King's Land island was far from the royal couple at the moment. It had been a few days since their underwater scuba diving expedition and Cadance had managed to set up an appointment with Oxygen Rush. They were going to meet up the next day in private to talk about a special somepony.
Being the Princess of Love, Cadance had the special ability to detect love and nurture it. Thus she had every intention of connecting Oxygen Rush to that special somepony and end the mare's life of solitude. Being single was fine for some, but Cadance knew Oxygen was not that kind of pony.
The pink alicorn's mind was not currently on that matter, however. Instead, she was wrapped up in the moment with her husband. The two of them were walking along a well-lit cobblestone path leading into the resort's signature dance venue, Club Tropic. The sign was large, expertly stylized, and illuminated in a rainbow of colors.
It was late enough at night for the stars and moon to be out, but not late enough to be midnight yet. Shining Armor gallantly opened the door for his wife and let her in first. As soon as the door opened, Cadance's coat tingled with the air vibrations that emanated from the open doorway. The music was loud and charged with bass. Even as her heart picked up its pace, she entered the unusual building.
She would have spoken something to her spouse if the music was not so loud that her voice would have been lost anyway. Just as any other location at the resort, Club Tropic was spectacular both in quality and in design. To call it an indoor club would have been criminally inaccurate. The side that they had entered through certainly made it look like a building, but it was anything but that. Once inside, it became obvious to them that they were not inside at all.
A massive stage made of traditional boardwalk wood occupied the far right of the club. It faced the left side, which was really nothing more than an impressive collection of pools, hot tubs, and snack bars trailing out to the open sea. Indeed, the air above them was open to the night sky and only the wall behind them was any obvious barrier between the club and the “outside.”
Cadance had heard the club's music from a distance but was wondering why it sounded so much louder on this side of the club's false wall. A quick glance up and behind her revealed the answer. The wall was fitted, on their current side, with sound deadening panels. The topmost part had a faintly glowing wire that she had never seen before. What she did recognize was that the glow was from magical energy. The wire was probably another sound deadening device to keep the club's music from bleeding into the rest of the plaza that didn't want it.
Multicolored lights flashed back and forth over the crowd. The mass of ponies clustered near the snack bar and dance floor were moving to the thunderous beat. As for the pony on the stage and behind the center turntable...
“Wow!” Vinyl Scratch magically managed to make her voice heard over her electronic beats. “This many ponies already? It's only pre-show, dudes!”
A cacophony of cheers and gleeful hollers came to her from the enthusiastic crowd.
The white unicorn superstar grinned and adjusted her signature purple sunglasses, which she wore even though it was night. “I'll need somepony to hit on me before the end of the night. Tavi's been getting kind of cold and I need to stir up some jealousy to get her interested again.”
The crowd roared with chuckles, snorts, and whistles.
“I'm going to kill you, Vinyl Scratch!” cried a uniquely accented mare beside the stage.
“I love you too!” the DJ bellowed out a hearty laugh.
The massive array of the club's audio speakers began to belt a change in tune. Beats came at a more rapid pace than before, inciting many of the ponies to dance themselves into a frenzy. The royal couple soon found themselves at one of the lighted pools outside the energized crowd. Cadance had more or less led Shining Armor there.
“Not ready to dance yet?” the stallion asked his mare.
“I forgot how intense Ms. Scratch's concerts could be,” she admitted and tried to keep thinking over the wave of sound coming over the dancing crowd. “I don't think either of us will be in any condition to drive back to our island after we're done.”
“Yeah, Oxygen told us it was DJ Pon-3 Weekend,” he nodded his head. “Maybe we should have our resort hostess take care of the details.”
Cadance's gaze shifted to a second snack bar further from the wall of ponies. It, like the others, was very much like a kiosk or a booth island in the middle of the maze of rainbow-lit pools. There was a resort service phone on the side of it, which was what she needed.
“I'll make the call. Get dancing and I'll jump in,” the pink princess concluded and then kissed her husband quickly on the lips.
Shining Armor had no reason to argue and so he trotted back over to the jumping crowd, all the while not helping to keep a skip from his stride. The music had already started to take him over. Every thump and rumble of bass made his heart beat wild. The power of the music vibrated through the night air, the cool grass beneath his hooves, and the rainbow lights that cut through the darkness.
Further towards the bay there was traditional beach sand, but closer to the stage there was actual grass. Walked on extensively it may have been, but it was still green grass. The softness of the ground only made it easier for him to jump and spin without his joints taking as much of a beating as they would from harder cobblestone. In short order, he was as lost in the rhythm of the hard club music as everyone else in the group around him.
He had always liked this sort of music even though his parents didn't think highly of it. There would be times when he and Twilight would blast beats like this when their parents were away. Between the two of them, Shining had always been the better dancer. Though, he made sure not to let Twily know that.
A mango-colored mare bounced over to him while the hard electronic waves of sound held his attention. She had seen him enter the fray of dancers and couldn't help but marvel at his physique. Not realizing he was Prince Shining Armor, she made the simple assumption that he was just a very well built stallion with a faint-inducing level of attractiveness.
Shining Armor felt a bump against his flank as the mango mare collided into him and took his forehoof in hers. “I like your moves,” she commented just loud enough for the words to reach his ears across the booming music.
The prince's hooves missed a beat upon realizing that a young and undeniably good-looking mare had drafted him into a two-pony dance. His body followed along for the first few beats that followed, but he wasted no time in worrying about how they might look. What if Cadance thought he was flirting with some other mare?
His years of public visibility gave him the temperament necessary to keep smiling. It wasn't until the beat-bouncing young female began to wrap her hooves around his neck that he lost his remaining cool. He had to push her away but, just as soon as the mare began dancing her way into a kiss, she was pulled back by another pony. A pink alicorn to be exact.
“Hey there, beautiful,” Cadance grinned evilly at the mango-coated pony she had just grabbed. “Looking for love?”
Shining couldn't make out what the mare said in return, but her lips trembled and her posture betrayed her shock. Perhaps it was because Cadance had fully embraced the other mare from behind and then spun her around so they were facing each other at an intimate distance. The royal princess had all the while never lost the beat, her hooves moving to every thump and electronic spin.
“Get him,” Cadance laughed and spun the mango mare off to another stallion dancing nearby. Her horn sparked with a pink glow, illuminating the mare and the other stallion for a fraction of a second.
“Another love setup?” Shining guessed. He slipped into his wife's hooves now that the other mare was gone.
“Can't have some random mare getting a piece of my stallion,” she whispered directly into his ear. “You're mine and I don't feel like sharing.”
Shining's heart beat a little faster, though not because of the music. He sped up his moves, twirled Cadance around in his hooves, and then took to some more daring spins once she too picked up the pace. DJ Pon-3 had worked the turntables up to a feverish rhythm, spurring the dancers to spend the rest of their energy in a frenzy of moves.
Cadance flapped her wings for two beats to get some momentum before Shining Armor flipped her into the air, caught her two rear hooves, and swung her around even as he pivoted on only one rear hoof. The princess was laughing like a filly, completely caught in the adrenaline and aerobatic fun. The final bass drop hit just as he let go and she rolled to a safe finish on the ground.
Shining Armor fell onto his back and laughed as hard as his wife while the ponies around them hooped and hollered praise at the DJ. It was obvious the crowd had tired themselves as much as the royal couple, though. The mango mare and her new male partner were tiredly dragging their hooves to the nearest snack bar, a move others soon copied in search of drinks.
“We're not going to do this all night are we?” the prince spoke and was still catching his breath. He followed his princess to one of the less pony-swamped bar islands.
“Tired already?” she teased with a shake of her flank. “That was fast.”
“No, I was talking about your...uh...playfulness,” he said while trying and failing to keep a straight face.
The pink pony giggled. So he had indeed noticed all the unnecessary caressing she had been doing through their dance. That was good. She wanted him to notice.
The royal stallion came up next to his wife's ear and copied her whispering from earlier. “We didn't have to come out here if you just wanted your hooves all over me.”
Cadance blushed and stuck out her tongue as a sign she had been caught. “But I wanted to hear Vinyl play. She was so good at our wedding and she's only here for this one weekend.”
They both took a pair of seats at the bar's counter, ordering up some tropical drinks to rehydrate while they sat down. Though the music had died to a passive hum, the club hadn't gotten much quieter. The mass of ponies were all talking, shouting, whistling, and being loud in every manner one might expect in a high-energy venue.
“Good to see you're doing well, sir,” a stallion sitting on Shining Armor's right spoke up, breaking his gaze from his own drink cradled in his hooves.
The prince turned momentarily from his wife on his other side and rose a brow. He didn't immediately recall the male's name, but he knew the mannerism and tone of voice. The light gray stallion was a heavily built Earth pony that could only be one of the royal guards from Canterlot.
“Nice to see somepony from the old city,” Shining returned the pleasantry. The bartender slid his drink over to him and he took a sip. “Enjoying yourself?”
“Like never before,” the unarmored guardpony laughed. “It feels weird to be on vacation, though. Kind of nice.”
Cadance leaned forward to look at the guard. “I hope you have a special somepony to enjoy it with.”
“Do I ever,” the deep-voiced guard smiled in return. “I'm going to have to find her soon. Got lost in the dance.”
“Darn,” Cadance whispered to herself. Only Shining caught it.
“What is it?” he leaned the other way and whispered to his spouse.
“I'm looking for an opportunity for Oxygen Rush,” she pouted into her colorful drink.
They didn't have enough time to finish their exotic fruity mixes, however. The DJ was stirring up a louder beat, encouraging ponies to gather back towards the stage and dance the night away. Cadance was first to jump up from her seat and pull at her husband to follow her.
“Come on,” she pranced in place. “We're far from done here.”
Shining Armor and Cadance practically limped over to the dock they had parked the Hydro Star at. Leaving Club Tropic had been much like breaking the surface after a prolonged scuba diving expedition. The sudden lack of noise and general tiredness was a perfect encouragement to crash back into their soft bed back at the island.
The lighting was low and dim closer to the ocean. None of the bright lights of the club or plaza shined in this direction, so only the simple street lamps illuminated the way. One pony was visible on the pier next to their ship's entry ramp. It was a pegasus they had become very familiar with.
Oxygen Rush greeted them with the same happy smile she had since they first met. Unfortunately, she also had that eternally exhausted look about her. Cadance had learned she often spent hours teaching scuba diving at the H2pOny center in addition to the massive collection of duties she had around the rest of the resort.
“Did you two have a good night?” she asked with her accent that was as exotic as the resort paradise. She sounded as if she was trying to hide her own tiredness, though.
Shining managed to beat his wife to an answer. “Oh, yeah! The club was practically on fire. Unfortunately, I think my head is now as well.”
“Huh?” Cadance slowly looked from Oxygen to her husband and back again. Her eyelids were drooping and she kept straightening her posture every time her body fell back into a slump.
Oxygen lead them into their vessel and gestured for them to remain in the rear lounge while she told them that she would steer the ship to their island. The interior lights were obscenely bright as far as the royal couple was concerned. Oxygen quickly moved to dim them when she saw her charges wince at the intensity. It didn't take her long to catch onto the fact that they might have had a tiny bit too much of the club's adult beverages.
“Just relax and I'll get take care of everything,” the blue resort mare assured them before disappearing down the ship's corridor.
“I think she's right,” Cadance giggled and almost slurred her words. She haphazardly fell onto the plush lounge sofa. Her husband followed suit and laid himself against the princess.
“You don't hold your liqueur as well as I do,” he giggled back at her.
“It's not liqueur,” she argued, suddenly turning very serious. “It's vol...vil...not much alcohol.”
Shining groaned in an amused manner. The pink mare's coat and feathers felt incredible in his grasp. He wanted so much more, but the minute lurch of the craft reminded him that Oxygen was currently getting them across the bay. There would be plenty of time to cuddle with his beloved after they were safely in their bed. Honestly, even his slightly intoxicated mind had to admit the possibility of them staying conscious for much longer was not likely. They'd probably both fall asleep five minutes after getting under the covers.
“Tomorrow morning,” he sighed, “you're mine.”
“I'm already yours, you goof,” Cadance growled playfully and started giving small kisses on his neck.
What came next, Shining Armor didn't know. He had fallen asleep and was awoken by Oxygen Rush. The late hour must have taken its toll on him because he felt as if he had just skipped a part of his life. Sleep was odd in that one did not always remember having fallen asleep in the first place.
“Should I get some others to help?” Oxygen quietly asked the prince, careful not to speak too loud because of his apparent headache. “I'm afraid I can't lift you up on my own.”
“No,” Shining shook his head slowly to keep it from hurting. “No, I'll manage. Thanks, Oxygen.”
“I'm happy to help,” the mare backed away and started for the ship's exit door. “Call me again if you need me.”
If there was anything attractive about the way Oxygen Rush carried herself out of the docked vessel, it wasn't on Shining Armor's mind. He had chosen quite some time ago to let Cadance handle whatever plan she had in store for getting a special somepony for her. Speaking of the princess, it took focus for him to stay awake and use his magic to levitate his sleeping wife in midair. Apparently, she had also knocked out.
The subtle hum of the Hydro Star's engine had already been silenced and the interior lights automatically extinguished when Shining Armor walked out with his wife in tow. He might have been able to wake her, but he didn't want to disturb her. Especially not when all he wanted to do was bundle up with her under their glorious bedsheets and sleep into noon the next day.
For that reason, Shining Armor didn't remember much about the trip from the island dock to their villa's bedroom. He only remembered the satisfaction of getting his wife safely beneath the sheets and then joining her in the world of dreams. It was a world almost but not quite as perfect as their own.