Auntie Tia's Matchmaking Service

by Shaslan

Chapter 20

Lustre Dawn rolled over in her bed, a detritus of soiled tissues and fast food wrappers tumbling in a minor avalanche to the floor as she moved. She reached for another tissue, but the box was empty once more. She pushed it away from her in disgust, and it clattered to the crystalline floor atop the other rubbish.

Lustre Dawn sighed disconsolately and rested her head on her crossed hooves. She had read all the trashy romance novels that Trixie had been able to procure for her at the library. They too now littered the floor of her bedroom. Lustre had wept huge, snotty tears at the stories of the perfect romances and love stories, something she would never now know. Then she had grown frustrated with her own wallowing and tried to drag herself out of bed, over to her desk to finish the paper she had been writing: ‘On Magical Maladies and their Misuses’. She knew that it was almost guaranteed to be a hit with the other researchers in Canterlot, as well as with the various Equestrian scientific journals, but she just couldn’t make herself focus. Every time she tried to write about Nirnwort Fever and Albion Gaze, the evil mage who had cast the sickness on a whole town six hundred years ago, all she could manage to see was Little Cheese’s big emerald eyes. And then she had burst into tears, crawled back to bed, reached for another box of tissues and a romance novel, and the whole cycle had begun again.

After three days of it, she finally felt like she had cried herself out. She was calm. Numb, almost. When she reached for her emotions, she couldn’t identify any. She just…was. She wondered vaguely if she should take advantage of this lull in the storm and try to get a little work done, but she couldn’t find the willpower required to dredge up the strength to move her legs. She just wanted to lie here and think about nothing in particular.

A hesitant knock on the door roused her slightly, and her ears flickered in the sound’s direction. With a grunt of effort, she managed to raise her head enough to turn it to face the door. “Come in.”

Starlight entered, still wearing her headmare’s outfit, her expression hesitant. “Hello, baby,” she said gently, as though Lustre Dawn were still very young.

Lustre didn’t even bother to roll her eyes. “Don’t call me that, Mum.”

“Sorry, sweetie.” Starlight changed her term of endearment without even blinking.

Lustre Dawn groaned. Mothers.

“Little Cheese was at the door all morning,” Starlight said carefully. “Again. Asking to see you.”

Lustre Dawn groaned louder and buried her head beneath the duvet. “Is she gone yet?” She didn’t want to see Little Cheese, didn’t want to see the pity in the yellow mare’s eyes. She didn’t want to hear Little Cheese say it was over. As long as she managed to avoid that finality, it was possible to pretend everything was fine. Just about.

“She only just left. She did say that if you changed your mind and wanted to see her, you can call round to Pinkie Pie’s shop, or she’d be happy to come back here if you preferred.”

Shaking her head vehemently, Lustre recoiled. “No, Mum! She stood me up in front of all my friends! I don’t want to see her.”

Starlight smiled grimly. “She said she thought you’d say that. She had a letter already prepared. Do you want me to put it straight in the fire, sweetie? Or do you want to give it a read?”

Lustre Dawn dropped her head into her hooves and sighed. Was she going to get dumped by letter now instead? This was all so hard. She had never been ghosted on a date before. And she certainly hadn’t expected the pony who had ghosted her to be going to so much effort to break up with her formally. She didn’t know what the protocol was. What was she supposed to do?

Starlight Glimmer sighed too and put a gentle hoof on her daughter’s shoulders. “Listen, Lustre, sweetie…I think you should read it. You were so, so happy when you were dating Little Cheese. I’ve never seen you like anypony so much. And perhaps she has a reasonable explanation. Or she made a mistake. Everypony makes mistakes, don’t they? And everypony deserves a second chance.”

Lustre Dawn sighed. Her mum was right, she knew. Both her mothers had been given second chances, and that was what had led to her. Even she had been given a second chance at friendship, after years of rejecting it. But all that didn’t make this any less difficult.

She took the letter in her magic. The envelope was unaddressed, and simply said ‘To Lustre’. That made sense, since Little Cheese had delivered it by hoof. But the envelope still looked strangely bare.

Carefully, she tore it open, and pulled the letter out. At the edge of her vision, she could see Starlight tactfully withdrawing, shutting the bedroom door behind her, but all Lustre Dawn’s attention was now on the letter she held.

To my dearest Lustre Dawn, it read. If I even have the right to call you that anymore — I hope I do! — I want to apologise, humbly apologise, for missing our date the other day. I know that there can’t really be any excuse for my behaviour and lack of contact after the fact, but please just let me try to explain. I was up all night the day before our date, baking some of my special miniature chocolate cheesecakes for everypony to try. It’s a bit silly, but I really wanted to make a good impression. I wanted to get it right, so I kept on starting over, and I think in hindsight that I bit off more than I could chew. I was banging around in the kitchen at midnight, and Pumpkin came down to see what was wrong. She offered she’d help me, and said she’d show me this new ultra-freeze spell she’s been working on. We tried it out, but…something went wrong. Pumpkin was holding the cheesecakes in her hoof, but she missed them, and hit her hoof instead. I don’t even know how to describe it — it was horrible! Her hoof was all blue, completely frozen solid, and she couldn’t feel it at all.

Lustre Dawn blinked, horrified. All her resentment and confusion was melting away like the snow in spring. She leaned in to continue reading.

I did the only thing I could think to do, and I put her on my back and galloped for the hospital. There wasn’t any time to tell anypony. Pumpkin kept slipping in and out of consciousness — it was just awful. I stayed all night at the hospital, just waiting for news, and then by the time she came back around it was already past the time when I should have met you and your friends. I really am sorry I missed our date, but I hope you can understand why I did.
Missing you,
Little Cheese.

P. S. — Pumpkin is fine now, just in case you’re worried. The damage from the spell wasn’t as terrible as it seemed, and doctors managed to save her hoof. She can’t walk on it for a few weeks, but nothing more serious than that.

Lustre Dawn put the letter down, her heart thudding. How could she have refused to see Little Cheese? She had been so heartless! She’d had no idea that Little Cheese had been fighting for her friend’s life. Just as Lustre would have done if their positions had been reversed, even if she had known how much it would hurt Little Cheese.

She sprang up, throwing the duvet, the tissues and the crumbs onto the floor all in a tangle. At last, the path was clear! There had been no betrayal, no rejection. Little Cheese wasn’t trying to abandon her!

With a single, joyous bound, she was down from the bed and trampling over the rubbish as she pounded towards the doorway.

She had to go to Little Cheese, to let her know she understood. They could be reunited, like nothing had ever gone wrong. And that was the best thing — Lustre gave a little skip as she kicked her way through the double doors and took off down the hallway at a gallop — nothing had gone wrong! It had all just been a silly misunderstanding. They would laugh about this, someday. It would be a funny story they could tell their foals.

Lustre Dawn skidded around the corner and sprinted for the stairs. Her hooves rang like bells against the crystal floor and a wide grin split her face from ear to ear. The sorrow and deadened sensations of the past few days were blown away like the snow in spring.

Skittering to a halt at the top of the stairs, nearly missing her turning, she span and hurtled down them. A pounding on the castle doors made her freeze, ears pricked bolt upright. Little Cheese was back again!

It had to be her. Who else could it be? Lustre Dawn gathered her magic and with a snap of air, teleported herself to the door. There was no longer any time to waste on such petty, earthly affairs as stairs. She looked up at the huge purple door, her pulse racing. She would throw it open, and Little Cheese would immediately be able to see from her expression how sorry she was and how wrong she knew she had been, and they would fall into one another’s arms—

Lustre Dawn flung the door open, her eyes alight, and then screeched to a standstill.

Standing outside was Cozy Glow.

“I— oh!” Lustre Dawn stammered. She recovered herself a little. “Cozy Glow! I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Cozy Glow offered her a slightly forced smile. “Well, I was in town, and I thought I might drop by and see you.”

“Really?” Lustre was flabbergasted.

Even at the dimly-remembered parties she had accompanied her parents to as a foal, thrown by the Council of Friendship for their assorted friends, she could not remember Cozy Glow ever speaking more than perhaps four consecutive words to her. And those were usually “You’re in my way.”

“Yes,” Cozy Glow said shortly, and then sighed and seemingly forced herself to expand on her answer. “Our parents are such good friends, and Mama always speaks so highly of your mother — Starlight Glimmer, I mean — I thought it was about time we got better acquainted. For their sakes.”

“Oh.” Lustre Dawn was still struggling to change gears and wrap her head around all this. Every bone in her body was screaming to her that she needed to go to Little Cheese, to hold her and heal the rift between them. But Twilight would never forgive her if she abandoned a pony in such obvious need of friendship as Cozy Glow.

She fidgeted her hooves. Could her date with destiny (in the form of Little Cheese) wait even a minute longer? But Little Cheese valued friendship just as much as Lustre Dawn did. She had left Lustre Dawn confused and in pain for the sake of a friend. Friendship sometimes demanded sacrifice; Twilight’s stories about the adventures she had gone on with her own friends showed that clearly. Perhaps offering the hoof of friendship to Cozy Glow was the right thing to do. Perhaps this was the course of action Little Cheese would want her to take.

While Lustre Dawn focused on her internal monologue, Cozy Glow had waited with increasing impatience. Finally, she cleared her throat noisily, making Lustre start and look guiltily back to her.

“Or,” Cozy Glow said pointedly, “I could come back another time, as you’re clearly busy.”

“No!” Lustre Dawn said hastily, her decision made. “No. Not after you came all this way.” She stepped back from the door and said a sentence that she had never expected would pass her lips; “Won’t you please come in, Cozy Glow?”

---

Cozy Glow’s eyes were glued to the board, her every nerve ending alight with anticipation. This was the best game she had played in years. Lustre Dawn was a quick thinker, a strong tactician, an excellent abstractionist. After so many months of stilted, unbearably dull games at the Champion’s Club, against elderly ponies Cozy Glow could have beaten blindfolded and concussed, she finally felt alive.

Lustre Dawn frowned and rubbed her hoof along her chin. Deep in thought. Cozy Glow used the opportunity to study the unsuspecting mare. Peach-pink fur as soft as a whisper. The smooth rounded limbs of a scholar, not an athlete. Big golden eyes that were surprisingly appealing now Cozy Glow actually had the chance to study them in detail. And the long, lustrous mane, all shades of gold and amber carelessly tied back in a ponytail, light bouncing softly off the shining waves. And all topped off with a quick wit, an aptitude for study, and a mind sharp enough to be on the brink of taking Cozy Glow’s lunar princess.

Hmm. Perhaps Lustre Dawn was not the insipid little nerd Cozy had always taken her for.

In the early stages of play Lustre Dawn had seemed a little distracted. She had fidgeted in her chair, looking anxiously at the large clock over the library mantlepiece. But eventually, the insidious spell of the game had drawn her in, calming and focusing her just as it always did for Cozy Glow. She had quietened and leant in to the board, and spoke rarely, focused on her next move. Cozy Glow, in contrast, was focused on Lustre Dawn. She glanced down at the board only occasionally, able as always to calculate almost instinctively the optimal move to make.

She was playing as she normally did. She had never believed in holding back for the sake of an opponent’s feelings; unless of course it was Mama, who only played at all for Cozy Glow’s sake, bless her generous heart. But to her shock, Lustre Dawn was holding her own. She thought for a long time about each option, sometimes mouthing to herself and gently touching different pieces as she assessed her options, but she was still holding her own. And against Equestria’s finest chess player — Cozy Glow did not believe in false modesty — that was no mean feat.

Lustre Dawn, with a little hum of satisfaction, moved her pegasus knight in to engage. Cozy Glow’s mind scrolled through the options available to her. Save the lunar princess, at the expense of both her own unicorn mages and a knight. Sacrifice the lunar princess, and take the pegasus with a unicorn mage. Or abandon the lunar princess and the mages, and try to slip her earth pony warrior behind Lustre Dawn’s defences while her attention was elsewhere.

Cozy Glow felt a little thrill of excitement. For the first time in Princesses knew how long, she was actually playing. More than simply going through the motions to add another joyless victory notch to her belt.

She made her decision and sent in a celestial bishop to support her earth pony warriors. Let the lunar princess fall for the greater good, as was her duty.

Lustre Dawn’s eyes flashed with triumph and she moved her knight onto the lunar princess’ square. Her horn glowed and she lifted the little alicorn piece into the air and placed it beside the board. Finally, she leaned back in her chair with a satisfied air. “I didn’t think I’d be able to do that,” she said conversationally. “I’ve heard stories about how good you are at chess. Auntie Rarity never stops talking about you, you know.”

“Really?” Cozy Glow laughed a little, the first genuine laugh in what felt like a long time. “What does she say about me?”

Lustre Dawn smiled and shrugged. “What does any mother say about their daughter? Praise upon praise; I know mine are the same. But Rarity really loves you — she tells everypony about your court cases when you win too.”

Cozy Glow snickered. “Well, I don’t often lose.”

Though she looked a little surprised at that, Lustre Dawn made no comment. Cozy Glow frowned slightly. Perhaps she was being too candid. Not modest enough. Possibly time to reel it in a little bit.

She used a wing feather to push an earth pony warrior forward again. The solar princess was almost in reach.

Lustre Dawn grinned, clearly seeing the threat, and leant over the board to consider her options. Her hair fell forward across her face and she shoved it impatiently out of the way; an oddly charming, unguarded gesture. Cozy Glow was surprised by how appealing she found it.

On second thoughts…perhaps there was room for just a little more candour.

She toyed with the fallen lunar princess piece. “Well, I was wondering, actually…if you’d like to meet with me again?”

Lustre Dawn looked up from the game, blinking in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Cozy Glow swallowed hard, but summoned her courage. She pulled her usual sardonic smile back onto her muzzle. “Auntie Tia, as she likes to be called, has done sweet buck-all for my love life. So I thought I’d give the old do-it-yourself method a go.”

Lustre Dawn stopped short, her hoof hovering above the board, whatever move she had been about to make forgotten.

Cozy Glow leaned forward, her pulse suddenly thudding loudly in her ears. Her eyes flickered nervously over the other mare’s face, searching for any sign of emotion.

“Well,” Lustre Dawn hesitated. “I’m flattered, Cozy Glow, really, but—”

“—I could take you on a hot air balloon ride,” Cozy offered hastily, not quite wanting to hear the end of that sentence. “I know a really lovely spot in the mountains.”

Lustre Dawn lowered her hooves back into her lap. “I’m flattered, but I’m already — Auntie Tia matched me up with Little Cheese, and I’m…I’m very fond of her.” She blushed prettily.

An ugly red flush spread over Cozy’s own muzzle. “Oh. I see.” She looked back down at the chess board. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinised the pieces, and she let her heavy curls fall across her eyes. What an idiot she had been.

“I’m really sorry, Cozy Glow,” Lustre Dawn sounded genuinely apologetic, and that made Cozy all the angrier. “If I weren’t already…I would absolutely have accepted.” That bit sounded much less genuine. “But perhaps we could still go on a trip together, or for a meal…as friends? Twilight always says friendships can grow out of the strangest of places.”

Cozy Glow’s teeth came together with an audible snap. Twilight Sparkle. Of all the names to have mentioned now. She loathed the sickeningly pure Princess; so twee and trite that every single one of the sheep-brained idiots masquerading as ponies in Equestria had bought into the garbage she peddled — lock stock and barrel.

“Or you could come back next week, maybe, for another game of chess?” Lustre tried again, pushing one of her pawns forward a square as she did so. “I’d be happy—”

“Checkmate,” Cozy snarled, her voice as cold as ice. She pushed her celestial bishop into place, and in the same motion reached across the board to flick Lustre Dawn’s solar princess onto its side.

Lustre Dawn flinched at the harsh clatter of the pieces.

“Less than forty moves to beat you,” Cozy Glow spat. “I think you should study up on your chess theory a little, Princess Lustre Dawn.”

Lustre Dawn recoiled from the vitriol in Cozy Glow’s voice, but Cozy was beyond caring. She shoved her chair back and took wing, hovering for a second to look down at Lustre with disgust. “I wouldn’t waste my time on a second game with you if you were the last pony in Equestria.”

Then she darted for the double doors. She flung them open before her and they crashed against the crystal walls. A couple of left turns, and Cozy Glow was back in the main atrium. She didn’t bother with the enormous front entrance, but flew straight for one of the large open windows. In seconds, she was outside, beating her way skywards, heading for the nearest cloud cover that would block the repulsive little town of Ponyville from her vision once and for all. Canterlot might be bigoted and awful, but at least they didn’t pretend to welcome you in before they turned on you. No, she would never return to this dreadful backwater town. Next time Aunt Fluttershy wanted to see her, she could bloody well come to Canterlot instead.

Comments

[Thyrrnatf]

An interesting developments

[asdtroi8895]

So Cheese actually had a good reason. Thats good to know. Too bad about Cozy's timing. Seems like she still has her issues, I guess she was subjected to lies and shugercoating in her past to elicit this reaction.

[Phantune]

At least cheese is alright.

[BierKeks]

Oof. I feel for Cozy, but didn't she see the date between Luster and Cheese in Canterlot? Hope this delay doesn't cause further problems between those two.

[Boltstrike58]

Cozy Glow is such a tool.

[Lord Legion]

Yeah that’s the sour flavor of rejection, Cozy. Doesn’t taste so good when you’re on the receiving end, huh?

[SisterHorseteeth]

So Luster overreacted. I am willing to grant her a little patience due to her inexperience, but it's a serious red flag on her part of she continues to go into a spiral at the slightest romantic stumble.