Half the Day is Night, Chapter 5

Prologue ; Chapter 1 ; Chapter 2 ; Chapter 3 ; Chapter 4

     "It was truly the oddest thing!"  Rarity waved her horn, 

tucking a quick stitch into the collar of Rainbow Dash's blue 

satin jacket, the pegasus shifting her head back and forth to 

peer at herself in the full-length mirror Rarity had set up 

against the cabinets her unexpected visitor had taken the books 

from.  "Why shouldn't we let ponies know we were the ones who 

restored Princess Luna??"

     Twilight seemed a bit distracted.  "Ory Stargazer," she 

muttered, shaking her head, the reflection from her tiara 

spattering shards of light over the walls of the room.  

     But Applejack shrugged, fiddling a bit, Rarity couldn't 

help noticing, with the simple gabardine collar around her 

Element of Harmony necklace.  "Well, Princess Luna ain't done 

much to get on folks' good sides 'round here."

     Fluttershy's sigh didn't even rustle the lace of her 

collar.  "But Princess Luna is good!  Maybe she just isn't at 

her best with other ponies..."

     Pinkie heaved a much larger sigh.  "As my uncle Arbutus 

would say, 'I blame a tragic lack of parties.'"  She rolled over 

onto her back, Rarity happy to see that the skirt she'd designed 

followed the movement rather than snagging or tearing.  

"Fortunately, some of us are gonna be correcting that pretty 

darn quick!"

First Impression

Previously we had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Then the 10th Thursday Prompt from Poetigress was "new pet." And so--

     "It's demeaning is what it is," El Brujo was saying, 

huddled close to my thighs in an effort to keep out of the wind.  

"But why should I be surprised?  Dogs and crows haven't an ounce 

of propriety to share amongst either of their genera: 

it's common knowledge."

     I was concentrating on getting us back to the house.  Not 

that I expected rain from the big clouds skittering across the 

blue overhead, not around here at the end of April.  But the 

wind was blowing against us, and a guy in a wheelchair with a 

big black cat in his lap, that's not exactly an aerodynamic 

shape.

Red Rover, Red Rover

After 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, number 9 in Poetigress's weekly prompts was the word "red."

     As the fabled April showers start subsiding into the equally 

legendary May flowers, I get back into the swing of things, bundle 

myself up in the twilight after supper, and roll out into the 

neighborhood to see who's who and what's what.  I guess it's my 

version of spring fever.

     But the sweeter weather means that El Brujo'll join me more 

often than not--she takes her vocation as my nurse and personal 

physical therapist much more strongly when it's not raining, I've 

noticed.  And last night while most of the house headed up to Holy 

Thursday services, she and I sallied forth for our first Evening 

Cruise of the year.

Mortification

After 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, the next prompt from Poetigress was "betrayal."

     Spring's got a lot of good things about it, of course.  The 

way the weather sweetens up, for instance, means that those of us 

at the house who are still somewhat self-propelled can get out and 

around the neighborhood more often.  Exercise like that makes 

Donna and Eric, our physical therapists, happy, and anytime the 

PTs're smiling, we all smile.

     The thing is, though, nice weather means everyone in 

the neighborhood starts shifting around more, and when the human 

residents in their minivans and SUVs cross paths with the furry 

and feathery population, well, the technical term for that is 

'roadkill.'  And wheeling along the sidewalks this time of year, I 

start coming across more and more of it.

     Usually, though, I'll find crows picking at the carcass 

rather than being the carcass, so rounding the corner to 

see a crow lying on his back out in the middle of the street made 

me grab my rims and pull myself to a halt.  And even though I'd 

heard on the radio a while ago that humans in scientific tests 

have shown themselves unable to tell one crow from another, this 

one looked like Jefe, the big crow who'd been taunting El Brujo 

lately from the roof of the De La Vega's house next door.

Half the Day is Night, Chapter 4

Prologue ; Chapter 1 ; Chapter 2 ; Chapter 3

     "Where--?"  Twilight set her horn glowing, tried to look 

around, but the darkened space was so big, she couldn't see 

anything other than her friends standing in the puddle of light 

she was casting and craning their necks as well, the cart full 

of Rarity's luggage sitting half in shadow.  "Where are we?"

     A piece of the darkness moved, Princess Luna stepping into 

the light to smile down at her.  "Sister Celestia calls it the 

Night Palace."  She looked around, too, her smile becoming a 

frown.  "Nowhere near as nice as our old place, but I guess 

that's pretty much a ruin nowadays."  She sighed.  "I don't come 

here that often..."

Endless Possibilities

Previously, we had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then Poetigress's Thursday Prompt for April 7th was the word "stolen." So--

     Rolling down to the mailbox between rainstorms to send in my 

latest Publisher's Clearinghouse entry, I stopped for a breather 

like I usually do at the Ramsay's house on the corner at the 

bottom of what I call the hill even though I doubt anyone walking 

would even notice the incline.  And that meant Traveler came out 

to talk to me.  "Good afternoon, Mr. August," he said as formally 

as only a Doberman can.  "As the master and mistress aren't home, 

I hope you'll forgive me if I dispense with my usual barking and 

slathering."

     "Quite all right, Trav."  I peeled the velcro open on my 

gloves and readjusted them.  "I know you're just doing your job."

Half the Day is Night, Chapter 3

I'm doing so much writing, it's starting to back up! But here's the next chapter of my MLP novel! Before it, though, is the Prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

     "I don't like this, Twilight."  Spike poured tea into her 

cup, Twilight Sparkle watching through bleary eyes as he 

squeezed in exactly the right amount of lemon.  "Princess 

Celestia says she's passed all my questions on to Princess Luna, 

but I haven't got a single answer yet!  Not one!"

     Nodding, Twilight activated her horn and raised the cup to 

sip from it, Zecora's special blend just exactly what she needed 

to perk herself awake at five o'clock on a Monday morning after 

two of the most hectic days of her life.  But she'd gotten 

everything checked off her list: all Fluttershy's blankets had 

gotten unpacked, Rainbow Dash had made arrangements with the 

weather crew, Applejack had left at least 50 pages of 

instructions for her brother and sisters, Rarity had dropped a 

hissing box of Opalescence off at her parents' house after 

locking up her boutique, and Pinkie Pie had put together a 

Sunday night 'going away' party with a speech from the mayor and 

apple pie all around.

     Twilight took another sip of tea.  "I'm sure Princess 

Luna's made arrangements."

     A clatter from the library's front door, and Pinkie Pie 

came bouncing in, her panniers flapping against her flanks.  

"This is so exciting!  I mean, I didn't even know there was a 

five o'clock in the morning!"

Dawn

Earlier chapters of all this include 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. And as long as I'm posting stuff, this week's Prompt from Poetigress was the word "sisters."

     Voices woke me just about dawn, and not the usual grousing of 

my housemates about who should or shouldn't be in the bathroom at 

whatever time it happens to be.  No, this was El Brujo talking, 

something quite unusual for that early.  "--not as crunchy this 

year," she was saying.

     "True, that," came a rough voice.  "When you gotta eat 

eggshell just to get roughage, I mean, shouldn't bones be plenty?"

     "Roughage?"  El Brujo gave a raspy little cat laugh.  "You 

worried you're not geting enough fiber, chica?"

     The other voice laughed, too, more than a bit of cawing in 

it: a crow, I realized, but not Jefe, the big crow who'd been 

showing up more often lately.  I flopped around so I could face 

the window and saw El Brujo across the way stretched out easily on 

the De la Vega's roof, a crow that I might almost call petite 

perched beside her.  This crow flapped a wing against El Brujo's 

shoulder and said, "Regular's important, Gata.  Us birds, we know 

that more than anybody."

Pony of a Different Color

They're having an April Foals' Day Contest over at Equestria Daily, and this is my entry!

     Steeling herself, Fluttershy stopped in front of Sugarcube 

Corner.  "I'm sorry, Rarity," she said, pushing the words out 

when her friend paused to take a breath in the middle of another 

funny story about her cat, "but I just have to stop off here for 

a moment."

     "Here?"  Rarity arched an eyebrow at the bakery's door.  

"On April Fools' Day?  With Pinkie Pie inside?"

     Fluttershy forced a chuckle past the nervous clench in her 

throat.  "Oh, now, Rarity.  You know Pinkie always takes April 

Fools' Day off.  It's for amateur jokers, she says, not 

professionals like her."

     "I know what she says."  Rarity turned and marched to the 

opposite side of the street.  "However, I believe I'll wait out 

here, if you don't mind."