Friday, September 11, 2015

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Relationship concerns will be at the forefront of your mind today.

Early Morning

"You're not wearing those shoes to school, are you?"

I look down at the ugly, cheap canvas shoes I'm wearing. "Nope," I say. "This is a pair I bought the other day, just for our little walks with Spike."

Twilight frowns. "Why?"

Spike pees on my shoe.

"Oh."

Spike wags his tail and barks happily.

"So, where do you want to go tomorrow?" I ask as I playfully nudge Spike with my toe. He bounces around my foot, growling and wagging his tail.

"Huh? Oh, um..." Twilight shrugs. "I don't know. Just...someplace we can have fun together?"

"How about a movie?" I ask, pulling out my phone. Canterbook has listings for the local cineplex. "Ooh, Biskit Bloodbath 3 is playing."

"That movie with the creepy twins?" Twilight asks, pulling a face. "Bleah."

"Aww, but those movies are so much fun to make fun of. Okay then, how about My Small Squirrel: Nutopia Girls?"

"Pee on him again, Spike."

"I've heard good things about Cashiers..."

Twilight shrugs. "I guess that's as good as anything. It's not like there's really much of a choice this time of year..."

Spike finishes his business, and we go back inside to get ready for school.

After School

Suri is absent from tennis practice today. Coco seems relieved.

Practice is fun. I'm getting less tired each time now.

When I come out of the locker room, Pinkie is waiting for me, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, her hands clasped behind her back. "Wanna go do something?" she asks. She smiles at me. "Just the two of us, as friends!"

What brought this on all of a sudden? "Shouldn't...we be getting back to the dorm?"

Pinkie waves a hand dismissively. "It's Friday, silly! Plus, it's AJ's turn to cook tonight, and it's not like we have to eat dinner at the dorm." She grabs my hand and yanks me after her. "Come on, let's have some fun!"

I quickly realize I have no choice in the matter, so I decide to just go with it.

Pinkie takes me to an arcade, where we spend half an hour playing Dance Hero Turbo Hyper Mix. I honestly spend more time watching Pinkie shake her butt than I do playing the game myself, as it only takes ten minutes before I'm almost too sore to stand up.

Hey, I may have a girlfriend...I think...but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a cute butt.

When Pinkie finally winds down, we go to Sugar Cube Corner. I haven't actually been here yet myself.

A tired-looking man with orange skin and an angular jaw stands behind the counter. "Oh, hey Pinkie!" he calls. "So is this your boyfriend?"

"No, silly!" Pinkie says. "This is Twilight Sparkle's boyfriend! We're just hanging out because we're both on the tennis team."

"Oh, today was practice, wasn't it? How'd it go?"

"It was fun!" Pinkie suggests things I should try. The owner, Mr. Cake, serves us, and we find an open table.

"So this is where you work on Saturdays?" I ask.

Pinkie nods. "Yepper. Mr. and Mrs. Cake really need the help, with the twins just a couple months from being born and all, and..." She sips her excessively sugary coffee beverage. "It's nice to have a little extra pocket money over what my sister gives me."

"Your...sister? You get an allowance from your sister?"

Pinkie looks down. "Mom and Dad are barely covering my dorm fees and necessities."

"Wow. That's harsh."

"Yeah..." Pinkie sighs. After a moment, she looks up, a bright smile on her face. "So hey, you and Twilight are going out tomorrow, huh?"

"Yeah, but...how'd you know?"

"Eh. I just have a sense for these things." She giggles. "You know, if this were some harem comedy, right now would be when Twilight walks in, sees us together, and gets mad."

Twilight walks in. She sees us.

"Hey Pinkie...hey Flash." She tilts her head. "Are you...are you on a—?"

"Nah, we're just hanging out," Pinkie says. "I kinda wanted to spend time away from the dorm today, me and Flash are tennis partners, I thought he could use some fun time too..." She gives Twilight a smile. "I'm not trying to steal your boyfriend. I'm just borrowing him a little. You know, like bubblegum!"

What.

"That better not mean I'm getting him back all sticky," Twilight says, rolling her eyes.

WHAT.

Pinkie giggles. "Good one, Twilight!" She gestures to the open seat next to her. "Wanna join us?"

"I'll pass," Twilight says. "I just felt like picking up a couple eclairs on my way home. I've got a lot of homework, and I want to get it done before..." She blushes. "Before tomorrow."

Twilight buys some eclairs and leaves. I give Pinkie a look. "Okay, what was that all about?"

Pinkie giggles. "Twilight can be pretty funny sometimes. You just have to know how to get past all the layers of awkward nerd armor." She toys with her straw. "I figured out how to make her smile two weeks after I met her. Up until you came here, I was the only one who could get her to smile other than her brother and Nurse Cadance." She looks up. "Now she smiles a lot more...even though things have been kinda sucky lately."

"That's good," I say. "A girl that cute should always be smiling."

Pinkie giggles. "Everybody should always be smiling," she says. "That's why...I try to make everybody smile as much as I can."

Her eyes aren't quite as bright as usual right now.

"Hey..." I say. "If we don't get some protein in us after eating all this sugar, we're gonna crash." Well, I am. I don't think Pinkie knows what a sugar crash is.

"Hmm...yeah, it's good to eat right," Pinkie says. "Ooh! That buffet place we went to Monday has a good dinner buffet!"

We head to the buffet and eat a lot of very tasty food. It's late when we get back to the dorm.

"I had a lot of fun hanging out with you today," Pinkie says. "We should really do it again some time!"

---

Pinkie heads upstairs. I go up to my room to start on my homework.

Evening

There's a knock at my door. "Come in."

"Hey." I turn around. Shining Armor is standing in the door. He looks pensive.

"Hey Coach."

Shining Armor walks in, closing the door behind him, and sits on the bed. "I uh...I heard you're...you're going out with Twiley tomorrow."

"That's right."

Shining Armor frowns. "Try not to let anything...bad happen to her, alright?" He wrings his hands. "It just...it just seems like ever since you came here, Twiley's been a target for a lot of...stuff."

"So have I," I point out.

"Yeah, that's...that's the thing. I..." He sighs. "Don't get me wrong. You're an okay kid. It's just...I..." He looks up and pierces me with a fierce gaze. "There's no easy way to say this: I think you're bad luck."

I don't know how to reply to that.

"I just...haven't seen Twilight this emotionally...weird before," Shining Armor says. "I'm worried about her."

I sigh. "Look, Coach...I care about Twilight. I...I felt something for her the moment I laid eyes on her. And...I think..." I look down at my hands. "I hope she feels the same way." I look back up. "I know all you want is to look out for your sister. But I want to see her happy."

"I want to see her happy!" Shining Armor says hastily. "I just also want to see her safe."

"I can keep her safe," I say. "I want to keep her safe. And make her happy."

Shining Armor doesn't say anything for a while. Then, he sighs. "Just...be careful, okay? I..." He trails off, then stands up. "She's my sister," he says roughly. "It's hard...having to worry about her like this."

---

"I'll do my best to trust you," Shining Armor says. "Don't make me regret it."

He leaves.

Suddenly, I don't feel like working on my homework anymore. I decide to turn in early.