On the day of the Ponyville Regional Preliminaries for the ENDC, quite a lot of the town was stirring with excitement. Since the news of Elusive and Rainbow Blitz’s participation was already becoming a nationally discussed topic, lots of ponies from all over Equestria ventured to the quaint community to watch the show. Patrons swamped every shop and restaurant in town from Sugar Cube Corner, all the way to the little sweet shop run by husbands Harpsy and Dan-Dan. Luckily, despite how much commotion was occurring within the town limits, the main stage in the middle of town square was being erected with little interruption or prying eyes.
Behind the main stage was a large curtained-off tent, which held over two dozen different ponies who were set to compete that day. Each of the couples had their own spot with a makeup table and refreshments, and were spending their time before the show either doing stretches or putting on their costumes. Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes were already in their outfits, which was just a simple dress shirt and tie for the colt and a matching yellow dress for his partner. But despite how large their tent was, the only privacy they actually had were the curtained walls that kept any journalists or camera ponies from peering in at them. Because of that, all the couples were able to look around and scan their competition while they got ready.
Of course, most of those eyes kept looking over at Elusive and Rainbow Blitz’s table at the back corner.
Blitz tried to ignore the looks he and his friend were getting, but he could still feel their gazes like he was in the middle of another changeling hive. Meanwhile, Elusive cheerfully hummed to himself while getting the last of the adjustments finished on their costumes. His portable sewing machine whirred softly while applying the neon purple stitching to the hemlines of his black suede jacket. “Oh, I cannot believe how lucky we are, Rainbow! I was meaning to finish these costumes earlier, but I seemed to have lost track of the time. If we weren’t allowed to have a sewing machine in here, I don’t know what we would have done!”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s… great…” With his mind focused elsewhere, Blitz turned his head to give a sharp stare back to the ponies looking over at them. Most of the ponies quickly turned away with a jolt, which made the stallion sigh contently for the time being. Of course, he was still aware that they were most likely going to get stares just as often throughout this entire damn competition. If this is how the competitors were going to act to two guys competing together, then just how would the audience see them? Or the judges?
Blitz turned away from the other tables with his eyes closed, and tried his hardest to control his breathing. He may have been in the biggest stunt-flying group in Equestria, but those bouts of anxiety still kicked in from time to time. Flying in front of thousands of ponies was no problem, but the idea of dancing with another guy was enough to make him feel like he was going to throw up at any moment. While he tried to calm himself down, Blitz didn’t seem to notice that his friend was finished sewing; nor did he see that Elusive noticed his look before feeling the unicorn’s hoof on his shoulder.
“Rainbow, are you alright?” he asked worriedly as he tried to catch the pegasus’ attention. He huffed with a bit lip before saying, “Oh, please tell me this isn’t another bout of nervousness like that Young Flyers competition.”
“No, no,” said Blitz quickly while shaking his head clear. After sighing deeply, he reopened his eyes and looked back at his friend to say, “I’m sorry, it’s just… this is a lot different from flying, you know?”
Elusive nodded back at him with an understanding look. “Yes Blitz, I know exactly what you mean. This isn’t a skill I could confess was in my repertoire either, so I think we can say we’re on an even playing field.”
Blitz huffed with a more deadpan stare at him. “Yeah, but it’s not like you don’t have any experience in this. You already had dance training for years before I did!”
“Yes, but my experience was with leading,” clarified the unicorn pertly. “And if you recall, Rainbow, your first condition to agreeing to be my partner took away that level of expertise on my behalf.”
Realizing his friend’s point, Blitz exhaled weakly and shrugged. “Well… alright, you have a point there.”
“And further more,” Elusive added with emphasis by his raised brows, “it’s perfectly alright to be nervous. We’re both in a rather… uncomfortable situation, but that doesn’t mean we can’t overcome it. If we can save Equestria multiple times with nothing but our bonds as friends, then who’s to say we can’t do the same here?”
Blitz paused momentarily, unable to come up with a good enough retort to counter that question. It took a couple seconds before the stallion responded with a small smile that came across his cyan muzzle. “Okay, yeah,” said Rainbow with a hoof out to his friend. “I guess we have dealt with a lot worse, haven’t we?”
Elusive smirked and hoof-bumped him in return. “Exactly.”
He then lit his horn to grab Rainbow’s jacket from the makeup table, which made Blitz’s smile instantly drop. The black garment, which was decorated in blue sequins and a matching purple outline along the hems, was floated towards the pouting stallion while Elusive said, “Now, won’t you be a dear and try that on? I need to make sure it fits properly before our performance.”
Even though his pout made him look like a colt who was just given a plate of broccoli, Rainbow Blitz breathed out slowly through his nostrils with a bitter growl and took the jacket. “Yeah, sure,” he muttered with a roll of his eyes before turning away from the unicorn.
While his friend went to try on his costume, Elusive went to pick up his own jacket before overhearing what sounded like a quiet “Psst!” from just a few feet away. The unicorn turned his head towards the curtain right next to their table, and quickly noticed the bottom pulled up slightly to let a red muzzle poke through underneath it. Before he could think it was a random paparazzi or something, Elusive heard the distinct tone of the mare’s voice to make him realize who it was. “Hey, ‘Lusive! Toffee wants ta see ya.”
After looking around briefly, the unicorn snuck away from his table and shuffled underneath the tent wall. When he reemerged outside on his hooves, Elusive was happy to see Toffee smiling wide while beside her friend Macarena. “I was wondering what happened to you! Come here!” She quickly went in to hug the unicorn, which made him unable to really notice how she looked until after he hugged her back.
“Oh, Toffee!” he said in a touched tone before pulling away with a smile. “I’m so happy to see you out of the hos--EGADS, is that a wheelchair?!”
Even though the stallion internally cringed at the insensitivity of that statement, the two-wheeled structure that kept both her hind-legs attached and upright was rather hard to ignore. Fortunately, Toffee only rolled her eyes and said in dismissal, “Oh, don’t worry about this thing. I only have it as a precautionary measure. I could easily hobble around with the cast and probably be fine, but I didn’t want to risk anything happening with so many ponies around.”
Upon closer inspection, Elusive could see that his former dancing partner was right. Only one leg that was in the device actually had a cast, which of itself looked rather thick. Toffee probably could walk around with it if necessary, so the addition of the wheelchair made Elusive much less worried than he was at first glance. Toffee then decided to add cheekily, “Plus, this thing is able to get me to the front of every vendor line around here! That was pretty handy when Mackie and me were getting some lunch.”
Surprised by that detail from the mare, Elusive raised a brow at her and chuckled guiltily. “My goodness, you devilish girl!”
Toffee and Macarena both giggled back at him, with the bigger mare nuzzling her friend with an accompanying, “Eeyup.”
Toffee’s face blushed a little from that nudge, but she quickly shook her head and exclaimed,“Oh! That reminds me…” Toffee then turned to her side, which made the wheels of her device creak a little from her movements, and brought back a pastry box with the Sugar Cube Corner logo on top. “Bubble Berry wanted you and Blitz to have these before the competition. You know, for good luck.”
“Oh, Toffee, you shouldn’t have! Thank you so much!” Elusive picked up the box with his magic and looked inside, revealing four cupcakes and two sports drink bottles for the both of them. Berry made the two’s favorites, as expected from him; two of the cupcakes were clearly Elusive’s chocolate mocha-flavored with a caramel espresso frosting, while the two for Blitz were flavored from his favorite energy drink (Red Manticore) with a rainbow frosting and sweet tart candy sprinkles. While the treats may have not been appropriate for their event, the unicorn could see the benefit of having that much sugar in their system before they needed to go on stage.
“Lucy?” the sound of Blitz’s voice became clear after he lifted up the tent wall to see where his friend went off to. When he appeared outside with the others, he was already donning his bedazzled jacket. “Oh, there you are!” he said as he looked around, “What are you doing--Oh shit, are those Red Manticore cupcakes?!”
The pegasus quickly snatched one up before even asking who they were for, and was just about to take a bite until a strong aura of magic froze his neck and hoof. “H-Hey!” shouted the stallion as he tried to struggle against it. “What gives?!”
Elusive horn stayed lit as he carried an unamused look on his face. He glared at his friend and the cupcake while responding, “Rainbow Blitz, you better take that jacket off before you eat! I’m not going to have you stain that garment before we even go on stage!”
“Oh, come on!” Blitz whined. “Just one bite?”
Elusive just narrowed his eyes on him coldly. “Jacket. Off. Now.”
Seeing the seriousness in his expression, Blitz stood momentarily silent while growing a pout on his muzzle. After seeing him drop his cupcake to fall back into the box, Elusive let go of his magic so that his friend could return back to the tent with a bitter grumble. Meanwhile, Toffee and Macarena were watching the display with muffled snickers. The red mare decided to say teasingly, “Lookin’ real good there, Blitzy.”
Blitz turned around to point at Macarena with a glare, but nothing came out of his open mouth. After a second, he huffed and let his statement go before disappearing under the tent. Elusive was just about to return his attention to the mares until Blitz’s head poked out again. “Also, the jacket fits fine. Just so you know.”
“Oh, thank you for checking!” Elusive seemed quite happy about that detail, as evidenced by the smile he had when he looked back at Toffee and Macarena. While the red mare tried to keep her muffled snickering down to a minimum, Toffee had a curious smirk on her muzzle while looking back at the unicorn.
“So… would you mind if I asked what kind of dance you two are doing for this?”
“Oh, it’s not a problem at all,” answered Elusive politely. “Granted, I was in a bit of a tight spot with Blitz’s music specifications, but I was able to get him to agree to a jive for this round. It’s able to fit his speedy hoofwork, plus it requires the least amount of joint contact.”
“Seems about right,” said Toffee with a shrug. “I take it you’re going to make the song reveal a surprise?”
“Well…” Elusive rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “More out of embarrassment than anything else, but yes.”
Toffee tried to lighten the mood with a playful punch to the unicorn’s foreleg. “Oh, don’t be like that! I’m sure you two are gonna be just fine.”
“Well, let’s hope you’re not the only one with that mindset.” After picking up his box and giving the mare one more hug, the stallion went back to the tent to finish up. “Now if you two excuse me, I need to prepare. Ta-ta!”
The two mares waved back until seeing Elusive disappear into the tent. Toffee then sighed heavily before shooting a sharp stare at Macarena. “D-Did you really have to nuzzle me like that?” she hissed in a paranoid whisper.
Macarena seemed much less worried as she chuckled with a surly smirk back at her. “Hey, it didn’t look like he noticed anythin’.” She then went in to kiss the mare’s neck sweetly, making her friend’s tan fur blush hotly around her cheeks. Toffee’s whole body trembled a little, but her pout made it clear that she wasn’t going to let the larger mare win.
“Hey, is that your grandpa?” Toffee quickly blurted, causing Macarena to jolt in fear and wind up five feet from her. Upon realizing that Grampy Smith was nowhere to be seen, the red mare looked back at Toffee with a deep, brooding glare. Meanwhile, the smaller mare just raised a brow while grinning back at her girlfriend silently.
Macarena narrowed her eyes on her and said, “Not. Cool.”
By the time the preliminary competition began, it seemed like more than double the town’s population was gathered around the square. Even though the scheduling for the event was claimed to be random, Elusive and Rainbow Blitz’s performance was “coincidentally” placed to be the final dance after Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes’. The move was most likely done to keep ponies in attendance throughout the whole thing, but it certainly didn’t help with Blitz’s simmering nervousness to know he and his friend were the grand finale. Fortunately, Elusive was able to help ease the pegasus’ anxiety by switching their backstage spot with another couple. While the first couple went on stage to perform, Elusive and Blitz were happily seated with their table next to Twinkle Toes and Apple Buck’s.
Since the music playing from the stage’s speakers was rather loud, it didn’t seem like any chatter would interrupt the performers. So while some song played that sounded like something Grampy Smith would know about, the two couples conversed casually to lighten the mood. During their light conversation, Rainbow was sure to explain to the two why he chose to take the role as Elusive’s dancing partner. Apple Buck seemed especially impressed at the pegasus’ story near the end, but also looked slightly curious as he asked, “So… yer sayin’ that you agreed because of me?
“Eh, pretty much,” answered Blitz with a meager shrug of his shoulders. “I mean, I was already on the fence a bit, but you helped put things in perspective.”
“Wow!” exclaimed the colt in surprise before looking over at his partner. “Guess my special talent is really shinin’ through! Ah wasn’t even tryin’ ta help a pony that time!”
Twinkle Toes giggled at the smiling colt with a small blush on her orange fur. “Well, that doesn’t really surprise me. You really are great at helping others.”
“Oh, come on” retorted Buck with a small wave of his hoof while looking away bashfully. “Let’s just hope all that trainin’ actually paid off.”
“Hey, you said it,” said Blitz in agreement with a pat on the colt’s shoulder. He then relaxed in his own chair and asked, “So, how did that work out anyway? I mean, with your family and stuff.”
“Oh. That…” Apple Buck breathed out sharply with an uncomfortable look on his face, and avoided looking at Blitz while explaining. “Well… Applejack was pretty mad when Ah told him about agreein’ ta do this. Ah mean, Ah get why he was so upset and all since Zap Apple Harvest is comin’ up soon. But he kept interruptin’ me when Ah was tryin’ ta explain things. Ah probably would’ve gotten you if Grampy didn’t overhear us fightin’.”
“Oh dear,” said Elusive with a worried glance at the colt. “Are things alright now?”
Apple Buck rubbed the back of his head timidly for a moment. “Ehhh… Ah think so. Grampy ended up talkin’ wit’ him in private, and he stopped hasslin’ me after that. Ah also promised I’d help on the farm as much as I can between practice and bedtime, so hopefully he ain’t too sore wit’ me.”
Rainbow Blitz sighed with his lips pursed shut, letting the colt’s words process while thinking them over. “Well, just so you know,” he said insistently to Buck, “you can still get me if you need to, alright?”
Apple Buck nodded with a grateful smile back at him. “Yeah, Ah know. And thank ya.”
The music outside ended, and a loud round of applause from outside indicated the first dancers were finished. They could overhear the announcer giving off the scores from the judges, but it was too muffled by the tent to hear the specific numbers. Another moment passed before the couple, who were two earth ponies wearing matching bowler caps and stickers on their sides that read the number one, emerged from the stage and returned to their seats with smiles on their faces. A mare in a ballcap came into view and stood at the stage’s entrance while looking at a clipboard. “Alright!” she announced loudly into the tent. “Couple two, come on up!”
A couple of unicorns in blue jumpsuits excitedly ran past the others to get on stage, both wearing large stickers on their sides that read the number two. As soon as the two hopped on stage to a new round of applause, the mare went back to supervise outside the tent. Some cheesy disco song soon started to play, but just before the tent flaps closed completely, two colts snuck in through the opening. The off-white unicorn and orange pegasus saw their friend nearby, and rushed to him with large smiles while holding pieces of posterboard.
“Hey, Apple Buck!” shouted both of them at the same time, causing the colt to turn and smile at the sight of Silver Bell and Scootaroll.
“Hey, guys!” Buck shot out of his seat and went to hug the two. “Ah’m really glad you guys could make it!”
“Well, what did you expect?” asked Scootaroll after hugging his friend back. “We weren’t going to miss you doing something like this!”
“Besides,” added Silver Bell as he motioned to Blitz and Elusive, “our brother and mentor are in this too, so we kinda had to show up.”
“Hey!” said Blitz and Elusive with slight offense.
“We’re just kidding!” said Scootaroll with a roll of his eyes. “Of course we wanted to see you guys too! I’m just worried about which one of you actually wins this thing.”
Twinkle Toes, who was still in her seat, leaned forward to interject with, “Well, just so you guys know, the top three couples in the preliminary rounds get to move forward to regionals.”
“Exactly,” added Elusive optimistically, “so who knows? Maybe both of us will go to the regional tournament.”
Apple Buck was starting to look nervous as his face turned a fretful shade of pink. “W-Well… let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here…”
Twinkle Toes saw how the colt was fidgeting his hooves, and tried to snap him out of it with a sharp nudge against his side. “Hey, come on,” she said in cheerful support. “There’s no way you’ll be worse than back at that recital, right?”
Remembering that cringe-worthy performance, the colt chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Y-Yeah, Ah… Ah guess not.”
“And if it helps,” added Silver Bell as he lit up his horn, “Scootaroll and I made these signs to show our support!”
The unicorn colt’s green magic floated up the two pieces of posterboard with practiced ease, showing Apple Buck what the sign said when the two pieces were placed side-by-side. The sign had Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes’ faces painted at the top, while the bottom read in a thick black font: GO TEAM APPLETOES!
Buck and Twinkle both stared at the posterboard with narrowed eyes in confusion. Apple Buck was the first to ask with a raised brow, “Uhhh… Seriously? ‘Apple-Toes’?”
“What?” asked Scootaroll. “We didn’t have much room for both your names, so we combined them!”
While Twinkle Toes shrugged towards her partner, Rainbow Blitz stared at the two colts and asked, “Hey, why didn’t you make a sign for US?!”
“Don’t worry, we did!” With his tongue sticking out in concentration, Silver Bell then turned the two poster boards over at the same time. On the back side of the sign, Elusive and Rainbow Blitz’s faces were drawn on top in crayon, with the caption underneath reading: TEAM #BLITZLUSIVE!
“Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!” said Blitz in approval. Meanwhile, Elusive blinked a couple times while peering at the quality of the sign.
“Hmmm... “ the white stallion pointed a hoof at the mark between the two words and asked, “What’s that symbol supposed to mean?”
“Hmm? Oh!” Scootaroll noticed the mark as well, and giggled nervously as he tried to explain. “Well, I… may have messed up a little when drawing the letters out. We already painted the front sides and didn’t want to redo everything again, so I just made it into that.”
Silver Bell then added optimistically, “Who knows? Maybe it’ll catch on!”
Before either of them could say anything else, the disco song ended outside. The two colts noted the sounds of applause and decided to vamoose while the scores were being announced. “Oh, shoot, we need to get back to our seats!” After giving their friend one last hug, the two scampered off just as the second couple shambled back into the tent with winded pants. The stallion was walking with an obvious limp on one of his hind legs, indicating that something bad happened during their routine, but they still looked content.
While Elusive noted that injury, Blitz shrugged and said happily, “You know what? Team Blitz-Lusive sounds pretty damn good in my book!”
“Hmph,” grunted Apple Buck with his hooves crossed, “Sounds better than Apple-Toes.”
At the beginning of the competition, the crowd was quite positive when it came to some of the earlier performances. The first two dancers had the highest scores with twenty-three and twenty-two (despite that slip-up the second one had), and things were going fine by the fifth or sixth dancers. Unfortunately, it seemed that a few sub-par performances afterward soured the event’s overall mood by the time the last few routines came up. One of the dances was basically a mare doing the Paso Doble by herself alongside a much older stallion who could barely move more than one hoof at a time, which gave the couple a dismal twelve out of thirty. Another was a heavyset couple who stumbled three separate times during their cha-cha-cha, prompting them a sympathetic fourteen. And while the next few couples afterward were technically better, their mediocre dances barely broke more than twenty or so, and didn’t get much applause from the crowd.
Dusk Shine, who was sitting in the front row alongside his friends, started to look worried as he scanned the mood of the crowd. Even when the couple in matching suits finished a fairly impressive jazz routine on stage, it seemed like less than a third of the audience actually clapped in applause. As the two bowed respectfully and left the stage after receiving a respectable twenty-one out of thirty, the Prince bit his lip as he struggled not to overthink things. “Oh man,” he muttered as he looked over to the other three stallions seated next to him, “I really hope Elusive and Blitz get a better score than that.”
To the left of Dusk in an aisle seat was Barb, who was holding a cup of soda that was almost as large as her. “Eh, they probably will,” said the dragoness after taking a sip from her straw. “I mean, there’s no way they could do worse than that old guy.”
To the other side of the Prince was Bubble Berry, who was holding at least six different snacks in his hooves. He also had half a caramel apple in his mouth when he added in a muffled voice, “Doat worry, Duth! Dey’re pwobwy wai’en for those two to pewfowm!”
It took until after Bubble Berry swallowed his food before Butterscotch realized what he was trying to say. “Oh! Ummm…” He leaned past Berry to say towards Dusk, “I- think Berry might be right, Dusk Shine. I mean, those two were talked about a lot by ponies before the competition started.”
Even though he was still apprehensive, Dusk still sighed and nodded in reluctant agreement. “Yeah, possibly…” He looked past Bubble and Butterscotch to ask a grumpy-looking Applejack, “What do you think, AJ?”
The orange stallion groaned under his breath bitterly. “Ah dunno,” he said with his face propped against one of his hooves. “I’m just hopin’ Apple Buck ain’t makin’ a foal of himself doin’ this--OW!!!”
Applejack’s dry comment was cut short when Macarena, who was sitting right next to him, punched his shoulder. On the mare’s other side was Toffee, who looked over at Applejack while he was rubbing his foreleg with a wince. “Well, he’s lucky to have somepony like Twinkle Toes as a partner. If she can’t get him to dance, then I don’t think anypony can.”
The farm-pony grunted and looked away from her and Macarena. “That ain’t exactly helpin’, but thanks anyway.”
Macarena looked at her brother with a strong pout, but didn’t want to punch his shoulder a second time. Butterscotch tried to be more optimistic with, “Well, I really doubt the judges will be as unresponsive as the audience. They’ve still been handing out fair scores.”
“Yeah!” piped Bubble Berry after downing a piece of cotton candy at least twice the size of his head. “All they have to do is get higher than twenty-three to go to the next round in Baltimare!”
Dusk Shine knew that Berry was just looking at things with the glass half full, but the Alicorn was more than a little worried. Elusive and Rainbow would have to get a unanimous score of eight from all three judges. But before he could dwell on the chances of that any longer, Dusk felt a nudge from his other side by Barb. When he turned to look at her, the drake carried a smirk and said, “C’mon, Dusk. This is Rainbow Blitz we’re talking about! Do you really think he’s the kind of guy to go into any competition and not try his hardest?”
That was enough to make the alicorn smile with a more relaxed breath, but it wasn’t long before his attention went to the announcer on stage. “AaaaallllllllllllRIGHT everybodyyyy!!!” The tall, yellow stallion was able to get everyone’s attention with his surprisingly deep voice, although the gaudy pink jacket that matched his dyed mane may have helped a bit too. A few ponies cheered in the crowd before he said, “Now, we only have TWO competitors left in this competition, and both of them have to get a score of twenty-four or higher to move to the Baltimare regionals!”
A slightly louder round of applause came after that, and the announcer motioned a hoof towards the side of the stage where the tent was. “Now, let’s put our hooves together for our two YOUNGEST competitors, who reside right here in Ponyville…”
Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes were waiting by the open tent flap, but both of them looked jittery and nervous from that introduction. Elusive and Blitz, who were now wearing their costumes, gave the kids sympathetic nudges for support. “Kick some ass kiddo,” whispered Blitz before pushing Apple Buck forward alongside his partner.
“Performing the Quick-Step, let’s give a big round of applause to Apple Buck, and Twinkle Toes!”
The two ponies cautiously walked onto the stage, being greeted with a fairly decent amount of applause. Silver Bell and Scootaroll were clearly the loudest while holding up their signs, not realizing they were upside down until Dusk Shine quickly flipped them with his magic. Macarena and Applejack applauded as well, but neither of them were as loud as the elderly green stallion who was seated behind the two. “OOOHHHH-WEE!” Shouted Grampy Smith proudly, “Shake that apple-maker!”
Apple Buck face-hoofed when he heard that, along with the laughter that came around Grampy’s area of the audience. Fortunately, Twinkle Toes’ hoof touching his shoulder was enough to make him look back at her, and see the supportive smile she had on her face. Only a second or two may have passed, but it was enough to make the colt smile back at her with a deep breath. “Alright, whenever you’re ready!” shouted the announcer before he left the stage.
After a brief moment passed to allow the two to collect their bearings, Twinkle Toes and Apple Buck walked towards opposite back corners of the stage. Both of them looked over to the sound-pony at the far end of the stage, and gave him the nod in approval. The green pony nodded back and pressed the button to let their song play:
When the heavy drum beat started to play, both kids tapped their hooves in rhythm to get into the beat. And as soon as the beat repeated, the two ran in full force towards each other on the stage. The two met just as the guitars and vocals began playing, and their hooves interlocked as they moved their hindlegs in tandem. With the crowd watching with newfound interest, the kids gave several choreographed kicks opposite one another before moving around the stage like their hooves were as light as feathers. Each one of the steps that both of them made hit the ground in perfect synchronicity with the beat to the song, and they were soon moving all over the stage with their appropriately quick steps.
When the instrumentals changed to make way for the chorus, Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes hopped across the stage with perfect timing to the keyboard’s longer notes, and gave several pronounced kicks with their hind legs in tandem with the vocals. By the time the actual chorus began playing, most of the crowd was in full swing with rejuvenated excitement while seeing their lock-steps. Even Applejack had a smile on his muzzle, although he stayed in his seat as he watched his little brother with crossed hooves and a confounded look on his face. “Well Ah’ll be,” he muttered under his breath, which was almost unheard of while others in the crowd started clapping to the beat.
Even with the well-practiced quarter-turns and hops that he was able to match alongside Twinkle Toes, it was clear that Apple Buck was putting forth his utmost focus in an effort to keep up with the filly. But regardless of how strained his face looked with his tongue sticking out, the farm-colt would be damned if he was going to misstep halfway through the song. When the two made a unified chassès before the beginning of the second chorus, even Elusive and Blitz looked floored at the colt’s practice.
“Welp,” said Blitz towards his dancing partner, “now we know he had a lot of practice.”
“Yes, but so did we,” retorted Elusive while he kept his eyes on the couple. “If Apple Buck can do those moves, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Blitz nodded weakly, but he still looked unsure as he watched the kids as well. Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes were back in a face-to-face position as they performed their lock-step. The vocals repeated their lines as the song went into the building point for its final chorus. As the bass and drum beat intensified with each repetition, the colt and filly stayed in rhythm with their steps going between each other’s hooves in split-second precision. The two went into choreographed swing-kicks just as the guitar came back in, which was just enough to get the audience riled up; and just as the song went into the two-second pause before the climax, Apple Buck swept up Twinkle Toes from her hooves to flip her over his foreleg.
The audience was fully enthralled after that move, and were already cheering the two on during their last joyous quick-steps. Elusive and Blitz’s jaws were dropped, but neither of them looked as much worried as they were impressed. A lot of the other dancers were watching from behind the stallions, either carrying stunned silence from jealousy or cheering the kids on as well. It was clear that whatever Twinkle did to get Buck in shape for this competition, it paid off tremendously.
With a final joint spin on her rear hooves, Twinkle Toes fell right into Apple Buck’s hooves at the end of the song. While the filly laid against him, Buck panted heavily with a stunned smile as the two soaked in the thunderous applause from the crowd. Silver Bell and Scootaroll looked especially happy while jumping up and down in their seats. Applejack was one of the first to stand on his hindlegs to clap with a standing ovation, and could be heard shouting with a shake of his head, “Ah ain’t even mad!” Even Barb, who was primarily here to cheer on Elusive, couldn’t resist standing on her seat to give some added whistles with her claws in her mouth.
Both of the kids blushed deeply at the praise, and were slightly jolted when the announcer returned and patted them both on the shoulders. “Alright!” the stallion said enthusiastically, “Let’s see what the judges have to say for THAT dance!”
In the middle of the audience behind a raised table, two older mares and a feminine-looking stallion were comparing notes for a brief second. After nodding in agreement, the three carried smiles as they held up their score cards:
“Eight!” said the first mare, which the audience was happy to hear as evidenced by their cheers.
“Nine!” shouted the second mare, which gave an even louder round of applause; of course, it was also the first nine given that day.
And with a big smile on his face, the final judge held up his card and gave an enthusiastic, “Nine!”
Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes screamed and hugged each other excitedly, realizing that they officially had the highest score so far. The announcer spoke in his microphone over the thundering applause, “Alright, everypony! Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes have just received a score of twenty-six out of thirty! That means that they are automatically moving forward to compete in the Baltimare Regionals!”
The two kids may have just finished a physically exhausting routine, but that announcement was enough to make the two jump around on stage like they were given a quadruple shot of espresso. The two ran back to the tent area, and were hugged tightly by both Elusive and Rainbow Blitz. “Talk about a tough act to follow, kid!” said Blitz teasingly before giving Apple Buck one last squeeze. “You were awesome, dude!”
Even though he knew that he was about to go up next, Elusive whispered into Twinkle Toe’s ear, “Let me know how you did that sometime.”
Twinkle giggled with a smirk back at the unicorn, and she soon disappeared into the crowd of other dancers alongside Apple Buck when the announcer’s voice came in through the speakers. “Okay, okay, let’s get settled down!” he said in a cheerful tone. “We still have one more couple to perform today…”
Elusive looked back at Blitz with a nervous smile and a huff. “Well… this is it…”
Rainbow Blitz’s hooves were a little shaky, but he was able to overcome that with a deep breath before saying confidently, “Come on, dude! Do you really wanna be outdone by a couple of kids?”
Since he was expecting the stunt-pony to be more nervous than he was, Elusive was taken by surprise from that question. But after a quick second, the white stallion grinned back at him and shook his head as a newfound wave of tenacity swept through his nerves. “No, I certainly do not.”
The announcer put a hoof out towards Elusive and Blitz as he introduced them to the crowd. “Performing the jive, let’s hear it for the very first same-sex couple to compete in the Equestrian National Dance Competition… Rainbow Blitz, and his partner Elusive!”
Despite how blunt that introduction may have sounded, the two still walked into view on stage in their outfits while smiling nervously. The stallions heard quite a bit more applause, but that was probably because most of their cheerers were in the front row. Scootaroll and Silver Bell fumbled with their poster boards for a moment before bringing up the “Blitz-Lusive” sign; of course, what caught Elusive and Blitz’s attention more was the massive array of flashing lights from the back of the crowd, most likely from journalists’ cameras.
The two looked at each other in slight worry while the announcer left the stage, and Elusive sighed before saying quietly, “No going back now…”
“N-Nope…” After sighing himself, Rainbow Blitz gulped and regained a more serious look on his face. The two got into position at opposite ends of the front of the stage, and Rainbow was the one to point at the sound guy and shout out, “Hit it!”
Elusive wanted to roll his eyes at that, but didn’t have enough time before the pony played their chosen track:
The track started in full force like a brick to the head, but the stallions were still able to trot in sync to the beat from the split-second it began. With their pronounced steps moving twice a second and two at a time, Elusive and Blitz were on their hind legs and holding hooves just as the vocals began. Punk-rock may have been an odd choice for a jive routine, but their choreographed steps actually fit with the song’s tempo very well. After several pronounced kicks that they made just inches from each other’s legs, the two moved around the stage while holding one another side-by-side. Both held onto the other during their spins with one foreleg, while the other stuck out for added style and leverage.
By the time they finished their spins and projected their individual kicks side-by-side to the crowd, they were getting almost as much positive feedback as Apple and Twinkle did. Their synchronicity and hoof-work were quickly winning most of the audience over, and the cameras at the back continued to flash like the sequins on the stallions’ jackets. Rainbow Blitz bit his bottom lip as he tried to get his steps done correctly, while also making sure he was performing his foreleg movements, at the same time as Elusive without looking at him. But despite the immense difficulty of his routine, the sound of the cheering crowd was ringing through the pegasus’ ears like a flawless Wonderbolts show. By the time he went back into hold Elusive’s hooves, he didn’t even care that it was a stallion while the song’s guitar solo played.
For Elusive, he was just as surprised with himself as he was with Blitz’s competence on the dance floor. Despite all the training he and his partner had, the unicorn was certain that something was going to go wrong during their first dance. But surprisingly enough, he and Blitz were keeping up with each other’s steps in graceful unity. Heck, even the song was starting to grow on the pony, although it was most likely in the same way a hostage with Stockhoof Syndrome falls for its captor. Nevertheless, the punk song wasn’t any deterrent to Elusive, even when he was skipping backwards while alternating his hoof-holding with Blitz before the finale.
By the time the two separated and gave another round of unified kicks, the audience was in full swing for the two. Many were clapping to the beat of the song, and the energy was almost electric from the cheers being given from their friends in the front row. Just as the two minute song was coming to a close, the two held each other close for one last swinging spin. And with a flick of his foreleg, Blitz spun Elusive hard enough to make the unicorn twirl on the tip of his hoof like a professional.
This is really working! Thought Elusive to himself as he smiled wide enough to show most of his pearly white teeth. Blitz actually pulled it off! I just can’t believe this is--
During the landing of his spin, Elusive’s thoughts were quickly stopped as he felt his front hoof slip against the stage floor. It felt like slow motion as the unicorn’s front leg continued moving forward, undoubtedly going to result in a split. While he was certainly able to perform the task (and quite well at that), the stallion’s foreleg still went out involuntarily to pull at something for leverage. Unfortunately, due to Blitz being right by his side, Elusive’s hoof caught a grip of the pegasus’ shoulder firmly enough to pull him down with him. And due to Blitz’s positioning, which at that time was with his hindlegs spread further apart than usual, Elusive’s pull resulted in an accidental fall for both of them on the stage floor.
In splits.
Luckily, the timing of that drop couldn’t have been more perfect; the crotch-first landing was not only in perfect sync with the song’s ending, but both of them fell in perfect position on the middle of the stage in front of the audience. Even though a few of their friends crossed their legs a bit from seeing that impact up close, they still clapped just as excitedly as the rest of the audience. Elusive felt alright with his fall due to previous experience and lucky positioning, but he also heard a very distinct and high-pitched squeak come from his partner as soon as the splits happened. While the audience cheered wildly in front of them, Elusive slowly looked over to see how Blitz looked.
The cyan pegasus had a smile on his muzzle, but it was clearly frozen on his muzzle like a victim of a fatal dose of laughing gas. Blitz was completely bug-eyed, with both of his magenta pupils the size of pin-pricks among a sea of tearing, bloodshot white. His teeth gritted hard enough to risk breaking, and his right eye was twitching violently. But alas, the stallion still kept his smile and unfortunate position as he and Elusive soaked in the cheers from the crowd.
“Well, well, well!” shouted the announcer as he ran back out on stage, clearly having no idea that their ending was accidental. “Now that’s what I call a show-stopper!”
“Blitz!” whispered Elusive as faintly as he could as he tried to catch Rainbow’s attention. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry!”
Slowly, Rainbow Blitz’s head ticked towards the direction of Elusive like some creepy toy in a horror movie. By now, despite his smile remaining, his blue fur was quickly turning red. Elusive looked legitimately worried, although he was unsure if it was more because of Blitz’s health or his own. The pegasus’ teeth stayed gritted, but he was still able to say something to Elusive in the weakest, highest-pitched tone Elusive ever heard from him.
“... YOU… LITTLE… SHIT…”
Elusive was obviously able to get up on his hooves first, and was barely even listening to the judges as he tried to pull Blitz up as well. By now, Rainbow was seeing little spots come up in his line of vision, despite how much he was blinking. Even with the indescribable pain he was feeling from having his cojones smashed, the last few words he was able to process came from the judges who were giving out their scores. None of them even realized there was an issue as they shouted out happily for the audience to hear.
“... Eight!”
“... Eight!”
“... EIGHT!”
“That’s a score of twenty four out of thirty!” shouted the announcer’s voice, but by now Blitz’s hearing and sight were starting to become really hazy. “That means that Rainbow Blitz and Elusive… in Baltimare… Let’s… big rou…”
It was around that moment that the pegasus blacked out.