Eric took a deep breath as he stood in front of Azure’s house. “What am I so nervous for?” he thought to himself. “I hang out with Az all the time, so what’s the big deal?” He took another deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Just a second!” the mare said from inside. Eric could hear footsteps approaching the door, and for some reason, his heart kept beating faster and faster as Azure Gem got closer and closer. Finally, the door opened and Eric finally got a good look at Azure.
Judging from what she was wearing, she might have had the same idea as Eric, not too formal, but not too casual. Then again, Azure was never one to overdo things. She had on a white blouse that matched her mane and tail, and she was wearing black skinny jeans. Her mane was tied back in a ponytail (how ironic…) and she was wearing a sapphire necklace. Eric also caught a whiff of something. It smelled like… like…
“Perfume?” Eric thought. “Is Azure wearing perfume? Nah, it must be over-scented shampoo or something. I don’t think Azzy would wear perfume just for a movie, and a five-o-clock movie, no less.”
“So are you gonna just stand there, or are you gonna say hi?” the mare asked with a chuckle.
“Oh, sorry,” Eric said awkwardly. “Hi… You look really nice tonight.”
“Why thank you,” she said with exaggerated graciousness. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Eric.”
“Okay, so I did dress for the occasion,” he thought. “Good, that’ll eliminate any misunderstandings. Now to catch a taxi and head to the movie.” Thankfully, he was able to catch on quickly and avoid any awkward standing around.
As Eric and Azure sat in the taxi, carriage, Azure started talking about the movie.
“So I finally got around to watching the trailer for the movie, and it’s hilarious!” she said.
“Hopefully it won’t be one of those comedies where all the funny lines are in the trailer,” Eric said.
“Judging from how well Luna praised the movie, I don’t think that’ll be the case,” said Azure.
“Well that’s pretty optimistic of you, Azzy,” said Eric. “Care to give me one of your infamous predictions?”
Azure Gem loved to predict the plots to movies. There were even some cases where her predictions were correct, and with Azure’s special talent, her predictions were much more interesting than the average pony’s
“Only because you asked,” she said, even though she probably would have done it regardless of whether Eric asked or not. She lit up her horn and an image appeared above her head.
“I think that the fake family will get captured by the drug lord, escape them, and then one of the fake family members will get injured in some way, and they have to decide on either taking him to the hospital or returning home to get their money.” As Azure stated her prediction, the scene played out on the image above her head.
“It’s really cool how you can turn your thoughts into moving pictures,” Eric said in awe.
“Well, it is my special talent,” Azzy said with a smile. “I’ve always had an active imagination.”
“I wish I had that power,” said the human. “It would really help with my writing.”
“You always say that,” said the unicorn.
“That’s how badly I want it,” Eric said with a chuckle. [Wellkay, this is going well so far,” he thought. “Was that last thing I said bordering on flirtation, though? I’m not sure.” He took a quick look at Azure’s expression. “She doesn’t seem to have a problem with it, so that must mean she’s okay with it. Good.”
Several minutes later, Eric and Azure reach the movie theater. After Eric paid the taxi fare, he and Azzy got in line for their tickets. Thankfully, since they were catching a five-o-clock showing, the line was nowhere near as long as it could be if it were for a seven or nine-o-clock showing.
“Want some snacks, Az?” Eric asked.
“Feel like sharing an extra-large popcorn?” she asked back.
“Sounds good,” Eric said. “Want anything to drink?”
“Cherry soda sounds nice,” Azure answered.
“Alright, then. I think I’ll have that, too,” Eric said as he got up to the front of the snack bar and ordered the snacks.
“You didn’t have to pay for all of it, you know,” Azure pointed out.
Eric started to panic. He might have set off a wrong vibe. “Oh, I didn’t? Sorry, I didn’t know that-”
“Relax, I didn’t say I didn’t appreciate it,” the unicorn said. “Chill, man.”
“Sorry…” he said, realizing how much of an idiot he acted like. That feeling of shame quickly turned into one of urgency when a familiar urge took him over. “Az, can you hold the snacks for a sec? I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Sure, Eric,” she said. “I’ll get us some seats in the meantime.”
Eric nodded his head and made his way to the bathroom. Hopefully, some time in there could also allow him to get himself together. He decided to take a stall; Eric occasionally liked the feeling of being closed off from others. It gave him time to think. As he relieved himself, Eric tried to rationalize himself.
“Come on, man. Stop acting like a moron!” he mentally scolded himself. “It’s not like you’ve never gone out with Azure Gem before! Whether or not Luna’s here shouldn’t make a difference. Az is just a friend, so why are you hung up on making everything perfect? Just relax.”
Ironically, the first thing Eric saw when he opened his stall door was anything but relaxing.
“What’s up, lover boy?” said a certain draconequus.
“AAGH!!!” Eric yelled in shock as he barely kept himself from falling over. “Fucking shit, man! What are you doing here!?”
“I was curious about where you were going earlier, so I followed you,” explained Discord.
“Do you really have nothing better to do with your time!?” the human asked furiously. “Stop trying to sabotage my life!”
“Sabotage?” Discord asked innocently. “You misunderstand; I’m only here to observe your date with Azure Gem.”
“It’s not a date!” Eric argued. “Luna was supposed to come with us, but she was busy!”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Discord said, not believing him.
“Regardless, why do you have to ‘observe’ me and Azure!?”
“Because, I originally planned on crashing the outing, but then I felt that you’d ruin it yourself, what with your inexperience with women and all,” the draconequus said mockingly.
“Inexperience?” Eric asked incredulously.
Discord smiled and began to mock him. “Oh, I didn’t? Sorry, I didn’t know that- blah, blah, blah! You sounded like a five-year-old.”
“At least I don’t act like a five-year-old,” the human snapped back.
“Look, all I’m doing is observing,” Discord repeated. “I won’t try anything, so don’t get your panties in a bunch.”
Eric was on the verge of punching the dragon-like abomination in the face, but decided to just relax. “Fine, Discord” he conceded.
“Good, now go on,” he said. “It’s not polite to keep your lady waiting, Eric”
He wanted to make a quip about Discord and his relationship with Celestia, but decided to let the draconequus have this one.
Eric checked his ticket to remind himself which theater his movie was showing in. “Theater six…” he muttered to himself. Once he was inside the theater, he looked around for Azure. Thankfully, the previews were still playing, so they haven’t dimmed the lights completely yet. Eric was able to find Azure and took a seat next to her.
“Sorry for making you carry all the snacks,” he apologized. “You must’ve had our hands full.”
“Have you already forgotten that I’m a unicorn?” she said, playfully lifting a piece of popcorn with her magic and throwing it at Eric. “Besides, when nature calls, nature calls.”
Eric chuckled at the unicorn’s joke. It almost made him forget that Discord was watching him.
Oh, shit. Discord was watching him.
Eric tried his best to keep his cool and just focus on the movie. Thankfully, it was funny enough to keep his mind off of his silent watcher. Midway through the film, with his eyes stuck to the screen, he stuck his hand inside the bag of popcorn only to feel something soft and velvety. He then heard a giggle coming from Azure Gem. Eric looked into the bag and saw that he was holding Azure’s hand.
“Oh, sorry!” he said, yanking his hand out from the bag. “Shit! Now she’ll think I’m hitting on her!” he thought frantically.
“You alright, Eric?” asked Azure.
“Oh, I’m fine, Azzy,” he answered with a blush. Thankfully, the mare couldn’t see it because of how dark the theater was.
After the movie, Eric and Azure were still in stitched from what they just watched, and Eric was laughing harder than Azure.
“Why are you laughing so hard?” she asked him.
“Two reasons: One, the movie was a freakin’ riot!” he said in-between laughs. “Two, this is the first time your prediction was word-for-word accurate.”
“And that amuses you?” Azure asked as her laughter died down.
“To a certain degree,” Eric said as his laughter died down as well.
“Well, I need to go to the little filly’s room. Don’t get lost or anything, ‘kay?” the mare said playfully.
“Amusing,” said the human as Azure giggled and walked away. Eric couldn’t help but look at her as she left. Her long white mane, her luxurious blue coat that he got a chance to feel not too long ago… Eric’s eyes then unknowingly drifted downward to the mare’s flank. He was, for lack of a better word, “entranced” by the sight of Azure’s tail swishing back and forth in the opposite direction that her flank was.
Tail moved left, flank moved right. Tail moved right, flank moved left.
“Wait a sec,” Eric whispered to himself. “Why am I looking at her like that!?”
“Because she turns you on,” said someone from… above him?
“Discord!?” Eric quietly yelled.
“Why are you so surprised?” he asked as he got back down to the ground. “You already knew that I was watching you. Speaking of which, I saw what happened with the popcorn. Why didn’t you do anything after you held Azzy’s hand? You didn’t wrap your arm around your shoulder or anything! You, my friend, have no game.”
“Game? This isn’t a game, Discord!” the human said, getting angrier. “Azure’s not some prize I’m after! I’m just her friend.”
“Yeah, you’re her friend, not her gay friend.”
“You did not just go there!”
“Yes. I. Did.”
“Look, you got to see me and Azure go to the movies, now get the hell out of here!” Eric demanded.
“No way, there’s still the aftermath,” Discord refused. “You still have a chance to make a move, and I want to see if you actually take that chance.”
“I’m not making a move because I don’t like her like that, goddammit!” the human said trying his best to stay as quiet as he could.
“There’s no harm in admitting you like her,” said the draconequus. “She’s a nice mare, and if you ask me, I think she likes you, too. Besides, she’s lots of fun, and you’re no fun at all, so she completes you.”
“Wait, is that Celestia over there?” Eric said, trying to fool Discord.
Discord merely rolled his eyes. “Oh, please, like you really expect me to fall for tha- SHIT!!!”
“What?” Eric asked as he looked in the direction Discord was looking in. His eyes then widened when he saw none other than Celestia in the theater lobby.
“Dammit! Tia’s here!” Discord said in a panic. “I told her I’d be home all night tonight. I can’t let her catch me here!”
“You blew off another date with her?” asked the human.
“That’s none of your business!” the draconequus snapped back.
“Neither was my night with Azure,” Eric said with a smirk. “Regardless, you’d better make yourself scarce before Celestia sees you.”
Discord growled. If it wasn’t for his marefriend, he could’ve seen what Eric and Azure would have been up to after the movie. “Fine, I’m out,” he said. “Tell me everything that happens with you and Azure.” With that, Discord poofed out of the theater and out of Celestia’s sight.
“Yeah right,” Eric said to no one in particular. “Maybe when it rains chocolate from cotton candy clouds.” He then facepalmed when he realized how easily Discord could make that happen. “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about him anymore.” He looked towards the fillies’ room door and didn’t see Azure Gem yet. “I guess female ponies take long to use the bathroom, too…” he thought out loud.
“What was that about female ponies?” asked somepony from behind Eric.
“Agh! Azzy!” he said in surprise.
“Surprise!” she said.
“You’re almost as bad as Discord,” Eric muttered.
“Maybe I’m just helping to keep you on your toes so he doesn’t get the jump on you, Eric,” Azure playfully suggested.
“That would’ve actually come in handy earlier…” he thought. “So, you still want to get something to eat?”
“Of course,” she said, as if Eric should have known that.
“We just shared an extra-large popcorn, and you’re still peckish?” he chuckled as they left the theater.
“Let’s not forget that you ate most of it,” Azure said accusingly.
“No way!” Eric argued. “You were wolfing it down for the entire movie. I saw you shoveling mouthfuls into your mouth with your magic.”
“I was not!” Azure said defensively. “Besides, all that butter goes right to my flank, and that’s the last thing I want.”
Eric’s eyes unconsciously went to the body part that Azure just happened to mention. It wasn’t his fault, though. She shouldn’t have mentioned it so casually. That’s how Eric rationalized it, at least. With that in mind, he got caught up in that mesmerizing pattern again.
Tail moved left, flank moved right. Tail moved right, flank moved left.
“What are you staring at?”Azure asked with a suspicious look on her face.
“Nothing!” Eric said, quickly averting his eyes.
“Bullshit!” the mare said with a hearty laugh. “You were totally checking me out!”
“I was not!” he said, his face turning beet red.
“Aww! It’s alwight, Ewic,” she said with a baby voice. “I’m not mad with you~”
“Seriously, how old are you?” Eric asked.
“Twenty-four,” Azure answered despite the fact that she knew that it was a rhetorical question, “and you?”
“Twenty-one,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Well, you should learn to respect your elders, Eric,” said the mare. “You should also watch whose flank you stare at, too. The next mare you ogle might not be as nice with you as I was.”
“You say that like I’m some kind of lecher,” he said, offended.
“I don’t know what you do at home,” Azure teased.
“You’re horrible,” Eric said.
“And yet, you still choose to be around me,” she said with a triumphant smile, as if she got the better of Eric somehow. Eric decided to drop the issue, admitting to himself that each word he said just dug him a deeper grave.
Eric and Azure arrived at a small diner, and they were promptly seated. The place was relatively empty, which made Eric a little nervous. The lack of other ponies and people there increased the sense of isolation, making the outing feel more like a date.
“Is it really such a bad thing if this was considered a date?” he thought to himself. “I mean, Azzy’s a nice girl. She’s fun to be around, and she seems comfortable with me. She didn’t even bat an eyelash when she caught me staring at her flank. Could that mean that she liked it? Nah, I’m jumping to conclusions, I can’t just assume that she likes me.”
Eric sunk deeper and deeper into thought. “Why was I staring at her flank anyway? Was it because I was just being a guy, or do I really find Azure attractive. I mean, she is pretty, but am I attracted to her? I keep telling myself that I just see her as a friend, but maybe I was just lying to myself. Everypony’s always telling me that I’m stubborn; maybe this is one of those stubborn moments.”
Eric kept mulling these thoughts over in his head through the entire dinner. Whenever Azure Gem said something, he’d answer with the usual “yeah,” or “uh-huh,” or “oh, really?” Azure took notice of this and became concerned. She knew that Eric was one to fall into deep thought every now and then, but not to this extent. She wanted to say something to snap Eric out of it, but something inside her told her that something was really bothering him, so she decided to let it wait, at least until dinner was over.
When the bill came, Eric snapped out of his deep thinking momentarily and reached for his wallet, only for his hand to be held still by Azure’s magic.
“You don’t need to do that,” she said generously. “Let me cover this.”
“You sure?” Eric asked.
“Of course,” said Azure. “You paid for both our movie tickets and for our snacks. I have to pay you back somehow, right? Besides, just because you got a raise, doesn’t mean you have to blow it all on me.”
“Well, if you say so,” he conceded.
After the dinner, Eric and Azure Gem opted to walk home instead of catching a taxi carriage. Actually, it was more the latter’s idea. As they walked, Azure noticed the look on Eric’s face; he was in deep thought again. The mare figured that the moment they had together would be the perfect time to ask him what was on his mind.
“Is something bothering you, Eric?” she asked.
“No, it’s nothing, Az,” he answered unconvincingly. “I’m just thinking…”
“Thinking about what?” she asked.
“I’d rather not say,” he answered. “It’s kind of… uncomfortable to talk about.”
“Come on, Eric,” she pleaded. “You know you can talk to me about anything. I am your best friend, aren’t I?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” he muttered, more to himself than to Azure.
“What do you mean?” she asked, tilting her head.
Eric hesitated and shook his head. “No, it’s nothing. Forget I said anything.” He tried to talk ahead of Azure, only to have her grab him by the wrist.
“I don’t like when you do that, Eric,” she said bluntly. “You shouldn’t have any reason not to trust me.”
Eric said nothing and continued to look away from her.
“Look at me, Eric,” the mare said sternly.
He complied with Azure and turned to look her in the eye, and he was taken aback by how intense her expression was.
She didn’t look mad. In fact, she looked far from it. Her expression was intense, for sure, but it was an expression of intense concern as opposed to intense frustration. Her emerald green eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight, even from behind her purple glasses.
“I worry about you, you know,” she said. “I can tell when something’s bothering you. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
Eric merely sighed. “Okay, but can it wait until I get you home?
“Sure, but you’ll have to tell me then,” she said sternly. “Deal?”
“Deal,” he accepted.
The rest of the walk was silent, uncomfortably silent. The two occasionally looked at each other only to quickly turn away when their eyes made contact. Eventually they made it to Azure’s house, and she invited Eric in to make him feel as comfortable as possible. They both sat on Azure’s living room couch, and the mare proceeded to ask the same question she asked not too long ago.
“So, Eric,” she said. “What’s bothering you?”
Eric started to hesitate again, but he took a deep breath and looked Azure in the eye, which had a calming effect on him. “I… I’ve been really confused about how I feel about you, Az,” he admitted. “I mean, you are pretty, and I do think you’re interesting, but I don’t know if I’m attracted to you. I was really nervous about tonight because I didn’t want you to think that I was trying to make a move on you.”
“I thought you were a little jumpy tonight,” Azure said.
“Yeah…” said Eric. “I was really unsure about how I felt, but lately I’ve been noticing things about you. Like I said, I knew you were pretty, but I started to notice the other things, like the way you carry yourself, and how you’re never afraid to speak your mind, little things like that. I tried rationalizing it, but-”
“You can’t,” Azure interrupted. “No matter how hard you try to make it seem like a normal thing, it isn’t. You try to deny the possibility of there being some kind of deeper meaning, but you simply brush it off because you don’t want to risk that friendship.” She spoke as though she knew exactly what Eric was thinking.
“Even when you realize that you’re looking at them in ways you don’t look at normal friends,” she continued, “you try to make sense out of it all, but it’s impossible. You rack your mind trying to come up with a reason why you feel this way when the answer is right under your nose.”
“Azzy,” Eric said, only to follow with nothing.
“Remember earlier at the movie, when you held my hand by accident?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I know you couldn’t see me, but I was blushing,” she admitted. “Whenever you’d have one of those cute moments of yours, I’d play it off by teasing you about it, even though I knew you hated it.”
“Actually,” Eric said. “I grew to like it a little. In fact, I guess you could say I grew to like it a lot.” He turned to look into Azure’s green eyes again. “I like you a lot, Azzy,” he finally admitted.
“I like you a lot, too, Eric,” she said.
Eric was unsure of what to do next, but Azure was nothing but sure. Noticing Eric’s hesitance, she gently grasped his shoulders and pulled him closer to her, eventually pressing her lips against his. The kiss was awkward at first; both of them were inexperienced when it came to this kind of thing, but after a few seconds, they both got into the rhythm of it. Eric wrapped his arms around Azure; he could feel the softness of her coat and smell the aroma permeating from her mane. He took the opportunity to feel her soft mane with his hands, an action that Azure was more than happy to accept. Azure pushed Eric down on the couch, their lips still making contact as they shared their feelings for each other after denying them for so long.
After nearly two minutes, the two finally separated from each other, Azure’s emerald eyes staring down at Eric’s dark brown eyes.
“I don’t think I want to go home tonight,” he said to her.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said to him.
The new couple embraced on the couch, their arms wrapped around each other, and they lied there as sleep took them over.
“Goodnight, Eric.”
“Goodnight, Azure Gem.”