//------------------------------// // Part 3 // Story: Nothing's Impossible // by The Wizard of Words //------------------------------// If there was ever one lesson Celestia hammered home with Star, it was timing. Timing was everything in a match. If you took a swing too early or raised your defense too late, you would turn even the most well-practiced of moves into nothing but a floundering fault. Timing was important in the match, but it was never more important than when the match began. The faster you reacted at the match start, the more of a lead you have. The faster you react to the bell, the better your timing, the higher the advantage you had against your opponent. More than one match was decided so early, and it was why timing was key in every aspect of training. It was also why Starfall felt completely off guard when Aurora made the first move. “Oh! Let’s start with our occupations. Many books say that is a great conversation starter,” Aurora clapped her hands together lightly with the declaration, a smile pulling at her lips, large enough to push up the lenses over her eyes. “A neutral topic that likely has great history and relatable subject matters within. As the proposer of the conversation, I’ll start.” Star was still getting her bearings back when Aurora cleared her throat. It gave her just enough time to speak up. “Whoa whoa, hold on,” Star waved her hands in front of her, stopping Aurora from continuing. She responded with a confused blink. Time to counter. “Um… You mind if I give a bit of backstory first? Kinda used to making the first move in these kinds of things.” Star watched as the pegasus’s lips formed an ‘o’. “Oh, of course!” Aurora replied with far more cheer than the unicorn expected. “I apologize if I offended. This is… just my first time on a date.” Now that was interesting. “It is?” Star asked, leaning on the table slightly as she did so. “I mean, yeah, I’ll be honest, I kinda got the impression this was new to you. But not brand new.” Her words made the pegasus bite her lower lip, averting her gaze. Oh, that was shame. Good and bad. “Well… I-I don’t tend to try and search for social connections around the clinic or other public venues I may frequent.” She really did love the way she stumbled on those big words of hers. “I’ve already read plenty of books on the subject, more than most libraries have, but nearly all of them indicate the need for a mutual attraction between two opposite parties. And I’ve… well…” “Never got out enough to tell what that was,” Star finished nodding her head. Aurora began to mimic the action. Her pink eyes looked back up to Star, bottom lip still caught between her teeth. Cute, in a sort of innocent-mistake kind of way. “Well I’ll admit, it isn’t the easiest thing to pick up.” “It isn’t?” Aurora sounded honestly surprised by that. “But the simple singular instruction all of the texts gave indicated that the attraction would be an immediate feeling. There were instructions on wariness, but those were mostly placed in locations of high alcohol consumption.” Star did her absolute best not to snicker. She accomplished that by biting down on a bread roll. “They got that last part right at least, being careful,” Star commended to Aurora. “But really, there’s no way you can go along waiting for the right mare or stallion to just… click with you.” Star rotated her hand in the air as she spoke. “You can’t?” Aurora spoke, again, with genuine surprise. If this was how the whole conversation was going to go, Star could already see this becoming a drag. “The texts gave no indication that there was any other way to proceed.” “I’m willin’ to bet the pot of a title fight that those books were probably betting on you having either already found the ‘Magic One’, or you having an idea of who they were.” The unicorn let out a puff of air as she finished. The candle that sat between the two danced wildly at it. “Books tend to assume too much.” “Oh, I completely agree on that front.” She did? That didn’t jive with the bookish nerd Star imagined Aurora being. “Books are an excellent source of information, a great reference material as well, but in order to increase sales amongst the general populace, they tend to make over-reaching conclusions that are supported by widespread assumptions, often times false or exaggerated.” Star noticed the pegasus’s wings fluster a bit at her word. In a fight, that was usually the sight of some high emotion. A dedicated swing or something like that, planned out and acting on it. For Aurora, the doctor, it meant she put a lot of thought into this. “So you do a lot of thinking this kind of stuff at work?” The unicorn ventured. Had to test all the waters before getting into the really hard questions. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s fun hearing about what you think nets you a fun night, but I’m havin’ a hard time buyin this is the only thing on your mind.” Star couldn’t buy that any pony with any amount of success had a one-track mind. “Oh by the Court no, absolutely not,” Aurora hastily dismissed the thought, waving her hand as she did so. Star noticed passively that the candle was dancing at the pegasus’s motion now, pushing a lot of air with her gesture. “It is important that I keep myself astute and focused when I am at the workbench. Failure to pay attention to the chemicals, reagents, or cell lines I’m studying could result in a contamination. That would ruin any results I obtain, at the very least costing the clinic a good amount of income as well as time.” Well, she was talking a lot more. Wait… did the pegasus just side track this? To be about her? She had! She totally had! With just a single statement the doctor had somehow gotten Star to completely forgo talking about herself. They were just talking about the doctor’s social life. Granted, yeah, it was kinda cool, especially the part about how she was able to design a gliding machine for training, but still! “But you must have an interesting reason for your career path,” Aurora spoke again, shattering the thoughts of Starfall. “Fighting as a means for income. It is far from common in today’s more advanced society, more dependent upon higher brain function than muscular strength, but it must be rewarding to have such muscle mass and dexterity.” Star couldn’t hide her smirk if she wanted. “Yeah, it is pretty nice to have,” she admitted, flattered. She leaned back in her seat as her finger played with the edge of her plate, and she spoke on. “Fighting has always been my kind of thing, really the only thing I ever felt great doing. Didn’t enjoy reading, writing, or doing math in school. And history? That’s just another word for a lullaby.” “Many historians in the clinician’s office might disagree, but I do see your point.” Aurora spoke from across the table, encouraging Star. Well… more like leaning over the table. Her hands were at the table’s end, holding her upper body balanced above her plate. She kept adjusting her rainbow locks, falling past her upright ears and over the fine china. “Might want to tie your hair up,” Star offered with a point of her hand. It was the kind of advice she’d offer a novice training. “Don’t want to get your hair in the way when the-” “Food for the private affair!” Star nearly jumped at the sudden entrance. Turns out you didn’t need to speak of the changeling for it to appear. Just needed to think about them. Honey-Crisp was standing in the doorway, for some reason. It was odd to Star only because she was used to seeing the hostesses once then none at all. Maybe it was different for this place. Then again, judging by the way the orange mare was winking at Aurora before glaring at the unicorn herself, it probably had more to do with a personal history than a professional one. “I apologize if I interrupted the conversation,” the mare spoke. Star could spot the lie like a novice’s feint. “Just been a busy night is all.” Terrible excuses, too. Honesty must have been her policy. “Honey,” Aurora spoke the hostess’s name in a whine. “We were just starting to generate a cohesive conversation. You’re interruption has impeded that.” Star wasn’t used to a pony saying words that had three more syllables on average, but the orange mare clearly was. They really were old friends. “You don’t have to stop on my account,” Honey-Crisp cleanly countered. “I’m just a server at the moment. I was trained and raised to ignore conversations around me while I work.” Star could believe the mare was raised like that, but she doubted she practiced that. Not with the way she was looking at her, sizing her up like the weigh-in for a match. Was this starting to become a tag-team against her? Well, actually, judging by the way Aurora pouted and folded her arms, wings tucking harder against her back, it didn’t seem so. More like Honey was just your average intrusive mare, using the excuse about empathy for her friends to learn more about someone else. Gossipers, they annoyed Star almost as much as tabloids. “Now I am sorry for interrupting, but I do have your appetizers ready for you.” Star actually missed the food, her attention on the mare’s entrance and all. That being sad, it was hard to not smell the aroma of roasted apples in the air. She had to fight herself from taking a large whiff of it. It was tempting, really tempting. And unfortunately, Honey seemed to see that. “Like it?” The orange hostess-now-waitress asked. “Family recipe and signature dish of the restaurant. It’s only gotten better with age, like a crate of well-seasoned Apple Cider.” Did apple cider get better with age? Star wasn’t sure. “We always have a few of them being prepared throughout the night. Helps us deliver them faster when the orders come in. Punctuality is the key to success in any industry.” Well, Star had admire her business sense, at least. She couldn’t think of a place where timing wasn’t important. “And you grow your own apples and you have specially designated fertilizer to enhance the flavors and you have been learning to peel, cut, and bake them since you were a foal.” Star had to blink when Aurora went off on the tangent. Looked like Honey really knew how to annoy the pegasus. Must have been common between them, cause the orange mare just kept smiling. “I’ve already heard this a hundred times from a dozen different members of your family tree.” “Oh come now Aurora, I’m well aware you know but I rather doubt our newest patron is aware of our history.” Looks like Aurora’s diversion tactic was a miss. Wait, was that what it was? Cause if it was, that meant they were going up against Honey now. Talk about a surprise fight. “I can tell she’s as eager to talk as she is to taste our signature dish.” That wasn’t completely untrue. “Gotta admit I’d like to know how that tastes.” Star spoke honestly, hand pointing to the food Honey held just above her head. Given that she was seated and the orange mare was standing, it made it hard for her to really describe what the apple dish looked like. She did see, however, Honey-Crisp flash a grin towards Aurora, who pouted at her words. “Buuuut, I think I’ll rather take a talk with Aurora than the history of a meal.” Out of the corner of her lavender gaze, Star saw the pegasus blush a noticeable red, unmasked through her cyan fur. “You sure about that?” Honey-Crisp asked in all of her upstart glory. “Aurora has a bit of a tendency to speak superfluously. She might bore you with her talk about flying patterns and feather development theories.” Star had no idea what those were. What she did know was that Aurora was looking offset by the words. That was a no go for the fighter. “It’s like I just told the doc a few mintues ago. History’s just a lullaby to me.” Star let her grin grow wide as Aurora began to giggle across the table. It matched well with Honey’s blinking gaze, lips loosened and falling from their sure smirk from before. That was before the orange mare set the food down in front of the pair, her grin returning and stretching clear across her face. “Good answer,” she spoke to Star, sounding cheerier than the fighter could say she’d ever seen a mare before. It was during her frozen surprise that Honey-Crisp set down a pair of plates, one for the pegasus and one for the unicorn. Each had a glazed treat that seemed to puff out from the plate, like small globs of delectable pastry begging to be eaten. With her perked ears and the sudden silence between them, interrupted by Honey’s movement of the plates, she could hear the apple slices inside still boiling from the heat. They really did look delicious. “I spoke no lies when I said we are famous for our Apple Fritters,” Honey-Crisp answered the unspoken question. “And Aurora was just as honest when she said our families go back to our foal hood. We’re good friends, she and I, sometimes the only friends outside of the workplace.” Before saying anything more, Honey-Crisp leaned towards Star, pointedly staring into her eyes with a soft under illumination from the candle of the table. Ominous didn’t cut it. She looked like the Title Fight Contender with the odds in her favor. “So believe me when I say I’m gonna protect Aurora if you try anything underhanded. Understood?” Star nodded towards the mare. She knew better than to taunt a mare in her home turf. You didn’t know where the tricks were laid out. She did. “Good! Now enjoy your food! I’ll be back with the bill when you are finished.” With as much ceremony as her entrance, Honey-Crisp left through the darkened door of the room, leaving Star and Aurora alone. Alone with a shattered conversation, slight ground gained in knowledge, and a pair of delectable treats to dine on. Not a bad trade, if Star had to say so herself. At least it could have been far worse. “I apologize for Honey-Crisp,” Aurora replied a moment into the silence, bowing her head as she did so. It was a good thing her hair was pulled back, otherwise it would have been flung onto her Apple Fritter. “She’s been very defensive about me since I was a foal. I attribute it to her elder sibling instinct, drawn to defend those close to her and physically or mentally lower in some capacity. Not that I am inferior mentally to her, but she does know how to um…” “She knows how to make the bullies run like pansies?” Star finished the thought bluntly. Aurora settled for sticking the very end of her finger in her mouth, biting on it as she buried her head between her shoulders. That was shy-language for ‘dead right’. “That’s a good thing, having friends that can back you up when you need them. Actually kinda surprised she was able say that stuff to me so easily.” “Really? She honestly wasn’t much different in attitude than how she is with others. She acts similarly when her younger sibling or elder brother brings home interested mares or stallions. Why was this more impressive?” Star couldn’t blame Aurora too much for not knowing. She did basically call herself a shut-in like five minutes ago. “Cause I was the one pushin’ all the bullies away for my friends.” Star explained simply and matter-of-factly. She put on a proud smirk as she reached for the apple fritter in front of her. She tore off a knobby piece of it, watching the steam rise from the core as its fluffy interior separated. She felt a pool forming in her mouth, ready to drown the doughy confession in it. “Did it so much when I was growing up that word basically got around that I wasn’t to be messed with. Too many bruised egos afraid to look any worse than they already did.” “So that’s how you found a calling for professional fighting then?” Aurora ventured forward. Star nodded her head, keeping her gaze focused on the Apple Fritter in front of her. She didn’t want to tear too fast and turn the thing to mush. It felt like it would do just that if she squeezed it. That or burn her hand off. “I suppose I had a similar reason for my career choice.” Star looked up now. She saw Aurora sitting in the same place she had before, but with her hands beneath the table, likely folded in her lap. The Apple Fritter in front of her was untouched. Wasn’t she the one who ordered it? “My work at the clinic is very isolating,” Aurora began to say. “Many hours a day I will spend without having contact with other doctors or physicians specifically because I am invested in the work at hand. Analyzing results, comparing cultures, determining new hypothesis, experimentation, they all require a great deal of care and focus. That amount of focus usually results in the ostracization of others.” “You get so busy you ignore everyone else?” Star had to guess the word, cause she’d never heard it before. The nod from the pegasus was confirmation enough. “Well that’s not really rare. I mean, most of the friends I have are like that, too. Celestia got me a bell when I’m practicing, so someone can ring it to get my attention.” The doctor lifted a brow at the statement, unsurprising to Starfall. She’d gotten that look a lot when she told others about The White Sister’s gift. That was because she wanted to tell the story. Best way to intimidate was to punish the curious. “She had to after a few situations. We’ll call them unintentional sparring sessions and leave the rest to the imagination.” The unicorn slipped a piece of Apple Fritter between her lips as she finished, winking at Aurora as she did so. The shy blush and giggle the doctor gave out was just as sweet as the treat she snacked on. She was going to have to do some serious working out tomorrow to burn the carbs of the Fritter, but a little splurge here or there didn’t hurt. No matches coming up anyway, so she wasn’t jeopardizing anything. Had to be smart before you had fun, like Celestia would say. “I can see the benefit of a chime,” Aurora spoke again. “But… most others do not readily seek me out. Very few ever do.” Oh? Well, it jived with what she said earlier about this being new to her, but didn’t she have friends at work? Star wasn’t about to admit she dated anyone else from the gym, but she could hang out with Celestia or most of the other fighters without an issue. “Trouble on your first day?” Star guessed. Probably a reason for a spiteful situation. First impressions mattered enough on the ring that a wrong word could be the difference between trying to pin an opponent or knocking them flat out. “No, I was actually well-invited into the clinic. The PI of the lab was very eager to have me thanks to my credentials. Sumo Cum Laude from Cloudsdale University, specializing in stem cell progenitors in avian species.” Honey-Crisp was right about one thing. Aurora liked to talk a lot. “Actually… that might be the reason for my solitude.” “What, you’re too smart?” Star had to put her fritter down as she asked the question. Aurora still hadn’t touched hers. “I get being too big or strong, maybe even quiet, but do you really think ponies aren’t gonna talk to you cause you’re too smart? The whole reason I was supposed to go the clinic was because you guys are smarter about medicine and stuff than anyone at the gym.” She waved her hand at the far wall, unsure if the gym was in that direction or not. “Do other fighters in the gym ask you for aide in training regiments, or do they try and improve themselves behind your back.” Oh… the pegasus had her there. Star felt her muscles lax in her face, not able to recall a single time one of the other fighters asked her for help. Maybe with where something was, or where Celestia was, but… had any of them actually asked her what to do? Or… no, fights didn’t count. Those were tests, not training…. Oh crap. “See,” Aurora spoke, probably able to read what she had to off of Starfall’s reaction. She was feigning a swing or anything. “It’s little different where I work. Other mares and stallions, they want to be great too, but none of them want to admit that you might be smarter than them. So they try and prove themselves without you. But when everyone is trying to make themselves better than you, that also leaves no one to talk to.” An uncomfortable silence settled over the table. Star watched Aurora’s face drop, her once stiff wings now slightly drooping behind her. Even her shoulders sagged a little. All bad signs. But… she was little different. Her vision slowly fell from the pegasus and back down to the table. It really was a well made-table, set-up nice, too. The dishes, table cover, the food of course was great. But right now, Star focused on the candle. With how quiet the room had become, she was almost able to hear the little flame, burning up the air around it. Her lavender eyes stared at the pooling wax, bubbling from the heat. She kinda envied that right now, with how cold Starfall suddenly felt. “I apologize,” Aurora spoke up, earning Star’s attention again. The pegasus was shifting her seat to try, and failing, to get comfortable. “I made the conversation awkward and unreasonable with that. I-It wasn’t my intention a-and I apologize for ruining the evening you tried to have with me.” Ruin? Wait, oh no. “Ah, hold-on,” Star spoke waving her hands in front of her. Aurora blinked, but looked back at the mare. She had an expectant look in her eyes, like a foal waiting for the decisive blow in a fight. That was no good. They weren’t at the climax yet! “I-I think you’re jumpin’ a little ahead of yourself. Nothing’s ruined yet. I-I-I mean nothing’s going to be ruined. Yeah, that’s right.” She was rambling. Crap, that was bad. Rambling words were like shuffling feet. No balance meant no force to strike with. “We’ve got good food, this is a great place to talk, and I at least know more about you now than I did back at the clinic.” “While that is true, it does not deviate from my unacceptable conversation topic.” This mare seemed content to damn herself. What the hay?! “I should have put more thought into my words before speaking them. It was not a-” “You’re talking about things that haven’t happened,” Star countered. “You don’t plan around a move that hasn’t happened. You read the fight and go with what you see.” “W-What?” Aurora blinked at her singular question, looking completely thrown. Was that good? Star couldn’t tell. At least doctor wasn’t insulting herself again. But… that meant it was the perfect time to lighten the mood. And nothing did that better than a well-placed joke. “Sides, I think you already crossed a few lines with me before we even started talkin’.” Star planned on what was going to happen next. She really did. She planned on the pegasus’s wings to open up, though slightly, a clear sign that was panicked by the unicorn’s words. She planned on her to fumble and scramble for her mistake. That made her vulnerable. “I-I did?! When? What did I do!?” Her words were rushed, panicked. Like a newbie that had their pin reversed, unable to decide what to do next. It was perfect. Star didn’t waste the chance she was given. So wearing a smirk she knew was visible, making every bit of her posture exaggerated to extremes, she let out her line. “I think fondling the goods before the meal is line enough for most mares.” Only after Starfall saw a hot red blush run through Aurora’s cyan blue cheeks did she break out in laughter. And it felt good. It felt good to just cackle at the expression she had put on that mare’s face. She didn’t have to do any kind of underhanded trick or sly moves to make it happen. She just had to let the mare walk into the trap herself! Oh, that was a point; that was points in her favor and might have been worth the match if there was a judge nearby. No way that was going to be seen as anything else other than perfect. Oh yeah, that was good, that was worth it. “I…” Aurora tried and failed to speak, falling back into laughter. She snorted into her hand, a sound that completely baffled Starfall, before trying to talk again. “I-I suppose you’re… you are right. Hard to go further than that over a meal, isn’t it?” Star stopped, only to grin like a Cheshire. She knew the right response to that. She’d take it one further. “Well… I wouldn’t call it hard, but it is pretty risky.” Star grinned, loving the expression Aurora brightened up with. At least brightened up before covering up, burying her face in her hands and curling over her apple fritter. Seriously, was she going to eat that? “Nah, that’s a line too far.” “Y-Yes,” Aurora fought valiantly to speak again. She was taking deep breaths through her hands, but the unicorn could just tell she was grinning all the while. It was like her parents refusing to admit they enjoyed her beating up her brother’s bullies. Scolding in public, high-fives back home. Silence was kept far at bay by the alternating forms of laughter, chuckle, snorts, and giggles between the two. It was a blessed shift from the awkwardness before, and heavenly to know that she was the one who did it. A complete reversal, a flawless maneuver. Turning what was nearly a damning pin into a solid hold. All she had to do now was keep the upper hand, and the match was hers. “Thank you,” Aurora finally managed to speak with a straight face. As straight as she could keep her curved lips at least. “I needed that. I… I really appreciate it.” Gratitude was good. Great actually. “Hey, it’s not an issue.” Starfall easily returned. “Believe me. I’ve been through the ring enough times to know how to turn just about any kind of situation around.” The unicorn picked up her glass, taking a nice long swig of the cool water inside. It felt great, especially after that laugh fest they just had. “Not just that,” Aurora spoke on. “Work has been hard, results coming back inconclusive or negative. It’s… It’s difficult to keep moving forward when the way ahead is so hard to see. Truthfully, your invitation tonight seemed like a much needed break from my schedule, and I greatly appreciate it.” Oh… this was probably bad. “After this,” Aurora began, feeding her hand over the table. She had it shift past the plat that had her food, past the cool glass of water she had yet to touch. It slipped by the candle with ease, either ignorant or unaware of the heat. Then, with a touch so soft and demanding that Star thought it was a tap-out, Aurora curled her digits around the unicorn’s forearm. “After this… after we finish eating… Do... Can you walk me home?” Star swallowed her water in one great gulp. Starfall wished she could have said it was a long walk to the doctor’s place. That would have allowed the feeling she had to make more sense. The chasm of a hole she felt in her gut was only digging itself deeper with every step she took. Like a sweep kick from an experienced duelist, or more appropriately an undertaker’s shovel, each step she took just made the feeling worse. Aurora was still right next to her, the two of them walking in tandem down the lamp-lit street. Starfall could have counted every pony they had passed for the last twenty minutes on one hand. Despite the other mare’s clearly higher intelligence, Star was pretty sure Aurora couldn’t have counted one. The pegasus had her head resting on the taller unicorn’s shoulder, leaning into the more muscled of the two. Starfall could feel her arms wrapped around her arm, holding it tightly as they walked. It was probably one of the weakest holds the fighter had ever been put in, but she doubted she could have possibly broken out of it if she tried. And again, that pit in her gut got a little bit deeper. Star felt Aurora pull on her arm, the only indication she had that they were turning again, around another block this time. The pull was like a splitting of the blinds, showing all the cobwebs that littered Star’s head. That’s honestly what it felt like to her. Just a bunch of webs in her head making it harder to think. Ironic part about that, she couldn’t connect two thoughts together. The whole point of this night was to get that point advantage over Aurora, the doctor who had verbally beaten her back at the office. She may not have had a plan, but she at least knew that by night’s end she was gonna be walking out of the ring the victor. Right now though… she didn’t even have that. Just a lot of second guesses and her instincts screaming at her to back off. Kinda seemed a moot point when she felt another tug on her arm, this one a clear indication to stop. And so, like Star did whenever facing a stronger opponent, she followed their move. Didn’t take her long to see why they had stop, not with Aurora looking up at a building beside them, her rainbow mane laying over Star’s lavender coat. Star looked up at the house, taking note of how nice it looked, clean really. The bricks were painted, all the windows clear as cloudless skies, at least three stories tall, and most impressive of all, flowers growing between the sidewalk and the building. Most Starfall had at her place was a room that was clean enough to eat in. For her, a few boarded windows and chipped bricks were the norm. Guess Aurora wasn’t kidding about the high class upbringing. “So, um… this is it.” Aurora spoke simply, softly as well. “Ah, thank you for dinner. A-And for walking me home. Oh, and also for… um… coming to the clinic?” Star noted how she was curling in on herself a bit again, like before but with a few noticeable differences. First off, the doctor wasn’t pouting, she was grinning. Secondly, her wings were flexed against her back, quivering energetically. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, she was rocking her heels, doubtlessly waiting for something. For Starfall, who had seen every kind of mare and stallion try and taunt and goad an opponent to attack before, the thing Aurora was waiting for was obvious. Problem was, Star didn’t know what kind of strike to make. There were two choices here, two clearly impossible to mash choices that would really decide how the rest of this match would play out. Star could have left right then. It would have been perfect. Dinner was over, the promise fulfilled, and Aurora had clearly had a good time. If she left now, it would have left a clear and noticeable impact upon the doctor, like a solid right hook to an unprotected torso. Near crippling. Yet… it didn’t seem right. She was having fun, both of them were. They were talking easily, about things Star admittedly wouldn’t have cared to talk about before. And Aurora was a pretty sweet mare to add to the pile, following her dreams like Star was. The fighter wasn’t a linguist. She didn’t know the word for it, but there was something going on between the two of them. Maybe there was a word for it, maybe there wasn’t, Star didn’t know. But she did know one thing. She wasn’t about to walk out on something she was enjoying. “Um, listen,” Star began, feeding a hand around the back of her head as she spoke. She scratched idly with it. “I did have fun tonight. I mean, I knew we were going to have fun, but I didn’t think it would… uh, what’s the word for it…” Instead of answering for her, Aurora was patiently silent, forcing Star to search and scramble for the appropriate word. She couldn’t find one. She was literally left stuttering and speechless, unable to finish her own thought. This was awful. “Ah, the truth is um… when I came to the clinic tonight, I did it cause my trainer wanted me to.” She’d already said that before. Star gave the whole story the first time the two had met. This was… not going well. “B-But when I did finally see you, a-and you kinda put me on the spot for getting my slip-” “You were planning on embarrassing me in some spectacular way.” Star’s hand grabbed at the back of her head, staring at Aurora with an unblinking gaze. In that one moment, for that brief instance, all she could could focus on was the pegasus in front of her, the same mare that had read her so well. Her… placid smile, down-cast eyes… why was she looking defeated? “I told an inaccuracy earlier.” The doctor began to say, wringing her hands on the bag she carried. “I have been on dates before, but most have ended with the stallions or mares attempting to embarrass me in some manner they assumed would humiliate me. Some have been… more successful than others.” That was… oh… “So then… Honey-Crisp-” Star didn’t get a chance to finish even that. Aurora was in control of the conversation now. “She has been a friend before I needed one, and she was a companion when I desperately required one. I cannot thank her enough for all that she has done… but she keeps wry eyes on those that I spend time with. Always careful about my own well-being.” She laughed. The mare actually laughed. How did she do that? It was like watching some fighter giggle after being put in an arm-lock. “I cannot help but wonder if I invite these sort of behaviours. Requests for solitude are only denied by those who wish to exploit or embarrass.” “H-Hey now,” Star began, reaching out for Aurora. The pegasus stepped back, right out of her reach. Unlike in a fight, unlike her main reference for life, Star didn’t pursue. This… This wasn’t a fight. This was more important. “I’m… I’m sorry, I really am.” Starfall began to say, letting her arms drop to her side. Apologies were all that she could offer. “Yeah, you’re right, I was… I was going to do something to you, but it wasn’t going to embarrass your or anything like that. I’ve had to take care of too many bullies for my brother who did those kind of things.” Aurora was silent as she spoke. That was probably good. It meant she was listening at least. Star cleared her throat, wishing she had some water, before continuing. “I wanted to get back at you cause I felt like you one-upped me at the clinic. I just wanted to go in and out, but ya got me to stay there for like an extra hour for that freaking physical of yours.” Aurora opened her mouth, but Star waved her hands quickly in front of her. “I know, I know it was for my own good, I get that. It’s just… I’m not used to anyone but Celestia telling me what to do. So… I wanted to one-up you.” The pegasus stared at her for a moment, then began to nod her head. With the streetlight above shining down on them, her prismatic mane casted a dark shadow over her eyes. It didn’t look ominous. Far from it. It looked just sad… really sad. “But that’s not the same now,” Star continued. Earning Aurora’s attention again. “I realized I screwed up. I really did. And I’m sorry for it. I… I-I can’t say anything to make you realize that. But… um…” she searched, desperately, for the right thing to say. “Maybe I can take you out again? For real this time. No tricks, no fight plans, just… just you and me enjoy a night on the town?” Aurora blinked at Star, head held high enough now that the fighter could see the wonder in her eyes. That wasn’t just good, that was great! She couldn’t let up now. “W-We can go see the rock exhibit at the museum, or maybe a play over at the theatre. I heard There was a dragon starring there. I-If that’s too awkward, maybe we can try out a science thing. I kept hearing about this ‘Muscles In Motion’ thing at the Equestria hall, b-but I didn’t think to-” “Or we can see one of your matches.” Star stared, blinked, and let her jaw slightly fall as she looked at Aurora. The pegasus wasn’t grinning at her, she was smiling. She was offering Starfall a genuine look of delight, and it was one the unicorn found herself mimicking. Night’s were usually cold in the city, but right now, she felt warm as ever. Perfect, really. Aurora rested a hand on Star’s arm, still smiling up at her. The fighter put her muscled digits over the doctor’s dainty ones. Yeah, completely perfect.