The following evening Arc appears on the sigil in his parent’s room. A single bedside lamp dimly illuminates the room. Spotting a single piece of paper on the bedspread, he walks over and picks it up to read aloud.
“Remove the outfit in the closet that’s hanging all the way to the right.”
Shrugging, Arc heads for the closet. Opening it he finds a suit neatly hung up in the a fore mentioned location. Picking up the hanger, he spies another note pined to the lapel. Laying the suit down on the bed he pulls the paper off and begins to read.
“Put on this outfit. Matching socks and shoes can be found under the bed in a box.”
Removing his clothes, Arc puts on the suit and reaches under the bed. Finding the box, he sits down on the side of the bed with it on his lap. Pulling the cover off Arc spies the socks and shoes, but with a note on top.
“After you put on your socks and shoes check the vanity for a comb and some stallion perfume.”
Chuckling, Arc puts on his footwear and heads for the vanity. Sitting down he picks up the comb and quickly does his hair. However as he picks up the bottle of ‘stallion perfume’ he sees another note under it.
“Put two spritzes on your undershirt before buttoning up your coat again and leaving the room.”
Doing as suggested, Arc sets down the bottle. Looking himself over one last time he stands and heads for the door. Grabbing the doorknob he feels a small paper stuck to it. Looking down Arc sees what appears to be a post-it note. Picking it up he reads it.
“Go to the Guest Room and knock three times.”
Shrugging, Arc leaves the room. Taking the few steps down the hall he knocks as indicated on the note. A few moments later the door opens to reveal Derpy standing there, in her human form, wearing a fancy dress. She smiles shyly as she speaks.
“G-good evening, Arc.”
“Good evening, Derpy. Wow! You look great!”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yeah! That dress is perfect!”
Derpy giggles. “I didn’t think so at the time. But it looks like Rarity was right.”
“Rarity?”
Derpy nods. “She made this for me.”
“Today?”
“Sweetie Belle asked her to do a rush job. Fortunately the castle has a fully stocked clothing making room, I guess.”
Arc raises an eyebrow. “It does?”
“Apparently.”
“Well, I’m glad she was able to get it made. It looks like that fits perfectly.”
“Yes, well… I… have something here.”
“Oh?”
Derpy nods as she holds out a scroll. “Dinky told me to give it to you when you came to get me.”
Accepting it, Arc unrolls the paper and begins to read aloud.
“Lead mom out of her room and toward the stairs. There is a small remote on the banister at the top.”
Derpy blushes slightly. “Well then… shall we?”
“Guess we’d better.”
She extends her hand and allows Arc to take it. Leading the young woman down the hall toward the stairs they spot the remote sitting there under a piece of paper. Picking it up Arc spies the simple words ‘press me’. Doing so a subtle light begins to glow on either side of the stairs down. Arc gasps.
“What the…? Candles?”
Derpy nods. “Magical flameless candles.”
She bends down and puts a finger in the ‘flame’ with no ill effect. Arc helps her stand back up as he chuckles.
“Nice ambiance.”
Derpy appears confused. “Nice… what now?”
“Ambiance. It’s means they make things around them look nice and set a mood.”
“Oh! That they do. But there’s more downstairs.”
Carefully walking down the stairs they come to the ground floor. Looking around Arc sees that the candles are everywhere, casting a warm glow on the room which is neat as a pin. Looking down he spots a paper lying on the floor. Picking it up Arc reads aloud again.
“Welcome to your date, dad. As you can see, we’ve cleaned up the house so you and mom will have a nice time without worrying about tripping over anything. Proceed to the kitchen to continue.”
Derpy looks to him as he finishes. “I have to admit, even I don’t know what’s next.”
“Dinky didn’t tell you?”
“No. She and the others said they wanted it to be a surprise. For both of us, that is.”
“Well, let’s not let them down.”
Heading for the kitchen they see the table is set for two with a larger ‘candle’ in the center. It casts a glow over a paper on the table. Picking it up Arc speaks.
“There is a pan in the refrigerator with your supper.”
Opening the refrigerator they spot a large pizza pan with a raw pizza in the center of it. Pulling it out they see another note taped to the side of the pan.
“Put this in the oven at four hundred twenty-five degrees and cook it until you two can smell it, I think. Sorry, not fully sure how to properly cook this.”
Chuckling, Arc walks over and opens the oven door as Derpy sets the temperature. Closing it, he looks to her.
“Any more notes up there?”
Derpy nods as she holds up a note. “There was one on the stove, yes.”
She clears her throat and reads it.
“Have a seat and talk about adult stuff.”
Arc grins. “I’m guessing Apple Bloom wrote that one.”
Derpy nods as she sets the note on the counter. “Yes, I recognize her handwriting.”
Arc gestures to the table. “Well, let’s take their advice.”
Escorting Derpy to the table he pulls out her chair. Sitting down, she spots a paper sticking out from under the plate. Pulling it out as Arc sits down Derpy speaks.
“Have fun, mom!”
Arc chuckles. “There’s one for me here too.”
“What’s it say?”
“Don’t keep her out too late.”
Derpy raises an eyebrow. “I don’t get it.”
“It’s a human joke. Dinky has apparently been watching television too much.”
“How’s the joke go?”
“When a guy picks up a girl from her parent’s place they say that sometimes. It’s a warning to have their daughter back home before they have to go to bed.”
“What time would that be though?”
“There isn’t a set hour where they’re out too late. My opinion would be no later than ten o’clock though.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because after that time a parent would probably start to worry.”
“That does make sense. So… what should we talk about?”
“Um… how about you start?”
“Me, Arc?”
Arc nods. “Sure. After all, I do want to get to know you better.”
Meanwhile, Brightwing paces back and forth on top of her desk. She glances over at the bottle of mixed reagents sitting mutely to the side before turning to it.
“What wrong with you, potion! Why not want to work!”
As is to be expected the bottle makes not a sound. Brightwing growls at it.
“Don’t you WANT to be a part of this?! Brightwing REALLY smart! She knows what she’s doing!”
Sighing, Brightwing continues.
“Well… I guess Brightwing not THAT smart. After all, you not work yet.”
Tapping her chin with a claw, she frowns.
“Need more powerful reagents. Hair not enough to…”
She gasps before continuing.
“It need to be more compressed magic! Just not enough in hair!”
Doing a backflip, she lands nimbly on the floor. Blinking, Brightwing reappears in the corridor. Fluttering her wings, she flies down the way. Coming to the Infirmary the small creature lands on a medicine cabinet as the last rays of sunlight sink beneath the horizon. Looking around, Brightwing spies a humming cabinet in the corner. Making her way over to it she opens the door to see several rows of blood packs. Grabbing one in her claws she hurries back to her room with it. Meanwhile, Arc and Derpy head to the oven. Opening it, Arc sees that the pizza’s crust has browned perfectly and the cheese is bubbling. Pulling it out he sets the pan on the stovetop.
“This’ll take a bit to cool.”
Derpy giggles. “It certainly smells good though.”
“I’ll say. They must’ve made this with Equestrian ingredients though.”
“How can you tell?”
“The smell. I can’t really put my finger on it, but can tell the difference between the flours used.”
Returning to their table Arc looks to Derpy to continue their conversation.
“So… what do you think?”
“About what?”
“All this work our little Dinky and her friends went through to make this happen.”
Derpy smiles warmly. “They had a lot of help.”
“Did they now?”
“Yes. Rarity made the dress, of course. Pinkie planned the food. Fluttershy recommended these magical candles. Applejack donated the apple pie in the fridge. Rainbow Dash gave me certain… let’s just say... personal advice. And Twilight contributed the resources to pull everything together.”
“Sounds like they pretty much did it all. At least on the Equestrian end.”
Derpy nods. “Yes, well… when you came home at noon to open a portal back for us they got everything set up and made sure I looked my best. Sweetie Belle did my makeup while Apple Bloom ironed the dress. Dinky set up the downstairs with Scootaloo in the meantime.”
“Well, they did a great job. You do look amazing.”
“Thank you. We did have a bit of trouble early on. But Dinky pulled up some YouTube videos to help.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“She learned that human women are supposed to shave their underarms, legs, and their mare parts.”
Arc blushes slightly. “That… isn’t really…”
Derpy grins as she raises a hand overhead to expose her armpit. “I think we made it look pretty good over here.”
She stands and pulls her dress up high to expose her leg and thigh.
“We even got this really smooth!”
Arc smiles at her. “Yes, it looks like you two did it.”
Derpy giggles as she sits down. “I even did my mare parts. Slowly and carefully though. Nicked myself a couple times in the process.”
“I believe you.”
“Dinky told me that it was inappropriate for me to show that to you though. That is… um…”
“Derpy?”
Derpy smiles shyly. “…that is… unless you… wanted to see them.”
“That’s... okay.”
Derpy breathes a sigh of relief. “That’s good! Truth be told, I feel kinda strange when I’m uncovered. As a human, I mean.”
“Like when showering?”
“Anytime I’m not completely covered. For some reason it just feels… unnatural to me. Even though, as a mare, I was almost never covered. Does that sound strange to you?”
“Not really. After all, humans generally have an innate desire to cover themselves.”
“Are there exceptions?”
Arc nods. “There are some places where clothes are optional. Certain resorts and nude beaches off the top of my head.”
“And no one feels… bare?”
“If they do I would guess that they’d just put their clothes back on then.”
“So there’s nothing wrong with me?”
“Not at all. You sound like a very normal human woman to me.”
“Good. I was worried that I’d be less appealing the more that’s wrong with me.”
Arc raises an eyebrow. “Wrong with you?”
Derpy bows her head. “It’s a rather… sensitive subject.”
She looks to the stove before continuing.
“Why don’t we serve the food? It has to have cooled by now.”
“Alright.”
Standing up to cut the pizza, Arc walks over to a drawer and removes a pizza cutter. Meanwhile, Brightwing reenters her office. Scratching at the top of the blood pack with her claws she tears a hole in it. Flapping her wings to get some air she hovers over the vial holding her potion. Carefully allowing the liquid to drip into the vessel, Brightwing watches as it changes color and begins to glow slightly. Grinning, she throws the now empty bag into the trash and lands in front of her creation. Putting a claw on the glassy surface she cackles.
“It’s working! Potion almost done! Just need something more powerful than unicorn blood to make it work!”
Tapping the glass she makes a few glutaral sounds and appears to be thinking. Eventually she smiles wickedly.
“The small Crimson filly and the pretty demon girl! Of course! That’ll make it capable of holding the magic necessary for success!”
Taking flight, Brightwing hurries out her door with the potion in her claws and down the corridor again. Sometime time later Arc and Derpy sit at the table in front of the empty dishes. Derpy is the first to speak.
“That pizza was amazing!”
Arc groans contentedly. “Yeah. It was my recipe, but different.”
Derpy giggles. “I’m guessing Dinky gave it to the castle chefs to assemble for her.”
“And they did an amazing job of it.”
“They also probably helped Applejack with her pie.”
“Well, the only other thing that could make this pie better than it was would be the quality of ingredients.”
“Canterlot Castle probably has access to everything imaginable in terms of food.”
“That they do.”
He looks around before continuing.
“Let’s see here.”
Derpy appears confused. “Looking for something?”
Arc chuckles. “The next note.”
“Oh! Um…”
“You know where it is?”
Derpy nods. “Yes.”
“Where?”
Blushing slightly, Derpy reaches inside her dress and pulls out a small piece of paper from between her breasts.
“Sorry. Dinky gave me both and warned me not to mix them up. I didn’t want to mess up their plans and this dress doesn’t have pockets.”
She looks down at her rather sizable chest before continuing.
“Putting it there just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”
“Well, it did work.”
Taking the paper from her as she offers it, Arc reads aloud.
“After supper proceed downstairs to the basement. There is another remote on the last step.”
Derpy grins. “Shall we?”
Arc nods. “If you’re ready, sure.”
Taking Derpy’s hand, Arc stands and leads the young woman toward the basement door. Opening it, they slowly walk downstairs. Spotting a single magic candle at the bottom next to a remote lying on a piece of paper. Picking it up Arc reads aloud.
“Press me.”
Derpy appears hopeful. “Could I do it?”
Arc holds out the remote. “Sure.”
Derpy presses the button. A large number of magic candles placed around the room spring to life. They see that the furniture has been pushed to the side leaving the center of the room open. A paper in the middle of the floor stands out against the emptiness. Picking it up, Arc reads it aloud.
“There is a CD in the player in the corner. It’s a compilation of some classical music. You two can either sit on the sofa and listen or, as we hope, share a dance.”
Folding up the paper Arc sets it down next to the player and presses the ‘Play’ button. A few moments later classical music fills the room. Arc turns back to his date.
“Would you like to sit down or dance?”
Derpy looks away nervously. “I… don’t really know how to dance.”
“Neither do I.”
“But didn’t you learn how to for the Grand Galloping Gala?”
Arc shakes his head. “It was just a slow dance. Not much skill needed there.”
“A slow dance?”
“Yeah. You just move really slowly while holding each other.”
“Can you show me how?”
“Sure.”
Taking Derpy’s hand, he escorts her to the center of the room before turning to face her.
“First, put your hand on my shoulder and the other in my hand.”
“Okay.”
Doing as she is told, Arc nods as he continues.
“Now I’ll do the same with my hands.”
Matching her, Arc nods to his feet.
“Now then, this is the kinda tricky part. We have to move together.”
“How?”
“Let’s just try left and right to start.”
Taking a step left, Derpy follows.
“And right…”
They move to the right.
“Continue left and right.”
Repeating the same steps Derpy grins.
“This is fun!”
Arc chuckles. “And decent enough exercise too.”
“What else could we do?”
“There’s always the box moves.”
“How do we do that?”
“First we step right…”
Doing so, Arc continues.
“Now back. Then left. Finally… forward.”
Derpy giggles. “Our steps were like a square.”
“Exactly.”
“Let’s keep doing that!”
Meanwhile, Brightwing comes to Scootaloo’s room. Blinking inside she finds the little girl standing on the balcony staring up at the full moon. Fluttering over to her she sets the potion down and steps forward.
“Friend okay?”
Scootaloo sighs. “Kinda.”
Brightwing tilts her head to one side. “You are… sad?”
“Kinda.”
“What happened?”
“I… kinda messed up the other day. Considered doing something to someone that they didn’t want.”
Brightwing gasps. “That bad though!”
Scootaloo groans. “Yeah, I know. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
“Friend tell them they sorry?”
“Kinda. The conversation didn’t exactly stay on track. And now Big Brother’s extra busy.”
“You should talk to him! Tell other friend that you’re sorry and want to go on to better things!”
“I know. But that isn’t going to be easy.”
Brightwing shrugs. “Neither is saying nothing.”
Scootaloo sighs. “I know. But… what do I say? Sorry won’t fix this.”
“An honest explanation will though! Big, honest sorry!”
“Yeah… I have to say something to him about it. And soon.”
Brightwing giggles. “Right!”
Scootaloo turns and sees the potion behind Brightwing.
“What do you have there?”
“An experiment Brightwing is doing!”
“Experiment?”
“Brightwing trying to increase the potency of this with catalysts!”
“What have you tried?”
“Hair and blood from magical creatures!”
“How’d that work?”
Brightwing sighs. “Not very well. Blood did work! But not very well, as friend can see.”
“So you need a more powerful catalyst?”
“Yes, yes! Crimson blood might work!”
“Want some of mine?”
“That I do!”
Scootaloo smiles. “I can give you some for this experiment. But only if you promise that I can be there when the potion is used.”
Brightwing grins hugely. “Okay, friend! Brightwing promises!”
Scootaloo opens her mouth and drags a fang across her hand. A steady stream of blood spills forth from the wound as she holds it over the potion. It begins to glow more intensely as the blood mixes with the other reagents. Pulling back as the wound closes, Scootaloo looks at the potion intently.
“Looks like you’re just about there.”
“Yes! Brightwing only need a bit more catalyst!”
“Crimson blood is pretty powerful. Not sure what else could amplify it further though.”
Brightwing giggles as she picks up the potion. “Don’t worry, friend! Brightwing has it all figured out!”