HOME | DD

Description
UPDATE: added a doodle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Moony!"

Moondancer startled at the sound of a shout ringing through the ballet studio. He'd been in the middle of a very elegant pirouette spin, but at the yelp, he stumbled and fell flat on his face.

He rolled over with a groan. Pandora, his oldest friend, was kneeling over him, her face flickering somewhere between concern and amusement.

"Wow. I was gonna ask you for an emergency dance lesson, but maybe you're not the best guy to ask after all."

"Shut up." With a huff, Moondancer took Pan's hand and allowed himself to be helped to his feet. "Emergency dance lesson? I think that's a little outside my ability, Panny. I've seen your dancing. I may be good, but I'm not a miracle worker."

"You're just jealous of my funky flow." Pan scoffed. "I can rave and thrash and headbang just fine, but Mom and I are going to a Canterlot ball in an hour. As in, there's going to be ballroom dancing! I can't headbang in a ballroom! I can't expose the aristocrats to something so metal-their pompous little stuffed heads would explode!"

"That doesn't sound realistic, but I don't know enough about headbanging to argue." Moondancer said stiffly.

"So I was hoping-" Pan clasped her palms together and aimed a ridiculous puppy-dog stare at Moondancer- "That my sweet pal Moony would give me a quick beginner ballroom dancing lesson?" She glanced at the wall clock. "Preferably in thirty minutes or less?"

Moondancer gave her a flat look. "Panny-"

Pandora panicked and gripped his arms. "Okay, I know this is short notice-and I know you've probably got better things to do-but please, I'm asking you as a friend. Everybody whose anybody will be at that ball-and Moony, those aristocrats already don't like me. They think I don't hear what they whisper about me, but I do, and I...I can't give them more material by being a bad dancer on top of everything else!" Her eyes were shining, and she clutched at him with white knuckles. "I'm tired of being laughed at, Moony! I'm tired of being a fr-"

Moondancer placed his palm over her mouth, and she quieted. "...I was going to say that the best I can teach you is a beginner waltz."

Pan beamed, bright and cat-like, before tossing her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Horror of horrors, she pressed a kiss to his cheek, and Moondancer felt that awful, familiar, fluttery feeling burst into life in his gut, not for the first time.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Y-yes, well." He gingerly took her hands into his, and guided her into position. "The waltz is a smooth dance. Visualize it like a tide-with rising action and falling action. The basic waltz steps create the image of a box on the floor-" He gestured with his foot on the wooden floor, drawing a four-cornered box, "Your feet will stop at the corner points on the box and move along the edges and diagonally across the center-"

Pandora was looking at him blankly. "...What."

It was all he could do not to roll his eyes. "Just...just, uh, try to follow me as best as you can. I'll lead. Keep up."

It took six tries for the pair to make it through a simple waltz. Pan was clumsy and nearly tripped over her own legs, stepped on his feet twice-but Moondancer hushed her frantic apologies, only encouraging her to try again. At last, they made it through their dance, with only minimal errors.

"Not bad." Moondancer smiled at her, and Pan felt her face heat at the praise. "So, who will have the honor of getting their feet stepped on by you at the ball tonight?"

"Shut up." She punched his arm. "...I don't know yet. There's gonna be a few new visiting royals-young dukes and duchesses and the like from foreign lands. My mom says I should try making friends with them, but..." Her voice became a conspiratorial whisper. "What if I meet one and they're super cute? What if I hit it off with some amazing, gorgeous royal, and the two of us ride off into the sunset together, like Uncle Shining Armor and Princess Cadence?" She grinned, starry-eyed and hopeful.

"I hope this royal is okay with the fact that you sometimes keep spiders in your armpits."

"Silly Moony." Pan stuck her tongue out at Moondancer. "I'm not keeping any in my armpits tonight." She eagerly lifted up her arms to show him. "Nah, tonight I'm keeping them in my hair. Karen and Peter wanted to come along with me and see Canterlot. They're on a date, you see."

From within Pan's sleek hair, two fluffy tarantulas peeked out at Moondancer, then waved their hairy legs in a warm greeting.

"Hello, Karen. Peter." He nodded his head back politely. "So, does this make you a third wheel to their date then, Pan?"

"Only if I can't woo somebody special at the ball." Pan frowned.

"Well, if it were me-" Moondancer said, suddenly nervous, "And this is purely hypothetical, mind you-but if I were trying to woo some pretty princess...I'd do it like this." With a shy smile, Moondancer placed unsure hands on Pan's hips, pulling her closer. "Proximity is important for this kind of thing. We're not at a school dance after all, no need to leave room for Celestia." He joked.

"O-oh. Is that so?" Pan returned his awkward smile, and although she didn't move away from him, for a moment she didn't seem to know what to do with her hands. With a little hesitance, she placed them back on his shoulders...before leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his shoulders in an embrace. She rested her cheek in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes.

"...This is nice, Moony."

"Y-yeah." Moondancer stammered. He tried his best to keep up their movement, to keep swaying to the soft melody, because at the moment all he could think about was how warm his friend felt against him, and how soft her hair looked, and how very badly he was hoping she wouldn't notice the hammering of his heart in his chest-

"When did you get taller than me?" Pan mumbled, her lips brushing against his neck for a single, electric second. He wondered if it was medically safe for his face to be so flushed. She snuggled closer. "You butthole...you're not supposed to have growth spurts without telling me first..."

"Sincere apologies, Princess."

He'd meant it to be mocking, but it'd come out soft, genuine.

"...Not a lot of people call me that and mean it, you know." Pan said quietly. "Can I tell you a secret, Moony? At first, I thought I wanted to become a princess because of all the status and adoring subjects, like the kind Celestia and Luna have. But now I think...that stuff doesn't matter. It's hollow, you know? I've never told anybody this, but I think the whole reason I'm training to become a princess is to maybe prove....prove to somebody....that I, you know-"

"-Matter." Moondancer blurted out, finishing for her. Pan pulled back to look at him, and for a brief moment, they saw each other, fears and passions alike, and understood.

The moment hung between them, powerful and frightening, so Pan gave a nervous laugh to break it. "This, uh...you call this wooing, marshmallow boy?"

"Oh, I'll show you wooing." Moondancer smirked at her. "Keep up, Princess. Sway-" He pulled her close to lead her through the motions, one hand locked with hers, his other arm around her waist. "Quarter turn-" They executed a gentle spin-"Smooth rise-" He pulled her close again, warming at the sound of her laughter- "And smooth fall." He gently dipped her to the ground. Pandora panicked and threw her arms around his shoulders, afraid to fall-but he supported her weight, leaning down close.

"Wooed yet, Princess?"

Now it was Pan's turn to blush. "Um..."

He'd expected her to say something snarky, not gaze up at him with an odd, starry-eyed expression. It made the fluttery feeling in his chest return again, at full force.

Kiss her

"...Moony?" She reached up and gently brushed a wayward lock of hair from his face. There was a pause between them.

Kiss her kiss her kiss her kiss her kiss her kiss her KISS HER KISS HER

As Moondancer was pondering it, Pan opened her mouth to speak. "This...you...um, n-not bad. This was...at least a B minus on the wooing scale. Could have done with some headbanging, though." She added, still flustered. She stood back to her feet, although they were still holding hands.

"Pandora." Moondancer chewed his lip in thought, searching for bravery. "You...I-"

"Oh, sweet Celestia, look at the time!" She squeaked suddenly, wide eyes staring at the wall clock. "Oh geez, Mom's gonna destroy me if I make us miss the train to Canterlot-Moony, you butt! You distracted me with your....everything!" She sputtered, anxiously trying to smooth out her dress, rumpled from their dance. "Quick, say goodbye to Karen and Peter!" She pulled the spiders from her hair and booped them quickly against Moondancer's cheeks in a pseudo-smooch.

"Panny, wait-"

Pan seemed oddly desperate in her hurry, as though she wanted to flee from him. "We'll, uh...we'll talk later, Moony! Thanks for the lesson! I have to go, 'kay, thanks, bye! Wish me luck not stepping on anybody's toes!" She gave him a shaky smile, then fled in a panicked way that could only be accomplished by a daughter of Twilight Sparkle.

Moondancer stood alone in the dance hall. The waltz music still played faintly from the speakers. He heard Pan's frantic footsteps moving further and further away, then finally, he heard her open the studio's exit door and slam it shut, with finality.

He let out a frustrated sigh, twisting his fingers in his hair. Stupid, stupid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
behold two teenagers that have no idea what they're doing
herp derp feelings are hard

UPDATE: have a quick doodle of Karen and Peter, Pan's tarantula buddies (happily married spider couple)

idk, drawing these Pan and Moondancer as happy, doofy kid friends makes me happy. They really did once share a beautiful friendship.
Pandora and Moondancer are in their early teens here

Moondancer is a dancer (hence the name), and a spectacular one at that. I've kinda shown that before here:

In comparison, Pandora is a god awful dancer (pure spastic chaos and flailing noodle limbs, just like her mama Twilight). Her mad spasms are an insult to the art of dance itself, but young Moony finds himself not minding all that much. It just gives him the opportunity to lead when they dance together...

unlike some other pandora/moondancer interaction stuff i've done, this is very, very canon

characters shown (humanized)

Description
UPDATE: added a doodle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Moony!"

Moondancer startled at the sound of a shout ringing through the ballet studio. He'd been in the middle of a very elegant pirouette spin, but at the yelp, he stumbled and fell flat on his face.

He rolled over with a groan. Pandora, his oldest friend, was kneeling over him, her face flickering somewhere between concern and amusement.

"Wow. I was gonna ask you for an emergency dance lesson, but maybe you're not the best guy to ask after all."

"Shut up." With a huff, Moondancer took Pan's hand and allowed himself to be helped to his feet. "Emergency dance lesson? I think that's a little outside my ability, Panny. I've seen your dancing. I may be good, but I'm not a miracle worker."

"You're just jealous of my funky flow." Pan scoffed. "I can rave and thrash and headbang just fine, but Mom and I are going to a Canterlot ball in an hour. As in, there's going to be ballroom dancing! I can't headbang in a ballroom! I can't expose the aristocrats to something so metal-their pompous little stuffed heads would explode!"

"That doesn't sound realistic, but I don't know enough about headbanging to argue." Moondancer said stiffly.

"So I was hoping-" Pan clasped her palms together and aimed a ridiculous puppy-dog stare at Moondancer- "That my sweet pal Moony would give me a quick beginner ballroom dancing lesson?" She glanced at the wall clock. "Preferably in thirty minutes or less?"

Moondancer gave her a flat look. "Panny-"

Pandora panicked and gripped his arms. "Okay, I know this is short notice-and I know you've probably got better things to do-but please, I'm asking you as a friend. Everybody whose anybody will be at that ball-and Moony, those aristocrats already don't like me. They think I don't hear what they whisper about me, but I do, and I...I can't give them more material by being a bad dancer on top of everything else!" Her eyes were shining, and she clutched at him with white knuckles. "I'm tired of being laughed at, Moony! I'm tired of being a fr-"

Moondancer placed his palm over her mouth, and she quieted. "...I was going to say that the best I can teach you is a beginner waltz."

Pan beamed, bright and cat-like, before tossing her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Horror of horrors, she pressed a kiss to his cheek, and Moondancer felt that awful, familiar, fluttery feeling burst into life in his gut, not for the first time.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Y-yes, well." He gingerly took her hands into his, and guided her into position. "The waltz is a smooth dance. Visualize it like a tide-with rising action and falling action. The basic waltz steps create the image of a box on the floor-" He gestured with his foot on the wooden floor, drawing a four-cornered box, "Your feet will stop at the corner points on the box and move along the edges and diagonally across the center-"

Pandora was looking at him blankly. "...What."

It was all he could do not to roll his eyes. "Just...just, uh, try to follow me as best as you can. I'll lead. Keep up."

It took six tries for the pair to make it through a simple waltz. Pan was clumsy and nearly tripped over her own legs, stepped on his feet twice-but Moondancer hushed her frantic apologies, only encouraging her to try again. At last, they made it through their dance, with only minimal errors.

"Not bad." Moondancer smiled at her, and Pan felt her face heat at the praise. "So, who will have the honor of getting their feet stepped on by you at the ball tonight?"

"Shut up." She punched his arm. "...I don't know yet. There's gonna be a few new visiting royals-young dukes and duchesses and the like from foreign lands. My mom says I should try making friends with them, but..." Her voice became a conspiratorial whisper. "What if I meet one and they're super cute? What if I hit it off with some amazing, gorgeous royal, and the two of us ride off into the sunset together, like Uncle Shining Armor and Princess Cadence?" She grinned, starry-eyed and hopeful.

"I hope this royal is okay with the fact that you sometimes keep spiders in your armpits."

"Silly Moony." Pan stuck her tongue out at Moondancer. "I'm not keeping any in my armpits tonight." She eagerly lifted up her arms to show him. "Nah, tonight I'm keeping them in my hair. Karen and Peter wanted to come along with me and see Canterlot. They're on a date, you see."

From within Pan's sleek hair, two fluffy tarantulas peeked out at Moondancer, then waved their hairy legs in a warm greeting.

"Hello, Karen. Peter." He nodded his head back politely. "So, does this make you a third wheel to their date then, Pan?"

"Only if I can't woo somebody special at the ball." Pan frowned.

"Well, if it were me-" Moondancer said, suddenly nervous, "And this is purely hypothetical, mind you-but if I were trying to woo some pretty princess...I'd do it like this." With a shy smile, Moondancer placed unsure hands on Pan's hips, pulling her closer. "Proximity is important for this kind of thing. We're not at a school dance after all, no need to leave room for Celestia." He joked.

"O-oh. Is that so?" Pan returned his awkward smile, and although she didn't move away from him, for a moment she didn't seem to know what to do with her hands. With a little hesitance, she placed them back on his shoulders...before leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his shoulders in an embrace. She rested her cheek in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes.

"...This is nice, Moony."

"Y-yeah." Moondancer stammered. He tried his best to keep up their movement, to keep swaying to the soft melody, because at the moment all he could think about was how warm his friend felt against him, and how soft her hair looked, and how very badly he was hoping she wouldn't notice the hammering of his heart in his chest-

"When did you get taller than me?" Pan mumbled, her lips brushing against his neck for a single, electric second. He wondered if it was medically safe for his face to be so flushed. She snuggled closer. "You butthole...you're not supposed to have growth spurts without telling me first..."

"Sincere apologies, Princess."

He'd meant it to be mocking, but it'd come out soft, genuine.

"...Not a lot of people call me that and mean it, you know." Pan said quietly. "Can I tell you a secret, Moony? At first, I thought I wanted to become a princess because of all the status and adoring subjects, like the kind Celestia and Luna have. But now I think...that stuff doesn't matter. It's hollow, you know? I've never told anybody this, but I think the whole reason I'm training to become a princess is to maybe prove....prove to somebody....that I, you know-"

"-Matter." Moondancer blurted out, finishing for her. Pan pulled back to look at him, and for a brief moment, they saw each other, fears and passions alike, and understood.

The moment hung between them, powerful and frightening, so Pan gave a nervous laugh to break it. "This, uh...you call this wooing, marshmallow boy?"

"Oh, I'll show you wooing." Moondancer smirked at her. "Keep up, Princess. Sway-" He pulled her close to lead her through the motions, one hand locked with hers, his other arm around her waist. "Quarter turn-" They executed a gentle spin-"Smooth rise-" He pulled her close again, warming at the sound of her laughter- "And smooth fall." He gently dipped her to the ground. Pandora panicked and threw her arms around his shoulders, afraid to fall-but he supported her weight, leaning down close.

"Wooed yet, Princess?"

Now it was Pan's turn to blush. "Um..."

He'd expected her to say something snarky, not gaze up at him with an odd, starry-eyed expression. It made the fluttery feeling in his chest return again, at full force.

Kiss her

"...Moony?" She reached up and gently brushed a wayward lock of hair from his face. There was a pause between them.

Kiss her kiss her kiss her kiss her kiss her kiss her KISS HER KISS HER

As Moondancer was pondering it, Pan opened her mouth to speak. "This...you...um, n-not bad. This was...at least a B minus on the wooing scale. Could have done with some headbanging, though." She added, still flustered. She stood back to her feet, although they were still holding hands.

"Pandora." Moondancer chewed his lip in thought, searching for bravery. "You...I-"

"Oh, sweet Celestia, look at the time!" She squeaked suddenly, wide eyes staring at the wall clock. "Oh geez, Mom's gonna destroy me if I make us miss the train to Canterlot-Moony, you butt! You distracted me with your....everything!" She sputtered, anxiously trying to smooth out her dress, rumpled from their dance. "Quick, say goodbye to Karen and Peter!" She pulled the spiders from her hair and booped them quickly against Moondancer's cheeks in a pseudo-smooch.

"Panny, wait-"

Pan seemed oddly desperate in her hurry, as though she wanted to flee from him. "We'll, uh...we'll talk later, Moony! Thanks for the lesson! I have to go, 'kay, thanks, bye! Wish me luck not stepping on anybody's toes!" She gave him a shaky smile, then fled in a panicked way that could only be accomplished by a daughter of Twilight Sparkle.

Moondancer stood alone in the dance hall. The waltz music still played faintly from the speakers. He heard Pan's frantic footsteps moving further and further away, then finally, he heard her open the studio's exit door and slam it shut, with finality.

He let out a frustrated sigh, twisting his fingers in his hair. Stupid, stupid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
behold two teenagers that have no idea what they're doing
herp derp feelings are hard

UPDATE: have a quick doodle of Karen and Peter, Pan's tarantula buddies (happily married spider couple)

idk, drawing these Pan and Moondancer as happy, doofy kid friends makes me happy. They really did once share a beautiful friendship.
Pandora and Moondancer are in their early teens here

Moondancer is a dancer (hence the name), and a spectacular one at that. I've kinda shown that before here:

In comparison, Pandora is a god awful dancer (pure spastic chaos and flailing noodle limbs, just like her mama Twilight). Her mad spasms are an insult to the art of dance itself, but young Moony finds himself not minding all that much. It just gives him the opportunity to lead when they dance together...

unlike some other pandora/moondancer interaction stuff i've done, this is very, very canon

characters shown (humanized)