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// 5. The Coffee, the Tea, and the Conversation 
// Story: Lunar Phases 
// by Dusk Writer 
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	Alex(ia) stands next to my table for a few seconds with a look of confusion on his face before sighing heavily and sitting down in the chair across from me. I can see a couple of bangs of pink hair. That's rather odd. If we're turning into the royal sisters, shouldn't my hair be more like the night sky and his a flowing pastel rainbow?

My thoughts stop in their tracks as I notice the devious smirk upon his face. He looks at me with purple eyes and speaks confidently, "I kind of wish that name wasn't going to become more fitting soon."

Oh, so that's how he likes to play huh? Best guess is that he's trying to catch me off guard with the whole transformation thing. Well, sucks for him, because I've simply accepted that this is going to happen whether I like it or not.

I give him a smirk in return before almost replying. I'm able to stop myself before I say something brash; arguing like this would get us nowhere. "Look, as much as I would like to argue with thee, I don't believe it would be wise."

I see a slight shift in his facial features; surprise. Why would he be surprised? Was it because of my apparent surrender? I play my sentence over again in my head. Oh, wait. Did I seriously say thee? Oh my, maybe these changes aren't just physical. I had my suspicions before, but now I may have just confirmed them.

My thoughts are interrupted yet again by Alex, "I agree, I could easily do this all day if I wanted. However, I didn't mean to merge both names. It just kind of slipped out..." He trails off with a thoughtful look on his face.

I formulate another response as I mentally scream, "BOW CHICKA BOW WOW!!" After another few seconds of clean thoughts, I simply reply with, "Hey, it's alright, I know the feeling. Anyways, how much do you know about the show?"

A brief flash of irritation flashes across his face, "Actually, I didn't know it was a show. I found myself on a page from a wiki that told me much more than I wanted to at that time." His response was short and kind of cold.

Well, I hope he's not a brony-hater, because that'll make this whole thing quite a bit harder. Maybe if it's alright with him, he can stay at my apartment for a little bit. "Hey, would you mind if we took this conversation back to my apartment? It'll be a little more easy to explain things to you there."

Alex looked a little uncomfortable as he looked around at the nonexistent eavesdroppers. He looked back to me, "You might be right, but I worry about further transformations. My hair almost stopped me from going out. You know, pink isn't exactly the most popular color for men."

I pause for a moment, then let out a hearty laugh at his expense, "You have most certainly got that right!" The evil glare he gives me only makes me laugh harder. "Anyways, maybe you shouldn't worry about the transformations. I mean, as far as we know, there is no way to stop this, so you might as well just accept this instead of worrying over every single little thing."

He looks a little put off about me just brushing aside his concerns, "I was more thinking about needing to go in public. I'm not sure how easy it would be to conceal further changes, KOS-MOS."

KOS-MOS? What in the world is he talking about. I have no idea who this KOS-MOS person is, and oh, look. He's enjoying my confusion. Oh well, it can't be helped if he prefers to play games that are not as popular. I give another huff of indignation, "So, what? Do you not expect me to have very much food? It would just so happen that a couple of days ago, on my birthday, I bought enough food to feed a small army."

His tilted head betrays the surprise he's feeling. When he speaks to me, I try not to look to smug at the surprise in his voice as well. "Sorry, it's just that I usually only buy enough food for me to last a week." He looks thoughtful for a moment again before sighing and speaking, "Do you think there could be any accessories that could be useful later on?"

I think for a moment before shaking my head. "No, everything we have now is made specifically for humans, so it would be hard for us to even use them. I also don't think we'll need any equine medications, because just because we may be turning into horses, that doesn't mean our immune system changes. We'll probably still be resistant to most viruses."

He replies with the same thoughtful look from a few seconds earlier, "Or our DNA could become too different for them to even affect us. Thanks, by the way, for this beautiful image of a syringe."

I smirk again and bow, speaking with a teasing voice, "Well, it is what I am here for." He gives me another sigh of exasperation. I stand back up and quickly throw my empty coffee cup away. "I'm thinking we should head back to my apartment; it'll be a bit more comfortable."

He nods his head in agreement, "It would also be less likely for someone to overhear something weird."

I push my chair back under the table, and seeing his empty tea, I take the cup and throw it away for him. I wait for him to stand and get his keys out, and right as he starts walking towards his car, I notice something weird.

"Hey, are you standing on your toes?" Alex stopps and looks at me a bit oddly.

"What are you talking abou-" He cuts himself off as he looks down and realizes what it is he is doing. "Ok, that's new."

I stand and look down, realizing that I am standing on my toes as well. As a little test, I set myself back down onto my heels and find it to be extremely uncomfortable. I lift myself back up onto my toes and the stress on my shin muscles immediately vanishes. "Eh, I guess that this must just be another one of the changes. As I said earlier, we should just accept this because there is nothing we can do to change it.” I had decided to add the second part of my sentence because of the panicked expression that’s quickly appearing on his face.

He gives me the are-you-kidding-me look as he tells me, "Says the guy who's hair isn't all that girly." Tensing up a little, he looks around to make sure no one heard him. Man, this guy is really super jumpy. He looks back at me, "We might want to wait until we're at your apartment to continue this conversation."

I'll admit, he does have a really good point. "Alright, hold on." I quickly walk back inside the Starbucks and leave a tip for the waitress. Walking back outside I look back at Alex, who's leaning against his car now. "Alright Alex, follow me in your car."

I jump into my green rover and start it up. I pull out of my parking space slowly so as to give Alex time to be ready to follow me. As I start driving down 2nd Avenue, I check in my mirror to make sure he's following me...yep, can't miss that gray cube driving down the street.

The ten minute drive back to my apartment building goes without any incidences (surprisingly) and I jump out of my car and lock it. Hm, if I'm going to lose my hands, maybe I should get one of the remote key thingies. That'll probably help a lot.

I meet back up with Alex, noticing he now has a laptop bag, and walk with him through the front doors into the lobby. Luckily for us, there's not very many people around to notice our odd walking habits and hair color. I pull down my hood and free my now foot-long light blue hair. Ok, that's really weird, seeing as how the tips of my bangs are moving inside the building, and also how my hair seems super soft now.

Alex looks at me, then around the lobby with even more caution than before. "Isn't it a little counterproductive to remove the hood now? We could encounter somepony along the way."

I easily pick up on his accidental pony word, but decide not to mention it so as not to freak him out. "Eh, people mostly stay in their rooms here, and even if they do come out into the halls, they'll be too high or drunk to notice." What I say does hold complete truth to them, so I am not all that worried about being noticed.

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes as he mutters under his breath, "Great place to live..." He trails off as he notices that I heard him. I simply shrug in response and walk over to the silver elevator doors with Alex following close behind.

When the doors finally open, one of my drunken neighbors stumbles past me without even glancing at my strange hair. He almost falls onto Alex, who nervously pulls his precious laptop closer to his body. I call out after the man, "Hey Fred!"

I'm answered with slurred grunt as walks out the front doors. I gesture towards him as I prove my point to Alex. "See? Nothing to worry about. There's only really one other person next to my apartment who isn't ever drunk or high, but she's incredibly nice."

His eyes widen in surprise as the elevator doors close and we begin to ascend, "That's encouraging-I wonder who would want to stay here though..." 

Hey, this is where I live. I don't care if you're in a bad mood, just don't insult it. I feel my anger rising quickly and the whispery voice from Red Robin's enters my mind. "She has never understood your preferences! If you show her, she will understand now!"

The red blanket of anger was quickly settling over my mind, before a mental version of a soft breeze blew it away. "No. You must always be kind. Getting those around you to fear you is not what you should do." This voice wasn't whispery, but still sounded kind of weak. In fact, it almost sounded female.

Shrugging off the remaining feelings of anger, I smile to Alex, "Well, the rent is pretty cheap, and if you ignore all of the neighbors except for Fiona, then it's an ok place to stay."

Alex's eyes widen in surprise again. I swear, if he keeps widening his eyes like that, they'll...they'll...oh forget it. "I wouldn't say the same about the Fiona I know," says Alex with a small knowing smile, "She is quite the excitable filly."

I pull a smile onto my face that says I know something, and he stares at me for a second before realization dawns upon his face. "Did I just say filly?"

It takes all of my willpower not to laugh, so forget replying. At this point, we're at the entrance to my humble abode. I push the key in and open the door, saying at the same time, "Welcome, to my lair!" From the blank look on his face, I can tell that the reference went over his head. Oh my, that facepalm seems like it may have hurt; I really hope he didn't give himself brain damage.

After prying away his hand from his face, he pulls down his hood to reveal and a nest of entangled, pink hair. I smirk again as I send another insult his way, "So where are the birds?"

His hands reach up to his hair, and upon realizing he instinctively pulled his hood down, he shrugs as though he doesn't care. Then a brief flash of confusion crosses his face. "What birds?"

I open my mouth to tease him further, but then stop myself, realizing it would be kind of cruel to continue doing so as I see him start to sweat; he's about to reach his breaking point. "Eh, forget about it." We stand around in an awkward silence for a few more moments before an idea presents itself to me.

I quickly turn and open my drawer full of games, Playstation and Xbox alike. Digging through it, I ignore the confused looks sent to me from Alex. Ah! Here it is! I quickly grab the game I'd been looking for and hold it up for him to see.

"You really probably should brush your hair," I tell him, "However, I felt we should play this first because it would be strangely alike to a video I once saw many years ago."

Oh my, is he supposed to be clenching his hands and shaking like that? He looks up at me and I can instantly tell he's pissed. " Luna! Leave my hair alone! I'm more than capable of being able to take care of them myself!"

Oh, ponyfeathers.