Their First Date (Forgotten Existence) [Concluded]

[CableZ]

Aero listened with a fascination, the story was actually very interesting. He hadn't expected such a speedy promotion, it seemed they had both gone from the lowest rank to one of the highest in the space of one night. It was curious how two individuals could be so similar yet be separated by thousands of years. Although Aero couldn't help but feel that his promotion was more earned through a trial by fire as it were, fighting an entire battle single hoofed proved his mettle a thousand times over. Not that he thought that Nightfall wasn't perfect for the job, he just thought that he proved himself a little more than she had. In fact that thought raised an interesting point.

He was about to ask but just at that moment, a set of waiters approached the table with piping hot dishes in tow. Aero let go of Nightfalls hoof with a smile before sitting back and taking his arms off the table to let the waiters place the dishes down, which Aero eyed hungrily. His pasta was a perfectly arranged, steaming plate of deliciousness. Nightfall's dish looked more than a little exquisite as well, all in all the pomp and snooty nature of the restaurant seemed well deserved with how good the food looked/smelled. Aero picked up his fork and took a tentative stab at the pasta dish, skewering some of the lovely looking meal. Taking a bite he took a few cautious chews before going wide eyed in shock, he sped up his chewing and swallowed the mouthful down hastily, clearing his throat quickly so he could speak.

"Oh my-...that might be the tastiest thing I've ever tasted" He was in awe, like his life had meant nothing up until this point.

He wasted no time in getting more of the food in his mouth, happily chewing down the deliciousness of the delicious..oh he couldn't even think it was too tasty. However he didn't want to let the flame of conversation die in the name of flavour, with a mouthful of pasta he managed to muffle out a question.

"So..did the princhsess shay why shhee chshoose you?" He asked, covering his mouth after he had spoken, realizing his social Faux pas. Swallowing his mouth full again he grinned sheepishly "hehe..sorry." He blushed.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall pulled her arms off of the table and watched as the food was placed on the table in front of them. Giving a thankful bow of her head to the servers, she turned to her food and inspected it for a moment, ensuring that it was indeed exactly what she had asked for, and that it was masterfully put together. Satisfied at the food without even really needing to examine the food further, she picked up one of her utensils and speared a forkful of her own pasta dish. Bringing it to her lips, she blew on the bite gently, allowing it to cool off for a few more breaths before she took the hot pasta into her mouth, chewing quite happily. She had the same thing last time she went there, so she knew already just how good it was. But that didn't change how it hit her.

Humming lightly to herself in contentment, she closed her eyes as she chewed the first bite, savoring the flavors as she ate. After swallowing the first bite, she turned her fork towards the plate again and repeated the process of bringing it to her lips, but paused when she noticed her date's attempt at speaking with his mouth full. The sight actually caused Nightfall to giggle slightly, which prompted her to go wide eyed and cover her mouth with a hoof. Clearing her throat after a moment, and ignoring the intense blush on her cheeks, she regained her composure quickly.

"Well, if you've ever spoken with the Princesses, you know that they like to speak in riddles and pride themselves with being enigmatic. Something to do with figuring it out yourself and learning from it, I guess. But the most I could get out of Princess Luna was that she saw something in me. Potential, I suppose. I know it's not much of a reason. I didn't go out and fight an army, or take an arrow for the Princess or anything dramatic like that. Really, I just organized a traditional Honor Guard welcome for the Princess when I caught wind of her return," she mused, thinking back to it as she took the bite off of her fork and chewed idly. It would be easy to think that her ascension to being a Captain would be more dramatic then doing something as simple as organizing a welcome home greeting.

Chewing and swallowing before she spoke again, she idly picked up another forkful and held it loosely in the air, "I gathered all of the Lunar Pegasi who were in service, told them to show up in the Main Hall in their family's ceremonial armor if they still had it, or ceremonial armor of those who were close to them. I gathered all the spears and Lunar Crest banners I could find, then got my armor. And then we waited in the Hall on either side of the carpet up to the throne with our spears up for a few hours. We just stood there, waiting until our Princess returned," she said, giving a small laugh, "We got a lot of odd looks. Can you imagine? And then, when she finally came in with Celestia, she asked which one of us was responsible for the welcome. So, I stepped forward."

Lightly scoffing after a moment, she quickly ate her next bite and set down her fork before she swallowed. Reaching for her drink, she looked back up at him, "I'm still trying to figure out why she chose me though. Maybe because I'm stubborn and determined enough to do something like that. Or maybe it's because I organize things better then most ponies, or because I don't think myself more important then any of the other guards. Heck, it could even be because of my loyalty to Princess Luna. It's fun to think about though, better then re-reading the books in my office before bed," she said with a shrug before bringing the drink to her lips and contently drinking. If she cared to tell him the amount of hours that she actually spent thinking about it, she would probably sound insane for keeping a precise track of the time.

In fact, it was the one thing that baffled her more than politics. It was the question for her. She could assume that it was because of her skills in organization, or her devotion to her soldiers and to her Princess, but it would all just be that; her assumptions.

[CableZ]

Aero chuckled at the idea of HIM meeting a princess, it was so ludicrous to him that he still couldn't believe he'd had the honour in his own time but there was simply no way that it would happen in this time. He found her story quite interesting though, it showed the odd mix of destiny and pure random luck that life was made up of. Tucking into to another bite of his food and still loving the flavour sensation that it was, he continued to listen to Nightfall, nodding at points where a nod might be appropriate. He could imagine all the bat ponies stood there, slowly feeling like bigger and bigger idiots but then it all washing away as their princess stepped in. Aero was actually kind of envious, he had no sort of Princess for whom he served nor any ruler really. It made him feel kind of out of place, but every pony had been so nice since he arrived that he felt at home no matter where he went.

"Well from what I've seen no pony could be a  better captain." He smiled, giving his girlfriend a sweet little compliment.

Now that the conversation was going full steam ahead, it wasn't as hard to think of things to talk about. Aero didn't even need to hesitate to say something in response to her story, well he did but that was only to swallow his food. He'd eaten quite a lot in quick succession to he put his fork down as he swallowed his current mouthful and washed it down with some refreshing ice water. Clearing his throat slightly, he took a slight breath with a little chuckle, the pause that had been going while she waited for him to speak was verging on amusingly awkward.

"When they promoted me, it was soon after the battle. I was looking over the muddied and ruined field that had been the staging area for the latter parts of it all, the sun was just coming up so there was this bleak light over everything. It was one of those days where there sky was blocked by a layer of greyish cloud, just the sort of day you'd expect to follow a battle really. It was kind of cold and the wind whistled around softly, now that I think about it, it was almost a little too cliché." he chuckled softly, shaking his head at the idea.

"Anyway, I heard a marching sound in the distance so I turned away from that damned forest to see two entire platoons of shocked troops slowly approaching me. When they came within nose range of the whole scene they broke their march, the mud and...well I'm sure you can imagine. ANYWAY, they were lead by General Blazewing, scary guy I can tell you. Between his size and his scars you could tell that this guy was a veteran of more than anypony should be veteran of. So he was at the head of these massive armies and not only did all of them stop, shocked out of their minds. The general walked up to me stern as could be, looked around for a moment before grabbing my hoof and shaking it almost out of the socket while laughing. I'm pretty sure I saw some troops faint out of shock." Aero rubbed the back of his neck out of embarrassment.

"What followed next was pretty crazy, I was called a hero and named the greatest warrior our kingdom had never seen. They paraded me through the streets, I met royalty, celebrities, everyone. They did this big ceremony, officially giving me the title of Hero. I think I was the first one, they did the ceremony for like 3 or 4 hundred years after that, they all got a suit of armour like this one. It was pretty...well I don't think there are words for it. Anyway after the dust settled and I was getting back int military work, I was told to report to Blazewing's office, he was the head of all military actions and divisions you see. So I go to his office in my finest pressed military suit, and he welcomes me in and sits me down and everything. He then tells me pretty straightly that he's putting me in charge of a new squad of Elite Pegasi Knights called the Pheonix Feathers, yeah I know it sounds like some kind of performing group now but...no it sounded like that back then as well." He laughed

"We quickly got a reputation as the best of the best, there were only around 7 or 8 of us in the group at one...we uh..we lost a few members, others got their squads but no one ever topped my squad, I made sure that we were the best." Aero gave her a wink with a grin. "So yeah...that's my story, It'll be interesting working in a peaceful land, who knows it might even be relaxing? I mean don't get me wrong I loved my job but it wasn't exactly that great on the health, war is not a safe work place environment" He laughed again, picking up his fork and taking another bite of his food, although smaller bites than before.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall smiled sweetly at the small compliment, a flush of color touching her cheeks as she turned her head down slightly to her food, hiding the embarrassment. Frankly, despite the mask of cold steel that she put up around her persona in public, she was quite self-conscious about how she led her soldiers. She always worried about if she was doing the right thing, or if other ponies thought positively of her, and whenever she got complimented honestly without any of the feigning of bureaucracy or politics getting mixed up in it, it left her with a warm fuzzy feeling that she was doing something completely right. That, and the fact that the pony who just complimented her on her leadership style was a handsome stallion who was currently treating her on a romantic date, and was no pushover when it came to military achievements himself. Warm and fuzzy indeed.

Looking back up at him as he spoke, she listened intently as she idly ate at her food, no longer very interested in the food. She was far more interested in his story as he told it. She could have read it anywhere in the royal libraries, but there was so much more that someone could learn about a pony from first-hoof experiences and a more personal touch to the story. Not all just cold facts about things that happened or dates and names in a dusty old tome, it was actual first hoof experiences and things that had happened. Feelings, personal thoughts, and a real take on what had happened. To Nightfall, that was far more interesting then reading about it at least, and she was eager to learn more on a personal level about her boyfriend, if they were going to continue seeing each other like they were.

Nightfall listened intently as he spoke, making mental notes on the side while she ate, subtly cross-referencing his version of the tale to the versions she had read before, but all the while she was quite intently watching him and listening. It was a grand tale to be sure, and one that wasn't wasted on her. She nodded here and there, or smiled in response to things he said, aiming for a social politeness as he spoke about his past. She knew better then most people how it was that one battle could separate the heroes from the foot soldiers.

Giving a little chuckle at the end of his tale, she nodded slightly and took another enjoyable bite of the food before speaking up, "Not safe in the slightest, but at least you made it work out for you in the end. And, you've got to love cliche moments like that, they add some well deserved humor to otherwise grim situations. I think you deserved that promotion though, honestly. Not everyone could claim to survive something quite like that," she said with a smile, giving him a little nod before she went back to her food in brief silent thought.

Thinking of something to speak about after a moment, she chuckled, "We don't really live in war anymore though. The closest times we've come to war are always either taken care of by the Elements of Harmony, one of the Princesses, or my personal favorite; we finish it before it gets to be anything serious. An example of that happened not that long ago, when the Saddle Arabian country signed diplomatic treaties with Equestria, one of those typical psychotic fringe groups out there decided that they didn't want to be a part of Equestria, or something along those lines. We didn't really stop to ask, I mean, really. But I'm guessing it was one of those unreasonable explanations that extremists fall back on. But anyways, the Princesses got wind of that group, and assumed that they might come to be a problem in the future. So we were sent in,"

"It was going to be a swift neutralization of their movement. I go in with a squad of Guards and a Unicorn specialist, we set up magilectric explosives on their food and weapon supplies, get the specialist to blow them up, then get out before they even knew what happened. No one was going to get hurt, and the extremists could go back to society with no punishment or even being identified. A clean break, you know what I mean? In, out, no muss and no fuss," she said with a little chuckle before taking another bite, chewing before continuing.

"We get into Saddle Arabia, find the cave system they were using, and scouted it out for a bit. Nothing serious, they barely had enough members to even be considered a problem, but we didn't want them to get to be a problem. So, around midnight, we go in and find everything perfectly. Set the explosives, get out, and everything was fine. We even managed to start a fire in the center of the caves so that all of the Saddle Arabians would be smoked out of the caves and no one had to be injured severely. You know who the only casualty of that night was? The Unicorn specialist. He hadn't practiced a night vision spell, and didn't realize that the path up to the surrounding hills was rocky and steep. Wound up walking straight off the edge of a path, tumbled down and wound up with a broken leg. Some war, eh? Expecting a whole raid and glorious battle? Nope, not at all. The only casualty was because of a clumsy mistake, and even then it wasn't even a lethal wound," she concluded, holding back a laugh at the humor of the situation. Some sort of heroes of their time; they couldn't even have a single conventional battle. She supposed that it was better to be in a state of peace then it was to be in a state of unrest, but how could she really compare the battles of their age with the battles of Aero's age?

[CableZ]

Aero's course was coming to an end, he had to pick more and more at the corners of the disk to get a fork full of pasta. Ah well, all good things came to an end he supposed. Even this date would need to come an end at some point, although he wasn't going to think about just yet, or even when it was ending to be honest. He was sitting with one elbow on the table, his hoof supporting his head as he lazily ate his food and listened to Nightfall. It wasn't that he was bored however, its just that as a fast flying energy filled pegasus he was used to a quicker atmosphere, but he was still loving his time with her. It made him think actually that she and him had yet to go flying together, he made a mental note of that.

Her story was quite interesting, certainly it could have been a movie or something like that. He didn't really understand the politics behind it but then again he'd never been one for politics, then again he didn't suspect that Nightfall cared for politics either. Saddle Arabia though...he'd not heard of that place, he really had some travelling to do. He wanted to see this new world but he only really wanted to see it with Nightfall, problem was that she was so busy with work all the time that that might never happen. It had taken a number of weeks to find a day that she could get off work and come on this date, so travelling the world was a bit of a pipe dream. He had to chuckle at the end of the story, it sort of highlighted to vast difference in their world despite it being the same sort of field.

"Heh, and just think. If it hadn't been for that one unicorn you could have boasted a perfect operation with no casualties." He smirked. "Frankly as a specialist squad our time was spent doing nothing, we sat around the barracks making up dumb games or doing things far below our paygrade. It was like one of those movies where a squad of highly train specialist groups have to babysit or something...I've been going to the cinema too much recently" He sighed.

With one final bite, his meal was done. He looked sad for a moment then he realized he was getting depressed about a meal, although he supposed that was a testament to how good the meal was. Smirking at himself to Nightfall, He laughed as he put his fork down on the dish.

"So...big question out of nowhere, where exactly do you see yourself going in life? Got any dreams or anything?" He smiled his friendly smile.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall's own dish was about to come to an end, and as unfortunate as it was, that meant that she'd have to stop picking at the last bits of cheese and pasta at the bottom of her dish. Managing to scrape together one last forkful, she quickly picked it into her mouth and chewed slowly, savoring the last bite of the meal. It was strange, but she hadn't noticed the time flying by so quickly. She had thought she still had half of the dish left, but evidently not. Suppressing a chuckle at the expression, she thought it was amusing of using the expression of time flying when the two of them both were winged creatures, and yet they were both ground-bound at the moment. On that note though, she wondered if it would be polite for them to fly back to the castle together whenever the date was finished.

Setting her fork down, she pushed her plate away and looked up at him with a small smile. Laughing lightly, she shrugged, "I've had enough flawless operations, a few injuries isn't that bad. Besides, it was his own fault, so it can't really put anything negative on my record. That's what happens when you trust a rookie Solar Guard to go out on a night operation, eh?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Ridiculous. And I honestly don't think there's such a thing as too much cinema. I'd be happy to go every weekend, if I could actually get some decent time off," she said, grinning. She actually liked the cinema, but she hadn't been able to get there enough to see the more recent movies. She usually waited until she could see them in the barracks or in her office without worrying about falling behind in her official paperwork.

Smiling lightly, she shrugged at his question, "I haven't the faintest idea. I only have one really profitable skill, and that's leading soldiers. So I always figured that I would run the Lunar Guard until I'm too old to do it anymore, hand down the Captain position, then live the rest of my life in retirement with my family. Hopefully there's a husband, foals and some world travel in there somewhere, but that's just if I had my way. What about you? You have any big dreams that you'd like to live out?" she asked curiously, leaning onto the table.

Honestly, she wondered if he was the sort of traditionalist that she was. The sort of pony who wanted to work and have a family, have foals, have a house with a white picket fence, and go on vacations every now and then to see the world. Of course, that was just the traditionalist sort of way that her mother had raised her to want. Not that it wasn't what she wanted, it was very appealing to her. But not everyone wanted that sort of plain and boring life style, so she was genuinely curious to see what he'd like.

[CableZ]

Aero chuckled slightly at her statement of her flawless operations, should have seen THAT one coming. In a time of peace and with a tough no nonsense captain, there would be no chance for mistakes. Aero wished he could have been so lucky but he made the best of his time, he'#s always tried to do his best anyway. It was at that point the two waiters who had been serving them came over and collected their empty dishes, they informed them that their desert would arrive in a few minutes. Aero was almost watering at the mouth at the thought of that cake. Bringing himself back to reality with a shake of his head, he smiled at Nightfall as he heard her question.

"That's a tricky one, at the point I came through time I was sort of already fulfilling my dream. Now I have to get a whole new set of dreams to make and I don't really know where to start, I figured I'd just start somewhere small you know? I need to learn about the world again before I can dream, but I think I've made a good start." Aero smiled happily, obviously referencing his relationship with Nightfall. "I think I need to worry about my current life before I get into big dreams, a job and stuff. I really need to start putting towards the groceries, my room mate is getting a little annoyed" He chuckled softly.

It was at that point that the waiters returned, a little quicker than Aero or Nightfall might have predicted. It seemed that that their VIP status was still paying off. In front of Aero was a white plate with the most pristine slice of black forest gateau anyone had ever seen. It was masterfully crated and masterfully cut. The chocolate shavings atop the the cake accented the thick icing and beautiful white dollops of cream on around the edge. Nightfall's desert was an incredible site, the pristine white bowel dish housed the Soufflés that rose up perfectly straight. All in all they looked both delicious and masterfully made, Aero knew that this was no ordinary cake however. It was not one to be eaten with hooves and a napkin, picking up a clean for he slowly slid the edge of utensil down the cake; cutting off a small section. Picking it up on his fork, he delicately placed it in his mouth. He went silent for a moment, placing his fork down quite calmly and just sort of smiling. Swallowing the cake silently he took a breath before looking to Nightfall.

"I...I think my life might be complete" He sounded defeated, as if the food he had just eaten had unlocked some code within him to achieve pure enlightenment.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall nodded at his answer in thought, imagining what it could have possibly been like to have to reset his life like that. He had a job, he had hopes and dreams, friends and family when he was in his time. Now, he was in a time far from his own, and he had to restart with everything. Something like that was incredibly difficult, she couldn't even begin to imagine what sort of stress it would put on him.

Focusing on the current situation however, she gave a little chuckle and nodded, "Probably a good place to start, if I do say so myself," she said with a little nod. Honestly, she could imagine that the worst thing about all of it for him though was the fact that he came from a time where war was commonplace, and came into a time where war was practically unheard of. All of his skills were in combat and warfare, and in the current time, the only places that those skills could be used was in the Guard, part of the token military force that they had, or joining one of those troublesome mercenary brigades that did anything and everything for money.

But, those thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of their deserts. Leaning back as the desert was set in front of her, she gave a thankful bow of her head to the servers before turning her attention to the food. She ordered the same desert last time she was there, and she knew from experience just how good it was. So as she picked up her fork to dig into it, she was quite expecting the taste even before it hit her tongue.

However, expecting the taste and being prepared for it are two entirely separate things. Chewing the first bite slowly, she let out a small hum of enjoyment, half closing her eyes as she ate with a smile on her face. It was indeed a delicious desert, one she was thankful for having chosen to eat. Maybe not world changing or ground shattering, but it was delicious enough that she had a definition for delicious, and could compare everything else to the perfection that she had on her plate. If she ever had the chance, she wanted to get some of her guard friends together and introduce them to the golden deliciousness that was currently on her plate.

Opening her eyes at his comment, she swallowed the bite and gave a light chuckle at his silliness, "Too bad, I was having such a fun time. Don't suppose you'd like to wait until our date is over before completing your life?" she teased with a little grin and a playful wink. Frankly, were she not steeled as she was, she probably would have acted quite similarly when she first had the desert when she had originally went to the restaurant. What a scene that would have been for the foreign dignitaries if she had reacted like he just did.

[CableZ]

Aero rolled his eyes at Nightfall with a smirk, taking another moderate bite of his cake slice. Sighing happily, he once again had to enjoy and bask in the evening so far. He felt like his head was a broken record, even HE was getting bored of thinking about. He chuckled at himself before realizing he'd just been sat in silence chuckling at nothing in front of Nightfall. Smiling sheepishly at his girlfriend, he swallowed his food and put his fork down for a moment as all the food had piled up. Taking a breath he considered things to possibly talk about, he wasn't entirely sure as they had covered quite a bit already and he didn't know what was left.

"So we've established you've got very little free time, but I'm curious as to what you would do if you had more free time?" Aero asked with a raised eyebrow as he sat back in his seat.

Aero had been thinking about starting a hobby of his own just for something to do, he had even toyed around with a few possibilities. He bought a pack of miniatures that are used in a large table top war game that he thought could be fun, he might even stick with it. There had been a few other things he had toyed with but he couldn't delve into much due to monetary constraints, still he kept his eye out.

"I mean I myself try and keep busy as you know, the daylight hours I have are spent going around trying to find work and learning what I can about the city, you know stuff like that? Then as you know I spend the night with you while you work when I can, I mean ALL my time is free time so I suppose its not much of a question for me." He chuckled as he rambled on. "Sorry, I tend to put my hoof in my mouth when I'm nervous"

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall grinned at him, mirroring his actions as she took a bite of her own desert. Savoring the bite, she set down her fork so she could talk to him without stuffing her face at the same time. Swallowing her bite, she set her hooves on the table and leaned on it comfortably, turning her eyes up to him as she considered what she would do on her free time. She wasn't really sure, since she had always been happy to just work. But if she thought about it, she'd either chose spending more time with him, or taking more time to relax. Even though she really didn't know what relaxing entitled, since she never really needed to take time to just relax. But it was worth thinking about, since she could easily see herself taking a little bit more time off to herself in the future to cool off.

Giving a light chuckle at his nervous rambling, she gave him a gentle smile, "Don't worry about it, I think it's cute and ironic. Us terrifying soldiers, sitting here rambling and unable to speak like foals. Am I the only one who thinks that's funny?" She paused, her cheeks heating up, "Is it hot in here? I think I'm going to move along before I say something even worse then that," she finished, covering her mouth with a hoof and looking off to the side embarrassedly. While she didn't ramble, she spoke what she thought, and that could easily be embarrassing for her. Clearing her throat after a moment, she continued.

"Well, I'm not sure what I would do if I had more free time. I've already read every book that I own, and I could easily quote an entire novel to you right now. So, reading is really out of the question. Maybe go flying more? Or maybe get into watching some modern cinema? I'm not entirely sure. I'd like to spend more time with you, but you know; nocturnal and all that," she said with a little laugh, giving a brief shrug and simultaneously trying to hide a little blush that had crawled onto her cheeks at the admittance.

The nocturnal factor made it difficult for her to get together with anyone who was typically up and about during the day. But since the only pony she really care about enough who was up during the day was sitting directly in front of her, and he was up for half of her night anyways, it wasn't that difficult to get together, so she didn't mind the difference in sleeping hours. She just felt bad that he was constantly staying up later and later so that he could spend time with her, but he seemed to be reasonably happy with it regardless of how late he stayed up together.

[CableZ]

Aero smiled at her words, he was happy to hear that she thought about spending more time with him. He knew they couldn't spend all their time together, that wouldn't be practical. They were early in their relationship but already seemed settled in with it, happy to take time where they could and do all they could to see each other. This night itself was a reflection of time and schedules saved and moved around where possible. IT was certainly worth it but surely a rare occurrence that was frankly lucky to be happening, that thought made the end of this night very sour but it was not on the mind of Aero currently.

He was actually thinking about what he had planned after dinner, the trip back to the barracks was going to be as much as part of the date as this dinner. He had called in more than a few favours for this evening so that he could give her the best night possible, as it turned out, his best possible was everyone elses bests that he collected together. Still, it seemed it was turning out well so far. Aero had been planning this date for a month before he had even asked her, and there had been a few weeks after that where she was busy so he had to wait. As such he had had plenty of time to organize things and the fruits of his labour were coming together to make a perfect night for them both.

Picking up his fork once again, Aero took another bite of his delicious cake. Looking around the place for a moment, he swallowed his food with a sigh. This place was really nice but a little tame, for their next date he'd have to plan something a little more...lively. He was nearing the end of his desert unfortunately, it was a bitter sweet thing considering how tasty it was.

"How's your...uh, whatever that is" He sheepishly chuckled.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall wasn't one to typically really hold one night over all others, or to say that a night was the "best night ever". Even the night that she had been promoted to the head of the newly formed Lunar Guard wasn't the best night ever, it was just a night. It was certainly one of the most enjoyable nights of her life, but it wasn't the "best night ever". No, Nightfall didn't typically say that a night was the best night ever. But, she put special value on certain nights, and if she had to value their date at the moment, she would easily say that it was in her top three most enjoyable nights to that point in her life. And if she were a betting mare, she would easily say that if it continued on the course that it was, then it would possibly be her most enjoyable night to-date. Though, she would never admit to being a bleeding-heart romantic at the core and that being the reason behind their romantic outing being valued so highly, or that she was actually very charmed by Aero's attempts at making their date a fantastic one, but she would admit to having a lot of fun and wishing the night to continue.

There were very few times where Nightfall would wish that a night would never end, but it so happened that their date was turning out to be one of those nights. She was having a lot more fun then she usually had, and was very much enjoying her time spent with Aero. Though, she knew the night would have to end eventually, at least she could look forward to future dates between them and know that they would likely be as fun, if not more fun, as the one they were currently on. The thought brought a small smile to Nightfall's lips as she idly chewed at her desert, thinking to herself about the future and what it would hold. She had a feeling that she'd be taking far more nights to herself in the future, whenever she could afford to squeeze one in without falling behind on paper work.

Wondering to herself what Aero might have planned for the rest of their date, she looked up at him and smiled, "Souffles. It's actually very good, I think they changed the recipe since the last time I was here, and for the better if my taste buds are to be believed. What about your cake?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him curiously before taking another bite. Her dish was nearing empty, and she only had a few more bites before she would be done, then they'd have to move a little bit closer to the end of the date.

[CableZ]

Aero had to wonder, just in a hypothetical way mind, where exactly this relationship was going. He wasn't thinking about marriage or anything, that would be insane. However the exclusivity of being boyfriend and girlfriend seemed pretty set in, what was next? He went through the steps of relationship 'upgrading' as it were, in his mind. Seemed the next step was giving each other a key to where ever they lived, but considering she lived in a public barracks that housed several hundred guards, it wouldn't mean much. Living together? Possible but they barely saw each other now, they didn't need to live in the same house to never see each other. It was an interesting thought at least, it seemed any step they might take wouldn't change anything. That was a sad thought the more he considered it, but he didn't want to dwell on that just now. It seemed like a lot of this evening he had spent thinking about things he eventually didn't want to think about, bit of a downer really. Still it was only a downer because of how much he loved spending time with Nightfall so it was all good.

Once again Aero had drifted off and once again, shaking his head slightly he realized that she had mentioned how her dish tasted. If they ever somehow made it to this restaurant again without needing to take out several loans, he might try it.

"The cake? Why don't you try a bite?"

Spearing his delicious desert with his fork, he got a decent helping of it on the prongs. Holding it out a little for her to take a bite, he smiled happily as he offered it to her. While he was holding

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall, unbeknownst to Aero, was actually thinking on a very similar train of thought. They were a strange couple, with conflicting timetables primarily. But she had to think, where exactly were they going? At the current rate, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but they were only seeing each other for a few hours every few days, when Nightfall could actually weasel her way out of the more time-consuming duty, or whenever she had paperwork. She would love to spend more time with him if she could, but being nocturnal prevented her from really seeing her during his day, and her work really took most of her time. Despite that however, she enjoyed the time she spent with him, and cherished the few hours that they ever had together. A small time together was always better then no time together, after all. It was a lesson she really took to heart.

Blinking at the suggestion, Nightfall smiled and nodded quite eagerly. Leaning across the table, careful not to get her tie or any part of her dress uniform in her food, she gingerly took the bite of the cake off of the fork and leaned back to her seat, happily eating the bite and savoring the flavor. It was interesting, a nice and rich chocolate cake that she swore if she brought to the mess hall would be gone before it even hit the table. Giving a low sound of approval, she nodded, "Mmm, mmhmm!" she mumbled out before swallowing, giving a light laugh as a blush crossed her face, "That's very good," she said with a nod.

However, never one to be outdone, Nightfall speared her own desert and dipped it in the sauce before holding it out over the table for him, cocking her eyebrows up expectantly, "You're going to die for this though," she teased, grinning as she waited to see what he thought of her own dish.

[CableZ]

Happily smiling as she took her soft bite of the offered cake, he chuckled softly at how cute she was. Since the night he had met her, Nightfall had been on of the most intimidating ponies you could meet. Determined, strong, no nonsense, she was a pony that you really wouldn't want to mess with. Aero had met her recruits in training and most of them wouldn't dare step out of line, those that would were soon brought to heel by the captain. However in short amount of time, she'd become a relaxed and adorable mare, at least when she was with Aero.

Thrilled that she enjoyed the cake, Aero looked down at his cake as he poked at it to get himself another bite. However he was a little surprised for when he looked up, he saw an enticing bite of souffles staring him down. Looking at her tentatively for a moment, he slowly closed his mouth around the food and moved back to slide it off the fork. Moving it around in his mouth for a moment before chewing to get a real sense of the flavour, he didn't really react at first. However as soon as she began chewing, he went wide eyed before getting a more focused look in his eye as if to say 'This can't be real'

"Wow...That's incredible," he spoke, as if in awe.

Swallowing the delicious cake, he sat back for a moment to let his stomach settle.

"You know, military life has changed a lot but there are still some things that seem so familiar. Those barracks I met you in were like a step back in time...huh, weird how apt that might be for me" He chuckled softly. "You know I was in the military pretty much all my life? It's still tricky getting used to it all." He smiled thinly.