“Commander? You may want to have a look at this,” the analyst said, holding up a telegram from Cloudsdale Air Base. Attached was a diagram of something they had spotted in their airspace.

“What is it, son?” asked the commander, trotting over in his sharp military uniform to have a look.

“Have a look for yourself, sir,” the analyst handed over the telegram.

“CANTERLOT AIRBASE stop,” read the commander, brow furrowing as he looked at it. “UNIDENTIFIED CRAFT APPROACHING YOUR SECTOR, stop. ATTACHED IS AN OVERHEAD DIAGRAM OF THE CRAFT, stop. WILL UPDATE WHEN MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE, stop. CLOUDSDALE AIR BASE OUT, full stop.”

As he finished, he looked over at the analyst, who wordlessly offered the diagram. The commander took it and gave it a quick survey, before handing it back.

“What do you think?” the commander asked.

“No idea, sir,” said the analyst, laying the diagram down. “But if you ask me, it looks like a giant--”

“Dick!” shouted a Wonderbolt as they practiced formations over the empty landscape underneath Cloudsdale. “Hard to starboard!”

The Wonderbolt named “Dick” instantly complied, banking hard to his right, just in time to avoid an oncoming formation of other Wonderbolts. As he ducked to the side, the two formations passed each other by, missing each other by less than two meters.

“Nice job!” the frontpony shouted back. “Show’s almost set! Just a few more practice sessions and…”

He trailed off as a large shadow passed overhead. As one, all of the pegasi in the group looked up.

“Blimey, would you look at that?” one of the wingponies remarked. “It looks like a huge--”

“Pecker!” exclaimed a young pegasus filly, as she spotted a bird perched on an outcropping of bark, who looked poised to drill into the tree that bark belonged to. Quietly as she could, the young filly snuck over to where the bird was, but it caught sight of her long before she got near it, giving her an opportunity to observe the bird from a lot closer.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Bird,” she apologized softly. “I thought you were a woodpecker.”

The bird tweeted, but then flew over to land on the filly’s outstretched muted-yellow hoof. The filly giggled as its talons clenched, but not hard enough to hurt, and brushed her soft pink mane back.

“Aren’t you just the most adorable thing?” she cooed, sitting back and stroking its red plumage.

Suddenly, the world in that little grove darkened, and the bird took off in a heartbeat. The young filly jumped, startled by the sudden change in lighting, and looked up at the sky to see what was causing it.

And when she did, she blushed.

“W-why, that looks like s-somepony’s--”

“PRIVATES!” screamed the drill sergeant.

At once, Shining Armor and his squadron snapped to attention as the sergeant started marching up and down the line.

“WE HAVE REPORTS OF AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT APPROACHING CANTERLOT AIRSPACE!”

Shining and the other privates broke their stance at that. An unidentified flying object? he thought, alarmed. What sort of aircraft is this? Is it the yaks? Or the griffins?

“THE OBJECT IS REPORTED AS HAVING A LONG, SMOOTH SHAFT, COMPLETE WITH--”

“TWO BALLS!” roared the umpire, stepping out from behind the catcher as the batter stepped out of the box to adjust his tail’s grip on the bat. The ump looked down at his clicker for confirmation, and then added “ONE STRIKE!”

He returned to being behind the catcher and knelt down to get the best possible view of the strike zone as the batter stepped back in, tail wrapped around the base of the bat as he prepared.

“TIME!” the umpire shouted, waving his hooves and stepping out. Something in the distance had gotten his attention.

“The hell is that?” asked the catcher, resting on his knees as he stared at the same thing the umpire was. “Looks like someone’s--”

“WOOD!” barked the sergeant.

The southern private next to Shining snapped to. “YES DRILL SERGEANT SIR!”

“Get this report up to the castle immediately!” the sergeant ordered. “Alert the Princess that an unidentified flying object is headed right for our airspace. Perhaps she’ll shed some light on the situation. Armor!”

“YES DRILL SERGEANT SIR!” Shining snapped to as well.

“You’d better go with him,” the sergeant nodded. “Get going!”

“Sir!” they both saluted and galloped off. It was mostly silent, but then Wood chuckled.

“What are the odds, eh?” he asked, smirking as they slowed to a canter on entering the foyer of the castle. The standing guard gave them a once over, but when they weren’t here to relieve them, he straightened up.

“The odds of what?” Shining asked.

“The odds of an unidentified flying aircraft looking like a big--”

“Johnson,” the commander nodded back to the analyst as he conversed with a number of operators that were in the same monitoring station.

“Yes sir?” asked the analyst.

“Keep monitoring the situation, and let me know if anything changes. In the meantime, get word of this to Princess Celestia.”

“Already taken care of, sir,” the analyst replied. “A message has been sent to toe ground forces to go to yellow alert.”

“Good work, Johnson,” the commander nodded approvingly at him, and they went back to their jobs, though Johnson was going to be standing-by in case the Cloudsdale Air Base decided to send an update..

Shining and Wood trotted on into the throne room, saluting their superiors who were on guard duty today as they passed. Shining always enjoyed getting to pay a visit to the throne room. The decorative glasswork always made the place seem just that much more important, though the pony who usually resided in here did enough of that on her own.

Speaking of, Princess Celestia sat on her throne, observing the two of them as they trotted in. And, bringing a grin to Shining’s face, Sunset was there too, back to them and chatting with the princess about something best known to the two of them.

“Princess Celestia!” Wood announced as they entered. “Urgent news from Cloudsdale.”

Sunset turned to look at them, and when she recognized Shining, she grinned at him. Shining, in spite of himself, smiled back. It sure was a good thing they weren’t there with Sergeant Grit today. He’d be running laps for breaking the professionalism.

“News from Cloudsdale, you say?” Princess Celestia rose and trotted out to meet them, with Sunset right behind her.

“Yes ma’am,” the two of them stopped about halfway into the room and waited on the Princess and Sunset to meet them. As one, both of them saluted and held the stance of attention.

“At ease, gentlestallions,” Princess Celestia said, sounding almost irritated that they saluted her. “So, what is this urgent news you came to report?”

“There’s been an unidentified flying object sighted by a few Skywatchers, heading right for Canterlot airspace,” Shining explained. “We’ve been dispatched to make you aware of the situation, and as soon as any more information comes, you’ll be the first to know.”

“I see,” Princess Celestia bobbed her head thoughtfully, no doubt considering the situation. Shining had to wonder if this was something she already knew about, or if she was already considering battle tactics, or maybe she was wondering if she had left her kettle on the stove.

Truly the mind of an alicorn was an unreadable thing.

“Thank you, Private… Wood, was it?” she tilted her head quizzically at Shining’s buddy, who nodded.

“Yes ma’am, it is.”

“Good,” she smiled down at him. “Head on back to the training ground, private. you’re dismissed.”

They both turned around, but before Shining took a step, he felt a slight tug on the back of his mane.

“Not you, Private Armor,” Princess Celestia said behind him. “I’d like you to stay. I want a word.”

Wood gave him a confused look. Shining, however, just shrugged and motioned off. “I mean, it is Princess Celestia’s orders,” he said. Wood nodded at that, and trotted off.

Once gone, the door shut behind him and Shining turned to the Princess and Sunset, only to find that Princess Celestia was on her way back to her throne to sit down.

Sunset motioned for him to follow with her head, and they both trotted after her, stopping when they were at the base of the incline that led up to her seat.

“So,” Princess Celestia sat down and surveyed the two of them, “how long have the two of you been having sex?”

Shining Armor’s eyes bulged and his breath caught.

Oh shit.

A terrified glance over at Sunset revealed she appeared to be reacting the same way. She had gone rather pale, her eyes were pinpricks, and she was glancing at him as well, apparently hoping he would speak first.

The sound of tinkling laughter broke the tension, and both of them looked up at Princess Celestia to find her laughing up a storm.

“O-oh forgive me,” she said, wiping a tear from her eyes, “The look on your faces… You two looked scared out of your wits!”

Sunset and Shining both exchanged even more terrified glances at that.

“I’m sorry,” Princess Celestia’s mirth was dying down, but slowly, yet she still seemed in control enough to pause and apologize. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to scare you that badly.”

Sunset and Shining just continued to stare at each other, mortified beyond what was previously physically possible, not sure whether or not to join in with Princess Celestia’s laughing or continue being terrified.

“Again, I’m sorry, that was mean.” To her credit, she was trying to stop the smile, but it did take her some time to get a straight face back. Ever the troll, she was.

Suddenly I don’t envy having to guard her, Shining thought, thinking back to the two guards who had escorted her on the day he had been posted in the foyer. Nothing bad had happened to them, but if her guards were the constant target of her pranks...

“You two can stop being terrified, you know,” Princess Celestia added, watching them both with more amusement. “Neither of you are in trouble. Your personal relationships are no business of mine.”

“Sorry, we just--” Sunset started, but broke off, looking completely lost for words.

“...kind of happened,” finished Shining, nodding to himself to gain confidence.

“Oh?” Princess Celestia smiled knowingly. “Been having you help her with her heat, has she? Is that how you ‘happened?’”

“Pr-retty much,” even now that it was proven safe, Sunset couldn’t keep the shakiness out of her voice. “How did you kn-know?”

“Sunset, deep breaths,” instructed Celestia, her gaze turning just a tad stern. Sunset obeyed at once, taking a deep breath in, holding it for several seconds, and then releasing it as slowly as she could. “Better?” the princess asked as she let it out.

“Better,” Sunset nodded. “How did you find out?”

“Well, do remember that the castle maids report to me,” Princess Celestia reminded her, with a slight smirk. “They’ve had to change the sheets several times now.”

“We’ve only had sex twice, though,” Sunset cut in, seeming a bit confused. “Oh, wait, there was the time I got off to you telling me about that pegasus--”

“S-Sunset!” Shining exclaimed, going redder than Sunset’s mane. This was hardly helping his mortification in front of the sun monarch.

“As I said, it’s none of my business,” Princess Celestia repeated, giving a very thankful Shining a much-needed lifeline, “but I did want to have the two of you confirm that this was the case. After all, the happiness and wellbeing of all of my subjects is my highest priority. And with that being said,” she took a moment to look them both over, “once your heat is dealt with, and these urges gone, will you two continue this current arrangement? Will you go your separate ways?” Her smile disappearing into a more neutral expression, “Or perhaps will you two seek to deepen your relationship?”

Shining’s first instinct was to glance over at Sunset, who looked a bit uncomfortable. Frankly, he was also interested to hear about this. While it was true that he and Sunset never interacted before their first romp, he had grown to really like spending time around her, and it certainly helped that she was more than a little on the pretty side.

But what about her? he thought. She did choose me to help her with her heat, but what does she think of me?

“I…” she glanced down at the ground, her mane falling just perfectly to obscure her face from him. “I don’t…”

“Mm,” Princess Celestia hummed, nodding thoughtfully. “I see. Allow me to rephrase it, then.”

And she turned her gaze to Shining.

“Shining Armor, what would you like to be after her heat is dealt with?”

“Uhh…” his mouth felt rather dry all of a sudden. And with Sunny looking over at him the way she was… Is that… nervousness? “I, uhh…”

He took a deep breath.

“I kinda was hoping we could be more than just… friends. With benefits. I mean,” he facehoofed at his own verbal clumsiness and resigned himself. Too late to keep it from her now. “I-I want to be more than just… a booty call.”

Sunset’s eyes widened a bit at that, and Shining saw some pink enter her cheeks. And rather than the disgust he was expecting, she looked almost… relieved?

“Well, Sunset?” asked Princess Celestia, looking over at her pupil. “Do you have anything to say to that?”

“I…” she started, but stopped to lick her lips. “Shining, I want completely and whole-heartedly agree with you…”

Shining’s heart sank. Here comes the “but.”

“...but I… I told you, I want to figure things out after my heat’s over.”

“Ahh,” Princess Celestia sighed, leaning back in her throne. “You want to be sure that the feelings you have for Shining are genuine, and not a product of your hormones, is that correct?”

“Y-yes,” Sunset nodded. “That’s… that’s it.”

“Well, having no shortage of experience in that department myself,” Princess Celestia smiled fondly as her eyes glazed over slightly, no doubt thinking on some of her own lovers over the years, “I can promise you Sunset, the simple fact that you’re this concerned about this is as clear a sign as any that your feelings are genuine.”

That Sunset’s first instinct was to look over at him rather than Celestia was enough to have him grinning.

“So, if you want my advice,” Celestia smiled at her, “both of you,” she now turned to glance at him, “once your heat is dealt with, and you two choose to have a little tryst, make it just a bit more intimate than a simple romp. However,” she held up a hoof before they could object, even though they weren’t going to, “I would suggest that you do wait for this until after your heat, Sunset.”

“I’ve been taking all the precautions!” protested Sunset. “I’ve taken a Brew of Barrenness before each of our--”

“That’s all well and good, Sunset,” Princess Celestia cut her off, “but I mean so that you two can truly be intimate, without the reminder that one of you is doped up on hormones.”

“Out of curiosity, I thought you said our relationships weren’t any of your business,” Shining pointed out.

“Whom the two of you choose to date and-or sleep with is none of my concern,” she nodded, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t try to point you both in the right direction to minimize your problems. Like I said, the happiness and wellbeing of all my subjects is my highest priority.”

“Huh,” Shining nodded thoughtfully. “Well… I guess we have a bit to talk about, eh Sunny?”

“Yes,” Sunset frowned, staring at the ground, brow furrowed, no doubt thinking on everything that had just transpired. “We do.”

“Well, with that, I won’t keep you,” Princess Celestia motioned with a hoof to dismiss Shining. “You’re free to return to your squadron, Private Armor.”

Shining saluted, and then trotted off, humming rather happily to himself. I can’t believe Sunny actually does want to be more than just fuck buddies!

But right before he exited the room, the doors were pushed open and Private Wood barged right back in, pushing past Shining.

“Apologies Princess, but we’ve received an update on the unidentified flying aircraft,” he said, not even checking to see if Shining was alright as he fell over.

“The UFA?” Sunset asked, looking over. “You mean the one that looks like some stallion’s--”

“Wang!” barked the schoolteacher, rapping his pointer against the blackboard to get the young colt’s attention.

“I’m sorry sir,” the young, Neighponese colt bowed hastily, but gestured out the window. “I was just distracted by that shape in the sky that looks like a--”

“One-eyed monster!” announced the carnie pony, hawking his tent to passing ponies, who all surveyed the exhibit with interest. “One-eye, four legs, a monster in the present day!”

To punctuate his point, a blue pony leapt out of the tent. The carnie wasn’t lying. It really was a monster, its single golden eye staring at all of the watchers, who all recoiled in horror. Its mane stuck out of different parts of his head at odd angles, and it almost looked like someone had pressed his two eyes together in an animation engine glitch.

But after scaring the observers for a moment, something else got his attention.

“Hey, look at that,” the cyclops said, staring up at the approaching shape. “Look at the size of those--”

“Tits!” called a grey pegasus mare happily, the largest grin on her face as she participated in this overused joke. But after a moment, her misaligned eyes fell and her pale golden mane drooped as she hung her head. “Oops. My bad. I meant--”

“NUTS! HOT, SALTED NUTS!”

“I’ll have some!” shouted an observer, waving the concessions vendor over to his spot in the stands. Quick as he could, the vendor shuffled over to hand off a bag of assorted nuts in exchange for a few bits, before he retreated and continued to hawk his ware.

“Come on, blue, that was a horrible call!” screamed a fan of the team that was on the wrong end of this. “How much are the Giants paying you, huh!? I’ll double it!”

Ahh baseball, thought the vendor as he straightened his Dodgers staff uniform. Truly Equestria’s national pastime.

A shape in the sky got his attention, and he scrutinized it.

“Blimey, would you look at that!” he shouted, pointing at it. “That looks like a giant--”

“PENIS! It looks like a giant penis!” shouted a pink filly with an unnaturally poofy mane from the streets of Ponyville angrily.

Her companion, an orange filly with a golden mane, a tail held at the end by a band, and a brown stetson, just stared at her in bewilderment. “Do what? What looks like a giant penis, Pinkie Pie?”

“Applejack, it’s that huge phallic-shaped thing up there,” Pinkie Pie jabbed a hoof up at the floating shape that continued to approach Canterlot. “But the author doesn’t have any originality and is just doing the radar joke from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me! Tell an original joke, or I’m gonna come out there and kick you right in the--”

“Cock!”

“Hot dayum, that is the biggest cock I’ve ever seen in my life!” a farmer rubbed his stubble-riddled chin thoughtfully.

“Twenty bits for the cock, thirty if you want me to personally stick it through the back door for ya. Also thirty if you want a pair o’hens to go with it,” answered the seller, indicating a pair of white chickens that were pecking at feed on the ground, while an abnormally-large rooster strutted around the enclosure, occasionally crowing at something.

“Deal,” the farmer said, handing over the coins before stooping down and grabbing hold the rooster to load it on his wagon. Beside him, one of his companions retrieved the hens, but as a shadow passed over them, they stopped.

“Well, would you look at that?” asked the salespony, staring at a dark shape in the sky.

“No kidding,” muttered the farmer. “Looks like somepony’s--”

“Johnson.”

The analyst looked up from the most recent report he had received from Cloudsdale.

“Anything to report?” the commander asked.

“It is a cleared Equestrian airship, sir, that much is certain,” Johnson answered, handing over a memo. “I’ve already sent the update to the castle to be taken off of alert.”

“Have they mentioned a destination?” asked the Commander.

“Yes sir. The airship will be dispatching a chariot directly to Canterlot Castle, while the main airship will be landing at our air docks.”

The commander blinked. “Main airship?”

“Yeah, that one,” Private Wood nodded. “We have identified it as a zeppelin transport, flanked by a hot air balloon on each side. There are a number of other zeppelins following, though they are a few miles back. From the top down, the front formation looks like… well...”

Shining snorted. This whole thing was ridiculously juvenile.

“A zeppelin transport?” Princess Celestia suddenly stood up. “Have they mentioned a destination?”

“A chariot will be on its way down, and it’s expected to land in the training yard. And…” he looked over to Shining, “and it’s been personally requested that our squadron be there to greet it when it lands.”

“I see,” Princess Celestia frowned. “Thank-you, Private.”

“Not at all, ma’am,” Wood saluted.

“Both of you, get back to your squadron at once,” Celestia instructed, suddenly sounding quite a bit authoritative. “Sunset, you and I will go with them.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Shining and Wood were on their way out before the Princess and her pupil could follow them, heading back out of the castle and back toward the yard, and back toward the clump of stallions in military training gear, who were currently arranging themselves into a double-column in front of a large enclosed palanquin/chariot hybrid that four pegasi were currently unstrapping from.

Flying first-class, I see, Shining thought. It looked no different to many of the other royal carriages, except unlike Celestia’s preference for flying open-faced, this one was completely enclosed. It almost looked like a carriage that could go airborne, with a round riding chamber and a red and gold exterior.

The sergeant eyed the two of them as they approached, and then with a jerk of his head, sent them off to their two spots in the double-column, on either side of the door.

“Shining Armor, wait!”

Shining paused before he could fall in. Princess Celestia and Sunset had arrived behind them, and were currently positioning themselves at the head of the two columns. Princess Celestia indicated the side opposite Sunset.

“Here, if you would.”

Shining glanced over at the sergeant, who just shrugged, and then did as he was asked, moving to stand next to the Princess. As he took his spot, her horn glowed gold, and he could feel a sudden warmth all over, before his sweat-stained training uniform was suddenly cleansed, and he looked several times more presentable.

“Thanks,” he said, still staring at the door to the carriate. Could it be…?

The double column was set, the Princess, her student, and a guard were there to greet the guest, and the pegasi were unhitched. As soon as everything was set, one guard let down a set of steps, while another opened the door to the carriage.

It was.

Striding down the steps, the smile of someone who was glad to be home on her face, was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She wore no finery, her tri-colored mane was pulled back into a ponytail, and she looked immensely relieved to be free of the carriage.

Her eyes first went to Princess Celestia, and her grin widened.

But then her eyes fell to Shining, and she was positively beaming.

Shining, however, didn’t share in the sentiment. He just stared at her, shock at her return coursing through him.

She’s… she’s back. Three years, and just like that, she’s back.

Her eyes left his again when Princess Celestia strode forward to meet her.

“Cadance!” she exclaimed, before wrapping her adopted niece into a tight hug. “It’s so good to have you back!”

“Auntie!” Cadance returned the hug enthusiastically. “It’s so great to be home!”

Shining took the opportunity to glance sideways at Sunset, wondering if she had noticed Cadance’s expression.

She was staring at Cadance with an expression of… disquiet. Yes, that seemed like the right word. It was clearly not happy, but rather a deep frown. And when she turned to look back at Shining, he could see her jaw working, like it usually did when she was trying to puzzle something out.

But then her eyes shifted, and Shining’s followed. Cadance was walking toward him, delight etched all over her face.

“Shiny! It’s been so long!” she exclaimed, before leaning forward and giving him a kiss.

Caught completely off-guard, all Shining could do was stand there, eyes wide and mouth kept firmly shut for all of a second before he was able to compose himself enough to push her away.

“Yeah, good to see you too, Cadance,” he said, before rubbing his mouth with a free hoof.

Her beaming faltered for a moment, but she shrugged it off. No doubt probably waving it off or something, but she turned to Sunset Shimmer, who--

Holy shit, Shining thought, feeling more than a little cold inside.

She looked outright murderous. Shining had never before experienced such fury on a single pony’s face, but there it was. The upper muscles of her muzzle were shaking, her eyes had a fire in them the like of which Shining had never seen before, and he could actually see the tendons in her neck bulging as she ground her teeth against each other at the sight.

The small comfort to go along with this was that she wasn’t looking at him, but at Cadance. Shining hadn’t had the time to really get to know Sunset, but he reasoned that Princess Celestia had probably managed to drill into her how to keep her composure at least enough to not attack someone who just inadvertently did wrong in front of them.

“Shiny? What’s--” Cadance turned to follow his gaze, and the moment her eyes fell on Sunset, she actually took a step backward out of surprise.

“Sunset,” Princess Celestia stepped between them diplomatically before anything bad could happen, “restrain yourself.”

Sunset did, only just. Her muzzle stopped twitching and she relaxed her jaw, but the deep frown and the fire still blazing in her eyes was enough to tell Shining that this was far from over. Cadance, however, just looked completely at a loss.

“Shiny, what’s going on?”

“Something best not discussed out here, niece,” answered Celestia for him, saving him the trouble. “I know it has been a long journey and you are eager to unpack your things and get reacquainted with your room, but it is a topic that should probably be addressed immediately.”

Cadance looked down at Shining-- has she always been this tall?-- quizzically, but Shining averted his gaze. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t think twice about giving Cadance a glance to acknowledge, but under normal circumstances, there wasn’t a Sunset Shimmer who looked ready to incinerate a member of the Royal Family not three meters away.

“Sergeant?”

“Yes ma’am!” Sergeant Grit stepped forward out of the double column and saluted.

“Is your squadron done with its work for the day?”

“Yes ma’am! The arrival of the chariot has disrupted training for the day, but we will resume tomorrow!”

“Thank-you, sergeant. I require Private Armor for the remainder of the day.”

“As you command,” the sergeant saluted again, and then nodded at Shining, all the instruction he needed.

Without waiting for anything else, the Princess turned and strode back toward the main castle, trotting along just quickly enough to make them work to keep up.

And all the while, Cadance looked completely confused by what was going on. Even as they trotted inside, up several flights of steps and into the Residential Wing. He noticed that they were following the path that he always walked to get to the Dusk Quarters, but he had a suspicion that that wasn’t their destination.

Sure enough, they passed right by Sunset’s room, toward another plain-looking door at the end of the hall.

“Password?” asked a musical voice that emanated from all around them. Shining glanced around in his own confusion, trying to discern the source of it, but Sunset just bumped him and pointed to glowing symbols that had appeared on the door.

“Sol Invictus,” Princess Celestia spoke clearly and authoritatively to the door. It accepted her answer, the runes disappearing and the door sliding sideways into the wall to reveal a spiral staircase made of marble, up which Celestia trotted, motioning with a hoof for them all to follow.

Sunset went first, resolutely marching after her teacher. Cadance gave Shining one last bewildered look before trotting after. Shining, however stayed there for a moment, taking deep breaths.

Okay Shining, you’re about to go up there and get involved in a discussion. It will probably feature yelling, misunderstandings, and two angry sexy mares that are this close to murdering each other. Or they will be. Deep breaths.

As his mind said, so he did. He took some great gulps of air and let them out, and then marched up the steps and into the room.

Princess Celestia’s room was rather minimal. There was a large round bed at one end, an expensive-looking square table at which two princesses and an irritated Sunset were sitting, a few pictures of what appeared to be a pale blue unicorn mare with an even paler-blue mane with Celestia back when she had pink hair-- An old friend, perhaps?-- a dresser next to the bed, a doorway to a balcony overlooking Canterlot, and another door that led presumably to a personal bathroom and closet, and no shortage of suns.

They were, almost literally, everywhere. Knitted into the rug, knitted into the covers on her bed, patterned all around the walls, and even a large one painted on the ceiling!

Does she ever get tired of looking at these? he wondered.

“Ahem.”

Shining’s gaze snapped from the ceiling to the table, where all three mares were watching him. Cadance had gone from being confused to nervous, Sunset was still very irritated, and Celestia looked serene as ever, though she was the one who had cleared her throat.

“If you would please be seated,” she indicated a pillow on the ground for him to sit on, which he did. “We have… quite a bit to discuss.”

Cadance opened her mouth to say something, but instantly, Princess Celestia raised a hoof and stopped her in her tracks.

“Niece, I am sure you have a lot of questions. It has, after all, been three years,” Celestia fixed her eyes on the pearl sun on her table as she said that, “but they will have to wait.”

But without waiting for her to stop, Princess Celestia looked up at Shining while he took his seat.

“Now, for those of us not in the know,” she gestured idly to Sunset as she said that, “would you mind explaining what happened three years ago?”

Shining glanced over at Cadance as she said that.

She’s not going to like this, is she? he thought dully, but in his years, he had learned that it was best to just rip off a band-aid. It stung like a bitch, but it was over quickly.

“Well,” he rested his elbows on the table, pressed his hooves together, and then rested his chin on them, “three years ago Cadance and I were still at Canterlot Academy, she was getting ready to graduate, and I had a full year to go. She was going to start working directly under Princess Celestia, and I was going to finish my final year and head off to West Hoof. Get on that two-year program to start training to become a Royal Guard.”

Shining did not fail to see Sunset glower at Cadance as he continued.

“We were dating at the time, and I thought--”

“At the time?” Cadance interrupted, her nervousness turning into no small amount of hurt. “Shining… are we--”

“You disappeared,” Shining kept his own eyes firmly fixed on the same sun Princess Celestia had stared at earlier. He didn’t want to see this. “You just vanished two nights after your graduation. You didn’t even say good-bye.”

He tried, he really did, to keep the bitter edge out of his voice as he said that. The memories of waking up one morning, showing up at the castle, and being told by Princess Celestia that his dear Cadie had left… you never really get used to the feeling of the bottom of your stomach dropping out, and this was probably the most potent time he had felt it.

“And worse, I wrote you letters,” he continued, trying to keep from snarling. “I hoof-delivered them to Princess Celestia, because I figured if anyone could get them to you, it was her. And she promised me that they did.”

He turned his gaze to Celestia, ho looked calm as ever.

“Did you lie to me, Princess?” he asked, managing, thankfully, to keep the accusatory edge from his voice.

“I did not,” the Princess replied quite lightly, before she turned to her fellow princess. “Did you read them?”

“I did,” Cadance answered immediately. “Of course I did! You wrote me three letters, and I read all of them!”

“Then why didn’t you write me back?” he asked, and this time, the snarl wasn’t hidden, the angry edge on full display, and his own glare matched Sunset’s, though his motivation was far different, as he turned to look Cadance in the eyes. “Cadance, I will admit before Princess Celestia and Sunset until I die, I loved you. I waited for a response from you, and it never came.”

“I… I…”

She was on the verge of tears.

“I wanted to,” she mumbled, but that hardly did anything to reverse three years of heartache and disappointment. “I really did, Shining! But…”

“But?” Shining arched a skeptical eyebrow, and he noticed Princess Celestia seemed to grow a mite sterner as well.

“I… couldn’t! I… wasn’t allowed to--”

“You weren’t allowed?” Princess Celestia asked, sounding as surprised as anyone. “I’m the one who told you the reasons for your mission, Cadance. When did I ever say it wasn’t allowed for you to have correspondence with your coltfriend? I even sent you a letter of my own telling you directly of that fact, as I recall.”

“You told me before I left,” she sounded like she was accusing Celestia now. “You told me I had to keep contact with non-affiliated ponies to a bare mini--”

“Niece,” Princess Celestia covered her eyes with a hoof in exasperation, “I would have thought you would have been the first to try and justify Shining as ‘affiliated ponies.’ It’s hard to get more affiliated than being a significant other.”

“You could have told me!” she retorted. Shining had to agree with that. Celestia could have been more clear about it if Cadance was telling the truth. “You could have told me to my face that it was okay to write to Shining!”

“It wasn’t just letters,” Celestia continued, sounding quite patient despite Cadance’s anger. “You had multiple opportunities to return to Canterlot, even briefly. I did not expect you to devote every second to this task. I expected you to take time off. Yet another thing I stated in my letter,” she added, giving her niece a meaningful look. “Cadance, I did tell you. I was explicit in my second letter, given your silence after all of Shining’s, and you said you read it.”

“I…” She choked up before she could finish that.

Celestia sighed. “Cadance, I won’t deny, I played a part in this by assuming you would have done everything in your power to stay connected to Shining, but you share some of the blame here.”

Shining chanced a glance at Sunset, and he was relieved to see she didn’t look sad anymore. If anything, she looked… pitying?

“You assumed that this mission I sent you on was so important that I would ask you to cut off all contact with the outside world,” the Princess sighed. “I suppose I should have expected this. You are hardly the first to overassume on that part.”

Shining’s first thought was his own sister at that. Sounded right up her alley to overthink something like that.

“Shining, Sunset, I have no more need for either of you. Cadance and I need to have a word alone,” the Princess said finally, giving them both a look. “Sunset, think about all of this. I will want to have a word with you about it tomorrow morning. Shining?”

Shining met the Princess’ eyes as he stood up.

“If you have any problems, any at all, don’t hesitate to come speak to me.”

What did she mean by that? What problems? he wondered, but he nodded all the same and started to trot out of the room.

“How long?” he heard from behind him, and he really didn’t like how hurt it sounded.

Cadie…

“How long what?”

“How long have you two been t--” she bit the end of that statement off and looked away.

“Only about a couple of weeks,” he assured her gently. “We just sort of… happened.”

“Take it from me, Princess,” Shining was rather amazed at how Sunset could go from wanting to disintegrate a mare to suddenly being as gentle as he had ever seen a mare be in mere minutes, “He’s not saying that to make you feel better. We just sort of hit it off after we met.”

Shining was devoutly thankful Sunset didn’t rub it in that “hitting it off” included sex in a bathtub.

That didn’t seem to help Cadance at all, but Shining knew it would definitely help. There was no reason for her to assume they had gone behind her back.

With that, Shining turned and continued out the door, with Sunset right behind him.

Out of the protected door, back into the hall, down the hallway, and into Sunset’s room they went, and once inside, they both hopped up onto her bed and lay on their backs, simply enjoying each others’ company and thinking about all that they had just talked about.

“So,” Sunset started, “that’s your ex-marefriend.”

“Yep,” sighed Shining. “That’s Cadance.”

He felt a hoof grab hold of his own, and he squeezed it gently.

“After Celestia and I have our little chat tomorrow, I think we’re gonna need a talk of our own,” she sighed. “About us, about her…”

“It won’t be so bad,” he smiled to himself. “Even though we aren’t dating anymore, I’d still love to be her friend. And if I’m honest,” he glanced sideways at her, “I think you’ll like her. Once she gets over us, at least.”

Sunset nodded, and then curled her back into him, in a little-spoon position. Shining instantly curled his own body around her to take the big spoon slot and slid a hoof around her barrel.

“It’s only the middle of the day, you know,” Shining reminded her, nibbling on her earlobe after he said it. “No need to sleep just yet.”

“I’m just resting,” Sunset protested, her ear twitching as he continued to nibble at it. “Getting frisky there?”

“You’re the one in heat,” he pointed out. “I thought you normally couldn’t stop thinking about sex.”

“After our last two sessions, my heat hasn’t been a big deal,” she shrugged. “I can feel it coming back, though, and I think it is close to the end of my season. Maybe one more rutting will end it.”

“I’m down,” Shining grinned.

“I’ll bet you are,” he could almost hear Sunset smirking as she said that. “I was thinking of doing something a bit more… special though.”

“You’ve got me excited already,” Shining leaned over and pecked her cheek. “Guess that means you want me to hold off for now?”

“Sounds about right,” Sunset slid out of his grasp and got up. “I’m hungry. Want to go grab a bite?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he nodded.

But even as they enjoyed a good helping of Donut Joe’s, Shining couldn’t help but shake his concern for Cadance. Everything was going to be awkward from here for the first few weeks.

Ah, but I’ve got Sunset. I think I’ll be fine, he thought to himself as he dug into a twisty-donut. She hasn’t let me down yet.

Author's Note

Story! It won't be as weighty as it seems. Basically just an excuse to milk Shining and Sunset for a while longer before I get Cadance in on it.

Anywho, not much to say here. As of now, I'm looking for cover art, if you haven't seen my blog about it. If you know of someone doing commissions, or you are, feel free to let me know via PM or on the blog post.

May your pants stay dry, your dreams be wet, and may [COLORED HORSES] [MASTURBATORY ACTION] thee to thy [SYNONYM FOR ORGASM].