Gabriela floats the joint to her lips and causes the cherry to glow as she takes a drag. She mentally counts to five before turning her head to the right and exhaling. She looks back at Dusk Shine across the table from her, “Yeah, I usually go to the head shop for papers, but whenever I have to use the corner store, I always get Task gold label papers!”
Dusk nods, “Good to know!” and then takes a swig of her iced cappuccino with her forehooves.
Gabriela narrows her eyes, “So, since we’re apparently not working tonight and being irresponsible, what do you wanna do after we smoke?”
Dusk smiles, “Don’t you remember loading your bed up with plushies?”
Gabriela starts and chirps, “Uh, yes! I TOTALLY did that! Uh, you’re not allowed to enter my room until I say otherwise!” before floating the joint to her lips for her second drag.
Dusk giggles while the cherry lights up and Gabriela smokes, “You didn’t plushie up the bed yet, did you?”
Gabriela throws her head back and exhales smoke above her before looking back down at Dusk, “Now, whether I did it or not is not the question! The only thing that is important is that it will DEFINITELY be done before you walk in!”
Dusk giggles, “Yeah! Didn’t prep the bed yet!”
Gabriela narrows her eyes as she floats the joint back to Dusk, who promptly lifts her right forehoof to grasp it in the cleft. As Dusk takes a drag, Gabriela chitters, “So, you like holding me and snuggling me?”
Dusk exhales some smoke over to Gabriela’s left side at the table before staring at her and chirping mockingly, “Wow Gabriela! You’re smart!”
Gabriela grimaces while Dusk takes another drag, “Okay! I get it! You love me!”
Dusk quickly exhales smoke to her right and looks to the night unicorn, “Now, you’re getting it!”
Gabriela looks down as her wavy violet mane falls down over her shoulders, “I still don’t know why though?”
“So, I need a reason to love my best friend now?” Dusk says before frowning and bringing her right forehoof to her mouth for another drag.
Gabriela looks up at Dusk as the she inhales and the cherry glows “Uh, I wouldn’t think so?” before looking at the table and taking a long slow drink from her coffee using her magic. She floats the glass back down to the table and looks up, “I’m just not used to that!”
Dusk exhales smoke over Gabriela, “Yeah, being alone is very different, right? You can really only count on yourself, and you know you’re the only one who gives a buck!” before holding her right forehoof up with the burning joint to signal the unicorn.
Gabriela giggles as she causes the joint to float out of the other batpony’s hoof, “But now I got you, don’t I?”
“Yup! Your best friend who’s into punk rock and anarchy!” Dusk chirps while the floating joint goes to Gabriela’s lips and the cherry glows as she inhales. Dusk smiles and continues, “And who loves your flanks!” before Gabriela coughs slightly and lets loose some smoke in front of the giggling punker.
Gabriela finished exhaling the smoke before saying, “What is it with you and uh, that?”
Dusk frowns and widens her eyes, “Uh, I think you’re sexy!”
Gabriela widens her eyes and floats the joint back to her mouth to take another drag.
Dusk frowns, “I’ve been telling you this for days now, Gabs! You’d think it would sink in by now?”
Gabriela raises her head to exhale above Dusk once more. She lowers her head and floats the joint over to Dusk before chuckling and saying, “I guess I’m pretty hardheaded, right?”
Dusk grabs the joint in mid-air with her right forehoof before saying, “Like titanium!” and then takes a drag off the half-joint.
Gabriela nods and says, “Yes, of course!” while Dusk takes a drag of the joint and causes the cherry to glow. Gabriela then takes another magical sip of her coffee.
Dusk exhales over the unicorn before saying to her, “Every friendship is different, you know?”
Gabriela nods while swallowing and mentally causing the coffee to go back to the table, “Well, right! I mean, Nightshade is still my friend, but I wouldn’t buck her!”
Dusk brings her forehoof to her face for another drag while Gabriela looks at her intently…
“But you would, right?” Gabriela says while staring carefully and frowning…
Dusk quickly exhales smoke to the right of the unicorn with a slight cough, “Actually, I haven’t bucked her in about a week now!”
Gabriela floats the roach to her from Dusk’s hoof after the punker raises it to signal while saying, “Is that unusual?”
Dusk nods, “Yeah! I mean, Nightshade can easily please herself and she never has trouble finding strange,[1] so I don’t think she really minds?” before frowning.
Gabriela takes a puff from the glowing nub in her mouth and causes the embers on the end to glow as some ash falls to the table in front of her... She starts back and shortly exhales above Dusk before looking down at her and casually saying with a smirk, “But you don’t need her anymore, because you get that from me now?”
Dusk starts, “Well, not for THAT anymore uh…” she says as she trails off…
Gabriela narrows her eyes as she inhales from the glowing joint once more.
Dusk looks at the unicorn with narrow greenish yellow slitted eyes, “Surely, you know by now that this isn’t just sex?”
Gabriela starts as she coughs slightly and exhales some smoke to the right of the other batpony. She looks at the punk rock pony[2] and says, “No Dusk! We’re WAY past that point now!” She leans forward while mentally causing the nub to float back to her friend and smiling, “But it’s a nice bonus for you, am I right?”
Dusk catches it in her right forehoof again and says, “Dammit Gabs! I like you for you! The fact that you happen to have THAT attached to your back is a nice bonus, I’ll admit! But I’d still be here, with or without your rump, Gabs!” before taking a drag and causing the cherry to glow.
Gabriela chuckles with her fanged grin, “Yeah, but if I don’t tease you about it, then how would I have any fun?”
Dusk waves her forehoof in the air as smoke sporadically exits her mouth, “HOT! HOT!”
Gabriela widens her slitted eyes and looks up to float the joint out of Dusk’s waving forehoof and down into the ashtray before moving it back and forth to snuff it out while staring at it intently. She looks up at Dusk and says, “Are you okay?” with a frown and worried expression in her eyes.
Dusk smiles, “You should know by now that I’m tough, Gabs!” before grabbing her untouched iced cappuccino in her forehooves and gulping down roughly half of the tall glass of blond coffee at once in front of a wide-eyed night unicorn.
“I see!” Gabriela says, almost robotically.
Dusk set her coffee down and then smiles as she leans forward, “How you feeling, Gabs?”
“Whoa!” Gabriela says as she shakes her head and then stares at the punker with a dazed look in her blue slitted eyes.
Dusk’s eyes widen as she gives a fanged grin, “Good shit, right?”
Gabriela nods slowly with a glazed over look on her face.
Dusk smiles and says, “Told you, I got the hookups!” before taking another powerful swig of her coffee with her forehooves to finish off all but the last inch inside her glass with the now half melted cubes inside.
Gabriela can only nod and magically float her glass to her lips as it shakes in the air while she struggles to concentrate. She takes a drink to finish off all but the last 2 inches inside the glass.
Dusk just giggles as she takes the last mighty gulp down her throat to leave three mostly melted cubes of ice in the bottom as she sets it down. She looks at Gabriela, “So uh, finish your coffee and we’ll go snuggle with your friends!”
Gabriela starts wide-eyed as her mind snaps back to reality and she says, “Of course!”
<*****>
Dusk enters Gabriela’s darkened room after the door opens and she trots to the center of the floor, before moving her body to face Gabriela’s closet, to her back left after entering. She says, “So uh, which friends did you wanna snuggle Gabs?” with her fluffy ears perked in the direction of the night unicorn as she trots in the door behind her.
Gabriela turns her body to her left, and looks at her closet door, before causing it to glow blue and it swings open towards the wall on the right to reveal a large collection of stuffed bears, stacked neatly on the right side, with larger bears on the bottom and progressively smaller ones higher up!
Dusk widens her eyes, “That’s uh, not a small amount of bears!”
Gabriela giggles slightly before causing several of them to glow blue and float to the bed with her mind. She looks at the bed and mentally focuses while scrunching her brow to neatly arrange all the bears systematically onto the bed with her blue magical glow, with the two larger bears to the back, the light brown near the foot and the dark brown bear at the head. She turns her body to face Dusk and says emphatically while leaning forward. “I like bears! They’re soft and snuggly!”
Dusk smiles as she looks over to Gabriela on her left, “And Pinkie Pie too, right?”
Gabriela starts and shakes her head before nodding and saying, “Um, yes!”
Dusk leans her head to the bed on her right, “Well, shall I get in so I can hold you?”
Gabriela frowns.
Dusk trots over to her, kisses her softly on the lips and says, “It’s okay Gabriela…” before turning and trotting to the bed on the other end of the room at her right, getting in on her left side with her head at the head of the bed, and moving the big dark brown bear behind her before using her forehooves to scoot two light brown bears about a foot in front of her. She leans back and pads on the spot behind them with her right forehoof. “Come on in Gabs! I even put a couple of friends in front for you to snuggle too!”
Gabriela smiles and trots to the bed before getting in on her left side, parallel to the punker and then scooting back over the two bear plushies and into Dusk behind her. She smiles as she feels the familiar gooey feeling of Dusk’s mane gel on the back of her neck and soon feels forehooves going over her body to embrace her against the other batpony. Then, a leathery wing goes over Gabriela as well! She then grasps the two bears in front of her as she smiles and says, “I love you Dusk Shine!”
Dusk smiles and cuddles Gabriela from behind while holding her in her hooves and wing as she says, “I love you too Gabriela…”
Gabriela then timidly says, “Um, no Dusk… I really love you…”
Dusk then nervously says, “Uh, I really love you too Gabs…”
Gabriela sighs and says, “So uh, wanna go out with me sometime?”
Dusk is silent while holding onto Gabriela tightly…
“Uh, Dusk? Did you hear me?”
“Yes Gabs… I heard you…” The other batpony says before sighing and continuing to snuggle Gabriela.
“Well? How about it? Wanna be my marefriend?”
“Yes… Yes I do Gabs… And that’s what scares me…”
“Why would that scare you, Dusk?” Gabriela says uncertainly.
“Because…” Dusk stammers out before snuggling Gabriela more tightly and remaining silent.
Gabriela gasps out, “Because what Dusk?” as she’s held firmly in the hooves of the other batpony, with a wing draped over her…
“Because uh, oh gosh! I’m sorry!” Dusk says before loosening her grip on Gabriela.
Gabriela gasps for air.
“Are you okay Gabs?”
“Yeah, I’m fine! Why does loving me scare you?”
“Because this is different!”
“Different? Different how?”
“Well…” Dusk stutters out, “I mean, yeah, sure! I went with Nightshade for a while! And yeah, sure! We got freaky and did a lot of things together… That’s all true, but it wasn’t like this?”
Gabriela sighs, “That still doesn’t answer my question…”
“Yeah, I’m getting there Gabs!” Dusk exclaims. She says lowlier, “When I was with Nightshade, or the one before her, or well, any of the mares earlier, it wasn’t serious… Gabriela… I kinda uh, wanna keep you!”
Gabriela looks up with a start and quickly chirps, “Yup! Clearly a moron!”
“Would you stop that already, Gabs? I could tickle you again, you know?” Dusk says while pulling her wing all the way back and putting her forehooves back near Gabriela’s pits.
“Alright! Alright! Cease fire! I won’t tell you how stupid you are anymore!”
Dusk giggles while moving her forehooves back forward and keeping both wings behind her to cuddle the bear this time, “And yes Gabs! I’d like to date you!”
“Is this what you wanted?”
Dusk sighs again, “Well, the truth is, I didn’t really know what I wanted from you?”
Gabriela replies tentatively, “That doesn’t make any sense. If you didn’t know what you wanted from me, why would you come to me in the first place?”
“Well…” Dusk continues lowly[3] as she sighs before continuing, “there was something about you…”
“Huh?” Gabriela says as her head visibly starts in the darkened room.
“Yeah!” Dusk chirps, “Just uh, sweet lovable Gabriela… The pretty night unicorn I work with…”
Gabriela is silent for a moment before finally chittering, “You really do think I’m pretty, don’t you?”
“Titanium!” Dusk quickly chirps out!
Gabriela giggles, “Oh, now who’s being a cantankerous pain in the flanks?”
Dusk lightly snuggles and snickers, “Had to get you back!”
“Yeah, I know! I’ve been fighting you this whole time!”
“And yet, I still won!”
“Yeah…”
Dusk holds Gabriela more firmly, “And now I got her! Flanks and all!”
Gabriela snickers, “Butt stuff again?”
“All the time!”
Gabriela smiles her fanged grin as she’s peacefully embraced by this leather clad spiky haired rebellious batpony and soon, closes her eyes for a dreamy devil weed nap…
<*****>
Gabriela emerges in a fog and sees that she’s once again surrounded by trees as it dissipates in the air around her. She looks around with her slitted blue eyes and can’t help but notice a friendly looking alicorn night princess before her. She smiles, “Luna again!”
Luna smiles down at the night unicorn as her galactic mane dances to her left, “Greetings Gabriela! I wanted to see how you were?”
Gabriela scrunches her mouth, “Well honestly, I’m kinda confused…”
“Oh?” Luna says while widening her cerulean eyes.
“Well, right!” Gabriela nods. “This wasn’t the plan!”
“What do you mean?” Luna says while frowning down at her.
Gabriela starts and looks at the alicorn sternly, “This wasn’t what I wanted to do!”
“But are you not having a wonderful time with Dusk Shine?” Luna says while frowning with a hesitant look in her eyes.
“Well, I am, but…” Gabriela says while looking up with her eyes.
“But what, child?” Luna asks as she leans forward while frowning and narrowing her eyes.
“But this isn’t what I wanted!” Gabriela says before shaking her head. She looks back at Luna, “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love! I was supposed to just keep to myself with my coffee, books, and happiness… “
“But are you not happy now, Gabriela?” Luna asks curiously while tilting her dark blue head slightly to the right.
“Well, um…” Gabriela looks up once more before turning her eyes back to the dark alicorn, “Yes, I suppose I am…”
Luna frowns, “So, how could you have a problem with this?”
Gabriela fiercely replies as her body shakes in anger, “Love is fake, okay? Ponies don’t care about other ponies! Well, not really!” She rolls her eyes while chirping, “Oh, sure! They’ll pretend to care! They’ll do stuff for you sometimes! But the truth is, they’re only doing it, so they’ll feel good and stroke their own egos!” She leans back forward with wide eyes and says while shaking her head lightly, “But it’s not legit! They don’t truly care! I know that nopony really cares about me, Luna…” She stops shaking her head, “I know that it’s always fake… I know that I’m better off alone and yet…” She closes her eyes and looks down before opening them widely to the princess, “I just can’t tell Dusk Shine to buck off!”
Luna smiles, “Because you’re in love!”
“Oh great! Here we go again!” Gabriela says whimsically while rolling her eyes.
Luna’s eyes widen and mouth opens in surprise.
Gabriela hotly continues to the night alicorn, “Yeah, it’s gonna be great at first! FANTASTIC even!” She lowers her gaze, “But then, she’s gonna change! Because that’s what happens!” She glares at Luna harshly, “That’s what ALWAYS happens! No!” She turns her body around to face the darkened forest and looks off to her right and says more quietly, “I shouldn’t let that happen…” She straightens her head to face directly into the woods and glowers determinedly, “I can’t let that happen!” She sighs and looks down, “Of course, this means I need to find a new job?”
Luna exclaims at a higher volume, “SLOW DOWN GABRIELA!” She takes a few trots towards the night unicorn so Gabriela hears her more clearly, “Don’t you think we should talk about this? Did I not already tell you that Dusk Shine is not like those other ponies?”
Gabriela mutters, “I still don’t believe in love…” mechanically while glaring straight into the abyss blankly.
“And yet, you have love for another pony! Is that not strange?” Luna says while widening her eyes.
Gabriela scrunches her mouth as she stares with a furrowed brow and annoyed expression in her blue eyes, “Maybe? But…” She glares down to her left, “Dusk Shine doesn’t have love for me… Not really…”
“And how can you be so sure, Gabriela?”
Gabriela looks forward into the woods, “Because like I said, love is fake… There is only power!”
“What?” Luna asks curiously while leaning forward.
“Relationships are all about being used Luna!” Gabriela says sternly before nodding.
“And what makes you say that?”
“Because that’s all friendship and love actually are! Just ponies using one another!”
Luna says incredulously, “Then, why did you make awesome coffee for you and your love?” before tilting her head slightly to the right.
“Because…” Gabriela starts, “Because I care about her and wanted her to have something good to drink when she returned…”
The alicorn corrects her head, “Because you love her! And so, why don’t you wish to continue with her?”
Gabriela smiles as she stares into the deep forest as she says sardonically, “Because all this hype about love and togetherness is just a façade… We always end up alone anyway…” She raises her left eyebrow as she looks on grimly, “So, what’s the point? It is better to be alone than to live in fantasy…”
“Tell me Gabriela… What do you feel when Dusk holds you?” Luna takes another pace to Gabriela, “When she kisses you?”
Gabriela stares into the woods blankly, “I feel…passion… I don’t feel alone all of a sudden…” She looks to the lower left again, “But it’s not real!”
“How can you be so sure?”
Gabriela stares off to her lower right, “Well uh, I guess I can’t, can I? I mean, I certainly feel something when we kiss? When she holds me?”
“Do you love Dusk Shine, Gabriela?”
“Um… I uh…” Gabriela turns her gaze to the center while looking downward and sighs, “I guess I do?”
Luna then says inquisitively while raising her left eyebrow and leaning forward slightly, “So, since you in fact, love Dusk Shine, don’t you believe it’s within the realm of possibility that Dusk Shine also loves you?”
Gabriela turns her body to Luna and looks up at her, still questioning and unsure, “Uh, I guess that’s possible? I mean, “she looks to her lower left from Luna, “she probably also loves me?”
Luna finishes trotting to Gabriela and lifts her chin with her right forehoof and looks deep into the slitted blue eyes of this puzzled unicorn of darkness, “Don’t you think she deserves a chance? Do you believe you owe Dusk Shine that much?”
Gabriela stutters out, “Well uh, I love her… And she more than likely loves me back…”
Luna then smiles warmly at Gabriela and says exuberantly, “Then that’s truly all you need, child! Go and have fun with your love!” before lowering her right forehoof to the ground… Soon, a fog begins to rise from the ground suddenly and quickly as Gabriela begins to feel herself return to consciousness. “Have fun in Sticky-Butt-Land!” Luna calls out as Gabriela returns to the waking world.
<*****>
Gabriela opens her eyes suddenly and says, “Wait what?” as she half giggles to herself.
Dusk Shine is holding Gabriela from behind in her forehooves with a big dark brown bear behind her as she says, “Uh, what’s so funny Gabs?”
Gabriela lowly mutters to herself, “Just fifteen minutes without mentioning my ass! Just fifteen minutes…”
“What?” Dusk stammers out while half giggling.
“Um, nevermind!” Gabriela says before shaking her head. “Uh, hey Dusk? Would you let me go so I can turn around and face you?”
Dusk releases Gabriela from her hooves and the night unicorn begins to adjust herself and turn her body to face the spiky haired batpony.
She smiles at Dusk, “I love you Dusk Shine!”
Dusk smiles her fanged grin back, “I love you too Gabs!”
Gabriela then giggles as she gently nuzzles Dusk’s nose with her own while continuing to smile.
“What’s gotten into you?” Dusk asks nervously while leaning back slightly.
“I just love you, you little fanged leather-clad rule breaker!” Gabriela says whimsically while giggling slightly.
“Okay, now who’s dumb?” Dusk says while giggling and then nuzzling Gabriela back.
“This shall not go unavenged!” Gabriela says while giggling.
“Huh?” Dusk starts and moves back slightly with a wide-eyed confused look in her slitted eyes.
Gabriela then moves her right forehoof from the bed to touch Dusk Shine’s nose and presses while saying, “BOOP!”
Dusk giggles before looking up and saying, “Great! I have a unicorn batpony marefriend now!” She observes this smiling horned batpony snuggling her from the front carefully, “And she’s insane now!”
(To be continued…)
Gabriela will meet Luna in a dream where they will talk about Dusk Shine.
“This wasn’t the plan” speech by Gabriela.
were you trying to say 'she has trouble finding strange ponies?'
this almost seems kind of redundant when you refer to Dusk. Maybe just change it to 'she looks at her'?
what does this mean?