Because Disasters Can Happen All Across the Kinsey Scale
The life-size game of Dragon Pit had been fun. Coming back to the castle after seeing off Sunburst and having to clean it up after had been less so, and not just because the hairs on the back of Starlight's neck had stood on end until she'd repaired the holes she'd put in the tertiary library's floor.
Nopony had been watching her until she had, she told herself, and the walls of the castle settling definitely didn't sound like a mare clearing her throat.
But cleanup hadn't been the only thing on her mind as Twilight and she shelved books and found somewhere to store a six-sided die that came up to their elbows. It was a prominent thing, especially given the judgemental look her reflection in the floor definitely wasn't giving her, but not the only thing.
Only as they were disassembling the volcano could Starlight get up enough courage to voice her concern. “Twilight? Do you have a minute?”
Twilight beamed as she rolled up the lengths of orange fabric. “Of course! How can I help?”
That hard-won courage faltered as Starlight realized what she would actually say. “Okay, going to preface this by asking that you don’t get the wrong idea.”
That got a lopsided smirk. “You realize that I’m getting a lot of ideas right now, and most of them are wrong.”
“Consider it fair warning.” Starlight steadied her stance, took a deep breath, ran out of ways to stall, and blurted out the question before she could think of any more. “How do you know when friendship becomes love?”
Maud’s grotto was a gorgeous bit of natural splendor, with only the minimum adjustments needed to turn it from a cave to a home.
Between the crystals, the mushrooms, and the hanging lanterns, it also gave Starlight plenty to focus on other than Maud herself, who hadn’t so much as twitched in the minute since Starlight’s confession of possible affection.
After a few more moments of silence, Starlight's will broke completely. “I-I hope I haven’t made things awkward or anything," she babbled. "It’s just… Look, I’ve never had a lot of friends until now, and you’ve been so helpful, even when I was at my worst, and—”
“Starlight.”
It was like galloping into a stone wall face-first. Starlight had never felt more grateful. “Yes?”
She was still learning to read Maud, but she was fairly certain that that was a smile. “It’s okay.”
“Oh. Good." Starlight hazarded a shaky smile. "So, uh…”
If there had been a smile on Maud's face before, there definitely wasn't one now. “I don’t feel the same way.”
Starlight's ears drooped, followed by the rest of her. “Oh.”
“It’s nothing personal. Unicorns just don’t do it for me.”
“Ah.” She didn't look up. The weave of the carpet in Maud's bedroom was fascinating. That was her story and she was sticking to it.
“Let me know if it doesn’t work out with Trixie or Sunburst. I can introduce you to one of my sisters.”
That got her to perk back up. “Really?”
Maud nodded, the most movement she'd made since Starlight had started this horrible conversation. “You and Limestone have a lot in common.”
“I…" Starlight took a moment to try to remember if Pinkie had ever said anything about her other sisters. Then she realized she'd given up on three ponies after just one rejection. "Thanks, but I never mentioned Trixie or—”
“Sunburst talked me into that Dragon Pit game with the pumice carving. Those two put their hearts into it." Starlight was almost certain Maud grinned "I may not be Pinkie, but I still like seeing my friends smile.”
Starlight's heart soared. She grabbed Maud in the best hug she could with an unwilling earth pony. “Thanks a ton.”
“Sure,” said Maud, slightly muffled by the awkward position of Starlight's mane.
Twilight blinked at the question, moving her mouth soundlessly a few times before shaking her head. “I see why you warned me.”
“To be clear," said Starlight, "this isn’t about you.”
“I assumed as much." Twilight offered a sympathetic smile. "Sunburst?”
Starlight glanced away. “Well..."
A purple wing swept over her withers and gave a comforting squeeze. "I don't think of him as more than a friend, if you're worried about that."
"Thanks, but, well..." Starlight pressed her eyes shut and forced out the next sentence. "It's not just Sunburst.”
“Ah. I've been there.”
"I know it's weird, but—" Starlight blinked. Twilight understanding expression hadn't shifted an inch. "Wait, what?"
Twilight shrugged her free wing. "Polyamory is unusual, but it's not completely unheard of. Did you really think I'd disapprove of other ponies making you happy?"
Starlight cleared her throat and tried not think about the warmth in her cheeks. That only made the blush worse. "It wouldn't be the first time you were shocked by something I thought was perfectly normal."
That got Twilight to pull back her wing and give Starlight a flat look. "There's a considerable difference between accidentally invoking dark magic as a matter of course and feeling affection for more than one pony at a time."
She could only shrug. "To you, maybe."
The resulting facehoof was undercut by Twilight's snickering. "I'm going to do you a favor and focus on your relationship problem. For now."
"Thanks. But... yeah, as Sunburst connected with all my friends more than me, I found myself losing track of who I was jealous of." Starlight sighed as she thought back over the last few days, and what she'd been thinking through them. At least, the times when she had been thinking. "I never had a real friend between when he left for Canterlot and when you offered me another chance. I think I've always had a crush on him, but maybe that's just friendship. Or I get crushes really easily. Past a certain point, I don't know how to tell the difference."
"You don't seem to have that problem with me."
"You and your friends are different; that would be like falling for my parole officer." Starlight looked back to Twilight. "You said you went through something similar?"
"Shortly after I came to Ponyville," Twilight said with a nod. "I’d barely had any social interaction before I came to this town, and I wasn’t paying attention when I had. I hadn’t even realized I’d made friends in Canterlot until years after the fact. Suddenly caring about five other mares…" She shook her head. "It was a massive mental adjustment, one I had no idea how to make on my own.”
“I guess you asked Cadence, then?”
“No, this was more than a year before the wedding. And, you know, my brother only telling me about his wedding through the invitation.” Twilight shut her eyes and went through the "breathe in tranquility, breathe out strife" exercise she'd shown Starlight before she continued. “I hadn't talked to Cadence since I was a filly. Again, barely any social interaction. So I asked the best authority I could on the subject.”
“Princess Celestia?”
Shock and horror played across Twilight's face. “Um. No. My mother." She cleared her throat. "And she wrote back and told me that when she bucked up her courage and asked Dad out, he said the last thing she’d ever expected.”
Starlight leaned in closer. “What?”
“I thought we were already dating.”
Starlight blinked. “What?”
Trixie cocked an eyebrow and, with a deceptively effortless-looking flick of her horn, flipped open the stage component of her wagon. She vaulted onto the boards, horn still lit, and pulled out a familiar, star-speckled, and slightly chewed helmet. “The Great and Powerful Trixie attempting suicide by manticore at the thought of her true love forsaking her wasn’t enough of a hint?”
“That manticore was a trained professional," said Starlight. "He would have dropped the curtain and spat you out.”
“Ah, but you didn’t know that until after your daring last-second rescue." Trixie pushed on before Starlight could do more than lift a forehoof to object. "From there, Trixie has seen ours as an unbreakable bond the likes of which shall be commemorated for all time!”
Trixie reared up, horn ablaze. The mechanisms in the wagon's mortar tubes clacked. The tubes themselves weren't loaded, and thus fireworks failed to fill the sky with color, sound, and noise complaints. It was probably for the best.
As the kaboom that would have punctuated Trixie's monologue failed to make itself known, she went back on all fours with all the careful dignity of a cat who'd just fallen off a desk. “Plus, you know," she added far less theatrically, "all the other fun stuff we do together.”
Starlight couldn't keep the smile off her face. “You haven’t exactly had a lot of friends either, huh?”
Trixie pouted and shifted the brim of her hat over her eyes. “You didn’t have to put it like that.”
“Sorry." Starlight got up on the stage and embraced her (filly?)friend. "I guess we could both stand to communicate better. I admit, I though you and Sunburst—”
“Hey, if you need a stallion involved to be comfortable with taking it to the next level, I won’t judge.” Perhaps the worst part was Trixie not leering at any point in that sentence. She didn't smirk, or sneer, or glance away with feigned indifference. She just wore the sincere smile that said the mask was off and the mare behind the scenes was happy to help her friend.
Starlight's train of thought promptly derailed. “Uh…”
Trixie gave her a pat on the withers, still with the same smile. “We’ll work on that. But if we’re going to get that ‘communicating better’ thing going, we should start with Sunburst.”
That seemed safe enough to nod to. “You have a point there.”
“Of course I do." There was the smirk. "Broad and deep is the wisdom of Trixie.”
“As far as Dad was concerned," Twilight continued, "the weekly study sessions they’d been having were dates.”
“That is… honestly exactly what I’d expect from the ponies who raised you." Both shared a laugh at that. "So what," said Starlight, "should I just find whoever already thinks I’m their fillyfriend?”
Twilight shook her head. “What I mean is that love is different for everypony. There’s no clean line between love and friendship. You have to decide that between the two of you." Her smile widened. "Or possibly more, if you can all come to a mutually positive arrangement. But you are right about one thing.”
Starlight sighed. “Better than my usual track record. What is it?”
Twilight took a pointed look around a room free of any other ponies. “You have to go talk to them.”
The view out of the train was a lot more pleasant when Starlight was actually looking forward to seeing Sunburst. And, if she was being totally frank, when the mare sitting next to her wasn't trying to cram alphabetized friendship lessons down her throat.
“Have you ever been to the Empire?” she asked Trixie.
“Trekking through miles of tundra on hoof for a single venue never seemed like a good idea." Trixie sneered at the tail of a passing conductor. "And you don’t want to know what the trains charge for loading a wagon full of pyrotechnics.” She turned back, her expression thoughtful. “Actually, how did you afford these tickets? Trixie gets more regular work than you do.”
“I’m actually the royal librarian of Namepending Castle until I get my own place.”
Trixie scoffed. “What, the princess of books can’t be her own librarian?”
Starlight gave the answer Twilight had given her. “It’s the same reason Spike’s on the books as royal majordomo. Any princess without at least one paid subordinate is considered an evil queen by tax law.”
“Ah, tax fraud." Trixie gave an approving nod. "Finally, Sparkle does something I can respect.”
"I'll be sure to let her know," Starlight said with a giggle.
The laugh proved contagious, and the pair's high spirits continued until they pulled into the Empire's terminal. Once there, a bit of the familiar dread began to creep back into Starlight's heart.
A hoof on her withers got her to turn and see Trixie looking genuinely concerned. "You're shaking. Are you going to be okay?"
Starlight imitated Twilight's breathing exercise. It really did help. Just a little, but making the jitters settle down even a little was a welcome result. "Yeah." She nodded as she made for the exit. "Yeah, I can do this."
"Good." Trixie pressed against Starlight as they moved down the center aisle of the train car. "Just know that I am absolutely prepared to bail you out like when we went back to your weird cult village."
"I don't think that will be necessary. And if it is, I trust you to know."
Trixie stumbled to a halt just outside the train. "Say that again."
Starlight raised an eyebrow. "It won't be necessary?"
"No, after that."
After a few moments of thought, Starlight hazarded, "I trust you?"
Trixie darted in for a kiss. Just a quick peck on the lips, but it was more than Starlight had expected. Likewise the watery-eyed look of gratitude as Trixie said, "That's the most romantic thing anypony's ever said to me."
"You're welcome?" Starlight gently tugged Trixie away from the train just before the doors closed on her tail. "Also, that's very sad."
That got a solemn nod. "Such is the tragedy of Trixie."
The two of them made for the path off the platform, leading to the city proper. As they approached, three crystal ponies—one blue, one pink, one yellowish-orange—moved out of the crowd and directly in their way.
Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Can we help you?"
"Welcome!" said the smiling blue mare.
"Welcome!" said the smiling pink stallion.
"Welcome," intoned the leering yellowish-orange stallion, leaning forward and not blinking nearly as often as the other two.
The unicorns shared an uneasy glance. Trixie leaned in close and whispered, "Changelings?"
Starlight shook her head and answered just as quietly. "They're reformed, remember? No, this is... unsettlingly familiar." She leaned to one side and checked their cutie marks, failing to spot anything resembling a black equals sign on any of them. "Oh, thank Celestia."
"We've been expecting you," said Blue. "Please, come with us."
After another wary glance, Trixie said, "Where, exactly?"
"The palace!" said Blue.
"The princess will explain all!" said Pink.
"We can say no more," gibbered Yellowish-Orange, "lest the wrath of the Lady of Ice and Darkness fall upon us."
After a few thoughtful moments, Starlight said, "You mean Flurry—?"
"Speak not the Lady's name."
Blue cleared her throat. "You'll have to forgive Anhedral Topaz. He never fully recovered from the royal crystalling. But please, come with us!"
One more look with Trixie told Starlight much. Trixie was just as wary of the crystal ponies as she was, but trusted her. Starlight also had some idea of what Trixie trusted her to do in case things went wrong and tried to silently emphasize that she'd only do that in a true emergency. Going by how Trixie rolled her eyes, she got the message.
In the end, both nodded, and the whole group set out together. "Should I ask why you were expecting us?" said Starlight.
"The princess will explain all!" answered Pink.
Suspicion began to creep into Starlight's mind. "Does this have anything to do with the royal crystaller?"
"The princess will explain all!" answered Pink.
Starlight blinked. It was hard to look at parts of the Empire on a clear day, but despite today's overcast sky, the central plaza still had a glare coming off of it at certain angles. "Is it just me, or is it getting brighter?"
"The princess—"
"Yes!" cried Trixie. "We get it! Cadence is great! I met her after we reformed the changelings and sent Chrysalis skittering, she's a real sweetheart. But..." She trailed off as they reached the center of the Empire. "Oh."
The Crystal Palace was always a breathtaking sight, a monumental triumph of construction methods lost to the ages and Sombra's cruel reign. Likewise the Crystal Heart, shining with the light of a nation's love and pushing back the hateful winter that sought to consume it.
The Crystal Princess literally shining with that same love was new. Especially given her grinning like Pinkie Pie and prancing like a filly about to meet her favorite pop star. The occasional crackle of magical discharge coming off her body only made "fit to burst" seem like an even more apt description.
"Um, hi." Sunburst stood next to the living beacon of love magic, rubbing the back of his head with a forehoof.
The crystal ponies bowed before their ruler. "We have brought the crystaller's wives as ordered, Your Highness!" chirped Pink.
"May you spare us from Her wrath," added Anhedral Topaz.
Starlight gave Sunburst a look flat enough to level a mountain. "The what."
He at least had the decency to blush. "I, um, kind of asked for romantic advice. Cadence and the others kind of went off from there."
Cadence squeed, unable to contain herself, and wrapped both Starlight and Trixie in a rib-bruising hug. "Most of the crystal ponies are either married or still coming out of their shells. I've never gotten to officiate a wedding, much less one for three ponies!" She rocked both mares back and forth in her forearms. "Oh, there will parades and feasts and fireworks—"
Starlight, head swimming with the sheer density of magic around the princess, managed to shout "Cadence! Do we get a say in this?"
"Oh." Cadence dimmed. She didn't go completely dark, but at least Starlight's building hornache dissipated. "Right. Sorry."
"Hold on," Trixie said even as Cadence let them go, "I like where she's going."
"And we can take her up on it when we're ready." Starlight shook herself and smacked her lips to get the taste of wedding cake out of her mouth. "Maybe a week after we get our collective horse apples in order, because goodness knows that's a long way off."
"True." Trixie gave Sunburst an appraising look. "And Trixie has yet to decide if Sunburst is worth her time as a romantic partner."
"For what it's worth," said Cadence, "I can feel the love between you three, and... Okay, yes, it's new and delicate, but it's so sincere and pure, and I wish you could all feel this for yourself. You're such lucky ponies." She took a few steps back, started crackling with power again, then took a few more steps away from the Heart. "Just know that I'm ready whenever you are."
"Thanks, buuuu..." Starlight trailed off as she considered the terrifying sight that was an alicorn in her element. "Big help there, Cadence. Really. We'll be sure to bear that in mind."
"She knows all!" cried Pink, who was still there.
"I'm still not accepting supplicants, Rhodochrosite," Cadence said with commendable patience.
Starlight turned to Sunburst. "You can probably figure out why I came."
He offered a sheepish grin. "I can certainly hazard a guess. Why don't we discuss this at my place? Maybe look over that blind buy I got at the Ponyville antique store while we're at it."
Trixie scoffed. "Like there will anything interesting there."
"The journal of who!?"
Author's Note
Technically, ponies use the Linseed Scale, but it's been a long time since that blog. Kudos to anyone who remembered it before the reminder.
This is technically a prequel to Lost Faculty, but the two have nothing to do with one another aside from the Startrixburst. In any case, I hope you enjoyed it.
