Shining Armor trotted down the fancy hall, looking for Cadence. It was empty and quiet. Only a few guards trotted past him occasionally, murmuring vague greetings.
Shining abruptly paused. He realized there might be a special event going on that he probably completely forgot about, so he quickened his pace and sped down the hall that led to the dining room. Cheerful shouts of joy spread through the corridor as the white stallion approached the room. It must have been filled with hundreds of ponies, as the voices were very loud and deafening.
The blue-maned stallion slid to a halt at the majestic entrance. He slowly opened the door, which let out a soft creak, then felt his eyes widen. His mouth open in awe, Shining stepped forward, entering the crowded and elegant room. Of course, he knew events with Equestrian royalty were extremely important and were always crowded, but he never expected this many ponies to show up.
A pink alicorn turned with a broad smile. Surprisingly, an empty seat was next to her. Shining recognized the beautiful pink mare immediately. It was, of course, his wife, Princess Cadence.
The pretty mare laughed happily, brandished her shining glass of wine, then waved her other hoof to invite Shining Armor to the table.
Shining slowly approached the seat, then sat down in it. He expected to see a full plate in front of him, thinking that he was late to this dinner party, but instead, a filled glass of wine sat in front of him. His plate was empty, with his eating utensils sorted closely together next to the plate neatly.
"What is this?" Shining asked his wife, a bewildered expression developing on his face.
Cadence giggled, then turned again to face her plate. "Oh, just a giant dinner party! You're not late, by the way," she explained gladly.
"Where's the food?" Shining pressed, suddenly feeling hungry as he stared longingly at his cold and bare plate, as well as his exquisite and clean fork and knife.
"It's not here yet."
Instead of hearing Cadence's happy and excited voice, Shining heard the more sophisticated voice of Princess Celestia. He suddenly turned to face her, gazing at her solemnly. Smiling nervously, he spoke.
"Oh, right. Well, greetings, princess!"
"Greetings, Shining Armor," Princess Celestia greeted Shining back. She swiftly returned her attention to the other mares and stallions of Canterlot sitting near her.
Shining returned to talking to Cadence, patiently waiting for the food despite being so hungry at the moment.
"Well, Shining," Cadence said, taking a sip of her wine before continuing, "how was it with the guards?"
"Oh, well, I couldn't do anything today. I only saw a few guards. They were already just patrolling the castle, so what else could I make them do? And everypony else is at this dinner party anyways," Shining Armor explained.
"Well, okay. Oh, here's our food!" Cadence said happily as some nicely-dressed mares placed food on everypony's plates.
The strong smell of fresh and mouth-watering food surrounded Shining. He spotted some sweets as well, smiling excitedly at the delicious sight of chocolate. There were cupcakes, and even better, cakes. There was also a group of pudding at the table.
"Oh, wow! Can we eat or is there some sort of announcement?" Shining asked excitedly, quickly levitating his fork and knife with magic.
"We can eat," Cadence said, beginning to consume her delectable meal by stuffing her face with some fruits.
"Oh, look over there. There's even better food there," Shining said, noticing a group of tasty-looking food at one end of the table. Shining turned, greeted by another group of mouthwatering food at the other end of the table.
"Could thee pass the plate of sweets? Thy thinks it looks delicious!" Princess Luna said in her royal Canterlot voice, which was obviously loud enough for everypony in the room to hear.
The stallion sitting across from Princess Luna jumped at the sound of her loud, sophisticated voice. "Oh, of course!" he said in an elegant voice, although he was clearly anxious.
"Great dinner party, right? No announcements, just food..." Shining commented dreamily.
"Yeah," Cadence said, starting to eat hurriedly.
"Hey, slow down!" Shining warned through a mouthful of some chocolate.
"I just realized what time it was. It's 6:30 PM! I have to go soon," Cadence explained. She stuffed two cupcakes into her mouth at once.
Shining suddenly noticed the horrified and disgusted looks of many ponies sitting near him and Cadence.
"Hey, Cadence, act more...fancy. These ponies are starting to feel awkward around you," he whispered anxiously.
Cadence swallowed her two cupcakes. "Oh, sorry!" she said loudly.
The pink pony wiped off the food from her face, smiled awkwardly, and rushed off. Just then, the doors opened once more. The few guards that Shining met on his way to this wonderful dinner party trotted in just as Cadence left the room, nearly bumping into her. The princess and the guards exchanged short and quick apologies, then Cadence disappeared around the corner. The guards approached Shining afterwards.
"Sir...can we attend the dinner party? We have been patrolling the castle, no sign of any intruders, and everypony is safe in here," one of the guards asked.
Shining gave them a nod, and they eagerly took the remaining seats. Shining already finished his meal, and he was slightly surprised by this. He looked around. There was still plenty of food left. He could feel more drool escaping from his mouth. He wiped it away and grabbed some more desserts.
"Sir."
Shining jumped. He shivered a little bit, then looked to his left. A winged guard was sternly looking at him.
Shining shook his head. "Yes?"
The guard lowered his voice to a cautious whisper. "The changelings are back."
"WHAT?!" Shining screamed, his voice echoing throughout the entire room. Multiple ponies jumped and gave him confused and surprised looks.
Shining went hot like fire. Blushing, he dismissed the ponies with a small wave of his hoof, and they awkwardly returned to their royal meals. He returned to fearfully gazing at the guard.
"Then why did the guards say there were no signs of intruders?" Shining pressed worriedly, feeling deceived by his own guards.
"They only wanted the food," the guard said, shaking his head in disappointment. "They've been patrolling the castle since before Celestia rose the sun."
"They could have asked for a break," Shining sighed, continuing to eat.
"At least they were loyal enough to not ask for one," the guard said, also beginning to eat. He smiled at the delicious taste and ate slightly faster, but he was careful not to try to get any strange looks from ponies like Cadence had.
After Shining swiftly finished his second plate of food, he wiped off the crumbs and cleaned up after himself. He was stopped by a maid, who insisted that she should do it, so the stallion let her clean up and trotted off. After some time, a guard made a sharp turn around the corner and accidentally tackled Shining.
"Watch it," Shining groaned after he had collapsed, slowly getting up, The guard dusted himself off.
"Sorry, sir," he apologized frantically.
"What are you doing out here? I thought all of the guards were in there," Shining said, looking at the doors.
"I didn't want to come. Did you hear about the return of the changelings?" the guard prompted.
"Oh, yes. One of the other guards told me," Shining explained, trotting past the other unicorn.
"Wait, sir!" the stallion said, making Shining turn.
"What is it?"
"The changelings we saw were in a group. Six of them...then another six came...They were outside of the castle, hissing to each other and flapping their wings, but eventually they started fighting each other and flew away. It was strange."
Shining frowned, then shook his head. "Look into it with that other guard." After that, he walked back to his room.