probably won’t even know what’s wrong with her, let alone know how to help.”

Josh facepalmed at her words. He hadn’t even thought about Spike in all this. The dragon probably didn’t even know what alcohol was.

“What’re we gonna do with her then?” asked Josh, looking back to the unicorn who was still sitting there, swaying back and forth, “We can’t take her to the boutique. Rarity would kill me if she knew I let Twilight get drunk!”

“And we can’t taker her to my place.” said Rainbow putting a hoof to her chin in contemplation.

“Why not?”

“I live in a cloud house! Only pegasi can walk on clouds. Unicorns can usually use their magic to do it, but I highly doubt she’s capable of casting anything more than a levitation spell right now.”

“You live on a cloud?”

Rainbow glared at Josh.

“That’s not what’s important here!” she shouted, drawing the attention of several ponies nearby.

“Okay! Calm down. Jesus…” said Josh, raising his hands in defense.

“What about Fluttershy? I’ve heard she knows how to sober a pony up really well.” suggested Rainbow.

“Anything’s worth a try at this point, I suppose.” said Josh, turning around, “Okay, Twi. Let’s…”

Twilight was nowhere to be found at the bar. Josh looked around quickly, hoping to spot the lavender unicorn somewhere.

“Dash, where’s Twilight?”

“How the buck should I know?”

Josh once again peered around, praying deep down that Twilight was still in the bar. As he looked to the door, he saw a purple and pink tail make its way out. Without hesitation, he grabbed Rainbow’s foreleg and yanked her along, out of the bar and into the cool Ponyville night.

“What was that for?” asked the indignant pegasus, rubbing her sore shoulder.

Josh simply pointed to Twilight’s drunken form as it stumbled down the street. Together, Josh and Rainbow chased after her as she headed for Roseluck’s flower stand. They arrived to see a very confused and scared looking Roseluck watching Twilight stumble towards her.

“These ffflowers are really pretty.” said Twilight, burying her face in a bouquet of roses and inhaling deeply, “Can I have one?”

“Uh… if you pay for one you can.”

As Twilight attempted to float some bits out of her bag, Josh and Rainbow ran up and stopped her.

“Hey, guys.” Twilight said, looking up from her bag and smiling wide at Josh and Rainbow, “Where’d you go?”

“Twi, you need to stay with us, okay?” said Rainbow, grabbing the unicorn’s saddlebags in her mouth and handing them to Josh, “We need to take you to Fluttershy’s house.”

“Fffluttershy? B-but I was gonna buy a pretty flower!”

“I’ll get you a rose later, okay Twilight?” said Josh, throwing the bag over his shoulder.

“I wanna pretty flower now!” yelled Twilight, sitting on her rump and pouting once more.

“Okay! Fine!” said Josh, not wanting to make a scene, “How much for a rose?”

“Uh, two bits.” said Roseluck, pulling out a rose and handing it to Josh, “Is she gonna be okay?”

“I hope so.” replied Josh, handing over two bits from Twilight’s bag.

“There. You got your bucking rose. Now can we go?” said Rainbow, rolling her eyes.

“Yay! Pretty flower!” said Twilight, clutching the rose tightly in her hooves and staring at it drunkenly.

“Just grab her and let’s get our asses moving. I wanna get her to Fluttershy’s as fast as we can.”

Rainbow nodded, then looked to Twilight who wore the flower in her mane.

“D-does it make me look pretty?” asked the drunk unicorn, smiling at Rainbow.

“Yes. You’re very pretty. Now, can we go?”

Twilight nodded, attempting to stand up before falling face first into the ground. As she turned over, her nose started to bleed a little. She clutched it in her hooves, her eyes watering heavily. Suddenly, she began to sob uncontrollably.

“Twilight!” called Josh, kneeling down next to the crying unicorn, “Are you okay?”

“I hurt my n-nose, Joshie.” she wailed, wiping the blood away from her face, “I hurt it r-real bad.”

“I’ll get you a tissue, okay? Just stop crying.”

“B-but, Joshie?!”

“Make her stop crying!” called Rainbow over the sound of Twilight’s wailing, covering her ears with her hooves, “For the love of Celestia, make her stop!”

Thinking quickly, Josh reached up and pulled the now crushed rose out of Twilight’s mane.

“Ooh. Pretty flower. There you are.” said Twilight, ceasing her crying and clutching the flower once more.

Josh stood up to look at Roseluck, only to see the pony cowering behind her stall.

“Sorry about that, Roseluck.” he said, scratching the back of his neck nervously, “We’ll get out of your hair now.”

Roseluck said nothing. She instead chose to continue cowering in the stall. Josh bent back down and grabbed Twilight, slinging her over his shoulders so her abdomen was around his neck.

“Let’s get the fuck outta here and get this drunken chick to Fluttershy already. I can’t take much more of this.”

Rainbow nodded, floating next to Josh as he began to head towards the outskirts of town.

“Hey Joshie! Hey Rainbow!” called a loud obnoxious voice nearby.

Josh felt his heart drop into his stomach as he turned around. Pinkie Pie was bouncing gleefully towards himself and Rainbow. For the love of God thought Josh as Pinkie bounded up to them can we not get a fucking break tonight?