//------------------------------// // Friday, Night, and Twilight // Story: Friday Night Twilight II // by BlazzingInferno //------------------------------// Ponyville is quiet at night. Really quiet. In a world with no TV or radio you’d think there’d be more of a night life. It’s only a little after eight and there’s nobody on the streets except for me. The only signs of life are flickering lights in a few of the houses. I should come out at night more often. It’ll take a few minutes to walk across town, and that’s okay. Rare moments like these, when one neon-hued horse or other isn’t sticking their nose in my face, give me a chance to think. For once nobody is going to ask why I’m walking funny, and by funny I mean periodically tripping over one of my own back legs. If they’d spent a couple decades balanced on two legs instead of four they’d understand what I’m going through. It’s not all bad, though. I don’t want to give that impression. I don’t have student loans or a dead end job anymore, which almost makes the lack of thumbs worth it. The whole cancer thing tips the scales, of course. Just before Twilight officially lost permission to visit Earth, she brought back a few printouts from medical websites on cancer warning signs. I know she wanted to prove to me that she did the right thing, although right now I wish she’d skipped the medical stuff and bought me one last bacon double cheeseburger. I’ve been here for about three weeks and I still keep thinking about meat. Ponies have some amazing ways to dress up hay and vegetables, but in the end it just isn’t the same. Not that I have much of a choice; even if I did have a cheeseburger in front of me right now, my stomach couldn’t digest it. Still, it isn’t all bad. I know I keep saying that, but it’s true. Twilight inadvertently gave my life just what it needed: a full reset. So what if it came with a cutie mark—which happens to be a paper with writing on it, by the way. I have a job as Cheerilee’s teaching assistant and, in around six months, her substitute while she goes on maternity leave. All the kids still call her ‘Miss’, even though she’s been married to Big Mac for nearly a year. Working with kids is kind of fun, even if they are four legged. I didn’t expect to enjoy teaching, and if I’d continued to ignore Twilight’s advice about taking more English classes I probably wouldn’t have ever found out. Another plus is, ironically enough, friendship. When it comes to social interaction, nothing motivates like taking away the internet. I hang out with Twilight and her friends quite a bit, along with some other ponies that aren’t seen on the show very much. The biggest difference between watching Ponyville and living in it is timing; crazy things happen once in a while, but the average day isn’t a gag-a-minute mess. My life is peaceful and, amazingly enough, happy. Twilight’s the main reason for the latter. My walk ends at, to put it mildly, the biggest and gaudiest building in town. After seeing Twilight’s castle in person, I’m convinced the Tree of Harmony was just playing a practical joke on her. Compared to the other buildings this thing is a skyscraper; a crystalline purple one at that. In any case, I thump a hoof on the door and wait. Two seconds later the door opens and Twilight grins at me. “You’re right on time.” Being at eye level with her is perception-altering in ways I can’t describe, possibly even more than changing species. “May I come in?” She raises an eyebrow. “Are you trying to be chivalrous or something? Where’s my sarcastic, transmuted human?” “I’m just being polite, I figured it might rub off on you.” She smirks and the door swings wide open. “Oh get in here already, I’ve got a surprise for you.” Thankfully the interior decor is a little more subtle, which I’d imagine is Rarity’s doing. We walk down one of the many long hallways and eventually reach what Pinkie calls the ‘party room’. I’m not sure how this room is more party-worthy than any of the hundreds of others just like it, but that’s what we’ve all taken to calling it. There are always at least fifty balloons and streamers in here, and the banner reading “Welcome to Ponyville, Jake” has turned into a permanent fixture. She runs into the middle of the room and turns back to face me. “Surprise.” “So where is everyone?” “Pony.” “Fine, everypony. Where are they? You said we were having a get-together tonight.” “We are. I even invited your favorite princess.” My automatic reaction is to duck. “Where is she?” She laughs are rolls her eyes. “Not Celestia, I was being serious. Besides, wasn’t she nice to you at the gala last weekend?” “It takes a whole lot of nice to balance out the whole ‘be a jerk and I’ll send you to hell’ speech.” “I told you she was just being overprotective. You should’ve heard what she said to Shining Armor just before his wedding. Anyway, so who’s your favorite princess?” She bats her eyes at me. I grin. “Luna.” A balloon flies down from the ceiling and bops me on the head. “Try again.” I can’t match that assault. So far my best magic trick is giving myself a headache. She takes a few steps closer to me. “Don’t you remember what my invitation said?” “Twilight’s Castle, Friday, quarter past eigh… oh.” “Don’t tell me you forgot our old schedule already.” “Last I checked our old schedule was also every other week. We see each other almost every day.” “We do things with our friends, go on an occasional adventure … but we don’t have time like this anymore where it’s just you and me.” “We don’t have a TV either.” “I do have a couch, a bowl full of apples, and some cider. We can even sing that annoying theme song if it’ll make you feel more at home.” “Couldn’t we just skip to the part where we talk?” She’s been inching closer to me this whole time. At this point we’re nose to nose, staring directly into each other’s eyes. “Sounds wonderful.” “Is this is all going to show up on TV?” She leans in a half inch and kisses me. “With what I have to say? Not a chance.”