//------------------------------// // The Dance // Story: I love this Bar // by Ron Jeremy Pony //------------------------------// The Dance Tie in with Room for Rent By Drax99 (Bryant and Dash’s last night together through Dash’s Eyes) I can see why Bryant wanted to go the Ned’s. It’s a fun place, and it reminds me of ‘The Little White Lyre’ back in Ponyville. I hear Bryant suggest that we leave the truck overnight, and instead catch a taxi. I shrug and nod. “Sure, that sounds fine to me,” I reply. He pulls out his little black Robotz phone and tells it to dial the taxi company. We walk outside and the night air floods over us. It’s really no different than any night in Ponyville. The air is comfortable, the sky is clear, but the one thing missing is the batponies going about their business. I watch as a white car pulls up with a yellow Taxi sign on the door and on the roof of it. The owner rolls down his window and looks at us both. “Bryant, how’s it hanging buddy?” the guy asks. “Lower than yours Hank. How’s life treating ya?” Bryant asks. “About the same. I’ve got the custody of the kids,” he replies. “Damn, glad to hear it. How are they?” Bryant asks as he opens the door for me. “Teresa’s okay, but Timmy’s actin’ funny. If’n I find out that one of Patty’s brothers did something… Well, you know,” he says. “Hey, whatever it is I know you’ll take care of it,” Bryant replies. “So, a pony huh?” he asks. I look up at him and give a half smile. “I bet y’all get the stuff about not looking like the cartoon all of the time,” he says. “Yeah, but it’s not too bad,” I reply. “No kidding. You know, if this entire multiverse thing is real I wouldn’t mind seeing if that Warrior Princess is real,” he says with a laugh. Both Bryant and I laugh as Hank kids and jokes with us. After about fifteen minutes we pull up to a house and Bryant gets out. He turns around and hands Hank a couple of bills. “Damn Bryant, I only brought to the edge of town,” he says. “Don’t worry about it. Get something nice for your kids,” Bryant says as we get out. I watch as the taxi shifts into gear and takes off. The both of us walk through a slightly overgrown yard, and up to the house. Bryant fumbles around with a key for a moment and then unlocks the front door. We walk inside and I notice the difference between his home and some of the other homes I had been in. Some of the people in San Frisco had places so polished that they would seem at home with Rarity, and then there was Louis, Pinkie’s friend, his house was so neat and tidy that it was like looking at a place Twilight would have owned. Bryant’s house was a place that was well worn and lived in. It wasn’t ugly, but I could see that this had been a house that had been lived in. The furniture was comfortable looking, the walls were clean, but it felt homey. I think about a few things, and then I wonder about his friends and if they had come over. That leads me to think about his friend Bobby again. I find myself snickering a little thinking about Bryant, Bobby, and their other friends hanging out, getting drunk, and then watching their friend get so wasted and do something that he was teased about for years. Bryant stretches and grabs the end of a futon and pulls. It turns into a queen sized bed and he kicks off his work boots. “I think that I’m gonna crash out for a while,” he says. I crawl up beside him, still chuckling lightly, and nod. He turns toward me, and I snuggle close to him. He feels so warm, and it feels nice to have his arm around me. I feel him relax, and as I hear him sleep I lay there looking across the room. The last week has been a blast, and I’ve really enjoyed every bit of it, but there’s something more here. I know that when it comes to romance stuff I’m not that good at it. I’ve always been a direct mare. So, it feels weird to feel what I feel right now. I’ve liked Gilda, I like Pinkie Pie, and I thought that Soarin was pretty hot, but I really haven’t felt this before. I haven’t felt this kind of connection, and that scares me. It scares me because of what it means. I let out a snort of uncertainty when I feel him stir behind me. “Dash something wrong?” he asks. “Bryant,” I reply. “Huh?” he sleepily asks. I turn toward him, and look into those green eyes of his. I want to tell him how I feel, but before that I want to tell him something else I’ve thought about since our trip to the hospital. “You know… Celestia could maybe help you. I don’t know for sure, but she might could do something,” I say. He smiles, and I feel his hand gently caress my muzzle. He rubs up to my ears and lightly scratches behind them for me for a moment. “I don’t know about that… but I know that I haven’t had so much fun, or felt so alive in so long. Thanks Dash. Thanks for making me feel alive again,” he says. He moves toward me, and I don’t make him wait. Our lips touch, I feel his mouth open, and everything seems to move on its own. He’s not harsh or forceful, but instead he’s gentle. Each movement is done softly, and seems to give me slight shivers that spread through my wings. I feel him moving down, his kissing gentle, soft, like small caresses, and each one feeling with shivers. Each touch seems to drive the point home of what I’ve been feeling. He moves back up and kisses me again. I can taste a little of myself on him, but it doesn’t bother me. To be honest he’s the only stallion, man, whatever, I’ve known to do this. Soarin sure didn’t. I roll us over, my wings draped around him. “Do you want to?” I ask. I feel so nervous. The last time I’ve felt this nervous was the first time I ever did anything, and I’m fairly sure it was that stallion’s first time too. Instead of an answer he leans up and kisses me again. “I’d love to,” he says. It doesn’t take that long to get him out of those clothes. His old tee-shirt, blue jeans, and boxers are gone in an instant. I take a moment to admire something that’s a first for me, and I realize that there was a good chance he wasn’t boasting with his friend. Actually, from the looks of it I’d say he’d give Soarin a run for his money. We share a kiss, and soon the two of us join together. I find myself rolled under him, but he’s not being savage. Again he’s taking time, making sure that I like this, and I find myself realizing what I had felt was right. I love him. I’m in love with him. He can be brash, and rough, but each movement he makes only proves that he can be gentle and sweet. It seems to last almost forever, and at the same time it doesn’t last nearly long enough. It doesn’t matter how wonderful it felt because I could have happily stayed in that moment for the rest of my life. He doesn’t pull directly back. Instead he rolls us gently until I’m back on top. He gives over the control and I accept. We move together like a single being again, and before long I find that I don’t want a more feverous movement, but instead I want to show him the same gentleness he gave me. After a while we collapse, and I find myself snuggling back up close to him again. His left arm is under my head, and his right is draped across my chest. We’re still for so long until I feel him kissing my neck, and I start to wake up from my near sleep. “Hey, if… if you want to talk to this Celestia, go ahead,” he says. I smile and find his Robotz phone. “Dial 555-867-5309,” I tell it. The phone does and in a few seconds I hear a voice I haven’t heard in quite some time. “Hello?” she asks. “Princess Celestia, this is Rainbow Dash. I… I have a question,” I say. “How are you doing my little Pony? What is it that you want to ask?” she asks. I explain about Bryant, and I feel his hand against my back. I turn to see him slipping off to sleep. “love you,” he says sleepily. I smile and determination fills me. “I do not know what I will be able to do, but I promise to do all that I am able,” she says. I hang up the phone and turn toward him. My eyes widen as I notice that he’s not breathing. I pick up the phone and have it call the emergency services that I did before. Each second that passes as I wait for them seems to be an eternity, but eventually they arrive. They start working on him, and all I can do is watch helplessly. I ride to the hospital with him, and I watch as they pound on his chest, breathe into his mouth, and I can hear his bones cracking. When we get into the hospital it’s more of the same until finally they make me leave the room. I do the only thing I can think and I call Twilight. She answers her phone, tells me that the Princess had called her, and then I explain what was happening. She tells me that she’s on her way. I wait inside of the small white waiting room, listening to the sounds of static on the television until finally the door opens. I look up hoping that it’s Twilight, that somehow she found a way to use magic and teleport here, but instead it’s the doctor I had seen. He walks toward me. “I know this isn’t easy, and I’m very sorry. We tried everything we could, but sometimes it’s just someone’s time to go,” he says. I find myself crying harder than I’ve ever cried in my life. He leads me into the room I had been in and on that bed is Bryant. He looks so frail compared to how he looked a week ago. The doctor steps back and I move toward Bryant. I slowly crawl up on the bed and bury my head into his chest. I breathe the smell of in him. I take that smell and let it fall over me. “I love you too,” I whisper in his ear. I don’t remember much of the night after that. I left the hospital, took off into the air, and sometime during the night I ended back at Bryant’s house. I woke up to the sounds of movement and saw Twilight talking to another human. I moved into the room to see a guy that looked sort of like Bryant. The guy looked at me, gave me a half smile and handed me something. “Hey, I’m Carl. Bryant… He had a will set up a while back, but he never changed who the house was supposed to go to. It kind of defaulted to me, and to be honest… I couldn’t live here if I wanted to, but your friend here told me about you and my brother. It’s not the same as having him here, but take the house, and if you can drive his old ford. Everybody I talked today said that they haven’t seen him that happy in a few years. Thanks for doing that for him,” he says. I nod and extend a hoof. He instead pulls me into a hug. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’d say we’re family, and my family hugs,” he says. I return it and can’t help but feel hurt. Not because of him, or really even because of Bryant, but because of what had happened. He lets me go and then steps back. “Thanks for doing for my brother what I couldn’t. We never could get along very well… I guess it was because of Becky… I shouldn’t have been doing what I was a doing, but then… I didn’t realize a few things about myself then either. It doesn’t matter. But thanks,” he says. He turns to leave and looks back at me. “Take care,” he says. Twilight helps me back into the house, and grief washes over me. Last night had been bad, but it hadn’t really set in yet. It starts to become more and more real as the day moves on. She holds me, softly stroking my mane, as I cry.