(Dominic’s P.O.V.)

Getting comfortable against the trains window as Dash hopped into the seat with me, I felt a grin stretch across my lips as I reached towards her when she wasn’t looking, and then I pulled her closer to me. Her wings flared in surprise as her muzzle snapped in my direction, but it was after her eyes landed on my own that she relaxed into my grip. I waited until her wings folded back against her sides, and she looked up into my eyes with a soft smile as I pulled her firmly against my chest.

As I laid my head back, I ran my hand slowly and gently through her feathers. I felt full content, and a bit apprehensive. The meeting with the world leaders had gone surprisingly great, with me learning a bit from the different leaders and a bit more about them as individuals, along with the nations they ruled over. While that had all been interesting, it had also been boring, and rather uneventful. The Griffon leader, Sharp Beak, had been abrasive to not only me, but many of the others as well, along with issuing a few challenges out to the other leaders. Some had taken his rudeness in stride, but he seemed to favor riling up the Minotaur leader, Vrale.

That was when things seemed to be reaching a crescendo that Princess Celestia always defused shortly afterwards. I had actually hoped that the goblet that Vrale threw would’ve struck its target...

Yet what really surprised me had been at the end of the meeting. I had walked with Dash, Princess Celestia, and Vita Gentleheart outside into the courtyard in front of the castle. When the princess had cast a spell that enveloped the dragon, I hadn’t expected the swirling vortex of colors to widen until it was larger than a C130 plane. Yet the dragon that emerged was much, much more frightening than the smaller counterpart I had grown accustomed to. Her scales alone were the size of Dash, with her claws being as long as I am tall. Her muzzle looked almost as large as a car was, and her wings had seemed to be large enough that they would be able to cover up the grand... and large... entranceway of the castle.

The train lurched forward as it began to slowly crawl away from the center of Canterlot, and I let out a snort as I thought of something that was a bit interesting to consider. I'm glad I crashed into Dash instead of a dragon... I don’t even want to imagine how long it would take to massage all that much space... or even if she would feel it.

I felt Dash lift her head until she was looking up at me, and I glanced down and saw the lazy, but curious light in her eyes. She was smiling lightly as she gazed up at me, and I felt myself grin as I asked, “So... Dash. About earlier... you tried meat before?” The smile and content expression that had been on her muzzle vanished almost instantly and it was replaced by an uneasy frown as she seemed to recoil slowly, as if getting a bad taste of something foul. I on the other hand felt a smile stretching across my lips as I asked, “So, how was it?”

She looked away as she gagged, and she said unhappily, “I don’t want to talk about it...”

Before I had even asked, I figured she would say something along those lines, but I already knew what I was going to say if she did. Feeling the grin stretch a bit wider, I brushed her mane slowly with my hand as I said, “Normally I wouldn’t press the issue... but I have told you plenty about me, and this sounds like a funny story.” Her muzzle tilted back in what I assumed was a relaxed posture as I ran my fingers over the fur beneath her mane, but then I saw the glare in her eyes. I felt my humorous grin turn more into an apologetic one as I corrected, “Sorry... an interesting story...”

Her glare lessened by a small margin, but she closed her eyes while tilting her head to the side and leaning against me again. She let out an explosive sigh as she shook her head, but while she did, I looked out the window towards the night sky.

I didn’t need to wait long for the beginning of the story, as I felt Dash shiver while she swallowed loudly. Her head pushed against my chest as she said, “Back in flight school, I had a friend that was a griffon. We would always eat together, and I was curious what the sandwich she was eating tasted like... and after a few weeks, I asked if I could try some.” I looked down at Dash as I paused the strokes of my hand through her mane, and I felt my mouth drop open as I felt complete disbelief. I had expected something along the lines of her accidently trying meat... not her willingly trying it. This is even better than I thought!

Closing my mouth and keeping even the smallest of chuckles from leaving me, I heard her gag quietly as she shivered once again. “The taste of it was... horrible. It was so chewy... it was so...” she let out a sound akin to ‘bleh’, before she shook her head forcefully, “I didn’t want to seem rude... so I had to finish it...”

“You actually ate... meat?”

I didn’t receive an answer, yet she snorted in what I could assume was aggravation or annoyance, either way, the story wasn’t as detailed as I wanted, but it was better than nothing. While she remained silent, I resumed running my hand over her fur, and I shook my head slowly as Dash slowly snuggled her way closer against my chest. As she did though, I looked down at her and felt perfectly at ease with knowing my little mare, my herbivore mare, tried something as foreign to her as meat. Hell... I tried that flower sandwich, but she ate something ponies aren’t meant to eat.

As I ran my hand through her mane, she let out an amused laugh as she seemed t nuzzle my chest. I tilted my head to the side to gaze down at her, yet as I did, she asked, “Dom... what is it like to fly so high...?”

That was a question I hadn’t been expecting someone like her to ask, yet as I thought about it, I felt a ghost of a smile stretching across my lips as I gently scratched her neck through her fur. Her question was something I knew how to answer easily, but I knew she would want to know every aspect, and as she was close to sleep; I wanted to describe it in a way where I knew it would give her pleasant dreams.

Taking in a deep breath, I held it for a while as I organized my thoughts, and I began to let the words leave my lips, “Flying that high is... exhilarating. You can see the blue sky all the way to the horizon... and sometimes when the sun is setting; it creates a beautiful landscape across the tops of the clouds that is almost mesmerizing. The clouds seem to glow their natural color, while also radiating with red, pink, or even yellow... depending on how the sun is setting.” Looking down at Dash, I leaned over to the side and saw a content smile spread across her muzzle. Leaning back and getting comfortable again, I continued the ministrations along the back of her neck, and I gently ran my other hand over her back as I continued to hold her against my body. “You aren’t able to see anything specifically so high up in the sky, but when the clouds aren’t blocking your view, you can see mountains like never before. The tops are capped with snowy peaks, and further down them you can see the green expanse of trees near the base. Rivers and lakes look no bigger than a stream or drop of water. Hills look almost too small to be hills, while cities stretch over the ground. During night, the cities glow in the dark with thousands of street lights, you can see the flow of lights along the highways, and if you would look up, you would see millions of stars stretching across the sky. On the clearest of nights, you can see the arm of the Milky Way Galaxy with the clusters of constellations in it, and rarely, there are even shooting stars.”

I felt Dash’s head slide down a bit, and as she did, I heard a gentle snore emit from her as she apparently dozed off. Her ears slowly began to droop as she fell into a deeper slumber, and I didn’t mind as I was feeling drowsy myself. Yet as I began to get more comfortable, I felt a grin stretch across my lips as I instead leaned back forward and planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head. When I pulled away, I lowered my chin closer to my chest as I whispered softly, “Sleep well my beautiful Rainbow Dash.”

Sometime Later Than Week

Bringing my hand up and shielding my eyes from the glaring light of the sun, I looked among the clouds and spied my target. Dash had taken to pranking me daily, and while some of the pranks I found humorous, some... or more in particularly, one, had left me feeling a bit... exposed. Taking a swim in a lake with Dash had been somewhat more of my idea, but when we were both getting out, she hightailed it to my clothes that were soaking up the rays on a pile of rocks, and then quite literally zoomed away from the lake. All I had was the soaking boxers I had gone swimming in, and a long walk through Ponyville. It wouldn’t have been such an issue if my boxers were Handmade, rather than hoof made... like a second skin more likely. And as it was still early in the afternoon, more than a few mares had been roaming the roads. Many blushes were seen that day, with only my embarrassment hiding the deep frustration I had awaiting release once I got my hands on Dash. Unfortunately, she had been watching from clouds above... out of reach.

Now however, I hefted the large water balloon in my hands, and I did my best to calculate the throw I would need to make to get Dash. Her multihued tail hung over the edge of a cloud, and I saw her head sticking over the edge as her hooves seemed to be used as a makeshift pillow. Little did she know, her nap was about to be rudely interrupted. Luckily for her however, I didn’t have a perfect aim for throwing, so if I missed, I only had one other chance.

Pulling my arm back and placing the other in front of me for stability, I did one last calculation, made an estimated guess, and then proceeded to throw the water balloon up as high as I could. I immediately reached to my hip and grabbed the other water balloon in case the first missed, but as I watched it soar into the sky, I felt a wide smile starting to stretch across my lips as its trajectory seemed to be true.

When the water balloon peaked, I saw one of Dashies ears twitch, and she seemed to lean forward a bit, and a second later, the water balloon splashed over where her face should be. “AHH!” She bolted upright as she let out her version of a scream, and I felt myself nearly laugh, but I knew now wasn’t the time as I ducked under a low hanging tree and ran around it to hide behind the relatively small trunk.

“Who the buck was that!?” Dash shouted as the sound of her wings beating drew closer. She sounded more surprised than angry, but if I had the chance, I was going to use the water balloon still in my hand. I started to lean around the edge of the tree as she seemed to shout more in anger this time, “Show yourself!”

She was scanning the trees across from where I was hiding, and her flank was facing me as she seemed to be searching for the culprit. Yet as I looked at her flank, I felt the urge to wet more than just the top half of her body more than ever. Leaning around the tree, I made sure to watch my step as I prepared myself for another throw. She seemed to start turning to search another part of the tree line, and that was when I threw the water balloon.

I ducked behind the tree just as I hit my target, and I had saw enough to know why she yelped loudly. There was a blast of air from around the edge of the tree, but I clamped a hand to my mouth to keep from laughing to loudly. The water balloon, while it hadn’t hit exactly where I had been aiming, had been pretty spot-on. She had turned just enough that I had hit the back of her cutie mark, and I knew that was going to leave that side of her flank wet.

Yet as I began to lower my hand, I started to lean back around the edge of the tree, but I heard the sound of hooves on the ground behind me just as an angry growl sounded out. I snapped my head body to around to face the animal, but I stopped as I found something much more dangerous than an animal in front of me; a seething Rainbow Dash. Her glare was for me only, and I felt myself smile weakly as I brought my hands up in front of me in a pacifying gesture. The only reason I took a careful and calculated step back and around the tree was the hoof she placed in front of her was ground angrily into the ground. “Why am I not surprised?”

I felt a weak chuckle leave my lips, and I took another step back as I answered shamelessly, “Because you been pranking me for the past week.”

Her steps towards me halted, and I did so as well, and as she thought about what I said, I saw the angry glint beginning to shift into something more along the lines of an evil smirk. She looked up at me with her devilish smile, and as she began to step closer to me again, I was too scared to move away.

Yet when she reached me, she stood up on her hind legs and used her fore hooves and me for stability, and she said haughtily, “I was wondering when you were going to start pranking me back.” She let out a very uncharacteristic like giggle as she leaned forward and looked up into my eyes, “I hope you’re ready though, I am the best prankster in all of Equestria...”

As she leaned away, I saw a bit of the plastic hanging down from her mane, and that caused me to grin widely again. She must’ve taken it as a challenge however, as she said, “That is cool that you think you will win... don’t be disappointed though when you lose...”

As she pulled away however, I saw the happiness in her eyes, and I found myself anticipating the coming days or weeks, depending on how long this competition was supposedly going to last. Even if I lost, as least I would get retribution for whatever she was going to plan.

Reaching forward, I slid one hand along the side of her cheek, before bringing it back to her chin and tilting her head up a bit as I said softly, “You may want to go dry yourself before you try however Dashie...”

Author's Note

I apologize for the rather short and pathetic chapter, but the only reason I'm updating this story a week before planned is because it is so short. I intend for next chapter to be on a light note with plenty of humor. I have a few pranks I know I'm going to use, but if any of you want to suggest any pranks of your own, feel free to let me know and I will try to incorporate them into the chapter.