I breathed frantically as I made a mad dash through Canterlot’s shopping district, hoping that I would make it to the city square before two-fifteen. Despite that, though, I ran at a moderately fast pace so that I wouldn’t sweat, and the cool autumn air helped to keep that from happening, as well.
I can’t meet Octavia looking like I had just run a marathon.
After semi-sprinting through the city, I finally made it to the square, and I looked around to see if Octavia was around. Thankfully, she wasn’t. I sighed in relief and checked my watch.
Two-fourteen. I barely made it.
I took a seat by the fountain to catch my breath and wait for Octavia to show up, going over my plan for our date.
“I’ll take her to a really nice music show in the Canterlot Theatre, and then we’ll go to a really fancy restaurant for dinner.” I thought. “Yeah, that sounds like something she would like.”
As I nodded my head to myself in satisfaction as I looked at the ground absentmindedly. Just then, my light was blocked by a shadow that appeared around me.
“What the…” I said to myself as I looked up and saw what was casting the shadow. “Octavia!”
“Were you expecting somepony else?” she asked with a chuckle as I stood up and took a good look at her.
“You look really nice today.”
“Why, thank you, Marcus.”
I wasn’t lying, either. Octavia looked rather stunning. She was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt with a stylish belt tied around the waistline. She also wore a pair of black skinny jeans with matching boots. I couldn’t help but look at how her jeans hugged tightly against her legs, those proud, thick, strong and enticing legs. Before I knew it, I was ogling her, taking a special notice of how thin and formfitting her shirt was, draping itself against the small upper body frame of the mare in front of me… and of course those D sized mounds protruding from it.
Octavia let out a giggle. “Oh my, Marcus! You’re staring so hard you’re making me blush! Let me help you. My eyes are up here!” Octavia teased, leaning so close she startled me and got me to immediately fixate my eyes on hers.
Just then, I felt a sweet aroma enter my nostrils. The lavender scent permeated from the mare, and it was strong, yet very pleasant.
Was Octavia wearing perfume?
I took in a few whiffs and smiled. “You smell really nice.”
“I could say the same for you,” she replied with a smirk.
That cologne is still working like a charm.
“I don’t think I remember you wearing this particular scent, as creepy as that just sounded,” I remarked.
Octavia giggled in response. “Well, while I was getting ready, I found a bottle of perfume that my old roommate gave to me as a birthday gift. I rarely ever used it, and I figured that now was a good time to actually put some on. So, what about the scent you’re wearing?”
“Celestia thought that it wouldn’t hurt to smell nice, so she bought me some cologne to wear,” I explained. “She insisted that I try using it.”
The mare chuckled. “I guess your aunt knows what she’s talking about.”
“Please don’t let her hear you say that. She’ll rub it in my face if she does.”
“I’ll try not to,” Octavia said teasingly.
“You’re feeling pretty impish today,” I smirked receiving a roll of the eyes as a response. “Anyway, how does an afternoon music show sound to you?”
“It sound’s great, but…”
But? But!? Oh, no, this isn’t good. I thought for sure that Octavia would want to go to a music show!
“There’s something else going on at the Canterlot Mall that I thought the two of us could try out,” she suggested.
I raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Really? What is it?”
“You’ll find out when we get there.” Octavia said with a wink. “That is, of course, if you want to go.”
I pondered this for a second. I had no idea what Octavia had in mind for us. What could possibly be at the mall that she wants us to do together? Then again, this is Octavia we’re talking about. Whatever she was planning, it couldn’t be that bad, could it?
“Sure, I’m game,” I told her, and she slightly squealed in response.
“Perfect! Let’s go!” the earth mare said, taking my hand and walking with me to the mall.
When we got there, Octavia directed me towards the elevator, which we rode to the top floor. As we waited, I again started to wonder what could possibly be in store for me. I know that Octavia isn’t the type of mare that would want to go on a simple trip to the mall. She would want to go someplace with more refinement.
Not that I was put off by her decision. I was just surprised, is all.
“Here we are!” Octavia said suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts yet again. We walked out of the elevator and made a left, arriving at a moderately long line.
“What exactly is this line for?” I asked, and then I noticed a poster mounted on the nearest wall.
“CANTERLOT CLIMBING ADVENTURE:
THE LARGEST INDOOR ROPES COURSE IN EQUESTRIA”
“See?” said Octavia. “This course just opened, and I wanted to try it out, so I thought that you would like to try it with me. It’ll be fun.”
“You know, I never pegged you as the adventurous type.”
“I wouldn’t call myself adventurous. I just want to try something new, that’s all.”
I let out an exhausted sigh. “Well, I guess if I can handle a haunted house, I can handle this.”
“If, by ‘handle,’ you mean ‘scream like a scared filly,’ then yeah, you’ll be fine.”
“No one needs to be reminded of that.”
Octavia gave me a look. “Oh, please. You practically walked right into that one.”
“Touché,” I conceded.
Despite the length of the line, it moved rather quickly, and Octavia and I made it to the front before we knew it. At the front of the line was an employee behind a desk with a cash register and a clipboard.
“It’s ten bits per entry,” he explained, and then he pointed to the clipboard. “You also have to sign this release form.”
Well, that eliminates the possibility of suing these people if I end up falling.
I used the credit card to pay for both me and Octavia while she signed her name on the release form. When she was done, I signed my name as well, and we were let in. The first thing we saw was a sign that said:
“Please secure all loose items in one of the provided lockers.”
Man, these guys are serious.
Since we didn’t have much stuff between us, Octavia and I shared a locker. With that out of the way, we proceeded to get our gear on. The employees at the course helped us with the complicated straps and buckles, and as they did so, they explained the rules of the course.
“You’re gonna start at the top, then work your way through the course all the way to the bottom,” they explained.
After that, they started going over the general rules, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t really paying attention. I just assumed that I knew what the rules were. No yelling, no roughhousing, no swinging, all that good stuff.
Finally, we were all set to go on the course, and Octavia asked if she could go in front of me, to which I happily said yes.
One we got on the course though, I noticed how high up we were, and I started to have second thoughts, but it was much too late for that. I looked around and surveyed the layout of the course.
It had several floors, five total, one for every floor of the mall. The final floor was at ground level. From what I could see, each floor had a different set of obstacles to cross before making it to the staircase that would take you down to the next level.
“Okay… I can do this.” I thought. “No big deal. Plus I got Octi with me- Wait… where did she go!?”
I looked ahead and saw that the mare in question was already halfway through the first floor. In a panic, I quickly tried to catch up to her, which wasn’t an easy feat. First, I had to cross a narrow balance beam, and then I had to step across a path of small footholds. As I made my way through all the obstacles, I looked at Octavia again, and she was travelling at a leisurely pace, like she wasn’t having much trouble at all.
It almost irritated me how easily she was getting through this.
After rushing through more obstacles, and nearly falling while doing so, I finally got closer to Octavia, who made it to the first staircase. When I finally reached her, though, I tripped and stopped myself from falling by grabbing her waist, making her let out a small yelp in surprise.
I was surprised to find how slender her midsection was, not to mention that I felt her soft and warm coat underneath her shirt and also… was that a small six pack? Wow! It was so well defined! I could count each separate muscle as if it was chiseled out of pure marble.
It was that moment that convinced me that this mare went to the gym a lot and worked hard, too. Also, on a side note, I felt kinda happy (yet guilty) that I had her incredibly firm, rock hard bum and legs close to my chest.
Man, I feel like a perv. Stupid hormones.
“Oh, Marcus. You caught up,” she said calmly, a little too calmly if you ask me.
“Don’t get coy with me! You left me behind on purpose!”
‘Tavi smiled and rustled my hair. “Aww! You’re so cute when you get flustered!”
“Don’t call me cute. You aren’t that much older than me.”
“Cuteness has nothing to do with age, Marcus. So, are we going to move on, or do you want to hold on to my waist for a little while longer?”
I realized that my arms were still wrapped around Octavia, and I quickly let go when she called my attention to how long I had been holding her. She couldn’t help but giggle at that.
“Come on. Let’s keep going,” she said. “I promise I won’t leave you behind again.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” I warned her as we walked down to the next floor.
As we made our way across the floor, I made sure to stay close to Octavia. For some reason, I felt a lot safer around her. Despite the fact that she was as new to this as I was, I got a sense of security when I was closer to her. There was a question that kept nagging at me, though, and once we got to the second staircase, I decided to ask it.
“Hey, Octi,” I said to her.
“Yes, Marcus.”
“There’s something that I’ve been curious about.”
“And that is…?”
“Do you work out at all?”
Octavia blinked in surprise. “Well, that was out of nowhere. Why?”
“Well, earlier when I had my arms around you, I felt quite a bit of muscle around your stomach, so I just thought…”
The mare giggled at my discomfort. “Oh, that. I’m an earth pony, Marcus. My body is naturally muscular. By the same token, the bodies of pegasi are leaner while the bodies of unicorns are more voluptuous.”
I raised an eyebrow at her explanation, but she continued walking without another word. My suspicious glare persisted, and she finally cracked a smile.
“Okay, maybe I go to the gym with Rarity every once in a while, but that doesn’t completely discredit my earlier explanation. It is true, with some exceptions to the rule, of course.”
“I knew it,” I uttered victoriously.
It did make sense once I thought about it. Rarity and several of the unicorn maids at the castle were definitely some voluptuous mares, and Honey Pot did have some muscle on her. Plus, a lot of the more brutish members of the Royal Guard were Earth ponies. I couldn’t say much for pegasi, though, since I haven’t seen much of them. Most Canterlot ponies were unicorns, with Earth ponies coming in at a close second.
“Hey, Marcus,” Octavia said, derailing my train of thought. “I know I said that I wouldn’t leave you behind again, but I’d like to keep moving, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, sorry. You’re right. We should keep going,” I said as we continued on. “Why would Rarity need to go to the gym, though?”
“She thinks that her hips are getting too big,” Octavia told me.
I’d have to talk to Rarity about that. There was no way she was making her hips smaller, not while I had anything to say about it.
Octavia and I continued through the course, making our way through each of the floors and eventually reaching the bottom.
“Why do they even call it ‘climbing’ when we’re going down?” I asked, more to myself than to Octavia.
“Who knows?” she said, shrugging her shoulders and not giving any real thought to it.
“You’re being really weird today.”
“Am I?”
“Yeah, you are. You’re a lot more… adventurous today, ‘Tavi”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I guess I get more adventurous when I’m around you.”
I furrowed my brow as I started to take off my climbing gear. “A straight answer would be nice,” I muttered. Once we got all our gear off, I checked my phone to see what time it was…
Wait, where was my phone?
After some mental backtracking, I let out a sigh of frustration as I realized that-
“We left all our stuff in the lockers, the lockers that are all the way on the top floor,” I lamented.
“Well, that’s a major inconvenience,” Octavia said with an equally annoyed look. “Now we have to go all the way back to the top floor to get our belongings back.”
“You think that they would’ve thought of that when they designed this course,” I grumbled as Octi and I walked to the nearest elevator.
After leaving the mall, I told myself that I had enough excitement for a while, so I decided to take Octavia to the shopping district of Canterlot. It’d be a good opportunity to buy her something nice.
“Now, you have to admit,” she told me as we walked through the district, “while it was rather scary, that ropes course was rather fun, no?”
“I guess it was…” I admitted.
Octi giggled and looked ahead of her, and her eyes caught something that really interested her.
“Oh, look! A photo studio!” she exclaimed.
“So you want to get a picture taken, huh?” I asked. “Well let’s go, then.”
I took the mare’s hand and walked with her to the studio, where an attendant, a middle aged human woman, was waiting behind a desk.
“Welcome to Picture Perfect Studios!” she said. “My name is Rose. How may I help you two today?”
“Can we have one photo shoot session for two, please?” Octavia asked enthusiastically.
“Sure,” said Rose. “That’ll be ten bits for the session, and the cost of the photos will depend on which ones you want after the shoot is over.”
I nodded my head and reached for my wallet, but then I felt something gently grab my wrist. I looked down and saw a grey coated hand around my wrist.
“Let me pay for this, Marcus,” Octavia insisted. “It wouldn’t be right of me to let you pay for everything, now would it? Besides, it’s just ten bits.”
With that, Octavia took her purse and dug around to find her bit case.
“Well, if you insist,” I told her, not wanting to argue.
Once Octavia paid the fee, Rose directed us to a room with racks of outfits. There were several rotating collections of outfits as well as clothing racks that lined the walls. As I marveled at the sheer amount of clothing there was, Octavia started to think about what kind of outfits she wanted us to wear for the shoot, and she discussed her ideas with Rose.
I didn’t really pay attention to what they were saying, all I heard were the words “black” and “elegant,” and that was good enough for me. Before I knew it, I was handed a tuxedo and directed to the nearest changing room.
Once I got fully dressed, I looked into the mirror before leaving the changing room. The black tux that I was given was pretty standard with nothing special about it, but I didn’t really mind.
It was better than spending nearly an hour in a ropes course.
I stepped out of the dressing room and waited for Octavia to come out. As I waited, I could hear her talking with Rose.
“Okay, we just need to adjust the sides a little, and… done! You look stunning, sweetie!”
“Are you sure it’s not a little much?”
“A little much? Nonsense! The dress looks perfect on you, and the gloves you’re wearing accent your look perfectly.”
“If you say so…”
“Don’t take my word for it. Why don’t you ask that strapping young companion of yours what he thinks? I’m sure his jaw is gonna drop to the floor!”
I heard the sound of a deep sigh, followed by the sounds of a door opening and hooves making contact with the floor.
And then, Octavia appeared before me.
Rose wasn’t lying. The dress was stunning. It was a long, formfitting, plicated, black, strapless garment that cascaded gracefully down the length of her body. There was a semi-transparent section located right at the very top of the dress and was covered up with black floral patterns in order to retain some modesty.
That’s not to say that I couldn’t see at least a little bit of Octi’s bra and her perky boobs underneath, which was quite pleasing to the eye, but… Enough about that! I’m killing the moment!
Anyway, she also wore a pair of black gloves that went up to her elbows, but I could barely tell from the way she was nervously hiding them behind her back.
“So… how do I look?” she asked.
“S-stunning…” I stuttered, making the mare blush.
“See? What did I tell you?” said Rose. “He can barely form words! Now, follow me to the set, and the photographer will be with you in a moment.”
“You mean, you’re not taking the photos?” Octavia curiously asked.
“Oh heavens, no. I just help the customers with everything else. The photographer here is a trained professional.”
Rose took Octavia and me to the set and told us to wait there for the photographer to arrive. After waiting for a few minutes, we heard hoofsteps coming toward us, and we looked up to see who it was.
She was an Earth pony, one that had on a needlessly extravagant black-and-white striped outfit adorned with purple highlights. Her skirt was lined with diamonds of a matching purple. The mare was also wearing a pair of black, purple-lensed sunglasses. She had a light blue coat with a white mane and tail. Her mane was short and straight, and its style reminded me of Anna Wintour, if her hair was white instead of brown, of course.
“It’s time to make… ze magics!” the mare said with a heavy German accent. “I, Photo Finish… have arrived!”