//------------------------------// // Living in Oblivion, Part II // Story: meanwhile...: Tales of the Berylverse // by Shinzakura //------------------------------// “Chicken! When-when I run a beat a run ring right off a feet-a Even with two defeat-a, I run, I run around-a Forever live and take it, forever give and fake it And we got eyes to make it, even with two defeat-a “Oh, every time I lose my head Oh, every time I lose my head Oh, every time I lose my head I forget my hips and lips and I give you a kiss instead” The sounds of Wide Boy Awake pumped over the tinny stereo speakers in the arcade in Puttin’ Place. At the moment, miniature golf had been forgotten about as two combatants went to war against each other. “C’mon!” Night threw his hands up. “I swear, that dragon thing—” “Fygar,” Velvet corrected, quickly reading the legend off the side of the screen as she continued her play through. “They’re called fygars.” “Whatever! I have no idea how they managed to do that teleporting through rocks and stuff and how you were able to catch them like that!” She grinned, though never taking her eyes off the screen. “Skill, Night,” she said in a cool tone. “Pure skill.” When they had arrived, they had discovered, much to their dismay, that both miniature golf courses were currently closed due to returfing. Likewise, with the line to the go-carts too busy and neither of them interested in the batting cages, that left the arcade. And while Night himself found himself somewhat of an arcade ace…he had to admit, in Velvet he may have met his match. So far, the two had gone head-to-head at Pac-Man (she got the higher score easily), Asteroids (he won there), Space Invaders (same), Galaxian (she outright destroyed him), Donkey Kong (they tied), Vanguard (another tie) and now with Dig Dug on the line to claim the prize. As he leaned against the cabinet, watching her move her hands on the joystick effortlessly with a laser-like focus he hadn’t seen before, he had to admit, Twilight Velvet was a special girl. Granted, she wasn’t the centerfold beauty that Celestia was, but she really didn’t need to be. She was a friendly, amiable person, easy to talk to and always had a smile on her face and stuck to her guns. Yeah, maybe some guys would have figured her to be an 8 rather than a 10, but…. “Hey, get a load of that ass!” Night turned to look at two teenagers, both looking like they still needed to grow a few more years before puberty would be kind to them, leering at Velvet’s jean-encased butt as she played. She wasn’t aware of it, but she was unintentionally shaking her rear as she played the game, catching the attention of more than a few male gazes around. Something about that bothered him and he moved slightly to prevent any further looks. “Hey, what the fuck, nerd?” one of the boys said. “You’re ruining the view!” He looked at them evenly. “She’s out of your league boys,” he told them, hoping she was focused enough that she wouldn’t hear what he was saying. “Give it a few years and maybe you’ll meet someone.” The taller of the boys tried to be menacing as he took a step forward. “You know who we are, nerd?” he asked. “We’re the Bushwoolies! We’re the gang you don’t fuck with around these parts, so you better go on home and cry to your mom and leave the girl to us!” Before he could say anything, without taking her eyes off the screen, Velvet stuck a middle finger out. “Sorry, I like being with a real guy like him, kids,” she said, not removing her focus at all. “Maybe you two will need to grow a pair of balls before you graduate from BMX bikes to something that’ll actually impress the girls.” The smaller and fatter of the “Bushwoolies” looked at her. “Oh, trust me, all I need to impress you is right between my legs.” Velvet laughed. “What, a pair of stolen Underoos? Kid, you’re what, fifteen?” To Night’s surprise, she hooked her arms around his left one and leaned against his shoulder, adding, “Because your caveman attitude isn’t impressing me. Maybe you should stop looking at Playboy to figure out what a girl is and maybe talk to one instead?” The taller one looked at the smaller one. “You gonna let that bitch talk to you like that, Itch?” “Fuck no, Scratch!” Itch commented. “I’m going to smack her so that she knows not to talk back like that to a guy, then I’m going to beat up this nerd, then I’m take her home and show ‘er how a real man treats a bitch like her!” “I’m right here you know,” Velvet replied coolly, “and I can hear every one of your stupid comments.” “Oh, shut the fuck up,” Itch commented, taking one step towards Velvet. Night immediately moved between the two. “Okay, playtime’s over,” he said with a confidence that he wasn’t entirely sure he felt. “Yeah?” Itch snarled, cocking a fist back. “Well, play with this, asshole!” To the surprise of everyone there – Velvet included, with a practiced ease, Night caught the fist thrown at him, casually twisted and pulled the kid closer to him. With the Bushwoolie’s face grimacing in clear pain from where Night had pulled his arm past the flexpoint, he got practically face-to-face with the kid. “Bit of advice,” Night said calmly into the thrashing boy’s face. “Learn to be nice to the ladies or learn to deal with the consequences.” With that, Night threw him off. Cradling his arm, Itch yelled, “I’M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS, YOU FUCKIN’ GEEK!” “No, you’re not.” The group turned to see a man in his mid-forties, standing there, glaring at the Bushwoolies. “I saw everything that happened. You two get the hell out of my business and I don’t ever want to see you here again, got that?” He then turned to Night and added with a grin, “I haven’t seen moves like that since Swift Jab took down Leatherglove in the second round! Good job standing up for your girl.” He wasn’t the only one impressed. Velvet looked at Night with clear awe. “Yeah, I’ll say – how the hell’d you do that?” Night scratched the back of his head and blushed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” “Try me.” “Well, the moment he cocked his fist back, I, uh, mentally calculated where to catch his fist so that it would do as little harm to me and as much harm to him as possible,” Night explained. “Third Law of Motion – every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction, right? Once I had him in my clutches, it was simple enough to apply some pressure.” “That still doesn’t explain how you know how to fight.” “Middle of three boys in a town where most of the population is teenage girls? Trust me, sometimes it’s like something out of a kids’ cartoon and other times it’s like being in one of the worst Disney films ever. Got into a few tussles with my brothers, or with some of the other boys in the neighborhood. I’m not going to say I’m any kind of fighter by any means, but…I’ve had to take a few licks and give a few, if you get what I mean.” “I’ll take your word for it,” Velvet assured him. “Either way, I think we should probably get out of here. Maybe have an early dinner before we go nightclubbing?” He looked at the exit; chances were, if those kids weren’t out there already waiting to ambush him for embarrassing them, they were calling their friends to. And while Night could probably handle some rowdy punk, he wasn’t quite the kind of guy who could deal with a gang on his own. “Yeah, sounds like a plan. We’ll figure out something along the way, especially since it’s my treat.” “Oh, no way! You saved my ass, so I have to pay,” Velvet insisted. “But didn’t we agree—” “That was before you saved me, buster! Now be a gentleman and take the gentlemanly reward like a man, okay?” she said, playfully jabbing him in the chest once with a mock-accusing finger before grabbing his hand and heading out the door. Nestled in Everfree Glades, Vicenza’s was a little hole-in-the-wall Italian place that was one of the few good things that, in hindsight, Celestia kept in mind about her relationship with Bookwise. Run by a family of Italian immigrants like hers, she’d continued to come here on occasion even after Bookwise had been nothing but a memory. Furthermore, when they found out that she was of Italian blood herself, they pretty much treated her like a VIP. So, with that in mind, Celestia and Luna munched on a pair of extra-large pepperoni, mushroom, and Italian sausage hand-tossed and a white garlic, feta and spinach thin crust that were, by Luna’s own admission, completely divine. In fact, the pizza had been so large, that even taking some home in to-go boxes was going to be a struggle; the last time she and Velvet had come here, Celestia admitted, they’d had so much pizza foisted on them, they practically ate nothing but slices for a week. Fortunately, they had assistance of sorts. A girl with a mohawk in four different shades of purple joined them, happily munching on a piece, a string of cheese dribbling down her chin. “Sooo good….” she burbled. “Glad you like,” Celestia commented. “And I thought you were ditching the mohawk, Abby?” Abacus Cinch looked at her friend and somewhat rival. A girl two years younger than Celestia, she was nonetheless gifted enough in scholastics that she was in the same classes as her. “Oh, believe me, I really, really want to, especially since some of my professors are giving me the lecture that ‘You’ll be graduating soon, Ms. Cinch and that hairstyle is no way to set an example of the young minds you’ll be teaching.’ And as much as I’d like to say, ‘Fuck them, I’ll dress how I want,’ I know that’s probably not going to get me hired anywhere. So, I guess it’s time to ‘grow up’ and be a good little cog in the wheel,” she said, complete with air quotes. “That sounds familiar,” Luna said to no one in particular. “Yeah, Tia’s told me about some of your antics back home. Gotta say, Luna, you got a guy’s attitude if you actually did half the shit your sister said you did.” “That wasn’t meant as a compliment,” Celestia reminded her. “Yeah, but you’ve always been the prissy type, Tia; you’re not really adventurous and you know it. Hell, look at your boyfriend, Cottonmouth. He’s studying, what, agriculture? And why? Because his parents own a farm down south in Colton. That and he probably wants to grow his own buds, ‘cause he knows you’re about to ditch his ass.” “What?” Cinch laughed. “Let me guess: you didn’t think he knew you knew, huh? That’s the perks of dating a rock guitarist: not only is Hot Wax great in bed, he also knows where to get his own weed from, aka your boyfriend. And the two were talking when I was over at Wax’s apartment. Seems like he knows he’s on the outs with you and he’s not even going to try to change your mind.” “Oh, trust me, he’s not – asshole owes me fifty.” “Yeah, he apparently owes a lot of people a lot of money. I guarantee, given how much he owes everyone, I’ll be surprised if he graduates in the spring.” A mournful look came over her face. “Same with Wax – he’s thinking about moving to England and getting into the rock scene there. Says the world’s too small here, that new ‘hip hop’ music is all that the record companies in the US want to hear and he doesn’t think that he’ll get a chance to make it big unless he makes his move.” She fidgeted in her seat briefly. “He asked me to go with him.” “And you said no, didn’t you?” Celestia commented. Cinch nodded. “It’s the same reason I’m probably going to change my hair to look more ‘acceptable’ – because at the end of the day, all I did in my life was rage against the machine…and look where it got me. A boyfriend that’s been great to me, but I probably won’t end up with. A future career where I’ll probably make a lot of money, but I probably truly won’t be happy.” She shook her head and chuckled ruefully. “I’m not like you, Tia.” “And what is that supposed to mean?” “As long as I’ve known you, you’ve always had your head on your shoulders and knew what you were doing. Yeah, sure, you’ve got horrible taste in men, but who doesn’t? But you’ve never made any mistakes. To use a term from a book I read the other day, you’re, quote, ‘as perfect as an alicorn.’” “A what?” “Some kind of cross between a pegasus and a unicorn,” Luna supplied. “See, reading fantasy and sci-fi comes in handy!” She then flashed a grin and added, “The only fiction my sister reads is literary fiction – you know the ‘award winning’ shit no one else does.” “Tell me about it – I’ve been trying to get her to read The Lord of the Rings since we met.” “I read that, okay?” Celestia defended. “I just didn’t give much of a fuck about it. It’s not as if elves or unicorns or shit like that is going to have any bearing in my life.” “You never know, Tia. We put a man on the moon a couple of decades ago. Who’s to say we might not run into aliens that look exactly like unicorns?” Celestia rolled her eyes. “Abby, I’m neither a virgin nor entirely innocent. Any unicorn that comes looking for me is probably going to be far worse off than I am, I swear.” Velvet wasn’t exactly sure when she felt it, but sitting here and talking with Night, she was sure of one thing: he was clearly boyfriend material. Part of her felt guilty about that; he’d originally shown up intending to take Celestia out; and now here she was on that date instead because her best friend was too inebriated to even be able to find her own breasts much less summon the kind of conversation that she and Night were having. And that was a shame, because Velvet knew from the time she’d spent with him so far, that she was interested in spending more time with him as well. And so was her best friend. A girl who was like a sister to her and had the relationship between Sky and Armonia worked out, probably would literally be a relative. And yet here she was, honestly debating whether she should make a play for the guy that had shown interest in her friend. But to be honest, the only question on her mind was: was said interest reciprocal? She wasn’t worldly like Celestia was; Celestia had literally been born in another country and her family had even traveled a bit after they’d moved to San Diego. Aside from the occasional jaunts down to Mexico City to see her grandmother and some relatives, Canterlot was the farthest she’d ever traveled from home. She also knew that she didn’t have the body her friend did; Celestia had actually received an offer to pose nude for Playboy; naturally, given the career field that she planned to go into, she declined, but there was no denying that Celestia was a centerfold-class beauty. What did Velvet have? Everyone said the same things: great personality. Cute, perky smile. And…that was about it, really. She wasn’t ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but she’d overheard on more than one occasion that compared to Celestia’s “10”, Velvet was merely an “8” or often even a “7”. Ironically, one of Celestia’s previous boyfriends, Short Fuse, had said it succinctly one night while he’d been drunk: Celestia was the kind of girl that you could fuck and still be okay with taking home to the parents, while Velvet was the kind of girl you’d take home to the parents first and maybe fuck once you were sure that you were going to stick around. Twenty-two and still a virgin. She mentally blushed at that; really, there shouldn’t have been anything wrong with it, but she wasn’t a worldly girl. Celestia was. By the time they reached the nightclub, she was sure that Night was going to end up being Celestia’s next boyfriend. And for the first time in her life, Twilight Velvet felt unreasonably jealous about that. And she hated herself for it. So, as they arrived in front of Platter Matters, the local nightclub, the sounds of Oingo Boingo thundered from beyond the walls of the nightclub, the place looked in full swing and Velvet began planning to figure out how she was going to end this date. If the date went on longer, she was honestly afraid that she was never going to let go, especially if he showed interest in her. It was, much to her relief a few minutes later, that she realized the line to Platter Matters was wrapping around the block and even with the place being as large as it was, a packed-to-capacity crowd meant that there was probably little chance of them getting in. “I know this is the hottest place in town,” she mused aloud, “but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this packed before!” “Oh, that’s because Starshine’s in there!” one girl commented. “My boyfriend’s sister is in there right now and says that she just showed up and is doing an impromptu set, and so the crowd’s going wild!” Velvet tried to recall who Starshine was, and then realized it was yet another teen starlet whose career had taken off once they reached adulthood. She didn’t really care much for the woman’s music, though Velvet had to admit that “Don’t You Want My Love, Sugar?” was a catchy enough song. Not catchy enough though that she wanted to spend however long it was going to be waiting in line for. “Well, looks like it’s a no-go tonight,” Velvet sighed. “Maybe not. You up for a jazz club?” Night asked. “Jazz club?” “Yeah. I know one that I think you might be interested in, assuming you like jazz,” Night stated. “I mean, yeah, a lot of people our age aren’t exactly into it, but I figured that, hey, if you still didn’t want the night to end, maybe you might just like 4Metro. It’s just down the street, and while I can’t say that it’s as lively as Platter Matters, I still manage to have a fun time there. Interested?” Part of her wanted to say no. Every iota of her wanted to say no. This was the guy that Celestia – her sister in all but name – was looking at, and yet, here she was, out on a date with him, and things were starting to go a little farther than just “out for lunch.” And yet, looking into those expressive amber eyes…she didn’t want to let go. There was something about them that just drew her in and said that she wasn’t going anywhere. “Sure, that sounds fun,” she gushed before any rational thought in her mind could say otherwise. After a quick stop at Abacus’ dorm room to get her VHS player, the trio went back to Celestia and Velvet’s apartment to drink more beer, watch some movies and generally gripe about their lives. Very little of the movies were paid attention to, and Abacus was feeling generous enough to spring for more beer, which took the pressure off Celestia’s currently dwindled finances. So as the credits of The Black Hole scrolled on the screen and Luna’s gentle snoring could be heard on the couch, Abacus took another swig of her beer and laughed at the younger girl. “Lightweight, huh? Good thing – won’t bite her in the ass like it’s done for us, Tia.” “I want to keep it that way, honestly. I don’t want her to end up with the shithole life I have, Abby,” Celestia replied. “Lu’s had a tough enough life during her high school years, and I want her to have smooth sailing here in college. I don’t want her to make the same mistakes I did.” “Bookwise?” Celestia rolled her eyes as she slumped on the sofa, looking at the next unwatched title. “You know about him, huh?” “You know that weekend you went home after you started seeing him? He went out and started hitting on me, Dazzlestars and a couple of my friends. He came off as really creepy and the only reason I found out you were dating him was that Dazzy called him out on it.” Seeing the dark look on her friend’s face, Abacus added, “Trust me, you are way better off with him out of your life.” “Yeah, except now I’ve had a shit string of boyfriends, and the guy I’m even supposed to be on a date with tonight is busy screwing my best friend!” “Really? Velvet doesn’t seem like the type.” “She’s not. It was my fault – I got so fucking drunk that if you asked me to masturbate I wouldn’t be able to even with a roadmap and step-by-step instructions. Anyway, they carried my drunk ass to bed, and then Velvet was supposed to take him out to lunch as a thank you while I sobered up. Looks like lunch got turned into something else and….” She curled into a ball again. “How the fuck did I get so fucked up? I used to be the girl in high school that everyone wanted to be, because I had my shit together. Now I can’t even do that.” “It’s called growing up, Tia. Did I ever show you how I looked back in high school?” When Celestia shook her head, Abacus added, “I still carry a picture of myself to remind me of how I used to be, because I was probably worse than you.” Abacus fished a picture out of her vest and passed it to Celestia, showing a beaming kid with braces, thick glasses, the wedge hairstyle that was so common back then and a run-of-the-mill striped t-shirt. “Yup, that was me, Abacus Cinch, just a normal girl attending school at Rainbow Falls High School in Oregon, not really aware of how the world worked. My biggest thing back then was trying to be like Little Windslip, the girl that just about every girl in town wanted to be like.” “Little Windslip? The one that was on Chrome and Leather on TV?” “Exactly. To me and just about everyone in our little town, she was the epitome of cool. Of course, it wasn’t until I started going to school here that I learned what cool was – or the fact that Stony End, the character she played on Chrome and Leather was nothing like the real Little Windslip, who apparently was….” She laughed. “Well, let’s just say that we’ve got more in common with her now than we did back then. I swear my mother would have had a heart attack if she found out that the girl I idolized was caught in a Hollywood orgy scandal the year before I went off to college; Mom probably never would have let me leave town!” “Yeah, that’s probably too much like me,” Celestia said softly. “But anyway, I was hoping that Night would be the first real guy I would get to know. He’s nice, sweet, not exactly a looker like Strong Gaze or the like, but easy on the eyes and smart as Bookwise was. But the difference was that he was the real thing: a genuine guy, someone who was really long-term dating material. And now he’s on a date with my best friend and I have only myself to blame for that.” “‘The mediator between brain and body must be the heart,’” Abacus quoted. “Iggy Pop song?” “No, from the old film Metropolis – saw the subtitled version on late-night TV about a month ago. “Well, the quote is doing me no favors.” “And you’re not doing yourself any, either. Yeah, okay, I could just say that there are other fish in the sea and all that shit. But that’d be fucked up if I did and it’s something you already know. Let’s just say that you and I might not be cut out for relationships immediately. Maybe, because of our career paths, we’re destined to be single until our late twenties, because we want to show those young minds that women don’t have to be tied to a guy in order to be successful. And there’s no guarantee that Velvet’s going to work out with Night or even that you will – she might be out there right now finding out that he’s a freak and a perv and no one you want to be around.” Celestia mused on that for a few, but then said, “Maybe, but I don’t think so.” “Based on what?” “Based on the fact that he could have screwed me silly and I wouldn’t have cared. Because I craved having a normal guy in my life.” She then sighed before finishing with, “And yes, I realize that if he had, he wouldn’t have been the guy I thought he was.” 4Metro, even at this time of night, had a smoky 60s vibe that never seemed to go away. The room was filled with blue smoke from the various cigarettes lit all over the room and currently, the dancefloor was filled with slow dancers, some intimately planning out the rest of their nights via signals sent by the intertwine of bodies and footwork. Night and Velvet, however, were not two of these. Velvet had found that, true to his word, Night was not a dancer at all, and she had spent most of their time there, teaching him how to do so. He’d only stepped on her feet three times that night and so that was probably a minor miracle. And now, the two sat, watching others wind on the wooden floor while the band played on in the background. “So, how’d you find out about this place?” Velvet asked him. “My brother’s band plays here. He’s trying to be a professional musician, so he and his current girlfriend perform here twice a week. I came with him once and got to know the place. It’s a bit busy right now, but during slower times, it’s a great place to chill out and listen to music while studying. Plus, it’s got a claim to fame: did you know that Deep Point – he’s a world-renowned mathematician and astronomer – came up with his legendary theory on carbon stars while being a drummer for the house band here back in the late 60s? He said that it was while he was playing ‘Take Five’ that he had his eureka moment.” “And that’s why you come here?” “Hey, if it worked for him, it might just work for me, right?” Night said with a laugh. “Besides, I can’t complain about the company I’m with right now.” Velvet inwardly sighed; it was do or die time and she had to let him down as firmly as she could, even she really didn’t want to. She wasn’t going to step on Celestia’s territory. “Look, Night….” “I already know what you’re going to say,” Night told her. “That you think I asked Tia out because of the party. And that you’re hurting your friend by doing so. Well, I disagree. I think…that all things considered, after spending the time I did with Tia and spending time with you? Tia’s…well, she’s out of my league. She seems to be the kind of person that knows what she wants in life and I probably am not it.” “What makes you say that?” Velvet asked, hoping not to sound too intrigued while at the same time not trying to sound guilty. “This is going to sound funny, but she strikes me as the kind of person who will settle down with some Army guy a few years down the road. Someone who can match her style without being a burden. For all her…liveliness, she’s got a sharp mind to go with it, and I don’t think enough people give her credit for that. And maybe that’s what I saw in her at first.” He then paused. “But then I met you. And I found someone that I think I go better with. That’s not an insult to you or her. Like the author Gilded Lines once wrote, ‘Some people play with fire, and some with ice. And the world would be lesser if there were all stacked against none or vice versa.’ “Tia’s great – she really is, and what I saw today wouldn’t change my mind on that. And maybe in a different world, she’d be the right girl for me. But I don’t think that’d be the case now, especially when I’ve spent the day with you and found someone so perfect and unique that I’d be crazy if I didn’t try to reach out and make that connection, you know?” Her heart leapt in her chest. Did that mean…? “So does that mean…?” “Only if you’re free this weekend. Of course, I’ll be sure to apologize to Tia as soon as I can, but I’m sure a girl like her is probably already over it. She’s the kind of girl that can get any guy she wants, so I guess a guy like me is no real loss.” Velvet smiled. “Oh, I disagree, Night. I strongly disagree with that.” It was finally two in the morning when Velvet made it back from her “lunch date”. To no surprise, she found Celestia sitting, watching some old late-night movie show that was on the TV. It wasn’t typically the sort of thing that she normally watched, which clearly meant that she was staying up on purpose for her. “Feeling better?” Velvet asked her friend. “Yeah.” She held up a beer. “Hair of the dog and all that. By the way, Abby came over; she says hi. She drove Luna back to the dorm, so we have our place back to normal. Oh, and we have enough pizza from Vicenza’s to last us for a couple of days.” “Somehow I’m not surprised by that,” Velvet mused as she sat down across from Celestia. “As for Lu, maybe we should think about moving into a new apartment and get a room for her. I’m sure she’s not going to want to stay in the dorms forever.” “Probably not, but she’s her own girl. We’ll let her deal with that when it comes; she’ll probably find her own roomie to bunk with or whatever.” An awkward silence settled between the two as they watched The Guns of Navarone play out on After Hours Movie Special and said nothing until the commercial break. “So,” Velvet began, not sure where this conversation was going to go. “Does he make you happy?” Celestia asked, looking her friend evenly in the face. Velvet paused, not sure how to answer. She knew what she wanted to say, but how to voice that without hurting her best friend was going to be a tall order. Finally, she realized there was no way around it, so best to rip the bandage from the wound before it made things worse. “Probably as much as he might have made you. We’re going out again this weekend, and call me crazy, but I think I’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the future. Is that going to be a problem?” The Italian-born beauty shook her head, the multicolored coif moving in time with her. “I’ll be honest, Velvet. There’s a part of me that wants to push it, because I know what kind of guy he is – the kind of guy I wish I’d have in my life, the kind I’ve always wanted instead of just wasting time with my string of idiots that I’ve dated. But I ruined that, and there’s no second chance at a first impression.” “He doesn’t think ill of you. If anything, he just thinks that you need someone better suited for you and he’s not sure he’s it.” “He doesn’t know how wrong he is, Vel, he really doesn’t. But that’s not the point. The point is that in the end, he chose you, not me. And I care about you too much to do something stupid. So, promise me that you’ll make this work, or else I might just change my mind.” “As if!” the other girl playfully snarked. “Besides, I’m sure within a week, you’ll probably find someone better suited to you. Someone that will make you happy, Tia. That’s always what I’ve wanted for you, okay? Someone that’ll make you smile.” Velvet then found herself yawning. “Well, I need to get to bed. I’ve got my class at ten and Prof. Mindscape is a stickler for attendance. I’ll catch you in the morning. Night!” Celestia sat and watched the rest of the movie without interest, finally turning off the TV when the station finally signed off for the programming day, playing the national anthem, followed by the Indian Head test pattern and finally white noise. Turning off all the lights in the house, she wordlessly went back to her bedroom and crawled into the sheets, letting the tears soak the pillow before she fell asleep thinking about a gorgeous guy with amber eyes, a radiant smile and feelings just for her…but that was now, and would always be, only in her dreams. “And that’s the whole story, you two,” Celestia commented. “I think I’m going to be sick,” Twilight said, looking a tad bit on the green side. “Yeah, let’s go watch the stars before we lose our minds,” Sonata agreed, pulling her cousin to her feet and gently ushering her away from the madness of the adults present. The trio of adults watched as the two teens walked off, still completely shaken by the story they’d heard. From the looks the two shared, it was clear they were going to be somewhat traumatized for the rest of the night. “And the funny thing is, they don’t realize that when they get to our age, their kids will be looking at them the same way they did us,” Luna said with a knowing grin. “Yeah, but it’s still kinda freaky to know that your best friend’s mother and sorta aunt-figure had a mad-on for your father, so I get how Twily feels,” Celestia added. “Had?” Velvet said mock-archly. “I have my own beau now,” Celestia defended. “Took a few, but finally got a keeper.” “But what about—” Luna asked, but Celestia immediately glared at her own sister. “Let’s not go there, sis, okay?” Celestia sighed.