Walking a Tightrope - A Surprise Days Story

Nighttime sure is beautiful, thought Twilight Sparkle as she walked through the darkened streets of Ponyville.  She stopped to glance back at where she had been--the Everfree Forest.  It was odd, to think that not so long ago, Twilight had been afraid of that forest.  These days, it seemed like she went in there once a week, often all by herself, to see her friend Zecora.

Now Twilight turned once again and looked at the final hoof of her journey.  Ponyville was a bigger place than it looked, and Twilight's library wasn't on this edge of it, so she had a walk ahead of her.  Even so, the scenes of a township at night put her at ease.  The streets were not dark at all, for the moon shone vividly through the cloudless night, its light amplified by the constellations up above.  And, too, the lights from the windows illuminated the street.  Through their thresholds, Twilight heard the sounds of happy pony families gathered together, perhaps to read bedtime stories or prepare for the next day.  It was the first day of summer vacation, and the foals were all restless.  Even being a study-freak herself, Twilight understood the enthusiasm all too well.

With a giggle, the purple pony continued on, towards her home, her every step sure, for even when she reached a part of town where ponies had shut their windows and gone to bed, she did not feel afraid.  No, not even as she realized there was another set of hoofsteps.

She stopped and looked.  Close behind her was a blue Earth stallion with a silver-gray mane, slightly dimmed in this darkness.  He was slightly smaller than Twilight, and of a meeker build, signifying one who had only recently matured, graduating from colthood into full-on stallionhood.  Twilight half-smiled with recognition.  "Blue Gallop," she said, "What are you doing out this time of night?"

"I'm... thinking."  There was an odd hesitating quality in his voice, it felt as though he wasn't sure of what he was saying.  He twitched nervously, and his head kept darting.  He was pretending to be distracted, and in Twilight's estimation he was doing a poor job of it.

"About what?"  She asked, hopeful that he would say what's on his mind.

"The... the future," Blue Gallop answered, and it seemed as though confessing that much had been an ordeal for him.  Still refusing to look directly at Twilight, he began to nervously move towards her.  "Have you... I mean... I've been wondering, lately... what it would be like to be a father."

"Oh, yes?"  Twilight half-smiled.  Ah, so this was some sort of clumsy come-on.  Just like last week, when he'd tried to get Pinkie Pie interested in a date, and it had led to him learning everything there was to know about dated walnuts.  He'd had to walk away from that one, embarrassed.

He stepped closer... and then he tripped, and tasted dirt.  Twilight moved to help him up, but he righted himself on his own.  Twilight could see now that he was trembling, even as his vision was now fixed on her.  It looked as though his legs would give way at any moment.

With an effort so great that he couldn't even bend his knees, Blue Gallop managed quick steps to Twilight, and quickly rubbed his hoof against her cheek.  A combination of forces occured to upset whatever he might've been planning:  Twilight took a step sideways and Blue lost his footing, again.

"Don't get fresh with me, buster," Twilight huffed air out her nose threateningly.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that!"  he scrambled to a stand, and his hooves were so wobbly that he instantly fell again.  So he instead put his forehooves together in a position of pleading on his belly.  "Please, don't think ill of me!  I just... I'm trying to be brave, that's all!"

"Look," Twilight glared suspiciously now, "Just what is it you want?"

Blue Gallop came to his hooves.  His nervousness had set back in, and once more he was looking around, pacing up and down and trying not to look right at her.  "Well, you see, everypony in my family dies young, so I don't have a lot of time left, and I thought... All I want is to be a father before I die.  And I thought and thought," Blue walked up to a crate, pretended to be looking into it, "And, see, I thought maybe if I were warm, romantic-like, that maybe that would... and I thought..." Blue walked stiltedly to the opening to an alley, and looked down it.  "I wanted to father a foal, and I thought the perfect mother would be you..."

Then he gulped, and within a moment Twilight saw why as Blue scambled away from the alley.  Directly in front of the blue Earth Pony, a pegasus emerged.  A white pegasus, with a neon-green mane and tail, and a balloon cutie mark.  This pony could've easily been Pinkie Pie's mother or older sister, for the resemblance was uncanny despite a quite noticable age difference--a difference that showed itself in a mane that was frazzled in places, whose colors were beginning to bleach out, and a coat that used to be shining but now had dulled just a little bit.  A pony who looked closely might notice some age-wrinkles, but they'd have to search.

"Surprise!"  Twilight whispered her friend's name.

Surprise stared wide-eyed at Blue Gallop, nervously twitched her left forehoof in the dirt.  "I... don't know what to say," she stuttered out.  "I'm flattered, really.  But... there's something you should know..." A halting, hesitant quality came to Surprise's eye just then.  "There's... no sensitive way to say this..." Surprise choked out the words, "My womb died on me years ago."

Blue Gallop once more tumbled to his stomach.  For the moment, he had forgotten his own nervousness, so stunned was he.  He was a pony, and in pony culture, a barren womb was almost as bad as death itself.  "I'm sorry!"  He said, his voice full of a sincerity even Celestia probably couldn't muster.  "You got to make kids before that, right?"

Suprise slowly shook her head.

"Oh my gosh!"  Twilight Sparkle came to Surprise's side.  "I... don't know what to say."

Surprise slowly lifted her head, managed a weak smile.  "Nah, it's not so bad."  Then Surprise perked suddenly, and said to Blue Gallop, "Hey, Twilight here is single!  Have you asked her about it?"

"He has!"  Twilight quickly answered, her mind once again focusing on the stallion and the matters of the moment.  Her look became a suspicious one, but not one without sympathy.  "I'm afraid I have to turn him down."

Surprise offered the stallion a hoof to get to his feet, and said, "Oh, well.  There's plenty of single mares in this town.  Keep looking.  You'll find your special pony one of these days!"

"You really think so?"  Blue Gallop asked with tears in his eyes.

"I believe in it.  Miracle romance!"

"Miracle romance!"  Blue Gallop's eyes watered with joy as he mouthed those words.  "Oh, thank you," he gave Surprise a brief hug, "You've given me much hope!  I'll never forget this!  Now, I must be off, I've got to find my miracle romance!  My sincerest apologies, Twilight Sparkle!"  He bowed to Surprise and then to Twilight, and then took off into the night, leaving behind only drops of joyous tears that floated in the air for a second before dropping to the ground and being soaked up by the sand.

Surprise waved happily, but Twilight watched him go and then said silently, "I'm not sure encouraging him was such a good idea."

"Huh?"  Surprise stopped in mid-wave.  "Why not?"

The purple unicorn let out a sigh.  "He made moves on me."

Surprise lowered her waving hoof, blinking twice the way a pony does when they don't quite believe something.  "Really?  That guy?"

Twilight breathed a deep breath.  "Yes, that guy."

"He didn't try to force himself on you, did he?"

"No, nothing like that.  He tried to rub my cheek, and..." Twilight shook her head, "I'm not overreacting, am I?"

"Nuh-uh.  You told him off, right?"

"Well... you might say I side-stepped his advances."  Twilight couldn't finish that sentence without cracking a chuckle.

"Ah, the deadly sidestep maneuver!"  Surprise cracked a smile of her own, and the two girls shared a quiet night-time chuckle.  Surprise put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "Well, anyway, I think a guy like that is pretty harmless."

"You're probably right."  Twilight admitted, making one last glance at the beautiful, beautiful stars.  "But there might be other frisky stallions out.  I'd feel safer if I had an escort."

"I hear ya."  Surprise glanced around, almost wanting there to be a frisky stallion ready to try his luck.

And the two mares walked side-by-side all the way to the library, admiring the scenes of the town beneath the stars all the way.

At home in the library, Spike served the two mares some tea, a special brew which had been taught to him by Applejack.  Naturally, it tasted of apples.  And neither of the ponies could complain about that!  Spike bowed as he received the ponies' thanks, and with their leave he went off to bed, intent fully on sleeping in until afternoon the next day.  The mares wished him a good night, then conversed amongst themselves.

Twilight asked, "By the way, what were you doing out, at this hour?"

Surprise took a sip of her tea, placed the cup down.  Her answer came at her own pace, unhurried, unworried.  "Just admiring the stars."

Twilight nodded with a smile.

And then Surprise looked into her cup, and said, "Actually... the truth is Raydence and I had an argument, and I needed to get out of the house for awhile."

Twilight's eyes went wide, but only for a moment.  Raydence was Surprise's pet human, and it wasn't unusual for them to have disagreements, but their arguments usually took on the aspect of being a sort of game, or some kind of joke that only they get.  For Surprise to be so perturbed as to be driven from her home... it made Twilight quiver, a little, to think the two had such a wedge between them.

"May I ask?"  Twilight filled her voice with sympathy.

It seemed almost like Surprise wasn't going to answer.  The pegasus closed her eyes, and took a big sip of tea, allowing silence to fill the room.  Just as Twilight was about to give up, Surprise said, "Raydence and I... we have an understanding.  We gather our own food.  He doesn't gather grass, and I don't hunt for meat."

"Uh-huh?"  Twilight nodded, aware of the habits of the Surprise household and wondering at where this was leading.

"Well... the last couple of days, I've been waking up to find he's picked grass for me.  I didn't think much of it at first... you see, the day before, Raydence saw me struggling with a certain patch of grass.  It turned out to be stronger than I expected, and didn't rip easily.  So when he woke up, I explained it to him.  And he said 'yeah, I understand'.  But the next day, he prepared more grass for me, and again today... it was starting to get on my nerves.

"And then I caught him dusting my bed."

Twilight cocked an eyebrow.  "Go on," she urged.

Surprise went on, all right, and as she went her voice raised.  "Well, I got... irritated.  He started giving me a lecture about breathing in dust, and how I wasn't taking care of my things.  I've been busy lately!  I couldn't help it if I don't have time!  And then he tried to say that I've been sleeping more, eating less, not doing as much exercise... and I snapped.  I told him I'm as fit as ever, I'm not some helpless pony who needs to be waited on!  I can take care of myself!  What am I, an old woman?"

No sooner had those words left Surprise's mouth, than Surprise made this look as if she'd been stabbed through the heart.  She placed her teacup down, her hooves seeming as if they only had enough strength to do that much before they completely slumped, and her face fell downwards.  Twilight could now not see Surprise's eyes, but somehow, she knew they were full of tears.  Twilight left her seat, came to the pegasus' side, close enough to hear her mumble, "I'm not getting old.  I'm not!"

How was she to approach this?  What could Twilight say, that wouldn't just make things worse?

Only one thing came to mind.

"Do you want to stay at my place tonight?"

The pegasus made a pair of quick, sobbing gasps.  Silence followed, and then she wiped her eyes and nose, clearing out the moisture.  Even despite that, Twilight could still tell the pegasus' eyes had teared when Surprise faced her, but Twilight pretended not to notice.

"Thank you," Surprise said, wiping her eyes one more time.  "But if I don't come home tonight... he'll probably think I got lost, and force me to carry a compass!"

Twilight chuckled, and a moment later Surprise joined her.

Then Surprise said, "But you know... Being old wouldn't be so bad if..."

Twilight allowed that sentence to hang unfinished, for as long as the pegasus wanted.

Surprise stood up, looking a little nervous. "I should get going.  Thanks for the tea."

Twilight stood in place, and considered saying something else to her pegasus pony friend, but by the time Surprise had gone out the door and galloped towards her little homestead, Twilight realized that stopping her would've been pointless anyway.  After all, what was there to say?  The events of that night played back through Twilight's mind.  And she realized, that what Surprise would have said, was ...if I had gotten to do everything I wanted.

Oh Surprise, Twilight thought, Age reversal is possible.  You've told me so yourself.  Don't give up!  You'll have a foal to call your own!  I believe in it!

"Miracle Romance!"  Twilight repeated that strange phrase, and chuckled at the meaninglessness of it.

Yes, Tonight had been a good night.