"There is a flower within my heart," Lovey sang as her hooves worked the typewriter in front of her, "Magny, Magny! Planted one day by a glancing dart, planted by Magny Bell!"
The bright pink office around her was all aglow with her high spirits. Under the current of her singing was the click-ticka-click of the two typewriter keys pushed and pressed in the different directions to lay out her thoughts on paper.
Dear Lost My Heart in Las Pegasus,
Sometimes, parents don't always approve of our partners. It's been their job our whole life to take care of us, then we hit the age where we don't need them anymore but they still want to protect us! Don't hate them for being against your new coltfriend. If your heart says he's the one, then that's all you need to know. Your parents just need time. They'll come around eventually.
Love from Lovey!
Lovey grabbed the finished paper, set it on top of a stack of others, and slid them all onto her back to carry out of her office. "Paper Pusher!"
The stallion with lanky legs and a never-failing smile trotted around the corner. "Yes, Miss Lovey?"
"Can you get these to Kahuna as soon as possible?" One wing lowered to grant him access to the papers. "I have dinner with Mom and Dad and Dad and Mom and Magny tonight, so I want to get to the store ay-sap!"
Paper Pusher nodded, sliding the stack into his satchel. "Right away! Have a good dinner, Miss Lovey!"
After locking up her office, Lovey made her way through the large room of cubicles and ponies at work. The light, neutral tones made the love lines surrounding her stand out all the more, but she just smiled and kept walking. Breathe in, breathe out, eyes ahead, heart calm.
"Heading home?" Blue Hearts asked, leaning out of her cubicle to look at Lovey with a smile.
"Yup!" Lovey's ears wiggled. "Family dinner date night!"
Blue Hearts gave a soft giggle behind one hoof, then glanced around before waving Lovey closer and whispering, "Hey, before you go—?"
Lovey relaxed into a light smile. "Let me take a look." She closed her eyes and focused on the sound of her heart beating. It had been at a nice, even pace, but now that she could feel the love lines floating around her, it sped up. When she opened her eyes, she saw the red line drifting from Blue Hearts's chest and out into Equestria.
"How is it?" Blue Hearts fidgeted in her seat. "Is it still okay?"
"It looks strong to me, so don't give up just yet!" Lovey giggled and fluttered her wings. With her heart pounding in her ears and sweat beading along the back of her neck, she trotted in place before sprinting toward the door. "Okay, I really have to go! Toodles!"
Instead of taking the elevator, she took the stairs—or, rather, she flew down them. Her wings just barely grazed the hoofrails as she soared down the spiral staircase, her descent taking her faster and faster until she reached the lobby. The doors had one chance to open, otherwise she was going to either break through them or break her neck trying.
Thankfully, somepony saw her coming and reacted just fast enough to throw open a door. She tucked her wings in close to her sides to avoid clipping them, then flared them back out and angled herself upwards to dart into the sky.
Once she was far above the city, she landed on a cloud and buried her face in it. Her heart was racing so hard she couldn't hear the wind whipping past her from being so high up, but she could feel it through her coat and feathers. The cold breeze chilled the heat that radiated from her very core.
"Breathe in, breathe out," she muttered under her shaky breath. "Breathe in, breathe—"
She exhaled and lifted her head to look over the edge of the cloud. Red and pink lines of all different hues stretched across Manehattan like a spider's web. Her heart wanted to follow them, but that wasn't her life anymore. Ponies had unknowingly followed their love lines before she existed, and they'd continue to do so without her direct help.
The lines ebbed and flowed, twisted and snaked, faded and brightened. Ant-sized ponies made their way through the city, unaware of the forces of love all around them. Love for special someponies, love for friends, love for family. Love was in the air ponies breathed and they didn't even know it.
It was hard, but she let it go. She smiled as she saw more of the ponies going about their day than the love lines, and her heart started to calm. They lived simple lives, and so could she.
"All right, wings," she muttered as she rose to her hooves, "let's get moving."
Lovey took a leisurely glide down into the heart of Manehattan, two blocks away from the apartment complex she lived in with Magnate, and landed right outside the local grocery. A bell chimed as she pushed the door open to trot inside and chirped, "Hello!"
The cashier grunted in reply. So many ponies in Manehattan lived in such a gloomy state. Lovey wished she could help them all, but the best she could do was show them a better way.
Slipping a basket onto her back and humming as she headed to the fresh produce, Lovey caught sight of a familiar crystalline coat the color of ebony. "Derri?"
"Hello, Lovey," Derelict replied without turning around.
Lovey gasped. "How did you know it was me?!"
Derri's ear flicked. "Who is the only pony who calls me 'Derri'?" She turned around with the faintest of smiles on her muzzle. "How are you?"
"I'm super, thanks for asking!" Lovey giggled. Her wings fluttered, the sudden motion causing the basket on her back to rattle slightly. "How about you?"
Derri sighed and turned back to the selection of oranges and mangoes. "I have no complaints. While I have a new roommate to replace you, you are hardly replaced. She is a receptionist with no anxiety and no unique oddities, ordinary foalhood, and a standard coltfriend with whom she is visiting."
Lovey reached out to pat her on the shoulder. "Aww, I'm sorry she's normal! Maybe next time?"
"I believe I have had the standards set too high after having you as my first roommate." Derri levitated an orange, turned it around a few times, then lowered it into her basket.
"Wait." Lovey's ears perked up. "Your roommate is visiting her coltfriend? Does that mean you're all alone?"
Derri stepped to the side to look at the apples. "That would be the correct assumption."
Lovey gasped. "Oh, no! No, no, no! That simply won't do! You can't be alone, not on family dinner date night!" She grabbed Derri's hoof. "You have to come over to our place, okay? Absolutely have to!"
"Family date night?" A familiar spark of curiosity lit up Derri's eyes. "Is that to mean your parents will be there?"
"Well, of course!" Lovey giggled. "Who else?"
Derri gave an idle bob of her head. "I see." It was good to know her vision was still intact. "If it is not intruding, I would not decline."
Lovey's wings fluttered and the basket rattled again. "I wouldn't offer if it was intruding, silly!"
"Then I accept." Derri dropped two apples into her basket. "I shall come by after I finish shopping and put the groceries away. Thank you for the invite."
As Derri turned to walk away, Lovey called after her, "And don't worry! My parents are totally not normal!" She giggled at the sound of Derri chuckling after nearly stumbling over her own hooves.
Lovey missed mornings with her. They had some good times together after she and Magnate worked things out and before she moved out. But, it was okay! If Derri came to their family dinner date nights, then she'd become part of their family. And her normal roommate could come with her normal coltfriend, too! Their family would get bigger and bigger, until all of Equestria was her family.
Okay, so maybe that was a little much, but it was fun to dream. She liked dreaming. It was a good substitute for chasing love lines.
"Is that all?" the cashier asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Huh? Oh!" Lovey blinked and looked down at the counter. She had grabbed the eggplants and the parmesan and everything else her parents had asked her to get, but there was also a bunch of other stuff, too. Strawberries, cupcakes, cookies, and a tub of ice cream?
Now that she thought about it, they didn't have any sweets at the apartment. Her subconscious was just trying to look out for her! Lovey smiled self-satisfactorily and gave herself a mental congratulations, then nodded at the cashier.
"Yup! That's all!" Lovey giggled, dropping bits onto the counter and tucking the bag under one wing. "Thanks so much!"
There was a happy song in Lovey's heart as she trotted out into the streets to begin the journey home, where her parents would be waiting. It went something a little like—
"Whether he loves me," Lovey sang aloud almost unbidden, "or loves me not; sometimes it's hard to tell. Yet I am longing to share the lot of beautiful Magny Bell!"
And just like that, she was home and the lock on the door undid itself just for her. The sounds of her parents greeting her all at once washed over her in a wave of warmth and love.
"Welcome home!" four voices shouted in unison, two from the couch and two from the kitchen.
Lovey nearly choked on her over-excited giggles as she bounded inside, nearly dropping the bag of groceries. "Hi! Hello! Hiyo! Hiya!" She hugged her mother, father, father, and mother, then smiled as they all embraced her at once. Love was warm. So warm.
"I got everything, and a little bit more!" Lovey slipped out of their collective embrace and trotted into the kitchen. "I don't know how it happened, but it happened. All of a sudden I was buying some sweets. Mom, you like sweets, right?"
"Of course," Suns answered.
Setting everything out on the counter, Lovey waggled her hooves at the array of sweets and dinner ingredients. "Ta-da!"
Suns and Dia came over to stand at her sides, separating the produce to begin work on dinner and shooing Lovey to the living room. They were such a great team, one prepping the vegetables while the other got the broth boiling. Lovey watched them a moment longer before she turned to her fathers.
"How was the cloudball tournament?" she asked, settling onto the couch between them.
Squall ruffled her mane. "You know your dear old dad will never lose to your dear old dad, not while the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west."
"Hey," Arc exclaimed with feigned offense, "don't forget that one day where the sun rose and set all over the horizon!"
Squall rolled his eyes. "That was chaos. Chaos doesn't count."
Lovey giggled and sat up to nuzzle her cheek to Arc's, then Squall's. "Aww, you're both my favorite cloudball players! Maybe someday Magny and I can come up to Cloudsdale to watch you both play!"
Squall flexed his wings and leaned back into the couch. "Good luck getting that stick in the mud to do anything."
Reaching behind Lovey, Arc slapped the back of Squall's head. "Hey! He's doing good. Get off his back already."
"Aww, both of you!" Lovey raised her hooves and gave them pouting scowls. "Magny is working really hard at his travel agency. He's really happy, and I want him to come home today and feel happy."
"We care more about your happiness," Squall muttered. "Are you happy, sweetheart?"
Lovey lowered her hooves just a bit, then reached out and booped Squall's nose. "Of course, Dad. I've never been happier."
A knock on the door turned all attention to it, and Lovey gasped. "Oh my gosh! I almost forgot!" She jumped off the couch and ran over. "Derri, hi there!"
Derri blinked slowly. "Did I hear that right? You almost forgot?"
"You should really use your inside voice," Dia chided in a playful tone, then smiled at Derri and waved. "Hi! You're Lovey's old roommate, right?"
"Yes." Derri levitated a bottle of something bubbly into the air. "I brought a gift to thank you for inviting me, but I am uncertain now if it is deserved."
Lovey gasped and grabbed the bottle with both hooves. "It's definitely, totally deserved!" She paused, then looked down at the label. "What is it?"
"What does it say it is?" Derri raised one brow.
"It's champagne," Dia said, taking the bottle from Lovey. "I'm not sure if you're old enough to even hold this."
"What! I'm totally old enough!" Lovey spun around and flared out her wings to look bigger than she was. "I've had alcohol before, I'll have you know!"
While Dia froze in mid-step, the sound of Derri taking notes like always filled Lovey's ears.
"Did Magnate get you drunk?" Squall asked, a certain malice rising into his voice.
Lovey looked around to find all eyes on her—Derri's held curious interest while her parents looked ready to kill. Her mouth flapped open a few times before she bounded forward and jumped onto the couch to nestle between her fathers. "Oh, don't be silly! I got me drunk. I was curious!"
With just a hint of disappointment, Derri set her notepad on the coffee table and took a newspaper to the recliner. Squall and Arc stared Lovey down with the combined force of disapproval and slight curiosity.
"So," Arc started, crossing his forelegs over his chest.
Squall did the same and continued, "What did you have to drink?"
"What?" Arc's wings twitched as he broke into laughter. "That's not what matters right now!"
"It matters to me." Squall waved a dismissive hoof, smiling down at Lovey. "So? What was it?"
Lovey giggled and twiddled her hooves. "It was something with strawberries in it. It was so tasty! I loved it! If champagne tastes anything like strawberries, then I'm gonna love it!"
Suns leaned out of the kitchen, her mane tied up into a tight bun to stay out of her way while she cooked. "Speaking of, how are your love attacks? Are they getting any better?"
"Yeah!" Lovey nodded. "As long as I don't focus on them, I don't even notice them." Her gaze followed the two bright red lines that tied her parents together with their respective partners. It comforted her to see them, but she quickly shook her head to pull herself back to the moment. "Maybe someday I won't see them at all!"
Arc's brow furrowed and he took Lovey's hoof in both of his forehooves. "Is it right to ignore your cutie mark?"
"I'm not, though! Not this time. Not like I was. I'm totally still doing what my cutie mark tells me to do! I help ponies every day with their love lines, even if I can't see them." Lovey put her free hoof on top of his and gave it a light pat. "I'm super duper happy every day I go to work and come home to Magny. Promise to love and back!"
"To love and back," Arc repeated, leaning in to place a kiss on her forehead.
"That's all we care about." Squall chuckled and closed his eyes. "That, and reigning as the family's cloudball champion."
"Oh, you are not turning this conversation about you!" Arc sat up to look over Lovey's head at him. "Seriously?"
Squall snorted. "I just want Lovey to know that her dad took a header right into a cumulus cloud."
Just as Arc opened his mouth to snap back, the lock clicked and the knob turned. Lovey's heart skipped at least three beats, maybe even four! She watched with anticipation as the door started to open as if in slow motion.
"Welcome home!" Suns called from the kitchen when Magnate stepped inside. "You're just in time!"
Magnate's gaze wandered the room before locking onto Lovey's, sending her heart into a flurry of excitement. Joy filled ever fiber of her being as she jumped into the air and sailed toward him.
Her forelegs wrapped around his neck in a tight hug and her heart settled into a normal state of excitement. "Magny! We were just talking about you!" She lowered to the floor, but remained intimately close. "How was work? Did you have a good meeting with the hot air balloon pony? What was the best part of your day?"
"Slow down." Magnate chuckled as he put his suitcase away. "I'm not even two hooves through the door."
Embarrassment shot through Lovey's chest and she hurriedly took a step back. "Right, right! Four hooves rule. Sorry." She waited patiently until he walked all the way into the apartment, and then hugged him with less overexcitement than before. "Welcome home!"
"What is the 'four hooves rule'?" Derri asked from the recliner, the sound of the newspaper crinkling as it was folded over.
Magnate blinked, glancing between Lovey and Derri. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh! Oh!" Lovey threw her forehooves into the air. "I know the answer to both of those!" She sat down and cleared her throat before lowering her voice to mimic Magnate's. "The four hooves rule is that Lovey shouldn't overwhelm Magnate when he gets home until he has all four hooves into the apartment." She tried not to giggle as she looked up at him. "And Derri is here because we're having a family dinner and she's family!"
"Actually," Derri said, "it's because we ran into one another at the supermarket. She invited me to dinner because I mentioned my roommate was out of town."
Lovey stuck out her lower lip and felt the onset of tears blur her vision. "It's the least we can do, Magny! Me moving out left her with no roommate, and this new one has gone out of town! She's all alone because of you!"
Magnate frowned lightly while a hoof rubbed his chest. Did he have heartburn? Had he eaten already? Didn't he know that it was family dinner date night? "How is it my fault? I gave you the choice of moving in, and you took it."
"By technicality, that would make it your fault, Lovey," Derri said in that voice she sometimes used when she was totally right and Lovey didn't want to admit it.
"Now, now, kids," Dia interrupted as she trotted over. "Let's not fight during family dinner night."
Magnate sighed, but his expression was anything but exasperated. He smiled and there was happiness in his eyes. Lovey loved it when that happened.
"I'm sorry, Diamond," he said as he hugged Dia. "It's nice to see you."
"Will somepony get the table ready?" Suns called. "Soup's almost done!"
"Okay, Mom!" Lovey chirped, fluttering her wings and taking to the air.
The song bubbled up from her chest while she rummaged through the cabinets and drawers to collect dinnerware for the table.
"Magny, Magny," the voice in her heart sang, "give me your answer true! I'm half crazy, all for the love of you!"
"Lovey?" Suns asked, looking up from the stove.
Lovey came to a sudden halt in the air and tilted her head. "Yes, Mom?"
"That song you're humming." Suns tapped the ladle to the side of the pot. "You used to sing it a lot as a filly, but I can't remember the words. Do you remember, Didi?"
Dia peeked into the stove to check on the garlic bread, then shook her head. "Nope! It sounds familiar, though."
Lovey paused, her wings flapping just enough to keep her aloft. Her gaze travelled over to where Magnate was in some kind of serious conversation with her fathers. Warmth spread all the way from her hooves to the tips of her ears and she giggled to release some of the bubbling energy that filled her chest.
Was it possible that her heart had been searching for him all along?
Chasing away the thought to focus on the present, she flew over to the table and started to set out the plates and utensils.
"Here, let me help," Derri said as she walked up and grabbed the silverware in her magic. "I saw your column in that magazine. I'm glad that you have found a new outlet for your talent."
Lovey giggled and nodded. "It's way more fun than being a weatherpony, that's for sure! I know Dad loves it but I understand why Dad doesn't."
Derri's head turned to look at both stallions sitting on the couch. "Yes, about that. You have four parents. I find that interesting."
"I told you they weren't normal!" She bumped her shoulder to Derri's, then turned to the rest of the room. "Mom! Dad! Dad! Mom!" She clapped her hooves to get their attention. "You four sit here, here, here, and here! Magny and I will sit here and here, and Derri can sit here!"
Magnate flicked an ear as he walked over, glancing between all of her parents. "Wouldn't it be easier to differentiate them?"
Lovey tilted her head to one side after following his gaze. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Mom, Mom, Dad, Dad. Isn't it confusing?" He waved a hoof to gesture in a circle. "It would be more clear if you called them, I don't know—Mom One and Mom Two?"
What? What! Lovey gasped, feeling as if she had been struck. She wrapped one leg around Dia's neck and dragged her over to Suns so she could embrace them both at the same time in an attempt to hug her feelings through to them. "No way! They're both Mom One to me!"
Magnate raised one brow and asked the most dreaded question of all. "Then how do you know who she's speaking to?"
One hoof covered her left ear, and another covered her right. Ah, they were going to say what she already knew: that neither of them knew the difference between Mom and Mom. She giggled, her wings giving an amused flutter. But that was the point! There was no difference. Sun Shower or Diamond Dust—both were her mother. Both were Mom. Whatever she needed, both fulfilled.
All of a sudden, Magnate burst into laughter. It was so startling to see, and even more startling to hear when Suns and Dia withdrew their hooves. Lovey tilted her head and smiled. Magnate needed to laugh more. He looked truly happy, and she loved that most of all.
"What's so funny?" she asked, tilting her head the other way.
"Nothing," Magnate managed between laughs. "I'm just happy."
Lovey matched his laughter with a bout of giggles. She closed the distance between them and nuzzled their noses together. "Oh, that's a great reason to laugh!"
While everypony started to gather at the table—save for Derelict, who was writing in her little notepad like she usually did—Magnate stared at her. His gaze was intense and deep, full of warmth and fondness. It made her cheeks feel hot and her knees go weak, but she didn't want to miss a second of the way he looked at her, so she refused to swoon.
That was when Magnate moved. He raised a hoof to reach into his vest and, stirring her heart into excited fluttering, lowered himself onto bended knee.
"Lovey," he murmured into the sudden silence after a chorus of gasps, "I have something I would like to say."
Lovey's voice came out much smaller than she expected, hardly above a squeaky whisper. "Yes?"
Magnate smiled up at her. "When I met you, I didn't know what to think. I have never met a pony like you. You are warm, bright—you are a star in the empty sky that was my life before you came into it. Love was a word that held no meaning for me. I would have never considered it on my horizon if not for you."
Was he proposing? Lovey almost couldn't breathe. She'd fantasized about being proposed to at least a thousand times: at an expensive dinner, under a moonlit sky, on top of a mountain, out on a boat, and so on and so on until she thought she had dreamed of every scenario.
"Lovey," he continued, "I know I said I wanted to take things slow, but that was before I understood love. I understand it now. Love is having somepony to come home to, which I've grown to look forward to every day since you moved in. Love is having somepony there to share the simple moments with, like watching you smile innocently as your mothers tell me a secret."
She had never imagined being proposed to like this, with her family there to watch. Her Mom and her Dad and her Dad and her Mom were being made a part of the most magical moment she could possibly imagine.
"But most of all, love is wonderful, because—if you say yes—neither of us will ever have to be alone again. I know you have had doubts about us because of love lines. While I know they are so important to you, I can't see them. Unfortunately, I can't believe in what I can't see. I am a stallion of logic and reason, and so I need something tangible to believe in."
His hoof pulled a small black box out of his vest that he held up and opened to reveal a rose gold band adorned with pink gemstones. It was the single most beautiful ring she had ever seen in her life, at least before her vision filled up with tears.
"With this ring, I'll have something to see, and so will you if you'll marry me, Lovey Dovey."
Silence would have reigned supreme if not for the pounding of her heart and the small, choking sob that escaped her. It took just a bit too long to find her voice, but when she did, it brought a smile to both her and Magnate's faces.
"Yes," she whispered through the tears that fell down her cheeks. "Oh, Magny, yes, of course!"
While her parents all broke out into cheers—even Derelict gave a whoop of delight!—Magnate's magic levitated the ring into the air. She pulled her left wing forward and he gingerly slipped it onto one of her longest primary feathers. Although it was light as could be, the weight of a ring was the most wonderful feeling she never thought possible.
Magnate rose to his full height and Lovey sprung forward, throwing her forelegs around his neck and pressing her lips to his in a tearful, joyful kiss. They were granted only a brief moment to themselves before four pairs of legs wrapped around the pair in one giant group hug.
He pulled back just enough to whisper against her lips, "So, what do you think, Miss Matchmaker?"
Lovey smiled while her parents filled the air with excited chatter and whispered back, "It's a perfect match."