//------------------------------//
// First Date 
// Story: First Date 
// by Closer-To-The-Sun 
//------------------------------//

The yellow filly was shy and timid in her voice, "H-Hello, Snails...."

"Uh, hi Applebloom," the unicorn replied, a little surprised that the pony had came up to him right after the dismissal bell rang.

Applebloom sheepishly looked elsewhere, anywhere else. Her cheeks were flushed and she seemed embarrassed to even be there.

"What's up?" Snails broke the awkward pause that Applebloom was creating between them with her silence.

As if she was trying to hide behind her red mane, Applebloom turned her head so the hair fibers would mask her face, "Ah was wonderin' what you were up ta is all...."

Snails looked down at his desk, which still had his saddlebag and books on it, "Well, I still have to get the rest of my stuff packed up before I can go enjoy the weekend like everypony else." It was then that Snails looked around to see that the classroom was empty save for Applebloom and himself, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were off in their own corner chatting about something.

"Ah see....well, ah was wonderin' if ya wanted ta....do something together a little later...." the filly still was looking elsewhere, this time it was the floorboards beneath her hooves.

"Huh?" the colt was puzzled by the offer, "What do ya mean?"

"Like....if ya wanna go....get somethin' ta eat or somethin'....with me...."

"Ya mean like a....date?"

Aplebloom nodded, the pink bow on the top of her mane bouncing with her mane.

"Uh....sure, that would be nice," Snails smiled to the yellow pony.

Finally turning to face Snails, Applebloom's facial expression was one of excitement, but she also seemed to keep it in check, "Really? Okay, how 'bout tonight at Sugarcube Corner at six?"

It was apparent that Snails wasn't expecting such a sudden timeframe for this appointment, "Huh? Well, I guess we could go with tonight at six."

Applebloom quickly cut the unicorn off, "Great, ah'll see you then!" As fast as she had appeared before Snails, she disappeared out of the door with the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Alone in the classroom, Snails gathered his belongs and headed out of the door. Once outside, Snails didn't see where the Crusaders had rushed off to. Instead, he saw his fellow unicorn friend, Snips, and his newer, but just as good, friend, Spike the dragon.

"There he is, told ya he'd be out soon," Snips directed his statement to the purple dragon.

"What took ya, Snails? We got some card games to play," Spike asked.

Snails used his magic to slightly adjust the saddlebag on his back, "Sorry about that."

"What happened in there? Did Miss Cheerilee have to talk to you about bad grades again?" Snips asked as the three started to move towards the playground tables where they would always pay their card games.

"No, it wasn't that. Applebloom just asked me out on a date," Snails nonchalantly spoke as he trotted. The statement, however, caused Snips and Spike to freeze in their steps.

"What?" the blue unicorn and the dragon simultaneously exclaimed.

Turning around to see them in their stunned state, Snails looked at the two of them, "What about what?"

"Applebloom seriously asked you out on a date?" Spike's voice was one of disbelief.

Snips added on, "As in the Applebloom in our class? The same filly whose family owns Sweet Apple Acres and that once brought a poisonous snake she found on the way to class for show and tell?"

"Yeah, Applebloom," Snails nodded in confirmation.

"This is totally big!" Spike excitedly spoke, "You got a date!"

Snails seemed to lack the same enthusiasm as his friends, "It's not that big of a deal. It's just a date with a friend, right?"

Snips shook his head, "You're kidding right? This is really cool for you! You have a date with one of the cutest fillies in the class!"

At the mention of the word cutest, the orange unicorn blushed and his voice seemed to reflect his nervousness, "Well, I guess she's pretty cute and all...."

"You lucky dog!" Spike used his arm to lightly elbow Snails, causing him to become a little more timid and bashful about the idea.

"When is the date?" Snips asked.

"Tonight at six at Sugarcube Corner," Snails replied, still shaky in his voice.

Spike gasped, "Tonight? That means we have no time to waste! We got to get you all ready for your date!"

Snips nodded, "Spike's right, Snails! Gotta make you all fancy and prepared for the big moment!"

The startled Snails objected to the idea, "What? You guys don't need to do anything like that."

"Let's go get him ready!" Both Snips and Spike grabbed one of Snails' front limbs and started to drag him towards Ponyville.

"Can't we just play our card games? Please?" the unicorn's pleads fell on deaf ears.

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Their first stop in Snails' date preparation was a thrift store. While en route to the shop, Snips and Spike stated that he needed to look sharp for his date with Applebloom. Despite arguing against them the entire way, Snails knew their was no escape from them and their plan. Once they arrived at the thrift store, the quickly immersed themselves in the big clothing sections of the shop.

"Now then, where should we start?" Spike scanned the clothing sections of the fairly large thrift store.

Snips raised a hoof up to his chin and lightly rubbed his chin, "How about a new shirt? 

Spike nodded, "Yeah that's a good idea."

"If you don't have a good shirt, how can you expect to wear pants? Snips stated proudly.

"I like the way you think!" the dragon spoke.

"Guys, I really don't know about this," Snails admitted, shaking slightly his words.

"Come on, a new style can do you some good, Snails!" Spike stated, pointing at the orange unicorn.

Snails paused for a moment and looked at himself in a nearby mirror, "Whats wrong with my style?

"To start, you're naked!" Snips exclaimed loudly.

"We're all naked!" Snails shouted back.

Spike and Snips looked at each other and than themselves before agreeing in a mumbled fashion.

Finally returning to the reason they are in the thrift store, Spike moved behind Snails and began to push him through the aisles of clothing, "Well, either way, let's get you a new shirt, Snails!"

Despite objecting, Snails was pushed through the clothing aisles by his friends. Snips and Spike took a number of different shirts off of the racks as they made their way to the dressing room. After about 15 minutes of gathering shirts, Spike and Snips pushed their friend into the dressing room. There, Snails had to model the different shirts for his friends. The shirts included a purple collared shirt, a white dress shirt, a plaid jacket that seemed to be from another era, and many other options. However, with the approval of his friends, Snails settled on a black and white checkered button-down shirt.

"You really think this is okay?" Snails asked as he looked at himself in a mirror again. The shirt was a bit big on him, causing him to walk on his sleeves slightly.

"Totally! Just roll those sleeves up and you're good!" Snips stated.

"But he's missing something...." Spike was thinking aloud.

Snips asked, "Like what?"

"I got it!" the dragon rushed out of the dressing room and returned within a few seconds with a black bowler hat, "This will make you look awesome!"

Snails used his magic to levitate the hat onto his head. Once on, he looked at himself in the mirror again, but was still doubting, "I'm still not sure about this...."

"You look totally cool! Now let's get going, it's almost time for your date!" Spike pulled on Snails collar, taking him out to the rest of the thrift store and to the cashier.

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After leaving the store, Snips and Spike started giving Snails some advice about his upcoming date. However, Snails seemed to be puzzled by their statements.

"When you get there, you have to act like a gentlecolt to her!" Spike explained.

"But you also need to let her be herself and not baby her," Snips added.

"Yeah yeah, and don't forget to ask her questions to get her talking. Don't forget to act like you're interested in what she was to say," the dragon said.

Snails paused for a moment, "But I am interested in what she has to say."

The dragon nodded, "Good, that's good, but save it for the date!"

"Be sure to let her know what you think too. She's going to be interested in what you have to say," Snips spoke.

"Uhh...." Snails was becoming nervous, lightly scratching his head with a hoof, tilting the hat that rested on his head.

"Are you nervous about what you want to talk about with her?" the blue unicorn asked.

Snails simply nodded as they continued to trot.

"Well," Spike started, "Twilight always has some conversation starters. Like, ask her if she was stuck on a desert island, what would she bring and why. Also ask if she has any pets or what her worst job was."

"Uhh...." the orange colt echoed his previous statement. It was obvious that he was scared.

"Don't worry, Snails, you can do this!" Snips reassured his friend as they drew closer to the entrance of Sugarcube Corner.

"And we'll be with you in spirit!" Spike added.

"Wait, I'm doing this alone?" Snails nervously asked.

Spike shrugged, "We can't be there for you every part of the way You gotta do it on your own, buddy."

"I'm too nervous."

"You got this!" Snips patted Snails on the back, almost causing his bowler to fall off his head.

Shaking in his horseshoes, Snails trotted into the bakery.

Inside, Ponyville's pink party pony welcomed the orange colt, "Hello there, Snails! You look very neat! How can I help you?"

Snails was a little shaken by Pinkie Pie's energy. "H-Hi Pinkie Pie. I'm here to see....Applebloom for our....d-date...."

Pinkie Pie's eyes lit up as she gasped happily, "A date? That is super duper cute! Applebloom is already here waiting for you!" She bounced with energy, leading the unicorn through the bakery. After a hop, skip, and a jump, Pinkie brought Snails to Applebloom's table.

Snails was staring at Applebloom. He noticed that the bow she had in her mane was different from the one she had on at school. It had a white and pink pattern to it and matched the pink dressed she seemed had on. It also looked as if she had put on some make up.

"Hiya, Snails," the yellow filly greeted her date. Her face was flushed and her voice timid. 

"H-Hey," he replied, still shaking in his voice.

Giggling, Pinkie bounced away, "I'll be back with some water for the both of you!"

Snails took the seat across Applebloom. He looked at the table before him. Only a napkin and some silverware were present on his side of the table while a plant and condiments separated the two sides. On Applebloom's side, she also had a napkin and silverware.

"Ah see ya dressed up," Applebloom broke the awkward silence between the two. She took a close look of what Snails was wearing, "Ya look....uh....nice...."

With a nervous laugh, Snails spoke, "Yeah....sorry, Spike and Snips kinda helped me....if this is considered helping...."

"It's fine, ah'm just happy ya came," Applebloom smiled with a pink tint in her cheeks.

Snails also blushed at her words.

It was then Pinkie Pie returned with a pair of glasses filled with water. After she placed them down on the table, she spoke up, "So what can I get ya?"

Totally forgetting about the food aspect of his date, Snails slightly panicked. However, Applebloom was quick to answer Pinkie's question, "Could we get two blueberry muffins? One fer each of us?"

"Can do!" Pinkie Pie beamed as she hopped away.

Applebloom turned her attention back to Snails, "Ah hope ya don't mind me orderin' fer both of us, Snails. Figured it'd be somethin' we'd both like."

"It's okay, I didn't have an idea what I would have wanted anyway," Snails nervously laughed.

The yellow pony softly chuckled at the statement before a silence fell over them again.

This stillness between the two was making the unicorn nervous. He quickly remembered the conversation starters that Spike told him about.

"Uh....do you....um....have any pets?" Snails asked, struggling to speak.

"Well, there are a number of animals that live back on the farm, like the cows and pigs. We also got our dog, Winona," Applebloom answered, "Do you have any pets?"

"My family had a parrot once....but he died a few months ago," Snails replied.

"Oh," she muttered.

The silence returned between them. Snails quickly asked another question, hoping to keep some sort of dialogue going, "Uh....what about the worst job you've had?"

"Job? Like around the farm?" the filly asked

"S-Sure?" Snails added.

"Well, since ah haven't had any other kind of job yet, ah think it would be when ah havta clean out the pigpen and wash the pigs," the filly explained, "They can be very messy and just roll in the mud right after ya clean them off."

"Heh....sounds pretty bad," Snails lightly laughed. He then quickly moved to the next question, "If you were stuck on a deserted island, what three things would you bring with along?"

The sudden question surprised Applebloom momentarily, "Ah....uh....ah guess ah'd take a bushel of apples with me so ah can start mah own orchard, then ah guess somethin' to make sure ah got fresh water, and mah dog Winona?"

Snails nodded, "Uh-huh, I see."

At this moment, Pinkie Pie returned with the blueberry muffins for the two youngsters. She smiled and left them back to their silence.

Applebloom paused a minute for speaking again, "Um....Snails....are ya okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, why would you say that?" Snails asked.

She looked off to the side, avoiding eye contact, "Ah feel like ya don't wanna be on this date...."

"I do," Snails answered, "I really do I just....can I be honest with ya?"

Applebloom nodded.

"I'm just scared of what you think about me...."

The filly looked back to Snails, "What ah think of ya?"

"Since ya asked me on this date, I was worried that I might do something to mess it up and make you hate me," Snails admitted with a sigh.

"Can ah be honest with ya as well?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah."

"Ah kinda only asked ya out because Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo dared me to...." Applebloom said.

Snails was surprised, "Really?"

"But it's not like ah didn't wanna ask ya....ah was really excited ya didn't say reject me," Applebloom sheepishly smiled, "ah was worried ya didn't like me in that way...."

"Well....ah do like ya like that...." Snails blushed at Applebloom's smile.

"But it's too weird, huh?" Applebloom asked. She was replied with a nod, to which she nodded back, "Can't we just be friends? Ah like ya....a lot...." she blushed as she spoke, "but ah wanna stay friends with ya more than anything else."

Snails smiled back, a pink tint on his orange face, "I'd like that, Applebloom. Let's just stay friends right now."

Applebloom smiled back happily, "Agreed."

Finally looking at the muffin on the plate in front of him, Snails took a bite of it. At that, both of the two youngsters started to eat their food.

"So....now what?" Snails asked after eating about half of his muffin.

Taking a moment to think, Applebloom answered, "Wanna go catch frogs in the stream near the schoolhouse?"

Snails smiled at the thought, standing up, "Totally!"

"Then let's go!" Applebloom happily got off the chair and started to trot with Snails out of the bakery, "Ah havta say that this is a great first date."

END