As next Sunday rolls around, Silk does a small loop around Asylum while they fly. “Come on, hun, move your cute caboose. Aren’t you excited for what I have planned?”
“I’d be able to give you a proper answer if I knew what you have planned,” the pegasus responds.
“But that would ruin the surprise!” Silk grins as she soars upward, keeping an eye on the ground below. “”Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.” She winks.
“If you say so...” Asylum sighs as she keeps following along, a little slower than normal. One of her wings flaps out of sync, and she dips several feet before recovering.
Not noticing her friend in her excitement, Silk eyes light up. “Down here, hun!” She dives, heading for the park.
Groaning, Asylum follows, trying not to lose sight of the thestral. “Wh-what’s down here?”
“Still a secret~! But I know you’re gonna like it~!” Her voice travels behind her as she descends, soon alighting on the fresh green grass.
Upon seeing it, the pegasus wastes no time in pulling up and lowering herself to the ground below and giving her wings a rest. However, they take it a little early, and she ends up plummeting the last two feet to the ground, landing roughly on her backside. “Ow...”
Darting over, Silk pulls her up, dusting off her rump and straightening her clothes. “Careful now, i don’t want to see you hurt or messy.”
Asylum sighs, letting her do so as she stands perfectly still. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
Silk pauses a moment before resuming cleaning her up. “Hun, this is no time to be salty with me. Maybe this surprise will be a better idea than I thought if you’re in this mood. Now come.” She grabs her hand, pulling her gently but insistently. “We’re almost there.”
The pegasus sighs and follows along. “I’m not trying to be salty. I’m just a little on edge. I don’t know why I was having trouble flying near the end there.”
“We can look into that later, hun.” She pulls her up a small hill. “For now… tadah!” They crest the rise, the thestral making their grand entrance onto a scene containing a checkered blanket on the ground, a basket on the blanket, and a now confused green unicorn stallion staring at them both.
Recognizing the stallion, Asylum is quickly blushing and leveling a subtle glare at her friend, immediately realizing the setup. She contemplates flying away, but doesn’t want to make a bad first impression. She sighs, turning her body to the unicorn but not looking him in the eye. “...hi.”
He blinks at the two of them. “Umm… hello… Silk, what’s this?”
“What? You haven’t heard of blind dates before?” She tugs Asylum’s hand towards the blanket. “Come on, hun!” She turns back to the stallion. “Rhino, I would like you to meet my best friend, Asylum.” The pegasus just waves sheepishly.
He hurriedly stands from where he had been sitting, inclining his head with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Asylum just nods with a small, nervous smile of her own. “S-Same to you...”
Rolling her eyes, Silk tugs the mare more. “Get along now, hun, have a seat.”
Rhino scuffs his hooves awkwardly. “Well, she doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to…”
“N-No, it’s fine.” Coughing, Asylum slowly makes her way over to the blanket and sits down in a careful position, keeping her eyes just barely averted from the green stallion’s own ones.
Gently nudging Rhino to do the same, Silk giggles when they are both seated. “There we are. There should be plenty of food and drink in the basket, and you have a lovely section of the park to yourselves. Have fun!” Without another word, she flies off, the wind from her wings barely ruffling their manes.
“Well… that happened,” Rhino deadpans.
“Yep…” Asylum sighs, muttering under her breath. “Dammit, Silk...” Turning to the unicorn, she offers a shy smile. “I guess… we eat?”
“It might give us something to do…” He chuckles nervously as his horn lights up, the basket opening and the usual classic picnic foods float out. Potato salad, rose petal salad, daisy sandwiches, good old unhealthy chips, and even two thermoses. “Sorry she did that… I honestly didn’t know she set me up when she invited me out here.”
“At least you were just invited,” she remarks, still avoiding eye contact. “She just woke me up and dragged me out… if I knew it was some sort of setup, I would’ve...” She pauses, then just shrugs. “I dunno what I would’ve done, really.” To keep herself from continuing further, she takes one of the thermoses and shakes it a bit, as though trying to guess its contents.
He cranes his head a little, trying to look at her eyes. “Well, you seem nice, so… I probably would have still came, if I knew.”
She blushes, finally looking him in the eyes, albeit only briefly before going back to the thermos. “Th-thank you...”
Still trying to find a good ice breaker, he smiles before fixing a small bowl of the rose salad, offering it to her along with a fork. “Here, you sound like she didn’t give you time to eat breakfast.”
Smiling, she takes it, only a little shakily. “Th-thanks… Rhino, was it?”
He nods. “And you’re Asylum, right?”
“Mm-hm.” She quickly takes a bite of the salad, looking rather relieved to finally have food in her mouth.
He grabs one of the sandwiches, taking a bite and looking at her as he tries to think of what to say.
After several moments of silent eating, she finally breaks it with a statement that, in her head, likely sounded much more normal. “You’re a neat guy.”
He pauses, having been about to take another bite. “Umm… thank you.”
She eeps, realizing her mistake as her face flushes red. “I-I mean a nice guy! ...at least, you seem like one, and, um… you do keep yourself tidy… from what I can tell, at least… and...” She trails off before just looking down, stuffing her face with a bite of salad to shut herself up.
He chuckles, his own tension easing a bit. “Well, thank you for all those compliments. I see I was right about you being nice, and I’ll add you look nice as well.”
Her blush increases, but a small smile joins it. “Th-thank you… sorry for rambling...”
He can only smile back at this. “Well, better than both of us sitting here silently trying to decide what to say.” He lets out a breath as he unfolds his legs, stretching them out as he moves to lay on one side. “Maybe just get comfortable and go from there?”
She giggles. “I like that idea.” Without hesitation, she moves and flops down on her front, head just inches from the salad that she continues to spear with her fork. Her legs kick up and down behind her, lightly tossing her skirt a bit.
His eyes are drawn to the movement, a small blush coming to his face before he yanks them away back to her face. “So, what are you studying here, then?”
“Studying…? Oh, at the school.” She blushes. “Um… just psychology, really… how about you?”
“My major is in enchanting, but I’m also trying to minor in business.” He rattles off this information like he has said it many times and wants to hear more about her. “So, you like psychology then?”
She nods. “It’s interesting… fun to learn about and such. Helps that it’s more or less my special talent as well.” She twirls her hair around a finger. “It’s fun to practice, as well… I’ve gotten good at reading ponies, to some extent.”
“Oh?” He finishes off the sandwich, resting a hand under his chin as he watches her finger. “And what do you read about me?”
Asylum tilts her head, thinking. “Well, for starters, I can tell you’re a calm and polite individual, but that’s not too hard to figure out.” She hums. “The way you’re looking around at me indicates you’re not particularly focused on this little picnic, but you’re not exactly in a hurry to leave either, so you’re more interested in just talking with the new girl despite her awkwardness. And the way you deflected me returning your question earlier implies either you really want to know more about what I study, or you believe your own path will come across as boring; perhaps both.” She smirks a bit. “And I saw that blush earlier; either you thought something embarrassing or naughty, a stray wind blew up my skirt, or you like me.” She slowly blushes and her smirk fades as she realizes what she said. “Er… maybe.”
He blinks, mouth falling open slightly in astonishment. “Wow… I guess psychology does work, since you were right on all accounts… ahem, except for the, erm… you know, the stray wind one…” He blushes a bit harder as he takes a thermos and twists it open, peeking inside and sighing in relief. “Good old, Silk…” Taking the cap off, he pours what is revealed to be the milk inside the cap, taking a swig.
She giggles, taking a sip of her own drink - lemonade, she discovers - straight from the thermos. A thought enters her head, and after drinking, she puts the thermos down to voice it. “So if I was wrong about the stray wind… was I right about both other options?”
His face goes even redder as he ducks it, partially hiding behind the arm holding the thermos as he mumbles. “Yes…”
She blinks, surprised. “O-Oh...” Trying to figure out what to take away from that, she goes with the safer option. “...what were you thinking about?”
He clears his throat a bit. “I, umm… I would rather not say. It’s a bit embarrassing and I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong impression of me.”
The pegasus shakes her head with a smile. “I’ve already seen you’re a good guy, Rhino. Everypony has those moments where they lose control of their thoughts. Don’t feel so bad about it.” She giggles. “But if you want to keep it a secret, I won’t pry too much… not like I won’t probably figure it out myself anyway.” There’s a mischievous glint in her eye that implies she isn’t bluffing.
His ears fold back a moment as he chuckles nervously for a different reason than the first time. “I do like a smart mare… though I didn’t realize dating psychology majors came with hazards.”
She blushes, realizing at last where this is going thanks to that remark. “W-Well… I can tone it down if you want...”
“Nah, you shouldn’t do that. Just be yourself, you’re interesting.” He smiles, once again feeling his tenses ease as she blushes. He fixes himself a small thing of potato salad.
“O-Okay...” She takes a deep breath, nodding, and taking another bite of her own food. After she swallows, she continues. “I just didn’t want to scare you off...”
He shakes his head as he hovers a fork over his own food. “You’re not scary, you’re… you know… cute.” He blushes a bit, but doesn’t look away.
She blinks, then smiles. “Heh… th-thanks… I’m g-glad you think so...”
He matches the expression. “And you have a good smile too.”
This only causes both her blush and her smile to increase. She continues to fiddle with her hair, unable to think of a response to that, so she just continues eating.
He’s the one who comes up with a topic this time. “So, do you have a job or…”
Asylum blinks before the words fully register in her brain. “Oh, um… well, Silk pays me to help her with modeling. Aside from that, sometimes I fill in for a couple of my weather-controlling friends when they get sick, with is a little more common than you’d expect… that’s about it, though. Not really putting my talent to use yet.”
One of his ears twitches. “You’re… Silk’s model? For what?”
“Oh, just clothes and such… her different dresses and outfits.” She shrugs, smiling. “It’s fun, getting to try all that stuff on, and she’s a great conversationalist while doing it too.”
“Sounds interesting.” He tries not to let his mind wonder exactly what kind of outfits, considering Silk’s usual stock. “So… you and Silk have been friends for a while, then?”
She nods. “About a year now, give or take. She’s one of my best friends.” She smiles.
Nodding, he replies. “I’m afraid she and I aren’t quite that close. Honestly, we only met because our shops are near each other’s. We just hit it off from there. Though, she does occasionally ask for my opinion on a male costume she’s working on.”
“Oh?” Asylum giggles a bit. “What kind of male costume?”
He looks away awkwardly. “Well, you know Silk. Some of them were okay, others were a bit… more deliberate in their designs. Thought she had lost her mind with that one guard costume…”
Asylum blinks, making a mental note to ask Silk about that one later on. “Well… that’s interesting to hear about, anyway.” She takes her last bite of salad before sipping from the thermos again.
“Want me to make you anything else?” He gestures to the rest of the spread.
She shakes her head. “No thank you, I think I’m fine for now. It was very good, though. Did you make it?”
He shakes his head, mirroring hers. “Sorry, I’m pretty sure Silk either made or bought all this. I think I can make a fair salad, though.” He sips from his own thermos, humming afterwards. “Well, I’ve been pestering you with questions for a while, did you have any for me?” He chuckles a bit as he continues teasingly. “Or do you already know all there is to know?”
She laughs a bit herself. “I prefer learning things from ponies’ mouths rather than finding them out myself. But no, I don’t really have many questions...” She taps a finger on the picnic blanket. “Um… do you want to do anything after this?”
“Well, I really wouldn’t mind spending longer with you… you know, if you wanted to.” He shifts his grip on the thermos as he watches for her answer.
The pegasus nods shyly. “I’d like that.”
“I guess the question is ‘what do we want to do’ then. Hmm…” Rolling over a bit, he lies on his back as he looks upward.
She watches with a small giggle, staying on her front. “I’m not sure, really… just hanging out with you is fine with me, though.”
“I wonder what our matchmaker might suggest…” He chuckles as he imagines it.
“Probably something a little too forward for a first date.” She sighs, scooting over beside him and rolling onto her side.
“Agreed.” He looks over to her, blinking a moment at her closeness before smiling gently. “This seems nice, though.”
Smiling, she moves closer and lays an arm across him. “It does...”
Swallowing, he brings one arm up and around slowly toward her back, keeping an eye on her face to watch for any signs of discomfort. No such signs come; instead, she closes her eyes and nuzzles his cheek gently. He nuzzles back as his arm settles around her, holding her gently against him.
“Now this is nice...” She giggles, snuggling in close.
“Yeah, I could do this for a while…” He slightly laments not saying more, but as he rests his head on hers, he isn’t bothered too much.
She sighs in contentment, rubbing his back with one hand and stroking his cheek with the other, continuing to nuzzle. “Should we go somewhere more private…?”
Squirming a little but not complaining as he feels her be almost all over him, he blushes heavily and speaks softly. “Um… what did you have in mind?”
“Just… a place that isn’t right outside where other ponies can see us?” She blushes a bit as well. “M-Maybe one of our homes…?”
“Oh…” He grunts before taking a breath. “Well… would it be too forward to invite you to my place then?”
She giggles. “I don’t think it’d be too forward, no.” She nuzzles him. “I’d enjoy it very much, I think.”
“Well then...” One of his hands entwines its fingers with her own. “Should we get up, pack, and head out?”
Smiling, she gently squeezes his hand. “I think so, yes.”
“I hate to ask then, but… could you get off me so I could get up then?” He smiles sheepishly.
“Oh! Um… r-right.” She quickly detaches herself from him and stands up, dusting herself off, and offers a hand to help him. He grabs her hand gratefully, getting a glimpse of her legs before he pulls himself up. She blushes a bit, hoping he didn’t see anything as she moves closer to him. “Lead the way.”