The Double Date

Chiffon Swirl was in a hurry. She had just grabbed some muffins out of the oven that she’d made from some pears Pear Butter had given her, fresh from that morning. She inhaled the warm aroma of the sweet muffins and looked up at the clock. She was running late!

Chiffon Swirl had been on a few dates with an orange colt named Carrot Cake. She was quite fond of him and was considering making things official. She had decided on introducing him to her best friend, Pear Butter, to get her friend’s opinion on her date. In a late-night baking session with Pear Butter, Chiffon had come up with the idea of a double date. Pear Butter had happily agreed, and they had organised a meet up for dinner at a local restaurant in Ponyville. The restaurant in question, none of them had been to before, but Chiffon had heard it was the perfect location for a date.

Chiffon placed the tray on the bench and ripped off her apron. She had 15 minutes to get ready now. She patted down her fizzled hair while she wandered over to her bedroom. She hastily searched her cupboard for something to wear, pulling out garments and tossing them over her shoulders. She settled on a simple pastel yellow dress and pulled the clothing over her head. She rushed back to her kitchen and wrapped up sets of two of the still warm pear muffins into three separate small boxes. She placed these carefully in her brown bag and rushed out the door.

Chiffon arrived at the restaurant just on time. The others were already waiting out the front and she saw Mr. Cake dressed in a dark blue suit give her a little wave. It was just past dusk, and the golden lights of the restaurant illuminated the four ponies as they trotted inside to be seated.

A waiter pony dressed in formal attire with a dark moustache that enhanced his fancy appearance greeted them, “Good evening, I am Mr. Pants and will be your waiter for the duration of the night. If you will please just follow me.” He turned and led the four ponies to their table. Chiffon caught a glance of Bright Mac and Pear Butter giggling together, no doubt about the professionality of their waiter.

The table was situated by the side of a window displaying the town retiring for the evening. The white fabric tablecloth was set with silver cutlery and a folded napkin swan at each of the four seats. An unlit grand golden candle with three prongs stood in the centre of the four swans. The ponies took their seats arranging themselves with the couples sitting next to each other while facing the other couple. Mr. Pants placed a menu at the side of each ponies’ cutlery and lit the candle at the centre of the table.

“I’ll leave you all to study the menu and shall return in a quarters time.”

“This place seems to be very classy,” Mr. Cake commented as he curiously poked at his napkin swan, turning to Chiffon. Chiffon watched Mr. Cake’s eyes scrunch as he smiled, and felt her mouth catch his infectious mood.

“Yes, I’ve heard good things,” Chiffon smiled picking up her menu. The other ponies also started to study their menus.

Bright Mac squinted his eyes at the menu, “Wow. This place is serving some fancy food.” He turned to Pear Butter, “What are you thinking of ordering Buttercup?”

“I think I’ll get the soup of the day, no idea what some of the ingredients are but it sounds alright.”

“I think I’ll try the roasted hay sandwich. It says here it has a crushed apple dipping sauce which sounds... uh, interesting.” Bright Mac smiled awkwardly, and Pear Butter gave a little laugh.

“I think I’ll try the roasted carrot soufflé,” Mr. Cake stated as he placed his menu down. “I’ve never seen a roasted vegetable in a soufflé before.”

Chiffon Swirl scanned the menu over again. She didn’t like the sound of any of the dishes and was starting to regret choosing this place. There were the honey dipped wedges, only if she got them, she’d want no honey… and there was the peanut butter pea bread but that sounded, well.. awful… of course, there was always the option of a simple salad…

“I’m going to go with the salad,” Chiffon announced to the table.

Pear Butter raised her eyebrow and smirked, “Really? The one with the fungi assortment and tomato puree?”

Chiffon Swirl read the ingredients and cringed as she saw what her friend had read out. She gave a shy smile, “Uh well, no. I guess I’ll have the honey wedges.”

Mr. Pants trotted over with a notepad and pen to take the ponies’ orders. He had his head held up oddly high as though he was looking at something on the roof.

“Good evening again, are you all ready to order?” Mr. Pants took the pen into his mouth and readied it for notetaking.

Mr. Pants heard all their orders and commenced writing them down with a posh look on his face. His head moved up and down dramatically as he struggled to control the pen in his mouth. He finished scribbling on the notepad and glanced at it, cringing slightly.

“These exquisite menu items shall be down post haste!”

Mr. Pants turned, concern filling his face. Chiffon Swirl saw a peak of the waiter’s illegible description of their orders. The paper looked as though it were a shaky cardiogram, and Chiffon secretly worried their orders would be incorrect or worse, resemble a heart rhythm made of wedges. Mr. Pants trotted away, frantically adding to his notepad as he went.

The ponies caught up on each others' lives which included Pear Butter and Bright Mac's recent wedding. It had been spontaneous due to Pear Butter's father threatening to move her away suddenly. However, Pear Butter could not imagine having to leave Bright Mac or Ponyville, where she had grown up her entire life. Chiffon found their story very romantic and felt pride for being involved in the ceremony. She noted the way Bright Mac held Pear Butter's hoof when she mentioned her father moving away. Pear Butter had since grown sensitive to the topic of family. Chiffon hoped that things would resolve in the future for her friend but knew if they didn't, she would always be there for her friend. Chiffon glanced at Carrot Cake during Pear Butter's story and smiled to herself as she saw him listening attentively and with a look of understanding on his face that conveyed he cared.

After about 20 minutes of the ponies catching up, Mr. Pants began strutting towards the group with two trays on his front leg. The fancy waiter kept a serious eye on the ground as he trotted to the table, scrupulously watching his legs. Chiffon related to Mr. Pants as a fellow earth pony, the subtle fear that accompanied her when transporting a baked good she had made caused her to take a great deal of concentration while walking. Mr. Pants arrived at the table wiping his anxious expression off his face to his former posh look, momentarily squinting his eyes, making Pear Butter giggle and Chiffon too in response to her friend.

“Right dear guests,” Mr. Pants began with his eyes closed and his nose up. “I have here two servings of honey wedges.” He opened his eyes, moving one plate to the other hoof.

“Yes please,” Chiffon motioned to the napkin swan in front of her, taking it off the table. She realised she did not know the proper etiquette with napkins and chose to awkwardly hold the swan as Mr. Pants placed her meal before her. Pear Butter raised her hoof signalling the waiter to place the other dish in front of her.

“Thank you,” Pear Butter said toward Mr. Pants. The waiter then suddenly bowed his head dramatically, holding his head down for a strange beat.

“You are most Welcome!” He said with his head still down. Bright Mac glimpsed at Pear Butter, smiling as he saw her suppressing a giggle. Mr. Pants raising his head up again, scanned the table of guests. His eyes bulged out of his head at the sight of the unlit golden candle in the table’s centre. He then bowed again, this time quite quickly and walked away at an oddly fast speed. The four ponies looked to each other bewildered.

“Odd.” Bright Mac stated, the ponies nodding in agreement.

Chiffon glanced down at her dish, her eyes opening in surprise. Before her lay what looked to be a bowl of very thickened soup with a total of six wedges placed in a circle around the bowl of honey. Chiffon turned to Carrot Cake who was gaping at her meal and giggled.

He looked up at her and gave a wry smirk, “looks absolutely delicious”. He grinned at Chiffon as she looked down at her dish with confusion and back up at him. Carrot Cake began to chuckle and Chiffon felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.

“Yes, well,” she spluttered, her mouth widening into a grin, “it just might be.”

Carrot Cake’s smile grew wider, “Mhm, sure,” he chuckled. Chiffon and Pear Butter exchanged sympathetic glances to one another at their interesting meals.