The dance competition was only a week away, and Apple Bloom was already showing a lot of improvement, thanks to the patient teachings of both Scootaloo and Tender Taps. She still felt the pounding of her heart in her chest, or the clamminess of her hooves when the doubt crept in, but less so now. Still, that little voice in the back of her mind told her she would mess up when she listened to the other dance students speaking excitedly about what this competition could mean for them in the future. That seemed to be the only thing on the minds of the dance students.

Except that wasn’t quite the case for all of them.

“That was great Apple Bloom!” Tender said cheerfully when they stopped for a short break. “You’ve gotten so much better, I knew you could do it!” The orange colt was excited to see his friend doing so much better. “All we need to do is keep working like this and you’ll have it down in no time.”

Apple Bloom smiled brightly at Tender and reached for her water bottle as she sat down with him for a short break. “Yeah! It’s a lot of fun now that ah know what ah’m doin’ too.”

Taps smiled softly as he watched the filly talk and nodded. “Yeah? I think it’s great to see you doing so well. I think we’ve got a real shot of impressing the judges if we keep this up.” He took a swig of his water.

“Ya do? That’s great!” Apple Bloom chirped, smiling brightly. “Ah’m just happy ah’m not tripping over mah own hooves anymore.”

“It definitely makes getting through class easier without bruised hooves.” Tender joked playfully, nudging the filly.

She pouted at the colt, her cheeks glowing faintly. “Hey, no fair! Not everypony can be an amazin’ dancer…” Apple Bloom giggled a bit, “ah guess that is true though… ‘cept ah don’t really get sore hooves anymore.”

“That’s because you have the good strong hooves from all those chores around your family farm.” Tender smiled and slid a hoof over, pressing it against the filly’s own strong hooves. “You don’t find that on any young up and coming dancers.” He teased.

Apple Bloom giggled, “If ya think mah hooves are work hardened, ya should see mah big brother and sister. Or heck, even mah granny has them good solid hooves, she jus’ don’t use 'em much anymore.” She held her gaze to the colt’s hoof on hers and blushed slightly, her heart beginning to beat faster in her chest the longer their hooves stayed connected. His hoof felt smooth and soft by comparison to her own.

Tender Taps watched her for a moment before he locked his gaze with their hooves. His cheeks flushed a bit when he realized what he was doing, but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he turned on the music and lifted her hoof, his other held out for her. “Let’s run through the routine again.” He suggested, trying to ignore the butterflies in his chest.

The suggestion pulled Apple Bloom from her daze and she blinked, watching the hoof for a moment before she smiled and took it, letting the young colt pull her up and towards him. Tender smiled sweetly at his friend as he guided her along through the steps of their routine. The two foals counted off in unison, keeping time with each other, only a few minor hiccups here and there.

The music reached a point where it slowed considerably, and with it, their dancing as they stepped slowly, Apple Bloom towards Tender Taps and Tender Taps away from Apple Bloom, then vice versa before the music picked up again into its fast tempo and upbeat tune.

Apple Bloom felt her nerves again recede as she danced with the colt, their steps and twists filled with vigor and confidence. Her eyes gleamed with the simple enjoyment she felt as she danced with him. “Alright Apple Bloom, here comes the big spin.” Tender Taps warned, smiling as he lifted her hoof and took a step away. “Now turn-” He started, watching as the filly moved away from him. “And spin back!”

The filly went into her spin, laughing cheerfully as she went back towards Tender Taps, ready to pick back up in their starting position. When she went in for the spin, however, her hoof slipped and she released a yelp as she went crashing to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation for the hard floor underneath her, only to hear a grunt and feel a cushioned surface.

Apple Bloom cracked an eye open and looked over to find herself draped over Tender Taps. Her cheeks lit up and she scrambled to get off the colt. “Oh mah gosh, ah’m so sorry Tender!” She whined and reached a hoof out for the colt, her cheeks red with embarrassment. “A-ah didn’t mean to, ah just slipped!” She rambled.

Tender Taps laughed and took the offered hoof, pulling himself up off the floor. “Calm down, Apple Bloom, it was just an accident.”

“Ah didn’t hurt ya, did ah?” She asked, inspecting him. “Ah'm really sorry…” The filly continued, ignoring him as she lifted his hoof.

The colt smiled and took her hoof again. “Apple Bloom.” He repeated, getting her attention this time. “I’m ok, really, it was just a little fall.”

“R-really?... Yer sure yer ok?...” She asked, watching his hoof as it gripped her own.

“Yeah, it was just a little fall, don’t worry about it.” Tender replied cheerfully before releasing the filly’s hoof and stepping back. “See? Nothing’s wrong, nothing broken.” He pranced around Apple Bloom and laughed softly as he watched the tension drain from her shoulders.

Apple Bloom felt better knowing Tender Taps hadn’t gotten hurt, she’d landed on him pretty hard, and she wasn’t exactly the lightest filly around.

“Come on, we still have some time to keep working on it before class ends.” Tender Taps said cheerfully as he reset their music. “We can work on that spin more tomorrow. Let’s just try to get through the rest of the routine so we can find any other areas of improvement.”

After dance class ended, Apple Bloom said her goodbyes to Tender and trotted out of the dance studio with her bag slung over her back. She was feeling a lot better about their performance, and save for only a few pitfalls in the routine, like the spin or the overall speed of the dance, she’d come a long way.

Before the filly could wander too far from the dance studio, a few other foals from her class caught up with her, and she recognized them as the fillies that had tried asking Tender Taps to dance with them. The first one, a pastel pink mare with a strawberry mane pulled up beside her. “Hey, Apple Bloom, right? I’m Strawberry Swirl. And these are my friends.” She said, motioning to the two fillies with her. “Violet Petal and Cherry Berry,” she introduced, pointing to the purple and white foals respectively.

Apple Bloom paused when the fillies came up and introduced themselves, offering them a small smile. “Oh, uh… hi, it’s nice ta meet ya, and yes, ah’m Apple Bloom. What can ah do for ya?”

“Well, we just wanted to compliment you. After all, at first we thought you’d turn out to be a total flop as a dancer, but… now you’re almost decent. We can’t wait to see you perform in the competition.”

Apple Bloom’s brow furrowed and she tilted her head a bit. “Uh… thanks? Ah guess?...” She frowned, giving the three fillies a confused look.

“Oh, you’re welcome.” She said with a cheerful smile. “See, we thought you’d completely ruin it, but I guess Tender Taps is an even better dancer than we thought to make you almost ready for the stage.” Apple Bloom opened her muzzle to respond, but before she could say anything, Strawberry continued. “I mean, come on, you can’t even do a spin without falling over.”

The yellow filly’s face twisted a little in anger. “Now hang on, the spins are hard, even Tender Taps had trouble with em’ at first.”

“Well of course, at first…” Violet Petal spoke up, stepping over to Apple Bloom. “But you’ve been working a lot at it, any good dancer would’ve been able to do such a simple move by now.”

“Ah’ll get there! W-we’re gonna work on mah spins t’morrow…” Apple Bloom murmured. Her ears flattened against her head and she looked down at her hooves, her chest tightened with shame.

“Even if you work on it though, there’s no guarantee you’ll get it down in time for the competition, it’s only a week away…” Cherry chimed in. “If you’re still having so much trouble with the spin, it might be too late…”

“And if you fall on stage like you did in class, you’ll get Tender Taps disqualified.” Strawberry leaned in and smirked. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Apple Bloom stepped away from the fillies, shrinking into herself a little. She opened her mouth to defend herself, only to find herself at a loss for words. Strawberry seemed satisfied with this result and turned away from her. “Come on, girls, let’s go. We still need to meet up with our dance partners to work on our routines,” she cooed. “I hope you get that spin down, Apple Bloom, you really wouldn’t want to be the reason Tender Taps missed out on such a great opportunity. I heard that a lot of talent agents keep their eyes on these competitions…” With that, the three fillies left Apple Bloom standing alone.

The filly let out a soft sigh and lowered her head, she turned away from the foals and began her walk back home. Her hooves dragged on the ground and she let her mane fall over her eyes; even her bow drooped. The downcast filly felt her vision blur with tears, the fillies’ words playing on a loop in her mind.

Author's Note

As promised, the TenderBloom has been delivered!

Oh? But what's this? A few green-eyed monsters wanting to cause trouble for our little duo...

Look's like Apple Bloom's not quite over her nerves anymore, oh I hope it doesn't cause them too much trouble...

Once again, thank you to Koga13 for proofreading!