Isaac stirs from his deep slumber, one that could he would describe as one of the best night of sleep I've had in a long time. He sighs, remembering the fact that it's his last day off for this week. He unhurriedly opens his eyes, only to be greeted by the dark. Must be early in the morning-otherwise, I would feel tired, wouldn't I? After waiting for a few seconds, he gets up from his bed, eager to start his day. He goes to the bathroom to freshen up, changes his clothes, and then slowly opens his door, only to be greeted by a masculine voice.

"Sir," the voice says, his tone sounding like a greeting. Isaac looks towards the voice, and, seeing a night guard, replies, "Um… hi, sir. Just gonna… go… out," to which the guard responds to with a weary nod.

Isaac began his trek through the halls, the thought of his destination making him smile. Soon enough, he reaches his destination: Canterlot Garden, and before long, he sees… Luna? Isaac looks around, looking to see if Celestia is there, but looks back to Luna, who has been looking at him since he arrived, when he doesn't see Celestia. Might as well talk to her, I guess. Isaac walks over to Luna, who greets him with a warm, "Isaac." Before he can say anything else other than a "Hey," Luna's horn glows, and suddenly, the wall of shrubs behind her is taken into her magic's grasp, and is gently pulled apart to make a space in between, one that's just a little bit more than enough for a certain human.

Isaac raises an eyebrow at Luna, whose smile widens a little bit. She nods towards the newly created path, and Isaac looks upon the sight with wide eyes, and an open mouth.

There, beyond the opening, sits Celestia, on a chair, next to a table for two. Her eyes are somehow more alluring than normal, and her hair looks much more vibrant than usual. What's more is that her gentle smile is somehow even more beautiful. But what captures Isaac's attention the most is how Celestia has a very subtle, rare air of vulnerability about her. His eyes widen at the realization, and he finds himself in awe, looking dumbstruck for a second.

"Wow," he mouths, eliciting a small chuckle from Luna.

"Well, are you going to just stand there, Isaac?" Luna questions in amusement.

Isaac quickly shakes his head. "No, no. 'Course not! Um… I-I'm going to go now, I guess," he stammers, then starts to walk towards the entrance.

Luna looks toward Celestia and nods, then whispers to Isaac, "If you hurt her…"

Isaac, refusing to look back at Luna, decides to nod rapidly. Once he passes through the opening, the hedge wall silently comes together, closing the gap made for the nervous human. Isaac looks around, surprised to see a distinct lack of a roof, revealing the still dark sky emblazoned with numerous stars, and a few shimmering lanterns-more like stylized light bulbs, really, placed across the neat wall of shrubbery, lighting up the enclosed area quite nicely, but also closing off any chance for escape, indistinctly reminding Isaac of a hedge maze. He gulps as he nears the table, but his gaze is solely locked onto Celestia.

As he finally arrives at the table, he notices the food already set onto two plates-one on his side, one on Celestia's. He also takes note of the two wine glasses own the table, one glass next to each of their plates, and finally, the bottle of wine off to the side of the table.

He clears his throat. "Wow," he compliments, then smirks. "Kind of too early to drink, isn't it?"

Celestia's cheeks redden slightly. She starts to speak, her voice trembling slightly at first. "Y-yes, well… it is a special occasion, so, I believe that it's fine. Also, I apologize for the timing of this date. I would have prepared it for the evening, but… I thought that I would be drained from my duties, and thus, would make for bad company."

Isaac shakes his head. "Please, don't apologize for something like that. I will never mind any time that I spend with you. I mean it," He voiced with an air of urgency.

Celestia nods, her smile growing wider, a blush adorning her face from Isaac's words. "Thank you," She says softly.

Isaac nods in reply, but the air is silent after the small exchange. Both individuals shuffle slightly in their seats, with Isaac rubbing his left arm with his right hand, trying to distract himself from the awkwardness.

"S-sorry," Isaac blurts silently, just enough for Celestia to hear.

"What for?" Celestia asks, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm… not good at small talk. I've never been good at it," He admits, coughing awkwardly.

"No, Isaac… I'm the one who should be apologizing. What kind of pony sets up a date only to sit there in front of her date in awkward silence? One would think that I'd know how to stir up a conversation at this point," Celestia counters.

Isaac hums thoughtfully, and then speaks, "Maybe… the kind of pony who hasn't had a date in a really, really long time?" Celestia chuckles at the words, then shakes her head. "We're being a little silly, aren't we?" Celestia voices softly, Isaac nodding in return. "Then," Celestia continues, "Maybe we should just try to act just like how we normally do?" Isaac nods again and replies, "Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

Celestia grins, and in one second, her horn glows, and she and her chair are enveloped in her magical aura. In the next, a white flash of light appears next to Isaac, Celestia and her chair following not even a second later. "Sooo, I was thinking," smoothly putting a foreleg over Isaac's shoulders, and holding him closer to her.

"If it's about pranking Luna again, I swear…" Isaac warns.

"Nope, even better actually," Celestia said in a mischievous tone, then giggling cryptically…

Two hours have passed. What used to be a dream-filled Canterlot has only just started to gradually turn into the usual busy Canterlot. Inside the castle's gardens, two individuals sit within a hidden, enclosed space.

And within that space, if anypony were listening close enough from the outside, they would be thoroughly confused. "Woww, holy shit…did you really just… uh… wow, that was…. Wow. Did you do that? Can you bring it back down so you can do it again so I can see if you really did that? Because I don't think you did that, ha… ahahaha..." A drunk Isaac articulated-well, tried to-with the gracefulness of a drunken cat with only two legs attempting to jump from one surface to another, before momentarily drifting off to sleep, landing in Celestia's lap.

Celestia sits there with wide eyes, staring at the now snoring Isaac. Who knew that watching her raise the sun would have such a stupefying effect on him? She opens her mouth, closes it, and then repeats the process a few more times. Afterwards, she quickly looks around, as if to say, Did anypony else see that? Did that really just happen?

After a short pause, and just the smallest sip of wine (after all, she does have duties, limiting her allowed alcohol intake for the day), Celestia looks back down to Isaac, and immediately giggles, which turns into a gut-busting laugh, although, she takes great care for her own posture, so as to not let Isaac fall from her lap. "That's adorable," she coos silently, greatly relieved that her laugh didn't stir him from his sleep.

For a while, the Princess sits there with Isaac with her trademark smile, running a hoof across his hair. But, to her disappointment, her mind reminds her of her duties, causing her to carry Isaac in her magical grasp as still and as gentle as possible. She then carries Isaac out of the hidden area and then to his room.

"Sunny Skies," Celestia greeted warmly, upon seeing the turquoise mare outside of his door.

Sunny instantly jolted upwards, her stare, previously directed towards the wall in front of her, now directed towards Princess Celestia. "Princess!" She exclaims, before bowing slightly.

Celestia gives a chuckle, "There's no need for that, my little pony. All I would like to do is to return Isaac to his chambers, that's all."

"Ah-of course, Princess. Sorry! Uhm… here, let me help!" Sunny stammers, opening the room's doors for Celestia.

"Thank you," Celestia says softly, before stepping into the room, and setting Isaac onto his bed. Seeing that his guard closed the door, she steps over to his side of the bed, leans down to his head's level, and gives him a kiss on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, Isaac," she whispers. She exits the room, thanking his guard for her service, receiving a stammer of a reply. Eventually, Celestia was able to calm the guard, and with that, she embarked on a short walk towards the throne room.

Celestia sighed, then chuckled at her thoughts. After over a thousand years of dealing with nobles, you should already be used to them, Celestia. She takes a deep breath, breathing in the scent of food around her, and is thankful to have a small break from her responsibilities in the castle, but wonders if it is much of a break at all. Celestia takes a glance at the surroundings around her, sighing wistfully, as ponies start to make a small crowd near her table at the restaurant. I wish Isaac were here with me, Celestia thought.

Finally, her food arrives: a simple strawberry and spinach salad. Celestia thanks the waiter, who seems to be disgusted, or extremely bothered by something. She shrugs it off, and starts to eat, stopping herself from slouching back in her chair, and from eating too quickly, despite her rumbling stomach, instantly utilizing her "princess training" that has become a natural instinct at this point. She stops herself from slouching back in her chair, and from eating too quickly, despite her rumbling stomach.

Suddenly, while chewing on a strawberry, she hears a yell, "Alright, if no one else wants to say it, then I will!" Her eyebrows raise at the commotion, and she looks up from her food to look towards the noise, only to see a unicorn stallion she doesn't recognize stomping towards her.

As the unicorn gets closer, Celestia starts to speak. "May I hel-" Before she can finish, she is rudely interrupted by the unicorn's barking, "How dare you, Princess?!"

Before speaking, Celestia notices that the ponies in the surrounding area are dead quiet. She tilts her head to the right slightly, quite confused by the question. "I'm afraid I don't know what-"

Once again, before Celestia can finish speaking, the unicorn interrupts her. "You know what I'm talking about! The whole of Canterlot is in outrage! And soon, the whole of Equestria will be, too!"

Now Celestia is flabbergasted. What on Equus is this stallion talking about? "I…" She starts, but once more, is interrupted, this time, by a frustrated growl coming from the stallion.

"You have to be joking!" The stallion barks in frustration, before looking around. Spotting what he wants, he levitates it over with his magic, showing Celestia the front. A newspaper. On the front, it says, 'PRINCESS CELESTIA DATING FREAK!'

Princess Celestia has a temptation to sigh upon reading the headline, but maintains her practiced neutral face. However, upon seeing the picture below it, her eyebrows furrow slightly, which return to normal almost instantly. The picture is one of Celestia giving Isaac a kiss on the cheek.

Celestia slowly gets up from her seat, and walks in front of the crowd, their attention-as well as many others around the scene-latching on to her, if they weren't already.

Celestia gives herself a brief pause before she starts to speak. "My little ponies. I'm sure you have all read this newspaper. More specifically, the front page." She receives a collective murmur of agreement and continues. "Well… please allow me to tell you the truth. The creature with me in the picture is called Isaac. He is a 'human,' and he is the only one of his kind on Equus. As most of you know, a creature appeared in Canterlot a little over a month ago. He is that creature, and ever since he appeared, we've become good friends. Best friends, in fact. And… only just a few days ago, I became aware of his romantic feelings for me. I was apprehensive about the idea of returning the same feelings at first, but I decided that he would be worth the chance. I understand that he is not from this world, but please," she pauses, switching to a slightly stern voice, "Refrain from judging an individual you barely know."

The crowd says nothing after the speech, requiring some time to process the information. After a long minute, crowd seems to gain their voice and collectively says, in one way or another, "We're sorry, Princess."

"Think nothing of it, my loyal subjects," Celestia says.

Soon enough, the crowd begins to dissipate, and minutes after, the crowd is gone, the ponies that were in it already on their way to their own businesses.

Celestia sighs in relief, thankful that small ordeal is over, but inside, she knows that the issue isn't over yet. She ensures that her meal is paid for, and then makes her way to the castle. More specifically, Isaac's room.