Manehattan, Manehattan Hotel, Las Pegasus – April 3, 3:05 AM
“Oh, fuck me. Not even morning yet? Goddam…”
Shining Armor, the fabulous, blue-maned, unicorn Prince of the Crystal Empire, was about to vocally express his frustration before noticing he was not the only one in the hotel suite as a beautiful mare continued to sleep peacefully next to him oblivious to his brief outburst. Instead of lying his head back down on the pillow to drift back to sleep, Shining instead stepped out of the king sized bed rubbing his eyes as he walked out of the bedroom towards the dry bar located in the living room.
“I could use a buzz right now. So, what the hell?” The white stallion thought to himself as he poured and took a shot of bourbon which burned his throat yet satisfied his taste buds.
The bourbon shot was exhilarating to the point where Shining could not help himself but to indulge in more as his unicorn magic lifted the bottle to his lips and took a huge swig of the aged spirit as he started heading towards the hotel balcony which overlooked the lights and action of the Las Pegasus Strip below.
“Perhaps I should’ve went on the strip tonight since I barely get out this way.” Shining Armor thought to himself as this was a great party destination to temporarily escape from his problems; but ultimately, the mare in the suite with him this moment became his fixation for the night.
In his current circumstance, the only party he was going to get a taste of right now was running down his throat in the form of 75-year-old aged spirit. The night air had a slight chill even as Equestria changed seasons over to Spring a few weeks prior; however, spending the last few years in the Crystal Empire located in the arctic north has made the chill right now rather bearable, especially with the burning feeling of bourbon sliding down his gullet. Many of his recent years being married to the love of his life, serving as the Prince of the Crystal Empire, and being a father have made Shining Armor one of the happiest stallions in Equestria, or at least most of the time he did.
“Maybe I could’ve snuck onto the Manehattan coaster? It’s not like I can get air sickness on a roller coaster, right?” Shining spoke to himself as he chuckled realizing he could not correctly levitate the bottle to his lips in his current drunken state as if felt rather heavy to lift.
The great battle for Equestria against Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow happened a little under five years ago now, and life has changed for the better as ponies, griffons, dragons, yaks, hippogriffs, changelings, and all other creatures across the land as they now feel like a single unit and no longer kept themselves separate from each other. All the lands opted to instead open their borders and provide hospitality to welcome all creatures into their lands along with the intention to maintain great unity in case there ever is another time to face evil comes about once again. But despite managing to reach what would be a period of happiness for every creature, the great battle is now just a memory for most as every-creature has gone back on with their normal lives, or at least almost every-creature.
“Aw! Shit, fuck, ass, motherfucker!” The drunken stallion shouted as he accidentally used too much power and levitated the bottle too high and poured a quarter of the bottle onto his head and mane.
The past year of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s marriage has been on a downward spiral as the couple have become distant and bitter towards each other and have unable to compromise and work together for the sake of their love and partnership. For the Princess of Love, her biggest issues with her husband has been the fact that he went back into the Canterlot Royal Guard as a trainer for new recruits without first consulting her about it, and now spends much of his time away in Canterlot, and thus is far from her and their ever-growing daughter. As for Shining Armor, he felt he has gradually went from a co-leader to a figurehead being reduced to minimal duties and being overshadowed as his wife started to gradually take on more leadership upon herself and started working overtime and gave lesser attention to her family, and on many days the Prince was the only one taking care of Flurry Heart and went to bed by himself on many night. It would be all this toxicity within their marriage up to this day that would be a result of this very night in Las Pegasus, where he may have committed one of his biggest regrets of his life.
“Um, Shining Armor? Darling?”
The Prince heard a voice call out to him from behind which startled him, and caused him to accidentally lose his magical grip on the bottle of bourbon and started its quick freefall to the balcony floor where it met an untimely demise shattering into countless pieces on impact. Shining Armor stared at the shattered glass before turning his eyes toward the source of the voice; it happened to come from the mare whom he shared the bed with tonight along with other things. The stallion knew the only mare he should share a bed with is with his wife; however, it was a split decision the moment he decided to hop into bed with another mare this night as it was mostly just to spite her as she has not been willing to show him any love to him for some time even before taking the new job at Canterlot. The mare in question he engaged in intercourse with tonight was not some random stranger or a callmare, but rather one of his sister Twilight’s friends he happened to meet by chance in one of the bars in the hotel: the white, fashionista unicorn Rarity.
She started to speak as her eyes shifted from looking at him to the broken piece of glass. “Um…I’m sorry for startl….”
“Well isn’t that fucking embarrassing?” He laughed at his mistake.
“I was trying to….”, She continued before getting interrupted again.
“I mean I just dropped like a 75-year-old bottle of bourbon! What a crime I’ve committed! I should be locked up for…”
“Keep your voice down.” The unicorn tried to calm the drunken stallion as she started to get a little infuriated at he failed to show the slightest bit of attention to her.
“Haha. Wha…what should I keep down?!”
She finally could not take it anymore. “Your fucking voice.”
Rarity then levitated the glass pieces as so nopony would hurt themselves and put her hoof over neck leading him back inside as he remained in his drunken state. She led him back into the bedroom and helped him onto the bed as he stumbled and fell on the mattress.
“Whoa what was the push for? Are you that desperate to have me?” Shining Armor chuckled.
The unicorn rolled her eyes and used her mouth to pull the blanket over the stallion and soon stepped out the room for a minute to find a trash receptacle to dump the bourbon bottle remains in. She assumed it was in the kitchen and was trotting towards it and, to her convenience, found a receptacle right at the entrance of the room. Using her front left hoof, she pressed down on the floor lever and dumped the broken glass inside, and as she completed the task questioned to herself how much Shining Armor drinks on average. Rarity stopped pondering and then headed back towards the master bedroom where she hoped Shining Armor remained rather than stumbling back towards the dry bar. Stepping into the bedroom, she was rather relieved to find the prince out of it and resting peacefully and at that moment felt it was time to get back to her hotel room also located within the Manehattan, Manehattan Hotel; however, it was a few floors below and it was nothing close to being as nice as this suite.
“Well, sleep tight darling.” She smiled as she trotted out.
“I will Cadance.”
Those words made her stop in her tracks. Then she ended up hearing next:
“Love you so much.”
Rarity remained in place for a few seconds taking in what she just heard and felt like she could not move another inch forward. But she knew she had to leave his presence right this minute as it was too much to bear and contemplate what she heard as she trotted quickly out of the hotel suite. It was then Rarity started to realize that Shining Armor also might consider this night as one of the biggest regrets of his life as she already had earlier tonight after they finished committing adultery. Shining Armor tonight may have caused irreparable damage of the relationships to his spouse and his sister, just as Rarity may have caused with her relationships with one of her closest friends as well as her own significant other.
Author's Note
A huge thanks to all of you for making it to the end of the first chapter. I know it was rather short and not enough story as of yet to form a concise opinion. This story is mostly a way to work on my writing, so any creative advice on writing better is greatly appreciated. Thank you and piece out.
Crystal Castle, Crystal Empire – April 3, 9:12 AM
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” Princess Cadance uttered out loud to herself as she quickly made her way from her private quarters into the hallway.
The co-ruler of the Crystal Empire wound up oversleeping this morning on the account that Flurry Heart kept her awake most of the night with her crying. The Princess was taken aback by her daughter’s actions recently as she showed signs of extreme overattachment towards her and displayed severe separation anxiety. According to the nanny, Flurry Heart has been constantly asking for her mother and her father for the past few days and will start to bawl uncontrollably if she does not see them on command. As a toddler now, her magical abilities have grown to the point where they have become overbearing to everypony whether she uses it to teleport to her mother or to destroy the room during a temper tantrum. Princess Cadance has generally been capable of curbing Flurry Heart’s powers whether it is casting a spell to temporarily prevent her horn from using magic or going a bit further and magic-proofing an entire room when it comes to assisting the nanny.
“It is alright, my lady.” The Princess was receiving reassurance from her personal assistant, Diamond Tablet. “We have plenty of time to make the meeting with Prince Rutherford.”
Diamond Tablet has been serving as the personal assistant to Princess Cadance for the past three years and could not be more grateful for the job she earned. She has a spring green-colored coat that is reminiscent of mint chocolate chip ice cream and a long, blonde-colored mane and tail which perfectly complimented her physique. Diamond is a crystal Earth pony who spent the better half of her later teenage years growing up under the rule of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. She was in her early teenage year when living under the rule of King Sombra thousands of years ago, a time she has worked to put behind her as it was very traumatic for her and her family. Since being brought back after the Crystal Empire’s reappearance and the ascendance of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor to leadership of her kingdom, Diamond Tablet’s life has turned around and could not be happier for the positivity that has taken shape in the Crystal Empire and her life.
“Perhaps you are right.” Princess Cadance responded to her assistant as she kept moving at a quick pace down the hallway. “But you know I always try to be as punctual as possible. Especially for this meeting as it concerns constructing a railroad line to Yakyakistan”
“Oh, I certainly understand that this proposed construction project will be one of our most challenging tasks we’ll ever tackle.” Diamond chuckled lightly as she kept up with her boss. “But if I can be honest, I believe you’re too punctual sometimes.”
“Well, I am having a meeting with the the Prince of Yakyakistan. So, I’m not taking any chances of being late at all.”
“Oh, come on now. His behavior has gotten better. He doesn’t go on many yak smashing rampages like he used to.”
“I suppose you’re right” The Princess agreed. “But still, he is rather unpleasant to be around when nothing goes his way. So I won’t take a chance at being late to this meeting.”
Princess Cadance and Diamond Tablet finally reached the staircase at the end of the hall and descended the stairs heading for the main entrance hall. Waiting at the bottom of the staircase were two royal guards who seemed adamant to share news with the Princess.
“Your highness.” The gamboge pegasus guard to the right, Flash Sentry, acknowledged her with a bow as did the purple unicorn guard on the left, Charming Cavalier.
“Why, good morning.” The Princess responded as she and Diamond Tablet reached the bottom of the stairs. “Do you have anything to share, Flash Sentry? Has Prince Rutherford arrived yet?”
“Why yes I do, Princess.” He replied. “We received word from Yakyakistan a short while ago that Prince Rutherford has taken ill and will not make it to the meeting this morning.”
“Oh, my. It’s nothing serious, is it?”
“Oh, nothing to be overly concerned about. It’s really nothing more than a 24-hour bug.”
Diamond Tablet decided to assert herself into the matter. “Was there any mention of what date they prefer to reschedule our meeting?” She grabbed her clipboard and pen out of her saddle bag ready to make note on it.
“As of this time, there is no word on when they want to reschedule.” Flash Sentry replied. “But we will be sure to keep up to date on that information.”
“Well, thank you for briefing us on this matter.” Princess Cadance said.
“Now, is there anything else you need, your majesty?”
“Actually, there is something else I’m curious about. Has there been any word from my husband?”
Flash Sentry wished he had positive news on that matter. “I’m afraid there has been no word from him.”
Princess Cadance started to feel her blood boil as she comes back to the realization Shining Armor has been more distant recently. The least he could do was drop her and Flurry Heart a message now and then to let them know how he has been. The last time she saw him was a little over three weeks ago when Cadance felt she needed to make the effort to visit him in Canterlot rather than waiting for him to come back to the Crystal Empire. To say the least, their encounter was rather unpleasant as the pink alicorn showed up unannounced and left Shining Armor a bit annoyed. Princess Cadance knew she needed him back home as it was causing her and everyone else in the Crystal Castle to be a bit uneasy, from Flash Sentry to Diamond Tablet.
The Princess kept her composure as she responded to the blue-maned guard. “Oh? Well, thanks anyway.”
“We’ll be sure to keep tabs on his messages, your majesty.”
“I appreciate that. Thank you.”
Flash Sentry and Charming Cavalier both nodded to the Princess and walked away to attend back to their guarding duties. Cadance gave a gentle smile to them as they left, although the smile quickly went away as she started to slowly trot away towards no particular destination. Diamond Tablet knew right away why she was frowning as practically everypony in the castle knew why the Princess was feeling down. She knew that she needed some light, confrontational conversation to get her feelings out in the open.
“I’m taking a wild guess you’re not frowning because the yaks canceled the meeting, right?”
Cadance briefly glanced at her assistant and kept walking. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Diamond was not willing to give up that easily. “You can’t bottle your sadness and frustration over Prince Shining Armor forever.”
The pink Princess erupted at that moment. “That selfish S.O.B. can take his own horn and go fuck him…!” At that moment, she covered her mouth in embarrassment fearing the entire Crystal Empire heard what she just shouted.
The green-colored assistant could not help but laugh on the inside. “I never knew you had a filthy mouth, your highness.” That response made her start to chuckle.
“Okay, you are right.” Princess Cadance started to open up on the matter. “I have been bottling it in, and now I feel so uncouth using the f-word like that.”
“Well, not even the most royalist ponies of Equestria are immune from erring now and then.” Diamond Tablet tried to reassure her. “Now, since your schedule has been cleared up for the next couple of hours, I have a suggestion of what you should do.”
“And what might that be?”
“Spending time with your daughter. Of course, that’s just my suggestion.”
The Princess had not thought about her daughter much today and figured this was the best time to spend with her. “You’re right, Diamond Tablet. I’ll tell the nanny to take the next few hours off as I use this as quality time to bond with my beautiful daughter.”
The two started to head back towards the staircase and meet up with Flurry Heart and the nanny. As they walked back up, Princess Cadance made a comment that slightly took Diamond Tablet aback.
“If Shining Armor won’t show love for his daughter and I, then maybe it’s time I did the same towards him.”
It was at that moment when those words would inflict more damage than Princess Cadance could ever imagine. Right outside the doors of the castle on its pedestal, the center of the Crystal Heart developed a small shade of red.
“Oh, goodness.” The Princess lost her footing as she grabbed the stair railing.
Diamond Tablet was by her side right away as she took Cadance’s right hoof within her own. “Princess? What is wrong, your majesty?”
Despite the fact she felt a strange sensation course through her body as it felt rather cold and was enough to briefly knock her off her hooves, she ultimately brushed off what had just occurred and lied about the incident.
“It was nothing. I just lost my step and stumbled. Now, let’s go see my daughter.”
Author's Note
Apologies for being late on this chapter to all of you following this story. I also apologize as I feel there might be some confusion since I only revised a little bit before publishing. Meant to publish it last weekend, but I ended up going hard on the booze and never got around to finishing it. But enough about me, thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter. Peace out!
