//------------------------------// // Chapter VI: The Falling Out // Story: Facing Changes // by Sketchy Changeling //------------------------------// It was three-twenty in the afternoon, and Kadeem and I were at a fast food joint that was near the movie theater. As we ate, we talked about the movie we just saw. “I know that sequels usually get a bad rap,” said the zebra, “but I think this one blew the other two out of the water!” “Definitely,” I agreed. “Although I did feel that the ending was a little predictable.” “It’s a comedy, dude. It’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey.” “Touché.” Once we had finished our food, we leaned back into our chairs and let out satisfied sighs. “Man, that was good,” I said, “and for only eight bits, too!” “Now isn’t that better than paying fifteen bits for a large popcorn and ten bits for a large soda?” I rolled my eyes. “I get your point, Kadeem. You don’t have to keep rubbing it in.” We left the restaurant and headed back into the city, stopping by the square. “Well, I don’t want to risk losing track of time and cause you to miss your new curfew,” said the zebra. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” “Later, Kadeem,” I said as I bumped fists with him. I then called the royal carriage to pick me up from the square, and I was whisked back to the castle. Once I got back, I walked up to my room. Thankfully, Luna was so occupied with her sister’s duties that I didn’t run into her. Once I got to my room, I kicked my shoes off, tossing them under my bed. I then changed into some more comfortable clothes and laid down on my bed next to Misfit. Just then, my phone rang, and I answered it without looking to see who was calling. “Hello?” “Hey there, champ!” “Oh, hi, Dad. What’s up?” “Well, I was just calling to let you know that Celestia and I got to Neighagra Falls safely, and that we just got settled in.” “That’s good to know. What do you two plan on doing there, anyway?” “Well, for one, we’re going to see the falls up close, and then we’ll just see the sights, enjoy the tourist attractions, and all that good stuff. We didn’t really have a real itinerary. We’re just playing it by ear. How about you? Did you do anything on your day off?” “Well, I went to the movies with a friend from school, and then we got a bite to eat afterwards, but that’s about it. Nothing particularly special.” “Well, at least you didn’t stay home all day,” Dad chuckled, and I chuckled with him. “Do you want to talk to Celestia?” I shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” I figured that I could still try to form some kind of bond with her despite the fact that we weren’t face-to-face. “Alright. Hold on a second.” The next thing I heard was footsteps, along with the sound of a door opening, and then… “Hello?” “Hi, Celestia,” I said, and I was surprised by how happy I sounded. “Oh, hello, Devin! How are you?” “I’m doing good. You?” “I’m just great. I’m just sitting here, reading a book. How did you spend your day?” “I just got back from the movies.” “Oh really? What movie did you see?” “Joyride 3.” “They made a third one already? I didn’t even get a chance to see the second one. Was it any good?” “It was great, but I don’t want to say anything that’ll spoil the second movie for you.” Celestia laughed. “True. It would be a shame if I found out what happened before I actually saw the movie.” It was strange; all these months I hadn’t said a word to Celestia. Hell, it was a challenge just to talk to her last night, but here I was talking to her so casually over the phone. It may have been because we weren’t talking face-to-face. Now if I can only work up the nerve to hold a conversation with her in person… or pony… whatever. “So, how are you and Luna doing?” she asked, unknowingly causing a certain level of discomfort to arise within me. “She hasn’t caused Canterlot to go up in flames, has she?” “No,” I nervously chuckled. “But I have a sinking feeling that she might do that in an attempt to kill me,” I thought. “I’ll bet you two became fast friends, just like your father and I said you would!” “Heh, heh… yep. We’re practically inseparable…” Celestia let out a contented sigh. “That’s good to know.” I let out a silent breath of relief. “I’m really glad the two of us can talk like this, Devin,” she continued. “And here I was worried that you didn’t like me.” Shit… She thought I didn’t like her? “That’s not true,” I immediately said. “It’s just been hard adjusting to everything, is all.” “I understand that now, and I’m looking forward to seeing you when your father and I get home, and then we can plan a day for the two of us, just like you wanted!” “Right,” I smiled. “See you Sunday.” “Mm-hm. Enjoy the rest of your day off!” The phone clicked, and then I let out a sigh. I then looked at Misfit, who looked back at me with his usual blank expression. “Don’t give me that look,” I told him. “You wanna be the one to tell Princess Celestia that you don’t get along with her sister.” No response. “Exactly. I’m finally starting to get used to having Celestia as a mother, and the last thing I need is something like a misunderstanding with her sister ruining it. I’m not gonna take one step forward to get knocked three steps back.” Once I had finished talking, I realized that I was having a full-on conversation with my teddy bear. “I need more friends,” I sighed. For the past hour or so, I had been playing video games to occupy my time as I tried to figure out how I was going to work things out with Luna. “What am I gonna do?” I thought. “If I try to be nice to her, she’ll just think I’m faking it. I know Kadeem said to just give her time, but living with someone that hates you based off of a misunderstanding isn’t the best of situations to be in.” I looked to my nightstand and saw the time; it was one minute to five. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Luna since I got back from the movies. I should at least check in with her so she won’t think that I skipped her curfew.” I paused my game, stood up, and stretched my arms with a yawn. I then walked to my bedroom door, but right when I was about to open it, I heard someone knocking on it firmly. I wonder who that could be. Knowing who was going to be on the other side, I took a deep breath before opening the door. “Hi, Luna,” I said pleasantly. “Hmph, so you’re back on time,” she responded coldly. “I was half-expecting you to be late.” “Well, the movie was only two hours, so I just came back early. I’ve been here for about an hour and a half.” “And yet you didn’t even bother to tell me.” I flinched. “Well, I thought that you were really busy, what with you taking over Celestia’s responsibility as well as yours, and all. Plus, I thought that as long as I was here on time, it’d be fine.” Luna scoffed. “You know, that laissez-faire attitude is unbecoming of a prince of Equestria.” “Sorry…” I said pathetically. “I didn’t know.” “You don’t know much, do you?” I flinched again. As much as that last remark hurt me, and as much as I wanted to say something back, I sucked it up and tried to be calm. “Okay, Luna,” I said, “I know we got off on the wrong foot, but we don’t need to be doing this. This is just a huge misunderstanding.” “On the contrary, Devin, I understand perfectly. You don’t like my sister, and you’re threatened by the fact that she’s your stepmother, so you try to shut her out even when she tries so hard to be a part of your life.” “I know it seems like that, but-” “You have no idea how much Celestia has been trying to get into your good graces. She spent her valuable time appeasing you, only to be ignored every single time. She asks you to dance at the wedding reception, and you give her a pathetic excuse. She gives you your favorite meal for breakfast, and you don’t even look her in the eye to thank her. She leaves for her honeymoon, and you don’t even show up to see her off!” “I overslept!” I snapped back, unintentionally raising my voice. “She’s gone too far…” My eyes widened and I felt a familiar tingle in the back of my neck. “Go ahead. We were just about to tell her off. Not that it was ever a good idea to try and be friends with her, but apparently this ‘princess’ doesn’t know when someone’s trying to be nice. She thinks we’re so bad, then let’s give her what she’s asking for.” “What good will that do?” “It’ll show her that she can’t treat us however she likes. Look at us! She’s made us her little whipping boy!” I looked up at Luna, who was now glaring daggers at me. “You’d do better than to raise your voice at me. I won’t be yelled at by some selfish brat! If you don’t like my sister, then why don’t you say it to her face instead of treating her like dirt!? You have a whole family of supportive relatives, and yet you just ignore us!” I stepped back, looking up at her in fear, but suddenly… that fear turned into aggression. For once, I actually agreed with the Voice. I didn’t deserve to be treated like this. “So the reason you’ve been antagonizing me is because I don’t like your sister?” I asked. “Was that not clear?” she asked back. “That’s got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! My dad and your sister were dating for over a year before they got engaged, and she was nothing but nice to him. Why would I not like her!? If I didn’t like your sister, I would have told Dad about it a long time ago! If I didn’t like your sister, I wouldn’t have accepted Dad’s offer to be his best man, and I would’ve objected to the union! If I didn’t like your sister, I wouldn’t be trying to get you to like me! If there’s anyone in this family that I don’t like, it’s you!” Luna gritted her teeth and growled. “Why you little-” “Maybe if you took the time to actually get to know me, you’d know how hard this whole situation has been for me! I had to leave my home to come all the way to Equestria for this! I had to go to a new school where almost everypony there harassed me for attention, and even then, I still put up with it. My dad gave me several chances to say no before he decided to go through with his proposal, but I didn’t say a thing because it would hurt him AND Celestia.” “You’d better-” “I know, I could’ve been nicer to her, and I wish I could’ve changed that, but I’m trying to make up for it now, and with the way you’ve been treating me, you’re making it near impossible to do that! Maybe if you stopped dwelling on the mistakes I made, you’d get it, but instead you just keep stepping all over me, and I’m sick of it!” I saw Luna clench her fists, but then she loosened them. “I was right,” she said. “You are a selfish brat.” She then looked past me. I turned around, and then I looked back at her. She was looking at Misfit. She scoffed. “You don’t seem to have any regard for the royal crown, either,” she told me before turning around. “Such disrespect, using it as an accessory for some ragged child’s toy.” What… did she just say? Without another thought, I used all the force I could muster and pushed Luna out of my doorway as she was walking out. I slammed the door and locked it not a second later. I let out a heavy sigh and rested my back on the door, but then I felt something slam into it from the other side, shaking the door and pushing me off of it. Strangely, it didn’t feel like magic, but like brute force. Luna must have been pissed. Not that I should have cared. At that point, I was done with her. Trying to be nice wasn’t worth being Luna’s punching bag, and as far as I was concerned, all I did was give her a taste of her own medicine. Even so… I still felt a tiny bit of guilt, because while I did stand up for myself, I also destroyed any chance of being on good terms with Luna, and that wasn’t going to help my situation with Celestia. I then started to worry about what Luna would do. There was still a chance of her retaliating against me. She might start to treat me even worse than she already was. “Shit,” I said, putting my hand on my forehead. “I’ve really done it now.” It was then that I realized that I should’ve been honest with Celestia. If I had told her that I was having problems with Luna, she would’ve done something about it, but now it was too late… Or was it? I got up and picked my phone up from my bed and dialed Dad’s number, and I waited as the phone rang.