John woke up with a groan, having spend most of the previous night up, he wasn't too happy to be awake as early as he was.
“Geez.” John whined as he looked outside, the harsh morning light temporarily blinding him, after nursing his eyes, he looked up to see Twilight looking down at him from the bed, a book floating besides her.
“Good morning.” Twilight greeted him.
“How are you up so early?” John asked, looking at his phone and noticing it wasn’t even nine am yet.
“Because I’m not a bum.” Twilight replied smugly. She seemed to have picked up some words from the dictionary.
“Oh come on, you know you had fun,” he replied with a wink. Despite the lack of context, John felt she wouldn't take it too hard, despite it, Twilight blushed a bit and rolled her eyes.
“Taking this out of context aren’t we?”
“Yep, but to derail this train, wasn't tonight fun?”
“Except for that one incident.” Twilight said giggling at the moments from the previous night.
~~~~~
The telling of life events was the main course that night.
Twilight had told John about her early life in Canterlot, her painful early years being picked on, the day her life changed when she hatched Spike’s egg and begin taking care of the dragon and also became her ruler’s main apprentice, and how she became more interested on her studies than on having friends thinking it was more important, all except for her brother who was her only friend, John, however, noticed her struggling remembering at points, which brought questions to him, but didn't argue.
John just heard in marvel, processing everything, he realized Twilight didn’t have many good years in her early life.'I guess we aren’t so different after all,' stopping her story, she motioned John to go, which he complied by telling his own.
His explanation was bare-bones at best, but Twilight listened intently as he retold everything up to his middle school years.
“You are an easy pony to impress, you know?” John teased while Twilight rolled her eyes at his comment.
"I could say the same to you," Twilight then continued telling her own story; things about how she was tasked with organizing the Summer celebration, how her life changed, he became particularly interested in the fact that she became a sort of religious figure after a certain event alongside her friends.
Speaking of friends, she had being talking more about her friends than anything else, how they were there for her and how they had fun, but while she spoke highly of them, she didn't say nothing more than their names, alongside some of the most famous deeds, one of their being from a certain rainbow maned pegasus.
“Okay, can I interrupt and say that this rainbow pony sounds like the coolest pony ever!?” John said with excitement when she got to the part with the “Sonic Rainboom.”
“She gets that a lot,” Twilight replied dryly.
She finished by telling him of the latest event in her life, which was her brother's wedding with a princess, along something about changelings.
“Changelings? You mean those creatures that feed off love? Don't you mean succubus?
Twilight shook her head. "No, succubus are creatures that feed on more than just love, you could say they practically kill their victim."
"Oh" John simply said in astonishment. 'Damn, these ponies are hardcore,' hethought with a grin.
“How about you?” Twilight began. “What happened to you after…” she looked at the notes she was keeping. “Middle School?”
John flinched at this question, and to keep from replying, he grabbed the book he had been reading and put it in front of his face, trying to pass it f as reading.
“W-we should go to bed now, it is late after all!”
“John, you know that-” she stopped mid-sentence as she looked at the book’s title. “A dummy’s guide to pickup lines?”
John quickly realized his mistake and hid the book, but the damage had already been done.
~~~~~
Twilight had just spend her time laughing at John’s awkward face, being reminded of the book, she quickly shook it off and gave him a mocking nudge.
"Don't be silly, you know I was simply jesting," Twilight said in defense.
"Yeah, yeah..."'At least she forgot to ask me,' John thought in relief.
"Come over here," Twilight just stood on her hind legs, her forelegs wide open, ready for a forgiveness hug.
“Using your most powerful weapon from the get-go? You don’t play around Twilight,” he told her playfully as the pair hugged for the second time.
"Yep! Now, shouldn't you be going to work?" she pointed out, bringing the conversation to a halt.
"Oh, that's truth... Well, I think I'll do just that... I'll catch ya later, Twilight" he said as he grabbed his clothes and changed, leaving for work afterwards.
~~~~~
“Dude, I thought you said you were gonna let me meet her.” Michael said with an angry tone in his voice, bringing the topic to John for the seventh time.
“And she doesn’t want to, I told you already, so you eh… Are out of luck!” John finished awkwardly, trying to end the topic there and then.
Michael just stared at him with narrowed eyes, and with a scoff, walked away, fuming.
I’m so fucked. John thought nervously while getting back to work, but seeing him angry made the act worth it.
For the next few hours, he found himself working much more diligently, that is until a gruff voice called from behind him. “Hey John, can I talk to you?” the voiced asked.
“Yes?” John asked turning around.
"Come to my office," he simply said, and John confusedly followed.
"Yes? What's the matter?" he asked as they reached the place; nothing more than a small cubicle, cramped and uncomfortable, stacks of papers hanging haphazardly placed around, John guessed it did the job.
“I am grateful for your services, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go,” his boss said reluctantly.
“W-what?” John asked confused.“Why!?” he continued with anger.
“I just feel that we cannot afford to have you as of this moment, I‘m sorry," he replied with a stern face, the tone in his telling him all that he needed.
“I-” John began, a rant coming, but stopped. He couldn’t bring himself to answer him, even to defend himself, he knew that he was basically saying ‘You are not doing a good job, you are fired.’
“Goodbye John.” his boss said simply pointing him out. "I'm sorry."
"No, you are not," he said, giving him one last look before walking out.'This day just went from good to horribly bad in a minute,' John thought angrily while simply tossing the apron he was wearing on the floor, alongside his hat, and on his way out, tossing a drink off of someone's hands.
All the while, Michael stared from the place, a devilishly smile on his face.
~~~~~
Meanwhile, at John's place, Twilight happily wrote a page, the sheer size of the contents she had taken notes of, simply detailing actual details, right as she was about to finish a segment, John stormed in through the door, not much of a warning to be given for poor Twilight, who simply jumped in surprise.
“J-John?” she asked in worry. “What’s wrong?”
John simply stood there and breathed deeply, then exhaled, letting himself fall on the empty side of the bed, bouncing Twilight's various items astray, but managing to keep them intact with a flash of magic.
“Why do bad things happen to me, Twi? Oh I know, that‘s because I suck,” he began, and despite the possible seriousness of the situation, Twilight couldn't help but notice the shortening of her name, raising a brow.
John actually seemed to notice this and said. “Sorry, I meant Twilight, I had a long day.”
“I don't mind, but that's not the point, what happened?” Twilight asked putting a hoof on his shoulder.
“I was fired from my job,” Twilight held a gasp and allowed him to continue. "Figures, I mean, this didn't used to happen, it's all ever since that d-" he stopped abruptly making Twilight suspicious.
“John? Where you about to say 'day?" Twilight asked.
“It’s nothing Twilight, don’t worry!” he snapped out of nowhere, making Twilight both confused and fearful.
“I just want to help," he assured him, hopeful that he would talk."I mean, I always feel better when I talk."
“There is nothing you can do, nothing anyone, or 'anypony' can do, it all happened b-because…” he began, suddenly tearing up.
“John, it’s ok, you don’t have to force yourself!” she said, backing down to the other edge of the bed.
John just stared at her, looking into her eyes asshe stared back, understanding in both of their faces.
“No, I think it’s fair for me to tell you, you have become a friend... Rather fast, I must admit, but hold on.” John seemed to be deep in concentration recollecting his memories, he attempted to leave no unimportant detail out.
“Bear with me.“ he then sighed in defeat and began. “It happened 5 years ago…” John started, delving deep into memories that he would rather have forgotten.
~~~~~
"This suuucks!" John said as he attempted to finish an especially difficult Geometry problem for his homework, he didn’t have a liking to it, but he had to finish it or he would fail the semester, then again, he should have been doing his homework instead of playing videogames earlier that day.
As if. John thought mocking his own ‘noble’ intents
“Hey, John!” he heard a voice speak, and he knew what would happen next.
“Hey John, come oooon!” his big sister called again, she was being her playfully annoying self again, which meant she needed something, and unfortunately for John, he could never resist his siblings’ requests.
“Frankie, I know you know that I know that you want something since you are interrupting me, so,"he sighed as he closed his book."What do you want?"
“I need you to come with me, I need to go to the bank real fast!” John looked at his phone and noticed it was 10:30 PM. “Isn’t it a bit late, besides, why do Ihave to go?”
“Because you love me and you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your big sis, would you? You are my bodyguard! Also, I don't like driving alone... Come on, you'll be fiiine!” Frankie assured him, John just shrugged, she used that same line every time and it always worked, no point in arguing.
He took his jacket and the pair walked out to the car as they both made their way to the bank straight to the ATM, everything was going just fine, however, it was not to be, as suddenly, there was a loud knock in the passenger‘s seat.
“Get out!” A man yelled pointing his gun at John. “Or the kid gets it!”
Frankie got out slowly, quickly followed by John who was held at gunpoint as soon as he got out.
“Now, give me the money!” the man begin desperately, Frankie walking to him with the money at hand.
“Please, just leave him, I beg you, don’t hurt him.” Frankie began calmly trying to soothe the criminal.
“F-Frankie, be careful…” John muttered his voice trembling in fear. 'Why didn’t I tell her no, this wouldn’t be happening if I hadn’t said yes!'
“Shut up!” The man hit John with the side of his gun interrupting his thoughts and nearly knocking him out.
“…top! … up…” he could hear the voices but couldn’t make them up, feeling the guy softening his grip, he managed an accidental elbow hit, causing him to release him as he doubled-up in pain.
“Run!” Frankie ordered John, and he was being pulled away when he heard the guy yell.
“YOU FUCKING KID!” He felt Frankie move behind him as soon as he heard the voice and heard one soul breaking scream before everything went to hell.
“JOHN!”
~~~~~
John couldn’t control the tears, he had been crying throughout the story, but by now, he was sobbing uncontrollably.
“She jumped in front and took the bullet, she died in my arms… I felt her slip away, my own sister, I broke there, I wanted to die as well, I would have if the cops hadn’t arrived and shot the fucker!”
“You never mentioned a sister before,“ Twilight told him on a soft tone.
“Of course I didn’t, I wanted to avoid telling you about this after all…“
Twilight just sat there looking shocked, she had been holding any emotions as she processed everything she had just heard.
“I lost her! I promised to protect her and I failed, and she is dead!” he cried out as low as he could manage to.
Twilight seemed to be struggling to talk but did anyway. “Is that why you…?
“Yes Twilight! I couldn’t bring myself to be closer to anyone, I didn‘t want to lose anyone else who was important to me, I don’t want to hurt anymore!”
He stopped talking, he had been slapped by none other than Twilight Sparkle, the intelligent pony, the element of harmony, it wouldn't have been so bad, butt the thing was that the slap had been given by a pony, and John had just been hit by her front hoof causing him to yelp in pain.
Twilight just stared in shock, realizing what she had just done and feeling awful about it, it was something she would never do, in fact, she had picked it up from the book she was currently reading and felt the method could be useful... However, she was starting to regret it.
“Aargh! Twilight! Damn it!” he held his cheek cursing at his pain.
“I'm sorry, still, I will not let you do this, you don’t have to blame yourself for this, she gave her life for you! Is this what you want her to see? What would she say to you now John?” Twilight was in the verge of tears as well, she was angry that he would feel guilty over something he could not possibly have expected, and she wanted him to feel better, she wanted to help him move on.
“What do you know!?” He retaliated in return.
Trying to contain herself from saying something she would regret, she replied. “Come here John, I want to show you something.” She laid him down on the bed and soon, she laid next to him and enveloped him in a hug.
He laid there staring into her eyes and Twilight stared back knowing what she should do.
“This won’t hurt, okay, John?” she began to concentrate and felt the magic build in her horn, and after a moment, she touched John’s forehead concentrating on her memories.
...
He was looking at what appeared to be another unicorn in front of him, he seemed to be playing with him, he felt happy, then he felt his own lips move and said “I love you BBBFF.”
“I love you too, Twily.” the unicorn replied giving John a hug, or rather what seemed to be a younger Twilight.
The scene changed and showed the colt teaching Twilight how to fly a kite, then to both of them playing on what seemed to be a fort, then once again to him saying goodbye to the colt as Twilight flew away somewhere.
The scenery changed again, this time, he was at what seemed to be a castle courtyard, he was standing looking at the same unicorn, the only difference being that he was older, this time, however, his feelings were the polar opposite.
'How could he do this! I'm his sister, and he never told me about this!?' he heard Twilight's angry thoughts, right before the scene dissolved once again, this time showing Twilight running through what seemed to be a cavern, a strange darkened pony figure to the side.
'No! I can't let that evil queen marry him, if she did... I would lose him forever!' at that point he noticed an increase in speed in her step right before the scene dissolved one last time.
They were back at the courtyard, this time, however, it only focused on a single spot; Twilight's brother standing over her, giving a warm smile.
“Twilight! None of this would have been possible without you little sis.” He thanked Twilight before saying.“Love you Twily.”
“Love you too BBBFF.” Twilight replied, and they proceeded to hug each other, ending the moment with the unicorn leaving on a chariot, making him feel an overwhelming happiness that could only belong to Twilight.
Everything went to a blur ,and his own memories of Frankie began on his mind, he remembered how she taught him how to play videogames, how they rode their bikes together in the park, how they would have silly food fights, and finally, how after any fight, they made up, and how they always apologized the same way:
“I love ya sis.”
“I love you too, Johnny-boy.”
And then they gave each other a big hug.
...
He felt himself return to his senses, the tears, the crushing feeling of lost was back as well, but the first thing he saw was Twilight who was looking straight into his eyes, he felt himself slip into a serene calm.
Was that her memories of her brother? She felt… Happy, extremely, and she seemed to love him as much as I loved Frankie, and the way she reacted when she thought she would lose him...'
“Was that your brother, ‘Twily‘?” he asked as calmly as he could manage.
“Yes, it was, my BBBFF,” She replied with a sad smile.
“Your what?” asked John curiously.
“My Big Brother Best Friend Forever.” she replied before adding. “And was that your sister, ’Johnny-boy‘?”
He chuckled a bit at this and replied. "Yes, and I guess you could say Frankie was my BSBFF."
Neither spoke afterwards, instead, they laid there, just staring into each other’s eyes, John still laid there long after his tears had dried, he was simply comfortable looking at Twilight, and he couldn’t help but think how much she made him think of his big sister, he felt the need to protect her, to be with her, to make her happy.
The bond they had created grew strong, the pair had grown closer on a lever neither had thought would be achieved.