11 Grass Moon 1008

Emerald approached Daygleam’s house with some manner of uncertainty. Getting away from the house hadn’t been too difficult; Star had agreed to stay with Flurry for the night. He probably suspected her true reason for going out, but he didn’t comment on it, for which Emerald was grateful.

She placed a hoof on the door, then knocked thrice.

After a moment, the door opened and Daygleam’s face appeared, smiling. ‘’Good evening,’’ she greeted.

‘’Good evening,’’ Emerald replied, stepping inside.

She was reminded of what Flurry had said a few days ago, and agreed with it: the inside of Daygleam’s house did look similar to the Crystal Empire, more specifically Crystal City.

‘’Your house looks nice,’’ Emerald commented.

Daygleam inclined her head. ‘’Thank you.’’ She led Emerald into the living room, where two glasses and a bottle of some sort of alcohol stood on the table. ‘’Have a seat, please.’’

Emerald sat down on the couch, watching as Daygleam opened the bottle with her magic - the colour being bright purple, a shade different from her eyes but still very similar.

‘’Here you go.’’

Emerald accepted the glass with a nod, studying it for a second before taking a swig. The alcohol tingled pleasantly, but that was about it. She couldn’t really pin down what it tasted like though.

‘’It’s nice,’’ Emerald said anyway. ‘’Where did you get it?’’

‘’Tap. He runs the bar here, if the name didn’t give it away,’’ Daygleam replied.

Emerald frowned. ‘’I didn’t see a bar anywhere.’’

‘’He doesn’t show it off or anything,’’ Daygleam explained. ‘’People just go to his house, and he fixes them up with a drink. And a conversation, if they need it.’’

That would probably only work in a place like this, where everyone had grown up together and there was little contact with the outside world. Still, it made sense.

Emerald nodded in understanding. ‘’So where’s his house?’’

‘’Directly north of the square, down that street all the way to the end. Tall, brown building, with yellow windows.’’

‘’Thanks.’’

‘’No problem,’’ Daygleam waved her off. ‘’I’m always happy to help.’’

‘’Yeah.’’

Silence fell between them as they drank. Emerald wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation and it appeared Daygleam wasn’t either, so Emerald let her eyes wander around the room, admiring the work that must’ve gone into painting the walls. Multiple questions about the house and Sunville sprang to her mind, but she didn’t want to turn this date - if one could call it that - into an interrogation, so she kept silent.

Finally, it appeared Daygleam had come up with another topic of conversation. ‘’So, uhh… I actually don’t know how to ask this. This is not appropriate at all, now that I think about it.’’

Emerald blinked. Something like this seemed unchararestic, to her at least. ‘’You can ask whatever questions you want,’’ she assured.

‘’Okay.’’ Daygleam took a deep breath, then leaned forward and looked intently at her. ‘’What happened that you and Star got to escape with Flurry?’’

I wasn’t expecting that.

It took Emerald a moment to collect her thoughts, and in that moment Daygleam got a horrified look on her face. ‘’I’m so, so sorry,’’ she apologized quickly, ‘’I shouldn’t have asked, that’s private.’’

‘’It’s alright,’’ Emerald said. ‘’I’ll tell you.’’ She made sure she had all the facts straight, then began. ‘’I was one of Princess Cadence’s hoofmaidens. She picked me to accompany Star and Flurry.’’

There was little more to it.

Daygleam blinked. ‘’That’s it?’’ She sounded surprised. ‘’I was expecting something a little more thrilling.’’

‘’Well,’’ Emerald laughed, ‘’the journey was more than a little thrilling. Over the course of three hours Star got the three of us from Crystal City to Turhamn with some teleports, we stayed with a friend of his there for around a week, then we got a ship down to New Mareland. Survived a kidnapping attempt and a pirate attack, before Star teleported us from the ship to here.’’

Daygleam stared at her for a moment, mouth slightly agape. ‘’Wow.’’

Despite herself Emerald couldn’t help but smirk. ‘’Satisfied?’’

Before she knew it, Daygleam had teleported in front of her - since when could she-

Those eyes. Emerald was completely entranced.

‘’I’m going to kiss you now,’’ Daygleam said, but she sounded very faint, as if she was shouting from very far away.

Emerald barely managed a nod, and then Daygleam’s muzzle was against hers as they fell back on the couch, and Emerald’s world became bliss.

Emerald opened her mouth and Daygleam seized the opportunity, her tongue darting into Emerald’s mouth and wrangling with her own.

Emerald didn’t know how long they were kissing, but when their muzzles finally parted, both she and Daygleam were left breathless.

‘’How’s that for a first kiss?’’ Daygleam quipped.

‘’B-beautiful,’’ Emerald breathed. ‘’That was… oh Amore.’’ She was shivering, and her nethers were positively soaked.

‘’Let’s do it again, hmm?’’

That was the best suggestion Emerald had ever heard.

|-x-X-x-|

12 Grass Moon 1008

Star wasn’t in the least surprised when he found that Emerald hadn’t returned last night. Guessing what had happened wasn’t very hard, with how distracted Emerald had been yesterday.

Guess I’m making breakfast.

Star entered the kitchen and looked around. What to make, what to make. So many choices.

He could make pancakes, or sandwiches, or any other meal out of hundreds that popped up in his mind. In the end, he settled on pancakes, just for Flurry and him. If Emerald hadn’t gotten back last night, she wasn’t going to turn up at breakfast either.

‘’Flurry!’’ he called out as he began to work on the pancakes. ‘’Breakfast in ten minutes!’’

After ten seconds, he heard a faint ‘’Okay daddy!’’, which was good enough for him.

Star hadn’t made food in some time, and as such, had to keep an eye on the pancakes to make sure he didn’t fuck anything up. That would not be a good start to the day.

By the time he was putting the first pancakes on the plates, he heard Flurry hopping down the stairs. For some reason hopping was how she liked to get down the stairs; Star didn’t question it, mainly because the sight was adorable.

‘’Good morning daddy!’’ Flurry chirped.

‘’Good morning sweetheart,’’ he replied. Using magic to lift the three plates, he then bowed his head and gave Flurry a kiss on her forehead. ‘’Did you sleep well?’’

Flurry nodded, following behind him to the table and sitting down in the chair next to him. ‘’Daddy, where’s mommy?’’ she asked as Star placed the plates on the table.

‘’She hasn’t gotten back from Miss Daygleam’s house yet,’’ Star replied. ‘’Don’t worry, she’ll be back today, I’m sure. Now dig in.’’

‘’Okay,’’ Flurry said after a moment, and proceeded to eat.

He had made some very good pancakes. Evidently, he hadn’t lost his cooking skills yet. That was good.

‘’Do you like them?’’ Star asked Flurry.

‘’Yeah,’’ the foal said between bites. ‘’They taste a little different from mommy’s, but that’s alright. I like it.’’

Star smiled. ‘’That’s good to hear.’’ He took another bite, before asking his next question. ‘’So, do you want to get started on reading and writing lessons today?’’

‘’Already?’’

‘’We don’t have to,’’ Star demurred, ‘’but it’s best to start early, no?’’

‘’I guess,’’ Flurry agreed after a moment. She didn’t really sound convinced. ‘’Daddy, when is mommy gonna be back?’’

Star sighed, before reaching out and putting his leg around Flurry in a half-hug. ‘’Sometime today,’’ he replied. ‘’If she’s not back after lunch we’ll go to Daygleam’s house, alright?’’

Flurry leaned into the hug. ‘’Okay,’’ she muttered. ‘’I guess she must’ve had a nice sleepover then.’’

Sleepover!

Star barely managed to stifle his chuckle. ‘’Yes, I imagine so,’’ he agreed.

After breakfast, Star moved the plates into the kitchen, then looked down at Flurry. ‘’Where do you want to go read?’’

‘’Can we read in bed?’’ Flurry asked in reply. ‘’It’s so soft…’’

‘’Sure thing,’’ Star agreed easily. ‘’Do you want to read on my bed or yours?’’

‘’Yours. It’s bigger!’’

‘’Well I am a big pony,’’ Star joked, chuckling a little. ‘’Come on then.’’

Once settled in his room, Star pulled the materials he had prepared for this from his desk with his magic. He’d made a chart with all the letters of the alphabet on it, with a simple word underneath each letter that started with the letter above it.

‘’See this?’’ he asked, glancing at Flurry, lying next to him on the bed with Whammy between her hooves.

‘’Yeah.’’

‘’These are letters,’’ Star began his explanation. ‘’Letters form words. There are twenty-six letters, which we call the alphabet. It starts with A and ends with Z.’’

This was simple, of course, and Star was pretty sure Flurry thought so too, if the look on her face was any indication.

‘’So, just to try, can you point out the letters in your name?’’

A decent beginning challenge, at least in Star’s opinion. And Flurry was more likely to try and find the answer because it was connected to her.

Flurry’s look turned thoughtful, as she looked at the chart. ‘’It starts with… this one.’’ She pointed her hoof at the F.

‘’Yes, that’s right! Very good!’’ Star complimented her. ‘’What comes after the F?’’

‘’Uhh…’’ Flurry looked up and down the chart, but didn’t answer for the longest time. Star waited patiently as the minutes ticked by, until Flurry looked away from the chart, up at him and admitted, ‘’I can’t find it, daddy. I’m sorry.’’

‘’You don’t have to be sorry,’’ Star said immediately. ‘’Normally you would be learning this two years from now. It’s not that strange that you’re not that good at it.’’

‘’I did manage to get the first letter though,’’ Flurry pointed out, a small smile coming to her face.

‘’That’s true,’’ Star acknowledged with a tip of his head. ‘’Shall I show you the other letters in your name?’’

Flurry was silent for a few moments. ‘’I want to know,’’ she said eventually, ‘’but I also want to figure out myself.’’

Star blinked. ‘’That’s very admirable, Flurry. But don’t be afraid to ask me if you can’t figure something out, alright?’’

‘’Okay, daddy,’’ Flurry promised, before tilting her head. ‘’What’s admirable mean?’’

Another thing to explain to her. It’s like I’m teaching all over again.

‘’It means something about someone you think should be respected. In this case, your ability to…’’ he searched for a word Flurry would understand, ‘’your ability to keep yourself from the easy way out.’’

Flurry blushed slightly. ‘’Thanks, daddy,’’ she muttered.

‘’Well, let’s just start with the alphabet, then,’’ Star suggested after a moment of silence, where he was smiling pridefully at Flurry. ‘’This is the A,’’ he pointed at the A. ‘’A of admirable, apple, and so forth.’’

And on this went.

|-x-X-x-|

15 Grass Moon 1008

The location of Star’s date had been an odd one. Skystreak had told him to expect a casual setting, true, but Star had still expected an actual restaurant, not a pub in Manebourne’s small cloud district.

He was waiting at the entrance to the cloud district, a bouquet of flowers he’d picked himself from his gardens held in his magic.

People looked at him, probably wondering what he was doing here. To prevent anyone from recognizing him, Star had cast a spell on himself that made other people’s memory of seeing him foggy and unusable. A little amoral, but he didn’t really care.

‘’Hello!’’

Star looked up as his date, Skystreak, landed. The pegasus swept her long, two-toned green mane out of her face as she folded her wings to her side.

‘’Good evening,’’ he greeted courteously, before holding out the flowers. ‘’For you, my lady.’’

‘’Why thank you,’’ Skystreak said, taking the flowers and admiring them. ‘’They are very beautiful.’’

Star tipped his head. ‘’I try my best. Shall we?’’ And he offered his hoof to her.

Skystreak looked at it for a moment, before raising an eyebrow. ‘’Do you realize where we are going?’’

‘’Yes,’’ Star replied without missing a beat.

After a long moment, Skystreak took the offered hoof. Star took the flowers in his magic again, and together they entered the cloud district.

They weren’t the only couple around, far from it, but as far as he could see he was the only unicorn around. How interesting.

‘’So what is this pub we’re going to like?’’ Star asked.

‘’It’s an old thing,’’ Skystreak replied, ‘’has that rustic charm old buildings have, if you get what I’m saying?’’ When Star nodded, she continued, ‘’Anyway, I go to this place a lot on the weekends, with a couple of friends.’’

‘’Sounds nice,’’ Star offered. ‘’I hate to sound like an interrogator,’’ he added a moment later, ‘’but, and I don’t mean to offend, how did you earn your position at such an age?’’

‘’Don’t think I deserve it?’’

The venom in that reply told Star enough. ‘’From what I have observed you more than deserve it,’’ he placated. ‘’I was merely curious, m’lady.’’

‘’Don’t call me that,’’ Skystreak scolded, ‘’it makes me feel old. I’m twenty-four, not forty-four.’’

I am almost forty-four, Star thought wryly. And here I am, on a date with a twenty-four year old.

‘’As you wish,’’ he agreed, before looking around. ‘’Is it far yet?’’

‘’Nope!” Skystreak pointed down the street at a lovely old building. Star wasn’t intimately familiar with cloud-architecture, but even he could see the signs of age in the clouds that formed the thing. Lights shone out of the windows, and a sign hung above the door.

‘’The Merry Cloud,’’ Star read aloud. ‘’What an inventive name.’’

Skystream giggled, quite a pleasant sound admittedly. ‘’Well, the name’s not what draws people,’’ she said mysteriously.

Star turned his head to her and raised an eyebrow. ‘’Then what is?’’

‘’You’ll see.’’

I guess I will.

Courteously, Star held the door open for Skystreak, before stepping inside himself.

The inside smelled just like any other pub Star had ever visited, and he’d visited a fair few.

|-x-X-x-|

15 Grass Moon 1008

‘’Do you think daddy’s having fun on his dinner?’’

Well not yet.

Emerald didn’t say that, obviously. Instead she said, ‘’I think he is, yes.’’

Flurry sighed, and pouted a little. ‘’I’m sad we couldn’t go with him.’’

Emerald reached over the table with her hoof and patted Flurry on the head. ‘’We’ll all go out for dinner another time, alright?’’

‘’Yay!’’ Flurry cheered, her sadness vanishing like snow in the sun. ‘’I can’t wait!’’

‘’Neither can I,’’ Emerald said with a smile, drawing her hoof back to her side again. ‘’But first this dinner.’’

Some very fine baked potatoes with a hayburger for both of them. And after that was done, a far more daunting task than eating food was to be done.

‘’Excited for the sleepover?’’

‘’Of course!’’ Flurry replied as if that was obvious. ‘’I can’t wait! It’ll be so much fun!’’

Good, because it’s probably going to happen a lot more in the future.

Emerald smiled. ‘’Did you pack everything?’’

Flurry nodded. ‘’I got Whammy, my pillow, my toothbrush and the Friendship Journal.’’

‘’That’s all you’ll need.’’ But Emerald made sure to check Flurry’s saddlebags again, just in case.

After they had finished eating and Emerald had checked if they had everything, they left the mansion for Daygleam’s house. Emerald carried a lantern in her mouth so they had some light, but Flurry had a small light at the tip of her horn as well, which added some extra illumination that Emerald was grateful for.

Maybe they would have to make some lanterns for the road between the mansion and Sunville proper, to make sure the path was lit. Especially with how early nightfall was nowadays, that was probably a good idea. Star probably knew some way to make magical lights that went on and off out of themselves.

But that could wait. First, Emerald had to survive the evening intact.

They arrived at Daygleam’s house without any sort of distraction. Emerald knocked on the door, which opened a moment later.

‘’You’re here!’’ Daygleam greeted them. ‘’Come in, come in!’’

‘’Good evening,’’ Emerald replied, stepping into the house and giving Daygleam a hug that was a little tighter and lasted a little longer than socially acceptable.

‘’Hello honey,’’ Daygleam sultrily whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine, before breaking the hug and looking down at Flurry.

‘’Hi Miss Daygleam,’’ Flurry chirped.

‘’Good evening, Flurry! Shall I take those saddlebags from you?’’

‘’Sure,’’ Flurry replied, before hoofing her saddlebags to Daygleam with her magic, who took it with her own magic.

The three of them walked into the living room. Magic was laying in front of the burning heart, a couple of toys spread around her. ‘’Hi Flurry! Hi Emerald!’’

‘’Hi Magic!’’ Flurry jumped forward and rubbed noses with Magic.

So adorable.

‘’Good evening, Magic,’’ Emerald greeted. ‘’How are you?’’

‘’I’m doing great!’’ Magic answered excitedly. ‘’How about you?’’

‘’I’m doing great as well,’’ Emerald replied as she sat down on the couch, but Magic had more or less tuned her out already to talk with Flurry instead. Emerald didn’t mind, because at that moment Daygleam stepped into the room, four glasses of lemonade held in her magic. ‘’Drinks!’’ she called out.

Flurry and Magic both pounced on the table as soon as Daygleam had placed the drinks down. Meanwhile, Daygleam sat down next to Emerald.

So, Emerald turned to face her. ‘’We tell them today?’’ she whisper-asked, just to be sure.

Daygleam nodded almost imperceptibly. ‘’Yes,’’ she whispered back. ‘’Wanna do it?’’

‘’Now?’’

Daygleam glanced away, and Emerald followed her eyes to see they were pointed at the foals. They weren’t paying any attention to the two of them, just playing with the toys Daygleam had hoof-made. Or horn-made. Maybe both.

Emerald looked back at Daygleam. ‘’Okay.’’

Daygleam reached out with her hoof and squeezed Emerald’s, before turning back to the foals and clearing her throat? ‘’Girls?’’

‘’Yes mommy?’’

‘’Yes Miss Daygleam?’’

‘’Emerald and I want to tell you something.’’

That caught their attention. Both of them scrambled over to the front of the couch, looking up expectantly.

What if they don’t like it? What if Flurry doesn’t want me to be with Daygleam? What if she thinks I’m going to abandon her? What if-

‘’Emerald and I,’’ Daygleam’s smooth, soft voice cut through Emerald’s increasingly panicked thoughts, ‘’have been meeting each other a lot over the past few days. We’ve found out we like each other quite a lot.’’ She wrapped her hoof around Emerald’s. ‘’So, we’ve decided to try out dating with each other.’’

Silence.

Flurry blinked. ‘’Dating?’’

‘’Yes,’’ Emerald confirmed, looking Flurry straight in the eye. She saw confusion.

‘’Mommy,’’ Flurry asked, ‘’what does dating mean?’’

Before either Emerald or Daygleam could answer that question, Magic said, ‘’It means they kiss and stuff.’’

Flurry thought about this for a second, before nodding to Magic. ‘’Thanks, Magic.’’ Turning back to Emerald, she continued, ‘’I’m happy for you, mommy.’’

Emerald smiled so widely, her face was probably going to split in half. ‘’I’m glad to hear that, Flurry.’’ After a moment, she added, ‘’Just so you know, I’m going to spend a lot of time here, and Daygleam is probably going to spend time in our home too.’’

‘’Okay, can Magic come over?’’

‘’Of course she can,’’ Daygleam answered, ‘’just like you can always come over, with Emerald or not, Flurry.’’

‘’Really? Thanks, Miss Daygleam!’’

‘’You can just call me Daygleam, sweetie,’’ Daygleam said with a smile just as wide as Emerald’s probably was.

‘’And you can call me Emerald, Magic,’’ Emerald added for good measure.

‘’Okay.’’ Magic didn’t look nearly as excited as Flurry about their little announcement. A few seconds later, she explained why.

Magic put her hooves on Emerald’s legs and looked up, a serious look on her face. ‘’Promise me you won’t abandon mommy like my daddy did.’’

Daygleam made a strangled noise that probably meant something. Emerald just blinked. What was she supposed to say to that? She didn’t even know what had happened to Daygleam’s husband! She’d been meaning to ask, but, well…

She couldn’t honestly promise it. But she couldn’t say that without upsetting Magic.

‘’Sweetheart, Emerald can’t promise such a thing.’’

Emerald wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say, but nonetheless she squeezed Daygleam’s hoof in acknowledgement of the save.

‘’Why not?’’ Magic asked.

‘’Because we might not want to date each other anymore in a month, or a year, or ten years,’’ Daygleam patiently explained.

‘’But- but-!’’

‘’Hey,’’ Flurry softly cut in, placing a wing on Magic’s back. ‘’I’ll always be your friend, Magic. If our mommies are dating or if they aren’t.’’

Magic stared at Flurry for a moment, before throwing herself forward and hugging the other filly. After a second, a surprised Flurry hugged her back, while the two adults watched in content silence.

Suddenly, Daygleam placed her head against Emerald’s neck, pushing up under her head. Emerald stiffened.

‘’Thanks,’’ Daygleam whispered.

After a moment, Emerald replied, ‘’No problem.’’

Author's Note

I suck at writing romance, so if this feels a bit rushed and abrupt, it's because it is. I don't want to write a romance story (at least not yet) so while the relationships constructed in this chapter, romantical or not, will definitely play a part in the rest of the story, it won't become the centre of the story.

(Edited on 9-10-2021)