Main Story
It's a cloudy day in Canterlot as you sit outside a small, no-name coffee shop. Twirling a pen through your fingers, you sigh at a piece of paper you've been idly doodling on. You've got to think of something, Anon. It's so rare that you get to have a Saturday to yourself with her. She'll get out of her private tutoring with Celestia in an hour and you have no idea what to do today.
All you've been doing is drawing this stupid picture of you and her having ice cream. And now all you can think about is ice cream.
Slamming the pen to the pad of paper and running your hands through your hair, you sigh loud enough to make the waitress pause to see if you're okay.
"What am I gonna do?" you groan. "I can't think of a single thing to do today." Grabbing your drink that was so complicated to say that you simply pointed at the menu and said 'that one', you take a deep sip and set it down on the table. As long as it doesn't rain, you should be good. You probably should have checked the weather before you began to plan your date with Cadance.
The two of you had been dating for about a month or so, seeing each other at school when she attended her normal studies and having lunch together and spending what time you could outside of school doing the best that the two of you could. The more time the two of you had, the more you clicked as a couple. There was only one rule that you learned. You were never allowed to use the 'P' word. Under any circumstances.
"Okay, okay. Think, Anon. What should we do together?" You tap the table with one hand. You could always go to a movie... but that feels almost too cold for the rare amount of time you get to spend together. There's always ice cream. Goddamn it, Anon.
"Do you have any idea how fun you are to watch when you are trying to think of something?" says a gentle, familiar voice. You jump in your seat and turn to see Cadance standing behind you with a wide smile. She wore her hair up in those blue ribbons you gave her last time the two of you were able to spend time together and she strode forward with a sense of elegance and grace as the cafe patrons looked on with shock that a princess walked up to that weird monkey thing so casually.
"Oh really?" you ask. "Does that mean you watch me a lot?" Her cheeks grow slightly red as her eyes dart away.
"Well, no. Of course not. That would be weird," she answers just a little too quickly. You chuckle as she sits down next to you.
"You're off early. Why the sudden change?" She smiles while looking away slightly from you.
"Celestia said that I wasn't paying a lot of attention today. Like my head was in the clouds or something. I told her about our date today and she just smiled and said I could go."
"That's awesome of her," you comment. She hums, her violet pupils moving to look at you from the corner of her eye before her gaze rests on your drink.
"What are you drinking?" she asks curiously. "Uhm. Coffee. I think," you answer. She smiles, shaking her head, and grabs your cup. Taking a gentle whiff of the caffeinated delight, she lets out a light, gentle moan of satisfaction. Raising the cup to her lips, she takes a sip before setting back down.
"Ooh! That's a good one. More milk in it than I'd like, but I really like the hints of toffee that was in the roasting process," she says. You look down at the cup, then back to her.
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?" she asks.
"Do the thing with the tastes," you ask. She chuckles.
"It took awhile for me to learn. I suppose it's just from having to attend so many events with Celestia. I have to learn to be a refined Princess around the ponies." She sighs, her smile gently fading. Grabbing your, now shared, drink, you look her directly in the eyes and take a long, unnecessarily loud sip.
"Tastes like coffee." She chuckles and that familiar smile returns. "That's much better," you whisper under your breath.
"So! What do you want to do?" she asks happily. Your eyes move back down to the drawing.
"Uhhhhhhh...."
"Oh! You drew something?" she asks.
"It's just a doodle. I was practicing some shading... and I was hungry," you answer as she pulls the picture closer to her. Her eyes study the drawing as her face gently grows a shade of pink darker than her coat of fur.
"This is beautiful... how long were you working on it?" she asks.
"Uhh.. I dunno. Since this morning, so maybe a couple hours." She looks at the picture longer a smile forming on her lips as she brings a hoof to her lips.
"Do you want it?" you ask.
"Can I?" she asks eagerly.
"Of course. That was totally the plan," you sarcastically reply.
"Then it's mine now. No take backs," she says, pulling the paper to her chest and closing her eyes with a satisfied expression.
"Deal." She looks back down at the picture with a smile as she would a photo of her adoptive family from her hometown.
"This really makes me want ice cream."
"Ohmygod- Yes."
"Here you go!" the stallion behind the ice-cream cart says, handing you and the alicorn of love two cones of vanilla ice cream. Cadance takes hers with a light blue magical glow and you take yours with a free hand.
"Should I just bill it to the castle?" he asks.
"Sure, that should be fi-" she says, until you interject.
"Nope, this is on me," you answer. She looks to you in confusion. "You already do too much for me. I have some bits from work. Lemme get it.” She blushes, looking away as you give the stallion four bits to pay for the creams.
"Pleasure doing business with you," he says with a smile as you and Cadance begin to enjoy your treats.
"Ohhh yes. I've been thinking of this all day," you say before taking a lick of the sweet, white frozen cream.
"You didn't have to do that," she said with a smile.
"Do what?" you ask.
"You didn't have to pay," Cadance clarifies.
"Psh. What's our one rule, Caddy?" you ask. After a lick of her treat.
"When we are together, we're both normal," she says.
"And don't you forget it. You aren't the p-word and I'm no different from a pony," you reply. She moves herself closer to you as you walk through the Canterlot streets. You move an arm to the base of her neck and pull her closer to you and her tail swishes in delight. A warm smile etches on her face and refuses to leave.
"So, now what do you want to do?" you ask before taking a small bite out of your treat.
"Hmm, I don't know," she says. "It's been such a busy week, I haven't had time to think about what to do today, I just... looked forward to it."
"Same here, I couldn't think of anything." A gentle tap hits on top of your head, causing you to look up, but nothing's there.
"I don't mind just walking," she says. "I love not being forced to think or make decisions for a change."
"Sounds like a plan to me," you say, swearing you feel a gentle tap on your shoulder. She looks up to you with a smile.
"Hey, you got some ice-cream on your nose," you tell her. Her eyes furrow down to her nose.
"Really?" she asks.
"Yeah, riiight... here" you say, gently booping her nose. Her face scrunches and you smile at the cute frustrated expression she wears.
"Oh, you butt!" she says, sounding like a typical teenager. A light blue glow illuminates your ice-cream cone as she pushes it into your nose.
"Hey! I was eating that!"
"There!" she says with a smile. You wipe as much as you can off with a hand and wipe your hand on your jeans.
"You still have some~" she says teasingly.
"Fine, you get it then," you reply.
"Fine, lean down," she says. You kneel down so your eye to eye with her as she leans in and gently kisses your nose. She pulls back gently, her cheeks illuminated with rosey-red joy. An involuntary smile curls on your lips as you reach out and gently pull her in.
"Not so fast." She gently bites her lip as she closes her eyes. Moving your hand up her neck to the back of her head, you gently press your lips to hers. With a gentle *swak* she pulls away, her eyes re-open and she giggles. Then, two gentle taps on your shoulder makes you turn. A slight dampness is on your sweater as Cadance looks up.
"I think it's going to-"
Then, the downpour.
The squall began pouring water down on the two of you and causes Cadance to jump. The magical aura around her treat fails as it falls to the ground with a thump.
"What should we do?" you ask.
"The castle's not far! Let's go there," she says, turning and galloping towards the castle in the distance as you look down at your treat, now melting with the water. Goodbye, friend. Chasing after the princess, you toss it in a nearby bin and follow her towards Canterlot Castle.
Cadance leads you into the castle and you follow her through the halls, both of you dripping water onto the marble floors that the maids cast you ugly glances for. Finally, she opens a door and you step inside, shedding your doused sweater and trying to warm up a little.
"So, where's this?" you ask, temporarily blinded as you pull the clothing over your head. It comes up and over your head and your eyes immediately fixate on a large, velvet covered bed.
"My bedroom," she says nonchalantly. You gulp and a shiver runs through your body. "Don't get any bright ideas," she says teasingly. "I had an idea on the way over here." You look at her curiously. "Maybe... a nap?" she asks. A smile curls in a sense of relief and mild disappointment.
"Sounds perfect to me," you answer. Reaches a hoof up to her hair, which hangs limp and wet and looks at it with a sigh. "Here."
Without really thinking, you shed your t-shirt and walk up to her and wrap her hair in your shirt as her eyes open wide in surprise. Yet, she doesn't stop you as you pat her hair dry and you undo the damp blue ribbons. She looks away, a smile curled from ear to ear and her face a bright shade of red. Pulling the, now wet, shirt away, you look at her surprised expression. Looking down at your shirtless body, the pieces add up.
"Oh. Uh. Was that-"
"It's okay," she said a bit too forcefully.
"Alright," you answer, looking down at a wet shirt that you really don't want to put back on. You really should have thought this through. "Do you mind if-"
"It's okay," she repeats.
You chuckle, tossing it over to your sweater as she turns to the bed and crawls up on it. Without a need for an invitation, you crawl up beside her as she curls up and lays down, her head still in the air, watching you. Laying down beside her, you sigh in content as your head hits the pillow. The fabric is soft and warm to your skin and the bed is so much nicer than yours.
"I think I could die in this bed and be totally okay with it," you say as a joke. She chuckles and looks down at you through a damp clump of hair. Reaching up, you take the hair and move it behind one of her ears. She leans into your hand as your fingers brush against it. Gently, you scratch behind her ear as she gently closes her eyes. A gentle hum escapes her lips as her head slowly leans it's way down onto your chest.
Three, two, one, timber.
Her chin lays against your bare chest and you can feel the softness of her fur warm you and the gentle pattern of her breathing. Cadance's mouth slightly opens as you move from one ear to another with a different hand.
"Do you like that?" you ask.
"Y-yeah," she whispers. You chuckle as she gently rubs her face against your chest.
"You're so warm," she says as you use your free hand to stroke her mane.
"It's one of my many super powers," you reply warmly.
"Mmmm. My hero," she says through a giggle. She sighs as you look down at the pink alicorn putty in your hands.
"You're kinda cute, you know that?" you say.
"You're icky and disgusting," she whispers. "Don't change."
"You couldn't get me to if you wanted to, hon."
"Then I think I'll keep you," she whispers. You study the features of her face as her eyes gently open to look into yours. Silence fills the room as it feels the rest of the world fades into black.
You can feel the beating of your two hearts synchronize for just a brief second. Breathing, stress, obligations all disappear with the rest of the other concerns that don't exist outside of this bedroom. In that moment, there is only you and your Cadance. Your hands stop as you peer deep into her soul through her violet gateways. Her head breaks free of your grasp as she moves her body up closer to you and places a hoof on your chest.
She moves her face closer to yours as the two of you close your eyes in unison. Your heart raises to the sky in anticipation and her lips quiver. Lips collide and your souls intertwine.
A hand moves to the back of her head as you lose your fingers in her damp mane. The kiss lasts for what feels like an eternity, but your tongue doesn't move from it's home. This wasn't the kind of kiss that you would suddenly leap upon her afterward. It was as if the two of you were simply expressing to each other a feeling that the two of you didn't have a word that was good enough for.
A feeling of unconditional trust and care. A feeling of total comfort and a connection that couldn't be broken by the largest army or the hardest conflict. A feeling of... love.
Your lips disconnect and the world slowly fades back into existence as she lays her head on your shoulder and you pull her in closer to you. Turning on your side, you wrap your other arm around her and pull her in closer to you.
"You're trouble," she whispers.
"So are you," you answer. She buries her face in your chest as she sighs in content. You listen to the soft rhythm of her breathing as her body becomes more and more relaxed in her arms. Her breathing was soothing and it became slower and slower.
Leaning down, you gently kiss the top of her head and lay your head on one of her pillows that wore her scent of gentle lavender. You feel the lids of your eyes grow heavy, but you attempt to fight it as you try to savor the moment. Moments like these were rare and fleeting. The last thing you wanted was for it to slip through your fingers by falling asleep.
You feel the gentle beating of her heart through her soft fur. This mare is your everything. She made the world seem like a bright and beautiful place when the skies were dark. Your eyes close shut, but you push them back open with all of your might.
A yawn escapes your lips as Cadance snoozes in your arms. She must be fast asleep. Resting your head by hers in a comfortable position, you allow your eyes to close. Since she's asleep... then maybe you can finally say what's been on your mind. You've thought about it for weeks, trying to think of the perfect moment. She may not hear it, but now is the right time.
"I love you, Cadance," you whisper.
The world slowly fades away as sleep works it's way through your system.
"I love you too, Anon," she answers sleepily.
