It had been a long day of traveling through the skies of Equestria for Shadow Strife. This young colt is a pegasus, one with a short, black and grey mane and tail with a grey coat, and a black lightning bolt for a cutie mark. He was originally from Las Pegasus, and lived with parents who weren't exactly the best role models.... okay, they were the worst role models. He became a great flyer at age 6, and left his parents behind. To his knowledge, they didn't look for him afterwards. Ever since he left his home, he has strived to be Equestria's greatest flyer of all time. Two years pass and Shadow recieved not only his nickname, The Black Arrow, but also his cutie mark. When this colt would pass nearby, a streak of black and grey was left behind. His cutie mark was recieved when he was testing his speed.
He had grown exponentially greater at flying, so he decided it was time to put his speed to the test. His challenge was to gain enough speed to fly straight through a small tree, though the objective of this challenge failed because he missed, he went fast enough to break the sound barrier,(Note: this did NOT cause anything similar to the sonic rainboom) and left behind a clear streak black and grey... but he lost control, and having done so, plumetted into the ground and gained a massive concussion and also, lost the memory of his parents and home. After a month of healing, Shadow was able to fly again without searing headaches or fainting mid-flight. But enough background check, let's continue the story, shall we?
Shadow had left the Crystal Empire about 3 hours ago, and was feeling tired. He had flown longer before, but from the fact he ate a bit too much food before his flight made him want to take a stop now more than ever. He stopped and looked at his stomach. It growled from discomfort and he knew what it meant.
"Too much hay bacon." He said to himself as he slowly began flying again. He looked down and was amazed at what he saw. Under him was a clear field with not a visible creature in sight. He felt the urge to land and take a look at the surrounding. He thought it would be a nice change of pace to take a look around instead of choosing to keep moving.
He landed at this field and took one look at the horizon as the sun was setting. He had never seen anything more astonishing than this. It was like looking at a beautiful painting that would never be seen again.There was total silence as he marvelled in the beauty of this sight. The lucious green of the field, reflecting the shine of the son. He took a moment to fully take in the beauty until he noticed the sun was getting lower, so he decided it was time to find somewhere to stay. He flew off the ground and readied to keep moving onward, until he heard a yelling that seemed to close in on him. He looked in the direction of the voice in confusion.
"Watch out!" Said the voice, becoming even closer.
"Huh-Oof!" Shadow questioned as he was impacted by another pegasus. Both ponies fell to the ground, as a combination of their groans filled the silence of the field. Their groaning was soon replaced with yelling loud questions at one another.
"Hey, what gives?! Don't you know when to move out of the way?!" Said the pegasus that had just flown into him. This pegasus was a mare who had a cyan coat and rainbow colored mane, which kind of made him sick. She had a cutie mark of what looked like a rainbow colored lightning bolt coming out of a cloud.
"Don't you know when to watch where the hell you're flying?! How in the hell did you not notice me?!" Shadow retaliated. The two pegasi grew silent as they exchanged angry looks at each other. Shadow knew the look she was giving him: it was a challenge. Shadow was he one to break the silence and accept this mare's proposition.
"Alright, since neither of us is going to apologize, how about first one to the end if this field has to apologize?" He proposed.
"Okay, but be ready to say sorry after I leave you in the dust!" The cyan mare said as she readied herself.
"Oh, we'll see who's eating who's dust in a second!" He said with great determination as he readied himself as well.
"Ready!"
"Set!"
"Go!"
And with that, the two pegasi bolted, trying to get ahead of the other. The race lasted for what seemed like five minutes, but in reality was about an hour. There was a lot of maneuvering in front and past one another, trying to throw the opponent off and get ahead. At one point, Rainbow caught him off guard and he struggled to straighten out for a few seconds. They each gained speed as their adrenaline began pumping more and more as they both reached the end of the field.The outcome suprised both of the pegasi: it was a draw. They looked at each other in confusion and agreed to apologize at the same time.
"I'm.... sorry..." They both said hesitantly, not making eye contact. The cyan pegasus rubbed her foreleg with a hoof, nd Shadow noticed that it had grown awkward.
Shadow decided that he didn't like the awkwardness and made a change for once and forgot his anger towards the mare.
"We should race again sometime.That was an awesome race." Shadow said. "By the way, what's your name?"
At the sound of those words, the mare perked up a bit. "Rainbow Dash. You?" She asked.
"Shadow Strife. You put up a good fight in hat race. Never met a pony in my life who could match up to me. By the way, do you happen to know a place i might be able to stay for a while? It's getting pretty late and I don't really have a home." He said, looking at the now rising moon. Rainbow took a look at the moon as well and nodded her head in agreement.
"I guess you could stay at my place for a while. It's not like there's anypony else there." Said the cyan pegasus, putting a hoof on her chin and taking a moment to think. "Yeah maybe a night or two at the max, but don't try anything funny."
"Great!" Said Shadow. "I'm getting kinda hungry too." After he finished his sentence, his stomach growled. Rainbow laughed for a few seconds, until a similar sound came from her belly as well. They both shared a laugh as they finally headed to Raibow's cloud home....
A few hours passed as he was in Rainbow's guest room, it was midnight, and Shadow couldn't help but think for about what had happened before he got here. He thought about how he was somewhat attracted to the rainbow maned mare, but he quickly tried to rid his mind of that thought. But a thought from earlier reached his mind. As she showed hime her cloud home, he realized that he was staring at her most of the time, and at one point, took a quick peek at her flank. He quickly shook his head violently.
"No, no, no! Damn it, don't think about that!" He was quickly trying to shove the thought out of his mind. He was trying to think about other things, but really, meeting Rainbow Dash was the highlight of his day."Just sleep it off, Shadow. It will go away in the morning.... Hopefully." He said as he yawned and layed back, hoping sleep would take his mind off of Rainbow. And with that he dozed off into a deep sleep...