With the weekend in full swing, the town of Canterlot was seeing a great deal of activity in every single venue it had to offer. The local movie theatre, the park, the pool and pretty much everything in-between had a huge number of people, young and old alike, trying to enjoy themselves. One of these places, a small café on a street corner, was of note because, today, it was where Aria now found herself. She was sitting by a small corner table, by herself, looking around at the other customers of the place. Every once in a while, she’d look at her watch, counting the minutes as they went by, letting out a sigh as she did so. It would have been fair to say that she looked nervous at this point, as well as concerned, but even so, she remained where she was. However, in time, she turned, looking over to another table, before speaking in a hushed voice.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

There, sitting around that other table, were her friends. There were her sisters, Adagio and Sonata, as well as Twilight and Sunset. Each of the four girls were dressing in different ways to try and disguise their identity, with most electing to wear sunglasses as part of it. Looking over to Aria as she spoke, Twilight lowered her own sunglasses before speaking to her with a smile.

“Don’t worry, Aria. I made a list of all the possible people at Canterlot High that you might be able to have a nice time with. After matching up all of their known attributes and personality traits, I came to the conclusion that our choice here today would be ideal for you to have this little get-together with.”

Needless to say, Aria looked to her with slight confusion, leading to her looking instead to Sunset, who let out a sigh before summing things up for her.

“She looked over the guys at the school and found one she thought would be good for you.”

To that, Aria nodded, a look of understanding now plastered over her face. However, as she looked around the rest of the cafe, nervousness continued to grip her.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

Looking to her sister, Sonata smiled widely, speaking in that bubbly way she was known for.

“Don’t worry, Ari! We’ll be here if anything goes wrong! All you have to do is talk to the guy, put on a smile, act cheery and things will go on from there.”

Aria considered that for a moment before putting on a slight frown.

“Yeah…I’m not sure if I can do that whole…you know…nice stuff.”

At long last, Sunset added her own voice to the mix.

“Look…let’s just see how this plays out. Nothing is forcing you to stay with this guy longer than you’re comfortable with. If you want it to end, it’ll end, and we’ll be here to help, okay?”

Hearing that, Aria thought for a moment, before giving a small smile to her friend. However, she hadn’t the chance to say anything else, as the sound of the café door opening caught her attention soon afterwards. Turning, she and the others caught sight of the newest customer to the place. A boy, their age, taller than most, who wore distinct green dreadlocks and a beanie hat. Aria, naturally, got back into position, sitting and trying to keep herself as calm as possible. The others too began to keep to themselves, lest the guy spot them. As for the boy himself, he looked around the place for a while before catching sight of Aria, after which he broke out into a smile and gave a brief wave. Nervously, Aria waved back, and watched as the boy began to approach her. After getting into his own chair, the guy finally spoke up.

“Hi.”

Aria, forcing a smile, spoke back.

“Yeah…hi.”

Looking around the place, the boy continued, his voice far calmer than Aria’s right now.

“I gotta, say, I was pretty surprised to hear you wanted to go out like this.”

Aria nodded.

“Yeah, it was…well, I guess I just…you know?”

Despite her fumbling her words, the guy continued to smile.

“You know, we never were introduced. I’m Sandalwood.”

To that, Aria gave a nod.

“Er…yeah. And I’m Aria.”

Hearing that, Sandalwood chuckled.

“Yeah, I…I already knew that, Kinda hard to forget you, to be honest.”

Aria, in spite of her situation, chuckled in response.

“Sure…I guess it would.”

Curiosity gripped her at this point as she kept her eyes on the boy.

“So…what exactly did Twilight say to you when she told you about this?”

Sandalwood shrugged his shoulders.

“Only that you were interested in dating and that you were hoping for a fun time out at a café.”

For a brief moment, he looked away, slight confusion crossing his face.

“Although…she did mention a whole bunch of scientific stuff, but…I didn’t really get it.”

Aria nodded to that.

“Yeah…she does that.”

Despite the boy continuing to look happy at being here, a silence fell between them. It lasted quite a long while, a few minutes at least. Both of them looked unsure about the other, neither seeming to know what to say or even how to say it. As this transpired, the other girls watched from the nearby table, never interfering, and yet looking more than a little pained to see this whole thing unfold. After a long and near-agonizing wait, the silence was broken when Sandalwood spoke up again.

“So…I’m guessing you like music and stuff, right?”

Aria nodded to that.

“Um…sure. I mean, I don’t do a whole lot of singing these days because…well…you know.”

Immediately, a look of guilt crossed Sandalwood’s face.

“Oh…right…sorry.”

But Aria shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s fine. What about you? Big music fan?”

Sandalwood considered that for a moment.

“Um…I guess? I mean, I listen to Flash’s band every now and again, but…I wouldn’t say it’s a big interest.”

Aria nodded, thinking hard on their conversation for a while before speaking up again.

“So…what do you like?”

To that, the boy’s face lit up again.

“Well…there’s this movement in the school right now to petition city hall to stop building that new mini-mall down the street. Did you know there’s this really important bush that’s been there for years now? They wanted to tear it down to build that place! Can you believe it?”

Aria stared at him, at the enthusiasm upon his face, and it would have been clear to anyone watching, of which there were four in fact, that she had little to no interest in that whatsoever. However, for the sake of her date, she forced yet another smile, giving a nod.

“Oh, sure, that sounds…great?”

But Sandalwood, apparently nod having picked up on that, continued to smile in earnest, now speaking at a mile a minute, almost as if Aria had given him permission to do so.

“I know, right? I mean, it’s almost like what they tried to do with that duck pond a few years back, but, people got angry and…”

And that, pretty much, set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Sandalwood would sit there, continuing to go on and on about all the environmental issues he had to talk about, and all the while, Aria would sit there, taking it all in, pretending to be interested, her only respite coming when the nearby waitress would come and serve them some soda or a cake. However, while she was no longer uncomfortable around the guy, it was now as clear as day that she was growing increasingly bored with him. She had no investment in either him or what he was saying. Needless to say, by the time it was all done, about an hour later, she looked more than dissatisfied with how the date had progressed, looking like a student who’d just been put into a particularly dull class of some sort. But Sandalwood, for his part, had not picked up on this in the slightest, even when he finally finished talking.

“You know…I gotta say, Aria, it was awesome that you wanted to hang out today.”

Again, Aria forced a smile.

“Hmmm…yep. It was…kinda…you know…it was a date alright.”

As before, Sandalwood smiled, before turning and looking at a clock on the nearby wall.

“I hope you don’t mind, but, I kinda made some plans with some friends and…”

But, before he got the chance to finish, Aria’s face lit up, speaking with more enthusiasm than she had for this entire encounter.

“Sure, go!”

Sandalwood paused for a moment, looking to her with uncertainty, to which Aria then realised what she’d done.

“Oh! I mean…awww, really, do you have to go?”

But, as before, the boy did not pick up on any sarcasm, instead letting out a sigh.

“I know, it’s a bummer. Still, it was nice meeting you, Aria.”

Another forced smile came on Aria’s part, and she waved him goodbye, watching as he made his way further and further away from her, and then, when he was finally out of sight, she banged her head down on her table. Seeing this, the other girls got up from their own table, making their way over.

“Ari? Is everything okay?” Sonata asked.

Hearing that, Aria dragged herself up to look at her, her expression that of one who was utterly drained.

“I did not know what boredom truly was…until I met him.”

Twilight considered that, whipping out a notepad before looking over them for a while.

“Hmmm…I’m surprised. All of my calculations led me to think that he was a sure thing. I wonder what happened?”

To that, Aria shrugged her shoulders.

“Don’t know. Don’t care. I’m just happy this was a one-time thing.”

However, a look of concern crossed her face as she slowly turned to face the young scientist.

“Unless…you’ve got more guys in mind?”

Ignoring the concern in her voice, Twilight broke out into a massive smile.

“Yep! Sure do! About a dozen of them in fact!”

Again, Aria banged her head against the table, leading to Sunset turning to Twilight and speaking in a hushed voice.

“Um, Twilight? Are you sure you want to keep doing this? I mean, I know you want to help, but…don’t you think this should be something Aria decides for herself? After all, having someone else pick out a guy for you doesn’t really sound like a guarantee for a fun date.”

But Twilight, adjusting her glasses slightly, looked to her friend with a smile.

“I assure you, Sunset, there’s nothing to worry about! All of my research assures me that, on this list, there’s bound to be at least one person Aria can connect to.”

Looking down at the Siren in question, who still had her head buried in her table, Twilight reached over and gently patted her on the head, still smiling.

“Don’t worry, Aria. I promise you, this is the best idea ever!”