//------------------------------// // Repose // Story: Gravewalker // by Feral Pony //------------------------------// “Phew, okayokay, OOhh-kay. You can do this.” Ethan stood outside the gold trimmed double doors in Canterlot Castle. He had managed to get a spot in the day court. Everything around him was way to rich for his blood. The painted glass windows, the decorative banners showcasing both Luna and Celestias cutie marks. He hadn`t realized before just now, he was going to try and get a date with royalty. Even back on his home world he could never imagine himself going for the royal bloodline in the quest for love. Yet here he was. “God damn it, this is fucking stupid.” Ethan muttered to himself, not wanting to be too loud. His hands were shaking. “Come on, get a grip.” That was the last he said before the door opened in front of him, signaling that it was his turn to approach the mare of the sun. All of Ethans nervousness quickly got hidden away, though it was still there imbedded in his brain. He knew what he was going to do, and the mare in front of him had no idea what kind of shit show he was about to start. As he approached Princess Celestia, he got some second thought. Why do you have to be so over the top with you pickup lines, this one is so bad and dry all of the water in the entire country would pull away. Yet Ethan decided he didn`t want to come up with a new one on the spot, as it would surely be much worse than the one he spent the total of five minutes thinking up. “Haiya Princess!” Ethan approached with an enthusiastic wave. “I come before you today, because I want your opinion on something. I have been thinking about it for a long time, and I want your genuine opinion on this.” Ethan took a moment to warm up his voice, knowing he was going to do something he would regret. “Do you think, with a little determination from my side, I could be capable of moving your sun.” Ethan said while waggling his eyebrows suggestively. On the outside, Ethan looked committed and shameless with what he had just said, inside his head however he couldn`t believe those words just got produced by his vocal cords, he actually felt like dying would be a better option than looking at the shocked expression Celestia was currently giving him. Thankfully for Ethan, she managed to compose herself and looked at her guards to see how they were doing. This elicited a giggle coming from the ruler sitting on the throne. The guards, usually stoic and always in control, had their mouth hang open. It`s like their brains couldn`t understand how or why someone like Ethan could ask their ruler a question which made no sense, and be dead serious while doing so. Celestia assumed they got the reference. She wasn`t really sure how to break it to Ethan that she wasn`t interested if he was serious in his proposal, but she wanted to see how her guards reacted if she said yes. “Why, I think that a pony as determined as you, who is willing to come here and ask me such a bold question could definitely be capable of such. Why don`t you come see me later, say two hours from now, and we will discuss this topic further.” Celestia was working hard to sound serious and not break out in laughter. She looked at her guards. Yup. They gave the reaction she wished for. Celestia smiled satisfied, her work done, and nodded for the next guest to come in into the day court. Ethan left the room speechless. That worked? Well, Ethan had the undeniable charm of being a guy who could woo the ladies whenever he wanted, but he usually put in more effort back at Earth. Did he even want this? He was sure she was going to say no, but now that she said yes, did he really want to take the step and date ponies? Screw it, Ethan only had one life to live, and the princesses including Twilight said there was no way they could realistically ever find a way home for him. Might as well try and go all in on the whole dating ponies thing. Now Ethan suddenly had a lot more to think about, where was he going to bring her? Did he have to bits to pay for any expensive places? Ethan thought about it for a bit and came to realize he indeed had the money to eat wherever he wanted. “Okay, Two hours to find a place and be back here in time to talk to Celestia, I can do this.” Ethan Immediately went out to scour the streets of Canterlot, trying to find a restaurant that the princess might like. He found a winner after about thirty minutes of searching. It was a high class restaurant, but not so high you needed to order a table weeks before you would go to eat there type of restaurant. He was back in the castle way before his deadline with Celestia, so he just needed to kill time while he waited. And like Celestia promised, Two hours after they had made contact earlier that day she was walking out the doors looking for Ethan. He wasn`t hard to spot seeing as he was the only bipedal being there. She walked over to him with her motherly smile. “Hello.” “Hi.” Ethan said, internally shouting at himself for not having spent the time he waited on trying to come up with a way to ask her out in a way that would sound natural. Though, nothing about this was natural for Ethan. He was about to date a pony princess of all things, anything more ridiculous than that was hard to come by. “Did you see the guards, their faces?” She whispered with a giggly voice, not wanting anypony else to hear what she was saying. “Yeah, I did. Didn`t actually think you would say yes though.” Celestia took a hoof to her chest with a fake hurt expression. “I would never say no in front of my guards, that would humiliate you.” “Wait, You weren`t serious when you said yes?” Celestia didn`t want to hurt Ethan, but she barely knew him outside of that he was the human alien who had come and couldn`t return home, even with her help. He was a nice change of pace though with how he talked to her like they were on the same level rather than the tiring worshipping she was accustomed to. What could one date hurt. She could just say she wasn`t interested after it was all said and done. Besides, it would give her something to do that wasn`t paperwork for once. “I was serious, well, kind of. I`m assuming that what happened in the court room was just your bad attempt at a pickup line, and you actually want to take me out for a date, correct?”  Ethan was relieved that she understood his intentions. “Yeah, I found this really nice place we could eat, I think you might like it.” “Or, we could eat here!” Celestia chimed in with a chipper voice. Ethan wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted, but this was their date, and the woman, or the mare is always the boss even though the boys are supposed to pretend like they are in charge. “Or we could eat here, in the palace, if that makes you more comfortable. I mean it’s only a suggestion from me but, you know, whatever floats your boat I’m up!” Ethan said. Celestia got that playful smirk again, knowing he just took credit for her suggestion. Even if she was going to let him down later, she definitely wanted to get to know Ethan more after this. Hopefully he would be okay with them just being friends.