//------------------------------//
// The Date 
// Story: Equestrian Battle Tendency 
// by luckyboys121 
//------------------------------//

Rarity shied as she thought, "AHH! If I'd known making a date outfit would be this difficult I wouldn't have tried to get the two of them together!"

"AHH! Careful with that!" said a pony who was slowly becoming Rarity's most difficult client yet.

"Come now dear, you're the one who said you wanted to have a perfectly flawless fit for your first date," said Rarity as she rolled her eyes.

"I know but I didn't think it would be this tight!" said the customer.

"I'd think you'd be used to it, after all that tang top you walked in here wearing might as well have been painted on with how much of ab detail is visible," said Rarity.

JoJo paused for a moment before saying, "Fair point.... I suppose I'm just nervous is all."

He looked in the mirror and straightened his bow tie as he thought, "This replica of the suit Granny Erina gave me all those years ago was definitely the right choice but... I honestly have no clue what else to do.  The closest thing I have to dating experience is watching Caesar flirt and there's no way I'm using any of that mozzarella cheese balls pickup lines!"

Thankfully Rarity snapped him back to reality as she said, "Don't worry dear, you like Twilight and she likes you and that's what's important."

"I... suppose," said JoJo.

"Besides she's just as new to this as you are so it's not like she's expecting anything huge," said Rarity as he mind drifted off thinking, "Speaking of which I wonder how things are going for Twilight on her end?"


Meanwhile at the Golden Oaks library

"GO THROUGH IT AGAIN SPIKE!" said Twilight as she paced back and forth on the floor.

"Come on Twi, we've been over it 20 times already," said Spike exasperated. 

"And JoJo will be here in 20 minutes which means we can go over it ANOTHER 20 times, or 25 if you would stop complaining," said Twilight.

Spike simply groaned before he looked at the top of the checklist again saying, "OK."

Twilight smiled as she said, "Alright, number one, the dress Rarity made me for my birthday."

"Check," remarked Spike as he thought, "Even if we hadn't already confirmed it, you could just look down and see your wearing it."

"Number two, reservations made at a three hooves rated cafe," said Twilight.

"Check," replied Spike.

"And finally, a list of talking points in case I get nervous," said Twilight.

Spike then glanced at the list that threatened to put every check list Twilight had ever made to shame as he replied, "Check, but I still don't think you need that."

"Perhaps... but better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it, besides you know how cool and confident JoJo is, I bet he's gonna be able to talk no problem," said Twilight.


As JoJo nervously marched to the library he thought, "Bugger all, I have no clue what to say or do when I see her. I should have Rarity for advice, Big Mac, or hell, even Spike could probably have provided something useful!" JoJo looked around nervously with these thought before taking a deep breath as he thought, "Steady yourself man, remember your Joseph Joestar, you don't even know the meaning of the word panic... I just need something calm my nerves." He looked around before noticing an old stallion leaning against a building and smoking a cigarette as he thought, "Hmm, there's an idea, never tried cigarettes myself but they did always seem to help Lisa Lisa relax."

JoJo soon approached the stallion as he said, "Hate to bother you sir but do think you could spare a smoke?"

The stallion looked at JoJo before saying, "Sure kid," before reaching down and hoofing JoJo a cigarette. 

JoJo grabbed it in his mouth as the stallion reached out with a lighter saying, "Let me get that for you."

Once it was lit JoJo took in a big puff before immediately regretting it as he entered into a huge coughing fit.

The stallion simply smirked at this as he said, "First time?"

JoJo soon regained his composure as he said, "Yeah, and I don't really think it's for me," before tossing the cigarette away.

The stallion once again chuckled saying, "I'd have to agree with that."

JoJo's cheeks glowed slightly from embarrassment as he began to walk away and muttered to himself, "Smoking's only for high school delinquents anyway." 


Back at the library.

"And finally my list of talking points," said Twilight.

"And the fortieth time, CHECK!" replied Spike finally sick of this as he took in a deep breath to fully speak his mind, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Oh Celestia he's here!" said Twilight as she quickly stuffed the list of talking points into her dress.

Spike sighed at this as he thought, "Well I guess I shouldn't ruin her big night by saying how irrational she's being about it."

Twilight quickly opened the door as she said, "Hi JoJo it's great to see yoouuuu-," before trailing off as she caught sight of JoJo in his red vest and white shirt. "Wow... you look."

"Amazing," finished JoJo as he was equally stunned by Twilight's plain yellow dress.

The two simply stared at each other for a moment before snapping back to reality as Twilight said, "So um, we should probably head out if we want to make it in time for dinner."

"R-right, lead the way," said JoJo as he nervously reached out for Twilight's hoof.

She blushed before taking it as the two of them made there way. "Good luck you two," called out Spike before mumbling to himself, "You're gonna need it."

As the two of them continued walking their blushes increased significantly before they let go of each others hooves and kept walking somewhat awkwardly. JoJo tried to break the tension with small talk saying, "So, what kind of restaurant is this?" 

"Oh it's this great cafe, great food, great atmosphere, great reviews," stammered Twilight nervously.

"Sounds... great," said JoJo with a slight smirk.

Twilight chuckled at that as she said, "It should be just around this corner. She looked over at JoJo smiling as she thought, "Alright things are going good so far," but that thought was quickly proven wrong as she was greeted to the cafe's entryway being on fire as the staff and several near by ponies struggled trying to put it out.

Twilight turned to a nearby mare and asked, "What's going on?"

"Some idiot threw a lit cigarette on the ground and it ignited some leaves," said the mare. 

"Oh dear, who would do something like that?" said Twilight.

"The nerve of some people," added JoJo, failing to put two and two together.

"Yeah, it's just lucky everypony was able to get out in time," said the mare before the fire carriages pulled up.

Soon a line of fireponies separated the civilians from the fire as one of them said, "CLEAR OUT EVERYPONY! WE'LL TAKE IT FROM HERE!"

As everypony made their exit JoJo said, "So where should we go now?"

When he turned to Twilight for an answer he was greeting to her hyperventilating as she said, "I.. I DON'T KNOW! We can't go to any other cafes since the're all booked up this time of day... we can't even go to Sugar Cube Corner because it's rented out for a birthday party!" 

As JoJo watched this he thought, "Alright time to calm down for real, Twilight is starting to lose it and she needs someone level headed to help her out of this." As he took a deep breath and began to look around for an answer he found one as he said, "How about we just sit in that park over there and talk for a bit?"

This seemed to produce a manic smile from Twilight as she remembered the list in her dress and said, "Talking yes, talking's good!" before heading off towards the park.

JoJo remained still for a moment, startled by the sudden change, but soon smirked as he said, "Well at least she's not freaking out now," before following after her. 

Soon they both found themselves sitting in the grass by a lake and taking in the sights. Twilight soon began thinking, "OK Twi, things may not have started off like I expected but there's still time to turn this around. The park is nice and I got my list of talking points... yeah, this is all gonna be fine."

She reached into her dress and tried to pull the list slightly out to avoid JoJo seeing it, sadly that was ruined as Twilight suddenly found a soccer ball striking her hoof and knocking her list into the lake.

A little colt soon approached her saying, "Sorry mam," but was unnerved by Twilight's blank stare at the list who's ink was now all smeared as it started floating away.

JoJo noticed this as he thought, "Hmm, that paper was most likely a list a talking points, given how she seemed so eager to come here, but it's gone now... I gotta try and show her every things alright." He then stood back up with his trademark smile as he picked up the soccer ball and said, "It's no problem lad, just be more careful next time," before kicking the ball clear across the park as the colt chased after it.

He then glanced over at the still frozen Twilight as he said, "So since I've already told you a bit about my life growing up, why don't you tell me about yours?"

"Ri-right," said Twilight as she snapped back to reality upon being given a topic. "Well... I suppose there isn't much to tell, I lived with my parents and me brother for a little bit, but moved out pretty quickly when I became Celestia's student. After that it was pretty much study study study until I came here and met my friends."

"Didn't you have any friend back in Canterlot?" asked JoJo.

"Not really... there where a hoofful of mares I hung out with after school while I did some light reading but that's pretty much it... the only one I was really close with was my brother and I haven't heard from him in a while," said Twilight.

"You didn't have a falling out did you?" asked JoJo in sudden concern.

"No.. nothing like that, it's just he's got his life and I've got mine and we just haven't really had the time to get together you know," said Twilight.

"Ahh, well maybe you should look into it, I'd love to meet him," said JoJo.

"I suppose so, I mean it's not like he'd date anyone and not tell me," said Twilight as she thought on that.

"Well maybe," said JoJo as despite knowing nothing about her brother, he seemed to doubt that statement for some reason. "Regardless, he's gotta do the whole big brother thing, sit me down, tell me how important his little sister is to him, try and kick my ass... key word being try," said JoJo with a cocky smirk.

This resulted in a smirk and giggle from Twilight as she said, "I don't know, they don't just make any pony Captain of the Royal Guard."

"True, but I'm not just any pony am I," said JoJo with a smile and as he watched Twilight giggle at that he suddenly felt a pang of guilt as he thought, "I'm not really a pony at all am I."

Twilight seem to notice though as he said, "Hey... thanks."

This confused JoJo as he said, "For what?"

"Well... nothing about tonight thus far has gone to plan and as you probably noticed I wasn't really handling it well, but you... you kept your cool and helped me relax no matter what," said Twilight.

"Well... I'm good at keeping calm under pressure," said JoJo as his mind continued to nag him at the fact he couldn't tell her about all the times he was good under pressure.

"I know... which is something I really like... no really love about you," said Twilight as JoJo began to blush both from the comment and from the guilt now mounting. Twilight had a slight blush of her own as she continued saying, "I know it's way too early to say stuff like that but I just couldn't help feeling that way. I love how calm you seem but yet at the same time how quick on your hooves you are... you said before when you look at me you see a mirror of yourself, but when I look at you I see the me I want to be... the me I'm going to try and be right now."

Before JoJo could respond to any of that he suddenly found Twilight's lips pressed against his own. For a moment he could not think of anything and simply closed his eyes and leaned into it all as the moment seemed to last forever. Which made the next moment seem like even more of a shock as his mind restarted and he was flooded with nothing but the guilt ridden thoughts of, "You're lying to her, you're lying to her, SHE LOVES YOU AND YOU'RE LYING TO HER!" As those thoughts echoed seemingly endlessly in his mind, JoJo took his face away and began to breath heavily.

Twilight became very concerned as she leaned towards him saying, "Oh JoJo I'm sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you like-"

JoJo soon raised a hoof to interrupt her though as he said, "No Twilight... you didn't do anything wrong it's me."

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight as her concern mounted.

JoJo sat for a moment as he simply thought, "You have to tell her everything right here and now! Even if she doesn't believe you, even if it breaks her heart, it's better then knowing your lying to her everyday of your life." He sighed before saying, "I wasn't entirely honest with you about how I got to Ponyville and where I came from." 

Twilight's mind began to race with the possibilities of what he would say next, but it never could have predicted any of it as he asked, "Have you heard of a creature called a human?"

Several hours later

"-and then I woke up in the Everyfree forest and well... you know the rest," said JoJo as he wearily smiled at Twilight who was staring off into the distance taking all this in.

"Wow," she simply muttered.

"I understand if you don't believe me," said JoJo as he looked down sadly.

"No, I believe you... mainly because I don't think any sane pony could make up a story like that," said Twilight before turning to JoJo as she asked, "Why exactly did he turn his hand into a squirrel?"

JoJo simply shrugged as he said, "To prove he could I suppose."

"Who would wonder if he could do that!?" asked Twilight as she raised her hooves in confusion.

"Well... me probably... honestly if the fight had gone on for longer I probably would have joked around asking if he could make spinnerets in his wrists and swing around like Spider-man," said JoJo with a smile.

Twilight giggled at this as she said, "I bet you would have." For a moment the two simply sat in silence before Twilight took a breath and asked a question she'd been dreading since the story ended. "Do you miss your world?"

JoJo thought about that for a moment as he said, "Well... not really the world itself, some of the gadgets maybe. Riding in an automobile certainly beats walking and despite my poor experience with them I still think planes are a fine way to travel." 

Twilight chuckled at that but then watched as JoJo turned serious and he said, "More then that though I do miss my friend and family, I know the're fine but I can't help but think about how the're worrying about me, or god forbid have already had given up hope and had a funeral for me."

"Oh..." said Twilight as she looked down in sadness and fear at the idea that he would leave at the first chance he got... and the knowledge that as the premiere magic user around she would be the one to have to help him leave.

Those thoughts where stomped out though as JoJo looked over towards her with a smile saying, "If you're asking if I'd leave this world to go back the answers no." 

"Wha-what!?" asked Twilight as she looked up in shock.

JoJo simply smiled as he said, "Don't get me wrong, I do want to try and contact everyone and let them know I'm OK but actually going back isn't something I need to do. I've always been kind of a world traveler so what better thing for me then a whole new world to travel... especially now that I have someone to travel with."

Before Twilight could respond to this she found that JoJo had now taken his turn to lean over and kiss her and this time the moment was absolutely perfect for them, as the two were content in the knowledge that they both knew who the other was and loved them wholeheartedly for it.