“Mm-hmm…” Stylo murmured.
Stylo was resting his head on his hoof, gazing longingly into the pair of lavender eyes across from him. He wasn’t bothered によって the noisy drone of the party, nor his terribly aching back. He currently had everything he needed.
“…Stylo?” Cloudchaser called, her expression faltering.
“Mmm… hmm? Oh! I, uh... what was the question?”
Cloudchaser softly giggled. He loved it when she did that.
---
Even after Stylo and Pinkie’s terrifying plunge to Ponyville, the party still managed to kick off without a hitch. Pinkie visited Twilight to have her spell renewed and promptly launched herself out of her own party cannon, breaking through the rec center ウォール roughly fifteen 分 after Stylo did. He requested they not raise a huge hubbub over his “daring rescue” – he didn’t want Pinkie blathering to all the pegasi that he almost got her - and himself - killed. She happily obliged, but only on the grounds that Stylo go hang out with Cloudchaser. She didn’t need to ask him twice.
Pinkie was standing over によって Trixie’s Mighty パンチ Bowl, eagerly watching her party guests and having a chat.
“Come now, Pinkie, why would あなた want to be a pegasus? Wouldn’t あなた rather be a unicorn?” Trixie began, filling Pinkie’s cup, “The magic, the culture, the power… I mean, コート Guy over there 発言しました it himself, unicorn magic makes pegasi useless! Come to think of it… why is he wearing that coat, anyway? Isn’t it July?” Trixie looked across the room at Stylo while levitating the cup over to Pinkie, causing her to miss Pinkie’s hoof and pop the cup straight into her mouth.
“He seems quite enamored with that ポニー across from him…” Trixie mused, “…Anyway, I won’t be staying for long. This party gives me a great chance to-“
“Bleugh flaagh!” Pinkie replied through the cup in her maw.
“Whoops!” Trixie sang and pulled the cup out. “What did あなた say?”
“Quack quack!”
“Oh. Right.” She stuffed the cup back in.
---
“So I nodded and said, ‘Those would be accurate observations.”
“Hah haaaaahh!” Cloudchaser clapped a hoof to her mouth, “You didn’t!”
“So then 虹 got upset and she told me all the pegasi had to be ‘on the ball’ and all that. I told her we should all just go home, and she was like, ‘I guess あなた need some incentive to get あなた working,’ and bwoosh! She snatches my book away in the blink of an eye.”
Cloudchaser was listening intently, eyes wide with anticipation.
“And I just ロスト it,” Stylo continued, throwing up his hooves and leaning back.
“Hah hah haaaah!” Cloudchaser choked.
“I was flailing my hooves around like ‘No! What are あなた doing! That’s my life you’re running away with!’ I was being really silly, though… if I had just apologized to her and told her I’d work harder, none of this would’ve happened. But… live and learn, あなた know…” Stylo trailed off.
He looked down at his hooves and nervously tapped them together. Cloudchaser looked away, watching the party guests.
She giggled and shook her head. “…You’re funny,” she 発言しました softly, still looking away, “...I like you, Stylo.”
Stylo’s ears perked up. “Heh…you… what…?”
Suddenly a loud voice came through the speaker system. Pinkie had hopped up on the stage at the back of the room and was “speaking” into the microphone.
“Alghfright, elfghrypoghdy!” she cried through the cup in her mouth. Hired DJ Vinyl Scratch quickly stepped over and magically pulled the cup out.
“It’s time for a little Karaoke-lokie!”
Cloudchaser stood up. “Oh! Let’s do it!”
Stylo followed suit. “Okay!”
He was fighting every brain cell he had with this decision. He hated parties. He hated singing. He hated getting up in front of other ponies. But he was willing to do anything if he could do it with Cloudchaser. He desperately hoped she never asked him rob a bank.
Cloudchaser led him によって the hoof through the hustle and bustle of the party. Ponies they passed quipped and cried out as they made their way to the stage.
“Woohoo!”
“Go Cloudchaser, yeah!”
“Knock ‘em dead, man!”
Stylo was reminded of his time in the cafeteria with Pinkie Pie. Entranced, he was shuffling along behind his shepherd as strangers flew by, headed to some unknown social destination. Except this time his back hurt and adrenaline was coursing through his veins.
As they waded through the crowd and approached the stage, Stylo noticed that Flitter was already there. “Get out of here, Flitter!” Stylo thought angrily, “I have to fulfill my destiny!”
Cloudchaser stepped up and spoke with Flitter. “Oh, did あなた want to sing?”
Flitter’s eyes widened. “Are あなた kidding? I haven’t sung any karaoke in weeks! I’m way overdue!”
Cloudchaser turned to her faithful sheep, “Sorry, Stylo, I don’t want to be a burden. Looks like you’re 歌う with Flitter!”
Stylo’s anxious eyes grew dim with despair. Oh no. Oh no no no no no. He did not just narrowly escape death to sing karaoke with Flitter.
Cloudchaser gave him a pat on the back (sending jolts of pain through him that he scarcely felt) and trotted back to her seat. Stylo tried to turn around and head back with her, but Flitter noticed his presence.
“Oh… you’re 歌う too?” Flitter’s enthusiasm drained as she imagined 歌う with this coat-wearing creep. She stepped over to him and stuffed the microphone in his hooves.
“All yours, pal,” she told him, giving him a quick shove up the steps and on to the stage.
Stylo was mortified. Flitter walked back into the crowd of ponies, who began cheering and shouting at his presence.
“WOO!”
“Come on, let’s hear it!”
“I like your mane!”
He tried to force a weak smile, but couldn’t. His legs were trembling. Sweat poured down his face. His brain was screaming at his body to simply run off the stage, but the judgmental eyes of the ポニー crowd kept his hooves glued in place. A little voice in the back of his head mused that he seemed もっと見る frightened of embarrassment than death.
He turned to his left and tried to signal to the DJ that he was unwilling. Vinyl raised a hoof, started the record, turned on the little lyrics monitor. The ponies cheered again as the 音楽 began playing. Stylo thought he might recognize the song, but was too terror-stricken to be sure. A catchy little melody played, followed によって a bouncy beat. The song was rapidly approaching the first verse – far too quickly for Stylo’s liking. He swallowed hard, examining his throat. He was in no condition to sing.
As the words appeared on screen and his time to shine began, he screwed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth, bracing for the livid booing that would soon fill the building. “Be gentle…” his whimpered in his head. He should’ve stayed in Ponyville.
The verse began.
“It’s 詩 in motion!”
Stylo opened his eyes. He didn’t sing that.
The crowd erupted in another cheer. He turned his head in surprise and confusion. Cloudchaser was standing right 次 to him, 歌う into the microphone he clutched so desperately. Her eyes were closed and she was bent forward, her mane gently swaying as she bounced to the beat. Stylo was almost convinced she was an angel.
“She turned her tender eyes to me!”
Her voice was like honey – dark, but smooth. She turned to him with eager eyes, as if to say, “Your turn!” Stylo almost laughed at the parallel between the lyrics and the situation.
Stylo recognized the song. He leaned フォワード, 前進, 楽しみにして and fearlessly sung the 次 line.
“As deep as any ocean!”
The crowd cheered again. Stylo continued.
“As sweet as any harmony…!”
He turned to Cloudchaser, who was grinning brightly. Stylo couldn’t help but smile, too. They sang the 次 line together.
“But she blinded me with Science!”
Stylo hunched over, adopting his best “scientist” voice.
“She BLINDED me… with SCIENCE!”
He heard laughter and cheers, but he might as well have been on another planet. For all he was concerned, he and Cloudchaser were the only ponies in existence.
“…And failed me in Biology, yeah!”
The remainder of the song passed によって in a blur, over much too soon. Ponies would tell him afterward that he was practically glowing up there, and seemed to be floating a few inches off the stage. Whether または not he flew involuntarily, he couldn’t say. The hug Cloudchaser gave him after the song, however, was forever burned in his memory cells.
