//------------------------------// // 16: Date Night Pt3 - The Datening // Story: Principal of Equestria // by MareDoVVell //------------------------------// Twilight put a hoof to her face in exasperation. "So if Rarity brought you all here then I take it you're aware of the situation?" "Which one?" Rainbow asked as her laughter began to slowly subside in favor of a mischievous expression. "The Chrysalis is dating kinda Celestia situation, or the you wanna totally have sloppy make outs with bacon hair situation?" Twilight simply groaned in response, trying to ignore the rising heat on her muzzle. Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a disapproving frown before laying a comforting hoof against Twilight's side. "There's nothing to be ashamed of dear, the others were just as enthused by the news as I was, in fact we all think it's adorable." Fluttershy nodded vigorously at this, but held back any further comment, much to Twilight's relief. "We all just wanted to be here to see it when Sunny finally kisses you!" Pinkie exclaimed, attracting a few glares from diners at the sheer volume of her enthusiasm. "...kisses me...?" Twilight mumbled, a far away look in her eyes as she stared at nothing in particular while her blush heated further. Suddenly she blinked, seeming to snap out of it as a look of confusion crinkled her muzzle. "Wait don't you mean the other way around? I'm the one pursuing her, she thinks this date is fake." The five of them had to collectively resist chuckling at their friend. "Heh, don't take this the wrong way sugarcube, but ya don't exactly have the stones fer makin the first move, and judgin by what you've told us, that Sunset sure seems like the go-gettin type." Applejack offered with a small shrug and a much larger smug grin. "I do too have the stones!" Twilight blustered, before thinking about her statement. "...figuratively...I mean...and I can't just sit there and hope that she makes a move when I don't even know if she likes mares...and even if she does, I doubt she even thinks about me that way..." she continued, much of her brief surge of embarrassed confidence deflating from her expression as she completed the thought. All five of them briefly looked away from the downcast alicorn in order to have a split second wordless conversation before bursting into action to rally their friend's confidence, but before they could, everyone's attention in the room was drawn to a nearby table after a bout of rather aggressive yelling and scuffling between a certain changeling and not-quite-princess... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunset scrambled frantically up onto her hooves, preparing to bolt from the restaurant in panic and embarrassment after Luna's outburst, but as she looked around, it seemed as if nobody in the entire restaurant had noticed. Of course, the reason nobody had noticed was all eyes in the restaurant seemed locked on Chrysalis and Celestia, who looked as if they were locked in mortal combat on the floor near their table. "Crap, that's probably not good..." Sunset mumbled to herself with a grimace. She began scrambling back across the rather expansive restaurant while trying to mentally review any spells she might still remember how to perform that had any chance of de-escalating the situation, but as she finally approached, the conflict seemed to have already resolved itself, and now the pair were leaned in over their table whispering conspiratorially. "Huh, that's weird..." Sunset muttered, getting back to her table just as Twilight seemed to be doing the same, shuffling back over from a nearby table. "So, uh, what'd I miss?" Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow as she slid back into her seat. "I'm...not really sure to be honest, but whatever it was it seems to be fine, I guess." Twilight said with a shrug, before glancing back at the pair and confirming they still seemed to be getting along before letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Oh...good, I was worried I left you without backup when you really needed me...would've made bringing me along pretty pointless, since we're just here to babysit them..." It took everything Sunset had to keep a sad and nervous waver out of her voice as she inadvertently reminded herself of the illegitimacy of their date. Oddly, she noticed that Twilight also seemed to frown a bit at her statement...how strange. There was a brief and extremely awkward pause as both mares looked around at anything but each other, nervously trying to come up with what to say next. Finally, Twilight's eyes landed on the pair of freshly arrived wineglasses sitting near the edge of the table, and she eagerly scooped both up in her magic. "Oh the waiter came by while you were gone and I ordered for you since you weren't here, I hope red wine is ok?" She asked as she floated one of the glasses across the table. "Oh, yeah that's fine, perfect in fact." Sunset said with a small smile, extending her own magic towards the glass to grab it, and for a brief moment she could feel her magic touching gently against Twilight's around the stem of the glass, causing her muzzle to yet again take on a light pink tinge. Immediately she felt the urge to look away and hide the smitten expression creeping across her face, but Luna's advice floated back into the fore of her mind. "Just be myself huh? Guess I have nothing to lose." Instead Sunset's expression morphed into a quietly confident grin and she locked eyes with Twilight across the table. For her part, Twilight too was struggling with how to deal with the feeling of touching magical auras with Sunset, and her panicked mind was coming up with a frazzled blank. This was not at all helped when she noticed the half-lidded smile Sunset had aimed right at her, and she was very tempted to take a page from Fluttershy's book and let out a high pitched "eep" before diving under the table. Instead she settled for a nervous gulp before timidly pulling back her magic and hefting her own wine glass, taking a very large sip, hoping the alcohol might explain away the flushed expression. Sunset raised an eyebrow as she watched Twilight's reaction and her grin widened considerably. "Now that's interesting...do I actually have a shot at this? Better not get ahead of myself, gotta test this further." She thought to herself as she followed Twilight's lead and took a hefty sip of her own drink, figuring it may further bolster her newfound bravery. "Hey Twilight, I didn't really get a chance to say anything before, but you look stunning in that dress." She said in as casual a tone as she could while ignoring the sudden squirming in her stomach. The reaction was immediate, as a small smile creased Twilight's reddening muzzle, which she again tried to hide with her wine glass. "I...um, thank you...you look really great too..." She squeaked before quickly taking a sip. "Jackpot!" Sunset thought, trying not to get too excited at the idea that Twilight might actually reciprocate her feelings. "What do I do now? Maybe I should just tell her?" The very thought sent a shudder of fear down her spine, but she seized on the shred of hope that her supposed "alpha nerd" tactics had given her and decided to stick with it. As calmly as she could, Sunset grabbed the edge of the small table and slid her chair around so that she was no longer across from Twilight, but next to her instead, causing the young princess to shrink in on herself slightly. "Hey Twilight, can I tell you something kind of important?" she half whispered in a breathy tone. Twilight's eyes widened immediately, reflecting a mixture of hope, fear, and realization. "Is she...no, no way, don't get your hopes up...but what else could it be?" she thought to herself, nervously gulping again in the hopes that her heart would stop shooting up into her throat. "O-of course you can Sunset." she finally whispered after realizing she had left the question hanging for far too long. Unable to look away, she stared directly into Sunset's eyes, causing her to completely forget about the half full wineglass hovering just next to them, which had started to vibrate rather violently. Sunset took a deep breath before smiling at Twilight reassuringly, or at least she hoped it was reassuring and not some kind of horrifying, fear filled, rictus grin. "Ever since I met you...ever since you saved me, I've had these thoughts stuck in my head," She started shakily, but her voice got steadier with every word. "and I didn't really get it at first, but after awhile I began putting it all together, and I think I...maybe...just a little bit...may have...fallen in lo-" As Twilight heard the words, it felt as if she already knew each and every one before they were spoken, and it was extremely difficult to resist the need to leap from her seat and begin bounding around the restaurant in pure happiness. As the final and most important word came however, her unattended magic decided it had other plans as it convulsed in sheer bliss, which consequently utterly pulverized the wineglass floating next to Sunset's head, dousing her in wine and powdered glass. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" Sunset hissed as her hoof flew to her neck and felt a rather large sharp object stuck in her fur. "Damn that stings!" She groaned as she tried to use her magic to extract what was probably a piece of the glass's stem from her skin while blinking sticky wine from her eyes. "Oh no, Sunset!" Twilight gasped, shooting up out of her seat, a look of concern and horror on her face as her magic scrambled around the table for a napkin, which she used to gently wipe Sunset's face. "I am so so so sorry!" She whined, "I must have lost control of my magic somehow!" She continued frantically, ignoring the voice in her head that was giving a detailed explanation on exactly how and why she had lost control of her magic. "It...ow...it's fine!" Sunset said through gritted teeth as she finally yanked the glass out of her neck, noting with relief that it hadn't gone any further than breaking the skin. "I'll be fine" she muttered, trying not to think about how the mood had been shattered even worse than the wine glass "It's not fine! I hurt you!" Twilight whimpered, tears creeping into the corners of her eyes as she picked up a fresh napkin and pressed it to the small wound on Sunset's neck. "And I ruined our date...that's about as far from fine as things can get, I'm so sorry." she added in small voice. Sunset gave a sigh at hearing Twilight's apology, pushing away the napkin and lifting a hoof to the side of her face and wiping away some of the dampness from the corner of her eye. "I thought it wasn't a real date?" She said, flashing Twilight a joking grin. This in turn caused Twilight's eyes to widen yet again, bringing back the whirlwind in her head as she stared at Sunset. Luckily this time her magic just crumpled a cloth napkin. Eyeing the napkin off to her side, Sunset couldn't help but start giggling, which quickly turned into full on laughter, and she had to struggle quite a bit to reign herself back in and stiffle it to just chuckling as Twilight gave her an extremely puzzled look. "What could possibly be so funny about this?" Twilight grumbled, the hope flowing out of her like air from a balloon for the second time in the past few minutes. "I just suddenly realized how stupid this all is!" Sunset admitted between chuckles. "Screw this, I'm just gonna go for it." she said with an airy grin. "Sunset what are you talking abo-" Twilight was cut off from her somewhat indignant question as Sunset's hooves wrapped around her neck and pulled their muzzles together into a rather strong kiss that was probably just a little too much for the middle of a crowded restaurant that was full of ponies currently staring at both of them. After a few seconds, Sunset finally pulled back, noticing that while she seemed to have been kissing back rather enthusiastically, Twilight's whole body felt as stiff as a board. "Um...Twilight...are you ok?" she asked, worry creeping into her voice as she began to fear she had misread the situation after all. Twilight's eyes fluttered for a minute as her jaw hung open. "I-I...um...I...have to go!" was all she said before a loud crack split the air and she disappeared in a large flash of magic. Sunset blinked a few times at the spot where Twilight used to be, before falling back into a seated position on the floor, her ears pinned back against her head and a despondent frown taking over her expression. "I guess I was wrong..." she muttered to herself before gritting her teeth and resisting the urge to cry and embarrass herself further. 30 seconds or so passed as she sat there, not really knowing what to do. She was about to pull herself up and walk out of the restaurant when another loud crack shook the dining room and Twilight appeared in front of her, a wild look in her eyes. "I FORGOT SOMETHING!" Twilight practically shouted. Sunset had so many questions at this point, but the statement caught her so much by surprise that all she managed was "I...what?" "YOU!" With a third deafening teleport, both mares disappeared, as every other pony in the room stared silently at the spot they had just vacated. At least until yet another loud bang went off, though this time it seemed to be coming from the large, vibrantly colored cannon being wielded by a bright pink mare in an utterly ridiculous disguise. As confetti rained down from the ceiling, Pinkie leapt up onto a nearby table and threw her hooves in the air. "THEY ARE SO TOTALLY GONNA DO IT! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!"