Vast skyscrapers of wood, stone and magical binding loomed above Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, shuttering out the yawning splay of the night sky. Cloudy darkness loomed above them, but it was the cloudy darkness framed by the testaments of ponykind’s labors, packed into an uneven square.

They walked down the streets of Old Trottingham, among the incessant descent of snow and the throngs of ponies going about their nightly businesses, mere flecks of consciousness among the teeming horde of the living. Ponies around them whooped and hollered, drunk on companionship and spirits, tearing up and down the snow-flecked streets from one party to another.

The princess and her beau alike, however, were thoroughly spent—in money and energy alike. Oh, sure, they hadn’t technically depleted themselves in either, but there was scarcely any left to be spent for the evening. And while they weren’t old ponies, per se, they weren’t young enough to think that staying up until three in the morning was a splendid idea.

Not that it stopped them from doing it. The Saturneighlian Festivals demanded the appropriate amount of reverie, and the fifth night in particular—the Night of Follies—was known for being unstoppably wild. The fact that Cadance and Shining Armor were bothering to go to sleep at three in the morning showed a clear lack of physical and mental fortitude in the eyes of Old Trottingham’s residents, who expected each other to stay up through the night.

The sheer amount of alcohol in Shining Armor’s system wasn’t helping, either. Alicorns may have been able to metabolize alcohol at will, but Shiny had to get drunk in the traditional manner, with all the inability to gauge one’s current level of inebriation that implied. If vampires existed, Shining Armor was sure that he’d be safe from them, largely because he was sure that his blood was at least 100 proof. One drink would be enough to knock them flat on their ass. Hell, Shining Armor was pretty sure that if a dragon ate him, they’d be knocked flat on their ass.

The military had taught him many skills, and the ability to feign sobriety and keep a level head were two of them. All he needed to do was avoid tripping over his hooves or being sick in a gutter and it’d be perfect.

“Doing okay, dear?” Cadance said, extending a wing and wrapping it around his flanks. Judging by the way she squeezed, Shining Armor was sure that at least part of it was to make sure he could walk fifty meters without a nasty spill.

“M’fine,” Shining Armor mumbled. “Never better.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Shiny could hear the smile in her voice. It was enough to buoy him up just a little more, and by the time they passed through a somewhat familiar stretch of buildings he felt as if a straight line wouldn’t give him trouble.

A door to the left opened for them. A bell dinged near the entrance. Shining Armor floated, rather than walked, through the door and into a perfectly tasteful lobby of a perfectly tastefully designed hotel with a perfectly tasteful lift nearby.

Just to cement the sheer perfection of the evening, the receptionist—a perfectly tasteful-looking mare—peered out from behind her blond tressels to grin at the pair. “Why, looks like the princess is back in again! Turning in early, love?”

“Ah, I might head out again,” Princess Cadance cooed. “But Shiny needs to get some sleep. Trust me, he can barely stand up as it is.”

“Thought you said he was a military man, didn’t you?” The mare clicked her tongue. “They don’t make them all that sturdy up north, do they?”

“He’s never been much of a drinker.” Cadance nudged Shiny with her wing. “Bit of a straight edge, really.”

“Your loss,” the mare giggled. “I guess not even the Princess of Love gets to pick who she falls in love with, mmm?”

“Hey,” Shining Armor mumbled, “I picked her, too.”

“And I’m sure you were one of only a few who wanted to marry the princess of love, dear.” The smile on the mare’s face was too playful for a genuine insult. “Remember your room number?”

“Thir...thirty fourro six.”

“Quite right!” the mare chirped, before turning back to Cadance. “It’ll be Holly Berry’s shift in fifteen minutes if you wanted to get a drink after coming back down, dear.”

“I should probably stay with the stallion I married for at least a little.” Cadance playfully stuck her tongue out at the receptionist. “Bleh. If we run into each other while we’re out, though, I’ll buy you a drink.”

“And I’ll return it double. I’ll probably be down at The White Hare with a couple of my friends if you’re keen. Just four blocks north, and the stouts are to die for.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Off we go, Shiny.”

Shining Armor floated over towards the lift, and silence reigned until he and Cadance stepped inside, pressed the appropriate button and began to ascend.

“She seems nice,” Shining Armor confessed.

“You think so?” Cadance pulled her wing away, raising an eyebrow as gravity suddenly pulled at Shiny a lot harder than before. “I think she was more amused at you than anything.”

“That issn true. M’not a silly pony.”

Shining Armor looked around at the lift walls. Wood and stone, all around; elegantly carved, tastefully painted, but undeniably similar to the towering spires around them.

“Am I?”

Cadance leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “You suggested that a couple of parents should take a vacation in a far off city that’s known for having an entire week of the sort of debauchery that might have been more appropriate for ponies half our age.”

Shining Armor’s ears drooped. “So it was silly, then.”

“I’d rather have a silly husband than a dour one. And I’m certainly having a lot of fun. Are you?”

The lift dinged, and the door slid open. Red carpet stretched before them, leading outward down a long hallway framed by cheap paintings and dimmed magical lamps. Gravity pulled at Shining Armor as he stumbled forward past a sea of numbers and doorknobs, briefly blocking out his view as he tucked his head into his saddlebags and filled his jaws with a room key instead of an answer.

Room #3406’s door was easy enough to open up. Better yet, the room itself was easy enough on the eyes: exactly as was to be expected from lodgings in a building right in the thick of a metropolis just shy of the cutting edge of technology. Shining Armor stumbled inside, out of tune with a bedside radio playing a song he didn’t recognize, and briefly leaned against a wall while gravity stopped trying to tilt him over on one side.

Humming happily, Princess Cadance followed him inside, stopping only for an affectionate nuzzle. “Rest here all you like, love. I might be out for just a bit more, but I should be back soon enough.”

“Mmkay,” Shining Armor replied, eyes flicking briefly over to his wife as she brushed past him, horn glowing as she pulled the bathroom door open wide. Shiny waited until the bathroom door clicked shut before letting out a small sigh and pulling himself away from the wall, stumbling instead towards a nice, large window on the other side of the room.

Objectively speaking, the view was as nice as it got down in the middle of Old Trottingham. They were high enough that the skyline was almost visible, if one was a pegasus or stood on a ladder. All around them were handsome skyscrapers, business places and hotels and apartments alike; down beneath them, the throng of ponies bustled to and fro like a crowd of iridescent termites, not in the least hampered by the storybook weather.

Beautiful. Charming. Top of the line.

Shining Armor watched, trying to keep his thoughts clear and take in the beauty of jubilant chaos far below.

“...So why don’t I get it?” Shiny muttered.

“Get what?”

Ears flicking in alarm, Shining Armor turned around. Cadance stood a meter away, staring down at him with faint but unmistakable concern.

“Oh! Hey, uh. Hey, Cadance. Dun mind me. Just…”

“Not having fun?” Cadance tilted her head.

“I am! I really am! I just...I dunno how to ‘splain it.” Shining Armor shook his head. “M’being weird, I know. Sorry.”

Cadance took a step closer. “Try me.”

“I’m lonely.”

The words tumbled out of Shining Armor’s mouth before he could stop himself. Blushing and clearly mortified, Shining Armor covered his mouth with a hoof.

Cadance looked out the window at the colorful swarm of ponies below her for a few seconds, before taking a breath.

“I know that, Shiny.”

Shining Armor blinked, then slowly pulled his hoof away from his mouth. “...uh?”

“I know how you look when we’re talking, cuddling, making love. I know how you look when you know we’re together. And I’ve...seen you, occasionally, when you think we aren’t. How you look at your food , or the way you stare out the window when you’re having trouble sleeping. The idler moments, when I wasn’t sure whether or not to interrupt you.”

“But...But I shouldn’t be, right?” Shining Armor mumbled. “I’m married to the best mare in the world, I’m...I do important things, and I’m never going to have to worry about, y’know...I mean, money issn even really an issue anymore, is it? I train the troops, I make public appearances, I could go out whenever I wished and other ponies would probably be happy to talk with me. So...that should make me happy, right?”

Shining Armor paused.

“So why dunni get that? Feeling happy? Feeling like I’m part of...part of stuff? Why do I feel like I’m just...not even there?” Shining Armor turned back to the window as bitterness trickled into his voice. “Why did I look at the ponies we were drinking with and feel like nunvit was real?”

Something shifted in the corner of Shining Armor’s eye, and he tilted his head half an inch. Princess Cadance stood next to him, staring at the engineering marvels of wood and stone in front of her.

“You can’t touch it, can you?” Cadance replied.

Shining Armor put his hoof up on reflex, banging it lightly against the glass. “...No?”

“I don’t mean through the glass, dear.” Cadance shook her head. “Up high, looking down. From the podium. From the castle. From anywhere and everywhere. I mean, you could touch it if you went up to it, but in reality, you’d never do that, would you?”

“It’d just be silly.” Shining Armor looked down. “I...I can’t touch them, either. The other ponies.”

“They stop feeling like other ponies eventually, don’t they?” Cadance reached up with her forehoof and rested it gently on Shining Armor’s withers. “And they just become a crowd you need to speak to.”

“Troops that need leading,” Shining Armor replied.

“A minister reading a meaningless report.”

“A public to inspire.”

“Little dots in big boxes.” Cadance sighed. “It feels like there isn’t…”

“Isn’t a point,” Shining Armor finished. “Like you could, but it wouldn’t do anything. Nothing would change. It’d still just be you, the boxes and the little dots in ‘em. Nothing else.”

Cadence didn’t reply for a second. Snow continued to leak out of the dark, cloudy sky. Iridesent dots continued to flow down below in an unending, haphazard procession.

“I think you should lie down, dear,” Cadance finally said.

“M’not...M’only a little tired.” Shining Armor sighed. “And feeling silly.”

“I’m not telling you to go to sleep.” Cadance shook her head. “Just that I’d like you to get into bed. If you don’t feel like sleeping or closing your eyes, that’s fine.”

Shining Armor paused. Then, with a subdued nod, he trotted back and climbed up onto the bed, rolled over back-first and stared up at the ceiling.

“Keep staring there for a bit,” Cadance added.

“Okay.”

“What do you see?”

“A ceiling.”

Shining Armor fell silent again, hearing nothing but the faint clunk of hoofsteps to his side.

“Nothing else, right?”

“It’s...it’s a ceiling. Dull paint. Perfectly even woodwork. No signs of wear or tear. Guess they maintain it regularly.”

The rustle of fabric. “Do you figure that the other ceilings in the building look the same?”

“Of course they do. Wouldn’t want anything to feel different.” Shining Armor blinked. “Besides, it’s not like anypony’s going to want to reach out and—”

Something brushed against Shining Armor’s forehoof, and his ears flicked back as his head turned towards the source.

Princess Cadance lay next to him, belly-up, her forehoof cradling his as a faint blush tinged her cheeks. “What about now?”

“Huh?”

Princess Cadance scooted a bit closer, horn glowing faintly. “Does this feel real? Us, on the bed, together?”

“A little…” Shining Armor’s head felt clearer, less wobbly and foggy. “It feels a little more real.”

Cadance turned, curling her body around his. “Like there’s something worth reaching out to.”

“...You too, huh?”

“I’m a princess.” Cadance leaned over and kissed Shining Armor’s cheek. “All the time.”

Shining Armor rolled towards her. Cadance stared back.

Real.

With him.

And for the first time that evening, Shining Armor didn’t feel alone.

Years and years ago, their first kiss was an awkward affair: full of banging muzzles and jabbing horns and utter uncertainty of how kisses were actually done. Now, their kiss was almost effortless. His lips glided around hers with the grace of a figure skater on ice, and his eyelids fluttered shut at the exact moment of tongue contact. Shining Armor’s hoof slid smoothly over her shoulder as her tail curled around his hind leg; then, with one practiced motion, Shining Armor rolled himself on top of her.

Years and years ago, Princess Cadance had needed to directly stimulate Shining Armor’s genitals in some way before he was able to get properly stiff. Now, it was almost reflexive. Their bodies wrapped around each other, tongues and mouths and forelegs and hindlegs and tails alike, and it took less than a dozen seconds of intimate contact before Shining Armor felt himself start to slip out of his sheath. Another dozen seconds, and he was properly brushed up against her inner thigh, fully stiff, waiting for the moment.

Shining Armor felt, rather than saw, Cadance open her eyes. He opened his eyes in turn and pulled his muzzle away, cracking a bashful and appreciative smile.

“Go ahead, dear.” Cadance’s face went slightly pinker. “I’m ready.”

Shining Armor lifted himself up again and readjusted his hips. With a soft sigh of relief, he started to lower himself back down onto his wife, the head of his sex slowly grinding against her slick lips.

Cadance blushed slightly pinker, nibbling on her lower lip like she used to do years and years ago. “I’m ready.”

Shiny pushed. It always took a little bit of effort, that initial thrust; always a fair amount of pressure, something of a squeeze, a physical confirmation that, yes, he really wanted to do this. But not enough to hurt her, certainly—and before he knew it, he was in.

Years and years ago, sex had felt like a wild party: A chance to get his rocks off inside the best mare he had ever met in the sort of pleasure-induced high that was impossible to find anywhere else. Now, sex felt like an affirmation. Sex wasn’t an awkward set of jabs, but a smooth entanglement, and Shining Armor didn’t squeeze so much as melt inside of her. Cadence’s sex spread wider and wider, stretching to accomodate Shiny’s sizeable girth, but even at his impressive size it felt like a natural—if tight—fit. Shiny pushed forward, deeper and deeper, stretching his wife wider and wider until he was deep enough to properly look her in the eyes again.

Shiny grinned. “Hey.”

Cadance grinned back. “Hey.”

“Ready?”

Cadance giggled. “Always, love.”

And with that, Shiny pushed once more. Pushed. Pushed. Pushed.

The regular rhythm fell into place, of tangled limbs and happy huffs and heaving chests and unkempt tails; the rhythm of a steady beat, a pounding powerful enough to rock the bedsprings but not brutal enough to make her whimper. Bodies bounced as one as his dick stretched her pussy wide, pulling back just enough to give her relief before pushing in again.

Cadance came first. With a keening whimper and a sudden full-body clench, she erupted: fluid squirted out all over the bed, dribbling down their privates and into a sodden proof of their existence as she climaxed. With every breath, another tremble; with every breath, another dribble. Shining Armor felt his breathing begin to grow a little erratic, and he subconsciously picked up the pace as his wife rode the orgasm, pushing just a little harder than before.

“Y-yes…” Cadance huffed. “D-do...yes…”

Shining Armor grunted as he pounded even faster, even harder. This was the wildness, the unburdened lust; this was the eros of stray cats behind a dumpster, of wolves in the wilderness, in every unthinking moment of glorious coitus. Sweat dribbled down Shiny’s neck as his cock throbbed harder than before, then harder still. Everything was tense, everything was sore, everything—

“Shiny.”

Shining Armor paused, shuddering, staring Cadence directly in the eyes.

Breathlessly, Cadence smiled. “Do it.”

With one final thrust and one final shudder, Shining Armor climaxed.

It was obliterating, this interconnect. Shining Armor felt his mind go blank in the rush, felt his jaw go slack and heard a moan escape his lips without really acknowledging that either of them was there. All that existed in the moment was the orgasm washing over his body in an unending wave, tethered to reality only by a tangle of limbs and the thick spurts of jism leaking out of Cadance’s marehood and dribbling all over the bed beneath them.

How long he rode that wave, he didn’t know. He didn’t even care, really, not in the moment. And when he came down, it was only after thoroughly exhausting his body and sack alike that the world around him seemed to open up. A world of identical walls, identical ceilings, an identical set of towering buildings all around them—

And his wife.

His beautiful wife, staring up at him from the bed, blush still lingering on her cheeks, mouth still awash in a gentle smile.

“That was…” Shining Armor started to disentangle himself, patiently trying to pull himself out as smoothly as possible. “That was…”

“Yeah,” Cadance breathed. “It was for me, too.”

The silence spoke for them, then, as Shining Armor pried himself free. Finally, with one last tug, he came loose. The small flood of juices dribbling out of Cadance’s marehood went unnoticed as Shining Armor pulled himself forward and collapsed next to her. Slowly, the enormity of their intercourse began to give way to their dull surroundings, an awareness of the anonymous crowds beneath—

The soft, tinkling notes of a piano trickled out of the radio, filling the empty air above them with music.

Years and years ago, they had listened to this song before making love. And after making love, too. And plenty of smaller, less physically intimate moments, when they had been together.

And the years and years of notes from long ago finally poured over into now.

Cadance giggled. “Remember this?”

Shining Armor opened his mouth, and let the music speak with him.

“I packed her bags last night, pre-flight.
Zero hour: nine o’clock A.M.”

Shining Armor blinked, and Cadance carried the verse.

“And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then.
I miss my home so much…”

Shining Armor slid a hoof around her.

“I miss my wife…”

Cadance leaned into Shiny, chest to chest, legs to legs.

“It’s lonely in the sky, on such an endless flight…”

The two of them curled against each other as the song swelled into a chorus. Neither’s horn glowed. Neither moved their lips. Neither looked elsewhere. Above the throng, beneath the shuttered splay of the night sky, the two of them laid on the bed and closed their eyes.

Together.