Shut Up And Dance

by TheVClaw

Chapter Five: Practice and Passive Aggression

Dusk Shine sipped on his cup of coffee contently while reading the Foal Free Press in the map room. Even though his official chair wasn’t exactly comfortable on its own due to the lack of cushioning, a simple pillow on top made it much better. His horn stayed lit to hold the cover of the newspaper as he put down his coffee, but he still kept his attention to the main article that was plastered on the front page. The picture alongside the article showed Rainbow Blitz and Elusive leaving Sugar Cube Corner, with Blitz holding a hoof up to cover his face from the camera; Bubble Berry could be seen popping his head out from the window to give the photographer a wave, but that was a minor distraction from the title of the article and its rather bold font:

Elusive and Rainbow Blitz join the Equestrian National Dance Competition… TOGETHER!

Underneath was a sub-title that read, Are they really just friends?

The Prince sighed with a disappointed pout as he read the contents of the “story,” which was nothing more than basic bit-bait with rumored speculations and obvious gay jokes. The newspaper itself may have been run by kids, but that shouldn’t have been an excuse for how immaturely the article was presenting itself. The competition hasn’t even happened yet, and the news of Blitz and Elusive joining was already being talked about like they were caught in a sex scandal. Even though Dusk was happy that Blitz hadn’t backed out of his promise due to this sort of reception, he was actually surprised that his friend hadn’t gone ballistic on any paparazzi yet.

That is to say, it was clear that Blitz was noticeably agitated since he started practice with Elusive a few days prior. Since Dusk Shine offered the castle ballroom as a practice space for the two (mostly to avoid any camera-ponies or “journalists” lurking around their homes), he had to intervene a couple times due to the bickering between them. Whether it was because of their disagreements about song choice, or just pent-up frustrations regarding their routine, Dusk was worried about their friendship for the first couple of days of practice. Most of the arguments have died down since then, but it was unclear if that was because they were finally getting along, or if Elusive just improved his sound-proofing spells so nopony would eavesdrop on them.

Regardless, the Alicorn bit his lip in slight worry at the thought of what was happening with those two at that moment. But after he put his newspaper down, Dusk heard the door open as two familiar unicorn stallions entered. Starshine was the first to enter the throne room, and was looking back at the powder blue stallion following him. Dusk Shine may have been happy to see that his student was developing a strong friendship with Trixter, but the fact that two former enemies of the Prince were now in the same room with such a powerful device made him involuntarily wary.

Starshine motioned to the grand map table while saying to his friend, “And this is where Dusk Shine and his friends get notified of various friendship problems around Equestria. I know this isn’t technically the first time you’ve seen it, but I think it might be easier to appreciate it now without any changelings swarming the place.”

Dusk Shine decided to give the magician something to really look at, so he used his magic to turn the map on and display the holographic landscape of Equestria and its surrounding regions. Trixter slowly walked towards the table with his eyes widening, clearly in awe of such a unique piece. While he stared at the various landmarks on the map with an open mouth, Starshine just watched his friend’s reaction with a cheeky grin. It wasn’t until he saw the intricate detailing of Canterlot that Trixter finally said something under his breath. “Oh… sweet Solaris…”

The stallion then took another second to quickly recompose himself, and readjusted his wizard hat to give a faux-unimpressed glance back to his friend. “Well, Trixter will admit that it isn’t a complete waste of my time. It certainly is better to appreciate this without changelings in this room.”

Dusk Shine just rolled his eyes and turned off the map. “Yeah, I suppose so,” he said with a sigh while glancing down at the grand table. “Honestly, I’m just glad none of them broke this map. Just the idea of those unreformed changelings in this castle alone is enough to make me uneasy.” The Prince shuddered uncomfortably, not wanting to even think about that.

“I’d be surprised if any of those changelings could break that thing,” piped Starshine back towards Dusk. “That map isn’t exactly the easiest to damage.”

Dusk looked back at him with a raised brow, but didn’t say anything before Trixter could. “Ummm… didn’t you tell me that you broke the map once?”

Starshine’s muzzle wrinkled as he stared back at Trixter, and Dusk Shine had to cover his hoof in an attempt to not giggle out loud. The pale pink stallion fumbled his words a little as he tried to answer, “I-I didn’t break it, Trixter! I-It was just… temporarily disabled, that’s all.”

“Oh, sure,” jeered the magician with a skeptical roll of his eyes. “Just like how we were both temporary Mayors of towns?”

“Pbbt!” Dusk Shine used both hooves to cover his mouth at that comeback. Despite his history with Trixter, that line was pretty darn funny.

“Hey!” snapped Starshine with a hoof pointed at Trixter. “I really was the official Mayor of Our Town! I was elected and everything.”

Both Trixter and Dusk Shine gave the stallion matching flat stares, which made Starshine pause momentarily before groaning. “Okay, it may have not been an official election, but I still did all the duties that a Mayor should! I mean… sorta.”

Before any awkward silence could fill the room (or another snarky comment by Trixter), the muffled sound of heavy bass came through the walls to catch the group’s attention. Dusk Shine sighed with a slightly annoyed whinny. “Well, it seems like Elusive forgot the sound-proofing spell again. I better let him know.”

As Dusk got out of his seat to leave the room, Trixter looked confused as his ears perked up at the music playing. “Wait, that’s Elusive? Trixter wouldn’t have thought that he listened to that sort of thing.”

“It’s not him,” answered Starshine as he followed his mentor out of the map room. Trixter walked in tow as he heard his friend explain, “When Rainbow Blitz agreed to be Elusive’s dancing partner, part of the deal was that he got to choose the music. It’s been a few days now, and I still have no idea if they agreed on a song yet.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” said Dusk Shine in a bitter voice. “I’ve had to stop a few fights between those two because of that. I’m just grateful the two are actually practicing more than they are bickering.”

While the group of stallions walked down the hallway towards the ballroom, Trixter asked curiously, “So, you guys are letting them practice here? Isn’t there a dance studio in town?”

“That’s for dance classes, not private use,” clarified Dusk as he was the first to reach the door. “Besides, it’s not like I use my ballroom that much. Kinda seems silly to leave it empty, especially in this kind of situation.”

Starshine looked back at Trixter and added, “Plus, Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes already called dibs on that dance studio. Apparently those two are competing as well.”

With his horn lit, Dusk Shine pulled the handle to open the door of the ballroom. As soon as the door creaked open, a blasting sound of hard guitar and drums barreled out to make the three stallions cover their ears. Inside of the ballroom, a large boombox was propped on top of a table by the door, which made the punk rock music reverberate through the domed room with an impressive acoustic effect. Aside from that, the rest of the space was left near-empty for the two stallions.

Elusive and Rainbow Blitz were unaware that the door was opened as they practiced what looked to be jive steps. The duo were dancing side-by-side on their hind legs, both of them donning sweatbands over their heads and hooves which were already drenched. Elusive also wore a thick pair of earmuffs to keep himself from listening to the music playing, but it seemed like he was still able to catch the vibrations of the song to keep in tempo. But regardless, his hooves stayed in rhythm to the beat as he yelled out the steps for Rainbow to hear. “And a one, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! One, and a two, and a one, two, three, four!”

The two stallions recited their steps in fairly tight unison, unaware of Starshine and Trixter staring at them in amusement. Even though it looked like Rainbow Blitz was actually keeping up with the rhythm alongside the unicorn, Dusk’s attention went to the boombox as tried to keep his hearing from being damaged. He went over to the player to turn the music off, not noticing that Elusive swooped in to be grabbed by Blitz for the next part of their dance. “Okay, and LIFT!”

CLICK!

As soon as Dusk Shine turned the music off, Rainbow Blitz was thrown off focus while holding Elusive in his hooves. “Hey, who turned off the--WHOA!” The unicorn’s additional weight threw him off balance, and the two fell onto the floor ungracefully. Meanwhile, Dusk looked down at the two with a guilty wince and said, “Oh! Ummmm… sorry guys. The music was just getting a little loud.”

“Urgh, what!?” groaned Blitz in frustration as he got himself up first. “Lucy’s supposed to put that sound spell thing up!”

Elusive got back up on his hooves was well, and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Dusk Shine,” he said sincerely to the Prince between pants. “I guess I forgot to reapply the spell during our water break.”

Starshine looked between the couple and the boombox before asking, “So, is that what you two are planning to dance to? Because it’s actually not bad.”

Elusive sighed tiredly with a disappointed look on his face. “It was one of the only songs from Blitz’s playlist that could actually be eligible for the judges. I was starting to worry that none of Rainbow’s cassettes had any songs that would work for our routine.”

Rainbow Blitz just scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “Dude, I could think of like, a dozen songs that could’ve worked! You just dismissed each one without even listening to them!”

“I DID listen to those songs, Blitz,” returned Elusive with a strong glare to the pegasus, “but I told you that we needed to find a song that wouldn’t be profane, sexist or homophobic! And that took up almost half of your song choices right there!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!” Rainbow Blitz actually looked rather offended as he put his hooves up to stop Elusive and say, “I don’t know what songs you were listening to, but I do NOT have anything homophobic in my mix tapes!”

Elusive just stared at him flatly and replied, “Rainbow, have you ever paid attention to the lyrics of ‘Where the Hood At’?”

Rainbow was just about to say something before his open muzzle turned to a sudden cringe. “Ooooohhhh… right. Forgot about that one.”

“Ummm… guys? Trixter is confused.”

The stallions all turned to Trixter, who was looking up to the ceiling confusedly. “Why is that dragon girl hanging up there?”

All of them looked up to see that the magician was right, and gasped at the sight of Barb sitting on top of her makeshift bench harness. But instead of having it hung from the ceiling to wash windows, it was clear that the dragoness was using it as a vantage point to watch the two stallions practice in secret. A heavy blush grew across Barb’s wide-eyed face as she sat frozen in fear, soon making her face just as red as the large bucket of popcorn beside her.

Blitz quickly turned to Elusive and shouted, “See?! I TOLD you I smelled popcorn!”

---

The sun had already set by the time Rainbow Blitz and Elusive concluded their day of intense practicing. Even though it was clear that Blitz wasn’t happy about doing this much work for something so embarrassing, he wasn’t as cranky about his predicament today as he was when they first started. In fact, Elusive was starting to feel like he made a fairly good estimation about the pegasus’ potential on the dance floor. Having to listen to Blitz’s seemingly endless playlist of rock and rap music wasn’t exactly pleasant, but at least it was enough to get his friend to learn the necessary steps like a pro.

As the ballroom door opened, both stallions were completely exhausted with their fur matted in sweat. “Ugh…” Rainbow Blitz shambled down the hall like a zombie with his hooves dragging across the crystal floor. “Please tell me Dusk already got the showers set up for us.”

Elusive looked equally as drained while following his partner to the castle’s gym, which luckily had a massive shower and steam room in the back. “Barbara promised it would be ready, so it most likely is.” Despite how tired he felt, the unicorn still managed to look towards Blitz with a faint smile and said, “And just so you know, I really am glad you’re doing this, Rainbow.”

“Yeah, yeah,” muttered Blitz without looking back at him. “Let me take a shower before you say anything. Otherwise I’m probably just gonna forget it.”

Catching the bitter undertone beneath his groggy voice, Elusive sighed and nodded after dropping his smile. “Very well then.”

On their way towards the showers, both of them overheard another two sets of hooves coming towards them in the distance. They also heard Starshine’s voice as he talked with Trixter. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us for dinner? Barb is a really good cook, you know.”

Neither of them could see the two, but Trixter’s voice sounded vigilant about wanting to leave the castle. “Trixter is certain that the dragon is, but I also don’t want the takeout in my cart to spoil tomorrow morning. Besides, it seems that your friend Dusk would be uncomfortable with me being in the same room as him for that long.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous!” retorted Starshine. “You should give the guy more credit, you know. He did give you his personal thanks after we saved Equestria, remember?”

“Yes, but he also seemed hesitant about having us swap spells in your bedroom with the door closed.”

“Hey, at least he didn’t stop us! I consider that a--Oh hey, guys!”

As soon as he and Trixter were down the stairs to the main space of the castle, the two caught sight of Elusive and Blitz lumbering in from one of the hallways. Despite how they looked, Starshine kept a friendly smile on them and asked, “I take it you two are done with training for today?”

Blitz didn’t even turn his head to look at Starshine as he replied sarcastically, “Oh, noooo! We’re still rehearsing. Right now we’re doing the ‘Walking to the shower so we don’t smell like manticore ass’ step.”

Elusive cringed and gave an apologetic glance towards the pink unicorn, mouthing the words “Sorry.” Meanwhile, Trixter huffed with a bemused smirk before leaning in towards Starshine to whisper, “Are you sure Elusive didn’t bribe him to do this?”

“I heard that, dickhead,” stated Blitz as he was just about to enter the adjacent hallway towards the gym.

Meanwhile, Trixter decided to respond to that name by saying in clarification, “Well, excuse me for not understanding why you’re doing something like this! It’s not exactly a plan many ponies would consider to be a reasonable solution.”

Elusive and Blitz both stopped, and slowly turned their heads to give the magician matching half-lidded stares. Starshine already knew what they were going to say, so he just took a step away from Trixter with a wince. It took a couple seconds before Trixter finally responded to the stallions’ looks on him. “What?!”

“You held Ponyville hostage, you pointy-hatted prick,” said Rainbow Blitz in a flat tone. “I consider that a bit more retarded than dancing with another stallion.”

Elusive looked back at Blitz in surprise at the brashness of that statement, but still stayed silent while blinking a couple times. While Trixter stared at the two with a dropped jaw in offense, Starshine leaned towards his ear to whisper, “Just let it go. Neither of us are ones to talk about what they're doing.”

“But I! Th-They…” The magician was sputtering in an attempt to get a statement out, leaving Elusive and Blitz to leave the main room silently. It wasn’t until they were out of sight that Trixter yelled out angrily, “I SAVED BOTH OF YOUR LIVES, YOU INGRATES!”

As the two stallions reached their destination, they could still overhear Trixter shouting while Starshine tried to calm him down and apologize for them. Even though Elusive felt guilty for how Blitz reacted (especially since Trixter really did save them once), he was way too tired to deal with the statements both of them had made. Still, he had to take a mental note to remind himself to buy Trixter a fruit basket as an apology.

Fortunately, Barb already had towels and shampoo bottles laid out in front of the gym’s shower on a cart. Both of them took their bottles as they entered the shower room, and Blitz was the first to turn on the faucets for both shower heads after Elusive closed the door behind them. The water was blisteringly cold, but neither of them seemed to mind; Elusive was shivering, but still sighed in relief as he felt the cascading water splash against his coat and cool down his burning skin.

“Nnnnn…~” Rainbow Blitz was up on his hind legs while leaned against the shower wall, letting his stream of water run down his back to make him shudder. “Uh, man… I needed this…”

For a long while, neither of them spoke as they got themselves cleaned. By the time Elusive got the entirety of his coat and mane lathered in his designer shampoo, Blitz was already finished and just staying underneath the cold water. While getting his backside rinsed down, Elusive looked over to the pegasus to see if he was okay to talk. “So… how do you feel now, Blitz?”

“Waaaaaayyyyy better,” sighed Blitz with a smile while letting the water hit his matted technicolor mane. “Honestly, I never appreciated a good shower more than after I joined the Wonderbolts. They only give us a minute to scrub ourselves down! A bucking minute!”

“Yikes,” muttered the unicorn with a shake of his head. “I bet Barbara would consider that cruel and unusual punishment.”

Blitz laughed weakly as he remained under his shower. “Yeah, maybe…” After another long moment, the pegasus sighed and looked back at his friend. “But… yeah. I am feeling a lot better.”

“Well, that’s good to know…” As he began to rinse off the top region of his back, the stallion waited briefly before saying hesitantly, “So… I was meaning to ask you a question…”

Elusive then pulled his head back so that he could begin rinsing his mane underneath the shower’s stream. Even though he disliked beginning a statement like that just to pause so abruptly, the unicorn felt that he needed a valid excuse to have his eyes closed so he would see how Blitz was looking at him. As soon as his muzzle was away from the pouring water, Elusive took a breath and asked, “Are you… okay with doing this?”

“Oh, come on!” replied Blitz with a roll of his eyes and a smirk. “I already told you that we all share the same shower at the Wonderbolt barracks! This is nothing compared to tha--”

“N-No, I didn’t mean that!” After getting his face fully scrubbed, Elusive pulled his head away from the water to look to Blitz with a hint of worry. “What I meant is… Are you still okay with competing, Blitz?”

The stunt-pony looked at Elusive like he just asked his question in fluent Zebrican. “Uhhh… Well, I said I’d do it, didn’t I? It’s not like I’m quitting or anything.”

“I know that, and believe me, I appreciate it deeply,” said Elusive with insistent honesty. “But I’m starting to worry how all this practice and exposure is getting to you.”

“What do you mean ‘Getting to me’?!” asked Blitz in a puzzled tone. “I’ve been handling this the best I can!”

“Well, your attitude with everypony else says different, Blitz.” While he was worried how his friend would respond to how blunt his words were, Elusive was still hopeful he would at least listen to them. “Ever since we started practicing, you’ve been carrying a much shorter fuse than usual. And while I know this competition isn’t something you want to do, I really don’t want you to be this bitter all the time.”

“I am not being bitter, dude!” exclaimed Blitz with his eyes narrowed at the unicorn. “I’m just sick of being seen as a bucking laughing stock because I’m doing a solid for a friend!”

Elusive could understand the pegasus’ frustrations, but he still sighed and tried to say in dismissal, “Rainbow, you’re not a laughing stock. Most ponies in town know the reason you’re doing this, and the only ones who are being judgmental are immature journalists and ponies like Trixter.

“Well, that’s still a lot!” Bitz groaned in frustration and rubbed his temple with a wet hoof. “I mean… Yeah. I know I’ve been on edge recently, and I’m not proud of that. But when I keep hearing all those stupid rumors and jokes about us doing this it just gets on my nerves.”

“Believe me, Blitz,” assured Elusive truthfully, “I’m just as upset with those paparazzi ponies as you are. But that doesn’t mean you should be so sarcastic and crass towards everypony who questions our motives. Do I need to remind you how you blew up at Starshine the other day?”

Blitz sighed deeply, but still shook his head without saying anything else to the other stallion. While he couldn’t blame Blitz for being peeved at the sight of Starshine laughing when spying on them practicing, Elusive couldn’t tolerate how strongly the pegasus blew up at him. Even though both of them apologized shortly after, it was one of those things that was keeping the unicorn uneasy even now. After a long moment of silence, Elusive bit his lip before asking in the most cautious tone, “But… Blitz, you’re not being forced to do this, are you?”

Rainbow looked to Elusive with a confounded expression. “What?!”

“I swear, I won’t judge,” added the unicorn insistently, “but I just needed to ask after seeing how you and Dusk Shine were arguing back at my shop, and--”

“No, no, no!” snapped Blitz quickly enough to stop Elusive from finishing. With a stern look on his face, the stunt-pony took a breath and replied with an honest, “Elusive, what was said between us is NONE of your business, okay?!”

“Rainbow, I’m not saying it is! I just--”

“AND,” he interrupted while Elusive’s mouth was still open, “that had nothing to do with my decision! That talk was just about me taking the time to think about it! And when I did think it over, that was when I realized how important this was for you. I came to that decision on my own. Dusk Shine had nothing to do with me saying yes, okay?”

Even though Blitz sounded a bit ticked off during that answer, the unicorn could tell that every word he said was nothing but the truth. So while the sound bubble moment was still left unexplained, Elusive still got a good enough answer to his question. He nodded in acceptance before saying apologetically, “Blitz, I’m sorry for asking. I just… I needed to make sure, alright?”

It took a brief moment for Blitz to say anything, but he was able to see the sincerity in his friend’s expression before nodding back at him. “I… Yeah, okay. I get it. We’re cool.”

With a thankful smile on his face, Elusive took a few steps towards Blitz to give him a hug. “Alright, thank you Blitz. I jus--”

“Whoa, WHOA!” Rainbow put a hoof out to stop Elusive from going in for that hug. “Not in the shower, dude! What’s wrong with you?!”

Upon realizing how questionable that idea really was, Elusive blushed a little and returned to his own shower with a meager chuckle. “Uhhh… heh heh heh… Sorry.”

“Ugh, whatever.” While Elusive finished rinsing off any remaining soap from his fur and mane, Blitz finally turned off his shower head and went to get a towel. “But yeah, I’ll try to be less on edge before the show, alright? I don’t wanna look pissed off when actually dancing.”

“That makes two of us,” said Elusive in a more optimistic tone before looking back at him. “And if it helps, maybe we’ll get more respect if we do well in our first show.”

“Well,” Blitz asked after grabbing his towel from outside the shower room door, “isn’t that the only way to make sure that’s our first show? Because otherwise it’d be our only one.”

“You know what I mean,” stated the unicorn with a roll of his eyes. “We just need to keep ourselves positive, and hope we can be seen as actual competitors instead of some gimmick.”

“Yeah, I guess…” As Blitz left the shower room, Elusive went back to finishing his own shower so he could get ready for Barb’s dinner. But before he could turn off the faucet, he heard Blitz say as he popped his head back into the room, “And just so you know…”

Elusive turned his head to see Blitz carrying an honest look on his face. “I’m really not doing this out of obligation or anything. I’m doing it because you’re my friend. I swear.”

The unicorn smiled and said, “I know that, Rainbow. Thank you.”

With one last nod, Blitz left so that Elusive could shower in peace. Sighing to himself with a much more confident state of mind, Elusive thought it over before saying to himself. “I swear… if only his music tastes were as good as his character.”

“HEY!” shouted Blitz from outside. “I haven’t even left the gym yet, you dick!”

Comments

[Brasta Septim]

With a thankful smile on his face, Elusive took a few steps towards Blitz to give him a hug. “Alright, thank you Blitz. I jus--”
“Whoa, WHOA!” Rainbow put a hoof out to stop Elusive from going in for that hug. “Not in the shower, dude! What’s wrong with you?!”

Oh, I dunno. Shower hugs are pretty nice. I have a feeling Blitz is going to find that out sooner than later.

[Mares-a-Mares]

Ah, I love the awkwardness. XD

[Storm butt]

This story was sort of nearing the edge of what I thought you struggled with in Brushed Away every few chapters, how the main plot was sort of pushed aside for 1000 words or so of pointless filler that didn't really add anything with characters that weren't exactly relevant or had their own thing going on. The second half was better because it let it simmer down and focus. I don't really think this is as much filler as you claimed personally to me, mostly because it would feel awkward not to show them training at least a little. Besides if Blitz's irritation is actually a plot point it's a good way to introduce it. If not then yeah it was kind of a lying issue.

[DerpTape]

I really hope that there will be some Blades of Glory call outs, this story is just begging for them.