Ballpen

The courtyard was covered in a white sheet. A couple of days ago the pegasi had driven a snow cloud over the city, and now everywhere, besides the sidewalks and roads, there was a layer of snow about three inches thick.

And along the sides of the sidewalks, where the street cleaners raked it up, there was even more!

I trotted across the yard. I briefly grabbed the frame with telekinesis, tried to open the door – and lost concentration. The painting plopped down in the freshly fallen snow.

“What a hay!”

I quickly grabbed it from the snowdrift. Luckily I thought to wrap it in wrapping paper!

I knocked. The door immediately opened slightly, and a beige head stuck out.

“Hello, Stargaze! Yev'eni is in the trading room.”

Well, of course, where else would he be?

“Can you help?”

“Oh, sure, let's go,” the pony grabbed the packing rope with his teeth. I stamped my feet, shaking the snow off my hooves.

I saw Remy rinsing something of her bottles in the sink behind the door to the utility room. The mare paused, nodded at me pleasantly, and returned to her work.

“Hello, Stargaze!” Yev'eni looked at the frame with interest. - A new painting for the holiday?

I nodded. I unwound my scarf and took off my jacket.

“Will you help me hang it?”

“Give it here,” the human carefully picked up the paper with a stationery knife.

He looked at the canvas and clicked his tongue in admiration.

“Where to hang it?”

I walked away about five feet and thoughtfully looked around the corner we had allocated for my works.

“Let's go there, above the "Snowfall". Right there is a free mount.”

Yev'eni hung the picture and stepped back, standing close to me.

“You are talented,” he said.

This time I didn't even argue. Although his words still made my fur blush.

“What is this?”

I cast a critical glance at the houses, bathed in the soft light of the crystal, and the shimmer of the northern lights above them, reflected on the branches of the huge fir tree in the middle of the square.

“Well, of course, it's not to scale... Listen, if I drew the city and the Hearth Tree, observing the proportions, we would see it only with a magnifying glass! Consider it an artistic exaggeration!”

Yev'eni coughed.

“Ah. I won’t argue, but what’s in the picture?”

“Oops!” I turned to him. “Sorry, I got carried away, huh? This is a copy of a photograph. I saw it in a booklet about the Crystal Empire. When they celebrated Hearth's Day for the first time, Princess Cadence had her subjects decorate the fir. And Sunburst cast a spell on it that made the tree's branches glow the same color as the northern lights in the sky...

There was a low chuckle.

“Okay, Stargaze, tell me more later. Listen, don't you feel sorry about selling them?”

I shrugged.

“That’s why I paint. The works that I particularly like, I keep for myself or sell to a gallery. Well… sometimes. Okay, three times.”

Yev'eni nodded.

“Your works sell better than the stylomechs. Well, in terms of money, I mean.

“That's because it's the Eve of the Hearth. Yesterday, the stylomechs were selling very well - as many as forty pieces a day.”

“If only it came so every day,” the human muttered. “Okay, will you do the painting? We still have a dozen orders from yesterday. By the way, about your Hearth Eve, I have one…”

He didn't have time to finish.

The bell rang.

"The Stylomechs of Stargaze welcome you, gentlecolt!" Yev'eni raised his hand to his heart and bowed to the stallion who entered the shop.

Stallion responded with a ceremonious bow and shuffled his hooves, wiping away the melted snow.

“Hm, hm. Are you from that species of primates that has been written about a lot in the last two years? Humanlings, or what is the correct term?”

“A human, sir. And we sell human goods. Would you like to take a look?”

“Have a look? Have a look, yes… Actually, mister, I’m looking for something suitable for my three granddaughters as a Hearth’s Warming Day gift. Do you have anything suitable among your human things?”

A wide smile followed.

“You have come to the right place!”

I didn’t look any further and headed towards the exit.

I squeezed past Steel, who was threading pipes, brushed my tail against Remy, who was mixing chemicals for the refilling. I squeezed into my corner, staring at the photographs of the cutie marks, the backs covered in Yev 'eni's close handwriting. And my own notes.

So, blue background, pink mane, mark - a paper scroll... nothing complicated. I secured the stylomech, opened the jars, made a few strokes on the palette, estimating the color.

The work progressed, and soon I stopped listening to the earth ponies chattering among themselves. The brush glided over the wood, coating the sanded and primed blanks with enamel. One by one, I set the painted blanks aside to dry. The next day, I would write the owner's name on them with a calligraphy pen and give them to Remy or Steele to varnish.

Having finished with the coloring, I took up the stylomechs that had been drying since yesterday. This work was more difficult. One awkward movement - and the damaged inscription will have to be rubbed off, and then the enamel will have to be applied to the workpiece again!

The quill flickered over the wood. It was funny – we use quills to paint a device that was supposed to replace quills… I shook my head. I stared at the rounded wooden block on which I had almost written “Spar Rudy” instead of “Star Ruby.”

Pull yourself together, lazy pony! At the academy you could sleep three or four hours a day!

In general, we need to come up with something of template! Drawing the inscriptions takes a lot of time and effort. Cut out the names on a paper stencil in advance, and then just apply paint?

The letters flashed before my eyes, stubbornly blurring into snowflakes. It would be nice to really paint a few stylomechs with snow patterns, this would suit well on the Hearth’s Warming Eve… The snowflakes danced, not let my gaze to focus… I stretched out my hoof, trying to catch a dancing ice…

“Hey! Anypony! Squad didn’t notice the loss of a fighter, did it?”

I jumped up.

“Oh.”

Steel and Remy turned around in unison and stared at me.

Yev'eni shook his head.

“Listen,” he asked carefully. “When I went to bed, you were wandering in front of the easel. What time did you go to bed?”

I felt myself blushing again.

“Uh-uh... Well, I have not been long...”

Remy giggled into her hoof.”

“Good morning.

I playfully lashed her side with my tail.

“Okay, guys, stop! I'll wash up now and be as fresh as a daisy!”

“Stargaze,” Yev'eni clicked his tongue, “you need to go to the saleroom now. You know what? Go home and get some sleep.Э

I shook my mane angrily.

“Are you going to be on your feet two shifts without a break? No way! I said I'm fine! It's your own fault for overstay too long.”

“Are you sure?” Yev'eni looked at me thoughtfully.

“At the hundred and twenty!” I jumped off the chair and trotted into the utility room. Where I filled the sink with water and stuck my muzzle in it.

When I returned, the human was already throwing on his jacket. Fitting rather awkwardly, with the sleeves rolled up, it was obvious that it was sewn for a minotaur.

“Can you hold out until the end of your shift?” he asked.

“Get off!” I playfully nudged him in the side. “I just got carried away and sat at the easel for a couple of extra hours. Not the first time.”

“Which one do I remember?” the human drawled.

“Uh-uh... well... Well, that's enough! By the way, this is the call of my mark. It's not that easy to fight it, you know! And the money wouldn't hurt either.”

“That's true,” Yev'eni rubbed his forehead. “Okay, see you tonight. Maybe I'll drop by again.”

The cold shower helped for a short time - my thoughts were stubbornly confused. I yawned once, twice, shook my head, driving away sleep.

I gave myself an honest pony's word not to sit up late this evening.

Three or four more ponies dropped in. One was interested in a personalized stylomech, two bought regular ones. I dutifully accepted the money, trying my best not to embarrass the visitors with a yawn. The squirrels chirped sympathetically from their work stations.

The bell rang.

"The Stylomechs of Stargaze" welcome you...” don't yawn, don't yawn, don't yawn... Stop!

“Silver?!”

Pegasus smiled widely.

“Hello, Stargaze. So this is what your little business looks like?”

I looked at her, stunned.

“Hi, of course. And… how you…?”

The pegasus waved her wing in front of my face.

“Hey, Stargaze! Last Tuesday you told Mike and me about your business and gave us the address!”

I grabbed my head.

“What a hay, for sure! Sorry. I didn't get much sleep this morning...”

Silver snorted.

“Didn't get much sleep, you say? Let me guess, a night on your hooves in front of an easel?

I nodded sheepishly.

“I recognize Stargaze Winter,” my classmate chuckled. “Your habits haven’t changed since the academy.”

The door creaked, this time the inner one.

“Hello again... Oh, Silver, welcome to us.”

Yev'eni carefully placed on the counter the magic flask I had brought to the shop a couple of days ago. The runes on the sides of the flask glowed faintly, indicating that something had been placed in the vessel. The lid snapped off, and a cloud of hot steam rose into the air.

I took a greedy breath.

“Is this coffee?!”

“Exactly,” the human said with a satisfied look. “I made a detour to the coffee shop and asked them to pour me a cup in a thermos. Here’s a donut.”

The hot, tasteless coffee seemed to me like a gift from princesses.

“You saved me!”

Yev'eni blushed visibly.

“I have selfish motives. It won't reflect well on the establishment if the owner nods off right in the hall. Isn't that right, Silver?”

The pegasus didn't react. She hung flapping her wings in front of one of my landscapes, with snow-covered Ferrier Hill.

“How is this accomplished?” she asked.

I chuckled.

“Guess.”

“Ink? But the lines are too even... And for a pen, on the contrary, the shading of the transitions is too good... Stargaze, don't keep me in suspense!”

The bell rang again.

“Silver,” the pegasus exhaled, leaning tiredly against the wall. “I… phew. Barely found it. Good afternoon. Phew.”

My friend turned around.

“What happened, Mikey? You look like you flew from here to Canterlot!”

“Something like this...” the pony peeled himself off the wall. “Holy Celestia, I hate exercises. How my wings hurt...”

I pushed the second stool.

“Have a seat.”

Mike quickly plopped down on her.

“Exercises?” Yev’eni asked with interest.

Pegasus nodded wearily.

“Drills of a transport whirl. For the love of all things, why do I need it? I'm a supply officer, my job is to make sure the teams don't run out of bags, notebooks, and coffee in the duty room! But the regulations say that if you're on the weather team, you have to fly out to sea and drag a tornado from place to place! And when they ask us for a real hurricane, real weatherponies will fly out to make it, we're not some backwater where they put every wing into action! What kind of stupidity is this?”

Yev'eni raised his eyebrows.

“Tornado?”

“Yeah,” Mike carefully moved his wings and winced. “Well, a big cloud whirl. Like a rotating column between the cloud and the surface. They sometimes form on their own, if the hurricane is strong enough and there are no weather crews nearby. But we have learned to create them artificially and stabilize them to drag water from place to place.”

“I know what a tornado is, it's just... Dragging water?”

Pegasus nodded.

“You know, if you rely only on the clouds that bring to Equestria from oceans, there might not be enough water for rain exactly when and where it is needed. That's why Cloudsdale keeps a special water buffer in its storage facilities, from which it forms seed clouds for fronts, or simply regulates the moisture if the natural flows are suddenly overdried. This is all an open system, it has pressure surges, humidity surges, magothermal waves...”

Yev'eni shook his head.

“I knew you controlled the weather over Equestria with magic. But I didn't think it was that hard...”

Mike sighed very heavily.

“You're not еру only one. Most of the earths and unicorns - sorry, Stargaze, not about you personally - and let's face it, the pegasi too... In short, many pony think that the work of weather teams is just "cloud here, cloud there". And this, by the way, is a whole science! One mistake - and part of Equestria will remain without rainfall, and somewhere else there will be a flood.”

“I know how important your job is, Mike,” Silver patted the special pony on the shoulder with her wing. “Just… Guys, are we disturbing you?”

Yev'eni waved it off.

“It's quiet now. Our main visits are in the morning and evening, if on weekdays.”

Silver looked back at the drawing.

“Stargaze, so what is this?”

Instead of answering, I took out a demo sample and handed it to the pegasus.

“Try it!”

The artist drew several lines on the paper, changing the tilt and pressure. She looked at the result with interest.

“Interesting device! Stargaze, how does this thing work? You haven't even dipped it in ink...”

I began to briefly explain the structure of the stylomech to her. Silver listened with bated breath. She tried to make a small sketch on the same sheet.

“You know, my friend,” she said, patting my leg, “this could grow into a new genre in art.”

"We position this thing as a writing instrument," Yev'eni said. "Although... Of course, you can use it for drawing. Just keep in mind that the ink is unstable in open light; after six months to a year, the drawing will begin to fade."

Mike stood up with a groan. Silver looked over his shoulder.

“Interesting,” he agreed thoughtfully. He grabbed the stylomech with his teeth and also tried to write something.

"Be careful!" I warned. "The covering is fragile. You have to hold them with hoof-kinesis."

“Fragile?” Mike spat out the stylomech. He twisted it in his hooves, shook it. Tried to break it.

"Mike!" Silver exclaimed indignantly.

Ignoring her, the pegasus made several strokes on the sheet of paper.

"Mr. Komarov," he said in a businesslike tone. "How is this thing waterproof? Or resistant to sub-zero temperatures?"

He threw up his hands.

"Remy!" he called through the open door. "Can I see you for a minute?"

“Right now!” the pony responded. There was a clinking of glass, the sound of water. A blue head poked through the doorway.

“What's happened?”

Yev'eni repeated Mike's question.

Remy chuckled.

“Crystal violet is a waterproof thing in itself. If you mean waterproof ink, of course. As for waterproof stylomech – well, I don’t recommend keeping it under water anyway. Frost resistance – up to ten degrees, perhaps.”

“Can it write on wet paper?”

Remy and Yev'eni shook their heads in unison.

“The ink will flow.”

Yev'eni coughed.

“Why the question, Mr. Hoof?”

Pegasus looked at our three.

“Foreponies and accountants often complain that sharpening a pencil in flight is inconvenient, and besides, reports according to regulations must be filled in with ink. They spend a lot of time rewriting documents. With this thing, you could fill out a weather form right in the air… If only you could figure out how to hold it with your teeth. And so that you could write with it in the rain or frost.

Yev'eni shook his head.

“Well, teeth are the simplest thing. Some rubber case and that's the end of it. But as for water resistance...”

“And frost resistance,” Remy picked up. “Although, if we go back to oil bases... We can experiment, although what will come of it... We can increase the proportion of crystal violet in the recipe...”

Yev'eni scratched the back of his head.

“What if we add some tosol to the ink?”

The earth pony looked at him in bewilderment.

“Add what?”

“Tosol. Well, antifreeze. Non-freeze-liquid. Don't you use it?”

Remy closed her eyes.

“To be honest, I read something about such things back in college. Give me a couple of days to refresh my memories. I won't tell you now.”

Mike shook his head.

“How much is this thing?”

“Fifty-six gold.”

“I'll take it. I'll show it to the guys from the teams tomorrow, let's see what they say.”

Silver rose into the air and removed the landscape from the wall.

“And then I'll steal the painting from you. I'll drop in tomorrow to see some friends from the exhibitions and let them look at this thing. May I?”

I laughed.

“May? Guys, I don’t know how to thank you for your help!”

Pegasus smiled too.

“Well, that's the magic of friendship, isn't it? The princess says so.

Evening (no, night) Manehattan enveloped us in a snow cloud. Most of the ponies were already at home, and silence fell on the city. Disturbed only by the crunch of snow under hooves.

What means “silence”? Relative, Manehattan never went to sleep completely! From Hooflin came distant laughter and the hum of voices, the clatter of hooves and the rustle of taxi wheels on cleared asphalt. They just begun to replace old cobblestone pavement in our area this summer.

I yawned again. The coffee had long since worn off, and all I wanted was bed.

"Don't fall asleep while walking," Yev'eni warned me. "I can't carry you in my arms."

“Well, thank you!” I pretended to pout. “I already know that I'm fat!”

“What?! Stargaze, I didn't mean...”

I stole a glance at his puzzled face and, unable to keep, burst out laughing.

“You should see yourself now!”

He leaned forward decisively and pretended to swing a snowball.

“I'll get you now!”

“You can't, I have telekinesis!” here, of course, I bragged... However, Yev'eni believed me - the snowball flew into the sign instead of me. Quite accurately landing on the crossed scissors and comb depicted on it.

Our shadows danced in the lantern light, doubling and overlapping. The firefly lamps cast blurred reflections on the blue-silver snow cover. Their light mixed with the silver rays of the moon, and it seemed as if the night city had sunk deep under water. As if we were walking not through Manehattan, but through Seaquestria during the Storm War.

Oh, goodness, what an idea! Of course, I wasn't sure whether the streets of the sea ponies were like ours... but clearly they weren't! But I have the right to artistic convention, don't I? To depict the city as having sunk to the bottom of the sea, the city alleys as being overgrown with giant algae, and instead of star lights, to draw the lights of jellyfish and deep-sea fish... And to leave the streets and roofs covered in snow!

To puzzle the viewer – and to keep this magical atmosphere of underwater darkness and winter street…

I can’t wait to get home and immediately rush to my workplace while the image is still in front of my eyes!

“Stargaze!” the human's call interrupted me.

I twitched my ears.

“What? Sorry, I missed it.”

“No pictures at half past twelve at night.”

“What? How did you...”

Now Yev'eni laughed.

“You had a very thoughtful expression on your face, you looked at the city streets for ten minutes, looking through me, and then you quickened your pace. You always have that before you get stuck in the paint.”

I blushed.

“I'll just be for a minute...”

Yev'eni shook his head vigorously.

“I know your minutes.”

“Tyrant!”

“Yeah. And an alien occupier.”

The cold nipped at my nose. Candy canes, garlands and fir branches had already appeared here and there above the closed doors and dark windows of the shops. Wild clouds, missed by the pegasi, were running towards the moon, briefly covering it.

“And anyway, we need to come up with something about shifts,” the human said thoughtfully. - It's okay with me, not first time married, but at this rate you'll soon be eating up coffee by the liter, and we'll go broke.”

“Married?” I stared at him.

“Ugh. Don't pay attention, it's just a vulgar saying. It just came to mind.”

“A-a-a, I see... Listen, what's there to come up? There are two of us ponies for two shifts... I mean, two intelligent ones!”

“Oh, okay, I get it.”

“Well, that's it. And someone has to paint out the blanks! There's no other way. We can't afford to pay a second salespony. It's good that Steel and Remy help out sometimes.”

Yev'eni sighed.

“You'll get completely worked up.”

I waved my hoof.

“It’s nothing. I'm used to it. Before exams, I would sometimes not sleep for several days in a row.”

“She’s used to it,” he muttered. “It’s just a bad habit, you know.”

“You work no less yourself!”

“Yes, but I don’t sit at my paintings until half past four.”

“Okay, okay,” I interrupted myself, grabbing the door handle with my teeth.

Yev'eni followed my movement with his eyes thoughtfully.

“I’ve noticed this for a long time,” he said. “Stargaze, doesn’t this thing seem strange to you?”

I looked at him, then at the door. It was no different from any other.

“Which one is this?”

Yev'eni took hold of the handle.

“The door. Look. Don't you get the feeling that it was made for my fingers? It's really inconvenient to open it with your mouth, for that the handle had to be turned sideways and made thinner. And so with many things - from cups to your brashes. But they look exactly like in my world.”

“Well, I never really thought about it... Although listen. The hoof-kinetic field works better on irregularly shaped objects, everyone knows that. Besides, there are many species with fingers! Dragons, minotaurs, griffins, abyssinians, dogs...”

“But they seem to be rare among you?”

“Maybe rarely,” I closed the door. “But, apparently, it's easier than making separate things for each race. Well, anyway, it's been accepted for a long time.”

Yev'eni looked unconvinced, but didn't argue. We walked up the stairs, entered the apartment and plopped down on the couch without even turning on the light - we were both too tired. We just threw our jackets somewhere in the area of the human couch.

“Yev’eni,” I called out to him, overcoming my drowsiness.

“Ouch?” he yawned.

“Listen... I wanted to ask for forgiveness.”

“What was that for?” judging by his tone, even sleep had left him.

“I promised my family a year ago that I would spend the next Hearth’s Warming Day with them.”

“Uh-uh... As they say, “the question is clear, but what’s the problem?”

I sighed.

“I just… I just thought – what is it like to celebrate Hearth Day in a strange city alone…”

There was a short chuckle.

“I don't see any difficulties at all. I'll ask Phil and Michael to come and have a drink, or maybe just relax at home. I've never celebrated it, so I don't have anything to lose.”

I turned to him.

“Never celebrated Hearth's Warming Day? Oh, right, you... But you have a similar holiday! You said so!”

The human threw his hands behind his head. Judging by the silhouette, faintly visible in the light of the lanterns.

“How can I explain it to you... We have two holidays, Christmas and New Year. They are both very similar to your Hearth Day, they are even celebrated on almost the same day. But in our country it was not customary to celebrate Christmas for a long time, and everyone began to celebrate New Year instead. In other countries they celebrate Christmas, and it is closer in date to your holiday.”

"How strange," I drawled. "We have a New Year's Day, too, but it's simply the date of the founding of Equestria as a state and the moment of the date change. No special significance."

“Here you go.”

“But how do you celebrate your New Year? Is it similar to our holiday?”

“How do we celebrate? Well, we also put up and decorate a fir, you remember how surprised I was when I saw yours... We give each other gifts.”

“Just like us!”

“Yeah. We cook special dishes - usually a special salad, tangerines, herring under a fur coat...”

“Under a fur coat? Is that a dish too?”

“Yeah, it's a fish salad, that's just what it's called. Well, that's it. We gather around the table, turn on an old comedy about a man who drank too much and accidentally went to another city, and there he ended up in an apartment very similar to his own... Then we listen to a festive concert, and when midnight approaches, it is interrupted by the ruler's congratulations. Then exactly at midnight, when the clock strikes, we open a bottle of champagne and drink to a festive toast. Then we go outside, launch fireworks, make snowmen, play snowballs...”

“It must be so much fun,” I said dreamily. “I’d like to see your holiday someday.”

Yev'eni laughed.

“So what's the matter? Are you leaving for a long time?”

“For about three days.”

“Well then, let's do it! We'll celebrate just in time for your return!”

I jumped up on the sofa. Its springs creaked pitifully.

“Great idea! Yev'eni, you're a genius!”

He laughed again.

“So you're going to visit your family? They're somewhere nearby, right?”

“Yes, in New Haysey, it's a small village on the mainland. My father works as a mage-dowser in the mines near Hollow Shades, so he's not home for a long time. And my mother is a housewife.”

“I see,” Yev’eni muttered absently.

I hesitated. I gathered my courage.

“Look... I'm sorry if this question seems awkward. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.”

“I can’t even imagine what awkward you were going to ask me,” the human said, perplexed.

I turned around, settling myself more comfortably on the sofa, facing him.

“You know... You don't tell anything about your life on Earth. I understand that it's hard for you to think that you'll never see your friends and family again... But maybe it will be easier if you talk about it?”

Silence answered me. Yev'eni sat with his chin resting on his clasped hands.

“Sorry I asked,” I whispered.

"No," came the answer. "No. You're right, Stargaze. I have to let it go."

He also turned towards me, leaning his back against the corner of the backrest and armrest.

“Earth… I grew up in Moscow, it’s the capital of the country. I have a brother and a half-sister, both younger. I don’t remember my father – he and my mother split up when I was five. I moved away from them when I was twenty, I wanted to try living on my own. I rented a one-room apartment in the Moscow region… I studied to be a programmer, but in my third year I ran out of money and there was no chance of state-funded. And I had a feeling that it wasn’t my thing… You know, we don’t have marks like you – you have to try at random until you figure it out…”

"Not everypony gets a cutie mark in childhood here either," I muttered. "Usually between the ages of eight and twelve, but sometimes ponies spend a long time searching for themselves before they figure out what their talent is. Or how to interpret their cutie mark..."

Yev'eni nodded.

“My case, I guess. I got a job in a workshop, we were assembling and repairing locks - that's how I figured out how to fix yours. Then a year later I got a job in a trading company, they dealt with all sorts of stationery souvenirs. I worked there for a couple of years, sometimes I had to delve into all sorts of things - what we were selling, how it worked... That's where I found out about pens. No, we assembled them from ready-made parts, but I got carried away, started reading all sorts of things about sorts, about ink. And then I ended up with you - and remembered.”

He was silent.

“Listen,” I asked on impulse. “Did you have someone special on Earth?”

“Special?” Yev'eni asked, puzzled. “Oh, you mean, a girl?”

I nodded.

“Well, how can I tell you... There was one girl from the parallel group in the first year, but nothing serious worked out between us. Then... then after moving, I met Yulka at a club. We dated for about two years, but in the end we realized that it was stressing us out, and so... You know, we decided to take a break from each other.”

He coughed.

“Listen... Do you have someone in this regard...”

“A special pony?” now, apparently, it’s my turn to ask again.

“Yeah,” Yev’eni said.

“Well, something like that... I dated an earth pony from the editorial office, Fast Type. But he transferred to work in Fillydelphia. We tried a relationship by mailing, but you know... it turned out that it doesn't work,” I shrugged. “We talked during his last visit, and we both agreed that it was better not to tie each other down with obligations.”

“I see,” he cracked his fingers. He fell silent.

“You know, I really do feel better,” he suddenly said after a pause. “Perhaps it really had to be talking. And even then… Although,” he shuddered.

“You know, in a way... It's like I've moved to another country, from where I can't even send a letter or text. I tell myself that they're doing well there, even though I can't see them. Then I remember what was left back home in the bathroom...” he cut himself off abruptly.

“And then,” he exhaled after a minute of silence. “Soft Grit told me some things, then I asked Phil. Two years after my” he stopped, exhaled sharply through clenched teeth “death. Two years after that, a pandemic began. A new disease appeared. Millions died, according to official figures alone, and Philip said that some estimates go up to tens of millions.”

I felt an icy chill run through my skin. That's more than the entire population of Equestria!

“And then,” the human muttered almost inaudibly, “the war began. I don't know who was right, who was wrong... politicians, damn them... The first shots were fired while I was still alive, then everything seemed to calm down... And four years after I... well, the real big bloodshed began. It's crazy. And no one here knows how it ended. After a certain point, the dead just stop being drawn here. Mike said there's a theory that back on Earth... there's just no one left who would watch the show about you.”

I stood up and leaned forward.

“Stargaze? What are you...” Yev'eni stopped short when I wrapped my front legs around his neck. He shuddered.

A human hand slid uncertainly over my mane.

“What would I do without you?” he said in a low voice, continuing to stroke the back of my neck. “I would have gone crazy in the first few days, like those poor souls, I guess. Thank you.”

“Everything will be fine,” I promised quietly. Feeling the curls of my mane slide through his fingers. I closed my eyes and buried my muzzle in his shoulder.

Yev'eni winced. He gently but firmly pushed me away.

“What?..”

“We have to get up early tomorrow,” he said in a shaky voice. “Listen, just a little bit more and we’ll pass out on the couch.”

I blushed.

Thank the Sisters, my face can't be seen in such dim lighting.

Silly pony, who asked you to pry into the personal space of another species? You know that even in the culture of griffins and minotaurs, hugs are not given the same importance as in ours! Even a simple friendly hug can seem impolite!

“Are you sure it’s friendly?” a sneaky little voice whispered somewhere in the depths of my brain.

And this made me blush even more.

Enough, stupid pony! Thank Celestia that your thoughts are unknown to anyone!

This is all I need to completely knock Yev'eni off his stride! And it's so amazing that he's holding up so well after all that he's been through!

“S… sure,” I muttered. “Come on. It’s time to go to bed.”