LOVE'S BEEN A LITTLE BIT HARD ON ME

Chapter 27: Behind Blue Eyes

There have only been a few times in Plain Sight's life when it could honestly be said that she was at a loss for what to do. This most definitely qualified as one of those times. What is that feather-brain thinking? She knows better than to blow her cover! Has something happened and there was no time to inform me?

The gray mare paced back and forth for several minutes, glancing up at the house she was supposed to be monitoring every few seconds. Her training finally took over, and she thought to herself, Well, I can't determine anything without information. I suppose I better see about acquiring some. With that, the stealthily made her way towards Twilight's house, trying her hardest to appear nonchalant and like she belonged there in the first place.

Plain Sight carefully opened the gate to the white picket fence surrounding the front lawn, and making less noise than a field mouse, walked up to the front-facing window that opened into the dining room. What she saw there nearly stopped her heart. Limnear was sitting down at the table with Twilight, alone. Limnear had obviously just finished saying something, and Twilight was blushing like a schoolfilly.

“Can I help you?”

It took every bit of Plain Sight's willpower to not jump at the voice's sudden appearance. Taking a quick breath, she pasted a smile on her face and turned to face the owner of that voice she recognized as Cheerilee. “Good evening. I'm looking for my friend, Limnear. She said she'd be here, and-”

Cheerilee smiled at her and dragged her by the foreleg into her house. “Of course, come in, come in! She's talking with Twilight right now, but she said to send you right in.” She sidled up close to her and whispered, “Is everything okay? We haven't seen you since the incident in the Everfree. There's not some sort of emergency, is there?”

She was about to respond, when she noticed movement below her eye level. Looking down, Plain Sight spied Sunny looking up at her with an odd expression. It was somewhere between curiosity and... anticipation? She smiled down at the filly and said, “Hello there, little one.”

Sunny Days said nothing, but nodded and calmly walked away towards the living room where she had left the blocks with which she and Starry Skies had been playing. Cheerilee shook her head and tsked. “I'm sorry. She gets like that sometimes, especially around new ponies.”

The spy shrugged and replied, “I probably should go see Limnear, before she says something she shouldn't.” Cheerilee nodded, and let her go through the swinging door to the dining room. Plain Sight walked in, and all conversation stopped. Limnear and Twilight looked over at her, the griffoness smirking at her. “I'm terribly sorry Miss Sparkle, but I won't let Limnear here take anymore of your precious time so if you'll excuse us...” She grabbed Limnear's foreleg and tugged, but the griffoness wasn't budging.

“Aren't you forgetting something, Plain Sight?” Limnear asked. Her smirk was quickly becoming brittle, and her eyes had a hint of sadness to them.

“No, I don't think so, Limnear. Now let's go and not bother these nice ponies any longer,” Plain Sight answered, her voice cracking a couple of times. She continued tugging at the griffoness's foreleg, becoming more frantic and insistent.

“I really think you've forgotten to say something,” Limnear replied, tears welling up in her eyes, her smirk failing several time before disappearing completely. “Perhaps I should just tell her to jog your memory.”

All pretense at congeniality was wiped from the earth pony's face as she snarled back, “Don't you dare.”

“Ahem.”

Plain Sight turned to face Twilight, and for the first time actually locked gazes with her. Limnear continued to stare at her lover, heartsick, but knowing that this had to be done. Twilight looked to Plain Sight and confusion set in on her face. She said, “I know you from somewhere...” She shook away her confusion. “Never mind. What is this about needing to tell me something? Limnear here says it's a matter of life and death; so please, tell me what I can do.”

Plain Sight looked away, a sad frown apparent. “Why must you be like this?” Twilight was taken aback by this and pulled back a little. “If only you weren't so bucking selfless it would be so much easier.” She sighed and took a deep breath. “Before I say anything else, know that you are under no obligation to say anything at all, ever. This is my thing, andI'll deal with it, come what may.”

Another sigh, followed by a deep breath. “I suppose I should start at the beginning. At a very young age, I was selected to become the bodyguard of an important pony. At first, it was easy. She was young enough to just accept my presence when I was disguised as a palace guard, but eventually, that wasn't enough to keep her safe. Luckily by this time, I was well-trained enough that I could just surveil her from a distance without her even being aware of my being there.

“As time went on, I'd come to realize that I had... developed feelings for this young mare. There was so much to admire about her. She was smart, wise, humble, and held no pretensions about herself. It didn't hurt any that she was cute as Hay.” Plain Sight gave a weak chuckle, then continued. “This pony was perfect. Far too good for somepony as... tainted as myself. I had resigned myself to just admiring her from afar, but... circumstances beyond my control necessitate that I admit to her- to you- that I love you, Twilight Sparkle.”

By now, Plain Sight was staring at the wall, her eyes subconsciously memorizing the pattern of the wallpaper. “Please understand that though this is not a platonic love- this is eros, you do not have to return my feelings. Indeed, it would be better for all involved if you did not. You have a family now; three mares who love you enough to put aside their differences and love each other, three beautiful foals, with more likely on the way, and a bright future ahead of you. That's too much to lose by returning the affections of a pony who does not deserve them. The only reason I am even telling you all this is to remove this burden from my back that I've been carrying for far too long.”

Plain Sight sighed, not from sadness, but from relief. “I know this isn't fair to you; telling you all this and then not allowing you the choice to accept or deny my feelings, but doing that would be even less fair to your wives. Moreover, it wouldn't be fair-” She allowed her gaze to meet Limnear's for the first time. “-to you.” She stood and walked over the griffoness and took her forepaw gently in her hooves. “I love you Lim, and I'll never do anything to hurt you like this ever again. I still love Twilight,” The gray mare leaned forward and kissed Limnear on the beak, then withdrew. “But I love you even more.”

Clearly confused and more than a little upset by all this, Twilight tried to keep her calm as she asked, “So... what happens now?”

The master spy silently considered for a moment, then replied, “Now, Lim and I return to our jobs and our posts, and you go on as if this conversation never happened.”

“Hold on here,” Twilight exclaimed. “I'm not sure how comfortable I am with you watching us from the shadows.”

“Why not?” Plain Sight asked with a sly grin. “We've been doing it ever since you became the Princess's protégé. Day one, as a matter of fact. I came a bit later, but since the day the Princess took you under her wing, somepony has been 'watching you from the shadows'.”

Twilight banged on the table with a hoof and narrowed her eyes at the mare. “Well, now that I am aware of it, I don't like it.”

“Well, sorry, Countess, but that's just how I work,” Plain Sight said with a shrug. “You want big, obvious guards following you around, then ask your BBBFF for some choices. I prefer to keep it low key, and low profile.”

“Am I going to have to talk to the Princess about this?” Twilight asked, clearly perturbed.

Again, Plain Sight shrugged. “You want change done, going to the top usually works best. But know this, Milady; I, and my ponies have prevented six thousand two hundred and two incidents from escalating to the point where you'd notice and have to step in, and that's just since you moved to Ponyville. We have prevented more from interfering with your life than a force of conspicuous guards ten times our number could have possibly done, and all without getting in your way. We know what we're doing.”

Giving her a flat look, Twilight replied, “I'm still going to talk to her about this.”

“Suit yourself.” Plain Sight looked to Limnear and nodded towards the door. “Let's go, Lim. You and I need to have a talk.”

Twilight watched them leave from her chair, and saw them through the window as they disappeared into the alleyway between two houses. She didn't even acknowledge Cheerilee coming into the room and walking up behind her. Her only reaction to the mare slipping her forelegs around her neck was to place a hoof on one of them.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.” Twilight started to shake her head, then stopped. “Yes? Oh, I don't even know anymore,” she sighed. This is all just so...”

“Bizarre?”

“To say the least,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes. They sat like that in silence a few moments, Twilight leaning her head back until it fit onto Cheerilee's shoulder. “You know, just before I moved to Ponyville, I had resigned myself to a life alone. Nopony had ever expressed an interest in me other than as an egghead who could help them raise their academic score. I spent Prom Night at home, of all places.”

She snorted in private amusement. “Of course, it didn't help any that I was five years younger than all the ponies who actually went. Nopony wants to be seen taking a middle-schooler to their senior Prom. No, I stayed at home and my family threw a Prom just for me. We all danced and ate junk food and drank unhealthy sodas.” A genuine smile came unbidden, to her face as she recalled the night. “It was the only time I remember Mom actually getting along with the Princess without any passive-aggressive tension.”

Heaving a great sigh, Twilight continued. “And then you all came along. I was just... blown away that not just one, but three mares would show an interest in me, me of all ponies! An awkward, blundering, cold fish, dull, embarrassing, fussy, gawky, hair-splitting, ill-tempered, jabbering, kooky, loony, monotonous, nerdy, officious, pedantic, ranting, staid, tedious, uninteresting, verbose, wishy-washy, yucky zero who can't even come up with proper adjectives starting with Q or X off the top of her head! And Y wasn't all that great either! Yet somehow, you three were able to look past all that to see something worth loving.”

Twilight craned her neck up and kissed the teacher on the cheek. “I'll never know just what it was you saw in me, but I'll forever be grateful that you did. If you hadn't, right at this moment, I'd be starting my research project on the star beasts. I even had the day to start it planned out. I haven't been able to do as much research as I had planned, but the quality of the time I've spent has gone considerably up. I'm happier than I've ever been; I've even become a mother and a father! That was something I thought I'd never get to experience, or at worst, have to resort to a sperm bank or a one night stand, and I really don't think I could handle either.

“I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you all and am so grateful, that I'd never even consider ruining what we have by inviting another mare into our herd.” Silence reigned again, but only for a few moments, when Twilight found the next words she wanted to say. “I'm... I'm actually kind of glad that she didn't want me to answer her. I'm not sure I could find the words to gently let her down, and I certainly wouldn't want to make her cry, or anything.”

Trixie walked in at that moment, carrying five plates of food, and setting them at the table. “Dinnertime! I hope you're hungry, because there's still half a pot of mashed potatoes left!” she said gaily.

Twilight unwound the hooves from around her neck and kissed one before releasing Cheerilee, letting her fall to her hooves. “I'm famished!”

“Good to hear,” said Spitfire as she walked in and set Sunny at her own place setting at the table while Cheerilee went to fetch the foals to put into their highchairs. “You had us a little worried there for a while.”

Smiling at her herd-wife, Twilight paused, fork halfway to her mouth. “Oh, don't worry. Our... living arrangement won't be changing anytime soon.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Despite the positive way the confrontation with Twilight had ended, Limnear was still quite nervous. Plain Sight was taking this a lot better than she had expected, and that worried her far more than if she had thrown a fit. The mare's body language was that of depression rather than relief. She allowed her to lead her into the alley, and they just stood there, uncertain of what to do. It was some time before the griffoness found her voice, but was still unable to look at the mare. “Er, look-”

Limnear flinched with a choke as she felt something land heavily on her chest. She looked down to find that Plain Sight had sat down in front of her, and was resting her head on the griffoness's ruff. “Just hold me,” Plain Sight sobbed. Limnear could feel her feathers getting damp with what she assumed were the mare's tears. “Please. I... I don't want to be alone right now.”

The griffoness gladly embraced the shuddering mare, even going so far as to wrap her wings around them both. She was unused to seeing the tough Plain Sight act like this, and was understandably at a loss for words. It was a long time indeed, before either one of them moved.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Twilight sighed and called out, “Sunny! If you don't get out here right now, we'll leave without you!”

A distant voice from the bedrooms called back, “I'm coming, Mom! I just need to- oof- grab Mr. Bun-bun.” A moment later, Sunny Days trotted out of the house, her favorite doll carefully perched upon her back.

Twilight closed the door and locked it with her magic. “You've got to learn to be more punctual, Sunny. There's nothing in this world worse than being...”

The other mares of her herd looked at her encouragingly. “You can say it, Twi. It's okay,” Cheerilee said with a smile.

“T- T- Tar- oh, I just can't, Cheery! It's the worst word in the world!” Twilight said, stamping a hoof. The effect was somewhat muted by the adorably frilly, silver snow boots she wore to fend off the cold.

Trixie kissed her on the cheek, and adjusted the double foal carrier on the unicorn's back. “It's alright, Love. Let's just go on. Your friends are waiting for us.”

Slightly ahead of the group, Spitfire called back, “Get the lead out! Owlowiscious is getting antsy!” She looked to the owl perched upon her back and grimaced as he adjusted his grip to get a more stable footing.

Twilight quickly trotted up to her and gave her a quick nuzzle. “Sorry. Let's get this pet play date on the road!”

They arrived at the park to find the the others had all arrived ahead of them. Sunny ran ahead, going straight towards Fluttershy, who was wrapping a tiny scarf around Angel's neck. As soon as the rabbit spotted the filly, he dashed off towards some bushes with Sunny in hot pursuit. “Come back, Mr. Angel! I want to introduce you to Mr. Bun-bun so we can have a tea party!”

“Sunny, you stay in sight of us, you hear me?” Spitfire called out loudly, getting a noncommittal mumble from her in reply. The pegasus grumbled and flew off after her, letting Owlowiscious fly off of her back.

The rest of the herd joined the group already in the park, greeting each other with hugs. Twilight pulled back after hugging Dash and remarked, “Goodness, Rainbow! Pregnancy sure has done wonders for your huggability quotient. You've never been this... comfy.”

Dash sighed sadly. “Oh, just go on and say it. I've gone soft. Me! Rainbow Dash! Fastest pegasus in Equestria has turned into the fluffiest cushion this side of a Cloudsdale pillow factory.” A blue hoof met face as she bemoaned her fate. “I look like a whale! A big, fat, blue, soft, comfy whale!”

Fluttershy sidled up next to her and draped a wing over her. “Oh, now it's not that bad, Rainbow. You're still the fastest pegasus in Equestria. And even if you weren't, I'm sure that you'd be back to your old self in record time.”

“Easy for you to say, Flutters. You're not the one carrying our foal,” she shot back, clearly perturbed.

Pinky-Pie hopped up to them, full of pep and vinegar, and an alligator hanging from her tail. “Sounds like somepony's being a Missus Grumpypants,” she sang at them. She squished the unamused Dash's face in her hooves and cooed baby talk at her. “Who's a grumpypants? Who's a grumpypants?” From there, her speech devolved into indecipherable gibberish until the pegasus smacked her hooves away, and grumpily wandered off to where Tank was “playing” with Opalescence.

Fluttershy followed her with adoring eyes and whispered an apology to the assembled mares. “I'm sorry about that. She's just a teensy bit upset that she lost another thirty seconds from her best recent time on her favorite obstacle course. I'm not so sure myself, but she says it's a lot, even for her condition.”

“Well, Ah reckon we jus' leave her alone for a bit to cool off,” Applejack replied. “She'll be right as rain soon.”

Rarity nuzzled the farm pony. “I suppose we should, at that. Let's not give the poor dear the opportunity to say something she'll regret, hormones not.”

Cheerilee examined the white unicorn's side, remarking, “Speaking of pregnant mares, you're coming along quite nicely, Rarity. I hope those twins are treating you kindly.”

Daintily putting a hoof to her throat, the fashionista replied, “Quite well, thank you. I'm carrying two of the most well-bred ladies in all of- oof!” Her speech was halted by the twins in her belly deciding to have a kicking match to see who was stronger.

Applejack smirked and rested a hoof on her mare's belly. “Easy there, girls. Y'all don't wanna get your Ma upset at yah before yah even get born, now do yah?” Amazingly, this actually seemed to calm the foals down, and Rarity shot her a thankful look.

“Thank you, Dearest. It seems that they only do that at the most inopportune times,” the fashionista said.

Spitfire finally flew back, Sunny hanging from her teeth, the filly's forelegs crossed grumpily. Landing at the circle of mare's she gently set the filly down and nudged her with her nose. “Go on. Tell them.”

With the most put upon expression a pony could wear, Sunny sighed and said, “I'm sorry for running off without saying hello. It was rude, and I won't do it again.”

“Quite alright, Sunny. We know how excited you were to see Angel again,” Rarity said.

Applejack smiled down at her. “Shame he had to run off. Must'a had a lot of bunny business to do.”

Pinkie-Pie picked the filly up and placed her on her head. “Come on! This is a pet play date, so let's go play with the pets!” She dashed off in the direction with the highest density of pets, and began chasing Winona, a squealing filly laughing on her head.

An eager Fluttershy lifted Starslayer from her carrier and cooed at the baby. “Oooh, you're so adorable! And look at those wings! You're going to be such a strong flier, aren't you!” Starslayer gurgled and flapped her wings like mad, eliciting gales of laughter from Fluttershy.

Trixie coughed to get her attention. “Ahem. Fluttershy? She already is a strong flier.”

Looking down, Fluttershy saw her rear hooves dangling free several inches from the ground. “Oh, my! You are a strong flier!” The filly looked down at her with what one would almost call a smug expression, before setting them both down on the ground again. The mare was quite surprised to see that she didn't even appear to be winded from the exertion.

Twilight sat down and used her telekinesis to pull Starry Skies from her carrier and place her in front of her to play. Luckily, Gummy had fallen off of Pinkie and did not seem to mind the filly trying to use him like a toy car, not even when she went so far as to make “Vroom, vroom” noises. Twilight however, watched her, and made a mental note to bathe her thoroughly before she touched anything back home, especially any of the books.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

The forest green pegasus stood out a little against all the bare trees, but was confident that he had landed far enough away that his targets would not notice him. He stealthily made his way through the forest, and came upon a unicorn mare hiding behind a bush, and feeding a white bunny some of her daisy sandwich. She looked up at him as he approached low to the ground so as to not be spotted by the frolicking mares and fillies with their pets in the clearing ahead. “Did I miss anything?” he asked.

“Nah, nothin' good. Just Spitfire flyin' after her filly, an' draggin' her back. Here.” News Flash Dug around in a brown paper sack and pulled out another sandwich, hoofing it over to him. He handed her one of the cups of hot coffee he was carrying in return and she nodded her thanks before taking a long drink from it. “Aaahhh... That's the stuff.”

Buried Lead lay on his stomach so that he could look through the camera with a telephoto lens now and then. He looked through it, and saw them just enjoying their day like any family or group of close friends. With a sigh, he turned to his wife. “I think we may have to close up this branch office soon.”

News Flash spit out her coffee all over Angel, who glared at her and kicked over her lunch bag before hopping off. “Whadaya mean, 'close up'? We're doing great!” News Flash hissed indignantly.

“Oh, we're doing fantastic... for a small town paper,” Buried Lead replied. “Look, the biggest thing to happen lately was when the Timberwolves chased those two colts through the middle of town, and little miss Countess over there didn't even have a hoof in stopping it. And what was the last big thing to happen before that? The Bon Mot sisters blew through town, looking for their brothers Flim and Flam? And that was what, three months prior? Face it, Newsie, the print-worthy news in this town is drying up.”

Setting down her coffee, News Flash replied, “Okay, Ah'll admit; we have been goin' through a bit of a dry spell, journalistically, but it's bound t'turn aroun' for us! Think about it, Sugar! We've got th' biggest trouble magnets what ever drew breath, all gathered up in one teeny little town; there's bound t'be somethin' happenin' soon! An' just think of what their foals can get into!”

Buried lead laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Whoa. Stop right there. I draw the line at putting children into the national papers.”

News Flash nodded. “Alright, alright, t'was jus' an idea. But still, consider th' possibilities here! Not only do we have the bearers o' the Elements o' Harmony all in one place, we have the braggart showmare, the cap'n of the Wonderbolts, a dragon for Celesta's sake, an' that's not even counting all the kooks and weirdos who tromp through here on a reg'lar basis, or the townsponies! We have two griffons and a minotaur livin' in town! A minotaur sweepin' the streets, jus' as neat as yah please! D'yah even realize how preposterous that is?”

“What are you saying, that you want to interview him?” Buried Lead asked with a raised eyebrow.

The unicorn double facehoofed and dragged them down, deforming her face before letting it pop back into place. “Argh! Don't you get it? There's all this juicy news jus' waitin' for us, an' you want to close up shop because the star attraction is on maternity leave? Now is the time we should be pursuin' all those other stories 'stead of moanin' and whinin' about there being no news!”

“Sooo... yes to the interview?” Buried Lead ventured.

News Flash's face fell to the ground, her horn digging a small furrow in the cold dirt, and her pink and aquamarine mane covering her face. She took a deep breath, the raised her head again to look her husband in the eye. “Yes,” she said flatly. “Ah think we should interview the freakin' minotaur!”

Buried Lead draped a hoof over News Flash's neck and pulled her in for a kiss. “Remember what I said about telling me when I do something annoying? There's no need to get this upset, Newsie.” He stood and pulled her to her hooves. “Come on. Let's leave them to their family time, and badger a minotaur until he gives us an interview.”

With a smirk, the unicorn mare said, “You know I hate it when you pull the rational adult act on me.”

Buried Lead turned around from putting their camera equipment away and replied with a smirk of his own, “Then you shouldn't give me so many opportunities to do it.” News Flash just gave him a playful smack on the rump for an answer.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

Jumping sideways, Sunny took Winona by surprise and came fully around the tree, coming within a gnat's width from tackling her to the ground. Instead, she ended up sprawled out on the ground, momentarily stunned. Something small and cold landed on her nose, and she crossed her eyes trying to see what it was. A white dot crossed her field of vision, and she focused on that instead. The white dot lazily drifted to the grass, where it disappeared. Perplexed, she saw another white dot hit the ground, only to disappear as well. Not knowing what else to do, she went to the deepest well of knowledge she knew. “Mom! Mom, the clouds are shedding!”

Twilight turned to her, mirth filling her eyes and the smile she tried to keep from taking over her whole face. “What's that, Sunshine?”

Sunny pointed up at the white flakes falling from the clouds. “See? The clouds are shedding like Opal!” The cat in question looked over at the filly and sniffed before walking away.

Looking up, Twilight took notice of the snow for the first time and suppressed a shiver from the chill breeze. “That's snow, Sunny. It's frozen rain; and a sign that it's time to go home.”

“Aaawww... do we have to?” the filly moaned in disappointment, when she saw the mare putting her sisters into their carrier.

Spitfire came up behind her and ruffled her mane. “Cheer up, Sport. If your mothers say it's okay, I'll stay here with you so you can play in the snow.” She looked up at the clouds, gauging them. “Though it doesn't look like there'll be enough to do much.”

Sunny looked up at her excitedly. “Will you?” She turned to Twilight, eyes shining bright. “Can we, Mom?”

Hiding an inward wince from the filly's weapon's grade smile, Twilight conceded defeat. “Alright, but no more than an hour. I want you both back home for dinner.”

Bouncing around Spitfire in a hyperactive show of joy, Sunny shouted, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!”

Rarity leaned in with a wink and said, “You know, I seem to recall my little sister saying that somepony did the exact same dance and cheer when describing how she got her cutie mark. I wonder if that same mare taught her that? Or is it genetic?”

Twilight's hoof met her face in silent reply.

Author's Notes:

Rest assured that the matter with Plain Sight has not totally been resolved; merely settled as far as Twilight is concerned. PS still has some things to work through (though most of that may occur offscreen). And try not to be too angry at Twilight. This is all coming at her cold, and she's not too sure how to handle it right now. Hopefully the play date alleviated some of the angst here.

Pregnancy/Age Counter:

Sunny Days: 8 months old

Starry Skies: 2 months old

Twilight Starslayer: 5 days old

The usual disclaimers go here. I own the arrangement of the words, Plain Sight, Limnear, Sunny Days, Starry Skies, Twilight Starslayer, News Flash, and Buried Lead. All else belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.