Sunset Shimmer never did care much about the night.

Why should she? After all, it only brought upon terrible memories of the day Nightmare Moon returned. Even as a filly, she always considered it as a hindrance. The night would bring about nocturnal monsters, shroud the world in darkness that stopped her from reading, and it made things look much more menacing than they should be.

“Whoa, did you see that?!”

And then there’s him.

Sunset stared up at the night sky, gazing at the countless stars that dotted the night sky and the moon glowing in the distance. Her eyes scanned around the wide expanse of space, looking for something that would have caught her friend’s attention. Finding nothing of interest, Sunset sighed heavily and looked at the Unicorn sitting beside her.

An hour ago, she had planned to leave as soon as possible to catch up on her studying. But now, seeing Shade make that stupid grin of his, she was glad that she didn’t leave. To be honest, Sunset had never seen the young stallion this happy before. Every time they met, he was usually sporting a lazy smile or was screaming in agony. It felt really nice to see him actually enjoy himself for once.

“Yeah, I did,” Sunset replied, leaning her head against his neck. Silently, she prayed that Shade didn’t catch her little white lie.

He didn’t.

As the two Unicorns sat there in peace, Sunset thought back to that very morning when Shade had invited her to go stargazing that night.

He looked like he normally did, with his unkempt messy purple mane and sloppy expression. It was weird seeing him come visit her. Usually, they would meet each other by accident and hang out for a few minutes. After asking him about his reason to visit, Shade took out a note from his saddle.

“There’s a, uh… meteor shower tonight,” he stammered, trying his best to smile naturally “I was just wondering if, you know, you would like to... um, you see, there’s a hill over at the edge of Ponyville. It’s next to a river, I think. I-I heard that you could see the, uh, stars really nice there!”

Sunset arched an eyebrow.

“S-So I was just, uh, wondering if... you, me, everypony… stargazing and stuff... I-I’ll bring some food! A-And everypony else agreed to come, too!”

Despite his odd behaviour, Sunset had considered it as a friendly gesture. She didn’t care much about his nervous twitching. He’s always involved in one crazy situation or another, anyway. Seeing as she had no other plans for tonight, Sunset agreed to come.

Warning bells started ringing in her head when Spike had declined her offer to join them. Apparently, he had made plans with Coco Pommel for the night. After forcing him to swear up and down that he wouldn’t do anything too raunchy with her friend, Sunset left for the clearing. At first, Sunset was hoping that the night would be spent with most of her friends, laughing and having a good time. But then she reached the hill.

Other than Shade, none of her other friends were there.

“Did I come too early?” she asked wearily, worried that she had gotten the time wrong

“I don’t think so,” Shade shook his head vigorously “The meteor shower should start soon.”

Sunset squinted her eyes in distrust, surveying the clearing that Shade had chosen. It was a rather secluded field on top of a low hill just outside of Ponyville. Wild flowers bloomed here and there, and the sound of a nearby river made for good background noise. The stallion had already laid out a blanket for them to rest on. A small bamboo basket could be seen sitting atop the blanket, no doubt filled with the food that Shade had promised to bring.

“Did anyone else come yet?”

“They… cancelled,” Shade replied with a heavy heart

A million thoughts ran through Sunset’s head, most of them on her anger at her so-called friends. How could they cancel their plans and not tell her? Why would they even agree to come in the first place without double checking to make sure that they could make it? Oh, she is going to give them a very stern lecture the next time she sees them!

She initially thought to cancel as well, but then she saw the basket and blanket that Shade had prepared. He was really looking forward to tonight, and it wouldn’t sit well with her to leave him hanging after all the effort he put in. Reluctantly, Sunset decided to stay, at least so Shade would have a friend to watch the stars with him.

The night started out rather weak, with neither of the two Unicorns having anything to say. They merely sat there, munching on the daffodil sandwiches Shade had prepared. A few minutes later, they finally spotted their first shooting star. Soon, the sky was filled with tons of meteors streaking through the sky.

“This looks… amazing!” Sunset gasped as she burned the picturesque view into her mind

“I know, right?” laughed Shade, the sandwich in his hooves long forgotten “Oh, if only we could take a picture!”

Time flew by in an instant as the two ponies sat there gazing at the beautiful night sky, silently thanking Celestia for making it happen. However, all good things must come to an end. The final meteor shot through the sky, ending the event almost as quickly as it began.

Seeing that the meteor shower had ended, Sunset considered going home. It was getting far too late, and she had to wake up early tomorrow. But when she turned to tell Shade, she found him sitting there, smiling blissfully as he continued to stare at the stars.

Any other day, Sunset would have ignored him and continued on her merry way. However, there was something different about tonight. Ignoring her drowsiness, Sunset sat back down and levitated a sandwich over.

At first, she used the excuse that she wanted to help finish all the food Shade had brought. It wasn’t good to waste food, after all. But as time went on, Sunset found herself enjoying the tranquillity of the moment, simply sitting there with her friend with nothing but the sound of nature in the background and the bright light of the stars as company.

That had been almost an hour ago, and even now Sunset was surprised that she stayed there as long as she did. The meteors had come and gone, yet they didn’t feel like leaving any time soon. They found comfort in just lying there on the ground, talking about any topic that came to mind.

“That one’s Ursa Minor, right?” Shade pointed to two particular stars, a smug grin on his face

“Nope!” Sunset laughed as Shade swore out loud “That’s actually part of the Big Dipper, which is also part of the Ursa Major. Honestly, Shade. If you wanted to impress me that bad, you should’ve studied a bit more.”

“Hey, I was chased by an actual Ursa Minor. I think you could give me a break!”

Sunset didn’t even try to hide her laughter as she rolled on the ground in a huge fit. She was glad that she decided to stay for as long as she did. It had been a while since she last had so much fun or laughed this loud, and it felt real nice to just kick back and relax in between all the crazy things she goes through on a daily basis.

“You have got to tell me about that one day!” she finally managed to say in between giggles

“Pfft! Compared to the things you go through, that was nothing.”

The laughter slowly died out, leaving silence to once again filled the air, allowing the two friends to return to their thoughts. As the night grew longer, Sunset could feel the air grow colder. She whispered out a curse, regretting not bringing something to cover herself with. After all, she didn’t know she was going to stay here this long. Perhaps she could use a heat spell to warm herself up. It wasn’t too much trouble for Celestia’s prized student, after all.

Just as Sunset’s horn glowed a faint golden hue, she could feel a cloak suddenly drape itself over her. Hiding her surprise, Sunset looked at the stallion sitting beside her. She could just make out a nervous grin on his face before he turned back towards the sky. His cheeks were tinted red, earning a small chuckle from the mare.

“Y-You know…” Shade finally said, locking eyes with Sunset Shimmer “I really like looking out at the stars at night…”

“Yeah, I sort of figured that out,” Sunset rolled her eyes in annoyance

If Shade heard her response, he didn’t show it. Instead, he only looked dead ahead, staring at the countless stars in the sky.

“When… When I look out at the stars, I’m reminded of just how… small I really am. Really, I’m nobody important. If I disappeared right now, nopony would even care, would they? Just like the stars. If one of them disappears, there are hundreds out there that could take its place. I guess you could say that… it scares me.”

“I’d care!” Sunset shouted, realising far too late what she had just said “I-I mean, you’ve helped us out tons of times! I don’t know just how much trouble we’d be in if you weren’t there to save us.”

“Yeah, but… I just don’t think I’m doing enough, you know? Compared to everypony else, I’m just that guy who’s always in the background, coincidentally helping out every once in a while. Anypony else could take my place, couldn’t they?”

“Shade…”

Sunset Shimmer didn’t know what she was supposed to do. She never realised that they would get into any deep topics. Celestia knows, she’s terrible with those kinds of things. But for some reason, she didn’t feel like changing the topic. She wanted to know more about him. Part of her even felt like confiding in him as well.

Seeing that she had nothing to lose, Sunset kept quiet and listened to his talk.

“But you wanna know what else I think of when I look at the stars?” Shade’s tone suddenly became more hopeful, happy even “I remember just how bright each of them shine, even if nopony thought that they were important. They try their best every single night to make the night sky beautiful, and they never expect a single thank you from us.”

“You’re right,” Sunset nuzzled against his mane as her smile grew wider “The stars really are beautiful, aren’t they?”

Yesterday, Sunset never would have considered calling the night beautiful. Yesterday, Sunset would have scoffed at the thought of doing nothing but sitting down, gazing up into the heavens for hours on end. Yesterday, Sunset wouldn’t have found reason to talk outside in the cool evening and would have preferred staying indoors instead.

But tonight, Sunset was glad that she gave it a chance.

“… but they’re not as beautiful as you…”

Sunset’s ears perked up as she jumped off of the blanket, staring at the grey stallion as if he had grown a second head. It took a few moments before Shade finally realised what he had just said and stuffed his head into the picnic basket. His scream echoed throughout the vast field, all the while Sunset Shimmer slowly backed away from the scene.

When Shade finally pulled his head out of the basket, his face was so red he could give Big Macintosh a run for his money. Words betrayed him as he was left there stuttering out random words. Sunset didn’t even give him any breathing room as she shot a pillar of flame right next to him, bringing him back to reality.

“Y-You’re joking…!” Sunset shrieked, her horn glowing brightly in the night sky “You – You… You always tease me like that!”

Her horn glowed golden once more as she readied another spell to fire off at Shade. He would have been a burnt husk, too, if he didn’t jump at Sunset, breaking her concentration and stopping her mid-spell.

“I-I’m not joking!” he held on to Sunset tightly, no longer able to think straight after the attempt at his life “I do think you’re beautiful! In fact, you’re the most beautiful mare I’ve ever seen!”

The air suddenly grew thick as the two ponies lay there on the ground, both of them as red as cherries and too confused to do anything. Moments later, Sunset finally called off her spell and slowly pushed Shade off of her. She didn’t dare look him in the eyes. In fact, she might never look at him the same way ever again.

“Are you… telling the truth?”

At first, Shade was ready to say that it was all a joke and run away. Their friendship would probably never heal, and he’ll have to move out of Ponyville just to save face. But hearing Sunset’s voice devoid of any hostility, and perhaps even tinged with hope, he knew that there was no turning back now. Releasing a breath that he didn’t know he was holding, Shade slowly spelled out the words that he had kept in his heart.

“Y-Yes… I really am…”

No reply came from Sunset.

“At first, I really was just messing with you. All those times I tried to hit on you, and purposely made you angry, I was just getting a laugh out of seeing you embarrassed. I don’t know when it happened, but one day, I just… thought differently. I started to regret saying all those things, and I honestly wanted to try and get you to notice me. But knowing who I am, you probably won’t even give me a passing glance if you weren’t trying to kill me.”

“Every time you smile, I just feel warm inside. When you laugh, I can’t help but laugh too. And when you pout, you know, that cute little pout you make whenever you’re pissed off, I just wanna hug you and tell you that everything’s all right. I’m sure you’ve never thought of me that way; you always did just think of me as a friend and all that. And even then, you’re the daughter of Princess Celestia and the bearer of the Element of Magic. You must have suitors lined up to marry you right now.”

“Sunset Shimmer, I am in love with you. There’s no one else I would rather spend the rest of my life with other than you. I don’t care if you don’t like me back that way. It’s just… Well, at least I can live happy knowing that I managed to confess to one girl. At least we can still be friends, right?”

Shade thought that he had steeled himself for any response. Whether it was positive or not, he would take it like a man. No running away, no wailing, just a solid resolve for what was to come. As he stood there, patiently waiting for Sunset to speak, he noticed tears streaming down her face.

“S-Sunset!” he called out, using his magic to wipe away the tears with a tissue “I’m sorry, that came totally out of nowhere! I’ll leave right now if you want. Please, please don’t cry! Oh man, Spike is going to kill me!”

As Shade continued to try and wipe away all of her tears, Sunset couldn’t help but smile. She gently pushed the tissue paper away and trotted towards the stallion. It took all of her might to not break down right there and then, but somehow she managed. Gently, she leaned her face towards Shade’s own and pressed her lips against his.

Once again, Shade was caught unprepared. He just stood there, transfixed at the kiss that he was having with the mare of his dreams. At first, he didn’t know how to react at all. But as they stood there, both sharing a kiss together under the moonlight, Shade finally leaned in and kissed her back. It wasn’t long at all, only lasting for a few seconds, but to the two of them it felt like an eternity. If they didn’t have to stop for air, they would have continued kissing for hours.

“Thank you…” Sunset’s face was almost as red as her mane “You’re the first person who actually called me beautiful, you know.”

“You…You’re kidding,” Shade raised an eyebrow, face still flushed in embarrassment

“I’m not, honest!” she trotted next too Shade, nuzzling against his cheek “Thank you, Shade… for loving me, and protecting me. I… I don’t know what to say. I’m just happy… so happy that I could know you, that I could… fall in love you, too…” she then let out a tiny laugh, feeling his warmth slowly envelop her body “That… That was my first kiss, by the way. You’d better be ready to take responsibility for it!”

“I will!” Shade replied in earnest, smiling that childish grin again “I promise that I’ll make you the happiest mare in Equestria!”

Sunset Shimmer really loved the night.

After all, that was when she met the stallion that will one day become her husband, it was the time he had confessed his love for her, and it was when they shared their kiss on their wedding day. And to think that it all happened because all of their other friends couldn’t keep their promise.

The two Unicorns returned to their blanket, gazing up at the beautiful stars that seemed to smile down on them. Even now, as they finally returned to their date, neither of them could believe what had just happened. What was supposed to be another random night spent watching a meteor shower turned into one of the happiest moments in their lives, one that they wouldn’t trade for the world.

As the two nuzzled closely together, not wanting to let their beloved out of their sight, a single shooting star shot through the night sky, bringing a warm smile to both Unicorns’ faces.