I had dug myself into a hole I didn’t know how to dig out of.
I told my friends, specifically Starlight and Twilight, that I would solve this problem myself, so they wouldn’t go burdening themselves with it.
Now, I had no idea what to do. I just couldn’t think of a way where no one gets hurt, no matter how hard I tried.
On the one hand, there was Twilight. We were best friends, but I had no idea she had feelings for me. We had history together, so it wouldn’t be hard to build a relationship with her. But then Starlight would be heartbroken. I could tell she was extremely fragile, and if I ended up with Twilight, I knew I wouldn’t be helping her on her path to redemption.
Then there were the positives of going with Starlight. We had become friends really fast. Ever since she told me about her...checkered past, I always felt like I should try to help her. I can tell she’s really nice once she opens up. But then Twilight would practically be shattered. I knew her. She could say she would be fine, and she would get over it, but I knew better. Every time Twilight saw Starlight and me together, I knew she would be dying on the inside.
Right now, I was lying on my bed, looking up at the ceiling. I was thoroughly screwed. If only Princess Cadance were here. She always had the answers to these sorts of problems. At least, I’m assuming, what with the whole “Princess of Love” thing going on.
Maybe a little bit of sleep would help my situation. I was feeling drowsy anyway, so I decided to close my eyes and let the sweet feeling of sleep wash over me.
I walked out into the library, where I found Twilight and Starlight waiting for me. Twilight seemed to be shooting silent daggers at Starlight, who looked like she was being physically hurt by them, which made me tense up.
“Girls,” I started. “How have you two been doing?”
“Fine,” said Twilight, shooting a small scowl at Starlight.
“G-Great,” Starlight said in a tone that said anything but.
I sighed. “You two...haven’t been...fighting...have you?”
“No. In fact, we haven’t even seen each other since yesterday,” said Twilight.
I looked to Starlight, who silently shook her head. I could tell she was on the verge of crying, and I almost started myself.
“A-As you know, I took it upon myself to decide what to do about our little...dilemma,” I told them.
“And...w-what did you come up with?” asked Starlight. Twilight shot her a look that made her flinch.
“Well...I-“ I stuttered.
“Yeah? What did you decide?” asked Twilight.
I took a deep breath before I continued, “Look, I really care about both of you. You both know I would never do anything to hurt either of you...but-“
“Just say it! Which one of us do you choose?” Twilight interrupted, raising her voice just a little.
“I...I could never choose between the two of you. My answer is...none of the above. I choose neither of you. I-It’s just not worth you two losing your friendship,” I stated.
Starlight clenched her eyes shut and her breath became shaky. It didn’t take long for the sobbing to start. She opened her eyes just a little to look at me, and they instantly filled with tears. She ran out of the room, breaking into a loud cry in the process.
That was exactly what I had feared would happen.
“Are you kidding me? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” Twilight said.
I turned to face her. She was now wearing a full on scowl. “What did you want me to do?”
“At least choose one of us. Even you going with her would’ve been better than this,” Twilight responded loudly.
“It’s...just not worth it. You two are friends. If I had chosen one of you, the other would hate whoever I chose,” I countered.
“So? I’d rather not be friends with Starlight if it meant I could have you! I’m your best friend, Jake! You didn’t even notice me! Now, all of the sudden, someone else comes into the picture, and you feel like you get to call the shots!” she screamed at me.
“B-But Twilight-“ I tried to reason.
“I don’t wanna hear it! Gee, some friend you are!” With that, Twilight stormed out of the room.
I fell to my knees, and tears began to fill my eyes. I had no idea things could possibly get this bad.
I slammed my fists into the ground in front of me, looking down. It felt like the room was growing around me, filling with hate for me from Twilight and Starlight.
“Well, a-at least they hate me...and not each other. That’s what I was going for,” I told myself.
All of the sudden, I felt a new presence was with me. “I urge you, human, be honest with yourself. This cannot possibly be what you want for your friends.”
I looked up. My vision was blurry at first, but I quickly recognized the dark blue figure before me. “P-Princess Luna?”
“Indeed, Jake Taylor, it is I,” Luna responded.
I stood up to face her. On all fours, she was at about chest-level with me. “I-It’s nice to see you again. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Indeed it has. I remember the last time I came to visit,” Luna answered.
I grimaced as I remembered the nightmare I had that she was referring to. That was not pretty. “But...what are you doing here now?”
“Judging by your most recent dream, I would say my presence is needed. Tell me, what is your predicament?” Luna pried.
I shook my head. “N-No, I don’t want you to be worrying about my issues.”
“Perhaps you are correct, but tell me, what is it that caused this nightmare? Perhaps the weight of a decision you must carry? Or the guilt of an action you must carry out?”
I looked away from the princess, processing her words.
“Perhaps it may help to speak about the issue with an unbiased form,” Luna offered.
“A-Are you sure? Really, I don’t want you worrying about someone as insignificant as me,” I insisted.
“Nonsense. No pony is insignificant in my eyes, even those who are not ponies. It is my job as Princess of the Night to tend to those in need,” Luna countered.
I knew there was no convincing her otherwise. “If you insist. Is there anything to sit on though? It’s a pretty long story.”
Luna’s horn glowed, and two chairs appeared for us to sit on. We both sat down.
“So, as you know, I took a two and a half year journey around Equestria. When I returned to Ponyville, a few things had changed. For instance, Twilight had her own personal student.”
“Starlight Glimmer; I am aware,” Luna interrupted.
“Right. So anyhow, Twilight asked her to spend some time with me to get to know me, which she did, and we quickly became friends. But all of the sudden, I started getting this weird feeling whenever I was with her. It was...a warm feeling. I realized...I had a crush on Starlight. So I talked to Rarity, and she gave me some advice. Then, Starlight and I ran into each other in the Everfree Forest a bit later, and we were attacked by a manticore. We scared it off, but Starlight got knocked out. I stayed with her until she came to, and she asked me to stay the night with her. Then, in the middle of the night, she told me she felt the same way about me that I felt about her, so we...hooked up.”
“I’m having trouble understanding. What exactly is your problem?” Luna asked.
I sighed. “Well, it turns out that after all these years of knowing me, Twilight’s had a crush on me too. Her friends let it slip by accident, and now I just don’t know what to do.”
“I see. You are worried about hurting your friends,” Luna assumed.
“Exactly. I don’t want to hurt either of them, but it looks like it’s getting to that point where I have to hurt both of them. If I go with either one of them, their friendship will dissolve. It’s better they hate me than each other,” I admitted.
“You tell yourself this, but your nightmare says otherwise,” Luna pointed out.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You are just as worried about your friends hating you as much as fear them hating each other. I understand your predicament, however. You don’t know how to choose between them,” Luna said.
“Yeah. I-I’m really at a loss here,” I sighed.
Luna rested her hoof on my shoulder. “I believe I may have a simple solution.”
About a half an hour later, I busted into the library, a bit louder than I expected. Sure enough, all my friends, Twilight and Starlight both included, were in there, reading different books.
I smiled sheepishly and tried to laugh it off.
“T-Twilight, Starlight, can I talk to you two?” I asked.
The two mares shared a glance at each other.
“Sure,” said Twilight.
“What’s up?” asked Starlight.
“Well-“ I turned to the rest of my friends. “Um, do you mind?”
They all stared blankly back at me.
“Can you, uh...give us a minute...alone?”
Rarity rolled her eyes before standing up. “Fine, come along, everypony. We don’t want to get in their way.”
Everyone stood up, save for Spike. “Okay, you go, and I’ll get back to you.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared an annoyed glance before pulling Spike along with them with one hoof each. They all exited the library, but I didn’t hear the door close.
“One second,” I said, walking over to the library door and closed it.
Twilight and Starlight sat next to each other, facing me as I took a seat across from them.
“Well, to start, I hope you two are okay,” I started.
To my surprise, they both actually chuckled a little. “We’re fine, Jake,” assured Twilight.
“Good. Now, the hard part,” I muttered.
“Before you tell us your decision, we both had a talk, and we told each other that no matter what you came up with, there will be no hard feelings, whatsoever,” Starlight told me.
I sighed with relief. “That is great to hear. Now, you two both know that I love you. Starlight, I found out pretty fast, and Twilight, I took a lot longer than it should have been. Regardless, I told you I would find a way so that I wouldn’t hurt either of you. You know that I really care about you, but there is just no way I can choose between you two.”
“So, you choose neither of us. I guess that’s fine, right, Starlight?” said Twilight.
“Yeah, we couldn’t make you choose between us,” Starlight agreed.
“Hold on, that’s not it. My answer is...I choose both of you,” I countered. Both of them became visibly shocked.
“I wasn’t aware that was an option,” Rarity said from the other side of the door. I rolled my eyes as I heard her.
Twilight shook her head. “Wait, what?”
“My answer is both of you,” I repeated.
Starlight shook her head as well. “Wait a second. If you’re just trying to spare our feelings-“
“Just hear me out,” I cut her off. “You’re right. I was ready to come and turn you both down because I thought it would be better if you hated me instead of each other. But then I had a dream. I turned you both down, and you both hated me. At first, I thought it was a good thing, but Princess Luna came to me and told me that it wasn’t what I really wanted. Then after I explained the whole thing to her, she told me that a long time ago, before she was banished to the moon, mares would often share stallions, sometimes to court with each other, sometimes just to share the stallion, but it almost always worked out.”
Twilight and Starlight looked at each other, then back at me.
“So you’re saying that...we have the option to share you?” asked Starlight.
“Exactly. You don’t have to love each other, or at least, not in that way, but I’m still willing to give it a shot if you two are. And...if you happen to meet a stallion you like more than me, I won’t even hold it against you if you wanted to be with him instead,” I explained.
The two mares looked at each other again.
“I-I think that can work,” said Twilight.
“Me too,” agreed Starlight.
“So you really wanna give this a shot?” I asked.
The two looked at me again.
“Of course,” said Starlight.
“Definitely,” said Twilight. She then turned to Starlight again. “And I couldn’t think of a better pony to share you with.”
Starlight blushed. “Aww, thanks, Twilight. And who knows, maybe there might actually be a point where you look at me like and I look at you like that.”
I leaned forward and took them both in a hug. They were a little surprised at first, but they returned it.
“I promise to be the best boyfriend for you two that I can,” I told them.
“That wouldn’t be hard. We couldn’t dream of being with anyone else,” said Twilight.
“Ditto,” agreed Starlight.
We held the hug for a while, and I was sure the others were still watching. I didn’t care. Four days ago, I saw an unrecognizable face and an old friend while getting off the train. Now, I...I just don’t know how to describe this feeling.
Luckily, I didn’t have to try because almost in unison, we all let out big yawns. We broke the hug and broke into laughter.
“Guess that means we’re tired,” I said.
“Yeah. I’m gonna turn in for the night. I’ll see you two in the morning,” said Twilight, making her way toward the door.
“Wait a second. I think you and Jake should spend the night together,” suggested Starlight.
Twilight’s face had looked like it was dipped in red paint, and my face felt like it was in a furnace.
“W-What?” stammered Twilight.
“I don’t mean like that; I just thought that since Jake and I spent a night in the same bed, last night in fact, that you and Jake should do the same,” Starlight explained.
“I...guess that makes sense,” I agreed, my face still burning.
“S-sure, sounds good,” said Twilight. I could tell she was embarrassed, but a little excited at the same time.
I pulled on my nightshirt right as Twilight came into her bedroom. Her face was still red, but I had managed to calm down a little.
I sat on the bed, and she sat next to me, albeit a little distant.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Y-Yeah, I just...haven’t really shared a bed with anypony since I was a filly,” Twilight confessed.
I tilted my head. “That’s alright. Nothing really happened between me and Starlight; we just kinda...cuddled. You’ve done that before, right?”
“Sort of, but it wasn’t really a cuddle so much as a hug I fell asleep during,” she admitted.
I placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt really tense. She faced me, and I gave her an understanding smile. She smiled as well and chuckled a little in response.
“It’s fine. We don’t have to if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do something,” I told her.
“Well, of course I want to cuddle with you, don’t get me wrong. I’m just a little...well, nervous,” she countered.
“About what?” I said with a chuckle of my own.
“Like, what if I do something wrong? Or what if you don’t like it?”
In response, I rolled my eyes, put my hand on her cheek, and kissed her. At first, I felt her shaking with a mix of nervousness and excitement, but she quickly melted into it. It felt...different from when I kissed Starlight, but still just as good.
After we broke apart, I looked into her eyes. They were sparkling. No wonder they called her Twilight Sparkle. Her smile was wide, and her blush was back in full force.
“Still nervous?” I asked with a small smirk.
“No...just excited now,” she said. With that, we got under the covers. “But I’m still not really sure what to do.”
“Simple,” I replied. I pulled her close and put one arm under her. I put my other arm over her and held her there, stroking her mane.
“Sh-Should I do anything?” she asked me. She had her hooves at my chest, much like Starlight did, and her wings folded up.
“All you have to do is enjoy it,” I responded. I used one of my hands to continue stroking her mane, specifically the back of her neck, and the other to scratch behind her ear. She nuzzled my chest, giving a low hum that quite literally warmed my heart. I bent my head down to hold a kiss on her forehead. “So how does this feel?”
“G-Good. You feel warm,” she answered dreamily.
“And you feel soft,” I replied. It was true. When I was with Starlight, I still had pants and a jacket on, so I couldn’t really feel her coat. Now, I was wearing shorts and a thin shirt which I usually slept in, so I could feel Twilight’s soft fur against my rough skin.
“I’m glad we get to do this, Jake,” Twilight whispered to me.
“So am I, Twi. I’m still sorry it took me so long to want to though,” I replied.
“It was worth the wait.”
I chuckled and planted another kiss on Twilight’s forehead. “I love you, Twilight. I really do.”
“I love you too, Jake. You’ve meant so much to me ever since we met,” she responded.
She let out a yawn with her muzzle still resting against my chest, so it made my chest vibrate a little. My eyes began to slowly close, and with one last shift to hold Twilight even closer, I fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up, but something was missing. I looked down to see Twilight had left my embrace. I got up and looked around the room, finding a note on her desk.
Dear Jake,
Sorry about my absence this morning, but I promise the reason why is worth it. Come to the dining room to see what it is.
Much love,
Twilight <3
I turned the note over a few times before shrugging and deciding there was nothing more to be learned from the note. I came out of Twilight’s room and walked to the dining room. As I came closer to my destination, the scent of pancakes, french toast, and other breakfast delicacies filled my lungs. By the time I got the the dining room, I was practically drooling already.
I opened the door to see that there was in fact a table full of food, from fruit to muffins. There was even scrambled eggs, just the way I liked them.
And standing in front of the table were Twilight and Starlight, both of them with bright eyes and with the biggest and brightest of smiles.
“I-I don’t know w-what to s-say,” I stammered out.
“Don’t. We wanted to show you how much we really cared about you. Obviously, Twilight here had to contribute a lot,” said Starlight.
“Don’t sell yourself too short, Starlight. You did manage to make the eggs all by yourself,” Twilight said, giving Starlight a small nudge.
I walked up to both of them and knelt down to meet them at eye-level. I reached out my hands and put one on each of them. “I love you, both of you.”
They both hugged me in return.
“We love you too, Jake,” said Twilight.
“More than anything,” added Starlight.
I pulled back a little to face them. “I just can’t believe how lucky I am.” I turned my head to face Twilight. “I don’t just have one amazing marefriend.” I kissed her on the forehead and looked at Starlight. “I have two.” I kissed her as well. “I couldn’t possibly ask for anything more.” I gave them both a little *boop* on their noses, making them both giggle adorably.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Try it,” said Starlight.
With that, I nodded and stood up. I decided to try the pancakes first. Those have always been my favorite. I took a bite, and it tasted amazing. Sure, I could always kill for a plate of Spike’s pancakes, but knowing they were made by Twilight and Starlight was enough for me to love them.
“Well?” asked Twilight.
“It’s amazing. You have to try them,” I told them.
They both shrugged and got themselves a couple of plates. With that, we sat down to eat. Apparently, Spike had a long day yesterday, so he was sleeping in.
As I ate, I thought about my current...state. It was strange. I just knew there were people from my old home that would do almost anything to be in my type of position.
I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen, or how this relationship was even gonna turn out, but there was one thing I could say for sure.
This was gonna be interesting.