Chapter 5: The pseudo-date, part 2
Still on my “date” with Sunset, I was close to finally telling her how I felt. But my stupid paranoia with her possibly thinking I looked weird kept me from doing it. There are times when I feel like I’m pathetic.
Though, it seemed like Sunset wanted to say something too, but I thought it best to not ask what it was if she didn’t want to tell me. Doing something to annoy the girl/mare you’re trying to ask out is not what you should do!
“Hey, Sunset? I know you said you like painting and you love video games, but what else do you enjoy doing? Do you like bowling?”
“Well, I don’t do it much, but yeah, I like to bowl.”
“In that case, you want to bowl a few games? And like with lunch, I can cover for you.”
“You sure, Eric? I don’t want you to spend too many of your bits on me.”
“Yep, I’m sure. You’ve done a lot for your friends and ‘your’ world after you reformed, so think of it as a reward that you have been overdue for.”
That just might be the first time someone brought up Sunset’s past without reminding her of what she did before reforming. The blush that formed on her face with a cute smile suggested it.
Besides, she had got to be sick of hearing that and then the “uh, no offense” that always followed. In fact, I should lay off the occasional jokes about Starlight’s past that I do with her.
Anyway, we left the café and headed to Ponyville’s bowling alley. As we walked, I wondered if Sunset might have a rage moment if she got “cheated” out of a strike. I kinda hoped that she would...as long as the pony didn’t break anything!
Now at the bowling alley, Sunset and I got ourselves a lane and were preparing to start bowling. The sound of bowling balls thrown from other ponies hitting the pins, plus the cheers when somepony got a strike, really helped pump me up. This time, I was going first: Sunset insisted on it since I let her go first when we played Snake Hunter.
Because ponies don’t have fingers, there were no holes in the bowling balls, so I couldn’t throw my ball like I would in my old world.
However, to make things fairer, Sunset said she wouldn’t use her magic to throw her ball. The shape and size of the ball meant Sunset could get an adequate grip on the ball, despite her having hooves and not hands. She would have to walk on her hind legs to bowl, so she practiced walking on them a little before we started. At first, she wobbled when she “walked” and it was both funny and adorable! If she were Twilight, I would call it “adorkable”. But Sunset quickly got used to it.
Though, she got a lot of stares from ponies in the bowling alley when she was walking, but she didn’t seem to care. Sunset even made a silly pose once and gave the whole bowling alley a big laugh! If I didn't know better, she did it because she was trying to ease the mood for some reason.
Once Sunset was done and could walk on her hind legs without risk of losing her balance, it was time to bowl.
My competitive streak fired back up. Standing in front of our lane, holding a red ball, I boasted, “Well, Sunset, it’s a good thing I’m going first, so I can show you how it’s done.”
Sitting in a chair like a human would -- another effect being so used to being a human had on her I guess -- Sunset said, “Show away, Eric.”
Heh, I thought she would say something like “show away, Eric, so I can show you how to do it better”. Then again, Sunset’s not Rainbow Dash or Trixie, though her confident smile suggested that her competitive streak was just suppressed for the moment.
I bowled a few times in Equestria, but I wasn’t good at throwing bowling balls without holes. On my first throw, I knocked down three pins on my first ball, then three more on my second.
After my second throw, I turned to Sunset and said, “And for the record, I’m better at bowling in my old world.”
“I guess we have one more thing to do if you can ever come to 'my' world. Now, let’s see how I can do bowling with hooves.”
Sunset hopped off her chair and picked up her ball, a green-colored one, with her magic, and wrapped most of one of her forelegs to grip the ball. She can use her magic to bring her ball to her, just not use it to throw. Then, on her hind legs, she walked towards the lane and threw her ball down it. To be honest, I thought it would roll in the “gutter”, but it didn’t and she instead got five pins.
“Wow, not bad, Sunset.”
Sunset turned her head to me and asked, “I bet you thought it would go in the gutter, didn’t you, Eric?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny it.”
Sunset chuckled, and since she guessed what I was thinking without reading my mind, I took it as a sign to make a move. But as she threw her second ball, and got two more pins, I thought I would wait till our game was over to spill it.
Now in the tenth frame, it was a close game. My score was 69, and Sunset’s was 67.
Holding my ball, I said, “Well, well, just like in Snake Hunter it’s coming down to the wire.”
Sunset replied, “Yeah, we’re more evenly matched than I thought. I really wish we hung out sooner.”
On my first ball, I got seven pins, and two on my second.
“Well, my score’s 78. It’s all you now, Sunset.” If she were Rainbow or Trixie I would have added something like “Don’t choke!” But my crush on Sunset kept me from overdoing things and risk getting her mad.
“They say the great ones are at their best under pressure, and I can feel a strike coming!”
Sunset, as well as me, “opened” in the ninth frame -- that means we got neither a strike nor spare. To win, she needed to either get a strike, then at least two pins on one of her two extra throws, or a spare and then two or more pins on her one extra throw. This is because of how the rules work when you get strikes and spares in the tenth/final frame.
Or put more simply, because of how Sunset’s bowled up to this point, if she doesn’t get a strike or spare, I’ll win. If she gets one of the two, she’ll win.
With a smile, Sunset got on her hind legs again, picked up and threw her ball, and it went down the middle of the lane. She hit the "headpin" not head-on, but hit its left half, making me grimace. Hitting the headpin like this on its left or right half is a better way to get strikes, not hitting it head-on as you might think.
All the pins fell.
Except one of the four pins in the back row, which actually slid to the right, but remained standing.
Did Sunset have a fit over being “cheated” out of a strike?
Oh, yes, yes, she did! She was less “baconmane” and more like "firemane"!
Still standing on her hind legs, Sunset stomped one of her hooves and shouted, “OH, COME ON!! How did that happen?! How did that pin not go down?!”
I had myself a good laugh and admitted, “Wow! I saw that happen once, but I didn’t think I would see it again!”
“Well, I never saw it happen at all! You didn’t have anything to do with that, right, Eric?”
Chuckling, I answered, “How could I? You’re the Unicorn, not me!”
One of the ponies, a light-brown Earth Pony, bowling on the lane beside the one Sunset and I were on wasn’t as amused at Sunset raging as me. He shook his head at Sunset and asked, “Miss? You know you get a second throw, right?”
That got Sunset to calm down. Her face turned bright-red and formed one of the biggest embarrassed grins I’ve ever seen. “Uh, right. Sorry.”
I laughed again, and Sunset walked (on her hind legs) to the “ball return” machine, and her ball had already returned on it when she was having her “firemane” moment. She was more embarrassed than I thought, since she didn’t pick up the ball with magic this time, and instead walked to it.
She gave her ball a throw and it rolled at the remaining pin, but it slowly drifted to the right as it went. It rolled to the pin's right, just barely missing it.
"No!"
I stood up and cheered, “Yes! I win! But you almost had me, Sunset.”
”Aw, I was so close! But good game, Eric. One more game?”
“Sure.”
Of course, we didn’t bowl “one more game” but two more; one of the two I won. In fact, the only reason we didn’t do more was that Sunset felt too guilty about me paying for her games, or we probably would have had another best-of-nine series, unless we got too tired. I paid for the games we played on “Snake Hunter” but that cost less than bowling, and the fact that I was paying for her so much made Sunset not want to make me keep doing it.
By this point, it’s been about six hours since Sunset came through the portal, so we decided to head to Twilight’s castle and just chat for a while.
Actually, Sunset suggested chatting, and I thought that she might say what was on her mind, so I sure didn’t mind chatting. Plus, I still needed to ask her to go on a real date!
In the library, Sunset and I sat in separate chairs that were beside each other, separated by about a foot. Sunset sat in her chair more like a human, and we were about two feet from one of the library’s bookshelves. A long rectangular wooden table was in front of us, with two cups of juice sitting on it. Since it didn’t cost me any bits, I had no trouble getting Sunset to accept the drink.
I didn’t see Twilight, Starlight, or Spike in the castle, which I thought was odd. While I wanted to make a move, I first thought to focus on talking to Sunset as friends. Besides simply wanting to talk to her, I thought it could further relax me, making it easier to finally fess up.
“You know, something I don’t think I ever asked is how did it feel the first time you went through the portal?”
Sunset chuckled. “It was really surprising to say the least, and it took me a while to get used to a human body. If I weren’t so angry at Princess Celestia, I would have been a lot more freaked out than I was.”
“I bet. I don’t even want to think about how scared I would have been if I knew nothing about Equestria when I found myself here. Especially because I was the size of a bug at first, thanks to an effect from the ‘Nightmare Prevention Spell’ that brought me here.”
“I can only imagine how that felt, and how scary it was when you first saw Princess Twilight at that size. I bet you’re glad she and Starlight eventually learned how to reverse that spell’s shrinking effect on you.”
“Yes, yes, I am! They have to recast the 'counterspell' to it at least every few days, but it’s far better than always being bite-sized in a world of 'giants'!”
”And I know you accepted living in Equestria for the rest of your life, but do you miss your world?”
I raised my head and thoughts about my old world filled it. My family. My former house and school. A pond near my house that I liked lying by. “Yeah, I do. I can play it in Equestria, but I really miss playing baseball in my world, and I was a pretty good pitcher for my high-school baseball team.”
“You were a pitcher for your high-school? I didn’t know that.”
“Yep. I told Rainbow that in the journal, but I guess I never told you. But most of all, while I can talk to one person once a week thanks to a spell Twilight and Starlight learned, I still miss my family.” I lowered my head in Sunset’s direction and became somewhat more aware of who she was. I thought of something that I always wanted to ask, and now was as good a time as any. “We were talking about Princess Celestia a moment ago, and I don’t think you have seen her since you ran off, right? Have you wanted to make up with her?”
Sunset frowned and her ears drooped. She lightly patted the arm on her chair with a hoof as she answered, “I would like to. But, after how I hurt her, I don’t know if she’ll ever want to see me again.”
Princess Celestia doesn’t seem like the type to hold grudges that easily, and I wanted to tell Sunset that. But, seeing the pain and fear in her eyes, I backed off. I even regretted bringing it up.
Looking away out of guilt, I said, “Hey, I’m sorry for asking that. I didn’t know you felt like that or I--”
“Oh, don’t feel bad, Eric. It’s not your fault, and you didn’t do anything wrong. Someday, I will see Princess Celestia, but I’m just not ready yet. From what you said in our journals, you know how that feels, right?”
Feeling better, I turned my head back to Sunset, and she was smiling and her ears were perked back up. “Oh, yes, yes, I do! But let’s talk about something else.” I rolled my eyes up to help me think. “Uh...oh, I know.”
“Know what?”
“That girl that once captured you and the others in a mirror...what was her name...oh, ‘Juniper’, I think.”
“Juniper Montage? What about her?”
“Has she caused any more trouble, or has she been a good girl?”
“Oh, yeah, she’s been good. Her uncle even let her hang out at his movie studio again, and will even give her a chance in a future movie once she’s old enough. Not long ago, she was even asked out on a date!”
“Well, good for her. And funny that you mention ‘date’ because...”
“Because what? Is something wrong?”
I looked down, becoming more aware of how different I look compared to my chair. For that matter, how I looked different from everything. Including my clothes since Rarity made them for me. Again, memories of second grade haunted my thoughts, and it was getting really old! “Well, I…”
Sunset stared more intently at me and rested a hoof under her mouth. “Hold on. Do...you have another crush on a mare?”
I was at least able to nod my head.
Sunset smiled and exclaimed, “Oh, so that's it! I think I know what’s going on now!”
“Y-You do?” Sunset didn’t use her mind-reading powers, but it seemed like she figured it out on her own! A feeling of relief flooded through me, thinking that I didn’t have to say the words I was thinking.
“Yeah! You want to ask me for help, but worried I wouldn’t want to, right?”
So much for thinking she figured it out. That feeling of relief left me, and the nervousness returned. “I...guess you could say that. ”
“Well, don’t worry about that, and I’ll help if you want it.” Sunset’s smile further curled into a mischievous grin. “So, who’s the lucky mare?”
“Uh…”
“Is it Princess Twilight?”
“NO! Uh, I mean, no, it’s not her.” I guess Sunset was still thinking Twi and I should date. Fine, if I had to pick somepony from Equestria to date, and Diane Heart still thought I looked weird and if I couldn’t pick Sunset, then Twilight Sparkle would be one of my first choices. She is cute, really nice, and I trust her with my life. Even if dating Twi would feel weird as buck because I don’t look at her like that!
“From your ‘NO!’ I guess you’re sick of me and the others saying you should ask out Princess Twilight, so I’ll stop. Okay, if it’s not her, then who is it?”
Again I tried to force myself to say it. I looked into Sunset’s eyes, and something else kept my mouth shut. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get over what happened in second grade.
But while I couldn’t do it, Sunset got over her fears and past and became a great person/pony. She couldn’t face Princess Celestia yet, but at least she didn’t seem "affected" by it unlike me, who was still a bit scarred. Sunset’s nice, cute, brave, and could rise from her past like a Phoenix. Maybe fully realizing that last part is what triggered my crush on her, but it took seeing Sunset last week for me to finally “notice” her. Starlight’s risen from her dark past too, but maybe I never got a crush on her because I truly needed her as a sisterly figure.
As I thought more about all Sunset’s done, I thought that I didn’t deserve her anyway.
Wonderful. Now two things kept me from making a move.
I clenched my fists. “I...can’t say. And now that I think of it, she’s too good for me.”
Sunset slightly tilted her head to the side and formed a puzzled frown. “Why do you think that? You’re awesome, and I mean it, Eric: I’m not saying that just because we’re friends. And what could this mare have done that’s so great that you, someone who earned a Pink Medal of Courage from the Princesses, can’t compete with?”
“Well, it’s uh…” In addition to clenching my fists, I turned my head down, which again made me more aware of how different I looked. Bad move.
Or maybe not. It let Sunset notice how bad I was struggling and gasped. “Wait, what am I doing? If you don’t want to tell me, then I won't pressure you, and I’m sorry I did. You’re not mad, are you?”
I relaxed my fists, thought of an idea, and looked back to Sunset. “No, I’m not mad, but I want to show you something that I meant to show you when you came through the portal earlier. It’s in my room, so I’ll get it.”
Ha, I had nothing. But I needed to try to talk some sense into and pep myself up to tell Sunset I liked her.
After running to my room, I closed the door and sat on my bed. Okay, Eric? What the buck is wrong with you? You’re getting Sunset worried, so you gotta tell her, for both your sakes! Just forget about those dumb memories of second grade and man up! Like Starlight said, Sunset’s not like one of those kids, so get your act together!
Yet again, those painful memories of being picked on took over. No matter what I tried to tell myself, I just couldn’t go through with it, and I punched my mattress out of pure frustration. “Augh! I can’t do it! Why did I even try?!”
Before I could beat myself up some more, three knocks came from my door. I asked, “Is that you, Sunset? I’ll be right out.”
“No, it’s me, Twilight. Can I come in?”
That was a surprise since I thought Twilight was still gone. Though my voice didn’t show it when I responded, “Twi? Yeah, you can come in.”
Twilight opened the door with her magic, walked in, and closed the door. Seeing me sitting on my bed with my fists clenched, she frowned. “I guess you still haven’t asked out Sunset, have you?”
“No, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to do it.”
“With the fun I saw you had with Sunset, I thought you would have been calm enough to ask her out by now.”
“I know, and I had a blast, but I...wait.” I pointed a finger at Twilight. Despite how frustrated I felt, the fact that Twilight said that she saw how much fun I had with Sunset didn’t go over my head, though it almost did.
“What?”
“How did you know I had a lot of fun with Sunset today, and what did you mean by ‘you saw the fun I had with her’?”
Twilight’s eyes got big, she rubbed the back of her head and stuttered, “Oh, uh, I, w-well, a-asked her.”
I put my finger down with my initial shock over. “I doubt it, because you came to my door too fast for her to have told you. Plus, you wouldn’t be stuttering if she did.”
Now blushing, Twilight stuttered, “W-Well, maybe but, I--”
“Wait, let me guess. You and the others were following Sunset and me when we were hanging out, but kept yourselves out-of-sight. And when Sunset and I were talking in the library, you guys were behind one of the doors listening, weren’t you?”
“Maybe?” Twilight replied with her biggest grin and blush yet. She’ll get points for looking adorkable.
And when Sunset and I were out, I sometimes had an odd feeling that we were being watched, like how Bugs Bunny sometimes did. I remembered seeing two purple hooves holding up some newspaper by one of the tables in the bowling alley, and the paper blocked the face of who it was. Can’t believe I didn’t suspect that it was either the Princess of Snooping or Starlight, and the others were probably hiding behind the table or elsewhere.
“Ha, I should’ve known something was up when you, Starlight and Spike weren't around when Sunset came through the portal. So where are the others? Behind the door?”
“No, not this time, I promise, and right now they’re in the kitchen. But I wanted to talk to you by myself.”
“In the kitchen, huh? Well, I’m glad you’re here. I could use some advice on what to do.”
It was at that moment I realized what I just did. I actually asked Princess Twilight Sparkle for romantic advice! Oh, no! I couldn’t resist facepalming.
Oh my Celestia I’m in worse shape than I thought!
“What’s wrong?”
I shook my head to snap myself out of my stunned state. “Oh, er, just thinking about how bad a shape I’m in.”
“At least you’re not trying to hide it this time. But I have a feeling there’s more to it than worrying that Sunset might think you look odd.” In a gentler voice that she only uses when really concerned about someone/somepony, Twilight added, “Please, talk to big sis Twilight; is there more to it?”
I rolled my eyes up to help think. Something else that I didn't think about popped in my head, and I lowered my eyes back down to Twilight. “Well, I might be struggling to tell Sunset I have a crush on her because I can’t get over those kids picking on me when I was little.”
“I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
“Because Sunset was able to move past her past issues. With the help from you and the others from ‘her’ world, she saved it more than once. Add that to her being amazing and so cute, I’m not good enough for her if I can’t get over my issues. That’s another reason I want to ask her out: to prove to myself that I can get over my issues too. I was never ‘mean’, but I used to be selfish, and sometimes I need to know that I won’t go back to that. That's why I started trying to solve my problems on my own and sometimes be stubborn about it.”
“Hmm. Well, I can understand that, but you’re not that selfish kid anymore. ‘Selfish’ is one of the last things I would ever call you.”
“Thanks, Twi. And before you say it, I know that I will never know how Sunset feels unless I ask her and that she doesn’t think I look weird, and I’m trying to--”
But, to my shock, Twilight interrupted, “Actually, I wasn’t going to suggest that you ask her out.”
That threw me for a loop, and I would have bet bits that Twi would try to encourage me to keep trying to ask out Sunset! It was a few seconds before I replied, “Huh?”
“Well, at least not anymore. While I really don’t think Sunset think you look weird, I can't say for sure, because I can’t read her mind.” Twilight walked over to my bed and sat down on it. Just like when Starlight did this, my head came up to the upper part of Twilight’s chest, so I had to look up at her face. Though, unlike Starlight, Twilight didn’t wrap a foreleg around me but instead used one of her wings. “But from talking to her since she reformed, I can say this for sure: the last thing that Sunset Shimmer would ever want to do to you is say or do something to hurt you. You remember how awful she felt last week, right?”
“Oh, yeah, how could I forget that? It took all I had to get her to feel less guilty when I talked to her in our journals later that day.”
“And, like me, she wouldn’t want you to force yourself to do something, and it’s not like Equestria’s at sake. So how about you just think about staying friends with her for now? I saw you two enjoying yourselves.”
I thought about doing what Twi suggested. After all, I did have a lot of fun with Sunset as friends and she was talking about visiting more often, so it wasn't like this would be the first and only day we hung out. Yet, I just couldn’t bring myself to give up yet. “Well, I would like to do that, but I really need to tell her how I feel. Not just because I like her, but to prove to myself that I can get over stuff about my past, just like Sunset did.”
“Are you sure?”
Still looking up to Twilight’s face, I nodded my head. “I’m sure. I need to do this.”
“Well, okay, if you really need to. Is there something I can do to make it easier?”
“I’m tempted to ask if you know a spell to rid me of my paranoia problem. But I know you won’t use spells for stuff like that, and it wouldn't be a good idea anyway.”
“Well, you’re right about not trying to use spells to fix this problem and Starlight wouldn’t let me live it down if it backfired.”
“But, when I do tell Sunset, can you stay nearby for moral support?”
The grip of Twilight’s wing tightened and she made her smile bigger. “Of course I will.”
Unknown to Twilight Sparkle and Eric Reed, somepony stood behind the bedroom door, hearing their conversation.
Wondering what was keeping Eric, Sunset Shimmer left the library and found her way to Eric’s bedroom, using the direction he left in to point her where to go. She could hear Eric’s and Twilight’s voices from inside one of the closed doors, letting her know it was Eric’s room, and couldn’t help eavesdropping out of concern. As she did, her mouth and eyes widened, and she fought to not shake from the shock.
Of all the things she thought could have been on her friend’s mind, what he was actually thinking was one of the furthest things from her mind.
How and why he felt the need to prove that he wasn’t the selfish kid he used to be. How his paranoia made him worried that she might think he looked odd, despite knowing she doesn’t.
And, how he truly felt about her, and even thought that he wasn’t worthy of her.
Not wanting the door to open with her still by it, Sunset silently walked back to the library.
The kind-hearted Unicorn had a lot to think about.
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Oof the suspense...I can’t take it, but I love this story even more because of it.
9934654
I'll do my best to make sure it'll be worth the wait!
I agree with TheBrokenBrony on this one.
On another note, Firemane is a great name for a band.
9935330
Thanks. I didn't even know about it, but yeah, Firemane could make a great band name.
At least she didn't overhear part of the conversation that made her leap to the wrong conclusion. That is a little overdone, and I look forward to her upcoming reaction.
Nice