What Happened To Yesterday

Twilight put the punch bowl down on the table. Her guests would be arriving soon, and then the real party would begin. Of course she couldn’t let her guests be too tight at the party, that might make them suspicious…so she might have spiked the punch with a little inebriation spell. Alcohol would be way too noticeable, magic was the way to go.

The unicorn had sent her dragon assistant to spend the night with his little friend Scootaloo, she didn’t need him here to potentially mess things up. Luckily Scootaloo’s parents didn’t mind keeping the little dragon over, both of them being dragon enthusiasts probably didn’t hurt.

Oh, her plan was going to go over swell, she could feel it. The spell had come together oh so perfectly, ever nuance harmonizing into a ball of pure magic that was ready to lash out when she wished it to. Even the more advanced spells had worked into the ball easily, she supposed it was from Twilacorn’s ‘help.’ While the delusion’s horn did glow, Twilight knew it was just her subconscious helping her out.

“Now all you need is for those ponies to agree to your little game.” Twilacorn was hiding like she said she was going to, she said that her friends might think Twilight crazy if she was talking to someone who wasn’t actually there. So now, the little delusion was just a voice.

“Oh, I know they’ll play it. Once they drink my punch I don’t think they’ll be able to resist.” Twilight rubbed her hooves together evilly. “But I still don’t know how I’ll get Berry and Applejack to lose…” It was a big hole in her plan…she needed Applejack and Berry Bubble to legitimately not tell the truth or skip out on a dare in order for her spell to work. Applejack can’t lie…so a dare would probably do him in…but Berry was a tough nut to crack. He was so open with everypony that he would never lie, and he was crazy enough to do any dare.

“Umm…Hi Twilight.” The purple plotting pony turned around to see Fluttershy in the doorway. “I-I’m not too early am I? Oh, I’m so sorry…I saw the time but I wasn’t sure if that was a hard eight or more of a guideline for when to come.” The pegasus was about to leave the sight of her friend, when Twilight stopped her.

“No Fluttershy. Come in, come in. I was just talking to myself.” Twilight offered her shy friend a warm smile. She had no qualms with the pegasus, why would she? Fluttershy had never wronged her, nor hurt her chances with anypony she loved.

“Okay.” The pegasus walked in, still awfully sure of herself that she was being a burden. Twilight had the strangest feeling that she should get up and embrace Fluttershy, but it was quickly suppressed by something. The unicorn simply shrugged the feeling off.

“See anypony else on their way?” Twilight was eager to hear news of her targets, after all that was the whole reason for this thing.

“Well I think I saw Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Berry all at Carousel Boutique…and I passed Applejack in town. B-But I want to talk about something…” So they were all at Rarity’s? No surprise there. That seemed to be a congregating point for treachery lately. Twilight could still hear Fluttershy talking, but frankly she just didn’t care. The pegasus was probably going on about her animals or something, wouldn’t be a shocker if she was. “-really understand if you don’t want to anymore…”

Huh…that might have been important…probably should’ve actually listened to that. Oh well, too late now.

“Uh-huh. That’s really interesting, Fluttershy. I’ll think it over.” Twilight was on autopilot with her friend, Fluttershy ranked very low on the importance scale at the moment. “Why don’t you have some punch while you wait?” Her hoof gestured towards the green punch bowl.

“Umm, alright I guess…” Fluttershy found it odd how Twilight was acting. Usually Twilight would be ecstatic about a friendly get-together…but now she just seemed hyper focused on something specific. It was even more odd that the unicorn did not greet her with the customary hug she was used to at this point…It was almost as if Twilight completely forgot that-

“Hello party ponies!” Berry burst into the library, Rainbow Dash and Rarity right behind him. “Or just Twilight and Fluttershy. Not exactly party, but definitely ponies!” Berry bounced into  the center of the room and headed straight for the punch bowl. “Ooh, punch!”

“Hey Berry, pour me a glass would you?” Rainbow Dash yelled from her spot just  through the threshold of the library. Rarity raised her hoof, so Dash added onto her statement. “Oh, and one for Rarity too.” Rainbow moved forward with Rarity towards the hostess of the shindig.

“Thank you for inviting us, Twilight. But I must ask what this is all about?” Rarity gave her purple friend the customary friendly hug and sat beside her.

“Ah well I just knew that there was some bad blood going on with some of our friends, and I saw this as kind of a neutral ground where we can all just get along.” Twilight had practiced this excuse before a mirror, just to make sure she said it perfectly with the right tone of voice, with the right smile, with no hint of deception.

“How very noble of you, Twilight.” Rarity gave her friend a smile and a gentle nudge. “Now let’s see how good you are at making punch.” Berry was carrying three cups of punch , one on his nose and two on his back. Rarity elected to take one from his back, as she took a sip she noticed something odd about the taste. “Hmm…”

“Wowee Twilight, this punch is really good. What’d you put in it?” Berry gulped down the whole cup in one go, letting go a refreshing ‘ahh’ when he did so. “I just want to drink the whole bowl!”

“Mmm, yeah Twi. This punch is actually pretty good. I expected some store bought crap.” Dash threw back her drink similar to Berry and held the glass out to him. “Mind getting me another?”

“You know me, always eager to try something new…” Twilight grinded her teeth, she actually had bought it from the store. Inwardly, she noted how appropriate her punishment was for Rainbow Dash now.

“Howdy all.” Every pair of eyes in the room turned to the stallion who just entered the tree. They all were looking at him with varying degrees of intensity…and two certain ponies wanted to jump his bones and tell him just how much they loved him. Funny how that works out, isn’t it?

“Hello Applejack.” Twilight was up on her hooves, a glass of punch being readied with her practiced magic. “I’m so glad you could make it. Punch?” She held the hastily made glass to the stallion, who just looked at his hooves. Once the unicorn realized that he couldn’t hold it, she took a straw, stuck it in the glass and set it down. “Sorry…forgot. Earth pony.”

“Unicorn master race for the win, am I right?” The little voice in her head called out. “Can I hear it for magic? No? Not even a booyah? Sheesh, stick in the mud.” She sincerely wanted to tell the little voice to shut up, but couldn’t without looking like a crazy mare.

“Thank you kindly, Twilight.” She looked around. Everypony was drinking the quite literal punch, everything was alright.

--

Everypony was hammered. I’m not even talking about the run of the mill drunk, I mean hammered. That special kind of drunk where you might’ve just gotten so drunk that you might actually be around to being sober again.

Berry was wearing the punch bowl as a hat, Rainbow Dash was riding him around, Rarity was talking Fluttershy’s ear off about her parents, Fluttershy was clinging to Twilight like a magnet to a fridge, and Applejack was speaking in long eloquent sentences.

“Right!” Yelled Twilight over the constant cacophony of her drunk friends. “Who wants to play a game?” She immediately regretted saying that because Berry was on top of her in a second…which meant so was Rainbow Dash.

“Oh me! I wanna play a game! I wanna play a game so hard that the game plays me!” Actually…Twilight wasn’t sure if Berry was drunk. He might not even be capable of it…that wouldn’t surprise her one bit.

“If Berry’s playing then count me in!” Dash leaned over her buddy’s head. Now she was drunk…the bubbly look in her eyes, her messed up mane. Definitely messed up.

“I know that I cannot say no to a good romp with all of my acquaintances.” Applejack stumbled into a wall. “I do say, count me in.” One of these days, she would figure out why in Equestria he spoke like that when drunk…

“Oh you can count Fluttershy and I in, we still need to finish our conversation about my good-for-nothing parents who always leave my little sister with me and never seem to compensate me in any way because I’m her big sister, but I need money!” And Rarity was speaking in run-on sentences…not very ladylike. Inhibitions gone.

“Good. Now I need you guys to sit around the table and put your hooves in the circles.” Twilight took her place at the head of the table and put her hooves in the circles to demonstrate. One by one, her friends stumbled to their spots. To the right of Twilight, this was the order: Rarity, Berry, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack. That meant AJ was right next to her! She could even feel their flanks touching-oh she wanted to faint. “Now hold still.”

She concentrated as she cast the spell, slowly forming the ball in the center of the table. She weaved every spell that she had planned into the magical orb, every set of guidelines, every single aspect of her plan.

As soon as the orb was fully formed, the magic did as it was instructed and latched onto everypony’s hooves, making sure they couldn’t move. All of them gave a few tugs, just to test it out.

“What gives, Twilight?” Berry asked as he looked at the magic. “What game are we playing?”

“Well Berry, we’re playing magical truth or dare. We used to play this all of the time at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. See, we each pick somepony to ask truth or dare then if you lie or don’t do the dare the orb in the center of the table delivers a random punishment.” That statement was so full of holes that not even Chrysalis would accept it. She knew it, and didn’t feel one bit of remorse or guilt. However, it was met with a long silence. “It’s truth or dare!” She yelled in frustration. “Pick somepony! I pick Applejack!” She had to make sure that was set in stone.

“Oooh, I call Dashie!” Berry exclaimed.

“I will take Berry.” Applejack stated flatly.

“I-I want Twilight.” Fluttershy whispered out.

“Guess I’ll ask Rarity.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Conversation, good. Perhaps we can continue our Fluttershy…” Rarity took a moment to analyze her words, then burst out laughing. “I-I mean…switch those.”

Good. Everypony was accounted for, that was one more thing out of the way.

“I’ll start. Applejack; truth or dare?” The earth pony looked thoughtful for a second.

“Well it would be a little unfair to choose truth since I cannot tell a lie. So dare.” Fantastic. Just like she planned.

“I dare you to stop being gay.” Little unfair? Yes. Was it technically cheating…well…sort of. To Twilight it was simply a loophole. What better way to make somepony lose at truth or dare than make them do something that they physically can’t do…it was Twilacorn’s idea. She’s a trickster, that one.

“Umm…I-I can’t do that. It’s not even possible…” Applejack didn’t like this, he sobered up in ten seconds flat and was trying to pull his hooves from the table. “Do-over?” The orb in the center of the table sent a flash down Applejack’s lines straight to his hooves. The whole table watched as something orange and magical was withdrawn from Applejack, as was something purple from Twilight. Then the two connected and did not separate.

“Oh no.” Twilight said in a very bad shocked voice. “A bonding spell, how unexpected!” She heard her little voice laughing wildly in her head, but she ignored it. “It looks like we’re stuck until it wears off!” Silence pervaded the room. “Your turn Applejack.”

“I-I don’t wanna go, Twilight…Fluttershy you go.” Applejack was scared out of his mind, the sudden realization that this might not be a game at all came to mind, and that scared him more than any threat to Equestria ever could.

“Umm…okay. Twilight: truth or dare?” The timid pegasus asked quietly.

“Truth.”

“Why don’t you remember?”

“…” Everything seemed hazy. The ponies around the table started to turn fuzzy as her brain fought some kind of mental block. She wanted to answer the question…she had a response that she wanted to say…but it just wouldn’t come. “I…I don’t know…” Nothing happened…she was telling the truth. What didn’t she remember?

“I suppose I will go next.” Rarity stated. “Fluttershy: Truth or dare?”

“Truth…I guess. Unless you had a dare in mind, then I wouldn’t mind doing a dare…” Fluttershy hid behind her mane and squeaked.

“What is Twilight not remembering?”

“Well...everything. Like how her and I are-” The pegasus was cut off by a purple bolt of lightning coming from Twilight’s horn.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Twilight’s voice was laced with something that wasn’t her own. It was deep and foreboding. It made everypony around the table look at her with pure fear. Twilight wasn’t sure why she did that…she just knew every time Fluttershy spoke, it made her head hurt.

“Stuff…she’s forgetting stuff…” Technically it was the truth, so nothing happened.

“Umm…Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked, fear and nervousness pervading her voice. “Can we stop this…? I-I think this game is sorta done..” Twilight’s magic infused glare told her all she needed to know. “Right…guess not…Rarity: Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” At this point, pretty much everypony involved was sober enough to operate heavy machinery, so all of the mirth had left the room.

“Umm…uh…” Rainbow Dash couldn’t think of anything…she didn’t want anything to happen to Rarity, so she needed something easy. “Why are your parents never in town?”

“Oh…that. Do you know when they had me? My mother was sixteen, she had to drop out of her specialty school just to raise me.” Rarity seemed to forget they we being held hostage by a crazy Twilight, and just went on. “They always said I took the best years of their lives away, so now they gallivant all over the globe just so they can futilely try and reclaim their lost youths…and now poor Sweetie Belle is paying the price.” Rarity grimaced in dismay. “Happy?” Nothing happened, so yeah. Everyone was relatively ecstatic.

“Ooh, my turn?” Berry had somehow regained his usual bright composure within these terrifying times. “Dashie: Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Rainbow Dash immediately regretted the decision, but she was a daredevil at heart…Dare being the key part of that.

“Oooh, brave Dashie. I dare you not to fly for a whole week!” Twilight nearly guffawed at how perfectly this was working out. She knew if Rainbow Dash refused the ridiculous dare, that her wings would be rendered useless for that exact amount of time. So either way, she had her vengeance.

“Berry, I need my wings for work. I can’t just give it up for a week.” Dash’s gaze turned to the ball in the center of the table.

“Oh come on, Dashie.” Berry pleaded to his friend. “It’ll be fun! You’ll get to see what it’s like being an earth pony like me!” Dash just gave Berry the dead air.

“No way. Not doing it. I knew I should’ve protested you picking me, you always give dumb dares…Do your worst, magic.” It did exactly that. The tendrils shot down to her hooves, then straight to her wings. The purple magic went along the edges of the wings that connected to the pegasus’ body, with an airtight sucking noise, Rainbow Dash was now a flightless bird.

“Hey! I-I can’t move my wings! Not cool!” As Rainbow and Berry were looking at the former’s wings and trying to figure out what was wrong with them, the stallion next to Twilight was staring at the table with a deep look in his eyes.

Applejack had been thinking about this. While the completely unfair punishment he had been given was ridiculous, he could use this to his advantage. He was next, and he was going to make sure he used this to his advantage.

“Berry…truth or dare?” The farm stallion asked seriously, cutting off whatever Bery was about to say to Rainbow Dash.

“Truth!”

“Do you love me?”

Everypony froze and turned their eyes to the couple. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were both holding their breaths on this one…they had a lot riding on this answer. Mainly what their course of action would be with Berry, but that was still quite a lot.

“Umm..” Berry’s heart was racing, he could feel the sweat beading on his forehead. He remembered what Rainbow Dash had said…his top priority was supposed to be his own happiness…not Applejack’s. He took a deep breath and with confidence in his voice, answered. “No.”

With that, the orb lashed out and Berry Bubble disappeared from sight.