Cobalt eventually managed to coax Dawn out of their embrace with calming words and promises that he would let her hug him whenever she wanted to. She still spent a couple minutes hiding behind her mane, trying to keep her emotions in check.

The pair were now carefully making their way to the little coffee shop where they had decided to share a drink together, the walk from the magical sciences building to the squat, domed building seemed to take aeons. There were an endless amount of ponies between the tall archaic building that Dawn and Cobalt sat most of their lessons and their destination. The simple task of trotting across the road and between a couple buildings seemed insurmountable.

“One… large frappuccino for me,” Cobalt ordered the barista when they arrived, “And for you Dawn?”

“Hot chocolate… all the toppings on it but no cinnamon.” Dawn murmured, still trying to fight back her blush that she was essentially going on a date… “Please.” She corrected herself a moment later.

The barista nodded. “Six fifty.” She said in an bored monotone before turning and beginning to get out cups, giving Cobalt time to fish out the bits.

Dawn tried offering her own bits to Cobalt to cover the cost of her drink, the stallion politely declined them saying it was his treat for her. All the while he was wearing an adorable, dopey smile that he could barely hide from his little friend. Dawn quietly pushed her bits back into her purse and slipped it into her bags when she worked out that he wasn’t going to let her pay for it.

Five minutes of the barista pratting about with the coffee machines, Dawn was sitting opposite to Cobalt on a secluded table at the back of the little café. The little mare was doing quite well, hiding behind her mountain of cream and other decorations foaming out of her mug while Cobalt was trying his best not to comment on how cute she looked when she was embarrassed.

After the pair had finished most of their drinks, Cobalt decided to try and strike up a conversation with Dawn, “You feeling better now Dawn?” He asked her, the concerned note in his voice too obvious.

Dawn nodded in reply, she was feeling much better now she was out of that Celestia-forsaken room and somewhere warm and comforting with someone that made her feel warm and comfortable. “An-And you? You were a real hero back in there.” She asked him in a low whisper.

“Yeah, I’m feeling better… I think adrenaline kicked in and I just… acted.” He replied, trying to swallow his pride at essentially saving Dawn’s life.

Dawn smiled, “Thanks for saving me, I couldn’t really say thanks earlier...” She looked at him over her mug before taking another sip of the warm chocolaty concoction, feeling the warmth spread to the tips of her wings.

Now it was Cobalt’s turn to go red, “Well it wasn’t really much, you were in danger so I saved you, simple really.” he said without really thinking, dropping his eyes as his cheeks started to redden.

Dawn looked at the furiously blushing stallion, he was obviously hiding something. She wasn’t sure whether she was going to ask him what it was so she took another gentle sip from her mug, letting the warm drink flow down her.

Cobalt took a few moments to compose himself before draining his cup and placing it down on his saucer and breathing out and working his jaw. He wanted to ask Dawn out, properly ask her out for a nice meal somewhere and maybe go to the cinema and watch a film of her choosing, but after what had happened today, Cobalt didn’t think this was the time or the place for that anymore.

They sat together, each of them actively seeking eye contact but shying away at the last moment. This went on in complete silence for an agonisingly long time for the pair before finally Dawn broke, she looked up at the idyllic stallion sitting in front of her and finally made proper eye contact, her cheeks flushed deeply as she finally wrestled her shaking nerves, then she asked a fatal question of Cobalt, “D-Do you like me?”

Cobalt looked like he had been struck, his cheeks flushed deeper than ever as he lowered his gaze and nodded ever so slightly like a little foal that just got caught red hooved sneaking into the cookie jar. “Y-Yeah, I um… I guess I do.” He mumbled, slowly looking up at the small mare.

Dawn was shocked with herself, where the hay did that come from, she never asked anyone anything like that at all! And why was his blush so cute and… she hesitated in her thoughts… Moonlight Dawn, introverted, socially outcast, tiny Dawn liked the stallion sitting in front of her… and she liked him alot.

Dawn felt her cheeks glowing as she studied Cobalt’s embarrassed face, his eyes were flitting all over the place and his cheeks were redder than her’s. “I… I, I think…” Dawn began, trying to put her words in a meaningful order, “I think… I like you.” She mumbled, trying to tear her eyes off the embarrassed colt sitting in front of her.

Cobalt, still blushing lowered his head and floated out a pen before writing something on a napkin and sliding it towards Dawn, ‘Want to go and get food sometime, maybe see a movie?’ he had written in his small, neat writing. Dawn smiled and stifled a small giggle, pulling out a pen of her own and turning the tissue over, ‘sure, just tell me when and where.’ she wrote back in her rather untidy mouth writing.

She slid the paper back over to Cobalt, eliciting a small squeak of happiness from the blue stallion and making her smile. Dawn was quite surprised when he stood up and walked around the table to face her.

“Can I have a hug?” Cobalt asked endearingly, standing close to Dawn. She nodded and smiled, letting him advance and take her into a tight embrace. She nuzzled into his shoulder and hugged him back, grasping his back tight with her forehooves. “I don’t think you’d let me kiss you yet, would you?”

Dawn shook her head silently, still happily nuzzling the stallion’s fur.

“Didn’t think so.” He murmured, feeling Dawn’s muzzle gently rubbing against his shoulder.

They broke apart after a couple moments, Dawn sadly letting the colt go. He stood up and went back to his seat, plonking himself down and gazing at her, love in his green eyes.

“I guess that seals it then.” Cobalt said after a hesitant pause, “You and me are a thing.”

Dawn balked at that and squeaked, her wings springing up defensively around her, hiding her blushing face and making Cobalt chuckle.

“You’re cute when you do that.” He tittered, making Dawn hide behind her mane too. “For our… Day out. How about this weekend, we’ll go and find somewhere to eat then go see a film of your choice?”

Dawn nodded.

Cobalt smiled, “Where you heading after we go our separate ways?”

“Home.” Dawn squeaked, managing to come out from behind her wings just enough for Cobalt to see her glowing cheeks.

“I’ll walk you home?” He asked her hopefully, “I’d be honoured.”

Dawn sank lower into her feathers, then nodded, “Y-y-y-yes… I-I think I’d like that.” She murmured after a moment.

Cobalt beamed and adorably clapped his hooves together like a foal getting given a new toy. “Yay!”

--==========================--

The street lamps had flickered on by the time Dawn and Cobalt had left the college campus, they were walking along a path striped with light like a zebra’s hide. They’d spent much longer together than they had first expected to, Dawn had been apprehensive about Cobalt at first, but she had quickly warmed to his occasional compliments and nearly constant attention. After the ninth little shoulder nuzzle from the overexcited colt, Dawn had asked him to let up a little. She was all for having the occasional snuggle, but not constant, non stop cuddling.

The pair had spent a little while in the bookshop together, Pages keeping a keen eye on the pair, her elderly eyes letting her know instantly that the pair were a little more than just friends. They hadn’t bought anything when they left, but they’d learned a little about each other, for example, Dawn spent hours in here reading and was best friends with the old mare Pages and Cobalt was a sucker for mystery novels and low fantasy.

Now they were just walking together closely, enjoying companionable silence only broken by the occasional bird and the sound of their hooves clopping against the pavement. Dawn directed Cobalt round the corner to her house, stopping before they got close enough to be seen.

“I guess this is goodnight then?” Cobalt murmured, maybe a little sadly.

Dawn felt pity for the stallion being upset she was leaving, “Y-Yeah, I guess.” she purred to him.

Cobalt looked down, almost embarrassed, “I must confess, I was looking things up earlier… and um… we’re meant to have a small kiss goodnight, meant to be healthy for a relationship…” Cobalt said, a little sheepish.

Dawn blushed, then gave him a small smile and offered him her flushed cheek which he kissed gently, although it was a little clumsily, it was obviously his first time trying to kiss a mare.

“Goodnight Cobalt, speak to you soon.” Dawn purred at him, nuzzling his shoulder.

“G-Goodnight Dawn, see ya’ later.” He said quietly as Dawn turned around and started walking towards her house away from him.

--==========================--

Dawn went in and was thankful to find that Quizzy was out somewhere, her father was in his workshop messing about with some piece of delicate machinery so she poked her nose into the garage and said hello to him. She received a dismissive greeting from him in return and decided to retreat from the room before he asked Dawn how her day was.

She walked upstairs quickly, feeling her cheeks burning brightly before she slung her bags into her bedroom and went into the bathroom.

She splashed cold water in her face, trying to rid her head of Cobalt’s handsome smile and that cute way he pushed his glasses up his nose every couple of minutes. He had kissed her! Dawn checked her reflection in the mirror to make sure he hadn’t left any marks on her coat and breathed out when she had confirmed that her dyed fur was spotless.

Sitting down at her desk, Dawn pulled out her phone and checked her messages, seeing a couple notifications, one from her phone company and two from Legacy.

Dawn’s friend had sent her a line of grinning emoticons before she had sent Dawn a picture of the blushing grey pegasus gazing at Cobalt.

“Legacy you… I don’t even know.” Dawn grumbled, tossing her phone onto her desk and flopping down on her bed. Dawn had work she needed to be doing, but right now she didn’t want to get on with it, she just wanted to climb into her bed and curl up.

She curled under her covers, still trying to work out her feelings before her phone buzzed again. Dawn groaned and felt around on her desk for it, eventually grabbing it and clicking the screen with her hoof, it was a message from Legacy again.

‘I’m proud of you Pegasister.’ The text read, Dawn couldn’t help but roll her eyes and smile at the nickname, she typed out a few draft messages trying to explain that she didn’t really know what she was doing before she settled on a simple, ‘thanks Legacy’ to her friend.

Dawn flicked her phone onto flight mode and plugged it in so she wouldn’t be bothered by any more random embarrassing messages from her friend. Dragging herself out from under her covers, she hammered the spacebar on her computer and watched the ring spinning on her black screen as her computer slowly woke up.

She waited a couple moments while the fans whirred a quiet harmony before the screen lit up, demanding a password. Dawn tapped in the little phrase she used as her password before she set about finishing an essay due in for the next week.

Author's Note

AAAAA this was hard to write, I'm not good at writing romance stuff, I am trying not to make Dawn and Cobalt's relationship such a major plot point (yes, it is important so I'm not going to just leave it alone)
But I really need to get Dawn into the Dreamguard before this ends up being some sort of college romance. Now I'm not at all ripping on University Days, (loved that story) But I must confess, that was not at all what I was going for here, this is a lighthearted story about the Dreamguard and their youngest member.

And as always, happy reading!