Admitting Feelings: Admitting Feelings

“I can just tell him for you.” Soft Glow offers, sipping on a milkshake that the creator called ‘Death by Chocolate (and Peanut Butter)’. The one delicacy that Brave Storm’s sweet tooth couldn’t handle, but one Soft Glow conquered regularly.

Brave Storm passes her own milkshake, cookies and cream between her hooves. She shakes her head at the offer, “I want to tell him myself this time. I just don’t know how I want to.”

“Hi, Gold Standard. I think you’re cute. Wanna kiss?” Soft Glow teases, putting on a deeper voice to poorly imitate Brave Storm’s own. Brave Storm groans in embarrassment and hides her face in her hooves as the ice cream pony looked over his counter at the two mares with a quirked eyebrow.

“Soft Glow, this is serious.” Brave Storm pleas and Soft Glow apologizes. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together. Talking to him, I don’t know, it feels right. I’m not even sure if I even do like him in that way, or if it’s something else. But I can’t find out unless I tell him and ask him if he wants to, you know, try.”

“Well, ‘tis the season.” Soft Glow muses with a big draw of her drink. Brave Storm couldn’t help but feel like Soft Glow just wasn’t capable of understanding her issue with the situation. If Soft Glow had ever felt she had any sort of attraction to a creature before, the changeling had no issue telling them. The changeling would often casually date several stallions at once, so to her, what Brave Storm was going through was par for the course.

“Hearts and Hooves passed a few days ago, but the romantic feeling is still in the air. Especially with all of those flutterflies still around.”

“Oh, is that what you call heart bugs?”

“You call them heart bugs?” Brave Storm judged. 

“They’re bugs that look like hearts.” Soft Glow shrugged.

“He asked me to hang out with him tonight.” Brave Storm felt her stomach flutter as she braced herself for what she said next. “I’ll tell him then.”

The evening was pleasantly warm for this time of year, which Brave Storm definitely appreciated. But it was still too cool to comfortably bring Araneus. Gold Standard probably put Princess Banana Pudding to bed as well. Just her and him tonight. She thinks, at least. Gold Standard didn’t exactly tell her what they’d be doing.

She found him waiting on a park bench under a street lamp. The soft orange glow of the lamp greeted a pleasant contrast against the blue of the night. He was reading a book and wearing glasses that she has never seen him wear before. Although Brave Storm had never seen him have to read before either.

“Hi!” she cheerfully called out, sitting on the bench beside him. “You picked a nice night.”

“You made it.” Gold Standard stated with a nice warmth to his voice. He gently packed away his glasses into a case, tucking it and his book into his saddlebag. “It was a guessing game with the weather this time of year, but one I’m happy was accurate. I wanted to spend time with you with fewer ponies around. I don’t mind crowds, but it felt like we haven’t had much time since, oh dear, the ritual we met.”

“We’ve hung out a lot since then.” Brave Storm rebutted, with a furrowed brow.

“There’s no arguing that. But there’s always somepony else invited, or it’s a group event.” Gold Standard reiterated with a calm tone, sliding off of the bench and waiting for Brave Storm to follow. “Not that I mind getting to know your friends, but it is… exhausting, socially, for me. I wanted something one-on-one.”

“Oh! In that case, yeah, it has been a while.” Brave Storm agreed. “What were you thinking?”

“Just a walk and talk through the park. Is that all right?” Gold Standard cocked his head slightly. “I’m a little burnt out on intense activities. Besides, I wanted to catch up with you a bit.”

“Back to our roots, eh? But without the looming threat of timber wolves and mosquitoes, all to meet a cragidile and a bufogren.”

“Please,” Gold Standard begged with a shiver, “I still can’t smell anything minty without thinking about how foul I was for weeks.”

Brave Storm gently shoulder-bumped him with a smile and began their walk. An area that wasn’t particularly new to her became far more interesting when she realized that she never made the trip at night. According to the occasional bat pony she would talk to, it seemed like there was a whole new world under the cover of darkness. Tonight, the moon was bright and the scene was well-lit.

“Speaking of smells,” Gold Standard sniffed at Brave Storm’s neck, sending a shiver down her spine, “is that the cologne I commissioned for you?”

“It is. I’ve been wearing it almost every day actually.” She puffed her chest out a little. “I would have worn it at that Hearts and Hooves get-together, but uh- doesn’t really match the vibes I was going for. And I think one of my friends gets really irritated around chemical smells.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Gold Standard nods thoughtfully. “Can’t wait to see, er, smell you wearing it in armor.”

Gold Standard made a face at what he said and Brave Storm laughed. He playfully headbutted her with a mischievous grin on his face. She made a bite at his ear, intentionally missing as he pulled away. A couple of moves of fancy footwork between the two of them and Brave Storm bolted away, making sure to give the body language that she wanted Gold Standard to give chase. Thankfully, he picked up what she put down, galloping after her.

He would catch up to her, bumping into her, and turn to have her chase him instead. They playfully taunted one another, shrieked in surprise at bizarre tactics the other would pull, and laughed as evening settled into night. Getting exhausted with their foal play and with the quickly dimming light, it didn’t take too long for a bumble to happen and for them to collide together. Brave Storm found herself involuntarily eating dirt with Gold Standard’s chest pinning her neck to the ground. He rolls off, she spits the grass and dirt out of her mouth and they laugh.

“Oh dear, how do foals do this every day all day?” Gold asked, wincing as he put pressure against the point of impact. 

Should I tell him now? Brave Storm wondered. We just had a nice moment. The night’s right. Her stomach fluttered and her chest clenched. Maybe I shouldn’t. We have a good thing going as friends. She interrupts herself. No, he’s an adult. You’re an adult. Just tell him.

She turns to him, and before she can even make a sound, sees him laying on his back. He was staring up at the skies with such an innocent and foal-like wonder in his eyes that her heart melted. She forgot she even wanted to say anything as she watched him look at the stars. Eventually, he turns his head to her, his eyes lingering on the sky a moment longer.

“Do they always look like this in Ponyville?” he asked her, but asked another question before she could even consider answering that one, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, I’m good,” she answers, looking away for a moment, feeling her neck and ears get hot. She heard him shuffling and then felt him sitting next to her, his shoulder pressing against hers. He brought his head into her field of view where she saw a curious expression on his face.

“Did you want to tell me something?” he prompted. Brave Storm felt her heart get caught in her throat. Well, there was probably no better time to say this than Gold Standard’s literal invitation for her to tell him.

“I like you, Gold.” she managed to get out, the sound of her heartbeat beginning to drown out every other sound.

“I… like you, too?” he answered back, his eyebrow raised. She could feel him pressing her to elaborate.

“I like you a lot. I-I don’t know what it is. Spending time with you just feels right. And, I’m not even sure if it’s…” she trails off, finding the big ‘L’ word stuck in her throat. “But I know that if you’re okay with it, I’d…, uh, I’d like to find out. You know, like, going on actual dates and… stuff.”

Brave Storm didn’t even realize that at some point she had looked away from him. She was staring at the hoof furthest away from him. She forced herself to look at Gold Standard and face his response. She was pleasantly surprised to see him warmly smiling at her. 

“I’d really like that,” he answered, pressing his forehead against hers.

 

The night pressed on as Brave Storm and Gold Standard continued on with their hangout-turned-date. It was getting late, and Gold Standard had offered to walk Brave Storm home. An offer she gladly took. 

“Is that a flutterfly?” Brave Storm asked as they made their way off of the park’s nature trail to see the distinct heart-like wings of the recent bugs. This one’s wings had markings that shimmered and almost looked like they were glowing under the moonlight.

She didn’t have much time to further inspect it until a shadow swooped from the sky, snatching the bug out of the air. Gold Standard yelped in surprise, almost falling to his haunches while Brave Storm found herself maneuvering in front of him.

“Dears, is that a way to react to an acquaintance?” the living shadow said in a sultry tone with its icy blue eyes piercing the night. In her panic, it took Brave Storm a moment longer than she liked to have admitted for the shape of a very familiar bat pony to form from the shade.

“Velvet Wing!” Brave Storm declared happily. “I haven’t seen you much since Moon Widow. Oh, Gold, this is Velvet Wing. We met when Sumit’s Hallow was discovered. How’ve you been, Velvet Wing?”

Gold Standard, still in shock, could only muster a nod.

“Oh, I’ve been absolutely fine, darling.” she purred, wiping off the wing dust from her lips. Even such action was made so elegant by the bat pony. “I’ve been helping out a fellow bat pony here with these bugs.”

“The flutterflies?”

“Is that what you call them?” Velvet Wing judged and Brave Storm felt a sting. “No, I’m more worried about what lives among them. Love bugs, we’ve taken to calling them.”

“What’s wrong with the, er, love bugs?” Gold Standard finally managed to get himself to talk.

“Have you noticed ponies acting rather odd lately? Far more fixated with seemingly random things?”

“No? At least, I guess I haven’t been paying attention. It was Hearts and Hooves recently.” Brave Storm answers as she notices Gold Standard shifting somewhat uncomfortably beside her.

“To keep this brief, the love bugs hide in ‘flutterfly’ swarms. They look almost identical except for,” Velvet Wing reaches into her saddle bag, pulling out a display that had two pinned heart-winged bugs in them. She taps her hoof towards one of them to show the two ponies what to look for, “their mandibles. Their bite stings for a moment, but it’s what the bite does that’s worrisome. It acts almost like a classic love potion, making a bitten creature infatuated with the next thing it sees. It doesn’t even have to be another creature!”

“How do you know if you’ve been bitten?” Gold Standard asks, warrily side-eying Brave Storm. She felt a little hurt by what he was implying.

“You can tell if somepony else has been bitten. Their infatuation is almost comical in a way. Oh, don’t worry!” Velvet Wing interrupted herself at the sight of the worried expressions of the two ponies before her. “The effects fade away naturally with time and the swarm will move on by the end of the month. For now, I’m helping where I can by taking out the love bugs I can see.”

“I’m happy you seem to be enjoying yourself, Velvet Wing.” Brave Storm warmly offered her friend. She would have loved to talk more and let the bat pony talk to her about bugs, but she was getting tired. “We should catch up sometime.”

“Yes, of course, dear!” Velvet Wing agrees, giving her and Gold Standard a lovely wave. “You two sleep well tonight. Ta-ta!”

 

“Thanks for walking me home.” Brave Storm offered after their walk had been uncomfortably silent.

“No problem.” Gold Standard smiled. It didn’t feel genuine.

“Are you worried I don’t actually like you?” Brave Storm bluntly asked, failing to keep the sadness out of her voice.

“Ouch. That hurt a lot more said out loud than I thought it might.” Gold Standard winced. “But, yes. These love bugs come by and around the same time, you start wanting to spend more time with me. I can’t help but notice that correlation.”

“Gold…” Brave Storm began, her tone shifting to something far more vulnerable, “I have nightmares. And the last really bad nightmare I had, I was scared and angry and confused. I was worried every day that I was going to lose my childhood friend.”

She had to take a moment to compose herself. She never talked to anyone about her nightmares before. Gold Standard patiently waited for her to continue.

“You were in that dream. You wanted to save me and you weren’t letting anything or any creature stop you.” she finished, deciding that he didn’t need the details. “And shortly after that, you sent me one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever gotten from someone who wasn’t a friend. I’ve been sitting on these feelings for a few months now.”

“That is reassuring.” the stallion nodded and sighed in relief. He pressed his forehead against Brave Storm’s one more time. “I hope you get some good rest tonight.”

“You, too, Gold.”

Brave Storm closed the door just a little bit slower than she normally did, just to look at the stallion a little longer. As she crawled into bed, she happily sighed and found herself a dreamless sleep.