Yes, here we go. I think this is where I left off.

It's the day after I was forced into the agreement to help out Tacosaurus with her problem. I wasn't able to talk to this Tanner guy yesterday because I had a lot of homework due today, but right now is my only break from classes for the day, and if I can't steel my nerves enough now, I won't be able to do it for at least another two days, and I don't want the problem to linger that long.

I know that Tanner is going to back to his dorm room the moment after he's out of class, having noted that habit the day I saw him in my first class, the day I got my cutie mark. It's as if he's hiding something… or just wants to be alone, despite establishing the record of a party guy the first day, when he broke my glasses.

I trot through the glass doors into the dorm main hall and look around a little bit before heading toward the fanfiction wing. I see Tacosaurus loitering near the drama wing's door, wearing another one of her sci-fi themed things. This time it's a backpack that looks like a familiar white robot from Star Wars. She gives me a sheepish grin and busies herself with intently reading off several stacked sheets of paper, presumably some sort of drama script.

I inhale deeply and let the breath out as a sigh, preparing myself for either the fight or talking out of such of my life. I push open the stairs door and ascend them until I reach the third floor.

You're insane, Radicool223. I tell myself, stalling before I have to enter the hallway. This is the absolute craziest thing you've ever done, and for someone you don't even know! I push my glasses up farther on my face and groan aloud. But Streak knows her, so it's okay. Besides, this guy can't possibly be that bad.

I finally tell myself to quit wasting time, and push open the door.

The walls of the hall are painted with a blank white color, and are made out of some sort of stone, like the kind you'd see in a generic middle school hallway. All of the doors are blue, each with their own different key lock. Every inhabitant of the room is given their own key to their room, so that nobody else is able to get in without them being either in the room or present to get them in.

I run through the door numbers as I walk down the hallway to find the one that Night told me is Tanner's. 302…303… 304…305. That's the one. I take another deep breath and knock on the door. Another pony besides Tanner answers it. He's a pegasus too, but he's considerably less bulky, and has a red coat with a brown mane. He glances at me earnestly, allowing me to infer that he's not as much of a jerk as his roommate, and also that his eyes are blue. "You're new," he says simply. "What's up?"

"I'm here to see Tanner, if he's in," I explain, trying to look past him, which isn't easy, since the door is only open a crack.

The pegasus looks back into the room. "Hey Tanner!"

"What?"

I'm surprised by the voice I hear coming out of the room. It doesn't sound a thing like the Tanner that I've encountered before. I mean sure, it's the same voice pitch, and same… well, it's pretty much the same thing, but used in a different tone. This one is less… I can't describe it well, but it seems like if I was reading a negative youtube comment with it, it might sound less offensive.

"Some guy's here to see you," the guy in the door replies. "His name's…" He glances at me to prompt me, and I hurriedly tell him my name. "Radicool223. You know him?"

"No idea who he is. What's he want?"

This time I don't wait for a prompt, and tell him my business quickly. "He says he wants to talk about some British chick."

That's not the exact words I used to describe it, but it seems to at least catch Tanner's attention. "British? Well, I like the accent well enough. Let him in."

The guy opens the door fully, and I walk into the room. My mind immediately goes to possible escape routes the moment he closes the door behind me, leaving the room. The only one that I can see is the window, and that's no good because it's three stories off the ground, and teleportation won't work because if I try to go downward I could potentially seal myself inside the earth.

Tanner himself is sitting on the bottom bunk of one of the two bunk beds, scribbling what looks like shorthand words into a notebook. I take a few steps forward to try to see what he's writing in it, but before I can, he quickly snaps it shut. "None of your business." He glares at me, standing up. "Why exactly do you want to talk about some British girl?"

I clear my throat and try to figure out a way to approach this tactfully. "Well, do you have any recollection of a unicorn with a British accent?"

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, a lot of 'em. Get more specific."

"This particular unicorn happens to have white fur."

"Still a lot to choose from."

"She has a blonde mane."

"Keep going."

"You got into an argument with her recently."

"Oh yeah, her." Tanner laughs harshly, grinning. "Man, she was mad, and over nothing at all." He rolls his eyes again. "I mean, who cares if I think Doctor Who is stupid?"

I simply nod along to his statements, trying to get him to keep going. It's a technique that I learned some psychologists use to get their patients to elaborate on their thoughts without too much interrogation. I feel a bit underhanded using this tactic in normal conversation, but it seems to be working so far.

"I probably should find her and settle that argument once and for all," Tanner muses, putting his notebook inside his pillowcase and making his way towards the door. "Thanks for the reminder, nerd."

I make a snap decision and take three steps that place me in between him and the door. "Yeah, about that–she kind of asked me to come here and ask you to leave the conversation alone–"

"Oh, so that's why you're here." The tan pegasus glares at me. "Because your little girlfriend told you to."

I frown. "Well, she's not my girlfriend, and she didn't tell me, she asked…" When the glower doesn't disappear, I grin sheepishly and fake a cough. "And that's not important, is it?"

I can sense the doors of communication begin to close again as he starts to push past me to get to the door, but then an idea comes to my mind. "If you won't do it because I asked, do it because both this girl and I are friends of Night Owl."

He freezes, and after a moment of silence, lets out a long groan. He turns back around to face me, and I can see the frustration in his face. "Seriously? Night's using that stupid thing again as blackmail?"

"Huh?" I'm confused for a moment, but then realize that this is the perfect way to get him to do what I came here for. "Uh, yeah. That thing. If you don't let that argument go–and don't leave me alone–she's going to tell everyone in the building about it."

"Just because she…" Tanner's sentence trails off into unintelligible muttering, much like Streak's sometimes do (though when she does it it's endearing), and he groans again, jabbing a hoof in my face. "Fine! You win, Radicool223! I'll leave you and that British girl alone, but only if you never talk to me again."

"Deal." Somehow I know that my end of the bargain is never going to get held up, but at least the current situation is defused.

"Now get out."

"Gladly."

I hastily leave the room, letting the door close shut behind me and lock me out. My pace is quicker than before as I trot down the hallway, through the door to the stairwell, down three flights of stairs, and out into the main lobby, where Tacosaurus is waiting patiently, her blue eyes bright with curiosity at the outcome of my mission.

"So, how did it go?" she asks earnestly, pushing a strand of her mane out of her eyes.

I take the moment to wipe the sweat I didn't know had appeared off my forehead as I say with the slightest hint of a smile, "He's not going to press the issue."

I'm immediately assaulted with a bone-crushing hug. Tacosaurus is now squeezing me tighter than I'm comfortable with, and the air is sucked out of my lungs by the sheer force of it. "Radicool223, you are the BEST! I could kiss you right now!"

I try to say what I normally would when given that line, which is, 'go ahead' (and has only worked once in my life), but the sound that ends up coming out is most accurately compared to a waterlogged kazoo. I can choke out a few words, though, and use them wisely. "Killing–me–"

She seems to hear this, because she releases me from my hug prison, grinning apologetically. "Sorrysorrysorry… Bit overenthusiastic?"

"There's the understatement of the year…" I mutter, stretching my back and popping the last few vertebrae that Tacosaurus' hug of death missed. "And you're welcome."

She smiles hugely, adjusting her glasses, which had been knocked awry by the hug. "I owe you big for this one." She gives me another, much lighter hug, but then jumps at a sudden vibration, backing away with a slight blush. "Er, is there something wrong with your bag, or is it just me?"

I glance skeptically down at my bag, which hasn't displayed any signs of unusual activity all day. It doesn't seem to have done anything, but I undo the zipper all the same, and realize what that vibration was: Night Owl's phone was resting at the part of the bag that Tacosaurus' hug pressed against herself, and it must've received a text message or email or something, making it vibrate. "Jumpy much?" I ask with a laugh, resealing my bag. "It's just a phone." However, the mention of the phone has reminded me that I should probably return it to its actual owner. "Uh, Tacosaurus? I've got to go. See you around!"

As I turn to leave, I hear her give a 'goodbye', and wave back over my shoulder as I enter the stairway once more and begin my climb to the fourth floor.

Whee, more things happening! Well, at least this chapter's twice as long as the last one. See you all next chapter!

Radicool223 out!