Two days had passed rather uneventfully in our lives in Equestria. Rainbow and I had been spending some more time together, she had come to dinner one night and we had a few drinks with the food and once again we had spent another perfect night curled up in each-others embrace. When we had awoken Matt had gone to work and over breakfast I told her that I was going to the Gala. She became rather excited and told me that she had also received a ticket from Princess Celestia. With the information that I had been hoping for fresh on my mind I plucked up some courage from somewhere and asked her if she would accompany me as my date for the night. With a slightly embarrassed look she accepted and we spent the day discussing clothes and I tried to describe what a kilt was to her but she didn’t seem to understand so I guess I would just have to show her when it was done. We had spent the day together and we mostly just hung around the house, being playful with each other and I was having the time of my life with Rainbow. I found her so enticingly beautiful with her prisma-coloured mane and those gorgeous eyes. I could tell I was already infatuated with her and I hoped she was feeling the same way about me. There was a feeling that I could not describe every time I ran my hoof through her mane, or gave her a peck on the cheek that just let thousands of butterflies loose in my belly.
Matt had arrived home that very evening with a smile on his face and I could tell he had some good news for me. He had spoken to Twilight about the evenings events and she had admitted that after that night she had been having certain thoughts about him that she wasn’t sure how to manage. Matt had done the right thing and talked to her about her feelings and apparently she gave him a long hug and thanked him for his understanding. He had then made the ultimate move by biting the bullet and asked her to come over for dinner the next night. I was happy that he had finally made that step into being a more confident colt and he seemed extremely happy with the way things were going.
I was in the kitchen eating my breakfast and Matt had already departed for work and I was on at lunchtime with Record so I still had some time to kill until I had to leave. It was another beautiful day and I was eating a chocolate muffin and listening to the radio while dancing around the kitchen in a rather stupid fashion but I didn’t care. I was in the mood of my life with the Gala approaching and Rainbow had agreed to be my date for the night. Matt had hit things off with Twilight and they were seeing each other now and she had been over for dinner the previous night and as far as I was aware she had stayed the night but I went to bed too early to know for sure.
It was late morning before I was interrupted from my terrible dancing by a knock on the door and I answered and Ditzy stood there holding a letter addressed to Matt and I, which I took from her and we discussed meeting up for the Gala and she said she would probably be leaving early because Dinky got tired quite early so I probably wouldn’t see that much of her there. After a cheery chat I wished her a good day and waved her off as she trotted merrily down the street to her next delivery. I inspected the envelope and the writing was beautifully neat, almost written in calligraphy. After tearing into the envelope and producing the letter I sat on the sofa to get comfortable.
“Dear Matt and Robbie
I have finished your outfits for the night of the gala and I would
like you to come down to the Boutique for a fitting and to make
sure that everything is to your liking.
I look forward to seeing you soon,
Rarity”
I smiled and could not wait to see my kilt for the gala. I placed the letter on the kitchen table and made the decision to go for my fitting after I had finished work. Work.
“Oh buck! I’m running late!” I quickly darted out the door after grabbing my pass, which now had a terrible photo of me pasted onto it, and spread my wings and took off after one powerful flap. Flying was certainly a lot quicker than walking but with the amount of time I had left myself I was lucky enough to arrive 5 minutes early. I briskly walked through reception and showed my pass to the receptionist who didn’t really look too interested and she just waved me through after briefly looking at my ID. Trotting briskly through the office I wished a few ponies I had met good morning and made my way into the studio and sat down in my chair with a few minutes to prepare myself and I put my headphones on quickly. I apologized to Record for being so late and he said it was fine and that it happens to the best of us at one point or another. I was to say the introduction announcement today and I began to feel nervous when the red lights began to turn on and finally the green one flashed brightly on.
“Good afternoon Ponyville! You’re listening to the Lunchtime show with Robbie and Record and to start off your afternoon we have a track from Slim Haydy and Dr Neigh entitled: Forgot about Neigh.” I pressed the button on the record player and music began to play over the air and Record gave me a simple nod and a smile and I was glad my professionalism was not affected by my flustered appearance. Together Record and I played tracks and reviewed some events happening in Ponyville soon. We seemed to be a great team in the studio and we were getting along like a house on fire that afternoon and before long we were introducing the next show and playing our final song before we packed up and left.
Walking out of the building it was still sunny but not too bright to warrant the sunglasses the pony walking towards me was wearing. She stopped briefly and looked at me before walking into the studio behind me and it took me a moment or two to realise that I had just been passed by Vinyl Scratch and I almost burst with admiration for the great musician I had just encountered. I had played a few of her tracks on the show now and I really enjoyed her music because she was a great DJ, her bass drops were unbelievable and she was truly a genius on the decks. My day was slightly brightened up by this event and I decided it was now or never to go and try on my kilt. Taking a deep breath I extended my wings and took to the sky. I lazily glided over the tops of the cottages and shops of Ponyville until my destination came into view.
“Hey stranger!” A voice called from behind me. I turned and laid eyes upon Rainbowdash flying at a rapid pace towards me.
“Hey there Rainbow, how are you today?” I asked her before turning to keep an eye on Carousel Boutique. I wasn’t far now so I would have to land soon.
“I’m not too bad thanks yourself? The weather team is all done early today so I was hoping to see you so we could hang out or something?” She gave me a smile as I began to drop down to street level and placed my hooves on the ground.
“Yeah I’m in a very good mood today actually, I’m just about to go and try on my kilt for the gala if you’re interested in joining me for that?” I was now walking at a steady pace towards Carousel Boutique and Rainbow was gliding alongside me.
“Yeah that sounds cool! I’ve never seen a pony in a kilt before so will be an experience anyway” She landed softly beside me and we made our way to the door of Rarity’s shop and being a gentlecolt I held the door for Rainbow to enter first. Rarity’s eyes lit up as soon as I entered the shop, she trotted over to me with a slight skip in her step.
“Here to try on your kilt? I think you’ll be happy with the result, it is truly fabulous, if I do say so myself” She said merrily before pushing me into a dressing room with a bag containing my outfit levitating out from behind the counter before being placed on the floor beside me. I closed the curtain, which I thought was slightly pointless but I still felt the need to do it, and I opened the bag before pulling out the shirt. It was finely made indeed, I couldn’t tell what material it was made from but it was very soft and I slid it over my head and wrestled my wings through the holes in the back. After the shirt was correctly on I pulled out the kilt and my eyes immediately lit up with excitement as I slipped it on and admired myself in the mirror. Rarity had obviously put a lot of time into researching the fashion that was kilts, and the tartan was absolutely perfect. Although the shirt didn’t have any buttons it did have a slight V-cut at the top with a piece of string fed through some small holes in case the neck needed tightened and I looked very good indeed.
“Well, let us see then!” I heard Rarity excitedly say from outside the dressing room and Rainbow soon chimed in as well so I drew back the curtain and stepped out before turning side on so they could get a good look at me.
“You’re wearing a dress?” Rainbow managed to say before bursting into hysterics on the ground “That is hilarious! You are a laugh Robbie, you know that?” I blushed slightly but still felt proud to be probably the only pony in Equestria wearing a kilt.
“Rainbow! That’s not very nice, he looks very dashing if I may say so” Rarity took a long walk around me to make sure everything was in proportion correctly and she seemed pleased with her work. I gave her a huge smile and she returned it before I changed back and paid for my purchase. I was surprised she gave me a discount for all of this, it must have taken her hours to make but I didn’t complain and I left with my outfit, proud to have such a brilliant and unique thing to wear to the gala.
The flight back home was pleasant as the cool air breezed through my mane and I had to hold the bag in my mouth so I couldn’t speak much but Rainbowdash took this as an opportunity to mock me some more for wearing a “dress” as she put it. After we arrived back home I hung up my outfit carefully in the wardrobe in my bedroom and I admired it once more. The tartan was light blue mainly, with green, yellow and purple which patched across in thin lines. It was my family tartan from back home and I was proud to be wearing it in Equestria for all of the finest ponies to see.
“I hope the gala doesn’t go as badly as it did last time we all went, the main hall in the palace was completely wrecked, and I’m sure Pinkie offended quite a few ponies with her singing and dancing.” I let out a little chuckle at Rainbow’s remark and I took a seat on the bed and patted beside me and soon enough she joined me and I embraced her in my forelegs. I had missed the warm, comforting feel of hugging Rainbow so I dragged it out for as long as I could before she let out a slight giggle and broke the embrace before giving me a little kiss.
“Do you fancy going for a fly, seeing as Matt isn’t around.” She asked me with a twinkle in her eyes that I couldn’t say no to.
“Sure thing, but I have to warn you, I’m not a very strong flier.” I said kind of embarrassed that as a grown Pegasus I was having to admit that to possibly the greatest flier in Equestria.
“Well I will have to fix that won’t I?” She said with a tone of determination in her voice before she quickly gave me a peck on the cheek and practically dragged me out of the room. We both flew away from the cottage and over towards Sweet Apple Acres where we found a large, open field that had nothing in it so Rainbow decided this would be the best place to start my flying lessons.
“So what can you do already? Can you do any aerial tricks at all or is it mainly just flying to get around?” I answered with the latter and she gave me a nod and said we should probably try and increase my speed first before me moved onto anything else. I agreed and we flew up to a reasonable height before I got a rundown of how to increase my speed while in the air.
“First when you start moving forward give your wings hard pushes, like you’re taking off but to propel yourself forward. Then extend your forelegs out in front of you and your back legs straight back to increase aerodynamics, and if you keep that up your speed should increase by a lot in the next hour.” I listened to Rainbows instructions carefully while keeping myself in the air before giving it a try. I pushed myself forward hard with my wings and stretched my legs out like Rainbow had told me before I began to flap my wings harder and harder, and I began to feel like I was achieving some decent speed now.
“Not bad but keep it up! With enough training you will be able to do this.” Rainbow shouted at me before flying past me like a missile set dead on its target. That put me off slightly and I faltered and nearly drove my face into the dirt, but thankfully I managed to save myself from that humiliation. We flew around for hours playing some simple games to increase my wing strength and before long I needed a rest and took my first perch on a nearby cloud. I lay down and it didn’t feel like I had expected it to. Where I was expecting a cloud to feel fluffy and soft, it felt like there was nothing underneath me at all, like I was just floating in the air with no support. Rainbow kept flying while I was resting and I enjoyed watching her have fun, plus I was a bit beat from the games she had me playing, so watching her practice her moves was awe inspiring.
After watching her for what seemed like hours she finally flew over and landed beside me on the cloud. I wrapped my foreleg around her and rested my head on hers as I looked out into the distance and the sun was beginning to set on this glorious day. I loved watching the sun set and Rainbow didn’t seem to mind it either as this was the second sunset I had enjoyed with her and both times it had been absolutely magical, but it might just be the company that I was loving so much. Rainbow shuffled herself closer to me and I pulled her against me and she let out a slight sigh in comfort. I kissed the top of her head and turned back to face the sunset. Truly a sight to behold as the orange orb slowly began to disappear behind the range of mountains in the distance, with a faint outline of Equestria’s capitol city which clung to the side of the centre mountain. Before long it was getting dark so the decision was made to fly home.
The flight was brief with the extra speed I had gained from Rainbow’s training and we shortly arrived at her house which was floating above Ponyville with a great view of a lake which at that moment had the reflection of the moon and stars perfectly reflected like a mirror. I thanked Rainbow for the flight training and we had a small chat about seeing each other next but I had to be going soon as I had never really flown in the dark and I was nervous about it. She placed her hoof on the back of my head and pulled me in for a gentle kiss which seemed like absolute bliss at that moment in time. I couldn’t say how long it lasted, could have been mere seconds or it could have been hours, but all I knew is that I was beginning to fall for this mare and I had never felt so comfortable in admitting that to myself. After the kiss was broken I gave her a quick cuddle then started my flight back to the cottage. I landed not too far away but I didn’t fly all the way to the cottage because my nerves got the better of me and I decided to play it safe.
As I walked the last couple of streets towards the cottage my mind was racing with different emotions all at once. On one hoof I had a great marefriend who loved to spend time with me and was the element of Loyalty, but on the other I was confused with how within a couple of weeks of me arriving in this amazing place, I could have fallen for somepony so quickly. It seemed unreal and I hoped she felt the same way but there was no way I could be sure without simply confessing it to her. The thought of that sent chills down my spine more than the thought of having to lie in a bathtub full of maggots. I had always had trouble admitting my feelings for people due to years of bullying through primary and high school, but I felt sure that here I would not be criticized for my feelings. I would just have to take that step and bite the bullet. I let out a sigh as I walked through the gate up to the cottage and the living room light illuminated the small garden slightly, and sitting on the sofa in front of the fire was the silhouette of Matt eating his dinner.
I walked through the door and greeted Matt before making my way into the kitchen to grab a quick something to eat. A simple apple would have to do. I gave a sigh of relief for being home and able to have a quick wash before getting to bed. The apple certainly did the trick for satisfying my stomach and I felt a little more energetic after having a snack. Walking through the sitting room I informed Matt that I would be heading off to bed after I had taken a bath and asked him whether he had seen the letter from Rarity which I had left on the table. He had seen the letter and taken a quick gallop to Rarity’s to have a quick fitting and everything seemed perfect so his tux was now neatly hung up in his wardrobe. He also handed me my ticket for the gala and I became extremely excited just to hold that golden ticket in my hoof. I gave him the twenty bits I owed him for the ticket and made my way upstairs and began to fill the tub with water. The warmth soothed my aching muscles and relaxed me after the evenings exercise, and I could feel that I would be unconscious as soon as my head hit the pillow that night. I quickly dried myself off, brushed my teeth and made my way over to the bed. I allowed myself to simply fall into my bed and I wrapped myself in a cocoon of the blankets before I closed my eyes and sank into my mattress before I began my dreams of a Cyan Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane.