A Canterlot Stalling

Shining Armor woke up floating, seemingly held aloft by the great darkness of space. He opened his mouth to scream and only heard his gurgling and the thin rattling hiss of oxygen escaping his lips. So this was space. Or the sky. Or his short death because he could only hold his breath for so long. Shining tried to concentrate and send off a simple flare spell but pain swelled around his horn and he quickly stopped. Space followed different rules, it seemed.

Should he scream?

A number of images flashed in his eyes in no particular order; his mom and dad, his sister Twilight at school, his school, Cadence, his trainers, his friends, the drill sergeant, his first set of armor, the family's crest and that weird mare he was with before this happened. The one who kept on giggling and giggling at every word he said and kept on fainting when he finished giving her directions. After the sixth time, he was about to draw them on the ground.

And that's when his brain went blank.

Huh.

And so he was here, whatever here was.

He couldn't see much but the distant uniting blue of some unfamiliar stars. Shining closed his eyes, leaning forward and kicking uselessly at the space around him. He felt his limbs ache under a pressure prodding at his joints. It felt somewhat reassuring.

Shining started to swing his lower body, swaying his tail and bobbing his head as he floated backwards.

For some reason he couldn't float himself up or down but he all the time in the world to learn. Something was nagging at him though. Wasn't he helping that mare with finding her missing bags before this? She wasn't a unicorn and he didn't know any or how to cast a spell that sent ponies to the stars.

Then he heard the strangest sound, a hollow creaking of a door's hinge.

Shining jerked his head up. Then there was heat next to his face and the feel of eyes gazing upon him. Space? Stars? Why didn't he put it together sooner? The legends were true!

“Nightmare Moon, I won't serve you. Release me, you monster.” He gurgled, struggling to launch himself forward. He made it so far until he heard a wheeling sound and he was slammed against a wall.  “I won't tell you anything. Princess Celestia will stop you.”

“Wow, that ball gag was worth every bit.” A male voice snorted. It sounded familiar. “Can you speak louder? I can't understand you.” He laughed, warm breath blowing onto Shining's chest. “I wonder what you're trying to say?”

The heat grew hotter and he felt teeth brush against his face. Shining flailed, trying to himself away. The teeth pulled and something popped out of his mouth. Air rushed into his lungs.

“I will never tell you what I know, Nightmare-” His words were cut off as he felt a bottle jammed down his throat. The lukewarm liquid flooded his mouth as he tried to force it out of his throat. The bottle was force farther and then a hoof began rubbing his throat. Shining clenched his eyes and shook his head left and right, trying not to swallow.

The bottle was pulled out right before he felt a pair of hooves clamp onto his muzzle. One hoof remained on his mouth and the other rest rubbing at his throat. Shining gulped.

“I was a little worried there.” A nervous chuckle. “I've been studying you and estimating your weight-class but you're about up fifteen minutes earlier than I thought you would be. I'm sure I got the mix right this time. So,” A pause. “Do you know who I am?”

Shining sighed. “Okay, I get it. This is some joke, Ridge, to get me back for cleaning you out of everything from last game night. You acted like you were going to really going to give me two month's worth of meal tickets and vouch for me at shift change but we all know how you are. I should have guessed you would have pulled a stunt behind this.” He gave a slow, judgmental nod to where he imagined Ridge to be standing and holding him up with his magic. “What do you want?”

“What do I want? I think you're misunderstanding the situation-”

“I think I'm understanding it clearly. Who's with you? Tin Star? Arch Helm? Are they going through my bunk as we speak? I bet they are.” He tried to roll his shoulders as he felt a pricking sensation spread through his body. “If you want all your stuff back, fine. I'm not going to be petty with you. Now let me go.”

“You've been kidnapped.” The voice said slowly. “I have kidnapped you. I am not any of your friends.”

“Not anymore with this act. I thought we were friends, Ridge. What about that time in Basic Training? I remember you not being so angry and impulsive all of the damn time. I mean, what crawled up your ass and died. You had a dream of becoming the rookie of the year. You wanted to do your time and sent out to the active field like Zebrica, Stalliongrad and even the Frozen North." He added, lowering his voice as he remembered Ridge pledging his life to become a international harmony keeper. "You were a crazy bastard about wanting to head out there.”

The darkness in front of his eyes were ripped away. He blinked slowly, adjusting to the light and dragged his eyes to the earth pony in front of him. The pony was average, slender and glaring at him. Hadn't he seen this pony somewhere? Brown coat, blue eyes...

“Do you have a sister?”

The pony glared harder.