One month had passed since Flurry Heart’s last play date with her father, where she also managed to pass her final military exam, staged as the illusion of a full-scale griffon invasion.

Quickly settling into her new role, she took over roughly half of her father’s military duties, giving him some much needed time off while still allowing her to work with him and allowing him to teach her more about leading an entire army. The bond they shared was strong and continued to grow stronger with the more time they spent together.

They did continue to hang out casually and try to do something ‘normal’ together at least once a week, separate from working together to continue to drill the Crystal Army into the best fighting force in the world, but it no longer had a ‘play date’ atmosphere to it, and as it turned out… normal hanging out was kinda boring for Flurry. She did enjoy more rounds of Ogres and Oubliettes with her father’s regular questing party, but it’s not like they played a new quest every week.

The one thing that was missing from her life was the promised ‘real date’ or ‘practice date’ that she had been looking forward to having with her father. Her mother had managed to make it weird for them by suggesting that Shining finish turning Flurry ‘into a mare’ since she didn’t listen to her mother, and Flurry had made the mistake of trying to push the joke with a little extra teasing. Her father had teased her back about it which left her slightly flustered and honestly not knowing what to do about it because she had given her father permission to plan the date entirely on his own and to take his time with it because he wanted to teach her a variety of important lessons and she wanted to enjoy it.

As she returned to her room to unwind from a long day of political lessons with her mother, her eyes were drawn to a small calling card left on the golden tray just inside her room. It would have been left there by a courier or a guard… or magically teleported into place by someone who knew exactly where to teleport it to. She picked it up in her magic and read it.

‘Princess Flurry Heart,

If it were to please you, I would respectfully request a lunch date with you tomorrow at noon at a local café. Please respond with an acceptance or refusal by 8:00 pm tonight.

Yours sincerely,

Prince Shining Armor’

Her heart skipped a beat. Her father was really going to give her that practice date he had promised and from the looks of it, he was going super formal in exactly the manner that royal protocol would demand. This was exactly the type of experience her mother had hoped she would gain. She immediately pulled out a calling card to reply.

‘Prince Shining Armor,

I am pleased to accept your generous invitation to lunch tomorrow at noon. I shall wait for you.

Yours,

Princess Flurry Heart’

With magic, she teleported the card to the exact place it needed to be in her father’s room. Happy with how the evening was going, she decided to take a bath and brush her mane before heading down for dinner.

* * *

With Flurry finally starting to act more mature, Cadance had no problems with Flurry spending even more time with her father now that they weren’t launching themselves in catapults and doing other borderline insane things. However, 13 years’ worth of crazy play dates with possible lethal consequences had driven Cadance so far into the left field of crazy that it would be hard not to worry about her.

Cadance wasn’t a ‘dangerous’ crazy or a ‘needed to be removed from power’ crazy… she just sought to make the status quo feel more normal by suggesting batshit crazy ideas. Her focus now seemed to be to force Flurry to grow up as fast as possible so ‘normal’ adult things would become routine, and she was willing to suggest or do literally anything to make that happen.

But for the time being… Cadance had a headache.

Teaching Flurry Heart about politics was about as fun as watching paint dry and almost as pointless.

Flurry asked zero questions about anything except regarding if certain political ploys had a military use. Pacing back and forth and trying to find a way to get Flurry interested in anything other than warfare, her eyes focused on the calling card on the golden tray.

Picking it up, she read the card and smiled. “Shining! Flurry accepted your date offer! Isn’t this exciting?”

Shining came out of the bathroom, having finished bathing off the sweat of a hard day of military drills. “You say that like you’re surprised. Of course she accepted… she’s been waiting for this.”

Cadance simply hugged him. “You don’t understand! This is a big step for her. If she can take her mind off military matters and start to round out, maybe it’ll be easier for me to teach her the political things that you can’t. You have everything worked out for the date, yes?”

Shining nodded. “Of course. I’ve been planning this for a month, and it should be perfect. It does have a little military information mixed in to keep her interested in what we are doing but it’s at least 90% a real date. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results.”

Cadance smirked and coyly teased him. “Just don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do…”

Shining snorted. “We’ve been married for over 17 years. There’s nothing that you wouldn’t do.”

Cadance kissed him deeply and then smirked again. “Exactly. Whatever you want to do with her is fair game…”

He was taken aback by the suggestion. “Come on, Cady. You’re still pushing that ‘make her a mare’ joke from a month ago? It’s getting old.”

Cadance placed a hoof on his chest, suddenly serious. “And so are you. Are you telling me that you don’t want grandfoals while you’re young enough to enjoy them? Are you telling me that your parents wouldn’t love great-grandfoals before they pass away?”

Shining rubbed the back of his head. “Well… I do… and they probably would, circumstances notwithstanding, but I don’t want to be the father and grandfather of the foal at the same time. No matter how close you think we are, Flurry isn’t going to lift her tail for me, and I don’t plan on asking her to or even remotely plan on suggesting such a thing. She can be an adult without having sex. If you want her to grow up a little faster, maybe offer her some wine at dinner…”

Cadance sighed in a manner that suggested that she was really upset that Shining didn’t want to indulge her latest scheme to get Flurry to grow up faster.

“At least you have morals. That’s more than some ponies can claim.”

Shining shook his head in exasperation. “You say that as if you wouldn’t be mortified by me getting our daughter pregnant. You’ve been in a funk for a while now and I’d hate to snap you out it with news like that. ‘Good news dear, Flurry is pregnant and it’s MINE!’ Princess of Love or not, Flurry is too young for matchmaker services and even if she wasn’t, it shouldn’t be me.”

Cadance cocked her head to one side. “Why not? You love her and she loves you. I can feel it! The two of you are almost as inseparable as we are. Besides which… you don’t have to get her pregnant to have sex with her and if such a happy miracle was to occur… there has been no evidence of alicorn incest birth defects, ever, and at least you appear to be capable of fathering an alicorn naturally. It can’t be all me, genetically speaking. It would force Flurry to mature faster and Twilight would probably love to study the outcome. Come on, Shiny. Do it for science.”

Shining sat his flanks on the floor and sat there in thought.

Of all the batshit crazy ideas, this one has to take the cake. But does it have merit?

He cleared his throat gently. “The idea of an immortal Alicorn granddaughter is appealing on some level, and I’ve never been able to say no to my sister, but we both know that this extremely hypothetical conversation will never actually become something that happens in real life. I just think that Flurry loves me as a daughter should. I still don’t think she’ll lift her tail and I’m worried about damaging what we have by asking.”

Cadance shrugged. “Your fears have merit, however, I’m simply placing no limits on you or her. What you choose to do or not do, is on you, with my blessings, either way.”

With that, she kissed him again and they went to the dining hall for dinner, leaving Shining in a deeply troubled frame of mind as he walked beside her.

* * *

Cadance and Shining were already at the table when Flurry joined them. She was clean with a freshly brushed mane, looking very beautiful and more mature than Shining would have cared to admit, and she was smiling from ear-to-ear, staring straight at him.

She leaned into the conversation that she had planned out in her head. “So… umm, any hints about tomorrow?”

Shining shook his head. “Nope. Clothing is optional but if you do choose to wear a dress, it should be causal. This first date is going to be very simple and that’s all I’m saying about it until tomorrow.”

Flurry frowned slightly but nodded. “I guess that’s fair… I did let you plan the whole thing and I’ve waited a month… it wouldn’t do to spoil the surprise now.”

Cadance smiled at both of them. “Your father is well versed on the rules of dating a princess so I’m sure he can teach you everything you need to know… although we didn’t follow all those stuffy old etiquette rules ourselves on our first date so you shouldn’t entirely limit yourself to the strict rules either. Listen to your father and take his lessons to heart but follow your heart too. I will support whatever decision that you both choose to make.”

Flurry blinked in surprise. “Wow mom… that almost sounds like normal advice. Wait… you two didn’t… you know…”

Shining turned beet red. “No sweetheart… your mother and I didn’t go all the way on the first date, but I can see how that conclusion could be assumed. I believe I already said that I wouldn’t make you a mare on the first date.”

He managed to smirk and wink, using the month-old joke to his advantage for a change, which helped him overcome his personal embarrassment over the whole continued joke thing. Cadance giggled, seemingly approving of the use of the lewd joke.

Flurry exhaled stiffy, relaxing a little. “Okay… it’s not like this date is an exact recreation of your first date with mom… is it?”

Shining smiled. “I said no hints but you’re clearly not going to stop asking questions, so I’ll just do my best not to spoil everything. Recreating my first date with your mother to take you out would have been cool to do, but no. In a way, this date is going to be better than the first date I gave your mother. While that might not sound fair on the surface of things, I have the wisdom of experience and the means of a Prince at my disposal now that I didn’t have as a young high school student trying to get into the Royal Guards. I wanted this to be the most special thing ever, but I also wanted to give you realistic dating expectations as a princess. It might not be everything you were hoping for, but I swear that I’ll do my best for you, sweetheart.”

Flurry got up from the table and walked around to the other side to give her father a kiss on the cheek and a hug. Cadance smiled at the feeling of love radiating from Flurry.

She whispered into his ear. “You’ve always been so good to me. I’m sure that whatever we do will be great.”

As Flurry returned to her seat, her tail twitched in an odd way, giving Shining a momentary glance at Flurry’s marehood. Cadance didn’t seem to notice, and Shining would never ask.

He gulped. Did she do that on purpose or was it an accident? Is Cadance right about Flurry’s feelings for me? Does she ‘love’ me? What am I supposed to do?

* * *

Still facing away from her father and mother while walking back to her seat, Flurry winced to herself internally.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!!! Did you just flash your marehood to your father! Mom’s jokes about making me a mare are bad enough… you don’t want to send the wrong message! What am I supposed to do?

Flurry sat down; her back legs pressed against each other uncomfortably in the chair and she cleared her throat. “My… I could use a drink.”

Cadance eyed her. “Water or Wine?”

Flurry flushed with the embarrassment that she held over her mistake. “I haven’t tried wine before, but I believe I’ve hit the Empire’s drinking age, right?”

Cadance nodded. “Yes… in the Empire, ponies are adults at 16. So, you may drink… and have sex. Hopefully not at the same time… you need to keep a clear head for important decisions.”

Flurry blushed and Shining groaned as he rang the bell urgently.

The waiter came over immediately. “The table will have a bottle of White Wine and three glasses of water with our meals. Please hurry…”

The waiter scurried away and returned to the table with the wine, the water, and the food in short order. Flurry drank her glass of wine like water, recoiling when the burning caught up with her.

The family decided to eat there evening meal with almost no conversation as everything had dried up… except for Flurry’s dripping marehood.

* * *

The next day, Shining Armor found himself at Flurry Heart’s bedroom door 15 minutes early, as was military protocol. He knocked lightly, almost having cold hooves himself. He could do this… he just had to stick to script and not let anything that Cadance had said affect him.

Flurry opened the door, already dressed in a lovely green ‘summer dress’ that went nearly to her hooves but was light and casual.

She smiled at her father. “Early is on time and on time is late. Just as I expected. Shall we go?”

Shining cleared his throat and bowed. “It would be my honor, your highness.”

Flurry walked beside him, and he led her into the city. He took her to a quaint little Prench café named ‘Le Café de Cristal’ or ‘The Crystal Café’ in Ponish.

Using his magic to pull out a chair, he helped Flurry get seated like a gentlestallion would. He then sat across from her in a classic date seating arrangement style and cleared his throat.

“Okay. First rule of dating. Wait and see if your date will pull your chair out for you. If he does… it means that he cares about giving you personal attention, like I just did.”

Flurry nodded. “I did appreciate it. It wasn’t necessary but it was a little romantic.”

Shining grinned. “That’s the point. A date is supposed to be romantic… unless its intentionally meant to be fun. I have found that dates can’t be both fun and romantic at the same time. If you have thoughts on how to make it so, please let me know.”

The waiter walked over and gave them two menus and Flurry looked over it while Shining seemed to know what he wanted already, as if he had already been at this restaurant at least once. He probably had been here at least once, to try it out and see if it was good enough for the date.

Flurry’s eyebrows raised at the prices. “This place is expensive for such a small café. I don’t mind Prench food but what’s the lesson you’re trying to teach me from bringing me here?”

Shining nodded at her perception. “No place is too expensive for royals, but this place is about the ‘cheapest’ restaurant that a Princess should be seen dining at unless it’s some kind of grand opening or official meet and greet at lower class establishment on purpose. I remember that Princess Celestia did some kind of function at Sugar Cube Corner the first year Twilight was in Ponyville. It was successful but still had a few odd occurrences happen during her visit. I would like to point out that you know that this place is ‘expensive’ because you know how much the guards earn, and guards may try to ask you out. Before you ask, you have my permission to say yes if you want to… but don’t let them try to go cheap. It’s not a good look.”

Flurry nodded in understanding. It did make sense, mostly.

She cocked her head to ask a question. “Where did you take mom on your first date?

Shining smiled but also look embarrassed. “I took her to a Hayburger in Canterlot. It was so low class that we were the only ponies eating there at the time. It was cheap and greasy and everything that a Princess shouldn’t be seen eating on a date, but I think in her case, she found my innocence and single-minded focus endearing. I did get an earful about it from my parents and even a few of my teachers about it later though. I didn’t do it again and the second date was better in a few ways, but I was learning and I grateful that your mother wasn’t offended by my breach of protocol.”

Flurry smiled. “You’ve taken me to the Hayburger here is the Crystal City all the time as filly. What’s the difference?”

Shining shrugged. “A father can take his filly anywhere they want to go but dates with a special somepony are supposed to be special.”

Flurry nodded in understanding and Shining continued.

“Now, moving on to the Second rule of dating. Order something light. A Princess is supposed to be dainty, especially in public. Celestia breaks that rule with her cake flanks but she’s earned it in retirement. At least on the first date, don’t overindulge. You will want more time to talk to your date instead of eating. This is meant to be a chance to get to know each other better in a casual setting and talk about things that normally wouldn’t come up in a normal formal conversation.”

The waiter returned to the table. “May I take your orders?”

Shining nodded. “I’ll have a daisy salad and a glass of water, with a bottle of crisp white wine and two glasses.”

Flurry nodded. “I’ll have the same, thank you.”

As the waiter left, Flurry fumed at her father. “You hate daisy salads. I have never seen you eat one before. Why order one?”

Shining shrugged. “Protocol. I have to eat lightly too. This isn’t a castle ballroom buffet table. We are in public, and I can assure you that we are being watched. To everypony else, this is a father daughter outing. Only we know that it’s a date but that’s not stopping me from showing you what the royal dating protocol looks like and feels like in practice.”

Flurry looked around the restaurant and noticed that Ponies were watching them. “Okay… I don’t like this much. Can we do something about it?”

Shining nodded. “We can reserve the entire restaurant for the meal, in advance, but we’d have to compensate the restaurant for lost revenue from all the empty seats. It is safer, but less fun and less realistic without a potential audience. I did bar all reporters and all cameras but that won’t stop gossip if we do anything overly crazy. Half of our play dates were ruined by reporters getting the information back to your mother.”

The waiter returned to the table with two salads, two glasses of water, two wine glasses and a bottle of white wine. He tabled the food and poured the wine. Bowing low, he left.

Shining took a sip of wine. “Perfect. You want a ‘crisp’ white wine for salads, fish or pasta and a ‘sweet’ white wine for desserts. Red wine should be for foreign dignitaries that are eating red meat. You should know before you order which you would prefer. Most ponies don’t get two different types of wine in the same setting.”

Flurry took a sip of wine. “I’m really impressed. You did your homework.”

Shining nodded. “I did. And you should too. I am a Prince, not just the Lord General of the Army. You are a Princess, and you will rule the Crystal Empire someday. Your husband will probably lead the Crystal Army the same way that I still do for your mother. I know I set a high standard to reach but you will need to choose a husband eventually. It’s not like it can be me.”

Flurry’s cheeks reddened and Shining cleared his throat. “I… umm… don’t think that came out the way I wanted it to.”

Flurry giggled to hide her embarrassment. The giggle was soft and light… it deeply reminded Shining of his wife at that age. Was Cadance only 16 when they started dating? He wasn’t sure anymore. Old age could get to you at the worst moments.

Flurry flashed her father a smile. “I know what you meant. We should start to eat.”

Shining took a bite of salad and a drink of water. He cleared his throat and continued. “Now, at this point of the date, you would normally start to discuss things that the other pony needs to know about you that wouldn’t normally come up in normal conversation. Since we know practically everything about each other already, I’ll take this opportunity to advance the lesson. Any questions so far?”

Flurry furrowed her brows in thought. “Does a date like this have a military application?”

Shining nodded with a grin. “Actually, yes. We are more likely to have summits with enemies or nations that are hostile and need reassurances more than we do with allies. Having dinner with a rival general would let you understand them better, and by understanding them better, you might can guess their battlefield tactics and counter them.”

Flurry’s smile couldn’t be beaten. She loved this as she took mental notes.

Shining continued again. “Third Rule of Dating. As a Princess, you are going to want a plains clothes security detail near you in case something goes wrong. If it’s not possible to have a security detail… carry a small concealable weapon. I’d rather that you offend your date than not come home.”

Flurry frowned and shifted in her chair a little uncomfortably. The sound of two pieces of leather rubbing against each other caught Shining’s ears.

His ears folded back. “Did you hear that?”

Flurry froze for a moment. “No?”

Flurry shifted in her seat more and the sound happened again. Shining was looking around them for a threat. “I swear I heard something. Are you sure you didn’t hear it?”

Flurry smirked. “Maybe? It sounds like it’s coming from under the table. Should you check?”

Shining ducked his head under the table to see if anything was hidden under there. After a moment or two, he didn’t see anything out of place until Flurry seemed to casually lift her dress, exposing the lower half of her hindlegs. There it was. She had a dagger strapped to each hindleg, the daggers and their sheaths hidden by the dress.

Clever girl.

Shining raised his head back to a normal sitting position. “I am confident that there is no danger now… and I approve of your accessories. However… you could have just told me they were there instead of showing me. Me having my head under the table with you lifting your dress like that could be seen as very lewd…”

Flurry’s cheeks blushed again as she had failed to consider what other ponies might think. Somehow, she kept forgetting that they weren’t alone in the castle like normal. Not that she would ever do anything lewd at the castle either… other than accidentally flashing her father yesterday…

Flurry bit her lip. “Sorry dad… I guess I wasn’t thinking about it. It’s just… I know that you would never hurt me and it’s not like you haven’t seen my marehood before.”

Shining froze. Does she know that I saw her marehood yesterday when her tail twitched? Oh. How am I going to get out of this one?

He frowned and hummed to himself. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”

Flurry’s blush went three shades pinker. Oh, crap… think. THINK! You can’t admit that you accidentally flashed your marehood at him yesterday, especially if he didn’t see you do it!

Flurry giggled and took a long sip of wine. “Well… I remember all of our play dates with fondness. There were several times that we would play in the mud. The armor kept me clean for the most part but there were days that I needed help bathing afterwards and mom wouldn’t help because she was against the type of colt-style roughhousing that we both liked to do. So… you have seen it… just maybe not in the last 6 or so years…”

Shining smiled weakly. “Bathing a filly is part of being a father. I never saw it as sexual.”

Flurry gave a weak smile back. “I never said that you did… or should. I’m just saying that you have seen it, and you shouldn’t be embarrassed by seeing it again, accidentally or otherwise. I am your daughter, no matter what.”

Flurry started to eat with borderline uncouth speed to avoid having to expand upon that train of thought. She really didn’t want to justify it being okay for her father to look at her in a more sexual light, but she was also still embarrassed that she flashed him in the first place. If she remembered health class at all, that type of subconscious twitch was a hardwire mating tool from a bygone age before ponies evolved into something more sapient. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she had at least some attraction to her father.

And that was bad. Very, very bad. But it could feel so good… no, BAD!

Shining cleared his throat again and picked up where he had left off. “Look around the restaurant carefully and tell me what you see.”

Flurry swallowed the food crammed into her mouth and used drinking from her glass of water to case the restaurant.

Her eyes widened and she stage whispered. “Dad! Incognito Guard and Crossbow Sniper are here, and they are dating! Isn’t that exciting?”

Shining smirked. “Oh? Yes, sweetheart, it’s very exciting.”

Flurry’s face fell and she mumbled something just barely audible. “They are our plain clothes security detail, aren’t they?”

Shining chuckled. “Bingo. But… its also a date. Your mother insists that plain clothes security details to restaurants, operas and plays be a stallion and mare pair that volunteer to go on assignment together… that way they can have an expensive date paid for by the crown and still do their jobs. Note that they ordered food that was a lot more expensive than ours and the only thing that’s missing is wine. They can’t drink on duty.”

Flurry smiled warmly and nodded. “That’s really cool. I’m glad we do that for them.”

Shining shrugged. “Your mother isn’t the Princess of Love for nothing. Not that she’s right 100% of the time. Let’s finish the meal…”

They both ate with a zeal that left no leftovers but decided not to have a dessert. Arriving back at the castle, Shining had walked Flurry back to her room.

He cleared his throat. “Fourth Rule of Dating. At the conclusion of the first date, you have three options. You can kiss the stallion on the cheek and thank him for a good time and invite him to ask you out again. Or you can kiss the stallion on the cheek and thank him for a good time but advise him to wait until you are ready for a second date, if you aren’t too sure about him. Or, finally, you can thank the stallion for his time and apologize for not wanting to have a second date. It is entirely your responsibility and choice at this point.”

Flurry bit her lip. “And what if I didn’t want to follow royal protocol?”

Shining looked stern. “Oh? Please tell…”

Flurry gulped. “Maybe I don’t want to follow royal protocol, but I don’t want to get my date executed. What is the limit that you and mother have for me?”

Shining chuckled, giddy about her concern. “Your mother claims to want to put no limit on you but at the end of my first date with your mother, she gave me a Prench kiss. I would say that if the Princess of Love won’t do more than a Prench kiss on the first date then neither should you.”

Flurry nodded and took a step forward. She drew her father into a deep Prench kiss, not sparing the tongue. She held him tightly and breathless, until lack of oxygen forced them apart.

Flurry panted. “I’m looking forward to our next date. I hope that it’s soon.”

With that, she walked into her room and slammed the door, as if she was embarrassed by her own actions. Shining walked away dumbfounded.

He returned to his room and found Cadance there, preening.

He cleared his throat. “Would like help with that?”

Cadance was startled. “OH! I wasn’t aware that the date was already over. I was hoping it would last longer…”

Shining snorted. “It couldn’t have lasted longer without me rutting our daughter in her room. Are you really so surprised? First dates are always short.”

Cadance smirked at him. “I wouldn’t mind you rutting our daughter in her room, I believe I already said that I wasn’t placing limits on either of you… and you have my blessing. What’s the problem?”

Shining confessed everything. The tail twitch that let him see Flurry’s marehood. All the aspects of the date itself. The lessons he gave her. And the Prench kiss at the end.

Cadance hummed. “So, she does ‘love’ you… I’m grateful my instincts aren’t wrong.”

Shining was practically crying into his hoofs. “What am I supposed to do about it?”

Cadance looked indifferent. “Rut her?”

Shining scowled. “I’m trying to be serious…”

Cadance frowned back. “So am I… look… there is an attraction between you regardless of if you want to admit it or not. What else can you do?”

Shining considered his options. “I guess I give her a second date and teach her more while trying to guide her away from me.”

Cadance nodded. “I will support whatever you want to do… but don’t choose not to rut her just because society doesn’t approve of it. Do what your heart tells you to do.”

Shining blinked. “How can you say that?”

Cadance shrugged. “Because I love you both and I approve of what must be done. Trust me, Shining. Love her as you love me, and you will find never-ending love.”

Shining grunted as he decided to lay down for a nap.

* * *

Author's Note

Ideas for date two are welcome. Also. Should the teasing stop, continue, or move forward to something deeper. All comments and suggestions are welcome.