Knuckles woke up the next morning and stretched his arm muscles to start his day. He did all of his morning chores for the day and headed out to Ponyville in his aerial vehicle. After about an hour and a half, he landed in Ponyville and walked towards the castle. He had been doing this for several months now and he has made decent progress since he first started, but there were still some things that he had to work on. For one, he still definitely lacked in the social skills that were necessary. Sure, he could talk to others, but he would talk about the most random things ever and most wouldn't be able to understand what he was trying to say. You would have thought the guy was autistic or something.

The other thing is he's been acting quite strange around Twilight. Ponies have started to notice, but none of them wanted to say anything because they didn't want to get their tail beat. They figured that it was probably some sort of personal issue, so they stayed quiet and not get involved. Knuckles could tell that they all noticed, but he felt some sense of relief that they didn't say anything. However, it made him frustrated because he wanted to talk to someone about it, but he couldn't because of how embarrassing it sounded.

Even Twilight's friends could notice that something strange was happening with Knuckles, but they knew better to say anything because he would be set off by that. He would get incredibly offended and act with aggression towards them, which they had already witnessed the worst of it, so they did everything they could to avoid that again. Knuckles had no idea what he was supposed to do and thinking about it made him angrier by the minute.

This was one of those instances where he wished Maddi was here, but there was nothing he could do about it since nothing he did could ever bring her back no matter how hard he tried. Also, if she were alive, he wouldn't even be pursuing Twilight, but since she was dead, he guessed that it was different.

He walked through Ponyville and headed down to the Saddle River that was right outside of town. He sat down and thought about life. It definitely wasn't easy these days and he was only getting more frustrated with this issue about Twilight. Should he even tell her how he feels? Would she even feel the same way? Would she find him weird for telling her that? Would they even be friends anymore? How could he ever handle the attention he gotten?

All of these thoughts circulated through Knuckles' head and he didn't know how to properly deal with it. Twilight had come up behind him and asked "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

That had startled Knuckles and he was ready to attack, but when he saw it was just Twilight, he calmed down and lowered his fists. He sighed and said "Don't do that. I have no idea if you were an enemy or not, so you should better than to sneak up on me like that. I could accidentally take you out in two seconds without even realizing it."

Twilight said "My apologies, but I was curious to see why you were out here by yourself. Usually, you would at least stop by my castle before you spend any time alone here in Ponyville."

Knuckles said "Why does it matter? If I feel like I need some time to myself before we embark on friendship tasks, then it is fully within my right to do so. I only agreed to do this so that I wouldn't have to sit in federal prison for the next 40 years rotting away. So, forgive me if I need some time to collect my thoughts before we do anything."

Twilight said "It's fine to do so, but you shouldn't be doing this just so that you could stay out of prison and instead be doing it because you want to. Of course, I can't force that decision on you, but I would strongly encourage you to do so. I can only hope that you would listen to my advice because I believe it would help you in the long run."

Knuckles sighed and said "What is the friendship lesson we have to do today?" He got up and followed Twilight right behind him to see what the day had in store for him.

Some time had passed by and Knuckles was nowhere to be seen in Ponyville. The first few days, Twilight thought he must have gotten busy and couldn't make it, but that eventually turned into weeks and that got Twilight concerned. She wasn't going to jump to the conclusion that he was actively trying to hide from friendship lessons, but she did want to know what was going on.

She made the trip to Baltimare and went up to Knuckles' house. She knocked on the door and his butler Reginald had answered it. He greeted her and she said that she wanted to be taken to Knuckles. Reginald said he would do so and he led her up the stairs to where his Master was at.

Knuckles was busy working on the computer in his office and he was trying to get this project done before the end of the week. He heard a knock on the door and he said "Who is it?"

Reginald said "It is me, Master Caleb."

Knuckles thought it was okay for him to come in and he said "Come in." Reginald opened the door and Twilight followed right behind him. That confused Knuckles a bit and he asked his butler sarcastically "So what, now you're just going to let whoever in without my permission?! Good grief."

Reginald gave him a deadpan stare and said "I understand that you are my boss, Master Caleb, but I can make rational decisions on my own."

Knuckles was having none of it and said "I AM your Master, so I expect you don't disrespect me by talking back. Know that I was the one that gave you food, water, shelter, and a job when no one else did, so don't ever talk like that to me again. Now get out. I have business to finish."

Reginald sighed and said "Of course, Master Caleb." He walked out and shut the door.

Twilight couldn't believe what she was seeing and asked with anger "Why would you treat your Butler so horribly? He might be your employee, but you should still treat him with respect!"

Knuckles glared at her and said "Mind your own d[BLEEP] business! I expect nothing but respect from anyone who serves under me and those who dare to talk back to me like that have none, so as a result, they must be punished."

Twilight glared right back and said "That doesn't mean you don't treat him with respect! In case you forgot, respect is a two way street. If you want others to respect you, you have to respect them."

Knuckles had enough and said "I'm not having this conversation anymore. You clearly don't understand the way of the tribe and I'm not going to waste my time or breath arguing with a princess about it. Now, why are you even here?"

Twilight said "Well, to answer your very rude question, I noticed that you had been gone for a few weeks and I started to get worried about what was happening, so I came to investigate."

Knuckles said plainly "I've been busy with work." He then returned to his computer and continued to type.

Twilight said "You could have at least given me a heads up or something." Knuckles just said uh-huh and kept typing. Twilight was not appreciating the lack of attention Knuckles was giving her, so she closed his laptop and looked at him with a hard stare.

Knuckles let out a frustrated sigh and looked up at Twilight. He said "Can't you see I'm busy with work at the moment? What is it that you wanted me to do anyway? It's not like we have cell phones here in Equestria where we can send text messages to each other."

Twilight sighed and said "I want to know what is going on with you."

Knuckles raised a brow and asked "What exactly do you mean?"

Twilight said "You've been avoiding me for a few weeks, you have stayed very quiet, acted very strange around most ponies, and you're more irritated now than you were two months ago. So what's going on?"

Knuckles denied it and said "Nothing is going on. Everything is perfectly fine."

Twilight was not taking that for an answer and said "Everything is not fine! There is something going on with you and I want to know. You can't expect me to help you if you don't tell me what's going on. I can't read minds."

Knuckles gave her a hard stare and said "I know that. I'm not stupid."

Twilight said "Then why aren't you telling me what is going on?"

Knuckles denied it again and said "I told you already, nothing is going on."

Twilight was getting fed up and said "Stop lying to me! Just tell me what is going on! I don't understand why you keep hiding it!"

Knuckles had enough and shouted "I like you, okay?!"

That caused dead silence in the room and Twilight asked with confusion "What?"

Knuckles sighed and said "I said I liked you. Not just in a friendship sense, but also in a romantic way as well. I don't know how I feel this way, why I feel this way, or where this feeling came from. I shouldn't feel this way at all, but it's been tearing me up on the inside and I can't keep it in anymore."

Twilight didn't know what to say and she said with hope "Do you really mean that?"

Knuckles nodded nervously and he said "I do. If I was lying, I wouldn't tell you. But it's not like it would work anyway."

Twilight was confused by that and said "How come?"

Knuckles said "Well for one, I'm a simple commoner that has a sh[BLEEP]y life for my entire existence and you're a princess of Equestria. If ponies found out that I was together with a princess, I would be on the front page of every single newspaper publication out there. I couldn't handle all that attention. I don't really deserve you anyway. You have had everything good for most of your life while I had to scrape the bottom feeder in order to climb to the top where I am now."

Twilight looked at him with compassion and said "Knuckles, nothing should worry you. I never thought that you would even consider something like this, but fate seemed to have other ideas. It seemed like I would lose a friend just a few short months ago and now I have gained a potential partner. I am beyond words on what to say. on how much that means to me."

Knuckles sighed and said "But I feel like this would be dishonoring Maddi. I had vowed to stay single for the rest of my life after she died, but now, it all seemed to change. I just don't know if I can do that to her like that."

Twilight put her hoof on his left shoulder and said "Knuckles, ponies or in this case humans, get another partner after their previous one had passed away all the time. There's nothing to worry about all of that. I'm sure that Maddi would be just fine with it and you'll always carry on her legacy. She will always be with you wherever you go."

Knuckles said "Yeah, but would it even make any logical sense for me to be with you? It's like a demon chasing after an angel. I don't feel worthy of dating a princess after everything I had done to you and your friends."

Twilight smiled and said "I don't care what happened in your past. None of that matters to me. I am perfectly capable of choosing whoever I want to be with and you're the one I want to be with. I know I will probably never replace Maddi, but I will try my best to always be there for you and never leave or abandon you."

The room got quite silent and neither of them said a word, but they were inching closer to one another. They were in centimeters of each other's faces and the two eventually connected their lips together for a kiss. It wasn't the most passionate nor was it super light, but just one that showed that they cared about one another. They eventually broke away and the two were left speechless.

Knuckles cleared his throat and said "Just to be clear, this is a super private thing between you and me and NO ONE must find out at least for right now. That includes your friends as well. I know you so desperately want to tell your friends, but I'm worried that your pink friend would go tell all of Ponyville which would eventually to spread to all of Equestria. So if you can not tell them that for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, there will be no affection out in public. No kissing, no hugging, no pecks on the cheek, none of that. I don't want to be raising suspicion. It makes me uncomfortable and I don't want to have to deal with it right now. For dates, I would want it somewhere private like your castle or my house where no one could see us. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Twilight said "I can do that for you. I won't tell anypony. I'll even Pinkie Promise on it. Cross my heart, hope to fly and stick a cupcake in my eye. I'll do whatever it takes to make you comfortable."

Knuckles said "Thank you. Now, first date, my house on Saturday?"

Twilight smiled and said "Of course. I would love to do that."

Knuckles grinned and said "Great. Make sure you bring your best outfit. It might not be a fancy restaurant, but we can certainly dress like it!"

Twilight giggled and said "I'll make sure to wear my best outfit. See you Saturday?"

Knuckles said "I will see you Saturday." Twilight left the mansion and headed back home to Ponyville. Knuckles was still trying to take it all in and he was amazed that things turned so quickly. One moment, they were at each other's throat's and the other, they were talking about dates at his house. It was crazy how that worked. He was happy that he finally got it off his chest, but there was obviously still a lot to be done here. He could only hope that no one would ever find out about him being with Twilight or else he'll never have privacy again.

A few days passed and Saturday had come. Twilight had made it to Brody Island and she knocked on the door. Knuckles had opened it and he was wearing a full fledged suit. He noticed the dress Twilight had on and he was blown away. He said "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you would bring your best outfit. Anyway, come out back to the backyard."

Twilight followed him to the backyard and she saw a table already set up outside right next to the football field and there were lights everywhere hanging down to create that "romantic" environment that most go for. Knuckles twiddled his thumbs and said "Do you like it?"

Twilight smiled and said "I think it's perfect. You did just fine on this."

Knuckles let out a sigh of relief and said "Alright, let's eat then." He pulled out the chair for Twilight and did the hand gesture for her to sit down. She sat down and he pushed in the chair for her. She thanked him for doing that and Knuckles said it was no problem. He sat down and scooted his chair in as well. The two began eating and talking about whatever, pretty much having casual conversation.

They talked about things that annoyed them in life, what they liked most in life, and what they found strange about it. It went on for about three hours and after finishing their dinner and dessert, they were definitely tired out from this. Twilight was curious about something and asked Knuckles "How were you able to afford everything that you have here? Surely, it must have cost a lot of bits."

Knuckles shrugged and said "I honestly have no idea. Not even my previous job at the Pentagon would be able to pay for all this I have here. It doesn't really cost much to live here in the city of Baltimare, but with what I am living in which caused the personal property taxes to skyrocket so much, it has made it so expensive to live here with the high income taxes. It's not like I'm making loads of money either. Sure, I'm making enough to pay the bills every month, but I'm not flowing with cash to where I can buy a private yacht or jet or one of those super expensive items."

Twilight said "I see. Well, I think you are very fortunate to be able to afford this, and it's a lot to take care of."

Knuckles nodded and said "Yeah, I am very blessed to have this and I always make sure to take good care of it whenever I can. I know this might sound strange, but how about you stay here for the night? I have plenty of room in my house and it's quite late. Of course, it is 9:00, but the last train for the day left an hour ago, so you wouldn't be able to make it home really. You can just stay the night here and then catch the first train back to Ponyville tomorrow morning. What do you say?"

Twilight thought about it and said "I think that is a good idea. I would want to go home, but the train is really my only way home. I could teleport all the way over there, but that is very long range for me and I haven't been the best at it and it's too far for me to fly back, so this is the best option."

Knuckles was satisfied with that and lead Twilight to her room for the night. He said "Here is your room that you can stay in for the night. Bathroom is to your right, closet is next to it and the bed is to the left. My bedroom is down the hall, so if you need anything, let me know."

Twilight said "Thank you. I had fun tonight spending time with you."

Knuckles chuckled a bit and said "I enjoyed it too. Anyway, have a good night. I'll see you in the morning."

Twilight said to him "Good night, Knuckles." She shut the door and Knuckles walked away. He walked back up to his office to work on a last few minute things before he headed to bed and he reclined in the chair.

He said "Talk about a crazy night. I honestly did not expect it to go so well, but maybe things will turn out for the better. If the timing is right, she could eventually have the opportunity to learn about the Master Diamond, but that will take time. Let's hope things continue to head in the right direction."

He finished up his work and he headed to his bedroom to get some sleep. He stretched his muscles and then got into the bed. He made sure to adjust his body so he was properly comfortable and he quickly fell asleep within 30 seconds. He was a heavy sleeper, so falling asleep was never really an issue for him. So, things were on the right track, but there is still a long way to go before they eventually reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether or not they actually get there depends on how the relationship develops over time. It could blossom or it could flop. Only time will tell.

Author's Note

AN: The romantic train has seem to have begun here in the story and it will continue to blossom as time goes on. It really did take some guts for Knuckles to admit that he likes Twilight. Now with that off his chest, he can only hope that things go well. We'll see if that holds up. I apologize for the chapter coming out late again, but I've been busy and I have plans for the weekend, so there will be nothing coming this weekend at all which is why this is coming out. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Next Chapter: The Proposal and Wedding. After many months of going on dates and getting to know one another, Knuckles eventually decides to take the big step and make a bold move proposing to Twilight. But he has a trick up his sleeve on how to do so and after he does so, he starts to get nervous at the wedding because of the massive crowds. Will he be able to get past them all or will he bail on Twilight at the altar?

Until then, my fellow readers