In the skies over Canterlot
Of all the duties that attended his elevation to royalty, Shining Armor reflected, travel was his least favorite. Whenever there was a summit, a conference, heck, a society event, Princess Cadance needed to be there, and thus so did her husband.
Of course, Shining loved being with his wife; how could he not? He'd been sweet on her since their school days, and she'd blossomed into such an incredible mare, even without taking princesshood into account, that he still awoke each morning wondering how he could possible be worthy of the love of Mi Amore Cadenza.
It was just getting places in state that was the problem.
In fact, she was beside him right at this moment, but it was hard to appreciate this when all he could see was the ground, several thousand feet below, slowly rolling by beneath his hooves.
One of Cadance's pink wings brushed away a bead of nervous sweat from his face. "Shiny, I told you, you'll be fine if you just don't look down," she quietly advised. "Look at the mountain instead. We're nearly there."
Shining sighed and leaned his neck into hers. "I'd be fine if our ride wasn't mostly transparent too," he whispered back.
"I know, but the rulers of the Crystal Empire can't ride around in a wooden chariot. We have to represent our subjects," Cadance replied. She smiled as she felt his tension begin to subside beneath her touch. "Besides, I thought you said it was cool, like... who was it?"
The memory elicited a chuckle from Shining Armor. "Wonder Mare with her invisible auto-gyro." he said. "Never thought I'd end up married to her."
Cadance smiled primly. "I will choose to be flattered by that, sir."
As they flew on in silence, the princess's thoughts returned to the reason for their sudden cross-country trip. The letter, sent by dragon flame, had simply read:
To Her Highness Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of the Crystal Empire,
Need help & advice. In Canterlot. Come as soon as you can.
Sunshine & ladybugs,
Her Highness Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Magic of Friendship and True and Rightful Princess of Equestria
P.S. Bring Shining too
It wouldn't be the first time her favorite pony to sit for had sought Cadance's help, but normally Twilight would be the one coming to her, since only one of them had a city-state to oversee. The vagueness of the letter and Twilight's overwrought signature seemed strange too. The princess hoped everything was alright.
The chariot suddenly banked, causing its occupants to momentarily lose their balance.
"Captain!" Shining barked, one pastern clenching the lip at the front of the chariot in a death-grip and another more gently holding Cadance steady, "What's going on?"
"Thousand pardons, highnesses. Sudden course correction," The barded pegasus in the chariot's left harness called back. "Flock of flyers were on a course that would cross too close to our flight path." The captain pointed down and to the right with his muzzle, at where a swarm of multicolored dots were rising toward them.
Cadance's brows knitted. "Shouldn't they be giving us right-of-way?"
"They should, highness. Maybe they haven't seen us yet, but I didn't get this far by—"
"Cap," the other pegasus interrupted, "they just adjusted to intercept. They're coming at us."
The captain muttered an oath and began flying faster. "Your eyes are better. Can you identify?"
The other pegasus squinted, then shook his head. "Bogeys are still too far off."
"Let me," Shining said. The blue aura of a spell enveloped his horn, then slid down his face and into his eyes. Everything grew startlingly sharp and clear to the prince's vision. Turning his gaze on the swarm of colorful pinpricks in the distance, they resolved into exactly sixteen pegasi flying in loose formation. All were looking straight at him, all were armed with spears and though some were wearing helmets and greaves, none had the livery or barding of Equestrian guardsponies.
"Eight wing 'P', armed, no uniform." Shining reported, his royal guard training kicking in. "They've spotted us. Posture is hostile."
"Hostile?! They're going to attack us?" said Cadance. "But... we're practically on top of Canterlot! Do they not recognize us?"
The prince shook his head. "Like you said sweetie, we represent the empire. Nopony else is going to be zipping around in a solid crystal chariot." Steeling himself, Shining looked down again, to the spot where the pegasi had apparently taken flight near the foot of the mountain. partially obscured by cloud, row upon orderly row of tents were visible. Flags and banners flew in the breeze, but Shining didn't recognize their emblem. In a field beside the encampment, ranks of ponies were marching in formation. There were at least four times as many as the entire royal guard.
He clenched his eyes shut and ended the spell just as vertigo began to take hold. "It's... an army. Canterlot's under siege.
The princess gasped. "The letter didn't say anything about a war. Who is it? Dogs? Griffins? ...Oh sweet heavens, the changelings aren't back, are they?" She shuddered at the memory of being imprisoned in the caves beneath the palace by the changeling queen.
A deadly spark ignited at the tip of Shining Armor's horn and he held his wife more tightly. He forgot about the heights, the trip and everything else. The stallion's world contained only his mare and the unlucky fools that had put her in danger. "They look like ponies, but whatever they are, the only way they'll lay a feather on you is over my cold, dead, hunky body."
"But we don't know what's happening, Shining! Please, don't shoot them down. If they're just ponies, my magic can take care of everything and nopony has to get killed."
Shining Armor frowned, then stood down, recognizing his wife's logic but still feeling emasculated. "And if they're changelings?"
Cadance's lip curled. "If they are, I'll know by how my magic affects them. If I say 'sunshine', that means they're changelings. You know what to do."
The prince smiled grimly and nodded. "No quarter."
"We can't shake free-flying pegasi while pulling the royal rig. They'll be on us in two minutes," the captain cautioned.
"More bad news; shield's up around Canterlot, highnesses," the other guard spoke up.
Indeed it was. They could now see the barely-visible pink orb cutting off the mountainside city from the rest of the world.
"Will we be stuck out here?" Cadance asked. "The summons just said to meet Twilight in Canterlot, nothing about armies or shields or anything..."
Shining Armor cast a magic sounding toward the city, then grinned proudly when the echo returned. "Nope, that's Twily's spell. I should know, I taught it to her. If she still wants to let us in, we can pass right through and leave these punks out in the cold." He raised his voice. "Captain, if this party intercepting us doesn't want to talk, make all speed for that shield like our lives depend on it. Don't try to fight them, just sprint straight for it. I'll keep them off us."
"Aye aye, highness."
The flight of pegasi soon caught up with the chariot and its members surrounded the royal party on all sides. it was the formation a protective escort would take, but also the best strategy for assaulting an aerial vehicle. Whichever way he aimed his horn, Shining had to show his back to at least a quarter of the armed ponies. Casting a shield would destroy their aerodynamics and prevent his own pegasi from flying. The chariot would drop like the rock it was, and he wasn't sure the two-pegasus team could recover the heavy vehicle. At least Cadance can fly on her own, he consoled himself.
One of the pegasi broke formation and drew close to the chariot. Keeping her spear pointed at them in one front fetlock, her other front hoof pointed to the ground. "In the name of the True Mistress, land at once!" the pony demanded.
"We are transporting Her Highness Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire on an errand of urgent royal business!" The captain shouted back. "If you try and obstruct us you'll be committing treason against Equestria! Break off!"
The other pony smirked. "Treason? How can I betray a country that doesn't exist?" She brandished the spear menacingly. "Start descending now or we'll bring you down by force. This is your last warning!"
Princess Cadance raised her wings, reared, and stood, proud and erect, with her front hooves against the railing of the chariot. A wave of magic potent with compassion and tenderness flowed in all directions from her shining horn and blazing eyes. Even as the second-smallest of the alicorns, she could cut an imposing figure when she wished. "Good mare," she began in a voice that was soft yet carried clear over the wind and the noisy snapping of wings, "the Crystal Empire wishes no quarrel with you or your mistress, but we may not delay our mission. Our peer, Princess Twilight Sparkle, has called for our aid—"
" 'Good mare'? 'Princess' Twilight? Ha!" The pegasus scoffed. "Save the flowery talk, mutant! We have no more princesses here." She motioned to the other pegasi surrounding the chariot. "Clip their wings, boys!"
Cadance was shocked. These ponies had somehow resisted her magic! They hadn't reacted to its power like changelings would have either, they had simply ignored it! Shining Armor glanced at her, tensely waiting for the word to cut loose, but these were just normal ponies. ...But why hadn't her magic had any effect?
"Stop right there, rebel scum!" A voice called from on high. Everypony looked up at once. Another squad of pegasi, twelve in all, dove out of the sun. "Leave those ponies alone!"
"Is that the cavalry?" Shining wondered aloud, "are we saved?"
"...By order of the Supreme Steward, those ponies are going to be our hostages, not yours!" the leader of the new pegasi continued.
"I think that's a 'no'." Cadance replied dryly.
The ponies surrounding the chariot screamed battle-cries and turned to meet the attack from above.
"Good enough for me!" the captain grunted. "Give it all you got, kid! We're making a run for it!"
As the aerial battle raged around them, the crystal chariot dropped into a dive to gain speed, then leveled out and made a dash straight toward the magically-sealed city. A few pegasi broke away from the melee to pursue, but a fusillade of stunning bolts from Shining Armor's horn kept them at bay. Discouraged by the defensive fire, the pegasi chasing them dropped further behind to stay out of range of his spells.
"What... the hay... is wrong with this kingdom?" Shining asked, staring mortified at the pony melee shrinking into the cloudy distance behind them.
Cadance could only shake her head. as the pink bubble around the city grew to fill their vision. Surely Twilight could fill them in.
"You stopped casting. How's our six look, highness?" the captain asked.
"Bandits still in pursuit, but they're giving us space. I think we're clear to Canterlot."
The princess raised an eyebrow. "How do we know they're just bandits? They sounded more like revolutionaries."
Relieved at having escaped from danger, her husband chuckled and the guards shared a glance and grinned. "That's just some guard jargon, sweetie. Enemy flyers are called 'bandits' for short."
Cadance mentally filed the fact in her vast memory. It annoyed her to be talked down to, but even a princess couldn't know everything, and besides, she suspected moments of levity would be precious in the trying times ahead.
"R-really hope you're right about this, highness," the younger guard admitted as they charged toward the magic wall. "Sure we can't slow down a bit? Not gonna be pretty if they don't let us in."
"Don't worry," Shining reassured him, "my sister's spells always work." He paused and raised a hoof to his chin. "Well, most of the time, except when she's experimenting, which is actually pretty often. There was this one time when she tried to make a spell to increase the surface tension of water so you could transport it without containers or freezing, but it ended up turning a big cloud over Canterlot into this weird jelly stuff and made it fall from the sky. Just splattered all over the place and made a huge mess."
"You... don't say," said the captain, staring at the rapidly approaching shield wall and trying not to think about splattering.
Cadance kneed her husband in the ribs.
"...Uh, but I'm sure Twilight wouldn't leave anything to chance with everything being so crazy right now. Everything's gonna be fine. Here we go!"
And with that, the chariot pierced cleanly through the rippling barrier, all of its crew and passengers flinching and gritting their teeth, Shining Armor included. They exhaled in unison after finding themselves flying safely inside the bubble.
"Bring us down on the parade ground over there, captain," the prince ordered, sagging with relief. Finally, they could get some answers!
The princess and her husband landed and disembarked, unaware of the pair of reptilian eyes peering between the branches of a decorative topiary, marking their every move.
