When the sun goes down

I awoke slowly. There was noise coming from another room. A mare's soft voice accompanying it. With a grunt and a heave I failed to pull myself into my wheelchair. "Night? You there?" The music stops and Night Tussle walks in, he sees what I'm trying to do and assists me. With a heave he pulls me into my chair, I smile as I nestle in.

"What do you want to do?"

"Can we eat?"

"Sure!" With a chipper attitude evident he wheels me into the relatively large kitchen. "What do you want?"

"Anything you have."

"Ok, well, what about a sandwich?"

"Ok." With a nod Night Tussle set about to making a hay sandwich, with a smear of mayonnaise he hands me the sandwich and wheels me into the dining room, it is dominated by a table that is missing a chair on one end of it, he wheels me into that spot and sits down next to me. "Is it good?" I shrug and take a bite of the sandwich, I nod in affirmation to his question.

"Thank you, what next?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Sit and watch MV?"

"MV? I thought it was TV?"

"TV? no it's MV, magic vision."

"Ok." He smiles as I finish the sandwich and wheels me into the living room, he sets my onto the couch and turns the MV on, he walks back and sits next to me as the picture on the screen turns on, sadly, it's in black and white.

"This good? I love this movie." Night Tussle gets up for a moment and gets a bowl of popcorn, he returns and offers some to me, I gladly accept. The movie was an action romance mix, I preferred what little action there was and completely ignored the romance. "Do you like it?"

"Not as much as you seem to, I am not a big fan of romance and like the action."

He nods and turns the channel, this time it's color and shows a few royal guards explaining their equipment and tactics.
"This show good?" I nod.

"That one doesn't have his armor on right."

"Which one?"

"That one, right there." I point to the screen at the so-called 'armor expert' you know, the one who had his armor on wrong.

"How is it wrong?"

"One, he doesn't have his skullcap on, two, his straps, on the bottom of the armor there, they are too loose, three, his helmet is crooked."

"Wow, that's a good eye for gear you have there."

"I used to work with military equipment. You have to learn these things."

"Ok." With a note of finality we go back to silently watching, my face twitching whenever a mistake was made. "you okay? you're twitching a lot."

"Yes, I am fine." I am clearly lying.

"Come on! you can tell me."

"This show does everything wrong! They don't wear there armor properly! They don't use their weapons right! one of them even fell over!" I am angry by the end of my rant, Night Tussle is staring at me, wide eyed.

"That's, you, why are you so peeved?"

"Cause messing up stuff like this kills ponies!" Night Tussle looks sad at my statement.

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"It's fine." My eyes drift closed, I fall asleep, Night Tussle looking a little concerned.

An hour later Night Tussle shakes me awake. "Yes?"

"I'm so sorry about this, but I just got a letter from the guard, I have to leave you alone for a few days, so sorry."

"It's fine, when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. What do you want to do until then?"

"I don't know, I can't stand anymore MV."

"I can understand that, what do you want to do?"

"A lot of things, most of which I won't tell you, one of those things is have ice cream for the first time."

"You've never had ice cream before?"

"Nope, do you have any?"

"Buck yeah I have some." With an exaggerated spin he turns around and trots into the kitchen, he returns with a bowl of green ice cream with chocolate chips scattered about it. "Here." He hands me the bowl and a spoon, I take the bowl in my hoof and the spoon in magic. I take a large bite if the ice cream and swallow it, It tasted minty.

"What kind of ice cream is this?" I take another bite.

"Mint-chocolate chip." He smiles brightly. "You like it?" I nod my head and take another large bite, my head starts to hurt. I breathed in through my teeth, my hoof tapping my forehead. "Brain freeze?"

"my brain is freezing?"

"No, you're fine, it's just an expression."

"Ok." I take my hoof off as it fades. I hesitantly take another bite of the ice cream.

"Don't worry, it doesn't bite." He giggles a little, I nod and keep eating the ice cream. "So, do you have any family?"

"Yes, don't wanna talk about it."

"That's okay." He hops up on the couch next to me, he looks sleepy.

"You tired?" He nods. "Want to sleep here?" He shakes his head, he is about to get up when he falls asleep, his body falling on top of me. My eyes widen and I set my ice cream bowl on the floor. With a twist I move so I am no longer laying on my side but my back, His head is set on my chest, his cheek pressed against me. With a sigh of defeat I let Night Tussle lay on me. After a moment I fall asleep too.

I dreamt of steel.