Late Shift allowed a gangly brown tarantula to slowly walk his way up her hoof without a care in the world. Her glowing orange eyes locked on the creature with care and patient silence as both pondered their life choices.
"You entered my web in search of sanctuary, but alas only found desolation." Late Shift spoke barely above a whisper as she guided the prey towards the tip of her elegant hoof.
"I search for a meaning to it all, but I suppose it's not meant to be." She clutched the creature by one of his legs and dangled him helplessly over her open mouth.
"Life's not fair, is it? You see, I... well, I shall never find peace amongst the chaos. And you... shall never see the light of another day. Adieu." Late Shift savored the fear of her snack curling into a frightened ball, as she lowered the spider towards her waiting jaws.
"Ahem!" Julie coughed loudly into her speaker, a loud static hiss filled the air as the bat pony accidentally tossed the spider across the room.
"Grrr." Late Shift hissed with bared fangs, her snack scurried into the shadows to never be seen again.
"We have a new caller, Six String." Julie yawned before unfolding a cosmopolitan magazine, her attention on the matter elsewhere.
"Hello String, you owe me a snack! But I guess a question shall do…" She hissed playfully into the microphone with a sly hint of devious intent.
"Hey, Late Shift.
This is Six String, Guitarist & Vocalist for "The Pones". My question is, Was it difficult adjusting to working with hoomans & working in the hooman world?"
Late Shift arched a thin brow in curiosity. "I'm still adjusting if we're being perfectly honest, these hoomans just don't seem to understand poor little me." She lifted her hoof over her eyes in a dramatic fashion.
"As if." Julie lowered her reading material with a loud snort.
"Why won't you carpool me to work then?" Late Shift chirped.
"Because we work at midnight, besides you can fly!?" Julie narrowed her eyes to the overgrown rat with wings.
"See Strings!? The hooman experience shall forever elude me, as long as people like Julie exist." Late Shift grinned with a teasing flick of her tail.
"You want to fit in!? Take a pay cut with me then." Julie popped her lips sarcastically.
"Moving on! You spoke of a band?" Late Shift quickly switched subjects with a frantic gaze.
"Yeah, we're searching for our next gig now! By the way, Underlying Bassline, Pounding Percussion, Melodic Rhythm & I really like your show." String chuckled with a proud tone over the radio waves.
"Why thank you, I used to be part of a band myself." Late Shift pushed her chest floof outward as memories of thrashing hotels came flooding back.
"What!?" Julie scrunched her nose, not quite buying that as fact.
"Believe it! We were called "The Batz", and our music was fluid as it was contemporary!" Late Shift stole a sip from her mango sized mug.
"We even raised the dead for one of our music videos, though we couldn't get them to die again." Late Shift scrunched her muzzle remembering how her bandmates were dragged away by the undead.
"Uhh?" Julie wasn't sure how to respond.
"Fun fact, two weeks after my band vanished "The Gorillaz" dropped Clint Eastwood." Late Shift flashed the frightened Julie a stone-faced expression.
"Can I ask another question?" String spoke up to break the awkward silence.
"Sure, I'm liking your style." Late Shift flaunted her hoof.
"Was there any discrimination, or any stupid thing like that?" String decided to become more serious with his next question.
"Discrimination? I'd say a tiny bit." Late Shift folded her ocean blue ears back sadly.
"How so? Everybody here treats you like a plushie." Julie snorted.
"Not here but out there." She spun on her stool towards the room's window.
Late Shift lifted her large orange eyes towards the glowing pale moon. Thoughts of how humans treated her on the streets flooded back, she wasn't allowed to eat in certain restaurants due to health violations.
She was ticketed for disturbing the peace, by simply walking around her neighborhood enjoying the night's beauty. How for the longest time she was jobless until this station needed a token creature for amusement.
Is that all she was?
A token?
"Is everything ok?" String asked in a comforting tune.
"We all face our personal struggles, the trick is to never let it define you." Late Shift let her voice switch to something far less sassy and more mature.
"Should I switch callers?" Julie spoke up as her face softened to an expression of concern.
"Nah, String tell me about this band!" Late Shift giggled, shaking off the yearning for her motherland in a swift motion.
"Well Melodic is a Bat Pony too, while Underlying is a Unicorn, Pounding is an Earth Pony & I'm a Pegasus. All we need is an Alicorn who plays piano & we'd have all five Pony races in the band." String introduced his bandmates as his voice beamed with pride.
"Righteous! Creatures out there seem to forget about unity, especially nowadays when we're no doubt stronger together than divided." Late Shift flashed a fanged smile to her friend behind the glass, her right fang chipped at the tip.
"Absolutely agree, they're more than just friends…" String spoke as the bat pony perked her ears upward excitedly.
"They're family." Late Shift let a squee escape her muzzle.
"You're more than just a Bat Pony, don't forget that." String reassured the radio personality with such a warm presence of kindness.
Late Shift smiled, knowing no matter how far she was from home. That she wasn't any less of a spirited soul for it, that deep down everybody mattered and brought forth their own unique flair. Her eyes spotted the poor spider off in the corner still frightened, a sigh escaping the muzzle.
"Indeed, too true." She pointed to the spider with a look of regret.
"Big or small, human or pony. We all deserve to be given a chance, thank you so much for calling in tonight, it was actually a delight." Late Shift leaned forward to speak happily into the microphone.
"It wasn't a problem at all." String laughed as the call ended.
"This is Late Night Mangoes, to all those feeling alone tonight." Late Shift tapped her hoof on the music board to her left, a guitar rendition of Midnight Sonata began to play over the radio.
"This one's for you, remember we're all in this together."