BiE 12: Drunk and Weary.


                                            =BiE 12=


                                            >The concoction boiled over, causing the cobalt fluid inside to seep down into the table.

                                            >As it flowed, it left a trail of bright purple in its wake as opposed to the tables normal mahogany.

                                            >"Crapcrapcrapcrap!" you shout as you take the experiment vile off its burner.

                                            >You inspect the damage the accident caused. Looks like part of Twilight's table is going to match her coat for a while.

                                            >"Twilight! It looks like this one won't catalyze either!"

                                            >"Darnit!" you hear over your shoulder as your research partner investigates the latest failure."I was sure we had gotten the mixture right!

                                            >"How's our stock of Poison Joke looking?" you ask as you clean up the remainder or the mess.

                                            >Twilight sighs. "Not good. At this rate, we're going to run out before we even come close to finishing!"

                                            >The two of you had a hypothesis that you could use various chemicals and magical oils to more or less neuter a Poison Joke plant, taking away its ability to change somepony the way it did.

                                            >A hypothesis that would fall through if you couldn't get the damn thing to catalyze.

                                            >"I can always grab more." you say, not wanting to fail just because you lacked the proper materials.

                                            >Twilight didn't seem to agree with you. "Anon, I'd much rather this experiment fail then have what happened to Mous happen to you." You put on a pouty face. "I could take the path there..."

                                            >Twilight smiles and rolls her eyes "Come on, let's try this again. Maybe with less salt water this time."


                                            >You step out of the Library at your usual time, but it sure doesn't look like it.

                                            >Thick clouds hang over Ponyville, the setting sun casting them in shadows so harsh you could practically feel the water trapped inside them.

                                            >The big storm was scheduled for around midnight tonight but you could swear it was going to let loose any minute.

                                            >You were about to start home when you heard a brash voice from behind you "Yo! Anon!"

                                            >You turned to see Rainbow Dash land a few feet away from you, her rainbow trail lagging behind her for a moment. She wordlessly extended her forehoof. You wordlessly bump it with your fist.

                                            >Bro: Greeted.

                                            >"Hey Rainbow, what's up?" you ask. She grins and looks up to the clouds. "Just getting everything ready for the storm tonight, it's gonna be our biggest this year. Where were you headed?"

                                            >You stick your thumb behind you "I was about to head home, I don't want to be caught in this crap when it hits."

                                            >She looks at you almost confused "Head home? On a Friday night? Buck that man, let's go grab some drinks." she turns around and begins walking, as if your answer was already set in stone. "My treat."

                                            >Well shit. It probably was with the prospect of the drinks being free. You had nothing else planned other than to relax at home and hear Mous complain that he can only take so many painkillers at once.

                                            >You find your feet already following Rainbow.

                                            >"Eh." you say, surrendering yourself to circumstance. "I could stand to get out more."


                                            >Cut to a few minutes later and you and Rainbro are in some hole in the wall chugging hard apple ciders and shooting the shit.

                                            >"So wait man, wait, what do they say where you're from instead of "Buck"? She's a bit tipsy, it goes with being that much lighter then you.

                                            >"Fuck." you answer

                                            >Rainbow stares ahead for a few moments. "That's...weird."

                                            >You continue to regale Rainbro with tales of fast food, wireless internet, and soap that tasted like chocolate when you saw a familiar creamy yellow in the corner of your eye.

                                            >Oh no...

                                            >"Fluttershy." you say despite yourself. You must have had more then you thought. Damn these ponies weak alcohol messing with your ability to regulate yourself.

                                            >She was standing at the other end of the bar with her back to you, you could see her eyeing you two every so often as she pretended to be nonchalant.

                                            >Oh fuck she looked right at you.


                                            >You turn and stare at your drink and pretend not to hear the clip clop of hooves coming up on you.

                                            >Rainbro leans in "What's wrong dude?" she whispers.

                                            >You hadn't told anyone about what had happened in the hole, you had only told Mous about her staking out the house. You were actively trying not to think about it.

                                            >"Let's just say Fluttershy gets a bit...personal when I'm around." you whisper back as you hear her take a seat next to you.

                                            >"Hello Anon, I didn't expect to find you here." she says with as big a smile as you think she can get.

                                            >You turn to her, acting like you weren't just conspiring with Rainbow about her. "Oh hey Fluttershy, I could say the same thing about you." you say through gritted teeth.

                                            >"Oh. Uhm, yes. You see, I've been wanting to uh...get out more." she stammers out. Why do you get the feeling you were stalked here?

                                            >"Well, it's just us bros here, having a few." you blindly grab at her shoulder and pull her close. "Right Rainbow Dash?" To her credit, she doesn't trip. "Hehe...Yeah! Just us bros..."

                                            >You'd be more concerned that she sounded a bit off when she said that if not for what Fluttershy said next. "Do you mind if I join you?"

                                            >No, brain. Just say no. "Yeahsure!" you stumble out.

                                            >Ffffffuck.


                                            >A few hours of awkward small talk and unwanted ass grabs courtesy of Fluttershy, you and Rainbow find yourselves outside.

                                            >Fluttershy is more than gone. "Falconsh and Eaglesh they both 'r quite rega-hic-." she sings out. Even in your current situation, drunk Fluttershy is funny.

                                            >Or would be funny, if you didn't have her dead weight on your shoulder and her flank next to your face.

                                            >Ohfuckshewasslipping. "Need some help here Rainbow!" you call out.

                                            >"I got her! I got her!" you hear as Rainbow lifts her head up and saves her from a fall.

                                            >Thus had been your evening since you left the bar and started carrying Fluttershy to her house.

                                            >You look up at the sky; no moon. That could just mean that it wasn't the right lunar phase or it could mean that the storm clouds were over you.

                                            >Better safe than drenched. "Come on Dash! We gotta double time it!"


                                            >You move as fast as your coordination will allow as you run down the road. Fluttershy's flank bouncing to and fro and getting her tail caught in your mouth more than once.

                                            >Soon enough you spot Fluttershy's house. You get to the porch and get the door open just as you hear thunder rolling off in the distance.

                                            >Shit. Gotta sped this up.

                                            >"Angel!" you call out. "Angel, get out here!"

                                            >Angel hops down the stairs and starts pitching a fit at being woken up. "No time Angel!" you say as you plop Fluttershy down on her couch. "She's drunk, take care of her." you say as you make for the door.

                                            >You start running as soon as your outside. "C'mon Dash! This storms right on our ass and my place is halfway across town!" you yell as you make your best speed home, Rainbow right behind you.


                                            >Your apartment is in sight just as the rain starts to come down in sheets.

                                            >"Gah! Fuck!"

                                            >You hear Rainbow move up next to you. "Let's go! Keep running!"

                                            >You eventually get to your door and get inside. Taking a knee to catch your breath.

                                            >Damn but were you out of shape.

                                            >Rainbow lands and punches your shoulder. "Hehe. What's wrong Anon, can't handle a little run?" You smile despite the burning in your chest. "Heh...Screw...you." you gasp out.

                                            >With your breathing under control, you take a glance out the window. Lighting was flashing rapidly in the clouds and the rain smacking the glass almost covered up the thunder.

                                            >You turned to Rainbow. "How long is this storm supposed to last?" you ask.

                                            >She looks out the window and frowns. "A while, we haven't had a decent rainstorm in a while."

                                            >"Great." you think as lightning strikes a tree in the distance.

                                            >"You can crash here tonight." She had been staying over on movie nights since you arrived here so there wasn't any argument. You doubted even she could fly herself home in this weather.

                                            >A drop of water hit your nose and snapped you back to reality. A glance over at Rainbow showed that she was dripping wet too.

                                            >"First things first." you say as you walk to your bathroom. "We need to dry off."

                                            >You grab some towels and toss your shirt in your hamper. No use in drying off if you were wearing that.

                                            >You noticed Rainbow didn't meet your eye when you gave her a towel. You look down to try and follow her line of sight. "Something on my pants?" you ask.

                                            >Her face got a shade darker as she threw the towel over her head and started drying her mane. "No dude...It's nothing."


                                            >Mous had probably gone to bed before the storm started so it was just you and Rainbow sitting on the couch as you both dried off. You'd have put on a movie if you thought either of you could get through it awake.

                                            >You made some instant cocoa, it was still winter and neither of you needed pneumonia.

                                            >Dash had been uncharacteristically quiet, with conversation coming in short, uninteresting spurts.

                                            >Suddenly, she broke her self imposed silence. "Say...Anon. Did you have any other friends back where you were from? You know, besides Mous?

                                            >Where did this come from? "I had a few." you said. "Most of them were from school though, Mous is the only one I've known for a long while though."

                                            >Her face is darker again, and she's not looking up from her drink. "Did you ever have...someone who was more than a friend? And not a bro either."

                                            >Was she asking you to play relationship councilor?

                                            >Better you then Mous, you guess. He had once suggested that you both cover a friend in pheromones to make him seem more attractive once. "I've had a few." you say as you lean your head back and reminisce. "Couple of girls, one guy. Nothing lasting more than a year and that was because she was crazy." Seriously, Who the fuck brings a two hundred pound piece of decorative furniture to a second floor apartment?


                                            >Rainbow looked at you weird for a second. "You like guys?" she asked.

                                            >What was that term for gay ponies you heard? Colt Cuddler? "Not exclusively, but I can see the appeal." you glance her way. "Do you think that's weird?"

                                            >Her face got dark again. "Nonono! Just...I didn't know that about you."

                                            >More silence. Dammit, even if she didn't find it weird, it still just got weird.

                                            >She breaks the quiet once more. "So...what were they like? Were they all smart like you were?"

                                            >Wow. This must be serious. She didn't even call you an egghead.

                                            >You mull it over for a minute. "I guess we just all had some sort of connection. Different then what Mous and I have, but, just some spark of something that brought us together. We would hang out for a while and then things would just kinda escalate."

                                            >"Heh." you hear her mumble. "It sounds like things were pretty much the same where you come from as they are here."

                                            >"Really?" She nods. "Well, how bout that."

                                            >As if it were adding the period to your sentence itself, a crack of thunder killed the lights and plunged the house into darkness.

                                            >"Well, I guess that's our cue to turn in." you say as you grab one if the blankets laying on the couch. "G'night Rainbro."

                                            >You think you hear a sigh from her. "Yeah...good night Anon."