Building a Different Fence

by StormLuna

First Date

Author's Note:

Twilight and Moondancer's date will be done mostly in a back and forth dialogue.

Preparing for Her Date

Several days had passed and it was the day before her date with Twilight. She was in the library searching frantically for various books on the subject of dating as she had never been on a date before. Other ponies in the library were looking at her with looks of disapproval as she was quietly saying the names of the books she was grabbing. While she would normally just stay in the library and study, this time she decided to check the books out and go home to study this subject.

When she got home she said to herself, "Ok Moondancer, you can do this. If you study the right things and have confidence, everything will go alright with Twilight tomorrow."

The first thing that she wondered was what a pony is supposed to wear on a first date. She was reading and sighed, "Alright, it says for a first date you aren't supposed to dress any differently than you normally would. Got it."

She then moved on to another book, one about proper etiquette for dating. At first she couldn't help but read about what to do during further dates down the road when she said to herself, "Come on Moondancer, you act like you normally would! You don't start pulling out chairs and holding doors open until further down the road!"

She then moved on to about who would pay and again she wound up skipping over what should be done on a first date and said to herself, "Ok, it says here that the one who invited the other on the date should.....oh, once again I'm skipping ahead. For the first date you either discuss it with your date or you pay separately!"

After what was likely much longer studying this than what was likely necessary, Moondancer finally put the books down and decided to call it a night. As she laid there in bed trying to get to sleep there was only one thing on her mind, Twilight. Despite Twilight not guaranteeing that anything would happen, she couldn't help but imagine what that first kiss would be like.

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Moondancer's First Date

Saturday afternoon arrived and Moondancer was nervous, very nervous. She stared at her reflection in the mirror as she continued to make sure her mane and tail were perfect. She cast a closer gaze at her reflection and asked, "Do I leave it up like I always do or do I wear it like I did a long time ago?" She then remembered how the book she read stated that one should not change their looks any on the first date so she kept it up.

She looked at the clock and it was a quarter till three so she knew that she had better get going. She was no fan of tardiness and knew that Twilight wasn't either. As she walked to the donut shop she walked with something that nopony had seen in ages, confidence. She walked with her head up knowing that she at least had a chance of winning Twilight's heart.

It was five minutes before three when she arrived and just as she was arriving, so was Twilight. The first thing she couldn't help but notice was that Spike was not accompanying her and to her that was a good thing. The first one to say anything was Moondancer, "Hi Twilight, I'm so glad you could make it!"

Twilight gave her a smile, "Well you know I'd be here Moondancer. You know I hate tardiness just as much as you do."

Moondancer gave her a smile and as they headed to the counter Twilight asked, "So Moondancer, who is paying?"

Moondancer replied, "Well with this being our first get-together, I was thinking that I could pay for mine and you could pay for yours."

Twilight couldn't help but snicker, "You've been reading books on dating etiquette, haven't you?"

Moondancer got a sheepish grin and replied, "Uhm, maybe!"

In the eyes of Twilight this was proof that Moondancer was not wanting to rush things, that she wanted to genuinely take the time to know her more rather than immediately deciding that they were destined to be together.

After they got their food and got sat down, there was an awkward silence for about thirty seconds until Moondancer began the conversation, "So Twilight, what have you been up to? How has princess life been treating you?"

Twilight replied, "Well nothing special recently. After everything that happened right before we rekindled our friendship, the lack of activities has been nice."

Moondancer commented, "I can imagine. That summit you helped organize must have been rather stressful on you."

Twilight replied, "It was. I had to go three straight days without any rest and then when I was able to get some rest, Spike decided to make decisions for me and things didn't go so well."

Moondancer couldn't help but chuckle, "The water main breaking?"

Twilight replied, "Not just that. Pretty much everything from special privileges to who got what, he made the decisions for me. Yeah in the end everything turned out fine but still, it was frustrating."

Moondancer had noticed that Twilight had said everything when she began discussing what happened before they rekindled their friendship. She asked, "I noticed you said everything, did anything else stressful happen."

Twilight sighed, "Unfortunately yes. Princess Celestia decided that we should try to befriend the yaks and I tell you, those yaks are impossible to make happy!"

Moondancer had done some reading about yaks that was in books from the last time their borders were open and had a feeling as to what she was talking about. She asked, "I take it if something wasn't perfect they got mad?"

Twilight replied, "Yes! It seemed like no matter what we tried, it wasn't perfect and they'd go destroying everything!" Twilight raised her voice and continued, "And their grammar was horrible! They were always saying things like, 'me honored,' 'not perfect, yaks destroy!'"

Again Moondancer couldn't help but chuckle, "Ugh, that would drive me up the wall! I'm betting there are kindergartners with a better grasp of the English language than that."

Twilight gave her a smile, "It did drive me crazy and even worse, my friends simply went with the flow when I wanted to haul them into my castle and give them a lecture on proper language usage." She paused for a moment and continued, "You know, I honestly don't get how my friends could handle it. At least you have a good appreciation of proper grammar."

For Moondancer this was a good sign, it was Twilight acknowledging that she was still somewhat like her. She was getting ready to reply when Twilight continued, "So, what have you been up to lately?"

Moondancer replied, "Well I've been spending a lot of time with my friends and of course studying."

Twilight asked, "I know you study a lot and at one time you were in Celestia's school. Do you have any plans on seeing if you could get back in?"

Moondancer replied, "I've thought about it but I'm really nervous about how she would react." Moondancer began to become a bit paranoid and continued, "What if she was to be upset and tell me no since I just quit showing up for classes? What if she told me that she didn't think I had what it took to be in her school again?"

In a reassuring voice Twilight said, "Moondancer, you are smart and devoted to studying. I'm sure she will let you back in and if she was to say no, just let me know and I'll vouch for you. If I vouch for you, I know she'll let you in."

Moondancer replied, "Thanks Twilight, that means a lot to me."

They had long finished their donuts and Twilight looked up at the clock and realized that she had been gone for a bit longer than she had planned. She said, "Well Moondancer, it has been really nice getting together with you. I'm glad we could just talk."

Moondancer had a bit of a sad look on her face as she replied, "It was good to get together with you too."

With the way Twilight was wording things, she thought that this was likely Twilight's way of saying that she was not interested in anything further until Twilight suggested, "So Moondancer, what would you think of getting together again next weekend?"

Moondancer's ears shot up when she heard this. She asked, "Really, you want to get together next weekend?"

Twilight gave her a smile and replied, "Of course!" She paused for a moment before suggesting, "I was thinking maybe we could meet up at the cafe down in Ponyville on Saturday afternoon."

Moondancer asked, "Would the same time be ok?"

Twilight replied, "Of course it would!" The two got up to head for the exit and Twilight got ready to fly home. Right before she took off she gave Moondancer a smile and continued, "Today has been nice, see you next weekend?"

Moondancer replied, "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Twilight gave her one more smile before taking off. Moondancer was really hoping that Twilight would have given her a hug but knew that things probably wouldn't move along that fast. Like it was when she headed to the donut shop, she walked home with her held high and a smile on her face which drew attention from other ponies in town since most of them had never seen her with a smile on her face.

When she got home she closed the door, began to jump up and down and squealed, "She wants another date! She wants another date! Oh I'm so happy!" She calmed down and glanced over at the books she had checked out and continued, "Well Moondancer, now it is time to read about what to do on a second date!"