"I can't do this, Twilight! He'll hate me!"
"No, he won't, Fluttershy. Luna has seen you and she knows exactly what kind of stallion is perfect for you. Relax."
Fluttershy admired herself in the mirror. She wore a silk, turquoise dress dotted with tiny pink flowers and a tiara that seemed to be made of branches and vines.
"You're late! The date starts in five minutes and you haven't left yet! Hurry, or you'll make a bad impression!"
Terrified at the thought of having her coltfriend judge her before meeting her, Fluttershy ran as fast as she could towards the place where Luna told her to go: the Ponyville Sports Stadium.
"What am I about to get myself into?" she thought to herself as she entered the stadium.
"Hey, lady! You got a ticket?"
Ticket? Luna hadn't said anything about her needing a ticket!
"Never mind, I wasn't going to go in anyway...I'll just try again tomorrow...or in a few years." Humiliated but a little relieved, Fluttershy began to trot off.
"Oh, are you with her? My apologies." Fluttershy could hear the security guard talking to somepony else. She turned around and saw a muscular, white Pegasus with a golden mane and red eyes.
"Are y-you my d-date?"
The stallion paused, and then let out one word. "YEAAAHHH!"
Fluttershy squeaked, frightened, and dove behind a trash can. Then she remembered herself and meekly followed the pegasus into the arena, where they sat down on a row on bleachers. He put an arm around her shoulder and she squeaked with fright.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of ponies were also seated in the stadium, and it seemed like all of them were screaming at the top of their lungs. In the arena, two teams of about twenty ponies each were lining up, and all of a sudden they began tackling, hitting each other, and throwing a brown, oddly-shaped thing around the stadium. After a few minutes, a loud, booming voice came out of a speaker. "And the Baltimare Broncos get a first down! What a game!"
"YEAHHHH!" Fluttershy's date yelled.
Everything was so loud. The ponies around her looked tougher and meaner than anypony she ever saw, or at least that's what she thought.
"Oh, this is horrible!" She whimpered, tears streaming down her face.
Deciding to make the best of it, she whispered to the stallion Luna chose for her. "What's your name?" she asked him timidly.
He said nothing and just kept his eyes on the game, yelling "YEAHH!" once in a while.
Fluttershy returned to her seat and hugged herself. "It will all be over soon," she said quietly. "It will all be over, and I can go back home to Angel."
This went on for a few hours, until the booming voice announced it was something called "half time".
The Equestrian Anthem played, and the cheerleader ponies danced.
"And now Gerry's Sports Store will announce the raffle ticket winner!"
A pudgy griffon stepped onto the field and held up a slip of paper. "The winning number is 5812! Who is 5812?"
The crowd buzzed with excitement as they checked their ticket numbers.
"Look at your ticket, you might have won!" the pony beside Fluttershy nudged her. Hesitantly, she read the ticket she held. The number read 5812.
"Do we have a winner?" The griffon yelled.
"YEAHHHHH!" Fluttershy's date yelled back. He pushed Fluttershy down the stairs leading to the arena. She landed on her face in the middle of the AstroTurf.
The griffon walked up to her. "Congratulations, you won the grand prize! What's your name, dear?"
"...F-flutters-shy." She hid behind her hooves. This was terrifying. All those thousands of ponies staring at her, silently judging her every move!
"You've won fifty pigskin footballs, courtesy of Gerry's Sports Store! What do you have to say?"
"W-what did you say they were made out of?"
"Genuine pigskin."
"From real pigs?" Fluttershy screamed and burst into tears. She couldn't handle this. Luna would just have to get her another reward, because age just simply couldn't take this. She ran off as quickly as her legs could carry her. That was a nightmare.
###
"So, what was his name again?"
"I don't even know, Twilight! All he was saying was 'yeahh'. It was awful, just awful! Everypony was screaming and the prize I won..."
"You won a prize?"
"Fifty footballs. Pigskin footballs! Oh, Twilight, I never want to go to another date again!" Fluttershy jumped behind Twilight's couch.
"Two dates down, four to go." Twilight sighed. "I can't wait for this terror of an thank-you to be over."
"Don't be like that, Twilight. Fluttershy popped up from behind the couch. "Princess Luna was very nice to do something that requires so much effort for us. Even if it is horrible."
"The other dates can't be half as bad, right?" Twilight agreed.
It was time to take matters in her own hooves. Twilight began to write a letter.
"Dear Princess Luna,
Thank you very much for the dates you have arranged for us. We really do appreciate the effort, but I would like to make a suggestion. Instead of assuming opposites attract as it seems you have done in the past, I would suggest you arrange a date with a stallion we are already familiar with, hopefully even one we admire. Next on the list is Rarity, who admires the most stallions out of all of us. Surely you would be able to choose one she likes?
Thank you for all you've done.
Sincerely,
Twilight Sparkle."
The letter was sent, and Twilight was left to only hope that the next date would not be as disastrous as the others.