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- >"Are you sure this is okay?"
- >No.
- >The only word that can cross your mind this early in the morning.
- >Heartbeat woke you up a few days ago in the middle of the night, pestering you about a sleepover.
- >Just to make her shut up and go back to whatever it is she does around your house during the night, you said she could invite one friend over.
- "Yeah, it's fine."
- >One batp0ny mare and her little filly stand in your doorway.
- >The stars and the moon light up the sky.
- >You check your watch in an attempt to find out what time you were awoken by the bane of your existence.
- >Two in the morning.
- >At least you don't have to work in the morning.
- >"Okay then, good luck mister Anon."
- >The mare starts to trot off, leaving her child on your doorstep.
- >You look down at her, those big blue eyes catching your own.
- "Come on in and make yourself at home."
- >She rushes between your legs, drops her saddlebags, and darts upstairs with a screech.
- >Her screeches are soon accompanied by those of Heartbeat.
- >You shudder violently as you close your front door.
- >It's too early for this nonsense.
- >A yawn parts your lips as you walk upstairs and into Heartbeat's room.
- "Alright, here are the rules. I want both of you to be as quiet as possible for the next four hours. I'll make your dinner at six, you'll be in bed by seven."
- >They ignore you as you speak.
- >You raise your brow and start scratching your chest.
- "Heartbeat, what'd I just say?"
- >She scoffs, tips her head back, and stares at you.
- >"Quiet for four hours, dinner at six, bed at seven. I'm not a kid, Anon! I can take care of myself!"
- >She is, in fact, a child.
- >She and Sirocca are the same age, eight years old, and go to the same school.
- >You don't exactly recall how you and Heartbeat met, and came to live together.
- >The only thing you do know, is that Sirocca was an orphan, knew Heartbeat nearly her entire life, and was eventually adopted by some batp0ny mare.
- >None of them have ever mentioned Heartbeat's origin, whether or not she lived in the orphanage with Sirocca, or why she came to live with you.
- >She sort of adopted you when she started sneaking around your house one night.
- >You couldn't complain, after all.
- >She is a good kid.
- "Whatever. I'm going back to sleep, try not to burn the house down."
- >"Okay!"
- >With a roll of your eyes, you leave the room and head back downstairs to your couch.
- >Almost instantly, you fall asleep as your head hits the cushion.
- >Shrill screams wake you, a blinding light flashing just across the room.
- >Wiping the sleep from your eyes, you sit up and groan.
- >Two little fillies sit in front of the television, watching an old vhs tape.
- >You aren't sure what they're watching, most likely from your brain refusing to boot up from lack of rest.
- "What are you two doing?"
- >"Watching cartoons."
- "It's..."
- >You glance at the grandfather clock that stands beside the television.
- "Two-thirty in the morning. You really couldn't have waited until dinner-time?"
- >Sirocca and Heartbeat shake their heads and turn back to the television.
- >Forget it, there is absolutely no way you're going to be able to sleep now.
- >You get up and walk over to the little fillies.
- >They stare at you briefly before looking at each other.
- >"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Heartbeat?"
- >"Yes."
- "No."
- >They latch to your arms and start screeching at you.
- "I said no!"
- >You start shaking and waving your arms, trying to get the fillies off of you.
- >They hold on as tight as they can, and despite your best efforts, you fail.
- >Filly cannot be removed.
- >You slump down on the couch and sigh.
- "Fine."
- >Both fillies screech simultaneously and fly upstairs as fast as they can.
- >Minutes later, they return with a large bag of markers, crayons, and pastels.
- >So it begins.
- >The skin on your face stretches as the fillies drag crayons over your face.
- >The wet ink from the markers stains your skin as they color around your eyes and on your lips.
- >The pastels smear over your cheeks as they try to apply a blush color to them.
- >You always refused to buy Heartbeat any kind of make-up.
- >And this kind of mess was a very good reason why.
- >They applied absolutely no foundation, their blush is blotchy, the eye-shadow is uneven, and your marker lipstick is smeared.
- >Looking in the mirror that they hold up to your face, you groan.
- >You look like some kind of woman who relies on hard substance to get through the day.
- >Or much like a very sad clown.
- >There is little difference in those metaphors, though.
- >"Do you like it, mister Anon?"
- "No."
- >Sirocca's mouth opens slightly as she gasps.
- >Tears well up in her eyes.
- >Please don't.
- >Heartbeat starts patting her on the back as they hug, Sirocca's waterworks starting to flow.
- >Rectify the situation, Anon.
- "I don't like it. I... love it?"
- >Sirocca pushes Heartbeat off of your lap and hugs you around the neck.
- >Heartbeat falls onto the couch with a soft "oomph."
- >The grandfather clock reads three in the morning.
- >Time just does not want to speed up right now.
- >"What's next, Sirocca?"
- >The little pale purple filly hums softly and tilts her head as she thinks.
- >"I don't know, what do you want to do?"
- >Heartbeat rubs a hoof on her temple and hums.
- >"I don't know, what do you want to do?"
- >They repeat this scenario several times, before you finally get up.
- >You briefly pick Heartbeat up and rub her side all over your face in an attempt to remove the "make-up" from your face.
- >It does not work.
- >She and Sirocca continue their "conversation" as you toss her back onto the couch and start to go upstairs.
- >The joyless life of a single father is the life you chose.
- >You will look for respite in any form possible.
- >Which is why you went upstairs and crawled under your bed.
- >They will never find you here.
- >"Hi Anon!"
- >With a deep inhale and exhale, you sigh loudly.
- "Hello, Sirocca."
- >"Heartbeat! I found him!"
- >"Where was he?!"
- >"Under his bed!"
- >Heartbeat's head pokes underneath your bed.
- >"Wow, Anon! You're really good at this game!"
- >You didn't even know they were playing hide and seek.
- >You just wanted some time to yourself.
- >"It took us an hour just to find you."
- >That would mean that it is currently four in the morning.
- >You must have dozed off for a little while without realizing it.
- >"Okay, Anon! We'll hide, you seek!"
- >No.
- >This is the perfect opportunity for them to go hide somewhere while you go to sleep.
- "Sure thing, I'll try to find you as soon as I can!"
- >You smile softly as they both crawl out from under the bed.
- >The quieting of their giggles tells you that they've run off somewhere else in the house to hide.
- >You crawl out from under the bed and look out into the hallway.
- >No sign of them.
- >Finally, some peace and quiet.
- >You leap onto your bed and snuggle into its plush comforters.
- >It's like sleeping on a cloud.
- >You grab a pillow and bury your face into it, smiling at how quiet everything is.
- >That is, until you hear a soft squeak.
- >As you scan the darkness of your room, you fluff the pillow up, which causes it to squeak.
- "Dear powers that be, I never bought squeaking pillows."
- >You reach into the pillowcase and extract one small gray and pink filly.
- >"Wow, Anon! You're good at this!"
- >No, shut up, it isn't play time!
- >"Come on, you have to find Sirocca now!"
- "Fine."
- >As you climb out of bed, you decide it would be best to start on this floor.
- >Maybe Heartbeat's bedroom?
- >Your search upstairs is fruitless.
- >It was an enormous waste of half an hour.
- >And now you were going to waste even more time downstairs.
- >As you descend the stairs, you turn the corner and walk into the living-room.
- >You look over at the curtains draped over one of the windows.
- >Between then, a puffy purple tail reveals itself.
- >She's not very good at hiding.
- >You walk over and part the curtains.
- >Instead of a little filly tumbling off of the window sill, a purple feather duster falls to the floor.
- >You swear it looked exactly like her tail a minute ago.
- "Where is she?"
- >"I don't know. I wouldn't tell you anyway! That's not part of the game!"
- >Yeah, this is gonna take a while.
- >You actually really suck at thinking of good hiding places, so you'll never find her.
- >As you turn from the window, you notice two pale purple ears sticking out of a pile of pillows on your couch.
- >This is another trick, you can just feel it.
- >Yet, as you approach and topple the pillows over, Sirocca reveals herself.
- "Can I go back to sleep now, or is there something else you're planning?"
- >The fillies embrace each other and start whispering in one another's ear.
- >After a few minutes, they finally look up at you and grin.
- >"Nope, you can go to sleep!"
- >They dart up to Heartbeat's room as you start to massage your head.
- >Following them upstairs, you head to your room instead of Heartbeat's.
- >You don't even try to land on your bed in any reasonable position
- >You just throw your body where ever it will land.
- >As soon as your eyes close, they open once more.
- >The small clock on your bedside table glistens in the moonlight.
- >You barely make out its hands.
- >Five thirty in the morning.
- "Only an hour of sleep? Come on..."
- >You sigh and roll out of bed.
- >No point in trying to sleep for another half hour, you'll only have to get up again to make the fillies something to eat.
- >Bones pop and muscles ache as you crawl out of bed.
- >Might as well see what those fillies are up to.
- >You walk down the hallway and into Heartbeat's room.
- >The two little fillies lay on the floor, crayons and markers scattered between them as they color in some of Heartbeat's coloring books.
- >They look up at you as you sit beside them.
- >"Hi, Anon!"
- >Sirocca waves at you.
- "Is this all you've been doing for the past hour?"
- >Heartbeat nods as she drags an orange crayon across a picture of the moon.
- "Why are you coloring the moon orange?"
- >"It's the Harvest Moon!"
- >You don't know jack about the moon.
- >"Wanna color with us?"
- >Sirocca holds a crayon up to you.
- >As you take it from her, Heartbeat nudges a coloring book toward you.
- >She already has it open to a picture of a mango tree.
- >You look at the crayon.
- >It is blue.
- >You may not know a lot about mango trees, but you're pretty sure they aren't blue.
- "Can I have a green crayon?"
- >"No. You have to be creative with your coloring, Anon!"
- >Creative.
- >With a blue crayon.
- >On a mango tree.
- >Okay, Heartbeat, that totally makes sense.
- >You lay down on your stomach with the coloring book in front of you.
- >Both fillies judgmentally stare at you as you start to color the trunk of the tree blue.
- >Their murmurs of approval and a red crayon being passed to you show that you're "doing it right."
- >Light starts to pour through the window as the sun rises.
- >You should probably start getting their dinner ready.
- >Sirocca's tummy grumbles softly as she drops her crayon.
- >Heartbeat stares at her and drops her crayon too.
- >Both of their mouths are agape, almost in utter shock of what just happened.
- >You aren't quite sure yourself.
- >Sirocca's face scrunches up as her tummy growls a little louder.
- "Are you two getting hungry?"
- >They nod and quickly latch themselves onto your back.
- >Anonymous Transportation Service, now departing.
- >You stand up and take the two fillies down into the kitchen.
- >They climb up your back and peek over your shoulders as you gather ingredients for their dinner.
- >"Can we have ice cream for dinner?"
- "No."
- >You throw some sliced mangos, apples, and bananas in a frying pan.
- >As the fruits sizzle in their juices, you turn to the fridge.
- "What do you want to drink?"
- >"Blood!"
- >"Me too!"
- >Upon opening the fridge, you discover that you only have one cup's worth of blood left.
- >Neither of their fangs are sharp enough to pierce your skin, and you don't have the equipment to safely draw blood from yourself.
- >Heartbeat mentioned ice cream for dinner.
- "How about fruit smoothies instead?"
- >They both screech in your ears and start zipping around the room with an excitement that only exists in those two little fillies.
- >With a sigh, you throw all of the necessary ingredients for smoothies into a blender.
- >You return to the frying fruits and move them around so they don't burn.
- >You flick the blender on, so it starts mixing all of the ingredients together, quickly turning them into a drinkable substance made solely of fruit, ice, and yogurt.
- >With one hand, you pour the smoothies into a few glasses.
- >With the other, you dump portions of the fried fruit into bowls.
- >As you admire your work, you realize you truly are the number one chef in all of Equestria.
- >Heartbeat and Sirocca bounce in their seats as you present them with their meals.
- >Retrieving your own bowl and glass, you notice both fillies have drained their glasses and licked their bowls clean before you've even sat down.
- "Couldn't have waited for me, huh?"
- >They shake their heads and start giggling hyper-actively.
- >Just as you take the first sip of your smoothie, Heartbeat yawns.
- >This causes Sirocca to yawn, too.
- "Ready for bed?"
- >They hum in agreement and look up at you with sleepy eyes.
- "Alright. Come on."
- >You pick them both up and venture into the foyer, where Sirocca's bags have sat nearly the entire morning.
- >But, looking around, you noticed they're gone.
- "Where'd you put your bags, Sirocca?"
- >"I took them upstairs while you were asleep. They're by Heartbeat's bed."
- >You nod and turn back to the stairs, ascending them as you head to Heartbeat's room.
- >Both fillies hop out of your arms.
- >Sirocca digs into her bags and pulls out a onesie.
- >Heartbeat pulls her own out of her closet.
- >They hold them up to you, and you sigh.
- "Okay, okay."
- >You take Sirocca's onesie and unzip it.
- >She sticks her hind hooves into it as you take her front hooves and feed them into the pajamas.
- >Her wings unfurl into their covers and her tail sticks out of a small hole in the back.
- >You repeat the process with Heartbeat, and as soon as she's snug in her onesie, both fillies jump onto Heartbeat's bed.
- >You pull the covers over them and tuck them in.
- >"Will you tell us a bat-time story?"
- >A bat-time story.
- >That's cute.
- >You get up and close the blinds on the room's window.
- "Which one do you want to hear?"
- >"Tell us the one about Nightmare Moon and her guards and Princess Celestia!"
- >"Yeah! The one about how Hollow Shades was founded and bat-p0nies came to be!"
- "I don't think I know that one."
- >You sit down on the side of the bed.
- >"Can you make one up?"
- "Well. Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal pony sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land."
- >Heartbeat glares at you.
- >Sirocca folds her arms and rolls her eyes.
- >"Anon, we've heard this one a million times! Everyp0ny's heard it, and it's boring!"
- "Good, maybe if I keep going you'll fall asleep sooner."
- >They glance at each other very briefly and start kicking the blankets off of them.
- "Please don't do that."
- >"You have incurred our wrath, mister Anon!"
- >"Time for you to pay the price!"
- >They jump out of bed and launch themselves onto your face.
- >Maybe if they were a little bit larger, they would have knocked you off of the bed.
- >Maybe they would have given you a concussion.
- >Unfortunately for you, your dreams do not come true.
- >They giggle loudly as they push against each other and wrestle on top of you.
- >Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll smother you with their onesies.
- >You have never been a lucky man, though.
- >Their giggles slow and soften as they stop wrestling on top of you.
- >Soft kee's sound as they begin to snore, their dreams finally embracing them.
- >With victory comes sacrifice.
- >You feel your pancreas kill itself, and type twelve diabetes set in.
- >You aren't even sure if there is a type twelve, but that's what you're going with.
- >The fillies nestle into the crooks of your arms as you pick them up and put them back in bed.
- >You look down at them as you tuck the covers against their bodies.
- >This would be the perfect time for the universe to bless you with some early morning existential thoughts.
- >It would be better to stew on anything the universe blesses you with over a hot cup of coffee and a view of the sunrise.
- >With a quick trek downstairs and into the kitchen, you quickly brew a pot of the good stuff.
- >And just as the sky's color changes from its deep purples to its pinks, you retire to the living room.
- >You sit in your favorite recliner and look out at the mountains as the sun starts to peek over them.
- >Sipping at your coffee, you smile to yourself as the sun paints Hollow Shades in a brilliant light.
- "I am a slave to a little batfilly in a world filled with colorful, magic, talking horses."
- >You slouch in the chair as you take another sip.
- "Could be worse, though."
- >One more sip and you sigh softly.
- "I could be alone."
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