The horizon was a brilliant blood red that even now was slowly fading away to black, the sun long gone behind it. The last projected warm day of the year had come to a close. Already, the air was growing chilly as the last clutches of early autumn gave way to the cold, steely grasp of winter.
Kyle didn't care. He barely noticed the chill, the steam that now rose from his breath. Even with the change in weather, his spirits couldn’t be dampened. The tight grip on his chest, the pressure behind his temples, the anxiety that clung to him like an unwelcome fog had all faded away.
He glanced over his shoulder at the retreating mare. “That wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared,” he thought. And it hadn’t been. He had been dreading this conversation with Lyra ever since that night when she had nuzzled his hand. He had been fearing a bad reaction from Lyra - fear, panic, misery, maybe even anger. But no. His best case scenario - that she would accept his request and respect what he was saying - seemed to have come true. After two days of hunting her down, everything had gone better than expected.
But that wasn’t to say that he was done. He turned away from Lyra again and started down the street. No, he wasn’t done in town today. His hand brushed against the small pouch of bits that rested next to his brews on his belt. Judging by the clock tower jutting up from the town, he still had a half hour before the Ponytones quartet were due to perform. From what he understood, Rarity was the soprano of the group, with Big Macintosh (of all Ponies!) being the bass, and two other Ponies he didn’t recognize filling the middle registers. Kyle had been very surprised to hear about Big Mac being a member of the quartet, considering his usual unwillingness to say anything more than “Yup,” and “Nope.” It would be interesting to actually hear him perform.
So next stop, the fundraiser event. He’d listen to the performance, drop off the money for the Pet center Fundraiser and talk to Rarity about whatever designs she had come up with. Hopefully nothing too fancy. But then again, how fancy could a suit get?
Oh right. Rarity. Best not to tempt fate.
But that wasn’t the only issue that he hoped to deal with tonight. There was also the issue of whom he was going to take to the Gala. He quickly reviewed his best options again. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight. Out of the three, Twilight was the one Kyle felt would be the best option, and also the one he’d likely enjoy an evening with the most. So, he’d have to find her at the fundraiser and see if she already had someone to go with.
A series of seven chimes rang out across the town as the bell tower struck seven o’clock. Kyle glanced around and took stock of his location. He could see Twilight’s library a fair ways down the street, with Canterlot Mountain rising up in the distance just behind it. That put him not too terribly far from the park, where the fundraiser was being held. With another glance over his shoulder, he set off towards the park.
It became clear to him well before he entered the park that he was not the only one headed to the event. Ponies, Humans, Gnomes, Night Elves, you name it, they were headed out even as the sun finished setting behind the horizon. Every single one was headed in the same direction, taking the same turns towards the park. It was a new moon tonight, so now their only source of illumination besides the faint light of the stars above came from the magical street lamps, or the occasional dim glow from the eyes of a Night Elf.
It didn’t take too long to make it into the park. There, the open spaces and large area gave everyone more room to maneuver, and so Kyle was able to easily make his way through the crowds towards the center of the park. Kyle hadn’t been to this part of the park in a while, having mostly stuck to the area around his favorite grove, and so was surprised by the drastic transformation from what he remembered. Numerous booths had been set up along the paths, showcasing different types of animals. There were rabbits, birds, fish, cats and dogs… Kyle even saw a Pony-sized seal, playfully bouncing a ball back and forth with Bon Bon. He also spotted Lyra on top of a small bridge crossing the stream, chatting with a blue Earth Pony Stallion. Somehow she had beaten him to the park, and he nodded at her with a smile when they locked eyes as he passed. Ribbons and flowers had been strung up along the tree branches and fences. It was clear that the Ponies in charge of this - Fluttershy among them - had been busy for the past few days.
Soon, he was walking around the central fountain. There, on top of a small grassy hill not far away, a curtained-off stage had been set up. Already, numerous Ponies were gathering around, and Kyle made his way towards it. As he approached, a familiar multi-hued mane stood out near the front of the small crowd, and Kyle angled himself towards it.
“Hey Rainbow,” he announced his presence as he stopped beside her.
Rainbow Dash turned her head towards Kyle and grinned. “Hey, glad you could make it,” she responded. She held out her hoof, and Kyle bumped his knuckles against it.
“You and me both.” Kyle turned his head and scanned the crowd for anyone else he might recognize - in particular a certain local princess - yet saw no one that stood out. “Any idea where the others are?”
“Well Rarity’s backstage getting ready.” Rainbow Dash took to the air and hovered a few feet off the ground, spinning in circles in the air. She soon dropped back down and shook her head. “Dunno where the others are, but they shouldn’t be too long. We’ve been working too hard to help put this together for us to miss it.”
“So I heard.”
Kyle and Rainbow Dash continued to talk as they waited for the others to show up. As they talked, the crowd around them grew steadily larger and larger. He told her about how quiet things were in Ironwall, and she mentioned to him a few things coming up in the near future in Ponyville. She was preparing for a history test to join the Wonderbolt Reserves, which she had been training her whole life to do. She also mentioned a migration of Breezies - small, magical creatures that flew through Equestria to a portal that opened to their homeland. This migration would be taking place a few days after the Grand Galloping Gala.
“And speaking of the Gala.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “I heard you got invited. You planning on going?”
Kyle nodded. “I figure it’d be rude to turn down an invitation from Princess Celestia herself.”
“Bleh.” Rainbow Dash made an exaggerated gagging sound. “You couldn’t pay me enough bits to get me to go back there. I mean, talk about BOOOORING!”
“Aw c’mon now, it wasn’t that bad.” Kyle turned his head just in time to see Applejack stepping up beside him with a mischievous grin. “Yer just upset that you didn’t get t’ spend some alone time with the Wonderbolts.”
“And you’re telling me the one pie you sold was worth the trouble?” Rainbow Dash retorted. “I still get nightmares about how Fluttershy went off the deep end.”
Applejack blinked. “I suppose you got a point there…”
“Are we talking about the Gala?” Kyle took a sharp breath as Pinkie Pie’s voice rang out next to his ear. “Oh my gosh, that was the worst!” she continued as she hopped forward next to him. “I thought it was going to be so much fun, but nopony wanted to actually party at a party!”
“T’ be fair, all of us went in with some mighty high expectations.” Applejack pawed at the dirt in front of her. “Ah’ll be honest, Fluttershy’s reason fer goin’ was the most reasonable, and she got shot down the hardest. Yer right, Rainbow. She can be mighty scary when she gets angry like that.”
Kyle glanced back and forth between the three mares. “Note to self - Remove Fluttershy from the list…”
The rustle of wings above them drew their attention. They turned their heads upwards just as a familiar purple Pony dropped out of the sky and settled down to Kyle’s right, wobbling only slightly as she touched down. Spike hopped off of her back and quickly moved closer to the stage, his eyes locked on Rarity “The Gala? Yeah, it wasn’t… all that we imagined,” Twilight agreed. “But hanging out at Donut Joe’s with you girls afterwards was pretty fun. Especially when Princess Celestia showed up and told us that she had hoped it would turn out the way that it did…”
“Wait, what? She did…” The rest of Kyle’s question was cut off as the lamps near the stage began to dim. The chatter in the crowd died down with the lights. A large spotlight lit up, illuminating the center of the pink velvet curtain that concealed the backstage. An instant later, Rarity stepped through the curtains, wearing the same gold-trimmed green sweater that he had seen her in the other day.
“Good evening, citizens of Ponyville!” She announced. “I want to thank you all for coming out tonight and generously supporting the Ponyville Pet Center! Thanks to your kindness, pets are finding loving homes, and we're sure to meet our fundraising goal! “
Next to him, Kyle sensed Twilight’s head swiveling back and forth. “Where’s Fluttershy” she asked. Sure enough, as Kyle scanned the crowd, he couldn’t see Fluttershy’s pink mane or butter-yellow coat.
“Probably hidin',” Applejack scoffed. “You know how much that Pony hates the spotlight.” It was at this point that Kyle noticed the turkey that was resting beside Pinkie Pie. A small, toothless alligator - her pet, Gummy, he reminded himself - had the turkey part way in its mouth. Kyle leaned over and plucked the poor bird away, earning him a blank stare from the baby gator.
“So, with no further ado,” Rarity continued, drawing Kyle’s attention back to the stage, “please welcome the Pony Tones!” The crowd cheered, Kyle included, as three other Ponies stepped through the curtains to join Rarity on the stage. Sure enough, Big Macintosh was among them, dwarfing the other three in both height and size. The usually indomitable-looking stallion appeared unusually nervous as he stood amongst his companions - perhaps he had stage fright as Kyle did? There was also a long-legged, lanky-looking blue stallion - likely the tenor - and a shorter mare that matched Fluttershy’s butter-yellow coat, but with a mane that alternated between magenta and orange stripes.
Rarity’s horn lit up, and a small wooden circle with holes in the side floated out from backstage. It hovered in front of her mouth, and she blew into it, producing a brief note. Big Mac’s eyes darted nervously from side to side as he took a deep breath…
And the song began.
It started off with Big Mac singing on his own, a short, catchy vocal melody that was soon accompanied by a drum beat. As he began, Kyle raised an eyebrow. There was something… off. He and Kyle had exchanged very few words in the past, but he knew that Big Mac usually had a drawl similar to Applejack’s - more pronounced, if anything. But his singing lacked that drawl. Something he had practiced? Kyle shrugged and returned his attention to the stage.
By now, the other three had begun singing an accompanying harmony to Big Mac’s bass melody. The drum beat had continued, and now had a small accompaniment in the background. Big Mac seemed to grow stronger and more confident with each passing second, and soon he took a small step forward.
“Trot outside and you see the sunshine,
Something's in the air today!
Sky is clear and you're feelin' so fine,
Everything's gonna be a-okay!”
By now, Kyle could see Spike right behind the front row, dancing to the music. On stage, Big Mac took a step backwards, and the tenor and alto stepped forward.
“If you listen carefully
On every corner there's a rhythm playing,
Then it happens suddenly
The music takes you over and you'll -”
At this point, all four Ponytones began singing together in harmony, with Rarity providing some high-key echoes.
“Find you've got the music
Got the music in you
Find you've got the music
Got the music in you.”
Big Mac stepped forward again and did a full octave jump in a vocal melody before continuing with the song. Kyle spotted a magenta mare in the front row - he recognized her as Cheerilee, the Ponyville Schoolteacher - raise one hoof to her head and swoon as Big Mac continued.
“Everypony's sayin' you should
learn to express your voice
But if talk doesn't seem like it's the answer -”
And once again, the other three jumped in along with him.
- Luckily you have a choice!”
“When you find you've got the music
Got the music in you
Find you've got the music
Got the music in you.”
“Got the music, got the music in you!”
The crowd cheered again as the song ended. The Ponytones bowed down several times, grinning the entire time. It had certainly been shorter than Kyle had been expecting, but it had still been impressive. He hadn’t known Big Mac could sing like that.
A good portion of the crowd began to make their way back into the rest of the park. Twilight, Kyle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, ran up to the stage, where the Ponytones were still standing. “Ponytones!” Twilight exclaimed. “That was truly amazing!”
“And you sounded better than ever, big brother,” Applejack added, to which Big Mac chuckled nervously.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie’s voice exclaimed. She was no longer among the main group, but now standing in front of a timid-looking Fluttershy emerging from backstage. “You were on the wrong side of the curtain! You totally missed the show!
Rarity stepped forward towards the pair “Uh, just like a true professional, Fluttershy was backstage making sure everything ran smoothly!” She leaned in and whispered something to Fluttershy. The others seemed to buy it, but Kyle raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t missed that slight hesitation in Rarity’s voice.
A large Pegasus stallion moved forward and began to speak to Rarity while the rest of the group dispersed. At that moment, Kyle remembered the other thing that he had meant to do while he was here today. “Hey, Twilight. Can I have a quick word?” he asked.
“Hm? Sure.”
As the two made their way out of the crowd, Kyle felt that same anxiety that he had felt when speaking with Lyra gripping his chest once more. He couldn’t explain it, other than it felt like apprehension. It only grew worse as they moved around to the other side of the stage.
“What’s up?” Twilight asked.
Kyle took a deep breath. Too late to back out now. “So, I heard there’s a… a dance? At the Gala?”
Instantly, Twilight’s demeanor shifted. She tensed up, her feathers twitched and extended a bit, her pupils constricted ever so slightly. “Uh… yeah. Yeah I heard that too…” she murmured.
“Know who you’re going with?”
A moment’s hesitation. Twilight shook her head.
“Well… since you’re going, and I’m going, I was thinking… you and me, go together?”
Twilight froze. “As friends!” Kyle added quickly. “I mean, since we’re both going already, neither of us have anyone to go with. And you said yourself the best part of the Gala last time was spending time with your friends."
Twilight’s posture relaxed slightly. Her eyes betrayed a mixture of emotions - worry, relief… something else? There was another moment of silence. Finally, she took a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, sure. Sounds good. We’ll go together. As friends.”
“As friends.”
“Alright… well… see you later then, I guess.”
Without waiting for a reply, Twilight took off into the air and flew away. Kyle turned his head and spotted Spike running after her as she soared out of the park towards her treehouse. He let out a deep sigh of relief. “Only one thing left to do…” he murmured to himself as he made his way backstage with the intent on waiting for Rarity.
Instead, he found that Fluttershy and the Ponytones were already there and speaking amongst themselves. He walked forward and placed a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Shame you couldn’t join us out there,” he began.
“Ahh!”
Kyle jumped backwards as Fluttershy let out a loud yelp. Or, at least the sound came from Fluttershy’s mouth. But it wasn’t her normal voice. Instead, it was the voice a fully grown man - er, stallion. “What the -”
Kyle found himself cut off as Rarity rushed forward and covered his mouth with her hoof. “Kyle! I wasn’t… expecting you…” she laughed nervously. Her eyes darted back and forth between him and Fluttershy. Finally, she sighed and dropped back down onto all four hooves.
“What… what was that?” Kyle demanded. He pointed at Fluttershy, who was shielding herself from his gaze with her wings. “What happened to your voice?!”
“Oh dear… it’s a long story, darling…” Rarity began. “I, uh… First, you have to Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony about this. Nopony can know!”
Kyle raised an eyebrow, but made the motions with his hand. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” he recited quickly. “Alright, what’s going on?”
“Well, there was a… a turkey call competition the other day.” Rarity shot a glare at Big Mac, who ducked his head. “It appears that Big Macintosh here lost his voice… and the championship.”
“Ee-yup.” Big Mac’s voice certainly sounded strained as he nodded glumly.
“So… We went to Zecora’s hut to try to find a remedy,” Rarity continued. “But there was nothing that would fix his voice in time for the show tonight.”
“So where does Fluttershy come into this?”
“Well… you see…” Kyle shook his head as Fluttershy’s newfound manly voice spoke up. “There’s this plant called Poison Joke. If you touch it, it affects you in some funny way. Like when Rainbow Dash touched it she lost control of her wings, Applejack became very small. And when Rarity touched it…”
“That’s quite enough of that, darling!” Rarity piped up quickly. “We do not speak of that day!”
“So… it makes your voice all… manly?” Kyle asked.
Fluttershy nodded in response. “I guess… you could call it… Flutterguy?” she smiled weakly.
“Instead of making a potion to cure Big Mac’s voice, we instead got a potion with Poison Joke for Fluttershy so that she could sing his part tonight,” Rarity admitted. “He was on stage lip-synching, and Fluttershy was back here singing his part.” There was a moment of silence. “He’d be able to sing it just fine were it not for that turkey call!” Rarity said quickly. “This was the only way! If we didn’t do this, we wouldn’t be able to sing tonight!”
Kyle sighed. “Right, right… I'm assuming it isn't permanent?”
“Oh, no. There’s a special bath at the spa that can clear it up" Fluttershy replied. She averted her gaze. "Although… we may have signed up to perform at a little filly's cute-ceneara tomorrow…” she added weakly.
Kyle chuckled and shook his head. He reached down and untied the small bag of coins around his belt and handed them over to Fluttershy “For the fundraiser. I won't tell anyone about this. Just don’t go overboard. Someone else is bound to notice at some point.” she nodded and turned to walk away. “Oh, and Fluttershy.” She turned her head back towards him. “Great job tonight.”
Fluttershy smiled brightly as Kyle motioned for Rarity to follow him. A moment later, the two were exiting backstage and walking away. “So, the reason I came backstage in the first place - “
“Your suit, yes of course,” Rarity interrupted. The two settled down on a small park bench underneath a nearby tree, and a sketchbook appeared in Rarity’s magical grip. She laid it on the table in front of Kyle, who picked it up. “One question before you look at those,” she added. “Have you figured out whom you are going with?”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah, I have.”
“Excellent! Who’s the lucky mare?”
“Twilight.”
There was a heartbeat of silence as Rarity looked up. “As in… Twilight Sparkle, our friend?” she asked. Kyle nodded. “Well… I’m a bit surprised, but congratulations darling!”
Kyle frowned slightly. He didn’t miss the new tension in Rarity’s voice. The fact that her grin was slightly too big, her eyes moving about too much, looking anywhere but at him. “Surprised?” he asked. She nodded quickly. Too quickly. “Who did you think I was going to ask?”
“Well… I saw you and Lyra at Sugarcube Corner the other day,” she admitted slowly. “And then later in the park under the tree. She seemed to be very… friendly with you. I’m surprised you didn’t ask her. I was under the impression that you two -”
“No,” Kyle interrupted quickly.
“But darling, she was asking to cuddle with -”
“No, Rarity. I mean… yes she was. But we’re not together. It was a misunderstanding between us. A misunderstanding that has since been cleared up. Lyra and I are friends. Just friends.”
“So instead it’s you and Twilight?” Rarity’s eyes grew slightly wider, and she leaned forward.
Kyle frowned and leaned backwards in response. This was getting out of hand. “No, we’re going as friends. Just friends,” he repeated. He narrowed his eyes. “Why are you so interested anyway?”
Rarity blinked and drew backwards into her own seat. “Well, I always like to keep up to date with how my friends are doing,” she replied. She flipped the sketchbook open and tore nearly a dozen pages out before laying them facedown on the table next to her. “Well then, those designs won’t work with Twilight’s dress…” she murmured. She tore three more out and laid them out in front of Kyle. “These three I think are the ones that will best suit both you and Twilight,” she said. “We’ll have to make sure the colors match, obviously. But we’ll worry about that later. This is about the actual design. So, which one do you like best?”
Kyle didn’t miss the fact that Rarity had changed the subject as soon as she had been put on the defensive. Nonetheless, he let the subject drop. He glanced back and forth between the three designs, noting how detailed they were before pointing to the one on his right. It was the least flashy of the three, lacking the sparkles on the center one or the fancy trim on the left one. It reminded him of the ones he saw the nobility in Stormwind wearing. It also included a necktie with small star designs running down its length and what appeared to be a handkerchief in his breast pocket. “That one,” he said.
Rarity sighed. “I knew you would pick that one,” she murmured. “Oh well. The customer is always right.” She placed the other two designs on top of the stack of other rejected designs. “We’ll take care of the color tomorrow, if you’re available.”
“Sure thing.” Kyle glanced over Rarity’s shoulder as his eyes spotted a flash of movement. Sure enough, the shorter mare from the Ponytones was waving. “I think your colleague wants a word with you,” he said.
Rarity glanced over her shoulder. “I’ll be right there, Torch Song!” she called out. The chosen design and her sketchbook were picked up in her magical grip and she trotted away from the table, leaving Kyle alone.
Kyle watched as the pair disappeared backstage once more. He then glanced towards the stack of papers that Rarity had left behind. He glanced back up at the stage before reaching over and pulling the papers closer. He flipped them over and began to flip through them.
Kyle had to admit, most of these designs were quite good. Nothing too flashy - maybe a bit of trim here, a little something extra there, but overall well done. Nearly every single one, he noted, was even more detailed than the ones Rarity had shown him, to the point that, in comparison, the other two that she had shown him looked… rushed? He also noted that a harp-shaped design kept popping up in several of the sketches - one had the design on the breast-pocket handkerchief, one had them running down his tie, another even had them circling the cuffs on the dress shirt underneath the suit jacket.
“She was REALLY expecting me to go with Lyra,” he thought to himself as he realized that the harp symbol was nearly identical to Lyra’s cutie mark. “Did everyone think we were together? Does everyone still think that?” He found himself crumpling up the designs and hurling the wad of paper at a nearby wastebin, where it rattled in. “Doesn’t matter,” he murmured. “I’m not going with Lyra, I’m going with Twilight.”
“As a friend.”