//------------------------------// // Scenario 21: The First Step // Story: Reality is Magic // by ninjintonic //------------------------------// GUSTAVE LE GRAND'S STEAKHOUSE - 5:07 PM, THURSDAY The capacity of invited guests roamed around the reserved room of the steak house, socializing and getting themselves acquainted with one another. It's Twilight's and Flash's rehearsal dinner. "Oh darling, I've been doing fashion for years, I care about my passion more than money coming in." Rarity engaged in a friendly conversation with the best man named Ringo. She took a sip of her champagne. "Well, passion is the oxygen of the soul." Ringo took a sip of his as well, and continued with words, "Is what I always say to my clients." Rarity closed in to Ringo with a grin, "So what is it that you do for living, Ringo?" "I'm a music manager." "Oh, that's quite divine, do you and Flash still play music together?" Ringo let out a bark of laughter, "Not lately, but when we find the time in our schedule, sure." Rarity let out a much brighter grin which led Ringo to blurt out words through his male instincts, "Wow Rarity, you're looking mighty beautiful today." "Aw you're so sweet, you're looking quite handsome yourself, Ringo." Followed by a chuckle. "Rarity!" Twilight's voice was heard from a mild distance within the room, and broke off their romantic moment as she approached between them, "Rarity, you gotta come with me." "Wait, why? What happened?" Rarity gazed around the room for Twilight's future husband, "Where's Flash?" "Flash is outside catching up with old friends, but I need you to come with me in the ladies room." Rarity bashfully smiled at Ringo, "Excuse me, Ringo, I think there's quite bit of a mishap of things." "It's alright." Ringo took a sip of his wine, and walked towards a nearby crowd to socialize. Rarity in a low voice, "Twilight, what is going on? Can't you see I was busy?" Twilight with quizzical expression, "Huh? You were? Seems like you weren't..." Twilight grabbed Rarity's arm, "You have got to see this." Then headed rapidly towards the ladies room. The girls entered a spacious bathroom, enough to fit ten people. Twilight pulled out an unused pregnancy test stick from her purse, which brought Rarity's eyes to widen, "Twilight?! Why did you buy this?!" "Shhhhhhh." Twilight protested, "I have to test it, and you're going to help me." "Ummm, darling, I don't think I feel comfortable with that..." "No, smart one. I meant I'll test it, then you tell me if it's positive or negative." "Oh! In that case, sure..." This was too much information for Rarity to take in, purchasing the pregnancy test sticks was already shocking enough, but she just has to go along with what Twilight asked her to do for now. They were alone in the bathroom, their moment of tremulousness filled between them. Twilight ripped the casing of the pregnancy test stick, then entered in one of the bathroom stalls. In their state of thoughtfulness, they were unsure how to react to the situation if the result indeed came out to be what they hoped. As Twilight finished her side of the job, she exited from the stall. Twilight refused to glimpse at the stick when she handed it over to Rarity. Twilight swung around the opposite direction from Rarity, and looked at a blank wall, "Well?... Did the results come out?" "Not yet..." Rarity focused on the stick for a short while, noticing a sign slowly fading in seconds till it finally appeared. Rarity astonished at the result, then broodingly glanced at Twilight, uncertain with words to say, "Ummmm, Twilight?..." In a low voice. "Rarity, just tell me... The anticipation is killin' me." Twilight remain about-faced from Rarity towards a blank wall. She impatiently waited for Rarity to give her the result. "It's positive." "Really?!" Twilight swung around, and hastily took steps closer beside Rarity to peek at the pregnancy stick. Twilight's nervousness suddenly changed to a feeling of joyfulness, which led her words to say in a loud voice, supervening an echo throughout the spacious, hollow bathroom, "OH MY GOD! I can't believe it!" Twilight took the stick from Rarity's hand, and had a second glance at it. With her bright smile, she widened her eyes at Rarity, "I'm going to have a baby!" "Yes you are, darling!" Rarity bestowed a hug to Twilight in a short period of time, assuring her that everything will be alright, and that she's there for Twilight no matter what happens. As they liberated each other from the hug, Twilight wiped her tears. "Please don't tell Flash just yet." Rarity tossed the pregnancy stick in the garbage, "Darling... You think I'm the right person to hold a secret?" Rarity raised her eyebrows, "Plus.. Today is such a perfect day to announce everyone the news, Twilight. I consider it as a blessing." "No. Our wedding organization is stressful enough for him to bear, and then the baby?... Thanks, but I'll tell him after we get married, when the stress level goes down a bit." "Well, I wouldn't call it stress, but ok, sweetie. It does sound like a wise idea... Oh ummm, I know it's not in my place to ask, but as your best friend, have you and Flash ever came to the subject of the matter?" "Matter of what?" "Oh darling, don't be senseless... The subject of having the baby, of course.." Twilight suddenly looked down, "Rarity... Quite honestly, whenever I come to subject about our future, it's like he shies away from it." "Whatever do you mean?" "I don't know... He gets terrified every time, like he doesn't want to be bothered by it... So whenever that happens, I just stop talking about it..." "Darling... I want you to tell me this..." Rarity closed in to lift her chin up, "What do you see yourself in the future?" "Well... I want to work at home, while taking care of my ten kids. Fix dinner when Flash comes home from work, taking the family out to a park, Ya know... All the normal stuff." "Ten kids?!" Rarity jaw-dropped. "Yeah.." "Now I understand why Flash is terrified." Rarity chuckled, "But darling, that is a nice future to have. Perhaps if you be assertive with him, and tell him how important your future is, he should listen to you, after all, he's your future husband... He has to make you happy." Twilight, in a mindful thought, her straight face which turned into a faint grin, "You must have been born with this trait... Listen to yourself with all these words." "Well, they don't call me Rarity for nothing, yeah?" Twilight nodded. Rarity held both Twilight's hands, and pulled her to close in a peck on her forehead, "I promised everything will be alright. Right now, lets go out there and enjoy our rehearsal dinner." "Yes.." Twilight and Rarity exited the bathroom. The reserved room had become more crowded than before, noticing a couple of familiar faces of my bridesmaids and Flash's groomsmen socializing with one another, and a combination of loud laughs within the room. "Twilight, there you are!" Flash appeared from a mid-distance through the crowd. He brought along a female friend, which Twilight's expression turned slight sour. He eased in a side hug to his female friend in front of Twilight, "This is my cousin, Cuddle Bug! She's here for our wedding!" Twilight felt relief to know that she was just his cousin. "Oh! Why didn't you say so, Flash?!" "Ummm... What are you talkin' about... This is the first time I'm introducing you to her." Cuddle Bug is a petite girl. She had a beautiful, long-thick, silky light brown hair, and pink highlights. If she wasn't Flash's cousin, Twilight's jealousy would've taken over the best of her and may have confronted her to keep her hands off from her future husband. Cuddle Bug smiled to both Twilight and Rarity, "Hi girls, It's an honor to be here, I'm happy for you guys." Flash expressed in gratitude, "Thanks Cuddle Bug, oh and this one here is Rarity, she's Twilight's maid of honor." "One and only." Rarity said conceitedly, whilst waving her blue hair back. "Nice to meet you both." Cuddle Bug nodded with a smile. Flash cleared his throat, "Come, Cuddle Bug, I want you to meet my other friends." Flash and Cuddle Bug walked the opposite direction towards a crowded table. In Twilight's thought, it felt like a high school lunch room once again. Rarity gander around the room, and sees Ringo sitting at the bar talking to the bartender, "Twilight, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get myself a drink." Rarity walked towards the bar where Ringo sat. "Twilight, honey!" Twilight's parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light, approached her from a mid-distance of the crowd. They also brought friends with them, they were couples in the same age group as them. Twilight Velvet continued, "Sweetie, I'd like to introduce you to our new friends who just moved in next door to us, Cherry Jubilee and Red Harvest." Cherry Jubilee initiated a gentle handshake to Twilight, "Twilight, it's a pleasure to meet you, we'd like to congratulate you and Flash on y'alls big day!" Red Harvest grinned at Twilight to offer a handshake as well. "Thank you so much! I'm sorry, Flash is somewhere around here..." Twilight scrutinized the room for Flash, which she found him busy at the moment, introducing his cousin to everyone who sat on the table in a mid-distance from where she stood. "Twilight is a successful scientist at Cloudsdale." Night Light exclaimed. "Oh are ya, now." Red Harvest smiled while twiddling on his own beard, "That's fantastic, you and I should have a talk sometime... I'm a Biologist." "Oh, that's fantastic!" Twilight had said lightheartedly. "Well if you excuse us, we're going to get ourselves a drink." "Ok, we'll be right behind you." Twilight Velvet concluded. Red Harvest held Cherry Jubilee's hands, and walked towards the bar. Twilight remained a smile on her face towards her mother and father, "Well, they're swell people." "Yes, your dad and I are glad to finally find a couple that we can get together from time to time." Twilight with a grimace, "Ummm oook, that's great! I guess.." As Flash approached beside Twilight, he wrapped his arm around her back. Flash greeted Twilight's parents, followed by a hand shake to her father, then a friendly hug and kiss on her mother's left cheek. The guests looked to the loud sound of a glass clanging. It was Rarity, who stood right in the middle of the room. She gradually stopped clanging her own wine glass with a spoon, as the room had finally turned silent. They all observed Rarity in attentiveness. "Good evening everyone, my name is Rarity, I'm the bride's best friend. I would like to first thank you all for being here tonight at the rehearsal dinner. I just would like to take this moment to tell you how happy I am for Twilight and Flash. Twilight and I have been friends for more than thirteen years now... I remember the first time Twilight and Flash bumped into each other at Sugar Cube corner which made her spill a milkshake drink on him. It's funny how that little moment turned into something big, something that we will all celebrate next week. I would like to raise a glass to the bride and groom... May the blessing spread on your joyous day, and have long lasting life together. Cheers!" Everyone in unison, "Cheers!" Rarity's toast was simple, but cute. Twilight didn't expect those words from Rarity because she had always known Rarity to sugarcoat it, especially for an occasion like today. It brought everyone's smile on their faces, at the same time, Twilight in happy tears which led her in mindful thought about the rest of her high school friends, and the girl who taught her all about the importance of friendship that she had recently almost stumbled upon at Barnes and Noble. She slyly gazed at her own belly, and rubbed it gently. She let out a faint grin to herself, knowing that there's more than just the wedding itself. She's about to have something really precious that she will love more than anything in the world can ever offer, and is right inside her stomach. From this moment of time, she's appreciating every current moment, as she will never experience this moment again for the first time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HUMANEHATTAN MEDICAL GROUP - 11:02 AM, FRIDAY It was a slow day at work, not a typical day on a Friday. But I was not one to complain, because I had a lot of paper work, and prescriptions to call in at the pharmacy. My co-workers noticed that I was more quiet than usual. They all asked if I was alright, but of course I couldn't share my personal life story at work, so that question was really pointless. Therefore I nodded along as an indication for being okay. There were times that my co-workers had nudged me back to reality, as I stared blankly at my computer monitor. I felt this was my only free time that I could actually let out my true emotions, when Pinkie and Lyra wasn't around. I was in complete deadpan. Aside from being very happy for Twilight in this world, the last conversation I had with Princess Twilight from Equestria left me in sullen expression. Just the thought our future is looking up, there's always a drawback of things. "Dr. Whooves?" I called in a low voice. Dr. Whooves was in the middle of dictation in his own office. I entered inattentively, then he paused to look at me with disappointment on his face, waited for me to continue on with words, "... I'm giving you my three days notice..." My message brought his jaw to drop. His eyes had widened, then his face of distress suddenly turned to an expression of uneasiness. He couldn't believe it, after so many years of dedication for being his nurse, will finally come to an end in three days. Dr. Whooves removed his glasses from his face, placing it down on his desk, "Sunset?... Is it because of me? If it is, then I promise I'll be nice to you from now on." I let out a downcast expression in a low voice, "No, Dr. Whooves... It's not about that... I have always loved you like my father. But something has come up and that I must make this drastic decision. It's just for the best..." Dr. Whooves in an assertive tone, "Tell me what's holding you back, I will help you. Is it the pay? Is it because of the patients?" I interrupted, "No, it's nothing about the work place and my career... I love doing what I do... It's just... You'll never understand..." I knew if I didn't do what Princess Twilight advised me to do, bad luck will just repeat itself in cycle, but in different forms, no matter how much good I contribute. It will always comes back with a vengeance. I'm not sure how I'm going to tell Pinkie and Lyra about my situation, but quitting my job was the first step, and it was a difficult thing to do. I can only imagine how difficult it will be to tell the girls.