What felt like just a second had been two hours of sleep. Feeling half-dead right now, Lucky took a shower with Big Macintosh. Cold water woke Lucky fully up and rinsed his coat from various body fluids, dirt and sticky cider. There was just one thing that couldn’t be treated with water and some soap: His mind. The same thoughts went through his head, just the same ones as those before he went to bed. Just the same ones as in his dream. Even the coffee he got from Big Macintosh couldn’t stop him from thinking…

“You seem worried, my friend.”

Lucky looked up from his coffee. He had been staring into his mug for quite a while.

“Do you think so? I’m sorry. I’m just confused.”

Disappointed by Lucky’s reply, Big Macintosh left the room and entered the kitchen. He returned with two steaming-hot apple strudels.

“Does that cheer you up? Now tell me what’s really up, Lucky.”

Before Lucky answered, he stared out of the window for a while. He spoke without turning back to Big Macintosh.

“This may sound wrong, but…I gotta break up with Wild Fire. I won’t tell her what happened, not exactly. I’ll just tell her that we can’t be together because…because I know this cannot work out. I just can’t be with her anymore…”

“Is this because of…?”

“Yes. And no. I’m just starting to feel different inside. Ok? Now please leave me be.”

Big Macintosh sighed. “Fine. Now eat up, you gotta go soon.”

Both ponies silently munched on their hot treats. Meanwhile, a baby dragon was already awake and up to something.

***

“Spike! Get outta here or you’ll wake her up!” Shining Armor caught Spike crawling onto Twilight’s bed and scolded him instantly. His whispers had changed nothing about his authority, so Spike obediently jumped back and ran down the stairs; passing Shining Armor and a sort of confused Princess that wanted to look after Twilight as well.

“What is the matter with you? You cannot just…climb over us!”

“Shhhhh…” Coming down the stairs now as well, Shining Armor shushed the Princess of the Night and shoved her down the stairs. Inside the main room, he enlightened her and the now grumpy baby dragon.

“I had to bring her home personally since she fell asleep on her quest to find me. Poor sis…she really was looking for me…”

“I’m not sure if we can trust you there. Or should I say ‘thrust’?” Spike giggled and jabbed Luna’s sides. “Right, Princess?”

“Just what is the matter with you today, Spike?” The princess hissed, this time significantly less loud than last time. She continued, now speaking extra softly because of Twilight sleeping upstairs. “In some way, we have to agree with Spike. What Twilight said sounded…not pleasant to our ears. Are you being unfaithful?”

“No. No, I promise. This was a bit different. I’m sorry I can’t explain this to you. But trust me, Twilight saw nothing wrong tonight. And trust me as well when I say that Cadance will be fine too. Now leave Twilight alone while I bring the Princess to the station, Spike. It’s time to go.”

“Ugh. Whatever you say, Captain…”

Spike stomped into the kitchen, probably to get himself ice cream to let some steam off. Since Shining Armor wasn’t the one to judge, he went ahead and opened the door for the Princess. Both left the room; leaving the library and the baby dragon behind themselves while discussing the events of last night.

***

“Do you think he forgot me?”

“Nah. If you don’t want to wait any longer, we could already leave together and meet him in the middle. What do you think?”

Yes, what did he think? What was Lucky thinking? He wasn’t thinking about going home right now, to say the least.

“Lucky? You there?”

“Yes! Yes, let’s go!” Startled by Big Macintosh, Lucky replied with a “yes”, uncertain what Big Macintosh had actually said. Soon, he thought himself in front of Sweet Apple Acres, on his way down to Ponyville; next to him walked the red country pony.

“So what about Braeburn? What happened?” asked Lucky curiously.

“Oh, don’t worry. Sleepin’ in somepony else’s bed. Wouldn’t even surprise me if his last date for the night was married and his wife is lying right next to the two! He never learns.”

“Maybe you should keep an eye on him?”

“Useless. Braeburn always gets what he wants and never listens.”

“Oh.”

When they had almost reached Ponyville, Lucky and Big Mac encountered a “royal couple”; one of the two noble ponies was the one they had been looking for.

***

Wildly amused, Princess Luna watched the two stallions walking ahead of her. She knew what had been going on. Not only was she able to see it in the gray stallion’s eyes, Shining Armor had something that he couldn’t hide too. Something that proved what he had done. Should she tell him? Nah…there was only one pony she would tell about this and it certainly was not Shining Armor.

To say the least, this event had been delighting for Princess Luna; she didn’t remember having this much fun for quite a long time. The taste of cider had really been growing on her throughout the event. And poker! Why did nobody tell her about this little game earlier? She definitely had to play it again!

A quiet conversation in front of her caught Luna’s attention.

“Are you serious? Princess Luna? Couldn’t you have told me about this?”

“Lucky, it’s fine. Trust me on that. Just stop being so nervous and everything will be alright, besides, the train’s coming soon anyway and Luna gets her special cab so you won’t even have to talk to her! Come on! Smile for once.”

“No. I’m not in the mood…”

“Stubborn mule!”

Lucky chuckled. Nobody had ever called him that before.

“See? Now you’re smiling…”

Pleased, Shining Armor and Lucky continued on their way. At the station, a train was already waiting to depart to Canterlot.

***

Shining Armor carefully closed the library door behind him. With silent steps, he crept through the main hall until he bumped into Spike.

“Ouch! Watch where you’re going, Captain…” Spike grumbled. “And stop acting so quiet! She’s already awake!”

“She’s awake?” BBBFF grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

“Yeah, woke up like a minute-…huh? Shining? Ugh, this guy…”

Spike didn’t understand what was so special about Shining Armor. Didn’t even have the decency to let him finish a sentence…

A Twilight with a messy mane was the first thing Shining Armor spotted when he came up the stairs – she hadn’t gotten enough sleep and it was showing.

“Twilight!” The purple mare instantly got hugged by her caring brother. “I was worried!”

“You were worried? Really? You are the one that disappeared all of a sudden for no apparent reason!”

“Are you sure about that, Twilight? Don’t you remember us hanging out last night?”

“We were…hanging out?” As hard as Twilight thought, she only remembered seeking for her BBBFF last night. They didn’t spend a single minute together in her memory! “There’s no possible way we were hanging out, Shining. I’ve been seeking for you all night!”

“I know, I know. And then you found me. Just…how drunk were you last night? You could blame all this on the alcohol. We had quite some fun together, trust me!”

Shining Armor sounded so convincing; Twilight had a hard time not to believe him. There was just something else, something else that was kind of strange about yesterday…

“Do you…know what I dreamed about yesterday, big brother?”

“No idea, Twili! But you could tell me!” Shining Armor winked.

“I dreamed about you. You were doing what I had suspected all night. I think someone must have played tricks on me yesterday – Luna perhaps? She told me that this stupid Braeburn from Appleloosa, Applejack’s cousin, would be hitting on every stallion he met…including you. Then she sent me this dream in which this was all true and you were tied up and he was doing horrible things to you with some of his friends. I don’t even want to describe what it was! It was all so weird…”

“It was just a dream, Twili. Just a dream.”

“Just a dream. He must be right”, Twilight thought. “He would never lie to his own sister.”

“You’re probably right, big brother. Could you tell Spike to make me breakfast? You can keep me company then. If you don’t have to leave already.”

“Nah, I’m good for today. I promise we’ll have lots of fun, little sister!”

Shining Armor kissed Twilight on the forehead. Just then she noticed what was so odd about all this: Her brother was wearing a ring he hadn’t been wearing when he entered Ponyville. She decided to confront him about this when he returned from the kitchen to command Spike around.

“Who exactly did you get this ring from, Shining?”

“Huh? What-?”

Horse apples! The ring! He had forgotten to take it off!

“Uhm…just a fancy gift from Rarity! She said it suited me.”

“Ah, ok.”

A ring used to block unicorn magic as a fashion statement. This stank! Or not? Had Twilight had a bad dream last night? Or was this ring not a gift from Rarity? Did Braeburn have something to do with this? And what about this headache she got? There was only one pony that would know all the answers to all these questions: Shining Armor himself.

Author's Note

Wow. I made it. This all started in August and of a simple idea that seemed too good to not be written down it turned into this lengthy piece. Now, looking back at what I did in October in March, it seems not quite the kind of story I wanted it to be. Still, this is my first pony-related written work ever and I think it turned out pretty well for a first!

Thanks go to Whirl Wind, who was friendly enough to proof-read a big part of my fanfic.

Other thanks go to quite a few people not on Fimfiction; but all of them native speakers and/or writers, which proved quite helpful more than just a few times.

A few shoutouts to the people that failed to proof-read this story (I’ve been let been let down 3 times). You taught me a bit about the troubles of writing.

Shoutouts to Ocean_Mist, he knows why.

And Mic, if you really read all this, you deserve my respect. Hope you enjoyed it!