//------------------------------// // The Dance // Story: A Beautiful Swallow // by Skijarama //------------------------------//         “Nettle? How did you find out where I live?” Star asked in surprise as she looked at me. I coughed slightly and rubbed the back of my head.         “Pinkie told me.” I replied somewhat sheepishly. I was still a little red in my cheeks from Pinkie’s rampant cheering. I was so glad she had stopped.         “Well, okay then… um, do you want to come in?” Star asked uncertainly, backing up a step.         “Would your parents approve of that?” I asked, tilting my head.         “Probably not. But they aren’t here.”         “I see.” I said, following Star into her house. It was a fairly cramped little building and in very poor repair, too. There were some photos and paintings of cloudsdale on the walls and the small coffee table. Star guided me to a brown couch that had seen it’s fair share of use. I took a seat and she settled down next to me.         “So, what brings you here?” She asked casually, looking at me with a searching gaze.         “Well... “ My tongue caught in my mouth, refusing to move to make the appropriate noises. I paused for a second.         “Come on, what’s up?”         “Have you heard about that whole dance thing? Up at the town hall?” I asked, deciding it would be a good idea to figure out her interest. Her face remained neutral, which didn’t help.                  “No, actually. Why?”         “Well, I… uh…” I hesitated again. Why was I doing that so much? Probably the fear of being shot down for a second time. “I… Well, I’m planning on going.” I finally managed to get out. Star stared at me with a look that could be read as saying ‘you’re kidding, right?’ Then she burst into laughter.         “You like to dance?” She asked between chortles.         “Is that a problem?” I asked, feeling embarrassed for some reason.         “Oh, no. It’s just not something I ever expected you to do.” Star said after getting some self control.         “I feel like broadening my horizons a bit.” I replied, a smile slowly making its way onto my face.         “Well, that’s very interesting. But I get the feeling you didn’t pop over here just to say you’re going to go dancing.” Star deduced, earning a nod from me.         “Yeah. I was actually kinda hoping that you would go with me. If you don’t mind, of course.” I said, knowing I just burned that bridge. Stars eyes widened for several moments. She swallowed hard before she responded.         “So, uh… did you just…”         “Ask you out? I guess I did.” I finished, looking at her expectantly. The look on her face was one of pure surprise.         “Gosh, Nettle. I… I’d love to!” She suddenly squealed and wrapped her forelegs around me in a tight hug. I let out a surprised yelp but returned the hug all the same. We sat there for several moments, just enjoying the embrace. As we sat there,  I noticed that she was starting to tremble.         “Hey, you okay?” I asked, pulling back slightly.         “Just… I never thought anypony would ever care enough…” She said, voice quiet and shaky. She was looking down at the couch.         “Well, I do.” I said as I reached out with a hoof and lifted her chin so I could look her in the eyes. They were glistening with tears that had yet to leave them. She stared at me for several long moments, her eyes shifting subtly. She was debating something in her mind. With a sigh she leaned forward and wrapped me in another hug.         “Thank you Nettle… thank you so much.” She whispered, tightening the hug ever so slightly.                  “You’re welcome.” <^><^><^><^>         A little while later I returned to my house. I grunted a ‘hello’ to Noctis as I passed before heading up the stairs to my room. As I stepped in, I paused. Dad was standing next to my bed with an amused smile on his face.         “What are you smiling about?” I asked cautiously, squinting at him.         “When were you planning on telling us you were about to ask a filly out?” He asked, smile turning almost into a smirk.         “Uh… what?” I asked, trying and failing to throw him off. I say I failed because he nudged the small suit-case that was now out from under my bed with his hoof. Well, that’s just great.         “I’m not stupid, Nettle. Besides, Pinkie told me about this last Monday.” Dad’s expression looked almost evil as he said this.         “That little obnoxious ferret.” I mumbled, my eye twitching.         “The filly is Star, isn’t it?” Dad asked as he stepped up to me.         “Yes, sir.” I said quietly, looking down. Dad let out a chuckle.         “Son, I’m not mad at you or upset. Like I said, I’ve known about this since Monday. I was mostly just seeing how long it would take for you to decide to fill us in on your own terms.” He said, patting me atop the head with his forehoof.         “So… what do you think?” I asked, looking up at him.         “I think you’re lucky to have a suit as nice as what’s in this case. Also, I just want to point out; how did you expect to keep this hidden? Especially given that your mother and I are going to attend as well.”         “You’ve really been hush hush, haven't you?” I asked, earning an amused chuckle from Dad.         “Nope. you just weren't paying attention.”         “Touche.” I said, mentally kicking myself in the butt.         “All the same, I’m glad you’re starting to explore. Have you asked her out yet?”         “Yeah, I literally just did that while I was out on my ‘walk’.” I replied, nodding slowly.         “Well, then. I wish you luck.” Dad said before looking down at the case, “By the way, it might be a good idea to take her the dress.”         “Yeah, good point.” <^><^><^><^>         So after one insanely mad gallop to Star’s house and then back to mine when I realized I forgot to grab the dress from my room, I was able to deliver the dress to her. I do have to say, it warmed my heart to see her eyes light up like that when I delivered the dress that Rarity had designed for her. Well after she was done snickering at my exhaustion, of course. I felt quite better about the dance coming up. Well except for the very odd feeling that I was forgetting something important. I was sure at the time that it wasn’t something too terribly important. I’d later find out how blissfully wrong I was about that.         The next day came up soon enough, though it still felt like forever and a day. I might have been feeling better about going to this dance, but my oh-so paranoid mind was going bonkers with all the things that could go wrong. I was pacing anxiously in my room at this point, eyes flicking over to my suit which was laid out neatly on my bed. Mom and dad were downstairs getting ready and Noctis was working. I kinda felt sorry for him, but at the same time I knew it would only be weird, yet slightly hilarious to watch him dance. Last time he tried he wound up using old Kung hoof moves he had learned a long time ago and converted them into dance moves. Clever, I will admit.         Then came a knocking on my door. “Come in.” I called, looking over. The door swung open and mom stepped in, smiling at me.         “You almost ready, Nettle?” She asked, prompting me to look over at my suit.         “I should really put that stuff on.” I said, fidgeting slightly.         “Yes, yes you should. Come down when you need help with the tie.”         “Yeah, yeah.” I said, waving her out of my room. I felt like such an idiot, not knowing how to put on a freaking tie. Oh well. She smiled at me and then backed out, closing the door behind her. I spent the next minute or two getting my clothes on. It was warm. Uncomfortably so. Either way, I headed down the stairs with my tie draped over my back.         Dad looked up at me and smiled as I entered into the living room. “It looks good on you, Nettle.”         “Thanks. Come on, let’s get this tie on.” I replied, stepping up to him. He nodded and we spent the next minute getting the tie set up. We spent a little while just standing around talking before we left for the town hall.         The town hall was well lit when we showed up, ponies of varying age and size gathering inside. I knew Star would take a bit still to show up. I let Mom and Dad go ahead as I waited by the door. Minutes began to tick by as more couples and solo's stepped into the building. I could hear the musicians starting to play their warm-ups. For a long while there was no sign of Star. Then I saw Pinkie bouncing around amid the crowd. Honestly, I should have known she’d be here. I waved to her when I thought she was able to see me. She smiled and bounced over. As per what I would expect, she was in a very… vibrant dress.         “Hi!” She said happily, nodding excitedly at me.         “Hey, have you seen Star?” I asked, looking around again. Pinkie smiled a bit more calmly and rested a hoof on my chin, turning my head a specific direction. My eyes widened. Star was just arriving, coming out of the crowd of ponies and towards me. Pinkie smiled and bounced away.         Star was… for lack of a better term, she was beautiful. Her mane was styled into a ponytail, a nice change of pace from her usual hanging flat mane. She hadn’t bothered with makeup very much, only adding some very gentle eyeliner, if my guess is right. And then there was the dress. I recalled that I didn’t picture her in the dress when Rarity gave it to me, and I knew then and there that I would’ve failed to do the image justice.         She slowly stepped up to me, a smile on her face. For a moment we stood in silence. Finally, I was able to find my words. “Wow… you’re beautiful.” I said, heart warming up as she turned a faint shade of pink.         “Oh, come on. I’m not that good looking.” She said, looking down and pawing at the earth with her front hoof.         “Well, I think you are.” I replied, earning another smile from her.         “Thank you.” She said quietly, shrugging slightly. Smiling, I held out my hoof towards her.         “Shall we?”         With a nod, she reached out and we touched hooves. Taking a deep breath, I turned and we made our way into the main hall. We had good timing as it was at this point that the musicians were just about done warming up. Star and I found an open spot to stand in while we waited. I saw there was a DJ stand on the stage. It was accompanied nearby by what was basically a small orchestra. the DJ came out and everypony went quiet. I recognized the DJ as Vinyl Scratch.         “Alright everypony! We’re just about ready to get this party started!” She declared, earning loud cheers from the room. characteristically, I wasn’t as loud as the ponies around me. Star wilted slightly at the loud noise, prompting me to give her a comforting pat on the shoulder. “This first number is a sort of combo piece. the orchestra and I will be working together to play a song with both, classical music and my own style.” Vinyl trotted up to her station and nodded at the rest of the orchestra.         “Let’s get our bodies moving, ponies!” Vinyl declared, and the music started. It started off slowly, the pianist letting out a slow set of notes, gently stroked. This was accompanied by a violin making some catchy sounds. As it started, ponies started to sway and move to the music. I mimicked some of the motions, just swaying back and forth at first.         Then Vinyl started with the electronic side of things. In only a few moments ponies everywhere started moving in ways I couldn’t keep up with. I looked around for a second, trying to get a feel for what was going on.         Remember that thing I mentioned earlier? The thing I was forgetting?         Yeah…         “Star, we’ve got a problem.” I said loudly to be heard over the music.         “Already?” Star deadpanned, giving me a flat expression.         “I don’t know how to dance.” I said, knowing my face was turning red again.         “Just follow my lead” Star declared as she started dancing. She was better than I was, that was for sure. I tried to mimic her movements, but only wound up looking like an idiot running in place, as that was basically exactly what I was doing. I imagine to anypony who looked at me I kinda resembled a stiff, poorly constructed robot. This kept up for a few minutes, with me stopping every so often to look around and look for some dance move to attempt. The music slowly started dying down and I was able to stop and think carefully about how to go about this.         Then the second piece of music started. There were a few scattered cheers through the crowd, telling me they knew this song and before I knew it every couple was in an embrace, swaying back and forth slowly. I looked around in confusion before I felt Star wrap her forelegs around me. “It’s a slow dance song” She whispered into my ear, “Do what I do.”         She directed my forehooves to rest under her forelegs as she rested her hooves on my shoulders. then she slowly started swaying from side to side, taking me with her. I caught on pretty quickly. This… this was much better. I knew that for typical dancing I was crap. But for this, I was actually doing pretty good, it seemed. I drew this conclusion just as Star rested her head against my chest.         “Your hearts beating pretty fast…” She commented in a voice that I could just barely hear. The music was much more quiet and relaxed than before, but still.         “It is? Huh, that’s odd. I wonder why?” I said, reaching one of my hooves up to rest atop her head. She let out a content hum and leaned into me ever so slightly.         “I don’t know…” Star mumbled quietly. I noticed she was starting to tremble again. I looked around and noted my parents not far off. They seemed to be having fun. I turned my attention back to Star as she slowly lifted her eyes to look at me. There were tears in her eyes. I hesitated.         “Hey, you okay?” I asked, gently wiping one of her tears away with my hoof. She nodded slowly and sniffled.         “Just… remembering something.” She said, sagging slightly.         “Like?” I asked as the song began to build up a little bit.         “Some… somepony I used to know…” She said, before smiling at me. “Don’t worry. I’m okay, especially with you here.” My heart skipped a beat as she said that. She leaned back into me as we continued our dance, closing her eyes. I gently stroked the back of her head and her mane as we continued like this. The music soon came to a close and the next song started.         The night came in a mix of two different flavors for me; me feeling like an idiot during the more energetic dances and then feeling… basically elated during the slow ones. Star seemed to like the slow dances as well, holding me closer than before each time one came up. For a time, things continued like this. However, on the last slow-dance song, something happened. Star slowly leaned back and looked me in the eyes. Hers were glistening slightly, and she had a huge smile on her face.         “Nettle…?” She asked quietly, looking down a bit.         “Hm?”         “Do you mind if I do something crazy?”         I took pause at that, but shook my head. “Go right ahead.” Star nodded slowly. For a few moments I couldn’t help but wonder what she was planning. I found out rather rapidly as she slowly leaned in and kissed me on the lips. My eyes widened dramatically, a sharp intake of breath going through my nostrils. After a second or two, she hesitantly broke the kiss and leaned back to where she was before.         After several moments, Mints words from before flashed through my mind.         Starless Night needs you. There are more ponies out there. I honestly believe Star might be one of them.         Maybe he was right. I had been questioning it before but now I found myself believing it. I subtly augmented his words in my head to something that put a smile on my face. As the new words went through my mind, I couldn’t help but think of Swallow for a moment. I rapidly banished the thought and refocused my thoughts onto Star. I smiled as I repeated the words in my head once more.         She’s the one.