//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four: Icebreakers 
// Story: S.M.I.L.E. For The Camera! 
// by TheGuineaPig45 
//------------------------------//

SPLASH!
Shining Armor, Flam, Soarin, and Cheese Sandwich had all rolled down the muddy, tree-covered hill, falling right off a small cliff into a rolling river.
They were not pleased.
“Crud!” Shining Armor shouted, as the four got pulled by the current. “This is not how I wanted to spend my night! Not even close!”
“This is actually about what I'd expected,” Cheese admitted.
As their suits and manes got soaked with dirty water, the stallions continued being strung along by the sheer force of the river. Shining and Cheese tried to fight the current, with little success.
“If I’ve learned anything from movies,” Flam said, still tied to Soarin, “it’s that there’s always a waterfall at the end of these! And I’m not exactly in the mood to go barrel-riding, especially since we don’t have a barrel!”
Shining took a deep breath, relaxing his muscles. “Everypony, we need to stay calm! Lie on your back, look downstream, and breathe with the flow of the water! We’re going to have to maneuver ourselves into calmer water!” He followed his own instructions, as did Cheese.
The other two were not so successful.
“I can’t get on my back!” Soarin pointed out. “There’s a pony on my back! A pony who is a known kidnapper!”
“It was one time, okay?” Flam scoffed, getting tossed around by the turbulent waves. “Cut me some slack!”
“And you’re a kidnapper, too, Shining Armor! How can I trust you?!”
“Can somepony please explain this kidnapping thing?!” Cheese asked. “Cause I’m a little concerned.”
Before anypony could respond, a shadow appeared above them, blocking the moonlight. It was Boomer, flying over the river, watching the stallions be thrashed about by the waves.
“Yo, guys!” he called out. “I’m here to rescue you!”
“So rescue us!” Shining shouted back. “Don’t just fly up there and let us drown!”
“Oh, right. Coming!”
The pegasus swooped in, first grabbing the Soarin and Flam bundle, then Cheese, and finally Shining. He deposited them on dry land, a couple of feet away from the raging waters. They all collapsed onto the ground and let out deep sighs of relief.
“Wowwee!” Cheese cheered, his mane suddenly poofing out as if it had never been wet in the first place. “That was exhilarating! Can we do it again?!”
“NO!” Shining and Soarin yelled simultaneously.
“Thanks for the save, Boom,” Flam said. Thanks to the river, his hooves were now wet enough to slip through the duct tape, and, with some help from Shining, the rope was untied. “Haha! Freedom is mine!”
After taking a brief moment to celebrate, all the stallions settled down in a circle. They looked around at their location. Below them was a mix of rocks, sticks, and dirt, with hundreds of trees surrounding them. They appeared to be deep inside an unidentified forest.
“So, anyone know who those masked ponies were?” Boomer asked, sitting on a large stone. The other stallions all shook their heads. “Cause they’re clearly the ones who kidnapped us.”
“Why would they want to kidnap us as a group?” Flam thought aloud. “Aside from Shining and I, we hardly know each other. At least, for now."
“They mentioned something called S.M.I.L.E.,” Soarin recalled, squeezing out his sopping wet tie. “Anypony know what that is?”
“A smile is when your lips curl upwards as a sign of happiness,” Flam explained. “Honestly, it makes me a little sad to find out you’ve gotten this far in life without knowing that.”
“No, like an acronym.”
“So, you’re suggesting our kidnappers are gymnasts?”
“Flam, you’re thinking of acrobats,” Shining Armor sighed. “And no, I don’t know anything about a S.M.I.L.E. But really, it doesn't matter. We escaped from them, and now we need to get back to Canterlot! I need to win back Cadance!”
“We don’t even know where we are,” Soarin pointed out. “How are we supposed to get to Canterlot if we don’t know what direction it’s in?”
“Well, I dunno. Aren’t Wonderbolts supposed to be expert navigators?”
“Aren’t princes supposed to be kind?”
Shining Armor and Soarin locked eyes with each other, and immediately began squaring off. Flam sighed.
“I’m sensing a little tension here,” he observed, putting his front legs around both of the stallions. “How about we all just chill out? Play a game or…” He gasped, and his face lit up. “I know! An icebreaker!” He turned to face the whole group. “After all, we’re probably going to be stuck together for a little while, so let’s get to know each other better! Everypony, say your name and one fun fact about yourself.”
“Nooo,” Shining groaned. “This is just like summer camp. Which was torture!”
“Personally, I really liked summer camp,” Soarin replied. “So I’ll go first. My name is Soarin, and I won a pie baking competition when I was four. The judges said my apple pie sent them straight to heaven.”
“Wow, it was so bad, it killed them?” Shining chuckled.
“Shiny, no heckling,” Flam said. He shook his head at the prince, whose ears drooped. “Although, to be fair, that is kind of a strange compliment to get.”
“Okay, I'm sorta into this game!” Boomer giggled, clapping his hooves. “My turn! I’m Boomer, and I own a planet.” The stallions stared at him. “Drunk purchase. I think it’s named Remoob, which is just my name backwards. Drunk me is not creative. Or smart.”
Cheese laughed. “That’s so funny!” He sprung onto his hooves and bowed. “Okay, I'm up. Je m'appelle Cheese Sandwich, and when I was a colt, I used to set my toys on fire!” Complete silence. All the other stallions looked at him, jaws dropped and eyes filled with terror. “What? Did you guys not do that?”
“I swear,” Shining Armor whispered to Boomer, “we are going to die on this trip.”
“Moving on,” Flam began, “I’m Flam, and I once dressed up as a giant cupcake for a foal’s birthday party. Yes, it was for a con, but no, I was not conning the child. That would be wrong.” He paused. “I was conning her grandmother.”
All the stallions looked toward Shining Armor, who couldn’t think of anything on the spot and started to sweat. “I’m, um, Shining Armor, and my fact is…” He said the first thing that came to his mind. “...I really miss my wife.”
Another moment of silence.
“Well, that’s not a very fun fact,” Cheese said. “It’s more of a funk fact.”
Flam sighed. “Shiny, could I talk to you for a moment?”



The two unicorns walked over to a nearby tree that was out of earshot from the rest of the group.
“I’m worried about you, babe,” Flam admitted, leaning against the wood.
Shining scoffed. “Why? I’m totally fine. Also, don’t call me babe.”
“But you’re not fine! Ever since you saw Soarin and Cadance talking, you’ve either been confrontational with the former or emotional about the latter. And while I find your passion for your wife to be really attractive, this is our guys night out, remember? We’re not supposed to be worrying about that kind of stuff!”
“Flam, I think our guys night out got derailed when we got kidnapped.”
The mustached unicorn laughed. “Are you kidding? Our guys night out is totally still on! We just have a couple more guys now. Personally, I don't think getting kidnapped was such a bad thing. I mean, it’s the perfect way for us stallions to hang out, get to know each other, go on some crazy adventures, and take our minds off our troubles! This is, like, the quintessential guys night out!”
“It’s really not,” Shining replied. “Also, how are you so calm and relaxed? The last time we were in a situation like this, you were freaking out and worrying about going to Tartarus!”
“Eh, I realized that my frightened demeanor may not have been the biggest help before,” Flam said, “so I’ve decided to adopt a more gung ho approach to life. Besides, this time, I know I’ve got you. What could I possibly have to worry about?”
Shining’s whole body warmed up with those words. He smiled and gave Flam a hug. “Okay, fine. Guys night out is still on.” A pause. “Although, I can’t make any promises about Soarin. At the wedding, he was talking to Cadance about me! There’s something going on there I don’t like.”
“You’re overreacting. Can’t the two of you just try to get along?”
“Nope. I don’t like him, he doesn't like me, amen.”
Flam chuckled, and a devilish grin emerged on his face. “Okay, I’ve seen enough movies to know how this story ends.” He looked Shining directly in the eyes. “I bet you forty bits that the two of you become friends by the end of this.”
“Hmmm. An interesting wager. I’m not a gambling stallion, but I’ll take this chance.” Shining slowly nodded his head, then shook his roommate’s hoof.
“It’s a deal.”



Flam and Shining returned to the group. The other stallions were taking turns messing with an accordion, which Cheese had pulled out of his mane.
“We’re back!” Flam chirped, taking a seat next to Boomer. “Which means it’s time for more icebreakers! And I’ve got a juicy question to start us off. The truest test of character…" Dramatic pause. "...Pineapple on pizza: yay or neigh?”
Soarin and Shining answered simultaneously, with the former saying “yay,” and the latter saying “neigh.” They looked at each other, gasped, and immediately began arguing over which one of them was "right."
Boomer shook his head and sighed, while Flam just laughed.
I’m so winning that forty bits, he thought to himself. No question about it.