“Announcing... Princess Twilight Sparkle!” the guard called through the hall as the soft lavender alicorn stepped through the door to Celestia’s throne room. She was disheveled, her hair flying out in all directions, papers, ink bottles, and various books protruding out of her satchel bags. Her eyes shot from side to side and her teeth were set on edge.
“What’s wrong?! Is everyone alright? Did King Sombra return?” The questions shot out rapidfire as she approached Princess Celestia’s throne. The alicorn of the sun put a single white hoof up to her mouth and smiled wryly, clearly amused by her former pupil and now fellow princess. Her darker, blue sister, Princess Luna, sat on her right, while the brighter, pink Princess Cadance sat to her left.
“If we’re all here, it must be something important!” Twilight Sparkle spoke out, immediately assuming the worst. The other three princesses looked at one another with brows raised and started laughing.
“Wha... what’s so funny?” Twilight asked. She was finally beginning to feel that there was something she was missing, now that the adrenaline was slowly beginning to wear off. She hung her head and started drawing circles on the floor with one hoof.
“Twiliiiiiight!” a high pitched voice called through the door. In mere moments, Spike, Twilight’s personal assistant, rushed through the door. “I...” he huffed and puffed for a moment and looked up at her with a withering expression. Finally, he seemed to catch his breath.
“You know, it’s not that easy to keep up with you, considering...” he pointed a single claw at his short legs and then at his back, where there were no wings.
“Spike,” Celestia said, taking on her most matronly tone. “Please excuse us. We’re... going to have a girl’s day!” Toward the end of her speech, her tone shifted to the excitement of an adolescent pony looking forward to a sleepover.
“A... girl’s day?” Twilight echoed questioningly. Had she really been called all the way from Ponyville just to spend some time with the other princesses? What if the map had some plan for her and she wasn’t there to help when she was sorely needed? Cadance this time seemed to read the first signs of worry on her sister-in-law’s face and stepped forward.
She placed a single hoof on the younger girl’s shoulder and said, “Calm down, Twilight. Doesn’t your cutie mark glow when the map’s calling you? You can leave if you’re needed.”
“However,” Luna continued, sternly looking down her nose at the youngest of the princesses, “you tend to work yourself to exhaustion. Celestia believes that a day spent just... relaxing...” She almost seemed as unsure about this as Twilight was.
She coughed and continued, “She believes that we could all use a day away from the duties of our stations to wind down, to rejuvenate, and... well, not to put too fine a point on it, to just catch up and spend some time together.”
The larger, white pony smiled and nodded as Cadance placed herself next to Twilight and whispered in her ear, “She’s been bored lately... and you’ve seen the kind of trouble she can cause when left to her own devices.” Immediately Twilight’s thoughts jumped back to the last Grand Galloping Gala, where Celestia invited Discord and allowed many ponies to be put in danger just to avoid the Gala being too mundane.
Twilight shiftily cast her eyes off to the side, noting the number of columns on either side of the room as she considered Cadance’s words, along with Luna’s. There was merit in what they said. Twilight couldn’t remember a time when the four princesses had just spent some time together without it having to do with work or avoiding some great catastrophe... usually to have that catastrophe occur anyway, but that was far beyond the point. As far as Celestia’s penchant for poorly executed plans to entertain herself, now there was something for all of Canterlot to fear, or at least recoil in revulsion from.
The young princess’s horn began to glow brightly as she put aside her satchel and smiled brightly, saying, “Well, let’s do this then!”
“Well, have fun,” Spike said. “I guess I’ll go see if Shining Armor has any new comics.” The young dragon wandered off, leaving the girls to their special day.
“He’s still collecting comics?” Twilight asked Cadance as they walked up toward the throne. “I thought he’d have grown out of that by now.”
“Yeah, I remember how we used to tease him about his hobby,” Cadance said easily. “He was such a dork-“
“Still is,” Twilight said with a light giggle.
“True, but would you believe that’s why I fell in love with him?”
“Are you serious?”
“You weren’t around much while we were dating,” Cadance admitted. Her eyes became a little glassy as they made it to the throne.
“Well, then, please enlighten us,” Luna said. She hadn’t heard the story of what convinced Cadance to date the captain of the guard yet either. Cadance had the good grace to blush as she considered how she was going to explain this to the others. Stories were part of a girls’ day out, weren’t they?
“It’s quite the tale,” Celestia commented with a sly grin. Of all the ponies in the room, it seemed that Celestia was the only one who knew besides Cadance herself.
Cadance had been walking the palisades of Canterlot for almost an hour when she came across the young Captain of the Guard going through drills down in the courtyard below. She giggled and rested her hooves on the ledge to get a better look at the distraction.
“Remember, we’re here to defend the ponies and princesses of Equestria, not just one or the other!” he called out to the other stallions assembled in front of him.
The voice was familiar. It reminded the princess of a young foal she once took care of. Sadly, she couldn’t remember who the voice belonged to, at least not quite yet. She shrugged to herself and went back to her walk.
She was on her way back in when she ran into the new Captain, who immediately excused himself and stepped out of her way. She smiled and was about to head in through the main door to the castle when she noticed the lock of blue hair poking out from under his helmet.
“Shining Armor?” she asked incredulously. The other pony merely nodded and looked at her with his bright blue eyes. The look was one of hesitation. It was obvious he didn’t know quite what to say. After all, Cadance realized, they hadn’t so much as seen one another in several moons.
“How have you been?” she asked. She didn’t want to be rude to Twilight’s older brother, after all.
“Pretty good,” Shining Armor replied. He rubbed the back of his neck with a single hoof and coughed softly.
“How’s Twilight?” Cadance continued. She wanted to keep the conversation going, at least long enough to catch up.
“I’m not entirely sure. We keep in contact, but she hasn’t been sending me a lot of letters since moving to Ponyville,” he said. His eyes wandered down to the ground for a few seconds before looking back at Cadance.
“You miss her, don’t you?” Cadance asked.
“Well, don’t you?” Shining Armor responded simply. The two of them walked through the door to the castle and toward the personal rooms. The mare merely closed her eyes cast her head toward the floor. The move had been so sudden, neither of them had really had much of a chance to say goodbye. Cadance had paid several visits to Twilight’s house, but she never seemed to drop by unless it was an emergency.
“I thought so,” he said. With a soft sigh, he came upon his own quarters and opened the door. “Maybe she’ll drop by soon.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Cadance agreed. “I-it was nice talking to you, Shining Armor. Thank you for keeping me company.”
“Don’t mention it. Sorry, but I have a few things I need to take care of.”
“Oh... well, maybe we can talk later?” Cadance asked. Shining Armor took a moment to consider it, and smiled.
“I think I’d like that.”
“You’re serious?” Twilight asked through the bright green facial mask as the three Princesses lounged around the Canterlot Day Spa. “I thought the start between you two would have been much more romantic... and less about me.”
Cadance laughed and said, “Well, you are the reason that Shining Armor and I even knew each other. It had been quite a few moons since he joined the Academy to become a guard.”
Twilight smiled sadly and nodded. She remembered to this day how sad she had been when her brother had been seemingly torn away from her by his desire to join the Guard.
“I always wondered why he joined the Guard in the first place,” Twilight said. She was surprised when Cadance laughed at the question.
“I guess you’re more like your sister-in-law than you thought, Twilight,” Celestia said. “She was wondering the same thing for days after that meeting.”
Luna turned to her sister and just raised an eyebrow. There was obviously something on her mind, but she wasn’t quite up for sharing yet, it seemed. Twilight couldn’t quite discern the meaning behind the gaze. After all, she’d yet to spend a significant amount of time with her mentor’s sister.
Celestia just nodded at Luna’s questioning gaze and the darker pony turned back to listen to the story.
“You were saying, Cadance?” Luna asked, ready to hear more of the story.
Days would pass before the two would see one another again. The Princess happened to be walking through the royal gardens when she came across the young Captain. He was reading what appeared to be a book. Cadance walked up behind him.
“Mind if I ask what you are reading, Shining Armor?” she asked. The stallion almost jumped out of his skin at the interruption and turned to Cadance, closing the book behind him. The princess was, of course, immediately intrigued by what he was reading.
“It’s... uh... just some book on tactics, very boring,” he responded. Of course, the princess wasn’t buying this and grabbed the book out from behind him. It only took seconds for the comic book inside to fall out, and she immediately picked it up.
“Power Ponies... really?”
Shining Armor was silent and merely picked his book up, red-faced, and walked away. He didn’t even bother taking the comic back. The damage had already been done. Where Cadance had been about to laugh, she now saw just how devastated Shining Armor was that someone had found out what he was really reading.
“He... ran?” Twilight asked. She was obviously confused. It didn’t seem like her brother based on her experience.
“Well... I imagine he was quite embarrassed. After all, he’s a full grown pony still reading comic books,” Luna said sagely. Cadance nodded and sighed.
“I’m not proud of how I acted. I fell into old habits. I didn’t even stop to think what it might make him feel,” she admitted. Her eyes were cast down into the spa bath that the princesses were now sharing. She stared at her reflection for a few moments before Twilight touched her shoulder.
“It worked out, though,” the purple princess said as she drew her sister-in-law into a hug.
“You’re right, Twilight, it did. I did feel bad for what I’d said, though. We used to make fun of his comics when we were younger because we didn’t understand, but… The concept of comics being just for young ponies isn’t precisely true. There are many things that those who are older can still get from them. Shining Armor, at least, got something out of them.”
“And what was that?” Luna asked as she crossed her forelegs under her chin. The masseuse applied a stiff pressure to her lower back and she groaned appreciatively.
“Well…” Cadance said.
It had been a few hours and a Cadance could hear the soldiers talking about how Shining Armor hadn’t shown up for drills that afternoon. She cast a worried glance over her shoulder as she thought about how she had embarrassed him so completely. She turned her head from the soldiers and walked on, trying her best to pretend she hadn’t been the one who had caused him to skip out on something so important.
A few moments later, she found herself outside of his quarters. She knocked softly on the door, but there was no response.
“Shining Armor? I know you’re in there,” she said. While she did not mean to come off as irritated, she did have some old habits from her days foal sitting.
“Princess Cadance… What do you want?” he asked through the door, voice slightly muffled by the thick wooden door.
“I... “
“You… what, want to come poke fun at me like you and Twily used to?” he asked. The bitterness in his voice was evident, even through the thick door. Cadance sighed and rolled her eyes as she went to open the door… only to discover that there was an anti-magic shield around it, presumably cast by Shining Armor.
She thought instantly about chastising him for this childish behavior, but bit her tongue. Acting like he was being a child, even if only by a couple of words, was exactly how this situation had started. She took a deep breath.
“I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier. I did not mean to upset you so badly,” she finally said once she got her head on straight again.
The door cracked open, surrounded by a bright blue aura of magic.
“You can come in,” he said. Cadance smiled and walked through the door. Inside, she was greeted by a very different scene than she had been expecting from him reading comics. The room was tidy, orderly, and a single open comic was on the desk. The rest were sealed in plastic and kept organized in a nearby bookcase.
The rest of the room was quite normal for what most military ponies were expected to keep. A desk, some ink and parchment, a practical bed, and a few personal effects.
“You were expecting to see a bunch of posters and figures?” he asked as he closed the door behind the princess. There was a small bit of apprehension in his eyes, but he smiled through it and laughed a little.
“Those are all back home, at my parents’ house. We’re not allowed to keep personal effects that would interfere with our duty or mess with the room requirements. I’m only allowed to keep the comics on hand because my room is equipped for such things. Most of us who still read comics have to stick them in a footlocker at the end of our beds. I was lucky,” he said.
“I suppose,” Cadance said. She walked up to the shelf and pulled a single random comic off the shelf. The Power Ponies Find Themselves Tangled Up in the Twisted Locks of the Mane-iac!
“What is so interesting about these that you’d read them as much as you do, though?” she asked. Shining Armor actually lit up at the question.
“There are a whole bunch of reasons that ponies like me would want to read comics, especially the ones about heroes,” Shining Armor said, becoming quite animated. He quickly scanned the bookshelf and pulled a hand full of comics off the shelf and arrayed them in a line in front of him, covers facing the princess.
Each one portrayed the heroes as exactly that, heroes, people to look up to, to emulate. It took only a few moments for Cadance to see what Shining Armor was getting to.
“The heroes in these stories inspire me. They make me want to be the best I can be, to become stronger, to train harder, to become the pony I want to be. I want to protect Equestria from those who would hurt the ponies who live here, like they do. Well, not exactly like them, but in my own way, using my magic to help protect people. Equestria is worth protecting, you know?”
Cadance smiled and nodded. He hadn’t done the best job of explaining himself, but she could see where he was going with it. It was actually quite a sweet way of thinking about things.
“Beat up the bad guys and keep the good folks of Equestria safe?” she asked in a very lightly mocking tone.
“It does sound kind of silly when you say it that way, but… yeah, kinda,” he admitted. “It… sounds pretty stupid, huh?”
Cadance smiled a little and then hung her head.
“I… didn’t realize that these comics… mean so much to you,” she said sullenly. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow but was smart enough not to say anything. Cadance looked up at him.
“It’s not stupid, though. I actually wish more ponies would think the way you do,” she said. She was entirely sincere. She had never once thought about these comic books in such a way, as an example by which one could live their life.
“You’re serious?” Shining Armor asked, more than a little surprised. Cadance nodded and smiled.
“You should be more confident about this, actually. I’m… glad you shared this with me,” she said. She smiled and went toward the door. As she did, Shining Armor cleared his throat.
“Would you like to go out for dinner sometime? We could… talk more,” Shining Armor said. She could tell he was quite nervous about this.
“You’re asking me on a date, after I embarrassed you?”
Shining shrugged and said, “Well? Do you want to?”
Cadence laughed a little and said, “Yes. I’d love to.” She closed the door behind her and brought a hoof to her chest. Her heart was fluttering a little. She had definitely not expected this outcome when she had come to apologize.
Twilight and Luna both just sat there, looking at Cadance with slack jaws. This had obviously been nothing like what the two of them had expected. Twilight was the quickest to recover, since she knew and had long accepted that her brother loved comics. Now, though, she found herself harboring a much deeper understanding of the brother she had long looked up to.
“That is surprisingly noble,” Luna finally said as she tapped her chin with her hoof. She flapped her wings a little to clear the thick steam from around her body. Celestia smiled knowingly at her sister and motioned that they should leave the steam room.
As the door opened and the princesses walked out, Luna took a deep breath of the much cooler air outside before she grabbed her towel and dried off.
“I do enjoy the spa, but must we always use this insufferably stifling room before we leave?” she asked simply. The other princesses smiled and laughed a little.
“It’s entirely optional. If you want to, we can skip it next time,” Celestia said, wrapping a wing playfully around her little sister.
“It’s just a way some of us like to relax,” Twilight said as she toweled herself off and stretched her wings. “It’s good for the muscles, according to some of the books I’ve read on the subject.”
At that, Luna couldn’t help but laugh at the younger princess. “You really do like reading a lot, don’t you? Honestly, who owns books on the operation of spas who don’t intend to go into the business themselves?”
“Um… right here,” Twilight said. She reddened a little as the others turned their eyes on them.
“Come now, Luna, haven’t we learned not to make fun of others for their hobbies by now?” Celestia asked with a wink at Cadance.
Luna smiled and nodded. “My apologies, Twilight. It just struck me as a little odd. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Nothing to forgive. I like studying what others would call trivia. You never know when it will come in useful.”
“You’re more like your brother than you might think, Twilight,” Celestia said knowingly as they exited the spa.
“You really think so?” she asked, brightening visibly at the prospect. They talked all the way back to the castle, debating over each other’s hobbies and even poking Celestia for how much trouble she could cause when she was bored.
“I can’t help it that I like a little trouble to spice things up,” she said with a sly grin. “You should all see what I have planned for the next Gala.
The other three princesses stopped short and looked at the eldest princess, clearly worried.
“Don’t worry. No one will be in any danger this time. I’m not so old I can’t learn from my mistakes, you know,” she said as she laughed. This seemed to calm the others down and they walked into the castle.
Author's Note
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