One Date at a Time

by BrawnyBold

A Picnic with Swoon Song

A small picnic was set up on the outskirts of Starlight's village. Feather Bangs sat on the blanket while checking things such as the picnic arrangements or his mane which was perfectly combed for such an occasion. He had to make sure everything was good since this will be his first date with a mare. He was quite surprised how it happened.

---

One Day Ago

Ever since the Cutie Mark Crusaders agreed in helping Feather Bangs talk to mares, he had followed every lesson those little fillies had to offer. From starting conversations to making compromises, Feather Bangs was able to understand everything that involved talking to mares. On the day when Feather completed all of his lessons, he lead the CMC back to Big Mac who was helping out his new mare-friend, Sugar Belle.

"Alright Feather Bangs," Scootaloo spoke. "now that you learned everything you need to know about talking to mares, it's time for you to see how well you use your lessons." Feather Bangs gulped before he responded.

"You mean like a test?" Feather asked nervously from the pressure of a final exam.

"Not exactly," Sweetie Belle assured. "the next step is to actually spend time with a mare so you will feel more comfortable with talking to them."

"Like a date?" Feather attempted to answer.

"Exactly," Apple Bloom replied. Feather formed a small blush from embarrassment.

"Wouldn't it be creepy for me to date one of you?" Feather asked. The CMC giggled from Feather's question.

"You don't date us." Scootaloo responded.

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle said.

'Although I would love that if I wasn't so young.' Sweetie thought. "It would be better for you test what you learned without any of us around." Feather knew that Sweetie had a point. He had to make his own efforts if he wants to talk to mares.

"So which mare should I start with?" Feather asked. The CMC tapped their chins for a strategy. It wasn't until an idea came to Apple Bloom.

"I think I might know some mares." Apple Bloom suggested. At an instant, Feather's three admirers popped out of nowhere and ran in front of Feather Bangs. Each of the mares showed excited facial expressions as if they were about to receive candy or an allowance from their parents.

"I'll do it! Pick me!" Swoon Song hollered as she waved one of her hooves in the air.

"No me! I'll go on a date with you!" Dear Darling said as put her hooves together in a begging position.

"I'm the perfect candidate, Feather!" Fond Feather said while batting her eyelashes at the poet stallion. Feather gulped as he tried to figure out a response for them. It wasn't till the three mares glared at each other and began to argue amongst themselves.

"I want to date Feather!" Dear Darling whined.

"No! I want to!" Swoon Song shouted.

"I'm way better with Feather Bangs than you two!" Fond Feather shouted back. Before the mares' argument spiraled out of control, Apple Bloom put a hoof to her mouth and whistled as hard as she could. The whistle was able to make the mares stop and give Apple Bloom their attention.

"Alright," Apple Bloom assured. "Now that I have your attention, I think there may be a way to figure out the order you mares will date Feather." Feather's eyes widen from hearing that he was going to date all three of his admirers. He leaned closer to Apple Bloom and whispered:

"I have to date all three of these mares?" Feather asked.

"You'll get more practice if you date each of them." Apple Bloom replied. Feather sighed from hearing Apple Bloom's good point. Apple Bloom pulled out a hoof full of straws and presented it to the three mares.

"All you have to do is pull out a straw with your hooves. Once you have your straw, you will open your hooves to see how long is your straw. The mare with the shortest straw will go first, then so on." The three mares looked at each other before they nodded and picked up one straw with their hooves. Once all of the mares got their straws, they opened their hooves to reveal the straws' lengths.

"Woo Hoo! I go first!" Swoon Song cheered as she had the shortest straw.

"Oh!" Fond Feather whined since she had the second shortest straw. Dear Darling just pouted as she threw her long straw to the ground.

"It won't be that bad." Scootaloo said to Dear Darling and Fond Feather. "This might give you more time to come up with your perfect date with Feather!" The two mares thought about it before they smiled and ran off to start planning their dates.

"S-so...what should we do for our date?" Feather asked. Swoon tapped her chin with her hoof as she tries to figure out what they should do for their date.

"How about a picnic?" Swoon suggested. "We could have one outside of town."

"That's sounds great!" Feather said in relief. "I'll have everything set up by that big tree tomorrow." Feather pointed at a big tree that Swoon thought was the perfect place for their picnic date.

"It's perfect!" Swoon smiled. "I'll be sure to bring something great for our picnic. See you tomorrow!" As Swoon left, Feather breathed heavily from his built-up stress.

"I can't believe I'll be dating all three of those mares!" Feather claimed.

"Don't worry," Sweetie assured as she placed a hoof on Feather's shoulder. "Just use our lessons and you'll be fine!" As Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom left, Scootaloo walked up to Feather with a smirk on her face.

"Good luck, you lover boy!" Scootaloo teased as she nudged Feather with her elbow. Scootaloo left with her friends while Feather just stood there while processing what had happened.

"Oh boy," Feather whispered before he went home to prepare for his first date.

---

Present Day

Feather groaned as he waited with anxiety. He hopes that everything will be alright and this date won't turn out to be a disaster.

"I'm here!" Swoon hollered as she made her way to the picnic spot. Swoon trotted towards Feather while she held a small picnic basket under one hoof. The reddish mare finally arrived and began putting out the content from her basket. Feather noticed something different about Swoon as she brought out a container of fruit. The mare wore sparkling red ribbons on her mane and tail instead of the plain red ribbons she usually wears. She also had on violet mascara that highlighted her eyes.

"Sorry for being late." Swoon apologized as she sat down. "I was making some last minute decisions before I left." She continued with unpacking until Feather smelled something interesting from Swoon herself.

"Is that honey flavored perfume you're wearing?" Feather asked the mare. Swoon turned to squeal in excitement.

"Thanks for noticing!" Swoon said as she fluffed her mane. "I saved this special perfume in case you asked me out on a date. I know it's a fact that you love honey." Feather was confused if he should feel flattered or creeped out that Swoon knew he liked honey.

'I shouldn't judge,' Feather thought. 'it's nice for a mare to doll herself up for a stallion.' Once Swoon brought out the last container, she adjusted her ribbons and faced Feather.

"Alright, let's dig in!" Swoon cheered. Feather was amazed at the spread of delicious food Swoon brought.

"Whoa Swoon!" Feather said with surprise. "You made all of this?" Swoon nodded.

"Yep, made completely from scratch." Swoon picked up a sliced half of a sandwich with its' crust completely cut off.

"Open up and say 'ahh'!" Swoon suggested as she moved the sandwich half closer to Feather's mouth. Feather decided to roll with it by closing his eyes and took a bite from Swoon's sandwich. He could taste the softness of the bread along with the juiciness of the berries and hay from each bite. Feather kept taking bites from the sandwich half until it was all gone.

"Wow, that was delicious!" Feather complimented. Swoon giggled from Feather's praise.

"Thanks," Swoon replied. "The secret is my homemade jam that I put inside of the sandwich." Feather licked his lips to taste the leftover jam on his mouth.

"No wonder the sandwich was so good," Feather said. "the jam makes it all better."

"How do you think I got my cutie mark?" Swoon said as she raised her rump that showed an image of a slice of bread covered with jam and a loaf of bread on the side. "I got it when I was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." Feather couldn't help but blush as he was staring at a mare's flank. He tried to change the topic by looking at the other food containers.

"S-so what other stuff did you bring?" Feather asked with a weak smile.

"Oh, I got plenty of food to offer." Swoon said as she picked up a tub of potato salad. Throughout the date, Swoon kept feeding Feather with all of her homemade cooking. Feather enjoyed every bite of Swoon's food. Swoon was also enjoying the date as Feather kept complimenting her cooking skills. It was later in the day when Feather and Swoon almost ate all of the food.

"Time for dessert!" Swoon said as she brought out a box of two cupcakes.

"Oh man, I don't think I could eat another bite." Feather said as he got up from resting.

"Don't worry," Swoon offered Feather a cupcake. "It's just one small cupcake." Feather took a deep breath before he took a bite from his cupcake.

"Whoa! This tastes really good!" Feather said before he took more bites from his cupcakes. "You are a really good baker too!"

"Actually," Swoon said while Feather munched on his cupcake. "I didn't actually make those all by myself, I got help from Sugar Belle." Feather choked from what he heard from Swoon.

"S-Sugar Belle?" Feather asked with concern.

"Yeah," Swoon replied with a blush. "I asked her if she could help me make cupcakes for you since she was the expert baker in the town."

"Huh," Feather said with surprise as he didn't expect one of his admirers to ask Sugar Belle for help.

"Is something wrong?" Swoon asked with a raised brow.

"No no! It's all fine." Feather said while waving his hooves. "I was just surprised that you asked Sugar Belle for help with since...I was after her first." Swoon couldn't help but giggle.

"Don't worry," Swoon replied while waving a hoof. "The girls and I knew that you were going after Sugar Belle. It still didn't stop us from liking you." Feather tried his best to understand the three mares' intentions, but a part of him wanted to know more.

"B-but what if Sugar Belle chose me?" Feather asked. Swoon thought about it for a moment until she gave her reply.

"Yeah, it would've hurt if you dated Sugar Belle instead of us." Swoon then placed her hooves on Feather's.

"But luckily for me and the girls, Sugar Belle went with that Big Mac instead of you." She picked up one of Feather's hooves and rubbed it on her cheek. "We thanked faith for bringing those two together. It gave us a chance to date you." Feather was lost for words from what Swoon said. Even when Feather was so busy flirting with Sugar Belle; those three mares continued to admire him. Swoon looked concerned when she saw tears flowing from Feather's eyes.

"What's wrong, Feather?" Swoon asked. Feather attempted to wipe some tears from his eyes but he ended up breaking down crying.

"I-I just feel so ashamed that I didn't give you girls a chance. I didn't even acknowledged your presence when I made my attempts on Sugar Belle." Feather sniffled. Swoon slowly gave Feather a comforting hug.

"It's alright," Swoon whispered while stroking Feather's mane. "we understood that you were so focused on Sugar Belle. This could actually be an opportunity to get to know us more." Feather was able to calm down from his sudden breakdown.

"Thank you." Feather said with a smile.

"No problem." Swoon said as she patted a spot next to her. "So how about we seal this date by laying down and watch the clouds?" Feather shrugged as he laid next to Swoon so both of them could enjoy watching the clouds go by. The big tree next to them provided a great shade to block off Celestia's sun. The time passed until something came up in Feather's mind. It bothered him ever since he had first seen the three admirers.

"Hey Swoon," Feather said.

"Yeah?" Swoon said as her head turned.

"Why do you and the other mares like me?" Feather asked. He assumes it's probably because he looks handsome or something. Feather watched as Swoon was thinking of a response.

"I won't speak for my friends, but I will respond with my reason for liking you." Swoon moved closer to Feather and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Feather flinched from Swoon's sudden kiss.

"I like you because you so adorable and the way you got upset makes you very caring for mares." Swoon smiled to show how genuine her answer was. Feather was baffled from Swoon's response. It was not often for Feather to be called adorable, except for his mom.

"I hope the rest of the girls do their best to top my date with you." Swoon giggled as she snuggled with Feather as they looked up to the sky. Feather blushed as he was reminded that he had two more dates to deal with. Who knows what Fond Feather and Dear Darling were planning for their dates with Feather Bangs.