Radish dangled blindfolded and helpless ten stories above Canterlot’s skyline.
“Light? I’m getting nervous.”
“We’re almost there. Keep your blindfold on.”
Light Fantastic released her grip on him. He felt his hooves make contact with a solid ceramic surface. By his estimation, she had set him down on a rooftop that had to have been one of Canterlot’s tallest.
“Okay, now you can look.”
He took off the blindfold and blinked. He was on a roof, all right, but of what building he couldn’t tell- they were completely surrounded by a dense cloud on all sides. Light Fantastic had spread out a quilt ahead of time and prepared a bottle of sparkling dandelion wine on ice.
“Light, what is this place?”
“One of the old side towers on the South Wall.”
“What? No one’s allowed on top of the wall towers.”
“Why do you think I put this cloud around it? No one will see us.”
“An unauthorized cloud? That’s even more suspicious.”
“Nah, it’s already a cloudy day. Nopony’s going to notice one more.”
“If I get caught up here-”
“I know. Feels exciting, doesn’t it? Why, Celestia herself could land right here at any moment and say, ‘Radish, how dare you sit on top of this old building that nopony cares about? To the dungeons with you!’”
“We don’t have dungeons.”
“Then where does she chain guys down to drip candle wax on them?”
“I wish I knew.”
Light popped open the wine and poured them both a glass. They leaned against the short wall surrounding the roof, and sipped.
“This is nice. I’ve never been in a cloud before," said Radish.
“Yeah, it helps to just block out the world with a big fluffy haze every once in a while.”
“Thanks for setting all this up.”
They shared the wine, chatting and laughing about all that had happened since the last time they had seen each other. After a while, Light scooted close to Radish.
“So… I uh, don’t know how they do it on the Southern Plains, but in Canterlot, there’s kind of this rule about third dates.”
He leaned in closer to her.
“I know the rule.”
“But we don’t have to, if you’re not comfortable with it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be comfortable with it?”
“It’s just… are you really okay with someone who’s not Celestia? Aren’t you worried you’re breaking with destiny or something?”
Radish draped his hooves over her shoulders, gazing into her eyes.
“Light, I spent most of my life thinking of nothing but her. But she told me herself it’s never going to happen. And ever since you and I met, I’ve thought of nothing but you instead. Celestia is my boss, my princess, and my friend. But she’s not my destiny. Destiny can jump off this tower.”
“Oh. Wow. That’s a lot to hear.”
She let herself fall onto her back, pulling him down with her. She wrapped her hooves around the back of his neck and held him close.
“You know, it kind of feels like I’m stealing you from her. Taking the princess’s personal boytoy right out from under her.”
“If you like that fantasy, by all means.”
“What kind of fantasy do you like?”
“Let’s find out. Together.”
“You’re such a dork.”
They drew their muzzles close together.
“Hey! Who’s up there?” bellowed a furious voice.
They froze. Radish looked down at Light, fear in his eyes. A City Watch pegasus had found their cloud.
“This is an unsanctioned cloud in a restricted area! Come out with your hooves up!”
Light whispered to Radish, “I can get rid of him.”
Radish shook his head. “I’ll take the blame. Just slip away,” he whispered back.
Light smiled. She pointed to her cutie mark, a prism separating a beam of light into a spectrum of colors.
“Don’t you want to know how I got this? Check out the light fantastic, babe.”
“You have to the count of three, then I’m taking this cloud down and anypony inside!” shouted the watchpony.
Light spread her wings and flew a tight circle across the inner wall of the cloud, scraping moisture off and coating herself with a body-clinging robe of shimmering vapor.
“One!”
Light then tilted her wings and caught the sunlight on her feathers. The light spread and surged through her cloud robe, turning it into a blindingly iridescent dress. Radish shielded his eyes and looked away.
“Two!”
She then plunged her hooves into the surrounding cloud, and the shine leapt into it. The entire sky over the south wall blazed with searingly bright multicolored light.
“Thr- aah!” shouted the watchpony. He fell back and rubbed his eyes. He held up a hoof to shield his vision, trying to see the cloud-topped tower, which now shone like a disco lighthouse.
“A prism pulsar? That’s it! You’re toast!”
He spun a tight loop in the air and flung a miniature tornado at the shimmering cloud. It dragged the cloud off into the horizon, leaving an empty tower roof. He flew over to inspect it, seeing only a blanket with a spilled bottle of wine.
“Ugh, gross, a love nest.”
Radish and Light crouched behind a boulder on Canterlot’s outskirts, hearts racing. Radish peeked out.
“He’s gone.”
“Woah, I’ve never actually cheesed it from the City Watch before,” said Light, proudly.
Radish took her hooves in his. “That was incredible.”
She pulled him close. “Stick with me, babe, you’ll see a lot of incredible thi-mmmphh!”
She was interrupted by Radish pressing his lips against hers. She wrapped her wings around him. He lowered her to the ground. They broke the kiss, panting.
“Light…”
“Rad…”
“Are you…?”
“Yes. You?”
“Yes.”
Radish patrolled through the bright halls of the royal palace, humming to himself. Princess Celestia came out from a side door.
“Oh, good morning, lieutenant,” she said.
“Good morning, princess!” said Radish, a bit too loudly.
“My, you seem chipper today.”
“It must be the weather. It’s so nice out.”
“Indeed. I love it when the air gets crisp and cool like this.”
“It makes outdoor activities so much more invigorating, doesn’t it?” Radish said, looking out the tall windows to the mountain beyond the city.
“Oh? What kind of outdoor activities have you been partaking in?”
Radish froze. “Uh… picnics.”
“Ah, how pleasant. Well, enjoy the sun.”
“We will. I mean, I will.”
She walked off. Radish watched her leave, then went along his way.
Why does this feel off?
next chapter cue Celestia in a fuzzy bathrobe day drinking straight from the bottle while Twilight tries to console her heh heh
11394044
You kidding it would be some massive Icecream cake and a bottle of brandy shnapps
seems to me he's more than likely in a changeling pod....
11394040
im getting the impression that his girlfreind is actualy celestia or luna under an illusion so something along those lines.
Or maby we could see destiny magic like cutiemarks begin to glitch due to celestia refusing any possiblilty of raddish as a partner. Imagine if all cutiemarks exept for raddishes begain to change due to the change
Third date and breaking laws?
My, my
Those two look great together, don’t they?
11394060
but you don't deny the robe? lol
Seeing a character (supposedly) move on from an unrequited love is a truly heartwarming thing to me. Even if things with Light Fantastic aren't what they seem, or if it doesn't last, character growth like this is always welcome.
Things seem to be going just a bit too good for Radish here.... He never gets what he wishes to happen in a way that's actually good for him. This is SUS
I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop
11394040
It does. Maybe it's the fact our boy Radish is getting a win. But we also know that it isn't going to last long
11394068
Oh God, I didn't think of that. That's gonna suck for Radish if that's the case
I really hope Celestia doesn't actually do anything. If she so much as drops even the tiniest hint that she wants Radish now, after figuratively beating it into him that absolutely nothing is ever going to happen between them for years, I'm going to make a portal to that version of Equestria just to pimpslap her.
Yea something is very strange about this girl… but she did pull off a neat trick which was really cool. Though someone saying that what if this is still a changling dream is a possibility because our we even sure he wasn’t just left there rather taken away somewhere else?
Because one we haven’t seen Shining at all and I would believe they would had waited the wedding just to get him in which Cadance hasn’t appeared again because remember she sad Radish with her aunts and felt something…
Who knows Light could even be the Tree of Harmony itself like one fanfic I recall where you had a guy the ladies fall for which even the tree was falling for too.
Poor officer love nest that is funny must be a silly thing to come by
Is that a royal we?
11394211
Same
11394068
Kick it up a notch: he's inside a pod inside of syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/blog-post-embedded--tablet/public/2019/03/the_matrix_human_batteries.jpg
I want Radish to be happy, I really do, especially after he's been berated all his life by other ponies and the Princess herself about his cutie mark. But at the same time, things seem to be going a little too well for him. I'm just waiting for the bomb to drop
11394068
Nah, we had Celestia's perspective last chapter, that's a pretty good indication that we're not going for the "it was all a dream!" schtick.
On the other hand, Light being called away by a family emergency, or maybe being offered a dream gig off in Las Pegasus or summat, that'd be 100% on-brand.
God, the tension is palpable.
11394223
It is obvious (I am joking) that she's one of Cadence's active agents for safe matchmaking/escort pourposes that was deployed as crisis/reward solution after inspecting his history, position and predicament. In one go Cadence would solve his psychiatrist card, free her aunty from undesired chains, reward hero for his performance and sate her own shipper crawings.
Yes... Picnics...
11394123
Yup, we call this feeling "waiting for the other shoe to drop."
My man :)
I am very happy for our boy. Yet even though I have one hand out in a thumbs up, the other is clenched tightly behind my back waiting for when Radish is once again crushed underneath the oppression of the powers on high.
Godspeed radish, I’ll be here to pour one out for you when it comes
I'm sure something was getting eaten, alright~
Well, there was blanket involved somewhere in there, and picnics traditionally have blankets. Yep, checks out.
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/896/940/b37.jpg
11394098
Yup. He’s past once is happenstance, twice is a pattern, and third is enemy action.
My money is he’s in a pod living out his non-Celestia love life, and going to be a bit of an alcoholic when they break him free. Loved and lost after all.
So....all the SUS ?
I think a neat follow up to this would be for the next date that takes place during the day, it's noted to be especially hot out, and Radish is sweating buckets.
At the end of the chapter Luna comments about the sun being a little closer to the planet than it should be.
Celestia just plays it off as a mistake, but in reality it's her own way of making sure that she's the reason that Radish is getting all hot and sweaty under her sun.
11394068
Seems like if they're manually constructing a fantasy OR if his fantasy was left to run free, he'd save the day and earn the princess's love. At the very least he wouldn't have had a teaser non-date with Twilight first.
Here we come to the end of the story. Or the start of a new one?
you and me both buddy.
11395761
That would be the fungeon I imagine
The man has gotten laid!
Don't tell me now she wants him. Love Triangle!