Tricks looks up from his book at a knocking on the door to Fluttershy’s cottage. Angel Bunny is quicker to go to the door and opens it, revealing the unicorn filly caller. Sweetie Belle smiles broadly at Fluttershy’s trusted companion, and then at Tricks, as she enters.
“Hey Sweetie Belle! Where are Applebloom and Scootaloo?” Tricks asks, closing his book and levitating it away to a table with a smile as he rises from the couch.
“AB’s got work on the farm, and Scoots is getting flying lessons from Rainbow Dash… I hope you don’t mind that I came over. Rarity’s going crazy over some fashion thing coming up in Canterlot…” Sweetie explains brightly. “I was thinking we could work on something music related since the others are busy…” she adds shyly, a light pink blush creeping across her cheeks.
“Well… Fluttershy had something come up with a skunk burrow near the edge of the forest, so I suppose we could…” Tricks agrees, though admittedly hesitant. “I told her I wouldn’t leave, so we can’t go to the clubhouse.”
“That’s fine! We can stay here and do something. It’s not like we need a whole lot of room!” Sweetie responds, smiling. “What kind of music do you like?”
Tricks smiles as well, heading into the kitchen, intent on gathering up some cookies and making tea. “Well… Witch Doctor composes instrumental stuff for the Wonderbolts to go with their shows… I like listening to her music; it sounds like it’s telling a story.”
“So you like classical music?” Sweetie asks, following him into the kitchen and perching on a stool. “Do you sing or play anything?”
“I used to sing, but it’s difficult for me right now… My voice keeps cracking… Witch Doctor says I have to wait and see if I can still sing after my voice settles…” Tricks explains, shrugging. “Mister Fancy Pants has a piano in the main house, but I haven’t learned how to play it…”
Sweetie makes a thoughtful noise. “So what were you thinking of doing with music then?” she asks, curious.
Tricks shrugs. “Well… Without instruments, that leaves writing music…” he trails off as his eyes catch on Fluttershy’s gramophone. “Or dancing…” he adds, flinching the moment the words are out of his mouth.
“What’s wrong with dancing?”
Tricks sighs, turning to face his friend. “It’s what my… my parents do… They’re dancers…” he explains, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. Sweetie hops down from her stool and moves to sit beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders.
“I’m sorry, Tricks… But… They only do one style of dancing, right?” she queries hesitantly. “We could do some other dancing instead, right?”
“Well… they trained to do every sort of dancing… But they don’t perform in every style…” Tricks answers, scrunching his face as though the thought left a bad taste in his mouth.
“You know what I think?” Sweetie asks abruptly, snapping Tricks’ attention out of unpleasant memories and back to Fluttershy’s cottage. At his curious look, she grins. “You need a happy memory of dancing! I mean… What if it’s your special talent? You need something good associated with it, so you won’t hate it the whole time!” Sweetie explains quickly before grabbing his arm and pulling Tricks out of the kitchen and into the living room again. Sweetie moves fast, dragging the bewildered colt into the middle of the living space and immediately setting about moving the furniture to clear the center area.
Sighing resignedly, Tricks helps, making sure that none of the various bolt holes for Fluttershy’s friends would get blocked, and mentally notes where everything would need to go back to. Turning, he finds Sweetie already combing through the records in Fluttershy’s collection. “Beat Hooven? Tchaitrotsky? Hoofdel?”
Tricks shakes his head at her suggestions. “Those are all good composers, but not really anything that’s easy to dance to,” he responds, looking through the sleeves himself. “If you don’t mind something closer to ballroom style dancing, we could go with Eponin Dvorak’s chamber music…” he adds, holding up a vinyl record with his magic for Sweetie’s inspection.
“I don’t really know how to do any fancy dancing,” Sweetie replies, the corner of her mouth twisting downward, uncertain.
“That’s the great thing about ballroom dancing; you just follow my lead,” Tricks says, taking the record over to the old gramophone, then carefully removes it from the sleeve to place it over the spindle and on the turntable. With easy motions, he turns the crank a few times and then gently moves the tone arm over the spinning vinyl. Almost as soon as the needle slips into the groove, the sound of a piano, quickly joined by a violin, fills the room.
Tricks steps forward hesitantly, taking Sweetie’s hoof in his and guiding her other hoof onto his shoulder. Tricks then gently places his free hoof onto her waist, trying to remain calm even as his heartbeat pounds in his ears. For a brief moment while waiting for the proper beat to begin their dance, the two foals stand nervously, blushing upon meeting the other’s eyes. Tricks counts silently, taking a deep breath. The dance begins.
The two foals move slowly and clumsily at first as Sweetie tries to find her footing. Sweetie blushes and mumbles with each misstep, her eyes focused on her hooves. Tricks smiles as he watches the filly’s brow furrow with concentration. They stumble as Sweetie overextends her step, barely able to keep their balance. Sweetie opens her mouth to apologize, but Tricks cuts her off.
“Do you trust me?” Tricks asks with a gentle smile.
“Yes,” Sweetie replies, her cheeks bright red from blushing.
“Then don’t worry about your hooves,” Tricks responds. “Just keep your eyes on me, and I’ll guide you through.”
The two foals resume their dance with greater success. The music swells as the violin and piano lines gently intertwine in pure melody. Tricks smiles encouragingly, prompting a good amount of blushing from Sweetie. Even though she is still blushing, Tricks can see Sweetie’s smile reflected in her sparkling green eyes. As the music changes, the steps become much more complicated, but Sweetie manages to keep up well. The violin and piano speed up, hitting the peak of their crescendo before stopping suddenly and returning at a much gentler pace and softer volume.
Despite his warm smile, Tricks can tell that Sweetie is still nervous about her dancing ability, simply from how rigidly she stands and takes her steps. In an instant, Tricks thinks up a solution. He instantly makes a ridiculously serious expression, as though he was one of the many rich ponies he had seen while living in Canterlot. Sweetie giggles wholeheartedly, instantly relaxing. She then copies Tricks’ expression, making her face even more exaggerated than his. The two of them keep their composure for only a few seconds before breaking into grins and laughing, continuing to dance as they do.
Tricks sighs happily. This moment really is perfect. Sweetie Belle laughs happily, the music is flowing, the two of them are dancing smoothly, Fluttershy- wait, Fluttershy?!?!
Tricks freezes as his eyes land on the pegasus mare standing at the edge of the room, smiling as though she might burst with happiness and hugging a very disgruntled Angel Bunny as she does so. Tricks stumbles, falling to the ground painfully and wheezing as Sweetie trips and falls awkwardly over him. Sweetie looks around, confused, but her eyes soon land on Fluttershy, prompting her to turn bright red in embarrassment. Tricks manages to find his voice first.
“M-miss Fluttershy!” Tricks squeaks as his voice breaks. “T-this isn’t- W-we weren’t- I mean-”
Fluttershy giggles gently, cutting Tricks off. “It’s alright, Tricks. You two haven’t done anything wrong. I’m sorry for startling you, but you both were dancing so well together that I couldn’t bear to interrupt. Eponin Dvorak is one of my favorites. In fact, when Mac taught me to dance, we used this record as well.”
Still with blushes burning brightly on their faces, Sweetie nervously coughs as she carefully gets up, allowing Tricks to do the same. “I should probably go check on my sister… Last time Rarity got like this, she didn’t check her mail for three weeks and only read Mr. Fancy Pants’ letter telling her about his visit about two minutes before he knocked on the door…” She quickly starts towards the door, doing her best to not look at Tricks or Fluttershy and nearly making it outside before either could react.
“H-hey Sweetie Belle! Wait up!” Tricks calls out, scrabbling after Sweetie Bell as though the world depended on it. Sweetie Bell slows down, and allows Tricks to catch up, though they both pointedly keep their gaze forward as they make their way down the small path to the mailbox.
“Sweetie Belle,” he starts, his tone rising hesitantly, “I, um… Thank you.”
The filly stops and looks over at him, her brow furrowed in confusion. “What for, Tricks?”
“The-the dancing. You were right. I did need that,” Tricks admits, digging at the gravel path with his hoof. He then looks over at Sweetie, and in a fit of bravery, leans over and quickly kisses her cheek. Sweetie’s ears stand up straight, even as Tricks’ ears go back against his head, both of them blushing furiously.
“Any time. I’ll, er… See you at school, okay?” Sweetie sputters, backing away a few steps before turning with a slight wave and scampering off down the path, face still bright red. Despite that she wouldn’t see, Tricks waves until Sweetie’s out of sight behind the hedge along the only road that came out this far.
A flapping noise from behind him drags Tricks’ attention back to the cottage, and he starts at the sight of Fluttershy grinning broadly as she shakes a couple polaroid pictures, the camera at her hooves. “Oh boy…” he mutters in a small voice.