So I slid down from her, tense, but without having done anything, ultimately. "We should talk. You and Twilight specifically."

Maud turned towards me. "Is it because of me?" She curled a hoof at her face. "I'm sorry. I want this." Her words implied a strong desire, but her tone did not. "Don't you understand?"

"I do, really." I lick over my lips. "Really... I agree even, but I can't, not without Twilight being on board. I refuse until we get that."

"I hate that." She went to touch nose to nose. "But you aren't wrong. Go home."

"I thought you'd want to talk to Twilight?"

She inclined her head. "I'm in no shape to talk to her. You aren't either." She pointed past me. "Go home. I will speak to her later. If she agrees, then we will play, when next the timing is right."

That bothered me. "Why then specifically?" I colored across my face, thinking about it. "You want a kid?"

"Yes." She inclined her head. "Do you? I think you do. I want one, with somepony who wants one with me. I want one with... Go home."

I hesitated as Maud dismissed me abruptly after intimations of motherhood's pulls awakened. She wasn't wrong - passions still raged leaving rational discourse impossible stacked atop prickly implications.

Grudgingly I dipped my head conceding temporary retreat best for now. "Yeah, giving this breathing room makes sense I guess..." Distracted emotions warred internally tallying unspoken costs suddenly multiplied if fertility emerged part demands.

But Maud simply awaited my exit, unruffled by turmoil telegraphed plainly across my face. With a regretful sigh I turned obediently towards the surface leaving her to plan next steps should cooler heads later convene and bless unlikely unions with...consequences intended.

The winding tunnels towards sunlight felt longer than before, preoccupied pondering chances and changes whispered suddenly on molten vapors coaxed up from below. Maud wanted things - yet did I truly beyond biology's blunt nudges in this peculiar second foalhood?

I had sealed off such desires, once, but that was due to just being older, and tireder. I felt young and ready. I emerged out into the later evening. the air was fresh, helping to drive the forced thoughts from me. "Good Maud..." Good of her that she accepted stopping that.

I scampered home and rushed into my bedroom to wait for things.

That didn't work.

"Spike mentioned you were having quite a bit of fun." There was Twinkle, watching me. "But here you are. Did something go... oh." Her eyes were fixed on the part of me that made it clear I had been excited. "Bad timing?"

Part of me wanted to very loudly agree the timing was kind of bad. "You're new to this world too." I sank, belly first, onto the bed, hiding all that was questionable. "You have thoughts too, I bet."

I buried my flushed face under the pillow as Twinkle's wide eyes tracked my failed attempts hiding obvious lingering arousal. Molecular magic clearly didn't modify adolescent refractory periods.

Her startled stare mercifully lifted resting sympathetically on my prone defeated form instead. "Oh gosh, yeah I wasn't thinking barging in sorry..." Sheepish silence hung awkwardly before she tried gently changing topics sensing sore spots.

"But um, since you brought it up, I guess I am still figuring out a bunch of stuff everycreature else takes as read..." Twinkle's little laugh sounded as self-conscious as I felt. "Heck, I was a doll not that long ago!"

She floated down as I peered up cautiously. "So yeah, no clue really about matters of the heart beyond book stuff." Her tiny smile held no judgment. "But seems to me what matters most is how they make you feel, not just the pieces that fit physically, right?"

Twinkle nodded firmly. "I bet there's all kinds of ways showing affection. You'll explore and learn the right rhythm in time." She stroked my ears comfortingly. "We both got a lot ahead discovering how love works one step at a time eh?"

I managed a shaky chuckle. However halting, the journey looked brighter facing it together open-hearted. "I expected you to be more aggressive, honestly."

"I am capable of learning my lessons." She curled up on my back. "Besides, you have something going. That something I have not been invited to. It's complicated enough. Bad enough with four, maybe three ponies involved, depending on how much you count Spike or not."

"It would be mean not to count him," I murmured into the pillow. "He has feelings."

"He has feelings." She wagged her tail above her. "But he lacks feelings. He has no libido, only romance. Not that romance doesn't count."

I nodded against the pillowcase contemplating Twinkle's valuable perspective on our polycule's complexity from her outsider vantage. "Yeah, there's way more tying folks together than pieces slotting physically if it's gonna last, you said it."

Lifting up, I propped chin on hooves, considering that diminutive double. "Still, sorta confusing why you're excluded though, yeah? We're connected pretty deeply ourselves another way."

Not wanting to tear open awkward scars I treaded gently sensing old wounds. "I mean we started about as messily as creatures can so no judging anybody..." I smiled encouragingly her way. "Just meant maybe lines blur 'tween friendship and more sometimes regardless form ya know?"

Twinkle blinked thoughtfully clearly not expecting philosophical detours from frustrated fumbling's aftermath. But she rallied gamely enough: "Huh, never thought of it like that..." Ears perked contemplating.

"I was your doll. I watched you do things, and ponder things... I was there." She pondered possibilities with building enthusiasm.

"Yeah maybe you're right - friendship's already pretty intimate if you're really open with someone." A decidedly impish smirk emerged. "Bet we'd baffle everycreature else royally expounding that theory though!"

I had to laugh at the imagined confusion over thinking too far outside love's 'proper' boxes. But as warmth grew comfortingly from simple acceptance I cared less what others thought. "It's complicated."

Twinkle laughed at that. "Still, operation success" She jumped at my neck from behind, hugging firmly. "You stopped looking at me like a lost child. My fault for encouraging it to start, but finally..."

I grabbed her with my magic, bringing her around for a proper hug. "You are a little lady."

"I am that." She nodded, looking so very pleased with herself. "Which also means, I'd have to ask all the ponies involved if I wanted to be part of this, if I want to be. You know... if Maud wasn't involved, this would be a lot easier."

That caught me by surprise. "Why does she mix things up specifically?"

"Easy!" Twinkle hopped to the bed. "I could just ask to be part of the family, the househouse." She spread her forehooves wide. "Nice and simple. If we agree that ponies that live together might do things together, that isn't very complicated."

Twinkle's unexpectedly bold assertion left me blinking dumbly. She spun fanciful scenarios casually co-opting cohabitation arrangements granting access other roads barricaded off jealously. Could simply sharing a roof enable unorthodox unions going against the cultural grain?

My lips quirked wryly despite awkward undercurrents. "Huh, never considered domesticity alone conferred consent; that's pretty subversive..." Humor quickly faded left facing the immovable object blocking easy paths - the pie who coveted a private slice not for sharing.

I flopped over sighing softly. "You ain't wrong though - things clicked simpler before Maud muddled the map demanding me specifically." I cast about mentally seeking fresh alignments accepting limitations imposed by that taciturn third.

"Might need reframing this not as all or nothing to satisfy everycreature..." I mused hesitantly. Distant lessons surfaced from a past life about embracing diversity without exclusion. Could that apply even navigating intimacy's trickiest tetrads?

I rolled over meeting Twinkle's gaze. "Like what if Maud and I did our thing sometimes, but you and I hang separately doing something low key she's not into?" I threw hooves up anxiously. "Not trying to scheme around anyone just makes sense playing to each strength, right?"

It felt like baby steps down an unsteady road, but any path forward beat burying heads ignoring complex needs flowing already in strange harmony whether acknowledged aloud or left unspoken. Things somehow felt less tangled simply talking openly even lacking clear answers.

It was at that moment, I frowned. "Is this how people end up cheating?"

"What?"

I pointed at her, then myself. "This. Is this how people talk themselves into cheating. Here we are, casually chatting about breaking those boundaries. I don't like that... I don't want to ever be that person that breaks those rules and leaves pain behind just because I thought with the wrong part. No."

Twinkle inclined her head left. "Then we won't. Simple as that." She hopped to the floor. "I'll talk to twilight."

Crap. "Wait. I..." I massaged my head between cloven hooves. "I need to talk to her already. This is so complicated... Can we pause this?"

"Consider it paused." Twinkle pressed an invisible pause button. "And I won't unpause it until you say so. You look stressed." She flitted to the door. "I'll head out and let you think big thoughts, okay?"

I breathed a sigh of relief as Twinkle granted gracious exits from awkward exchanges compounding complications already woven densely day by day. Was it my fate finding footholds amid foreign fanfics somehow fashioning analogs aligned around each avatar abnormally animated?

Shaking my wooly head wryly I rose from the lumpy remains of impulsive fantasies deflating rapidly. Time to trade barbed repartee around poly pitfalls for truer faces unarmored before the silent tribunal of my scattered thoughts.

Twilight awaited outside my room, her eyes on me with unspoken thoughts, her gentle gaze stirred forgotten assurances springing from our first fragile moments together. However ungainly the gait I walked or weird the roads ahead appeared, patient partners passed no judgment here even stretched to strangest shapes on my behalf.

I sat next to her and quiet settled on us a moment. "So..." I slid to face her in a turn. "I am quickly learning how complicated this can be, from the inside."

"Spike mentioned." Twilight leaned in closer to me. "From the way he went over it, I thought you'd be far later, but here you are. Did you two...?"

"We did not."

"Hm." Twilight tapped at her chin. "I apologize. This is partially my fault."

I blinked in surprise. "What is?"

"Allowing this to happen." She waves over my form. "I should have insisted you be brought to an age closer to where you started. Instead, here you are, forced to endure these awkward times all over again."

"Oh." I turned an ear aside. "Don't regret that. I'm only upset I may hurt someone in the process. You are one of my favorite ponies, as awkward as that sounds, and I'm a hair's width from maybe hurting you."

"David." She sat up tall. "I have no interest in breeding. Me and Spike are an ideal match. Neither of us desire to breed. He has more physical intimacy wishes than I, but neither of us want a foal. Maud, clearly, does. You, clearly, do." She turned an ear. "If I understand correctly, my little copy would also like a foal, given the opportunity."

I squint rapidly. "When did you talk to her?"

"She's not a subtle copy of myself." Twilight folded her arms. "Let us arrive directly at the point. Twinkle and Spike need to discuss how they feel about each other. You will not advance that until that occurs. Spike already likes Maud, so you may proceed with that. I do not care." She lifted an ear. "About Maud, or any foal she creates, with you or not. If she wishes to exchange earth magic tricks, I am entirely open to that."

Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder. "Simply talk to Maud plainly when she's ready. For now, patience. Her pace is slow but steady."

I nodded, still processing her unexpected support. "Got it. I'll let Maud lead when she's prepared, no pressure."

Twilight smiled. "Communication solves much confusion when all participate openly without demands. Let her decide if she remains interested after passions cool."

I exhaled, tension ebbing. Maud flowed like stone - slowly but profoundly. I merely needed match her pace. "You're right. Thanks for making this simple."

Author's Note

I think it's time to get back to other topics, hm? Thoughts?

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