April continues quietly; taking advantage of a break from teaching and training, Rainbow has decided to accompany Spike in the Dragon Lands, in the presence of Ember.

The blue sovereign welcomes the travelers into her home and begins to ask questions about Smolder.

“How is she doing? By now it’s already been a year since she registered into the school…”

“The classes will last for another four, but she’s doing good.” replies Dash enthusiastically.

“She also gave me some tips on Molt!” emphasizes Spike.

“Ah, yes, because you’ve never grown up among the dragons…”

“My father reappeared after fourteen years with the idea of bringing me to live with him…”

“Yeah! He had the courage to tyrannize you after being absent all your childhood!” Rainbow, from the height of her Loyalty, shudders at the thought of such inconsiderate parents.

The three friends spend the day in Ember’s fortress, practicing gritty sports and strength tests. Definitely cut out for Dash.

The purple dragon’s physical prestige has increased a lot, driven by a growth that now proceeds like a train, after having remained weak for years.

“Wow, Spike! I’ll have to name you my sporting partner for life! “Rainbow offers, elbowing him.

“I thought Soarin was your sporting partner! I believed that…”

“… That I already was with bouquet and white dress? Come on, Spike…”

“No, seriously… You seemed beautiful to be seen together…”

“Exactly: ‘we seemed’.” Rainbow mumbles.

“Ah.”

Ember sneezes.

“Excuse me, guys, talking about feelings is still rather itchy for me…”

“Come on Ember… deep down you’re sweet too.” Spike has lowered his eyes half-mast with mellifluous doing.

The female dragon blushes conspicuously, cursing her natural color that makes her embarrassment so evident; she sweats, makes herself air with her hands, then returns the favor to her friend:

“And you, Spike? Have you still not done anything with Rarity?”

Rainbow feels her skin pierced by countless small pieces of ice, afraid of Spike’s reaction.

This, meanwhile, doesn’t make a gesture.

“Er, what have you told her?” Rainbow asks, agitated. She wouldn’t tolerate another outburst of his friend, she wouldn’t have the nerves so strong this time.

“Oh, during our meetings he told me her life, death and miracles, from how he met her to how they spend time together.”

“Rarity is not for me.”

Rainbow Dash, who is nibbling on a hoof, suddenly stops: it’s hard to guess what’s on her mind, perhaps incredulity, perhaps a sublime sense of liberation. The fact is that Spike’s words, finally conclusive, are the blades of light that tear storm clouds.

“Oh really? Well, the sea is full of fish, as they say…” replies Ember promptly, faithful to her practical and unromantic spirit.

The topic is archived, and Rainbow passes to provocations:

“Ember, what do you think of Garble?”

Ember’s flaming eyes are reduced to cracks, as her mouth bends into a grimace.

“He still challenges my authority. He doesn’t want to understand that ponies are allies and not enemies. Apparently you cannot take blood from turnips…”

Towards evening, Rainbow and Spike fly to Ponyville, and they find themselves in front of a scene… weirdly done.

Starlight and Sunburst are sitting at a table in an outdoor bar, thanks to the particularly hot evening.

The sun is going down and the atmosphere would be sublime for a couple in love, wasn’t for Starlight giving the idea of being poised between an expanse of cacti and some burning embers, while Sunburst is stuffed and glances the void in front of him.

“What the hell are they doing?” Rainbow asks her buddy, after landing at a safe distance.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s decent to be here and spy…”

“Do you really speak?”

“Oops, it’s true…”

The conversation between the two childhood friends now dating is getting dull: scrabbled phrases, looks that scour the environment in search of any grip… like Twilight, which is heading towards Mayor Mare’s house with a pile of documents concerning the school.

“TWILIGHT!” Starlight screams with a very high tone, which frightens passers-by and the same.

“Huh?”

“Forgive me, Sunburst… I have to tell her something…”

“Y-Yes… sure, please… go ahead…” the latter mutters, rearranging his glasses.

Starlight dashes like a meteor in Twilight’s direction and grabs hold of her, with a desperate request for help.

“Starlight… what’s up?”

Her ex-student’s eyes are so pleading that she instantly surrenders.

Shortly after the two Unicorns ends their date, and Sunburst returns head down to the Crystal Empire, in search of the last useful train.

Spike and Rainbow have seen everything, lurking in the nearby bushes, and cannot believe their ears, let alone their eyes.

“But… but…”

“Apparently, I’m not the only one to have love hitches…”

“It would seem so…” Rainbow nods, before saying goodbye to Spike and going home, once she is sure to no longer have Starlight or Twilight in her field of vision.

The latters, once the documents are hoofed over to the mayor, take the opportunity to walk a little further, lulled by the sweet spring breeze.

“Starlight, you have been rude to Sunburst.”

The pink Unicorn takes on a hurt air, but not for her friend’s rebuke, but for the indecision that marks her heart.

“Twilight, I think I got everything wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Two years ago, when I re-established a relationship with him, the idea of being able to develop our interrupted friendship until it became a love relation would have made me touch the sky, but now… I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Haven’t you been able to find common interests yet?”

“If that was just the problem…”

Twilight gets closer and encourages her to continue.

“… I don’t feel anything. It’s a strange feeling… it’s like there’s always a glass to divide us, a clear glass, but still a glass. Something I have, we have tried to break without result. It’s useless, Twilight. We are friends, but we don’t even have half the closeness that existed before among us.”

The princess doesn’t know what to say, she just hugs her.

“I’m sorry. Truly.”

A few days later, Trixie is back in Ponyville. First of all, she arranges a meeting with Starlight at the spa, determined more than ever to confide her feelings hidden for too long.

Everything is imagined: some pampering on the hooves, a nice face cream and then… relaxing sauna with declaration. Better than this…

“Maybe I ask the beauticians to light some scented candles… or put some music in the background.”

The blue witch is galvanized, and even more so when she notices Starlight’s enthusiasm, who adores the reunions with her ‘Trix’ and relaxation at the wellness center.

And here the program begins.

Lying on the loungers, the two friends are close while Aloe and Lotus Blossom file their hooves.

“Do you have some news, Starlight?”

To that question, even if involuntarily, her friend’s smile goes off.

“Nothing, to be honest. I don’t know if I want to be with Sunburst anymore.”

Trixie has a jolt of euphoria, but she conceals it masterfully, because rejoicing of her beloved one’s doubts doesn’t honor her, especially since Sunburst is likeable to her.

“And you, Trix?”

“I have a little surprise in store for you…”

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm. But you’ll have to wait…”

For half an hour, the girls don’t speak anymore, they let themselves be transported by the massages on the face and body, with their thoughts that gracefully whirl in their minds. Those of Trixie take a rather spicy turn, especially because the sauna could lead her to lose her inhibitors and if Starlight told her yes… if only Starlight said yes it would be the end. Bold caresses and hot kisses sheltered from prying eyes, with music covering their moanings… Wow.

The purple-haired pony has other things on her mind; images of Sunburst and Twilight overlap non-stop, with the well-defined risk of disappointing them both. And she doesn’t want to.

When the time comes to be into the sauna, Trixie falls silent, and all her excitement fades into the tears she distinguishes between a drop of steam and the other.

“Starlight?”

“Trixie… I’m a horrible pony … once again I proved myself for what I am!”

Trixie passes the next three quarters of hour Trixie to console a Starlight ravaged by guilt, shaky and inconclusive. References to her boyfriend are interspersed with the fear of Twilight’s judgment.

The blue Unicorn caresses her, while observing the small room with soft lights, the scent of resinous wood and the colors halfway between pink and brown; pity that the atmosphere has gone to zero, and that in all this mess Trixie doesn’t have the slightest sureness of Starlight’s real feelings, unstable as she is at this time.

It’s not really time to reveal her love, no sir!

After paying the treatment, Trixie receives the final jab of an afternoon that has started well and has ended tragically.

“Let’s have dinner together?”

“No, thank you Trix… maybe another time. Twilight must be waiting for me. Thanks for the afternoon.”

Left alone, the sorceress can only grunt between herself:

“Since when does Starlight need to ask permission to Twilight to stay out?”