Chapters It was a late summer morning when Twilight Sparkle was studying outdoors by a giant apple tree. She had to get a change of pace from the stuffy old library as Spike cleaned it up. Out of nowhere, a giant flash of light broke her silent focusing on the levitating book in front of her. She quickly looked behind her only to find an orange unicorn stallion passed out on the ground.- Hello? Are you alright? Wake up! Hmm... maybe I can use a wake-up spell. - Mmmhh... wh-what? Where am I? - Oh goodness! You're awake! I was starting to get a little worried there. - Who are you? Where am I? WHY do I have such an intense headache? - Well, I don't know who you are or the cause of your headache, but my name is Twilight Sparkle and you are just outside of our quiet peaceful little village we call Ponyville. May I ask what your name is? - ''My name...? I-i can't remember my name...'' I don't know what my name is. - You don't know you own name? - No. Argh! My head, it hurts so much. - Come, let's get to my house, I think I can get something together to at least help you get rid of the pain in your head.
After a few hours of waiting, a flying carriage could be seen flying towards Ponyville from Canterlot. The carriage was pulled by two unicorn stallions in shining gold armor. On the carriage were two ponies that clearly were bigger than other ponies. One was white with a multicolored mane and tail which seemed to float by itself. The other one, slightly smaller than the white but still bigger than other ponies, was blue and had a blue mane and tail which also seemed to float by itself.
The two alicorns discussed the matter with Twilight Sparkle while the orange unicorn was just sitting quietly a small distance away, watching and listening to their conversation. After yet an hour of intense discussing they finally reached the point of a solution. A spell. A memory recall spell combined with a magic transfer spell that was so advanced and difficult to do that the two princesses along with Twilight Sparkle had to co-operate in order for it to work.
The three ponies readied themselves for this spell by gathering in front of the orange unicorn who only sat still and watched what was happening. The white alicorn initiated the spell as her horn brightly began glowing yellow. She was soon followed by the blue and purple shimmer from the others as their magic combined and shot towards the orange unicorn who barely got time to blink from the surprise.
The massive amount of energy surged around and throughout the orange unicorn as he suddenly began to levitate on the spot he earlier sat on. The intensity grew as papers and books began to circle along with the extreme flow of energy. Everything ended as the energy sphere around the orange unicorn exploded, knocking books out of their shelves. The orange unicorn slowly levitate back down to the solid floor. He looked at the other ponies with a wide grin of excitement as his eyes suddenly began glowing from purple energy, shifting to blue, then to yellow as it faded away.- Ahahaha! It's working! I can feel it. The power is flowing through my veins.
Everything subsided when the transformation seemed complete making smoke slowly rise from the orange unicorns new appearance. The changed unicorn looked at himself.- Yes... this looks familiar. Wait! Familiar! Hah... haha... hahaha! My memory! I can remember! I remember everything now, my entire life. Kinder garden! My friends! My family! Everyone I've ever known! I REMEMBER WHO I AM! HEAR ME WORLD! BECAUSE I! AM! SHIIIIINE YELLOWSOUL - Who-who are you? What happened to the unicorn? Most importantly, are you alright? - I AM that unicorn. Or should I say, that unicorn is me. This is my true form. Yes, I am alright. A tad happy, is all. - Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I am happy me and my sister Luna could help your friend. But royal duty calls and we have to depart.
The months passed and eventually Shine was getting quite popular around Ponyville, being the only pony who could shape-shift into an entirely different creature.
Shine had during the almost complete year he spent in Ponyville made many new friends. Among these, beside Twilight Sparkle, were Rainbow Dash the brave blue pegasus, Pinkie Pie the energetic pink earth pony, Rarity the fabulous white unicorn, Applejack the hard-working orange earth pony and Flutter Shy the timid yellow pegasus.
Since Shine had been very busy setting up an entirely new life in Ponyville, he had precious little time to spend on anything else than to get food on his table each and every day. But eventually he managed to get used to his daily routine including his very first real job.
After a month or so of planning he finally managed to set a schedule that would enable him to get to know his new friends a bit better. Little did he know that his new friends wanted to get to know Shine even better than he could ever imagine in his wildest dreams.
The second day had begun and the second friend on the list was honest Applejack. The thought of what Fluttershy tried the day before still lingered in Shines memory. He violently shrugged his head and it was if the thought fell out through his ear as he suddenly heard Applejack talk to him.- Sorry Shine, ya've been workin' so hard that ah can't afford to pay ya for a whole days 'o work. - Aw, well, that's too bad. How 'bout I work for free today? I'd rather not change a planned schedule. - Alright then, yer apple cart's in its usual place, get buckin'. - Shine! Where ya at? It's time for a break. - Huff, huff.... here I.... phew... am... - Woah! That's a might more than ya use to fill the cart. How many trees did ya buck? - Hnnnngggghhh... I lost the count... after five... - Heh... why'd you overdo it like that for? - I wanted to make a good impression. - No need for it. Ah know yer a hard worker. None of the strongest ah've seen. But ya've got more will to work than a lot 'o others ah've seen. - I guess that counts for something. - Ah guess it does. But ya shouldn't overwork yerself, done that mistake mahself.
Without looking, Shine put his other front hoof on top of Applejacks hoof, making it look like Shine is holding her hoof. Applejack bent her head close to Shines head and looked closely at the stallions closed eyes. It looked like he was fully asleep. Applejack slowly bent her head even further forward. Their heads were so close now they could feel each others breath, almost taking turns inhaling and exhaling. Applejack tried to move her lips closer to Shines, but just as their lips were about to make contact, Shines eyes flung open, observing what Applejack tried to do. Looking unaffected of what he saw, he quickly got up to his hooves as if he never had been tired at all.- Enough resting, those apples aren't gonna buck 'emselves outta the trees. - Ah think Big Macintosh can take care of the apple harvestin' for the rest of the day. Work, work, work an' no fun can make ya go crazy, so now it's time for some fun. - Fun? Well, fun sure is fun, but I'm a bit worried what ''fun'' you got in mind. So, what DO you got in mind? - Sumethin' like this. - Well, enough of that! Going somewhere? - Sh-shine? Whatcha goin' to do? - Not much. Not much, except teaching this naughty mare in front of me a little lesson. - Hnnnghh! L-lemme go, please. Ah'm sorreh, a-ah didn't mean to do anythin' ya didn't wanna do. - Well, me neither. - Whu-whadda ya mean? - I never intended to do anything more than this to you. I just wanted to say a few things to you, and like this, I knew I'd get your full attention. You gotta understand this. You are a great friend, but I don't wanna take our relationship any further, it might interfere with our friendship with the others. Besides, my heart has already chosen a special somepony. I hope I wasn't too harsh in the way I wanted to tell you this. - Nah, don't ya fret 'bout it. Ah was the one bein' rude. Ah wanna make up for wha ah almost did to ya. How 'bout ah treat ya for dinner? - I guess that's a yes. Shall we depart?
Shaken but not stirred from the unexpected events of two of his friends acting so strange, Shine continues his list with number three, the elegant white unicorn Rarity. As he arrives to the Carrousel Boutique he opens up the front door and calls out;- Rarity? Hello? Are you home? - Oh, Shine. You are early. Please, have a seat while I make myself ready. - You seem to have liked the cushions I made for a client. But uhm... didn't you wash up before you got here? - Whoops, sorry. I guess I must've forgotten to wash up after my work at the Sweet Apple Acres, but I worked so hard yesterday I guess I was so tired I instantly fell asleep when I got home. - Oh, don't worry about it, I can always clean them... OH MY GOODNESS! - What now? Have I stepped in something. - No, not that. I am late for my luxury treatment at the spa, you have to book a month ahead to get a treatment like this. I'm so sorry, but I think we have to move our plans to another day, I simply can't miss this opportunity. - Well, if it's that important to you. Well... uhm... Perhaps... I-i could... come along with you and have a treatment myself. I'll pay for my own treatment, of course. Just... what I had in mind what we should do today wasn't any specific activity, just that we should get to know each other a bit better. This might be the perfect opportunity since I surely would need a bath anyway. - Whu-well. I guess that would work out for both of us. I-i would be glad if you would come along with me. - Well then, it's settled. After you m'lady. - Why, thank you good sir. - Oh, miss Rarity, it's an honor to have you here. The usual? - Not this time, I'm here for my special treatment, I've been waiting forever for it. Oh, let me introduce you to Shine, he wanted to have a treatment himself. - A pleasure meeting a new acquaintance. Darn! Sorry, I quickly forget that others might be bothered by stuff I ain't bothered by. My name is Aloe, don't worry, we are used to having quite a few dirty customers. - Well then, now that you two know each other, why don't you go to the counter over there and order whatever treatment you want. I'll pay for it this time. - Super! I can't wait to get spoiled away. - How can I be of service? - I'd like one of your luxury spa treatments. - Which one would you like? - Well... uhm... hmm.. You see... this is sorta my... ehm.... f-first time at a spa and I'm not quite familiar with what kind of treatments that are available. - Oh, a first-timer, certainly not a problem at all. Let me just get the list. Very well, which treatment would you like today, sir? Is there a problem, sir? - Uhm... yeah. There are quite a lot of these treatments I'd like to have, but I can't decide for just one. - You can always combine a few treatments. But due to our lack of staff today, I'm afraid you would still have to settle for a maximum of five treatments. - Really? Yay! Then I'd like to have treatment number 3, number 7, number 5 and number 19, in that order. - Then it's decided. One steam-room treatment, a massage treatment, a hoof-and-horn care treatment finished with a hot herb bath. That will be thirty bits please. - Th-th-thirty? That much? Woah... I-i know Rarity said she would pay for my treatments but I can't ask her to pay THAT much... - W-wait! Did you just say that you know Lady Rarity? Wait right there, I-i have to go check something. You can have your special treatments, it's on the house. - Really? - Yes, really. So, shall we begin with the steam-room treatment, sir? - Yes, and please call me Shine, everypony else does. - Since this is your first time at a spa treatment, perhaps you should consider sitting closer to the door as the temperature can get awfully high in a steam-room. - Nah, I think I can withstand the heat. You could say that's all I've been doing so far this week. - Ahh! That's the stuff! More please! I've got an idea. This treatment was on the house, right? Which means that you are paying for it. So, I was thinking, why aren't you also enjoying this treatment? - I-i don't think I understand what you are trying to say. - Very simple, why don't you get up on one of the higher benches and let me do the pouring. Well, what are you waiting for? Get going, there's plenty of steam for both of us. There you go, now, just sit back and relax. - Huff... don't... you think you are pouring... huff... pouring a bit too much, Shine? - Hahh... such wonderful heat... I thought that you would be able to withstand more heat than the ''first-timer''. - Oh... oh yeah? Well... huff... I bet I can... can stay longer in here than you. - Oh, so you think so. Well, I accept your bet. How much do the winner get? - H-how about... ten bits? - Let's say fifteen and we have a bet. DEAL!
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- Oh my, I don't remember the steam-room treatment taking this long, do you deary? - No, Lady Rarity. Could you please wait here while I go and check so that nothing bad has happened? - Go on, deary. I'm not going anywhere. I would ruin all your effort you just put on my hooves if I did. - Is everything alright? Lotus? Shine? Are you in there? Oh my goodness! Lotus! What happened? - You got one stubborn colleague there. - Wh-what did you two do in there? - She challenged me to an endurance competition. I encouraged her to quit, multiple times. But as I said, she is very stubborn. She insisted to stay and attempt to beat me. - Thank goodness you finished it in time before something worse happened. - Mweh... I could have stayed for a lot longer, but we ran out of water. - What!? You mean that you used up, AN ENTIRE BUCKET OF WATER? And still you don't seem that tired at all. I can barely manage to empty half of it before I start feeling dizzy. - Hahaha. This may be my first spa treatment. But it is really not my first time in a sauna. At my first time I was too young to even walk, so my mother had to carry me into our sauna at home. After that, I have regularly been to our sauna. Each time hotter than the other. But I should have known better than to push her so far. I've hear a story of when two others tried beat each other in an endurance competition in a sauna. They had to abort it since one of them almost died while the other fell unconscious due to dehydration. Speaking of which, can I please have something to drink, I'm feeling a bit thirsty. - Certainly, but please allow me to take care of my sister first. You can have a seat next to Lady Rarity while you wait. - What was that all about Shine? - Ah, nothing. So, how has your day been so far? - Simply divine!
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- Oh man, I seriously got to got to the spa more often. - You simply must, I never knew you had so much gossip to share. - Heh, yeah. One has lived a fair couple of years. Sometime you gotta pick up something interesting. Well then, I guess this is it, thanks again for an awesome day, Rarity. - Wait! Uhm... well... do you have to go already? Y-you said that we were supposed to spend a day together and there is quite a lot of hours left until midnight. So uhm... - ...and? - A-and why don't... you come inside for a cup of tea. I-i don't have any urgent orders to fill out for a couple of days. I'd like to hear some more of your... gossip. - Hey, I had quite a problem with this earlier today, but exactly where are we gonna sit down? Oof! Hey, Rarity! Why'd you do that for? - Oh, I thought we could have a, ''heated'' discussion. - Oh, for the love of- This AGAIN!? - What was that darling? - Rarity? Could you PLEASE get off me? You are messing up my coat with your dirty hooves. - Oh, so you want it dirty? I'll give you dirty. Woah! Hold it right there Rarity, I'd just wanna tell you that I- mmmphh! - Oh, Shine. I love you too! - Ow, that hurt! Rarity! Listen to me! There's something I gotta tell you! - Yes? What is it? Speak up, I want to proceed. - Come in closer, I don't want any passers-by to hear it. - I'm not the pony you are looking for! - ''My, my, playing hard to get, huh? Well, I have played that game before.''
After yet another of Shines friends acting all weird he had built up an enormous amount of compressed feelings which he knew he would have to get out before he hurts somepony he cared for. That's why number four on the list made Shine so excited since he and Rainbow Dash had agreed to spend their day working out and doing other physical activities down at the local gym in Ponyville.- 21, 22, 23, 24... 25... 26... 27..... 28..... 29..... 30! - Woah, Shine!Why are you overdoing it like that? - 31... because, 32... I have so much, 33... pent up energy I, 34... that I need to get rid of, 35... - Pent up energy? What have you done this week? Or should I say, what have you NOT done if you got so much spare gas in the tank, so to speak. - 48! 49! 50! Aaand one more for the sake of it. - Yeah... like I said, why do you have so much spare energy, Shine? - Ah... whew... that's some workout. Dash, how 'bout we go for a jog? It'd be prefect to wrap up this workout. - A race? Sure, where to? - Calm down speedy. I said a JOG, not a race. Which means, faster than walking, slower than running. Heh, why so tense? Got some pent up energy? - N-no... it's just... ...forget about that, now, where to? - Hahaha! How 'bout to the Sweet Apple Acres and then to the clearing just outside the Everfree forest? - Got it! - Hey! I said SLOWER than running, Dash!
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As they were closing in to the entrance of the Everfree forest, both of the running ponies began slowing down until they both were at a walking pace. Shine being the most untrained of them quickly lay down on the ground while panting heavily. Rainbow Dash wasn't even close to tired but even she lay down beside Shine, just for the sake of company.- Woah! Tired already? Sorry, didn't mean to step on your hoof, so to speak. - Here I thought I was exhausted. But seeing you fall asleep like that, I guess I was wrong. - I'm not sleeping... I'm just.... hah... resting a little. Guess I was more tired than I thought. Uhm.. Shine? Wanna play a game? - A... game? What sorta ''game''. - I can show you, I promise it isn't difficult. - OH! ''A game''. I can see where this is going. I know what ''game'' you are talking about. - Great, then I don't have to show you the ropes. - But I don't wanna be part of this ''game''
Shine did nothing. He didn't urge her to continue, nor did he try to prevent anything. He just sat there, unflinching, like a statue. His heart was beating a mile in a minute and he was breathed heavily. It was a war-zone inside Shines head, a massive conflict between his instincts telling him to mercilessly pounce Rainbow Dash and give her everything he got, facing off against his emotions raging on about sane decisions and rational thinking as well as staying loyal to the one he truly loves. His mind was a zone of utter chaos. But amid all this, Shine managed to keep a straight face, unwilling to do even the slightest thing to minimize or maximize, for that matter, Rainbow Dash' intense tempting.
It took a while for Rainbow Dash to discover Shines passivity. She walked up in front of Shine, giving him a slight thud on his right shoulder with her flank as she passed him. Still no reaction. She looked deeply into Shines blue eyes, looking for some kind of reaction. It was a futile attempt as Shine kept sitting perfectly still, ignoring Rainbow Dash' attempts of seduction as well as to communicate. Rainbow Dash tried an old trick that always used to work on those stallions who were harder to get than the others.
She began walking around Shine very slowly at a fair distance. Each time she passed behind Shine, she walked a little closer to him. On the fifth lap or so, Rainbow Dash was less than a quarter of a hoof length from Shine, slower than ever walking in front of his face, raising and lowering her body so that it would be on a somewhat equal altitude as his nose. As the root of her tail passed the tip of Shines nose, Rainbow Dash purposely swayed her tail so that it softly began rubbing Shine on his nose.
As Rainbow Dash finished her temptation by turning around, she saw that Shine began wrinkling his face as his eyes slightly began filling up. He inhaled quickly and exhaled even quicker with a loud sneeze, resuming his staring contest against the thin air in front of him. Rainbow Dash' anticipatory facial expression crashed into pieces as she let out a loud sigh of defeat as she sat down herself.
After a long moment of almost complete silence for the exception of the wind rustling the treetops, Shine finally opened his mouth.- Who are you? - Who I am? C'mon Shine, you know me. I am the fastest flier in Equestria, you know that. And my name is Rainbow Dash the... - NO! That's where you are wrong! - Excuuuuse me? What did you just say? Of course I am Rainbo... - WRONG! You are not the Rainbow Dash I got to know. The Rainbow Dash I know is tough, awesome, cool, loyal and overall awe-inspiring for anypony looking up to her, including myself. A true pony I like to call my friend. You are more or less the opposite. You are desperate, inconsiderate, pathetic... you're a... a... A SLUT for even attempting what you just did. Letting your primitive instincts cloud your mind and judgment, disgusting! Oh, does it sting? The truth, I mean. Hehe, cry as much as you want, today I won't feel any pity for you. Think of what happened here the next time you try to subdue someone with enough brains to resist.
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Later that night, Shine was writhing in his cozy bed as visions of him physically abusing Rainbow Dash in the most gruesome, inhuman ways imaginable. He wakes up with a scream, drenched in sweat.- NOOO! I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO IT! I'm sorry... I-i'm sorry...
In his dreams he can see himself in his human form, standing with clenched, bloodied fists above the heavily assaulted Rainbow Dash laying on the ground, crying tears that mix with the blood leaking from her mouth and nose.- C'mon Shine... give it a chance... - I said no! Why do you never listen? FEEL MY WRATH!
Shine woke up from the sound as he realized it came from the water boiler next to his head which slowly quieted down since it was done boiling the water. He poured the hot water into a white cup standing next to the water boiler and mixed it with some dried herbs he had gotten from Zecora a long time ago. A rhyme he learned from Zecora when he received the herb came to his mind.
''Mix this with water if you ever gain great fatigue, this is probably what your body need. It can also help you sleep as it silences a foal whom constantly weep.''
Shine crushed the rest of the herb he had in his palm and added it to the mixture. As he was blending the two ingredients he gave a loud ''Ouch!'' as he realized he had used his right pointing finger to stir the mix. He sucked on his finger to ease the pain as he picked up the spoon next to the cup with his left hand which he then used to properly mix the herb with the water.
He softly blew away some of the hot steam coming from the cup and took a small sip. The hot liquid made a sharp but quick pain on the tip of his tongue as the temperature quickly lowered to the same as his body. The liquid quickly traversed to the back of his mouth as Shine began swallowing excessively to ensure that each and every drop of the tea he drank would be properly consumed.
His eyelids grew heavier than before and the scenes of his earlier dreams turned into simple images. Images revealing that very last moment of life in Rainbow Dash' eyes before her neck snapped. Shine was stunned by this image and just sat there on his wooden stool, blankly staring into the darkness shrouding his house. The silence seemed to last forever until Shines body forced him to breathe, causing him to snap out of his memories. With a grunt Shine shook his head and drank more of the tea. The long moment he was lost in his memories the tea had been given enough time to cool down to a more lukewarm temperature, enabling Shine to almost empty the cup if it wasn't for his mouth already being filled to the brim, making small drops seep out from the corners of his mouth. He slammed the almost empty cup hard to the table in front of him as he swallowed down the rest of the tea in his mouth. He gasped loudly a few times as he hadn't drawn a breath since he began filling his mouth.
Shine let go of the cup and rose up from the wooden stool he sat on and began zigzagging back to his bed, this time also with his eyes shut. He let his body fall down on his bed without caring if he was turned to lay on the pillow or if his feet was laying on it instead. He was too tired to care of such insignificant things. Hugging whatever he was laying on to form a pillow he shortly after began letting out soft murmurs sounding like deep breathing, indicating he had fallen asleep.
Plagued by his haunting dreams during the night, Shine is doing his best in order to stay awake as he tries to focus on his task set before him; to spend a day with the fifth pony friend on his list. The purple, magic wielding unicorn Twilight Sparkle. A task during the circumstances as such, proving to be quite a difficult one.- Shine! Wake up! You've nodded off again. - Ow! Oh... sorry Twi... I haven't slept that well last night. No, no, not that one. Neither that one. Argh, don't tell me I forgot it. Twi, have you got any Hearts Desire to spare? - Do you happen to look for this? - Hmm... oh! It's the one, I didn't know you were growing them too, can I have it, please? Oh, thank you. You are an angel! - Wait! I thought you didn't like to eat flowers! - I don't. Oh... such aroma... Hah... what magnificent scent. Well, down the hatch! - Whu- what was that all about? What did you just drink? Did you just eat that petal? Why... - The answer for your questions is as following in this order; A spell. Coffee. No. - Ah, never mind. Where have you learned that spell? - From this. - ''Herbal magic for uneducated unicorns; Special edition.'' Where did you get this dusty old book? - Zecora found it in her hut after she had cleaned it up after a moth infestation or something. I got it as a way of thanks. She gave me it with a catchy rhyme; ''Oh, what is this old book, here Shine, maybe you should take a look?'' - Yeah, she always talks that way. - I just don't get how she can come up with all these rhymes without seeming to need to think them up first. - I don't get how you can understand any of this, I don't understand a single word. - What are you talking about? I have no trouble at all reading this. Have you forgotten how to read Swe... So.. uhm... I had forgotten I used a translation spell, I'll just break the spell on the book. - Impressive how much magic you have learned in such a short time. - Mweh... I guess I'm a quick learner. I'll show you something I've been working on for some time. Lets see... no... no... nju-uh... there... recite magic... page... hmm... Ok, here goes. ''Hear me, goddess of defense, protect my flesh from the harm of my enemy, shield me!'' ''Hear me, goddess of offense, bestow a spark of your might upon me, aid me!'' Hmm... intriguing. Onto the finale; ''With the goddess of offense and defense in my grasp, I call upon the depth of my mind, hear me, obey me!''
Shine turned his head, focusing on the bag he had put down beside the entrance door. The whites of his eyes turned yellow as a thick wooden block, coated by a yellow force field, hovered out of it and in front of Shine. The block was a little thicker than then length of the dagger, which could be clearly seen as Shine stabbed the blade into the block. He looked at the opposite side of the block. A small purple smoldering light edged by charred wood was clearly visible. Shine held the block firmly with his left hand as he slowly dragged the dagger downwards with just as little effort as if he was cutting butter with a hot knife. As he dragged the dagger all the way down and out of the block, he raised the dagger above his head and shouted;- Dissipate!
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Twilight was dumbfounded my the colorful display of magic that occurred around Shine. She had never seen anything like it from someone so inexperienced.- How did you do that? I never thought that you could use such magic after such a short time. How is this even possible? - Read this. - ''Herbal magic for uneducated unicorns; Special edition.'' ''In this book you will read everything you need to know about herbal potions, recite magic and magic that needs herbal potions.'' - ''Chapter 2; Recite magic. Recite magic is a brand of magic that can be used by any creature capable of deep mind activities.'' Humans by nature possesses a vast capable mind each individual has to learn to master in order to succeed in our very confusing society. But let's not talk about that anymore, I don't wanna focus on the past anymore. - Why don't you want to remember who you used to be? Why don't you want to glimpse back at your foalhood, your very family? - One who dwells in the past cannot see the approaching future. Besides, my CHILDhood brings me nothing but pain and sorrow. Memories of family members arguing or drinking themselves to stupidity. Sometimes I've been thinking of hitting the bottle myself, drink away all my memories, forget all the bad I've experienced through the soon 20 years I've been alive. - Oh my... I-i never thought that you... oh my... - What my shell is telling hardly relates to what my core intends. That said, I may say one thing but mean something else. But under no condition whatsoever, I shall not be treated as a liar. Lies are bad. The blunt truth never stings as much as the lies supporting the prevention of its revelation. - I'm sorry... I'm so sorry for bringing up such a bad subject. Is there anything, anything at all that I can do to ease your conscience? - Perhaps there is, but what you offer me here and now is not the answer. I'm so sorry Twilight Sparkle, I'm not the stallion you are looking for. I better go home before something happens that both of us might regret at a later time. Good evening
Shine was having a hard time to sleep this night. He looked at the clock standing on a table next to his bed each time he woke up, 12:03, 12:45, 1:37, 2:59. As his little clock made three slightly louder ticks, announcing another full hour had passed, Shine was feeling wide awake, yet tired. He sat up and shook his head, feeling a lesser headache building up from the lack of sleep. With a strained look on his face, he conjured a cup of tea in front of his face from thin air. He drank the content of the cup all at once. Feeling the warm liquid crash down into his stomach, he fell backwards down on his flattened pillow, instantly falling asleep.
Waking up from his blank, empty dreams, Shine looked straight upwards and into the blue eyes of a very familiar pink pony standing above him.- Wakey, wakey, you sleepy-head, it's Saturday. You promised we were gonna do something today. - Pinkie! What are you doing here? Don't you know what time it is? - Of course I know what time it is, silly! It is time to play with Pinkie Pie. - Look, Pinkie, I'm not in the mood today, so could you please just turn around and leave and let me sleep away this horrible week? - B-but... you promised... - No, Pinkie, I never said the words ''I promise'', therefore, I didn't promise anything. This day was nothing more than an agreement, an agreement I no longer have the energy to fulfill. So could you pretty please just get out of my house from wherever you entered since I remember locking the door before going to bed. - Easy peacy, you always leaves a window open, easy to climb through, too.
He transformed into his pony form and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking tiredly at the pink excited mare.- Well then... what do you wanna do today? Can't sleep anyway so I might as well get this over with. - Oh, I got tons of fun stuff we can do over at the Sugar Cube Corner, why don't we get over there?
After a short walk, the two ponies arrived to the building in Ponyville that looked like a giant ginger-bread house, clad with various kinds of candies. Shine often laughed to himself at how ironic it was that such a hyperactive pony would live in a house clad with treats that had the power to make even the most calm and relaxed creature such as himself to go nuts from all the sugar one would digest in the process of ingesting mentioned treats.
With tired eyes, Shine rose his head and gleamed at the candy canes on top of the roof of the building. His stomach rumbled loudly, shrieking for something to extract the nutrient his body needed to properly work.
Pinkie Pie heard this rumbling and quickly went into the house, rummaging through the kitchen for something. In the meantime, Shine shook his head and slowly began walking into the house as well, mumbling to himself about all the various dishes he couldn't get to enjoy in fear of his friends getting afraid of him if they ever found out that he actually loved to eat meat.
He stopped as a delicious looking cupcake was put in front of his face, balancing on top of Pinkie Pies hoof.- Here, maybe this will silence that tummy of yours. ''Eat it! Eat it!'' . However, no matter how hungry he really felt, the pastry almost shoved into his mouth didn't feel as tempting as one would expect. His stomach screamed for any kind of food while his mind kept being a bit more specific in screaming after the very same dishes he knew would be taboo in a place such as Equestria.- Uhm... n-no thanks, Pinkie, e-eating sugary treats without any proper food in your stomach first ain't no good, trust me on that. - Oh, I see what you are hungering for. You could just have asked, silly. - I'm hungering for meat! Such a nice juicy piece of meat! - No, no silly. Only ponies are allowed to eat me out, you naughty thing. Where's the change button on you? - Turn back into a pony and you can have as much of me as you want. - Uhm, Shine... I-i don't think you are doing this ri- Ow, ow, that hurts, you brute!
Pinkie began hyper ventilating at the sight of one of her friends getting ready to eat her. She kicked Shine in the stomach out of panic which sent him flying, hitting the wall hard. By now, Pinkie Pie had already dove behind the kitchen counter and armed herself with a saucepan on her head and a frying pan, tightly clenched in her front hooves.- Stay back you monster, I know how to use this in more ways than just cooking!
Minutes of complete silence passed. Very slowly, out of curiosity, Pinkie Pie began crawling closer and closer to the orange unicorn who didn't move a muscle. When she was so close she almost could touch Shine with the frying pan in her hooves, she accidentally hit the two pans together causing a metallic sound to end the silence in the room.
Shine quickly looked up and reached out his right front hoof towards Pinkie Pie.- P-please, stand back, I still might be unstable. - Woah! Unstable? What was all that? Why'd you even act like that? You scared me good! - I'd really like to answer all of your questions, sadly I vaguely have any answers, answers I do not even know are the true answers. - Come again? - I don't know for sure why I acted like I did. I've never felt such a craving for blood. I mean, sure, I appreciate a nice juicy steak as much as the next human but... - WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! Hold it right there, mister. What's a ''steak''? - Keh... you sure you even wanna know, Pinkie? - It's a slice of meat slowly grilled over a nice bed of coal. The steak itself is seasoned with various spices and relish. Along with the steak you can serve some boiled potatoes. To this a nice dill sauce would be very appropriate. - IT'S OBVIOUS WHY YOU ATTACKED ME! YOU WANTED TO ENJOY A ''NICE'' PINKIE STEAK! - You stay right where you are while I go tell Twilight about you so she can send a letter to Princess Celestia so that she can banish to to the Everfree forest. - Hahaha! No need for it, Twi already knows that I am an omnivore. - Omni- what? - Omnivore, it means that my overall diet consists of both plants and meat. Sure, I'd prefer fruit over plants but I don't think it is impossible for me to digest plants. How would you otherwise explain how I could have survived all this time here in Ponyville without eating any meat? - Come on Pinkie, relax. I'm not gonna hurt you, again. - I don't know. If you've done something once, it's easy to do it again. - Look, I'll tell you everything you need to know about humans so that you don't have to fear me. I still think of you as a friend, you know. - Ok, but you gotta promise that you won't do anything wacky on my watch, mister. - I promise. - No, no, no. You have to PINKE promise, do you know how to do that? - ''Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!'' - Hmm.... close enough. - But keep the shield-thingy going, just in case you start feeling funny again.
As the conversation progressed, Shine had inch by inch opened up the force-field just above his head. Once he got an opportunity when Pinkie Pie looked away, he had quickly dispelled the force-field without Pinkie noticing. Or maybe she no longer cared about it, Shine couldn't tell.
The next day Shine had been able up early thanks to a long wanted good nights sleep. He had an important appointment set for today, an appointment he had been looking forward to the whole week. He put on the fanciest clothes he had, clothes he had special ordered from Rarity. It had taken them forever to get every little detail the way Shine wanted it, without them looking too scruffy nor too fancy as one might expect clothes coming from Raritys boutique.
He looked at himself in his mirror equally tall as himself, he saw a handsome orange unicorn stallion dressed in a suit looking like a mix between a regular sweater and a snobby tuxedo. He grinned at himself as he began his regular self-praise phrases;- Lookin' good. Oh yeah, gonna score high today. - Hey, who's that handsome dude? - Police? There's a handsome stallion in my house! Oh wait, cancel that, it was only me.
He opened up the front door and saw that all of his six closest friends in Ponyville all at once was charging towards his house. Even at such a distance, Shine could see that their intentions was just the same he had to reject this whole week.
He quickly shut the door and locked it. He hurried to take off his special tuxedo and put it inside his wardrobe as he knew that this wouldn't go smoothly. Just as he closed the door to the wardrobe, intense pounding on his front door made him almost jump out of his skin.- Shine! Open up, we saw you just a minute ago. - No can do, I already know what all of you want and the answer will forever be a solid NO. So you can all now turn around and leave.
He turned around and saw that Pinkie Pie had snuck into his house through the same window as the day before.- PINKIE! You gotta stop sneaking into others houses. Besides, I thought you had lost all your interest of me from what happened yesterday. - Oh, I know what we talked about yesterday, but Twilight said she wanted my help in having some fun, and everypony knows that I can't say no to fun. - Ladies, lets see if we can take this wild bull here down and have our little fun, just like we all wanted. - Certainly, I got very upset seeing you so rudely barge out of my boutique the other day darling. - I-i, uhm... Shine... why don't you just play along? For us? - Enough shit-chat! Let's get on with it! - Now, now girls, no need to be ruffians we can do this the easy way if you insist but... HOLY- what is Celestia doing in Ponyville? - Shine! Shame on you, I though you didn't like to lie! - He's gettin' away, after him!
After being able to cause a major derivation he managed to run out of the bustling little town, all the way out to the Sweet Apple Acres where he found Big Macintosh standing by an apple tree, picking up bruised apples.- Hey, Big Mac, you gotta help me! - Woah, hold it right there, boy. What's the rush? - I-it's AJ, she's gotten crazy, all along with her friends. - You gotta help me, quick! ''Yee-haw'' could be heard from far away. Big Macintosh looked in the direction from where the call came from.- Wha month's there, son? - What? Oh, uhm... May, I think. Why does that matter, are you gonna help me or not? - Oh, horseapples! Is it already May? - Sorry, Shine, but yer on yer own now. Ah ain't interfering when mah sis' in this mood. - What do you mean? What mood? - Ah'm sorry, but mah back's not recovered from last year just yet. Ah reckon ya can hide in the barn.
Shortly after, Applejack and her friends could be seen running along the road leading up to the entrance of the Sweet Apple Acres. They ran up to Big Macintosh and asked if he had seen Shine recently. But before he could answer, Rainbow Dash made an exclamation spotting Shine peek out from the red barn door.
All six of them barged into the barn, making a major mess of the interior of the barn. The mayhem only stopped as Shine appeared from a yellow sphere of light just outside the door to the barn as he began running again, this time away from the Sweet Apple Acres. The six furious friends soon after barged out from the barn only to continue to chase Shine.
Big Macintosh slowly shook his head at the sight and said to himself;- Oh Shine, ya can run, but ya can never hide from a member of the Apple family.
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The chase ended as Shine ran into his house and locked the door behind him. The six ponies left outside the house began beating and bucking on the door with all their might. When they stopped to catch their breaths a faint voice could be heard from the other side.- Ha! You'll never break down an iron reinforced door. And the window is locked too this time! - Allow me!
Shine was too worn out to struggle anymore. He panted heavily as he looked up on the six ponies which had been chasing him for so long.- I told you, all of you, that I already have a special somepony. NOW LET GO OF ME! - Then who is this special somepony you've been talking about all this time? - There she is!
She reached her front hooves out, just as if she was about to give a hug. But instead, she crashed into Shine, causing them both to tumble a fair distance on the ground. Eventually they stopped rolling, Shine laying on his back, the gray mare on top of him. Both of them were laughing heartily. The impact had broken the spell Shine had cast on his six friends, only to change his focus to the mare on top of him. The six previously levitating ponies fell to the ground, being stunned by the discovery of Shines ''special somepony'', none of them reacted to the impact as they fell to the ground with six separate thuds.- Shiny! I finally found you! - Sorry Derpies, I know we agreed to meet at the cafe, but I got held up. - Oh it's alright Shiny. I knew you wouldn't let me down. I just knew something prevented you to come to our date. - Well, does this explain why I was trying so hard to resist all of you? - Resist? What did they do to you Shiny? - Nah, they didn't to anything to me, they tried, but they got denied, more or less. - Had to get rough with a few of them for them to understand though. - WAIT JUST A DARN MINUTE! - What? Do you actually mean to tell the lie that you didn't try to subdue me, make me succumb to my primal instincts? - Not that. What I'm talking about is; Do you actually mean so say that you prefer Derpy, the clumsiest pegasus to come out of Cloudsdale before me, the fastest flier in Equestria? - That'd be a solid yes. - What has she got that I don't? - Charisma and a wonderful personality. Not to mention that special something that both I and Derpies have in common. Come in closer, Dash. - Quit your struggling, you are not strong enough to break my spell. Calm down and look into my eyes. - Hnnggghh! Let go of me! - I SAID LOOK INTO MY EYES! LOOK! - I-i'm sorry Shine... I'm so sorry I tried to force myself onto you. - Apology accepted! - Sorreh to interrupt, but ah wanna apologize too. - Me too, I-i kinda just lost it the other day. - I accept all of your apologies. Also, Fluttershy, could you please fly after Rainbow Dash and tell her I accept her apology too? I don't think she heard me. - I'm feeling very bad for what I tried, even if it wasn't much. - Somehow, I really want to make up for what I did and I... - You don't have to do anything. But for now, I just want to be alone and spend some time with my little Derpies.
All of the friends nodded and parted ways in their own direction. Shine and Derpy still standing there, just outside Shines house, very slowly began walking towards the door taking turns in giving each other soft kisses.
First on the list was none other than the timid Fluttershy. Shine and Fluttershy had agreed on eating at a popular cafe in Ponyville. As they were walking their way there from Fluttershys hut, both of them had mostly kept silent while waiting for the other to break the ice. When they were about halfway, Flutter Shy couldn't help herself but purposely let out a loud sigh.- Aah, there's something special and lovely in the air today, Shine, can you feel it? - Hmm... smells like... forest leaves, roses and that super faint intoxicating scent of... …cake frosting, Mr. and Mrs. Cake has to be filling a huge cake order by now. - Oh, sorry, didn't see you there, was a bit busy daydrea... - UGH! Why don't you keep your eyes open so you don't have to ruin my day by messing up my feathers!? - Oh no, it's Gilda... - What was that again Shy? I didn't quite catch that name. - Name's Gilda, dweeb. Remember it, cuz I'm not repeating myself. Hey, I remember you! You are one of Dash' lame-o friends. Care to tell where she is or do I have to put you in place, too? - Oh, the bully likes it rough! Why not pick on someone who'll fight back? Someone like me! - Fluttershy? Shine? Whatcha doin' with Gilda? - Well, this brute for a griffin said she was a friend of yours and asked Shy, one of your ''lame-o'' friends, if she knew where you were. Did I mention Gilda has quite a rude way of introducing herself? - H-hey, Dash. I-i came here to... - Yeah, I remember your letter. You came here to make peace. Make up for what you did the last time, right? - W-well... yeah, of course. - OK then. I just want you to do one simple thing. Close your eyes and turn around. Did you really think I would be that stupid, G? I actually did consider giving you a second chance. But after seeing Shine pin you down like that, which I know he wouldn't do without a reason, and then hear that you called Flutter Shy a lame-o, well, I might as well shove that letter down your throat if it wasn't full of dirt already. - B-but, Dash. I-i-i really meant to... to make peace with you a-and forget all the things that happened the last time around. - Pfft! Talk to the hoof if you must cuz my ears sure as hay won't listen. - D-dash... I-i... - SHUT! THE BUCK! UP G! Now, I want you to take your feathery butt and get the hay outta Ponyville! And if I ever see you here again without my permission, I'm gonna do something A LOT worse than giving you a little nudge. - Shy, I think we should leave her alone with her thoughts. Mind invite me for a cup of tea or something? - Uhm... Shine? - Yes? Why so sad looking? C'mon, lemme see your normal cute smile. So, ahem, what was it that you wanted to ask? - Well, I was just wondering... if you would like to tell me... How did you muster so much courage to face Gilda like that? I'd never be able to do something like that. - Well, it was not so much courage involved. It was more like, well, you could say, instinct. I snapped, like this. - So, are you saying you got a temper? - Not quite, but due to rough times at school, I got no tolerance at all against bullies, or more like anyone who does something bad to someone I care about.
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After a decent while of walking, they finally arrived. Fluttershy flew ahead of Shine to tend to all of the different animals surrounding the area around Fluttershys hut. Just as Shine was about to approach the front door, Fluttershy landed in front of Shine and politely opened the door, letting Shine in before her.- OK, we're here. Now, could you all please go outside for a while? Me and Shine has some private things to talk about. Oh, I'm sorry if I startled you Angel, but I also need you to stay outside of the house. Like I said, I have some ''private'' things to do. ''Oh my, such an excellent opportunity. I never imagined things going this way this fast.'' - Oh, there you are Shy, I hope you don't mind me doing things a little ahead of you. - Not at all! - So, uhm... are we gonna have some cookies for the tea or what? - If you want to, they are right here. - Sniff... mm, what kind of shampoo do you use? It smells like... sniff... some kind of herb.. it goes quite good with your character. - S-sorry, I didn't mean to intrude in you personal space. - Nah, don't worry about it. I can take the cookies to the living room. I'd preferably not do stuff close to a stove due to insecurity of my pony form. - Shy? Where's the tea? - Fluttershy! Why'd you do... - Shine YellowSoul! Tell me, what do you think of me? - That's it? You are a yellow pegasus pony with a very tender personality that I like. You are a great friend but should stand up to yourself a little bit more. - S-so... you actually like me? - Yes, I like you. But only as a friend. My heart already belongs to another. Sorry to disappoint you Shy. - B-but the way you looked at me... - Hey, everything's about give and take. You kept teasing me, so I decided to tease you back, simple as that. I never intended to confuse you or hurt your feelings. I just thought I'd give you a taste of an ''eye-for-an-eye'' treatment. Let's have some of that tea and some of those cookies. Well, the ones we can scrape up from the floor. Good thing you keep your house so clean. Still friends? - I'll go get the tea, for real this time, why don't you pick up the cookies I made you ''drop'' on the floor?
The rest of the evening the two ponies talked about all the different things they had seen and experienced while laughing and having a wonderful time. They even considered having a little slumber party but Shine had to decline since he had to get up early to for his job over at the Sweet Apple Acres.
