Chapter 62

Dave blushed as he climbed out of bed, grabbing a towel so he could wipe the whipped-cream away before putting his clothes on again “Alright I will try and find you whenever I get free time” Dave gave Celestia a quick kiss as he put on his trench coat

“I might come down and see what you are doing” Celestia took the towel from Dave’s hands and began wiping herself down. She smiled to Dave one last time as he left and set about making herself more presentable. She combed her mane and dressed in her regalia. “Guard” she called

A unicorn guard nervously stepped in, staring at the ground. “Yes your majesty” his voice shaking nervously

“You and your fellow guard may take a few minutes break” She looked at the guard as he nodded quickly

“Thank you” he said as he gently closed the door. As it clicked shut, it was quickly followed by the sound of the guards running quickly away. Celestia grinned as she calmly left her quarters

Meanwhile…

Dave happily walked down the stairs, narrowly missed by guards charging past him. He shrugged it off as he continued with his path that led him onto the large runway. Strong Shield was sat near Adamas as they looked over at him. The sun shone into Dave’s eyes, forcing him to shield his eyes with his hand until he got nearer

“Strong Shield was just telling me that you were having difficulties in the bedroom” Adamas shook his head “I would have assumed one of you could have guessed where it goes by now” Dave facepalmed as he groaned

“That was whipped-cream” Dave stated, “I know where it goes” he frowned as Strong Shield shrugged and Adamas pulled the boulder in front of Dave. The dragon held the top of the rock as Dave tapped it. “And what is this for?”

Strong Shield looked up at the large rock “You are going to break it with your bare hands” his gaze moved to the human “Once you have broken enough off, you may rest” The atmosphere broke for a moment as the castle doors opened. The trio turned to see Celestia trot out with a deckchair and umbrella.

She set herself up at the side of the runway, far away enough to not hear the conversation but enough to get a good view of what was happening. Dave waved and Celestia replied before her servants began taking care of any requirements she had. Strong Shield nodded to Adamas, who then quickly flicked the back of Dave’s head

“Alright I’m paying attention” Dave forced Celestia out of his focus and stared at the rock before him. He raised his fist and punched the rock, it chipped and the tiny stones fell to the floor. “This is going to take ages,” Dave moaned as he looked at his grazed knuckles

Strong Shield rolled his eyes “So either find a way to hit it with more force or speed up your attacks”. Dave began smaller repetitive strikes against the rock. Small chips flew past his ears and he brushed some granules from his chest as Dave kept his strikes going hard and fast.

Eventually Dave stopped and looked at the minimal damage. He removed his trench coat and shirt before continuing his assault. Adamas exchanged glances with Strong Shield before his eyes returned to the rock. Dave began to pant for a few minutes before stopping

“This rock is quite tough” Dave went to rub his knuckles but flinched as the skin and muscle was worn away. He did not look at Celestia as he saw what little damage he did. “I don’t get why I am doing crap”

Strong Shield chuckled “This is reinforced” he tapped the rock before continuing, “I mixed in a few bits while we were waiting” The unicorn looked up at the dragon “Let’s go wait with Princess Celestia while Dave works”

The dragon nodded and followed Strong Shield over to the princess. They both sat by her shaded seat and joined her in watching Dave exercise. He waited until his knuckles healed before trying slower, harder punches. Strangely, Princess Cadence trotted in, quickly followed by her husband.

“Hello Princess Celestia, Hello Strong Shield” She looked up at Adamas “Hello AHH!” She jumped behind Shining Armour that also looked surprised. Adamas chuckled as he leaned down to the nervous couple

“Hello my name is Adamas” He extended a claw “Nice to meet you” Shining Armour and Cadence both shook one of the sharp points each. They sat down close to Celestia as they looked to Strong Shield for a reassuring nod before joining in watching Dave

“So what is going on here?” Shining Armour asked his old sergeant. He moved closer as he dropped to a whisper “also what is with the dragon and why is Dave punching a rock?” he smiled at the dragon that obviously heard him

“Dave is training his ingenuity and strength” He indicated a hoof to the tall dragon “And Adamas here was responsible for the incident near Appleoosa, now is an enlightened in the dragon community and friend of Dave” Strong Shield analyzed Dave’s attack patterns “He is doing better but not good enough” he muttered to himself

Princess Cadence soon had her own deckchair brought out and placed next to Celestia’s. The princesses both relaxed under the shade of their umbrellas. After a moment of watching Dave work out Cadence turned to Celestia.

“So how has your relationship with Dave been?” She stared at Celestia’s eyes, scanning the way her eyes moved. Celestia’s eyes stayed focused on Dave before eventually finding their way to the pink alicorn

“Everything has been perfect” She smiled as she gazed back at Dave “We are even trying for a child, would you consider foalsitting again?” Celestia joked as she relaxed

Cadence shook her head “What’s the problem?” she saw strait through Celestia’s guise. The princess of love was not restricted to intimate love between two ponies, she also could feel the love between family members. “Something Luna has done?”

“You always could see more than was needed” Celestia whispered before shaking her head “but it isn’t what Luna did but it is more like what she hasn’t done that worries me” The princess of the sun sighed. The sight of Dave throwing punches at the rock made her wonder why he could be so gentle

“I feel the love that Luna and Dave share” Cadence smiled “It is beautiful, they were in complete harmony at one point,” The princess of love did not notice the glare from Celestia, the type of glare that would make anypony think they were going to the moon

Celestia allowed the guilt to remove her anger “Until I ruined it don’t you mean?” Celestia’s ears drooped “sometimes I wish that I never went to see Dave at his house that night”

The pink alicorn gasped “Don’t ever say that!” she smiled sympathetically “But the love you and Dave share is unbelievable, nothing can break this” she tuned to Dave where he was now adding in a few kicks “I believe that Dave would break reality to see you smile”

Celestia shuddered “I just don’t want to live in fear that Dave might break and go with Luna” Celestia refrained from succumbing to tears as the image of Dave and Luna sharing intimacy like she had only recently felt “I love them both but I can’t rely on faith alone that they wont do anything”

“You can’t smother Dave and you can’t resent your sister” Cadence shrugged “All I can say in my professional opinion is to let them figure out their places by themselves” She waved of Celestia’s protesting glance “If you truly love Dave all I can say is to let him do what he has to do”

The white alicorn shook her head “I don’t like the way you say that” She sighed as the castle door opened again and Luna hesitantly stepped out. “Come sit here sister” Celestia called happily. Luna nodded as another deckchair was placed beside Celestia’s and sat down

Strong Shield and Shining Armour glanced at the three alicorn princesses “Well I can personally say that if I was an alicorn I still wouldn’t have enough time to understand mares” Shining Armour sighed “But being married to the princess of love has its benefits”

“How so?” Strong Shield grunted as he continued to study Dave’s abilities. He thanked a servant that brought out cool drinks for all the ponies and a large barrel for Adamas.

Shining Armour whispered so his wife couldn’t hear “Well she has been amazing in bed since all this energy from Celestia came around” Shining Armour puffed his chest out proudly “I haven’t seen this much action since the wedding and the honeymoon!”

Strong Shield held back the barf “I get it, Cadence is charged because of all this alicorn energy” the unicorn slowly swept a hoof through his greying mane “I still think that Dave can’t train properly here, he is either distracted by Celestia or Luna”

The captain of the guard chuckled “Come on can’t you let love work it’s magic? Everything will be fine, good always wins” The white unicorn blew an air-kiss to his wife. Strong Shield rolled his eyes as he drank his drink

“The problem is that good is a matter of opinion” Strong Shield muttered to himself “My intentions are good whilst the training could be considered evil” he continued to listen to the unicorn next to him while Adamas slowly laid down and drifted asleep

Cadence eventually clapped her hooves together “I’m going to have a chat with Dave, last time we finished on a rather awkward situation” she stood and began to walk towards Dave

“There was nothing awkward!” Luna glared “You attempted to use your power over love to manipulate him, and he resisted” Luna folded her hooves as Cadence dropped her head and continued to Dave

Dave wiped the sweat from his face as he waited for his healing to finish. Cadence appeared beside him with a wide smile that made Dave look away. “It has been a while since I’ve seen you… Cadence was it?”

“Yes Dave” Cadence nodded “I was wondering when you planned to mate with Luna” This statement caused Dave to botch his punch and turn to face her. Her sweet smile only made Dave feel uneasy

“I am not planning to mate with Luna,” Dave growled as he returned to his boulder. Cadence laughed as she glanced back at the other princesses. She turned so Celestia and Luna could not see what she was saying

“I’m the princess of love and I can tell you and Luna have feelings that aren’t going away” Cadence rose an eyebrow “So I can almost guarantee that you will both mate at some point” she didn’t notice Dave’s small snarl

“We are friends and that is all it is going to be” Dave growled “And I still haven’t forgotten the time you attempted to brainwash me. He looked at the pink princess expecting a forgiving face but instead looked at a large grin

“I am not guilty for what I did” Cadence played with her mane “I’m just annoyed that Twilight isn’t happy and you are playing the princesses against each other” The alicorn frowned at Dave as he chuckled

“Sorry Princess Cadence I am going now because at the moment you are acting like a Princess of bitching!” Dave stormed away angrily towards the castle, quickly putting on his shirt and trench coat along the way

Strong Shield moved into Dave’s way “Hey, you aren’t going anywhere until you break that rock” he met Dave’s glare until the human threw his arms in the air and returned to the large boulder

Dave glared quickly at Cadence as he passed her. When he reached the rock, he placed his left hand on the surface beside the patch he had been punching. He brought his right fist up and rammed it into the rock. He plunged his arm up to his shoulder and began moving his arm inside.

Strong Shield smirked as a large crack shot across the outside of the boulder. Dave groaned as he lifted the top half of the boulder and threw it into the air. Whist the top half rose, Dave climbed on top of the bottom half and stomped in the middle, causing it to break into smaller segments.

The piece of boulder in the air descended back towards Dave. The human roared as he punched the rock before it crushed him, the spray of broken stones caused the ponies watching to shield their eyes, Adamas chuckled as he saw Dave walk out from behind the pieces of broken rock

“Right now I’m going” Dave announced “I’m going into Canterlot” he walked over to Celestia and gave her a powerful kiss that calmed him down “Anypony want to come?”

Shining Armour glanced at his wife the was gawping at the sudden destruction “Yeah I have some guard stuff to do” he shrugged “Maybe next time”

“I don’t think I would be much good apart from blocking the streets” Adamas sighed “besides I have to clear the mess you made” he chuckled as he began to pick the bits of stone up and throw them into a large pile

Strong Shield shook his head “I have some things to organise so consider this a break” he patted Dave on the arm as he walked past “Good work though” He then went back into the castle to start preparations on another extreme training idea

Celestia smiled “I have to attend some duties as well” She laughed, “I can’t leave my duties as Equestria’s princess forever can I?” her smile wavered as Luna sat up

“Would it be ok if I came along?” She nervously looked between all the ponies around her “I haven’t been into Canterlot for a while and I could use the exercise” Everyone there knew that alicorns could be as lazy as they wanted and still be more attractive than almost everypony

Dave shared an uneasy look with Celestia before shrugging “I can’t see why not” he smiled. Luna stood and went to go retrieve her regalia whilst Dave headed for the castle gates

“Are you going to take her to that club?” Odio teased, “Sneak into that back room and have fun?”

Dave sighed “Seriously Odio, that isn’t helpful”

“Just in witty one-liner!” Odio cleared his imaginary throat “Are ya gonna rock out with your cock out?”

Dave did not know how to respond so resorted to face palming as Odio roared with laughter