//------------------------------// // 14: Date Night Pt1 // Story: Principal of Equestria // by MareDoVVell //------------------------------// While being the Maitre D' for an upscale Canterlot restaurant could regularly be an interesting job, tonight had by far been one of the strangest for the tuxedo clad stallion. Looking over his schedule, he saw the evening was completely booked with dinner reservations as usual, but five reservations in particular had been placed last minute, all from different but equally high profile sources, or so went the rumors. The first of these tables was filled by a boisterous group of five mares all wearing obviously fake mustaches and large floppy hats. The second was occupied shortly afterwards by a pair of oddly large pegasi, one white with a pink mane, the other sporting various shades of matte blues. The third reservation was never claimed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Princess Cadance practically pranced through one of the various hallways of her castle, a huge smile spread across her muzzle as she headed to her chambers to pick out an outfit. Her husband had just returned home early from some military exercise and surprised her with a date night. Frankly she couldn't be happier. At least until some errant half formed thought caused her to stop in the middle of the hallway, her expression scrunching as she wracked her mind. "There was something I was supposed to do tonight..." After another minute of pondering she just shrugged and continued on her way. "Whatever it was I'm sure it'll be fine. It's not like there's rampant, gratuitous shipping that I'm missing out on happening somewhere in Equestria tonight." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ignoring the unclaimed reservation, the Maitre D' moved further down his list to the last two of the high profile reservations, which had yet to be filled, and were the two that actually did have high profile names attached to them. One for Princess Twilight Sparkle and guest, the other for Queen Chrysalis and guest. Both of these reservations made the restaurant staff very nervous for very different reasons, and as such the Maitre D' scurried off to make sure both tables were prepared perfectly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight, Sunset, and Celestia all sat comfortably in a rather spacious carriage that had very graciously, if suspiciously, been sent along by Princess Luna to transport them to the restaurant. Celestia looked out across the quickly darkening sky with wonder as they flew along, the early summer air rifling through her mane and dress. "So a flying carriage? Really? This is how ponies get around?" She asked incredulously, despite the giddy expression on her face, turning to Twilight and Sunset. "Well not always, you remember the train we used last time. This is more of a luxury travel method, we'll have to thank Princess Luna later." Twilight explained, also looking rather excited. "It's also the fastest method, outside of teleporting, in fact we should be there in just a few minutes! Oh! Before I forget..." Twilight adopted an expression of deep concentration as her horn glowed for a moment, then promptly faded. "There we go." Celestia gave her a curious look until a gust of wind blew a large strand of blonde mane in front of her face, causing her to look up towards the rest of her hair. "The whole pastel rainbow mane thing is kinda unique to the Princess." Twilight explained. "I figured it'd be better than being stared at by everypony at the restaurant...well, stared at more than you already will be for being Chrysalis' dinner guest. It should fade back to it's normal color by tomorrow morning." "Neat." Celestia quipped, still looking upwards to try and see as much of her hair as she could. Personally she loved her rather in-ordinary hair color, regardless of what species she was at the moment, but Twilight did have a point. "So, while I'm sharing wine with a villainess, what will you two be doing?" She asked, doing her best to fake a look of genuine curiosity rather than just grinning at them. "Oh, y'know, just keeping an eye on Chrysalis," Sunset piped in, "and doing our best to look like we're really on a date..." she added, a small, nervous smile on her face, before she reddened slightly. "Otherwise it'd look suspicious I mean...right?" Twilight, who was also blushing slightly nodded vigorously in agreement. "Right! After all we wouldn't want to start any strange rumors!" She declared, completely ignoring the fact that a Princess on a date would start many more rumors than a Princess spying on a former enemy. "Well good luck girls, hopefully we all have some fun tonight." Celestia said with a wink as the carriage began to angle downwards towards a sprawling city of lights and castles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The three ponies found themselves standing somewhat anxiously around the Maitre D's station, peering around the restaurant. "I wonder where she is..." Twilight grumbled, hovering just above the ground to try and get a better view of the whole restaurant. "Are you sure this is the time she said she'd meet you?" "I think so." Celestia responded with a shrug. "I'm sure she'll be along shortly." "You seem oddly unperturbed that she's late." Sunset pointed out curiously. "Oh I'm definitely annoyed, but no reason to going flying off the handle, at least not yet..." Celestia said with an eerily calm and somewhat plastic smile on her face. "Oh, looks like the tables are ready." she added, pointing a hoof towards the approaching server. The three were led to two small tables close to one another, with Twilight and Sunset sat across from each other while Celestia picked a chair where she could easily see them both while pretending to look over the drinks menu. "So.." Sunset began, trying to keep her voice steady and sound casual, "how's the whole Princess thing been going? It feels like with all this craziness lately we haven't really gotten to catch up properly since your last visit to CHS." Twilight smiled, also eager for some casual conversation to focus on. "Oh, it's been alright, though I don't really have any actual royal duties yet. Honestly I'm a bit nervous to find out what those will actually entail, but I'm kinda excited at the same time." "Yeah, I can see that being a little intimidating, but I'm sure you'll be great at it!" Sunset replied confidently. "What do you..." Tell her if she was a book, you'd study her all night long! "I'm sorry what now?" Sunset asked, clearly startled. "Hmm? I didn't say anything. Please go on." Twilight said eagerly. Tell her you wanna whisper mathematical equations in her ear until the sun rises! Oh no, I must be losing my mind from being so nervous! Sunset thought to herself. Now I'm hearing Luna's voice in my head... Well I couldn't just leave you without a wingmare now could I? Sunset looked around in surprise now that she was absolutely sure she was in fact hearing Luna's voice, and quickly noticed a table in the corner where a blue pegasus was waving at her, while the white pegasus sharing the table was frantically trying to make her stop waving. "Sunset? Are you alright?" Twilight asked, leaning over and blocking Sunset's view of the table, her voice a mixture of concern and curiosity. "Y-yeah, yeah I'm fine." Sunset managed, her mind racing at this new development. "I, uh, I just need to go freshen up for a minute, I'll be right back!" she stammered, pushing away from the table with a nervous smile and turning towards the wash rooms. Bathroom, now! Twilight watched Sunset walk away with a confused and slightly sad expression. "Well that was weird, I hope I didn't say the wrong thing." She muttered with a sigh. Just as she was about to return her attention to the menu in front of her while she waited, her eyes passed over a crowded nearby table. Just as she looked, all five occupants looked away in unison and began whistling. Her eyes narrowed as she stood from her seat, trotting over to the table in question. "Girls, what are you all doing here?" "Oh...uh...Twilight, hi...what a coincidence....we were just um..." Rarity began, scrambling for an excuse. "Rares came an rounded us all up right after yer dress fittin!" Applejack practically shouted, knocking off both her hat(underneath which was of course her stetson) and fake mustache in her panic to tell the truth. Pinkie Pie promptly snatched up the mustache and applied it to her chin, fashioning a creepily thin goatee. Rarity simply winced. "How did you know it was us?" "Really?" Twilight asked incredulously. "You made me model this hat design last week, those mustaches are terrible, and none of you covered your coats or cutie marks." she explained with as strong an eye roll as she could manage. "...surprise?" Fluttershy whispered with a grimace, as Rainbow Dash struggled next to her to try and contain her laughter at the whole situation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What are you doing here!?" Sunset demanded, now that the very poorly disguised Luna had met with her in the bathroom. "Apparently rendezvousing with you in the bathroom while you're on a date with another mare, how very scandalous!" Luna teased with a chuckle and a waggle of her eyebrows. "I'm serious!" Sunset pressed, punching her lightly in the shoulder with a hoof, even while she resisted the urge to giggle herself. "I wanted to help!" Luna proclaimed with a genuine grin. "I've seen how nervous you get when you talk about Twilight and I figured you could use some, ugh what's the word they use now...backup! Yes, I'm your backup!" "And your idea of helping is by feeding me awful pickup lines?" Sunset asked with an exasperated expression. "Hey! I have wooed my fair share of nerds over the years and those have always worked!" Luna defended, crossing her hooves with a smugly confident grin. "Are you sure they were what worked, and not that you're an immortal princess with the figure of a literal goddess? I'm pretty sure you could walk up to any pony and just say 'hey wanna do it?' And you'd have an extraordinarily high success rate." Sunset deadpanned. "That...has also worked before yes..." Luna admitted, thinking back. "Wait, Sunset, do I not have any 'game'!?" She asked with a look of panicked dismay. "This is the opposite of helping." Sunset grumbled. "Oh! Right sorry!" Luna grinned sheepishly as she snapped out of her previous train of thought. "So how can I help?" She asked hopefully. All fooling around aside, she really was eager to help her new friend, especially when she was really helping both her and Twilight. "I...I don't know..." Sunset admitted with a deflating shrug. "Well how about I pretend to be Twilight, and you can practice telling her how you feel?" Luna suggested innocently. "Yeah, ok, that might help." Sunset admitted, smiling with relief. "Ok here goes..." She closed her eyes and imagined it was Twilight standing before her. "Uh, hey Twilight, can I tell you something kind of important?" "Of course Sunset, you can tell me anything!" Responded a rather poor imitation of Twilight's voice. Sunset took a deep breath. "Well, it's just that I really..." She opened here eyes. Only to find Luna wiggling her backside suggestively mere inches from her face and trying to restrain boisterous laughter. "DAMNIT LUNA THIS IS SERIOUS!!!"