Lily nodded. "Yeah, I know. I mean, I wouldn't have seen myself falling for a fast-fighting flyboy, even back then, but I sure did..." Wrinkling up her muzzle a bit, she elaborated. "But with Val, it wasn't so much about the physical attraction — even though there was that too, I mean, he is pretty handsome, in a ladykiller kinda way — it was about the entourage; the celebrity. He'd just won the Grand Mêlée. He was on top of the world in the Royal Guard, him and his crew, and I was a wide-eyed Private who'd been granted permission to sit up there in the throne-room with them." With a snort, Lily began the end of the story. "Of course I didn't realize that to him I was just another in a long line of floozies, and he eventually treated me as such. I was young 'n' dumb, and if maybe I ain't the smartest mare around, I still learn from my mistakes. So I'm definitely not into doing anything like that ever again." A sigh escaped her lips, and her ears drooped down sideways. "Of course, having said all that I'll still probably go falling again for some hyper-aggressive ultra-stud who'll sweep me off my hooves and then inevitably break my heart taking advantage of me. Story of my life, really."