A Gentleman in Equestria

Chapter 6: Thunder and Rainbow, sitting in a tree...

Thunder was watching Rainbow Dash avidly.

'I've got to pay this stallion back.' I thought, 'He did stop me from killing a pony.' I wondered what I could do to repay Thunder. After a while, it came to me.

  'Rainbow Dash!' I thought. I looked to the skies, and came up with my plan as I waited for Rainbow to land.

    When the rainbow maned pony landed several feet away, I walked up to her. I made sure Thunder was out of earshot and then spoke.

  "That's some nice flying you did there." I told her.

  “Heh, thanks,” she replied, stretching out her wings, “Hey, you’re that pony from the cafeteria!”

  ‘Wow news gets around fast in this school.’ I thought.

  “Yeah, yeah I am.” I told her. “It wasn’t my proudest moment.” I laughed, “I wasn’t in the right mind.”

    I checked again to make sure Thunder was far enough away. Luckily, he was still on the edge of the cliff, watching the sky.

  “Listen,” I said quietly, “could you teach my friend over there to fly?” Rainbow gasped, I put a hoof over mouth. “Be quiet, he might hear you.” I said. I took away the hoof.

  “He doesn’t know how to fly?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.

  “Yeah, I don’t know why either.” I concurred. “So can you teach him?” I asked.

  “Nopony should miss out on flying!” Rainbow said, “I’ll teach him now!”

  “Really? That’s great!” I said, glad that she accepted, “Thanks Rainbow.”

  “No problem! Wait, how do you know my name?”

  ‘Oh shit.’ I thought.

  “Well, er, your, uh, mane! I heard the name earlier and guessed it was you because of your mane!”

  ‘Nice save.’ I told myself inside my head.

  “Oh. Okay!” Rainbow replied. She started walking towards Thunder.

    I stood, watching the two converse.

    "I heard you can't fly." Rainbow said, making Thunder jump.

  "Uh... No, I can't." Thunder replied, nervous and blushing.

  "Well, I'll teach you!" Rainbow said, "If you wanna."

  "Um... I mean, yeah, if it's not too much trouble." Thunder replied.

  "Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed, "So what's your name?" Thunder mumbled a few incoherent words. "What was that?" Rainbow asked.

  "My name is Thunder Bass." Thunder answered, still quiet, but loud enough to be heard.

  "Good to meet you Thunder. The names Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow replied.

     Rainbow spent the next few minutes lecturing Thunder on aerodynamics and sustained flight. Meanwhile Thunder stood there, hanging on Rainbow's every word. After a while it was apparently time to try and fly.

    I stood there and watched as Rainbow easily brought herself up off of the ground and hovered in mid-air.

  "Now you try!" Rainbow said. Thunder spread out his wings.

  'Damn!' I thought, surprised at the massive wingspan of the stallion.

    Thunder brought down his wings gently, causing a gust that displaced the blades of grass below him. But it wasn't strong enough to lift the tall pony off the ground.

  "Come on Thunder!" Rainbow cheered, "You can do it!" Thunder smiled slightly. He again brought his wings down, more forcefully than the last attempt. This time, it was enough to send him into the air.

  "Yeah! Now hover!" Rainbow shouted. Thunder flapped his wings again, keeping him in the air. And again. And he repeated the movement everytime he was descending. I was impressed; he was learning quite fast, and doing well.

    I must have thought too soon, through, as, at that moment, gravity decided it wanted to get to know Thunder a little more.

  "Good try!" Rainbow encouraged, landing next to the heap on the floor that was Thunder Bass. "But try to control every part of your wings."

    Thunder pulled himself up off the ground, a determined look on his face. He again brought himself to a hover, and this time, he didn't fall to the ground after several seconds.

  "Good!" Rainbow said, taking off herself, "now follow me!" She flew higher into the sky. Thunder glanced at me and smiled slightly, then he rose higher and followed Rainbow Dash.

    I stood there and watched the two fly around, chasing each other. It seemed like both were having a lot of fun.

    After around half an hour, the two landed.

  "That was some great flying for a beginner!" Rainbow said.

  "Heh, thanks." Thunder replied, his blush making its appearance once again. I walked over from where I had been practicing levitation for the last 20 minutes.

  "Yeah, good going." I said.

  "Thanks." he replied.

  "HEY GUYS!" a voice shouted, making us jump.

  "Ah! Oh, hey Pinkie." Rainbow said, seeing her friend.

  'Where the hell did she come from?' I thought.

  "Hey Dashie!" Pinkie replied, excited as ever. "Will you come to the party tonight?" she asked.

  "Uh, sure!" Rainbow answered, "Who's it for?"

  "These two of course!" Pinkie said, gesturing to Thunder and myself.

  "Us?" I asked.

  "Duh, silly!" Pinkie said, "it's a welcome party!"

  "Sounds good." Thunder said.

  "So you'll come?" Pinkie asked hopefully. I looked at Thunder.

  "Of course we will!" I said.

  "Great!" Pinkie said, "Room 243, 8 o'clock!"

    And with that she bounded off.

  "Well that was, surprising." Thunder said.

  "I really needed that heart attack she gave me." I said sarcastically.

  "That's Pinkie Pie for you!" Rainbow said. She started flying back towards the school. "I'll see you at 8!" she shouted back to us.

  "See you later!" I shouted. Thunder stayed silent. "You do like her, don't you? I've seen the way you look at her. Admit it." I said. Thunder sighed.

  "Fine." he said, "Yes, I do like her. It's just, I don't know how to talk to her."

  "You'll find out." I said, "I bet you that you'll be chatting at the party tonight."

  "Speaking of liking ponies," Thunder said, smiling, "how about you and Vinyl? I've heard how you two talk."

  "Actually," I said, "we're just friends."

  "Yeah, sure." Thunder replied, grinning.

    There wasn't anything between me and Vinyl, was there? We were just good friends. Right?

It was 7:50 when Vinyl and I left her room for the party.

  "Again, I'm so sorry I couldn't help you get a room." Vinyl said.

  "It's no problem." I laughed, "It's partly my fault anyways, with the cafeteria thing."

  "Well you can stay in my room tonight again." Vinyl replied.

    We kept walking for 10 more minutes, and soon we stood before the door of Room 243. I opened the door, and stepped in. Ponies of all different pastel colours filled the room. Some were dancing to the music, others were stood conversing, drinks in hoof. I spotted Thunder across the room, alone.

  "I'm going to grab a drink, want one?" I asked Vinyl.

  "Nah, I'm going to take over this amateur." she replied, walking towards the DJ setup. I started walking towards the kitchen, where the drinks were. I grabbed two glasses, and spotted a familiar bottle: Tequila.

  'These ponies know how to party!' I thought, mixing two tequila sunrises. I levitated them both, which now came to be naturally to me, and walked over to Thunder.

  "Here, take this." I told him, moving one glass towards him. He looked at me unsuredly. "Take it." I said. He grabbed it in a hoof, and took a sip.

  "Pretty good." he said.

  "Thanks." I replied, appreciating the compliment. "Any luck on talking to Rainbow Dash?"

  "Not really, I have no idea what to say." he told me.

  "Just walk up and ask her if she's enjoying the party." I said.

  "And then what do I say?!" he exclaimed, his level of volume still quietened by the music.

  "Ok, calm down, maybe later." I said.

Tequila count: 2

    We spent the next half an hour working our way through 2 tequila sunrises each and chatting. After this, I saw that Vinyl had finished her set and I walked up to her.

  "That was some good music!" I said, having to shout over the loud music that was now playing.

  "Thanks!" she replied.

  "Are you Arch?" a voice said behind us. I turned to see Lyra and Bonbon standing there.

  "Yeah." I answered.

  "We just wanna thank you for standing up for us!" Lyra said.

  "No problem!" I replied, "I just hope you don't think I'm always like that."

  "Well you don't seem as violent." Bonbon said.

  "I'm Lyra!" Lyra said, "and this is my marefriend Bonbon." Bonbon smiled.

  "Nice to meet you both!" I said.

Tequila count: 4

    Another half an hour and 2 more tequilas later, I was back talking to Thunder.

  "Hey, just go talk to her." I said.

  "I guess I could do it." he replied.

  "That's the spirit!" I encouraged, "Go on!"

    Thunder put his now empty glass down and started walking towards Rainbow. I watched from the same position. I saw Thunder approach Rainbow and strike a conversation. And after a few minutes, the two were happily chatting.

Thunder approached Rainbow Dash, full of confidence (also known as Tequila)

  "Hey Rainbow, you enjoying the party?" he asked.

  "Yeah, it's pretty great!" Rainbow replied, "Pinkie really outdoes herself!"

  "Yeah, I guess she puts a lot of work into them." Thunder remarked. "I was thinking, do you want to do some more practicing tomorrow? I think I could get better!"

  "I guess we could! I don't have any plans for tomorrow." Rainbow said.

  "Awesome!" Thunder said, "I also want to learn the a few tricks.."

Tequila count: 7

    Another half an hour passed, Thunder was still talking to Rainbow, and I was talking to Vinyl.

  "And so now Thunder is talking to her!" I said, finishing my story.

  "That's good Arch. But I think you should stop drinking now." Vinyl said.

  "I'm fine!" I argued, "I know when I'm drunk, and I'm not!"

    That was the last thing I remember from that night.