The night I saw the moon dance
Once on a night long ago. That's what you'd expect me to say right? WRONG! It was more like 20 years ago, when I was 9....
The streets of Ponyville were bustling with ponies coming and going from whichever way and that. My brother, Lunar Star and I were playing in the park and everything was alright with the world. Then our parents called and told us we had to come home and get ready for the party. Mama was getting ready for our annual "Lunar Festival" a big celebration, my family has celebrated since before Princess Luna's banishment. Mama says that her ancestors were part of a secret race of Luna worshippers- or as she called them "Children of the Night". It's not just us, a lot of friends and family from other parts of Equestria come to celebrate with us in this big field just outside Canterlot. Anyways, once we got home from the park Daddy told us to go wash up and to get on our "special" outfits for the festival. Now right as I beat my brother up the stairs I start laughing.
"Haha! Beat you again 'little bro'!" I laughed. He just stood there and frowned.
"Hey! Two things! 1.) Your only older than me by like 2 minutes. and 2.) You only won because I'm still sore from that practice you made me do!" He said annoyed.
Both were true, the reason we were in the park (other than playing) was because that year, we were finally old enough to take part in the "sacred dance of the night". Don't ask me why it's called that, I still don't know. So after some bickering between us and a few wardrobe mishaps, we were finally in our new outfits. When we stepped downstairs, we saw our parents in their required clothes and already packed the cart up and were ready to fly. As we left, I couldn't help but notice that the sun was going down so that we had to hurry.
After 20 minutes of flying we were finally at the festival grounds. When Lunar and I landed we saw so many pegasi, unicorns, batponies, earthponies and others alike. Mama told us to run along and have fun whilst they set up. When I got to one of my favorite games, I saw a familiar face.
"Hey Silver Song!" I shouted over to my best friend.
Silver saw me and waved back whilst trotting up to me. When she got here she pulled me into a bone-crushing hug, one that earthponies are famous for. We started talking and laughing as we walked around and tasted the MANY foods there. Pretty soon it was time for the "sacred dance", I quickly grabbed Lunar Star and we got into the positions we'd practiced and were soon dancing along with the other pegasi and batponies in the air. While my brother's movements were sloppy and really uncoordinated, mine were graceful, almost bird like. When the dance was over, I noticed everyone was looking at me strange.
"Why's everypony looking like they just saw a Windigo?!" I shouted, confused.
Lunar Star pulled me close and spoke of the crowd being shocked after seeing me dance. I didn't think on it immediately, but I did hear a few murmurs of 'wow that little filly was amazing!' or 'whose little girl is that?' and I automatically started blushing. Once my parents found us, they told us the moon was at its peak and the ritual of song was about to start. This got Lunar Star excited because that was his favorite part, but I was too tired to sing so I just flew back over to our wagon to rest for a bit. After 10 minutes I looked up at the sky and I swear I saw the stars paint pictures and the moon started to dance. Once I saw that, I immediately tried (and successfully) to match the moon's moves. My dad saw me and said I was amazing, but apparently he wasn't the only one who saw me move. A stallion I didn't know cane up to me and my dad and spoke.
"Wow! So you must be that young filly everypony was looking at in shock! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mr. Perfect Pirouette, but please call me Pirouette. Anyways, I couldn't help but notice that you, young filly have got that air of grace and sophistication of a true ballerina! And if you would be interested, with your parents permission of course, I'd like to have you as a student at my studio in Ponyville." Pirouette finished.
My dad looked surprised and I looked like I might faint, that is until my mom and brother came back.
Hey you two! What's goin' on here? I thought it'd be nice to check on y'all and see if ya needed anything." Mama said feeling slightly awkward for interrupting a conversation.
"It appears that this young stallion saw 'looney moony' (daddy's nickname for me) dancing and would like her to join his ballet school!" Daddy explained to them.
Mama had that look in her eye that she gets when she knows something is going right. While the adults talked, Silver Song and I started back to our conversation about the upcoming season of "Filly meets World" and how Lunar Star likes to steal the t.v. remote whenever it comes on. Then my parents said it's time to go, because it was already almost dawn. We packed up our cart and said goodbye and good morning to everyone as we started back for home.
The next day, after everyone got a full days rest, my parents asked me if I had made my decision on whether or not to go to the dance school. I remember looking at them with an 'are you joking?' look on my face before I started jumping up and down excitedly and saying yes more times than I could count. They must've taken that as a yes, because later on that day, they took me to the studio for an audition.
When we got there, Perfect Pirouette was waiting patiently for me and when he saw us come in, he immediately took us on a small tour of the studio and then lead us into the main dance hall. He asked me what song I wanted to dance to and I chose this nice little song. As the music began I didn't think about what I was doing, I just did it. Every leap, every turn, every pirouette just felt natural. When the song ended, Pirouette was just sitting there with mouth agape. Before he could get a breath in my parents and brother were already cheering and applauding me. Pirouette wasted no time and by the end of the day, I was officially a member of "Perfect Pirouette's Premier Studio for Ballet".
(A/N:Time jump to 6 months later and the studio is performing a rendition of "Swan Lake")
To say I wasn't nervous about playing a swan was like trying to convince Lunar that the Slendermare wasn't real. My hooves were sweaty and I could barely breathe, despite my costume fitting perfectly. When the music came on and I saw the beautiful full moon backdrop, my thoughts went back to that night I saw the moon dance and danced too.
TWO HOURS AND SOME MINUTES LATER...
"Moondance, hun that was Amazing! You were fantastic!" My family members all said at once.
"Thanks everypony, but now I have to take my costume off." I said happily. But when I got my costume off, I glanced down at my flanks to check if I had anymore costume left, and I was surprised and happy when I saw a full moon with ballet slippers on my flanks.
"My cutie-mark. My cutie-mark! I FINALLY GOT MY CUTIE-MARK!!!!" I started screaming at the top of my lungs.
My parents and brother had came around to see what the fuss was all about. When I showed them my flanks, they were silent for a brief second. Then they scooped me up in a traditional pegasus hug. After that, I knew that was the absolute best day ever!
Now y'all know of how I got my cutie-mark but my story's far from over. Come back again soon and I might just have another tale to spin.
