I was looking at myself in the mirror trying to clean tea stains from my collar. Agreeing to go on this date was not my brightest idea, I was too determined to see Sword-Toby in action, and I hadn't thought anything of it at the time. With a moment to myself however, I found myself growing nervous.

"What the fuck am I doing? I've barely explored my own body and powers, according to Luna they are still recovering, and now I'm going to try to make a picnic for a mare I've only known for a night." I snorted. "Oh Elfilis, I'll help you explore your body. I get the feeling this is only happening because of her."

"Sir Elfilis?" I nearly jumped out of my skin, standing by the door to my restroom was Luna. "What is happening because of who? And where is Sir Kirby?"

"Oof, well, it's actually Sir Toby now, and I roped some guards into helping watch him earlier-"

"Cadence! Put it down! You don't know what it's capable of!"

"Oh Shining, you're just jealous aren't you?" He couldn't believe he was hearing this.

"You are hugging him from atop a pile of unconscious guards that thing created!"

"Oh, he's such a fierce little warrior, isn't he? Aren't you? Yes~"

"Poyo!" He wasn't going to fall for that innocent act.

"That's it. I'm never offering to babysit ever again."

"Oh that's okay, that just means more for me..."

"-As for what's happening, I'm going on a date with Frontline tonight apparently." She just looked at me for a second before growing a sly smile.

"Thou art fast. If I am not mistaken that is the guard you had only met last night? How did you get her to agree so quickly?" Good question.

"Oh, you know, I flashed my dick at her, proved I had a heartbeat. Ask her though, I'd only known her for a day and every time I met her she was flirting and trying to get me into her... pants? That phrase work here?"

"Ah, no, I at the very least am not familiar with that one, but we get the gist. Well, we simply wished to make sure everything was well before me and Tia headed out to join the festivities. I do not know how such a celebration was planned in such short time, but Ponyville is open to us. I have heard fireworks have been prepared. Ponies have gotten much better at merry-making in my absence." Great, I was going to have fireworks for my date now. "We wish thee luck on thy date Sir Elfilis! Let us know how it goes!"

"Yeah yeah, get out of here. Go enjoy yourself finally." I don't know if she heard me as she walked away. Then it was just me and my reflection again. "... You stupid bastard. What if you're gay? Did you ever think about that?"

It was only an hour later, with the sun beginning to make it's slow descent to the horizon when Frontline knocked on my door. I was as ready as I could be, I already prepared a basket with foods inside, a blanket, and some less vegetarian meals to sneak in. They were in my dream, just sitting in limbo until it was time. I took one last calming breath before I went to my door. I almost wanted to slam the door shut afterwards, if only to screw with her. She had a routine ready.

"Oh hey there... I didn't see you back there, you like what you see?" Yeah, she was pretending to have been walking away, and she had cut her tail short.

"Sorry, who are you?"

"Ah, w-what? It's me? Frontline?"

"No, Frontline wears armor, and has a long orange and red tail." By the way, without that armor, I could see her 'Cutie Mark.' It was three tower shields put together edge-to-edge, and it was a pretty bronze color. I actually wasn't sure that Spike wasn't messing with me when he called them Cutie Marks, and I had forgotten to ask, so I was just running with it.

"Oh haha, you got me." She turned around finally and blew a bang of fiery mane out of her face. It looked like she still had helmet hair, made me feel over... dressed... since I had combed down some unruly tufts. "So are we doing this or what? You said something about a picnic? Hope you weren't going to take us out to the gardens, I see enough of that place on the job. Kills the mood you know?"

"And you would know huh? No, I got somewhere else in mind." I ignored her yelp as she fell through the star before jumping in after her.

I landed on my hooves and looked down at Frontline, who was on her back pouting at me.

"A little warning next time big guy?" Yeah, look who's talking.

"You are last pony I expected to complain about surprises." Cue Evil Smirk, trademarked.

"You got me there. Help me up, where are we?" I grabbed her front legs and pulled her over onto her front.

"The edge of Whitetail woods, southwest of Canterlot. There should be fireworks coming from Ponyville over there tonight."

"Ooh, fancy, but what if we need some privacy?"

"The woods."

"Oh, uh. The answer to if I need to go is the same isn't it?"

"Unless you want to run to Ponyville and try to push through piles of perky party ponies, yes."

"Hmph, fine. I ain't no city mare anyhow." No you are not Frontline, no you are not. I silently summoned my blanket and basket combo from dream-space and spread it all out for us to sit/lay down on. She 'ooh'ed at it and flopped belly first onto a side of it, so I was going to take that to mean a picnic was a good call. "Again, fancy. You actually prepped this all out?"

"Besides the fireworks, yes. Those were a happy accident, and they might not actually happen. If you're set on seeing them though I might be able to figure something out."

"Wow I..." Uh oh, what did I do. "Sorry, sorry, I just... This was way more than I expected. I kind of thought we were just gonna eat and, you know, get intimate. This is a full on evening though."

"Do ponies normally dick n' dine for a first date?" She snorted at that.

"Ha, no, no you're doing it all right as far as I know. It's just not what, I'm used too, I guess..." This was so far away from the Frontline I knew. I know I hadn't known her for long, but she had always seemed like a force of nature, confident and unafraid to let anypony else know just what it was she wanted.

"... Here, grab some sandwiches. We'll talk about it, right? That's the point, to get to know each other and learn what to expect from one another going forward. At least, I think? It sounds right anyway." Giggling, giggling was a good sign. She took a bite out of a sandwich before giving a moan of appreciation.

"Woah, what's in these?" Slices of Maxim Tomato, the ultimate vegetable in Dreamland.

"Trade secret. Good though right?" I took a bite of my own. "Holy crap, that is good! What the hell?" She just outright cackled at me.

"What? Didn't know what you were making?" I just nodded at her as I swallowed, I really didn't expect tomato to taste good, like at all. "You're funny. So, we're doing a real date. What do we talk about? You got any juicy secret?"

"Mm, just a sec... Yeah I don't have anything. I don't have a lot of... experience to go off of." She just gave me a look from her side and smiled.

"Come on, someone like you has to have something good to share. Any embarrassing childhood friends? Foal-time crushes? Ooh, how about an adventure! You have to have some of those, being from outside Equestria and all."

"..."

"... Elfilis? Was it something I said?"

"... No. Not really. See the woods behind us?" She nodded shyly. "Little more than a week ago, I don't know how long exactly, I woke up in a cave pretty far in there. And I didn't, and still don't, remember anything of my own life before that moment. I had vague feelings; How using my hands was supposed to work, that my legs weren't bending the way they used too. But no memories to pin them too, to explain anything." I looked at her from the corner of my eye, she had her legs over eyes. "Yeah, that's about how I felt sometimes too. Occasionally I just want to curl up in my wings, unfamiliar as they are and just, exist for awhile. I'm happy to know ponies now, and to have help, but everytime I learn something new it reminds me of how much I may have forgotten. So sometimes I want to to just, not learn. Does that make sense?"

"... I'm a terrible pony." Snort.

"No you are not, I'm just an idiot. I do like hanging out with you, but everything is moving just a little too fast for me. All I would have to do to is sit still like I want to, but I'm just not letting myself, it's no pony's fault."

"Yeah, but me being so forward and pushy probably didn't help did it?"

"Hey, I'm not going to ask you to change for my sake. Like I said, you're fine the way you are. Honest." She peaked up at me from behind her hooves. "I could have turned you down, made my own sword to give Toby instead of agreeing to do this. I could have reported you, or shut you down while we were waiting for Celestia that night, but I liked the jokes and the ribbing. It was lewd, but, it felt more... Familiar, than anything else I had done since coming here. It's my type of humor, ya know?"

"Lucky me I guess..."

"Oh you have no idea, I'm amazing you know." She just punched me in the elbow. "See? Perfect stress relief."

"Oh you are just asking for me to tease you now."

"I literally am. If I ever finally decide to slow down, take a break and just be, I'll let you know."

"Fair enough. Well, do you mind if I talk about myself then?"

"By all means, it's your date too."

The moon was high in the sky, and the fireworks were long gone before she finished.

"-And, like, I get it, she wants what's best for her kids, but what about what I want, MOM! What if I don't want to be a guard!? What if I want to explore the edges of the known world!? What if I just want to meet a pony and fuck and settle down!?" A concerningly large amount of her rant was about her mother's insistence on her kids celibacy. "Like, she had a new stallion over every week for years, but I get caught with one cock in my mouth and suddenly-" I was not hiding anything under my crossed legs and folded hands, no sirree. "-What a bitch! But I can't go against her wishes, because she's the head noble of our house, and all it would take would be one word from her and all my siblings would be on me like fucking hornets to honey." God damn. I turned to look at her, give condolences, something, but the words never left my mouth. She was covering her mouth with her hoofs, shaking.

"I-I might have said too much, I, I should go-"

"Woah, woah, hold on a minute! It's okay! You're story may have been longer than mine but-" She was panicking. What the hell was going on!?

"No, you don't get it! I shouldn't have said so much! I just caught up in the moment a-and my emotions, and you're too nice, and you're going to try to help me, and, and-"

"Why can't I try to help you!? Why do you not want help?!"

"Because you'll find out, alright! You'll find out..."

"... Ponies are too prone to having heart-to-hearts. But we are having one now, okay?" She dropped her head down, glaring at the ground. "What is it that I'll find out Frontline? I am the last person to even know how to judge you for whatever it is." She didn't look up as she spoke.

"... Nothing I told you was was dishonest. It was all the truth, and that's where I fucked up. You're worried about me, so you are going to ask around, maybe Captain Armor or the Princesses, try to learn more. But you won't get the same story. They'll look at my file and it will say I grew up a single child to an abusive, strict father, and I left home as soon as I was old enough to do so. Nothing about my brothers and sisters, nothing about my mom, nothing I had just told you. And then you'll come and ask me what's going on, and I won't be able to stop myself from telling you the truth, because you are the first one ever to give a shit about how I felt. The guards don't like me for my lack of professionalism, my family dislikes me for my independence, and everything will hate me for what I am. So please, please don't ask me anymore..."

"I..." Tears were hitting the towel under her. "I can't not try to help you after all that." She gave a disgusting choking sound. "Frontline. What is it you feel you can't let me know?"

Sobs and wailing and crying overpowered the calm sounds of the night, but I just waited. This needed to happen, it had to. And we stayed like that, all night, and it was only by the time the sun peeked over the Everfree that she finally was able to look me in the eyes. I hoped to never see another pony look at me like that again. Twice in two days was enough for a lifetime. I was going to reserve a hotel room on the other side of the continent for a week and just curl up when this was all over. And she finally spoke.

"... Frontline doesn't exist." A burst of green flames covered her form before fading away. "My name is Princess Carina, and I am a changeling. A creature with a heart as black as their hide..."

"... But... you're pink?" I had many things I wanted to say, but that was what came out first.

"Huh, but, HUH!? WHAT THE FU-"

"Cadence! I don't like the way its giggling!"

"It's adorable Shining!"

"It's just staring at the fucking wall!"

"Watch your language!" Shining didn't care if he ended up on the couch tonight. He was not going to stay in the same room with that thing.

Author's Note

Surprise. I'm derailing this shit early.