//------------------------------// // Dinner Date Pt. 1 // Story: The Regular // by Milo_Chalks //------------------------------// “What the buck are you wearing?” Vanilla yelled through her magazine as she sat on the lounge watching her preposterously over-dressed friend wearing a nervous smile along with a waistcoat, tie and overcoat. Ristretto heaved a defeated sigh and took off his onslaught of upper clothing throwing it into a clump on the lounge next to Vanilla. Vanilla gave it a disinterested look as Ristretto slumped next to her. “You’re right, that was terrible.” He huffed. “You’re only going out to a little Istallion place, you’re not visiting Celestia. Now just relax, you don't need anything more than a scarf.” She insisted as she grabbed Ristretto’s hooves and forced him to his bedroom shoving the pile of tangled formalwear in his face. Pushing him into his room she sat back on the couch, a smirk resting on her face at her friend’s nervousness. Ristretto finally came back out of his room, shuffling along the floor he nervously stood in front of his friend again. He wore a beautiful ocean-blue woollen scarf. Vanilla’s eyes widened at how perfectly it suited his white coat, Ristretto noticed, his cheeks warming up and glowing through his white coat at the attention he was receiving. “Ristretto… That scarf suits you absolutely perfectly, you look gorgeous... and did you shampoo your coat? It looks so silky and smooth.” Ristretto pushed up the scarf to hide his cheeks. “Thanks, Vanilla, it’s not too much, is it? I just shampooed it a little,” He asked with a little more confidence. “Not at all! A dirty coat is a huge turn-off.” She replied beaming at him. She stood up and hugged Ristretto, feeling his soft fur and subconsciously thinking about how adorable it was. “Alright, I have to go now, just be calm, stay relaxed, be yourself and have a fantastic time and this will go perfectly." The two hugged briefly before parting, Vanilla heading to the door and leaving Ristretto in the quiet house while he waited for his date, twenty minutes before the date was planned. Ristretto looked up at the clock he had in the lounge room, sitting on his sofa he switched his attention from the clock to the door. Five minutes… Ten minutes… The minutes kept coming, the slowest he had every imagined them to be. Finally at exactly five fifty-seven, there was a knock on the door, quicker than lightning Ristretto leaped up and ran to the door to answer to his date. “TOUCH MY BEARD AND THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT OF YOU!” Sunburst shrieked as he galloped around the table staying on opposite ends of Starlight Glimmer and a menacing razor she held in her hoof. “Comeon Sunburst! The stupid thing needs to go, please!” Starlight whined as she banged the razor onto the table in defeat. Sunburst huffed and crossed his hooves clearly in no rush to get up and comply. “When are you going to back to Ponyville again?” He asked sarcastically moving around the table as Starlight made one last attempt to catch him to little success. “Fine, keep the beard, but please lose your work cape and just put on a scarf or something.” She sighed filled with defeat. Sunburst gave her a cheeky smile before starting to go up the stairs. “And clean yourself up! Use the shampoo on your coat! Just make sure not to use the mane stuff or you’ll get all fluffy. Starlight waited on the sofa as Sunburst got cleaned up and ready. Finally, after fifteen minutes, Sunburst shuffled down the hallway and stepped in front of Starlight, an expectant look on his face as he waited for his friend’s opinion. He had nothing on, his beard straight and trimmed as well as a brushed and shampooed mane. “You’re not wearing anything! You are going to a nice Istallion restaurant, at the very least put on a scarf and a coat or something!” She cried as an annoyed look came over Sunburst, he sighed before fetching a grey coat and emerald green scarf from his bedroom. He huffed as he once again stood in front of Starlight. “Alright Starlight, at this point I really don’t care. This will be fine. Now, I gotta go or I will be late.” He started firmly as he grabbed his bit pouch and made his way to the door. “If you follow me again -and don’t pretend you didn’t at the coffee shop- I will dump your butt on the next train back to Ponyville.” “Don’t worry about it Sunburst, I know you’ll do fine, just be interesting, be attentive and you’ll do fine. Good luck! You have totally got this.” She replied while pushing him out the door. “Now go! Like you said, you’ll be late, seeya later Sunburst!” She gave him a hug and shut the door on his face. “Starlight! Wait!” He shouted at the door. Too late, Sunburst could hear the scuttling away from the door. With a sigh and a slight spring in his step he made his way through the nearly melted snow towards Ristretto’s house. “Be interesting, be attentive, have fun, I can do that.” He spoke to himself. “Hi Sunburst, you uh, you look…” Ristretto stumbled as he opened the door revealing Sunburst standing on the porch. “Good?” Sunburst finished for him before hugging the nervous stallion. “You do too, now we have half an hour before our reservation, wanna just take a walk?” Sunburst asked stepping aside to allow Ristretto to step out the door. Ristretto in turn locked the door and gave his date a smile. “Sounds great!” He replied as the two walked off the porch. Sunburst walked alongside the white pony closer than usual. A smile instantly spread over Ristretto’s face as he turned his face away to hide his grin as the two walked on. Finally Sunburst broke the silence. “Winter wrap-up will start soon, I’ll probably just be on the planning team, what do they usually get ponies like you to do?” He asked as they trudged through the sleet. “Well usually the coffee shop reduces its prices heaps and makes one bit coffees for everypony that is contributing to the wrap-up, I think you can only buy two coffees though, we get a bunch of ponies on that day because of how busy it is, and while we barely break-even, it is worth it for the smiles on everypony’s faces.” Ristretto answers. The two walked in silence for awhile, the only sound coming from the busy streets further into the heart of the city. The sound of the city approaching as the two got closer to their destination in the central streets. Finally the barista broke the silence between them. “Hey, Sunburst?” he asked. “Yes?” Sunburst replied, encouraging Ristretto to continue. “Are you nervous about tonight?” Ristretto finished. Sunburst’s face fell for a second, pensive showing through his features.as he thought about the question. “Not really to be honest, if we let nerves get the better of us it takes away from having a fun time. You’re a really nice pony to be around Ristretto... and I want to give you a great time; so please, don’t feel nervous around me, there is nothing to be scared or nervous about.” Sunburst replied. Ristretto walked in silence thinking about what was said. “I never really thought about it like that, you have a really beautiful way of thinking about things Sunburst.” The two stallions looked away from each other, both smiling to themselves as they kept walking. Sunburst leaned in and started walking closer than what is considered a normal distance to walk next to somepony. Practically touching they walked onto the Istallion joint on the main strip. Walking in they were greeted by the maître d' and seated by the left of the restaurant. The restaurant had a bright setup for the darkened late winter nights filling the restaurant with a warm glow. The whole restaurant glowed Istallion from the rich furniture and intricate finishings on all the table linings. Even the chair padding had that higher class charm while still toned down enough to not seem to ostentatious. Everything was a very light coloured polished wood from the ceiling accents, to the chairs, to the bartop and cellars. “Alright, we can share a pizza, or get our own meals, what would you prefer?” asked Sunburst after skimming the menu filled with assorted traditional Istallion meals. Ristretto’s eyes lit up at the pizza flavours listed on the oversized menu he had picked up. “Pizza? I haven’t had it in years! I would love a pizza, can we get one of the more simpler ones? They have less ingredients but they are much nicer than the ones filled with vegetables.” He placed the menu back on the table and tried to look over at Sunburst to no avail with the large menu in the way. “Alrighty! How about margarita?” Sunburst asked placing his menu down to see his date leaning over the table trying to look over the the large sheet now on the table, he smiled and pecked him on the snout making Ristretto pull back his cheeks reddening at the affection in public. “I was hoping you would say margarita, and some garlic bread!” Ristretto exclaimed getting excited. “Well duh, you can’t go to an Istallion place and not get garlic bread.” Sunburst smiled at the excitement building from the barista. He is so full of life, fun and exciting. I can’t believe he was crushing on me, maybe I am falling for him. Waking up to that smile in the morning… “Sunburst? Uhh Sunburst? We are ready to order…” “Huh? Oh yeah, uhh where is the waiter?” Sunbrust asked waking up from his daydream. The orange stallion looked around to his left and went to turn to his right before yelping and jumping out of his seat as the waiter surprised him from his right. In reality the waiter had arrived halfway through Sunburst daydream. “Sorry about that sir. Are you alright?” The waiter asked as Sunburst now standing up clutching his chest as he recovered from the scare. “No sorry that was my fault,” Sunburst replied while the waiter picked up his chair and allowed Sunburst to order now. “Uhh yeah we are ready to order now, can we get a medium margarita and some garlic bread?” He ordered, “Oh and some table water too please.” He quickly added. Ristretto chuckled at the scene playing out as the waiter recited the order and left. “Sunburst are you alright? You seemed at bit out of it just then.” Ristretto asked. “Yeah I just got a bit lost in thought,” The orange stallion replied smiling as he turned back to his date. “What were you thinking about?” The barista dug further.” “Oh well umm, just about… well, about you... and me” Sunburst awkwardly confessed scratching the back of his head. Ristretto thought about this for a second both stallions not really talking much, after a couple of seconds Ristretto decided to continue the conversation. “So I never really heard much about your childhood, so what was it like?” Ristretto asked. Caught slightly off guard, Sunburst stammered for a bit before answering. “Oh well umm, it was pretty decent. My parents were loving, they are getting close to retirement now, but yeah I went to school in Canterlot. I only really had one friend though, it was actually Starlight Glimmer -that mare that helped us look for Hazell when he went missing, yeah she was my... one friend. But we kinda got split up when I moved to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, I wasn’t all that great at the school and Starlight and I grew apart.” Sunburst looked a bit down at this but lightened up as he continued his story. “Once I… left magic school I didn’t do much, but years later Starlight and I met again and she helped me become the Royal Crystaller here, it’s been a couple of years since then, but we got in contact again when she came here after Flurry was born; now she’s Twilight Sparkle’s student! When she has time she will come down here and spend a week or so with me. I was an only colt so life was... kinda lonely when Starlight wasn’t around, I got by though, so how about you? What was your childhood like?” Sunburst cocked his head and gently smiled. Ristretto smiled as he thought about the question. “Well, I was an only colt for most of my childhood. I had one or two friends but we kinda lost touch when I finished school. Mum and Dad were the best parents, always trying to make sure I was happy.” Ristretto got a bit teary at the thought of his parents but continued to smile. “I was so lucky to have them. When I got my cutie mark they bought me a small barista machine to practice on, it wasn’t cheap either, it was like a professional machine. It was the happiest day of my childhood, really. Then about two years before I graduated they had Hazell Quill and I had a little brother. He was the cutest little foal. After I graduated I decided that I wanted to change things up and decided to start travelling. The great thing about being a barista is you can get work anywhere. Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, I even got a job at Canterlot, I travelled all over Equestria, but then Dad got sick and I came home. Hazell was still too young to fully understand what was going on. I knew we didn’t have much time left, so that’s when I decided to come out to them. I think they were kinda happy I wouldn’t getting involved with mares.” Ristretto took a moment to pause and chuckle as the tears started to come. Sunburst quickly lept up and came over to Ristretto to give him a hug. “You are are such a strong pony to talk about this Ristretto. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to lose your parents so young.” Sunburst squeezed him a little before sitting back down in his chair. The barista sniffled a little before continuing. “Thanks Sunburst, I have never really talked about it before. Well… after Dad passed it wasn’t long before Mum was... in an accident. I was given Hazell as next of kin, the first couple of months were hard. I can’t imagine how it must have been for him. Every night he cried himself to sleep asking for Mum to come home. He was only nine at the time. He slept with me every night for months. He managed to get control of himself, I was so proud of him. He is by far the strongest little colt I have ever come across, really. Since then we’ve lived here, with me at the coffee shop and him at school. He’s going to be an amazing stallion when he grows up.” Ristretto finally finished. This time it was Sunburst’s turn to get a little teary. “That is an amazing story. How much you have both been through. From the looks of it you are both strong stallions. Hey do you know where our food is?” Sunburst looked around, he caught the attention of his waiter who quickly snapped into gear as soon as Sunburst made eye contact, he raced through the restaurant with the food in his aura placing it on the table. “Sorry sir, your food has been ready for a few minutes. I didn’t want to interrupt, it seemed like you two needed a few moments.” The waiter explained bashfully. “Oh, yeah, heh, thanks.” Sunburst finished. The waiter walked off and the two stallions ate their dinner. The conversation carried through dinner right until the settled the bill and walked out the restaurant. “That was an amazing time Sunburst, thanks, for everything.” Ristretto hugged Sunburst and smiled. “What do you mean? Stay a little longer! I have somewhere I want to take you.” Sunburst exclaimed nervously trying to get Ristretto to stay. “Oh, okay, sure! Lead on, My Sun.” Ristretto smiled. Sunburst stopped hugging Ristretto, “‘My Sun’?” Ristretto shrugged, “I like it,” and started walking away from the restaurant. Sunburst thought for a moment then nodded, “I like it too.” “Great! Let’s go.” Ristretto began to walk towards the road, then realized that he didn’t know where they were going. He stopped and let Sunburst take the lead. With a smile on his face he followed his date away from the main strip and into the quiet streets of the Crystal Empire.