Having weathered the hangover, Twilight left her house the next morning and found herself alone in a bar before noon. It would probably be a good idea to not touch Applejack's stash again, she thought, since it put her out of commission for an entire day.
Twilight preferred not to drink in front of anypony. After Spike died, she had been drinking to get drunk at home daily but since Totality moved in, she didn't feel comfortable doing it in front of her, so she began going to the bar and just not telling her.
In the beginning, she tried to hide her drinking, but her desire to be constantly inebriated made it impossible to keep up appearances. Everypony knew. Her life had begun to unravel in short order and her self-destructive behavior was putting a strain on her relationships right when she needed them the most.
She felt estranged and unwanted. Even Cadence and Shining Armor were embarrassed of her, at least that's how she interpreted it. She hated feeling like an out of control mess and a pariah every time she sobered up just to find herself deeper in the pit, but she also hated feeling at all, so she kept doing it.
Twilight downed a floating glass in one go and gasped, calling for more. It was good to get the buzz going quickly. Then she'd pace herself after that, if only to spare her bank account.
She covered her eyes and sighed as the warmth began to take her away. Living with this kind of heaviness was inconceivable just a short time ago, but all that seemed like a beautiful dream vanished with the rising of the morning sun. Losing Spike was like losing a sibling, a child, and a best friend all in one. Everything just felt empty. Every task felt insurmountable.
"Wait," giggled Rainbow Dash. "We're not even inside yet." She scrunched up her shoulders as Soarin licked the back of her neck.
The two laughed as they pushed inside the door to Rainbow's house and raced to the bedroom. Soarin tackled her and pinned her to the already messy bed.
"Oh, no," she gasped, looking up at him. "You caught me. Now what are you gonna do?"
Soarin's playful smirk suddenly vanished as his eyes flicked to the side. "What was that?" he wondered aloud.
"What was what?" asked Rainbow.
"That sound," he continued.
"I didn't hear any-" Rainbow frowned as she heard the distinct sound of distant retching emanating from somewhere in the house.
She gritted her teeth in dismay. "Uh, hang on just a sec'." She bolted out of the bedroom door and down the hall, wanting to resolve the mysterious issue as quickly as possible. The first place she checked was the hallway bathroom. She pushed the door open to find Twilight Sparkle hunched over and panting with her face over the toilet bowl.
"Twilight?" she whispered in shock. "What the hell? Why are you in my house? How are you in my house?"
Twilight grimaced, looking up from the bowl. "I aparated here. I started feeling sick on my way back from the bar. Your house was the closest and I knew you wouldn't mind."
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Well, you knew wrong. You need to either aparate out of here now or puke so quietly that I can't tell you're here. I'm about to get some much needed-"
"Oh, I didn't know you had a roommate," said Soarin flatly, poking his head around the door frame.
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut and mouthed the word 'shit.' "She's not a roommate. She's just a visitor who was just about to leave. Weren't you, Twilight?" she added through clenched teeth, tilting her head vaguely toward the front door.
Twilight responded by upchucking the rest of her breakfast into the toilet rather loudly.
Soarin's face turned green as he quickly looked away. "Uh, you know I just remembered I really need to get back to Cloudsdale. I'll see you later, Rainbow Dash… maybe."
"May- maybe?" blathered Rainbow in alarm.
Soarin hurried to the door, desperately needing fresh air.
Twilight looked up from the toilet again and wiped her mouth with her hoof, stretching a string of amber bile between the two. "Oh, you two were… I'm sorry. This is very awkward."
Rainbow crossed her forearms angrily. "Oh, don't even worry about it, Twilight, because you know how easy it is for me get a dude in my bed what with all the sexy hetero vibes I give off."
Twilight looked confused for a moment. "Are you being sarcastic?"
Rainbow facehooved. "Why can't you just puke in the ally like a grown ass mare?"
"Because... what if somepony sees me?" she replied pitifully.
"Somepony did see you," scoffed Rainbow. "You know what you look like when you throw up in an alley? Somepony who made a bad decision. You know what you look like when you sneak into somepony's house to throw up? A lunatic."
"Okay, maybe you have a point and I shouldn't have done it, but I don't think you're being entirely understanding of my situation."
Not in the mood, Rainbow cut her off. "Get out of my house and go get your shit together." And with that, she stormed away.
"I can't believe I just received a lecture on responsibility from Rainbow Dash, of all ponies," muttered Twilight angrily. She kicked the dust. "This must be what rock bottom looks like."
It was late afternoon by the time Twilight came back home.
"I finished putting away the upstairs books," began Totality in a monotone. "And I made boxed pasta. It's still on the stove, cold."
"Thanks," sighed Twilight. Having expelled the contents of her stomach and essentially starting from square one for the day, she now felt quite hungry, but unfortunately the thought of food made her sick.
Twilight tried to flee to her bedroom. She got about half way up the stairs before Totality called out to her.
"Umm, so my… thesis."
Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, yeah. Listen, today turned out to not be a good day."
Totality's expression deflated and her eyes went to the floor. "Well, after the wedding, maybe then?"
Twilight looked back at her confusedly until she finally remembered. "Oh, the wedding. Right. There should be time after that."
"And also," added Totality, "I'm out of money and you haven't paid me."
"Yeah, I'll do that too," she replied quickly before disappearing up the stairs.