hearts and hooves ball

The air was crisp and cold, not something ponies with fur needed to worry much about, evidently. She was standing beside Ocellus, arms wrapped around and crossed against her chest, trying not to make it too noticeable that the temperature was affecting her.

"Something wrong?" Ocellus asked with a slightly nervous tone and a slight blush on her cheek. The changeling was shifting a bit on her hooves. Smolder couldn't tell if that was because she was excited or nervous... Or were those the same thing..? Maybe she was both. In all honesty, Smolder was both! but she certainly did a better job of not showing it.

"Hmm? Oh, not at all!" she gave a reassuring smile, though noticed Ocellus was calling her bluff pretty easily.

"J-just a bit cold, that's all. I'm used to living around giant scary pits of lava remember, on an active volcano... Nighttime in ponyville is a biiiit chilly compared to that." A delightfull laugh erupted from her friend.. Or maybe girlfriend? She still couldn't quite believe they were attending this whole hearts and hooves thing together. She'd had an interested in the little bug for a while already, but she'd never have expected Ocellus to make the first move.

"We'll only be in the courtyard a little while longer." Ocellus reassured her. The two were standing in a line, they had been for a while already. Ponies behind her and in front of her, slowly moving forward as a slightly anxious looking twilight made sure to cross every attending creature off the list. Likely overly worried again, wanting to make sure the same amount of ponies left as entered. Her list was long, longer than the amount of creatures attending the school, unless twilight wrote in VERY BIG letters maybe. Either way, it caused her to have to look through the entire piece of parchement for every pair of ponies that wanted to head inside. Smolder thought it was a waste of time really, but she knew better than to criticize the headmare of the school, especially with starlight keeping an eye on the line too.

Not only that but they were nearly inside. The courtyard was the last part of the line, ahead of them, past twilight and her list was a dark room with flashing lights. Music already audible, though the open door whisked most of the sound away into the darkness.

"Yeah.. I'll be fine... You uh.. look great by the way!" she blurted out right after. Her eyes looked over the changeling, who was wearing a simple dress, her wings looked extra glorious in this low light environment though. Smolder wasn't sure if she'd done something with them, or if they'd always been this pretty at night and she never noticed it. They sparkled and reflected light in all manner of beautifull ways.

"T-thanks! You too!" her friend shouted a bit louder than expected before forcing her gaze forward. But Smolder could see from the heavy blush that her compliment was more than appreciated.

Smolder hadn't put on anything special, clothes were more of a pony thing in her eyes. she'd applied some makeup, not a whole lot, mainly some extra eyeliner to really make her draconic eyes pop. also more of a pony thing, but this was something she could appreciate a bit more. It helped too that everyone around was dressed quite nicely, so Smolder didn't stand out. After a bit more waiting, the pair finally reached the doorway.

"Smolder! Ocellus! You two look great!" twilight greeted excitedly, clearly buying time to pass through her list again. She could notice many names had already been crossed off, making the list a fair bit smaller already, but there were several names on the list she didn't recognize at all. Wasn't this ball just for the creatures of the school?

"There! Yes, i've crossed you off the list." Twilight said, her eyes moving to Smolder.

"Now Smolder..." the dragoness rolled her eyes with a knowing smile, stopping Twilight before she could warn her.

"No fire... I know teach'... you ponies are far to flammable for that." she joked with a wink. Twilight swallowed back a nervous wince and showed a carefull smile instead. Ocellus appreciated the joke though!

"Hahah! Come on Smolder, let's go find our friends!" She laughed before pushing Smolder inside.

Smolder knew Twilight didn't consider her a real a danger, leave it to the headmare of the school to endlessly worry about everything that could go wrong.

It was hard to see in here, and the flashing lights caused her eyes to take longer in adjusting to the difference in light levels. Luckily Ocellus' bright wings were easy to follow, if she'd been with a pony she'd no doubt have lost her already.

A pony with white fur and some strange looking glasses was playing rather 'wild' music, not the kind she was used to when it came to these school parties. It seemed Pinkie might've finally gotten some more 'freedom' in how to organize the party. She kind of liked it, it was wild, a bit rough, kindof reminded her of home.

"It's really loud here huh!?" Ocellus shouted to her date. Smolder saw a bar of sorts near them, in the middle of the dancing crowds was a spot that had a bit more space and was a bit quieter.

"Hang on, let's talk here!" She shouted over the crowd and the music.

After a bit of pushing and shoving, making room for the frail bug who stepped behind her, the two finally reached the bar. Smolder took the lead in sitting on one of the flat pieces of wood. These seats were meant for quadrupeds, and as a result, they were low to the ground and rather wide.. Uncomfortable for Smolder, but nice for Ocellus at least. That's all she really cared about.

"There.." she said with a sigh, as if they'd just survived an adventure.

"Hahah, these parties are usually not this loud..." the changeling called back. Smolder could only see flashes of her face in the mix of strobelights, lasers and spots.

"...or this rowdy." Ocellus continued as she looked around. Smolder felt sympathetic, she could see how this might not be Ocellus' preffered environment. None of this was really 'romantic' either. Now that she had some time to look around, she noticed that some of these ponies were definitely not students.

"You sure you wanna stay? We could just hang out in our room if you prefer." Smolder offered.

"NO! Nonono.. I'll be fine.. Let's just gather our friends.. That'll put me at ease a bit." She said with a reassuring smile to Smolder. Her claw reached out for the changeling's neck, softly rubbing to it's side. She didn't know why she'd started doing that.. It just felt right somehow?

"Any drinks for you two!?" an excited voice called from the counter. Both of them turned to look and saw Pinkie handing out drinks to everyone around the bar. Somehow using her tail to wash some of the glasses. Smolder made a mental note to check for hair in her next drink.

"Let's both start with some water maybe.." Smolder said.

"Pinkie! What's going on? This isn't at all like last years' hearts and hooves party..." the dragon was quick to add in her own confusion.

"And i feel like half the ponies here are completely new... Did something change?"

Two glasses with straws filled with water hit the wood of the bar counter with a thunk.

"Isn't it great!? Rarity convinced twilight to combine the afterparty of her fashion show with the hearts and hooves party of the school. Which allowed me to finally make some changes to the usual thing, way more exciting right!?!?" Smolder finished looking through her glass for hairs, hard to tell with the quickly flashing lights, but she was pretty sure it was safe. Ocellus finished drinking a bit of it from her straw. Looking around and trying to give an exciting smile back, not that Pinkie was even paying attention.

"I guess.."

She was already serving drinks to a group of other ponies who were laughing at pinkie's jokes. Smolder was amazed at the energy that pony had, not to mention how quickly she was preparing drinks...

"Smolder..?" she had to pull her attention away from Pinkie. She'd taken a gulp from the glass of water as she looked back to her friend.

"Hmm?" Ocellus was looking around the large room full of dancing creatures.

"I think our friends would like a drink too, i'm gonna go find them. Mind keeping this seat open until i get back?" Smolder felt overcome with a sense of worry for some reason, not for herself, but for Ocellus.

"A-are you sure? These ponies are going kinda hard, i don't want you to get trampled on." was that a trick of the light or was her girlfriend blushing?

"Smolder, i'll be fine, i've got these.. Remember?" She said as she pointed to her wings.

"Also, i can turn into the most lethal and strong creatures in all of equestria if i need to..." Right, that was true, Smolder often forgot the strength underneath that frail form. Not to mention her wings, she could just fly over the crowd.

Smolder gave a laugh. "Right.. Sounds good then.. But don't take to long.. I'll get lonely!" she heard Ocellus giggle, rising up to give her a soft kiss on the cheek. This time it was Smolder who was blushing. Gods was she happy the lights probably didn't show what her face looked like right now. "Don't worry, it'll only be a minute.. See you soon!"

And with that, the little bug was off. Smolder felt light headed, wow... I mean.. That was nice but... She didn't expect to feel like this... She leaned to the side, why did she feel like she had just run a marathon. She felt warm and cold at the same time... She could barely breathe... Gods.. Was the room spinning? Ok, getting a kiss from Ocellus was nice, but this was not normal.. She tried to say something, get Pinkie's attenion, but all that came out was.

"Hihiee..wwdsss ggoin oonnnn..." She was about to fall when a pair of hooves gripped around her waist and an invisible force held up her upper body. She felt like she was made of wet clay.

"Had a bit too many huh..." the pony that had grabbed her said, though there was something malicious in his voice. She didn't know why, but she felt some sort of primal, extreme fear rush over her body as what had to be a unicorn manouvered her body onto his back and started to walk away through the crowd. She looked back at the two empty seats, her heart beating worriedly. What will Ocellus think?