Ponies trotted along the streets of the Crystal Empire, as the Sun soared above in the sky, making the crystal buildings from the city shine in the sunlight.
For most of the city’s inhabitants, the day went as peacefully as anypony could expect. No unexpected storms isolating the Empire during this time of the year, and no dark villains emerging from the shadows and trying to take over were scheduled for today. Truely there was nothing to be worried about.
Well, aside from a pony galloping down the streets, looking as if she was in a big hurry.
Where the hay is this college?
The mare panted, trying to keep her speed while at the same time avoiding any sort of collision with the city’s residents.
I have to catch him before he goes back to class!
She quickly turned to her right, narrowly dodging a lamp post and a couple of ponies, who instinctively backed up one step after a pink and violet blur trotted right past them.
“Would you please be careful, young lady?” The old stallion yelled.
“Sorry!” Was the only response he got.
The running mare wheezed. Her destination wasn’t supposed to be that far away, and yet there she was, pushing her limbs and lungs to the maximum. She should probably have checked the city map in case she was going through the long route.
Making another sharp turn —and surprising another group of unsuspecting ponies—, she finally spotted her destination, right at the other side of the street.
Right in front of her, she found a wide and open yard, in which other several groups of ponies were hanging out. A lot of ponies seemed to be trotting back into the buildings that surrounded said yard.
Finally!
Crossing the street, and giving her legs a final sprint, she reached the front yard of one of the several buildings. There, she saw the pony she was looking for, calmly trotting up the stairs to said building.
“JAAAAADE!” She yelled, finally catching the attention of said pony.
The colt stopped in his tracks, right when he recognized the voice that was calling to him. Turning back, he also recognized a familiar pink unicorn mare, trotting towards him at full speed.
“Isn’t that your marefriend?” One of his classmates asked, interrupting their previous conversation.
“Ammy?” Jade asked, trotting back down the stairs. The mare finally braked, stopping her race just a mere meter in front of him. “What... what are you doing here?”
Amethyst Star panted, her lungs begging for oxygen after such a long race across the city. Jade could actually see several drops of sweat dropping over her forehead.
“I-I mean, we were worried about you! Your sister said you had run off somewhere, and several ponies of the site were actually—”
He was interrupted when she had used her magic to retrieve a black box from her saddlebags —which surprisingly, didn’t fall off during the rush— and lifted it at several inches from his face.
After taking a few seconds to catch her breath and be able to use her voice again, she opened the box, and then uttered two simple words.
“Marry me.”
After that, there were a few seconds of silence, only interrupted by Amethyst’s panting. During this time, Jade had lost track of what he was going to say, and could only stare at the engagement horseshoe neatly placed in the center of the box.
Sunlight was glittering from the smooth surface of one of the finest golden pieces of jewellery he had ever seen, making his eyes catch every detail. At one side, the horseshoe had several drawings depicting leaves, with a couple of small white gems.
As these two words finally sunk in his head, Jade looked back at the face of his marefriend, not paying special attention to his classmates ‘ooh’ing and setting all of their eyes in them.
He eventually snapped out of his trance, and saw Amethyst bearing the widest smile in her face, and both of her eyes glittering with hope.
Did his marefriend just disappear, and then out of nowhere summon herself in the middle of the Crystal Empire, proposing to him? Sure, Amethyst could be a bit unpredictable at times, but was this supposed to be happenning right now?
“I...” He then realized that he had left his mouth wide open, and his heart had also started racing. “Sure! I mean—”
Jade was interrupted once again, as Amethyst leaned forward and planted a kiss in his lips. He was also initially caught by surprise, but didn’t hesitate in returning it, both ponies now deepening the kiss and melting in each other’s warm embrace.
Several seconds later, both ponies pulled away from the kiss, gasping for air. Amethyst then levitated the black box again, quickly picking the horseshoe up in her magic. Jade felt as his wings had suddenly lifted up themselves, and tried his best to flex them back down, a slight blush forming in his face.
“Your hoof.” She stated. Jade complied, lifting his right foreleg. Amethyst then placed the shoe over his hoof.
However, the shoe refused to be attached to the male pony’s smaller limb, as it dropped to the floor once the mare’s magic was turned off.
“Ammy, I... I honestly think this is the sweetest thing you’ve ever done, but—”
“Hush! You’ll ruin the moment!” She said, picking the horseshoe up and trying to fit it again. The jewel still refused to stay in Jade’s hoof, and so Amethyst tried again, this time pushing harder with her magic. “Come on...!”
Once she stopped using her magic on the horseshoe, it fell to the ground again.
“... seven thousand for this piece of...” She mumbled, now getting extremely annoyed by the shoe’s stubborness.
“You spent how many bits?!” Jade interjected. “Amethyst! That’s insane!”
“It was nothing. Trust me.” Amethyst insisted, trying to fit the horseshoe once more. She failed once more, but this time it was because Jade’s hoof had been retracted.
“Ammy. Listen.” He tried to talk again. “This is a great surprise, and I really love you! But I mean, we met barely a week ago! Don’t you think it’s—”
“Precipitated? Yeah, I know. But I realized that you’re the stallion I’ve always wanted in my life. You’re the most handsome colt a mare could ask for, Jade, and you are the best writer in the entire aethernet! I’ve just started reading your latest story, and it was perfect ever since the start.” She said, making Jade’s blush return to his face. Amethyst thought for a moment how cute that pink colour looked on his face.
“I want to stay with you the rest of my life. Will you marry me? Please?”
Amethyst stared deep into his eyes, hoping that he would accept. He probably would, though Amethyst still felt a bit nervous about her sudden decision.
After two or three seconds that felt nearly eternal, Jade put a warm smile in face. “Well, if MixaMax herself says I’m the best writer ever, then why not? Even though you can be a bit stubborn at times, I love you too.”
With that, Amethyst felt a huge relief, once her worries were finally calmed down.
“But still, you don’t have to come all the way from Equestria in one day and spend all of your money just to propose to me!” Jade insisted, looking at the expensive jewel. “That’s just crazy!”
“It’s already been spent, so no more complaining.” She insisted. “I’m not taking a ‘no’ for an answer now.”
“Okay, I’ll take it. Though I don’t know what made you think my hooves were that big.” Jade said, lifting again his right hoof to briefly analyse its shape.
“Well, excuse me! I didn’t know you had the hooves of a filly!” She complained.
“You could have asked me anyways.” He joked, now with a playful smile.
“Ugh! Stop it!”
Amethyst leaned forward again, and both ponies kissed again, this time a shorter one.
“Still, you can’t just run off without telling anypony. We were all really worried about you.”
“I... kinda wanted to leave a note, but it somehow got trapped in the luggage.” She said, looking back at her saddlebags for a second. “Don’t worry about my sister. I’ll tell her everything tonight.”
The colt picked the shoe up, checking the detailed hoofmade patterns and small white gems that decorated it.
“So, we’re engaged now.”
“You bet.”
“Then I’d say we go to the jewellery store and ask them to reshape this.” Said Jade, taking a closer look at the shoe. “It’s beautiful, by the way.”
Jade decided to skip classes this time, so both ponies could spend a bit of time together. They started trotting back towards the street, this time without hurry.
“I know it’s beautiful, your parents said so!”
“Wait. You actually asked my parents?”
As the engaged ponies trotted along the streets of the Crystal Empire, the Sun soared above in the sky, making the crystal buildings from the city shine in the sunlight.