//------------------------------// // Chapter 2- Haven // Story: And We Danced // by iDash //------------------------------// And We Danced Chapter 2: Haven By iDash "The... the spot?" Fluttershy looked at the three ponies in front of her with a raised brow and quizzical expression. Simon chuckled and ran a hoof through his black mane. “Yes. Like I said, not much of a name, really. Everypony just seemed to start calling it that.” “Oh... I see...” Fluttershy said in her hushed voice. After a moment, she noticed where they were standing. It was an old, dusty bar with only a couple of stools. It didn’t look like anypony had used it in years. It stood in one of the darker corners of the room, where the lights that hung down from the ceiling didn’t quite reach. Fluttershy suddenly yelped with surprise as she felt a pony’s hoof slung across her neck. The hoof in question belonged to the cheerful mare she had just met, Chime. Chime spoke in what Fluttershy guessed was her usual happy and boisterous voice. “Yep! So, Flutters, what brings you ‘round these parts?” The shy mare sank down and slipped out of Chime’s hoof. She took a few steps back and looked at each of the ponies. Two of them smiled at her while her cousin wore an expression that was a mix between worry, curiosity, and exasperation. “Um, well...” Fluttershy paused nervously for a moment, then proceeded to tell them of her short journey that night. when she was finished, there was a moment of silence with only the sound of music in the background along with the muffled voices of other ponies. She glanced at each of the others in turn and looked for a reaction. She expected surprise, skepticism, maybe even annoyance or anger. What she did not expect, however, was for her cousin to suddenly burst out laughing. “Hahahah! You know me so well, Shy,” Candy laughed. She wiped a cheerful tear from her eye with a grin. Simon was smiling as well. “Don’t worry, dear Fluttershy. We’re here to keep her out of any trouble.” Candy made a mock pouty face as she regarded Simon. “Boo! Chime probably gets into more trouble than I do!” she said as she pointed to the mare beside her. Chime gave a playful gasp. “Well, I would never... get caught, anyways. You were caught by your sheltered cousin, Candy. Shame on you.” Candy waved a hoof and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Fluttershy chuckled as she watched the friends joke with each other. She raised her head slightly, letting her lavender pink mane move away from where it was covering her eye. She was feeling a little more comfortable around these new ponies. Maybe this place wasn’t so bad? ‘Actually, speaking of this place...’ Fluttershy raised her head and looked around more. She noticed that the music wasn’t playing anymore, or at least not as loudly. All of the ponies that had once been congregated in the large crowd, which she was glad to have escaped from, had separated once more into their own little groups around the spacious room. A lot of the ponies sat on or leaned against large wooden crates that seemed to be scattered around the place. Some of the lights that she hadn’t previously noticed before had been turned back on, only slightly brightening the area around the dusty bar. Fluttershy turned again to the three before her. “Um... excuse me, what exactly is this place? Earlier, you said it was a haven for ponies like you. What did you mean?” Simon looked at Fluttershy with a gentle gaze for a moment, then looked down at the ground as he scrunched up his nose in thought. He tapped a hoof to his chin and then spoke. "Hmmm... I don't quite know how to explain it." He looked back over his shoulder for a second then turned back with a slightly more excited expression. "But if you like, I would more than happy to show you." Fluttershy hesitated. What was he going to show her? It couldn't be that bad, whatever it was. The ponies seemed quite friendly, and they were good friends of Candy's, so what could be the harm? She glanced over to her cousin and saw both an unsure and somewhat anxious expression, but it disappeared and she simply shrugged as if to say 'why not?'. Fluttershy took a small breath and nodded to Simon. "Alright, I suppose I don't mind." "Great!" Simon clapped his hooves together and started in the other direction. "Just follow me, Dear." Fluttershy did so and trotted just a couple paces behind the colt. The sound of more hooves clacking against the ground reached her as Candy and Chime followed a little further behind. She did her best to keep her head down as they progressed further into the light. The groups that they passed paid her no real attention as they talked and laughed amongst themselves. Fluttershy realized that among the groups, she recognized a few of the ponies from around town. She saw a cream colored mare that sold her flowers around Ponyville if she wasn't working on her garden. However, the name escaped her. Far in the back, the mare spotted one of the ponies that worked at the spa whenever she was out with Rarity, Lotus Blossom. She was also surprised to see Nurse Redheart as well, though, that would explain why she heard her name in the crowd earlier. It felt a little odd seeing her out of uniform. 'What was she doing?' Fluttershy thought. "Eep!" Fluttershy yelped after almost crashing into Simon, not realizing that the colt had stopped. "Well, here we are," Simon said. Fluttershy looked. They were standing in front of another group, residing in a lit up corner. There was a small stereo system resting on the ground next to one of the walls. The music was playing low, serving as background noise over the music already coming from the larger system in the room's center. "Um... What is it?" Fluttershy asked tentatively. Rather than replying, Simon took a step forward and began waving over a mare that was resting atop one of the crates. She was a unicorn with a coat that displayed a pale shade of magenta and had a violet mane with light purple highlights. Her cutie mark was a group of three sea green diamonds. She seemed only slightly familiar, as did most of the ponies there. The mare also looked a few years younger than Fluttershy, maybe in her late teenage years. She waved back with a smile when she spotted Simon. "Hey, Simon!" "Hello, Sparkler," Simon replied. Fluttershy watched as the colt trotted over to the small stereo. He paused while pressing the buttons to select the track of his choice, then turned back to Sparkler when he was done. "Would you mind showing us what you've got, Sparkler?" Sparkler grinned and jumped off the crate. "Sure thing. Let's do it." Simon nodded and quickly pressed 'play' on the stereo and began the music. The music started out with a quiet, almost rumbling bass line, but quickly grew with intensity as various pounding drum beats joined into the rhythm. Sparkler started to rock her head, taking a few seconds to get used to the beat. Once she caught up to the tempo, she began trotting around in a small circle within the area. The way she moved was different from the normal trot, though. She stayed on the tips of her hooves, with a little bounce in her step and she never stopped moving. The mare continued to do this for a few minutes, a determined look on her face all the while. What Sparkler did next, however, was what addled Fluttershy the most. She lifted herself up so that she was standing on only her hind legs and began to move in a way the shy mare hadn’t seen before. She began jumping- no, more like hopping slightly on her hooves as she simultaneously crossed them and shifted them in intricate patterns. Her fore legs moved in the air to match the beat as well while her hind hooves flared out and shuffled across the floor. Sparkler did this all in perfect synchronization with the beat of the music and the rumbling drums. That wasn’t all, though. In one smooth, almost untraceable motion, Sparkler drop down low to the ground until she was in a curious position with her fore legs behind her and her hind ones crossed in front of her. Then, once again to the music’s rhythm, she began to weave her legs in complex patterns that continued to repeat themselves over and over in a circular motion. The patterns changed, and with each change her hooves flared out more and more, every motion comprised of both power and finesse. The magenta mare swiftly pulled her hooves in close to her until she was in the right position, then pushed off the ground as hard as she could and shifted her hips and flung her legs out at the same time. The momentum of both actions flung her spinning into the air, mane and tail whipping about as her body flowed almost flawlessly. As gravity pulled her back down to earth, she landed gracefully on all four hooves. Sparkler was wearing a satisfied smile and breathing heavily from her recent passionate physical exertion. The ponies around her stomped their hooves in applause and complimented her with equally bright smiles. “Great job as always, Sparkler!” Simon shouted. Sparkler nodded and thanked him, then returned again to the crate she was previously resting on. “So, what do you think, Fluttershy?” “Huh? Um- what?” Fluttershy stuttered as she snapped her head around to face Simon, only just realizing that she had been staring at the same spot where Sparkler was with her mouth hanging open. Simon chuckled softly. “I kind of expected that.” Fluttershy paused as she regarded the colt and then spoke with a question. “What... what was that?” Simon laughed again, this time turning around and starting in the direction from which they came. “That, my friend, was dance.” “Dance?” “That’s right,” he replied. “Sparkler’s one of our junior members, but she’s still quite good for her age.” He muttered something else under his breath that Fluttershy didn’t get. She looked ahead of them and spotted Candy Mane and Chime talking with each other, and they made their way towards them. Simon spoke again as they arrived. “Anyways, Fluttershy, that is what we do here, so you have no need to worry about Candy getting into any trouble.” “So! How was it, Shy?” Chime said merrily. Fluttershy tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. She didn’t know what to think about it. It certainly wasn’t bad, it was good, but she just couldn’t really describe what she felt from it. “It was... good. I... I just don’t really know how to put it.” She looked at the others with a half worried look, but received only smiles in return. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, Shy! It was cool, wasn’t it?” She nodded to a grinning Chime. For lack of better word, it was ‘cool’. She felt a hoof rest on her shoulder and turned to see Simon look at her with a warm expression. “I am sure you still have a lot of questions, Dear, but I think it would be best if Candy explained the rest. It’s getting late, and while most of us are used to late nights, I get the feeling that you’re not, so it would be a good idea for her to walk you back home now.” Fluttershy yawned in response and blushed slightly. Candy trotted up next to her. “Yeah, he’s probably right. Let’s get you home, Shy. I’ll explain the rest on the way home.” “Good night!” Chime exclaimed. Simon nodded to them. “Have a good night, girls. And it was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Fluttershy.” Fluttershy nodded back, a smile faded in with her tired look. “It was nice meeting you, and you too, Chime.” “Alright, thanks, guys. See ya tomorrow,” Candy said. The small group said their goodbyes for the night before Fluttershy and her cousin trotted off to the exit. They moved past the plastic sheets and through the dimly lit hallway. It seemed a lot shorter than Fluttershy remembered. The trip up the stairs was quick. When they reached the slightly rusted metal door, Candy pushed it open and they both stepped out into the crisp night air, letting it creak shut behind them. Fluttershy looked around for a moment. Everything seemed a little brighter, illuminated by Luna's moon in the night sky. Still, she had no idea where to go. That wasn't much of a problem, though, as it seemed that Candy did. The mares started off in one direction, Fluttershy following closely behind her younger counterpart. The air around them was strangely calm. They took turn after confusing turn, but Candy still somehow knew the way out of the labyrinth-like neighborhoods. They continued for a while in silence until Candy spoke up, slight traces of a laugh hanging in her voice. "So, I guess now you know my secret, huh?" Instead of saying anything, Fluttershy replied with a nod. Candy looked at her with a brow raised in an amused expression. "That's it? I expected a lecture about how I shouldn't be up so late or at least about a thousand questions." The mare thought for a moment. She did have a lot of questions. She guessed now would be as good a time as any to find answers. "So, um," she started. "How long have you been doing this?" Candy paused for a second, then answered. "About two years now." Fluttershy was slightly taken aback. "Two years?" "Yep!" Candy happily confirmed. "Simon's been in there since it started, around six years ago. And Chime's been in only half a year longer than me." "Wow, I never noticed," Fluttershy said thoughtfully. Candy smirked. "Ya don't say." This made the shy mare laugh a little, then silence passed between them again for a few moments. Fluttershy still had several questions just waiting to be asked, however, and one of them peaked her curiosity over the others. "If... If it's just dancing, why are you so secretive about it?" Candy hesitated at this. "That's... a long story." She glanced to her cousin, then glanced back ahead. "But I guess we've got time." For a short time, Candy was silent, staring out to some undetermined point ahead of her in deep thought. The smile on her face had vanished. She finally spoke. "You remember how Simon was calling it a haven? Well, that's what it is. It's our own little piece of heaven where nopony else can bother us. When others see what we do, they always look down on it or take it as a joke. They never take it seriously. All of our members love to dance, it's our passion. Hay, if it had been any other way, it would be our cutie marks." She was silent again, collecting her thoughts, then resumed her speech. "The Spot isn't just a place where we can dance. It's somewhere ponies can go to escape judgement. Our group is full of what others would call 'misfits'. Everyday, ponies look down on them and judge them, but when they come to The Spot, they can be themselves. They don't have to be afraid to do what they love. None of us are the same, but none of us care, 'cause we all have one thing in common: we love to dance." Fluttershy thought for a moment about what Candy said. 'Misfit?...' She looked to Candy. "You said that some go to 'escape judgment'. Does... that mean you, too?" Candy glanced at her with an almost solemn look in her eye, then said, "Sometimes it's not really easy being the oldest mare anypony knows that hasn't gotten her cutie mark yet." That was right. Fluttershy never really thought about it, but Candy still didn't have her cutie mark. She remembered how others would bully her about it when they were still in school together. Fluttershy would always be by her side, doing her best to protect her from the ridicule just as Rainbow Dash had for her, which seemed just a little ironic. This was before she left flight school and moved down to Ponyville. Fluttershy wondered how painful it must have been for Candy before then. It must've been like how the foals would tease her about how she couldn't fly, maybe even worse. At least she was somewhat able to leave it behind. Candy couldn't leave this behind. "Well, anyways," Fluttershy jumped with a start as she heard Candy’s voice again. She’d hardly noted the silence between them as she thought. Luckily, she didn’t notice and continued. “That’s why we try to keep it a secret.” “Oh. I’m sorry, I just didn’t know.” Candy chuckled under her breath and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy.” They kept on walking, now in parts of Ponyville that Fluttershy recognized. It wouldn’t be long until she was home. She was much more tired than she’d thought. After a bit, Candy began talking with her cousin again, this time more softly. “It’s funny, ya know. Our group hasn’t been around that long, but it’s grown so much. Did you know that Simon is one of the founders?” Fluttershy looked up in surprise. “He is?” She thought for a moment. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Simon around Ponyville.” This time, it was Candy's turn to be surprised. “You haven’t? I’d have thought you’d seen him around your friend Rarity. He works with her all the time.” “Really?” “Yeah. His business is on the other side of town, though. He’s a jeweler. We call him Simon, but his actual name is Radiant Simonize.” Radiant Simonize... Now that she thought about it, Fluttershy may have heard Rarity mentioning that name once or twice. “Anyways, where was I?... Oh yeah. Simon is one of the founders. It was him and Vinyl Scratch that made it. It all started about six years ago. Simon still lived up in Manehattan and owned his little jewelry shop. He was a dancer then, but not like he is now. He was more of a street performer dancing on the dirty back streets of Manehattan. It wasn’t much, though. He kept his identity a secret, he didn’t really want anypony knowing it was him, and for good reason. Simon danced his heart out to the music of his little stereo, but nopony ever watched, and those that did just laughed at him. They never took his passion seriously. “He kept dancing alone, even though everypony ignored him. But it was starting to wear him down, everypony looking down on his passion. That was until Vinyl Scratch found him. She was the only mare to watch, let alone enjoy, what he did. She sat there the whole night and just watched, cheering him on and chasing away all of the one’s that tried to laugh at him. The next day she met him again, but brought her own beats for him to dance to. That was probably the best night he’d had at that lonely back street.” Candy was smiling now. “After that, they became the best of friends, always performing together wherever they went in the city. Eventually, though, neither of them could take Manehattan anymore and decided to leave the place. That’s when they came to Ponyville. I guess they liked the quiet. They decided to stop performing on the streets, those nights in the city must’ve gotten to them. Some time after that, they found others just like them, dancers with nowhere to dance and nopony who cared. So, they gathered everypony they could and started their group. They used that abandoned building as their meeting point ever since, and eventually started calling it The Spot. “Ponies started joining pretty quick. Everypony that joined agreed to keep it a secret, so that way, we’d be able to keep our own little piece of heaven.” There was silence after Candy finished her explanation. Fluttershy didn’t know what to say, she honestly hadn’t expected that. ‘Our own little piece of heaven...’ Fluttershy wasn’t going to lie. It sounded nice- well, more than nice. It was like what she felt when she was at home with her animals. Her own special place... “You know,” Fluttershy spoke. “When I saw the dance earlier... well, it was amazing. The way she danced was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. So, I don't get why anypony would look down on it, and I think it's just wrong that they do.” Candy gave her a warm look. “Thanks, Shy. That means a lot.” Fluttershy nodded and they continued for the rest of the way in content quiet. They had been traveling along the small dirt path that led to her home for a while. The mare could almost hear the soft snores of her animals as they approached the cottage. “Welp, here we are,” Candy said as they arrived at the front door to the cottage. “Thank you, Candy.” Fluttershy stepped forward to the door. “So, how’d you enjoy your first visit to The Spot?” Candy asked with a smirk. “It was great...” Fluttershy paused. It was great, but would this be the only time? “Um, Candy, I was wondering if- well, if next time, maybe could I, um... could I come with you next time?” Candy’s jaw dropped open. “Wait, you mean, come with me to The Spot?” Fluttershy nodded. “But I- why would- but you never want to go anywhere!” she said, bewildered. The shy mare glanced down and pawed at the ground with her hoof. “I know, I know, but something about the music and the dancing just made me feel... good, like I wanted to move, to dance, to just do anything. I don’t know how to describe it, but I liked it. And you’re always telling me that I need to get out more and I thought that maybe I’d give it a try.” Candy still wore a surprised, yet happy expression nonetheless. “Well- I mean, of course you can come! I just never expected something like this from you. I, um, guess I’ll tell you when our next meet-up is.” Fluttershy smiled as she opened the cottage door behind her. “Thank you so much, Candy.” “Sure, don’t mention it, Cuz.” The two said their goodnights and Candy finally left Fluttershy to her cottage. Fluttershy walked in, gingerly shutting the door as she entered. She trotted lightly across the soft wooden floor to her room where she alighted pleasantly on her soft bed. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier as she went over the entire night in her mind. As she shut her eyes for the final time and fell into the clutches of peaceful sleep, she was thinking, ‘Maybe my own little piece of heaven doesn’t sound so bad.’