-A month later, evening, Canterlot, The Tasty Treat, Fizzle-
In the middle of Restaurant Row was The Tasty Treat.
Maries and I were pretending this was in celebration of Jade getting her right arm fully back in order and for finally being well enough out of therapy to walk and snuggle again. Escargot was everyone’s favorite kraken when it came to physical therapy.
We were still taking it easy and we were going to dote on our crazy cat tonight, so we chose a place that was easy to approach without causing too many issues.
I stood outside looking at the décor. Turning my gaze to the side, I saw that Maries were busy keeping Jade propped up against themselves and they were happy to help her get around.
It’s not ostentatiously fancy, it was a small homey place and most importantly it was out of the way off the beaten path. All these things were something Jade would certainly appreciate. The most important part of this place was that it was a quiet venue so that Maries and I could work our charms on Jade. Plus the food was good, affordable and they owners accepted odd beings like Maries coming in for a meal.
I’d say this was the perfect venue for this evening and we, Maries and I, have already worked out some arrangements with Saffron Masala and Coriander Cumin. They were going to make sure nobody bothers us while our date tonight hopefully went as planned.
Restaurant Row currently had all of our friends running around this evening, they were making sure there was absolutely no outside interference for what was supposed to be a perfectly quiet night for the five of us.
The others were all also on dates too, except for Jacky, Gene and their son Gavin. They were having a family night, even then Jacky and Gene came to Canterlot fully armed and ready for a fight. With Jacky’s rather exceedingly notorious luck, they definitely needed their weapons.
Flotsam was on a date with Wheel Twist somewhere around here. She was apparently getting along with the friendly unicorn. Wheel didn’t even mind the biological issues of dating a land bound sea pony, he even got along with Nefer and that wasn’t exactly hard to do.
Arizona, Paprika and Velvet were doing something a little classier than us, I have a going bet that at least Arizona flips out on some pony and destroys the restaurant before the night is out. Maries has bits on the long odds of Paprika flipping out and destroying the restaurant by accident. Jade said Velvet will flip out, but will still tip their waiter regardless of who actually destroys the restaurant and might do it herself.
Fortitude, Skelly, Flamberge and Sweetcakes were going to some traditional Neighpon restaurant. Flamberge and his girlfriend were quite close, they kept their relationship relatively quiet and didn’t express it much in public. Though I did catch Sweetcakes rubbing her tails all over Flamberge once, I ignored their embarrassment and moved on with my life.
Fortitude and Skelly were the oddest couple in existence. Don’t know how Fortitude or Skelly got to that point, don’t want to know, at least they are happy with being close to one another and that’s what mattered. Skelly doesn’t have a sense of smell and Fortitude is definitely not getting any girlfriends that come with that ability within this lifetime.
Skelly was being classified as a friendly yokai for the purposes of this night and her friends were going to vouch for her to that effect.
Of course there was mom the beloved witch Kuril and her companion Blade the bat pony. They were cute together, I wonder if it was what mom was like with Jade’s father before he passed away due to illness. Instead of eating at a restaurant, they were going to have fun by commandeering one with completely playful intentions.
As for us, we were doing nothing dangerous, nothing exciting, nothing crazy, nothing bizarre and not attracting the ever annoying ‘Puks’ by talking about them. We were doing this romantically tonight or we’d die trying to the forces of chaos that even Discord couldn’t possibly control!
Just a quiet meal, some snuggles, a few kisses and something important to tell our cat after dessert, that’s all I’m really asking for here.
Jade wasn’t dressed fancy tonight, she was just wearing her usual things. A shirt orange with black stripes, shorts in a snake green color, her pack and the necklace of magical alchemy ingredients including the ring we gave her tied to it.
We preferred Jade to be as comfortable as possible for what we were going to ask her, so this date was as casual as we could get.
All it would take is about five words, but Maries and I were mildly nervous. I knew I wanted this, Maries knew they wanted this and we knew Jade would say yes no matter how we asked her.
The question was simple and yet it was life changing. We snuggled and cuddled in bed, but this could change the activities we might ultimately be getting up to eventually.
Maries and Jade being attracted to me has always felt a little awkward, since they considered me the most attractive one in the relationship. Comparing Jade against myself, I would say Jade was the one that was attractive with her feline grace and quirky personality.
I was scarred by life, I had opened up my eyes to the cruelties of the world and yet… here I was trying and succeeding in getting back some of that missing innocence where the world was once a much brighter place.
I had finally opened up my eyes to wonders and possibilities of the world now too. I can smile, laugh and even be a little playful now. My friends old and new had led me back to being happy, now to push the envelope with my rather unique herd.
I was probably more dangerous than most things now anyway and I completely decimated an alicorn’s horn without damaging my own in the process, which certainly built some confidence in my magic and the ability to protect my loved ones. Not that they needed much protecting, everyone from Airship Mauled was a veteran of getting into and out of danger by now.
“Come on, let’s go in.” Hopefully there was no one already in the restaurant that would bug us tonight, I even went so far as to make sure the Wonder Bolts wouldn’t be here.
Spitfire would cause too much of a scene given she dislikes Jade for fairly obvious reasons, so I paid off Fleet Foot to keep her away from Restaurant Row tonight.
Whenever things feel normal for too long, something ridiculous always inevitably happens and all the various oddities that happened throughout Jade’s recovery had been recorded for posterity.
We had trouble doing normal things and we were prepared for that this time, Jade wasn’t the only one that could come up with absurd preparations and plans. The only difference is that I can actually do the math required to make sure that nobody interferes, to do so now would mean that I wouldn’t be holding back in using my magic on them.
Absolutely nothing was being left to chance tonight, nothing!
Jade stumbled a bit and I steadied her with a hoof and she slowly walked in, Saffron said hello and we were soon seated in a booth in the back just outside the doors line of sight. Maria had decided to stay separate from her sisters for this night to make it easier to sit down in the booth.
“Welcome to the Tasty Treat, what would you like to drink?” Saffron asked.
“A full pitcher of lemonade please.” Answered Jade with a peppy tone.
Again, it had been quite a task to keep Jade on the mend when she was always wanted to do something fun or interesting while still recovering. It didn’t help that Airship Mauled magnetized weirdness about as badly as Ponyville did.
“Trust us, she’ll definitely finish it.” This was my response to Saffron’s curious stare. “We probably should enter her in a lemonade drinking contest one of these days.”
It’s a good thing Abyssinians are easily distracted by yarn balls, you just had to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t accidentally choke themselves when they inevitably tied themselves up by clawing playfully at the yarn.
“Mango cranberry pomegranate juice mix.” This was Mara, Maria and Marie’s choice for the night.
“Grape juice.” After getting my drink order, Saffron left us to look at the menus for a bit.
Eventually Saffron came back with our drinks and we all made our orders.
Dumplings, dipping bread and soup, curry, a noodle dish and a few other things soon littered the table as we ate. Our conversation topics weren’t highly enlightening, but the feast was quite nice and Jade was enjoying it well enough.
“Now that GODLESS is no longer a problem and Twilight will be dealing with Stochastic for the foreseeable future… I wonder what our next great adventure will be and who among the nobles will make a move on me next?” Nobody better make a move on you Jade, they will really pay for it if they do. We made sure to make a clear example of ‘Stochastic the piñata’ in the Canterlot newspapers. “I kind of want to travel around with Jacky for a while, take up some random jobs, get into some fun shenanigans with the royal guard and generally just want to wander about Equestria finding intriguing things to look into.”
“I’m planning on being a royal guard for Twilight you know…” I muttered loudly.
“I’ll just have to tease you extra hard then won’t I? You’ll definitely be the best guard ever, or at least the most competent one to ever live! Also, since Maries work in Canterlot as lawyers, it wouldn’t be too hard for you to visit them either.” Okay, Jade just brought up an obvious problem in our group dynamic.
Maries and I could work in Canterlot easily, Jade however liked to move around and wouldn’t like to live, work or be here exclusively. We’d just have to trust Jade could take care of herself, which was hard to do when she was nearly as bad an injury sponge as Jacky was.
It’s actually hard to believe that Jacky and Jade weren’t related by blood or were distant cousins at the least.
“How about I give you a job every once in a while to tortur-er-train the recruits up?” None of us wanted to live here. Well I could live here easily enough with my stoic attitude, but Jade and Maries would suffer if they were to try and do the same. That’s simply something I’m not going to allow.
Airship Mauled was our home and at the end of the day it wasn’t that long a commute every other way than taking a train.
“Did you say I get to tortur-er-train royal guards not just for fun, but also profit too?” Jade sat up and her whip like tail flicked back and forth excitedly in an adorable manner, she put her elbows on the table and her chin her hands as she leaned towards me with a grinning face. “Tell me more my lovely mare.”
Darn it Jade, we’re supposed to be charming you!
“We’ll go over it later my second favorite cuddle cat.” I hugged Jade and went back to my food.
“Second favorite?” Whined Jade pitiably.
“Mara’s bigger.” I commented dryly.
“Ah! Second favorite it is then, because Mara is definitely gives wonderful cuddles and Maria helps in the size department with her fluff. On a cold night Maries is enough of a bed all their own.” As Jade went on Mara blushed and all of Maries looked to me. We were not going to do a very good Job with charming Jade when she keeps doing it to us. “So which of us gets to have Marie wrapped tenderly around them tonight Fizzle? Her scales definitely feels nice on the fur and the way her tongue tickles my neck when she snores always feels wonderful.”
“Change of topic, what do you want for dessert?” Marie asked calmly with a red face. As Saffron approached us again.
“I don’t know, are unicorns and chimeras on the menu? I’m sure those two options would be the tastiest treats here.” Okay, Jade stupidly good at flirting with us, she was cheekily smiling at us while batting her eyes playfully. “I even think we would make a pretty good sandwich. Also I’m fairly sure hot fudge, strawberries and maple syrup couldn’t make you guys any sweeter as you’re all already delicious as is.”
She was making it awfully hard to keep making it about her or how wonderful she was.
“Is this just you, or are all Abyssinians like this in general when it comes to their mates?” My tone was flat, with a mild amount of warmth to it. “Just need some clarification.”
“Eh, it’s a little of both, adult queen Abyssinians are known for being record holders in flirting competitions and we apparently take majors in bedroom politics as college courses.” She tilted her head at us innocently. “Do you… want me to stop?”
“No.” This was unanimous and in stereo, I even managed to match Maries’ voices and almost sounded like I was one of them.
“That was actually pretty impressive Fizzy, especially considering you couldn’t have possibly have practiced that with Maries before now.” Okay how were supposed to defeat a flirtatious Jade?
I can do physical flirting. Aside from Maries, Jade was the only other one I ever did so with, but verbal compliments would be hard to do as constantly as Jade could.
Jade adored us, we just needed to let her know that we could give as much as we seem to take.
“Jade you think we’re beautiful and attractive, but you’re the one that’s completely adorable!” I shouted and she reeled back in shock with a vibrant blush on her face.
“We like how you purr when we caress you.” Maria snuggled up against Jade’s right side and rubbed her belly with a hoof, making her growl cutely.
“You are quite brazen in the affection you dole out upon us.” You are Mara nuzzled her shoulder from the left.
“How about we return the favor Jade?” Marie hissed while flicking her tongue against Jade’s neck making her giggle.
“Aw, come on… I’m not that special.” We glared at her and she shrunk back.
Screw the dessert, doing it now!
I got up.
Maries joined together, then joined me in facing Jade who was sitting there looking puzzled.
“Jade, there is so much we want to say.” I started off as I brought out a box. “We’re insane, because frankly a pony, a chimera and an Abyssinian probably shouldn’t herd together like this. Just answer one question. Jade… will you marry us?”
I opened the box towards Jade.
“Yes!” She said after a moment with tears filling her eyes, she slowly reached into the box and grabbed a restored yoyo.
-A few days later, Canterlot Boutique, Jade-
“There’s no way you’re going to get me to wear a dress.” I don’t honestly know why Sassy Saddles took this as a challenge, she would certainly regret trying to make it one. “I will take a tasteful tuxedo, with a matching skirt.”