Sonata Dusk giggled as she trotted into the Crystal Castle. It was Hearts And Hooves Day, the day when couples got together to celebrate their love for each other while single ponies tried to catch the eye of whatever crushes they had. In the past, Sonata never had anyone to share this special day with except for her sisters, who had seen it as nothing more than another chance to feed on the negative energy of any unfortunate breakups.
That had all changed after the Battle Of The Bands. After Sonata had decided to return to Equestria.
Oh, this is perfect! Sonata thought as she reached back to pat her saddlebags. He's going to love it!
As she began to get close to her destination, she began to worry.
What if he doesn't like it, though? What if he thinks it's a dumb gift? Or what if he hates me for thinking... for thinking he'd like me after everything I did?
She pushed the thought out of her mind as she approached the door.
No, Sonata. You've made it this far, so you can't back out now. And besides... he's helped you way too much to hate you.
Full of determination, she lifted her hoof up and began to knock on the door. After a moment, it opened, revealing a purple alicorn stallion.
“Oh, hello Sonata.”
The blue earth pony blushed slightly at her name. At first, she had been quite shocked when she had fallen out of the portal and realized she had landed in the wrong version of Equestria. Shock had quickly been replaced with gratitude when the local prince had offered her a place to stay, as well as assistance in finding her way back to her original Equestria.
And eventually, gratitude had been replaced by other, more intimate feelings.
“Hi Dusk Shine,” she said happily. “So, how has your day been?”
“It's been all right,” said Dusk. “I mean, I've been reading The History Of Hearts And Hooves Day like I do every year on Hearts And Hooves Day.”
Sonata raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“Every year? Hasn't anypony ever asked you out?”
Dusk shrugged in response.
“Not really. I mean, I once asked Flare Warden out, but it didn't work out as well as I thought it would. It kind of sucks, seeing how well her human counterpart and I got along.”
“Oh,” Sonata said with a frown on her face. “I thought that since, you know, you're a prince, and the savior of Equestria, everypony would want to go out with you.”
“Well, it doesn't always work like that,” said Dusk. “Just because I'm a prince doesn't mean every mare is just going to swoon whenever I pass by. I mean, there are probably several mares who like me, but they might not want to ask me out for various reasons, or they might be intimidated by the idea of dating someone like me.”
“Oh,” said Sonata. “So, you don't have a date?”
Dusk looked at her curiously.
“Well, no. Why, is it important?”
Sonata felt incredibly nervous, but she pushed her fears away. It was now or never; she had to give her gift now, or she would have lost her chance. She opened her saddlebags and pulled something out.
“It's for you!”
Dusk's eyes went wide as he saw the object: a blue seapony plush holding a big heart with the words “I Luv U” printed on it.
“I know it's weird, but you're the first real friend I've ever had! When I fell through that portal, you helped me even though you didn't know who I was or how I ended up here! And even after I told you everything about me, you still gave me a place to stay, and you helped me put my life back together, and... you didn't get the other princes to banish me, or turn me to stone, or send me to Tartarus.”
Dusk continued to stare blankly at her gift, causing Sonata to sigh.
“After everything I did in my original Equestria, and the human world, I don't deserve the selflessness you showed me, Dusk. And yet you gave me everything I could ever ask for without ever expecting anything in return. These last few months I spent with you have been the happiest months of my life, and I want to be able to make you happy too.”
As Sonata finished speaking, Dusk took the plush in his magic grasp. As he looked at it, he remembered how Sonata had told him about her past as a siren. In a way, it was fitting that she had chosen a blue seapony as her gift; while it wasn't exactly a siren, few ponies would ever make siren plushies, so it was most likely the closest thing she could get. Slowly, a smile crept onto his face.
“Do you really mean it?” he asked her.
Sonata had been looking down dejectedly, but she quickly perked up.
“All of it!”
For a moment, the two ponies smiled at each other. However, Dusk's smile quickly faded away.
“I'm sorry, Sonata.”
Sonata's joy was quickly replaced with fear.
“You don't like me?”
“No! That's not what I meant!” Dusk said quickly. “It's just... I was always scared of asking you out.”
Sonata turned her head in confusion.
“Scared? Why?”
“It's because of what you told me,” said Dusk. “You got blasted with Equestrian magic, which was all because of a girl named Twilight Sparkle. From what I can tell, Twilight was my counterpart from that world, which would make sense, because I went to another version of the human world where I blasted another version of you.”
Sonata's confusion was quickly replaced with a shocked realization.
“So, you were scared that I'd blame you for what she did?”
“Well, she's technically me, so yeah.”
The former siren burst into laughter.
“Oh, Dusky, why would I blame you for what Twilight did to me?”
The purple alicorn stared at her, a combination of relief and bemusement on his face.
“Yeah, maybe you are some other version of Twilight,” said Sonata. “But to be honest, I never really thought much about it. Mostly I just thought about how nice you've always been to me, and how cute you are, and how I wish I could walk under the stars with you and dance in the moonlight-”
Sonata's musings were interrupted by the sound of Dusk clearing his throat. She then blushed before continuing.
“Dusk,you've never been anything but nice to me. There's no reason why I should be angry at you, especially when it's about something that somepony in a completely different world did. So please, will you be my date for this Hearts And Hooves Day?”
As she finished, Dusk's gaze fell back down towards the blue seapony floating before him. He then smiled as he lifted a box up from a nearby desk and levitated it towards Sonata.
“Why don't you see for yourself?”
Curious, the blue mare opened the box. To her amazement, there was a purple alicorn plush inside. However, what truly caught her eye was what the plush was holding: a heart-shaped taco with the words “My Taco Siren” printed on it.
“It was specially-made by Elusive," explained Dusk. "He's good at more than just clothes, and... I wanted to have something really special for you. My taco siren.”
Sonata lifted the plush out of the box, overjoyed that her beloved prince truly cared about her. As she took in every little detail of the expertly-crafted toy, she felt a single tear creeping out of her eye. She threw herself onto him and planted her lips on his.
Although shocked at first, Dusk accepted the sudden gesture and began to kiss her back. It was much less elegant and more sloppy than the kisses he had read about in his romance novels, but then again, neither of them had much experience.
After a moment, the two broke off the kiss. They then looked into each other's eyes.
“That was... interesting,” Dusk said finally.
“Um, yeah,” agreed Sonata. “It was nice.”
For a moment, the two looked away, their faces bright red. The two plushes fell next to each other on the floor.
“So, do you still want to be my Hearts And Hooves date?” asked Dusk.
Sonata's smile could not have been wider.
“For realzies?” she asked.
“For realzies.”
The blue earth pony hugged Dusk in joy.
“Yes!”
“Okay!” Dusk gasped as Sonata hugged him tighter. “Just don't strangle me!”
Sonata quickly let him go, blushing as she did so. She then looked down at the two plushes on the floor.
“Aw, they like each other too!”
As Dusk managed to catch his breath, he too noticed the two plushes sitting together He then smiled and levitated them off the floor and back onto the nearby desk.
“There," he said. "Now they can go on their date too.”
“Aww, they look so cute together!” said Sonata.
“Just like us.”
Sonata and Dusk smiled at each other as their tails intertwined. They then began to walk out of the castle, ready to enjoy their first Hearts And Hooves Day together.
