"A contract?" Twilight Velvet seemed troubled by the 26 page legal document I had presented her with.
"Indeed. A binding contract stating the conditions and parameters of our mutual agreement." I had spent a great deal of the previous evening drafting and preparing this contract. It was foolish to enter into any agreement without legally sanctioned documentation.
"Can't we just shake on it? Oh my word, there are so many... words to this. This is a book in of itself." She flipped through some of the pages very quickly. I was doubtful that she had actually read any of them.
"Hardly. It is just a standard publishing contract. I modeled it after other similar contracts that I researched."
"And they were also this long?" She turned it sideways. I failed to see how that would have assisted her in reading it.
"No, those were much longer and involved major publishing companies. As we are two freelancers, our contract is much simpler."
"Simple, right..." She looked as nervous as some of the less capable students looked on a written examination day.
"I still don't understand why we need this. We're both decent ponies. I don't think we would screw each other over." She flipped the manuscript around again.
"The contract is not designed to bring our personal ethics into question. It is a tool that protects both of us from any confusion and/or misunderstanding with our respective roles in this partnership."
She retrieved an ink and quill from her storage locker using her magic.
“Whatever, I’ll just sign it.”
I moved the contract away from her pen with my own magic.
“I must insist that you fully read the contract before signing. If you have any disputes with the terms of agreement, please be sure to let me know so that we can negotiate them."
She sighed heavily.
"Alright, I guess I'll go through it after lunch. Ugh, how am I gonna get through this bulky thing?"
She should try writing it.
"You are free to retain a lawyer if need be."
She tossed the contract into her carrying bag.
"Oh great, now we're suing each other. This friendship is off to a great start."
Such dramatics. I supposed it served her writing well.
"I'll see ya later Night light." She gave a quick wave and walked down the school hallway.
I was forced to admit, having another pony to talk to about a mutual ambition was proving to be quite invigorating. I certainly hoped she agreed to the terms I stipulated. I felt that they were both fair and agreeable. I even made a few preemptive concessions in anticipation of some objections she might have had. Although, I did keep in the one condition that was the most important to me. I suppose the stronger negotiating tactic was to come in wanting everything and then let yourself get talked into a compromise. She may have viewed my position as weak and asked for even more consideration. In any case, I knew I would have her answer by no later than the following day. It was almost humorous. For the first time in quite a while, I felt as if I may have difficulty focusing on my classes. I did not think I would be able to prevent my thoughts from drifting to her. That was of course, due to our exciting business venture. She was an... intriguing mare I must say. I hoped she would agree to the contract. I should not have softened my position so soon. What in Equestria could have gotten into me?
****
Most of my school day remained uneventful. In the afternoon, Twilight Velvet approached me at my storage locker. I was not aware that she knew where my storage locker was located.
“Ok, I’ve read over the contract and it looks fine. I’ve already signed it so here you go.” Twilight presented the legal document to me with her magic. I accepted it with my hoof.
“You are positive that you read and understood it in full? There are no points of contention whatsoever?” I inspected the document and found her signature.
“Yes, I understood it. I’m not a moron, despite what you may think.”
She positioned her irises to the top sides of her optical cavities. I had observed ponies demonstrate this behavior when they were irritated or annoyed by something.
“I made no such assertion. I simply want to make sure we both understand what we are agreeing to.” Twilight turned her head sideways and made an expression that I would have described as a glare but yet it was not a very intimidating one.
“Oh what? Did you put a secret clause in there that makes me your personal slave or something?”
I felt shocked by such an audacious claim.
“That would be both illegal and incredibly unscrupulous of me. Even if you signed such a contract, you could sue me on the grounds unconscionable contract terms and…”
She held her hoof up indicating that I should stop speaking.
“Night Light, it was just a joke. You’re allowed to laugh at it.” She shook her head as if she were disappointed in my response, yet she was also smiling. Pony emotions seemed very complex at times. I often found myself guilty of expressing in-congruent emotions in the same moment as well.
“I see. Contracted slavery is a rather ridiculous notion in this day and age. I can see how a flippant allusion to the possibility could be humorous.”
She tapped me on the shoulder, rather condescendingly I might add.
“Right, a real riot. I can see I had you in stitches.” It seemed that, in an effort to make one’s self feel superior, ponies believe they must make their peers feel inferior. In fact, I had determined that this was the basis for all social disparity among ponies in my age group. Although in Twilight’s case, it seemed to be a rather innocuous example. I believed she was attempting to behave… familiar with me.
“So anyway, I’m really glad we’re getting to work on this. There’s a contest coming up called the ‘Young Fiction Writers of Equestria Competition.’ With your help, I intend to submit this novel to it.” She reached into her book satchel and pulled out a similar looking manuscript from the other day. I accepted the document from her with my magic and placed it in my storage locker.
“A competition, very interesting. Your work should prove to be a respectable entry in such a contest.” I flipped through some of the pages of her fresh book.
“Wow, that’s a pretty big compliment coming from you.” She smiled. Most ponies had a tendency to overstate their observations. It looked like she had become accustom to my less exaggerated way of expressing things.
“Is this the only copy of the revised manuscript?” I glanced over the pages to see how many of my edits were included.
“No way. I learned my lesson and made a few copies. It’s a good thing the library staff likes me, otherwise I might have had to pay to print all of these pages.”
That was quite a privileged advantage of hers. I had to pay a quarter bit per page to print the contract I wrote.
“It looks like the formatting issues I brought up have been fixed. Did you make those changes to the story I discussed?”
She scoffed and grinned at me.
“Look Night Light, you’re a great editor and I appreciate it. But, no offense, I’m the creative part of this venture and I will take care of the creative story telling.” Her hubris had returned. It was clearly clouding her objectivity.
“I am not recommending a complete re-write. I simply pointed out parts of your story that do not make any sense within the logic of the universe you created and suggested some ideas that could make the plot work cohesively.”
The look on her face was one of intense anger. I was afraid that this endeavor might come to a head like this at some point. I was mentally preparing my counter arguments for her emotional outpouring, but her expression suddenly changed. She smiled warmly as if she had been affected by a spell. I looked around just to make sure no one was attacking us with spells or playing a joke. However, I did not sense any residual magical energy.
“Night Light, what do you do for fun?” Her attitude was exceptionally casual. Such a shift in mood was admittedly terrifying.
"For fun? Well, I enjoy reading. I am well versed in the great classics."
"Yeah that's great, but what do you do for fun?" She put much emphasis on the word "fun." As if the meaning of the word had changed.
"Reading is fun."
She hit her hoof against her face.
"Well yes, of course it is. But what I mean is, what do you do to get out? To cut loose. What do you do when you're just hanging out?"
“I do not understand, why would I need to ‘get out?’” I could think of no recreational activity that I would prefer to relaxing indoors.
“Oh come on, eveypony needs to get out from time to time. We went to dinner the other night, didn’t we?”
I suppose I did have a few preferred locations that I frequented.
“There’s a party at Sundance’s place this weekend. Her parents aren’t home so we have the place to ourselves. You should come hang out with us."
A party was exactly where I did not want to be. I seldom enjoyed them. There seemed to be some sort of social expectation to attend social gatherings of this nature, but the prospect had never appealed to me. I was not against camaraderie and fellowship, but not in the way that other ponies usually partook in it.
"While I appreciate the gesture, I must decline."
"Oh come on, why?" She brought up a party and already her behavior was reminiscent of Sundance's behavior.
"Parties are not my... thing." For once, description failed me.
"Aw, don't be scared of us, we don't bite." She wore that condescending smile again.
"I am not afraid of social interaction. I merely have no desire to take part in it, most of the time." Her expression changed to one of discovery. As if she had been revealed some grand secret.
"Yeah right. I think you're terrified of parties. I'll bet the thought of surviving 'social interaction' keeps you up at night. You'd probably be scared out of your tail mane if you showed up to one." She smiled at me with that devious expression again. Clearly, this ruse was intended to engineer an emotional response from me in order to get me to accept her challenge and attend the party. Thus allowing her to have her way. I was not certain as to what purpose this would serve her, but I was not going to allow her tactics to work on me.
"You are entitled to your own opinion on the matter. I know my own fears and limits better than anypony."
She leaned in a little closer to me. I was able to pick up some sort of fragrant scent coming from her.
"Then prove it, genius boy." She whispered in my ear.
"I have nothing to prove to you or anypony." My anger was beginning to surface. This is why I kept to myself mostly. I found other ponies infuriating at times.
"Fine, go home to your books I guess. I'm sure that they're all the company in the world you need." She turned to walk away from me. I was inclined to agree with her final statement, yet somehow it did not feel very comforting to do so.
"If I attend the party, will the matter be settled?"
She stopped and faced me again.
"Of course. If you don't have a good time, I’ll never bother you about it again.” She smiled in a way that made me feel small and inferior. I was impressed that a mare could have so many ways of smiling and make each of them embody a completely different attitude.
“Then I shall attend the party with you.” I held my head up somewhat defiantly. She gave another one of her devious smiles.
“Fantastic, I’m sure it will be the best night ever.” Yet another example of laymen hyperbole.
“I will endeavor to genuinely enjoy myself.” For some reason, I felt as if my resolve had been compromised.
****