After an arduous night of practice, Rainbow Blitz was honestly surprised that he woke up so early the following morning. Wonderbolt Training might be more intense than Elusive’s dance lessons, but Flamethrower’s routines were something Blitz was used to doing. Plus, getting precise hoofwork nailed down is immensely harder for somepony who spends most of his time in the air as opposed to on the ground. But despite his difficulties with learning every step, Blitz was hopeful that he had his cha-cha-cha routine with Elusive nailed down.
Unlike the Ponyville competition, Elusive and Blitz actually had their own dressing room this time. Since the Baltimare Grand Theater was fairly old, the two could hear the low rumbling of hoofsteps through the walls as ponies went in and out of the main auditorium. Fortunately, most of that noise was drowned out by the ventilation fan that was humming at full blast from the ceiling. While Elusive used a comb and a can of hairspray to tend to his partner’s technicolor mane, Rainbow Blitz was growing antsier by the second while staying perched in his chair.
“Urgh, come ooooooonnnn!!!” groaned Blitz like an impatient colt as he struggled to keep still in his seat for his friend. “Just stop already! I’ve been sitting in this chair for like, over half an hour!”
“Well, it’s not my fault that your mane is such a pain to deal with!” Despite his calm demeanor, Elusive felt like he was reaching his breaking point in regards to Blitz’s mane. He always thought that the pegasus kept his rainbow mane in precise spikes through a copious amount of hair gel or sprays; however, it now seemed that Blitz’s mane was just naturally styled that way. It didn’t matter what Elusive did to try to brush or mat down Blitz’s hair, since it usually just came back up like nothing was done to it.
Even after using over half a can of hairspray to hold it down, Rainbow’s spikes just shot back up with a cartoonish “boing” that made the unicorn almost tear at his own mane. “Oh for crying out loud!” yelled Elusive in exasperation. “What in Equestria is in your hair?! I haven’t had this much trouble with styling since Bubble Berry!”
“That’s what I tried to tell you, dude!” chastised the pegasus with a roll of his eyes. “My mane is just always like this! Butterscotch says I have ‘Manga Protagonist’ hair, whatever that means.”
“Honestly, I think I might have to believe him on this one.” With a bitter huff, Elusive just gave up and tossed the can in the wastebin. “I’m sorry Blitz. I should’ve listened to you.”
“Eh, whatever,” mumbled Rainbow as he hopped off his chair and stretched out his legs. “At least you didn’t try to put makeup on me.”
“Oh, I almost forgot about doing tha--”
“NO!”
Elusive flinched for a brief second and glared at his friend. But before the unicorn could say anything, Blitz added while pointing at him, “It’s bad enough you’re making me dance to a pop song, AND wear a friggin' pink shirt! I’m not wearing makeup, dude!”
Elusive rolled his eyes and clarified, “Blitz, it’ll just be a small bit of foundation to bring out your coat. And as for the shirt, I know for a fact that you have more than one pink tank-top in your closet!”
“Okay, one: those shirts are for partying! Not for dancing! And two: how many times have you rooted around in my friggin closet?!”
“Only once, but there’s nothing wrong with being observant.” Despite his friend’s sour attitude, Elusive kept his tone more subdued after a quick exhale. “You know what? Maybe we need to stretch our legs a bit outside of this room. Even with the fan, I’d hate to be inhaling remnants of hairspray for too long.”
“Now that I can agree on,” sighed Blitz in relief as he headed for the door first. “Plus, I bet that refreshment table is refilled by now.”
“Rainbow Blitz, what have I told you about our diet?!”
“I was just gonna get a Red Manticore, jeez!” As he exited the dressing room, the pegasus grabbed a towel and his body wash, and kept himself from muttering anything under his breath at the risk of his friend overhearing it. Instead, he just trotted down the narrow hallway with a low and uncomfortable sigh. His muzzle wrinkled as the stench of hairspray permeated on his fur and mane like some shitty cologne he’d avoid at the mall. Not wanting that stench to wreck his sinuses, the pegasus made a beeline towards a nearby shower room to clean up.
Fortunately, he was the only pony inside when he went to the back stall. Due to his time in Wonderbolt training, he was able to get himself fully cleaned in less than a minute flat. Even with all the hairspray that Elusive doused into his mane to keep it matted down, there was literally no difference to its volume or shape after Blitz cleaned it thoroughly. After turning off his shower, he was just about to exit the stall when he overheard the door to the shower room open.
“Oh man!” groaned a stallion’s voice while trotting over to the row of sinks by the front wall. Even with the sound of water running, Blitz could overhear a second set of hoofsteps following the first stallion that added, “The stage manager is gonna flip when he sees how much the schedule has to be changed!”
“Well, could you blame him if he did?” asked the other stallion Blitz could overhear. “It’s really shitty for a team to just up and quit less than an hour before the show! Rescheduling all the acts is gonna be a nightmare for sure!”
“Eh, I’m sure he can manage it. We’ve dealt with worse.”
“Yeah, we have, but it’s still pretty bad.”
“Did they give a reason?”
“What, the couple? I don’t think so. They just said they didn’t want to compete.”
“Do you think it’s because of those Hoofington ponies?”
“Honestly, I don’t. I saw the two talking with them a while ago, and they looked really happy!”
“Then what else could it be? It seems stupid to give up at regionals.”
“Well, I… I think it might be because of those two stallions competing.”
Blitz reeled back from the wall of the shower he was listening through with a look of confusion and slight offense. But still, he could hear the stallions continue to chat.
“Wait, what?! Why would THAT be?”
“Hey, it’s just a theory, alright? It’s the only reason I could think of.”
“But why?”
“Well, when I was getting the light bulbs set up on the rafters this morning, I saw the two arguing with the stage director near the front door. I couldn’t hear them, but they seemed pissed about something. I also saw those two guys nearby, and the mare was pointing at them while yelling something.”
“So… what? They didn’t want to compete against two guys?”
“Who knows? They were the second-oldest couple competing, so it’d make sense if they were homophobic.”
“Hmmm… I guess that makes sense.”
“Again, it’s just a theory. I have no idea why they quit, but I do NOT want to be around when the manager flips his lid!”
“Hey, I don’t blame you. I just hope this doesn’t keep happening because of those two.”
“Or the Hoofingtons! Seriously, those two kinda feel like the black sheep of this competition right now.”
“Hey, come on! What did I tell you about using that term?! My cousin is a sheep, remember?”
“Only by marriage!”
After the other stallion groaned, the sink was turned off and the two left the room. Meanwhile, Blitz just stood half-soaked by himself, his muzzle skewed as he let that new info sink in. He didn’t want to overthink things too badly, but it was hard not to let a conversation like that pass by without a little thought involved. When that discussion is also combined with the banter Blitz heard on the radio, along with all the tabloids talking about him and Elusive since they started, everything just started to feel like a giant weight that was trying to push down on the stunt-pony’s back with no release.
“Ugh!” After grabbing his towel and drying himself off, Blitz tried his hardest to keep his mind off all that bullshit. When he left the shower room and walked back down the hallway, the pegasus muttered to himself bitterly on his way back to the dressing room. “I swear, I thought all this crap was going to be behind me AFTER high school! Stupid bucking papers...” After throwing his items back in the dressing room with no care where they landed, Blitz had his teeth gritted in simmering anger as he made his way towards the backstage area.
Much like the Ponyville round, most of the dancers were scattered around the open space that was away from the stage or audience. While crew ponies scuttled past them to make sure all the technical aspects of the show were adequate, the couples tried to focus on their stretches or step rehearsals while staying in their own spaces. Since the refreshment table was at the very back of the darkened room, Blitz had to walk past a lot of the ponies to get himself an energy drink. Unfortunately, that meant he also had to overhear more than a few mutters from other dancers, which he knew were about him and Elusive.
By the time he reached the table and grabbed a can of Red Manticore from the large bowl of ice at the end, Blitz’s expression went from tired and slightly annoyed to just plain upset. While he couldn’t blame some of the other dancers for talking about two stallions dancing, he wished they would be a little more subtle about it. Ignoring the murmurs and whispers he was overhearing, Blitz chugged down the entirety of his can in hopes of bringing his energy back to normal levels. But even after finishing and tossing the can in the trash, the pegasus could’ve sworn that their whispers were getting louder.
He was just about to snap when he felt a hoof poke at his shoulder. A stallion’s voice asked, “Umm, are you Rainbow Bl--”
“Yeah, I’M the guy, what of it!?” yelled Blitz as he whipped his head around to glare at whoever tried to talk to him. However, he was taken aback a little when he saw that the two ponies who came up to him jolted in surprise and worry. The mare and stallion were both unicorns with tall and thin builds, and looked nearly identical with matching tan coats and blonde manes. Blitz also noticed that the two looked fairly chipper in the split second before he snapped at them. Realizing his mistake, the pegasus sighed in guilt and put his hoof out apologetically. “Uhhh, sorry about that. I’m just a bit stressed. But yeah, I’m Rainbow Blitz.”
Both ponies seemed alright with that response, and the stallion shook Blitz’s hoof first with his pearly whites showing. “Hey, it’s no problem! My sis and I know all about stress before these things. My name’s Derek, and this is Julianne.”
“Oh, that’s right!” Blitz’s brows raised in surprise as he shook Julianne’s hoof as well. “Yeah, I just heard about you two on the radio yesterday! You guys are the Hoofingtons, right?”
“Yes we are!” answered Julianne with a smile identical to her brother’s. “Honestly, it’s nice to talk to somepony who didn’t instantly recognize us. I was starting to think we freaked out everypony competing today.”
“Eh, it kinda helps that I never paid attention to any of this competitive dancing stuff before signing up,” admitted Rainbow. “The biggest reason I’m doing this is because Elusive needed somepony to take his original partner’s place.”
“Wait, really?” asked Julianne with genuine surprise in her voice. “So like, you never had any dance training before this?”
“What, do I look like somepony who’d do this on his own?” With one of his brows raised while motioning to himself, Blitz hoped that the siblings would see that he wasn’t the most fitting pony in the room. However, Derek and Julianne just tilted their heads and shrugged in unison.
“Honestly, you would’ve fooled me!” said Derek with an impressed smile on his muzzle. “We actually watched a recording of you and Elusive’s routine, and it was really solid! I would’ve never guessed you were such a natural!”
“Yeah, it’s no surprise to either of us that you guys got such high scores!” added Julianne cheekily. “Especially with that ending split at the end!”
Blitz’s hind legs twitched uncomfortably at that unneeded reminder. The pegasus bit his lip and tried to conceal his shudder while he nodded uncomfortably. “Y-Yeah… That was a bit of a… surprise.”
While the pegasus looked away and tried to push that bitter reminder out of his mind, Julianne said with a sincere smile, “Well, it really is great talking with somepony who isn’t automatically intimidated by us. We tried talking to those two kids earlier, and I think we accidentally scared them.”
Derek scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Yeah… I heard that one couple actually quit this morning. Julie here thinks it’s because of us, but I don’t want to think we can actually have that effect on other dancers.”
“Well,” replied Blitz with an honest shrug, “winning five years in a row can do that...”
Julianne nodded with a bit lip, looking a bit apprehensive while looking around the room. When Blitz shot a glance, he saw that a few of the other dancers quickly turned their heads away like they didn’t want to be caught staring. Even though he could understand why the rest of the competition would be worried, the pegasus didn’t want to be unhinged by a single couple.
That was when he decided to add optimistically, “But hey! I don’t think a bunch of wins should keep other ponies from at least trying! Some ponies can just easily be intimidated by ponies they heard of, that’s all. It’s not like Elusive and I don’t understand.”
“Oh, definitely,” said Derek with a wave of his hoof. “I guess you would know that, what with being an Element and all.”
“AND a Wonderbolt!” added Blitz insistently.
With that added detail, both unicorns widened their eyes and made a shared “Ohhhhhhhh,” like the two just got an elaborate joke. “So THAT’S why!” said Julianne when she looked back at her brother. “See, I told you they were here for a reason!”
“Wait, what?” asked Blitz as he blinked a couple times. “Who’s here?”
“Ummm, the Wonderbolts?” said Derek with a glance back at Blitz. “What, you didn’t know? Julie and I saw them in the audience a few minutes ago!”
“Sorry, we don’t really pay attention to the Wonderbolts that much,” admitted Julianne with a guilty smile, “but it really is nice that your team came out to see…”
The mare’s words began to trail off as she and her brother noticed how drastically Rainbow Blitz’s look changed. Instead of the friendly demeanor he had before, Blitz was now bug-eyed with his pupils shrunk in. His face was also starting to turn a ghastly shade of white, which matched how Twinkle Toes looked when the Hoofingtons went to greet her. While Julianne looked between the pegasus and the the nearby auditorium, Derek narrowed his eyes and waited a few seconds before asking, “So… I take it you didn’t know they were coming today?”
“No,” blurted Blitz in a timid voice that barely came out of his frozen muzzle. “No I didn’t. I need to go check on something.”
Without even giving a proper goodbye, Blitz shot out of the room fast enough to leave a rainbow trail glowing behind him. The Hoofingtons stood in surprise by his hasty exit, and Julianne was the first to make a response after a moment of shared silence. “Well… he seems nice.”
Since the actual competition wasn’t slated to start for at least another hour, most of the auditorium was fairly empty aside from a few ponies speckled around here and there. Unlike most theater setups, the Baltimare Grand Theater didn’t have a raised stage at the front of a large room and all the seats in the front. Instead, it was more of a stadium setup where all the seats were arranged around the lowered stage in the middle. Because of that, most of the ponies who were in the massive room were seated in one of the front rows at a corner space.
On one side of the corner was Dusk Shine, Barb, Starshine, Bubble Berry, and Butterscotch, who were conversing with the members of the Wonderbolt team who were seated on the other side. At the end of the Wonderbolts side was Elusive, who originally came to the stage to meet up with his friends; however, he ended up in conversation with the Wonderbolts group since they were already chatting with the others.
Despite the fact the the first time Elusive met these ponies was when he almost killed them during that Young Flyers Competition, none of the Wonderbolts tried to bring it up or make him feel uncomfortable. After all the time he spent dwelling on his routine and comparisons to other dancers, the unicorn was able to relax surprisingly well as he listened in on the group’s stories. While he wouldn’t personally call himself a fan of the aerial team, he could certainly see why Blitz idolized them so much; after conversing with them, Elusive could tell that they were all rather intelligent and interesting ponies. He had no idea how long he was seated beside them, but he was fully invested as he listened in on a story Flamethrower was going over with the rest of Blitz’s friends:
“So by the time I realized what was up, the cloud machine was running for over three hours! By then, the entire facility was just filled with bubbles! Like, they were EVERYwhere! In the barracks, in the mess hall, all over the field. I remember a few cadets told me it also got in their lockers! Even though it didn’t cause any real damage, it was one of those things that really got under my skin by the time we got everything cleaned up. So imagine my surprise when I finally looked inside the cloud machine, and saw that the bottle of body wash used was still inside! I instantly recognized that it was the kind Rainbow Ditz used, so I went to confront him about it. I wanted to think that maybe he was framed or something -- You know, like that Wind Glider incident -- But as soon as I showed him that friggin bottle, he just fell over and started laughing!”
Everyone else cracked up after that last bit, with none of them looking surprised in the slightest. Elusive looked especially happy while in his seat, clearly needing to hear something like that to ease his anxieties. Bubble Berry made sure to add after giggling, “Just so you know, that was actually MY idea! I didn’t expect him to actually do it though!”
“Well, he did!” said Flamethrower with a shake of his head. “I swear, it doesn’t matter how many times I make him clean the barracks with his own toothbrush, that guy still pulls pranks on the base all the time!”
“Wait, you make him use his own TOOTHBRUSH?!” yelled Elusive in shock with a hoof against his chest. “What’s wrong with you?!”
“Relax, kid,” replied Flamethrower with a glance back at the unicorn. “It’s not like we make him brush his teeth with it after cleaning the toilets! It was just something to get him to think about whether or not to pull stupid stunts like that again.”
Even though he sympathized with Flamethrower’s conundrum, Elusive made sure to respond with a huff, “Well, at least he’s doing more harmless pranks to you guys. You should be grateful he isn’t overstepping his bounds like he had with some of us.”
Dusk and the others all nodded in unison, not wanting to mention some of the “pranks” that their friend tried on any of them. Next to Flamethrower, the light blue mare Soaring added in Blitz’s defense, “To be fair, that was probably the biggest prank he tried at the base. I don’t think any of his other stunts leveled up to that.”
Breakneck, another Wonderbolt who had a coat similar to Blitz’s (but with a pure white mane) giggled and asked his fellow cadet, “Oh really? How about the blow-up doll incident?”
Flamethrower groaned and face-hoofed while the rest of the Wonderbolts laughed at that reminder. Elusive chuckled heartily too, having been told that story from Applejack a while back. Meanwhile, Barb tilted her head with her eyes narrowed in confusion. “What’s a blow-up doll?”
Breakneck and the others quickly stopped, immediately remembering that a kid was listening in on their stories as well. Fortunately, Dusk Shine took the reins by saying in an awkward-sounding voice. “Wellllll… I don’t think that’s appropriate to explain right now.”
The drake just shrugged her shoulders in response. “Fine, don’t tell me.” She then added sarcastically, “It’s not like I can just look it up in the giant library when we get home.”
While Dusk Shine’s expression soured at that response, Starshine leaned in towards him to whisper cheekily, “She got you there.”
Before the Prince could say anything to his student or his assistant, the sound of a metal door being thrown open in the distance echoed loudly throughout the auditorium. Everyone stopped and turned to see where that noise could’ve came from. That slam was then followed by the thundering noise of frantic hoofsteps down one of the aisles. Rainbow Blitz zoomed in to the very front rows of the stage, and stopped in a sudden jolt when he caught sight of his friends sitting alongside his fellow cadets. But even with the pegasus’ teeth clamped together and his eyes as wide as frisbees, nothing about Blitz’s shocked or terrified look seemed to phase Elusive when he saw him.
“Oh, there you are!” piped the unicorn cheerfully as he waved him over with a hoof. “Come on over! We were just having a lovely chat with your Wonderbolt friends!”
Flamethrower and the others motioned him to come over with friendly smiles, but Rainbow was temporarily frozen at the spot with a growing look of cringe on his face. When he tried to smile back at them with a meager wave, he ended up looking like somepony who shouldn’t be near a school with how wide it spread across his muzzle. “Hhhh… Heeyyyyyy guys….” His smile pursed shut as he walked over to the group, his eyes pinned to the Wonderbolts while blinking repeatedly. “I did not expect you guys to be here today.”
“Well, why not?” jeered Breakneck with a raised brow. “We finished our last show in Canterlot the other day, so our schedules opened up! We would’ve gone to the Ponyville show if we weren’t focused on our training.”
Blitz sighed painfully with a wince pointed away from them, temporarily forgetting his embarrassment at seeing them here. With all the dancing he did with Elusive, he barely had any time to think of his missed Wonderbolts show.
“Hey, come on,” said Soaring while nudging Breakneck with her hind leg. “I don’t think he needs to be reminded of missing that.” She then made sure to add back at Blitz with a sympathetic smile, “It was a really good show, but it would’ve been a lot better with you in it.”
Even though that statement was certainly nice to hear, it only lessened Blitz’s upset look by a tiny bit as he rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, thanks…”
Noticing Blitz’s downtrodden look, Elusive got out of his seat and went to wrap a hoof around the pegasus’ back. “If it means anything Rainbow, Starshine actually showed them a recording of our performance from the previous show, and they all thought you were fantastic!”
Blitz’s wide-eyed expression turned towards Starshine rather quickly, which left the stallion to raise his hooves and shrug. “What? They wanted to see it!”
“And I gotta say,” added Flamethrower with an impressed look on his face while looking at his recruit, “you did a really good job! Given how much more time you spend on your wing strength than your legs, I wouldn’t have expected you to pull off hoofwork like that. It was nicely done!”
Blitz stared back at his superior with genuine surprise. He expected Flamethrower’s expression to look coy or condescending, but the Captain’s smile looked completely genuine alongside his words. “Wait, you…” Blitz blinked a couple times before finishing his question. “You’re not making fun of me?”
Flamethrower just gave an expression like the pegasus asked if he was wearing a thong. “Oh, come on!” he responded with a roll of his eyes. “You really think we’re gonna judge you for helping your friend? After all the things we’ve seen you do as part of your Loyalty thing, I would’ve expected you to be the one to do something like this.”
“Yeah!” added Breakneck in agreement. “Besides, it’s not like you’re the only dancer, Ditz! Soaring used to do ballet as a kid.”
“HEY!” shouted Soaring angrily. “I told you that privately!”
Bubble Berry covered his mouth and tried not to snicker. While Soaring seethed in her seat and tried her hardest to ignore the pink stallion’s muffled noises, Flamethrower brought the focus back to himself and said, “He’s not wrong, Blitz. There’s nothing wrong with dancing. I mean, yeah, it is weird to know you’re dancing with your friend there. But if we were gonna make fun of you, it’d be if your dancing sucked.”
Before Blitz could say anything in surprise to that comment, Elusive strengthened his grip around him and proudly proclaimed to the team, “Well I can assure you that we are not going to suck, as you so brashly call it. With my expertise and his training, the only things we expect to hear from you guys are rounds of applause!”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” replied Flamethrower with a stern grin of his own back at the unicorn. “Regionals are gonna be tougher to get high scores on, so you two better give it your A Game!”
“I assure you that we will,” retorted the unicorn proudly. “If all of you are able to overcome obstacles to become Wonderbolts, then Blitz and I could surely do the same with our Cha-Cha-Cha!”
Blitz groaned heavily and covered his face with a hoof. “Dude, come on,” he muttered in embarrassment. “Can you not call it that?”
“Well, that’s what it’s called!” returned the unicorn firmly. “And speaking of which, we should really get back to get in our outfits and go over our routines.”
“Listen to him, Ditz,” said Flamethrower in a stern voice of his own, although his smirk remained. “Don’t half-ass your traini--OH!”
The stallion may have been tough as nails, but he still covered his muzzle with a blush before looking back at Dusk Shine and Barb. “S-Sorry,” Flamethrower said timidly. “Forgot about the kid.”
Dusk Shine seemed grateful for that apology, but Barb rolled her eyes and responded with, “Again, I live in a library. I probably know more bad words than you.”
Dusk looked rather pissed at the dragoness’ response, but everyone else (including Flamethrower) cracked up laughing. Meanwhile, Elusive and Blitz made sure to wave goodbye before taking their leave back to the backstage area. As they walked up the aisles, Blitz couldn’t help noticing how chipper his partner looked. Instead of the fretful and overstressed unicorn who was practicing like crazy the previous night, Blitz was able to see a much more relaxed and positive Elusive.
“Well,” said the pegasus with a smirk back at his friend, “you certainly look less freaked out. Did Butterscotch give you some of Day Tripper’s stash?”
“No,” answered Elusive with a smile alongside his raised brows back at Blitz. “I’m just glad I was able to talk with my friends, as well as yours. I have to say, your team is a lot nicer than I would’ve expected.”
“Wait, what?” Blitz seemed puzzled that the unicorn would say something like that. “What did you think they were gonna be? Dickheads?”
While he didn’t like the idea of bringing up past discrepancies, Elusive sighed and retorted with, “Well, they did make your official nickname the same one that tormented you as a colt. Plus, I wasn’t sure if they would be nice to me after that Young Flyers incident.”
“Oh, come on! That was years ago!” After a brief sigh, Blitz thought it over before nodding reluctantly. “But… yeah, I guess I can see your point. It’s nice that you have a better impression of them.”
“Indeed I do,” chirped Elusive with a smile towards him. “If I knew how friendly they could be, I probably would’ve seen more of their shows before you joined.”
“I’m gonna remember you said that.” Even though the aisle was getting darker from the lack of light when they reached the backstage door, Blitz was able to see how happy his friend looked. Despite his lingering thoughts and embarrassment about their situation, Blitz had to admit that it was nice to see Elusive so positive about how things could go. As long as he didn’t try to barrage him with more hair gel, the last thing Blitz wanted to do was be a damper to his friend’s mood.
However, when the two walked down the narrow hallway to their dressing room, Blitz remembered the reason why the unicorn was so glum beforehoof. Hoping it would help his partner even more, he decided to say optimistically, “Oh! Speaking of ponies you wouldn’t expect to be nice, I actually chatted with the Hoofingtons a while ago.”
“Wait, really?!” Elusive’s head head whipped back at him with a look of starstruck shock. “Oh my gosh! What were they like?”
“You know how in sports movies, the rival team is always a bunch of pompous jerks who are super snobby and treat the heroes like crap? Well, the Hoofingtons were the exact opposite of that!”
“Well then!” exclaimed Elusive with an even happier look on his face. “It’s nice to know we have some friendly competition! Anything else I should know?”
As they walked, Blitz bit his lip momentarily in thought. Despite not wanting to lie to his friend, he also didn’t want to bring up that conversation he heard earlier. Not only would it probably upset his partner, but it wasn’t really important to bring up anyway. Besides, it’s not like they knew for sure why that one couple quit, so nopony should make assumptions.
“Eh, not really,” admitted Blitz with a shrug of his shoulders. “I heard one couple quit, but I have no idea why. All I know is that we have less competition to deal with now.”
“Well, that’s certainly a relief!” Not thinking much about that news, Elusive walked into their dressing room first and grabbed their outfits with his magic. “So, Blitz,” he asked as he looked back at his partner with a randy grin, “are you ready to cha-cha-cha?”
Upon seeing the hot pink shirt that was made for his size, the stallion’s face dropped to a brooding glare back at his friend. “Dude. Please stop calling it that!”