Equestria Noir
Side Story
“Bella Notte”
Luna’s moon showed beautifully this night. It hung over Manehatten like a bright beacon despite the city lights. The city was bustling as ever despite the time at night. Many were heading home or to some kind of night jobs. They were occupied with their lives. I however…was more occupied with another factor.
“So where are we going?” Twilight said looking over at me as we walked the streets of Manehatten.
I smiled “I’m taking you to the finest restaurant in all of Manehatten”
“You mean this is uh…” She flushed a little and scuffed the ground with her hoof “Date?”
“Yeah I guess you could say that” I said my tail brushing hers as we walked on. “Think of it as thanks for all you’ve done for me these past couple of months”
“Oh you don’t need to feel obligated…” Twilight said trying to sound humble.
“I want to feel obligated, I’m obligated to take you somewhere nice and for us to enjoy an evening off together” I smiled at her “Also if I have to eat anymore of Spikes cooking I may have to prey to Luna to send the moon down on the boy”
Both of us laughed a little as we arrived at our destination. Twilight read the sign aloud “Potso and Linguini’s Bitallion Restaurant?” She looked over at me “I’ve never heard of this place”
I held the door open for her with my magic “Care to sate your curiosity about this mysterious hang?”
She smiled “Gladly” She held her head up in a mock lady like fashion and entered the restaurant. She brushed her tail along my muzzle and smiled back at me as I entered the restaurant behind her.
The restaurant itself wasn’t that big but it was fancy enough. Tables were all over the place but were all unoccupied…we came when the store would be closing up. I rang the bell at the front desk.
An angry Bitallion voice spoke from the kitchen “Nottambuli Dannati, don’t they know a closing sign when theya see one?” The door to the kitchen opened to reveal a rather fat looking earth pony. He had a tomato red coat and a short mane of brown hair. A mustache was on his muzzle which turned up when he saw me “Private!”
I smiled at the portly earth pony “Good to see ya Potso!”
He ran to me and embraced me. “It’sa so good to see you my friend!” He turned and called to the kitchens “Eh Linguini! Come out here and greet Private!”
“Private!” A female Bitallion voice spoke up from the kitchens. Linguini as opposed to her older brother was tall and lanky with a dark green coat. Her blue eyes looked over at me in recognition “Private it is you! I thought my accidenti brother was playing a trick on me”
“No I’m here” I said with a laugh.
Potso smiled warmly at me “And what can we do for you today my friend?”
“Well you see…” I gestured to Twilight who stepped forward into the conversation “This is Twilight Sparkle…”
Twilight smiled at the brother and sister. “I was told by Private this was the finest restaurant in town”
Potso stood proudly and bowed before Twilight “Only the finest for a mare of such beauty!”
Twilight smiled and flushed a little. Linguini bopped her brother on her head. “That’s enough out of you brother! Quit flirting and show them to their seats!”
Potso rubbed the back his head and swore under his breath in Bitallion. He then led us to a table on a small balcony outside the restaurant. The night air was cool and crisp and you could see the moon in its entirety from there. Potso moved pillows for us to sit down on. Twilight and I sat opposite one another.
Potso smiled at the both of us “Shall I take your order?”
I smiled in turn “A little bit of that wine you got stored up Potso…the 886 Chianti if you would?”
“For you my friend I’m willing to bust out the 778 Chianti for you two” Potso said with a smirk.
Twilight’s jaw dropped “Chianti!? That’s wine strait from Bitally! You’re lucky to find any bottles from 889 let alone 778”
Potso laughed a little “A smart one you are to know such a thing. But I keep the finest wines we have stored only for my closest friends and their pretty marefriends”
Twilight flushed and smiled at him “I would normally object to alcohol but if you insist…”
“Perfetto!” Potso exclaimed as he wrote down our order. Potso then turned to me and said behind his hoof “You should keep disaone, she’s got a good head on her shoulders” He then walked back inside the restaurant.
I flushed a little and saw that Twilight was frowning. She heard what Potso said…
“Disaone?”
“Well…Potso’s ponish isn’t very good…”
She kept frowning “You’ve brought mares here before haven’t you?”
I sighed, there was just no use lying to Twilight. “Yeah…but that was a long time ago”
Twilight reached her hoof across the table. I met her hoof with my own. Her amethyst eyes looked into mine “I have to ask…why me?”
“Why not you?” I said gazing into her eyes.
“It’s just…I see all those mares you know so well…and you’re settling on me?”
“Twilight…”
She took her hoof back and looked at herself. “I mean look at me…I’m nowhere near as beautiful as somepony like Larksong. Not as funny as County or as good of a singer as Moongale. You’ve looked over all those beautiful mares and…you picked me”
I shook my head “Twilight…I picked you because of really one reason…”
“And that is…?” She asked anticpatedly.
“It’s because…”
“THE WINE IS SEARVED!!” Potso shouted as he came into the room. He looked at both of us with those blue eyes of his “Sorry, am I interrupting?”
I rolled my eyes “Not really, just pour the damn wine”
Potso made a show of pouring the wine while Twilight and I looked at the menus. After long moments of indecision I looked at Potso “Potso, give me your special”
“I thought you hated seafood…” Potso said with a raised eyebrow.
“Not that special damn it!” I said as Twilight giggled a little at my reaction. “I’m talking about the other special”
Potso nodded as he caught on “One Private Special coming right up” He then ran inside the kitchen and we could hear the brother and sister arguing in Bitallion.
Twilight smiled “He seems like a friendly pony”
“He is” I said looking at the closed kitchen doors. “He is one of my best friends that I’ve ever had. He gave me a job when I took Tailspin in”
“He’s a good stallion” Twilight said looking at me. “You’re lucky to have friends like him”
_________________________________________________
About a half hour later Twilight and I had finished up the wine. She was finishing telling a story about Shining Armor. “So I wouldn’t let him past unless he said the pass phrase”
“You created a book fort?” I said laughing “So what was the pass phrase?”
“It was a nursery rhyme that Cadence said to me when I was little. I had Shining perform the little dance and everything. And then…” She tried to hold in her laughter “Cadence walked into the room just as he did it”
We both laughed out loud “What was her reaction?”
“She would not stop laughing! Poor Shining wouldn’t talk to me for a week because of that he was so embarrassed!”
“I would feel embarrassed to if my sister made me look like a fool in front of my future wife” I said trying to find breath for more laughter.
“You know you remind me a little bit of Shinning…” Twilight said looking me over.
“How so?” I said sipping the last bits of the wine.
“You both care deeply for your siblings and you both have a strong sense of right and wrong” She giggled a little “You both would get along very well”
I smiled “He’s a good brother Twilight. Any news on the impending niece?”
“Cadence says it won’t be long before I’m an aunt” She looked down at her wine glass “Me…an aunt. I never thought I’d be one”
I tilted my head “You should’ve expected Shining to get married eventually”
“Yeah I know but it’s all just so brand new. Cadence talking over the phone about baby names, Shining running out at three in the morning to get watermelon”
“Watermelon?”
“Yep, and chopped hay to”
“That baby is getting an all you can eat buffet, I don’t know if they can get that baby out if she keeps up”
“Don’t tell Cadence that or she’ll smack you for calling her baby fat”
We both laughed as Potso came by with a hot Pizza on a trey. “One Private Special for two” He set down the Pizza in between us and both I and Twilight looked at it hungrily. “Enjoy”
Potso left and Twilight and I started levitating pieces of the pizza. Twilight sank her teeth into the pizza and smiled with glee. She swallowed and spoke out “This is the best Pizza I've ever had!”
I smiled as I spoke again “Manehatten is where it’s at when it comes to Pizza. Potso didn’t earn that pizza cutie mark for nothing you know”
We dug into the pizza until there was only one piece left. I looked over at Twilight “If you want it…”
Twilight shook her head “No you can have it…”
I levitated it and split the last piece in half with my magic. “There, now we can each have a piece”
I didn’t know that a piece of cheese stuck the pieces together. As Twilight and I dug into our respective pieces we casually pulled on that link of cheese. Slowly but surely I chewed on that cheese until…I got to the end and found myself kissing Twilight.
We broke off the kiss and she smiled shyly at me. I gently nuzzled her cheek and found my tail falling on hers. I then heard Potso bust out his accordion and sing in that tenor voice of his.
For this is the night…
It’s a beautiful night….
And we call it Belle Notte…
__________________________________________
Twilight and I walked in Central Park as Luna set her moon at its zenith. We sat down together at a park bench and Twilight looked up at the night sky. “I always loved the night…Shame you can’t see the stars from the city”
I looked up at Luna’s moon “One of the reasons I’m glad I moved to Ponyville…though not the only reason”
Twilight then turned her violet eyes to me “Private…I want to know the honest truth…”
“I’ll give it to you Twilight…” My hoof fell on hers and we gazed into each other’s eyes. Grey eyes met violet ones that sparkled in the city lights.
“Why me…? You said back in Appaloosa that you loved me…but I want to know why…”
I touched her face with my free hoof. “Twilight…the reason I fell for you is because…you brought me out of my shell”
“What do you mean?”
“I was a mess when I came to Ponyville…” I admitted with a sigh “I was so closed off from everypony…”
“But you had friends…like Potso here”
“Sure I had friends but not like you have. I closed myself off from everypony because I was afraid of getting other ponies involved. But when you insisted in helping despite the risks…I admired that…”
Twilight flushed a little in embarrassment.
I continued “Since then…I’ve grown more and more drawn to you. Everything about you…your intelligence…your talents for magic…your kind heart when it comes to your friends…what stallion wouldn’t fall for that?”
Twilight moved closer to me and nuzzled me on the cheek. She then whispered in my ear “You’re…the first stallion I’ve ever let get close to me like this…I was closed off for a long time too…my friends pulled me out of that. I’m glad I could do the same for you…for a pony I love…”
I looked at Twilight’s eyes and I spoke in a low voice. Just three simple words “I love you…”
Twilight moved closer to me “I love you to…”
We kissed at that moment. Luna’s moon illuminated us kissing each other like tomorrow was our last day together. Our kissing became a bit more intense and I pulled away to nibble on one of her ears.
She moaned in pleasure as she pressed herself into me. I felt her warm coat touch mine as we kissed each other. I pushed my muzzle into her sweet smelling mane and took in her sweet sweet scent. That lilac scent I’ve grown to love…
My haunches slipped somehow and I found myself on top of Twilight. I was straddling her…she looked up at me with those beautiful violet eyes of hers. “Private…you’re…oh Luna…”
My body wanted her…it hungered for her. But that look she was giving me. I felt her tail curl up in front of her private areas. She wasn’t ready for me yet…I was going to honor her wishes. I slowly got up and let her get up.
She smiled at me “You…didn’t force yourself on me…”
I shook my head “I’m not kind of stallion…Twilight you’re something precious…I want to be sure you’re ready for me”
Twilight rubbed her muzzle on my chest. I embraced the mare I loved. Sure I wouldn’t have to claim her yet…but that didn’t mean I couldn’t offer all the love I could muster for her. She was mine…my Twilight. I gently put my head on top of hers careful to avoid her horn.
I heard Twilight speak “Private…”
“Yes Twilight?”
“Don’t let me go…”
“I won’t…I promise Twilight…I’ll never let you go…”
We fell asleep in each other’s forelegs. Just in our own world of love and bliss. Love…we meet again and you’ve gotten a hold over me. You’ve betrayed me before…but now you’ve more than made up for it.