Party Favor, Double Diamond, and Sugar Belle stood on the the second floor of the town hall. They stared at the half-finished roof that dangled off the edge, barely avoiding falling to the ground by hanging on to support beams that were jutting out the side of the building. Party Favor and Sugar Belle glanced at each other.
“So, what happened?” Double Diamond asked.
“It just sorta slid off,” Sugar Belle replied. “I guess we didn’t secure it properly. Thankfully it caught there so it didn’t hit the ground, but neither of us want to touch it.”
“Well, let’s at least try to pull it back up so it’s not just hanging there,” Double Diamond said as he stepped forward.
Are you sure about this?” Party Favor said. “We should probably get somepony else to help out with this. This seems kinda… precarious.”
“No way, we can totally do this!” Double Diamond said. “We just have to grab it and pull it up the rest of the way. Once it’s here it’ll be fine, we can attach it later. But we can’t just leave it hanging there.”
“Double Diamond,” Sugar Belle said, “I’m glad you’re all gung-ho about this, but we really do need some help for this. I don’t think three of us can handle this.”
“Eh, maybe,” Double Diamond said. He trotted over and put his hooves on the side of the roof. “But at the very least we can give it a try, you know? We might be able to get it.”
As his hoof pressed on it, the weight shifted. Double Diamond stumbled back as the structure fell another few inches, falling off one of the beams holding it up. Double Diamond leapt and grabbed the corner as it buckled again, the whole roof feeling like it was going to come apart in his hooves.
“Okay I don’t think we have time now,” he said, planting is hooves on the floor as best he could.
Party Favor and Sugar Belle ran over and grabbed onto the roof, hanging on as it swung back and forth.
“Help!” Sugar Belle yelled. “Somepony, we need some help with the roof!”
“Hang on, I got it!” came a voice from the other side. The roof suddenly stopped swinging, and the three ponies could feel the weight gradually ease up. “You guys got it? I’m going to lower it down, just keep holding onto it so it won’t fall!”
Slowly they lowered the roof down, the fourth pony keeping it steady. Finally, the weight completely gave out.
“Alright, it’s on the ground!” she shouted.
The three ponies let go and held their breath, but the roof stayed leaning against the side of the building. They let out a collective sigh of relief.
“That could have been a disaster,” Party Favor said, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Yeesh,” the voice said. “This place is falling apart without me, huh?”
The three turned to the source of the voice. Double Diamond’s eyes went wide.
“Night Glider?!”
Night Glider dropped her saddle bag to the ground. “Hey guys!” She barely finished the sentence when Double DIamond ran up and grabbed her in a hug, accidentally dropping them both to the ground.
“Night Glider! You’re back!” he shouted, holding her tighter. “Oh man it is so great to see you again, we missed you all so much!” He jumped to his hoovers so he was standing over her. “What was it like? Did you see your family? Did you—” He paused as he stared down at Night Glider, then his face went red. “Oh, uh, sorry,” he said, then stepped back and let Night Glider get up.
“I’ve been gone just over a week, Double-D,” Night Glider said with a giggle as she reached out and hugged him. “You’re such a dork.”
Party Favor and Sugar Belle rushed in and joined the group hug. “We didn’t expect to see you back so soon!” Party Favor finally said. “So, what happened? Are you back to pick stuff up? What was Modus like?” He paused and stepped back as his ears fell. “Oh no… did they not let you back in?”
“No, they let me back in Modus, and I got to talk to my parents,” Night Glider said, pulling away from Double Diamond and Sugar Belle. It’s just that… well, a lot happened on my way home, and I kinda realized something that I should have figured out a while ago.”
“What?” Sugar Belle said. Night Glider smiled.
“That this is my home. That you guys are my family. I’m really sorry that I left so suddenly, I was being impulsive. I hope you guys don’t hold it against—”
“We won’t hold it against you!” Double Diamond practically shouted. Party Favor and Sugar Belle giggled as he cleared his throat. “I mean, of course we won’t. You’re our friend! You said this was something you had to do, and you did it. I’m just happy to see you back.”
“Yeah, we are too!” Sugar Belle said. “You’re gonna have to tell us everything that happened!”
“Absolutely,” Night Glider said. “But not right now. I wanna go say hi to everyone.”
“Sure!” Double DIamond said. “We’ll come with you. Everyone's gonna want to know that you’re back!”
He ran up alongside Night Glider and smiled at her, as the two of them trotted towards the stairs. Party Favor and Sugar Belle chuckled as they followed her down the stairs and out into town.
----------
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The stars were shining brightly, and the moon was hanging low in the distance. Night Glider sat on the roof, staring off into the distance at the stars. There was a light wind that was blowing her mane back. She took in a deep breath of the crisp night air.
She hadn’t been able to sleep. She had only gotten back to town a few hours ago after a long flight, but despite the journey back, every time she closed her eyes, her mind raced.
Her ears twitched.
“Hello?” she said, craning her neck to the side “Somepony down there?”
“Uh, hey,” a voice came from below.
“Double-D? What are you doing up so late?” She trotted to the edge of the roof and looked over at Double Diamond standing on the ground.
“I could ask you the same question,” Double Diamond said. “Actually, no, you’re kinda built for being nocturnal. I saw you sitting up here, just wondering if everything’s okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Everything’s great. Wanna come up?”
“Sure!” he replied, then glanced around. “Uh, don’t see a ladder around here…”
Night Glider jumped to her hooves and flew down. Before Double Diamond could even react, she had scooped him up by the legs and was carrying him up to the roof.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “This works too.”
Night Glider landed on the roof, letting go of Double Diamond and sitting down again. Double Diamond sat down next to her, and they both watched the sky.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No way. Thinking about too much.”
“Oh…” Double Diamond said, scratching the back of his head. “About Modus?”
Night Glider shook her head. “No. About a bunch of friends I have in Palmacolta. About a place called Cloudsdale that a bunch of pegasi invited me to come visit. About wanting to get this place up and running, make up for the time that I missed here.”
Double Diamond looked over at her. “Really? You’re not thinking about Modus?”
“Nah,” she said. “Not right now, anyway.”
“Right now?” Double Diamond shuffled his hoof against the floor. “Hey, Night Glider, I don’t think you told any of us yet… what exactly happened in Modus?”
Night Glider watched as a shooting star went by in the far distance. She took in another breath and turned to Double Diamond.
“Nothing,” she said.
Double Diamond raised an eyebrow. “Nothing?”
“Yeah,” Night Glider continued. “I went in, I talked to my parents about what I was doing with my life, and I left. I wasn’t even there twenty minutes.”
“Huh,” Double Diamond said. “I mean, after all that travel and everything you said to us, I kinda expected to hear that there was more.”
“Yeah, I did too,” she said. “But I got all the answers I was looking for on the way there. It was just a matter of realizing it for myself, you know?”
“So are you ever going to go back?”
Night Glider sighed. “No. The mayor made it clear, I got lucky to be let in, it’s never going to happen again. He’ll let me send letters to my parents, but other than that, the Modus part of my life is done forever.”
She didn’t say anything for another moment. Double Diamond scooted a bit closer to her.
“Sorry, Night Glider,” he said.
“Yeah. I’m losing a lot of my past. Most of it, really,” she said. She turned and looked Double Diamond in the eye, “But you know what? I have a whole new life to start here. They don’t want me there, and I’m finally okay with that. I think I like this new life way better than the old one anyway.”
She turned back to watch the night sky. Double Diamond scooted closer again, to the point where he was almost touching Night Glider. He looked around nervously and took a deep breath, then slowly leaned his head over onto her shoulder. Night Glider glanced down at him, then slowly smiled and rested her head on top of his.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m really happy you’re back,” Double Diamond said. “We all are. I know it’s tough to let go of home… but I’m really happy you did.”
Night Glider turned to look back out over the starry sky, as in the distance the moon seemed to shimmer brighter.
“Yeah,” she quietly said. “I am, too.”