Xenilla sighed as he put on his armor and went out to the training hall. The blue kaiju was wearing a black body suit that highlighted his large frame as he saw a few guards train nearby. The guards looked at him with a mixture of guarded apprehension and suspicion, no doubt due to his resemblance to Junior, who injured many of them, and due to not being a social butterfly. He was about to start jogging and then practice on the training bag when he heard a voice call out to him.
“Xenilla-sensei. How are you?” A pink filly with pigtails and a heart cutie mark was waving a hoof at them, which caused many of the guards to fawn at her. The stallion, however, sighed as he failed to understand why she was so attached to him. His transformation into his kaiju form should have been a deterrent, but she somehow managed to track him down and asked Luna to train with him. Due to royal decree, he had no choice but to accept, though a part of him grudgingly liked her company.
“I’m doing fine, Chibi Moon. I was going to start my physical training to prepare for my guarding duties. What about you? If memory doesn’t fail me, today is a free day.”
“That’s correct! However, one of my assignments was to make a book report about someone I admire and I chose you since you helped me with my homework last time.” The filly was ecstatic when describing her project and Xenilla couldn’t help but look away to hide a flattered blush.
“I’m flattered, but I don’t think I would be a good subject for your exam. I think I know someone who could…” started Xenilla until he saw Chibi’s gelatinous sad eyes and the disapproving looks of the other guards. He glared back at the guards, but the filly’s look was making him feel guilty until he saw a certain Pegasus walked nearby. “There’s a…friend I would like to introduce you. Follow me.” Chibi was confused, but his nervous smile convinced her to follow him.
Blade Dancer was finishing cleaning the sweat off her face when she saw a tall stallion approach her. A frown entered her face as she and Xenilla got off on a bad start when she educated him on Equestrian history and tried to flirt with the hunk of a stallion…only for Xenilla to flat out reject her for her forward flirting. Their argument caused quite a ruckus and she didn’t speak to him for a few days, but Xenilla was professional enough to apologize and try to encourage a cordial interaction from then on.
Nevertheless, she still found it odd that he was approaching her until a smile crossed her face when she saw the filly that was following him. “Hello, little cutie. You must be this grump’s adorable student. My name is Blade Dancer. It’s nice to meet you.” Chibi smiled back at her and Xenilla sighed in relaxation only for the Pegasus mare to give him a look. ‘I’m not gonna babysit her for you no matter how cute she is.’
“Heya, Miss Dancer. My name is Chibi Moon. I wanted to write a book report about Xenilla-sensei, but he wanted to introduce us first before he could help me out.” The filly was hopping in place before Xenilla interrupted her with a gentle hoof on her muzzle. “To be honest, I don’t think I would be a good influence for her book report. I know you have younger siblings, so I was…hoping you could help me out by being the one that Chibi Moon writes about.” He noticed he was messing up when Chibi got sad and Blade Dancer was glaring at him.
“Oh, no. You are not pulling that move, buster! This filly admires you, the least you can do is help her out…” started the mare before Xenilla added his own bits. “Blade Dancer, I’m a kaiju from another dimension who is fighting his own brother, killed a swarm of Gyaos a few weeks ago, and gives tutoring lessons to a filly. Explain to me how that sounds as hero material for her book report.” Chibi and Blade Dancer just shared an incredulous look at the stallion’s statement.
“Look, Chibi. She is a way better pony to write about when it comes to being a hero. She actually went through a falling building to save a foal, stands up to me despite knowing I’m actually a kaiju that could vaporize with my breath, is admired by most of the guards, and is not a brainless beauty.” The mare was surprised Xenilla had a good opinion of her, but couldn’t help but frown at the last statement. Chibi however looked sad until a sly grin appeared on her face as she looked between her and Xenilla.
“Oh, I get it. Is she your special…” The filly asked before both adults interrupted her. “No, we are not special someponies!” Both of them said simultaneously, though Xenilla grimaced at the ponies’ ridiculous term for significant others. “Really, you seem to have a lot of admiration for her, Xenilla-sensei. Maybe you could help me write a report about her by answering questions about her?”
“Chibi, I don’t think…”
“What is her favorite color?” inquired the filly before the stallion replied automatically. “Her favorite color is red, but she loves to compliment her outdoor clothing with blues due to the color contrast.” Blade Dancer widened her eyes at Xenilla actually paying attention to her choice of colors.
“Favorite book genre?” smiled Chibi as she started to take notes. “She loves romantic novels, but she also loves intellectual books such as mysteries, thrillers, manuals, history books, and magazines about fashion and dancing.” Xenilla was looking at the surprised Pegasus with an expression that was implying that she shouldn’t overthink why he knew all those details.
“Does she have any friends, family members, or former exes you know?” This time she was giving him a teasing look that made it clear she was not going to add that to report and was just testing him. “She is friends with nearly everyone here, except Bold Rush and I think we just have a professional relationship. She is the eldest of her siblings and her father is an Earth pony. As for exes, she…has a few,” the stallion and Blade Dancer shared an awkward look at that question. She, Xenilla, and the rest of the guards hearing the conversation shared the same thought. ‘Understatement of the century’
“What you think about her abilities as a guard?” The filly was serious about the question, so Xenilla replied just as seriously. “From what I gathered, she is a Colonel and is from the same generation as Blueberry Frost and Shining Armor, both being the Captains of the Guard. She is the highest ranked guard amongst the Pegasi guard and the one who instructs them on the use of wing blades since she has the best swordsmanship in Equestria. If it weren’t for the fact that her blades are dull, I would be wary of her. Then again, she is also a great hoof to hoof combatant and definitely strong enough for me to feel her punches even if she injured her hoof against my face.”
Chibi was awed that Blade Dancer was so accomplished and that she was brave enough to punch her sensei in the face. Meanwhile, the Pegasus mare was surprised that the stallion who was frosty with her on their first meeting respected her enough to memorize so much about her. “Okay, sensei. I’ll write a report about Miss Dancer tomorrow since my parents need me to return home soon. It was lovely to meet you, Miss Dancer.” The filly waved as she turned around and walked to the door before stopping.
“Sensei…please stop being a tsundere and ask her out. Pretending you don’t like someone even when you do is immature and is only funny in anime or manga.” Xenilla felt his face redden as he yelled at the filly. “I’m not a tsundere!” The filly and Blade Dancer laughed at his response before Chibi smiled. “Then prove it. Ask her out and if things don’t work out, then you can still be friends. Anyway, see ya, sensei.”
Xenilla sighed in annoyance. “Should have let her write the report about me” He bemoaned as he turned around to apologize to Blade Dancer, only to see that most of the guards stopped their activities to stare at him and that Blade Dancer was now looking at him with lidded eyes. “So, the adorable filly did bring out a few good points. For someone who said he wasn’t interested in romance, you did bother to learn a lot about me.”
“I memorized information from my coworkers. It’s part of the job description.” Blade Dancer had an unconvinced look.
“Okay, then what do you know about Bold Rush?” The guards winced since they knew he was going to lose. “He is an unskilled idiot who only got his position from his wealthy family and is delusional in his skills with getting dates?” This actually earned a chuckle from her and the other guards. “Correct, but what is his favorite color?” Xenilla just stood still, trying to come up with an answer, which amused the mare until she noticed he was struggling to pull up an answer.
Xenilla sighed in defeat before staring at her blue eyes. “Look, I got nothing on Bold Rush. I admit, out of all the guards I met, you are the one I respect the most along with Blueberry Frost. That doesn’t mean I have feelings for you and we’ll prove it. We are going on a date after the book is finished, nothing will happen, and we can go back to treating each other like coworkers. Okay?” Xenilla extended his hoof to seal the agreement, but got surprised when the mare approached him with swaying hips and pecked his cheek. “Okay, it’s a date. See you tomorrow,” the mare left him with a sway of her hips, though not before using her wing to spank his flank. The stallion just stood there with a glare and flushed cheeks before noticing the other guards were making a betting pool. “What in Tanaka did I get myself into?”
It has been a couple of days since Chibi finished the report on Blade Dancer and the stallion awkwardly shuffled in place. He and Blade Dancer had to agree on a place to meet and he read books on how dating works so that she couldn’t accuse him of not putting effort on the date. However, before he could go on the date, he was ambushed by Blueberry Frost, Cached Ire, and a squad of what he could describe as Blade Dancer’s exes. Standard ‘If you ever do anything to hurt her’ talk aside, they wanted to help on the date and they refused to let him go out of the barracks until he was dressed to impress.
Xenilla was wearing a dark button shirt and pants that somehow managed to fit his quadrupedal frame and his hair was styled like a ponytail. The stallion sighed as his eyes watched the entrance of The Limelight. It was a restaurant/bar that offered classy food and had a ballroom that was meant to be used for both formal dancing and the wild dancing found at dance clubs. “Well, better get this over with. Worst that could happen is an awkward conversation and just fumbling on the dance floor.”
Needless to say, his height attracted lots of attention from many of the people at the place and, though his annoyance, he could see a few mares and a couple of stallions giving him interested looks. “Blade Dancer said she was going to be the mare with the sparkly purple dress, so she must be there.” Xenilla advance towards the mare and grimaced as he remembered how the book said that he was supposed to use a pick up line. However, before he could say anything she turned around and he got the surprise of his life.
As a kaiju who planned to live a short life, he was not interested in things like courting and it certainly didn’t help that the only people of his species were relatives. However, as a pony, he couldn’t help but admire how the sparkly purple dress strategically covered her chest and part of her legs to bring attention to her neck and waist, especially since the dress was transparent and matched well with her eyes and eyeshadow. The golden adornments complimented her white fur and her red mane and tail were more radiant than ever. A flirty, borderline smug, smile appeared on her face since she knew she got his attention along with a few other ponies that were ogling her the moment she sashayed towards him.
She gave him an appreciative look over with her eyes and ran a wing on his neck before laying it on his side. “My, my. You certainly took the time to look handsome for our date. I thought you wanted to prove your student wrong.” The mare teased the kaiju before Xenilla looked to the side and grunted. “You know, according to that dating research I found, I’m supposed to bring up a pick up line, but you look so radiant with that dress that I forgot about it. May I start over?” Blade Dancer felt her eyes widen and a blush entered her cheeks before she laughed and pressed her side into Xenilla’s side. “I know you think that was bad, but it was a great pick up line.”
“Thanks. I swear to Tanaka that the pickup lines I heard from the other stallions were corny and Bold Rush’s made me want to punch him through a wall. It seems that half of the guard loves you as either exes or admirers, since they didn’t let me go out until I dressed up.” Blade Dancer smiled fondly when she heard that her exes wanted to help out
.
“Anyway, at the risk of sounding cliché or unoriginal, would you like to dance? Given your name, I think that’s your favorite thing to do.” The mare stood on her tiptoes until her mouth was near Xenilla’s ear. “That’s not the only thing I like doing…I also like to have a few drinks to loosen up. Let’s party first then dance.”
Xenilla felt his heart skip a beat from the emphasis she put on the word doing, but realizes she was just messing with him as they went to the bar and ordered some beer. The first taste was slightly bitter yet the foam was pleasant, though he could see that Blade Dancer was drinking it effortlessly. Two shared mugs became four, then eight and they still kept going. Xenilla was hiccupping and his face was reddened but Blade Dancer still had a tiny blush on her face. “Okay, Blades. You win. Last thing we need is for me to convulse on the dance floor from being drunk.”
The Pegasus guard smiled as she downed her last drink before grabbing Xenilla by the hoof and guiding him to the dance floor. “For such a big stallion, you are surprisingly lightweight. Since you want to sober up, we’ll start slow with the dancing and then speed up.” The music at the dance floor was reminiscent of a ball party, so Blade Dancer stood on hind hooves and encouraging him to do the same as she wrapped a fore hoof around his waist and her other fore hoof grabbed his own. They started twirling to the music, Xenilla making sure his hooves did not step over Blade Dancer’s, but her superior dancing skills masked his clumsy steps as she dodged his drunk steps and made them look classy.
“Sorry for not being a good dancer. It’s my first time.” The mare smiled and pressed a hoof to his lips. “Don’t’ worry. Most ponies don’t know how to truly dance, but they dance anyway to have fun. Since you are learning, how about I show you how to dance?” Xenilla looked up as he considered her proposal before smiling at the prospect of learning a new skill. “I’d be delighted”
The date went surprisingly well! It was a delight watching Blade Dancer showing off her dancing skills from ballroom dancing, sky maneuvering, square dancing, and even a type of Saddle Arabian dancing that made his heart skip a beat. He honestly couldn’t help but admire her coordination, flexibility, agility, and stamina from knowing and performing so many different types of dancing.
Despite enjoying the show and even trying to participate, his eyes couldn’t help but narrow when she saw glimpses of a blue Earth Pony mare staring at him with intrigued eyes. He looked to the side and saw a grey Pegasus mare with a dress that showed of her toned body staring at Blade Dancer appreciateively while also focusing on how he interacted with her. Lastly, he noticed a huge stallion looking imposing and zeroing in on his hoofs, possibly as a warning to not try anyting too bold. ‘Great, three of my coworkers are either chaperones or trying to see who’ll win the betting pool.’
The dinner was tasty, though as a kaiju born from an asteroid, his stomach wasn’t as big as his size would imply. He had a laugh that Blade Dancer could actually eat more than him despite the meals being tiny. They talked about their guard duties, books they’ve read, their impressions on certain ponies, among other things. She tried to get him to open up about his relationship with Junior, but he omitted that part and instead focused on their shared sister Biollante.
“I’m going to assume that you don’t have much dating experience. Didn’t you have any Kaiju boyfriends or girlfriends?” inquired the mare while Xenilla winced as he examined his dating options from his former life. “Taxonomically speaking, Kaijus as a whole are part of the Animalia Kingdom, so there are multiple species of Kaiju and interbreeding is not possible most of the time, so dating is limited to members of the same species. And unfortunately, my species consists of myself, my deceased father, my brother and sister, and our grandfather who went from being a ghost to a robot.” He couldn’t help but chuckled at the mare’s wide eyed reaction along with the other gurads who were spying on his conversation. “Okay, so you don’t have much experience dating. Glad I could be your first,” said Blade Dancer after a pause. ‘That’s the most colorful past ever,’ thought the other guards including herself.
Eventually, both ponies returned to the castle after the date with a content expression on their faces. Blade Dancer tried to lay her wing on his back, but this time he used a shield to keep her from doing that…only to use magic to pull her towards him so they could walk together. They went to his room and stopped as he opened the door. “I’ll be honest, I was expecting the date to go sideways and for you to try to punch me again, but it was surprisingly pleasant.”
“I myself was surprised. I thought you were a stuck up after our first meeting, but you were unexpectedly quite the gentle pony tonight. Would you be interested in having another date soon?” The mare lidded her eyes as she inquired only to widen as he grabbed her hoof and kissed it. “I actually look forward to it. See you so…” The stallion couldn’t even finish the sentence before the mare jumped at him and pressed her lips against his own.
A grunt emerged from his lips as he felt how soft her lips were and how they slid against his own. Her breath was cool and fruity from the beer and the wine and his hooves wrapped around her waist as he pulled her deeper into the kiss. One of her hooves hooked behind his head to deepen the kiss and he retaliated by having one hoof caress her silky hair while the other massaged the bundle of nerves that was the base of her wings. Blade Dancer moaned as her eyes lidded and Xenilla felt his heart skip as his body warned him of something inevitable was coming…until both ponies heard a nervous cough.
They both turned and blushed upon seeing a red unicorn in Xenilla’s room. He was a young recruit named Starlight that had a habit of sleeping at Xenilla’s room since he rarely used it. Although he was nervous around the Kaiju, Xenilla found him to be good company as he tried to know him despite his attitude. “Hey, Xenilla. Sorry for interrupting. I remember you saying that you thought the date would go wrong, so I sneaked some drinks to cheer you up.” The stallion pointed to a few canned drinks that were cold. “I…guess the date actually went well.”
“It…went better than I ever expected. Is it okay if…you could give us some privacy. It’s a lot of firsts for me, so I want to experience this.” The kaiju was blushing and he had a nervous smile on his face as he explained it to Starlight who blushed as he got the message. “Okay, I’ll give you some time alone. Have funs kids…I guess Blueberry won the pot.”
Xenilla sighed as he turned to his date and gave her a serious look. “I appreciate the date and I enjoyed our kissing sessions, but would it be okay if we just cuddle before we do something serious. There is a lot going on with my life and I’d like to take things slow first before determining if I’m ready for a relationship.” To his surprise, Blade Dancer was not upset and instead nodded her head. “It’s okay, I know you didn’t have a normal childhood or dating experience. I don’t mind going slow, but I hope you give me a chance.” The mare smiled as she pushed Xenilla into the bed and she climbed atop of him before giving him another smooch.
The following morning was the most refreshing day of his life. Waking up next to a beautiful mare was not something he was ever expecting to happen his life, but it was a great experience. His shirt and pants were ruffled and Blade Dancer’s shift was still covering her body like a blanket. Both ponies woke up and shared a good morning kiss before they got dressed for practice. To his annoyance, a lot of ponies were clapping and wishing them well, eager to know more about the date. He also saw Blueberry Frost carry a bag of bits as she walked to her office. Nevertheless, the date put him on a good mood when Chibi arrived.
The pink filly only needed to look at them before a cheeky smile crossed her face. “Okay, wipe that smirk, Chibi. You were right, I asked her out and it went surprisingly well. Don’t brag about it.” The stallion grumbled she took the filly to her next lesson and she questioned him for details. He didn’t notice that the filly’s horn was glowing and that it was making a message with luminous letters appear behind him. “When’s the wedding?” Blade Dancer sounded out the words before shaking her head. A part of her enjoyed the date greatly and was hoping she could have another one with the tall kaiju. Considering how well he was getting along with Chibi Moon, he seemed like ideal father material.