7. The Date
7. The Date
Due to the vast quantity of stuff at the Carousel Boutique, Rarity did not often play hostess to a lot of visitors. Today was an exception. Upon hearing the news, Rarity had invited her group of friends to gather at her place, allowing no room for arguments against the idea. As such, Rarity and her six friends could be seen, surrounded by the vast assembly of textiles, discussing the most recent gossip. One within the group had a date.
To say that Rarity had invited the entire group was a bit of a misnomer. True, she had sent invitations to five of the six ponies requesting their presence. The sixth, however, Rarity had more or less ponynapped from her home near the Market Square, which she excused by saying it was for “old time’s sake”.
Despite the forceful way in which she had been made to agree, Rose found herself thankful for Rarity’s generosity. Few friends would offer to help you prepare for your first date, but only one would go to the lengths that Rarity would.
Alongside the group were eight mannequins each clothed in a Rarity-approved dress. Three of them were dresses that Rose already owned, brought along at Rarity’s request. The rest were new designs by Rarity that she was willing to give to Rose free of charge to ensure her night would be perfect. And so the friends debated on which one would be the perfect dress, settling on the green dress Rose had received the first time she and Rarity met.
Next, Rarity started preparing Rose’s face for her makeup while Fluttershy got to work on her mane. The rest asked questions.
“So he saved you and to repay him you have to go on this here date?” asked Applejack.
“I don’t have to go on the date,” responded Rose. “It’s not like he said, ‘hey, to repay me you have to go on a date with me’. It was more of an afterthought and, I don’t know, I like him. I figure it might fun.”
“Oh, it’s all just sooo romantic! What I would not give for a mysterious stallion to sweep in to rescue me, battle for my honor, and then gently inquire as to whether or not I could go on a date with him for a night out in the town,” said Rarity.
“I don’t know, Rarity, I just don’t get why you’d go out with somepony you don’t know,” responded Rainbow Dash.
“Somepony explain to me why I can’t throw a party!” yelled Pinkie.
“Because Rose here needs to get ready for her date. You can throw a party later. And Rainbow Dash, that’s the point of dates; you get to know somepony and then you decide whether to make them your very special somepony or not.”
“I thought it was backwards: first special somepony, then dating.”
“Think about it, Rainbow: how would that make any sense?”
“What I find interesting,” Twilight interjected, “is that Rose likes stallions.”
All eyes focused on her, with a confused expression on the faces of their owners.
“What I meant to say is,” Twilight stammered, “I’ve been doing some research on the whole transpony thing to better understand it, and I found that gender identity and orientation are separate. One doesn’t affect the other; I find it interesting because despite being trans, I thought…” Twilight stopped looking around at the still shocked faces of her friends. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop.”
Rose let out a laugh.
“It’s ok. You’re right though, they are completely separate. I just happen to be bi and while I’m mostly attracted to mares, I don’t know… he’s cute” Rose said blushing slightly.
Twilight smiled at having found correct information.
“Anyway,” said Rarity. “Tell us darling, what have you two got planned for your special date?”
Rose giggled.
“It’s not all that special; we’re just going out to dinner, taking a walk in the park by starlight, and then heading back to his place for dessert.” There was a slight blush appearing on the cheeks of her six friends so she ran through what she had just said again.
“NO! NO NO NO, NOT LIKE THAT!” yelped a very red-cheeked Rose. “He said he was going to get some ice cream that we could eat while we talked, nothing more!”
Everypony sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes looking embarrassed and uncomfortable. Everypony that is, except for Applejack.
“Now sugarcube, I don’t want to offend you or nothing but are you sure that he knows about your situation?”
They all turned to look at her, and then back to Rose. It was after all, a good question.
“I think he knows. I mean, he defended me from the two ponies while they were talking about it. In fact, that’s kind of why they attacked me… so he has to know.”
“Alright, if you’re sure. I just want you to be safe, that’s all,” said Applejack.
“It’s ok, Applejack, you brought up a good point,” said Rose, eyes wide and lost in thought. “I hadn’t even thought about it. I guess that’s something I have to keep in mind from now on…”
She was silent for a few moments while trying to figure something out.
“There’s really no right time to tell somepony, is there? Not really first date conversation if the pony doesn’t know already…”
Rose said, barely above a whisper, “I don’t expect things to go too far tonight, but I’ll bring it up just in case before they do.”
Doubt started to creep in.
“Maybe I’m way in over my head. It was stupid, accepting.”
“None of that now!”
The voice had been barely audible, but it still quieted the room. The group turned to look at Fluttershy.
“You look beautiful, you’re a great mare, and you’re just nervous,” she said. “I agree, you should tell him before things get serious, but you should not psyche yourself out. If he doesn’t like that you’re trans, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
Rose looked at her, feeling her nerves calm down.
“Thank you.”
Rose had thanked her friends a lot for their help before Granite had come to pick her up, all of them having had walked with her to her home. However, she made a mental note that she needed to thank them even more next time she saw them.
Rose had never felt more beautiful in her life, or happier. Her dress was perfect, her hair was perfect, and the night was perfect. Granite, as composed as he tried to look, had stared awkwardly for two minutes (mouth agape) when he picked her up. Even now, Rose could see him taking quick glances at her and then his surroundings, as if unsure of whether or not this date was really happening.
It was.
The date itself had been quite wonderful. The food had been exquisite and their conversation even more so. During dinner, Rose talked about some of her funnier experiences in Ponyville, while Granite talked about his experiences in the Guard Reserve. When the checks finally came out, Rose paid for her own dinner, but only after a twenty-minute debate and solely because of her quicker reflexes.
Whereas the dinner had been a fairly verbose event, the walk that followed was quiet. Both ponies walked with their eyes to the sky, watching the stars. There was still no moon, but that did not make the night any less striking. The cold from the past night was there too, but where last night the cold had been a harsh dealer of bitter wind, urging ponies to stay at home, tonight it was a gentle friend, nudging the two ponies together as they tried to consolidate whatever warmth they could muster.
Eventually, they arrived at his home.
Granite lived in a one-pony house in the outskirts of town. The house was smaller than Rose’s, but far homier, with tapestries on the walls, rugs, and more furniture than a few chairs and tables. The ponies came in, taking off their overcoats. Rose went to sit on the couch while Granite went to get the ice cream.
“I know what you mean now, no wonder Luna was as mad she was a thousand years ago,” said Granite. “I would be too if I put that much work into something and everypony ignored it.”
“I know, right? I’m always amazed when I go out at night and there’s nopony out there,” said Rose while Granite sat next to her, placing the ice cream on the table in front of them. “I always feel like I discovered a treasure that no one else can see.”
“I’d love to see it with you again,” said Granite. “Though maybe when it’s not so cold out.”
“I don’t know,” said Rose, smiling as she scooted closer to him. “I kind of liked it.”
Granite looked shocked for a second but relaxed, moving his front leg so that Rose could lay her head on his shoulder.
“Oh, in that case, yeah!” said Granite, “Blood circulation is for wimps anyway.”
Rose let out a quick giggle.
“Here you are complaining about the cold as we’re about to eat ice cream,” said Rose.
Granite gave her an amused smile.
“This is completely different,” he responded. “For starters, I have things to keep me warm. A roof, walls, blankets…” he made a point to stare at her, “you.”
Rose felt a chill roll down her back as she stared into his eyes. She could feel heat coming from her face and knew she was blushing, but she did not particularly care. She nuzzled into his chest.
For a while they ate their ice cream in silence, except for the occasional comment. It was a warm silence, and more than comfortable: it was affectionate. After the ice cream was finished they continued to sit there, making small talk, both knowing that the date had to come to an end at some point, but neither wanting to be the one to break the spell.
“You’re so wonderful,” Rose said, nuzzling into his neck. “I wish I didn’t have to go home just yet.”
“You don’t necessarily have to.”
Rose looked into Granite’s eyes, seeing both a touch of confidence, and a mountain of nervousness. However, nervous as he was, he held her gaze.
“You’re beautiful when you blush.”
Rose had not noticed she was blushing, but, if she had not been, she certainly was now. Very slowly Granite inched forward until their lips met. It was a restrained kiss: Granite did not want to overstep his boundaries, or at least it was restrained until Rose kissed back. Both ponies got lost in the kiss, letting instincts take over, feeling nothing but warmth.
Granite laid Rose on the couch, kissing her neck as one of his hooves traced along her side. They kissed again, this time without restraint, just a want for closeness. Rose savored it until the kiss was gone, moving again to her neck.
She wanted nothing more than to let him continue, to do more and to get lost in the sensations. She did not want to think, but she had to.
Softly, gently, and with a twinge of regret, she used her hoof to guide Granite’s face away from her neck. She sat up, and Granite, albeit confused, followed suit.
“Is something wrong, Rose?” he asked. She could see the concern in his eyes, which made it all the harder to continue.
“No, nothing’s wrong,” Rose said. “This is wonderful. You are wonderful.”
“We were moving too fast, weren’t we? I’m sorry; I got carried away and…”
“Shhh…” Rose said gently. “You’re fine, it was fine. In fact, it was more than fine, and I wanted it to continue.”
“Then?”
Rose sighed.
“It’s just,” she said. “Look, if we’re going to get... physical, there’s something I want to clarify first.”
“Okay?”
“When you saved me last night, did you hear what they were calling me?”
“Yeah, they called you a drag queen and a transvestite,” he said, anger flaring in his eyes.
“And do you know why they called me that?” she asked tentatively.
“Because they are insensitive, idiotic, disrespectful, ignorant specs of dirt,” Granite said, his anger tainting his voice. “I shouldn’t have let them go; I should’ve done something.”
Rose could not help but smile.
“See, I assumed you already knew but I wanted to make sure you knew I was transgender before anything happened,” said Rose. “You have no idea how much I’ve been worrying about...”
“…What?” he interrupted.
Rose’s throat tightened as a horrible thought came into her mind. However, it was too late to backpedal.
“I mean, I figured you knew I was transgender, but I was asking to make sure just in case…”
“You’re a stallion?”
Rose winced at the word and then turned to look at him. Gone was his smile. Gone was his nervous demeanor. All that remained were shock and disgust.
“You mean to tell me I was with a stallion all night?” he said in a strained voice.
He got off from the couch, pacing around the living room as he made a gagging sound.
Rose tried to salvage the situation.
“I thought you knew. When you protected me, you…”
“I thought they were picking on a mare that looked stallionish,” he said in desperation. “Not giving a freak what he deserved.”
Repulsion quickly changed into anger as he got closer to her again.
“You tricked me,” he said in an accusatory tone. His voice was short and strained from the barely-contained rage.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
Before she could make sense of the situation he turned around, bucking her in the face and sending her tumbling over the couch. She watched from the floor as Granite began to walk around the couch and towards her, only, it was not him.
Walking in front of her was her dad.
She could not move, she could not fight; her body was in shock. Her dad grabbed her by the throat and punched her in the stomach. She closed her eyes in pain and, when she opened them, it was Granite holding her by the throat. He kept punching her in the face and the stomach repeatedly as she struggled to breathe. She could barely hear anything over the pain, but she caught a few sounds.
“I can’t believe this, and I kissed you!” he said, making gagging noises again. “You will pay for this.”
He threw her across the room at a wall. The impact was hard. She landed on the floor.
She attempted to pick herself up but could not. All she could do was raise her head. She saw her dad walking towards her again, the look of anger and disgust in his eyes, that same one that still haunted her dreams.
He kicked her again, this time on her side, slamming her against the wall. She turned to look and it was Granite again. With barely any effort, he threw her again, onto the middle of the floor.
She landed on her back.
Her body was limp and both her mane and coat were stained with dark blood. Her vision was blurred, partly because of her tears, and partly because she was losing consciousness. She looked up to see Granite stalking up to her and position his hoof above her head, ready to stomp down. She blinked. Her father raised his hoof, fury in his demeanor. She closed her eyes.
Rose tried to beg, but no sound came out. Her throat hurt and it was hard to breathe. Her instincts told her to open her eyes and look for a way out, but she would not. She did not dare open them to see if it would be her dad or Granite who would end her life.
Suddenly there came a sound, like someone blowing a door off its hinges. She opened her eyes but the world was already starting to fade. She heard a muffled shout of some sort. She tried to turn to look at its direction but she could not because, at that moment, her world faded to black.
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This just seems like a thing that would have come up sooner, like, when he asked her out.
"You know they were telling the truth right?"
"Oh, you're not a tomboy and actually transgender?"
"Yeah."
"Well, forget I asked lol, that would have been a disaster."
2235879
It would, but people assume too much all the time.
This is actually based on something a friend of mine went through, so even if it made more sense storywise, I wouldn't have changed it.
(specifically the guy defending her from people that hate transfolk and then him freaking out and stuff when he found out it was real..)
Oh this will be romantic!
*5 minutes later...*
2237593
Yea, sorry about that...
2237610 The chapter quite good and positive! Minus... Well... The obvious...
Keep the story going!
Well shit. Just when you thought things were finally going good for Rose, this shit happens.
Hopefully, one of these days she'll catch a break.
I will destroy you. I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Provided a good distraction at work, though.
2244556
Ha, I can imagine you yelling that out loud in public
I read this chapter 3 times and every time I cried. Thanks.
2245263
You're welcome!
(On a side note, "Hey everyone! My editor FINALLY graces us with her presence! Only took 2 Arcs for her to comment on something, everyone clap!!"
)
(P.S. She's my girlfriend so I can get away with that. Do not antagonize her, she will find you...
)
Keep calling me your girlfriend instead of your fiancee and you won't have Arc 3 edited until May.
2245343
Shh.. spoilers
Oh well, no one reads these comments anyway
2245379
Except me. I read the comments. I'M NOT OKAY WITH THAT THREAT, MISSY. YOU FIND SOME OTHER WAY TO PUNISH HIM THAT DOESN'T PUNISH ME, TOO.
2246142
I like how it wasn't "don't threaten him" but rather, "find some other way of threatening him."
Thanks for the support
In any case, you already knew there was an Arc 3 coming so her comment does not spoil anything for you.
2246181
Come on, bro, she does make a valid point. Can't deprive her of a little just retribution.
(I have NO idea what I expected that emoticon to mean in that context. Spike just has a boss 'stache)
please be flutterrage
i want flutterrage. its always the quiet ones who become a violent whirlwind of rage when you least expect it.
Ah the stupidity. With stallions like these, Equestria has no future
Burn within layer upon layer of sin.
Never will you find your bliss,
sleep ever after within that nightmare.
We shall read on.
This was worse than I thought it would be.
no kidding. I thought he would be one of those stallions with a fetish for transponies. That he almost killed her because of a simple kiss, it's unthinkable.
5227014 I can kinda understand the extreme reaction, though. I mean, in his mind, not only did he just kiss a stallion, which would be infinitely horrifying for the bastard, but the "stallion" was a transpony as well, the kind of pony he obviously finds disgusting. Put those two together, and he probably was just put through the most traumatizing moment of his life. Do I agree with his reaction? No! He's a stupid bastard that needs to be jailed for life! But I must say, regretfully, that I understand why he reacted the way he did.
Ah~. I thought this story was starting to seem a bit too "everything is just peachy". So that's where that pesky bit of reality was hiding. Little scamp.
On the one hand, I can understand him being freaked out. Having something like that sprung on you (so to speak *snigger, snigger, snort, snort*) out of seemingly nowhere can't be much fun (unless that's how you discover a previously unrealized fetish). He can't help not being into that sort of thing or being disgusted that things had progressed as far as they already hd.
On the other hand... well, on the other hand he's a goddamned moron. That's the kind of thing you get some fucking confirmation on if you're going to ask a person out immediately after defending them against someone else who was accusing them of being that exact thing. Even if you think they were just exaggerating to a very extreme degree. And of course beating the shit out of her is just right off the table; it's not like she went out of her way to conceal it from him before tying him to a bed, straddling his chest, sticking it in his face and screaming "SURPRISE, MOTHERBUCKER~"!
... goddamnit. Now I've gone and turned myself on.
5660139 that isn't something to snigger at, this situation ki9lled one of my oldest friends, the one that let me know it was OK to be myself. She believed he was OK and he wasn't.
That's horrible, the situation, not the story(I'm not crying, I swear, but it sure was emotional.)
Can't believe shit like this happens in real life, just makes my blood boil! I swear I will never understand why people are so hateful and scared of things that are harmless.
I really hope she survives and isn't too badly hurt. That was a brutal beating, but ponies are tough. We've seen RD and Twilight shrug off hits that would easily kill a human.
Kinda waited for RD to come in and save Rose, sucks that she, or whoever it is, was so late.
Kinda wanna say that I hope he gets the beatdown he deserves but it would feel hollow, won't change what happened to Rose anyway.
Props for making it horribly realistic with the violence coming out of nowhere though. I can relate. First time a guy hit me like that it took me a few seconds to wrap my head around what happened, was so stunned he got in another punch before I could even understand what was happening. When I finally figured it out i got so mad I went absolutely berserk on his sorry excuse of an ass. How dared he just do that?!
Granite ought to be hit by his namesake for being a dense, violent bigot. I do hope that Rose will be able to have her fear talked out of her after this. A pony this violent is somepony who needs to be brought to justice and imprisoned.
One lighter thing I noticed in this is: Rose appears to be bi. Her reaction to Octavia and her small attraction to Granite before this debacle really gave me that impression. It is super interesting to see trans rep of bi characters, especially since most trans female characters tend to always be depicted as lesbians. Meanwhile, trans guys are usually represented as straight... and also as excessively effeminate, which is like, wow your transmisandry is showing hard.
10604296
Oh Rose is absolutely bi, she confirmed it herself after a comment from Twilight:
Must say I agree though, it is nice to see a story about a trans mare actually dating a guy for once. It's just a shame the guy she picked happened to be a fucking monster in handsome disguise.
Another note is that despite her fears she is definitely passing. Neither the first attacker and Granite questioned that she was a mare until they were told otherwise. The pegasus probably found out when her workplace outed her... which... ugh I get that it was good intentions, but pretty fucking awful execution...
At least the pink Pegasus, Heartshine was it?, acted like an adult after she was called on her shit. Apologized and decided to move past it and become friends. Props to her.