The Thief and the Dancer

That Night…

Cain barely managed to convince a very tired Wolf to go through with his plans to go out with him that night (“It’ll be fun! There’ll be booze, chicks and prime targets everywhere!” was his reasoning to get him moving). So the two unicorns found themselves on the town on a Friday night. They stepped out of the taxi onto Horseshoe Blvd. in front of a little lively club that one look just screamed “Dazzling”!

“Dude, I don’t think this is a good idea. I mean...well, for one thing this place looks packed!”, Wolf remarked as they approached the back entrance of the club. Using his magic, Cane picked the lock before they actually got in.

“Does it matter? More saps to hustle! Get with it Wolf. Besides, what’re the odds that cops will be there?!?”, Cane reassured him as they made their way past the throngs of half-drunk ponies and griffons.

With the night already in full swing, Gracie and Serene were backstage getting ready for their regular routine. They were getting into their regular costumes which consisted of loose crop tops and flowing skirts with bells tied in their manes.

“Did you see him out there ‘Rena'?”, Gracie asked as she adjusted her skirt.

“Not yet. Gabe will let us know when he comes. Then we break into our best routines! Just like we rehearsed.”, Serene replied as she tied her mane into a pony tail with the bells dangling.

Gracie couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous about performing. It wasn’t like the regular ‘show's about to start and you’re unprepared’ nervous. No. This was a completely different level of nervous. One that made her nearly have a panic attack until Serene got her to calm down.

“Girl. Believe me, I’m just as nervous as you, but we can’t let it show now! This is mass crunch time Gracie. We can do it! We’ve been working our flanks off since we were 10 to be where we are now. This could be our big break! We just gotta buck up and take it with grace and swagger. You hear me?!?”, Serene said.

Grace let Serene’s pep talk sink in for a moment before she shook her head ‘yes'.

“Yeah-Yeah we’ve got this!”, Gracie exclaimed.

Just then a stage manager popped in to tell them it’s almost curtain.

“Alright. Let’s do this!”, both mares’ shouted in unison before heading out to the stage with the boys following suit.

The two thieves made their way through at least half of the club. Pickpocketing and the likes in a stealthy way. That is...until Wolf noticed the stage at the front of the club.

‘Hey. What's goin’ on up there?’, Wolf wondered to himself as the curtain rose to reveal two mares, a stallion and a griffon in exotic clothing.

The four performers started to move in an almost hypnotic form. The males started moving in almost imposible motions for a pegasus and griffon. While the females instantly got everypony's attention. Doing flips, twists, bends and turns that would put a standard ballerina to shame. While they were all distracted, Cane decided to continue with the robberies.

“Dude! C’mon, let's keep at it.”, Cane shouted over the music to his companion who couldn't remove his eyes from the stage...or in specifics, from the lone earth mare in a ruby red outfit dancing.

Wolf simply couldn't stop himself from staring! It was like he was being placed under a beautiful hypnotic spell when he watched her dance. He eventually snapped out of it long enough to comprehend what his friend said and he regretfully turned away from the stage to continue their spree. In the back of his head he was still thinking about that mare in the red.

Gabe finally spotted the dance coach and waved a wing to signal his friends that now was the time to pull out the big guns. He cued up a saucy, exotic sounding party song. Then, grabbing Gracie while Cold grabbed Serene, they began to dance a lively latin groove. Every dip, every twist, every step was carefully planned as mostly making it up as ya go. Some stallion threw a rose to the girls and Serene caught it mid air twirl and placed it in her mane. When the song finally came to a close, the 4 friends struck a dazzling finishing pose as the music faded and the uproar of applause occurred.

When the crowd cheered Gracie looked for Mr. Pirouette. While she couldn't see through the crowd too well she did lock eyes with a handsome unicorn stallion. In her almost hypnotic state, she inadvertently sent him a wink and a smile before taking her bows with her friends.They made their way backstage with excitement in their veins and smiles on their faces.

“Gabe! Did you hear the way that crowd cheered?!? I tell ya I think that was the best performance we’ve ever done!”, Cold Breeze said excitedly.

“I know! And I hope that Perfect Pirouette thought so too. I noticed him leave not long after we stopped dancing.”, Gabe replied.

Gracie, while she was happy, was still in a euphoric state of calm after simply looking at that stallion in the audience. She didn't know why, but there was something about him that almost called to her. Beckoning to her to study further. So, with a determined gait she set off to the main floor in search of the stallion she couldn't seem to stop thinking about.