First Date.

The party at sugarcube corner had ended half an hour ago and Twilight and Spike were on
their way back to the library. Twilight was happy with how things had went so far, she had
expected that her friends would accept her new relationship, but they had taken the news about
Nightmare Moon better than expected.

“So anything else going on before we get back?” Spike asked.

“Hmm, no I don’t think so. Moonjumper wanted to figure stuff out for our date anyway.”
Twilight replied.

“That reminds me, why did she have to leave early again?” Spike asked.

“She wanted to be around for if any guards came into report anything. I should probably
talk to her about what we will be doing for our date.” Twilight said before focusing her thoughts towards Moonjumper.

“Hey Moonjumper? I have a question about our date.” Twilight thought. Not long after she felt the feeling of Moonjumper’s mind brushing against her own.

“What is it? Did something come up that needs your attention? We can go another day if things don’t work today.” Moonjumper rushed her thoughts, sounding a bit nervous.

“No, of course I still want to go, I just wanted to know if we were going to dress up or anything.” Twilight replied, assuring her.

“Oh! I don’t think that is necessary, I’m not big on fancy first dates. Just something simple is enough for me.” Moonjumper said, a feeling of relief coming through their connections.

“I agree, our first date shouldn’t be anything over the top,maybe a picnic?” Twilight suggested.

“I like the sound of that, I’ll see you soon then.” Moonjumper said, ending their mental conversation. Twilight smiled as she continued walking back to her home.

“Hey Twilight, what’s happening now?” spike asked. Waving his hands in front of Twilight’s face.

“Oh, right, Moonjumper and I are going on a picnic when we get back. I’m thinking we will probably go out later in the day, so I can spend a bit more time hanging out around the house if you want.” Twilight explained

“Nah, I think I need to take a nap after that party.” Spike said. By now they were outside the library, so Spike hopped off of Twilight’s back and walked toward the door. Twilight opened it with her magic and both of them walked through.

“Alright, if you say so. Have a nice rest then and I’ll see you later.” Twilight said, giving Spike a hug before he went upstairs to rest a bit.
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“Alright, I think that’s everything we need for a picnic.” Twilight said, looking at the basket that they had packed and then over to Moonjumper. “Can you think of anything else we should take with us?” Twilight asked.

“Hhmm, I don’t think so.” Moonjumper said. Twilight nodded and picked up the basket, putting it on her back before they both walked out the front door. It had been a few hours, they had decided have their picnic closer to Sunset, and left so they would have roughly two hours for their date.

“So where are we going exactly?” Moonjumper asked as she followed Twilight away from their home.

“I was planning on going to the place that my friends and I usually go when we have group picnics. This time it will just be the two of us!” Twilight exclaimed.

“That sound good to me, the scenery there is just beautiful.” Moonjumper said. They continued walking side by side, exchanging pleasantries with anypony who they passed. Finally coming to the familiar picnic area… and seeing that apparently a lot of the couples in Ponyville had all decided to go on a date here.

“Well, that makes things a little messier.” Twilight said, visibly holding back a slight panic.

“Twilight, calm down, we can always find another place to have our date if we have to.” Moonjumper said, putting a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight looked back at her appreciatively and then back to the area where they were planning on having their picnic.

“I guess that we should probably get-” Twilight began, only to get cut off by someone calling out to her.

“Hello Twilight! So this is the where you two were having your date.” Came Rarity’s voice. Rarity walked over, a stallion following not far behind.

“Oh! Hello Rarity, uh we were actually-” Twilight began, only to be cut off again, this time by the stallion who had followed Rarity over.

“Ms. Rarity, can I ask why we moved? Our spot might be taken!” The stallion exclaimed, not noticing the ponies Rarity was talking to.

“Oh don’t worry so much, it was getting crowded over there anyway. Since we are here though, Alvor, these are my friends ,Twilight and Moonjumper, they came here for a date like us.” Rarity explained, motioning toward the two ponies who were still silently sitting, watching the interaction.

“Oh, well I hope that both your dates arrive soon.” Alvor said, not paying attention to the other mares. Twilight didn’t react at all.

“Excuse you, my date is already here!” Moonjumper said, motioning toward Twilight. Alvor looked back at her surprised, his face slowly turning to disgust.

“Oh, I see, one of those couples then.” Alvor said, voice laced with venom, he turned toward Rarity. “I think I would like to leave actually, I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.” Rarity’s eye suddenly twitched as she turned to face her ‘date’.
“Ms. Rarity?” Alvor asked, slightly unnerved at his date’s strange response.
“I think this is the end of our date actually, Mr. Alvor, if you would so kindly take your stupid prejudice and never speak to me or my friends again then you might just keep your tail today.” Rarity said, glaring at Alvor. The stallion in question wasted no time running in any direction away from Rarity.
“Huuh, I had high hopes for today. I guess that went out the window.” Rarity sighed. Moonjumper looked down feeling slightly guilty.
“I’m sorry, I spoiled your date when I opened my big mouth.” Moonjumper said.
“Oh no, it isn’t your fault, I probably would have found out eventually and things would still have ended badly.” Rarity replied, looking back at the two of them, giving them a small smile. “I would hate to impose on your date, so I think I shall take my leave.” Rarity turned away from them and started walking away. Twilight looked after her a bit hesitantly for a few second.
“Rarity, wait!” Twilight called, Rarity turned around.
“Moonjumper, would you mind to terribly if Rarity joined us for a bit, we did bring a bit too much food for just the two of us?” Twilight asked. Moonjumper looked a bit exasperated at that, but thought about it for a second. Moonjumper looked over toward Rarity, who was still waiting for Twilight to explain why she had called to her.
“I guess we could, her date did just fall through.” Moonjumper said. Twilight gave her a small smile before she ran over to where Rarity was standing.
“Oh, I hope that this wasn’t a mistake.” Moonjumper said quietly enough that no one could hear her.
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“Well, thank you both for the food, but I feel that I’ve overstayed my welcome.” Rarity said giving both Twilight and Moonjumper genuine smiles. Twilight returned the smile, Moonjumper tried but her smile was slightly less genuine. Rarity had stayed longer she would have liked, almost a full hour.

“Don’t worry about it, it was nice to have you!” Twilight told her friend. They exchanged farewells and Twilight sat back down on their picnic blanket. From beside her Moonjumper sighed.

“Are you okay Moonjumper?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine, Twilight, it’s just….” Moonjumper began. A small frown forming on her face.

“It’s about me letting Rarity come on our date isn’t it?” Twilight asked, Moonjumper nodded. “Well, it wasn’t the best way to start a date, and I’m sorry I did that. Rarity just looked sad and I wanted to try to make her feel better.” Twilight admitted.

“I know, Twilight, and I don’t hold that against you. It’s still just a bit frustrating that this all happened on our first date. Not to mention that bigoted stallion, if only I didn’t have to keep my identity hidden, see how he reacts when he realizes that he just insulted a princess of Equestria!” Moonjumper exclaimed, but not loud enough to attract anypony's attention.

“I know, but just because things didn’t start off that well doesn’t mean that we have to let it get to us. We can still turn this date around from here.” Twilight told her. Twilight began thinking of what they could do, they were done with all their food. “How about we go for a walk, if anything good came out our getting sidetracked it is that there are actually a lot less ponies around now.” Twilight suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea, Twilight.” Moonjumper said, a genuine smile forming on her face. The two of them started packing up their picnic supplies and when they finished, Twilight put the basket on her back and the two of them began walking. The sun had already set and the moon and stars lit up the sky.

Moonjumper looked over at Twilight, who seemed to be studying the constellations as they walked. Taking her chance, Moonjumper draped a wing over Twilight’s back. Twilight looked over at her and smiled, leaning into her slightly.

“I think I like this, us being a couple I mean.” Twilight said, closing her eyes and following Moonjumper’s lead. Moonjumper had to agree, even with everything that had happened in the last few days, Moonjumper felt completely relaxed in this moment. Suddenly Moonjumper had an idea.

“Hey Twilight, could you cast the cloudwalking spell on yourself real quickly?” Moonjumper asked.

“Uhm, sure.” Twilight said, quickly casting the spell, unfortunately having to get step away from Moonjumper to do so. “So why did you want me to do that?” Twilight asked.

“Do you see that cloud over there?” Moonjumper asked in return, pointing to a small cloud floating far to their right. Twilight nodded in response. “That is where we are going.” She explained. Twilight nodded and got into a position that would make it easy for Moonjumper to pick her up. Moonjumper flew into the air and using her forelegs lifted Twilight up. Unlike last time they had flown together, Twilight seemed much more calm being in the air.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the cloud, Moonjumper depositing Twilight as gently as possible, which was easy with how fluffy the cloud was. The two of them sat on the cloud, looking out at Ponyville. The light from the moon coupled with the small amount of streetlights of the small town. For Moonjumper this moment more than made up for all of the stuff that happened earlier, while it hadn’t been horrible, it was not her ideal first date.

“I’m really happy with how things went today. I know things went a bit wonky with our date, but it wasn’t terrible.” Twilight thought to Moonjumper, not wanting to ruin the moment by speaking now. Moonjumper didn’t bother with a response, she just pulled Twilight into a strong hug, nuzzling into the top of her head above her horn.

Author's Notes:

Well I managed to get this chapter out finally. I've had a very long last couple of weeks, including my birthday! But I finally had the time to sit down and get this out. This chapter is a bit longer than my normal ones, I don't know why I can't seem to write more than 1000 words without difficulties.