Prompt #126:
Twilight stepped onto the dance floor. Time stopped.
Rarity stared through the crowds that no longer seemed ot be moving, stared at the awkward librarian that had so changed her life. The dress that shouted to the world the hours of toil behind it, the lips that whispered silent promises for the evening to come, and the eyes that said all they needed to say.
Twilight hadn't seen her yet. She wanted to call out, to scream over the unbroken note of the frozen band, but her breath had caught and her heart was no longer beating. She could nothing but drink in the sight of Twilight at her absolute finest. She had tried harder tonight than she had ever tried...
And it was all for her.
Twilight's questing gaze finally found her, and she smiled shyly. Time came rushing back, the rumble of the crowd and the sparkle of the music washing over Rarity as sensation returned. She blinked, shaking her head quickly to clear the swiftly-spun cobwebs of love from her mind and focus on the night at hand. Twilight was trotting towards her and Rarity was seized by uncharacteristic panic. How did Twilight do this to her? All her carefully constructed self-assurances, all her safeguards against the demons within, were but petals in the wind when that one silly grin was flashed her way.
Was her mane okay? Had she worn the right dress? What should she open the conversation with? Should she let Twilight start? Was the Gala even a good idea? What if everything went wrong aga-
"Rarity! You look…amazing."
Twilight was standing before her now and suddenly everything was right with the world. Rarity tossed her mane and rolled her eyes.
"Of course I do, dear, it's what I do."
Twilight giggled, and Rarity felt herself becoming real again.
"I suppose it is. So, um…what's the plan?"
Rarity faltered for a moment. What was the plan? As Twilight glanced around the cavernous ballroom, biting her lip in indecision in that way that set Rarity's mind aflame, she panicked and blurted, "Dancing! Y-yes. Shall we dance?"
Twilight blushed as she glanced back at the dance floor, at the couples resting heads on necks and, in some of the more secluded corners, lips on lips. "Um, sure."
They trotted to the centre of the floor where the crowd was thickest, clutching at privacy amongst the gently swaying crowd. They stood for a moment, uncertain of how to begin, until Twilight unexpectedly took the lead and, after a few false starts on Rarity's part, they danced together beneath the flickering chandeliers.
Rarity closed her eyes, letting the feeling of Twilight's neck on hers spread through her as Twilight's skilful hooves led them through the simple yet elegant steps of the waltz.
Hang on.
Memory reared its fuzzy head in the back of Rarity's mind, trying to make itself heard. Another party in Canterlot, not months ago. A birthday party. Twilight's birthday party. Slowly, she opened her eyes as the memory formed. Terrible music, terrible embarrassment, and most of all...
"Twilight…when did you get so good at dancing?"
The great glass windows of the ballroom shattered, showering the room in glass. The crowd screamed and cowered, huddling to protect themselves from the glinting rain as blinding searchlights tore through the darkness outside.
"THE ENTITY CURRENTLY REFERRING TO ITSELF AS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, COME OUT WITH YOUR APPENDAGES EXTENDED AND YOUR FORM NEUTRAL."
Rarity stumbled forward as Twilight suddenly leapt away from her, snarling at the glaring beams illuminating her.
"Never! I escaped once, I'll escape again!"
With a flash of green light, Twilight was replaced by a tall, insectile creature dripping with ichor. Rarity gasped with horror as the changeling queen hissed at her pursuers. Before she could react any further, a swarm of guards entered the room from every direction, leaping through windows and rappelling from balconies. The queen screeched and fire bolts of green light wildly about her, but the guards moved with textbook precision and within moments had erected a magicl barrier around her.
Shining Armour vaulted into the room, trotting purposefully to the barrier and adding his own power to it, leaving the creature powerless in the face of his impenetrable magic.
"Sorry, Chrysalis. But your plans..."
He winced at the glare of the searchlights and levitated a pair of sunglasses to his eyes.
"…have changed."
The crowd burst into applause, the hoarse "YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAH" of a flexing white pegasus joining the cacophany. Shining Armour nodded to the crowd.
"Don't worry, folks, we'll soon get your party back up and running."
Not ten minutes later, the Gala was back in full swing, abuzz with talk of Chrysalis' attempted infiltration. The general consensus was that letting Chrysalis in in the first place had been far made up for by the Guard's swift response, and several notable luminaries made mental notes to pay a few more taxes this year.
Rarity stood numbly at the edge of the crowd, mouth still opening and closing in an attempt to in some way respond to the whole blasted situation. She barely noticed when Twilight Sparkle, wearing a plain yellow dress knocked together in an evening, appeared at her side.
"Hey, Rarity! Sorry I'm late."
Rarity turned and stared blankly at her, and Twilight cocked her head in confusion.
"Uh, you okay, Rarity?"
Rarity blinked.
"I…Yes, I…Um..."
Twilight gave her odd look, then shrugged.
"Well, it's great to see you tonight! I'll let you finish what you're doing. For now, I'm going to get some dancing in."
She swaggered onto the dance floor and, with a toss of her mane and a flick of her tail, flung herself into action.
Notes: Woo, I'm doing TMPs again! I went away for a weekend and fell out of the habit and... well, it took me 40-odd days to get back into it. Oops. Anyways, this was the result. I had a lot of trouble reaching a start point with this one, because I simply cannot work from a picture. In the end it took me creating my own SUB-prompt of "Twilight stepped onto the dance floor. Time stopped," to actually get anywhere, although I suppose you could say that that never would've happened if the gif didn't exist so... Anyways, yeah, another silly one. I haven't done something straight-up silly for a while, so it was nice to just, I don't know, have Shining Armour lead a SWAT team to take down Chrysalis then pull a Caine in the middle of an entirely unrelated shipping story. Hope you enjoyed it!