She Smells Like Daisies

She smells like daisies. Even before her refreshing scent wafts its ways into my nose, I can already taste the delicate flavor of flowers dancing their way through the rest of my senses. If there was a word that described the blissful smell of her freshly-coiffed mane in the same way that beauty captures her alluring appearance, it would be too sacred to mention in text other than scripture.

That’s the effect she has on me every darn day. It’s the most heavenly… most intoxicating… most painful feeling in the entire world, and I can never decide whether I want to indulge in it more or quell it forever.

Even now, in a literal garden of roses, the only thing I can smell is daisies! Why? Why can’t I smell anything else? Why can’t I see any of the red petals at my hooves or hear the sounds of the birds singing around me or feel the wind tussling my mane? Why is it that when she’s anywhere near me, everything else just… disappears?

“Hey! Are you coming, Starlight?”

I can’t even feel myself breathing anymore after hearing her call my name. Her voice has the same timbre as humming jays, maybe even mixed with the sound of wind chimes. Even when she says things that are rude or vulgar, the only thing I hear is the melodic tone of her voice, as if every word that comes out of her mouth is a sonnet performed by chapel bells.

“Come on!” she exclaims playfully, a pleasant contrast to her usual demeanor. “I haven’t gotten to see you all day!”

I shake my head, letting my heart speak for me before my head has time to tell me why I should run away with my tail between my legs. “C-coming!”

I quickly gallop forward through the soft fields, arriving at her side within moments. The way she smiles at me makes me laugh for no coherent reason. It’s not like she’s making a funny face or anything--far from it. I can’t explain it. My chest just feels full all of a sudden, and it feels like I’ll choke if I don’t let it all out.

“What took you so long?”

“I… don’t really know how to answer that one, to be honest,” I reply with a sheepish grin.

“Figures,” she says with an eye roll. “You have all the answers when it comes to your students, but you’re totally helpless when it comes to solving your own problems.”

I can’t help but smirk at the trap she just walked into. “Oh, so you do recognize me as a faculty member? Then how come you never call me Principal Starlight?”

“Because you let me get away with it.”

And just like always, the trap that I thought she led herself into was one that I ended up walking myself into. I slap my face in embarrassment, causing her to giggle quietly, a sound that makes my hooves shiver in bliss.

“So,” I say before she makes me faint from heartache, “how was your day today?”

“Oh, nuh-uh! Not today! You’re not weaseling your way out of it this time!”

I take a step back with an eyebrow raised. “Wait. Weaseling out of what?”

“We always talk about me! How come I never get to hear anything about you?”

Because I love just listening to her talk, hearing about her day, hearing her plans for the future. Her likes. Her dislikes. What makes her laugh. What sets her off. It’s like when she talks about something happening in her extremely one-sided view, I get to be part of her life, like I’m right there experiencing it with her.

But there’s no way I can tell her that.

“Probably because it’s my job to listen to you, not the other way around.”

Diamond Tiara rolls her eyes. “Gee, thanks. So nice knowing that the only reason you listen to me is because Princess Twilight pays you to.”

“Ugh. Come on. You know that’s not true.”

“Prove it.”

My eyes go wide, but Diamond Tiara’s somber expression never changes as she stares straight through me. I take another step back. She takes a step forward.

“P-prove it how?”

“I don’t know. You figure it out.”

Well, that got me nowhere. “Let’s see… I can tell you when your birthday is!”

“July 18th. That doesn’t count. You were at my party, after all.”

I change my gaze to focus on a nearby rosebush, both to think more clearly as well as to avoid her sapphire blue eyes, although now that I think about it, those two things are probably closely-related somehow. I try to swallow, but it doesn’t go down, making me now sweat from the awkward pressure I’m under trying to think of a method to persuade her... Well, besides the obvious, of course.

“Oh! I can tell you every grade you’ve gotten since you enrolled at the School of Friendship!”

“No, that’s just weird.”

Way to go, Starlight. There was no way that could have backfired on you.

“Well, it still proves that I’m listening to you!”

“So? I already know you listen to me. So do Princess Twilight and the other professors at school. I want you to show me that you’d listen even if you weren’t my principal. Even if I was just some random filly that started bugging you with my problems. Would you still listen to me then?”

I can’t even comprehend what that would be like, not the part about her not being a student at my school, but the part about her being just some random filly. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Even if I were meeting her for the first time right now, she still wouldn’t be just some random filly.

At the same time, though, her words spark an idea that I hadn’t thought of before, one that could momentarily save me from my anxiety. “OK! Remember when the two of us first met? That was before you became my student! That counts, right?”

Diamond Tiara smiles. “Go on.”

“So, you remember how it was the winter your mom and dad went up to Trottingham to celebrate Hearth’s Warming?”

“I wish I didn’t. That was when they left me with Randolph while they were at some fancy retreat in the--”

“Nonononono! It doesn’t count if you tell me what happened before I can prove I remember it!”

The filly snickers. “I know. I just wanted to see what you’d do if I spoiled your story. Go ahead.”

“Anyway! What I was saying was that you and your friend Silver Spoon were trying on hats at the market while everypony was out looking for Hearth’s Warming presents. You asked Silver Spoon if she would come over to your house for a slumber party on Hearth’s Warming Eve--”

“And she turned me down! Can you believe that?! I’m still not over it yet.”

“Which is why I came over to talk to you.”

Diamond Tiara lifts her hoof to eye level and tilts her head, checking her hooficure job to make sure that her edges are perfectly rounded. “No,” she responds blatantly, not even bothering to look me in the eye. “You came to talk to me because you wanted to see the hat I was wearing.”

“Well, I--uh... I just needed a way to start the conversation is all!”

“Suuuuure you did.”

In all honesty, she has the right idea not to believe me. The real reason I started the conversation in the first place was because I wasn’t thinking. My body moved without my permission, and before I knew it, I had just asked her if she was done looking at the hat in her hoof. It was like my mouth just started talking on its own, like my brain was too frazzled by the holiday stress to comprehend what I was doing before it was too late to take it all back. Yeah, that must have been it… The holiday stress...

“So?” she continues, dropping her hoof and looking me in the eye again. “What happened next?”

“After that, I casually brought up that I was a guidance counselor at the school of friendship and that stuff like this happened all the time. I was really just trying to help you solve your friendship problem, but--”

“But I ended up enrolling so that I could find some new friends to replace Silver Spoon.”

I can’t help but chuckle. “Just to find out that school was out for winter break.”

Diamond Tiara shakes her head in humiliation, putting her hoof to her face to hide her reddening cheeks. “I know! I’m so embarrassed! Anyway, let’s get off that topic. You win.”

I ruffle the filly’s mane as I smile down at her. “Does that mean that we can talk about you now?”

“Nope!”

“...Seriously?”

Just as I begin to protest, however, she giggles loudly, laying down on her back and looking up at the clouds, patting the ground beside her for me to come join in. I can’t help but raise a cautious eyebrow, just in case this is going to lead me into another one of her pranks, but by the time my back is against the soft grass below, all of my apprehensions seem to have already disappeared. I can’t see her from the position I’m in, but I can still feel her beside me, I can still hear her soft breath, still smell the delicate scent of daisies.

“You know,” she says, breaking my trance from the comforting path of the clouds above, “I’ve been wondering something.”

“OK. What’s up?”

“How come you spend so much time with me?”

If I was drinking something, this would be when I spit it out.

I quickly put a hoof to the ground to prop myself up and see her expression, but she’s still flat on her back, smiling as she watches the clouds pass by. “What are you talking about?” I ask as calmly as I can while simultaneously trying to avoid hyperventilating.

“Duh. I’m talking about this. What we’re doing right now. I’ve never exactly seen you alone with any of the other kids at school.”

“That… sounded kinda scandalous when you said it like that.”

“Well, make it not scandalous! How come you only ever hang out with me like this?”

Isn’t it obvious? It’s because I’m in love with you. Because even if any of the other students even wanted to hang out with their guidance counselor after school, they’d probably pick someplace other than a rose garden on the first day of spring. Because out of all the ponies in the entire kingdom of Equestria that I could have possibly fallen for, it just happened to be the last pony I ever imagined. Because every single day, I wrestle with myself the minute I wake up to the minute I fall asleep whether my feelings for you are OK, whether I should just give up, or whether I should tell you that you’re all I ever think about.

“Oh, you know,” I mumble with an awkward, unconvincing chuckle as I make my way back down to the grass. “Everypony else had something they were doing today. I mean--not everypony. It’s not like you were my last option or anything, and it’s not like I never hang out with anypony else. It’s just that--”

“Do you love me?”

“HUH?!”

Shoot! Shoot shoot shoot shoot SHOOT! I blew it. My career is over. Twilight can forgive a communist, but there’s no way she’ll forgive a foalcon!

Wait. No, it’s not over yet. I can still save this… Somehow.

“W-w-w-w-w-w-what do you mean?” I ask, finally getting my question out after the seventh w. “I’m not--Do I what? There’s no way I--Oh, dear. I’m having a panic attack, aren’t I?”

“Hang on.”

I literally hang onto the grass below, just in case there’s somepony hiding in the bushes who’s about to jump out and take me away somewhere, but to my surprise, the only one who moves is Diamond Tiara, who slowly pulls herself off of the ground and places her face against my chest. I squeeze my eyes shut, my mouth quivering so hard that somepony with a seismograph is probably wondering what’s going on right now.

Finally, she pulls her face away, pulling her bangs off to the side in a way that blocks out the sun, making her contours literally shine as she smiles down at me.

“Yup. I thought so.”

“What? You thought what?!”

“Your heartbeat,” she giggles. “It got faster.”

Of course it got faster! Even somepony who wasn’t crazy about her would be going through the same thing I’m going through right now! Still, though, it’s not exactly like she came to the wrong conclusion…

“Can we talk about you now?” I ask, trying to not let my expression show through.

“Alright. You wanna know who I like?”

Crap. I can never get a break with this girl. Everything she does sends my heart through an emotional rollercoaster, and I’m too strapped in to figure out how to get off.

“S-sure!” I say, trying my best to smile, even though I know that no matter how she answers, I won’t like the result. If she tells me that she has a crush on one of the boys in her class, that imaginary rollercoaster I was alluding to earlier will crash, burn, blow up, and then get eaten by a bear.

Then on the other hoof, in the one in six-hundred-billion chance she says that she likes me back, I’d want to marry her on the spot and settle down with our two children Starlight Tiara and Diamond Glimmer. Or just kiss her, but I doubt her parents would be OK with either.

“OK,” she says, placing her head onto my chest again. “Well, she’s a girl…”

Crap. No way! She isn’t--This can’t possibly--Hang on, Starlight. You’re a smart girl. There are more girls than boys in Equestria, after all, so by statistical probability alone, she’s more than likely talking about somepony else.

...But what if she isn’t?

“Oh, really?” I ask as casually as I can, even though she can ~~probably~~ definitely feel me shaking right now. “What’s she like?”

“Well, she’s a unicorn.”

No way.

“She’s a little bit older than me.”

No way no way no waaaayyy!!!

“And her name rhymes with Spitsie!”

...The f--

“Wait,” I say, propping myself up, even if it means inadvertently pushing Diamond Tiara away. “You have a crush on Trixie? Like, the new guidance counselor Trixie?”

Diamond Tiara, though, giggles into her hoof. “Gotcha.”

Then, while my head is still trying to piece the last puzzle together, a new puzzle completely shatters on the floor, leaving me with my eyes wide and my cheeks red. I can feel something pressed against my left cheek, something delicate, something small, but I can’t turn my head to see what it is. Time freezes, even though the rest of the world is continuing to move in fast-forward around me. It’s a feeling so terrifying that my body shuts down in self-preservation. Forget fight or flight. If I felt like this when staring a manticore in the eyes, I’d be dead!

Finally, the feeling against my cheek pulls away, and after a few long seconds, I slowly turn my head towards the direction it came from, looking straight towards a filly whose face is just as red as mine. Did… what I think just happened… really happen?

I’ve never seen Diamond Tiara look nervous or embarrassed, but I can’t think of any other way to describe how she looks right now. She’s bashfully moving her bangs in front of her face, avoiding eye contact with a smile, and blushing so hard that an apple would be jealous of how red she is. Just when I thought she couldn’t be any more adorable, just when I thought she couldn’t be any more perfect, she goes and does something like that, even if I’m still in disbelief about what just happened.

“Will you quit staring already?! This is awkward for me too, OK?”

Suddenly, my mind gets just enough function back for me to quickly put my hoof over my eyes, because that’s definitely what a competent mare would do in a situation like this.

“Sorry!” I exclaim. “I, uh… I’m just a little confused right now is all. That wasn’t a prank, was it? You didn’t actually just k… kiiiiihhh… Wow, I’m having a really hard time saying that word.”

“You mean kiss? Yeah… I did…”

“...Oh boy! Didn’t see this coming! Uh… Huh… How should I react here? I’ve never exactly been in a situation like this before.”

Diamond Tiara cocks her head to the side, giving me a quizzical look that probably mirrors my own. “Should I do it again? Would that make you feel better?”

I gulp in fear, but I can’t deny that there’s nothing that I would enjoy more than that. “...Yeah… I think it would.”

The filly gives me a small smirk before her face disappears, rising above eye level just as I feel a familiar sensation brush against my forehead. Again, my eyes go wide, but this time, there’s no doubt about it. No matter what happens tomorrow, the next day, or any other point in my future, as of right now, I’m the happiest mare in all of Equestria.

Finally, she lowers her face again, and her smile meets mine. “Better?”

“Yeah... I think things are a little clearer now.”

“So?” Diamond asks, laying her head down in my lap and looking up into my eyes. “What’s the verdict?”

“Baaaasically what I was thinking the whole time but was too afraid to say out loud... Actually, now that I think about it, I think I’m still too afraid to say it out loud.”

“Then what if we said it together? At the same time!”

My lips rise up my cheeks in a way that I can’t hold back, and as if on instinct, I nod my head. “OK! That sounds like a great idea!”

“OK, on the count of three. Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“One… Two… THREE!”

“I love you!”

I close my eyes, too afraid to say it while looking her in the eye, but to my surprise, I don’t hear her say it back. Did she mess up? Did she get too scared? Just as I slowly squint my eyes open, though, I see her hooves over her mouth while she rolls around on my lap, holding in her laughter as her face goes red for a completely different reason.

“H-hey! Diamond Tiara!!”

“I’m sorry!” she gets out between her violent chortles. “I just… I couldn’t… Baaaaahahahaha!”

I can’t help but sigh, burying my face into my hoof. “Good job, Starlight. You fell for another one.”

“Oh, don’t beat yourself up over it,” Diamond says with one final snicker. “At least you finally came out and said it. Imagine if you’d died without ever letting me know.”

I raise an eyebrow, unconsciously putting some distance between us. “O… K…? That was kinda dark.”

“Well, duh! It’s not like you’ll get to tell me tomorrow, after all.”

Her sudden morbidity makes me blink in surprise. “Wait, why? What’s tomorrow?”

Now she’s the one blinking in surprise. “Huh? How do you not know? It was your idea to go through with it.”

OK, now I’m panicking.

“With what?! Go through with what?!”

I can’t feel myself breathing, but I still feel like I’m hyperventilating. Even between sentences, thousands of different possibilities start swarming through my head. Am I going to jail? I haven’t even done anything! But it’s not exactly like I could convince a jury that. “Oh, yeah, I told her that I loved her, but I swear I wasn’t trying to use her!” Who would believe a foalcon like me?! Was that not what she was implying, though? It’s taking her forever to respond! Why isn’t she saying anything?! WHAT’S GOING ON?!

“Starlight… You’re not going to be here tomorrow.”

“Where am I going? Am I going to jail?! Please tell me I’m not going to jail! I don’t--I can’t--I can’t breathe. Oh, dear I can’t breathe!”

“Starlight! STARLIGHT! Calm down a second! Listen to me. Breathe. Breathe. Good. Now just stay calm for a second. Let me explain.”

As I shake frantically, looking all over the place like I’m searching for somepony to come take me away, I find myself suddenly looking straightforward, gazing once again into Diamond Tiara’s deep, blue eyes. I can feel her hooves holding my head in place to keep me from moving, but even then, she can’t stop me from shaking from my horn down to my tail. “What? O-O-OK. What… W-w-w-what’s going on?”

Diamond Tiara takes a deep breath that I unwittingly imitate, and even though I’m still panicking, at least I’m not as terrified with her around.

“Can you tell me everything you did today?”

“What? Was this whole thing just another prank to get me to tell you about my day?! This isn’t funny, Diamond Tiara! I’m still freaking out that--”

“Starlight. Ssshhh shh shh shh. Hang on. This isn’t a prank. Now, I want you to tell me--slowly--everything that’s happened to you today.”

I swallow again, trying to get it down so that I can at least start to put the pieces together. “Well, this morning I had breakfast.”

“Good! What did you have?”

“Oatmeal… a-a-and toast! Plus I had a glass of orange juice!”

“Great! What did you do after that?”

“I… I went to the library! The one in Canterlot!”

The entire time Diamond speaks to me, her supportive smile never fades, making me feel like a failure as a grown mare despite how effective she is at soothing my nerves.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” she continues. “Why did you go to the one in Canterlot?”

“Because it’s probably the only library in Equestria that would have what I was looking for.”

“So? What were you looking for?”

“A… a book!”

“No duh. A little more specific, please.”

The puzzle is gradually putting itself back together, but it’s still only coming back piece by piece.

“I was looking for a book that’s really old, one that even the princesses have forgotten still exists.”

“OK. Why were you looking for this book?”

“Because it contained unicorn spells that you wouldn’t find in any of today’s print. It was made for a different day and age. The librarians probably would have tossed it out if they knew what was inside of it.”

I’m so close. Just one more piece.

“And what was inside that book, Starlight?”

Finally, the last puzzle piece fits together, and once it does, a tear falls down my cheek. Diamond Tiara seems to understand what’s going on, but she continues to hold my cheeks, keeping my eyes focused on her as supportively as she can.

“Come on, Starlight. Tell me. What was inside that book?”

“A s-spell…”

“Huh? Speak up. I didn’t hear you.”

My lips begin to tremble.

“A spell. I found a spell… that was once used for executions. It was common practice about 800 years ago. If somepony had committed a crime that was deemed too severe for prison, they were sentenced to a humane death by unicorn magic. It took a long time, but it was mostly painless.” Finally, my eyes focus on the filly in front of me. “Diamond Tiara, am I… dead?”

“No, you’re still alive.”

Just as the filly releases me from her grasp, I immediately engulf her into a hug. “Oh, thank goodness! I was so scared that I had actually gone through with it!”

“You did go through with it, Starlight.”

Suddenly, my eyes go wide again. Slowly pulling myself away from her, I look into her eyes once more, although her expression never changes. I continue waiting for the punchline, waiting for her to fall to the floor in laughter, but she doesn’t, leaving my lips to tremble again.

“W-what do you mean? I’m right here! I couldn’t have--”

“Oh, for pete’s sake! You went through with it, Starlight! None of this is real! You’re just having a dream until you stop dreaming altogether!”

This… isn’t real? Everything that’s happened, the kiss, the confession… it was all in my head?

Slowly, I place my hoof to my chest to make sure, but to my dismay, I get the exact result I was afraid of: I’m not breathing. If I wanted to, I could probably push my hoof all the way into my body like water. None of it is real. It’s all… fake…

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But… at least it makes me feel better in the meantime.

“Diamond Tiara?”

The filly tilts her head. “Yeah?”

“C-can I… hold you… until my time comes?”

A smirk shows up along her lips. “Yeah, go ahead.”

Finally, I can swallow that lump in my throat, and even if it’s only temporary, even if it’s only in my head, I wrap my hooves around the only pony left who matters and bury my face into her shoulder. I can feel her hoof reaching up to pull my face in closer, but as soon as she does that, I can’t keep myself from holding back. Immediately, the flood gates open up, and I begin crying my dying heart out for the last time.

“Hey, Starlight?”

As soon as I hear her voice, I lift my head, wipe a tear and get one last sniffle in before speaking. “Yes?”

“Why did you think this was a good idea? You sound pretty broken up about it now that you’re actually here, so what made you decide to go through with it in the first place?”

Of course. The million bit question right there.

“I don’t know. I guess I was just… scared.”

Diamond Tiara raises a suspicious eyebrow. “Of what?”

“Of… somepony finding out about my feelings for you.”

“Wait. So this is my fault?!”

“No! No. It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?! ‘Cause that’s how it sounds to me!”

Her reaction makes me laugh. Even though she’s basically just a figment of my imagination as I go through my premortal REM cycle, she still has the exact same personality I’d expect from the real Diamond Tiara.

“Like I said, I’m just scared, and that’s not your fault. It’s my fault for falling in love with a girl who’s barely earned her cutie mark.”

Diamond Tiara waits several seconds before continuing, but somehow, I enjoy the brief silence. In the meantime, I get to just hold her, feel her mane against my cheek, feel her warmth against my chest, and I don’t have to worry about anypony seeing us and assuming the worst.

“So what made you fall in love with me in the first place? I mean, I get that I'm probably the hottest filly in Ponyville--not to brag--but we both know that I can still be a total butt sometimes.”

“I dunno. Maybe I like butts.”

As soon as the word comes out of my mouth, Diamond Tiara buries her face into her hooves, most likely in an attempt to hide from me before I say anything embarrassing again. She starts shaking her head in annoyance, but out of nowhere, she just stops, waiting another few moments before speaking again. I cock my head to the side in confusion, but all I see is her ear perking up, following some noise that I don’t seem to catch.

“I hear sirens,” she finally says, causing me to flinch.

“You mean… the good kind, or the bad kind?”

“I don’t know! I’m not talking about the kind that look like angry seaponies.”

“Huh? No! I mean…” I take a fake, deep breath to calm myself down enough to think of a better way to ask the question. “So, there are the good sirens, which are the ones that will take me to the hospital and try to save me before it’s too late, but there’s also… the bad sirens, which are the ones that… want to take me somewhere else…”

Diamond Tiara’s ears droop, making the small smile on my face slowly fade away. “I… I don’t know.”

“...O-oh…”

Another silence falls between us, although this time, I don’t feel the same comfort as I did before. I’m still torn as to whether or not I want somepony to find me. On the one hoof, if somepony manages to save me before it’s too late, then I’ll be able to see Diamond Tiara again, the real Diamond Tiara. It won’t just be one day, either! I’d get to see her the next day too! And the day after that! It wouldn’t just be a dream. I’d be with her for real, and even if she didn’t return the feelings I have for her, at least I’d get to make her happy for as long as I possibly could.

But, then again, on the other hoof, things might not turn out like that. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to make it out with medication, therapy, and a couple of days getting better in the hospital, but there’s still the possibility that my worst fears come true… the ones that drove me to this decision in the first place.

“Hey,” Diamond says, rubbing my face and briefly pulling me out of my daze. “You seem really worried about ponies finding out about your feelings for me. Did… something happen?”

“What? No! I’ve never even held your hoof before!”

As soon as the words come out, Diamond punches her hoof lightly into my chest, glaring daggers. “You’d better not have! I spend more time filing these things than you spend breathing, and I don’t want you messing them up on accident!”

Her reaction makes me giggle a little, but at the same time, I can’t help but find my mind going down a dark path again, causing my voice to go quiet. “No. It’s… It’s nothing like that.”

My eyes travel away, but before they can get too far, the pink filly on my lap slowly pulls my cheek towards her, offering me her most sympathetic smile once our gazes connect. “Tell me.”

“Well… Even if nothing happens between us, there still might be… whispers…”

“Whispers?”

“Yeah! Whispers! And if those whispers got out of control, things could get a little out of hoof, as you can imagine.”

“Like what?”

“Like, what if somepony thought that I was just trying to butter you up? What if they thought that I was just trying to trick you so that I could hurt you later?”

“That’s stupid! You’re not like that, Starlight!”

“I know! I know! But… other ponies might not see things in the same way that we see them. Some of them… even think that I’ve got something wrong with my brain.”

“What? For liking another girl?!”

“No! No, it’s not for liking another girl. Actually, some of the mares who say those things are the kind that like mares themselves.”

“Those hypocrites! Nothing is wrong with you, Starlight! Forget what they say! They’re just trying to put you down because their own lives are pathetic, miserable--”

“Diamond Tiara, stop.”

My words catch her off guard, but I can’t let her keep going with her current tirade. I don’t know how much time I have left with her, after all, and darn it, I want to spend every last moment with her being as happy as I possibly can be. None of the mares back home matter right now.

Only her.

“Let’s… talk about something else.”

“OK? How about this? You like me, right?”

I tilt my eyebrow in confusion. “Riiiight.”

“And I’m a lot younger, right?”

“Riiiight, but uh… I don’t quite see where you’re going with this.”

“Here’s a question for you! Will you still love me once I’m old like you?”

I stop and stare for probably a good twenty seconds before I find myself with a sudden hilarity trying to break out of my chest. I quickly put my hoof to my mouth to keep her from thinking that I’m being rude, but it’s only a matter of time before I wrap my hooves around my waist and fall backwards in laughter.

“Hey!” she shouts. “What gives?!”

“I’m sorry,” I say, wiping a tear from my eye and propping myself back up again. “It’s just funny that you ask that.”

“Huh? Funny how?”

Again, I let out a small chuckle, but I quickly get hold of my bearings before I can make her any angrier. “Well, think of it like this. Are you into old ladies?”

“Ew! No way!”

“But you love me, right?”

Diamond Tiara rolls her eyes. “You’re not that old, Starlight. It’s completely different.”

“Right, right, but what are you going to do when I get as old as Granny Smith? Are you just going to leave me for somepony closer to the age that I am now?” Diamond Tiara’s lips curl off to the side of her face before she shrugs in confusion. “Well, it’s basically the same thing. Yeah, your age is one of the reasons I love you, but what I’m even more excited about is knowing that I’ll be able to grow with you! In fact, I bet I’d love you even more once you’re my age, just because every day, I’ll remind myself just how lucky I am that you love me back.”

Diamond Tiara looks at the ground for a few moments, staying uncomfortably silent until she turns around and falls into my hooves again, resting her head into my chest, overwhelming my nose with the scent of daisies. “Hey, Starlight?”

“Yeah?”

“I know that I’m not the real Diamond Tiara--”

“Come on. Let’s not talk about that right now.”

“No, shut up for a second! There’s something I wanna say.” I calmly wait for whatever she has to say that’s important for her to take a deep breath, silently holding her tighter as she prepares to speak. “I know I’m not the real thing, but… I really think that she loves you too.”

Suddenly, my cheeks begin to burn, causing my heart to dance wildly in my chest. “R-really?! You really think so?”

“Yeah. I mean, what’s not to love about you? You’re successful, mature, I’m all you seem to care about--”

“Then… In that case…”

“Hmm?”

Diamond Tiara leans her head back to look up at my face, but that only makes my face burn redder.

“Nevermind! I can’t do it!”

“Oh, come on, Starlight! What is it?”

“Nope. Nuh-uh. You’re just gonna make fun of me.”

“Well, duh. You love it when I make fun of you.”

I furrow my eyebrows in anger, but she just gives me a cocky smirk, making me curse at myself internally. As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t really want to tell her.

“Well… Uh… Hang on. I need to prep myself for this one.”

“Can I make fun of you now?”

“No. Not yet.”

Diamond Tiara smiles at me again, and she looks so pretty that I do everything in my being to keep myself from kissing that smug smirk right off of her face.

“What I want to say is…”

I take a deep breath and squeeze my eyes closed.

“Diamond Tiara… Will you tell me that you… you know...”

The filly below stares wide-eyed for a couple seconds, blinking in confusion while my request registers in her brain, but once it does, she gives me another sneaky grin.

“Tell you what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, yes you do!”

“Nope! No idea!”

My shoulders slump in exhaustion, but Diamond Tiara’s confident smile never lets up. I know that she understands exactly what I’m asking her to do, but this chase she has me going through somehow only makes me love her even more.

Running my hoof down my face, I ask, “Do I really need to come out and say it?”

Diamond Tiara, though, puts her hoof to her mouth like she’s deep in thought, even though she’s grinning deviously right into my eyes. “Tell you how I got my cutie mark? I thought I’ve told you that one before!”

“No! Everypony knows how you got your cutie mark!”

“Hmm… Do you mean tell you how I get my mane to look like this all the time? I get that one a lot, actually.”

“Ugggghhhhhhh. Why did I have to fall for somepony so aggravating?”

Finally, the sinister smirk on her face returns to a normal, feminine smile, and just as my annoyance rises to an all time high, she somehow manages to turn the negativity on its head with a small, gentle kiss on my right cheek. My body freezes, even though my face is burning. I can see how adorably she’s giggling in my peripheral vision, but I’m still too shocked to look her in the eye.

“Hey, you were the one who said you liked butts.”

“Yeah,” I say slowly, blinking hard to pull my attention back down to the filly in my lap. “They’re my favorite.”

“Well, I guess I’ve played with you long enough. Do you really wanna hear me say it?”

I gulp, hoping that my shaking body doesn’t keep my head from nodding. “Y-yeah. That would make me happy.”

Again, she lifts her cheeks, showing off her dazzling white smile as I fall into the pool of her baby blue eyes. She’s so perfect I can’t stand it.

“Alright, Starlight. If you’re really that desperate to hear me say it, then I guess I’ll let you win just this once. I lo