The Eyes of the Beholder

by BrinnyTheBrave

Chapter 10 Part 1

The day that everybrony and mare in Ponyville had been waiting for had arrived. The town was full of excitement. This was a special time of year, for foals and adults alike.
Prince Artemis would begin the Winter Moon Festival on the twenty first day of the last month of Fall. Then to kick off winter and the holidays, the stallions got together to organize the Hearth's Warming Prance. At the Friendship Castle, Barbara fussed with her dress and scales to make sure they shone in the light. She was nervous as this was her first dance with a stallion. A knock sounded at the door.

"Barbara! Elusive is here to pick you up, we should get going." Dusk's voice sounded from outside the room.

"Alright!" She answered. Dusk had been nagging at her to hurry up for the past hour, for fear that they would be tardy. What Dusk didn't realize is that girl dragons needed their time to get ready. Barbara sighed. Sometimes she thought it would be nice to have a female figure in her life, having lived around stallions her whole life since she was hatched. Glimmer Shield was all she had, and since the Captainess of the Guards got married, Barbara saw less and less of her these days. She shook the thought out of her head, there were more important matters right now, like her first official date.

"Barbara!!!" Dusk wailed. She rolled her eyes, getting out of the chair in front of the mirror and went to open the door.

"Dusk, calm down, I'm ready, okay?" Barbara said. "Um… Dusk?" She poked him. Tears were welling in his eyes as he stared in awe at the dragoness.

"You're… you're so beautiful Barbs!" Dusk sniffled. "I'm so proud of you!"

Barbara blushed, feeling embarrassed and shy now. Hearing her adoptive brother compliment her in a way she'd never been complimented before touched her. Dusk wore a suit of light blue himself.

"Come on you goof ball, we have a dance to get to, don't we?" She said, trying to make the situation less awkward.

"Right. Elusive is at the bottom of the stairs waiting for you." He smiled. Barbara smiled back nervously, gulping.

They walked for a few minutes, until Barbara saw the white stallion waiting for her at the bottom of the staircase. Dusk smiled, motioning for her to go ahead. Her fancy custom made shoes made clanks on the cold ground with every step she took.

"Barbara, you look… breathtaking!" Elusive beamed. The she-dragon blushed heavily. He held out a hoof for her to take. She took it, sighing as she made the last step without tripping over her dress. Dusk flew down to join them.

"You did an amazing job on that dress, Elusive. It's not easy to make a pattern for a baby dragon!" Dusk said.

"Thank you, Dusk."

"This vest isn't half that bad either." The alicorn said, fluffing up his wings to show off the vest more.

"It wasn't easy to make new vests for all six of you but I managed!" Elusive said with pride. "After all, we must look the very best for our mares!" He smiled at Barbara, who smiled back.

They walked out of the castle where a carriage with two pegasi mare guards stood for them. The all clambered onto the carriage, Elusive helping Barbara up with his magic. She cuddled up closely to him as the carriage took off. They flew for some time before they made it to the town hall.

"Dusk?" Barbara whispered to him as they were about to walk in.

"Huh? Oh, right." He winked, taking the hint to leave them for the evening. He flew off into the crowd of ponies.

"Tickets, sir." A unicorn royal guard mare said, shuffling the lineup along. Elusive brought out two tickets as they were let in.

The ponies had worked hard to put this event together, and that work showed. Beautiful snowflake and general Hearths Warming decorations hung from and covered the walls, and there was even a disco ball to add to the scenery. Barbara took note of the DJ they got and her eyes widened.

"ELUSIVE!!!" A bouncy colt voice shouted. Bubble Berry tackled his unicorn friend.

"Gah… Berry! This is my good new suit, do you mind?!" The unicorn hissed.

"Not at all!" Berry chirped, returning to his place next to his date. The white stallion huffed.

"Panini dear, how are you? I heard you were back in town! Congratulations on the business!" Elusive said.

"Thanks! Turns out I didn't realize what I had left behind after I was done with Rainbow Blitz's birthday. She smiled and nuzzled Berry."

"Holy smokes!!! I can't believe you guys were able to get Record Scrape for the DJ!" Barbara beamed, unable to hold in her excitement anymore.

"That's what the work of two super duper party ponies can do!" Berry smiled.

"Stallions and gentle-mares!" Mayor Colt's voice sounded all around the room from the speakers as he spoke into the microphone on the stage. "It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to this year's Hearth's Warming Prance!" The room cheered. "I think I can say this year will be the best dance we've had, thanks to the amazing party planning committee we have!" the Mayor exclaimed. The crowd cheered again.

"You're the best, Mayor Colt!" Berry squeaked from the audience. Mayor Colt cleared his throat.

"Yes, well. To start this party off, we will have a slow dance for all you lovers, so stallions, grab you mares, mares, grab your stallions, and Mr. Record Scrape?" The Mayor looked at him. Record Scrape turned his head towards the direction of the Mayor, nodding. He changed the disks and a slow romantic waltz began to play. Stallions with their mares began to fill the dance floor, some awkward dancers just swaying back and forth unsure of how to guide their partner. There were even a pair of stallions seen dancing together, a mint unicorn and a cream earth pony that moved along to the romantic music. Taking note of them Barbara no longer felt out of place that she was the only dragon there as Elusive guided her onto the dance floor, her arm hooked around his forearm. Elusive initiated the familiar steps of "one-two three-one-two-three". He was very good at taking the lead. Barbara gazed into his sapphire blue eyes. She forgot she was having so much fun until the waltz came to a close. Elusive leaned in and kissed her. A heavy coat of blush appeared on her face.

"And with that, the Hearth's Warming Prance has begun!" The Mayor said, before going off to mingle with the crowd, that cheered in turn as Record Scrape dropped the base.

Comments

[TheWorstDiscord]

I don't think Mares and Gentle-stallions needs to be switched... But whatever floats your boat