Once Glimmer Wing was exposed from the darkness, the two of you stuck together like... well. Was it too early to say that certain word?

Ponyville was idyllic in the summer, the pastoral beauty all swept up together by the breeze. When you met Glimmer Wing downtown for the first time, in her float-on-the-wind skirt with the blue-and-green shimmering pattern, the bow in her hair and the giggle on her lips... that was something out of spring itself, brought in by the brilliant sun and the energy underneath the flowers.

It was a bit awkward deciding what to do next, though.

"I, uh, don't really know what Ponyville has 'going on', in terms of, uh, good... hang out, spots..." You manage to avoid the 'd' word, even though it's begging to be said, exploding in your chest and threatening to creep into a sentence unawares. Better not put the cart before the bat-pony.

"Well, there's a great ice cream place around the corner from the Cake's bakery," Glimmer Wing said. She put a hoof to her chin and pondered up at the sky, orchestras of birds taking flight and signalling with song in the background and overhead. "And I kinda wanted to check out the toy store to see if they have the new issue of Bat-pone... The new series reboot is really dark and gritty, I kinda like it a lot, heh..." Glimmer Wing trailed off, kind of noticing her enthusiasm taking control and then tying it off before it overflowed. She blushed a bit, though that might have just been her cheeks flushing from the sun overhead.

Ice cream and toys. Not your usual date idea, but... when in Horse-Rome, do as the Horse-Romans do...

The ice cream, as it turned out, might have been the best in Equestria. It was certainly the best you'd ever tasted, and you didn't know 'blue' could be such a profound and life-altering substance of a flavour. You wondered immediately what 'green' and 'red' would taste like, maybe even mixed together. There was a row of all the colours in the front, and then the named 'flavours' in the back. One peek showed a namec-ard three lines long and something that looked like Princess Celestia's mane in sherbet form. With sprinkles.

"This is good," you said, not bothering to attempt to describe the taste. Go try it for yourself. It really is that good.

"Yeah," Glimmer Wing said. "I like to come here after school sometimes. Heh." That blush again. Just the faintest hint of red creeping into her light-blue fur... like the warmth radiating from a fireplace, giving a glow to your whole body. Is it normal to feel warm when someone else blushes? Maybe it's an endless cycle of blushing back and forth forever until one of us explodes...

Something seemed off, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it then. Maybe the ice cream was too delicious. Maybe Glimmer Wing was.

It hit you more when you got to the toy store. Mostly walking inside, realizing it was really a toy store, when 'toy' meant 'anything that's cool to foals under high school age', a giant collection of shelves filled with action figures and outside activity play-sets and remote control cars and boats and planes and a wall of trading cards behind a giant pane of glass (PLEASE ASK AT COUNTER FOR CARDS, it said). A comic book section, to which Glimmer Wing went immediately, squealing and bounding in bounces like... well... a filly who was about to get a new comic book.

Probably best just to ask. To avoid any confusion, clear up any misunderstanding.

You walked up to her in the comic section, just as she was checking out the new issue of Bat-pone, the one she'd been waiting for.

"See this?" she said, holding it up to you, open to a seemingly random page. Your eyes scanned the ink from top to bottom, mostly intersections of shadows and a mysterious looking costumed pony-figure lurking inside them. She jabbed at the dark blotches with her hoof and grinned a giant grin at you. "The way the ink is all everywhere... ugh, I don't know how to say it, but it looks so cool, he's all hidden and everything... uh, sorry, heh. I know I kinda get over-excited sometimes..."

"No, no, it's fine, it's totally adorable," you say, waving a hand in an attempt to waylay the bat-pony's fears. She makes a noise like 'gleep' and goes red again, which you take to be a sign that your compliment is well received. Then again, there is still one particular issue to address...

"Not to be weird or anything," you say, as Glimmer Wing begins scanning the back pages of her comic for interesting upcoming issues, "but I was wondering. How, uh... how old, are you, exactly?"

"I'm thirteen," Glimmer Wing said, letting it out with some timidity in her voice. "But... my teachers all say I'm really mature for my age." She looked up at you with a hurt expression, as though she'd done something wrong and was just now being called out for it. "I'm sorry," she said. "Is that... bad?"

You're not sure, to be totally honest. Relationships in Equestria aren't anything like the ones on Terra Firma. Older ponies go with younger ponies, trios happen, quadrangles, or whatever they're called... some ponies never get married, some seem to have more wives than they can count on one hoof (although actually that might not be too difficult)... it's a mish-mash. A smorgasbord. An urge to check out how that word is spelled, and then correct it to 'buffet'. No, leave it. It sounds better.

"It's just that I'm a bit, uh... older than that," you said, trying to cushion each word as much as possible. "And I'm not sure if that's... frowned upon, in Equestria, shall we say."

Glimmer Wing's face scrunched up. "'Frowned upon'?" she said.

You nodded, noting the look on her face.

"Exactly. It's not really, you know... the 'done thing'."

"How do we find out?"

You shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe somepony in town can help us out?"

Author's Notes:

Yes, you guessed it: le bat-pony

(Naw it's love tho)