Shining Armor woke up exhausted. He yawned and reached out for the alarm clock with his magic and dragged it over to him. Six in the morning, of course. If his body was capable of letting him sleep longer, he would’ve done so. Years of waking up at the crack of dawn did not allow for much deviation, though.
There was one thing unusual, though. The pressure on his chest, and the sound of light snoring. He looked down to see a rainbow mane played out against his white fur and a blue muzzle pressed into his chest. Both of her back legs were wrapped around one of his and one of his hooves was holding her against him.
“Right…”
The activities of the night prior came flooding back in an instant to his tired mind. He had learned a few things about the mare now snuggled up against his side in the last day; she was incredibly fast, she was astoundingly limber, and she was very bossy. All things that Shining Armor had absolutely no problem with. If anything, it had been one of the better nights he’d shared with a mare in his life.
“Don’t try to think about that too much…” Shining mumbled to himself. It was easier said than done. He was pretty sure some things had been said last night that would’ve made a sailor blush. He was definitely sure that Rainbow had been on top of him more than the other way around. “What a mare…” He mumbled.
Shining pulled the sleeping pegasus a bit closer and ran his hooves over her body. Even sleeping and completely relaxed he could feel the muscles beneath her skin. She was taut and lean, like a coiled spring at all times. The horn atop his head lit up and he trailed magic down one of her wings and lightly squeezed and massaged the delicate limb. He had learned that she liked that, really liked it in fact. She had learned to like a lot about his magic pretty quick.
That was last night, though. They had made a point to make it a mantra that this had been just for yesterday. For most of the day the world had shrunk down to just these four walls, and sometimes just the bed.
“It’s not today, though. It’s tomorrow.” Which meant he had something he needed to do. The world existed again. It stretched beyond the bed and the four walls of his hotel room. It now stretched all the way back to Canterlot.
With the help of his magic he pried himself free from Rainbow Dash’s grasp and replaced his body with a pillow. Dash quickly attached herself to it and squeezed her body around it. He could only smile.
Shining sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his saddlebags over to him with his magic. The envelope was drawn from one of the pockets and he turned it end over end in his grasp. He looked at it, and then back to Rainbow Dash.
“Does it have to be tomorrow yet…?” He asked himself that question honestly. What if he just never opened the letter? What if he ignored it? Cadance still lingered in his mind, but Rainbow Dash lingered on his breath and in the rest of his senses. The mare sleeping soundly on the bed was a level of intoxication that he had never encountered previously and doubted he ever would again. His heart yearned for her passion, for her fire.
At the end of the day, and now at the start of it, he was a royal guard though. He was meant to protect the princesses, that included Cadance. Was breaking her heart, even when she had damaged his so many times, protecting her? It certainly wasn’t doing that emotionally.
Plus, Rainbow Dash said it herself: she moved fast. Sometimes ponies couldn’t keep up and they would stumble and fall just going after her. He had caught her momentarily, but who was to say how long the moment would last? It was just supposed to be for the night. That was the moment agreed upon. If he tried to hold on for any longer, then he would risk letting his grip slip and wind up watching her speed away.
Shining sighed and opened the letter.