Friendship is Shining: Clash of The Iron Mares

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Judge Shining Armor

"Couch!" Spike ordered, pointing a claw toward the doorway.

"What?" Shining Armor asked, turning to the dragon.

"I said 'couch.' You know, that big soft thing that ponies normally sit on, but is also big enough to lay down on. Which is what you are going to do: lay down and take a nap."

"Spike," Shining Armor said, "I don't need a nap. I'm--"

"Dead on your hooves," Spike cut in. Crossing his arms over his chest, he stood up at his full height (which, admittedly, was not very impressive). "You're exhausted. You haven't been sleeping well. You don't want to talk about it, and I can't really force you."

"There's nothing to talk about," Shining snapped. "I've just had some bad dreams is all. It's nothing."

"Fine," Spike said, "but it's still left you missing out on sleep and you're starting to mess up. Now as your assistant, your friend, and your brother, I am telling you to go take a nap before something happens." Walking over to the stallion, the young dragon started to push him toward the main room. "I'll wake you when lunch is ready."

"Okay, okay," Shining said, stepping away from Spike. "I'm going. I'm going. No need to shove. Are you sure you can handle this on your own?"

"Yes," Spike said. "Now go get some rest."

With a sigh, Shining Armor headed to the main room and the couch. Spike could be really tough and stubborn when he wanted to be. Now that he thought about it, it was probably a family trait. The same thing could be said for him, or his sister, and especially their mother. Spike was kind of overreacting though. It was just a couple of nights with bad dreams. It was not a big deal.

Reaching the couch, Shining flopped down on it and stretched out. He felt silly. He was not some cranky colt, and he was not even tired. There was no need for him to nap. It had just been a few bad nights. He would catch up on it in another night or two. There was no reason to treat him like a sleepy foal.

"Shining!" A voice called out. "Ya in there, sugar cube?"

Blinking and yawning, Shining Armor rolled off the couch. He must have dozed off at some point. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he made his way toward the door.

A quick series of hard knocks struck the door.

"Come on," a second voice called out. "Open up already!"

"I'm coming!" Shining Armor shouted as he walked toward the door. "Just give me a --" he let out another yawn "-- second." Horn lighting up, he took a hold of the knob and pulled the door open.

Standing there was Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Despite being close enough to each other to fit through the doorway, there seemed to be some sort of space between the two of them. The pair were facing away from each other, but both were glaring at the other from the corner of their eye.

"...Is... something the matter?" Shining Armor asked, glancing between the two mares.

"Yeah, something's the matter," Rainbow snapped. "Applejack thinks she's a better athlete than me because she won one stupid game."

"As you can clearly hear for yourself," Applejack said, "somepony is bein' a mighty sore loser."

"I don't like losing," Rainbow admitted. She then turned her attention back to Shining Armor. "So we decided to settle it once and for all."

"An iron pony competition," Applejack continued. "A series of challenges that the two of us will compete in against each other. One on one. Whoever wins the most is the better athlete."

"And that's where you come in," Rainbow Dash added. "We want you to help create the games and be the judge."

"Me?" Shining asked, eyes wide.

"We both trust ya to make the challenges fair," Applejack said, "and not to be tempted to show any favoritism for either of us."

"So when I win," Rainbow declared, "nopony can complain about it."

"You mean when I win," Applejack growled, turning to narrow her eyes at her friend turned rival.

The two stared at each other for a moment, ears back and bodies tense. Shining Armor almost felt like it was going to turn into violence at any second.

"Okay," Shining Armor said, getting the attention of the two and ending the glaring match. "I'll do it. But I'll need a couple days to create and set up the challenges."

"That's great," Pinkie declared, hopping in place. "We can invite ponies to watch then. There can be treats, and drinks, and even prizes for whoever guessed the winner right. Ooh. Ooh. Can I be an announcer?"

"Pinkie!" Shining Armor said as he overcame the surprise first. "Where did you come from?"

"The kitchen," Pinkie Pie answered. "So, can I?"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Spike called out as he came running into the room. "If there's going to be a sporting event, I want to be the announcer."

"Okay," Pinkie said. "I'll do color commentary." She grinned. "And with Dashie in it, there should be plenty of colors to comment on."

There was a collective groan from the ponies and dragon assembled.

"Anyway," Pinkie continued, "just make sure you don't have it the same day as The Running of The Leaves. It would be sad if nopony showed up to watch because they were all running through Whitetail Woods."

Shining's ears perked up to him as he suddenly got an idea.

"What if we made that the last event?" A smile spread across his face as he turned back to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. "We can have the competition the day before, keeping score of how each of you do on what. The then next day, the two of you can join the run, and your position at the end of the race will be taken into account."

Horn lighting up, he grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen. He started to write as he walked.

"Let's see. It has to be events that both will be able to compete in. Most of them should be balanced, although some should be more toward the strength of one or the other. That way..."

He trailed off into a humming sound as he wrote, heading toward the kitchen and leaving the others alone.

"Well I guess we're done here," Applejack said. "I should head back to the farm. Got work I need to do. 'specially if I'm going to be ready to kick your sorry flank this weekend."

"Well make sure you have plenty of tissues," Rainbow Dash said as she followed after her friend. "Because I'm gonna leave you cryin'."

"And I should probably start telling everypony all about it," Pinkie announded, before turning to Spike. "By the way, I think something might be burning in the kitchen."

With a yelp, Spike ran back to the kitchen, hoping that lunch was not too badly damaged.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Shining Armor, you have no idea of the powder keg you've just ignited.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks greatly for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. As usual, excellent job on the exchanges, emotional content, humor and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

"There's nothing to talk about," Shining snapped. "I've just had some bad dreams is all. It's nothing."

I've got to ask "Hey, Star Squirrel, If you're having trouble sleeping because of bad dreams why don't you just ask Luna for help?" IMO, partially because this is because of sequencing -this takes place before alternate Luna Eclipsed. She may not be recovered enough to help & even if she is he might not know this.

But, it is mostly a guy thing. Ask for help just because you are feeling bad? HELL NO!! No true guy would do this. You might just as well wear a label "Gutless Wuss" & apply for a sex change operation because they'd revoke your man certification.