You know the one bad part about my life in Equestria, aside from constantly being on the edge of death, is? There is absolutely no bacon to complete my breakfast. On the bright side, they do have orange juice, which wasn't so bad. I mean, come on; no bacon OR orange juice at breakfast? I probably would have gladly handed myself over to the Crystal Sentinels during my first week here.

I sat alone at the massive table in the royal dining room, sipping away at a glass of orange juice and slicing through a stack of pancakes, which was not an easy task when I had only one hand. I struggled to hold the plate still with my hoof as I cut the golden flapjacks with my knife, but the slightest bit of pressure sent the plate sliding ever so slightly to the side, preventing me from enjoying the syrupy breakfast I had worked so hard on.

“You know, I really should have thought this through,” I grumbled to myself as I set the knife down in defeat. A few moments later, the knife floated into the air and began to slice my breakfast into neat little squares right before my eyes. I turned around and saw Twilight trotting over to me, smiling as her horn glowed a bright purple. She sat down next as the knife rested back on the plate, and I happily began to shovel the meal into my mouth.

“You looked like you could use a little help,” Twilight giggled as I hungrily devoured the helpless pancakes.
I nodded as I swallowed. “What really sucks is I won’t be able to write anything anymore,” I said as I sadly waved my hoof in the air.
Twilight looked confused. “But you still have another hand. Couldn’t you write with that one?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Humans are usually more suited to using one of their hands for tasks like writing, while the other one is absolutely horrible at it. If I did use that one to write, nobody would be able to read it!” I explained.

Just then, the door at the other room swung open, and two armored guards strode in. Not just any guards, however; it was Flash Sentry and Shining Armor!
“Morning, Twily!” Shining said happily to his sister, then turned to me. “You’re Allen, aren’t you?” he asked.
I nodded. “Honored to meet you, Captain,” I said formally.

He shook his head, smiling. “The honor is mine, Allen, after all you’ve done for Equestria. Saving the world and chasing off that thing the other day? Celestia was right in making you a member of the royal guard!” he exclaimed.
I smiled and shrugged. “Well, if I didn’t do it, who would?” I asked modestly.

Shining Armor nodded. “Well, I hope you will be able to join the guards and I for some training some time this week. I would be glad to see how you fight in person,” he said as he trotted away.
Flash Sentry looked over at Twilight. “How are you this morning, Princess?” he asked Twilight, who suddenly looked panicked.
“Who, me? I’m fine,” she said nervously, blushing violently under the orange pegusus’s gaze.
He smiled. “Well, that’s good to hear. I’ll see you later,” he said as he followed his captain out the door.

I slowly turned to Twilight, a huge, teasing smile plastered to my face. “Something on your mind, ‘Twiliy’?” I asked her, barely able to contain my laughter.
Twilight glared at me, still blushing. “No,” she said stubbornly.
Twilight was way to obvious when she was embarrassed, so I knew she was full of it. On top of that, I had seen Equestria Girls way too many times to not know about the Twilight-Flash ship.

If you were in that situation, would you have passed up the chance to tease her a little?

I sure as hell didn’t.

Do I regret it? A little, yeah.

“I dunno, Twilight,” I said slowly, “”I think somebody has a crush on a certain member of the guard…”
“I do not!” she said, her voice full of denial.
I looked upwards thoughtfully. “You know, maybe I should tell him!” I said as I stood up and ran to the door and stuck my head into the hallway. “Hey, Flash, wait! Twilight has something she wants to tell you!” I called just as Twilight tackled me and we tumbled out through the doorway.

Flash Sentry walked up to us as Twilight pinned me down, one hoof planted over my mouth.
“What is it, Princess?” he asked nonchalantly.
Twilight looked up at him, smiling broadly. “Oh, I just wanted to say your armor looks very nice today!” she said quickly.
Flash smiled proudly. “Thanks! I just polished it last night,” he said happily, and then ran off to catch up with Shining Armor.

Twilight let out a relieved sigh as she let me go.
“What was that for?!” I shouted angrily as I got up and rubbed my arms. She may have been half my size, but she had one hell of a hold.
“What, you expected me to just let you get away with that?” she shot back, “how would you like it if I did something like that to you?”

I held up my hands defensively. “Hey, for one thing, Luna already knows I love her. In fact, I’m actually planning on-” I slapped a hand over my mouth, keeping my incredibly secret plan from spilling out.
Twilight smiled suspiciously. “Planning on what, Allen?” she asked sweetly.
I shook my head. “Nothing, nothing,” I said meekly.

Twilight shrugged. “I’ll have to ask Luna about this. And if she doesn’t know, I’m sure she’ll be anxious for you to tell you,” she said slowly as she walked away.
I sprinted ahead of her and dropped to my knees pleadingly. “Please, PLEASE don’t tell her I said anything; I would really prefer if she did not find out about this before the time is right!” I begged.

She thought about this for a moment. “Okay, but only if you tell me what you're planning,” she said finally.
I hesitated, but eventually decided I could trust Twilight. “Okay, but you HAVE to promise you won’t tell Luna. I need to do this myself,” I explained.
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Okay, okay, I promise. Now, what are you planning?” she asked impatiently.
I took a deep breath and pulled the ring out of my pocket. “I’m going to ask Luna to marry me,” I said quietly.

Yes, I know I’m young for marriage. But look at it this way; the laws and such are different in Equestria, so there isn’t really any law saying I can’t propose. And on top of that, I love Luna very much, and don’t want to have to live without her.

If you have ever been in love yourself, which I am sure you have, I'm sure you know how I felt.

Twilight’s eyes got huge. “What?” she asked disbelievingly, “That’s great!”
I nodded. “Yes, but I have no idea of what to do! Hell, I can hardly ask a girl out on a date back on Earth!” I said helplessly.
Twilight rolled her eyes, smiling. “Allen, like you said, Luna knows you love her. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled no matter how awkward you are!” she said happily.

I know she was trying to be helpful, but her words made me even more nervous. She must have seen this, because she spoke up right away.

“Here, why don’t I give you a little advice on how to approach the situation? Maybe you won’t be as nervous about it when the time comes,” she suggested.
I scoffed. “You could barely handle talking to Flash back there! How could you give me any advice on proposing?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
Twilight nudged me with her foreleg. “Hey, this is different! I actually have a good idea of how Luna would like her special somepony to propose to her!” she protested.

This got my attention. “You do?!” I said, grabbing Twilight’s shoulders and shaking her a little. “You have to tell me, please!” I begged.
She pretended to think about this for a moment. “Okay…” she said slowly, “but you have to do something for me in return!” she added.
I raised a suspicious eyebrow. “What sort of favor?” I asked cautiously.

“I want you to talk to Flash and see what he thinks about me!” she declared dramatically.
I raised the eyebrow just a little bit higher. “That’s it?” I asked. Twilight nodded, and I shrugged. “Alright, you’ve got a deal. Now, how would Luna want her special somepony to propose to her?”
Twilight smiled. “Follow me!” she said as she took off down the hall. I followed close behind, eager to know how to plan out how I would ask the lunar princess for her hand - or, hoof - in marriage.

~-~-~-~-~

“It’s all right here!” Twilight said as a small, blue book levitated off of a bookshelf and towards me. She had led me to the library not far from the castle, where she and the others had searched for information on how to free the Empire from King Sombra’s evil influence.
“'Royal Courtship Rituals, Volume 2’ ? What am I looking at here?” I asked, completely unsure of what I was in for.
Twilight nodded. “In the past, I’ve heard Luna talking about how she would love for her special somepony to propose to her just like in one of these books. I’ve looked over a few out of curiosity, and I think this one has some more romantic ones,” she said with certainty.

I flipped open the book and started to skim some of the setups, then gave Twilight a bored look. “Uh, Twilight? I could have thought of some of these in my sleep. I mean,” I looked back at the book again for an example, “a bed full of rose petals? How cliche can you get? And what is… oh, jeez,” I said, suddenly slamming the book shut and blushing violently, “what am I reading?” I asked, giving my friend a demanding look as my face ever so slowly returned to its natural color.

Twilight smiled guiltily. “I probably should have warned you about Chapter 3, huh?” she said thoughtfully. “Anyways, everything you need is in that book. Just pick one you like, and I’m sure Luna will be thrilled!” she exclaimed, which was followed by a stern “shush!” from the other end of the library.

I nodded and stared at the book I held. “Any one, huh?” I asked myself aloud, and suddenly looked back at the lavender alicorn. “I should probably avoid Chapter 3, huh?” I asked in a serious tone.
Twilight shrugged. “She never said anything about there being anything in these books she wouldn’t like,” she said, but noticed my blush had returned. “But, I wouldn’t take any chances,” she added quickly.
I let out a relieved sigh. “Okay. Now that that’s settled, we had better get back to the castle,” I said, and started heading for the exit.

Twilight ran up beside me. “Hey, what about your end of the deal?” she asked.
I smiled. “Trust me, I’m on it. I’ll talk to him about it next time I see him. In fact, when we get back to the castle, I’ll head out to the training grounds and talk to him right away. Piece of cake,” I said reassuringly.

~-~-~-~-~

Less than one hour later I found myself with my back against the brick wall of the training ground with a rather sharp blade aimed straight at my face.

“So much for 'piece of cake',” I muttered as sunlight glinted off the weapon.