Post Convention Blues...

I don't wanna go back to work!

I wanna pony on some more.

Also, where were you guys?! I wanted to meet you! I was at the speed fic writing challenge if anyone remembers or even cares. Red polo shirt, blue jacket, looked bored. I don't know if that helps.

Anyway, it was a great weekend. Saw my old friends again, had a lot of fun, bought some prints for me and a fridge magnet for mum, saw a couple artists I really like in real life (I fell slightly in love with Dennyvixen (she's so cool)), did many laps as part of the pony parade and, more importantly, I got inspired again!

I'm still on HIATUS, but hopefully not for much longer.

Anyway, updates:

The alarm went off with a quiet yet annoying buzz, enough to wake Rainbow up from her sleep. However, this morning she felt more excited than usual as it was the first day of school for her fillies.
Rainbow rolled out of bed and switched the alarm clock off. She was up earlier than usual as she anticipated difficulties with timing breakfast, making packed lunches and waking up the fillies. She walked slowly down the corridor, pausing only to let out a loud yawn, and opened up the door to the other bedroom in the house.
“Wakey, wa-.” Rainbow was shocked into silence by the sight of the little Rainbows sat up and whispering excitedly.
Swirl turned around with a smile on her face. “Morning, Mummy!” she said while bouncing on her bed.
Rainbow smile lovingly at them. “You three are up early.”
“Yeah!” Dash said with a huge grin.
“We’re super excited!” Swirl squeaked. Shine nodded enthusiastically. It was still too early for her to be that energetic.
“Oh well that’s good. Now, who’s excited for their first day at school?!” Rainbow asked loudly with as much excitement as she could muster at this time.

They all filled their bellies with a hearty breakfast and brushed their teeth. Next were bags.
“Now then,” Rainbow started as she finished tightening the last straps of Dash’s saddle bag, “Have we got everything?”
The fillies nodded.
“Pencils? Paper? Crayons? Lunch?” Rainbow asked, the answers to all of which were nods. “Alright, let’s go!” she cheered with a hoof pointed in the direction they were going.
All three shouted back in unison, “YEAH!”

Monday

The school was small, with barely over one hundred students split between the whole school, but it was the nicest, and the little Rainbows deserved no less. The playground, a rectangle of tarmac, was at the front of the school and provided parents a place to leave the children in the morning. Many young children walked in through the front gate, either with or without their parents, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, ranging from the terrified to the bored to those who really didn’t want to be there and the really excited ponies. It was interesting to watch. Some were crying, some were playing but most were standing around waiting.
Just before they managed to get inside the Rainbows were pushed to the side as a small group of colts sped inside followed shortly by an apologetic parent. Those who got in first were laughing at the one in last, who was severely disappointed. “You’re IT first!” said the brattiest of them. Rainbow smiled. Soon her kids will be making friends and that made her happy.
The playground was fairly dull, it being a grey mass with faded lines of some kind of sport court in spots. Rainbow stood and looked around at the parents, none of which interested her. The children on the other hand were showing much more emotion. She found herself lost staring at the turmoil ahead.
The fillies were looking around as well, trying to get a grip on this completely alien situation. The only kids they had spent any time with were Sass’, but they hated them.
“She looks cool,” Dash said as she saw an older filly walk in like she owned the place. Rainbow couldn’t help but agree. Maybe a bit up herself, she thought, but definitely cool.
Time passed. Most of the older children had gone inside, leaving the new students behind. There weren’t many. A fairly young mare with the distinct air of teacher about her cleared her throat for attention. Silence fell over the playground.
“Will all the children please come with me. School is about to start.” She sounded friendly yet forceful. Rainbow liked her.
All the parents were now saying their goodbyes with differing degrees of emotion.
“Well then,” Rainbow started with a little croak in her voice, but she swallowed it down. “You three have a great first day,” she said as she fiddled with their manes, “learn lots of new, interesting things, and make a lot of friends, because that’s just as important.”
They all nodded. Rainbow spent a long moment looking at them and their excited, eager eyes.
“Come here,” she said quietly as she pulled them in a hug. She held them tight, not wanting to let them go.
“Excuse me, Miss,” the teacher said from across the playground, “Could you please.” She left the question as open and kind as she could, but she was a stickler for schedules.
Rainbow gave them each a kiss on the forehead and placed them down. “Go on. Have a good day,” she whimpered, and gave them a gentle push towards the teacher. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye mummy!” they chanted back at her and trotted quickly to the teacher.
The children disappeared inside.

Rainbow stood there, watching the door they went through, for a few minutes, motionless, knowing that any movement could set her off. She had been preparing herself mentally for her children to cry, but not for herself.
“Are you okay?” a concerned parent asked, but that was a poor decision. Rainbow sobbed loudly and collapsed to the ground. She tried to speak through the tears but all that came out was an unintelligible babble of random syllables. That parent stood staring. She too hadn’t prepared herself for Rainbow to cry. She was half tempted to leave her to it, but that didn’t feel right. She got down on the ground with Rainbow and picked her up in a hug.
“There there,” she said softly as she rocked to the crying mare back and forth. She was mesmerised by her mane; so many colours and so much of it. “I love your mane,” she let slip out of her mouth.
“T-t-t-thank you,” Rainbow stuttered.
“Come on now. Dry your eyes. You’re making the other parents feel bad.”
Rainbow couldn’t see since her eyes were full of water but other parents look downtrodden. They didn’t know that they should be that emotional about it. “Sorry,” she said. She sniffed loud and hard and managed to stem the flow of tears. “Phew. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that I’ve never been this far away from them like, ever. Or even for this long before. Oh god I miss them.” She exploded again.
The parent sighed. “Stop it now. You’re just being silly.”
“I know. But I can’t stop.”
“How about we go get some coffee and we can chat. Would that help?”
Rainbow thought for a second. She wouldn’t have to go home to an empty house for a while. “That would be nice.”
“Okay. Up you get,” she groaned as she helped Rainbow to her hooves. They walked off the school premises.
“I’m Rainbow,” Rainbow said through the last tears that were leaving her.
“I’m Airheart,” the parent said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Rainbow nodded in agreement. “Do you have kids?” It was a stupid question, she knew, but it was all that could come to mind.
“Oh yes. I have a little filly called Fluttershy.”

The room was bright with big windows, obviously designed to provide children with the best learning environment possible. The walls was a sickly peach colour that had faded over years of neglect, with patches of darker colour where the previous years of students’ work was removed to make room for new work.
The class had around twenty students, distributed evenly in groups of five and sat around desks, and the teacher sat at the end closest to the door at her big, well organised desk.
Swirl was furious. She slammed her hooves down on the desk as hard as she could, bringing silence over the class, stopping the teacher in the middle of the register, and stood tall on her seat.
“Why was I Last?!” she screamed with all the anger she could muster.
“Excuse me?” the teacher asked in a friendly, inquisitive voice but with a distinct tone of annoyance underlying.
“I was born first so my name should be first! Not last!”
Shine leant over and said softly. “Ssh. It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does!” Swirl shouted back.
“Please, there is no need to shout. I can explain to you why as long as you don’t shout.”
Swirl stared at her, determined not to break eye contact as it was a sign of weakness, until she broke off to push her mane out of the way. “Okay.”
“Right,” the teacher started as she stood from her seat and gave the class a quick yet thorough explanation of the alphabet. “Does that make sense?”
Swirl sat back in her chair, her face red with embarrassment, and look at the ground. “Yes, Miss Doltish,” she said quietly into her chest. She was still angry about it but knew she couldn’t argue with the alphabet.
Meanwhile throughout the whole debacle Dash sat with a pleased grin at being before her sisters.
“Right class,” Miss Doltish said in an upbeat voice, “now I want you all to get to know your classmates, so please walk around and try to make some friends.”
No one moved for a moment. All were too nervous. This situation had been sprang upon them without warning and they none of them wanted to be the first. Fortunately for the rest of the class, the Rainbows were confident and spoke first in the silence, inspiring the rest of them.
“Who are you?” Dash asked the boy sat with her and her sisters. He was light brown colt with dark brown hair that covered most of his eyes. The way his eyes darted between the three of them showed how uncomfortable he was around them, along with the nervous gulping and fidgeting he did as he tried to answer the question.
“I-I’m Hoops. Why are you here three times?” there was genuine fear in his voice, as if he stumbled into the scary stories that he sometimes thought of.
“We’re triplets,” Shine informed him. “So we look almost the same. I’m Shine, that’s Swirl and that’s Dash.” The fillies waved and smiled when their name came up.
“Are you fast?” Dash asked like it was important.
Hoops was taken aback by this. He hadn’t thought about it. “Yeah, I think so.”
Dash celebrated to herself. “Good. Who else do you think is fast?”

The class was full of noise as the students talked between themselves and the teacher psyched herself up for another year of this.
Swirl trotted around looking at all the other fillies and colts, trying to decide who to talk to, when she came across a filly sat at a desk on her own with a subtle face as she looked round. For some reason she clicked with Swirl, so Swirl walked over to her. When the filly noticed this she beamed a great smile. She was the colour of milky coffee with a mass of what looked like thick brown wool on her head and tail.
“Hi! Who are you?” Swirl asked excitedly. She couldn’t explain why but she really wanted to be friends with this filly.
The filly smiled back at her but said nothing, only her wings seemed to flap.
Swirl waited a long time for an answer, but she had to ask again. “Who are you?” the excitement was waning.
Again the filly said nothing but flapped her wings with a large smile.
Swirl wasn’t having any of this. “It’s rude to not answer questions and I want to be your friend but I can’t be unless you tell me your name.”
The smile fell from the filly’s face and was replaced with a nervous urgency. She flapped her wings again, only quicker.
Swirl stood tall with her front hooves on the desk. She got her face up close to the filly. “Tell me your name,” she demanded threateningly. There was a quiet menace in her whisper.
The filly gulped before flapping her wings again.
“No! Stop flapping your wings and tell me your name,” Swirl squeaked with anger as she pinned the filly’s wing to her side.
The filly squirmed but couldn’t get her wings free, instead she stared at Swirl with a feeble smile, hoping it would be enough. It wasn’t.
Swirl frowned and had the angriest of angry eyebrows. She stepped back onto the ground and walked backwards slowly, maintaining eye contact as she did. “I don’t like you.” Her voice was cold.
The filly looked distraught and looked away. She wore a frown for the rest of the day.
Swirl returned to searching the class for someone else to be her friend, but no one was as appealing to her.

Shine wandered around, looking at ponies, but felt much more awkward than her sisters. There was one colt sat at the side, watching everyone else. He seemed liked Shine’s kind of pony, one who prefers to watch than get involved. He was white from head to hoof, and his mane resembled toothpaste, only with much more white than red or blue. He already looked tired, as if the effects of ageing had already ravaged him.
She took a seat next to him. “I'm Shine,” she said quietly.
He barely reacted. He might have cracked a slight smile but nothing that would make anyone certain it actually happened. Shine took this as a sign that she could sit next to him, and so did.
After 20 minutes of meeting and greeting the class was called to attention and told to return to their seats. Shine stood and walked back over to her desk. Little did either of them knew that they were actually friends now.

Dash was immediately popular with her declaration of her legendary speeds. Hoards of classmates surrounded her to get to be friends, but only few were selected. It was a group of the fastest fillies and colts in the room, five in total, that all claimed to be the fastest, just what Dash wanted. However, after all the class asked to be friends, there was one that didn’t and it bothered Dash a little. It was a filly of yellow and pink that seemed to avoid acknowledging everyone else in the room, but the fast kids took priority.

The first recess came a little bit later after a small amount of learning, and with it the tryouts to by Rainbow Dash’s friend.
The little ponies were lined up, facing Dash as she paced up and down the line. “Okay ponies,” Dash said loudly over the noise, “only the best can be my friend and it’s time to find out who makes the cut.”
“What about them?” a colt asked as he pointed to the fillies waiting patiently behind Dash. “Are they here because they are also you?”
“They are my sisters so they are my friends already, but all you others have to prove yourself.”
“That’s not fair.”
“If you don’t like it you can leave and play with the boring ponies.”
The colt quieted down.
“That’s what I thought. Now, the first test is to see who is the fastest.”
The remainder of the recess for Dash was full of racing, which whittled her potential friends considerably.
“Alright, slowpokes,” she announced with no sign of tiredness, “you can go about your business, you’re out of the runnings. Fast ones, well done! You’re now my friends!”
Although exhausted the two colts and two fillies celebrated to their hearts’ content, although it was cut short by the school bell. They all headed back inside for more learning, but Dash slowed as she walked. Hiding behind the bike shed was the small yellow and pink pony, just peeking around the corner and staring at her, and Dash found herself staring back curiously. Just who is this pony, she thought.

Shine had cut off shortly after Dash had announced the first race and set off to find the colt she had met earlier. It wasn’t hard given that he was the brightest thing on the field. His white coat was almost a mirror, reflecting the sun in all directions.
“Hello,” she said as she stood next to him.
This time round he actually acknowledged her. “Hello,” he replied in a strangely raspy voice.
“I'm Swirl.”
“Star Scream.”
They sat for the rest of break quietly enjoying each others’ company.

Swirl too had left Dash long ago in her own quest to make friends. Unlike her sister, speed wasn’t high on her prerequisites to be her friend. It wasn’t long before she found a group she liked the looks of. They were a little older and obviously took pride in their appearances, just like Swirl. However, just before she could tack herself onto the side of this group and assimilate into it, the coffee and brown filly intercepted her with a huge grin.
Swirl scowled at her. “I don’t like you remember?” She turned her head away and walked defiantly passed.
The filly jump in front of her again and smiled wide still. She moved in a way to try to instigate some kind of game that involved running. It didn't work.
“Go away!” Swirl screeched. “You’re really frustrating!”
That stung the filly deeply and she fell to the floor. She watched as Swirl began talking to the older fillies, who had taken great interest in her due to her mane.
“I really like your mane too!” Swirl squeaked with glee. “Not so much yours though. It’s too big at the back. It looks weird.”
The weird mane pony looked positively flabbergasted and wasn’t sure if she should insult her back or even if she could. Her friends found it hilarious.
“You’re funny, filly. What’s your name?”
“I'm Swirl. I'm new. What do you guys do?”
The fillies looked at each other. They weren’t sure themselves. “Y’know, stuff,” offered one of them. “We can give you help with your mane.”
Swirl was shocked and appalled. “Well I never.”
“If you got something to hold your fringe up it would look very nice. Here.” The filly took the hair band from her mane and placed it in Swirl’s hair. “That should hold it up.”
Swirl looked up at her head band. It was white, soft and kept her mane out of her eyes, which she hadn’t noticed was a problem until then. She gasped and said, “Thank you!”
The coffee filly came up to her to compliment her but didn’t get the chance between the older fillies asking “Is this your friend?” and Swirl screaming “GO AWAY!”
The filly ran away crying to herself with sadness and fear.
The older fillies stood back and watched Swirl carefully as she huffed the rest of the anger out of her system. “You’ve got quite the temper.”
“Thanks! You too,” Swirl answered, not knowing what temper was but assuming it was something good.

Rainbow was at home. She very much enjoyed coffee and breakfast with Airheart but it could only last so long. After going home and cleaning what needed to be cleaned in the house, followed by cleaning what could have gone on a while without cleaning, Rainbow found she had nothing else to do.
It was eerily quiet. She kept thinking something was wrong, but had to keep reminding herself that nothing was.
The carpet was wearing thin beneath her hooves. She hadn’t realised for how long she was doing it but she was pacing a circle in living room.
“My life is so dull without them,” she said aloud. “It’s so long until I can go pick them up.” She stopped dead in her tracks. “Hang on. It’s been ages now so I should need to go get them soon.” Her heart jumped at the idea. She quickly trotted over to the clock on the mantel piece and inspected the time. Her hopeful smile faded into a disappointed scowl. “It’s only been three hours.”
She waited there, absent mindedly watching the second tick by on the clock. “I’ll go check the other clocks, just to be sure.”
The other clocks said more or less the same thing, except the one in her bedroom that had reset itself so she spent as long as she could putting it to the correct time again, and returned to pacing around the living room, trying to think of things to do to occupy her time. The only things that came to mind involved her children in some way, and that only made her feel sad.

The school day was coming to an end and the class was getting ready for it. Chairs were placed on top of tables, the reason for which no one could even guess, and bags were packed and ready to go.
“My dad likes basketball so they called me Hoops. What did your dad call you?”
“Mummy gave us our names,” Shine answered calmly before her sister could shout at him. Hoops had a personality that easily grated on anyone, yet somehow Shine was immune.
Hoops snickered. “You still say mummy?” he said through a giggle.
“You don’t?!” Swirl answered back as if it was disrespectful.
“No.”
Dash shook her head. “Some ponies,” she muttered, followed by loud tutting.
“So why did your… mummy, call you that?” He sniggered at the use of the word.
“Swirl is named after Mummy because she was first, she liked the name Shine and Dash looked fast,” Shine answered simply. Dash looked smug.
“What does your dad do?” Hoops asked.
“We don’t have a dad,” Shine answered simply.
Hoops’ jaw hit the floor. “What?!”
The three Rainbows shrugged their shoulders. “So? We’ve got Mummy and she’s the best!” Swirl insisted.
“Yeah,” Dash added, “We don’t need a dad when we’ve got Mummy.”
Hoops couldn’t believe it and refused to. “But dads are the best. Mums are for girls.”
Before they could make sense of what they thought was an insult and figure out why it was an insult the bell rang. The class fell silent.
“Alright, children,” the teacher said nicely. “I hope you’ve all had a wonderful first day and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Now please follow me back to the playground.”
All the students followed the teacher back into the playground in an almost orderly fashion where all the parents and guardians were waiting.
“See ya tomorrow,” Hoops said to the Rainbows as he walked over to his mother.
The Rainbows trotted casually through the crowds, keeping an eye out for their mother. Through a clearing Shine spotted her looking around impatiently. She broke into a sprint.
Rainbow gasped a sigh of relief as she saw her daughters but was a little concerned seeing Shine sprinting, but there was no time to dwell as the filly launched herself at her mother and clutched onto her neck in a tight hug.
Rainbow was taken aback and felt a well of tears build up as she heard Shine sniff. She wrapped her hooves tightly around her and enjoyed the hug immensely. It was one of the best.
Dash and Swirl trotted beside her and watched in confusion. “Why is she doing that?” Dash asked. “This wasn’t sad it was fun!”
“Yeah,” agreed Swirl.
“What? Don’t you miss me?” Rainbow asked sarcastically, but secretly hoped they did.
“A little,” Dash said after some consideration. “But not enough to cry over.”
“I cried though,” Rainbow said. Dash and Swirl gave her a confused look. “Yeah. This morning I was a wreck! Just a crying blob on the floor. So it’s okay to miss me and cry if you want to.”
Swirl and Dash exchanged looks before they dived onto their mother as well.
Rainbow caught them and hugged all three as tightly as she could. Dash and Swirl may not have cried, but she could tell they missed her as much as Shine. Rainbow fell to the ground, propped up by the fence behind her. She felt whole again as she held her children.
Some moments passed before they moved again due to children shouting at them.
“Bye, Dash!” said an excited colt.
“See ya!” Dash said back. “That’s one of my friends,” she said proudly to her mother.
“Oh, he seems nice, Dashie.” Rainbow kissed her forehead, followed by the other two. “How about you two? Did you make any new friends?”
Shine nodded her head.
Swirl thought of the coffee and brown filly and was filled with seething anger, and in a low, threatening voice she said, “I made an enemy.”
Rainbow laughed. “An enemy? Already?”
Swirl nodded. “She wouldn’t tell me her name when I asked so now I don’t like her.”
Rainbow smiled and shook her head. “Give her time. Maybe she was just shy.”
Swirl decided to ignore that. Hating the filly was more fun.
“Come on,” Rainbow said as she gently placed her little Rainbows on the ground. “Let’s go home.” They took to the skies. “You still have four more days until you get a day off.”
The fillies had mixed feelings about this.

Tuesday

Rainbow saw her children off to school again. Through the door they walked, not looking back, leaving her alone for another day.
“I'm not gonna cry,” she assured herself. “Not this time.” She sniffed loudly and dried her eyes on the back of her hoof.
“Hi there. How are you holding up today then?” Airheart asked.
“Oh, yes. Much better, thank you,” Rainbow replied. “Do you want to get coffee again? It’s just that I’m so bored without them and I need to do something before I go crazy.”
“Sure. I'm not doing anything anymore now that Fluttershy is here so… after you.”
The two mares left to enjoy each other’s company.

Shine and Hoops were in a heated argument over which is better: boys or girls? Hoops was insisting boys were better at everything, except cooking and cleaning, while Shine was determined to convince him that that isn’t the case and it differs from to pony to pony.
“But Princess Celestia runs a whole country! And she’s a mare!” Shine argued. For the first time in her life she felt anger.
“But she’s an Alicorn so she has an unfair advantage. If she was a boy she would run the country even better. That’s what my dad says.” The smugness was unbearable.
“Shut up about your dad,” Dash told him. “No one cares about him. He’s making you think badly about mares.”
“No he’s not. He’s smart. He’s older than us so he knows what he’s talking about.”
Dash and Shine stared at him dumbfoundedly. They couldn’t believe how stubborn he was being despite all the evidence placed before him. They needed Swirl but she was distracted.
The staring was intense between them. Daggers flew across the room. The coffee and brown filly had changed drastically in the evening they weren’t near each other. Yesterday she was a sweet, smiling filly who was looking for a friend, but now she was angry. Something had snapped inside her and she felt nothing but a seething hatred. At least that’s all Swirl could read from her.
“Swirl,” Dash started, “Want to weigh in here? Hoops is being stupid.”
“I am not!”
Swirl turned round on her chair but before she could unleash her opinions on Hoops the teacher called for attention. It was time for the next lesson.

Lunchtime was fast becoming one of the favourite times of day for the fillies. After a hard morning of basic maths and literacy they needed a well earned meal. Dash and Shine scoffed down their food, Dash because she wanted to go fly some more and Shine because she had no self control. Swirl did not eat fast, she was never one to and enjoyed taking her time with it, but this time it was because she could feel that filly boring holes in the back of her head.

Most of this is from my last period of activity, but I'm carrying on still! This is the first 2 days of the little Rainbows' first week at school. The longest chapter so far.
Annoyingly I have misplaced the plan for MLR, but I'm sure it will turn up.
Also:

Canterlot university. The most prestigious university in the world. Regarded highly in all academic studies. Greatest research facilities in Sciences and the Arcane Arts. Of course, this means nothing to the students, who are just like any other in the world. A wide assortment, from those who go to study and nothing else all the way to those who drink far too heavily and may have permanently their livers.

It was a Friday night. The student club was playing old school music. It was packed with those who did not want to face the upcoming deadlines and had too much to drink.
One such stallion was Night Light. A tall colt whose deep blue coat made him blend all too well into the darkness of the club, but in his inebriated state he did not care in the slightest. So many ponies missed him and bumped into something, and were scared of this ghostly figure.
There was one other pony. A mare with a coat of grey and mane of purple. Short and sweet, but she knew how to move her body to the beat. She never saw him, not until she bumped into him. She turned to face the mysterious object. She could make out his eyes. Golden rings in the dark. But then the lights came up and she saw who he really was. She smiled at him.
He smiled back.
They danced together, long into the night. Later on they found themselves in his bed. It was a night they would never forget.

He became a legend amongst his friends. He was the first of his friends to get with another pony since they started, and the way he described her she was a solid ten out of ten, a goddess. One that was really good in bed. It was three weeks before they saw each other again.
Night was walking around the campus with his friends after a thoroughly unproductive study session.
“There you are!” a mare shouted from across the square.
Night froze. He knew it was at him, but he couldn't tell who. He turned slowly watched as a mare approached him. “Err...”
“Um, hi,” she started. “I'm Twilight Velvet. Remember me? I was the mare you...” She blushed. “The mare you spent the night with. A few weeks ago.”
Night sank inside. He went pale and nearly collapsed to the floor. He could feel his friends staring between him and the mare and was preparing himself for the relentless mocking of his severely exaggerated description of the Velvet. Sure, she was a cute mare, very attractive in most ways. She was a little podgier than he remembered, and much more dishevelled in the light of day, but he still felt a few butterflies in his stomach. Although the problem was not that was ugly, which she wasn't, but rather just how attractive he thought she was and what he had told his friends. It was quite a way off.
“Hi. I'm Night Light” He blushed.
“look, um...” Velvet started, but she stopped and looked down. Eye contact was not helping. She too could feel her friends across the square watching her and judging for her choice of stallion and how much better they pictured him. However, to her, he was everything she described him as. “I need to talk to you.”
Night nodded but did nothing else. It was Velvet who made the move. She grabbed his hoof and dragged him to an open area with no one within earshot, somewhere in the middle of the square.
It was a short conversation, less than a minute, and she did all the talking. After she was done there was a brief silence, then Night went stiff as a board and fell to the floor. His friends ran to his side and helped him up to his hooves.
“What did you tell him?” one of them asked, but she didn't respond, instead she took a sheet of paper from one of her bags, scribbled a note, placed it by Night Light and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
A small crowd had gathered around them, full of ponies making sure he was alright and demanding to know what happened.
“Hey, mate, what did she say?”
He was pale beneath his coat and his body shook uncontrollably. “She's pregnant.”

“What I'm about to tell you is very hard to say so I'm just going to say it.” Her face screwed up as she took a massive lungful of air. “I'm pregnant and you're definitely the father because you're the only guy I've been with and I'm gonna keep it because I just can't think of anything else but please understand I don't expect you to get involved if you want not to and that's totally okay with me I just thought you should know are you okay Night Light?”
Night Light then fainted.
Velvet knew she should have expected that, but there was no way she could have prepared for it. “Um, okay...” She ripped a corner off of one of her pages of notes and wrote her address. “This is my address if you want to talk more about this. I think it would be useful.” She tucked it under his body and bolted.

It was dark now. It got dark early this time of year. Night Light held the scrap of paper, reading the address over and over again, wandering if he should actually go. The complex formula on the back was of little comfort to him.
He decided he had been standing outside her door for long enough. He hadn't dressed very appropriately for the weather. It was time to make a decision.
He knocked.
Then he ran away.
A mare that was not Velvet answered the door. “He ran away again,” she shouted over her shoulder.
“Again? That's the fourth time now. How long was he stood there this time?” Velvet asked. The worry of pregnancy had waned over the past week and she actually enjoyed Night Light's visits, no matter how brief.
The other mare walked back into the living room and rubbed her eyes. “About 5 minutes I think. I tell ya, that peep hole hurts after a minute or two.”
Velvet sniffed with amusement and continued with her studies. The complexity of the subject and the enjoyment she got from it offered a great distraction from the more pressing problems she was facing, it fact she was doing better in spite of it when most mares would do quite the opposite.
“You don't seem very... anything about his visits.”The mare shrugged. “Doesn't it annoy you? It annoys me.”
Velvet turned another page of the textbook. “His visits are getting longer. He clearly wants to talk about it. It's just hard for him to get his head around I guess. I was awful when I found out.”
“I suppose. But maybe you should make the next move.”
Velvet shook her head before highlighting a line or two in the book.
“Meet him halfway, maybe?”
“How'd you mean?”
“Next time he stands out there just open the door. That oughta work.”
Velvet thought about it for a second before shaking her head. “Okay, but you do it.”
“Sure.”
It was silent for a while. The mare took a seat on the sofa Velvet and her books had claimed. Reading the notes and books upside down didn't make anymore or less sense than before. Chemistry was far beyond her.
“There's something else on your mind, isn't there?” Velvet continued to read.
“Do you really not care?” the mare asked sincerely. “I mean, he is your child's father. Don't you want him to be involved? Don't you want your child to have a father?”
“Of course I want a father in my kid's life, but I don't know if I want him to be it.”
“How'd you figure that?”
Velvet looked up at her. The look in her eyes showed she had thought this over many more times than she wanted to, but it was a truth she had to admit. “He seems a bit...” she waved her hoof while waiting for the right word, “laddy, you know?”
“What?”
“Like, the kind of guy that's really into drinking, who sleeps with randos in club.”
“You did that though?”
“Yeah, but it was very out of character for me.”
“Might be for him as well though.”
“I don't know though,” Velvet winced, she didn't know if she could trust him. “I just need to talk to him. I mean, did you see his friends? They seemed like they would treat mares disrespectfully, if you know what I mean. I don't trust those who keep that kind of company.”
“Of course I know what I mean. Anyway, he is super cute though.”
Velvet blushed. Boy talk was alien to her, but she couldn't help but agree.

“Did you do it this time?” The way the door to the flat and then the door to a bedroom slammed answered his question. “I guess not.”
After enough time to make some tea he went to see the upset colt. Night Light sat on his bed, wrapped in scarf, gently banging his head against the wall.
“Oi, mate, you're gonna hurt yourself.” With a small amount of magic he pulled him away from the wall and passed him the steaming mug.
“I can't do it.” Night Light shrunk into a ball on the bed, his friend was lucky to catch the tea.
“Sure you can mate,” he said with a smile. “And why wouldn't you? She seems nice.”
“Dude, this is way more complicated than that. And would you stop playing that bloody trumpet!”
“Sorry,” came a muffled voice from the room next to his.
“I got a mare pregnant!”
“Yeah but... do you like her?”
“What?”
“Ya know, do you like like her?”
Night Light's silence spoke volumes.
“Well there ya go.” He took an obnoxious sip of tea. “Forget she's pregnant and just talk to her like a normal pony. I'm sure she'll be happy. And ya know, one thing might lead to another and things could get a bit cheeky.”
“You make it sound so easy. Like talking to girls isn't the hardest thing in the world.”
“Course it's not. Like, just last night I met this bird and we ended up necking-.”
“Do you have to talk like that.” He hated it but it made him laugh inside.
“There's that smile.” He winked.
Night Light shook his head.
“Tell ya what, mate, I'll come with tomorrow. Bit of moral support.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate it. I really do.”
“No trouble.” He left Night Light to his problems.

It was the next night. Night light and his mate stood at the door.
“Go on then.”
Night Light nodded, took a deep breath and raised his hoof to knock on the door. It opened to a mare that was not Velvet.
“Oh my gosh I've got the wrong house I'm so sorry.”
“No you didn't,” she said. “Come in. She's been expecting you.” She stood aside for him.
Night Light didn't like it, but he had gone past the point of no return. He walked inside followed closely by his mate.
He nodded at the mare. “Alright?” he asked
She stared at him. She didn't expected anyone else to be there.
Night Light entered the living room, and there she was. The simple mare that made him weak in the knees for all kinds of reasons. She looked up at him and squeaked before swiftly yet smoothly closing her books and piling her papers in neat stacks on the coffee table. Night Light took the seat.
“It's so good to see you again.” She found herself going mushy and getting lost in his dreamy appearance. She blamed hormones.
“Y-yeah. You too.”
Velvet's housemate turned to Night Light's and quickly looked him up and down. He was a little taller, kinda fit, and had a fairly above average face. He will do, she thought. “I think we should give them a little privacy.”
“Probs, yeah.”
“Come on, we can chat in my room.” She started up the stairs and waited for him to follow.
He nodded. “Okay,” and with that he followed her.
“Just to be clear, I was propositioning you,” she said very clearly. She was certain it was lost on him, and she was right. She waited for his response.
He stopped mid step. Jaw hanging open and wide eyed. He didn't expect that. He looked at her. She was a mare, so of course he would say yes. He snorted. “Obvs.”

This is new. Written half today and half last thursday or something. Just a thing about Twilight's parents meeting and such. I'm enjoying writing it. I'm not burned out on it yet, so it's keeping my brain fresh right now. Also, it's a no backspace kind of deal (can't delete any plot I add, only edit stuff), so who knows it might actually be good.

I'm still not going to post anything until I actually finish a story in its entirety because that really unmotivates me. It's still going to be an age to get anything up. But hey, people who actually read my blog posts may get a little surprise very infrequently. In fact, so infrequently I probably shouldn't have mentioned it.

Also I have finally got over that girl! It took a while and a few sleepless nights but I finally realise that what I feel now is more regret of not doing anything rather than missing her, and having spoken to her again briefly I discovered that there is nothing between us now, we were both just being polite and the girl I liked is gone, just memories of her remain, which is okay.
Would still like a girlfriend though. That would be swell. Someone tell Dennyvixen for me (don't though, that would be super creepy and I'm not okay with that (unless it works)).

Anyway, this is getting weird and I've got work tomorrow so I should probably go to bed soon, but I'll leave you with this. Go watch 10 Cloverfield Lane. It's really good.

Goodnight!