I carefully reviewed my plan for the day yet again. For once, I was feeling nervous. I had one shot at the plan, and it had to go perfectly, or at least pretty well. If it didn't, I knew I would be feeling bad about it for a while.

"You seem nervous," Mei casually noted as I packed a few things up.

"Yeah, I am nervous," I answered, my voice quicker than I wanted it to be. "I mean, everything should be fine. . ."

"Hey, just relax. You'll do alright."

"You're sure?" I asked, looking to her with a frown, shifting my weight uneasily from foot to foot.

"Absolutely! You got this!" Mei assured, grinning at me.

I afforded myself a smile at the words, even though there was still a knot in my stomach. "Thanks. I just hope all the prep stuff works as it should. This isn't the way I usually do things."

"Hey, you've got friends helping you. Very talented friends, I might add." Mei said with an imperious smirk.

I nodded at her, still smiling, but the smile only lasted so long. Eventually it gave way to a sigh as I looked around one more time. "Well, no point in standing around. Better get to it." I picked up Mei and the bundle of things, then went to the hall. Searing, in her unicorn form, was organizing her collection of things again. "Hey, I'm going out for a bit. I'll see you in a couple hours." I told her hurriedly.

"Alright," Searing casually said without looking away from her stuff.

With that done, I went to town, hoping she hadn’t suspected anything.

Stop one was the post office. "Hey, can you deliver this to a couple hours ago?"

"Of course!" Derpy happily said before scrutinizing the envelope I'd given her. "You know what, I'll make this delivery free for you today."

I blinked. "Really?"

"I have a note from earlier today that I don't remember making, so I haven't made it yet. It's a reminder for me to make the delivery free."

"Oh. Well, thank you. Have a good day, Derpy." I tipped an imaginary hat to her.

"You too, Yang." Derpy smiled warmly before she went into the back of the building.

As I left, another Derpy walked into the post office with a warm smile. "Have a good day, Derpy."

"You too, Yang."

Stop two was Sugarcube Corner. "Hi Yang!" Pinkie happily greeted me with a tsunami grade wave. "I have everything ready for you."

"Hey, thanks," I said, gaining a smile. Pinkie always managed to add some joy to my day, even when I was this nervous. "Can you take it somewhere for me?"

"Can I?" She teasingly asked with a smug grin.

"Oh, right.” I chuckled. “It's you, after all, Pinkie.” I shook my head. “I'll need it at Twilight's castle soon. Oh, can you get some stuff from Applejack for me too?" I handed her a slip of paper, upon which was a list of what I needed from the farm mare.

Pinkie accepted the paper. "But of course. It shall be done!" Pinkie said with a mock salute, tail going ramrod straight. I chuckled again as I waved goodbye to her, heading off on my next stop.

I found Rainbow lounging in a tree. "Hey, you are going to help me with the thing, right?"

"Of course I am," Rainbow said with a dismissive hoof wave. "The sky will be clear in time for you. You're lucky there was no other weather scheduled for today."

I looked to the cloud filled sky. "Seems like a big task."

"Yang, I can clear the sky here in ten seconds flat. Twilight can verify that."

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Well, if you say so."

I could feel the rolling of eyes from the mare at my response. “Lighten up, Yang, yeesh.” She waved me off again. “Everything will be fine. Now get going. Don’t you have to talk to Rarity next?”

I frowned as I slowly nodded. “Yeah. See you later then, Rainbow.”

I looked over Rarity's work with a wide smile. "You did a good job on this."

"Why thank you, dear," Rarity gracefully responded. "Are you going to try it on?"

"As much as I'd like to, I can't. Maybe later," I said, shaking my head.

She gave a mock gasp. "You? Turning down a dress you spent hours designing with me? What kind of heresy is this?" I gave her a note and she read it, a grin threatening to split her face open, before it quickly spread across her face. "Ohohohoho! I get it! Don't worry, I will perform my part perfectly."

I gave her a big bag of bits. "I'd like a dark yellow one later on, if you don't mind. Or whatever color you think would go well with it."

"Consider it done. Good luck~!" Rarity sing-songed before letting out an eager titter.

"Thanks," I said gratefully, dipping my head to the mare as I left the boutique for my next destination. As I left, I let out a shaky breath. “Maybe I should visit Fluttershy for a bit…”

"There, there," Fluttershy gently said, rubbing my back with a forehoof. "You'll do fine."

"Thanks, Fluttershy," I said with a still shaky breath as I lay in her feathery embrace. I looked up at her. "I needed that."

"Oh, it was nothing. We all could use a hug now and then." The buttery mare said with an easy smile.

"You're the best at this." I replied, snuggling into part of her soft mane.

"Thank you." Fluttershy said with a warm smile. Sadly, she soon released me. “Now, it’s high time you get going. Much as I’d love to keep comforting you, you’re running low on time.”

I sighed deeply, but nodded all the same. “I know… You’re right.” I slowly stood up, brushing myself off. I turned my head to look at the mare. “...Thanks, Fluttershy. I really appreciate this.”

She waved it off. “Anytime, Yang.”

I managed a smile, then waved goodbye as I left Fluttershy’s domicile.

I nervously fiddled with the front skirt of Victory as I sat and waited in a room I'd reserved in Twilight's castle. I checked everything yet again. The desserts were covered and magically chilled within a metal dome, the meal was nice and warm, the table was set and decorated with unlit candles and flowers, a few simple decorations tastefully kept the walls from being plain and boring, Mei, with a camera in her holographic hand, nodded at me from her spot by the desserts, the crystal deck was clear and clean, and I saw Rainbow zip around to clear out the clouds outside.

Finally, I heard Searing outside the door. "Spike, right?" She sounded both anxious and a bit frustrated.

"The only one!" Spike proudly stated.

"I've been looking all over town for Yang, and I've heard she's here."

I stood by the table and took a calming breath. "Easy does it, easy does it," I quietly said to myself.

I almost drowned out their conversation thanks to me trying to soothe my nerves, before I finally registered Spike’s next words. "Hmm. . . Alright, I'll let you in."

The door opened and Searing entered. As I'd hoped, she was in her human form and wearing the dress I'd had Rarity make, and she was beautiful. The dark red went well with the bright red of her skin, the cutie mark on her collarbone was visible through a sheer mesh, and paired with the asymmetrical neckline, it made a neat mix of showy and modest. The body of the dress fit her very well, and the single color was enough to show off her shape. The asymmetrical skirt came down to her knee on one side and her ankle on the other, and a few thin openings on the sides let some bright red skin show through. Her shoes were simple and tasteful with no heels or anything fancy.

"Hello, Searing," I warmly said after taking a moment to take in her appearance. It felt like my heart was about to melt from the sheer friction created from it’s rapid beats….and maybe a bit of fire magic.

"Yang, what. . ." She looked around as I pulled out a chair for her. "What is this?"

"A date. A nice one. And you look gorgeous." I had a hard time taking my eyes off of her.

The color of her cheeks darkened at my words. It was adorable beyond words."Y-You too." When she was seated, I took my seat across from her. "So. . . Do you mind if I ask why we're on a nice date like this?"

I suddenly realized that I had no idea what to say, and it was difficult to start talking. After swallowing, I managed a start. "Searing, we've been together for a while now and. . . I want to take the step from girlfriends to fiancées." A nervous chuckle escaped my lips. "And. . . Well, what better day than Hearts and Hooves day?"

"That's today?” She blinked, looking to her plate.“...Now it all makes sense." She looked around again. “Still...how much did all this cost? It couldn’t have been cheap.”

"Hey, it's fine." I lit the candles with a brush of my hand. "Let's have a nice lunch, shall we?"

She frowned for a moment, before it slowly gave way to a smile as she rounded her shoulders. “Alright. I guess I can worry about all that after our date is over.”

After lunch, dessert, and some idle chat, we went out to the deck. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" I asked as we leaned on the railing. Before Searing could say anything, I broke down with some snickers. "You know, now that I think about it, this is usually a nighttime kind of scene, not a middle of the day thing."

"I'd have a harder time seeing you in the dark," Searing playfully retorted. "Besides, the sun feels great."

"It certainly does." I held out a hand and started up my music magic. "Shall we?"

Searing looked at my hand, smiled, and accepted it. "We shall."

We started dancing, at my lead. Slowly and a bit awkwardly at first, with both of us stepping on each other’s feet every now and again, but we laughed it off each time. Slowly, however, as the song progressed, our movements became smoother and more fluid. I twirled her a few times, listening with rapt attention to her beautiful laugh as I did. We did a few spins and sashays after that, before we went with some slow dancing. It wasn't long before my lead was lost, however, and we were perfectly synchronized. We moved in perfect harmony with each other, and my magic started looping the song as we lost track of time under the bright blue sky.

A dip brought the song to a close, and we both simply stood there, staring into each other’s eyes like we’d lost ourselves in them. For my part, I’m pretty sure I had. Her eyes were just so...so mystifying.

"I love you, Searing," I softly said as we concluded our dance.

"I love you too, Yang," Searing said just as softly.

Our lips soon met in an embrace. It was a gentle, soft, and passionate kiss that we shared for almost a full minute as I let the music die down. When we broke it, I was feeling really good. "You know, we used to have something good. Now? Now it's even better."

Searing giggled. “Dork.”

“Guilty as charged,” I said with a beaming smile.

We returned to the embrace and simply stayed there.

"This is so sweet!" Princess Cadence said with utter glee as she watched Yang and Searing through a telescope from Canterlot Castle. "And it's about time, too."

"You knew this day was coming, niece," Luna said as she watched through her own telescope. "You've been on enough voyages through the dreamscape with me to know that."

"Don't forget to thank me for helping with this," Discord added as, you guessed it, he watched through his own backwards telescope. "If it weren't for me, Searing would not be there as she is now."

"Yes, yes, thank you Discord," Luna and Cadence said with dismissive hoof waves at the same time.

Celestia looked up from her telescope to her sister, niece, and the chaos spirit. "I don't know why I'm here with you three."

I picked Mei up as we left, my hand clasped with Searing's and big smiles on our faces. At that moment, a zombie outbreak could happen and I wouldn't really care. "Hey, Mei?"

"Yes, Yang?" Mei asked without appearing.

"You got some good pictures, right?"

"Of course I did. I even recorded the whole date so you can get a photo at any angle at any point."

"Let's look at some of the pictures you got." I wandered over to a bench next to a fountain, sat down with Searing, and we started going through the pictures. Oh, so many pictures.

I could hardly keep the smile off my face as she and I looked over each picture fondly. The way she smiled, how she laughed…

...I knew now I had even more to protect.

Author's Note

I would like to thank Timeless Lord Slayer for his help in making this chapter. I wrote it out and he worked his magic to make it so much better.