Feather stood in front of the local pond located outside of Starlight's village. When he asked Dear Darling about where will their date be, she told him to meet by the large pond where he usually writes poetry. Feather waited and wondered what kind of date Dear had planned for him. Maybe it will be a picnic date like what Swoon Song did? It could be a romantic boat ride, but Feather didn't see any boats floating by the docks. Feather continued to ponder the possibilities of Dear's date until the mare herself made her way towards the pond.
"Thanks for coming!" Dear said from behind Feather. He turned to have his eyes almost popping out from what he saw. Dear Darling was wearing a black one-piece swimsuit that fitted perfectly on her body. She was also carrying a small beach bag along with an inflated, green inner-tube. Feather knew that swimsuits were sometimes pointless since ponies often swim with nothing on them. That still didn't stop Feather from admiring how well the swimsuit looked good on Dear.
"What do you think of my swimsuit?" Dear asked as she moved her manes from her shoulders. Feather quickly calmed down to give Dear a reply.
"I uh, I think it looks great!" Dear giggled from the compliment.
"Thanks," Dear said. "I usually wear a swimsuit so I don't get cold when I enter the water." Dear then pulled out a beach blanket from her bag and placed it neatly on the ground by the pond. She dropped her bag and inner tube so she use her magic to pull out a bottle of sunscreen.
"Can you please rub some sunscreen on my back?" Dear said as she removed the straps from her swimsuit and laid down on the blanket. "I don't want to get sunburn during our date." Feather's heart beat faster than usual as he was being asked to do something most stallions would have the honor of doing: rubbing lotion on a mare's back. Feather didn't want to be rude to Dear; so he decided to suck it up and made his way to Dear. He sat down on his flank and began squeezing the bottle of sunscreen on to Dear's bare back which caused her to shiver from the sunscreen's contact. Feather took some deep breaths before he started rubbing the sunscreen on Dear. He took his time to rub the sunscreen all over Dear's back so she won't get any sunburns. As Feather rubbed, Dear couldn't help to let out a giggle a few times from how ticklish Feather's hooves felt.
"Alright, I'm done." Feather said as he wiped the rest of the lotion on a towel. Dear put her straps back on and got up to put some sunscreen on her hooves.
"Now it's your turn, Feather." Dear said with her hooves covered with sunscreen.
"W-what?!" Feather shot up from where he was sitting.
"Well, you rubbed my back so I thought I could return the favor." Dear answered. "It's one thing I don't want is to get a sunburn, but it would make me feel really guilty if you're don't have enough sunscreen on your back." Dear then gave Feather a pleasing pout. Feather gulped before he sat down on the beach blanket while Dear began rubbing his back with sunscreen. Feather also let out some some snickers as Dear rubbed certain parts of his back that was ticklish. Feather didn't see it, but Dear was having the time of her life enjoying every touch she could make on to Feather's back.
"Okay! All done!" Dear said as she and Feather got up from the ground.
"Race you to the pond!" Dear hollered as she ran to jump and make a large splash into the water. Feather followed Dear as he splashed into the pond as well. Both of them emerged from the pond to get some air. Feather flipped his mane to clear most of the water dripping down his face. He stared at Dear she also flipped her manes which was beautiful from his point of view.
"Ah! Much better." Dear sighed as she leaned back to let herself float on the water. She suddenly stood back up and turned to Feather in a mischievous look on her face. She moved one of her hooves to splash some water on to Feather, who's mane was wet yet again. Feather retaliated by splashing some water on Dear, which ended up causing a splash war between the pony couple. After exhaustion from all of the splashing, Feather and Dear decided to just swim along the pond and enjoying each others' company. Dear suddenly had an idea as she tapped on Feather's shoulder to get his attention.
"How about a race?" Dear asked Feather. "First on to swim to the end of the pond and back wins!" Feather bit his lips from his conflicting thoughts.
"I don't know, I'm not very fast when it comes to swimming." Feather admitted.
"It will be fine," Dear assured, "I'm not much of a swimmer as well. This is just for fun!" Dear's words gave Feather some confidence.
"Alright, one little race can't hurt." Feather answered as he and Dear got into their starting positions.
"On your mark...get set...go!" Dear yelled as she and Feather began swimming to the end of the pond. Feather put all of his efforts into paddling his hooves as he swam to the pond's end. When Feather turned to check on Dear, he was surprised to see her swimming at a further length than he was. Despite Dear being ahead, Feather kept swimming until he had reached the end of the pond. Feather placed on hoof on it before he turned and swam back to the starting area. He finally arrived while panting from exhaustion. Only to see Dear made it first and cheering for her own victory.
"I...thought...you weren't a good....swimmer." Feather panted while out of breath.
"It's true," Dear responded, "but I started practicing since last week. Do you like my progress?"
"I...barely caught up...with you." Feather said as he rested in the water. It wasn't till he saw Dear offered a hoof to him.
"Come on, slowpoke." Dear said. "Let's dry off and rest for a bit." Feather took Dear by her hoof and got out of the pond. They sat down on the beach blanket while drying themselves off with their towels. Feather noticed Dear was once again removing the straps of her swimsuit.
"W-what are you doing?" Feather asked.
"My swimsuit still makes my coat wet when I'm out of the water; so I'm taking it off to dry off more." Ponies don't often have anything to hide underneath clothing, but seeing Dear striping down made Feather blush and turn his head to avoid staring. Dear placed her swimsuit on the ground so she could lay next to Feather who sighed in relief.
"So," Dear said to get Feather's attention. "did you enjoy this date?" Feather was surprised to hear Dear ask that question.
"I thought it was relaxing." Feather answered. "I was surprised from how well you could swim after one week of practice." Dear chuckled.
"That's one fact you should know about mares," Dear replied. "we're full of surprises." Feather couldn't agree more from his two previous dates.
"I know," Feather nodded. "Swoon is an excellent cook since she made me those delicious meals for our picnic and Fond has quite the eye for shopping for the best deals." Dear got up to look at Feather.
"Yeah, we each have something special we're good at." Dear said. "You just got to spend time with us to find out." Feather thought Dear made an excellent point. A normal pony would see the three mares as a trio of swooning admirers who just go after Feather. But after Feather spent some time with each of the mares, he developed a newfound respect for each of his admirers. There was still one thing that Feather was curious about.
"So why do you like me, Dear?" Feather asked. "I know I have this stylish mane and all but something tells me there is more to your reason for going out with me." Dear just smirked at Feather.
"I really don't care about that silly mane of yours." Dear said as she ruffled up Feather's mane. "I liked you because you weren't afraid to show off to somepony you had an interest with." Feather raised a brow.
"One example would be when you were juggling those balls for Sugar Belle. Although most ponies would think that's lame, I thought it was impressive. I was really head over hooves for you when you performed that little musical number for Sugar Belle. I envied Sugar Belle for getting a song written by you. I mean, how did you get those colorful lights and the stage inside of Sugar Belle's shop anyway?" Feather winced as he didn't want to explain the further details.
"Anyway, that's what I like about you." Dear then got close to Feather to give him a peak on his cheek. "And I hope I could see more of that in the future." Feather smiled as he and Dear cuddled together as they enjoyed the rest of their date.