"Are you sure I look okay?" Eclipse asked his sister, as he looked in the mirror examining his outfit for the evening. "I mean, it's not like I can't clean up and look good… I just…" he sighed at this. "I just want to look good for her, and nobody else. You know what I mean Dawn?"
"Eclipse Lightning," Eclipse twitched at his full name being used. "I can't believe you'd doubt yourself right now. You can race a motorcycle close to 150 miles-per-hour, jump across an incomplete bridge with a passenger… but looking good for a date makes you nervous?"
Eclipse looked at his younger sister with eyes narrowing. He looked back in the mirror as he examined his clothes: black dress pants with black ankle boots, a turquoise dress shirt a shade darker than usual, and a black tie. Sure, he thought he looked nice; he even shaved for the occasion. But still, something was nagging at him. He looked himself over, and then he looked again. He couldn’t place it… but he just thought something was off.
“Look, I don’t know what it is, Dawn,” Eclipse said, looking at his sister in the mirror. “I look nice, I even feel nice… but… something still just feels off. I can’t place it, but I can’t shake it either.” Dawn could see the look in his eyes, and she knew exactly what her brother was feeling and thinking at that moment.
Coming up behind her brother, she placed her hands on his shoulders, looking in the mirror with him. “You know what I see, bro?” Dawn asked, and seeing Eclipse shake his head. “Well, I see a man who has been beaten to the ground, and found the strength in himself and someone else to not just walk again… But to get back on his bike and do what he loves and was born for. A man who has learned that there’s something more than just a trophy and title he wants after a race.” She turned Eclipse around, and placed her hands on his cheeks, looking him dead in the eye. “That’s what I see. You don’t, and that’s okay… but she sees it, and more. And I’m sure that you see something so wonderful and good in her.”
Eclipse could only grin at this, as he brought his hands up to hold his sister’s. If there was anyone that could ease his mind when he was unsure of anything, Solar Dawn was the one to do it. “Thank you, sis… thank you so much.”
Solar Dawn could only laugh as she pulled her hands back and clapped them together. Smiling brightly, she looked her brother up and down and moved to the chest of drawers that was in his room, opening a small box that she had set on it. “She asked me to have this made so that you could have a little bit of her everywhere you went,” Solar Dawn said as she moved back to Eclipse and put a pin on his shirt at the lapel. A pin that depicted a golden and red sun.
“That’s… I… wow…” Eclipse could only stammer as he looked down at it and ran a finger over it. Interestingly, it felt a little warm to the touch; more than it should have from just being handled. “Thank you, Solar Dawn. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, Eclipse Lightning,” Dawn replied, as they moved towards each other to embrace in a hug that was deeper than just their brother and sister relationship. They were that, and each other’s best friend… the other’s caretaker… therapist… and greatest support.
“Well then. I need to head down and get the last preparation ready. Are you gonna be okay here by yourself tonight?” Eclipse asked as both he and Dawn left his room, heading down the stairs into the family room of the house they shared.
“No, I’m having the other girls over after you and Sunset leave. We’re gonna be up watching movies, binging on stuff we shouldn’t eat, drinking wine… and making bets on what will and won’t happen between you and Sunset tonight,” Dawn answered, holding up her fingers as she rattled off her plans, grinning slyly at the last one.
“Bets? Really Dawn? I thought you were better than betting on your brother and his date…”
“I need to have some entertainment at your expense, bro,” Dawn replied while giggling evilly. She soon stopped, and with her hands on her hips, asked a question of her own. “But Eclipse, seriously… why, oh why do you have to take her to a nice restaurant on your motorcycle?”
As Eclipse picked up the keys to a particular motorcycle that he had made sure was tuned to perfection for this night, he laughed softly before looking back at his sister. “Because when I asked her where she’d want to go and how we’d get there, she actually suggested it. And how can I disappoint a lady when she expects me to do something true to my character?”
With that, he went through the door, and into the garage, leaving his sister shaking her head and sighing as she looked at the door. “Still the same as ever, Eclipse…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Hold still… right there…” Rarity said, as she put pins in a bright, turquoise dress that hung on Sunset Shimmer… who was getting uncomfortable and more anxious by the minute. “How much longer Rarity? I mean… yes, it’s a fancy place, but I didn’t need you to make me a new dress… again…”
Pulling the dress off, she handed it back to Rarity, who took it over to her sewing machine to make the alterations she had marked with pins. Sunset moved to put on a robe and sat down as she waited. “Nonsense, darling,” Rarity replied as she moved the dress under the needle. “This is your first, true date, and with the restaurant in question, you need to look perfect for Eclipse.”
Sunset looked over at Rarity, as she expertly made the alterations to the dress, which Sunset had learned was a ‘high-low’ style, with a piece longer in the back than the front of it. “I mean… yeah, he’s taking me to a nice new, two-star restaurant… but don’t you think he’s trying too hard at the same time? I mean… I like being swept off my feet and all… but I don’t need to go where the meal portions are smaller than a bowl of cereal…”
Rarity laughed at this, as she pulled the dress from the sewing machine to inspect the stitching. “Oh, Sunset… you know that Eclipse tries hard at everything he does. Remember that time in the hospital at his physical therapy?” Sunset could only look down as she remembered it clearly. “He deliberately tried to start walking on his own legs without assistance. He wanted to try so hard to prove that he could do it… and I think a small thing that urged him on was you in the end.”
“Really? Only a ‘small thing’?”
Rarity grinned sheepishly at Sunset. “Okay, okay… a big thing…” She came over with the dress, holding it up for Sunset to try on again. “But still, you can’t deny that he truly cares about you and wants to impress you… What’s the name of the restaurant you’re going to again?” Rarity asked as Sunset took off the robe and took the dress to pull it over her head again.
“A new Italian place that opened up a few years ago. Trattoria Crepuscolare I think is its name?”
It was at this that Rarity gasped so loud and long, Sunset swore she’d dislocate her jaw. She didn’t, but what she did do was get so close to Sunset’s face that she could see every little detail of the strokes in Rarity’s makeup. “Trattoria Crepuscolare!? He’s taking you there, Sunset!? You can’t be serious!!” she half shrieked, half yelled, causing Sunset to rub her ears from the high pitch.
“I mean… yeah? Why, what’s the big deal? Is it that good, Rarity?”
“Is it that good, you ask!? It’s phenomenal Italian cuisine!! It’s only been open for five years here in Canterlot City, and it’s already been awarded two golden stars! Most other restaurants wait ten years for that kind of ranking, and at least another ten for the final third star!!” Rarity exclaimed, jumping up and down with unabashed excitement.
While Rarity came down from her excitement-induced high, Sunset was looking down at her bare feet, deep in thought. It’s that good? A two-star restaurant… it doesn’t seem like him at all. I mean, I’m sure the food is good… but why try so hard? He’s already impressed me more than once… so why? Just… why? “Hey, Rarity…” Sunset began, shuffling her feet as she tried to figure out what to say.
“What? Oh! I’m sorry darling… I got so caught up in thinking how romantic Eclipse is trying to be for you tonight hehe!! You don’t know how lucky you really are…”
“Y-yeah…” Sunset replied, sitting on a nearby couch in the boutique. “But… at the same time… I feel that he’s trying far too hard for my sake.”
Rarity sat down next to her friend, holding the dress close in her lap as she looked at Sunset. “Darling, of course, he’s trying. He really likes you… and not just for your looks, or anything superficial either. He really, truly likes you, Sunset Shimmer.”
“I know Rarity, I know,” Sunset sighed, leaning back. “But… how do I tell him this, without hurting his feelings? I… I don’t want to make him hate me…”
Rarity drummed her fingers on her thighs as she tapped her right foot in thought. “Yes, I know… Hmm… Well then, how about this?” Rarity began before turning her head back to Sunset who was now looking her square in the eyes. “If you can see the date going south in any way, or if he begins to mess up somehow, suggest a place that you can both go to be alone. A place that you can help him relax, Sunset.”
A small smile formed on Sunset’s face at this point. Standing to her feet and looking into the mirror, she could see how far she had come… and that in her journey, she had others helping her. Now, she had to help Eclipse on his journey too. Turning to look at the fashionista moving back to her sewing machine, she stood close by, the small smile now bright and radiant. “Well, it so happens, that I do know a place that may help him… because on nights I can’t sleep, it helps me when I go there too,” Sunset said, as Rarity ran the sewing machine to make the proper adjustments she had pinned on the dress.
“Well then, that’s where you take him. Help him relax there, and enjoy the evening together as a lovely little couple,” Rarity replied, almost giggling. Sunset, on the other hand, was making every attempt to not hide her blushing face, for fear of ruining the adjustments that Rarity was making.
“Okay then… ouch, I’ll do that. And please watch where you’re sticking those pins,” Sunset replied, wincing when Rarity mistakenly stuck a pin through the dress.
“Sorry, sorry darling,” Rarity said, standing as she walked around Sunset. “This will be the final adjustments, and then we just need to do your hair. After that, the cards are all yours to play, if you catch my drift.”
“Yes I do, Rarity… yes I do…”