“And then,” Illusion added, barely managing to keep the amused smirk off his face, “he turns to us and goes: ‘I just said this out loud, didn’t I’?”
The burst of laughter that followed made Starburst grow hot with embarrassment. Mixed with anger. Lots of anger. She glared at her friends, wondering just how she had stopped herself from actually going along with the joke of killing them all.
Glancing at her coltfriend, she wondered if his thoughts were travelling along the same tracks. Starfall was looking at her laughing friends with bemusement on his face; he didn’t seem angry or embarrassed. However, when they finally stopped, he turned to her and asked, “So, there are some benefits of having friends, right? Because for the life of me I just don’t see any,” Starfall added, returning to stare at everypony.
“It’s hard right now to think of them,” Starburst replied over the chuckles her coltfriend’s comment had brought forth.
A warm, more friendly laughter came from Del’s mom as she passed her with a tray full of cold drinks for everypony. “Now now, Star,” Applejack chided her, “there’s nothin’ wrong with pokin’ fun at yar friends from time t’ time; especially if it’s ‘bout somethin’ good,” she added, winking, causing a new wave of embarrassment to wash over Starburst. As she tried to mumble something in reply, Applejack turned to Starfall, “Are ya gonna get t’ it, youngin?” she asked him, her eyebrow raised.
“Can somepony remind me how I got roped into this?” Starfall asked instead, staring at the cans of paint and the brush beside them as if they’ve insulted him.
They were at Sweet Apple Acres, resting in the shade of the Apple Family’s apple trees. It was a very warm today and there wouldn’t be any clouds on the sky until the big storm tomorrow, making the spring day seem more like a summer day. Having learned about the weather schedule for the weekend from Prism’s folks, Starburst and all her friends had agreed to meet at Sweet Apple Acres and go to the lake from there to spend the day “chilling” (as Prism had put it) before they would be all forced to stay inside their homes for all of Sunday.
That is to say, they would go there after Starfall would finish painting the barn.
As he asked his question, Claire cleared her throat: “Well, darling-”
“Wait!” Starfall interrupted, holding his hoof out. “I’m answering my own question.” He run his foreleg over his mane; Starburst noticed his horn flashing briefly, his hoof covering it from the view of her friends. The next second she was blinking rapidly in surprise; her coltfriend’s manestyle now resembled Claire’s, except it was a bit longer. It even had the same purple color instead of Starfall’s light blue and white. “Why, you want my help learning about proper etiquette in return for you owning me a favor, darling?” Starfall began, his voice raising to try and match the pony-dragon hybrid’s. “Why, what a delightful idea, darling! And it just so happens that my good friend Del’s family needs to put new watertight paint on their barn - about time if you ask me darling, the old paint was beginning to come down and was making the barn look icky - so how about in return for me teaching you how boring normal ponies act and eat and talk you do some manual labor without using your magic for a change darling?” Starfall finished, still in his ‘Claire voice’, apparently, as he examined his forehoof.
A snort escaped Starburst before she could stop herself; it was just too funny not to. Not that she was the only one, few of other others also shared a laugh (with Prism being the loudest one); even Del’s mom laughed briefly. Starburst quickly pressed a hoof to her mouth and glanced at Claire. As one could expect, she didn’t appear to be happy with the impersonation, and her mood had definitely not improved upon seeing Prism falling off the branch he had been lying on and continuing to laugh on the ground.
Illusion also seemed amused by Starfall’s display, though he had enough of a sense to not laugh and merely smile; similarly to Prism, he was lying comfortably on a branch of one of the trees, so Claire couldn’t see his face from where she sat below. “Wow, exposition much?” he asked Starfall, propping his head against the tree trunk with his forelegs.
Claire, who had been staring coldly at Prism (who by then had finally calmed down) glanced up at her coltfriend with brief annoyance before turning back to Starfall. “That’s a terrible expression, darling,” she told him.
“But not inaccurate,” Prism wheezed, getting his breathing under control.
Before Claire could reply to that, Annie, who had just been told by T quietly about Starfall changing his mane, giggled. “Star, why won’t you quit doing Claire and get a move on?” As both Starfall and Claire stared at her with affront, with Starfall shaking his head in dismay, she added: “I think all of us would like to go to the lake before noon.”
“Yeah, about that,” Starfall began, returning to his normal voice and running his foreleg over his mane again, returning it to normal as well, “you do realize that if I could use my magic for this I would be done in about five seconds?”
“Well-” Claire began, only to be cut off.
“Ten tops,” Starfall added.
Claire paused for a second - during which she deadpanned at him - then when it appeared that he had finished she tried again. “Well, Starfall dear, tell me, since what you had asked of me had been of great help to you in your time of need, do you think you could repay me by doing something for only five or ten seconds?”
Starfall opened his mouth to reply but it was his turn to be cut off. “I think we would have to ask Starburst about how good his ‘five or ten seconds' are,” Annie said, giggling.
Starburst glared at her, hot with both embarrassment and anger. “Annie…” she growled as few other snorted with amusement.
“What?” she asked innocently, turning her blind gaze towards her.
Starburst clenched her teeth in anger, not knowing just what exactly she wanted to tell her (or rather, not knowing what to tell her to make her stop), but just then Del’s mom cleared her throat. “Anyway, youngster,” she began, turning to Starfall, “ya also still have to make up to us for the whole stunt ya pulled when ya first came to Ponyville. Ah’m sure ya haven’t forgotten ‘bout ‘at,” she added, smirking. “And only way ya can make up for ‘at is with some good ol’ hard work.”
“If a single apple’s worth is equal to barn painting…” Starfall began but trailed off upon seeing Applejack’s annoyed glare and merely rolled his eyes.
“Also,” Claire chimed in, “I’ll admit that it will be fun to see you actually working for a change, darling.”
Now it was Starfall turn to throw an annoyed glare, but in the next second he was smirking. Before Starburst could begin to wonder why, he turned to Illusion. “I hope you have nothing against your marefriend watching other stallions working out, Prince,” he said with a smarty grin.
However, his grin quickly gave way to bafflement as Illusion grinned and replied: “Nah, not really.”
Normally, Starburst would have chuckled at the sight of her coltfriend’s confusion, but as she watched him stare from Illusion to Claire and back she got lost in her own thoughts. Hearing the half-draconequus’ reply caused her to dimly recall hearing once a rumor - or maybe it wasn’t a rumor; maybe Candy or somepony else had told her this during one of their ‘girl talks’ and she had tuned it out - that Claire and Illusion had an open relationship. Apparently, since both of their lifespans were going to be extremely long, there was a chance of their relationship losing some of its “flame” if they were exclusive, or something. Starburst had no idea if that was true, but… Illusion’s casual reply kinda suggested it.
He’s probably joking… she thought. I mean, I don’t think the two of them even had slept together, so what would be the point of- ugh, when the heck did I start thinking about my friends’ relationships so much?! Starburst shook, not wanting to think about stuff like that. Still, she couldn’t help but glance at Claire. But even if he wasn’t joking, there’s no way Claire gets to do anything funny with my Starfall!
Satisfied with her resolve (even if a part of her immediately argued how ridiculous it was) Starburst looked at Starfall. Her coltfriend had seemingly recovered after hearing Illusion’s unexpected answer; as she watched, he was opening his mouth to reply. However, after a second he closed it, apparently having thought better of it. Once again he looked from to the other, before finally giving up and sighing.
“This sh*t right there is why I don’t make sex jokes.”
Starburst looked at him with bafflement; just when he was about to curse, his horn had flashed, emitting a beeping sound. “Did you just censor yourself?” she asked him as he began to take off his cloak and bandana and hang them by a tree.
“New thing I’m doing,” he replied, smirking. “After all,” Starfall added, pressing his hoof to his chest, “it is rather impolite to curse in public.”
Starburst continued to stare at him, and after a second she slowly raised an eyebrow.
“And it’s funnier this way,” Starfall admitted, poking his tongue playfully. As Starburst rolled her eyes, she noticed that he glanced at the others and grinned. “You know, since you’re gonna watch me work, perhaps I should get you some whips to hold to make it seem authentic?”
Even before she turned to them, Starburst knew she was going to see her friends wince at Starfall’s joke and turn their eyes away from his scarred body. I would feel awkward about this, and chide him if you guys weren’t making fun of us just five minutes ago, she thought, feeling a weird satisfaction.
Applejack, who never before saw Starfall without his clothing and never heard him joke about his past, was in turn staring at him wide-eyed. “Wow,” she finally commented, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Clearing her throat she added: “Anyhow, ya got yar work cut out for ya; y’all give me a shout if ya need more cold cider or anythin’.”
As everypony waved Del’s mom goodbye and took a sip of the drinks she had brought, Starfall stretched quickly and with an annoyed sigh grabbed a can of paint with his teeth and trotted over to the barn, muttering something that sounded a lot like ‘no magic, very funny’. Starburst suppressed a chuckle; some physical work would be good for him. And funny to watch.
“Sooo…” she heard Annie begin beside her, interrupting her musing; turning to her, she watched as the blind unicorn turned to Illusion. “What happened next?”
Oh, right, Starburst mentally sighed, I forgot the story wasn’t over.
“Yeah, how did Starburst react?” Candy asked in turn. “Was she embarrassed? Angry? Kinda like now?” she added, looking at Starburst just as she began to glare at her.
“Well, probably,” she heard Illusion reply; even without turning to him Starburst could tell that he was smirking. “She was definitely red on her face. But before she could say anything, Starfall teleported with her somewhere.”
Prism snorted. “Chicken.”
“Oh c’mon, you would have bolted in that situation too, leaving a Prism-shaped hole in the wall,” Whirlwind chided her coltfriend, swatting him with her wing playfully. “Except you would have probably forgotten about me.”
“Would not!” Prism replied, offended. “Besides, I wouldn’t be dumb enough to say that I love you in front of your folks. Um, I-I mean,” he stammered, his eyes bulging as he realized what exactly he had just said, “I’m not saying that I… I mean, I’m not saying that I don’t…” He began to blush fiercely as he noticed that everypony was staring at him, mostly with amused expressions. As Whirlwind, who at first had looked at him with a surprise, then with a smirk, began to giggle, Prism groaned. “Celestia dammit...”
“Hey!” Illusion exclaimed.
As Prism glared at him with annoyance, Whirlwind leaned closer to him on the branch and kissed him on the cheek. “If it makes you feel better, I’m ‘not saying’ either way too,” she told him, winking.
“Aww,” Candy exclaimed, smiling at the couple, then immediately turned to Starburst. “Okay, your turn.”
“My what?” she asked, deadpanning.
“Your turn to say how you replied to Starfall’s confession!” Candy replied, leaning closer to her.
“Hey, I didn’t-” Prism began, but Candy brushed him off with a way of her hoof.
“Yeah yeah, okay,” she said, rolling her eyes. “So Star? What did you say to Star when he said that he loves you?”
“That’s none of your business!” she immediately replied, blushing fiercely from embarrassment.
“Aw, come on, you’re blushing, you must have said that you love him back, right?” Candy asked, grinning.
Starburst was positive that her face was purely red now.
“Perhaps we should take a different approach?” Annie spoke, leaning from Starburst other side. Starburst looked at her with confusion; there was no way what she had in mind wouldn’t make this situation worse for her. As if to confirm her guess, Annie smirked briefly before turning to Illusion and Claire. “How long were they gone? Or did they not return at all?”
“Oh no, darling, they got back after… five, maybe ten minutes?” Claire replied, glancing at her coltfriend who nodded.
“So, five to ten minutes huh?” Annie said, grinning at Starburst.
“Oh sweet Celestia,” Starburst groaned and rolled her eyes (ignoring Illusion again exclaiming “Hey!”), “where are you going with this?”
“And you were all alone after he confesses his love for you,” Annie continued, putting her foreleg around her shoulders. “I bet he took you to a magical castle where you allowed him to plant his enchanted sword in your cave of wonders and battle with the fearsome dragon within?”
Annie didn’t need to see to know Starburst was blushing; Starburst was certain that she was so hot right now that she could just tell by the heat emanating from her.
“A-annie... “ she began, but then paused, thinking over what she had said. “Wait, what the heck is the dragon in this metaphor?”
She asked, against her better judgement...
But it appeared that Annie herself wasn’t sure, as she hesitated when she was about to answer. Her blind eyes darted to the side as she pondered the question for a few seconds, tapping her chin. “Chlamydia?” she finally tried.
Starburst deadpanned at her. “Okay,” she said after a few seconds, during which several of her friends had again snorted with amusement; she freed herself from Annie’s embrace and moved back, “I’m gonna go hang out with my half-insane coltfriend, as he is clearly the most sane pony around here right now.”
She turned around and began trotting in Starfall’s direction even before she finished speaking, needing to get away from her friends for at least a few moments. “Shoot, should have gone with ‘pent up sexual frustration’ instead,” she heard Annie say behind her. Starburst rolled her eyes and continued to walk away, even as her blind friend called after her: “Star, speaking of hanging out, how hung-ugmm!”
“Remember not to help him, darling,” Claire, who was most likely the one who muffled Annie, said.
Starburst shook her head, exasperated. Not about the part about not helping Starfall, of course; after all, she knew he wouldn’t ask for help in the first place. She was annoyed that her friends were yet again prying about their relationship. And that Annie was making those suggestions, again.
Not that I wasn’t expecting that, she thought as she neared the barn; Starfall was standing on a ladder, covering the wall with the paint with the brush he held in his mouth. I bet they’ll be pestering us about what happened through the rest of the day. Well, they can try; there’s no way I’m telling him I said that I love him. The last thing I need is hearing them tell us that we’re moving too fast.
She frowned as that thought crossed her mind. Yesterday, when she had told Starfall that she loves him, she felt certain that she was telling the truth, but… what if that was it that was it, that she just felt like that? After all, what did she know about love? She had been bothered by that ever since she woke up and recalled the previous day.
Maybe I should talk with somepony about this? she wondered again, but quickly dismissed the idea. Yeah, and whom I would ask? Claire? Candy? Annie? My mom? One better after the other… Starburst sighed as she sit by the barn’s wall, with her back propelled against it.
Noticing Starfall glancing down at her from the ladder and raising an eyebrow questioningly, she explained: “My friends were being a pain.”
He spit the brush back to the paint can. “Oh, I overheard. What did you mean by saying I’m only half insane?” he asked with a grin.
Snorting with brief amusement at the joke, Starburst found her worries dispersed like dust in the wind. She couldn’t help to feel anything but happy whenever she was in Starfall’s presence; even if he annoyed her from time to time.
“I was in a generous mood,” she told him, sticking her tongue at him. “Anyway, I think they’re going to pester us about what happened through the rest of the day.”
“Oh, joy,” Starfall sighed and shook his head. “Say a word and I will teleport us somewhere far away.”
That was a tempting idea, but Starburst knew better.
“It will only cause them to make the wildest speculations regarding what we were doing in that time. By them I mean Annie,” she added, massaging her temples.
“Yeah, I got that,” Starfall replied. “I’ll be honest, those constant innuendos and jokes she makes are kiiiinda starting to freak me out.”
“Ugh, tell me about it,” Starburst groaned, facehoofing. “You’ve only known her for a few weeks.”
“So wait, she’s always like that?” he asked, leaning down to the paint can to pick up the brush.
“Yeah, she picked that up back when she was a kid, before Miss Fluttershy adopted her,” Starburst explained as he resumed his work.
Glancing at her with a frown, Starfall spit out the brush again. “Before she was adopted? Okay, wow, I kinda wonder how life must look in that Damsel’s Replacement’s home if he, his mom and that Lucky guy are from the same orphanage.”
Realizing he must have meant Hot Head, Starburst snorted; she had only met Amber a few times, but she had to agree, life in that house must be… interesting to watch from a spectator's position, to say the least.
“Damsel’s Replacement?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Even I got the impression that she was trying to replace Prism with him,” Starfall replied with a shrug as he returned to painting the wall.
Starburst shrugged as well; she didn’t know what Whirlwind was thinking then nor did she care. Unlike her friends, she wouldn’t pry or comment on anypony’s relationship.
They spent some time in silence after that exchange; with Starfall having to hold the brush in his mouth he couldn’t really talk, and Starburst didn’t feel like holding a one-sided conversation. Instead she began doing wing push-ups to pass the time. Only after Starfall was about half-way done they decided to take a little break, go get drinks and get a little breather; which, unfortunately, meant that they had to go near her friends.
“You’re doing surprisingly well so far, Starfall,” Claire praised him as he chugged in the cider quickly.
As her coltfriend thanked her, Starburst narrowed her eyes. What is she playing? She couldn’t help but feel that Claire wanted to go somewhere with this… and maybe wondering if that possible suggestion made by Illusion wasn’t making her paranoid.
It turned out that her suspicion was right, though, as the half-dragon cleared her throat and continued. “We were talking about… our behaviour while you were gone. We were out of line, making fun of you like that. We owe you an apology.”
Starburst exchanged a glance with Starfall as everypony nodded and apologized. She saw the same confusion in his red eyes.
“Um, okay…” she said, not sure why they were apologizing.
“We promise we won’t make fun of you two anymore. Now,” she added, smiling friendly at them, “would you like to tell us what happened after you two left the dinner yesterday?”
Frowning, Starburst asked, “Why?”
“So that we could offer our congratulations or our help or whatever you might need. After all, few of us here are a bit more… shall we say, experienced in this field?”
Normally, Starburst would felt angered that they were, again, thinking that they would need their help, but right now she had something else to focused on. Sharing another look with Starfall assured her that she wasn’t the only one.
Either that or they were both paranoid, but…
“Yeah, I don’t buy that either,” Starfall said before they turned to the others.
“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Claire replied, her eyes wide.
“Oh just stop it,” Starburst snorted. “Why do you guys want to know that?”
She knew that they wouldn’t make a promise to not make fun of them only to break it few seconds later.
Claire pouted and was opening her mouth to reply, but Candy beat her to it. “Oh fine, we want to see who won the bet.”
Starburst blinked. “Beg your pardon?”
“We all made bets about what happened, and want to know who won,” Annie elaborated as Claire rolled her eyes at Candy. “And we made a lot of guesses; ranging from you saying you love him, you saying that you don’t love him, you saying that it’s too soon, you beating Starfall for saying that before your parents, you rutting like wild animals-”
Three guesses to who bet on that one, Starburst thought, wincing, as she studied the rest of her friends. To her shock, even Del and T seemed intrigued and a little embarrassed as Annie continued to explain; she wouldn’t have thought that those two would take part in such a bet. Would have thought they’ve only made those bet on Candy and Annie’s insistence…
“- and you two getting married in Las Pegasus,” Annie finished. “So, will you tell us?”
“No!” Starburst immediately replied.
At the same time, however, Starfall tiled his head quizzically and asked, “Can I get in on this?”
“Star!” Starburst immediately snapped.
“Hmm?” he asked, turning to her and blinking as she glared at him. “Oh, right; no!” he said, turning to the rest.
“See how she got him whipped?” Prism commented, pointing. “I’m telling you, she must have beaten him up a bit and now he’s scared of her.”
“Oh please, like you were never scared of Star just looking at you,” Whirlwind snorted. “This had to be-”
“While this is very interesting,” Starfall interrupted them, “I have a very exciting job to finish, so…” he trailed off as he turned around and went back to the barn.
Candy frowned as he left, then turned to Starburst: “So-” she began, but Starburst had already turned around and followed her coltfriend. “Fine, we’re back to teasing you until you tell us!”
“Who do you think betted on us getting married in Las Pegasus?” Starfall asked her as she joined him, sounding almost casual; she still noticed the smirk on his face.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she told him, feeling herself blush again.
“Sorry, you just look cute when you blush.”
“Oh shut up,” she told him, jabbing him with her wing. “You didn’t seem too annoyed by those bets,” she noted as they reached the barn. “‘Can I get in on this’, really?”
“Hey, I planned to throw them off; I was gonna bet that I took you to the moon,” he said, sticking his tongue out.
Starburst snorted and rolled her eyes, amused. “I don’t know how Claire planned to drag this out of us,” she said, shaking her head. “Did she really think we’d believe that they’d just want to help us?”
“Oh yeah, this reminds me; that thing Prince had said,” Starfall began, raising an eyebrow, “was that a joke or…” he trailed off, as if unsure how to describe that.
Sighing, Starburst wondered how to explain it. “Well, honestly, I dunno. I tend to tune out whenever the others talk about their relationships. But I think I heard once that Claire and Illusion have an open relationship… still, Illusion was probably joking; I doubt Claire would, ugh, ‘like to watch you work out’, or anything.”
She’d better not… she added in her thoughts.
Starfall grimaced. “I hope so. I did mention I have issue with being touched, didn’t I?” he asked as he picked up the ladder and began carrying to the unpainted side of the barn.
Starburst nodded as she followed him. “Yeah, you- wait,” she snapped, looking at him sharply. “That would be your only issue with this?”
“I assumed that, in this hypothetical scenario, she would first clear this up with you,” her coltfriend replied, clearly figuring out why she suddenly snapped. It annoyed her that he was being nonchalant about this. Starfall must have noticed, as he put away the ladder and turned to her. “What? I have no idea what you’re into, aside from the jokes your friends keep making about chains and being rough and stuff.”
She balked hearing his reply. “I… no, I’m not into any of that!” she exclaimed, feeling hot on her cheeks.
The loud sigh of relieve Starfall made calmed her down a bit. “Thank goodness.”
Starburst massaged her temples; it boggled her how just hanging around her friends could lead them to having such weird conversations. “I don’t know what, um, ‘I’m into’, okay? I-I mean, I never really thought about stuff like that before,” she explained, stammering a little.
She grew annoyed again as she heard Starfall chuckle, but only for a short moment. “I’m sure we'll figure that out in time, Lil’Lioness,” he said, winking and causing her to feel warm again.
“Y-yeah,” she stammered, unsure what to say. Now annoyed at herself for reacting like this, she tried to get a hold of herself. “So… um, what are you into, then?” Starburst asked; at some point she would know that, anyway, so she might as well ask while her friends were out of earshot; Starfall had only overheard her earlier from there because she was already going to him and she was speaking louder due to her annoyance.
His reply confused her. “You,” Starfall said, winking again.
“Um, no, I mean, like, the stuff to do and… stuff,” she explained awkwardly; she wondered whether she was blushing more because of what he said (It was a nice thing to hear...) or out of embarrassment.
“Honestly? I don’t think I’m into anything in particular,” he replied, shrugging. “I’m also not against anything in particular. You could just say what you wanna do and we’ll do it. When, um, you know…” he amended; now it was his turn to stammer a little. “... stuff happens.”
A bit relieved to see a subtle blush on his cheeks as well, Starburst thought about what he just said. “Really? You would be okay with… anything? I-I mean,” Starburst quickly added as he turned to her, an eyebrow raised and an amused smirk on his muzzle. “ I’m not saying I would be into something weird!” She felt an urge to punch him as he chuckled. She was about to comment on that, but just then she recalled something: “Hey, wait a moment; I still have to do whatever you want in return for coming to the dinner yesterday; what exactly do you plan to do?” Starburst asked, as going over what he had said it almost certainly wouldn’t be anything of that sort (not that she expected any of that anyway).
“Oh, something fun,” he replied, grinning; the fangs flashing from his mouth did not help to put Starburst at ease. “Speaking of,” Starfall continued, climbing on top of the ladder, “are you sure you won’t be able to come over tomorrow?”
“No,” she sighed; despite how borderline ominous he sounded, she was still looking forward to the next time the would hang out alone. “The storm is going to last since morning until midnight; I will be stuck at home. I know you could teleport me in and out,” she added, “but my parents would be worried; besides, they already planned to have all four of us to spend some ‘family time’ together.”
“Bummer,” Starfall replied, frowning. “Oh well, I guess I can do some more redecorating at Fortress of Starfallitude, then,” he said, shrugging.
“You could come to my place,” Starburst added, trying to sound nonchalant. “I’m sure nopony would mind if you’d join us. You could spend some time with my family…”
Starfall looked her in the eyes as she trailed off. After a second of silence, both of them erupted with laughter, both knowing just how much neither of them wanted that.