• Published 14th Jan 2017
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Shut Up And Dance - TheVClaw



After accidentally injuring Elusive's dancing partner before a large competition, Rainbow Blitz swore that he would help him find a new partner and win. Unfortunately, Elusive seems to want Blitz to be his replacement.

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Chapter Sixteen: Skilled Quips and Painted Lips

“Ugh!” With the way Elusive’s muzzle was wrinkling, it seemed like he was close to heaving when he blurted hoarsely, “I absolutely loathe how these colored sprays smell!”

Rainbow Blitz didn’t like the smell of those aerosols either, but he kept himself silent while sitting in his chair in the dressing room. His eyes clenched shut as soon as he heard the clacking of Elusive’s can again. Since his nostrils were plugged, he waited until the clacking stopped before holding his breath and closing his mouth. “Alright,” said Elusive with a tired sigh, “here we go…”

Rainbow Blitz felt the light mist of colored dye go over his face, slowly changing his natural cyan coat to a shade of white similar to Elusive’s. Thankfully the spray didn’t color Blitz anywhere else due to the smock covering his torso, as well as the thick hair band concealing his mane. The spraying lasted only a minute or so, but it was long enough for Blitz to struggle not to breathe while his partner got the last few spots evenly coated. After a small huff in satisfaction, Elusive put the can down and said, “Alright, you can breathe now.”

Rainbow gasped deeply while reopening his eyes, grateful that none of the spray residue was stinging them yet. Just as he was about to get the plugs out of his nostrils, Elusive interrupted him and said warningly, “Don’t touch your face just yet! I don’t want that to start smearing before our routine.”

Even though he hated having his nose plugged up, Blitz figured keeping them in a little longer was better than getting resprayed with those chemicals. So despite the bitter taste of that dye stinging his tongue, he stomached through it and got out of his seat. Meanwhile, Elusive was looking closely at the two thick, frizzy wigs that were recently sprayed with a can of black dye spray. “Hmmm… I think these may have dried enough.”

“Ugh, goo-duh,” grumbled Rainbow, whose stuffed sinuses made it hard to say certain words coherently. “I cat believe dat wig shop didn’t haf any blag ones.”

“Well, at least we’re able to manage with what we have.” The unicorn used his magic to carefully lift one of the wigs from the stand. He smiled in approval when he saw that no residue or discoloration could be seen on the formerly blue headpiece. “And I must say,” continued Elusive with a self-congratulatory tone as he smirked back at his friend, “I think I matched the mane-styles from that album cover quite well!”

Unlike the naturally white stallion, Rainbow Blitz just looked at the other wig for a second and sighed through his mouth. “Yeah a liddle…” As he walked away to look at himself in the mirror, Elusive followed when he saw how upset the pegasus still looked.

“Rainbow,” said Elusive in a more sympathetic voice, “Please don’t let those mares get to you.”

“I’m nod,” Blitz lied before sighing again. “It’s just… I couldn’t thing about it much during our pragtice, so now…”

Elusive exhaled with a faint nod, feeling the same way his partner did. After their encounter with the Shim Sham sisters, the stallions went overtime on getting their routine pitch-perfect in rehearsals. Even though their joints were aching near the end, they both felt fairly confident that they got the dance nailed down perfectly. But now that the adrenaline wore off, all that was left were two brooding stallions left in their dressing room with nothing but their makeup and unfocused minds.

“Blitz, it’s going to be alright.” The unicorn wasn’t sure how his statement could sound true when he couldn’t think of a solution himself, but he still meant it while placing a hoof on Blitz’s shoulder. “This isn’t the first time we dealt with ponies trying to demean our efforts or dismiss us as being gimmicks. But we moved past it! Heck, you saw how positive our reception was after Baltimare!”

Blitz nodded weakly, despite still feeling a heavy shroud of uneasiness hanging over his head. He wanted to scream at something, or find the nearest punching bag to destroy it with his bare hooves, but he knew that wouldn’t be helpful to him or his partner. If there was any outlet Rainbow needed to use, it had to be that dance-floor so it could mean something. Unfortunately though, that option was feeling a bit out of reach since they learned they were going to be the last act of the day.

While the pegasus sat in silence and thought all those things over, Elusive huffed before adding, “Plus, we’ve both been through a lot worse than some blackmail! I wouldn’t consider their plans as low as that Wind Glider mare who tried to sabotage your Wonderbolt eligibility. Or when Steve Polocolt stole my designs and still lost.”

Blitz’s head lowered a little more, a long and seething breath escaping his muzzle. “... yeah.”

Elusive’s frown became stronger, and he pulled his chair over so he could sit beside him. “Blitz, please,” said the unicorn in a more fretful tone, “I know you’re mad, but I can not let you act this way right now. Both of us have come so far in such a short amount of time, and if we were to give up now it’d be like…”

He had to pause for a moment, worried that his words may have sounded a tad selfish. Not wanting his friend to think he was only thinking about their routine, Elusive sighed before saying whole-heartedly, “I just… I don’t want to see you get this hung up over a threat, Rainbow. I’ve seen you overcome a lot of things over the years, and I know you’ve dealt with a lot more before we became Elements…”

Blitz turned around to glance at him, his brows raised like he expected Elusive to say something he shouldn’t know. Thankfully,Elusive used that moment to add, “I can’t say I know what you went through or anything, because I clearly don’t. Plus, that’d be a tad clichèd for my taste. But regardless, I can still say confidently that you’re one of the strongest stallions I’ve ever met. Even when we were at our lowest points, you were always the one who went down fighting. You absolutely refuse to give up, even when everyone else has. And right now, I can not have you give up on me. Especially over something like a cheap threat.”

Even though he still felt like shit, Blitz knew that his friend was right. He really didn’t want to end up being too distracted by those sisters to mess up their routine, despite how strongly their words were still reeling in his head. But when he saw that stern, but still hopeful look that Elusive was giving him, the pegasus found it a little easier to pause. He saw the glimmer of determination shining in the unicorn’s blue eyes, practically screaming at Blitz to get his head back in the game; it may have not had the same immediate effect as Captain Flamethrower’s trademark glares, it was still enough to help clear his head.

He closed his own eyes for a brief moment to sigh, hoping that his mood wouldn’t stay dreary for too much longer while nodding his head. “Y-Yeah,” said Blitz before taking a calming breath. “Yeah, you’re right. I just gotta… take a minute, alright?”

Elusive nodded and got out of his chair. “Of course. Take all the time you need.”

While the unicorn went to grab the black dye spray, as well as the pre-cut stencils he made for their face makeup, Blitz leaned towards the mirror to see how dry his white makeup looked. The door knocked while the pegasus carefully pulled out his nose plugs. “Hey, guys?” asked Applejack from the hallway. “Y’all in there?”

Elusive put his things down on the counter and went to the door. “Yes, we’re here,” he piped before opening it. Applejack looked fairly happy at seeing his friends, but the heavy bags under his eyes were what caused some concern from the unicorn. “Good heavens!" shouted the wide-eyed unicorn. "How much sleep did you get last night?!”

Ughh…” AJ’s smile dropped pretty quickly while rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, ya can blame Grampy for that. The little horndog didn’t even send us a message ‘bout where he went or nuthin’! But everything’s fine now.”

“Oh dear,” replied Elusive with his ears lowered in worry. “I hope Apple Buck is okay.”

“Oh, he’s fine,” assured the orange stallion with a wave of his hoof. “He was too tuckered out from practice last night to know too much. He and Twinkle’r the first couple up, so Ah wanted to see if you two wanna watch ‘em.”

Elusive sighed and answered apologetically, “I’m sorry, but we can’t. We still need to get our costumes on, and we’ve been a little preoccupied with some other things.”

“Other things?” One of Applejack’s brows raised. “Like what?”

“Well, getting our makeup ready, for one.” Elusive lit his horn to show the dye cans and stencils they still need to use. Blitz leaned over to wave at AJ with his white face visible.

“EUGH!” Applejack reeled back from the sight of Rainbow’s new face. “What the heck’re ya’ll dancing to?! Mimes?”

Blitz groaned and rolled his eyes. “No, dude! It’s not mimes, it’s glam-rock!

“Glam-rock?” Applejack looked inside of the dressing room for a few seconds, noting the costumes and wigs before realizing the theme of their disco act. Both his brows came up as he went, “Ohhhhh… Okay, ah see it now.”

“Yeah, thanks.” groaned Blitz while he looked back at the mirror. “When I tried to show Scootaroll some of the band’s album covers for reference, he thought it was those stupid-ass clown rappers.”

Elusive noted with a shrug, “Well, their makeup is fairly similar.”

Applejack chuckled and said light-heartedly, “Well, if it helps a bit, Apple Buck is doin’ that Charleston thing with a Hipster theme! Somethin’ Twinkle’s folks thought up to go with their song, Ah think.”

Blitz scoffed a little at hearing the colt’s dance theme and looked back at the mirror, but Elusive replied with a sensible tone, “That doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary. The Charleston is a more obscure dance style, after all.”

“Yeah, that’s what Buck was thinkin’ too.” When Applejack looked inside the room to where Blitz was seated, his smile lessened at noticing how silent he was acting while looking at his whitened face. He glanced back at Elusive and whispered discreetly, “Hey, what’s up wit’ him?”

The unicorn was a little hesitant about saying anything about their issue to others, but he figured that Applejack would be a safe source to get some advice from. Knowing that AJ dealt with the Shim Sham sisters repeatedly before, Elusive made sure the pegasus wasn’t too upset before leading the orange stallion out of the room. He closed the door behind him and said to Applejack in the hallway, “Well, Rainbow and I are in a bit of a situation with those Shim Sham sisters…”

Applejack’s eyes shot wide open, clearly not willing to ignore what Elusive was going to say. While the unicorn explained what occurred after breakfast, Rainbow Blitz decided to get his makeup ready without his friend’s assistance. After finding the right stencils on the counter, Blitz placed one of them over his closed left eye with one hoof. He used his other hoof to hold the aerosol can of black spray and apply a thick, even coat over his eye. After about half a minute, the pegasus pulled it away to reveal a decently-painted, intricately-designed piece that looked a little like black flames shooting from his eye. Blitz looked satisfied with his work, and was just about to paint the right eye before hearing Applejack shout from outside the room, “They did WHAT?!?”

In the hallway, Elusive tried to frantically shush his friend. “Applejack, please!” he hissed while looking around. “We can’t make a scene about this!”

“Oh, there’s gonna be a scene!” AJ began to storm down the hallway to leave the building. “Them girls went TOO far!”

Fortunately, a strong grip of Elusive’s magic kept the stallion from making another step. “PLEASE listen to me! They have major collateral on us, and resorting to violence isn’t going to help!”

“It’ll help them sisters a bit!” retorted Applejack back at him. “Them two obviously have too many teeth in their mouths!”

“AJ, believe me,” said Elusive in a stern tone while glaring at him, “there is nothing more satisfying I can think of than acting physical towards those two. BUT! Can you tell me a single positive thing that could come from any of us going and attacking two mares?!”

Applejack opened his mouth, but nothing came out when he really thought that question over. Realizing that any outcome was most likely going to be extremely bad, it took a moment before the stallion sighed and closed his muzzle.

“That’s what I thought,” said the unicorn pertly. “Now if you really want to help, then I suggest you find Dusk Shine and tell him the situation. He and the others are probably here by now, and I know he’d be the best bet when it comes to finding a suitable solution.”

Applejack’s lips were pursed in worry, but he knew that Elusive’s plan was a lot better than his own. So instead of going to rearrange those unicorns’ faces, AJ exhaled through his nostrils and nodded in agreement. “Alright then,” he said apprehensively. “Ah’ll go find Dusk and the others.”

After giving Applejack an appreciative hug and a “Thank you,” Elusive watched his friend rush out of the hall to find Dusk. The unicorn sighed to himself before turning around to reenter the room. By now, Rainbow Blitz applied the matching stencils to both of his eyes, and was getting the large downward point that went down his forehead. Even though he was surprised to see the pegasus trying it himself, Elusive had to admit that it wasn’t horribly done. “Well then,” he said with an impressed smirk, “I guess those stencils were a good investment after all!”

“Yeah…” Rainbow sprayed the last of the point on his face before putting the can and stencil down on the counter. He looked back at Elusive with his demonic/tribal getup nearly finished, but his worried stare on Elusive was still clear underneath all that dye. “So… I take it you told him what happened?”

Elusive exhaled painfully. “I had to, Blitz. I figured he would know how to handle those girls better than either of us. Plus, he’s going to get Dusk Shine for some added assistance.”

“Alright, that sounds good.” He handed Elusive the star-shaped stencil and said with a hesitant, but still honest-sounding, “But uh… thanks for telling him outside, at least. I didn’t want to blow up while retelling everything myself.”

“I wouldn’t blame you in the slightest if you did.” Elusive sat down in his seat with his horn lit, using it to hold the stencil over his closed right eye. Blitz picked up the can of dye and re-shook it to give a strong spray. While in wait, Elusive decided to ask with his left eye still open, “So, if you don’t mind me asking, Blitz…”

The clacking noises stopped as Blitz paused and looked back at him. Elusive took a breath and asked apprehensively. “Is there something else on your mind? You know… other than those sisters?”

Blitz was silent for a couple seconds, and breathed out sharply before nodding. “A little,” he admitted while going up to Elusive’s chair. “It’s nothing that matters too much anymore, but… I was just reminded of some of the bullshit I went through because of girls like that.”

“Like what?” asked Elusive curiously. At seeing Blitz ready to spray in the stencil, he closed both of his eyes to avoid any residual dye stinging either one. He heard the heavy spraying from the can when Blitz began, covering his pristine white fur with a heavy mist of that garish black spray. Meanwhile, Blitz focused on spraying inside the stencil while thinking over what to say.

“Well,” he began with a slightly more bitter tone in his voice, “back in Flight Academy, there were these three mares who constantly messed around with me. Like, they started bullying Butterscotch first, but then they focused solely on me after I defended him. I guess they just got a kick at seeing me get pissed off all the time, especially when they started spreading rumors about me…”

Blitz finished spraying and pulled away the stencil, revealing a perfect star painted over Elusive’s right eyes. When Blitz got back to his seat, the unicorn asked worriedly, “What kind of rumors?”

“The same ones I’m dealing with now.” With his forelegs crossed, Rainbow looked away with an angered scowl on his painted face. “And when you have a rainbow mane, it doesn’t exactly help with what certain ponies might assume about you.”

Elusive’s ears dropped as he looked at his friend with a saddened expression. He looked down at his own lap and breathed out through his nostrils before saying, “Believe me, Blitz. I know what that’s like.”

“Oh, you do?” asked Blitz in a skeptical tone that was less than subtle. His eyes narrowed on the unicorn while both brows were raised. “Were YOU given nicknames like Pritsy Blitzy or Rainbow Fagfor over three years straight?”

Elusive looked back up at Blitz with a soured stare. “No, but I WAS the only stallion in my university who was majoring in Fashion Design with a minor in Interior Design! Do you really think you were the only one to experience homophobic assumptions from classmates?”

Blitz quickly shut himself up as his bitter glare dissipated in an instant. Realizing he shouldn’t have been so condescending, he looked away with a wince while opening his mouth, “Uhhh… okay, yeah. You win.”

“It’s alright,” said Elusive after a long sigh. “I understand. I’m just saying that I’ve dealt with some… unpleasant ponies in my past as well.”

Rainbow shrugged uncomfortably, not wanting to argue Elusive’s point a second time in a row. “Yeah, I get it,” he replied while Elusive went to grab his red lipstick. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize, Rainbow,” assured the unicorn while uncapping his stick. “It’s just so upsetting how strongly ponies react to the sight of a stallion showing even the slightest hint of femininity.”

Elusive then began to apply the red lipstick on his lips, prompting Blitz’s muzzle to skew a little at the sight. “Uhhh… yeah. Really not that much to call feminine.”

“Hm?” Elusive paused after putting his lipstick on, needing a moment to realize how he may have looked. “Oh!” After letting out an annoyed huff, he put the lipstick down and handed Blitz his black lipstick. “Well, you know what I mean! It’s not easy to get any dates in college with assumptions like that.”

“You’re telling me!” Blitz nodded strongly as he uncapped his stick, seeing how black and glossy it really was. “Like, I could’ve easily gotten more mares than I did back during Flight Academy if those bitches actually left me alone! But their constant rumors and teasing just left me a giant, paranoid mess! And it wasn’t like I could really defend myself since they were girls.”

After Blitz groaned angrily and began putting on his lipstick, Elusive nodded with a pout of his own. “Yeah, that’s never pretty,” he admitted in agreement. “I was fortunate to have taken some theater classes before college, so I was fairly skilled in improv. If I ever got any snide remarks or jokes thrown my way, it was easy to avoid raising a hoof when I had a silver tongue.”

The pegasus finished applying his lipstick, and raised a brow at Elusive while placing the stick on the counter. “Really?” asked Blitz curiously. “Like what?”

Elusive huffed with a smirk and answered pertly, "Well one of my choice favorites to use was, ‘Darling, you really shouldn’t look so angry. It makes your face look fat.’”

Pbbtt!” If it wasn’t for the finished makeup on his face, Rainbow would’ve covered his mouth with a hoof to better restrain that snicker. “Holy crap, that’s cold!”

“Oh, that’s nothing!” Elusive waved his hoof in dismissal. “A really good one I remember was when this particularly nasty classmate decided to criticize my fall gown project by saying I should use more pink to ‘Better represent my character.’ Well, I didn’t even skip a beat when I replied with, ‘Well, I can see by your outfit that the only addition you need to stay close to your true self is a leash connected to your pimp.’”

That made Blitz burst out laughing with a hoof over his chest. Seeing his friend’s reaction, Elusive couldn’t resist chuckling a little himself. “Oh, shit!” blurted the pegasus between a few surprised giggles. “That’s impressive, I’ll admit that!”

“Well, thank you,” replied Elusive with a grateful smile. However, a few seconds passed before the unicorn sighed and looked away with his pout re-growing on his face. “Although, I wish I said something like that to those sisters.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. “Blitz put a hoof out and tried to grab his friend’s attention. “Those two had us in a friggin corner. Heck, if you did say something, chances are good they’d have just sent the photos out right then. You saw how they reacted when I almost pulled the C-word at them.”

Elusive sighed and nodded weakly. “Yeah, that’s true…” He looked back at Blitz with a small smirk and admitted guiltily, “Although in retrospect, part of me sort of regrets not letting you finish that word.”

Blitz snickered at Elusive’s statement and said with a smile, “Hey, I wouldn’t have stopped you from saying it!”

“I know, I know. You don’t have to convince me that!”

That reply got both of them to laugh a little harder. Elusive was the first to get himself settled, and he took a breath as a small blush appeared on his cheeks. “But seriously Blitz, I… I really do appreciate you standing up for me so strongly today. It may have been a bit brash, but still… That means a lot.”

Blitz got himself to stop giggling as he smiled warmly back at his friend. “Hey, it’s no problem, dude! What was I supposed to do, let them keep acting like we were a gay couple? I wasn’t gonna let that happen to my friend!”

Elusive’s smile thankfully remained, but his eyes widened a little while his blush deepened. Even though he knew that Rainbow’s statement was extremely sincere and well-intentioned, it was also enough to make the unicorn remind himself of that unfortunate dream that was still burnt into his brain. Despite how vivid it was, Elusive wanted to try his hardest to not be reminded of it. Not just because it was completely different from what he’d usually dream about, but mostly because involved the very stallion who was smiling back at him.

The stallion whose magenta eyes were shining just as brightly as they were in that dream.

The stallion whose makeup helped to show how smooth and flawless his fur was lain across his face.

The stallion whose curved, pillowy-looking lips were so adorably smirked while that black lipstick lai--

Elusive had to a double take when he noticed the lipstick was fuller on the left side of Blitz’s mouth. That detail helped to break Elusive from his clouded thoughts, making him shake his head quickly enough to avoid any awkward pauses. “Umm, Rainbow?” asked the unicorn as his eyes narrowed on his friend’s mouth. “I think your lipstick is a little uneven.”

“What?!” Rainbow got out of his chair and looked into the mirror. After a second, he groaned when he realized his friend was right. “Aw, shit. How do I fix this?”

“Here, let me help.” Elusive got out of his chair and lit his horn, floating up the black lipstick towards the pegasus. “Hold still for a second…”

With his eyes narrowed in concentration, Elusive carried the precision of a surgeon as he dragged the very tip of the black makeup along the outer edge of Blitz’s lips. Rainbow kept still, not wanting to mess it up by moving around too much. However, the close proximity to his friend made a blush start to appear across Rainbow’s cheeks. It also made him notice how flawlessly applied Elusive’s lipstick was in comparison to his own. After the unicorn huffed in satisfaction and pulled the lipstick away, Blitz stated with narrowed eyes, “You know, it’s kinda disturbing how good you are at putting on makeup.”

“Oh, shut up,” said Elusive playfully while putting the makeup on the counter. “Most of my clients are female, so it helps to make them look good in the dresses I select for them. Knowing the basics of cosmetic work helped me make sales just as often as my bartending skills.”

He then added back to his friend with a smirk, “Besides, it’s not that hard to make your lips even. Watch…” Keeping an innocent smile on his face, Elusive pursed his lips tightly together before bringing them out like a kiss. “Muah!~”

Blitz pulled his head away with a grossed-out look. “Dude, did you have to make that noise to go with it?!”

“No,” answered Elusive with a giggle, “but puckering them like a kiss does help make your lips even. Try it!”

Blitz’s face soured up a little, not liking that he was getting makeup advice from one of his guy friends. But after a couple seconds, the pegasus took a breath before shrugging his head. He made sure to look away from Elusive as his blush deepened, and his mouth slowly pulled inward to share the black gloss between his top and bottom lips. Blitz then exhaled through his nose and pursed his lips back out, making a very small and faint kissing motion.

“See?” asked Elusive with a raised brow. “Was that so hard? Try it again with me.”

After rolling his eyes, Blitz turned back to his friend and complied begrudgingly. He saw Elusive do the kissing motion with his lips, which the pegasus followed in unison. Unfortunately, just as both their lips were pursed, it wasn’t apparent how close their faces were to one another before their dressing room door was thrown open.

“Hey guys!” shouted Dusk Shine, who bursted into the room with his horn glowing while Barb was seated on his back. “Don’t worry, Applejack tol…”

As soon as he saw his two friends face-to-face, wearing full makeup, and with their kissy-faces frozen while looking wide-eyed back at him, Dusk’s words stopped pretty damn quickly. Barb was gawking at the two stallions with her mouth hung open, her left eye twitching a little. A giant blush exploded across Dusk Shine’s face, leaving him to giggle nervously and step backwards out of the room. “Ummm… oopsie. Heh heh heh… I’ll… I’ll give you two some time alone…”

With that, the Alicorn quickly made his leave and slammed the door. Meanwhile, it took a brief moment before Elusive and Rainbow could turn their heads back at each other in grave realization. If it wasn’t for their already white faces, it would’ve been clear how pale they became from how they must’ve looked to their friend. Rainbow Blitz’s eyes widened slowly, and it wasn’t long before his cheeks started to grow red in anger.

While the pegasus’ stare turned into a brooding glare toward his friend, Elusive let out a scared-sounding chuckle and said timidly, “Uhhhh… Y-Your lipstick looks good now…”

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