Chapter 1
Outside Canterlot High, the Monday lunch period was crisp and chilly, a light breeze blowing snow from the weekend across the sidewalks and onto the roads. Inside, of course, it was pleasantly, enough to make even the more disreputable students agree to attend class on-time. The promise of a warm meal sealed the deal.
“Thank Cel-god, for hot soup.” Sunset lifted a small bowl of chicken noodle to her face and inhaled, appreciating the heat as much as the smell.
“Sunset?”
Sunset set her bowl down on her tray and turned to the girl in line beside her. “Hm?”
Fluttershy looked down at the ground, the motion making a long lock of pink hair come loose and dangle over her face. “Um, I need your…advice, on something.”
“Oh. Sure, Fluttershy.” Sunset moved ahead and gestured to her to follow. “What’s up?”
Fluttershy grabbed a bowl of salad from the cafeteria offerings and set it on her tray. “Well, the Winter Wonderland dance is coming up in two weeks, and I’m…having…” The end of her sentence was indistinct mumbles and whispers as she trailed off.
“Come again?”
Fluttershy repeated herself a decibel louder, but it was enough for Sunset to make out most of it. “I wanted to ask if you would…”
Sunset grabbed a juicebox and moved the line up again. “Still straining on that last part.” She smiled and reached out to pat her on the shoulder. “Come on, Fluttershy.” She reached her other hand out to fix the stray hair that had fallen out of place. “Squeak it out already.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “I, I-um, I wanted to ask if…you could…” she coughed and grabbed her own drink. “See, I don’t usually go to the Winter Wonderland, because there’s bright lights, and loud music, and people…and also, I don’t really know how to dance. But, this year, I was thinking, maybe it’d be nice to go, so, if you wouldn’t mind, maybe you…” she looked down at the floor again and fell back into whispers.
“Ooooh.” Sunset drew her hands back and grinned. “Did someone ask you already?” she asked teasingly.
“No!” Fluttershy said quickly.
“So it’s that you want to ask someone, but you’re not sure how.”
“Mhm.” She nodded.
They had reached the end of the line. Sunset tossed two bags of crackers on her tray and held out her credit card. The cashier offered the pin pad and she tapped her card to pay. “Well, speaking as a supportive friend who wants you to be happy, and has seen you help save the city from evil monster girls about half a dozen times – what’s so scary about a dance?”
“It’s not the dance that scares me, not anymore.” Fluttershy reached into her pocket for her coin purse as Sunset moved aside to make room for her. “See, it’s more I’m scared of asking them. If they say no…”
“Then it’s their loss and you’re better off without that dumbass.” Sunset folded her arms and shook her head. “Fluttershy, you are a kind, supportive, intelligent girl. Anyone would be lucky to call you their girlfriend.”
Fluttershy stilled and her eyes went wide. “You think so?”
“Absolutely. Just be confident, be upfront, and ask.” Sunset nodded to punctuate the statement. “Got it?”
“Got it.” Fluttershy smiled and paid for her meal.
Sunset looked around the cafeteria; the group’s usual table had been moved for holiday decorations over the weekend, and she wasn’t sure where they had relocated. She searched the crowd for a head of multi-colored hair or a familiar stetson hat.
“So then, Sunset?”
“Yeah?” She looked back at Fluttershy. The other girl stepped next to her and took a breath.
“I would like to ask you…” Fluttershy’s breath caught as she looked up at Sunset.
“Yes?”
“Ask you..if you would…”
“Yeees?” Sunset popped an eyebrow and tilted her head.
“...teachmetodance!”
“Huh?”
Fluttershy didn’t give any response that Sunset could make out, given that she was suddenly hiding in her own hair like a bird in its nest. She thought she heard a faint murmur, maybe.
Sunset wrinkled her nose, spotted a pair of empty seats at a nearby table, and gently took Fluttershy’s arm to lead her over. She heard Fluttershy gasp but she didn’t resist. When the two were sitting down Sunset leaned over her tray.
“Fluttershy, don’t you know how to dance?”
“Mm-mm.” She shook her head.
“But, I’ve seen you dance. You’ve danced with our friends in like, half a dozen musical numbers, at least.”
“That’s different!” Fluttershy shook her head more furiously. “That’s dancing in a group, and usually to energetic music, and sometimes to save the world. This is, like…intimate dancing. With a partner. To slow music. In low lighting. With them looking at you.” With every word she seemed to shrink back into her hair again.
How does her hair have that much volume? Sunset gently rolled her eyes and gave a soft smile. “Fair enough. Though, you may wanna ask Rarity instead, she’s probably way better at that kind of dancing than I am.”
“Oh. Um, I did.” Fluttershy coughed. “She can’t.”
“Why not?”
“...I don’t know.”
“Oookaaay…” Sunset held up her hands. “Well, if you want me to give you lessons, I’ll see what I can do. Are you busy after school today? If you could meet me in the music room, we could try a first lesson.”
“That sounds nice.” Fluttershy raised her head and smiled.
Sunset smiled back and ripped open a pack of crackers over her soup.
“Great, then it’s a date!”
Fluttershy squeaked and vanished back into her hair.
Sunset leaned against one of the desks in the music room and swiped through her Trotter feed. She tapped ‘like’ on a few posts and then looked at the time display. Almost four. Is she not coming?
As if on cue, the door to the music room slowly creaked open. Fluttershy quickly squeezed into the room and shut the door behind her.
“Get held up?” Sunset asked.
“Not, um, exactly. Just…” Fluttershy mumbled as she set her backpack down against the wall and took off her coat to lay it over top. “I mean, yes, I got held up.”
“No biggie.” Sunset shrugged and tapped through her phone. “So, any particular song you had in mind for dancing to?”
“No, not really.”
She glanced up and saw Fluttershy standing in front of the door, looking around while biting her lip and holding her arm.
“Fluttershy, come over here.”
The other girl didn’t look at her, but nodded and took a small step forward.
Sunset gave a small huff and strode over to her. “Come on.” She took hold of Fluttershy’s hand, ignored her small gasp, and pulled her closer to the middle of the room. Once there she let go of her hand and looked at her carefully. “Is this a bad day for you or something? We can do this some other time if you’ve got something to do.”
“No, no.” Fluttershy looked at her firmly and took a breath. “I’m good. Let’s do this. Dancing, I mean.”
“Cool.” Sunset walked over to the wall and flipped a couple switches. The main lights of the room went off and the stage lights came on, illuminating the room in soft tones of blue and white.
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. “We’re going to dance in the dark?”
“Well, it’ll be dim lighting at the event, or at least on the dance floor. Best get used to it now, right?” Sunset smiled at her. She called up a music player on her phone, cranked up the volume, and tapped play.
A soft, slow piano tune filled the music room, the lead vocals on the sound slowly getting louder as they hummed in time.
She set her phone on the desk. “I don’t know the exact playlist they’ll be using at the dance, of course, but this works well enough for learning how to do a basic slow dance, right?”
“Y-yes.” Fluttershy gulped.
“Okay, no problem. Here.” Sunset stepped closer and held her hands up. “I’ll lead, of course, since I’m showing you.”
A moment passed of the two girls staring at each other. Then another.
Sunset blinked. “Are you gonna take my hand?”
“Oh. Yes…” Fluttershy reached out to hold Sunset’s hand and put the other hand on her waist. Sunset responded by putting her free hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder.
“We’ll go slow until you get the hang of it. Just feel my body language, tell which way I’m moving, and keep up. Just sway to the music.”
She shifted her weight, moved her hands, and lifted a foot to sidestep. On-cue, Fluttershy followed her.
The two fell into a gentle rhythm gliding back and forth across the music room. The music echoing gently off the walls faded into the background as Sunset kept her focus on her partner. Step, turn, step, turn. Guide with the arms, the hands, the feet, the hips. With each subtle motion Fluttershy kept up and responded just as she should.
“See? You’re a natural.”
“T-Thank you.”
It was hard to tell in the low lighting, but she was pretty sure Fluttershy was blushing.
“It’s not that surprising,” she continued. “I mean, you’ve always had a natural grace to you.”
“You…think I’m graceful?”
“Well, yeah, everyone does.” Sunset gave a small chuckle. “Why do you think Rarity is trying to get pictures of you to post on SnapGab any time she designs dresses for us? She wishes she had your ease and fluidity of movement. Her words. Minus the drama, I mean.”
“Oh, wow.” Fluttershy cleared her throat and nodded. “Thank you. Really.”
The two fell back into silence. Sunset peered closer at Fluttershy as they slowly turned in place. She may have held the geode of empathy, but she wasn’t always the best at reading faces. Fluttershy was nervous, that much was obvious from how she was avoiding eye contact and clutching her hand so tightly. But there was something else there, too. Something she couldn’t put her finger on.
“Um…” It surprised Sunset a bit when the other girl spoke up again. “H-how did you learn how to dance?’
“I studied it when I crossed over from Equestria.” Sunset frowned as she reflected on her old, mean days. “I realised I was in an unfamiliar body and needed to get used to it. Dancing involves a lot of fluid and complex movements, especially footwork, and also teaches you how to read body language. It seemed like a good way to get used to being a human and also attend school events.”
“Makes sense…”
The two fell back into silence. At this point it was making Sunset a bit tense. She and Fluttershy had never had any trouble with small talk in the past, in fact she found that she was one of the easiest girls to fall into casual conversation with. But now the other girl was clamming up. Is she trying to focus on the dancing?
“You should look at my face. Facial expressions are a part of leading, too.”
“Oh.”
Fluttershy’s eyes tilted up and she slowly raised her head. She locked eyes with Sunset and inhaled.
“There. Better?”
“Y-y-yes. Better.”
Sunset smiled and continued to lead. Though she was quickly noticing she didn’t have to focus very much on that. Not only was her body moving to the music subconsciously, but Fluttershy really did pick up how to do it excellently. She was matching Sunset step for step with ease. Not once had either of them accidentally stepped on the other’s toes or pulled away in the wrong direction. A budding suspicion began to bloom in the back of Sunset’s mind, but she ignored it for the moment.
The song on her phone changed to the next in the auto-playlist, a slightly more sombre tune with string instruments, but neither of them actively noticed.
Fluttershy’s eyes almost seemed to be glowing in the dim lighting. Is she ponying up or something? I don’t notice or feel any magic from her. Sunset blinked and looked at her friend anew to make sure. It’s just the contrast of her eyes and hair, I think. Soft blue against a mass of flowing pink hair. Classic blue-orange contrast colour theory. Like me. She involuntarily giggled.
Her partner noticed and Fluttershy fell slightly out of step. She murmured a bit and tightened her grip on Sunset’s hand. “What’s so funny?”
“We match. Or, contrast. Sort of, depending on how you want to define it.” Sunset shrugged. “Pink and blue, red and teal.”
“O-oh. I never noticed.” Fluttershy laughed awkwardly. “Well, that’s not anything really special, is it? I mean, Pinkie has pink hair and blue eyes, too.”
“Good point.” Sunset laughed again. “Though I can’t really picture her trying to slow dance. It’d probably be torture for her.”
Fluttershy returned the laugh. “Y-yeah, good point.”
Sunset thought aloud. “Honestly, most of our group don’t really seem the type for romantic, intimate dancing. You and Rarity, sure, but AJ and Rainbow? Can’t picture it. Twilight can’t dance to save her life.”
“What about you?” Fluttershy asked softly. “I mean, is this how you like, or prefer to dance? Or did you want to do something else?”
“Nah, this is nice. Why? Did you want to learn a different kind of dancing?”
“No, you’re right, this is nice.”
“Yeah.”
The two shared a smile. Sunset felt Fluttershy’s hands gripping her relax.
Several minutes passed as the two danced together. For the first time since they started, Sunset didn’t have that nagging thought in the back of her head that Fluttershy was nervous or anxious for some reason, now she seemed perfectly comfortable. Though that had led to a new suspicion that her continued ease all but confirmed.
The song ended and the next one began, and Sunset stopped moving her feet and let go of Fluttershy’s hand.
“I think that’s enough.” She calmly reached back for her phone and tapped to stop the song.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked. “Did I make a mistake?”
“No, you’re a great dancer.” Sunset slipped her phone into her pocket and eyed her friend. “That’s what’s wrong. You don’t need lessons, not from me anyway. You may even be able to teach me a thing or two.”
“You did say I’m a natural…” The shrinking violet was back, hiding in her hair and holding her arms. She looked ready to make a dash for the door.
“No, you know how to dance. So why did you ask me to teach you?” Sunset put a hand on her shoulder, both to try to be reassuring and to make sure she didn’t run. “I’m not angry or upset or anything, I just don’t get it. Is something going on?”
“Um…well…yes.” Fluttershy’s fingers twisted along her upper arm. “I, I said in the cafeteria that I wanted to ask someone to the dance.”
“Yes?”
“When I began to ask…I mean, I wanted to say…”
Sunset gave a small huff. “Just spit it out, Fluttershy.”
She clenched her eyes shut and clutched her hands to her chest. “I didn’t want to ask you to teach me to dance!”
“Then what–”
“I wanted to ask you to the dance!”
Sunset’s eyes widened as Fluttershy’s popped open. She whimpered and her body shook.
“I’m sorry!”
Sunset’s hand stayed in the air, motionless, as her friend spun, ran to the door, and quickly left the room. Sunset heard her shoes squeaking rapidly on the tile in the hall.
She hadn’t even remembered to take her bag and coat.
Fluttershy’s dancing lesson had been Monday afternoon. And to Sunset’s growing surprise and concern as the week wore on, the last day any of the group had seen her at school. As her last period class on Friday wound to a close, with not even the teacher much caring since it was the final day of the year, Sunset found herself with nothing to do but think about the desk in front of hers and why it was empty.
She’s avoiding us. She’s avoiding me. Well duh.
Sunset had spent the week since that afternoon slowly trying to process Fluttershy’s words. She had wanted to ask Sunset to the dance. Fluttershy liked her. Liked liked her, judging from her intense nervousness and everything else. How long has she been nursing a crush on her? She’d mentioned the incident to Rarity – the only one she trusted to keep it quiet for now and also to be mature about it – and it came as much as a shock to the fashionista as it had her. Unfortunately, Rarity didn’t have much advice to give her, which left Sunset alone to confront the obvious questions.
What do I do now?
Do I like her back?
What would the others think?
How will this affect our group if it means something? If it fails?
What does Fluttershy think about all this?
She paused.
Fluttershy…she’s been alone all week, wondering these same questions. Poor think, she’s probably a nervous wreck. And I’ve had all week to reach out to her and haven’t. What if she thinks I hate her?
She slumped as that thought stuck in her mind. Damn. I should talk to her at least…but what would I say?
A sudden touch of something icy cold on the back of her neck made her scream and jump back in her seat. She twisted her head around and glared; behind her, Rainbow Dash held a an ice cube from her water bottle in her hand and was snickering with Pinkie Pie.
“Quiet back there!” Mr. Cranky called from the front desk. “It’s still class time for four more minutes, so at least pretend to be working on something!”
Sunset glared at her two friends and then faced forward again. She discretely pulled out her phone and called up her contacts. Her thumb lingered on Fluttershy’s name. She bit her lip and thought.
A text alert popped up at the bottom of her menu. She tapped it; Rainbow Dash.
“I interupt ur moody?”
Sunset rolled her eyes and quickly tapped a response.
“Why texts?” she glanced back and saw Rainbow reclining in her seat staring at her phone. She looked up at Sunset, winked, and then looked down as her phone buzzed.
“Cranky is cranky. Wats up?”
“Stuff on my mind.”
“Like wut?”
“Complicated stuff. You wouldn’t be much help.”
“Pining for fluttershy?”
Sunset’s eyes widened and she turned in her seat. “How do you know about that?” she hissed.
Rainbow leaned forward. “Duh, she’s my best friend. We’ve known each other since we were kids. You think she didn’t tell me?”
Sunset groaned. “Who else knows?”
“Just me.” Rainbow cast a sideways look next to her and Sunset looked the same way; Pinkie wasn’t listening anymore, she was busy doodling in her binder. With an icing piper.
Rainbow turned back to her. “You want my advice?”
“Not particularly but that won’t stop you.”
She snorted but continued. “Go for it. What’s the worse that could happen?”
“It goes horribly wrong and I hurt her.”
“She’s already hurting, obviously.” Sunset glared and Rainbow shrugged. “Nothing against you. Just saying.”
“What if I’m not into her that way?”
“Are you?”
Sunset scrunched her face. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about her that way.”
“Have you ever not never thought about her that way?”
“...What?”
The bell rang and the classroom cheered and stood up to file out of the room. Sunset gathered up her things, but Rainbow was already packed and standing in her seat letting the students behind her go ahead.
Sunset pulled her coat onto her shoulders and looked at her. “Bottom line – what do I do?”
“Unless you’re entirely against it, I say at least take her to the dance.” Rainbow held up her hands. “Why not?”
“Because if this explodes in our faces, I’ll lose a friend.”
“If we come back to school next year and you haven’t made her feel better by then one way or the other, you still will.”
Sunset froze at the realisation. Rainbow gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and followed the rest of the class out to the holidays.
It had begun to snow early Saturday afternoon, but there was no breeze and the fall was gentle. If it had to snow, this was how Sunset preferred it. It reminded her of the controlled, tolerable snow that Equestria had. She looked at her phone and checked the time. Four forty-four.
Starts at five… She took a breath and opened her contacts. Here goes nothing. She pressed her thumb to Fluttershy’s name and lifted her phone to her ear. Please pick up.
She waited through three rings before she heard a beep. Then silence.
“Fluttershy?”
Several seconds of silence. Then…
“Yes?”
She didn’t sound like she had been crying, and she didn’t sound upset. That was good. Sunset relaxed a little. “Whatcha doing?”
“Why?”
“Just asking.”
“Feeding Angel.”
“You busy after that?”
“Why?”
“Your ride is here.”
“What?”
“Your ride is here.”
Sunset lowered her phone and used her other hand to reach behind her and rev the engine on her motorcycle, idling on the curb of the driveway.
On the second floor, the curtain of the left window was drawn back and the sill thrown up. “What are you doing here?” she shouted.
Sunset gestured to her bike. “Like I said, your ride’s here!”
“Ride where?”
Sunset unzipped her coat and held it open, showing off a silken red dress shirt and black formal pants.
“Take a guess.”
Fluttershy’s jaw dropped. “W-what?”
Sunset huffed and zipped her coat back up. “I’m trying to do something spontaneous and cool and kinda romantic! Do you wanna go to the dance or what?”
“With me?”
“No, with your brother. Yes, with you!”
Fluttershy cupped her hands to her mouth. “I-I-I…” She closed the window and Sunset saw her lift her phone behind the glass.
“I’m not ready!”
“How long will it take you to get changed?”
“I, I have to do my make-up, and and I haven’t showered since last night, and I didn’t get the right shoes, and–”
“Fluttershy,” Sunset interrupted gently. “If you’re really into me, you know I’m more concerned with how cold it is down here than with any of that.”
“Oh.”
“Put your dress on, get down here, and let’s go have a fun night.”
She heard the other girl squee and the line went dead. She smiled and slid her phone into her pocket, and then swung her leg onto her motorcycle and waited.
Five minutes later the front door of the home swung open and Fluttershy ran out, a winter coat haphazardly thrown over a pale blue dress with pink highlights.
“Thank you!” She reached the curb and practically leapt at Sunset to wrap her arms around her shoulders and hug her tightly.
“You okay?” Sunset asked.
Fluttershy stepped back. “I don’t know.” She looked over the bike and then Sunset. “I mean, does this mean what I think it means?”
Sunset rocked her head. “What do you think it means?”
“Um….” Fluttershy played with a loose strand of hair. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, I think it means we’re going to the dance and we’re going to have a fun night together.”
Fluttershy looked at her evenly, her lip quivering. “Will we have a fun night together?”
“We’ll find out, won’t we?” Sunset gestured her head forward. “How about for now we start at ‘go to the dance’ and see how things turn out, huh?”
“Sounds nice.” Fluttershy picked up the spare helmet on the back of the motorcycle and climbed onto the rear seat. Sunset watched behind her as her date slid the helmet on and then leaned forward to clasp her arms around her waist.
“Ready?”
“I hope so,” Fluttershy whispered behind her. “Thank you.”
Sunset tried to think of something to say back, something funny or romantic.
I got nothing.
“You’re welcome.”
She brought her kickstand up and turned onto the road, driving off through the softly falling snow.