Their First Date (Forgotten Existence) [Concluded]

[ForgottenExistance]

As the couple were driven along, Nightfall happily went about explaining things about the city to her date, letting him know the things that he might not have known before. It was a brief lesson about the city, and very bland. Nothing that couldn't be found in the history books or by asking anypony around. But she often lost herself when talking about facts and history, and easily got wrapped up in her monologue about the city's districts and their histories. She could have easily gone on and on about the subject, but as they started getting into the business district, her rantings trailed off so she could observe other ponies in contented silence. Her silence also allowed her to take in the sight of the restaurant they were going to at the end of the street, which prompted a pair of raised eyebrows from the Captain.

Typically, whenever she had gone to the Goût de Paradis, it had been a royal affair. As such, anyone who didn't have an invitation was very swiftly ushered away by the Guard presence. So the outside had always been unoccupied, unlike how it was that night. The presence of rows of ponies in dresses and high-class designs made the Captain a little nervous. While a battle against an invasion of Changelings was a breeze for the Captain, she knew that the most dangerous war to fight was the one that was fought in the back room, among politicians, executives, and various other VIPs. It didn't matter what somepony's career was or what their history was, if a binder got passed through a backroom by the right ponies, then that career could be over before an argument could even be issued. While she doubted that anything would really happen between her and the ponies in line, she straightened slightly and nervously readjusted her dress uniform.

Realigning her black tie and making sure the tie clip was at a regulation position, she finished one more glance over herself to ensure that her uniform was proper. Though the checking was unnecessary since she had already checked and re-checked her uniform before she left, that was before she had considered that there would be countless ponies in the area who could destroy her career through backroom politics. With her uniform straight, tie and tie clip in place, and the shoulder marks complete with double sewn bars were immaculate, she reassured herself that there was nothing wrong with her physical appearance. Other then the obvious racial difference, she detected no flaws that would be big enough to cause a disturbance with the higher class ponies that would be within.

By the time she finished checking herself, she noticed that they had come to a stop. Blinking, she quickly stood and took her date's hoof, using it to assist her out of the carriage thankfully. Flashing him a small smile at him, she quickly walked alongside him, taking on her usual formal stature that would only be befitting of somepony of her position. The glare of the guards made her wish to hesitate slightly, however she refused to falter in her step, and instead followed closely alongside her date, trusting that he had sorted out the situation with the guards. After all, Aero wasn't the sort to fall through, or the sort to be stopped at the door after so much effort had already been put in. To Nightfall's delight, she was right whenever she saw the grin of the of the guards as they got closer. Though it may have elected some surprised gasps or odd faces from the ponies who were patiently waiting in line, she was thankful to be allowed entrance so she wouldn't have to wait outside with them.

Nightfall looked up at him when he spoke and gave a light laugh, "Well, I guess I'll have to inform the instructors that they may be getting some new recruits in the near future," she said with a little grin before she turned to wait patiently for the waiter who would be serving them and lead them to their table for their dinner. The irony of which being that dinner for everypony else was actually breakfast for the nocturnal Captain, so the dinner date was more of a breakfast date for the avian couple.

[CableZ]

As they entered the brightly lit interior of the restaurant, they arrived in sort of a lobby area. This was where the ponies who were actually lucky enough to make it into the restaurant had to wait for a table to free up, which in itself took an age. The room had a few tables and a bar to keep the incresingly agitated ponies occupied. Before all that however there was a host stand that had a ledger of all the reservations and times in, at the host stand was a very fancy looking pony in a full suit and condescending look in his eyes. He looked the couple up and down for a moment with a look that screamed 'how did you even get in here?', sighing distastefully he slowly looked down at the reservations ledger knowing that he wouldn't find their names but was obliged to ask.

"Names...please?" His tone oozed in condescension and superiority complex.

Aero smiled a smug smile for a moment, he was going to enjoy this.

"Aero Tempest...if you don't mind." He chuckled.

Sighing once more, the maitre d' looked down at the book almost glancingly as he was sure tha-...no, it wasn't possible. There in a deeply underlined section of the ledger was the name and... not only that but to the side of his name in a little royal crest were the letters..VIP. The expression on the maitre d's face was priceless, a mix of shock and realization of not only what this meant but also how he had spoken to them a moment ago. What followed next was an embarrassing display of sheepish grinning and groveling to which Aero just raised his hoof to shut him up. It was pretty understandable that he would mistake them for some common riff raff...well besides the shiny golden armour but you know.

Once he'd apologized what felt like a million times he rushed them over through the lobby and a sea of anger customers and through the doors of restaurant. In the main room of the restaurant were many many many tables and chairs all beautifully laid out and decorated, most were spaced out enough that all got a good amount of privacy. The red and black carpets were stylish while the walls were all artistic and in sync and all that nonsense that Aero didn't really know much about. It was all very pleasant and suitably high class and fancy, all the things that Aero hoped it would be for Nightfall's sake. Aero was expecting that the VIP thing to just get him into the restaurant properly, what he didn't realize however was that he was now classed a royal guest which was perhaps the highest honour he could have right about now. As such they were immediately rushed into the VIP room which was just...incredible. There weren't many tables, it was a quiet and beautiful room.
(Found this image to give you some vague idea of how it might look: here)

In the corner of the room was a stage where a band was playing some smooth jazz while a mare was singing a soulful song that blended into the calm and amazing atmosphere of the room, even Aero wasn't expecting this. The host pony personally sat them down at their table which was positioned near enough in front of the stage so they could get a great view of the show. They were now sat in perhaps the most prestigious room in Equestria, save for the castle dining room. Aero just sat there staring at Nightfall in bewilderment at what had just happened in the past 5 minutes, he chuckled and gave her a look like 'can you believe this?'

"Wow...even I didn't see this coming."

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall had been a bit skeptic as they met with the host, a little concerned when he had to check the book with such skepticism on his face. However, she really should have expected the reaction, considering the appearance of the two military ponies. They didn't exactly look as high-classed as the rest of the ponies who frequented that particular restaurant. However, her concerned look melted away as she noticed the sudden change on the host's face, and she had to fight back a snicker. Seeing high society ponies get flustered like that always made her laugh, but for the sake of image, she did her best to contain the laughter that threatened to come out. For someone who had only moments before been looking down on them, now brought down to plead apologies to them, it had a sort of smug satisfaction to Nightfall. Well, a mix of smug satisfaction, and an urge to laugh at the irony of it. She fell in line with Aero quickly, following the flustered host to wherever it was that they were being brought to be seated. The fact that they weren't situated in the main room made Nightfall's suspicions tickle her head.

Moments later as they were brought into the VIP room, those suspicions were confirmed. While she had been in the VIP room before, for a particularly irksome dinner party she had to attend at the request of her princess, she had never seen it when it wasn't crowded with snobs and the incredibly rich. To say that it was luxurious would be underselling the room, it was in fact one of the most beautiful and aesthetic rooms she had ever laid orbs on. She was taken aback for a few moments when they entered the room proper, and she stopped to look around in awe, taking in the room as it was, without the incessant chatter of the ponies who had paid for the VIP status. It was picturesque, and to call it anything less then stunning would be insulting to the architects. Realizing she had her head in the atmosphere again, she quickly turned and followed the host and her date to their table, settling in across from Aero. Getting comfy, she smiled across the table at him, wordless for the time being until their irritatingly apologetic host left to give them time to order. Aero summed it up rather well.

Watching the host walk off to do whatever it was that he thought was necessary to make it up to the two military ponies, Nightfall finally let out a mix of a scoff and a chuckle before turning her head to face her date. Grinning at him, she nodded, "That was probably the most unexpected and amusing thing that has ever happened to somepony in this restaurant," she guessed, quite pleased with the outcome. When she woke up that evening, she hadn't guessed that she'd be taken into the city in a carriage and ushered into the VIP room of the Goût de Paradis. In fact, she doubted that Aero himself had even expected to be ushered into the VIP room. The look on his face when the host left suggested that she was likely correct in her assumption. But chance so happened to favor them that night, and the two surprised military ponies would be treated like royalty for at least the duration of dinner. Nightfall doubted that they'd be so lucky in future dates, but for now, she would be perfectly happy to be treated like royalty with her date, and relax for the first time in a long while.

[CableZ]

The two sat in relative peace and quiet with each other, enjoying their company. It would be more than a few minutes before they got their menu's so they had some time to kill, Aero had unclipped some of his armour plates so he was a little more comfortable, now simply wearing his main chest piece. They had some glasses of water and a little basket of bread on their table along with some candles and roses, it was a very romantic situation all in all, a bit lost on the two military ponies.

"Heh...so what exactly is it ponies do in these situations? I mean without food this place is just a big fancy lounge." Aero chuckled, he felt so unrefined right now. "Sorry, I'm not the best date in the world, like I dunno what I'm meant to say." He lost his grin for a moment.

He'd planned out every aspect of this date, he wanted Nightfall to have a good time and he liked to think all he had done reflected that. However where he fell short when it came to conversation he fell short, he'd never been able to really start a conversation. Military life being the routine it was, he was always with a multitude of ponies who carried conversations, now that he was alone with another pony he realized purely how bad he was at it. Gulping slightly at how anxious he had suddenly become, he didn't want to mess this up but there was no escape so there was every chance he would. This was uncanny, Aero had fought in wars for crying out loud and this is what had caused him to panic?!

"S-so..How's your night been so far...ugh" He just realized she had only woke up a few hours prior and this was her night so far, placing his face against his hoof he quickly regained his composure and put on a smile before sighing sadly. "I'm sorry Nightfall, I'm not very good at this sort of thing" He sounded and looked apologetic. The low horn of a saxophone played in the background while the singer sang her song.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall noted everything around them, looking around contently as she took in the scenery. It was a romantic setting, without question, and surprising considering Aero had no knowledge of being placed in the room before they had gotten there. The last time she had been there, when the room was packed full of the rich, the important, and foreign representatives, the ponies on stage had been different and been playing some classical music. The quartet that had played last time she was there had played at the Grand Galloping Gala, but this time she didn't recognize any of the ponies on stage. Other then that, however, the rest of the room was mostly unchanged. It was only the ponies who changed, and frankly, she enjoyed the present company far more then she enjoyed the delegation's dinner. Even if her date was a little awkward, she was really just as awkward.

Turning her attention to the pony in question, she gave a little chuckle, "I really wouldn't know what ponies do in this situation. First date in a long while," she clarified with a little smile. Actually, it had been two years and eight months since the last time she had gone out on a date with somepony. Being a guard took most of her time, and there had never been anyone who was important enough to her to even bother trying. What was she going to do, put her career on hold to try and cater to something like romance? It had only really been recently that she had found a reason to take it easy and go out with somepony, and as it so happened, that occurred incredibly close to when she had first met Aero. If she had to, she'd say that fate was really on their side.

His next comment made her laugh softly, stifling herself with a hoof. Reaching across the table, she gently touched his arm and gave him a smile, "You don't have to apologize, really. My night has been incredible so far, thank you," she said, keeping her hoof on his arm and her smile refusing to leave her face. The two military ponies were possible the most awkward in Equestria when it came to dating, but Nightfall really wouldn't have it any other way. He tried, and that was enough to make her smile. And she knew that it must have been strange for him to think that they were going out in her morning, rather then at everypony else's night. It was an adaption that took a while to get used to, so she wasn't going to hold it against him that he was asking her how her night was. After all, even if she had only been up for a couple of hours, her night had been incredible up to that point. Despite the fact that they were awkward at conversing, she still had summarized that the night was only going to get better as the hours passed by them.

[CableZ]

Aero looked at her hoof on his arm for a moment, slowly bringing his gaze to meet hers. He might not have believed her if it weren't for her smile, despite her cold nature it was the warmest smile he'd ever seen and it made any anxiety or trepidation melt away. Sighing away his nervousness Aero sat back up with a smile and his usual chuckle, looking around with no intention but to mull over just what he was thinking, because frankly even he couldn't figure it out. Shaking his head and looking back to Nightfall, placing his hoof atop hers that was on his arm.

"Thanks, I just want this night to go well and I don't want to mess it up thanks to my own ineptitude with conversation." He chuckled, a great hero of time brought to heel by a dinner date.

At the entrance of the room stood the maitre d' who was talking with a pony in a suit, Aero didn't notice this himself but if Nightfall did was an unknown topic. It seemed the host was telling the pony something a bit annoying judging from the stallions expression. Soon after the suited pony walked up to the pair with a set of menus beneath his arm, placing them in front of each of ponies and smiling seemingly genuinely.

"What can I get for you this evening?" He asked, a little note pad floating magically beside him, along with a pen.

Aero opened his menu after taking his hoof off of Nightfall's and took a quick glance inside, seemed in this place that no matter what, the food was probably going to be good. Skimming through what was available, Aero settled on his choice of food and quickly looked at what drinks were available.

"Uhhh, yeah..Can I please have the Caesar salad starter, and um...Oooh The Pasta special for a main. And I would like some lemon and lime water to drink, Finally for desert I would like your best slice of chocolate cake" Aero beamed happily. However the waiter seemed a little awkward to what Aero had said.

"Um...do you mean the Black Forest Gateau sir?"

"Um...yeah that!" Aero smiled.

The waiter raised an eyebrow before turning to Nightfall to get her order.

"And for you Madam?" He asked with a smile.

After taking their orders, the menu's magically flew off the table and followed the waiter as he left the side of their table to give the orders to the kitchen once again leaving the couple happily on their own. Aero just laughed at the waiters reaction to his lack of knowledge with high class culture.

"Well...that was awkward." he smirked across at Nightfall.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall's smile lingered on her lips as she gazed across the table at him, keeping her hoof on his arm while he sighed. It was nice to think that he wanted to try and be conversant, despite the fact that neither of them were really the conversation type. It meant that he was trying, and that was more then could be said about many ponies who she had met before. Most were caught up in thinking that it would be easy, that romance required no effort and would just float to them like it was served on a silver platter. But Aero put enough effort in to try and talk, which was a sight more then the ponies who would rather just sit back and wait for it to be handed to them without effort.

Giving a little chuckle, she gave his arm a small squeeze, "I'm not much of a conversationalist either, don't worry yourself. This date is going to go perfect, and I sincerely doubt that anything you would do could possibly mess it up. Least of all failing to come up with a conversation topic," she reassured, happy even if they sat in silence. Besides, if there was something to be said, it would come to them eventually, and then they'd sink right into a silly conversation about something or other. Time would eventually give them something, she had no doubt about that happening.

Nightfall had noticed the pair talking, and her sensitive ears had only picked up a few words over the drone of the music. Not that she tried to listen in, but one couldn't help it when two ponies were hissing at each other in a room that was almost deadly quiet save for the insistent drone of the smooth jazz. Only a few of the words she did hear stood out, and among them were "VIP", "Mistake" and "Unbearable". Of course, there could be any guesses as to whether the unbearable thing was the mistake the host had made with the two VIPs, or if the dating couple themselves were unbearable, or if the fact that two military ponies like them had been granted use of the room was unbearable. Frankly, she didn't really care.

Watching the suited pony with curious eyes from the moment he stepped into the room, making note of his appearance and his movement. She could sum him up in as little as a few moments of his presence and even fewer words, and it was a gift she was quite proud of. Analyzing the pony really served no purpose, other than satisfying her own curiosity, but by the time he got to their table, she was under the impression that she had figured out his surface persona already. Needless to say, she didn't see a reason to play cautious with him, he seemed to be kind enough, albeit high society.

The Captain didn't need to look in her menu. Menus in places like that never changed, and she had memorized the menu from the last time she was there for the delegation dinner. Having an eidetic memory had its uses, and some of them were even practical. Instead of wasting time looking for what she wanted, she turned her head up to the waiter when he asked and responded quite assuredly, "I will have the Al Forno Conchiglie Dei Cinque Formaggi as my main course, with a light sprinkling of tulips on top if you please. And the same appetizer as my date. For desert, I will have one of your Chocolate Soufflés, with a side of blood orange sauce, and hold the creme du lait. And steeped mint tea to drink, si vous plaits," she finished with a brisk appreciative nod. She turned her attention back to her date after the eloquent words of both Prench and Itailian came out with the correct pronunciation and without the need of glancing at her menu.

She didn't mean to show off, she really didn't. It just so happened that she knew how to play the strings of high society to her own tune. It served her well in the past, so it really just caught on as she made her way in Canterlot and the society of ponies she usually had to deal with.

Nightfall laughed quietly, stifling her laugh with a hoof again before setting her hoof on his arm once more, "You didn't do that horribly. But you should read the titles of the food that's on the menus from now on, instead of what they actually are. High society ponies only ever go by their fancy name, not the name that everypony else goes by," she said, repressing the urge to roll her eyes at the ridiculousness of high class ponies and their stuck-up love for the fancy version of absolutely everything.

[CableZ]

Aero stared at his girlfriend with a blank expression as she ordered her food, he was a mixed of dumbfounded and really impressed and just a tad curious. He was also a little embarrassed at how stupid he must have sounded when talking to that waiter, he just sighed and shook his head. He just chuckled when she clarified to give the name of the actual food, it was exactly the kind of mistake he expected himself to make.

"Yeah...that sounds about right" he chuckled.

Reaching over the table and taking her hoof into his own again, he held her warmly as they settled in for the night. The bands music provided a beautiful backdrop to the scene as the two were only concerned with each other, it felt like the rest of the world was melting away. Aero sighed slightly, just relieved to be here and able to sit back and enjoy her company and not worry about much else. Of course he had some other things for the evening planned but for the most part this was his main hand and he liked to think that so far it was playing well, although he didn't want to get ahead of himself. While thinking of things to say, something popped into Aero's head that he had been meaning to ask nightfall about for a while now.

"Hey, I was reading the other day and I found something on a species known as Changelings? Didn't you say that you had a run in with them a few months back?"

The reason Aero asked was that he was still a little behind on events, in fact the only reason he was reading the book that he had found the information in, in the first place was that he was educating himself on the dangerous creatures and animals of the modern world. Nightfall had spoken briefly sometimes on the invasion of Canterlot by the Changelings but had never gone into detail, certainly he knew nothing about what had happened to her, or anypony else for that matter.

Another reason he wanted to know was that he was interested to know more about Nightfall, they'd only known each other for a few weeks and even then they could only spend a few hours with each other a night before Aero had to go and sleep as he wasn't yet on a nocturnal sleeping pattern but he was working on it, sometimes he found it difficult to stay away however and often fell asleep on Nightfall's couch in her office. In the effort of spending more time with her he was swapping over to a night time schedule and looking for work in the castle, in all honesty however he was looking for military work even before he had met Nightfall.

Aero was once the captain of an elite pegasus warrior squad, these days he was an unemployed pony doing nothing but reading and eating grilled cheese most of the day. He was going more than a little stir crazy and really wanted to have something to get up to go out and do during the days, then spend his evenings with Nightfall. They might have been simple dreams but he didn't really yearn for anything else, riches nor possessions truly made Aero happy, just being with Nightfall did that. He of course didn't fathom the irony of thinking that in probably the second or third most expensive restaurant in the entire country.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall chuckled lightly and accepted his hoof again happily, not bothered at all by his mistake earlier. After all, it took a while to understand how the higher echelons of society worked, and she wouldn't fault him for not being as versed in their etiquette as she was. Besides, she had thought it was incredibly hilarious to see the reaction of the waiter as he took her date's order. It added well deserved humor to their night's adventure, if only because the waiter looked like he thought Aero was speaking an entirely foreign language to him. A mix of bafflement and curious surprise were really the best way to describe such a picture worthy look.

Smiling to herself as the world faded out around them, the ash colored mare fixated her attention on her lover's eyes, feeling perfectly at ease and content with the situation. It wasn't often that she could really find herself at ease to just be with somepony, at least no one outside of her Guard. The other ponies in her guard would watch her back, and that gave a sense of security. Even the members of the Solar guard gave her the same feeling. But with civilians or just ponies outside of the guard in general, she usually wound up feeling tense and uneasy, feeling that her back was wide open and she had to cover all angles herself. But with Aero, she felt safe, didn't feel the need to watch the shadows or look for anything dangerous. It was admittedly a strange feeling to feel, but it was welcome and made her feel very connected.

Blinking at his sudden question, Nightfall had to consider for a few moments in silence. The subject of Changelings was an interesting one, and wasn't very cut and dry. She shouldn't have been surprised that he asked, but it was still not a topic she would have expected when on a first date. However, it was a far more interesting conversation then asking about future life goals or how the weather was. At least it was something that held her attention for longer then a few sentences. Smiling a little at him and the topic that he chose to talk about, she leaned back a little so she could be comfortable, and still hold his hoof in one of her own.

"Well, the Changelings are an assumed-hostile race of pony-esque insects. Typically, they have a glossy black chitinous epidermis, rather than a pelt and flesh. It's assumed that they're a branch-evolution of Unicorns at some point in their genetics, since they're decent magic users. They use their magic to take on the appearance of anypony that they lay eyes on, and accuracy seems to be dependent on how much attention to detail they pay," Nightfall paused for a moment, remembering back to when she was confronted by a member of her guard during the invasion.

A small frown played across her lips at the recollection, "I ran into one who even had the smell down to being indistinguishable from the real thing. And they use this to get close to ponies who are close to the pony they take the appearance of, so they can feed off of the love that their victim feels. The love seems to be their food source, and makes them stronger in some manner. Of course, how this all works is just assumptions and postmortem studies. After all, it's not like we can interrogate them very well. We've never captured one alive, and none have proven to have any independent enough thoughts to willingly come in and be examined," she explained, feeling quite on the verge of another monologue. They tended to happen a lot with her, where she would just lose herself in a topic and talk about it for as long as her knowledge of the subject would allow.

Feeling the need to quickly wrap it up before she fell into a rant, but not wanting to leave out any important information, she spoke again, "They invaded Canterlot during the wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor a few months ago. Their queen had been impersonating Cadence herself, and eventually managed to let her Changeling army into the city. It was a brief invasion, only lasted about an hour or two really, but it was a fierce fight. It was during the day, so my guard was already asleep, but I was awake for the wedding, along with a few others who were willing to lose some sleep for the ceremony. I was in the kitchen when the shield fell and the army got through. Barely had time to figure out what was happening, I just ordered the few guards who were with me to gather up as many civilians as they could and retreat to the barracks," she informed, her gaze faltering slightly as she looked over to the stage, thinking about the journey she had taken from the kitchens to the barracks.

"By the time I got there, I had run down two unshifted Changelings, had to kill a copy of myself, and one who had impersonated a cook...their chitin is kind of hard to get through. And even after we barricaded the barracks with the guards inside and all the civilians we could round up, we had somehow brought in three Changelings who were impersonating civilians, and one who had impersonated Sergeant Shadowbound. He was a good soldier, and a personal friend. I never thought he'd get taken down," she mused to herself, cracking a slight smile at a memory. Turning her attention back to him, she concluded, "We lost five guards in total; three Solar and two Lunar. Three of them fell in the defense of the barracks, and the other two were unlucky enough to have fallen in combat outside of the defense. The rest were either captured by the Changelings, or were in the barracks with me and the rest," she finished, speaking with a sort of reverence for it. It took serious combatants to take down the Canterlot Guard, of either faction. They were all trained, professional, and were far from the feint of heart. And yet, five had managed to be slain by the invading force, and the rest had been forced into holding a defensive position or had been captured. Not just any force could do that, and Nightfall had to admit, the invasion was far from anything that she could have imagined during strategic study or scenarios she faced. But she had really done the best that she could have possibly done.

[CableZ]

Aero listened with a serious gaze as he knew that remembering such events and occasions in a soldier's life always came with a bit of sorrow, seeing comrades and friends die leaves wounds that linger long after any physical wound has healed. It was weird because Aero arrived in this time only a few days after this invasion of Changelings. Aero was a little dubious on Nightfall's knowledge of the creatures themselves as from what he had read their origins were far removed from ponies but it really didn't matter either way. There wasn't really much to say about it to be honest, he was a soldier himself so he knew there was no need to say anything as there was nothing he could say that would change what happened. Besides he knew she was strong, she didn't need his reassurance or any sort of that stuff.

When she was done with her story he gave her hoof a little squeeze and a smile to remind her silently that he was there for her, he could tell however that she needed something else to think about and that he was the one to provide it. Her talking about a battle of her past brought to mind the one that made him famous, seemed like as good a story as any even if she had maybe already read it in a history book. Of course he didn't want to depress her even further so he decided to do what most military sorts did, make light of it all. It didn't mean they were cold or didn't care, but the same way that doctors made jokes about patients to cope with their constant deals with death, soldiers remembered their comrades fondly and the battles like competitions just so they didn't break down from the sadness of it all.

"I can top that" He smiled at her. "Battle of the fallen forest, first year of service" The legendary battle that lived on in the stories to inspire soldiers even today, although less frequently.

"I'd been in the military for a few months after boot camp, I was just a grunt at that point, part of a guard division of the platoon. The mega forest to the west had been encroaching on our territory for months and the diplomacy had just failed. I was stationed at the line of trenches that lay on the main field on the edge of the forest that bordered our lands, around 200 troops were there. We weren't the best supplied division due to most of our nations supplies were going towards various construction projects so we were foolishly left a little under done. I think the idea was that if political talks did fail, then they would give us more supplies and bulk up defence but the sheer response from the forest was unpredictable, it was mere hours from the time that the talks failed that the attack began." Aero chuckled at the memory.

"The forest wasn't the problem persé but its wardens were, the dryads. I know they exist today but certainly in less numbers than today, they're basically living tree creatures, they resemble ponies and look like their legs are roots and they have green vines wrapping their bodies. Anyway a huge army of them began slowly marching out from the dark shadow of the forest and we almost didn't believe it at first. Their slow walk and the green glowing dots in the hollow holes that were their eyes was a very creepy sight, especially as the sun was setting and the lanterns hadn't been lit yet. Rain started dripping down as we steeled our line as they slowly marched toward us, the dirt turned to mud beneath our hooves as it got darker and darker. We sent a messenger running out for help but it'd be at least ten hours before we'd get aid from anyone." Aero remembered the feeling of the rain battering down on his helmet, hearing the solemn news that they were totally alone.

"The dyrads came to a halt...a standing line of tall, silent tree ponies..." Aero stopped as the fear took him over slightly. "I don't entirely want to go into details but we lost 180 of the 200 troops in the first 15 minutes and the hours that followed we lost the other 19. I was left along in the trenches against an ever growing army of these...monsters. I had to reposition immediately, flying above to gain some ground while their vines chase after me. 13 hours 12 minutes 20 seconds...thats how long it took for the reinforcements to arrive. The sun was rising and I stood on a field of..fresh fertilizer.." Aero stopped to laughed "They gave me so many field promotions and badges it made my head spin, I went from being a private to part of the most elite pegasus warrior squad in the world in one night and became known as the lone survivor..that title had always bugged me" He sighed softly at the tale of his most bitter victory.

It was at that point that a pair of waiters made themselves known as they held up the starter dishes the two had ordered, quickly letting go of Nightfall's hoof so that they could put the dishes down. Placing the food each of the ponies had ordered in front of them, along with their drinks and smiling as they walked away. Aero rubbed his hooves together hungrily before tucking his napkin down the neck line of his armour.

"Mmmmm looks delicious" He grinned.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall gave an appreciative smile at the little gesture of comfort, though it really wasn't needed. Though it didn't seem like a lot of ponies to have died, five was a devastating amount of deaths for the Guard to deal with, primarily because of the fact that the guard was really now a token force. The military of Equestria back in Aero's time may have been able to spare two hundred soldiers for one post, but the entire guard in their current day and age only came to about four hundred odd-some guards. So, five was a devastating amount to lose in one battle for the considerably tiny force of castle guards. Were they still in Aero's time, five would have been barely a staple to cry over, but as it was, it was a decent amount to have died in just one battle. It was strange how times changed.

The bat pony listened to Aero's entire story with curiosity, though she had read about it before and memorized it to the verse. As many times as she could recall the chapter in the history books about Aero's grand story, the books had nothing on an actual account from the pony who went trough it all. So, listening to her date provided an interesting set of insight into what had actually happened, and as to how different it was from the glory that the stories and history books had pointed it out to be. Honestly, she couldn't picture Aero as being scared and fighting for his life, but the look of fear that flashed into his eyes was enough to assure Nightfall that he felt scared just as much as anypony else who had been put in a life-or-death situation, where their every move determined if they'd live or die.

Giving him a mirrored squeeze of his hoof when he paused, she gave him an encouraging and supportive smile, one that said that she was there for him if he needed her. He was pretty stoic from what she had seen, but if she had to wager, she'd say that he was the one who was more likely to accept support. Nightfall was always considerably self-reliant, and could deal with things on her own. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it also meant that she had to deal with the burdens of her position by herself, and deal with her combat record by herself or with the ponies who had served with her. Though everything had happened to Aero over a thousand years prior, she still thought it would be nice if he knew that she was still there for them, if the wounds were still fresh to him.

When he finished his story, she smiled at him again and gave his arm a little rub with her hoof, "I'm sure that it was terrifying, I can hardly imagine," she said sympathetically, trailing off slightly. Her mind took her to a different place as she considered her own engagements. There had never been any huge wars since she had taken control of the guard, or really anything significant when she was training either. She was lucky to have been born into a time of peace. However, there was an unspoken code between warriors; the best way to console each other was to try and top each other. While she never quite understood it, she appreciated it, and figured if it brought a laugh to Aero, humor'd be worth a try, "And you may win for now, but you know that the invasion wasn't my only battle," she bid with a little wink, "On the way out, I might regale you with a tale of a cross-dimensional first-and-last-line defensive," she said as she pulled back, making room for the food without looking up at their servers. Truth be told, she had faced some really weird engagements in her short time.

Nightfall looked down at her food when she was settled, giving it a once-over with contained skepticism, making sure that her food had been cooked correctly and served properly. One thing among high-class ponies was that they always had to get what they asked for, and if you didn't at least check, it was out of place in the higher echelons. She had learned that the reason for that was really because high class ponies liked to complain, and they'd always look for something to complain about. Luckily, however, she discovered that there was nothing amiss with her food, and decided to take her napkin and set it in a similar manner under the collar of her dress uniform, making sure that her front was properly covered in case she spilled any of her meal. Content with the presentation, the smell of the food, and the state of the general current situation, she flashed a lovely smile across the table at her date, "I'm sure it tastes just as good. Thank you again for taking me here, I'm glad we did this," she said happily, a small blush returning to her cheeks as she thanked him. Thankfully, her dinner became a whole lot more interesting, and her gaze turned down to the meal in an endeavor to hide her blush.

[CableZ]

Aero chuckled as he picked up a fork and began picking at his salad and eating a few bites as she admitted he'd won this round, although his eating stopped when she mentioned a cross dimensional adventure, he was looking forward to hearing that story. Shaking if off and looking down at his food as he took a few more bites of the delicious food, there was a peaceful silence that washed over the two as they tucked into their meals and just enjoyed the company of each other. When she mentioned that she was so glad that they had done this, he smiled with a mouth full of food happily. Swallowing his gob full and chuckling.

"Asking you was probably the best decision I've made recently" He smiled.

It was at this point that the band changed from a jazzy blues arrangement to a more classic one, they rolled out a set of mini bleachers and a miniature orchestra got themselves set up. Aero watched with interested as they tuned their instruments and made sure they all have their sheet music and what not, then came a little silence in the restaurant as ponies turned and looked to them as they bowed and began playing. The atmosphere changed from a solemn yet loving one to a more upscale beauty and it really complimented the place perfectly. Aero turned his attention back to Nightfall and just chuckled, he frankly couldn't believe how lucky he was for the evening to keep getting better and more romantic. Going back to his food with a smirk, he kept his big goofy grin mind you.

Soon enough he was done with his salad and pushed the plate away from himself slightly and sat back for a moment, enjoying the residual taste of the salad and its dressing. There would be a bit of a wait before their main courses would arrive so they once again would have to occupy themselves with each others company, not that that was ever going to be a tall order or something that would be a burden.

"So, how's life in the guards recently? Can't imagine there's much to do on a nightly basis?" He asked with a curious tone, by and large Canterlot was a fairly uneventful town, the invasion of changelings was an isolated incident in what was more often than not a very quiet and peaceful town. He had lived there a few months now and not much had happened in that time.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall happily tucked into her own salad, quietly enjoying herself and the moments of silence that they shared while they ate. The food also served as a perfect and convenient distraction to turn her gaze to when her blush reignited on her cheeks at his comment about the date being the best idea he had had recently. Though, that wasn't to say the food wasn't good. It was in fact one of the best salads she had ever had, but that was really second base to her enjoyment of their date at the moment. She could be perfectly happy to sit there and not get any food at any point during the night, as long as she was spending the night with him. Making a subtle face to herself, she realized just how sappy her thoughts had turned, and quickly shook them away before returning her concentration to her salad.

At this point, she noticed the sudden change in music and blinked a few times, looking up at the stage in thought. It was very familiar, considering the same sort of music had been playing the last time that she was there. An odd sense of deja-vu overwhelmed her as her orbs swept the stage, glancing over everypony who was in the lineup, including a certain grey-pelted mare with a purple bowtie. She had to admit, the timing was perfect for their date. If Aero hadn't planned for it, then the fates really favored their date that night, and she was sure that one of the princesses up in the castle was trying their best to make things swing their way. Ironic enough to Nightfall, since she spent most of her nights doing what she could to watch their backs. Who's to say that they weren't returning the favor somehow?

Finishing her salad soon after, she set her utensils down and pushed the plate forward gently before returning to a comfortable position in her seat, gazing across the table at her date. Back into the grasp of conversation with none but eachother, Nightfall really couldn't complain. There wasn't currently anyone that she'd rather be conversing with, and he was actually someone that she could understand without having to sum up or analyze. They were similar in their own ways, and that reflected well with their conversation topics. Rather than speak about things neither of them really cared about like politics, weather or the works. Talking about things like the Guard, previous battles, history or the goings of Canterlot, these were things that they could actually talk about with interest in it for both of them. Honestly a lot more interesting then what most ponies preferred to talk about on dates.

Nightfall considered for a moment before shrugging, "Well, most of it is administrative duties for me really. I always have a lot to do, but it's just about all paperwork and organizing the Guard. You know that I try to get out on patrol as often as I can, but sometimes I have to stay behind my desk, analyzing records and reports, or dealing with problems in the Guard. The most action we've had recently was a thief we caught sneaking into the castle a few weeks ago, but that's about it. Most of the things we have to deal with are situated in the city proper," she noted with a little shrug, but that wasn't really more then Aero knew. In fact, he spent enough nights with her while she was doing administrative and patrols to know that she'd rather be out walking then being caught behind her desk.

Shrugging to herself idly, she smiled at him, "And have you found somewhere to keep you occupied yet? I know you've been bored to death without anything to occupy yourself with," she sympathized, reaching her hoof forward to meet the comfort of his again. She figured that he wouldn't really ever be happy to just sit at home with nothing to do, so she hoped that he got the chance to go do something that could actually occupy him and keep him happy. She figured it would be something in the military, but certainly not in the Guard. Too much bureaucracy in the Guard, and she doubted that he'd be happy with all the red tape that had to be dealt with. No, she figured that he'd wind up employed in some branch of the military, posted on bodyguard duty, or even training recruits and veterans at the very least.

[CableZ]

Seeing that they had finished their meals, the waiter popped over and took away their empty plates. Aero smiled as he felt her hoof on his again, thinking about her question. Frankly Aero had not been looking for something for the past week as he had been content with spending his time with Nightfall but he knew he needed to get some kind of work, before he met Nightfall he had been sat around his house reading and generally just lazed around. But he had to agree with his girl, he had been so bored recently. Spending time with Nightfall only accounted for around around 20% of his day, he was awake for many hours before her so he just had to occupy his time.

"Yeah I need to find myself a job, there's this one thing I might end up doing but for now nothings decided" He sighed softly, he hated not having more control over his destiny. "Least I've got you huh?" He smiled happily at Nightfall.

It would be a little while before their main courses arrived as it was a busy evening for the restaurant, luckily the two night owls weren't gonna be going anywhere anytime soon. The question was filling the time, as stated before Aero was not a brilliant conversationalist so he would have to dig deep to try and keep her from being bored.

"Your work sounds...really boring to be honest" He chuckled as he made a little fun of Nightfall. "What did you do before you were captain? Like its hard to imagine you as a grunt" He smirked.

[ForgottenExistance]

Nightfall nodded slightly at him, recalling a footnote she had read in one of the many folders to cross her desk. Something about being protective detail to the new princess, or whatever counted as protective detail in a town like Ponyville. She was certain that anything that revolved around watching one pony day and night would get boring fast for him, so she liked to hope that there was more to the job then was mentioned in the folder. Giving a small smile, she nodded, "Least we've got each other," she agreed happily, putting pressure on his hoof for emphasis.

Her mind wandered as there was a lull in the conversation, thinking about how much time they had been spending together, and the fact that all the time they spent together wasn't even the entire time he was awake. In fact, the time they spent together wasn't even half of his time awake, even though he had been staying up significantly later to be with her. But she was still waking up several hours after he did, and stayed up several more hours after he went to sleep, so there was still quite a gap between their waking hour schedules.

Blinking at his comment, she chuckled and rolled her eyes dramatically, "Well, it's boring when I'm stuck behind my desk. I rather enjoy it when they send me out in the field or when I get to join in on patrols. I try to make it so that I get out on patrol most nights, but sometimes I need to focus on paperwork. So, you know, what can you do?" she said with an uninterested shrug. She may not be happy with being stuck behind a desk some days, but the days she was out on patrol far outweighed the days she was stuck. At least when she was out on patrol, she was actually doing something that she thought was useful. Sitting behind a desk, memorizing files and putting her signature on things, she didn't think that they were important. But because of the process of her station, she had to go along with it and deal with sitting in her office some nights.

Thinking for a moment, she flashed a smile, "I was actually just that. After high school, I took a class on history and military tactics, then went straight into training. I wanted to go into a sub-branch of the military, you know, focusing on logistics and tactics. But honestly, I got bored with education, so I enrolled into the guard like my dad. I was a grunt in the night shift of the Royal Guard until Princess Luna returned," Nightfall paused to give an ironic laugh, shaking her head before continuing, "And then just like that, the rookie with one year of tactics training and only glancing combat experience became the Captain of the newly established Lunar Guard. Seems like something straight out of a novel, eh? Funny how life works sometimes," she said, looking across the table at him with a smile.

In many ways, Nightfall was still young, barely an adult by most standards, and yet she had seen and done more things then most ponies in the current age could have dreamed of. And sitting across from her was a stallion who was technically a thousand years old, and his experiences made her realize just how young and inexperienced she was. It was strange to be faced with someone who had seen and done more then she did who wasn't an alicorn. The thought brought a quiet chuckle to the young pegasus.