Hang Up

You continue staring at the unicorn in disbelief. Here was a creature that was entirely fictional, sitting in your living room, talking to you, and criticizing your home.

At the very least, from the way she talks, you're pretty sure that the bum you killed pretty much had nothing to do with her. So that's a little less guilt to feel over it.

Eventually, you realize that she asked you a question, and was now staring at you, waiting for an answer. Still unsure about this whole situation, you briefly tell her your name, and that you found her outside, and so you brought her into your home. Not a complete lie.

She looks around, thoughtfully, before looking at you again. "Are you my father?"

This catches you off guard. You hastily think up an answer, and tell her that, while you're not technically her dad, you might as well be, now.

She nods in understanding. Then, her stomach grumbles a bit. She blushes slightly and oh god she's adorable. "Do you have any food?"

You say that you do, probably, and you go to the kitchen, the unicorn following. Inside the fridge are various leftovers that can barely be called food anymore, at least one thing that you weren't sure was food in the first place, and some pizza. Luckily, it was cheese, since you're pretty sure unicorns wouldn't eat meat.

Thankfully, the pizza was still recognizable, and didn't have any mold on it, so you got out a couple of plates, put two slices on them, then stuck them in the microwave.

The unicorn seems impressed by your ability to press buttons, but she doesn't say anything.

The pizza is reheated quickly, and you take it out and give the unicorn her plate, while you eat your own.

She starts trying to awkwardly eat it straight off the plate at first, something that is unbelievably cute, before she gives up and-

Wait why is her horn glowing.

As you watch, part intrigued and part horrified, her slice is covered in a light blue aura, and lifted off the plate, where she takes a bite from it. It seems like she doesn't care much for the pizza, but still eats it.

She sees you staring, and sets the pizza down. "What?"

Shakily, you ask about what she just did.

She looks at you like you just told her the floor is below her. "Have you never seen magic before?"

You tell her that, no, as a matter of fact, you have not.

She seems puzzled by this. "Really? You've never seen magic before?"

You confirm her question.

"Huh..." With that, she goes back to eating.

Now that the novelty has worn off, you go ahead and finish your slice, before something occurs to you. You ask the unicorn if she has a name.

She finishes chewing, then answers, dabbing a nearby paper towel at her mouth. "My name is Rarity."

Alright, she knows her name, at least. Saves you the trouble of coming up with one. You ask if she knows anything else about herself, like where she came from.

She thinks over your question, and frowns. "Strange, I can't seem to remember. All I know is my name, and how old I am."

You go ahead and ask about her age.

She smiles. "I'm eight!"

You ask her to clarify if she means in years.

Rarity nods. Well, you have no idea how that works in relation to human years, but it works.

Speaking of species differences, you ask about what exactly she is.

"I'm a pony, a unicorn, specifically." She looks at you. "Are there no other ponies around here?"

You tell her that, no, there aren't any ponies here. She seems a bit saddened by that, but goes ahead and keeps eating.

You run out of things to ask or talk about, so you go ahead and eat in silence. Once you're both done, you take the paper plates and throw them in the trash, which is almost overflowing.

You take a look at the clock, and realize that it's nearly 2 AM. And you're also dead tired. Even though Rarity just woke up, she seems to agree. You tell her that you should both get some sleep, and lead her to your bedroom.

You don't remember why you had two mattresses, but it's a bit convenient now. You take a spare pillow and blanket off your bed and place it on the other one. Hopefully she'll be able to ignore whatever the hell those stains on the other mattress are.

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to care, and she crawls into bed wordlessly. You get in your own bed, and are about to turn off the lamp, when you hear Rarity mumble something.

"Goodnight, Father..."

Your heart melts at that, and you bid her goodnight as you extinguish the light.

While she passes out quickly, though, you remain restless, despite how tired you are. The night's events keep getting replayed in your head, over and over:

The drive to the metro.

That first caved in skull.

The smashed face right after.

The blood.

Oh man, was there blood.

And the worst part?

It felt good.

It felt good to show those piece of shit mobsters exactly what you felt about them. Tonight's action gave you an adrenaline rush you had never felt before.

And it all started because of that one phone call. You had no idea where it came from, but you know that, for the time being, you'll listen to them a lot more.

However, then your mind goes over what happened after the metro, and it confuses you. You went from being a bloodthirsty killer one moment, to caring for a young mythical creature the next.

You look over at Rarity's sleeping form. Something about her makes you think that what you do is... wrong. Of course, she has no idea what you've done, and hopefully, she never will.

Eventually, you fall into a dreamless sleep, your mind still torn between two extremes.

April 8th, 1989

You and Rarity spent the next few days getting to know each other better. At her urging, you had told her a short version of your life story, and she gave you a brief explanation on how her magic worked, though she said that she didn't have much experience on the actual mechanics of it.

The apartment was becoming much cleaner, too, thanks to her pushing for you to get it done. It also helped you realize just how much of a slob you were being. You still couldn't cook, though, and neither could she, so you went out and got food a lot.

That was one thing that she protested early on: she couldn't go outside at all. You couldn't completely lie to her about it, so you told her that the world isn't completely nice, and you don't want her to get hurt. The almost stereotypical fatherly reasoning worked, though, and she never brought it up again.

Today, you had showed her how your Nintendo worked, and she was amazed at the games, even though you only had three of them, and you're pretty sure one of them was some cheap Chinese knockoff game.

You had gotten mail earlier today, some kind of thank you letter from a newsletter you don't remember subscribing to, called "50 Blessings". You just left it on the table, thinking it was junk mail.

As Rarity started getting the hang of playing video games, you heard the phone ring, and you got up to get it. You pick up the phone and answer the call.

"Hello, it's 'Linda'... I need a babysitter right away. Got a few kids that need to be disciplined here. I'm at East 7th Street. Make sure you have a long talk with them, I really need someone to get through to those rascals. And like last time... Please be discrete!"

The line clicks shut, and you simply stand in place. You had almost forgotten about that phone call almost a week ago, and it seems like they needed your service again. You were starting to feel perfectly content just spending time with Rarity, but when that call started, you felt... something stir within you.

Something that wanted some blood to be spilled.

Knowing you couldn't change your mind if you wanted to, you tell Rarity that you're going to get some pizza for dinner.

"Okay, see you later!"

You put on your letterman jacket and leave the apartment, making sure to lock it behind you. Your Delorean is waiting exactly where you parked it, and inside, your chicken mask was still in the glove box.

It was time to get to work.