This Is Awkward

Lemon Hearts stood in front of her mirror, pulling random hats and other forms of clothing from her closet, tossing them around her room desperately as Spike and Twilight watched with raised eyebrows.

“Why are we doing this again?” Spike asked as Lemon Hearts paused to look at him.

“Because my cutie mark says so and besides, I want to. Have I ever stopped you from wanting to do something you wanted, Spikey? Like that time I stood in line for six hours with you for that comic book signing,” Lemon Hearts said pointedly and Spike sheepishly looked away. “I can still feel the ache in my hooves from that day.”

“Okay, you got me. So we’re just gonna follow Sunset and this other mare around Canterlot all day?” Spike raised an eyebrow and his marefriend nodded. “Oh, this is gonna be a long day.”

“It will be with that attitude,” Lemon Hearts chided as she pulled out a sun hat and sunglasses. “Aha! Here we are.”

Twilight wisely decided to keep her mouth shut and she examined the sunglasses closer.

“Well you two have fun. I have uh of lots of studying to do with Moondancer. She wants to try out a new spell today,” Twilight hoofed back the sunglasses and Spike raised an eyebrow slightly. “I’m not gonna pretend to understand your obsession with hooking ponies up, especially Sunset and this random mare. But I do trust your cutie mark, it got me and Moondancer together after all.”

Lemon Hearts smirked slightly at her and the yellow unicorn placed her hat on, the sunglasses following after and she struck a pose with one foreleg ahead of the other.

“Well?” Lemon Hearts asked impatiently, glancing at the two. “How do I look?”

“You look we-” Spike started and Twilight nudged him with a hoof. “Really good. Cute.”

“Aw thanks Spiky,” Lemon Hearts giggled and nuzzled him before kissing his cheek. “I think you deserve a treat for that compliment.”

“Okay, I’m leaving now,” Twilight blushed and looked away. “Ew.”

“I meant gems Twilight. I didn’t mean that,” Lemon Hearts turned a light pink and shot a glare at her fellow unicorn. “We’ve never even talked about that stuff.”

“I really don’t want to know about that aspect of my sons life,” Twilight told her and flicked her eyes at Spike. “Please and thank you. Moondancer already has no filter and over shares a lot. She’s like Lyra. As if one Lyra wasn’t wild enough, we got two.”

Lemon Hearts snorted and shifted her weight. Moondancer did have a tendency to say whatever was on her mind, for better or worse. It was mainly a thing she did when she was uncomfortable and either in public or with ponies she doesn’t know that well. Or she just didn’t care. One of those three, Lemon Hearts assumed. Or all three, she wasn’t entirely sure yet.

“Come along Spike, me and you have a date following some ponies,” Lemon Hearts announced and Spike bit back a groan as Twilight stifled a laugh.

This won’t end well, Spike thought to himself as he stepped out of his marefriends front door into the bright sunlight. Not well at all.

“This is so boring,” Lemon Hearts declared as she propped her head up on the table of the cafe she and Spike had chosen to sit at, the pair watching Sunset and Silverspeed standing at a pretzel stand talking. “I mean, what the buck? No wing on back, no hoof holding when they stop to sit, no flirting. Hell, they haven’t even kissed once. What in the buck man?”

Spike stared hard at his marefriend with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at him before narrowing her eyes.

“What are you looking at?” Lemon Hearts snapped and Spike snickered. “What?”

“You’ve cursed twice in a matter of thirty seconds. You and Twinkleshine never curse. Even Minuette occasionally let’s out a curse word on accident. It’s just funny to me, that’s all Lemon.”

“Not a word,” Lemon Hearts warned and Spike snickered. “I’m serious, Spike. I have a reputation to maintain. If word gets out, my head will be on a platter. And you’ll be single, so can it. Where are they at now?”

“Down the street,” Spike commented and pointed. “They’re sitting at that table with their lunch. Looks like hay burgers, two different pops and their pretzels we watched them buy.”

“Do you think they know we know that they’re there?” Sunset asked casually as she took a sip of her pop, Silverspeed and Sunset watching the dragon and unicorn talking to each other.

“Nah,” Silverspeed smirked and bit into her burger. “That’s actually pretty good. Not as good as home, but damn close. And anything is better than mess hall food.”

Sunset had no clue if she was right or not, but based off rumors she heard from some Royal Guards who had occasionally looked after her as a filly (and chased her down the halls. Sunset was naturally a wild child, as a kid and an adult.)

“Hey, here they come,” Silverspeed commented and nudged Sunset with a wing tip. “Why, I ain’t got a damn clue.”

“Oh boy, here we go.”

Sunset rolled her eyes and smirked slightly to herself as she and Silverspeed went back to talking as Lemon Hearts trotted past before she did a double take.

“Sunset Shimmer?” Lemon Hearts asked and covered her mouth with a hoof. That was almost convincing, Sunset mused. “Holy, it’s been a while since we’ve ran into each other. Heard a lot about you from Lyra, Minuette, Berry and Derpy recently. How have ya been? Spike, say hello.”

“Hello,” Spike waved a claw and Sunset smiled at him.

“Guess who know who wears the pants in that relationship,” Silverspeed whispered and Sunset bit back a grin.

“Please, sit,” Sunset levitated two chairs out.

“We can’t, we were just walking by,” Lemon waved a hoof and Sunset grinned wider.

“Oh, but I insist,” Sunset hung a foreleg on her chair casually and Silverspeed hid a smile behind her cup. “Sit.”

Lemon Hearts and Spike both shared a long look before they complied, each taking a seat across from the two.

“This is Silverspeed, one of the newest members of the Royal Guard and my personal guardsmare. As well as a close friend,” Sunset smiled warmly at the mare and Silverspeed coughed into her hoof before turning pink. “Element of loyalty as well. So what’s with the uh sunglasses and sun hat get up?”

“Oh you know, it’s for the heat and all,” Lemon Hearts answered and waved a hoof around as Spike resisted the urge to facepalm.

“It’s fifty degrees out and we have snow forecasted tomorrow night,” Spike deadpanned and Lemon Hearts glared at him.

“Not helping mister,” Lemon Hearts growled as she narrowed her eyes and Sunset snorted. “Anyway, I like how it looks. And the sun was in my eyes.”

“Relatable,” Silverspeed mused and tossed some of her lunch into her mouth. “Damn sun. Uh, no offense meant Sunset.”

“None taken.”

“So, nice to run into you,” Spike started and gently tapped Lemon Hearts. “You two enjoy whatever this is. We have dinner with my Mom and the Princess.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow, sharing a look with Silverspeed as the two said goodbye, watching Lemon Hearts drag Spike away.

“They’re up to something,” Sunset noted as Silverspeed took a lazy sip of her drink.

“Oh, absolutely.”