“Now is your chance.” You say to yourself as you stare at her from across the room. “Go say something to her; ask her if she would like to dance.”
You run a hoof across your mane to make sure it looks nice. You check your bowtie, it isn’t straight so you fix it with your magic. You start making your way around the dancing crowd towards her, but halfway there you turn and make a beeline for the punch table. “I’m thirsty and just need a quick drink.” You tell yourself, rather than admit that you’re nervous to talk to her. You get your punch and look at her as you take a few sips, only to feel your heart sink. There’s another stallion talking to her, you’ve missed your chance for a dance.
You take a seat by the punch table and think of how you were going to blow off the school dance and hang with some buddies, then you heard she was going to be going to the dance and you changed your plans. “Darn,” you tell yourself, “I shouldn’t had come.” You look over to where she is again and see that she is still talking to another guy, but unlike before he’s frowning now. He bows his head and walks away.
You wonder what happened. Did he ask her to dance with him? Did she turn him down? Does it matter if it means she’s alone now? You put your cup down on the table and get up. Everypony gets a second chance, and this is yours.
You start walking towards her again but then you start to think... If she turned him down, wouldn’t she turn me down too? You stop walking and decide that it would be a bad idea. You take a seat, and notice two mares walk up to her and start talking to her.
“Why can’t I talk to her?” You ask yourself. “You sit in front of her in two classes and behind her in another, yet you’ve hardly exchanged a word. She foalsits your little sister on the weekends and sometimes you come home and she’s there playing with her. Why haven’t you spoke to her yet?”
You watch as two stallions walk up to her friends and take them to dance. Her friends are dancing now, and she’s alone. “Shut up and say something to her.” You tell yourself.
“You get up, then sit back down. “What would I say?” You ask yourself. “Care to dance?” You shake your head. “No, that’s probably what the last guy asked... “Would you like to dance?” You shake your head again. “No, it’s the same question.”
“What if I offered her punch?” You ask yourself. “I’d bring her a glass and ask her if she’d like some... but what if I slip and it spills all over her? What if she thinks I put something in it? Worst of all... what if she says no... I’d be stuck standing there with a cup of punch.” You shake your head at the idea.
In the nearby distance you see another stallion walk up to her, and worse of all he doesn’t look nervous. He’s talking to her and she’s smiling, if only you could tell what he’s saying. You look at his lips and try to read them from far enough away to see them, but not hear them over the music and crowd. You see his mouth say the word “dance” and she shakes her head. He walks away like the last, a bowed head and a frown. Why doesn’t she look as happy now?
“What if I give her a compliment?” You ask yourself, smiling at the idea. “Yeah, nothing else, just a friendly compliment.” With a smile you look up at the lights and think of what you could say. “I like your mane... I like your dress... I like your smile... I like you.” You shake your head and throw out the idea. “Come on Shining,” you tell yourself, “that’s a bad idea.”
The song ends and the two mares return to her and they start talking. “Next time she’s alone I’m going to talk to her.” You say to yourself, a part of you secretly hoping they never stop talking to her so you won’t have to try. You think back to what mom said. “Talk to her about something you both like.” You don’t know what she likes, all you know is she foalsits your sister. “Wait a minute,” you say with a sudden realization, “we both like my sister.” You laugh at yourself for overlooking something so obvious. “I could introduce myself as Twilight’s older brother!” You say with confidence. You smile and keep watching as you wait for her to finish talking to the other mares, and you also start to think. “If I introduce myself as Twilight’s brother, won't she ask me why I haven’t talked to her before?” It didn’t seem like such a big deal when you first thought of it but then you kept thinking, and as you did the question seemed bigger and bigger.
“Why haven’t I talked to her?” You ask yourself. “You see her every day and you know her name but all this time you never said a word.” You see her shake her head at the two mares, and they walk away. “Now’s my chance,” you say to yourself, “shut up and go say something.”
With newfound courage you walk over to her and say, “Hey Cadance.”
She looks at you and smiles. “Hi.” She says to you, looking away afterwards as if it was a hallway greeting.
You go numb. You could of sworn you had something you planned on saying but you’ve forgot it now. You’re just standing there now without a word in your mouth. She’s not looking at you anymore, but you can feel your heart race as if she had never looked away. “What do I do now?” You wonder to yourself. “Say something!” Your mind screams at you in response. “Say something now! Don't just stand there, say something! Say something because you want to say something! Say something because you have something to say! Say something because you NEED to say something! Say something because if you don't you’ll regret your silence! Stop thinking about what to say and just say something! Say something because there's a chance she wants you to say something!”
You levitate a small discarded bouquet of roses from a nearby table and ask, "Care to dance?”
She looks back at you, and you hold the flowers in front of you while you look away as you wait to be rejected.
“Sure,” she says quietly, “I’d love to.”
You look at her, you don’t truly believe what you heard but she’s smiling and that’s enough to confirm it. “Alright,” you say as you glance at the dance floor, “there’s something you should know first.”
“What is it?” She asks.
You rub the back of your neck with a hoof as you respond with a light laugh, “I don’t know how to dance.”
“Then why did you come here?”
“To see someone I like.”
“Really?” She asks, looking past you to the crowd. “Who is it?”
You can’t help but smile as you respond with: “I’m looking at her.”
She looks at you and blushes, then looks away. “I came hoping to see someone I like too.” She says.
You feel your chest fill with water and your heart sink, as beautiful as she is you should've known she had eyes on someone else. “Who would that be?” You ask, now looking down at the ground.
She puts her hoof on your chin and lifts up your head a little to look you in the eyes. “I’m looking at him.”
Like a bird being freed from a cage your heart flies up from its abyss and you smile in glee. “Foalsitting my sister for over a month and you never said anything.” You say, giving a light laugh.
“Neither did you!” She said, lightly pushing on your shoulder. “You should have said something.”
“Better late than never,” you say as you look back at the dance floor and consider going for that dance; then you get a better idea. “You want to get out of here?” you ask, “We can go to my place and make a pillow fort and have ice-cream in it.”
She laughed at your idea. “You think Twilight could help us?”
“Yeah!” you say with enthusiasm. “We’ll all build it together and while we have ice cream, she will have a book.”
She giggled. “Alright, let’s go then.”
You lead the way out, happy that everything worked out as you hoped. As you leave with her you notice a stallion by the door mumbling to himself. When you get to the door you let her out first, but you tap the stallion on the shoulder. “Whoever it is,” you tell him, “go say something.”
