Magnate made it a few steps out of the kitchen before he saw them. Lovey's parents. They were...
... ordinary. Or, rather, they looked like ordinary pegasi. Her father looked like the sun reaching around a storm cloud: a dark grey coat highlighted by a soft golden yellow mane, pastel orange streaks illuminating like rays of light. At his side was the mother, who was small and dainty. She was the sky that surrounded him, a combination of light blues and equally light yellows.
Magnate drew himself to his full height and started to approach them. "Hello. It's nice to—"
"Hi, Dad! Hi, Mom!"
What?
Magnate froze in place as he watched two more pegasi walk in after exchanging hugs with Lovey. Slowly, he looked between the four faces now staring at him, all smiling.
Mom, Dad, Dad, and Mom.
Four ponies.
Did Lovey know what parents were? Did he need to buy her a dictionary? She had gone to school, hadn't she? No, she had to know what parents were. She had her faults, but she wasn't stupid. But why were there four of them?
There was a perfectly rational explanation for this. He just had to find it. Perhaps she simply had four parents, all in an open relationship. It was uncommon, yes, but it still happened. That would make sense.
One of the mares, the one who had entered second and was mostly white and grey with a hint of pale blue, burst into a fit of giggles. "Okay, Suns, I think it's clear I won the bet."
The first mother—'Suns', apparently—rolled her eyes. "No, you said he'd say polygamy. He hasn't said anything yet."
"Ahh!" The grey-and-blue mother glared. "You ruined it! Now he'll definitely not say polygamy. That's cheating!"
Magnate gawked. All right, so that ruled out polygamy. But what did that leave? Perhaps they were parents and caretakers. They looked ordinary, but they could be wealthy enough to afford a caretaker. Lovey likely needed as many eyes on her as possible as a foal. Honestly, she still needed them on her even as an adult.
"It's quite all right, Magnate," the first father said, stepping forward and putting a hoof on his shoulder. "You may ask."
"How—" Magnate looked up at him. "Why—" He looked at the other three. "What?"
All four of them fell into a chorus of chuckling or giggling, fathers and mothers respectively. The stallion who still held Magnate's shoulder looked over at Lovey. "Sweetheart, why don't you make us all some snacks while we sit and get acquainted?"
"Okay!" Lovey pranced into the kitchen, her wings fluttering with excitement while she started to rummage through the cabinets.
Magnate watched all four parents squeeze themselves onto the couch really only meant for three ponies. Still dumbfounded, he took a seat on the floor opposite of them on the other side of the coffee table.
"It's simple, really," the blue-and-yellow mother known as Suns said, taking the hoof of the father she didn't enter with. "We're Lovey's birth parents. I'm Sun Shower and this is Snow Squall. We separated—" She paused to switch hooves from holding one father's to the other's. "—and remarried. I'm now married to Arcus and Squall is now married to Diamond Dust."
Magnate blinked slowly. Divorce? He knew that ponies got divorced, but… the idea of it was almost frightening. To marry a pony and then have that marriage fall apart. He looked between the four faces staring at him. They all seemed perfectly fine with it, as though it happened to them every day.
"Why... ?" It was the only word Magnate could manage.
The stepfather, Arcus, cleared his throat. "When Lovey was a filly, and she and her mother were shopping at my store, she suddenly came up to me—I was working there that day, you see—and said, 'You're my mom's soulmate!'"
"I was mortified," Sun Shower continued. "Especially when I looked at the stallion she was talking to and went weak in the knees. I felt so ashamed of myself!"
"They came home and Lovey told me, 'Dad, you need to let Mom be with her soulmate so she can be happy.'" Squall chuckled. "Suns and I fought a lot. We were sweethearts since elementary school and everypony said we would get married. So, we did. We weren't terrible together, but we weren't great, either."
Sun Shower smiled and shook her head. "Lovey took matters into her own hooves. She disappeared one day and scared our tails stiff. Then she just walked in the door with a stallion and a mare behind her, and announced we had to all sit and talk."
"We did," the stepmother, Diamond Dust, took over. "Although it was more like fighting at first. She just sat there smiling, this strange little pink filly that had stopped me on the street and said my love line was all tangled, but that she could straighten it. I had no idea what that meant, of course, but she kept insisting I had to follow her."
"Then it came out that they weren't happy," Arcus said. "And we all sat in silence. Very awkward silence."
Lovey came into view between them all, setting a plate of crackers on the coffee table. "So I told them to start over like they were all strangers and Mom and Dad hit it off really well. Dad and Mom took a little longer because Dad was distracted by Mom talking to Dad, but he eventually came around, too."
The four parents nodded in agreement.
Magnate looked between them all with wide eyes. "You..." He looked at the smiling Lovey. "You broke up your parents' marriage?!"
Lovey beamed at him. "It was how I got my cutie mark!"
Unbelievable. Unfathomable. Inconceivable!
Sun Shower giggled, patting her husband on his foreleg. "It's all right, Magnate. Nopony has any hard feelings about it. Squall and I just weren't compatible. Arcus and I are, as are Diamond and Squall. If it weren't for Lovey, we probably would have divorced anyway once she was older, and not amicably. This way, we're all still friends, and all four of us raised Lovey in a truly loving environment."
Lovey sat beside him, beaming up at him. "So when we get married, you can have four more parents! Won't that be wonderful?!"
Magnate choked. Her mothers squealed.
"He proposed?!" Diamond clapped her hooves. "Lovey, you didn't tell us that!"
Lovey giggled and fluttered her wings. "Oh, no, but he will eventually. He's my soulmate, after all. He—Magny?"
He looked at her and realized they were no longer beside one another. He had stood up and was in the middle of walking away. When had that happened?
Oh, probably about the time she talked about marriage and his head felt like it was going to cave in. That was likely when the desire to run away spurred him into fleeing the room.
"I need a moment," he said, the act of speaking alone bringing the sensation that he might be sick. "All right? Okay."
Before she could respond, he stepped into his bedroom and shut the door behind him.
Peace and quiet. He needed some peace and quiet to process everything. Lovey had gotten her cutie mark in breaking up a marriage, and now she was talking about getting married? Didn't the fragility of her parents' marriage frighten her at all? What if that was their destiny?
The room started to spin and he stumbled over to the bed to lie down. He felt like he was perpetually falling. Too many questions and fears were racing through his mind.
"Squall and I just weren't compatible."
What if he and Lovey 'just weren't compatible'?
"Lovey," one of the mothers' voices scolded loud enough for him to hear, "you're going to scare the poor stallion. Of all ponies, you know a love line is fragile!"
There was a pause of hesitancy before Lovey responded, "I know, but I can't help it. I love him."
Love. She used that word so easily. What did it even mean?
One of the fathers cleared his throat. "Sweetheart, do you love him... or are you just following your love line?"
Magnate sat up, ears facing forward, desperate to pick up her response. His heart raced in his chest when her voice rang loud and clear.
"I still can't see my love line, Dad!" Her voice cracked. Was she crying? "I just know that he's the one. Isn't that love?"
For a moment, he heard nothing but a sharp, high-pitched ring in the empty silence. She had turned his life upside-down based on what... a hunch? A guess?
They weren't compatible at all. He just wanted to go back to his quiet life where the word 'love' was something he scoffed at. This feeling of uncertainty in his chest that drove him practically mad wasn't love. How could it be? She said love was wonderful. He felt dreadful.
There was no love line. Nothing tied them together. Nothing kept her by his side, not really. She was just so desperate for love that she was clinging to him, a stallion who probably wasn't right for her.
Knock, knock. "Magny?"
He gasped for air, uncertain of when he had stopped breathing. "Yes?"
"Can I come in?" He heard the nervous shuffling of her hooves.
They needed to talk. Desperately. "Yes, please." He smoothed out his coat and straightened up, trying to look calm despite how his heart pounded in his chest.
The door creaked open and Lovey stuck her head in. Her ears were flat against her mane and a truly apologetic look was in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get carried away..."
"It's fine." He waved a hoof to urge her closer. "Come, sit down. I think we need to talk."
Tentatively, Lovey walked over and sat down on the bed beside him. "Yeah?"
Magnate sighed. How was he going to do this? He didn't want to break up with her, but he couldn't continue like this. He just needed to... "... start over."
"Huh?" Lovey glanced at him, shifting uncomfortably. "Start over?"
"Yeah." He slumped forward to stare down at his lap, where his forehooves twiddled with nerves and a strange sense of melancholy. "You can't see your love line, anyway, right?"
She didn't respond. It didn't matter; he'd already heard her say it herself.
"Then there's nothing special about our relationship. We're not special forever someponies, or whatever you call it. We're just two ponies... So stop rushing things because you think we're meant to be together." His ears folded back. "I don't want you to force things between us and regret it later when you realize I'm not the kind of stallion you should be with."
Lovey just sat there a moment, her expression everything he didn't want to see. Her eyes were glossed over, her ears drooped low, and her chin trembled. "I..." She swallowed. "I think... the problem isn't you, is it?" Slowly, she slid off the bed and turned away from him. "The problem is I'm not the kind of mare you want to be with."
Magnate quickly shook his head. "Lovey, no, that's not—"
"It's okay." She walked to the door with her wings drooped so low that the tips trailed along the floor. "I understand... Why would I be? I'm sorry, I'll go. I'm sorry."
Once the uncertain pounding of his heart calmed just enough for him to think straight, he hurried off the bed and after her. When he crossed the threshold into the living room, however, the only ponies he saw were Lovey's parents, all of them looking at the open front door.
"You're too slow," Squall said, not looking at Magnate. "She's already gone."
"What?" Magnate glanced between the stallion and the door, then trotted forward. "I'll go get her, I'll—"
A wing extended and blocked his path. Diamond Dust, who sat at the end of the couch near him, shook her head. "No, she'll need some space, trust me. She doesn't handle sad situations very well." She laughed softly. "Actually, I suppose that's our fault. We tried to shelter her from every bit of sadness we could. Including a normally awful situation like divorce!"
Magnate glared down at the wing, but otherwise remained where he was. "I didn't mean for her to leave. I just wanted her to—"
"Stop being so overbearing?" Sun Shower clicked her tongue. "That's also our fault. We encouraged her to express herself freely."
"Oh, so she's not to take any responsibility for her actions, then? She's not at fault?" Magnate snapped, then winced. "No, that's not what I mean at all."
Arcus chuckled, nudging Sun with his elbow. "He's feisty. I like him."
The parents broke into a chorus of giggles and snickers. It was like a group of foals laughing over a dirty joke. Magnate rolled his eyes and started for the door again. "I'm going to go find Lovey."
"Good luck with that!" Squall waved a hoof.
"Especially since you can't fly," Sun teased.
Diamond sighed. "There's no telling which direction she went, either."
"And—"
"Would the four of you kindly keep your mouths shut?!" Magnate turned on his heel to unleash his glare on them, emotions he didn't quite understand surging in his chest. "How can you be so carefree at a time like this?! She completely misunderstood me!"
The lighthearted feeling in the air dropped into a stifling tension as their expressions grew serious. Forelegs crossed over chests, ears flicked back, and brows arched.
"Did she?" Sun tilted her head. "Well, what did you say?"
"I said that..." Magnate's glare lightened. "All I said was..." The rigidity of his muscles eased. "Just that... I just want to start over. All of this love line nonsense has her rushing things straight into absurd notions like moving in together and marriage. Celestia, it hasn't even been two weeks since we met! I'm not ready for everything she wants! What pony in their right mind could be?!"
They glanced at one another, then each nodded. "Well," Squall started.
"Then it sounds like you two aren't right for each other after all," Diamond continued.
"And maybe you should just let her go," Arcus finished.
"What?" Magnate quickly shook his head. "I don't want that! Why are you acting like I'm the bad pony here?! I simply want her to stop being so... so..."
"So Lovey?" Sun waved a hoof, giggling. "Then maybe you'd be better off with a mare who isn't Lovey, because I don't think she can stop being who she is. Just like you can't stop being who you are."
Magnate's shoulders slumped and he dropped down to sit on the floor. "I..." He trailed off, at a loss for words. But he could stop being who he was... couldn't he? He could put up with her heart notes and deal with her overbearing affection and —
His ears folded back. But he didn't want to. He'd rather just sit and read the newspaper together in peace and quiet. She couldn't do that. Perhaps that made him the bad pony after all.
Diamond cleared her throat and slipped off the couch, the other parents following her lead. "Well, this has been delightfully awkward! It was nice to meet you, Magnate."
"Best of luck!" Sun chimed as they made their way for the door.
The last one in the line was Arcus, who stopped to put a hoof on Magnate's shoulder. "You'll figure things out. Lovey can come on strong, but it's because she just cares too darn much. For what it's worth, I think you're just what she needs. Either way, good luck, son."
Magnate winced when the door clicked shut behind Arcus and he was, at last, alone. He didn't like being alone. Not anymore. Not since Lovey showed him there was another way.
What was he supposed to do? He couldn't live with Lovey, but he couldn't live without her, either. He had been trying his hardest to be more affectionate and less 'himself'. Why was it so much to ask for her to be less affectionate and less 'herself'?
-> -> - >
Dear Magnate, your biggest mistake in this chapter is to think that anything about Lovely is ordinary, well, yours and mine actually. On the bright side, we have 4 more good parents added to this AU.
You know, unlike her parents' situation, there may be no love line involved. Just the fact that after two straight weeks of cohabitation, they would eventually grow to really love each other, just like in Monochromatic's Colours of The Soul.
static.wixstatic.com/media/673d29_3816424d18bf41fdb19239a8a14d22f7.jpg
Wow heavy chapter, but it makes sense and I keep rooting for them.
Wow. The feels in this chapter. I love it.
I love Lovey's crazy parents. It's nice to see a first real confrontation between these Magna and Lovey.
Lovey can come on strong? I see where she gets that, because those parental units are amazingly blunt, and also surprisingly distant.
"I just want to talk with her."
"Good luck, kiddo, she's already gone."
I expected more active support since they seemed to like Magnate alright.
On a related note, I almost had a similar situation. My parents divorced when I was 16. A couple years later my mom remarried to another woman and my dad was about to. I almost had 3 moms! (4 if you count my best friend's mom who's "adopted" all her son's friends) Unfortunately nothing ended up working out, so I'm back to "just" 2 parents.
That's a fairly unique way to get a cutie mark.
Man, he's definitely never going to catch her with that sort of defeatist attitude as a guide.
I'm with Magnate.
... I'm still with Magnate.
Yup, now I am definitely with Magnate!
A peculiar, but really well-executed chapter. The abundance of feelings was delightful. Well done!
Seems a simply and straightforward solution to consult another love line pony.
flamingbagofpoo.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/inconceivable.jpg
Somehow, I wasn't too surprised by Lovey's parents (all of them). They seemed so Lovey.
Expert execution...
I just don't how I feel about this chapter.
I have this overwhelming urge to throttle Magnate.
He's so stubborn!
I'm sorry...
this chapter gave me whiplash
....I realize that this is fanfiction, set in a world of magical, talking ponies, but Lovey's logic towards her parents failed marriage...is terrible.
7446061 Lovey is probably my least ordinary character!
7446107 They would have to cohabitate first for a chance at that, but Magnate is pretty against that, it seems!
7446135 Me, too!
7446358 I'm glad! Writing Magnate's perspective is harder for me than writing Lovey's. He's such a conflicted mess of wants and needs.
7446540 It had to happen eventually!
7446691 7446728 Hahah. I think raising a pony like Lovey makes you a little strange, and they know her—she flew off. There really wasn't a chance Magnate would catch her, and I think other than Arcus (who seems to like him the most) the others weighed their affection for their daughter who just ran out of Magnate's room crying over the stallion they just met... so a little lacking in the active support.
7446882 Ahahah, yeah, Magnate seems like your kind of stallion.
7447028 If only it were that easy, Lovey would have definitely done that a long time ago! Ponies who can see love lines are stuck with a blessing-curse scenario. It's a wholly altruistic ability. Those who can see them appear to have no love lines, and ponies that would be at the end of their love lines appear to have "confused/tangled" lines (a la Lovey roaming around in the first story, and how Lovey described Sunny in either Hearts or Diamonds), which can happen without being attached to a love liner, so finding a pony like that could be a false positive scenario and doesn't help, either.
7447376 Exactly!
7447471 The question is, though, do they seem Lovey, or does she seem them? Which came first!
7447716 Don't apologize to me! I consider it a success when each character has different reactions to them. Some agree, some disagree, some are neutral... That means I've done something right!
7448482 Now you have an excuse to not go into work! "I've got a bad case of whiplash... from reading!"
7448745 I don't know if it takes magical, talking ponies for a divorce to happen amicably. Lovey's parents are happy, so why should she be in despair over their divorce?
7449166
I just, uhhhh... Well, I'm having trouble sorting through what I would hope an understanding parent's reaction would be versus what my greater knowledge is as the reader. I keep feeling like, since they know her so well, they'd at least have done more to sort through his obvious confusion before tossing up their hooves. They know she comes on strong and is sensitive. They've seen his hesitation and lack of... overt refusal. It just leaves me disappointed that even so, that was that.
But I dunno'; I've got three stories on my mind at once.
7449166
Would you ever use that excuse yourself?
7449166
Keep in mind that I'm biased and jaded, having watched my own parents go through a rather...unpleasant divorce, and aren't on what I'd call the best of terms. All I'm saying is that to make a marriage work it takes more than "true love" or a "soulmate". Love means you put effort into the relationship. We choose to love people, despite their faults.
7449362 Of course it does—a story told through a few hundred words does not encompass years of marriage, or how the entire situation actually, fully went down in reality. Lovey has an optimistic or naive view of relationships, and that's why things aren't instantly working with Magnate. That's kind of the point of this story.
7449368
And it has been a good read. I love your stories, and am eager to see where they all go.
Between this heavy chapter and your story All That Glitters, I spent all day yesterday in a funk. Too much unrequited love for one day...
I still enjoyed reading them, but in a, drown yourself in liquid-loneliness sort of way.
I feel safe in this corner, with my Applejack plushie, and my box of tissues.
7446882 I'm with you being with Magnate. Even if he and Lovey aren't to be together, he at least discovered that he doesn't want to be alone. Now, even if Lovey and him don't work out he can date and find somepony that fits him better.
The funny thing I've found with long-term relationships though is that "fits with" and "similar to" do not mean the same thing. So realistically this still has a chance to work out.
:3 and I'm in the minority of the comments it seems i feel magnate is in the right here :/
AAaaaaahhhhh Cliffhanger
Enjoying it though!
7453937 I agree, Lovey should have been a bit more tactful around a neigh-sayer (somepony who doubts the love lines). Especially since she doesn't have the solid proof (seeing the love line) that she usually has. On the other hand, he did allow the obvious misunderstanding to unfold without trying to rectify it. At least not until after Lovey stormed off.
When I was in college, my fishing friends had a term for what Magney is going through.
Hooked through the jaw.
Because you're asking her to be double less of herself, Magnate, you miserable bugger.