//------------------------------// // So Close // Story: Ponyville's Annual Superbowl Party // by Garbo //------------------------------// So Close Written by: TimeTravlnDEMON Halftime to 2nd Half: “And that brings us to the end of the first half! The Ravens go into the locker room up 21-6.” At this proclamation, every pony in the room got up and started moving around the library, many finding their ways over to the refreshments table. One pony, however, had sat still as a statue since the end of the first half. This mare, clad in a red and gold 49ers jersey, was the Great and Powerful Trixie, though at the moment she could best be described as Shocked and Confused. Having grown up in San Francisco, she was very interested in this game, and this was not the way she had envisioned it going at all. To paraphrase the local mailmare, she just didn’t know what went wrong. Twilight Sparkle was also a little worried about the way the game had been going so far. While she had never been a big fan of hoofball, or sports in general, her and Trixie had been dating for a little over two months now, and she knew just how seriously her marefriend took anything related to San Francisco sports. Seeing the condition Trixie was currently in, Twilight made her way through the crowd, hoping to calm the blue unicorn down a little bit before the showmare’s mind melted down into a seething cauldron of anger and profanity. “Hey Trix,” Twilight cheerfully said as she settled down next to her marefriend, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. “You ready for the Beyonce show? I hear it’s supposed to be amazing,” Twilight finished, hoping to divert the mare’s mind from the ineptitude her team had shown so far. “Yes, Trixie supposes it will be rather nice,” Trixie replied. She sounded so glum and melancholy that Twilight wanted nothing more than to just sweep her up into a big hug until she felt better. Knowing just how well that would probably go though, Twilight pressed on in her quest to distract Trixie from her current mood. “Trixie,” Twilight said after a minute of silence between the two, “what did I say about using third-pony to talk?” “Trix-I remember what you said Twilight, but it’s hard to remember that when my mind is on something else.” “Well, you’re still trying, so that’s all I can ask for.” Twilight finished her statement by giving Trixie another gentle kiss, this time on the lips. Hopefully that would be enough to cheer her up. Twilight’s plan seemed to work for a little while, and Trixie’s mood actually seemed to stay up for the rest of halftime. After a minute or two of comfortable silence between her and her marefriend, Trixie got up and socialized with the other ponies gathered at the party and generally seemed to be enjoying herself. One minute, she would be seen chatting with Rainbow Dash by the punch bowl, and the next would see her and Pinkie Pie finding some way to prank the aforementioned cyan pegasus. Twilight felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from her shoulders, seeing Trixie mingling and enjoying herself. The lavender unicorn gave herself a slightly smug mental pat on the back for cheering her marefriend up. = = = = = Trixie’s good mood evaporated rather quickly once the ponies all settled down for the beginning of the second half. Pressing her side up to Trixie’s, Twilight could tell how tense the other mare had become. Soon enough, the last commercial (one featuring a baby promoting a financial company that everypony found quite funny) ended and the feed showed the 49ers getting ready to kick off. “Don’t worry Trixie, I’m sure this half will go much better than the last one,” Twilight whispered as the earth pony kicker delivered a powerful buck to the teed up hoofball. “See, that looks like a pretty long kick. That’s a good sign, right?” “Trixie agrees. That is definitely a good way to start the half.” Twilight could feel her marefriend relax slightly as the ball was caught almost at the back of the endzone, the pegasus return man taking off. He’ll get tackled any second now and the 49ers will have locked the Ravens in pretty poor field position to start the half. He’ll be tackled any second now…any second now…any sec-and he was running free, having easily overtaken the much slower kicker. The pegasus entered the endzone to the raucous cheers of the Ravens fans at the game, as the announcers reported that that was the longest kickoff in Equestrian Hoofball League history, 109 yards. Twilight and Trixie both sat in stunned silence, either tuning out or just not registering the excited chatter and the isolated cheers from the Ravens fans gathered at the party. Slowly, Twilight turned to look at her marefriend, quickly noticing the thousand-yard stare boring its way into the far wall of the library. After observing this phenomenon for fifteen seconds or so, Twilight finally worked up the courage to speak. “Well, that wasn’t the way they wanted to start the half, was it?” Twilight asked with a few nervous chuckles, hoping to lighten the mood a little. An eye twitch was the only response she got out of Trixie. ‘Well, so much for just sitting back and enjoying the party for the second half,’ Twilight thought with a pout on her face. ‘Maybe if the 'Niners go down much more, I can convince Trixie to sneak upstairs with me and we can have a little fun of our own’. The pout lessened slightly as she thought about this possibility, suddenly not as adverse to a Ravens win, even if it meant having to listen to Trixie’s complaining about it for a week afterwards. Trixie suddenly spoke up, dispelling Twilight’s very pleasant daydreams involving her and Trixie playing ‘Quarterback and Center’. “Thank Celestia the 49ers have the ball. At least this game can’t go any worse, right?” Right when Trixie was done saying that always ill-fated phrase, half of the lights in the Superdome suddenly decided to turn off, almost as if the white alicorn herself had heard Trixie and decided to play a particularly nasty prank (a quick glance across the library revealed that the princess was, in fact, as surprised as everypony else by the sudden power outage). The sudden silence was broken by Trixie yelling “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!” at the top of her lungs, enraged almost to the point where her mane and tail were in threat of bursting into flame, just like a certain lavender unicorn’s occasionally did. Twilight quickly sprung up and steered Trixie towards the drink table, hoping to calm her marefriend down before her anger went past the point of no return. Once they were a suitable distance away from the rest of the party, Twilight shot Trixie a look of pure annoyance before speaking up. “Trixie, what has gotten into you tonight?” Twilight hissed, trying to keep their conversation private. “I know how passionately you follow the 49ers, but this is ridiculous even for you.” Trixie looked as if she was going to reply with a scathing comeback before a look of defeat crossed her face and her whole body visibly drooped. “Tr-I don’t really know either. I guess I’m just frustrated because I was only about a year or two old the last time they won the Super Bowl, so I just want to see it happen myself. When I look back on it though, I can tell how much stress my moodiness tonight caused you. I’m sorry for ruining your evening.” Trixie turned away from Twilight, presumably to find somewhere she could sit by herself. Before she took more than a couple of steps, however, she felt a hoof on her shoulders. She turned back, lavender eyes locking onto a set of purple ones filled with love and understanding. “Trixie,” Twilight began, “you haven’t ruined anything. I will admit, your antics have been difficult to keep up with sometimes, but I’ve had a great time. And, from the looks of when you were walking around and mingling with other ponies during halftime, you look like you’ve had a pretty good time too, when you’ve been able to step away and calm down. So, how about we look at this delay in the game as a chance to walk around, talk to everypony else for a little while, and just relax. I think you’d be a lot happier that way. Plus,” Twilight slyly said, “I think they’ll be back next year. So, if the Ravens win this year, we can just wait another year for the 49ers to win it.” Trixie hesitated at this, her mind telling her Twilight was right while her heart told her to keep going like she was before. Eventually, Brain managed to convince Heart that it was better to have a happy marefriend and not worrying about the result of the game than having a grumpy marefriend and stressing out about the game. Trixie then smiled at Twilight and moved her face a little closer to Twilight’s. “I suppose I could do that…on one condition.” Twilight grinned, leaning forward and sharing a kiss with Trixie. As they parted, Trixie smirked and said “I was going to ask if you could give up your spot on the couch. It’s much comfier than mine. I suppose that works instead, though.” The two mares proceeded to make the most out of the power outage that they could. They mingled with the other partygoers, talking to almost everypony there at some point, in between watching the ever-famous Super Bowl commercials that played. Thirty-four minutes later, the power came back on, and play resumed. This time, however, the game was watched by an entirely different Trixie. Sure, she was still the passionate 49ers fan that Twilight knew and loved, but she found herself being much calmer about the successes the Ravens had on offense. Of course, this could have been because of the fact that the lights going out seemed to have brought a completely different, actually competent 49ers team onto the field. When it came to fourth and goal for the 49ers to win, Trixie only reacted to the level everypony else did at the alleged holding call in the endzone. As the clock was running out and the Ravens started celebrating their win, she was definitely upset, but she realized something that night. While having your team win a championship would be great, it is better to be able to enjoy the game with your friends and loved ones. After Twilight talked her into calming down for the second half, Trixie had a much better time, simply because she was talking with everypony else and enjoying the party, instead of just sulking on the couch like she did in the first half. Plus, Twilight had a pretty good point during their talk. The 49ers probably would be back next year. She would just have to hope they won then.