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// 31 - Bring It Together 
// Story: Lost Muse 
// by David Silver 
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Libel stood before her own gates, trying to control her breath, and the rest of her. "You have this..." She reached out a wing, hesitated, then took flight instead. She soared over the gate. They couldn't stop a pegasus, no gate could. They were put there for propriety as much as any other reason.

"Wonder what he spent the day doing..." Maybe he had painted something nice? That felt unlikely, seeing as they took more then a day to do. Maybe he doodled something? Maybe he practiced his lines, or went shopping, or just chilled with his friend.

Or maybe she should just open the door and find out. She walked up to her own front door. "Don't look at me like that." She laughed softly, amused at her own vexation at her own door. "I'm opening you now." She pulled it open with a little snort. "I'm home!"

"Hey," came the languid approval of Day Dreamer. He was sprawled on the living room couch, looking as if he was made of fur-covered butter the way he bonelessly enjoyed the moment.

"Libel!" Hurried hoof-steps carried him down from upstairs. "Everything alright? I thought your work ended hours ago."

She lifted an ear at him. "I need to have your permission before I go have fun?"

He skidded to an awkward halt, just barely clearing the stairs with his last steps. "No, of course not." A little smile broke on his face. "Glad to hear, really. What'd you do?"

"I could ask the same." She poked him on the chest, or tried.

He ducked around her incoming hoof. "I was solving problems."

She hiked a brow at that. "Really now?" She couldn't immediately think of many ways that could be true. "What problems were you busy fixing?"

He stood up as tall as he could. "I will not be dragged down into this by you. I'm not a lost little colt that needs someone to grab him by the scruff."

Libel hiked a brow. "I never said you were one, Splashy. Where is this coming from?"

"Not in those words, sure, but this..." He wobbled a hoof around. "This is you. I want it to be us, instead."

She colored faintly, but kept a focus on him, staring. "And that led you to...?"

"I walked right up to your mother--"

"You didn't!"

"And I told her what I intend."

"You didn't!" She stomped a hoof, then the other. She began to dance from one hoof to the next, prancing in place with a look of panic. "What happened?! How did you even get to her?!"

"I walked up and talked. She was in the reading room in her Canterlot estate." Color nodded softly as he recalled the recent event. "She--"

"--either told you to get away from her daughter or congratulated you on becoming a made stallion?"

He smirked faintly. "Neither of those? She told me getting involved with you would be a lot of effort. She tried to protect me, warn me away... But... In the end, she hopes we do well."

Libel sank to her haunches. "Seriously? She just... wished you well?"

"That is what she did." He leaned in and touched his nose to hers. "We can begin courting with her blessings."

Libel lit up brightly. "Splashy! You don't just..."

"I just did." He pulled back just enough to kiss her nose. "Will you accept me as Color Splash? I'm not perfect, but who is? We'll both grow and learn from each other, but it should be fun, and effort."

She put a hoof on her chest. "Not so fast there, Color. I have things I need to get off my chest too." She brought up the same hoof to cough into lightly. "First, I have daddy issues, which translates into stallion issues. I'm sorry for roughly handling you like stubborn clay to get into just the shape I wanted it."

His ears pinned back. "I... heard about him... I'm the worst friend there is. I never even thought about him, or why I never met him..."

She raised a hoof and gently set it on his cheek. "Just as well. If you had asked when we were foals, it would have been a good reason to slug you on the shoulder. So... she's really alright with it?"

"She is alright with it." He nodded softly. "And I did not mention I was becoming a 'thing' and she didn't seem to realize it yet. You haven't done that article, right?"

She shook her head quickly. "I just did the hoof off today. It takes time to do these things, and the painting isn't at the Redwood yet either. The only people that would be gossiping about that would be Palette Swap herself or her two associates. So, stop. Just... How?" She raised her forehooves wide. "How?!"

"She remembered me..." He smiled a little. "It was like talking to a stern grandmother more than an evil mother. In her eyes, I was that little cute colt that you hung around with."

She plopped one of her hooves over her face. "You're kidding me... So... really? She's just alright with... us? No strings?"

"She did make me promise something."

"A secret something?" She perked an ear at him curiously.

"I promised I would never vanish." He nodded firmly. "If things don't work out, we talk it over like adults and decide what to do, even if that's, you know, to call off the romance thing and go back to being friends."

"I never promised that!" She looked away, but the moment passed as quickly as it came, her frame sagging with a sigh. "You little miracle worker... I dreaded breaking that news, hoping she would approve... You just swept right in and did it on your own." She reached out and booped him on the nose. "Guess you don't need me so much."

"On the contrary." He rubbed where she had poked him. "Your advice was very helpful. It got me past the ponies that could have stopped me. It let me talk to your mother without making a fool out of myself. I want to learn more, but it should be my initiative."

She glanced to the side. "Is he still listening?"

Suddenly both turned to look at Day, just sitting there on his haunches, watching them quite passively with a dopey little smile on his face.

Color laughed as his horn began to glow, grabbing one of the pillows from the same couch Day was on and striking his languid friend across the face gently. "You get used to it after a while." The pillow was suddenly returned, bouncing right off the side of Color's head.

"He has a good throw," complimented Libel with a soft nod. "Now... Is that everything?"

"No." Color tossed the pillow in his magic in a lazy arc towards the couch. "No it is not. Libelous Word."

"That's my name." She arced a brow at him. "What of it?"

"I would like to suit you." He plucked her hoof in his magic. "I hope that we will find one another compatible, but we will only find out after a proper courtship. There will be clumsy wooing involved. There will be hurt feelings, and joyful ones, I hope. Will you take this chancy journey with me?"

"I'm not done with my half of things." Her nose wrinkled a little. "You... are not the pony I was trying to force you into being, and you may never be... And... well, you kinda took a large bit of the wind out of those sails, but I was going to do this dramatic reveal and... Splashy." She gently bopped him with a wing. "You were always like that."

"Mad?"

"No." She leaned in a little and sniffed him, nostrils flaring. "You smell like her... She always uses the same scents wherever she lives. Ugh! Color Splash!"

He jerked, unused to  her suddenly invoking his full name. "Yeah?"

"I accept your bid to court me. I promise nothing, and expect nothing." She raised the same hoof he held in his magic. "But I bet we'll have an awkwardly good time?"

He brought the hoof close and gently kissed the front of it. "With pleasure." He smiled awkwardly a moment. "Funny thing, this doesn't really... change a lot."

"On the contrary." She set her hoof down. "You are officially courting me, which means I will tell others. I will introduce you as my courter, potentially a boyfriend if things work out. I will speak on your strengths and weaknesses even when you aren't around and everyone around me will get to know you as if they were associated to you."

Color twisted an ear back. "Oh... Is that how rich ponies do things?"

"Among many other things. We aren't that secretive about relationships, unless we're being naughty." She wobbled a hoof between herself and Color. "And we are not. Being pridefully and publically courted is the right thing to do. This also means you are entitled, neigh, expected to mention me whenever appropriate. Fortunately for you, your friend is already aware."

Day clopped his hooves gently. "Congratulations, bro, sis."

Color smiled at that. "It'll  be easy to fill him in, yes. I do have other friends, you know."

"You do?"

"Well, Derpy, to start, but there are others back home." He put a hoof behind his head. "They'll have to wait until the next time I go back there, which isn't right now, I imagine? We have... a lot to do."

"Incalculable amounts. If we're doing the proper courtship thing, I plan to milk it for all its worth."

Color blinked at that. "There's more to it?"

"Of course there is. We get to make up inside jokes. Pet names. We simply must go shopping and get some tastefully complimenting clothing. Not matching, yet. That's for the next level, but subtly complementing, that would be delightful." Color counted things on her feathers as she rambled about the many ways that well-to-do ponies advertised that they were courting. "This is going to be fun!" She dashed off with a big smile.

Day nodded in the direction she fled in. "That went well. You really took charge."

Color smiled lopsidedly at that, wandering closer to the couch that held Day. "Do you think so? I just... wanted to be clear about things." He glanced away and back. "Thanks for the talk. It helped... She really isn't that bad."

"Libel?"

"Succinct, her mother. She really does care." He put a hoof on his chest. "I'm pretty sure Libel'd kill me if I tried to convince her of that right this second, but I think she was really trying. She didn't want Libel to ever be hurt like she was hurt. She wanted her to have all the things she never got."

"Sounds like a good mom." He tilted his head. "Except the parts where it didn't work." He lifted his shoulders a little. "She gets point for trying, Bro." He stretched out softly. "My parents are pretty chill; I like them. Speaking of that, I need to bring Bottom Line to see them."

"Already?!"

He laughed at Color's surprised face. "You already went to see Libel's mom, what's the difference? Besides, my parents are way chill. We'll probably have a nice big dinner and hang out. It'll be cool."

Color imagined them all gathered around the small dining room table he knew Day's parents had, sharing idle stories and having fun. "Yeah... Sorry, no, you do that. That sounds like a great time." He put a hoof on Day's shoulder. "Are you already planning the next move?"

"Me? Nah... We're, uh, courting, like you two. Maybe it'll move past that, maybe not. I'm liking it right now." He suddenly tipped forward, bumping his noggin just to the side of Color's horn. "And that's what matters. She's digging it too,  bonus! We'll see how it rolls."