What Happens In Las Pegasus

Chapters

Bolt From the Blue
Just The Once
Tomorrow

Bolt From the Blue

Las Pegasus was a beautiful and unique city, even by Equestrian standards. It was a cloud city just like Cloudsdale, but completely accessible to non-pegasi. The mixed architecture was a marvel and provided a novel experience to ponies in need of a getaway. All over the city ponies spent their hard earned bits on games of chance, saw interesting or exotic stage acts, or some just lounged by the pool.

Shining Armor was a pony who liked to do that last one. Pools weren’t really a thing in Canterlot. The city on top of the mountain had very limited space to build things like big luxurious pools and the altitude made the prospect of swimming outside not appealing in the least. There was a river that started in the city and poured off of the side, but that wasn’t exactly something you could swim in for pretty obvious reasons.

Las Pegasus was all luxury though. The city itself wasn’t incredibly high in the sky and its location in the south of Equestria let it stay all that much warmer. It achieved perfect balance and provided a great climate to enjoy the massive pools all of the hotels seemed to have on their premises.

He was laid back on a chair and had a pair of sunglasses to keep back the sun. A large plastic cup fashioned to look like a coconut was right next to him on a table filled with a pink slushy drink he had gotten from the bar. An aura of pink magic encased it and he brought the straw to his lips and took a long slow drink from it. The drink wasn’t alcoholic, that wasn’t his thing, but it tasted like kiwi and strawberries. If any of the stallions from the guard saw him drinking such a thing they would give him an endless amount of grief about enjoying a ‘mare drink.’

Thankfully, they weren’t here.

“And you’re not supposed to be thinking about them.” Shining Armor mumbled to himself as set the drink back down. That was the whole point of coming here, to relax before the royal guard was something he was incapable of not thinking about. The downtime was important because soon there would be none.

The guard exams had just concluded for the year and he had passed them, with flying colors of course. This little trip was a graduation present from his parents, all expenses paid and exactly what he needed to restore his sore body. The grueling week-long affair to get officially certified as a royal guard had consisted of a lot of very unnecessary physical tasks and very little sleep.

“Yeah this is exactly what I needed…” He let out a contented sigh. The relaxation was a big part of it, but the views didn’t hurt either. There was some sort of big sports competition thing in town and every hotel was full of ponies in peak form and Shining Armor was not going to complain. Not one bit.

Not that he was out here by the water to ogle mares, his eyes just sometimes wandered and he found himself doing so. Who could really blame him? The athletes were very obvious from their sleek and toned physiques and they seemed to draw eyes wherever they walked. Shining’s were just another pair in a sea of very appreciative admirers.

“What would Cadance think?” A treacherous little voice in his head poked and prodded him. At the prodding, his eyes went skyward and focused on a passing cloud.

“Why do I care?” He asked the voice with a grumble. “She’s the one who wanted ‘a break’ while she focused on her princess stuff.” That seemed to kick the voice sufficiently. It had been her whole idea to have a little ‘pause’ while they got their lives together, so why should he feel bad about anything? This wasn’t on him, it was on Cadance.

“Do you think she’s looking at other stallions?” That little voice caught its second wind and poked his brain again.

“Well no…” He knew Cadance. Well, they knew each other. Probably better than any other pony knew them. The last decade or so of their lives had been spent in very close proximity to one another and had given both of them a very intimate understanding of each other. He knew Cadance was not the kind to ogle stallions, if anything she would pay them a kind compliment and be the socialite she had been raised to be.

The train of thought was abruptly derailed by a truly amazing sight. A pegasus mare with confidence that was not contained by her form strode by the relaxing stallion. Every step she took was full of pride and an exertion of confidence that demanded the attention of every set of eyeballs around the pool. If the aura drew the eyes to her, then the sky blue coat and rainbow mane kept them there. It was a whole spectrum of vibrant colors amongst the sea of white and earth tone coats that surrounded her.

She was a visual oasis.

Shining Armor could not peel his eyes away from the pegasus as she trotted up to the edge of the pool. The satisfied grin that crossed her face told him that she did not mind that fact either, she wanted every eye on her. Confidence and self-assuredness oozed from every pore as she stretched a bit, then dove head first into the pool.

When the mare dove beneath the water, the spell that her mere appearance had cast finally broke. Shining shook his head and blinked a few times. A deep breath filled his lungs and he let it out slowly to get some semblance of control over himself. It did not work as his eyes fell to the pool once more.

Even though she was obscured she was not gone from sight, though. He could still see her beneath the water as her wings propelled her across the length of the pool in just a few seconds. Her bright multicolored head popped up, still easily visible even through the crowd of vacationers and athletes, and looked around. A stallion beside her in the water began to chat with her and the mare gladly engaged him and gestured with a wing as she explained something.

Shining tore his eyes away and looked anywhere else. He felt weird just staring at her, he felt creepy. It was not a feeling that fit inside of him easily and he needed to get it out a soon as possible. It did not belong in a stallion such as him, bred from Canterlot stock and a newly minted member of the royal guard. He was better than ogling random mares at a pool.

There were plenty of other things to look at anyway. Like the sky, the sky was a perfectly normal and healthy thing to stare into with no ulterior motive. One could not ogle the clouds or the sun. There was nothing creepy about staring out into the great blue yonder that stretched on forever upwards. There was no guilt up there. He could just lay here and look up with absolutely no temptation whatsoever to bring his head back down and-he was looking at her again.

And now, she was looking right back at him. Bright magenta eyes were focused on him as much as he was focused on her. They were not curious or inquisitive eyes either, they were those of a predator who had just spotted its next meal. It was like she could see through his sunglasses and knew what he had been doing.

Shining Armor picked his glass up with his magic again and quickly brought it up to his face. He did his absolute best to practically bury his face in the drink to obscure it. Beneath the bevy of conversations and laughter that saturated the soundscape around him, he could hear the distinct and threatening sound of hooves hit the stone and a pony drag themself up out of the water.

“Hey Champ-” A voice addressed him, a distinctively feminine yet gravelly voice that was layered with enough swagger that he immediately knew who it came from before looking. “-next time, just say hi.” The tip of a sky blue wing, the feathers dripping wet, grabbed the edge of his drink and pulled it down from his face. “I love the attention, but action is even better.” Her voice dripped with a sense of entitlement, all the while poking fun at his ogling.

Shining Armor felt his cheeks burn and knew that the red was shining through his white coat. The cocky and bemused grin worn by the mare did nothing to abate the blush that overtook the stallion’s face, in fact it only increased it. She didn’t tack on any extra comment, she just sent a wink his way and sauntered off without another way.

He wanted to die. He wanted to shrink down into nothing and fade away. He could feel every eye in the place on him just as they had been on her minutes ago. This time it wasn’t out of admiration, it was pity and amusement. The giggles and snickers assaulted him and only drove the blush to spread from his face up into his ears and down his neck.

There went his relaxation, and there was nopony to blame but himself. With the grace of a newborn foal, he stumbled from his chair and hurriedly trotted off towards the hotel. He needed to spend a long time away from anypony else, at least for a few hours now that he was thoroughly unrelaxed. The tension in his back and shoulders returned and he could feel the soreness worm its way back into his muscles as he half-galloped back to his hotel room.

He did not come back out until it was time to get something for dinner. The little confrontation still loomed in his head and made him worry about who had seen it and hoped that they had forgotten about it by now. It was a silly thing to hope for, that strangers stopped thinking he was some kind of meek idiot, but it was a real need! He was a royal guard! He was supposed to be big and serious and tough. Not a blushing mess!

“Right, just forget about it.” Shining Armor got into the elevator at the end of the hall and hit the button for the ground floor. He had to put the past behind him and focus on the present, and that meant focusing on his rumbling stomach. There was a restaurant in the lobby that he knew had some good food, eating there had been the first thing he had done after he checked in the day prior and he was eager to try something else on the menu.

The elevator dinged and the metal doors slid open and let him out into the extravagant lobby of the hotel. It was supposed to be a facsimile of the palace in Canterlot, hence the name ‘Celestia’s Palace’, with its white marble floors and golden accents. Banners even hung around the place with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark emblazoned on them on a blue background. The staff were also dressed in faux royal guard attire, the armor silver instead of gold and the ponies being visually distinct beneath the armor let him know how much they cared about authenticity.

The throngs of guests, visitors, gamblers, and fake guards all made the journey to the restaurant a bit of a mess, especially for a stallion like Shining. He was not a small pony and getting through tight crowds was not as easy as weaving between individuals. It meant pausing sometimes and waiting for a conversation to reach a natural lull and kindly asking for passage without disrupting the flow of the ponies around him. This was all baked in manners and etiquette from a lifetime in or around high society and never seemed to fail him.

Eventually he did make it to his destination and was stopped by two ‘guards’ crossing their spears. He couldn’t help but sigh and roll his eyes.

“Halt!” One of them asked in a faux baritone. His ill-fitting silver armor hung off of his body but not to the point where it was about to fall off. “Who dares try to enter Princess Celestia’s Royal Banquet Hall?” Shining Armor begrudgingly presented his room key to one of the ponies. They looked it over and nodded. “You may proceed! Please enjoy Her Majesty’s hospitality.”

“Right. Thanks.” Shining Armor bit his tongue so much around this place he was worried it might try to wriggle its way out of his mouth in protest. He trotted past the two ‘guards after they uncrossed their spears and went into the restaurant proper. He offered the two ponies a sincere look of sympathy and understanding, but they just kept looking straight ahead.

The space beyond the door looked nothing like the actual dining hall in the castle. No, this was a bog standard table service place with a theme to it. The tables all looked like highly polished wood with high backed chairs with what were once fancy cushions on them and all of the wait staff were either in stiff suits or maid outfits. Both were incredibly wrong when it came to the castle staff uniform, but accuracy didn’t seem to be the strong suit of this place.

Settled against one of the walls was a bar, which seemed more his speed. Not that he was actually going to drink, but it was better than having a whole table to himself. That would just make him feel like a lonely loser, and that particular high school feeling was not one he wanted to relive.

There was a problem with the bar though: the mare from the pool was already sitting there. She once again stood out amongst the crowd like a sunbeam on a cloudy day. One of her hooves rested on the bar while the other held her head up and her whole posture signaled that she was bored out of her gourd and waiting for something.

The bright blue pegasus looked different from the one he had seen earlier. She looked out of her element and lacked the raw confidence he had seen from her earlier. The fact that everpony was more focused on their meal or a conversation drained her of the magnetic power that kept eyes glued to her out by the pool. Well, it wasn’t working on anypony except for Shining Armor. Maybe he was just entranced by the bevy of colors that composed her mane.

“Next time, just say hi.”

The words of the mare echoed through his head and his heart fluttered. It was an increasingly common moment where his own confidence once again failed him. He had always been awkward around mares when he was in high school, but he was pretty sure he was over that now. After all, he was always calm, cool and collected around Cadance so why was it so different now? He could still be that calm stallion.

“What have you got to lose anyway?” He quietly asked himself. “What’s the harm of just talking to her and apologizing for earlier?” There was even a spot open right next to her, just a free barstool. He could play it off too, like he hadn’t noticed her and just wanted a place to sit. “It’ll just be a simple conversation, nothing more. ‘Hey, sorry I couldn’t take my eyes off of you earlier. I’m not usually a creep, I swear.’ Yeah, maybe not that.”

Shining was already on his way over to the bar. He wasn’t focused on the mare, but the spot next to her. The distance between him and it was rapidly closing and he needed to concentrate on sliding onto the stool without tripping over his own hooves or making a fool of himself in some new and interesting way. His hooves hit the bar and he pulled himself onto the barstool with no incident. Thank Celestia for the little miracles.

It did not take long once he had gotten comfortable for the pegasus mare beside him to notice, and then she recognized him. The transformation from bored to delighted was accompanied with a mischievous grin that spread across her face like wildfire. A very similar fire erupted behind her magenta eyes as they sized up the stallion. It once more felt like he was a piece of prey for a relentless predator.

“Oh hey there, Champ.” That rough voice called to him with the same dollop of satisfaction and teasing that had topped her words earlier.

“Oh!” Shining tried to look surprised when he looked over at the mare, but he was pretty sure that it didn’t work. The mare’s grin just grew wider with his fake surprise. “Can’t say I noticed you there, sorry.” A roll of her eyes confirmed to Shining that she was indeed not buying a single word, but that did not stop him. “Uh, well, it’s a good thing right? I can apologize for-”

“-for drooling over me earlier?” The mare finished form him with that same grin. “Hey, who can blame you? If I was you, I wouldn’t take my eyes off of me either.” She leaned back a bit and her wings fluffed up against her sides. “I mean, have you seen me?”

Shining could not help but to laugh. It broke the stammering blush that had been creeping up his neck and cheeks. It was all so wonderfully disarming. He had felt this confidence earlier from the way she walked and acted, but to hear it spoken was something else entirely. There was not an ounce of doubt in those words and it just tickled a certain sensibility of his. It was so…refreshing.

“You’re certainly the most…colorful pony wherever you go.” He meant that in every way possible now that he actually had a sense of her. There was no way that she wasn’t the most magnetic pony in whatever room she happened to be in at the moment. “And hey, who doesn’t like a little more color in their life?”

“Huh.” Her grin became a little more genuinely happy and less predatory. Her eyes still held that certain fire as they gave him a quick once over. “I’m Rainbow Dash, but you’ve probably heard of me. If not, well, now you have and you won’t forget the name anytime soon.”

Shining could not stop his eyes from rolling even if he tried. It was not out of annoyance or exasperation either as the smile that was smeared across his muzzle didn’t leave for a single second. It was so novel to speak with a pony like this. He had spent his whole life around the types of ponies who were sure of their own superiority, but not like this. Certainly not as outwardly. The ponies in Canterlot expected you to already know they were important, but Rainbow Dash here wanted to tell you and never wanted you to forget. It was very…forthcoming.

“A pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash.” Shining gave the mare a nod. “I’m Shining Armor.”

“A pleasure? Not yet, Champ.” Rainbow Dash gave him a wink and turned back to the bar. “Say, why don’t you buy me a drink? I’m feeling kinda parched.”

Shining’s wheels were still spinning helplessly as he tried to collect his thoughts after Rainbow Dash’s previous comment. The blush that had been beaten back by the brevity of brashness now barged back up his neck and overtook his usually white face. It was just the forwardness of it all that caught him off guard again, which just kept happening. Next time, hopefully, he would be ready for it.

“R-right.” The ability to speak finally returned and he waved down the bartender. When the scrawny stallion in a very uncomfortable looking suit and tie stopped in front of them, Shining motioned to Rainbow first.

“Vodka and Buck.” His apparent drinking partner requested. When the bartender gave her a quizzical look she rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Yeah yeah, get it out of your system buddy. I know you have some back there, I saw it.” An energy drink and liquor wouldn’t be his first choice of drink, maybe not even his tenth. To each their own, he supposed.

The bartender then turned to him and waited. He wasn’t really an alcohol guy. In guard training he had gone out a couple of times with his buddies and shared a few Pony Blue Ribbons with them, but that wasn’t something he could do now. He wasn’t some recruit, he was a proper guard at a proper bar. Plus, he had a mare he needed to impress. It needed to be classy, like something his dad would drink.

“Whiskey, neat.” He told the stallion. That was something an important and dignified pony like him was supposed to drink. It was adult and mature. More important of all, it was a proper drink.

The bartender nodded and fired up the horn on his head. In no time flat, the two glasses sat down in front of them. In return, Shining pushed the appropriate amount of bits for both drinks right back to him. The stallion behind the bar picked up the bits and put them in one of his pockets and trotted off without a word spoken between them.

Shining grabbed the glass in his magic and raised it in Rainbow’s direction for a toast, only to find her already downing some of it. He mumbled a word in a foreign language that his dad usually said before drinking, and then took a drink. It burned going down and made him want to cough, but he held off that feeling well enough. Then it settled in his mostly empty stomach and that was a feeling he could not hold off.

“Ooh, bad idea.” He muttered to himself and sat the glass back down. He guessed that Rainbow Dash already had something to eat because half of her drink was already gone and she seemed unfazed by it. “So, why are you in Las Pegasus?” The decision not to tack ‘business or pleasure’ on the end of that was something he thanked himself for immediately. She already thought of him as a fool anyway, no need to confirm it.

“Flying competition.” The wings on her back flexed and twitched with the words. Pegasus body language wasn’t something he was well-versed in, but he knew the language of macho-ness well enough to know physical bragging when he saw it. “There’s a whole bunch of events tomorrow, so I might enter into more than just the flying one, y’know? I need to show everypony just how great I am.”

“And you’re drinking tonight?” Shining nodded towards the concoction in front of her.

“I can handle it, trust me.” To punctuate that, she took another swig from her drink. “My metabolism is just as fast as me, it won’t mess with me one bit!” Rainbow puffed her chest out and gave that cocky grin that she seemed so fond of.

“Hey, you know your body better than I do.” Shining conceded with a shrug. He decided to wave down the bartender again to hopefully get something in his stomach to absorb his drink. Something greasy and full of carbs if he could help it.

“We could always change that.” Rainbow leaned a bit closer and muttered to him.

Once again, that damned blush returned. This time it did not limit itself or work slowly and instead engulfed his entire head in an instant. The blood rushing to his ears made it impossible to hear what Rainbow Dash told the bartender. Shining had to turn away from the mare for a moment and take a very deep breath.

That was the closest they had been so far in their limited interaction and yet something still stuck in his mind, something he could not shake. She smelled like she had just been flying. The smell of ionized air lingered on her fur and the static buildup made his own coat stand on end whenever she leaned in. She smelled like lightning and had a presence like thunder and that was more intoxicating than the glass of whiskey sitting beside him.

“You good?” Rainbow’s words got through to him again and he swiveled back towards her. When she saw his red cheeks, he could see her suppress a laugh. If she wasn’t aware of how much she had been getting to him, she was now acutely aware of it. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” She added with a little chuckle.

“Yeah…uh…sorry.” Shining cleared his throat and took another ill-advised sip from his glass. “I’m not very used to…uh…well, this.”

“What? Mares being a little more aggressive?”

“Flirting in general, really.” He admitted to both himself and Rainbow. “A lot of the flirting I’ve been part of has been…chaste kisses and subtle looks, promises of future dates. Maybe a verbal hint here or there but not…well…you.” Truly, in his life, Rainbow Dash was now unique in terms of personality.

“I’m one-of-one, Shining Armor.” Rainbow declared with pride. “Trust me, you won’t find a pony like me anywhere else in all of Equestria.” A plate of fries dripping with cheese was placed in front of the pegasus and she moved the bar food between the two of them.

“You are certainly one of a kind.” Shining picked up a fry in his magic and popped it into his mouth. He could see the effect of his words immediately as the mare sat up a bit straighter and the grin on her face somehow became even more satisfied. “And again, I just want to apologize for staring so much earlier by the pool. I don’t know what came over me, I was just…entranced by you.” He could not stop himself from staring then and he could not stop himself from talking now. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’re beautiful and I’m a sucker for beautiful mares so…”

Now it was time for Rainbow Dash to be flustered. A very slight blush crept up her cheeks and she blinked a few times. There was no doubt why she seemed to revel in how much she made him squirm, it was a little fun to see another pony flustered because of something you said. Especially when it broke through certain walls that pony had pretty visibly erected.

“Beautiful…?” Rainbow Dash turned to him after a few seconds and asked.

“Stunning, really.” Shining confirmed. That was not even an exaggeration. He had been stunned the first time he had seen her. It was the honest truth. “I couldn’t look away because you are just something else.”

“You are so corny.” Rainbow Dash laughed and gave him a light tap in the chest with a hoof. “Sweet Celestia, you are trying sooooo hard!” She picked up a fork with her wing and stabbed a few fries before stuffing them in her mouth.

“What?” Now it was Shining’s turn to be incredulous. “Really? I’m sitting here being honest and you’re calling me corny? I wasn’t even trying, I was just talking from the heart!” He couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he pulled the little plastic basket of fries away from her.

“Then I think you need to try a little harder, Champ.” Rainbow spoke as she chewed. “Where are you from?”

“Canterlot, why?”

“Yeah, see of course that stuff would work up there.” Rainbow nodded at her own analysis as a few more cheese covered fries were stabbed by her fork. “You tell a mare up there that they’re the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen and I bet they swoon onto a big fainting couch or something. I bet all it takes to get some action is a few lines from a bad romance novel.”

The fact that his mother wrote romance novels almost spilled out, but he wisely held that back. The last thing he needed to do was give Rainbow Dash anymore ammunition. At least he knew what came naturally to him, and what he had been raised around, was no use here. He needed to find out just exactly what buttons to press to get her as much as she got him.

“So why are you here all the way from Canterlot? Bachelor party? Some business conference? Honeymoon?” That last word sounded suspiciously curious.

“Just celebrating.” Shining shrugged and snagged a few more of the fries from the basket. “Just passed the final exam for becoming a royal guard and I figured I deserved a little vacation.” There was no reason to tell the whole truth, that his parents had paid for the whole thing. Some things were better kept to himself.

“The royal guard, huh?” The wry smile that wound its way across the mare’s features signaled that there was yet another barb headed his way. “What’s that training like? Do they have you help little old ladies cross the street and see how long you can stand in the same place without smiling?”

“Okay, hey!” Shining sat up a bit straighter and huffed. “The final qualification exam is a pretty long and very physical, I’ll have you know. We have to hike up that entire mountain, then us unicorns have an offensive and defensive magic test, then we do some combat training…then comes the patience test.” He made sure to whisper out that last one. “It’s not easy alright!”

“Pffft puuuh-lease!” Rainbow waved a hoof at him. “That sounds like a total cakewalk! I train harder than that every week!” She leaned over and poked his chest a bit firmer than before. “Hmm, not bad.”

“Not bad?” Shining scoffed. “I workout every morning. I work pretty hard to keep in shape!”

“Imagine working to stay in shape.” Rainbow reached out with one of her wings and touched the tip of his nose with a feather. “You should just try being naturally awesome like me.”

Shining Armor had no answer for that or any reply. He was once again left speechless by the audacity of the mare in front of him. It wasn’t even grating, if anything it left him all the more enamored. His whole life had been filled with reserved ponies who thought they were great and expected you to think it without questioning why. The reserved aura of importance that radiated from the alicorns who were present in his life was soft and warm, but Rainbow was like being near a blast furnace with the door open.

“Hey wait-” Rainbow Dash tilted her head to the side and stared him dead in the eyes. “-you’re in the royal guard and you chose to stay at this hotel?” She motioned grandly at the tacky space around them. “I mean, really? Don’t you see enough of this already?”

“It wasn’t my choice.” Shining had to defend himself even if it meant he opened himself up to more jabs from the pegasus sitting by him. “My parents paid for the room, I guess they thought they were being cute.” He looked around and pointed at the chandelier that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. “I mean, look, the actual dining hall chandelier is a mid-millennium abstract design not…mass produced like that. Then the staff…” Shining Armor groaned and rolled his eyes. “...castle staff don’t have a required uniform and they haven’t for at least two-hundred years. I don’t think they ever wore maid dresses. Then there’s the guard armor, dear sweet Celestia the guard armor-”

“-you’re such an egghead!” Rainbow Dash burst into laughter so hard she began to teeter off of her seat. “I-I believe you, don’t worry. I just wasn’t expecting you to do that. I thought you were some braindead guard, not a nerd.”

“I can be both!” He closed his eyes and kicked himself as soon as the words left his mouth. “I mean, I can be a nerd and a guard. I’m not braindead…not usually.” Today felt like an exception rather than the rule. “Maybe sometimes…listen-I’m just passionate about accuracy.”

“Oh I’m sure you are, Champ.” Rainbow downed the rest of her drink and sat the empty glass on the bar. Her magenta eyes focused on it for a few moments and one of her wings twitched for a split-second. “So I’m racing tomorrow and you should totally come see me, I mean if you have the time.” She shrugged like she didn’t care if he did or not, but the way she spoke said otherwise. “Everypony deserves a chance to see greatness in action, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Shining smiled and nodded. “I’ve heard this place is full of amazing shows, but something tells me you’ll beat them all.” He truly did mean that. If her actual skill lived up to the boasting, then she might be the most marvelous mare in Equestria. It was a high bar, but she had thoroughly convinced him of her own awesomeness.

“Oh no…” Rainbow Dash’s face fell into a horrified frown as her eyes looked right past him and towards the door to the restaurant. “Nononono please. Not now!” The pegasus began to get up but stopped and placed a hoof on his leg. “Look, I have to go. Sorry. It’s…uh…I just have to get out of here.”

“Hey.” He gripped her hoof with his own and furrowed his brow. “Are you okay? How can I help?” Shining began to stand up with her, his hoof still on top of hers. “Seriously, whatever it is-”

“Rainbow Dash! There you are!”

Shining spun around to find another pegasus mare walking right towards them at a brisk pace. She was a dead ringer for Rainbow Dash herself except for the short coral pink mane on her head. If that were to be covered up then there was a good chance he might confuse the mares for one another. She had a positively massive smile across her face and her magenta eyes twinkled as she approached the two ponies at the bar.

“Hi mom…” Rainbow Dash groaned out from behind him.

“I’ve been looking all over for you!” Rainbow Dash’s mom rushed up to her and immediately entombed her daughter in a hug. “You know you have a race tomorrow, you need to get in bed early tonight and get plenty of rest!” One of her sky blue wings picked up the glass that Rainbow had recently finished and gave it a sniff. “Is this alcohol, you shouldn’t be drinking that!”

Shining had to stifle a laugh at his compartiot’s misfortune, and for that Rainbow shot a heated glare right back at him. Her ears pinned to her head in frustration and her nostrils flared out as her mother berated her actions and habits. It was good to know that even somepony like Rainbow Dash could be humbled a little. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel bad for her at the same time, though.

“Mom, pleeeaaaase.” Rainbow Dash pleaded and pried herself away from her mom with a huff. “I was just taking a little break after flying and I got to talking with-”

“-with a stallion!” Windy twirled on her hooves to face Shining Armor, her eyes full of stars as she looked him over. “Did you know my Dashie is the fastest pony in all of Equestria? She was the first pony to do a Sonic Rainboom in-”

“Mom.”

“-you know, she’s single and would make a fantastic partner for somepony such as yourself.”

“Mom!”

“We’ve never had a unicorn in the family before. Imagine the foals-”:

“MOM!”

Rainbow Dash’s face was now about as red as it could get. The blush reached the very tips of her ears and spread down her neck and into her chest, turning her fur a light shade of purple. The entire restaurant was now silent around them and every pair of eyes were glued firmly on the mother and daughter by the bar. While the daughter was embarrassed and ashamed of the little outburst, the mother remained oblivious to the obvious faux pas.

“Uh…I can…go.” Shining Armor whispered and motioned to the door. “It was really nice talking to you Rainbow, and it was a pleasure meeting you too, ma’am.”

“Windy Whistles.” Rainbow’s mother said with a smile and took his hoof to shake it. “But please, don’t let me interrupt your little date! If I had known this was what Dashie was up to I wouldn’t have cut in!”

“Mom, it’s not a date.” Rainbow hissed at her mother as politely as she could. “We were just talking, okay? Seriously, I just met the guy. We were just having a fun conversation.” She then turned to Shining Armor, still red as a tomato. “I-I’m really sorry…about her. Uh…enjoy your night.” She then leaned in and whispered. “If you don’t want to see me race, I get it. It’s whatever.”

“Hey, I’ll be there.” He responded with a smile. After all, she had invited him and it would be rude to just bail. Even if her mother was one of the most embarrassing mares he’d ever seen. He would just have to find a spot far far away from Windy if anything.

“Bye Shining Armor!” Windy waved at him as she was dragged away by Rainbow. “If you want to talk to my Dashie more our room number is-” Before it could be uttered, a hoof was slapped over her mouth. A chorus of chuckles and laughs flew from the patrons, which only served to make the mares move faster from the premises.

Then every eye fell on him instead. He only offered them a genuine shrug, which everypony returned in kind then went back to their own conversations. His stomach grumbled and he was reminded exactly why he came down here in the first place, he still needed to eat.

—-

Shining had spent most of the evening in one of the casinos, mainly just testing his luck. He had gone from game to game and played as long as a hot streak followed him and then bailed once he started to lose. It had netted him a small gain of about one-hundred bits but most of that had been hard won at a blackjack table with a dealer who seemed to be his lucky charm.

Now he was out on the balcony right outside of his room. A city of mirth and vice spread out before him, the neon lights pushed back against the night to create a false dawn to keep the ponies that prowled the streets in a stupor of spending. He could see pegasi flitting about the sky as they brought in clouds to lightly sprinkle the city with rain, just enough to keep the greenery watered without interrupting the sunshine the area was known for.

He stood on his back legs and leaned against the railing and just basked in the night air. It was so much cooler here once the sun went down, but there was still that hint of hot desert air on the breeze. It tousled his mane and moved the fronds of the palm trees in the courtyard below.

“Hey.”

Shining spin around to face the direction of the voice and found Rainbow Dash hovering a few feet above his patio. A few bits of cloud stuck in her polychromatic mane which she quickly shook off. She looked at one of her hooves nonchalantly and checked it for any imperfections with half-lidded eyes.

“Oh, hey!” Shining couldn’t stop a dumb grin from crossing his face. “Didn’t think I’d see you until tomorrow at your race.” When she raised an eyebrow he stammered for a second before he found the words. “N-not that I’m complaining! Just surprised!”

“Yeah, well I was just out flying and trying to clear my head. Then I saw you and decided to stop by.” Her words were cool and carefree, a far cry from the teasing firebrand from earlier. A hoof came up to her mane and picked a few more bits of cloud fluff from the colorful strands. “I mean, I feel like I gotta apologize about my mom again.”

“Nah, c’mon.” Shining waved a hoof at her words dismissively. “We both know you just couldn’t stay away. You wouldn’t be the first mare.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow and suppressed a smile that was threatening to break out across her features. “Well-okay, maybe you would be. Not a bad first though, right? I mean, I feel honored.”

“You’re such a nerd.” Rainbow Dash let the smile win and laughed at his little act. She went from hovering vertically to horizontally and looked as if she was laying down on her back in the air above him. “I’m here trying to be cool and sincere and junk and you’re just being a goofball!”

“I’m just trying to lighten the mood! …is it working?”

“A little.”

Shining reached up and offered his hoof to the mare floating above him. Rainbow looked at his hoof, then him, rolled her eyes and placed her own hoof in his. An arc of static electricity jumped between the two of them and caused the fur on his leg to stand on end. She contorted herself in the air so she was right side up once again, all the while not letting go of his hoof, and lowered herself down to the balcony. He could see her cheeks start to get a hint of red across them, but it faded once all four of her hooves hit the concrete.

“And you don’t have to apologize about your mom, really.” Shining reassured his conversation partner. “I get it, parents can get weird about their kids.” He puffed out his cheeks and thought of his own family. “You should see the way my parents freak out about my little sister. They might be as bad as your mom.”

“My dad is just as bad.” Rainbow muttered. The two ponies both leaned on the railing. “Thank Celestia he’s not here or I might’ve died from embarrassment. Uuugggh I can’t stop thinking about how lame she made me look.”

“I don’t know, I think you’re cute when you’re being publicly humiliated by your mother.” For that he received a swift punch in the shoulder from Rainbow and a little glare. “Ow!” He said with a chuckle and rubbed the spot she had struck. “I was kidding, I don’t think you could ever be cute.” This time he was hit a little harder, which elicited a bigger laugh from the stallion. “Well I don’t know what you want me to call you now!”

When Shining had first laid eyes on her, and even when he had first started talking to her, he had felt something akin to being intimidated by the mare. Now though, while he still didn’t feel totally relaxed in her presence, it was something he was more familiar with. It was just tension. The same tension he had felt around Cadance when they had first spent real time around one another. The difference here was that he was a grown stallion now and could control himself better, well at least a little better.

“How about ‘awesome’, or ‘amazing’, or ‘the best thing you’ve ever seen.’ Those are all better than ‘cute’.” Rainbow huffed and her wings twitched on her back. Despite the agitated body language there was still that hint of a smile, so Shining knew he wasn’t too far off of the correct path forward.

“Okay then, you’re all of the above. I mean it, and I see both of the princesses pretty regularly so that’s saying something.”

Rainbow did not have a rebuttal or anything to say after that. She smiled and shook her head a bit, but said nothing. The pegasus did lean towards him a bit though and he could feel her wing brush against his side. The feathers flexed out enough so he could feel their delicate yet sturdy touch. They stood like that and just enjoyed the night air and the closeness for a few minutes before Rainbow broke the silence.

“Y’know, I don’t think I believe the whole thing about me being the first mare unable to stay away from you.” She nudged him with a shoulder. “Be honest, I bet you have mares falling all over you back in Canterlot. I mean c’mon. You’re a royal guard, your name is Shining Armor for Celestia’s sake! It’s like you were designed by a committee for a bad romance novel.” The whole spiel was accompanied by wild hoof gestures and exaggerated, if not cartoonish, expressions. It got a pretty good laugh out of Shining Armor.

“Well, to be honest, not really?” Shining just shrugged. “If they are falling over me then I guess I’m blind or oblivious, which I wouldn’t doubt.” The smile on his face died and he let out a deep sigh as the familiar visage of a pink alicorn pranced through his head. “There’s only ever been one mare I’ve ever really…well, I guess noticed isn’t the right word. She’s the only one whose attention mattered to me.” His eyes fell to the ground far below and he tracked the movements of a few ponies across the courtyard. “That’s…uh…over now, I guess.”

“Oh…sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be.” Shining waved a hoof at her. “She’s a very important pony, and at the end of the day what she does is a lot more important than me.” He took a long deep breath to beat back some emotions that were creeping up his throat from his heart. “It’s tough, but…whatever.” He shrugged.

“Her loss, right?” Dash nudged him again. “I don’t care how big or important I get, I could never forget the ponies who mean a lot to me. Like my parents, I know they’re…suffocating, but I wouldn’t be me without them. I wouldn’t be me without my friends either.” That kind of loyalty was just as refreshing as her overconfidence at this point of his life, and for much of the same reason.

“Yeah, her loss.” Shining mumbled. “Sorry for bringing the whole vibe down.” Shining chuckled bitterly. “I really didn’t mean to, Rainbow. Late nights, heavy hearts. I’m sure you know how it goes.”

“Well, not really.”

“What?” He had to scoff. “You’re talking about me having mares all over me, but look at you.” Shining motioned at her entire body, from flank to face. “You're a walking cyclone of charisma and color and you’re telling me you don’t have ponies frothing at the mouth to get a piece?”

Rainbow Dash’s chest puffed out at the praise and he felt her wings ruffle with pride. That smug satisfied grin, the one she had been wearing for most of the day, appeared once again. The high passed as quickly as it came and it died with a little shrug.

“When you move as fast as I do, it’s hard for ponies to keep up when they keep falling over themselves to get close.” Shining felt the mare press against his side as she spoke. Her wing lifted and settled across his back. The primaries tickled the ridge of his spine and made his fur stand on end.

“Sometimes you have to slow down to let them get close, y’know.”

One of his hooves went over her back below her wings and he gave the pegasus a squeeze. Rainbow was very squeezable, and even a light squeeze drew her body a bit closer to him. Her coat was sleek and short and felt different than anypony else’s he had felt before. There was a certain amount of fluff in the coats of most ponies, but it felt like the wind had stripped a majority of Rainbow’s away. It was short and smooth, it felt like anything that hit it would slide right off without much effort.

“I’m slowing down now, aren’t I?” Rainbow her head so she was looking at him. There was not a hint of hesitation in those eyes, not one shred of uncertainty. Fire filled her eyes as she stared into his.

“Or maybe I’m just the first pony to keep up.” He retorted with an eyebrow raised.

“Not a chance, Champ.”

Rainbow Dash leaned in. She smelled of ozone and of fresh rain. It was like he was about to dive headfirst into a thunderhead, and he felt no fear at that notion. Instead, he did just that and pushed forward into the storm that drew ever closer. Both of them closed their eyes as their lips connected. Shining brought his hoof up to rest against her cheek.

Even her kiss was electric. He could feel Rainbow restrain herself and resist from pushing for more for too fast, he could feel her slow down for him to catch up. He, likewise, did his best to not overtake her. He wanted to go just as fast as she was willing and no more.

There was no telling how long the kiss lasted, but both ponies were out of breath by the time it broke. Both the unicorn and the pegasus had deep blushes and could not control the smiles plastered across their faces. Rainbow pushed her cheek against his hoof and rubbed against it approvingly.

“You’re definitely coming to my race tomorrow, right?” Rainbow was once again the one to break the silent stalemate between them. He was more than happy to let her because his brain was still failing to grasp at anything material. It was still lost in the newly formed memory.

“Y-yeah…yeah, definitely.” He nodded.

“Good, because…because I really need to get some sleep before then.” Rainbow Dash looked away for a moment and cursed under her breath. “Sorry to kiss and run, Shining.”

“Hey, I get it. You gotta be great, don’t let me stop you.”

Rainbow Dash smiled and pulled away from the stallion. He let her go and watched as she took to the sky, leaving nothing but a rainbow trail in her wake and a stallion with a heart full of butterflies.

Just The Once

The elevator door opened and Shining Armor trotted out into the lobby of the Celestia’s Palace hotel and resort. The morning sun shone through the glass paneled ceiling overhead and bathed the faux marble in light. He took a deep breath as the sunlight hit his coat and warmed his bones. He knew soon the sun would be intolerable this far south and the roof would be covered, but for now it felt good. It helped him wake up.

Thank Celestia for that, too. Sleep had not come easily last night and it had taken its toll. How could he sleep when Rainbow Dash refused to stop flying through his head all night? Just that one kiss had filled him with interminable thoughts, the likes of which had not plagued him since his teenage years. He thought he could control himself a little better compared to those heady times, but Rainbow had proven that wrong.

“Mister Shining Armor?” A mare came out from behind the front desk, a unicorn wearing the same inaccurate silver guard armor, with an envelope held aloft in her magical grasp. “We have a letter for you, we were told to let you know it’s urgent.” She pushed the sealed letter towards him with a smile. “We do offer express postage if you need to respond. You can just come to the front desk and we’ll take care of it for you.”

“Of course, thank you.” He nodded and took the envelope in his own magic.

“Have a good day, sir!”

“You too.”

Shining held the letter aloft and looked it over. The address to the hotel was written on the front in eloquent cursive. The return address was Canterlot, but just Canterlot. It had no specific place in the city. His name was on the front, as was a depiction of his cutie mark. The stamp in the corner was Equestria’s flag. He flipped it over to check the seal, and that was when his heart sank. Imprinted in baby blue ink was Cadance’s cutie mark.

“Come on…” Shining lamented to himself. Why did she have to do this now? He was about to have a fun day watching Rainbow Dash and hopefully hanging out with her a bit more. The last thing he wanted or needed was Cadance unilaterally deciding they were a thing again through a letter. “What if it’s important though…?” That was the problem. What if it was a problem with Twilight or one of his parents? “She would’ve come herself if it was an emergency, right?” The answer he came up with was ‘definitely’. After all, a letter takes a lot longer to reach its destination than a flight in a royal chariot. “So I’ll just deal with this later…” Shining mumbled and stuffed the letter into his saddlebag.

That was a future-Shining problem. Present-Shining had a day to enjoy, a race to watch, and a mare to cheer on. That was the plan for the day and he was not going to let it get bogged down by drama from Cadance or anypony else. This was supposed to be simple, fun, and relaxing. It would be as long as he had a choice in the matter.

With a bit more frustration than he would like, the stallion trotted out of the hotel and into the sun soaked streets of Las Pegasus. Usually there would be no clouds in the sky of the city, but today was different. There were numerous rings made of clouds that hung in the air in various spots above him. If he followed their trail he could almost make out a course but it kept disappearing behind buildings. He assumed it went all through the city, but how in the world was he supposed to watch it then?

“Shining Armor!” There was no time to react to the voice as suddenly his front leg was scooped up and interlocked with a light blue hoof. “Oh, wonderful to see you! Rainbow Dash said you were going to watch her race. I’m so glad I could catch you!” It was Windy Whistles, Rainbow Dash’s mom, because of course it was. She was happily chatting away as she dragged him along beside her. “I’ll need help cheering for my Dashie since Bow-Bow is my husband-isn’t here! You’ll definitely do!”

Then he saw what she meant. Under one wing was what looked like a giant poster board, which he could see a variety of colors on and on her back was what looked to be a foam helmet of Rainbow Dash’s mane. Then she was also wearing a vest with a litany of buttons featuring her daughter’s face, cutie mark, or name.

“Oh no…” Shining whispered.

He was in it now, and there was no way Windy would let him back out. He had seen just how insistent the mare could be last night and knew that worming his way out of this was not in the cards. What he had not known was just how fanatical Windy was about her daughter. Rainbow had said her parents were suffocating and Shining thought he understood, but apparently he had absolutely no idea just what suffocating meant when it came to parenting.

“What was that, Shining?”

“Oh!” Shining cleared his throat and focused on the path in front of him and keeping in step with Rainbow’s mom. “Sorry Miss Whistles, you caught me by surprise back there! I wasn’t expecting you to whisk me away.” He turned on the charm and activated his ‘guard voice’ that he kept in his back pocket to deal with ponies just like Windy Whistles. “Here I thought I was supposed to do that to charming mares such as yourself, not the other way around!”

“Ohohoho, you’re such a gentlecolt!” Windy giggled and patted his leg as they trotted along through the solid path atop the clouds. “So polite, but you don’t need to call me Miss Whistles. You can call me Windy.”

“Ah, of course Windy. My apologies.” Shining smiled and nodded towards her. “Now, if you don’t mind me asking, where are we watching the race from?” Even as they trotted through Las Pegasus surrounded by surging crowds all looking upwards at the airborne racetrack, he spotted no stands.

“The stands get lifted into the air once the race starts, of course!” Windy exclaimed. “So we have to hurry and find a good spot where she can see us!”

“Of course…” Shining said through clenched teeth. Rainbow Dash was going to kill him if she saw him sitting next to her mother. Somehow he would need to get ahead of this and make sure that Rainbow knew he was an innocent hostage and not a willing collaborator.

“Now let me tell you all about my Dashie-”

—-

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. It had been a very long time since she was this nervous about a race and it was a very weird feeling. A whole cloud of butterflies had taken up residence in her gut and refused to leave, even after every counterpunch she could think of to throw at them. They still remained there.

Right now her and the other dozen contestants for the race were penned up in a little cloud building right by the starting line. The building itself was nothing fancy, just a floor, four walls and a roof. It was hastily constructed to keep them out of the sun while they waited for the race to actually begin.

She knew all of the other ponies here. It seemed like there was a rotating cast of twenty something ponies that were at these things. A lot of them were from Ponyville, but a majority were from Cloudsdale. So no matter who they were, there was a good chance she knew them on some personal level. That, of course, made kicking their butts in these a lot sweeter.

Rainbow crept over to the door and pushed it open just enough so that she could see the bleachers that had been raised from the ground below. She knew that’s where her mom would be, she always wanted to be near the finish line. It was easy to pick her mother out with the big dumb foam helmet that looked like Rainbow’s mane. What she did not expect to see next to her mother was Shining Armor. Yet there he was!

She ducked back inside and could feel her face grow hot. What was her mom telling him? Probably every story she could think of and then some more on top. What was he even doing with her? Shining better not have gone looking for her, that was for sure! Or else Dash was going to make sure to give him a swift kick somewhere sensitive!

“Dash, you good?” Thunderlane poked her side. That made her aware that not only was she blushing profusely but her wings were ruffled and puffed out at her sides.

“Yeah, yeah.” She collected herself and took a deep breath. The wings on her sides ‘deflated’ quickly and she got her blush under control. “Just a tiny bit nervous, y’know? Not a lot! Just, like, a teensy tiny little bit.” Admitting even a sliver of weakness to a fellow competitor hurt, but it was better than telling the whole truth that she was flustered over some stupid Canterlot stallion.

“Aha!” Thunderlane exclaimed as he ran a dark gray hoof through his bluish-gray mohawk. “You’ve seen me practicing then. You know I’m coming for first place today.” He grinned at her and gave her a wink. Not only did Dash roll her eyes, but she threw a disgusted ‘ugh’ at him to boot.

“You wish, Thunderlane!” Dash scoffed. “I’ve seen pigeons in Ponyville fly faster than you! A heavy practice for you is a slow flight around Sugarcube Corner!” That earned more than a few chuckles from the other racers in the building and seemed to cow the stallion’s burst of confidence.

“Hey! I’ve actually been practicing for this one!” Thunderlane defended himself with a raised hoof.

“We’ll have to see, won’t we?” It was Cloudchaser, the mare with the violet coat and ridiculous blue and white mane, who spoke up next. “Placement speaks louder than words, right?” The end of her spiky tail brushed under the stallion’s chin, which caused him to stand up completely straight and for red to creep up through his dark coat. “You don’t earn first place by talking about it or practicing.”

“Exactly!” Rainbow stomped her hoof on the ground and a groundswell of determination surged through her body. Whatever she had been frustrated with before left her mind like many a thought and the butterflies finally went away as well. “Practice is to get in shape, but you don’t practice to win! You race to win!”

A chorus of agreement went up from the ponies that joined her in the room. All of their wings flared out in a mix of pride and competitiveness that tried to match her own. Rainbow knew that deep down they didn’t want it as bad as she did. She knew that their hearts weren’t in it as much as hers was. They were hobbyists, not true competitors.

“Alright ponies!” A pegasus stallion sauntered into the building. He was light blue with a mostly bald head save for the combover that desperately tried to cover his scalp and he had a big bushy mustache. The black and white striped shirt let them all know he would be the official for the race today. “I’m Starting Gun, and I’m here to go over the rules with you all before we go out there.” There was a groan from the pegasi. “I know, boring stuff you probably already know.”

Rainbow Dash just tuned him out. She knew the spiel. Five laps. Go through the rings. If you miss one, go back and get it. No bumping, no interference, and no fights. They were the same rules that every single race had. Instead she spent that valuable time psyching herself up with images of another medal on her neck, another trophy on her shelf and Shining Ar-no, not that. This race was not about him. It was about Rainbow Dash. As all competitions and races involving flight should be. This was about winning. About superiority. About the rush of victory!

“Okay, let’s get out there and have a good race!” Starting Gun finished with a forced smile. “A good clean race.” He intimated with a raised wing that he pointed at each of them. “You all know your seeding, so you know your spots. Hop to it so we can get this shindig going.” The balding stallion pushed the doors open and ushered the ponies out.

Rainbow Dash made sure she was first in line and first into the fresh air and sunlight. As she exited the roar of the crowd filled her ears. A smile erupted across her face and she waved at the assembled ponies in the stands with a wing as she made her way to the comfortable first spot on the line.

“RAINBOW DASH! WOOOOOOOO!”

The telltale whooping of her mother reminded Dash of what she had been frustrated about earlier. Shining Armor was sitting right by Windy and was hooting and hollering all the same. Rainbow stared directly at the stallion and glared as hard as she could.

Shining immediately sat down and stopped making noise. Then he motioned at Dash’s mom with his hooves and pleaded with Dash with his eyes. He shrugged and waved his hooves about just out of Windy’s line of sight.

“Great, she got a hold of him first.” Dash had a feeling he wouldn’t try to humiliate her, it was a gut feeling but she trusted it. Of course her mom had dragged the poor stallion along in her bid to cheer Dash on. Hopefully he wasn’t having his ear talked off or being subjected to any awful stories. That was a distant hope, but it was one Rainbow Dash had to cling to.

“Rrrraaaaaacers!” Starting Gun belted out from the sideline. That was the signal for all of the pegasi to get in their stance and prepare themselves. One the official checked to see that all of them were indeed set, he continued with the ritual.

“Rrrrrrreaday!”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The world faded into the background. The only thing that existed were her wings, the air around her, and the course in front of her. Nothing else mattered.

“Set!”

Rainbow opened her eyes. Her wings flared out to her sides and raised up in preparation.

“TAKEOFF!”

Hooves pushed off from the cloud surface and wings all beat down with one another in almost perfect sync. There were a few seconds where Rainbow Dash did not hold the lead, just the first few moments after launch. About half of the other racers had a better first step and good initial burst. That advantage was wiped out almost immediately as Rainbow’s raw speed compensated for one of her few flaws. The gap between whatever place she had fallen to and first was closed in a few seconds.

After that, there was nothing anypony could do to take it from her. The blue blur dominated every turn, every straightaway, and every lap. The ponies who were racing her were physically gifted when it came to flying so she was never going to lap them and her lead was never going to be more than about ten lengths on the straightaways, but that was what domination looked like at these levels.

Five laps went by in a flash. It was a long course as it went all around the city and even through some tight turns between the hotels and casinos, but it was ultimately nothing. In ten minutes Rainbow Dash had completed the final lap and skidded to a halt right through the checkered tape to the appreciative roar of the crowd in the stands.

Sweat dappled Dash’s brow and she could feel her mane stick to the sides of her head and neck. The heat had taken a bit more out of her than anticipated, but that did not dampen the sweet rush of victory. It was intoxicating. Nothing else in the world could match the feeling of not just winning, but obliterating the competition. It was a high with no equal.

The victorious pegasus trotted over to the die of the track to make way for her fellow competitors and gave a bow to the crowd. One by one, the other pegasi finished and came to join her in waving to the crowd and accepting the cheers. They all had smiles as well, but they were the smiles of losers. Fake smiles held up by sore egos and bruised pride.

There was no grand ceremony here for handing out the winner’s accouterments. A medal was put over Rainbow’s head, one that featured Las Pegasus’ skyline, and a big golden trophy in the shape of Celestia’s Palace Hotel was placed at her side. The rest of it was a blur lost in the haze of victory.

It seemed like one moment she was up at the finish line and the next she was back down on the ground and waiting for the bleachers to be lowered from their spot. She was sure she had done some small little interview with a local paper and talked with some of the other racers, but that was all lost to the wind. It had been all routine so she had simply skated through it. This next part was something else though, she had never been excited to see one of her parents after a race. Then again, it wasn’t her mom who had her excited.

Shining Armor and Windy Whistles shot out from the crowd as soon as the stands hit the ground. They made a beeline right for Rainbow and in no time flat the victorious pegasus was entombed in another vice-like hug from her mother. Platitudes of ‘I’m so proud of you’, ‘you’re the best’, and ‘amazing as always’ poured from Windy’s lips. They slid off of Rainbow’s back like water. She had heard them all before.

“You were awesome!” Shining Armor’s voice broke through the buzz of Windy’s compliments. The stallion had a mile-wide smile on his face as he stood a few feet away from the mother and daughter. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a pony move!”

Rainbow Dash peeled herself away from her mother’s grip. She couldn’t be seen letting herself be babied and coddled by her mom, not in front of everypony else. So she stood up straight, puffed out her chest and leaned on her new trophy.

“Yeah, I am pretty awesome.” Rainbow declared nonchalantly. “And hey, I tried to tell you how great I was.” She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much she loved hearing him praise her.

“I never doubted you for a second.” Shining retorted.”I believed every word you told me, Rainbow. I just wasn’t prepared to see it with my own two eyes. You’re spectacular.”

Rainbow had to thank Celestia that she was still a little overheated from the race or else her red face might give away what she was feeling. When it wasn’t her parents, Dash loved hearing that kind of stuff. To hear a new pony sing her praises was akin to hearing your favorite song for the first time all over again. That heavenly tune would never fail to make her heart soar.

“Hey so…” Rainbow Dash had to play this cool, she didn’t want to seem desperate. “...I have to go put this stuff up in our room and probably take a shower, but do you wanna like…hang out some more today? Like get lunch or something?” Perfect. Not desperate and definitely not too forward. It was cool, just like her.

Now Shining Armor, he wasn’t as cool as her. Every time she spoke it seemed like it took his brain a few seconds to change gears, and during that time she could see him think through the possible responses. It was just so cute to see the smoke come out of his ears any time she did anything remotely forward.

“Uh…yeah!” He finally spoke after a few seconds. “Yeah, I’d love to! We can…meet in the lobby in like an hour? If that’s enough time for you to unwind, I mean.” He was like a nervous schoolcolt as he stumbled over his words and acquiesced to demands she hadn’t even made yet. He was such a pony pleaser. Not that Rainbow Dash minded that.

“Cool.” Rainbow said with a nod. “Sounds good, see you there.”

“I’ll meet you up in the room, sweetie.” Windy nudged her daughter. “I need to go talk to some of the photographers to see what it’ll cost to get their pictures of you crossing the finish line!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes but gave her mother a nod. As long as she did not have to be there as her mom harassed poor ponies for their pictures, then she didn’t care what the older mare did. A small hug was exchanged between the two and then Rainbow grabbed her trophy and launched herself skyward again.

It was important after a race not to push yourself. The cooldown period was just as important as the warmup, but something deep down made Dash push herself a bit harder. It was not a leisurely glide back to her hotel room, but an aggressive blitz.

She wasted no time once her hooves hit the patio. The door to her room from the balcony had been left open just a crack, just so she didn’t have to go through the interior of the hotel. Once she was inside, she tossed her new trophy onto her bed and the medal soon followed it.

The mare stood in the middle of the room and basked in the cool air spat out by the air conditioner. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to get her heart rate back down to an acceptable level. Whether it had been raised due to her flight back here or the prospect of hanging out with Shining Armor some more was up for debate, but she was okay with both sharing the blame.

The next half hour was spent showering. She hadn’t needed that much time to get clean and most of the time was spent simply relaxing in the shower. It was a time for her mind to go blank and to get a good mental reset. It was a shift down from competitor to just being Rainbow Dash again. That was a split that in her younger years had not existed. The lines could still blur nowadays every once in a while, but she was a lot better about keeping them separate.

Once she was done and fully dried off, she went back into the main room and found her mom laying down on one of the beds. The older mare wasn’t asleep, in fact she was studying Rainbow Dash’s newest medal intently. Next to her on the bed were several photos she had somehow acquired, all of them featured Dash crossing the finish line or with her trophy.

“Hey mom.”

“Oh, Dashie!” Windy sat up in bed. “Good, I wanted to ask you-”

“-the race is over, mom.” Rainbow had to interrupt her mother. Getting into a bunch of technicalities over what she had done was not something she wanted to do right now. “I know, my get-off was slow again. But hey, I made up for it like I always do. Turn five gave me some trouble, but Thunderlane kept trying to push me from the inside. Trust me, I know.”

“Nonono!” Windy got to her hooves and approached her daughter. “Well, those are very good points, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. Your father will be happy to know you’re self-scouting though, very important.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “No, I wanted to just say that Shining Armor seems like a very nice stallion. He’s very polite.”

“Okay, yeah. I wanted to talk to you about him too.” Rainbow was reminded that they had sat together in the stands and was suddenly feeling annoyed again. “Did you really have to drag him up there with you? I mean, he’s just a guy I’m talking to and hanging out with! It’s just like, y’know, a little thing for Las Pegasus. After today we probably won’t even see each other again.”

“Well sure, I get that.” Windy nodded, but Rainbow Dash knew she didn’t mean it. She didn’t get it. It was a mom thing to be charmed by some stallion she saw her daughter with and try to get something out of it. “I’m just saying, he’s very nice. He’s handsome…maybe just….give him your address or get his. Stay in touch.”

“Ugh. Moooom.” Rainbow sounded whiny and she knew it, but it was the only way that her parents ever listened to her. “Look, okay. It’s nothing. Right now he’s not even a friend. He’s a guy I met last night who’s just fun to talk to. So just drop it. We’re going to hang out and have lunch and just have a good day. Alright? No expectations.”

“I’m just saying that I approve!” Windy said with a shrug. “That’s all.”

“Yeah, okay.” Rainbow Dash knew her mother. She knew how the mare thought. This was just more overreach, more involvement in Dash’s life. “I’m just going to head down to the lobby and wait, I guess. I’ll be back…later.”

The way Windy just had to hover over everything she did was infuriating. She was a grown mare! She had a job and her own place! Her mother was lucky that she had even been invited out here and now Rainbow was sincerely regretting that kindness. Nopony else would decide or have any say in how she lived her life and she would not let them influence her.

“Okay. Love you, Dashie.”

“...love you too, mom.”

—-

Shining Armor closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he walked out of the elevator. He had spent the last hour trying to make sure he didn’t smell like sweat and nerves for his date-was it a date?-for his hangout session with Rainbow Dash. The shower could wash away the sweat, but he already knew that nothing he did could prevent the electric mare from smelling the nerves. It was something that she seemed to pick out like a hawk.

He was reminded of his first date with Cadance, back in those halcyon days where they actually had time for one another. They had gone to a mall together, had lunch at a pizza place, and then went to a movie together. He had been so nervous the whole time that the trembles still echoed through his limbs. Of course the two royal guards that followed Cadance around like they were chained to her didn’t help his nerves back then.

Then again, what was Windy Whistles if not a guard for her daughter? It sure felt like the mare was chained to the younger pegasus. Rainbow Dash probably would’ve preferred a cold stoic guard over her mother, though. He had no doubt about that. It might make her look cool, unlike Windy.

Rainbow Dash was already down in the lobby and waiting. She was sitting on one of the stone benches that lined the walls, this one on the same side as the restaurant they had formally met at last night. Shining picked his way through the crowd until he made his way over to the spot she was posted up at.

As soon as he emerged from behind a group of tourists, Rainbow Dash’s bright magenta eyes lit up. He waved and then reached out to offer a hoof. She took it and he pulled her up from the stone bench she had been waiting on.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Shining rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly. “If I had known you were already down here I would’ve moved a lot faster.” It wasn’t a great feeling to keep a mare waiting on him. He had meant to be down here before her.

“Nah, it’s okay.” Rainbow waved him off. “I just really needed to get away from my mom. It’s not your fault.”

“Ah, yeah. Makes sense.” He felt less bad about it now, but he knew that his guilt was not absolved quite yet. “So, wanna just take a walk and see if anything sticks out?”

“Sure, I’m game.”

So the pair began walking. They stayed relatively close together, close enough so that the edge of Rainbow’s wing brushed his side so he could feel when she began to turn he could easily follow. Their hooves carried them out of the hotel and into the southern sun.

“My mom…” Rainbow Dash started as they trotted out into the busy streets. “...she didn’t like, tell you any embarrassing stories or anything, right?” The mare tensed up as she spoke and her feathers bristled.

“Already forgot all of them.” Shining Armor said with a nod. “Don’t worry, I tried not to listen.” Windy had been insistent on regaling him with everything Rainbow Dash had ever done and even some of the more…questionable memorabilia that the parents of the speedster had collected. Shining had done his best to just smile and nod without absorbing any of it. “Braces, forgot about it. That time you got your head stuck in a bannister and the fire department was called? Out of my mind.” That didn’t mean he wouldn’t tease her just a little bit with the more harmless ones. “Your first kiss ending with his lips getting caught on your braces? Never heard it once in my life.”

“I’m going to kill her…” Rainbow grumbled through gritted teeth. Her face was bright red and her wings were fully fluffed up in frustration. “Ohhh I’m going to…” She devolved into little grumbles and curses beneath her breath.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” Shining was trying not to laugh, but a few chuckles slipped out as he spoke. “I really did my best to ignore her but she talks a lot. You weren’t exaggerating when it came to your parents.” Rainbow’s ear twitched and he knew that meant it was time to switch tracks. This line of teasing would do him no favors over the course of the day. “You were amazing today, by the way. During the race, I mean.”

“Yeah?” That got her ears to perk up again and the rest of her body language followed with it. Frustration began to melt away and she looked at him with the expectation of more praise for her efforts.

“I mean, you were just sensational.” A breathy excitedness permeated his words. “The second turn of lap three, the green mare got inside and was about to overtake you but then you pulled a fifth gear out of nowhere and shut her down. Then there was the very first straightaway after the first turn on lap one where you just rocketed ahead of everypony else. It was like you were shot from a cannon.” Shining could not help himself from heaping compliments on the mare as they walked. “You were in such command the entire time that it was like you could see the entire track at any given moment. Every time one of the others tried something to even attempt to get ahead, you were on top of it. You were brilliant.”

“I-” Rainbow Dash’s mouth was agape. Her jaw moved for a few moments but it found no sounds to hold onto. Eventually the mare swallowed and took a little breath. “Y-you picked all of that up…? Really…?” For once, she was in awe of him.

“Your mom pointed some stuff out, but once she explained a few things the rest I picked up pretty easily.” They stopped in the middle of the path, the stream of ponies split around them like they were a rock in a gentle river. “I didn’t know racing was so…tactical. I always thought it was all about speed, but it seems like you have a brain to match even your wings.”

“Half of the time I don’t even think about it.” The usual supreme confidence did not fill those words. It was not a boast, it was a simple statement of fact. “I feel something and react, I don’t even think about it like a strategy or something.” She mulled on that for a moment. “Except when I mess up, then I do.” The mare looked at her hooves. “Like my stupid first step…I can’t get it right no matter how much I practice. I always feel like I’m late.”

“Maybe I can help?” He offered. “I’m not much of an athlete, but I’m a fast learner.”

“Sure, Champ.” There came that little nickname again and the associated smirk. “Maybe after we eat, though.”

“Yeah, alright.” Shining could agree to that. His natural urge to be helpful was supplanted by the rumbling in his stomach. “What are you feeling? Anything in particular?” He followed her eyes as they went up and down the street until they fell on one particular building down and across the street.

“I would kill for some pizza right now, actually.”

“Sounds good to me.” The comparison to his first date was once again not lost on him. It stung a little bit, but he wasn’t going to tell Rainbow Dash ‘oh can we do something else? You’re reminding me of my probably-ex.’ That wasn’t a recipe for success.

The duo made their way to the pizza place. The name on the front read ‘Geraldo’s’ and the open door let the smell of cooking pizzas waft into the street. Both ponies licked their lips and went inside. A little sign right inside instructed them to seat themselves in what was a surprisingly empty eatery. They chose a booth with a large menu already on the table.

“I’m feeling a Canterlot Style deep dish pizza…” Shining’s eyes settled on his favorite right away. “Some mushrooms and peppers.” No onions though. Usually he would opt for them, but the smell was not something he would put up with today.

“Ugh, no deep dish.” Rainbow stuck out her tongue and gave an exaggerated ‘bleh’. “Anything but that. Pizzas are meant to flat triangles, not…pies made of sauce and cheese.”

“They’re called ‘pizza pies’, Rainbow Dash.” Shining scoffed. He felt personally offended on behalf of his hometown and now he had to defend one of their specialties. “Princess Celestia was the one who asked if they could make it deeper like one-hundred years ago and even provided one of her very own royal cake pans to make it in. If it’s good enough for Princess Celestia, then surely it’s good enough for you.”

“Nope.” Dash answered as soon as he had finished speaking. “Just can’t eat it. Sorry Shining, but I’m not budging an inch here.” She seemed resolute in that position and Shining didn’t want to push her.

“Well who am I to argue?” He gave it up with a shrug. “Just a normal pizza then, no deep dish.” He was more than a little disappointed, but this was supposed to be a vacation from home. It wouldn’t hurt him to break from his habits. “Any specific toppings?”

“What you said earlier sounded great. Just throw some extra cheese on there and I’ll be happy.”

Eventually the waiter came around, delivered two glasses of water, and took their order. They both grumbled a bit about the pace of the service but fell into a silence afterwards. Shining didn’t want to heap too much adoration upon her and was worried about controlling the conversation.

“What does it feel like to fly?” The question just kind of slipped out. It had been on his mind for years at this point, but he had never bothered to ask anypony around him who could. “So many ponies I know have wings and never use them, so I guess I’ve never thought about it. Your race today really made me wonder, though.”

“Oh man…” A dopey grin spread across Rainbow’s face and she closed her eyes. The wings on her back spread out a bit in an attempt to catch a nonexistent breeze. “It’s the most freeing thing in the world. When I’m up there, it’s like nothing can touch me. I can focus and feel everything around me and be in total control of everything. I can move in every direction and I’m only limited by who I am.”

“So you have no limitations, is what you’re saying.”

“Now you’re catching on, Shining.” She smiled and opened her eyes again and that pleased blissful look turned cocky. “When I’m up there, nopony can stop me. Nopony. I’m the only thing that matters in the sky.”

“The only mare in the sky…” Shining recited the line from a very messed up comic he read in his youth. Rainbow Dash wasn’t the same as the character who said it, well maybe her ego was in the same general vicinity but she wasn’t as insane as the comic book character. Or at least Shining hoped she wasn’t.

“Yeah you get it.”

Shining wanted to tell her not to agree with the words of a murderous ‘superhero’ but she already suspected he was a nerd. Better to let her just think that than open his mouth and confirm it or to let her know what kind of weird comic books he read when he was younger.

“Yeah…” Well, it was time to change that subject or at least get back on track. “How long have you been doing all of this for? Racing competitively, I mean.”

“Since I got my cutie mark.” She put her wings back against her side and leaned against the padded back of the booth. “So about ten years now, I guess? Believe it or not, I didn’t always win either. I used to think all I needed was my speed and I could just burn myself out at full speed and coast once I ran out of juice.”

“So you learned to pace yourself.”

“Mostly.” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck and showed a rare ounce of humility. “Sometimes I still kinda let go and fly off of the handle. I have fun when I’m doing it, though.” There was a beat. “So what’s your special talent? Your cutie mark is a shield, right?”

“Defensive magic.” Shining Armor clarified. “I don’t like to brag, but I can make some really strong shields. Like, I doubt any mortal pony could break one if I really put my mind to it.” Maybe even an immortal pony. He had stood up to some of Cadance’s magic on a few occasions for a little bit when he had been practicing for the exams.

“Hey, that’s pretty cool! I mean, I hope you don’t ever have to use it. It’s cool though.” She pondered something for a moment. “Do you think one of them could stand up to a sonic rainboom?”

“Those are a myth, right?” Shining had heard of it at some point, he was sure of it. “Hey, wait…didn’t your mom say-noooooo.” He looked at her incredulously, his brow furrowed and mouth agape. “No way. She was serious about that?”

“Oh yeah.” Rainbow grinned and flexed her wings a few times. “The only pony in the last thousand years to pull it off! That was when I was just a filly too! It’s how I got my cutie mark.”

“That’s insane.” Shining had no words for how truly unbelievable that was. “I mean, the speed required to break the magic barrier is-”

“-I told you, I’m one-of-one.”

He had believed that for attitude alone yesterday. Now he believed it on a much deeper level. That level of speed wasn’t just unique, it was extraordinary. He was at a loss for just how the revelation made him feel, so he decided to instead heap more adoration upon the mare across from him.

“I’ve met many ponies in my life, and so many of them would leave an ordinary pony in awe.” He drew a breath and looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes. “Somehow you are more special than any of them, Rainbow. I mean that. You’re…awesome in the truest sense of the word.”

Rainbow Dash turned red and she looked away from him. She loved the loud and obvious praise, the kind that complimented her ability and prowess. The kind that was superficial. When it got deeper, that’s when it got to her. When it was earnest and sincere, that was when it stopped feeding her ego and actually hit her heart.

“You’re so…” She wanted to say ‘corny’ and mean it, but something stopped her. He had expected admonishment but that fell away. “...thanks.” Her hoof reached across the table and laid on top of his. “You’re corny, but thanks.”

They talked a little more about him and his talents and work. Then the food came and they got busy devouring the sad flat non-deep dish pizza set before them. It wasn’t bad, but he was sure it would’ve been better if it had some filling to it. They each had a few pieces with a side of conversation, but they definitely couldn’t polish it off. Rainbow had decided she’d take the rest back to her room for a future meal.

Shining paid, of course, and the two left. As they walked out, he found Rainbow’s wing draped across his back once more. It was a bit harder now that he was standing and the height difference between them, but she did her best to get it over his back. He didn’t address it, he just leaned into the contact.

They just kind of wandered around the city in the midday sun after that. It was easy to enjoy her company, even as she lobbed the occasional playful barb his way. In fact, that made her a bit more tolerable if he wanted to be honest. It was her way of flirting and showing interest, just like his corny little moments were his. He thought they complimented each other well in that regard.

“Can I be honest about something…?” Rainbow led them to a bench on the side of the road, a little awning above provided shade from the sun. Even as they sat down she kept her wing on his back and the feathers flexed against his spine. “If I sound lame or whatever, I’m sorry.

“Please do.”

“You’re a huge nerd.” Rainbow Dash started out strong. “You’re corny and you always seem to mean what you say and it’s kinda lame, but in a good way.” Her wing flexed a bit more against his back and he shivered a bit from the light feathers going over his skin. “It’s really dumb how much it works on me.”

“Thanks, I guess?” It was a compliment, or at least that’s how he would take it. He received a frustrated bump from the mare and a little grumble. “Unless that wasn’t a good thing, in which case I’m sorry?”

“No it’s-argh!” Rainbow finally withdrew her wing and used it to cover her face. “I’m not good at this stuff, okay!” She huffed and Shining could see her face turn from blue to red. “Okay, I guess what I want to ask is…is…like, what are you looking for?”

“I don’t know.” He took no time to respond because there was no doubt in the answer. “I came here to relax and get away from everything before I had to go back to my life.” He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. “Can I be honest about something…?”

“Yeah, of course…”

“I got something this morning-a letter.” His magic snaked its way into his saddleback and he retrieved the envelope from inside and flashed it to Rainbow. He made sure to not show her the side with the royal seal. “It’s from the mare I told you about last night.” Rainbow’s face fell and her shoulders slumped a bit. “I haven’t read it yet, but knowing her it’s an impassioned plea to get back together…because what else would it be…”

“What if…” Rainbow Dash spoke after a minute of silence between them. “...you just didn’t read it until you left?” She bit her lip and eyed the letter and then him. “I mean, you came here to get away, right? To relax? Just pretend the letter doesn’t exist, at least for today.” The pegasus shifted uncomfortably and leaned against him. “You’re the only stallion who’s not a meathead who’s ever…I don’t know, who I’ve ever felt like I’ve had some sort of connection with.”

“Yeah, it can wait.” Shining Armor didn’t even need to think about it. “Today’s for us, for you.” He could live with that, and so could Cadance. “The world doesn’t matter right now, but you do.”

The two ponies kissed again, this time with a bit more urgency. They had settled that question and now they would have to live with the answer. Hesitancy had gone out of the window. It was not a long kiss like last night, but it was certainly a bit more passionate.

“Sweet Celestia, you are amazing.” Shining spoke breathlessly when the kiss finally broke. He pressed his forehead against Dash’s and used his magic to trace up her spine and down each of her wings. He felt her shiver and then he saw a new fire spring to life in her eyes.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, Champ…” Rainbow leaned in and bit his lower lip and gave it a small tug before letting it go with a playful growl. “How about we go back to your room and I can make this a night you won’t forget?”

“Y-yeah…” Shining was at a loss for words. The predatory grin from the day prior returned, fresh and hungry. Rainbow Dash got up and made sure to trail her tail right under his chin. “Just for tonight…”

Tomorrow

Shining Armor woke up exhausted. He yawned and reached out for the alarm clock with his magic and dragged it over to him. Six in the morning, of course. If his body was capable of letting him sleep longer, he would’ve done so. Years of waking up at the crack of dawn did not allow for much deviation, though.

There was one thing unusual, though. The pressure on his chest, and the sound of light snoring. He looked down to see a rainbow mane played out against his white fur and a blue muzzle pressed into his chest. Both of her back legs were wrapped around one of his and one of his hooves was holding her against him.

“Right…”

The activities of the night prior came flooding back in an instant to his tired mind. He had learned a few things about the mare now snuggled up against his side in the last day; she was incredibly fast, she was astoundingly limber, and she was very bossy. All things that Shining Armor had absolutely no problem with. If anything, it had been one of the better nights he’d shared with a mare in his life.

“Don’t try to think about that too much…” Shining mumbled to himself. It was easier said than done. He was pretty sure some things had been said last night that would’ve made a sailor blush. He was definitely sure that Rainbow had been on top of him more than the other way around. “What a mare…” He mumbled.

Shining pulled the sleeping pegasus a bit closer and ran his hooves over her body. Even sleeping and completely relaxed he could feel the muscles beneath her skin. She was taut and lean, like a coiled spring at all times. The horn atop his head lit up and he trailed magic down one of her wings and lightly squeezed and massaged the delicate limb. He had learned that she liked that, really liked it in fact. She had learned to like a lot about his magic pretty quick.

That was last night, though. They had made a point to make it a mantra that this had been just for yesterday. For most of the day the world had shrunk down to just these four walls, and sometimes just the bed.

“It’s not today, though. It’s tomorrow.” Which meant he had something he needed to do. The world existed again. It stretched beyond the bed and the four walls of his hotel room. It now stretched all the way back to Canterlot.

With the help of his magic he pried himself free from Rainbow Dash’s grasp and replaced his body with a pillow. Dash quickly attached herself to it and squeezed her body around it. He could only smile.

Shining sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his saddlebags over to him with his magic. The envelope was drawn from one of the pockets and he turned it end over end in his grasp. He looked at it, and then back to Rainbow Dash.

“Does it have to be tomorrow yet…?” He asked himself that question honestly. What if he just never opened the letter? What if he ignored it? Cadance still lingered in his mind, but Rainbow Dash lingered on his breath and in the rest of his senses. The mare sleeping soundly on the bed was a level of intoxication that he had never encountered previously and doubted he ever would again. His heart yearned for her passion, for her fire.

At the end of the day, and now at the start of it, he was a royal guard though. He was meant to protect the princesses, that included Cadance. Was breaking her heart, even when she had damaged his so many times, protecting her? It certainly wasn’t doing that emotionally.

Plus, Rainbow Dash said it herself: she moved fast. Sometimes ponies couldn’t keep up and they would stumble and fall just going after her. He had caught her momentarily, but who was to say how long the moment would last? It was just supposed to be for the night. That was the moment agreed upon. If he tried to hold on for any longer, then he would risk letting his grip slip and wind up watching her speed away.

Shining sighed and opened the letter.

Author's Note

Yeah so I just really needed to write something that wasn't depressing and I have Shining Armor brainrot where I need to ship him with literally anyone but Cadance. It's short, it might not be great, but I wrote it over two days and desperately needed to get something like it out lol.