A Beautiful Swallow

by Skijarama

The Sleepover

As I’m sure you recall, at this point I had been dating Star for well over a year. Things were great at this time. I felt happy, she felt happy and my family was glad to see me out of my rut. It was a sunday. Star and I had plans to meet up at a park for a picnic. Apparently, there was something she wanted to talk about during that. I didn't know what, yet, but I was happy to listen. It was a fairly nice afternoon when I met up with her. The sun was shining with only a few clouds in sight.

We were currently in the process of rolling out the carpet that we would be sitting on. Star glanced up at me a number of times, always looking away when I stared back. Finally, we were sitting and eating. It was quiet at first, but eventually Star struck up conversation.

“So, how are things at home?” She asked, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

“Going well enough, I suppose.” I replied, sipping at the straw for my cup of juice.

“Ah.”

“And you?”

“Meh.” A few moments passed in silence after that. Star suddenly giggled to herself and I raised an eyebrow.

“Something amusing?” I asked as she glanced over at me.

“Did you hear about Lyra having a freak-out when she found a small sock with an odd shape to it?”

“She had a freak-out?” I tilted my head at that. I had never really conversed with Lyra before, but I had heard before that she was kind of eccentric.

“Yup. I was nearby when it happened. It was… to be blunt, I found it hilarious.”

“I see.” I chuckled idely to myself and took a bite out of some of my food.

“"It's even better when you hear Bon Bon going off on Lyra about taking the sock from the neighbor's trash without permission. Apparently, she was chased all around town for a little while just to get the sock back. I think they said it ended when Lyra ran into the golden oak's door. I think I could even hear the slam from her impact." Star finished, smiling and taking a sip of her own juice.

“Okay then. So, what was the specific thing you wanted to talk about?” I inquired, causing her to perk up slightly.

“Oh, right! That. Um… well, my parents are going to be out of town for a day or two. I can’t be on my own and my family couldn’t find any reliable foal sitters, so… I guess I was just wondering if I could stay at your house tonight?”

I paused in my chewing as she asked this. Swallowing, I spoke up with, “While I personally have no problems with it, I’d need to check with my parents first. This is kind of abrupt.”

Star nodded and returned to her sandwich. As she did that, I found myself internally asking a lot of questions. I had never had a sleepover before, mostly on the note that my parents were not always all that fond of the idea. Of course, they knew about Star, but they might not approve of me bringing her over for other reasons.

We sat and talked and ate for several more minutes. The breeze that began to blow was nice, sending pleasant chills through me. Eventually, though, the picnic had to come to it’s end. We rolled up the blanket and set the baskets off to the side. “Alright, I’ll talk to my parents about you spending the night and swing by later to deliver their answer, alright?” I said as we slipped the blanket into my saddlebags.

“Sounds good to me. I’ll see you then.” Star said, giving me a hug and then trotting off. I waved before turning and making my own way towards my house. I hoped this went well.

<><><><><>

“Come again?” Mom asked, looking down at me with a surprised expression. “You want Starless to spend the night?”

“Well, more accurately, I was asked if you would allow it. See, Star’s parents are going to be out of town for a day or two and she technically can’t stay in the house on her own. Plus they couldn’t find any good foal sitters, I guess, so she was hoping to spend the night here.” I explained, fidgeting slightly at my mothers intense gaze.

“Okay, but doesn’t she have any other places she can stay? I mean, we don’t exactly have the spare space to accommodate a guest spending the night.” Mom said, looking over at Noctis who was busy taking care of his paycheck.

“Is Noctis going to be here?” I asked tentatively, figuring one or the other would chew me out for even asking that.

“Well, no. But that’s up to him.” Mom said, getting Noctis’ attention.

“She can use it until I get home. then it’s to the couch.” Noctis said bluntly, barely paying us any attention.

“And that isn’t exactly acceptable in my books.” Mom added, looking back to me.

“Well… Maybe I could take the couch, then?” I suggested, causing mom to stare sternly at me.

“Can you answer my first question? About whether or not she has other places she can stay?”

“Of that, I am afraid I don’t know. I would hazard a guess and say probably not. What friends she has have even less space than we do.” I said, shrugging absently. Mom sighed slightly and trotted over to the couch, taking a seat.

“Her parents are fine with this?”

“I imagine they would have to be.”

“...Alright, fine. She can spend the night.” Mom said hesitantly. I smiled and nodded my thanks before turning slightly.

“Thanks. I should probably go and fill her in on this-”

“First thing's first.” Mom interrupted, earning a slight drooping of my ears. I hoped she wasn’t about to say what I thought she was.

“What?”

“Room. Clean. Now. If we are having a young filly over who will be borrowing your room, it needs to be presentable.”

Well, crap.

<><><><><>

Now, all things considered, that went much better than I honestly thought it would. I swung by Stars house about an hour later. Much of said hour was spent tidying up my room until my mother deemed it to be presentable enough. Stars parents were already out of the house when I showed up, meaning my timing was fairly good at least. We spent a couple minutes just chatting before we made the return trip to my house.

The remainder of the day passed basically with nothing of note happening. To summarize, we got to my house, spent some time talking and hanging out on the couch, then ate dinner as it was presented. We stayed up for a while yet, deciding to bring out a board game to play before bed. Finally, though, the sleeping hours came and I directed Star to my room, where she would be sleeping that night.

She liked it, thankfully enough. We hugged and kissed each other before I made my own way down for the couch to get some sleep. It was pretty late at that point and I was really, really tired. I flopped onto the couch and wrapped a blanket over myself before slowly drifting off to sleep.

<><><><><>

“Nettle…?” I heard, even if only just barely. It was whispered gently and I was still mostly asleep. I let out a low, sleepy groan and buried my face into my pillow. “Nettle… I need to talk to you…” It was louder this time, drawing me further out of my sleep and into the waking world. Deciding fighting this was pointless, I cracked open one eye, turning my head so it could see. Star was sitting next to the couch, looking at me.

“Star…? What are you doing up? What time is it?” I asked groggily, taking note of the very dark lighting. The moon was high in the sky, but none of the street-lamps were on.

“It’s a little past midnight.” Star replied, slowly reaching her hoof out to touch my own, which was currently hanging off the side of the couch. There was an urgency to her touch that made me snap awake.

“Midnight? Why are you waking me up? Is something wrong?” I asked, sitting up slightly and rubbing the remaining sleep from my eyes.

“Sort of… Nettle, I… I wanna talk to you. In your room, if that’s okay.”

I blinked and tilted my head slightly. “My room? Why? What’s so special about my room besides being clean for once?”

“Just… come with me, okay?” Star urged gently, reaching out and grabbing my hoof with hers. I slid off of the couch and followed her slowly as she made her way back up to my room. My bed was in shambles when we entered, indicating she had been tossing and turning all night.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” I asked, turning to her as she closed the door behind us. I noticed she was shaking. Uh-oh.

“Nettle… I… Do you still… love me?” She asked quietly, looking over at me with tear-filled eyes.To hear her ask that with so much… emotion in her voice was a little worrying.

“What? Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, stepping forward and reaching a hoof out to rest gently on her shoulder. She looked at me carefully.

“I don’t know… I just have this gut feeling… like something’s missing…” Star whispered, resting her own hoof on her chest.

“My feelings haven’t changed, Star.” I said, smiling at her. She nodded slowly.

“And… how do you feel?” She asked, barely a whisper.

“Huh?”

“I want you to tell me how you feel about me.” She said a bit louder this time, though still quiet. I smiled warmly and drew her into a warm embrace.

“I love you.” I said softly, rubbing soothing circles into her back. She hummed quietly and relaxed noticeably in my forelegs. She leaned back slightly, just enough to touch her lips to mine in a gentle kiss.

When she pulled back, she seemed much happier. “I love you, too.” She said, reaching a hoof up and touching it to my cheek. We drew closer again, connecting for another kiss. This one was significantly different than the last. It wasn’t more forceful or anything, but it wasn’t as hesitant either. It just felt more… involved, I guess.

“What brought this on, if you don’t mind me asking?” I asked after we separated again.

“I don’t know… Maybe I’m just doubting myself. It just feels like… I dunno… like you’re too good for somepony like me.” Star said hesitantly, looking away slightly.

“Even if that was true, you’re still just fine for me.” I replied softly, rubbing more circles into her back. She murmured pleasantly and rested her head on my shoulder. For a few minutes, we just sat there, enjoying the others company. After a little while, I started to let go so I could return to the couch. I was under the impression this matter had been resolved.

But she didn’t want me leaving, apparently. She clung to me as I started to let go, before kissing me on the lips again. This kiss had enough forced to make me stand up. Stars forelegs were wrapped around my neck as she kissed me deeply. I returned the kiss, of course, but she was pushing me slightly. I took a few steps back and before I knew it, I was flat on my back on my bed with Star on top of me.

She broke away from the kiss and stared me in the eyes intensely. Something about her gaze was mystifying. I stared back, not sure what to do. She leaned down, her mane shielding our faces from everything outside of it, and kissed me again. This time, I was momentarily shocked out of my wits as I felt her lips part slightly and something pushed against my own. It didn’t take me more than a second to realize it was her tongue.

My mind shut down, which, as a side-effect, caused my jaw to fall slightly open. I felt her tongue dart inside my mouth, and on instinct mine started to wrestle with hers. At this point, we were a heap of limbs which were now exploring each others bodies. She pushed me up farther on the bed, then sat up, looking me in the eyes again. “Woah… this is, uh-” I didn’t get to finish the thought.

Star pushed her front hooves into my chest, pinning me down. My own hooves, I noticed, had moved to rest on her waist. I could feel heat starting to pool in my cheeks, but didn’t even really get a chance to register that. I was too busy looking at the sight before me. Star loomed over me, the moonlight accenting her dark blue coat and red mane perfectly. Her wings were extended slightly, and her breathing had deepened slightly.

She leaned down before I could get any words out and kissed me again, but not on the lips, this time. But on the neck. My eyes snapped open in surprise, and I looked down at her. Her smile was adorable, and the wink she gave me was equally so.

“Whaddya say? Wanna take things a step further?” Star asked, causing me to suddenly lock up. Okay, did she just ask what I thought she did? I sat there for several moments, looking at her with a mixture of surprise, nervousness and concern. It wasn’t just for the fact that she just asked a question of rather big importance, but how she just dropped it on me like it was a simple ‘hey do you want to kiss’ way. Her smile slowly began to fade as I looked at her.

“Uh…” Was the only sound to escape me as she slid away and backed off until she was standing on the floor. I sat up and tried to think clearly. To be fair, the rushing hormones were not making that easy.

“I… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have…” Star stuttered, looking down and pawing at the floor with her hoof. I looked at her quietly for a few more moments.

“No, it’s not that. I… I just wasn’t expecting a question like that.” I said even though it was pretty obvious that was the case. “It caught me so out of left field that I couldn’t process it for a moment.” She sat there looking at me as her ears were flattened back against her head. On one hoof did I take the plunge that I heard is a very big thing to do in a relationship, or on the other hoof was this going too far to fast?

Silence prevailed for almost a minute as I let my mind process this. Finally, Star looked away and sighed. “I can see it in your eyes… Not interested, am I right?”

“Star…” I began trying to find the right words to say. “It’s not that. Really, it’s not. I’m just worried is all.”

“Worried? Worried about what? That this is a bad idea?” She said and I could tell she was getting rather angry at me.

“No, it was… ugh.” Why did I have to get asked this question? Seriously, was it a good idea to go this far? Granted we had been together for over a year at this point and from some of the stories I’ve heard from mom and dad, they knew ponies that did this a lot shorter into theirs. Oh for Celestia’s sake, what was I supposed to do?

“It was what?” Star pressed as I fell silent.

“It was just… well, unexpected.” I finally managed, putting on a smile. Star looked at me curiously.

“So…”

Okay, I had to make up my mind on this now. If we went through with this, who knew what would happen if we got found out? On the other hoof, if we didn’t I had the feeling there would be tensions between us. Looking at her more carefully, it dawned on me. That look in her eyes said it all. I had stuck with her this long, I wasn’t about to push her away. I knew there would likely be consequences of some kind, but ultimately, I decided, Stars happiness came first. There were probably better ways of obtaining that, but I didn’t see them there.

I patted the sheets next to me and smiled. Star perked up and hopped up next to me. For a moment we stared at each other before she more or less tackled me into the bed, kissing me deeply. The only company we had was the only company we needed. Each other. The night carried on for an hour or so before we fell asleep, satisfied and happy, holding each other in our forelegs.

<><><><><>

That night was what marked the turning point in my life. At the time, I had no idea how horrible things were about to get for me. The repercussions from that night would be felt on my end for a long time to come.

It was the following morning. I was awoken by the sound of a sharp knocking on my bedroom door. I slowly opened my eyes to see Star peacefully sleeping face as she curled up to me even more. Oh, no. Damn, this wasn’t good. I looked over my shoulder as my door opened, revealing mom stepping in.

“Nettle, what are you-” Mom stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me with wide eyes. Her face paled considerably. Well, I guess there were no excuses I could make now… I looked back over at Star as she began to stir.

“Huh…? What’s going…” Stars words drifted off as she saw my mother. I looked at her with despair on my face.

The emotion was mirrored completely in my voice. “Star, I am so sorry…”

Author's Note:

Special thanks to DFatman for the help writing this chapter.