//------------------------------//
// Goodbye and Hello 
// Story: Earth Pony 
// by Basmati 
//------------------------------//

The next day, I woke up - normal time, thankfully - and went downstairs to find my parents sitting in the living room, with my Grandma, surrounded by an awful lot of bags.

"Morning," I said, walking into the room.

My grandma immediately looked over to me, and waved, turning back to my parents. My parents were in the middle of a conversation about which route they were taking, and where they should stop for breaks and stuff like that, and didn't actually acknowledge my existence until they finally finished, agreeing to stop twice along the way, and turned towards me standing just inside the threshold.

"Oh, good morning darling. Have a nice sleep?"

Ladies and gentlemen, Kate and Will Blackwood - the kind of parents that hardly acknowledge their only child's existence. And this isn't the first time. Oh no, I've been forgotten about many times. Once, when I was about 12, we were at a restaurant with a few family friends, and towards the end I went to the toilet, only to find, when I came back, that they were all gone.

Then there was the time when my dad forgot to pick me up from school when I was 7 and I had to sit there for 3 hours after school finished before he came speeding down the road, stopping directly in front of the fence I was sitting on, and threw the passenger door open for me to climb in. When I did, he just smiled at me and asked, "How was school?"

But I digress. I stood there in the living room, shaking my head slightly, as my parents looked at each other confused as to why I was doing that, while my grandma laughed to herself.

Suddenly, she stood up. "Don't you two have a Manchester to be driving to?"

And with that, they immediately went into leaving mode. They grabbed their bags, fitting them into car, double and triple checked their route, stocked up on food, double checked that they had their chargers and stuff, and finally, after about an hour and a half of me coming down, they were finally in the car, starting to drive away.

"Don't annoy your grandmother too much. Don't forget about Lakeside - Lydia's parents will pick you up here on the day and drop you off again, I've already arranged it. We'll call you when we get there," my mother semi-shouted at me out of the open passenger-side window. 

"Mum, don't worry. I'll be fine. What could I possibly get up to?"

"I know sweetheart, but I worry." Dad just chuckled to himself, and smiled at me. "Bye, Grace," he said, before starting the car and driving off.

"Bye! Have fun in Manchester!" I shouted at the car.

"Behave!" Mum shouted as they drove away.

Grandma and I stood there, and kept waving them goodbye, until the car disappeared around the corner.

"Right," Grandma Lil said. "I'm leaving. Don't burn the house down. Don't die. Don't get pregnant. If you have a party, try to clean up afterwards. Oh, and make sure they bring their own booze." She went inside, grabbed a bag she had ready, then walked straight past me towards the road. "Bye."

I stood there for a bit, not too surprised. She usually did this - she likes going out, and doesn't like staying inside at all.  But it meant something - I was alone. A teenager, with the most friends I've ever had, alone at home. I grabbed my phone, brought out Josh's number and dialled.

"Hello?" was the answer.

"Would you like to come over? I'm sure Twilight would love some more company."

"Won't your parents question it?"

"Hope not. They're on their way to Manchester right now. Just me at the moment. By myself. Alone."

There was a short silence. "Sure. I'll be right over."

"Great. See you soon." I hung up, and walked towards the Barn. I walked in and turned towards Twilight.

"Morning, Twilight. Guess who's coming over?"


***


The doorbell rang, and I saw Twilight freeze. I had taken her into the kitchen, because there was no point her sitting in the Barn when she could be in a real house. She had spent enough time in the Barn as it was.

But of course, she knew that no one could see her. She was worried about my parents walking in, or my grandma suddenly coming back. I assured her that they wouldn't but no - she was still worried.

I ran to the front door, swing it open, and smiled as I saw the tall figure of Josh standing there, his hair in its usual tidy mess. He opened his mouth and pointed at me, as if he had something really important to say, but that moment I heard a bang come from the kitchen, so I sprinted back in, with Josh following me.

As I ran into the kitchen, I found the entire contents of one of the cupboards lying on the floor, with the cupboard shut, and Twilight nowhere to be seen. I walked up to cupboard, jumping over the stuff on the floor, and slowly opened it.

"Twilight? What are you doing in there?"

I swung the door open fully to show the cowering purple unicorn crouching in a cupboard. I turned around and saw Josh standing there, very confused.

"Twilight?" he said.

"I was hiding."

"From who?"

"Whoever was at the door," Twilight said, starting to climb down from her high cupboard.

"You mean Josh?" I said, lending an arm to help her down.

I could see Twilight was embarrassed - she went pink and lowered her head down, not looking at us. I could understand why she did it - she was scared. She had always had me and the Barn. That was her haven. And taking her away from that was not easy for her to handle. Especially after what happened the last time she came into the house, when she first arrived.

I took a mental note.

"Hey, come on. Let's go over to the Barn," I said, hoping that would make her feel more at ease.

And it seemed to work. We all sat in the Barn for hours just talking - about plans for summer, about previous summers, about Lakeside. And throughout it all, I could see Twilight really relax. And that was when I realised that I felt relaxed too. More so than usual. I was with my friends, and I felt that nothing could go wrong. It was the best fun I had had in a long time.

An 17 year old brony, a pony and me.

Awesome.