Trying Love

“Mom. Seriously. What the hell,” I groaned as I planted myself on the couch.

“What, honey? I thought it was fun teaching your class! Didn’t you even mention that you wanted me to be a teacher?” My mother asked me.

“Yeah. A teacher for a NORMAL subject, like, you know, Magic or English or something like that. I didn’t mean to go off and teach my friends about sex!” I moaned.

“Your friends all seem to like me, though! Especially Miss Fleur!” She teased, rubbing me on the head.

“Mooom," I grumbled and rolled about on the couch.

It had just been the first day of school, and after signing up for wrestling, I walked home alone. This year was definitely interesting thus far. I wasn’t really tense about it; being senior year, my classes were all fairly easy. However, I had to spend the entire year getting sexy-talked by Fleur during Government and annoyed by Braeburn. . . This year definitely had its upcoming challenges. I sighed contentedly as I finally got a second of rest on the couch.

A knock on the door interrupted my nap just as it was beginning.

“Shining, your friends are here!” Mother called out.

“A delight and honor to enter your home once again, Mrs. Velvet!” A familiar formal voice rang out.

“Oh Fancypants, you’re such a sweetheart! Shining is right over on the couch," my mother offered, directing them towards me.

“Thanks, Mrs. Velvet!” Another voice stated. I could hear two sets of hooves coming towards me. I could already tell who it was by the sound.

“Dude, Shining, so did you SEE the wrestling sign ups?” Vance blurted as he jumped in front of my face.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” I chuckled slightly, a bit annoyed that my nap time was so swiftly taken away from me.

“Dude. I can’t believe it! I guess it’s fine though, everypony would wanna take a swing at that annoying little bastard!” Vance snickered.

“Ah, that Braeburn fellow. Excuse me for being so rude, Shining, I was just admiring your home,” Fancypants absentmindedly stated. He seemed distant.

“Dude, low-key, though, Braeburn might actually be good for our team. You remember Big Mac? That big red dude from Ponyville High? Braeburn’s his cousin, and Big Mac said that he was actually pretty good.” I explained to Vance.

“Wait. Hold up. He’s BIG MAC’s cousin? Dude. Back it up, dude, I can’t believe it! I got creamed SO HARD by him last year! What if Braeburn like, trains with him! That’d be amazing!” Vance wailed as he jumped up and down in excitement. “If we go against Ponyville High again, we can just shove Braeburn against him! After all, he knows all of his secrets!”

I chuckled softly. “Nah, I think I’ll take him on. I’ll give him Caramel or something. We can’t even say this, though, we don’t know how good he is! What if he doesn’t make the team?"

“Well, I believe that Braeburn shall be a fine addition! The chap has a large amount of pent up energy that he can apply to defeating any foe! Besides, he’s an earth pony. Earth ponies are known for being physically stronger than unicorns or pegasi. Hence, why we only take our top contenders to go against Ponyville High and the such.” Fancypants explained, still staring into space.

“Yeah, I guess. So how was your first day, Fancypants?” I asked the white unicorn, searching his expression for a clue to his unusual behavior.

“Ah, it was grand! In fact,” Fancypants heavily blushed, nervously itching his hooves. “Um, my second period was fun! Vance and I drew pictures of our favorite presidents, and they were. . . ah. . .” Fancypants was sure as hell being weird. After all, he would've probably explained his Government story more along the lines of, ‘Vance and I engaged in a superb art festival of major historical figures that lead nations, and the entire experience was quite enthralling!’, but this was unlike him, and I think I could pinpoint why.

“Cool. How about first period?” I asked him casually, trying to break him down. I knew he'd skipped it for a reason.

“Um, good.” Fancypants mumbled.

“Yeah, I heard from Blueblood that it was cool. There’s this total bitch in there, though!” I mentioned. I knew just how to break this superfluous little guy.

“Oh, come ON! If you’re talking about that new Alicorn Cadence, she isn't one at all! She’s so nice and pretty and charming and a-. . . heh.” Fancypants just about died out of embarrassment as I brohoofed Vance, exchanging a knowing look with him. “What?! Y-Y-You at least think she’s kind of cute, right?!” Fancypants completely abandoned his usual regal tone.

“Oh, pshaw, hell yeah!” Vance blurted out. “Although, there’s kind a filly that I kinda like this year too. . .” I chuckled to myself. Everypony was getting flustered all of a sudden about love!

“Well, spit it out, man!” Fancypants shouted, louder than he probably wanted to, likely to get the attention away from him and onto Vance.

“Well, she was in my Magic class. . . you know Octavia?” he asked me.

“Of course! Dude, go for it! Granted, if you want to hang with her, you gotta stop saying dude all the time, she’s really freaking formal.” I explained.

“Really?! But her roommate-“

“Yeah, Vinyl. She told me all the time last year about how sometimes she’d get super pissed at her because she always came to school high and stuff“

"Dude, you gotta help me, though!” Vance cried out.

“AND ME TOO!” Fancypants practically screamed.

Apparently, I was the love guru of our little group of friends. “Fine, I’ll put in a good word. But I’m not mentioning anything about you guys liking them, you have to do that yourself!” I sighed.

It didn’t bother me that my two best friends decided to want to go out with that cute Alicorn chick and one of my best female friends. Honestly, Vance and Octavia would get along nicely, and it’d be so cool having two of my best friends going out. As for Fancypants, she’ll definitely be treated right with him. Sure, she’s pretty and all, and she’s got a sweet ass, but I already have Fleur, who makes me perfectly happy.

Oh wait. Fleur.

“Dude, guys, I just remembered! I have a date with Fleur!” I yelped out, almost falling off of the couch.

“Ah, the sweet art of dating, the dreams I shall have of touring the local town with the most beautiful mare I’ve seen in my life, while we bond as one and make the night sky blossom with our happiness!” Fancypants happily exclaimed, reverting back to his regal self.

“Yeah, go get some, Shining.” Vance stated apathetically. “Fancypants, dude, we gotta plan this! My parents don’t get home until later, so we can hang there until they get back.”

Vance led Fancypants out of the house, Fancypants having reverted back to deep thought about his new love interest.

“Phew. Luckily for me, my plans don’t start for another. . .” I stared at the clock. “Shit.”

I got up and noted that I had five minutes to get ready before Fleur was supposed to come by. Luckily, this was a pretty casual date. We were going to see “Seabiscuit.” It wasn’t a very romantic movie, but it had one of her favorite actors, Pony McGuire, and she loved movies about race ponies.

“SHINING! We have to go, we’re late!” Mom called out. They were still grabbing their coats as they bolted out the door. I forgot where my parents were even going, honestly, but they needed a foalsitter. Which reminded me, when was she coming again? She had to be coming around the same time Fleur was, or else we might be late for our movie.

As if on cue, I heard a familiar voice, a nervous and shy voice that floated through the air so softly. . . I immediately sprinted into the other room. I’m not sure why, though. After all, I had just learned that Fancypants had a thing for her, and I already had a fillyfriend!

I heard her hooves as she walked in. This was my time to impress the new filly. I walked from out of the room I had just hidden in and stared directly at her.

"Oh, hey, you must be the new foal-"

"The new foal sitter, yes,” She interrupted me, obviously nervous.

"You're the new pony," I said, tilting my head curiously as if I didn't know exactly who she was. "You're in my Sex Ed class, right?"

"Right." She gave a shy smile. "So, you're Shining Armor? Twilight's brother?"

"The one and only!" I grinned slightly. I realized that I was standing on complete opposite end of the room, almost yelling at her. I stepped a bit closer to her. "Fleur will be here any minute. Sorry about today, by the way, she was so rude to you." I went on.

"Oh, that? It was nothing." She shrugged slightly. "Is, um...is Twilight here?"

"Oh, yeah. TWILIGHT!" I bellowed over my shoulder. I waited as her quick little hooves ran down the stairs and immediately to where I was. I could tell from her expression that she knew exactly why I called her.

"Cadence!" She squealed. Damn, my sister was adorable.

"Hi, Twilight! I'm glad I could come, I brought lots of games for us to play." Cadence expressed, smiling.

"That sounds fun," Twilight said. "But I was hoping we could practice some magic, if you don't mind. I was doing some research on Alicorns, and in Magical Maladies of the Malformed, it said-"

"Whoa there, kiddo.” I covered Twilight’s mouth with my hoof as she still tried to fight for words. “Maybe games would be a good idea. Take a break from studying for once."

"Shining Armor!" She pouted. "I'm in advanced magic now. Advanced! Do you know how much time that's going to take? If I want the princess to notice me, I have to at least pass advanced magic!"

"Oh, don't worry, the princess has noticed you." Cadence assured her. "I'm staying in the castle, and she mentioned you just earlier today."

There was a moment of silence, and I prepared my ears for the unconstrained excitement I was about to endure. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" She proceeded to leap around in circles, spouting her excitement at us. "The princess noticed me! She talked about me! Can you believe it, Shining? Do you think that's a good sign? Oh my gosh the princess knows who I am!"

I laughed softly. Before I could mention anything else, I heard a knock. I walked past the two fillies and opened the door. To my delight, Fleur was standing on the porch. She was such a beautiful mare, with her hair falling almost to the beginning of her legs, its pink color brighter than ever. She prepared so much to see me, and I felt bad that all I did was not ruin my hair today.

“Hey there, love!” She exclaimed as she kissed me. She wasn’t much for patience when it came to romantic things. However, at least for kissing, I was fine with it. She looked around the house and saw Cadence staring at her. "What is she doing here?" Fleur demanded, her town changing immediately as she looked at me for an explanation.

"Oh, she's Twilight's new foal sitter," I explained. "She's in our Sex Ed class, remember?"

"I remember." She stared at her for a while, before staring at me. Damn, I hope this isn’t what I think it is.

"Are you ready for our date, baby?" She purred, kissing me on the mouth again. I was completely unprepared, deep in thought, and naturally pulled back a little.

"You know it." I glanced back at Cadence. "You'll be okay watching her?"

"That's what I'm here for," She offered with a smile.

I nodded as I lead Fleur out of the room. I knew that at this point, conversations about Cadence were uncanny valley, a realm I shouldn’t delve in. . . at least for now. Damn shame, though, I would have liked Fleur and Cadence to get alon-

“Baby! Shining! Oh, it’s so wonderful to see you! I rented out a taxi pony for us to go to the movie. Don’t worry about paying, either, I’ll be paying for it,” She giggled, nuzzling my side. As much as I gave her crap for being too into “love”, she was incredibly dedicated to me, and I blushed from the flattery and affection.

“Damn, Fleur, you’re so good!” I exclaimed, kissing her on the cheek. I lead her to the rickshaw-like structure, where a well built pony around 30 years old walked slowly from my house to the drive-in theatre where we were having our date. The town itself was dazzling, to use a term from Fancypants’ book. Lights were just turning on, flashing and dancing around the entire town as Fleur nuzzled my side. Honestly, she was pretty great.

We arrived at the drive-in theatre after 20 minutes nestled in the taxi. I tipped the rickshaw pony, giving him bits to go get food while we were watching the movie together. We arrived just as the movie was beginning.

“Eep! I just love that Pony McGuire, don’t you?” she exclaimed.

“Well, I’m not into stallions, so not really,” I chuckled. It was easy to talk to her and make jokes when we were alone and being ourselves. She laughed heartily, somehow managing to keep her feminine charm even through the guffaws.

“Ooh, baby, this movie is amazing,” She sighed. We watched the movie for a good twenty minutes, as the characters were introduced and the plot started to develop. We watched in happiness and silence, appreciating each others' company. After a little while, though, I tried to make hushed conversation since we hadn't really been able to talk that day.

“So. . . baby,” I struggled with the nickname thing. “How was your first day at school?”

“So this fucking Cadence bitch,” She immediately replied, her voice already wound up.

Oh. Oh no. Oh no no no no.

“Alright, so she’s all just like, during first period, she’s trying to show off and stuff! Like, I looked SO PRETTY today, and you know who noticed?! Nopony! That’s who! They were all like ‘Ooh, look at the pretty Alicorn!’ ‘She’s so nice’ ‘Oh she’s so special!’ Then during fourth period, I had her again! You know what? She did a spell on me! She made me go all ga ga for Jet Set! UGH! He’s such a loser, I swear!” Fleur went on, her voice raising every second. If anything, at least I found out that she hated that douche Jet Set as much as I did.

“Fleur.” I stated calmly. “Calm down. Soon, everypony will forget about her. After all, she’s so shy, she’ll want to hide from everypony. Besides. . . “ I leaned in closer to her, “I still love you, right? Even if ponies start focusing on the little pretty Alicorn pony, you’ll still always be the center of my attention.” I whispered into her ear. It was a bittersweet feeling, saying that. After all, this Alicorn. . . she was something. Not more than Fleur, but still, I’d be watching her.

“Oh, come ON! You had her at your house today! Do you know how long it took for me to even see your parents?” She groaned, obviously jealous.

“She’s a foalsitter. She’s playing with Twilight, and she seems to really like her.” I replied.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, Twilight! How many times do I have to say this? I don't want to hear about Twilight. She’s a stupid little show off, just like that Alicorn! Like 'Oh, I really want to study magic!' 'Oh, I’m so smart!' 'Oh, I’m in the same grade as my insanely hot brother!'”

“Fleur.”

“I bet Cadence is just saying all sorts of things to your little bitch of a sister. Like ‘Oh! Your brother is so cute!’”

“Fleur.”

“I'm so much better than that slut of a fillyfriend Fleur!”

“FLEUR.”

“Just seeing him makes my marehood ache so much! I want him to do me so hard! Unlike Fleur, I think he’ll actually WANT to do me!”

“You shut your mouth!”

I don’t know what came over me. All I could remember seeing was blurred images. All I could hear was a scream. When my senses came back, Fleur was lying on the grass next to the rickshaw. Ponies were standing all around, staring at both of us. A kindhearted pony went over and checked on Fleur to make sure she was okay.

“S. . . S-Sh. . . “ She mumbled. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. Damn, I wouldn’t hear the end of it if she got her cute little face cut up. I looked around and saw couples glaring at me, and a group of teenage ponies admiring my strength. “Shining. . . “

I didn’t know what to do or what to say. I'd just pelted my fillyfriend out of a taxi and onto the ground of a drive-in movie.

“Baby, I. . . I didn’t know what came over me. I’m sorry.” I calmly whispered to her as she looked at me, her eyes winced in pain.

“I-It’s fine. I shouldn’t have said those mean things, I was jealous. . .”

Damn, she really overdid pain. Granted, that wasn’t running through my mind at the time. All I could think of was, firstly, how much trouble I was going to get in by not only her parents, but my parents, her friends, my friends, and maybe even the police. Secondly, would this affect our relationship? She'd said so many mean things about Twily and Cadence, but still, I loved her anyway.

I couldn’t think straight. A hoof suddenly tapped me. I looked back to see my rickshaw pony walking towards me, a pretty mare around his age following closely behind him. “You alright, chap? Both of ya’ll still going home together?” he asked me.

“Yeah. In fact, Fleur, we should go home and rest.” I sighed, staring at Fleur. Tears started to grow in my eyes as I saw her in her (mostly overdone) weak state. What kind of coltfriend was I?! I was thinking about other mares, I just pretty much murdered my fillyfriend, and now, what’s our future?! There has to be someway I could repay her. For right now, this was all I could do. The rickshaw pony helped me pick her up, as she looked straight into my eyes, tears already in full bloom and spilling down her cheeks.

“I still love you,” Fleur whispered to me as the rickshaw pony took us home.

“You shouldn’t.” I sighed out. Honestly, though, I had no reason to be loved right now. Sure, she was used to deeper pain, as her previous coltfriend, Hoity Toity, was incredibly abusive with her, both physically and sexually. I remember seeing Fleur come to school wearing heavy jackets (granted, very pretty jackets) to hide the bruises that he gave her. I did my best to threaten him and straighten him out, letting him know that as long as I was around, no mare was to be treated that way. That’s how she got into me in the first place. I was like her knight in Shining Armor. Still, though, I promised to treat her right, and then I pull off something like this?

We reached her house, and I held her hoof as we walked to her front door. No answer.

“Remember, baby, my parents were out today. Mom’s working and Dad’s out with his friends,” she whispered to me. She opened the door with her magic, and I placed her in her bed.

“Rest, Fleur. You have every reason to hate me. I did something I shouldn’t have. I got so mad that I did bad things. Fleur, I want you to think about us. I did unforgivable things to you. . . things that I promised to take away from your life. I''m so very sorry,” I told her as I tucked her into her bed, the sheets a luscious pink to match her hair.

“I’ll always love you. . .” she whispered to me, reaching in for one more kiss. I took this chance to redeem myself. Our mouths touched with a passion unlike any other, as I took the lead, trying to metaphorically pull out every ounce of pain from her with my lips, rubbing her mane with my hooves as I did so, comforting her as much as possible. As we parted, I teared up once again. “Now, go. You have a sister waiting for you,” she smiled softly.

I couldn’t think of what to say, and ran out of the room and out of her house as fast as I could. I laid on the rickshaw, but before it began to move, I was filled with uncontrollable crying.

“Dude, you alright?” The rickshaw pony asked me.

“Yeah, just, what did I do?!” I cried out, slamming the floor with my hoof.

“You got mad. You’re a big guy and she’s a little filly. I could kind of hear you guys as I was walking back from getting snacks for the Mrs and I. She was saying some brutal stuff! Damn, I would have probably lifted a finger too if I was you.” He sympathized, staring at me.

“I know, but. . . it’s a long story.” I mumbled as the tears grew heavier and heavier.

“Man, I ain’t the emotional type, but I’d be willing to sit here with ya until you’re all better.” The rickshaw pony offered. He jumped on the device and sat next to me, giving me a compassionate hug as I cried into his shoulder. It took what seemed like forever to get a hold of myself as other rickshaws moved past us, staring.

“Hah! Gaaay!” A pony screamed from one rickshaw as it passed by us.

“Shut the hell up, Chang!” A mare sitting next to him scolded loudly.

“At least you ain’t that guy. He’s got a pretty good reason for his mare being mad at him. You’re understandable, though.” The rickshaw pony offered for comfort as I wound down.

“Yeah, thanks,” I mumbled. “I think I’m ready to go home.” I wiped the tears from my eyes, and the rickshaw pony gave me a pat on the back and took me to my house. I took a few moments to compose myself before leaving the device. I turned to the driver and gave him a bag of bits. “Get her something nice. Your wife, I mean. You’re the greatest.”

“I’ll try. You know, we been married a few years now. Today is the day I’m gonna ask to make a little foal with her,” he confided shyly as he happily took the bits.

“That sounds wonderful! I know that you’ll make a great father.” I encouraged truthfully. I hugged the stallion for one last time, and waved him away as he thanked me and walked back to the theatre. Good ponies still existed in the world, even if they weren’t me.

I sighed as I tried to recompose myself for the coming meeting with Cadence and Twilight. After all, I had to be eternally strong and never cry. I opened the door, and my eyes were drawn to a huge surprise.

"CLAP YOUR HOOVES AND DO A LITTLE SHAKE!"

Sweet Celestia why does this happen to me?

I saw Cadence’s sweet flank move from side to side as she giggled, her tail swishing in the air. . . it was so perfect. It wasn’t as perfect as Fleur’s, of course, but still. I wanted to just grab that flank and make it shake even more. At least, until I looked to her right and saw my sister doing the exact same thing.

Never again, Shining. Bad thoughts. However, I should really ask Cadence to teach Fleur that dance. Maybe it would make them lighten up or something. Besides, it’d be nice to see Fleur sha-

I shook my head to get all of tainted thoughts off my mind.

Cadence looked back and our eyes met, her face blushing deeply, the redness sparking out from her pink body. I couldn’t help but smile, personally. After all, she was playing silly games with my little sister. Even if she IS a foalsitter, it’s still embarrassing to have your peers see you doing little ridiculous things with kids. There’s a reason they only work when everypony’s away from home.

"You're home early," She blurted, glancing at the clock. "You said you'd be back an hour from now."

I nodded slightly. "Fleur and I had a little disagreement and decided to come home early. It's okay, though, it happens a lot. I had quite a bit of fun while we were there." It actually didn’t happen all that much. Most of our dates went with us cuddling and snuggling, having fun with each other, and then her trying to push me to be more sexually active. This was the first date I’ve ever really had where things had gone wrong. Most ponies would consider a “bad date” to be spilling a drink on their date or getting lost. I just so happened to be the guy who punched his fillyfriend out of a rickshaw in the middle of a drive-in theatre. For some reason, though, I didn't want to give Cadence the impression that everything was always wonderful between me and Fleur.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She stuttered, obviously caring about my pain.

"It's entirely fine.” I lied. I decided to take the attention off of me and to my adorable little sister, who had a goofy smile on her face. She thought it was funny how we walked in on her dance, but she didn’t realize the real reason Cadence was embarrassed out of her life.

"I guess you won't be needing me any longer today?" She asked me, probably nervous out of her mind that I barged in on her work.

"You don't have to stay, but you don't have to go. I was planning on making dinner for me and Twilight. You're welcome to stay, I know you're new around here and you could probably use some company." I replied. I’m not entirely sure why I offered for her to stay. After all, I had just finished crying with some rickshaw pony about how Fleur was mad at me regarding Cadence. But. . . she was new! That’s a good excuse, right?! She was new and it would be mean to just kick her out early!

"Yes, please stay, Cadence!" Twilight urged.

"She's really taken a liking to you." I noticed aloud. There's another perfectly good reason. Twilight would have been so sad if Cadence left early, and I had to make my sister happy!

"Sure, I'd love to stay for dinner." She replied, still seeming embarrassed.

“Cool. I’ll get started then. You guys can get back to your little dance session.” I chuckled, probably making Cadence more embarrassed than a normal pony should ever be. I actually didn’t know what I was going to make, nor did I plan to ever make dinner. All I could find was a box of Cherrios, some pancakes, and microwaveable Hot Pockets. Granted, I made a promise, a promise that I wasn’t just about to break. I grabbed the hot pockets and my cooking adventure began.

Hopefully I didn’t embarrass myself in front of Ca-

Wait! Why do I care what Cadence thinks?! She’s just that weird loser filly from Sex Ed class! Her opinion doesn’t matter, right?

Right?