Twilight in the Sky with Sparkles

by Prince Paladin

First impressions

Okay, you finally have your chance with Twilight. Best not mess it up. you think as you aimlessly wander the streets of Ponyville, holding only enough attention on your surroundings to not bump into anypony as you walk. Getting a yes from her of all ponies is like hitting the lottery, and you shouldn't expect to win it twice if this fails... Gah, you're overthinking this. Better find somepony to hear your troubles...

And suddenly, you find yourself changing course and heading for Sugarcube Corner, with a very specific somepony in mind...

---

You'd been living in Ponyville for six months now, but the ponies have grown accustomed to your presence way sooner than expected. Equestria was home to many strange creatures. Yeah, humans are unusual, but they're not exactly threatening. The only thing about you they consider even slightly scary is the vast amount of personal knowledge about them that you shouldn't know, had you not learned it from a certain girl's cartoon on Earth. Fortunately, you've gotten better at knowing when to keep certain things to yourself, and when to confess what you know but also explain how.

Even with that obstacle, you've managed to make a surprising amount of fast friends, but none faster than the Mane Six. At first, you thought it would be best to focus on ponies you didn't know that well, and let legends be legends, but the magic of friendship works in mysterious ways. You're basically their latest member, but... maybe it was the lack of humans in Equestria, or maybe she's just that charming, but you've developed certain feelings for a certain member of your new friend group.

For a while, you felt that you had no chance with princess, to say nothing of the species barrier, and made an effort to balance out your time with the Mane Six to avoid suspicion. But the longer you held onto these feelings, the more they built up. Eventually, you had to confess. Twilight's reaction was... well...

"I... you... I... what?" Twilight said as you both stood there in the main hall of the castle of friendship.

"Ugh, forget I said anything." you said, taking her response as a no. "I was being dumb. Can we just--"

"Wait! It's not like I don't like you, don't think that. It's just... I don't wanna do anything that ruins our friendship. And besides, I'm a pony, and you're a... well..." What am I saying? Spike's been pining after Rarity for years and I've never told him any of this. Granted, he never really had a chance with her, but...

"Yeah. I know. But really, my mind went through a million reasons why I shouldn't have done this. I'm a human and you're a pony, I'm a civilian and you're a princess, our friendship, the children, yadda yadda yadda. But you know what? I did it anyway. So at least I don't have to dwell on what might have been. ...look, I'm only asking for one date, and I'm totally prepared for a no. But at the very least, I'm just hoping that we can remain friends af--"

Twilight only looked more thoughtful and afraid than ever after your little speech.

You sigh. "Loud and clear. I'm genuinely sorry, but I hope one day we can put this behind us." You turn around and begin to walk away.

"...Anon?"

You turn back around to hear what she has to say.

"...one date. We'll give this a shot, and if it doesn't work out, still friends." Suddenly, a weight is lifted off your heart. "...assuming you don't go too far, that is?" she says teasingly, trying to take the edge off.

You chuckle a little. "Come on, I think you know me better than that."

"I don't know. You've been full of surprises lately, big guy."

You both laugh for a bit, feeling significantly relieved. "Alright." you say. "Tomorrow night. See you then!"

You both wave at each other as you walk out. You feel relieved... and suddenly afraid again. Wait a minute...

---

"...where am I gonna take her? I've thought out everything about the confession itself, whether I wanted to even go through with it or not... but I didn't think of where to take her."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine." Mrs. Cake said as she delivered your blueberry muffin. "You should've seen how sweaty my husband was when we started dating."

"He wasn't entering an interspecies relationship with you. I have to try my hardest to impress Twilight if I really want this to work out."

"I think you're focusing too much on the whole 'different species' thing. Just look outside. You see unicorns with pegasi, earth ponies with unicorns..."

"That's different. They're all ponies."

"Maybe so, but I still think you'll find it's less of a problem than you think. Don't worry about it, pre-date jitters are always normal. But if you're really stuck on a location, I guess the best advice I can give is to show her that you're genuinely interested in her, and care about her."

Suddenly, your creative juices start flowing. "...actually, that does help. Thanks!" you said as you left a bunch of bits behind and returned to the streets.

"Oh, uh... deary?" Mrs. Cake called out to you as you ran for the streets. "You paid too much!"

"Consider it thanks!" you replied as you dove further into whatever direction you chose. OK, something that shows I'm genuinely interested in and care about her. Best way to do that is to appeal to what she likes. Library? Too easy. She really likes friendship, maybe a double date? ...no, bad idea. I'd prefer to be alone with her.

And suddenly, your gaze found a tall, towering hill, with a lone tree on top. Inspiration then hit you over the head like you were the centerpiece of a whack a mole table. It's perfect...

You then rushed over to the castle of friendship, knocked on the door, and started to catch your breath. When the door opened, you had composed yourself, only to find...

"Spike! Great! Listen, can you tell Twilight not to wear anything nice tonight? We'll be spending it outdoors."

"Uh... sure, but--"

"Great! Thanks!" you said before rushing off to get things ready for tonight.

"...but where are we going!?" Spike called out, still standing in the doorway.

Comments

[Purpleanon]

Why no comments