//------------------------------// // May I Have This Dance: Part 2 // Story: Canterlot High Chronicles // by Shadowsnake89 //------------------------------// "Isn't today a great day? The sun is out and the birds are singing. It's just good to be alive." "Yeah sure." Mystery Mint says, slightly creeped out by the high spirited demeanor of Crimson Napalm, who has a bouquet of flowers in his hand as the two walk toward the Carousel Boutique. "And what's so good about it?" "Uh Saturday's the big dance." "Yeah, and it's girls choice so," "So me and Aria are going together." "If she asks you that is." "And why wouldn't she?" He says, sniffing the flowers. "I've been at all of her matches, I stopped getting into so much trouble and I even started paying for my food when we go out to dinner." "Oh yeah, no way she'd say no to a guy like you." Mint says sarcastically, rolling her eyes as the two reach the boutique. "So have you asked Napalm to the dance yet?" The two hear Adagio say as they walk through the open door. This fills the rocker with even more confidence as he prepares to round the corner. "No it's just some lame dance." The words that utter from Aria's mouth freeze him in place as his new found joy turns into disbelief. Mint stands next to him, awkwardly watching and then following him as he leaves the shop. The Next Day Cherry Crash and the rest of the band are practicing in one of the music rooms of the school, wrapping up another of their new songs. "Good job gang. Okay so right after Thunderbass' solo that's when you kick in the fire works, alright? Hey Napalm, you listening?" Crash walks over to the mohawk kid, poking him in the side of the face as he just sits on one of the amps, paying no mind. "Is he broken?" Mint takes her aside and whispers the answer. "Take it easy on him okay. He's a little down because 'you know who isn't asking him to the dance Saturday." Cherry lets out a short sigh. "What did you do this time?" "I don't know. I thought I was finally doing something right for a change." Crimson says, his head still down. "And believe me that's not easy for him to do." Mint says. Cherry puts a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "Sorry bud. It's not the end of the world you know." "The girl you like won't take you to the girl's choice dance. Sure would seem like the end to me." Bass says to Valhallan as the two chuckle but immediately straighten up as Cherry angrily glares at them. "Hey come on. How about you be my date tonight? We could even sneak out and prank Vice Principal Luna's car." Crimson gives them his friends a smile, stands up and turns to the others. "Nah, it's cool. I'm all good. You guys go and enjoy yourselves." The group look at one another as Napalm takes his leave, hiding his face as he walks down the hall, passing Curly Winds and Whiz Kid who wave but get no response. "What's up with him?" Curly asks. "Don't know. Then again who can ever piece together what's going on in his head at any given time?" Whiz responds. "Agreed. So you all set for Adagio to ask you?" "You know it. You ready for Applejack to ask you on an actual date? You know, one that doesn't involve you two trying to one up each other." "Yeah, it's gonna be great. Oh hey, there's Adagio." He says as the two see her talking to Applejack. "Hey!" Whiz says as he walks down the hall toward her. Seeing him coming, she nervously excuses herself and takes off in the other direction. "Adagio wait up. Hey Applejack. Do you know where Adagio is headed." "Can't say that I know. Said she had somethin' important to take care of." Applejack says. "Oh, okay. I was really hoping to ask her about the dance." "Don't sweat it. I'm sure she's just as excited as you are. But to be honest there's still a bunch that needs doin' before Saturday. She's probably so caught up in it all that asking you slipped her mind." "You're probably right. Thanks AJ." "No problem. And I'll see you Saturday at seven on the dot, got it?" She says in Curly's direction. "Oh I'll be there." "You'll be late, as usual." "Oh no I won't. I'll be there early. In fact I'll be so early it'll be the day before." The two go back and forth before Whiz breaks it up. "Hey, you guys are doing it again. You're being super competitive." He says as the two look away in wlight embarassment. The two proceed on their way as Applejack is then approached by Mystery Mint. "Hey, we need to talk." Canterlot High Football Field "So what does she want us to do about it?" Rainbow Dash asks Applejack as she and the others sit on the bleachers discussing what Mystery Mint has told them about Crimson. "Not our faults if he wants to be a sad sack about it." "Really Rainbow Dash? He's crushed that his sweetheart isn't asking him to the dance. I can only imagine the horrible, soul crushing pain he must be feeling right now." Rarity says dramatically. "Oh you don't have to imagine it. He's right over there." Pinkie points out as they see Napalm sitting on a bench, eating his lunch, only for a bird to swoop down and take his sandwich. "Wow, he's really batting a thousand today." Pinkie says sadly. "But what can we do?" Fluttershy inquires. "Well maybe we can all take turns and see if we can convince Aria to give it a shot. She's helping me out on the farm today and I know she's helping you out tomorrow Fluttershy." Applejack says. "Yeah I mean eventually one of us has to wear her down." Rainbow Dash states. "Sure, but let's try to be subtle about it okay?" Sunset Shimmer chimes in. "You know how she gets when she thinks she's being pressured into something. Remember when we tried to get her into that study group?" The group cringes at the memory as they all set out. Back inside the school, Whiz sits with some of the other techie kids in the library. "And I understand that she's busy but everytime I try to talk to her she runs off. It's like she's avoiding me." "I'm sure that's not it at all. There's obviously a legitimate reason she hasn't asked you yet." Bright Idea says while scribbling something down in a notebook. "Like?" Whiz asks, awaiting a response as Bright Idea, Velvet Sky and Scribble Dee trade stares. "Um, maybe she doesn't think she has to ask you?" Scribble says. "That doesn't explain why she would avoid him." Velvet retorts. "I might have to crunch some numbers on this." As he listens to his friends debate on the subject he spots Adagio walking down the hall through the library door's window. Whiz decides to go for it and simply catch her when she doesn't expect it. She takes a turn into one of the classrooms where Sunset Shimmer, Golden Hazel and she are working on a class project together. He takes a deep breadth before walking in. "Adagio. I really need to talk to you. I just need to know what's going on with us." Adagio, still turned away from him, has a distressed expression on her face as she turns to him, the other girls giving concerned looks. "Please, just leave me alone." Her response shocks everyone as Whiz looks dumbfounded by it. "What? But I thought..." "You thought what? That someone like me would ever want to be with someone like you?" She says in her old condensending speech patterns. "Please. I have better things to do than entertain some little dweeb. So why don't you just save yourself any further embarrassment and leave now." Fighting back tears in his eyes, Whiz quickly exits down the hall. "Geez and I thought I was hard on Heath." Hazel says. "What's wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?" Sunset asks simply. "Get off my case Shimmer! I did what I had to do. It's the only way to keep him safe." "From what?" Sunset demands to know. "From me!" The siren shouts before stopping herself. She looks down, then back to Sunset and Hazel, her heart beating fast. "I...I need to be alone." She says, darting out of the room. Sunset stands there for a moment before turning to Golden Hazel. "I can finish this up. Go." Hazel says as the other girl chases after Adagio. She soon finds her hold up inside the vacant janitor's closet, curled up with her head resting in her knees. Sunset says nothing and simply sits down next to her. After a few moments of silence, Sunset speaks up. "Do you remember what I said that night at the roller rink? I said that I'd always be here to talk if you needed it. The offer still stands you know." "I can't do this, the whole relationship I mean. I like him, I really do, but I don't know if I can trust myself." "What do you mean?" "You know what I was like before. A siren manipulates emotions to feed. That's how we survived. After the thing with Sombra I tried to forget all of that, but those cravings stuck with me. I can still see the energy and it's calling to me." "But what does that have to do with Whiz?" "When I'm with him I feel this energy I can't really describe, but it's..." "It's like nothing you've ever felt before." "Yes, it feels amazing. But I don't know. Do I just want to be with him because of it? Is that all it is? And what if I can't control it? That's why I can't be with him." A small smirk runs across Sunset's face. "I think I know what this is." "You do?" "It sounds to me like that energy you're sensing is love. Just like the love you have for your sisters and us." "But it doesn't feel the same." "There are different kinds of love. There's the kind you have between family and friends, and then there's that love you feel for a person you have this special connection with, someone that maybe you can see yourself spending the rest of your life with." "Well I wouldn't go as far as the rest of our lives just yet. But I definitely like him a lot. Maybe you're right, maybe I've just been worrying for no reason. Thanks." "Don't mention it." The two share a hug before heading back to finish their assignment. Music Room "So how did it go with Ms. Blaze?" Rarity asks, polishing her nails. "I thought a few good sparring sessions would loosen her up. No luck." Rainbow Dash says covering up a few bruises. "Likewise with the field work." Applejack states. "How about you Fluttershy?" Pinkie asks, a cake splattered on her face. Several Hours Ago Fluttershy and Aria are busy in the shelter, allowing many of the kittens to roam free in the play area. She nervously looks over at the siren before attempting to go through with the plan. "Um, Aria? I was just wondering if you...." "Shy, I know the others put you up to this so I'm just going to save you the effort and tell you right now that it's not going to work. So why don't we just skip the whole thing, you can put on a sad face for everyone and pretend you tried and we can get back to helping out these little guys, okay?" Aria says with a surprisingly kind smile on her face. "Oh okay." Present "I don't want to talk about it." Fluttershy says as the others call it a day. Saturday Night "Forget the stupid dance. And forget Aria. If she doesn't want to take me that's fine. I've got plenty of things to do on a Saturday night." Crimson Napalm says as he sits down in his living room in nothing but a pair of red boxers and a t-shirt. In front of him sits a tray of junk food and the tv remote as he has planned to spend the evening binge watching his favorite shows. Just as he is about to begin, the door bell rings. He makes his way over and opens it to find Aria in a new dress, her arms folded. "You are not going as my date in that are you?" She asks, noting his attire. "What are you doing here?" "We're going to the dance dummy." She responds bluntly. "Wait. I thought you weren't asking me to the dance." "Of course I wasn't going to ask you. We're dating. Why would I need to ask my boyfriend if he was going to be my date for the girls choice dance?" "But I heard you say the dance was stupid." "Listen Napalm, I think a lot of things are stupid. Like whenever Pinkie drags us to the rock museum or when Rarity asks us to test out some of her new designs, even when Sonata wants us to go to that restaurant that serves nothing but cheesecake. But I do it all. And that's because even if I hate what I get dragged into, I do it because I love the people I'm doing it with." She says as she kisses him on the cheek. "So are you coming or what?" In a flash he vanishes and then reappears with a suit on. "What are we waiting for?" He asks as he takes her hand. At the dance, many of the students are enjoying themselves on the dance floor. Among them are the trio of Brawly Beats, Indigo Wreath, and Scott Green, who are all dancing with Trixie. "See I told you I'd get us all a date, sort of." Wreath says. "Then why did it cost us all fifty bucks a piece? And per hour?" Scott demands to know. "Because Trixie is not a cheap date." The girl says. "Clearly." Brawly says under his breadth. Near the refreshment table Adagio and Whiz stand, just enjoying each others company. "I want to apologize for how I was acting the other day. I'm going through some things that may not make a hundred percent sense to you." "It's okay. I knew from day one dating a siren wasn't going to be easy. But I'm here for you in whatever it is you're going through." "You're sweet." She says before the two share a short kiss. Adagio then notices Aria and Crimson Napalm arrive. "I thought you weren't coming." "No, I actually never said that." Aria says with a smug look on her face. "So you guys want to hit the dance floor with the others?" "Maybe after we break that up," Whiz says as he looks across the room. "I think Applejack just challenged Curly to a push up contest." "Oh good grief. Come on, let's see what we can do." Adagio says. "Better than staying at home already, huh?" Aria asks Napalm, who smiles as the two head over. A short ways away his band mates watch joyfully. "I think our boys gonna be alright." Cherry says as the others nod in agreement.