It was a pleasant enough day in Ponyville today, and at the Friendship Palace especially, the mood was an upbeat one. Twilight, with a happy smile upon her face, was busy setting the large table in the centre of the main chamber of the place, getting everything ready for what appeared to be a tea party of some sort. She did all the usual things one expected of her, from making sure all the place-mats were in the right spot, to ensuring that all the teaspoons were the exact distance away from the cups for her liking. After looking over everything, and checking in with the list that Spike had been carrying for her to make doubly sure, she nodded with satisfaction. And so, with everything all ready to go, she turned to her student, Starlight, who was off to one side and, for the time being, was focused largely on a book she'd been reading until now. But, with the table finished, Twilight cleared her throat, gaining the unicorn mare's attention.
"It shouldn't be long until they're here now, Starlight. Would you mind...?"
She didn't finish, as Starlight, perhaps already predicting what was about to be said, smiled to her, set her book aside and started to head off away from the two of them.
"Sure thing!"
And so it was that Starlight soon entered the Palace's kitchen, a location she went to often. She knew all the things she needed to do here, and so wasted no time whatsoever in lighting up her horn and levitating all the tea pots and tea leaves she'd need for the upcoming get-together. However, as she began to boil the water in the nearby kettle, she stopped, looking around for something in particular that, despite her efforts, she simply couldn't find.
"Now...there's that sugar?"
High and low she looked, with each passing moment creating more and more frustration for her. But, before she had the chance to grunt in annoyance over the whole matter, she found, to her surprise, that a bag of sugar was now being held in front of her by somepony. Seeing it, she smiled, using her magic to take it and get back to work.
"Ah! Thanks!"
However, mere moments after she started placing the proper amount of sugar into each cup, she stopped, her smile fading as she slowly came to the realisation of what had just happened. Gradually, her eyes drifted to the left, and before long, she was staring right into a pair of unfamiliar brown eyes. Immediately, she took a step backwards, and now looked on properly to the figure before her. It was an earth pony stallion, younger than her from the looks of it. His fur and mane were both brown, and his cutie mark was that of a bright pink heart. He never said anything, just smiling towards her in a friendly manner, even to the point of giving a small wave. After blinking slowly for a few moments, Starlight turned to the nearby doorway and called out.
"Twilight! There's...um...there's a stallion in here!"
It took only a few seconds, but Twilight could be heard galloping towards her. Before long, she burst into the kitchen, panting heavily and looking around, soon fixing her attention upon the strange stallion. Though Starlight half-expected her to maybe cast out this stranger, what happened instead was even more unexpected. Instead, Twilight rushed over to him, bearing a look of great concern.
"Anypony! How many times have I told you? You shouldn't go to the kitchen alone! You could hurt yourself!"
Immediately, the stallion hung his head, his ears drooping in a display that, frankly, looked like the saddest thing Starlight had ever laid eyes on. But Twilight, letting out a sigh, reached forward and patted him on the shoulder.
"It's okay, I'm not mad at you. Come on..."
Gently, she took hold of his hoof.
"...let's get you out of here."
Instantly, the stallion perked up again, his expression once more of happiness, as Twilight began to lead him out of the kitchen. Starlight watched this happen, utterly confused as to what was going on. So, after being alone in that place for a few more moments, she set the bag of sugar aside and began to follow her mentor out. It took no time at all for her to arrive once more in the main chamber, wherein she saw Twilight looking over this unfamiliar stallion, as though checking for injuries of some kind. After giving her a further few moments, Starlight cleared her throat, gaining her attention.
"Um...Twilight? Would you care to explain?"
Though clearly uncomfortable, the young Princess soon let out a sigh, gesturing to the stallion beside her.
"Starlight...this...is Anypony."
Likewise, she then pointed to Starlight.
"Anypony...this is Starlight Glimmer."
Anypony, for his part, merely waved again with a great big grin on his face. As for Starlight, she returned the wave, but her smile was a bit more nervous-looking than his was. But, she soon turned her gaze once more to Twilight, approaching her and starting to ask the obvious questions.
"So...who is he?"
And that question, perhaps more than anything else, caused the Princess some embarrassment.
"Well...um...he's sort of...you know..."
Unfortunately for her, Spike, who had just walked over from finishing the preparations on the table, let out an exasperated sigh and just flat out said it.
"He's her boyfriend!"
Twilight shot him a dark look, to which he merely shrugged.
"What? You weren't going to say it!"
Starlight, on her side of things, seemed rather taken aback by this.
"Er...since when do you have a boyfriend?"
Letting out a long exhale, Twilight turned to her student an began to explain.
"It all happened some years back. Back when I was still living in the Golden Oak Library. Princess Celestia was worried about my lack of a love life, so...well..."
Again, Spike filled in the gaps.
"She created this stallion out of magic to serve as Twilight's boyfriend."
As before, Starlight seemed confused.
"Wait...what?!"
Twilight nodded, still looking embarrassed.
"Yeah...that was pretty much my reaction."
Slowly, Starlight looked over to Anypony, who was still just standing there with a look of contentment upon his face, before she then cleared her throat and enquired further.
"So...he's an artificial stallion?"
"Yep," Twilight responded.
"Made by Princess Celestia?"
"Yep."
"For the sole purpose of being your boyfriend."
Here, Twilight hesitated.
"Well...technically...he was meant to be, well...shared?"
Starlight's face said it all, and she looked down to Spike, who again just outright said it.
"He was made to be a boyfriend to all of them. Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, the lot."
Slowly, Starlight glanced back to Twilight, frowning slightly.
"Twilight...I mean no disrespect to your mentor...but this strikes me as an incredibly unethical use of magic."
To that, Twilight seemed immediately defensive.
"Oh...well...I'm not sure if I would go that far, but..."
But Starlight raised a hoof, halting her.
"Twilight...if there's anypony here's who's going to recognise an unethical use of magic...it's me."
Against that, the young Princess groaned with frustration.
"Ugh! You're right! I know! It's just..."
Before she could finish though, Anypony walked up to her and began to nuzzle her affectionately, as though instinctively trying to cheer her up. To his credit, it seemed to actually have that effect, as Twilight sighed before smiling to him.
"Thank you, Anypony. I appreciate that."
Starlight raised an eyebrow.
"Wait...does he even talk?"
Twilight shook her head.
"He's lived with me for years now and never said a word. I think it's safe to say at this point that he's mute."
Starlight looked the stallion over herself.
"If he's not a natural-born pony...what kind of intelligence does he have?"
Entering her patented "scientist mode", Twilight glanced to Anypony herself.
"My observations of him show that he does indeed possess some level of intelligent comparable to that of regular ponies. He responds to stimuli, same as us, and he even has some awareness of things said to him. But there have been difficulties in putting down exactly how intelligent he is."
Starlight considered that.
"Have you considered educating him? You know, on stuff besides being an affectionate boyfriend? Because it looks as if that is all he knows how to do."
As before, Twilight sighed.
"It's been...difficult."
Starlight tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
Considering that, Twilight looked to her, then gestured to Anypony.
"Give him a sum to figure out. Anything you like."
Though confused at that request, Starlight nevertheless did as requested.
"Okay...um...Anypony? What's two plus two?"
The young-looking stallion placed a hoof to his chin, looking as though he was thinking over that question hard. Then, after a few moments, his face lit up and he smiled, in a look that would have only been complete with a light-bulb going off over his head. But, he never said anything, obviously, and instead, rather than giving an answer to the question, he rushed forward, holding Starlight in a warm and tender embrace. Naturally, Starlight was rather unsure of how to deal with this, but Twilight, by contrast, merely giggled, before lighting up her horn and gently pulling the stallion off her.
"No, Anypony. We've been over this. Two plus two does not equal hugs!"
After recovering from the unexpected snuggles, Starlight coughed nervously.
"Well...he's certainly...friendly."
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the sound of the castle doors opening behind them. They all turned to see that it was none other tan Pinkie, who now hopped in merrily as she always did.
"Hey, Twilight! Sorry I'm a bit early, but I finished off my baking duties for the day and I..."
But she stopped as soon as she laid eyes on Anypony, who happily greeted her with a wave from afar. The pink mare blinked a few times before, in a move that surprised Starlight greatly, gaining a somewhat sultry look to her.
"Hey there, Anypony! Haven't seen you in a while!"
The stallion smiled wider, beginning to trot off towards her, his boyfriend instincts clearly kicking in. But, Twilight, ever the responsible one, once more engulfed him in her magic and held him in place, prompting confusion in him more than anything. As for Pinkie, Twilight looked to her with clear disapproval.
"Pinkie..." she said in a clear warning-style tone.
But Pinkie stopped in her tracks, shrugging her shoulders and giggling nervously.
"What? I was just gonna...um....say hello?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow, prompting Pinkie to look away with slight shame.
"Or...maybe try and make out with him again...maybe?"
Twilight nodded.
"There we go."
Letting Anypony go, Twilight took a moment to walk over to him and adjust his mane, making sure all the stray hairs were in their proper place, all while Starlight looked on with bemusement. But she said nothing, instead watching as her teacher looked down to her assistant.
"Now then, Spike, I want you to take Anypony back to his room. Make sure he's kept busy. You know how he gets when all of us come together."
Spike nodded.
"Oh yeah, don't want a repeat of last time."
As Spike led the happy-looking stallion away, Starlight, with concern upon her face, walked closer to Twilight.
"Um...last time?"
Twilight sighed.
"It was a small issue...which wouldn't have been as bad if somepony..."
She glanced at Pinkie.
"...hadn't decided that a game of spin-the-bottle was appropriate!"
Again, Pinkie shrugged her shoulders, frowning somewhat.
"Hmph! Spoilsport!"
Looking from one to the other, Starlight yet again raised an eyebrow.
"Twilight...I think somepony needs to talk with Celestia about getting involved in others' love lives."
To that, Twilight chuckled, looking to her student with a sly expression.
"Please, if you think she’s bad, you should see the kind of stuff Cadence tries to pull!"
After hearing that, Starlight blinked slowly, then sighed.
"On second thoughts...I don't think I want to know!"
