Shut Up And Dance

by TheVClaw

Chapter Eighteen: Victory and Vendetta

At the end of the competition, it didn’t seem like too many ponies were upset with who made it to the Semi Finals, despite the clear tone of gambling woes lingering in the air. Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes were absolutely relieved to have gotten through to the next round despite their fumble. The couples who got third and second place were ecstatic to not only have made it as well, but to have technically scored higher than the Hoofingtons. Of course, from the way Julianne was glaring at her brother Derek after the show, it was clear that the two were going to have some heated discussions after getting such an embarrassing penalty.

After the scorings were finalized, and the five winning couples were awarded with rounds of applause, most of the crowds and competitors started to disperse back into the streets of Las Pegasus for more debauchery and impulsive fun. While Apple Buck and Twinkle Toes went to get some much-deserved hugs from their families, Rainbow Blitz and Elusive couldn’t even get off the dancefloor before being bombarded by most of their friends; Dusk Shine was nowhere to be seen as soon as the couple’s disco routine finished, and Applejack was busy with his own brother. Barb was the first of the remaining friends to rush up and hug Elusive tightly in celebration, while Bubble Berry picked Blitz up and squeezed him like a stress toy.

“Ohhhhh my GOODNESS!!!” squealed the pink stallion in glee while the pegasus’ eyes were bulging out of his head. “You guys were so fantastic!!!” After Blitz was put back down, Butterscotch and Starshine went to make sure Berry didn’t break any of his ribs.

“I know!” shouted Barb in agreement after giving Elusive one last caring squeeze around his neck. Of course, the dreamy smile on the dragon’s face turned to a coy smirk after glancing down at his outfit. “Honestly, I never would’ve expected you guys could move so well in those things.”

“UGH!” As soon as he remembered the atrocious costumes he and Blitz were still wearing, Elusive used a quick wave of his magic to pull the garment off of him like a cape. The white stallion couldn’t even bear to look at the clothing while carefully hanging them on a rack with his magic. “I swear, I never want to look at that vest as long as I live!”

“Hey, you were the one who made it,” noted Blitz as he pulled off his own outfit and wig. Even though his makeup was still painted on his face, he still sighed with a smile as he felt the cool air against his sweaty fur. “I gotta say though, those guys are friggin champs for wearing those costumes in concert for decades.”

“You know what?” said Elusive with a meager shrug. “I will agree with you on that.”

Starshine made a quick glance over at Applejack and his family hugging Apple Buck, and sighed uneasily before adding towards Blitz and Elusive, “Well, I’m just glad you two didn’t have any major hiccups or wardrobe malfunctions. I was a little worried when I saw that spin you guys pulled off in the end.”

Upon remembering that added detail they put in at the last minute, Rainbow Blitz blushed with an uneasy smile and giggled while rubbing the back of his mane. “Ugh, w-well… heh heh heh… Th-That was for added flair, ya know?”

“That’s right,” piped Elusive rather quickly in addition. “And I just wanted to reiterate that it was my suggestion. If it wasn’t for that… unpleasantness this morning, Blitz and I probably wouldn’t have considered adding it to our routine.”

“Wait, that was added today?” asked Butterscotch with genuine surprise in his widened eyes. After seeing the two stallions nod apprehensively, he let out an impressed huff and said, “W-Wow! I would’ve never guessed from how well you two did it.”

“Yeah!” chirped Berry with a big grin pointed at the two. “You guys must’ve done that over and over in practicing to get it right!”

Blitz and Elusive looked away from each other with heavy blushes on their faces, neither of them able to say much while laughing meagerly from embarrassment. “Y-Yeah,” muttered Rainbow with an uncomfortable look on his painted face. “That was, ummm… yeah…”

Seeing how weirded out the stallions were looking, Barb narrowed her eyes on the two hesitantly while her mouth skewed to the side. After seeing that spin during their dance, as well as that “lipstick” thing in their dressing room, the dragoness was more than a little apprehensive to ask up at them, “So… is something wrong?”

“NO!” blurted both of them at the same time nervously, which caused the two to get some suspicious glances from their friends. Rainbow Blitz’s blush was thankfully concealed by his thick face paint, but the red hue on Elusive’s muzzle was clear as day. Of course, the unicorn was also the first to shake his head and say in an insistent tone, “No, nothing is wrong. We’re just a little overwhelmed from everything that happened today.”

Even though there was lot more than that flooding Elusive’s mind while Blitz was right beside him, his answer seemed to make the others relax a little more. Butterscotch asked hesitantly, “Like… that blackmail from the Shim Sham Sisters?”

Elusive and Blitz, along with everyone else, looked disheartened by that uncomfortable reminder. The unicorn exhaled slowly through his nostrils while his mouth was pursed shut. “Yeah. That’s certainly a big reason.”

“Well, hey,” replied Starshine optimistically, “at least you guys won, right? I mean, wasn’t that the deal? Now they won’t use those photos since you finished first.”

Despite trying to make the guys feel better, Starshine’s statement was met with Blitz grumbling under his breath, “Yeah, unless they try to keep it over our heads.”

Bubble Berry scoffed with a wave of his hoof. “Oh, don’t be such a Grumpy-Gus! You guys got first place! You shouldn’t let a little blackmail keep you from being happy about that!”

Despite being just as upset as his partner in regards to those mares, Elusive was able to hide his displeasure and say towards Blitz, “You know, Bubble has a fair point. I mean, we did beat the Hoofingtons.” As a small smile appeared on his face, he added with a meager shrug, “At least by technicality, but that’s still quite a victory nonetheless.”

Rainbow’s muzzle may have been skewed a little like he had a bitter taste in his mouth, but he was able to exhale through his nostrils slowly and respond with a relaxed shrug. “Well… yeah, that is kinda awesome.”

Butterscotch smiled and placed a foreleg around Blitz’s back supportively. Barb hopped on top of Elusive’s back and piped cheerfully, “That’s the spirit! Oh!” Her eyes widened like she just remembered something, and said to both of the stallions, “And just so you guys know, Dusk Shine is talking wi--”

Even though there were still enough ponies scattered around the stadium to keep the giant space from being silent, the distinct sound of hooves slowly clapping nearby made Barb stop her words. The group all turned to see the two mares walking from the audience seats towards them on the dance floor. While Shim walked on her hindlegs with surprising ease while clapping, Sham had a smile as equally wide and innocently-sweet as her sister’s. Even when the two saw the strong round of glares from the group, neither of the girls’ expressions seemed to have faltered as Sham said, “Well congratulations, guys! Didn’t we tell you that you could do it?”

“Yeah,” added Shim after getting back on all four hooves to walk alongside Sham. “If anything, you two should be thanking us for giving you the boost you needed!”

Butterscotch tightened his grip around Rainbow to ensure he couldn’t lunge after them. But before Blitz could snap and verbally tear the twins a new one, Starshine stepped forward and said with a condescending tilt of his head, “A boost? Is that what you call it? Because I’m pretty sure most ponies would consider you two’s contribution to be closer to the category of manipulation and forceful intimidation.”

“That’s right!” chirped Bubble Berry in a contrastingly happy tone while wrapping a foreleg around the pink unicorn. “And if anypony knows about those things, it’s this guy!”

Even though he knew that Berry was just trying to help, albeit in his own deluded way, Starshine still breathed out sharply through his teeth and growled bitterly, “Th-Thanks, Berry…”

While Blitz stood with a brooding glare on the Shim Sham Sisters that was intense enough to risk setting their manes on fire, Elusive pulled Barb off of his back before stepping forward to speak to them with a firmly upset, but still professional tone of voice. “Ladies, despite my feelings towards both of you for your tactics, I… will reluctantly admit that it was a fairly strong motivating tool.”

That made the twins smile proudly, obviously ignoring the bile they heard in his tone during that “compliment.” Meanwhile, Rainbow just gawked at the unicorn in absolute shock.

“DUDE!” shouted Blitz like his partner stabbed him in the back, “Don’t encourage that sh--MMPH!”

Butterscotch was quick to cover Rainbow’s mouth with a hoof before he could tell anypony off. Meanwhile, Elusive continued with a more noticeable hint of disdain, “But… it still doesn’t excuse either of your actions by any means! But instead of letting my own personal feelings on the matter stem into some form of pointless vendetta, I’d rather just let bygones be bygones for the time being. So with that being said, since Rainbow Blitz and I won that round and got you two your earnings, I think it’s only fair to receive all of those photographs back.”

Elusive may have had a particularly nasty-looking sneer on his face by the end of that tangent, but his composure was much more mature and withheld than anything his partner could’ve mustered. Unfortunately, the unicorn’s determined stare on the two didn’t seem to have gotten him the response he had hoped for. Instead of complying with Elusive’s request, Shim and Sham just tilted their heads as their brows raised. “Photographs?” asked Shim pertly. “Whatever do you mean?~”

The dancers’ friends all froze with looks as shocked as the two stallions themselves. Elusive’s eyes widened to make his glare intensify even more. But before anything could escape his tightly pursed lips, Rainbow pushed Butterscotch away from him to storm up to the two. “WHAT THE BUCK YOU YOU MEAN ‘WHAT PHOTOGRAPHS’?!?”

Due to his friend's volume, Applejack was able to notice what was going on and quickly shot from his seat to assist the group. Meanwhile, Sham replied to the pegasus with a mockingly peppy tone, “Blitz, Blitz… You should really watch your language in such a public place.”

“Besides,” added Shim with a smirk of her own, “It’s not like this is the only round you guys have. You still have a few more until the finals, right? Wouldn’t it be a good motivator to keep this going for a little longer?”

Despite how much the mare was trying to explain her “suggestion” as if it wasn’t blatant blackmail, she would’ve been absolutely slaughtered if Elusive and Blitz’s look could kill. However, Sham ignored their furiously silent reactions and added, “Plus, we have a looooooot of ponies lining up to place their bets for the Semi-Finals. To not cash in on that would almost be like throwing away bits. Everypony wins, including you guys if you play your cards right.”

Rainbow’s face was practically glowing a deep shade of red while fuming at them. But while the pegasus stood his ground in frozen rage, Elusive stepped forward with his own fury growing across his sneer. “Give… Them… Back.”

Shim’s smile finally started to turn more openly sadistic, with her teeth showing as she asked, “Or else what?”

“YOU LITTLE--” Barb jumped up at them with her claws out like she was going to rip them apart, but Starshine’s quick reflexes kept the dragoness from touching them as his magic caught her in midair. Everypony was taken aback by Barb’s lunge, including Blitz and Elusive who were temporarily distracted by her. Even the Shim Sham Sisters flinched a little from that response, but quickly scoffed when they saw how the dragoness was thrashing within Starshine’s aura with a murderous look in her eyes.

“Hmph, wow,” blurted Sham with a brow raised. “I haven’t seen a lizard move that fast outside of the desert.”

Before any of the ponies could bow their stacks at that insult, the twins were violently thrown back at the same time by a strong aura of magic around their necks. As soon as Shim and Sham were yanked to the ground hard, Applejack’s keen lassoing skills were put to proper use to tie their legs together in less than three seconds. Meanwhile, Dusk Shine stepped towards the two on the stage with several police officers following him.

“H-Hey!” shouted Sham as she writhed and struggled in her bindings alongside her sister. “What the buck is this?! We’re not doing anything!”

“Yeah!” added Shim with a venomous glare up at Applejack. “This is assault!”

“Hey, Ah never touched ya,” stated Applejack confidently, “My rope did.”

“And the use of my magic isn’t assault either,” added Dusk Shine while looking down at the two with a flat stare. After hearing that stement about his assistant, the Prince's glare was straight-up brooding as he said, “This is an official arrest.”

While two officers stepped forward and pulled the sisters up on their hooves, Elusive and Blitz were staring at their friend in surprise as he spoke with a firm, authoritative tone. “Shim and Sham, as an appointed Prince of Equestria, I am holding both of you under arrest for fraud and racketeering with intent to commit treason against members of the Royal Family.”

He motioned towards Blitz and Elusive with a hoof at that last part, hoping the mares would catch the hint of how bad their plan really was. Sham tried to pull away from one of the cops, but Dusk and AJ’s restraints made that a fairly fruitless effort. Shim yelled out in shock, “Wait, what do you mean fraud?! On what charges?!”

Dusk seemed quite happy to hear that question as evidenced by his smirk, and he let go of his magic from the Shim Sham Sisters as their horns were being cuffed with magic inhibitors by the police. He then re-lit his horn before floating out an official document. “Well for starters, you two are aware that you’re holding an illegal gambling operation in your casino in regards to your sports betting, right?”

“Hey, wait a minute!” retorted Sham strongly. “That is NOT illegal! The law to un-ban sports betting was approved in Las Pegasus this year! We’re the first casino to implement it!”

“Yes, you were the first,” stated Dusk as he floated the document closer to them, hoping they would see the detail he highlighted in bright yellow. “However, you two didn’t seem to take into account how laws sometimes don’t take effect immediately. That law was supposed to come into effect on the first of July. And since you started it in June, well…”

Shim and Sham’s eyes widened as they stared at the document, seeing that the date was indeed showing a seven in the month slot instead of a six. After a brief pause in shocked silence between the two, Shim shot a heated stare back at her sister and hissed, “You said it was for this month!”

“I thought it was!” whispered Sham back at her. “It’s hard to remember which numbers are which for those months sometimes!”

“And furthermore,” continued Dusk as he pulled out several more documents and perused through them, “due to your illegal betting, a warrant was placed on your property less than an hour ago.”

The girls whipped their heads back at Dusk wide-eyed. And from the frozen looks of terror growing on their faces, it seemed like their pit was being dug deeper with each passing second. Noting their faces when he made a quick glance up from his paperwork, it took everything in his composure not to smirk wider at them. “And in that that time, it seems that a lot of evidence for other offenses have already been uncovered as well, including money laundering and possible tax evasion. Due to the severity of this situation, officers are seizing all your earnings from the property as we speak.”

“WHAT!?!” From the floored expressions on Shim and Sham’s faces, they looked like Dusk just admitted to murdering their children. Their breathing quickly became more rapid, and neither of them seemed to react much when the officers’ magic lifted the mares up to escort them away. Meanwhile, Blitz had to cover his muzzle with a hoof to hide a surprised look of elation growing on his face. Elusive wrapped a hoof around his shoulder to keep his legs from buckling over in response to the schadenfreude occurring in front of them.

“Y-Y-YOU CAN’T DO THAT!” screamed Shim with an angered stare on the Prince as she was floated past him, despite her face growing a very obvious pale. “W-We know our rights!”

“Oh, you do?” asked Dusk with a raised brow. He then huffed as he said cheekily, “Then you should already know your right to remain silent.”

Right on cue, one of the cops began to recite the Miranda Rights to the Shim Sham sisters while escorting them from the stage. Meanwhile, Elusive and Blitz were floored in silence as they stared at Dusk with extremely thankful looks on their faces. The rest of the group all went up to the Prince and Applejack while giving congratulatory hugs.

“Holy cow!” shouted Starshine after giving the Alicorn a quick squeeze from the side. “How the heck did you get all that organized so quickly?!”

“Well, it is Dusk Shine,” said Bubble Berry with a roll of his eyes. “You should know by now that he’s a wizard when it comes to that stuff!”

“Yeah!” added Barb before giving an impressed smile back to him. “Although I gotta admit, I thought you just went up to go to the bathroom during intermission! I wouldn’t have expected you to get the police involved that easily.”

“I’m Royalty, remember?” said Dusk with a shrug. “That kinda helps when wanting to take the law to your advantage. Plus, I made arrangements with the police as soon as Applejack informed me of what was going on before the show.”

Applejack kicked one of his hooves bashfully while looking away from Dusk with a smile. “Hey, Ah’m just glad ta actually help wit’ getting some justice towards those two. Seems mighty overdue in my book, but Ah’ll take it.”

“I agree,” added Butterscotch while rubbing one of his forelegs and smiling. “Although I’m more grateful that nopony got physical with them.”

Barb winced and scratched the back of her head while looking away from Elusive. “Uhhhh, yeah… Sorry about that. I was just really upset with them planning to keep blackmailing.”

“Oh!” Dusk Shine’s face lit up after being reminded of something. “Speaking of which…”

Among the paperwork still in his aura, Dusk Shine made sure to float out the folder of photographs the twins had. He handed it to Elusive and Blitz as he said, “The cops found this in their office, and it doesn’t seem like they made any copies yet. I figured it might be better in your guys’ hooves.”

“Oh my GOSH, Dusk Shine!” shouted Elusive as he snatched the folder like a chubby colt grabbing a candy bar. “I can’t believe you went this far for us!”

Dusk sighed and waved his hoof in dismissal. “Well, what was I supposed to do? Leave it there? I don’t think so!” The Prince then puffed his chest out proudly with a smile of accomplishment on his face.

After checking to see that every single photo was in the folder, Blitz shook his head as he looked back at Dusk with an extremely grateful smile. “That might be true, but still…” Without warning, the pegasus ran up to give Dusk Shine a very strong hug. “Dude, you are bucking awesome!”

“ACK!” Dusk was barely able to speak while being thoroughly squeezed by his friend. “L-Language!!!”

“Oh! Sorry…” After letting go of the Prince, Rainbow looked away from him and chuckled meagerly. Of course, that turn of his head made him glance over at the Shim Sham sisters, who were being held at the doorway exit and being questioned by police. While the pegasus narrowed his eyes on them with a grin forming across his muzzle, Elusive went to hug Dusk as well.

“Both of you are absolutely fantastic!” He also made sure to give Applejack a thankful hug while saying, “And you guys can be sure to get a dinner on me for all the trouble.”

Dusk Shine rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything against Elusive’s trademark generosity. “Well, shoot,” said AJ as he tipped his Stetson back after that hug. “Ah guess Ah shouldn’t refuse that.”

Meanwhile, Blitz began to trot off towards the exit where the Shim Sham Sisters were at. Butterscotch was the first one to notice him and ask, “Blitz, where are you going?”

“It’ll only be a second…” Ignoring anything else that could’ve been said from his friends, Rainbow sauntered over to where the sisters were while a giant, shit-eating grin widened across his face. By the time the twins noticed while leaned against a wall and surrounded by cops, Blitz couldn’t resist chuckling before he asked in a gloaty tone, “Say, what was it that you told Lucy and I this morning? That no matter what, you two were… going to win?”

Elusive rushed towards Blitz to try and pull him away, but the mares were already narrowing their eyes on Rainbow with their glares intensifying. The pegasus just huffed and added condescendingly, “Yeah. You two sure are winners.”

“Okay, okay!” Elusive lit his horn to yank Blitz back by his tail. “You got your last words, Rainbow! You don’t need to say anything more.”

Even though he wouldn’t have minded saying a few choice words towards the two while out of Barb’s earshot, Rainbow breathed out and shrugged in acceptance. Just as he began to turn away to follow his partner back to their group, he and Elusive overheard Shim say sarcastically, “Yeah, we’re really the bad ones, aren’t we Rainbow Blitz?”

Blitz paused briefly and retorted, “Hey, you’re the ones in cuffs, you scam artists. Not me.”

“Blitz!” chided Elusive with a strong stare on his friend, not wanting him to feed the parasprites. Unfortunately, Sham decided to speak up in a clear enough voice for the pegasus to hear her:

“Well, I don’t consider a few little cons to be as bad as what you’ve done, Mister Patricide.”

Rainbow Blitz turned around in an instant, his eyes as wide as frisbees. Of all the things he could’ve heard those mares say to rile him up, that one word was enough to make his blood run cold. His heartbeat began to increase, with more blood pumping towards his face to make it redden underneath his makeup. His muzzle started to sneer, his teeth gritting tightly in response to that knowing grin Sham and her sister had.

Elusive tried to pull him away, but his magic grip was noticeably weaker due to the surprise of hearing what she just said. He was sure it was a blatant lie, but that wouldn’t explain how frozen Rainbow looked while staring intensely at the Shim Sham sisters. Meanwhile, Shim just tilted her head and asked pertly, “What’s the matter, Blitz? Are you thinking of murdering us too?~”

“YOU MOTHERBUCKER!!!”

Even with Elusive’s magic, as well as several police officers between Blitz and the Shim Sham Sisters, the pegasus’ blinding rage seemed to be enough to lunge forward enough to almost swipe at the mares with his hoof. Due to the commotion, it wasn’t long before Dusk and the others could come in to try and restrain Rainbow. The stunt-pony thrashed against his friends. He screamed at the top of his lungs. He yelled every word he could think of towards the sisters, even when Dusk tried to physically close his muzzle with his hooves. But all the while, Shim and Sham just stood with silent smiles in victory while watching Rainbow struggling as much as possible.

By the time Rainbow Blitz was finally able to come down, the Shim Sham Sisters were long gone and on their way to the Las Pegasus jailhouse with a full police escort. Meanwhile, the pegasus was bound down by Dusk Shine’s and Starshine’s magic while seated on a bench. As Blitz sat with his head lowered, and what looked to be a transparent purple and pink strait jacket around his torso and legs, the two magic-users kept their distance while Butterscotch tried talking softly up close to him. Bubble Berry, Elusive, Barb, and Applejack were all standing nearby with looks of worry and confusion on their faces.

“Geez, what was that about?” asked Bubble Berry while looking towards Applejack. “The last time I saw him that mad was during that hibernation stuff for Armour.”

“Ah wish Ah knew,” replied Applejack with a sigh, “but it wouldn’t surprise me if them two knew how to rile a stallion up. Just hope it wasn’t too much.”

Elusive stood silently as he stared over at Rainbow with a concerned look and a bite of his bottom lip. Even though he knew better than to try to ask Blitz personally what that comment from the mares was about, his mind couldn’t stop reeling in response to what was said; but more than that, he kept pondering whether or not any part of it was actually true. He wanted to doubt it without question, but Blitz’s rampage didn’t seem like something a completely innocent stallion would do. But whatever actually occurred in Rainbow’s past, Elusive could see that from the way Butterscotch was trying to console the cyan pegasus, that he knew what really happened. Of course, the unicorn also knew that he couldn’t get any answers from Butterscotch about it due to his Bubble Berry Promise.

“Hey, Elusive?” asked Barb as she poked at his side to catch his attention.

Elusive jolted a little before glancing down at the dragoness. “Oh! Ummm… Y-Yeah, what is it, darling?”

“Uhhh, are you alright?” she asked worriedly. “You haven’t said much since that whole… whatever that was.” She motioned towards Blitz to emphasize what she meant for clarity.

“Oh, I’m fine, Barbara. Really.” After that assurance, the unicorn glanced back to see Butterscotch pressing his forehead against Blitz’s. Rainbow looked to be muttering something, but it was impossible to know what. Meanwhile, Butterscotch’s face looked surprisingly angry as he looked him in the eyes and said something back. But still, Elusive could notice the slightest hint of tears coming down the yellow stallion’s face. The unicorn’s ears dropped in dread, not knowing what to think of how bad this was all looking.

Despite seeing how thick the tension was, Barb still gulped and asked Elusive, “Sooo… what did those girls say to him?”

Instead of answering honestly, Elusive just shook his head and sighed with a fretful look on his face. “I… I can’t say I know for sure…”

Author's Note:

Okay, just as a note, this story was thought out long before season 7 was announced. So obviously, Rainbow Blitz's family is not the same as Rainbow Dash's by any means. The next couple chapters will go into more detail about what happened, so stay tuned!

Comments

[Boop-Happy Lass]

I have never clicked faster before in my life. That's how I love this story.

[Necrogen Lord]

I want to punch through Shim to get to Sham.

[Silverstain]

Welp, there went my theory about grandpa Apple being the one to stop Shim n' Sham. Oh well

[dshadow14]

intent to commit reason

I think you missed a "t" there.

[Evilhumour]

shiiiiiit, that happened!

but how are they members of the Royal Family?

[TheVClaw]

8228824
Well, being Elements of Harmony AND participants of Gleaming Shield's wedding made them eligible as members of the Royal Family.

[Evilhumour]

8228825
Ah, and who is Armor mentioend in this chapter?

[TheVClaw]

8228832
That's the R63 name for Tank (Rainbow's pet tortoise).

[Evilhumour]

8228908
ah