Something Halloween

It was her second week into her sleepless experiment and Twilight was still feeling fine. After a while she no longer found it strange how days blended into one another and with a bit of effort she could easily keep track of which weekday it was. It was working and, what was better, the flashes of light she had seen the first few days were gone. It had probably been just a temporary side effect as her brain adjusted to no sleep. Nothing to worry about! In fact, the mare was feeling rather pleased with herself as she sprawled across Anon's lap on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Thanks to all the extra time, she had done everything she wanted to by now, which meant the entirety of Sunday was just hers.

"We're doing something tomorrow. I don't know what yet, but we're doing it!" she announced.

"Okay, get back to me when you know," Anon quickly agreed.

"I know! Let's drive over to the seaside. You know, that place we took Silver Spoon and Rainbow Dash?"

Anonymous laughed at the idea. "Christ, Twiley, The water must be freezing!"

She growled irritably at the conclusion-jumping human. "Ugh, no, Anon. I don't wanna swim! Jeez. I just wanna sit on the beach and watch the waves for a bit."

"Okay?" he said expectantly, waiting for more. He knew her well enough to know that there would be more.

"Then we grab a pizza from that place on the docks, I forget the name. You know, we went the last time too. They make good pizza."

This finally got him thinking. "Okay, lunch at the seaside, I like, I like."

He still wasn't completely convinced, so Twilight brought out the ace under her wing. "If we dress warmly, we could go roofless, you know? It's a nice, sunny day out. It's very pleasant in the sun."

"Ooof, the wind chill will murder us, you crazy horse! Well, murder me, at least, no matter how much I dress warmly. We don't all have fur and feathers, you know?"

The mare laughed at the image of a furry-and-feathery human. "You're not listening to me, Anon," she complained, "I was thinking of taking the country road. Not gonna drive roofless on the highway in this weather! No amount of fur and feathers would help." She shivered just thinking about it. Yes the sun was nice and warm if the air was still, but going eighty miles per hour would probably kill them in this temperature. She didn't even need to look at the weather report to know it was chilly.

Anyway, it looked like Anon was essentially convinced, so she just gave him a bit of the old 'big-wet-eyes' routine to push him over the edge. She knew she had won when his fingers dug into her belly again.

"Okay, yeah, that does sound nice. Start about ten or something? That gives us time for a nice breakfast."

"Yeah, sounds good. So, let's say one hour watching the waves, two hours for lunch, driving on the old road, I guess we'll be home at about four?"

Rather than answering, Anon leaned down for a quick kiss. She knew it as the 'yes' it was.

"Good, good. Then, since I have the day off, which hasn't happened in like ever, I think I'll cook us dinner."

"Ooooh!" Anon almost sang out. "Now that's a special occasion!"

She just smiled and tried to keep her hooves from twitching as Anon scratched her belly. It didn't work, but she thought it looked undignified, so she tried anyway. The pleasure far outweighed the indignity, though.

"I'm gonna make us some pancakes for today, whatddya say?" Anon offered. It instantly got Twilight drooling.

"I say I love you."

He laughed and gently slid from under her. Twilight was sad to lose the belly-scratching, but she got the warm spot he left in the couch, so that was something. She stretched all four legs out and took a deep breath, since she couldn't yawn. It was getting dark and she looked out to the terrace to see how low the sun was. Twilight didn't need the exact time and this was easier than looking for her phone.

Her breath caught and she froze. There was a woman standing outside, looking at her through the sliding door.

"What the-?!" Twilight yelped and jumped upright. She misjudged where she was on the couch and her hoof landed on thin air, rather than cushion, which sent the mare tumbling to the floor. A painful bonk on her muzzle later, she managed to get her hooves under her and shot up. "ANON!" she yelled, oblivious to the pain.

There was a clatter in the kitchen as he dropped his pan and rushed over. He heard the fear and urgency in her voice and was running to come help. Twilight preemptively pointed a hoof at the terrace, but-

The lady was gone. She had probably ducked behind the wall when she saw the mare had spotted her! Twilight rushed over and yanked the door open with her magic just in time so she didn't smack in the glass. She jumped out and looked wildly around.

"What is it?!" Anon called, hurrying across the living room to follow the mare outside.

"Where are you?! Where did you go?" the mare demanded angrily. She wouldn't tolerate people peering in on her. The woman was probably some reporter or something, looking for a juicy story on the Equestrian diplomat and pony rights activist! Twilight would make it very clear that such behavior would not be tolerated in the slightest, just as soon as she found her.

Except - there was no one out there, just her and Anon.

"What?!" the man demanded again.

"I saw someone! A woman! She was looking in through the terrace door!"

Hearing that, Anon frowned in worry and started looking around as well. "Where could she have gone?!"

Twilight was frustrated. She ran to the railing at the edge and looked over. There were no balconies on that side, so if the woman jumped she would have to be on the street, probably dead. It was a minor relief that there was no body, but the mare ran along the edge, pausing every now and then to look. Maybe there was a rope or a ladder or something. Anon quickly understood what Twilight was thinking and started on the other side, peering over the iron railing and looking for any clues.

They met in the middle, both panting and worried. "Where the fuck did she go?" Twilight demanded.

She looked back to the house - maybe the woman had shimmied up onto their roof. There were no obvious foot- or handholds and no one in sight. Despite that, Twilight focused her magic and teleported up there. Other than a few chimneys and several air conditioning units, the roof was bare.

Growling a little under her breath, Twilight came to the edge so Anon wouldn't worry and called to him: "Anon! She's not up here!"

"Then I just don't know. She couldn't have gotten away in the five seconds it took you to come outside." He fell silent, then looked at the mare with fresh worry etched on his face. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?"

"I know what I saw!"

"Well, maybe it was like those lights? Maybe it just seemed like a woman? You were still upside down, weren't you?"

She was about to yell at the man for not believing her, but stopped herself just in time. Thinking about it, Anon made a certain kind of sense. Twilight deflated and hung her head while Anon walked over to stand directly below her.

"I dunno," she admitted. "Maybe."

"If you want, I can get a few cameras set up here just to make sure," the human suggested.

It wasn't a bad idea, come to think of it. Especially since she might really start getting paparazzi. "Actually, that's a good idea. Would you?"

Anon smiled in relief and held out his arms. "No problem. Jump, I'll catch you."

Twilight leaned her head to the side in confusion and barked a laugh. "I'll break your arms. I'll just teleport down."

"Nah, nah, it'll be fine. Come on."

Teleportation wasn't beyond her, even twice in a row, even on magic-deprived Earth, but Twilight guessed he meant it as a gesture. She turned around and hooked her forelegs on the roof, so she could lower herself a little. That brought her waist in reach for Anon to grab her and lower her the rest of the way. A compromise which worked well for both of them.

"I could have just teleported, you know? It's not hard."

He patted her mane and walked back inside, the mare following right on his heels. "I know, but this way I got to feel you up a little."

It made Twilight smile, because it was cute. When had she ever denied Anon a chance to 'feel her up'? "If you wanna feel me up some more, you can give me another massage later," she prompted.

The man snapped his fingers. "Perfect! I'll stuff you full of pancakes so you can't resist, then I'll carry you to the bathroom, stick you in a tub of hot water and grope you until you're begging me to stop."

The alicorn giggled in excited expectation. It sounded fun! She had to keep the joke going, though. "Ha! Like you'll even live long enough. It takes a lot of groping for me to not want any more!"

"We'll see," the human promised. "Let me get those pancakes done. Shout out if more scary ladies try to watch you, okay?"

She just stuck her tongue out at him and went back to the couch. Maybe it was just another of those weird flashes of light, Twilight thought. She hadn't seen them since the first couple of days, but maybe this was the evolution of that particular side effect. She had been so certain it was a woman, but Anon had a point. She was upside down and not paying particular attention. She only glimpsed the shape for a second before she fell off the couch. It could have been some misshapen blob which the mare had made into a woman inside her head.

Brains worked in mysterious ways, sometimes. She decided she would keep her eye out for more unexplained visuals. In addition, she would go and finally read through the reversal spell, just in case. She would need it anyway, it couldn't hurt to read it a few times beforehoof. Plan made, Twilight flopped down on the pillow once again and relaxed. She wondered if Anon could be persuaded to feed her, so she didn't have to move. He had already promised to carry her to the bath, after all.