You wipe your mouth with a napkin, removing the last traces of what had probably been the most pleasant dinner of your life. You had spoken with Twilight for almost three hours over your meal, talking about research, laughing at each others’ stories, and even casting the occasional flirtatious comment back and forth.

Underlying the whole evening, however, was the uneasy ghost of your upcoming departure from Ponyville. That was probably why you had both taken almost an hour to work your way through the rich but small chocolate-lavender torte Spike had masterfully crafted.

Clearing your throat, you cast a hopeful gaze toward Twilight. “Did you like the dinner?”

Twilight tilts her head and smiles back at you fondly. “I loved it.”

You open your mouth to say something- anything- to keep the evening from drawing to a close, but Twilight beats you to the punch.

“Oh, would you look at that, we’re all out of wine!” she declares in mock horror. “I’ll fix that!”

Twilight’s horn lights up, and in one quick brush of her magic, she pulls another bottle of wine out of a nearby cabinet and opens it with a corkscrew that had been left on the table. “I think you’ll like this one, it’s a little darker. I was saving it for a special occasion, and I can’t think of a better time!”

Your muzzle scrunches up as you watch the skillful display. You’ve spent so much time working around her in a research setting that you’ve forgotten that Twilight is one of the most powerful magical scholars in Equestria.

Twilight stands up from her chair and grips it in her magical aura as well. She waltzes effortlessly across the room toward you, placing her seat down next to yours as she refills your empty wine glass. “There, now we can talk a little easier.”

You blink a few times before smiling at her. “Great! Thank you for the wine, and, well, just everything else, Twilight.”

Twilight finishes refilling her glass before clinking it against yours. “Thank you!”

You both take a sip of the wine. It’s much more astringent than the last bottle, but also smooth and incredibly pleasing. The hints of dark fruit that waft into your nostrils are a fitting accompaniment to the chocolate cake that still lingers on your tastebuds.

“That is really good,” you muse as you put it down.

Twilight puts her glass down several seconds later, after having downed about half of it in one go. “I know, isn’t it?”

You gaze rather surprised at Twilight’s feat of consumption. “Wow.”

“So,” Twilight begins, biting her lip. “When is our next date going to be?”

Your heart literally skips a beat and you lurch forward about an inch in your seat, floored by her statement. “Uh, what?”

“Well, this is a date, right? Wine and dinner?” Twilight fidgets in her chair uncomfortably. “Do you want to go out on another one?”

Your breath catches in your throat as you spend a second searching for a response.

“U-unless this is a one-off, ‘thanks for everything and goodbye forever’ friend-date,” Twilight begins to worry, all her confidence lost in half a second.

“I want to date you!” you reassure quickly, mentally lambasting yourself for speaking so charmlessly. “I-I just...I…” You look up to gauge Twilight’s reaction.

Her ears are standing at attention and she looks hopeful, all of the sudden.

Relieved, you take a breath and continue. “I didn’t know for sure that you would want to date me...I wanted to thank you with this dinner and spend time with you, and that maybe you would...I dunno.”

“Ask you out?” Twilight asks.

“I guess,” you shrug, biting your lip in embarassment.

Twilight quickly downs the rest of her wine. “Good…” she groans, nodding as she uses her magic to refill her glass. “Good.” Releasing a forceful exhale, she looks into your eyes. “I don’t know if this was a date or not, but I want to take you out on a date. Will you go out with me?”

“Yes!” you cry loudly, again resolving mentally to flagellate yourself in private for your cringe-worthy behavior. “A-and tonight is absolutely a date if you want it to be.”

Smiling widely, Twilight’s wings flare out, almost knocking over the wine bottle. “Yes! Yesyesyesyes!” she cheers to herself before clearing her throat and smiling at you warmly.

You wonder if she’s also mentally assaulting herself. Not that she needs to for being adorable, of course.

She takes another big swig of her wine, which you now recognize she is doing to bolster her courage. “You know,” she breathes, her tail swishing back and forth in her chair, “it’s polite to kiss a mare on the first date if it goes well. Otherwise she’ll worry!”

“Is that so?” you say, leaning forward toward her. “Are you worried, Twilight?”

“I’m so worried,” she whispers back, biting her lip. She leans in toward you too.

You continue to lean foward but stop just before your lips touch. “The next question, however: Do you think I’m a polite pony?”

“I-I dunno, are you?” she asks, continuing to press forward.

“I’m not sure,” you tease, pulling back slightly.

Twilight whines loudly. “Just kiss me already,” she begs.

You and Twilight both lean forward into a kiss, contorted uncomfortably over the wooden armrests of the dining chairs. You each wrap a single hoof around each other’s necks, and Twilight unfurls her soft wings to envelop your midsection as you continue locking lips.

Soon, Twilight flicks her tongue forward to brush against your lips, and then pulls away from the kiss. “You taste like wine and chocolate-lavender cake,” she giggles.

“You do too,” you reply. “It’s really good.”

Smiling at each other, you and Twilight pull each other in for another kissing session, this one involving a deal more tasting than the last one.

This time, Twilight clambers onto your chair to sit on your lap during it, her wings now being free to entirely surround you and press you against her as the mini-makeout continues.

When Twilight pulls away from the kiss, breaking a little strand of saliva shared between you, she smacks her lips. “It was nice for Spike to help you cook the dinner,” she comments in an egregious non sequitur. “That cake still tastes great even after you’ve eaten it.”

Furrowing your brow, you scrunch up your muzzle in slight confusion. “How’d you know he helped?”

Twilight grins proudly. “The dinner was suspiciously catered to my favorite tastes, but the real giveaway was that Spike checked out a book from the library yesterday on pastry-making. That cake was one of the featured recipes; I recognized it as soon as you brought it out.”

None of this alleviates your consternation. “You make Spike actually check out books? He lives here!”

Twilight adopts a stern expression. “If I can’t be trusted to maintain an iron hoof with regards to my circulation records, what sort of librarian would I be?

You shake your head and chuckle. “The best one there is, regardless.”

“Thank you,” Twilight self-congratulates. “So, tomorrow I’ll see about getting your research term extended so that you can stay here in Ponyville. I’ll also make us some reservations at a restaurant in town. In the meantime, though, let’s finish the rest of this wine.”

Twilight is still sitting on your lap, and you look up at her with a calculating expression as you evaluate her offer. “...Can we kiss again afterward?”

“Only if you promise to tell Spike thank you for all his hard work first.”

“You’re welcome,” Spike calls from outside one of the dining room doors.

“SPIKE!” Twilight gasps immediately. “What on earth did I tell you about spying on ponies?”

“I am really disappointed in you, Spike,” Starlight Glimmer’s voice echoes from behind the same door. “Spying on Twilight like that- have you no shame?”

Twilight’s face goes completely red with a hot blush as an angry scowl spreads across her face. “STARLIGHT!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?”

As Twilight clambers off of your lap to go scold her friends, you come to the sobering realization there probably aren’t going to be any more kisses in the works until tomorrow.

EXCELLENT ENDING

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