Intermission I Drinks Bring Back All the Memories
(Note, this chapter takes place out of context from the rest of the story. It falls into the timeline sometime within Chapter 17)
Nexus Spark
Pre-War: 15 and a half Years Before The Megaspells
Having been nice enough to let me stay, I had been living with Blitz and his parents for the past few months. They were helping me work through my issues with depression as much as they could and for the most part, it really helped. My mother was dead and my stepfather…well he was dead too. The police thought I had something to do with it, I had been seen at the scene of the crime around the time his death had been called in. But I had been the one to call it in!
Thankfully their questions were over and the autumn solstice had now passed, with the weather turning to winter. Hearthswarming Eve was almost upon us and I was trying not to dampen the mood. Currently, I was using a memory sphere device to listen in on some notes I took during class. We were seniors and finals were upon us.
"This world will never be what I expected…" I said aloud to myself as I penciled in some responses to the practice test. I spit the pencil out and stared at the greenish-gray orb in my hoof. "And if there's something wrong..." who would've guessed…I was murmuring to myself.
"What's that?" asked Blitzfire over on his bed. He was chewing on his eraser but he wasn't really writing anything.
"It's just that, if we want in on the action in college, we've gotta guess at too many variables! No one will ever see this side of things…" I was biting my lip as I picked up the pencil in my magical aura. I had to pass this test or I wouldn't get into IT classes next semester at university. Blitz and I were in our school's fast track program, seeing as tensions with Zebricka were tightening by the day and Stable Tech needed bright young minds to fill the Stables they were constructing.
"Well, if there's something wrong, who would've guessed it?" asked Blitz.
He wasn't really paying attention to me, but he was exactly right, just not in the ways he thought. He was a smart colt, exactly who I'd have chosen to be a bright young Overseer, and I really hoped he got into the program, but sometimes he was so dense. I was really struggling here. Everypony thought I was my stepstallion's murderer. I mean, it made sense. I was at the scene of the crime, I hated his guts and he killed my sister. I had motive and opportunity, why couldn't anypony see I had not the means. Unless I stabbed him with my horn or used magic on him and neither stab marks nor residual arcana had been found on the body.
"I've left alone…" I muttered to myself…I just want to feel like it's not too late. A little voice always told me it was never too late, and I hoped Blitzy knew that too. It's never too late. I kept on telling myself.
"Hey, so my mom still plans to host her holiday party this year if you're interested in coming out of our room for once. I was thinking we'd spike her homemade applenog!" Blitz was laughing to himself.
"Sounds great Blitzy…" little did I know that this memory and my feelings were recording over my notes…
Ravager Blitzfire
Present Time: 206 Years After the Incident of Stable 14
"Yah!" I jumped up in bed, feeling disoriented and confused at the same time. Near my hoof was something cold, a little ball, too dark to tell what it was in the low light of the detective agency's litter box; as Capper liked to call it. It was a loft above the main shop to be more precise. I turned on an oil lamp and heard Capper groan. It was a little green ball in my hand, magical residue pouring from it. I set it down carefully, saying, "Huh…" I had been dreaming I was Nexus and we were back in college, planning a huge prank at my mom's party. Oh, how she had been so pissed. I bet if she was still alive she'd look back fondly on the memory…
"Whatchu doing awake, baby?" Capper murmured, giving me a tiny smile. He looked cute when he was tired.
I pecked him on the lips. "I think I accidentally touched a memory orb in my sleep. I'm wide awake now, so I'm gonna go see about coffee."
Capper looked out the window, "The artificial moon is still up but I'm gonna guess by the light level in the city that it's about 6 in the morning, I'm sure Perkins is still up, but I need my catnap, so I'll be up here if you need me." with that he shoved himself under a pillow and went back to sleep.
I went downstairs to find Perkins residing over a pretty hot coffee pot. "Hey, I normally prefer tea, but seeing as everypony and their cat is home for the holidays I got some coffee. Piper wanted to plan a holiday party before everypony went out to find Double Diamond and I thought it was a great idea!" Perkins was an assistant, she probably loved the idea of managing something like that. Good thing Pumpkin Spice was here.
"I bet it was Pumpkin's idea to begin with," I mumbled as I reached for the pot and grabbed a mug.
"Do you take it straight or with cream?" asked Perkins, opening an icebox.
"Black, like my soul." I smiled at her.
"Right, right. I imagine all adventuring types say that." she rolled her eyes but laughed.
I shook my head as I sipped gingerly at my coffee, feeling its effects waking me up more. "No, Capper loves his cream."
"He's a cat, I'd think there was something wrong with him if he didn't like cream." she laughed out loud.
"True, true." I continued sipping my drink. I saw her dipping a tea bag in water and fetching sugar cubes from the cabinet; which was okay, but coffee was way better in my opinion.
Knock, knock, knockity, knock! Came a rhythmic rapping on the door. "Who could that be? The sign clearly states we aren't open until 8." Perkins set her tea down on her messy desk and went to answer the door. Moving the blinds aside she peered outside. "Oh, one of your friends."
Opening the door, Pumpkin Spice bounced merrily in. "IT'S HEARTHSWARMING EVE EVE!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. There came an angry groan from upstairs.
"Looks like Capper's gonna get up at 6:30 in the morning afterall," I shook my head and smiled at Pumpkin Spice. "Where do you get all your energy from?"
"Eve Eve was gonna be my first question," stated Perkins.
"I get all my energy from the great company I keep," Pumpkin continued in her loud tones and I saw Capper beginning to descend the stairs, "and to answer your," she stared pointedly at Perkins, her eyes nearly bulging, "question, we have exactly ONE day to plan this partay!" she was giddy and smiley all at once, and I bet she would be bouncing off the walls if this place wasn't so small. "I would love to bounce off the walls," she whispered in my ear, but how she managed a whisper to me I had no idea because I never saw her move.
"Well, let me get a notepad then," said Perkins, digging through her supplies hidden under all the paperwork on her desk.
"I was thinking, what about that bar in town, Third Peak?" asked Pinkie. Perkins penned it down.
"Why's it called that, I always wondered," I asked them and saw Perkins open her mouth to reply.
"It's the third peak from the top," Capper told us.
Perkins looked surprised, "You know your urban lore!" she smiled at him.
"Well, it's because my windmill here is no peak from anythin', sweetheart. We're all the way at the bottom and I've always been disgruntled by it."
"That's what you get for choosing Double Diamond City as your litter box." Perkins winked and laughed.
"Don't be a tease." Capper waved dismissively at her as he reached for his trademark trenchcoat and put it on, slowly removing his midnight purple nightclothes as he did so and storing them in a drawer. "By the way, Third Peak sounds like a great venue. Chef is an amazing cook, and has great hard applenog!" he winked at me.
"What?" I was taken aback.
"You mentioned something about 'spiking the nog' in your sleep," he made air quotes with his claws. "Figured you'd be down for some hard applenog instead of cider, which is also available at the Third Peak."
I thought on it, remembering spiking Mom's applenog and how pissed she'd been when all her friends got drunk without realizing it. I laughed, "I was only dreaming!" I felt protective over my Nexus memories. Speaking of which, "I'll be right back!" I dashed up the stairs, realizing two things, I forgot my vest upstairs for one. For another, I wanted to keep that memory with me at all times until the holidays were over. I didn't want anypony to ask me about Nexus this Hearthswarming Eve.
While I fetched those things, I heard Pumpkin humming a tune to a pony Hearthswarming Eve song as everypony, and cat, discussed the holiday plans. Capper was grumbling about being woken up. I retrieved my vest, putting it on, and from underneath it rolled the green sphere. It was definitely Nexus' green color and as I picked it up, another flash of his memories hit me, this time more vividly…
Nexus Spark
Pre-War: 15 and a half Years Before The Megaspells
We were on holiday break and I was busy trying to ignore Blitz's ideas of trouble. That's what I liked to call them anyway, because the little mischief maker was always getting us into trouble. Not that I minded, we were kids, I liked to have fun too! I was just a bit depressed from everything that happened the other month, I didn't even feel like thinking about Hearthswarming Eve. I knew how great Blitz's mom's parties could be, party planner was her job afterall, but I didn't know if I was feeling up to it.
"Come on!" Blitz was whining at me as I made a sandwich. His mom was out of town working with a client. She'd be back in a few days for her annual Hearthswarming Eve party. "I know you're depressed but I'm trying to make the holidays more fun!"
I spread some mayo on one side of the top bun, grabbing some hay from a pouch I'd found in the fridge. There was already a thin piece of lettuce on the bottom bun. "You do realize alcohol is a depressant, right?"
"Pone, what do you take me for, a donkey? No duh, it's a depressant, but it also gets you drunk." Blitz was sticking his tongue out at me.
I sighed heavily. "I'll think about it," I said as I finished with my sandwich, and turning to him, I took a bite from it…
Ravager Blitzfire
Present Time: 206 Years After the Incident of Stable 14
"Come on Blitzfire!" called Pumpkin from downstairs, "We're all heading out! Do you have your vest on yet?"
I was just finishing up, pulling it around my shoulders and slipping my fore-hooves through the holes. Hopping toward the stairs on three legs, I was trying my best to zip up the vest and shove the sphere into a buttoned pocket at the same time. "Coming, I'm coming!"
"Sure you are!" Capper was laughing his ass off from downstairs.
I grumbled to myself, "Ya don't gotta take it like that." then I was off down the stairs and out the door with the rest of them.
OOO
We all found a table that was big enough to accommodate 10 people and Capper's invisible 11th. It was a large round table in the corner, a huge booth with chairs pulled up. The booth seats were padded and Capper immediately slid into it so I had to follow. I would've preferred not to be trapped in the booth, especially not next to Pumpkin Spice, but so be it. Wonder sat next to her; and on my other side, my left, was Capper; then the Guardian. OJ sat beside him in a chair and the rest had to pull up seats. Ashe was beside OJ, but she skipped a seat to allow for Cheshire; then came Combat Zone, Cherry and Lily—now it was a full circle with two empty seats—next to Wonder going towards my right.
Perkins had gone to the bar to order everypony's drinks and food as well as to reserve this space for the revenue. All were welcome of course, so Double Diamond City was gonna see one party it was never going to forget. It looked like Chef was agreeing to it wholeheartedly, and why not, he would be seeing a huge influx of income. She came back to the table with a tray, sitting in the empty seat between Wonder and Lily, the one reserved for her, not Cheshire.
"So he's approved us for tomorrow, he's actually pretty excited." Perkins set the tray down in the center of the table. I instantly reached for my hayburger, hungry as tartarus. Capper had what Chef liked to call "pet treats" and a tuna sandwich, plus a glass of milk. It all looked gross to me, but if he was happy, I was happy.
"Why wouldn't he be excited?" asked Pumpkin, who was talking around a bite of veggie-burger. "It's gonna be a paaaartay!" she spread the word out.
"I…don't think that's why he's excited, Pumpkin," said the Guardian.
"Same diff-wence to me," she was eating and talking at the same time.
"So what exactly is the plan, because I for one would like to be aprised of all the details," said Cherry, waiting to take a bite of his lettuce-hayburger until after talking. He also had a hard cider he was sipping from.
"I agree," was all Lily said as she forked her salad. She had a glass of water and appeared to be a very healthy eater.
"So Pumpkin and I agreed to a midday party that would probably, most likely, last about 3 to 4 hours," Perkins said around sipping her tea. She had a wheat biscuit she liked to dip in her drink, but had already eaten breakfast about an hour ago so she preferred not to have as much food on her plate. She may appear disorganized but was, in fact, the opposite. No wonder Capper liked her so much; hopefully he was able to pay her well.
"More likely 5 if I have my way," giggled the party pony.
"I'd love to have a party for 5 hours!" Orange was laughing along with her.
"Unfortunately, some of us would not, 3 sounds way better to me," Combat Zone piped up after finishing his 3rd hard cider. He'd been to and from the bar many times now and had had two hayburgers.
"I for one think 4 hours is pretty damn reasonable," Capper was grinning as he sat forward, lifting his glass of milk and gingerly licking from the surface of the liquid. He had already eaten about half his sandwich. The tuna was glopping out onto the plate and my stomach turned over just looking at it.
I set my burger down, "So it's agreed 4 hours then?"
Everypony muttered amongst themselves and then Ashe Erza spoke up. She was the most gluttonous of us all, for she had had 3 hayburgers and a salad, plus 2 hard ciders. "It is agreed upon and hereby 4 hours!" she lifted a mug, "A toast, to friends on Hearthswarming Eve Eve!"
"I'll toast to that!" Pumpkin shouted and hopped on the table. OJ commenced to follow her, looking up at the party pony with wondering eyes. Everypony laughed, including me. Pone, I had missed these guys.
OOO
Pumpkin had the bar closed for the rest of the day, requesting she be allowed to decorate and set up. Everytime I went back to the bar to order a drink or ask how things were going, I noticed more and more equipment being set up. Where the speakers came from, I wouldn't even bother asking, but so far everything was looking great. There were white and blue table cloths, red and green decorations hanging about and streamers everywhere. I think the Guardian was trying to calm down Pumpkin and Erza's decorating habits because they both appeared chaotic.
Good thing Perkins was here to help, especially with Cherry on her side. Cher, as he liked to be called, was addressing a bunch of bar employees, barking orders at them like a drill sergeant. Perkins was busily apologizing for his crude behavior, as she was non-military and knew a more calm way of talking to the waitstaff. When she wasn't apologizing, she was directing ponies from a list she carried on a clipboard. It appeared decorating was well organized with this bunch, but with Orange Juice and Wonderful helping, I just felt in the way.
Instead, I was planning on meeting Capper for dinner on the town. It would be our first date in a long time and I had asked him to come to Takahashi's Noodle Stand. I was waiting in the ski-lift with somepony I didn't recognize. He was a dark blue with even darker blue poofy mane. He honestly looked like a winter version of Pumpkin Spice. "Hi…" I said, a little cautious.
"Oh hey!" his voice was a light tone, a little higher pitched than mine but not by much.
"I'm Blitzfire, what about you?"
"Oh! Oh! I've heard a lot about you!" he was smiling. He appeared polite and pleasant but I did not like that creepy ass smile.
"You…have, have you?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
His smile became more reassuring, "Oh yeah, lots! On Galaxy News Radio, DJ Pon3 is just the best, isn't he?"
"I suppose so, but I find him a bit annoying."
He shook his head but his creepy smile remained, "Oh! Not at all!"
The lift came to a stop at the bottom of the first mountain, the gate opening at the head of the main road leading into town. "You sure do say 'oh' a lot, and you never told me your name."
He hopped out of the car, "I'll see you at the party! I've got to go get some things for Pumpkin Spice. I sure do like her!" he waved as he bounced away down the trail.
OOO
"Hey babe," said Capper as he slid into a seat at the noodle stand. The artificial sun was just now beginning to set and lighting in the city was beginning to dim.
"Hey, have you noticed that blue poofy maned pony around?" I asked Capper.
He chuckled and tapped the bell on the counter, "Oh, Party Favor? He's been helping Pumpkin out, why?"
"He's very, how do I say…offputting," I spoke slowly, trying to recall my encounter with him, but for some reason, my memory felt off.
"I haven't noticed anything wrong with him. Don't be paranoid now," Capper flagged down the Ponybot named Takahashi so we could order some dinner. "Now, what would you like in your noodles? I'm asking for light catnip! A treat to myself."
"Oh, I was gonna pay, Capper, this is a date!" I smiled at him and he gave me a surprised look.
"A date? No catch?"
"I know, you don't like being paid for, but I promise, there's no catch." I had to reassure him. He used to be a con artist Pre-War. I understood his thinking, but it was something he should work on changing.
"Oh, alright. How very romantic of you," he shoved me playfully.
"It's not a big deal. And I'd like veggie soup, thanks, Taka." I nodded to the robot. It blipped and honked, and spoke in that weird language nopony could understand. I turned to Capper, "What exactly is he, because it's obvious he isn't a synth, but he is a robot."
Capper explained as we got served our food, "He's one of the base synth models, a prototype gone wrong. He can understand everything we say, but he has no translator protocols or artificial skin."
"So you're more realistic because you're organic and magically enhanced?" I asked.
"Arcane science at its finest baby." he winked but I gave him a look. "So yes, I suppose so." he included.
"What about—" Capper lifted a paw to cut me off before he took a bite of his catnip garnished noodles.
"Baby, baby, chill. This is a date, no? As I seem to recall, a date goes two ways. Let me do some of the talkin'." he was smiling. "Or rather, how about some singin', kuz baby," he jumped up on top of his stool and from out of nowhere a smooth jazzy melody began to play from the booth speakers. It sounded like a jazz version of a Hearthswarming Eve song but Capper was making his own lyrics.
Capper Dapperpaws
"This aint no sideshow, and you aren't just my sideshow pony!
No, I wanna remedy, that I ain't no phony."
I jumped onto the counter and used it as a balance beam. "And don't get me wrong,
our casual existence is great, but I wanna make it clear in song! I love ya, love ya and I gotta have ya.
Kuz I'm breakin' down in tears, and I'm holdin' all these fears!" walking across, I spun around to face my coltfriend, "That I'm gonna lose ya one day, and I can't find the way…"
I jumped off the counter and landed on my feet in the cold snow. I grabbed Blitz's forehooves and held tight, "To express in song, what's in my heart!"
I let go of him, "We're far apart," sitting back down, I began to draw to a close and catch my breath and be still my racing heart, "and I wanna get close to you! Kuz, I love ya…" Losing track of the rhythm I stopped to breathe. Cheshire was sitting on the counter, giving me quiet applause, which I really appreciated. I turned and gave him a small smile as thanks for the encouragement.
I mouthed, Thank you, at him and he nodded with a big toothy grin. His teeth were very sharp I was noticing, and the way he appeared to go in and out of existence was very trippy. I had to stop staring at his swirling purple/lavender stripes or I was gonna throw up. So instead, I turned back to Blitzfire. "Well, whattaya think, Blitzy?" I smiled shyly, for the first time in my long life feeling uncomfortable. My heart felt like it was trying to jump out of my throat.
Ravager Blitzfire
I blinked, completely shocked at him, but he was known to burst into song on occasion. "I think that was very sweet, but you kinda lost the melody there at the end…are you drunk?"
Capper was just finishing slurping another bite of noodles but he stopped in the middle, a noodle hanging down his chin, and his eyes went completely wide. His slitted pupils were dilated as well. He looked at me, then down at his food and let the noodle fall back to his plate, "Um…no, I must be high off my donkey…heheh, donkey…" he couldn't contain his giggles at the small word.
"Well, maybe it's time to get off the high horse and head to bed." I was shaking my head at him but laughing at myself. I helped him get up and led him back toward the windmill detective agency, "I did like the song though by the way."
"Yup, you did say." he was leaning heavily on me, appearing really tired. I yawned, which was reciprocated by him. "Goodnight," he said when we were upstairs in his room. He fell asleep on his bed the second he hit it. "Goodnight, my cute tomfriend." I couldn't stop smiling. I hoped somehow, somewhere this memory was being recorded.
Nexus Spark
Pre-War: 15 and a half Years Before The Megaspells
Dear Winter,
I hope you like your name…'Cause Winter is a badass name. I hope when you grow up, and go to school, they don't make fun of you.
I hope you talk to girls. Or boys, or anyone you like. I just hope you don't sleep in every night. I honestly wish I was out tonight…
Ah, it really doesn't seem like there's anyone there for me, but Winter, I'm hoping that someday, I can meet you again. Shit, I just gotta get Blitz's mom's party…
Dear Winter, I hope you like this poem. You'd have been 13 today…December 10th…maybe you scream at me, because I parented you wrong, but I'm just your brother, what was I supposed to do? Let him teach you how to curse? We were only little unicorns!
Ah, I hope you like this poem, I hope it's still a badass song.
It really doesn't seem like there's anyone here for me, even though I know Blitz still cares. Dear Winter, I'm trying to get used to this. I'm still looking for our Mom. A promise is a promise…
Blitz thinks I need to find love…I gotta find a mare that doesn't mind that I'm inside my head a lot. Winter, it won't be long now…I just have to…find…mom…
I put down my Faust forsaken pencil and tried to stop my beating heart. I had been crying and tears had fallen all over the letter I'd been writing. It was a note to Fire Flower, but I'd replaced her name with Winter. I couldn't think about her, and I knew today was going to be a terrible day. December 10th, Fire Flower's birthday. She wouldn't be here to celebrate and all I had for comfort was Blitzfire. Don't get me wrong, he's my best friend, but…
Everything was spinning out of control and I felt so upset and so mad and so everything all at the same time! There was no way Blitzfire could comfort me like this. I wish I knew what happened to my mom, and I wished Blitz's mom was home sooner rather than later, but there was still one more day to get through; the hardest day of them all…
I grabbed for my stress ball and gave it a squeeze when I realized what I was holding wasn't actually my stress ball, but my green class note memory sphere! I had recorded over everything! All my final notes were gone and the memory of this letter now lingered. "Faust fucking dammit! I needed those notes for next year!" I slammed my hooves down on the desk and let go of the memory orb.
"Nexus? Is everything okay?" came a familiar voice from behind me. I had woken Blitzfire up…
Ravager Blitzfire
Present Time: 206 Years After the Incident of Stable 14
I jolted awake when I realized I was still wearing my vest and the green orb was still inside one of the pockets. "Faust dammit, I really gotta remember not to take that thing to bed with me."
"Take what thing, babe?" yawned Capper, who blinked at me. His green eyes appeared to glow in the dark and float in front of my face when I looked at him. "Faust, I'm so damned tired…"
"Shit, sorry, did I wake you up?" I quickly worked to take off the vest before I messed with Capper's sleep anymore.
"No, no…" he yawned again, "I mean yeah…you were talking in your sleep though so it wasn't all your fault. Why did you say your own name though? You dreaming from someone else's point of view or what?"
I gave him a quick kiss and tossed my vest to the side. "No. Or, I don't know. I don't really remember my dreams." Of course, that had been a lie, I remember my dream vividly because it was really Spark's memory. Nopony needed to know that though, no way today of all days would I be able to deal with that. Today of all days! It was Hearthswarming Eve!
"Oh, getting frisky are we?" Capper took me taking my shirt off as a sign for something else. He reached a paw up and grabbed my cheek, drawing me in for another kiss. "Damn I love you, baby." he winked and his eyes floated closer. No way was I saying no to this.
I kissed him back, and we fell in deeper. He was on top of me, and I was nuzzling his chest with my right hoof. His thick cream colored chest fur was poofy and soft and I loved to rub my hoof in it. "Hey there sexy," I kissed him some more. We were making out and as I rubbed his chest, I began to sink my hoof lower on his body. Low enough until I could feel that bulge through his nightclothes.
"Oh!" he giggled and we continued making out. We rolled until we were both on our sides and facing each other. He reached down low and then and there it was decided how we were spending the rest of the night.
"I love you," I told him.
"Love you right back," he winked and kept on going.
OOO
I woke to the smell of something yummy cooking downstairs. Capper was not laying next to me when I opened my eyes and had to shade them from intense sunlight. Had somepony let me sleep in? I sat up, yawning and checking the time. It was well past 9 o'clock! I should've been up hours ago! Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to stay up that extra 3 hours last night. But it had been worth it.
I got up and retrieved my vest. I checked the pockets and my blood ran cold. The green sphere was missing. It must've fallen out, or rolled somewhere or, or! I didn't know. I zipped my vest and bolted down the stairs. "Capper! Capper, where are you and what's that smell?!"
"Sorry, Blitzy, but everypony is at the bar doing some last minute prep," said Pumpkin Spice who was in the kitchen. "Capper gave me some bits to do some baking and there was no way I wasn't passing up the opportunity." Pumpkin was busy mixing something in a bowl at the counter and I saw Perkins fretting over something in the oven.
"Perk?" I called to her.
"Huh?" she looked up, startled. "Oh, Blitz. If you're looking for Capper, he went to the noodle stand for brunch. He told me to tell you he wanted to talk about something."
My heart skipped a beat. "You can't just not tell somepony what you wanna talk about!" my nerves were on high alert, what with losing my orb and now this. I spun around and bolted out the door.
Capper was waiting at the noodle stand, just as Pumpkin had said. I had a cookie in hoof, and was munching on it. I was surprised because it actually tasted pretty good. I'm guessing Perkins had a hoof in that. Capper was standing, not sitting, but he was leaning against the stand's counter with one elbow propped on it. "Ah, I see you got my morning cookie."
"What, trying to bribe me?" I laughed and winked at him, just joking.
"Actually sort of. I saw the green orb, it had rolled out of your vest pocket and I was gonna put it back in but the arcana must be set to play at any touch because I…kinda saw things that I don't think you wanted me to see."
My heart fell, pretty much everything fell. Nopony was supposed to know about that and the Hearthswarming party was in just a few hours! "What?!" I burst out.
"I can see that you're upset," Capper held up two paws in self defense.
"Upset! I'm more than upset! Nopony was supposed to see that…" I scuffed the tip of my hoof through the snow…
"Okay, you're a bit anxious, but I do find it odd that you wouldn't be willing to tell me about Nexus. Who is he? Can I ask what happened?"
"Well, the cat's out of the bag now, aint he?" I made eye contact with Capper, and I saw a slight smile form there.
"Yeah, kinda." he nodded in agreement and crossed his arms. "So, you gonna tell me?"
"Can I tell you later, after the party?" I asked.
"Sure. How about we get some food in our bellies for now then?" he asked, turning to the counter and ringing Takahashi.
"Okay."
OOO
It was 2 o'clock and Pumpkin was finally ready to open Third Peak. Inside, there were mostly white and blue decorations but there was a huge tree at the far northeast end of the room from the entry point with red and white decorations on it. There was arcana hanging in it that glowed white and green and gave the room a glittery look.
"Wow, Pumpkin, this all looks great." I smiled when I saw her.
She was beaming, proud. "I couldn't have done it without my friend Party Favor." she had one foreleg wrapped around the blue pony's shoulders. "He says he's Double Diamond's party pony."
"Oh, really?" Capper was stroking his chin.
The party was underway and ponies were arriving. I was at the booth in the southwest most corner of the room from the entrance, the table our group had sat at yesterday that had been reserved specifically for us. Then I saw a mare in a bright red coat and a gray newsstallion cap come galloping in. She stopped in the center of the room and looked around desperately searching for somepony. When her eyes locked on mine, she galloped my way.
I was harboring a hard cider that I was barely touching. I was planning on keeping my drinking down to a minimum, but I did want hard applenog later, my absolute favorite holiday beverage; Capper and I shared that in common; so who knew how the night would end up going? I perked up when Piper arrived at my table and took a seat across from me though.
"Whatcha doing all the way over here by yourself?" she asked.
"The party has barely started," I took a tentative sip of my cider.
She looked around, "Well, if ya ask me that's a good thing. I don't see that blue party pony about anywhere."
My ears shot up at the mention of Blue Nameless Party Pony. "What about him?"
"Ah, I can see you're suspicious too. I'm glad." she gave another cursory glance around the bar, making sure of something before continuing. "He came back with Double Diamond and I, but I didn't get to see where he came from. DD refused to let me come with him into the train station Party Favor came from."
"He didn't?" I narrowed my eyes, growing more concerned.
"No! He had me stake lookout to make sure none of "Combat's" raiders showed up. I don't know who Combat is, but it sounded crazy, raider's aint been in Bittsberg for almost a whole year now!" Piper slammed both hooves down on the table. "And now they're both missing!"
I bit my lip and nodded slowly my understanding, "Well, why don't we talk more about it after the party? I'm sure everypony would like to relax and have a good time."
Piper shook her head, "I gotta go write a paper, but you guys have all the fun you want while DD and PF get up to plotting."
"It probably isn't too serious, I hope," I told her as she got up and walked away. I shoved my cider away and got up to join the party.
OOO
"Hey baby, want some nog?" Capper was swinging around a table, coming to find me at the bar.
"I'd love some applenog! Is it spiked?" I asked.
Chef coughed, "Best damn hard applenog in Equestria, right here if you ask me." he was cleaning a mug with a rag, as bartenders tended to do.
"Nopony did ask you," shot Capper with a teasing smile.
Chef laughed, "Lemme get you that nog." he filled a glass for me and I grabbed it.
Gingerly, I sipped it, having not tried it yet. "It tastes pretty rich. I think it's alright."
"Alright? It's better than alright!" Chef boomed and chuckled at me.
Capper was shaking his head, "No, no, no. Y'all gotta drink it faster than that if you wanna really enjoy it." he encouraged me to down the rest of it.
So I did, letting the burn of the alcohol skip down my throat. I set the mug down and wiped my muzzle with a napkin. "Next!"
"Coming right up!" Chef boasted as he refilled my cup. "That was some display, good job, pone."
"I can hold my liquor." I giggled at him. I would soon find out that 3 drinks were 2 too many.
OOO
"Whoooo! Let's get this partay started!" came Pumpkin's voice over the speakers. She was set up at a DJ booth where Party Favor was now visible next to her. He was controlling the music and Pumpkin was holding the mic. "I wanna first start by saying, thank you to the splendicular Party Favor for helping me decorate this place, and for providing the speakers. Caps are pretty hard to come by you know."
"You're very welcome Pumpkin Spice! You know, you remind me of somepony very important to me." he was all smiles, but I still didn't feel like I could trust him. I sipped my fourth glass slowly, moderating it.
"How about we put on a slow dance for all those couples out there?!" Pumpkin asked him over the mic.
"Sounds like a great idea." for some reason I thought he locked eyes with me.
"Baby," came Capper's voice out of the blue. "Care to have this dance?" he was giving a little dramatic bow, holding out a paw in offering.
I was too drunk to care about anything at this point. "I'd love to!" I shouted over the now slow music. I grabbed his paw and he pulled me up to my hind legs. "Whoa!" I almost toppled the both of us, as I was stumbling about. I left my drink on a random table and Capper pulled me to the dance floor.
We spun and twirled and kept pace with the slow rhythm. If it had been any faster I may have puked. Thank Faust I didn't. "You're one of the best things that's ever happened to me, and it's usually hard for me to admit stuff like that," Capper whispered in my ear as we danced.
"Well, you're definitely the best thing that's ever happened to me!" I burped then contracted the hiccups.
We spun to a stop near a random table and Capper helped me to sit down, "Baby, you're drunk." he laughed.
"I'm not trying to be…"
Capper sat across from me and rested his chin on his paws. "You don't drink much do you?"
"I'm an—*hiccup!*—adventurer, I don't like to mess with my—*hic*—perception of reality. Especially not over my EFS." I groaned, feeling sick.
Capper flagged somepony down to get us some water. "Well, it looks like you my friend are very dehydrated."
"Yeah, I feel like I'm about to throw up!" I moaned and burped. The water came and I began to chug it.
"Not so fast!" Capper laughed at me. We sat there in silence for a moment while I slowly drank my water. I was starting to feel a little better now. "Can I ask you something personal?"
"I mean…if you want. I'm not sure how I'll respond."
"Can I ask about Nexus?" he said.
The simple mention of the name caused me to seize up. I didn't like to think about my old friend. It made me very anxious. "I guess…we can." I avoided eye contact, not feeling so good; and this time it was mentally, not physically.
"I'm only curious about who he is, is all." Capper put a paw on my hoof.
I really didn't wanna talk about this right now, but Capper's tender thumb pad was reassuring on my hoof. "He…was a friend of mine Pre-War. Unfortunately, Stable Tech betrayed us all and it's all my fault for not seeing it sooner."
"What's all your fault?" Capper blinked, retracting his paw. I wished he had kept it there.
"As Overstallion, it's all my fault that every single resident of Stable 14 was killed. The security staff turned against me with orders from Stable Tech. Nexus Spark hates me for it and I don't blame him."
Capper returned his paw to my hoof, "It looks like your blaming yourself for the actions of a corrupt organization."
"But as Overseer it is my responsibility to see to the safety of all my Stable citizens. Everypony died for Faust's sake!" I burst, starting to feel emotional. My eyes were watering. This is why I didn't want to talk about this right now.
"Okay, let's take a hoofstep back," Capper rubbed my hoof, making me feel calmer. "You're taking fault for something completely beyond your control, amigo."
"I…I just don't know!" the tears were streaming freely down my face and I wanted to get out of here.
"Let's go outside to cool off, we don't gotta talk about this anymore, okay?" he helped me get to my feet and we went outside.
Nexus Spark
Pre-War: 15 and a half Years Before The Megaspells
It was the day of the party and Blitz's mom was busy in the kitchen making her delicious applenog. Blitz was still trying to convince me to spike it and I was leaning heavily towards yes just to appease him. I just wanted to get this party over with and maybe getting drunk was the way to go.
"So we just gotta wait for my mom to go grocery shopping. She has her cream and her sugar but I replaced her apples so she can't make the applesauce." Blitz was explaining to me up in our bedroom. Applesauce was the replacement for eggs in an eggnog recipe. It still tasted really good, especially to ponies.
"Sure, but Faust knows when that'll be." I rolled my eyes from the chair at my desk.
"Colts! I'm heading to the grocery store, I must've forgotten to by apples!" yelled Blitz's mom.
"There ya go," Blitz was grinning impishly at me.
We went downstairs, looking both ways in the dining room before dashing to the kitchen. His mom had in fact left. Now we were home free to raid the liquor cabinet. "I cannot believe we're actually going to do this!" I protested as Blitz pulled out a small bottle of bourbon.
"Me neither!" he gasped, a big smile on his face as he looked for a stool to climb up on. He got eye level with the counter, placing his rump on the stool head and popping the cap on the bourbon. It went flying Faust knows where. "I'll just do half a bottle and put this back."
"Sounds like a plan," I mumbled as I searched for the lost lid. I found it near the icebox. Using my green magic, I picked it up with my aura. "Are you done?" I asked him.
He was frowning, "It may be a little more than half." he said slowly but surely…
"What do you mean, 'more than half'?" I glared at him with dagger eyes.
"I may have tipped the whole bottle."
Just then the door was heard opening in the living room. "Faust, buck, buck!" my heart leapt to my throat and I snatched the now empty bourbon bottle from Blitzfire. "Colt this was a bad idea!" I hissed as I opened the trash, lifted some stuff out and hid the bottle far underneath everything else. Blitz was just hopping off the stool and I had just closed the trashcan lid when his mom entered the kitchen.
"You boys look like you're up to no good," she smiled as she set her bushel of apples down on the counter.
"Oh, we are…not!" I smiled warily as she grabbed a couple wooden bowls for mushing her apples.
"What are you doing in here, hmm?" she asked without glancing our way. We were slowly backing toward the dining room to get to the stairs.
"We were just taste testing the applenog, Mom," said Blitz, a mischievous grin on his face. His lie was pristine but his face told the story. At least she was too busy focusing on her apples now…
Ravager Blitzfire
Present Time: 206 Years After the Incident of Stable 14
After my whole drunken fiasco, there was only one hour left to party. Capper was sipping on another cream-nog and I had been avoiding any hard cider or applenogs. It was time to sober up as the party wound to a close. I saw Pumpkin stepping up to the DJ stand but Party Favor was strangely missing. "As we wrap up the festivities I want to announce that as expected, Chef is the winner of the applenog contest! He made two varieties, one for ponies and one for catlords and I have to say I was pretty impressed with both, even if cream-nog doesn't taste good to me, Cappy seems to love it!" Capper lifted his glass.
"On that note, I encourage everypony and every-cat to hop on over to the dance floor to shake their bootays!"
I saw OJ pulling a protesting Wonder onto the dancefloor and that made me want to find Capper. Apparently, he wanted to find me too, kuz there he was, drunk off his ass, stumbling toward me and sloshing cream-nog from a mug all over the floor. "Look who needs water now!" I laughed and he gave me a sly smile.
"Hey baby, I wanna meet you over in that there booth if you would just follow me please." he was slurring his words and running his sentences. He was a big talker, I'd give him that, he just lost his charm when he was drunk. Or perhaps he had way too much of it. Either way I most definitely felt compelled to follow him into the booth. He immediately grabbed me. "Faust damn you're the sexiest pony here."
He was trying to give me a kiss and I chuckled, "Capper, I think you're too drunk for this." I kissed him back quick but he was sloppy so I pulled away. "Hey, do you want to watch my holiday orb real quick instead?"
"Sure thing!" he tried to sip more cream-nog but his cup was empty.
Glancing around the bar I quickly noticed that as always, Pumpkin's holiday party was a smashing success. I was looking around Third Base, noticing all our friends laughing and cheering over their cups of hard applenog, or mugs of hard cider. I felt a shimmer of true happiness I don't think I'd felt in a long time. Thinking back, the last time I felt this good was at Mom's holiday party, what felt like 21 years ago to me. I held up Nexy's memory sphere, activating its arcana…
Nexus Spark
Pre-War: 15 and a half Years Pre-War on Hearthswarming Eve's Night
"Are you ready?" I asked Blitz. "We've spiked the punch, now we gotta live with the consequences. It's now or never, no going back." we were about to chug down the applenog in our glasses, knowing full well we'd be drunk off our asses in full view of everypony at his mom's party.
"Hey, it's already way too late in my opinion!" Blitz laughed and threw back his cup. He chugged it all down in one go and I smiled at him.
"Alright, fine, I'll stop being such a worrywart." I put my cup to my lips and did the same. My whole field of vision began to change. The room's light seemed dimmer and I burped. It tasted hot, hard to swallow and it burned my throat but I didn't stop chugging until every last drop was gone. At least it didn't taste bad. It was hardly noticeable around all the applesauce. The applesauce and cream mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg could be mistaken for that burning sensation. "Maybe…we won't get caught." I laughed and burped again.
"Oh, you colts are caught alright," came a voice behind us. Blitz's mom!
"Oh, Mrs. Ravage, I'm so so sorry!"
"All my friends had to go home early after drinking a bunch of water. What were you two thinking?" she had placed both hooves firmly down on the floor, standing poised and at attention. She looked very angry and intimidating.
"We thought we wouldn't get caught…" Blitz lowered his head, looking terrified and upset all at once.
"You don't think I know the taste of my favorite bourbon, or that an article from last week's newspaper on the top of the trash can wouldn't catch my eye?" she stomped a hoof to make her point.
"I'm sorry ma'am, *hic*." I lowered my eyes, looking at my hooves and feeling ashamed.
"Since it's the holidays I won't ground you until after tomorrow, but go get some water and go to your room." she snapped. She didn't move, expecting us to follow directions right away. We did so.
"Sorry, Mom," said Blitz again.
"It's just, you should know better. Especially you Nexus. And you're both drunk. What if you pulled a stunt like this in college? You want to be Overseer, right? And his Head of Maintenance? You colts are on the fast track for a reason." she didn't stop lecturing the entire time we fetched water from the kitchen and made our way to the stairs.
Once we were in Blitz's room and had drank the amount of water his mom was satisfied with, we were homefree. "That was awesome!" Blitz was laughing his ass off. "We're not grounded until after Hearthswarming. I can't believe how calm she was."
I had to admit, I was a little surprised too, and I smiled. However, "That was calm?"
Blitz rolled back on his bed, kicking his legs in the air with a high amount of energy, "Yeah, for her it kinda was. Must be the bourbon."
"Everypony did get pretty drunk tonight." I laughed and fell into the bed next to him. He looked at me and I looked at him. "I admit…I had fun…"
"Me too…" he breathed and I felt his breath on my nose. His nose booped mine…"Sparky?"
I kissed him…hoping I would black all this out. "Happy holidays Blitzy." I blushed.
"Happy holidays," he said and fell asleep.
(Footnote: So that was a cute little holiday chapter for everypony! I hope it was as enjoyable to read as it was to write. I loved giving more insight on Nexus' personality and finally revealing that he did NOT, in fact, kill his stepstallion. Instead everything that transpired only served to make Nexus even more depressed than he already was. The drinking helped a little, and now we can see why Blitzfire isn't a drinker in the present. Blitz has a high anxiety level and when he loses control of his reality, he gets very stressed. Good thing he had Capper. It is sad that his mom isn't around, but neither was Nexy's in the past. There's so many things that Blitz could connect with and keeping this orb will be a good thing for the future. This Intermission ties in way better to the actual story as it takes place during Chapter 17 and not outside of it. I look forward to posting the next chapter soon! Love you guys!)
Brohoof /)