“Thanks for…meeting me here, Princess Cadence.”

Ember nervously tapped her claws together, looking around just in case she was somehow being followed. So far there was no one else but Cadence by the lake, but she could never be too sure.

“My pleasure!” Cadence beamed. “It’s not every day the dragon lord summons a pony over here, after all. But why did you ask to meet here?”

“I kinda wanted a place more…private.” Ember’s eyes still shifted around in paranoia, shuffling closer to Cadence.

“Sounds serious.” Cadence sat down by the water, patting the ground to prompt Ember to do the same. “So, what’s the reason you called me here?”

Ember sat down, slowly dipping her toes in the water. “I…I don’t know, you just seem…good at…getting your feelings out.”

“Feelings about love?” Cadence playfully smirked, nudging the dragon in the ribs.

Ember clenched her fists and turned her head away to try and hide her blush. “S-Something like that, yeah.”

Cadence’s eyes lit up at the prospect of having a problem in her wheelhouse. “Oooh, tell me all about it!”

With one last look around the landscape, Ember took a deep breath, trying to find the words. “Just…I dunno, the relationships I’m in are…weird.”

“Which ones?”

Ember let out a grim chuckle. “All of them, it feels like. Thorax and me are doing great, but Thorax also clearly has a thing for Spike. And I don’t have a problem with that! Spike’s great! He’s really nice and cute and…stuff.”

“So are you jealous of what Thorax and Spike have?” Cadence pursed her lip.

“I…I don’t know. I don’t want him and Thorax to stop seeing each other or anything,” Ember continued. “Sometimes it feels like it’s him and Thorax are the ones going out, or even me and Spike. Or even all three of us at the same time, and it’s just…weird.”

“What about it feels weird to you?”

Ember took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts. “I…wouldn’t mind being with Spike, especially if Thorax is also with him. Just…I thought Spike was already in love with Starlight.”

“Twilight.”

“Yeah that’s what I said.”

Cadence rocked her head from side to side, trying to figure out the source of Ember’s troubles. “So, do you think the problem is with Twilight?”

“Maybe? Spike’s giving me and Thorax a lot of love and it just feels…weird knowing he’s also giving it to Twilight. I don’t feel like I wanna take it from Twilight. At least, I think so, but…I…Gaaaah!” Ember kicked up the water in frustration.

Cadence flinched at the dragon’s outburst, but tried to calm her down, holding onto her arm.

Ember quickly shut up. Her arm tensed, almost pulling away from Cadence’s hoof as it touched her. “I just see Spike a lot with Thorax and Twilight and Mina and Smolder and a lot of other ponies, and it just feels weird to me. Fuck, am I jealous? This feels like being jealous.”

Cadence softly chuckled. “I’ve known Spike for a while, he’s got a lot of love to give.”

Ember let out a sigh. “Yeah, I can tell.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try yourself,” Cadence suggested.

“Pfff,” Ember was about to let out a sarcastic laugh until she looked at Cadence. “...Oh you’re serious.” Ember continued to look at Cadence’s genuine little smile and knowing look. “...You know how awful I am with all this ‘feelings’ shit, right?’

“I dunno, you’ve done a pretty good job trying to tell me what you’re feeling,” Cadence winked.

“T-That’s different!” Ember tried to wave her hand dismissively.

Cadence lightly patted Ember’s lap. “Well, small steps. They don’t have to be big. I’m not asking you to go and make out with Twilight right now.”

That certainly left Ember with a powerful mental image. Her holding the pony’s purple cheeks in her hands, pushing apart the curled-up part of her mane to pull her face closer. Ember’s face twisted up in confusion.

Cadence continued. “You could just…let Thorax or Spike know how much you appreciate them. Out loud.”

“And that’ll stop me from feeling weird?”

“Wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Resigned, Ember sighed. “Alright, I’ll give it a shot. Thanks for…talking with me, Princess Cadence.”

“It’s my pleasure, Dragon Lord Ember.”

Ember was already starting to feel better. With a soft smile, she reached for the princess’s hoof.

As soon as Ember grasped onto her hoof, Cadence shuddered and immediately recoiled.

“Woah, sorry! I thought I was the only one who felt weird doing that!”

“No no no, that wasn’t because of you! …I think.” Cadence blushed, looking down at her crotch. “Chastity Shield is just acting up again.”

Ember tilted her head to look between the pony’s legs. “I don’t see anything wrong. Looks like a normal pony pussy to me.”

“I…It’s just something Shining came up with to help me get through the month,” Cadence explained. “It helps to not feel any of the horny urges, but sometimes I get these tingling flare ups and I don’t know why!”

“Huh…” Ember was fascinated by the magic. “So how does it work?”

“Shining knows more of the details, but basically I’m not supposed to feel any tingling if I touch myself. To discourage actually going through with it.”

“So…” Rather than ask permission, Ember already reached forward to touch Cadence’s vulva. “This isn’t doing anything for you?”

Cadence looked down to see Ember teasing her pussy lips. “Nope. Don’t feel a thing.”

Ember got a little more adventurous, sticking a finger inside. “Huh, so what’s causing all those tingles then?”

“Wish I knew…” Cadence shrugged.

Ember made a short little grunt of acknowledgement as she continued.

Cadence sat there as Ember continued to curiously finger her. She couldn’t feel most of it going on, but she could still see all of it. “Uh…Ember? You know your acts of love don’t have to start this big, right?”

“Oh! Uh, sorry…” Ember retracted her hand as Cadence giggled.

“Heehee, it’s fine to start off small. Like this.” To demonstrate, Cadence gave Ember a quick peck on the cheek. “And if you need any help, you can practice on me for a bit.”

If one looked at the skies out past Ponyville, they might have been able to see a peculiar formation of clouds, and the pegasus who was setting them up.

Rainbow Dash flew back to admire her work, a full-blown obstacle course made entirely out of clouds that filled up the sky. “Phew! Setting this up felt like a workout on its own!”

She took a few quick, short breaths on the ground, trying to psych herself up as she readied her wings. A crowd manifested in her mind, cheering for her performance as she started a countdown.

She bent her hooves, then rocketed upwards through the air, meeting the set of clouds she set up. With the clock ticking in her head, she sped forward, weaving through cloudy spires, looping through rings, and making hairpin turns while maintaining her blinding speed.

Rainbow Dash licked her lips as the adrenaline flowed through her body, the air rushing through her mane and wings, the imaginary crowd getting louder and louder as she made it through each tight ring or dizzying spiral.

And now, at a staggering height above the ground, she reached the final part of her routine. Rainbow relaxed her body, retracting her wings back to the sides as she went into freefall.

The pegasus took one last glance at the ground before closing her eyes, letting her body spiral as she hit terminal velocity.

The whistling as her body plummeted was deafened in comparison to the worried shouts of her imaginary audience.

Mentally, Rainbow Dash was calculating how far up she was before she closed her eyes, and how long it would take before she’d hit the ground. Her breathing became tense, counting down the seconds, until her wings sprung open, and she curled her body to course-correct.

After a second of gliding, she opened her eyes, looking down to see that she was a foot away from the dirt.

With a sigh of relief, Rainbow put her hooves down, skidding along the ground until she came to a stop.

“Damn, not bad,” She smirked as she dusted herself off. “Wonder if I can make the cloud rings a little tighter though…”

“Woah, that was AWESOME!”

“Gyah!” Rainbow Dash jolted and turned around. “Oh. Uh, hey Feather Bangs. You saw all that?”

“How could I not have?” The stallion gave Dash a bright smile, his eyes filled with wonder. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of you!”

Rainbow chuckled, patting herself on the chest. “Heh, you liked that routine?”

“It was amazing! When you started falling, it took my breath away! It was like, the best thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Well, that was supposed to be practice for a Wonderbolts routine, but hey, I guess it’s a good sign that someone likes it already.”

Feather Bangs pointed skyward. “After seeing all that? Who wouldn’t be blown away? You’re probably the bravest of all the Wonderbolts!”

“You know, Feather Bangs? I thought you’d just be all sleazy and gross,” Dash cringed as a certain pegasus came to mind. “But you’re actually pretty cool.”

The stallion giggled and blushed. “Ehehe, not as cool as you, though.”

“Oh, pssh…I…yeah.” Dash scoffed, only briefly entertaining the idea of deflecting that compliment back.

“Well, I gotta keep practicing,” she said, hovering off the ground. “Feel free to watch and tell me how awesome I am, though.”

“Sure thing!” Feather Bangs saluted as Dash rose back up into the air. “Wow, those tips from your mom really did work!”

“...Wait, what did my mom do?”

Author's Note

"Wow feelings suck, I want a refund."