//------------------------------// // Friendly Chat // Story: Sweet Affection 2: Friends and Romance // by Masterob //------------------------------// The following day, Tender Taps is seen trotting towards the Friendship Castle, very eager to see Starlight again, the mare who made him her little brother. Though despite that, Tender Taps did wonder what exactly made their friendship sibling-like. Granted he did like the idea of having an older sister, and despite how friendly the two were to each other, he felt like something was missing. As he wondered about that, he was soon joined by Sweetie Belle and Rumble, both also on their way to Twilight's castle. "Hey Tender Taps, ready to see Starlight again?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I could also ask you, after all you're the one that's gonna practice magic with her," Tender Taps reminded. "Yeah, I wonder what she has planned for me?" Sweetie Belle wondered. She started grinning at the possibilities, "I bet it's something great." "I hope so," Rumble said. "Maybe she'll feel more confident as a teacher, plus I'm sure Twilight would like to see her achieve that as well." "You still have a good reason to see Starlight Tender Taps, she did make you her little brother after all," Sweetie Belle said. Tender Taps looked unsure, "That's something I've been thinking about actually. What do brothers and sisters do?" "Well..." Sweetie Belle started, then paused a moment. "Um, not too sure, my sister and I like to do fashion stuff together, but I'm not sure either of you do stuff like that." "Me and my older brother like to fly around, but neither of you two can fly...well Starlight can but she uses magic, which you can't do," Rumble said. "What about you and Flitter? Or Cloudchaser? They're like your older sisters," Tender Taps said. "Flitter is a motherly type sister, that might be a little different. Cloudchaser also likes to fly around with me so once again, same problem," Rumble explained. "I guess it's about what you both have in common," Sweetie Belle said. "But what do you have in common?" "What we have in common? Um..." Tender Taps thought hard about it, trying to figure out what he knows about Starlight, though as he did so, he realized something a bit troubling. "Actually, I don't know that much about her." "True, none of us know much about her, we just know she came from some village where she wanted ponies to be equals," Sweetie Belle said. "She tried making friends with all of Twilight's friends, but that didn't work out so well. Probably why I never really got a chance to know her." "This is a good opportunity then," Rumble said. "We can all be friends with Starlight." "Right, anyway let's hurry, we don't wanna keep Starlight waiting, and I'm sure the others will be there soon," Tender Taps said. Sweetie Belle let out a slight groan, "Right, the others. I sure can't wait for them to tell me to stop being all lovey-dovey with my coltfriend." "Don't let that stop you, I think it's cute," Tender Taps said. "Maybe they should get coltfriends of their own, keep their minds off of Rumble," Sweetie Belle complained. "Part of me feels like they're jealous, especially Scootaloo." "Why Scootaloo?" Rumble asked. "She used to have a crush on you remember? I know she's ok with us dating but sometimes I wonder if she's really ok with it or somewhat bitter over everything still," Sweetie Belle said. "I'm sure she's over me by now, she's your friend, she won't let something like that cause problems," Rumble said. "Besides if she's gonna be bitter about anything it'll be the fact that you did kinda get her hopes up about dating Rumble only for you to decide you want him for yourself," Tender Taps reminded. Moments later he found himself under Sweetie Belle's angry glare as well as a pitiful glare from Rumble. "What?" "Weren't you the one telling Apple Bloom to forget about the plan!? And telling Scootaloo to move on!?" Sweetie Belle asked. Tender Taps blushed a little, "Right, I probably shouldn't have said it like that." Sweetie Belle huffed, "I even asked Rumble, he didn't like Scootaloo that way and he already had a crush on me, all I did was return his feelings, the ones he already had for me." "I do feel bad, I wish I knew sooner that Scootaloo liked me, of course I don't think I would have made her my marefriend but it would have been easier if I told her so she didn't feel like Sweetie Belle tricked her, not saying she did but that could have gone better," Rumble said. "I'm sure she's over it, if she wasn't, she probably wouldn't have kissed me," Tender Taps said. "That was almost right after she found out about me and Rumble, I really don't think that counts too much," Sweetie Belle said. "Still, maybe you and Scootaloo can try to be a couple, I'm sure that will make her happy," Rumble said. "The problem is that Apple Bloom probably likes me too, I wanna make sure I know which one to pick," Tender Taps said. "Sweetie Belle, you're their best friend, who should I date? Should I just wait for one to ask?" Sweetie Belle shrugged a bit, "I can't pick between them, I think both are good for you. I've been telling Apple Bloom to confess her feelings for you because I think you two can get along so great. She helped you out big time with your Cutie Mark and I know you two like to practice dancing. But Scootaloo also seems like a good choice, in a way you're both very active ponies, and something about you brings out Scootaloo's more sensitive side," Sweetie Belle said. Tender Taps sighed and turned to the colt beside him, "What do you think I should do Rumble? Which one should I be dating?" "Date both," Rumble plainly said. Tender Taps looked unsure, "Both? What do you mean both?" "Yeah Rumble, what do you mean both!?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking a bit annoyed. Rumble looked away nervously, hoping to avoid his marefriend's angry gaze. "What I mean is try dating both, and whoever looks more fun to be around, that's who your marefriend should be." "Oh...good idea!" Tender Taps said. "For a moment, I thought you suggested I have two marefriends." "My brother tried that once, those mares were not happy," Rumble said. Sweetie Belle maintained her angry glare, "I hope you don't get those kind of funny ideas." Rumble shook his head nervously, "You're more than enough for me Sweetie Belle, no other mare has my attention. You're my sweet little Princess." "Yes, you're only sweet little Princess," Sweetie Belle reminded. Tender Taps felt a little awkward being around this, fortunately he noticed the castle up ahead. "There it is, let's hurry!" The three foals rushed toward the castle, knocking once they arrived at the front door. The door opened a few moments later, the three foals were greeted by Starlight. "Oh good, you three are here as well." "As well? Did the others come too?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yes, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo arrived a few minutes ago," Starlight explained. "They're waiting inside." "Cool, lets go guys," Sweetie Belle said, leading the two foals inside. As the foals went in, Tender Taps was suddenly pulled into a hug by Starlight. "Oh, Starlight, hehe, this is a nice surprise," Tender Taps said nervously. "Yeah, I wanted to be more like a sister, so I figured this was the best way to do so," Starlight explained. Sweetie Belle chuckled a little, "That's cute, but try not to force it, otherwise it won't work." "Not sure, Flitter likes to hug me with almost no warning, maybe that is the correct thing to do," Rumble said. "Still, don't do things just because you think that's how it should be done, just do it out of love," Sweetie Belle said. "Right, out of love, I'll try that," Starlight said. Tender Taps chuckled a bit nervously as Starlight released the hug. "I really appreciate that hug though. Anyway let's go meet with the others, I'm sure they're waiting." As they walked to the other room, they saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sitting out, looking a bit bored. "Girls, your friends are here," Starlight said, gesturing to the three foals. Just like that, the foals leapt to their hooves in excitement. "Finally, we've been waiting forever!" Scootaloo said. "It hasn't been that long Scootaloo, don't over exaggerate," Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo rolled her eyes, "Still, we're all here at least." "Actually," Rumble started saying, "Dinky isn't here yet." "She should be here soon, hopefully," Starlight said, turning towards the door. Not too long later, there was a knock on the door. "Oh, think that might be here?" Apple Bloom asked. "Possibly, I'll go get it," Starlight said, making her way to the door. She opened it and saw Dinky waiting on the other side, though she looked a little displeased. "Oh, hello Dinky, um is something troubling you?" Starlight asked. Dinky shook her head, "It's nothing, don't worry about it." "Alright, if you say so," Starlight said, not totally convinced. "The others are waiting in the other room, let's get going." "Sure," Dinky said, following Starlight. The two entered the next room where the other foals were sitting. Rumble was the first to notice Dinky and acknowledge her. "Hey Dinky, you made it!" Dinky furrowed her eyebrows a bit at the young Pegasus, causing him some confusion. "Um, Dinky? What's wrong?" "Nothing..." Dinky said, walking over to take a seat. Starlight again felt there was something a little unusual with the Unicorn filly. "Anyway time for us to get started on today's lesson. I looked through some of Twilight's books and found some great ideas for other spells I can teach you." "Any good ones for a battle?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Maybe we can help save the world like our sisters." Starlight shook her head, "I still don't think it would be a good idea for me to teach you something like that just yet." Sweetie Belle groaned, "Come on...suppose another monster shows up? Or if Chrysalis comes back! Or Discord!" "Discord?" Rumble said. "He's on our side, didn't he help Starlight, Trixie and Thorax before?" "I still don't trust him, he's Chaos after all," Sweetie Belle said. "Come on now, Discord isn't that bad, he's really nice once you get to know him," Starlight said. "Anyway you don't need to worry about that right now, besides I don't think Rarity would like it if I taught you how to magic to fight with." Sweetie Belle groaned, "Fine, whatever you say Starlight." Scootaloo shook her head in disappointment, "Too bad, would have been a little more entertaining to watch." "Scootaloo there are other things you may do, you don't need to stay and watch if you don't feel like doing so," Starlight reminded. "But if I don't, Sweetie Belle will complain," Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle glared slightly, "Don't let me keep you here, you can leave if you want, I still have Rumble." "Actually Sweetie Belle," Rumble said. "I was hoping I could take this time to talk with Tender Taps, if you're ok with that at least." Sweetie Belle looked almost surprised, "You wanna talk with Tender Taps? Is it about what we talked about on the way here?" "Sorta, I just need to ask him some stuff, and I'm sure he would like to ask me as well," Rumble said. Sweetie Belle focused on Tender Taps, "Is that true? Do you need to talk to him about some stuff?" Tender Taps shrugged, "I guess, though if you want him to stay then that's fine." "No that's fine, I think it's nice that you would be helping each other," Sweetie Belle said. Rumble nodded and turned to Tender Taps, gesturing him to follow, "Well let's get going then." Tender Taps nodded and followed Rumble to the other room, leaving the others a little confused. "Um, what do they need to talk about?" Apple Bloom asked. "I think he wants to know about dating and stuff, but I think it's good to just let them be on their own, it's good for Rumble to spend time with another colt. They can talk about more...boyish stuff," Sweetie Belle said. "What boyish stuff? You said yourself they're not that boyish, even I know more boyish stuff than they do," Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle glared slightly, "Don't bring up that old stuff, I changed my mind about what I said, Rumble is very much like a colt. He's just a little more sensitive, but he's plenty boyish and I'm sure Tender Taps is too." "Let's not use terms like 'boyish', Rumble and Tender Taps are just ponies like us, they have their own interests that doesn't necessarily have to do with whether they're boys or girls," Starlight reminded. Dinky spoke up, "Besides, Scootaloo, Rumble has many boyish qualities, he just never really showed them because he wasn't that confident in himself. Though that changed quickly once he started dating Sweetie Belle," Dinky then muttered, "Even if she's the only one on his mind these days." Starlight sighed a little, "Come on, let's get back to what we were gonna do, as for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, you may do whatever you please, just try not to cause too much trouble." The two fillies groaned at that, does everypony think they cause trouble. In the other room, Rumble is sitting on a couch, right next to Tender Taps. "Ok, so talk with me a bit, what exactly do you want to know?" "For one, how do you know when you like somepony?" Tender Taps asked. "When you like them?" Rumble asked. "Yeah, how do you know if it's just a crush or actual love?" Tender Taps asked. "From my personal experience, it starts off as a crush before it becomes romantic," Rumble said. "I wasn't in love with Sweetie Belle the moment I saw her, I just found her cute, and the more I've seen of her, the more I wanted to be around her. I didn't feel like I really started to love her until I started dating her." "So, it's better to just try dating them and finding out then?" Tender Taps asked. "Yeah, it's that simple, especially for you. I mean I know you're deciding if you like Apple Bloom or Scootaloo, and it's pretty obvious they're interested in you, so I say take a chance and ask both out. From there decide who's a better marefriend and try to make it work," Rumble said. "I don't know, I don't think I have it in me to really ask either of them out," Tender Taps said. "Don't give me that, I know I couldn't ask out Sweetie Belle as well as I would have liked, but that was mainly because I barely knew her, and I really didn't feel confident enough. You know both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and you're much more confident than I am," Rumble said. "I'm not that confident, remember what I said once, I was too shy to dance in front of others," Tender Taps said. "But you got over that, so you can do this too. Plus I know you were the one trying to tell Apple Bloom that me and Sweetie Belle should have stayed dating, so you can be assertive when you want. If the situation was reversed I don't think I could have done that," Rumble realized something. "I don't think I really got to thank you for that though." "Thank me?" Tender Taps asked. "For what? I barely did anything." "You tried to, Sweetie Belle told me how you basically nudged her towards me, even if it meant hurting Scootaloo. Truthfully I wish I knew Scootaloo liked me, even if I didn't like her back, I don't ever wanna see her that sad. I should have been the one to tell her that I didn't like her that way, even if it would have hurt anyway, she needed to hear it from me." "Maybe you and Scootaloo can talk sometime, I think it still bothers her a bit," Tender Taps said. "Well she seems ok now, and there are times I feel like she's relieved because now she doesn't have to be all sappy," Rumble said. "That's just her trying to sound tough, please talk to her when you can," Tender Taps asked of Rumble, getting a nod from the Pegasus. "I will, hopefully I can fix things. Still the fact that I didn't even notice seems so...bad. I bet you would have noticed, how are you so good at this stuff?" Rumble asked. "It's nothing really that special," Tender Taps said. "I just noticed, that's all." "I was really stuck on my crush with Sweetie Belle, it's like I could barely even see what was around me," Rumble said. "Well like you said, you had your crush on Sweetie Belle," Tender Taps reminded. Rumble shook his head, "That's not really a good reason, I mean Sweetie Belle said you had a crush on Apple Bloom, but you always noticed everything else." "There wasn't much for me to notice, Scootaloo didn't start to like me until I first talked to her, even now I sometimes wonder if she really likes me or just wants to have a coltfriend, which is why I need to really think about my choice," Tender Taps explained. "Well I think Scootaloo can really like you. You're really cool and mature Tender Taps, I think you make a great coltfriend to anypony who'd want to date you," Rumble said. Tender Taps blushed from hearing that, "No, you're better, you have a more energetic attitude and when you really like somepony, you're always so great at showing it." "You just need that chance, I'll help you with that, and I'm sure Sweetie Belle will too," Rumble insisted. "Maybe we can both help each other," Tender Taps suggested. Rumble nodded, "I'd like that, anyway let's get back to the other room, I wanna be there for Sweetie Belle." "Yeah, I'm sure Dinky would like you to be there as well," Tender Taps said, then thought of something. "Do you think Dinky likes me like that?" Rumble shrugged, "I don't think so really, if she did, she would have told me. She was the one who helped me realize that I had a crush on Sweetie Belle, and she always let me know if she thought a colt was cute so she's more open than I am. Granted she never admitted to liking any other colt I still think she would have told me." "Right, just making sure," Tender Taps said. He wanted to mention that Dinky flirted with him once, but he couldn't really bring himself to let her best friend know that, plus she hasn't done that since so no reason mention it, she probably doesn't remember doing so anyway. "Let's hurry, I wanna see how well your 'big sister' is teaching the fillies," Rumble said. "Big sister?" Tender Taps remembered Starlight. "Oh right...Hey how do I be a good little brother though?" "Just be there for her, but like Sweetie Belle said, try not to force it, otherwise it's just awkward," Rumble said. "Right, don't force it...still why does she want me as a little brother?" Tender Taps wondered. "She probably wants her own 'Spike' someday, that could be you," Rumble said. "Spike? Wait what does he even do again?" Tender Taps asked. Rumble was about to answer, but got stuck. "Actually, I don't really know, he's supposed to be her assistant but sometimes it feels like he's just there, he also seems kinda lazy. Plus he seems to be a bit of a pain from what Sweetie Belle says. Even though he's a little sibling himself, he doesn't really like being around us, he doesn't wanna be associated with little kids, even though he's a kid himself, just a few years older." "Well considering he's used to having friends that are mares that are more grown, that's to be expected. I think he relates more to ponies like Twilight, Rarity and Starlight than he could to use," Tender Taps said. "Plus he's a big hero at The Crystal Empire from what I've heard." "Maybe if you become Starlight's assistant, you can save an Empire too," Rumble said. "Huh!? Me? Save an Empire?" Tender Taps asked in disbelief. He quickly shook his head, "I'm not brave enough to do that! I was too scared to even dance in front of a crowd!" Rumble laughed a bit, "Relax, just a joke, besides I think you have it in you to be a hero." "Now you're just being nice," Tender Taps said, following the Pegasus out of the room. Elsewhere at the Changeling Hive, Twilight and her friends are seen talking with the Changeling King, Thorax. "Looks like things have gone much better for you lately," Twilight said. "The Changelings really adjusted." "Yeah, we're still getting used to certain things, and it seems like some of them actually miss Chrysalis," Thorax said. "Why would they miss her? She's terrible!" Rainbow Dash said. "She was an awful Queen, but she technically is like our mother, she raised us from when we hatched. Kinda wish she chose to join us," Thorax said. "Maybe there's a chance, I mean if Discord can join our side, I think Chrysalis can too," Twilight said. "Unless she's like King Sombra and totally evil with no chance of her ever joining our side," Rainbow Dash said bluntly, then noticing how annoyed her friends looked. "What?" "Well besides that, we're still trying to find our place in Equestria, we hope our Kingdom can be good friends with yours," Thorax said. "I think there's a chance, Ponies and Changelings being best of friends, sounds exciting," Twilight said. "Right you are Twilight," Rarity said. "Plus thanks to Ember, the Dragons are starting to get friendlier with ponies as well." "You have me to thank for that, both the Changelings and the Dragons," Spike boasted. Twilight rolled her eyes, "Yes Spike, we know. It started because you were such a good friend to Ember and Thorax." "Yeah Spike, thanks for giving me that chance," Thorax said. "I just hope the other Changelings are as appreciative." "I'm sure they are, anyway let's go see the other places, I'm curious what the Changelings have to show us," Twilight said. With that, Thorax led his friends to another part of the hive, unaware of a few Changelings who were making plans of their own, plans that might not go well for the ponies.