Don't cross the streams-er, horns!
If you looked closely down the dimly lit cobbles of Ponyville's main street, you could make out two shapes. One was a pink and purple unicorn filly on the verge of adulthood and the other was a maroon unicorn colt on the verge of a panic attack: an endless cycle of panicked thought ran through his head as he stole furtive glances at the pony beside him. "I can't believe we're actually on a date, how did I get this far with her, oh geez, how do I-"
"Hey Bright Spark, you're leading the way aren't you?"
"Uhhh, y-yes, of course."
Sparkler rolled her eyes. She was all too aware how on edge the poor confused colt walking with her was: she was harboring a similar set of worries herself, although she kept it under control a lot better than he did. It was sort of what drew her to him in the first place, although he didn't know that. She knew what it was like to constantly bear the weight of expectations: overachieving wasn't all it was cracked up to be, as the both of them knew. So a few weeks ago at school, she'd looked for this awkward fellow scholar and sat with him at lunch.
Poor Bright Spark couldn't believe his eyes at first - "Why would she sit near somepony like me? She must be at the wrong table or something!" - and he didn't end up saying a single word to her during that lunch break. Fortunately a few lunches later he finally managed to utter a small greeting to the mare opposite him, one thing(very slowly) led to another and over the weeks they became fast friends. How he managed to muster up the courage nopony knows, but one lunchtime Bright Spark somehow managed to ask Sparkler on a date.
He also spent the next few minutes fervently denying he said anything and saying how stupid he was, but before he could start hyperventilating Sparkler simply held a hoof to his lips and said "Sure. Where do you wanna go?" His eyes bugged out as he processed her answer, but he finally managed to blurt out the name of a restaurant on Ponyville's main street. As the bell went to go back to class, Sparkler shot him a wink, said "See you at seven, then?" and walked off into the crowd, leaving Bright Spark to ponder whether the moment actually happened.
A small smile crept onto his muzzle. "Seven it is."
Seven rolled around and Bright Spark nervously paced outside Sparkler's house, his hooves sounding like an avalanche of coconut halves. Sparkler's mother Ditzy(or was it Derpy? He didn't want to be rude and ask) had informed him that she was still getting herself ready and asked if he wanted to come in, but he politely declined. After a few minutes of incessant pacing, the door opened revealing a much sleeker version of the Sparkler he knew: with another surreptitious wink she started walking towards the gate, before remembering that Bright Spark picked the restaurant and backtracking with a nervous giggle and a blush discoloring her normally pink complexion.
"Shall we?"
They trotted out of the gate and headed towards the main street.
The sign proclaimed the restaurant as the "Ailes Albâtre", or the "Alabaster Wings" in Prench. It was well known for it's highly trained pagasi waiters and waitresses: not a single piece of the establishment's excellent cuisine would hit the floor on their watch. A moss-green pegasus showed them to a table near one of the windows as they marveled at the décor. Bright Spark was slightly(well, maybe more than slightly) apprehensive about why he'd picked such a swanky place for a date but he was reasonably confident he could pay for whatever Sparkler ordered, provided she didn't go for the rather exorbitant wines - "By Celestia's mane, this one probably costs more than I do!" He poured himself a glass of water from the decanter on the table as they seated themselves and started browsing the menu as his date did the same.
"You wanna try one of the wines?"
"Horsefeathers...."
"Uhhh, sure?" Bright Spark responded with a not-quite-sane grin on his face. Sparkler decided to go easy on him and pointed to one of the less pricey bottles. "Let's try that one!" Wine wasn't something she indulged in often, but she was reasonably confident she could hold her own when it came to drinking. She waved one of the waiters over and they placed their order.
A main course and a few glasses of wine later...
"Y'know, I reckon I know why they call 'em plots...."
"Why's that?"
"Cos all the stallions wanna plow 'em! Heha-*Snort*"
Both the ponies at the table were sporting a lovely shade of vermillion by now, although the reasons were vastly different. Bright Spark had politely declined when Sparkler offered him a glass of wine, which was probably just as well: she hadn't gone completely overboard with her drinking, but it was obvious she wouldn't win any awards for eloquent speech in the near future and he'd probably need to cover for her when it came to addressing staff. Still, he was on a date with a beautiful, intelligent mare and nothing could cha-
"BUUURRP!"
"Sparkler!"
"It's considered very good manners in Pegasi, I'll have you know!"
Indeed, he could notice a distinct nod and a smile from one of the waiters. He simply shrugged and decided not to press the issue, turning his attention back to the mare opposite him. "You having fun Sparkler?"
"Yep. It feels soooo good not having to worry about stuff for once." She said as she toyed with a wineglass in her magic.
A small chuckle. "I know what you mean there."
"It's just nice to unwind and not have to worry. Everyone's always like "Ooh, Sparkler, she's so perfect and smart and perfect" and they don't get what goes on in my head. I just wanna not be Sparkler the Perfect for one night." She smiled at her date. "You know what I mean, right?"
"Uh-"
"Of course you do, that's why you asked me on this date!" Her eyes twinkled as she stared at him, not once letting him flee from her vision. "You know exactly what it's like. I suppose that's why I like you Sparky." "Sparky" stopped for a moment as his brain processed what the mare opposite him said.
"...As in, "like" like?"
"Hmmm...yeah!"
He couldn't help himself, a beatific grin crept across his face. "I-I really like you too Sparkler."
"Glad to hear it." She rested her head on the restaurant table and watched him some more. After a minute or so of contented silence, her eyes lit up again and she slowly asked: "Sooo.....shall we kiss?"
"ERROR 34, CANNOT PROCESS.""Wha-what?!?"
"C'mon, isn't that what we're supposed to do next?" She noticed how intently interested he suddenly was with the tablecloth pattern and put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "We don't have to if you don't want-"
"NoIcoulddothatI'dlovetodothatIt'sjust-"
"Breathe Sparky!"
"*Phew* Uhhh...yeah, I could do that."
"Okay then.."
Sparkler leant her head forward and closed her eyes in anticipation. Bright Spark's heart went into overdrive as he closed his eyes as well and rose to meet her. The light seemed to recede until their table was the only thing that existed, bathed in a halo of eldritch light. Their eyes met in the octarine glow and something more than magic sparked that day.....
Unfortunately that something was the tablecloth.
Their horns made a sharp screech as they each misjudged the angle of the kiss and a cascade of errant sparks fell onto the tablecloth. So caught up were they in their kiss that they noticed nothing amiss until Sparkler felt a subtle temperature shift in the lower parts of her mane. "What th-ARRGH!" She leapt out of her chair and brushed against the curtain, causing the unnatural fire to cling onto that as well and steadily climb up. Their waiter rushed over with a seltzer bottle and valiantly tried to quell the flames: while this didn't affect the fire, it did have the welcome effect of snapping Bright Spark out of his panicked stupor. After a quick assessment of the situation, he pushed another impending panic attack down and charged his horn.
----->
A few miles away, a certain cyan pegasus was rudely awakened when the cloud she was sleeping on shot out from underneath her, causing her to take a steep nosedive before righting herself.
"Hey, what gives?"
<-----
The heroic cloud flew into the restaurant and promptly proceeded to dump it's liquid payload all over the table, dousing the fire and everypony in the immediate vicinity. Bright Spark blinked repeatedly as his poor brain finally caught up with his actions and he dimly thought "Huh, Sparkler looks quite good when she's wet." before his brain promptly shut down for repairs.
"I'm so sorry Sparkler..."
"Stop apologizing Sparky, I know it's not your fault."
"But we got kicked out of the restaurant!"
"My mum knows the owner, he'll let us back there in no time."
"Oh..."
They arrived at Sparkler's house and stared at each other, both of them sopping from the impromptu shower. Bright Spark slowly cracked a grin and said "Ah well, I guess you could say that....sparks flew between us?"
"....That was terrible."
"Sorry."
"You try another one of those puns on our next date and I'll make sure you literally fly."
"Yes ma'am - wait, next date?"
"You got it Sparky."
