JAMES POV
As I read my book, I’d occasionally look away from it for a few seconds, either to look at the clock, or stare into the roaring fireplace. It was during one of these breaks that I heard a slight creak downstairs, as if the door down there had been opened. I thought nothing of it and kept reading for a few minutes, and then heard very slight, as if suppressed, clop sounds on my roof. I could imagine who that was, so I put my book down, and went to investigate.
I went out the front door, and I heard the faint sound of crying. It was in a familiar voice, the voice I expected. I went straight for the south side of my house, and began climbing up and onto my roof.
After I had climbed up, I looked around to see where she was. Sure enough, there was Rainbow Dash, sitting on the side of my roof, crying. I didn’t think she knew I was there, so I tried to approach carefully and quietly.
She must have heard me; before I got there, she said somewhat angrily, “Leave me alone.”
I continued walking toward her. Whether she wanted it or not, I wanted to help if I could. Knowing what the mentality of someone who is going through a tough time and doesn’t want to be viewed as weak you’ll try to fend away help.
“I said leave me alone!”
“Let me talk to you. I’m here to help.”
“I don’t need help!”
I paused. “Then what do you need?”
It took her a while to respond. “I don’t know…”
I walked closer. She didn’t try to keep me back anymore, so I sat down next to her.
“So, how long has this been happening?”
“Three months. Or, that’s when it started getting bad.”
“You’re lucky then..." I didn’t get to finish before she turned on me.
“I’m lucky!? Try having a nightmare every time you try to sleep! And it only being able to sit there as you’re friends are… are…” She paused. “And all you can do is sit there while being taunted to do something and you can’t!”
Dash broke down into a new fit of sobs and fell into my lap. “I shouldn-n-n’t b-be crying right n-n-now.”
I couldn’t stand the self pity anymore, so I tried to help calm her down. “Dash, it’s OK to cry at this. But unless you’re doing something about it, the tears are in vain.” She started to calm down as she stayed in my lap while I stroked her mane and ran my free hand through the feathers on her wings.
“And Dash, what I meant by ‘you’re lucky’ is that you've only had to deal with it for three months.” I sighed. “I’ve been going through it for a year.” Dash shot up, throwing my hands away. I had to catch myself before I fell onto my back.
“A year!? How have you deal with this for that long?” I Leaned on my arms and motioned for dash to lie down next to me.
I told her about how much sleep (or lack thereof) I was getting, along with the fact that my emotions were always in a super-charged state. “And so if say I’m angry I’ll probably kill or destroy whatever I’m mad at. And never even know that it happened.” Dash just laid there next to me but didn’t say anything, so I just laid back and looked at the stars till I felt a slight pressure on my chest. I looked down and saw Rainbow lying on my chest and looking up at me.
“I’ve always felt somewhat safe at my friend’s places, but…never as safe as I feel right now…with you. you've been through it all, a-and I can relate to that but being here just feels...awesome.”
I couldn’t resist the adorableness, so I wrapped my arms around her, never wanting to let go. “Trust me dash…I’m not going anywhere.”
And for a few minutes (or hours, I lost track), we stayed like that, content in the presence of the other until we heard a loud noise.
The sound caused both of us to jump. I turned to the direction of the sound, which was the front door. “I don’t know, Dash. But I think that tonight is going to get a little wild.”
DERRICK POV
I woke up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth and very thirsty. I realized that I didn’t have anything to drink since the party began. I decided to get up, go upstairs, and get a can of pop. On my way upstairs, I noticed that AJ was missing, and I could hear someone going through the fridge upstairs. When I got to the top, I saw an orange hat-clad pony going through the fridge. Apparently, she heard me.
“Y’know, I understand that this is odd for y’all and it musta it slipped yer minds, but y’all never gave us anything ta eat.”
“Oh, uh… sorry? I guess we never really thought about it. We were a bit caught up in the moment. You finding anything good?”
She pulled out an apple and closed the fridge. “Yeah, I reckon this is fine.”
“So, will that be good, or is there anything else you want?”
“Nah, this oughta do it. But, I do have a question.” She opened the fridge and pulled out a package of sliced turkey. “Why does this here package say ‘turkey’?”
“Um… Turkey tastes good?”
She gave me a look of disgust, then shook her head rapidly. “I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t hear that…” She then quickly reopened the fridge and threw the turkey back in.
After a moment, she looked at the apple she was holding. “Huh. Looks a lot like ours back home.” She took a bite and smiled. “Tastes the same as back home, too.” She turned her gaze to me. “How’d y’all do that?”
She started walking into the next room, which even from here we could see had a couch and fireplace. My answer to her question wasn’t going to be long, but I wasn’t going to turn down the invitation.
I started walking in the same direction right as she got seated on the couch. I sat down too, and then told her that James, Joe, and I weren’t the ones who grew the apple.
“Well, then who did? I gotta know their secret. Might make next year’s harvest even bigger!” She had an industrious look in her eyes. This was going to be disappointing to her.
“I’m not really sure who did. I’m sure he just bought them at the store.”
“Well, why would ya buy somethin’ if you don’t know where it’s from?”
“That’s just the way things work around here. There’s too many people to feed for it to be as personal is it is in Ponyville.” She seemed puzzled. “Wait, how many pon- *ahem* ‘people’ are ya talkin’ about?”
“Not sure. Thousands, probably.”
That industrious look in her eyes was getting more obvious by the second. “What do they use? Any fancy machinery or somethin’ like that?”
“Lots. Tractors, combines, plows, and everything in between.”
“Applebloom’s pretty good at makin’ things. Y’think she can—“
“Probably not. These things took years for our smartest inventors to make. I think it’s beyond your limits for now.”
She looked at me angrily. “We’ll see about that come next year’s harvest. With Applebloom’s constructin’ talent and Big Mac’s fancy mathematics, I’m sure we’ll find a way.”
“I’d be glad to help if I can. But, I’m not sure if it can get done in a year.”
She paused a moment, then extended her hoof and smiled at me. “I’m holdin’ ya to that.” We shook on it.
From there, we changed the subject and began talking about other things, such as family and funny memories of our siblings. Occasionally we’d stop when we heard something on the roof, and Joe came up at one point to ask us something. But after these distractions, we’d resume discussion. Until we both heard a loud noise that sounded like the downstairs door had been broken down…
JOE POV
It never failed. I never seemed to be able to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep; I’d always wake up at some point in the night for some random reason, typically because I was thirsty or something of the like. I’d always open my eyes, look around a bit, then go right back to sleep. I looked over at the clock, which read 12:00 AM. As I looked around half-consciously, I noticed that James, Rainbow Dash, Derrick, Applejack, and Twilight were missing. Knowing James’ problem that I was willing to bet Dash shared based on my eavesdropping from earlier, they were probably outside chatting it up. Derrick and AJ were less of a mystery; I heard them upstairs. That left Twilight unaccounted for, an idea I was less than fond of. I carefully got up as to not wake the whopping third of the party that was actually asleep, and slowly crept my way upstairs to ask Derrick and AJ what they knew.
Once I had gotten up there, I noticed they were sitting next to each other on the couch. I figured I should make my interruption quick.
“Hey, any of you seen Twi around here?”
Derrick simply shook his head, but AJ was more helpful.
“Nope. Can’t say we have. Although I did hear a door creak open downstairs not too long ago. Did ya check that out?”
“I most certainly did not. Merci, mademoiselle.”
She gave me a nod, and I went downstairs to check the back door. Sure enough, it was cracked open slightly. I could also faintly see an outline near the small shack at the other side of the yard. Since at this point I was in no mood for going back to sleep, I figured I’d go out and talk to her.
I quietly opened the door, and began slowly walking toward her. Once I had gotten somewhat close, I quietly uttered out a light, "Hey there."
She was looking up toward the stars. She didn’t look away, so I didn’t think she heard me. Either that, or she was so focused on the beauty above to notice me. I walked closer, and repeated myself a bit more loudly.
That time, she noticed me. I think. She didn’t really turn away from the stars, but she did jump a bit before simply saying, “Oh, hi Joe,” probably not expecting anyone else to be out that late. I kept walking up to her.
“You DO know it’s past midnight, right? What’re you doing out here?" This time, she actually turned and looked at me to respond.
“Your world … It’s just so … interesting. I couldn’t go to sleep. I had to see more of it. So, I came out here and started looking at the stars.” She looked down. “I’m not breaking the rules, am I?”
“What? Oh, no, of course not. Anyway, mind if I sit down?”
“No, not at all.” It was hard to tell, but I thought I saw her smile, probably both happy to hear she wasn’t breaking any rules and to have someone who could answer any questions she might have had. And, based on how severely I “stalked” the books in her library, I’d imagine she thought I was the best one for the job anyway. I sat down next to her, and tilted my head up toward the stars.
A few moments went by in silence. Both of us were focused on the stars so intently that we just forgot to speak. But, eventually, I felt like going on a tangent.
“Twenty-five trillion, eight hundred billion.”
She looked over at me in a confused manner, and simply asked, “What?”
“Twenty-five trillion, eight hundred billion. That’s how many miles away the nearest star aside from the Sun is to us. That seems really far, and it is; with our current tech, we won’t be making it to Proxima any time soon. But, in a universe where even light takes thirteen and a half billion years to get from one side to the other, that’s actually really close.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “Comparable to the distance between you and me right now. Heh. If only our spaceships could move as fast as my hand.”
She became a lot more interested as soon as I said that.
“Spaceships? What do you mean by that?”
I decided to tell her in an indirect fashion. I pointed at the Moon and asked, “Y’see that big ‘ol white thing up there?”
“That’s the moon...” She both looked and sounded annoyed, as if I had implicitly insulted her intelligence.
“There’s four things on there: Lots ‘a rock, a lander, a flag, and a few boot prints. Mankind put those last three there when we first went there about fifty years ago.”
She initially seemed confused, but after a moment, it looked like she caught on. “So, you’ve only been banishing your criminals to the Moon for fifty years?”
“Actually, we’ve been banishing them to Cuba, but that’s beside the point. The main point of those voyages was to say we’ve gone to the Moon and learn more about it. In fact, we actually brought rock back from there. Pretty interesting stuff, really.”
She lightly said, “Yeah…” before turning back to the stars. I decided to look up there as well. I could see Ursa Major from where I was. I wasn’t the most capable of identifying other constellations, but at least I could reliably find that one.
After five minutes of silent star-gazing, I was unable to take the silence anymore. I decided I’d ask her something.
"So, how's Shining?"
At first, the question caught her by surprise. The silence was nearly perfect, with only crickets breaking it until I did. Once she reoriented herself, she gave an answer.
"He's really busy. I don't get to see him very often anymore, but he's protecting Equestria, the Crystal Empire, and all they stand for, so that's alright. He sends me letters whenever he can, though. He tells me what he and Cadence up to and how they're doing. It really is touching how well they fit together."
"Yeah. I wish relationships worked that way in real life..."
I could tell that she wanted to question me on what constituted as "real life", but she let it pass. It wasn't the time for that sort of interrogation. More silence followed, only this time I wasn't the one to break it.
"So, what exactly IS that thing you carry around?"
Now I was the confused one. I didn't know what she was talking about until she pointed at the item in question: Azura, my katana. I had put a high amount of focus on having it with me at all times (both for security if something like the manticore attacked and to keep it out of curious hooves and claws), so she was understandably curious about its importance.
"Ah, this!" I unsheathed the katana partially to display it while I explained. "This is a fine item indeed! Granted, not of authentic Japanese make, but still enough to cut through something quite easily."
"What kind of things is it meant to cut?"
...Oh boy. This wasn't going to be fun. She's never seen a human war before, let alone the items used to fight them. There was no easy way to say it. Well, lying never got anyone anywhere...
"Oh, y’know. Wood. Cloth. …People."
Her eyes widened. Considerably. I could tell that every bit of respect she had for me left in that instant. The idea of someone, nay, someTHING that close to her having something specifically designed to kill its wielder's fellow man? She was in complete and utter shock. I had to say something, or else she’d just think of me as a deathtrap.
"But I'd NEVER use it for that unless I absolutely had to. Which rarely happens. Rest assured, it's an instrument of peace, not war."
She ... kinda bought it. She was still nervous, but not immobilized. At least she could say something now.
"But why...why would you need that?!"
I sighed. "To be honest, the only real reason I have it is as a novelty; these things are considered REALLY cool here. But, when that portal randomly opened, none of us had any clue what was on the other side. I didn't want to take any risks. Basically, it's a defense measure, both for myself and others. I only intend to use it when I absolutely need to, and never on anyone I care about. That manticore attack a while back, for example; had I not used this, it would've likely gotten to attack you and... y'know. In a way, you owe your life to it."
She pondered it, but she still needed one extra bit of assurance.
"Are... Are you sure?"
I chuckled a little, then proceeded to say the most binding legal contract I know.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
This seemed to calm her down enough. Her trust in me was re-instilled, which I was truly grateful for. While she was still a little nervous, she could at least talk to me again.
"So... What's it called?"
"The sword type itself is a 'katana', based off of traditional Japanese weaponry. It's GONNA cause damage to whatever it hits. Which, luckily, won't be a very long list of things.
"I myself refer to this specific one as 'Azura'. Named after the Daedric Lord of Dawn and Dusk. And, because I think the name is pretty. Don’t ya think?”
She replied “Yeah”, and said nothing more. I let the topic drop; it was going nowhere, and was probably depressing for her. We continued to gaze up at the stars. The looming, everpresent stars. Even during the day, they're still there, watching behind the Sun's veil of light. The moon was much more modest; it didn't shine so brightly that it attracted all the attention. It let the stars shine through, in all of their glory. It was a beautiful night, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. The perfect night for something like this. I remembered a few years ago, I wanted to see the Persioid Meteor Shower, only to be obstructed by the sea of clouds that never failed to roll in for such events. It really does get frustrating.
Out of the blue, Twilight asked: "Beautiful night, isn't it? Since your weather controls itself, how often are there clouds at times like this?"
Oh, the tales I could tell…
"More often than not. In fact, just a few years ago..."
I told her about the Persioid, and she told me about the various things she's seen up in the sky. We decided to stay on the general topic of astronomy. She told me about how the Equestrian Sun shines, and told me how awe-inspiring it was to see Celestia raise the sun. This led her to an inevitable question for me.
“If you don’t have somepony like Celestia to raise the Sun, then how does it rise?”
“It doesn’t.”
She looked at me with a shocked expression, obviously not believing me. Admittedly, I could have phrased it better. I guessed I should probably elaborate.
“Well, it does, but it doesn’t. In the context of it rising above the horizon to bring about day, then yes, it rises. But it’s much more correct to say ‘the Earth rotates’ than ‘the Sun rises.’ The Sun stays in more-or-less the same spot; it just appears to move from this perspective. The Earth’s position from the Sun guarantees that one side of the Earth is in day at certain times, the other is in night at certain times. Since the Sun doesn’t move, the Earth has to; it rotates along a central axis. When the part of the Earth that you’re on turns away from the Sun, a sunset occurs and it becomes night. When the part you’re on turns toward the Sun, the opposite happens.” I chuckled a bit. “Y’know, this would be a LOT easier to explain if I had a model or something.”
I hadn’t looked at her since I started explaining. I decided to look at her for a moment, and saw that she was looking intently at me, absorbing everything I was saying. Although, she did look a little confused. She looked at me and said, “Yeah. Having a visual model always helped me learn new concepts.”
The next hour or so followed that general formula: her explaining something to me, asking me a question relating to it, and me answering the question in a long, drawn-out fashion. But it seemed as if she was enjoying learning about the differences between our worlds, and I enjoyed telling her about these things, so neither of us had any complaints. After a while, she took a break from the questions to simply make a statement.
“To be honest, a lot of the stuff you’re saying is pretty confusing. But, it’s always nice to learn new things, and you’re doing a good job teaching me. Better than if I tried to figure it out myself, that’s for sure!” She paused briefly.
“Thanks for explaining these things to me. I’m sure the princess will find all of it interesting.” I smiled and chuckled a little.
"C'est rien, ma chérie."
After that, we decided we should go back in. We weren’t that far, just across the yard. As I neared the door, though, I noticed that the door to go in was damaged and wide open, as if someone tried to break in. Seemed odd.
“Well Twi, looks like you may get to see Azura in action again.”