Different Flavors
Twilight Sparkle loved a good book, and a guilty pleasure of hers were romantic fictions. She particularly tried to avoid the steamy sort of novels. It only made her feel even more ashamed of never taking a stallion, much less a mare, into bed. Comedy mixed with romance was also a bit distracting for feeling even the slightest touch of love. But, alas, she knew that she wouldn’t know anything personal about it until she romantically loved anything other than a book.
She wondered, on lonely days, what love felt like. On occasion she saw Rarity flirting with a stallion and Fluttershy blushing when Applejack’s brother, Big Macintosh, passed her. Neither seemed close to actual love of course, so Twilight never thought it would help enough to ask them about their experiences. She did know Applejack had a sex life, though. It was a secret she had loyally kept ever since she saw a colt, likely from Appleloosa, stumbling out of the barn one evening.
“T-Twilight..?” Applejack whispered from the barn door, her head peeking out nervously. Her freckles had disappeared as her face was a deep shade of red. “Heh, think ya can keep a secret?"
Twilight had, but she was determined to think later of asking her friend how the habit had started. Usually, mares and stallions only had sex to reproduce—it was very rare to see a couple getting intimate for just the pleasure. But then she decided that interrogating Applejack about her motives wouldn't inform her on love.
So, instead, she went through other friends of hers to ask.
Pinkie Pie always seemed a bit antsy and didn’t seem to get flustered with other ponies—she always seemed to be the one making other ponies flustered. Rainbow Dash was probably ‘too cool’ to get stuck with a relationship, which Twilight had read to take up one's time. Fluttershy was definitely too…well, shy. Rarity seemed to be the only option left, and Twilight pondered on the questions she would ask as she glanced around her friend’s boutique.
Rarity didn’t seem too busy today and only had Twilight waiting in the downstairs room as she finished a summer dress for a customer. When she pranced downstairs without noticing her friend, and holding high a face with rosy cheeks, Twilight read the signs of love.
“What’s his name?” Twilight had asked with a wide grin as soon as Rarity had skipped off the last step. She blinked and gave her a faint smile.
“Oh, so that’s why I was coming down here again…sorry, Twilight, excuse me—what do you mean?” Rarity’s words almost didn’t come across clearly enough as she stuttered.
“You’re in love, right?” Twilight said in a voice like she was reminding her that she was to feed her cat. Rarity stared blankly and then sheepishly giggled, looking down and giggling more.
“Hmm, yes, I might be,” Rarity sighed and looked up at her again.
“Please tell me how it feels,” Twilight eagerly demanded. Her friend cocked an eyebrow and examined her friend, attempting to find out her own feelings.
“…Why? Is there somepony special in your life, too?”
“No, no! I just was curious, you can’t learn everything from books...” Twilight admitted, sounding a little disappointed now that she said it out loud.
“Well, I guess I should start by telling you it does make you feel a bit crazy, and extremely confounded,” she added, “My nerves are also jumbled whenever I’m around them…to top it all off, you start to think about what would make them happy instead of yourself.” Twilight wish she had parchment and a quill to take note.
“Have you had sex with them yet..?”
“I say!” Rarity chuckled, “What has gotten into you, Twilight? A bit personal, if you ask me, dear…there’s plenty on the matter in those books of yours, I’m sure.” Twilight laughed nervously and crossed her two front hooves as Rarity looked away, sighing with relief. She certainly was not ready to talk about it with a friend...not quite yet.
“Sorry—got carried away…” she said and cleared her throat to continue, “Have you said ‘I love you’ directly to him, yet?”
“Oh, my…I’m not very sure how you will react, but my romantic interest is a mare.”
Twilight nodded and continued, “Have you said it?”
“No, should I?” Rarity said, looking uncertain. If it were a stallion that she had found herself interested in, there would have a been a little more sureness and clarity with past experiences, but this had been her first time with a mare.
“If this was a story I was reading, I’d say yes, because it's always nice to see a happy ending…but I do love some of Shakespearicles’s works…oh, I’m not helping!”
“Yes.”
“Sorry, again. You should tell her.”
***
After the two had finished their conversation of love and relationships, Twilight had left Rarity’s boutique feeling satisfied with the new information. She now had an idea of what love felt like, and that maybe it could come from a different source: mares.
In school, sexuality was never a tested subject—as it didn’t help her grades or future as a unicorn. As a pony, though, she wished she had at least brushed the surface of what there was to love. It was no help to ponder on it too long, so she walked around town occasionally trying to figure out her sexuality. After a while, though, Twilight remembered that it didn’t work like that. There were plenty of ponies that focused on personality and were close to being perfectly happy.
She stopped at Sugar Cube Corner and stared at the sky ahead, contemplating a target to approach. Twilight suddenly realized the next step to finding a pony to love! She had to ask herself what sort of pony she would most likely fall in love with.
Somepony…hmm, awkward (but not too awkward). Somepony that, of course, loved to read—but also a mare or stallion that admired her for how smart she was. Well, Twilight thought, this was a little far-fetched. Perhaps this pony she was to love could be someone she admired for being intelligent similarly to herself—
“TWILIGHT!” a voice suddenly screeched.
“AH! W-WHAT!?” Twilight yelled in alarm, looking around to see the source of noise. When seeing nothing on either sides of her, she looked behind herself and found absolutely nothing. She frowned but then looked up slowly. Her snout scrunched as she saw Discord hovering above her.
Twilight sighed, shaking her head dismissively. She tried to recollect herself and focus again on her thoughts on a potential partner. As she thought of another trait to add to her special somepony, she heard Discord inside of her head.
“Hey…what an intriguing topic. I’ve never listened on to a thought like that!” Discord’s voice echoed across her mind.
“Get out!” Twilight hissed out loud and furiously stared at him as he did a few flips, joyfully.
“Oops!” He chuckled, “I forgot you didn’t know.”
“Know what, that you sneak inside my head when I’m off guard!?” She bellowed.
“Not just that, but you and me are written in the stars, Twilight…”
Twilight didn’t know what Discord meant by what he said, but she was sure it was one of his insults or him trying to tease her. Well, she wouldn’t let him get the better of her! She squinted and stared back at him, attempting to evaluate and decide what he was trying on her.
“…What are you talking about?” Twilight questioned him, cocking an eyebrow.
“You don’t know the stars as well as I do, Twili!” he chortled. She rolled her eyes at him and got irritated further as she felt the pain of straining her neck just to look at him. He read her mind again and, with the snap of his fingers, he was standing in front of her. She stood straight and fixed her gaze on him again.
“Only my brother calls me that,” she muttered.
Discord smiled calmly and said politely, "I apologize...it's quite catchy, though." Twilight's face went red and she scowled at the ground with frustration. She sighed and tried to keep her temper.
"I'd love to stay and chat," Twilight hissed, "but I'm busy and don't have the time, unfortunately."
“You? Busy? Well, I would have never guessed, you’re never busy…” he said in a voice soaked with sarcasm.
He was mocking her, though it was nothing personal (as he found it amusing to mock all), Twilight didn’t appreciate him wasting her time.
“Nice talking to you, as always, Discord,” she said coolly, flashing a coy smile. With that said, she headed inside Sugar Cube Corner. Discord watched after her, his arms folded and a blank expression on his face.
When she opened the door, she was greeted with the fresh and hot smell of baked goods and batter. As she sat down at a table near the counter, she could even smell frosting—one of her favorite flavors, chocolate, was in the air, also. While deciding on a cupcake or a doughnut, Pinkie Pie came bouncing into her view.
“Hey there, Twi!” Pinkie chimed with a bright smile. “Watch-ya up to?”
“Nothing, much…” Twilight replied, “How are you, Pinkie?”
“Great! This morning, I woke up and there was this cake I left on my wardrobe and birds were eating it! I had hoped they would, they always look so sad eating those gross pink slimy things out of the ground…”
“I think worms are what they’re supposed to eat, not sure on cake, though.”
“Either way, they seemed chirpy after that and haven’t left my window sill, ever since!” Twilight laughed and smiled warmly back at her friend. “What will it be today?”
“Something with chocolate.”
“Dark or milk..? Because, Mrs. Cake just pulled a muffin recipe from her mother’s cook book and it has three types of chocolate chips—and on top of that the muffin is made of a chocolate batter!”
“Well, that sounds good, actually…”
Pinkie Pie left her quickly, muttering something about how much the birds would enjoy such a muffin. Twilight slumped in her chair, beginning to once again think about love. It was quite a complex process, she was sure…even when she only thought about it she found there were many branches to climb.
Now that there was still the issue of sexuality to think about, there also came the thought of dating somebody that wasn’t a pony. Though she never heard of those sort of pairings in common novels, there had been one about a Dragon and a mare…even one of a Griffon and stallion. Some delved into age gaps and the problems of immortality (Twilight didn’t like the thought of that last one, so she sought to deal with one issue at a time).
Twilight began to ask herself questions.
“Do I like stallions…do I like mares…both?” she said quietly. “Dragons, Griffons, and even immortal creatures—such as draconequus?” Twilight did not know more than one draconequus, though, and even the one she did know…well, she didn’t see why the draconequus race couldn’t be an option. They were attractive creatures; known to be knowledgeable. Discord was knowledgeable, of course, but Twilight wasn’t sure about wise.
“Watch-ya thinkin’ ‘bout, Twi?” Pinkie asked. She was standing there, next to Twilight’s table. On the table was the muffin that her friend had spoken of. The scent of chocolate wafted around them.
“Ah, thank you, Pinkie…” Twilight laughed sheepishly, “I’m thinking about some…stuff.”
“What type of stuff?”
“Love.”
“What type of love?”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet…” Twilight mumbled, “Pinkie Pie, do you know anything about love?”
“Hmm…love..?” Pinkie’s lips puckered as she searched for an answer. “Yeah, but I have to know what type of love you’re looking for, silly.”
“Romantic love, like…um, holding hoofs and sleeping in the same bed!”
“Oh, why didn’t you say so? Of course I’ve been in love! But, I couldn’t tell you much…”
“That’s okay. What does it feel like?”
“When you love somepony you always want them at your parties…any party that they aren’t invited to isn’t really a party, because they aren’t there…how could you party like that?” Pinkie snorted and continued. “Your heart beats a billion times a second, too, whenever they do stuff like hold your hoof or share the same bed with you! The first time something like that happened, I told them that I was scared I would get a heart attack!” Twilight tried to understand what her friend was saying, and just when she got the gist of it, Pinkie rambled on about cardiac arrest.
“…Thanks,” Twilight smiled.
“Oh, no problem! Muffins are so easy to make these days…” Pinkie blushed. She hopped away and left Twilight to her own thoughts once again.
While eating her muffing, like a bird, Twilight mentally slapped herself on the wrist. She thought before Pinkie wouldn’t know too much on love, but she had still given her a candle in the darkness she stood in when it came to the subject. Now, all she had to do was find something to kindle the wick…and Applejack was the perfect one to seek out when searching for experience.
Well, this was going to be an awkward conversation to map out.