Timber took another deep breath as he neared Twilight. This was it. The big moment. He closed his eyes, calming his nerves, then opened them.
"Not to brag or anything," Timber said. "But it's pretty cool how I saved all those campers from those Rubus fruticosis." He paused for a moment. "Blackberry brambles."
"I'm familiar with the genus," Twilight said, then grinned. "It's just a little weird you say you saved the campers. I thought I saved them."
"Yeah," Timber countered. "But I saved you from falling on the docks so that you could save the campers. So technically, it was all me."
Twilight giggled, a sound that caused Timber's heart to stop momentarily.
"I'm really glad I met you," Twilight said with a warm smile.
Timber's heart fell significantly, but still managed to keep his smile. He couldn't lose this girl, he just couldn't! It was time to make his move! "Uh-oh," he said, allowing a little bit of disappointment to show.
"What," Twilight asked worriedly.
"That sounds like a... goodbye." Timber steeled himself, praying to the Universe for success. "And... here I was hoping we'd still be able to hang out." Heat rose to his face. "M-Maybe get dinner and catch a movie?" He eyed Twilight hopefully, feeling equal parts excited and terrified.
Twilight paused for a moment as she blushed. Did Timber... did Timber just ask her out?! With no further hesitation, she answered. "Yeah. I'd really like that."
Twilight Sparkle and Timber Spruce simply stared at one another, unaware that the other was jumping for joy internally.
"Oh, good," Timber said as some lights began to levitate around the two of them. "I was hoping that was what this meant," he said as he gestured to the lights.
Twilight took Timber by the hand, then held it as they moved closer together. She felt herself blush again as she stared at her hand before placing it on his chest.
Having watched the whole interaction, Gloriosa had went through many emotions. Concern, amusement, worry, pride... then gasped when she saw Twilight and her brother were about to kiss. Scoring a date was one thing, but kissing so suddenly was too much too soon!
Timber closed his eyes and puckered up his lips as Twilight closed in...
...only to be pulled away by Gloriosa.
"Oh, come on," Rarity roared from several feet away, then blushed furiously and slowly walked out of sight with a sheepish expression.
"Oh, uh..." Gloriosa chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I need to borrow Timber. There are some donors I really want him to meet. They were good friends with Mom and Dad." Timber smiled, then walked off with Gloriosa.
"Save me a dance, okay," Timber asked.
Twilight nodded. "Uh-huh."
"Adorable," Rarity said, having quickly recovered from her faux pas.
"He does seem like a pretty cool guy," Sunset said with a smile.
"You know what else is cool," Rainbow said after she rushed forward. "Our awesome new superpowers!" She zoomed around the cave with surprising precision. "I handed out like four hundred fliers, set up the stage, and still had time to pick up pizza. I love my super-speed!" She smiled giddily.
"About that," Sunset said. "I think the crystals are the source of the superpowers."
"You're not gonna ask us to give them up, are you," Fluttershy asked worriedly.
"No," Sunset said, shaking her head. "In fact, I think maybe we were meant to have them all along."
"Me, too," Twilight said.
Everyone else chimed in in agreement.
Timber sighed happily as he walked alongside Gloriosa.
"When I said 'go get her'," Gloriosa said with a mischievous grin, "I didn't think you'd go that far!"
Timber blushed. "I was in the moment, Glory, I couldn't help it!"
Gloriosa laughed. "Well, you got your date with Twilight. That's what matters."
"Yeah," Timber said dreamily. "And a dance, too." He smiled. "Everything's finally starting to look up for us."
Gloriosa nodded. "But we shouldn't get complacent. There's a lot of work that needs to be done. Repairs, getting staff..."
"I get it," Timber said softly. "We've still got a long road ahead of us... but at least it's going somewhere we want this time."
"Timber? Gloriosa?"
Timber and Gloriosa turned around to see a middle-aged man with two-toned green hair tied back in a ponytail, with matching facial hair. He smiled as light glinted off of his eyeglasses, then revealed reddish-brown eyes.
"Canter Zoom!" Gloriosa rushed over and gave Canter a hug, which was returned.
"Hey, Canter," Timber said as he threw him a salute. "How's the movie biz?"
Canter broke the hug with Gloriosa, then beckoned Timber forward. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but I can trust you guys," he said quietly, then looked left and right, making sure nobody else was either nearby or paying attention to their conversation. "But right now?" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I'm in talks to direct a Daring Do movie."
"WHAT?!"
Nearly all background chatter had stopped and a majority of the people in the cave gave Timber and Gloriosa a wide range of funny looks.
"No need to worry folks," Timber said. "We were just, uh..."
"...Surprised at how much Canter Zoom here had donated to us," Gloriosa said, thinking quickly.
Everyone in the cave gradually went back to going about their own business.
"Wow, this cave has good acoustics," Canter said in surprise, then grinned. "So yeah. That's a thing that's happening."
"That's incredible," Timber said.
"We wish you the best of luck on that," Gloriosa said.
"Would you guys like to see the movie set while we film? As celebration for Camp Everfree?"
Timber and Gloriosa glanced at each other, then smiled and nodded. "Actually," Timber said slowly. "Gloriosa and I can think of a few people who'd be a... little more deserving of that honor."
Canter raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Some time later, Timber approached the Rainbooms, who were talking excitedly among themselves. Especially Rainbow Dash and Twilight, who ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.
"ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouaAAAAAAAH!"
Timber snorted. "It's the least I could do for you girls," he said as the hug was broken, then looked at Twilight. "So... about that dance."
Twilight looked to her friends as heat rose to her face. They all smiled and gave her words of encouragement. "Okay," she said softly. "I'm ready."
Timber took Twilight by the hand, then walked to the dance floor with her.