//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Twilight's Human Boyfriend 
// by Songbrony 
//------------------------------//

	Since I couldn't sleep, I decided to re-read a favorite manga of mine, Death Note. Twilight didn't read them. She thought that they were just picture books. While I admit they kind of are, they are very interesting. At least the one's I've read. I walked out of the room and into the kitchen where Spike was making a cake. 

"Isn't it a little early to be making a cake?" I said as I sat down at the table.

"It's never early for cake! Especially gem cake!" he said.

"How'd you get the gems to make it? Twilight didn't give you any yesterday and I don't think you have the self restraint to keep them hidden for very long." I pointed out.

"Yeah, well you don't know me very well then." he said as he ate a gem.

"How many gems have you eaten since you started?" I asked.

"Only a few." he replied, putting another one in his mouth. 

"Really? And how many are left?" 

"Enough for-" he started but stopped as he looked in his bowl. "What?! Where'd they go?" He looked to me and I raised an eyebrow. "Awww not again." he said, his expression dropping.

I smirked as I opened my manga again. It was already getting interesting as the "protagonist", if you could really call him that, met the antagonist in person. They both knew who the other was, but they couldn't do anything to each other without either being caught or not having enough evidence to present against him. 

"Are you still reading that stuff?" Twilight asked behind me.

"Yep." I replied, not looking back at her.

"Brendan, I'm never going to understand why you like those picture stories."

"Because they aren't solely picture stories! Yes, they have drawings, but they help tell the story along with the words by using visuals." I explained.

"Right. But they can't be interesting if you don't have any imagination on what the story is or the places are if they are drawn out for you." 

"True, but what if the story brought along a moral code?" 

"What do you mean?" she asked me.

"Let's say you had the power to kill whoever you wanted, but you only killed criminals. Would you do it if by doing so you could end all criminal activity and make the world a better place?" I asked her.

"Well in theory it makes sense that you would be doing it for the right thing, so some may view it as perfectly okay. But legally and morally, it's wrong. It's still murder and would make one no better than the murderers he was trying to rid the world of." she said. "But there's no way a morally bound story like that could be in a picture book." 

I held the book up in front of her. "Really?" 

She walked over and looked at it. "Is this the one you are always talking about?" 

"Yep." I replied as she took it away from my hands with her magic. 

"Hmm..." she said as she flipped through it. "Why's everything backwards?" she asked.

"It's just how they're made in Japan." I said.

"Really?" she asked. "That's a little...weird." she said.

"Eh, you get used to it. Just read right to left and you'll be fine." I said. 

"Wait! I never said I'd read it!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah you will." I said as I got up. "You'll read it out of sheer curiosity because of what I told you about it." She didn't say anything. I knew that she was going to read it. She read anything I gave to her as long as it sounded interesting. She'd get the hang of the manga fairly easily. She was smart and never turned down a challenge of interest. 

"Fine. I'll read the book. Don't forget that we are going to dinner with Rarity and Phil later." she said. 

"I know. I'll be ready by 5." I said.

"Good. We'll be meeting them there since he works close to the restaurant." she said. She sat at the table with the book open. "You said read it right to left correct?" 

"Yep. You're lucky I have the whole series in one book." I said.

"I guess. We'll see how it goes." she said as she began to read the book. 

I walked back to my room and fell back on my bed. I guess I should get ready for the library to open. It's a weekend, so it does open and close a little earlier than usual. I thought.

"Well, you got ten hours before you have to leave for the dinner. Let's just get this afternoon over with and move on to the more fun moments of the day." I said to myself. 


***


"Are you coming to the dinner tonight?" I asked with a smile. 

"Probably not. I just got the new book!" she said.

"Well you have fun reading it then." I said.

"I will. Be sure to let me know when the next Daring Do book comes out!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Only after I finish reading it first Rainbow!" I shouted back at her. She burst out of the library and into the sky, not willing to stay there longer than she had too. Even though it was well known that Twilight and her were close friends and Rainbow liked to visit every now and then, but she still didn't want too many people to think of her as an egg head. 

"Well, that's the last one for the day. Time to close shop and get ready for the dinner." I said to myself.

I went to my room and looked in the mirror. Should I put my hair up? I thought as I ran my hand through my long, brown, scruffy hair. "Why not. Make it look better than just a mop on my head. I brushed and combed it moving it off to the side. I really needed a haircut, but I didn't trust the barbers here. You know, ponies doing my hair is different from them doing it on the mane's of other ponies here. Ponyville doesn't have a human barber yet, but that's just due to the small human population here.

I put on a nice shirt and pants and walked out of the room. "Twilight! You ready?" I called up to her.

"Just a minute!" she said. I leaned against the wall of the library and looked at my watch. It was 5:15.

"Always waiting on the woman." I said to myself. She walked down the stairs a few minutes later and she was stunning. Her tail was brushed, her mane was in a nice ponytail, no pun intended, and she just seemed to radiate beauty.

"Okay. Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yep." I said.

"I like what you did with your hair. It's not so scraggly anymore." she said.

"Yeah, well it's not going to be like this for long. And I like your ponytail." I said. "You know, the one on your head. Not your actual tail." I said stumbling. 

"Thanks. I wanted to try something new." she said. We walked out of the library and headed towards the restaurant. We had plenty of time to get there, but Twilight likes being early and on time. 

"So I was reading the manga you gave me." she said.

"Oh really? Enjoying it?" I said with a smile.

"Shut up. And yeah I am." she said. "The way Light goes about it is very interesting and smart." 

"Do you agree with him?" 

"Well...kind of. Yes the world would be better without criminals, and he has good intentions, however, killing is still murder unless done in self defense or in wartime. He hasn't done any of it in self defense." she explained.

"True, but what about L? Couldn't he also be considered a murderer? He did send that one guy on tv to die in his place at the start." I pointed out.

"Yes, but he was going to be executed that day anyway. It was just a form of execution." 

We spent most of the time before the dinner discussing the morality of what Light was doing and how we would act in his shoes. My conscious would kill me and Twilight was just too nice and good of a pony to do that. Rainbow might, Applejack would only do it if she had to protect her friends and family, Rarity might, and Pinkie Pie....well she would just play with it. That thought is actually quite scary...

At around 5:55, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all walked into the restaurant. "Hey you two!" Applejack said as they came to the table.

"Hey!" Twilight said.

"How ya' been moppy?" Applejack said to me as she sat across from us.

"Fine. Yourself?" 

"Doin' great. Harvest has been doing pretty well despite the increase in the population here." she said.

"It's just been marvelous for my boutique's business. So many people are getting their clothes that it's become better to make human clothes than pony clothes." Rarity said. "And with there being just so little barber shops for humans right now I might even open up an extension to the shop specifically for human hair cuts." 

"Have you ever held a pair of scissors before Rarity?" I asked. 

"Why yes I have actually. I used to cut Sweetie Bell's mane when she was younger. She always looked so wonderful when I was finished with her." she said.

"But you've never given a human a haircut before. Sorry Rarity, but there's no way I'm letting you near my hair." I said with a smile. 

"Oh, come now Brendan. It can't be too difficult." 

"Are ya kidding me Rarity? I've seen how some of them human women are with their hair. It's worse than you when you try to impress one of them fancy schmancy stallions in Canterlot." Applejack pointed out.

"Well one must look presentable! And, no offense, but you could use a haircut to further...enhance your look." she said.

"I think he looks alright. I mean, maybe a little trim to clean his hair up a little." Fluttershy said.

"We'll see. I don't want to cut my hair. I think I look better with it long." I said. 

"None of us have seen you with short hair though. Right now, as Phil would say, you look homeless." she said with a small smile.

"Yeah well I look like a 12 year old when I have short hair. So chances are I will stay with the long hair."

"Maybe I'll tie you down, give Rarity a pair of nice sharp scissors, and then she'll cut you're hair like it's fabric for one of her new outfit designs." Applejack said teasingly. 

"I'd like to see you try and wrangle me." I said.

"You'd be easy." she said with a laugh.

"Where's Phil, Twilight? I really hoped he'd be here too." Rarity said. 

"I'm not sure. He may be caught up in the hospital." she said.

"Is he usually so busy?" Fluttershy asked. 

"Recently he has been." Twilight admitted. 

"Well it is an awful shame. I was really hoping to ask his opinion on somethings." she said.

"Like what?" I asked, taking a drink from my cup.

"Well, simply when he was going to propose of course!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed. 

"What? You've been together for awhile now, why not?" she asked. 

"Because it hasn't even been a year yet. It's a little early isn't it?" she pointed out.

"Well, maybe for us, but who knows, maybe for humans it's common!" Rarity said. She looked to me. "Well? Is it?"

"Uhh..." I stammered. I was caught off guard by Rarity just spurting out Phil should propose to Twilight all of a sudden and didn't know how to react.

"Brendan? Is it?" Twilight asked me. 

"Uh...we-well it depends. Some get married after a year, some after four, others wait close to 10. Then there are some who marry after one night together at a casino and live happily for the rest of their lives. It's all a toss up and it depends on the people." I said, quickly taking a drink from my cup. 

"Oh. Well, what do you think he would do?" Twilight asked.

"Well, from what I know...a year? Maybe two?" I said. I honestly had no clue. I didn't know too much about him other than he liked to look at other mares, treated Twilight fairly poorly, and only did things with her when it suited him.

"Does it really matter?" Applejack interjected. "I mean, if he does, he does. If he doesn't, he doesn't. It's that simple." 

"Hey everyone!" I heard a voice say towards the entrance. "Sorry I'm late. We had an emergency at the hospital. One of the patients had a stroke in the ER." Phil said as he walked up to the table. 

"Are they okay?" I asked. 

"Yeah, he'll be alright. Just have to keep a close eye on him to make sure complications don't set in." he said. "So, what have you guys been doing?"

"Just talking." Rarity said with a smile.

"Well I'm glad my absence didn't stop the conversation. What you been up to Brendan? Don't see you around too much." he said to me.

"Oh, you know, working, trying to save up money for a place, being a hermit like I always do." I said. 

"Well you should get out more. Go to the park, theatre, maybe visit the hospital and I can show you some stuff." he offered.

"You know I hate hospitals Phil." I said with an easy smile. 

"Ah right, your little phobia about the men in white coats." he joked.

"It's kept me healthy though. Not one visit to the ER due to that phobia." 

"Well as long as you're healthy." he said with a smile.

I smiled back. I couldn't help it. He was likable in person and no matter how much I didn't want to believe I could be friends with the guy, it was always hard when I was with him face to face. 

"Anyways, I know I just got here, but I was wondering if I could steal Twilight for a little bit. I just want to talk to her about some things." he said.

"What things?" Fluttershy asked. 

He blushed a little. "Just...some things." he said.

"Oh it's no problem at all. I'll talk to Brendan about it and he can tell you two about it later." Rarity said. 

"Are you sure Rarity? You invited us here so we all could talk." Twilight said.

"Twilight, deary, it's perfectly okay. Go talk with him about whatever it is you need to talk about." she said. 

"Well...okay then." she said. "I'll see you all later then." she said with a smile and left with Phil.  

"So, Brendan." Applejack said, turning to me. "What's with you and Twilight?" 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh come on. We all know that there is something up with you two." Rarity said. 

"It's obvious." Fluttershy said.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said.

`	"Alright, I'll explain it then." Rarity said. "You are Twilight closest human friend. I've seen her do more for you than she's done for anyone else in Ponyville. I mean I'm not jealous or anything, but for some reason she pays extra attention to you." 

"That's because I live with her." I pointed out.

"But even then, it still seems a little...more than normal." Fluttershy said.

"I didn't want to say anything in front of Twilight since she is with Phil, but you're not with anyone, and you seem to always go a little further for her. I don't think I've ever seen you do anything with your hair, even though that is a very rare in itself, unless you're with her. 

"And besides, you're entire attitude changes when you're with her. Almost as if you're happier than Winona during rabbit season." Applejack said.

"Look, I don't know what you guys are insinuating, but Twilight and I are just friends. That's all." I said. 

"Right now." Rarity said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh how do I get it through your dense skull?" Applejack said aloud. "Let's see, you obviously like her, and she obviously likes you. She glows when she's around you and you seem to bring the best out of her. Anyone with half a brain could figure that out."

"She's even told me that she wishes you would take better care of your hair and appearance. She thinks your handsome, but that stays just between us." Rarity said.

I sighed. I couldn't keep lying to myself about it. I did like Twilight. More than a friend. "But she's with Phil, who's smart, handsome, and a doctor. I can't compete with that." I said. 

"Is that why you tend to resent him?" Fluttershy asked.

I gave her a complexed look. "How'd you know that?"

"The way your face looked when he walked in. Your forehead wrinkled and your smile fell a little bit, but it didn't completely disappear, like you didn't want anybody to know you didn't like him." she said. We all looked at her with a bit of wonder. "What? Neither of you two noticed?" she asked quietly. 

"I didn't notice nothing." Applejack said. 

"You read that just by his face?" Rarity asked.

"Well, yeah. You can tell a lot about someone's attitude just by the facial expressions they make. Like whatever it was Phil wanted to talk to Twilight about was important. Like, very very important. He licked his lips a few times and his right hand was shaking very slightly."

"I didn't know you could read people Fluttershy." I said. I guess it made sense though. She was quiet and usually just sat there watching and observing everyone else. 

"It's just a little thing I can do I guess." she said blushing.

"Well...What do you all think I should do then?" I asked.

"Tell her the truth." Applejack said. 

"Yes because him going to her and confessing his undying love for her is going to go over so well." Rarity said rolling her eyes. 

That's a little dramatic don't you think Rarity? I thought.

"What he should do is present himself in a manner that is appealing to Twilight. All he'd have to do is cut the hair a little bit, change is wardrobe, maybe lose a few pounds, and he'll be all set."

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "What do you mean lose a few pounds?" I asked.

"Oh, how do I put this delicately. You have a bit of a belly." Rarity said.

"I don't need to lose weight! All I need is to outdo Phil." I said, slightly annoyed by her comment.

"Well then stop by my boutique tomorrow and I'll have everything set up for you." she said, eagerly.

"I still think you need to tell her the truth." Applejack said.

"I will, but that will come later when I talk to her about it." I said. 

"Alright, then it's settled. Tomorrow, I will give you a full makeover and you will tell Twilight just how you feel." Rarity said smiling. 

I returned the smile. It felt good to be able to get that off my chest. I was actually glad Rainbow Dash wasn't here. I wasn't sure how long she could keep her mouth shut about it. But I knew Applejack wouldn't say anything, Rarity wouldn't just because she was a hopeless romantic, and Fluttershy was too shy to say something that may jeopardize two friendships.

"Was this what you wanted to talk to me and Twilight about?" I asked.

"Oh Celestia no. I'm not going to embarrass you two like that. Maybe one on one, but never together." she said. "Besides, Twilight already swore me to secrecy, with Pinkie Pie nearby to boot. Cross my heart hope to fly-"

"Stick a cupcake in my eye." I finished for her. Pinkie was very adamant about keeping promises, and hated it when her friends broke them, even if it was for the better good. 

"And it's not important. What's important is we get you looking perfect for her." Rarity said as she stood up from the table. 

"Leaving already?" I asked.

"Well I have to make sure I have everything prepped for tomorrow. Makeovers can be such a long process. Especially with someone who I've never worked with before." she said. "I'll see you tomorrow Brendan." she said and walked out of the restaurant.

"I'm surprised you haven't told her yet Brendan. You see her everyday and you don't say a word about it. What's with ya'?" Applejack asked.

"Exactly that. I live with her. What if she doesn't feel the same? I still don't have enough to buy a place of my own, and it would be weird and awkward." I said. Just like every other time I ask someone I like out. I thought to myself.

"You gotta take a risk though. If you don't, you'll pass on many opportunities." she said.

"Yeah, well I'm not much of a risk taker." I said.

"Then grow a pair and do something risky now."

I chuckled. "I'm going to Rarity's so she can fix my hair. I'm the only human she's given a hair cut to. I think that's risk enough." 

"You'll be fine. Rarity's a natural!" Applejack said. 

"She's good at what she does Brendan. You'll be okay. Along with your hair." Fluttershy concurred.

"We'll see. But if I end up looking like an Oompa Loompa I'm never going to her for a haircut again." 

We stayed for about an hour just talking. When I left the restaurant I found myself thinking about what Phil wanted to talk to Twilight about. If it was important like Fluttershy was saying it was, then I had an idea of what it could be. I gritted my teeth. I didn't like thinking about it. I knew I was jealous of him. I knew he was lucky. I just couldn't stand that he was with her. 

I walked into the library and noticed Twilight still hadn't returned.  I knew she was with Phil, but I was used to her being here after 5. Usually she was studying, but not tonight. I decided to clock in early and headed of to my room. When I entered I also noticed that Spike wasn't here.

"So it's just me huh?" I said to myself. I placed my stuff on the bed and walked back to the library. I pushed the button on the statue and laid on the ground, staring up at the beautiful night sky. I saw the stars twinkling in the night sky as the full moon stared at me. 

"Well, it was bound to happen at some point wasn't it? I'm going to be getting that haircut everyone's been telling me to get. Of course it's only to impress a girl who may not want to be with me anyways, but, like Applejack said, might as well take a risk." 

I gazed at the moon, looking for a sign of encouragement or something from it. "What would you do?" I asked. "I mean, I know you're just a rock orbiting another rock...but would you just tell her? Or what?" I said.

It just stared blankly at me. I nodded my head. "Good talk. Always can count on you for reinforcement." I said with a sigh. "I don't know. Maybe I'm being an idiot. Maybe I hsouldn't even try. Maybe I should've tried sooner before she loved him. Maybe I'm too late."

I sighed and stared into the blackness between the stars. I don't know how long I laid there, as I always lose track of time when I star gaze, before I decided to go to bed. I wanted to go to bed early so I could try and keep my mind clear tonight. I turned the dome off, headed for my room. Before I opened the door, Twilight walked into the library.

"Oh, hey." I said with a smile.

"Hey." she said dryly, not making eye contact.

"What did Phil want to talk to you about?"

"Nothing much. Just some things." she said as she walked past me and up to her room. 

"Are you okay?" I asked worried. She wasn't acting like herself. Usually she at least made eye contact. 

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired." she replied.

"Are you sure? You don't sound okay."

"I'm fine. I'm just going to go to bed. Good night." she said and walked up the stairs and closed the door. 

What's going on with her? I thought. I wasn't sure what Phil had told her, but it didn't look like it was good. Did he end things with her? I thought. I didn't want to just be a rebound if he did dump her. 

I walked into my room and fell on the bed. "I'll talk to her tomorrow before I go to Rarity's. I know she won't talk to me tonight, but hopefully whatever is bothering her is gone tomorrow." I said as I brooded on what could have her so bothered.