//------------------------------// // 1.6 Not a Cakewalk Served Up on a Silver Spoon // Story: Unforgiven Memories // by Hidden Brony //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did. Memories of a Lost Time Chapter Six: Not a Cakewalk Served Up on a Silver Spoon         Something something dark side. Something something ultimate power.         There was not a single sound in the room as Streak finished his story. Nopony moved. Shock and horror were prevalent features on the faces of the mares, and poor Fluttershy had fainted partway through his retelling of the dungeon. Eventually someone spoke up.         “I understand now,” Redheart said simply, quietly.         “Understand?” Streak asked.         “Why it is you’re going to do what you’re going to do.”         She doesn’t understand. She thinks she does. She doesn’t know us, doesn’t know our life. Our pain.         Let me be the first to point out how cliche that was. Also, let her think what she will, she said she’d help us and she will.         She could be useful, but something about her feels... off. I cannot sense her.         That could be good or bad.         Explain how this could be good.         If it pisses you off, it’s enough for me.         Exactly.         If I didn’t need you—         Save your idle threats for someone who is afraid of them, will you?         Just let me do me, and you get your fate tangles.         “Streak,” Redheart started cautiously, “are you okay?”         He shook his head, snapping back into reality. “As okay as I can be. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be more than okay when we’re done.”         “You were staring into space. Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked.         Streak put on his best fake smile, “Fine.”         It didn’t seem to fool her, but she dropped the subject, which was good enough for him. Looking to the rest of the room, they were beginning to recover. Rainbow just stared at his sides, where his wings used to be, her own wings tucked tightly against her side protectively. Twilight had a look of absolute horror on her face, staring at nothing. Fluttershy was being woken by a somber Pinkie Pie. Rarity was slowly shaking her head in denial. Eventually Applejack spoke up.         “So what are we doin’ ‘bout this whole thing? Redheart keeps mentioning a plan ya have.”         “ ‘We’ aren’t doing anything. I am heading to Canterlot to confront Celestia,” Streak said.         “You expect us to let you face that monster by yourself?” she countered. “She has stayed in power for over a thousand years, a few o’ those years with Luna co-ruling. If she could fool us all for that long, then do you expect to topple her regime with a single pony?”         “I don’t intend to topple the regime, just the pony,” Streak smiled sadistically.         Twilight didn’t look amused. “If you think you’re going anywhere without us, and with your side like that, you’re wrong.”         “This isn’t an option, Twilight,” Streak swiped his forehoof through the air in a clear act of dismissal. “Every day I spend that she is not dead is one more day for her to throw more into the Void. It’s another day she can prepare for my arrival. Do you think she doesn’t know what I plan? Do you think she’s just going to sit there and do nothing for a month while I ‘get ready’ and rest up?”         Surprisingly Fluttershy was the next one to speak up, and forcibly, “You are not going anywhere until your side is healed up. That is final.”         Streak turned to look at her to see her staring intently into his eyes. Something about her stare was frightening, and he grew uneasy to feel it turned on him. He felt a compulsion to obey her, to stay until he was healed.         Not on my watch.         Streak felt a surge of warmth from his chest spread throughout his body. All of the mares but Fluttershy looked on in fear as his eyes literally darkened, going pitch black. After his eyes, his fur and mane, save his rainbow streak, darkened a few shades. He growled, “Do you think you scare me? Do you seek to intimidate me into playing along with your little game?”         Streak’s body seemed to ripple, getting not larger, but more muscular. His voice changed with his body, becoming deeper and resonating throughout the library, “I have survived hell itself, and you seek to cow me into submission?”         Fluttershy couldn’t look away, she had frozen in fear, as had most of the mares. Redheart walked up to Streak’s changed form and gave him a good shove. “Get out.”         Streak yelped as he toppled over, his natural form and coloring returning before he even hit the ground. He grimaced as his injured side landed on the ground. He picked himself up and grabbed his head, hissing.         “Tell your friend to not do that too much yet. That causes headaches and muscle soreness until you get used to it,” Redheart switched into lecture mode. “You’ll need a few weeks training to be able to use that form with any regularity with no side effects.”         Streak grimaced, “Nihility, stay in my damn head, please.”         I thought it was hilarious.         As if I didn’t need another reason to not do that again.         Twilight looked between the two with a confused expression, “Could someone please tell me what’s going on?”         “This one stays with Streak, I’m afraid,” Redheart stated simply. “It’s not the kind of thing that anyone should know, not even you girls. Suffice to say, we found our reason to keep him here for a while.”         Streak growled, “Not that I like it any.” * * *         Within the last few days, Streak had moved to be in Fluttershy’s cottage. It was closer to the Everfree, and she was constantly there to tend to his wounded side.         He had found a path leading to a clearing on the second day, and since then it had become his. He woke up before dawn every day and practiced his transformations until Fluttershy came to get him for breakfast. Between breakfast and lunch, he would help her feed her animals. He refused to live in her house as a freeloader. After lunch, he would return to his clearing to practice his fighting. Fluttershy supervised, of course, to make sure he didn’t pull his side too much. He would never admit it, but he was glad to have the company after nearly a thousand years alone. After dinner, he would bathe in the creek. This was the one event where he was embarrassed to have Fluttershy attend. She did it for a completely chaste reason, of course, and used the time to clean his wound and replace his bandages. Still, he would always blush when she joined him in the creek to wash, and made sure to avert his eyes. He was a gentleman, damnit! After he was clean, he would go to bed.         And so he settled into a regular regime. Wake up, practice transformations, eat, work, eat, practice, eat, clean, blush, bed, repeat. It was simple and allowed him to take his mind off things. At least, it was. After about two weeks, things changed.         It was just after lunch. He was in his glade doing warm ups, when Fluttershy gasped. He turned to look, and saw Rainbow Dash walking up calmly. He had been around the brash pegasus enough to realise that something was up. First, she wasn’t flying. Second, she seemed to lack her confidant, almost arrogant, demeanor.         “Rainbow Dash,” Streak called out. “Something is troubling you.”         She hesitated for a second before blurting out, “I need your help!” Her cheeks erupted in red afterwards, obviously embarrassed at having to ask for help.         Streak’s eyebrow rose slightly, “You don’t seem like the type to ask for favors idly. What is it you need?”         She seemed ready to back down, but, with a comforting nudge from Fluttershy, she continued. “You beat me twice. Easily. I want to learn to fight. Not the wimpy self defense stuff they teach in Canterlot, but real, war tested fighting.”         “You realise that this is a daily commitment, Rainbow Dash?” Streak asked. “I’m not going to allow you to skip out, no matter the circumstances, no matter how sore you are. I will walk straight into the center of Ponyville shouting your name, if it comes to that. Are you okay with that?”         Rainbow’s eyes shot open, realizing what an event like that would cause. She hesitantly nodded her head.         Streak smiled a small smile, “Okay, step one: warming up.” * * *         Books and Branches, the local library in Ponyville, was in complete disarray at the moment. Books were piled up, forming a maze across the floor with wooden floors and literary walls. Novels glowing purple flew through the air, organizing and reorganizing themselves, all the while a baby purple dragon ran as fast as his stubby little legs could take him to put them in their places before his companion, a rather pretty unicorn mare, could magic them away into the next organizational method.         It was a normal Tuesday afternoon for the duo.         A knock at the door interrupted the reorganization efforts, much to Spike’s relief. Twilight smiled at her little assistant’s reaction before opening the door. What met her on the other side nearly bowled her over.         “Shiny!” Twilight exclaimed in glee, giving her older brother a flying tackle-hug. Shining Armor yelped as he was knocked flat, much to his wife’s amusement. Cadance giggled at her sister-in-law’s reaction.         Shining Armor groaned, “Good to see you too, sis.”         This caused Cadance’s giggles to turn to flat out laughter. Twilight finally noticed her old foalsitter, and changed her target.         “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”         Both Twilight and Cadance toppled over in laughter as they completed their ritual. Shining Armor chuckled, “Good to see that my wife is up to date on her flank shaking skills.” This earned him a magical swat from both his sister and wife, causing him to yelp.         “What are you guys doing here?” Twilight asked, smiling.         “What, I’m not allowed a vacay?” Shining Armor asked.         “Vacay?” Twilight cocked her head.         “Shining,” Cadance groaned. “He means to say vacation.”         “What? All the cool kids are saying it!” Shining Armor turned his muzzle up in mock indignation, causing the mares to laugh.         However, Twilight couldn’t keep up the happy attitude, not in light of the revelations just three weeks ago. The random bouts of crying and depression had stopped, at least.         Shining Armor noticed her somber demeanor, “What’s wrong, sis?”         Cadance got a smirk on her face, “Does it have to do with a stallion?”         Twilight blushed to her neck, “N–No! No!”         “That sounds like denial~!” Cadance singsonged.         “No! My issue doesn’t directly involve a stallion!” Twilight exclaimed.         “But it does involve one indirectly,” Shining Armor surmised.         Twilight sighed, resigning herself to her fate. “It’s easiest to just show you. Shiny, you remember the memory spell?”         He looked at her sideways, “Of course I do. It’s one of the main ways we gain evidence from witnesses.”         Twilight facehoofed, “Of course, stupid question.”         “Why do you ask, Twily?” he asked.         “You’re going to need it and a bit of an open mind soon.” * * *         “Alright, you’re going to need to stay here,” Twilight said, standing outside a certain pegasus’s cottage.         “Go ahead, Twilight,” Cadance said before smirking. “But don’t take too long, who knows what Shiny and I could get up to if we get bored.”         Twilight burned bright scarlet as Shining Armor’s ears perked up in interest. Twilight hurried into Fluttershy’s cottage.         “Fluttershy?” she called out quietly. It was about noon, so she knew Streak was either back or on his way back for lunch.         “Oh, Twilight! Are you here to see Streak?” Fluttershy’s timid voice called from the kitchen.         Twilight smiled and walked in, “Yeah, is he feeding animals still?”         Looking around, Fluttershy’s kitchen was fairly normal. It had a table for small meals, ample counter space, some culinary detritus spread out, blenders and such, and a knife block with a knife missing.         Fluttershy shook her head, “Oh, no. We finished early today. Rainbow Dash showed up early and helped us finish with chores. He’s upstairs.”         “Why’s there a knife missing?” Twilight inquired of her companion.         “Streak asked if he could borrow it. He likes to keep it nearby, it makes him feel safer.”         “That makes sense. What about Rainbow? Where is she?” Twilight asked.         “She said something about hanging out at Sweet Apple Acres to get free food from Applejack,” Fluttershy smiled demurely.         Twilight shook her head, “Some ponies never change. I’m heading upstairs to grab Streak, Shining Armor and Cadance are—” Her words were broken off by a thumping sound coming from the front door. She heard Cadance yelp in suprise and angry shouting from Shining Armor. Twilight nearly ripped the door off opening it in her panic, and her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.         Streak was holding a terrified Cadance between him and Shining Armor, who’s horn was glowing. Streak was pressing a knife up to her neck. “Alright, Twilight. You have five seconds, exactly five fucking seconds to explain why you brought an alicorn to my door, or we see if an alicorn bleeds like the rest of us.” * * *         Streak shook his head as Rainbow Dash flew off to Sweet Apple Acres. Some ponies never change. He turned his attention to his other pegasus companion, “So, need any help with food?”         Fluttershy smiled, “Oh, no. You already do so much around here. Feeding the animals used to be an all day thing.”         She had gotten comfortable around him, probably from the shared baths. Her comfort caused her to talk louder and more frequently as time went on, and now she was talking at her regular volume on a consistent basis around him.         Streak smiled, “Alright, I’ll just bring the animals upstairs their food and be down for lunch.”         Fluttershy nodded and walked into the kitchen, leaving Streak to complete his self-appointed task. He loaded the feed on his back and started filling bowls that Fluttershy had conveniently left at the base of each animal’s house.         Right as he was finishing, he heard Twilight’s voice, “Alright, you’re going to need to stay here.” He looked out the window to see Twilight with a stallion he had never seen before.         A voice he had never heard before spoke with much amusement, “Go ahead, Twilight. But don’t take too long, who knows what Shiny and I could get up to if we get bored.”         Streak’s eyes widened as he saw the speaker. She had wings and a horn, which meant only one thing. Damnit there are three of them.         He walked silently to his room and grabbed his knife. After that it was a simple matter to sneak back to the window and open it without the two hearing him. He paused at the window, going over his options.         Okay, so we have two choices. Unicorn, or alicorn.         My first thought would be alicorn, but that unicorn is allowed to travel with a Princess alone. He is either weak and trusted, or he is both very powerful and very trusted. This complicates things.         Twilight obviously knows the alicorn on a personal basis, and I have a feeling that ‘Shiny’ is not the name that someone like him would go with on a day-to-day basis. She brought her boy-toy?         That seems a likely option, but irrelevant.         Not so, she might surrender if I grab her lover.         Or she could throw him to the wolves and retreat with our location, endangering ourselves and the girls.         This morality thing sucks. Alright, I say we hit the boy-toy and grab the alicorn. All in favor say ‘yea’.         Just do it.         Good enough!         That conversation took place in seconds.         Springing into action, Streak launched himself out the window. He landed next to the unicorn, and gave him a solid buck to the side. Taking advantage of his disbalance, Streak spun and hit him on the horn, fizzling out the spell he was casting reflexively and stopping casting for a few seconds.         Quickly, Streak spun around and smacked the pink alicorn on the horn, disabling her spellcasting as well. He quickly knocked her on her flank and threw the knife up to her throat. He spun in such a way that the unicorn had to redirect his blast or hit her.         Fluttershy’s door was almost ripped off its hinges by a purple aura as Twilight burst out of the cottage, confusion and panic written on her face. He was hurt by her actions, but kept it down in favor of anger. “Alright, Twilight. You have five seconds, exactly five fucking seconds to explain why you brought an alicorn to my door, or we see if an alicorn bleeds like the rest of us.”         Recognition came to the unicorn’s face, “You’re Streak, aren’t you? Let my damned wife go.”         Oh, hell no.         “I don’t think so,” he pressed the knife up higher, causing Cadance to lift her head as much as possible to prevent getting cut. “Tick tock, Twilight.”         Twilight’s thoughts were racing. How could this have gone so wrong so fast?         “You’re hurting, aren’t you?” Cadance asked.         “Shut up,” Streak growled.         “It’s not the physical hurt, but the mental hurt. The emotional hurt.” She continued.         “Shut up!” he snapped.         Do it, she’s trying to talk you down! She’s trying to make you weak!         No, no she’s trying to help!         Don’t be fooled. Nihility is right.         Get out of my head!         “Cadance, what are you doing? Don’t try and reason with him, he’s a monster!” Shining Armor exclaimed.         “I’m doing my job,” was her simple reply. “Someone hurt you, didn’t they?”         “You know nothing of pain,” Streak growled in her ear, “Not yet.”         “Streak, I’m Shining Armor, captain of the guard! Let her go!”         Twilight’s eyes widened, That was the exact wrong thing to say.         “You brought the captain of the fucking guard here?” Streak exploded, “What the FUCK, Twilight? I trusted you!”         Slit the alicorn’s throat first, then throw the knife at the unicorn as a distraction from there—         No, damnit! She had a good reason!         Don’t fool yourself. Slit Cadance’s throat and run straight to Canterlot.         Shut up!         “Damn it, Shining Armor!” Twilight snapped, causing both Shining Armor and Cadance to jolt in surprise. “We need him to calm down, and you pull this!” She turned to Streak, “I was trying to get him on our side!”         “What do you mean, ‘our side’, Twily?” Shining Armor asked, confused.         Cadance spoke up again, “Talk to me, Streak. Ignore them. Who was it?”         I can’t ignore them, they’re in my damn head!         You know I’m right.         “None of your damn business!” Streak snapped again.         “Celestia,” Twilight answered for him.         Shining Armor stared at his sister in shock. “You can’t seriously believe that! Why would Celestia of all ponies cause this kind of reaction?”         Streak felt a growl bubble up out of his throat, but was cut off by Cadance, “Ignore them, Streak. What did she do?”         “She ruined my damn life, now SHUT UP!” Streak pressed the knife tighter into Cadance’s throat, drawing blood. It was red, same as everybody else’s.         You keep making them LOUDER!         Release me! We’ve been training for a month for this reason.         NO! Stay in my head!         “You bastard! Let her go!” Shining Armor exploded at seeing the blood.         Cadance ignored both stallions, “That’s a good start, but I can feel more from you. You radiate hurt. She didn’t just ruin your life, did she? No, she did worse. She ruined your heart.”         Just one quick movement, and she’ll be quiet.         “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Streak was near tears, Shining Armor could see that. He was getting desperate.         “You need to talk, to tell someone,” Cadance spoke calmly, in direct violation to the panic she felt inside.         “I’ve talked! I’ve told! It doesn’t help! I tell someone and they bring the fucking guard captain on my head!” Streak was speaking in frantic tones at this point, and the hoof holding the knife was shaking.         Shining Armor looked at his sister in shock.         Cadance let out a small gasp of pain before continuing, “That’s because you haven’t left it behind you, Streak. You hold on to your pain, I can feel that.”         “I HAVE NOTHING ELSE!” He exploded before growling, “There are three voices in my head telling me to do different things and only one of them is me.”         Twilight was in shock. Streak was insane? That... was not good.         “Then listen to yourself. Tune them out.”         Kill her. Release me.         “NO!” Streak roared, dropping the knife and pushing Cadance at her husband. “STAY THE FUCK IN MY HEAD!”         Shining Armor took a second to make sure his wife was alright before lunging at Streak. He was simultaneously stopped by a blue barrier, a purple barrier, and a prismatic bodyslam.         Rainbow Dash sat on Shining Armor’s back with a smirk. “Geez, Twilight. I’m not gone twenty minutes and you cause a breakdown.”         Streak sat on the ground with his head in his hooves, shaking slightly.         Fluttershy spoke up from where she was bandaging Cadance’s wound, “Actually, it was Princess Cadance.”         Cadance blushed as she let her horn fade, dismissing the barrier she put between her husband and the distraught stallion, “I could tell he was hurt, but psychosis is a little more than I thought.”         Streak stood up, suddenly having no problems. He pointed at Shining Armor, “You, we’re talking. Alone.” And with that he started walking toward his glade.         “If you think I’m going with you, you’re crazy!” Shining Armor exclaimed.         “I thought I just demonstrated that I was. Don’t make me drag you.”         “Try me.” * * *         A few minutes of indignant shouting and walking into every root seen on the ground, the duo made their way to Streak’s glade. Streak spit out Shining Armor’s tail and sat down. “Now listen here, you miserable shit. I’m done playing around. I have much to do. A monster to reveal, a friend to redeem, an alicorn to murder, and you’re just complicating things.”         “Alicorn to murder? What are you talking about?” Shining Armor exclaimed.         “I’m talking about murdering an alicorn. Isn’t intelligence a trait looked for in the military anymore?” Streak mocked.         “Now listen here—”         “No. You listen here,” Streak had made his transformation in a fraction of a second. As far as Shining Armor knew, one instant he was talking to the most wanted stallion in Equestria, and the next he was talking to a monster. “I already said I’m done playing around. You’re in the guard, you have that memory spell. You are going to use it, and I’m going to guide you to the right memories. If you even think of trying to grab a memory that you shouldn’t be seeing, I’ll kill you. Understand?”         “And if I don’t?” Shining Armor sneered, “What then?”         “Simple. Then you die.” * * *         Shining Armor walked back from the clearing with a vacant look on his face. Cadance ran to him, worried. “What happened Shiny?”         He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t find the words to express what’s in his head. Instead, he just closed it.         “He showed you the memories didn’t he?” Twilight asked.         “Memories?” Cadance asked while Shining Armor just nodded his head.         “I’ll fill you in inside, but be warned, it’s not pretty,” Twilight began walking inside.         Shining Armor paused from going inside and looked at Rainbow. “I’m to tell you ‘no matter the circumstances’. I assume you know what that means.” And with that, he was inside.         Rainbow Dash got a huge grin on her face and shot through the air aiming for the glade. When she landed, Streak was back to his regular self, mentally and physically.         “Ready to train, Rainbow Dash?” Streak asked.         “Am I?” Rainbow’s smile hadn’t faded in the least.         Streak smiled his trademark small smile and settled into a combat stance. “Let’s start with a quick warmup spar.”         Rainbow grinned wider. “Get ready!” she shouted, launching into the air.         Taking to the air. She’s utilizing her largest strength, her speed and agility. I need to keep a three-hundred-sixty degree watch, she could come in from any direction. Streak quickly rolled to the right, dodging Rainbow’s swipe by inches. She went left first, patterns indicate she’ll attack right next, then left swiftly, followed by another left for confusion of pattern. He dove to the left, before kicking back to the right before she could compensate for his new location. She’s getting faster, if that’s even possible. She’ll be able to beat me soon if she continues at this rate. He rolled farther to the right, dodging her next attack. Alright time to go on the offensive.         Streak had backed himself up to a tree. Rainbow smirked, obviously thinking she had him this time. She launched herself at him, but was surprised when he didn’t dodge. Instead he kicked off of the tree, knocking her to the ground. Grappling was never her strong suit, as Applejack could attest. Quickly, she kicked him off and got ready for his retaliatory charge.         It never came, instead she got a hoof lightly bumping her nose. “Boop,” Streak grinned, taking advantage of her surprised lockup to push her over like a prismatic statue.         “Not fair,” she whined.         “The only rule to war, Rainbow Dash, is that there are none,” Streak smirked.         “Alright rematch!” Rainbow announced, settling into charging stance.         Streak braced himself for her charge, but it never came. Instead what he felt was something warm on his lips. He froze, his mind not being able to comprehend what he was feeling. His eyes were saying that there was a cyan mare on the end of his muzzle, but his brain wasn’t capable of comprehending that fact. Rainbow Dash smirked and pushed over a locked up Streak in a close facsimile of his earlier feat.         Rainbow Dash laughed at his unfocused eyes and blank look before realizing what she had just done. She immediately flushed bright red. Ohmygosh, ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! What did I just do? I don’t even–Why did I just—          “Did you just—” Rainbow heard a voice from behind her. Turning slowly, Rainbow saw Fluttershy sitting on the trail with a confused look on her face, “Rainbow, is there something you want to tell me?”         Rainbow Dash was so embarrassed she could just crawl into a hole and die. She tried to spread her wings to escape, but found that they were already spread. Blushing even harder now, she wrestled her wings into working condition. Fluttershy just sat there, looking at the shellshocked Streak laying on the ground with concern.         Eventually Rainbow Dash was able to fly away, and fly away she did. A wobbly rainbow trail followed after her. Fluttershy looked from Streak, to Rainbow’s fading streak, back to Streak, before speaking up, “I think that’s enough practice for today.”         Streak merely nodded. * * *         Rainbow Dash was sitting in her room, pacing back and forth. You idiot! Why did you have to go and kiss him! You don’t even like him like that! Stop being a silly filly!         Her mental tirade was broken by a knock at the door. “Sorry Shy, not accepting guests right now!” Rainbow called out.         “Not even me? I’m hurt, RD!” she heard a familiar voice call back. Her eyes widened.         This was not good. Cloud Chaser. Not that she didn’t like Cloud Chaser, but Rainbow Dash had been friends with Cloud Chaser since flight school, so that meant that there was no way that she wasn’t going to pick up that something was wrong. Rainbow facehoofed and resigned herself to her fate. “Come in.”         Cloud Chaser was already inside, the knock being a bit of courtesy to cover up the rudeness of her walking in. She lay down on the cloud couch and sighed happily. “I have no idea how you make clouds even more comfortable. I mean, they’re clouds. Beds are ranked by how close they can get to clouds. You just–” she sighed in pleasure “—improve them. Clouds aren’t good enough for Rainbow Dash.”         She looked at her conversational partner, expecting to hear a reply. What she got instead was flustered silence. She looked at her longtime friend with a cocked eyebrow before smirking. Rainbow blushed, knowing where this was going. Chaser grinned suggestively, “My, my. Little Dashie found herself a colt, didn’t she?”         Rainbow blushed harder. Even knowing it was futile, she denied, “No!”         “Ah, the sound of denial,” Chaser giggled, faking swooning. “The first step of young love.”         “Chaser, stop,” Rainbow tried to sound intimidating, but it was hard to squeak intimidatingly.         Chaser laughed at Rainbow’s predicament. “You silly filly! You know me better than that!”         Rainbow groaned and slumped over the back of the couch. “Alright, hit me,” she sighed, closing her eyes.         She was met with silence. She opened her eyes in confusion to see Chaser wasn’t there. Rainbow felt a strange mix of relief and disappointment. Suddenly she felt a swat at her cutie mark, causing her to yelp in surprise. She spun around to see Chaser with a suggestive look in her eyes.         “No, Chaser,” Rainbow said slowly. Chaser just walked closer, slowly. “Chaser! No, Chaser–Chaser! No—”         Chaser growled and tackled the mare onto the floor, beginning to tickle her relentlessly. Rainbow laughed and laughed, feebly trying to push away her tormentor. Chaser just grinned more, hitting all the spots that she knew from experience were most ticklish. After a few minutes, Chaser stopped, leaving a hiccuping mare with tears streaking down her face. “Feel better?”         “Cloud Chaser. If you wer—” Rainbow was cut off by a hiccup, causing her to blush. Cloud Chaser sat for about two seconds before succoming to her laughter. The two tried to talk for the next few minutes, but Rainbow was always caught in the middle of a word by a hiccup, causing Chaser to laugh. After a few minutes, Rainbow’s hiccups were finally gone.         “Alright, let’s try again. Who is this stallion who’s got you pacing your floor in worry?” Chaser asked.         “Well, he’s not the problem,” Rainbow started.”It’s kinda me.”         “Rainbow Miriam Dash! Puh-lease. You’re talented, pulchritudinous, and loyal! I don’t think any stallion in Ponyville would have a problem with you!” Cloud Chaser interrupted.         “Pulchritudinous?” Rainbow inquired. “What does that mean, and where did you learn it?”         “I got me one of those fancy word-a-day calendars, it means beautiful,” Chaser grinned.         “I think you just made it up,” Rainbow shot. Unfortunately for her, Chaser didn’t take the bait.         “You’re trying to change the subject. Who could have a problem with you? It’s not those rumors about being the ‘fastest mare’ again, is it?”         “Wha–no! Cloud Chaser!” Rainbow blushed.         “Just making sure,” Chaser held her forehooves up in mock surrender. “But really, tell me.”         Rainbow blushed, and muttered something at ‘Fluttershy meeting new pony’ volume, ”I sorta kissed him.”         “Say again, Fluttershy?” Chaser grinned.         Rainbow blushed even more, before saying ”I kissed him.”         Chaser’s grin grew exponentially, it was kind of creepy, honestly. “My little Dashie finally kissed a colt?”         Rainbow’s blush didn’t recede, “Well, I wasn’t thinking, and I just kinda, did it.”         Chaser laughed, “And how is that a problem?”         Rainbow shuffled her hooves, “Twilight kind of has her eye on him, and he’s shown interest in her too.”         “You’re worried about being a bad friend, aren’t you?” Chaser asked compassionately, giving Fluttershy a run for her money.         “I’m worried about betraying her. We all know she’s interested, we even got her to admit it! We’ve all worked so hard for her to be honest with herself and just go for it, and here I am thinking about ruining it for my own benefit.”         “Alright, this is a simple fix,” Chaser smiled, “I need one bit.”         Rainbow deadpanned, “I’m not paying you for relationship advice.”         Chaser giggled, “Of course not, you’ll keep it. Just get it.”         Rainbow looked at her sideways, but did as she asked. Chaser took the coin and looked her in the eyes. She flipped it between her hooves, showing the sun on one side and the moon on the opposite one. “Sun, you go for it. Moon you leave him to Twilight. Sound like a plan?” Rainbow nodded. Chaser flipped the coin into the air and said, “Quick! Do you want it to land on sun or moon?”         Rainbow didn’t even think about it, “Sun.”         “Then there’s your answer,” Chaser said softly, putting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Come on, I’ll take you for a flight. Just a slow one, like we used to do when I needed help with endurance flying.”         Rainbow smiled, “I’d like that.”         The duo took off out the front door, making a good pace for a circuit around Ponyville. Neither of them was going fast enough to leave a trail, instead enjoying each others’ company for the flight ahead.         Neither looked back to see the moon face up.