1000

After dinner, Jonagold returned to her room once more for study, only this time instead of going to her computer, she pulled out the aged notebook and set it on her bed. Flipping through the book, she can see that not only was it defiantly in Soarin Cloudline’s hoofwriting. She had already put some sticky notes that marked his date with her ancestor that she really wanted to read about. Armed with her notebook that set aside and a pencil, she flipped through the old notebook to the first marked entry.

Feb/14/1000
This Hearts and Hooves day has been full of surprises. Then again, considering that this is the first time I’ve dated a guy, I really had no idea what exactly to expect from it all. But from what has happened today, I’m actually rather glad I did.
Perhaps, I should start from the beginning…

“Appaloosa!” the train conductor called out as he walked through the car. “This stop is Appaloosa! Population: One-hundred-and-seventy-four. The time now is five minutes ‘til eleven.”

Soarin, meanwhile, was looking out of the passenger window as that familiar town came near. He was feeling rather nervous about what he and his best friend had agreed to do. How could he not? The Wonderbolt had agreed in going on a date with him, on Hearts and Hooves day of all occasions. Not that this wasn’t the first time he’d been on a date, with a few mares, sure, but considering what was about to happen, he felt like he was an awkward teenager again.

‘It’s gonna be fine,’ he kept telling himself. ‘This is Braeburn you’re going out with for crying out loud! He’s not gonna just sneak in some knock-out drug and drag you to his place. You know that he isn’t like that at all. But… why can’t I shake off the feeling that something is bound to go wrong?’

The train pulled up to the tiny station. Soarin took with him the little box that he had been traveling with and tucked it under his wing before walking off. At first, he didn’t see his yellow friend anywhere, even with all these other cowponies going about up and down the single street, there seemed to be no trace of him.

“H-Howdy partner,” Soarin nearly jumped out of his hide when he spun to where that voice was coming from. He found Braeburn was right behind him, “Woah there! Ah’m sorry about that, Ah thought you’d noticed me by now.”

“Where did-” the Pegasus was about to say but shook his head. “You know what, nevermind that. Uh… here!” he pulled out from under his wing the box that was wrapped in shiny red paper. “I wasn’t exactly sure what you would like so I ended up getting you this.”

Tilting his head, the yellow Apple took ahold of the present and proceeded to tear the paper and flipped open the lid, at the sight of what was inside, he chuckled. “Chocolate Roses… how appropriate.”

“Yeah…” Soarin rubbed the back of his neck. There was an awkward silence between the two stallions for a very long minute before either of them spoke. As it turned out, it was Braeburn who broke the silence.

“Um, Soar, about what happened awhile ago-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” the blue stallion interrupted. “We’ve already forgiven each other on what went down on Hearths Warming. So let’s not try to make this any more awkward than it already is.”

“Ah think we’re a little too late fer that,” Braeburn pointed out. “After all, Soar, you know you don’t really have ta do this whole… date thing with me.”

Soarin shook his head, “But I really do want to make it up to you. I don’t know what will happen after this, but let’s do it for us to figure things out, you know? So I’ll tell you what, for the whole day, starting now, whatever you want to do, I’ll go along with it. You can have me do anything you want.”

The cowpony blinked, “Anythin’?” his friend nodded. “Buddy, this is really kind of ya and all but-”

“Dude, I meant when I wrote that I do want to make it up to you. So whatever you want us to do today, I’ll go through it.”

“Well… okay,” Braeburn looked down the street. “It’s gettin’ close ta lunchtime, you wanna grab somethin’?”

“Sure. Where do you have in mind?”

“Ah think Ah know a place,” the cowpony the lead his friend down the one road street to a bakery. After ordering a hot apple pie to go, they then took to the hillsides that overlooked the town before they sat down underneath a shady apple tree. He couldn’t help but notice Soarin linger over the view, “Ah don’t blame ya.” He said to snap the pegasus out of his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“You like our picnic spot?”

“Oh yeah yeah,” Soarin nodded dumbly. “Look, I’m sorry it’s just that,” he let out a frustrated sigh. “You know what? I’m just gonna be honest with ya here. I really have no idea what I’m doing.”

Braeburn raised an eyebrow, “What does that mean?”

“I’m saying that this whole date thing is different for me because, for one, you’re my best friend. I already know you. On the dates that I have been in the past, the point of those was to get to know them. With you, however…”

“So? What difference does that make?” he asked as he cut a slice of the still warm pie. “Didn’t ya say some time back that goin’ on a date is jus’ a glorified version of hangin’ out? Well, let’s do that. Like how are things with them Wonderbolts?”

“Besides the captain is driving me up the wall with training?” the sky blue pony chuckled. “You should have seen the routines we’ve been doing over and over. I swear on some days I wonder if we’re really practicing dance moves rather than flight maneuvers.” At this, Braeburn busted out laughing, “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, Ah jus’ think that the very idea of yous dancin’ is really amusin’ ta me,” he said.

Now it was Soarin’s turn to raise an eyebrow, “Define ‘amusing’. Like pole dancing or…?” At this, his friend immediately put a hoof over his mouth, his cheeks turning red as he tried to suppress a laugh.

This only lasted a moment before the cowpony stared daggers at him, “Oh that’s evil.”

“What? Teasing ya how you really want to see me?”

“…. Ah’m not gonna answer that.” Braeburn tried to keep a straight face, only to fail miserably as his friend too broke out laughing. “To answer yer question,” he continued on once they regained themselves as he passed the pie over to him. “Ah think it would be fun to teach ya a few wild west dances. It’s somethin’ that Ah don’t think you’ve ever done befor’. As well ta see how miserably you’ll fail at it.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Braeburn smirked, “Maybe.”

Needless to say, I failed miserably.

At this, Jonagold giggled.

Then again, it was my fault that I really didn’t know what I was in for. I had thought that a Wild West dance was something simple, but boy was I wrong. Turns out, there were so many complicated steps that I just ended up improvising. Brae was laughing so hard that he had to step off the dance floor so he could roll around on the ground. “Ya look like a chicken!” he said between laughs. Which was, unfortunately, true, I was waving my wings around so much that it only ended up making me look ridiculous. But I noticed, oddly, how much fun I was really having because he was laughing not at me but with me.
So we took a breather, sitting on the sidelines while other couples were dancing away at something that they clearly had more experience in. As I watched ponies move around on the dusty dance floor, I started to zone out because I wondered about our future. What would come out of this date? Will things be different between Braeburn and I from now on?

“Hey, you okay Soar?” Braeburn prodded a hoof at Soarin’s side.

“Huh?” his friend snapped back into reality.

“Ah asked if you were okay, you kinda went out of it back there.”

“Yeah…” the Pegasus stood up, “Hey can we go somewhere else? I think I wanna talk to ya about something.”

Braeburn complied, the two stallions exited the dusty space and back onto the dirt road. “So what’s up?” the cowpony inquired.

With a sigh, he replied, “Dude, please be honest with me when I ask this: where do we go from here?”

“What ya mean?”

“Do you want to be, you know, just friends? I mean I’m cool with that if you want. Or… Or do you want what we have to go deeper than that?”

“Ah think it’s still a bit too early ta tell. Bein’ our first... you know, date and all, that Ah can’t tell if things will change fer us. But you know what partner?” he smirked, “Ah don’t know about you, but Ah’m havin’ fun as it is, and it’s way too early to end it right here and now. Then again, Ah’m really glad to have ya around once more. Bein’ that Ah don’t get to see ya as often as Ah like with us havin’ different careers and whatnot that needs our attention elsewhere.”

“You got that right. If only you were born a Pegasus, and you’re in the Wonderbolts too, then it won’t be so stressful doing all these tricks, traveling around and have Captain Spitz come snapping at ya.” Soarin laughed uneasily, “I guess what I’m trying to say is… I miss you.”

“Ah know,” Braeburn patted his friend’s back. “Still, it’s really good to have ya here. More importantly, to be with me when Ah need it the most, with tryin’ ta figure out if Ah… you know. It’s jus’ so good to hear your jokes, listenin’ to me, pigging out on that pie, havin’ you takin’ up a challenge. Ya know you’ve been so selfless of doin’ this fer me, even after we…” he trailed off. “Well, Ah guess Ah miss ya too.”

“But that still hasn’t answered my question,” Soarin pointed out. “After this whole date thing is done, and I have to go back to the Wonderbolts, we do we go from here? I mean, we can’t be… coltfriends, if the other isn’t around that often.”

Just then, Braeburn stopped, “Well… why not? We still got the mail, don’t we? Plus that telegraph has been set up so we can send notes to each other. Because, to be honest, this is probably the closest thin’ Ah’ve gotten to a real relationship with anyone, and Ah don’t wanna lose that. Soar, bein’ mah best friend or not, Ah think Ah’m really startin’ ta like ya. And not bein’ able to hear so much as a word from ya would devastate me. Because, Ah don’t know about ya, but Ah hope that maybe… just maybe, there’s a chance that Ah could really know what it might be to be truly happy.”

Soarin’s cheeks gave a pinkish tint, “You… That’s what you think of me?”

Braeburn nodded. “Do you?”

His friend took in a deep breath, “I’m not sure yet. But I’ll tell you what, maybe by the end of the day, I’ll try to give you a real answer. If by the off chance that I don’t, then I promise that we’ll work through this. Who knows, maybe we might find somepony better, and given what our kiss may suggest, I guess our options have really been opened up,” he said with a smirk.

The yellow Apple looked away, this time it was his face’s turn to blush. “Yeah… thanks. So what do you wanna do know?”

It took a moment for his best friend to think of an answer, “Is it possible we can play some buckball?”

At this, Braeburn’s face brightens up, “Not only is it possible, but with you here, we can play a proper game. You know Ah’m the coach around these here parts, and while the team is mostly made up of kids, we should be able to go a couple of rounds if ya give me time to put the team together.”

“Let’s do it then,” Soarin insisted, “It’s been awhile since we’ve done anything like that.”

Within less than ten minutes, we’ve got a real buckball game going. The team was mostly made up of kids of course, and there was only one Pegasus that was around in the whole town that was their age, but we’ve managed. Of course, they were excited that they get to play with a real Wonderbolt so naturally, every single one of them wanted to be on my team. We ended up having them take turns with every round when one ball gets dunked into one basket or the other.
Even now, as I’m writing this, it’s still shocking how fast the whole game was. I and Brae were having so much fun kicking and blocking the ball with those kids that before we knew it, the calls to dinner were heard so our tiny teammates had to go. But I didn’t feel like ending our day just yet, and luckily, neither did Brae.
He ended up inviting me over to his house to cook for me. I would have insisted that I would cook for him if it weren’t for the fact that I have no culinary skills whatsoever. So an hour later after we called quits on our game, I was sitting by at his table, watching him cook up a storm.

The air in the kitchen was spiced with the smells of cinnamon and cumin, butter and black pepper, mint and thyme, coco and tomato that were mixed in that small space. Soarin couldn’t help but watch the yellow Apple juggle from frying pan to the mixer, nearly doing somersaults between the oven to the cookbooks, not with the skill of an artist, but an acrobat. Each step was methodically planned with the timing between dinner and dessert. A splash of apple whiskey here, a pinch of salt there, it was clear that Braeburn not only did this before but from the Wonderbolt’s perspective, he was putting on a show.

“Do you do this often?” Soarin ventured to ask while the Earth Pony opened a cabinet to take down some plates.

“What? Showin’ off?”

“No, I mean cook in general. I mean, I know you can make a mean apple pie but I didn’t think you’re capable of doing this.”

Braeburn shrugged as he set a plate in front of Soarin and another across from him. “Ah maybe livin’ out here in the middle of nowhere, but ya gotta eat.”

“What are ya making over there anyway?” the Pegasus inquired as the yellow Apple returned to the kitchen area.

“Ah figured jus’ some spaghetti and a brownie recipe Ah’ve learned a while ago from a neighbor.” He craned his neck over to where Soarin was sitting, “By the way, what do ya wanna drink? Ah’ve got some milk in the ice box, unless you want somethin’ stronger.”

“Do you drink wine?” Soarin wondered aloud. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink that stuff.”

“Only on rare occasions, but since this is one of those days… Ah guess Ah can get out a bottle.”

Ten minutes later, with food on the table, Braeburn returned to the table with a dark bottle and a couple of glasses. Not for the sort for wine, he set down a few mugs down. “This is the best Ah’ve got,” he said as he too sat down. “You don’t mind, do ya?”

“Hey, wine is wine, no matter what you pour it into, let me,” the Pegasus took the bottle in one hoof and a corkscrew in the other and pulled it open until they heard a pop from it. After this, he then poured for his best friend. “You know, I can’t believe that you would go out of your way to do this for me. None of the other dates I’ve been on have ever cooked for me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, usually I’m the one that treats the other out, so to speak. Paying for dinner, taking them out to shows, the whole nine yards, I’m the one that does everything; it’s kinda… refreshing to have someone like you to go through all the trouble for me.”

Braeburn nervously chuckled, blushing; he immediately went for the wine, “Yer too kind. This bein’ a date and all, especially with mah best bud, Ah just kinda hope to make an impression on ya.”

Soarin took up a fork to twist it into the pasta, trying to get at the red sauce before putting it into his mouth. “Woah…” he swallowed, “dude, you really should get a medal for this.”

“It’s jus’ spaghetti. Wait til’ ya tried the brownies, the gal Ah’ve got it from had a cousin that worked in some high-end bakery in Manehattan. So you know that they’re good.” The two of them fell silent as they dug into their plates until the cowpony spoke up, “Ya know, Ah kinda wonder why we haven’t done this sooner.”

“What? Eating?”

“Ah mean, our date. Compared to the other Heart and Hooves days that Ah had, this is by far the funniest. Do you kinda wish that we should have done this thin’ earlier?”

Soarin chewed through his mouthful of pasta before he answered, “To be honest, I’m rather glad that we did. Sure, I didn’t exactly think I would end up doing this, but yeah, I had fun too. At least I didn’t have to drop a fortune on a pearl necklace and flowers.”

Braeburn chuckled, “Shucks, what would Ah be needin’ those for? They’re impractical when you’re buckin’ trees or what have you. Although, takin’ me out to someplace fancy once in a while wouldn’t hurt.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Soarin deadpanned. “I may have a pretty good salary, but I’m not exactly a millionaire… yet.”

“Still, even with what Ah got, Ah hope Ah’ve made an impression on ya.”

“I think you’re a little too late for that,” the sky blue pony replied as he took in another bite of that spicy pasta. “You know, even if you don’t end up with me, I will even that pony you do call your special somepony. I mean, you’re a great cook, a great hoofball player, and one of the hardest working ponies I know.”

“Well Ah could say the same with you,” Braeburn said. “How many ponies can get the chance to date a real Wonderbolt? Someone that’s as open-minded as you are, and…” he blushed. “You know.”

Soarin raised an eyebrow, “What?”

His friend hesitated before he answered softly, “…. Ah think you’re a great kisser.”

“Um… thanks,” he took a sip of his wine. “Though remind me again, was that your first?”

Braeburn’s ears folded back, his cheeks still reddened with embarrassment, “Yes’m. Too bad Ah can’t exactly recall, bein’ drunk off mah flank and all. Though, of course, Ah do remember the morning after when you…” he sighed, “Ah still can’t get it out of mah mind. On the one hoof, Ah’ve locked lips with mah best friend, then again… Ah did like it.”

The table descended into an awkward silence. Soarin chugged down his glass before moving from his side of the table to plopping down next to the cowpony. “Maybe it’s the moment or the wine already talking but… do you want to give it another go?”

His friend’s eyes went as wide as the table. “Wh… What?”

“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t exactly mind at the time either and how we left off… I did say that I want to make it up to you somehow so… how about it? This time, I’ll totally go through with it if you really want to. But if not, that’s fine, just so you know that I’m willing.”

Braeburn blinked, “Y-You mean… like now?”

“I guess it can be or maybe some other night, all I’m saying that at any time you wanted to kiss me again, you can when you see the moment is right.”

“O-Oh… thanks,” he turned his head away, towards the table. “Let’s finish up eating’, then Ah’ll get the fireplace goin’.”

When dinner was finished, brownies were devoured and the dishes were put in the sink, the yellow Apple lit a fire in the hearth until it was brazing bright. The two stallions lay on the couch, watching the flames dance silently and the smoke drift up the chimney. Neither one said a word for a long time until Braeburn broke the silence.

“Soarin, thank you – fer givin’ me a date for Hearts and Hooves day.”

“I take it that I’ve made it all up to you?”

“Eeyup,” the yellow stallion looked over into his friend’s eyes. “Ah think this is somethin’ Ah would remember. Even if nothin’ comes out of this, Ah do thank ya fer givin’ me a chance to… show off mah romantic side.”

“You have one?” Soarin teased, and at this, he receives a playful punch to his foreleg. “Ow!”

“Oh, real funny Soar,” he shook his head and smirked at the same time. “What Ah’m tryin’ ta get at is Ah’m grateful that you’d be doin’ this fer me.”

“I know.” The two stallions returned their attention back towards the fire for several minutes. Then, from the stillness, Soarin felt a hoof reaching around the back of his head that made him turn towards his best friend. Now being forced to look at him in their eye, it seemed that all the forces in the universe, including time, had stood still to watch.

“Soar…” Braeburn gulped, “Do you mind if we uh… try again?”

He chuckled, “I think this would make it a… take three?” the pegasus, as blue as the sky lowered his eyelids until they were closed and waited. In that calm moment, he heard the other stallion licking his lips and breathing deep before leaning his head up to his. Needless to say, their lips did meet with that familiar warmth that came with it. Heartbeats raced and the electrical sensation of contact blended one second to the next to the point of rendering it meaningless. Warmth and wetness of their blind mouths ruled that space of eternity.

They pulled away, each wiping the saliva from their own hoof. “That was…” the cowpony began in a breathy voice but cleared his throat before he continued. “Ah’ll give ya this, at least this time, it was much better.”

Soarin chuckled, “Yeah… now, who taught you to kiss like that?” both stallions laughed as the yellow Apple reached up and messed with his dark blue mane.

“Guess it came naturally,” he smiled.

Brushing the yellow hoof away, the Wonderbolt asked, “You remember earlier when you wondered if it might be possible if we could have a relationship?” His friend nodded, “I think that when I find more time outside of practice, that we should probably do this more often.”

The cowpony’s jaw dropped, “Y-You mean?”

“Yeah. If there’s anyone that I want to go on a date when I’m not working my flank off, I want it to be with you. So thanks dude, for letting me.”

Braeburn hugged his neck, and Soarin in return wrapped his wings around him.

Naturally, I’m spending the night at Brae’s for a couple of days. He insisted that I can have his room while he sleeps on the coach, which is where I find myself to be writing from. Even though I have never dated a guy before, I’m really glad that at least I got to do it with him. I don’t know if this is the start of a relationship or not, at the moment, I feel happy that I can get to be with Braeburn. Too bad that it won’t be for long though, there’s still much to do with so little time to hang around with him. But tomorrow, I’m determining to make each moment count.
– Soarin.

Jonagold smiled, ‘That was so sweet,’ she thought. ‘I wonder if all of their dates are like this,’ immediately, the pegasus flipped the pages over to the next marked page.

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