The morning after the Gala, The Boss woke up on the ground with a splitting headache. Which was to be expected after helping herself at the bar. Luckily, she remembered nothing from the night before. She weakly stood up and fell again on her bed.

Wait, her bed?

She must have wandered back to her room during her frenzy after talking to Chrysalis. Or at least that was the most logical explanation she could think of.

The sunlight was blinding that morning. Surely, Princess Celestia must have gotten up long ago and risen the sun as bright as she could to wake up any passed-out ponies. Why else would it be this unusually bright? Or maybe The Boss was still tired from the night before.

She worked the strength to get up from her bed and look at herself in the mirror.

She was a disaster.

Her makeup was smudged and her mane was completely out of place. There was a bruise or two she had no memory of getting. Luckily neither her pearls nor dress were torn. The crown was still somehow in place. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. I mean, after such a wild party...

A stab of guilt made her go take a bath to talk to Celestia later and apologize for the lash-out the day before. She figured just combing her mane and putting on a nice scarf would be enough. Hey, she had packed enough for a meeting or two.

The Boss looked at herself in the mirror with a rather regretful stare and sighed, "You need to improve, babe. If you cause another war with the princesses you might not win this time,"

She clicked her tongue and ran it over her teeth, gently caressing her little fang, "Chrissy is right, this tiny fang isn't helping anyone,"

Finally, she walked out of her room and tiredly walked to Celestia's study.

Some nobles staying for the party that were hanging out in the hall bowed as she walked past them. The Boss couldn't help rolling her eyes for the millionth time this had happened.

When she had finally arrived at Celestia's study, the door was wide open. She poked her head in.

-"Hey! You're awake, come in!" Celestia called to her.

The Boss clumsily walked towards her and sat on the cushion in front of Celestia's desk. She sighed in exhaustion and put her head on the desk.

-"Sleep well?" Celestia moved Boss' mane away from her paperwork.

-"I suppose, I'm just having a terrible hangover," She lay her head on the side to make eye contact, "Sorry for yesterday,"

-"Sorry I pushed you,"

They were quiet for a few minutes as Celestia continued working on the paperwork in front of her.

-"I didn't know you did paperwork," The Boss sat up and stretched her wings.

Princess Celestia smiled softly, "Yeah, I don't usually talk about it. Much like I don't get it often,"

Truth is that even though Celestia's role was mostly public, there would always be some paperwork to work on when her roles started to expand outside just Canterlot. She never really brought it up because of how boring filling paperwork in was, and because no one is ever really interested in the behind the scenes of all the decisions she makes.

-"Do you have a lawyer?" The Boss asked after counting the stack of papers.

-"Yes, why?" Celestia replied after signing another sheet.

-"You should always review some papers with them. Especially if you're writing contracts or deals, just to be sure you don't get sued later," Boss continued, writing some notes on a loose blank paper, "Trust me, I've been to court once or twice, it's not fun,"

Celestia stopped, "Why have you been to court?"

-"Oh, you know. Once because I was being sued for unethical workplace practices. I won that case. The second one was property damage after an incident with the Apple family, I lost but paid back them full. Oh, and the last time was attempted arson," She finished after turning another paper into an origamy crane.

-"What?!" Celestia flinched.

-"That wasn't me though. I took someone to court over it because I caught them almost setting my forest on fire, I won the case," The Boss added to calm Celestia down, "I'm not a psychopath, chill out,"

-"That doesn't entirely help," Celestia finished another set of papers, "Thanks for letting me know, though,"

-"No prob... hey, where do I get breakfast?" The Boss stood up and discretely stretched her legs.

-"There is a cafe nearby, they have some very nice tea there,"

-"Do they serve coffee?"

-"I think so,"

-"Great, thanks," The Boss started to leave, "Hey, I'll be leaving to day. Just so you know,"

Celestia smiled, "I knew you wouldn't stay very long, have a safe trip!"

-"Thanks!"

The Boss left the study and headed out to the nearest cafe in town. She flew and shifted to a regular pegasus shape to not attract too much attention to herself. The last thing she could ever want was unsolicited questions and elites wanting to get closer to her.

Not like she could avoid those unwanted folks. The Boss looked tired and her scarf was of a cheap design that a colt in her business had gifted her for Hearth's Warming the year before. It wasn't much, but it was his way of thanking her after his mother's funeral, which The Boss had paid for. She had only wanted to bury such noble pony with the love she deserved, but a thank you gift is always welcome.

When her turn at her counter came, some elites had already lined up behind her. They snickered at her horribly simple and humble for someone in Canterlot.

-"Can I please have a cup of black coffee with a continental breakfast?" She started putting her bits on the counter.

-"Sure, anything else?" The clerk asked after writing down her order.

-"No, that'll be all," She groggily replied, "Keep the change,"

As she turned around to take a seat, one of the stallions clicked his tongue, "Fun night?"

-"Oh, you wish you were me," she rolled her eyes and sat in a table in the corner of the charming cafe.

He still approached her with his elite friends, "Well, I'm just saying. No one would be caught dead in Canterlot wearing such uncared accessories,"

She sighed and held her head up with her hooves, "What do I have to do for you to go away? Cry? Take the scarf a young colt gifted me in Hearth's Warming off because you're so insecure about your own style you have to put other ponies down? Kick it down a notch, honey. We've seen it all,"

The pesky group of elites left without another word and a few minutes later The Boss' breakfast arrived.

There was no sweetness like freshly brewed coffee for such a horrible hangover. The bittersweet flavor washed over her exhausted tastebuds and cleaned some of the effects of the alcohol from her mind, though some remained. There was not quite such joy as such.

When she finally dug into the continental breakfast, she had not realized just how much she adored a good slice of bread with jam and butter. The Boss relished in the fresh fruit in the bowl of fruit salad she was served. The apples weren't too sweet or sour, they were perfect.

Once she had finished her coffee, she went on to drink the fruit juice that came with her breakfast. In her life had a fruit juice had been as full of flavor and body. She could taste the fresh strawberries and orange juice used to mix everything together. There was a faint flavour of banana and watermelon. The most delicious tanginess peeked through from the lemon drops added into the mix. Everything about the red drink was perfect after the party the night before. She wouldn't trade anything for such a pleasant breakfast.