//------------------------------// // Do It For Me Now // Story: Blonde Moments // by FamousLastWords //------------------------------// Train rides were not one of Spike’s favorite things. Not even the luxury booth that he was in could change that fact. Double-cushioned seats fashioned with satin and cotton, a wide window with beautiful scenery of forest and mountains in the distance and solid oak flooring were the staples of his current surroundings, but they didn’t change the criminal sin of train rides. They were long. It had already been thirty minutes since he, Derpy and Twilight boarded said train and were seated in their luxury car, but they still didn’t seem any closer to the destination. It was only an hour commute at most, but still, that left a lot of time and opportunity available for strange conversation, awkward silence and a bunch of other things to go wrong. “Spike, do I look okay?” Twilight asked, straightening out the hem of her dress for the fiftieth time. “This is the first time I’ve gotten to actually be a host of an event like this. I have to look perfect.” Spike looked at Twilight who sitting on the opposite side of their booth. “Twilight, you look great, I promise. Nopony is gonna notice if there’s a wrinkle or two on your dress.” “A wrinkle? Where?” Twilight scanned her outfit once more. “I swore I got them all out.” “Twilight, calm down. There are no wrinkles. I was speaking hypothetically.” Spike chuckled slouched back into his seat. “For what it’s worth, Princess,” Derpy said, “I think you look very pretty.” Spike looked at his marefriend who was happily seated next to him and smiled. He then turned back toward Twilight.  “You see, Twi. We both think so. Sixty-six percent of us think you look great. You can’t argue against those odds… Well, you probably could, but please don’t for the sake of my sanity.” Twilight took a deep breath before smiling at Derpy. “Thank you for the kind words, Derpy. I’m just nervous, is all.” “We can tell,” Spike said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, Princess,” Derpy said with a sweet smile. “You’ll be a great host tonight.” “That does make me feel better,” she said. “And, Derpy, you don’t have to keep calling me Princess even if it is a formal event. You’ve been with Spike long enough now you may as well be family. Just call me Twilight.” She blushed but nodded. “Okay, Prin— Twilight, I mean.” Spike wasn’t lying when he told Twilight that she looked great. Both of the mares with him did. They both had outfits designed by Rarity, of course, as per the usual. And also as per the usual, she spared no expense in making them look fascinating. Twilight’s dress was a beautiful shade of white with delicate, magenta accents. It was her standard style of ball gown, but where she used to have a simple solid pattern and material, she now had gorgeous white fabric, with lace and carefully placed creaces to make it seem almost as if it were flowing as she moved. Derpy’s dress was equally, if not more astonishing. She was wearing a dark blue gown held together around her neck with beautiful black ribbon and silver brooch. The frills of the dress were also decorated with a black lace that contrasted magnificently with her great coat color. This also happened to be the first time Spike had ever seen her with any kind of makeup on. She had very light amounts of eyeliner and mascara. He could tell she did her best to look amazing tonight. Of course, he was of the opinion that she looked just as good without it, but he appreciated that she took the event serious enough to go out of her way getting ready for it. Spike, on the other hoof, was far less dashing than them. Rarity had made him a new suit of course. It was in the traditional black coloring of which he always wore, but he didn’t mind that. He also didn’t mind that he wore a plain black shirt underneath it. What he did mind, however, was that he was tall enough to wear suit pants this time around and he just couldn’t seem to get comfortable in them. His tail jutted out at a weird angle and he felt like every move he made gave them wrinkles. But luckily, he was able to get a really nice tie to go with the outfit. It was a bright green bowtie that matched his natural coloring to a T. It wasn’t as special an outfit as the other to had, but it would its job of making him look nice. “So, are you two excited for your first dance together?” Twilight asked. Derpy bobbed her head. “Mhm. I’m really glad I got to come. It was so nice of Sweetie Belle to watch Dinky for the night. I hope she doesn’t give her too much trouble.” “You have nothing to worry about,” Twilight followed up with. “Sweetie is one of the most responsible young mares I’ve ever met. Just focus on having a good time. Everything will be okay.” “Definitely,” Spike interjected. “It’s gonna be great, trust me. You know, as long as you ignore the fancy people with their heads up their—” “Spike, mind your manners!” Twilight scolded him. “Sorry, mother,” Spike said with a chuckle before turning back to Derpy. “We’re gonna have a great time. I can feel it.” “I know we will,” she replied with a grin. Spike felt her gently place a hoof on the claw he had laying on the seat beside him. He gently stroked it, earning a soft hum from the pony. Spike was admittedly nervous, even with her holding his claw like that. He was trying to be reassuring to her, but at the same time, he was hoping to reassure himself. The other fancy ponies, the intimacy of the event’s purpose, having Princess Luna see him together with Derpy for the first time… Derpy looking amazing and him looking like a goofball. He knew she was nervous too, though, so he had to be strong. Right before they left, she confided that she was scared of what some of the more regal ponies might say about her eyes and their tendency to be a bit lazy at times. Of course, he’d noticed before but it never really meant anything to him. He grew up being the only dragon in town, so as far as he was concerned any physical abnormality wasn’t something to worry about. She gave him a kiss for that response. But, Spike knew that he’d only be done being nervous about the whole thing when they got there and dwelling on it too much would only serve to make him even more nervous. He’d just need to shake it off and do what he does best: fake it till he makes it. “How about you, Twilight?” Spike asked. “Are you excited at least to be one of the hosts?” She nodded. “Of course. It’s a great honor. Especially if it's successful enough to happen again. This could become a yearly thing with me and Luna. Or who knows, she might even give me the responsibility of arranging it every year if all goes well. It’s really quite special. But, just… Eh, nevermind.” “What is it?” Spike asked, Derpy showing concern as well. “Oh, nothing. Just, it’d be nice to a royal dance of some sort where I didn’t have to be the Princess and look regal and be important. With my position, I can’t really think of a time when somepony even asked if I wanted to dance with them.” Twilight sighed before reverting back to her smile. “But, that’s just what a position of responsibility brings to the table, I suppose. And I really am quite honored to be there with you two.” Spike gripped Derpy’s hoof a bit tighter. She reminded him of just how lucky he was to actually have a marefriend coming with him. It made his heart flutter a bit just feeling her rub his claw a bit as he held it. “We’re happy you get to come with us, too, Twilight,” Derpy said. “You deserve to have fun just like everypony else.” Twilight smiled. “Thank you, Derpy. You too, Spike.” The three of them engaged in friendly conversation for the rest of the ride to the dance. Although it was still present, the nervousness slowly seemed to melt away between three of them as they got closer. Eventually, the train pulled into the station at Canterlot. They were helped out of the car by the attendants and got lay their eyes on glorious Canterlot with the setting sun as the perfect backdrop for the Royal Castle. Derpy, in particular, looked at it in pure wonderment. “Wow, it’s prettier than I remember,” she said, eyes wide. “It’s been so long since I last came here.” “Really?” Spike asked. He seemed to continuously forget that not everypony was as privileged as him and his friends to get to travel so freely and got to the castle on a whim. “When was the last time you were here?” Derpy rubbed her chin. “Too long, I guess. It’s been years.” “Well,” Spike said, taking her hoof in his claw. “That’s about to change. Let’s go have some fun!” Even if it was a new and strange event for all three of them in some way, they’d have a great evening, for sure. Especially because they all had each other for support. Spike looked at the food on the plate in front of him. He knew that these fancy events had high-end meals to go with them, usually, but this was a bit ridiculous. “Let’s see here,” he said. “A few leafs of lettuce, half of a grilled carrot and glass of sparkling ice-water. I guess this is how the sweet and elite meet to eat.” Derpy chuckled from her side of the small round table. “I guess so.” They both took a sample bite of their grilled carrot. It was average at best and their scrunched faces provided evidence to that claim. “It’s not bad,” Derpy said. “Yeah,” Spike replied. “But I guarantee you it’s nowhere near as good as the price tag it usually has. At least it's free, right?” Derpy nodded. “Yeah. It was really nice of Luna to give everypony a free meal. I wasn’t expecting free food.” “Yeah. It was probably to help the whole romantic-y environment she’s going for.” Spike looked around for a moment at the relatively dim lights, candles on the tables and soothing dinner music playing from the four-piece band playing in the back corner. “I’d say she’s done a pretty good job.” “I agree,” Derpy said. The two finished up eating, mostly in silence. The nervousness had almost seemed to completely wear off the two of them. It helped that most of the other couples there seemed far less snobby than the usual fare at fancy events. Instead of the high-end business ponies drinking champagne, there were couples enjoying an evening together. Instead of older ponies giving the evil-eye to anypony looking like they were having fun, there were older couples laughing and holding hooves together. Everypony that was there was there for the sake of having an enjoyable evening with a loved one. Spike and Derpy fit right in. “I hope everything is to your liking so far.” Spike and Derpy jumped out of their seats at the new voice taking them by surprise. They both looked to the side to see Princess Luna standing there with a smile. She too adorned a beautiful gown for the night. “Oh, hello, Princess Luna.” Derpy laughed nervously and bowed her head briefly. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you coming.” “It is quite alright,” she said. “I apologize for frightening you.” “Hey, Luna!” Spike said with a wave. “Good evening to you as well, Spike,” she replied. “Now, I take it you must be Derpy?” Derpy pointed at herself with a cocked eyebrow. “M-Me? Yes, ma’am. I’m Derpy.” “It is a pleasure to meet you.” Luna bowed her head gracefully. “Spike has told me much about you in his letters to us the past several months.” “You have?” Derpy asked, looking at the now blushing dragon. “Yeah, well, you know…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “When you meet a pretty mare it’s kinda hard not to talk about her.” Derpy smiled and chuckled nervously. “Hehe. I hope he said nice things.” “Of course,” Luna said. “Twilight has also told me several nice things about you tonight. I’m glad to finally meet you in person. My sister wished to meet you as well, but she is, unfortunately, attending to personal business tonight.” “Celestia?” Derpy squeaked out. “...Wants to see me?” “Why of course,” Luna stated. “Any pony that Spike speaks so highly of is obviously a pony worth meeting.” “Oh, well… thank you, Princess.” Derpy was once again trying her best to hide her red cheeks behind her mane. “Anyhow,” Luna continued. “I shan’t keep you from your meal any longer. I simply wished to introduce myself. The dancing will begin shortly and I look forward to seeing you two out on the floor.” With a quick nod, the Princess wandered back to her podium at the front of the room where Twilight was standing, doing her best to hold a regal posture. “It’s amazing that you’re so close to the Princesses, Spike,” Derpy said. “I can’t believe that she actually came over to talk to us. She was so nice.” “Huh?” Spike said, looking up from the plate of food he was almost done finishing off. “Luna? Oh yeah, she’s great. Just, you know, until she doesn’t get her daily nap. She can get kinda cranky if not.” Derpy giggled. “I think we all get cranky without enough sleep. I guess the Princesses are just ponies, too, huh?” “Yep!” Spike said. “They’re just as crazy as the rest of us sometimes.” The two shared a laugh and finished up their food together. They idly chatted the next few minutes about the beautiful scenery, the upscale music, and of course, the other couples that were sitting around them. It was an enjoyable personal time together. But, as promised, the time eventually came. “Everypony, may I please have your attention.” Twilight’s voice rang out over the room, bringing the many voices to a slow halt. “Thank you. The floor is now open to any and all couples who wish to dance tonight. Music will be provided by our wonderful four-piece orchestra band. Now, get out there and have fun!” After an audible three-count, the band instantly picked up into playing an upbeat and fun tune. It took all of a few seconds for roughly a third of the couples to leave their seats together and hit the floor. It was evident from the start that hardly anypony was a professional dancer on the floor. Sloppy steps, out of time turns, and so on. But, the thing was, nopony seemed to care. Spike turned to Derpy, who was lightly tapping her hooves against the ground to the sway of the music, looking at the growing amount of couples. “So, Derpy?” “Huh.. yeah?” She napped out of her music-induced trance. “What is it, Spike?” “You ever dance at a party like this, before?” Derpy ducked her head a bit and shook it. “Heh, no, never. I’ve, um, never really danced at all before.” Spike gave his usual smug grin and was about to go on a rant about knowing all the tricks of the trade, but at the last second, he decided against it. Instead, he merely nodded. “I get ya. And to be honest, I really don’t know anything about it, either. Just some things I’ve picked up here and there.” “It looks really fun, though, doesn’t it?” Derpy asked, turning her gaze back to the floor. “Oh, yeah, it totally does,” he responded. “So, I don’t suppose you’d be willing to give it a try with me, would you?” Derpy turned back to him. “I, um, well I’m not sure I’d be any good. I’d just make us both look silly out there.” “Psh, Nah,” Spike said, waving a claw. “Everypony will be way too distracted by me stumbling over myself to notice any mistakes you make. Besides, we’re totally the best looking couple here, so if my clumsiness doesn’t distract them, our good looks will.” Spike sent the point home with a wink. He then proceeded to stand up and he reached out his claw to her. “I guess so,” she said with a slowly enlarging grin. “It might be fun.” “Oh yeah,” Spike said. “It’ll be loads of fun. You trust me, right?” Derpy looked into his eyes for one more second before putting her hoof in his claw. “Of course I do.” They both wandered onto the waxed, wooden dance floor. There were quite a few other couples out there, but there was still more than enough room for them to have a place. For the sake of easing into it, Spike led her to an area near the outskirts of the floor with fewer couples around. “Okay, so let me show you where to start.” Spike placed her hoof on his shoulder and held her other one. “Now, I’m just going to need to hold you a little bit closer here.” He pulled her into his chest a bit more and gently placed his claw on her lower back. Thankfully, he got it in the right position on his first try. “O-Okay,” Derpy said, blushing slightly. “Now what?” “Now…” Spike winked at her. “You just follow my lead.” He started very slowly with just a few sides to side movements. It wasn’t perfect, but they weren’t tripping over each other, at least. After a few more lateral moves, he then gently spun them in a circle and moved backward and forwards in quick succession. This time, it was much more smoothe. She was picking up on it a lot faster than he did. “There, it’s not that hard is it?” Spike said. “Mm-mm.” Derpy shook her head and smiled. “It’s fun.” They continued their basic movements until the song neared its end. There was one particular move left in his arsenal he learned yesterday and he was about to try it. “Okay, sweets? I’m gonna try something here, so just follow along with me.” She turned her head up to him. “Okay.” “I’m just gonna spin you in a circle and then pull you back towards me.” Her eyes widened. “You think we can do it?” “I guess we’ll find out,” Spike said with a chuckle. “Here goes.” They took two more steps to the left together and then he went for it. Spike lifted her hoof in the air, and lightly twisted it, her body spinning with it, and… he forgot to catch her. And now she was on the floor. Spike immediately dropped down to check on her. “Derpy! Are you okay? That was totally my bad.” The mare lifted her head up from behind her mane. He could see a redness on her cheeks and it sounded like she was about to cry. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry! I—” “Haha!” She laughed aloud, pulling herself up to her hooves. “That was great!” Spike widened his eyes before laughing a bit himself. “You actually enjoyed my epic failure? Heh, guess you’re learning from Starlight, huh?” The two shared a quick laugh and the first song came to an end, followed by a brief moment of hoof stomping from the crowd. One of the band members then spoke up. “Thank you very much. This next song, in the true spirit of a couple’s night, is a slow dance.” He turned to the pianist. “Take it away.” A light, soothing piano ballad spread throughout the room. There was hardly a beat to follow with this one as it was more of just a soft melody than anything. Spike turned to Derpy who was shuffling her front hoof against the floor, looking up at him. “I… don’t really know how to slow dance. I guess we’ll have to wing it?” Derpy nodded. “I guess so.” This time it was her turn to get them in position. She reared up and draped her hoof over his shoulder again and put her other in his claw. Spike, of course, got his other claw in place and they began. Given that there was really no beat to follow or stable pattern, they instead just rocked back and forth with each other in slow, simple patterns. Spike wasn’t sure what exactly the right form of dancing or positioning was for this style, but everypony else seemed to be doing something similar, so they weren’t doing too bad. “So, this is all there is to the whole ‘slow dancing’ thing, huh?” Spike joked. “Heh, no wonder everypony does it. It’s so easy.” Derpy nuzzled his cheek. “Shush. Just dance.” Spike chuckled but followed her orders. They continued their slow movements for the next minute. It was incredibly relaxing. Romantic music, dim lighting, and a beautiful mare in his arms. What more could a dragon ask for, right? After a bit more of the same, Derpy looked up to Spike with a half-lidded gaze. And then, all the previous knowledge about proper dance positions Spike learned went out the window. Derpy wrapped both of her forelegs around his neck and nuzzled into his cheek before resting her head against his. Spike had no idea what to do at this point, so he just went with the only thing he thought he could. He wrapped both of his arms around her and held her even closer than before. He felt her warmth against his chest as she snuggled against him a bit more. And then, they resumed the slow motions they were doing, but with their new position. It may have looked strange to others, but neither of them cared. Spike loved it. After another minute or so of dance. Derpy paused, having Spike do the same. She pulled her head back from him and touched her nose against his, looking directly into his eyes with that same, shy gaze she’d had when they first met. “Spike…I...” Before she finished her sentence and before he could respond, she tilted her head to the side and pressed her lips into his… and he reciprocated by pulling her closer to him. They’ve kissed before. They’ve been on dates before. They’ve been close to each other before. But somehow, this kiss felt different. Maybe it was the scenery, maybe it was the music, maybe it was the event itself, but this kiss… this kiss meant something. It meant something special to her and it meant something special to him. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was important. They separated their lips right as soon as the song ended. A flurry of hoof stomps rang out once again and slightly more upbeat tune began playing. Derpy released her hoof-lock on Spike and hopped back to the ground. She was blushing intensely now that the passion of the moment was over and everything else in the room suddenly materialized again. “Thanks for the dance, Spike.” “Thank you for… that,” he said, a blush of his own growing. “That was amazing.” Derpy kicked at the ground and nodded. “Yeah, it was.” The dragon took a deep breath and took a moment to look around. The rest of the couples had begun dancing once more to the new song. Everypony seemed to be having a great time. That was, until, his eyes fell on Twilight. She was still attempting to keep her regal composure, but he could tell she wasn’t entirely enjoying herself. Maybe it was the way her plastered smile was beginning to waver or maybe it was how she was trembling in her attempts to not tap her hoof to the music. Spike let out a sigh and turned to Derpy. “Hey, sweets?” “Yeah?” “Can you do me a huge favor?” He asked. “Do you mind sitting this one out real quick? I have to go talk to somepony.” Derpy gave him a quizzical look but nodded. “Sure, Spike. I’ll just wait at our table.” “Thanks! I’ll only be gone a couple minutes, I promise.” He planted a soft kiss on her cheek and then darted across the room to the podium where Twilight was. “Hey, Twi!” he said, jumping beside her. “Spike?” she asked. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing,” he responded. “Just wanted to say hi. Where’s Luna, by the way?” “Oh, she had to go raise the moon,” Twilight said. “She’ll be back in a minute.” “Ah, I see,” he responded. “Are you having fun?” “Me?” She bobbed her head. “Of course. It’s great! I can tell you are, too.” She gave him a quick nudge and a wink. “Yeah, well, the moment caught up to us,” he responded. “Sorry if we made a scene.” “Don’t be, Spike. It’s great to see you having such a good time. Where is Derpy? This is one of the best songs the band knows. I thought you’d be dancing the night away.” “Oh, we will be,” he responded. “But something kind of came up that I needed to take care of.” “What would that be?” “Well, when this song started, I couldn’t help but overhear a couple of the guys on the floor talking about how awesome they were at dancing to it. And then, of course, I remembered you talking about how much you like this band and I thought to myself ‘Man, Spike, you gotta show these guys up somehow. But what mare in Equestria knows this music well enough to give you a chance to do it?’ And that, in turn, led me here.” Twilight instantly turned her entire body toward him. “Wait a minute. Are you...?” Spike grinned and held out a claw. “I don’t suppose I could have the honor of dancing with you, Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight’s mouth hung open for a just a moment before she placed her hoof in his claw. “Y-Yes, of course you can, Spike.” The crowd almost seemed to pause as she left the podium and took to the floor. Not only was it the first time the crowd had seen one of the hosts get on the dance floor all night, but it was also the first completely genuine smile she’d had on her face since the dancing started. “So, um, it’s been awhile since I’ve done anything like this,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “Don’t worry, Twi. Just follow my lead. It’ll be fun, I promise.”