It was busy at the cafe, with ponies from all walks of life busying themselves, eating their meals and enjoying each other's company. The day was gloriously sunny and all-in-all everypony there was enjoying this relaxing day. But outside the cafe, on one of the outdoor tables, was seated a group of six mares. Twilight Sparkle, newly crowned princess of Equestria, was sitting down at the table with her five closest friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. They'd all ordered their meals some time ago and were now talking with each other while they waited.

"I must say girls, this weekend at the Crystal Empire has been simply fabulous." Rarity commented.

Twilight smiled at the comment. As strange as it might have sounded to the others, she actually missed being with them during this trip. Oh sure, they may spend much of their time together back in Ponyville, but that was just it. They'd spent so much time together back home that it now felt very strange to Twilight to spend any time away from them at all, which was exactly what she'd been doing since she got here to the Crystal Empire.

Aside from catching up with her brother, her main reason for coming on this visit was to get closer to her colt-friend, Flash Sentry. And even though she was happy that she'd achieved exactly that, there was a part of her that lamented that she and her friends had spent so little time together here, and it was because of that realisation which led to Twilight suggesting that they all come out here for lunch together. To her pleasant surprise, they'd all agreed, even though this vacation allowed for all of them to do things they would never be able to do back home, like experience the unique sights and activities of the Empire.

Still, she was grateful that they'd agreed to come for her. And after yesterday's events, she especially needed the company. Her brother, Shining, had discovered the secret behind her and Flash's relationship, and was less than happy about it. Fortunately, the two siblings had managed to work through the ordeal, but not without their fair share of tears. Even so, Twilight was happy that she and her beloved brother could move past that point. Unfortunately for Twilight though, she'd become so deep in thought over this that Rainbow Dash had long since noticed as was now staring at her. When Twilight finally saw this, her eyes darted about somewhat before she spoke.

"What?" She asked.

Rainbow chuckled before answering.

"Oh nothing. Just seeing how long it would take for you to snap out of it."

The cyan pegasus then gain a somewhat mischievous look.

"Thinking about him again I'm guessing?"

That remark led to the other four mares turning towards Twilight, all waiting for her to give an answer. Looking at each of them, Twilight saw that they all had the same smirk on their face as Rainbow. The young alicorn let out an annoyed groan at this sight. It reminded her all too well of the day when she'd finally come forward about seeing Flash. Her friends were acting no different now than they were back then. Still, it was clear to her that they weren't going to stop staring until she answered, so she relented.

"Actually Rainbow, I'm trying not to. As much as I love him, today is about the six of us."

Rarity raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh come now Twilight. Even when you're with your friends, we wouldn't blame you for thinking about him. He's your first colt-friend after all. It's only natural."

Twilight gave a small smile at that, appreciative of Rarity's level-headedness in all of this.

"Thank you Rarity." She said.

Rarity nodded back and the other four mares looked at her with slight annoyance that she'd somewhat spoiled their potential teasing fun with Twilight. The latter though, merely occupied herself with using her magic to levitate a nearby glass of water to her mouth, before she started to drink from it. Rarity watched her take a sip before speaking again.

"So........shall we expect the clip-clop of little hooves anytime soon?"

With that, Twilight's eyes shot open with shock and, before she could stop herself, spat out her water. Once she was able to take a breath, she looked on and saw that her friends were now completely soaked with the water she'd been drinking. Twilight gave a nervous laugh before her horn began to glow. There was a brief flash and, to the other mares' surprise, they were now completely dry. Twilight was, needless to say, taken aback by Rarity's words. Surely she could not be suggesting what she thought she was suggesting? Although she and Flash had experience many close moments, they'd never been THAT intimate. But, looking at the amused look on Rarity's face, she soon understood.

"That's not funny." She said.

Rarity shrugged her shoulders.

"I know. But I couldn't help myself."

Seeing the shared looks of amusement on her friends faces, Twilight spoke again.

"You'd never catch me saying things like that to all of you."

After hearing that, Pinkie Pie started to giggle.

"Silly! We'd have needed colt-friends for that!"

Twilight's eyes widened with surprise upon hearing that. She soon saw that all of her friends were looking at Pinkie with looks of either anger or embarrassment. Pinkie meanwhile looked at all of them with confusion on her face. Twilight looked at each of them in-turn and soon understood their reactions, along with Pinkie's words.

"So......you girls have never.....?"

Applejack turned to face her before speaking.

"Been with somepony special? Nope. You'd be the first Twi". She replied.

Twilight was, understandably, surprised to hear this news. Even though she, obviously, did not have the same perspective of a stallion, she couldn't quite understand why or how none of her friends had ever been with somepony before. As far as she was concerned, all of them were good people, and the kinds of mares any stallion would be lucky to have in their lives. Although it did give her a quiet feeling of pride to be the first among her friends to be in this situation, she was, nevertheless curious about this.

"I'm must say I'm....surprised." She said.

Rainbow snorted before shrugging her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it. Most of the guys I knew in Cloudsdale were a bunch of jerks. So I never really went out of my way to get to know them. Guess that just carried over when I moved to Ponyville."

Twilight nodded at that. Having been to Cloudsdale herself a while back, she had no doubt of the truth in Rainbow's words. The stallions from Rainbow's childhood, those who had been in flight school with her, were not the nicest of ponies to know, and that was putting it lightly. If stallions like that had been the rule, rather than the exception, when Rainbow was growing up, Twilight wasn't surprised that she'd be less than enthusiastic about pursuing a relationship. After all, the only time they'd ever been anywhere close to nice towards her was when she'd proved them wrong about her abilities, and if that was all they cared about, Twilight couldn't blame her for not being interested.

However, she soon noticed that Fluttershy was leaning close to Rainbow before speaking.

"Um.....Rainbow? What about that poster of that Wonderbolt stallion you have hanging on your wall?"

Before Fluttershy could get another word in, Rainbow quickly covered up her mouth with her hoof. The latter's face was turning a bright shade of crimson as she laughed nervously at the sight of her other friends, who were looking at her mischievously. Rainbow let go of Fluttershy before speaking again.

"That's....er......just a collectable. Yeah! You know how I am with Wonderbolt merchandise!"

The rest of them all gave each other knowing looks. Rainbow wasn't fooling anypony. But, they weren't cruel, so they decided to play along with her little charade. But, it was then that Twilight's attention was drawn once more to Fluttershy. She had a very similar experience in her childhood as Rainbow, growing up in Cloudsdale and having to put up with the same kinds of stallions. Was that also the reason she too had never been with somepony? Clearing her throat again, Twilight spoke.

"Fluttershy? What about you?"

Fluttershy began blushing furiously, which was expected given that she was naturally going to be shy about talking about this sort of thing, even with her closest friends. But, with the eyes of the other mares now on her, she tried her best to get her words together.

"Oh.....um.....I guess I just never caught anypony's eye."

The rest of the group looked at each other with looks of confusion. Fluttershy? Not catch anypony's eye? They all knew that this was unlikely, as Fluttershy had been well-known for being one of the most gentle and graceful ponies anypony could ever know. Plus, there was one other obvious fact that Rarity decided to bring up.

"Darling, need I remind you that you were, however briefly, quite the rising star in the world of fashion? For a while, every magazine and big-city poster had your face on it. I'm surprised you don't have a whole herd of stallions lining up outside your door every day for that."

Fluttershy's blush increased and she tried desperately to hide her face behind her long, pink hair. Twilight's couldn't blame her for this reaction as, after all, her time as a model had hardly been an enjoyable time for her. She only did it to make Rarity happy, and the massive amounts of attention she got from the whole thing was more likely to terrify than enamour her. With a somewhat hushed tone, Fluttershy responded.

"Well......um......I didn't really like having so many ponies come after me, stallion OR mare. Besides, if it was just my looks they liked, they wouldn't have been for me anyway."

The group nodded at that. No words needed to be said, but they all knew that, even though all six of them had been thought of as attractive at one point or another, if it was just that kind of attraction that would have drawn stallions to them it was unlikely that anything special could blossom from it. Twilight knew that well enough from her own relationship to Flash. True, both he and she had spoken often about they had a physical attraction to one another, but if that had been all there was, their relationship would never have lasted as long as it had done already. Rarity though was shaking her head at the timid pegasi's words.

"Well, I suppose that's for the best. One should have higher standards when it comes to love after all."

The white unicorn's attention was then drawn to Applejack, who was letting out a hearty chuckle upon hearing her response.

"Oh,. I'd be careful about high standards sugarcube. Remember what happened when YOU went to a stallion you thought was perfect for you?"

Rarity looked away with a disgusted look on her face.

"Ugh! Don't remind me! I still feel dirty thinking about it. How an insensitive, rude and self-centred stallion could be related to Celestia, I'll never know."

Twilight didn't need to hear any more to know who she was talking about. Prince Blueblood, the nephew of Princess Celestia. Although Twilight had never met the guy personally, she'd heard enough from Rarity to know that she wanted nothing to do with him. He was, at first, Rarity's ideal partner, and one that she'd admired from afar for some time. But when she finally met him at the grand galloping gala, her image of him shattered, replaced by his true self of a completely selfish person. Twilight couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for her over that, to have her expectations so completely undermined by the real thing.

"I'm sorry things didn't turn out the way you wanted them to Rarity." She said.

Rarity's disgusted look was replaced by a small smile.

"Oh don't worry dear. It was probably for the best anyway. If I hadn't found out about him the way I did, I'd probably still be pining for him today."

Rarity shuddered at the thought of potentially still having an attraction to such a stallion, which Twilight knew was not something any self-respecting mare would want. Before anypony else could speak, Rainbow then leaned over to Rarity.

"Well, if all else fails, there's always a certain baby dragon who we all know has the hots for you."

Rarity and Twilight both frowned at that comment, prompting Rainbow to move away slightly. Rarity spoke.

"That's not funny Rainbow. Spike may have a crush on me and, as adorable as that is, we all know I'm much too old for him. Spike is a sweet little thing, and I wouldn't dare raise his hopes by approaching him in such a manner."

Rainbow raised her eyebrow at that.

"Well, you haven't exactly discouraged him either. He still tries his best to impress you every chance he gets."

Twilight, as annoyed with Rainbow as she was, couldn't really argue with that, Spike had harboured a major crush on Rarity from the first moment he laid his eyes on her, back during their first day in Ponyville. Rarity too had a certain affection for the young dragon, but never in the same way that Spike cared for her. And it was clear that Rarity knew as well as Twilight that Spike probably wasn't going to feel any differently about her anytime soon.

"Maybe you're right. But whatever happens between us, I don't think it'll ever be what he wants it to be."

Looking at her friends, Twilight tried to think of something to cheer her up. A thought then occurred to Twilight. There was one other "sort of" romance Rarity had experienced, back when Discord was first freed. She'd been under his spell and had become obsessed with a large boulder she thought was a diamond. However, given her reaction to "Tom" once the spell was lifted, it was probably a good idea not to bring it up again. Still, the image caused a giggle for Twilight, which unfortunately caught Rarity's attention. The purple alicorn quickly hid it however and Rarity seemed to drop the matter. However, she did suddenly give some attention to Applejack.

"And what about you, Applejack? Any "little helpers" on the farm we should know about?"

Applejack gave her a rather indignant look, but soon noticed that the rest of the group was giving her the same amount of attention as Rarity. The earth pony seemed to be struggling on how best to respond to that answer. Twilight was, admittedly, interested to hear about her friend's perspective in all this. Apart from Rainbow Dash, Applejack was the one mare among them that seemed the least likely to go out of her way to find any kind of love life. And though they'd never say as much, it was clear that Applejack had more-or-less the same opinion about herself.

"I don't really have time for all that. My work on the orchards is too important. Y'all know how much time all those apples take. And there ain't really any stallions out there who'd be willing to help out, other than family of course."

The orange mare looked down at her table, looking surprisingly thoughtful over the whole thing. It was as though this was the first time she'd ever really given any thought to the matter of romance or companionship. In fact, now that Twilight thought about it, this was probably the first real discussion on the matter that any of them had ever had with each other, which was odd to her considering how much time they spent with each other. Still, she and the others didn't have to wait long before Applejack spoke up again.

"Still, I'm not really lookin out for a stallion right now. I'm happy where I am."

If there was any lie in that statement, Twilight couldn't sense it. But then, Applejack was the element of honesty after all, so it was unlikely she'd deliberately deceive her closest friends about something like this. So, Twilight and the others all looked at their friend's face and then looked at each other, seeming to accept the decision she'd given them. Once that was done though, they all knew what was coming next, as there was only one among their number that hadn't spoken about this yet. So the eyes of Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack were now squarely on the bouncy pink earth pony, who bore a big smile on her face as she looked at her friends.

"Ooh! Is it my turn now?"

They couldn't really come up with a clever response to that statement, so a few of them just nodded their heads, prompting an even bigger grin from Pinkie as she enthusiastically rubbed her hooves together.

"I've never had a colt-friend before, but I have lots and lots of regular friends, like all of you, and the Cakes, and Cranky and......"

Before Pinkie could get another word out, she was stopped by a raised hoof from Applejack.

"Er.......Pinkie? That's all well and good, but what about....you know......romance and all that?"

Pinkie then gained an uncharacteristically serious face as she scratched her chin with her hoof. After a few moments of thinking about it, she burst into her usual smiling self before answering.

"Oh, I dunno! I guess it'll happen when it'll happen!"

There was silence all around the table as they all looked at Pinkie, who quietly sate there, still smiling. None of the other mares really knew how to respond to that. In fact, much to their surprise, Pinkie had probably come up with the best piece of advice that any of them could receive in this area. They all looked at each other and, without saying anything, gave each other knowing smiles. Pinkie was right. They may not have any real loves lives at the moment, but if they do, it'll just happen. Pining over what might be or wouldn't be wasn't going to change anything for them, and they realised now that, much like the advice they kept giving to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, it was best to leave such things until their time.

Applejack leaned over and patted Pinkie on the shoulder. This earned her and the rest of them a rather puzzled look from Pinkie, who clearly hadn't come to the same realisation as the rest of them, even though she'd caused it. The rest of them though, simply smiled at her and each other and decided that, whatever their love lives might be, they were happy as things were right now, and that was all they needed. And so, they got back to talking about other things, deciding it was best to leave the subject of love for another day. For they knew that, at the present moment, there was an even bigger question on all of their minds.

A question that Rainbow was more than willing to voice.

"Just WHEN is our lunch going to get here?"