“Okay um, should I come in now, or?” Gabriela nervously asks the punker batpony.
Dusk Shine widens her eyes, “Oh! Right!” before moving to her back left to make room for Gabriela.
Gabriela trots in, shuts the door with a blue glow, and looks to Dusk Shine before saying, “Yeah, I am pretty hungry now. And you wanted to eat with me anyway, right?” before nervously smiling. What she didn’t tell Dusk Shine was that she had smoked some Appleloosa Skunk, which is notorious for giving ponies the munchies.* As such, her stomach rumbled and she giggled nervously.
Dusk Shine looks to her, “I guess you are hungry?”
Gabriela smiles, “Sure am!”
“Okay Gabriela! Go sit at the table and I’ll get us a bag of apples and we can eat and talk, okay?”
“Alright Dusk Shine!” Gabriela says as she trots in and Dusk Shine heads to the back. She sees a gray couch on her left and matching love seat perpendicular to it on the adjacent wall. She trots past the love seat into the room beyond it, via the door to the right and sees a kitchen table on her right and a fridge to her left. Beyond the fridge, there is a stove and cabinetry and beyond that, a small door, and while all of this done in dark polished wood, the backdoor looks much darker than the rest. She looks over and trots that direction to sit at the table, with her back to the door she came in.
Gabriela sits there and soon sees the back door open as Dusk Shine emerges from it while carrying a sack in her mouth, sitting on her back, and held in place by her wings as they’re spanned out on either side of her. She walks to the table and sets the sack down with a thud as her right wing goes higher to move the sack while the left gets lower to allow room for it to pass.
Gabriela smiles, “That’s a neat wing trick you got there, Dusk Shine!”
Dusk Shine raises her head and smiles, “Well, it’s not magic, but I manage!”
“Oh, Dusk Shine! I always wanted wings! Just once, I would like to see what it’s like high in the sky you know? But…”
Dusk Shine stands and turns her neck to the other batpony, “But what, Gabriela?”
Gabriela looks down, “But I can’t… I don’t have wings, nor will I ever have wings…”
Dusk Shine scrunches her mouth, “You wish you had wings? Well, what about your horn? I mean, you got magic right?”
Gabriela looks to Dusk Shine and starts, “And it’s great! But…”
“But what?” Dusk Shine asks while lurching her head forward with an inquisitive look in her yellowish eyes.
“But uh…” Gabriela’s eyes go down as her voice gets lower, “But I didn’t want magic… I’d rather have flight, like other batponies, you know?”
Dusk Shine frowns, “You know, you really ought to learn to focus on what you do have instead of what you don’t…”
“Huh?” Gabriela asks with a puzzled expression on her face.
Dusk Shine straightens herself, “What I mean is, you say you wanted wings right?”
“Well um, yeah! I always wanted to hang out with other batponies!”
“Well, you don’t have wings! You have magic instead! But you know, you are hanging out with another batpony anyway, right?” Dusk Shine says with a whimsical look in her eyes.
“Well, I guess that’s also true?”
“Buck yeah, it’s true Gabriela! I stay up all night and suck fruit with my fangs! I am indeed a batpony! And guess what?”
“What?”
“So are you!” Dusk Shine says before smiling.
“Well, I know that! At least, I think I do?” Gabriela says as she squints her left eye and thinks about how she can’t really seem to relate to anypony.**
“Well, right! And you know what else? I think your magic is neat!”
Gabriela glares wide-eyed, “Y-you do?”
“Sure!” Dusk Shine says while smiling at Gabriela with her wide open yellowish green slitted eyes, “I had to lug this sack in here with my mouth and back. But you could’ve just floated it in instead!”
“Huh…” Gabriela says while scrunching her mouth, when suddenly, her stomach gurgles once more and her belly visibly shakes. She looks down and back up before saying, “Uh, suppose we should take care of that?”
Dusk Shine giggles, “Sure thing Gabriela! Let’s eat!”
“Well, um…” Gabriela looks to the sack and makes it glow blue as she opens it with her magic and floats over two red apples to her side of the table. She then looks to Dusk Shine and says, “Oh, wait!” and then magically floats two apples over to Dusk Shine’s side of the table as well before smiling her goofy fanged smile in that direction, “There you go!”
Dusk Shine observes this strange night unicorn carefully, noticing how she perked up just then and takes note of this as Gabriela grabs a red apple in her magic to float in front of her face. She stares at it with a hungry look in her bluish green slitted eyes for not even a moment before levitating it into her open fangs to swiftly suck the juices out and causing the sweet fluid to spray all over the floor and table!
Dusk Shine starts, “Uh, those are really juicy! Be careful!” Dusk Shine says before grabbing an apple in her forehooves and carefully biting into it with her fangs to suck the juices out, so it gets shriveled and dry before putting the dried-out husk on the table in front of her.
Meanwhile, Gabriela hangs onto an apple with her fangs in her blue grasp and as she sucks the goodness out of it, it visibly withers away in front of her face. She disengages with her fangs and floats the apple husk down to the table next to other before wiping her mouth with her right forehoof and staring to the other batpony with a start, “What? I was hungry!”
“Obviously!” Dusk Shine says while smiling and then grabbing her other apple in her forehooves. She looks to Gabriela and says, “You can have another if you want?”
“Well, um…” Gabriela frowns before looking at the sack and making it glow blue to open the top and floats out another apple with her distinct blue glow. She stares at it hungrily before opening her mouth and quickly flying the apple to her fangs. In a split second, it starts to welt and wither as Gabriela sinks her teeth in deep. It then floats back down to the table and Gabriela sees the three apple husks there before looking up to Dusk Shine and smiling with her now dripping batpony fangs.
Dusk Shine smiles at Gabriela once more, “Are you fed Gabriela?”
“Oh yeah Dusk Shine! That was tasty! Uh, hey! Where’s Nightshade anyway?” Gabriela asks before looking around the room to only see one other pony present.
“After what happened earlier, I doubt we’ll see her again for the rest of the night. More than likely, she’s gonna give me a chance to explore my friendship with you…” Dusk Shine says while frowning. She looks up and squints her left eye, “Actually, she probably headed back to the Everfree by herself, now that I think about it!”
Gabriela scrunches her mouth, “I see… You keep a big supply of fruit here, don’t you?”
“Um, usually!” Dusk Shine says while looking up with her eyes, “You never know when a bad growing season is gonna come and you’ll need some extra fruit to get you through!”
“Makes sense! Uh, what do you want to do now?” Gabriela says with an inquisitive look in her eyes.
“Well, we did what I wanted to do already? Maybe you should pick the next activity?” Dusk Shine says while tilting her head to the right and squinting her right eye.
Gabriela starts as her off-blue eyes widen and says, “Oh gosh Dusk Shine! I just read, sip coffee, and pet my cat! What do I know about friendship activities?” before shrugging.
“Oh well um, right!” Dusk Shine says as she looks up and then down to Gabriela, “I got a deck of cards in my room if you wanna play rummy?”
Gabriela widens her eyes in insecurity and scrunches her mouth, “Sure! Why not?”
Dusk Shine scoots her chair back and gets to her hooves on the floor before beginning to trot back to the foyer on Gabriela’s left.
Gabriela also scoots her chair back before returning to her hooves on the left, turning to face Dusk Shine in the other room, and crosses through the door.
Dusk Shine turns left to trot towards the wall opposite to the couch and opens the door there with her right forehoof and begins to trot into her room from there, with Gabriela a few paces behind her.
Once they’re both inside, Gabriela looks to the right and closes the door with a blue glow. She looks back to Dusk Shine and sees a small bed with many blue velvety pillows along the wall to her left. She stares at it for a moment before asking, “Why do you have so many pillows?”
Dusk Shine turns her body to her bed, “Well, I like pillows! That and um, Nightshade usually snuggles me at night…
Gabriela turns her head to Dusk Shine and starts, “Wait! You two sleep together too?”
Dusk Shine frowns and squints her right eye in concentration while saying, “Well, usually! About eighty percent of the time, I wanna say?” She stares to Gabriela and continues, “I get cold a lot of times during the day!”
Gabriela brings her right forehoof to her face as she continues, “So you two have sex sometimes! You cook and eat all your meals together! You do things together constantly! And now, I find out you even NORMALLY sleep together! Dusk Shine!” she lowers her hoof to the ground and looks into the other batpony’s eyes, “You think maybe, you’re a little bit MORE than just roommates?”
Dusk Shine looks up and then back to Gabriela and shakes her head, "NAW!"
Gabriela starts, "Dusk Shine! Does it even register with you what I'm trying to say?"
"Sure!" Dusk Shine says while smiling back with her fangs blissfully protruding from the top of her mouth.
Gabriela can only squint and sigh at this confusing little nocturnal pony at this point. “You love Nightshade, don’t you?”
“Well of course! She’s the best roommate ever!” Dusk Shine says while continuing to smile.
“Ugh!” Gabriela says while closing her eyes in frustration. She looks back to the other batpony, “Okay! Hypothetical question Dusk Shine! Lets say another pony asked you out on a date! What would you say?”
Dusk Shine looks up and says, “Well, I’d probably say no?” She lowers her gaze back to Gabriela, “I mean, I’m not really interested in a relationship right now…”
“And that’s because?”
“Because I have everything I need at this point!”
“Thanks to Nightshade!”
“Exactly!”
“So, don’t you believe it’s a logical assessment that you’re in a relationship with Nightshade?”
“Um, no! We’re just roommates!” Dusk Shine says back while continuing to smile.
Gabriela squints at this annoying night dwelling pony as her fluffy ears go down to the side of her head, “Okay! Let’s try another idea!” Her ears perk as she straightens herself. She looks to other batpony, “What exactly, does Nightshade do for you Dusk Shine?”
Dusk Shine smiles, “Oh well, Nightshade is just great! She provides me with company and companionship! She also helps out with the chores around the house, she snuggles me at night, and we occasionally give each other sexual relief!”
Gabriela widens her eyes, “So, basically like a marefriend, right?”
“Well, if you wanna put a label on it, sure!”
“So then, she’s your marefriend, wouldn’t you say?”
Dusk Shine squints her left eye and says, “Uh, no! We’re just roommates, remember?” before correcting herself.
At this point, Gabriela can only move her head down, facehoof with her right forehoof, and giggle at herself softly, “Well, we tried! An attempt was made!”
Dusk Shine scrunches her mouth, “What are you talking about?”
Gabriela lowers her right forehoof to the ground and widens her eyes to the other batpony, “You know what? Don’t worry about it!” she says before shaking her head. She looks back, “So, where do you wanna do this?”
“Oh uh, grab us some pillows and we can play on the floor! I’ll go get my cards!” Dusk Shine says before trotting over to her closet on the other side of Gabriela while the other batpony frowns and looks to the bed, before causing three pillows to float to the center of the room in her blue magical grasp.
Dusk Shine opens her closet door with her right forehoof and trots halfway in before lowering her head, biting onto a deck of playing cards and then trotting back to the center of the room.
Gabriela sat on her haunches on the blue pillow while holding 6 cards in her magic before her face. She frowns the left side of her mouth before floating the 3 of diamonds to her hand from the open pile and selecting the 2 of clubs to put that on the face down pile with a blue glow. She looks to Dusk Shine, “I haven’t played Rummy in years!”
Dusk Shine sits on her stomach behind two pillows with her cards all arranged neatly so that they lean against it. She gets on her hooves for a moment to grab a card from the mystery pile with her head and mouth and then placing that behind her pillow fort. She looks to Gabriela, sitting before her and says, “It’s actually my favorite card game, but Nightshade never plays with me… Do you like doing this?” before looking to Gabriela wide-eyed and scrunching her mouth.
Gabriela starts out of the trance she was in while staring at her cards and looks to Dusk Shine, “Oh uh, yeah Dusk Shine! You know, playing cards with you is pretty fun! I could see us doing this later!”
Dusk Shine smiles to the night unicorn, “Sure! Maybe even have a regular day for this or?
“Well, I know we’re both off Mondays?”
“Wanna meet then?”
Gabriela squints her eyes at the punk, “It’s like you wanna be my friend or something?”
Dusk Shine smiles, “Well, yeah! You see, I was at the bookstore the other day and I saw The Friendship Journal, by Twilight Sparkle and friends and I decided to buy it!”
Gabriela squints more, “Go on?”
“Well, the book talks about some ponies who might have trouble coming out of their shells. Especially some of the stories Fluttershy wrote near the beginning… Then I thought back to the lonely unicorn I work with… You’re always by yourself when you eat your lunch right? Well, that made me think that you needed a friend!”
Gabriela starts and frowns while glaring at the other batpony, “What? Needed a friend?”
“Right! And so that’s why I’m here!” Dusk Shine says before smiling brightly at Gabriela and closing her eyes with her head tilted cutely to the right.
This look only annoyed Gabriela even more as she grimaced and raised her voice, “Look! I don’t need to be rescued, okay? I’m fine living by myself with just me and my cat!”
Dusk Shine frowns, “Well, I didn’t say you did! That is to say, um, gosh Gabriela… I swear, I didn’t mean anything bad by it! I just thought…”
Gabriela’s stares to Dusk Shine with fire in her eyes and her voice takes on a somewhat lower and more even tone as she says, “You thought what exactly?” before narrowing her mouth.
Dusk Shine stammers, “Um, that is… Ugh!” She closes her eyes before looking directly at Gabriela, “You know, one-night-stands are a lot easier to handle than ordinary friendship!”
This caused Gabriela to stop before she closes her eyes and softly giggles to herself as she lowers her head…
“Uh, what’s so funny?” Dusk Shine asks with a curious look in her greenish eyes.
Gabriela opens her bluish eyes excitedly to Dusk Shine as she rapidly stammers, “Well, it is pretty funny when you think about it! I mean, something intimate like sex is somehow easier to set up and deal with than just an ordinary card game among friends!”
Dusk Shine stuttered as she smiled and said, “Oh yeah! I guess that is odd when you really think about it?” before squinting her left eye.
“Well, right! But uh, we’re actually doing it aren’t we?”
“Yup!” Dusk Shine says while smiling, “The feared and dreaded, Social Card Game!”
Gabriela shrieks in a high-pitched voice, “Oh the horror!” before both batponies erupt in laughter.
Dusk Shine smiles and says, “But anyway, I just wanted to try friendship or whatever, with somepony new. I was getting bored with my life, and I felt that maybe, you and I could develop a connection?”
“Kinda like sex, only totally different right?” Gabriela says, with that goofy smile on her face once again.
“Right!” Dusk Shine says with a whimsical look in her eyes, “Exactly like sex!” before both batponies erupt in hysterical laughter.
Dusk Shine continues, “Well, hey! That was some really heavy tension! I’m gonna have a glass of wine if that’s okay with you? Uh, do you want one Gabriela?”
Gabriela looks to Dusk Shine while she still sits on her stomach with the cards floating in front of her in her blue glow as she says, “No thanks! Uh, I don’t really drink… I got my pipe if it’s okay for me to smoke?”***
Dusk Shine smiles, “Sure thing, Gabriela!”
And suddenly, Gabriela is thankful she stashed a spare dime-bag in her saddlebags!
Gabriela awakens the following evening inside what could only be described as a nest of blue velvety pillows in a sea of darkness. She also notices the forelegs embracing her from behind and feels the odd sensation of hair and wax on the back of her neck… Which could only mean, that she’s being held from behind by the spiky maned Dusk Shine! Oh, sweet Celestia! I hope to Tartarus that we didn’t have sex! Gabriela quickly thinks to herself while scrunching her mouth and widening her blue eyes.
She then feels nuzzling on her neck along with more waxy hair and on the back of her head as she hears the other batpony say, “Good evening Gabriela!”
(To be continued…)