>>42338137
"Look, everypony! The monkey has fallen in love with the Princess!"
>Raucous laughter erupted from a sum total of three other ponies, all of whom seemed to be her friends.
>The rest of the onlookers, dotted here and there about Canterlot Square, simply gawked in their general direction.
>Some giggled and whispered amongst themselves; some simply smiled, amused by the show.
>More, still, weren't quite sure how to react other than observing closely, and some even seemed dejected.
>Luna herself seemed quite cross, and wasn't trying to hide it.
>Inane though Strawberry's provocation might have been in the grand scheme of things, the monstrous heat of humiliation graced your chest all the same.
>You tried to think of something to say to her, but came up short of anything clever. Your unwillingness to use your usual arsenal of crass insults and heinous expletives in front of Luna rendered you harmless in the face of that contemptible mare.
>The spaghetti lining your pockets grew immensely, only a few seconds away from bursting out in its entirety.
>But suddenly, an idea popped into your head.
>An idea so ballsy, so unlike you, that the thought alone nearly caused the excess pasta to fall out onto the concrete below.
>On any other day, under any other circumstances, you wouldn't have even /begun/ to think of following through with it...
>...But today was different.
>The spillage was imminent, anyhow.
>Why settle for /sauce/...
>...When you can have meat/balls/?
"That's right," you announced as you turned to face the gaggle of blockheads. "I /have/."
>Strawberry and her friends were shocked into silence.
>You wouldn't call it confidence, the feeling that was brimming within you as hundreds of surprised stares combed over you. It was a bit more free-range than that.
"And I was about to ask her to a date before you rudely butted in."
>You spun back around on your heel and found Luna looking up at you - red as a beet, but with a wild grin that grew unabated.
>You loved that smile.
>"I would be honored, Anonymous," she nearly crooned.
>The collective gasp of the crowd colored the air.
>Strawberry, jaw agape, found that she couldn't move, even as everyone else moved on with their lives around her.
>Her friends did all they could to snap her out of her stupor, but to no avail. They went home after several hours of trying.
>Eventually, Strawberry stopped thinking.