Heart's Warming Dance

by FelixTheBrony


Finding the Dates! Part 2

Finding the Dates Part 2

Big Mac stopped running when he realised he had made it to the middle of town. While he was here, he decided to see if Caramel would have any room at his place tonight, considering that when his sister and Soarin go at it, they really go at it.

He shuddered a little and shook his head of the thought, getting a couple of looks from the towns ponies but, other than that, they just let him continue on with his day.

He eventually found the stallion, helping out Pinkie with setting up a stage in the middle of the park. Several other ponies were there as well, but Mac just needed to see his best friend.

Caramel had just finished screwing in another bolt under the stage when he noticed Mac from his position and waved, happily. “Hey Mac Attack!”

Mac sighed from his nose, tilting his head with a deadpan expression. “Aw I know you already have a nickname, but I like this one more,” The light brown stallion grinned, tapping him in the shoulder. Mac, in response, made a sweeping motion with his hoof, then pointed to his place, then pointed at him and finally tilted his head.

“Ah, so Soarin's back in town, huh? We'll have to get a drink with him some point. It's been a while,” Caramel mentioned, before looking apologetically at him. “And sorry bud, but Time Turner's staying with me until he can fix his house. Something about his indoor fireworks going off prematurely,” Mac tilted his head to the side. “I'm sure it's not a euphemism, Mac, how would that damage his house, anyway?”

Mac sighed and nodded, turning away. “Sorry bud, have you thought about investing in some ear-plugs?” Mac rolled his eyes and pointed to his ear, then put his hooves together before spreading them wide apart. “Right, too loud for ear-plugs. Gotcha.”

As soon as Mac left, the support beam from Caramel's side of the stage suddenly snapped and part of it collapsed. “Damn it!”


Thunderlane hummed, happily, making his way towards his favourite restaurant, Lucky and Clover's. He had just beaten his personal record for cloud altering. seventy-two rain clouds turned to snow clouds in two hours is pretty good, if he does say so himself. Rainbow's record for that was only about fifty-nine.

Yeah, she may be the fastest flyer out of them all, but when it came to converting one type of cloud to another, there was no-one quite like him! Didn't hurt that he was also quite fast, but he preferred to focus on what he was best at.

Just as he was entering the establishment, he noticed that there were quite a few other ponies around today. Huh, strange, it's not usually so full up.

Across the outdoor sitting area, Rarity let out an infatuated sigh as she spotted the dark grey Pegasus enter the establishment. There he is! Alright, Rarity, remain calm and invite him over...

“Hey Rarity, mind if I sit here? There aren't any other seats left,” So into her thoughts, was she, that she hadn't even noticed the object of her affections had spotted her and was now right there in front of her.

He's here! Quick! Say something flirty! “Aieeehuh!” With his sudden introduction into the picture and her thoughts poking her to answer, she hadn't the time to come up with a response and just settled for making a noise.

Thunderlane, understandably, recoiled in shock and raised one of his hooves up, as if in surrender. “Sorry, didn't mean to scare you,” He said, peeking out and noticed her face light up.

I said flirty, not frightening! “Uh, I mean of course you can!” She quickly corrected, giggling nervously and motioning to the seat Spike was in before.

Thunderlane nodded and sat down, noticing an empty cup in front of him. “Uh...You sure? It looks like someone was here before?”

Rarity looked at the offending cup, left by Spike, and shook her head. “Oh no, he left earlier to find a date,” She answered, hearing her stomach growl. Perfect! We can eat lunch together and I'll work my way towards asking him!

Thunderlane nodded, smiling a little before raising his hoof to flag down a waiter. Clover noticed and, with several orders already written down, approached their table. “Ah good to see you, Thunderlane! How're you today?”

“Good, Clover, I see business has picked up,” Thunderlane answered, looking at all the full tables. As he mentioned this, Rarity blinked and noticed, for the first time, that almost every seat in the establishment had been filled up. “Must be the ponies who were helping in the park earlier.”

As the two continued their small talk, Rarity was having a little bit of a panic attack. No! The reason I was waiting for him here was because it wasn't very busy! I can't ask him out in front of everyone! Ladies don't seek the courtship, that's supposed to be the stallion's job! How would I look to everyone here?!

“Um...Rarity?” She shook out of her thoughts and looked up at Clover. “Are you going to order some food now? You have been here for three hours.”

Rarity's face flushed even brighter in embarrassment when he said that and Thunderlane raised his eyebrow at her. Well thank you, Clover, that's not going to seem suspicious at all, is it?! “Just a garden salad please,” Rarity sighed, her eyes drooping to the ground to avoid as much eye contact from anyone as possible, her ears following in their example.

“Very well, and another coffee?” Clover asked, already knowing the tally in his head and the pile of cups in the kitchen.

Rarity felt her heart beating erratically, whether it was from embarrassment, Thunderlane being here or the amount of coffee she drank, she didn't know. But she did know that she didn't want to risk it bursting. “No, just water this time please.”

Clover nodded and quickly made his way into the building to give his brother everyone's orders and to let him know that he won the bet.

Thunderlane studied Rarity's demeanour and face for a while, before chuckling good-heartedly. “Ah cheer up, Rares, I love the coffee here too. And this place does have some comfy chairs,” He emphasised by bouncing slightly on the cushion on the chair he was sat on.

Rarity nodded, her face contorted between relief and frustration. “Yes, it is a lovely place,” She replied, half-heartedly.

“...Are you okay? You sound kind of upset,” The Pegasus asked, concerned. Rarity sighed and nodded.

“Yes, I'm perfectly fine. How's Rumble doing, these days?” Rarity asked, trying to steer the conversation away from her before she just breaks down and runs away. It's pretty ironic, the one who knows the most about romance out of her friends, was the most inept at it! It'd be like Fluttershy not knowing how to feed badgers or Applejack not being able to tell which apple is which!

Thunderlane plastered a proud smile on his face at the mention of his brother. “He's great, actually, he's got a date to the Heart's Warming dance with this filly from Manehatten! I think her name was Babs?”

“Ah yes, Babs Seed. She's Applebloom's cousin,” Rarity explained, sort of surprised. Considering what Applebloom did, she was afraid poor little Rumble may have been too scared to talk to another filly ever again.

“Yeah, the little guy sure is growing up...” He mentioned, before pausing and rubbing his chin in thought. “Hm...I feel like I might have forgotten something...”

Before Rarity could ask what that 'something' might be, his eyes widened in horror and his wings shot out in panic. “Ah I forgot to go find a date!” He cried out in horror, about to take to the skies, before he felt glued to the spot.

Rarity sighed in relief, glad to know that her new grabbing spell worked, and smiled at him. “You can, at the very least, wait and eat your food before you run around town like a crazy pony, no?”

Thunderlane flinched and grinned, sheepishly, adjusting to his seat to find a more comfortable position. “Sorry about that, I'm just...”

“Forgetful, I've noticed,” She replied, giggling. “Don't worry, I tend to forget important things when I focus on work too, it's no big deal. Anypony'd love to go with you.”

“...Really?” Thunderlane asked, folding his very large wings to his side, blushing a little at the compliment.

“Really,” She answered, noticing Clover come out with their orders. Please notice I don't have a date, please notice I don't have a date!

Thunderlane smiled, shyly, and rubbed his forehoof with the other. “Thanks...”

After a little bit, Rarity sighed and took a bite out of her food. “You're really pretty!” And suddenly the food went down the wrong pipe and she coughed, violently, to stop herself from choking to death.

Thunderlane panicked and went around to give her some firm, pats on her back to help her lungs expel enough air for the food to finally come out, Thunderlane catching it in his wing to avoid it ruining the rest of her food.

He quickly threw the mess away and sat back in his seat, looking mortified. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn't, I mean I did...But well, I uh...” Thunderlane stuttered, noticing Rarity looking at him while panting for breath. “I'll just shut up.”

“No...Go on...Dear...What were...you going...to say?” She asked between deep breaths, trying to soothe her aching chest and to calm her, now even more, erratic heart rate.

Thunderlane blushed, brightly, rubbing the back of his head. “I just...well. You're really pretty. I uh...and well...uh...” He groaned and buried his face into his hooves. “Why am I so bad at this?!”

Rarity noticed his demeanour and placed a hoof on his shoulder, now noticing they had a fairly large audience. Though, strangely, she didn't mind that they were watching. Her attention was solidly on the pony in front of her. “You can't be any worse at it than I am?”

He looked up in surprise, before his challenging eyes showed up. “Really? Cause I once gave a girl roses, only to forget they had thorns when she grabbed them with her mouth, that's pretty bad.”

“I once tried to dress up as some kind of hill-billy and rolled around in mud to impress a stallion I knew for a day,” Rarity boasted, not sure why she was sharing this story. It's not like it's an anecdote she often tells other ponies, but it felt pleasant seeing Thunderlane smile and let out a chuckle.

“Ever snuggled with a pony on, what you thought was an altus cloud, but turned out to be a thunder cloud?” He challenged, raising an eyebrow and a smirk. “Most mares don't like walking around with their mane standing on end.”

Rarity giggled at that one, trying to imagine somepony like Fluttershy with a more exaggerated version of Pinkie's mane. “Ever had one too many glasses of wine and ended up going home with somepony's coat instead of your date?”

“Can't say I've had that experience, though I doubt you accidently asked out a mare that looks like a stallion? Cause I've asked out a stallion that looks like a mare,” He replied, causing Rarity to grin back.

“You have met your Weather Captain, right?” She replied, giggling at his surprised look. “What can I say, short mane, scratchy voice and competitive attitude, I thought Rainbow Dash was more of a Rainbow Blitz at first.”

Thunderlane and Rarity locked eyes for a few seconds before they both burst out laughing, more at themselves then each other. “Jeez, we're both kinda hopeless, huh?”

“Perhaps,” Rarity smiled, reaching out and holding his hoof in hers. “But maybe we can be hopeless, together?” She asked, fluttering her eyelashes at him, causing him to grip her hoof back, food completely forgotten at this point.

“I'd like that.”


“Hey Mac Attack!” Mac blinked and looked up, noticing his date for the dance looking down at him from her napping cloud, grinning. “Didn't expect to see you out today, you look cold.”

He grimaced as he trying his hardest to stop shaking in his skin, cursing himself for forgetting his parka this morning. “E-eeyup!”

Rainbow noticed his demeanour and let a sympathetic smile cover her face. “Guessing AJ and Soarin are at it again?”

Mac sighed. “Eeyup...”

“Well, you can stay with me for the night if that's what ya need,” He looked up at her, motioning to the sky and then to his back, causing her to roll her eyes. “I know you're an Earth Pony, stupid, I invested in a solid winter house under my cloud house since it gets really cold in the clouds.”

Mac blinked and Rainbow grinned. “It's also for Scoots to sleep round when her parents are out of town or if she wants a sleepover,” She explained, standing up and made her way down. That's when Mac noticed that she was wearing a thick, orange sweater with her cutie mark in the middle.

She noticed his look and blushed a bit, glaring at him. “Scootaloo got it for me and I was super cold! You make fun of it, you'll be pulling bits of your teeth out of your ass!” Mac nodded, calmly. Even if he did find her sweater worth making fun of, he'd never dare voice his opinion.

She nodded, mood brighting up as fast as it darkened, and waved her hoof over to the edge of town. “Great, my place is this way!”


Scootaloo had decided she may as well visit Featherweight since she didn't feel like sitting next to Sweetie Belle and Button Mash making googly eyes at each other/murdering pixelated mobs on MineCraft.

Knowing how lax his dad usually is, she just walked in the door and saw the little colt himself, cleaning his camera lens on the sofa. He didn't even look up as he greeted her. “Hey Scoots, there's a candy cane on your left.”

He knows me so well, She thought to herself, smiling, as she grabbed the treat and took a big bite out of it, plopping herself down next to him and clicking the TV remote to see what was on.

“I still don't know how you can just bite those things, it's a nightmare on my teeth,” He mentioned, putting the lens cap back on and setting it down. She just tapped him on the shoulder.

“Lots of practise, dude, lots of practise,” She answered, offering him a bite. He shook his head, causing her to shrug and take another bite. “So what's the game plan? I spot and you snap?”

Featherweight rose his eyebrow at her. “If by that you mean you point out some highlight moments and I take the picture then sure, that sounds good,” He replied, looking over the film he had, ready for the dance. She rose her own eyebrow at him.

“You okay there? You look a little distracted,” She asked, concerned.

“Just something on my mind is all, no big deal,” He shrugged, sighing. “So, think Sweetie Belle will mind if I write about her performance in the Foal Free Press?”

“I'm sure she'd love it,” Scootaloo replied, skipping right past some show about human girls fighting off evil with the power of unity. “Darn My Little Human, pops up everywhere.”

“Um..Scootaloo?” She turned to a suddenly very red faced Featherweight, twiddling his hooves.

“Yeah? What is it?” She asked, looking a lot more concerned now. He isn't sick, is he? Maybe he hasn't been eating enough, again. I told him those magazine models are unrealistic aspirations!

“I...er...I was wondering. Have you ever thought...that maybe...” She was now placing a hoof on his forehead, making sure he wasn't running a fever.

Ah jeez, why does she have to get so close...She smells nice...OKAY NO CREEPY THOUGHTS! He shook her off and tried to steel himself up for his question. “It's just...Well, we've gone to all these things together...and I just...”

“You don't want to go to this one with me?” Scootaloo asked, feeling a little hurt by this. She was relieved, however, when he shook his head.

“No I do! I really do! It's just...I thought maybe...This one we could be...You know, on an actual...” She held her breath subconsciously as he swallowed all the resolve he could muster. “...date?”

Featherweight let out a sigh of relief, finally managing to get his thoughts out in the open. However, looking up at Scootaloo's shocked face, he flinched a little. Ah man! Did I ruin everything?! I knew this was a bad idea!

Scootaloo's thoughts were, similarly, running wild. Did he ask me out? It sounded like he asked me out! What do I do?! I don't want to be a wimp, so I should decline, right? She looked up into Featherweight's hopeful eyes and stopped herself. Okay, maybe not the best idea to shoot him down for something like that! Besides, Sweetie Belle's not one to call the kettle black!

Okay, okay, getting off track here! Let's just sort everything out! Let's start with the positives if you agree. First off, it's just a date, not a marriage proposal so if it goes wrong it's not the end of the world. Second, you know Featherweight and he's cool and he can keep up with you. Third, it'd be nice to have a permanent pony to go to all these things with, you were getting afraid of him getting bored of you.

Alright negatives... She paused at that and she seemed to strain her face a little. Huh, that's weird. I can't think of any...Except the obvious; if it doesn't work out, you'll lose your friendship with him.

The silence reigned around Featherweight for, what seemed like hours, before Scootaloo let a small sigh. “Oh sure,” She answered, grinning at him, mischievously.

Featherweight blinked in surprise. He hadn't actually expected her to accept. He expected her to call him a wimp and leave or something. “Really?”

“Yeah, I mean you're cool and I trust ya and junk so let's go for it,” She answered, before scooting over to sit right next to him, causing his face to light up even more than it already was. “Besides, I kinda want to see why Sweetie Belle makes such a big deal about all this,” She continued, nuzzling her head under his.

His fur felt, surprisingly soft and pleasant against her own and she let let out an involuntary giggle as she felt his breath against her ears. But, as an after thought, she said. “You tell anyone about the snuggling and I'll kick your flank.”

Featherweight grinned, stupidly, and nuzzled into her mane. “Noted.”


Applebloom entered the castle to ask Twilight if she needed someone to look after Owlisious while she was at the dance, hoping to avoid the embarrassment of turning up on her own.

That's when she noticed Spike put down a phone and let out a stressed sigh. “Um...You okay there Spike?”

“No...” He replied, pointing out a plug outlet on the wall. That's when she noticed that it was upside down. “We got an electrician in a few days ago to wire the castle and he put in, like, twenty sockets. Nineteen of them are fine, but this one, for some reason, is the wrong way round.”

“Okay, how did that happen?” Applebloom asked, confused. “Ya have ta actually try ta screw up that badly!”

“I know. I called them to come fix it, but they said they wouldn't cause they didn't do anything wrong, cause it works,” Spike finished, sitting on the floor and curling up in a little ball, his eyes starting to mist up.

Applebloom felt her face harden as she marched up to the phone, looked at the number that he had underlined previously, and dialled, holding it up to her ear. How dare they make mah friend cry like that! Well they're going ta fix this buck up one way or another!

“Hello, this is Positive Node, how can I help you?”

“Hello, Ah'm calling on behalf of tha Castle of Friendship and it appears that you've fitted one of tha plug sockets upside-down.”

“Are you sure?”

Applebloom stood there for a second, looking as if she were asked what her favourite colour was to discern whether or not she could count to ten. “Well, hang on Ah'll check. Well yeah, mah friend is here, we're roughly tha same heigh, his eyes are above his mouth an' when Ah drop things, they fall towards mah hooves. So Ah appear ta be tha right way up!”

“So, you'd prefer them all the same way round, would you?” Applebloom's eye twitched.

“Yeah, Ah'm old school, what can Ah tell ya? Ah can't help it!” She answered, trying her best not to yell at this point. Jeez, it usually takes more than this ta wind me up like this! He's asked two questions and Ah'm about ta flip mah lid!

“Okay...Well what do you expect me to do about it?” He asked, pompously causing Applebloom to take a deep breath through gritted teeth, not noticing Spike looking up at her.

“As far as Ah can see, there's two things you could possibly do...” She started, her voice slowly elevating as she continued. “The first one involves you coming round an' flipping tha socket around. And tha other one involves you tryin' ta convince tha world ta start living upside-down, doesn't it?!”

Before he could interject, she added. “And Ah'd argue that tha second one would require a lot more work than tha first, cause you'd have ta travel tha world, spreading tha gospel of Saint, Flippin' Nut-Job tha Inverted! An' then you'd have ta bounce back here on yer head and flip over tha other nineteen ya did tha right way round in tha first place!”

She heard some stumbling in tha background and then a sigh. “I'll be round in ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” Applebloom replied, before she threatened. “Cause if yer not Ah'll have ta git mah friend's dad ta buy yer company ta replace you with somepony who can do their job right in the first place!” She yelled out, before slamming the receiver and sighed through her mouth.

“Wow...” She blinked and noticed Spike looking at her with a strange look. “You...really told him.”

Applebloom chuckled and took some deep breaths. “Yeah...AJ said Ah'm a little quick ta get angry. Speakin' o' which,” She said, taking out a rolled-up piece of paper from her mane and unrolled it, grabbing a pencil behind her ear.

“What's that?” Spike asked, moving to sit next to her.

“It's an anger management form,” She replied, rolling her eyes. “Ah have ta write down every time Ah git angry, what time it was, how angry Ah was, what happened, how tha situation resolved...”

“Sounds like this would...”

“...get me more angry than Ah was in tha first place?” She asked, smiling. “At first, yeah, but it's a habit now,” She answered, finishing the sheet and putting it back. “Are you feelin' better?”

Spike sighed, rubbing what remained of his tears from his eyes. “Yeah, I guess. It's just...the stress of today really bore down on me. What with Rarity going to get a coltfriend, Twilight leaving me to deal with guys like that and nopony seems to be available to go to the dance, so I'll be on my own and...” Spike clenched his eyes shut, before his mouth started to run off and upset him more. “Sorry.”

“It's fine,” Applebloom replied, smiling. “But Ah can help ya out with one of those things.”

“You already did,” Spike smiled, gratefully, pointing towards the phone. “Sounds like that guy was taken down a peg or two.”

Applebloom paused and then shook her head, grinning. “Right. I can help ya out with another one then,” He was about to ask before he felt her hoof go around his shoulders. “Ah can go ta tha dance with ya, Ah ain't got a date neither an' yer pretty hot.”

Spike felt his face flush as she started giggling at his reaction. That was when her words caught up with him and he smiled, brightly. “Really?!”

“Eeyup!” She answered, letting him go and heading towards the kitchen. “So Ah wanna hang around an' make sure tha guy on tha phone actually shows up, so wanna talk fer a while?”

“Sure!” Spike replied, following after her, before he placed a claw on her shoulder. She turned to him, quizzically as he smiled, deviously back. “And you're pretty hot too. Especially when your angry.”

Applebloom flushed red and she giggled in embarrassment.


Big Mac ducked into Rainbow Dash's 'ground home' and looked around. It was a cosy little cottage with a fireplace, fluffy rug, shelves with framed pictures and a hall to lead into the kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. One of the stranger things, however, was that instead of chairs or a sofa, there were a few large cushions and a TV was sat in the corner with a PlayStallion hooked in.

Rainbow grinned and flopped onto a light blue cushion. “Welcome to casa de me! Make yourself at home, guest room is the one opposite the kitchen, next to mine. Don't go in my room, unless I give ya permission and don't eat my pizza rolls, other than that go nuts,” She explained quickly, reaching down to take her sweater off, throwing it onto the orange cushion next to her.

Mac blinked, shrugged and sat on the red cushion by the fire place, tilting his head at Rainbow. She noticed his shivering, and waved her hoof towards the pile of logs. “Knock yourself out, buddy, I'm gonna get a drink,” She replied, getting up to go to the kitchen. “Want anything?”

“Eeyup,” He answered, picking up a log and setting it up in the middle.

Rainbow waited a little longer, hoping he'd be a little bit more elaborate. However, when he went about his task, she realised she's just going to have to guess.

She let out a breath as she entered her small kitchen, populated by an oven, fridge-freezer, pantry and sink. Guess hot chocolate is as good as anything, She thought to herself as she turned on the ring hob and filled a saucepan with milk to boil.

She then opened one of the cupboards and fetched the cocoa powder, hearing a rustling in her front room. She collected two novelty large mugs that Pinkie insisted she had, and dumped a bunch of the powder in each one, hoping to have put enough in before investigating the noise.

She noticed that Mac was studying the games cabinet, fetching out ones he thought were interesting and stared at them. She chuckled to herself as she went back to making the drinks.

After a few minutes, Rainbow balanced the two mugs on her wings and entered the room, noticing that Mac was reading the synopsis of one of her favourite games. “Ah yeah, that's Silent Hill Two,” She explained, causing him to look up. “It's a great psychological, survival horror game.”

He tilted his head and motioned towards the TV. “Um...Sure, you can play it if you want,” Rainbow answered, confused as to why he'd want to. She assumed he was all work and no play, so to speak.

When he looked over the machine in front of him, confused, she chuckled. “Here,” She said, pressing a few buttons, and slotting him the game disk, allowing the title screen to appear. After that, she got a memory card from a little tin besides the TV. “I don't think me or Scoots have a save on this one.”

After that, she handed him his hot chocolate and the game controller. “Don't worry about the buttons, the game will tell you how to play.”

“Eeyup,” Mac answered, pressing the start button. Rainbow bit her lip in frustration.

Okay, wow! He has not said anything but eeyup all day, this is actually kind of impressive! She thought to herself. I mean he communicates fine, I guess, but it'd be nice to hear his voice for a little longer than a second at a time!

She noticed that the main protagonist, Late Summertime, has just arrived in Silent Hill to look for his dead wife, Calming Summertime.

“Um...” Mac said, causing Rainbow to turn to him. “...If his wife is dead, why is he bothering ta look fer her?”

Rainbow blinked in surprise. Did he just...say something? Something other than eeyup or nope?

He flinched under her gaze and focused back on the game. She shook the thoughts from her mind, and the blush off of her face. She had found his deep, booming voice kind of...sexy.

“Uh...oh! Well, uh, he's just kind of in shock and probably wants to see her again. You know, all that lovers stuff,” She replied, rubbing one hoof with the other. Mac turned and nodded, smiling.