Dreamers Beware

by ApplauseJunkie

Effort

Pinkie's eyes fluttered open and she smiled softly. Since Cheese Sandwich had returned to Ponyville, neither of them had left Pinkie Pie's bedroom for anything more than food. They spent every waking second together, joking, laughing, kissing, and cuddling. Thanks to both of their unending staminas, their lovemaking sessions lasted for hours on end, and they both passed out directly afterwards. Gummy had adjusted well to having another pony around, and had even taken a shine to Boneless 2. He spent most of his day contentedly chewing on his new rubber chicken friend.

Pinkie Pie rolled over and threw one arm over the still-sleeping Cheese Sandwich and closed her eyes again. Seconds later, the stallion opened one eye, looking over at his lover. A smirk crossed his face, and very carefully he slid one hoof up to tickle Pinkie's flank. The pink mare squealed loudly and flew out of bed so violently that she bounced off the ceiling.

"I thought you were still asleep!" she cried as Cheese fell out of bed, clutching his stomach in laughter.

"That was priceless!" he cackled, then got up and gave Pinkie a kiss on the cheek. She smiled dreamily at him for a moment, then raised an eyebrow evilly.

"Priceless, huh? Well, how much would you pay for...THIS!" She tackled him and pinned him to the ground, tickling him mercilessly until he finally wiggled out of her grasp. He tried to escape, and Pinkie took up hot pursuit, chasing him around the room and wrestling with him until they both collapsed in a heap, laughing their hearts out.

"Oh, Pinkie! I could go on like this forever!" Cheese Sandwich exclaimed, planting a few kisses on her neck.

She shivered pleasantly. "Then why don't we?"

He laughed exuberantly. "Why don't we?" He picked her up and twirled her again, grinning ecstatically. "Pinkie Pie, come with me! Stay with me forever, and we can plan parties and spread laughter all over Equestria!"

Suddenly Pinkie Pie realized what he was asking and froze. "Y-you mean leave Ponyville?"

Cheese's smile started to fade. "W-well yeah. That's how I live. I travel all Equestria and plan parties. With the two of us together, we could plan the most spectacular parties ever! Just think of all the joy and laughter we could spread!"

"But Ponyville is my home." Pinkie glanced out the window at her hometown. "I could never leave here..."

The stallion frowned. "But...Pinkie, I want you to come with me."

She turned away. "Let me think about it. I'll let you know by tonight, okay?"

Cheese deflated, and hung his head. "All right." He picked up his hat and threw his poncho over his shoulders, then walked slowly down the stairs and out the door.

Pinkie Pie watched him from the window until he was out of sight, then she dashed out the door and headed straight for Twilight's castle.

On the other side of Ponyville, Discord was awake and watching Fluttershy sleep. The night had been uneventful, but for some reason the pegasus seemed unusually pale this morning. He tried to tell himself it was because of the dim indoor light, but he couldn't help worrying. Besides, it was getting close to ten o'clock, and she was still sleeping soundly. Fluttershy never slept late.

Finally, he knew he couldn't wait anymore, and gently slid out of bed. He went downstairs as quietly as he could, and found Angel Bunny. He picked the rabbit up by his ears and held him eye level. Angel glared at him and wiggled in his grasp, but Discord ignored his protests and took him upstairs. The bunny quieted down when he saw that his owner was still asleep, then glanced at Discord with a question in his eyes.

"I have to go," Discord told him in a whisper. "I want you to keep an eye on her, and make sure she's all right. If you have any trouble, blow this whistle." The draconequus produced a small silver whistle from behind Angel's ear. The bunny took it and saluted seriously. Discord smiled. "Thank you." He set Angel on the bed next to Fluttershy, then disappeared.

Because he had waited so long to see if Fluttershy would wake up, Discord didn't have time to fly to the Crystal Empire, so he gritted his teeth and teleported. He landed on the training field, and promptly collapsed.

Shining Armor trotted out of the castle at exactly ten o'clock. When he saw Discord sprawled on the grass, he hurried over and splashed him with water. He coughed and sat up, rubbing his head.

"Are you all right?" Shining asked.

Discord groaned. "Yes. I just teleported all the way here from Ponyville, and it takes a bit out of me when I teleport that far." He shook his head to clear the stars that circled it.

"You teleported from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire in one go?"

Discord nodded.

Shining Armor blinked. "Wow. I didn't realize just how powerful you are."

"Well I am the Lord of Chaos, you know." Discord rolled his eyes.

The white stallion coughed. "Yeah. You sure are. And you want to learn my protection spell...?"

"Yes."

"To protect Fluttershy?"

"You seem to have a brilliant grasp of the situation, Shining Armor. May the lessons commence now?"

Shining Armor smiled knowingly and nodded. "All right, here's the formula--" he handed Discord a piece of paper. "Performing the spell isn't really all that difficult, but making it strong enough to actually withstand an attack takes practice."

Discord read through the formula two or three times, then set the paper down.

"Ready to try?"

Discord nodded. Shining Armor pointed at a life-sized stuffed figure of a pony. "Try and cast a shield around that dummy."

Discord had trouble not making a snide remark about dummies, but he bit his tongue. He raised his eagle claw and concentrated. A magenta orb flickered around the stuffed pony, but quickly vanished. Shining Armor nodded approvingly.

"That was actually really good for a first try. Go again."

Discord managed to solidify the orb for a second, but then it flickered out again.

"Again."

The orb stayed longer this time.

"You're learning really fast. This spell took me years."

"It might have something to do with the fact that my magic is much more powerful than yours will ever be."

"Hey!"

"Master of Chaos!"

Shining grumbled. Discord smirked and tried the spell again. It held for even longer this time.

"Again."

The orb lasted almost a full minute this time.

"Again."

This time, when Discord cast the spell, Shining Armor picked up a rock and hurled it at the mannequin. It shattered the shield and bounced off the stuffed pony. Discord frowned.

"What was that for?!"

"To test the strength of the shield. If a rock can get through, anything can get through."

Now it was Discord's turn to grumble.

"Come on now, you'll get it. Like I said, you're already learning really fast. Try it again."

Another orb, another rock, another shatter.

"Again."

This time the rock bounced off the orb, which flickered out immediately afterwards. Discord and Shining Armor both cheered, and Discord thrust a triumphant fist into the air.

"Ha ha! She'll never have to be afraid again once I get this down!"

"You really care about her, huh?"

Discord froze, then glared down at Shining Armor. The stallion just smiled up at him.

"It's okay, you know. There's nothing wrong with being in--"

"I'm NOT! Why does everypony keep saying that?!"

"Because," said Shining Armor with another knowing smile. "You act the same way that I do with Cadance."

Discord stared at him blankly, his eyes widening as he realized the truth behind this statement. "You love her, don't you?" he murmured, mostly to himself.

"She's the light of my life," the stallion answered quietly. "If she would let me, I would use my protection spell on her at all times to keep her safe. I wanna make sure nothing ever happens to her."

"That's--that's what I--"

"That's why you want the protection spell, isn't it?"

Discord nodded silently.

Shining Armor smiled. "It's okay. I promise I won't tell anypony. And hey, if you ever need any advice, I used to have pretty awesome game back in my day--"

"If by 'game' you mean being the dorkiest pony I've ever met!"

Both of them looked up to see Cadance standing at the edge of the field, smirking at both of them.

"Sweetie! Um, how long have you been standing there?"

She walked over to them both, holding a tray of sandwiches with her magic. "Long enough to know that Discord is going to need more than just your help in winning Fluttershy's heart." Turning to Discord, she said, "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with us. And we'll do anything we can to help."

Discord had been standing stiffly during this entire exchange, and now he huffed. "I don't need any help winning her heart! Nopony said I even wanted to! I just want to make sure she's safe and happy!"

The ponies exchanged a look. "What makes you think the thing that would make her happiest isn't just being with you?"

The draconequus scoffed. "Oh, come on. She's the most beautiful pony in Equestria, what makes you think she'd ever be interested in me? Look at me!"

When nopony said anything, Discord continued.

"I'm not going to delusion myself, and I am far more interested in keeping her safe than in winning her heart, or whatever you called it!" He crossed his arms. "So can we just get back to learning this spell, please?"

Cadance glanced at the tray of sandwiches she was still holding. "Why don't you break for lunch?"

Discord groaned. "You two can eat. I'm going to keep practicing. I have to have this spell up and running by tonight."

Shining Armor and his wife went and sat on the sidelines and enjoyed their sandwiches, and Discord turned his attention back to the mannequin.

Pinkie Pie didn't wait for Flash Sentry to open the door for her, but went storming into the castle at full speed. "TWILIGHT!"

The princess looked up from her book on ancient magical creatures and frowned. "Are you okay, Pinkie?"

The earth pony collapsed into her throne, covering her face with her hooves. "Twilight, I am in the single most difficult situation any pony has ever had to face EVER!"

"What's wrong?"

"Well," Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and explained the whole story as quickly as she could. "Cheese Sandwich is back in town and he's been hanging out with me for the past two days and we've been cuddling and doing other stuff and then this morning he said he wants me to come with him on his tours of Equestria and we can party together forever, and oh, Twilight, I want to go with him because I think I love him but I can't leave Ponyville and I don't think he'll understand and I just don't want to tell him no because then I'll never see him again...AGAIN!"

Twilight stared blankly at her for a long time. "Is that where you've been the last two days? With Cheese?"

Pinkie nodded miserably.

The princess thought for a moment, then smiled. "I think he might understand more than you're worried about. Why don't you tell him how much Ponyville means to you? Maybe you two can work out a compromise."

"You really think he won't hate me forever if I tell him I don't want to go with him?"

"If he really cares about you, he won't want to make you as unhappy as leaving Ponyville would. I think you two can find a way to make it work."

The pink pony hugged Twilight tightly. "Thank you, Twilight. I'll talk to him about it."

As Twilight walked Pinkie out, she put a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't you worry. Everything is going to be oka--" she cut off as she ran face-first into the golden armor of her guard. She looked up at Flash with a blush and waved at Pinkie as she bounced away.

"Always bumping into you..." Twilight stammered.

Flash Sentry smiled at her. "You can bump into me anytime, Princess."

Comments

[Marina Stars]

I love this story! Must... continue... cant... wait... much... longer. Going to read the next chapter now!
Yay Fluttercord CheesePie and Flashlight!
Why havnt AJ or Rainbow appeared yet?

[Featherclaw]

"You can bump into me anytime, Princess."

That is by far the most cheesiest line ever. That even beat pinkie and Cheese.

[TwibraFlattercordlover]

Flash Sentry smiled at her. "You can bump into me anytime, Princess."

DUDE!
WHAT THE FLAME?
J-JUST NO!