Separation

The next day after our little severing was very real to me. It was hard to hide it from the others too. With my worries temporarily put aside I could finally experience life as a single entity, in one body. Of course it was strange to my peers why I seemed to be spacing out so much recently. I would never really tell them why.

I can't really count how many times I've read over Twilie's letter. While it seems she means well, I can't help feel that she might think I was captive too. That it was both of us under some force's control rather than just her. I hope this isn't the case, or she's just accepting of the circumstances, because I don't want to think of the consequences of her ignorance.

However, I'd rather worry about that when it happens. Right now I had more important things to take care of.

“There you are Shining! I was looking for you!” Cadence called from behind me.

“You're always looking for me.” I stated with my ever-present charm.

She had practically trained me to be her personal carriage, and as per usual, she jumped upon my back. Now, I will never tell her this, or any mare for that matter, but alicorns are heavier than they look. Princess Celestia? Hell, I know of only one stallion who could properly lift her. Believe me, we've tested. “Well you're not that hard to find. I can see the muscular, white coat of yours miles away.”

“Oh really? Have you tried? Are you stalking me Cadence?” I smiled.

“Of course not! I use those tiny telescopes to watch the stars! Anyway, for the real reason I'm here, we need to head to the throne room. Auntie's waiting for us.”

Normally those words would strike the nerves of every pony in Equestria. Whether Celestia's audience with you was good or bad, you're going to be sweating bricks. When you're Captain of the Royal Guard, however, she'll hit you with a silly little nickname as a reminder of how you humiliated yourself that makes you want to hit yourself in the face with said sweated brick. It was one time dammit!

So I made my way to the throne room as a one-pony capacity alicorn transport and pushed open the door. Now what they say about Celestia and her throne is actually true, she does sit on it for most parts of the day. Not because of the power or anything like that, but because it's apparently very comfortable. She sat there, with the only other ponies present were ones I trusted who wouldn't spread the word of what Celly calls me.

“Hello Sunshine.” She greeted. The amount of self-control it took not to slam my face so hard into the perfect marble floor was so powerful, I think the potential energy could have moved the planet a few inches. Didn't stop my “friends” from laughing however. How one little slip of the tongue due to morning fatigue became the inside joke among the guard and royalty I'll never know. Guess I should just count my blessings Blueblood doesn't know about it.

“Hello Princess. What do you need?” I asked. Simple, nothing more.

“Why don't you both come with me, there's someone very special I want you two to meet.” She explained. I had a pretty good idea who it was and I'm sure Cadence did too.

Time to meet the legendary Mare in the Moon.

I wish I could say Cadence and I walked side by side in anticipation of what lay before us, but the fact was she refused to give my back a break.

“So Shining,” Celestia began, signifying this may be a hike, “how is everything with Twilight now that she's in Ponyville?”

That caught me a little off guard. She knew how close we were, but I figured she must have sensed Spike send mail or something like that. I couldn't tell her the complete truth, but I couldn't really lie either. “With all that's happened and all the stories I've heard, it'd be wrong of me not to worry. This whole experience is new to everyone, including you, and I still wonder if everything has been completely resolved.”

“You still worry about Nightmare Moon or Luna?”

“Nightmare Moon, she had the most powerful magic thrown about Equestria with hostile intent. That fact alone scares, who knows what might have happened because of it.”

“You always were a worry wort.” Cadence chimed in.

“It's a Royal Guard's duty to be paranoid.”

“Oh really? I thought your duty was to keep me entertained.”

“I want a raise then.”

Celestia always seemed to enjoy our little flirts. She giggled as we reached a pair of crescent-moon-embedded doors. I have seen the entire palace and have a personalized mental map of Canterlot and of all the crystal caves underneath, however this room is the only one I have never entered.

After a few gentle knocks the door swung open. Sitting next to the fireplace was the Princess of the Night herself. Star-filled midnight blue mane and tail, even darker coat, and figure mirroring a much younger Celestia. I have personally known two alicorns before this point, something incredibly few could say, and now I was about to meet the third. I don't know if any other Captain has been as lucky, or ever will be.

Both Cadence and I were taken aback by the force of the doors' opening, and judging by Luna's reaction, she didn't mean to use such force.

“Hello sister!” Celestia sang, happier than I've ever seen. I followed her inside, Cadence finally deciding to get off my back. “I trust you are feeling well?”

“Rather fatigued, but nothing to fret over.” Luna spoke, barely looking away from the two of us.

“These two here are some very important ponies in this day and age. This is our niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

Before Luna could have even registered what her sister had said, any ounce of timidness in Cadence disappeared, and Luna found herself in the most powerful bear hug few stallions have ever survived. Believe me, we've tested.

“Auntie Luna!” She screamed in joy, before Luna found a way to pry her off.

“AND HELLO TO YOU, MY FAIR NIECE!” Luna shouted. I think I went deaf for the next twenty seconds.

“Sister, there's no need to be so formal.” Celestia explained.

“Oh uh, sorry.”

“And this unicorn is the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor.” After hearing my title, I instinctively puffed my chest out like back in hoof camp. Something Cadence just loved to try and embarrass me of.

Ignoring her crude whistle I introduced myself. “Greetings, Your Grace...”

“Sunshine, what did I just tell my sister? No need to be formal.”

I groaned. “Of course Celly, and please stop calling me that.”

“But you are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey.” She began to sing. Much to my dismay, Luna seemed to enjoy my torment.

“Anyway...” I seethed through my teeth, “I believe you know Twilight Sparkle?” I asked Luna.

“Oh yes, my sister's personal student. It was because of her and her friends that I am here.”

“She's also my younger sister.”

“Is she? Wow, a daughter as the Princess's personal student and a son who is Captain of the Royal Guard? Your parents must be very proud.”

“Yeah, but we're all pretty modest about it.”

“You sure aren't!” Cadence chimed in as she, once again, landed upon my back.

“I also forgot to mention I moonlight as a personal carriage for this little pony.” I said, agitated.

“Oh don't give me that. You love the attention.”

I turned back to Luna. “If you need anything, I'm available almost anytime.”

This apparently reminded Cadence of something. “Oh! Celestia, what day of the week is it?”

“Wednesday.”

“Oh, really...” Cadence said rather smugly, looking back at me.

I sighed. “What?”

“It's been a week...” She sang. Both the Princesses looked at us in confusion. “You owe me lunch!” She teased.

Right. I promised Cadence that she could go a week without asking me to get her out of the castle for some form of activity I would take her out to lunch or dinner or whatever. Seems I had completely forgotten since I had just lost the link with the other half of my being.

All dire emergencies aside, we said our goodbyes and I walked us out of the room. I'm sure Celestia has quite a bit to explain to Luna about the two of us.

Luckily her choice of restaurant wasn't fancy, well by Canterlot standards. We sat at a nice outside table, simply having our drinks and waiting for our orders.

“So Shining, why are you always wearing that cuirass? It's not something a Captain should be wearing.”

“That's 'cause it's custom-made. A friend of mine fixed it up for me after I was promoted.”

“It only covers your chest.”

“But it's made of silver, know what that means?”

“Huh?”

“Silver is very good at insulating magic, whereas iron conducts it. The amount of wards and counters I have on this thing is hard to count. All in all, this provides more protection than the hardest metal.”

“But what if you're hit with a sword or something? Will it hold up to that?”

“That's if they can hit me, some of the stuff I have on this will make it just slide right off.”

“That's a lot of protection, not to mention you never seem to take it off. Shining, this isn't war time, why so cautious?”

I've had this silver cuirass since before the separation. And have had it on almost always since it was made. As to why? I'm not overly sure. I wasn't paranoid before it, I guess I just liked the way it looked.

Thinking on how to properly answer her, I magically grabbed my cup for a sip, and immediately let go before it was in the air. You see, when a unicorn uses magic, they use up what they have inside, and if they use too much they get fatigued. Then it's just a matter of resting and waiting for it to recharge. I used up a very tiny amount and felt a little weird.

My magic was not coming back. It wasn't replenishing.

I didn't notice it the other night when I opened Twilie's letter because I was already rather tired. So it wasn't just me losing Twilight, I lost my ability to regenerate magic...

...Well shit.