Daybreak

As the night began to steadily approach, the sun set creating its vibrant colors of orange, red, and yellow, it brought on the all too familiar cool air of night, calming and relieving Shadow as he continued on through the streets of Ponyville, while chilling other ponies to the bone.

Flying at this time of day would've been a thought he'd enjoy, soaring along the heavens and feeling the cool air brush against his body and through his mane. A smile crept against his face as he thought of that, just flying up there against the sherbet of different colors. Flying, for him was more than a sport or an activity to be taken advantage of. It was an escape. An escape from reality where nothing really mattered, there were no ponies to push him along his path, to become the stallion that everypony knew and hoped he would become some day.

An escape from all the expectation, all the stress, all of his built up anger. Nothing mattered up there... It was a safe haven.

The more Shadow thought of this, the more he felt his wings flapping, wanting desperately to get him off the ground. He would've agreed with them, and allowed himself to take flight, but the aching feeling in his body and the, quite frankly, painful movement of his wings, were enough to have him remember that he wasn't in any condition to do any flying. At least, for the remainder of today.

This pain wasn't anything new to Shadow, as he had started to become accustomed to it, he had begun to wish he never did. It wasn't so much the pain that got to him, though it was a big factor in his exhaustion towards it, but more or less the feeling afterwards. Pain leads to exhaustion, exhaustion leads to not being able to do what he loves. Not being able to do what he loves meant no more shows, and there was no way in Tartarus he was going to give those up. The shows were fun, regardless as to how many ponies would show up, generally anywhere from 80 to 175 ponies, with some of them even occasionally getting more than that if he was lucky.

Today was one of those days, thankfully. Lots of ponies came this time around, and he was thankful for it. For one thing, it meant that there would be more money coming his way, and for another, it meant that more ponies could see his performance, spread the word, and hopefully either catch the attention of other ponies or some of Equestria's elite citizens. The more turnouts at the shows, the better, with the tremendous roar of the crowd cheering him on always motivated him to put his all into his performance.

Did that exactly make up for the pain in his wings and body, along with the cut in his left arm? No, but in his mind's eye, it wasn't exactly a waste either. It was fun, and because of it, maybe more ponies would spread and the word and others could join them.

A small chuckle erupted from deep inside him as he held his arm, feeling the fresh bandage wrapped around it before letting his arm fall back down to the ground and continue on his track home. It wasn't anything he was proud of, but it was the risk he ran when it came to the performances he'd put on. Daring leaps and obstacles that were far too dangerous for any mare or stallion to attempt, yet he did for the pleasure of his fans. That being said, however, it sometimes came at a cost. Today was nothing compared to some of the other injuries he had acquired through his young career as a stuntcolt, and a simple cut was something he could tolerate. It's just that he found them extremely pesky, especially when doctors would keep you around for hours just to get you bandaged up like Shadow's Doctor did with him. To the doctor's credit, he could understand why he'd be so concerned, but all he needed was a couple stitches and a bandage wrapped around his arm. Not a half hour lecture on why he should've come in sooner or how he was lucky he wasn't later otherwise this, that, and the other.

Equestria's number one problem with doctors, he thought to himself as he made it in front of his apartment building, they never get to the point.

Thankful he only had to climb up two flights of stairs, Shadow took out the keys from his saddle bag and placed them into the key frame of his apartment door, opening the door and immediately flicking on the light switch to allow the soft and clean light flood the apartment. It wasn't exactly a very bad place for all it was worth, a living room with a state of the art kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Just the necessities without being overly complicated.

Just what he needed.

Throwing his saddlebags to some unforeseen corner of his living room, his ears twitched as the sound of the bags meeting contact with some type of cardboard box, slightly catching him off guard as he travelled to the site of the sound to find a large cardboard box next to his door. On it was a note that simply read, "Shadow Rift".

Curiously opening the box, he rolled his eyes and chuckled slightly as he was met with the sight of a new design for posters, later finding that the whole freakin' box was full of them. The design of said poster was simplistic, but extremely effect for anypony who may have wanted them. It was just a simple shot of Shadow Rift taking flight with a strange font on the front of it reading "Take to the skies here in Manehatten with Shadow Rift" before listing off a few different days and times for each show.

Just add that one to the other five we've made so far, Chromium... Shadow thought to himself as he closed the box, taking only one poster for himself and placing it with the other five he had mentioned before. Looking at the posters, he was happy to look back at the day and be able to say that he managed to, for the most part, almost sell out of them entirely. This newest artist he had hired to help him work for some of them was amazing at what he did, and it was a miracle to think that such a simple piece of merchandise could be so easily created. Sure, it cost a lot to normally make said posters, but at the very least, they would normally make the money back. Shadow had thought at one point to charge for signatures, but immediately thought against it since it was probably a bad move for somepony so low on the totem pole to try and accomplish looking ponies in the eye and telling them to give him there money just for him to give them his name.

Bad for business and bad if you wanna make money without thinking of the money first, Shadow would think to himself every time he did-

Interrupted, Shadow's ear once again twitched as he heard the soft sound of the door being knocked, restraining himself from sighing as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Great, he thought to himself as he slowly made his way to the door, the landlord. Thought I told her that I'd make sure she'd get the rent by the end of the month...

"Who is it?" Shadow asked, doing his best and successfully holding back any negative tone in his voice. No answer came from behind the door as he rested his ear against it, furrowing his brow as he waited for the reply that never came. "Look I told you that..." Shadow began as he opened the door, trailing off as he looked through the door frame to see his landlord, expecting to see her face of annoyance and her left hoof placed against her hip. A clever and sarcastic quip even came to his mind to address said mare.

But all thoughts of said quip and expectations were completely thrown out the window as Shadow stood in silence like an idiot in the door frame.

Instead of seeing the stuck up expression of his landlord, Shadow was met with the sight of a white coated mare, with a beautifully rich and vibrant blond mane that gracefully flowed down to her shoulder. She stood up straight and took her gaze away from the ground beneath her, moving her eyes to meet Shadow's, her eye color being that of a clean and beautifully blue lake. As she stood up straight, she grasped her left forearm with her right hoof,  keeping it close to her body as a small blush grew on her face.

Her outfit, if you could call it that, consisted of a pink collar placed around her neck, and a pair of matching socks covered her forearms, almost all of which looked and probably were expensive.

Confused, Shadow's brow furrowed as he stared at the mare, whose gaze would occasionally shift between him and the ground. She was beautiful, but why she was here, Shadow was left to assume for himself. A couple of assumptions came to mind, but one or two of them were related more... Interesting intentions. "Can I help you?" Shadow asked, finally deciding to just bite the bullet and ask why rather than who first. The mare's ear twitched once as Shadow spoke to her, and immediately her sight turned back up to him. "I'm sorry... If I'm troubling you, I can come back later..." She responded with a rich accent in her voice, perhaps from some area in Trottingham. "No need... I mean, nothing's really keeping me up now." Shadow said, now leaning against the door as the mare's blush continued to grow, looking back at his barebones apartment. "So... Do you need anything?"

The mare opened her mouth as though to respond to Shadow, her eyes moving around as though she were picking out the right words to say and, eventually, shaking her head as she looked back up at Shadow. "You are Shadow Rift, correct?" She asked, seemingly already knowing the answer as her brow slightly furrowed. "One and only..." Shadow said with a proud smile, "What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping to purchase a poster from you..." She said immediately afterwards, her blushing growing to a pure red as her grip on her arm tightened. "I'm sorry... Was that too forceful?" She asked a little taken a back herself, making Shadow chuckle slightly and shake his head. "It's cool, I get it." He said as he pointed his hoof towards her, "You want a poster? Alright, I'll get you one, free of charge."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to hurt your sales in any way."

"Believe me, I'll be fine. I've got plenary of other posters I could sell. One free poster isn't gonna kill me." He said as his body came off from the doorframe and his hoof extend forward. "Nice to meet you." He said, the mare hesitating slightly as she debated with herself with accepting his offer before finally taking hold of his hoof and giving it a shake. "Come on in, I don't mind ponies being in here." He said as he let go of her hoof and proceeded inside of his apartment. "Are you sure?" The mare asked, Shadow turning back and shrugging his shoulders. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm just saying you don't have to stand out there either. Besides, there's not much in here really worth taking."

Nodding her head, the mare entered into his apartment. As Shadow turned into his bedroom, he immediately took down the various posters available from the top of his closet, throwing each box on to the bed and shutting the door with relative ease. As he opened the boxes and took out one of every poster, he would occasionally look back at the mare, now sitting on a chair in the kitchen and taking in the sight of his apartment. Celestia only knew what was running through her head at the moment, though if he were to guess, chances are she was just taking in the apartment since her eyes were traveling all around it. "Uh, I didn't catch your name, by the way... What was it?" He asked as he pulled out the last poster, looking at all of them proudly, lined up side by side with one another and proudly displaying himself and a time of date for his appearances. "Oh, my name?"

"Yeah... And could you come in her for a minute? I've got all the posters set... Oh." Shadow shouted before looking back and seeing the mare in the doorway, standing upright again as she leaned slightly against the doorway. "Sorry... Didn't see you there..." He said, rubbing the back of his head and nervously smiling at the mare, who returned the favor with a soft smile of her own while she made her way into the room and looked down at the bed, all of the five posters displayed proudly as she looked through them all.

A little while had passed before Shadow decided to break the air by clearing his throat. "So, see any you like?" He asked as he stood by her side. "Aryanne..." She said softly, making Shadow furrow her brow as she turned her head to face him, "that's my name... Aryanne..."

"Oh..." Shadow said, his brow still furrowed as he looked back down at the posters before quickly looking back at her, "Nice name. Very unique." He said, making the mare giggle slightly as her gaze returned back down to the posters. Well, that's a good sign, he thought to himself as he awaited her response. "The one here is from your first show. I remember seeing it when I went." She said, pointing down at a simple poster of him spreading his wings and staring down a ring of fire. "You went to it?" He asked, making her turn back to face him, gripping her arm once more and nod, both of which accompanied by a blush and a small smile. "I've been to almost all of them, save for only one or two..." She nervously began, "I try my best to go to as many as possible but... Life seemed to meddle with me for a bit and prevented me from going."

"Well... Do you like them?" He asked, taken by surprise as he heard that this beautiful mare would even think of going to his show. "I mean, I'm sure some ponies would like them but, do you?"

"More than you know..." She replied in a hushed voice as she hid behind her mane, preventing him from seeing her beautiful eyes. "May I have this one?" She asked, as she took up a corner of the poster, Shadow nodding as a reply. "Yeah, go ahead. It's yours." He said as Aryanne turned back to look at him. "Is it possible I could have it... Signed?"

"Well... That's gonna cost you..." Shadow said, shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes over his shoulder. "It... Will?" She asked, adjusting her collar and her grasp of the poster loosened. "A date." Shadow said as his eyes turned back to meet her, "That's all. You and me. Tom-"

"Yes" she said without hesitation and almost in a shout as she looked back at Shadow, "Yes, I will."

"Really?" He asked in a questioning tone, the mare nodding as she brushed her mane to the side. "Yes. I'd love to." Furrowing his brow again, Shadow was a little bit surprised to hear her almost immediate response, yet was still happy she would agree to him and simply shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, I know a nice little place in town that we can go to in the morning. For now..." He began, stretching his arms up in the air and letting out a yawn, "I could use some rest. I'm sure I can trust you not to steal anything while I put away this stuff and head to bed?" He asked, Aryanne hesitant to begin as she placed the poster down and looked at Shadow, a shy expression on her face as she began. "Actually... I..." She hesitated before going on as Shadow began to put away the posters. "Yeah...?" He said, placing the first box away in his closet and going back for the second, "I was just hoping I... That we..."

"Uh huh?" He asked as he grabbed the second box and placed it back up on the shelf. "Well... It's just... I'm not sure if you would, but if we could I'd..." She said as Shadow went back to the bed, instead of grabbing the third box, grabbing her shoulders and gently squeezing them. "Just... Take a deep breath in..." He said, Aryanne complying and taking in a deep breath, "and let it out..." He continued in a calm voice, immediately being met with the calm breath out as her gaze hit the floor.

"Now..." He began, his hoof being placed under her chin and tilting it upwards for him to see her, now blushing profusely as her cheeks were a dark shade of pink and on the verge of turning red. "Tell me..." He asked in a calm voice, trailing down her shoulder and making contact with the pink cloth of her sock before eventually grabbing her hoof. "It's okay. Just tell me whatever you need to. Say what you need to say."

Aryanne hesitated for a moment as she choked a few ones on her words, but eventually managed to do what was requested of her. To say what she needed to say. "May I stay with you tonight?" She asked, gripping Shadow's hoof tightly as she asked. Not knowing how exactly to respond, let alone how to react, Shadow gave a smile and delicately placed a kiss on Aryanne's lips, letting go of her hooves and making his way towards the kitchen.

"So, do you wanna sleep with me, or do you want the couch tonight?"