Anthro

"Well I gotta say," Lyra began, tilting her head to look around the room, "this is by far the best restaurant I've ever eaten at."

Blueblood chuckled, taking a sip of his wine and raising his right eyebrow at her as he replied with a smile, "Only the best for you, my lovely lady."

So far the night had gone swimmingly, the two had a reserved spot for them in the Palace Restaurant, they had some of the finest salads harvested from the untamed forest, and were preparing to enjoy the band's performance. The large gold and white walls towered over them until they reached the circular dome at the top, a large painting of the day and night sky covering the highest point in the room while pegasi appeared to fly around in the painting.

"I sure am glad that I remembered to bring money this time," the prince chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Lyra had a confused look on her face, unsure of the meaning of Blueblood's joke.

"Long story." He replied with a sort of nervous laugh with that, she figured it might have been an incident that happened a while ago and quickly brushed it off. Although the restaurant was of high class, and the prices only emphasizing its fanciness, she had the desire to eat like a Ponyville citizen. She could smell the well steamed vegetables as well as the mints and spices coming from the kitchen, only making it worse for her poor hungry stomach. She watched as the prince across her gently twirled his glass with his magic, as though he were subconsciously taunting her with how much money he had.

She turned her focus to the glass of expensive wine in front of her, her mouth already preparing itself to taste the bitter-sweet mixture of well-aged alcohol. Using her magic, she floated the glass to her mouth and downed the wine in one go, not taking the time to breathe in between. As she continued to chug, she could hear the prince's voice from across the table, "Err, my dear?"

Lyra stopped her drinking only when she made sure her entire glass had been emptied before placing it back on the table, giving her a good view of her date's uneasy look, "That was a little uncivil," he whispered to her, "this isn't Ponyville anymore."

The mare looked around the room once more, reminding herself of how she had to act posh in front of the most elegant society in Equestria. She then tucked her muzzle closer to her chest as she sheepishly replied, "My bad,"

Blueblood paused, she watched him look over to the other end of the restaurant where a young couple had gotten the same salad that they had ordered, the large plate with steaming vegetables probably made him wish he was being served sooner. He then turned his attention to his date, a curious look in his eyes as he asked her, "So what happened the other day, I couldn't help but notice that the creature,"

Lyra quickly interrupted him, "Anthro," she corrected.

"Right," he resumed, "Anthro... I couldn't help but notice he seemed a little odd, care to explain?"

It was finally Lyra's moment to gush about their interesting day that took place, ready to amaze her date with what she had learned from a creature that hadn't been in any books yet. She explained to him how Anthro had a brain very similar to theirs, thus being able to have mental disorders as well as special capabilities and talents. She watched his face turn to shock and awe when she reached the part about how Anthro had become the hero by saving the two of them from a dangerous timberwolf.

When she was nearing the end of her story, she took a deep breath to make up for all the talking before ending her tale, "So long story short, he has a form of Autism as well as a boosted capability in learning languages, he also taught me that his biology is affected differently by poison joke compared to the biology of yours and mine."

"So that's why he was all..." Blueblood was looking for a word to help describe is unorthodox behaviour, twirling his hoof around as though it were helping him.

"On our way back," the joyful mare began, "he said that the stuff was going to make him 'high' and 'trip' whatever that means."

Suddenly, a very familiar voice called from behind Lyra, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Lyra."

Lyra, surprised and confused, turned her head around to see a purple alicorn with five others at a table, a small dragon had joined them as well. Lyra realized the pony she was talking to and stammered, "P-princess Twilight, wha-what a coincidence."

As the unicorn was preparing to get off her seat and bow before her, the princess giggled, "Oh Lyra, I don't need to be treated like that, remember?"

Sheepishly, and slightly embarrassed, Lyra got back into her seat as she replied, "Oh... yeah sorry bad habit." She gave a fake laugh as she moved the hair from her eyes, trying to act as though nothing had happened.

Twilight turned her eyes to the prince opposite of the table as she politely said, "Prince Blueblood, always a pleasure."

Blueblood gave her a nod, a smile in the corner of his face, "As to you, your highness." His smile quickly disappeared when a white horn and purple hair that had been combed to perfection popped from behind Twilight, followed by the rest of the unicorn's body. Lyra could see the look of awkwardness in her date's eyes as he said in monotone, "Oh..."

The white mare, caught off guard, stood there in joint awkwardness as she mimicked him, "Hello... Blueblood."

The silence was incredible, Lyra had been in many awkward situations before, but none were ever as painful as these two ponies when Blueblood tried to remember her name, "How are you tonight, miss... miss... Mys"

"Rarity," the unicorn replied in complete monotone, as though every moment was angering her slightly more as she pursed her lips.

Blueblood tried his best to act cool as he said in reply, "I knew you were Rarity, but my brain was saying otherwise, like, like,"

She didn't even wait for him to finish, "Uh-huh," she sarcastically hummed while nodding her head.

When she returned to sitting down, Twilight gave a look that meant an apology before she sat down as well, leaving Blueblood and Lyra to dine together once more. Blueblood looked to his drink, and Lyra watched as he swallowed the entire thing much like she did while she calmly asked, "Ex?"

Blueblood coughed slightly at the faint burn of the alcohol in his stomach before replying with a weak smile, "Oh not even, we barely made it through the night before she suddenly started hating... I mean... before the way I was behaving had gone too far."

She had been working with Blueblood only for a short while, but she could assume that she had witnessed the first time Blueblood admitted he was at fault instead of blaming someone else. She gave him a reassuring smile, "Hey, at least you've changed right?"

The stallion nodded, "Yeah, at least now somepony is here to date the new and improved Prince Blueblood." She watched as he raised his glass after filling both halfway with wine, requesting she join him in toast.

Giggling, Lyra used her magic as well to lift her wineglass and meet his halfway.

Suddenly, a noise pierced the ears of the turquoise unicorn, a high pitched shriek of disgust and surprise that came from the young couple across the restaurant, "Waiter, waiter!" The mare exclaimed in shock, urging the nearby stallion to approach her before continuing. Lyra watched as the pony raised her plate to the waiter as she shouted, "There is a bug in my salad!"

Lyra then looked towards Blueblood as he sighed, a look of unease on his face as he muttered, "I'll go check it out, I'll pay for her meal." Impressed with his generosity, Blueblood stood up to face the now ocean of watching eyes before making his way to the ecstatic mare and her date, leaving Lyra to her self.

*****

Blueblood approached the table, a sinking feeling in his stomach after seeing such disgusted looks on the faces of the customers.

"We were told that this food would be cleaned before being retrieved from the forest, why is there a bug in my salad?"

Blueblood decided to step in, hoping to help as he said, "Ma'am, if it means anything, I will pay for your meal."

The earth-pony gave a look of disgust, her bright yellow eyes matching her hair only made her gaze pierce his soul even more as she scoffed, "Well at least somepony can do something right," she pointed her hooves towards the bug and continued, "I almost ate it if it weren't for its blinking light."

Blueblood followed her hooves direction towards a small black shell, it remained motionless on top of her fork as a faint red light began to flicker. Curious, Blueblood decided to get a closer look at it, "Hold on..." he used his magic to bring the insect closer to his face. On the top was a clear shell that flickered with red light, its legs were of a sort of gold and copper mix that extended half a centimetre out and remained motionless. As he inspected the small creature, he noticed something off about its behaviour, he couldn't help but notice the time between the flash of lights grew shorter and shorter between, the flickering quickly speeding up after every flash.

Suddenly, he realized they weren't staring at an insect, they were staring at something much worse.

As the waiter, the two ponies at the table, and the prince stared at the small object, he quietly muttered, "Wait a second..."

The sound of breaking windows shattered the peaceful silence of the night, the horrified screams of multiple ponies were heard followed by the sound of a heavy object tumbling onto the ground. Blueblood turned his head towards the source of the commotion only to be blinded by a bright flash of light and a loud pop that rang in his ears. The combination disoriented him, causing him to fall over onto the table. Despite the painful ringing inside his head, he could hear another sound of beeping that quickened with every second. Before he could do anything about it, everything went dark as he lost consciousness.