Shining Armor awoke, yawning loudly. Feeling around in the bed, he realised the lack of a presence in the bed. He lifted his head up on the pillow, turning to the side, and he realised that Twilight had gone. Laying down, he heard a small knock on his door.

"Come in..." he murmured softly.

The pony clearly heard him, as the door lit up in magic, and the door slowly opened, revealing Princess Celestia. He took a small breath, about to speak, before being interrupted by Celestia.

"Shining Armor, I am sorry to interrupt you. I'm aware that this is probably not the best time, but I need you to perform your protection spell. The spell is wearing off, and nobody is too sure how long it will last." Celestia spoke, in an out-of-character, informal tone.

Shining nodded a little, before giving a little smile. Both trotted outside, and, without any hesitation, his horn lit up, and suddenly shot a burst of magic into the air, reinforcing the bubble. His horn lit up once again, and shot yet another burst of magic into the air. This kept happening over and over again. Princess Celestia looked at Shining, confused.

"Shining Armor, you can stop now..."

Shining had a look of both confusion and fear on his features.

"I... I can't!"

His horn kept lighting up, shooting burst after burst of magic into the air. Finally, it stopped. Shining armor practically collapsed onto the ground, panting.

"W...what was that...?" Shining asked to no one in particular.

Celestia smirked, and suddenly flew off, flying out of the protection bubble. When she was out of sight, he heard a voice behind him.

"Shining Armor... It's good to see you out of your bedroom. And I see you've cast your protection spell." Another Celestia said, giving Shining a small smile.

Shining had a look of shock on his face, and stammered incomprehensibly.

"B-but you... yo-you just... h-how d-did...?"

Celestia looked confused, and asked him what he was talking about.

"You were just talking to me," Shining said "and then you flew off and then you were back here!"

Celestia shook her head, sighing softly, feeling sympathetic.

"Shining Armor, I'm sure it's just stress. You've been very sad recently, and rightfully so, after what Princess Cadence did to you, but I'm sure it's nothing more than stress."

Shining Shook his head, still in disbelief.

What had just happened...?

Author's Note

Whew, that was a shorter chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer for you guys. I just have some writers block at the moment. I think I've got a good idea of what's going to happen, but I'm not too sure how to word things - I'm still pretty new to writing.

Anyway, enjoy this pretty short chapter for now, I'll try to make the next one longer!