They eventually arrive at the table when the waiter does, and they take a seat much like they were positioned in the barn earlier, Rainbow sitting across from Flick and the other two across from each other.
Silk peruses the menu as Twilight seems to relax.
“So... anything interesting happen recently?” Flick asks, quietly pointing at the water on his menu.
"Well, there is a ceremony scheduled soon, but it's a secret from Applejack."
“...what? Then how are you gonna get her to come? I don’t think she’d stop her harvest for much of anything.” He gestures to all of them. “She didn’t even stop for lunch.”
"The mayor is going to call her down officially."
“...oh. That makes sense.” He gives a nod, then looks to the waiter, who is now waiting for Twilight’s drink order.
"Oh, umm... orange and peach juice, please." She says quickly.
“Pomegranate and apple juice,” Rainbow says, then turns the menu to him. “Could we also get the appetizer platter?”
"Strawberry Lemonade." Silk says.
The waiter nods and heads inside, leaving them outside to wait. Flick stares down at the table. “Is this a giant mushroom?”
"Is it? I always thought it was a decorative choice." Silk taps it.
They hear a thunk, but the noise doesn’t give them a definitive answer. Nor does the dust that comes from the underside.
"I guess it doesn't really matter as long as nopony tries to eat it."
He just shrugs. “Fair enough... say, did you get any new customers since I made you that sign?”
"Actually yes, thank you." She smiles. "It's still adorable to see them blush when they first enter."
“They blush? Really?” He grins, leaning closer to her.
"Well of course, my shop does inspire certain trains of thoughts." She winks.
“You sure it’s not because you’re the mare posing on your sign?” Rainbow mumbles around a complimentary flower.
She looks at her. "I don't know whether to be insulted or flattered by that."
“It’s a compliment,” Flick asserts. “They were inspired by you to try your outfits, wanting your confidence for themselves.”
"Oh you..." She giggles and flutters her eyelashes at him.
He smiles at her, patting her head. “Any new items since I was last there?”
"Hmm... well, I try to shift stock over time, but I did get a stock of more nurse themed items." She winks.
“...I’ll need to see you ladies in that, at some point.” He chuckles playfully, missing Rainbow as she looks back at her rump with a frown.
He doesn’t miss the drinks and appetizers being slid onto the table, though. He eyes the spread curiously. “...are those tomato skins?”
“Yes, sir,” the waiter informs them, quickly taking note of the color draining from his face. “Is something the matter?”
"He's allergic to tomatoes." Twilight explains.
“Oh, my apologies, sir! Here, I can-“
Flick pushes the plate closer to the other side of the table. “It’s fine, they can enjoy it. Maybe I could get something else, instead?” He looks to the menu, brow furrowed. “...do you have any fish?”
He looks slightly perturbed by this question.
Twilight also looks to the waiter now.
Put on the spot, he looks down and thinks. “...I don’t think we do, sir.”
“Darn. Guess I’ll just have some fries.” Flick sighs and starts to drink as the waiter writes this down.
"You don't like other vegetables or fruits?" Silk asks.
“...I can’t really think of any fruits at the moment,” he admits.
"Banana, apple, orange, pear, pomegranate, passion fruit, dragon fruit, grapes, cherries, berries..." She rattles off.
“...what the heck is dragon fruit?” The griffon asks, latching on to the most unusual name in the list.
"It's just an unusual fruit that reminded a pony of dragons when they first saw it. It doesn't allow you to breathe fire." She smiles.
“As if I need to.” He sticks his tongue out at her, then looks to the waiter. “Fruit salad, I guess?”
“Can I get a pasta and potato sandwich on sourdough bread?” Rainbow asks.
He nods, though he seems confused by the request.
The pegasus blushes a bit. “...I like to carbo-load.”
"Do you have a soup of the day?" Twilight asks.
“Our chef decided to experiment today, so we have tortilla soup and egg drop soup as our specials.”
Flick waves his claw, getting the waiter’s attention. “Yeah, that, that second one. I’d like that, too.”
"I'd like the egg soup as well." Twilight says.
"I'd like that fruit salad, but with any sweet dips you have as well." Silk orders.
He nods, scribbling everything down as he walks away.
Flick pokes the flowers in the center of the table. “So... you really eat these?”
Twilight nods. "Grass too, though that's more desperation these days."
His brow furrows slightly. “...don’t ponies walk on the grass? That can’t taste good...” He turns to see Rainbow with the appetizer plate, half of the food gone. “...I hope you realize I’ll have to avoid touching you, for now.”
“What!?” The blue mare cries out, dropping one of the tomato skins.
"Is it that bad? Or have tomatoes secretly gotten into our sweat when we eat them and we never knew?" Silk asks.
“Contact with them causes hives. Eating them is a lot more dangerous,” he says.
"Wow."
“Yeah, They’re... they’re bad news, for me.”
"No neightalian dishes for you, then."
“What?” He looks crestfallen. “No fettuccine alfredo? Or Caesar salad?”
"... okay, some." She laughs.
He promptly hugs her. “Don’t scare me like that! Those are two of my favorite dishes!”
"Then you'd know by now if you could have them!" She counters playfully.
He rubs his chin thoughtfully. “Touché. I’ll have to find another way to tease you.”
"I look forward to it." She nips at a feather on his neck."
“...hey, here’s an idea.” Rainbow gestures to Twilight. “Why don’t you lean on her for a bit? She looks comfy, too.”
Twilight blushes and looks pointedly at the flowers.
The weathermare even gets up and walks around the table, pushing the not-resisting griffon against the lavender pony. “There. Comfy, see?” She walks over to her seat and scarfs down the rest of the appetizer, not noticing his slinged wing starting to twitch and fluff slightly from where she touched him.
Silk shoots the blue mare a slightly dirty look, but doesn't say anything as she sniffs and watches the other two.
Flick squirms slightly, the injured wing twitching a bit more. “...while she’s right... she really shouldn’t have pushed me like that...”
"Wait..." Twilight gasps, quickly checking on his wing. Parting the feathers manages to find angry red skin underneath.
Rainbow can only stare in shock for a moment before blurting out, “How does that not hurt?”
“Oh... it might have to do with my pain receptors shorting out to preserve my sanity and your ears.” He gives her a pained smile.
"What an we do? Is there something you normally treat it with?!" Twilight asks, voice getting louder.
He gently embraces her, rubbing her mane with a talon and keeping her head on the side opposite the affected wing. “Twily, it’ll be fine. Do you trust me?”
"Yes... but I also worry..."
He just continues to nuzzle and pet her, the other two ponies able to see the redness slowly fading. “Thank you. It means so much that you care for me.”
Silk tilts her head at this, looking thoughtful. "You weren't kidding..."
“Told you.” He chuckles, looking to the thestral. “It works better if they actively show affection, though. Not you, Rainbow Dash.” He preempts the mare starting to stand. “Not until you clean yourself off, at least.”
She looks at her empty plate, dejected. “Right...”
Seeing this, Silk leans in to her ear. "There's some clouds over there."
A technicolor trail is left behind from how fast she took off at her words.
The thestral just continues munching on a few flowers. She finds herself in the shade a moment before Rainbow lands, the athlete having put a cloud over her. She looks up. "I hope that's for shade…"
A single drop lands on her nose, but nothing else happens.
"..." She narrows her eyes at it, but slowly goes back to looking at the others.
Flick catches her with a nose boop, chuckling as he pulls back his talon.
She blinks before smiling. "Glad you feel mostly fine at least."
“I’ll have to admit, she’s helping.” He pats the unicorn’s head before freezing, his wing violently twitching, a tortured expression covering his face.
“Oh hey, he got the feeling back,” Rainbow sardonically says.
Twilight instantly goes back to worrying. "Do salves help?"
“Yes!” He grits his teeth as he slowly, agonizingly folds it back against his side. “I mean yes. Sorry for yelling in your ear.”
"Okay okay, right, you stay here, I have one for burns at home!" She lights up her horn, teleporting away.
Flick falls flat on his face with her not there to support him. “...this lunch was more hectic than I thought it would be...”
"I hear that happens." Silk says, raising him up and leaning him on her.
Rainbow’s ire rises as he nuzzles the yellow mare’s neck. “You sure you won’t accidentally hurt him?” She asks through gritted teeth.
"I know how to control myself." Silk says with a toothy grin.
He taps her nose. “Control yourself.” He pauses as he looks to his talon. “...Silk, get away from the cloud. Please.”
"Huh?" Her wings flare as she goes backwards. A light downpour occurs where she was, apparently triggered by her movement. It only forms a puddle, but Flick scrambles to get away from it as though it were a raging fire.
The weather pony just sits where she is, baffled.
Twilight teleports back in holding a green bottle. "Got it... did I miss something?"
The griffon sits up and points the now-inflamed talon at Rainbow. “Did you use the cloud that you washed off with?!”
Her brow furrows. “No, I used the one below it.”
Silk facehoofs as Twilight starts applying the salve. "It's mostly for burns, but it's what I had."
He places his good claw on his chest, letting the unicorn work as he calms his heart rate. “Thank you, Twily. It helps.” He looks to Rainbow. “...rain clouds can mix, even if they aren’t touching. Please be more careful in the future.”
She has the grace to look ashamed at her mistake, even as the cloud drifts away from their group.
Silk gives it a gust to push it along faster before she comes back, observing the blue mare before giving her a pat on the back with a wing.
“...I guess I should work on my jealousy, huh?” She mutters.
"I think we both might, but maybe it's just in our nature until we get used to sharing." Silk replies.
She nods once, then sits up straight. “I at least got his first kiss!”
“No you didn’t,” Flick says. “Unless you mean the first since I got into town.”
Silk shrugs while Twilight looks curious as she puts on salve.
“...let’s just say it was stolen a while back,” he responds, rubbing Twilight’s head with his good claw.
"Oh... okay." She nods.
He nods, then looks to the puddle where Silk’s cushion was. “...what can we do about that?”
"Is this seat taken?" She pats his thigh with a sultry look.
Visibly flustered, it’s all he can do to shake his head, even if his other claw is holding Twilight close.
Silk laughs at both their expressions. "Maybe another time. I'm sure we can just ask for another cushion." She leans in to whisper. "But it might make a good seat for when I'm at the counter at work."
He gives a short nod, blushing brightly from her words, as well as the cute pony pressed up against his side, who hasn’t made a move to back away yet.
"Are you feeling better?" Twilight asks.
“Oh... yes, actually. Thank you.” He kisses her forehead and lets her go, albeit reluctantly.
She lets out a few mumbles, looking around for the waiter.
Instead, she finds the two fruit salads set down before Flick and Silk, the waiter waiting nearby with the sandwich and soups on his back, eyes on Twilight. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to interrupt your flirting, miss.”
"I-I wasn’t flirting!" She quickly says, face red.
“Your leg is wrapped around his arm,” Rainbow points out.
She looks down and sees this, blushing as she lets go. "I... um..."
“Twily, it’s alright.” He gestures to the table and food, the last plate of which has been set before them. “Let’s eat before our soup cools.”
"Yes! Eat! Let’s!" She nods.
He carefully picks her up by the waist, scooping her cushion under her with his tail before setting her down on it. “There, now you aren’t sitting on the hard ground.”
"... thank you." She says, quickly taking a bite of her soup.
He flinches, thinking she’d actually bitten the spoon. “...careful, don’t want to burn yourself.” He starts on his own meal, blowing on the soup in his own utensil before eating.
Her horn flashes once, but she seems fine as she takes another bite. "This is good!"
“Yep!” He takes a grape and tosses it into his beak, enjoying the soft sweetness.
Silk is chowing down on her own food, humming happily.
Rainbow eats half her sandwich in one bite, smiling as she chews. She jumps when a grape bounces off her nose, eyes narrowing at the two with fruit salads.
"Sorry, my aim is a little off." Silk says, winking at her.
She huffs and picks it up, sending it flying at the other mare. Then it curves and lands in Flick’s mouth, where he happily chews it up.
“No wasting food, please,” he says, offering Twilight a strawberry.
"Oh! Thank you." She smiles and takes it.
Rainbow frowns. “Isn’t feeding ponies you like a thing?” She mutters, looking at her sandwich and taking another bite.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Twilight asks as Silk slides the rainbow mare a piece of mango.
“You know, offering them food and they eat it off your hoof... or claw.” She eyes the claws of said griffon as she eats the offered fruit.
"Maybe? I took it with magic, though." She points out.
The athlete looks to the seamstress for help, gesturing to Twilight.
"Let her find out herself." She says simply. "It'll be cuter."
“Fine...” She pokes a piece of potato. “It’s gonna bug me until she does, though.”
"I'll be fine hun, just enjoy your meal and company.” She smiles.
“...yeah, I guess I can do that.” Flick chooses that moment to wipe the corner of Twilight’s mouth, licking up the soup that he had collected with his talon.
"I... you..." Twilight blushes more.
“What?” He chuckles, giving her a brief nuzzle. “Can’t let you messy that cute face.”
"I guess Spike was right about my eating habits..." She mutters.
“It’s not just you,” Rainbow says, pointing at Silk as an example and blatantly ignoring the crumbs on her own cheeks.
Silk licks the small bit of juice that was on her lips. "...what?"
“Point is, we’re all messy eaters,” Flick says, shrugging a bit.
Silk huffs a bit, but says nothing.
“To varying degrees,” he amends, popping a cherry into her mouth before she can properly respond.
She nods at this acceptable recompense.
The meal continues with Flick cuddled up to Twilight, occasionally offering her fruit until all that was left of their dishes was peach halves in his bowl.
Silk eyes those pieces while the bookworm just has a constant light pink glow.
He notices the former, picking up one piece and offering it to the bat pony.
She gently takes it from home in a wing, smiling gratefully before she eats it.
He smiles, then turns and offers Twilight the last piece. “Something sweet for someone sweet?”
"Thank you." She smiles at him as she takes it in magic, biting it and chewing with a small content smile.
“...okay, yeah, Twilight is cute,” Rainbow grumbles, chin resting on the table.
"We each have our own ways." Silk says, patting her back again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been cute,” she responds.
"Everyone is cute sometimes."
Rainbow frowns at Silk. “Says who?”
“I don’t know,” Flick says, “you do an adorable pout whenever you fail one of your pranks.”
Her head whips to him, rose colored eyes wide. “W-What?”
“Yeah, like that. Flustered Dash is adorable. Even more so when you’re blushing... yeah, like that.” He nods, smiling at her.
"You know, I think I see it." Silk muses while Twilight looks confused.
She raises her hooves to her cheeks. “...great, now you have something to tease me about.”
"It's what I do, hun, but as Flick might tell you, it's not so bad."
“Yeah. I like the brash and bold Rainbow Dash...” He reaches over, hesitant, but taps her nose regardless. “...but the cute and possibly cuddly Dashie is looking to be just as interesting.”
Her muzzle scrunches, partly from the touch. “How’d you know what mom used to call me?”
"He's good at guessing family nicknames." Twilight speaks up.
Flick looks at her curiously. “I am?” He glances over at Silk to get her take.
"Sorry hun, don't really have one."
“He calls you Silky,” Rainbow points out.
“I call our adorable scholar Twily.” He playfully ruffles her mane.
"Well yes, but mine isn't exactly a secret nickname that's hard to come up with." Silk points out.
“We could always work together to figure out a cuter nickname, if you’d like,” Flick says, smiling at her.
“...so you were saying about family nicknames, Twilight?” Rainbow pulls in her attention with the question, which she follows up with a sip of her juice.
"It's just that he called me what someone else in my family called me that no one else had." She explains.
“Who? Your mom? Your dad?”
"My brother."
Now the blue pegasus just looks confused. “Wait, you have a brother? Can we meet him?”
"Probably not, he's in the guard and that keeps him away a lot." She says softly.
“...where is he normally located?” he asks, mind working to get her spirits back up.
"It depends if he's deployed... it could be anywhere then, but he does come home to canterlot occasionally."
“We’ll go visit him then so we can get introductions out of the way.” He looks to Silk. “Any family you’d like us to meet?”
"Hmm... no real rush, but I'm sure you'll meet them eventually." She smiles.
Rainbow raises a hoof. “Yeah, can we just not meet my parents? Our relationship is delicate.”
This gets her an odd look from Flick, who stops rubbing Twilight’s shoulder to pay extra attention to the normally brash pony, now anxious. “What do you mean?”
“...it’s just... delicate.”
Silk pats her back once more. "Maybe later."
“...maybe.” She gives her a weak smile, then goes back to sipping her drink. Then she suddenly gets to her hooves. “Oh yeah! There’s a competition in Cloudsdale next weekend! You have to come!”
Flick points to Twilight. “But she can’t fly.”
"There are spells that allow other ponies to go to cloudsdale." Twilight says. "I just need to research them."
Their athletic friend looks at her curiously. “There are spells to give ponies wings? Aren’t balloons less tiring?”
"I meant just cloudwalking, but wings, hmm..." She looks thoughtful.
“If you get wings, can we fly together?” Rainbow and Flick look at each other, mildly surprised they said the exact same thing.
She looks between all of them. "Is that a big thing?"
“I was hoping for another flying buddy,” Rainbow says.
Flick scratches his cheek, blushing a bit. “...I was thinking it’d be sorta romantic...”
She blushes. "... I need to read into more pegasus traditions like that."
Rainbow spreads her wings. “There’s also preening.”
“...I can’t think of anything else,” Flick admits.
"There's so much to research now!" She smiles. "I'll do my best!"
He chuckles, feeling invigorated by her enthusiasm. His eyes turn to Silk. “Do you have anything to share? Rituals or rites you want to do with others?”
The technicolor mare opposite him frowns. “You make it sound cursed or something.”
"Hmm... not really," Silk says. "The most is probably little habits I'm sure you'll find out for yourself."
“Hmm...” His gaze narrows, and he pulls her close, beak doing the best impression of nibbling on her ear as it will allow.
She lets out a bat-like squeak, cheeks going pink as she smiles.
“...so I guess I’m out of lovey-dovey circle until I beat Applejack, huh?” Rainbow frowns, watching the waiter take their empty dishes and set down a chocolate cake.
"Maybe it's a courting ritual?" Twilight offers.
“...I guess?” She scrunches her muzzle slightly. “I don’t know griffon stuff like that...”
She looks to Flick.
“I’ll answer when we get to questions,” he says, poking her nose. “After we read.”
"Fine..." She tries to pout but it is short lived.
He chuckles at her adorableness, hugging her once more before looking to the cake. “How much do we each get?”
"A fourth, obviously..." She mutters.
“But I only want an eighth,” Rainbow says. “I need to stick to my diet more.”
"Didn't you eat a pretty heavy meal?" Silk asks.
“Yes. Full of carbs.” She points at the cake. “That’s mostly sugar.”
"Fine fine." She laughs softly.
“So who gets the last eighth?” Flick asks, already cutting out Dash’s piece for her.
"I think I'm going to be pretty full after all this." Admits Twilight.
“If you don’t want it, I’ll take it,” The griffon says, gently rubbing her back. “And I’ll help take care of you if you get a stomachache.”
She blushes more, looking around to make sure that wasn't heard.
She sees Lyra turn back to her table and hold a hoof out to the cream colored earth pony across from her.
The librarian quickly turns back to their table. "So.. cake." She quickly starts eating her piece.
Not much else is said as they dig in, and eventually they finish, Flick reaching over to wipe frosting off their faces and eat it. For Rainbow, however, he just uses a napkin.
Twilight stands up. "Well, this was fun, but I should be getting back. I've been gone longer than I told Spike I would be."
He nods and stands up with her. “I’ll come with you. We still have stuff to do together, after all.”
"Is it that time already?"
“Might as well be.” He looks to Silk. “Our thing is on for tomorrow, right?”
She nods. "Are you still up for it?"
“Only If you want me to.” He smiles softly at her.
"Of course. It's business after all." She smiles at him.
He nods, placing enough bits to cover the meals of everyone, plus another for the tip. He then links his arm with Twilight’s foreleg and walks off with her.
“...you girls are so lucky,” Rainbow mutters.
"Yes we are, but I appreciate the effort you're making, hun." Silk replies.
She gives a weak smile, then turns to watch the other two.