The next morning, Ebony had shown up at Circuit’s laboratory and began the grueling task of getting her compatriot out of bed and ready for his date. The whole time she was squealing and giggling from how ‘adorable’ this whole thing was. After all, it’s not everyday your grump of an introvert gets out on a date. Circuit just tried to grin and bear it as he dug through his rather impressive collection of goggles, trying to pick which ones he should wear. Yes, he had a rather ridiculous collection of goggles considering it was only him living in his rather run down home, but he couldn’t help it. Every time he saw a nice pair he had to buy them.
“Why can’t I just wear my normal stuff Ebony? After all, he never specified this was a date. We could just be going out as friends.” The mare let out a loud guffaw of laughter, her crimson mane bouncing as her body was wracked with laughter.
“Yeah right Circuit, do you even know what Chez Jour is? It’s a fancy restaurant, so either way, you need to look good. Which is why I’m here, you’d be so clueless if I wasn’t here. You’re welcome for me passing my etiquette knowledge down to you. At least it’s doing some good…” She snorted, her goldish tan ears folding backward as her lips pressed into a thin line.
“A-a fancy restaurant!? Like one with multiple forks and stuff!?” He groaned wearily as he fell back onto his bed. “I can’t do this we have to cancel. I’ll just make a fool of myself. Where’s my phone?” He sat up as he began to dig around.
Her green eyes narrowed and flashed bright changeling green for one menacing moment.
“Now wait just a minute here Circuit! This is the first time that you’ve had plans to go out with another pony other than me for years! I’m not going to let you cancel due to something as stupid as not knowing proper etiquette.” The hybrid took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing.
“Look, I’m going to give you a crash course on the basics, think of it as an experiment. You love those! Just try, for your friend please? I just want you to be happy for once you ol grump!” Ebony smiled, trying to be helpful and reassure her friend into going. It also helped of course that she’d found the phone and was now holding it next to her. Of course, all four hooves were on the ground and the phone was actually levitating off the ground in a changeling green aura of magic. So that kinda packed a bit of bite to her bark.
“Fine…” He agreed rather reluctantly, knowing there was no way he’d ever get that phone from Ebony unless she gave it to him willingly. That was a lesson he’d learned the hard way. “This better work...I don’t wanna make a fool of myself in front of a really cute stallion. Or, all the other ponies at the restaurant for that matter.” His eyes grew wide as the thought dawned on him. “Do you think they’ll be a lot of other ponies there..?”
“If it was opening night probably, but it’s been a week since it’s opened and that’s when the mob begins to cool down. Besides, if there are, just relax, they don’t matter. Because if they try to mess with you, I’ll take care of it.” She smiled darkly, her eyes flashing again before she shook her head to clear it. Her eyes returned to normal and her face returned to a cheerful smile.
“I...I don’t think I want to know what you mean by that. Let’s just hurry up and finish picking out my outfit so we can get started on this etiquette thing. I want as much time as possible to practice this.” He sighed as he pulled himself up from the bed, shuffling over to Ebony so he could help her dig through his stuff.
The mare smiled before clothing began flying through the air and onto the bed as the two searched. Until Ebony came across a black suit with a baby blue shirt underneath. Well, it wasn’t really a suit, just dress pants and a blazer but it would due. Especially with the blue button down. She smiled at her prize and held it up for Circuit to inspect.
“Lookie what I found! It’s perfect, and the blue will go great with your eyes~!” Ebony said with a small bit of a sing song tone. Circuit stared at the suit a few moments, his face reddening slightly.
“A-are you kidding? I haven’t worn that old thing since high school...I doubt it would even fit me now..” She began to give the stallion her trademark ‘You kidding me?’ look.
“You haven’t put on any weight since high school, it’ll fit. If not, I’ll fix it, do you have a better idea? All I see are goggles.” The gray stallion just let out a soft sigh, snatching the suit from her as he got up.
“Fine fine...Give me a few moments, I can’t even remember the last time I put a suit on..” He continued to mutter as he slunk off to the bathroom to go change.
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Ebony paced back and forth in the, well let’s just call it the ‘living room’ of the laboratory. There wasn’t much, literally, just a beat up old couch, a computer in one corner on a sad looking desk and a threadbare rug. The walls and floors were infact, concrete, nothing to its name, just bare. Kinda sad really… The mare thought before her thoughts were interrupted by hoofsteps.
“Ugh, I feel so uncomfortable Ebony..” Circuit groaned as he joined her in the ‘living room’, sitting so he could attempt to fix his disaster of a tie. “Why do ponies even wear these things? They’re impossible to tie and I feel like I’m being strangled.” His companion let out a giggle before walking over to him. She shook her head with an amused smile before changeling green aura enveloped the tie, beginning to untie it and fix it.
“Honestly, I’m not sure how you even got it into this mess, how’d you even do that with hooves anyway?” The mare chuckled with a smile.
“I don’t know!” He wailed dramatically as he threw his hooves up into the air. “Is it too late to call and cancel…?” A gentle knock on the door answered the question for them. “Oh Luna he’s here! What do I do Ebony!? I’m not ready for this!”
“Oh hush, just remember what I taught you, stay here and relax for a moment. I’ll get the door.” She walked off, to the ‘foyer’ and up the stairs, throwing open the door Adhesive Stamp was standing there. Clutching a small bouquet of flowers and in a blue blazer with a black button down shirt.
“Uh…. Is Circuit here..?” He asked cautiously, the hybrid nodded, beaming brightly.
“Yes he is, please come in, come in!” With that, Ebony literally grabbed his hoof and dragged the stallion into the home and practically flew down the stairs. Well, when I say practically I really mean she did… But that’s beside the point. When they made it down the stairs, Adhesive somehow still in tact, Circuit was nowhere to be found. While they’d been talking he’d hidden himself in the ‘kitchen’, trying to calm his nervousness. He carefully poked his head out, frantically waving Ebony over while the green haired stallion has his back turned.
“Excuse me for a moment, let me go get Circuit real quick.” She smiled politely, a technique perfected over years of politics and other things in the pony’s life. The mare walked over into the ‘kitchen’ and raised an eyebrow at her friend who was literally shaking from nervousness.
“Okay, stallion up, this is just another one of your experiments! Come on, just be yourself and everything will be fine, you said he liked your prosthetic right? And even got the metal type right? There you go! Conversation topic!” The hybrid smiled reassuringly at her friend to try to calm his nerves.
“Oh yeah that’s a great idea, just talk about metal for the whole night, that’ll definitely make him wanna come back for more…” He snorted softly and rolled his eyes, though the mares words did help calm him slightly. “Alright...Alright I can do this...Wish me luck. If I don’t call you in an hour then I probably got murdered or kidnapped or something and you should call the cops.” He took a deep breath before slipping out of the kitchen like area, attempting to smile warmly at Adhesive.
The stallion smiled back, the small bouquet of flowers still in his hoof, bluebells. He smiled warmly before holding out the bouquet to Circuit.
“I-I thought you might like them, so, are you ready to go?” He asked warmly, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Circuit smiled as he took the flowers, setting them aside so he could put them in a vase later.
“They’re lovely, thank you. And ah...Ready as I’ll ever be I suppose.” He nodded to him. “Lead the way.” Adhesive Stamp walked up the stairs and held open the door to reveal a carriage with two other stallions pulling it, harnessed up and ready to go, they waved at the two. The carriage was a nicer one, white with silver and gold trimmings as well as oak wheels.
“It’s a rental, but I hope you don’t mind, shall we?” He asked before walking towards the carriage and opening the door. Ebony decided to show up behind them in the doorway and pushed Circuit forward before waving at Adhesive Stamp with a smile.
“Take care of my best friend or I’ll break your spine~!” The mare shouted with glee, her voice calm and even yet menacing at the same time. Circuit shot a glare at her before following him to the carriage.
“Not helping Ebony! And a rental is fine.” His tone went from scolding to gentle as he turned back to Adhesive. He settled down in the carriage next to him, sinking into the plush seats. “Do you know how long it’ll take to get there?”
“Not too long, ten minutes or so. That mare though, she’s kinda scary… She must really care about you though.” The stallion muttered softly, climbing into the carriage after Circuit and closing the door. The carriage lurched as the stallions in front began to pull it towards their destination.
“Heh...Scary is an understatement…” He let out a soft chuckle. “She’s a great friend when you get to know her though. Trust me, she’ll be less terrifying once you get to know her and she knows you’re not an ax murdered or something.” Circuit flinched slightly as he added that last part, the words slipping through his mouth before he could even think about it. One of the perks of having no mouth filter.
Instead of the stallion looking at him like he was crazy, Adhesive Stamp began to laugh, a little chortle of laughter.
“That was a good one, thought I’m mostly glad she’s not your marefriend or anything.” The neon green maned stallion bit his lip, that last bit falling out of his mouth almost the same way as Circuit’s had. Circuit just let out a loud laugh, even startling himself a bit.
“Hah! You thought she was my marefriend? Oh Luna no. Even if I was a little straighter, I couldn’t imagine us being together. She’s like, my best friend. That’d be so weird.” Adhesive let a weak smile cross his face.
“...A little straighter… I see…” The stallion bit his lip before averting his eyes slightly.
“Heh..Ah, yep…” He bit his lip slightly, regretting his choice of words. Of course, his filterless mouth had to go and make it worse. “I’m about as straight as a circle.” At that, the neon maned stallion perked up in a heartbeat before looking at Circuit with hopeful eyes.
“...so, you’re gay too?” He asked hesitantly, trying not to make the situation worse.
“No, I’m actually a very straight stallion who only enjoys the romantic company of other stallions.” The ‘pegasus’ sarcastically bit out the words before he even had a chance to think about it. Sure enough, Adhesive began to laugh again, this time a louder guffaw of laughter that wracked his whole body as he smacked his knee.
“Oh sweet Celestia that was good, you should be a comedian, honest!” The white stallion smiled brightly, his blue eyes twinkling with mirth. Circuit snorted softly, amused at the thought of him doing anything that involved talking to others on a daily basis.
“I don’t think most ponies would get my humor, I’m glad you like it though.” He smiled warmly, shyly averting his eyes. Stamp was about to say something when the carriage lurched to a stop.
“Well, we’re here!” The white stallion said with a smile.