Shining Armor saves Cadence
The tower loomed high above the surrounding landscape, a stark obelisk in a sea of desolation. Charred soil ringed the land, evidence that a dragon lay within. Shining Armor steeled himself for his task and pressed on towards the tower. Dragonglass crunched beneath his hooves and outlines of ponies stood out on rocks that dotted the landscape. Shining Armor, a knight of Celestia, hoped he wouldn't meet the same fate. He'd been tasked, like so many knights before him, to slay the dragon that haunted the old stone tower and rescue Prince Cadence, who the dragon had taken captive some years ago. So far, none had even made it inside. That was what worried Shining Armor; he'd walked through the door entirely unmolested, and stood in the entrance hall. All there was in the room were stairs. Gingerly, so as not to make so much noise, he tip-hoofed up to the next floor. He thanked his good fortune; he surmised that the dragon was sleeping.
The dragon in question was a fully-grown red dragon, strong, wily, and magical beyond the powers of most unicorns. His breath, as Shining had seen, was hot enough to turn soil into glass, and reports from farmers in the area told him that the dragon wasn't picky when it came to stealing livestock. His sight, hearing, and magical detection abilities had to be far above Shining Armor's, yet for some reason, the dragon took no note of the knight clip-clopping his way up the stairs. It only made Shining all the more nervous. After a few barren floors, Shining Armor reached the top, which was lavishly decorated. His eyes swept the room for any sign of Prince Cadence, but he couldn't see him. Just then, he felt a harsh quake in the tower, and a rumbling from the roof.
Shining Armor, in his haste to find a hiding spot, quickly dove beneath the bed, doing his best to shimmy his armored body in the low clearance. As soon as he was sure that he was completely hidden, he lay still. He heard a trapdoor open, and Prince Cadence drop down onto the floor on his side. The knight had to hold a hoof in front of his mouth to keep himself from calling out to the alicorn. He suppressed his magic as much as he could, hoping and praying to Celestia that the Dragon would mistake any traces of magic he *did* detect for the Prince's. Cadence didn't get up. He looked like he landed on his wing, hard, and he looked to be in pain. A large, red claw dipped from the ceiling to move poor Cadence aside. Seeing the hurt prince get brushed aside like that make Shining Armor wince, but his sympathy was momentarily shelved as the dragon set down a large chest in the spot where Cadence had lay. The claw receded into the ceiling, and Shining heard the trapdoor close. Another rumble and a gust of wind, and Shining guessed that the dragon had flown off. He shimmied out from under the bed and ran to Cadence, who was struggling to stand.
He lifted him onto his hooves with magic at once.
"My Prince! You're injured," he said, blanking on anything else to say.
"It's just my wing, Sir Knight," he said, wincing as he folded it back onto his body. "He's been rougher before. Who are you, Sir Knight?"
"My name is Shining Armor, your majesty," Shining said, dropping into a deep bow. "I'm here to rescue you from the dragon!"
"Thank you, my gracious Sir Shining," the prince said in a lilting voice. "We don't have much time until he returns; he's only off to grab a cow to eat."
Shining needed no second bidding. He and the prince galloped as fast as they could down the stairs and out the door. They bolted across the barren plains, hoping they could get far enough away that they could evade the dragon. After a few hours of running, they stopped to take a rest.
"You're in pretty good shape for somepony who's been cooped up in a tower for all those years," Shining remarked, panting. Cadence didn't look winded at all.
"Oh, Dragnus ver Dragnusson insisted that I stayed in perfect shape," he said. Noting Shining's confusion, he added: "He's the dragon."
Shining Armor grunted in comprehension. He looked the prince over, and realized that Dragnus really *was* keeping the prince in perfect shape. His flanks were perfectly toned, and his torso was sleek and lean. He didn't look like he tired at all from all the running.
"How come he wanted you in such good shape? It only helps you running away," Shining asked.
"It's one of his... Preferences," Cadence said bitterly. Shining understood at once.
"Celestia!" he cursed. "I didn't know it was like that. I'm sorry."
Cadence looked away. "We should get going," he said.
Shining Armor nodded, and started to trot into a gallop. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. Although, running behind the Prince *was* pretty nice.
After a time, the sun began to dip into the horizon. They both thanked their lucky stars that Dragnus hadn't seen them escape, and seemed to be unaware as to their location. They looked for, and found, a sleepy little hamlet far out of the way of everything to stop in for the night. The village was tiny; no more than 50 ponies could have lived here. The streets, if they could be called such, were unpaved, and all the buildings were wood and thatch. Nonetheless, their beds were warm and their food was good, so the knight and the prince were grateful to stay. Feeling his victory, Shining Armor went to sleep happy that night, with Cadence in the room across from his in the local inn.
He woke up to the smell of smoke assailing his nostrils. He smelled the horrid odor of burning meat and smoking thatch. He opened his eyes to see that the roof was on fire, as was most of the room. He sprinted outside as quickly as he could. To his utter horror, in the middle of the street wreathed by burning buildings, he saw a small red dragon mounting Cadence. The dragon held his flanks brutally, cutting into his cutie mark. He pushed the prince's head down into the dirt, savagely raping the poor alicorn as he trembled and cried.
"Try to run from me, will you?!" he said, cruelly thrusting and shaking the pony beneath him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Cadence sobbed, the dirt smearing all over his face and chest.
"Shut up!" the dragon hissed. "You knew what you were in for!"
The knight became blinded by rage and charged the beast. His horn glowed purple and his sword levitated from out of the burning inn next to him. It was red hot, and still steaming from the flames. Shining Armor gave a great roar, and swung his sword at the dragon from behind.
The red-hot metal bit into the dragon's flesh like a hot knife through butter. He struck once, rending the dragon's back and cutting off a wing. But that wasn't enough. While the beast was still in shock and pain, Shining struck again on the backswing, cutting deep into the dragon's fleshy side. No blood came out, and the sword made a sizzling sound as it burned the giant lizard. The sizzle was drowned out by the dragon's shriek of pain and rage. It tore itself from Cadence, turning around to fight it's assailant, but Shining Armor was already gone. He helped the prince back to his hooves, and levitated him off to the side. He stood fuming as the dragon tried to pull the sword from its side, but was unable, since its flesh had melted to the metal. It caught sight of Shining, and breathed a jet of blue flame at him. A magical force-field stopped the assault, and Shining furiously pushed into the flame, his shield growing stronger with every step as he got more and more angry. The dragon changed tactics, sweeping at Shining with his claws, but the knight was too quick for that. He dodged out of the way, and tore his sword from the dragon, pulling out a large chunk of flesh with it. Now, the dragon began to bleed.
He let out a cry of pure agony, and Shining took advantage of its momentary state of shock by plunging his now-cool sword into the dragon's chest. It quaked for a moment, then slumped over, dead. Shining took a moment to survey the corpse. Seeing nothing of value, he immediately turned to Cadence.
"My prince, are you hurt?" he asked, gingerly as he could. The prince nodded and embraced his knight. He gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you," he whispered into Shining's ear. He gave him another kiss, but this time on the lips.
Shining Armor leaned back in his chair and took a big swig of mountain dew.
"Good session, sis," he said, winking at Twilight, who sat behind the DM screen.
"I wasn't a fan," Cadence said as she put her dice away. "I didn't even get to use these!"
"Sorry, Cadence," Twilight said. "Don't worry, next time it'll be Shiny who gets kidnapped."
"Yeah," she said, deadpan. "He'll probably roll 3 nat 20's on getting kidnapped, too," she grumbled. She angrily turned to her husband. "And by the way, I'm not indulging your stupid little bisexual fantasy anymore!"
"If you won't," he said coyly. "I have some old high school buddies who will."
