It was a dark, rainy day in Manehattan. Ponies were dashing for cover from the unrelenting frigid wind that accompanied the rain. Barely any shops were opened during such unstable weather. Not even taxi ponies were seen, not wanting to catch a cold.

Cantering through the streets accompanied by giggling and chatter were two ponies who were headed towards the Main Street of Manehattan. Soaking wet, they could do nothing but silently curse and laugh at the mad weather that welcomed their new relationship.

“Ugh, why can’t they announce when they are going to create a rain, I mean, do I have to bring an umbrella with me everyday?!” Sundancer huffed and rolled her eyes.

“You know, they do announce them, everyday on the TV.” Tony replied with a stifled laugh.

“Oh… well, I don’t really watch TV, except for when D3adhors3 is on the U99 channel. That’s like… everyday!” She grinned from ear to ear.

“I forgot you’re a fan of D3adhors3 too! Oh, wait, you’re the one that introduced me to him a few years earlier, silly me.”

She didn’t reply, merely just running forward. “Say Tony, where is your house now?”

He suddenly stopped and facehoofed hard. “We just passed it a few blocks now… I’m an idiot I know.” Sundancer sighed and drove a hoof through her soaking mane, that clung to her neck; this motion sent chills through Tony’s bones. “Let’s get going, shall we?”

Finally they arrived at the house, entering hurriedly and trying to dry themselves off.

“I need to retrieve my saddlebags from Spectrum the next day. I have all of my stuff there,” she said, drying herself with a clean towel.

“Alright. Are you hungry? I can make up something edible. After all, this was a bakery…” he winked at her and trotted to the kitchen. “Coffee? Tea? Juice?”

“I would like some tea please, I want to warm up. Brrr, it’s quite freezing outside. Kinda unusual, don’t you think? Winter starts only next month…”

“Yeah, pretty much. Go take a shower if you’d like, you’ll feel much better after,” he smiled and motioned for her upstairs. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Alright, but I barely dried myself. Still, a hot shower could prove very relaxing, thank you for the suggestion. I’ll be right back.”

“Alright, I finished your tea here, so I’m going to wait for you.” With that, she left the kitchen and headed towards the bathroom

‘Ugh, which door was it again… not this one… oh here it is.’ She entered and smiled wickedly when she saw the size of the bathtub. ‘Not bad, not bad. Let’s see, some shampoos over here… must be his mother’s.’ She took in a deep breath and sighed. ‘Poor Tony… he didn’t deserve this much pain.’ Picking up a shampoo, she took some in her hooves and started washing her mane and tail, then continued with the rest of her body. Until she reached the most annoying spot for a Pegasus: between the wings. ‘UGH I HATE THIS… happens every damned TIME! And there’s no brush anywhere in sight…’ Thinking for a while, she adopted a sly grin and called for Tony.

“Hey Tony! Come here quick! Hurry!”

Five seconds later, he knocked at the door. “Is there something wrong, I heard you scream!”

“Well, firstly, you could come inside, it’s not like you haven’t seen me naked.” She waited for him to enter the bathroom, a shade of red visible in his cheeks. She smiled and continued “…secondly, would you be so kind as to wash me between my wings? I never reach that spot without a huge brush… It’s so annoying!”

Tony gave her a quick nod and proceeded to pour some shampoo into his hooves and gently started to rub her in between wing bones. As a swift response, they shot to her sides, displaying them fully. He had heard of ‘wing-boners’ before, but he never actually saw one… well, except maybe the night before. He snapped out of the steamy thoughts, realizing he had stopped.

“Something wrong, sweetie?”

“N-not at all! I was thinking I need a shower too, after you finish…”

Sundancer turned and pulled him under the shower, letting hot water stream upon themselves. “There’s plenty of room for two, Tony. You could have asked before, I wouldn’t have minded.” Grabbing the shampoo from his hooves, she poured some on his mane and started rubbing down, on his neck… on his back… then to the front. The chest, his belly and—

“Whoa, take it easy. I can wash myself…” he said, trying to recover his breath, the feeling of her hooves down his body sending shivers and mixed feelings towards his brain. “It’s alright, I can continue from here myself—whoaaaha whooo, Sundancer! What ooh what are you doing!” he could barely contain himself now, lowering his head to see her hooves playing around with his member.

“What’s wrong, can’t handle a mare of my caliber?” she whispered and his ear and started kissing him gently. He felt his heart pumping a thousand times faster than before, and started shivering with excitement. Not holding back anymore, he grabbed her in his forehooves and kissed her passionately, reigniting the flame. Breaking the kiss, Sundancer fell on her haunches, breathless. “Take … take it easy… we have all the time in the world…” she motioned for him to sit aswell. Hot water still pouring on them, she sat on his belly, grinding against his body, causing him to clench his teeth in excitement. “All the time… in the world.”

---

One hour later, the two finally descended from upstairs, having to shower again after the inevitable ‘steamy’ activity. He felt that with each minute he is with her, the more he loved her. Sundancer was leaning on him, obviously very exhausted from this affair, having to do all the work this time. Her muscles were tired, but relaxed.

“Hey Tony, you grew up in a bakery. Do you know any cool recipe or something?”

Screwing his face in concentration, he thought of his short trip to Ponyville, where he switched recipes with Pinkie Pie.

“Well?” she asked, getting somewhat impatient, while blinking expectantly.

“I have something. It’s a recipe from a friend, who lives in Ponyville. Her name is Pinkie Pie and she’s an artist of the baking. She can make everything possible. Last time I went there, we exchanged recipes, and she gave me a ‘super-duper-uber’ secret recipe she said she was going to try to bake for a wedding that was happening two weeks after we talked. So, with that in mind, would you like to help me make it? It’s pretty complicated.”

“Sure, you can count on me! Do you have house insurance?” she asked playfully.

“What?!”

“Nothin’…” she said rolling her eyes and stifling a giggle. “Alright, what do you need?”

---

Two hours later, after several cuisine disasters, they finally managed to get the thing done. It was a chocolate cupcake with caramel, hazelnut and multiple types of frostings. She eyed the creation skeptically, glaring at it so hard Tony could swear it would have caught fire.

“Hmph… Captain, I’m going in!”

With that, she picked the cupcake from the tray and bit into it. Chewing it thoughtfully, her eyes widened in awe and pleasure, occasionally moaning in delight. Swallowing, she prepared for another bite, but instead choose to devour it like a beast, prompting Tony to raise his hooves to defend himself from leftovers flying left and right.

“Tony, this stuff is incredible! It’s like you detonate a bomb of chocolate inside your mouth, its amazing I want more what do you mean I can only have one hey give me that!” she tried to reach for the tray that was now in Tony’s hooves, trying to save the remaining cupcakes from the starving beast.

“Whoa there, Sundancer! Too much sugar isn’t good for you! Plus, you’ll get fat.” He added the last part with a smug grin on his face, which invited Sundancer to punch him. “Ooof, what the hay was that for!?” But she wasn’t there anymore.

“Sundancer? Where’d you go?” his attention was distracted by the sound of chewing and flapping above him. “Hey! That’s not fair!”

“Awww, come on, I only ate one more. I deserve it…” She tried putting up a puppy smile, but all the chocolate on her muzzle was rather comical.

“Come down, let me clean that.” In a swift motion, she landed and planted her lips on his, sharing the chocolate leftover on her lips and tongue. “Wow… I don’t know if the cupcake tastes that good, or your lips…”

“Tsk tsk, enjoy the chocolate and shutup, will you?” she huffed and planted her lips once again, locking tightly with his.

‘If this will be my reward for baking anything, I will bake every day for the rest of my life…’

---

Meanwhile, in the other part of town, in the Manehattan Hospital, one very pissed Pegasus was waking up from the short coma he was put into. Surrounding him were his closest friends, and members of his little mafia-sort group. They liked to call themselves ‘The Punishers’, playing with peoples lives as if they were belonging to them.

With a groan and a snort, Spectrum rose from his bed and stared deeply into the eyes of a red bulky unicorn. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he glanced around and scowled.

“Where is Sundancer?” he asked angrily, but in a calm tone of authority.

Everypony present in the room shifted uneasily and stood silent.

“WELL?!” Spectrum yelled, beginning to lose his patience.

“She… she left with Redmane, boss!”

Upon hearing the news, he growled in frustration and tried to get up, only to be stopped by the sudden pain in the chest.

“Take it easy, boss! The doctor said you have four broken ribs.”

Spectrum glanced to the pony who replied to him. It was the yellow mare that tried to insult Tony on his first day.

”Four? FOUR!? I will break more than four bones in him next time!”

Taking some time to calm himself, his lips curled into a smile. “No… physical pain won’t do… Do you remember what Starswirl the Bearded said to Leonidas the Warrior?” Everypony present shook their heads.

“The cunning warrior attacks neither body nor mind.”

“But what?” asked everypony in unison.

“The heart, you idiots! First, we attack his heart!”

---

It was already evening and the rain still went on. In a certain bakery across town, two ponies were preparing to attend the classes of the next day. Tony was more than impatient to grab everything he needed, while Sundancer was laying on the bed, watching the breathless stallion running around the room.

“I need this… this… and that… oh and this!”

She sighed and rolled on her belly, head on her front hooves.

“Tony… you have everything prepared, you can stop. Come sit with me… please.”

He stopped from a second from his frenzy and looked at the mare that laid in front of him, her tail swinging from side to side. He learned that it was not wise to ignore a mare’s invitation. He rolled his eyes and smiled, then sat beside her and cuddled up, sharing a few soft kisses.

“Say, Tony, is there anything special you’d like to do with your life?” she asked, placing her head on his chest.

Tony sat for a while to think. He never really thought of something special for his life.

“Well… maybe there’s one thing I’d like to do. I want to fly, freely. I think I dreamed of this ever since I was a colt. The sky looks so… welcoming. There is a reason for why it symbolizes freedom.” He lowered his gaze to look into her half closed dreamy eyes. A wide smile spread on her muzzle.

“Sounds beautiful. It may not be possible for doctors to do anything about it, but hey, we are engineers in the making. Maybe you can think of something.”

“Sounds good to me. What about you, Sundancer? Is there anything special you’d like to do?”

“Hmm, there is something.” She rose her head from his chest and stared into his eyes. “I’d like participate at the Grand Galloping Gala. It seems so wonderful… everything there is brilliant. And…” she stopped, her smile breaking into a frown, tears welling up in her eyes. “I… I want to be yours. If there’s anything more important than the Gala, or even the Princesses themselves, it’s you.” He grabbed her head and kissed her deeply.

“Thanks… Sundancer. I will make up to you, I promise. And thanks for the brilliant idea of a flight suit.”

She rose her head yet again, to witness the most idiotic grin she had ever seen, causing her to laugh heartily. “Oh, oh your face… pure gold.” She laughed for a few minutes, before falling silent and cuddling against him.

“Good night Tony…”

“Good night, sweetie.”

Several minutes passed.

“Um, Tony? Is there anyway to shut that light down? Or cover it with something?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ll handle it.” He jumped out of bed and trotted out of the room. Several moments later some glass breaking followed by swears were heard, causing the mare to snicker. He eventually came back inside the room, having duct tape all over the reactor, partially blocking the light. ”This should do.”

They cuddled once again and fell asleep, light snoring being the only noise audible.

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Mark I: Concept Development Estimated time remaining: 40 Minutes