human
Sunrise in Ponyville had always been rather beautiful, but today seemed different somehow. The Pegasus who cleared the clouds (Was her name Rainbow dash? Something like that) wasn't up yet so right now, the slowly rising sun was filtering through those clouds, creating different colours in the sky, reds, purples, yellows and pastel blues cast like some kind of painting rather than an actual scene.
It was a fairly normal morning for Stardancer, who was currently laid down on the ground with her dark grey eyes set up at the sky. She hadn't seen a shooting star in a week now and her job was beginning to become tedious again, seeing as she had to stay up all night until dawn with no real company aside from the occasional critter that would run by in the direction of Fluttershy's house. She pulled herself up and shook off her silvery mane, heaving a sigh.
Stardancer wasn't really one of the more well known ponies in the little village, seeing as nobody ever saw her. There were quite a few dark rumors about her that were completely untrue, varying from her being a relative of Nightmare Moon to her being a mad killer who should be avoided at all costs. It was annoying more than anything else to hear that you were a dark assassin when in reality, all Stardancer did was watch the skies for shooting stars and run to find the valuable little gems once they had fallen. They powered Ponyville and also proved to be expensive, enabling the mayor to keep Ponyville running. Seeing as they lived in a less-populated area than Canterlot, it was much easier to see and find the fallen stars and so they were one of the biggest Stargem traders in Equestria, which made Stardancer's job rather important, to say the least.
The unicorn was fairly tall with a midnight blue coat and a silvery-coloured wavy mane, matching the silver colour of the moon on her cutie mark that was crossed with a falling star, indicating her job as well as her passion for the night sky.
She looked around and sighed, her horn glowing as the blanket she'd been laid on floated into the air and folded itself, draping over her back as she started the long walk back to her spiralling house made of dark wood.
gpt
The horizon was illuminated with the deepest crimson, steadily growing lighter and larger and brighter as dawn approached. Then, all at once, the sun peeked over the distant horizon and set the landscape ablaze with light. The brilliant daylight caused the dark Everfree Forest to shimmer with a brilliant green, the apples in Sweet Apple Acres to glisten like rubies, the windows of every house in Ponyville to become rectangles of trapped light and the lake on the outskirts of town was now a large, round mirror that reflected the rising sun. The mirror's surface, however, was broken by a ripple that distorted the sun's reflection. The ripple was caused by a single boat anchored in the center of the smooth water.
The boat was wide and flat, roughly shaped like a sharp oval, the railing elegantly curved from bow to stern. Nestled in the center of the boat, looking as though it had been plucked straight from the town itself, was a house. Complete with straw roof and little lawn out front. As the light hit it and climbed it's way up the walls and onto the roof, the front door banged open and a Pegasus pony stepped out onto the rocking deck with hardly a wobble. His coat was the lightest shade of green, almost white, and his long mane hung down about his head in periwinkle curtains. His tail was just as long and pooled on the ground around his back feet. He closed his bright blue eyes, threw his head back and inhaled deeply. His head rose higher and higher as he sniffed greedily, a smile slowly spreading across his face. Soon his snout was pointed skyward, but it rose higher still. His wings had began to flap happily and he rose off the deck, hovering there with his hooves tucked in close and smiling for ear to ear. He finally released his breath and touched back down on the wood.
"Ah, mornings!"
There was a hollow jostling of metal on wood and in seconds he had taken to the skies again, this time adorned with a curious contraption. A battered tin bucket was slung over either side of his back, and what looked like a funnel was fastened to the bottom of each. Making a wide circle around his boat house, he dipped down in a steep dive and with a small, almost comicalplunk, disappeared below the surface of the water. All was calm. A second passed. Then another. Three seconds later, the shimmering lake was shattered with a resounding splash and the pegasus broke the surface, shaking his wings free of water as his mane and tail streamed behind him. Water sloshed in the buckets at his sides, though he didn't spill a single drop. As he soared away from the lake and his home, towards the town, some droplets of water still clung to his coat; Eight blue drops on his flank, arranged in a circle to form a flower.
When he was flying over the outskirts of town, he tugged a string dangling by his ear. A cork popped from the bucket on his right, and water began to stream from the funnel; Not straight down, but in a wide, spiraling arc, small droplets flying every which way. He pulled a second cork out and soon the water was falling to the ground below where it clung to the lawns, flowers, fruits and vegetables of the town far below. He hummed while he flew. He noticed a flash of blue and gray trotting along below and he swerved to take a detour around that particular patch of grass; He'd swing by and dew it later. He was just adjusting his flight path when there was a creak and snap behind him. He just saw the iron screw falling earthward before it was joined by a cascade of water. The fastening of the bucket had broken free and it's cargo had poured out.
Right towards the blue and silver pony below him.
His hooves jumped to his mouth before he sped downwards in pursuit of the water, a cracking voice shouting "Lookoutlookoutlookout!" To his innocent victim.
human
By the time Stardancer heard his voice, it was too late. She yelped as the torrent of freezing cold water washed over her and she stood there, stock still with all four hooves planted a foot apart. Her expression was almost comicla despite the anger that was flaring behind her wide eyes, her teeth gritted together with a small whimper. The morning breeze running through the village made the cold feeling even worse and she started to shiver, looking up slowly with her ears pressed back against her head.
Her mane was literally dripping, as was her tail which usually stopped just above her fetlocks, but now with the curls ironed out by the water it was dragging behind her on the floor. She resembled a drowned rat - a very angry drowned rat at that. Her gaze slowly turned upwards to see the pegasus pony above her and she glared up at him, shaking herself off as best as she could. "Do you think that's funny, huh?" she called up angrily, stamping one hoof on the ground to try and make a point. Se hadn't really heard what he actually said, just a shout from above and now she was definitely pissed.
"I mean, yeah, hilarious! Drench the creepy night pony and get her ill, what a bloody joke!" she had a pronounced british accent, her irrational anger strengthening it slightly. Her rational mind was telling her to calm down but her rational mind was not being listened to at all because right now, she just wanted to kick him in the face for drenching her in water for what she thought was a joke, her automatic response: Everybody is attacking me.
She shook herself off again, sending more droplets spraying everywhere and her mane and tail were starting to puff up as they got dry, forming tight ringlets against her hindquarters and neck. The only good side was that it was clean water, really, but it wasn't much of a comfort to her.
gpt
Upon seeing her livid expression the male pony halted in his descent with an almost audible screech and a slosh of water, just out of range of her hooves. He was still covering his snout in horror at what he had done. A string of words wriggled free of his hooves, nothing more than "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry" said without catching his breath. It wasn't until she had said,Creepy night ponythat he caught himself in mid sentence, his hooves falling away from his face. A look of understanding fell across his features. "Oh!" He said, pointing at her with his hoof. "Oh oh oh! I know you! You're the Midnight Manesnatcher!" He let out a peal of laughter and dropped a few inches towards her, clearly forgetting that he was supposed to be acting acting apologetic. "You're not as scary as the filly's described."
In fact, she was kind of cute, even when wet.
A dribble of water fell from the end of her snout and his smile faltered. "That...that was totally an accident!" He said as he waved his hoof over her soaked frame, fluttering lower still. "I've been using this-" He clanged a hoof against the contraption "-for years, and this is the first time it's been faulty. I swear!" He could sense that she was far from believing him. "Here, I'll make it fair." He rose back to his original height. Closing his eyes and mouth, he flopped over in the air before rolling back upright. The water in his remaining bucket was lifted free in a rippling blob before gravity clutched it and brought it down upon his head. For the second time that day he was soaked to the bone, both of his own accord. He spluttered and coughed as he drifted earthward, landing on the ground before her, holding a shaking hoof out towards her.
"I'm *Cough* Dollop!" He said as he shook himself, though his mane and tail remained as straight and lank as though they were still wet. "Dollop Drizzle. You're local dewpony." He gave her what he hoped was a friendly smile.
human
She took a few more steps backwards as the water sloshed before her hooves, not really wanting to get more wet than she was. Midnight Manesnatcher? Was that REALLY what they called her? Her gaze darkened and followed him as he tipped upside own, sloshing the water on himself as a means of making amends to her or something strange like that. He was endearing in a way, but she shook the thought from her mind instantly. Just because he was the first pony to treat her as if she were somewhat normal it didn't mean she had to be his friend or anything of the sort.
Hesitantly, she reached out and shook hooves with him, nodding at his name. "I've heard of you. I'm Stardancer, otherwise known as the Midnight Manesnatcher and the Moonlight Murderer." her tone was still annoyed but slightly more lighthearted now she'd seen he wasn't actually after her or a threat in any way, he was just another pony. "I don't murder anybody, I catch shooting stars." the last line was said with a slight shyness and she tapped one of her back hooves on the ground, looking away from his eyes.
Sometimes she kind of just wished she had a 'normal' profession like all of the other ponies, but at the same time she really wouldn't be herself. She wasn't great at socializing and making friends, as it were, so the solitary confinements of the night actually weren't too bad for Stardancer, who unlike everybody else didn't have a fear of the dark or the monsters that lurked in it. "You didn't have to cover yourself in water." she finally looked up again, not smiling but sounding less and less angry by the minute as the fire faded.
gpt
Dollop Drizzle waved her off with a soaking wet hoof. "Of course I had to. Fair's fair." He said stubbornly. His blue eyes looked up at the sun, now clambering it's way overtop of the clouds. He had been on a very tight schedule, and now he would never be able to refill his buckets before the rest of the town had woken up. With a shrug of his shoulders the contraption hit the grass with a clang; The broken bucket snapped off completely and rolled pathetically across the grass.One morning without dew won't hurt anybody, he thought dismissively as he turned his attention back to the curious unicorn before him. "How do you catch stars, exactly?" He asked her with honest interest, fluttering around her as though looking for a large net tucked under the soaking wet blanket on her back.
Of course he had heard of stargems, and he thought he had even seen one when he was just a colt; They had gone on a field trip to Canterlot and had been given a tour of some of the more prominent attraction, one of them being the Hooflocke Bank. As the guide rambled on about the history of the architecture, one of Dollop's classmates pointed out a unicorn making his way to the vault. Dollop would have missed him otherwise, as his head had been drooping, his eyes closed. The unicorn was walking slowly, carefully, and suspended above his horn in a rough sphere of crackling magic was a bright, glowing...something. The unicorn had disappeared through the heavy iron door before he could get a good look at the object, but he was sure it had been a stargem.
His interest piqued as he drew closer to the unicorn. "Do you have one now? Can I see it?" Without waiting for an answer he had zipped over to her side and was poking and prodding at the blanket, looking for a lump, a glow, anything at all.
human
She spun around on her heels as he circled her, raising one eyebrow at him. "You really want to know? There's no net, I just chase after the star and I use my horn to carry it. Only certain unicorns can find and harness stargems though, they're really powerful. I have trouble sometimes when I get a particularly big one. Dropping it could cause an explosion if you're not careful. When they fall to the earth, they fall in a large rock that has to be broken apart by magic and the star gem has to be carefully removed from the heart." she informed him, sidestepping when he started prodding at her blanket. "You won't find anything but me under there."
Stardancer had actually found her first stargem in Canterlot herself. She had been taking a walk to clear her head after a Cute-ceaera party and something streaking across the night sky brought her attention. She followed the streak down to its landing spot, using her horn to light up the glowing trail it had created right into a meadowy clearing. She'd heard of stargems before and the wealth they held and so carefully, she cracked open the glowing shell using her horn. Inside the rock was one of the most beautiful things her eyes had ever set sight on - the glow from it was bright and it resembled a roughly cut diamond with the swirls of galaxies inside it, lighting up the whole area she was in.
As carefully as she could, the little filly used all of her strength and magic to hover the precious gem over her head and she started taking slow steps back towards Canterlot where she met with the local Starfall pony, who stared at her in shock for a moment before taking the Stargem off of her wordlessly and he started to lead her back to Canterlot. He took her straight to Princess Celestia and informed her of what happened. When the princess informed her that she hadn't done anything wrong and in fact had done everything perfectly RIGHT, it was probably the best moment of Stardancer's life. She felt a warmth on her flanks and her cutie mark appeared there and then, an image of her first falling star streaked across the moon, immortalized on her forever as a reminder of who she was. She was eventually assigned to Ponyville after a long time of training, where she had been for a year and a half.
gpt
Unlike the blue and silver unicorn, Dollop had lived in Ponyville all his life. He was also different from her in the sense that he had been born into his current occupation, not discovered it. He came from a long line of dew-jockeys. His father had sprinkled Ponyville daily, as had his father, and his father's father. Dollop was the first, however, to invent means of making the job easier. For the last five generations of Drizzles, their means of spreading the dew had been tedious and tiring; From midnight to dawn, the eldest child of the family would have to make trip after trip back to the lake, soaking their fur in water and sprinkling it over the town. It was hard, tedious, and tiring. Dollop wasn't one to use his brawn over his brain.
It was odd that his cutie mark only appeared when he had tested his contraption out for the first time, as though the water itself had been trapped in his fur. He had been using the tool ever since.
He shot a glance at the buckets, wood and rope in shambles behind him and grimaced.Looks like I'll have to do it the old fashioned way for now on, he thought before he realized that the unicorn was still making words with her mouth. He stopped trying to rifle through her blanket and flopped down on the wet grass, listening to her words hungrily. Throughout his morning routine, he had, ever so rarely, seen a streak of light arc across the sky overhead as it hurtled earthward. He had even tried pursue one early in his career, abandoning his post in search of the strange, elusive object. He had made it neck deep into the brambles of the Everfree forest when his wings got tangled and he had been forced to call for help as the sun rose overhead. He had been rescued by a strange cloaked pony, but hadn't gotten her name. He had been so eager to get back home.
Speaking of home, the town was slowly churning to life a ways off behind them. There was a tinkle as the door of Sugarcube Corner was unlocked and opened whilst a rainbow pony busied herself with pummeling the clouds. Dollop stifled a yawn. "I need to head back now. It was nice talking to you!" He said as he plodded over to his crumpled waterbearer. He slung it over his back, loose bucket in mouth, and took to the skies. Not even a second had passed before he was back, and through the bucket clenched in his teeth, he said "Do you whanth tho meeth up lather thoday?" He sputtered past the tin bucket. "We could thalk more abouth you sthargemth!"
human
She saw him cast a grimace back at the strange contraption he'd been using and she tilted her head slightly, watching as he picked it up, started to fly off and then flew back down again to talk to her. It took her a moment to work out what he was actually trying to say. "Oh, er...well, I guess so." her ears flicked back slightly, one of her nervous habits. She wasn't really much of a socializer and she didn't have much else to say to him about stargems, not that she could THINK of anyway.
One of the pieces of wood toppled from his back and she caught it with her magic before it hit the ground, floating it back up to slip into the bucket in his mouth. "Where, though...? And, um, when? I don't usually get up until about fourish..." she shuffled her hooves awkwardly, the wet blanket on her back making her shiver as Rainbow Dash bucked away the clouds, creating a slight morning breeze through Ponyville as she did.
She started to walk as she hovered the wooden plank back up to him, her hooves clicking on the ground.
gpt
Dollop freed his mouth by flipping the bucket into the air and catching it on his head; It slipped down over his eyes and when he spoke, he was addressing the space to the left of her. "Maybe sometime in theeeeeegggh..." His words were cut short by a wide mouthed yawn, which he stifled before trying a second time. "Maybe sometime in the evening?" His ears perked up. "We could have dinner together! I haven't eaten in Ponyville in such a long time, and I was getting tired of seaweed anyway." He shot a resentful glance in the direction of the lake.
The piece of wood in the crook of his neck and a smile on his face, the pegasus said his goodbyes to the unicorn and was soon off across the sky. On his way back to his boat house he was intercepted by a very cross looking Mayor who had snapped at his tail as he drifted past, pulling him to the ground. "Why..." She began as Dollop picked himself up from the dusty ground, "...are half the gardens and windows and rooftops dry as parchment?" She skewered him with her gaze as he recounted his story to her reluctantly. When he mentioned Stardancer's name, she scoffed at him. "Drizzle, you're not the first one to try and put blame on 'The Manesnatcher'."
Ten minutes later he had landed on the ceck of his boat with a light thump, followed by a clatter of tin and wood. His ear still aching from the mayor's scolding, he took to the air overtop of the lake, not eager to collect his lunch of damp, salty seaweed.
human
Stardancer hummed to herself softly as she trotted back to her house, taking a detour to pick up some grass and flowers for her dinner on the way down, ignoring the stares and shocked gasps from the younger fillies (and some of the older gossip-ponies), as nervous as they made her. She caught a conversation while the shop pony was wrapping up her buys.
"Isn't that..."
"It is! Look at her MANE! She looks ridiculous!" the shocked voice whispered ridiculously loudly. It carried over the whole shop and Star felt her cheeks burn as she picked up the bag with her teeth.
"Have you seen her cutie mark? I heard it's a bad omen! If she gets angry, Equestria will be hit by a meteorite and destroyed!"
With that, Stardancer trotted out as fast as she could, shifting the blanket further back to hide her apparently apocalyptic cutie mark, feeling embarassed and scandalized as she trotted through to her house with her head down. She pretended the ponies didn't get to her, but...well, of course they did. She was practically exiled for no real reason and it frustrated her more than she cared to let on in public. When she finally reached her house she shut the door behind her with a hoof and flicked the lights on, looking around.
She lived in a twisting treehouse type home and her walls were adorned with treasures and constellations in the night sky, paintings and pictures of galaxies and stars littering her walls. She started to make herself a grass and flower sandwich, using her horn to do so sleepily so she could eat then sleep.
gpt
The boat house was absent of movement, but if you looked past it to the far edge of the lake you could make out a green pegasus pony plodding from the water, something shiny clutched in his teeth. With a stumbling trudge he carried the waterlogged glass bottle to the pile of assorted objects on the sandy beach. A tattered book and a cracked lantern were among them. With a tinkle of glass the bottle joined the pile, and seconds later the pony did too. He flopped overtop of the rubbish with a long sigh like a deflating balloon. He looked like he could use a good nap, and maybe a massage, and a fresh glass of tangerine juice. His long hair had fallen into disarray, obscuring his eyes and had seemingly faded to a dull purple despite it's earlier periwinkle shine. His eyelids were heavily with sleep and a pair of dark circles had formed below each blue eye.
He would have loved to sleep, but residing on the lake had it's other responsibilities. Each day was something different. Just yesterday he had needed help a number of beavers with repairing their lodge after a heavy windstorm, something Fluttershy would have normally been happy to do had she not been babysitting a trio of fillies at the time. Today he had spent hour upon hour diving and sweeping the lake for rubbish, relinquishing only a handful of effects; Littering was a rare occurring crime in Ponyville, but sometimes the ponies were a bit lax about after-party clean-ups.
He was sure that the bottle had been a souvenir of the weekends beach bash, as well as the lantern. He couldn't fathom how the book could have wandered into the lake. He didn't care either. He gathered up the rubbish in a cloth bag and set off towards his house. The journey across the lake was slow going, as he found himself drooping dangerously close to the water and occasionally dropping the bag when he yawned. Bag still slung over his shoulder, he plodded across the patch of lawn and up to his door. The inside of his house was cluttered, but comfy. Organized chaos seemed appropriate. A collage shelves ran along the perimeter of the single, narrow room, and on the shelves were a curious assortment of objects, all collected from either the bottom of the lake or during his morning flights through Ponyville.
There were umbrellas and balls and shiny pieces of stone. There were patched saddlebags and mirrors and rolls of twine. There was even a shoebox devoted entirely to bow ties. He pushed the lantern up beside a cracked coo coo clock and the bottle joined a crate of other bottles, standing out among it's shiny, clean counterparts. The book was laid out on a table by a window to dry. After his other discoveries were commonly sorted, he flopped down on the squashed bed and his eyes fluttered closed, sleep enveloping his exhausted mind and body.
A half hour later, but to Dollop it seemed like a fraction of a second, the clock tower chimed six o'clock in the distance and he pulled himself out of bed with many a grumble. As much as he wanted to sleep, he wasn't going to pass up his new friend. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, to meet someone who was nocturnal like himself. After a feeble attempt to tidy his hair with a wing, he was out the door and on his way to Ponyville, mouth open in almost a constant yawn.
human
Stardancer had a few chores to attend to herself. First of all, she had to write a report on what had happened that evening seeing as documenting falling stars was important in keeping up with how much profit or loss the town was making in that area. She wasn't lucky enough to have her own Spike so she had to do it herself using her horn, pacing the room as she scribbled down some things in a neat script before she packed away the notebook and set about tidying up her house, wishing to Celestia she could sleep but it was more important for her house to at least look fairly neat.
Eventually, she was finished and she collapsed into her bed, curling up under the covers with a small smile on her face. It had been...well, it hadn't been a horrible day for the first time in a long time.
When she woke up at 6, she yawned and stretched out in a similar way to a dog, stretching her back and back legs in the process. Her mane was sticking up on end and she frowned at herself in the mirror, pulling a face. If she went out looking like this it wouldn't be the first time Rarity had asked her - no, FORCED her to have a makeover. Her horn glowned and a brush rose up from her beside table, tugging through her mane and tail until they were wavy and silky like before.
Drizzle was the only pony who'd treated her like she was just anypony else instead of glaring at her and telling her she was evil and an omen of death. She couldn't mess up her only chance at a friend, even if he was a little on the strange side. She wasn't exactly the most normal person in the world. She trotted out of the door and pulled it shut with her horn again, suddenly wondering how on earth other ponies managed without them. She practically relied on her horn for almost everything she did ever since she could use magic, as pathetic as it was compared to what Twilight Sparkle could do.
As she pondered this she headed into Ponyville, ignoring the looks and glares she got from the residents.
gpt
With a clatter of hooves on cobblestone, Dollop Drizzle touched down in the center square of Ponyville, his ruffled wings snapping to his sides. It was such a different town than what he had faced that very morning. There were no moths fluttering excitedly around the lamp posts, no crickets chirping in the gardens, no moonlight to shroud the cobbled streets in a soft glow. The sun was high in the sky, if not starting its descent, and the town was ablaze with the bustle of ponies finishing up their days.
He plodded past a fruit stand selling lemons at half price, a crowd of young fillies around a dress shop window, a pair of elderly stallions engaged in a game of chess. None of them took any notice of the sleepy pony with the lank hair, save to ask their neighbor, "Who's that?" Unlike Stardancer, Dollop's nighttime wanderings made sense. A dewmaster was much more understandable than something as outlandish as a star collector. And despite his humble craft, he went most night unnoticed except for a flutter of wings overhead and a silhouette across the moon. There were some who knew him though. A orange haired mare with a carrot cutie mark asked him how his father was, though Dollop had no idea himself; His parents had retired and moved to Manehatten little over three years ago and letters were slow going without a dragon to send them.
It was when he was passing the fountain that he realized something; They hadn't agreed on a place to meet and eat! He slowed to a stop and his tired brain backtracked, trying to remember. No, no word on where they were going! He lifted his droopy frame off the ground with his green wings and alighted on the edge of the fountain, looking around the crowd for a flash of silver or blue.
human
The only pony who smiled at Stardancer as she walked past was Twilight Sparkle, followed by a horrified gasp from Spike who jumped behind her. Stardancer lowered her head slightly and carried on walking through the crowds that seemed to part before her, heading towards the center of town as she also realised they hadn't actually decided on somewhere to eat at. There were a few places in Ponyvill, most of which Stardancer could afford so she wasn't too worried about that, she was more worried about where she'd find the dewpony.
She looked around for him, wondering if he was actually going to show up or not - he'd looked awfully tired earlier, it wouldn't be a shock at all if he'd suddenly realised who he'd decided to go eat with and backed out at last minute. Hell, it wouldn't be the first or last time it had happened to her.
She trotted past the fountain and then backtracked when she saw a flash of pale purple and green, looking around for the source. Finally, she found him and walked up, putting the best smile she could muster on her face. "I thought you'd forgotten or something." she said as she walked over to him, noticing how he looked even tireder than earlier. "You look like you could use some more sleep."
gpt
Dollop was in the middle of an excuse to why he was so tired when he took a step towards the unicorn and promptly tottered off the edge of the fountain, catching his limp frame with a flap of his wings. "...I guess I could use a power nap." He agreed with a sheepish grin as he tested his footing before alighting on the cobblestones before her. "I'm glad you showed up! I was convinced that we were going to miss each other." He said, ending his sentence with a wide mouthed yawn before continuing. "Either that or you were just a figment of my imagination." He tried what he hoped was a enthusiastic laugh.
He plodded behind her before wrapping around and slowing, falling into step at her side; His right wing was still half unfurled, but that fell under the category of things that a half asleep brain don't really care about. But there were two things he was devoting all his attention to. One was to keep pace beside her, to keep putting one hoof in front of the other, to not fall on his snout. The other was the unicorn herself. He had been the one to invite her out today, and she didn't look like she did such a thing very often. So he was determined not to let his drowsiness spoil the date.
He didn't know why he had thought that. Was this a date? He had asked a female pony to join him in town for supper, so it certainly sounded very dately. But if he hadn't known himself that he was asking her on a date, wouldn't that cancel out the act, as one side of the party wasn't aware of said date? He was lost poring over exactly what had been said between the two of them early that morning that he hardly noticed his hooves slowing to a stop. It wasn't until she had pulled a good ten or so feet ahead of him that his unfocused eyes caught her swishing tail a ways off. He half ran, half fluttered to catch up.
"...Maybe we could grab a seat in here?" He asked as he tossed his curtain of periwinkle hair towards a stout, square shop adorned with wood and brass to their left. One could call it the older brother of Sugarcube Corner, an older shop with the selection of confections inclined to dark chocolates and maples and caramels. He didn't quite care where they stopped. He just wanted to give his quivering legs, and wings, a rest.
human
She heard his hooves behind her and she turned around to see him running to catch up, his wings fluttering a little as he ran - somehow, she found that little thing quite cute, the fact that his wings seemed to propel him along a little. As she opened her mouth to ask him if he was okay he'd already asked about the shop. She followed his line of vision to the dark wooden shop that she was able to smell from here, a mixture of rich chocolate and fudgey smells.
She couldn't help inhaling the scent, her nose pushing a little into the air. She'd always wanted to visit the shop but never really had the courage to so she nodded. "It smells amazing. That's a yes, by the way." she started to walk towards the shop and she used her magic to open the door once she'd got there, not bothered at all about chivalry or things similar, although she couldn't help but wonder what they were actually on here.
It could be called an outing between friends but then again, she'd only met him this morning and she'd known him for all of ten minutes, so was it...a date? Stardancer had never really been into the whole dating scene, even when she was in that awkward teenage phase where all of the popular fillies had striking colts as boyfriends, she'd just been sat with her quiet circle of friends and books. She'd never really been made fun of before she was Ponyville's starcatcher but at the same time, she'd never got into the whole dating scene so she had no idea what to expect.
Pushing aside her thoughts, she scanned the fairly crowded shop for a chair before settling on one in a corner, away from everybody else and the odd looks and the noise.