He told the three of them exactly what he did. Their reactions were simultaneous and unanimous:

“YOU WHAT?!”

Seth deadpanned. Perhaps, in hindsight, it was probably best to keep this from the three Crusaders for at least another day or so. But, they probably would’ve found out anyway and likely confronted him about his… endeavors, so it was best to be upfront about it, in his mind.

After getting over the initial, awkward childishness of ascending to a treehouse, he stood before a tribunal of the Crusaders who had varying degrees of humor written on their faces. Sweetie Belle, in the center, seemed to be trying her best to keep her composure but was failing miserably as her lips cracked open with laughter. Scootaloo already succumbed and had buried her face in her hooves.

Apple Bloom was a completely lost cause and had doubled over.

And with that, Seth decided to finally address the point:

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but I did it. It was me, Dio!”

“Huh?”

“N-Nevermind,” he dismissed their immediate questions. “Point being, I’m gonna need your girls’ help…”

The three young mares exchanged mutually confused looks with one another.

“With what?” Scootaloo asked.

Seth could not get a word out before Sweetie Belle cut in:

“Okay look, there’s a lot you don’t know about Schneeblume… and probably some of it for good reason,” she explained with a hint of pity toward the human, which evoked a single, raised eyebrow.

She continued:

“But it’s her job to eventually tell you that if you ever see her again, not ours. So I wouldn’t take the rejection too personally… she’s still been working through some things over the last five years.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded together in sync.

Seth, however, felt his confusion bubble over to a boiling point.

“Oh for… WHAT?!” his tone bade clarification. “You know she said yes, right?”

The sound was vacuumed out of the room, and was only broken by the sound of three sets of mandibles hitting the floor and a resounding, synchronous:

“SHE WHAT?!”

Seth stood there before them… completely straight-faced, as the three Crusaders chose their preferred method of composing themselves. What stood out the most was Sweetie Belle, who promptly threw her head back in rapturous, gut-busting laughter.

And Seth just took it.

...but then again, what could he have possibly done? These young mares were like, fifteen anyway. Not like he could batista bomb them off the side of the tree-house without some Royal Guard running up to him and slandering him as criminal scum.

And all while his thoughts took him into some… admittedly weird territory, Sweetie Belle composed herself and locked eyes back with Seth… who retained his stoicism in the face of ridicule by teenage girls.

Sweetie Belle immediately reared her head back in an even more powerful burst of laughter before she realized that Seth was not playing any games.

“Y...You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Pursing his lips, Seth held his palms out in a half-shrug and nodded.

Apple Bloom cut in after a bit of examination on her part:

“Applejack taught me how to spot a liar a million miles away… and what I’m sure’ve is that this blue-eyed idiot just went and asked out Schneeblume and she actually said yes!”

Seth finally got a word in, exasperated:

“I literally just told you all of this… I mean, why the hell would I be willingly hanging out with three girls—ahem, mares—seven years younger than me?”

He then pointed straight at Apple Bloom.

“I’m still expecting your sister to show up somewhere and kick my ass in my sleep, by the way…” which earned him a few chuckles from the red-maned teen.

And in addressing all three of the Crusaders as an entity, he requested with utmost imploration in his words:

“Point is, girls… I went to get some flowers per Bloom’s recommendation, was stunned silly by this mare and shit-knows-what, and it just felt right to at least try my luck… so I went for it. By some diety’s grace, she said yes! I actually wanna get to know her better and want this to work!

“Help a brother out! How do I not insta-fuck-up with smol Germ—Alemaneian pone when I treat her to lunch this Saturday?”

Scootaloo had something rather immediate to point out:

“Well, you could start by not talking like that for one…”

Sweetie Belle also had her own thoughts to tack right on to Scootaloo’s:

“Serious question, are you actually retarded?”

Seth rolled his eyes and sighed.

“You know, for fifteen year-olds, you throw some gnarly shade… middle school must’ve been a helluva drug for you three.

“But OF COURSE NOT. I only talk so unhinged because we’re all friends… I think? I hope by this point since none of your families wanna kill me after meeting you.”

“Fair ‘nuff,” Apple Bloom added.

Seth decided to add some incentive to his plea:

“Here, tell y’all what: help me out, and I’ll buy you three lunch for your time. Deal?”

Everypony perked up at that mention, and Sweetie Belle shared a wordless glance with both of her friends on either side of her.

“Make it two milkshakes for each of us and then we’ll be talking.”

Seth tersely nodded once without a shred of hesitation.

“Agreed!”

Sweetie then turned to both of her friends, who regarded her with equal measure of mischievousness… which in turn, stirred a sense of unease at the holiest levels inside of Seth. Nothing good came about from multiple girls (and in this case, young mares all the same) scheming together.

She then nodded a couple of times.

“Alright, Seth. Fine. You’ve got yourself a deal. We’ll give you a couple pointers with her that we’ve learned over the years…”

Scootaloo picked up right where she left off:

“Take the advice or don’t. I personally don’t care… but what the three of us do care about, is Schneeblume.”

Apple Bloom flipped her mane out of her face and decided to convey to him exactly what Seth expected they were getting at:

“Pretty much, don’t fuck things up so hard where ya end up hurtin’ her… because if ya hurt Schnee in any way…”

Bloom’s face, along with the rest of the girls’, suddenly became quite dark. Seth subconsciously took a step back before the young Apple finished her conspicuous threat:

“You can expect a visit in the middle of the night… but yer gonnna wish it was from mah sister.”

Seth held both his hands up defensively.

“Hey… totally fair. Best friends and all—I’d kill for them too. But this is exactly why I came to you three. I knew you were some of the best friends to this mare. I don’t want that to happen.”

Apple Bloom nodded thoughtfully, and in looking at her other two closest friends, they appeared to share the same sentiment.

“Alright…” Sweetie Belle said. “So, if you’re gonna take her to lunch, here’s some things we think you should do…”

Saturday had finally come, and as Seth had hoped, it was another warm day with just the right amount of wind spells that produced nary a cloud in the sky. Most ideal for walking somewhere which was the ultimate plan for lunchtime. Excitement had gotten the better of him the previous evening, and he hadn’t been able to sleep much, as a consequence.

That familiar lightness in his stomach that he loved to experience when thrills came about was most prominent, and he hoped it would carry him through the day on his date with Schnee.

Seth resolved to rise around seven in the morning once he realized that a true deep sleep just simply wasn’t going to happen… so instead of moping about, something productive could be done.

A nice, hearty breakfast made from scratch was in the cards, as well as a simple workout routine to get the blood flowing. It was a shame that cell phone service didn’t work in Equestria… yet. He would have so many pictures to send back home to his family and friends to prove that he was being weaned off of fast food binges at lightning speed. No one would believe him without video evidence otherwise.

Seth also decided to take a more ritualistic approach to getting ready, which entailed an almost two-hour shower and a meticulous process in picking his clothes. The latter, he felt, was particularly important—while his first impressions on Schnee appeared to be on the positive side, the first date was another ‘introduction,’ in a sense… and first impressions always last a lifetime.

So, a casual, sky-blue t-shirt and a matching set of blue jeans to match his eye color would work well for the occasion. Nothing too fancy, and wholly inoffensive in his mind. Though to be fair, that was subjective, as most ponies went about their daily business without anything but their own coats, only dressing up for specific events that called for it.

Culture shock, for sure.

And as the final tens of minutes approached zero hour, Seth had to remind himself that this wasn’t a huge ordeal. It was a nice little date that would hopefully lead somewhere more. If it didn’t, then that was perfectly okay, and the next time would be even easier.

What was the worst that could happen?

...other than accidentally insulting the poor Flower Mare, that is. Then inevitably getting his shit kicked out of him by three teenage fillies to the tune of O’ Sole Mio playing in his head.

Seth took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh air that he was in so desperate need of to calm his nerves.

As he meandered his way over to Schnee’s house, he glanced around at the ponies that were out and about on this beautiful weekend. He waved to all of the friends he had made if he happened to see them… which included a select few humans who had also settled in the area.

“It’s gonna be just fine…” he whispered to himself as he rounded the corner to that fateful street.

His eyes were drawn to the same floral display that had attracted him those several days ago. He made a beeline straight for the same white gate that had welcomed him. Despite his best attempts, he felt his heart gorilla smashing against his sternum as the final steps were taken towards Schnee’s mauve-colored front door.

Most of his mental clarity was spent on making sure he didn’t start sweating, because that was no way to begin this… and all the while, just before he made to knock, he reminded himself that he had done this a few times before. This was not his first rodeo with a girl.

Dude. Stop. Relax. Take a deep breath.

You’re fucking zen right now. Plug yourself into the matrix and try not to shit out your own colon… for both of our sakes? Thanks.

Following the advice of his inner voice, he took another deep breath and steadied himself.

“Alright, Seth…” he said whilst running a couple fingers through his hair to ensure order. “First date with a pony… here goes nothing!”

Remember your training, soldier. And remember, no Russian.

Seth raised his right hand to the door and knocked precisely three times… and immediately he silently hoped he didn’t knock too hard, and thus giving some forceful impression. But what if he did? What if he had broken some pony social norms and—

The door unlatched and swung inward.

“Seth!” came an excited, familiar, Germanic voice from within.

Schnee stepped out into the sunlight, which seemed to glint off of her porcelain-white coat. Gone were the accents of some dirt and soil from her flower tending that had provided such an extra pull to her already gorgeous face… and in its place was a completely clean, fresh coat that took Seth’s breath away for the briefest of moments.

If she was gorgeous then… she was absolutely stunning now. Seth’s heart began fluttering to the point of once again gorilla smashing the inside of his ribcage. But his bright smile could not be helped once he lay eyes on her bright, lavender eyes and that beaming smile of Schnee’s own.

“Hi Schnee!” he replied, and at his words, Schnee stood on her hind legs and opened both her front legs for a hug… one which Seth immediately went for.

He embraced Schnee in his arms and felt how soft her coat was… almost exactly like those soft, velvety blankets that he enjoyed bundling himself up with and burying his face it at a department store. He had the strong urge to cuddle at the moment. Further, she smelt—unsurprisingly—of a sweet, floral fragrance. So sweet that it was intoxicating, almost candy-like. It fit her perfectly, in his mind.

Seth separated from her, and Schnee dropped back down to all fours and looked up at him with that same, bright smile… one that was so contagious for him. What’s more, he had just noticed that Schnee had placed a small, blue flower of some kind right above her right ear, and wove it through her mane. It accented that blemishless face of hers perfectly, and Seth already considered himself unimaginably lucky to even score a small lunch date with this mare.

He gestured out beyond the gate.

“Shall we?”

Schneeblume shut the door behind her and stood right next to Seth, nuzzling up once against his leg before nodding up at him.

“Ja! We shall!”

Seth led barely a pace ahead, and they started towards the town once they left the perimeter of her house.

His insides were boiling up, and he felt compelled to mention something to his date with no small bout of awkwardness.

“By the way… I’m sure you get this a lot, but you look absolutely beautiful today.”

He glanced away out of reflex but quickly calmed his nerves when he heard the cutest giggle, as well as witnessing a deeply-blushing Schnee retreat behind her flowing mane.

Schnee met Seth’s gaze with her own with one of her eyes partially obscured by her locks.

“You’re too much, Seth… you know that? Already with the compliments??” she teased in return.

Seth smirked back at her and boldly asked:

“W-Well, is it working?”

Schnee’s cheeks colored again, and the smallest, childlike, scrunched-up grin formed on her lips.

“...Ja…”

Seth gave into the urge to laugh at just how insufferably adorable Schnee was being.

“Well, I’m only telling the truth! Besides, I really like that little flower addition above your ear. Accents your face and eyes perfectly,” he pointed out with his finger and brushed one of the petals of said flower.

Schnee had to stop in her tracks for a moment and run her right hoof over her face whilst laughing uproariously.

“Mein Gott, Seth! Stop it! My coat’s gonna turn red if you keep this up!” she jokingly whined… and then playfully bumped into his leg with her haunches.

Again, that laughter was contagious for Seth and he eagerly joined in.

“Well then, to break away from that, did you have an eating preference?”

Schnee drew her hoof to her chin.

“Ehm… Not really. I’ll eat anything… but you humans are omnivores, ja?” she asked.

Oh. Right. That.

It was Seth’s turn for his reticence to rear its head.

“Does… Does that bother you?” he asked cautiously.

He was startled at how quickly and vehemently Schnee moved to dismiss any notion of his ask.

“NEIN!” she sharply said, but appeared to catch herself.

“Ehm… I mean, no! No, not at all! The griffons and other species that live among us eat meat often. I-It’s quite alright! Everywhere has mostly vegetarian options here… it’s Equestria after all.” she added.

Her smile was as prominent as ever, and a smile like that instantly calmed Seth’s nerves. In the interest of the rest of the day, he figured now would be a good time to put forth a proposal, and one that had no small bearing of influence from his informative talk with the Crusaders.

“Well in that case…” he began, and ran his hand up his left arm for comfort. “Have you been to that one cafe ummm… damn I can’t remember the name.”

He twirled his hand to jog his memory.

“The one that’s by Honeydew’s fruit stand…”

Schnee perked up even more.

“Ahh, the Silver Talon, ja??” she voiced with such excitement. “I love that place, they make the best garden sandwiches in Ponyville in my objective opinion,” she said, and tacked on a mischievous giggle.

HNNNNG.

“Alright! Then it’s off to the Silver Talon for a good lunch, and then afterwards I’m thinking we can get some tea and sit on the park’s edge. How’s that sound?” Seth laid out.

With an open-mouthed smile, Schnee sighed and seemingly regarded him with a much calmer aura. Her eyes appeared to sparkle.

“That sounds lovely, Seth,” she said.

Seth made a massive, highlighted, double-underlined mental note to high-five each of the Crusaders for that suggestion.

With their destination now set, Seth strolled with Schnee at his side, and though there was definitely a little initial awkwardness in regards to bouts of silence between small conversation points, he knew this was to be expected.

What was also a relief to know was that Schnee was apparently one who appreciated lulls in the talking, per the Crusaders. Seth himself could not count the number of times he had hung out with friends, only to just laze around with them and do shit-all, barely saying a few sentences to them over the course of hours.

Mutual silence was wholly underrated, and learning that fact would make things much more pleasurable… at least, that was his hope.

Over the short walk, several small topics came and went, as there really wasn’t enough time to delve into the nitty gritty details about each other… the ones that mattered for any potential start to a relationship. Nevertheless, Seth could not stop smiling, to the point where his cheeks hurt. His fears were slowly melting away and as the worst case scenarios seemingly became less and less likely, his confidence soared. His chest was impossibly light.

And everytime he glanced over and down at Schneeblume, she was smiling even wider than he was… though this was likely due to pony facial structure. He still wasn’t sure how physics allowed for their eyes to get so damn wide and their mouths to sometimes take up three fourths of their faces.

Shit’s straight out of a cartoon, man.

One thing that was constant from the moment they left the mare’s house to the moment they had ordered their food and sat down across from each other at their little table: Seth would always notice her prosthetic… that section of her right hoof of ceramic and some metal.

His human wonder was always present. Small measures of pity washed over him every time he caught a glimpse of it, but he knew for a fact that Schnee would not appreciate such feelings if they weren’t warranted.

“Seth, if I can pivot us for a brief moment…” Schnee voiced, and her previous lightheartedness appeared to evaporate in favor of a much more serious look.

Seth’s attention was garnered immediately.

“Yeah, of course!” he said, and nodded while leaning forward in his chair. With just the look on her face, she had his undivided attention.

“Is something wrong?”

Schneeblume shook her head softly, and the tiniest simper returned to her lips.

“No, but before we go any further, I just wanted to ummm… cover a couple of things.”

Seth silently nodded, and bade her to continue.

Schneeblume glanced away and down for a moment, seemingly collecting her thoughts before she inhaled, steeling herself.

“Well… as I’m sure you’ve already guessed by now, there’s a few important… details about me that you’re not familiar with. I’m not sure what the girls have told you…?”

Seth shook his head.

“They haven’t told me anything private. While they did mention the idea of ‘things you’re working through,’ they didn’t reveal anything, and told me that it was your job to tell me anything you wanted, if you wanted. Not theirs,” he informed.

Schnee let out a deep breath and smiled, placated if only a little bit.

“Wonderful young mares… I don’t know what I’d do without them…” she said, staring into nothing longingly.

She then pivoted back to the conversation at hand:

“Well, I want to give you a little bit of color on those… things. The thing is… I enjoy your company so far, perhaps a little more than I expected by the start of the first date…” she admitted.

Internally, Seth was overjoyed and brimming with excitement. His curiosity, however, had fucktupled in sized at this point, and his desire to know more had intensified.

“The feeling is mutual, Schnee,” he added in with a comforting smile, one which Schnee returned to him.

“Thank you… but in all seriousness, I wanted to sort of… let you know what you’re getting into if we’re to continue after today. Regarding me…”

Seth only nodded again, and in what he considered a brave move, he reached forward and grasped her left hoof on the table in a show of moral support.

He smiled invitingly.

Schnee appeared to sink a little more comfortably in her chair with Seth’s wordless reassurance. She cleared her throat and pursed her lips before raising her right hoof—her ceramic one.

“I’m not blind, Seth… I know you’ve noticed my hoof, ja?” she asked, almost rhetorically.

Before Seth could even respond to that in his defense, if he had been staring or been rude, Schnee immediately added:

“Oh! I’m not mad at your or blaming you for looking, please know that! But it’s often the silent talk of the room…” she said.

Seth nodded twice.

“Yeah, I’ve definitely noticed it… and wondered,” he admitted in kind.

Schnee pursed her lips as she acknowledged his words. Seth’s hand and her hoof were still connected together, and the mare showed no desire to break that hold.

“Well, before I came to Equestria… Before all of this, I ummm… well, I was a soldier,” she admitted with difficulty.

Seth had mild suspicions ever since he laid eyes on her cutie mark when he met her, but he really had no idea what it actually meant by that point. He still was getting used to the whole concept of organic ass tattoos, so it could’ve been some odd form of shitty modern art for all he knew.

It didn’t make it any less surprising, though, considering her character and personality that he knew thus far. Her gentleness and lack of any rough point of her visible personality certainly did not hint towards that.

“Okay,” he said, and simply nodded for her to continue.

“About nine years ago, a war began a continent over, and I fought in it for the entire four years.

“I won’t… well, I have no desire to bore you with the details for lack of better words, but during that war, I did a lot of things I’m not proud of, for lack of better words… things I’m still slowly but surely dealing with to this day. It’s how I met the Crusaders and how they became three of my closest friends,” she explained.

She took a moment, and Seth thought it was a trick of the light when he thought he saw a hint of an obvious emotion reflect off her wide eyes: shame. However, she seemingly built herself back up, and willed herself onward:

“And, as I’m sure you can connect dots pretty well, it’s how I lost my hoof… I actually have more of my leg intact, but it’s just the way this newer prosthetic is fashioned,” Schnee answered the burning question in Seth’s mind, and dangled her ceramic hoof for emphasis.

Seth was not blind to the large measure of pain behind those bright eyes, but he figured that after all these years, time allowed her to finally talk about these things openly, if only somewhat, as she had demonstrated. But internally, he wondered why she would out this so early. This seemed like something that she would keep close to her until he got to know her better.

And yet, it was first date talk.

Hmmm.

Schnee, however, continued on:

“I just wanted to get that out of the way just to, as I said, let you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into so there’s no surprises.”

She quickly added in a sudden, defensive tone:

“I’m still a mare!”

And in what seemed like a defense of her character that Seth had never once called into question, she continued:

“I’m a mare who loves doing mare-y things and dressing up and lots of flowers and has hobbies and interests and anything somepony could want in a mare…

“...I hope,” she continued with direct allusion from her fearful eyes.

“But… I understand the idea of ‘perception.’ I totally get it. I’m still dealing with a lot of relics left behind from the war, and I don’t know how they’d affect you if we were to become involved.

“But in the end, I wanted to give you the chance to… opt out at the end of today if your feelings towards me have changed. I’ll hold no ill will if you wish to not pursue anything anymore.”

Schnee sunk her head lower upon finishing her sentence.

Seth’s heart had ached at this admission, and he couldn’t help but pity her in what she voiced as not exactly being worthy of this kind of affection. The thought never even entered his mind… and the implicit question of “would you really want to date a seasoned combat veteran?” already had and answer in his mind.

And again with no hesitation, he reached forward and grasped Schnee’s other hoof, her right hoof. He closed his fingers around the cool ceramic and felt how contrastingly smooth and pristine it was compared to her left hoof in his left hand… how he could see the reflection of her face at an off-angle on its surface.

Schnee recoiled her face slightly at the gesture, and then regarded Seth questioningly with large eyes. Seth made sure to greet her with soft ones of his own, along with a reassuring upturn of his lips.

“Thanks for letting me know ‘what I’m getting into…’ But I’m more than eager to ‘get into it.’”

Despite holding the same look on his face, internally, bombs were exploding with how terrible choice of words he had.

That’s great, Seth. Drop a sex innuendo before food is served on the first date. Well-fucking-done, lad. Hell I like you. I’ll let you come home and fuck my sister.

Thankfully, it appeared that the demi-goddesses Celestia and Luna were smiling upon him, and Schneeblume perked up enormously, almost about-facing from her previous reticence and cackled heartily.

And while tracing figure-eights on the table with her ceramic hoof, she replied with a now-familiar phrase in her native tongue with her erstwhile teasing allure:

“Lovely choice of words, Seth… but...

“So it seems...”

Seth, however, made good on his mental promise to look up the meaning of that phrase from those days ago, and had formulated an appropriate response with confident, yet admittedly poor pronunciation:

“And it is so.”

Schneeblume’s ears perked up straight at an instant. Her eyes irised open to the point where they could take in all the light of the day. Her perfect teeth were again on display in a smile that would physically maim a human by the sheer happiness radiated.

And she immediately followed it up with an uncontrollable giggle that ended in an accidental snort.

Seth felt like he had about four strokes, three heart attacks, and a bout of ass cancer all at the same time from an adorability injection so powerful, his pancreas was begging for a mercy killing from all the insulin required to prevent his spine from slithering out his anus.

Schnee wiped her right eye and stared back into his with a hum of bliss whilst she leaned forward over the table.

“You really are too much… you know that?”

Converting some of your social awkwardness into confidence. Son, I am proud.

She cleared her throat and had something else to add:

“But…” her voice dipped to barely over a whisper, and she let her bangs obscure part of her lavender pools. “...I’m so happy to hear that, Seth. And for the record?”

In the unspoken game of tit-for-tat, Schnee removed her left hoof from Seth’s hand and placed it atop of his right, which was still cradling her ‘wounded’ hoof.

She ended her mental meandering with a hopeful smile.

“I would love to see where this goes.”

Seth’s face would probably be swollen in the morning from the involuntary grinning. Hearing that from Schnee gave him all the boost he needed.

The butterflies were back with a vengeance of their parents being gunned down in an alleyway, and his heart was playing bongos with his ribs. He suddenly thought of a select few of his friends who weren’t the ‘relationship’ type for whatever reason—and that was totally their prerogative… but he pitied the poor fuckers who would not know such joys as dickhead butterflies and a lightness in the chest so specific as this.

After Schnee poured some measure of her thoughts out before lunch regarding her soldiering past and her hoof, the usual questions regarding family, friends, hobbies, et cetera were tossed about… but in hindsight weren’t really dwelled upon. Lunch was actually eaten in relative silence, but the difference between such an experience now, and any time else that Seth had been privy to silent meals, was that it was comfortable.

Still, many questions swam around in Seth’s mind, mainly about Schneeblume’s time during this ‘Equidae War.’ As he figured he could expect, it certainly left its mark on her…

...but to what degree?

Not that it mattered in the scope of their futures, but he just had a desire to know, and maybe lend a hand wherever he could to make sure Schnee was always smiling. In the end, it further highlighted how much the ponies did have in common with the humans.

[A Couple Hours Later…]

A planned rainstorm for the following day necessitated the weather pegasi (still an odd concept for Seth) to prepare accordingly. In the sky he could spot small specks amongst the blue—teams of ponies moving hulking behemoths of clouds that appeared as popcorn-esque bundles into place, slowly but surely. His eyes always lit up at the scenes, and he remembered watching for hours the first time he ever spotted such controlled weather activity.

It was little different this time, sitting on the edge of Ponyville’s park. One benefit of its placement in the town was that it bordered the lush, expansive, essentially-untouched plains of wild grass… grass that swayed to and fro with the natural, pendulous cadence of the wind’s gentle encouragement. The sounds of nature were aplenty, with the birds chirping infrequently amongst the rustling of the trees attempting to join the choreography of the endless grass. The soft howling of the wind filled in any remaining lack of sound, creating a wondrous bout of music perfectly suited for ASMR.

Any remaining, doubtful nerves were stealthily quashed by nature around them, and the caressing of his cheeks by natures soft, windy hand. His neatly-combed hair—especially so for the occasion—was somewhat disturbed, but Seth hardly afforded this a thought.

Especially since his lovely date Schneeblume was sat flush right next to him.

Seth glanced over and found the very depiction of ‘bliss’ on her face. A gentle smirk rested on her face, and her normally beaming lavender irises were halfway veiled by her eyelids, which drew attention to her gorgeous eyelashes.

A steaming cup of tea rested in the grasp of her left and ceramic hooves, cradled lovingly before she took each and every sip. He would watch her as she would, in her own perfect process, bring the brim of the cup to her muzzle and let the steam waft over her nose. She would softly breathe in the fumes of her fruity tea elixir before she took a drink… then finally exhale, satisfied.

She apparently noticed Seth’s eyes on her, and she met his—her expression unchanged.

But she smiled nonetheless. A hint of blush also made itself known.

“This is lovely…” came her accented words, an accent that had continuously grown on Seth since he met her.

He nodded and stared back at the sea of wild grass that spanned towards the continually cloudening horizing.

“Yeah… I’ve always enjoyed things scenic. Scenic drives, scenic hikes, all of that stuff. A lot of people say it makes for great pictures, which is true, but it always calms me. Made things even better when I came through the portal and realized that your entire planet is just one giant postcard.”

Schneeblume snickered.

“Mmm… ja, I can agree. I’m from Alemaneia, which is a gorgeous land... and there’s few places as beautiful as this country, that’s for sure,” she said. Her blissful smirk creeped wider on her face with nostalgia.

“These plains, especially,” she noted, and gestured outward with her ceramic hoof.

She drew over the horizon.

“These plains specifically remind me so much of my home. In Alemaneia, I was born in the province of Seele, on the southern tips of the country. Right on the border with Prance and Anglomaneia, there’s a massive field full of tall, lush grass and wildflowers as far as the eye can see… tens of miles in every direction,” she brought forth with no small amount of seemingly nostalgic longing in her voice.

She hummed, then nodded.

“Ja… the Seele Plains were always lovely to just walk or frolic in.”

Seth’s own smile widened in direct proportion to Schneeblume’s perceived happiness.

“Sounds gorgeous,” Seth softly voiced. “Sure sounds like there’s a lot of good memories with Seele, huh?”

Schnee’s response did not come immediately, though Schneeblume’s expression never waned. He saw her continue to stare into the Ponyville Plains, though with a very detectable measure of something on her mind.

Nevertheless, she turned back towards him with a warm smile.

“Mostly good memories…”

She faced forward again and exhaled.

“Ja. Mostly.”

Silence fell upon the duo again, and with how close they sat together, Seth had a strong urge to try and wrap his arm around the happy mare. A feeling of stupidity boiled up inside him, as he suddenly felt like he was back in high school with his first girlfriend and the goddamn movies. The sudden thought of him trying his favorite trick (that actually worked, he reminded himself) surfaced in his mind:

Hey, one time I went fishing, and I caught a fish that was thiiiiiiiiis big.

And he used that as an excuse to put the arm around the girl. She nearly died laughing but it worked all the same.

That pool of consideration dried up when—most unexpected for Seth—Schneeblume instead leaned comfortably into him, letting her body slacken against his rigid form. A startled seth peered down and found Schnee resting her eyes with that same, godforsaken, cute slit of a smile on her face.

There was probably more strain on his heart at this point by sheer way of cuteness than he would ever receive with the harshest PT in basic training.

“Hmmm… again, this is lovely,” Schneeblume spoke barely above a whisper.

She then opened her eyes and angled her head upward to meet Seth’s soft gaze.

“Thank you so much for today, Seth.”

He wrapped his right arm around Schnee without any flair or terrible excuse, and held her closely against him… a gesture she seemed to melt into. Seth began to run a couple fingers through her coat on her upper front leg out of habit.

But hearing the way Schnee spoke those words to him truly warmed his heart on a day that was becoming progressively chillier by the minute. His stomach was as light as the vestiges of the clouds that began floating above them.

This was a success, and Seth—with a dopey grin on his face as he held a gorgeous mare against his side that he figured he didn’t have a chance in hell with at the start—could not have been happier with how the day had gone. And with what Schneeblume had revealed to him earlier, perhaps as they got closer, she would open up to him more about her past?

But, that wasn’t for today. Today was only a drop in the bucket of getting to know one another—the personality test of dating was successfully completed.

The near future seemed that much brighter.

You did it! You son of a bitch you actually did it! Now try not to fuck it up so quickly, aye?

“The pleasure was all mine, I assure you.”

Author's Note

The madman actually did it! Let's see how this goes! And let's see how much Schnee opens up to him in the future.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, cover art was updated with blushhhh