Be Careful What You Wish For by kindheart525 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)
If there was any day perfect for a picnic, it was this one. The sun shone brightly over Sweet Apple Acres and a soft breeze blew over the land, gently rustling the grass and carrying the scent of apples through the air. It was just warm enough to give one a taste of the coming summer without being oppressively hot. Everything was just right.
“Oh, just look at those dandelions!”
Blue Velvet sighed dreamily as she looked out at the view.
“It’s just like the day we got engaged, Venny! Don’t you remember how beautiful it was? Just like a storybook!”
“It ain’t complete without a storybook princess.”
Her wife, Varmint Venom, sat upon the picnic blanket with her, but instead of admiring the scenery she only had eyes for Blue.
“Luckily, we got just that.”
“Oh, baby!”
Blue squealed like a fully with a crush at this, falling into her lover like the swooning princess from the storybooks she imagined.
They acted as if there was nopony else in the world but each other, but in reality they were in the company of multiple other family members. Varm’s parents, her youngest sister, and her youngest brother were all enjoying the day with them.
“Hoo-wee! Y’all are actin’ like a couple a’ jackrabbits in a winter burrow!”
Applejack jested as the couple snuggled up to each other, but it was all in good fun. She and her own wife didn’t engage in nearly as much PDA, but they could get cuddly in private, so she understood the feeling.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if lil’ Peach Grove got another siblin’ at this rate!”
She peered out into the distance where her first grandfoal frolicked and played, ducking between the apple trees in some kind of game that nopony else knew the rules to.
Both Varm and Blue blushed at this comment.
“Oh, maybe just one!”
Blue giggled.
“Now what have y’all been up to?”
Varmint quickly shifted the attention away from herself and to her parents.
“Other than work?”
Limestone Pie joked.
“When you’re running two farms there’s no time for much else, you know. We’re lucky we had even an hour off for this. Summer and Brackish have been helping us out, and Mounty’s kept things in top shape, of course.”
“Aw, Mom!”
Mounty playfully protested from his perch in the tree above.
“I’d say it’s more of a team effort!”
“I guess so. A team effort that could always use more hooves. Speaking of, where have you been?”
She directed this question at her youngest daughter, who was staring at the ground with a blank look on her face, like her mind was somewhere far away.
“Obsidian? Y’all home in there?”
“OBSIDIAN!”
“Good! I’m doin’ just dandy!”
She quickly snapped out of it, trying but failing to hide that she hadn’t been paying attention and had no idea where she was in this conversation.
Varmint and Blue just had her thinking. They looked so happy together as Blue laid down on Varmint’s lap and let her stroke her mane tenderly. They looked at each other like they were each other’s entire universe, and the way the sun shone down on them made it seem like they’d been blessed by Gaia herself. The sound of their foal laughing in the distance only made it more of a fairytale.
A fairytale that Obsidian oh so desperately wished she could live in.
“I’ve been, uh, awfully busy with my shop lately!”
She attempted to pull herself out of it and engage with the family.
“It’s been real successful. Ponies an’ creatures from all over come to look at my lil’ accessories. Sometimes I think it’s almost as much as the apples y’all sell at the market. Almost!”
Her other family members chuckled along with her, and she felt like she had finally saved herself from discomfort.
“Ooh!” Blue grinned like an excited filly. “I just HAVE to come by again and see all the new things you’ve got!”
“Please!” Obbi replied. “I have all sorts of trinkets where I just can’t help but think, ‘golly, Blue would love this!’”
It was nice to laugh with her sister-in-law like this. With Blue a lover of all things beautiful too, she made Obbi feel a little less like a loose sequin at all the Apple family gatherings where most of her other relatives valued practicality over aesthetic.
But then Blue went on:
“You’ve got to help me convince Venny to come! I’ve been trying to tell her she needs a cute little ascot or a sparkly little hat, and I’m sure you could pull off something she’d like.”
“You think bling’s gonna help me charm all them snakes?”
Varm teased her back.
“It would definitely charm Precious! So you never know!
“Oh, c’mere, you.”
Varm and Blue started to shower each other with kisses and cuddles that most would find sickeningly sweet, but it was only a reflection of how much they truly adored each other.
And it got Obbi thinking again.
Other than their parents, Varmint Venom and Blue Velvet were the only couple in the immediate family. Summer could never find a long-term partner and Brackish purposefully never kept any, going through mares as quickly as one could chug down ciders. Mounty had proudly proclaimed his complete disinterest in romance and made clear that he was perfectly content with his life as it was. But while Obbi was happy for him, she just couldn’t imagine living like that. Without somepony to love.
She wanted what her sister and sister-in-law had. Someone who would admire all life’s simple beauties with her and be a shoulder to cry on through feelings both big and small. A lover who she could imagine in all the love songs she loved so much. A life partner who she could settle down and raise a foal with.
Sure, Obbi had a best friend who she wouldn’t trade for the world, but to her it just wasn’t enough. Thinking about your best friend out of the blue and buying her gifts just wasn’t the same as it would be with a lover. Plus there was just so much she would only get to experience in a romantic relationship, a hole that friendship could never fill.
Obbi was both terrified and heartbroken to think of ending up like her other siblings. Perpetually unlucky in love. Unable to form any close bonds. Forever married to work—which some chose willingly but she just couldn’t. Things weren’t looking good when the only relationship experience she had was crushes that didn’t go far and faceless silhouettes in her fantasies.
So as Obsidian watched the couple live in complete bliss, she was jealous, but it was more than that. She wanted more, she wanted something—and someone—that was all her own, that couldn’t be compared to others. The sheer need for it tore her up inside even as she did her best to go on like normal.
All she could do for now was hope and pray to Gaia that her time would come soon.
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