Shining Armor sighed on the couch. He was watching some bullshit movie. Whatever it was didn't matter. He was clearly not a happy stallion. He was slouched low, arms crossed, a distinct frown on his face. Princess Cadance was just on the far side of the room, doing the dishes after their dinner. His marefriend... Oblivous. She'd even worn an apron and just an apron. The hard cushions of the crummy couch were irritating him. He was still wearing his uniform cammies that he had needed to change into for evening formation. There was no sense in getting fully out of uniform. Fuck him, he had firewatch right in the middle of the night, too. One more thing to make him happy to serve.

Shining Armor just kept scowling and staring straight ahead. He was trying to keep his funk somewhat hidden; he hated bringing down Cadance's sweet, chipper demeanor.

Unfortunately, the sound of running water stopped. Then came the sound of hoofsteps and humming. The one time he didn't want attention, and it had to be the one night she didn't coincidentally have a headache?

She alit on the couch and threw her arm around him, planting a big kiss on his cheek

He tried to reciprocate, but found he didn't have the heart. He instead just murmured noncomitally and nuzzled her soft cheek back. She leaned against him, crossing her legs to better get at him. He felt her rub against him. He should have felt her warmth and softness, but instead he perceived nothing but an annoying pressure on his side. Her soft chest pressed against him. He felt like a cat flicking its tail deliberately before stalking off.

"What's on your mind?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure, Shiny?" She pressed her chest harder onto him. She lowered her tone. "What are you thinking about now?"

"I'm an asshole."

"No, you aren't," Cadance soothed, "you're just a grumpy colt in need of some love and sympathy." Her breath was heavy on his face and neck. Hot and wet, it teased at him, promising him much more if he just said the word. She smelled good. Lavender perfume, cardamon and allspice from cooking. He really was not in the mood. She felt him bristle. With a coquettish grin bordering on diabolical, she sat across his lap with both her legs perpendicular to his, one hand on his chest and the other hanging off his shoulder. She kissed him, then frowned when he barely responded.

He grumbled, "It's work and I don't want to talk about it."

Cadance immediately stopped flirting. "You okay, Shiny? You can tell me anything, you know."

What was he going to tell her? That just a few hours ago he'd brutally murdered a mare in cold blood because he was told to? He had to tell her something. But he first needed to know how what angle he could play. He asked gingerly, "Cadance, do you ever feel unworthy of serving Equestria?"

"I uh... sometimes, yes," she answered, hanging back from him, ears flattened ever so slightly.

"What makes you feel that way?"

"Serving Equestria is a big responsibility," Cadance said, "I sometimes just don't know if I as a barely twenty something years old mare like me is up to the task."

"Like in it's too hard and you wouldn't be able to handle the pressure, or more like it's just something you don't know you could cope with doing?"

Cadance flipped her mane. "Princess Celestia is a wise mare; she wouldn't choose me... or you without being positive it was the right choice. She's never been wrong in a thousand years." She noticed his frown had not turned upside down. "Shiny, what's wrong?" She stopped flirting.

The stallion froze and then sighed. Cadance felt his hand on her outer thigh tense up. Without relieving it, he sighed slowly, "Say I have this friend... and he's not sure he can deal with what he has to do in the guard, and he doesn't know who to turn to..."

"A friend, huh?"

"Yes, a friend."

"Well, I'm no princess of friendship, but I'll try."

"Thanks, Cadance, I don't know who else to ask."

She smiled at him. "A friend of yours is a friend of mine."

He smiled a bit and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Thanks, Cadance."

"So, anything you want to ask in particular for him?"

"What assurance is there that Celestia is right? How can he be sure that she isn't mistaken or that he's doing the right thing?"

Cadance straightened herself up. She yawned then said, "Princess Celestia is the wisest mare in Equestria and has reigned for more than a thousand years. I'm sure she's just so good at it all by now that she can't be wrong. She's got the guard, she has the nobles, she has the sages, and she's a brilliant mare. If there's anymare who can't be wrong, it's her."

"But what if even she is right, she's ordering somepony to do something awful?"

Cadance's eyes widened. "No, no, Celestia would never make somepony do something bad. She's a benevolent mare and rules with gentle grace and harmony. She wouldn't make anypony do something wrong. She didn't kill even Nightmare Moon, Discord, King Sombra, or Tirek." Her smile was a little too serene. She gripped his hand.

"But say that my friend just had to do something that didn't sit right with him, that he didn't really want to do and he felt bad about, for her? What then?"

Cadance answered, "He should take solace in doing something assuredly for the greater good; she wouldn't just order something heinous, let alone for some petty reason. I'm sure whatever it is, it's for the best. He's a lucky stallion; not many ponies get the honor of doing her majesty's bidding on a direct order."

Shining wheedled, no longer holding Cadance, "But say he really doesn't feel good about it, like maybe it goes against what he was raised to believe, or he knows that if he did it not in the service he'd be in jail for it?"

"Shiny, Celestia does not order crimes, she doesn't do injustice." She was steely. "Besides, he's doing the greater good, so I'm sure whatever's been done couldn't be that bad, and even if it was somehow bad, the end good outweighs the bad. Say there was a thestral separatist group that wanted to break away from Equestria and bring back Nightmare Moon. Imagine to do this, they had killed civilians and guards. If you had to kill them, it wouldn't be a bad thing, because you'd be saving more than you hurt by stopping them from killing again."

"Okay okay..."

"That help?"

"A little." He didn't meet her gaze, instead staring under her eyes, past her breasts, and at his knees still clad in that guard camo and some almost imperceptible dark spots. "Anyway, he also needs his royal guard career to work out. If it doesn't he and his family are going to be very disappointed. What should he do?"

"What he swore to do for princess and country. Whatever that may be. Stallion up. Put up with it."

"What would you do for your country, Cadance?"

"Anything."

"Do you really mean that? Do you know what anything could be?"

"I don't need to know, and neither does he. In the service of the princess, you do as you're told for the greater good. Just repeat that whenever it gets to be too much."

Shining looked at her. "I understand now; I'll belay that instruction."

Cadance chuckled, lightening immediately again. "You're so military. I'm so lucky to have a good stallion like you protecting me."

"I'm no hero."

"Hero or not, you're mine and you put your life on the line not just for me, but for everypony."

He scratched the back of his neck. "I guess..."

She stood up and proffered a hand. He took it. She pulled him to his feet and towards the bedroom. "Come to bed, hero." He smiled a little bit. He could put business out of his mind for the moment. So long as he wasn't late for his shift on watch.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. One more chapter left.