On her way home from the castle, before the sun rose, Stella considered her route. Normally she would fly in through her window, but now that she had a roommate, she needed to keep her in mind. The normal way to return home from work was through the front door, so she altered her path to end on the other side of the building where the non-flying entrance was located. She walked in, relocking the door behind her. Another habit she needed to get used to.
Stella wasn't ready for bed quite yet. She had important things to take care of, but who would want to write with an empty stomach. She opened the fridge to see what snacks she had left. She would need to reorganize the fridge to give Brighteyes a good portion of it because now, she had just as much a right to space as Stella. More and more changes, but she'd get used to it.
She settled on apple juice and slammed the fridge door shut with her bat wing as she turned toward her room. As soon as she felt the door part from her wing, she knew she messed up. She winced in anticipation and was met with a loud bang. It was no harder than she normally shut the fridge door when she was alone, but she wasn't alone anymore. She looked toward Brighteyes's door. It was thankfully shut, but there was no doubt that she would've felt it if she were still awake. Stella really didn't want to explain herself while she was still a bat pony.
She rushed to her room and hoped if she had woken up her roommate, she could apologize in the morning with a normal Pegasus appearance. After taking a deep breath, she removed the magical pendant around her neck, so her transformation back would begin. Even though it took a while, it was definitely worth it to be a part of Luna's personal staff. She sat at her desk with her apple juice and began writing a letter. She liked writing letters after work. Even though her classes were starting in the morning, she needed something to do to calm her mind, and slow her thoughts before she would be able to sleep.
As she wrote, she heard a creak from behind. She quickly turned around, and spied one of Brighteyes's bright eyes before it went wide, and vanished. This was the last thing she wanted. She jumped up to try and explain, but before she got halfway to her door, she heard a slam and a click from across the apartment. Great, Stella thought, Oh well. I guess I'll clean up this mess in the morning. She returned to her desk to finish the letter to her brother. It had been a while since she had seen him, and after realizing how much she missed him, she decided to reach out once again. It had been a few weeks, after all. He was usually pretty good at responding from Manehattan. She let out a yawn, and rolled up the completed letter, then moved to her bed, and curled up in the warm blankets. The alarm clock beside her informed her that her business class was in six hours. This was going to be tough.
On the other side of the apartment, Brighteyes laid in bed with her bedsheets over her muzzle, eyes fixed on her locked door, and entire body shaking in fear. She had just seen a vampony, and it was in Stella's room, in her own apartment! She just hoped a lock could hold it, so it didn't eat her, too. Then a thought occurred to her that was even worse. What if that was Stella, and she was turned into a vampony earlier that night. Eventually, her eyes refused to stay open, but her sleep for the rest of the night was fitful and best.
In the morning, Stella emerged looking normal. That is if normal included ruffled, feathery wings and bags under her eyes. At least she had brushed her mane into something presentable for the first day of School. She wasn't an animal. She found Brighteyes at the table eating from a bowl of oats. Stella was hoping she wouldn't say anything, because she was already running late, and couldn't afford to spend the time to explain everything now. To her pleasant surprise, her roommate remained silent even as Stella hastily grabbed a juicy apple from the counter, and bit into it as she passed by the table squirting some of the juice onto Brighteyes's muzzle. Stella halted and tried to say "Sorry" around the apple clenched in her mouth. Brighteyes just brushed the liquid from her nose and continued shoveling oats into her mouth even as her eyes seemed to be focused beyond Stella. She took that as forgiveness and headed out the door without a second thought.
It had happened so fast. She wanted to say something to Stella that morning, and confront her if she still was Stella, about what she had seen the previous night, but this morning, Stella had normal wings again. Did she imagine the vampony she saw last night? Of course, I did, she tried to convince herself. Vamponies aren't real! But there was no denying what she had seen with her own eyes. She began to sweat. Of all the scenarios she had imagined of this morning, and this might have been one of the worst possible outcomes just shy of being eaten as soon as she opened her door, which hadn't happened. She had no answers; no explanation for what she had witnessed. After the nightmares of Stella eating her, she was now convinced she had let an evil loose in Canterlot, and wouldn't be surprised if she heard about ponies starting to go missing. Brighteyes shook the idea out of her head. There has to be a logical explanation for what I saw. With that thought to fortify her, she decided to read her textbooks in preparation for her own classes.
-00--00--00--
Stella wanted to die. It had only been two hours, but the class was over, she was overjoyed. Learning about business trades and how to earn the most bits with the least amount of work had no interest to her. She was not an entrepreneur kind of pony, so she braced herself for a few months of jumping through hoops for her instructor, and feigning interest to get a passing grade.
She walked over to the library so she could get her homework out of the way. She had plans tonight to go drinking with her co-workers after her art class and was not about to let some boring business homework get in her way. She sat down at a table and started to read her textbook. The book was talking about bits and the power they held, as well as how complicated coin exchange businesses like the stock market worked. She forced a smile as she mentally dubbed the class get rich 101, something she had next to no interest in. Her father grew up rich and he worked hard to stay that way. Stella just found life to be a chore if it was all about earning bits to stay rich or become rich. All that running around, chasing after bits that her father did while providing comfort to her and her family, did not replace her father well. She was certain all she wanted was to eventually have a simple life and a family, so she could care for them personally, not have some hired babysitter raise them for her.
She realized she had reached the bottom of the current page she was on, but couldn't remember any of what she had read from it. She sighed and pulled out a snack while she re-read the page, and focused through to the end of the reading assignment. She then began work on an essay about the chapters she had just read, making sure that none of the juice from the fruit she was eating got on her book or paper.
Hours later, after concluding her final draft, she packed up her bags and entered the bathroom. She checked the stalls, and finding herself alone, pulled the magical pendant from her saddlebag, and tossed it around her neck. Transforming into a bat pony was much quicker than turning back, because the more time she spent as a batpony, the more magic would build up that needed to dissipate. She smiled at the mirror as her fangs became visible. Her wings morphed from feathers to a membrane, and her eyes shifted and began to glow. No matter how many times she watched the transformation take place, it never lost its appeal. Already, she could feel the added strength in her wings that came with the transformation. She stepped out of the bathroom a new pony. A batpony. Once outside, she let her new power propel her through the air toward her art class. This would be much more pleasant than Get Rich 101 had been.
Stella arrived and found a seat. Not a minute later, a Unicorn with a pink stripe in his mane sat down next to her. She smiled at the Unicorn stallion.
“Hey there, good-looking,” the Unicorn began the conversation with a smile. Stella couldn’t tell if he was playing around or not. How cheesy was this stallion trying to be?
“You think I’m good looking?" She responded, "Well then, what about me pleases you?” She finished in a playful tone.
“Well, I have to say that you're different, which is why I wanted to sit next to you. But the thing right now that I like the most is your smile,” the Unicorn replied back.
Stella was not expecting an answer like that, so she thought for a moment. That was surprisingly sincere sounding after the cheesy opening. There must have been something she was missing. “Thank you. So, you like my fangs?” She said with a smile that was sure to show them off.
“No, I just think your fangs are cool. Your smile, on the other hoof, says a lot about you. Also, a cute face to go with it doesn't hurt.” Stella was unsure how this encounter was going. She concluded that he was either playing a game or flirting with her. If it was a game Stella didn’t want to lose.
“That was sweet, but what makes you think I would want to be friends with a pony who’s trying to flirt with somepony just because she's different? It's like you couldn't make any normal friends, so you need to lower your standards,” Stella shot out with a sweet tone in her voice.
“Do you need some ice for that burn?” Asked the stallion. Stella's smug look turned into confusion. Seeing her reaction, he continued to explain in a whisper, “You just claimed I'd need to lower my standards before trying to flirt with you." Stella’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks. She had lost the game. She wanted to slap him so hard, but, if she did, it would only make her a sore loser. Luckily, she didn't have to think of a way to salvage the situation.
The professor entered the classroom followed by a hush and the end to the various conversations between students. He turned to face them, and asked in a high, soft voice, "Why are you here?" He waited.
One of the slower students on the other side of the classroom started looking around, and asked, "This is an art class, right?" Followed by some snickers from the back row.
"This is, indeed, art class. That is not what I meant. Why are you in art class, Mr...?" He trailed off.
"Inkquill, sir." The professor waited. Inkquill, realizing he was asked a question, continued, "Oh, uh. I'm here because I want to learn how to draw better. I wanna make comics!" He concluded with a smile.
"Good", the professor responded. "Thank you, Mr. Inkquill. Let's go around the room. I want to know your name, and why you are here."
Some of them wanted to get better at drawing or painting, A few wanted to learn how to do shading and other higher techniques, but for Stella, it was to learn how to paint. After, they had a classroom discussion about what got them into this class, as well as their favorite painting, drawing, and/or artist. Stella raised her hoof to say that her favorite artist was her boss, Princess Luna, for she was the one who created the night sky like she was painting on a canvas. The class was so much fun. She found out a lot of things about different kinds of art. She also learned the stallion sitting next to her was named Broad Horizons, and he kept glancing at her throughout the class. She mostly ignored him. Her mind was busy soaking in an ocean of ideas that could only be released through her pen and pencil. As she pondered about the idea of drawing her family, a note was slipped under her hoof. She opened and read it.
It read, “By the way, my friends call me Rize. Do you want to come drinking with me after class?” Stella smiled a little bit, wrote a reply, and gave it back.
After reading her note, “So, does that mean I can call you Rize? I’m already going drinking afterward, you’re more than welcome to come and buy my drinks;)” ”, Rize smiled at Stella, however, Stella was still unsure how she felt about Rize. She had decided to give him a chance, though, because it gave her the chance to slap him later tonight, and blame intoxication.
The two of them started walking to the bar and talked on the way. Stella liked that he was a painter trying to learn how to draw. She told herself that she would only like this odd Unicorn as a friend. Stella was having fun just walking to the bar, but she wanted to see if Rize could be just as smooth while he was drunk. Once they got to the bar they headed over to the counter and ordered drinks.
“So, do you really like fruit enough to get a fruit cocktail?” asked Rize, drinking his beer.
“I love fruit. It’s a batpony thing. You see we can’t digest grain or hay very well, and it sometimes just sits in our gut for a long time, giving very few nutrients. Fruit seems to be the best thing for us,” replied Stella with a smile. Some other Bat-ponies joined them and Rize stopped drinking to see how Stella would act when drunk. The night continued on, and Stella had a few drinks before she caught on to what Rize was doing. Having waited patiently for her moment of payback, Stella took the opportunity to slap him with her wing. Rize grabbed his face in shock.
“What are you trying to do?” Stella snapped.
“I want to be your friend, and I want to know if you’re a good drinking buddy,” Rize said with caution in his tone.
“Just make sure that is all you want to be: my friend. Got it?” she shot back with a firm voice so that there was no room for any mistranslation. Rize grabbed another beer and Stella, seeing her ultimatum was accepted, drank some apple cider. The night went on and Stella started to feel bad about lashing out at Rize. So she wanted to make it up to him somehow.
Later that night, they left the bar together so Rize could walk Stella home. For the most part, she had a great time. Once they got to the apartment, Rize hugged Stella and started to walk off.
“Wait…”
“Yes, Stella?” He half turned back toward her, but she had closed the distance between them and planted a kiss right on his mouth. She held it for about three seconds before pulling back and blushing. “What was that for?” asked Rise in shock, but it was obvious that he wanted more.
“That was for slapping you", she replied, not meeting his eyes. "So don’t get any ideas!” she concluded, her wits re-gained, looking right at him. He smirked, clearly disappointed, but happy it had gone as well as it had.
“I’ll see you in class, Stella,” he said as he walked away.
Stella opened the door and walked inside only to be hit in the head by an onion hanging in the doorway. She closed the door behind her, and stopped the onion from swinging, but being too tired, and too drunk to care why it was there, she continued into her room. She sat down at her desk and began to draw, not knowing what, in her state, she would come up with, but confident that she'd have fun doing it.