• Published 13th Oct 2014
  • 10,424 Views, 659 Comments

Stars in the Making - Borsuq



Princess Starburst, who dreams of becoming the Captain of the Royal Guard, begins dating scarred by past Starfall, who cares for little other than having fun. How will this end?

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Lack of Boundaries

“So,” Candy asked nopony in particular, “what do you guys plan to do for the long weekend?”

It was several hours since the traumatizing breakfast. The school day came and went; however, unlike Starburst had hoped, it wasn’t much of a respite from her problems.

Starfall was the talk of the school. About everypony had already heard that the colt who caused so big of a commotion a week ago was now going to perform a magic show in the evening. And of course, since Starburst and her friends had tried to keep quiet about what had happened in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, the whole school knew about most of it. A lot of students spent most of the day asking them about Starfall, which naturally made Starburst uncomfortable. Luckily, as most of the school knew it was best to not bother her, lest they wanted to experience fear, they’d mostly turned to her friends… but that was a mixed blessing.

“Yeah,” she had caught Prism saying in a corridor, “Shorty was really pissed at him, but you know what they say: ‘the quarrels of lo-”

“Prism,” Starburst called out just in time. She walked over to him and glared at the smirking pegasus. “Would you like me to make that scar on your nose wider?”

Her words made his smirk disappear. Though Starburst didn’t know how he got it, Prism’s face bore a scar (unlike the ones on Starfall’s back and neck, and kind of cool-looking to be honest), which he always kept hidden under a band-aid, as he was very self-conscious about it.

Others were more discreet about their assumption that Starburst had a soft spot for Starfall (Ugh, I’m never gonna hear the end of it when they learn that they were right!), but still, they would occasionally smirk or giggle in her general direction when other students weren’t looking. Starburst hoped that she appeared to be pissed to them, and that they’d miss the blush of embarrassment she was certain had adored her cheeks.

At least she managed to avoid hearing Candy or Annie question her whether she liked Starfall or not. Starburst accomplished this feat by a rather simple tactic, one that a certain unicorn used quite often: misdirection. When the two mares came to her before classed had started, Starburst struck preemptively and informed them that her cousin was staying in Ponyville for a few days.

Almost immediately the two went to scheming, as Starburst had expected. She recalled dimly when Lance came to Ponyville the last time, a few months ago, that Candy asked him why he and June weren’t a couple. The two of them had been pen pals for a long time, and since both of them were single and grown up, it would have made sense if they would get hitched (according to Candy). As far as Starburst knew, nothing came out of it back then, as his stay was short and Candy wasn’t as interested with matchmaking then as she was now. With Lance back, however, she was certain that she and Annie would try to come up with some idea to get those two together during the next couple of days, hopefully letting Starburst enjoy being in a relationship unbeknown to anypony.

Now we’ll see what they came up with, she thought in the present moment, looking at the gray-blue earth pony mare. They had the next Monday and Tuesday free from school, giving them a whole four days off. Starburst had hoped to spend them with Starfall… preferably in bed, with him munching on her ears...

“Because,” Candy immediately added before anypony in their group of six had a chance to answer, “I have a suuuuuuper duper idea!”

“Oh?” Annie gasped, her milky, unseeing eyes rounding up as she turned to Candy. “What would that be?”

“Doesn’t sound scripted at all…” Starburst murmured, looking at the light pink unicorn sternly.

She wasn’t sure if it was due to her gaze, but T’s wing’s grasp on Annie tightened a bit. Starburst’s comment also caused a snicker from the remaining two, Prism and Whirlwind.

“Why,” Candy replied, ignoring the comment, “a camping trip!”

Starburst blinked with surprise. A camping trip?

“Camping trip?” Whirlwind echoed her thoughts.

“Yep,” Candy said, winking. “A whole four days, all of us together!”

Candy’s idea was so obvious that even Starburst saw through it straight away. “You can just say you want my cousin and June to sleep in the same tent,” she sighed with irritation and facehoofed.

“Wro-ong~!” the earth pony sing-songed. She stuck out her tongue and winked. “I want them to sleep in the same sleeping bag. And that goes the same for you and Starry!”

The mention of Starfall caused her to almost fall over. Starburst glared at her, flustered at how close Candy’s plan was to what had already happened.

“Wait,” Prism interrupted before she could say something. “You’re saying that little… snot is coming along as well?”

No wonder Starfall plans to use him in his show, Starburst thought, suppressing the sudden urge to spread her wings and intimidate Prism into submission.

“Of course!” Candy replied, as if it was obvious. “How else are we gonna make friends with him? Oh, and Nidra is coming as well, so don’t complain.”

At first Starburst had no idea what she meant by that. Oh right, they’ve been going out for a few days now, she realized, glancing at Prism. Weird, she mused, looking at his abashed face, he doesn’t look happy about Nidra coming…

However, before Starburst could give this much of a thought, Whirlwind spoke: “Hey Candy, do you mind if I’ll bring my coltfriend then?”

The purple pegasus’s question utterly shocked Starburst, and she wasn’t alone. Even Candy and Annie, who were interested in the private lives of their friends much more than it was socially acceptable, looked surprised. Though nopony’s reaction was as intense as Prism. His head turned to her so quickly that Starburst could swear she heard his neck crack.

“You have a coltfriend?!” he asked, his eyes wide (and a hoof massaging his neck).

Whirlwind looked at him smugly. “Yeah. Got a problem with that?”

Her question made Prism back away slightly. “Um, well, no, I suppose not.”

“Is me having a coltfriend really that much of a shock to you all?” she asked turning to the others, her expression changing to somewhat angry.

“No, we are just surprised that you hadn’t said a word earlier,” Candy assured her quickly. “Who is the lucky fellow?”

“Yeah, do we know him?” added Annie.

“It’s Hot Hea-”

“WHAT?!?”

Starburst looked at Prism. Like everypony else, she was startled by his outburst. The pegasus glared at Whirlwind with anger. “You are not going out with Hot Head!”

“Excuse me?!” Whirlwind exclaimed; she had gotten over her shock and her face was now matching Prism’s. “Who gave you the right to tell me who I can and can’t go out with?!”

As Starburst began to suspect that things were about to become even more heated, a green aura surrounded the two pegasi. Recognizing the spell, she glanced over to Annie, who’s horn was glowing. She was casting a spell that would calm them down, and thankfully they didn’t have to wait too long for its effects to kick in. In a matter of seconds, Prism and Whirlwind backed away from each other, looking uncomfortable and embarrassed.

“Better?” Annie asked.

They both nodded (forgetting apparently that their conversationalist couldn’t see). Prism grunted and cleared his throat before he turned to Whirlwind again, this time behaving much more civil.

“Do you have to bring him along?”

“Well, it kinda seems only fair, seeing how everypony else is going as a couple - or is to become a couple,” she added with a smirk, glancing at Starburst.

Joke’s on you, Star and I are already a couple, she thought without amusement.

“Yeah, but… seriously? Hot Head? He’s like a…” Prism trailed, looking for the right way to describe the pegasus that irritated him so terribly. “Like Princey and Starjerk combined!” he finally said. In the next second, however, he facehoofed. “Don’t tell me; Princey is coming too, right?”

“Of course!” Candy replied, smiling. “Claire and Del too!”

Starburst couldn’t help but smirk with satisfaction when she saw Prism shake his head and mutter something in defeat. Unfortunately, Candy saw that. “Oh, don’t you laugh at him yet! You’ve got to invite Starry to this camping trip!”

Well, that will be easy…

“Sorry to disappoint, Candy, but we cannot go tomorrow,” she told the other mare.

Knowing that something along those lines might come up today, Starburst had prepared what to say.

“We aaassss…?”

Okay, I didn’t think that one through…

“Me and Lance,” she quickly explained. “Lance will be busy for about half a day tomorrow. As for me, my family and I are having a dinner with the griffon ambassador’s family-”

“No you don’t,” Candy cut her off.

Starburst’s eyes widened. How could she know?!

“His family traveled back to Griffonia due to his daughter developing an allergy to a pollen of one of Equestria’s plants,” Candy explained. Then seeing the shocked gaze everypony was giving her, she added: “What? I read newspapers from time to time. I have a better question: why did Starburst lie to us just now?”

Starburst coughed to hide her discomfort. “Alright, you’ve caught me. I lied because… I wanted to train tomorrow; Lance will be busy only half of the day, so he would later join me and help with my training.”

Confident that the story she had just made up would prove sufficient (after all, her friends knew how much she loved to work out, and how she idolized her cousin), Starburst turned to Candy.

Candy was smirking.

“Oh, reaaaally?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Starburst felt a cold shiver run through her spine. “That’s curious. You know, considering how you told your cousin this morning that you couldn’t go train with him because you would be hanging out with us doing ‘girly stuff’.”

Her jaw dropped. However, she quickly recovered once she figured out how her friend could know this. “Are you paying my brother for informations about me!?”

But Candy brushed away her outrage. “Now now, what I spend my bits on is my business.” She pointed her hoof at her. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I-I, um…” Starburst stuttered, thinking what to do.

She could try to run away, but that would mean that they would simply bother her later. Or worse, they would come to her house and start asking questions. She could also try to think of a clever lie; though she doubted she could think of a one that would satisfy Candy and the rest after being caught on lying twice already.

Celestia damn it, Starburst thought with anguish, I don’t have a choice, don’t I?

Starburst knew that sooner or later she would have to tell her friends… but she hoped to have at least one day free of this…

“Fine!” she exclaimed, pushing away Candy’s hoof (which was almost in her face by then). “Tomorrow I… um, the reason I lied is… um…” The curious and impatient gazes they were giving her weren’t helping. “I’m... kindagoing on a date…” Starburst finally mumbled those last few words very quietly.

“What was that?” Candy asked, scratching her ear. “Didn’t quite catch it, you’ve gotta speak up!”

I hate you sometimes, Candy… Starburst thought, giving up.

“I’m going on a date!”

She closed her eyes after the outburst, preparing herself. Any second now her friends were going to erupt with laughter, at least she could spare herself from seeing the smirks on their faces about how they were right… Any second…

Starburst twitched her ears when no sound came. Surprised, she opened her eyes.

Instead of her friends smirking at her, as she expected, she saw all five ponies staring at her with shock.

“Okay,” Starburst said slowly, confused, “not exactly the reaction I was expecting…”

“Hold on!” Candy stopped her. “Are you serious?”

You,” Prism said, pointing at her, “are going on a date?”

“Y-yeah…” Starburst replied carefully.

“With who-” Candy tried to ask, but Starburst had enough of it.

“You Celestia-damned well know with whom! You’ve been joking about it for over a week now!”

But Candy shook her head. “Yeah, but we were just teasing you! Well, we did kinda feel that you have a thing for Starry, but… oh my gosh, seriously!? You’re going on a date tomorrow!?”

“As in tomorrow tomorrow?” Whirlwind added.

“Yes, tomorrow tomorrow,” Starburst replied, frowning. She was wrong before when she feared jokes; whatever this was, it was much worse. “What's the big deal-”

“IT IS A BIG DEAL!” Candy practically shouted to her face… after she had tackled her to the ground and stood on top of her. “Dates. Are. Serious!” she said, glaring at her. However, in the next second she smiled cheerfully. “Which is why Annie, Windy, Claire and I are gonna help you!”

It took Starburst a few seconds for the meaning of her words to hit her, during which she just stared dumbfounded at the earth pony mare for a few very precious seconds. When she had finally snapped out of it, pushed Candy off her, and tried to fly away, Annie was ready for her. Starburst felt a magic grasp surround her, and, no matter how hard she flapped her wings, she was pulled back to the ground.

“Sorry, boys,” Candy turned to T and Prism as Annie extended her magic to now completely immobilize Starburst, “but this is a girls’ only kind of thing.”

Starburst tried to struggle against Annie’s hold, but to no avail. Her magic grasp was too strong.

“We’ll catch up at the show, ‘kay?” Without waiting for an answer, Candy whirled around. “Girls, to the Hearthfire Jewellery! Allons-y!”

“Annie, if don’t let me go right now, I will-” Starburst tried to threaten her, but before she could finish the sentence, Annie used her magic to gag her, leaving her only the ability to groan in fury as the three mares headed towards Claire's shop, with her being levitated beside them.


It really said something about how often things like those happened in their group of friends around those parts when no passerby even turned their head to look at Princess Starburst being levitated.

However, one pony was not from Ponyville.

Starburst’s heart leaped when, as they passed by the town’s square, their little group caught the attention of a blue unicorn. Starfall, who was giving instruction to several other ponies building a big wooden stage (a few of them being his water duplicates), turned his head suddenly to look right at them, stunned. Before Starburst could try and signal him to come and help her, his horn flashed, and he was trotting right next to them.

“Why do I have the strangest feeling that somehow I am to blame for this?” he mused out loud, looking at the four mares.

Starburst took the advantage of the fact that her friends cringed in surprise and shouted: “Forget about that, get me away from these lunatics!”

Of course, that was what she wanted to say. As her muzzle was still held by Annie’s magic, what came out if sounded more like: “Whuhe ha whe, whew whe ghe aghew ghom ghe whowhawis!”

Strangely, Starfall merely twitched his ears and replied; “Sure, no problem,” as if he understood her perfectly.

As his horn began to shine, Candy placed herself between the two of them. “Just a second there, Starry,” she pleaded, smiling, before she turned back to Starburst. “Star, if you won’t go along with this, I will tell your parents about what you’ll really be doing tomorrow.”

Starburst’s eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t dare!” she mumbled (or rather: “Whu whudhin dwher!”).

“You bet I would!” Candy replied.

Groaning in frustration, Starburst motioned to Starfall with the little movement she had left to leave her be. The blue unicorn nodded, but continued to trot alongside them. “So, what’s this about?”

Annie must have decided that it was fine to let her speak, because she could see the tendrils of magic unwrapped themselves from around her muzzle. “I don’t know, my friends have no boundaries,” Starburst told Starfall, glaring angrily at them.

“I’m starting to understand how come you find them more annoying than me,” the colt commented. “Anywho, I gotta get back to the stage, have fun with this… kidnapping, I guess,” he shrugged.

Starburst sighed. “Yeah, see you later.”

The colt turned to her, his horn shining as he readied a teleport spell. Before he disappeared, however, Starburst saw him wink.

Well, she thought with satisfaction, it appears that you won’t get away with this too easily…


“Claire!” Candy called out after entering her shop, the Heartfire Jewelry (through the door that she opened via bucking). “We have an emergency!”

Oh, for the love of… Starburst rolled her eyes when she was levitated after her, Annie and Whirlwind.

“Candy!” Claire exclaimed in surprise from behind the counter. “What is the meaning of this!? Can’t you see I’m working?”

She emphasized the point by pointing at the pony standing next to her. For the briefest of moments, Starburst hoped that her captor would abandon the idea and let her go.

However, Candy had none of it. “Starburst is going on a date with Starfall!”

And like that, almost at once Claire turned to her would-be custumer. “I am terribly sorry sir, but an important issue had came up, and I have to close the shop early. Please come again some other time.”

The pony looked about as confused while leaving the shop as Starburst was pissed. Whirlwind closed the door behind him. Only once they were alone did Annie finally let go of Starburst.

“Now,” Claire spoke up, turning to Candy “when you say ‘tomorrow’, you mean tomorrow tomorrow?”

Starburst rolled her eyes while Candy nodded. “Yeah, that’s why we need to have a girl talk on such short notice.”

“So, what happened with the whole ‘nothing happened in the cave, you guys are insane’ and all that?” Claire asked Starburst.

She groaned once again. “I am not getting away from this, am I?”

“Nope!” all four said in unison.

“Fine! You guys were right, I do like him, can I go now?”

“I’m sorry, darling, but you need to give us a bit more than that,” Claire told her. “After all, you have to admit that it is weird that you’re going out on a date with somepony who, among other things, hospitalized your father.”

I don’t need you to tell me that…

She sighed in defeat. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, you could start by just when exactly he asked you out,” Annie said.

“And then explain why have you agreed,” added Whirlwind.

“Ugh…” Starburst groaned again. This is so embarrassing… “He came over to our mansion a few hours after the ridiculous ‘intervention’ of yours because he wanted to apologize for if he was too annoying then. One thing led to another and he asked me out on a date.”

“Wow,” Annie spoke up. “I hope you’ll add more details when you tell this story to your foals.”

Starburst gasped and looked at the blind pony, speechless. Annie smirked in her direction. Starburst tried to stammer out a reply, but she had trouble formulating a thought, let alone any words. The idea of her and Starfall having foals…

Claire’s polite cough made her snap out of it. “While Annie could have phrased it differently, she is right by saying that we would like to hear a bit more detailed answer.”

This is going to take a while...

“Okay. After he apologized, I assured him that I found you that day to be far more annoying - and I am having a strong sense of déjà vu now - and mentioned that I might need to avoid Sweet Apple Acres now, where I usually train. Starfall then said that he knows a perfect secluded place that he can take me too… and, well, after I had agreed I realized that he was asking me out on a date.”

“Oh, so he’s taking you to a secluded place…” Annie smirked.

“We will deal with that later,” Claire told her before turning back to Starburst. “Why did you agree?”

“W-well… because I like him. Isn’t that good enough of a reason?” Starburst asked, raising an eyebrow and trying to remain calm.

“Why, yes, it is darling. But could you tell us why exactly do you like him?” Claire specified.

That was actually a good question. Why did she like Starfall. “I… well, it’s complicated,” Starburst replied, frowning. “He… he’s been through so much crap in his life, and despite that he can be so cheerful. Back in the cave a week ago, I… I started crying when I saw his scars and realized just what he must have been through,” she said, despite how embarrassed she felt about admitting to cry. “And he actually tried to cheer me up, despite…”

“Despite what?” Candy asked.

Starburst hesitated; was it alright for her to tell her friends about this? Well, he did say that there is a little he will be angry about… and he is kinda open about his past now…

“He’s afraid of being touched,” Starburst told them. Turning to Annie, she added: “Remember how back in the Castle you tried to touch him and he jumped away?” When the unicorn nodded unhappily, Starburst looked at the rest and continued: “When he and I were alone in the cave, he was unable to use his magic and had trouble moving, so he was beyond terrified, and yet he still tried to cheer me up when I started crying. Not to mention how he gave me mouth-to-mouth earlier-”

“Wait, back up!” Candy stopped her, grinning. “Did you just say ‘mouth-to-mouth’?”

She stared at her, realizing that she indeed had said that. “S-shouldn’t you guys be concerned that I needed a mouth-to-mouth in the first place or something?!” she managed to stammer while her friends all giggled.

“So,” Annie said after a few heartbeats worth of giggles have passed, “how was it?”

“How should I know, I was unconscious,” Starburst grunted, red adorning her cheeks.

Whirlwind was also about to comment, but Claire took the reigns of the conversation again. “Now now, let’s get back to the topic, shall we? We can tease her afterwards.”

Oh, joy…

“Starburst, you were saying?” the dragon-pony hybrid turned to her.

“The point is,” Starburst resumed, “after I realized all this, I started respecting Starfall a lot. Both his body and mind were scarred, and yet he’s didn’t let it break him.”

“Sure, that’s great and all,” Candy commented. “But I wonder how does he plan to go on a date with you if he is afraid of being touched? Dates involve touching! Well, maybe the first not so much, but…”

“Actually,” Starburst interrupted her before she could start really going on, “he doesn’t really mind being touched by me anymore since the cave…”

She knew she said too much the next heartbeat. All four mares looked at her with glee on their faces.

“We just cuddled!” she quickly explained, her face growing more and more red. “I was afraid he would catch hypothermia!”

“Calm down, darling, we’re not judging you.”

Starburst glared at their smirking faces. “I hate all of you,” she hissed.

“Okay then,” Claire - ignoring what Starburst just told them - said, calming down. “I think we all understand this… development a little better now. Which brings us to the second point; coaching you.”

“Doing what now?” Starburst asked.

She had a feeling that she was going to like this second point even less than the first…

“Why, darling, forgive me, but you aren’t exactly knowledgeable in terms of how dating works,” Claire replied. “Seeing how you like Starfall, it’s only right for your more experienced friends to help you out.”

“Even if some of them are making rather stupid decisions, but we will deal with Whirlwind later,” Candy added.

“Y- excuse me?” Whirlwind exclaimed, stunned. “What are you talking about?!”

“Like I said, we will deal with that later,” Candy told her.

“Right, Starburst takes priority now,” Annie added, while Whirlwind huffed in offense. “Should we start with kissing?” As Starburst stared at her with eyes wide in shock, the blind pony turned to her. “Do you need me to tell you how to kiss a pony with fangs?”

“I-” Starburst stammered.

“‘Cause let me tell you, it can be dangerous if you just shove your tongue in there blindly.”

“Okay Annie, I think that’s a bit enough for now,” Claire told her, frowning. “Besides, kissing isn’t the most important issue.”

“Right,” Annie nodded without missing a beat, smiling. Turning back to Starburst, she flashed her horn. “Here, take these,” she said as a small package materialised before her.

Starburst glanced at the package… and her brain stopped working. “C-co-condoms?!” she stammered weakly.

“Annie!” Claire exclaimed disapprovingly.

“What?” Annie asked innocently. “It’s better if she wouldn’t get pregnant, won’t you agree?”

“Glossing over just why you have a package of condoms with you-” Claire started, but Annie wouldn’t let her finish.

“I got them from the sex ed class we had a few months back. What, you thought those are for T?” she asked and giggled. “Oh please, he’s much too big for those.”

“Annie!”

“What? You’re his sister, you must have noticed how big he is, right?” she asked, spreading her forelegs.

“NO I- Oh, wait, you’re talking about how…” Claire muttered, calming down. “Sorry, I thought you were talking about something else.”

“Well, I’m glad this misunderstanding has been explained,” Annie commented, smiling. After a heartbeat, though, she added: “You know I was talking about T’s penis, right?”

As it was now Claire’s turn to suffer brain damage, Starburst had recovered enough to facehoof while listening to the arguments and giggles around her.

Why am I consorting with them again?