//------------------------------//
// Date Night 
// Story: A Trail to the Stars 
// by JimmyHook19 
//------------------------------//

Stratusburg is a small city nestled high in the mountains of Equestria. It is unusual in that regard, not because of the mountains but because of the fact it is primarily inhabited by pegasi. This is rare for ground based settlements, which conventionally have a majority earth pony population, or sometimes unicorns, who often prefer to settle in mountainous places, whereas Pegasi generally prefer to create settlements in the clouds. This is because pegasi are unique amongst the races in their ability to walk on clouds and breath very thin air, an ability only matched by the alicorn (of which there are not many), due to their combined earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn biology. Stratusburg, however, had the advantage it was hard to reach by non flying creatures, and hence many pegasi called it their home. That, and it had plenty of cheap real estate, but let's not get into that too much now.

The town was currently enjoying a lovely evening as the sun started to fall below the mountains, turning the air a variety of shades of blue, red, orange and indigo at various points. A surprising number had turned out to start hosting a market, the cooler air and clearer environment making it perfect for a market now. Selling things when it is very hot and the sun is at its peak generally does not work. The local restaurant, run by- no surprises here- a pegasus- was also busy that night, many sitting back and looking at their newspapers, playing a game of pool or playing at cards, or in some cases just kicking back and enjoying a drink. It is here that our protagonist enters.





On one quiet street of this quiet town, a door opened hastily, closed behind the occupant, slamming shut with a bang, and then was locked in place. A young pegasus mare rushed out of the door and began trotting as fast as she could along the street, looking up at the clock as she did so, the old clock that sat atop the town hall tower. The hands moved slowly as she rushed along.

"I hope I'm not too late!" she called, as the rushed along, though not wanting to go too fast for fear of tripping up and looking silly as a result. That would never do.

I suppose we should take the opportunity to take a look at our speaker and protagonist, and examine her appearance. She was, as previously stated, a pegasus, with a greenish grey coat and light bluish green eyes. Her mane, exquisitely colored in shades of green and yellow, was piled up upon her head and seemed to float in place in defiance of all known laws of gravity. Said mane also curled around the back of her neck and ran along to sit in front of her. Her cutie mark, of a tornado like thing, sat upon her flanks, and her wings were curled up at her sides. Out of her rear floated a tail of the same color as the rest of her mane, and gently hovered in the air in defiance of physics.

Her name was Vapor Trail, a trained Wonderbolt and life long resident of Stratusburg. Here on leave from her training alongside other cadets, she was heading out for a date, and was convinced she was late. In the distance, she heard some angry shouts, though nothing to be particularly concerned about, and dashed under the canopy of the aforementioned cafe to see her date sitting there casually in the chair, his back against the backrest and his hooves behind his head.





The familiar blue fur and green buzzcut mane, as well as green eyes, with a similarly short tail, and a cutie mark of a yellow lightning bolt, was her fellow Wonderbolt, foalhood friend, and crush, Sky Stinger. If he was here, she was therefore late. "Sorry I'm late Sky!"

Sky smiled, and indicated to the other chair. "You're on time. I'm early." He touched the side of a glass with his hoof, and the waiter returned from earlier. "Vapour would like to order too."

""My usual, please," Vapor answered as well.

"You two are so predictable," the waiter smiled. "That's two drinks, coming right up." Somepony had had the kindness to light some candles on the table, which made the scene so very romantic (and precisely the atmosphere that the pair was looking for on the day).

"So, how was your day?" Sky asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Same as yours," she smiled back. "Training as usual, then some time to relax." She then looked down, and put her hoof on her muzzle. "A-choo!" A few years back, Vapor had been voted 'Stratsburg's best sneeze', an interesting category to win which had seen Angel Wings nearly beat her. Sky, on the other hand, was Best Flyer, something that will surprise nopony, I reckon.

Vapor's attention was drawn again when Sky spoke again. ""There's something I'd like to do."

"What's that?" she asked, and then she saw Sky had removed a small box and opened it. Inside it was a ring, and one of the most beautiful rings that she had ever seen. ""That ring is so beautiful!"

Then, Sky asked her the question she had been waiting to hear for years. "Vapor Trail," he asked, his muzzle wide and smiling in happiness. "Will you marry me?"

Vapor wasted no time in leaping over the table and taking Sky into a tackle hug, nearly knocking his chair over in the process and leaving Sky briefly without air. "Yes!" she cried. "Yes, yes, and yes again! Sky, you've made me the happiest mare alive!"

It took Sky a few seconds to react, but he caught on, and returned the hug. "You know how I feel about you, Vapor. Let's have the wedding as soon as we can."

Vapor was now grinning like an idiot. "That's sounds fantast-" Suddenly, her mind went blank, and the word MA flashed across her mind. She put her hoof up to her forehead to try and clear it. "Sugarcubes! Not again!"

Sky went over, looking very concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Vapor replied, looking at the ground. "Just randomly the word 'ma' flashed through my head. Probably nothing."

Sky nodded, but Vapor could tell he wasn't convinced.