The Last Mage

**Chapter 17:

Enter Romance**

I finally began to come to an unspecified amount of time later. The first thing I noticed was the feeling of something warm and fuzzy wrapped around my right arm. I opened my eyes, which led to the second thing that I noticed: I was in a hospital room. However I didn't feel injured. Magic? Probably. Then there was the third thing. That warm and fuzzy thing wrapped around my arm? It was Twilight. And she looked like she had been crying. I mentally smacked myself a few times. I'm a fucking idiot. I made her cry. And now I feel like a complete asshole. I decided not to wake her. I had no indicator of how long I was out, so she could very well have been awake for quite a while. However, my plan amounted to nothing as, when I tried to sit up a bit, my shifting caused Twilight to stir. She blinked a bit before looking over and seeing that I was awake.

“You're okay!” she shouted before jumping and wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me, as she began to sob again. “I-I was so worried, the doctor said you'd be okay, but – but I just felt like I might lose you! I just-” she never finished as she kissed me. Yep, kissed me. On the lips, still crying, holding on like I was the only thing keeping her from flying away. I just sat there in shock, and before I could continue she realized what she was doing and jumped back, sobbing all the more strongly.

“Twilight...” I began.

“I-I'm sorry! Oh you must hate me now, I'm sorry I just couldn't control myself, I was just so scared and I missed you! Oh please don't hate me!” she begged. She was freaking out, afraid that I would hate her... for kissing me? I didn't think before I spoke and just let my heart guide me. Or rather the Love Doomstone.

“Twilight,” I said, gently taking her face in my hand and making her look at me. “Was that your first kiss?” I asked her. She nodded and I smiled. “Well that makes two of us then.” she looked shocked at what I had said before I pulled her into a hug.

“Y-you don't hate me?” she asked.

“Twilight, I could never hate you. And in all  honesty? I've kinda had feelings for you for a while.” I said, pulling out of the hug and blushing. Great, now I'm going to start imitating a tomato.

“Oh, really? Well, uh, same here.” she said with a blush of her own.

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure the whole first kiss thing was an indicator of that.” I said with what could be described as a cheeky grin. She smiled back at me, her tears having stopped.

“Speaking of which, what did you mean by 'that makes two of us'?” she asked.

“Oh, uhh, well I've never kissed a girl before that.” I said, blushing even more due to the drastic increase in embarrassment levels. She smiled sheepishly at me.

“Sooo, how long have I been here?” I asked, trying to avoid more awkward.

“About two hours. After you passed out mom brought you here personally.” she answered.

“Mom? Oh, right I forgot about that for a second there.” I said, truly having forgot about Celestia's relationship with Twilight.

“Yeah. Everypony else went to get something to eat after the doctor said you would be okay.” she told me.

“Well, that's good. Um, Twilight, now that our feelings about each other are out, would you like to, uh, maybe, go out for dinner?” I asked, almost slipping into an impression of Fluttershy.

“I would love to.” she answered, hugging me once again.

“Really? I was afraid you would say no. And now I'm afraid of how Celestia will react once she finds out.” I said.

“The funny thing is, for once I'm not worried about what she'll think. I'm just happy to finally find somepony to care about me.” Twilight mumbled into my shoulder before drawing back. She leaned forward and kissed me again. And this time I kissed back. And it was great. Up until the girls and Celestia came in.

“Twilight we're – oh my.” Said Celestia.

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Author's Note:

Sorry it's so short, but it's almost 3 am and I'm tired. Also: this is pretty much just a sparking chapter, where I finally introduce romance. Twilight already developed feelings for him previously and this near death situation pushed her to the point where she just broke down and admitted it. No species based issues here! There will be no romance with others and chapter 19 or so should be the chapter involving their first date, where thing that caused the feelings are outlined a bit more. Some will not have been in previous chapters. Enjoy little mortals!