Canterlot's real pretty at night. I've lived here all my life, but I can't help but notice all the windows lit up and glowing with their own separate light, their own separate universes contained within them. Just...wow. Everything looks even better with all the Nightmare Night decorations around. Little paper bat ponies and strings of pumpkin-shaped lights, and some ponies have taped sheets of orange paper to their windows so the light looks orange. The contrast with the purple night is beautiful. "Classic." I murmur to nopony.
"Hm? Beauty, did you say something?" Frederic looks at me questioningly.
"Oh no. I'm okay. Just kind of talking to myself. Like ya do." Stars above, really?!
"Alright." We lapse into silence after that.
We were performing with Octavia for our school's Nightmare Night Showcase. Since Frederic's place is on the way to mine, we decided to walk home together. That would have been fine in any other circumstance, but in this one, it's kind of awkward. Because we were super-best-friends before, right? Since we were kids. We both applied to Canterlot Musical University so we could be super-best-friends there too. But now...things are different. There's been a shift in the cosmos. Frederic is really awkward around me for some reason, and I've been acting kind of weird too, without even realizing it. I'll look back on a conversation and berate myself for not saying the most perfect or witty thing.
Maybe this would be a good time to clear that stuff up.
"Fred?" I prod him gently.
He jumps about a foot in the air. "What is it, Beauty?"
"You've been acting kinda weird lately. And I have too. Best friends shouldn't act weird with each other. And when they do, they should talk about it. So let's talk about it." Gentle but firm. You have to be careful with emotions - they tend to flip out on you at bad times.
Frederic looks like he wants to throw up. "Say, I...I think I might have forgotten my music book at school. Look at that. I'd better run back and get it-" He turns around. I whip out a hoof and set it on his shoulder. "Fred, your music book is in your saddlebags. Besides, if we aren't going to talk about it now, then when will we?"
Frederic is sweating bullets. He opens his mouth. "I-I..." Then he stops. Takes all his emotions and balls them up inside and buries them in the back of his mind. Then he takes a deep breath, and turns toward me. "Beauty, I don't know how I'm supposed to talk about how I'm feeling lately when I myself have no idea how I'm feeling."
"Describe it to me."
He sighs. "I consider what I'm saying a lot more. Usually, I can just say whatever to you, and you'll get it. I don't need to worry about that." I nod. "But now I'm taking what feels like ages to decide how to appear to you and what to say. And I'll look back on conversations even if they were two minutes long and beat myself up for not saying the best thing."
"That's exactly how I've been feeling." I say. It becomes clear what I might be feeling, but I'm scared to acknowledge it otherwise it'll jump out at me like a ghost in a horror movie. "My house is only a block down from yours. I could run ahead and ask my mom if I can stay with you for the night. Maybe we can put these feelings into a song."
He smiles and nods. "That would be great."
I run ahead, the breeze filling me with clarity. I know that the song we write tonight is going to change everything. Somehow.