“An opossum, seriously!?” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked as she fell onto her back, clutching her sides in a fit of hysterical laughter.
“It…startled me…” Flash muttered feebly, causing Dash to laugh even harder.
Shining smirked at the memory.
Around the time he was first recruited into the guard, Shining could tell that Flash was nervous and seemed completely out of place surrounded by stern and cool, collected stallions of the guard, so he invited him to lunch so they could get to know each other better and help him relax a little.
When they really got to talking, it turned out that Flash originally had a severe anger management issues before his father sent him off to straighten him out-which seemed to work a little too well as Shining’s first impression of Flash was that he was complete pushover-that was when he informed the recruit that it was okay to assert oneself as long as they didn’t go overboard.
That was they that they became friends and Flash told him about how his parents had taken him to the zoo when he was a colt of seven or eight and the first time he ever caught the sight of an opossum terrified at him-he said that he thought it hissed at him-or tried to bite him at apparently it had been a crippling fear for him ever since.
Shining was skeptical though, he believed that it was some kind of phobia that Flash may have already had before the incident, but Twilight could probably analyze explain it better to them later.
The fact that he was sharing the story with Rainbow Dash was comforting as it meant that they had gotten along well while Shining had left to speak with Cadance.
“Hey Flash,” he spoke, getting the other stallion’s attention as Dash stopped laughing.
“I think I might owe you an apology…”
“For what Captain?” Flash asked as Shining approached him.
“I cut you down earlier based upon the decisions you made.” Shining sighed. “It was hypocritical of me to do so since I was the one to put you in command during my leave of absence.”
“That’s okay, Cap-”
“No, it’s not.” Shining insisted. “A good leader knows when to admit their mistakes and learn from them in the future and for someone in your position, you did the best you could with what information you had-I can’t personally say whether you were right or wrong in your judgment, but the fact the we’ve yet to hear any sounds of a struggle and Canterlot hasn’t been reduced to a smoldering crater makes me think that you just might be on to something.”
“Well to be fair, some of the things she said to me on the way here were very alarming.” Flash replied. “She seem to greatly enjoy-or at the very least take pride in causing pain and fear in others with the nonchalant way she spoke about burning down the Changeling hive she claims to have escaped from as well as the in-depth description of how she wanted to torture and mutilate her Changeling doppelganger before finishing her off.”
“Yeah, but maybe we could use that?” Dash cut in, only to have the two guards give her a confused look.
“Look, don’t get me wrong-this chick sounds like a total psycho, but if the Changelings are anything like the ones around Ponyville and actually try to fight us-how much of a chance would we really stand? Especially with all of the love that one Changeling said they ate-wouldn’t that make them even tougher?”
“Rainbow Dash does have a point.” Shining conceded, massaging the back of his neck with a hoof. “I mean, that could be why Celestia hasn’t ordered her arrest on sight, despite being such a danger to everyone.”
“Or maybe it’s affection…” Flash countered, softly.
“WHAT!?” Shining and Dash asked in unison.
“Well think about it,” he reasoned. “How many of us actually knew that Nightmare Moon was actually Princess Luna-Celestia’s own sister-before your sister, Rainbow Dash and their friends used the Elements of Harmony to restore her sanity?”
“But, how does that tie into an old student?” Shining pressed.
“Princess Celestia is considered kind and loving by just about everyone and based on what I’ve seen and heard while serving under her majesty, I can safely say those feelings are genuine-she cares about everyone-a faithful student, perhaps even more so…kind of like a surrogate daughter.”
“So you’re saying that you think they could have had some sort of misunderstanding or falling out.” Shining finished.
“So, couldn’t the Princess have just used the Elements of Harmony on her like we did with Nightmare Moon and Discord?” Dash asked.
“I don’t think that was the problem.” Shining replied, shaking his head. “Besides, if she was a student before Twily-then the Elements were still lost-so maybe Celestia is trying to talk some reason into her before she gets completely corrupted like Luna did.”
The three ponies exchanged glances.
“Speaking of, why didn’t we bring the other girls so we could use the Elements of Harmony to blast these Changeling freaks back to wherever they came from or turn them to stone or something?” Dash asked.
“It’s not that simple” Shining explained. “That could be overkill, we don’t know what the Elements will actually do since they seem to have different effects on different people-this could also be why Princess Celestia doesn’t just let you girls hold onto them.”
“Besides,” Flash added. “Even if Princess Celestia authorized us to use them now, we’d still have to go to Ponyville to pick everyone up and bring them all of the way back here, which would take a great deal of time…time which the Changelings could use to their advantage by attacking Canterlot while we’re gone.”
“Where is Princess Luna, anyway?” Dash asked, thinking that she could help them with their conundrum.
“She has her own room in a tower.” Flash replied. “As the Princess of the Night, she sleeps during the day so she can watch over the dreams of others.”
“What about Cadance?” Dash pressed, before slapping a hoof over her mouth as she realized what she said.
Shining’s expression wavered a bit.
“She’s….fine.” he answered, quietly. “She just needs to get some bed rest-so the last thing she should be doing is even thinking about fighting-”
“I’m sorry…I wasn’t thinking.” Dash sighed.
“It’s okay.” Shining sighed. “Maybe we should all get some rest-we don’t know how long Sunset is going to be speaking with Celestia-when we get up tomorrow and have a better idea of what’s going on, we can make a game plan on how to deal with these Changelings.”
Sorry, only just got round to reading this, awesome chapter as always. You seem to improve at writing with each new chapter! maybe once you've finished this you could go back a re-write the first couple, to make them fit with the rest? y'know after you finish the fic anyway, don't wanna delay the awesome now huh?
Pretty good so far, I for one love straight Rainbow Dash fics. The only two things I think you can improve on is one, get an editor, trust me when I say this it helps a LOT. Two, have more intimate time between Dash and Shining Armor. You keep saying he is developing feelings for Dash...yet nothing really has happened to warrant romantic feelings on the scale you are describing.
When making a relationship, you always have to build up to it. For example, have the two open up a little more to each other, not like kissing or stuff like that, but more of sharing personal experiences and sharing laughs. Every relationship has to have a foundation, and like building a house, you have to start from the bottom up.
With that said, this isn't criticism, not at all, more of a suggestion. I do really like the idea of ShiningXDash ship, that is something you don't see often.
Anyways, keep on pushing forward with your writing and I'll be eagerly be waiting for more.
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Actually I'm glad you said something because I wasn't entirely sure how I was doing in in that area-it's far more helpful to me when readers point out things like this to me and make recommendations as to how I can better my writing in the future.
(Fortunately, I was planning something along those lines after the next chapter.)
Thanks for the feedback.
4034770 You're welcome, remember, don't rush the relationship, but definitely tease the hell out of your readers with it. Make us believe Shining and Dash are meant to be together, believe me when I say this, we want our heart strings pulled!
Just like 4036823 have said, don't rush with the ship. Just please don't make at end that Shining go back to Cadance and Rainbow Dash go solo with a broken heart.
Wow, I'm finally back to reading this after being gone for four years! All that aside, this is just as great as I remember it being. Good work!