Shining Dash

by Ianpiersonjdavis

Advice

Upon returning to the castle, the group approached a light grey Unicorn mare wearing glasses along with a collar and red cravat, her dark brown mane was pulled back in a bun and her Cutie Mark was of a pen and inkwell.

“Is Princess Celestia finished speaking with Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight asked.

“She is,” Raven replied. “However, something else came up that required her attention-apparently, yet another Changeling had managed to infiltrate the castle and has attacked one of the kitchen staff.”

Everyone in the group exchanged nervous glances.

“But, everything’s fine now…right?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, Sunset Shimmer has managed to subdue the creature and Princess Celestia is currently taking care of the mare in question-the ordeal has her quite shaken, so her majesty has delegated to me the task of showing you all to your rooms.” Raven replied.

“Follow me, please.”

Raven turned around as she began leading them inside of the castle.

---

After leading each member of the group to their respective rooms and being thanking Raven left the girls to get settled in;only Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike remained.

In the castle hall, leading to each of the guest rooms there were several guards standing sentry, stoic as ever-but, watching the group in case one of them turned out to be another Changeling trying to infiltrate the castle.

Raven turned to address Spike.

“I’m afraid no rooms were prepared for you specifically, due to the fact that her majesty assumed you and Miss Sparkle would prefer to share the same room as you had before moving to Ponyville.” She informed him.

“However, I can take the liberty of preparing a room, just in case that assumption was incorrect and you would prefer your own room.”

“Uh, no thanks…” he replied. “I kind of want to stick with Twilight-especially if more of those Changeling things show up.”

“I understand…are there any more questions or concerns that you feel need to be addressed?” Raven asked, looking at the remaining trio.

“Yeah…” Dash replied. “So, are you like, the assistant for Celestia and Luna?”

“Regrettably, I cannot perform both duties as I do require sleep.” Raven replied. “However, I believe that there is a member of the Night Guard who assists Princess Luna-since Bat Ponies are nocturnal, they can perform their duties just as efficiently as myself.”

“Huh…”

“In any case, these gentlecolts will be standing guard outside of your friends’ rooms to ensure that no harm comes to them during their stay.” Raven continued, gesturing to the guards. “

“What about Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight asked. “What did she do after apprehending the Changeling?”

“I am unsure…I lost track of her after the guards took the Changeling to the dungeon.”

“Sounds kinda suspicious to me.” Dash commented.

“Sunset Shimmer has always been a very private student-at least, back when she was studying under the Princess.” Raven replied. “It was not unusual for her to take off on her own back then, sometimes she did this to be alone so she could think and other times she just found herself too annoyed with others to continue being around them for a prolonged period of time.”

“So you think she can be trusted?” Dash pressed.

“Princess Celestia seems willing to trust her….that is good enough for me.” Raven replied hesitantly. “If you wish, I can escort you back to your bedchambers…”

“Nah, I’m good.” Dash replied, waving a hoof casually. “I think I can take on anything some Changeling can throw at me-besides, there’s something I’ve gotta take care of.”

Twilight looked at her suspiciously-what exactly did she need to take care of? She couldn’t have hurt herself flying-she probably would have said something over breakfast…Actually, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen Rainbow fly since breakfast, which was quite odd for her…

“What about you and Spike, Miss Sparkle?” Raven asked, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.

“Oh, um, we’re fine-thanks for the offer, though.” She replied.

“Very well, then if you’ll excuse me-there are still some royal duties that I must attend to while the princess is preoccupied.”

And with that, Raven cantered down the hall towards the throne room.

“Like I said, I have uh, a thing…” Dash said nervously, turning back to Twilight.

‘She’s acting strange, actually I haven’t seen her act like this since she broke her wing…which means she’s either trying to hide something-or she’s a Changeling.'

It was a scary thought, but given the increased security and recent events-it seemed horrifically plausible-one of them could have flanked Rainbow and knocked her unconscious…it could have happened before they met up again after breakfast.

‘Still, you might just be over-thinking things Twilight,’ she reminded herself. ‘After all, this evidence is circumstantial at best and would never hold up without any actual proof-it’s possible that all of this stress is getting to her and she’s just too proud to let anyone else know about it.’

While she was hoping to avoid another embarrassment like the infamous Smarty Pants incident, if anyone was hurting one of her friends-she was going to make them pay.

Silently, she watched as Rainbow Dash slowly loped towards Rarity’s room.

‘Why is she going in there?’

While it wasn’t unheard of for the two to occasionally spend time together, those moments were decidedly rare compared to the time she seemed to spend with Twilight and the rest of the girls.

“Spike?” Twilight addressed him, lowering her voice.

“Y-yeah?” he asked, wringing his claws while glancing around the hall, nervously.

“I’m just going to check on Rainbow Dash to make sure everything’s alright with her-she’s been acting a bit strange…will you be alright in our old by yourself for a while?”

“B-but, that’s all the way on the other side of the castle!” he exclaimed. “What if one of those things attacks me on the way there?”

Twilight looked around at the guards, there seemed to be one for each door-she wanted one of them to escort, but she couldn’t ask one of them to leave their post.

That was when she saw Flash enter the hall.

“Hey!” she called over, causing him to flinch slightly. “Are you busy?”

“Um, no…I just finished interrogating the new Changeling they brought in.” he replied, approaching her. “Why? Is there something you need?”

“Yes, I need someone to escort my friend here back to his room.” Twilight replied, gesturing to Spike.

“He’s a little jumpy right now and I have something I need to take care of, so I would appreciate it if you could look after him until I get back.”

“Sure,” he then turned to the young dragon. “So, you must be Spike, huh?”

He nodded weakly.

“Well, come on then.” Flash replied, gesturing for him to follow.

---

Rainbow Dash stood outside of Rarity’s room, rubbing her foreleg nervously, unsure of how she was going to do this. The stallion standing guard’s gaze shifted to her and even through his stoic exterior, she could tell he was growing suspicious of her. Slowly, she raised her hoof and began rapping on the door.

“Come in!” Rarity replied, brightly.

Slowly, Dash pushed the door open before entering-despite the short time she had been in staying in the castle, Rarity had already made quite a bit of progress making herself more at home. There was a desk with a semi-complete image of an outfit design. Rarity meanwhile, seemed to be laying out a few fabrics on her bed.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash!” she exclaimed, turning her head to see her through her red spectacles. “What an unexpected surprise…to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I, uh….”

Her mind blanked, actually talking about this was so much harder than she had imagined.

“I need to ask you something…” she began, slowly.

“Yes?” Rarity prompted.

“It’s….about-if I tell you this, you have to promise to keep it a secret-you can’t tell anyone.” Dash emphasized.

“I promise-”

“Because if you do, our friendship is officially over-I will never speak to you again.” Dash warned her, the tone of her voice was deathly serious.

“Alright….I promise, that I will not tell a soul.” Rarity breathed. By the way Rainbow Dash had made it sound, whatever she needed to ask her about sounded gravely important. If whatever Rainbow Dash was coming to her with was indeed so important, she had no idea what could be so important to get her this worked up.

“Okay,” Dash breathed, her heart was beginning to pound in her chest-she was taking a huge risk confiding in a gossip like Rarity, here was hoping it would pay off.

“I need your advice on…having a crush.” She stated in hushed voice, as if the walls were paper-thin and the entire castle could burst into the room at any moment and start mocking her.

Despite herself, Rarity couldn’t help but burst in hysterical laughter as Rainbow Dash’s cheeks began to turn a deep shade of crimson, visible through her fur.

“Is that really what this is all about?” Rarity breathed between bouts of laughter.

“FINE!” Dash shouted, her wings flaring in anger. “I didn’t want to come here for your stupid advice, anyway!”

She then turned to leave before Rarity stopped her.

“Rainbow, wait! I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have laughed…”

Dash stopped.

“You just caught me off-guard with that question-you made it sound like this was a matter of life or death, but then you tell me it’s about a crush.” Rarity continued. “I can certainly understand how delicate dealing with a crush can be, but you just oversold it so much-especially coming from well, you-no offense.”

“And that’s why I can’t tell anyone else…” Dash sighed, keeping herself turned away more out of shame, now. “It’s me. I’ve built my entire life around being tough and cool because that was what might have gotten me into the Wonderbolts, but now that I’m not doing that-it could hurt my reputation as a respectable athlete.”

Rarity took off her glasses, “I’m afraid, I don’t follow…”

“All of the athletes I’ve ever looked up to have been tough and cool as daredevils, if I like someone and I go out on dates with them or kiss them and…stuff and others find out about it-it could ruin my image-the one I worked so hard to keep since leaving Cloudsdale…I’m not sure if anyone else could understand that…”

---

Twilight put her ear up to the door as the guard standing next to it eyed her suspiciously.

“Just…making sure everything’s okay…” she whispered sheepishly.

Instead of replying, he merely continued to watch her as she returned to the door to hear her friends’ voices.

---

“Darling, I’m a fashionista-of course, I understand how important one’s image is.” Rarity replied softly. “Not just in fashion sense, but in being respected by your peers-you are telling me that you have a crush on someone, but you are worried that simply having a crush will cause others to lose respect for you, correct?”

“Um…yeah.”

“Would it be too much for me to ask you who the lucky stallion is?” Rarity asked delicately.

Rainbow Dash turned around to face her and gave her a skeptical look.

“Or mare?” she ventured. “Look, I’m not going to judge you but, even if you don’t want to tell me who they are specifically, having some idea may help me get a better understanding of how you should approach this.”

“No, it’s a guy…” Dash replied. “Actually, that’s another part of the reason I came here-he’s actually the older brother of one of our friend’s-one of our close friends.”

“I see,” Rarity replied, everything now clicked into place-Rainbow Dash not only had a crush, but had the misfortune of having her first crush being a relative of one of their closest friends.

“And I can certainly see how that would complicated matters-you want to share your affection with this stallion, but in doing so you run the risk of ruining a longtime friendship-certainly tricky, but I have heard of such relationships working before.” She mused.

---

This raised a red flag for Twilight, Rainbow Dash having a crush? Rainbow Dash!? It just seemed so un-Rainbow Dash-like, she had never shown any interest in romance before…

And what was she so worried about? She certainly wouldn’t judge her for it and she doubted Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie would either. Applejack maybe with family being so important to her…

---

“Well, I can’t say he’s the stallion I would have chosen-a little too muddy, if you ask me.” Rarity continued. “But, you and Applejack have a pretty strong friendship-in fact, sometimes you seem so alike, you’re practically like sisters already…”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Dash asked, cocking her head.

“Big Macintosh of course, don’t get me wrong, I can certainly see the appeal-”

“WHAT!? NO! SHINING ARMOR!” she exclaimed, before putting both hooves over her mouth.

---

“WHAT!?” Twilight exclaimed, causing the guard to jump before she remembered why she was her and cupped a hoof over her mouth.

Her brother!? Why was she so interested in Shining Armor? This had to be a Changeling…Rainbow Dash with a crush was surreal enough, but a crush on Shining Armor!?

‘Okay, I guess I can kind of see why…’ she thought to herself. ‘Shining certainly isn’t ugly, he’s a good brother, a pretty nice guy, and being in the guard, his muscles must be reasonably enough toned for other mares to find him physically attractive…’

But still, there hadn’t been sufficient enough evidence to convince her that this wasn’t just a Changeling impersonating Rainbow in some elaborate scheme to incapacitate Shining Armor and weaken the guard from the inside.

Despite fearing she would regret it; Twilight placed her ear against the wood of the door once again.

---

“Shining Armor…as in Twilight’s brother?” Rarity asked.

Dash nodded weakly.

“I’m afraid I don’t know as much about him as I would like…”

Rainbow Dash’s ears flattened, she had almost forgotten that Rarity had never interacted with him.

“Wait, why does it matter how much you know about him?” she asked, confused. “I thought there was just like, some super easy, secret way to do all this mushy stuff?”

“Oh Rainbow Dash, you’re naiveté is adorable.” Rarity laughed. “Now while it is true that some girls resort to using less….subtle methods of catching the interests of stallions…”

As she spoke, her cheeks began to flush.

“I don’t think that’s really a good way to woo a stallion-not for more than a night, at least…” Rarity continued.

“Well, it’s not just trying to get him to notice me without turning myself into a laughingstock.” Dash sighed, taking a seat next to Rarity on the bed. “It’s also Cadance, she was dating him before the Changelings attacked…and I’m kind of worried about that-especially so soon after that they broke up.”

“I see…” Rarity replied. “Princess Cadance is supposed to be the Princess of Love, so I would imagine she would understand your feelings.”

“And what about Twilight?” Dash pressed. “I can’t really just go up to her and say ‘Hey, Twi-I like your brother, is it cool if we go out and stuff?’”

“Hmm…Twilight has certainly been shown quite unstable as of late…” Rarity noted, remembering the Smarty Pants incident and what she had heard from Spike about Twilight panicking about a message she had received from a future version of herself.

“Yeah, and I don’t want her to cast some kind of spell that makes me fall in love with a Timberwolf or something and get me shredded to pieces…” Dash added.

“Now, I doubt she would go that far.” Rarity chastised. “But, I do see why you’re worried about ruining your friendship with her over this…perhaps if you spoke to her in private and broke the news to her delicately?”

“I…guess that could work.” Dash replied, uncertainly. “But, what about Shining Armor? How do I tell him without looking like a loser? If I tell him and he doesn’t feel the same way-I might lose all the respect he might have for me.”

“Maybe you should just try being yourself?” Rarity suggested. “You are always going on about how you’re the best flyer in Equestria and you did manage to win the Best Young Flyer competition.”

“And get snubbed by the Wonderbolts at the Gala…” Dash added, contemptuously.

“Well, after you saved their lives-I would have to say that’s their loss and they don’t deserve a flyer of your ability-and if Shining Armor turns out to be like them and fails to be able to appreciate you for who you are; just know that we always will.”

“Thanks, Rarity…”

---

Twilight jumped back as the door opened to reveal Rainbow Dash exiting the room.

“Twilight? What are you doing out here?”

“Oh! Rainbow Dash! I was….I, uh…”

‘Come on Twilight, think! THINK!’

“I was reading a book and my legs fell asleep, so I uh…decided to take a stroll down the castle halls to try and wake them up!”

“Uh-huh,” Dash replied, not completely convinced. “So, do you think we could talk about something in private for a minute?”

“Oh, really?” Twilight asked. “Because I was just about to head back to my room…”

Desperately, she moved in an attempt to head back down the hall before Rainbow Dash jumped in front of her, blocking her path.

“Look, this is kinda important…and I really just want to get this over with…” she insisted.

Twilight already knew what she was going to say, but she hadn’t even had time to process her own feelings about this yet. How could she tell Rainbow how she felt, if she hadn’t had time to properly assess the situation? As desperate as she was to share this information with her, Twilight was just as desperate to avoid the issue for the time being.

The guard that had been watching her had his gaze shift to watch the spectacle unfolding before him with the same expression.

‘Will you stop looking at me like that!?’ she screamed internally as she began to sweat.

“Look, Rainbow I-uh, you see….there’s not really any need for you to tell me this.”

Dash cocked her head to the side.

“Huh?”

“I-I already know what you’re going to say because I…I sort of…already heard everything…” Twilight continued nervously.

“YOU WERE SPYING ON ME!?” Dash shouted in outrage, taking a step forward as her wings flared.

“I…” Twilight fell back a few paces, her ears lowering. “I didn’t mean to-I mean, technically I was eavesdropping because I couldn’t really see anything…” she rambled.

“The whole reason I kept this secret from you is because I respected you too much as a friend and I was afraid of losing your trust-but, you don’t even trust me enough not to spy on me?” Dash fumed.

“I didn’t mean to overhear that!” Twilight retorted. “The only reason I was spying on you was because you were acting strange and I was worried that you were replaced by a Changeling!”

Dash blinked, taken aback.

“Seriously?” she asked. “You thought some stupid bug could take me on?”

“I didn’t say it was singular, I was worried that a group of Changelings had abducted you or worse.” Twilight elaborated.

“So what do you think about….y’know?” Dash asked quietly.

“Honestly? I’m not sure…” she sighed. “This…it’s a lot to take in and I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it. I mean, he’s my brother…and you’re one of my best friends, but…”

“But?” Dash prompted.

“I….just don’t know.” She answered honestly. “I need to think about this…”

This time, Rainbow Dash sighed. She wished she could have gotten a more straightforward answer, she hated waiting and it felt like she had done more than her fair share already. But then again, she knew how complicated this emotional stuff was…it seemed like nothing but a huge nightmare since she first started feeling this way.

“Okay, I get it.” Dash replied, “But, when you’re ready to let me know?”

“I will tell you in private.” Twilight agreed before making her way back to Spike.

Comments

[Rainbow87dash]

Awwwhh...I was hoping for some over the top scene were Twilight grabs the royal guard to capture Dash, on the assumption that she was a changling...:(

[Mr Marshmallow]

That guard has the ultimate poker face.

[Shadow_Wolf]

Twilight... Rainbow... you're both in over your heads on this one... and that was absolutely hysterical. loved it!

[Night scribbler]

MOAAAAARRRRREEE

[Ianpiersonjdavis]

5317922

Don't worry, it's coming.

[Night scribbler]

5325503
Yesh
I love dis shipping