//------------------------------// // 1 – Stealth Mission // Story: Can You See What I See? // by Avery Day //------------------------------// Ever since the Battle of the Bands, I’ve had this really specific habit that only happens under specific circumstances. When we hold our sleepovers at Pinkie Pie’s house, I almost always wake up at 2 AM. And when I do, my body won’t let me go back to sleep until I go to the kitchen and have some of that whipped cream in a can she has an absurd amount of. At first, I tried really hard to ignore this craving. But this is the fourth or fifth time it’s happened. At this point, I’ve resigned myself to the siren’s call of fluffy milkfat. The only problem? There’s a minefield of sleeping friends between me and the hallway leading down to the kitchen. They’re not that hard to see in the dark, but I’m very tired, and my sleeping bag is positioned on the polar opposite side of Pinkie’s bedroom door. Usually, that last part isn’t a problem. Almost every other time I’ve slept over here, my spot has been close to the door. Tonight, however, Twilight took the spot before I could. Mind you, I don’t mean Princess Twilight. No, she’s been off doing Equestrian princess things since the formation of my strange whipped cream habit. I mean this world’s Twilight Sparkle. This is the first time she’s ever been to one of our sleepovers, so, when she placed her things down in my spot, I just chose a different one. I wanted her to feel comfortable and welcome here. She’s so shy and skittish she makes Fluttershy look like Rainbow Dash by comparison, and I just couldn’t bear to make her think she did anything wrong for her first sleepover. Maybe I was overthinking things. Maybe I weigh the importance of where I sleep differently. If I have to get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, it’s the most advantageous spot to be in. That, and I end up waking up earlier than almost anyone, so it’s easy to get up and sneak out of the room without any collateral awakenings. I get weirdly specific with a lot of things. Stretching for a few brief moments, I sat up from my position on the ground in my sleeping bag, ever-so-carefully slipping out of the bag without rustling it too much. I stood up and looked around. Everyone in the room was still sound asleep. So far, so good. As sleepy as I was, I was still willing to put a considerable amount of effort into being completely silent while sneaking out of the room. Sure, none of the other girls were ever that careful when they got up to use the bathroom or anything, but me? I’m different. Continuing my stealth mission, I stepped over a few of my friends on my precarious walk to the door. As I turned the last corner of Pinkie’s bed, I noticed that the sleeping bag closest to the door was empty. Twilight’s sleeping bag. I bet wherever she is, she appreciates the convenience of that spot. I wonder if she has a similar affinity to such unnecessary specificities. Thinking about it for a moment, I realized how odd that was. I’d been awake for a good five or so minutes and I hadn’t heard her get up. If nothing else, I should have at least heard the door open and close. I guess it makes sense she’d move so silently, considering she was quiet almost all the time anyway. Still, it was nice to know someone else who was considerate about their noise level. Either that, or she’d been up for a while. I really hoped that wasn’t the case, though. I shimmied out the door, slowly closing the door at just the right speed so it didn’t creak. Then I turned the knob just enough so the latch bolt wouldn’t drag against the strike plate. Once it was closed, I gradually loosened my grip on the knob until the latch bolt fell quietly and neatly into place. Stealth mission successful. My reward awaits me in the fridge downstairs. At first, I tiptoed down the steps, but as I got further down the staircase, I grew less careful with my footsteps. Everyone slept upstairs at Pinkie’s, so being mindful of noises downstairs wasn’t really necessary. When turning the corner through the doorway to the kitchen, I spied a familiar sight. There was Twilight. Sitting on a bar stool at the island in the center of the kitchen. Just like when Princess Twilight was here to help us at the Battle of the Bands. Only this time, she wasn’t fiddling around with Fluttershy’s notebook. The glasses and the black hoodie were different too. She looked visibly shaken, looking down at her phone as she flipped it back and forth in her hands. “Everything okay?” I asked. She jumped, nearly falling out of her seat as she did. I stifled a giggle. It was kinda funny, but with how she looked I thought it better not to let that slip. “Oh! Hi. Sunset. Yeah, I’m fine! I just… couldn’t sleep, that’s all,” she answered, rather unconvincingly. (Her tone could be best described as ‘I’m not okay but please don’t ask any more questions'.) I walked over to the fridge, opening it and grabbing one of the many cans of whipped cream that lined the door of it. “Any reason in particular? Don’t feel bad if it’s Pinkie’s snoring, I get it.” She let out a half-hearted laugh. “It’s no one’s fault, really. I’ve just been having a lot of trouble sleeping in general lately,” she answered. Then she let out a deep sigh. “To be honest, I’m trying to work myself up enough to call my brother to ask him to come and get me.” “Aww, why?” I questioned, looking back at her. Twilight looked away, her expression looking kind of guilty. Quickly, I thought of a follow-up. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. And hey, I can even take you home if you don’t want to bug your brother. But if there’s something bothering you, I’m here to listen.” She sighed. I sprayed some whipped cream onto my fingers and licked it up as I walked over to the island. Sitting at the bar stool across from her, I watched her contemplate an answer. “I couldn’t ask you to do that. Not with it being so late,” she declined, “And besides, the reason I can’t sleep is stupid, really.” I shook my head as I sprayed more sweet cream onto my hand. “If it’s keeping you up at night, it can’t be that stupid. Besides, I’m almost always up around this time when we have our sleepover here. It’s a weird habit.” In my head, I already anticipated the answer. It had only been a few weeks since the incident at the Friendship Games. As the only other person in the history of forever to turn into a she-demon as a result of uncontrollable magic, I could only guess she was having nightmares. That’s how it happened for me, at least. And she seemed to be handling the aftermath even worse than I did. “Well, it started after the Friendship Games,” she began. Called it. Twilight continued after a brief pause, “I started having nightmares about that… thing I turned into. She calls herself Midnight Sparkle and-” “Aww, how come yours gets a name?” I interrupted with a joke. She cringed, her expression looking pained. Shit. I thought she’d pick up better on that. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to make light of that,” I quickly corrected. “It’s just that I know what that’s like. You remember the thing I told you about me at the Fall Formal last year? I remember having nightmares about the demon-thing I became. Only she never called herself anything. She was just a jerk.” Twilight seemed to relax as she let out an awkward pity laugh. “I’m glad you can relate, I guess,” her face contorted as if the words leaving her mouth tasted wrong, “I hope that doesn’t sound weird.” “Not at all,” I smiled at her. I was glad for that too. It had been a long time since I had one of those nightmares, but I remember how isolating it felt. I may have had to trudge through those thought trenches alone, but I didn’t want her to think she had to. It was an opportunity for me to be the person I would have liked to be there when I went through my own experience. “Anyway, the nightmares begin like normal days. Then she comes around. After that, violent things happen and I’m powerless to do anything except watch.” Her voice trembles as she explains. I nodded, “That sounds pretty much exactly like how it happened for me.” I sprayed a little whipped cream onto my fingers again. It hadn’t occurred to me until this moment how I must look like a neanderthal doing this over and over again. I wasn’t about to stop, though. Fluffy sugar milkfat good. “Do you still have them?” she asked, “The nightmares, I mean.” I shrugged, “Not really. The more time passed, the more confident in myself I became. And now, I know I’ll never let that happen again. And you’ll get there, too. I promise.” A half-hearted chuckle escaped her lips. “Great. Confidence. That’s easy to come by,” she sarcastically remarked. “Why aren’t you confident?” I asked, rather bluntly. She looked surprised that I would ask her that question. To be totally honest, I already knew her answer, and I was pretty sure I knew her reasoning as well. But it seemed more productive to give her an ear first and a word later. Twilight scoffed. “What do I have to be confident about? I’m in high school and it’s taken me this long to make any friends. And all I have to show for my ‘brilliant scientific prowess’ is an invention that transformed me into something that nearly brought about the end of the world. And to top it all off, I’m a lanky nerd.” I frowned at her. The way she talked about herself was upsetting. She really didn’t think that highly of herself at all, did she? It went a long way to explain why she was so timid. But I almost felt offended on her behalf. If anyone else talked about her like that, I might slap them. Sure, we may not have known each other for that long, but the fact that I already thought that highly of her had to count for something, right? “I don’t think that’s fair,” I replied. She perked up and knit her eyebrow, looking me in the eye. “It may have taken you this long to make friends, sure” I elaborated, “But it sounds to me like you weren’t in the best environment to do that over at Crystal Prep, right?” She nodded, letting out a slight sigh of resignation as she looked away. “I guess so, yeah.” If I was going to continue this pep talk, I needed more whipped cream. I sprayed out a little more and then continued. “Plus, you’re without a doubt the smartest person I’ve ever met. The way you smoked me during that first competition at the Friendship Games was seriously impressive. I’d go as far to say you might be smarter than Princess Twilight.” That last bit was pushing it, honestly. Sure, this Twilight was incredibly smart, but I don’t think she’s capable of building a cross-dimensional portal in less than an hour. Though, if she could, I guess I wouldn’t be that surprised. I lapped up more whipped cream and kept going. Regardless, I could see a shy smile and a bit of a blush on her face as she kept looking away from me. “And ‘lanky nerd’? Twilight, one of the most popular boys in school is pining over you. I think that should say enough about how attractive you are.” She blushed and looked away at that comment, but also looked a little put off by it. “To be fair, I think Flash is technically yearning for a different version of me. That, and, well…” Twilight paused and looked around the room. “Well, yeah, that’s basically it.” There was something she was afraid to say there, but I shrugged it off. “But I do get your point,” she concluded. “Good. I think you’ve got a lot to be proud of. There’s more to you than you give yourself credit for,” I concluded. Twilight smiled at me. I smiled back. Yes! I am winning so many friendship points right now. Princess Twilight would absolutely be giving me an A in friendship if she were here. A blush spread across Twilight’s face. “I-I don’t know what to say,” she stammered, “But I really appreciate that, Sunset. It means a lot.” Rather than continuing the conversation, I held out the can of whipped cream and motioned for her to reach out her hand. She did, and I sprayed a generous helping out onto her fingers, promptly doing the same for myself afterwards. As I licked mine off my fingers like the disgusting animal I must have looked like all night, I looked back up at her. She’d just done the same, but when she had, she’d smeared some of it on her nose. My mouth was full of whipped cream so I motioned towards my nose in an attempt to notify her of the bit of whipped cream she had on it. She didn’t seem to understand my gesture, however. Instead, I put down the whipped cream can, and with my clean hand I reached over to her face and wiped it off myself. I licked the bit of cream off my finger and looked back up at her and– Oh. Oh Celestia, why did I do that? That was really weird. Twilight blushed profusely. It truly did not occur to me how needlessly flirtatious my actions were until after they happened. Honestly, I just wanted to be nice! And I also kinda wanted more whipped cream. Right? I sat there completely still, every single muscle in my body tightening. I can’t remember the last time I felt this embarrassed after doing something so thoughtlessly. I swallowed the cream in my mouth, almost choking from the speed of which I was trying to clear my mouth. Quickly, I thought of something to say. “S-Sorry! You had whipped cream on your nose, and my mouth was just full so I figured I’d do that for you. I hope that wasn’t weird.” A few brief seconds of silence. Then she laughed, and as she did I felt my whole body relax. I was glad she didn’t take that the wrong way. I joined her in laughter. After a few seconds, we both went quiet again. It felt a little awkward. “So,” I said, breaking the silence, “Did you still want me to give you a ride home? I’m getting kinda sleepy again, so if you want to, we should probably do it soon.” She looked around the room, contemplating. “Actually, I think I’ll stick it out,” she said with a smile. Did I say Princess Twilight would give me an A? Nah, she’d give me an A plus. And a little gold star. “I’m really happy to hear that,” I replied, smiling back at her, “Now come on, we should probably get to sleep. We don’t want to be the last ones awake if we want there to be any breakfast left in the morning.” Twilight nodded and stood up from her seat. I did the same and began walking toward the staircase. “Umm, just one more thing,” she spoke. I stopped dead in my tracks. “Yeah, what’s up?” I responded as I turned around to face her again. “This is kind of a weird question,” she began, looking bashful, “But can I sleep next to you? J-Just in case I have another nightmare.” That question completely blindsided me. But why? It was a perfectly reasonable request. So why did I freeze? Why was my brain stalling? I tried not to blush, but I could feel my face heat up. I was standing in a part of the kitchen with very little light, though, so I really hoped she couldn’t see it. Why did I care? Far too many thoughts about such a simple question. The sugar from the whipped cream was definitely hitting my brain. Yeah, that’s it. “Sure, yeah,” I responded, “I’ll grab your bag on the way in. Just follow me close. You’ll have to step over a few of our friends on the way to my side, but lucky for you, I’m a master of stealth.” She smiled at me, and I smiled back. Even though I knew it was only a few seconds, we stood there for what felt like several minutes just smiling at one another. Something about this made my heart inexplicably flutter. It was that darn sugar again. I shook my head like I was dozing off to break eye contact and turned around once more. We both made our way up the stairs, her getting closer behind me as we got to the door. I turned the doorknob gingerly and pulled the door open without making a sound. As I walked in, I grabbed Twilight’s sleeping bag and pillow. She closed the door behind us just as quietly as I had done on my way out. I lifted her sleeping bag and pillow and held them close. They smelled like lavender. Just like her. It’s not enough that she is purple, she had to smell purple too, huh. I tiptoed around several sleeping bodies on the floor. The things I was carrying presented me with a different, more difficult challenge than my time sneaking out. Still, I carefully made silent steps around my friends. Once over Rainbow Dash, once over Applejack, and finally once over Rarity. Twilight followed close, always one step behind. I would take a step, and her footfall would be exactly where mine was before my last step. We made it to where I’d set my sleeping bag up. The hard part was over. I placed her stuff down, then turned back to her. I smiled at her, gave her a wink and a thumbs up. She returned the gesture. I couldn’t help but smile even wider. There wasn’t a lot of space next to my sleeping bag, but I gently moved mine to the side enough so Twilight would have close to the amount of room her sleeping bag demanded. This left me with very little room between her bag and the bed I was sleeping next to, but like I said before: I want her to feel welcome. If that means I need to be a little cramped while I sleep, I can deal. I set her sleeping bag up right next to mine after I finished adjusting mine. Our sleeping bags rustled as we got in them and situated into comfortable positions. Once we did, the only thing that could be heard were the sounds of our friends still fast asleep. Yet another stealth mission aced. This time I managed to do it while escorting someone, no less. “Thanks again, Sunset,” she whispered to me, smiling again. “Any time, Twilight,” I smiled and whispered back. “Goodnight.” “Goodnight.” She turned over in her bag, laying on her side facing the wall and away from me. I sat there staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. To my surprise and relief, she was sound asleep within minutes. I, on the other hand, continued to lay awake for an indeterminate amount of time. After tonight, my mind was racing. I definitely had way too much whipped cream this time. The sugar was still getting to me. But then I looked over to Twilight again. Since she’d become a member of our little group, I’d always had a soft spot for her. Maybe it was because she was so similar to Princess Twilight. Maybe it was because she’s the only other person who shares a catastrophic experience with uncontrollable cross-dimensional magic with me. Regardless, after tonight, things felt a little different. I felt like I should be protective of her. I couldn’t go to sleep just yet. I have to stay awake and fend off her nightmares. As if nightmares were real, tangible things I could fight off on her behalf. Then I thought back to the moment with the whipped cream on her nose. The face she gave me after I wiped it off her nose. The deep blush that quickly spread across her entire face. It was cute. Twilight was cute. Really cute. Oh no. After that thought, I tried to distract myself by looking around at the walls in Pinkie’s room. Reading a few words on a poster over and over. Looking over the days on the calendar. How many Tuesdays are there this month? There really wasn’t anything substantial enough to distract me. My mind was headed down a very complicated path. One that I didn’t think I was ready to confront any time soon. This was time for sleeping, not feeling, damn it. Especially weird feelings like this. But the mind is a strange thing. When I don’t want it to wander, it will often gravitate towards places I would never consciously nudge it toward. But when I try to make it wander, it will latch onto an idea and send my train of thought barreling down the tracks after cutting the brakes. And I’m just along for the ride. That’s what started to happen. There simply wasn’t enough stimulation in this dark bedroom for me to properly distract myself. I couldn’t help myself. Powerless to stop my angst-riddled mind, I thought back to all those smiles. All those times she looked around the room too nervous to make eye contact with me. The times she blushed. Twilight was cute. I thought about when she talked about how she felt about herself. I mistakenly felt a little angry, as if it were someone else insulting her. How dare anyone think of her like that? How could she see herself like that? What made her feel that way? Who made her feel that way? What can I do to make her stop? Make her realize she’s so much more than what she thinks? If only she could feel the same way about herself that I feel about her. …But that’s when it dawned on me. Do I really know how I feel about her? Shit.