//------------------------------// // Confession // Story: Shining Dash // by Ianpiersonjdavis //------------------------------// Once again, everyone was seated at the dining table when Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike entered the room. “Hey, where have you guys been?” Shining Armor asked. “Well, I was just getting some early morning flying in.” Dash replied, flexing one of her wings for emphasis. “While Spike and I had something we needed to discuss with her in private.” Twilight added. At this point, Spike hopped off from her back and ran towards the table, grabbing a claw full of pancakes at a time and slapping them onto his plate. Flash watched as he took the syrup bottle before flipping it upside down and drowned his pancakes in the in the sugary substance. As Spike began voraciously devouring his meal, Flash couldn’t help but stare in awe at just how much a baby dragon could consume. Everyone else chuckled at this, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash made their way to their seats. This time, there were two seats open next to Spike. Now seemed like the perfect opportunity to speak with Shining Armor to test just how open he might be to the idea of beginning another relationship. Dash was feeling more confident, now that she had Twilight to coach her through it. “Hey Twi, I’m gonna try to talk to Shining Armor-any advice?” She asked, through the corner of her mouth. “You’re going to ask him out here? Now!?” Twilight asked, in a harsh whisper. “Relax, I’m not going to ask him our here in front of everyone-I’m not an idiot, Twilight-I just want to know where he’s at emotionally, y’know?” “Try opening with something casual-like asking him how he’s feeling this morning.” Twilight replied, uncertainly after letting out an exasperated sigh. It was quite an awkward position that Rainbow Dash had her in. Giving Rainbow advice on how to flirt with her own brother. How easily she seemed to forget their initial meeting in Ponyville and her own aversion to socialization and lack of skills in that regard. As if things weren’t awkward enough, she had to do this now? With her mentor, parents, old foalsitter and all of their friends present? Twilight then decided that once this was all over, Rainbow Dash would owe her for putting her through all of this anxiety. “So, how are you doing…this morning?” Dash asked, causing Shining Armor to stop short of taking another bite of his pancakes and lower the fork he had been levitating. “I guess I can’t complain….now that things seemed to have a calmed down a bit, I was able to get a bit more sleep.” “I would have to advise against becoming too complacent.” Luna commented. “The lack of Changeling activity recently is only the calm before the storm, their Queen will be coming and according to Sunset Shimmer-she and her subjects will be coming in full force.” “Yeah, I know.” Shining replied. “I just meant that it’s nice to be able to relax a bit before they show up-if I spend the whole wait worrying about everything-I won’t be able to get any rest and if Sunset’s prediction comes true, I’d rather be at one-hundred percent to stop them and protect everyone.” “I am still holding out hope that the Queen can be reasoned with.” Celestia added. “No offense, Princess-but, what Sunset’s been telling us about her doesn’t necessarily fill us with the same confidence about her being the reasonable sort.” Applejack cut in. “Perhaps not, but once again I feel it necessary to reiterate that my goal is to avoid unnecessary bloodshed if at all possible-I believe that we can live with the Changelings in harmony-I just need to open up the Queen’s eyes to the possibility.” “As uncouth as their methods are, I must admit-I am slightly envious of the kind of innate magic that allows them to change any part of their body they want-it must save a fortune when it comes to mane styling.” Rarity added, trying to sound positive. “Ooh! Ooh! And more Pinkie Pies to spread happiness to everyone throughout Equestria!” Pinkie exclaimed. This caused Sunset to regard her with a look of contempt that seemed to indicate that she was resisting the urge to vomit into her own mouth. “You people do remember that these things are killers?” “She is correct.” Luna agreed. “Even if they seemingly agree to our terms and our offer of peace, subterfuge is in their very nature-we must make certain that they are sincere before risking allowing them to interact with the general populace.” Rainbow Dash sighed at how quickly her attempt to socialize with Shining Armor backfired and devolved into this. Politics were so stupid and boring-they always seemed to ruin everything. That’s probably why Celestia just wanted to hang out with them on the night of the Gala, instead of having to talk to a bunch of stuck-up jerks about the economy or whatever all night. She knew that what they were discussing was important but, they’ve pretty much been having the same discussion since they got here-it wasn’t like any of the stuff they were saying was new. Looking across the table, she could see Night Light and Twilight Velvet listening intently on the discussion along with Cadance. Fluttershy was just quietly focusing on her meal with her head down, which was weird because she was always first to come to the defense of other creatures-then again, Dash supposed this could have been like the issue she had with full grown dragons. Spike and Flash seemed to have taken to a little debate of their own, which sounded like which story arc or writer sucked more for Arachni-Colt from what she could gather. Shining Armor got up from the table and left the dining room. Dash looked back to see Twilight still completely enthralled by the malformed discussion that had now turned into the best way to ethically deal with the Changelings once peace was a viable option for both parties. Sighing, she decided follow suit, this would probably be the best time to talk to Shining without the risk of getting cutting off again. “Hey, Shining-wait up!” She called out, following him down the hall. His ear swiveled towards the direction of her voice before he stopped to let her catch up. “Hey, Dash-sorry about leaving early-it’s just that these conversations are going around in circles at this point.” Shining sighed. “I understand that these issues are important, but I feel like it’s more important right now to ensure that everyone’s prepared for the physical threats that the Changelings might pose when they show up, instead of getting to far ahead of ourselves-I just have this sinking feeling in my gut that things are going to go bad.” “But, we already evacuated everyone…” “That’s not what I mean, a lot of people in the guard I’ve known since the first day of training and more than a few I’ve become friends with since then-we’ve been up against Nightmare Moon and Discord, but couldn’t stop either of them. But, unlike those two-these Changelings have shown that they are more than willing to kill for their cause-and I don’t think I’ll be able to protect everyone. I know it’s unrealistic to think that I can, but after failing during the first attack-I’m not sure how many more of those failures on my conscience I can take…” “You almost make it sound like you’re killing them yourself.” Dash noted. “But you’re not, and I think everyone else already know that you’re trying your best-it’s totally messed up what happened but, no one-not even Celestia expected something like that.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right…” Shining smiled at her. “Hey Dash, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you and at first I thought about waiting until this whole thing was over with, but just in case things go bad….” “What is it?” He seemed strangely tense, even more so than he did before he went to speak with Cadance after reaching Canterlot. “Sorry, I thought this would be easier after doing this Cadance, but…” Shining inhaled deeply. “Dash, I have a lot of faith in you and I’m going to do my best to get everyone through this thing with the Changelings. With that said, I just wanted you to know that if the worst case scenario comes to pass…I’ve come to develop some pretty strong feelings for you in the short time we’ve known each other.” Dash felt her heart skip a beat, was he really saying what she thought he was saying? “I-I think I love you…” He admitted. “I know it’s kind of weird given everything that’s been going on, but the only other time I felt this way about a girl was with Cadance.” Shining watched her anxiously, trying to gauge her reaction-quietly anticipating outrage. But, it never came. Instead, Dash slowly looked up at him as if in a dream state before cocking her head slightly as if she were trying to ascertain whether or not he was being serious. This caused Shining to feel even more anxious as he braced himself for the various possible negative responses; she could yell at him, hit him, or simply laugh at him. Laughing would probably be the worst case-that she could find the notion of them being together so utterly ridiculous and pathetic would hurt the most. Of course, then there would be the question of their friendship and how this revelation might damage it-hopefully, that at least would still be salvageable. Rainbow Dash could only stare at him as she heard his words, but they were taking a while to register. Perhaps it was her current sleep-deprived state, or the nature of what he said, or a combination of the two. When her brain finally processed the words and she assured herself that despite the surreal nature of everything around her, she was not-in fact, dreaming. Finally, she let out a deep sigh as a wave of relief washed over her. “Well, that’s a load off!” She replied, cheerfully. This time, it was Shining’s turn to cock his head in confusion. “Huh?” “Yeah…funny story, I’ve actually been trying to talk to you so I could say the exact same thing.” She replied, sheepishly. “Really?” Shining pressed, perking up. “I mean, I’ve felt this way for a while, but I’ve never actually, y’know-liked a guy like this. So, I went to talk to Rarity for advice because she’s really into this kind of stuff and I really didn’t want to screw this up. And then Twilight found out and I…kind of felt like I had to ask her permission to date you because I didn’t want to mess up our friendship….but, she said that she’d have to think about it and get back to me-which she did like an hour ago.” “So, back there you were…?” “I was trying to figure out how to tell you without making you mad or scaring you off or…something. But, instead....” “The conversation devolved into politics.” Shining finished, understandingly. “So, that’s why you followed me out here.” “Yeah…” Shining took a step towards Dash and took her off-guard by wrapping a foreleg around her, causing her to blush as she realized what was happening. Despite the slight discomfort of being pressed up against the breastplate of his armor, she was greatly enjoying the embrace. After all of that stress and uncertainty, all of the work and waiting was finally paying off. Shining felt like a kiss might have been too much, too soon and decided that a smaller method of sharing his affection would be a safer bet and it seemed he was correct in that assumption as Dash seemed content with it. “Hey, how about after this whole thing’s over we go out and do something…you know to relax for a bit?” He whispered. “Yeah, that sounds cool. She replied, weakly. Shining slowly pulled away from her, while keeping his hoof rested on her shoulder in a comforting manner. “Are you okay?” He asked, looking into her eyes. “Yeah, I’m just tired…” She replied, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hoof. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” “Why’s that?” “I was worried about what Twilight would decide, what I would say to you if she gave me the okay, and when I have to think about stuff like that, it usually helps clear my head when I go flying.” “Yeah, Twiley can get a little…possessive when it comes to me-whenever Id hang out with one of my friends from school, if they were a girl she’d get really suspicious of them-the only exception was Cadance, I guess that’s because they already knew each other pretty well.” Shining replied, removing his hoof from her shoulder. “And I guess the possibility of us dating never really crossed her mind at the time.” “That actually sounds…kinda creepy.” “Nah, she’s just a little overprotective of me because I’m her big brother and we were pretty close at the time. Like I’ve said; I can be the same way with her. If she started dating some guy, I’d probably put him under the same level of scrutiny.” He explained. “Besides, I’m sure you’ve already realized that she also has kind of a habit of worrying about things.” “Yeah…you can say that again.” “So, you were really out flying all night?” “Well, I couldn’t sleep-and there wasn’t really much else to do-“ Dash was cut off as Steel Vanguard galloped towards them before skidding to a halt. “Captain! A swarm of Changelings are approaching Canterlot!” “Estimated time of arrival?” “Half an hour at the most.” “Alright, I’ll inform the Princesses-I want you to alert the other guards and rally them outside-we should be able to head them off at the center of Canterlot to keep the rest of the castle’s staff safe.” “Understood.” Vanguard replied, giving a salute as Shining Armor returned to the dining hall. “So, how many Changelings are we talking?” Dash pressed, curiously. “I mean it’s not like it matters-we can totally handle anything a bunch of bugs can dish out.” “I don’t know…” Vanguard replied. “I know you girls have been able to deal with some pretty big threats, but those were just against a single enemy. Would the Elements of Harmony really work against an entire army? I mean, I just can’t believe how many of them there are-at first we thought there was some kind of oil spill-but, when we got a closer look with the telescope, it turned out they were all Changelings lead by the Queen, herself.” “Yeah, but no matter how many of them there are, we’ll stop them-we always do.” Dash reassured him. Steel Vanguard however, still looked unconvinced as he left to inform the other guards of the situation. --- All of the conversations that were taking place slowly died out once everyone’s eyes caught Shining Armor’s grim expression. “Princess Celestia, the Changelings are approaching Canterlot-I have instructed the other guards to meet us outside. The furthest we would be able to go to prevent them from gaining too much more ground in trying to reach the castle would be the center of Canterlot.” He looked at his parents. “Mom, Dad, it will be safer if you stay here-Cadance, do you think you could be able to cast a shield spell around the castle to protect everyone after we head out?” “Yes, you’re right-it would be a good idea to prevent any Changelings from being able to abduct anyone from the castle and try to use them as hostages.” She agreed. “I will be joining you, but I’ll stay out of the fighting unless it’s absolutely necessary-I know that they’ll be targeting me, too.” “That would probably be for the best.” Celestia agreed. “Hopefully, I will be able to speak with the Queen on reasonable terms without things escalating into another conflict. With that said, if diplomacy fails I do not want anyone to hesitate in defending themselves-your lives and safety are more important to me than anything else.” Celestia then stood up from the table. “I will retrieve the Elements of Harmony from the vault as a precautionary measure.” Rainbow Dash re-entered the hall. “I’m glad that you have returned, the Changelings-“ “Are invading Canterlot, I know-what’s the game plan?” “I would like you, Twilight, and your friends to accompany me to the vault-if you ladies are wearing the Elements of Harmony, then we can hopefully stop the Changelings before they do too much damage if the Queen is unwilling to see reason.” Celestia repeated. “Well, what are we waiting for then?” Dash and the other girls followed Celestia out into the hall on their way to the vault while Twilight stayed behind, seeing the worried looks on her parents’ faces. “It’ll be alright, Princess Celestia knows what she’s doing, besides Shining Armor’s the Captain of the Guard and we’ve already dealt with this kind of stuff twice in the past year alone and Cadance will put up a shield spell to keep the castle safe.” “Honey, we know that you and your brother are talented it’s just….” Twilight Velvet’s voice trailed off, unsure of how to voice her and her husband’s concern. “We feel a little….useless.” Night Light added. “We’re you’re parents-we should be the ones protecting you, not the other way around-we just sort of feel like burdens right now.” “Well, Shining Armor kind of signed up for this when he joined the guard.” Twilight pointed out. “And it probably would bother me a lot more if it this was something that was just dropped on me and you two had any sort of control over it-but, you don’t-nobody does except for the Changelings. Besides, I’m actually starting to get used to the whole ‘go out and save Equestria’ thing at this point.” The couple exchanged glances. “We’re sorry,” Velvet replied. “Again, maybe it’s just part of being a parent-we just can’t get comfortable with the thought of you two potentially getting hurt, but it would feel even worse if it was on our behalf.” “Well, we’ve dealt with some pretty big threats before and we always came out fine.” Shining Armor reminded them. “Besides, we’ll still be looking out for each other out there.” Upon seeing that they were still concerned, he wrapped his forelegs around them and Twilight, bringing them all together in a family group hug. Sunset glared at them from across the room, feeling a mixture of contempt and envy towards the family and their public display of affection towards each other. “Everything is going to be fine, I promise.” Shining reassured them. Watching this, Cadance felt another pang of guilt for breaking up with him-even though he had forgiven her, the guilt of her impulsive decision still weighed heavily upon her-hopefully, she would be able to make it up to him someday. “We’re very proud of you.” Night Light replied. “Both of you.” Velvet clarified, both parent were beaming with pride at both of their children and how much they had accomplished at such young ages. Spike wrung his claws, he felt a little left out, but at the same time he was worried-their parents had come from outside the castle-what if they were actually Changelings in disguise? And they were feeding of Shining and Twilight’s love for them so they could attack everyone still inside the castle while everyone else was fighting outside? After a few moments of sharing the embrace, knowing that in the back of their mind it could very well be the last time they were all together. If they failed, death wasn’t a complete certainty-however, it seemed like a preferable option when considering what the Changelings did to their prisoners. Shining also suspected that Sunset may have left out some of the more horrific aspects of being kept in Changeling captivity before he pulled away. In trying to comfort his family, he had completely forgotten that Spike, Flash, Luna, Sunset, and Cadance were still in the room. Still, his embarrassment faded when he realized that they probably understood how they felt. “I’ve gotta head out, the other guards are waiting for me outside-we’ve got to hurry if we want to stop them from getting through the center of Canterlot.” He commented with finality before heading out. “Come on Flash.” Flash looked back at Sunset reluctantly, undoubtedly concerned about what actions she might take when they finally came face to face with the Queen and her swarm. “Relax, I’m not going to do anything stupid.” She growled. “We’ll be right behind you.” Twilight called out to Shining and Flash. “We love you, honey!” Velvet added, she wasn’t crying-but, Shining could still hear the worry in her voice. They waited until the two guards were out of sight before Cadance approached Twilight. “We should be heading out ourselves, Shining Armor is right-we don’t have much time and I’m sure Celestia and your friends are waiting for you.” She suggested, softly. Twilight nodded before turning to Spike, immediately feeling bad for having forgotten him. ‘Why didn’t he join us? Is he still afraid that we don’t consider him a part of our family?’ She wondered. “Spike, it will be a lot safer if you stay here with Mom and Dad.” “But, what if something happens to you?” He pressed, anxiously. “What if something happens and no one see it and some Changeling takes your place? What if they’re Changelings?” Night Light and Velvet exchanged glances once more as Twilight looked back at them skeptically. “Come on Spike, you’re being silly-Mom and Dad aren’t Changelings!” “What if you’re a Changeling in disguise too and you’re just trying to cover for them!?” Spike demanded, pointing at her with at accusatory claw. “You’re paranoid…look, it’s understandable given everything that’s going on, but I promise you-I’m the same Twilight Sparkle you’ve known your whole life.” “I want to believe that, but…” Spike replied, crossing his arms uncertainly. “Is there perhaps some way she can prove to you she is who she claims to be?” Luna suggested. “Maybe…but how?” Sunset stood up with an exasperated sigh. “Alright, clearly I’m the only one competent enough to have figured out a spell to identify Changelings-all three of you stay still.” “But, how did you figure out how to-“ “Shut up.” Sunset tapped her horn against Twilight’s forehead as a spark ignited at the tip and the glow radiated across her body along with the sensation of suffering a mild electric shock before slowly fading. “You’re good, now go-you’ve wasted enough time.” As Sunset approached her parents, Twilight galloped towards the vault-it, just like every other significant area within the castle had been etched into her memory when she had her first tour of the castle. That knowledge had only been solidified when she asked Celestia questions about areas that weren’t covered in the tour. She skidded to a halt when Rainbow Dash appeared flying slightly about the ground, seemingly out of nowhere. “Rainbow! What are you doing here?” “Uh, duh-looking for you.” She replied, holding up the tiara with the Element of Magic encrusted in the center. “You were taking too long, so Celestia asked me to come find you-it’s not like we have a lot of time left-everyone else is heading to the center of Canterlot, so we’re gonna have to catch up.” “I know you’re fast, but I’m pretty confident it won’t be an issue for me.” Twilight replied, levitating the tiara onto her head. Dash gave her a quizzical look as she smirked before disappearing in a flash of magical light. “Hey, that’s cheating!”