Celestia’s golden light hung low in the sky, time seeming to slow as Spike waited for his friend to arrive. Marefriend? No, it would be wrong to put that strong of a label on their relationship, Spike thought as he let his hind claws run through blades of grass.
He sat on a bench in a park opposite to the movie theater, letting his mind wander while trying to remain calm for what was sure to be a strange encounter.
A date with Rarity’s sister. A date with one of his best friends. A quiet night alone, just the two of them. He could only hope Trixie let Starlight finish what he needed from her before the movie ended.
Across town, a trio of mares walked out of the Blossom family spa. Their bodies freshly cleaned, hooves polished, and hair masterfully treated and dressed giving their manes a beautiful shine. Among the trio, two of them still dragged the last to their next destination though now Sweetie and Scootaloo had swapped roles.
Sweetie still was in shock over Spike’s sudden request. Though she had been looking forward to this all week, now there was so much more on the line. Her relationship with the dragon. Despite him planning their night, there was the ever present chance Spike could find out about her radio job and disapprove of her meddling. So much could go wrong for her.
“Sweetie, come on. Yer gonna be late.”
“I’m not ready. I need more time. I need to go uhh… Get him a gift. Yeah.”
“No you don’t Sweetie. We spent all day getting you ready. It will be fine. You already know what to expect from the evening.” Scootaloo pushed the mare from behind, not letting her coerced spa trip be for naught. “Just go and have fun. It will all be fine.”
Apple Bloom, tugging on her friend’s hooves, agreed with the orange miscreant. “Fur once, she’s right. Ain’t nothing to do now but go have the time of yer life.”
Scootaloo smiled until she clued in on the not so subtle insult thrown her way. Apple bloom stuck out her tongue teasing her friend while Sweetie lowered her head and braced herself.
“Guys. Listen. I seriously just don’t know what to do. I don’t want to ruin things, and I just feel so weird sorta pulling the strings.” Sweetie sighs as the stress, freshly washed away by the town’s expert masseuses, already began building in her once again.
Her statement hung in the air for a few moments as the two other mares considered how best to approach it. Although they both had their own ideas about what was best, the two united in their desire to see Sweetie happy. “Just go do it. You’ve loved this dragon since we were fillies, and now you’re gonna go and take what you deserve.”
“And if it goes south, you could always admit yer little secret to him.”
The words of her friends reassured her, but didn’t put her worries to rest. These emotions may build up over the night, things could go wrong immediately. Everything could fall apart and Spike could hate her for the rest of their lives. Something so much worse could happen, and she would have to face the wrath of the princess of friendship.
She caught herself getting worked up, and decided to embrace what Scootaloo said. She steeled herself and stood with newfound confidence. “You’re right. Let’s go. I’ve got this.”
The crusaders cheered as Sweetie walked confidently in the direction of the movie theater, where Spike waited for her. As a radiant golden light bathed the mare, her two friends couldn’t help but smile.
Scootaloo couldn’t help herself though. Just as Sweetie crested a hill, disappearing from sight, she turned to her apple farmer friend, “So. What was that about a ‘sleepover’ after the spa?”
***
Afternoon transitioned to evening while Spike and Sweetie watched a new pony adventure movie. Back to back scenes of action, interspersed with a minimally important plot that connected the high adrenaline shots. It wasn’t exactly what most ponies would call a ‘date’ movie, but Spike knew they would both enjoy this.
In their younger years, the two of them shared a love of various series. Spike helped sweetie get into comics, while Sweetie introduced Spike to a couple different video games he really got into. They once even had a sleepover, just the two of them, where they watched three action-y spy movies back to back in the back of Carousel Boutique.
What made this different though, was the pair’s constant awareness of each other. When they were foals, they could just set up in their sleeping bags and it wouldn’t be any harm. But now, Spike had to fight off the worries that his plan might fail or that Sweetie wasn’t enjoying the movie as much as he thought. Where should he place his claws? should he reach over and hold her hoof? Should he rest his head against hers and cuddle up to her?
Meanwhile Sweetie had practically identical thoughts, wondering if the spa trip had changed something about her. The sisters did change her hair style, curling it as opposed to her natural wavy style. Maybe it was too much and Spike didn’t like it.
Neither of them became much more comfortable when the big romantic scene hit, and just as Spike tried to cuddle up to Sweetie, a pretty graphic sex scene started making the pair that much more awkward. Still, they laughed it off before settling back into their previous positions while watching what felt more like pornography than a feature film.
The nervous laughter failed to quiet their internal monologues. Horny internal screams and flustered babbling bubbling beneath the surface, ready to escape. Faces flushed as the single scene that made them the most awkward seemed to drag on for most of the movie, even if it wasn’t longer than a tenth of the total runtime. The dragon and pony couple squirmed beside each other, not helped by the graphic PDA displayed by the couple in front of them.
But as the scenes faded and the movie concluded, the two felt a bit closer, laughing at the same jokes, sharing nervous glances during ‘intense’ scenes, and even by the end finally letting Spike’s claw rest against Sweetie’s hoof, and Sweetie’s head begin to nestle in to the crook of Spike’s shoulder.
It was small, a tiny improvement to just existing with each other, but for the two hopelessly inexperienced romantics, it was the little things that changed their worlds. The cool sensation of Spike’s scales containing a raging heat beneath them, the way Sweetie’s fur would slide between them, tickling the scale’s roots in a way he so rarely felt.
It was a position the two would stay in forever if given the chance, though neither of them would admit it to the other… Yet.
Spike was the one to start as the credits rolled up the screen. “So…”
“So, what?”
“Soooo…” Spike draws out his question, uncertain if the others had things set up. It wasn’t much, but with Trixie around there was a non-zero chance she would pull Starlight into one of those ‘intense’ situations like the movie. He rested his head on hers using her warmth as reassurance, calming his uneasy nerves, “how are you feeling?”
Sweetie paused, watching the last few names fade from the screen, lights rising around them as ponies shuffled out of the theater. The tension released from her trip to the spa already more than built up once again from just being with her crush for so long. She fidgeted and was nervous, but wasn’t unhappy. “Good. I’m feeling good.”
“Yeah. Me too.” Spike fidgeted in turn, the emptiness of the illuminated theater making it hard to decide whether to stay here for longer, or move on to the next plan of his date. Neither of them wanted to be the one to break this moment.
Some time passed and finally a pair of theater workers came to clean out the room before the next showing. As they were forced to separate and make their way out of the theater, Spike rested a claw on Sweetie’s back, pulling her close to his side. “The night’s not over yet. I have just a little more planned for us.”
***
Since Twilight’s coronation, Ponyville had undergone significant transformations. The former village began to rapidly grow as hundreds of new ponies came to the brilliant princess’ domain. Ponyville quickly became the country’s capital for innovation and research with the many programs Twilight put in place. The new houses, businesses, and other developments quickly surrounded the castle of friendship.
In that hasty development, Ponyville had lost some of that old village charm. The quiet, rural, go-with-the-flow town urbanized slowly creeping into the domain of a second canterlot, much to Twilight and the Element’s frustrations. Before developers could shred away all their favourite out of the way location and transform them into new housing developments, Twilight designated many of them as parks and preserves keeping them under her aegis indefinitely.
Some of these places were practical in nature, like keeping golden oaks under her purview as the library regrew. Some of these places were more historic, like the canyon where the physical elements were found. The castle of the two sisters was also protected like this, preventing it from being turned into a hotel as one development group attempted. Finally, there were the sentimental locations Twilight protected. Locations like the tallest hill in Ponyville, which spike was currently leading his date towards. A beautiful place to chart constellations while resting against an old maple tree, a place to watch the first sunrise of a new year with friends, and a place to escape the hassles of being a princess and just embrace what used to be. For spike, this was also the perfect place to bring Sweetie Belle to enjoy a romantic picnic to cap off their first date.
However, just out of view, cuddled up together in an enchanted blanket of invisibility to support Spike’s plans, was the most magical couple in Ponyville. Trixie Lulamoon and Starlight Glimmer held each other tight as they watched the setting sun, knowing Spike would be along any minute now. But until his arrival they were more than happy to just enjoy their romantic scheme together.
“Now you remember your cue right?”
“Of course Trixie. It’s way less complicated than the cues from your magic shows, this shouldn’t be a problem.”
Trixie smiled at her pink lover, the only other person who could see her while they shared their blanket. She rested her head on Starlight’s. “Good, good. We’re gonna make this night unforgettable.”
Starlight pulled Trixie in even closer, snuggling her as she ran through everything else that needed to be done. Picnic blanket, basket filled with goodies from sugarcube corner, A bit of weather schedule chicanery to delay the evening showers and clear the sky which she would have to pay Rainbow Dash back for, and ensuring Twilight was still too busy to notice the three of them gone.
“Why did we ever stop doing things like this Trixie?” Starlight wonders aloud as she lets her eyes drift closed, satisfied that everything will fall into place.
“We can do this more if you want. Research can wait for once we take over the world.”
Starlight laughed as she spotted the pair they were here to support. “We can figure it out once we get Spike the girl of his dreams.” They shared one more kiss as the two watched the dragon and the unicorn turn off the main path up to the hill.
The dragon took the lead, but kept himself side by side with the pink and white pony walking in step with her. Spike nervously spun his claw around, not quite sure what to do while they strolled. If it was another dragon they could hold hands, but that was impossible with a pony. Maybe he could wrap his arm over Sweetie, letting his claw rest on her belly, but maybe that was possessive. Resting it on her back wasn’t ideal either since that felt more patronizing than anything.
His options floated through his head indecisively until they reached the base of the hill that Spike had set up for them. He however was not the one to reach any conclusion as Sweetie belle used a bit of magic to lift his claw so she could slip herself as close to him as possible.
Though the two mostly walked in silence, each equally reveling and fearing the remaining time they had together. It had been years since they had been this close, not since the crusaders were still blank flanks had they shamelessly enjoyed each other’s presence. It wasn’t either of their first time in this sort of romantic position, but to them it meant more than any other date or fling could hope to mean.
“Stargazing?” Sweetie asked as the two walked up the hill to where the blanket and telescope were set up.
“Yeah. I’ve been bouncing around from town to town for months, and none of them have ever had as gorgeous a night sky as in Ponyville.”
“Hehe, I can really tell you grew up with Twilight. Sometimes her influence is a bit too obvious.” Sweetie laughed as she jumped on to the picnic blanket ahead of Spike, pulling him along with her instead. “So are you gonna tell me about the consetllations?”
“No no no,” Spike sat beside her on the blanket, pulling the basket over to him and procuring a few pastries for the two, a gem studded cupcake and a vanilla cupcake less likely to break Sweetie’s teeth. “Well, I could if you wanted me to. There’s a lot you can see around this time of year. But there’s actually something else supposed to happen tonight.”
“Oooo, like a meteor shower?” Sweetie asks, lifting the cupcake out of his hands and pressing her small body against her date’s.
Spike hesitates, glancing up to the tree he knew his friends were hiding in. Spike actually didn’t know what Trixie had in store for them, just that it was something she was confident she could do. With some cajoling from Starlight, she shared the plan with her, but then she also refused to tell. Only that he had to ask her to be his marefriend before the two would do anything.“It’s a secret.”
“Come on, it’s totally a meteor shower. A whole bunch of shooting stars.” Sweetie kept prodding but was content with the secret. “So, tell me about those constellations.”
Spike started talking about the things he had picked up from his time with Twilight and Luna, myths and stories about creatures raised to the heavens along with the sun and moon.
The sun dipped completely below the horizon as Spike kept talking. A few times he came to the end of a story and considered what to say next, how he could possibly go from talking about myths of literal star crossed lovers to the question he had burning away inside of him without pushing her away and making a fool of himself.
Sweetie was more than happy to indulge him, listening to each story waiting for her chance to ask the same of him. To be together, to love each other, just as the mythical Queen Bode had loved her astrologer and moved the stars to show her feelings and united them eternally.
“He really has no idea what he’s doing, does he?” Starlight whispered as Spike circled his point for longer and longer. Though she was patient, she could see her companion getting more frustrated and restless, especially as the two started to really feel the bark of the tree pressing against their bodies.
“Just give him time. He’ll get it. It’s all building to the big finish. When He’ll-”
Starlight quickly shut up her companion as the two were invisible, but could still be caught if they were too loud.
Unfortunately, Spike was not building up to anything. More and more he spun around his point, dancing so close to the edge, when he would finally ask her his one small question. The more he talked, the less sure he was and made up for it by talking more and more, spiraling as he got caught up in the idea of what they could be together. Future dates, nights spent cuddling or even just the rest of the night closer than before, it was all wonderful but he had to cross the immense barrier that was asking her his one simple question.
“Will you be my coltfriend spike?”
Sweetie smiled brightly as the two looked at each other. Spike’s mind froze as it put together exactly what Sweetie had just so simply said. A silence hung in the air for just a moment as Spike’s mind caught up, before he could with his whole heart respond with an emphatic. “Yes Sweetie. Yes, I’ll be your coltfriend… if you’ll be my marefriend.”
Sweetie let out a small giggle as her own heart finally stopped racing. She caught Spike’s spiraling, and though she was more than confident because of what Spike had told her radio persona, she knew he might back down. Tonight may end and they may not be together. So she took the reins. “Of course Spike, I’ll be your marefriend.”
It took a few moments before Spike slowly reached out his claw, leaving it open for Sweetie to place her hoof in. That was the signal the two hidden mares had been waiting for.
As Sweetie took Spike’s claw, Starlight began her spell. It took a lot out of her but with some time, she was able to conjure a small but brilliant light show, miles and miles above the ground to mimic a meteor shower. Trixie began to shower the new couple in light, ephemeral strands of magic, twirling around in little hearts.
As the two watched Starlight’s magical meteors, the two magicians teleported away, their mission complete.