After I had gotten myself looking presentable, I couldn't help but giggle. An actual date with Ribbon! Wait… Did I just think that? I did, didn’t I? As I walked to Ribbons room, I heard Ribbon humming something, so I knocked on the door.

“Come on in.” I walked in and saw Ribbon as her pegasus disguise. Tan coat, two tone light and dark gray mane, and those same blue eyes. “I assume you don’t want the Canterlot ponies to see us?”

“Yeah, I’d rather they not see us.” With a quick transformation myself, I had turned into a thestral version of myself, and then turned around a few times for Ribbon to get a good look. “What do you think?”

“I think I like what I see. I got reservations and a moderate little resturant, far enough out that we shouldn’t see too many nobles but not far enough to be on the outskirts.”

“I like the sound of that. what's the name of the place?”

“Cergento. Should be good.”

“Well, lead the way, madam.”

“Well then, follow me.” I fell into step behind Ribbon, for once, after we had left the hive, most ponies didn’t even mind us. A few gave me an odd look, but it was more of an ‘Did not expect to see that.’ then a judging look.

-they’re not staring at us!-

’Of course not, we’re just a simple, if slightly odd, couple. They don’t need to know a thing.’

-Doesn’t it feel nice to be using you old disguise again?-

’It does, I’ve been in this form for so long, I feel just as normal as I do without it.’

-The size change must be a bit jarring, I know it is for me.-

’It is, I go from towering over everypony but you and Princess Celestia, to being a little shorter than everypony.’

“You do know you look adorable like this?”

“And you look as intimidating as always.” I blushed.

“Oh you.”

She giggled at that. “Oh, we’re here.”

The place in question was no different than the others. White marble with gold adornments and purple accents. “How can you tell? It looks the same as any other building here.”

“It helps when you have somepony telling you where to go. Come on, lets get our table.” I followed Ribbon in. The outside was any other, but the inside was far more impressive. It look like an open air restaurant, one of the wall was painted to look like balcony with grand view, there was even light coming from it. The other walls were wood and had small lanterns lighting the back of the room.

I didn’t notice Ribbon talking to the doorman until she got my attention. She took me to a table in the back, noticing that the ponies eating here didn’t look like your everyday ponies, but not as fancy as nobles either. They must be ones trying to impress someone.

“Ladies first.” I was well aware of the irony in that statement, considering I was technically female, but I wanted to be nice.

“Why, thank you.” She took her seat, and I soon followed, finding the seats really comfy.

“Do tell, how did you stumble across this delightful establishment?”

“You know you don’t need to be fancy with me. And I know all the good places.” oh yeah, hivemind.

“Okay, I just wanted to impress you.”

“Well then, by all means, impress me.”

“As you wish, ma’am.”

The waiter had come over now. “Hello ladies. Our specials are a creamy potato soup, and we have a fine vintage wine just recently imported from the Crystal Empire.”

“Well, it would only be polite to allow miss Ribbon here to order first.”

“I think I’ll have the soup and we’ll have a couple a glasses of the wine as well.”

“I will have the same as the missus.”

The waiter raised an eyebrow, but dropped it right away. “Right away ladies.”

“Liiiiittle too much fancy.”

“Oh… foo.”

She gave a small laugh. “It’s alright, just be yourself.”

“Only for you, cuddlebug.” Ribbon blushed. It seems being in a public place make her act differently then when it’s just the two of us… I probably should’ve realized that. “You look cute when you blush.”

“You have beautiful eyes.”

“I… I do?” My face turned a bright cherry red. “T-thank you-”

“And your mane is so well kept.” I blushed even harder. She’s complimenting me! She leaned in and whispered to me. “I thought I was the mare in the relationship.”

“S-so did I. And then I start acting shy and thinking like one.”

“Do you think maybe being in that body is finally getting to you?”

“Yes… and what concerns me is that I’m not bothered by it in the slightest.”

“Maybe you’re just finally getting used to your body? You’ve been like this for a whole year.”

“Maybe… Maybe. At least regardless I’ll have you.”

“Yes, you’ll always have me.”

The waiter came back with our soup. “Thank you sir.”

“You’re welcome ladies.” The waiter hurried off to another table.

I took a big whiff of the soup, and boy did it smell good. I saw Ribbon do the same. “It sure smells good, doesn’t it?”

“It better taste just as good.” I took a taste of it, and smiled. a hint of cinnamon, who'd of thought that would work in potato soup?

“Damn thats some good stuff.”

“It is. do you want to hear how the rescues have been going?”

“Yes please.” I took a sip of the wine after I said that. Apple, guess the Apple families talents don’t extend to just foods, because this is good. very good. it still had that slight bitter taste that was normally found in beer, but they made it blend well with the apple flavor.

“Well, we’ve hit a bit of a snag in this one city Feathrona, this griffons there are a lot more protective. And it seems they know that we attacked them, but they don’t know about the dragon yet. As far as they know, we paid one to attack and used her as a distraction.”

“So, I might be needed to assist again?”

“Maybe, but for now no. After having cleaned out two cities, they’ve finally caught on. You know they had the gall to ask Princess Celestia to help them?”

“I bet that went over well.”

“Remember, they only signed a nonaggression pact, Equestria isn’t allied with them, so Celestia doesn’t have to do a thing. Of course this enraged the griffon emperor.”

“So how mad did he get?”

“He was livid. But now that they know, they’re trying to find where our outposts are. Because of this we’re having to go a lot more slowly. But, we officially have eyes and ears in every city, minus the two we cleared out.”

“Did you get any valuable intel?”

“Few targets, still no info on pony Wants-us-gone.”

“So our mysterious foe is competent, this might just prove difficult.”

“It might be. But, whoever it is, they don’t have a very pretty future.”

“Oh, do tell what you have in plan for the poor sod.”

“I plan on letting the hive drain him until he’s almost emotionless, let him recover and do it again.”

“I can agree with that! ...But not before I personally milk him for every bit of information I can. His partners, who tipped him off, where he was planning on sending the changelings that got captured Between you and me, I think the only reason you could still see and hear when in my shadow was because of our link, so if stuck that bastard in there for a while, he will welcome any social interaction, even if it’s me interrogating him. And even then, I think I’ll put him to sleep and interrogate him in his… nightmare. Show him that its only our mercy that's keeping him alive.” I chuckled sinisterly before blinking several times. Where did that come from? Was it just the wine getting to me?

“... So, that’s how the rescues have been going! How about your studies?!” Oh shit, I scared her, didn’t I?

“I read the books, never really got a chance to practice the spells.”

“Well that’s no good, magic is a practical skill, you need to practice to get better, even Twilight practices. It’s like a muscle, it needs to be exercised.”

“Good point. I’ll be sure to get some practice in tomorrow.”

“You better, knowing how to cast a spell is different than casting it.”

“True.”

“Now, tell me. Who’s going to catch the bill?” Just to accentuate her point, the waiter came up from behind me and dropped off the check.

“I-I don’t have anything.”

“I guess the ex-stallion won’t be paying for her mare than?” She dropped a bag of bits on the table. “Such a shame.” Did she really go there. She did.

“Don’t you start with that nonsense!” She laughed.

“Come on, lets go back home.”

“Agreed. Now is there anything else you want to do on the way back?”

“No, I don’t have anything else to do.”

“Well then, Lets go.” As I got up alongside her, I noticed her giving me a concerned look.

It did feel nice being able to walk around without being stared at, right now we were just a pegasus and a thestral, enjoying a stroll.

-Have you ever wondered why someone would want the changelings gone? I mean other then the whole ‘still sore over Chrysalis invading Canterlot’ stuff.-

’Well, Chrysalis was pretty powerful at the wedding from feeding on just Shining’s love, one unicorn. How powerful do you think I am? or for that matter, the rest of my subjects?’

-I… don’t actually know. You’ve never had to use all you magic at once, have you?-

’No. But by now, if I was to practice combat spell even a little, I might be able to out power Princess Celestia just like Chrysalis did.’

-No kidding. You’ve been feeding off me every chance you get, and unlike Shining, I’m giving it to you willingly, and for a much longer period of time.- By now, the entrance to the mines was in sight. “We still have to send that invite to Rarity so we can talk about why she shuns you… and acquire some… costumes…” I faintly blushed as I said that. I would look cute in them, I just knew it.

I could see Ribbon grinning out of the corner of my eye. “I could see you in a schoolfilly’s outfit. Tight socks, revealing skirt, fake glasses that I could throw aside.” I could feel my blush intensify as I pictured myself looking like the pony equivalent of a japanese schoolgirl.

“What I find the most relaxing is just being wrapped up and snuggled with, something about that is just therapeutic to me.”

“And I like having your legs around me as I sleep.” We soon reached the actual entrance to the hive, where we let ourselves return to our normal forms. “Now that we’re back home, I can ask. What was with the all evil? I mean, I know the dudes gotta suffer, but I don’t want you putting anypony into another coma.”

“Not sure. I just suddenly felt really violent when I thought of finally getting my hooves on the bastard who did that to you and everything else. And it felt, artificial, like it wasn’t just me that was angry enough to want to seem the asshole bleed… Now that I think about it, it was like those times I snapped… That is both creepy and worrisome.”

“For safety reasons, I might need to keep you away from him.”

“Agreed. Considering you're probably still a tad bit sore, maybe we should just cuddle? I mean, if you want to do that instead of torment me again.”

“Yeah, a little. Or we could just take it easy, no toys or fetishes. Just you and me.” Ribbon opened the door to our bedroom, and it had candles everywhere. Petals covered the floor, some on the bed, which was made of cloud again.

This was like our second time all over again, and I loved it. “When did you have time to set all this up? Not that I’m complaining.”

“I had it set up for me.”

“Oh.” She reached up and pulled me into a kiss, when she let go and we separated, she grabbed my hoof and pulled me towards the bed.