Shining Armour woke up with a loud groan and his eyes closed. His body ached worse than the day after he had been slammed into the ground by an earth pony during sparring.

He cracked open one eye to peer at the analog clock hanging just above his bedside table. It read six in the morning. More than enough time to prepare for the day before reporting to the Crystal Palace for work.

He stretched under the bundle of blankets he was swaddled under and winced from the resulting cracks. Sunburst hadn’t been kidding when he told him there would be some ‘growing pains’ from the potion.

He grabbed the blankets in the magenta glow of his magic and tossed them to the other side of the enormous bed he slept in. Shining abruptly remembered that it was shared. He rolled himself over with a grunt of pain to apologize to the other occupant of the bed.

“Oh, shit. Sorry Fla-” He cut himself off as he remembered that Flash was sleeping downstairs on the couch.

As he had everyday since ‘the incident’.

Shining released a weary sigh and lugged himself up into a sitting position despite the protestations of his body. He twisted and stretched as much he could to mitigate the pain before turning towards the empty side of the mattress.

He touched the permanent depression in the bed with a solitary hoof where Flash normally slept. The emptiness was really starting to get to him.

They’d had several conversations already and Shining was getting sick of Flash punishing himself for something neither of them could help.

He felt a pang of loneliness as he withdrew his hoof. This distance was half the reason Shining so readily agreed to consuming the potion in the first place. He would do anything just to have his big goofball back.

At least starting tomorrow, the potion would begin to take effect and Shining could move towards permanently remedying the problem. Assuming he even enjoyed being bigger than his partner.

A problem to resolve at a later time.

Shining gently lowered himself onto the rug covered crystalline floors. He sucked in a hiss of pain as his body responded with several severe twinges of pain. Work was going to be Tarturus.

He edged along the bed past the door leading to the ensuite bathroom and past a large dresser. The surface of said dresser was covered in mementos.

His eyes lingered on a few of the more important ones. A photo of Shining sticking his tongue out to the camera next to a grinning Flash from their first date in Canterlot. A signed letter of gratitude addressed to both of them for their assistance in the repelling of the Changeling invasion at his sister’s wedding to Cadance. A letter of promotion to Captain of the Crystal Guard from Her Empress Cadance.

Shining smiled as he recalled each memory attached to each. He was grateful to have those times with the pony he had chosen to be with.

Shining trotted up to his destination at the far end of the room: a full wall length mirror directly across from the bed. Flash always teased Shining for being egotistical. He had a habit of checking himself out when he went down on Flash from behind.

That was also only half the reason he liked the mirror. He actually had wanted it to always be able to see Flash’s rather expressive facial expressions. He could always tell if he was doing a good job when Flash’s tongue was lolling out and he was staring straight ahead with a blissed out glaze over his eyes.

He scowled bitterly as he reminded himself that some of those expressions could have been faked. A sentiment that was souring his previously good vibe from the momentos.

Shining looked over his reflection. Smaller than the average unicorn in stature with a bulky, wide build from long continuous years of training in the guard. A regimen he never let up on even when he became more of a desk jockey as Captain. He noticed that he was fully sheathed, an irregularity considering his libido, but may be a small mercy as Shining didn’t feel like confronting the root of his current stress that early in the morning.

He was 4.5 inches, if he was being generous and rounding up. Well below the average penis size, a number he knew after a somewhat embarrassing trip to the Crystal Empire Library. For unicorns at least. He didn’t even hit the smallest range for earth and crystal ponies and pegasi tended to be on the lower end of the unicorn range.

Having of course seen every part of Flash, he knew Flash was somewhere around the lower limits of an earth pony. Not a fact he took comfort in at that moment.

He shook his head and turned towards the open doorway leading to the main foyer of the house. He felt an overwhelming pang of loneliness and, despite the aching pain in every step, trotted through the arch towards the pony he knew could fix it.

Shining found himself in the living room. A piano and several guitars dominated a corner of the space with a storm of sheet music spread about it. Another corner was taken up by floor to ceiling crystal shelves overflowing with tabletop systems, fantasy novels, and horror stories; the latter of which Shining was planning to use as inspiration for several upcoming campaigns.

Every remaining amount of space was packed with shelves, small trinkets and knick knacks accumulated by two stallions with ample spending money, strange tastes, and low self control. Shining still stood by the purchase of the 1/100th to scale model of an elder dragon from his favourite campaign in ogre and oubliettes that hung from the ceiling using crystal made cables.

Shining smiled as he remembered that the model was secured as strongly as it was because Flash occasionally liked to use it as a hammock.

Speaking of Flash, Shining turned his attention to the massive couch in the centre of the room that stood just below a large bay window. Said window was currently covered by two massive orange and blue striped curtains that only allowed through the barest of light. Normally, it was to keep random passerby from seeing two horny stallions in the middle of their early morning workout. Recently, it was to allow the pony on said couch to sleep easier.

With an avalanche of soft, colourful pillows underneath his head was his colt friend Flash Sentry. He had a light orange coat, two massive wings, and dark blue mane swept back into a wavy crest. Shining suppressed a snort of amusement as he noticed that Flash’s side burns had grown out again. Shining always joked that it made him look a decade older than he was and like some wannabe street thug.

Flash was turned away from Shining which only served to emphasize his massive bulk. Many attributed Flash to be akin to an Earth pony with wings plastered on and those same ponies typically claimed he couldn’t fly.

They normally changed their tune shortly after Flash launched into the air. Mainly from their new position on the ground where they usually ended up after being hit by the blowback generated by a few flaps of Flash’s wings.

Shining was well acquainted with every ridge and crevice along Flash’s body and had long since marked him as his with a neverending assault of kisses, and hickies over many years.

Among other things.

Flash had some interesting tastes in sex and Shining was always happy to provide. Even if some of the more outlandish requests ended up delegated to the ‘nope’ part of the closet.

For the moment, Shining didn’t want sex; he wanted intimacy. That meant cuddle time.

Shining laid upon his side on the couch with his hooves pressed into Flash’s back. He had tried multiple times in the past to spoon his colt friend and that had never worked out before as he could only get halfway up Flash’s back before running out of leg length. He didn’t need to further his internal annoyance about his size.

Shining closed his eyes. He could hear Flash’s steady heartbeat and felt his consciousness fade as he was lulled by the steady, comforting rhythm.

“I’m sorry.”

Shining opened his eyes and perked his ears. “Stop apologizing.”

Shining felt Flash curl up into himself. “But-”

“No buts,” Shining interrupted, “This isn’t something you or I can help. It is what it is.”

Flash rolled over in place, careful to not squish Shining with his massive bulk. Shining looked up to Flash’s blue eyes. They were red rimmed, and had dark circles under them. Evidently, Flash was having as terrible a time with this situation as Shining was.

“But I made you question whether you leave me satisfied.” Flash sniffled. “You do, and I mean that. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t the best fit.”

“We’ve had this conversation already and you continue to have poor word choice.”

“And you still look disappointed every time you look at me,” Flash replied.

“I’m not disappointed with you.”

“I know you aren’t.”

They were both quiet. Flash sniffled. Shining cupped Flash’s face with his hoof. Flash nuzzled into the contact.

“I don’t care about my own satisfaction,” Flash said.

“I’d rather you be more selfish about that.”

“Not at the expense of your happiness.” Flash scowled.

“So at the expense of yours is better?” Shining replied evenly. “How do you think that makes me feel, Flash?”

Flash was silent.

Shining released a tired sigh. “Look, we both hate this, but the rift is what’s really killing me right now.”

“I know,” Flash mumbled, “I’m just really mad at myself for causing this.”

“You did nothing wrong, Sent.” Flash smiled at Shining’s private nickname for him. Shining smiled back before taking a breath to prepare for the next piece of information. “I’ve taken action to remedy our problem.”

Flash’s eyes widened. “Shining-”

“It’s not dangerous,” Shining interrupted, “It just takes a week to achieve its full effect.”

“Shining-”

“You don’t have to worry about it affecting our jobs or how we feel for each other.” Shining raced on.

“Shining,” Flash said in an exasperated tone.

“Hopefully, it will-”

Flash placed a hoof over Shining’s mouth. He had a peeved expression on his face. “Can I talk now?”

Shining nodded his head.

Flash removed his hoof. “Look, I trust you. I know you wouldn’t do anything to bring harm to yourself or me and you would have taken every precaution for… ?”

“A potion.”

Flash expression flattened. “... A potion. Really, Shining?”

Shining fidgeted as he avoided Flash’s face.

Flash sighed. “No, it’s fine. I trust you. I really do. However, I don’t want you to do something that you aren’t comfortable with for something so unimportant as my sexual desires.”

“I assure you Flash, I want to do this,” Shining replied, “And your sexual desires aren’t unimportant. If this works then we can move past this easily, and if I feel uncomfortable I can always reverse the effects.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

“I am Sent.” Shining smiled at his beloved. “I love you.”

Flash smiled back. “I love you too, Amour.”

Shining basked in the afterglow of feeling the love radiate off of his coltfriend before his thought turned to a more lecherous proposition.

He smirked. “Wanna do something fun together before work?”

Flash’s ears perked and Shining felt a slight breeze from the fluttering of Flash’s wings. It was short lived as shortly after Flash’s ears pinned to his head and a pained expression crossed his face.

“Another time, Shining. I’m not really feeling it right now.”

Shining knew it was because of Flash’s internal guilt. He chose not to push the issue as he knew that would only end in another useless conversation. Besides, Shining could have more fun tomorrow when the changes started happening.

“Okay, Sent.” Shining leaned forward and kissed Flash on the cheek. “Breakfast then? Of the non-usual variety?”

“If you mean hay bacon and mangos instead of a liter of your cum in my mouth, then yes.” Flash smirked. “Let’s do that.”

Author's Note

You may consider this the end to the Foreplay. We get started next chapter.