"You what?!" Sandalwood blurted as he slammed his locker door closed. As he did, the rest of Micro Chips' small group of friends went silent, which seemed to absorb the din of the other students grabbing whatever supplies they needed before their first class. Sandalwood's frayed beanie slid forward over his face, and he scrambled to keep it from falling off.

"You heard what I said," Micro shot back with a small sigh. Sleeping through the previous night was not the easiest, as his mind had been constantly running over the interaction he had had the day before with Sonata. Even as he had repeated the tale to his group, he had to check himself a few times to make sure he wasn't going to break out in laughter.

Sharing Sandalwood's confusion, Scribble Dee adjusted her thick-lensed glasses and hummed in thought. She furrowed her brow. "Y-You know, I-I-I don't normally a-agree with Sandalwood, b-but you're not really making sense, M-Micro."

With a huff, Micro pulled out his textbooks for biology and then fastened her with a bemused frown. "Oh, yes, I'm totally making it up," he snarked. Behind his eyes, he could feel the pressure of the lack of sleep building. Although he had managed to hide most of his testiness, being asked at least half a dozen times that he was sure he actually had a date was starting to grate.

"Not saying that you are," Wiz Kid stated from the other side of Micro. Unlike Sandalwood, he at least had the courtesy of not adding to the noise in the hallway and lightly closed his locker's door. Shouldering his backpack so he could start fiddling with his phone, he added, "You know, just, uh, how do I put it?" He wriggled uncomfortably under the gaze of his friends. He shrugged. "Girls aren't really interested in us?" At that, he yelped when Scribble leaned over and punched him in the arm.

"Hey!" Sandalwood exclaimed.

"Well, aside from you."

"I'll have you know that I can get a date whenever I want. I just choose not to since the last one thought that watching dolphin mating rituals was disgusting and tried to throw me in Sea Terra's dolphin pool." At that, Sandalwood shook his head. "Don't know why. They're so free, bro. Dolphins are as dolphins do."

"I can-cannot fathom w-w-why she'd think. That." Scribble shot Sandal a smoldering glower. Hugging her books tighter to her chest, she leaned against her locker and started scanning the hallway. "Wonder who she is? How-how-how'd you bag h-h-her?" she inquired of Micro.

Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure himself, and he blinked in thought as he tried to parse exactly how he could have attracted Sonata. Everything that he knew told him that just being nice wasn't likely to attract many girls. Everyone knew that the cute girls—not that Scribble wasn't cute, as she kept emphasizing—liked only bad boys. It wasn't like movies would just lie about everything, right?

It was a rule, from what he could see. If it wasn't them liking bad men, it was the other way around. Flash and Sunset, Derpy and Bulk—although he admitted that was a stretch of the definition of "bad"—or Sweetie Belle and Button Mash. Admittedly, that last one was more like two types of disasters colliding head-on to risk making one super disaster, but still.

How his simply involving Sonata in a competition and also being respectful to her—sometimes—in the past qualified as prospective boyfriend material didn't quite line up. All his senses niggled at him that something else was afoot, but the one conversation with Sonata hadn't yielded any clues as to what.

"You couldn't have just been nice to her, right?" Sandalwood inquired as he started to rummage through his locker. As he did, a good half a dozen posters, one bag of dirt, and a collection of seashells fell out. Plus one tarantula, which quickly skittered off and managed to avoid being stomped on by the students elsewhere.

Some screams carried up as someone must have finally spotted the arachnid, but most students were too involved with their conversations to care. When he emerged, Sandalwood held a partly water-damaged textbook and winced. "So much for my memento from Sea Terra," he mumbled, then dropped the textbook into his backpack. He fixed Micro with a piercing stare. "But tell me, bro, how'd you really get her? You're too nice for most girls to notice!"

Lowering his eyelids into a deadpan glare, Micro huffed, "Try telling me that again when the next chemistry exam comes around. Maybe I won't feel like sharing all the answers next time."

At that, Sandalwood grinned awkwardly and he scuffed one of his sneakers against the floor. As the PA speaker system read off some of the morning news items, he chuckled, "We don't have to go that far." He swallowed deeply. "Just, uh, curious, bro."

With a scoff, Micro rolled his eyes and stated, "Honestly, I don't know myself. She asked me out, I think, and I suggested the planetarium." As he said that, Wiz and Scribble both "ooh'd" and the latter softly sighed as she looked to the ceiling. As he had probably just given them both dreams of doing the same one day, he stated, "I'll let you know if it's a good location for which to have a date."

With the student body beginning to thin out as the first ring of the morning bell echoed through the hallway, he craned his neck to try and spot Sonata. She wouldn't be a hard person to miss, given her massive ponytail. Why exactly he wanted to track her down, he couldn't fully comprehend. Perhaps just to check that he wasn't going crazy, and that she actually did want to spend time with him?

Granted, if he was going crazy, then he'd probably have thrown out his plush collection of every single atom on the periodic table, up to and including Flerovium. Anything else past that? Should never be asked that. Especially if in the same conversation about Pluto.

"But who-who-who could it be?" Scribble pondered. Glancing between the rest of the group, who all collectively stared back at her, she groaned, "Seriously? W-W-Why do I have to-to-to-to be the one who asks?!" She huffed. "Fine. Ap-Ap-Applejack?" When Micro shook his head, she snorted and guessed, "R-Rarity?"

Another denial.

"Derpy?"

Absolutely not.

"Octavia? Vinyl S-S-S-Scratch?"

Also a negative.

Thinking for a moment, Scribble hummed. The glass in her spectacles perfectly bounced the light from the ceiling away, hiding her eyes entirely and making them look like twin balls of fire. If she mused much harder, she'd probably start smoking a bit at trying to figure it out.

At last, she snapped her fingers and then had to dodge as Apple Bloom and her two friends darted through the group. Seconds later, they were followed by Button Mash, and Micro noticed that Sweetie had in her grip Button's beanie. In some fictional language—he assumed—Button was shouting after them, and the teens all rolled their eyes at the younger children's antics.

"You're d-dating Sunset Shimmer!" Scribble proclaimed once the coast was clear. Smugly standing up straight, she smirked and stated, "S-She did seem to. Be the one who liked-liked-liked smart guys." She sighed. "And nice ones."

As soon as the suggestion left Scribble's mouth, Micro recoiled in horror. They knew as well as everyone else that Sunset wasn't from this world. Did they seriously need a reminder? Either way, he stuck out his tongue and gagged. "Are you serious?!" he demanded, but already could tell that she was very much not joking. As the stress of the insinuation hit in full force, he gesticulated with his hands as he saw her pass by. "She's a horse!"

Immediately, Sunset whipped her head around and glowered at him. She didn't stop moving, though, and, if anything, picked up her pace. Raising his voice and cupping a hand to his mouth, he called, "I didn't mean that figuratively! I meant it literally!"

"Not helping your case, Chips!" retorted Sunset as she rounded the corner of the hallway and moved out of sight.

"I mean, she looks pretty human to me," Sandalwood interjected while rubbing his head confusedly. "Seriously, nothing wrong with her vibes, man." Clamping a hand on Micro's shoulder, he gave him a thumbs up and mouthed, "Go for it!" which earned a few tired sighs and shaking of heads from the rest of the group assembled.

"Sandalwood, I don't think you're a good compass, because didn't you almost get arrested at that anti-oil protest last week? You know, the one where some 'mysterious protestor' painted themselves purple and started running around—without clothes, mind you—and started screaming that—" Wiz began before being quickly silenced by Sandalwood placing a hand over his mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah, ixnay on the anderslay, okay?" Sandalwood tittered uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head. "I totally wasn't—"

"Oh, there she is!" blurted out Micro as he stopped craning his neck and spotted Sonata among the thinning number of students. All three of his friends followed his pointing finger, and simultaneously exclaimed pained groans, sighs, or whimpers.

"Woah, man, isn't she one of the Dazzlings?" Sandalwood inquired, a bit of fear settling in his voice. Wringing his hands ever so slightly, he stated, "That's like, some bad news bears, bro. They need some serious karmic rebalance after all they did."

"Y-Yeah, sh-sh-she is not someone you should mess with," agreed Scribble with a rapid nod of her head. Although normally Micro would agree with her, Sonata had put his immediate fears to rest, even if she had only raised more questions. If she were dangerous, wouldn't she have tried to end him that night, or enslave him, or something?

"I know this may sound a bit odd, or headstrong, or stupid, but..." Rubbing his chin, he narrowed his eyes as he saw Sonata wave at him, then at a couple of female students that were gazing at him. Turning his back, he didn't see Sonata grab them by their blouses and snarl threateningly at both of them. With a noncommittal shrug and quipped, "I think she's genuine."

At his friends' prying stares, he shot them back a defiant glance and squared his shoulders. "I didn't even have to give her my ace in the hole."

"Good!" Wiz jumped in, although he soon bashfully looked away as Micro arched a brow curiously. Kicking a foot against the ground, he whistled uncomfortably and then mumbled, "It is kinda... cringy?" That earned a series of nods and hums of agreement from the others.

"Plus, don't tell me you're thinking of dating crazy, bro." Leaning down and gazing directly into Micro's soul, Sandalwood sternly stated, "Best bit of advice I ever had was from Pops: don't date crazy. And especially don't go further than that."

Contemplating Sandalwood's tip, Micro pursed his lips and peered back at Sonata just after missing her slipping a butter knife back into her blouse, while her two victims hastily retreated. He arched an eyebrow. Was she really that crazy? All of his memories of her were simply that she was a ditz, and never was as involved in the other Dazzlings' insanity.

He wrinkled his forehead thoughtfully. Holding his backpack tighter, he flinched as the second bell ring for the first period resounded through the halls. "Well, I'm doing it. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Everything," all three of his friends chimed in simultaneously.

Waving a hand dismissively while irately hissing, he swiveled in the direction of his biology class. Frowning and casting a single glance toward Sonata, who had finished with her locker and started stuffing some small boxes into her blouse pockets. When she noticed that she had been observed, she stopped to wave and smile, before forming a heart with her hands.

"I can't back out now. I kinda already agreed. Just not sure what to do for a restaurant." All of his friends exchanged worried glances with each other, then Sandalwood sighed and clapped his other hand on Micro's other shoulder.

Features etched with worry, he stated, "If she actually likes you and doesn't want you for some weird ritual, then she probably won't care." Squeezing Micro's shoulders tighter momentarily, he looked down in concern, "Just, be careful, okay, man? She just seems a bit—" He never finished and instead twirled an index finger around one of his temples.

"That's pretty deep for you, Sandalwood," Wiz remarked as a warning on the PA system threatened detention if students weren't in their class in another two minutes. At that, they all bolted for their separate classes, with Wiz following Micro since they both shared biology.

Breathing heavily for a moment, he finally puffed out, "Um, if this goes okay... do you think that maybe..." He coughed into a fist. "She could help me out?" As their shoes squeaked on the freshly polished tile of another hallway, Micro flashed him a confused look, and he tittered, "You know, the one with the massive ball of orange hair?"

When he finished, his cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson, and he mumbled barely loud enough to be heard, "Because she's kinda hot. We shared a connection when they sang in the cafeteria." He licked his lips. "I know it." His blush only grew deeper as he clenched his fists so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"Who?" inquired Micro as his mind drew a blank to whom Wiz could possibly refer.

A pained groan escaping his lips, Wiz only hurriedly brandished about half a dozen pictures, all taken from the climax of the Rainbooms versus the Dazzlings last month. They all looked to be from the audience pit. When Wiz whipped them back into a pocket, he hissed, "Adagio. Help her help me connect with Adagio."

Blinking a couple of times, Micro simply shook his head and marched forward. He cast a glance back and stated, "I'll try." As Wiz turned and punched the air excitedly, Micro groaned and pictured the formation of new atomic particles to force the concept of those two together out of his head.

***

She was late.

As that thought went through Micro Chip's head, he started to pace back and forth in front of the Canterlot City Planetarium. Its large, dome-shaped roof beckoned to him as he stared at the poster of that night's presentation—or show, whichever was preferred. Astronomer Twinkle Sprinkle, who'd been on part of a research team of the outer planets. The mere thought that she could be announcing Pluto's status returning to glory made his heart thump in his chest.

Since the planetarium was on the outskirts of the city, he determined it was the perfect night for stargazing while he waited, due to the sky being perfectly clear. If he was not already predisposed, he probably would have been out studying the stars. Maybe trying to skirt the law by pointing a laser at a passing jet, if noticed. For experimentation, and only that.

Instead, he was waiting, and waiting, for Sonata to arrive. Since it was just an informal get-together, it wasn't like he had to dress up for it, so he had simply hopped on his bike after brushing back his hair and polishing his glasses, and pedaled as furiously as he could to arrive a few minutes early, just in case she had actually happened to arrive ahead of him.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't the case, which was something that he was more than familiar with.

Sighing and slumping his shoulders, he rubbed his arms a couple of times to retain some heat in the admittedly chilly early autumn night. The occasional car sped past on the street outside the parking lot, headlights like blinding flares that shot through unopposed by the night.

"Waiting for somebody, Chips?" he heard someone ask from behind.

"Yes, Comet," Micro replied as he turned around. Inside a nearby ticket booth, a young girl watched him while listlessly smacking on a piece of bubblegum. Occasionally, she switched her attention between him and whatever game she was playing on her handheld. Given that she was the one who rang in the extra, all-inclusive ticket for him when he arrived, instead of simply checking his season ticket, she should have known better.

"Who?" she listlessly asked

"A girl."

"Oh!" Dropping her handheld with a solid "thunk", she rested her chin on her hands and stared expectantly at him. "What's she like?" A curious, prying grin formed on her face, and she wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

"I don't know."

Her coyness flickered, but she still managed to keep up her nosiness and joking demeanor. She blew a bubble. "How'd you bag her? Does she like astronomy?" Tilting her head a bit, she giggled. "Is she cute?"

"I don't know. I don't know. And I suppose." Shrugging and giving an uncommitted grunt, he went back to his pacing as he could practically hear the clocks over the doors to inside the planetarium ticking down the minutes. If she didn't show up soon, the first tour would start, and the presentation would have already begun.

Maybe he'd been stood up. It was possible, given that he didn't really have the best luck with women, anyway. Perhaps Sonata had a moment of lucidity and determined that maybe, perhaps, dating someone who ensured that all his suspenders were equally ironed might have been a bit disturbing and simply bailed. So, how long should he wait?

"So, you have no clue about this girl, but she's cute?" Comet whistled. Shaking her head and going back to her game, she stated, "Well, good luck. Don't date crazy, though." She added with a titter. "You could do a lot better than that."

Cringing from hearing the statement a second time, Micro's mind started ruminating on what he could have used the money he had spent for Sonata's ticket instead. There was a perfectly good beaker he had been eyeing for a while, and then there was the upgrade to the centrifuge, which only needed one more large gear to be able to handle three times the number of gs that it currently could.

Or there was simply the option of spending it on another girl who was interested in him. Or bribing them to pretend to be so.

Casting a glance at his watch, his heart started to throb faster as he saw it was only about ten minutes until the presentation started and he'd potentially miss out on important news. Biting his lip, he pleaded for Sonata's ride to show up shortly, yet about another five minutes passed with no luck.

As he was about to turn around and go into the planetarium, so at least he could see what was being discussed, there was a loud screech of tires, and a rusty hatchback barreled into the parking lot and sped to the sidewalk. Rolling to a stop, the car's passenger door started to open, and he caught Sonata's ponytail emerge before she was unceremoniously shoved out by the driver. For a brief second, he saw Sonata's sister, Aria, at the wheel. When she saw him, she pulled the door shut and sped away, but not before flipping him off. Her tires squealed in protest.

Micro coughed and choked at the fumes of exhaust and burnt rubber, and then made his way over to Sonata. Despite it being a Saturday night, the lot was surprisingly barren, with only a few cars parked in different spots. It did provide a perfect location to stargaze, but he had no equipment.

Reaching down as he arrived at Sonata, he asked, "Are you okay?" She coughed a couple of times as she took his hand to stand. Admittedly, she looked rather pretty, with the same outfit she wore to the fight between the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms. A bit overdressed, but at least it wasn't the embarrassing opposite.

Sonata nodded at his question and took his hand. Stiffening, he did all that he could to not blush as he felt her smooth skin against his. Suddenly noticing all the little flaws on his shirt and suspenders, he brushed them off and, for once, took off his techie pin to look a little neater. He slipped it into a back pocket.

"That seemed a bit... intense," he mumbled.

"Oh, Ari?" Sonata shrugged. Looking back to where there was still a small cloud of burnt rubber that was rising into the air, she tittered, "She's just cranky for some reason. Don't ask me why."

"She basically kicked you out!"

Tapping a finger against her chin, Sonata arched one eyebrow in thought and hummed thoughtfully. "I think she just wanted to make sure I cleared the broken spring on the seat. It hurts when it pokes you."

With an appraising, bemused stare, Micro pulled out the ticket he bought for Sonata and then passed it to her. When she took it, she gave an excited cry and demanded, "This is where the planet's have their rum?!" She looked between the ticket, him, and the building behind him.

As soon as she said that, Micro felt his head start to pulse in pain again, and he pinched the bridge of his nose and made a long, tired sigh. She's just excited, she's just excited, she's just—he repeated internally to himself time and again. With all the patience and kindness he could muster into his voice, he stated calmly, "No, this is where you'll learn about the planets and other things in the solar system."

"Oh." Sonata blinked a couple of times. "Dagi said if they were selling any rum, that she wanted some." She shrugged. "I guess I brought all this cash for nothing." Briefly flashing a large wallet that was in her blouse's pocket, she returned it when he started to eye it.

Inwardly, he felt his blood burning. If he had known she could have paid for her own ticket, he wouldn't have spent thirty bucks on hers! Save the expense for the meal! Besides, if she didn't even like it, then it was all for naught. The mere idea of—He cut himself off. Breathing in deeply a couple of times, he smiled at her and then motioned to follow him.

"Should we head inside?" he inquired, as he anxiously and internally counted down the seconds until he could see what the presentation was from Twinkle Sprinkle. Fighting his own giddiness, he gave a polite bow and stated, "If you would be so kind, anyway."

Sonata giggled once. "You know, Dagi would also probably like you. When she's not going on about how 'we're all ruined' and stuff." Sticking out her tongue, Sonata gagged and shook her head. "Pretty downer sometimes." Suddenly, she shifted demeanor as they passed through the entrance and she exclaimed, "Hey! Is that a taco stand?!"

He followed her gaze, and shook his head. "If you consider undercooked meat with a side of food poisoning tacos, then sure."

"Eh, I've had worse," Sonata replied with a shrug, which only made his stomach curdle. With a long sigh, she muttered, "But I get what you're saying. It's not authentic enough." He did a double-take at that while she pulled out her ticket and hummed. Printed on it were the two events: the presentation, and then the planetarium tour. They could go in any order, as he had explained on their way up to the building.

Hoping she'd ask to see the former, he withheld cheering when she asked, "Can we see this Twinkle Sprinkle first? She sounds like she could have doughnuts." At that, she licked her lips and mumbled, "Or churros." Practically drooling at the concept of a sweet dessert, she almost wandered off without watching for his direction.

Snatching her by the arm, he huffed and furrowed his brow as he dragged her toward the small auditorium in the planetarium. With each passing step, he felt his heart begin to beat faster as the promise of new astronomical knowledge beckoned him. The posters inside the planetarium implied that it'd be on one of the outer planets, only further bolstering his excitement.

Perhaps in the wake of New Horizons soon arriving at Pluto, they had reconsidered things? Finally restore it to its rightful position, like it had held in his heart for so many years?

"Oh! That's weird-looking," he heard Sonata exclaim, and he whirled around when she managed to break free from his grasp. In silent horror, he cupped both his hands to his head and then darted after her. They were in one of the halls dedicated to the Apollo missions, and she was heading straight for the open-air display of one of the space suits used.

Before he could reach her, she stretched out a hand and snatched one of the sleeves. As soon as she did, she giggled and mumbled, "Feels funky." She yanked on it, and there was a small tearing sound as it slipped from its supporting rungs. Suddenly, it fell forward after another tug, and flopped right onto her, just as he dove to try and stop her.

There was a heavy thud.

Scrambling his arms and legs and kicking in all directions, Micro finally tore off the space suit and got to his feet. His heart practically crashed through the floor beneath him. Sonata lay prone on her back, partly wrapped in the remnants of the space suit. A piece of astronomical and human history. Both the arms were hanging by threads, and there was a crack in the suit's helmet visor.

Sonata simply shrugged. "Whoops. I guess I got a bit too eager?" Awkwardly holding back a small laugh, she flung the limp suit off and inspected it. Raising it to eye level, she hummed and stated, "It's basically like new, okay?" She cantered over to the rung on which it used to be, then gently pressed the arms together and fit it right back on. Three seconds later, the remaining portion of the left arm ripped off, and it dangled by its remaining arm.

Micro squeaked. One eyelid twitched.

Passing a palm over his vision a few times, Sonata demanded, "Hey! You all right?" She shot him a concerned frown.

"I-I-I-I—" he stuttered a few times as his brain tried to catch up to what transpired.

"Wow, it's not that big a deal. Like, it was even falling apart a bit already. For realsies." She brushed aside some of her hair, which swished out in front of her and tickled his nose. Scrutinizing what was left of the suit, she arched a brow and hummed a few times in thought. Snapping her fingers, she waltzed over, grabbed the broken arm, and then slipped it onto one of the rungs. "At least it'll stay all together for them to fix later!" She beamed happily.

"Don't-don't you know what a public display is for?!" he demanded. His vision swam and he could hear ringing in his ears.

Waving a hand dismissively, Sonata blew a small raspberry and retorted, "It'll be fine!" She perked up and grabbed his hands, this time being the one to drag him around instead. "Oh! Let's go to that planet movie thingy. I'm sure it'll cheer you right up!" With that, and with the strength of someone who was easily ten years older, she skipped toward the auditorium and hummed, off-key, a happy tune.

All the while, Micro stammered and whimpered as he figured that Sonata had destroyed not only a priceless artifact, but also desecrated a piece of astronomical history. And she seemed completely unbothered by it.

Cogs turning in his head, he hid his face as a couple of staff walked past them, muttering about a noise in the hall. As far as he could tell, they hadn't paid him mind, but that didn't mean he didn't want to be careful. If they knew that he'd been associated with the person who damaged it, he'd probably be banned for life! The very thought made his stomach churn.

After a minute or so of him limply being yanked along, Sonata finally looked over her shoulder and whispered, "Uh, which way?" He slowly looked up from his dejected gaze to the floor. She was standing right outside the doors. Huffing, he shot her a glare and pointed at the entrance..

"Oh, sorry," she murmured, and let go of him after pulling him toward the auditorium.

Since it was too fast for him to properly act, he let out a yelp as he fell face-first into the floor. Moaning, he pushed himself back up and frowned at her. She simply gave another shrug and repeated, "Sorry." There was a sudden scream from the hallway they left, and her cheeks flushed a bright pink. "Guess I was too curious, huh?"

Grinding his teeth together, he exhaled and stated, "L-Let's just get inside. I-I'll be darned if I'm going to be kicked out before learning what new scientific news is in there."

"Far out!" Sonata interjected and gave him a thumbs up, which only earned another bemused scowl from him. So far, the date was not going quite as planned, to say the least. Sonata scratched her head. "Also, just want to say: this has been kinda fun already." Tittering, she added, "Didn't know that humans had such weird places to visit. Looking at pictures all day would wear me out."

She wiped away some sweat. "Actually, it already is for realsies."

Admittedly, the adrenaline rush wasn't too bad, and if he got banned, at least he'd have more money for his experiments, and for a new GPU. A Titan X sounded about right for all his computational and entertainment needs.

From inside, he heard a couple of claps and then his heart skipped a beat. Frantically grabbing Sonata's hand and then pulling her inside, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they weren't too late. Twinkle Sprinkle was just getting to the front of the auditorium, her laptop in hand and box of doughnuts waiting for her at the table up front. Sonata eyed them hungrily.

Fervently shaking his head at her, he instead tugged her to the left and they found a spot near the middle of the auditorium that was almost empty. Guiding her to sit to his right, at the end of the row, he huffed and then crossed his arms as he eagerly waited for Twinkle to begin her presentation. The woman's white hair was dotted with a rainbow of colors, like that of a doughnut.

As soon as he realized that, he heard his own stomach grumble. Looking to the ceiling, he gritted his teeth. Thank you, Sonata, for making me hungry, he griped to himself. Meanwhile, Sonata simply muttered some things to herself as she started to inspect her surroundings. She patted her legs absentmindedly, letting her hands fall in soft "pats" as Twinkle hooked up her laptop to the large screen on the auditorium and cleared her throat.

With a moment to take in the auditorium, he gazed for a moment to above the small stage, as the staff had apparently been busy preparing for the presentation. Dangling from some different cords were a few moons and a blue giant. Since the lights had already been dimmed, he couldn't tell which of the two ice giants it was, but still, the display lent a bit of splendor and majesty to the auditorium that it otherwise lacked.

There was a soft squeal of feedback as the microphone next to Twinkle's mouth picked up more than it should have. Micro winced. When it was brought back under control, Twinkle nodded and adjusted her plain, tan shirt, and she tapped something on her laptop. As she did, a brilliant, bright blue orb against the inky blackness of space materialized.

Sonata "ooh'd" in wonder as she stared at it. Leaning over, she whispered, "It looks like a gumball." She scrunched her nose. "I wonder if it tastes like blueberry?" At that, he just rolled his eyes and tried to focus on Twinkle as she rapped on the screen with a finger. After she did that a couple more times when the screen froze, she at last gave it a light hit, and the screen moved.

"Percussive maintenance," Twinkle quipped, which earned a couple of chuckles. Afterwards, without even looking, she reached out and snagged a doughnut, which she thoughtlessly nibbled on while she brought out a laser pointer. Micro saw Sonata momentarily follow the pointer like a hawk, and sighed tiredly.

"So, you're probably all wondering what this amazing presentation is going to be," stated Twinkle as she finished scarfing the rest of her doughnut. "Well," she started through a full mouth, "the thing is, for some of you guys, it'd probably be boring. Just some organic compounds found in atmospheres, that sort of thing." Flipping through a couple more slides which sporadically showcased some formulas and equations, she settled on a bright, highlighted picture of a blue gas giant, its form painted with various streaks of brown overtop.

"For others, this will be exciting, because it could mean life!" There was a small gasp from some of the audience members. As much as Micro forced himself to be the same, he couldn't keep his mind from reminding him that it was probably another red herring. Twinkle's dramatic pause was pierced by her declaring, "Life in the clouds of Uranus!"

As soon as the name of the gas giant left Twinkle's mouth, Micro heard Sonata hold back a giggle with a loud "snrk". Admittedly, she was not the only one, as Micro caught a few other snickers ripple through the audience. Even before he felt Sonata lean into him, he held back the most exhausted, exasperated exhale that probably would ever grace the planet.

Sonata pressed right up against his ear, which made her hair tickle against his skin. Slowly turning to whisper to him, she hissed, "She said 'your anus'." She forced down another snigger.

Micro snorted.

"It's not a funny name," he protested softly in return. Fixating her with a miffed frown, he stared directly into her mirth-filled eyes, and couldn't help but feel like he caught her laughter, too. However, he did manage to keep a straight face when he mumbled, "It was named in the eighteen-forties, okay? They didn't see it as funny."

"Hey! Hey!" Sonata lightly punched him in the side of the arm. Almost immediately, he knew what was coming his way. Seeing her grin from a mile away, he cringed as she asked, "Maybe they should go probe your anus next?" At that, she broke into a fit of giggles, and Micro forcefully pinched the bridge of his nose.

He could have been listening to the fascinating subject of organic compounds and the massive storms that were commonplace on Uranus, but instead he had to listen to his date—admittedly still a cute date—break into fits of laughter simply because she had the humor of a child. He was most certainly not going to hear the end of it.

"Hey, hey, I got another one," Sonata quipped as she tapped his arm. "Where do—"

He never bothered listening to the rest of it, as it was something about colonoscopies and the doctors who performed them and their point of origin, or something. Truly classy stuff. Instead, he focused as best he could on the presentation from Twinkle Sprinkle, who was currently showing some slides on how they used Hubble and some ground telescopes to measure reflectivity and albedo of Uranus, and co-related that with organic compounds.

Over time, Twinkle started to transition from the discoveries to just some facts about the planet. Nothing that he hadn't learned a dozen times before, and nothing that seriously held his interest. As she droned on for another couple of minutes, munching on a doughnut every now and then to boot, he leaned over to Sonata.

"Hey, did you hear about Pluto? That's messed—" He stopped when he noticed that she was missing. "Sonata?" he asked, his pulse skyrocketing as he checked this way and that for her. It had only been a few minutes. Where had she run off to?

He didn't even have time to really think, as he caught some shaking from above, and he peered up. Sweat broke out on his neck and back as he saw her narrowly threading the catwalk and supports that held up the display pieces of the auditorium. As soon as he spotted her, he let out a soft hiss and tried to get her attention. She noticed him and waved. At that, she went back to crawling along the support beam.

Glancing in every direction, he felt a whine build up in his chest as the only staff member was the person working the sound, and they had headphones on. He could tap on the staff's shoulder, but the last time he did that, he got a face full of moon dust. With that thought, he looked between Sonata and Twinkle, and then back to Sonata. He sighed.

There was only one thing to do.

Within less than a minute, he had scrambled from his seat, found the ladder up to the catwalk, and then hastily threaded it toward where Sonata was crawling. By now, it was just the metal rafters she was on, and she was inching toward the suspended planets. As soon as he realized what she was doing, he hesitated for only a second before vaulting the railing of the catwalk and then grasping the rafters tightly.

Looking down for only a heartbeat and seeing Twinkle answer a question about why the planet was named after the rear of a person, he furrowed his brow and shimmied after Sonata. Only thanks to adrenaline pumping through his veins at a furious speed was he able to catch up to her. Heaving heavily, he snapped, "What are you doing?!"

"These planet thingies look cool. What makes them float?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, and she looked behind herself and shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do? She was putting me to sleep." At that moment, he realized that they were on the rafter supporting the large Uranus planet model, and that it happened to be almost directly over Twinkle.

Peering down for just a second, he looked back up at her, his face paler, and he rapidly shook his head. With a frown, he hissed, "We're not doing this right now! Okay?! We are enjoying this presentation, you're not going to laugh at Uranus's name—"

Sonata broke into another fit of hysterics.

"—and we are going to come back down and have a normal date, okay?!" When Sonata seemed to ponder it for a second, he moved a bit closer to try and grab her heel. Instead, all he received was a light kick to the nose as she started to scoot forward again, and he gave a small howl of pain.

Holding his head momentarily, he waited for the throbbing to subside and then hurried after her. Just as she was reaching the edge of the rafter, he managed to grab hold of an ankle. "Get back!" he hissed at her, and she stuck out her tongue defiantly.

"Just want to see the cool planet, jeez," Sonata shot back, and then wriggled her captured leg. She grunted and moved closer, reaching out her hand to touch the model Uranus. She gasped. "Wait! These aren't floating! They're suspended!" She wrapped her hand around a cable and tugged. "See?" she started to say before she slipped forward, as about half her body was out over empty space.

Micro was dragged as well as she fell off, and he held onto her as tightly as he could. In effect, she acted as a heavy, hempen rope, and as he couldn't find adequate grip, he slid off the metal rafter, too. With a scream, he swung forward and collided with the model of Uranus. Pulling back with a groan, he saw an imprint in the material of his face. He glanced upward. Sonata was dangling above him, and it was only then that he noticed the sagging of the supports for the planet.

He gulped. "Oh, malware-ridden-compu—"

Before he could finish his curse, the planet snapped off the rafter, and plummeted to the floor. Directly on top of Twinkle Sprinkle. Along the way, Sonata let out a gleeful cheer, but hacked once the dust from the impact was kicked up. With a groan, Micro shook his head, and saw that the only evidence of Twinkle was a protruding arm holding a doughnut. He heard a moan below him.

His bones were throbbing, but nothing appeared broken. As his mind became clearer, he heard the doors to the auditorium slam open, and a pair of security guards marched in. They took one look at the ruined planet, the trapped presenter, and the two teens. He winced and gave an awkward wave.

As the guards marched toward them, Sonata noticed the doughnut and uttered a low "oooo!" She snatched it and quipped, "Thanks." When they came close, she smiled sweetly.

"I'm so banned, aren't I?" Micro asked.

***

"I'm so getting grounded after this," Micro Chips mumbled as he kept his hands in his pockets. Already some bruises were forming on his face and arms, his glasses were chipped, and, to top it all off, he now had a delinquency record. Thankfully, by some miracle, Twinkle Sprinkle walked off with only a broken arm, but to say that he was banned from the planetarium would be putting it mildly. Probably his great-grandchildren would be, too.

Also, he didn't get a refund of the remainder of his season's tickets.

"Eh, it's not that bad," Sonata stated as the elevator to the seventh floor of the apartment building they were in chimed. Stepping off it, she led him a few doors in and then stopped outside of a simple door with the same symbol Adagio Dazzle had worn on her outfit when she was at CHS. Sonata gave a single knock.

When there was no response, Sonata shrugged. "Honestly, I think it was more fun than if we just listened to that boring presentation and walked around looking at thingies." As soon as she said that, his face flushed, and he sputtered to come back with a fiery statement, but... she was somewhat right. The presentation was getting rather drab, and he had already seen all the displays in the building a dozen times. What was he really going to learn there?

Still, was he going to admit it was fun? Probably not. A lot of excitement for not much pay-off. But, still, perhaps there was room for a second date. After all, she had promised that she'd make up for being a bit ditzier than she normally was. Apparently nerves could do that to her.

Withholding a sigh, he stated, "Well, I guess this is it. Uh, I escorted you back, and, well, thanks for the... interesting time?" At that, he blushed slightly. As she stared at him, he felt like she was searching his very being. Even if she no longer had magic, she still seemed to be able to discern some people's thoughts.

Her face falling, she mumbled, "I guess I messed up too hard, didn't I?" Softly, she fought back a couple of sniffles.

Instantly resting a hand on one of her shoulders, he declared, "No! S-Sandalwood says that I need to branch out more, and while I don't think that he quite meant this..." He chewed on his tongue. Inwardly cursing himself for what he was going to say next, he muttered, "Maybe we could go to the science fair next week?"

Brightening as soon as he said that, she nodded emphatically and wrapped him in a hug, which made him gag in surprise as she held it for a moment. His heart beating rapidly, he slowly returned it, and she gave a small sigh before pulling back. "It's a date," she quipped with a wink, then pulled out a key from her blouse and undid the lock.

Opening the door, she exclaimed, "Ari, Dagi! I'm home! I didn't ki—" Her proclamation stopped mid-sentence when they saw Adagio pinning Aria underneath her in a choke hold. Adagio looked up, while Aria struggled frantically to wriggle out from under her. Beside the couch they were on, an empty bottle of shampoo was visible, and Adagio's hair was in clear shambles from not being conditioned.

Sonata gawked at Adagio. Adagio gaped back.

With a soft creak, Sonata shut the door and anxiously twirled back to smile at Micro, her eyes nearly the size of pinpricks. "You didn't see that, okay?!" She leaned in and quickly pecked him on the cheek. "Okay?!" she repeated while playing her hand on the same cheek.

Stuttering for a second or two, he finally blinked and asked, "I suppose this would be a bad time to ask about arranging a date with a friend of mine and your sister?"

FIN

Author's Note

Well, this was a change of pace from what I normally write. You'd think after nine years since the last EqG story, I would have more difficulty writing our non-hooved heroes, but it was pretty easy to slip into. Either way, this was another excuse to write stuff with the Dazzlings, even if only partially, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

Would have been nice for an extra 5k words for the contest, but alas. Slipping in real world references or references to other shows was something that I found most amusing, so, thanks EqG!

Anyway, I would like to thank Gonderlane for pre-reading this, as it helped to ensure I didn't miss anything glaring.

Until next fic!
T4E