Shades of Love

Chapter Two: First Date

Brrrrring!

The final bell of the school day rang, and all the pony students poured out of their classrooms, ecstatic that the end of another hard day's learning had arrived. Sweetheart, however, did not share their joy. Her mind was preoccupied with something else. The incident in the Horseshoe Caverns had taken place on Monday. It was now Friday, and Sweetheart hadn't heard anything from Teddy in the meantime. Any time she ran into him in the halls or lunch room, he had hastefully dodged her. Sweetheart was beginning to worry about whether Teddy regretted his actions back in the cave, and was purposefully ignoring her to try and erase his mistake. Her musings were interrupted by a sharp sound behind her.

"Psst." It was Teddy. "Hi."

"Hi?" Sniffed Sweetheart angrily. "You've been dodging me all week, and when you finally do decide to talk to me, a simple 'Hi' is all you can think of to say?"

"Easy." Teddy countered. "I was just waiting to catch you alone so we could talk. Boy, those friends of yours really stick to you like glue, don't they?"

"Talk? About what?" Asked Sweetheart. "What could be so important that you can only talk about it in private?"

"Well, I was kinda wondering if you'd like to go with me to the movies tomorrow, or something..." Teddy mumbled nervously.

"With you?" Sweetheart asked. "Like... on a date?"

In the past, Sweetheart and Teddy had gone on picnics together, been partners in competitions at the local roller rink, but they had never gone on an actual date before.

"Yeah, kinda..." Teddy shrugged. "If you'd like to..."

"I'd love to." Sweetheart kissed Teddy on the cheek.

"Great." Teddy beamed. "I'll drop by your place to pick you up at, say, four. That sound okay to you, Sweets?"

"It sounds great." Sweetheart's smile grew wider.

"'Kay." Grinned Teddy. "See ya tomorrow."

"Can't wait." Sweetheart grinned back.

The next afternoon, Sweetheart made preparations for her date, cleaning and brushing her mane. Once that task had been done, she sat in her family's living room, eyes fixed on the wall clock. As 4:00 turned to 4:01, Sweetheart was briefly gripped by the fear that Teddy wasn't coming, a fear that was dispelled by a knock on the door. Almost tripping over her own hooves, Sweetheart hurried to the door and opened it.

"Hey." Teddy smiled. "Ready?"

"Ready." Sweetheart smiled back.

As they made their way to the local cinema, Teddy's tail curled around Sweetheart's. Sweetheart gently leaned against Teddy in response.

Once they arrived, they set about choosing a film to watch. After some discussion, they agreed on seeing an action/romance feature, satisfying both their tastes. Stopping only to purchase a box of popcorn, they made their way to the designated screen room. They took their seats, and the movie started. As they watched, the two abentmindedly reached for some popcorn at the same time, resulting in their hooves touching. The two young ponies blushed fiercely, Teddy allowing Sweetheart to take some popcorn first. The two continued to watch the movie without incident, until a particulary action-packed scene caused Teddy to jump up in his seat, spraying popcorn everywhere.

"Whoa, yeah!" He cried, as the other patrons bombarded him with "Shhh"s. As he sat back down, he realised that a lot of the popcorn had ended up in Sweetheart's mane. He couldn't help but snigger a little at this sight.

"Very funny." Huffed Sweetheart, pulling a piece of popcorn out of her mane and flicking it at his cheek.

"Okay, guess I deserved that." Chuckled Teddy. "Hey, you missed a spot."

He reached over and pulled another popcorn piece out of her mane. As he did, he could not help but notice how soft and silky smooth her hair was. His hoof lingered longer then it should have, and Sweetheart noticed. As she smiled at him, he lowered his head bashfully. Not long after, a particulary romantic scene appeared on the screen, and Sweetheart leaned against Teddy again. In response, he put one foreleg around her. He enjoyed the feeling of Sweetheart's head nestling into his shoulder, and idly wondered why he had never noticed that her mane smelled like strawberries.

After the film ended, Teddy walked Sweetheart home.

"Not bad for a first date, huh?" Teddy asked. "Right?"

"It was just absolutely, positively perfect." Sweetheart sighed.

"Even when I dropped popcorn on you?" Teddy sniggered.

"Well, that part I could have done without..." Admitted Sweetheart.

"Yeah, that was my bad." Cringed Teddy. "Sorry."

"I know one way you can make it up to me." Sweetheart leaned forward, pushing out her cheek.

"Consider it done." Teddy kissed her tenderly.

"Apology accepted." Sweetheart blushed.

As Teddy dropped Sweetheart off at her house, the two shared a kiss on the lips before parting.

"We gotta do this again sometime." Smiled Teddy. "Sometime soon."

"Yes, we really must." Sweetheart smiled back.

As Teddy walked back to his house, it was with a real spring in his step. His first date with Sweetheart had gone better then he thought it would, and he couldn't wait until the second one.

To Be Continued...

(My Little Pony Tales and all associated characters are the property of Sunbow Productions.)