We leave the spa in single file. According to Noh’s pocket watch it’s almost quarter-to-seven. We’ve got over an hour before karaoke night, little over fifteen minutes before play practice. I remind Noh about work and he hastily agrees, then gallops to the nearest phone booth. We wait for him at the bus stop. It’s not due for another five minutes so we let him take his time while we talk.

Pearl starts us off, “So do we have a back-up in case Noh can’t make it?”

“What’s wrong with karaoke?” Stitches asks.

“Nothing,” Pearl admits. “I just don’t think we should do it without him.”

“Besides,” Patches adds, “if Noguki can’t make it, neither can Timber.”

Pearl and Stitches simultaneously remember that I work at the same theater as Noh. “Well…” Pearl tries hard to come up with something, but anything without me doesn’t really count as a birthday activity does it?

“Guys,” I come in, “I’ll still be free anyway. They don’t really need me at the theater.”

“Of course they do,” Pearl insists. It’s sweet that she’s trying to make me feel important, but frivolous.

“At the very least,” I combat, “they can get along for one more night.”

They’re silent, since they know they can’t argue with me. Then Patches surprised me, “I think you should go back to work though.” I almost laugh at Pearl and Stitches’ reaction; flabbergasted. “What? I just think it might be good for him to get back into things. Sooner, rather than later.”

Pearl contemplates for a second. Stitches tags in first, though. “She’s got a point, actually,” he states. “My teacher once gave me a scenario with a patient recovering from trauma and explained that the best path to recovery was to attempt again the thing that caused the accident.” He pauses, and looks at my slightly confused face. “The patient was a rodeo pony and was trampled by a bull. The point was that he’d never get back into rodeo if he didn’t jump back in right away, he was at risk of depression, PTSD, stuff like that. He was put back into the ring with the same bull, and even though it frightened him he came out on top. Now he’s a very decorated competitor. That wouldn’t have happened if he had hesitated. He might never have gotten back into rodeo.”

I flash back to a swim meet during high school. I don’t have a lot of memories of swimming, being the only one of my few friends who enjoyed it. I wasn’t very good anyway, but I did have some skill diving. During the swim meet, the lead diver hit his head on the board. There wasn’t much blood, but the meet was cancelled. The diver was rushed to the hospital, but made it back to the pool within a week. He told me he couldn’t let one accident ruin his career.

“I even came up with a saying I go by: ‘Always fight back with the bull that kicks you,’ or something like that. It’s meant to inspire ponies to go back and do what scared them away.” Stitches smiles at me.

“See?” Patches urges. “I told you it was a good idea.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I comply.

“But what if they don’t have to go back?” Pearl questions.

I raise my eyebrows comically, as if this was a very valid point. It was, but I still played as if I didn’t intend to take any of them seriously.

Stitches laughs. “If nothing changes, then you can always go back tomorrow. But, seriously? The sooner the better.”

“Right,” I nod. “Thank you.”

We all turn to check on Noh just as he hangs up. He gallops back over to us with dread on his face. “Curtain Call says I need to get back. We’re doing the love song today.” He raises an eyebrow at me. I smile appreciatively, glad that it made him think of me.

“But wait,” a thought comes, “that’s out of order.” We weren’t anywhere near the intermission last time.

Noh shrugs, “He said they wanted to do a scene that didn’t need too many ponies today. I mentioned we were spending time together today, and he said if you wanted to take some more time that he’d be OK with it.”

I smile, “That’s nice, but I think I ought to go back.” I wink at Stitches, who nods back.

Noh smiles. “All right, if you don’t want to sing karaoke.”

“Well, I do,” I admit, “but that can wait for another day. Some day we can all go together.”

He scoffs. “Well, we’ve got a few more minutes. Should we get some dinner?”

“Sounds good,” Pearl inputs. “But something quick.”

“There’s lots of venders on Bridleway, we can get some pretzels.”

“Ok,” Pearl ponders a second. “But why would we go to Bridleway?”

“Don’t you want to?”

“Well sure…” Pearl begins.

Stitches finishes, “Are we even allowed to?” It’s just a street, I think.

“Sure,” Noh assures, talking about the theater. “Ponies don’t really know that, but a theater will almost always allow visitors in to watch a rehearsal. We don’t tell a whole lot of ponies, because they tend to be distracting, but you’re allowed as long as you stay quiet.”

“Wow,” Stitches gapes. “I’d like to do that, if that’s all right.” He looks at the girls for approval.

Patches just nods approvingly. Pearl agrees, “Sounds fun.”

“Ok, but seriously, you gotta be quiet,” Noguki warns. “Like, don’t even sneeze.”

“Yikes.” I had been quiet up until then, acting like I already knew as much as him, but that requirement seemed so extreme I had to comment. “What’ll they do if they’re distracting?”

“Nothing extreme, just kick you out. There was one group we accepted that apologized so profusely that Call gave them one more chance.”

“Wow,” I gape, along with Stitches.

Noh laughs. “Now, rehearsal can tend to run pretty long. If you get bored, or just need to get going I wouldn’t bother letting us know.”

“Right,” Patches agrees. “Leave you behind, no problem.”

We all laugh. Then the bus comes rattling to a stop. “Everypony on the trolley,” Pearl commands. We comply, coughing up one coin each like last time. Again, we’re mostly all quiet, and just like last time, Noh’s humming the mare’s part of his love song. I laugh silently at him, then sit back, wanting to just listen. Unfortunately it reminds me of something I wanted to ask, “So when exactly did you want to start with the singing lessons?”

He smiles at me. Is he going to mention the bet? I remember that his deal for winning was getting me every weekend. I mentally beg him not to bring up the bet. “Well, we’re both free most weekends right?”

My brain sighs. I nod.

“Right, so how about Sundays? We could meet up around ten o’clock, practice a few hours, have lunch and call it a day?”

It seems like a good enough plan, though I had another idea. “I was thinking more like getting lunch first, then meeting up afterward or sometime later. Practice until rehearsal that night.” I was under the impression we were meeting at the theater, so we’d be there anyway.

“That would make for a rather long lesson, don’t you think?”

I shrug. “Maybe we could meet for dinner instead? Maybe around five o’clock?”

“Perhaps, though you should know that most singers tend to have some issues singing right after they’ve eaten.”

I smirk, “You know as well as I that it depends on what they eat and how recently.”

He smiles like I passed his test. “You got me there. So, I think that works!”

“Works for me,” I agree. “So, tomorrow?”

“I’ll see you then.” We bump hooves just as the carriage rumbles to a stop.

We follow the crowd off the bus, get our pretzels and eat them rather quickly, as Noh instructs everypony they can’t have food inside the theater. When we get inside, we’re a few minutes late and Noh breaks off right away to get ready. I point my friends toward the seats, letting them know the way to the higher seats if they wanted. Then I made my way to the stage. I showed myself to Curtain Call, who seemed a little shocked that I decided to show up. I let him know my friends were there, and took a second to find them in the auditorium. They waved when I found them in the balcony. I waved back.

“That’s fine,” he said. “Just as long as they don’t distract the actors.”

“Of course,” I insist.

He turns and shouts toward the stage, “Where’s Noh?”

Noh’s already running on stage, “I’m here! I’m here…” He’s taking deep breaths as he takes his position next to the impatient-looking mare.

“What’d you do to your hair?” Call sounds more disappointed than angry, which I’m noticeably relieved about. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. From the top!”

I grin at Noh, but he doesn’t see. He’s pulling off the loving gaze flawlessly while his counterpart recites her lines.

The rest of the night was pretty much the same. The few actors that showed up learned and practiced songs and rehearsed their lines. We took a break and director Call went over his notes so far, reminding Noh not to be late again. He was a little harsh, but Noh understood and agreed. I felt like he was going to bring up Noh’s mane-cut again but he never did.

At some point I looked up at just the right moment to see Pearl and the others getting up to leave. The time was around 10:30, so it seemed fair that they wanted to call it a night. Stitches waved and I waved back. That was the last I’d seen of them that night.

After rehearsal Noh gave me another hug, and so did his sister Kabuki. She asked how I was feeling and I assured her I was feeling fine. We said our goodbyes and went our different ways.

When I got home, I felt a nagging sensation pull on the back of my head. Eventually I pulled out the small rectangular box from under my bed. Thoughts went to war in my head. Where’d she get this? Why? Should I use it? Should I even keep it? How do I use it? Why?

Things like that. Eventually I just slid it back under my bed and forgot about it. Then I saw my new panties lying on my new pillow and smiled. I was honestly shocked that day, discovering how much I enjoyed wearing them. I briefly thought about wearing them again, then decided against it. I didn’t want to wear them out before somepony special got a chance to see me in them.

I put them away in my nightstand drawer, underneath stacks of paper. Then I crawl onto my bed and wrap my hooves around my new pillow. It was as long as my body and dangerously fluffy. I stuffed my muzzle into it and smelled the smell of new pillow for the first time in a long time. It was stuffed with ostrich down, which could not have been cheap. The sky-blue case it was in had a thread count of 500, made entirely of satin. I thought about scolding Pearl for spending so much on a pillow, but thought better of it. I was just happy to have it, and I was going to love cuddling with it every night.

With my face in the soft fabric I was almost lost to the dreamscape. I only barely remembered to get back up and get my whole day written down. Now that it’s all done, I think the sun’s about to come up. I better get some sleep before another day starts.