It's been about two weeks since Sombra was reunited with Celestia. In these two weeks, Twilight and her friends had managed to spread the word that Sombra was a good guy from another kingdom, and not the Sombra the ponies thought. Celestia had gone on several dates with Sombra, but she wasn't satisfied with most of them, basically because of the ponies giving them strange looks or watching everything their beloved Princess was doing with her first coltfriend ever. Their trip to watch the Dazzlings' concert in the alternate Equestria was considered a good date, but still, they hadn't had a lot of privacy. So, this time, Celestia decided to spend their date in a completely different place.

"Um, Celestia? Where are we going? Weren't we supposed to spend our date in the restaurant?" Sombra asked, as Celestia kept leading him through the Everfree Forest.

"Oh, yeah, and have the guards and everypony in the restaurant watching everything we do! No, thanks, I have a better place to spend our date," Celestia replied, pushing a tree branch aside, but it reflected and hit Sombra in the face.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry!"

"I'm fine. But could you please tell me where are we going?"

"You'll find out very soon."

After a few more minutes of trotting among the trees, they finally came into a wide clearing. It wasn't any normal clearing, it was a paradise. There was a waterfall pouring into a small lake, and the lake continued into a river. There were flowers and many strange but beautiful kinds of plants everywhere. The birds were singing, some strange kind of birds Sombra had never seen before. The birds had glowing, blue feathers and extraordinary long tails.

"I used to come here to relax and have a little natural bath in the lake a long time ago," Celestia said. "What do you think?"

"What do I think?! I doubt I'm thinking anymore!" Sombra replied in utter amazement, earning a giggle from Celestia. "This place is fantastic, Celestia!"

"I know. Come on. A roll in the grass will be great!" Celestia galloped, threw herself at the ground, and rolled in the lawn, laughing.

Sombra couldn't believe his eyes. He was so happy to see his marefriend so overjoyed like that, but it was the first time he ever saw her acting that way, so not princess-like, so childish.

"Come on, Sombrero! It won't hurt!" Celestia invited.

Sombra chuckled. "If you're sure it won't hurt, then why not?!" He threw himself at the ground and rolled, and ended up on top of Celestia, their noses touching. They both laughed.

"So, you liked it?" Celestia asked.

"Well, other than the slight dizziness and the feeling that I'm acting like a foal, that was great!" Sombra replied.

Celestia giggled. "There's nothing wrong with acting like a foal from time to time."

"But I think foals don't lay on top of each other this way, do they?"

Celestia shook her head, before she locked lips with Sombra. Their kiss was broken as soon as one of the glowing blue birds stood on Sombra's head and began to sing.

Celestia laughed. "I think he likes you!"

"No, I think he liked the scene of us kissing. You read a lot of romantic stories, little bird?!" Sombra said, making Celestia giggle and causing the bird to sing.

"Here, let me do something." Celestia inched herself from under Sombra and stood up. She stretched her foreleg and allowed the bird to stand on it.

"What will you do?" Sombra asked.

"Just watch." Celestia cleared her throat, then sang in a tone very similar to the bird's; Sombra was amazed. For him, Celestia's singing was much more beautiful than the bird's.

The bird responded to Celestia by singing in a similar way, then picked a long feather from his tail and gave it to her, before he flew away.

"Wow! Celestia, your voice is so beautiful!" Sombra complimented, causing Celestia to blush. "You should really sing more!"

"Y...yeah, the singing princess? Not really."

"Don't care what ponies say about you. Seriously. If you ever want to sing, don't hesitate."

"Thanks!" Celestia smiled with red cheeks.

"So, you convinced that bird to give you a feather?"

"Well, you can say that. But that's not even what I wanted to show you." Celestia held the feather magically, then fired it at the waterfall. The feather exploded with a bright, blue flare, which faded slowly into a wide rainbow across the lake.

Sombra's jaw dropped.

"When you spend years and years relaxing in the same place, you learn some tricks," Celestia said.

"Did you bring me here for a date or to amaze me?!"

Celestia giggled. "Why not both?! And you wanted to spend the date in the restaurant, huh?!"

"Screw the restaurant!" Sombra approached Celestia and kissed her. "But you know what? Anywhere can become a paradise with you around, even the restaurant. I mean, sure, the guards and ponies around us would be annoying, but my paradise, is when you are around."

Celestia blushed so hard. She wanted to scream in joy. "Now, I guess you are the one who reads a lot of romantic stories, right?"

"You got me there!"

They both laughed.

"Now, follow me." Celestia took off her regalia, her shoes, and her crown and stepped slowly into the lake; Sombra stood at the edge of the lake and watched in both shock and admiration as she did so, forgetting she had told him to follow her. He shook his head and chuckled.

"What are you waiting for?!" Celestia called.

"Oh, come on, Celestia! There's no need to get wet!"

"Don't be such a coward!" Celestia swam towards Sombra and wrapped her forelegs around his neck.

"Hey!"

SPLASH!

Sombra was forced to dive in the water. He surfaced and spit the water he had swallowed. "Oh, Celestia! I washed those cloths only yesterday, and now look what happened!" he scolded playfully.

Celestia laughed. "Oh, shut up!" She splashed water in Sombra's face.

"Oh, you wanna play this way?!" Sombra responded with a stronger splash of water.

Celestia decided to cheat and use her magic, launching a gallon of water towards Sombra, but Sombra reacted quickly and launched a gallon of his own. The two gallons of water met midway, spraying water at both of them like rain.

As soon as they stopped laughing, they wrapped their forelegs around each other and shared a passionate kiss. About ten seconds later, Celestia heard a rumbling sound in the bushes. She broke the kiss and glanced behind Sombra.

"Oh, come on! Not now!" she said.

"What is it?" Sombra glanced behind him, and saw a group of Timberwolves approaching them. "Oh, they don't seem friendly."

"Because they are not!" Celestia quickly swam out of the lake, wore her crown, regalia and shoes, and began to fire beams at the wolves.

"Wait for me, Celestia!" Sombra swam out of the lake to joined the fight.

Later, in Ponyville

Celestia and Sombra trotted out of the Everfree Forest, wet and covered with dirt and wooden remains.

"Now...that was insane!" Sombra said happily.

"Sure it was!" Celestia agreed.

As they continued their way, something fell from Sombra's cloths and he immediately levitated it and hid it behind him.

"What was that?" Celestia asked.

"It... It's a..." Sombra sighed. "Listen, I planned this to happen in a restaurant, in a traditional way, but since this crazy date was the best thing I've ever did with you, the traditional ways don't matter anymore." Sombra brought the thing from behind him. It was a golden ring. He levitated it in front of Celestia and bowed. "Princess Celestia, would you marry me?"

Celestia's heart skipped a beat. She took a few moments for her mind to register. Once she became fully aware of the situation, she fought the urge to burst into tears of joy. She quickly threw herself at Sombra, pinning him to the ground.

"YES!" She yelled. "OF COURSE YES!" She slammed her lips at Sombra's, but broke the kiss just a few seconds later, as she stood up and began to hop happily towards Ponyville. "YES! YES! YES! I'M GETTING MARRIED, EVERYPPONY! DID YOU HEAR ME!"

What she didn't know, was that everypony did hear her.

Sombra couldn't do anything but watch and laugh.

Little did they know, that someone with eyes green with envy was watching them.

"Yes, Celestia, I heard you!"

Author's Note

This chapter was edited by Izanagi.
The end of this story is very close, everypony. The final chapter will be either chapter 13 or 14.

Until next time, everypony...

Note #2:

Art by MagnaLuna. Source.