The Shadow King Returns

"Shiny you wouldn't believe how many proposals I got during court today, the citizens seem to have a lot more problems than usual." Cadence proclaimed this as she hefted a large stack of papers onto the desk that Shining Armor was currently working at.

"Wow, that... is definitely a lot of proposals." As Shining scanned through the large pile of papers he realized that going through all of them would mean he wouldn't be able to get any sleep that night.

"Well I'm off to get ready for bed." As Cadence began to saunter off she was stopped by Shining. "Honey I know that you need to go through your nightly routine so that you are, 'prepared to sleep,' but this paperwork will literally take me all night to do. I could really use your help so tomorrow won't be a day from Tartarus."

"Oh but Shiny, you know how bad I am with paperwork. It's just so boring that I would much rather be gathering the complaints and proposals from all of my lovely subjects". Which is exactly why you always decide to throw it me instead, thought Shining while hiding behind the patented guard mask. "Alright I'll see what I can do then." With that Shining proceeded to drop the mask as quickly as he got it and instead opted to sulk.

"Great see you tomorrow morning Shiny." With a quick kiss on the cheek Cadence left him alone with the new mountain of paper to conquer, seemingly ignorant of his plight. Fantastic, Shining thought, another sleepless night all thanks to my wife, she does truly drive me to drink. With that he pulled a bottle out from his desk. "Ah whiskey you always help me muddle through shit like this."

After about an hour Shining Armor found his usual rhythm and was beginning to pound out the paperwork with his recently found efficiency. This he was not happy about, it just meant that this sort of thing happened frequently enough that he was actually getting good at it. "Why does she feel the need to take every single complaint and proposal every single day? Its not like the Empire will fall apart if somepony doesn't get to ask if their trash can get picked up one more time per week." Shining had formed the habit of talking out his frustrations with himself at times like these. "I mean really, if she even stopped writing down every single thing that every pony had to say then at least half of these wouldn't be here. Like this one, 'The price of crystal berry cake is too high, it needs to be cheaper,' a foal could have had a more comprehensive proposal than that!  Actually that one might have come from a foal, I really have no idea why Cadence even lets foals come to her 'court' if it could even be called that."

He took that moment to take a short break since all of this malarkey was getting to him. Wait, did he really just use the word malarkey? "Maybe I need to back off the whiskey, even just a bit." As Shining relaxed back in his chair the same thought that had been dancing around in his head came back again. Why didn't he just hire help? Oh that's right he tried it once and ended up getting his eardrums blown out by his wife. He really did not understand her line of logic that lead her to the conclusion that if any of the subjects helped with this paperwork they would be, ' usurping the authority of the princess and the prince.' He was almost certain that she was purposely running him into the ground, but what did she have against him getting any proper sleep? The answer was beyond him, so he just let out a groan and buried his head in his hooves.

"Sometimes I regret defeating Sombra, just so I wouldn't have to go through moments like this on a regular basis." Wait, where did that come from? That's fucking stupid and makes no sense in any way... why did I have the thought then? "But I do wonder if he really is gone, I mean there was the blast but i swear a saw something fly off into the distance after the explosion." Maybe there is still a part of him left, maybe he still a threat to the kingdom. Wait no that wasn't right, he scolded himself. Even if there still was a part of him left he would be so weak that he wouldn't be able to do anything significant, if anything at all.

"Yet I have this nagging feeling that he's still out there somewhere." He entertained the thought for a moment and then glanced back at the still impressive amount of work he had left on his desk. "Beats the alternative," Shining said as he got up and left his office. Locking the door behind him Shining proceeded down one the oppressively shiny halls in the the palace. Even at night the lit torches on the walls reflecting off of everything were enough to blind a pony who wasn't used to the sight.

"I'm going to need my scarf, my goggles, a hat, and a cloak if I'm going to leave without raising any attention." Looks like Twiley's rubbed off on me a bit with her checklist nonsense, the thought brought a smirk to his face. "Wait." At that moment he remembered that the only staff on duty at night were the guards by all of the personal rooms in the palace and the guards by the royal bedchamber. He facehoofed at this revelation since he happened to be on an entirely different floor at the moment. "Yeah I'm definitely going to lay off of the whiskey."

With that settled he casually trotted towards the royal tailors. For once he was happy that Cadence had insisted on having a personal tailor in the castle. She had called it a dire necessity essential to the security of the kingdom. Shining wasn't sure why she thought she needed a cover up, she's the princess of love after all. Although he decided to let her be on the issue, having learned at an earlier point in their relationship that telling her such things leads to her being upset and that wasn't good for anypony unfortunate enough to be involved. He shuddered at the thought, her last threat coming back to him, 'Shining if you are smart you will sleep on the couch tonight or you might wake up with some important equipment missing.' The scary part wasn't even the threat itself, it was the eerie calm and dead look in her eyes as she said it that got to him.

Shaking the thought from his head he realized that the royal tailors was just up ahead so he got out his master key. A satisfied smile came across Shining's face as he levitated the key into the lock and turned it until he heard a click. Even with the shit hours being prince does have its privileges. He stepped through the door and closed it behind him before tuning on the lights. He admired the velvet and dark oak theme that the whole place pulled off rather well, everything from the seats to the mirrors had a certain luster to them that even he could appreciate. Shining turned to the wardrobe that housed all of his blizzard gear. His horn lit up with its lavender hue which opened the wardrobe and levitated over all of his apparel. Which he proceeded to get into as quickly as possible since he wanted to get back before Cadence or anypony else might wake up and discover his absence.

With the cloak on Shining trotted out the door making sure to close and lock it behind him. Shining made sure to check around every corner he came across before proceeding to the palace's exit, even if enopony was supposed to be awake he still wanted to air on the side of caution to avoid detection. Yes because you know how much everypony loves to leave their cozy beds in the palace for a midnight snack outside, especially when there is a perfectly good kitchen fully stocked with food in the palace. Shining snorted at this thought but checking still doesn't hurt. Once again he realized that he was talking to himself. "Am I really lonely enough to start doing this on a regular basis?"

Actually when was the last time I had an actual conversation with somepony?" He stopped then lifted a hoof to his chin in thought. "Well last time I had a little free time I did talk to that stallion who owns the comic book shop. First Edition did end up recommending that one vampire comic that wasn't half bad." But that conversation was for what, twenty minutes max? A deep sigh left Shining then, I sometimes wish that I could have good friends like Twiley does. But nope I have Cadence instead. Not that it's a bad thing it's just... I don't really know where I was going with that. Having possibly just awoken his wife with his internal dialogue Shining simply walked along in silence, facing the ground in an attempt to hide his face. He only looked up when he noticed that he was walking on grass.

"Really hoping that nopony saw me while I wasn't paying attention." The fact that he had been sulking over his apparent lack of friends to converse with left Shining feeling irritated to say the least. With a scowl and a stomp of his hoof he said, "Why is this even getting to me, something as simple as not talking to ponies enough." But here I am doing something most would find stupid, pointless, or even insane. But if I'm already talking to myself so it seems like I already have the last one down. That brought a smirk to his face as he turned to face his own shield spell covering the Empire. The step through greeted him with the usual bitter cold of the arctic. Well at least there isn't a blizzard this time, he thought. Looking up at the full moon casting its pale light over the frozen desolate landscape he chuckled. "At least seeing anything out here shouldn't be much of an issue, its almost as bright as the hallways."