//------------------------------// // Chapter 37: Relapse // Story: Filly Eyes // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// My eyes widen when I see what’s on the screen in front of me on my tablet as I lay on my stomach on the bed… “Oh, crap!” I curse to myself before getting off the bed to the right and trotting towards the door to head across the hall to the big red door there… I knock with my right hoof… “Yeah!” A familiar squeaky voice comes from the inside… “We have an awards ceremony tonight! It’s at seven and we all gotta be there!” “Misty!” I start and adjust my eyes to the door, “Uh, y-yeah?” The voice calmly replies, “The awards ceremony can suck a ball! I’m finishing this joint first!” I frown, “Oh, golly!” and suddenly wonder when the word entered my vocabulary? I look back up to the door and yell. “There’s not much time, Twinkle Shine!” “You know, they can’t start the party without us, anyway, right?” My eyes widen, “Well, that’s true, I suppose?” “Right! Now get your flanks in here! I want somepony to talk to now!” “Are you high?” “Are you getting in here now, or what?” My eyes dart at the door, “Yeah, you’re high!” “Shut up, get in here, and talk to me!” I snicker to myself and shake my head before magically opening the door inward to the right… I trot in to see a pink pegasus filly holding a lit half-smoked joint to her snout with her right hoof as she takes an inhale… I stop there and stare at the smoking pegasus, “So, you’re finishing your joint first!” She exhales from her mouth and stares at me with wide brown eyes, “Oh, golly yes! It’s been a rough couple of days and I need a little break! So yeah! I don’t care about any stupid awards ceremony! I’m smoking first! Uh,” she widens her eyes to me. “You want a few drags?” I smile and snicker, “You know, I’m almost tempted, but no!” “Suit yourself!” She replies before bringing the joint to her mouth again for another drag. I frown as I’m not sure this is the best time, but I decide to say what I’d been thinking, “Twinkle, I just wanted to thank you! F-for being there for me about the whole Opaline thing, you know?” and smile. “You’re a true friend!” She exhales from her mouth and I see the odoriferous puff of weed smoke between us as she says, “Oh, golly! You can’t hug me right now! I’m smoking!” before bringing the joint to her mouth again. I giggle, “What? I was just thanking you! That’s all!” She exhales smoke from her snout again and says, “Oh, golly dammit!” before turning right to her glass ashtray on the round wooden table there and using her right forehoof to snuff the mostly smoked joint there… I know she likes to save those for later… She stares back at me and starts trotting my direction… My eyes widen, “What are you doing, Twinkle Shine?” She sighs, “Now, I gotta hug you! Those are the rules!” I frown, “What?” before she quickly grasps me in her hooves and starts squeezing affectionately! “EEP!” I suddenly squeal in her hooves! She lets me go and returns to her hooves on the floor and nods, “There! I hugged you!” I widen my eyes at this, “You’re definitely stoned!” Suddenly, I see a flash of blue light to my right! I stare at it and scream, “AAAAAHHH!!!!” Twinkle turns her head the same direction and stares with her bloodshot eyes and says, “Oh, golly! It’s Jessi! Hiya Jessi!” A teal green alicorn filly stands there and widens her eyes to both of us, “Hey! Did Little Snack let you two know?” Twinkle shrugs, “Golly gee, Jessi! I don’t know shit!” I stare at her, “Yeah, there’s an awards ceremony in about twenty minutes and Twinkle here is stoned!” Twinkle raises her neck to speak, “I don’t care anymore! I’m smoking, golly dammit!” She coughs and clears her throat. “Well uh, I was… I’m done now!” <*****> I lay my head on the left shoulder of my love as we sat there in the roofless amphitheater together, in the front row and whisper to her, “I love you, Sunny!” as I stared up at the open night sky with the stars and constellations overhead… Sunny whispers back, “Wow Izzy! You’re really affectionate tonight!” I smile, “Well, I just smoked a joint and was thinking about what you mean to me…” as I breath in a cool breeze, now gently blowing past us from the left… “Wait! You smoke devil weed?” I reply, “Mmm, sometimes! Twinkle Shine likes to smoke with me too. She’s persuasive…” Sunny is silent for a moment before answering, “She is very compelling, uh… I didn’t know you got high!” I sigh, “Yeah, I’d been meaning to tell you about that, but I just well,” I giggle slightly, “I just didn’t know how to bring it up! I mean, you’re okay with that, right?” as the wind dies down before suddenly picking up again ever so gently, as I feel the cool air coming in from my left side… She breathes heavily, “I uh, I think so? Just uh, not around me, okay?” I smile and sink deeper into her warm shoulder while thinking about how amazing she is, “Deal!” She’s silent for another moment before saying, “Do you get affectionate when you’re high?” I chuckle slightly more before rubbing more into her shoulder, “Figure that one out already, did you?” I can almost feel her eyes on me at this point as she replies, “You know, this might not be so bad?” I widen my eyes from their previous half-closed state, “Oh?” She wraps her right forehoof around me and whispers to me, “Shh! It’s okay, my love… I don’t mind stoned affectionate Izzy!” before giggling slightly herself. “This isn’t so bad!” Suddenly, the lights go up on the stage and we both go back to our seats to witness a pink unicorn with a blond straight mane, holding cue cards in her yellow magick and clearing her throat, “Ahem! We are all here today to honor the Filly Action Squad and their heroism in stopping a bank robbery!” The theater begins to stomp their hooves in a thunderous applause before she clears her throat again… They soon stop… “Ahem! Will uh,“she switches her cue card. “Twinkle Shine, Jessi Trotsky, Misty, and Little Snack all please come up here!” Suddenly, an orange filly with two long green pigtails quickly begins trotting in from the left stage! She stops at the side of the pink mare before a teal green alicorn with a grayish-white mane and a blue unicorn with a two-toned curly mane trot in behind her and they stop shortly before a pink pegasus filly becomes visible at the left… Twinkle Shine looks behind her, “Shut up! I don’t care!” before trotting behind the unicorn to take her place while the orange filly bounces near the podium and the green filly behind her stares around nervously with her burnt orange pupils… The pink mare then says, “Yes! We now honor Little Snack the earth filly!” and Little Snack bounces more visibly, “Misty the unicorn filly, Twinkle Shine the pegasus filly, and Jessi Trotsky the uh, the alicorn filly!” Jessi widens her eyes at the crowd as one pony shouts, “She’s really an alicorn!” The alicorn clears her throat, “Y-yes! Yes I am! I’m an alicorn! But I’m just like any of you, except I happen to have wings and a horn!” The crowd gasps! Jessi stares back over her right shoulder at Twinkle Shine, “I told you I should’ve worn my vest!” Twinkle gazes back wide-eyed, “You don’t need it! You’re you now! Be you!” I whisper to Sunny on my right, “Will she be okay?” She whispers back, “I’m an alicorn too, remember? I got her back if things go south!” Jessi stares wide-eyed at the crowd and visibly gulps before smiling nervously, “Uh, y-yes! I’m an alicorn now! As you all know, Sunny Starscout became an alicorn earlier when she brought magick back to Equestria! Well uh, I became an alicorn when I found something! It was, “she shakes her head. “ancient power that had been hidden to keep it safe from a mighty foe! And now, I have this power, whether I like it or not, but I assure you, I’m just like any of you! Just uh, I have both now! Wings and a horn! And probably earth pony magick too?” and blinks… The crowd gasps… Jessi widens her eyes! The pink mare clears her throat yet again and continues, “Ahem, yes! Uh, Sunny isn’t the only alicorn in Maretime Bay now!” Jessi stares blankly at the crowd, “Please leave me alone!” Twinkle widens her eyes and stares at Misty before saying, “Relax Jessi! Nopony is going to hurt you!” Jessi widens her eyes before squatting and taking off with her wings! She quickly turns around over the theater and flies away from us all, over the stage! Twinkle noticeably says, “Oh, golly!” under her breath before turning, squatting, and flying after her best friend! <*****> “Oh, golly!” I whisper under my breath again as I chase the dimly lit green thing flying in the distance… I don’t know where she’s going to fly, but I don’t think she knows I’m here? I keep tailing her as she flies towards a dark forest in the distance over the starlit grasslands of the fields away from Maretime Bay… I don’t think it’s Bridlewood and I suddenly realize I haven’t really been this far to the southwest of Maretime Bay as she flies over the trees there and I follow… I don’t know where we are, but I also know she needs me, and so I furrow my brow as I continue to work my wings to get as close to her as I can… Suddenly, I see her dip below the treeline and I whisper, “Oh, no you don’t Jessi! You’re not getting away that easy!” before flapping with all of my might to increase my speed so I can see just where she dipped off to! <*****> I look back at Misty over my left shoulder away from the podium, “So uh, should we go after her, or?” Misty looks at me with a serious expression in her verdant gaze, “Absolutely!” Suddenly, Sunny teleports just to my right as I continue to stare over my shoulder, “You two will do no such thing! You will both go home, immediately!” I turn my head towards the orange alicorn, “No can do, boss! Jessi and Twinkle are out there!” Misty stares at Sunny, “Yeah! We’re together! We either all come out or not at all!” Suddenly, a fluffy blue unicorn bursts through the stage door at the right of my gaze. I turn towards her as she says, “Well, you gotta admit, they are loyal!” Misty adds, “Nopony left behind!” Sunny sighs, “Fine! We’re forming a search party!” Hitch comes in from the other stage door and I once again, adjust my neck, towards him this time as he stops galloping near the podium, “Right! A search party!” “Can I be a deputy now?” I ask the stallion. He glares at me, “Not yet!” before adjusting his gaze to everypony on stage. “Alright! Little Snack, you’re with me and Izzy! Misty! You’re on Sunny! Let’s move out!” <*****> And so, that’s why I now stood in front of a forested hillside with many birch and pine trees all over it under the moonlight as I glared into the darkened cavern made of stone and leading into the earth with the faint glow deep inside that’s barely visible, “Jessi! I know you’re in there! This is really the only place to hide in this area!” as I widen my eyes and suddenly think that it’s good that I smoked before this! The glow suddenly goes out as I hear a feminine voice reply, “No it’s not! There are other caves! You just haven’t looked hard enough!” I snicker at the cave, “Golly dammit, Jessi! You just turned your light out! I know you’re in there! Come on!” The voice is silent for a moment before finally replying, “I don’t have a light!” I look into the black cave once more and fiercely reply, “Jessi! You’re an alicorn now and you’re different from most other ponies!” She’s silent again… “And that’s okay too!” I then add… I then hear the voice faintly reply, “They don’t like different…” “What? Uh,” I shake my head. “Look, Jessi! We’re both friends now and I think you can talk to me, face to face! I mean, golly gee! Don’t we know each other better than this?” I finally see a teal green filly with wings and a horn slowly emerging from the cave, in the pale moonlight and I smile at her before trotting her direction… I say loudly, “I’m the emotional support pony tonight!” and hug her tightly! “ERP!” She squeals! That’s a new one… I release her, nod, and say, “Okay! What’s really the problem here?” She stares back at me and I see her wide sensitive eyes as she says, “Well, I was a slave to the diamond dogs… But that’s not everything that happened to me…” I frown, “Well, obviously! You know, I’m your best friend! You know, you can tell me anything, right?” She smiles faintly, “Y-yeah… “she adjusts her eyes as she glares at me carefully. “I’m not used to that!” “No, really?” I reply facetiously as it’s all I can do stay together at this point… These other fillies really are a hoofful! She continues, “I-I did travel to Equestria once… The zebras told me about this place and that that’s where ponies came from… I uh, I wanted to see it for myself… Well, when I got here, I ran into many earth ponies in the plains and they all shunned me! So uh, I thought,” she blinks. “I thought being different is bad…” “It’s different now though, Jessi… They’ll accept you… You don’t need to worry about it…” She glares at me, “How can you be so sure? W-what if they scream at me and chase me off, the same way those ponies from before did? I uh, I didn’t like Equestria much after all of that… Things seemed better living with the zebras…” she smiles. “Sunny and Izzy are the only reasons I’m even here! And well, now you too!” I sigh, “Right! And Misty and Little Snack! Hitch, Zipp, and Pipp are also cool too! So you got all kinds of friends here! Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun here? Maybe you should give them a chance?” “B-but what if they don’t accept me?” I nod, “Then we’re all willing to get your back! We’re not gonna let them throw eggs at you or chase you out of town!” Her eyes widen, “Wow!” “Or tar and feather you or put you in a dunking booth or launch fireworks at you or…” She giggles and cuts me off, “Okay! I get it! You can stop now!” “...or…oh! Right!” I say as I widen my eyes. “Right! So uh, any idea of where we are?” “No clue! Oh, gosh Twinkle Shine! After well, everything, I don’t like being on display like that!” I eye the alicorn carefully under the dimly lit sky… “Jessi! I uh, actually have something that might help you in my fluff… You don’t have to do it everyday like me, but uh, well, it may be good for you? You can create a flame with your magick, right?” (To be continued…)