Pinkie sipped her lemon-berry smoothie thoughtfully and stared into the slushy mixture of fruit. She was a very elastic mare – anypony who knew her could attest to that. She often thought of herself as being made of gelatin, able to bounce and stretch as much as she wanted.
But it didn’t mean she enjoyed being stretched out like that.
The thought of her heart being stretched like that, as it currently was, dampened her mood. She was an expert in quite a few things—party planning, baking, occasionally saving the whole world, to name a few—but she wasn’t an expert on love. She wasn’t sure why it inflated her like a balloon, but also popped her like one.
So, she did the only reasonable thing she could do: consult an expert. She asked Twilight, who instead pointed her to Princess Cadance – in hindsight, it seemed like the more logical choice.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Pinkie said, stopping her stroll through Cadance’s rose garden. “You can love two ponies? How?”
Cadance giggled and set a hoof on her shoulder. “Well, you have to have a conversation first. Love is meant to be shared, but if handled incorrectly, the ones you love can end up getting hurt.”
“Oh no! I don’t want that!” Pinkie whimpered.
Cadance patted her on the back. “What do you feel, Pinkie Pie? Tell me.”
Pinkie plopped down on her haunches, and looked to the rose bush hedge beside her. “I really love this one creature I know,” she began, plucking a pale yellow rose. “She’s so fun to be around, and I love the way she giggles. And she hasn’t had fun in so long, so there’s always stuff to do together.”
Then she reached over and plucked up a wine-colored rose in her other hoof. “But there’s also this other mare I really love. She acts all big and tough because she’s scared and hurt, but she’s also very sweet. She’s really fun to be around, and I always feel so safe around her.”
Pinkie’s head drooped and both roses drifted to the ground. “But I can’t choose just one! I can’t, I can’t I can’t!” She looked to Cadance, her eyes wet.
Cadance nodded softly. She plucked up the two roses, before adding a third cotton candy pink one to the mix. “No one says you have to. If you love both of them, then tell them,” she said calmly, entwining the three roses’ stems together.
“But… isn’t that cheating?” Pinkie asked.
“If you cheat on someone, it’s because you’re unhappy with the one you’re cheating on, and happy with the one you’re cheating with. But you aren’t – you’re happy with both of them, Pinkie. And I believe, knowing you, that you love them equally with all your heart,” Cadance soothed.
“But… what if they find out?” Pinkie wiped her snout.
“You should first explain to them what you explained to me. If they love you as much as you love them, they’ll stand with you,” Cadance said.
Pinkie sniffled and carefully took the trio of roses with a nod. “There’s another thing, Princess Cadance,” she said softly. “What if… what if they might have hated each other before? Or like, not really liked one another?”
“That, Pinkie Pie, is a conversation you must have with both of them.”
So here she was. On the patio of a restaurant on Mount Aris. It was a gloriously sunny day, the air was crisp and salty, and the lulling sounds of the waves crashing could be heard in the distance.
“Pinkie!”
Pinkie looked up from her smoothie in time to be tackled by a soft, strong embrace of pale yellow feathers. They smelled lightly of saltwater and Pinkie nestled into it. After a few moments, they pulled apart so Pinkie could stare into those oceans she had for eyes.
“Hey Skystar. It’s so great to see you again,” Pinkie said, leaning up to plant a smooch on the tip of her beak. She tried to ignore her tumbling tummy.
Skystar giggled, blushing softly. “So… is she here yet?” She eagerly looked around the patio, which was sparsely occupied.
“She’s not here yet,” Pinkie said, and gestured to one of the two seats across from her. She had wanted to put them on either side of her, then thought better of it and kept them equal spaces between one another. “Did you want to order anything?”
“No, I’m too excited to eat,” Skystar giddily chirped, plopping down in the chair on the left. She was practically vibrating. “This is so thrilling! Oh, I can’t believe you could do something like this!”
Pinkie nodded, sipping her smoothie again – at least one of them was looking forward to this.
Skystar smirked. “And you’ve been keeping it such a mystery from me. Come on, just a hint? Do I know her? Have we met before? Come on, tell me!” she poked.
Pinkie smiled the most genuine smile she could muster. “She’ll be here soon, don’t worry."
“Skystar, can I ask you something?” Pinkie asked, watching the hippogriff-turned-seapony frolic among the coral.
“Anything! Well, not anything anything – I still don’t know a lot of surface stuff,” Skystar replied. She flashed a smile at Pinkie that would’ve brightened Pinkie’s day if not for her churning emotions.
“Would you be upset… if I said I also loved someone else?” Pinkie asked sheepishly. Her eyes were focused on a bit of brain coral just beneath her.
She could practically hear Skystar screeching to a halt. “Wh-What?” she asked, blinking.
Pinkie quickly swam over and grabbed Skystar’s flippers in her own. “I love you, I really do. But I also love someone else,” she said urgently.
“So… do you want to leave me?” Skystar asked, confusion clouding her face.
Pinkie shook her head fiercely. “No. I want to love both of you, but it’s more than that. I want you two to meet,” she said.
Skystar blinked again. “So wait, do you mean to tell me you can love more than one pony?” she asked, sparkling awe filling her eyes.
“According to Princess Cadance, yes. And she’s the Princess of Love, so—”
Pinkie was cut off when Skystar pulled her into a tight hug and twirled her around. “Oh this is so amazing! My grifffriend has another grifffriend! Ooh!” She stopped to get muzzle-to-muzzle with Pinkie. “Do you think… I could love her too?”
Pinkie smiled sheepishly. “I’m not saying you should, but I’m not saying you couldn’t. But I want you two to meet at the least,” she said.
“Of course!” Skystar squealed. “I’m so looking forward to it!”
When she pulled Pinkie into an enthusiastic kiss, the pink seapony melted with relief into her marefriend’s powerful grip.
“So I was thinking on dates the three of us could go on,” Skystar spouted. “Do you think she’d like to be a seapony? Because I found this really cool coral reef a mile or so away from Seaquestria and… Pinkie?”
Pinkie’s thoughts snapped back into focus. “I don’t know, you’d have to ask her,” she said.
Skystar frowned, and reached over to take one of Pinkie’s hooves in her claw. “Is… everything alright?” she asked.
“I’m just… a little worried, that’s all.” Pinkie flashed her a quick smile.
“I thought you wanted us to meet. I mean, if she loves you and you love her, why wouldn’t I love her?” Skystar asked.
Pinkie opened her mouth to say something, when a dark object flickered in her peripheral vision. Her eyes locked onto a familiar figure stepping onto the patio and her stomach gurgled.
Skystar noticed Pinkie’s change of focus, and her gaze slid to follow hers. When they fell upon the pony, she gasped.
“Fizzy? Can I… be honest with you?” Pinkie asked, glancing up at the taller mare.
They were nestled together on the couch in Sugarcube Corner’s living space. Tempest enjoyed being so close, and due to her larger size, liked resting her head in Pinkie’s cotton candy mane.
“Mmm, I’d hope so,” Tempest replied with a sly smile.
“Would you be upset… if I said I also loved someone else?” Pinkie’s ears drooped and she nibbled her lower lip.
She felt Tempest’s chin lift out of her mane and she quickly looked up at the unicorn. As expected, confusion and hurt swam in her piercing teal eyes.
“You… love someone else?” she asked, her eyes sliding away.
“No!” Pinkie sat up and grabbed Tempest’s cheeks, forcing the mare to look at her. “I mean, yes! But I love you too!”
Tempest tilted her head in Pinkie’s grip. “You love someone else… and me?” she asked.
“I know, it sounds weird, but I talked to Princess Cadance and she said it was perfectly normal—”
“Pinkie.”
“—and I was all worried that I had to choose and she said I didn’t have to—”
“Pinkie.”
“And I was like ‘but what do I do then?’ and she was like—”
“Pinkie!”
Pinkie winced from her tirade, expecting Tempest to be mad at her.
Instead she found kind eyes and a soft smile. Tempest leaned forward and kissed her softly, leaving her flushed and confused.
“It’s alright. I love you, and I know you love me. And if you love someone else too… then I guess I can accept that.” Tempest rested her muzzle against Pinkie’s, nuzzling softly. “Can I meet them?”
Pinkie nodded, exhaling with relief as she leaned into the touch. “Yes. I want you two to meet.”
Tempest Shadow blinked as she looked from Pinkie to Skystar. Cautiously, she stepped forward and took the seat on Pinkie’s right.
She and Skystar blinked and stared at one another, unsure of what to say, until it became awkward and they looked elsewhere. Pinkie huffed a sigh and looked between them.
“Skystar, meet Tempest Shadow. Fiz—I mean, Tempest, meet Princess Skystar,” she said, gesturing between them respectfully.
“We’ve… already met,” they mumbled.
“I know you two have already met, but this time you’re not fighting each other,” Pinkie said. She sat back in her seat with a huff. “Please. You two are the most important creatures in my life, and I love both of you. I just… I want you two to get along.”
Tempest and Skystar glanced at Pinkie, before looking to each other. With a soft sigh, Tempest reached out with her hoof and it was met by Skystar’s claw.
“Your majesty, um… please, call me Fizzlepop Berrytwist. It’s… my real name,” Tempest said with a blush.
“Nice to meet you. Um… please, just call me Skystar,” Skystar replied, looking away. The two of them quickly returned to their side of the table.
“So,” Tempest began. “How did you meet Pinkie?”
This seemed to brighten Skystar up some. “Oh! Well, she showed us and the hippogriffs how to have fun and the joys of the world above and stuff like that. And she’s a great cuddler.”
Tempest chuckled softly, nodding. “She is that.” She smirked as Pinkie sank a little, her face burning hot. “Pinkie and I met after the Storm King’s defeat. She was willing to help me with apologizing to the princesses, and… I guess I just fell in love with her from there.”
Skystar beamed. “Isn’t she just the greatest?” she squealed.
By now the red had crept up to Pinkie’s ears and down to her neck.
“Your maj—I mean, Skystar, would you like to continue this conversation on our own?”
“What?” Pinkie and Skystar asked in unison, the former higher pitched.
Tempest turned to Pinkie. “You bonded with us on our own, and you wanted us to meet. I think it would be best if we bonded together too, just me and Skystar.”
Skystar hummed, rubbing her chin. “Ya know, it kind of makes sense,” she said. “I mean, we could get to know each other as well as Pinkie knows us, right?”
Tempest nodded. “Exactly.”
“But…” Pinkie said, looking between them, ears drooping.
“We’ll swing by Sugarcube Corner this afternoon,” Tempest said soothingly. “Promise.” Skystar nodded in agreement.
“Well… ok. See you this afternoon,” Pinkie said.
She watched as Tempest and Skystar got up, deposited a kiss on each of her cheeks, and walked away together, already chatting.
Pinkie watched after them worriedly. She had been worried about them getting along before, but now she wasn’t even moderating them. Would they bond, or would they end up arguing and fighting? She didn’t want that!
But she also knew Tempest had a point – they had bonded with her on their own. If they were to share the love of one pony, they should know each other too, right? And all that stuff was in the past – hippogriffs had Mount Aris back, and Tempest Shadow was no longer the right hoof of the Storm King.
Pinkie sighed and took another slurp of her smoothie, but her stomach still churned like a violent ocean.
The afternoon sky was slowly tinging orange for the evening. Pinkie sat on the couch in Sugarcube Corner, now without a beautiful unicorn beside her. She watched the sky without a beautiful hippogriff nestled next to her.
She perked up when she heard the chime of the bell over the front door. Getting up, she craned her ears towards the sound before sighing. It was probably just a customer.
Pinkie trotted through the doorway that led behind the counter and opened her mouth to welcome whoever it was to Sugarcube Corner. She ground to a halt and it died in her throat, leaving her mouth hanging open.
Tempest was waiting for her, a smirk on her muzzle. Skystar stood beside her, smiling giddily at Pinkie, her wing draped over the unicorn beside her.
“I thought you’d be more eager to see us,” Tempest teased.
Pinkie vaulted over the counter and practically dove into the welcome hooves and claws. She shut her eyes and just felt, nestling into soft, salty feathers and firm muscles. The sensation enveloped her, and she could’ve sworn she felt pecks and kisses.
She sank into the embrace with all the comfort of elastic snapping back into its rightful place.
Author's Note
Date of Creation (D.o.C.): 07/29/20
Yeah, I had this idea back way back in July after watching the movie, but I didn't actually write it until November.
If you're wondering what's with the chapter title, it's my name for this polyship: Lemon (Skystar)-Berry (Tempest, aka Fizzlepop Berrytwist) Pie (Pinkie). As for the title, it's a play on War and Peace, except there's no war, only love. :P
I'd been waiting to publish this until a sensitivity reader could give it a once over - what better time than Pride Month? I'd written a poly-CMC ship before, but that was a pre-existing poly-ship where as this was the formation of one. A thank you again to AFanaticRabbit for the sensitivity reading.
The song I listened to for this one was "Home" from the game Undertale.
-yours truly,
The Legendary Bill Cipher, Equestria Enthusiast and Ally 🏳️🌈
