Hearts and Hooves Day has finally arrived, and everypony has got their special ones ready for the Hearts and Hooves Day Dance. Well, all except for one, Fullmoon.
Hearts and Hooves Day has finally arrived among the small town of Ponyville, and everypony is excited for it. Except for Fullmoon, who doesn't have a very special somepony. However Hearts and Hooves Day is also the day of the Hearts and Hooves Dance, and it seems that everypony is taken in his class, so it seems like he doesn't have many choices other than to go alone. But thanks to the Crusaders agreeing to help him, his hopes have been raised heavily, getting him excited for the dance.
The bright winter sun rose over the snow-covered hills, bringing light to the otherwise quiet town of Ponyville. As the light reached out to the homes, residents of this relatively small town opened their windows and trotted out their doors, wearing snow caps and scarves, going out with their very special somepony. Today was Hearts and Hooves Day, a time of love and romance.
For most of the stallions and mares, this was the time to take a break from their everyday lives and spend their whole day with their special partner; however for the fillies and colts, it was usually just another day of going to school, hanging out with friends and drifting off to sleep at end of the day.
Today was a different day for them though, since today was the day of the Hearts and Hooves Day Dance. It was one of those rare days when they finally had something special or new to do. A day that comes around once every couple of years, unlike most holidays.
Chaos filled the school as the final bell rang, screams echoing through the halls as everypony rushed through to get out the door; all except a group of ponies, four fillies and a colt to be exact.
“So… are we all going to the Hearts and Hooves Day Dance?” Sweetie Belle asked, trotting out the door right next to her friends. “I’ve got a date for the dance as well, and I’m sure you all know who.” She turned her head over to the swings, watching a brown colt wearing a rainbow fan hat with a game console for a Cutie Mark, Button Mash. She giggled at the sight of him.
“Ah now Ah’m goin’, already got a date fer it too,” Apple Bloom replied, smiling brightly as she turned her head over to a colt on the swing next to Button Mash, named Tender Taps. A slight pink blush formed on her cheeks as she stared at him.
“So am I. I got a date for it too, surprisingly,” Scootaloo added, turning to see her own date for the dance, Rumble. She smiled with glee as Rumble trotted over to her.
“Are you ready for the dance, my princess?” Rumble asked, kneeling down like a knight for his beautiful princess. Scootaloo blushed, holding his hoof in response.
“Of course I am, my knight,” ,he replied, nuzzling his cheek as they unknowingly walked off with each other. Apple Bloom gagged.
“Ugh, who knew Scootaloo could get so...sappy.” Apple Bloom revolted, holding back the urge to gag again.
“Well, at least we know we all got dates to the--” Sweetie Belle said, before getting cut off.
“I don’t have one,” Fullmoon interrupted, shying away a little bit in shame.
“Wait, you don’t have one!?” both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shouted, getting some strange looks from the other fillies and colts around them.
“Uhh… is that a bad thing?” he asked, a tiny bit shaky.
“Of course it is! It means you won’t have fun at the dance if you go!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, shaking him rapidly like he was insane.
“Sweetie Belle, stop!” Apple Bloom said, pulling her off of him and almost tumbling over in the process. “Stop being overly dramatic about it, just because he doesn’t have a special somepony doesn’t mean he can’t have fun, it’s just that he can’t dance.”
“So… should I just stay home?” he asked, shying away a little as his red hair covered his left eye. “I-I don’t want to ruin it for anypony…”
Sweetie Belle patted him on the shoulder. “No no, you can come to the dance. I was just trying to say that coming to the dance without a special somepony is kind of… to put it nicely, not normal.”
“I am literally the definition of not normal,” his eyes flashed to a wolfish form for a split second, “by my standards it’d be normal for me to go without a date.” He sighed.
“Hey, don’t be like that, sugarcube.” Apple Bloom trotted up to him and embraced him in a hug. “It doesn’t mean you don’t have to go.” She let go of him, then went wide-eyed as she got, what she thought was, a good idea. “Hey! How about we find him a date?”
“Apple Bloom, are you sure that’s a good idea? Remember when we tried to get Big Mac and Cheerilee together?” Sweetie Belle replied. The vivid memory of what happened on that Hearts and Hooves Day two years ago swam through their minds, the disaster that was their ‘Love Poison’ which they mistook for a ‘Love Potion’. They definitely didn’t want a repeat of that situation. Just the thought of it gives Apple Bloom shivers down her spine.
“It’ll be fine, Sweetie Belle! Besides, we don’t have to use a Love Potion fer this, we just need to find a filly that’ll be willing to go with Fullmoon and doesn’t have anypony yet,” Apple Bloom explained, pulling out a notepad and pencil from her bag, writing it down on one of the last sheets of paper attached to the red colored notepad. Although she had a little trouble writing it down with her mouth, she eventually got it down perfectly fine.
“But what i-if this doesn’t work?” Fullmoon asked, staring at the other ponies with their very special somepony, “It seems like everypony is taken.” His ears drooped, a slight whimper emanating from him.
“Moon, trust us; we will get you that very special somepony if it’s the last thing we do!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, embracing him in a tight but warm hug. “I’m sure Apple Bloom will say the same thing, right Apple Bloom?”
“Of course! We care fer ya Moon, and we want ya to have a good time.” Apple Bloom replied. “Now, operation ‘Get Fullmoon a Date’ is a go then?” All three of them nodded, and raised one of their hooves up, all shouting out their well known cheer,
The sun had risen to its peak during the grudgingly long trot back, however they had finally arrived. Birds flew away from the tree house as they quickly opened the door, almost breaking it off of its hinges.
“Ah already called Scoots here so she should be along shortly,” Apple Bloom said, grabbing a long piece of paper from a rusty barrel and unfolding it on a desk. “Okay, here’s the plan, we--”
“We’re not going door to door and asking every filly if they have a date, are we?” Sweetie Belle interrupted, sitting on her haunches gently.
“...Maybe…” Apple Bloom muttered, smacking her forehead.
“Look, I appreciate you both wanting to help me, but it won’t be so bad if I don’t have a date. I-I can just go alo--” Fullmoon spoke, interrupted by the marshmallow-colored filly.
“You can’t go alone! You need to have a date or you won’t have fun at the--”
“Sweetie Belle! Yer overreacting again,” Apple Bloom said in a disappointed tone, smacking her forehead with her hoof once more. “Look Moon, we really want ya to have a date to the dance; and we want to help, so can you just let us help… please?” she asked, trotting to him quickly and arranged her face in a beggy manner.
“Well,” he sighed, “alright, fine. I’ll let you help me, but if it doesn’t work, I’m still going on my own; and I’ll still have fun at the dance, Sweetie Belle.” He glared at the filly, making her step back a tiny bit.
“Deal!” Apple Bloom shouted, rapidly shaking his hoof. “Now, let’s discuss the plan,” Apple Bloom began, halting after spotting her unicorn friend open her mouth. “No, Sweetie Belle, we are not gonna go door to door just to get Fullmoon a date.” Sweetie Belle clamped her mouth shut.
“How will we find out if a filly has a date or not?” Fullmoon asked, trotting up to the other side of the desk Apple Bloom was sitting at. The stool he sat on squeaked a little, making him stand up and sat on his haunches instead to avoid falling.
“Well, it should be pretty obvious. She should be next to her very special somepony, either that or holding their hooves,” Apple Bloom explained, drawing two fillies and a colt. One of the fillies was next to the colt. She drew an X above the filly and colt, and a check mark above the alone filly. “This is what you’re looking for.” She pointed at the check mark.
“I have a suggestion for him,” Sweetie Belle began, smiling brightly, “how about he takes Azure Shadow on a date?” The single mention of her beautiful name--or at least, in Moon’s opinion--made his face warm up quickly. “You always seem to want to spend time with her. Plus she’s a Wolfpony like you are! It’d be perfect!”
“W-Well, I uh…” he stammered, a heavy blush forming on his face as he scratched the back of his dark red mane.
“Actually, how about Emerald Skye? She’s a Changeling so you could have her be whoever you want to, plus I’m sure she’d appreciate your love. Since, well, that’s her food after all,” Apple Bloom replied, chuckling lightly as she spotted her pegasus friend’s face turn a deeper red.
“I-I don’t like either of them that way though!” He chuckled nervously. “I like them as friends, yes. However I don’t like them in that way.”
“Oh, come on!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Your face says it all, look at yourself!” She gripped a hand mirror and handed it to him. “It’s kinda funny,” Sweetie Belle muttered as he looked at himself, the blush lightening only slightly.
“Why don’t ya just admit that ya have a crush on Azure er Emerald?” Apple Bloom asked, chuckling lightly as she began doodling random things on the corner of the paper.
“I don’t have a crush on them!” His blush deepened as he realized how loud he yelled, echoes of his scream flowing through the clubhouse. The scream could’ve practically blew the manes off the two fillies.
“Dang, he’s got it bad,” Sweetie Belle muttered in response, backing away a tiny bit in fear.
“Moon, we know ya do have a crush on them, but ya don’t know how to put it, do ya?” Apple Bloom asked, trotting over to him and patting him on the back.
“Ugh… I don’t know what to do. If anything, both of them already have dates, I’m hopeless,” he muttered, slowly plopping himself on the ground as he sighed lowly.
“Moon, you’re not hopeless, we said we’ll help you, and that’s exactly what we’ll do. Right, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle turned to her.
“Yeah! We won’t let ya down, Moon,” Apple Bloom replied, rustling his mane with her hoof. “We’ll first make sure neither of them have dates. We’ll come back to you after we’ve checked, alright?”
Fullmoon let out a soft sigh, they were the only ones he could trust at the moment for this. “Fine, just come back soon okay, I’ll wait here.” His frown turned to a slight smile, him chuckling lightly.
“Alright, so we have a plan then?” Apple Bloom asked the two, receiving a gentle nods in response. “Great! This concludes CMC Meeting number… number… What number are we on?”
“I have no clue,” Fullmoon replied, shrugging lightly as his smile grew a tiny bit bigger. He finally might have a chance for love, but who he will choose was still a mystery. His head began to hurt as he thought about which of the two he liked more.
“Ya alrightm sugarcube?” Apple Bloom asked, placing a hoof on Fullmoon's back.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. It’s just hard to think on who I should take to the dance, Emerald or Azure,” he replied, whimpering lightly as he slightly pawed the floor.
“Well, personally, I think ya should go for Emerald Skye; she’s sweet, especially for a Changeling, she likes your hugs since she uses love as food, and I’m sure she likes you too,” Apple Bloom suggested, giggling slightly at the sight of Fullmoon gaining a light blush.
“Actually, I think Azure Shadow would be a better choice; she’s nice, huggable, plus she’s a Wolfpony just like him. How could they not be together?” Sweetie Belle countered, Fullmoon's blush deepening right after. Suddenly, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle began to argue about who is better, bickering and throwing some unmentionable Equestrian swears.
“Stop you two!” Fullmoon shouted, once again making an echo through the clubhouse. “Look, just find out if the two have dates or not, then we’ll decide, alright?” He took a deep breath, calming down to his normal level.
“Fine, but I still think Emerald is a better choice fer ya,” Apple Bloom muttered, a slight growl coming from Sweetie Belle’s direction. “This CMC Meeting is adjourned.” Apple Bloom trotted out, with Sweetie Belle soon following.
“So, should we split up?” Apple Bloom suggested, taking a quick glance around the area they were in. So far no sign of Emerald or Azure. “Ah don’t see them anywhere.”
“It’d probably be the best idea, to cover more ground,” Sweetie Belle replied, slowly scanning the area. “I don’t see them either; but yeah, we should split up.”
“Alright, you’ll search that side of Ponyville,” Apple Bloom began, raising her hoof and pointing it to her right, “and I’ll take this side,” she shifted her leg to the opposite direction.
“Sounds like a plan. Good luck.” Sweetie Belle embraced the farmer filly in a gentle hug, before dashing off into… the wrong direction.
“Wrong way, Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom shouted. Sweetie Belle felt her face warming up slightly as she turned around and gingerly trotted off into the other direction.
“H-Hehe… I meant this way,” Sweetie Belle muttered in embarrassment.
“Yup, that’s my friend alright,” Apple Bloom whispered, dashing off in the correct direction.
Sweetie Belle dashed through many crowds of ponies, each crowd littered with unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies alike. She eventually got turned around by accident in one of the crowds, making her run into the wall of Sugar Cube Corner. She yelped loudly, falling over on her back and clutching her head tightly.
“Gosh, are you alright?” a familiar voice asked. As soon as Sweetie Belle looked in the voice’s direction, it turned out to be none other than Azure Shadow. The purple-haired filly had one of her eyes covered with her mane, and a satchel wrapped around her waist. The Pegasus filly reached out to her and gripped her hoof, picking her up from the ground.
“Azure! You’re the exact filly that I’ve been looking for!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed loudly, Azure shying away a tiny bit from the sudden outburst.
“Oh… really?” Azure replied shyly, clopping the ground lightly with her white furred hoof. “Why were you looking for me specifically?”
“Well, I wanted to ask you something,” Sweetie Belle began, leaning closer to the filly standing before her. “Do you have a date to the dance yet?” The sudden question made Azure jump, her face beginning to heat up rapidly as she breathed a tad bit heavier than usual.
“W-Well um… n-no I don’t,” Azure replied quietly, taking a deep breath from time to time to calm down. “Why d-do you ask, Sweetie Belle…?” she asked, moving her hoof to the well-knitted and stitched satchel, fiddling around with its contents.
“Well...let’s go inside first and discuss it,” Sweetie Belle suggested, receiving a gentle nod from Azure as the pegasus filly pulled out a water bottle. “What’s that for?”
“Oh… it’s something I drink anytime I’m stressed; s-sometimes though I drink a little too much…” Azure explained, chuckling lightly as she took a light chug from the bottle. “Let’s go inside then.” Azure moved the water bottle back to her satchel and closed it back. Both the unicorn and the pegasus trotted into the SCC, one more eager than the other.
“This booth, over here,” Sweetie Belle told her friend, pointing over to a freshly cleaned table, seemingly just washed a few minutes ago. They both plopped themselves on the seats, the cushions sinking slightly as they sat.
“Alright… what else do you want to ask, Sweetie Belle?” Azure asked, unlatching the satchel strap and placing it onto the cushioned chair next to her.
“Well, since you said you didn’t have a date,” Sweetie Belle began, chuckling lightly at the thought, “actually, before I ask my real question; how don’t you have a date? You’re so sweet and gentle, plus you’re adorable; I would’ve thought every colt would’ve been crowding around you just for a chance to date you.”
“Well… E-Everypony that asked me out I rejected…” Azure replied quietly, ducking her head slightly in preperation for an outburst.
“Wh… wha… What!?” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Why would you do that?! I need an answer!” the unicorn demanded, determined flames outlining her eyes.
“Well… I just don’t really want a date…” Azure replied.
“Wait wha--” Sweetie Belle was at a loss for words, for Fullmoon she could understand why he wouldn’t wanna go, but Azure Shadow of all ponies? “Why not?”
“Dancing with a colt just really isn’t for me, I’d rather spend my time with Fluttershy taking care of the animals, or--” Azure’s eyes turned a wolfish yellow, “hunting animals, hehehehe.” Her eyes slowly faded back to their normal blue color.
“Well, I guess you don’t need to know that Fullmoon is still available.” Sweetie Belle smirked, about to hop off of the seat until--
“Wait, Fullmoon is still available?!” Azure shouted loudly, getting some funny looks from the ponies in the other booths and seats.
“Yeah, that’s precisely why I wanted to find you in the first place. I was wondering if you would want to take him to the da--” A loud shush coming from Azure made Sweetie Belle’s mouth close.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” Azure yelled excitedly, bouncing around happily until she realized what she was doing. She calmed down quickly, her face warming up as a bright pink blush formed on her cheeks. “I-I mean, yeah, I’d like to take him to the dance.” The subtle yet informative response made Sweetie Belle grin brightly, a 1-Up sound playing in her head.
“Dang it Button, you got that sound stuck in my head,” Sweetie Belle thought, grabbing Azure’s hoof and shaking it rapidly. “Well that’s great! I still need confirmation from Apple Bloom, who is getting ahold of Emerald Skye, and Fullmoon for confirmation on the date. If things work out right, you may just have the colt of your dreams.” Azure’s face and eyes lit up, her being the one shaking the unicorn’s hoof rapidly.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Azure repeated over and over, before finally letting go of her tight grip on Sweetie Belle’s hoof.
“Heh heh, no problem… ow…” Sweetie Belle replied, rubbing her hoof lightly. “I’ll see you later then, Azure, hope things turn out well!” she shouted as she trotted out the door, Azure waving goodbye in an excited manner. “Alright… hopefully Emerald Skye denies the request, then Azure Moon will become a reality.” Sweetie Belle snickered, trotting off happily.
Apple Bloom wasn’t having much luck finding Emerald Skye, from one side of town to the other, she was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, she gave up, trotting slowly back to Sweet Apple Acres and plopping herself under the cool shade of one of their apple trees. She let out a heavy sigh. “Moon, Ah’ve failed ya,” she muttered. A sudden bonk on the head took her out of the sad trance she was in, letting out a loud yelp as she jumped out from the shade.
“Oh, did I hit you?” A voice chuckled from above, a Changeling’s head popping out from the leaves, munching on an apple.
“Yes ya did! What did ya hit me with?!” Apple Bloom demanded, steam practically fuming from her ears.
“An apple, simple as that. Don’t need to get your flank in a bunch,” Emerald replied, laughing at the steaming filly in front of her. She jumped down from the apple tree, stretching lightly as she trotted over to the farmer filly. “How did you fail Fullmoon, if I may ask?”
“Oh… Ah was just trying to-- Wait! You’re the filly Ah’ve been looking fer, Ah gotta ask you something!” Apple Bloom shouted, smiling brightly from the realization.
“If you’re asking me to the dance, then no, I don’t date fillies,” Emerald replied nonchalantly, drooping her eyelids halfway down.
“No, no, no, Ah already got a date. Ah was wanting to ask if you had a date to the dance?” Apple Bloom said, only getting Emerald rolling her eyes as a response. “I’m gonna assume… no then?”
“What do you think? Who would want to date me? I’m a Changeling, one of the only ones that didn't become whatever the heck they are now. I still need to feed on love, why would anyone love me?!” Emerald replied loudly, birds shooting out of the apple trees around them in terror.
“A-Ah…” Apple Bloom backed away a tiny bit, “A-Ah was just gonna ask if you’d be interested in… takin’ Fullmoon to the dance?” she muttered.
“Wait, Fullmoon? How does he not have a date?” Emerald asked in a normal tone, seeming like the outburst had never happened.
“Oh, Ah wonder why, maybe it’s because he’s too shy, or how about he’s a Wolfpony,” Apple Bloom sarcastically said, groaning.
“Sure, I wouldn’t mind going with him,” Emerald replied with a blank stare, her bug-like wings fluttering quickly. Apple Bloom took note of this, grinning in a slightly evil way.
“Perfect… hehehehe,” Apple Bloom muttered maniacally, gaining a similar voice to Discord for a split second. “Perfect! Meet up at the clubhouse an hour before the dance, got it?!”
“Uhh, sure,” Emerald said, weirded out by the way she was acting, “I’ll be there.”
“Great! Talk to ya later, Em!” Apple Bloom shouted, scurrying off in a hurry. “Perfect! Emerald Moon is comin’ to fruition. Now if Azure Shadow denies the question, everything will be perfect!” She laughed maniacally once more, galloping over to the clubhouse.