“You may just call me ‘Night’”
“Thank you for your submission, miss. We’ll send you a letter within the next week, notifying you of our decision.” These were the words of the dark coated stallion seated behind a desk. His tone left his intention; be it commending or condescension, up to the imagination.
Twilight Velvet bowed her head, backing slowly towards the door, “Thank you sir.” Was all she could produce in response to the stallion’s words. As soon as she had said her piece, the Unicorn turned and pushed the door open, and stepped out into the hallway.
She had just been turning in her manuscript for what she hoped would be her debut novel. It was the story about her meeting Daring Do, and their adventure in Caballo. For the most part, at least, for there was a decent amount of paraphrasing done to the story. For instance, some of the darker details about the fate of Daring’s pilot’s true demise, and Velvet’s own presence in the story entirely. That had been a choice of her own, something that she decided upon on the ride home. She had arrived back in Equestria a month ago that day, and she had finally finished her penning of the story. And now she found herself in Canterlot, a hopeful writer turning in a story to a publisher’s office.
Daring Do had argued Velvet’s decision to omit her part from the story, stating that the mare was an important part to the narrative. While it was over a month ago, Velvet still remembered the conversation the two had shared on the boat ride home.
/)*(\
“You can’t be serious about this Vel!” Daring Do cried, throwing her hooves into the air, and sitting back forcefully into her chair, “I mean really! You’re a core component to that adventure! If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have even been able to get just that far. And not only that, but you’re going against what you said to me when you convinced me to even let you go along. Wasn’t it something about ‘an adventurer always needs an assistant’ or whatever it was? It was along that line, I remember that much. Anyway, my point is that you were my assistant on that adventure. I don’t want you writing that novel without having yourself in it.”
All Velvet did in response to the Pegasus’ words was shake her head, “I know what I said, Daring. But my decision still stands. This story isn’t about me. It’s about you. I wouldn’t be calling it ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’ otherwise. Despite what you say, you would have done just fine on your adventure without me.”
“I nearly suffocated beneath a pile of sand.” Daring retorted.
“And with only a second’s worth of struggling, you would have been able to break free.” Velvet said, in a matter of fact tone.
“You tried to reason with my pigheadedness about taking the Statue so blatantly off of the Pedestal.” Were the words that Daring employed as her next attempt at dissuasion.
“And you didn’t listen to me anyway, so it had the same outcome as it would have otherwise.” Velvet responded, finally looking up from the paper she had been scratching away at with a quill, “You know that this story won’t be seen as fact as much as I do, Dare. Everything in it seems just so… fantastic, you know? Many accounts deem Ahuizotl as being just a myth. A story used to scare disobedient young ones to bed. Many will most likely see this novel as just a story I cooked up in my head.”
“Okay…” Daring said, but she was not about to give up just yet, “So how do you explain ponies recognizing my name, eh?” She leaned forward, crossing her forelegs and giving a smug smirk.
All Velvet did was return the smirk with equal smugness, before she said, “Simple. You yourself told me that you don’t spend a lot of time around Equestria out of your own volition, and you never did much of anything spectacular there, so you would most likely not be recognized by anyone except for your family members.”
Daring opened her mouth to give a retort, but she was unable to find anything. She slowly shut her mouth and sat back in her seat once again with a huff, “Touché.” Was all that she could come up with for the first few minutes, but eventually, she thought of something more to say, “Alright, so let’s make a deal here, shall we?”
Velvet looked up at her, and upon seeing the look that Daring had in her eye, nodded slowly, and set her quill down, “Okay, what is it?”
The Pegasus smiled, “It’s really quite simple. I’m allowing you to use my actual name on a character heavily influenced by me, for a book on an adventure that you and I really went on, yeah?”
“You want a cut of the royalties?” Velvet said, tilting her head, “I was planning on that anyway.”
Daring Do shook her head vigorously in response, “No! No, no! That’s not what I was getting at!” She said, “While I will not argue with that decision, what I was getting at was that you keep writing these stories about my adventures. Because we both know that I’m going to keep going on them.”
Velvet nodded, “Sounds easy enough. But I won’t be able to join you on all of them. I do have another job aside from writing, you know.”
Her friend shrugged, “Well, yeah. I already have a solution. If I go on an adventure that you find yourself unable to join me on, upon my arrival back, I’ll send you a letter retelling it! Or I might even show up in the flesh to tell you about it. You can write about it, and it’s a win-win situation. But there is just one condition that I ask.”
“And that is?” Velvet asked.
“For the ones that you come along on, and even the ones you don’t, make a character that is an homage to yourself. Because seriously Vel, you really helped me back there. Make a character based off you that comes along with me in the books, or somepony that funds my expeditions or helps me do my research, you know?” Daring said, tapping the table between them for emphasis.
Twilight Velvet nodded, “Alright, fine. I’ll do it, I suppose.”
“Good! Sure, you’re going to be famous for writing the story itself, but dangit I better pick one of them up and find some character in there that I can easily say, ‘well, that’s Velvet’ about, y’hear?” Daring Do said, grinning for a second before breaking into laughter.
Velvet joined the Pegasus in her mirth, “It’s a deal, Dare.”
/)*(\
That was all a month ago. Velvet hadn’t heard from Daring since. As soon as they had arrived back in Equestria, Daring took her leave, saying she was going to visit her family in Cloudsdale, before heading off overseas again to do research for her next adventure. Velvet assumed that was what she had been doing for the past month now. She knew that such things could take the Pegasus time, and she preferred to stay positive about what her friend might be undergoing.
Velvet was so lost in her thoughts; she almost did not notice the stallion stepping out in front of her. The Unicorn mare came out of her reverie just in time to see the blue stallion entering her path, and she dodged to the side with agility that she could thank her experiences in Caballo for, “Oops, pardon me, sir.” She said instinctively as she did.
The stallion turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised in slight surprise, but he nodded only shortly after that, “It’s quite alright. I wasn’t really paying attention myself.”
Both Velvet and this stallion had come to a halt in their movements. The silence that stretched between the two lasted just long enough for it to feel awkward. Eventually, the stallion, a Unicorn, like Velvet, coughed, “Pardon me, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before. May I ask your name, and – not to sound rude – what it is that you’re doing here?” He said, holding out a hoof.
Velvet raised an eyebrow slightly, before nodding and shaking his hoof, “Of course, sir. My name is Twilight Velvet. I came here to turn in a manuscript for consideration.”
“Ah!” The stallion said, as they shook, “A writer! I thought so. Usually why ponies are coming in here, after all,” he chuckles slightly, “But I am being rude. My name is Night Light. I’m one of the employees here. Speaking of which, as much as I’d like to stay and talk a little more, I should probably be going,” he gives an apologetic smile, “Perhaps I’ll see you again, Twilight Velvet?”
The Unicorn mare nods, “I would imagine so.” She says, giving a smile of her own. The blue Unicorn stallion took his leave after that, giving her a small wave as he left. Velvet returned the gesture, before continuing on her way towards the door.
It was a strange change of pace, even after a month of being home in Equestria. Velvet had found that after she had gotten a taste of the adventurous lifestyle that Daring Do had led, she found her usual lifestyle just a little slow. Of course, she knew that she could never lead a life like Daring’s on a regular basis, but it felt good knowing that she had managed to undergo something like that, and lived to tell the tale; quite literally. The scars on her sides where the arrow had broken the skin were all but invisible now. She had seen a doctor about it as soon as she and Daring had made it out of the jungle and back to town. The doctor had cast a spell over it, cleansing the wound and sealing it. And over time, the scar tissue had returned as close to normal as it would get, and her coat had grown over the space once again.
And though she could not see it, Velvet always knew that it would be there. It was a token proving to herself that she had gone through that, proving to herself that even a mare like herself could go through something that so much in the media always equated to stallions. But it also served to remind her that if she were to keep going in that lifestyle, she may very well meet her end.
Velvet pushed that dark thought from her mind. She was in Canterlot, which in itself was a change of pace for the Fillydelphia born mare. This city was the highest of high society. And to be frank, Velvet did not fully enjoy the company of many of the denizens. There were a few gems here and there that were nice enough to be around, she had found. But more often than not, they were all just very irritating and stuck up ponies. Fillydelphia had its fair share of that kind as well, but none of them were quite as bad as Canterlot’s.
And it was that fact that provided conflict in Velvet’s mind. As she trotted down the cobblestone streets of Equestria’s capitol city, taking in the sights of the buildings and its citizens, she wanted to stay just a little longer and continue to drink it all in. This was Canterlot, after all! It was the crown jewel of Equestria! It was not a common thing for her to be here, and she wanted to make the most of it.
The pleasing canvas of Canterlot that Velvet’s mind had been drawing was then shattered by the sound of one of the stuck ups berating a waiter for getting an order wrong. Just the tone that the pony was using was enough to make Velvet want to punch a hole into something. The writer quickened her pace and moved away before that ‘something’ became the stuck up pony’s head. She imagined that Daring would have handled that differently. If she didn’t start with punching the pony, she might have given them a piece of her mind verbally, and then punched them when they gave her a snarky retort.
The mental image caused Velvet to giggle to herself, which she quickly moved to cover up when a few passersby gave her odd looks. The Unicorn mare gave them a shy smile, before moving off once again. She wandered the streets of Canterlot for several minutes, before she eventually found herself seated outside of probably the most ‘rustic’ eatery she could find. How there was ever a business in Canterlot that sold donuts, she wouldn’t know. But she could not deny that they did have a decent selection of beverages that she found to her liking.
So it was there, that Velvet decided to relax and spend just a little more time in Canterlot. Really, she had a few days to spend abroad. She hadn’t been expecting to be able to get into the publisher’s office as easily as she did, having expected there to be at least a day’s wait for the pre-scheduled appointments to be done. But a few of the appointments had to cancel, and the others went by quickly enough, leaving Velvet with two days of vacation from her job as a teacher’s aide at the Fillydelphia University. Now all she had to do was find another way to spend it, “Well, I could always leave Canterlot, and maybe go down to Ponyville. Felicity said she lived there for a few years before moving to Fillydelphia. If I was to take her word for it, I would imagine that it’s a rather nice town.” She said.
“It is. I’ve been there myself, on a few occasions.” Another voice said, nearly causing Velvet to leap out of her skin, not having realized that she had spoken out loud.
The newcomer chuckled. She had only heard it once before, but the Unicorn mare recognized it easily enough, “Oh! It’s you, Night Light. Good afternoon-”
“Evening.” The Stallion corrected with amusement, “And you may just call me ‘Night’.”
“Oh, err, yes. Good evening,” Velvet amended, “What are you doing here?” She asked raising an eyebrow at the stallion.
Night was standing outside of the small fenced area outside of the eatery. He made his way through the gate so he was within the confines, and stepped over to Velvet’s table, “I always come here after work. Good food and drink, for a reasonable price, and it provides a nice atmosphere to read. I see it’s attracted your attention as well.” He says.
Velvet nodded in agreement with the stallion’s assessment, “Oh yes. It’s the only place around here that feels a little like home.”
“Where’s that?” Night asks, tilting his head slightly.
“Fillydelphia,” Velvet responds, “Born and raised there. I’m only here because, well, you know. Trying to get a book published, and all that fun stuff.”
Night gives a large nod, “Ah, I see. Well, I hope you’re finding this city to your liking, so far,” he glances about for a second before looking back to Velvet, “Do you mind if I join you at this table? It’s where I usually sit when I come to this place, anyway.”
Velvet’s ears twitch forwards, and she nods after a few seconds, “I don’t see why not. I could use that company, anyway. Be nice to talk to somepony that I don’t think is going to freak out at the sight of a little dirt, for a change.” She says wryly.
Night chuckled as he pulled out a chair, setting the bag he was carrying down beside him as he sat, “Well, I’m glad to see that we think the same on that subject. I’ve lived here all my life, so I’m used to ponies acting that way. Doesn’t mean it still doesn’t get a little annoying at times.”
The pair fell silent after that. The silence drifted on for a few minutes, broken only when Night had excused himself to go get sustenance inside. In the time he was gone, Velvet found her mind wondering what the contents of his bag were. He had mentioned coming here to read, so she assumed they were books. Books about what, she wondered? Were they history or fiction? Were they adventure or mystery? Her contemplations were broken when Night returned with his food. Velvet decided to ask, “You mentioned coming here to read earlier, so I’m assuming that’s what’s in your bag. Mind if I ask what you’re reading about?”
Night listened to her, eyebrow raised, as he sat back down once again. The stallion shrugged, levitating the bag up and drawing out a stack of paper, rather than an actual book, “Well, I read about all kinds of things. Really all depends on what ponies have brought into the office,” as he speaks he sets the stack down and glances at the title on it, “That’s part of my job there. I read over what ponies have brought in, and then I speak to my supervisor about sending them on for publication. It’s pretty interesting to see what ponies can come up with.” He explains. While he speaks, Night begins to sift through the pages of the manuscript. Velvet managed to steal a glance at the title on the first page, and was relieved to find that it was not her story.
Why she was relieved, she did not know. Probably had something to do with being able to avoid the awkwardness of seeing somepony else reading one of her works. It was something that she was used to with her family, and friends like Felicity. But a complete stranger, for that was still what Night was to her, reading them? It wasn’t something that she had any chance to really get used to before. Of course, there were probably many more manuscripts in that bag of his. Hers might very well be one of them.
Before Velvet could do much of anything, however, Night set the manuscript aside and gave an apologetic chuckle, “Forgive me. I’ve already forgotten that I have company with me. Rather impolite to ask to sit with somepony, and then not hold a conversation, isn’t it?” He gives a small smile.
“Oh, no!” Velvet says, shaking her head, “It’s quite alright. I don’t want to keep you from your work.”
Night waves a hoof and shrugs, “Nah, I’ve got plenty of time before I have to turn that in. I can read at home, anyway. For now though, I figure I may as well try to have a conversation with somepony new. So, Twilight Velvet-”
“Oh, please, just call me Velvet.” The Unicorn mare says, waving a hoof slightly.
Night’s ears twitch, and he nods, “Alright then. Velvet, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”
And that was how Twilight Velvet spent the rest of her evening in Canterlot, sitting outside of a corner café talking to Night. Over the course of their conversation, the two found many common grounds, ranging all over from their taste in music, to their preferred genres of books, and things such as these. By all accounts in Velvet’s mind, it was a good night.