Waking up from a Dream

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When she stretched her legs as she woke up, and felt somepony laying right next to her, Starburst needed a moment to figure out why that was. The fact that a pony’s mind was a little bit hazy after sleep had little to do with it; the events that lead to this situation were all crazy.

About a week ago, she and her friends had finished their classes, and on their way out of school they were discussing what they were gonna do for the rest of the day. Whatever plans they had decided upon, however (what they were, Starburst couldn’t remember for the life of her), had to be cancelled. Upon reaching the town square, the group soon got involved - mostly by Starburst - with the commotion started by a mysterious unicorn around their age, dressed in a cloak and bandana, who stole an apple from their friend’s family stand.

Attempting on catch him had only escalated the havoc. The blue colt proved himself to be extremely agile and surprisingly skilled in magic, and he treated the whole thing as a game, mocking them the entire time. Even after some royal guards had arrived, he still came out on top; he created an explosive doll that knocked out the guards… and nearly killed Starburst’s brother, Night Light. To the unicorn’s credit, he saved both her and Nighty, though she was spared from thanking a pony that had done nothing but make fun of her and her friends by the arrival of her mother. Princess Twilight Sparkle, flanked by Starburst’s dad, Prince Flash Sentry, and her uncle, Spike the Dragon, as well as numerous units of royal guards, attempted to talk the colt into giving up. However, the young unicorn had managed to escape even her, leaving them with only his name - Starfall.

During their fight, though, Starburst had also discovered two things about him. His eyes, initially hidden by a pair of sunglasses, were red with narrow pupils; and even more shockingly, his right flank had been burned off, completely destroying the cutie mark on that side.

Later that day, she had learned from her mother that Starfall was a son of her one-time enemy and a long not-seen acquaintance, Trixie. What’s more, the last time Twilight had seen her was when she had invited her together with her infant son to Canterlot Castle. The knowledge that the two of them had met, even briefly and as babies, had deeply unsettled Starburst back then.

Despite having escaped, mostly thanks to his cunningness and not his skill, Starfall had stayed in Ponyville the next day. His cockiness could have proved to be his undoing, as the Royal Guard, under the command of Starburst’s father and aided by her mother, had prepared a plan to capture him. The plan, however, ended up a failure, as the young colt was left with one unexpected ace in the hole: the knowledge of how to use dark magic.

When Starburst arrived at the scene of the battle to see her father unconscious, she made a vow to personally capture Starfall. The unicorn accepted her words and, as he walked to the Everfree Forest, told her to seek him out the next day.

She had devised her own plan on how to do that and, with the aid of her friends, Starburst was confident that she would succeed. However, as she had analyzed all the bits of information she had on him, she came upon a horrible realization: that his mother had been murdered right in front of him when he was only six.

Though her resolve to capture him had not wavered, Starburst led her friends into the ruins of the Castle of the Royal Sisters, where Starfall had been hiding. There, she had tried to convince him to give himself up. When he had refused, a battle took place, with the lone Starfall on one side and Starburst and her friends on the other. Shortly after it had started, Starfall admitted to have a respect for Starburst, and marked her as his perfect rival, due to their extreme opposites and odd similarities. He had also admitted that as the two of them clashed, he felt more alive and excited than he could remember, something which she had felt as well. In the end, after a few bizarre scenarios took place, the battle was won by Starburst and her friends. Her plan had worked, and Starfall had been rendered unable to use his magic for some time.

The triumphant moment was short-lived: almost the second after Starfall was defeated, they were attacked by a timberwolf scouting pack. Though nopony had been hurt, the unicorn they came to catch had used the commotion to escape. Starburst, although still determined to capture him, first made sure her friends had safely made it to a secret underground tunnel that would lead them back to Ponyville before she continued her search. When she had found him, Starfall had been pushed to the edge of a cliff by a horde of timberwolves. Starburst attempted to rescue him, but a loose rock hit her in the head, causing her to lose consciousness and both of them to plummet into the river.

She would have surely died if it weren’t for Starfall. Her enemy had protected her through their swim down the river, pulled her out of the water, gave her CPR to start her heart and breathing again, and then carried her to shelter in a cave once it started raining. He then made a compress for her swollen head from his bandana and had looked for something to eat; but not before tying her up in his cloak, both to keep her warm and to prevent her from attacking him after she woke up. Once she did, Starburst was less than pleased with the situation she was in, but after a short explanation from Starfall, and a meal of berries, she had found her mood had improved.

Until he had sneezed.

Starburst had quickly realized that the colt could die of hypothermia just as easily as she, and that was not something she wanted. Despite being deeply embarrassed, she offered to cuddle with him under his cloak to keep both of them warm.

Starfall said no.

Once she had realized that he was serious, Starburst felt rage overtake her discomfort. She had swallowed her pride, pushed away the anger she felt towards him, and was willing to allow him to breach her personal space, all out of concern for his health… and he had spit on her offer. Starburst hadn’t wanted to live that down, nor had she planned to let Starfall die due to some pride issues. She had wiggled her way free out of his cloak, and pounced on the unicorn.

Once she had him under her hoof, a lightning bolt had shot outside, letting her see what the darkness hid, and what was formerly concealed by his clothes and the mask of confidence he wore when he was able to use magic.

What Starburst had seen was a scarred, tortured and abused colt.

She remembered how she tried to process the sight of his scars, from the whips on the back and chains on the neck, or the sight of his tail pressed tightly against his nethers protectively, knowing that he reflexly, in his defenseless state, feared abuse… how he cowered in fear of her… how she had made him relive his worst fears… and she broke down. Starburst started crying, the magnitude of what Starfall had suffered in his life, no longer than hers, hitting her hard.

And it was Starfall who made her stop crying. The colt that had been her enemy had tried to make her stop crying, to cheer her up. In that moment, though she hadn’t said it, Starburst could only admire Starfall.

Now understanding what was stopping him from accepting her offer - that his years of abuse had made him afraid of another pony’s touch - Starburst pleaded with him to reconsider. Though reluctantly, Starfall had agreed, and they both laid against each other, using his cloak as a blanket. However, once their bodies touched, Starburst felt just how cold he was and decided to wrap her wing around him.

Hoping to make him relax, Starburst had talked to him, and during their conversation she had revealed, although somewhat reluctantly, what her mother told her. Starfall was shocked like her to know that the two of them had played together as foals, but he had a much easier time accepting it. They had both relaxed (as Starburst felt awkward and embarrassed about sleeping with a colt, let alone the one she had fought just a few hours ago), and the next thing she knew, they’d started a tickling fight. Starburst couldn’t recall what exactly she had been thinking during it, other than how… fun it was. But she knew exactly what she had been thinking once the fight had ended with her laying on top of Starfall and their noses touching.

Kiss him.

Starburst never knew if she would follow the little voice in her head; the very next instant a lightning struck somewhere outside of the cave, making them both jump into the air in fright. Then they burst with laughter and fell back on their “bed”, neither of them finding the situation awkward or uncomfortable. They went to sleep, with Starburst’s muzzle tucked under his chin.

When she woke up, he was gone.

The following days had been probably the worst days of her life. Having been found and rescued by her mother and others upon awakening, Starburst had been left to worry about Starfall and had tried to understand why he had disappeared. Also, the knowledge of what he had to endure through his life had nearly caused her to suffer from depression. She became impassive to everything around her, and she had often dozed off.

Her friends, concerned about her wellbeing and determined to discover what had happened to her, had tried to hold an intervention. None of them, however, would know how effective their display of a complete lack of boundaries would be, as after just a few minutes somepony that nopony expected had appeared. Starfall.

Just hearing his voice brought Starburst back from normal. As such, she had almost immediately become pissed at the colt, for both leaving and for his attitude. The fact that her friends were watching the entire exchange between them had only served to annoy her further.

Starburst’s mood had changed, however, the moment Starfall - after a comment made by Annie, a blind unicorn with a kind heart and a peculiar sense of humor - had, in a rather disturbingly casual manner, revealed to her friends his scars and story in short. Afterwards, much to Starburst’s shock, he told them that he was trying to turn over a new leaf, and he was putting on a magic show for the entire town the next day by nightfall. Having invited them, he said his farewell.

But that wasn’t the last Starburst had seen of him that day. A few hours later, already late into night, Starfall came to visit her, saying that he wanted to talk. Starburst let him into her room, and had been surprised by him awkwardly asking if he had annoyed her too much earlier, saying that he had been nervous with her friends there. She had protested, as her friends ‘intervention’ had gotten much more on her nerves. The two of them talked for a brief moment then, and before Starburst had realized it, Starfall was asking her out on a date.

She had listened to him explaining himself, as well as him saying that he understood that she was probably going to say no, and, although she had some reservations, she told him that she would like to go on a date with him.

Her mind still shrugging off the effects of sleep, Starburst hugged Starfall tighter, smiling as she remembered how he had kissed her, too happy by her saying ‘yes’ to bother with thinking. Of how she asked him to sleep beside her, as he had no real home. Of how he…

Wait, Starburst interrupted her own train of thoughts. What is that?

She moved the wing with which she was hugging Starfall, groping his body. There was something wrong, but she couldn’t put her hoof on what that was.

“Star?”

His voice… his annoying, cocky voice that she hated and loved so much...

“Hmm?” she replied sleepily, reluctant to open her eyes, even as she continued to feel up Starfall’s body with her wing, determined to figure out what was it that she sensed to be wrong.

“Remember the promise we made back in the cave?” Starfall asked.

Starburst smiled. Of course she remembered. Just before they had fallen asleep - well, at least she had; not even Luna knew what Starfall’s sleeping pattern looked like - Starburst had pressed her muzzle against the scars on his neck, and her wings and hooves were touching the ones on his back and the edge of his burned off flank. Angered at what somepony had done to him, she swore that she would protect him.

Starfall, in return, had promised her to keep her smiling.

“Of course I remember,” she said fondly.

“Well, now you’ve got a chance to make good on it.”

His casual statement made Starburst perk her ears up. Okay, what? She finally opened her eyes and looked at him.

Her eyes went wide as she realized what was the reason why something felt off.

The blue unicorn was still laying beside her, as he was when they had fallen asleep, wrapped by her wing. However, instead of facing her, Starfall had rolled over a bit too so that now he laid on his back… and there was something white between him and Starburst’s wing.

Snow, her pet albino ferret, had wiggled himself between the two of them, and he was now standing atop of Starfall’s chest, baring his little teeth at him.

It took Starburst a good few seconds to process what she was seeing, after which she burst with laughter; that sight was just too ludicrous.

“Snow, get off him,” she managed to say through her laughter, though with some difficulty. Starburst grabbed the ferret with her wing and pulled him away from Starfall, sitting up. Snow tried to wiggle himself free, still glaring at the colt with his red eyes. “Stop that, Snow!” she told him sternly, pushing his muzzle gently to make him look at him. “That’s Starfall; he’s my… um...” Starburst stammered, red with embarrassment. “My-”

She wasn’t sure why the words stuck in her throat suddenly. Was it because she was just about to call Starfall her coltfriend (or special somepony, she wasn’t sure where she was going with that sentence)? She just got so… embarrassed at the thought of calling him such in front of somepony, even if it was just her pet.

Thankfully, before she had to finish that sentence, she felt a pair of hooves hug her from behind.

“My hero!” Starfall said cheerfully, nuzzling her cheek.

Now even more red, Starburst turned to look at him. “I somehow doubt you were afraid he was going to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” he replied, blinking with surprise. “That didn’t even cross my mind. I was just losing our staring contest.”

Starburst held back the snicker his joke created and looked back at Snow. The ferret had returned to glaring at Starfall and baring his fangs at him. Just when she was about to berate her pet again, Starburst felt the colt’s hooves grab her tighter, and when she glanced at him she saw that he was returning Snow the favor.

Watching Starfall bare his fangs - a rare characteristic for a pony, a mark along with his eyes of having a hint of dragon’s blood coursing through his veins - Starburst found herself torn between amusement and annoyance. “Are you trying to tell him ‘she’s mine’ or something?” she asked , frowning.

“More like ‘back off’, actually. Oh, and by the way,” he added, smirking, “I think that stutter earlier was cute.”

His comment made her blush return with force. “S-shut up,” she replied. Turning to her ferret, Starburst said: “I know he’s annoying as hell, but I like him, okay?”

Snow glanced at her, making the closest expression on his face to ‘Seriously?’ a ferret could do. He then turned back to Starfall, dooked warningly and wiggled out of Starburst’s wing, heading back to his stuffed kennel.

Her attention was drawn away from her pet by an unexpected peck on her cheek. “Good morning,” she heard Starfall murmur in a much sweeter voice than he usually used.

“Morning,” Starburst replied sheepishly. “How did you sleep?”

“Better than I can remember having slept in a while. Thanks to you,” he purred, giving her cheek another peck. “I owe you one…”

As Starfall continued to nuzzle her affectionately, Starburst grew a bit uneasy. She just… wasn’t used to receiving such attention… Such wonderful attention, she amended as she felt his hooves massage her chest.

“A-aren’t you a little forward?” Starburst asked, red on her face.

She was aware that she had asked the question merely minutes after they woke up after spending a night together - even though they’d actually only slept - and the amusement in Starfall’s eyes told her that he was on a verge of pointing it out. However, he instead stopped his ministrations and pulled back…

And his mouth engulfed her ear.

Starburst frowned and tensed as she felt him nibble on her ear. She enjoyed the kisses and nuzzles before, but she was starting to get annoyed by his constant carasses. “What are you-” she started, but in that very instant she felt something unbelievable: one of Starfall’s fangs scratched her right in her sweet spot behind her ear.

The pegasus moaned, her muscles relaxing instantly. Starburst absolutely loved having her ears scratched, though she didn’t allow just anypony to do that to her. Actually, the only ones she let do that to her - or, in fact, knew at all about it - were her parents. Starburst remembered how she would just be reduced to a purring ball with wings whenever her mom or dad would scratch her there, back when she was younger. Other than them, the only pony who ever touched her there was Starfall, back during their tickle fight in the cave. Back then, he did so by accident, though he had clearly remembered her reaction. Now, though, he was acting with purpose… and instead of his hoof, he was scratching her ear with his fang, which made the experience better by like, a thousand times. Not only because a fang was much sharper than a hoof’s edge, but also because the rest of her ear was in Starfall’s mouth, and, although at first it took her by surprise, she was now enjoying the warmth of it and him nibbling on the end of her ear.

As she melted into his embrace, Starfall uttered an amused purr. He was clearly pleased with her reaction. The unicorn tilted his head to his left, so that his fang could reach further, but as Starburst uttered another moan, something heralded an end to her bliss.

An alarm clock.

Its sound took both of them by surprise. Starburst turned her head to regard the clock, angry at it for pulling her out of her daydream. Starfall, on the other hoof, didn’t react at first, but after a few more precious seconds he let go of her ear and pulled back-

Oh, hell no!

Starburst wasn’t done; she didn’t want the wonderful feeling to end so soon. She whirled around and pushed him back to the bed, determined to prolong their smooching session for as long as possible. She leaned down for a kiss…

And was taken by surprise when instead of a warm pair of lips, hers connected with a hoof.

“Whoa there, Lil’Lioness,” Starfall told her, pushing her back gently. “Aren’t you a little forward?”

It was like a bucket of ice was poured down on her. Starburst pulled back, startled, all her desire gone as she realized what she had just done: she pounced on a rape victim.

“I-I…” she stammered, horrified. “I’m so sor-”

Her apology was cut off by a pair of lips. Starburst’s eyes grew even wider after the swift movement of Starfall, but although she was really confused as to what was going on, she returned the kiss after a second.

“I’m not,” he said once he pulled back. He smiled and winked as he tapped her playfully on her nose. “I’ve just figured that once you’ve calmed down you might regret things done in the heat of the moment.”

Starburst stared at him in shock, then shook her head; he stopped her because he was concerned about her. Though her experiences with colts and romance were less than minimal (well, prior to the last few hours, at least), Starburst was smart enough to know that colts usually didn’t do that.

“Are you sure-” she started, but he again cut her off, though this time by only nuzzling against her cheek.

“Star, our acquaintanceship had basically started by me offending pretty much your entire town and by hospitalizing your father,” her reminded her, wincing at the latter, “and I’ve been forced to endure for several years things unimaginable to most ponies. I think you will quickly find that there is practically nothing I would mind from you, or that I would even bother to grow angry at. My Beloved Nemesis…”

When he mentioned what he had been through, the sick knot in her stomach she felt when she discovered it had returned. But as he purred the nickname he had started calling her, Starburst couldn’t help but smile affectionately, the dark thoughts immediately vanishing.

“You know,” she started, “it’s kinda annoying to hear you be so mature.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry, you will see plenty of me being immature during tonight’s show.”

Something clicked in Starburst head when he mentioned the show. “Oh, right!” she exclaimed, rising from her bed and jumping towards one of her drawers.

Aware of Starfall’s ruby eyes following her, she quickly opened it and took out its contents. “I’ve figured you would want those back for your show.”

His eyes widened. On her hooves rested the dark cloak he wore the day they met, as well as a purple bandana with gold, silver and blue stars on it. He had left both of those behind with her in the cave, leaving with only one of his signature articles of clothing: the zebra beads that he wore on a front hoof, which were enchanted with the power to repel nightmares.

Luna knows he needs it…

“You kept them!” Starfall exclaimed happily, lifting them up with his magic. He threw himself at her, hugging her and kissing her again. “Oh, thank you so much!”

“Of course I’ve kept them!” she replied warmly, a touch surprised that he thought she wouldn’t.

He narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice: “You are so getting the ear scratch of your life tomorrow…” he purred as their noses touched.

A shiver went through her. “A-about tomorrow…”

“I’ll pick you up at ten,” he answered before she could ask.

“Okay…” Starburst murmured. “Then… see you at the show?”

The unicorn nodded, though she caught a glint in his eyes that told her that he wouldn’t mind staying with her. “Yeah. I gotta go and prepare a few things. Um… you don’t mind if I make fun of one of your friends?” he asked uncertainly.

She raised an eyebrow. “Prism?” When he nodded, she added with a smirk: “Go ahead.”

“Thanks.”

“What do you plan to do to him?”

“Please, do you think that I would tell you and spoil the fun?” he winked.

Starburst chuckled as she tried to imagine what he could possible have in store for her friend. Prism Bolt was one of her closest friends, and by far the most annoying one; even if he didn’t hold a candle to Starfall in that department. He was an extremely lazy pegasus, who by a strange twist of fate was born with amazing flying skills, and he spent his days pulling pranks on others - unless he was taking a nap on some cloud.

A little nuzzle against her nose brought her back to the present moment. “Close your eyes,” Starfall told her, and she listened without a second thought. She trusted him.

She felt his lips on hers. They stayed there for a few seconds… and then vanished.

Starburst let out a heavy sigh and opened her eyes. As she expected, Starfall was gone.

Alright, she thought about twenty minutes later, after she was done with her morning routine (a few quick exercises and morning toilet) and headed for the breakfast. Stay calm, try to not talk much, and your family won’t be able to figure out that you are going on a date the next day with a homeless ex-thief who had beaten up your father.

Starburst had to resist an urge to facehoof at how that description sounded.

She knew, of course, that her parents would learn about that date sooner or later, especially since Starfall was going to pick her up, but she really didn’t want to tell them right now. Starburst needed a plan, she had to think carefully how to bring up the subject of Starfall…

Maybe I could do that after his show? she thought as she entered the dining room, expecting to see three ponies: her mom, Princess Twilight, a purple alicorn; her dad, Prince Flash Sentry, an orange pegasus; and her younger brother Night Light, a blue unicorn.

At the table, however, were four ponies.

“Lance?!” Starburst exclaimed at the sight of the light blue alicorn sitting beside her brother. “When did you get here?”

The pony in question turned to greet her with a smile and a wink. Her cousin, Valiant Heart (or Lance as most ponies called him), was the prince of the Crystal Empire, which was on the other side of Equestria. He was also the captain of the Crystal Empire’s guards, and because of that one of the ponies Starburst admired most. Her dream was to become the Captain of the Royal Guard one day, and she used every opportunity possible to learn from her cousin as much as possible.

“Hey Star,” Valiant replied. “Nice to see you too.”

She rolled her eyes and hurried to the free chair beside the table.

“Val had been sent by Cadance and Shining Armor to Canterlot yesterday on official royal duties,” Twilight replied for him. “He’s going to stay with us for a few days.”

“Awesome,” Starburst said, though inwardly she wanted to bash her head against the table due to the terrible timing.

Now she knew she would have to tell them about her date. It would look weird if she would not try to spend as much time as possible tomorrow with her cousin. Or the following days, for that matter; although she wasn’t sure if Starfall had anything planned… Trying to not think about it for a moment, Starburst turned her attention to the slices of bread and other foodstuff.

“Aunt and Uncle had been telling me about what happened over a week ago,” Valiant said as she grabbed everything on the table that was within her reach. “Sounds like it was quite exciting, huh?”

Oh, Celestia, right off the bat… she thought as she nodded carefully.

“That Starfall guy…” Lance continued, turning to her mom. “Do you really think that it was a good idea to give him a pardon for his crimes Auntie? Especially when he wasn’t even brought to the court?”

Before Twilight could reply, Nighty decided to cut in. “But if mom hadn’t pardoned him, he wouldn’t be putting a magic show for Ponyville tonight!”

The three oldest ponies around the table looked at the youngest, shocked. This time Starburst did facehoof.

Her mom was the first to recover. “Excuse me… what?” she asked, her eyes going between her foals.

Deciding to get most of it over with, Starburst replied: “He came back yesterday, said hi to me and my friends, apologized for being a jerk, said he was putting a magic show for Ponyville as his way of apologizing, and then disappeared again. Apparently he already made the arrangements with Mayor Mare. Oh, and he said he stopped stealing.” she added, reaching for a cup of tea.

“Huh,” Twilight commented, regaining her composure. “I can’t say I expected things to turn out this way… still, I’m glad to hear that Starfall has decided to change. Although I can’t help but worry…”

“Worry?” Flash Sentry asked. “About what?”

“Well, for one thing, where is he staying?” she replied, then turned to Starburst who was still drinking her tea. “Do you know where he slept last night?”

The contents of her mouth were violently ejected across the table. “W-w-wha-a… how would I know that?!?” Starburst stammered after she had spitted out her tea.

Her family was looking at her with surprise. “I was just wondering if he had mentioned to you yesterday,” Twilight replied, blinking.

“W-well he hadn’t!” she said, then she noticed she had done so too fast. Wincing inwardly, she buried herself in the next loaf of bread.

She was painfully aware of her family giving her quizzical looks, but thankfully her mother shook her head and resumed talking. “Starfall might be used to not having a home, but such life isn’t good for any pony, much less one of his age.”

“So what do you propose?” Flash Sentry asked, shrugging. “I doubt a pony like him would want to be sent to an orphanage, let alone talk about his housing or lifestyle.”

Twilight rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe… if we could invite him for a tea after his show…”

Starburst made a mental note to bash her head against the wall later. Repeatedly.

“I’m sorry, Auntie,” Valiant started, “but haven’t you said that his father was-”

“I’ve said Spike thinks so,” Twilight interrupted him. However, it was clear from her expression and tone that she trusted her former assistant’s opinion. “Also, even if that was true, I thought Shining Armor and Cadance had taught you better than to judge a pony based on who their parents are,” she added with a disapproving glare.

Starburst let their conversation carry on without her as she lost herself in her thoughts. She knew well who it was that Uncle Spike had suspected of being Starfall’s father, and why his identity had alarmed Lance. King Sombra, the Tyrant King of the Crystal Empire, whose magic caused it to vanish for a thousand years after his defeat at the hooves of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Uncle Spike wasn’t just basing his guess on Starfall’s affinity for dark magic, which was widely considered to be the signature of King Sombra. The dragon happened to see, for a brief moment, the unicorn king’s eyes without the aura of dark magic affecting them. It happened a few decades ago, when Starburst’s mom and her friends, along with Uncle Spike, had helped Aunt Cadance and Uncle Shining Armor find the Crystal Heart after the Empire had returned and saved it from the Tyrant King.

Those eyes were red with narrow pupils, exactly like Starfall’s. That and the fact that they also both had fangs…

When asked, Starfall had neither denied nor admitted whether the guess was correct. He never knew his father. Trixie, his mother, had raised him by herself, and whenever he had tried to ask, she waved off his questions. With her dead, there was no way of telling whether it was truth or not.

I am going on a date with a homeless ex-thief who had beaten up my father, knows dark magic, and is possibly a son of tyrant who used to run the kingdom ruled by my aunt and uncle, Starburst summed up, putting away her plate. Telling my parents about this will be interesting, to say the least…

“Hey Star?” her cousin asked her; apparently, he and her mom and dad had already finished their talk. “I should be done by tomorrow with my duties; do you wanna go practice some battle moves?”

“Um…” she stammered. “I… I would like to, but I can’t.”

Think of something, think of something, think of something...

“‘Can’t?’”

“I… I’m hanging out with my friends,” Starburst said, and when Valiant’s eyes grew wide in shock she realized her mistake.

Think of something better, think of something better…

“I had a bet with Candy,” she said; at least she didn’t need to fake embarrassment. “I lost, so I have to hang out with them. ‘Them’ being my girl friends,” she added hastily, before her cousin could ask if he could join in. “We’re supposed to do… you know, girly stuff.”

“You doing girly stuff?” Lance asked, the snorted. “Sweet Celestia… by all means, go do that.” he added as he started laughing his tail off.

As her brother joined in, and her parents smiled from behind the cover of their hooves, Starburst pondered the hopelessness of her situation. She couldn’t admit to her ferret that she was dating Starfall, she was too embarrassed. How embarrassed would she be when her family found out? Or her friends?! They had no boundaries, of course they would find out…

That secluded place Starfall is taking me, she thought as she rubbed her temples, I wonder if I could just go and live there...

Lack of Boundaries

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“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... kinda… going 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?

Getting to Know One's Audience

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“You’re all crazy!”

“Right, we’re crazy,” Candy replied sarcastically. “Going out with an arch-rival of your ex for whom you obviously still have feelings for is totally normal.”

As Whirlwind groaned, Starburst felt like echoing her. All she wanted to do was get back home, away from her friends. After they had finally stopped pestering her with advice as to how she should behave at her date with Starfall, she hoped she would finally be free. However, after the few obligatory teases, Annie, Candy and Claire had turned their attention to Whirlwind. Starburst, as a good friend, was demanded to stay as well, even if she didn’t have much to say.

She let her mind wander as the others discussed just why they considered Whirlwind’s behaviour to be silly. The advices she had received, while probably useful on a normal date, were of little use for her. Starburst had no idea just where exactly Starfall was planning on taking her, but it was most certainly not a cinema, coffee house or a restaurant, neither was it any sport event or a celebration of some kind (unless somepony had added a new holiday to the calendar when she wasn’t looking). No, Starfall was taking her to some secluded place, where nopony would interrupt them and she could work out, for example.

Starburst also didn’t know what Starfall was hoping to do on that date. Was his plan for her to practice while he would laze about? That didn’t seem quite like him… and the idea of him working out alongside of her also seemed unrealistic. Although Starburst could easily believe that his near perfect sense of balance and agility came after years of practice, it was a different sort of workout that she would be doing.

Despite not knowing what to expect, she wasn’t nervous. Well, too nervous; this was, after all, her first date ever. However, Starburst had gotten to know that troublesome unicorn well enough to know that he wouldn’t have asked her out if he wasn’t confident to make the date enjoyable for her as well.

Which was why she was really looking forward to tomorrow… despite some of the advices she had received from her friends.

The first date serves for getting to know your significant other, Claire told her, about half an hour ago. Ask each other about your interests, goals, dreams, past-

Yeah, great advice, Starburst thought, resisting an urge to facehoof. Should I first ask about his past, or maybe his family? She sighed. I suppose I could ask him about how he got that cutie mark... and try not to think about how he felt when he burned out the one on his right flank…

As problematic as that part was, it wasn’t the worst of it. Learning about a significant other would mean that he would be asking questions as well.

Even though they had gotten to know each other fairly well during this crazy week, Starburst knew that he couldn’t have picked up on every detail of her personality. And due to him interacting with her mostly when she was fighting him (Or cuddling, she thought, almost blushing), he hadn’t seen the side of her that some of her friends often summarized as “buzzkill”.

Well, he did call me that one time at school… she thought, scratching her head. But… when he discovers just how serious I usually am about training and becoming a guard… will he think I’m boring?

“Star?”

Hearing her name pulled her out of those unpleasant thoughts. Starburst shook, and saw that while she was pondering, her friends had finally stopped their discussion and had raised from their seats.

“We’ve finished talking,” Annie continued; how she knew she wasn’t listening was something Starburst could only guess at. “Thought you might wanna know.”

“Finally!” Starburst commented, jumping out of her seat and stretching. “Decided anything interesting?” she asked, looking at the others; Whirlwind was red on her face, Claire looked annoyed, and Candy amused.

“Not really,” Whirlwind started.

“Well, Wind admitted that she might have some feelings left for Prism, but it doesn’t matter as he is dating Nidra right now,” Annie cut in. “And that she wasn’t using Hot Head as a means of revenge, he simply had asked her out two days ago and yesterday on his own. Whether he is using her to get back on Prism for something due to their silly rivalry is a mystery for the moment and will not be brought up during our camping trip, which will start the day after tomorrow.”

“Thanks Annie,” Whirlwind said, glaring at the blind unicorn with annoyance.

“No problem!” Annie asked cheerfully, smirking.

Starburst shook her head, heading towards the door of the shop. “I said interesting.”

One of her friends - probably Annie - chuckled at her words, but Whirlwind bristled. “Do you wanna talk about your oh so interesting love life?”

“No,” Starburst replied, glaring at her. She stopped by the door, waiting for others. “Neither mine, nor yours, or anypony’s. You dragged me here, remember?”

“Oh, c’mon Star, it was fun!” Candy exclaimed, bouncing towards her while others simply trotted.

“Closing the shop already?” Starburst asked Claire, who was also walking as if about to exit her shop.

“Well, considering how it’s only a few hours before your coltfriend’s performance,” Claire accented the ‘coltfriend’ part, making Starburst blush, “and I already lost some precious hours, I might as well call it a day. You’re gonna get used to calling him that, darling.”

“S-shut up,” Starburst murmured, opening the door…

… and blinking as she saw her brother, Candy’s sisters, Claire and Echo’s respective cousins, as well as Del’s cousin Api, all standing before the Hearthfire Jewelry, with balloons full of water in their hooves in in the baskets around them.

Api, a white and brown earth pony with reddish mane and pink bow on her tail, who was the smallest of the group, pointed a hoof at Starburst and the others, yelling: “Attack!”

Before Starburst could process what was happening, the kids threw their ammunition at them…

… she briefly felt a strange sensation, as if something was pulling her through a very narrow space…

… and she was no longer amongst her friends, but rather, on a roof of a nearby building.

“Would you like something to drink?” a familiar voice asked, though it was nearly obscured by the sounds of water balloons exploding and shrieks of four mares.

Starburst looked at Starfall, who was laying beside her on the edge of the roof, overseeing the wet carnage. He was levitating two juice boxes, one that he was drinking and the other which he was offering her.

It didn’t take a genius to put the two together. “You made them throw water balloons at them,” Starburst said, laying beside him and accepting the juice box.

She looked down at the scene below; the army of squirts had forced her friends back into the shop. Claire had tried to close the door with her magic, but Pixel Bit threw a balloon right at her horn when she was channeling magic. Annie, who would have been of more help had it not been for the missile that must have struck her similarly (as there were some plastic scraps hanging from her horn) was using Whirlwind as a shield. Candy, after the initial shock, was laughing… that is to say, until Nighty’s balloon hit her right in her face. The little kids moved their battle into the shop, much to Claire’s terror.

Starfall nodded in reply to her question and smirked. “It’s amazing what your brother and his friends - well, aside from that blue pegasus, he said he was ‘too cool for something so foalish’ or something - will do for a stranger when he offers them bags of candies.” He looked up and poked his chin. “Wait, that came out wrong. You might want to talk with them about this,” the unicorn added.

“Oh, I will have a talk with my nerdy brother alright, don’t you worry…” Starburst replied grimly; she wouldn’t have been in this mess if the little twerp wouldn’t report everything she would do or say to Candy like some sort of a spy.

“Ough, sounds serious,” Starfall observed as she poked the straw into the juicebox. “I assume he had something to do with that kidnapping I bore witness to and came to claim vengeance on your behalf?”

“Yeah,” Starburst replied. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” the colt retorted, smirking. “It did cross my mind that you aren’t exactly a damsel-y type; unlike another pegasus we both know.”

Starburst was glad she hadn’t yet taken a sip of the juice, because she was certain she would had spilled it just know. She recalled with amusement how Starfall had taken to calling Prism “Damsel”, due to him being a villain and her being a “Knight” when they first met. Which, of course, annoyed the pegasus colt to no end.

“But I figured that you wouldn’t want to hurt your friends,” Starfall continued, turning back to the shop; though they couldn’t see what was happening anymore, they could still hear water splashing and angry shouts from the older ponies, “so I decided it would be fun to pull some innocent vengeance on them for you. Besides,” he added, rolling his eyes, “considering what had happened the last time somepony I cared about was tied up, I sort of felt obliged to do something.”

His last comment caused Starburst to feel two conflicting emotions. On one hoof, she felt sad as he brought up his troubled past; on another, however, she felt as if something fluttered in her stomach when he mentioned that he cared about her.

Unsure how to respond, she took the straw into her mouth and took a sip…

… and her eyes shot wide open as a familiar, delicious flavor hit her taste buds.

She pulled the juice box a bit further from her face so she could look at it. As she had realized, the box said “watermelon juice”.

Watermelon - Starburst’s favorite fruit. No, not just fruit; it was her favorite food.

Starburst looked at Starfall, to see him smiling at her. “How did you know?”

He shrugged. “I asked your brother. Had to promise I will teach him some magic trick in my spare time in return. Oh, and don’t worry - I asked about it in a way that suggested you were pissed at me and I needed to sooth you in order to talk about something.”

Starburst wasn’t about to say anything, but when he mentioned it, she felt relieved - it wouldn’t do any good if Nighty would tell her parents that the ex-criminal had asked about their daughter’s preferences when it comes to cuisine.

“Which brings me to my next point: embarrassed to mention me to your parents?”

Unlike what happened in the morning, this time Starburst, instead of spitting out the liquid she was drinking, had choked on it. Starfall patted her on her back, helping her catch her breath.

“N-no…” she stammered once she could speak, feeling very nervous. “I don’t… w-well, I just, um…”

She stopped once she realized that she could hear Starfall chuckle. Starburst looked at him, confused.

“Star, don’t worry, it’s okay,” he said, smiling. “I think I understand. Also, truth to be told, I’m sort of relieved actually.”

“R-really?” she asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I mean, until a few days ago, I was a wanted criminal, I made fun of your mother publicly, and used dark magic against your father,” he counted. “And if they would learn out of the blue that their daughter is going out on a date with me? I do like that, despite all the things that sick bastard put me through, I still have my b-” Starburst blinked, surprised, as Starfall instantly covered his mouth before he could utter that last word… until she realized what that word was going to be. Then she blushed, about as embarrassed as he. He coughed and smiled awkwardly: “Good moment to recall I’m talking with royalty, huh?”

She jabbed him with a wing. “If you start treating me like one, I will hit you.” Starburst said, though half-playfully.

“Oh?” Starfall replied in the same tone. He scootched closer to her. “Then how should I treat you, Lil’Lioness?” he asked, taking her hoof into his.

A part of her became self-aware just how this must look, and was about to move away, before anypony would see them… but she quickly calmed down that part, realizing that nopony could see them up on the roof.

“Well…” she started slowly, her heart beating faster. She slid her wing across his back, embracing him. “You could start where you left off in the morning…”

The last words she said quietly, barely above a whisper. As much as she… enjoyed this weird sensation she was now feeling, she was still nervous. The fact that they were in a public place wasn’t helping.

Starfall smiled and leaned closer, whispering: “My Beloved Nemesis…”

Starburst also leaned towards him, closing her eyes-

“Sweet Celestia, it’s really true!”

Both ponies sprung away from each other, startled by the voice. Starburst shook her head and turned towards the source…

Prism.

The dark blue pegasus was hovering in the air above them, his face a mix of consternation and amusement. Beside him was T, also in the air, though obviously not as comfortable as Prism. Whether it was because of what they caught her and Starfall on doing, or simply because of being in the air, Starburst didn’t know.

“Prism!” she growled, both embarrassed and angry. “The hell do you want!?”

She could scarcely remember the last time she was this pissed at him. Prism, along with Candy, was the top prankster of Ponyville; that, and he was also annoying and lazy. Because of that, he and Starburst rarely saw eye to eye in the past. And although she could easily kick his tail, or simply intimidate him, Prism continued to make fun of her from time to time, as his superior agility and speed allowed him to escape from her. Most of the time.

Readying herself to spring at him when he would get too close, Starburst gnashed her teeth while he smirked. “Well, T and I were wondering where you girls had run off to. I gotta say, while I had expected to see that you ditched them, it was quite a surprise to see you have some lovey-dovey time in the middle of the town.”

Her cheeks were burning with shame as he mocked her. She looked over to Starfall, but though she noticed a slight blush on his face as well, he was looking calmly at Prism.

T, on the other hoof, looked really awkward. No doubt he wasn’t taking well being so long without Annie; the two were inseparable. Also, knowing him, he was probably almost as embarrassed about this situation as she was.

Forcing her voice to sound more gentle than she felt, Starburst turned to him. “Annie should be in your sister’s shop.”

He brightened up and flew down at once, leaving Prism behind. The pegasus looked a bit disappointed to lose his company, but he shrugged it off. “So, can I start singing ‘Star and Star, sitting on a tree-ee’?”

“Sure,” she growled, “I will even do you a favor and help you raise your voice by an octave or two…”

“Yeah, I don’t see that happening,” Prism replied, surprisingly smugly considering just what she warned him she would do. “You wouldn’t want your parent’s to know about you swooning over the little thief over there, wouldn’t you?”

Starburst gasped as he pointed at Starfall, too shocked to even reply. Before she could find a proper description of what she was going to do to him if he would tell them (which included a few things she had a feeling were not physically possible), Starfall took a step forward and smiled.

“Didn’t take you for a snitch, Damsel,” he said casually.

“Well, it’s not something I usually have to resort to,” the pegasus retorted, frowning briefly hearing the nickname. He quickly recovered, though, and returned to smirking. “But, in order to preserve my hide from more violent friends who have no sense of humor and are unable to laugh at themselves, I sorta have to.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Starfall agreed, nodding. When Starburst looked at him with disbelief, he winked at her. “But tell me, Prism, are you familiar with the saying: he who laughs gets cut in half?”

Wait, what? Starburst thought, looking at Starfall.

“Ye- wait, what?” Prism asked, tilting his head.

“He who laughs last laughs best,” Starfall answered, his face neutral. “Did you hear this saying?”

Prism continued to look at him with confusion, but he must have decided he heard him wrong. “W-well, yeah, sure I heard it. What about it?”

“Oh, nothing , just wanted you to be in two.”

“What?!” Prism asked again, and this time his eyes were wide.

“To keep that in mind,” Starfall replied calmly. He raised an eyebrow. “Is your hearing okay?”

“I-I,” Prism stammered. “Y-yeah I just... thought I heard you say something different.”

“Really? Oh well, I’m sure it was the wind,” Starfall said dismissively. “Anyway, Prism, you’re gonna split.”

Starburst doubted if he could convince him this time he misheard. “WHAT?!” he shouted, beginning to sweat.

She also doubted how long she would be able to stop herself from laughing.

“I said ‘I gotta go’,” Starfall said, sounding impatient. “Seriously, go check your hearing.” He turned to Starburst and smiled. “See you at my show?”

“Of course,” she replied, and, taking advantage that Prism was still processing what had happened, she leaned closer to Starfall and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re not really gonna hurt him, right?” she asked in whisper, just to be sure, having realized what he intended to do to Prism during his show.

“No, I just plan to give him a little scare,” he replied in the same tone, kissing her cheek. Then, as if fearing she wouldn’t believe him, he added: “I swear by my mother’s soul.”

Before she could assure him that she trusted him, he pulled away, waved to Prism, winked to her, and disappeared.

“S-s-starburst,” Prism stammered. Starburst turned to him; the pegasus wassmiling nervously. “He didn’t mean.. you know, those things he said?”

She managed to keep her face neutral long enough to turn around. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” she said, stifling a laugh.

She spread her wings and flew back home before he could ask her again. Once she was certain she left him several miles away, she landed heavily on a cloud and started laughing.

“Come on, sis, we don’t want to be late!” Nighty exclaimed excitedly as he all but bounced around them.

Starburst, still angry at him, bit back a retort and started trotting a bit livelier. As she didn’t want to be grounded tomorrow, she had decided against pressing the little twerp on what he’s been telling to whom. Also, there was a risk that he, and later by extension, their parents, would have been interested as to why she was angry at that certain bit of information he gave to Candy.

Though if she was to be honest, it was the fact that he told Starfall what kind of fruit was her favorite was what had tipped the scales for her.

Which was also why she didn’t lash out in anger at him as he hastened her up, fearing what she could say in rage. As to why she was trotting slowly when they were heading towards the stage Starfall had prepared for his show in the town’s square, the answer was simple.

Their parents where coming with them as well.

Based on what Starfall had told her, she doubted he would do anything to suggest that they’re going on a date tomorrow (even if it would have fit his character to create gigantic letters in the sky with his fireworks that would announce this). However, she was afraid that either she or her friends - who, as she had learned, were also coming with their parents - would let something slip, and her parents would learn everything.

Okay, calm down, she thought to herself, falling a step behind them. Just be careful about what you say. And the others… as much as annoying they are, they probably do realize what it could mean to me, so they will watch out… right?

“Is something wrong?” her mother, Princess Twilight, glanced at her, concerned.

“No, nothing!” Starburst replied, a little bit too quickly. She cleared her throat and spoke more calmly, “Why would you think something’s wrong?”

“You seem worried.”

“W-well…” she mumbled, thinking quickly of an excuse. Luckily, a very good one was hopping around: “I’m sort of worried why Nighty is so… excited.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” a familiar voice rang behind them. “Nighty had been riding Sugar Rush all day.”

Starburst almost fell hearing that. Her parent’s reaction wasn’t any more collected. She looked back at Annie, trying to process what she heard. The blind unicorn was trotting together with her mother, Fluttershy. If her brain had been working properly - rather than spending its resources on blocking an image of her brother “riding” one of Candy’s sisters from appearing in her head - Starburst might have wondered how they managed to catch up with them without her noticing.

“Annie!” Miss Fluttershy gasped, blushing with embarrassment.

“What?” Annie asked, oblivious. She made a great show of looking around at all ponies, as if she wanted to see their shocked expressions. “Starfall gave him and the other kids bags of candies for attacking us with water balloons. It’s normal he would be a bit hyperactive after eating them, right?” She paused to put a hoof to her chin. “Wait, I’ve said ‘been riding on a sugar rush’, haven’t I?”

Starburst, who was the most experienced when it came to Annie’s comments, managed to say: “No, you haven’t.”

“Ah, now I see how you might have gotten confused,” she said, faking innocence.

“What’s the matter?” Nighty asked, looking at everypony with confusion. “What does it mean when you say it without ‘on a’?”

Before anypony could figure out how to best answer that to an eleven year old, their mom stepped closer to Nighty. “Wait, why did Starfall ask you to throw water balloons at your sister and her friends?”

“Um…” the young unicorn stammered, realizing that he might be in trouble. “He said he wanted to talk with Star in private about something.”

Twilight glanced at Starburst, surprised. She winced mentally, although she was prepared for this possibility.

“He even asked me what kind of juice would she like the most, because he was afraid she might be still angry at him,” he brother added.

Flash Sentry chuckled. “I would have thought him more clever to think that she just might be still angry with him.”

You’re really not making my life easy right now, Dad…

“May I ask what he wanted to talk about with you?” her mom asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Actually, I was going to bring it up before his show starts,” Starburst started.

“Really?” Annie asked, her voice a mixture of surprise and amusement.

It took every ounce of Starburst’s patience to not turn around and growl “Shut up!” at her.

“He was concerned that you might try to interfere with one of his tricks,” she quickly explained to her mother the made-up excuse she prepared in case Nighty blabbed about Starfall’s request. “Starfall wanted me to assure you that, although it might look dangerous, that trick will be completely harmless.”

And hilarious.

Twilight opened her mouth, but it was her son who asked the question, “What kind of trick would that be?” He even jumped into air in excitement.

Starburst had to cover her mouth to hide her smirk. “Trust me, you’ll know what it is the moment you see it.”

Her mother looked at her thoughtfully, and although she appeared to be a bit concerned, she nodded. “Very well, I will trust Starfall knows what he’s doing during the entirety of the show. And I must admit, I am too curious as to what it could be. Now,” she added, turning to Nighty and frowning, “could you tell me what your father and I told you about accepting gifts from strangers?”

“But mooom!”

Starburst facehoofed. Hard.

“Well, I must say, he has a rather… high self-esteem,” her aunt Rarity commented.

Once they reached the town’s square, they quickly spotted their friends and relatives gathered at the edge of the assembling crowd and went to join them. The scene itself was nothing extraordinary: it was a big, wooden stage, with curtains, and lit up by carefully placed torches.

The poster advertising the show, nailed to a wooden board, was far more extravagant.

It depicted Starfall, with his fore hooves outstretched and fireworks all around him, and read, in a gigantic, neon letters(How the hell did he made a poster with neon letters?!): “COME SEE THE SHOW OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL STARFALL, THE MAGNIFICENT GOD WHO SHINES FOR THOUSAND MILES!!!”

And below it, in smaller and not-glowing ones: “An apologetic show to make you laugh for bringing chaos a week ago. The audience is asked to not participate unless asked. Firebreathing ponies and critters of similar characteristic are asked to not… breathe fire.”

“He actually wrote dots…” Prism’s mom, Rainbow Dash, commented, betraying that she wondered about Starfall’s mentality.

“Really?” her husband, Soarin, asked. “That’s what strikes you the oddest?”

Everypony was talking between themselves about similar things. Starburst’s friends uttered a few giggles and smirks in her direction, apparently amused that she was dating somepony with such a big ego.

Uncle Spike, on the other hoof, looked more angry rather than confused or amused. “‘And critters of similar characteristic’…” he murmured, not happy with the description.

His wife had a different opinion. “Well, that’s what you get for using such crude language,” she said coldly, glaring at him. The dragon winced; Starburst always found it a bit strange how her aunt could so easily talk down to him. “When you get a chance, I expect you to apologise to Starfall for what you said about his mother. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes dear…”

Starburst snorted, her mood improved. In her opinion, she and Starfall were far from being the strangest couple around-

Couple! Starburst gasped in her thoughts, surprised. We haven’t even been on a date yet!

She distracted herself (before she would start blushing) by looking around. There were still several minutes before the show would start. Out of everypony, only three were missing. However, it didn’t take them long to come; just about a minute later, Starburst spotted three ponies approaching: a charcoal earth pony, a dark pegasus, and bluish unicorn. To most around Ponyville, they were known as Coal, Jet Stream and Awestruck, respectively.

In reality, though, they were Illusion, Nidra and Valiant.

Since all three of them were easily recognizable due to their looks (one half-draconequus and two alicorns), Illusion long since started disguising them whenever they hung out using his chaos magic. Of course, Starburst and everypony else near knew them, and they smiled at their sight.

Well, most of them.

“Lulu?” Claire started, frowning.

“Yes Crys?” Illusion in disguise asked, grinning.

“What in the name of your mother have you got on your head?” she asked, glaring at the cylindrical red hat as if it offended her.

Illusion shrugged. “It’s a fez, I wear fezzes now.” he replied calmly. “Fezzes are cool.”

Claire looked at him, unamused and bewildered, for a whole two seconds. She then glanced at her mother, as if for confirmation. Rarity was clearly of the same opinion as her, given by how she shook her head. Claire turned back to Illusion, swiftly grabbed his fez with her claws, and threw it into air.

She was so fast that all Illusion managed to do was say “Ough!” while she opened her mouth and with great precision shot fire at the hat, burning it to crisps.

He looked at Claire, more annoyed than upset. After a second, he elbowed Valiant. “See? This is why I can’t have anything nice.”

“That and I keep stealing from you,” Nidra, who was standing not far away, with a wing wrapped around Prism, said carefreely.

Illusion turned to her, surprised. “Wait, wha-”

An ear-splitting whistle interrupted him. Starburst covered her ears and glanced around, searching for the source of the sharp noise.

She didn’t have to search far. Nor had she needed long to identify the source.

I should have figured, she thought, glaring at Starfall.

The unicorn was standing right next to them. If by “standing next to them” one could mean “lying on his back on the wooden board, with one forehoof next to his mouth and the other behind his head and his eyes closed”. How he managed to lay on it without falling down, Starburst had no idea. His sense of balance was beginning to question the laws of physics.

Starfall kept whistling for few more heartbeats. He finally stopped and removed his hoof. “You mind?” he asked, opening one eye and glancing towards Claire. His tail batted against the board, underlining the part of his poster’s print about firebreathing. “I hope you will keep my plea in mind during the show.”

Starburst smirked. “What, afraid others might steal the spotlight?”

He waved a hoof. “Au contraire, mon Petit Ami. I simply do not want a repeat of the Santa Ponyta incident.”

Being a princess required Starburst to learn a few foreign languages, enough to get by at least. As such, she knew just what he called her. “Petit?” she frowned. “First strike.”

Starfall smiled, flashing his fangs. “I didn’t know we were playing,” he said, teasingly.

Despite being a bit irked, Starburst felt herself smiling. Somehow, he always knows what to say-

Annie leaned to her, interrupting her train of thoughts. “You might want to not flirt so openly with your parents nearby,” she whispered.

Starburst winced, and looked at her parents. Luckily for her, they didn’t seem to notice anything. However, her mother was looking at Starfall with confusion. “Excuse me, Starfall… by ‘Santa Ponyta incident’, you wouldn’t happen to suggest that you had anything to do with Prince Blueblood’s mansion catching fire, wouldn’t you?”

“Princess Twilight!” Starfall exclaimed, rising; how he managed to do that without falling… “How dare you accuse me of something which I totally had done?!” he asked, huffing, one forehoof on the spot where his head had been for support.

Starburst’s mom nodded her head in apology. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” she blinked as what he had said registered. “Wait, what?”

But Starfall’s attention was no longer at her. “What’s with the disguise?” he asked, falling on his stomach (still on that thin wooden board) and pointing a hoof at the three masked royals.

Illusion seemed surprised and impressed. “How did you know?”

“Oh please,” Starfall snorted, once again raising. “You might be the son of Discord, but ‘Trickster’ is my middle name. Yep,” he added, raising a hoof to articulate, “Starfall ‘Trickster’ Lulamoon shut up.”

The last one, added without any pause or space, was directed at Prism and Nidra, who were just about to snort.

“Besides,” Starfall continued, not taking any offense, “after everything that obnoxious female put me through, I’ve learned how to sense chaos magic. Plus, your scent stayed the same,” he added, scratching his nose. “You might wanna work on that. Oh, and also, shapeshifting is soo overrated,” he said, stretching his back like a cat (still on the freaking board!)... with a new limb rising from his back.

Everypony stared in shock as a single wing rose from his back, about as long as his entire body.

Starburst’s mom was the first to recover enough to ask: “I-is that a.. How… Did you just…”

“Blew all your minds even before the show started, Princess?” Starfall asked, sitting down and straightening his wing before him. He winked. “Pretty much.”

Before anypony could say anything else, his entire body shimmered. In the next heartbeat, in place of Starfall was a pony-sized blob of water, still shaped like him. Inside of it, there was a single orb, glowing with Starfall’s multicolored magic. He raised his wing to his head, pressing the point that a normal pegasus or alicorn’s wing would have its alula, in a mock salute. “Toodles!”

The orb shot out of the blob of water, which thankfully disappeared rather than splashed all over them. The glowing orb flew towards the curtain of the stage.

Well, this will certainly be interesting...

Welcome to the Show!

View Online

“You know,” Valiant started, “I can understand why Nighty would be so excited about this magic show, but you look as if you are very interested about it as much as he is.”

“Why’s that so surprising?” Starburst asked her cousin (who had Illusion remove his disguise after deciding on staying close to his kin), sitting down at the table with her parents.

She wasn’t sure why Starfall had all those tables and comfortable cushions placed before his stage, but it was even more puzzling as to how he convinced Mayor Mare to have this all done. The stage alone seemed to her as pushing his luck enough. However, the answer came soon enough; waiters from a nearby restaurant Lettuce Souprise You started picking orders for drinks.

Okay, so he also got... ‘sponsoring’ from them? she pondered. She wasn’t sure if she should be impressed or worried. I guess I’ll ask him about how he did that later…

The drinks, though, weren’t free, so it was more probable that Mayor Mare was behind this. Either way, it was nice for somepony to think about letting the audience order something to drink.

“I can’t think of one instance when you had been interested in magic through all the years I had known you,” Valiant replied to her question, using his magic to move the straw in his drink around. “Aside from how the enchantments in the guards’ armor worked and stuff like that, I mean.”

“Well, true,” Starburst replied carefully; her parents were sitting right next to them, so she had to watch what she would say. And besides, she wasn’t sure if she wanted her cousin to know she was in a relationship with Starfall already as well. “But it’s not the magic itself I’m interested in. I’m curious to see how much Starfall had changed. Since, you know, I’m mostly responsible for that, seeing how I first kicked his tail and later got my mom to pardon him for all his crimes.”

“Hmph,” her cousin snorted, looking at the stage. The curtain was still dropped. To kill time before the show would start, ponies talked between themselves at their tables. Nighty was sitting with his friends beside one right next to the stage. Starburst’s friends, though… “Looks like almost all your friends are sitting at tables for two,” Valiant noticed.

Starburst had noticed that, too. With Candy dating Del, Nidra dating Prism, Whirlwind dating Hot Head and her herself now dating Starfall, the only one in her group of friends that was not currently in any form of relationship was June. And Valiant.

Alright, maybe Candy’s on to something… Starburst thought, taking a sip of her drink.

“How about you, Starburst?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Are there any colts you have an eye on?”

For the second time today, Starburst nearly choked on her drink, taken by surprise. Valiant chuckled while her dad patted her on the back. Once she got her breathing back to normal, she glared angrily at her cousin.

Before she could give Valiant an angry retort (like commenting on his unsuccessful love-life), Starburst noticed that the ponies around them had grown quiet. She looked at the stage.

The curtain was lifting.

Once she told her dad that she was fine and poked Valiant to make him stop laughing, Starburst had her full attention on the stage. She watched as the curtain had lifted, revealing in the light of the torches…

… the standing on his hind legs, clad in his cloak and a top hat that obscured his eyes, and using a golden cane as a support Starfall.

Starburst deadpanned. Seriously?

She forced herself to relax. After all, he had warned her that she would see him acting immature…

“♪Muskurate hain yeh♪”

… but he said nothing about singing.

Starfall, his eye still obscured by the top hat, had began singing softly in yet another foreign language.

“♪Tu bhi toh aa muskarale, jagamagate hain yeh, chooker sitare banale, la zameen pe sirpha isa ēka samaya ajaa!♪” he finished, lifting the cane, doing a twirl and throwing his hat in the air at the last line, all which was accompanied by the fireworks that exploded around him.

Being already familiar with his spells and the way he moves, Starburst managed to notice that he cast the spell for the fireworks in the exact moment when the thrown hat hid his horn from the view of the audience.

“Welcome!” he called out, smiling. “Welcome, Ponyville, to the show of the Great and Powerful Starfall, the Magnificent God who- pleh!” he stopped, clearing his throat. “That’s a mouthful. I’ll need to think of a shorter title later. Anyways,” Starfall started again, raising his voice. “welcome! As most of you knew, this show is a form of apology from me to you for what I did over a week ago.”

“If some of you don’t remember,” he said, once again leaning on his cane, “I stole some goods, moved other goods, caused a commotion in the middle of the town, blew a hole in the ground and destroyed a fountain, all while putting lives of several ponies in danger.” Starburst blinked, surprised how quickly he counted down those things. “Since then a lot had changed in my life,” she tensed, alarmed, “but I won’t bore you with all the details.” Starburst relaxed. “Suffice to say that my priorities had changed a bit, and I began to realize that I acted like a jerk. So I decided to try and make it up for Ponyville by what I do best, and that is entertaining!”

Another burst of fireworks surrounded him. “Now, let’s go on with the show… but first things first,” he changed his tone. Starfall smirked, “Though not necessarily in that order. I just want to say that I understand that this doesn’t exactly makes up for some other things I had done. In this town,” he emphasised. “If I were to try an make up for all the days of mischief I had been making this past five years, I would have to put on eighteen hundred and five shows like those.”

“Did he just…” Valiant murmured, pulling Starburst’s attention from the stage, “say the number of days there are in five years?”

“No,” she heard her mom reply, sounding annoyed. “He’s sixteen days short. I’m beginning to have second thoughts about giving him that pardon…”

“Heck,” Starfall added from the stage; Starburst immediately switched her attention to him, “I even ‘borrowed’ this cane right here a few years back when I was in Canterlot briefly,” he said, waving his golden cane in the air; it had a ruby, of all things, on one end, and on the other… Starburst couldn’t tell from this distance, but it looked like a miniature pony head. “Long story. I will probably end up returning it one of those days, given how I am trying to turn over a new leaf. But let’s get back to my more recent crimes,” he said, growing more serious. “I do realize that some of my actions regarding certain ponies require from me a personal, face-to-face apology, and I will be sure to visit them and see if I can somehow atone for that; even if ‘getting hurt in case of incompetence’ is in their job description, but who am I to judge?” Starfall added in a lower voice (though still hearable) and looking to the side.

Starburst didn’t need to think much about it to realize he was talking about the guards he had trapped in their worst nightmare with the dark magic, which included her father. She wondered uncomfortably if he planned to apologize to him before or after her dad would learn about them dating...

As she pondered that, Starfall had recovered. “Of course, there are also those who will not receive an apology, as they say mean things without even thinking about possible consequences.”

Uncle Spike, Starburst rolled her eyes. It’s not as if he had much to apologize to him, anyway…

“Because, seriously, if I would ever resort to such low blows, I would have a bunch of things to say about him alone.” He extended a forehoof from under his cloak. On it, there were a bunch of tiny white cards. “Wrote all those in my spare time sometime around noon,” Starfall added as the cards, one by one, shot from his hoof and flew above his head to fall into his other forehoof.

Starburst quickly looked at her uncle and his family. Spike looked both angry and embarrassed, while Aunt Rarity appeared calm as ever. Claire, who sat a bit away from them with Illusion, seemed to feel the same way her father was, though more angry. T, on the other hoof, sitting at the table with Annie and her mom, was looking between Starfall and his father, concerned.

“Anywho,” Starfall continued, throwing casually the white cards - filled with Celestia knows what kind of comments regarding the dragon that offended his mother - away… right into one of the torches. “I believe that’s all I wanted to say… so on with the show!” he shouted, smiling, and grabbed the edge of his cloak.

As he did so, he began to twirl around, covering himself with the cloth. The very next second, his dark gray cloak erupted into many different colors, and… rendered itself into many tiny parts, that scattered away into the air, leaving an empty space on the stage where Starfall had stood.

What in the… Starburst thought, her eyes on one of the colorful pieces of the cloak as they flew around the amazed ponies. It kinda looks like…

A stifled scream came from the direction where Del and Candy were sitting. There was one thing the big strong stallion feared: bats.

Those are fruit bats, Starburst realized, looking in fascination as the magical critters began circling around the audience. How the heck did he get them from Sweet Apple Acres? Or when did he train them to do… whatever he wants them to do?

Starburst put those thoughts away for a moment, enjoying the show. The fruit bats were flying just above the heads of the assembled ponies (Candy had to hug poor Del), so that they were visible in-

Wait, where did all those lights come from?! Starburst thought, realizing suddenly that in the empty spaces between tables there were small spheres of light now.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were conjured by Starfall, but she had no idea when they had appeared. Was it at the same time his cloak changed into the fruit bats? But… wasn’t he way over there by the stage then, and busy teleporting away?

The fruit bats began dropping small flowers on the tables before each pony.

… Why am I bothering to try to make sense out of it? Starburst wondered as the fruit bats began gathering at one spot above the audience.

Once again, their bodies molded into one shape. Starfall grinned down at everypony, his body whole but his cloak looking as if it was still in the middle of transformation, which could sort of explain how he was hovering in the air. However, that soon stopped, as the spheres of light all rose up, and once they were on the same level as the blue unicorn, they shot at him, causing an explosion of fireworks.

Fireworks and teleporting? Starburst thought, amused, as Starfall re-appeared back on the stage while everypony was still looking at the light show in the air. Can’t you do something more original?

Despite her inner comment, she did enjoy that trick, and joined everypony in applauding Starfall. Still, though, she expected something new from him...

Her jaw dropped.

She stared in awe at the five spheres of water, held together by Starfall’s magic above him. Of course, Starburst had seen him perform much more complicated tricks with water, but that alone wasn’t what had caused her bewilderment.

What caused it was Starfall using them as a musical instrument.

He stood on his hind legs (as per usual), and was moving his forehooves in circling motion. Whichever orb of water he was pointing at at the moment, it began emitting colorful waves from its center towards the surface. And as a result, somehow, Starfall was making the sphere emit sounds.

It’s like… Starburst thought, trying to place where she heard similar sounds. Like the sounds crystal glasses made when ponies use them for playing! she finally realized, recalling how she had seen one pony play on such a strange instrument when Candy had dragged her to a carnival a few months back. What was it called? A… a glass harp?

“Fascinating,” she heard her mom murmur to her dad. “Starfall must be causing the water within the spheres to vibrate at the same frequency as the glass harp does… and he’s probably helping himself focus by gesticulating with his forehooves...”

You know Mom, the commentary sort of spoils the experience, Starburst thought in annoyance.

She quickly returned her attention to Starfall, watching the rest of his little concert. She had to admit, between that and the singing, he was quite musically talented. To be honest, he was really multi-talented, come to think about it. Magic, acrobatic skills, singing, some knowledge about foreign languages…

Well, I suppose that’s a given, seeing what he had been through, she thought, shivering. How fast would everypony learn if they would have a much bigger than you half zebra standing above with a whip?

Also, his cutie mark, which was still visible on his right flank, a multicolored combination of stars and moon that formed a smiling face. It was quite possible that it meant that his talent was entertaining others.

Oh, dear Celestia, Starburst thought as the realization hit her, don’t tell me he discovered his special talent when he was that monster’s slave!? That’s just… cruel!

“You alright?” Valiant whispered to her. She shook her head and looked at him. “You were shivering.”

“Just… thought of something unpleasant,” Starburst quickly explained, not wanting to dwell into details.

Her cousin, thankfully, accepted that explanation, and turned back towards the stage. Starfall, who kept changing that sphere on which he was playing, had now spread his forelegs, making all five of them sing the last note, each emitting a different color. After it had passed, the music had ended and was replaced after a second of silence by a thunderous applause.

“Thank you, thank you,” Starfall called out, taking a bow. “Now, for my next trick… I’m going to need a volunteer from the audience! Any takers?”

At once, a lot ponies raised their hooves, wanting to be picked. Starburst could see her brother with his friends joining them. Unfortunately for them, Starfall was looking in the opposite direction. “The gentlecolt over there, how about you?” he asked, pointing at one of the few ponies who did not raised their hoof.

Prism’s eyes shot wide open. “No, I didn’t-”

“What are you, a chicken?” Starfall swiftly interrupted him.

“Yeah, are you?” somepony from the audience called out.

Starburst glanced briefly where the voice was coming from. The pony who called out at Prism was a red pegasus stallion, sitting together at the table with Whirlwind: Hot Head, Prism’s old rival.

Prism shot him an angry look, but his comment caused him to rise from his seat beside Nidra and fly over to the stage.

Starfall blinked as he landed beside him. “Huh, easier than I thought… now then!” he called out, the cane appearing in his hoof once more. Starfall looked back and hit the empty space behind him with the cane. A small explosion of smoke happened, and when it cleared, behind him was a box with a few holes that laid on a table on wheels. “Would you, our volunteer, be so kind to get into the box?” he asked, putting back his top hat - that had disappeared a few tricks ago - on his head.

Starburst smirked as the pegasus shot Starfall an annoyed look, but then was staring uncertainly at the box. He shook his head, though, and jumped into it. It wasn’t big enough to fit an entire pony, so Prism had to put his head and hind hooves through the holes.

“Before I start this trick,” Starfall said, turning to the audience, as he closed the box, “I would like to assure everypony in the audience, as well as our brave volunteer, that this will be perfectly and completely safe.”

“What is this trick, anyway?” Prism asked, loud enough to be heard by everypony.

Starfall’s horn flashed. “Cutting you in half,” he replied casually, turning to Prism and lifting a saw that he had in his hoof.

Even from where sat, Starburst could see how color was drained from Prism’s face.

“WHAT?!” he asked after a second as his brain had processed this information. “GET ME OUT OF THIS!!!” Prism shouted, beginning to trash around in the box.

“Did you miss that part about this being perfectly safe?” Starfall asked, leaning against the box. “I know we had our differences, but c’mon, use your brain; there are like three princesses in the crowd, four princes, a bunch of off-duty guards, two off-duty Wonderbolts, and a rude dragon. Do you think I am going to risk getting pardoned for basically everything I had ever done to murder you casually in front of an entire town? Not to mention a few things that you might want to scream out?”

That last comment - which Starburst really hoped nopony paid too much attention to - made Prism stop his panic attack. He looked at Starfall, then at the saw. “Will it hurt?” he asked, frowning.

“Not a bit!” Starfall promised cheerfully. “Although it would help if you could pretend to scream in pain.”

“If I feel something, I’m telling,” Prism threatened.

“Fair enough, I suppose,” Starfall replied with a shrug. “Oh, don’t worry about this,” he added, looking at the audience, “it doesn’t concern you. Now, is everypony ready to see the absolutely awesome magic that I am about to perform?”

As he asked this question, he moved the box forward and he himself took a step to the side, so now the box with Prism was between him and audience. Starfall raised the saw with his magic and levitated it above the trapped pegasus.

“Are you ready?” he asked, leaning his head to the side and giving Prism a wide, creepy smile.

To his credit, Prism almost immediately replied. “Let’s just get this over,” he said with an unamused frown.

Starfall rolled his eyes, and began to move the saw. Prism, seeing this, closed his eyes, probably expecting pain.

The saw cut through the box. And went deeper.

After a few seconds, Prism opened his eyes and looked down. His expression changed when he noticed how deep the saw had gone, but he quickly sneered. “Heh, doesn’t hurt at all!” he laughed, as the saw had completely cut his box in half. “I knew it had to be some lame trick.”

Starfall, in turn, frowned. “Yeah, and you were supposed to scream in pain. You know, just for that,” he said, disappearing in a flash and appearing right before the box, “I’m gonna spin you round♪”

The box behind him parted, and Starburst, along with the rest of Ponyville, watched in bewilderment, as two halves of Prism moved apart. And then, as if to make this situation more surreal, each half of the box started to spin around.

“♪I spin you right round, right round like a record♪” Starfall sing-songed as the two boxes spun around swiftly.

“Stooooooop it!” Prism shouted from the half where his head was.

Starfall quickly listened to his plea, and the boxes stopped abruptly. Prism sighed with relief, shook his head… and looked back right at his hind hooves.

His eyes widened, and after a second one hoof moved. Prism opened his mouth in shock as he tried to look down, then back again at his hind hooves, and it moved again.

A second later, Prism was screaming. “PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK!”

In reply, Starfall rolled his eyes. “Wuss,” he snorted, tapping one of the boxes with his cane.

Another explosion of smoke, and Prism was back together. He kicked the box open and flew out of it, feeling his body around to ensure he was really whole again.

The audience gasped in awe, and began clapping.

Prism, on the other hoof, didn’t quite have the same reaction. Once he assured himself he was alright, he flew down to Starfall. “That wasn’t funny,” he said, frowning.

“I would beg to differ,” the unicorn replied calmly. “I thought it was hilarious.”

“And would you think it’s hilarious if-” Prism started, but Starfall cut him off by tapping his muzzle with his cane.

“Are you really gonna argue with somepony that cut you in half a minute ago?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. After Prism didn’t answer, he turned to the audience: “Big bravo for our brave volunteer, Prism!”

Starburst, who had been doing her best to hold back laughter for a good portion of this trick, joined in the applause for Prism. The pegasus, though still annoyed, smiled and waved at the crowd. Starburst noticed that he leaned to Starfall and whispered something, and that the unicorn replied to him. She wondered what they could have said to each other…

As Prism flew back to his table, Starfall called out: “Now, moving on with the show…”

“And now, fillies and gentlecolts, we move on to the last part of the show,” Starfall said finally.

Starburst found herself disappointed. She found herself truly enjoying the show, and not just because her... coltfriend was the one putting it on, or that Prism got what he deserved for his threats earlier. The tricks Starfall had been performing were really amazing.

“Of course, this means that this trick will be simply fantastic,” the unicorn on stage added, as his horn flashed, making his cane, hat and cloak disappear. He rose on his hind legs and smiled. “It will be something that I haven’t shown to anypony in quite a while. I will ask you to withhold your applause until it’s over, as I will need my full concentration for this. Are you ready, Ponyville?” he asked.

A very loud “YES!” replied to him.

Starfall smiled, and waited for everypony to quiet down. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and lit up his horn.

His right hind leg rose off the ground, and stomped the wooden floor loudly… and at the same time, all the torches around him began to burn in a multi-colored fire.

The same as the color of his magic.

Starfall raised his forelegs, and the flames flew out of the torches and towards him. He bowed and took a step forward, making them wrap around him, and as he lowered his legs, they spread around him. The unicorn whirled, hooves raised, as the flames flew upwards, around his forelegs.

At the same time, he changed the color of his magic to give a green glow instead, and the flames also changed.

Starburst watched in awe as Starfall was literally dancing with fire. She watched as he whirled, jumped, skipped, turned, all while tongues of flames, which he kept making change colors, swirled around him, almost touching his coat.

It’s… beautiful.

After about a minute, Starfall stopped, and raised his hooves high into the air. The flames all shot to the sky, gathering together, once again multi-colored. As Starfall’s brow furrowed, they began taking on a shape; they became a gigantic phoenix, burning with the flames of the Crystal Empire’s lights.

And then it swooped down.

Everypony gasped as the flames broke and spread around them. However, they gave each pony and table a wide berth, not causing any harm. Starburst looked at the flames so close to her that she could feel their heat, looking at the many colors that she had no idea fire could ever have. It was so tempting to just reach with her hoof…

Before she could do that, the flames receded back to the stage. Starburst turned to look just in time to see Starfall do a pirouette, and rise in the air as the flames followed his hind leg and gathered below him. Once he rose a few feet, he stopped, and instead of swirling around him the flames shot back to their torches, slowly revealing a thin spire made out of ice.

Starfall’s horn stopped glowing. He opened his eyes and smiled before he jumped to the side, grabbed the spire with his hoof, and slid back down. “So what do you think, Ponyville,” he asked once he was back on the floor. “Am I great or wh- whoa,” Starfall exclaimed as he wobbled. “Overdid it a bit there,” he added, chuckling, as he rubbed the back of his head. “Good thing the show’s over, cause I have almost nothing left. Anyways, I have a busy day tomorrow, so I gotta go recharge a bit. See ya,” he smirked and waved, his eyes meeting Starburst briefly.

As he winked, he disappeared.

“Wow, did you see how he made those flames dance around him?” Night exclaimed, excited, as they walked back to their mansion. “That was so awesome!”

Well, there’s one member of the family that won’t have anything against me dating Starfall, Starburst thought. That still leaves mom, dad, Uncle Spike, Valiant… heck, Uncle Shining Armor and Aunt Cadence might have something against it as well...

“So,” her cousin turned to her, “how exactly did you beat him, again? With the fire and all...”

Starburst rolled her eyes. “You heard him, he hadn’t used that trick in some time.”

“I wonder if he can control it like that because he is part dragon,” Starburst’s dad said. “Though he certainly didn’t use that spell earlier where we cornered him a week ago… what do you think, Twily?”

Starburst glanced at her mom. She was walking with her face frowned; and expression that Starburst long since had learned meant that she was thinking about something studiously.

“Could be,” she replied slowly, still frowning. “Star?” she called to her daughter. “Do you think you will run into Starfall soon?”

“Eem… maybe?” Starburst replied carefully, hoping she wasn’t blushing.

“If you do, could you perhaps try to invite him to our house? I would like to talk with him about a few things.”

“Um…” she stammered, baffled, “sure, I’ll try.”

… This will end well...

The Best Date Ever

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Starburst tilted her head nervously, looking at her reflection in the mirror. For the first time in her life she was genuinely concerned about her looks. Of course, whenever she had some duties she had to attend to as a princess, she would make herself presentable (and usually her mother would make last minute corrections), but this time she actually wanted to look her best.

Is there even a point to this? Starburst thought for about tenth time as she smoothed her bangs; she probably wouldn’t have even considered paying so much attention to her mane if Claire hadn’t spent like twenty minutes talking about what she should do with it. I mean, Starfall had already said I am… beautiful…

She flushed, recalling how he said it. How back in the cave he complimented her by mentioning how any other colt would be “disturbingly glad” about giving her CPR, and then in her room, just day and a half ago, when he called her beautiful, while he…

Starburst scratched her head. She used to think scars were cool, and to be honest, she continued to think so… but those on Starfall’s body were just sickening.

Wait, Starburst thought suddenly, did I just call a very distinctive aspect of my coltfriend’s appearance sickening?

Groaning with frustration, she slammed her head - gently - against the mirror. And now my mane is ruined, she thought. Sighing, she raised her head and looked at the clock. Starfall was going to be there in fifteen minutes. This is off to a good start… ugh, I give up! Where’s that comb Mom gave me?

About ten minutes later, after correcting her mane and making sure she got all the loose feathers from her wings earlier during preening, Starburst entered the living room. Inside were her parents; Twilight was reading a book, while Flash a newspaper. Nighty is probably out playing with his friends, and Valiant must have already left for Canterlot, Starburst concluded, relaxing slightly.

This was going to be a bit easier…

“Oh, hi Star,” her mother greeted her when she noticed her. “I thought you had already left by n- wait,” she suddenly said. She put away the book and rose from the couch. “Have you… combed your mane?” she exclaimed, shocked.

Starburst rolled her eyes when Flash, hearing Twilight, put down his newspaper and turned to look at her with surprise. “Yes, sorta…” she replied, then coughed. “Anyway, I will be gone the whole day...”

As much as she would prefer to not mention anything about this to her parents, Starburst knew she couldn’t just go away for the whole day to Celestia knows where and not say anything. Or Starfall knows where, in this case, a tiny voice in her mind corrected her. She quickly mentally facehoofed. Oh great, as if he didn’t have a god complex already!

“You combed your mane before going to hang out with your friends?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrows.

Starburst cringed uncomfortably. She wasn’t comfortable with her mother questioning her. “W-what is this?” she asked, deciding it would be best to be offended. “A ‘griffon inquisition’?!”

“Hi!” she suddenly heard a very familiar voice on her right. “Ready for our date?”

Her eyes went wide… but after a second, she buried her her face in her hooves. I really should have seen this coming…

“What, what’s wrong?” she heard Starfall ask. She lifted one hoof to glare at him, and nodded at her parents, not daring to look at them. Puzzled, Starfall - who stood facing towards her - turned his head… and then his eyes, too, grew wide as plates. “Oh, crap…”

“Did you just say-” Starburst heard her father start to say, but his words drowned in Starfall’s shout.

“I’ll bring her back by nighttime, see you!” he quickly told them as he reached to Starburst and touched her shoulder.

After experiencing the feeling of a being pulled through a very narrow space, Starburst realized that she and Starfall were in her family’s mansion garden.

“Well, cat’s out of the bag, I guess,” she said, turning to Starfall. “Why did you-”

“Not now,” Starfall told her; his eyes were closed and his horn was glowing. “Your mom was casting a spell; I want to get us out of here before she tries to bring us back or something, and teleporting there will take a lot of concentration.”

“Wait, where are you teleporting us?” Starburst asked, alarmed; if he was using teleportation as casually as pegasi flew around, where exactly he planned to take them if he needed to concentrate?

Starfall did not answer, and before Starburst could repeat her question, the glow from his horn suddenly enlarged and enveloped both of them. She closed her eyes as the multi-colored light flashed all around her, and her ears heard familiar sound of the normal teleportation spell…

… which was followed by a strange noise.

Weird, Starburst thought, opening her eyes carefully, it almost sounds exactly like the sound of waves on a bea- OH MY CELESTIA!

Her jaw dropped. She was on a beach! There was sand under her hooves, and she was staring into the sea!

“Where are we?” she asked, turning to Starfall… who was breathing heavily. “Are you alright?” Starburst asked, concerned.

Starfall shook and waved his hoof. “Yeah, don’t worry; teleporting all the way here always takes a lot out of me, and I never took somepony else with me. But I should be fine in a minute.”

“If you say so,” Starburst told him, then returned to observe their surroundings. And there was a lot more to see.

Just behind them, the beach ended, and started a tropical forest. Starburst rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. But no, when she opened them, the palm trees and huge grass were still there.

“What is this place?” she tried once again.

Starfall, who began to get his breathing under control, smirked. “Why don’t you try to look from the sky?”

She raised her eyebrows, confused at his expression; what else could be there? Both curious and worried, Starburst spread her wings and flew upwards. A couple beats of wings later, and she got a plain view at the “secluded place” Starfall had brought her to.

“Secluded” was an understatement.

Starburst jaw dropped once again. Once she recovered a little, she exclaimed: “We’re on an island in the middle of an ocean?!”

She could not believe it. They were on an island, in the middle of the ocean! A small island at that, roughly covering the same area her family’s mansion had, with no visible land anywhere in sight!

“So, what do you think?” Starfall asked once she landed beside him.

Starburst opened her mouth… then she closed it. She looked down at the sand beneath her hooves, tapped it a few times, took a hoof-full of it and let the grains fall down slowly. Starburst then turned to Starfall, taking a good look at him for the first time today. He did not look different than he always did; same light blue coat, same blue and slightly lighter blue mane, same scars on his back, same bandanna around his neck, same smirking expression… Starburst punched his chest gently, and as it turned out, he was indeed there, and not some illusion.

Still unconvinced, she turned to the ocean. It this were an illusion, I wouldn’t get wet, right?

“Star, it’s real,” Starfall chuckled, apparently tired with her doubting him.

“But… how?” she asked, still trying to comprehend this.

“Well, I teleported us here-” he started, but Starburst, who just snapped out of her stupor, snapped at him.

“I might be a pegasus, but my mom is the freaking Element of Magic! I know the basic rule of teleportation is that you can travel to places you had already been to. So how the hell can you teleport to an uninhabited small tropical island in the middle of an ocean with no other land in sight!?” Starburst exclaimed, her sanity on a verge.

In contrast to her, Starfall stayed perfectly calm. “Oh, that’s easy,” he smiled, flicking his hoof. “A whale spit me out here a few years back.”

And her sanity fell over the edge… all Starburst could do was stare at the smiling unicorn.

“Are you alright?” Starfall asked after a few silent seconds had passed.

“Yeah, just… processing,” Starburst managed to reply. She sit down and began to massage her temples. “Please tell me you’re making it up about that whale.”

“Why would I make something like that?”

“Because it’s impossible!” Starburst snapped again.

“Well, okay, the whale didn’t spit me on this island,” Starfall admitted. Starburst sighed with relief; “There are coral reefs all around it, it was too big to swim all the way to the shore. But it spit me out close enough for me to swim here.”

Starburst gave up. All she could do was facehoof. Starfall, utterly ignoring her mental breakdown, grabbed her forehoof. “Before you decide what you think about it, let me show you my pad,” he said, smirking, as he dragged her behind him into the small jungle.

Given the size of the island, it wasn’t going to take long for Starfall to take Starburst to his “pad”, as he had called it. But it was long enough for Starburst to slowly recover during their walk after her mental breakdown… enough to realize something awful.

“My parents!” she exclaimed. She ripped away her hoof from Starfall’s in her shock. “W-wha… how did they react?” Starburst asked. “D-did they look angry?”

“Um… I’m not sure,” Starfall answered. “They looked shocked. I got us out of your house before they could recover. so… I guess we’ll know once we get back?”

Starburst groaned and hid her face in her hooves. This had seemed to be such a good day, and now… “Why did you just jump in like that?!” she asked angrily. “Didn’t it occur to you that my parents might be there? And you just called out about this date-”

“Sorry,” Starfall said, and the apologetic and sad tone of his voice made Starburst stop. “I… I wasn’t thinking. I thought that since I told you that I would pick you up, you would be in your room…”

She had to admit, he had a point. “I suppose I thought you would just knock on the door or something like that… you know, like a normal pony,” she added, realizing how stupid that assumption was.

Starfall was the most opposite of a normal pony as it was ponyly possible; even if she would count his probable part-dragon ancestry, he was still more impossible than even Illusion, who was a half-draconequus.

As if determined to prove that, Starfall looked at her as if she was crazy. “Me? Normal?”

Rolling her eyes, she replied: “Yes, I know, that was stupid of me. But still, did you had to just appear next to me like that? It was-” she started, but then abruptly stopped. “Wait a minute; you appeared next to me! Not teleported, appeared! Did you leave a Polestar mark on me somewhere?!”

Her increasing irritation - that was about to transform into anger - dispersed when Starfall started to laugh. “No,” he replied, sticking his tongue at her. “I am your Polestar mark.”

“I… wha?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Let me explain; do you remember how you’d beaten me?”

“Vividly,” she smirked.

Starfall deadpanned at her, but he rolled his eyes and resumed his explanation. “You transferred some of your magic into my body, therefore disrupting my ability to use magic-”

“Yes, I know, I just said I remember,” Starburst interrupted him.

“Um, sorry,” he said sheepishly. “A magician has to throw a bit exposition to the audience, and I’m still excited after yesterday’s show, so I guess I’m talking like that right now... Did you like it?”

“Of course, it was awesome,” she replied at once. “I loved that ‘firedance’ of yours the most-”

“Really? I would have thought that cutting Prism in half would be the one you loved the most,” he smirked.

“Well, yes, that was hilarious. But Polestar mark?” Starburst reminded him.

“Right, sorry. You put your magic into my body. Did you think that magic would evaporate?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Starburst opened her mouth… then closed it. Truth be told, she never thought about what would happen to that bit of her pegasi magic. She was too focused on capturing Starfall to bother about such things.

“That magic is still within me,” Starfall continued, patting his chest. He then rolled his eyes and added: “Cue in cheesy talk about you being close to my heart. Because of that magic, I am kind of a big Polestar mark for you, and I was able to… pull myself to where you were, and then get us both to where I left a proper mark.”

“You ‘pulled yourself’ to me?” Starburst asked, confused. “How does that work?”

“It’s a…” he scratched his head, trying to explain it, “this… wibbly wobbly magic wimey… thingy...”

Okay, that is the most un-understandable explanation about magic I ever heard, and that is saying a lot.

“Magic what?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Hey, give me a break, I didn’t study magic from books,” he rolled his eyes. “Anyways,” Starfall started, looking at her worriedly, “are you mad? About blurting it out before your parents.”

“Oh…” Starburst exclaimed; for a moment, she completely forgot about that. “No,” she sighed, rubbing her temples “they would have learned sooner or later… and it’s probably better sooner than later, I don’t want to think how would they react if they were to learn, like, a year from now.”

“That’s how long you planned to keep it secret?” Starfall smirked.

“Shut up,” she replied. When Starfall grinned, she stuck her tongue at him. “Weren’t you going to show me your… ‘pad’?”

“Right behind this conveniently placed giant leaf,” Starfall said without missing a beat, pointing at the gigantic leaf of a fern like plant that obscured what was in front of them.

He waited for Starburst to join him and stand before it prior to reaching to the leaf with his hoof. “Ready?” he asked, grinning.

His enthusiasm about this began to both excite and worry her. He already brought me to a tropical island in the middle of the ocean, what else could he plan?

“Sure,” she replied, smiling.

Starfall pulled the leaf away.

…

“Oh, you’ve got be kidding me…”

She was staring at a horde of gems, gold coins, and jewelry. Well, not as much as a “horde”. It was more like three small knolls of those, laying around a black hammock tied to two palm trees.

Starfall, chuckling at her bewildered expression, trotted over to the hammock and jumped on it. “Take your time,” he told her, smirking.

This time, Starburst had managed to recover much quicker. “What the hell!?” she exclaimed. “What is all this?!”

“Remember how I told you there are coral reefs all around the island? Well, there was a pirate ship that crashed on them and sink.”

She facehooved. This cannot be real…

“I brought this all from the wreckage,” Starfall continued, swinging on his hammock. “Thought it would make my pad be fitting for somepony of my value.”

“Well, if you are converting gold and diamonds into your ego level, I think you are still a few hordes short,” Starburst told him, still eyeing this pirate treasure, as he claimed. As far as she could tell, all the gems were real, as well as the other valuable.

Turning to the swinging Starfall, she started: “But wait, I don’t understand this; if you had all this, why…” she trailed away as her eyes caught the brief glimpse of something on the underside of the hammock. Starburst waited for the unicorn to swing one more time to better see it.

It was a symbol of a white pony skull.

“You’re using the pirate banner as your hammock.”

“Of course!” Starfall replied cheerfully.

That was too much for Starburst. She fell down to the ground.

“Star!” she heard the unicorn exclaim, alarmed. In the next second, he was beside her, having “pulled himself” to her. “Are you-” Starfall started, but he stopped when he saw what she was doing.

Laughing.

“I-I c-can’t…” Starburst rasped in between the fits of laughter. Everything about this was too ludicrous to not laugh. She had to lay down on the ground out of fear that her sides would burst. “T-this is… you’re impossible!” she managed to say before surrendering herself to laughter, with Starfall quickly joining in.

“So where exactly are we?”

They were walking around the island, along the edge of the beach. It was so small that it didn’t even take them five minutes to make a full circle, but Starburst - once she had finally stopped laughing, and how long that took she wasn’t sure - wanted to take in the sight of the endless ocean.

It was an amazing feeling; to realize how far away they were from the closest pony… how alone they were here…

“I think we’re somewhere around the equator, though I can’t be exactly sure,” Starfall replied. He looked up at the sky. “But we are about four hours ahead from Equestria as for timezones, guessing by the Sun so it cannot be too far from the continent.”

“So you don’t know where we are,” Starburst summed up. “And you’ve been coming here for how long?”

“The first time I came here - and by came, I mean was spitted out by a whale - was about four years ago. But it’s not like I come here every week, it’s really exhausting to teleport all the way here. If I had tried teleporting together with somepony else just a year ago, I would’ve probably failed. And still I won’t be able to use magic for an hour or two.”

“But you will recover, right?” Starburst asked, alarmed.

“Do you think I would have brought you here if I thought we would get stuck here?”

Starburst just stared at him. After a few seconds, Starfall chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds totally like me. But don’t worry, I will be fine. Which is good, considering that I will need my magic for something later on during our date. Until then, what would you like to do?”

“Well… you did say this place would be great for working out, and that’s how I usually spend my free time-”

“Alright, let’s do it!” Starfall exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Shouldn’t you rest?”

“Nah, this would be physical workout, not magical one,” he waved a hoof dismissively. “What you want to do first? Run? Or try to buck palm trees?”

That was a good question. The island’s beach was perfect for running, but on the other hoof, she had never bucked a palm tree…

“I think running first. Wanna race?” she asked him, smirking.

“Geez, how did you managed to avoid getting captured by everypony for five years?” Starburst asked him many laps later.

Starfall, who was panting on the ground, did not answer. She had to admit, after all the trouble he caused her a week ago, Starburst was quite enjoying beating him in something. She herself was barely winded, the short run feeling to her more like a warm-up than anything more.

“Oh, you know...” the unicorn replied, slowly regaining his breath. “Magic. Outsmarting. And jumping.”

“You can jump but you cannot run.”

“I’m pretty sure... there are different leg-muscles... for those two.” He took a deep breath, and was almost back to normal. “Sorry for not being able to catch up-”

“Oh come on, I am not going to think of you less for it,” she rolled her eyes. “Not after you held your own against me and all my friends, the guards, my dad and uncle, and outsmarted my mom.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome.”

“Though you could gain some humility from this” she quickly added.

“Cause that’s totally possible,” he smirked in reply. “Changing the subject, want a coconut?”

“Is there anything else?” Starburst snorted humorously.

“We can eat grass, Princess,” the unicorn told her, in a tone as if he was explaining to somepony that the sky was blue.

“No, really?” Starburst rolled her eyes in a mocked horror.

“Well, not those grass at the back of the island-”

“There’s a back of the island?”

“-cause that’s marijuana-”

“What?!” Starburst exclaimed, looking at him with shock.

“Or rather the plant that they use to make marijuana,” he winced. “And you do not want to know how I found out about it…”

“... seriously?” if it wasn’t a drug they were talking about, she would be probably laughing at him. But...

Starfall scratched his head in embarrassment. “It’s not like… I mean, when that psycho ‘Master’ owned me, I was given much worse things to eat… honestly, at times you couldn’t tell if he was trying to make a profit from you or kill you…”

Starburst tilted her head. “How’s there not a movie series about you?”

“Hey Star?” Starburst glanced at him over her shoulder.

“What is it, Lil’Lioness?” he asked back, balancing the now-empty coconut half on his hind hoof.

They were laying beneath one of the palm trees, enjoying coconut milk. It took Starburst several bucks before a few coconuts finally fell. The palm trees, unlike apple trees she was used to bucking, were elastic instead of sturdy, and were shaking off her kicks.

Afterwards, the two of them broke the coconuts (although Starburst did try to break them with her hooves at first) and sit with their backs to the tree next to each other, drinking. Though it was nowhere near as tasty as watermelon, Starburst enjoyed the taste of the coconut milk quite a lot. As they drank in silence, her thoughts wandered, contemplating the insanity of her situation (And everypony thought that just me going on a date is ridiculous.), and finally she recalled what she had thought about briefly during Starfall’s show.

“How did you get your cutie mark?” she asked.

Please tell me you didn’t get it by working for that bastard, she pleaded. That you got it after you escaped.

“I got it by making my mom to laugh with a magic trick.”

Her eyes went wide. Wait, what?

“She got back after one show in bad humor,” Starfall continued, oblivious to her shock. “I think it was at some kid’s birthday party, though I don’t really recall it all that much. But I do remember that it was raining that day to boot. So my mom got back to our wagon tired and saddened, and I wanted to make her happier, so I focused and tried to do what I saw her doing during her shows; stroke a pose and tried to make fireworks around me with my magic. It worked, and my mom started to laugh as the sparks fell around me - which in hindsight was really stupid of me to do that in a wooden wagon, but luckily nothing happened - and then my cutie mark appeared.” He chuckled. “Dove was so jealous…”

“So,” Starburst started, trying to wrap her head around it, “you got your cutie mark when you were…”

“Five,” he replied, grinning. “Well, five and half more like it, but still…”

Starburst shook her head. It wasn’t that uncommon for a pony to find their cutie mark so early, but knowing she was dating one… “You really are some sort of prodigy, aren’t you?” she asked him, then frowned. “Wait, who’s Dove?”

“Oh, my imaginary older sister.”

She raised her eyebrows at that.

“What?” Starfall asked, shrugging. “My mom and I kept travelling from place to place, and even without that, I would have difficulties making friends with this going on,” he said, making circle around his face with his hoof, showing her his eyes and fangs. “So I made up an imaginary older sister. She was really realistic, too.”

“... doesn’t make you seem insane at all,” Starburst commented sarcastically. Starfall snorted with laughter. “Do you still... see her?”

“Nah, I stopped after… you know,” he finished uncomfortably. “By then, I had other things on my head. And by ‘on my head’, I mean-”

Starburst cringed, her imagination immediately suggesting her what he was going to say. Starfall once again chuckled. “So sheltered. What about you?” he asked, changing the subject. “How did you get your cutie mark? And what is exactly your special talent, anyway? That doesn’t exactly look like ‘kicking ass’,” he added, pointing at her cutie mark.

“Well, my talent is intimidating others,” she started to say with pride, but then she paused and facehoofed. “Sweet Celestia, it’s like our talents are opposites of one another.”

“Intimidating, huh?” Starfall asked, narrowing his eyes and smirking. “Yeah, I can see that… you were especially intimidating yesterday, when I stopped biting your ear…”

“S-shut up,” Starburst stammered, blushing, and hit him with her wing as he laughed. “You want to hear my cutie mark’s story or not?”

“Of course I want, go ahead.”

“It happened in Ponyville, shortly after my mom got me transfered to school there,” she began to say, reminiscing. “Candy was showing me all of Ponyville, and by the end of the day she took me to visit Del at his family’s farm. He showed me around it, and Candy disappeared somewhere.”

“That’s the farm right next to the Everfree Forest, right?” Starfall cut in. “You know, the one with timberwolves and other lovely things? And she disappeared off to somewhere”

“Yep,” Starburst nodded. “You can probably guess where this is going.”

“Maybe. But do go on.”

“Del was supposed to take me to the edge of the farm, and then Candy was supposed to come out of the woods, dressed up as a timberwolf, with Prism making noises of one from behind a tree. Which I learned about later, of course. Before we could reach the edge of the forest, we heard two screams, so we ran there. Prism and Candy were running away from it, with a real timberwolf chasing them.”

“And what did you do?” Starfall asked, his eye wide with excitement.

“I jumped between them and the timberwolf, glaring at it threateningly and making myself look bigger by spreading my wings.” She did not mention that she knew that’s the best thing to do in that situation because of an adventure book her mom read to her when she was younger; Starburst liked it more for him to think that she came up with that herself. “The timberwolf got so scared it stopped, and ran right back to the forest with his tail between his legs.”

“Wow,” Starfall exclaimed, impressed. “That was really brave of you.”

“Thanks,” she replied, flushing a bit. “I was pretty scared, though.”

“Of course, you would have to be stupid not to be scared. Luckily, though, that timberwolf was even more scared,” he smirked. Starfall then frowned, but before she could ask him why, he grinned instead. “So wait, you’re telling me that Prism was a ‘damsel in distress’ even before I came around?”

“Are you sure about this?” Starburst asked.

They were neck deep in the water. About an hour after they’ve finished drinking the coconut milk (which they spent practicing their bucking skills), Starfall told her that he wanted to go for a swim.

And of course, by “for a swim” he meant “diving”.

Before he replied, Starfall flashed his horn. “As you can see, my magic is back,” he told her, levitating a few blobs of water around his head. “I told you, I cast this spell on myself hundreds… okay, not hundreds, but still, plenty of times. It won’t stop working suddenly.”

“Okay, let’s get this over with,” Starburst said, still a tad worried.

Starfall closed his eyes as he concentrated. His horn shone brighter, and a small aura appeared briefly around his head. He then brought his horn close to Starburst, and repeated the process.

She waved a hoof before her face, but nothing happened. Starburst glanced at Starfall, who winked and jumped ahead, diving deeper into the water.

Oh, what the heck… she thought.

Taking a deep breath, Starburst jumped right after him. The water engulfed her… but there was none around her head.

She opened her eyes and saw that the Bubblehead spell Starfall used worked.

Wow… Starburst thought, looking at the colonies of corals growing at the rocks just ahead at the deepening sea’s depth. They were so colorful…

The poke on her shoulder brought her back to her body. She looked at Starfall (with a colorful bubble around his head) as he neared his head to hers, as if about to kiss her. He stopped, though, about a hoof before her face. Their bubbles joined, letting them talk, as he had told her his spell would.

“Didn’t I tell you it’ll work?” he asked, smirking.

Starburst, a bit distracted by his close proximity, nodded.

“Something wrong?” Starfall asked, noticing.

“Nothing, just…” she started, but then trailed off, embarrassed. “I just realized that we haven’t… you know, kissed the whole day-”

She was cut of by a pair of lips pressing against hers.

“Sorry,” Starfall smirked as he ended the kiss. “I was saving that part of the entertainment for sunset.”

“C-cheesy,” Starburst told him, flushing.

“Oh please, you will see cheesy later,” he told her, sticking his tongue at her… and by doing so, licking her nose. She yelped, surprised. “Now come on,” he told her, grabbing her hoof. “We’re underwater, with a real coral reef waiting. It’s amazing. And hey, if we’re lucky, we might see dolphins.”

“Dolphins?” she asked, surprised.

“Yeah, they like the warm water around the volcano’s crater further away.”

“The what crater?!”

There were no dolphins, sadly, though this was hardly an unexciting experience. Starburst was in awe with all the corals growing around the island. Even though she wasn’t one to usually appreciate the works of nature, she had to admit that it was a beautiful thing.

There were also several fishes swimming around them, though they would swim away if they got too close to them. They were all really colorful, blue, red, yellow… Starburst had practically saw all the colors there were underwater.

Starfall had also taken her to see the wreckage of the pirate ship. It was really deteriorated and rusted, but Starburst had to admit that it was still imposing. Swimming around it was really exciting, especially when it got so dark that Starfall had to light his horn… but then Starburst saw a real skeleton of a pony and felt sick.

And then there was the ‘volcano’.

It was on a much deeper level of the sea depth than they could swim down (the pressure was already giving Starburst a mild headache just below the surface). Not that either of them - even Starfall - were crazy enough to go near it. It didn’t exactly look much like a volcano; it was more like a crack in the seabed, glowing with orange light. Starburst had stared at it, wondering how weird it was, swimming in the water and staring at a volcano…

… and now she was wondering how oddly similar the glow of the magma was to the sunset.

They’d stopped swimming sometime ago when Starfall pointed out it would be best to dry out while the sun was still up. Starburst agreed, though mostly not because of that, but simply because she was becoming hungry. The two of them quickly made their way back to the shore and enjoyed more coconuts while sunning themselves on the beach.

Right until the sunset.

It was captivating. Starburst could just stare at it. She couldn’t remember ever seeing sunset last so long, but then she had remembered that they weren’t in Equestria, and there it was still about four hours away before Princess Celestia would lower it. And it was… Starburst could not find proper words to say how it looked. The sky was ablaze with fiery orange and searing red, and at the same time the outer edges of it had began to cool with the indigo of the night. The ocean reflected the wonderful sight on its surface, making it seem as if it became one with the sky.

“It’s...” she tried to speak, but there was no way she could put those thoughts into words. “... it’s beautiful,” she finally said.

“Yeah,” she heard Starfall say, “beautiful.”

There was something in his voice that just made Starburst look at him. And she was glad she did.

He wasn’t looking at the sunset.

She felt heat rise on her cheeks as she smiled. “Cheesy.”

“Maybe,” he told her, trotting closer to her. “But also true,” Starfall said, reaching to her chin and lifting her head to look into her eyes. “You’re beautiful.”

Blushing more fiercely than she could remember, Starburst did not object as he moved his hoof to the back of her head, bring both of them closer to each other. Nor when he kissed her.

Likewise, Starfall did not object when she deepened the kiss.

“Told ya this would be cheesier,” Starfall told her, and though Starburst couldn’t see him, she knew he was smirking.

They were now laying on their backs. The sunset was several hours ago, and they spend their time by engaging in something that was probably the most mundane activity they did today, although one they found most enjoyable (in other words, they were making out). However as the time for their return to Ponyville was nearing, Starburst realized that she wanted to do something else that she could do here in this secluded island that it would be difficult to do back home.

Stargazing.

Not that she never looked at the stars back home, but out here, so far away from civilization and any lights, the night sky was much more magnificent. All the stars were so shining… and also there were a few that she was sure that weren’t visible back in Equestria.

“Oh, be quiet,” she told him, giggling. They were lying on their backs, with their heads right next to each other.

“You were the one calling me cheesy today,” he reminded her, poking her with her ear. “And yet you proposed to stargaze.”

“Fine, it’s cheesy,” she said, rolling her eyes. She then sighed. “We should get back soon, right?”

“Yeah…” Starfall replied, and he sounded as unhappy about that as Starburst.

“Pity. I had a really great time today,” she said, raising and looking at him. She frowned as thought occurred to her. “This place is four hours ahead of Equestria, right?”

Starfall started to laugh. “As much as it would be hilarious if it was otherwise, yes, it’s four hours ahead.”

“Right, it would be hilarious if I would go home at… three in the morning? As if things weren’t going to be awkward for me already…”

“Want me to come with you?”

She was surprised by the question. “You would do that?”

“Sure,” her replied, standing up. “After all, this is mostly my fault… your parents aren’t going to kill me, right?”

Starburst frowned at him. “No, but still… I think it would be best if I would just talk with them alone… it’s going to be awkward enough without you. Besides… I’m still not sure what they would think about me dating you.”

“If they worry that I won’t be able to provide for you or something like that, tell them about that mountain of treasures-”

“And since we’re back to that:” Starburst interrupted him, frowning, “why the heck did you steal for living if you have a mountain of treasures?”

“‘Cause… it was more fun?” he said, smiling awkwardly. Before Starburst’s frown could grow deeper, Starfall quickly added: “But I swear, I’m not gonna do that again!”

Starburst rolled her eyes. “I think you should come up with a better excuse if my parents ask you about that. So… are we going?”

“Yeah, give me a moment to prepare myself,” Starfall replied, massaging her head. “So you’re sure that you can deal with… whatever waits for you back home alone?”

“Yes, thanks for offering, but I really think it’s for the best.”

“Thank heavens,” he sighed heavily with relief. Starburst looked at him sternly while he smirked. “Joking. I will teleport us a bit away from your house,” he told her as he trotted closer and sat beside her. “In case there are guards around the place with orders to arrest me or something.”

“Oh come on, I don’t think my parents would do something like that,” she said, shaking her head.

“But before that… want to meet again tomorrow?” Starfall asked, looking at her hopefully.

“Ye- wait!” Starburst exclaimed, suddenly remembering something. “I completely forgot! My friends want to go on a camping trip tomorrow, and they - well, some of them at least - wanted me to invite you. Do you want to come? I won’t mind if you don’t,” she quickly added. “We can hang out someplace else, I won’t mind.”

Starfall rubbed his chin, pondering. “Hm… I suppose I should get to know your friends sooner or later, so I might as well go. Although,” he added, smirking. “it’s a pity we won’t be spending some time alone, Lil’Lioness…”

That was indeed a pity. “We can sleep together in my tent,” she told him, embracing him into a hug. “Sound better?”

“With all your friends around?”

“W-well…” she stammered, but she calmed down. “Oh, to hell with them, they’re gonna poke fun at me whatever we would do. Besides, Annie will probably sleep in the same tent with T, Candy with Del…” Starburst trailed off. “Come to think of it, the only two ponies who aren’t a couple there will be Lance and June.”

“I really need to get the names of everypony,” Starfall murmured. She glared at him, but then he moved in for a kiss. She was more than happy to comply; she still found it weird how sharp his fangs felt when she brushed them with her tongue.

When they parted, they looked into each other eyes. “Ready to get back?”

Reluctantly, Starburst nodded. I should start thinking what to tell Mom and Dad… she thought as Starfall cast his teleportation spell. Maybe I could convince them that this was all a joke? No, wait, Lance would probably tell them once we’ll get back from the camping trip, Starburst realized as they appeared back in the washed in Twilight Ponyville.

“Are you okay?” she asked as Starfall staggered, grabbing his head.

“Yeah, same as in the morning-” he began to reply, but his next words were drowned out in the sudden noise of multiple teleportation spells.

Out of nowhere, it became very bright. So bright, that Starburst saw that they were surrounded by a bunch of royal guards, with her cousin among them.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Rules of Engagement

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“Called it.”

Starburst ignored her coltfriend’s remark and focused on her cousin. “Lance!” she called out, trying her best to appear dignified and not totally embarrassed by their current situation. “What is the meaning of this?!” Starburst asked as she trotted towards him, pointing with her wing at the guards surrounding them.

As she did so, she noticed that the sky was shimmering with purple magic. Mom’s Anti-Teleport Field… Starburst realized, wondering if this could get any worse. She must have placed wards around Ponyville to activate it after alerting Lance and the guard.

Valiant, who’d been glaring at Starfall, turned to her. Starburst felt relieved to see that he, too, was at least a bit embarrassed by this. “Sorry, Star, but we’ve got orders to escort you and him,” he glared again at Starfall, “to your parents.”

“Oh sweet Celestia…” Starburst murmured, facehoofing. “You cannot seriously be saying that my parents mobilized,” she paused to quickly count the ponies around them, “over half of the royal guards stationed in Ponyville because I went on a date!”

“No. They mobilized every royal guard stationed in Ponyville because a former felon took you away after they’d learned that nopony knew where you went,” Valiant replied calmly. “Your parents wanted to talk with both of you, and since he has a track record of being... hard to get a hold of, they wanted to make sure he would stick around for a while.” Starburst’s cousin once again turned to look at Starfall. “Princess Twilight had hoped that you will both come willingly, but I have no problem with forcing you to come.”

Starburst was taken aback by her cousin’s statement, but before she could react in any way, she heard Starfall’s reply to Valiant. And he replied in the way that best suited his personality.

He snorted with laughter.

Way to help ease the situation, Starburst thought, watching as Valiant and the guards tensed.

“Oh, that’s cute,” Starfall grinned, as if he wasn’t surrounded... and wasn’t unable to use magic. “To think that you can ‘force me to come’ anywhere. Are we on ‘Equestria’s Funniest Home Videos’?” he asked, looking around mockingly. “I mean, somepony is obviously playing a joke on somepony here. Probably-”

“Star!” Starburst snapped at him, as her cousin stomped the ground angrily. She shot Starfall an angry look, making him roll his eyes and pretend to zip his mouth shut. Starburst turned to Valiant, wondering if this situation could get any more embarrassing. “We’re coming, Lance; I wanted to talk with Mom and Dad anyway. You can dismiss the guards.”

“I can’t do that, Star. Your parents’ orders,” he added.

Starburst sighed. “Fine, lead on or whatever.”

With a last glare at Starfall, Valiant straightened and told the guards: “Form a ring around Princess Starburst and the unicorn. And keep an eye on him.” he added as they began moving; Valiant leading as they headed towards Starburst’s family’s mansion.

“Are your parents always this overprotective?” Starfall asked her as they walked, ignoring the guards as well as Valiant’s hostility.

“Can you blame them?” Starburst asked instead of replying. Truth be told, she couldn’t recall them ever reacting in this way to anything. And that included all those things her mom and her friends had to face before she was born. “After how you - the colt who hospitalized my dad - took me out on a date by vanishing right before their eyes? Still,” she admitted, “I hadn’t expected them to react this badly.”

Valiant must have heard her, because he looked back. “It would have probably gone better if you had told somepony where exactly where you were going. Aunt and Uncle had asked all your friends where he could have taken you, and-”

“Aunt and Uncle?” Starfall interrupted him, tilting his head in confusion.

“That’s my cousin, Valiant Heart-” she started to introduce him, but Starfall cut her off.

“Then why did you call him ‘Lance’?”

“Um… it’s his nickname. I’ll explain later,” she quickly added, noticing the unicorn’s interest. She didn’t want to go into that now, she was enough embarrassed at it was. “Anyway, he’s the Prince of the Crystal Empire and-”

But Starfall cut her off again. “‘Prince’? I thought that by an obligatory rule all the alicorns are ‘princesses’.”

Her jaw dropped. The “procession” had stopped, with all the guards staring at Starfall or at Valiant. Some - as Starburst noticed after a second - had snorted in amusement.

But her cousin wasn’t amused. Valiant, whose reaction was slowed down by obvious shock caused by the comment, turned his head back slowly. “I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything but petty insults from a pony whose father was most likely King Sombra,” he said, glaring at Starfall.

Starburst frowned. She’d never expected herself to grow angry at Valiant, but now he had gone too far with his comment. She opened her mouth to tell him so, but before she could utter a single word, Starfall had a ready reply.

“And I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything smart from the son of a pony who couldn’t tell the difference between his fiancé and a changeling.”

This time, everyponies’ jaws dropped, not just Starburst’s. She was so stunned by Starfall’s remark that it didn’t even cross her mind that she should get offended almost as much as Valiant for what he had said about her uncle.

Valiant, who was also stunned, quickly recovered. His face twisted into an angry scowl. “Alright, listen you little-” he began, trotting angrily towards Starfall, who took a step back.

“Lance-” Starburst started, taking a step to stand between the two, but then both she and Valiant fell silent.

Starfall’s eyes were glowing with dark magic.

Starburst's mind became stuporous. She suddenly had flashback of what happened over a week ago; how she saw her unconscious father being held by Starfall’s dark magic. Was he going to do the same now to her cousin?

No, she quickly realized. She remembered how he took a step back a split second ago. Starfall just got scared when Valiant practically charged at him. And knowing Starfall as well as she did, Starburst realized that he must have been really uncomfortable to begin with. Having been running away from (or playing pranks on) every figure of authority for a few years couldn’t make the situation of being surrounded by a bunch of guards easy for him. Not to mention that he couldn’t use his normal magic due to teleporting them from so far away. Dark magic, however, was another thing; it was fueled by fear, in this case Starfall’s. He could still use it, and now it was his only form of defense in things went south.

Of course, Valiant did not know any of that. To him, he was just seeing the colt he already didn’t really like before he learned that he was taking her out on a date (Not that it’s any of his business! Starburst thought, suddenly angry at the realization what could be behind her cousin’s rather cold attitude towards Starfall) becoming a splitting image of his kingdom’s worst nightmare.

“I would be very well within my right to put you in shackles,” he hissed angrily, looking down at Starfall.

Starfall’s glowing eyes narrowed. “And it would be very well within my ability to-”

“Enough!” Starburst cut him off, jumping between the two and pushing them away from each other. “Both of you, calm down! Lance, stop antagonizing my coltfriend!” she told her cousin, ignoring the look he was giving her. Starburst turned then to the unicorn: “Star, my family got enough reason as it is to not like you, stop provoking my cousin! And… turn that off!” she added awkwardly.

Starfall, who was looking at her calmly with those eerie green glowing eyes with red irised that were burning with purple smokes, tilted his head. “Turn off wha- oh!” he exclaimed . He grinned awkwardly and scratched his head as his eyes returned to normal. “Sorry.”

She deadpanned at him before turning back to her cousin, who was still eyeing Starfall. “Star, I don’t think-”

But Starburst had enough. She spread her wings, causing Valiant to take a step back in surprise. “Lance, you interrupted the end of our date, you’re leading us to my parents like some criminals, and you just threatened my coltfriend with shackles! I really don’t care at the moment what you think!”

Despite being really angry, both for all the things she just said, as well as for being upset at having to shout at her cousin like that, Starburst felt a strange satisfaction at the sight of Valiant completely stunned expression. It took him several seconds to recover, during which Starburst continued to glare. That is, until she realized that she could hear chuckling from behind her.

She swiftly turned back, but Starfall was looking to the side with straight face. Starburst frowned, but looked again back to Valiant. Who by then had turned around.

Unfortunately, Starfall’s Teleportation Spell had placed them not too far from Starburst’s family’s home. Because of that, she wasn’t given much time to plan or prepare herself for the talk with her parents… or to think about what had just happened.

I yelled at Lance, she thought over and over as they walked. I defended a pony I know little longer than a week from him. I called Starfall my coltfriend. Publicly!

She wondered which of those was the strangest…

Beside her, Starfall stayed silent. Starburst wasn’t sure if he hasn’t spoken because he knew she needed to think, or if he was planning an escape plan just in case… or if he was ashamed he was ready to use dark magic on another member of her family. Probably all above.

I will have to talk with him later… assuming I won’t be grounded for life.

She felt a tight knot at the stomach at the thought. Would they go that far? Starburst tried to think back, to remember what were the most harsh punishments she ever received and what she did to deserve them. Nothing was comparing to her current situation.

For all I know, they could be the kind of parents that don’t like the idea of their daughter dating a colt, period. Let alone a former felon.

Starburst would never, ever, say it out loud, but she almost wished she had actually went on a date with somepony else before, so she could have some benchmark to this situation. As it was, all she could vaguely guess where how much in trouble she was in for leaving Ponyville without noticing them. And for lying to them.

On the bright side, if they do ground me, I won’t have to go on that camping trip, Starburst thought, as the mansion came to view. She sighed. This cannot end well…

Some of those thoughts must have reflected on her face, because soon she felt Starfall top her on her shoulder. “So, thinking about blaming this all on me?” he asked, smirking. “Cause if it helps...”

Rolling her eyes, she asked: “How exactly should I blame this on you?”

“Dark magic?” Starfall hinted. “I’m pretty sure if I can make ponies live their worst nightmares, I could probably control their minds as well.”

“I just got you cleared of all charges, I am not going to make something up and start a new count for you.”

“True, but I can still get away from here,” he pointed out. “You live here. And since I won’t ever be captured again...”

She wanted to snort and tell him that if she would say that he mind controlled her into dating him, then her mother would personally chase him down. As clever and skilled as he was, Starfall was still no match for an alicorn princess. That one time he outsmarted her was a fluke. However, she decided to appreciate his good intention, and instead of all that, she merely sighed.

“Well, thanks for the offer, but I’m not lying. Nor will I let you take all the blame. Besides,” she added, “I’m sure my parents will be reasonable…”

“Aunt, Uncle?” Valiant said as he entered the living room, Starburst and Starfall right behind him. “I’ve brought them.”

“Thank you, Valiant.”

Starburst gulped nervously as she heard her mother’s calm response. Praying that they weren’t about to walk into their doom, she and Starfall trotted around Valiant.

Both Twilight and Flash Sentry were sitting on one of the coaches. Starburst noticed that they’d rearranged the furniture a bit; instead of both coaches facing the TV, they were now facing each other, with a small table between them. On the table, there was a tea pot with four teacups, and some sugar cubes on a small plate.

And her parents… her parents were looking at them.

Okay, don’t panic… Starburst began, but before she could finish that train of thought, something happened that completely threw her off.

Her mom was smiling.

“Hello, Starfall, it’s a pleasure to see you,” she said.

For some reason, Starburst had this foreboding sense that things were actually going to be worse than she had feared.

Starfall must had thought the same, as he replied with a careful: “Um, hi.”

“Starburst,” her father said, turning to her, “your mother and I wanted to talk with both of you. Could you and your date sit down?”

Starburst's eyes grew wide. Even though her father had a more stern expression, he too seemed far more calm about this than she had expected. “Um... sure.”

Princess Luna, I want to wake up!

“Are you certain you will be okay with him?” Valiant asked her parents, glaring at Starfall.

“Still not trusting me?” Starfall said before Twilight or Flash could reply, returning to his carefree attitude. “And I thought we bonded over insulting our respective folks,” he pouted sitting down and spinning something on his hoof… something that resembled Valiant’s helmet.

Starburst turned sharply to look at her cousin, who was indeed without his helmet, and was now touching his head with surprise. When did he-

“When did you… how…” Valiant also wondered, but outloud. In next second, though, he scowled: “Give that back!”

Starburst facehoofed as her cousin grabbed the helmet with his magic and walked out of the room. Once she heard the door close, she glared at Starfall. “It’s stronger than me,” he explained, shrugging.

Suppressing a sigh, she trotted over to the couch and sat down, Starfall following.

“Star, stop making a face as if you two were about to be hanged,” her mother chastised her, although she appeared to be amused. Twilight lit her horn and the teapot raised into air. “We just wanted to talk with you, that’s all. How much sugar do you use?” she asked Starfall as she poured them tea.

“Um… one will be enough,” Starfall replied, obviously still confused about what was going on as much as Starburst. “So… would this be an awkward moment to say that I am sorry about using dark magic against you,” he said to Starburst’s dad, quickly adding: “Sir?”

She facehoofed again. “This whole thing is awkward,” she hissed.

“Probably,” her father replied to Starfall’s question. “Although the sentiment has been noted.”

“Right,” Twilight said as she finished making a tea. “Now, as your father said, we wanted to talk with both of you. We apologize about the way you’ve been… invited here, but we weren’t sure if you would willingly come,” she finished, the last part directed to Starfall.

“Invited implies choice, Your Majesty,” Starfall replied, almost casually.

Starburst tilted her head, but it was her father who voiced the realization she just had. “How many ways of escape do you see?”

The blue unicorn looked around the living room. “Um… six? Well, two involve flipping this table, so I am not sure if they should count...”

“Six?” Twilight repeated, surprised. Starburst watched as her mother looked around the room, wondering if this situation could become any more surreal. When finally Twilight’s eyes rested on the table, she raised an eyebrow. “How exactly-”

“Honey?” Flash interrupted her.

“Right, sorry, more important matters now,” Twilight said, slightly embarrassed. She cleared her throat and focused back on them. “Now, how about we get the easiest question out of the way? Why weren’t you anywhere around Ponyville?”

Starburst glanced at Starfall, who shrugged. “Um… Starfall took me to a secluded island on the Aquestric Ocean.”

Now it was her parents turn to exchange glances, and Starburst finally noticed some worry on their faces. “Secluded island you say?” Flash Sentry asked.

“Yes, I wanted to take her on our first date somewhere special,” Starfall replied.

“Somewhere special…” Flash muttered, glancing at Twilight.

Starburst’s mother appeared now to be even more embarrassed than earlier. “Right… um, Starburst, I hope you won’t take this as an invasion of privacy, but, after you two disappeared, we went to your room-”

The pegasus frowned; it was indeed an invasion of privacy. “Why-” she started.

“- and in your drawer we found a package of condoms-”

Starburst’s brain went dead.

… oh no…

“-so you can understand that we have good reasons about being worried-”

… oh no, oh no, oh no…

“- especially since you hadn’t taken them with you-”

“NO!” Starburst exclaimed finally, only now finding her voice. She threw her hooves into the air, waving them frantically as she raced to explain: “Those were Annie’s! She gave them to me after I told her I was going on a date! You know how she is! This was a stupid joke! We haven’t done anything!”

“Oh, thank goodness!” both of her parents exclaimed, sighing with relief, holding their chests and leaning back on their couch.

Starburst covered herself with her wings; she did not want to look at anypony right now.

“You have no idea how relieved we are.”

“Yes, you are way too young for things like that.”

That’s it, Starburst decided, I’m murdering Annie tomorrow.

“Can we… please… pretend that this conversation never happened?” Starburst pleaded from behind her wings.

“Way ahead of you.”

Taken aback, Starburst opened her wings and glared at Starfall. Her coltfriend was sitting comfortable on the couch, drinking his tea. Noticing her look, he shrugged. “With how messed up I am in the head, I can easily have my consciousness deny that this happened.”

“Lucky you,” she murmured, massaging her temples. If she were twenty one, she would have considered starting to drink to try and see if she could erase that from her memory.

Her mother cleared her throat, gaining her attention. “I’m sure you meant that comment to be amusing, Starfall, but it’s actually one of the reasons that I had originally hoped to talk with you. I’m not sure if Starburst had mentioned this to you, but I asked her to see if she could convince you to come here.” Twilight turned to her daugher and, as if with pretense, added: “Why she did not tell me then that you two were going on a date-”

Starburst, who did not want to feel guilty on top of being more embarrassed than she could ever remember, quickly interrupted her. “That’s because I wanted to avoid anything like this!” She spread her forelegs to emphasize her point.

“Sounds reasonable,” her father said. Twilight, who didn’t look convinced, looked at him. “What? I would have also preferred to avoid this.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Starfall,” she said, her voice becoming much gentler, “Starburst told me about your mother. I am so sorry.”

Starfall shrugged. “Thank you. I’m coping.”

The alicorn princess looked as if she wanted to talk a bit more about Trixie, but she must have guessed by Starfall’s tone of voice that he didn’t. “Starburst also told me that your life hadn’t been easy for the next few years, although she refused to go into any details.”

“I suppose one could say that.”

Understatement of the freaking millennium.

“I must admit, considering all that, it’s amazing how…” Twilight trailed off, probably searching for the right word.

“How I am not completely insane?” Starfall hinted.

Twilight nodded. “Have you thought about seeing some counseling?”

“No, thank you,” Starfall replied almost immediately. “My head is about the single part of me that wasn’t abused, I don’t want any shrinks poking around it.”

Starburst suppressed the need to either cringe or facehoof as her mother’s eyes grew wide. Trust it to him to say this so casually, she sighed mentally as Twilight quickly recovered.

“I… really think you should consider seeing some help,” she tried again. “You might think you are fine, but you don’t know what else your trauma could have caused.”

“‘What else’?” Starfall repeated, echoing Starburst.

Twilight nodded. “Yes. While I don’t think this is the only reason behind it, there’s something I had noticed during your show yesterday. Namely; your magic is way too advanced than it should be for a unicorn your age.”

Starburst exchanged a look with Starfall, who was as confused as she was; “Is that’s so?”

“Yes. Even if your special talent would have been learning - which I don’t think it is,” Twilight added, glancing at his right, undamaged flank, “- you shouldn’t be able to use so many advanced spells as you do. Teleportation, illusion, manipulations of light, water and fire… I suppose we could count your ability to control fire as something caused by your dragon heritage, but the others…” Twilight trailed off. “Mental trauma can have a powerful effect on a unicorn’s magic. It can cause a unicorn to become unable to use magic, lead to discovering new types of magic, like, for instance, dark magic. However, I don’t think it alone could have caused you to become so… multi-talented. Could you-”

“I was enslaved, had a Control Glyph burned on my flank, and was forced to perform in a circus for about four years,” Starfall quickly replied, interrupting her. Ignoring the stares Starburst’s parents were giving him, he continued. “The more things I learned to do, the more I had to eat. Which still wasn’t much.”

“Holy…” Starburst’s dad started. He stopped and massaged his temple. “May I ask: why, in any point since you apparently started dating our daughter, had it never crossed your mind to report any of this?”

Starfall shrugged. “Because the last time I saw the owner of that circus, he was trapped in his worst nightmare, and seeing how the rest of the circus’ ‘staff’, whom I freed, weren’t exactly taken with him… Besides, the circus performed mostly in the Zebra Nation.”

Before Starburst could decide whether or not telling her parents about that was a good idea on Starfall’s part, she noticed her mother’s thoughtful expression. “So, aside from severe mental trauma, you’ve also had to grow in order to gain food...” she mused. “In other words, a life and death situation… plus, you’ve had a Control Glyph placed on you when you were how old?”

“Six,” Starfall replied. “Well, more like six and half if you want to be specific…”

He trailed off seeing Twilight’s sickened expression. “What kind of monster…” she muttered. “A Control Glyph causes a great strain on a developing body and mind. That’s why even those of the Zebra Tribes which condone placing Control Glyphs on others forbid using them on foals. I suppose this can explain how your magic is so developed,” Twilight added. “Although really, it’s a miracle that it hadn’t have negative effects on your body.”

“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” Starfall said.

“However,” Twilight said, crushing Starburst’s hopes that this would finally end. “there’s something even more important we have to discuss. Your dark magic.”

“Ah, the big black elephant in the room,” Starfall sighed. “What about it? I already said I am sorry about what happened, and I know I have problems with sounding sincere while apologizing.”

“It’s not about that,” Flash Sentry interrupted him. “I already knew that you used dark magic back then because you were very afraid.”

“Not very afraid…” Starfall muttered under his breath, but Starburst paid him no attention, instead curious about something else.

“Speaking of, Dad, how come you could tell?”

“There was this unicorn that found King Sombra’s notes in the Crystal Empire about twenty years ago,” Flash replied. “I was part of the team that was sent after him, so I had some experience with dark magic. As we had you surrounded,” he continued, turning to Starfall, “when you conjured those chains, I realized that they were created by fear. And given how well you could control them and how strong they were, and knowing that none of my comrades were easy to scare, I know that they had to be formed from your own fear.”

Starburst was impressed; she had no idea that her father had previously fought with a pony that could use dark magic.

“Your control over it is impressive,” Twilight spoke up, “however, as I’m sure you’ve heard, dark magic is very corrupting to the user. The more it’s used, the greater the risk that it would affect a pony’s mind, making them use it more often, and since it is powered by fear, that pony could start harming other ponies...”

“Mom,” Starburst interrupted her, feeling she needed to defend her coltfriend, “Starfall wouldn’t-”

“I am not saying that he will start doing anything like that,” her mother quickly assured her. “However, it doesn’t change the fact that ponies might over time start feel uncomfortable around him, or even fear him. And seeing how, I assume, you plan to stick around Ponyville, this might be problematic.”

“This is not at all related to me dating your daughter?” Starfall asked, raising an eyebrow.

Starburst facehoofed. “Great way to bring that up again…”

“Actually, no,” Twilight replied, making both her and Starfall stare at her with surprise. “Whomever Starburst wants to date, it’s her business. I admit, I’m a bit surprised, but not dismayed.”

“Not even about the ‘I can use dark magic’ part?” the unicorn asked.

“I can use dark magic,” Twilight replied, shrugging.

Starfall opened his mouth, then closed it. It appeared that it had never crossed his mind that an alicorn princess can know how to use dark magic. He quickly shrugged it off, though.

“So, about making ponies more comfortable… what exactly do you want to do about it, Princess?”

“Considering you must think of dark magic as your last line of defense, you might not like this, but… I think it would be best if you could no longer use it.”

Well, this plan will go well… Starburst thought, knowing that Starfall will not like this.

“How?” Starfall asked, his voice neutral.

“I’ve noticed that you never take off your dream charm,” Twilight continued. “I wanted to cast a spell on it that would prevent you from using dark magic as long as you wear it. That way, if you were in some real danger, you could take it off and save yourself.”

“Sure, let’s do this.”

Starburst was almost certain that she had misheard him. She scratched her ear and looked at him, causing him to sigh seeing that.

“I am a bit paranoid, but if that’s the only way for others to be comfortable around me, I guess there’s no choice,” he said, shrugging. “Besides, unless there will always be an Anti-Teleportation Field around Ponyville-”

“Oh, this reminds me,” Twilight interrupted him, frowning. “I understand that you two are now dating, but I would prefer if you would remove your Polestar mark from Starburst.”

Starburst sighed. “That’s not how he got me out this morning,” she said, recalling that she had also thought about it earlier. “I inserted my magic into him, so he’s now a Polestar mark for me, and used this…” she trailed off, trying to remember how Starfall had explained it to her. “... this… magic wimey thingy…”

“Magic what?” Twilight repeated, tilting her head. “Magic wimey?”

Blushing, Starburst opened her mouth to explain, but then Starfall said, waving his hoof: “I have no idea where she picks this stuff up.”

She swatted him with her wing for that, causing the unicorn to chuckle. Her mother, in the meantime, tried to decipher what she had meant. “So…” Twilight said slowly, making them stop. “You reversed the polarity of the spell’s arcane flow?”

“Um…” Starfall mumbled, glancing at Starburst. If he had hoped that she understood any of that, she had to disappoint him. “Sure?”

“Hm…” Twilight mused. “Well, since removing Starburst’s magic from your body would be rather invasive, I guess there’s no helping it... but please don’t abuse it. Now, getting back to the issue with dark magic, can you give me that charm? I will cast the spell quickly.”

Starfall nodded, took of the beads he wore on his forehoof and passed them to her. Starburst’s mom closed her eyes, concentrating, and soon they levitated in the air as she cast a spell on it, making it shine brightly.

“Now,” Twilight said as she returned it to him, “since this spell is designed to stop you from using your own fear as magic, it can cause some short-lived side effects, like headache or nausea. If they last until tomorrow, please come back to me with it.”

“Okay,” Starfall shrugged nonchalantly, putting the charm back on his hoof, making Starburst wonder if he actually listened. The next second, though, he groaned and reached for his head.

“Headache?” Starburst asked.

“Kinda,” he replied, shaking his head. “It’s more like a quiet drumming in my head… But it’s nothing compared to how I had to sleep in a train cart.”

“Still, if that persists, please come to me,” Twilight asked, frowning slightly. “Okay then, I think that’s all… Flash, do you want to add something?”

“Yeah, don’t do anything that would make me want to kill you while in my house,” Flash told Starfall, although his calm face didn’t exactly match his words.

Too late for that, Starburst thought, thinking back to the previous morning.

“While we’re at it,” Twilight said, “may I ask where exactly are you staying, Starfall?”

“I usually sleep on trees or rooftops,” Starfall replied. “Although recently I’ve been fixing up those ruins in the forest. I mean, since nopony is using it…”

“Wait, are you talking about the Castle of the Royal Sisters?” Twilight asked, frowning.

“You call it the Castle of the Royal Sisters, I call it the Fortress of Starfallitude.”

His comment made both Starburst and Twilight stare at him, while Flash Sentry snorted with laughter. Twilight then glanced sharply at her husband. “What? It’s funny.”

Starburst watched her mom sigh, worried that she was going to have some objections to her coltfriend’s apparent current residency, but she merely shook her head. “Well, nopony is using it… anyway, it was a pleasure talking with you, Starfall. You are free to go. Starburst, after you see your coltfriend to the door, please come back here, I have something else to tell you.”

“What do you think your mom wants to talk about with you?” Starfall asked as they trotted through the hallways.

“I have no idea,” Starburst sighed. “I just hope it’s nothing embarrassing, I had enough of that.”

“Yeah. Not exactly how I imagined the end of our date. So… we’re still going on that camping trip?”

“Yes. If you still want to, that is,” she quickly added. “My cousin will be there, and although I will try to talk with him-”

Starfall chuckled, interrupting her. “Starburst, I can deal with your cousin. In fact, it would probably be better if you would not interfere; I would hate if you would argue with your family because of me.”

“So what, you want me to just stand on the sidelines if you two are on each other throats?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m not a fighter, so unless your cousin attacks me, that won’t happen,” Starfall assured her. “And he doesn’t exactly look like the type.”

Starburst, although reluctantly, nodded in agreement. She still didn’t like it, and made a mental note to talk with Valiant tomorrow. “How’s your head?” she asked, changing the subject.

“It’s good. Seriously, that drumming noise isn’t very loud; it resembles very loud heartbeat more than anything else.”

They had finally reached the door. “I’m surprised you’ve agreed to that,” Starburst said, opening them.

“It’s not like I like using the dark magic,” he replied, shrugging. “But you saw how I reacted when your cousin came closer to me; I acted on instinct. I think it will be better if I have this to stop me,” Starfall added, lifting this hoof with the beads.

Starburst briefly glanced at it. “Yeah… so, it’s been a really fun day,” she started, turning to Starfall, but a pair of lips interrupted her. “Didn’t you hear my dad?” Starburst asked a few seconds laters. smirking.

“Nope, that drumming was too loud,” he replied, sticking his tongue. “So, at what time-”

“Nine,” she quickly said. “We’re gathering at the road leading to Winsome Falls… besides, you can just teleport to me.”

“True,” he chuckled. “See you tomorrow,” Starfall said, turning to exit and walking away.

Despite how traumatic the last half an hour was, Starburst smiled as she watched him go.

Starburst noticed that something was amiss when she walked back to the living room. “Where’s Dad?” she asked, sitting before her mom.

“Oh, he wouldn’t want to hear this,” Twilight told her. “So,” she smirked, “tell me about your date.”

Starburst’s jaw dropped. “M-mom!”

Morning's Shenanigans

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“Be sure to behave,” Flash Sentry said, as he made sure for the last time that her bags were strapped.

Starburst suppressed an angry retort as she blushed. “Dad,” she said, trying to remain calm and dignified, “Starfall and I have been dating for just a day! We’re not going to do anything like that!”

Her father raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so a colt that sleeps in the ruins of an old castle can afford his own tent?” While Starburst opened her mouth, searching for a reply, Flash Sentry added: “Also, who said I meant anything along those lines?”

Blushing ever more fiercely now, Starburst just facehoofed.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Flash,” her cousin, who was standing near her, said. Valiant also had a folded tent and sleeping bag strapped to his back. “I’ll keep an eye on them.”

Starburst glared at him, but before she could say something, her mother joined in. “Now, would you two stop?” she said, coming into the living room. Around her head there were several documents being levitated by her magic. Princess Twilight put them all aside on a table and continued to look at her husband and nephew with disappointment. “I trust Starburst to be responsible, and so should you.”

“Thanks Mom,” Starburst said, grateful… and still a little bit embarrassed; the memory of their talk from last night after Starfall had left was still fresh in her head.

Valiant frowned. “I trust Star,” he said defensively, and Starburst was pleased to hear shame in his voice. “It’s that other Star that I don’t trust.”

Starburst glared at him. “Just what are you accusing my coltfriend of planning to do?”

Baffling her cousin was something Starburst was starting to find really satisfying. Before the confused and embarrassed Valiant could think of a reply, Twilight spoke: “I’m certain that Valiant hadn’t meant anything of malicious nature, and is just concerned for you.”

Concerned, Starburst thought, annoyed. As if I need protection.

“However,” her mother added, looking at Valiant sternly. “you’re an adult, Valiant, unlike Star or her coltfriend. I expect you to act like one.” Or your mother will hear about this, Starburst was certain she said in her thoughts.

“Yes Aunt Twilight,” Valiant replied, folding his ears.

Twilight nodded and smiled, happy to see him convinced, and turned towards her documents. As such, she missed the look her husband gave Valiant. Starburst rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything. Starfall has told her that he would prefer if she would let him deal with her cousin; she might as well let Valiant act like that and learn from her coltfriend just how stupid this was of him.

Also, before she could say anything, her little brother came into the room. Like their mother, Nighty was levitating something as he walked; a magic book. Nerd, Starburst thought, half sneering and half affectionately.

“Have fun camping,” he told them as sat on one of the couches.

“Thanks,” Starburst replied; she still had to repay him for spying on her for Candy.

I wonder if I should ask Starfall for advice about that…

“Are you and your friends going to do something fun during the long weekend?” she asked, putting the plans for revenge for later.

Nighty shrugged. “Well, I hope not camping,” he said; unlike Starburst, he wasn’t much of an outdoor pony. Playing with his friends was one thing, but camping for several days was too much for him. “I dunno, maybe I’ll go to the movie theater with them; Pixel mentioned something about a new movie based on a game she likes…”

“Oh,” to Starburst’s terror, their mother exclaimed in a very similar tone she used in their talk last night, “when she said that, maybe she meant that she would have liked to go if just the two of you went to see it?”

It said something that despite their many differences, her younger brother replied identically to Starburst. “M-mom!” he exclaimed, blushing.

Starburst tilted her head at the sight of his cheeks growing red. Perhaps…

As she pondered, Twilight giggled and waved her hoof. “Oh, don’t worry, Nighty, I was just kidding. Although,” she added, glancing at Starburst, “it would have been so nice if both of our kids would already find their special somepony.”

That’s my cue to leave, Starburst thought, facehoofing. Preferably before Nighty figures out what that means, she added, noticing that her brother was still too caught up in his own embarrassment.

“Mom,” he said, stomping (and still blushing), “I’m not… wait,” Nighty paused, blinking, “what did you say, Mom?”

“Okay, we’re leaving!” Starburst said loudly. Turning to Valiant, she started to push him. “Lance, let’s go,” she whispered.

“Star is dating somepony?!” Nighty exclaimed, shocked.

Oh joy, he figured it out…

“Seriously?!”

“Oh, for the love of-” Starburst exclaimed, forgetting that she wanted to get out as soon as possible. “I am not even going to dignify your surprise with a response. Lance, we’re going to be late,” she told her cousin.

But her cousin must have already figured out by now why she wanted to leave. “I’m sure our friends and your coltfriend Starfall will understand if we’ll be a little late,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

“YOU’RE DATING STARFALL?!” Nighty exclaimed, his jaw on the floor.

Starburst facehoofed again. Why did I think my friends were the worst problem…

“How did that happen?” Nighty continued to ask, still perplexed.

“I don’t have to explain anything regarding my personal life to you,” she replied coldly, getting more and more angry as this morning dragged on.

Their parents frowned hearing her tone, but Nightly quickly shrugged it off. “Nevermind; can I go with camping with you guys?”

Having expected that things might go this way, Starburst had a reply ready: “No!”

“Please!” Nighty begged. “I want to know how he did that ‘cutting in half’ trick!”

Not sickening at all, Starburst thought, but out loud she said: “Out of the question!”

The last thing she needed on this camping trip was the company of her geeky brother. Starburst loved him, of course, but that didn’t stop her or him from arguing and fighting every once in a while. The upcoming few days were already going to be embarrassing enough for her, with her friends seeing her and Starfall together. She did not want them also seeing her and Nighty fight, or worse, see her be affectionate towards him.

Also, if he were to go, she would have to spend time looking after him. Nighty, in turn, would probably bombard Starfall with questions about his magic tricks. It would be hard for them to be alone.

“C’mon, pleeeease?” Nighty pleaded. As Starburst continued to glare at him, he turned to their mom. “Mom?”

Twilight looked unsure at Starburst. “Well…”

Okay, forgetting plans for revenge.

“Mom, Nighty has been spying on me for one of my friends for bits.”

Night’s jaw fell. “T-that’s not true!” he quickly defended himself as everypony looked at him with surprise. “I haven’t told Candy anything about-”

Seeing Starburst’s suggestively raised eyebrow, Nighty had realized what he just let slip and covered his mouth with his hooves, but it was already too late. Their parents heard that, too. “Night Light!” Twilight hissed disapprovingly.

Despite how satisfying that would be, Starburst didn’t wait to see what sort of punishment he would receive. “Alright, let’s go,” she said, turning to Valiant.

Her cousin frowned. “But-”

“Now!” she cut him off, spreading her wings and stomping.

Valiant cringed as she used her talent for intimidating others on him, and nodded reluctantly.

“This day is off to a good start,” Starburst muttered several minutes later as they walked towards the agreed meeting place. She glanced sharply at Valiant. “Lance, listen; Star asked me to not interfere if you two would start to argue. I hope you know that means that if you start something-”

“Why do you think I would start something?” the alicorn looked at her, offended. “Last night he started to make fun of me.”

“You mean after you had the royal guard surround us and take us to my parents?”

“... those were their orders.” Despite his excuse, Valiant blushed with embarrassment.

“As I was saying,” Starburst continued, ignoring the interruption, “if you would provoke Star, he would reply either by poking fun at you, or by some prank. So for the love of Celestia, don’t mention again that he might be the son of King Sombra.”

His embarrassment deepened. “I should apologize to him. That was uncalled for,” he admitted reluctantly and sighed. “And I also should apologize to you as well. Sorry,” Valiant said as she looked at him with confusion. “For interrupting your date.”

“Oh… it’s okay,” Starburst said dismissively, not wanting to dwell on the subject. Especially since their meeting spot came into sight, with all their friends already there. “I thought I would get in trouble anyway.”

“Still, it wasn’t nice. Not to mention that my attitude was kinda hypocritical, considering how often I told you that you should loosen up,” he added with a chuckle. “To make it up to you, I will try to be nicer to Starfall.”

“Thank you.”

“I still don’t like him,” Valiant warned.

“Noted,” Starburst replied as she waved with her wing to their friends.

As she had said back in the house, they were close to being late. Everypony was already waiting for them beside the tree growing next to the road leading to the Winsome Falls. Prism and Hot Head were shooting daggers at each other, but seeing how they weren’t arguing, Starburst assumed that the others convinced them to be try and be nice to one another. The rest were talking among themselves, Claire laughed at some joke a slightly sleeping-looking Nidra told her…

... but Starburst had eyes on only one of her friends.

“ANNIE!” she shouted as soon as she noticed the blind unicorn beside her coltfriend, T. She ignored everypony else and focused solely on her. “I am going to kill you!”

Annie turned to her, startled. “W-wha...?” she started to say, but Starburst quickly crossed the distance dividing them and landed in front of her.

“Do you have any idea what the hell my parents thought when they found those condoms you gave me?” she shouted in her face, blowing off the steam from last night on Annie.

As Annie stared at her with wide eyes, Starburst noticed that her other friends started to laugh. Though embarrassed, she was way too pissed to react to that. However, when Annie started to smile? That was another matter. A growl was all the warning she got.

“EEP!” Annie shrieked as she jumped behind her massive coltfriend, but it wasn’t going to do her any good. Starburst chased after her, forcing the unicorn to run. “I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY!” Annie shouted as the two of them run around T in circles.

Blinded by her rage, Starburst couldn’t really tell, but she was sure they’ve circled T at least three times before Candy and June finally grabbed her. “Let me go!” she shouted while they held her, trying to escape.

“Come now, darling,” Claire said, stepping into her view. Starburst’s narrowed her eyes; it was clear that the half-dragon was holding back laughter. “You cannot expect poor Anthea to know her joke would bring such results.”

“I’m soooorryyy!” Annie added… looking at her from behind T. “I didn’t mean to… if your parents would have mentioned something about it yesterday, I would have told them that I gave them to you, I swear.”

She had tears in her eyes. Celestia damn it Annie, Starburst thought as she started to be ashamed of lashing out at her friend and regretting it now, a pony can’t stay mad at you…

“I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble,” Annie continued. “Although,” she added suddenly, with a spark in her eye, “they wouldn’t have found it if you had used them…”

And there it is again. The rage, Starburst thought, deadpanning at Annie while others snorted.

However, despide her thoughts, she was now more annoyed than angry. “I am not even going to reply to that one,” she said, sighing heavily.

Seeing that she had calmed down, Candy and June let go of her. “So…?” Annie asked her unsurely.

“I am not going to kill you,” Starburst explained, deadpanning. “But for the love of Celestia, never ever give me any condoms again!” she added, doing her best to ignore the renewed burst of laughter her words had caused. In an afterthought, she said: “And nothing related to them!”

“I’m not promising anything,” Annie replied. As if sensing Starburst’s gaze, she added. “What? You might need-”

Thankfully, whatever rest she planned on saying, was stopped by Claire. She pressed her hoof-claw to Annie’s mouth, silencing her. “Alright, that’s enough Annie. Now,” Claire added, looking the others, “boys, go away for a minute. We’re going to have a girl ta-”

“No!” Starburst quickly interrupted her. To be safe, she flew out of anypony’s reach and landed beside the tree, wanting to have her back turned somewhere safe. “I will not go through that again!”

“But we wanted to know how your date with Starfall went!” Candy said, pouting.

“It ended with us being surrounded by a bunch of guards, that’s all I am going to tell you,” Starburst replied angrily.

“Oh, we know that part,” Claire said. Starburst shot Valiant an angry glare; of course the commotion they’ve caused last night attracted the attention of others in Ponyville. “As well as that when Starfall picked you up, your parents were there. But we’re curious about where you two disappeared to.”

Starburst groaned and facehoofed. Why do I feel that they will get this out of me anyway?

“And while we’re at the subject, where is Starfall? You did invite him, right?”

“Of course,” Starburst replied. “He’ll be here shortly. Probably.”

“Probably?” Claire asked, raising an eyebrow.

Starburst snorted. “Who knows with him? He can be perfectly on time, late if he would think it was funny, or can be already…” she trailed off as her friends looked at her. “He’s standing right behind me, right?” she asked with a sigh.

Claire tilted her head. “Um… no?”

That actually surprised Starburst. “Huh,” she said, beginning to turn around, “I was sure-”

“Bazinga!”

“Gah!” Starburst uttered in shock as she jumped away. Which, of course, made Starfall’s grin (that an instant ago was right at her face) even wider.

She looked at her coltfriend as he hung from a lower branch of the tree by his tail. The branch was shaking, indicating that he had just that instant leaned down from it.

“How long have you been there?” Starburst asked, shaking off the shock as best she could. Her heart was still racing.

Not worried at all by her angry question, Starfall continued to hang down from the branch smiling. “I could have teleported here this instant,” he said, shrugging. “I could have been here since dawn, or I can still be someplace else. Who knows with me?”

Hearing him practically repeat after her, Starburst frowned. “I hate you sometimes,” she said quietly enough for just the two of them to hear.

“No you don’t,” he replied, sticking his tongue out.

Before she could retort, Starfall lifted his body up, grabbed the branch with his forehooves, then hurled his body higher so it was vertically above it, and then laid on it. “Hi guys,” he said as he put his hooves under his head, getting more comfortable on the branch. “What’s up? What did you think about my show?”

“Well, hello Starfall,” Claire replied politely. “It is a pleasure to see you again, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we loved your show. Well, minus one pony maybe,” she added, glancing at Prism.

“Am I really the only one who thinks that taking such joy in seeing your friend cut in half is kinda sick?” Prism grunted while the others chuckled.

“Oh, lighten up,” Nidra said, poking him with her wing. “It was fun.”

“Next time you can volunteer then,” Prism retorted. “We’ll see how much you’ll like it when you’re in two pieces…” he trailed off and his eyes went to the side, as if thinking about something, then shook his head.

What the hell did he think?! Starburst wondered briefly.

Her attention quickly shifted back to Starfall, however, as he looked at Prism and Nidra with confusion. “Do you want me to go get my saw and box or-”

“NO!” Prism quickly said.

“I didn’t say they’d be for you.”

That made Prism reconsider, but before he could ponder about it, Candy said: “Silly, you can’t solve all social problems with a saw and box.”

“I’d ask how you know that for sure,” Starfall replied, “but I feel that this conversation is starting to get dark, so…”

“Still, we could probably use some entertainment once we set up camp,” Illusion said, smirking.

“If it means you’ll get cut in half, maybe,” Prism commented.

“Oh, that would be fun,” Illusion agreed with a strange gleam in his eyes.

Starburst quickly caught up with what he was thinking. Being half draconequus, he could use his magic for many things. Illusion probably wanted to see first-hoof what Starfall’s trick was about… and then pull a prank on him.

I should probably be happy that he has the decency to do that in our group and not in front of the crowd, Starburst thought with annoyance. She turned to her coltfriend. I wonder what Star would have done if Illusion had volunteered before he picked Prism… she trailed off when she’d noticed that Starfall had a smirk on his face.

“Indeed, Your Highness,” he agreed with Illusion. “Alas, I do not have my trusty saw with me, and I don’t have the time to go back for it.”

Liar, Starburst thought, thinking about his skill with teleportation spell.

“But don’t worry, I might show you all a few tricks,” Starfall finished with a smile only somepony blind wouldn’t call sinister.

“Well,” Annie said, “you won’t show me anything. Blind, remember?”

“Can’t see,” Starfall corrected her, as usual.

“What is your obsession with correcting me like this?” Annie questioned.

“Cause my stalker took my eyeballs once,” Starfall replied casually. “She put them back when she got bored. Still, those were dark days. Get it?” he grinned while everypony stared at him in confusion. Once he realized that his joke made nopony laugh, he continued: “Well, anyway, the experience gave me an interesting perspective on the subject.”

“She took your eyeballs?” Starburst repeated.

Normally, she would have thought that he was making it up, but after yesterday…

Starfall disappeared from the branch and appeared next to her. “Yeah, that was a weird prank, even for her. Or maybe it wasn’t a prank and she wanted to have a memento, or build a weird-flank shrine? I dunno, it’s kinda hard to tell when she’s serious…” he trailed off, pondering.

Starburst glanced at her friends, and saw that they were looking at her. She shrugged. What? Do they expect me to know when he’s serious?

“Perhaps we should start to get going…” Claire began carefully. “It is a bit of a long walk.”

“Ugh, walk,” Starfall grunted. “Like some commoner.”

“Commoner?” Hot Head, who was standing beside Whirlwind, asked with a raised eyebrow. “Who do you think you are?”

“A god,” Starfall replied casually.

Candy, Annie, Illusion and Nidra snorted with laughter, the others looked confused, or dismayed. Starburst just rolled her eyes.

“Do you seriously believe your own hype that much?” Prism asked.

“I am the hype!” Starfall replied, stomping and getting serious… for whole two seconds. He then grinned. “So, are we going?”

Pitching the Tent

View Online

“So Starfall,” Annie spoke up after a few seconds of walking (or flying in some cases) in silence, “you haven’t met Hot Head before, have you?”

Trying to dispel awkwardness completely, huh? Starburst thought.

Between Starfall, the former felon, and Hot Head, Prism’s arch-rival, others had been glancing at one or the other, everypony trying to think of a way to start a conversation in the big group that wouldn’t cause any discord.

Speaking of discord, the son of Discord was the only one who seemed to be more amused than uncomfortable by this situation. Well, he and Nidra, but she practically never takes things seriously, Starburst amended as she looked at Illusion thoughtfully. She had hoped that he wouldn’t want to prank anypony, or at least that Claire could rein him in.

That’s what we need right now, a prank, she thought. If he would start, then Starfall would as well, and that would end in… What was that thing Mom said Candy’s mom had with Epic Parody’s father? Starburst wondered. A… rap battle? No, that doesn’t sound right…

As she tried to recall, Starfall replied to Annie: “No, I don’t believe I had the pleasure.” He then leaned to Starburst and asked in a whisper. “Hot Head is that reddish pegasus, right?”

She rolled her eyes and nodded.

In a raised voice Starfall continued. “Or displeasure. You know, ‘cause when I met most of you guys, you all attacked me for no reason-”

“‘No reason’?” Starburst interrupted him, raising an eyebrow.

Starfall blinked twice. “Hm.... I want to say… nooo?” Starburst just sighed in annoyance. “So, Hot Head, you don’t usually hang around with them?” he said, turning to the flying pegasus.

“Not all of them, at least,” the pegasus admitted. “Especially since I moved to Canterlot with Lucky and Amber. But Whirlwind invited me, so here I am,” he added, nodding at the flying beside him purple mare.

“Who are Lucky and Amber?”

Hot Head opened mouth to reply, but Prism beat him to it. “Amber is his mom.”

“Shut it!” the other pegasus hissed, turning to him sharply.

“And he has the hots for her,” Prism continued, smirking.

Hot Head growled and charged at him, but before he could fly into him, a big bubble appeared in mid-air and he bounced off it. As he regained his composure and shook his head, light flashed and Starfall was standing on top of the bubble.

“Alright, you’ve got my attention,” he said as the bubble fell on the ground before the group, and began to roll forward, with Starfall standing on his hind legs, with one forehoof behind his back and other waving as he added: “Please elaborate.”

“Amber, Lucky, Hot Head and I were together in an orphanage,” Annie replied before either of the two pegasi could. “I was adopted by my mom, but they stayed, and when Amber became old enough to live by herself, she became their legal guardian and took them with her.”

“Huh, sweet,” Starfall commented, continuing to calmly walk on hind legs on his bubble. He looked back at Hot Head, then at Prism, before turning back to Annie. “So he has the hots for-”

Hot Head dashed forward to hover before him. “No I don’t,” he said deadpanning, ignoring several snorts of laughter.

“Why, is she ugly?” Starfall asked, blinking eyes curiously.

Hot Head cringed and looked at him in shock. “No she- I-I mean…” he shook his head and glared at Starfall. “What would happen if I burst this bubble?” he asked threateningly.

Starfall clicked his tongue and shook his head in disappointment. “No different than Damsel,” he muttered, loud enough for everypony to hear. “It would explode in a very violent manner, inflicting heavy damage on you, silly!”

“... I think I’m not gonna like you after all,” Hot Head finally said.

Prism snorted. “Join the club.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” Starfall exclaimed happily. “I’ll be your Lightning Rod of Hate!” he added, flailing his forelegs in the air as if he was shocked by electricity current, before he and the bubble disappeared.

“Done?” Starburst asked him as he appeared next to her.

Starfall grinned. “Yay, I helped!” he exclaimed happily, before sticking his tongue playfully: “I wouldn’t want them to concentrate on their petty quarrels when they have me to focus on.”

Starburst deadpanned. Either my coltfriend is so self-absorbed that he’d prefer if others would concentrate their hate on him instead of each other, or he is so beneficent and self-destructive that he’d do that all out of genuine concern. I think I should be concerned with both options.

Claire cleared her throat and called out. “That was… noble of you, Starfall. We certainly wouldn’t want any fights during this trip, right boys?” she asked, looking at the two pegasi colts and raising an eyebrow.

“I’m a bit surprised you hadn’t heard about Hot Head, actually,” Whirlwind told Starfall while Prism and Hot Head frowned and nodded reluctantly to Claire. “He won the Cloudsdale Best Young Flier's competition, three years running. He’d even beaten both me and Prism,” she added, glancing at Prism.

“Sorry, spent most of the last four years abroad I’m afraid,” Starfall replied, shrugging.

“Really?” Claire asked with interest. “But hadn’t you said that back in the Castle of Royal Pony sisters that you lived in Manehattan? I believe ‘I’ve blasted thugs and gangsters in the slums of Manehattan left and right’ was how you’ve phrased it.”

“After I escaped that circus owner I was somewhere near Roam in the Zebra Nation,” Starfall explained. “The passenger ship I snuck aboard sailed to Manehattan, so I stayed there. But I got bored of singing ‘Equestriano’ over and over again, and decided to leave. That was shortly before that whole whale accident,” he added, turning to Starburst.

Starburst opened her mouth… and then closed it. I’m going to let them have this one, she decided, and turned to look at her friends. As she had expected, they all looked confused. After a heartbeat, they began to glance at each other, hoping somepony would know how to respond.

Illusion raised his paw. “I’ll handle this,” he said, nodding seriously. He snapped with his fingers in his outstretched paw, and his head disappeared… and appeared right before Starfall. Starburst cringed and backed away in surprise, but her coltfriend hadn't even flinched. “One; did you say ‘circus owner’?” Illusion’s head asked as it flew backwards in the air, as his headless body continued to walk.

Sweet Celestia... did you think I wasn’t becoming insane because of my coltfriend quickly enough and decided to send your son to hurry it up?

“I did mention that I was forced to perform for the profit of others back at that barn three days ago, right?” Starfall replied calmly, as if he wasn’t talking with a floating head. “To make a long story short, after my mom was murdered I was foalnapped by a sick bastard who owned a circus and had a control glyph burned on my cutie mark. I was then his slave for about four years, until I found a way to burn off the glyph, along with my cutie mark and a considerable amount of my coat, allowing me to trap that monster in his worst nightmare and leave him to the mercy of his other slaves.”

Starburst sighed. “You know,” she started while others tried to process this slightly more detailed tale of his past that they just heard, “it would really help if you’d stop saying this so nonchalantly.”

“There are worse ways of doing that,” Starfall countered, shrugging. “I could have laughed maniacally and used it as a part of my evil monologue. This way at least, everypony will see that I am coping and won’t break down crying, which I hate. Which is why I certainly hope that big green guy will hug his marefriend!” he called out to T.

Starburst turned to look at T and Annie just in time to see T wrapping his wing around a welling up Annie. “What?” she asked, sensing that others were looking at her. “It’s very sad.”

“Anthea is right,” Claire said, turning to Starfall. “We can understand that you wouldn’t want us to dwell on this subject for too long, dear, but you shouldn’t be angry about Annie or anypony else crying.”

“I’m not angry, I just hate seeing ponies cry,” Starfall explained and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, when I see a pony cry, I have an almost physical need to make them laugh. And while I enjoy making others laugh, I would prefer it if I were to make a pony feel better after something other than my past. Can we just agree that it was all sad and move on?”

“What exactly happened to the murderer of your mother?”

Starburst eyes went wide as she heard her cousin’s question. She turned to him and tried to think of something to say, while at the same time trying to recall how much he knew. I think Lance only knows that Starfall’s mom had been killed by Ripper the Jackal, she thought, panicking, but before should say anything, Starfall replied: “I lost control of myself and killed him with dark magic.”

Now Starburst turned to look at Starfall in disbelief.

“So my cousin is dating a murderer,” she heard Valiant say as she tried to think of a way to chasten Starfall and salvage this situation.

However, hearing him say that made her turn her attention back to Valiant, angry retort at the back of her tongue, and was pleased to notice that several others - Claire, Annie, T, Candy and June - were also dismayed at his words, but just as she was about to explode at her cousin, she was yet again cut by Starfall.

“At least she’s dating somepony.”

Everypony’s jaw dropped.

“Unlike some others,” Starfall continued calmly, as if they were talking about weather. When Starburst looked at him, though, she noticed that he was smiling in the corner of his lips. She also heard several of her friends snort in laughter, and saw Illusion’s head snicker. “But if you are determined to get back to the subject… Part of the reason why I hadn’t come to authorities and let myself get captured was because I felt guilty afterwards,” he added, frowning at Valiant. “Your cousin had already convinced me to stop feeling guilty, and I was officially pardoned for all my past crimes, so I don’t see why you should be concerned. Especially since Princess Twilight put a spell on my dream charm, making me unable to use dark magic,” Starfall said, lifting the hoof with the zebra beads and wiggling it. “So,” he continued, turning to Illusion’s head, “was there a ‘two’?”

Illusion’s head blinked, then shook as he resumed his earlier train of thoughts. “Two: what did you mean about singing ‘Equestriano’?”

“And what do you sing when guards are throwing spears around you?” Starfall asked, blinking. When Illusion, baffled, failed to respond, the unicorn closed his eyes: “♪Don't you try and catch me, Don't you try and catch me, No! No! No! No!♪” he sung, swinging his head and tail in tune with the rhythm. “♪I'm living on the edge of, Living on the edge of the law, law, law, law!♪”

Well, I suppose it’s admirable that he isn’t trying to suck up to my family, Starburst noted, seeing Valiant’s frown.

Illusion, who managed to recover, said: “Okay then. And third; what was that about a whale?”

Starburst rolled her eyes as her coltfriend replied: “A whale swallowed me. I’ve mentioned that to Star on our date,” he added as everypony deadpanned, not believing him.

Illusion, on the other hoof brightened. “Speaking of which, how did your date go?”

Oh great, he’s no better than Claire and the rest, Starburst thought. She was about to growl in annoyance, but she noticed that Starfall was smirking.

“Starburst hadn’t said much, huh?” he asked, then winked at her. “I don’t see why I should, then.”

Illusion’s floating head pouting. “Oh, c’mon, tell us!”

“Well…” Starfall said slowly, grinning. “I suppose I could say… that as far as first dates go, I’ve totally beaten all of you dudes,” he finished, sticking out his tongue. “Now, could you please put yourself back together?” Starfall said, after which he began to glance around the the forest around the path. “I’m having enough trouble sensing chaos magic with you just walking, I don’t need you levitating your head around.”

“Oh?” Illusion asked, tilting his floating head. “Wait, you can really do that?”

Starfall sighed and looked at Starburst. “Why do ponies not believe what I say?” he asked, pouting. She just chuckled in response. “Yeah, I can do that,” he said, turning back to Illusion’s head. “And in case my stalker manages to track me down earlier than usual, I would like to know that in advance, so if you wouldn’t mind…?”

Illusion frowned, and his head disappeared. “Wait, is that stalker of yours a draconequus?” he asked as from beside Claire, his body once again whole.

Starburst looked at him with wide eyes, then quickly back at her coltfriend. “Um, duh?” Starfall said, raising an eyebrow. “How the hell did you think she managed to take my eyeballs?”

She stopped. “Wait, that really happened?!”

“Nopony believes me,” Starfall sighed, but Starburst had no longer thought it to be funny.

“You could have mentioned earlier that your stalker is a draconequus,” she said, frowning. What would happen if she would come to Ponyville? “Is she dangerous?”

She noticed her friends had stopped as well. Starburst wondered briefly how amusing this exchange must be for them, before she focused back on Starfall.

“Eris? Hm… as far as I know, she never seriously harmed a pony.”

“So you don’t consider taking your eyeballs as something serious?” Annie asked.

Starfall shrugged. “She gave them back. I mean, granted, at first she put the left eye in right eye socket, and right in left-”

“That’s not how eyes work,” Starburst told him, deadpanning.

“You argue logic with a draconequus.”

“Ugh…” she groaned, not wanting to argue. “Why is she stalking you anyway?”

“Dunno. She acts as if she has a crush on me, but-”

That was it.

“She has WHAT?!” Starburst exploded, flaring her wings in anger and making Starfall flinch.

“Ooooh, now this is interesting,” she heard Candy exclaim, but one glare shut her and all the giggles from others.

“- but I honestly don’t know if she is just kidding around,” Starfall continued once he recovered, as if she hadn’t interrupted him. “It might have been funnier for her due to my problems with being touched.”

Starburst calmed down a bit. Why did I get so angry? “Okay, but-”

She stopped as she noticed two ponies chuckling. Both her and Starfall - along with everypony else - looked at Prism and Hot Head. “Wait, seriously?” Prism asked, smirking. “You don’t like ponies touching you?”

Claire growled quietly. “Prism dear, that’s not nice.”

“Hot Head, don’t make me tell Amber on you,” Annie said at the same time.

Starfall, on the other hoof, merely tilted his head. Starburst knew what he was going to say a heartbeat before he did: “Well, getting raped for four years does that to you.”

Starburst winced. “You really should stop saying things so casually,” she whispered to Starfall as her friends all stared at him.

But Starfall just blinked, confused. “Wait, what did they all think when I told them that I was abused back at the barn?” he asked, looking around at her friends. “Geez, and you guys were surprised I called you ‘sheltered’.”

“Ugh, forget about this,” Starburst said, ignoring her friends. “What about this… Eris?”

To her irritation, Starfall just shrugged. “It usually takes her a month or more before she tracks me down, so we have nothing to worry about. And even if she was to appear much sooner, like today, I would know it in long advance. Even with Mister Floating Head here,” he added.

“And what happens when she does get here?” Starburst asked, frowning.

“I can handle her. I always get the best of her. I mean, granted, she used her chaos magic to play a few pranks on me, but they weren’t life-threatening or anything.” Apparently assuming that this talk was over, Starfall turned then to her friends. “You guys are over it?”

Starburst was really annoyed by how he was nonchalant about this, but she didn’t want to argue in front of the rest. She just shook her head, made a mental note to discuss this later, and turned back.

They resumed walking, although Starburst noticed that there was this air of unease around the rest. It wasn’t surprising, given her own reaction back in the cave. Claire was first try and disperse the atmosphere. “So, um, Starfall dear,” she started, a bit awkwardly, “how did you manage to… cope with that?”

“Oh, easily,” Starfall replied, “I put that behind me.”

Starburst facehooved as everypony cringed while her coltfriend utter an evil laugh.

For their camping spot, they had chosen a meadow on the edge of Whitetail Woods, the most flat terrain right next to the riverbank, to be specific. Everypony - minus Starfall - knew this place, having visited it at some point while camping with somepony. Either with their families, or with friends. Starburst herself had been here last time with Candy, Annie, T, and Prism.

There’s a bit more of us now, she noted as they reached the place. She unstrapped her saddlebags and let her tent and sleeping bags to fall on the ground, like everypony else, and stretched. Good thing this place is spacious enough for all our tents.

“Boy, it’s getting late,” Candy exclaimed, looking at the evening sky. “We should start getting the campfire ready before it gets dark. Who’s going to go gather wood?”

“Hang on,” Illusion said, raising his paw and flickering his fingers. A light flashed, and their tent very quickly began putting up itself. After a few seconds, it was already standing. “Claire and I can go get it,” he added as Claire threw their sleeping bags inside.

“We will be back once we collect enough wood,” Claire said as the two headed into the forest.

“I’ll bet Illusion knows where she can find some wood,” Annie said as soon as the two were out of earshot.

“Oh, grow up, Annie,” June told her disapprovingly, as she started to unpack her tent. “Ya really ough t’ start actin’ more mature- oh no!”

“What, what is it?” Valiant asked.

June took the cover of her ten into her hooves and turned to show him. “My tent! It has holes all over it!”

She was right. The material had many holes and it, and it had ripped in several places. Starburst trotted over to get a closer look, wondering what could have caused such damage. Some kind of clothes moth? she wondered.

“Wow, talk about bad luck,” Candy, who sat down beside June, commented. “But don’t worry; I’m sure Prince Valiant will gladly let you sleep in his.”

Starburst deadpanned. Oh, Candy, you didn’t.

“Since, you know, he is the only one with a spare room in his tent as he isn’t here with a date,” Candy added, probably wanting to show that she hadn’t meant anything lecherous.

Yeah, right, Starburst thought, barely stopping herself from facehoofing. She turned around, grabbed her things, and began to walk further away, spotting a good spot earlier nearer river, as she didn't want to see more of that scene.

But she still heard it.

“Sure, I won’t have problems sharing,” her cousin replied courteously. “If you don’t have any problem with that, of course,” he added, probably now turning to June.

“Y-yeah, of course, Ah have nothin’ ‘gainst it. Sorry for botherin’ ya.”

“No, really-”

“So your cousin and Big Red aren’t a couple?” Starfall, trotting beside her, asked her, drowning out their conversation.

“No, they’re not.” But not for long, if Candy’s plan works. “Didn’t you make a joke earlier about him being single?” she asked, putting her bags down.

“Yeah, but after seeing them talk during our breaks on the trek here made me wonder if I missed with that joke,” he explained. “They seem really close.”

Starburst thought back. As it took them so long to get here, they’ve made several breaks to eat small meals and rest. She recalled that Valiant and June sat next to each other and talked, but she hadn’t paid much attention.

“Well, they’ve known each other for a long time, and they’ve been pen pals for years,” she replied evasively.

She looked down at the bag with the tent, getting ready to set it up, as Starfall talked: “I’d say they’d make a cute couple, but then again I’m a half-crazy, emotionally scarred bastard demon spawn with social issues, so I might be wrong.”

Starburst turned to him sharply. “Could you stop talking like this?” she asked in whisper, angry. “So… calmly, as if it’s nothing?”

Starfall’s eyes widened in surprise at her rage, but then he smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I know how this might seem, but it’s my coping mechanism. I will try to tune it down, I promise.”

She sighed. “I know I shouldn’t be angry about something like this…” she started as she reached to the bag with the tent.

“Wait, let me do it,” Starfall interrupted her. She looked back at him as his horn started to glow. “It only seems fair, as you dragged it all the way here.”

Starburst shrugged. “It was a good substitute for my usual workout, trotting with all this weight, ” she said, but she let him start to assemble the tent with his magic. She also decided to abandon that argument from earlier. Although he could not call himself a bastard demon spawn at least, she thought, even though almost immediately she mentally facehoofed. But then he would say that at least the bastard is true, and maybe the other as well. “Dad told me that during the military training, recruits have to run with all saddlebags filled with bricks and other stuff.”

“I figured,” Starfall replied, not stopping his work. He bent down to drive the nail with his hooves and guide the pole into it. “That’s why I didn’t ask if you need help. Must have seemed like a terrible coltfriend to your friends, huh?”

“No, not really. They know I would refuse the offer, so they had probably guessed you must know me at least that well.” She tilted her head, watching his work. “You know, you are really good at this for somepony who supposedly sleeps on trees and rooftops most of the time.”

“Being in a circus for four years gives you plenty of occasions to learn how to set up a tent,” Starfall said. “Of course, those were bigger, but the general method is the same.”

Starburst had to admit that he had a point. She glanced around at her friends, who were doing the same thing Starfall was, some better and some worse. Annie and T, who were setting up their tent closest to them - Starburst was surprised to realize that under those conditions, she actually preferred to have Annie for a neighbour rather than her cousin - were taking more time than others. Starburst recalled that T’s old tent accidentally got damaged, and this was a new one, so it wasn’t surprising that he wasn’t used to it. She was about to go offer to help them, but then she noticed that Starfall had now finished theirs and entered inside.

“Okay, it’s done,” he called out. Starburst entered after him. “I was worried I hadn’t driven those nails hard enough,” he explained as he moved around, testing the tent’s walls.

“You did a great job,” she told him, impressed. However, she quickly grow serious, wanting to take advantage of this privacy. “Star, this Eris… are you sure she’s not dangerous?”

Starfall frowned. “Are you still on about that?”

“Star,” she said, frowning as well.

He sighed. “Well, she is a draconequus, so it’s a given that she’s dangerous. But unlike Mister Floating Head’s father, she never tried to take over a kingdom.”

I better not tell him that I used to be more afraid of Celestia than of Discord.

“She’s also much less powerful,” Starfall continued. “Her magic can only affect the small area surrounding her. Maybe it has something to do with age? I think she’s somewhere around our age, or at least much younger than Discord. I mean, if she was thousands of years old, having a crush on a teenage colt would border on pedophilia.”

“Funny,” Starburst commented without humor. “So what would happen if she’d come to Ponyville?”

“Seeing how there’s an alicorn Princess living here, and there are two more in Canterlot along with Spirit of Chaos, I think she’d figure out that causing too much damage would get her into trouble. Eris would probably just come to us, say hi, talk, annoy us-”

Oh great, because there’s not enough of that going on.

“- and once she would learn that I am dating you, she would probably try to prank both of us.”

“What do you mean by ‘prank’?” she asked, worried. “I don’t want to have my eyes removed or something.”

Much to her irritation, Starfall chuckled. “It didn’t hurt. Also knowing her, she would do something… fitting.”

“‘Fitting’?”

I really don’t like the sound of that…

“That time she took my eyes, she asked me first if my eyes had ever seen somepony more beautiful. To get some peace of mind, I said yes.” He spread his forehooves and shrugged. “In retrospect, I should have seen that coming, really.”

“Where did you even meet her?” Starburst asked, feeling even more irritated now.

“I was looking for a place to sleep in Zebrricania Valley’s ruins. She was living there, and had used her chaos magic to animate several statues and treat her like the princess of the place. That’s how we first met. Well,” he added, “for my timeline.”

Starburst blinked. “Your what?”

“She said that she had went back in time to meet me earlier, to surprise me,” Starfall replied. “Apparently for her timeline, we first met in Maretonia…”

Starburst grunted and rubbed her temples. “You two seem similar.”

“Well, that’s… wait,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Are you… jealous?”

“What?! No I…” she started, but then she paused.

Was she jealous? I have been more angry since he brought up that this Eris maybe has crush on him… she admitted.

She was about to say that he maybe was right, but then she noticed that Starfall was chuckling. “S-stop laughing!” she demanded, stomping.

“Sorry, but just the thought that there is something to be jealous about is funny,” Starfall explained, sticking his tongue out. “I never felt attracted to Eris… well, I was a bit when going through puberty,” he admitted, slightly blushing. “And what she was doing at the time with her body wasn’t helping… but trying to imagine her touching me anywhere made me quickly lose interest. You are the only one I have no problem touching me,” he reminded her, trotting closer. “Not to mention that you are much more beautiful, and how much fun we have hanging out.”

Starburst blushed, feeling much warmer suddenly. “Oh…” she managed to mumble. “Thanks.”

“Stop worrying about Eris,” Starfall continued, stopping right in front of her. “Whatever she’ll do when she’d get here, it won’t be anything you can’t handle. You’ve beaten me, remember?”

“Vividly,” Starburst purred before Starfall kissed her.

She didn’t intend for this kiss to be too long, not with her friends right outside of the tent, but as she was about to pull out, Starfall hoof gently embraced her and made its way to her ear. She moaned as he scratched it, melting in his embrace and spread her wings-

“Guys?”

Starburst and Starfall jumped away from each other and looked, startled, at tent’s opening, where Annie’s head was peeking in.

“Before you start going down on each other, can you give us a hoof?”

“A-annie!” Starburst stammered. “We were just kissing!”

“Oh, so you were?” Annie replied, raising an eyebrow. “Couldn’t tell, too dark for me to even see your coat’s general colors. But seriously, can you come help? T got a bit stuck, and others still hadn’t finished.”

Starburst sighed. “Fine.”

“Kinda like you, since I interrupted you-” Annie began, but she stopped as she heard quick movement and jumped away to dodge the sleeping bag that Starburst threw at her.

Campfire Exchange

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“T, wanna do the honors?” Illusion asked, turning from the pile of wood he had constructed in the middle of their camp, and looking at the green half-dragon.

“Sure,” T replied, shrugging.

As Illusion backed away, T breathed light fire at the pyre, setting it aflame. Even though it was still a while before Princess Celestia would lower the Sun completely, the area around them immediately became much brighter thanks to their campfire.

Must have been darker than we’ve noticed, Starburst noted briefly.

“Alright,” Candy exclaimed happily, “who wants to make some s’mores?”

And what else could we do with a campfire? Starburst wondered sarcastically, rolling her eyes. However, she stopped as she noticed a banjo, of all things, sticking out of Candy and Del’s tent. I had to ask…

Trying to ignore the borderline painful memories of the last campfire song she had the displeasure of hearing, Starburst focused on sticking a marshmallow on a long stick. Even Del’s good singing voice can’t make Ninety-nine Buckets of Oats sound entertaining, she remarked.

She glanced at Starfall, wondering if she should ask him to see if he could do something about Candy’s banjo (she was still a bit angry for every remark about how her and Starfall became a couple the blue mare had uttered last week; Starburst overlooked the fact that Candy had ended up being right), and to her mild surprise she saw that her coltfriend’s gaze was turned to the river instead of the campfire.

“Hm, this is nice,” Starburst heard Annie comment before she could talk to Starfall.

She turned to look at the blind mare; she was cuddled up with her coltfriend T and staring at the fire. Being almost completely blind, Annie was afraid of darkness, so it was not surprising that she was so happy about the new source of light.

“But I bet it would be even nicer,” Annie continued, glancing her and Starfall’s way, “if somepony would use their magic to make the flames all colorful.”

It was probably her favorite part of Star’s show, Starburst commented, turning to Starfall; Annie really liked colors. Sometime ago, she even made a drawing of all of her friends the way she sees them. It was basically a mash of many colors (though even Starburst had to admit it was cute).

Seeing that he hadn’t show any sign of having heard Annie, Starburst nudged him. That finally got Starfall’s attention; he shook and looked at her. “Hm? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” he said, blinking.

“Annie was curious if you could make the fire colorful like back during your show.”

“Oh,” Starfall exclaimed; to her confusion, he seemed uneasy. “I would rather not.”

Okay, that’s something new, Starburst thought, surprised. I’ve never expected him to not want to show off.

“How come?” she asked.

“I’m not exactly comfortable with using my magic on fire,” Starfall explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “It feels… unnerving. I’ve managed to do it so well during my show because I’ve practiced before and spent half a day mentally preparing myself. And I was still worried about what could happen if I’d lost my concentration; hence why I asked for the audience,” he glanced meaningfully at T and Claire, “to not produce any more fire. It would make me, um, lose balance, so to speak.”

Starburst tilted her head, but it was Whirlwind who asked the question she was thinking about. “Then why did you do that fire trick back during your show?” she asked from the other side of the campfire.

Starfall leaned closer to Starburst so that he could see the purple pegasus. Whirlwind was sitting beside Hot Head, as far away from the fire as she could. “‘Cause I know it looks awesome,” Starfall replied. “Fire changes its color to match my magic as soon as I use it to manipulate it. Probably because of that whole ‘part dragon thing’. And as for losing control over it, I reduced the fire’s temperature. Even if it were to explode-”

“‘Explode’?” Starburst interrupted, raising an eyebrow.

“You don’t like fire, I take?” he asked Whirlwind, ignoring Starburst’s question.

“Something like that,” Whirlwind replied, sullen.

“Well, then you should understand why I feel uncomfortable,” Starfall continued, raising up to a sitting position. “I’m not afraid of fire -which, considering I had to jump through burning hoops and had my flank incinerated, is a bit weird - but I am… uneasy about using my magic on something so chaotic.” Starburst could swear she saw him glance briefly at Illusion and Claire and smirk. “That’s why I prefer using it on water, the exact opposite of fire. Still though... “ he added, grinning and flashing his fangs. “I have no such problems about playing with fire without magic.”

Starburst frowned. “What do you-” she started as Starfall lifted his foreleg and swung it horizontally before the campfire, and was left agape.

A portion of the flames changed colors from orange to multi-colored and jumped from the fire to Starfall’s hoof.

After a second, when she recovered, Starburst turned her gaze from Starfall’s hoof - where he held the flame - to his face. Her coltfriend was still grinning, and nothing indicated that he was in pain. However, his horn wasn’t glowing.

How is he doing that?

“Neat, huh?” Starfall asked. Suddenly, he shook his hoof and the ball of flames flew from his forehoof to the other one.

He threw it, Starburst realized.

Everypony watched in amazement as Starfall kept throwing from forehoof to forehoof the ball of multi-colored flames over his head. “Alright, how are you doing this?” Illusion finally asked, eyeing him curiously.

“Wait, he really isn’t using magic?” Annie, who had been told by T what was happening, asked him.

“No,” Illusion replied. “His horn isn’t glowing, and I would know if this was chaos magic. Seriously, how are you doing this?”

“Told you, I’m a god,” Starfall replied, sticking his tongue and throwing the fireball to the air.

He then leaned back, opened his mouth wide, and, to everybody’s shock, let the flames fall right in. Then, almost in a blink of an eye, he presses a hoof to his nose and blew, exhaling flames through his ears.

“Feel free to start bowing before my greatness,” Starfall told the boggled ponies after coughing once.

Starburst, who was starting to get used to his weirdness, was first to recover. “The only thing ‘great’ about you is your ego,” she told him, sticking her tongue out.

“Aw, you poor thing.”

Starburst turned to Annie, surprised. “Wha-”

“Although, its probably for the best,” the blind mare continued. “You know, considering your size.”

“What are you…” Starburst starred, but as everypony started chuckling, she figured out what Annie meant. “Oh, grow up!” she exclaimed, blushing.

“Huh, you have quite the appetite.”

Starburst blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed at her coltfriend’s comment. She tried to swallow the s’more she’d just put in her mouth so that she could reply, but Annie beat her to it.

“You’ve been on a day-long date with Starburst and hadn’t noticed that she has an appetite of a full-grown horse?” Annie asked, giggling. “You should see someday how fast she can eat a watermelon, it’s really an intimidating sight to behold. Isn’t it, T?” she asked the green half dragon who laid next to her with a wing wrapped over her.

Starburst rolled her eyes as those of their friends sitting the closest laughed at the joke. I hadn’t eaten that many, she thought, although she put away the stick with which she had cooked several marshmallows in the last hours.

Not wanting to get into an argument and lose her composure, she looked around the campfire. With so many of them here, it was easy to lose track of who was sitting where and with whom they were talking. Only earlier when Prism’s and Hot Head’s argument about the next Best Young Flyer Competition resulted in them having a short race above them, had they all been focused on the same thing. Aside from that, they’d spread into small groups.

For instance, a few moments ago, Annie and T had joined them, as Annie wanted to ask him about some of his spells, and they only stopped their conversation to make fun of her.

“Well, now that you mention it,” Starburst heard Starfall contemplate, “she did have twice as many coconuts as me yesterday…”

“Yes, that sounds about ri- wait,” Annie stopped, blinking in surprise. “Did you just say ‘coconuts?”

“Yes.”

“... Seriously, where were you two on that date?” she asked, looking from on to the other.

Starburst sighed. I should probably tell them later. Otherwise, this will never end…

“Oh, you know,” Starfall began to answer, “to this really awesome place that you will never learn about.”

Annie frowned hearing that, but she quickly shook it off. “Oh well… so anyway, back to your illusion spells,” she said, resuming their earlier subject.

“I already told you,” Starfall sighed, “a magician never reveals his secrets.”

“Come on, please?” Annie asked, making puppy eyes at him. Before Starfall could reply, she stopped, and glanced at T. “T, could you please assist me?”

T, slightly embarrassed, imitated her to the best of his possibility. Both of them were now looking at Starfall with big, round eyes… which in T’s case looked a bit comical. Starfall turned to meet Starburst’s gaze and raised his forehooves, as if asking: “What is this?” She just shrugged, as abashed by this as he.

Starfall rolled his eyes and turned back to Annie. “Look-”

“I can’t.”

He facehoofed hearing the joke. Starburst deadpanned at Annie as the mare began to giggle.

After removing his hoof from his face and clearing his throat, Starfall resumed. “Why do you want to know about that spell?” he asked as he began tapping the ground with his other forehoof.

“Well, gee, lets see…”

I thought she couldn’t do that, Starburst thought sarcastically.

The blind mare raised one forehoof. “I can’t see,” she began, looking in the direction of that hoof, and then she raised the other, “and your Mirage Field made me see your illusions.” She clapped her forehooves against each other. “Seems clear enough for me.”

“How long are you going to say blind jokes?” Starburst asked her.

Annie turned to her. “Your coltfriend had made a rape joke earlier today and you’re giving me the heat?”

She hesitated before she answered. “Alright, you have a point,” she replied, and frowned when Starfall chuckled.

“Anyway, my Mirage Field doesn’t exactly work like that,” he began to explain after a moment. “It leaves most of what you see as it is. I change only one or two aspects, like myself. So even if you were to learn that spell, you wouldn’t be able to use it to see.”

“Maybe I’ll figure something out if you’ll tell me how it works,” Annie replied.

Starfall frowned, pondering her words. “I suppose… but to be honest, I don’t know if I can explain how my spells work. Aside from a few, almost everything I know about magic I learned by trial and error… often with a big whip looming over me,” he added. “That surprisingly helps with learning stuff; I wonder if law and medical students know of this…”

Starburst and T both cringed hearing him talk about whips, but to Starburst’s surprise Annie hadn’t. “Really? Aw, just my luck,” she said, pouting. She turned to T. “I can’t get T to even spank me, let alone whip me…”

T blushed fiercely, agape and utterly stunned. Annie giggled, as if seeing his reaction. It wasn’t anything new; Annie embarrassed T like that quite often, so Starburst wasn’t surprised by this display. However, she was surprised by Starfall snorting shortly. She herself felt more uncomfortable than amused.

“Still though,” Annie resumed, “could you try and teach me that spell?”

Starfall tilted his head, pondering. “I suppose I could try… but after this camping trip. I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of too many ponies learning my secrets. And with Mister Floating Head being curious about my tricks and Starburst’s cousin glaring at me everytime she and I aren’t looking at him-”

Starburst turned her head sharply at her cousin. Valiant was talking with June, Claire and Illusion, but she couldn’t tell for sure if he had or hadn’t been looking their way.

She frowned, but after a few seconds she gave up. She turned her attention back to the conversation in time to hear Annie reply: “I understand, though I think you’re being slightly paranoid.” She then brightened up. “Oh, I know! We should have a double date!”

Oh, joy… Starburst thought, not very enthusiastic about the idea.

“T and Star can go work out or practice fighting,” Annie continued, “while we would practice magic. I can teach you some spells in return. ‘Swap spells’, as they call it.”

“That’s… an idea,” Starfall replied diplomatically.

Annie opened her mouth, but when she was about to say something, they heard raised voices from the other side of the campfire. “Oh, those two are at it again,” Annie said, frowning; everypony knew who ‘those two’ were. “I’ll better go calm Hot Head down.”

“How are you going to do that?” Starburst asked as Annie raised, followed by T.

“Easily,” the blind mare replied, smirking. “I’ll just tell him that if he doesn’t behave, I’ll tell Amber on him.”

“Hey Star?” Starfall asked once Annie and T went over to sit by the quarrelling pegasi. “Remember how, when I was calling you all by nicknames, I called her ‘Kind One’?”

“You’re still calling everypony by nicknames,” Starburst couldn’t help but point out. “But go on.”

“I think I should have picked something more fitting,” Starfall finished, flickering his ear.

“That’s Annie for you,” she replied, knowing too well what he had meant by ‘fitting’. “She picked that up from Amber, she’s even worse.”

“Amber? You mean Damsel’s Damsel’s mom?”

“Yeah- ‘Damsel’s Damsel’?” Starburst repeated, confused.

“I thought those two were about to kiss at one moment,” he replied, shrugging. “But you’re right, that’s a weak nickname… get back to me later on that.”

Starburst rolled her eyes, too tired to argue. Ten minutes in Annie’s company and he started making those jokes… She looked around the campfire again; she wondered how long would it be before they would start going to sleep. Starburst knew it would be better if they weren’t first to go to sleep; her friends’ jokes aside, she didn’t want to deal with Valiant’s overprotectiveness.

Even though I really plan to go to sleep, Starburst thought, annoyed. She wanted to get up early and do some exercises before the others woke up; if Candy caught her working out when ‘she’s supposed to hang out with everypony’, Starburst wouldn’t hear the end of it.

She turned to Starfall, wanting to ask him if he wouldn’t mind that she’d go train (or perhaps if he would join her), but she stopped when she noticed that he was still tapping the ground with his hoof. He hadn’t stopped throughout his talk with Annie? Starburst thought, slightly surprised.

“You’re that nervous?” she asked him as his hoof made another tap-tap-tap-tap.

“Hm?” Starfall asked, then followed her gaze. He chuckled and finally stopped. “Nah, what do I have to be nervous about? Making a good impression on your friends? Being in a presence of two alicorns and half-draconequus while unable to use dark magic? Not to mention that one of the said alicorns seems to not like me?”

“Well… it’s nice that you want to make a good impression on my friends,” Starburst told him, blushing. She was really touched that he was trying to make this effort. She decided to ignore the other reason of his nervousness. “Anyway, would you mind if I’d wake up early and do some workout?”

“Why would I?” he replied with a question. “I admire your dedication to your training. Besides, everypony needs some alone time from time to time.”

“You can join me if you want.”

“Tempting offer, Lil’Lioness, but I thought about sleeping in,” Starfall said, and yawned. “I couldn’t get much sleep last night. You know,” he added quickly, waving his hoof, “being nervous about today, excited after our date, and stuff.”

“Sure, I understand,” Starburst replied.

Though it would be nice to train together with her coltfriend, after the last two days Starburst was actually looking forward to some alone time, as Starfall had said.

“Since you want to get up early, shouldn’t we go to sleep soon?” Starfall asked.

Starburst nodded, but just as she was about to reply, they heard somepony speak:

“Well, it’s been a lovely evening, but I think we shall retire for tonight.”

They both turned to look at Claire and Illusion as they rose.

“Already?” Nidra asked, looking at them as if they were joking. “C’mon, the night has just started!”

“True, and I admit it’s tempting to remain with such splendid company,” Claire said gracefully. “However, darling, some of us like their beauty sleep.”

Since they are leaving…

“We’re off too, actually,” she said, raising.

She pointedly ignored the “Ooooooh!” Candy, Annie, and Nidra made while smiling teasingly. Instead, Starburst turned in the direction of her tent, with Starfall quick to follow her.

“Now, hang on a bit.”

Starburst grit her teeth as her cousin called out, but she stopped. Valiant quickly got to his hooves and walked towards them. In the the next second, she swiftly turned to him and spread her wings. “What?!” she asked, frowning.

Valiant was so surprised and scared that he almost jumped back. “I…” he stammered, his eyes wide. “Um… wanted to wish you good sleep,” he finished, somewhat regaining composure and smiling awkwardly.

The frown didn’t disappear from her face as she replied: “Goodnight.” However, when she turned to the others, it did. “Goodnight,” she said in a much softer tone.

As everypony wished them goodnight, Starburst and Starfall entered the tent. As she closed the entrance, she didn’t miss that her coltfriend was amused. “I hope Lance hadn’t seen you smiling like this,” she told him. “He’s bad enough without you provoking him.”

“Oh come now, Lil’Lioness, I think his overprotectiveness is cute.”

Starburst was really not in the mood for this. “It’s not cute. He treats me like some dumb filly,” she said angrily. “I don’t need protection!” she added, stomping.

When she heard laughs outside, she realized she had said that last part too loud. Blushing from embarrassment, she opened the entrance to the tent. “Grow up!” she told them, sticking her head out, before going back in.

Starfall wisely removed the smile from his face. Starburst sighed and rubbed her temples, calming down. “I’m going to repress that memory,” she announced before looking at the sleeping bag.

The thought that she was about to sleep with Starfall in it caused her to brighten up. They had slept together before, but a sleeping bag would make it more… intimate. She felt excited at the prospect… and a bit nervous.

“So…” she started, turning to Starfall, “how should we…”

“Ladies first,” Starfall replied, smirking.

What is he planning? Starburst wondered, seeing the smirk. Curious, she did what he asked, and crawled into the sleeping bag first. It was fairly big one, so with her small size they shouldn’t have problems fitting together. Even if it will be a bit tight.

As soon as she was in, Starfall trotted closer and began to crawl in after her. However, instead of trying to position himself so that they would lay face to face, as Starburst had thought they would, he crawled from behind her. Starburst tried to turn around, but to her surprise he grabbed her chest and held her until he crawled all the way.

Now with both of them in the sleeping bag, Starburst didn’t have enough room to turn, so she just looked over her shoulder. “Why…” she started, but trailed off.

Starfall began munching her ear.

She moaned in pleasure, but quickly put a hoof over her mouth silencing herself. Starburst didn't want to give everypony the wrong idea. Not to mention that I don’t want them to know about my ears, she thought as Starfall’s fang scratched one in all the right places.

As pleasure built up in her, her wings tried to unfold on their own, but because of the sleeping bag they couldn’t. Starburst found that pressure in her wings to be surprisingly pleasant. She used her free forehoof to grasp Starfall’s hoof on her chest, to show him that she was enjoying this.

To her dismay, Starfall stopped tending to her ear… with his mouth. In the next second she felt his free hoof scratch her other ear, while his muzzle moved to her neck and he began kissing it. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth wide and nibbled her playfully. A shiver went down her spine as she felt his fangs around her neck, but she wasn’t scared, not even for a second.

He moved his muzzle over to her lips. Starburst removed her hoof and they kissed deeply. “You’re borderline evil with this,” she told him several heartbeats later, trembling as his hoof continued to scratch her ear.

Starfall chuckled warmly. “I’ve figured that, since so far you’ve been the more forward one, I should reverse our roles.”

“I was the more forward one?” Starburst asked, amused. “Who was the one who kissed the other first?”

“Who was the one who invited the other to bed?” he replied, sticking his tongue.

Starburst was about to reply, but he cut her off with a kiss. “Honestly though, I want to thank you with this” he told he quietly afterwards. “This day… I was nervous, but it was really fun. Hanging out like this with your friends. It’s nice to feel like a normal colt from time to time.”

“As opposed to feeling like ‘a god’?” she asked playfully.

Chuckling, he nodded. “I really am thankful,” he told her as he resumed his ministration. “In return for this day, I want you to go to sleep like this, being pleased by me.”

Starburst, too tired and in too much pleasure to argue, smiled and nodded.

Different Relationships

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When Starburst awoke and realized that she couldn’t stretch out her limbs, she began to panic - until the events from shortly before she had fallen asleep came back to her.

Maybe sleeping together in the same sleeping bag wasn’t the best idea, she thought, glancing at the blue foreleg embracing her chest and listening to the soft breathing right behind her. She giggled as she felt Starfall’s breath on her neck. Although, it was certainly a… pleasant idea.

Starburst turned her head around a bit to look at Starfall. Her coltfriend was still asleep, with only his chest moving. As she looked at him, Starburst had a weird sensation of something being off, but it took her several moments - measured by Starfall’s breaths, about three inhales and two exhales - to realize what it was; this was the first time she was seeing him sleeping.

Kinda weird, considering this is the third time we are sleeping together, Starburst thought, then her eyes darted to the side. Ugh, never let the others know about it, they would joke about this being our actual third date.

Despite having no interest in relationships prior to meeting Starfall (not even about those of her friends, actually), Starburst knew what the general opinion was regarding third dates. Which she also knew wasn’t some unspoken real life rule. Having been dragged by Candi to several “girls meetings”, Starburst knew that none of her friends - female friends, at least - had… done those things. Even Claire and Illusion, who have been dating practically since forever. Or Annie, for all her jokes.

Sweet Celestia, Starburst realized with an unpleasant knot in her stomach. Starfall is quite possibly the only pony here with any experience in that field. Won’t make that part of the relationship awkward at all…

But that was something to think about another time; right now, as surprisingly comfortable as it was to lay in a sleeping bag with her coltfriend, forehoof on her chest, she needed to go and work out.

Just as soon as I figure how to leave without waking up Starfall, she thought, frowning at the unicorn. You know, considering that you’re the one who can teleport here, we should have reversed this last night.

Sighing - and trying to not think too much about having her foreleg and wing wrapped tightly around Starfall from behind - Starburst slowly began wiggling her way out of the sleeping bag. The hardest part was getting Starfall’s leg over her wing while crawling out. After that, it was easy. His hoof slid past her flank and hind leg - causing her to blush briefly - and laid on the ground.

Satisfied, Starburst began to stretch out. She flared her wings and arched her back, then after her bones crackled she worked on the joints in her forelegs. She wasn’t doing any of that just to wake up her body, but also to prepare for her work out.

As she was about to be done with stretching, she took a look at Starfall’s sleeping form… and was surprised to see him looking back at her with one eye open.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you…” Starburst began, but then paused. “Wait a second… were you watching me stretching out?” she asked, blushing in embarrassment.

Starfall didn’t reply, which only made her even more annoyed. Heck, he didn’t even move, she thought as the silence dragged on. He’s staring at the same spot… huh?

“Star?” she asked, tilting her head.

This time, she got a reply. A quiet snore.

Her jaw dropped. It took her several seconds to recover, and when she did, she facehoofed.

“I almost fell for it…” she mumbled to herself before she turned to Starfall. “Your eyes were closed earlier.”

The snoring stopped. “Really?” Starfall asked, opening his second eye as well. He rolled over on his chest and looked at her drowsily. “That’s new. I usually sleep with at least one eye open.”

Starburst deadpanned. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Um… yes?” he said, tilting his head. “I wanna say yes...”

“... okay, it’s early, so I’m going to assume you’re not joking to make this easier for myself,” Starburst told him. “I’m pretty sure what you just said is unhealthy; could you stop doing that?”

To her irritation, he shrugged. “I can try.”

“I’m being serious,” she replied.

“You try living for years always expecting the worst to happen every second and sleeping with eyes closed,” Starfall countered.

“Well… fair enough, I suppose,” Starburst said, looking for an argument. “But nopony here wants to hurt you.”

“Yeah, I know that,” Starfall replied, frowning. “But it doesn’t make me stop thinking ‘what if they would want to hurt me’. After so many years, it’s something I do automatically; imagine this going wrong, that going wrong… But on the upside,” he added - as if noticing that Starburst was getting sad and troubled by what she was hearing - grinning “I always have a ‘worst case scenario’ plans prepared. Aside from one instance, they always work.”

Three guesses to what that ‘one instance’ was, Starburst thought, a bit amused.

“Still, that can’t be healthy,” she told Starfall. “Maybe my mom was right and you should talk with somepony about this?”

“No thank you,” Starfall said, dropping the smile.

Starburst rolled her eyes. “Ugh, you’re impossible.”

“Thank you,” he replied, this time sticking his tongue out.

She glared at him, but he yawned at that moment, so he didn’t see it. Starburst sighed. “I have to go work out; could you please try and sleep normally?”

“Like I said, I can try,” Starfall replied, rising to his hooves.

Starburst looked at him confused as he began to circle around within the sleeping bag, before finally laying down in a curled position.

“Seriously?” she asked, amused.

Starfall glanced at her. “What?”

“Nothing, just… you kinda acted like a dog there,” Starburst said, giggling. “And the end of your tail is under your head now.”

“Well? Made you laugh, didn’t it?” Starfall replied, sticking his tongue out playfully again.

“Eighty seven, eighty eight,” Starburst counted, clenching her teeth in exertion as her trembling wings slowly descended her closer to the ground, and then pushed up, “eighty nine, ninety…”

She was so focused on doing her wing-ups, that she had almost missed hearing somepony exit their tent. Starburst paused, her wings straight, and looked around. “Morning Lance,” she said to her cousin, recognizing him easily despite the dawn still being slightly dark, then returned to her workout.

“Good morning,” Valiant replied; Starburst could easily imagine him frowning at her as she counted her wing-ups. “Are you really going to work out during a camping trip?”

Ninety-two, “Why wouldn’t I?” she asked him, continuing to count in her thoughts.

“Well, so that you’d have more time to spend with your friends? Or your coltfriend?”

Starburst deadpanned at him. “For some reason… I’m having a hard time to believe you’d… actually prefer if I’d do the latter option over workout, ninety-six!” she grunted, closing her eyes.

Her muscles were aching in protest; Starburst was afraid if she wouldn’t focus, she would collapse. Only four more...

Despite her concentration, she still managed to hear Valiant sigh. “Alright, I realize that I could have tried better to be nicer to Starfall.”

“‘Could have’?” Starburst said through clenched teeth. Ninety-seven…

“Should have, fair enough,” Valiant corrected himself. “But even if I might be not particularly fond of Starfall, I do hope your relationship will work out.”

“Thanks, that means a lot,” she replied quickly. Ninety-eight… Her cousin hadn’t replied, probably wanting to let her finish before continuing the conversation. “Ninenty-nine,” Starburst muttered, her wings shaking as they raised her. She took a quick breath and lowered herself again. “Three hundred!” she finally exclaimed, happy to finish the third hundred. She fell down on the ground and rolled onto her back, breathing heavily.

“Three hundred?” she heard Valiant ask. She turned her head to see him (upside down from her point of view) looking at her with a mild annoyance. “That’s a bit much.”

Starburst shrugged. “I was busy the last couple of days, didn’t have time to work out properly.” As she said those words, she began to raise from the ground. She had let her gigantic wings lay limp for a few seconds before she folded them. “Also, that was just my warm-up.”

Since her cousin didn’t seem too happy about her working out during a camping trip or the amount of wing-ups she had done, Starburst decided that she wouldn’t mention about sit-ups and squats, which she had done earlier. She could do without another lecture about pushing herself too hard.

After she checked if her lucky ribbon was still tied tightly around her head, Starburst turned to Valiant to tell him she was going for a bit - about an hour - of jogging, but then she paused when she realized that her cousin was stretching.

“You’re going jogging now, right?” he asked her, knowing her usual training routines. “Mind if I join you?”

While Starburst hadn’t planned on having company, her cousin’s offer was a pleasant surprise. “Sure!” she said enthusiastically.

Valiant smiled, then looked at her tent. “Is your coltfriend going to join too?”

Starburst mentally rolled her eyes. Did he ask if he could jog with me just because he wanted to keep an eye on us?

“No, he’s sleeping in,” she replied.

At least, I hope so, she added in her thoughts, frowning as she glanced at the tent. That comment of his about sleeping with eyes open… I’m still not sure if he was kidding or not. Of course, even without that, I would have wondered if he wasn’t listening in, she added, amused and annoyed at the same time.

Starburst was about to say that they should start, but then a thought crossed her mind. A thought that would have befitted better a pony like Annie or Candy, but her cousin’s tries at interfering with her relationship made her want to get back at him.

“Is June going to join us?” she asked Valiant, raising one eyebrow.

To her utter surprise, her question made her cousin uncomfortable. “Um, w-why would you ask that?” he stammered, smiling nervously and rubbing the back of his head. And he blushed.

“Eee… that was a joke?” Starburst explained, tilting her head. “Is everything alright?”

“Of course!” Valiant replied, smiling. “Oh, look at the time, we should start jogging! Come on!” he called as he began to run a bit faster than ponies normally would while jogging.

Confused, Starburst turned her gaze from Valiant to his tent, and then back. “What was that supposed to mean?”

Panting heavily, Starburst barely dodged another strike. She moved back and brought her “training spear” (which was only a stick, one of the two they found that had about the same measurements as the Royal Guard’s weapon) against Valiant’s opening. However, her cousin ducked, causing her attack to pass over him. She had to block his next attack as his stick, held by his magic, aimed for her chest.

She noticed Valiant smile a split second before he pulled his weapon back while moving it at the same time to the side, causing her to loose a grip on her own weapon.

“And that’s three,” Valiant said, smirking. “I win.”

Starburst grunted unhappily in acknowledgement; she had really hoped she would be able to win at least once with him. She was about to ask for one more bout, but she realized how tired she was and instead fell down on the ground, spent. Valiant chuckled, seeing her defeated, and laid down as well, leaning against a tree stump.

They had been jogging around the forest paths surrounding the clearing where they camped near the river for at least an hour. By the time they had found this small flat area between the trees that was perfect for sparring, the dim light of the dawn had become a proper daylight. They then stopped at Starburst’s request, and looked for something that they could use as weapons while they rested. She had been eager to show her cousin how much better she had gotten. And for the better part of the last hour, she did her best to do just that.

But I still couldn’t beat him, she thought, feeling more bitter about it than she know she should.

“You’ve gotten better,” Valiant complimented her after a while.

“But I still couldn’t beat you,” she echoed her thoughts, pouting.

Her cousin chuckled. “Star, I’m the captain of the guard and an alicorn,” he reminded her. “It will take a bit more practicing to beat me,” he added jokingly.

Starburst rolled her eyes. Still nowhere near Starfall’s ego level, she thought, feeling a bit amused at the comparison.

“Meh, I’ll beat you next time,” she declared, waving her hoof nonchalantly.

“I’ll look forward to it,” Valiant replied.

Afterwards, a silence fell around them, broken only by their breaths and occasional sounds of nature. Starburst let herself enjoy if for a few minutes as she rested. She had the unpleasant feeling that what was about to come next wouldn’t be too fun, but she had to ask him.

“So, Lance” she said slowly, carefully choosing her words, “why did you freak out when I asked about June?”

Her question almost made him jump. Valiant looked at her, surprised and abashed. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Starburst snorted. “About how you blushed when I joked about her joining us?” she reminded him.

“Still not-” Valiant begun, but she cut him off.

“If you don't talk with me about this, I will tell Illusion and Claire and let them take care of this,” Starburst said, frowning. She then sighed. “Look, Lance, this is already a bothersome talk for me, so could you just tell me what’s wrong?”

“What made you want to talk about it anyway?” Valiant asked instead.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she corrected him, “but you’re my cousin, and I want to help you. So don’t try to change the subject. Did something happen between you and June?”

Her cousin sighed. “No… Last night, when you and Starfall went to sleep, most of us stayed up only an hour longer,” Valiant began. “June and I were the last to remain by the campfire, even Nidra went to her and Prism’s tent before us. We were just… having such a good time talking.”

Well, Candy will be happy, Starburst commented in her thoughts.

Out loud, however, she said: “So what’s the problem?”

Valiant shifted uncomfortably and looked away. Starburst realized that he was blushing again. “It, um w-well… that wasn’t a problem. The talking part, I mean. But when we went to the tent…” he trailed off.

“... Yes?” Starburst asked when he hadn’t resumed. “What happened in the tent?”

“You know, I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“Oh, mother of Celestia!” Starburst exclaimed, facehoofing. “Lance, you-”

“Hey!” somepony suddenly shouted from nearby. “Leave my Grandma out of this!”

Starburst looked around, startled. The voice belonged to Illusion. It didn’t take too long for her to find him; he was walking towards them through the same forest path they had jogged through. And he wasn’t alone.

“Oh look, Illusion and Claire are here,” Valiant called out, clearly happy about the interruption - and, as Starburst noticed, worried whether she was planning on continuing their conversation.

The funny part is it would have probably been better for him to tell me, instead of waiting for Candy or somepony else to meddle, Starburst thought, annoyed. This isn’t over.

As much as her cousin annoyed her as of late, she knew only too well how Candy could get when she had set herself on some goal. Especially if that goal involved two ponies of the opposite genders. She’d prefered to spare a member of her family from such annoyance.

“Hi guys,” she said to her friends as they approached. “What are you doing out here?”

“Why, darling, we’re having a romantic walk through the woods,” Claire replied. She looked around the small clearing. “I would ask you the same question, but it seems clear you two were training.”

Illusion added: “Plus, Starfall told us you two went jogging, so…”

Huh, so he was listening in, Starburst noted while Claire glared at amused Illusion.

“Anyway,” Claire resumed, turning back to her and Valiant, “it’s likely for the best we run into you. We can prevent you from committing any faux pas when you’d get back.”

“Faux pas? What do you mean?” Starburst asked, confused.

Claire sighed. “A gaffe, a blunder-”

“I know what ‘faux pas’ means!” Starburst interrupted her, irritated. When the other three ponies all chuckled, she realized it was a joke, but she ignored that. “I asked what you mean by us committing it!”

“Well, you see,” Illusion began, looking awkward. “If you’d have waited about an hour before leaving, you’d have learned of it too. Nidra and Prism broke up.”

“Wait, what?” Valiant asked, echoing Starburst thoughts. “How did that happen?”

“We have no idea,” Claire replied. “True, those two didn’t exactly strike me as ‘perfect matches’, but it still came out of nowhere. The best we could get out of them is that they talked last night and decided their relationship wasn’t working out for them.”

Starburst nodded absentmindedly. She wasn’t an expert in these sort of things, but she had thought that Prism and Nidra were doing fine as a couple. Their personalities were even alike to some extent…

What if Starfall and I could break up like that?! Starburst thought before she could stop herself. We have even less in common than those two… What if he’d start thinking that I’m boring? Or I would get too annoyed at something he did?

The other three ponies continued talking, unaware of her sudden panic. “That’s a pity,” Valiant said. “How are they doing?”

“They seem fine,” Illusion said; he’s tone of voice clearly said what he thought of that. “However, Nidra went back to Canterlot.”

“What?” Starburst asked, stopping worrying over her relationship and focusing on her friends. “Why?”

“She said that if both of them stayed, it would make the atmosphere awkward around our camp,” Claire explained, sighing. “We had tried to persuade her to stay, of course, but she was adamant about it. She had also mentioned something about having to finish an assignment one of her tutors gave her…”

“Funny, cause I could swear I heard her tell Aunt Luna that she had finished it already prior to leaving Canterlot yesterday,” Illusion commented. “Regardless, I teleported with her back home. I had hoped that I could talk with her there, but I had no luck getting anything out of her,” he frowned, upset that he couldn’t help his cousin.

“And how’s Prism?” Starburst asked.

“He also wanted to leave,” Claire replied. “But Whirlwind and Hot Head convinced him to stay.”

“Wait, Hot Head?” Valiant asked, surprised and confused. “I was under the impression that he and Prism-”

“Hate each other?” Starburst suggested.

“Despise each other?” Illusion tried.

“Immaturely compete with one another?” Claire said.

“Yeah, that,” Valiant said, not saying which option he meant.

“I guess even most hated enemies can show compassion,” Claire said, shrugging. “When we were leaving, the three of them were having a race.”

“Huh, ain’t that a surprise,” Valiant mused.

“Anyway, when we spotted you, we figured it would be best to warn you, before you asked Prism ‘where’s your girlfriend’ upon returning, or something like that,” Illusion said.

“Also, we thought that it might be a good opportunity to, hm, prevent a possibility of another drama?” Claire added, then turned to Starburst. “So, how’s your relationship?”

“Oh, for the love of Celestia,” Starburst sighed, looking away. I should have seen this coming.

“Hey!” Illusion exclaimed, frowning, though it was clear from his tone of voice that he was amused.

“Oh be quiet,” Starburst told him, before turning to Claire. “Not that’s it any of your business, but Starfall and I are doing fine.”

Claire nodded. “Of course, but you’ll forgive me darling-”

We’ll see about that.

“-about inquiring how come you had went training instead of spending time with your coltfriend?”

“What, are we supposed to be like your brother and Annie, practically being attached to each other?” Starburst asked, irritated. “I wanted to get back on my training routine, he wanted to sleep in. By the way, you said he had gotten up before you left?” she asked, looking between Claire and Illusion.

“Yeah; he was the last to wake up, in fact. A good half an hour after most of us,” Illusion replied. He smirked and continued: “When Annie commented on him for sleeping so long, he replied he was tired, to which Annie asked-”

“I can very well imagine what she asked about, thanks,” she interrupted him, not in the mood.

I’d better find him and make sure he doesn’t joke about Prism and Nidra breaking up, she thought, not sure if he’d do it otherwise or not.

In the meantime, Claire had resumed their earlier topic: “Of course I don’t mean that you two should be inseparable, darling. I was merely trying to bring your attention to the fact that you two have different interests.”

“Really?” Starburst couldn’t help but ask sarcastically. “I didn’t notice. Look,” she said more seriously, “I appreciate what you’re trying to do-”

“No you don’t,” Illusion interjected, smirking.

Starburst turned at him to deny his accusation, but she thought better of it. “Yeah, you’re right. But the point is, Starfall and I are doing fine. We might not have exactly similar interests or whatever, but we have fun talking and doing other stuff.”

“Wait, hang on,” Valiant interrupted her, “what other stuff?”

She sighed and facehoofed, but otherwise she hadn’t acknowledged she heard his question.

“What kind of things you talk about?” Illusion asked instead.

“Lots of things,” she sighed again, too tired to tell them all to go to Tartarus. “I tell him about my friends and Ponyville, he talks about his crazy adventures, like… being swallowed up by a whale, finding a sunken pirate ship, or… “ as her friends were giving her dubious looks at those examples, Starburst thought back to something that actually sounded plausible, “or about his imaginary older sister Dove.”

“Imaginary older sister?” Illusion repeated. “Huh, that’s funny…”

His comment made Starburst frown. “How exactly is that funny?”

Illusion quickly shook his head and waved his forelegs. “Oh no, not in that way,” he assured her. “It’s just… a funny coincidence. You see, when I was in Prance a few months back, there was this magician performing in one of the theaters there, her name was Dove.”

“I’m still a bit angry that you hadn’t taken me with you, Lulu,” Claire said, pouting.

“C’mon, Crys, I was there on diplomatic mission with Mom, I would have been too busy to take you anywhere there.”

“And yet apparently you had the time to see a magic performance,” Claire countered, raising an eyebrow.

“Nah, I just saw a poster from a chariot.”

Starburst rolled her eyes hearing the couple’s discussion. “I think we should leave them alone,” she told Valiant quietly.

Her cousin looked a bit troubled at them as they continued arguing, but since like her he knew their arguments didn’t last long, he nodded. Before either Claire or Illusion could notice, they both took into air and flew in the direction of the camp.

“Hey!” Claire called after them, but they were already far away from them.

“Maybe I should just teleport the both of us?” Valiant asked. “Illusion might try and bring us back.”

“No, I don’t think he cares that much,” Starburst said, shrugging. “I plan to fly around a bit, give my wings some more exercise, do you want to join Lance?”

“I probably should, flying still sometimes gives me problems,” Valiant confessed. “But, um, I probably should get back, deal with some... stuff.”

By the way he said it, Starburst suspected that this “stuff” had something to do with June and whatever was his problem. She wasn’t going to pry about what it was, but she was happy he was going to solve whatever it was quickly.

“Okay, see you later,” she said, waving.

“See you,” Valiant said, and with those words he teleported himself away.

Starburst sighed and continued to fly in the general direction of the campsite, thinking. Truth be told, all those things Claire had said unsettled her more than she was willing to admit to her friends.

She had practically voiced what I had thought when they told us about Prism and Nidra, she thought, flapping her wings slowly. Maybe… I should have talked with Claire? I mean, she and Illusion are pretty different from each other as well, so maybe she would have some good advice for me? Starburst wondered, but when she tried to imagine asking her friend about that, she felt a wave of anger wash over her. No. I don’t need anypony’s advice. Starfall and I can be a great couple on our own.

Her thoughts went to her coltfriend. I wonder if he’s worried too, about us being too different? He had expected me to turn him down when he asked me out... Starburst recalled, thinking of that night. It’s probably something we should talk about… Hm, on that note, I wonder where he is-

The moment - the very instant - she had thought of that, a bright light erupted right in front of her. She stopped mid-air and backed away, startled.

“Yargh!” somepony shouted from one of the treetops below here. “There be my booty!”

Starburst looked down, already knowing who she was going to see. “Your what?” she asked, still startled after his fireworks, but now a touch annoyed… and embarrassed.

The unicorn was standing on one of the highest branches of a maple tree, holding one higher with a forehoof. He had raised his bandanna from his neck to his head, making it look like a pirate headscarf.

He tilted his head. “Um, my treasure? What did you think I meant?” he added, raising an eyebrow.

Starburst frowned, but then rolled her eyes and let it go. That treasure comment was… sort of endearing, she decided with a blush. “What are you doing here?” she asked, descending to be closer to him.

“After I woke up and talked with your friends for a bit, I decided to go do some practice myself,” Starfall said, fixing his bandanna with the help of his magic. “The trees around here are great for my acrobatics training. In fact,” he added, looking at Starburst, “wanna help me?”

“Um, sure,” she replied, surprised but quickly getting into the idea. “How?”

“Just try to catch me,” Starfall said, winking.

“Okay-” Starburst began to say, but Starfall had already jumped down. She smiled as he grabbed a branch from a tree below and swung away. “Alright, it’s on.”

She raced after him, carefully maneuvering between the branches and trees. Starfall was moving from branch to branch as quickly as he could, but she was still faster. She spread her forelegs, intending to grab him… but a second before she could touch him, Starfall fell down.

What the… Starburst began, looking down… and saw a branch below them, which Starfall’s tail attached itself to for an instant before the unicorn moved away.

Starburst quickly changed her direction and flew after him. However, he kept giving her the slip, just before she could catch him, using his tail or a leg to get out of the way she was flying. However, after a few minutes, when they both began to pant from exertion, Starburst had managed to force him into the lower level of the trees, where there weren’t so many branches, and they were further apart from one another.

Gotcha! she thought triumphantly as Starfall leaped to reach the next branch.

The distance was too great, Starburst was going to catch him before he could get to it. She flapped her wings faster and grabbed him…

… except where there should be Starfall there was only air. And something just grabbed her from behind, making her fall down to the ground.

They were only about two feet above it, and they rolled around a bit upon impact, so neither of them was hurt. Starburst had tried to turn around before hitting ground, but all that resulted in was that she was now laying in her back, with Starfall pinning her down.

Both of them were breathing heavily for a moment in silence. Finally, Starburst said: “You cheated."

Starfall grinned. “I hadn’t said I wouldn’t use magic,” he pointed out.

Starburst had half a mind to swat him with her wing until he would admit he cheated, but she found herself not really caring about it all that much. Also, she… weirdly enjoyed being pinned down by Starfall, with those red narrow eyes staring into her from such close distance, with his fangs so close to her muzzle, and feeling his breath on her face. All of that sent weird shivers down her spine.

“So…” she tried to say, feeling suddenly very warm. “Um… we’re all alone here,” she pointed out. “W-wanna make out?”

Starfall didn’t reply at first, staring into her eyes. After a heartbeat, though, he chuckled.

“What?” Starburst quickly asked. Did I say something wrong?

“You were so adorable when you said that,” Starfall told her, smirking.

Starburst blushed more fiercely. “I… I was not!” she said, trying to pout like she had seen Claire do earlier.

“Oh, yes you were,” Starfall argued, leaning close to her muzzle.

Campfire Show and Scare

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“...And then,” Prism continued, leaning back, “the Olden Pony asked, ‘Who’s got my rusty horseshoe?’” he said in a in mimicked spookily old voice as he rubbed his forehoof together.

Despite already having heard that story, Starburst still shook a little when Prism suddenly exclaimed “You do!” while pointing at somepony on the other side of the campfire. Still though, most of the others were much more startled than her. Somepony screamed, Candy even jumped away from the campfire… yes, everypony had been frightened in one manner or another…

… except for the one lying next to her, Starfall, who yawned.

Prism, who was sitting close to them in the circle around the fire, frowned. Starfall had probably noticed, because as he rested his head on a foreleg he said: “Sorry, I meant no offense. It’s just that this story gets boring after having heard it about a gazillion times.”

“‘Gazillion?’” Whirlwind asked, looking from behind Prism.

Although Starburst and Starfall, mindful of what everypony would say if they were away for too long, had only spent about an hour or so... alone, when they got back to the camp they’ve learned that quite a bit had happened. Apparently, not only Prism and Nidra, but Whirlwind and Hot Head had also broken up - actually, according to what Annie told Starburst, Hot Head broke up with her - and the red pegasus had taken a page from Nidra’s book and also left. Whether everything that happened after the three pegasus had their race, or during, or even had they broken up earlier was anypony’s guess.

Almost equally mysterious was whether this meant that Prism and Whirlwind were back together. To Starburst, they didn’t act different from before all this mess of a camping trip, when they were friends. However, according to the Gossip Trinity (Annie, Candy, Claire) the two pegasi were a lot friendlier toward one another, and apparently hadn’t left each others’ side since they came back to the camp, which raised their suspicions.

But Starburst didn’t really care. To be honest, the whole situation between Prism, Whirlwind, Nidra and Hot Head reminded her too much of a sub-plot of a dumb soap opera she had seen her mom and aunt Rarity watching once. Thinking too much about it was almost making her head physically hurt. If they were together, then great. If those break ups weren’t as calm as they made them sound, then that’s bad, but their other friends were much better prepared to cheer them up later.

What she did care about, though, was the comment Claire had made after letting her know about Whirlwind and Hot Head. “Hm, it would seem that fate is two for two now,” she had said, her head facing the direction where the two pegasi stood… but her eyes glancing in Starburst’s direction.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she meant, Claire was referring to their earlier talk, when she had expressed a worry regarding hers and Starfall’s relationship. If they were alone, Starburst would have retorted in some manner, but almost everypony else was within earshot. She really didn’t want to listen to them voicing their opinions on this matter. And besides, she wasn’t sure if she wanted Starfall to know others were worried about their relationship. Celestia knows how he would react, she had thought, rolling her eyes. He could laugh it up, get upset, or play pranks on them… Starburst had glanced back at Claire. Come to think of it, maybe I should tell him…

Back in the present moment, her coltfriend turned to address Whirlwind. “There was a ‘Haunted Stable’ in the circus, I had to help there from time to time. They had all those attractions inside based on the stories like the Olden Pony. Heck,” he snorted, “the old hag playing her actually could have been the Olden Pony for all I know. What?” Starfall asked when several ponies, Starburst included, frowned at him. He rolled his eyes after a heartbeat. “She was mean and once threw a pot at me, so you’ll forgive me for not speaking of her warmly.”

“Why did she threw a pot at you?” Starburst asked, narrowing her eyes.

Starfall smiled awkwardly. “Well… I sorta threw her beddings out the window of the train. But I didn’t mean to!” he added quickly while Starburst rolled her eyes and some others chuckled. “I was roped into that by one of the bat ponies from the circus.”

“Mhm, and why don’t I believe you?” Starburst asked, leaning on her forehoof.

Her coltfriend blinked. “That’s a good point,” he said, pointing a hoof at her. “Why don’t you believe me?” Starburst blushed, but before she could reply, he chuckled. “Kidding. But back to Nightcrawler, that bat pony, he wasn’t much older than me, so I tried to hang out with him when I could. Sadly, he was a bit of a jerk, so-”

“So that’s where you get that from?” Prism interrupted him, smirking.

“Nah, I probably get that from years of abuse,” Starfall replied without missing a beat. “Anyway, weren’t you about to start another scary story?”

“Don’t patronize me,” Prism told him, then turned to the rest, pondering. “Hm, what do you say about ‘the Headless Horse’?” he asked, changing his voice again to sound more creepy.

Starfall tilted his head. “You mean Harry? I always wondered what happened to him after the circus broke up.”

Seeing all of her friends look at him with confusion and disbelief, Starburst sighed. “He’s joking,” she said, deadpanning.

The unicorn chuckled. “How did you know?”

“You mean aside from that it would be impossible for a horse to live without a head?” Starburst asked, smirking at him. “I got the feeling you wouldn’t ‘wonder’ about what happened to anypony from that circus, and certainly not ‘always’.”

“Well, you’re half right,” he told her, poking her tongue at her. “There were two I had considered friends in there.”

“Really?” Starburst asked, surprised. “I would have thought you’d have mention them by now.”

“I already mentioned the bat pony,” he replied, then shrugged. “As for the other, I didn’t want to bring her up ‘cause she’s dead and you all were already mopey about my mom and stuff.”

“Oh…” Starburst exclaimed, her ears dropping. Given what she knew Starfall had been through with that circus, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that somepony died, but still... “I’m sorry-”

“And there we go,” Starfall sighed tiredly, forcing her to deadpan at him with irritation. “Can somepony tell us a scary story to liven up the air here?”

Starburst opened her mouth, wanting to tell him that he shouldn’t bottle up things like that, but before she could speak, a voice (whose sound reminded her that they weren’t alone actually) replied: “Oh, I think I know of a good story.”

She looked at Candy, to whom the voice belonged. The earth pony mare straightened up and smiled confidently. Starburst wondered briefly why she chose to tell a story rather than let them continue or, worse, interject. Also, why did she say “good” like that?

As others voiced their support for Candy to tell a scary story next, she leaned closer to Starfall’s ear. “We’ll continue this later,” she whispered.

Starfall nodded to her. To her surprise, he no longer appeared annoyed, but worried instead. “Am I in trouble?”

“What? No, I just want to talk about this,” she told him.

“Oh, okay,” he sighed quietly with relief.

As much as Starburst wanted to know why he reacted like that, on the other side of the campfire Candy was about to start her story. A bit reluctantly, she sat up to better see her friend, curious what kind of story it could be.

Candy took a deep breath and brushed her mane with a hoof as she started. “This… is the story the Fall of Autumn Family,” she said in a scary voice.

“So which is it, fall or autumn?” Prism asked jokingly which earned him a stab from Whirlwind’s wing. He looked at her strangely, cleared his throat, and said: “Sorry.”

The earth pony mare stick her tongue out in reply before resuming her serious demeanor. “It was a grey autumn day-”

Starburst quickly glanced at Prism; with just the campfire providing light, it was hard to tell, but she could swear she could see him pressing his lips together, as if to stop himself from interrupting again.

“-and the sky was full of large black clouds. The chariot had ridden through flat and uninteresting countryside, but at last, as it began to grow dark, the pony inside saw the end of her journey...

“A sickly smile came over Autumn’s lips, and he spoke in a low hurried voice,” Candy said, her voice eerily quiet. Starburst shook, knowing she was about to get even creepier. “She put her head close to Autumn’s to catch his words. ‘Don’t I hear it?’” as earlier, when Candy began speaking as Lord Autumn, her voice fell to barely a whisper, “- yes, I hear it, and I have heard it.”

Starburst tightened her grip on Starfall’s hoof. As much as she’d hate to admit it, she was actually scared by this story. And she wasn’t the only one; as Starburst looked around the campfire, she was sure that everypony was spooked. Next to them, Prism and Whirlwind were shaking, cuddled together, their eyes on Candy. T, who seemed more scared than Annie, held on to her like a foal would their doll. June was pressing her side against Valiant, who wrapped his wing around her shoulders. Del, who couldn’t hug his marefriend for comfort, was biting his hoof. Illusion was listening intensively, but the twitch of his tail betrayed that he was too unsettled, while Claire scratched the ground under her with her claws. Starburst glanced at her coltfriend beside her; his red eyes were wide open as he stared at Candy.

And all of them were curious as to what was about to happen in this story. Starburst returned her attention to Candy, wanting to know just what had put Lord Autumn into such terror...

“For many minutes, many hours, many days I have heard it - but I was too frightened, too frightened to speak. We have put her alive into her coffin!”

Somepony shrieked; several ponies, in fact. And Starburst couldn’t be sure if her own voice hadn’t been among them. As she felt shiver go down her spine, a part her mind noticed that she now also had a wing wrapped around Starfall.

“‘Did I not tell you that I could hear even the softest sound?’” Candy continued; her scary whisper beginning to hold a note of fear in itself. “‘I tell you now that I heard her move in the coffin. I heard the sounds many days ago, but my terror was too great - I could not speak! And now tonight - as you read about Commander Hurricane breaking the old pony’s door, about the cry of the dragon, and the falling of the gates - it was, in fact, the breaking of her coffin, the scream of metal as she broke open the vault, and ringing crash as the metal door fell to the floor! Oh, where can I escape to? Is she hurrying towards me at this very minute? Is that her angry hoofstep that I can hear on the stairs? Can I hear the heavy and terrible beating of her heart? MADMARE!’”

Everypony jumped as Candy’s whisper suddenly transformed into a shout. The storytelling mare also rose and stood on her hindlegs, continuing her story.

“Lord Autumn jumped up and shouted,” Candy said, in her normal voice, “screaming out his words like a pony dying in terror. ‘MADMARE! I TELL YOU THAT AT THIS MINUTE SHE IS STANDING OUTSIDE THIS DOOR!’” Candy paused for a few heartbeats and look around her friends, letting the fear sink into them. “As Lord Autumn screamed those words, the heavy door was thrown open by the strong wind. There, outside, dressed in the white clothes of the dead, stood the tall figure of the Lady Magnificent of Autumn. There was blood on her hooves, her legs, her coat, her torn white clothes. Every part of her body showed the marks of her long fight to escape from the coffin. For a moment she stood there shaking, moving slowly from side to side. Then, with a low cry, she fell heavily onto her brother! And, in the moment of her now final death, he fell with her to the floor - a dead stallion, killed by his own terror.” Candy exhaled air deeply and smiled. “That’s it!” she said, returning to her normal happy voice. “So, did you like it?”

Starburst stopped shaking and tried to relax, knowing the story was over. She wanted to reply, but before she could, she realized something. Namely, that her forelegs and one wing were tightly wrapped around Starfall, and his forelegs in turn were wrapped around her. Starburst turned to look at him, and found him turning his head as well, looking into her eyes. They stayed like this for a heartbeat, before both smiled awkwardly and chuckled. Starfall gave her a quick kiss before they untangled themselves and turned their attention back to Candy.

“Did we like it?” Prism, who recovered faster, asked from beside Whirlwind. “Candy, that was awesome! Where did you hear that story?”

“Oh, well,” Candy replied, blushing with an embarrassment, “I sorta made it up myself.”

Everypony gasped in surprise. “Darling, that’s amazing!” Claire exclaimed. “You should become a writer! Though I admit, dear, I wouldn’t have imagined such a happy pony like you writing such a scary story.”

“Aw, thanks Claire,” Candy giggled, thought Starburst wasn’t sure if she was pleased with her comment or was it because Del hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. “Maybe I will. But yeah, I would definitely work on something not so gloomy.”

They stayed like this for a while - close to the campfire, their only light source - praising Candy, before Claire raised her voice. “Ah, when did it get so late? Since we’re packing up our camp and heading back tomorrow morning, darlings, I think we should all go to our tents and sleep, wouldn’t you agree?”

“But that’s even more of a reason to stay up longer!” Annie pointed out, with several others supporting.

“I just thought that maybe it would be better to rest properly, dear. If you all prefer to continue partying a bit more, be my guests,” Claire said, shrugging.

“Thanks, mom,” Prism smirked, causing Whirlwind to snort with laughter.

Claire, however, wasn’t so amused. The half-dragon glared at Prism coldly, then glanced at Starfall. “Starfall dear, would you mind lending me that saw you used in your show?”

Starburst chuckled seeing Prism’s eyes widen in terror. “Hm, I would have to go get it,” Starfall replied thoughtfully. “It would only take about ten seconds though.”

“Hm I see,” Claire hummed. “Well, I suppose we don’t need it that badly… for now…”

Prism rolled his eyes and was about to reply, but Illusion spoke up. “You know, I could always just conjure a replica of that saw.”

“Okay, fine, no more jokes, geez,” Prism sighed, grimacing.

Illusion smirked, then looked at Starfall. “Anyway, since the subject of your show had been brought up, would you consider putting a smaller one? It seems like a great way to end our camping trip.”

“Illusion’s right,” Annie said, smirking. “Come now, surely you have some tricks up your sleeve.”

“I don’t wear sleeves,” Starfall replied, smirking. “Bu-ut, I might have been thinking of something… would you like to see?” he asked nopony in particular.

“Well duh!” Candy exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “We all liked your show!”

“Except maybe for Prism,” Whirlwind said, giggling.

“Volunteer to help him next time, we’ll see how much you’ll enjoy it,” Prism countered, though he said so with a surprisingly good humor.

Is it me, or are those two flirting? Starburst wondered briefly, before returning her attention to Starfall.

After a few more ponies said they’d like to see what he had prepared (with Annie pointing out that she wouldn’t be able to see it, of course), Starfall nodded. “Alright then,” he said as she stood up on his hind legs and raised his voice; “gather all for the performance of Starfall, Master of the Impossible!”

“Master of the Impossible?” Starburst asked, raising an eyebrow. “Wasn’t your title Magnificent God something something?”

“Well yes, but that was a mouthful, so I’m trying something simpler,” he replied waving his hoof casually. “Now, I’ll need to focus, so you must be all very quiet, okay?”

Without waiting for a reply he sat down and closed his eyes. Starburst noticed the others glancing at her, but all she could do was shrug, as curious as them what he had in store for them.

His horn began to glow… and in the same instant, the campfire changed color to match his magic.

Despite already being familiar with how his magic affected fire, Starburst still gasped at the sight. Their campfire wasn’t really big, especially since it had been a while since they added any firewood to it, but it was still roughly the size of a pony. To see it shimmering now with so many different colors, from so close…

As if reading her thoughts, at Starfall’s command tongues of fire rose from it and began to crawl through the air, heading towards ponies around it. Recalling what he had done during his show, Starburst lifted a hoof and tried to touch it. As she expected, she didn’t get burned, though the flame was warm. The tongue of fire encircled her hoof-

“Would you mind?!”

Starburst glanced quickly at Prism. He was glaring angrily at Starfall, and had a foreleg and a wing wrapped around Whirlwind. The purple pegasus was leaning against him, trying to move away from the flames.

The fire pulsated, and for a brief second Starburst felt the heat increase. “Crap,” she heard Starfall mutter. When she looked at him, he was still keeping his eyes closed, but his brows furrowed and he bit his lip in concentration “Sorry!” he called out, as he he made the flames back away from everypony and fly up.

Starburst was relieved to see Whirlwind sigh and relax the moment Starfall took the fire away. She noticed Prism whisper to her something, but she was too far away to make out what that was. Starburst had no doubt if she’d look at Candy, she’d see the mare looking at them thoughtfully and quickly tell Annie what she saw. Not interested in their scheming, she turned her attention back to the fire…

… which was now gathered into a globe and suspended above Starfall left forehoof.

As much as she trusted Starfall, she still took a cautious step back. If Starfall took notice, he didn’t react, and instead continued with his performance. He now outstretched his other forelegs, and his horn began to shine a bit brighter. However, it didn’t seem as if he was doing anything.

A noise from the direction of the river and a gasp from one of her friends made her figure out what he was doing.

A blob of water levitated towards Starfall, held by his magic. Starburst stared as it passed her and began to gather above his right forehoof, forming a globe, similar to the fire one.

“Behold!” Starfall suddenly exclaimed, almost startling her. “On my left, fire! On my right, water! Now! Watch, as I merge the two together…”

… with a touch of magic, Starburst finished in her thoughts. I hope it’s not another Jōki Cōlt. She still remembered the creepy magic puppet that Starfall had created in the exact manner, except it was made from water and oil. More importantly, she still remembered how it exploded almost right in her and her little brother’s faces. Except he jumped right between us and the explosion and sent it away… That was really amazing. Did I even thank him for that?

She snapped back to attention, not wanting to miss… whatever Starfall was doing. Starburst looked as the globe of fire moved to hover in front of her coltfriend, while water, on the other hoof, broke and enveloped around the flames. The light of the fire, obscured by water, shimmered beautifully.

“Is it safe to do that?” she heard Illusion asked. Starburst glanced at him; the half-draconequus was staring at the globe with a worried frown.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Starfall answered with a question, sounding calm, despite the fact that his horn was now glowing even brighter.

“Well, water is made out of hydrogen and oxygen, so I don’t think it’s wise to mix it with fire and magic,” Illusion pointed out.

“Oh,” Starfall exclaimed, surprised. “So that’s how it works?”

Starburst frowned, alarmed. “What works?” she questioned.

Even before the she finished that sentence, Starfall clasped his forehooves, and the globe quickly got smaller, to the size of a hoof. No, it didn’t get smaller, Starburst realized as its glow magnified. He… compressed it or something!

However, before she could even begin to panic, the globe shot up high into the air, sent by Starfall’s magic. It flew up and up, higher and higher, until Starburst couldn’t see it; its light overshadowed by the lights of the stars… until it exploded.

Everypony gasped; in almost an instant, the entire sky was painted in the colors of the flames, in the colors of Starfall’s magic. It reminded Starburst of the Crystal Empire’s lights, but where those were harmonious, this was chaotic, with colors pulsing and changing randomly.

Starburst stared at the spectacle, awestruck for a few more heartbeats, until she noticed that beside her Starfall fell to the ground breathing heavily. Alarmed, she quickly touched his chest, wanting to check if he was okay.

“I’m fine,” he told her, smiling, despite still taking deep breaths. “Just overdid it a bit.”

A bit, Starburst thought, amused by the understatement. She could swear his horn was fuming, but it was hard to tell under those lights.

“Wow, that’s amazing!” she heard Annie say. Starburst looked at the unicorn, knowing that, since she could see only well enough to make out colors, this might be utterly beautiful. “Oh, you must teach me how to do that!”

“Will think about it,” Starfall replied, still lying on the ground.

“You must!” Annie insisted, then smiled deviously. “If you do, I promise to teach Starburst some things.”

Starburst frowned, confused, and she asked together with Starfall: “What things?”

“Well, for starters, how to go do-wgh,” Annie growled as the rest of what she wanted to say was stopped by Claire’s paw on her mouth.

Still, she said enough for both of them to figure out what she meant. Starburst blushed, and saw that Starfall reacted like that as well. Their eyes met, and they chuckled uncomfortably. Not wanting to grace Annie with a reply, Starburst laid on her back beside Starfall and watched the sky.

New Year’s Eve came early this year, she thought humorously, observing the spectacle. The sky shimmered, with Starfall’s lights being dimmer in places, making it possible to see the stars. Starburst turned her head, wanting to ask Starfall how long would it hold, but to her surprise she found him asleep. I guess those spells really took a lot out of him, she thought, herself feeling very tired.

Though her workout today wasn’t as exhausting as usual, her body had ached from them. Starfall had helped greatly with forgetting about her pains, but the time they spend together, while very pleasant, proved almost as strenuous.

Even as she crawled closer to Starfall, Starburst felt her eyelids grow heavier, and soon joined him in sleep.

Dancing with the Stars

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Starburst stretched out, stirring up from her sleep, and reached out with her hoof to hug Starfall. However, all she felt was fabric. Opening her eyes, she realized that she was in her sleeping bag, in her tent, alone.

Wait, how did I get to my tent? Starburst wondered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Last thing I remember was lying down beside Starfall outside… He probably brought me here after I fell asleep. Speaking of, where is he?

Stretching out her limbs and rising to her hooves, Starburst poked her head out of her tent’s entrance and looked around. In the dim light of the half moon she could see that all of her friends had long since retreated to their tents. Bracing herself for the cold air, Starburst left her tent, and immediately shuddered as she trotted to the remains of the campfire.

He better have some good reason for being out in this cold, she thought as wrapped herself tighter with her wings. Stopping by the campfire, she reached carefully to the charred remains of wood. Must have been a good few hours since they put out the campfire, Starburst noted as she moved her hoof right above it. It probably won’t be long before Celestia raises the sun…

Her train of thought stopped as she noticed something bright at the edge of her vision, flickering from behind one of the tents. Turning her head in that direction, Starburst realized that there was a light down the river.

Three guesses who could that be, Starburst thought as she quickly jumped into the air and flew towards it.

As she expected, the source of the light was Starfall. He conjured three small shining orbs as he stood on his hind legs in the middle of the river, about a quarter mile away from their camp. When Starburst got closer, she noticed that there were a few flat stones protruding from the water surface, on which Starfall was standing on.

He was still for only a second longer by the time she landed nearby, quietly so to not disturb him. The orbs - Starburst wondered briefly if those were just lights, or if they were similar to the magic orbs he had used back when she and her friends battled him in the Castle of the Royal Sisters - suddenly all flung towards him, and he quickly jumped away. As he landed on one hoof on the next stone, the orbs, having missed their target, swung back in his direction, still moving with the same speed. Starfall lowered his head and tilted his body to the right, missing two of them, then placed his forehoof on another stone and lifted the rest of his body into the air, causing the last orb to miss his hind leg.

He’s practicing, Starburst realized as she watched him push himself up into the air with his foreleg, spinning to dodge the orbs, and landing on another stone. In the middle of the night. And everypony says I’m training too much, she added, rolling her eyes.

Intrigued, she sat down and continued to watch him silently. The orbs, which Starfall was flinging at himself with his magic, kept on missing him. Starfall was constantly moving, staying on one stone for no longer than a second or two. He kept twisting and spinning his body as well, changing his position so that it was impossible for the orbs to hit him.

All while having his eyes closed.

Starburst didn’t notice it at first, too concentrated at watching his body all but dance. Only when Starfall jumped at the stone closest to where she was sitting and stopped for a second before jumping back into the air and doing a backflip had she realized that.

Well, since he’s the one moving those lights, I guess he doesn’t really needs to see them, Starburst thought. Still, it’s impressive that he remembers the exact positions of all those stones. I wonder how long he must have been at it…

She continued to watch him silently for a few more seconds, but just as she began to wonder when he was going to take a breather, Starfall slipped. Starburst’s eyes went wide as she watched her coltfriend fall into the river, the orbs disappearing as he lost his focus. In the next second, worry replaced her shock and she run towards him.

“Star! Are you alright?” she asked, stopping by the riverbank, ready to help him up.

Starfall turned to her, sharply, startled by her sudden appearance. “Oh, hi Star,” he said after, relaxing. He raised from the water, lighting up his horn and illuminating the area around them again. The current was slow, so he could stand up without any problems, and river was shallow enough for the water to reach only his chest. “What are you doing here?”

Taken aback, she frowned. “Seriously?”

“Well, you were the one sleeping,” he replied, somewhat defensively, as he jumped out the water and onto the riverbank. “I wasn’t, and couldn’t fall asleep, so I found something to do,” Starfall explained before he began to shake off water like a dog.

Starburst shielded herself with her wing from the flying droplets: “I’m not even gonna point out just how ridiculous that sounds.” Sighing, she asked again, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, didn’t hit my head or anything,” Starfall said, finishing shaking. His horn glowed brighter for a second, and his cloak appeared next to him. “And no need to worry about hypothermia this time… although I might feel coldish if you wanna cuddle,” he added, winking, as he wrapped the cloak around himself.

Starburst frowned, but instead of saying anything right away, she first trotted up to Starfall and sat beside him. He unwrapped his cloak and put it around her as well as she leaned against him.

“So what are you doing up?” he asked.

“I just woke up, noticed you were gone and went looking for you,” Starburst replied, wondering how to best say what was on her mind. After a brief hesitation, she started: “You know, it’s not exactly like you to slip away like that. Is, um, is everything alright?”

“Why would anything be not ‘alright’?”

Starburst sighed. She wasn’t really good with talks like these, and Starfall’s attitude wasn’t helping her. Still, Starburst didn’t intend to give up; she was way too stubborn to let her coltfriend get away with this so easily.

“Because it’s you we’re talking about,” she replied.

“You mean that in ‘you’d never slip away otherwise’ way or ‘something is always not alright with you’ way?” Starfall asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Both,” Starburst told him sharply, not in the mood for jokes. In gentler tone she added: “C’mon Star, you can tell me.”

Starfall let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, something’s been bothering me.”

She smiled, happy that he was opening up to her-

“But I don’t wanna talk about it.”

-and her smile turned into a deadpan.

“Star-” she began again (after facehoofing), finding it harder to maintain her tone, but Starfall cut her off.

“I’m just not used to this. Being able to confide in somepony,” he explained. Tilting his head to look up into the sky, he continued: “I’m used to keeping everything to myself and ignoring my problems.”

“Well… you don’t have to do that anymore,” Starburst told him, blushing as she unfolded her wing under the cloak and hugged him. “Couples are supposed to talk about stuff like this.”

“I know, I know,” Starfall said. “It’s just… difficult to change old habits.”

“Is this about hanging out with my friends again?” Starburst asked, trying to guess what was wrong.

“No… well, not exactly. But on that note, it might have been too much to hang out with them all for so long,” Starfall admitted. “It hadn’t been easy with my paranoias. I keep worrying that I made a bad impression, that they’re going to attack me…”

“They’re not going to attack you,” Starburst told him. Then, rolling her eyes, she amended: “Well, maybe besides Prism, but at this point you’re asking for it.”

“I know,” he replied, rolling his eyes in return, “but I spent years expecting that everypony is about to harm me at any time; you can’t expect me to just stop because I know they aren’t really going to do that.”

I suppose he has a point there, Starburst thought. “You don’t think I’m going to harm you though,” she pointed out.

“Well, you’re different,” Starfall replied, winking.

She smiled at him, while at the same time continued to think what was really bothering him. And then Starburst recalled what he had said earlier when they were listening to the stories around the campfire.

“Is this about your friend?” she asked gently. “You know, the one you said is dead?”

Her guess seemed to annoy him, if the tired groan he let out was any indication. “You’re not going to drop it, are you?”

“I told you we’ll have to talk about it later, didn’t I?”

“What if I don’t want to talk about it?” he snorted, turning his head away.

Starburst’s jaw dropped from the shock. It was the first time Starfall had talked to her like that. If it were anypony else, she would have probably gotten angry or annoyed, but instead she immediately regretted pressing the point and bringing up his dead friend. Did I push him too far? Starburst wondered as her ears dropped and she looked down at the ground in shame.

“Sorry, I… didn’t mean to upset you,” she said.

Hearing him sigh, Starburst looked up. “You didn’t upset me,” he said; although he was no longer looking away from her, he wasn’t meeting her eyes either. “I just… don’t want to talk about her.”

“You don’t have to,” Starburst assured him, although she couldn’t help but wonder why was that.

He all but casually mentions that his mother had been murdered or that he was a slave, but doesn’t want to talk about this?

“But I should, huh?” Starfall asked, interrupting her train of thoughts. “Since couples are supposed to talk and all?”

“Oh please, I was just repeating what Claire told me,” she snorted, rolling her eyes. “Doesn’t mean it’s true all the time just because she said that.”

“Well, she is dating royalty...” he began to point out, but Starburst had a counter ready.

“So are you, and don’t even get me started on the stuff you say and how right it is.”

“Wha- I’m always right!” Starfall replied, frowning.

“In regards to how normal ponies live?” Starburst asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, you meant with the boring stuff. Then no,” he replied, sticking out his tongue.

Rolling her eyes, Starburst brought back her wing from around his back and swatted him playfully. Chuckling, Starfall raised his forelegs in defense. She smiled seeing him back to his usual self, and tried to think of something she could do to help him stay like that.

It didn’t take her long to think of something.

“Come on, get up,” Starburst told him, unwrapping herself from his cloak and rising.

“Why, what are we doing?” Starfall asked, looking at her with confusion.

“You wanted to take your mind off things, right?” she asked, grabbing her foreleg and pulling it to her other shoulder. Continuing stretching out, she explained: “I’ve always found sparring to be great for that.”

Starfall smirked. “Why do I have the feeling that you just want to kick my flank?” he asked as he got up as well and quickly stretched.

“Well, it is how we met, basically,” Starburst replied. “But this time don’t use magic and try to block hits instead of dodging. I’ll go easy on you,” she added.

“Oh please, I can take some beating,” Starfall snorted, rolling his eyes as he assumed a fighting stance.

Starburst smiled, excited at the thought of sparring with her coltfriend, even if it wouldn’t be too challenging. As swift as Starfall was, he wasn’t a fighter. Without magic and on flat ground he didn’t stand a chance.

It’s about time we do something about this.

“Remember to raise your forelegs to cover your head,” she told him before repeating: “And no magic.”

Starfall, as usual, smiled confidently. “Alright, no magic. Want me to just block or to attack as well?”

“Of course I want you to attack too, what kind of sparring match would it be otherwise? Now, ready?” she asked him, lowering her body as she prepared herself.

“Ready,” Starfall replied, nodding and still smiling.

“Go!” Starburst said, about to charge at him-

His horn stopped glowing.

Oh, Starburst thought, stopping, right, forgot it’s the middle of the night…

Of course, with all the stars and the moon on the sky, they should be able to make each other out, but it would take a bit for their eyes to adjust-

Sounds of stomping hooves and rustling grass let her know that Starfall apparently either needed less time for that, or had some experience when facing opponents he couldn’t see.

Or that he didn’t really care, Starburst added, rolling her eyes as she easily blocked Starfall’s hoof.

She could only barely make out his shape, so she couldn't’ take that hit on her foreleg as she normally would. If it wasn’t for Starfall not being physically strong, that punch would have hurt quite a bit.

As it were, though, Starburst immediately focused on a counter-attack. Digging her forehooves into the ground, she spun around and brought her hind leg to Starfall’s head, remembering to lower the strength she put into this spin kick. Half-expecting him to dodge out of reflex, Starburst was pleased when she felt her leg connect with Starfall’s foreleg. She also felt him stumble a bit.

“Try to put more weight on your other legs when you block,” Starburst told Starfall quickly before she kicked him with both hind legs, using the momentum from the spin kick to turn around.

This time, however, he dodged. Helping herself with her wings, Starburst whirled around to see where he was. With her sight having grown somewhat accustomed to the poor light the moon and the stars offered, she was able to see that Starfall hadn’t exactly moved from his earlier position. Rather, he lifted his body up and stood now on one hind leg. Starburst noticed that just in time to duck under his other hind leg as he tried to kick her.

Clever, she commented as again she spun around, intending to hit the leg he was standing on and cause him to fall, but you left yourself open.

However, he dodged her once more by jumping up into the air and doing somersaults to put some distance between them. Starburst quickly lunged after him, flapping her wings to gain momentum, and threw a punch. However, she didn’t hit her mark. Before her hoof could come in contact with Starfall, she felt his hoof on her leg and gently pushed it so her punch missed him. He redirected her next strike similarly, as well as the third, but not the fourth. With all her punches being deflected like that, Starburst decided to use a spin kick. She whirled around and raised her hind leg, finally hitting him.

“Augh!” Starfall yelped in pain, falling down.

Starburst stopped in mid-air, her heart skipping a beat. “Star!” she shouted, immediately going to his side. Crap crap crap! she repeated in her head, panicking, I forgot to not hit so hard! “Are you alright?!”

She was relieved to hear him grunt and see him rise from the ground shakingly. Starburst reached with his forehooves to him, but before she could blink, he pounced on her, pinning her to the ground.

“Pinned ya,” he told stunned Starburst, flashing his horn at the same time.

Starburst grunted as the light nearly blinded her, forcing her to close her eyes for a moment. She didn’t need her eyes opened however to know Starfall was smirking. She could hear it.

“I guess I win?” she heard him ask as he loomed over her, his forehooves holding her forelegs.

“This doesn’t count,” Starburst told him in annoyance, frowning.

“Well, you didn’t say time out, so…” Starfall began to explain as she carefully opened her eye.

The first thing she saw (after his shining horn of course) caused her to stare at him wide-eyed, her annoyance completely forgotten.

“What?” he asked, noticing her reaction, as if completely oblivious to his swollen eye.

“Your eye,” Starburst said, feeling guilty for kicking him so strongly.

“Ah, that,” he replied, his left eye looking to right as if trying to see how it looked, and closing the right eye. “It’s alright. I know it looks bad but I’ve been through worse,” he assured her, smiling.

“S-” she began, trying to apologize, but before she could even finish the first word he cut her off.

“If you’re gonna apologize I will bite you,” Starfall said, frowning at her. “I said I’m fine.”

Starburst sighed. As always, he didn’t want to see a pony sad, even if it was during apologizing. “You’re going to have a black eye from this,” she pointed out.

“Cool, been a few years since I had a black eye, you have no idea how well it goes with a red pupil,” he retorted, winking.

“Ugh, you’re impossible,” she grunted, giving up on this argument. “Can you get off me now?”

“Not until you admit I won,” Starfall replied, sticking his tongue out.

“You didn’t win,” she replied, frowning once again, “I was checking on you because you were hurt.”

“So you got distracted, and I seized opportunity,” he told her, smirking. “Basic battle 101.”

“It wasn’t a battle, it was a sparring fight,” Starburst countered, getting really annoyed. “One of us winning wasn’t the point of us having this fight.”

“And yet you can’t admit that I won.”

“You know I can break myself free right?”

“Yeah, but you would have to go more violent to do so, and besides,” he added, leaning closer, “I don’t think you’ll be able to.”

“What are you-” Starburst began, but stopped as she noticed that his forehooves were no longer holding her forelegs.

Starfall grinned as she realized what he was about to do, but she didn’t have enough time to try and stop him. He mercilessly began tickling her sides, belly and chest. Starburst burst with laughter as she wriggled underneath him, trying to get away, but she couldn’t focus enough to break free, let alone push Starfall off her.

“S-s-stop it!” she managed to say in between bouts of laughter.

“Say I won,” Starfall replied.

“Ough, you…,” she began, trying to hold it in, but quickly lost control and laughed again. “F-fine, you won!”

Immediately, the tickling stopped. “See?” she heard him ask her. Opening her eyes she saw him smirking down on her. “Was that so hard?”

Breathing heavily, she deadpanned at him. “Yes. Now get off.”

“Sure, as soon as you tell me what I win!” Starfall said cheerfully.

Starburst rolled her eyes and sighed. “What do you want?”

“Well…” Starfall began, sounding a bit - much to Starburst’s confusion - embarrassed. “I had thought of… something we could do…”

Starburst confusion deepened when she realized that Starfall was slightly blushing. Wait, she thought, her heart skipping a beat as he lowered his mouth to her ear, d-does he mean…

“Oh!” she exclaimed as he whispered what he was thinking about.

“So? What do you think?” he asked her, smiling shyly as he got off her and extended a hoof to help her up.

“Y-yeah, okay,” she mumbled, blushing. “Just… thought you were going to say something else,” Starburst admitted as she accepted his hoof and got up.

“What do you-” Starfall began to ask, but then he must noticed her blushing from embarrassment and must have realized what she meant. “You’ve been hanging out with that friend of yours a lot, haven’t you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and slightly blushing himself.

“Very funny,” Starburst replied, frowning. “You know I wouldn’t have thought of that if you hadn’t said it like that, or weren’t pinning me to the ground.”

“Yeah, sorry,” he said, chuckling. “So, are we doing this?”

Starburst sighed. “Well, I already agreed… b-but don’t tell anypony about this,” she told him, embarrassed at the thought of her friends finding about this.

Chuckling, Starfall nodded. “My lips are sealed, Lil’ Lioness,” he said before raising on his hind legs and offering her his hoof.

Despite her embarrassment, Starburst smiled and accepted his hoof, letting him help her up again. Standing on her hind legs beside Starfall and keeping herself balanced with the help of her wings, she grasped his hoof tighter as he pulled her closer. He placed his other hoof at her waist while she put her on his arm. Starburst followed his lead as he took two steps to the left and turned.

“How did you know I like to dance?” she asked, feeling hot all over.

“I honestly did not,” Starfall replied, smiling. “I figured since you can move so well you wouldn’t have any problems dancing though. So your friends don’t know about it, huh?”

“Well, most of them,” she admitted as they continued to dance. “I don’t want the rest to know. It’s just… too girly, I don’t want them to make fun of me.”

Starfall chuckled. “Well, if you ever want to dance, feel free to use me as an excuse, tell them that I wanted to.” Starburst gasped as he suddenly turned them around and lowered her almost to the ground. “How does that sound, my Beloved Nemesis?” he asked, his head once again right above her.

Instead of replying, Starburst just smiled and leaned towards his lips.

“Hey you two!” a shout from outside of their tent stirred Starburst from her sleep. “We’re all starting to pack up! Wake up or we’re leaving you!”

Alright, maybe dancing in the middle of the night for so long might have been a bad idea, she thought as she turned her head to the tent’s closed entrance.

“We’re up, we’ll be out in a moment,” she called to Prism, suppressing a yawn.

When he didn’t reply - probably having gone back to work on his tent - Starburst turned back to Starfall, who was still sleeping. After they finally got back to their tent, finally having gotten tired, all they could do was crawl back into the sleeping bag and cuddle before they fell asleep.

As good as she felt with his foreleg resting around her and her muzzle so close to his, she couldn’t help but feel awful the moment her eyes rested on the black eye she gave him. The purple area around his right eye wasn’t too big thankfully, but it still didn’t look pretty.

I should have told him to teleport us back to the mansion and get some ice for that eye, she thought, then sighed. Yeah, trying to talk reason to him, as if that would work.

“Star?” she tried to wake him up, prodding his chest gently.

He opened his eyes almost at once. Starfall looked at her, then yawned, flashing his fangs right at her face. “Mmm, morning Lil’ Lioness. How did you sleep?”

“Very long apparently, the others are all up,” Starburst replied. “We need to get up and start packing,” she added as she began wiggling her way out of the sleeping bag and his embrace.

Starfall groaned unhappily as she got her hind half of her body out, feeling his foreleg brush past her tail and legs. “Fine, let's get up,” he mumbled as he followed her.

“Does your eye hurt?” she asked, trying to make her voice sound neutral; while she thought he was being ridiculous for getting annoyed at her for worrying about it, she didn’t want to start an argument right now.

“Yeah, but you know how my back looks, I’ve been through worse,” Starfall replied as he got out of the sleeping bag and stretched his back like a cat.

“I imagine it would be pointless to tell you to see a doctor?” she guessed as she stretched out as well.

“Yep.”

Starburst sighed and opened the entrance to the tent, still stretching as she walked through it outside. “Ugh, we shouldn’t have stayed up for so long,” she told Starfall as he joined her, noticing that everypony was busy packing their tents. “And I should have stretched some more before we started, I’m so sore…” she added but then trailed off as she realized all the clatter around them ceased.

Confused, Starburst looked at her friends, and found them all staring at the two of them with wide eyes, having stopped whatever they were doing.

“Wha-” she began but Prism cut her off.

“Dude, why do you have a black eye?!” he asked, pointing at Starfall.

Oh, crap, Starburst thought, realizing just now that they would have to explain this to her friends. She glanced at Starfall and opened her mouth, about to do just that - as soon as she’d figure out how to say “I kicked my coltfriend in the face” that would sound good - but somepony else spoke up.

“Ha! I knew Starburst would be the rough one!” Annie exclaimed, triumphant. “Claire, pay up!”

Cordial Invitation

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“Morning,” Starburst murmured, still sleepy, as she entered the dining room.

“Good morning Starburst,” her mother replied, looking up from some important looking scroll she had been reading while eating breakfast. “Your brother has already left for school, I was about to go and wake you,” she said, slightly frowning. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t train for so long on school days exactly because of how you end up oversleeping the next day.”

Starburst rolled her eyes as she sat beside her at the table, next to a bowl of cereal. “I-” she began, but Princess Twilight cut her off.

“Even if you had passed out during training. You’d think it would give you enough rest,” she added as Starburst groaned.

“That hasn’t happened in over a week!” she said. It wasn’t until her mom raised an eyebrow that she recalled that she hadn’t known about it. Sighing in surrender, Starburst reached for the milk to pour on her cereal. “I didn’t oversleep this time, I’ll still make it to school. And I needed to train yesterday in case my friends or Star would want to do something this weekend.”

In the two weeks since they’ve began dating, Starburst tried to slowly adjust her day-to-day life with having a coltfriend. Which… in all honesty, actually went better than everypony - including both of them - had expected. They’d seen each other every day, been hanging out and talking, even went to the movies last weekend. But at the same time, however, they were only able to spend about an hour or so together daily during the school days. Between her classes and some other school activities, as well as her own training (Starburst didn’t even try to convince Starfall to join her; she doubted he would find it entertaining or that he would be content just to watch her work out; though he did keep her company a few times out of his own volition), it was difficult for them to schedule some alone time. They hadn’t even slept together again, as after that talk with her parents Starfall became worried that Starburst’s mother had placed some additional wards around their mansion and her room that would alert her to his presence. And probably put some tracking spell on his dream charm along with that spell preventing him from using dark magic for good measure. Which despite considering him being paranoid, Starburst had reluctantly agreed that it was a possibility and didn’t press on the idea (though mostly out of fear about her parents finding out that they were sleeping together).

At least Candy and the others gave us some more privacy after that camping trip, Starburst remarked, recalling how the earth pony mare had finally stopped insisting on her joining everypony for whatever the “activity of the day/week” was, as she had done so all the time in the past. Aside from Starfall joining them during recess for lunch, they hardly interacted with him, at least as far as Starburst was aware of. Except for Annie asking us about a double date… she amended with slight annoyance. Thank Celestia her mom took her to visit her grandparents last week.

“I needed to meet my weekly quota,” she added after she put away the milk.

Her mother, having long since gotten used to her constant training routines, merely sighed. “Just make sure you and Starfall are here by five,” she said, turning her attention back to the scroll.

“Yes, we-” Starburst began to nod, then paused. “Wait, me and Starfall?” she asked, confused.

Twilight let out another sigh. “Starburst, don’t tell me you forgot Princess Celestia and her family will be here for dinner today? I’ve told you about it on Monday so that you wouldn’t have anything planned.”

“Oh…” Starburst stammered; on Monday she had the last two classes cancelled, so she went to train on Sweet Apple Acres. By the time she had come home, she was possibly only half-conscious, and maybe missed what her mother had told her. “I, um, it might have slipped my mind,” she explained sheepishly, not wanting her training brought up in this conversation again. Frowning, Starburst asked: “But what Star has to do with it?”

“Well, Illusion will be accompanied by Claire,” Twilight began; already, Starburst eyes grew wide as she realized where this was going, “Princess Celestia will be with Discord and I with your father, so it would be only logical for you to be accompanied by your special somepony too.”

And here I was worried about having a double date with Annie and T, she thought, mortified. Instead I get a quadruple date with my parents AND Princess Celestia and the Spirit of Chaos.

“Let me get this straight;” Starburst said; “you want Starfall to attend dinner with two alicorns and a draconequus?”

“Honestly, Starburst, I know what you are trying to say, but anypony else would assume that your coltfriend is racist,” her mom replied, sighing.

Starburst balked, surprised by the statement.

“And yes, that is exactly what I want,” Twilight continued before her daughter could recover. “He is your coltfriend, and it would be nice if he were to spend some time with your family. And seeing how you are a Princess, he should get used to spending time with other Princesses and their families as well.”

Although Starburst wanted to argue, she knew her mother was right. Even when they were living in their mansion in Ponyville, their family would have a dinner or something with one or more of the other royal families at least once a month. Practically everyday when they were staying at Canterlot’s Royal Palace. Which seeing how Princess Cadance was her aunt, and both Celestia and Luna were her aunt in all but blood (Princess Celestia especially insisted she’d call her “Auntie Celestia” when Starburst was younger), wasn’t unusual. And when Illusion and Claire began dating, she’d begun joining those dinners too.

So really, Starburst should have known that eventually Starfall would be expected to attend those “events” as well. Although maybe “expected” wasn’t the right word, since it wasn’t like a “rule” or something. More like “preferred” maybe?

Sighing, she reluctantly agreed. “Fine, I’ll talk with Star- Wait, what about Nighty?” Starburst asked, only now realizing that Twilight didn’t mention her brother attending the dinner.

“Nighty and his friends are having a slumber party at that old club house,” her mom explained. Even though she didn’t look up from the scroll, she must have sensed the look Starburst gave her, because she added “I figured it would be alright for him to miss one of those dinners, seeing how he would be the only one without a date. I wouldn’t want your brother to feel lonely.”

Despite her irritation, Starburst just rolled her eyes and didn’t argue. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t skipped a few dinners like those in the past, and a slumber party was actually a good excuse.

Besides, he would probably bother Starfall to teach him some more of his magic tricks throughout the entire dinner, she thought; Starfall had mentioned last week that her brother and his friends “cornered him” when he was taking a nap at the border of Sweet Apple Acres and “made him” make good on his promise to teach him something for telling him how much she liked watermelons. However, apparently manipulating water like Starfall does (or rather, a very basic version of how he does it) wasn’t enough for Nighty, and he’d ask Starfall to teach him more whenever he saw him. Or ask me to ask Star to teach him, Starburst thought in annoyance.

“Fine, whatever,” she told her mom. “I’ll talk with Star about the dinner when I see him,” she added as she turned her attention back to her bowl of cereal.

“Thank you, Starburst. Can I ask when would that be?”

“He comes to school during recess for lunch with me and my friends,” Starburst replied, slightly annoyed by her mother’s questions (and interrupting her breakfast again). “Sometimes he also walks me to school, so he might be waiting outside.”

“Ah yes, some of the guards had mentioned this,” Twilight said. “Starfall sure seems comfortable around Ponyville’s school. Do you think-”

“Mom,” Starburst interrupted her; knowing her mother’s love for knowledge and studying, she also knew all too well where she was going with this. And that was besides the fact that Twilight had asked her about this at least twice already. “I can convince him to come to a dinner with my family and extended family, I doubt I could convince him to start going to school. And I definitely can’t do both on the same day,” she added as she returned to her cereal.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. It will be lovely to see him again,” she said, changing the subject. “How have you two been, by the way?”

Starburst suppressed a sigh. “We’re fine, thanks.”

“Mhm,” Twilight mused, then for for the next few seconds she stayed silent. “So… are you…” she began, sounding a bit hesitant, “... talking about using Annie’s ‘gift’?”

Frowning, Starburst stopped eating and looked at her mother. “Annie’s gif-” she started to ask, but then she remembered just what Annie gave her lately. “WHA- MOM!” Starburst exclaimed, growing red on her face.

“Starburst, sweetheart, I’m just concerned,” Twilight explained; a slight color on her face betraying that she was at least slightly uncomfortable asking her daughter about this.

Starburst buried her face in her forehooves. “No we’re not!” she muttered in embarrassment.

“Ah, good,” her mom replied, relief in her voice, but then immediately added “Um, well, not ‘good’, just um… good to know,” she finished, uttering a short nervous laugh.

Taking a deep breath as she tried to calm down - and push the memory of this talk down to the darkest corner of her mind - Starburst let go of her face and was about to return to her cereal.

“But you do know how to use those, right?”

Her forelegs dropped as she turned to stare at her mother in stupor.

“Just in case you’d decide to,” Twilight added as Starburst’s brain continued to fail to restart. “Actually, maybe we should have another talk, like the one we had with Annie and Fluttershy-”

Finally snapping, Starburst shouted: “I DON’T NEED ANOTHER SEX TALK!”

Twilight slightly backed away, surprised by her outburst. Starburst, who just realized that she also stood up from her seat and spread her wings intimidatingly as she shouted, calmed down and was just about to apologize (even though she felt she was totally justified), but she noticed that her mother turned to look at the doorway leading into the dining room.

Following her gaze, Starburst saw her father, Flash Sentry, standing there, looking at them with a mixture of confusion and dread.

Groaning and red all over her face, Starburst slammed her head against the table.

This is all Annie’s fault somehow.

With a sigh, Starburst closed the door behind her.

“Wow, overslept much?”

Having experienced Starfall’s greeting several times already in this fashion, Starburst was only slightly startled. “No. Well, not exactly,” she amended, turning to look at her side where Starfall laid, leaning against a decorative column with his forelegs behind his head. The black eye she gave him by accident had completely disappeared, letting Starburst smile back to him without wincing from guilt at the sight. “I would have left sooner if my mom hadn’t held me up at breakfast.”

“Oh,” Starfall exclaimed, getting up and jumping to her. “Anything serious? AKA related to me?” he added, smirking, as he leaned to kiss her on the cheek.

Starburst blushed, mostly due to the presence of two royal guards standing by the gate nearby. Of course, aside for looking behind startled when Starfall spoke, the guards paid them no mind; it was a rather well known fact now who he was and that they were dating.

“Sorta,” Starburst admitted, keeping her voice low. “C’mon, I’ll explain on the way.”

“So, what was it about?” Starfall asked a few moments later as they left the mansion behind.

“Ugh…” Starburst groaned, unable to think of a good way to approach this subject. “My mom, well, wanted me to invite you to a dinner today.”

“Why, was the last time we talked not awkward enough?” Starfall asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Starburst groaned again, the memory of that time still haunting her. Shaking her head, she focused back on the current topic: “We’re just having dinner today and my mom thought it would be nice if my coltfriend could attend as well.”

Now it was Starfall’s turn to groan. “Well,” he said, slightly grimacing, “I suppose I can understand that… parents usually want to know their kids’ special somepony and stuff, right?”

“I think so,” Starburst replied uncertainly.

She was sure that’s how it was, but… now that she thought about it, the parents of all of her friends that were in a relationships had all known their kid’s significant others for years before they began dating, as most of them also had known their parents too. Discounting that one day she and Starfall had spent together as foals, they were the only odd ones.

“In any case,” she said, shaking her head again, “I don’t think they’ll… bring up the same stuff as the last time, so it shouldn’t be as awkward.” Starburst was certain that she didn’t have to remind him just what that stuff was. “Also,” she added in a stern voice as she frowned at him, “you could use a solid meal.”

“I am eating perfectly fine, thank you very much,” Starfall replied casually.

“I can see your ribs,” she countered, not amused.

Although that was something that she could have always said to Starfall, ever since she first noticed his figure, he had gradually grown thinner over those last two weeks. Starburst easily figured out that it was in large contribution thanks to him having stopped stealing food. Which of course was good, but it began to worry her.

“You try getting fat when you’re fifteen and living on your own,” he retorted, rolling his eyes.

Starburst sighed, not wanting to argue over this. “Well, you better think of a way, before my mom gets a crazy idea of putting you in an orphanage.” She was pretty sure the only reason why Twilight hadn’t done that yet was because everypony knew Starfall would immediately run off from it. “Or worse, thinks of adopting you or something.”

Despite her serious tone, Starfall chuckled. “Wow, your kinky friend would have a field day everyday if that would happen.”

“Star-” Starburst began, but he raised his hoof to stop her.

“I know, I know. I will think of something. Maybe there’s a contest to win a year's supply of food or something,” he mused, scratching his muzzle. “And I guess going to this dinner wouldn’t hurt… necessarily,” he added, rolling his eyes. “Although…” Starfall said, frowning, “you kinda made this dinner today sound like a special occasion.”

“Yeah, that’s because it is,” Starburst explained uncomfortably. “We’re... there will be also my extended family.”

“‘Extended family’?” Starfall repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Between your alicorn cousin and fire-breathing uncle, ‘extended family’ is a very broad term. And don’t get me started on the entire Equestrian Royal Family.”

“Funny that you mentioned that- Wait,” she paused, frowning; “what do you mean by that?”

“You have to admit, Equestria has the weirdest Royal Family ever,” Starfall replied, shrugging. “The alicorns, the draconequus…”

Starburst’s frown deepened. “Oh, and I suppose you consider me dating you to be a step into the ‘normality’s’ direction?”

Her coltfriend snorted. “No, I consider it to be par of the course. I was going to bring it up as my next argument, actually,” Starfall added as she rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean that in the bad way, you know.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Starburst said, shaking her head.

“So,” Starfall said, sounding almost innocently, “what did you mean by ‘funny that you mentioned that’?”

“Well… do you remember Illusion and Claire?” she asked.

Starfall frowned. “Yeah. They’re kinda hard to forget,” he pointed out. “And Sheclaw had scratched my cloak on top of that.”

It slightly worried her that his voice wasn’t as light as usual when making those comments.

“Well, they will be there… as well as Illusion’s parents.”

Starfall stopped. “His parents?” he asked as Starburst stopped as well. “Remind me, aren’t his parents Princess Celestia and Discord?”

Starburst sighed. “Star-”

“You know, one moves the Sun around and the other makes all the laws of physics non-existent whenever he likes?”

Yeah, that actually sounds spot on, she remarked after he interrupted her.

“He doesn’t do it whenever he likes,” Starburst defended him; although she knew her mom found Discord to be annoying at times, she herself always had found him to be fun. She used to hang out with him quite often when she was little, although admittedly they gradually drifted apart over the last few years. “Anymore,” she added with an eyeroll. “And not all of the laws of physics for that matter.”

Starfall deadpanned at her. “Yeah, that doesn’t fill me with confidence.”

Oh great, now he’s being serious!

“The point is, he’s not going to hurt you. Certainly not with Princess Celestia being there too. And as for Celestia, she’s about the kindest pony I ever met; well, second maybe to Annie’s mom,” she amended.

“For the sake of moving this conversation along, I am not going to bring up the whole ‘banishing to the Moon’ thing,” Starfall said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. “Star, it doesn’t matter if they are not going to hurt me. They’re a draconequus and an alicorn, and not just any draconequus and alicorn. There’s a red light flashing in my freaking paranoid mind at a mere thought of coming near them. And that’s besides the general nervousness of being in the presence of the ruler of Equestria and the parents of my marefriend.”

Starburst sighed. When her mother told her to invite him, she had expected that things would be going about as well. She mentally kicked herself for not paying attention when Twilight had first told her about this dinner, she would have much more time to figure out what to do. On one hoof, Starburst didn’t want to force Starfall into doing something he would be so uncomfortable with. On the other, though, she didn’t want to disappoint her mom, and since she could easily imagine that Princess Celestia was looking forward to meeting Starfall, she didn’t want to disappoint her as well.

“I know that this will be really tough for you,” Starburst told Starfall, trotting closer to him. “Heck, all things considered, it will be tough for me as well. But… they’re my family. You’d meet them sooner or later. Wouldn’t it be better to try and get used to them?” she asked, brushing her muzzle against his.

Whether it was her words or her touch, she felt some of Starfall’s agitation leave him. “I… suppose it would be a step in overcoming my paranoia,” he admitted, having calmed down a bit.

“You did get used to spending time with my friends,” Starburst pointed out. Seeing that he was still hesitating, she added: “It would mean a lot to me if you’d come. C’mon, I’ll owe you.”

That had an effect on Starfall. Too much of an effect, actually. He blinked, and immediately smirked as he squinted his red eyes. “Owe me, eh?”

Starburst deadpanned. “Seriously? That did it for you?”

He replied by chuckling. “No, just… had some fun ideas when I heard you say that.”

“Well, congrats, whatever it is I’ll do it.”

“Wha- really?” Starfall asked, blinking in surprise.

“Sure. I mean, it would be only fair to do whatever you’d want in return for coming to this dinner,” Starburst explained. “And I trust you. I know whatever this is you are thinking about can’t be bad. Or too bad at least,” she corrected herself.

Starfall blinked again. “You do know that considering how we’ve met, saying ‘I trust you’ probably doesn’t speak too well about you.”

“Very funny,” she replied, a bit annoyed. “Don’t make me regret saying that, like, five seconds afterwards.”

“Sorry,” Starfall laughed, then sighed and shook his head. “Getting back to the dinner… I guess it won’t be as bad as I assume.”

“So you’ll come?” Starburst asked, her ears perking up.

“Well, I was going to anyway,” he replied rolling his eyes, much to her confusion. “Considering how crazy I am about you, all you have to do is whistle and I’d come running.”

“Oh…” Starburst exclaimed, blushing. “W-well… I wouldn’t want to make you do something you don’t want to like that,” she said as she recovered, frowning.

“I know,” Starfall said, shrugging. Sticking his tongue out, he added: “Just letting you know. Anyway, let's continue to your school before you’ll be late. I’ll do some… mental preparing later,” he sighed as they began to trot again.

“I see,” Starburst said, somewhat curious what exactly did he mean by that. “Will you still join us at recess?”

Starfall chuckled warmly. “Of course I will, Lil’Lioness.”

Starburst sighed, tired of this day already, as she and Annie sat besides her friends at one of the picnic tables on the school’s grounds.

Prism turned from Whirling to look at her and Annie. “Geez, did you have a test today or something?”

“No, Star’s been like this all day,” Annie replied, leaning against T and frowning at Starburst.

Indeed she had. Starburst had spent the last several hours trying to imagine how this dinner with Starfall, her parents, and Princess Celestia and Discord would look like. Every scenario that went through her head was less than optimistic. At this point, Starburst realized that she would actually consider a dinner with just her parents to be a pleasant experience compared to this.

“Is something wrong?” Candy asked, sitting on the opposite side of the table from her.

Starburst sighed again, but instead of answering, she pointed at the empty seat beside her. As she expected, at that moment Starfall appeared, sitting and falling with his head on the table, groaning. Starburst glanced at him: unlike before when he was walking her to the school, he wore his cloak now, as usual when he’d join them for lunch. She wasn’t sure if he did that to hide his scars from other ponies or so that her friends wouldn’t stare.

“Wow,” Candy exclaimed, staring at Starfall. “What got both of you so down?”

“We’re having a dinner with Princess Celestia and her family today,” Starburst replied, leaning her head against her forehoof. “And my mom thought it would be a nice idea if Star were to come too.”

Her friends blinked, surprised, then Prism and Candy burst into laughter, joined by less loudly Whirlwind and Annie, and T, who smirked somewhat awkwardly.

“Thanks for the moral support,” Starburst murmured, rolling her eyes. She glanced at Starfall. “What were you up to?”

“I was learning proper dinner etiquette,” Starfall replied, groaning and rubbing his temples. “Question, do you guys actually do that whole ‘five spoons, six forks’ thing or-”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous, this is a normal family dinner,” Starburst snorted. “You don’t need to learn any etiquette-”

“Did you actually see me eat dinner?” Starfall interrupted her. “As in, ever?”

Starburst opened her mouth, but then hesitated. “Well… huh, now that you mention it…”

“Exactly,” Starfall replied, shrugging. “I figured it would be best to learn how normal ponies do that.”

“Wow, you sure are putting a lot of effort into this Starry,” Candy commented. She then looked to the side and added: “I think.”

“It’s more like I needed to focus on something other than being the same room with two alicorns and a draconequus in a few hours,” he admitted, waving his hoof dismissively. “ But even besides my paranoid fears, I’d like to make a good impression… especially since it seems those things happen regularly.”

“Well, duh, all the Princesses and their families get together from time to time,” Candy replied, rolling her eyes. “Not to mention getting together with friends, and various dignitaries sometimes…”

Oh, thank you so much for scaring my coltfriend, Starburst thought, annoyed, as she watched Starfall’s eyes to grow wider.

“Huh,” he exclaimed as Candy began to giggle because of his expression. Turning to Prism, he said: “Now I understand why you weren’t depressed when Princess dumped you, Damsel. Good thing I’m tougher than-”

Prism, who had been enjoying listening to Starfall’s misfortune, frowned and interrupted him. “Nidra didn’t dump me, Snotfall, it was mutual.”

“Mutual in what way?” Starfall asked, sounding genuinely curious. “Mutual in a sense that you were both single the moment after she dumped you?”

Prism was about to reply, but Whirlwind cut him off by erupting with laughter. “Yeah, that way,” he murmured, grumpy, as Whirlwind - who was still laughing - wrapped her wing around him in apologetic manner, brushing her head against him.

“Seriously, though,” Annie spoke up, “you knew Star’s a Princess when you started dating her, you must have known you’d have to do such things like dinners with other Princesses and stuff.”

“Yeah, to be honest, I might have been thinking of something more along the lines of dancing at a ball until midnight, being abducted by an evil queen that shapeshifts into dragon and losing a glass slipper in the process, being fed a poison apple that turns me into a swan and imprisoned at the top of a tower in the clouds where a giant beanstalk reaches from a frozen kingdom where I’d get stung by a cursed spinning wheel and fell asleep, all while being guarded by the evil dragon-queen and an army of snowponies and toy soldiers that Starburst would have to defeat to save me; when thinking about dating a Princess.”

Starburst blinked in silence as Starfall finished. “What the… that’s like wrong in… eleven different ways!” she exclaimed as everypony else burst with laughter.

“Are you saying you wouldn’t have preferred that over the dinner?” Starfall asked, raising an eyebrow.

“... no, I think I would prefer that,” Starburst admitted, lying her head on the table and sighing.

“So anyway, it’s not cravate noire, is it?”

Dinner?

View Online

Starburst took a deep breath as she looked into the mirror in her room. Alright, don’t panic, she thought, so agitated that she was actually fixing her mane. We’re just going to have a dinner… with my parents… and Princess Celestia and Discord… and Illusion and Claire, which so far is the only relatively good thing about this! she added as she groaned, hitting her head lightly against the surface of the mirror.

She flickered her ear as she heard the distant sound of a doorbell. Starburst turned to look at the clock. Almost twenty minutes before dinner… that can’t be Starfall, she realized, rolling her eyes. If there was one thing that Starburst had learned about him since they began dating, was that he was bizarrely punctual. He would be on time. And since Claire likes to be fashionably late, it’s probably Princess Celestia and Discord.

It was rather strange for Discord to actually use the door and not appear along with Celestia in the middle of the dining room. Could it mean that he’s going to be civil at the dinner? Starburst wondered. I mean, I’m sure Mom would have warned Princess Celestia at least about Starfall’s… issues with authority and ponies that can magically overpower him, so she could have asked Discord to put his chaotic pranks on hold for a few hours… so that we could have a normal dinner…

…

I better go talk to Discord, Starburst decided, fixing her mane for the last time as she rose and left her room.

As she had guessed, the guest were indeed Princess Celestia and Discord. There wasn’t any doubt who they were; both Celestia, an alicorn pony with white coat and flowing, shimmering mane that stood much higher than most ponies, and Discord, thea draconequus with a long snake-like body and mismatching limbs, couldn’t be confused with anypony else.

“Hi Auntie Celestia, Discord,” Starburst greeted them as she entered the living room.

Princess Celestia turned from Twilight to look at her. “Oh, hello, Star. It’s so nice to see you. Especially after all the exciting things we’ve been hearing in Canterlot,” she added, her voice taking a slightly mischievous tone.

Discord, who stood beside her (dressed in a tuxedo, holding a cane, with a top hat on his head and a monocle over one eye), smirked. “Oh yes, and we’ve been anxious to meet the… source of those exciting things.”

Yeah, I figured as much, Starburst thought. Discord, of course, was always delighted by a chance to meet new ponies he could pull pranks on (in moderation, so Celestia wouldn’t get annoyed… unless she wasn’t looking), and Princess Celestia… Mom did mention that she was the one who stopped me and Starfall from wrecking the Royal Palace back when we were foals. It's not surprising that she would be interested in seeing him again.

“Actually-” Starburst began, wanting to take this chance to talk with Discord, but she was cut off.

“Now,” Discord, suddenly appearing right next to her, said, as he picked her up in the air with his forepaws and looked under her, “where are you hiding this little friend of yours? You know,” he added, bringing her before his face and looking her in the eyes; Starburst dimly noticed that his clothes had all disappeared, “the one I heard claims to the best trickster there is apparently?”

Starburst rolled her eyes, but it was her mother who said out loud what she was thinking.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually jealous?”

As she glanced at her, Starburst saw her holding with her magic all of Discord’s attire that he had discarded. Apparently, discarded right at Twilight.

“‘Jealous’?” Discord snorted, letting go of Starburst. She spread her wings and held herself in the air besides him as he turned to Twilight, crossing his forelegs. “Don’t be ridiculous, Twilight, I’m not jealous. If a slightly above-average illusionist with an ego the size of East Mustangia were to cause any negative emotions in me, then it would be offense for him daring to claim such a title,” he proclaimed, waving his lion-like paw to emphasize his point. “No, I’m merely interested in seeing if he lives up to all his ‘hype’.”

“‘Merely interested’?” Princess Celestia asked; now her voice was definitely mischievous. “Is that’s why you wanted to go straight to Ponyville after Illusion told us about his show two weeks ago? You should have seen his reaction when he heard about Starfall saying that his middle name is ‘Trickster’,” she said, turning to Starburst’s parents; Twilight, in the meantime, had managed to sent Discord’s attire away somewhere. “I haven’t seen him that obviously frustrated despite how he denied it since-”

A snap of Discord’s fingers and Celestia’s mouth disappeared from her muzzle. “Word of advice, Starburst,” Discord sighed; as she glanced at him, she saw him holding Celestia’s muzzle in his other paw: “if you’ll ever want to punish your coltfriend really badly, just convince him to marry you. Trust me, it will make his life a torture.”

Despite her condition, Celestia wasn’t alarmed at slightest. She merely turned to him, her eyebrow raised. As soon as Discord made his little speech (which caused Starburst’s cheeks to grow hot from embarrassment at the idea of her and Starfall getting married), he snapped his fingers again, returning her mouth to its rightful place.

Starburst briefly wondered how often did something like this had happened for Celestia to not even be annoyed at Discord. Both for taking her mouth away and for the comment he made. Of course, everypony who knew both of them could easily tell that Discord was kidding; despite their many differences, they truly loved each other. Which was probably why Princess Celestia let such things slide.

Of course, if he were to do that to Starfall, Starburst would not simply let it slide like Celestia.

She cleared her throat and spoke up before they could continue this discussion. “Discord, you mind if we talk a moment? Alone?”

“Oh, of course not,” Discord replied immediately, and snapped his fingers.

Starburst blinked as she realized that they were no longer in the living room, but back in her room instead. Recovering quickly (as she had now far more experience to this type of thing, thanks to Starfall), she looked around for Discord. She found him lying on his chest on her bed, supporting his head with his forepaws so he could look down at her.

“Well, what do you want my dear?” he asked, fluttering his eyelashes at her as he wagged his tail and waved his hind legs.

Despite herself, Starburst chuckled shortly, amused by the position in which the Lord of Chaos laid. She quickly shook her head to focus back at the task at hoof.

“It’s about Starfall-” she began, but Discord waved his paw, stopping her.

“Yes yes, I’ve had a loooooong discussion with Cay-Cay about not stressing the poor lad,” he said, rolling his eyes. “About how he apparently has been through a lot and what not.”

“He has been through a lot,” Starburst told him, frowning.

“I figured if you hadn’t pulled me for a talk, I would have been listening to your mother going over this bit again. Which is why I agreed at once to talk with you in private in hopes of avoiding it, but alas... I although I have to say,” Discord said, leaning closer to her and stretching his neck until his head was only a few inches from hers, “I didn’t expect to have to hear it from you, too. My, you must really care for this Starfall kid,” he added, grinning.

Starburst felt herself blush on being called out like that, but she stood her ground. “Well, I do, and I would prefer if you wouldn’t traumatize my coltfriend.”

“Oh come now, Starburst, you should know me better,” Discord replied, raising up to a standing position and crossing his forelegs, as if offended. “I don’t traumatize ponies… anymore,” he added, noticing the deadpan she gave him.

“I know you don’t,” she explained, sighing. “But Star… he’s a bit paranoid after all that he had been through. And between you, Aunty Celestia, Illusion and my mom, he’ll already be stressed by just being here. So, I wanted to ask you to not prank him or anything, just prank my mom or something if you have to, please,” she added, hoping he would be satisfied enough by that. Truth be told, she always found it amusing when Discord pranked her mom. “And, um, don’t be overly friendly to him, too,” Starburst remembered to add, recalling how often Discord broke personal space of ponies. “He doesn’t like being touched.”

“Aww, come on, Star,” Discord whined, falling down back on the bed. “First you ask me to not prank him, then that I can’t even shake his hoof? That’s not fun at all.”

Starburst rolled her eyes, and was about to reply, but what Discord said next caused her to stop.

“And after I’ve been meaning to do one of those or both for almost fifteen years now.”

“Fifteen years?” Starburst repeated, confused. “What do you-”

The grin Discord shot her was enough of an answer for her.

As Starburst stammered, embarrassed as she realized that he knows how she and Starfall had originally met (as despite that now they were dating, she was a little embarrassed over what they did back then), the draconequus, still grinning, raised his paw and snapped his fingers.

What the- Starburst thought, recovering from her stupor in her surprise as Discord teleported them somewhere once gain. She looked around, trying to figure out where they were. Wait, isn’t this Canterlot’s Royal Palace? she wondered, quickly recognizing one of the all too familiar corridors. Yeah, down that way is one of the kitchens, and this way are stairs leading down to the hall by the Throne Room… Why did he brought us here?

She turned to Discord, the question at the tip of her tongue, but she immediately forgot about it as she noticed that his body had a strange, bright blue hue to it.

“Discord, what-” she began instead, but at the same time, a rather loud noise sounded from somewhere down the corridor.

Discord pressed a finger to his lips and pointed at the direction the noise came from. Starburst turned to look there… and her jaw dropped as two tiny ponies emerged from behind the door leading to the kitchen, both with coats partially covered in flour probably, and both running as if something was chasing them.

Also, both of them were giggling and wearing diapers.

“Is that…” Starburst managed to murmur, stunned.

She didn’t need Discord to reply, though, she knew those foals all too well. She had been one of them, after all, and her coltfriend had been the other. Even if she hadn’t seen the picture her mom took of them that day, there was no confusing Starfall’s red eyes, or her wings, already big for her age even though her growth spurt hadn’t hit her by then yet; her Mom had told her that it had happened around her third month.

“This is weird,” she finally managed to say as she watched the foal her and foal Starfall run up the corridor towards them.

“I think the word you meant is ‘fun’,” Discord corrected her, chuckling, as a few royal guards and castle’s maids emerged from the kitchen after the foals, chasing them.

Starburst’s embarrassment only deepened as she realized the state all those ponies were in - all were dirty and rugged, with pieces of armor and cloths respectively missing and with frustration and worry written on their faces - and that she knew them. They were still part of the Royal Guard stationed at Canterlot and the palace’s stuff, respectively.

I’ll have to go with Star someday and apologize for this, she remarked, feeling really sorry for what they had put those ponies through. After I figure out how to look them in the eyes again…

Starburst stopped her musing as she focused on the two foals running through the corridor, curious despite her embarrassment as to what was going to happen. Discord must have chosen to show this moment of that entire day for some reason.

A bright flash suddenly appeared before them, and the next second two of the guards chasing them (both of them unicorns) were before them. Having teleported, they prepared to catch the two foals.

Starburst (the one in the past) spread her wings and jumped into the air. The older one couldn’t help but feel annoyed at how good she could fly as a foal. Like all pegasus foals at that young age, her inherit pegasus magic had surged in her body, causing her to become… difficult to be kept aground, one might say. Fortunately for her parents - and, clearly, the palace’s stuff - like with all pegasi, those flight surges quickly passed. The fact that not soon afterwards her wings had practically outgrown the rest of her body probably helped as well.

I had to spend such a long time learning how to fly… Starburst remarked, but her annoyance quickly disappeared, her mind now filled by confusion at what she just noticed. Why am I flying with my eyes closed?

Of course, she didn’t have to wait long for an answer, not with Starfall around. His horn began to glow, and a multi-colored flash shot from him in the direction of the guards, exploding before them in a very bright array of lights. Momentarily blinded, they failed to capture the pegasus foal as she flew above them, while the unicorn simply teleported, appearing behind them just as his friend landed, joining him with a giggle.

Starburst, too, would have been blinded, had Discord not suddenly put a pair of sunglasses on her. “Watch, this is my favorite part!” he whispered, excited, as he turned to the foals.

She gave the draconequus an uncertain look. “Why do I have the feeling I should be afraid of- OH CELESTIA NO!” Starburst exclaimed, her eyes wide as she stared in the direction the foals were running to.

“Oh Celestia indeed,” Discord laughed as Princess Celestia walked up from the stairs, staring in surprise at the foals.

Starburst, of course, had remembered what her mom had told her; that it was Princess Celestia who had stopped them. However, until now, she had tried to never think about what exactly happened back then.

Now she was going to find out.

Celestia’s surprised gaze stopped at the foal Starburst, and the older Starburst saw recognition in her eyes. Then they traveled past the foals at all the ponies that were chasing them. An amused smirk crossed her muzzle, probably having a good guess as to what was happening. Regardless, she moved from the top of the stairs to stand in the middle of the hallway, blocking their way.

“I think that’s enough play time for you, little ones,” she said in a kind and amused tone.

The foals stopped running, or rather, one of them had, the other only slowed down and then, after turning to his friend, stopped. Starburst watched as foal Starfall looked at younger her with confusion as she froze, staring at the Princess before her while paralyzed with fear.

Oh, great… Starburst thought, now feeling even worse than before.

Although she no longer remembered that, she knew that when she was a foal she used to be scared of Princess Celestia, as ridiculous as it sounds. From what Starburst understood, she found her mane to be terrifying, somehow. She had grown out of if, of course, and until now hadn’t paid much thought into any of that.

Now, however, thanks to Discord, she got to see, for a very brief moment, the hurt in Auntie Celestia’s eyes.

I… um… should probably hug her more often from now on or something, Starburst thought; she was really uncomfortable with having to deal with such matters. However, she found thinking about them without doing anything to be even worse. And apologize… even though I’m sure she doesn’t hold a grudge or anything over what a foal did…

As she mused, the vision continued to play. Starfall, who had realized how the huge white pony terrified his friend, had stepped in front of her, standing up to Princess Celestia. His horn flared again, but whatever magical attack he unleashed on her, it was quickly dispelled by the alicorn.

“Great, my coltfriend had attacked Princess Celestia within five seconds of first meeting her!” Starburst exclaimed as she facehoofed, finding this entire chain events to be like something out of a cartoon. Despite that, though, she did find Starfall ‘defending her’ to be quite cute… and charming… She shook her head to focus. “Can this get any worse?”

In reply, Discord offered her some popcorn.

Celestia, completely unfazed by Starfall’s magical attack, giggled. “Star, you’ve got yourself quite the defender there,” she said, trotting closer and extending her wing to Starfall, intending to gently pat him on the head. “It’s nice to meet you, little one.”

“This is my favorite part!” Discord said, grinning as he grasped the arms of his chair (When did he get the chair?) and leaned forward.

The ponies that had been chasing the two foals approached them. “Princess Celestia-” one of the maids began, only to be cut off.

Her, as well as all the other ponies, including the older Starburst, stared, utterly shocked, at the unicorn foal that just bit the tip of Princess Celestia’s wing.

Oh… my… Starburst began to think as she watched her coltfriend bury his tiny fangs into her Auntie’s wing as a foal, only to trail off as she realized that calling Celestia’s name in this situation was probably at least not appropriate.

Contrary to everypony, Discord found it to be highly amusing. A snap of fingers accompanied an explosion of laughter as he made everything freeze. “I can’t…” he managed to say in breaks between laughing. “Look at her face!”

Despite the utter turmoil of emotions she was feeling (the horror, embarrassment, and shock being the most prominent ones), Starburst turned to look at Celestia’s face. The Princess’ eyes were wide open and she pressed her lips tightly together, probably more out of surprise than an actual pain, although she no doubt had to feel something as Starfall bit her.

Starburst had to give it to Discord, it was a bit comical expression… especially considering that it was Celestia’s face. If this had been caused by anything other than Starfall biting her, she might have actually laughed briefly.

“You know, some ponies don’t like seeing their significant other being in pain,” she remarked as she looked at Discord, who was currently rolling on the floor.

“Oh please, even with those little pins of fangs he had, that was little more than a little sting,” he replied, standing up straight. “I assure you, Celestia had been through much worse. And never did she have such an expression on her face. Oh, how I wish I had been there,” Discord added as he got the last laughs out of his system, and then snapped his fingers again, causing the vision to continue.

“P-princess Celestia!” the maid that spoke earlier managed to find her voice. “Are you alright?”

Celestia, who by then had shook off the surprise and slight pain she was probably feeling, smiled. “Of course, Pixie Dust, it is just a foal after all. Thank you for your concern. Would you mind telling me who this little one is and why these two are here?” she asked as her attention shifted back to Starfall, who continued to hang on to her wing with his teeth, even while she raised it up to her eye level. “If I’m not mistaken, Princess Twilight had asked you to look after Princess Starburst a few hours ago. Surely she had already returned?”

“W-well, yes, of course, Your Majesty, Princess Twilight had returned from her walk. However, she had been accompanied by a mare named Trixie Lulamoon, I believe, and her foal,” Pixie Dust replied, pointing at the foal in question. “His name is Starfall. Princess Twilight and Miss Trixie wanted to catch up over tea, so I was asked to look after both of them for a little longer.”

“Oh, I see. I assume they’ve gotten into some mischievous mood?” Princess Celestia asked as she used her magic to gently pry her Starfall’s mouth open, freeing her wing.

“That’s… one way of putting it, Your Highness,” Pixie replied, giving the Princess a tired, awkward smile.

Princess Celestia, already holding Starfall in the air, also lifted Starburst, who had been reaching for the colt with worry on her small muzzle. “I think it would be best if those foals would return to their parents. Maybe they will be able to contain them,” she added humorously. Looking at all the guards and palace’s stuff present, she added: “Thank you for doing your best to capture them before they could get themselves hurt. I’m sure Princess Twilight will thank you all herself as well when once she hears about this.”

“It was nothing, Princess,” Pixie quickly replied, bowing; Starburst noticed that several other ponies bore expressions betraying that they didn’t necessarily agree with that statement.

Celestia must have noticed that too, as she smirked with amusement at Pixie. Then - much to Starburst’s shock - she turned to her and Discord. “Discord, honey, didn’t I asked you to not torture Starburst by showing her this?”

“Oh, how well she knows me,” Discord sighed as Starburst still tried to process what just happened, snapping his fingers.

Within a blink of an eye, they were back in Starburst room. The pegasus mare shook her head in an effort to snap herself back into focus. “How did she… I mean, what-” Starburst tried to ask, but found it difficult to formulate the question. “Did Celestia see us?!”

Discord chuckled. “Oh, hardly, my dear Starburst. It's just something she started doing whenever one of you kids did something embarrassing as foals. You know,” he added, grinning, “because she knew I would want to show those precious moments once you grow up and embarrass you.”

Gee, thanks for listening to her then, Starburst thought in annoyance. As if I wasn't nervous enough about this dinner already…

“So you said that you’ve wanted to meet Starfall for fifteen years?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Ever since I’ve heard about what happened that day, yes. It isn’t often Celestia loses her composure, even for such brief moments. Anypony capable of doing that is certainly a pony worth meeting.”

Starburst raised an eyebrow, slightly confused by his reply. “So… you’re not angry at Starfall or anything?” she asked to be sure.

Discord bursted with short laughter. “Angry? Star, dear, I wouldn’t be angry at a foal for biting Celestia. I mean,” he added, quickly cleaning the claws on his paw and admiring them, “it’s sorta been my job the past three-ish decades, true…”

Starburst frowned, again finding herself confused. What does he mean by… she began to wonder, until the mental picture had appeared in her head all on its own. Uee! I don’t want to picture that!

“... but since that was about a month old foal, I really don’t mind,” Discord finished, appearing to be oblivious to Starburst’s attempts to banish an image out of her mind.

“Then what about you being bothered by Starfall calling himself ‘Trickster’?” Starburst asked, feeling slightly wobbly after all the head-shaking she had just done. “Aren’t you ‘offended’ or whatever?”

“Oh, I am,” Discord quickly assured her. “Don’t get me wrong, I highly admire his skill and dedication to the craft. The chaos he had created those weeks ago when he first came here? Very impressive. But a unicorn calling himself ‘Trickster’ when I live a short train ride away? Preposterous,” he said, folding his forelegs.

Starburst rolled her eyes, wondering whether she should point out how moments ago he had said that it was her coltfriend who had a big ego.

“Now, I would love to show him up…” Discord began, causing Starburst to frown at him. “Buuut, considering all I heard about his past from both Cay-Cay and Illusion, and that you’re practically glaring at me in a slightly intimidating manner, I will wait some time before teaching him what the real ‘Trickster’ can do. You know,” he added, a scroll appearing in his paw out of thin air, “until he deals with all of those issues he has.”

The scroll unrolled and its end fell to the ground, right before Starburst. The pegasus frowned as she began to read what was written on it. Paranoia, haphephobia, social anxiety, slight racism towards alicorns and draconequuses, mo- she read and stopped to glare at Discord.

“‘Mommy issues’?!” she growled. “Discord, I swear in your wife’s name, if you ever actually say that, I-”

“Yeah yeah, I know, I already had this lecture from Celestia,” he interrupted her, rolling his eyes and the list had disappeared. “Pity you didn’t read more positions from that list, maybe they you’d find them interesting.”

“I don’t see how exactly,” Starburst replied, still angry at what he had written on that list.

“Give it time,” he in turn said, sounding almost nonchalant. “But I must say, it’s kind of cute to see you being so overprotective over him,” he added, smirking.

Despite her earlier anger, Starburst found herself blushing slight. “I’m not going to address that,” she said diplomatically. “So… you won’t try to pick any fights with him?” she asked to be sure.

Discord rolled his eyes. “I will do my best to not scare off your coltfriend. I can’t promise you that this dinner won’t be slightly chaotic, though; tried that once,” he added, looking to his side, “lets just say it didn’t work.”

Guess that’s the best I can get from him, Starburst thought; she didn’t expect him to not cause plates to levitate or change the teapot into some dog-kinda-thingy, those things were mandatory when having dinner with Discord.

“Thanks Discord,” she said, smiling at him gratefully. “It means a lot of me.”

“No problem, Starburst,” Discord replied, smiling, then grinned as he snapped his fingers. “Can I be your maid of honor when you two get married?” he asked as he leaned over her, wearing a dress.

“Wha- no!” Starburst stammered, too shocked by the question and the sudden change of appearance to formulate a better answer.

“Oh, you’re no fun,” Discord said, rolling his eyes as he snapped his fingers again.

“Oh, I see you two had finally finished talking,” Celestia said, turning to them.

Starburst blinked as they appeared back in the living room. She glanced at Discord; fortunately, the dress was gone; she really didn’t want to explain that to Princess Celestia and her parents.

They were sitting at the couches on the side of the living room. All three had apparently started to drink some tea as they waited for them to finish, as well as for the other guests to show up. At the wall right next to them there was a door leading to the dining room. Starburst could see the table at which they’d dine at, with eight seats, plates and other silverware already prepared.

“What did you talk about?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

“Oh, um, you know…” Starburst stammered, thinking of what should she say, “just…”

“She just wanted to make sure I won’t eat her little friend,” Discord replied, jumping to the seat beside Celestia.

Celestia giggled as Starburst shot the draconequus an annoyed glare, her cheeks slightly hot with embarrassment. “Speaking of, when is Starfall coming?”

“You did invite him, right?” Twilight asked before she could reply.

“Of course I did,” she said briskly, annoyed that her mother doubted she had done that. She turned to look at the clock; it was only a few minutes until the dinner was supposed to start. “He will probably be here soon, he’s… weirdly punctual like this. Or maybe I should just whistle,” she added in an afterthought, chuckling as she recalled what Starfall had told her earlier.

“Whistle?” her dad asked, confused.

“It’s just some joke Star told me…” she began, but then paused. Surely, it was a joke… But then again, it would totally not surprise her if somehow this would have worked. “Hold on just a moment,” Starburst said, raising her forehoof to her lips and uttered a short whistle.

The doorbell sounded almost immediately.

Starburst, stunned, stared in disbelief through the door at the corridor leading to the doors. “Oh, this better be a coincidence, that was just ridiculous,” she groaned as she facehoofed. Turning back to everypony, she said: “Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” as she trotted to get Starfall.

“Hi, I was invited for a dinner at five o’clock?” Starburst heard Starfall tell their housemaid Rosie, who had opened the door.

“It’s alright Rosie, I can take care of it,” she quickly told her; of course, Rosie had been told who will be coming today, so she would have shown him to the living room without any problems. However, Starburst preferred to talk with Starfall in private before they’d join the others.

“As you wish Young Princess,” Rosie replied with a smile as she moved to let the unicorn colt in. “Can I take the young gentlecolt’s coat?” she asked as he entered the house.

Starburst rolled her eyes as Starfall made a show of blinking and looking behind himself. “Oh, sure, here you go,” he said as he pretended to just realized Rosie had ment him. He used his magic to take off his coat and pass it to the housemaid, who only slightly winced when she saw the scars on his back. “Thanks you Miss. You look stressed,” Starfall said as he turned to Starburst.

“Yeah, I guess you could say I’m already tired by this dinner, so that’s not surprising,” Starburst replied, sighing.

“Really?” Starfall asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “‘Cause I can always ‘kidnap’ you if you want to skip it. Just say the word and we’ll be gone before nopony would know.”

Starburst wondered whether it was mocked hope she saw in his eyes or not.

“Mister Starfall, you do realize I am still here?” Rosie asked with a raised eyebrow as she hanged his coat.

“He’s just joking,” Starburst told her quickly, before Starfall could say anything. I think, she added in her thoughts. “Thank you Rosie.”

“So what got you so stressed?” he asked as the elderly mare left. “Also, do I look alright?” Starfall added, glancing at his reflection in the glass on one of the furnitures in the hallway.

“Um, yeah,” she said, giving him a once over. Despite being basically homeless, Starfall’s coat and mane always seemed clean, but now it was even more apparent. Starburst could swear she could smell some shampoo on his mane. Other than that, he looked no different than usual, only the bandanna covering the scars around his throat also seemed cleaner. “I was making sure Discord wouldn’t, well, pick on you. I think you calling yourself ‘Trickster’ and causing all that chaos back when you first came to Ponyville sort of wounded his pride or something.”

“Oh, lovely,” Starfall commented, rolling his eyes. “I suppose there’s some lesson to be learned from this.”

“You think?” Starburst paused to deadpan at him, before continuing. “Anyway, he promised he’d behave himself… but will probably want to settle this - whatever this is, exactly - in a few years or something.”

Starfall raised an eyebrow. “And I thought Eris was weird. Alright, as long as nothing happens here during this dinner I can deal with whatever Discord wants. What about Celestia?” he asked in a hushed tone as he began to lead him towards the living room. “You’re sure she doesn’t want to banish me to the Moon for being a felon and stuff?” Starburst rolled her eyes, but Starfall still wasn’t finished. “Or imprisoned me? Or banish me? Or imprison me in the place she’s going to banish me to?”

She would have snorted with laughter if he didn’t sound so serious. “Star, she’s not going to do anything to you, only meet you. Princess Celestia heard a lot about you from my mom and Illusion.”

Starburst decided to not add about everything that Discord had showed her. Maybe after the dinner she would; she had a feeling his reaction would be funny to watch.

Starfall sighed. “I know, just… nervous. And slightly panicking.”

“Yeah, slightly,” she said, smirking and bumping his side. “‘Imprison me in the place she’s going to banish me to’? I swear, only a pony as paranoid as you could come up with something as ridiculous as that,” Starburst said in a hushed tone as they were about to enter the living room.

Her ear twitched as she heard somepony sneeze inside. Huh, did Mom catch a cold? Starburst wondered briefly as she recognized her sneeze.

Pushing the thought away, she focused on Starfall. “So… will you be okay?” she asked, stopping him before the living room.

Starfall took a deep breath, then turned to her. His eyes were closed and he was smiling. “Of course, my fair Princess. Let us go and join your family for dinner.”

Starburst’s jaw hung open as she stared at him in silence. “Okay, stop that, that’s just creepy,” she finally said, frowning.

“Ugh, I know,” Starfall groaned and looked away. “Sorry, I thought maybe it would seem impressive if I’d show I can be… courteous and stuff.”

Starburst rolled her eyes. “You’ll be fine, just be yourself.” Starfall turned back to her and raised an eyebrow. “... alright, yeah, maybe go with the courteous thing,” Starburst conceded, unable even to imagine just how this dinner would go if he acted like he usually did.

“It’s actually quite calming,” he said, shrugging. “Talking like that, I mean. I have to focus on this instead of thinking ‘I’m in the same room as two alicorn princesses and the Lord of Chaos’.”

“Whatever makes this easier for you, I guess,” Starburst said, sighing. “How did you come up with that, exactly?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Starfall replied, sighing. “Unless she beats me to it. Anyway-”

“You do know we can hear you two, right?”

Both Starburst and Starfall almost jumped, startled, and turned head towards the living room.

“I mean, you did know your mother would use a spell to let us hear everything you’d be talking about the moment you left to get your coltfriend, right Starburst?” Discord’s called out from the living room.

Starburst facehoofed and groaned as she heard her mother exclaim: “Discord!”

“Sooorry, Twilight, but they were getting forever standing over there, I’m bored.”

Thank goodness we didn’t kiss or anything… Starburst remarked as she shook her head with resignation, too tired to even get annoyed.

“For the record,” her mom spoke up, causing Starburst to forget about her tiredness and get annoyed, “I only cast it about half a minute ago, as you were taking such a long time to return.”

Oh yeah, ‘cause that’s so much better...

Turning to Starfall, she pointed with her hoof at the living room. “We better…” she said and trailed off, not sure what exactly she should say with all of them listening in on them.

“Yeah,” Starfall replied, sighing, and the two of them trotted into the room.

“You remember my Mom and Dad,” Starburst said as they entered, pausing to give her mother an annoyed glare; the lavender alicorn gave her an abashed smile in return. “And I’m sure you recognize Princess Celestia and Discord. Auntie, Discord, this is my coltfriend Starfall,” she told them in turn, introducing him.

“Hello, Starfall,” Princess Celestia greeted him, raising from her seat. “It is such a pleasure to see you again.”

“Likewise, Your Majesty,” Starfall replied pleasantly, actually bowing to the alicorn. Starburst rolled her eyes; seeing him behave like this was just weird. He turned to Discord and bowed again, though not as low as before. “It is a pleasure to meet you both. And, of course, it’s great to see you again, Princess, Prince,” he added, turning to Starburst’s parents, before looking at Celestia again. “Beg your pardon, Princess, but what do you mean by ‘again’?”

Oh, just great, Starburst thought, glancing at Celestia with worry. Please don’t tell him he bit you, he’ll definitely run away!

Princess Celestia giggled before replying. “I’ve seen you briefly as a foal back when you spent a day at the Royal Palace playing with Starburst. I suppose one could say you made quite an impression.”

Yeah, sure, one could say that. Most ponies would probably call that impression “a bitemark”.

Starfall, who had no idea what exactly happened that day, chuckled. “I am pleased to hear that, Your Majesty,” he said.

Starburst was sure that despite his demeanor, she could see him shift slightly uncomfortable at the remark.

Princess Celestia tilted her head. “You know, Starfall, we heard what you and Starburst had been talking about outside of the living room. You don’t have to fear anything from me or my husband. You can talk comfortably and say whatever is on your mind.”

“Your Majesty, I assure you, I am not afraid, and I am talking comfortably,” Starfall quickly replied, obviously lying.

She just said she heard what you were saying, Starburst thought with annoyance. She opened her mouth to say something-

Snap!

Starburst blinked as a big cloud appeared above Starfall, with two smaller ones below it, leading towards his head. Inside the cloud, there was another Starfall. Except while the real one was standing calmly, this one was holding his muzzle and silently screaming, with the letters “AAA” all around him.

Almost immediately as it appeared, Starfall lost his calm demeanor. He shook and looked above while lowering his body slightly, standing more stable on his legs. Starburst, on the other hoof, along with everypony else, glared at Discord.

“What?” the draconequus asked, looking all around and faking incomprehension. Turning to Celestia he said “You said you wanted to know what’s on his mind. Well, here-”

Whatever else he was going to say, it was silenced by a small white cloud hitting him square in the face. Starburst blinked and turned to her right. Starfall had seemingly recovered, as he was standing again calmly and relaxed. However, the Starfall in the big cloud above him was leaning out of his cloud and reaching for the other small one, having already thrown the first one at Discord.

As everypony else also turned to him, the Starfall in the cloud blinked, then let go of the cloud and stood up in his, whistling innocently (or, to be more specific, he folded his lips for whistling and symbols like in a comics when a character whistles appeared around his head).

Starburst jaw hang open as she stared at it for a few seconds, then turned to Starfall. “How do you even…” she trailed off, not sure how to even call what he did.

Her coltfriend shrugged. “Thinking outside the box.”

That’s not a box! Starburst wanted to shout in annoyance, but considering the presence of her parents and Celestia and Discord, she managed to stop herself, not wanting them to think they were actually arguing or anything.

“Oh, now this is quite impressive,” Discord said, turning everypony’s attention back to him. The draconequus was smirking as he looked at Starfall with interest, rubbing his forepaws together. “Most ponies think the box is there for a reason, but you… oh this ought to be fun-”

“Discord?” Princess Celestia interrupted him. Discord winced as he turned to her while she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “No magic fights during dinner.”

“Ugh, yes dear,” the Lord of Chaos said, slumping down in defeat.

Slightly relaxed, Starburst turned to Starfall. “Star, don’t reply to Discord’s provocations,” she told him, knowing that even with Celestia next to him the draconequus wouldn’t control himself if he’d get hit in the face a few more times.

“Oh, sure, whatever you say Star,” Starfall replied, smiling in that courtly manner again.

Starburst deadpanned seeing that smile again, but she wasn’t about to comment on that now. She was quite happy with his reply. Starburst was about to turn to the grown-up ponies, but then the cloud (which for some reason had yet to disappear) caught her attention. Or, more specifically, the Starfall that was in it. He too was turned to her, except his muzzle bore the usual smirk of his instead of this courteous one, and next to him were words a bit different than the ones he said as well:

“Oh, sure, whatever you say, the Most Beautiful Pony Ever!”

Blushing from reading such a complement, Starburst’s mind went blank as she realized that, although unintentionally, Starfall had just literally conveyed what he thought about her right in front of her parents.

The part of her brain capable of thinking at this point thanked whatever luck they had that he hadn’t thought anything else, like those nicknames he used when they were alone or worse.

Apparently, Starfall really didn’t mean to think that, as he looked at her with confusion as she blushed. His confusion only deepened as both Starburst’s mom and Princess Celestia both sighed and said: “Aww, that’s so cute,” while her dad and Discord both snorted with laughter. He turned to look at them quizzically, then back at Starburst, and then finally he looked up. His eyes grew wider as he realized what he had thought, and his head quickly turned back to Starburst, then almost as fast to the others, and then back to her.

He smiled awkwardly, clearly nervous. “S-sorry,” he stammered, sounding embarrassed.

Against her better judgement, Starburst looked up at the cloud. Starfall there had his forelegs wide-spread, as if about to hug her, and next to him where the words:

“I am not sorry!”

“Of course you aren’t,” Starburst muttered a remark, then (as Starfall looked up with annoyance and said “Don’t make me come up there!”) she turned to Discord. “Can you take that thing off him?”

“Oh, fine,” Discord said with an eyeroll as he snapped his fingers, a bit reluctantly.

The cloud finally disappeared, causing both Starburst and Starfall to sigh with relief. And as if good fortune smiled down on them at that moment, the very next heartbeat the doorbell rung again.

“That must be Claire and Illusion. Let's go say hi!” Starburst exclaimed as she pushed her coltfriend back to the hallway, taking the opportunity to get away from everypony for a few minutes.

“Well, this is going smoothly so far,” Starfall remarked in a hushed voice as soon as they left the living room.

“You’ve certainly helped with that,” Starburst pointed out as she glared at him.

Starfall turned to her and blinked. “Are you seriously angry that your coltfriend thinks ‘the Most Beautiful Pony Ever’ while thinking about you?”

Blushing, Starburst found it hard to be angry at him. She was still annoyed though.

“S-shut up,” she said, punching him lightly.

Her annoyance grew as she heard him chuckle. “Wish you could see my thoughts now,” Starfall said, leaning closer.

Before Starburst could ask what exactly did he meant, she felt his breath on her ear an instant before he gently nibbled on it. A surprised moan of pleasure escaped her lips as both of them stopped.

He let go of her ear after a few seconds had passed, during which they’ve heard hoofsteps approaching from the down the hallway. Not wanting to be seen by her friends being so intimate with her coltfriend and annoyed at what he did, she pushed him away.

“I hate you,” she told him in a hushed voice.

“No you don’t,” Starfall replied, sticking his tongue out playfully.

Rolling her eyes and groaning, Starburst resumed trotting towards the hoofsteps. As they passed a corner, they run into Claire and Illusion. “Hi guys,” she said, trying to force a little enthusiasm into her voice.

“Hello, darling,” Claire replied, smiling, then turned to Starfall with a smirk. “Hello, Starfall; how have you been?”

“Oh, I’ve been just fine, Lady Clarity, thank you for asking,” Starfall said, once again in that courtly manner, except when Starburst glaced at him, she noticed that while he did smiled back at Claire, his eyelid twitched. “I hope today finds you and His Highness good as well?”

“Now it makes sense,” Starburst said, realizing that Claire was somehow behind the idea for Starfall to speak this way. “What did you do to my coltfriend?”

“Done? Starburst, dear, I would have thought you’d be happy that he can behave properly while being in such company,” Claire said, pretending to be wounded by her words. “Besides, it was Starfall who came for my advice as to how carry himself during this dinner.”

“What?” he asked as Starburst glanced at him. “You said she’d be here too and she seemed like the fanciest of your friends, I figure I’d ask her how normal ponies eat dinner-”

“Dinner etiquette,” Claire corrected him.

“- and what would be the best way to act in from of Princess Celestia so I won’t get sent to the Moon,” Starfall finished, shrugging.

Starburst rolled her eyes. Trust Claire to think that speaking like that would be the best… “I highly doubt Princess Celestia cares if he speaks courtly or not. Mostly because she had just said so a moment ago.”

“Maybe,” Illusion spoke up, shrugging, “but it’s still fun to see him speak like this.”

Both Starburst and Starfall deadpanned at him as he and Claire laughed. “You’re just jealous ‘cause I can pull it off better,” Starfall replied, huffing.

“So, how’s it been so far?” Illusion asked. “Dad mentioned he’d love to show a certain ‘Trickster’ a trick or two.”

“Huh, I’m actually beginning to regret having called myself that,” Starfall said, tilting his head as he pondered that. “Weird feeling.”

“Could have been worse I suppose,” Starburst replied, sighing. She wouldn’t go into details; about the last thing she needed right now was them finding out what Starfall thought of her and then get teased by them and the rest of their friends for it. “But the sooner this dinner is over the better.”

Starburst glanced at Starfall with a little worry as they sat by the table. While she did speak the truth when she said there wouldn’t be so many forks and spoons and whatnot as he feared, there were some. There were three plates, one for soup, main course and desert each, and of course, to each plate and meal there were cutlery assigned, four in total. Plus a small spoon for the tea next to the teacup. Compared to some dinners she had attended back at Canterlot, it was really modest set.

Surely he won’t have problems with this, Starburst thought while observing Starfall, who sat motionless on his seat, his eyes darting from the silverware on the left of his plates to the right repeatedly as if trying he was trying to figure which ones serves for what...

Starburst shook and perked her ears, realizing there was a strange music coming from somewhere. Others too began to look around. However, since somehow in Starburst’s mind the music emphasized Starfall’s seemingly having trouble with the silverware, she almost immediately turned to glare at the opposite end of the table, were Discord was.

“Discord,” Princess Celestia, sitting his his side, frowned as she too realized who was responsible.

“Oh fine,” Discords said as he rolled his as and snapped his fingers, stopping the music. “Sorry for trying to improve the mood with a little bit of music… huh,” he hummed as he rubbed his chin in confusion, “where do I even know that from…”

“Can’t leave for a minute,” Starburst’s mom commented as she came through the door leading to the kitchen, having checked if everything was alright with the food for the last time.

She sat on her seat besides her husband, her horn glowing as she prepared to teleport the cauldron with soup to the table… and then the glow dispersed as, as she sat down, her seat began to emanate a farting noise. Surprised as much as everypony, she reached under her with her magic and lifted a fart pillow.

As Starburst hid her smirk, finding that a little amusing, her mother threw the pillow at Discord. “Really?”

“Why do you automatically assume I put it there?” Discord asked, an aureola appearing above his head as he blinked innocently, the fart pillow bouncing off him and landing somewhere in the corner.

Twilight rolled her eyes and summoned the soup and poured it for everypony. Starburst eagerly ate it, as the prolonged preparations of this dinner (not to mention all the headache she went through this day) had made her really hungry. She kept an eye on Starfall, but found out that there was no need to be worried; in fact, he ate the soup more elegantly than her, but then again he was a unicorn, so that was a given. Where Starburst had to maneuver with her hooves and wings to use the silverware, he simply needed his magic.

Besides, even if he ate messily, nopony would notice with Discord around, Starburst thought as she glanced at Discord, who simply lifted his bowl and drank the soup in one gulp.

Princess Celestia, who had merely rolled her eyes at Discord’s manners, began some small talk, asking Claire how was her shop coming along, and when they exhausted the topic she turned to Starburst, asking about school and her training. Starburst, having already finished her soup, calmly told her about the last few tests and the aspects of her training she had recently focused more on (she had more enthusiasm about discussing the latter, of course). Celestia smiled and complimented her on her accomplishments, then turned to Starfall.

The jubilance Starburst felt due to Celestia’s praise was quickly replaced by worry as she observed their conversation.

“Starfall, I heard you put quite an amazing show in Ponyville two weeks ago,” Princess Celestia began, smiling kindly at him.

Starfall laid the spoon again the bowl before replying. “Thank you kindly, Princess, but honestly, it was mostly composed of things I picked up over the years,” he said, shrugging.

“Oh, don’t be so modest,” Starburst’s mother chimed in. “Every part of your performance was outstanding.”

“Do you intend to pursue a career as a magician?” Celestia asked, genuinely curious. “You seem to have a real talent for it.”

“Your praises mean much to me, Princesses,” Starfall replied, smiling and nodding his head to both of them. “As for your question… honestly, I hadn’t put too much thought into that,” he said, shrugging again.

“Really? You don’t think about what you’d want to do in the future?”

“I prefer to focus on the present. Thinking about stuff that could happen more than few months from now… well,” Starfall resumed after a brief pause, “let’s say that based on my experiences, the future has a way of turning out disappointing.”

Considering what they knew about his past, Starburst doubted anypony could blame him for this... outlook. At the same time, however, she didn’t need to look at her mom’s or Princess Celestia’s faces to know that they weren’t exactly pleased to hear that a pony of his age didn’t have any plans for the future.

To be honest… I’m not happy about that either, Starburst realized with a slight surprise. She already knew - for years even - what she wanted to do in life; she wanted to become the Captain of the Royal Guard. Starburst pretty much had an entire next decade of her life planned; except for the “having a coltfriend” part she recently had to add. And while she knew that it wasn’t exactly unusual for ponies to be unsure what to do in life (Like Prism.), Starburst felt weird knowing that her coltfriend didn’t even seem to care. Guess that’s another difference between us.

She focused back on the conversation as Princess Celestia continued: “I think saying that it’s unpredictable would be closer to truth; after all,” she added, smirking, “I don’t think you’d say that finding yourself in a relationship with Starburst to be ‘disappointing.”

Starfall’s eyes went wide as Celestia’s comment left him speechless for a moment. “Um… no, no I wouldn’t,” he stammered, sounding flustered.

Wow, I had to make him unable to use magic to make him ‘lose his cool’ like this, Starburst though, surprised and slightly impressed. Nice, Aunty!

“Especially now with her sitting right next to him, I’d imagine,” Discord commented, leaning casually against his seat and drinking tea.

“Have you thought about education?” Princess Celestia asked, ignoring her husband’s remark. “With your magical talent, you could easily get enrolled into my School for Gifted Unicorns. Enrollment is open for ponies younger than you, but we bend that rule from time to time.”

“I’m sure your school is a wonderful place to study, Princess,” Starfall quickly replied, having regained most of his composure, “but I’m not interested in gaining any further education. I prefer to rely on skills I had developed myself through my life.”

Although a slight frown appeared on Princess Celestia’s face as she heard his answer, Starfall’s explanation had seemingly satisfied her at least enough to not pursue this subject further today. Unfortunately, the other alicorn in the room wasn’t as easy to convince when it came to education.

“I’m sure that anypony who had been in Ponyville three weeks ago won’t deny that your skills are very impressive,” Twilight began. “But I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to improve them further in Celestia’s school. Or gain skills that everypony in Equestria gains through our educational system.”

“Oh, give it a rest Twilight.”

Starburst blinked in surprise as she looked at Discord. Not that she was the only one, everypony turned to the draconequus as he interrupted her, seemingly defending Starfall’s opinion.

“Going to a school to learn things that would let them become a productive member of society? That’s boring,” Discord continued, ignoring the surprised stares he was receiving. “Granted, going to your school, Cay-Cay,” he amended, glancing at Celestia, “would be a little more fun, learning about magic and all… but really,” Discord said, shrugging and turning back to Twilight, “that former student of yours never attended it and she became quite well-versed in magic on her on. And speaking of: how is Starlight?” the draconequus asked, raising an eyebrow.

And now he’s changing the subject? Starburst thought, stunned. She knew Discord was actually really nice, but she didn’t expect him to actually stand up for Starfall in his own way. That’s so sweet of him…

…

Alright, what is he up to?

There was no way Discord was doing this out of kindness. Not for Starfall. If it was concerning her or any of her friends, she could believe that. But not for the colt he barely knew and was apparently both impressed and annoyed with, even if he was her coltfriend. No, he was up to something...

I suppose it could be just that he’s bored by the conversation about school, Starburst thought leerily as she followed the conversation.

“Starlight?” Twilight repeated, blinking in surprise by the weird change in conversation, but then shrugged it off and replied: “Well, since you’ve asked, I hadn’t been in touch with her in a long time. Last I heard from her, she’s been still living in Prance.”

Oh right, she moved there… when was it? Starburst tried to remember, having a dim recollection of her mother’s student. She had been still a kid when Starlight had left some time after her graduation, but she did remember her being a fun foalsitter. I think I was four… so about eleven years.

“We’ve been sending letters to each other, of course, but with everything going on we gradually stopped,” her mom continued, her ears slightly dropping in either sadness or shame for letting that happen. “I think it’s been eight years since I got the last letter from her… I guess it’s about time to send her one again, then,” she added, immediately brightening up. “It will be fun to catch with Starlight after such a long time. Thank you for suggesting it Discord.”

“Oh, the pleasure's all mine. And please,” the draconequus added, grinning in a manner that on his face could be interpreted as both happy and menacing, “do catch up about everything. I’m sure she’d be happy to hear about wittle Starburst growing up and having a coltfriend.”

Starburst didn’t know what she liked less, the comment he made (and the foalish voice he said it with), or the fact that she still had no idea why he changed the subject. While most ponies at the table apparently shrugged that off as Discord being Discord (even her paranoid coltfriend, but in Starfall’s case that could be excused by knowing next to nothing about him), Starburst was relieved to see that Illusion was still eyeing his father suspiciously. If anypony had a chance in figuring out Discord’s scheme, then it was him.

However, when Illusion turned his head to her, all he did was shake his head subtly and shrug, as if saying: “Yeah, I have no idea either.”

Figures it couldn’t be that easy, Starburst thought, sighing mentally. Oh well, as long as it doesn’t hurt Starfall and me, I don’t care, she added as everypony finished their soup and her mom was about to serve the main course.

“Is something wrong with your pudding, Starfall?”

“Oh, no, far from it, Princess Twilight,” Starfall quickly replied, smiling a bit sheepishly. “The pudding, like the rest of the dinner, is quite delicious. I’m afraid I’m just… not used to eating so much… at one sitting.”

“Ah, I see,” Starburst’s mom said. “Don’t worry about it then, eat at your own pace.”

“Although,” Claire spoke up, glancing at Starfall, “forgive me, darling, but you do look like you could use a few meals like those. Pity you and Starburst can’t exchange your appetite with one another,” she added with a smirk.

Starburst shot her an annoyed glare. Thanks, as if I didn’t already feel self-conscious about eating so much right next to him, she thought. Her mother, knowing only too well her appetite, had given her a… slightly bigger serving of the main course than the others. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken those seconds as well, Starburst remarked.

“Claire might have a point…” Twilight begun, but was cut off before she could finish the sentence.

“Say the word and I will swap their appetites then,” Discord said, grinning, as he lifted his paw, fingers ready to snap.

“What? No, not that part,” Twilight quickly told the draconequus, frowning at him before turning back to Starfall. “You are… thinner than most colts your age.”

“Why, thank you, Princess Twilight, I’m trying to watch my figure,” Starfall replied.

Starburst deadpanned at him, not finding the joke amusing. He glanced at her, probably noticing in the corner of his eye a change in her expression, and winced, smiling apologetically. Because of that he missed that Twilight also shot him an exact same deadpan; Starburst smiled under her breath as he turned back her mother, who by then resumed her earlier smile.

“Perhaps you could come here for a dinner more often?”

Her amusement died as she started at her mother with wide eyes. Oh, great, Starburst thought, facehoofing. As if dinners with just you and Dad wouldn’t be awkward at all…

“Oh, I would hate to be such a bother,” Starfall quickly said, declining the offer.

“It wouldn’t be a bother at all,” Twilight almost equally quickly replied.

“Why would making our daughter's coltfriend uncomfortable and keeping an eye on him be a bother to us?”

Starburst’s hoof dropped from her face as she stared at her father, speechless.

“Flash!” Twilight hissed, looking at her husband reproachfully.

Discord, on the other hoof, bursted with laughter. “Respect,” he said, leaning over to Flash Sentry and raising his paw, which he high-hoofed.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, while Celestia, Illusion and Claire all shared a short chuckle. “Starburst’s father was only joking, I assure you,” Twilight told Starfall.

“Ah, I see. Excellent joke, Sir,” Starfall said, turning to Flash and trying to smile courtly again, except this time it came out a bit awkwardly.

Guess Dad’s joke unnerved him a bit, Starburst thought, annoyed at her father.

“Since you say it wouldn’t be a bother, I… I’ll think about your offer, Princess,” Starfall added, turning back to Twilight. It was clear to Starburst that he had some difficulty saying that; quite frankly, she had expected him to decline again. She looked at him in surprise as he sighed and continued: “To be honest, Princess, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I… am nervous when I spend too much time around other ponies,” he admitted, looking down at the floor and his ears dropping.

Did he really just say that? Starburst thought, blinking in surprise and worry. Of course, she knew about how the company of ponies other than her made him feel, especially for a longer period of time, but… he had told just her. Starfall didn’t like to upset other ponies about his problems and - even if he never admitted it to Starburst - didn’t like to seem weak. Crap, this dinner must have been tougher on him that I thought if he admits to that.

“Didn’t you throw a magic show about two weeks ago for the entire town?” Claire spoke up before anypony else could and before Starburst could figure out what to do in this situation. “Or what about that… commotion you caused a week before?”

“That was different,” Starfall snorted as he waved his hoof dismissively, losing whatever was left of his courteous manners. “I was entertaining and having fun.”

Please don’t say ‘having fun’ while referring to all of that right in front of my parents and Princess Celestia, Starburst thought, deadpanning at her coltfriend. She made a mental note to later actually say that to him.

“But… just having dinner and talking? Sorry, that’s just… unsettling for me,” Starfall continued, sighing as if tired as he rested his head against his hoof, elbow on the table.. “Honestly, I would have bolted from here about ten times already if I didn’t love Starburst so much.”

… Wait, what?

That was the first thought Starburst found herself capable of thinking as she stared at Starfall, aghast.

What?! she repeated in her mind as she slowly recovered. D-did he just say… Starburst tried to repeat the word Starfall had said, but not only found herself unable too, she also realize that she felt as if the temperature in the room had suddenly increased. A-and in front of my parents?! And Princess Celestia?!

She stared at Starfall, knowing she must be red all over, as she waited for him to say anything. Starburst didn’t even dare to look at anypony else, afraid of what she would see there. Because of the way he laid his head on his hoof, she couldn’t see his face, but given how about two seconds after having said… what he said, Starfall's ears suddenly perked, he must have realized just what he had said.

After a heartbeat, his head began to turn slightly… but not towards Starburst, but to Illusion and Claire. “I just said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Now annoyed as well as stunned and embarrassed, Starburst risked a glance at the pair. Fortunately, currently both had their attention focused on Starfall; understandably, they were looking at him with eyes wide with surprise.

“Yep,” Illusion replied to his question.

Starburst felt her eyelid twitch as her coltfriend merely responded with a sigh. She also felt a sudden urge to punch him. She opened her mouth, about to shout at him for taking this so… like that, but before she could, she realized they were no longer in her family’s dining room.

Forgetting for a moment about the current situation and the conflicting emotions raging inside of her, Starburst looked around. They were in some round chamber or sorts… with a hole in the wall. Looking outside she quickly realized they were at one of the towers of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, one that was mostly undamaged. It also looked recently renovated (Three guesses by whom.); there was a hammock (which appeared to be one of the castle’s tapestries) hanging on the other side of the chamber from the hole, and a surprisingly comfortable looking mattress on the floor beneath the hammock.

And there was a poster from Starfall’s show in the corner, because of course it would be there.

“Soo…” she heard Starfall begin; she shook her head and focused back on the matter at hoof. Starburst turned to her coltfriend; to her surprise, he actually was blushing about as much as she felt herself blush. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly. “I figured you’d want to talk in private…”

“No, I’d have wanted to have this conversation right there,” Starburst told him sarcastically, deadpanning.

For a brief second, Starfall looked as if about to jokingly suggest that they could go back. Fortunately for him, he thought better of it.

Starburst took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. It wouldn’t do her and them any good if she’d be angry for this conversation. “Did you… really… say what you said right before my parents and the ruler of Equestria?” she asked, still trying to wrap her mind around it.

“I didn’t mean to!” Starfall quickly exclaimed. “It just… slipped! I… I was really nervous throughout all this dinner, and it was so weird for me to have ponies be nice to me and offer me place in school or dinner… and I was trying to talk in that stupid way but I just got tired… sorry,” he finally said, stopping his babble as he looked down on the floor

Starburst looked at his downcast form, unable to be angry with him anymore. “I… figured you didn’t mean to say that in front of them. But let's leave that for a moment. Did you, um…” she hesitated, blushing, “... did you mean what you said?”

Starfall looked up and smiled. “Yes,” he said, blushing as well. “I know normally it's probably weird to say that after knowing each other for only two weeks, but I can’t help how I feel.” He took a step towards Starburst so that he could sit closer to her. “Every moment I spend with you fills me with more joy that I can ever remember feeling. And it’s not just joy. I feel safe when I’m with you, to the point that I can eat dinner while sitting at the same table with the Lord of Chaos or go camping with other ponies… or even falling asleep not far from them,” he added, chuckling with some embarrassment. Starburst, who was all but burning as she listened to him, nodded absentmindedly. “I told you how amazing you are, Lil’Lioness, back when I first asked you out, remember? After I got to know you better, I find you even more amazing. Whenever we are separate, I catch my thoughts drifting back to you, even if I am in the middle of actually doing something, like practicing or redecorating this place. I just… can’t think of anything else this could be other than love,” he finished awkwardly.

“I… I see…” Starburst stammered, processing everything she heard. The fact that she was feeling so hot wasn’t helping her. She knew Starfall liked her, obviously, but didn’t realize he liked her that much. Hearing him say all those things, especially how amazing she was and how he’d keep thinking about her made her feel… well, aside from flushing, her heart was beating faster, so saying ‘happy’ would be an understatement. “That… that sounds like you put a lot of thought into that.”

Starfall again chuckled. “I sorta thought about confessing my feelings about a month or two from now, so I was preparing what I’d want to say,” he confessed, blushing with embarrassment. “Oh, and don’t worry, you don’t have to say anything; I know it’s been just two weeks, three since we actually met. If you’d say ‘I love you too’, it would be like something out of cheesy romance novel,” he added, rolling his eyes. “I will be happy to hear you say it when you're ready.”

“W-well… It’s good you say this, but…” Starburst hesitated, not sure how to say what was on her mind, but then gave up. “Crap, my life is a cheesy romance novel,” she groaned, facehoofing.

“What?” Starfall asked, confused. “You mean-”

She stopped him by slapping him with her wing lightly. “Yes, you idiot, I love you too. At least… I think so,” she amended, embarrassed. Seeing his eyebrow slightly rise and his mouth opening, she stopped him before he could say anything: “No, you had time to think what you want to say, I need come up with this as I go, so be quiet!”

Starfall immediately closed his mouth.

Exhaling, she calmed down. “Look, I… I’m not really good with talking about feelings and stuff. And I’ve never been in love, so I’m not sure if what I feel for you is love, but… well, I’ve never felt what I feel about you before, either. I love spending time with you, every time you appear my heart skips a beat and I smile. And when we hang out, it’s always fun, you always manage to make me laugh; and the list of ponies who could do that before you came along isn’t long. I would rather hang out with you than train. And, well, you’re amazing too. I know how you don’t like being around other ponies, but you still went on that camping trip and came to this dinner… and you’re becoming a better pony too, you no longer steal and stuff. That’s really awesome that you try to become better like that. And… yeah, I often think about you when we’re not together, too; it wasn’t easy to focus at school those past two weeks,” she chuckled awkwardly, although she knew it wasn’t really amusing. “So, yeah, I think I love you. Please don’t make me continue talking,” she begged, her cheeks again becoming increasing warm as she spoke.

Starfall chuckled warmly at her discomfort as he leaned closer, brushing his muzzle against hers. “That was quite good,” he said.

“Oh, shut up,” she told him as she kissed him.

Both of them hummed happily as they kissed, embracing each other. When their lips finally parted, they moved their muzzles back only a bit and stayed staring into each other's eyes.

“I love you, Lil’Lioness,” Starfall said, his red eyes full of warmth.

“I love you too, Star,” Starburst replied, smiling.

“Sorry about saying that in front of your parents and others like that,” he added, a bit sheepishly.

Starburst sighed. “It’s alright, just… promise me you won’t say anything of that sort in front of my parents ever again,” she told him, rolling her eyes. “Seriously, first about us dating, now this.”

Starfall sighed as they parted: “Yeah, I… wait, at this point what could I say in front of your parents, exactly?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I dunno, say that you want to propose or something? I-in a few years, I mean, like five or ten,” she quickly added in slight panic as he raised both eyebrows in surprise. However, when Starfall then smirked, her panic only increased. “No! Don’t you dare propose, like, a month from now! I’m serious!” she added in annoyance as he burst with laughter. “I will punch you in the face again if you do that!”

“Would still need an answer then.”

“Star!”

Starburst cleared her throat as they reappeared at her family’s dinner room.

“Oh, you’re-” her mother began, but Starburst stopped her by raising her hoof.

“We’d just like to make it clear that we’re not talking about what happened,” she said, glancing around briefly at everypony; her parents seemed mostly relieved for them to be back, while Claire, Illusion and Discord in turn seemed mostly amused. Princess Celestia, however, sat calmly in her seat, drinking tea as she listened to Starburst. “That’s the only way we’ll stay for the rest of the dinner.”

Her mother pouted, but sighed and said: “Very well, Star, I’m just glad to see you two back.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand why you’d make such a demand, darling,” Claire spoke up unexpectedly, picking up her teacup and taking a sip. “After all, if it’s some teasing you fear, you will receive plenty of that from our friends tomorrow after me and Illusion tell them.”

Starburst opened her mouth in surprise as she stared at the half-dragon. Starfall, who also stared at Claire for a moment, turned back to her. “You forgot about your friends too, didn’t you?”

Groaning as she facehoofed, Starburst did her best to ignore giggles around the table. “Remember how I asked you if you’d help me hide my friends’ bodies if I snap?” she asked Starfall.

Barns & Friends

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“And then,” Illusion added, barely managing to keep the amused smirk off his face, “he turns to us and goes: ‘I just said this out loud, didn’t I’?”

The burst of laughter that followed made Starburst grow hot with embarrassment. Mixed with anger. Lots of anger. She glared at her friends, wondering just how she had stopped herself from actually going along with the joke of killing them all.

Glancing at her coltfriend, she wondered if his thoughts were travelling along the same tracks. Starfall was looking at her laughing friends with bemusement on his face; he didn’t seem angry or embarrassed. However, when they finally stopped, he turned to her and asked, “So, there are some benefits of having friends, right? Because for the life of me I just don’t see any,” Starfall added, returning to stare at everypony.

“It’s hard right now to think of them,” Starburst replied over the chuckles her coltfriend’s comment had brought forth.

A warm, more friendly laughter came from Del’s mom as she passed her with a tray full of cold drinks for everypony. “Now now, Star,” Applejack chided her, “there’s nothin’ wrong with pokin’ fun at yar friends from time t’ time; especially if it’s ‘bout somethin’ good,” she added, winking, causing a new wave of embarrassment to wash over Starburst. As she tried to mumble something in reply, Applejack turned to Starfall, “Are ya gonna get t’ it, youngin?” she asked him, her eyebrow raised.

“Can somepony remind me how I got roped into this?” Starfall asked instead, staring at the cans of paint and the brush beside them as if they’ve insulted him.

They were at Sweet Apple Acres, resting in the shade of the Apple Family’s apple trees. It was a very warm today and there wouldn’t be any clouds on the sky until the big storm tomorrow, making the spring day seem more like a summer day. Having learned about the weather schedule for the weekend from Prism’s folks, Starburst and all her friends had agreed to meet at Sweet Apple Acres and go to the lake from there to spend the day “chilling” (as Prism had put it) before they would be all forced to stay inside their homes for all of Sunday.

That is to say, they would go there after Starfall would finish painting the barn.

As he asked his question, Claire cleared her throat: “Well, darling-”

“Wait!” Starfall interrupted, holding his hoof out. “I’m answering my own question.” He run his foreleg over his mane; Starburst noticed his horn flashing briefly, his hoof covering it from the view of her friends. The next second she was blinking rapidly in surprise; her coltfriend’s manestyle now resembled Claire’s, except it was a bit longer. It even had the same purple color instead of Starfall’s light blue and white. “Why, you want my help learning about proper etiquette in return for you owning me a favor, darling?” Starfall began, his voice raising to try and match the pony-dragon hybrid’s. “Why, what a delightful idea, darling! And it just so happens that my good friend Del’s family needs to put new watertight paint on their barn - about time if you ask me darling, the old paint was beginning to come down and was making the barn look icky - so how about in return for me teaching you how boring normal ponies act and eat and talk you do some manual labor without using your magic for a change darling?” Starfall finished, still in his ‘Claire voice’, apparently, as he examined his forehoof.

A snort escaped Starburst before she could stop herself; it was just too funny not to. Not that she was the only one, few of other others also shared a laugh (with Prism being the loudest one); even Del’s mom laughed briefly. Starburst quickly pressed a hoof to her mouth and glanced at Claire. As one could expect, she didn’t appear to be happy with the impersonation, and her mood had definitely not improved upon seeing Prism falling off the branch he had been lying on and continuing to laugh on the ground.

Illusion also seemed amused by Starfall’s display, though he had enough of a sense to not laugh and merely smile; similarly to Prism, he was lying comfortably on a branch of one of the trees, so Claire couldn’t see his face from where she sat below. “Wow, exposition much?” he asked Starfall, propping his head against the tree trunk with his forelegs.

Claire, who had been staring coldly at Prism (who by then had finally calmed down) glanced up at her coltfriend with brief annoyance before turning back to Starfall. “That’s a terrible expression, darling,” she told him.

“But not inaccurate,” Prism wheezed, getting his breathing under control.

Before Claire could reply to that, Annie, who had just been told by T quietly about Starfall changing his mane, giggled. “Star, why won’t you quit doing Claire and get a move on?” As both Starfall and Claire stared at her with affront, with Starfall shaking his head in dismay, she added: “I think all of us would like to go to the lake before noon.”

“Yeah, about that,” Starfall began, returning to his normal voice and running his foreleg over his mane again, returning it to normal as well, “you do realize that if I could use my magic for this I would be done in about five seconds?”

“Well-” Claire began, only to be cut off.

“Ten tops,” Starfall added.

Claire paused for a second - during which she deadpanned at him - then when it appeared that he had finished she tried again. “Well, Starfall dear, tell me, since what you had asked of me had been of great help to you in your time of need, do you think you could repay me by doing something for only five or ten seconds?”

Starfall opened his mouth to reply but it was his turn to be cut off. “I think we would have to ask Starburst about how good his ‘five or ten seconds' are,” Annie said, giggling.

Starburst glared at her, hot with both embarrassment and anger. “Annie…” she growled as few other snorted with amusement.

“What?” she asked innocently, turning her blind gaze towards her.

Starburst clenched her teeth in anger, not knowing just what exactly she wanted to tell her (or rather, not knowing what to tell her to make her stop), but just then Del’s mom cleared her throat. “Anyway, youngster,” she began, turning to Starfall, “ya also still have to make up to us for the whole stunt ya pulled when ya first came to Ponyville. Ah’m sure ya haven’t forgotten ‘bout ‘at,” she added, smirking. “And only way ya can make up for ‘at is with some good ol’ hard work.”

“If a single apple’s worth is equal to barn painting…” Starfall began but trailed off upon seeing Applejack’s annoyed glare and merely rolled his eyes.

“Also,” Claire chimed in, “I’ll admit that it will be fun to see you actually working for a change, darling.”

Now it was Starfall turn to throw an annoyed glare, but in the next second he was smirking. Before Starburst could begin to wonder why, he turned to Illusion. “I hope you have nothing against your marefriend watching other stallions working out, Prince,” he said with a smarty grin.

However, his grin quickly gave way to bafflement as Illusion grinned and replied: “Nah, not really.”

Normally, Starburst would have chuckled at the sight of her coltfriend’s confusion, but as she watched him stare from Illusion to Claire and back she got lost in her own thoughts. Hearing the half-draconequus’ reply caused her to dimly recall hearing once a rumor - or maybe it wasn’t a rumor; maybe Candy or somepony else had told her this during one of their ‘girl talks’ and she had tuned it out - that Claire and Illusion had an open relationship. Apparently, since both of their lifespans were going to be extremely long, there was a chance of their relationship losing some of its “flame” if they were exclusive, or something. Starburst had no idea if that was true, but… Illusion’s casual reply kinda suggested it.

He’s probably joking… she thought. I mean, I don’t think the two of them even had slept together, so what would be the point of- ugh, when the heck did I start thinking about my friends’ relationships so much?! Starburst shook, not wanting to think about stuff like that. Still, she couldn’t help but glance at Claire. But even if he wasn’t joking, there’s no way Claire gets to do anything funny with my Starfall!

Satisfied with her resolve (even if a part of her immediately argued how ridiculous it was) Starburst looked at Starfall. Her coltfriend had seemingly recovered after hearing Illusion’s unexpected answer; as she watched, he was opening his mouth to reply. However, after a second he closed it, apparently having thought better of it. Once again he looked from to the other, before finally giving up and sighing.

“This sh*t right there is why I don’t make sex jokes.”

Starburst looked at him with bafflement; just when he was about to curse, his horn had flashed, emitting a beeping sound. “Did you just censor yourself?” she asked him as he began to take off his cloak and bandana and hang them by a tree.

“New thing I’m doing,” he replied, smirking. “After all,” Starfall added, pressing his hoof to his chest, “it is rather impolite to curse in public.”

Starburst continued to stare at him, and after a second she slowly raised an eyebrow.

“And it’s funnier this way,” Starfall admitted, poking his tongue playfully. As Starburst rolled her eyes, she noticed that he glanced at the others and grinned. “You know, since you’re gonna watch me work, perhaps I should get you some whips to hold to make it seem authentic?”

Even before she turned to them, Starburst knew she was going to see her friends wince at Starfall’s joke and turn their eyes away from his scarred body. I would feel awkward about this, and chide him if you guys weren’t making fun of us just five minutes ago, she thought, feeling a weird satisfaction.

Applejack, who never before saw Starfall without his clothing and never heard him joke about his past, was in turn staring at him wide-eyed. “Wow,” she finally commented, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Clearing her throat she added: “Anyhow, ya got yar work cut out for ya; y’all give me a shout if ya need more cold cider or anythin’.”

As everypony waved Del’s mom goodbye and took a sip of the drinks she had brought, Starfall stretched quickly and with an annoyed sigh grabbed a can of paint with his teeth and trotted over to the barn, muttering something that sounded a lot like ‘no magic, very funny’. Starburst suppressed a chuckle; some physical work would be good for him. And funny to watch.

“Sooo…” she heard Annie begin beside her, interrupting her musing; turning to her, she watched as the blind unicorn turned to Illusion. “What happened next?”

Oh, right, Starburst mentally sighed, I forgot the story wasn’t over.

“Yeah, how did Starburst react?” Candy asked in turn. “Was she embarrassed? Angry? Kinda like now?” she added, looking at Starburst just as she began to glare at her.

“Well, probably,” she heard Illusion reply; even without turning to him Starburst could tell that he was smirking. “She was definitely red on her face. But before she could say anything, Starfall teleported with her somewhere.”

Prism snorted. “Chicken.”

“Oh c’mon, you would have bolted in that situation too, leaving a Prism-shaped hole in the wall,” Whirlwind chided her coltfriend, swatting him with her wing playfully. “Except you would have probably forgotten about me.”

“Would not!” Prism replied, offended. “Besides, I wouldn’t be dumb enough to say that I love you in front of your folks. Um, I-I mean,” he stammered, his eyes bulging as he realized what exactly he had just said, “I’m not saying that I… I mean, I’m not saying that I don’t…” He began to blush fiercely as he noticed that everypony was staring at him, mostly with amused expressions. As Whirlwind, who at first had looked at him with a surprise, then with a smirk, began to giggle, Prism groaned. “Celestia dammit...”

“Hey!” Illusion exclaimed.

As Prism glared at him with annoyance, Whirlwind leaned closer to him on the branch and kissed him on the cheek. “If it makes you feel better, I’m ‘not saying’ either way too,” she told him, winking.

“Aww,” Candy exclaimed, smiling at the couple, then immediately turned to Starburst. “Okay, your turn.”

“My what?” she asked, deadpanning.

“Your turn to say how you replied to Starfall’s confession!” Candy replied, leaning closer to her.

“Hey, I didn’t-” Prism began, but Candy brushed him off with a way of her hoof.

“Yeah yeah, okay,” she said, rolling her eyes. “So Star? What did you say to Star when he said that he loves you?”

“That’s none of your business!” she immediately replied, blushing fiercely from embarrassment.

“Aw, come on, you’re blushing, you must have said that you love him back, right?” Candy asked, grinning.

Starburst was positive that her face was purely red now.

“Perhaps we should take a different approach?” Annie spoke, leaning from Starburst other side. Starburst looked at her with confusion; there was no way what she had in mind wouldn’t make this situation worse for her. As if to confirm her guess, Annie smirked briefly before turning to Illusion and Claire. “How long were they gone? Or did they not return at all?”

“Oh no, darling, they got back after… five, maybe ten minutes?” Claire replied, glancing at her coltfriend who nodded.

“So, five to ten minutes huh?” Annie said, grinning at Starburst.

“Oh sweet Celestia,” Starburst groaned and rolled her eyes (ignoring Illusion again exclaiming “Hey!”), “where are you going with this?”

“And you were all alone after he confesses his love for you,” Annie continued, putting her foreleg around her shoulders. “I bet he took you to a magical castle where you allowed him to plant his enchanted sword in your cave of wonders and battle with the fearsome dragon within?”

Annie didn’t need to see to know Starburst was blushing; Starburst was certain that she was so hot right now that she could just tell by the heat emanating from her.

“A-annie... “ she began, but then paused, thinking over what she had said. “Wait, what the heck is the dragon in this metaphor?”

She asked, against her better judgement...

But it appeared that Annie herself wasn’t sure, as she hesitated when she was about to answer. Her blind eyes darted to the side as she pondered the question for a few seconds, tapping her chin. “Chlamydia?” she finally tried.

Starburst deadpanned at her. “Okay,” she said after a few seconds, during which several of her friends had again snorted with amusement; she freed herself from Annie’s embrace and moved back, “I’m gonna go hang out with my half-insane coltfriend, as he is clearly the most sane pony around here right now.”

She turned around and began trotting in Starfall’s direction even before she finished speaking, needing to get away from her friends for at least a few moments. “Shoot, should have gone with ‘pent up sexual frustration’ instead,” she heard Annie say behind her. Starburst rolled her eyes and continued to walk away, even as her blind friend called after her: “Star, speaking of hanging out, how hung-ugmm!”

“Remember not to help him, darling,” Claire, who was most likely the one who muffled Annie, said.

Starburst shook her head, exasperated. Not about the part about not helping Starfall, of course; after all, she knew he wouldn’t ask for help in the first place. She was annoyed that her friends were yet again prying about their relationship. And that Annie was making those suggestions, again.

Not that I wasn’t expecting that, she thought as she neared the barn; Starfall was standing on a ladder, covering the wall with the paint with the brush he held in his mouth. I bet they’ll be pestering us about what happened through the rest of the day. Well, they can try; there’s no way I’m telling him I said that I love him. The last thing I need is hearing them tell us that we’re moving too fast.

She frowned as that thought crossed her mind. Yesterday, when she had told Starfall that she loves him, she felt certain that she was telling the truth, but… what if that was it that was it, that she just felt like that? After all, what did she know about love? She had been bothered by that ever since she woke up and recalled the previous day.

Maybe I should talk with somepony about this? she wondered again, but quickly dismissed the idea. Yeah, and whom I would ask? Claire? Candy? Annie? My mom? One better after the other… Starburst sighed as she sit by the barn’s wall, with her back propelled against it.

Noticing Starfall glancing down at her from the ladder and raising an eyebrow questioningly, she explained: “My friends were being a pain.”

He spit the brush back to the paint can. “Oh, I overheard. What did you mean by saying I’m only half insane?” he asked with a grin.

Snorting with brief amusement at the joke, Starburst found her worries dispersed like dust in the wind. She couldn’t help to feel anything but happy whenever she was in Starfall’s presence; even if he annoyed her from time to time.

“I was in a generous mood,” she told him, sticking her tongue at him. “Anyway, I think they’re going to pester us about what happened through the rest of the day.”

“Oh, joy,” Starfall sighed and shook his head. “Say a word and I will teleport us somewhere far away.”

That was a tempting idea, but Starburst knew better.

“It will only cause them to make the wildest speculations regarding what we were doing in that time. By them I mean Annie,” she added, massaging her temples.

“Yeah, I got that,” Starfall replied. “I’ll be honest, those constant innuendos and jokes she makes are kiiiinda starting to freak me out.”

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Starburst groaned, facehoofing. “You’ve only known her for a few weeks.”

“So wait, she’s always like that?” he asked, leaning down to the paint can to pick up the brush.

“Yeah, she picked that up back when she was a kid, before Miss Fluttershy adopted her,” Starburst explained as he resumed his work.

Glancing at her with a frown, Starfall spit out the brush again. “Before she was adopted? Okay, wow, I kinda wonder how life must look in that Damsel’s Replacement’s home if he, his mom and that Lucky guy are from the same orphanage.”

Realizing he must have meant Hot Head, Starburst snorted; she had only met Amber a few times, but she had to agree, life in that house must be… interesting to watch from a spectator's position, to say the least.

“Damsel’s Replacement?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Even I got the impression that she was trying to replace Prism with him,” Starfall replied with a shrug as he returned to painting the wall.

Starburst shrugged as well; she didn’t know what Whirlwind was thinking then nor did she care. Unlike her friends, she wouldn’t pry or comment on anypony’s relationship.

They spent some time in silence after that exchange; with Starfall having to hold the brush in his mouth he couldn’t really talk, and Starburst didn’t feel like holding a one-sided conversation. Instead she began doing wing push-ups to pass the time. Only after Starfall was about half-way done they decided to take a little break, go get drinks and get a little breather; which, unfortunately, meant that they had to go near her friends.

“You’re doing surprisingly well so far, Starfall,” Claire praised him as he chugged in the cider quickly.

As her coltfriend thanked her, Starburst narrowed her eyes. What is she playing? She couldn’t help but feel that Claire wanted to go somewhere with this… and maybe wondering if that possible suggestion made by Illusion wasn’t making her paranoid.

It turned out that her suspicion was right, though, as the half-dragon cleared her throat and continued. “We were talking about… our behaviour while you were gone. We were out of line, making fun of you like that. We owe you an apology.”

Starburst exchanged a glance with Starfall as everypony nodded and apologized. She saw the same confusion in his red eyes.

“Um, okay…” she said, not sure why they were apologizing.

“We promise we won’t make fun of you two anymore. Now,” she added, smiling friendly at them, “would you like to tell us what happened after you two left the dinner yesterday?”

Frowning, Starburst asked, “Why?”

“So that we could offer our congratulations or our help or whatever you might need. After all, few of us here are a bit more… shall we say, experienced in this field?”

Normally, Starburst would felt angered that they were, again, thinking that they would need their help, but right now she had something else to focused on. Sharing another look with Starfall assured her that she wasn’t the only one.

Either that or they were both paranoid, but…

“Yeah, I don’t buy that either,” Starfall said before they turned to the others.

“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Claire replied, her eyes wide.

“Oh just stop it,” Starburst snorted. “Why do you guys want to know that?”

She knew that they wouldn’t make a promise to not make fun of them only to break it few seconds later.

Claire pouted and was opening her mouth to reply, but Candy beat her to it. “Oh fine, we want to see who won the bet.”

Starburst blinked. “Beg your pardon?”

“We all made bets about what happened, and want to know who won,” Annie elaborated as Claire rolled her eyes at Candy. “And we made a lot of guesses; ranging from you saying you love him, you saying that you don’t love him, you saying that it’s too soon, you beating Starfall for saying that before your parents, you rutting like wild animals-”

Three guesses to who bet on that one, Starburst thought, wincing, as she studied the rest of her friends. To her shock, even Del and T seemed intrigued and a little embarrassed as Annie continued to explain; she wouldn’t have thought that those two would take part in such a bet. Would have thought they’ve only made those bet on Candy and Annie’s insistence…

“- and you two getting married in Las Pegasus,” Annie finished. “So, will you tell us?”

“No!” Starburst immediately replied.

At the same time, however, Starfall tiled his head quizzically and asked, “Can I get in on this?”

“Star!” Starburst immediately snapped.

“Hmm?” he asked, turning to her and blinking as she glared at him. “Oh, right; no!” he said, turning to the rest.

“See how she got him whipped?” Prism commented, pointing. “I’m telling you, she must have beaten him up a bit and now he’s scared of her.”

“Oh please, like you were never scared of Star just looking at you,” Whirlwind snorted. “This had to be-”

“While this is very interesting,” Starfall interrupted them, “I have a very exciting job to finish, so…” he trailed off as he turned around and went back to the barn.

Candy frowned as he left, then turned to Starburst: “So-” she began, but Starburst had already turned around and followed her coltfriend. “Fine, we’re back to teasing you until you tell us!”

“Who do you think betted on us getting married in Las Pegasus?” Starfall asked her as she joined him, sounding almost casual; she still noticed the smirk on his face.

“Don’t get any ideas,” she told him, feeling herself blush again.

“Sorry, you just look cute when you blush.”

“Oh shut up,” she told him, jabbing him with her wing. “You didn’t seem too annoyed by those bets,” she noted as they reached the barn. “‘Can I get in on this’, really?”

“Hey, I planned to throw them off; I was gonna bet that I took you to the moon,” he said, sticking his tongue out.

Starburst snorted and rolled her eyes, amused. “I don’t know how Claire planned to drag this out of us,” she said, shaking her head. “Did she really think we’d believe that they’d just want to help us?”

“Oh yeah, this reminds me; that thing Prince had said,” Starfall began, raising an eyebrow, “was that a joke or…” he trailed off, as if unsure how to describe that.

Sighing, Starburst wondered how to explain it. “Well, honestly, I dunno. I tend to tune out whenever the others talk about their relationships. But I think I heard once that Claire and Illusion have an open relationship… still, Illusion was probably joking; I doubt Claire would, ugh, ‘like to watch you work out’, or anything.”

She’d better not… she added in her thoughts.

Starfall grimaced. “I hope so. I did mention I have issue with being touched, didn’t I?” he asked as he picked up the ladder and began carrying to the unpainted side of the barn.

Starburst nodded as she followed him. “Yeah, you- wait,” she snapped, looking at him sharply. “That would be your only issue with this?”

“I assumed that, in this hypothetical scenario, she would first clear this up with you,” her coltfriend replied, clearly figuring out why she suddenly snapped. It annoyed her that he was being nonchalant about this. Starfall must have noticed, as he put away the ladder and turned to her. “What? I have no idea what you’re into, aside from the jokes your friends keep making about chains and being rough and stuff.”

She balked hearing his reply. “I… no, I’m not into any of that!” she exclaimed, feeling hot on her cheeks.

The loud sigh of relieve Starfall made calmed her down a bit. “Thank goodness.”

Starburst massaged her temples; it boggled her how just hanging around her friends could lead them to having such weird conversations. “I don’t know what, um, ‘I’m into’, okay? I-I mean, I never really thought about stuff like that before,” she explained, stammering a little.

She grew annoyed again as she heard Starfall chuckle, but only for a short moment. “I’m sure we'll figure that out in time, Lil’Lioness,” he said, winking and causing her to feel warm again.

“Y-yeah,” she stammered, unsure what to say. Now annoyed at herself for reacting like this, she tried to get a hold of herself. “So… um, what are you into, then?” Starburst asked; at some point she would know that, anyway, so she might as well ask while her friends were out of earshot; Starfall had only overheard her earlier from there because she was already going to him and she was speaking louder due to her annoyance.

His reply confused her. “You,” Starfall said, winking again.

“Um, no, I mean, like, the stuff to do and… stuff,” she explained awkwardly; she wondered whether she was blushing more because of what he said (It was a nice thing to hear...) or out of embarrassment.

“Honestly? I don’t think I’m into anything in particular,” he replied, shrugging. “I’m also not against anything in particular. You could just say what you wanna do and we’ll do it. When, um, you know…” he amended; now it was his turn to stammer a little. “... stuff happens.”

A bit relieved to see a subtle blush on his cheeks as well, Starburst thought about what he just said. “Really? You would be okay with… anything? I-I mean,” Starburst quickly added as he turned to her, an eyebrow raised and an amused smirk on his muzzle. “ I’m not saying I would be into something weird!” She felt an urge to punch him as he chuckled. She was about to comment on that, but just then she recalled something: “Hey, wait a moment; I still have to do whatever you want in return for coming to the dinner yesterday; what exactly do you plan to do?” Starburst asked, as going over what he had said it almost certainly wouldn’t be anything of that sort (not that she expected any of that anyway).

“Oh, something fun,” he replied, grinning; the fangs flashing from his mouth did not help to put Starburst at ease. “Speaking of,” Starfall continued, climbing on top of the ladder, “are you sure you won’t be able to come over tomorrow?”

“No,” she sighed; despite how borderline ominous he sounded, she was still looking forward to the next time the would hang out alone. “The storm is going to last since morning until midnight; I will be stuck at home. I know you could teleport me in and out,” she added, “but my parents would be worried; besides, they already planned to have all four of us to spend some ‘family time’ together.”

“Bummer,” Starfall replied, frowning. “Oh well, I guess I can do some more redecorating at Fortress of Starfallitude, then,” he said, shrugging.

“You could come to my place,” Starburst added, trying to sound nonchalant. “I’m sure nopony would mind if you’d join us. You could spend some time with my family…”

Starfall looked her in the eyes as she trailed off. After a second of silence, both of them erupted with laughter, both knowing just how much neither of them wanted that.

Lakeside Mischief

View Online

“Where is that little…” Starburst began to murmur to herself angrily as she scanned the lake and its surroundings. Mindful of her friends behind her, though, she had trailed off before she could call her coltfriend by some very colorful name right in front of them. “Let me just get my hooves on him…”

Her friends all snickered, of course, but fortunately by now they had all run out of jokes and comments that could be said regarding what Starfall had pulled before teleporting out of the Sweet Apple Acres, saying he would wait for them by the lake.

Maybe I should have tried again to fly ahead after all… Starburst mused in annoyance and embarrassment as she continued to look for her coltfriend; when she had tried immediately after he had left, Annie had managed to grab her with her magic. She claimed she did that out of worry about what she would do to Starfall. Yeah right-

“Isn’t that him over there, darling?” Claire’s question pulled her out of her thoughts.

Looking in the direction she was pointing, Starburst finally spotted her coltfriend; he was napping on a hammock made out of his cloak that he tied up between the branches of a tree that grew beside the lake’s north shore. Immediately she spread her wings and flew towards him, not giving her friends time to make any more comments.

“Star!” she exclaimed angrily as she reached him.

He woke up (assuming that he actually was sleeping) and rose on his makeshift hammock, looking at her. “Hi! What-”

“Fix that barn!” Starburst snapped.

About twenty minutes ago, at Sweet Apple Acres…

“Aaaand done,” Starfall exclaimed, spitting the brush to the paint can. Rolling his eyes, he added “Finally…”

Starburst stopped doing her wing-ups and looked at the barn. Indeed, the last wall Starfall was putting the paint on was now completely coated in it.

“That was quick,” she heard Del’s mom say; turning her head she noticed the older mare approaching from around the barn’s corner, carrying more cider for everypony on a tray. “Well, quicker than Ah expected,” she added with a smirk to Starfall, causing him to pout in response. Applejack giggled and looked over his work. “Still, ya did a fine job ‘ere youngin’.”

“Ugh, finally,” Prism spoke up, flying ahead of the others as they approached them. “Does that mean we can finally get going?”

“More importantly,” Starfall immediately began before anypony could answer, “does this mean I can finally start using my magic again?” he asked, turning to the approaching Claire.

“Well, darling, you have fulfilled your end of the deal,” Claire replied, smiling friendly at him, “so yes, of course you can use-”

A wide grin appeared on Starfall’s muzzle.

“Star,” Starburst interrupted Claire, unsure what he was planning to do, “what-”

But before she could even finish that question, his horn began to glow. He turned his head back to the wall he had just finished painting, and after a second the entirety of it started to glow, too.

“What in tarnation-” Applejack began to ask in confusion, but just then the light magnified, causing everypony to turn their eyes away. However, it only lasted for a few seconds, and soon they could all look back it. “What in tarnation…” Starburst heard Applejack repeat her question, barely noting that now there was a the hint of amusement in her surprised voice.

Yeah, what in tarnation… Starburst thought, staring speechless at what Starfall had wrought about.

Where a few moments ago watertight, lightish red paint was, now there was… a painting. It was like a mural out of some old buildings from several centuries ago Starburst remembered having seen in some history book in school. It depicted Starfall on the left side of the wall by the ground, and Starburst by the right side, by the ceiling. Starfall was lying on big water bubbles, while Starburst was lying on a clouds, and the two of them were reaching out to one another, both holding a big apple between their hooves. What was the worst - at least to Starburst - was the way the two were locked into each other’s gazes; Starburst felt certain that it was more or less the way they looked like when the actual them were doing that; except they’d be alone.

Starburst stared at the, admittedly, artistic depiction, for a few moments, before she heard a few snickers from her friends. Blushing from embarrassment, she turned back to Starfall, but as she tried to find her voice back, he smirked.

“What, did you all think I would allow my name to be attached to something as mundane as plain old wall painting?” he asked, then paused to yawn. “Ugh, all that work really tired me out; I think I’m gonna go take a nap. I’m going ahead to the lake,” he told Starburst, his horn glowing.

“Wait-” she finally began to say, but it was too late; he had teleported away. Which caused the snickers to grow louder. Groaning, she turned back to Applejack. “I’m sorry about this, I will get him to fix… whatever the heck he just did,” she added, glancing at the mural (and ignoring the comments her friends had began to make regarding it)l.

It is kinda beautiful… she thought to herself, but then quickly added: But he didn’t have to make me give him that dreamy look! And run away right afterwards, for Celestia’s sake!

“Well, it is a rather nice paintin’,” Del’s mom replied, grinning at her and causing her further embarrassment and more snickers out of her friends. “But Ah would prefer if he wouldn’t put his display of affection towards ya on our barn.”

“Yeah, I’ll go get him right away,” she said, feeling angry at Starfall for leaving her to deal with this, and immediately tried to take off into the air, but to her surprise something pulled her back down to the ground.

“Oh no you don’t,” Annie said, her horn glowing, indicating that she was the one who stopped her. Indeed, as Starburst took a good look at herself, she saw a magical aura of the same color as Annie’s magic surround her body. “I know that tone of voice. You’re about to do something unpleasant to Starfall, aren’t you?”

“Oh for- I’m not going to hit him or anything!” Starburst exclaimed, annoyed that this was her friend’s assumption.

Annie seemed not to hear her. “I think we all had grown rather fond of him-”

“I didn’t,” Prism objected, raising his hoof.

“- and we would prefer if he wouldn’t leave this world prematurely,” Annie finished, ignoring him.

Starburst deadpanned at her blind friend in silence for a few seconds. “You just all want to tease me on the way to the lake, don’t you?” she finally asked.

“Well duh,” Annie replied, sticking her tongue and winking playfully.

Back in present, by the Ponyville Lake…

“I was under the impression that I just finished fixing it?” Starfall replied, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“You know what I mean,” she growled, narrowing her eyes at him. “Go change that paint back to normal!”

“You mean change it from the magnificent mural I had created, that praises your goddess-like beauty and my own god-like awesomeness, back to plain old watertight paint?” he asked, raising both of his eyebrows this time, as if surprised.

Starburst, however, knew him well enough to notice that he was in fact amused. Still, the way he looked her in the eyes as he mentioned the “goddess-like beauty” part did cause her to blush and some of her anger to ebb away… but then she heard a muffled snickers behind her, announcing that her friends had caught up.

“Yes, do exactly that,” she told her coltfriend, her anger quickly returning. “I don’t think the Apple Family appreciates you making something like that on their barn out of the blue.”

“I did include an apple there…”

“Star!” Starburst snapped, her patience running low.

“Oh fine, I’ll go change it back,” he said, rolling his eyes. He jumped down to stand in front of her. “Are you really that angry over this?” Starfall asked, finally looking a little concerned.

“Maybe I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t left me alone with them,” Starburst replied, pointing behind her at her friends.

Starfall frowned hearing that, then leaned to the side so that he could look behind her (which, seeing how he was taller than her, was completely unnecessary; Starburst quickly realized that he was just being theatrical, again).

“Wow, you guys have a really bad influence on Starburst, you know that?” he told them. “She’s much more fun when you’re not around.”

Well, that is somewhat accurate, Starburst thought, although a part of her couldn’t help but feel that his comment was a bit harsh… but then immediately that part felt annoyed instead, as Starfall glanced at her and winked subtly, showing that he was just joking.

“You know it's bad when a former felon says that,” she heard Illusion remark.

Annie, on the other hoor, quickly trotted towards. “More fun, you say?” she asked Starfall as she reached them. Smirking, she leaned closer and pretended to nudge him with her elbow; apparently mindful of Starfall’s fear of being touched. “What kind of fun? she asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Starfall deadpanned at her. “Yeah, no.”

Thank goodness, Starburst thought, relieved that his sense of humor has its limits at least in this one aspect.

“Oh you’re no fun!” Annie exclaimed, pouting.

“Star,” Starburst interjected as Starfall stared at Annie with mixture of offense and horror after her last statement, “the barn.”

Rolling his eyes, he nodded. “On it, my Nemesis,” he sighed in defeat, although the impression was slightly shattered as he winked at her before disappearing.

Huh, he left his Polestar Mark there? Starburst thought, slightly surprised when he hadn’t teleported.

Annie quickly forced her attention back on everypony else. “Keeping him on a tight leash huh, Nemesis?” Annie asked her, grinning.

“Oh don’t even start,” Starburst snorted, turning back to the rest of their friends who had began setting up blankets already.

“Told you she has him totally whipped,” Prism put in, grinning as well.

Note to self, borrow Star’s saw, Starburst mused, glaring at the pegasus in annoyance.

Perhaps some of that thought had reflected in her stare, or some of her special talent kicked in, because Prism soon cleared his throat and turned away. “Well, as entertaining poking fun at our Star Duo-”

“Oh for Celestia sake,” Starburst cut in, glancing at everypony (and ignoring Illusion’s “Hey!”), “is that what you guys call us now?”

“- I’m gonna go for a relaxing swim; anypony joining me?” Prism finished.

Whirlwind, Candy and Del got up at his question and soon the four were swimming in the lake, with Prism and Whirlwind starting to splash each other playfully, which quickly escalated into a “battle royale” between all four. Starburst watched them lazily, wondering about joining them; it was a bit hot after all today, and it did look like they were having fun. However, more than cooling off from the heat she needed to cool off after this day’s annoyances; which so happened to keep piling up.

“So does Starfall call you by any other nicknames, Nemesis?” Annie asked, nudging her playfully; she laid on the blanket right next to her, with T laying beside her with a wing wrapped over her back.

Yes, Beloved Nemesis and Lil’Lioness, Starburst thought to herself automatically; she always enjoyed hearing him call her by either of them. As well as just plain Nemesis, actually.

Out loud, however, all she said was “What in Celestia’s name made you think I would answer that question?”

“Hey!”

“Lulu, dear, that honestly stopped being funny a while ago,” Claire told her coltfriend; both of them laid comfortably on the other side of the blanked, Illusion’s tail curled around her and intervening with hers.

Illusion looked at her, faking confusion. “That was supposed to be funny?”

Ignoring them, Starburst turned her attention back to Annie, who was pouting at her… briefly. The next second she was smiling. “Then maybe you’d tell us what sort of nicknames you call him?”

“None of your business,” Starburst replied, although she couldn’t help but shrug uncomfortably; she didn’t have any special nickname for Starfall other than just ‘Star’.

She didn’t have much time to ponder whether it was something she should feel bad about; Annie had apparently, somehow, picked up from her demeanor what she was thinking. “Wait, you don’t have any nickname for him that only you call him?” she asked, staring at her with those milky eyes of hers.

Since when does being blind make you able to read minds? Starburst wondered.

“C’mon, surely you can think of something,” Annie continued. “Everypony has a nickname for their special somepony! Claire calls Illusion ‘Lulu’, I call T ‘Big D-’”.

“Does Redneck’s mom usually has such long-winded boring lectures?” Starfall asked, suddenly appearing beside Starburst and interrupting Annie. She glanced at him just in time to see him yawning. He then looked around at everypony else, stopping his eyes on the fiercely red on muzzle T. “Did I miss something?” he casually asked.

Annie beat Starburst to the answer. “I was just telling Star that she should have a nickname for you.”

As Starburst shot her an angry - and completely pointless, seeing how she was blind - look, Starfall said “Oh, she already has a nickname for me, she calls me ‘God’.”

A snort of laughter escaped Starburst out of sheer surprise before she quickly muffled it. She turned back to him, holding back a smile. “Del’s mom hit you upside the head while you were there I see,” she ridiculed him, though she found herself unable to sound too annoyed.

“Why would you say that?” Starfall asked, raising his eyebrows in mocked surprised. “Are you suggesting that I remember some things wrong or something?”

“Yeah, I am suggesting you remember some things wrong,” Starburst countered; she wondered how she got herself dragged into an argument when she knew he must be joking. “When have I ever called you that?”

“Maybe he mistook some things you say in bed when-” Annie began to say but a blue aura began to shine around her muzzle as Claire used her magic to hold it shut.

“Well,” Starfall resumed after they both looked away from Annie, “okay, then I have a nickname for you to use, problem solved anyway.”

“I am not calling you ‘God’,” Starburst stated flatly. “Sweet Celestia, that huge ego of yours!”

“Do you think it’s proportional?” Annie, whom Claire had released by then, asked with a lewd smirk. “You know, to the size of his-” she managed to say before the half dragon again clamped her muzzle shut with her magic.

Starburst sighed heavily and facehoofed (and guessing by the sounds around her, she wasn’t the only one to do so).

“Shouldn’t you say ‘yes it is’ at this point?” she heard Illusion ask Starfall, amused.

“Lulu, please don’t encourage such behaviour,” Claire told him with disapproval, now continuing to hold Annie’s muzzle closed.

“Yeah, like I said, not my kind of jokes,” Starfall replied, then yawned again.

“Are you alright?” Starburst asked, concerned; her anger at him from earlier evaporated. “I know you’re not used to work but you seem awfully tired for such a small task.”

“Didn’t sleep much last night,” he replied, shrugging. He then straightened in attention and turned to look at Annie, who’s muzzle was still in Claire’s magical hold, and he grinned. “You know, it was such an eventful and straining evening after all.”

“HmmHm?!” Annie tried to ask through her closed muzzle.

“I spent almost entire night thinking about it…” Starfall added, gazing at her dreamily.

“Hm HOM HMM!”

Starburst, although feeling slightly embarrassed at the suggestive way Starfall was speaking regarding the dinner and their love confessions (however true it was) and the way he was looking at her, found herself smirking at Annie. “Wow, this must be killing you.”

“Hm.” Annie replied, pouting.

“Anyway, I’m gonna resume my nap,” Starfall said after everypony chuckled. “Remind anypony who’ll try to draw anything on my face that I sleep with one eye open.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that,” Starburst murmured, rolling her eyes. “Since you’ll be sleeping, I’ll be taking a walk then; I want to calm down after all the annoyances earlier,” she added when Starfall, already heading back to his makeshift hammock, glanced at her. Seeing his brow furrow in worry, Starburst quickly added “I mean annoyances with them, not you. Well, mostly,” she added, smirking.

Starfall, now relaxing, smirked in reply. “I see; have fun then,” he said, jumping on his hammock.

“Have a good nap,” Starburst replied, then turned to the others as she got up. “Later guys, be back soon.”

“Star, wait,” Annie called as she was about to go. Wondering what lewd thing the blind pony was about to say this time, Starburst glanced back. “Mind if T and I tag along?”

Okay, didn’t expect this, I’ll give her that…

“So you can make more jokes about Star’s mural, leaving, and this ridiculous conversation about nicknames?” she asked, frowning.

Annie rolled her eyes. “No, so that we can enjoy a pleasant walk with you.” Starburst continued to stare at her in silence. “I promise, I won’t make any jokes or any of my usual comments,” Annie swore, as if sensing her gaze. Not convinced at all, Starburst continued to stare. After a few seconds, Annie added “I swear by T’s penis.”

Starburst’s jaw - and everypony’s elses - dropped at Annie’s serious-sounding promise, which caused T to turn from green to radiant red.

It was Starfall who broke the silence that followed Annie’s statement. “... Why do I believe her suddenly?”

“So,” Annie began as they made her way through the meadow near the lake when they were out of everypony’s earshot, “now that it’s just us, will you tell us what happened?”

“What happened when?” Starburst asked, confused, but the next split second she remembered what her friends had been asking them all morning. “No,” she said flatly.

“Star, I’m not asking that in order to make fun of you,” Annie said, sounding uncharacteristically serious for her. “I’m asking out of concern for you two. You two seem happy together, and I - nor anypony out of our little gang - wouldn’t want you two to start having problems in your relationships so suddenly.”

“Why do you think we’d be having problems?” Starburst countered, frowning at her angrily.

If Annie had sensed the anger in her voice, she seemed unmoved by it. She merely deadpanned at her with her blind stare. “Because it is very unusual to drop the L-bomb after knowing each other for, what, less than a month?” Annie asked.

“... Okay, you might have a point there,” Starburst admitted, looking to the side in defeat.

She felt Annie nudge her with her shoulder. “Come on Star, we just want to help. I promise, we won’t tell anypony. Right T?” she asked, turning to her coltfriend, who nodded silently and smiled at Starburst reassuringly.

I was thinking about talking about this with somepony… Starburst admitted to herself reluctantly. Annie maybe wouldn’t be my first choice if I was forced to pick, but maybe having T here would balance her out… somehow? And if they promise not to tell anypony… she thought, looking from one to the other, still not entirely convinced they wouldn’t tell the rest.

“You promise this won’t become the subject of the next ‘girl talk’ you’ll drag me to or anything like that?” she asked Annie, then frowned as she recalled those awful gatherings. “Speaking of, how come you haven’t tried to do one now? You could have dragged me here and left the guys at the lake or something.”

“Because we didn’t want you to feel cornered?” Annie replied with a question, blinking innocently. Starburst just raised her eyebrow, then looked up in annoyance as she remembered that Annie couldn’t see that. Still, the blind mare figured out she hadn’t believed her. “Okay, maybe also because now we have nothing to blackmail you into staying,” Annie admitted, rolling her eyes.

“I knew it,” Starburst snorted.

“But we really won’t tell the others about this,” Annie continued. “I swear by T’s-”

“Stop swearing by his junk, for Celestia’s sake!” Starburst snapped at her, then shook from disgust. Ignoring Annie’s giggle, as well as T embarrassed and sheepish expression, she sighed and calmed down. “Okay, I… I will tell you.”

“Yay!” Annie exclaimed happily, then quickly pulled Starburst into a hug, causing them all to stop. “I knew you’d decide to talk to your relationship senpais eventually!”

‘Senpais’? And here I thought only my dorky brother watches those Neighponese cartoons…

“So what happened after Starfall got the two of you away from dinner?” Annie asked as she released her and they resumed their walk.

Giving out one last defeated sigh, Starburst began “He took me to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. After we got over the whole ‘saying, um…” she stammered and blushed a little, “... the L-word before my parents and rulers of Equestria’ part, I asked Star if he really meant it. He said yes and made this long speech that he had thought up ahead because it had been on his mind for awhile and he planned to confess eventually, about how he feels when he’s with me and stuff.”

“Aww, sounds sweet,” Annie commented, with T nodding shily.

“Didn’t you say something about us knowing each other less than a month?” Starburst asked her with mild annoyance.

“It’s still sweet,” Annie replied. “Anyway, what did you say to that?”

“Ugh… well, Star said I didn’t have to say anything, but…” she trailed off, feeling heat on her cheeks. Needing a second to force herself to say what she had said, she looked away from her friends and kicked a pebble. “I said that I love him too,” she confessed, a bit reluctantly.

“Really?” Annie asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

“I mean, I added that I think I love him,” Starburst quickly added, embarrassed. Continuing before she’d lose her nerve, she recalled her little speech “I told him how happy I feel and stuff when we’re together and how I think he’s amazing… ugh, why is this even more difficult than when I was actually confessing?” she finally asked in irritation.

“Wow,” Annie exclaimed, still looking surprised, but also a little impressed. “I would have thought it would take Star years to get ‘I love you’ out of you.”

“Should I treat that as an insult?” Starburst asked, frowning slightly at her.

“No, of course not; your character is part of your charm Star,” Annie quickly explained, smiling and winking.

“T-thanks,” she replied, not expecting such a compliment. “But…” she started, hesitantly. “Do you think we said that too soon? Like, what if I only think I love him because he had said it first and he thinks he loves me only because his life before we started dating was like something out of a low-budget TV drama? Or because we’re both in our first relationship?” she asked, voicing her worries.

“I guess those could be possibilities,” Annie admitted thoughtfully. “Especially since you two haven’t known each other for too long. To be honest, I don’t really know if anything I could tell you could be of much help. I mean, T and I knew each other for such long time before we started dating; by then we already loved each other,” she added, exchanging a glance with T, both of them smiling.

“Didn’t he grow awkward around you after you started dating?” Starburst asked, raising an eyebrow. “I remember how he stopped wrapping his wing around you for a while then, and walked a bit further from you.”

“Hey!” T exclaimed, unhappy, while Annie giggled. “Did you have to bring that up?”

“T was just feeling a little intimidated by the whole ‘marefriend’ ‘coltfriend’ names,” Annie quickly defended her coltfriend as soon as she stopped laughing. “And also was unsure what exactly he was ‘allowed’ to do and what not. Colts can be dense like that from time to time,” she added while winking, making T pout at her. She brushed against his shoulder and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, causing him to relax, before turning back to Starburst and continuing. “Claire and Candy had to sit him down and give him some talking to, and everything was back to normal,” she said, nodding at the wing that T had wrapped around her. “If they hadn’t done that… well, neither of us would like to think of what that might have led to. Which is why we want to help you too, but we can’t do that unless you start opening up a little more,” Annie added, looking at her seriously. “Would you want your relationship to end because of something so silly?”

“... Celestia dammit, that’s a good point,” Starburst admitted reluctantly, looking away. “B-but you guys aren’t making it easy to talk about this stuff,” she defended herself. “How many jokes have you made since before me and Star started dating?!”

Annie frowned, then nodded and looked at her apologetically. “You’re right, we haven’t made this easy for you. So how about this; if you ever have some problems, or would just like to ask for our opinion or whatever of this kind, you will come to one of us and say ‘Hey, I have a real serious problem, can we talk for a few moments,’ and none of us will make fun of you?”

That… that actually doesn’t sound so bad, if I could talk with them without them constantly teasing me, Starburst pondered. She still wasn’t a fan of the idea of opening up so much, but if there would be some situations that she’d feel she’d need to talk about them - like her coltfriend telling her he loves her and her telling him that back - then maybe she could suffer through it?

“I don’t suppose you could just stop making fun of me altogether?” she asked, smiling at them uncertainty.

Annie giggled. “Star, I’m not a miracle worker,” she replied, sticking her tongue out. “Does that mean you’ll agree?”

“Ugh, you’ll know it if I ever come up to you saying I need help,” Starburst replied vaguely; it still caused Annie to smile brightly. Sighing, she decided to give it a rest and just return to the original topic, “So, do you have any advice about this current thing?”

The blind mare looked up thoughtfully. “Hm… when you talked about how you feel when you are hanging out and how you think he is amazing… were you being honest?”

“W-well, yeah,” Starburst replied, wondering where she was going with this. “I mean, I just feel great whenever I’m with him; I don’t even mind when he annoys me and stuff.”

Annie stared at her as she replied, her ears perked up as she listened to her attentively, and then she smiled. “Then I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” she said. “You really do seem like a good couple, so even if you two aren’t in love now - and I think you are, actually - then whatever you two feel right now will become love eventually. However,” Annie added, “if you are still worried about this, it’d be good if you just talked to Starfall. Dialogue is very important in a relationship… even if some other aspects of it are far more enjoyable,” she said suggestively as her tail swished, hitting T in the flank judging by the noise and him suddenly straightening and uttering a short yelp.

Deciding to pretend she hadn’t seen that, Starburst nodded. “Thanks, I’ll think about it… We really seem like a good couple?” she asked, a little surprised to hear that (and partially also to put off thinking about talking with Starfall whether or not they said they love each other too soon).

“Of course!” Annie replied cheerfully, while T nodded. “Everypony thinks so!”

“Seriously?” Starburst asked, now even more surprised.

“Yep! Everypony can see how happy you seem and how you seem more relaxed… well, a little more relaxed,” Annie amended, smirking. “But seriously, I think I would go as far as to say that you two are possibly… second out of our group that will get married!”

Starburst stared at her with wide eyes. “Um… y-yeah, right,” she replied, making a mental note to never let Annie tell Starfall that; she had enough of his jokes about that already.

Luckily, both of them laughed a little, Annie giggling quite loudly and T chuckling somewhat uncomfortably, which might have meant that she was kidding. “By the way,” Annie began after a few moments, “I’ve been meaning to ask; how often do the two of you make out?”

“Wha- Annie!” Starburst exclaimed, shocked. “Wha- Do- I-I mean, why do you even think we have began making out at all?!” she asked, blushing.

“Because of how often your scents are mixed and by how there was a smell of forest undergrowth on you back when we were camping?” Annie countered with a question, causing Starburst’s blush to grow even redder. Waving her hoof dismissively, she added “It is an important question, Star; I want to make sure that when you had said you feel happy when you two hang out that said happiness was caused by emotional reasons, not physical ones. Well, not solely at least.”

“Oh for… yes, we do make out from time to time, but most of the time we just hang out and stuff,” Starburst quickly told her, just to get her off her back; she sincerely doubted that Annie was honest about this. “So, I dunno, every few days? We did it more often back when at the camping, but, you know, with school and everything after that it was difficult to find time.”

As she waited for Annie’s reply, she glanced at T. The big half-dragon had apparently decided to not take part in this discussion, as his eyes were set firmly on something very far away from them.

“Ah, I see…” Annie hummed. “And who does usually initiate it?”

“How exactly would this- ugh, you know what, I don’t think I even care at this point,” Starburst decided, facehoofing. She was grateful for the talk before, but with this bizarre part of it coming out of nowhere - then again, in all honestly she should have expected from Annie - she just wanted it to be over. “I dunno, it depends if I feel bold enough at the time; mostly him though I guess, especially at the beginning as I felt awkward with his past. I mean, I still was the more forward one at times,” she added, reminiscing briefly the first few times the were more intimate with each other and feeling a weird mixture of embarrassment, pride and happiness. “Star even began calling me ‘Lil’Lioness’ after I pounced on him-”

Her eyes bulged the moment she had realized just what she had said, but it was too late; Annie have heard it. And T, who, despite having been pretending to not listen to them, was now glancing at her.

“You’ll forget you’ve heard it,” she told both of them, but mostly Annie.

“He calls you ‘Lil’Lioness’?” Annie exclaimed, grinning. “That is so cute!”

“No it- shut up!” Starburst snapped. “You’re not telling this to anypony else, right! You promised you won’t talk with others about-”

“- about what happened after Starfall teleported both of you out of that dinner yesterday,” Annie finished for her, an evil grin displayed on her muzzle. “Technically, this wasn’t about that, so…” she trailed off, leaving the rest to imagination.

Starburst’s imagination was currently telling her everypony she knew would now begin to mock her with that name.

“Annie-” she began, but before she could develop this sentence any further, Annie had already waved her hoof.

“Star, relax, we’re not going to tell anypony. Well, not now at least,” she amended, crushing whatever hope Starburst had felt briefly after she had uttered that first sentence. “I mean, it could be useful if I’d ever feel that you’d be in a need of a girl talk and would disagree. Or, you know, if T and I would ever decide to spice things up and try out a foursome.”

Both Starburst’s and T’s jaws dropped hearing that casual remark. Fortunately, Starburst was quick to recover, the rational part of her mind taking over before she could put too much thought into Annie’s suggestion.

“Okay, first off, no,” she told her flatly. “Second, I know you wouldn’t actually blackmail me or anypony else into a- that, so don’t bother making that joke again. Third: still no. Fourth: yuck Fifth: double yuck, T’s basically my cousin. Sixth: in case you forgot, Starfall hates being touched by anypony other than me, so even overlooking the previous things that would be still no. Seventh: ‘spice things up’? You two haven’t even done anything of the ‘things’! You two are such goody-goodies your parents trust you to sleep in the same bedroom when you stay over at the other’s house, for crying out loud! I don’t even want to think how my parents would react if they knew Star and I had already slept together in my bed plenty of-”

This time she felt as if her heart stopped beating when she realized what, in her annoyance, she had said. Of course, she had to realize that when it was already too late to change the sentence into something less incriminating, because why wouldn’t she?!

“We just slept!” she quickly added, hoping to at least minimize some of the fallout that would come out of this. Both her friends stared at her now in shock, even Annie. “I mean, we already slept together back in that cave and during the camping trip so this really isn’t that big of a deal…” she trailed off, feeling her cheeks burn as Annie’s shocked expression slowly turned into a grin. “Did you cast some spell on me that makes me blab things?!” Starburst finally exclaimed, annoyed to no ends with herself.

“Oh please, if there was such a spell I would have cast it on you years ago,” Annie replied, smirking. “And sleeping in your bed together is obviously not the same as sleeping in the same tent or in a cave.”

“Annie…” Starburst growled, feeling her eyelid twitch.

“So was sleep the only thing that happened?” Annie asked curiously.

“Yes!”

“Any plans to change that?” she then asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

“No! I mean, someday- shut up!” Starburst exclaimed, burning with embarrassment as Annie continued to stare at her with that smirk. “You two are not telling a soul about any of this!”

Annie didn’t reply right away, instead stared at her for a few moments, as if contemplating her request. As Starburst began to grow nervous of what new evil thoughts could be going over her head, the blind pony smiled. “Under one condition.”

Starburst bit her lip. She knew she wasn’t in a position to refuse whether twisted condition she had came up with. “What is it?” Starburst asked, dreading what new devilry she was about to hear.

Please don’t be a foursome, don’t be a foursome, don't be a foursome…

Annie, her muzzle bearing a predatory grin, leaned over to her ear; Starburst had no idea why, she still spoke loud enough for T to hear every word. Said half-dragon had resumed pretending to not be the part of this conversation, but when Annie said her condition, he still glanced at her with shock.

“You’ll be telling me everything you two do,” Annie had said, her smirk widening as if she could see the expression on Starburst’s face, and leaned back.

Starburst needed to look at her for only a second to be sure that she was speaking seriously. “You’re evil, you know that?” she asked, facehoofing.

After she had agreed - having no choice in this matter, really - Annie had thankfully let go of that topic through the rest of their walk. She have however resumed pestering her about coming up with a nickname for Starfall.

“I’m just saying,” Annie had said, “if he calls you such loving nicknames like Lil’Lioness, you should call him by something cute too.”

Starburst had done her best to ignore her of course, but she couldn’t help but ridicule a few of her suggestions. Considering how bad - not worth a mention, even - they were and how Annie wanted her to come up with the nickname in the first place, Starburst had figured out that she had made them up only to get her into the discussion, which she had avoided.

Still, she couldn’t help but ponder this privately in her thoughts as Annie continued to go on. What the hell would I call him? she wondered for about tenth time as they were finally about to get back to the others; she could already make out their friends around the lake. Making his name into something diminutive sounds too easy, and with our names being so similar it’s kinda stupid… Celestia forbid it would be about his abilities, he has enough of an ego about them as it is… So something about his looks? she wondered as she had gotten over all the points Annie had just given her about coming up with nicknames. Well, he has those red eyes with narrow irises… and fangs… and scars all over his back and some around his neck, ugh. Well, ‘Scar’ is out of the question…

Her musing was suddenly interrupted as she felt a hoof blocking her path. Starburst glanced in surprise at Annie, who had put her hoof on her chest. To her surprise her blind friend’s ears were perked in the direction of their friends, and after she had turned to her Annie nodded in their direction.

Starburst followed her gaze, perking up her ears as well. Annie had pointed in the direction of where they put their blankets, and just as they left them, only Claire and Illusion where there, with Starfall lying in his hammock next to them; the others were still swimming in the lake. Ignoring them for now, Starburst trotted quietly a bit closer; her hearing was, of course, nowhere near as good as Annie’s, but she still managed to make out what the three were talking.

“Really, darling,” Claire was saying, “you could make quite a decent living with those shows of yours; I cannot imagine why you’d rather continue living this way.”

“Yes, I heard you the first ten times,” Starfall replied; even from where she stood with Annie and T Starburst could clearly hear exasperation in his voice.

Just how many times did Claire bring up this subject? she wondered. And what else were she and Illusion talking to him about?

Apparently, Claire had pestered him enough for Starfall to grow really tired of this discussion, as he glanced at her sharply. “If I tell you my reasons, will you let me get back to my nap?”

“Hm, well dear, I suppose just understanding why you are being so silly about this would be enough,” Claire replied, frowning a little.

“And you won’t tell this back to Star,” Starfall added, glaring at both of them.

Wait what? Starburst thought, utterly surprised. Since when does he keep anything from me?

Noticing the surprise on on Claire’s muzzle, she expected her to echo the question she had asked herself in her mind. However, before the dragon-pony hybrid could open her mouth, Illusion had noticed Starburst and the others standing further away and listening in. The Prince of Equestria smirked in their direction before turning back to Starfall.

“Sure, no problem Starfall,” he said, glancing briefly at Claire; Starburst was certain he winked at her. “We won’t tell Starburst, you have my word on that.”

“Okay, good enough for me,” Starfall replied, apparently completely missing the deception, as he laid more comfortably in his hammock.

Wow, he must be really sleepy if he really fell for that, Starburst thought, annoyed, while Annie and T giggled quietly beside her.

“The reason why I don’t want to become a professional stage magician and start putting on shows is quite simple,” Starfall began, sounding nonchalant. “Even though Starburst doesn’t care about this, she is a princess; sooner or later the subject of her dating life will become a gossip in Equestria. I will not have her made fun of by any stupid pony who has too much time on their hooves and nothing better to do just because she’s dating somepony like a stage magician.”

Starburst’s jaw dropped. The others were also looking at Starfall with surprise, and confusion.

“Let me get this straight darling,” Claire spoke up after she recovered. “You are concerned about Starburst’ reputation, and you think that ponies are less likely to make fun of her for dating a stage magician rather than an unemployed and homeless pony?”

“That is my thought process, yes,” Starfall replied casually.

Starburst facehooved hearing his reply. “Great Celestia, I’m dating an idiot,” she exclaimed, then looked around in alarm as she realized just how loud she had said that.

However, her worries were quickly dispersed when she noticed that Annie’s horn was glowing. “Sound-dampening Spell,” the blind unicorn quickly explained, winking. “I got you covered. I did say that colts can be dense from time to time, didn’t I?” she added, nodding at Starfall.

“That’s not dense, that’s borderline retarded!” Starburst exclaimed, staring at her coltfriend with annoyance. “If you’d excuse me, I’m about to punch some sense into his thick skull,” she added, taking a few steps towards him.

“Also,” she heard Starfall speak up again; she stopped, wondering what stupid thing he was about to say this time, “as a stage magician I would have to begin travelling from town to town; performing in the same place for too long caused the audience to familiarize themselves with the performances. I remember that we usually wouldn’t stay longer than two weeks in the same town with mom. And I happen to enjoy this life in Ponyville,” Starfall finished, shrugging. “I don’t plan on moving away from Starburst.”

… okay, that was actually not so stupid, Starburst decided, actually liking this reason. She still wanted to punch him for that earlier one, but now she hesitated; wasn’t his reasoning (as idiotic as it was in the case of the first reason) proof of how much he cared about her and their relationship? Either that or he’s just lazy I suppose, she added in an afterthought, rolling her eyes.

After a brief internal struggle, Starburst took a deep breath, deciding to simply talk to Starfall (despite how tempting the vision of smacking him upside his thick head was right now). She took another step towards him, but just as then a sudden commotion erupted behind her.

“Annie! And T! I wondered if we’d run into you guys here!”

Startled, Starburst turned around, then starred in surprise. It appeared that their group of friends wasn’t the only one that had thought of coming to the lake to enjoy this warm day. Heading towards them were Hot Head, Lucky Star, and Amber Lily, all three friends Annie had made back in the orphanage, but also, strangely, Nidra. Intrigued by their sudden appearance, Starburst momentary put her coltfriend and her concerns she had regarding his ‘reasons’ (also known as ‘idiocy’ for the time being) out of her head and trotted back to Annie and T as the other group reached them.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” Amber, the bright colored mare exclaimed as she hugged Annie, her eyes gleaming. “I see your hunk is still as grabby with you as ever huh?” she added with a smirk, noting T’s wing that was still partially wrapped around the blind unicorn.

As T blushed and unwrapped his wing, Annie giggled. “Well, if you had given him time maybe he would have taken his wing off. Hey guys,” she added to the rest as they caught up with Amber. “So what are you all doing here? Especially you Amber,” she said, turning back to her. “You do know there’s a lake over there, right?”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Oh please, as if something like that would stop me from spending my first free day in forever with a friend and my babies,” she replied, reaching with her forelegs to pull both Lucky and Hot Head into a hug and give each a quick nuzzle. As Hot Head almost immediately broke free and looked at her with affront while blushing, Amber continued, muttering in a hushed voice as she released Lucky. “Besides, I don’t plan to go near water, so it’s okay… Oh, Princess Starburst!” Amber said as Starburst approached them. “It’s a pleasure to see you, too. I’ve been hearing quite a lot about you,” she added, smiling mischievously.

“Hi,” Starburst replied hesitantly, confused. “What do you mean, Amber? And don’t bother with ‘Princess’,” she added with an annoyed eye roll.

“Hm, funny how you hadn’t said anything along those lines,” Hot Head told Nidra with a smirk.

The bat pony alicorn shrugged. “If somepony wants to address me by my title, who am I to forbid it?”

“Anyway,” Amber said after she rolled her eyes at Nidra’s reply (followed by several other present ponies), “what I mean is, I’ve been told by Hot Head and Nidra that you had recently gotten yourself a scrappy coltfriend.”

“Scrappy?” Starburst repeated, taken by surprise by such word.

“It does describe him accurately,” Annie pointed out, giggling.

“Speaking of, where is Starfall?” Nidra asked, raising and eyebrow at her. “I’ve been hearing that you two were becoming as inseparable as those two,” she added mockingly, nodding at Annie and T.

Putting your hearing into question… Starburst mused, deadpanning at Nidra before replying.

“Star’s back there with the others,” she said, pointing with her hoof behind her. An idea struck her and she decided to go with it, adding “He was about to take a nap when the three of us went on a walk, but I think Claire and Illusion were pestering him about something.”

When the four ponies had approached them, Annie had cancelled her spell, making it possible for Starfall to hear them. Though Starburst intended to confront him later over what he had said, she thought that for the moment it would be better to hide from him what they had heard and pretend as if they just got there.

Amber, who’s gaze followed where she was pointing like everypony’s else, suddenly appeared a little nervous. “Oh, Claire’s here too…”

The heck? Starburst thought, surprised by her change of demeanor. She’s met Claire way more times than she’s met me, hasn’t she?

However, after a quick shake, Amber once again appeared her usual, confident self; Starburst figured she must have imagined it.

“And more already in the water,” Hot Head, who flew a few yards into the air to get a good look, observed. “Is everypony here?” he asked as he landed back next to them.

“June had to stay at the farm and look after her cherry trees,” Annie quickly replied.

“And my cousin Lance is back in the Crystal Empire,” Starburst added, shrugging. “But other than that, yeah, everypony.”

“Great…” he heard him mutter in a slightly annoyed tone, causing Lucky, the purple unicorn, to lightly elbow his shoulder. Hot Head rolled his eyes at him; Starburst wondered if those two had some sort of ‘mental talk’, or something.

“Well, now, since you guys came,” Annie said, smiling. Retreating back to T’s side, who quickly wrapped his wing back around her, she added “So how about we go over there?”

Due to them having been within the earshot the whole time, Claire and Illusion had already risen from the blankets to greet them (unlike Starfall, who either managed to fall asleep in this short time, or was pretending to sleep; in either case, the way his hammock was hanging, the newcomers probably hadn’t noticed him yet anyway). “Hello everypony!” they said, then, after everypony exchanged greetings, Claire turned to Amber: “Amber, it’s been a while.”

“W-well, yes,” Amber replied, slightly stammering, but quickly shaking off whatever had came over her. “You know how busy nurses can be.”

Unfortunately for her, Starburst wasn’t the only pony who had caught on her weird behaviour; and while she would ignore it, the other one certainly wouldn’t.

“Amber, is Claire making you anxious or something?” Annie asked, looking at the older mare with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “You stuttered a little there. Surely, the mare that taught me so much couldn’t be nervous while talking to a mare, right?” she added, becoming even more amused as she brought up how Amber was the cause of her inappropriate sense of humor.

Annie’s words seemed to help Amber back into her usual self, as she smirked in reply. “Well, even I can become anxious when talking to such a remarkable mare as Claire,” she said, winking at Claire.

Her remark - or maybe borderline flirting - must have stroked Claire’s ego, as she giggled softly. “Aww, aren’t you sweet Amber,” she said, lifting her foreleg to scratch the mare under her chin gently and causing her to shudder.

What the hell is happening? Starburst thought, bemused by the scene.

She was about to glance at the others to see what they thought of… whatever this was, but at that moment a familiar voice mercifully took everypony’ attention.

“Whole lot of sh*t just started to make sense.”

Starburst turned to Starfall, who was still lying in his makeshift hammock. However, he had now leaned his head a little so that he could deadpan at Claire and Amber, apparently deciding that his nap - pretended or not - could wait.

“Starfall dear, that was a rather rude interruption,” Claire told him, glaring at him with annoyance, while Amber and the other newcomers were still startled by the beep noise he made with his magic.

The scarred unicorn rose from his hammock and started at her with both eyebrows raised in bewilderment. “You just flirted right in front of your coltfriend and I am the rude one-” he cut himself off as he looked at Illusion; following his gaze, Starburst saw that the half-draconequus covering his muzzle with his paw and laughing silently. “Forget it, I’m not touching this,” Starfall exclaimed, falling back on his hammock and murmuring to himself: “Five years of travelling around the world and four years a slave in circus, and this is the place where I hear the most innuendoes and sex jokes…”

Everypony stared at him, then most of them turned to Starburst, several amused. “Oh, what are you looking at me for, he has a point!” she exclaimed, frowning and crossing her forelegs on her chest.

Amber burst with laughter. “Wow, Nidra and Hot Head described you perfectly,” she said, trotting a bit close to Starfall.

“Oh right, new ponies,” Starburst rolled her eyes as she heard Starfall mutter before raising from hammock once again. When he did, his usual smirk had returned to his muzzle. “Hi,” he said, waving with his hoof. “I’m Starfall, but feel free to call me just Star. Or Starfall the Magnificent, Starfall the Master of the Impossible, God… no wait,” he paused, turning to Starburst, “where were we on that nickname for me just for you to use?”

“Oh for- not happening,” Starburst replied him immediately, causing a few snorts of amusements.

“And you weren’t kidding about his ego, wow,” Amber commented, glancing back at Nidra and Hot Head. Chuckling and shaking her head, she turned back to Starfall: “I’m Amber, and this is Lucky; you’ve already met my other baby Hot Head,” she added, nodding at the pegasus, who facehoofed.

“Amber…” he muttered, but apparently failed to come up with a response.

While some ponies snorted with short laughter - Starburst included; it was a nice change of pace this day, for somepony else to suffer misfortune - Starfall had merely looked at him, his eyes widening briefly. “Wow, so many things becoming clearer this day…” he muttered to himself before shaking his head. “So that’s why you made that sorta-terrified face when Shiny-eyes was flirting with Sheclaw?” he added, looking at Hot Head with a raised eyebrow.

“He comes up with nicknames for everypony, just go with it,” Starburst quickly told Amber as she looked at Starfall with confusion.

“Yeah, you should hear what he calls Starburst when they-” Annie began, but Starburst cut her off by covering her mouth with her wing immediately.

Laughing nervously to the others, Starburst leaned to her. “Did you forget about our deal?” she whispered, a threat in her voice.

“Weeell, technically, the deal was about the part that came after your slip up with that nickname, sooo…”

“Annie!” Starburst hissed.

“Oh relax, I’m just pulling your tail,” Annie replied, rolling her blind eyes.

Hearing her assurance did cause Starburst to relax. Unfortunately, however, the exchange didn’t escape the notice of everypony “Oh? ‘When they’ what?” Amber asked, looking from Starburst to Starfall with an excited grin as she sat on a blanket Lucky and Nidra had set up.

Starburst opened her mouth, working out what to say, but it was Starfall who replied: “When we had fought. You know, when I moved here and met everypony,” he explained. (Nice save, Starburst thought, relieved.) “I believe back then I had called Star ‘Knight’, which is not nearly as funny as… um, what is Damsel’s real name?” he asked Starburst, scratching his head. When she facehoofed instead of replying, he added: “You know, the annoying pegasus with the rainbow mane.”

“You seriously never learned his name or are you just kidding?” Starburst asked him as everypony who hadn’t yet heard Starfall’s nickname for Prism laughed. “Because even for me it’s hard to tell sometimes.”

Starfall was about to retort, but he was cut off by two voices, “I bet that’s not the only hard thing she could tell us about,” Annie and Amber said and the same time to each other, then exclaimed: “Ah, jinx! Double jinx!”

Starfall watched them for a moment with bemusement as they giggled and hugged before he shook his head. “Would you be surprised if I had begun to honestly think that it was his real name?” he asked Starburst, causing her to facehoof again. He must have then had turned his attention to Hot Head, who was still laughing, as he added “Dunno why you’re laughing, Damsel Two.”

“Wait what?” Hot Head exclaimed, confused.

Before the red pegasus could become angry, however, Starfall had turned his attention away from him. “And speaking of…” he said, nodding in the direction of the lake. Looking over, Starburst noticed that her friends were coming out of the water, probably having realized that they had company. She then heard her coltfriend let out a sigh. “This is going to be my whole day today…”

Frowning, Starburst made a mental note to ask him what he had meant later as she watched everypony greet themselves. Very quickly though, the greetings between four specific ponies captured almost everypony’s attention, and almost immediately created an air of awkwardness around.

“Oh, Nidra…” Prism stammered slightly, surprised to see her. “Um, hi.”

“Hello Prism,” Nidra replied, more calmly, but Starburst noticed that she was slightly sullen. “Hi Whirlwind,” she added more pleasantly to the mare beside Prism.

“Hi Nidra,” the pegasus replied, then turned to Hot Head. “Hi Hot Head,” she said, sounding a bit awkward.

“Hi Whirlwind,” Hot Head greeted her, smiling at her with some awkwardness as well while scratching the back of his head. His gaze grew cold though when he turned to the pegasus colt beside her. “Prism.”

“Hot Head,” Prism replied, narrowing his eyes at him.

Great, now we’re officially in a sitcom… Starburst mused observing the exchange. Though I suppose in a sitcom something stupid would happen now- why do I even bother? she groaned inwardly as the very second after Prism greeted Hot Head each of the two got hit by a volleyball right in the head.

The two balls that had hit them out of nowhere had bounced back off their faces. Starburst, like everypony, followed them with her eyes - recognizing one of them as the one they had brought over along with their blankets and two baskets with some snacks and juices - and was not surprise to see them return to Starfall. Even if she was surprised to see him over there when literally the moment before he had been lying on his hammock.

Seriously, when did he move over there, grab our volleyball and another one - of unknown origin at that - and throw them at those two? she wondered as Starfall, who must have jumped into the air the moment he kicked the balls, landed on top of one with only his forehoof, while the other volleyball he “caught” with his hind hoof that he held outstretched right up into the air, turning his scarred back towards everypony as he stretched his neck up to look at them. Though he did disperse this awkward tension, I’ll give him that...

“So, did you guys bring those here for some game or what?” Starfall asked casually, as if he wasn’t balancing on top of a ball with just his forehoof while holding on his hind hoof another one. He then bounced off the volleyball, causing the one on top to fall down, did a mid-air flip above it as it fell, and then landed on top of it with his hind hoof as the ball in turn landed on top of the other one. “Because I think I had enough of sitting around and talking,” he added as he balanced perfectly on the two volleyballs.

Despite being used to his acrobatic skills already, Starburst found herself admiring the display he had performed. She wasn’t the only one; of course, Amber and Lucky, who hadn’t yet seen him, were practically staring agape, but even the others were looking at him with surprise.

“Are we sure he’s part dragon and not part draconequus?” Illusion asked after a second. “Because it’s amazing how much that would explain.”

Starfall snorted. “I don’t need some chaos magic genes to be amazing, Prince,” he replied, rolling his eyes.

“Actually, a game of volleyball sounds like a fun idea,” Amber spoke up before anypony could retort to Starfall’s earlier question. She then again grabbed both Lucky and Hot Head with her forelegs and brought them closer to her. “What do you say boys?”

“So we’re not going to address how he took the ball from our saddlebags without any of us noticing?” Lucky asked while Hot Head, who didn’t try to break free from Amber’s embrace - apparently resigned to his fate - merely sighed and nodded. “Just asking; I don’t mind a little game.”

“Trust me, it’s pointless to try and figure out how he does stuff like that,” Starburst told him while most of the others also agreed to a short game.

“Yeah, I’m basically like the Prince of Thieves,” Starfall added, still standing on the two balls, before jumping and kicking one up to land on his nose as he himself still stood on the other one on his hind hoof, and began to hop on it to cause it to turn around and roll towards an space beside the lake that was wide enough for them all to play. “Except I suppose I’m now retired,” he added as he kept the ball balanced on the top of his muzzle.

As they all - minus Claire, Annie and T, who all opted to sit the game out, content to just observe - followed him, Starburst heard Illusion talk to Nidra. “So how come you’re with them? I didn’t even know you knew them, aside from meeting Hot Head back at the camping trip.”

“Oh, I’ve been bumping into Amber at several parties back in Canterlot as ‘Jet Stream’,” she replied, referring to the name she would use while hidden by Illusion spell as a pegasus whenever she wouldn’t want ponies to recognize her. “Only recently I’ve realized we had common friends when she dragged Hot Head with her once. So, you know, talking happened, partying-”

“-waking up in the same bed...” Amber cut in, smirking at her.

Despite her real dislike of such conversation topics, Starburst couldn’t help but stop and stare at the two mares in surprise. She wasn’t the only one, of course, and she noticed that Nidra was also staring at Amber, stunned. However, before that could be explained, somepony else decided to create a scene.

“Wait what?!” Prism exclaimed, flying closer to them. “Y-you two?! Oh no, Nidra, did I break you?!”

“Break me?” Nidra asked, perplexed and annoyed.

“I know I wasn’t the best coltfriend for you, but…” Prism began, then trailed off as if lost, looking from her to Amber, who appeared to be having the time of her life.

Nidra, on the other hoof, seemed to have enough of this. “Prism, for the love of my aunt, Amber and I only slept, literally,” she said, confirming what Starburst had suspected when she noticed the stare she gave Amber. (I blame Annie for that other thing to be my first assumption.) “Can you please stop making a scene? Not that watching you have a mental breakdown isn’t entertaining mind you.”

“Oh…” Prism exclaimed, looking relieved. “So I didn’t break you?”

“How do you put up with him when he goes like this?” Nidra asked Whirlwind instead, who shrugged.

“Patience, I guess,” she replied, and when Prism turned to her with bemusement, she patted his head.

Amber in the meantime turned to Nidra. “And here I thought you like pranks, Princess,” she giggled. “Who would have thought you could get so easily embarrassed.”

“Maybe if I were warned first…” Nidra began, but when Amber continued to giggle, she smirked maliciously. “Buuut I suppose if you’re such a fan of embarrassing stories, we could talk about that dream you had. You know, the one with C-”

Whatever the dream she talked about was about, the rest of the tale was stopped by a hoof pressed to her muzzle. Amber, who’s eyes had widened the moment she said the word ‘dream’, had threw herself at her and covered her muzzle, laughing nervously.

Starburst could tell that several of her friends were curious to know more about the dream, but Illusion had decided to change the subject, as he cleared his throat and turned to Nidra. “So wait, you slept outside of the castle? When was that?”

“Um, last week,” Nidra replied when Amber released her.

“Oh, so that’s what that commotion was about,” Illusion exclaimed. “I thought Dad had tried to cook again.”

“Not that this isn’t an interesting conversation,” Lucky interrupted gently, “but I just noticed that our teams won’t be even.”

Oh, he’s right, Starburst realized, casting her gaze around and counting ponies; there were eleven of them.

“Should we ask somepony to join us?” Lucky added, glancing back at the trio that was still lying by the blankets.

A short laugh replied him. Starburst immediately turned to Starfall, who stood in the middle of the space big enough for a field. By ‘stood’ meaning that he was still balancing on a volleyball while keeping the other on top of his muzzle.

“You clearly hadn’t heard enough about me,” he exclaimed before jumping into the air, leaving the balls behind as he flipped a few times in the flight before landing beside the lakeshore, turning towards them all. His horn flashed, and a small, multi-colored sphere emerged from it. At the same time, a blob of water rose from the lake, being levitated by Starfall’s magic. The sphere plunged into it, causing it to flash briefly, before the transparent water began shifting with colors as the blop took shape. In the matter of literal seconds, a second Starfall stood beside him. Both of them rose on their hind legs, and, leaning against each other’s shoulder, their spread their forelegs. “Jazz hooves!” he said, smirking as he shook his forehooves.

Long since having gotten used to this spell, Starburst merely rolled her eyes at this dramatization, and suspect that most of her friends had done the some. As such, the excited shriek had really taken her by surprise.

“Amazing!” Amber exclaimed, staring at Starfall oddly. Turning to Starburst, she smirked and said “No wonder you like him so much Starburst.”

“Um…” Starburst stammered, taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“What, you’re telling me you never had him use that spell in bed?” Amber asked, her smirk turning into a predatory grin.

In bed? Starburst wondered, now even more confused. What the hell does she… she began to think as she turned to look at Starfall… and then it hit her.

There were two of him. Two Starfalls. And the things done in bed…

Starburst had no idea how long did she stare at her coltfriend and his water duplicate, her mind blank after that realization. She was dimly aware of others smirking as they caught on what Amber was suggesting, as well as Annie, who had overheard everything with her hearing, shouting as she ran to Starfall “Great Celestia, how come I hadn’t thought of that?! Star, you’ve gotta teach me that spell!” It probably hadn't lasted more than a few seconds. Her senses did return to her as she began to feel pressure in her wings; she shook herself off her daze completely and banished those thoughts before she could sprung a wingboner; her friends would have never let her forget it if her wings suddenly unfolded right there and then.

“Wait, Star, were you thinking about it?” Candy, who was watching her, asked, covering her mouth with in bewilderment. “I mean, I know you like to challenge and push yourself, but daaamn…”

“O-of course not!” she quickly replied, deadpanning at her. “And neither was Star,” she added, turning to her coltfriend…

Her blood froze when she noticed the familiar smirk on both his and his water duplicate’s muzzles.

“No,” she said firmly, and the smirk turned into a grin. “Don’t you dare joke right now… wipe that grin off your faces!” she exclaimed angrily as she began to panic while he continued to ignore her.

Before she could say anything else, both of them appeared right beside her. His grin was gone at least, but instead he was gazing at her now in that way that made it very hard for Starburst to be angry at him, even with everypony around them.

“What grin?” the Starfall on her left asked, and the other added: “Honestly, you make it sounds as if I was plotting something.”

Now she was certain, he was plotting something. And she had a pretty good idea what it could be.

Great Celestia, I’m going to make out with both of them… Starburst realized, terrified; and yet, she realized that she was also partially… something else.

Starfall then erupted into laughter. “Oh relax Star, I’m kidding,” he said, smiling.

The other one bumped against her shoulder. “You know my opinion on this subject, right?” he asked, smirking.

Oh yes, she did know his opinion on this subject.

He didn’t make sex-related jokes. Which meant that what he just said was for the others, who all began to laugh or shake their head, or both. The earlier part was serious… or at the very least, he intended to tease her some more later on.

Ugh, I’d better talk this over with him the first chance I get, I don’t think I’d want to make out with both of them… Starburst though, then felt a shudder go over her as she recalled how affectionate Starfall could get, and imagined what those affections could finally lead to. And I don’t want my first time to be a threesome!

But then, an even bigger prospect, one that could only incite terror in her, came to her as she recalled a certain promise she had made and she mentally screamed.

I don’t want to tell Annie that my first time was a threesome!

Another Stormy Night - Part I

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“Star?”

Starburst barely heard her mom calling her over the sound of storm outside. Spitting the displaced feather she had just plucked out of her right wing into the bowl beside her bed, she raised her head over her wing and looked at the door of her room. “What is it Mom?”

Twilight opened the door and her head poked through the crack between it and the doorframe. “Are you going to the living room soon? We all agreed to watch some movies together.”

“I know,” Starburst replied, rolling her eyes; she too had agreed to that, although it was mostly due to the storm scheduled for today limiting her other options. “I’m preening my wings, I should be done soon.”

Every week, Starburst had to devote almost entirely of one day to that task. Of course, she would preen her wings during other days of the week, too, with them being so big she needed to keep them in the best condition, but due to her busy schedule those would be very quick sessions. She needed a whole day to care for her wings properly. And although it was a task she enjoyed, at the same time Starburst would find it annoying how much time she would lose as a result. As such, she was quite happy to teach Starfall how to preen her wings after they’d began dating (which was an activity some ponies sometimes referred as “allopreening”, when a pony was preening another pony); with his help, the task would take less than half the usual time for her. Unfortunately, with all the fun they had the day before at the lake with everypony, it slipped Starburst’s mind to ask her coltfriend to come and help her today.

I’ll have to leave them half done and resume preening them after this whole “family quality time” thing is over, Starburst mused, glancing at the wing she had been preening; she was far from satisfied with how it looked. But since her mom had already come to get her…

“Maybe I could help you?” she heard her mom ask; surprised, Starburst turned to her. By then the purple alicorn had half-entered her room, and was looking at her hopefully. “It would take less time with two of us. Come on, it’s been forever since I’ve helped you preen your wings.”

You could say that again, Starburst thought; it has been years at least since the last time she needed her mother’s help with that. She liked being independant; Starfall’s help didn’t really count against that, seeing how he would occasionally tickle her or tease her by pressing on some quite pleasant spots. Well, I suppose since I did agree to the whole thing and I’m about to be late…

“Fine,” she replied, shrugging. “Can you finish my left wing?” she asked, spreading said limb as she returned her attention to the right one.

Nodding, her mother quickly trotted to sit beside her on the bed and began helping her preen. “Those wings of yours have always been so troublesome,” she commented as she surveyed her underwing; clearly she spotted a lot of feathers that would need to be removed. “Your father and I were really worried if you wouldn’t keep tripping over them or-”

“I know Mom, you’ve told me that thousand of times,” Starburst interrupted her, annoyed that she had offered to help and was instead talking.

Twilight sighed. “You’re right, sorry,” she replied before leaning over to the displaced feathers.

Realizing that she had upset her mom, Starburst now felt annoyed with herself. She tried to think of some way to apologize or something, but couldn’t think of how not to make it more awkward. “I still have that ribbon you used to tie my wings, you know,” she finally murmured, embarrassed.

Despite how insignificant her comment seemed, it seemed to do the trick. Starburst heard her mother giggle warmly around a mouthful of feathers she was now realigning. “I know; I still remember how adorable you looked with it as a foal.” Starburst rolled her eyes, but then she stopped as Twilight added “You know, we still have a lot of picture albums from then; perhaps I should take them out the next time you bring Starfall over?”

“M-mom!” Starburst exclaimed, blushing from embarrassment at the thought of Starfall watching her pictures as a foal. “I don’t- aough!” she hissed as her mother plucked a feather that wasn’t completely displaced.

“Sorry,” Twilight apologized quickly, and although she sounded worried, Starburst couldn’t help but notice that there was a note of amusement in her voice, too. “I was kidding, Star, although really, I don’t understand why you’d be embarrassed by your pictures as a foal. After all, Starfall had done much more embarrassing things for you so far, hadn’t he?” she asked, smirking.

“... Maybe,” Starburst replied, not wanting to agree but also knowing that there was no point in trying to disagree, seeing what had happened during the dinner with Aunty Celestia’s family.

“So how have the two of you been?” her mom asked, continuing the small talk whenever there wasn’t a feather in her mouth.

“You asked me that two days ago, Mom, not much had happened since then,” Starburst replied, plucking out another bad feather.

“You mean, aside from your coltfriend proclaiming he loves you before your parents and ruler of Equestria?” Twilight asked, once again looking at her daughter with a good-humored smirk.

This is going to become a thing, isn’t it? Starburst wondered briefly. Whenever we talk about me and Star, the whole “proclaimed he loves me before my parents and ruler of Equestria” will continue to be brought up like this, won’t it?

“Mom, I told you, I don’t want to talk about it,” Starburst groaned, hoping they would soon be done with her wings already.

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Fine, fine… but you know you can talk to me about anything whenever you want, don’t you Star?” she asked, managing to catch her eye briefly.

Despite being sure that she would never, ever, want to talk with her mom about that, under her gaze Starburst couldn’t help but sigh and nod. “Yeah Mom, of course I know. I just-”

“You’re just embarrassed, I understand,” Twilight finished for her, smiling, before returning her attention to her wing.

Do you though? Starburst thought doubtingly, before shaking her head. Oh well, at least she stopped asking me-

“Did you let Starfall preen your wings already?”

Starburst almost jumped, so startled she was by the question. “M-mom!”

“What? Your Dad and I had began allopreening long before he had told me he loves me-”

“Mom, what part of ‘embarrassed’ don’t you get?!”

“Look who’s finally here,” her brother commented when about ten minutes later Starburst and their mom entered the living room; both Nighty and their dad were already there, sitting on the couch and channel surfing as they waited for them. “What took you so long, Princess?” Nighty added with a snide smirk.

Starburst eyebrow raised in annoyance. “You do know that’s kinda redundant thing to say when I actually am a princess, right twerp?” she told him as she deadpanned at him.

As her dorky brother frowned, embarrassed that his jibe made no sense (Starburst suspected he had probably overheard Candy’s younger sisters, Sugar Rush and Cloudy Skies calling each other that in similar situations, or something along those lines, and didn’t bother to think too much of it), their mother in turn frowned at both of them. “Honestly, you two, what did I tell you about name calling?” she asked, her reprimand directed mostly at Starburst.

“He started-” she began to defend herself, but at that same moment the telephone called. Rolling her eyes as Twilight picked it up (“Hello? Oh, hi Rainbow, did you need something?”) and left the living room to talk with her friend in relative peace, Starburst trotted to the couch and sat beside her brother. “So what are we watching anyway?”

“Well,” her dad replied, turning off the volume on the television; Starburst noticed that one of his ears had perked towards the doorway Twilight had just left through, “we hadn’t decided yet, but seeing how little time you’ve been spending with us recently Starburst-”

Right, because I didn’t just have dinner with you and Aunty Celestia, Starburst remarked in her thoughts, but stopped herself from actually saying that out loud.

“- we had thought that we could first watch the ‘Royal Legion - the World’s Greatest Army’ documentary?” Flash Sentry finished, smirking at his daughter as she gasped in surprise, actually pleased. “Or we could watch our home movie collection of how you’d trip over your wings…” he added teasingly, looking over to the side as if still pondering the idea.

“No no, the documentary is fine!” Starburst quickly assured him, even though she knew he was kidding.

She didn’t enjoy documentaries as nearly as her mom did, of course, but the ones about Royal Guard, the Protective Pony Platoons, the E.U.P. Guard, and, of course, the Pegasus Royal Legion were an exception. Not only did she find them interesting, but also actually fun; an opinion that wasn’t exactly shared by Nighty, as evident by his groan.

“Couldn’t we watch some documentary about unicorns instead?” he asked, pouting at their father, but Flash already shook his head.

“I know you and your mom were watching ‘Star Swirl’s Secrets’ on Discovery last night, Junior, and besides…” he added but then trailed off, his ear twitching; the next second Twilight came back to the room, worry on her face.

“That was Rainbow calling,” she began, placing the phone back at its charging station. “She had heard from the Ponyville’s Weather Team that when they were moving the storm clouds near the Sweet Apple Acres, they’ve lost several and they drifted off to the Everfree Forest. Star, would you mind going to check on Starfall? The clouds are unpredictable around that forest as it is, those storm clouds could be dangerous.”

Starburst, having realized what got her mother so worried halfway through her explanation, immediately nodded and got up. “Of course. But, um…” she trailed off, looking at the window unsurely; it was raining so heavily that she couldn’t see anything beyond it.

As if to confirm that this wasn’t a weather one could simply leave their house, a lightning flashed outside, and was followed very quickly by a loud thunder.

“I’ll teleport you to the Castle of the Royal Sisters,” her mother explained when thunder passed. “I would go with you, of course, but I have a feeling that it would only unnerve him,” she added, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Starburst murmured.

“And besides, Starfall will surely be able to teleport the two of you back here by himself, so-” Twilight continued, but Starburst realized she had to cut her off.

“Mom, sorry, but… did you just say ‘teleport the two of you’?” she asked, unsure if she hadn’t misheard her.

“Those few storm clouds could easily spread across the whole Everfree Forest; even if it’s not raining over the castle ruins yet, it probably will soon,” her mother began to explain, speaking as if she was talking about something obvious. “I’m pretty sure that most of the castle doesn’t have a roof, so even if we’d overlook the lack of heating, that’s not a place for anypony to spend such a day in. Starfall can stay here, and if it won’t clear out by nightfall, he can sleep in one of the guest rooms, right?”

That last question was directed to her husband; the pegasus stallion quickly nodded. “Of course, I wouldn’t want the colt to sleep in this,” he said, pointing at window behind him.

“You mean Starfall will be spending a whole day with us?” Nighty asked, excited. “Cool! I wonder if he could teach me another trick of his! I’ve been practicing that bubble spell of his, and after reading ‘Inkwell’s Guide to Conjuration’, I think-”

“Mom, Dad,” Starburst spoke up, interrupting whatever the heck her brother was going on about, “let me get this straight; you want my coltfriend to spend an entire day here with us, and very possible the night, too?”

“Oh, Starburst, honestly,” her mother snorted in exasperation and rolled her eyes, “I think we made it clear that we are happy you’re dating and that we like Starfall-”

“You’re not the ones I’m worried about,” Starburst told her, now exasperated herself, shaking her head as her eyes slowly widened in dread and surprise that her mother failed to realize what kind of annoyance she would be about to face with Starfall. “There’s no way Star will agree to that!”

“Starburst, I’m sure you’re overreacting;” Twilight replied, frowning. “Are you telling me he would prefer to stay in those empty ruins in this weather than-?”

“He might quite literally prefer to drown in those empty ruins than spend an entire day and night here,” Starburst said, deadpanning at her mother, though mostly out of annoyance at her coltfriend.

Twilight’s frown grew deeper, but as she opened her mouth to reply, her husband beat her to it “That’s kinda reassuring, actually.”

“Flash!” Twilight snapped at him, mildly annoyed. The pegasus quickly raised his forehooves defensively and shook his head, causing Twilight to sigh as her eyes darted upward in annoyance.

“Even if I do convince him to come here,” Starburst continued, ignoring her dad’s joke (or at least, she thought it was joke), “he’ll spend the entire time being stressed and nervous, especially if he’ll have to sit with us through this family quality time thing; which honestly is quite a scary concept,” she added, burying her face in her hooves and shaking her head to stop trying to imagine that.

I even joked about him coming over, for Celestia’s sake! she realized, now feeling even worse; and at the same time, feeling like bashing her head against the wall, too.

As she recovered, she heard her mother sigh again. “I guess you can skip our family time then, if it will make Starfall more comfortable; it is an emergency, after all.”

“I dunno, I kinda like the thought of our daughter’s coltfriend being nervous and…” Flash Sentry began, but stopped when Twilight gave him an annoyed glare. “Hey, the kid hospitalized me, I should be legally allowed to make those jokes.”

Ignoring her dad’s jokes, Starburst pondered her mother’s proposal; it would be easier to convince Starfall to come here if they were to stay away from everypony. On the other hoof, though, she had already agreed that she’d spend today with her family. Even if she did find this to be somewhat annoying, she didn’t like the thought of going back on her word (and the fact that they were going to watch something she was actually interested in made her like that thought even less).

Oh well, I suppose it can’t be helped, Starburst thought, glancing over at the window; the rain was still pouring heaving against it.

“Alright, I’ll go,” she finally spoke up, “it’s not like I have a better idea. But don’t be surprised if it takes me a while to get back,” she added.

Her mother nodded. “I understand, but please, do hurry. If you won’t be back in twenty minutes, I will go get both of you.”

Twenty minutes to convince Starfall to spend the entire day with my family? Sure, no pressure…

A sudden whim came to her and she decided to obey it. “Hey Nighty,” she asked, glancing at her brother as their mother approached her, “wanna come with?”

Her brother blinked, then turned to the window, just as another lightning struck outside, causing him to jump up on the couch. “Y-yeah no, I’m good here,” he replied nervously.

Heh, scaredy cat, she thought, smirking.

Turning back to her mom she noticed that she was looking at her sternly. Smiling innocently, she waited for her mother to sigh and shake her head, as her horn began to glow.

“Be safe,” she told her a moment before teleporting her away.

“Aaa!” Starburst almost immediately yelped in surprise as she felt water dripping right on her head.

This can’t be a good sign, she thought as she quickly moved out of the way water stream - then she moved away again, as she had stepped into a puddle - and began to brush her mane.

“Star?” she heard Starfall’s surprised voice even before she took a look around; not that it would help her, compared to her living room this place was pitch-black. The one source of light was a familiar multi-colored glow of magic, which was quickly approaching. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked her as he reached her, levitating something beside him.

“I…” she began, but almost immediately forgot about what she wanted to say as she watched him place a bucket under the dripping water. “Um, what are you doing?”

“What I can with my provisional roof leaking?” he replied with a question. “Dunno if you noticed, but it’s raining.”

Of course, Starburst did notice; if the water dripping on her head wasn’t big enough of a clue, she could also hear the rain falling, as heavily as back in Ponyville if not more.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m here… wait, what roof?” she asked instead, having trailed off in mid-sentence after realizing what he had said; she knew too well that this part of the ruins - a quick glance around the visible area had told her they were in the Throne Room - had a giant hole in the ceiling.

In reply, Starfall conjured a ball of light, which he send upward. Starburst’s gaze followed it as it reached the ‘ceiling’, illuminating it. Immediately, she was very, very glad that her mother had decided it would be better for her to come alone; Starburst didn’t want to think how she would react to the sight of the ancient tapestries being tied to the roof - “how” was a question she didn’t want to think of now - and serving as a “tarpaulin” of sorts. Or roof, as Starfall had referred to it just now.

Forget Mom, how would Aunt Rarity react?! Starburst realized with dread. That does it, we are never going to bring up what he does with this Castle to my relatives.

Still, she had to give Starfall this; if it weren’t for his “innovative” usage of the tapestries, the Throne Room would have probably been flooded by now, if the storm she could hear raging outside was as bad as it seemed. Still, it wasn’t a perfect solution, as evident by the dripping water and the bucket Starfall had placed under the leak. It wasn’t the only one; Starburst managed to spot several more as the light passed around the ceiling, through which water dripped right to bucket Starfall had set up before she had showed up.

She shook her head to stop getting distracted. “Nevermind. Star, my mom teleported me here; she heard from Prism’s mother that Ponyville’s weather team lost a few storm clouds and they escaped to the Everfree Forest-”

“Gee, I didn’t notice,” Starfall interrupted her sarcastically, just as another leak began to drop from the ceiling.

“Yeah, my mom hoped that it wouldn’t have reached the ruins yet, if at all,” Starburst commented. Sighing, she readied herself for the difficult part. “Anyway, the reason she sent me here was to invite you over to our mansion until the rain passes; she even said you could sleep in one of the guest rooms.”

Starfall, who had turned away from her as he looked around the Throne Room - probably looking around for something else he could use as another container for the dripping water under the new leak - now had turned back. He blinked, then looked over at the filling up buckets, then at the ceiling, then back at her, his eyebrow raised. “Yeah, I think I might actually prefer to stay here and drown.”

“You know, I would be kinda offended if I hadn’t said the same thing,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Star-”

“How exactly does your mom imagine this would work?” Starfall interrupted her, abandoning his search for another bucket and turning his full attention to her. “Didn’t my display at the that dinner show that I’m not really good with interacting with other ponies? I wouldn’t know what to say and how to act, and-”

“You don’t have to interact with anypony, we can just spend the time together, alone,” Starburst quickly interrupted him, getting annoyed at how he began to panic. “My family won’t bother you. My mom is just concerned for your safety.”

“Well, that’s very nice of her,” Starfall replied, snorting and crossing his forelegs on his chest. “But I am perfectly fine here, so there’s no reason to-”

With a loud scratch! the tapestries with which Starfall had covered the ceiling gave out and were torn apart, causing a wall of water - and whatever else was gathered on them, probably mud from the stones on higher towers and century old dirt of tapestries - to fall on them.

Apparently even the Everfree Forest is tired of his ego, Starburst thought, brushing her wet mane out of her eyes.

“What were you saying?!” she asked, shouting to be heard over the storm.

Starfall’s horn’s glow grew brighter, and it stopped raining over them. Starburst shook herself, trying to get as much water off her as she could; both of them were drenched.

“What happened to your cloak?” she asked, noting that he wasn’t wearing it. Shuddering from the cold, she added “Wasn’t it waterproof?”

“I have it blocking a hole back in my room,” Starfall explained, looking up with concern; following his gaze, Starburst watched as droplets of water bounced off an invisible wall or rather bubble that was above them. Hearing him groan made her immediately turn back at him. Starfall was frowning in concentration, and held one hoof pressed to his temple. “Damn it’s raining heavily…”

“Now can we go to my home?” Starburst asked, deadpanning at him. “Come on, we’re already all wet, we need to go someplace warm and dry- achoo!” she suddenly sneezed.

“Star?” Starfall exclaimed, worry in his voice. “Are you alright?”

She shot him another deadpanning glare, but it was almost immediately ruined by another sneeze. “Just t-take us back to my home already,” she said, her voice stuttering a little due to the cold.

“Ugh, fine,” she heard him say, and looked up in time to see his horn glow even brighter…

“But only because I don’t want you to catch a cold,” he said, crossing his forelegs in annoyance as their surroundings changed; from dark, cold and wet to bright, warm and dry.

“Thanks-” Starburst began, but was immediately cut off.

“Oh goodness, are you two alright?” she heard her mother ask; turning her head towards her, Starburst realized that Starfall had teleported them right to the center of the living room, where they now stood, water dripping from them, before her family, who were all staring at them in surprise.

Her father and brother were first to recover. “Hi Starfall,” the both said, Flash Sentry seeming amused, while Nighty seemed both excited and a little bashful at the same time.

Starfall, who looked as if he, too, was surprise by the current situation, smiled sheepishly. “H-hello. Um, I guess I should have remembered to aim for the foyer or something…” her coltfriend muttered awkwardly. “Sorry for-”

He wasn’t given a chance to apologize properly; Starburst’s mother conjured two big towels out of thin air that she immediately wrapped around both of them.

“Don’t tell me you two fell into a river again?” Twilight asked sternly, moving from the couch towards them.

Starburst blushed as she recalled the memory, of another stormy night - although it wasn’t as nearly bad as the current one - not so long ago, when they fell into a river. Though that led to them to reconcile and grow close, eventually leading up to them dating, Starburst was still embarrassed about how they fell into it.

“No Mom, we just…” she trailed off, thinking how to best describe just why they ended up so wet. “Let’s just say that Star isn’t exactly a carpenter,” she finished, shrugging as she began to wipe herself with the towel.

“Wait, those things were carpets? I thought they’re called tapestries,” Starfall asked, blinking in surprise.

As Starburst sighed and facehoofed, wondering whether he was joking or not, her mother stared at him in surprise for a moment before shaking her head, as if dismissing whatever she was thinking about. “I’m glad Starburst have convince you to come, Starfall,” she began. “I know you prefer being on your own, but during a storm like this it’s better that you’d be with a roof over your head.”

“Thank you kindly for your invitation,” Starfall said, dropping his usual attitude and bowing his head graciously. “Despite my, um, reluctance, I am grateful for it. I hope I won’t be too much of a bother.”

“You, ‘bother’?” Flash Sentry spoke up, smirking. “Never.”

Starburst’s mom gave him an annoyed glare before smiling back to Starfall. “What Star’s father wanted to say is that you are most welcome. Anyway, I think it would be best if you two got yourself cleaned,” she added. Starburst looked at her coat and feathers; the water that gathered on the tapestries before falling on them had definitely tons of dirt in it. “I’d suggest you both go take hot showers; separately, of course,” she added, glancing at her husband with mild annoyance even before he grunted loudly. “Star, can you show him off to the bathroom near the guests rooms before you go to your own?” As Starburst nodded - while rolling her eyes over how her parents thought they had to specify about them not taking a shower together - Twilight smiled again. “Afterwards you two can go do whatever you want.”

“Wait, I thought you mentioned you guys were going to spend some family time?” Starfall asked, looking at Starburst questioningly.

“Well, yeah,” she began to reply, “but since you’re here, and well, you’re you…” she said meaningfully and trailed off, knowing he would get what she means immediately and not pursue the topic further.

He did get what she meant, indeed, but his reply surprised her. “Oh, you are not missing out on family time just because your coltfriend is not right in the head,” he said, snorting. Turning to her mother, he asked “Since Star seem to be my designated chaperone during my stay here, would it be alright if I’d join your family time too?”

“Of course,” Twilight replied, delighted. “You will be most welcome.”

Starburst blinked. “What just happened?”

“You did mention something about me getting used to your family,” Starfall replied nonchalantly, shrugging.

She continued to stare at him for a few seconds before narrowing her eyes. “Either you hit your head in the ruins or are doing this just to annoy me.”

“Or I don’t want you to miss spending time with your family. As, you know, somepony who doesn’t have any,” he added, making a sad face.

“... I hate you so much right now,” Starburst said after a moment, deadpan.

“No you don’t,” Starfall replied calmly. As her family all chuckled quietly at their exchange - making her blush with embarrassment - he began to turn towards the door. “Now, how about you lead me towards that bath- gah!” he suddenly exclaimed, taking a step back.

Surprised and confused, Starburst leaned around him to see what startled him. To her surprise - an annoyance - her pet albino ferret Snow was standing before Starfall, glaring at him.

Huh, I wondered where he had gone off too, she thought, knowing he had to be somewhere around the mansion with the storm outside. Starburst opened her mouth to berate her ferret for glaring at her coltfriend like that, but before she could say anything said coltfriend lowered his head to be on the same level as Snow’s.

“We meet again,” he told the ferret menacingly, matching his glare.

Sweet Celestia, Starburst thought, rolling her eyes. “Star-” she began, but was cut off by Snow hissing, to which Starfall replied with a growl, baring his fangs.

Deadpanning at her family, who, while appearing a little confused, all began to chuckle, Starburst decided enough was enough. “Great, now I have two red-eyed idiots to deal with here,” she exclaimed as she walked past Starfall, freeing her wing from the towel to grab Snow. “Come on,” she added to Starfall as she grabbed his foreleg and pulled him out of the living room.

“Hey, we hadn’t finished saying hello,” Starfall exclaimed, amusement dripping from his voice.

Starburst turned her head back for a short retort, but just then they heard her father ask: “What do you think he meant by ‘we meet again’?”

The two of them exchanged glance. “On second thought, let’s go already,” Starfall said as they hurried away.

Another Stormy Night - Part II

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“‘We meet again’,” Starburst repeated as soon as they were out of her parent’s earshot, doing her best to imitate Starfall’s voice. Glaring at her coltfriend, she hissed, back in her normal voice: “Seriously, you just had to say that?”

Starfall winced slightly, clearly upset, but it didn’t stop him from trying to defend himself. “Well, to be fair, it was your pet that started it-”

The scarred unicorn apparently had enough common sense left roaming around in his skull to stop his ridiculous argument abruptly as soon as Starburst’s glare hardened. She opened her mouth to berate him, but at the same time Snow, whom she still held with her wing, began to wiggle, trying to escape.

“Oh, don’t you start now too,” she told the albino ferret, who gave one last defiant wiggle before giving up.

Starburst next had immediately turned back to Starfall, who had his mouth open, probably about to say something along the lines of ‘Start again you mean’.

He seemed to rethink that idea as she narrowed her eyes at him. “Sorry,” Starfall said instead, ears dropping. He then tilted his head and asked: “Can’t you just explain later that I ran into him when I was over for a dinner or something?”

“I’ll probably have to,” Starburst replied, sighing. As usual, her annoyance quickly ebbed away as soon as Starfall displayed an apologizing demeanor; she wondered if he’d start to ‘use that’ against her at some point. “Though hopefully my dad will just let it go. So what if you had met my pet before?! For Celestia’s sake, we’ve been dating for over two weeks now,” she snorted and shook her head.

Even if aside from the time we had slept in my bed together he hadn’t really met him, she mused briefly, then dismissed that line of pondering as they reached their destination.

“Alright, so,” she began as they stopped, pointing at the door next to them, “this is a guest room. Actually, all of these are guests rooms,” Starburst amended, rolling her eyes, as she spread her forehoof at the other doors of this corridor around them. “Pick whichever you want, we don’t have any other guests now. And this is the guest bathroom,” she added, opening the other door next to them, opposite of the one she had originally pointed at. She led Starfall inside and opened the cabinet, taking out a fresh towel. “Here’s a towel, and over there you’ve got shower gel and other stuff,” Starburst finished, pointing with her wing at the shelf within the shower cabin as she laid the towel on top of the cabinet.

Her gaze shifted from the shower to the wing with which she had pointed. It was dirty. Mud and whatever else had gathered on the remains of the roof before the rain water washed it all away down through the hole and drench them - Starburst hoped that there weren’t any bird droppings in this - had seeped into her feathers and coat. It wasn’t that bad, especially to somepony who was used to being covered in sweat and dirt after hours of training, but still not appropriate state for one to be when in company of others. Especially their family and coltfriend (even if said coltfriend was in no better state).

“Okay, so I’m gonna go take shower too now,” she said, folding her wing back and covering herself better with the towel her mother had conjured for them. “And I’m going to put this one back to his ‘den’. I’ll see you in…” Starburst began as she turned back to Starfall, only to trail off. She narrowed her eyes. “Star, why are you smirking?”

“No reason,” he replied, shrugging… and still smirking.

“Don’t give me that, I know that smirk!” Starburst exclaimed, pointing a hoof at his face. “You’re up to something!”

“Me?” Starfall exclaimed in turn, faking shock.

At least he’s no longer smirking…

“Whatever I could be up to, my Beloved Nemesis?”

“I don’t know, anything?!” Starburst replied, exasperated.

Starfall rolled his eyes, dropping the pretenses. “Alright, let’s say I am up to something. But you know that despite what I often display, I am smart-”

That’s debatable, she thought, recalling the conversation she had overheard yesterday between him, Claire and Illusion. Part of the reason why she was so annoyed at him for deciding to spend time with her family instead with just her, alone, was that she had hoped she’d get a chance to talk to him about that. Maybe we’ll get some privacy before going to sleep...

“- on top of being paranoidly worried about your parents,” Starfall continued, oblivious to her plans, “and above all care a very great deal about you. Whatever I would be up to couldn’t be bad then, couldn’t it? Don’t you trust me?” he asked, his eyes slightly widening and his lip quivering.

Is he… doing puppy-eyes at me?! Starburst thought, both surprised and annoyed. Ugh, really doesn’t work with those eyes of his… even if one could stare into them for hours…

She shook her head, not wanting to get all dreamy when she was in the middle of berating him. “Of course I trust you,” Starburst replied with annoyance. “Except that between you asking to spend time with my family, and now apparently plotting something while being in my home with my parents right here, makes me wonder if you really hadn’t gotten hit in the head back in the ruins.”

Starfall chuckled. “Ah, yes, I can see why you’d be worried in such case. Well, don’t worry, nothing hit me. You’re welcome to examine me if you want later. Now, though, I would like to get cleaned,” he said, looking at his coat with dismay.

Starburst nodded, not exactly happy with the way this conversation had went. She looked at Starfall, trying to figure out what he was planning, but she couldn’t come up with anything.

“So?”

Starfall’s question broke her out of her musing. “So what?” she asked, turning to him as he raised his eyebrow questioningly.

“Are you going to watch me shower?”

She opened her mouth, perplexed. Suddenly, she could feel warmth on her cheeks.

“I mean, I don’t mind,” Starfall continued; finally she noticed that he was holding back laughter, “I just thought that-”

Starburst shook off her embarrassment and began to leave, elbowing him on the shoulder as she passed him. “Very funny,” she hissed, doing her best to scowl.

“I know,” Starfall replied, sticking his tongue out playfully.

Rolling her eyes - while failing to hold back a smile - Starburst walked out of the bathroom and locked the door behind her. On the corridor, she thought about sitting down for a moment, needing a few seconds to calm herself. There was an off chance that she’d run into somepony after all, and she didn’t want them to see her blushing after seeing her coltfriend off to a bathroom. However, she could already hear him turning on the water, so staying here would lead to her hearing her coltfriend taking a shower. Which, aside from being a fodder for another joke of his if he’d ever find out, would certainly cause her blush to grow even worse.

“Annoying little…” she muttered to herself as she began to head for her own bathroom, half-annoyedly and half-fondly. Snow, who remained quiet wrapped by her wing - and cast unfriendly gazes at Starfall most of the time - had voiced a dook of agreement. Starburst frowned at her ferret. “Okay, now you-”

“So for the love of Celestia, stop hissing at him every time you see him,” Starburst finished, now speaking normally in the privacy of her room instead of using a hushed tone so that her family wouldn’t hear her scolding her pet ferret.

Snow, whom now she had released, hurried over back to his sleeping basket. Starburst followed him, not believing that he’d listen to what she had told him, and at the same time not liking one bit that she actually had to tell him things like those.

“Please?” she tried different approach as Snow looked at her from his ‘den’. “I really, really like him, okay? Could you give him a chance, for me?”

Snow tilted his little head, considering her plea, and finally nodded, although with clear reluctance.

“Thanks,” she sighed with relief, then lower her head to nuzzle him affectionately. “You’re the best Snow.” Starburst brought her hoof to pet him under his chin for a bit, before finally turning away. “Now if you excuse me, I’ve got to shower and get ready for a very fun day.”

Despite her sarcastic tone, she tried to think positively of this family time plus Starfall thing. If they were going to just watch movies or play some board games or whatever her parents had planned for the rest of the day, it couldn’t possible turn out badly.

Especially since Nighty will be there, Starburst thought, trotting towards the door leading to her private bathroom. They won’t be able to ask too many questions about our relationship… I hope.

There was a certain irony that she’d have to be grateful for her little brother’s presence while spending time with her coltfriend.

Then again, she thought, rolling her eyes as she put her forehoof on the door-knob, opening the bathroom doors, I suppose they wouldn’t outright ask if we, well, became intimate and stuff, anyway, so...

Her thoughts abruptly trailed off as her brain shut down upon entering the bathroom.

Starfall, who was sitting next to her bathtub - above which thin steam could be seen, suggesting that it had been filled with a hot water - turned to her as she entered, neutral expression on his face. After a second, he turned his head to the bathtub, then back at her. His lower lip pulled up, as if waiting for her opinion.

Finally, her brain had rebooted. She shook her head for good measure - and to make sure that Starfall was really there, that it wasn’t some hallucination - and facehoofed. “I severely underestimated just how insane you really are,” she half-exclaimed, half-groaned.

“Clearly,” Starfall agreed humorously.

She immediately snapped herself into glaring at him… but her glare was ruined by how fiercely she was blushing already and how nervous Starfall’s suggestion had made her. “A-are you s-seriously suggesting… t-that we take a bath together?! I-I… forget embarrassment, what about my parents!?”

Starfall began to open his mouth.

“If you say ‘I was hoping they’d get their own bath’, I’m going to hit you,” Starburst interrupted him, frowning at him angrily. “Hard.”

Starfall closed his mouth, but to her surprise he looked at her with annoyance. After a second, though, he rolled his eyes and said: “Okay, that does sound like something I would say.”

“You weren’t though?” Starburst asked, bewildered.

Now she wasn’t sure if he really hadn’t hit his head earlier…

“Well, even I can get serious from time to time… especially when you are involved, my Beloved Nemesis,” he replied, smiling at her seductively. His cheeks were slightly red though, too, betraying that despite coming up with this he was a bit embarrassed, too. “As for the bath… it’s just a suggestion. I thought we could take a nice, relaxing warm bath together. Maybe as a way to make it up to you for how I earlier invited myself into your family time instead of taking the opportunity to spend time alone with you.”

“... And the fact that my parents are just a floor below doesn’t alarm you at all?!” Starburst exclaimed after a second.

To her irritation, Starfall\s face brightened as he heard that. “So you don’t mind the bath idea alone?”

Her eyes widened. Did she? “I, um, w-well um…” she stammered, unsure how she felt about it.

It was… she would have lied if she said that she wouldn’t have liked that. Starburst really enjoyed how affectionate Starfall was towards her, and she also liked to display her affection towards him in turn. She loved kissing him, and making out… and him, too, of course. Displaying their feelings through physical acts like those were quite pleasant, and far more enjoyable that she’d have thought before meeting Starfall. However, taking a bath together… it seemed to her that it would be more intimate than what they had done up to now.

I mean, sure, the bathtub is big enough for us to use it without, um, anything touching, she thought, feeling as hot as if she had already jumped into the warm bath Starfall had prepared. And it does seem like it would… fun, maybe we could make out a little…

Feeling the blush on her muzzle grow even hotter, she fought of those thoughts and focused on a more practical aspect of this idea for now. “Star, my parents are in the house! For crying out loud, they are waiting for us to join them! Which part of this seems like a good idea to you?!”

“The part where you recall how good of a trixter I am?” Starfall replied, smirking. However, he then added, his smugness disappearing: “Also the part where we hurry this up, I think it would be weird if we took longer than… half an hour?”

Starburst sighed in annoyance. “Star, we are not taking a bath together with my parents here!”

They were taking a bath together.

“How do you keep talking me into stuff?” Starburst asked, a little bit annoyed, as she wriggled against Starfall’s side to make herself more comfortable, then placed her head on his shoulder. “This is so crazy…”

A shudder had went through her as water touched the not-submerged yet part of her (her head to be specific) when she shifted her position. Despite the bath being prepared by Starfall a good few minutes before they went into it (the delay that happened mostly due to their short argument), it was still very hot. Starburst didn’t take such baths too often; usually only after very hard training, when she’d feel really tired and would need to relax. And of course, never before she had taken such bath with somepony else.

“Again, I left my water duplicate behind in that bathroom, so it will seem like I am still there,” Starfall said once again, replying to her, as he nuzzled his head against hers gently. A different kind of shudder went through her body. “Not to mention that nopony would expect we’d do this.”

He has a point there…

“Besides,” he added; Starburst cranked her head to check his face and saw that he was grinning, “doesn’t the risk of being discovered make this more exciting?”

Starburst blushed as she looked into his red eyes. She didn’t want to admit it, but now that she thought about it, it was exciting. “W-well, maybe… starting to understand why you’ve spend the last few years living the way you had,” she added, half-frowning and half-smirking at her coltfriend. “If risks excite you I mean.”

“Meh, that life had its charms, but I prefer this one,” Starfall replied, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek and causing another shudder go through her coat. “But back to the topic; you are complaining about me talking you into stuff?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do you remember how you asked me to sleep with you after I asked you out?”

“That was different, you didn’t have a place to sleep,” Starburst defended herself, although she did smile hearing the remark, recalling that night. “Still don’t, actually.”

“Okay, then how about you talk me into family dinners and camping trips? Or the whole thing with education…”

“I think you are confusing me with either Princess Celestia or my mom right now,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

Starfall turned to look at her, surprise in his eyes. “Wow, that would make this situation really awkward.”

It took Starburst a good three seconds to understand what he meant. When she did, she snorted with laughter; the thought of Starfall taking a bath with either her mom or Auntie Celestia instead of her by some cosmic-level of confusion was just… insane.

“That would be awkward indeed,” she told him, shaking her head as she calmed down. “Actually, more like mentally scarring, all things considering,” she added in an afterthought.

“True,” Starfall agreed. “But I did get to relax a bit, didn’t I?”

Starburst frowned; he was right, she was a bit more relaxed now, the conversation making her forget that they were in a situation where things could get touched. However, what bothered her now was that Starfall had noticed that she wasn’t comfortable.

“Sorry,” she apologised, feeling stupid; this was a nice, pleasant moment, and she trusted Starfall to not do… anything, and they’ve done a lot of making out before that, and yet she was having some issues. “Guess I’m a little… um, skittish? Or something,” she murmured, looking away in embarrassment.

Her ear perked as she heard Starfall chuckle. “Guess that means I should step-up my ‘make your marefriend’ relax game, huh? Good thing I know how…” he trailed off, lowering his voice to an amlost evil-sounding whisper.

“Star, what are you…” Starburst began to ask, slightly worried, but then her words turned into a groan as she felt Starfall’s mouth engulf her ear, his fangs scratching behind in just the right way.

Her groans quickly turned into moans as pleasure shot through her. All her tension left her, her body surrendering to Starfall’s ministrations. He had moved his foreleg underneath and around her to bring his hoof against her other ear and began to scratch it too, while his other forehoof he placed on her chest, brushing her fur sensually. Starburst stretched out her limbs (as best as she could in a bathtub with another pony), completely lost in the wonderful feeling, so much that she barely even noticed that she had stuck her wing out of the bathtub and water was now leaking from her wet feathers on the bathroom floor.

“Oooh…” she groaned, the last vestiges of her mind that didn’t surrender burning with annoyance at how easy it was for him to turn her into moaning mess of wet fur and feathers. “I bucking hate yoooouu…”

A slow chuckle escaped Starfall. “No you do-” he began to reply, but to do so had caused him to release her ear, and while he continued to scratch behind the other one with his forehoof, it wasn’t as nearly as good as when he did it with his fangs, plus he lost his concentration on that task while replying anyway.

It would be his downfall.

Being given enough of a break to recover, Starburst quickly spun around, landing with her chest on Starfall’s so that now they were facing each other. She reveled in the sight of surprise in her coltfriend’s eyes for a brief moment, then leaned in and pressed her lips against his, kissing him. Her wings, previous only half-unfolded due to the overall body relaxation that she had experienced, now completely unfolded, helping her support herself against the bathtub’s edges. Now they were both hanging outside the bathtub, dripping more water on the floor. But Starburst didn’t care, all she cared about was her coltfriend’s lips and mouth, his tongue, his chest on which she laid on, her hoof she put to the side of his head, his forehooves that she could feel brushing her back, his-

Despite being in a bathtub full of hot water, Starburst still felt a cold shiver go down her spine, immediately snapping her out of her trance. She pulled back her head, breaking the kiss, and stared down with wide eyes, realization what had happened dawning upon her. As she had wriggled against Starfall in pleasure, her foreleg had brushed, briefly, against… something.

“Um… “ she mumbled, her cheeks burning way more hotter than the water, as she tried to come up with a thing to say. All the while her coltfriend laid underneath her, looking up at her with confusion, a slight blush on his face as well. “I- um… sorry,” she finally said quietly.

“You don’t have to apologise,” he replied, chuckling sheepishly.

“I know, just… didn’t mean to… y-you know, touch you there,” Starburst explained, stammering, as she slowly pulled off Starfall.

Starfall frowned a little as she moved away practically to the other end of the bathtub, but then he sighed, his ears dropping. “Maybe this bath was a bad idea…”

“No, Star, it wasn’t a bad idea, but-” Starburst began to explain (not really sure how she was going to do that), but Starfall stopped.

“Star, tell me something,” he began, looking into her eyes with unusual for him seriousness. “Are you just awkward because of what you did - however small that was-”

So glad Annie didn’t hear that, a quiet voice said in Starburst head, she’d have a field day…

“- or was that about what I had been through?” Starfall finished, crossing his forelegs on his chest.

Starburst stared at him, surprised. Was it? she wondered, unsure herself.

“This had happened to you a few times before, apologizing after you had done something a bit more forward,” Starfall added.

“I…” Starburst began to reply, but realized that she didn’t have an answer to give him. “I don’t know. I think… both?” Starfall sighed again, but he didn’t stop her from continuing. “I-I mean, look, I am mostly embarrassed, because, well, I didn’t mean to… touch you there, and we hadn’t done anything of that sort despite all our… making out sessions. But also… w-well, you-”

A hoof pressed to her lips stopped her from speaking further, about what Starfall had been through and how horrible it was. Starburst looked at Starfall and found him smiling at her warmly.

“Star,” he said, his loving eyes burning into her, “you could never hurt me. Yes, what I had been through was horrible, but whatever you and I would have in terms of physical contact would be nothing like that. So please don’t let it bother you anymore, okay?” Starfall finished, moving his hoof from her lips to her cheeks.

“I’ll… I’ll try,” Starburst promised, feeling as she was melting against his hoof, especially after hearing how convinced he was that she could never hurt him. “But I’ll still get embarrassed!” she added, poking him in the shoulder and pretending to frown.

“That’s fair,” Starfall replied, chuckling, as he took his hoof away. “Sorry if my idea made you uncomfortable; I was going more for the ‘romantic’ thing,” he added, a bit sheepishly.

“Well, it is,” she admitted, giggling nervously. “Sorry I kinda ruined the moment.”

“Stop apologizing,” he countered, sticking his tongue out playfully. “Now turn around,” he added, lifting his forehoof and making a circular motion with it.

“Um, why?” Starburst asked, taken by surprise by the strange request… especially since the memory of what they’ve talked about was really fresh in her mind.

But Starfall was already grabbing a shower gel, soap, and a shampoo in reply with his magic. “So I can help you wash your back? ‘Cause we need to actually get cleaned here?” he asked, pretending to be surprised. He then raised an eyebrow and smirked. “What were you thinking?”

“Oh shut up,” she told him, rolling her eyes, as she turned around with her back to him while he applied the shower gel on his forehooves.

Starburst gasped and shuddered as Starfall spread the cold gel on her shoulders and further down her back. She quickly recovered and began to wash her front, although she found it difficult to focus, as what her coltfriend was doing to her back felt more like a massage rather than washing.

“So since we already… ugh, touched that subject,” she began to say after a few seconds of silence, “have you… um… been thinking about us becoming… you know, intimate?” she finished, her face somehow finding a way to feel even more hot than before.

She glanced at him with annoyance as she heard him chuckle. “Wow, you’re really uncomfortable about just saying se-”

Starburst nudged him to interrupt him, then deadpanned at him. “Only when I am in a bath with a colt,” she said.

Starfall raised an eyebrow, smirking.

“Yeah, I hear how ridiculous that sounded,” she admitted, rolling her eyes.

Her coltfriend chuckled again, his hooves now working on her wings, making sure her feathers were getting clean. “Would there even be a way for me to reply to such a question affirmatively without it sounding creepy, considering the current situation?” he asked instead of replying.

“More like embarrassing than creepy,” Starburst corrected him, glancing at him curiously. “Does that mean that you… have been thinking?”

Starfall didn’t reply at once, not until he was done with her wings. At first Starburst assumed that he was focusing on that task, as she hadn’t thought that answering her would be difficult for Starfall. True, those matters were about the only thing that he could get embarrassed about, but he was completely open with her, so she expected him to just say either “yes” or “no”. However, when she glanced at him after several moments, Starburst saw his brow furrowing in deep pondering.

His serious consideration of her question was so bizarre that Starburst almost felt dread at that sight.

“How should I say this…” Starfall finally began to say. “A part of me does think about it… but at the same time, another part of myself doesn’t… like to.” Starburst raised an eyebrow, confused by his reply. Starfall noticed that and explained further, looking into her eyes. “I sometimes, when we’re close and I can bathe in your scent, have those… urges,” he said, grimacing as if he didn’t like that word.

Starburst, surprised to hear him speak like that - and about things like those at that - barely even noticed that his forehooves had left her back and began to brush her chest.

“Urges like holding you close, kissing and licking you... or pinning you down and biting your mane…” he added as his hooves moved sensually across her chest.

Starburst felt a strange shiver go down her spine, but she couldn’t decide if it was a “bad shiver”; she enjoyed the attention her chest was receiving, of course, and also a part of her mind found his words to be a little bit… exciting.

She referred to that part of her mind as “her inner Annie”.

However, before Starburst could address this, Starfall stopped caressing her, his hooves instead embracing her. He pressed his chest against her back, placing his head on her shoulder as he hugged her.

“I don’t like having those thoughts,” Starfall confessed, his voice sounding almost dejected. “I don’t know if it’s just teenage colt hormones acting up, or… something I picked up,” he added, shuddering. Starburst almost shuddered, too, knowing what he was referring to. His hug tightened as he whispered “I would never want to hurt you.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” Starburst quickly assured him, putting a hoof on his forelegs on her chest and brushed against his cheek. “And I know you won’t. Seriously, you’ve just told me that whatever we’d have from those things would be nothing like what you’ve been through, what, five minutes ago?” she added, pulling her head back slightly so she could stare at him with one eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, well,” Starfall countered, releasing her from his hug and pulling away, “I’m allowed to have those fears,” he said, smirking.

But Starburst wouldn’t let him get away that easily. She turned around and moved closer to him through the water, her forelegs embracing him around his scarred back, their chests touching and muzzles inches apart.

“Star, I mean it, you would never hurt me. If not for you being such a sweet goof deep down, then for me kicking your ass if you’d try anything funny,” she added, smirking.

Starfall snorted with amusement. “Yeah, can’t argue with that one.”

“Don’t let that bother you, okay?” Starburst continued, growing serious again. “You are a wonderful coltfriend, and I love how, um… affectionate you are,” she admitted, her blush returning. “You really make me feel great and comfortable around you. So don’t worry about what I am pretty sure are just teen colt’s hormones,” she told him, rolling her eyes. “Heck, even I sometimes get… um, you know, urges,” Starburst added quietly, looking away in embarrassment.

And apparently I justify their existence by calling them my “inner Annie’s” ideas.

A rumble of amused purr rose in Starfall’s chest, sending vibrations through Starburst. “Oh, you do, huh?” he asked, his muzzle sliding past hers and kissing her on the neck.

Starburst wanted to sigh, but due to the treatment she was receiving, it came out more like a moan. “I just stroked your ego, didn’t I?” she asked, hoping she had retained some dignity.

Starburst ignored her inner Annie telling her what else could she stroke.

“Only a little,” Starfall replied, chuckling. He kissed her on the cheek and pulled away, so that they could look each other in the eyes. “Tell you what; you decide if we’re ready to take our relationship further. I’ll be fine waiting until then.”

“R-really?” Starburst asked, a little surprised. “You’d be okay with me deciding on that?”

“More than okay, Lil’Lioness; I would be relieved,” Starfall confessed. Starburst frowned a little, figuring out that he was still worried about having ‘urges’, but her annoyance quickly dispersed as Starfall nuzzled her cheek. “Besides, I do not mind in the slightest for you to wear the horseshoes in this relationship.”

If Starburst wasn’t so engrossed in the moment, perhaps she would have pointed out that neither of them wear those.

“If there is anything particular I’d want, it’s to make you happy,” Starfall continued, planting a kiss on her neck as he looked her in the eyes. “So you can choose when you’d want us to become intimate. Just give me a little heads-up,” he added, winking. “I’d like to… prepare.”

“Um… sure…” Starburst stammered, a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of her being in total control of their relationship. “‘Prepare’?” she asked, feeling oddly curious as to what he could mean.

A warm purr emerged from Starfall. “Well, there is this thing called ‘mentally preparing’.” Starburst cursed at herself; of course he too would have to be mentally ready for such a thing. However, before she could get embarrassed for not thinking of that, Starfall had resumed “But also… I’d like to continue this tradition. Of amazing first times,” he explained as Starburst shot him a confused look. “Remember our first date, when I took you to a secluded island? I was thinking of doing something amazing for every first time of ours,” he confessed, blushing a little despite his smirk.

“S-something amazing?” Starburst mumbled, more than a little overwhelmed at the thought. She’d have thought that just ‘taking the next step’ would be amazing enough. (And probably awkward. And embarrassing. Possibly a little confusing.) “W-what… just what the heck are you planning?”

Starfall didn’t reply immediately, instead he pulled his head back, so that their noses were touching, and stared deeply into her eyes. Starburst felt as if she was being pulled by his gaze, and after a few seconds she was about to lean closer and kiss him, but just then her coltfriend very quickly licked her on the nose.

As she blinked, stunned, Starfall grinned at her. “Not telling.”

That sight helped Starburst recover. “Fine,” she said, frowning, “I’ll trust you with this… more importantly though,” she began, eager to change the subject and push those confusing thoughts away, “you know you should want other things in life than just making me happy?” she asked him, raising her eyebrow in concern. “I mean, I’m really touched you’d want that and all, but-”

A hoof pressed against her lips stopped her (again). Starfall smiled at her warmly and said “I had nothing before meeting you. Now I feel like I have everything. And it is all thanks to you. I will probably develop some interests eventually,” he added quickly, shrugging; Starburst had a suspicion that he said that just so that she would drop the issue. “But for foreseeable future, I am content focusing on you, my Beloved Nemesis.”

Starburst briefly considered mentioning what she had overheard yesterday, about what he told Illusion and Claire about him not pursuing a career as a stage magician out of concern for her reputation. It seemed like a perfect moment to do so. However, a pleasant shudder went through her coat as he said that nickname, and found herself unable to do so now, now while they were talking about their relationship while having a bath.

However, there was one thing that she wanted to make clear.

“Okay, but there is one more thing we need to talk about,” she told Starfall, growing serious again. “What you said, about me ‘wearing the horseshoes’ in this relationship… I don’t want that. I want us to be equals, partners,” she explained, blushing.

Starfall looked at her, blinking in surprise, before nodding and smirking. “If that’s what you wish.”

Starburst nodded with satisfaction. “Yes, that’s what I… wish- hey!” she exclaimed, frowning as she realized what Starfall had just done.

But her coltfriend was already chuckling and nuzzling her apologetically. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself. I love that that’s what you want… although, you do know you’re kinda bossy, right?”

“I’m not-” Starburst began to defend herself, frowning, but then hesitated. Wasn’t she? She thought back to yesterday how she ordered him to erase that mural he had made, and other cases. It’s not being bossy, it’s having common sense when your coltfriend does not! a part of her argued. Still, she had to admit he had a point. “Okay, maybe I am… a little,” Starburst said reluctantly.

“One of the little things that make you the wonderful pony I love,” Starfall replied, making her smile. “Sorry if I’ll seem… submissive at times,” he added, his ears dropping. “I just… don’t wanna upset you.”

Starburst sighed, not knowing what to say to that. After all, he could sometimes upset her, as demonstrated yesterday with that mural thing. All she could think of was to kiss his cheek and tell him “Don’t worry about it, okay? We’ll figure everything out. I want this to work,” she added, blushing.

Starfall blushed to, then smiled and kissed her back on the cheek. “Thanks, Lil’Lioness. Now close your eyes,” he added unexpectedly with a smirk, his horn glowing.

“What-” Starburst managed to ask before water fell on her head, soaking her mane.

She shook and brushed water and wet hair out of her eyes, then glared at her coltfriend. “I did tell you to close your eyes,” he said innocently, a bottle of shampoo held by his magic next to him.

“I really hate you sometimes,” she remarked with a huff as she turned around, so that her back was facing Starfall.

“No you don’t,” Starfall replied playfully as he poured a hoof-full of shampoo on her mane and began to wash it.

He was right, of course, but Starburst didn’t want to let go of her annoyance quite yet. “Didn’t you say something about not wanting to upset me and being submissive about a second ago?” she asked as his hooves brushed her short mane.

“I dare say that I have learned when I can allow myself to be more bold with you,” Starfall replied, chuckling. “And that I am not upsetting you by being playful.”

Starburst rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky that you’re right. And cute,” she added, blushing slightly blushing.

“I’m lucky that I met you,” Starfall countered, leaning closer to kiss her on the cheek. “Close your eyes again.”

This time Starburst did as he asked, so this time when he poured water over her head, rinsing her mane, she didn’t get anything into her eyes. She waited until he finished, then shook her head in an effort to dry her mane.

“Alright, thanks,” she said, turning around. “Now turn around, I’m gonna do you.”

Starfall blinked, then smirked. “Wow, your friend would enjoy hearing that one.”

Starburst realized what she had said and how it could be interpreted after hearing her coltfriend comment. However, instead of being embarrassed about it, she merely rolled her eyes. “Annie would have to be here to hear that, and I’m pretty sure we’d have already given her enough to talk about by now.”

“True,” Starfall replied with amusement as he turned around.

“On the related note, if you’d ever invite Annie to watch us bathe, I’m dumping you,” she added, grabbing the shower gel bottle.

“Why the heck would I ever invite her?” Starfall asked, looking back with mocked horror. “You know she creeps me out!”

Starburst chuckled, quickly joined by Starfall, then proceeded to wash his back. It dawned on her that the water around them had started to turn cold; they’ve been here way too long. Soon her parents could get suspicious.

However, as she began to rub Starfall’s back, she paused. Her hoof traced along one of his scars. “Do they hurt you sometimes?” she asked, wondering if she should be careful while washing his back.

Starfall hesitated before answering. “Sometimes,” he admitted, clearly reluctantly. He glanced back at her and quickly smiled. “It’s not as bad as it sounds, honestly.”

Starburst nodded, figuring that she would have noticed earlier if they’d bother him. Still, it didn’t make her wish she could have kicked the face of the bastard who had done this to him any less.

“You know,” she began as she began to wash his back, “I actually always liked scars…”

Starfall chuckled. “Really?” he asked, glancing back.

“Yes… I mean, I always thought they look cool on ponies, like they’ve been in great battles and such. But yours…” she paused, frowning. “To be honest, they kinda make me regret ever thinking that-”

“They’ll definitely will if you continue to think only about how I got them,” Starfall told her, not unkindly. Starburst looked into his eyes and saw understanding in them. “Instead, you could try to focus more about how amazing I am for withstanding all of that,” he added, grinning.

Rolling her eyes, Starburst found that she couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Sure, you’re awesome,” she said, resuming her task.

“I know, thanks for noticing,” Starfall countered, sticking his tongue out.

“Shut up and wash your front,” Starburst told him, pushing his cheek gently to turn his head back forward.

Together, they quickly washed his body, then similarly began to wash his mane. However, due to its length, it took a bit longer than doing hers had.

“Why do you keep your mane this long anyway?” Starburst asked after a while, curious.

“Better suits magicians,” he replied, shrugging. “Make me seem more mystical and stuff.”

Starburst nodded absentmindedly - as she had asked that question mostly to keep up their conversation - when a thought hit her. “You seem to care a lot about being a magician, huh? At least as far as appearances and demeanor are concerned,” she added carefully.

This was a perfect opportunity to approach the subject of his magical performances. After all they’ve talked during the bath, she really didn’t feel like just coming out and saying “I overheard you talking about something you didn’t want me to know about”. It sounded too much like eavesdropping to her, and plus, she didn’t want to seem bossy by discussing it. As such, she had decided for a more careful approach since the chance had presented itself.

“Well, I was born and raised by a travelling performer,” Starfall pointed out, replying to her question. “It’s only natural that had acquired certain… mannerisms?” he tried, unsure of what word would sound best.

“Okay, but have you ever-” Starburst began, only to stop abruptly as somepony’s voice cut her off.

“Star?”

It was her mother’s voice. And it was coming from her room.

Both Starburst and Starfall turned sharply toward the bathroom’s doors, right at the moment when an aura of lavender-colored magic had enveloped the handle. Realizing that this meant that her mother, the alicorn Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle was about to enter and see her teenage daughter in a bath with her coltfriend, Starburst panicked. Without a second thought, she grabbed Starfall’s head and shoved it underwater.

Barely a second later, her mother entered the bathroom. “Star?” she asked, looking at her with confusion.

“H-hey mom, what’s up?” Starburst asked, stuttering slightly, as she carefully moved her wings so that Starfall was completely obscured from view (all the bubbles they’ve made while using shampoo and shower gel had helped a lot, too) and hoping that it didn’t look suspicious. The next second, though, she realized that her mother just entered her bathroom. “Wait, what the- what are you doing here Mom?!” she demanded, frowning at her.

“Oh, sorry Star, I didn’t expect you’d be taking a bath…” her mother replied, at first looking at her with mild embarrassment, then with surprise and confusion. “Why exactly are you taking a bath?”

“I- I just felt like it,” she answered, forcing herself to not sound panicked. Starburst hoped that her slight perplexion would be interpreted by her mom as embarrassment on being walked in on while bathing, and not suspect an actual reason. “What, I can’t take a bath now?”

“Of course you can, I just would have thought that with Starfall here you would have wanted to hurry up.”

The said unicorn just widget beneath Starburst, reminding her that he was without an access to oxygen at the moment.

“Though then again, he is also taking a long time,” her mother added, slightly frowning. “Star, do you know if-”

“He, um, he mentioned that he might take a while,” Starburst immediately grabbed the explanation that her mother had just unwittingly given her. “Because, you know, he doesn’t get to use an actual shower too often. So I figured I would have the time to take a bath.”

Twilight blinked. “Uh-huh,” she slowly exclaimed. Her horn began to glow, and she turned her head to the side, in the direction where - as Starburst quickly realized - the bathroom where Starfall was supposed to be. “He’s still there…” she heard her mother mutter very quietly to herself as her face slightly relaxed.

Normally, Starburst would grow offended at what her mother just had implied to be thinking, but due to her coltfriend running out of oxygen (and her being totally right) she decided to pretend she hadn’t heard that.

“Was there anything you wanted Mom?” Starburst asked, hoping she would leave soon (Starfall had again twitched).

“Just checking if everything is alright. We’ll be eating dinner soon,” her mother explained as she began to backpedal, her magic grabbing the door again. “Sorry for walking in.”

“Knock next time Mom,” Starburst told her, frowning.

It was a bad move on her part, as it caused Twilight to stop and look at her with mixture of annoyance and unhappiness. “Oh Star, honestly, I’ve both seen and given you bath a hundred of times, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

She’s doing this now while my coltfriend is suffocating…

“You’re right, good point Mom, I’m sorry, I’ll be out in a moment,” Starburst quickly said, praying she didn’t detect panic in her voice.

Twilight looked at her with wide eyes, no doubt surprised that she had surrendered the argument and apologized so quickly. Mercifully, she was satisfied with her response. “Alright Star, we’ll be waiting for you. Get Starfall on your way back,” she added as she closed the door.

Starburst waited a few more seconds afterwards, to make sure her mother wouldn’t come back, then finally took her hooves off Starfall’s head. Her coltfriend, who had again resumed struggling a moment before, emerged, taking a deep breath and coughing.

“Sorry, she wouldn’t leave,” Starburst told him, looking at him with worry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, been through worse,” he replied, waving with his hoof.

“My mom wanted to check on me ‘cause we were talking such a long time,” Starburst continued. “We’d better get going.”

“Sure, we were done anyway. But tell me one thing, Star,” he said, turning to her. Smirking, he asked: “You forgot that I can teleport, didn’t you?”

Starburst opened her mouth. “... S-shut up!” she said after a moment, punching his shoulder as he laughed.

Another Stormy Night - Part III

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Taking a deep breath, Starburst walked into the living room.

Her parents and little brother, who had been sitting comfortably and watching television, turned to look at her. “Ugh, finally,” Nighty commented before anypony else could speak, rolling his eyes as he groaned. “What took you so long? Were you making yourself all pretty for your coltfriend?” he added, looking at her with mixture of disbelief and mocking.

Great, Starburst thought, deadpanning at her brother, thanks to Star’s ridiculous idea I have to deal with this now…

Of course, she knew that she was partially to blame for that, as she had agreed to take a bath together, but that wasn’t important.

“Not dignifying that,” Starburst told her brother, trotting past him to sit on the couch.

“Nighty, don’t tease your sister,” their mom, sitting beside their dad on an armchair, said.

Starburst couldn’t help but think that she sounded more bored than annoyed as she usually would when she’d reprimand either of them. Frowning a little, she wondered what could they have been talking about while she and Starfall were away; Starburst had a very probable suspicion than they’ve been talking about them, and her brother had uttered several comments throughout that talk that made their mom chastise him a few times already.

“To be fair, she was taking an awfully long time,” her dad spoke up, causing an unpleasant shiver to go down her spine. “And so is Starfall, for that matter.”

Her eyes traveled to look upwards, knowing that it would look as if she was praying for patience. Instead, though, Starburst had quickly gone over the excuse she had thought up before.

“Not that it’s anypony’s business,” she began, “but since this current situation is a bit stressful to me, I wanted to relax with a bath before I had to deal with it.”

“Oh Star, honestly-” her mom began to say, rolling her eyes, but Starburst had no intention of letting her finish saying that she doesn’t understand why would she be stressed by her coltfriend and her spending time with her family.

“And as for Starfall, as I told mom, he mentioned that he would take a while, as it’s not often he has a chance to take a shower in a normal bathroom. Since, you know, he lives on his own, so you guys should drop this subject?” she added, hoping that bringing up how her coltfriend didn’t have a home would make them uncomfortable enough to stop talking about why both of them had taken such a long time and why she had taken a bath instead of shower.

Her tactic had turned out to work only partially. While her parents had exchanged a glance, looking a bit troubled, her brother on the other hoof frowned and asked: “Wait, if he doesn’t shower, how come he doesn’t stink?”

“I don’t know, I stopped asking him about stuff he does or doesn’t weeks ago,” Starburst snorted, rolling her eyes. “And that one wouldn’t even make it into the top ten anyway.”

“Really?” Nighty asked, his ears perking up with interest. “What kind of-”

“More importantly,” Twilight spoke up, cutting her son off, “I thought I asked you to gather Starfall on your way back, Star.”

Yes, you did, Starburst thought, resisting an urge to groan, but my coltfriend has a really weird sense of humor…

“Yes, but I wanted to... check something,” Starburst said, reciting what she and Starfall had agreed she would say (after he convinced her to this dumb idea), before bringing a hoof to her lips and whistling.

Instantly, Starfall appeared right next to her on the couch. “I was about to come back, you know,” he said, a little faked pretense in his voice, as he absentmindedly brushed his mane. Although Starburst considered the joke (that she could just whistle and he would appear, which she wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not) to be stupid, she had to admit that the surprised expressions on her family’s faces were amusing. She had to bit her lips to stop herself from snorting with laughter as Starfall looked around, blinking, his brow furrowing a little with worry. “Oh dear, I sincerely hope you all haven’t been waiting for me too long?”

Yeah, sincerely, right, Starburst thought, rolling her eyes.

“No, I was taking a long time too,” she said out loud, before anypony else could speak; she didn’t want the joke to drag on too long.

“Really?” Starfall turned to her, perfectly faking a surprise. “So if I had returned earlier, I would have to face your family alone?”

Starburst glared at him, irritated by the remark (especially since it was his fault to begin with that she had taken such a long time getting cleaned), but her mother spared her from replying (which would have been something along the lines of “I’m going to remember this one”, or something).

“Oh honestly, Starfall, you make it sound like a… terrifying ordeal,” Twilight said, her voice strangely faltering a little at the end.

Starburst frowned, confused by her mother’s behaviour, but as she glanced at her and saw where she was looking, she understood. Having gotten used to the sight of Starfall’s scars, she hadn’t thought that nopony else in the room beside her had even seen them. And now he was sitting beside her, not only without his cape, but also without his bandana, exposing the scars left by chains around his neck.

Well, at least we won’t be the only ones here that will be uncomfortable, Starburst thought, a moment before she realized something else: Starfall was also not wearing his dream charm.

“Ah, right,” he spoke up at the same time, lifting the forehoof where he normally wore it. “You’re probably wondering why I’m not wearing my dream charm.”

You know damn well that’s not what they were focusing on, she couldn’t help but think as Starfall continued.

“It was, unsurprisingly, soaking wet, and for it to work properly the feathers need to be at least somewhat dry, so I left it by a radiator. I hope that’s okay.”

“Oh, of course,” Twilight said, regaining her composure. “It’s not a problem at all. Anyway, since you finally joined us, dinner is ready. We were just waiting for you to sit down and eat.”

“Ah, sorry to make you wait,” Starfall replied, sounding a bit sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

“It’s nothing,” Twilight assured him, smiling, as she and Flash rose. “I hope you’ll enjoy the meal.”

Considering how often he gets to eat a decent meal, how can he not? Starburst thought, suppressing the desire to roll her eyes.

As she, Starfall and Nighty jumped down from the couch and followed after Twilight and Flash towards the dining room, her little brother walked around her to talk with Starfall. “How did you know she had whistled for you?” he asked him, tilting his head questioningly.

“Oh, it’s a nifty little trick,” Starfall replied casually. “Maybe I’ll teach you when you get a bit older kid-”

“What happened to you!?” Nighty interrupted him; only now, after leaving the couch, he was able to get a good look at Starfall’s not-covered body, and was staring wide-eyed at his scars.

Starburst’s eyes widened in alarm, remembering that her brother knew nothing about her coltfriend’s past. Intending to keep it that way, she exclaimed before Starfall had a chance to open his mouth, “Shaving accident!”

“‘Shaving accident’?” Nighty asked, turning to look at her with one eyebrow raised. “What, was he shaving his back?”

“Star did say it was an accident, didn’t she?” Starfall replied without missing a beat, sparing Starburst from having to come up with an answer herself. “Reeeeeally embarrassing one I might add.”

Nighty blinked, looking from him back to Starburst. “Okay…” he said, sounding unconvinced, as he looked them before resuming walking towards the dining room.

Starburst uttered a soft sigh of relief as her brother dropped the subject. “Sorry about that,” she whispered to Starfall as they followed after Nighty. “My brother gets scared super easily; he probably wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for a month if you’d tell him how you really got your scars.”

“Ah, I see; I thought it odd that you decided to joke about it all of a sudden,” Starfall replied, causing Starburst to glance at him suspiciously; did it really crossed his mind that she could be trying to joke about his scars? “For the record,” he added, winking, “I was about to say the same thing. Well, either that or that I was juggling knives,” he amended when she gave him the same suspicious gaze again. “It’s funnier that way.”

She continued to stare at him for about a second longer, before giving up and rolling her eyes. Trust him to be Starfall, she summed up in her thoughts as they joined her family around a table and sat down to eat.

“Thank you for the dinner, Your Highnesses,” Starfall said, bowing his head slightly to Starburst’s parents as everypony finished eating. “It was delicious.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Starfall,” Twilight said, smiling. “I was worried if you’d enjoy rice with apples.”

Okay, who wouldn’t? Starburst wondered sarcastically.

Starfall had probably thought something along those lines, as she noticed him make a very brief eyeroll before replying to her mother. “Honestly, Princess Twilight, considering some of the stuff I had to live on, you could probably put anything on a plate before me and I would still enjoy it. So, you know, you don’t have to worry about that,” he added as they all began to rise from the table.

“Oh, right…” Twilight replied, a bit uncomfortably, then cleared her throat and continued. “I will keep that in mind. And honestly, Starfall, you don’t have to address me or Flash by our titles all the time.”

“I will keep that in mind, Your Highness,” Starfall replied, almost casually. “Now, changing the subject, I’m curious; what exactly do you do during family time?”

“Oh, lots of things!” Nighty quickly said as they sat down at the living room again. “We watch movies, play games, sometimes sing karaoke-”

Great... Starburst couldn’t help but sigh mentally as her brother mentioned an activity that she wasn’t - delicately speaking - a fan of, knowing only too well where this would to.

As on cue, Starfall’s ears perked the very moment. “Sing karaoke?” he asked, intrigued.

“No,” she told him plainly before he could go anywhere with that thought.

Her coltfriend’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but as he turned to her, she noticed a spark of amusement in them. “Beg your pardon?”

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’d sing about,” Starburst said, her cheeks feeling warm from the embarrassment as she imagined Starfall singing some weird romantic serenade that would center about her being ‘the Most Beautiful Pony Ever’, as he apparently thought of her. It didn’t help that she could feel her family’s gazes on her as she argued with Starfall. “And on that note, karaoke is about singing along with recorded music of already existing songs, not making them up like you do.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘make up’,” Starfall replied, rolling his eyes, “buuut fine, I suppose I can spare you the embarrassment. Besides,” he added, smirking, “I was going to save this one song - which I think I’d like to call ‘Shine’, by the way - for a more… grandeur occasion.”

“‘Grandeur’?” Starburst repeated, cringing a little. “‘Shine’?... Do I even want to know?” she finally groaned, facehoofing.

When Starfall didn’t reply immediately, she took her hoof off her face, just in time to see him looking away to the side, pondering her question, before turning to her and shrugging. “Probably not. And besides, even if you would want to know, I wouldn’t tell you.” Unexpectedly leaning closer, he smirked and added, “You know how I enjoy surprises.”

“Only too well,” Starburst replied, smirking as well… before she remembered that her family was standing right next to her and Starfall while they’ve just started flirting with each other. She coughed and cleared her throat before turning to her parents (while doing her best to ignore the fact that her cheeks were slightly burning, or that they appeared to be amused; her mother was even giggling), “Anyway, weren’t we going to watch movies?”

It was her brother who replied, however, “You mean before you two took forever getting back? We’ve already watched something,” Nighty said, rolling his eyes. “Oh, I know!” he exclaimed, his eyes lidding up. “Why not have Starfall show us some more magic tricks?”

“Nighty,” Twilight began, looking at her son with slight reproach, “Starfall is here as our guest, not an entertainer. And besides, I’m sure he’s is in no mood to put up a magic show after narrowly escaping a storm.”

Starburst couldn’t help but snort hearing that. “Are you kidding Mom? Everything is a big magic show to him. He can’t go five minutes without doing any tricks.”

“Hey, that’s not true,” Starfall exclaimed, frowning at her. Starburst merely lifted her eyebrow.

She didn’t have to wait long; almost immediately, her coltfriend turned his head away and sneezed out several colourful bubbles.

“Bless you,” she told him in an uninterested voice, completely unfazed.

“Thanks,” Starfall replied, brushing his snout, before frowning in concentration. “What were we talking about?”

Knowing very well that Starfall could drag out a conversation like this for hours, Starburst turned back to her family again. “Okay, board games then?” she asked as their attention shifted from the bubbles and her coltfriend’s comical display.

Her ear twitched in annoyance as her mother uttered another giggle. “Sounds like a good idea to me. Which game should we play? Starfall, since you’re our guest, why don’t you choose?” she added as they all rose from the table and headed back to the living room.

“Anything other than Monopoly will be fine by me,” he replied, shrugging. Starburst blinked in surprise and gave him a inquiring look (and she wasn’t the only one), prompting him to elaborate. “Don’t act surprised that I don’t like the game where you can pick a card that literally sends you to jail.”

Huh, that makes sense I guess…

“Not to mention that I would definitely get it at the first opportunity,” Starfall continued, rolling his eyes. “The irony would almost make it funny… besides,” he added, flicking his hoof nonchalantly, “as a pony with no bits or source of income and with very little material possessions, I find that game to be slightly offensive.”

Starburst snorted. “Right, because you totally don’t have a pile of pirate treasure just laying on your island.”

“That doesn’t count, I’m keeping it there to look cool,” Starfall replied, flicking his hoof again. “It’s purely decorative. Besides, technically, I don’t own either that treasure or the island. Though since you brought it up,” he added, bringing his forehoof to his chin and rubbing it thoughtfully, “maybe I should move it to my Fortress of Starfallitude…”

“You don’t own that either,” Starburst pointed out, deadpanning at her coltfriend.

“What was that about pirate treasure?”

Starburst’s ears twitched. Engrossed in their argument, she had forgotten - again - that they weren’t alone. Starfall must have too, considering the surprised stare he gave her mother after she asked her question.

First flirting, now blurting about his island and the pirate treasure. Is being around him make me dumber or something? Starburst berated herself. Or... more relaxed I suppose…

Her train of thought dispersed as she watched the scarred unicorn continue to stare at her mother for a few more seconds, blinking, then turn to her. “Can I get into trouble for that one?”

Starburst hesitated before answering, her eyes darting upwards as she considered his question. “Well… it is illegal to keep any archeological find instead of reporting them, buuut since time was four hours ahead of Equestria on that island, that would mean it’s somewhere between three to four thousand miles - seeing how it must have been closer to equator - away from Equestria’s east coast, which means Equestrian law doesn’t extend to it so technically you’re fine,” she finished and nodded, only to find everypony staring at her. “What? I want to be a royal guard, of course I know stuff like this,” Starburst explained, a little self-consciously.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t all be impressed,” her mother pointed out with a smile, causing Starburst to become even more self-conscious. “And surprised,” she added, looking at Starfall. “I thought you were making it up about going to a small island in the middle of nowhere for your first date.”

“Why would I make up something like that?” Starburst deadpanned, recalling the strange expression her mother had made when she was all but forced to tell her about their date; back then she had been too embarrassed and annoyed to pay attention to it, but now she realized that it had been disbelief.

“Fair point,” Twilight admitted. “Just like Starburst said, you won’t get into trouble for… keeping a pile of pirate treasure on that island,” she told Starfall, after hesitating a moment about how to best call this ridiculous matter. Starburst had a strong suspicion that her mother was resisting an urge to facehoof. “Although it would be best if it ended up in a museum, but let’s talk about it some other time. For now, let’s all continue to have a fun day. I think we have a board game somewhere we all will enjoy,” she said, raising from her seat. “It will just take a moment to find it… Flash,” she called to her husband just as she was about to leave the living room, “could you come with me?”

“Hm? Sure, but why do you need my help finding it?” Starburst’s father asked, a little surprised, as he too rose.

“Oh, I don’t, I just don’t want you to joke around by giving Starfall a death glare while I’m gone,” Twilight replied casually as she left the living room.

Flash deadpanned after her. “You’re no fun,” he said before following after her. However, he stopped just as he was about to leave the living room. “You really took Starburst to a small island for your first date?”

“Flash!”

“What? I’m actually impressed by the colt,” Flash called back as he walked out of the room, leaving without his question answered.

Starburst groaned and brought her forehooves up to her head to rub her temples, glad to have a momentary reprieve from her parents after that last exchange. Of course, her coltfriend had to interrupt this moment with the typical-for-him humor.

“I am so happy that your parents are borderline unsettlingly okay with a pony with my past taking their daughter to a faraway island in the middle of nowhere.”

Sighing, she turned to Starfall. “Maybe you’ll finally get it through that skull of yours that my parents actually like you and don’t think you would wanna hurt me or anything?”

The scarred unicorn leaned his head against his forehoof on the couch’s arm. “I dunno, seems pretty weird to me,” he said, the corner of his mouth curling up into a smirk. “You know, considering.”

Despite knowing that he was now just trying to joke, Starburst deadpanned at him. “‘Weird’? Really? You’re gonna start analyzing things now?” When Starfall continue to give her that bare smirk, she decided to counter it instead. “Fine, how about this then: they know that if you’d try to hurt me then I would just kick your tail again.”

Starfall snorted with good-humored laughter hearing this. “Yep, that makes way more sense. Although I wonder…” he trailed off and before Starburst knew it, he had his forehooves around her and pulled her closer, so their chests and muzzles touched. “Do you think it would be this easy the next time around?” he asked her, his red eyes giving her a half-lidded stare.

Starburst hesitated, her ears splaying against the sides of her head as she felt warmth spread through her under her coltfriend’s gaze, touch and breath. It took a bit of willpower for her to slip a forehoof between them and push Starfall slightly away. “Star, my brother is still here,” she reminded him.

“Oh, right,” Starfall replied, pulling away and glancing the Nighty, who was sitting on Starburst’s other side. “Sorry kid, you were so quiet for a moment that I forgot about you.”

Nighty, who - as Starburst noticed when she looked at him, embarrassed - was staring at them with a mixture of shock, embarrassment and curiosity, replied, “Um, it’s alright… wow, you really are together huh?” he asked, tilting his head in disbelief.

“I thought that was already established,” Starburst retorted, deadpanning at her little brother. As her attention shifted to him, Starfall - who still held her in embrace - used the opportunity to confirm Nighty’s assessment in his own way, by kissing her on the cheek. Though a pleasant shudder went down her spine at the affectionate gesture, her embarrassment caused by her brother witnessing that took over. She pushed Starfall again, this time harder, making him release her. “You know, sometimes I find it hard to believe you’re as afraid of my parents as you say when you start acting like this the very second they leave the room,” she told amused Starfall.

Starfall chuckled and laid more comfortably on the couch. “Hey, you’re the one that keeps saying that I’m insane,” he pointed out.

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Starburst gave up. “Fair enough,” was all she said, once again rubbing her temples.

“I mean, what I meant was,” Nighty resumed after a second, “it’s a bit hard to belief. I mean,” he added when Starburst deadpanned at him again, “you two are sorta… completely different, and besides, well, you did hurt our dad,” he told Starfall, a bit uncomfortably. “I-I mean,” Nighty quickly added, “I know he and Mom forgave you and you apologized and everything, but I would have thought you would hold some… resentment,” he said to Starburst.

Starburst thought a moment before replying, unsure how to best explain why she forgave Starfall without revealing that he was terrified of being chained (and, by extension, arrested or even just caught, which was what their dad was about to do) and why that was.

Starfall, in the meantime, had rolled his eyes and muttered, “Spirit of Chaos tried to turn the world upside-down and was here for dinner two days ago, but sure, this is weird…” Starburst glared at him, making him shudder and smile sheepishly. “Um, I mean,” he quickly said, turning to Nighty, “that’s a very good point kid, what I did was very bad. And apparently it’s going to be continually reminded to me for a very long time…” he added, frowning at letting his ears drop.

“Knowing our dad, yeah,” Starburst told him; despite her brief annoyance, she felt for him. After all, this was something affecting both of them. Turning to her brother she said, “Nighty, it’s… complicated. I was very angry with Starfall, but we’ve, well, talked through it and I forgave him before we started dating.”

“I see,” Nighty said, frowning a little. “So how did you two start, you know, dating?”

“I just asked her out,” Starfall replied, shrugging.

Starburst turned to him, eyebrow raised. “‘Asked her out’?” she repeated, unable to keep amusement from her voice. “I seem to recall you telling me about a ‘secluded place to train’ before I pressed you.”

“I would have tell you that I meant it to be a date,” Starfall replied, rolling his eyes. Starburst just continued to stare at him with a single eyebrow raised, prompting her coltfriend to reluctantly amend after a moment. “You know, eventually.”

While Starburst snorted and shook her head, her brother asked: “So you just asked her out, just like that?”

“What, are you taking notes?” Starburst teased him.

To her surprise, Nighty blushed a little. “Um, n-no, I’m just curious.”

Starburst stared at him skeptically as she hummed; his reaction was a bit suspicious to her. Was her little brother becoming interested in fillies? She was about to ask him if that was the case - mostly because she felt that she deserved to tease him about this subject for a change - but he was spared that by Starfall speaking up.

“Well, if you were taking notes kid, let me warn you that I’m not a pony you should be taking notes from. About this or pretty any other matter, really,” he added, rolling his eyes. When both Starburst and Nighty looked at him, he added: “Just because I’m amazing it doesn’t mean I don’t realize that I am not a pony to emulate. Especially by a prince for crying out loud…”

… At least he’s aware of that, Starburst commented, suppressing an urge to roll her eyes after hearing the ‘I’m amazing’ part.

“Really?” Nighty asked, looking at him with mild disbelief. “I mean, you are a bit… quirky, sure, but you’re really, really cool! And hey, you’d be a prince too if you two will get married, so-”

“Ma- what?!” Starburst exclaimed as she caught on what her brother just said. She stared at him, speechless and with eyes wide in shock… as her coltfriend burst with laughter. Glaring at him angrily as she burned with embarrassment, Starburst turned to her brother, causing him to cringe from fear. “Nighty, Star and I just started dating, we’re not talking about stuff like marriage!”

Liar, she thought, recalling their conversation from just two days ago. Although it was more of a joke than conversation… Also keep your voice down! Mom and Dad could be right back!

Hearing her parents say the word “marriage” being thrown out was about the last thing Starburst wanted, especially after the whole “love” thing. Fortunately, with how loud Starfall was laughing, she doubted they would hear what she had said even if they were right outside the living room.

“I said ‘if’,” Nighty explained himself. Recovering a little from his fright, he looked at Starfall. “Why is he laughing so much about it?”

He’s not laughing at what you said, he’s laughing at my reaction, Starburst thought, once again turning her glare back onto her coltfriend. Unfortunatelly, he had his eyes closed as he continued to laugh, so he couldn’t see it, although it wouldn’t make him stop. If anything, it would make him laugh even more, assuming that it was possible; just then he slid from the couch and fell down to the floor from laughter. Annoying little…

And of course, this was the moment her parents picked to return. “What are you kids doing?” Flash asked as they walked into the living room.

Nighty opened his mouth to reply, but before that could happen Starburst shoved her wing against it. “Nothing,” she quickly said, shooting her brother a warning glare.

He frowned at her as he pushed her wing away; for a moment Starburst was certain that she would have to use her talent for intimidation to keep him quiet. She would get into trouble for that, her parents told her plenty of times to not do that to her brother, but she honestly preferred another lecture rather than risk them thinking that Starfall and her were thinking about marriage… or worse, start to tease her about it.

Fortunately, it seemed that Nighty wasn’t in a mood to make things difficult, as he rolled his eyes and told their parents, “Yep, nothing.”

Barely holding back the sigh of relief, Starburst turned her attention to her coltfriend. Starfall was still lying on the floor - becoming the center of her parents attention - but his laughter had by then reduced to mere chuckling into his hoof. As she watched him, he got up into a sitting position, opening his mouth to say something.

“Don’t you dare,” she told him before he could utter a word.

Starburst doubted that he was insane enough to explain to them the situation, but she knew he was about to make some sort of joke alluding to that (Probably something like “Oh, we were discussing some plans for the next weekend, but Star’s really not married into them”.), and she was really not in the mood for that right now.

Of course, her coltfriend only chuckled louder after hearing that, but to his credit brought his forehoof across his muzzle as he looked at her as if he was zipping it close, before returning back to the couch.

Her parents exchanged a glance, but after a brief moment both just shrugged, probably thinking something along the lines of “Kids.”

“Ookay,” her mother said dismisively, “now that the three of you had some - albeit confusing - fun,” she commented, her eyes darting to the side briefly, then she laid down a board game on the table and added, “how about we all have some?”

Glad that the subject was dropped and curious as to what board game her parents her went for, Starburst leaned closer. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise as she recognized it; it’s been quite a while since they last played it. In fact, she was certain that they’ve lost it somewhere.

She wasn’t the only pony to recognize it thought. “Dragon Pit!” Starfall exclaimed, smiling. Starburst looked in mild surprise at him as he continued: “Oh, I love this one. I used to play it all the time with…”

Starburst surprise gave way to worry as Starfall unexpectedly trailed off, his expression becoming vacant as his stared at the board game. It lasted no more than a second or two, then he closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Are you alright?” she asked him as he brought a hoof up to his temple.

“Yeah, just had an odd flashback,” Starfall replied; already he had a familiar smirk on his muzzle. He waved his hoof dismissively and added, “You know, something about me losing a game. Just plain odd.”

Starburst raised her eyebrow. Although given his ego he might have been telling the truth, the strange expression he had made bothered her. He was saying that he used to play it with somepony… did he mean his mom? she wondered. Maybe he had a flashback to that, but since he doesn’t like to talk about it he came up with this excuse. She glanced at her parents; even though they barely knew Starfall, it wouldn’t be a stretch for them to come to the same conclusion. Which could lead to a talk about it later. I guess I’ll better play along.

“I will be happy to give you a reminder of how that feels then,” Starburst told him, smirking at her coltfriend. “When I beat you that is. Again,” she added playfully.

For a brief moment she was sure she saw Starfall flash her a grateful look before his smirk widened. “Oh, you’re on.”

“Wow,” Starburst exclaimed, barely containing her amusement, “the only thing odd about this is how oddly bad you are at this game.”

Despite her words (and the truth of them; they’ve been playing for a while now, and Starfall’s dragon was dead last and about to get trapped), her coltfriend seemed completely unfazed. “Well, this game does operate on luck, and I think it’s clear that Lady Luck hates my guts,” Starfall remarked jokingly in reply.

“Hardly seems to bother you,” Starburst commented, feeling a little annoyed that he was taking his inevitable loss so well… and growing more than a little suspicious.

The scarred unicorn merely shrugged. “Well, you know what they say Star: ‘unlucky in games, amazing in tons of other stuff.”

Yeah, you’re the best, Starburst remarked sarcastically.

“You know that’s not how that expression goes,” she told him, then added as she frowned: “And in the first place it’s ‘cards’, not ‘games’.”

“Yeah, but I always win with those,” Starfall replied nonchalantly, taking the dice from Nighty as his turn came. “Probably because I always cheat but still...”

“Cheat?” Starburst repeated, lifting an eyebrow.

“Card tricks are like stage magician 101, don’t be surprised,” Starfall said, rolling his eyes, but Starburst wasn’t concerned about him cheating when playing cards (although she did make a mental note of that for future reference).

“Are you cheating right now?” she asked him, gazing at the dice suspiciously as he was about to roll it.

“Cheating in order to lose?” Starfall asked, blinking at her in surprise. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re you,” she flatly replied.

“Besides,” Starfall continued, ignoring her reply; he dropped the dice from his magical hold and let it land on his outstretched forehoof, “how exactly does one cheat in a game where you can only roll a dice?”

Starburst was certain that it was possible to cheat in a game like that, but before she could start to search for a reply Starfall threw that dice into the air, surprising everypony. The dice almost went up into the ceiling before falling back, landing right back on Starfall’s hoof, with one on top.

And at the same time the dice touched his hoof, Starfall, with eyes locked with Starburst, had moved his dragon by precisely one.

“You are cheating,” she told her smirking coltfriend.

“Only now, to prove my point,” he replied, sticking his tongue out playfully.

She was forced to admit that he was right in this regard. “Fine, point proven, now move your dragon back and roll it again.”

“Are you seriously making me roll again even though I threw one and I’m still the last?”

“Yes,” Starburst told him, deadpanning.

Starburst smirked and leaning a bit closer to her. “And you say I’m the crazy one?” he asked, his red eyes still locked with hers

Her eyes narrowed at him as she repeated, “Yes.”

A giggle caught her by surprise. “Do you remember how we used to tease each other like that?” her mother asked asked her father, who also appeared to be amused.

“We’re not teasing,” Starburst replied, trying to speak calmly despite blushing with embarrassment (and trying to not hit her brother as he started chuckling).

“Well, I am,” Starfall said in turn. As she glanced at him he added, “It’s borderline treason otherwise.”

Uttering a tired sigh, Starburst merely rolled her eyes and gave up.

“See?” Nighty said in a hushed tone. “Even your coltfriend thinks it’s boring.”

Starburst looked at him, unamused. It’s been about two hours since they’d finished playing Dragon Pit. After that they’ve played charades for a bit, and now they were watching a movie again, the documentary about the Royal Legion her dad her mentioned earlier.

And a few moments ago her coltfriend had fallen asleep.

At first, she had been a little annoyed when she had realized that Starfall was sleeping. Even if they had different interests it wasn’t exactly nice to fall asleep while watching something your significant other found interesting. However, her annoyance quickly faded as he moved his head in his sleep so that it partially rested against her foreleg, feeling affection spread through her for that dumb colt. Shaking her head and lying on the couch beside him so that they would be both more comfortable (and ignoring how embarrassing it must have looked; fortunately her mother spared her from her giggling this time), she had resumed watching the documentary.

While at the same she tried to think up ways to get back at him for that.

She was about to retort to Nighty’s remark, having thought up a good counter in the time she stared at him coldly, but just at that moment on the documentary they started showing a recreation of one of the battles the Royal Legion had partaken in, with the camera closing up on some more violent scenes, causing her little brother to cringe in fear.

Scaredy cat, Starburst thought dismissively, shaking her head and losing interest.

Resuming watching the documentary, she continued to ignore her brother’s occasionals whimpers of fear, while at the same time glancing at the sleeping Starfall from time to time and considered whether or not to drape her wing around him. It would make him more cosy and it would feel quite nice for her too, to feel his body’s heat under her feathers and feel his chest rise and fall as he breathed… but Starburst was reluctant to show that much affection right next to her family. Letting him nap while leaning his head against her leg was already pushing it.

I’ve had about enough of mom’s giggles that I can take for today, she thought, adding, albeit reluctantly, It’s not like Star would complain anyway…

Another whimper stopped her train of thoughts. Annoyed, she sighed and turned to look at her brother. “Seriously? They’re not showing anything scary right now,” she pointed out, trying to keep her voice neutral while nodding at the television, which was displaying now a diagram explaining various tactical formations of the Royal Legion.

However, Nighty looked at her with confusion. “Um… that wasn’t me,” he said.

Starburst blinked, surprised. Wait-

Starfall, his head still partially rested against her foreleg, shuddered.

“No…”

She quickly turned back to him as she heard the quiet whimper, and saw that her coltfriend was still asleep. However, instead of sleeping peacefully like he was mere moments ago, now he was breathing faster, twitching, and she could see his pupils moving around under his closed eyelids.

“No…” he repeated in his sleep, his voice a little louder this time. “Please stop…”

Starburst finally snapped out of her surprise and quickly nudged him. “Star?” she called out, hoping to wake him up from whatever nightmare he was having right away.

The effect was immediate. Starfall rose to a sitting position, breathing heavily and staring in front of himself with eyes open wide… and glowing with red and green magic that emitted purple smoke.

Oh… crap… Starburst thought, knowing that this bode poorly on so many levels.

Without even glancing at her family to check how they reacted - and taking solace in the fact that she could hear no alarming sounds from any of them - she hurried to do some damage control first. She cleared her throat and called to Starfall again, “Star?”

At the sound of her voice his ears twitched. He turned his head to her, closing his mouth as his breathing calmed (which, considering that the sight of his fangs at full display did not help exactly sooth anypony in this situation, was a good thing), and looked at her questioningly, his eyes still glowing with dark magic.

Slightly unsettled to look at him in this state, she simply pointed at her eyes.

Starfall’s eyes darted to her forehoof, then to her eyes… then they widened slightly as the comprehension dawned on him. He closed his eyes shut immediately after, and after a heartbeat the purple smoke disappeared.

Starburst wasn’t exactly given time to sigh with relief though, as the very next thing Starfall did was… laugh. Nervously at that.

“Sorry about that,” he quickly said, sounding sheepish, as he put his foreleg behind his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I, um, had a nightmare, about… a dragon,” he added as his eyes rolled around the room, stopping briefly on a picture of Starburst’s mom and Uncle Spike, before moving to the big chandelier under the ceiling, “dropping a chandelier on me… and stuff…”

… And the award for worst ad-lib ever goes to… Starburst couldn’t help but think. Mentally shaking her head, she considered the current situation. Okay, let's think… I have to talk to my parents about the dark magic thing… She risked a glance at them. To her relief, they were looking more concerned than angry that Starfall had just been about to use dark magic upon waking up in the middle of their living room. … not to mention dissuade them from trying to talk about this with Starfall themselves… probably talk with Nighty so he won’t bother Star… and talk with Star about his nightmare. Starburst wanted to groan thinking about how difficult it would be to salvage this situation. Well, dīvide et vincet, I guess…

Clearing her throat again, she decided to deal with the important matter first. “You know, I’m thirsty,” she said, not even bothering to sound like she meant it; she doubted anypony would really believe her even if she gave an award-winning performance there. “I’m gonna go get something to drink from the kitchen. Star, can you come with me?” she asked as she jumped down from the couch.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied at once, following after her.

As soon as they made it to the corridor, Starburst exhaled; she had been holding her breath, expecting her parents to stop them. Fortunately, it seemed that they were giving them privacy… for now.

Slightly relaxed, she continued to lead Starfall towards the kitchen in silence, intending to speak to him there so that nopony could overhear them. And because she needed the time to think about what exactly she was going to say to him.

“Sorry…”

Starburst stopped and looked back; throughout their trot, Starfall hang slightly behind her, and now that they were more or less out of her parents’ earshot he decided to speak while not looking at her.

“About using dark magic,” he explained, stopping as well, and continuing to apparently talk to the floor instead of her. “I didn’t mean to…”

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Starburst walked over to him and nuzzled his cheek. “I’m not mad at you, dummy,” she told him. “I know you didn’t mean to. You were sleeping for crying out loud,” she said, rolling her eyes again. Hoping a little joke would brighten him up, Starburst then added: “If you want to apologize for anything, then it should be about falling asleep while watching the documentary about Royal Legion.”

Starfall looked her, blinking rapidly. “Oh… Um, sorry about that,” he said after a second, smiling sheepishly, his earlier mood gone.

“Apology not excepted,” she told him, shrugging as she turned away and resumed trotting towards the kitchen. “You’ll just have to make it up to me.”

She was relieved to hear him chuckle behind her. “I am sorry,” he said again, this time more confidently as he caught up to her. “I was just tired and must have dozed off.”

“I figured,” Starburst said, entering the kitchen. “And I also figure you will think of a way to make it up to me later, anyway,” she added, rolling her eyes. A brief smirk crossed her muzzle as Starfall chuckled again, but she quickly pushed down any distracting thoughts this could cause. Starburst waited for him to enter the kitchen as well, the closed the door behind him and looked at him seriously. “So… um, you don’t wear this charm just so Princess Luna wouldn’t be able to enter your dreams, huh?”

“It can do that?” Starfall asked in turn, blinking in surprise. “Huh, didn’t know that…”

Starburst frowned, feeling impatient and annoyed, although the latter mostly at herself. ‘You don’t wear this charm just so Princess Luna wouldn’t be able to enter your dreams’; way to state the obvious! she berated herself.

Shaking the thought off and clearing her throat, she started again. “What I meant to say, do you always have nightmares like this if you’re not wearing it?” she asked, looking her coltfriend in the eyes.

“It’s been a few years since the last time I tried sleeping without it,” Starfall confessed, clearly reluctantly. His eyes darted to the side as he added: “But… yeah, that’s pretty much the case.”

Already expecting such answer, Starburst bit her lip, thinking what to say next. “I’m assuming you don’t want to talk about what the nightmare was about?”

Now even more uncomfortable, Starfall turned his head away and flickered with his tail. “Not really,” he said, sitting down on the floor.

Starburst sighed. Perhaps she needed to push him more to open up (she made a mental note to take up on Annie’s offer for help with serious problems and try and ask one of the girls what they would do), but she was almost certain that this would lead to an argument. She remembered how he had almost snapped at her during the camping trip when she tried to ask about his deceased friend. Pressing on the subject of his nightmares seemed like it would lead to exact same thing, and an argument was about the last thing she wanted.

Or needed, she added in her thoughts, knowing that her family were just a few rooms away.

So instead, she trotted over to Starfall and sat down as she hugged him. “You know you can tell me if you want to, right?” she asked him.

For a brief moment Starfall felt tense in her embrace, but he soon relaxed and returned the hug. “I know,” he said in a quiet voice. He buried his face in her shoulder and added, “It’s not that I… I just really don’t like talking about all that stuff.”

“I know. One of these days we should talk about some of said stuff though,” Starburst pointed out.

Starfall sighed. “I know, I know… thinking about using it as an excuse next time we’re invited to a dinner by your parents or something?” he asked, humor creeping to his voice. “That we’re too busy discussing my tortured psyche?”

“Be serious,” she told him, rolling her eyes. Relaxing her hug a little so that she could pull her head back and look him in the eyes, she said: “I want to talk about it because I love you and want to help you, you big dummy. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly good with stuff like this, so I’m not looking forward to that either.”

A half-smile appeared on his muzzle. “You’re better at it than you think, Lil’Lioness,” he told her, leaning closer to the point their noses touched.

“Oh, shut-” Starburst managed to say before their lips met.

Humming happily, she returned the kiss, her hooves tightening her hold around Starfall. It was good to forget for a few moments about her parents and nightmares and just enjoy being with her coltfriend. But like all good things, the kiss came to an end, and they eventually pulled apart, breathing heavily and gazing into each other’s eyes… before Starfall looked up at something behind her, his eyes widening in dread and his ears dropping.

“What?” Starburst asked, alarmed… and then she realized what ‘what’ it could only be. “The door is open behind me and somepony is standing there?” she asked Starfall, deadpanning.

Her coltfriend nodded.

Starburst uttered a brief groan. “Is it my mother?” she asked, hoping for the slightly better option.

Starfall shook his head.

She groaned again, this time louder, and slammed her forehead against Starfall’s chest. “Did you need something from the kitchen Dad?” she asked weekly, certain that even though she had her back turned to him her father could see her radiating blush.

Flash Sentry’s voice sounded surprisingly calm considering that he had just walked in on his daughter making out with her coltfriend. “Actually, I was wondering if I could talk with Starfall a moment? Alone?”

Her ears perked up out of surprise. “Wait, what?” she asked, pulling away from Starfall to look at her dad.

Flash appeared to be amused by her reaction; he was looking at them with a smile, and she couldn’t detect anything betraying annoyance or anger in his behaviour. It looked as if he decided to pretend that he hadn’t seen what he had seen. Which was fine by Starburst, of course, but…

“Why?” she asked frowning at her father suspiciously.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Because I think it might do him good to talk to another stallion. And it is about time that we talked stallion-to-stallion, anyway, so…” Flash added, casually trailing off.

Yeah, that did not put me on ease Dad…

“Why exactly is it ‘about time’?” Starburst asked, her body almost moving on its own slightly to the side so that she would be directly between her father and Starfall.

“Because I’ve been preparing a little speech for about fifteen years and I really want to use it?” Flash replied, raising an eyebrow and smirking in amusement.

Deadpanning at her father’s display of humor, Starburst said: “Yeah, well, Star’s-”

“-capable of speaking for himself?” a humorous comment said from right beside her ear had almost startled her. She leaned to the side to look back at her coltfriend in surprise. Starfall winked at her playfully before growing more serious as he turned to her father. “If all you want is to speak with me, sir, then by all means, let's speak.”

Starburst jaw hung open. She blinked several times out of surprise, then unfolded her wings and pressed the end of one to Starfall’s forehead while the end of second one to her own.

“I’m pretty sure you’d have already noticed if I had a fever,” Starfall pointed out, rolling his eyes, while her father uttered a brief chuckle.

“And I’m pretty sure I must have misheard you,” she retorted as she finished checking his temperature; it seemed indeed normal. “Because it sounded like you’d agreed to talk with my dad alone. Which means staying in the same room with him by yourself,” she elaborated, deadpanning.

Starfall sighed. “Star, honestly, there is no way this current situation could become any worse, so…” he trailed off as Starburst just continued to deadpan at him silently. “Okay, good point, but still, I think I can handle a simple talk with your father. And, well, if not, there’s a window,” he added, pointing at the closed window behind him.

Yeah, and it’s still stormy outside, Starburst thought, knowing full well that if he had to run away he could just teleport.

Sighing, she gave up. After all, there was no logical reason as to why they couldn’t talk alone. “Fine, I’ll leave you two alone to talk ‘stallion-to-stallion’,” she said, shaking her head at the stupid name. She rose to her hooves and walked past her father to the exit. “Just try not to kill each other,” she said, just as she was about to leave, half-joking.

“We’ll try,” Flash replied, amused. Starburst rolled her eyes, and was relieved to notice Starfall doing the same. “Oh, and Star? Do me a favor and tell your mom that you looked really cute when you were protective of Starfall,” he added, grinning.

Starburst blushed in embarrassment at the comment, but before she could reply Starfall added, “I know, right?”

I suppose it’s good that they’re bonding… Starburst remarked sourly as she facehoofed. Sighing, she left the kitchen and closed the door. However, she didn't head back to the living room. ‘Tell your mom’, right, because I’m totally not going to stay and make sure you don’t traumatize my coltfriend, she thought, placing an ear to the door… right before purple light flashed around her, and she found herself back on the cough in the living room and about to fall down due to the loss of balance.

Spreading her wings and flapping them to avoid falling, Starburst steadied herself on the couch and looked at her mother, annoyed. Twilight thought seemed completely unfazed by it.

“You were about to eavesdrop,” she pointed out. “Your father wanted to talk with Starfall alone.”

Starburst grunted, unable to counter her argument. Giving up, she sat down and sighed, worried what could be happening in the kitchen.

“Is Starfall alright?” she heard her mother ask, worry in her voice.

Despite her annoyance, Starburst knew that her parents were concerned about Starfall in general, so after witnessing him wake up from a traumatic nightmare she figured they were a bit worried. “About as alright as he ever is,” she confessed reluctantly, sighing. She briefly considered to use the opportunity to confide about how he practically refused talking about his nightmare or certain details of his past and how she was unsure how to handle that, but even if she wasn’t uncomfortable talking about stuff like this in the first place, her brother was still here. “But yeah, he’s fine. Or at least he was when I left him,” she murmured, glancing anxiously.

“Star, you know your father wouldn’t hurt Starfall,” Twilight sighed. “He went to talk with him because we thought that maybe it would be a good chance for… an adult to talk with him.”

Starburst glanced at her angrily, but didn’t reply. She knew that her mother had a point, and by Celestia, Starfall needed to talk to some adult pony (probably a trained psychiatrist). Admitting that, however, was a bit harder though, so instead she focused on another pony in the room.

“I’m surprised you’re not asking what was that all about,” she told Nighty, surprised by his silence.

Her brother looked at her uncomfortably before replying, “Mom and Dad told me to not bother you or Starfall with questions about this and stuff.”

“Oh…” Starburst exclaimed, surprised. She glanced at her mother, who in turn looked at her kindly, before turning back to Nighty. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best… it’s just,” knowing she owed her brother at least some explanation, she added, “Starfall has been through some things, and he doesn’t really like talking about them even with me.”

And said things would probably traumatize you upon hearing about them, she added in her thoughts.

“He might talk about it more if he feels more comfortable around others, but for now it’s best if you wouldn’t bother.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Nighty replied, a little sullenly. “Those scars… h-he didn’t get them from a ‘’shaving accident’, right? I mean, that’s obvious,” he added, a bit nervously, as she rolled his eyes. “But still…”

Sighing, she nodded. “Yeah… should have let him joke that it’s from juggling knives,” she said, snorting.

Nighty snorted as well hearing that, and thankfully he didn’t ask anything after that. Her mother also didn’t pressure her about Starfall, for which she was thankful; instead, she turned the TV back on as they waited for Flash and Stafall to get back.

They’ve been talking for some time now… Starburst remarked, about ten minutes later, her attention constantly shifting from the TV (where a trailer for cinematic release of Fallout: Equestria was currently playing) back to the door. Maybe I should check on them…

“Say, Starburst?” he mom unexpectedly spoke up. Reluctantly, Starburst shifted her attention to her. “Your father and I have been wondering about something.”

I’m already dreading what it is, Starburst thought, only half-sarcastically.

Noticing that her mother appeared to be a bit uncomfortable, she felt a pang of worry. For a blissful moment, she expected to be asked about Starfall’s dark magic or something.

What she was asked instead was much, much worse.

“We’ve been wondering if maybe Starfall could come live here.”

The sheer absurdity of that question had rendered Starburst unable to do anything but stare at her mother.

Twilight had clearly expected a reaction along those lines from her, as she sighed and rolled her eyes before adding, “It’s just an idea we wanted to throw by you, Star.”

Yeah, well, then pull it back ‘cause I’m not catching this idea!

Feeling her speech returning, Starburst swallowed and asked, “W-where did that even come from?!”

“Gee, I wonder,” her mother replied sarcastically, looking over to the window and raging storm outside, “at what point did we start to think that maybe a teenage colt shouldn’t be living without a home…”

Starburst groaned and facehoofed, unable to actually counter this argument. “Alright, fine, it sounds good on paper, but did you forget that he’s kinda paranoid and uncomfortable around other ponies?”

“He seemed completely fine throughout this entire day,” she pointed out. “It was even Starfall himself who asked if he could stay and spend this day with us. Maybe he’s dealing with his anxieties better than you give him credit for?”

That comment caused a pang of anger in Starburst. Was her mother really suggesting that she didn’t know her coltfriend enough?! She was just worried about him, for crying out loud! Taking a deep breath, Starburst tried to calm down and think about what she had just said: that Starfall had seemed fine spending time with her family. That was true. The entire day went off better than she had expected, aside from Starfall’s nightmare of course. Maybe her mother had a point?

However, even overlooking that, there was still one huge problem with this idea.

“So you seriously want my coltfriend to move in here,” she stated the matter, deadpanning (and blushing a little). “That we would be living together after dating for about two weeks.”

“We had thought that considering the speed at which your relationship seems to progress you wouldn’t have minded,” Twilight replied, shrugging.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not something that should be encouraged!” Starburst exclaimed, embarrassed, knowing that her mother must have been referring to what Starfall had blurted during the dinner with Celestia.

Privately, though, she wondered: would she actually mind having Starfall live together with her? Obviously, he would be staying in one of the spare rooms (not that it would stop him from sneaking in to her room whenever they wanted), but still, he would be always close by. Would that be bad, just because it would seem that their relationship is moving even faster and society says that’s bad?

Or was this just about how merciless her friends’ reaction would be?

Twilight once again sighed, then looked at her with a small smile. “Star, it’s just an idea. An idea that even your father and I are not sure if it would be good. We’d just like to know what you two think about it, and if you were interested, well, we’d go from there.”

Go past an edge of a cliff apparently, Starburst thought sarcastically as she groaned, but she didn’t voice he annoyance.

“Okay, I will mention this to Star when I get a chance,” she said instead, hoping this would bring this discussion to a close. “Which means ‘when I get a chance’,” she stressed. “I have some things I want to talk with Star already, and asking him if he wants to come live with me isn’t going to be on top of that list.”

“That’s fair,” her mother said, smiling as she nodded in agreement, then turned her head back to the television, apparently considering this matter to be closed.

However, as much as Starburst wanted it to be over, there was one more matter that she felt she needed to address. She stared at her mother for a few seconds, battling her thoughts, before finally speaking up. “Mom? Just one more thing,” she said as Twilight turned back to her. “I just want you to know that all those things you guys are offering to Star - dinners, education, and even home - are nice and all, and he might agree to some of that. However,” Starburst added, hardening her glare just as her mother was about to brighten up, “I would like to stress out the fact that if you try to freakin’ adopt him, we’ll both draw the line there.”

Her mom blinked in surprise, then she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Oh Star, honestly…” she began, shaking her head. “Do you think we have nothing better to do in our spare time than thinking up the ways to complicate your life?”

Apparently you do, she thought but didn’t say out loud.

Instead of replying, she turned her attention back to the TV. It seemed to be good enough of an answer for Twilight, as she merely sighed and shook her head and emulated her.

With this matter finally over, Starburst allowed herself to relax. However, just then she noticed in the corner of her eye that Nighty, who had - wisely - remained quiet throughout their conversation, was now looking from her to their mother and back. “So…” he began after a few seconds of silence. “Am I the only one who thinks it would be awesome if Starfall lived here?”

Starburst facehoofed. Hard.

“And even more awesome…” her brother began to add, but Starburst reached out quickly with her wing and pressed it against his mouth to stop him.

“I sincerely hope you weren’t about to say what I think you were about to say,” she told him, glaring at her younger brother.

Nighty pushed her wing away and glared at her angrily. “I was joking, geez!”

That did nothing to placate Starburst; if anything, she was now even more annoyed that he wanted to joke about that. However, before she could retort, she heard hoofsteps coming from the hallway. Immediately turning around, she saw her dad and Starfall enter the living room.

Almost the instant the saw him, though, he disappeared, appearing right beside her on the couch. “Missed anything interesting?” he asked, sounding… way happier than she would have expected him to be. In fact, he was almost cheerful.

“Um… not really…” Starburst said slowly, looking at her dad, who also seemed quite calm and relaxed as he joined her mother. Turning back to Starfall, then to her father and back again, Starburst realized that… apparently they had a civil talk that they both were satisfied about. “I am so conflicted about this,” she groaned, facehoofing.

The chuckles both Starfall and her dad had uttered did not help.

“I told you, I can’t talk about it,” Starfall told her a few hours later as she walked him off to the guest room he was staying at.

Starburst sighed, annoyed. She still had no idea what exactly he and her dad talked about, and although she was really curious, she began to wonder if she shouldn’t just count her blessings and be glad that whatever it was, it seemed to help Starfall calm down after that nightmare instead of traumatizing him, and that the rest of the day had been really enjoyable after that.

She probably would have let go of that matter hours ago if Starfall hadn’t been taking such amusement in her interest.

Shaking her head, she decided to give up. “Okay, let’s change the subject. How did you enjoy spending time with my family?” she asked, curious if he really enjoyed it as much as he seemed to.

“It was quite fun, actually,” Starfall replied, sounding a bit sheepish. “More than I expected… I mean, things like that aren’t exactly… things I had many opportunities to do over the last years,” he explained, his ears dropping for a moment as he grew somber, but he quickly brightened up. “You know, I think I might get used to being around your family after today.”

Starburst hummed happily as she leaned in and brushed against his side. “That’s great… although after some of the things today, a part of me would like to keep you as far away from my family as possible,” she added in quieter, annoyed tone. When Starfall gave her questioning - and amused - look, she shook her head and said, “Nevermind. I’m happy you had fun and that you’re getting along with my family.”

Her coltfriend chuckled and leaned his head against hers affectionately. After they parted, they walked a bit in silence, until Starfall broke it by saying, “It was about my mother.”

Starburst blinked and looked at him, confused.

“That nightmare I had,” Starfall explained. “It was about her dying, and me being unable to do anything.”

Starburst eyes gradually widened as he talked. By the time he finished, she was already pressing her body against his and wrapped her wing over him gently. She didn’t say anything; what could she say to that? All she could think of doing at this point was to offert Starfall some silent comfort.

He seemed to appreciate it, as he smiled and nuzzled her cheek. “Thanks.”

Starburst tightened her wing hug in response. “Anytime. I thought you didn’t want to talk about it,” she added after staying silent for a bit.

“Yeah, but you dad told me that it helps talking about stuff like that and that you’re strong enough to listen to it,” he told her, smiling.

Starburst eyes widened in surprise. That’s what Dad wanted to talk to him about? she thought. Despite her surprise, she felt warmth spreading through her that her father offered her coltfriend advice about how to deal with his trauma.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to talk about what the two of you have been talking about?” she asked him after a moment, smirking.

“Only in detail,” Starfall replied, winking. “Like, you know, the list of things your dad will do to me if I ever hurt you.”

“... he has a list?” Starburst asked, deadpanning. As Starfall chuckled at her reaction, she sighed, wondering whether he was joking; or if her father had been joining. “Is it very long?”

“Yeah, but I told him that more than half of them won’t be physically possible to do after you’d be done with me,” he told her, sticking his tongue out playfully.

Starburst broke her embrace and punched him in the shoulder. “You’re damn right about that!” she said, smirking.

Starfall laughed and she quickly joined him. She was happy to see him laugh after he recalled that nightmare, however briefly.

“Well, that’s it I guess,” he said a few moments later when they reached the guest room. He leaned closer and kissed her on the cheek. “Have a good night, Lil’Lioness.”

Yeah, right, Starburst thought, rolling his eyes at him. Like you’re not going to sneak to my room.

Her coltfriend smirked and winked at her, clearly able to tell what she was thinking about.

“Goodnight,” she told him, kissing him on the cheek as well.

“You know,” she said as she entered her room, “I don’t even know why did you bother saying goodnight.”

Starfall, who was sitting on her bed, grinned. “Felt appropriate. Also, there was this off chance your mom was spying on us through some spell, so…” he trailed off, the implications clear.

“And what makes you think she’s no longer spying on us?” Starburst questioned, raising her eyebrow as she joined him on the bed.

“The fact that I am not being thrusted back to that guest room by your mom’s magic or that neither of your parents is bursting through this door?”

“Okay, those are some convincing proofs,” she agreed, although slightly reluctantly. “Still, this is pretty risky.”

Starfall just smirked. “I can go away if you want…”

“I didn’t say that,” she quickly said.

Geez, calling my bluff…

Despite it being obvious that she wanted him to stay, Starfall brightened up. “Good! Because I have thought of a way to repay you for falling asleep during the documentary,” he added, narrowing his eyes and smirking again.

Feeling very hot under his gaze, Starburst shuddered a little before replying. “Oh, really?” she asked, smirking as well. “What do you have in mind?”

Starfall chuckled, then patted the spot on the bed before him. “Turn around and sit down here.”

Feeling a pleasant feeling spread down her spine and curious about what exactly he was planning, Starburst did as he asked. She trotted closer on the bed and turned around as she sat before him.

Starfall’s forelegs embraced her from behind and pulled her closer, causing her to lean against him. Starburst shuddered again as she felt his body pressed against her back and his breath against her cheek. “Now, my Beloved Nemesis, close your eyes,” he whispered to her ear, gently rubbing his nose against it.

Starburst glanced over her shoulder at him suspiciously, curious why he wanted that, but after a second she gave in, having complete trust in him. Turning her head back, she closed her eyes and almost immediately felt Starfall’s muzzle move along the edge of her ear as he opened his mouth and pressed the tip of his fang against the base of her ear.

A moan escaped her as Starfall proceeded to scratch her in her sweet spot. She arched her back, lost in pleasure. Well, I suppose I can forgive him for falling asleep now… Starburst thought, forgetting about everything around her and just enjoying the treatment…

And that was when a pair of lips pressed against hers.

The shock was powerful enough to startle her even from her ear-scratching induced trance. She opened her eyes… and to her increasing confusion saw that it was Starfall who was kissing her.

“W-wait…” she stammered when he pulled his head back, moving down to kiss her neck. Not understanding what the hell was happening, she glanced back over her shoulder, looking at Starfall who was still behind her.

As he grinned, her mind went back to the previous day, to Amber’s and Annie’s reaction upon seeing Starfall’s ability to create duplicates.

“Oh…” was what all she was able to say upon the realization. As her brain scrambled for a more coherent response, Starfall (the one behind) turned his muzzle back towards her ear. Starburst eyes widened and she tried to say, “W-”

She wanted to say “Wait”. That she needed a bit more to process this, that it was weird, and she wasn’t sure what to think of this. But she didn’t make it in time. Starfall’s fang resumed scratching against her ear, and whatever resistance she could muster against it evaporated. At the same time the Starfall from her front pressed his body closer to her, kissing her again passionately as he gently pushed both her and other Starfall to the bed.

Oh, crap… Starburst thought weekly as she made out with two Starfalls on her bed.

She wasn’t sure how long did that last. Her pleasure-clouded brain had found it difficult to focus on kissing with two Starfalls in turns and feeling what the other was doing, let alone to keep track of the time. All Starburst knew was that she was lying on her back, her head turned to the left as she and Starfall were kissing, her hooves brushing brushing his side as he caressed his chest while the other would either plant kisses on her neck or scratch her ears (or both at the same time; being scratched by a hoof instead of a fang was also quite pleasurable) while also caressing her body. Then she would feel the Starfall on her right’s breath on her cheek as he would lean closer to her mouth, and she would break the kiss to turn to him and start kissing him, sometimes taking her hooves to him or leaving them on the other, and the she would switch again and again…

This is so weird… finally a piece of her mind managed to put together a thought. But it feels soo good…

For whatever reason, an image of Annie appeared in her mind, whispering, Yes, give in…

Starburst’s eyes snapped open. Okay, that’s it, she thought, pulling away from the two Starfalls and raising to a sitting position, shaking her head.

“Okay, Star? I need a moment,” she told him, closing her eyes as she brushed her face. “This… this is a bit weird, and…” she started, opening her eyes to look back at him/them… and then froze upon seeing what was before her.

Four more Starfalls, all standing in attention before the bed.

“... oh…” she exclaimed once again, her mind blank… except for the part that imagined what those four could be doing, on top of the first two, causing her wings to spread wide open.

She was barely aware of the warm chuckle that came from behind her as Starfalls crawled under her wings to sit by her sides. “I thought you might enjoy this,” both of them whispered to her ears, leaning closer so that their coats touched. “Well, Lil’Lioness? What are your orders?” The four Starfalls before the bed saluted. “We’ll do whatever you wish for…” the two Starfalls trailed off, nuzzling both of her cheeks.

“W-whatever I wish for…” Starburst repeated, finding it difficult to formulate thoughts. “W-well…”

Creak.

“Starburst,” her mother began, walking in, “I wanted-”

Time froze. At least, that’s how it seemed to Starburst, except if that would happen she wouldn’t be able to hear her heart beating in her ears. But how else to explain the fact that when her mom walked into the room through half-opened door she froze, staring at the scene before her with eyes wider than Starburst had ever remembered seeing, and at the same time everypony else in the room (her and six Starfalls) stared back with the exact same expression?

The seconds dragged mercilessly on in silence until finally Twilight took a step back outside of the room without saying another words and closed the door.

It took Starburst a few more moments to unfreeze, and when she did, she brought her forehooves to her face. “Oh, merciful Celestia…” she whined, absolutely horrified.

She could practically feel Starfall’s horror on her either side, but before either one of him could voice it, a strange noise emanating from above them. Starburst tried to look up, but at the same time some objects fell on both (or three) of them. They were light, but it still startled her and she tried to shield herself, so when she finally looked up, all she managed to see was a small purple portal closing.

Wait, purple? D-did Mom… Starburst thought, realizing that only her mother could have been the one to open that portal that she had used to apparently send them-

“What is it?” she asked in a small voice, dreading the answer.

One of the Starfalls picked up one of the small objects. It was a small package, but Starburst couldn’t make out what was written on it from the angle she was sitting. But she had a pretty good guess after seeing Starfall’s eyes widen as he read it.

“Condoms,” he said in an equally weak voice when he finally turned to her.

Despite already expecting that, Starburst still felt her eyelid twitch out of horror, anger, embarrassment, shame, and all kinds of emotions that were currently swarming through her. With great effort she pressed her forehooves against her temples as she wrapped her wings around her and slightly rocked her body back and forth on the bed, trying to process this.

I’ve got to start locking the damn door.

School Counseling

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“Oh, wow,” Candy exclaimed sympathetically, while clearly trying to hold back laughter. “I can’t even imagine what an awkward morning you must have had after that. Did your Mom want to talk about, um, what she saw?”

Starburst snorted. “Don’t know, we snuck out before breakfast.” She paused to glare at Candy and Annie as they giggled, then continued, “I told Nighty to tell our parents I was in a hurry, so Star was teleporting with me to school.”

She knew that, if her mom hadn’t told her dad about what she saw - and given the fact that he hadn’t burst into her room demanding Starfall’s head, she most likely hadn’t - this had undoubtedly seemed strange to him. It was strange enough for Nighty; her younger brother looked at her as if she had sprung a second head when she told him that.

“What, without eating breakfast? You?!” he had asked.

Starfall had spared her from answering that by teleporting them away, but soon afterwards they said a quick goodbye and parted. He wanted to check on the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, see how it was after that storm (“You know, cause I might need to hole up in there for the rest of my life,” he had said. “Although maybe my island would be better…” he added before shrugging, kissing her on the cheek and leaving, and Starburst hadn’t been sure if he was kidding or not.), while she had to go to her class… and face her friends.

They could tell, of course, that something had been bothering her, so there wasn’t any point trying to hide it. And there was the agreement she had with Annie, too, which all but forced her to tell them. So, hoping that she could at least get some useful advice on just what the hay she was supposed to do, she asked the girls to talk with her during a break in private.

Which was why Annie and Candy were now hanging out with her in the fillies’ restroom, talking about the most mind-scarring thing that had ever happened to Starburst (and tried her best to ignore just how embarrassing this was), while Whirlwind stayed with the colts to make sure they (“they” meaning “Prism”) wouldn’t try to eavesdrop.

“So you left without even seeing your mom?” Candy asked for confirmation, eyebrow raised. “That can’t be good for-”

“Candy, I think you’re forgetting about the more important matter,” Annie spoke up, interrupting her. As both fillies looked at her blind friend, she turned to Starburst. “What happened after your mom sent you all those condoms?” she asked, smirking.

Trust her to focus on that… Starburst thought, annoyed.

“What do you think happened?” she asked sarcastically, snorting.

“A gangbang.”

Starburst choked on her breath out of sheer shock hearing Annie’s calm reply. Too late she had realized who she was talking to, and now all she could do was stare at her with bulged out eyes... while desperately trying to push away any possible mental images her words - coupled with memories of last night - could summon. The last thing Starburst needed right now was her wings growing stiff.

Candy was staring at Annie in shock, too, although she had covered her muzzle with her hoof, so Starburst couldn’t be sure if she wasn’t hiding a grin behind it. She blushed a little she looked from Annie to her, and between Candy’s shocked, probably amused and apparently curious gaze and Annie’s calm, straight one, Starburst finally recovered enough out of her daze to reply:

“N… n-no…”

Smooth, she thought, mentally facehoofing.

Before she could give them more eloquent reply, Annie spoke up: “Hm, maybe you’re right, this technically wasn’t a gangbang since it was still one pony…” she mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

Starburst shook her head and snapped out of it. “No! We didn’t do that… or anything!” she quickly added the moment she saw Annie opened her mouth.

“Aww…” the blind pony whined, looking disappointed. “Seriously? If I could get Starfall to teach me that spell… oh yeah…” she trailed off, her face taking on a dreamy expression as she turned her blind gaze to the ceiling, her mouth hanging open.

Starburst deadpanned at her, figuring what she was daydreaming about. “You need help,” she told her as Candy giggled.

“T’s Ds is what I need,” she replied without changing her expression.

Despite her dismay with the direction their discussion had taken, Starburst found herself confused enough to ask, “T’s what? T’s…” she began, sharing a glance with Candy, who appeared as confused as her… for a whole second. The next one they both realized what the ‘D’ stood for, and why there was an ‘s’ with it. “Ugh, no, don’t wanna know!” Starburst quickly exclaimed, shaking in mild disgust.

Annie clearly didn’t take her words to hear, as she said, “I meant his di-”

“No no no, I’m not listening!” Starburst exclaimed, covering her ears.

Candy, though also taken aback by the realization of what the “D” stood for, and by Annie’s explanation, quickly became amused as she watched Starburst’s reaction. She covered her mouth with her hoof again and giggled into it, glancing at Annie. “You’re horrible,” Starburst heard her say as she took her hooves off her ears once Annie stopped talking.

Annie turned her blind gaze to Candy, pretending to frown. “Oh, I talk about my fantasies and I’m horrible, but Star tells us how she got gangbanged-”

“I wasn’t gangbanged!” Star practically yelled at her, then covered her mouth and looked at the door. To her relief, nopony came through it; considering her luck as of late, she wouldn’t have been surprised if Princess Celestia herself had entered at that moment. As both other fillies giggled, Starburst turned her attention back to them. “I wasn’t… gangbanged,” she hissed, reluctantly repeating the word. “Starfall cancelled the spell right after my mom left and we went to be- to sleep,” she corrected herself, mindful of whom she was speaking to.

But of course, the blind unicorn had still found something to comment on. “Together?” Annie asked, smirking. “Kinda bold thing to do, considering.”

Starburst snorted. “Well, maybe, but I figured this way we would both be sure he would wake up alive the next day, and it’s not like things could had gotten worse at that point.”

“She kinda has a point there,” Candy pointed out.

“True. Although…” Annie frowned thoughtfully before continuing: “I don’t think your mom would have told your dad about what she saw, so leaving today like that, without Starfall saying goodbye or thanking for their hospitality and stuff must have made things worse.”

“And it was kinda rude,” Candy added.

“More rude than gangbanging his daughter?” Annie asked Candy curiously, causing another shudder (and possibly brain damage) to go through Starburst.

“Annie!” she hissed at her. “We didn’t do anything! Ugh, why did I even bother-” she began, finally fed up, and began to walk away.

Candy quickly moved to block her way. “Star, wait! We’ll be serious now. Right Annie?” she turned to their unicorn friend.

“I’ve been serious this entire conversation-”

“Annie!” Candy exclaimed in annoyance, pouting.

“- but I suppose I can be a bit more civil,” Annie finished innocently. “Also, you know I can’t see you pout right?” she added, then waved her hoof before her blind eyes.

Frowning at Annie, Starburst relented and decided to stay; after all, she still could use an advice about her mother.

“Okay, so… what should I do?” she asked simply.

“Well, for starters,” Annie began; Starburst already deadpanned at her, expecting the worst, “you really should start locking the door to your room.”

Starburst facehoofed. Tell me something I don’t know...

As she must have heard her hoof slapping against her face, Annie ignored her reaction and continued, “But about your mom… hm, honestly, knowing Princess Twilight, you could have tried pretending like nothing had happened, but even so, she would probably want to talk to you about last night. Especially since you avoided her this morning,” she added. As Starburst groaned and buried her face in her hooves at the prospect of talking with her mom about… that, Annie added sympathetically. “Hey, come on, your mom is pretty cool to talk about stuff like that. Remember how she gave you and me the sex talk?”

Another shudder went through Starburst. “Ugh, how could I forget,” she said, still embarrassed at the mere recollection of that conversation.

“Your mom talked calmly and answered every question I had,” Annie said; Starburst was almost surprised that she hadn’t tried reminding her just how many questions she had. “So I think you could expect pretty much the same with your talk about… last night,” she finished, smirking. Starburst was sure she had wanted to say that word again. The blind unicorn shrugged and added, “And look at it this way; that sex talk won’t be the most embarrassing conversation you have with your mom.”

“How is that a plus?” Starburst asked her, deadpanning, but then sighed and hung her head in defeat. “Okay, but what exactly would we... talk about?” she asked uncomfortably, unsure how to put what she means into words.

It was Candy who replied, “Star, you might find this weird, but we don’t exactly have a ‘roadmap’ for a parent walking in on a g- um, I mean, an extremely compromising situation involving our significant other?” she corrected herself as Starburst glared at her, smiling sheepishly.

As Starburst continued to stare at her, Annie spoke up, “Well…” Immediately, both Starburst and Candy turned to stare at their unicorn friend, baffled. As if sensing their gazes, Annie explained: “Well, obviously, my mom hadn’t walked in on me and T doing something like that. Unfortunately…” she muttered under her breath, her expression once again becoming dreamy, but she quickly shook it off and continued, “A few months ago T had stayed at my house because there was a storm, too, and I got scared because of the thunder, so he cuddled with me before we fell asleep. And when Mom came to wake us up in the morning, he had rolled in his sleep so he was on top of me,” Annie said, smiling a bit sheepishly. “And since I tried to push him off, I was all sweaty and was breathing heavily. So yeah, that wasn’t a fun moment in my life…”

“... and yet you make fun of me,” Starburst couldn’t help but say after Annie had trailed off, her surprised stare turning into a deadpan.

“I’m not making fun of you; honestly, I’m more impressed with you than anything else,” Annie argued, rolling her blind eyes.

Starburst shook her head in exasperation. Knowing Annie, she could very well both be making fun of her and be impressed. It was nice to know though that even she could get embarrassed by a situation that was so very much alike to Starburst’s… only much less embarrassing.

“But back to the topic,” Annie continued, “afterwards we had a very embarrassing talk with my mom, explaining what and how this had happened. With you though I’d imagine it would be different,” she added, “because I somehow believe that you could convince your mom that there were two Starfalls at your sides on your bed and four more before you because of a series of odd events or something; and we know that’s not truth anyway.” Starburst had to clench her teeth to stop herself from snapping at her in annoyance; she had a point after all. “But seeing how the first thing she had done after leaving was to send you guys condoms, I’d say that she’d want to make sure you remember to have safe sex.”

Starburst facehoofed. “Great, sooo looking forward to that…” she groaned, feeling only slightly relieved that maybe it would at least spare her from discussing with her mom why there were six Starfalls in her room at that moment.

“Of course,” Annie added, a bare hint of a smirk on her muzzle. “she could also try to warn you about certain other problems you could experience, like soreness, and suggest you use some aids, like lubricants or enema.”

“An en-” Starburst began, then her eyes bulged in realization. “Ew, Annie, stop it!” she exclaimed, grabbing her head and trying to purge her mind of that word… and of the thought of having such discussion with her mom.

As she contemplated the dreaded prospect, Candy leaned to Annie with a mixture of curious and embarrassed expression on her face. “Wait, would Starfall’s water copies actually, you know…” she hesitated, looking for the right word, then said in hushed tone: “Need to use condoms?”

Despite… everything, Starburst found herself paying attention to Annie as she hummed thoughtfully. “Hm, that would depend on the exact nature of how the copies are created. I think he is using water as medium to reflect his magic and give it his form, then technically they would most definitely need to use condoms. But if he would cancel the spell before-”

“Wait,” Starburst interrupted her as a thought hit her. “Why exactly do you know stuff like this?”

Instead of replying, Annie merely turned her blind gaze at her and stared impassively.

“Nevermind, stupid question…” Starburst sighed in defeat, shaking her head.

She had no idea if Annie’s sudden interest in Starfall’s spell (or rather, how it could be used) was genuine or if she was only doing it to mess with her, but she could easily see her looking up the topic of magical duplicates over Sunday in one of the magic books she got from Starburst’s mom.

“So anyway,” Annie resumed, as if she hadn’t been interrupted, “in regards to Starfall’s water copies, I would say better safe than sorry, and make each one wear a condom. Which is probably what your mom-”

“Why are you talking to me when replying to Candy’s question?” Starburst interrupted her, frowning in annoyance; she already knew the answer.

“Because Candy wasn’t the one who almost had sex with a bunch of water copies,” Annie replied innocently.

Starburst groaned. “Annie, we weren’t going to-” she began, but the blind pony cut her off.

“Really? Are you seriously telling us that if your mom wouldn’t have come at that moment, nothing would have happened?” Annie asked, lifting one eyebrow as she leaned closer.

Slightly backing away, Starburst found herself struggling for a reply. Even though throughout her retelling of yesterday’s events she had been constantly blushing, she had somewhat grown used to this situation and couldn’t feel any heat on her cheeks anymore.

Now though it returned, even worse than before.

She hadn’t really had a chance to think about what could have happened if her mom hadn’t barged in at that moment. True, she had made out with two Starfalls, but there was a big leap from making out and… being more intimate. And it wasn’t like it had been the first time they’d been making out, just... the first time Starfall had created a water duplicate and “invited” it along. It did feel nice, but Starburst had went along with it primarily because he had taken her by surprise. She had stopped, though, needing a moment to think about this; what would had happened next?

Well, obviously, she hadn’t been given an option to learn, as aside from her mother coming in a few seconds later, she had realized that there were four more Starfall’s water duplicates. The sight had left her simply dazed, and she didn’t recover the ability to think before her mom came in. What would have she decided to do?

And more importantly, what was Starfall’s intention? Had it been like the idea of having the bath together, where he comes up with a proposition and waits for her reaction? Or was he merely pulling her tail after Amber’s and Annie’s jokes the other day?

Knowing him, both, Starburst summarised.

To make things worse, Annie wasn’t about to give her time to think through this by herself. “You were making out with two Starfalls before that happened, so…” she said, trailing of suggestively.

“T-that was just making out!” Starburst blurted, feeling heat all over her face. “A-and he took me by surprise, I did stop him… after a while.”

Annie smirked, triumphant. “So you were at least open to the idea of getting double teamed then?”

“I said I stopped making out,” Starburst hissed.

“But were you going to continue if your mom hadn’t entered? Or if Starfall hadn’t distracted you with four other water duplicates?” Annie asked, dropping the smirk and instead looking at her with almost polite curiousness.

Seeing her seemingly become actually serious caused Starburst to calm down somewhat, and instead of hissing again in reply she hesitated. “... I don’t know,” she finally admitted, groaning. “I didn’t exactly have the time to think about it, I was too worried about my mom.”

“Well, you have time to think about it now,” Annie said, her smile returning. “And if it helps, if I had the opportunity, I would totally do it with a herd of T.”

Yeah, I figured you would, Starburst remarked in her thoughts. However, she did feel slightly better to know that that if she would want to… do that, then at least it she wouldn’t be the most perverse one from their group of friends. Instead I would be just as perverse as Annie, hurray…

Annie in the meantime had cast Candy a meaningful look. The earth pony blinked at her, then shook her head and smiled sheepishly. “One Del is enough for me,” she said, chuckling somewhat nervously. “But I would totally not judge, would be a little bit curious, aaaaand would totally be not surprised.”

Starburst frowned, confused. “Wait, I get why you wouldn’t be surprised with Annie-”

“Hey!” Annie exclaimed, pretending to be offended.

“Oh hush,” Starburst told her, then turned back to Candy: “I get why you wouldn’t be surprised by her, but why not by me?”

“Well,” Candy began, “you do like to push yourself beyond your limit, sooo it sorta makes sense if you’d try a gangbang. Especially considering that you’re dating a colt that can make multiple copies of himself,” she added as Starburst stared at her, stunned.

“I… h-how does this make sense?!” she finally asked, irritated… and embarrassed; were they right? Ignoring the thought that crept on the edge of her mind, Starburst continued, “And besides, even if that would make sense, why would I… start, with that? It’s not like I started pushing myself beyond my limit while training right from the start.”

Annie and Candy exchanged a look. “Actually…” Candy began as they turned back to her, “you did.”

“Remember, the first time you went working out on Sweet Apple Acres, and you trained until you passed out?” Annie said as Starburst stared at them with gradually widening eyes. “Del found you and they took you to the hospital because nopony knew what happened?”

As she searched through her memories, Starburst realized that this was indeed how her first training session went (and a lot more after that). “Sweet Celestia…” she whispered, realizing that they were right.

“Yeah, let’s hope that this time you won’t end up in hospital,” Annie added, trying her best to keep straight face. “I mean, that would be a really awkward hospital visit.”

“I’m so glad you find this so amusing,” Starburst sighed, giving the blind unicorn a half-hearted glare. Shaking (most of) her embarrassment off, she said, “Okay, maybe I… could be sort of… into pushing myself like this.” She trying to not dwell on that thought too long; about the last thing she needed right now was popping a wingboner. “But I don’t even know if I want-” Starburst paused, hesitating; she was about to say ‘if I want to have sex with Starfall’, but her friends would be very quick to point out that considering everything that they’ve talked about, it was very clear what she wanted. So instead, she said, “if I’m ready to… you know,” she finished awkwardly.

Annie’s eyes narrowed, her smirk in full display. “Knooooow what?”

Starburst glared at her in annoyance. “Have sex,” she said in a controlled voice, knowing that her unicorn friend wouldn’t let her get away from saying that.

“Well,” Candy spoke up as Annie tried to hide her glee, “that is an important factor in all of this. One we cannot really help you. I mean,” she added sheepishly, a slight red hue appearing on her cheeks, “I have been thinking about maybe moving up my relationship with Del, buuut I’m also not sure if I’m ready, too. There’s just no sure way to know if you are or not, I think. Well, maybe besides just jumping in, staring into the deep end of the pool on this.”

“She means-”

“I know what she means Annie,” Starburst groaned, rolling her eyes as her blind friend giggled at her interruption.

As she stopped, Annie said: “I mean, you could… do a little bit more next time, and see if you both enjoy it. And to be clear,” she added, her face straight, “by ‘more’ I don’t mean to have more bodies involved, but to-”

“I can imagine what you meant, thanks,” Starburst interrupted her again, both due to her annoyance at the jibe, and because she really didn’t want to hear her suggestion.

Annie fell silent, then blinked at her. “Give him a BJ,” she said after a second.

A shudder went through Starburst; just as she thought Annie wouldn’t say it, the unicorn’s words hit her like a hammer. “Celestia dammit Annie…” she groaned, recovering.

“Sorta staying on the topic…” Candy spoke up as Annie giggled. Starburst quickly turned her glare on her, but the earth pony filly quickly continued, “I mean, you’ve said you and Starfall had talked about when you’d take things to the next level and agreed that you’d decide together, right?”

“Yeah, but then he goes and pulls stuff like that,” Starburst snorted. “Although knowing him, he had been merely ‘suggesting’ and would stop the moment I said so… or he was just trying to mess with me a bit,” she added, rolling her eyes.

Admittedly, though she knew only too well how Starfall liked to joke around, he didn’t enjoy any sex-related jokes, which made the latter option a bit unlikely.

“So you didn’t talk with him about it?” Candy asked.

“We kinda didn’t feel like talking after my mom came in,” she replied.

“Well, you definitely should talk with him again after that,” Annie said. “Besides, I’m guessing you hadn’t talked with him about that ‘thought process’ of his, hadn’t you?”

Now both annoyed be the memory of the ‘thought process’ they’ve overheard by the lake and embarrassed that Annie had guessed corrected, Starburst said, “Didn’t have the time.”

“Sure, you just spent an entire day and night with him,” Annie retorted, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, and my family,” Starburst pointed out. “I sort of didn’t want to have a talk like that in front of them, even if it wouldn’t evolve into an argument.”

“Wait,” Candy, who had been looking from one to the other and back with confusion, interjected, “what ‘thought process’ are we talking about?”

“Starfall’s thought process about how ponies could make fun of Star about dating a magic performer, so instead of trying to earn living this way he’s staying unemployed and homeless,” Annie replied; Starburst let her, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to not call this ‘thought process’ idiotic every few words.

Candy’s expression suggest that she’d agree with her on that. “Oh wow,” she exclaimed. “That’s… some thought process alright.”

“Tell me about it,” Starburst sighed, shaking her head. “So, now I need to have two conversations with Star, one extremely annoying and the other extremely embarrassing.”

“Don’t forget your mom asked you about him maybe moving in, you should talk about that as well,” Annie pointed out, then frowned thoughtfully. “Although you might need to check with your mom if that’s still on the table.”

Starburst deadpanned at her. “Thanks Annie, I’ll be sure to mention you in my suicide note.”

Annie chuckled in amusement, but as she opened her mouth to reply, she suddenly fell silent, her ears twitching. A moment later the door to the bathroom opened, and Whirlwind walked in.

“Break’s almost over,” she informed them, closing the bathroom’s door behind her. “Hope you’re wrapping up.”

“Hm, are we?” Candy asked, giving Starburst a questioning stare.

At first, she didn’t reply; in fact, Starburst had barely heard what the two had said. Whirlwind had been holding an apple with her wing as she entered. Having not eaten anything the whole day, Starburst had found her eyes glued to the fruit as the other pegasus took a bite out of it, feeling unpleasant cramps in her stomach.

Shaking her head, she sighed, and thought about what they had talked about. Although she would never call this a pleasant experience, she realized that she wasn’t as nervous as before at the thought of facing her mother.

“I guess,” she said after a second. Rolling her eyes, she couldn’t help but add a complaint, “Although I suppose I had hoped for a better advice than just ‘talking’.”

“Talking ‘bout what? What’s happened?” Whirlwind quickly asked as she took another bite of the apple.

“Starburst’s mom walked into her room when Starfall was about to gangbang her,” Annie immediately replied, before Starburst as much as opened her mouth.

As Whirlwind’s eyes bulged and she began to choke on the bite she just took, Starburst hissed at Annie, “Stop saying ‘gangbang’!”

“Then stop having sex parties and not inviting T and me,” Annie bit back with amusement.

Groaning, Starburst looked up at the ceiling in exasperation, giving up on the argument. In the corner of her eye she saw Candy walking up to Whirlwind and patting her on her back to help her recover.

“Damn girl!” she finally said a few seconds later. “I knew you liked to push yourself to the point of passing out, but-”

“Oh for the love of- we didn’t do that!” Starburst exclaimed, annoyed that . “And we weren’t even going to do that… probably,” She amended with slight reluctance, blushing. “We were just making out.”

“Very hard,” Annie added, smirking at her.

Starburst glared at her, but at that moment the school’s bell sounded.

“Aww, I wanted to hear the whole story,” Whirlwind exclaimed, pouting.

“I’ll fill you in later,” Candy told her as she headed for the door.

I would say ‘saved by the bell’, but I honestly don’t know which pony here needed more saving, Starburst remarked as they all began to make they way out of the bathroom.

“Amusing choice of words, considering what we’ve talked about,” Annie quipped, causing Starburst to sigh and Whirlwind to giggle.

“Next time Star comes to us with a problem, one of you is distracting the boys; I’m not missing this again,” she told Candy and Annie as they were about to split up; Whirlwind and Candy to a math class, while Starburst and Annie had biology with Miss Cheerilee.

“My life is not a soap opera,” Starburst growled quietly.

“Of course not,” Annie agreed, “but it is a bit more entertaining than our own at the moment.”

“Am I supposed to pity you?” Starburst asked, raising an eyebrow, then shook her head and waved goodbye at Candy and Whirlwind. “See you later.”

“So you’re going to talk with your mom after classes?” Annie asked her as after they parted with the other two fillies, stepping closer so that their coats were lightly touching, helping her navigate through the corridors full of other school ponies.

“Yeah, I guess it’s better to deal with this as soon as I can,” Starburst sighed. “Hopefully my mom will be at home and not in Canterlot dealing with something…”

“Considering what she saw last night I doubt it,” Annie replied with a little smirk. “What about Starfall?”

“Yes, I’ll talk with him too, the moment we’ll be far away from everypony else,” she replied, more reluctantly. “Especially you.”

Annie chuckled at that, but didn’t continue the topic as they reached their classroom. They both made some small talk with a few of their classmates as they reached their desks. Starburst’s mind, though, was far away, thinking about the conversations she would have, each seemingly worse that the other.

Well, I guess the one with Mom will be worse, she thought after a moment. Will she actually believe me when I say that nothing happened between me and Star? Ugh, shouldn’t have run away this morning, that just makes me look guilty! Then a worse thought came to her mind. Wait, what if Annie was right and Mom will want to talk about… this stuff? Annie said she could want to “warn me”...

In her mind, she could already see her mom showing her a book titled “Gangbanging for Beginners”.

Mentally facehoofing and erasing the image from her head, Starburst shook her head. I am so locking the door everytime now… alright, stop thinking about it. Just power through the classes, and do not think about anything sex related.

Miss Cheerilee entered the classroom at that moment. “Hello again everypony,” she greeted them as she closed the door; they’d had another lesson with her a few hours ago. As her students greeted her in return and all assumed their seats, she trotted over to the desk. “Alright, let’s start our lesson. As you know, we’re starting together a new topic today.”

Starburst briefly glanced at Annie who sat next to her as she opened up her braille coded textbook. She wasn’t really interested in the lesson topic and just wanted the day to end…

Miss Cheerilee gave them an odd smile before continuing: “I’m guessing some of you might find this topic more interesting than others. We’ll be talking about ‘reproduction’.”

Starburst eyes bulged, then she slammed her head against the desk, accompanied by Annie’s giggle.

Aftermath - Part I

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“Ugh, I can’t believe this!” Starburst groaned as she and Annie left the classroom along with the rest of their class.

“You know,” Annie began; when Starburst glared at her, she saw that the blind mare was clearly holding back laughter, “I think everypony in our class is envious of getting that assignment.”

It took great effort from Starburst to not lash out at her. One of Miss Cheerilee's methods of teaching was, every now and then when starting a brand new topic, to give out an assignment to randomly chosen two ponies. They had to read up on a subject related to whatever they were studying and make a presentation about it for the class. Some ponies liked to joke around that Miss Cheerilee was doing that so that she would have less work to do (and, to be fair, considering how many ponies she was teaching, she could do with having less work), but Starburst knew (partially because her mom explained it to her) that she was doing that to encourage her students to conduct research on their own and better remember information.

Unfortunately for her, when starting the subject of reproduction on their biology class, Miss Cheerilee had decided to give two ponies the assignment of making a presentation about a related topic to the class, and Starburst had to be the one of them.

And because life hated her, Annie was the other one.

“I know you have something to do with this,” Starburst hissed at her angrily, ignoring her earlier remark.

Annie did a great show of rolling her blind eyes. “Honestly, Star, you overestimate my capabilities and resources. Just how in Celestia’s name would I get Miss Cheerilee to pick the two of us for an assignment when we’d start the ‘reproduction’ subject in our biology class?”

“I don’t know how, I just know that you apparently did,” she replied; the more rational part of her mind did know that it shouldn’t be possible for Annie to do that, but all things considered…

“And how can you be so sure?”

“Because you didn’t even bother volunteering us,” Starburst said, eyes narrowing at her blind friend.

“And it didn’t occur to you that, considering what you had been through last night, I didn’t want to upset you?” Annie asked another question.

“Considering all the fun you’ve made of me just a few hours ago during the break?” Starburst countered with a question of her own. “No, it did not.”

Annie blinked at that in surprise. “Oh. Come on, Star, it’s not really ‘making fun of somepony’ if you’re being serious, right? And I was. I said I was impressed, didn’t I?” she said, uncertainly. As Starburst didn’t answer (continuing to just glare at her angrily), she uttered a sight and said “Sorry, I didn’t realize I went too far.”

Her apology did little to placate Starburst after the indignity she had to endure; she might have coped with it hours ago, but the biology class and the prospect of having to work on an assignment with Annie reawakened her anger.

“Well, you did,” she told her plainly, snorting.

“Sorry,” Annie repeated, a little quieter. As Starburst glanced at her, she saw that her friend looked troubled, and her anger ebbed away a little. “I… guess I got a bit too excited and… jealous.”

That, more than anything, gave her pause. Starburst physically had to stop (and reach out with her wing to Annie so she would stop too) and stare at her for a few seconds. “Come again?” she finally asked, unsure if she hadn’t misheard her.

Annie, who still looked troubled, moved her nearly blind gaze from one side of the corridor to the other, as if trying to spot something with her poor eyesight. “Are we near one of the bathrooms?” she asked while twitching her ears.

Realizing that she wanted to speak in private, without all the other students overhearing them, Starburst looked around. “Um, yeah, over here,” she said and began leading Annie to the nearby fillies’ bathroom, her anger almost forgotten.

It didn’t make any sense for her to hear that Annie could be jealous of her. She was the “Little Miss Perfect” of practically the entire town; she was liked by everypony, friendly to everypony, had good grades, was very good with magic… heck, there had been moments when Starburst had thought that her own mom preferred to spend time with Annie than her. To hear that she was apparently jealous of her in some way… well, suffice to say that it was enough to give her anger a pause.

After entering the bathroom, she quickly made sure they were alone and turned back to Annie. “Okay, can you run that by me again? I mean, I can get that ‘too excited’ part - obviously - but what’s that about being ‘jealous’?” Starburst asked, frowning.

The unicorn scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “Well, you see, um…” she trailed off, then sighed and turned her blind eyes to her. “Look, don’t get me wrong, I am very happy with the way things are between me and T, and I don’t mind waiting with moving things further until after we’re married and stuff… buuut I can’t help but be a tiny bit jealous of all the stuff you and Starfall are doing,” Annie confessed with an embarrassed smile. Before Starburst could react in another way besides blinking and opening her mouth silently, she continued, “Now, I don’t mean it in the sense that I’d wish T was as… affectionate as Starfall is with you - although, to be honest, I wouldn’t totally mind that,” Annie added with a smirk that was much more like her than this sheepish demeanor she was exhibiting, “and I don’t even think I have to add that I wouldn’t mind at all if he could just create copies of himself like it was nothing - but more so in the sense that I wish I was more, well, bold like you. I mean, come one,” she added with a chuckle, as if sensing Starburst’s confusion and disbelief, “you made out with your coltfriend and shared a bath with him while your parents were in the house! That’s badass!”

“Um…” Starburst hesitated, a little embarrassed at the remark. “W-well, I suppose one could look at it that way…”

“I really mean it, Star,” Annie said, once again smiling sheepishly. “I wish I would be bold enough to just pounce on my coltfriend and not care that somepony could walk in on me.”

Starburst looked away and scratched the back of her head, growing more embarrassed by the odd praise. “Yeah, well I- wait a minute,” she said as a sudden suspicion creeped into her. Narrowing her brows at Annie, she asked: “Are you just saying that to butter me up so I won’t be mad at you?”

The blind unicorn rolled her eyes and sighed. “Honestly, Star, are you going to suspect I have an ulterior motive in everything I say or do now?”

“I strongly feel that I should,” Starburst returned, crossing forelegs on her chest.

“Eh, alright, fair enough,” Annie replied,shrugging. “But I really meant what I said; aaand if it makes you stop being angry with me then that’s just a bonus for me.”

“Ugh,” Starburst grunted, too tired to argue or to continue to be mad. “I suppose I can believe you’d be honest about something like this…”

“Does this mean you’re no longer mad at me for earlier?” Annie asked hopefully.

“Yeah, fine, I’m not,” Starburst replied, not without some resignation.

Annie beamed up. “Awesome, because I have something important to ask-”

Celestia dammit…

“- how exactly do you do it?” she finished, tilting her head. “I mean, how are you just… confident enough to literally pounce on your coltfriend like that?”

Embarrassed, Starbrust stammered, “Um, I don’t know, I- wait a second, are you going to take notes or something?” she exclaimed, frowning.

Actually, the pegasus thought at the same time, it is sorta flattering that Annie would be trying to learn something from me…

The blind unicorn in question pointed at her eyes. “I would have to write them down in Braille, remember? I could record you,” she added dismissively, before Starburst could feel abashed by the reminder, “but I can imagine how you’d react if I even asked.”

Shaking her head, Starburst sighed and tried to reply to her question, “Yeah, I wouldn’t be happy. I dunno what to tell you, really. It just sorta… happens in the heat of the moment, you know? Star gets affectionate, and I just… feel like continuing. I don’t recall ever ‘pouncing’ on him out of the blue.”

While she talked, Annie stared at her intently, as if absorbing every word she said. As Starburst drew to the end, the unicord began nodding her head thoughtfully, and then the pegasus princess noticed something that made her insides curl in worry; Annie’s lips twisting into a smirk for a brief moment.

“What was that?” she immediately asked, full of suspicion.

“What was what?”

“You smirked.”

“No I didn’t,” Annie replied, dismissively.

“Yes, you did,” Starburst argued, growing more annoyed, but the unicorn was already getting up.

“I’m really glad that we had this talk, Star,” she began, turning around, “but I think we better go, I don’t want T worrying about- uogh!” Annie grunted in surprise as she bumped into the wall.

“Two steps to the right,” Starburst told her impassively.

“Thank you,” Annie replied, adjusting herself so that she could walk through the door.

Rolling her eyes, Starburst followed after her. “Annie, I saw that smirk,” she tried again as they walked through the corridor. “Please tell me you’re not planning some scheme-”

“Annie!”

Guess he already got worried, Starburst surmised as she saw T trotting over to them, relief on his muzzle.

Annie glanced at her in passing with a good-humored smirk, her blind look all but saying ‘see what I meant?’ “Sorry to make you worry T,” she told him, trotting over and brushing against his side while the half-dragon wrapped his wing over her. “Star and I were talking and lost track of time.”

Starburst uttered a defeated sigh; there was no way she could resume their talk with T there. Hoping that the smirk she had noticed meant nothing too nefarious, she decided to focus on another important matter.

“Yeah, we got a presentation to do for our biology class,” she told T, then turned to Annie: “Anyway, I would like to get it done as soon as possible; do you mind if we go get started on it now?”

To her mild confusion - as she expected Annie to jump right on the idea - her friend shook her head. “Sorry, Star, can’t right now, I’m coming over to T’s for dinner.”

“Oh…”

“Besides,” Annie added meaningfully, “don’t you have something important to do back home?”

Starburst blinked, recalling the reason why she had that talk earlier with everypony. “Crap, that’s right,” she groaned, facehoofing. She had to come back home and talk with her mom about what she had seen in her room last night, and all things considered it would probably be better to do it sooner rather than later. “Yeah, I have, thanks for reminding me… even if I think I would actually prefer to work on the assignment…”

“Well, I can imagine,” Annie said, a little amused. “Wish you luck. But back to the assignment, we can meet up in a few hours.”

“Oh, great,” Starburst replied, relieved. “What time do you wanna come over?”

“Actually, I was thinking that we could do it at my house?” she said, to her surprise. As if sensing it, she added “I mean, I just assumed that, given what you’re about to do, you’d want to avoid doing such an assignment at home?”

Starburst had to admit, what Annie had said did make some sense… heck, she would prefer to not work on a presentation about a subject regarding reproduction at her home at the best of days, last thing she needed was her mom offering to help out…

However… this was Annie. Starburst couldn’t help but become suspicious.

“So we should do it at your house, with your mom trotting around instead?” she asked. “I do recall her being a bit… well, skittish, I guess, when such a topic is being talked about?”

“Well, fortunately, my mom is out of town right now,” Annie explained, much to Starburst’s surprise. “My uncle Zephyr caught a cold over the weekend, so mom went to check on him, she won’t be back until late at night or even tomorrow. Meaning we can work in peace.”

“Huh…” Starburst mused, finding the idea on working on this stupid presentation without any adult looking over their shoulder (as if the situation wasn’t embarrassing enough) was alluring. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

T, whom she had noticed had been looking from her to Annie and back in confusion, finally asked “What are you talking about?”

“Miss Cheerilee gave us an assignment for biology class,” Starburst explained with a sigh. “Anyway, I’ll come to your place around six?” When Annie nodded, she added “Great, should give me enough time to talk with my mom… and Star, assuming I can find him.”

“Oh, he’s at Sweet Apple Acres.”

Starburst blinked in surprise at T.

“I ran into him when I was returning a book to Del before coming here,” the half-dragon explained.

Except that wasn’t the part that needed an explanation. “The hay is he doing at Sweet Apple Acres?” Starburst asked, confused… and a little worried.

It did not help her apprehensions that T appeared uncomfortable and confused, too. “Um… working?”

Starburst opened her mouth, but found no words to say. She blinked, closed her mouth, then sit down on the floor, lifted her forehooves to cover her eyes and slowly, very slowly rub them lengthily for several seconds, before uttering a sight, dropping her hooves down, looking back at T and finally asking in a tired voice, “What?”

“I don’t know,” T confessed, clearly understanding her reaction. “I asked him what he was doing, he said that he’s working, but before I could ask anything else he mentioned that ‘he’s not keen on finding out if Miss Applejack treats slacking employees as his last employer had’ and went back deeper into the orchard.” Starburst groaned again, amazed by her coltfriend’s latest antic. “I tried to ask Del about it, but he didn’t know why he’s working there either.”

“Of course he didn’t know, nopony can know why that idiot does the things he does,” Starburst hissed, facepalming.

Not two days ago she had overheard him saying how he wouldn’t want ponies to laugh about Princess Starburst dating a magic performer, believing - somehow - that her dating an unemployed, uneducated homeless pony (something Starburst was still trying to wrap her mind around) was better for her image or whatever. But in those two days he decided that it’s fine if he’s a farmhoof instead? And how in the hay did he get Del’s mom to hire him?!

Taking a deep, calming breath, Starburst tried to organize her thoughts. “Okay, guess that’s another thing I have to talk about with him… which is thing number five I believe,” she exclaimed, feeling tired; why did all of this had to happen on a school day? Turning to Annie, she couldn’t help but say “You know, one of you could have warned me that dating will be so mind-boggling!”

“I’m pretty sure we did,” Annie replied, amused.

“No, you warned me about kissing a pony with fangs and gave me a box of condoms, you didn’t warn me that colts are insane!”

“H-hey,” T tried to interject, a bit hesitantly.

“Oh hush,” Starburst snorted while Annie giggled.

Aftermath - Part II

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This cannot end well, Starburst thought as she slowly dragged herself to her family mansion’s door, resigned to her fate.

There were a whole bunch of things she’d rather be doing right now. She could go and train; sweet Celestia, did she miss the time when her only concern was finding more free time to do some workouts. But of course, she now had more important things to worry about. Starburst needed to find Starfall and learn just what the hay he was up to now with working on Sweet Apple Acres, talk to him about last night, and a bunch of other slightly less important stuff. As annoying as that was going to be, she’d really prefer to do that right about now. Hay, right now she would rather start working with Annie on that stupid biology assignment!

Sighing, Starburst reached the door. As much as she wanted to avoid what was about to come, it was no use prolonging this, sooner or later she would have to face her mom.

Let’s just get it over with, she thought, opening the door. Otherwise Mom could always just teleport me back home when she’d get tired of waiting… or worse, send the guards after me again, like when Star took me out on our first date.

“Good morning, Princess Starburst,” she almost immediately heard, making her jump. Rosie ignored her reaction and continued, “Princess Twilight wanted me to tell you upon your return that she’d like you to see her immediately. Your mother is currently in her study room.”

“Oh, right,” Starburst mumbled, recovering after being surprised by the housemaid. “Thank you, Rosie.”

The older mare nodded and trotted away to no doubt deal with some other duties (Or rather, some actual duties; I’m pretty sure that “guarding the door waiting for your employer’s daughter to send her to her mother” wasn’t on her official list of duties.). Shaking herself out of her earlier shock, Starburst headed to her mother’s study deeper within the mansion.

A few moments later, she was right before its door. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, she knocked on it.

“Come in,” came a quick reply, and Starburst entered.

Her mom’s study was a small, cozy room, its walls filled with bookshelves. Inside was a desk, an armchair, and a small couch for the rare moments she’d have visitors here like now. Her mother was currently sitting behind the desk writing something down on a scroll.

“Hello Star,” she greeted her without looking up. She pointed with her quill at the couch and added: “Please wait a moment, I’ll just finish this letter in a few moments and then we’ll talk.”

No need to hurry, Starburst remarked privately, trotting over to the couch and sitting down. Casting her mother a sidelong glance, she briefly wondered what this letter could be about, but then brushed that thought aside as she recalled she and Celestia had some festival to attend to in the Crystal Empire next week and figured it was probably related, and instead focused on what was about to come...

… which apparently had to come out now, as her mom placed her quill back in the inkpot and rose from her armchair. Starburst did her best not to sigh or show in any way just how uncomfortable she was as the alicorn joined her on the couch.

“Star-” her mother began, but she cut her off.

“Mom, before you say anything… Star and I, um, w-well, we didn’t do anything last night,” she said awkwardly, feeling her cheek heat up from embarrassment. “And we weren’t going to do anything, anyway, even if you hadn’t come in, Star was just messing with me, I think, because of something the other guys had said the day before… and while we’re at it, Mom, would you please knock on my door before coming in? That was the second time you walked in on us for crying out loud, I deserve some privacy-”

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘second time’?” her mother interrupted her, blinking at her in surprise.

Starburst’s jaw dropped as she started back at her in sheer horror of what she had just said. “I… I’m just… gonna stop talking now,” she managed to mumble, burrowing her face in her forehooves.

Mercifully, her mom decided to not pursue this topic further. Instead Starburst heard her sigh and then ask, “Starburst, how old are you?”

She lowered one of her forehooves to look at her, confused. “Fifteen? Well, almost sixteen actually,” she replied, wondering where her mother was going with this.

“To be more precise, you will be sixteen next month,” Twilight pointed out, causing her to roll her eyes. “But the point is, you are almost an adult mare. It is only natural that now that you have a coltfriend you two are becoming more physical. And while I’ll admit that I don’t know Starfall very well, I do know you; well, to some degree I suppose,” she added with a small smile. “And I know that you are responsible enough to not do something you’d regret.”

Surprised, Starburst dropped her forehooves down to look at her mom properly. “Wait, so you’re saying that-”

“-that what you’re doing with your coltfriend is none of my business,” she finished, smiling. “All I ask is that when you do decide to become more intimate you remember about protection. Aaaand closing the door wouldn't hurt,” her mom added, somehow managing to hold back a smirk that Starburst knew she wanted to make.

“Yeah, I know,” she replied, certain that the fur on her face had become red by now. “But is that seriously all? Shouldn’t you be, I dunno, upset, say we’re moving too fast or question just why there were six of my colfriend in my bedroom?!”

“Star, I just said that I think you’re old enough to make your own choices in that regard,” her mother replied, rolling up her eyes. “It’s up to you to decide whether you are moving too fast or not, well, both you and Starfall, but knowing you you’re probably too strong-willed to let him talk to you into something you wouldn’t want even if he’d try to.”

Despite how embarrassing this entire conversation was, and how she wished it would never happen, Starburst couldn’t help but feel a little proud that her mother trusted her that much and thinks of her as strong-willed.

“And as for what exactly I saw in your room,” her mom continued, just as she had began to brighten up; the remark immediately dampened her, “well, you can’t discuss somepony’s tastes. I’m mostly surprised, fetishes aren’t something you’d expect to be hereditary. Especially not one so specifically magic-requiring one.”

“Hereditary?” Starburst repeated, confused. “What do you-” and then her eyes bulged as she realized what her mother had meant. “Ew, Mom! I did not need to know that!” she exclaimed, grabbing her head instinctively as if trying to squeeze the thought out of her head.

“Oh come now Star, I thought we were discussing this like adults,” Twilight sighed, sounding a little exasperated. “Besides, I thought you’d have realized that, I mean, didn’t you think about why I just had so many condoms on hoof to send you two?”

“Mom!”

It took several moments for Starburst to recover after getting her mom to agree to not speak about things like fetishes, ever. She just found it too hard for her mind to not try and conjure images after her mother’s remark, images that Starburst was certain would scar her for life. She even considered asking her mom to wipe the memory of the last few minutes, but she knew that she’d never agree to use her magic on her.

But apparently, traumatizing your daughter by practically telling her what exactly her parents do is a fair game, Starburst thought before she could stop herself. Ugh, no, don’t think about it. Remember, your parents had sex only twice, that’s the official story!

“Okay, I think I am ready to talk some more,” she slowly said, then sharply added, “But not about any of that!”

Her mother’s expression seemed to say something along the lines of ‘You are being so dramatic about this’, but fortunately for everypony involved she merely said, “Very well, Star.”

A part of her wondered what the hay she was still doing there. She could end the conversation, they had a talk, her mother succeeded in embarrassing her without even trying, end of story. If this was a cheesy romance novel like she had once jokingly told Starfall, this would be the moment everything would fade to black and next she’d be at Sweet Apple Acres looking for her coltfriend. And yet, she was still there.

“So, just to summarize,” Starburst began, “you’re saying that whatever I... do with Starfall is up to me, and you won’t try to talk me out of it or anything, or even say that we should wait until we are adults?”

“Star, if I were completely honest, I would obviously prefer if you’d wait before having sex until you actually are adults,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes. “If for nothing else then so I wouldn’t have to worry about your father having a heart attack. But as I said, I trust your judgement…” she suddenly trailed off as she looked at her. Confused, Starburst opened her mouth to ask what’s wrong, but her mom spoke first: “You know, it just occurred to me that it’s rather odd for you to continue the subject you are so uncomfortable with, and, hm, how do I put it… you almost look as if you’re not pleased with my answer.”

Starburst blinked in surprise, but before she could say anything or even wonder if she was indeed making such a face her mother said something that gave her mind a pause.

“Did you… want me to forbid you from having sex with Starfall? Or at least, try to talk you out of it?” she added, looking at her with concern.

Her jaw dropped as she tried to comprehend just what her mother had said. “What?! No, of course not-”

She paused. Was that the truth though? She had stayed to talk more about this, and was purposely drilling down the topic, asking the question she had already been given an answer too. Was she trying to get her mother to tell her that she can’t do something? And the said something being… that, of all things?

“I don’t know,” she finally admitted, looking away. “Maybe. It’s just… not something I ever considered before, and it’s all… confusing.”

“Oh, Star,” her mother said sympathetically, drawing a little closer, “of course it is. It was pretty confusing for me too, and I was much older than you now when I met your father.”

Star looked at her mother in surprise. It was really hard to imagine her being confused about anything, ever. On the other hoof though it was also really hard to imagine her talking with her mom about sex.

Despite how odd and embarrassing it was, Starburst found herself feeling glad that they were having this talk. Maybe she could learn something that would help with this whole ridiculous matter?

“I can only imagine how it must be for somepony your age,” her mother continued. “Quite frankly, I don’t think that there is anything I could say that could make this seem more clear for you. Well, besides telling you that this is something you should talk about with your coltfriend.”

“We kinda already did talk about it,” Starburst confessed; she was very careful to not mention when that was this time. “Star said that he’s fine with me deciding when we would, um… take things further. But then he goes and pulls that thing!” she exclaimed, annoyed.

Twilight, of course, at once understood what ‘that thing’ she was referring too. “Yes, well, based on how little I know him I must say that you’re probably right and he was just messing with you.” Starburst snorted at that, while her mother paused and smiled. “Starfall doesn’t seem that he would want to push you to do something you wouldn’t want to. After all, he had made his feelings regarding you pretty clear just the other day.”

Aaand she had to bring up about the only thing that could possibly be more embarrassing than talking about sex!

“Ugh, don’t remind me of that!” Starburst exclaimed, slamming her head against the couch.

She could hear her mother’s soft giggle. “Sorry Star… but he seemed earnest when he said that,” she continued, ignoring her annoyed groans. “I’m sorry if I’m embarrassing you now, but can I ask how do you feel about Starfall?”

Starburst glanced up at her mother. She wasn't looking at her like her friends had, with the very noisy kind of curiosity and amusement bordering on friendly mocking. No, her mom was curious, obviously, but she wasn’t pushing her to answer the question, and looked as if she was ready to back away from the topic, if Starburst wouldn’t want to talk about it.

Well, she didn’t but… this was her mom after all, maybe confiding in her more wasn’t the worst idea ever…

“I… think I… love him too,” she mumbled the last part, looking away from her mother in embarrassment… then turning back sharply after hearing a strange high-pitched sound. Seeing her mother still sitting like before but with a strange smile on her face, Starburst asked: “Did you just… squee?!”

“Sorry, I tried to hold it back,” Twilight confessed before her face broke into a wide smile, then next thing she knew Starburst was pulled into a hug. “Oh, I’m so happy to hear that!”

“Mom! Cut it out!” Starburst protested, trying to release herself. “Don’t make me regret confiding in you literally five seconds later!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll stop,” her mother said as she let her go. As Starburst pulled away to a - relatively - safe distance on the couch, she saw to her horror that it looked as if the Princess of Friendship was about to skip in joy. “But I’m really happy for you!”

Starburst managed to deadpan at her. “You could at least pretend to worry that your daughter is probably in love with a former felon.”

“Oh come now Star, that was uncalled for,” she replied, but at least she finally calmed down. “You know that despite, hm, how we all met Starfall, your father and I both grew to like him a lot. And consider what you, well, are considering, I feel a lot more calm that you’re thinking about doing it with somepony you love.”

Blushing, Starburst replied, “I said I think I love him. I… I’m not completely sure. I mean, I care about him a lot,” she quickly added before her mother could interject, or worse, look at her with worry, “but I’ve never, you know… been in love before.”

Her mother, who thankfully had by now completely calmed down, sighed. “Yes, I understand. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to offer much help with figuring out if you are or not; I can’t even think of any book on the subject of love that’s actually credible. Buuut,” she added, glancing at her with a smile, “I think that your Aunt Cadance could help you figure out if what you feel for Starfall is love or not. Love is her speciality after all.”

“Aunt Cadance?” Starburst repeated, deadpanning at her mother. “Seriously Mom? Should I ask her about this before or after I tell her that the colt I might be in love with is most likely a son of her subjects' mortal enemy?”

“Oh, don’t be silly Star-” her mother snorted, but Starburst cut her off.

“She already knows, doesn’t she?” she asked, without changing her expression.

“Yes,” Twilight admitted, then cleared her throat and resumed. “But what I was going to say is that Cadance wouldn’t care about it. Even if Starfall somehow is King Sombra’s son, he is first and foremost a pony like anypony else. He deserves to be treated with kindness and respect like everypony. Aaand your aunt would be able to tell if he’s also your ‘the One’,” she added, smiling hopefully.

Starburst decided against arguing again. “Well, he better be, I’m not going through all of what I’ve been through until now ever again with somepony else,” she snorted, causing her mother to chuckle with laughter.

Before any of them could say anything else, a knock on the door sounded. As Twilight called for the pony on the other side to enter, it turned out to be Rosie.

“Apologies, Your Highnesses,” the maid said with a polite bow, “the dinner is ready to be served.”

Hearing the word ‘dinner’ made Starburst recall that she hadn’t eaten anything today. Now that the nausea-inducing fear of the confrontation with her mother was gone, she realized that she was starving!

“Thank you Rosie,” Twilight replied, rising. “We’ll be at the dining room shortly.”

As Rosie nodded and left, Starburst quickly scrambled up to her hooves.

“Guess this concludes our talk,” her mother said as they slowly left her study. Smiling, she added, “Thank you for sharing so much with me Star, I know you aren’t exactly the most open of ponies.”

“Yeah, well, I did need some advice,” Star mumbled, a little embarrassed. “Thanks Mom.”

“I’m here anytime you need me,” she reminded her, still smiling. As they began to head towards the dining room, she blinked and said, “Oh, changing the subject a little, since we mentioned earlier your upcoming birthday, may I ask if you are making any plans?”

“Um, not really?” Starburst replied, taken aback by the subject; her birthday was still a month away, she hadn’t even thought about it with everything that has been going on. “Candy is probably going to throw me a party at Sugarcube Corner like every year.”

“And what about Starall?”

“I’m guessing he’ll be there?” Starburst said, frowning in confusion.

“No, I mean, what are you planning for his birthday?”

“Oh,” Starburst exclaimed, finally understanding what her mom was getting at. “Um, I don’t even know when his birthday is, actually. Aaaand considering what he had been through for the last decade I doubt he even remembers, anyway.”

“Probably,” Twilight agreed, then frowned and hummed. “Hmm, if only you knew somepony who had happened to meet his mother when he was a newborn foal and would ask such an obvious question…”

Starburst blinked in a surprised stupor at her mother as the alicorn slowly let her frown transform into a grin. Recovering, she grinned back. “Trust you, Mom, to remember the birthdate after almost sixteen years of a foal you met once.”

This is great! she thought privately. I’ll have a chance to surprise HIM for a change! And prepare him the best birthday he had in over a decade!... Which, admittedly, wouldn’t be hard, considering…

Lost in her thoughts, she had almost missed her mother’s giggle. A little confused, she gave her a quizzical look. “Well, it wasn’t especially hard to remember his birthdate.”

“Really? How come?”

“Because it’s the same as yours,” Twilight replied, giggling.

Starburst stopped, staring at her mom in disbelief, then after a moment she covered her face with her forehooves.

“Merciful Celestia, my life is a cheesy romance novel!”

Aftermath - Part III

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The wind blew gently through Starburst’s mane as she slowly soared over Sweet Apple Acres. Having wasted little time to eat dinner, hunger letting her gobble it - and the seconds - up in a matter of minutes, she still had time to track down Starfall and have a talk with him before she’d have to go to Annie’s.

Wish I had some time to work out, too, she mused, looking longingly over the trees in the orchard. When was the last time she did her exercises here while also helping out her friends’ family? Maybe if we wrap it up quickly enough, I could… ugh, no, we have way too much to talk about and it’s too serious to rush it, even if I’d somehow had an hour left I wouldn’t make it in time back home to shower before going to Annie’s house.

Still, as she surveyed the damage the storm from last night had done to the Apple’s farm, Starburst wondered if she should still help a little. While as far as she could see there were no fallen trees, a lot of them had lost branches that now littered the ground.

Maybe I could come over tomorrow after school and help out, Starburst decided, hoping she would be able to finish that presentation with Annie today.

Focusing back on finding Starfall, Starburst sped up and drew closer to the ground, trying to spot anypony. Unfortunately, the farm appeared deserted. Not only was there no sign of her coltfriend, but she also couldn’t spot any of the Apple family’s ponies.

Well, it is dinner time, she realized, turning towards their house. Starfall must have already left… still can’t believe he supposedly works here! I can’t wait to hear what that’s all about… anyway, maybe the Apples know where he went after finishing work.

Starburst landed gracefully in front of the door and knocked on it. As she waited for somepony to open it, she looked over at the nearest trees; the loose branches had already been picked up on this part of the farm closest to the barn. Clearly, the Apples - and their newest farmhoof, apparently - were hard at work to repair the damage the storm had caused.

The sound of approaching hoofsteps brought her attention to the door just in time to see them open. Del’s mom, Applejack, stood on the other side.

“Well howdy Star,” she greeted her warmly.

“Hi,” Starburst replied, smiling awkwardly. “Um, T told me he saw Starfall over here? Do you know-”

“That’s right,” Applejack interrupted her before she could say ‘where he went’. The older mare seemed amused. “He’s ‘ere eatin’ dinner with us.”

“Say what?” Starburst exclaimed, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“Come in, Ah’ll get ya a plate,” Applejack continued, turning around and holding the door open invitingly.

“Um, actually I already ate-” Starburst began as she followed after the earth pony mare, but then paused as the delicious smells from the dining room reached her and she felt her mouth water. “- buuut if you don’t mind me joining…” she added instead, glancing at Applejack uncertainly.

The older mare chuckled warmly. “Of course not,” she replied, nodding in the direction of the dining room.

As Applejack trotted towards the kitchen, Starburst headed in the direction where those delicious smells were coming from. Entering the room, she was greeted with the sight of the entire Apple family - Del, June, Api, Cheerilee, Big Mac, Caramel, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith - sitting around the table, as well as Candy that sat beside Del and next to them Starfall.

“Hi Star!” Candy greeted her enthusiastically.

“Hi everypony,” she replied, waving at the gathered ponies.

While others greeted her in return, Starburst locked her gaze with Starfall. The unicorn smiled at her, but at the same time his horn began to glow, and from behind a big wooden sign raised into the air, with two words written on it.

HELP ME!

Yeah, sounds about right, Starburst mused, watching him wave the sign above his head with bemusement.

At that moment, Applejack emerged from the kitchen, balancing a plate on her back. Instantly, Starfall turned the sign around, with a different message written on the back.

I AM HAVING FUN AND I’M TOTALLY NOT AGAINST MY WILL HERE!

Despite her mild annoyance, Starburst had to cover her mouth with her hoof as an amused snort escaped her, both at the sight of the wooden sign and Applejack’s bemused expression.

“Just how many of those do ya 'ave ready?” Applejack asked with a sigh, walking over to the table to place the plate next to the colt.

Why am I not surprised that this wasn’t the first time he did this today around here? Starburst thought, stifling another snort, as she walked to sit beside him while Candy scootched closer to Del to make room for her.

As Starfall made the sign disappear, Starburst wanted to ask him what exactly he was doing here, but her focus shifted from her coltfriend to the delicious apple-themed feast on the table. Quickly she helped herself to a few of everything and dug in.

“So,” she spoke up after she took a few bites, turning to Starfall, “how come you’re here?”

Starfall frowned at Applejack. “Well apparently, my work contract states that as long as I’m employed at Sweet Apple Acres I am to eat dinner with them, so-”

“Ah might not ‘ave added that part if ya didn’t look as if you weight about as much as Api,” Applejack cut in, nodding at the small filly.

“Excuse me for watching my figure,” Starfall replied with a snort as he rolled his eyes, causing a few of the gathered ponies to snicker.

Normally Starburst would berate him for his disregard for his health, but right now she had a more important thing- Okay, no, his health is more important obviously, Starburst amended, but that is apparently being taken care of, so…

“Alright, back up, what’s this about a work contract?”

“Oh, I work here now.”

It took every ounce of Starburst’s willpower for her to not facehoof.

“Elaborate please?” she asked, furrowing her brow at him.

Starfall shot her an amused look. I swear, he started working here just to annoy me right now…

“Well, Princess, not everypony was born with a silver spoon in their mouth,” he began with an overly dramatic tone of voice. Starburst rolled her eyes but let him continue. “I figured that, since I’m turning a new leaf and all that, I should find an honest source of income.”

Aaaand I don’t buy it for a second.

“Mhm,” she hummed, deadpanning at him; she figured she might as well play along with the insanity, “or you could just accept my mom’s proposition and live at our mansion.”

Starfall blinked and looked at her, worried. “Star, have you gone insane?” he asked, pretending to sound serious; much to her annoyance. “Because that’s my thing and if you take that away I don’t know what I’m bringing into this relationship.”

Starburst groaned and rolled her eyes again. Ignoring the amused chuckles around her, she glared at her coltfriend. “Nevermind. So out of everything you could do to make a living, you decided to work on a farm?”

“Why, you make it sound like I wasn’t cut out for that sort of work,” he retorted with amusement, dropping the pretenses. “Anypony who would take a look at my horribly scarred back would assume I’m at least familiar with manual labor.”

Ignoring how everypony winced, Starburst merely raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, and that you were bad at it."

Starfall snorted with laughter and covered his muzzle, causing the few shocked glares she received to turn to him in confusion.

“Okay,” Starfall rasped, still chuckling, “you got me there.”

Pleased to have won that exchange, Starburst decided to indulge his explanation a bit further. “Anyway, you were saying…”

“And so it happened,” he resumed almost at once, returning to his dramatic tone, “that Miss Applejack had offered to hire me to help around the farm.”

“When did that happen?” Starburst asked with a frown, turning to Applejack.

“Ah offered him a job when he popped back in t’ fix that paintin’ he made on the barn,” Applejack replied; Starburst felt a brief flash of embarrassment at the memory of that mural he had created. So that’s what he had meant my ‘long-winded boring lecture’? she thought, recalling what he had said when he teleported back to the lake. That she had offered him a job? Honestly… “After all Twi had told me ‘bout him, Ah figure he could use an opportunity t’ earn some bits through honest work.”

“Eeexactly,” Starfall exclaimed, raising a glass of cider in salute.

Starfall frowned at him, but waited for him to finish drinking before asking: “Okay, and what’s the real reason you’re doing this?”

“Why would you assume I have some other reason besides wanting to make some honest living?” Starfall asked with quite convincing surprise.

“Gee, because I know you?” Starburst retorted, still staring at him with a deadpan. She knew their exchange was causing great amusement to the Apples, but she ignored them. “Come one, out with it, what’s the real reason?”

Starfall chuckled innocently, much to her irritation, and opened his mouth-

“He’s saving up bits to buy ya something for yar birthday next month.”

Starburst turned in surprise to Api, and she was far from the only one to do so. However, her attention quickly returned back to Starfall, who was staring at the youngest pony in the room with an expression of utter shock… which, if Starburst had to be honest about, was quite hilarious to see.

“Api!” her mother, Apple Bloom, looked at her reproachfully.

“Oh, Ah’m sorry, Ah thought they were about to argue,” Api said apologetically, making big sad eyes… that didn’t fool anypony that knew her.

But Starfall already waved his hoof dismissively. “Oh well, cat’s out of the bag,” he said, shrugging.

Starburst, however, eyed the young pony suspiciously. She wasn’t curious about how Api had found out that this was the reason why Starfall decided to work on the farm; that filly had an uncanny talent for finding out about ponies' secrets, usually very embarrassing. No, what Starburst wondered was what she had wanted to do with that information. Api usually used her knowledge to blackmail others into doing various things, like taking her and her two friends to a County Fair in Appleloosa. She would have most certainly asked Starfall for something… and apparently, the unicorn had decided to ‘call her bluff’ and said no.

Even though he didn’t know Api well enough to know she would definitely let his secret slip, Starburst was still impressed by her coltfriend.

Shaking the thought off, she turned to him. “You don’t have to buy me anything…” she began, but Starfall’s chuckling interrupted her.

“Oh please, do you think I’d just ‘buy’ you something?” he asked, smirking. “I think you know me better than to expect something so mundane out of me. Though admittedly, I do require some bits for a part of my surprise,” he added with a shrug.

“Part of it?” Starburst repeated, confused.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit to find out,” Starfall replied, winking.

While she didn’t really care all that much about gifts, she had to admit that she was curious about just what he came up with… not to mention that she was a bit flattered that he took up a job to be able to afford a gift for her.

“How did you even find out that my birthday was coming up?” she asked, quickly changing the subject before dwelling on her thoughts could cause her to blush. Glancing briefly at her friend beside her, she added “Did Candy tell you?”

Starfall blinked… then frowned. “You do remember that you’re the Princess of the Realm, right?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I just looked you up on Ponypedia.”

“Oh…” Starburst mumbled, now blushing from embarrassment.

“He got you there,” Candy chimed in, giggling. “Not that I wouldn’t have told him in advance, mind you.”

Starburst rolled her eyes in annoyance, but then a thought occurred to her. “Well,” she started slowly, “I suppose it’s only fair you found out when’s my birthday since I found when’s yours,” she said with a shrug.

That caused Starfall to frown. “And just how in the world you’d have found out? I don’t know my birthday at this point.”

“My mom told me. Your mom had told her back when they ran into each other.”

“Your mom remember something like that after sixteen years?” Starfall asked with disbelief.

“That’s Twilight for ya,” Applejack commented, chuckling. “Ya can trust that mare t’ remember and/or know everything.”

“Okay, I’ll bite, when is it?” Starfall asked with mild curiosity.

“Oh, I hope it’s soon,” Candy spoke up before Starburst could answer. “I can wait to throw you a birthday party too! You could really use it,” she added more seriously. “I can’t believe a pony could actually forget their own birthday. I-I mean, I know that…”

“Meh, I was busy,” Starfall interjected with disinterest before she could elaborate on the reasons why he forgot.

Starburst glanced at her friend. Well, she’s about to get her wish, she thought, wondering how she was going to react.

“Apparently,” she began, turning to Starfall, “you and I were born on the same day.”

Starfall's eyes grew wider in surprise. Beside them, Starburst heard Cheerilee remark, “Oh wow, that’s adorable.”

“Wow,” Starfall finally responded, “your life really is a cheesy romance novel.”

“Yeah, I said the same-” she began to agree, but then she noticed just what exactly he had said. “Wait, what about your life?”

“Oh please, nopony would write a novel about my life!” Starfall snorted. “It’s way too convoluted. That book would never sell. Nah, I’m happy just being the romantic interest in your novel,” he added with a wink, causing Starburst to roll her eyes.

Stars in the Making

by Borsuq

Waking up from a Dream

Lack of Boundaries

Getting to Know One's Audience

Welcome to the Show!

The Best Date Ever

Rules of Engagement

Morning's Shenanigans

Pitching the Tent

Campfire Exchange

Different Relationships

Campfire Show and Scare

Dancing with the Stars

Cordial Invitation

Dinner?

Barns & Friends

Lakeside Mischief

Another Stormy Night - Part I

Another Stormy Night - Part II

Another Stormy Night - Part III

School Counseling

Aftermath - Part I

Aftermath - Part II

Aftermath - Part III