//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: You Make Me Wanna Dance // Story: The Life and Times of a Tea Pony // by FlutterChai //------------------------------// After a long day of more baking and making drinks in the café, I returned back to my apartment with a sigh of relief, still trying to brush out all splashes of steamed milk and patches of flour from my mane during Flitter and I’s differences in our preparation of the many recipes that we have on the menu. Looking out at the sunset beyond the mountains outside my window, my eyes couldn’t help to drift to the napkin that I got from the pegasus club that one night with Rainbow Dash. She had already returned back to Ponyville a few days back, making sure to to tell everypony that I’m doing better and that I would invite them to the grand opening if they weren’t too busy. Still, that wasn’t why the napkin was important. It was that stallion, Charming. He seemed so friendly and, well, true to his name, charming. I kept trying to think back to my early days of a filly but all I could think about was my mother and the few times that I would fly on her back in the clouds above Cloudsdale. It’s possible that Stal’s dad was good friends with my dad, seeing as he was a famous Wonderbolt known throughout all of Equestria until he retired. At the same time, his face with those soft, dark-green eyes were not so much familiar but maybe just comforting being this far from home. Without another thought, I quickly picked up the napkin and punched in the numbers on the phone beside my bed. 2-9-2-5-8-7-4-4-6-4. Holding the receiver to my ear, I patiently waited for the dial tone with my back hooves tapping on the floor from being so nervous. There aren’t too many phones hooked up around Ponyville and I have never called anypony before, much less a handsome stallion. “Hello?” “Hi!” I said excitedly, “Umm, is there a Charming Stallion there?” “I told you to just call me Stal, Chai.” he replied, chuckling at the formal question. “Well, I didn’t know if you shared wherever you live with somepony or not.” I quickly explained, saying the first thing that came to mind. “Haha! No, it’s just me up here. What’s up?” “I was wondering...” I began, starting to twirl my mane in around my hoof like I was a cheerpony back in Flight School. “If you still wanted to go dancing tonight?” “Tonight? Sure thing. How does 7 o’clock sound?” “Great! I mean, yeah, seven sounds good. Pick me up in front of the Pegasi Apartments down Flower Street, okay?” “No problem, Chai. See you then!” After he hung up on the phone, I couldn’t help to hold the receiver against my chest, my heart filled with the excitement of going out with an old friend from the past. The more I thought about him, the more he seemed less of a memory but more of finding a whole new pony that I have never thought existed. Unfortunately, my thoughts were cut short at the sudden realization of the one thing that Stal had said back at the café. “It’ll be a pretty fancy place, so wear something nice.” I bolted into the closet before starting throwing out the few outfits I packed, courtesy of Rarity, trying to find something that would be perfect for the outing tonight. Out in the calm night of the Los Pegasus’ streets with only a few carriages running about, I stood in front of the apartment building in a small jacket over the dress I had decided to pick to wear for the night. The air wasn’t that cold with the ponies shifting the weather to the more Spring-like temperatures. Still, it was just chilly enough for the wait for the brown pegasus sweeping down from the sky to seem to last forever. I looked down at the front of my hoof expecting to see a watch with the time only to remember that I didn’t ever wear a watch. Sighing at my own stupidity, the gentle ring of the clock tower from the center of Los Pegasus began, signalling that the clock had struck seven. And just like that, I felt a slight breeze of a passing pegasus, stopping in front of where I was standing. “Chai?” I opened my eyes to the handsome stallion, with his dark-green mane combed back away from his eyes and wearing a sharp tuxedo and bow-tie. The image seemed almost familiar but as I stepped back from the wall, all I could see was Stal’s face smiling back at me in every corner of my mind. “You look... really nice, Charming.” I stuttered out, trying my hardest not to blush. He laughed with a hoof to his mouth. “You’re never going to get used to calling me by Stal, are you Flutterchai?” he said joking, offering me a hoof by his side. I smiled in response, taking his hoof as we walked down the street towards downtown Los Pegasus. “We’re not going to the clouds, tonight?” I asked softly. “No, I figured you want something more down to Earth.” he began, wrapping a wing around my back. My face reddened almost immediately at being so close to him, trying my best to flip my mane to hide from the blushing. “You don’t mind dancing with some unicorns, do you?” Rainbow Dash’s blunt voice popped up in my head for a minute before disappearing just as quick. “Not at all.” I smiled back, leaning up against his shoulder as we walked down the brightly lit sidewalks towards the busy, downtown scene. “Good evening,” the stallion at the door greeted as we made our way into the dance hall. It was as Stal had described to be, which was a much calmer place than the pegasus club that Rainbow Dash had taken me to before. The dance floor was still lively as all sort of ponies danced to the music being performed by the classical band on the stage. Occasionally, the music would switch up to some big band swing with the fast melody, but it was still a very classy place. The scene around it seemed almost magical, like it came out of a storybook. “May I take your coat, miss?” a kind pony asked as I walked past his counter. “Oh, of course!” I said, pulling off the jacket and placing it on top of the counter. Without the dark coat on, Stal was able to see that dress that I had picked for the night. It was an old favorite of mine that Rarity had made for me when I was beginning to model for her designs. A sleek and simple, flowing green dress with a few shiny emeralds to accent the swirls of the design. She would often say it was her most Spring-inspired design for how much it fit towards me. I often wore it with my favorite green ribbon in my mane, which made me feel that I was really my own pony other than something everypony wanted me to be. “Here you are, miss.” the pony returned, holding a ticket that I put in the small, matching green purse around my shoulder. I quickly thanked him to find the brown stallion I came in with standing in shock, with his jaw slightly open. “Heehee! Does this look nice, Stal?” I asked playfully, swishing the ends of the dress back and forth as I stood on my back hooves. “You look absolutely gorgeous, Chai.” he said, starting to regain his composure. I giggled and tried not to blush at the compliment, following him to a booth at the side of the dance floor. Sliding into the seat, Stal took the opposite side with his eyes completely focused on me. I could only wonder what he was thinking, giggling at his dazed expression. “What would you like to drink?” a unicorn asked, wearing a standard waiter uniform with a notepad and pencil in his silver aura. “I’ll have a Rose Bird, hold the feathers,” I said, remember the delicious drink that Rainbow had ordered me before at the other club. The unicorn nodded, writing it down on the notepad. “And for you, sir?” he asked, turning his attention to the brown stallion. Stal shook his head back and forth before acknowledging the waiter’s question. “Let’s go with a nosedive, with some rough skies.” Stal ordered, as the unicorn wrote what he said down. He thanked us and then went back towards the bar to fulfill the drink orders. I aimlessly played with a small napkin that was on the table, watching the ponies on the dance floor as they moved gracefully back and forth in the rhythm of the music. “Why did you ask if there was somepony at my house?” Stal asked, looking up at me. I turned away from the dance floor, looking back at him. “Well, I figured with the time that you’ve been here and as a teacher and everything that a stallion like you might have a special somepony.” I answered honestly. Stal raised his eyebrow at the reply, a tense expression on his face. “Do you have someone like that?” he asked. I bit my lip at the question, thinking for a second or two. But the only thing that would come to mind was that one thing that Rarity told me before I had left. “Imaginary someponies don’t count, Fluttershy.” Was he imaginary? How much of everything that’s happened is real? My head began to hurt as I tried to delve deeper into my past. Even the events that only happened a little while ago seem foggy, with the faint image of a pony wearing a similar tuxedo to the one that Stal was wearing right now. “Chai?” Stal asked, trying to break me from my own thoughts. I snapped out of my head and sighed as I said my answer. “No. I don’t have anypony. Not here anyways.” The handsome stallion smiled, resting a hoof on the table. “I’m surprised that you said a stallion like me would already have somepony.” “Oh well, you are charming, aren’t you?” I replied, trying not to blush. Stal chuckled at the comment. “That’s only my name, Chai. Just like yours.” he stated with a smile as the waiter pony came back with the drinks, setting the fizzy-pink glass with the yellow umbrella in front of me and a dark-brown glass with several cubes of ice in front of Stal. “To following your dreams?” I said, holding the glass up for a toast. “To great friends and new opportunities,” Stal added, clinking his glass against mine before taking a sip of the drink. I took the umbrella out of the glass and sipped the drink, tasting the tropical burst of the fizzy drink.