Rumorsby skan089ChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Prologue“They can’t be true… right? I mean that would be wrong, right? There’s no way, the Captain would never do that.” Two guards stood in the otherwise empty throne room. Court for the day was to start in an hours’ time, the guards were clearing and preparing the room for the arrival of Prince Consort of the Crystal Empire and Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard Shining Armor. “You don’t think they’re true, right?” Star Lily, a white-coated unicorn guard says, speaking more to the empty room than her pegasus partner. The dark yellow pegasus closes his eyes as one of his wings rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You seem pretty sure that they’re not, but you’re the one that keeps bringing them up. They’re just rumors. The more you talk about them the worse they get. And seriously, you talk about them way too much.” Rapid Thunder ends his response with an exasperated sigh. “But you’ve seen them together, right?” Star Lily continues, ignoring her partners clear annoyance. “There’s something going on. Everypony has seen it. All of the guards, all of the maids and the other castle staff. Everypony.” She stamps her hoof to punctuate the last word. One more sigh from the pegasus, this one a bit more forceful, is let out into the room. “So what? They’re from Canterlot. All that high society stuff, who knows what they get up to. Maybe its just how they act there. Either way its none of our business. They’re royals, they can do whatever they want. Besides have you personally seen any of this? Or are you just regurgitating what you’ve heard from around the castle? Just drop it, please.” “Why would anypony make this up? If that sort of thing reached any of those three don’t you think that that somepony would be in a lot of trouble for lying like that? And really? You think that’s what happens in Canterlot? Siblings sharing kisses, late night rendezvous in each other’s rooms? Not to mention the Captain is married. What do you think the Princess thinks about all of this? Ohh poor Cadance.” A dejected look on Star Lily’s face is replaced with a surprised one as she hears her partner laugh. “Cadance. The Princess of Love?” He says, in between laughs, “Look, if the rumors are true, and that’s a huge if, the Princess one hundred percent knows. And you know what? I bet she let it happen.” Rapid Thunder pauses seemingly surprised of what he said himself. “Love comes in a lot of forms and the Princess accepts all of them. I’m don’t know how you could not see that if you’ve been working for the Captain and the Princess for this long.” Star Lily ponders her partners words for a moment. “Of course I see that. The Princess is amazing and accepting, but this is on a whole different level… right?” She stops, pondering to herself once again. “They do seem really happy together. All three of them. Hmmm.” With Star Lily finally in her own head, Rapid Thunder smiles as the empty room finally goes quiet again. With a sudden burst of energy after a few minutes of silence Star Lily scoffs. “Ok but hold on. Haven’t you heard the latest rumors?” She pauses, waiting for the pegasus to respond. He responds with another loud sigh. “Ohh sweet Celestia I thought we were done with this.” “This is the craziest one of all, how could you not have heard it? All of the Princess’ maids are talking about it. They say that Twilight is pre—” Star Lily is interrupted by a door opening at the other end of the throne room followed by a familiar voice. Shining Armor emerges from the open door followed by his sister Twilight Sparkle. “These rumors are getting out of hoof Shining Armor and you aren’t doing anything about them!” She shouts, before noticing the guards at the front of the throne room. The fur around her eyes is dark with tears. Twilight quickly turns around and in hushed tones continues her excited conversation with Shining armor. The guards quickly look away from the two. “Please just drop it. The Captain and the Princesses know what they’re doing. Just do your job and let them live their lives.” The pegasus guard speaks quietly, hoping that his partner will follow along. “We can’t let them know that we’re part of perpetuating these rumors. What do you think he’d do to us if he knew we were saying these things about him and his sister?” “But it’s all crazy and you just heard Twilight, didn’t you? If the Captain knows about them why isn’t he doing anything about it? If they’re not true than why not just squash them?” “For the love of Celestia, be quiet Star! We’re supposed to be guarding this room, not gossiping like schoolpo—" He pauses mid-sentence, mouth agape. Star Lily follows his gaze to the throne and sees what stopped him so suddenly. A sight that confirms the rumors with little room for doubt. Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle in a passionate embrace, lips locked, both ponies oblivious to the world around them. That is until Shining Armor pulls away with a smile on his face and Twilight remembers where she is. She sees the guards, slack jawed, unable to look away. Twilight’s horn glows for just a second followed by a bright flash of light and a short concussive blast. Blinded and confused they guards are left to wonder, “did that really just happen?” Chapter 1Earlier That Morning Celestia’s sun shone through the window, casting its light throughout the room. Two ponies stirred under the covers of a multiple pony sized bed. Shining Armor rose slowly, stretched and used his magic to open the curtain. He looked to each side of the bed. Noticing the side of the bed to the right was empty he went to the left and cuddled close with the mare still laying there. He heard a soft purr as he put his hooves around her. “Good morning Shiny.” Twilight pushed herself closer to her brother, pulling his hooves close to her chest. “Good morning to you too, Twily.” He gave her a tight squeeze and tried to pull away to no avail, so he settled in, resting his head just above hers. If Twilight didn’t want to let him go just yet who was he to say no? “How are you feeling?” “I’m feeling ok.” She yawns, “Still sleepy though. Let’s go back to sleep.” She uses her magic to close the curtain. Shining Armor laughs and starts to rub Twilight’s shoulders. “Cadance is already up Twilight and you know we have court soon. We have to get ready.” “Cadance can take care of court today can’t she? I just want to stay here in bed with you.” “I’ve never known you to shirk on any responsibilities. Did you really have that much fun last night?” Shining Armor continues rubbing her shoulders and continues down her flank. A blush comes to Twilight’s face and her wings stiffen, pushing up against Shining’s barrel. He laughs again, “I’ll take that as a yes. Well, I’m going to get up and take a shower. You’re more than welcome to join me.” With that he uses his magic to raise the covers over him and climbs out of the bed. “I uhh… It’s ok I’ll take one after you.” Twilight pulls the covers up over her, still embarrassed from her brother’s teasing. Shining Armor shrugs as he makes his way to the bathroom. “Suit yourself, Twily. Still, you should get up. Maybe see where Cadance went?” “Yeah ok,” She called out to Shining. She waited until she heard the shower start. With a groan she pulled the covers off her and got out of bed. She made her way to the bedroom door but stopped short when she heard voices. They were muffled, but she didn’t quite recognize them. “The maids? I thought Cadance told them not to clean these quarters in the morning. Well I guess I can’t leave the room now.” She sat down and rested her head on the door unsure of what to do. Her ears perked up when she heard what they were talking about. “Her room is always immaculate.” “Well of course it is. What about Princess Twilight makes you think she’d have a messy room?” “Its not that, the room is just the way it was before she started living here.” “What, so you actually believe the rumors?” “If she’s not sleeping in her room then where is she sleeping? And those symptoms Princess Twilight has been suffering lately? Same symptoms I had when I was pregnant with my little one.” Twilight knew there were rumors out about her relationship with Shining, but she hadn’t heard anypony talking about them personally. She also had thought that she was hiding her pregnancy well enough, but apparently not. Her heart was beating fast as she listened to the maids gossip, still unsure of what to do. “Maybe she just has another room somewhere that we don’t know about. And she might be pregnant that doesn’t mean that Shining Ar—” “Shush!” “Ohh, we can talk about the rumors, but we can’t say who they’re about?” “Not when they could be in the next room!” “You brought it up! The Princess is already out and the Prince is in the shower, no pony is going to hear us.” “What about the other Princess then?” “I… I already told you she’s not here.” “Ohh you sound so confident. Are you willing to risk it? I’m leaving, we could already be in huge trouble, I’d rather not risk anymore.” “Ugh fine. But you have to explain to the Princess why we didn’t finish cleaning her room.” Without another word the maids were gone, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts. “We were being so careful. How did this happen?” With tears in her eyes she teleported to her room to use her own shower, hoping it would help clear and settle her mind. After her shower she made her way to their personal dining room. Shining Armor was already seated, helping himself to the many selections provided by the kitchen staff. The few workers and Shining looked up as Twilight entered the room. Twilight smiled when she saw her brother, but the smile faltered when she noticed everypony else looking at her. Did they know? Did they hate her now? Shining Armor pulled the chair next to him back waiting for Twilight to sit down, but she sat as far as she could away from him. Confused, he pushed the chair back in. “Did you find Cadance?” He asked, chalking it up to absent-mindedness. “Ohh no I didn’t. I’m not sure what she’s up to,” Twilight was slow to answer. She grabbed an oat waffle and a few pieces of fruit. “She didn’t say anything about what she was doing this morning last night, right? I guess we’ll have to find her before court starts,” He continued with his breakfast shooting glances at Twilight and the others in the room. He watched Twilight move the food around in her plate for a few minutes but not eat any of it before he spoke up. “Are you sure you’re ok, Twilight? You’ve barely said anything since you walked in here and you’re not eating.” “I... I’m fine. I’m sorry Shining. I guess I’m just not hungry right now,” She flashed a smile, but it wasn’t convincing enough for her brother. Shining looked up from Twilight and addressed the kitchen staff. “Could we have the room please?” The kitchen ponies bowed and made their way out of the room. He got up from his seat and walked over to Twilight. “Come on, Twily. What’s wrong?” Twilight looks away as her eyes start to water, but she turns back and rests her head on Shining Armors shoulder when she starts to cry. “They know Shining. Everypony knows!” Shining Armor raises a hoof around Twilight and holds her as she cries into his shoulder. “We were being so careful, but they know.” “Ohh Twilight. It’s just rumors. It happens with everything. Nopony actually believes them.” “I heard the maids talking about them! They even know I’m pregnant. Nopony but us knows that!” “Twily, you’ve had the symptoms of it, the maids were the first to figure it out when Cadance was pregnant with Flurry Heart,” He hugged Twilight and ruffled her mane with one of his hooves. “It’s really not that big of a deal.” She pulled back. “Not a big deal? Shining what if your ponies found out? What if Celestia found out? You would be outcast, and it would be my fault! This is a big deal!” Her voice got louder as she was talking and Shining looked to the door that the kitchen staff had left from. “Ok sis, look if you don’t quiet down then everypony will know. Why don’t you head back up to the room? Me and Cadance will take care of court today and then we can talk about this after. Does that sound good?” Shining smiled at his sister but she was still upset. “We have to figure this out now, Shining! I can’t lose you. Not now.” “Twilight, nothing is going to happen. I’m not going anywhere,” He looked up again to the door to the dining room. “Well, I do have to go, but just to the throne room. I can’t just skip it, it’s important. And no offence, but you’re not exactly presentable right now. If you showed up like you are right now, the press would have a field day.” He started to walk away after giving Twilight another hug. “Please Twily, go back to the room and relax, I’ll come up when I can, and we can talk about this.” Shining made his way to the door and when he opened it the ponies on the other side suddenly stopped talking and looked between Shining Armor and Twilight. He sighed and started walking down the hallway to the throne room. Twilight quickly followed, avoiding the gaze of the other ponies. “Shining you saw them just now; what do you think they were talking about? Why did they stop when they saw you?” She caught up to Shining as they neared the door to the throne room. “The weather? I don’t know Twilight, but it wasn’t us. Why don’t you just trust me on this?” “Trust you? You’re not taking this seriously, Shining!” He opens the door and continues to the throne room. “These rumors are getting out of hoof Shining Armor and you aren’t doing anything about them!” Once she enters the room herself, she notices that they’re not alone. She turns her back to the guards at the other end of the room and lowers her voice. “See! They stopped talking as soon as we walked in here! They’re talking about us, Shining.” “Twilight, my guards are above gossiping. Besides, they probably just don’t want to get in trouble. They’re not supposed to be talking at all when they’re working,” He paused for a moment, looking at the guards. He recognized them as being his personal guards since his days in Canterlot. “Come on Twily, what can I do to help you relax?” “Relax? How can I relax when my whole world is coming crashing down on—” Shining steps towards her and locks his lips to hers. She melts into the kiss, the world disappearing around her. Her wings stiffen again as she revels in the kiss. He pulls back after a few moments, “How’s that for relaxing?” He laughs and smiles at Twilight. She giggles to herself before she remembers where she is. Her head twists quickly to the guards. Her horn starts to glow and Shining starts his too, cursing his impulsiveness. He blocks the flash and blast from himself but can’t protect the guards in time. He watches Twilight turn and run back through the hallway they had just came through. “Buck me.” Shining lowers his shield and walks over to the guards, trying to figure out what to do next. Chapter 2Twilight wandered down the hallway. She didn’t know where she was going, she just knew she couldn’t be around other ponies right now. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” She looked up. Well maybe there was one pony that she could be around. Cadance swept Twilight against her, hugging her with her wings. “I heard that explosion, is everything all right?” “Ohh… That was me actually,” She gives an empty-hearted giggle and buries her face against Cadance’s chest. “It was an accident. Shining is taking care of it.” “I see. What happened? Are you sure you’re ok? You’ve been crying, Twilight.” She uses her magic to wipe away some tears from Twilight’s face. Twilight looks up at Cadance. “Your husband is going crazy,” She says between sniffles. Cadance laughs. “Ohh I know, haven’t you heard? They say he got his mistress pregnant!” She laughs again. “Poor little Princess Cadance, right?” She looks down when Twilight doesn’t respond and sees her with a look of disgust on her face. “Are we not laughing about this yet? Twilight I’m sor—” before she can finish apologizing Twilight screams and teleports away. “Buck me.” A Few Minutes Earlier Shining Armor quickly trotted to the stunned guards. He cast a spell that would help them wake up and shake off the aftereffects of the blast. The unicorn guard was the first to regain consciousness. “Ughh what happened?” She stood up with the help of Shining Armor. She raised a hoof to her head. “Are you all right?” Shining Armor asked while he was working on getting the pegasus guard on his own feet. “Star Lily, right? And that makes you Rapid Thunder,” As the pegasus stood up Shining Armor backed up and addressed the guards. “I tried to put a shield up around you two, but Twilight is really quick with her magic. I didn’t see it coming until it was too late. Are you two alright?” “My head feels like is splitting in half. I can’t believe that just—” She realized who she was talking to and what she had just witnessed. “Ohh buck, Captain I’m sorry we shouldn’t have seen that! I…” She falters not knowing how to react to the situation. “Forget about us, Captain, is the Princess ok?” Rapid Thunder steps in as his partner is left speechless. “Always the professional aren’t you Rapid?” Shining laughs, sounding tired. “I can always respect that. And its something I need right now. You guys have been with me for a while now, right?” “Yes, sir!” the two guards answer in unison. “So, I can trust you to keep this quiet? At least for the time being?” “Of course, sir. Whatever you say.” Rapid Thunder reports. “We’ve got your back, sir. Whatever is happening, we’re here to support you, one hundred percent.” Star Lily quickly follows up her partner, emphasizing that with a big smile and a salute. “I’m glad to hear that. I think we’re going to need everything we can get. Does all of that go for you too, Rapid?” Shining Armor turns to the pegasus. He looks at Shining, to his partner and then back to Shining Armor. “Yes, sir!” He gives his own salute. “Captain, we’ll take care of things here. I think you have more important things to attend to right now.” “I think you’re definitely right about that. Thank you.” And with that Shining Armor turned around and trotted quickly down the hallway that Twilight had run down. He hurried down the hallway, wondering if it was even worth it to try to catch up with her. She could be any where in the castle if she decided to teleport. When he heard a scream just around the corner he started running. He turned the corner to see his wife standing there alone. “Buck me.” He heard her say. “You too, huh? Is Twilight ok?” Cadance looked up when she heard her husband. “Shining! What is happening? I ran into Twilight here; she was crying and then she just teleported away.” “The rumors are getting to her, Cadance. We had an argument in the throne room. And I uhh… might have pushed her too far.” “Shining, what did you do?” Cadance didn’t ask so much as demanded the answer. “Well she was freaking out, so I started kissing her.” “And you thought that would work?” “It did! Well it did until she saw the guards that happened to be watching.” “What! No wonder she exploded. Shining Armor, how dare you!” Cadance stomped her hoof, her horn lit up, trying to find a trace of where Twilight had gone to. “This was the plan! I think its working, we just have to keep going. And what happened here, why did Twilight scream before she teleported away?” Shining’s voice rose. A blush came to Cadance’s face. “Well I mentioned the rumors. I wouldn’t have done it had I known that Twilight was worried about them.” She sighed and lowered her head. She stopped her magic; tracing Twilight was no use. She walked over to her husband and sat next to him. He sat down with her; the hallway was silent except for the hum of what was left of Twilight’s magic. “We really screwed this up, didn’t we?” “We should have told Twilight the plan when we thought of it. It might have taken some convincing, but we wouldn’t have had to go through this.” She put one of her wings around Shining Armor and pulled him close. “Yeah, well its easy to see that now.” He says and follows it with an angry snort. “This is exactly why I didn’t want her to be worried about it. She thinks that everypony is going to hate her now.” “I know you’re worried about her, Shining. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself though. What’s done is done. All we can do now is make things right.” She uses her wing to pull Shining’s face up to hers and gives him a quick kiss. “Go find her, Shiny. Make sure she knows how much you love her. We’re going to be a family now and nothing is going to change that.” She smiles and that smile warms up Shining Armor. The anger and worry from his face disappear and are replaced with determination. “I’ll find her. She probably went back to her room or ours,” Shining Armor stood up and started making his way down the hallway. He paused and turned around, “Wait, what are you going to do?” “Well I don’t know about Twilight, but the one thing guaranteed to calm me down when I was pregnant was whatever I was craving to eat. She’s been bugging us to go to that new hayburger place in town for a while now. It’s easy.” She smiled again and Shining Armor knew that everything was going to be ok. Chapter 3Twilight laid in their bed, its size dwarfing the one pony. The curtains were closed, letting next to no sunlight in. She couldn’t think of dealing with anypony, let alone her mentor. Even seeing Celestia’s sunlight was too much for her. The covers were pulled up around her, her pillow was wet with tears. She had gotten over the sobbing, but she had no more energy to cry. A short rap at the door pulled her from her daze. “Twi? Can I come in?” She heard her brother at the door. She wasn’t sure if she could take anymore, but she opened the door with her magic. He stayed under the frame of the door for a moment, steeled himself and walked into the room. “Twi, I’m really sorry about all of that. And I’m sorry that Cadance didn’t really help things. She’s sorry, too. She wants you to know she wouldn’t have piled on if she knew what you were so upset about. And you have every right to be upset about all of that. And to be upset at me and Cadance, too.” Twilight had stayed silent and unmoving while Shining Armor was apologizing. “I’m not mad at you Shiny. I could never really be mad at you. I’m just…” She paused, breathless. “Overwhelmed.” Shining laughs as he climbed into the bed, laying down and putting his hoof around her. “I’m going to have to hold you to that Twily.” They laid there together for a few minutes, enjoying the closeness and quiet. It was a serenity that seemed so foreign given the events of the day. “Hey, Twily?” She turned around so that she was facing him. “Twilight. I love you. You, Cadance, Flurry Heart and the little one growing in here right now. You girls are the most important thing in the world to me and nothing is going to change that. We are going to be a family no matter what. I promise.” Tears started welling up in his eyes as he professed his love. “Pinkie Promise?” Twilight asked, tears had started streaming down her face, but this time a wide smile was on her face. “Cross my heart, hope to uhh… something about a cupcake?” Shining Armor tried to remember the Ponyville tradition but couldn’t. Nothing really made sense about Pinkie Pie to him. Thankfully, Twilight laughed at his attempt. “Close enough,” She laughed again for what seemed like the first time in years. “I love you, too Shining,” They pulled each other close as they both silently cried. They shared another kiss, this time truly lost to the world the only thing to them was each other. “Awww!” “Cadance!?” Shining Armor screams at the sudden appearance of his wife. A screech comes out of Twilight at the same time, her horn lighting up once again. Shining was ready for it this time, putting a shield around Twilight’s horn and suppressing the flash. “Celestia’s Light! Twilight why do you even know a flashbang spell? “I don’t know! It just seems like smart thing to know!” Twilight’s breathing was fast, but she was calming down. She wasn’t sure if she could take anymore surprises in this day. “Cadance we were kinda in the middle of something.” “Ohh relax Twilight, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” She laughs and looks at Shining Armor. “I’m glad you two made up. What do you think of the plan, Twilight? “We uhh… actually haven’t got that far, Cadance.” “Plan, what plan are we talking about? Did you guys— Wait, what is that?” Twilight finally noticed what Cadance was holding in her magic and the smell of grease in the air. Cadance held up the bag, welcoming the distraction. “Farmer Pony’s! You said you’ve been craving a good hayburger for a while. I figured now was a good a time as any to have one.” She smiled, hoping it would work. Twilight paused, looking between Cadance and Shining Armor before leaping out of the bed and grabbing the bag in one quick swoop. “Good! Ok, now you eat that while we tell you about the plan we set in motion.” Chapter 4Twilight Sparkle laid motionless on the edge of the bed. Her brother and sister-in-law had told her what they had been doing since they all had found out Twilight was pregnant. She had just finished the hayburger and fries and now she was fighting off fatigue that comes after a big meal and the fatigue that the long day had had on her. Cadance had joined her husband on the bed. The married couple was pensive. They were looking at Twilight, who had been silent while she was eating. They weren’t sure how she was going to react to their plan and her silence was worrying. “You let it out?” After a few minutes of quiet, she finally spoke. She didn’t sound upset, just confused. “You started the rumors to… trick everypony into being ok with it?” “It was Cadance’s idea!” Shining Armor blurted out, before covering his mouth with his hooves. Both mares glared at the stallion. “Ohh thanks for that my loving husband. Ahem. Yes, it was my idea, and Shining Armor went along with it. In fact, it was his idea not to tell you. He thought that it might have been too much for you to handle. Not that that matters now,” She sent one more glare at Shining Armor. “We were planning on telling you when we knew for sure it was working.” “And it is working! None of the rumors are in bad faith, no pony has been giving us dirty looks or treating any of us with disrespect. The two guards I spoke with today said that they’ll support us, no matter what. I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I believe it’s going to work out for us, Twily. I really do.” “This is…” She pauses shaking her head. “It’s just a lot to take in right now,” She picked up her head, looking at Cadance. “This spell you’re using—” “It’s not even really a spell, Twilight. I can’t force anypony into love with any other pony or thing. What I can do is help them see the love that’s already inside them. Or the love that’s inside another pony. It’s so obvious to me that you and Shining are madly in love, Twilight. My goal is to help every other pony see that as well. I agree with Shining, this is going to work out, Twilight. We deserve to be a family. We’ll do everything we can to make sure we can be,” She turned to her husband a big smile on her face. “Right Shining?” “There’s no doubt in my mind. We’ll be together no matter what, I promise.” Shining Armor smiled at his wife and then at his sister. Twilight got up and rushed to hug the two. She pulled them in tight with her wings and hooves. “I love you guys so much!” “We love you too, Twily.” “We love you too, Twilight.” They answered at the same time, hugging Twilight back. Twilight pulled away from the hug suddenly, a serious look on her face. “Ok, I’m not sure if I would have agreed with this plan from the beginning, but now that its already in motion I think I can make it work,” Twilight jumped off the bed and started pacing around the room, the whole time thinking out loud new ideas for the plan. Shining Armor and Cadance’s eyes followed Twilight around the room. “I think Twilight’s going to be ok, Shining.” Cadance giggled as Twilight started rummaging through Shining Armors desk looking for paper and pen. “We should have let her make the plan from the beginning.” Shining watched as Twilight continued talking to herself a thousand words a minute. “Yes, I think that would have worked out much better. At least she’s a part of it now. This day is going to be a distant memory soon.” Twilight stopped her pacing and faced the couple. “You guys stay right here; I’m going to go get the chalkboard from my room.” She disappeared in a blast of magic. “She’s going to have this whole thing planned out. We worked for months on this and she’s going to figure it all out down to the day she gives birth in an hour!” Shining was stunned. “I told you she can take care of herself, didn’t I?” Cadence looked at her husband and they shared a smile.
Prologue“They can’t be true… right? I mean that would be wrong, right? There’s no way, the Captain would never do that.” Two guards stood in the otherwise empty throne room. Court for the day was to start in an hours’ time, the guards were clearing and preparing the room for the arrival of Prince Consort of the Crystal Empire and Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard Shining Armor. “You don’t think they’re true, right?” Star Lily, a white-coated unicorn guard says, speaking more to the empty room than her pegasus partner. The dark yellow pegasus closes his eyes as one of his wings rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You seem pretty sure that they’re not, but you’re the one that keeps bringing them up. They’re just rumors. The more you talk about them the worse they get. And seriously, you talk about them way too much.” Rapid Thunder ends his response with an exasperated sigh. “But you’ve seen them together, right?” Star Lily continues, ignoring her partners clear annoyance. “There’s something going on. Everypony has seen it. All of the guards, all of the maids and the other castle staff. Everypony.” She stamps her hoof to punctuate the last word. One more sigh from the pegasus, this one a bit more forceful, is let out into the room. “So what? They’re from Canterlot. All that high society stuff, who knows what they get up to. Maybe its just how they act there. Either way its none of our business. They’re royals, they can do whatever they want. Besides have you personally seen any of this? Or are you just regurgitating what you’ve heard from around the castle? Just drop it, please.” “Why would anypony make this up? If that sort of thing reached any of those three don’t you think that that somepony would be in a lot of trouble for lying like that? And really? You think that’s what happens in Canterlot? Siblings sharing kisses, late night rendezvous in each other’s rooms? Not to mention the Captain is married. What do you think the Princess thinks about all of this? Ohh poor Cadance.” A dejected look on Star Lily’s face is replaced with a surprised one as she hears her partner laugh. “Cadance. The Princess of Love?” He says, in between laughs, “Look, if the rumors are true, and that’s a huge if, the Princess one hundred percent knows. And you know what? I bet she let it happen.” Rapid Thunder pauses seemingly surprised of what he said himself. “Love comes in a lot of forms and the Princess accepts all of them. I’m don’t know how you could not see that if you’ve been working for the Captain and the Princess for this long.” Star Lily ponders her partners words for a moment. “Of course I see that. The Princess is amazing and accepting, but this is on a whole different level… right?” She stops, pondering to herself once again. “They do seem really happy together. All three of them. Hmmm.” With Star Lily finally in her own head, Rapid Thunder smiles as the empty room finally goes quiet again. With a sudden burst of energy after a few minutes of silence Star Lily scoffs. “Ok but hold on. Haven’t you heard the latest rumors?” She pauses, waiting for the pegasus to respond. He responds with another loud sigh. “Ohh sweet Celestia I thought we were done with this.” “This is the craziest one of all, how could you not have heard it? All of the Princess’ maids are talking about it. They say that Twilight is pre—” Star Lily is interrupted by a door opening at the other end of the throne room followed by a familiar voice. Shining Armor emerges from the open door followed by his sister Twilight Sparkle. “These rumors are getting out of hoof Shining Armor and you aren’t doing anything about them!” She shouts, before noticing the guards at the front of the throne room. The fur around her eyes is dark with tears. Twilight quickly turns around and in hushed tones continues her excited conversation with Shining armor. The guards quickly look away from the two. “Please just drop it. The Captain and the Princesses know what they’re doing. Just do your job and let them live their lives.” The pegasus guard speaks quietly, hoping that his partner will follow along. “We can’t let them know that we’re part of perpetuating these rumors. What do you think he’d do to us if he knew we were saying these things about him and his sister?” “But it’s all crazy and you just heard Twilight, didn’t you? If the Captain knows about them why isn’t he doing anything about it? If they’re not true than why not just squash them?” “For the love of Celestia, be quiet Star! We’re supposed to be guarding this room, not gossiping like schoolpo—" He pauses mid-sentence, mouth agape. Star Lily follows his gaze to the throne and sees what stopped him so suddenly. A sight that confirms the rumors with little room for doubt. Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle in a passionate embrace, lips locked, both ponies oblivious to the world around them. That is until Shining Armor pulls away with a smile on his face and Twilight remembers where she is. She sees the guards, slack jawed, unable to look away. Twilight’s horn glows for just a second followed by a bright flash of light and a short concussive blast. Blinded and confused they guards are left to wonder, “did that really just happen?”
Chapter 1Earlier That Morning Celestia’s sun shone through the window, casting its light throughout the room. Two ponies stirred under the covers of a multiple pony sized bed. Shining Armor rose slowly, stretched and used his magic to open the curtain. He looked to each side of the bed. Noticing the side of the bed to the right was empty he went to the left and cuddled close with the mare still laying there. He heard a soft purr as he put his hooves around her. “Good morning Shiny.” Twilight pushed herself closer to her brother, pulling his hooves close to her chest. “Good morning to you too, Twily.” He gave her a tight squeeze and tried to pull away to no avail, so he settled in, resting his head just above hers. If Twilight didn’t want to let him go just yet who was he to say no? “How are you feeling?” “I’m feeling ok.” She yawns, “Still sleepy though. Let’s go back to sleep.” She uses her magic to close the curtain. Shining Armor laughs and starts to rub Twilight’s shoulders. “Cadance is already up Twilight and you know we have court soon. We have to get ready.” “Cadance can take care of court today can’t she? I just want to stay here in bed with you.” “I’ve never known you to shirk on any responsibilities. Did you really have that much fun last night?” Shining Armor continues rubbing her shoulders and continues down her flank. A blush comes to Twilight’s face and her wings stiffen, pushing up against Shining’s barrel. He laughs again, “I’ll take that as a yes. Well, I’m going to get up and take a shower. You’re more than welcome to join me.” With that he uses his magic to raise the covers over him and climbs out of the bed. “I uhh… It’s ok I’ll take one after you.” Twilight pulls the covers up over her, still embarrassed from her brother’s teasing. Shining Armor shrugs as he makes his way to the bathroom. “Suit yourself, Twily. Still, you should get up. Maybe see where Cadance went?” “Yeah ok,” She called out to Shining. She waited until she heard the shower start. With a groan she pulled the covers off her and got out of bed. She made her way to the bedroom door but stopped short when she heard voices. They were muffled, but she didn’t quite recognize them. “The maids? I thought Cadance told them not to clean these quarters in the morning. Well I guess I can’t leave the room now.” She sat down and rested her head on the door unsure of what to do. Her ears perked up when she heard what they were talking about. “Her room is always immaculate.” “Well of course it is. What about Princess Twilight makes you think she’d have a messy room?” “Its not that, the room is just the way it was before she started living here.” “What, so you actually believe the rumors?” “If she’s not sleeping in her room then where is she sleeping? And those symptoms Princess Twilight has been suffering lately? Same symptoms I had when I was pregnant with my little one.” Twilight knew there were rumors out about her relationship with Shining, but she hadn’t heard anypony talking about them personally. She also had thought that she was hiding her pregnancy well enough, but apparently not. Her heart was beating fast as she listened to the maids gossip, still unsure of what to do. “Maybe she just has another room somewhere that we don’t know about. And she might be pregnant that doesn’t mean that Shining Ar—” “Shush!” “Ohh, we can talk about the rumors, but we can’t say who they’re about?” “Not when they could be in the next room!” “You brought it up! The Princess is already out and the Prince is in the shower, no pony is going to hear us.” “What about the other Princess then?” “I… I already told you she’s not here.” “Ohh you sound so confident. Are you willing to risk it? I’m leaving, we could already be in huge trouble, I’d rather not risk anymore.” “Ugh fine. But you have to explain to the Princess why we didn’t finish cleaning her room.” Without another word the maids were gone, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts. “We were being so careful. How did this happen?” With tears in her eyes she teleported to her room to use her own shower, hoping it would help clear and settle her mind. After her shower she made her way to their personal dining room. Shining Armor was already seated, helping himself to the many selections provided by the kitchen staff. The few workers and Shining looked up as Twilight entered the room. Twilight smiled when she saw her brother, but the smile faltered when she noticed everypony else looking at her. Did they know? Did they hate her now? Shining Armor pulled the chair next to him back waiting for Twilight to sit down, but she sat as far as she could away from him. Confused, he pushed the chair back in. “Did you find Cadance?” He asked, chalking it up to absent-mindedness. “Ohh no I didn’t. I’m not sure what she’s up to,” Twilight was slow to answer. She grabbed an oat waffle and a few pieces of fruit. “She didn’t say anything about what she was doing this morning last night, right? I guess we’ll have to find her before court starts,” He continued with his breakfast shooting glances at Twilight and the others in the room. He watched Twilight move the food around in her plate for a few minutes but not eat any of it before he spoke up. “Are you sure you’re ok, Twilight? You’ve barely said anything since you walked in here and you’re not eating.” “I... I’m fine. I’m sorry Shining. I guess I’m just not hungry right now,” She flashed a smile, but it wasn’t convincing enough for her brother. Shining looked up from Twilight and addressed the kitchen staff. “Could we have the room please?” The kitchen ponies bowed and made their way out of the room. He got up from his seat and walked over to Twilight. “Come on, Twily. What’s wrong?” Twilight looks away as her eyes start to water, but she turns back and rests her head on Shining Armors shoulder when she starts to cry. “They know Shining. Everypony knows!” Shining Armor raises a hoof around Twilight and holds her as she cries into his shoulder. “We were being so careful, but they know.” “Ohh Twilight. It’s just rumors. It happens with everything. Nopony actually believes them.” “I heard the maids talking about them! They even know I’m pregnant. Nopony but us knows that!” “Twily, you’ve had the symptoms of it, the maids were the first to figure it out when Cadance was pregnant with Flurry Heart,” He hugged Twilight and ruffled her mane with one of his hooves. “It’s really not that big of a deal.” She pulled back. “Not a big deal? Shining what if your ponies found out? What if Celestia found out? You would be outcast, and it would be my fault! This is a big deal!” Her voice got louder as she was talking and Shining looked to the door that the kitchen staff had left from. “Ok sis, look if you don’t quiet down then everypony will know. Why don’t you head back up to the room? Me and Cadance will take care of court today and then we can talk about this after. Does that sound good?” Shining smiled at his sister but she was still upset. “We have to figure this out now, Shining! I can’t lose you. Not now.” “Twilight, nothing is going to happen. I’m not going anywhere,” He looked up again to the door to the dining room. “Well, I do have to go, but just to the throne room. I can’t just skip it, it’s important. And no offence, but you’re not exactly presentable right now. If you showed up like you are right now, the press would have a field day.” He started to walk away after giving Twilight another hug. “Please Twily, go back to the room and relax, I’ll come up when I can, and we can talk about this.” Shining made his way to the door and when he opened it the ponies on the other side suddenly stopped talking and looked between Shining Armor and Twilight. He sighed and started walking down the hallway to the throne room. Twilight quickly followed, avoiding the gaze of the other ponies. “Shining you saw them just now; what do you think they were talking about? Why did they stop when they saw you?” She caught up to Shining as they neared the door to the throne room. “The weather? I don’t know Twilight, but it wasn’t us. Why don’t you just trust me on this?” “Trust you? You’re not taking this seriously, Shining!” He opens the door and continues to the throne room. “These rumors are getting out of hoof Shining Armor and you aren’t doing anything about them!” Once she enters the room herself, she notices that they’re not alone. She turns her back to the guards at the other end of the room and lowers her voice. “See! They stopped talking as soon as we walked in here! They’re talking about us, Shining.” “Twilight, my guards are above gossiping. Besides, they probably just don’t want to get in trouble. They’re not supposed to be talking at all when they’re working,” He paused for a moment, looking at the guards. He recognized them as being his personal guards since his days in Canterlot. “Come on Twily, what can I do to help you relax?” “Relax? How can I relax when my whole world is coming crashing down on—” Shining steps towards her and locks his lips to hers. She melts into the kiss, the world disappearing around her. Her wings stiffen again as she revels in the kiss. He pulls back after a few moments, “How’s that for relaxing?” He laughs and smiles at Twilight. She giggles to herself before she remembers where she is. Her head twists quickly to the guards. Her horn starts to glow and Shining starts his too, cursing his impulsiveness. He blocks the flash and blast from himself but can’t protect the guards in time. He watches Twilight turn and run back through the hallway they had just came through. “Buck me.” Shining lowers his shield and walks over to the guards, trying to figure out what to do next.
Chapter 2Twilight wandered down the hallway. She didn’t know where she was going, she just knew she couldn’t be around other ponies right now. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” She looked up. Well maybe there was one pony that she could be around. Cadance swept Twilight against her, hugging her with her wings. “I heard that explosion, is everything all right?” “Ohh… That was me actually,” She gives an empty-hearted giggle and buries her face against Cadance’s chest. “It was an accident. Shining is taking care of it.” “I see. What happened? Are you sure you’re ok? You’ve been crying, Twilight.” She uses her magic to wipe away some tears from Twilight’s face. Twilight looks up at Cadance. “Your husband is going crazy,” She says between sniffles. Cadance laughs. “Ohh I know, haven’t you heard? They say he got his mistress pregnant!” She laughs again. “Poor little Princess Cadance, right?” She looks down when Twilight doesn’t respond and sees her with a look of disgust on her face. “Are we not laughing about this yet? Twilight I’m sor—” before she can finish apologizing Twilight screams and teleports away. “Buck me.” A Few Minutes Earlier Shining Armor quickly trotted to the stunned guards. He cast a spell that would help them wake up and shake off the aftereffects of the blast. The unicorn guard was the first to regain consciousness. “Ughh what happened?” She stood up with the help of Shining Armor. She raised a hoof to her head. “Are you all right?” Shining Armor asked while he was working on getting the pegasus guard on his own feet. “Star Lily, right? And that makes you Rapid Thunder,” As the pegasus stood up Shining Armor backed up and addressed the guards. “I tried to put a shield up around you two, but Twilight is really quick with her magic. I didn’t see it coming until it was too late. Are you two alright?” “My head feels like is splitting in half. I can’t believe that just—” She realized who she was talking to and what she had just witnessed. “Ohh buck, Captain I’m sorry we shouldn’t have seen that! I…” She falters not knowing how to react to the situation. “Forget about us, Captain, is the Princess ok?” Rapid Thunder steps in as his partner is left speechless. “Always the professional aren’t you Rapid?” Shining laughs, sounding tired. “I can always respect that. And its something I need right now. You guys have been with me for a while now, right?” “Yes, sir!” the two guards answer in unison. “So, I can trust you to keep this quiet? At least for the time being?” “Of course, sir. Whatever you say.” Rapid Thunder reports. “We’ve got your back, sir. Whatever is happening, we’re here to support you, one hundred percent.” Star Lily quickly follows up her partner, emphasizing that with a big smile and a salute. “I’m glad to hear that. I think we’re going to need everything we can get. Does all of that go for you too, Rapid?” Shining Armor turns to the pegasus. He looks at Shining, to his partner and then back to Shining Armor. “Yes, sir!” He gives his own salute. “Captain, we’ll take care of things here. I think you have more important things to attend to right now.” “I think you’re definitely right about that. Thank you.” And with that Shining Armor turned around and trotted quickly down the hallway that Twilight had run down. He hurried down the hallway, wondering if it was even worth it to try to catch up with her. She could be any where in the castle if she decided to teleport. When he heard a scream just around the corner he started running. He turned the corner to see his wife standing there alone. “Buck me.” He heard her say. “You too, huh? Is Twilight ok?” Cadance looked up when she heard her husband. “Shining! What is happening? I ran into Twilight here; she was crying and then she just teleported away.” “The rumors are getting to her, Cadance. We had an argument in the throne room. And I uhh… might have pushed her too far.” “Shining, what did you do?” Cadance didn’t ask so much as demanded the answer. “Well she was freaking out, so I started kissing her.” “And you thought that would work?” “It did! Well it did until she saw the guards that happened to be watching.” “What! No wonder she exploded. Shining Armor, how dare you!” Cadance stomped her hoof, her horn lit up, trying to find a trace of where Twilight had gone to. “This was the plan! I think its working, we just have to keep going. And what happened here, why did Twilight scream before she teleported away?” Shining’s voice rose. A blush came to Cadance’s face. “Well I mentioned the rumors. I wouldn’t have done it had I known that Twilight was worried about them.” She sighed and lowered her head. She stopped her magic; tracing Twilight was no use. She walked over to her husband and sat next to him. He sat down with her; the hallway was silent except for the hum of what was left of Twilight’s magic. “We really screwed this up, didn’t we?” “We should have told Twilight the plan when we thought of it. It might have taken some convincing, but we wouldn’t have had to go through this.” She put one of her wings around Shining Armor and pulled him close. “Yeah, well its easy to see that now.” He says and follows it with an angry snort. “This is exactly why I didn’t want her to be worried about it. She thinks that everypony is going to hate her now.” “I know you’re worried about her, Shining. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself though. What’s done is done. All we can do now is make things right.” She uses her wing to pull Shining’s face up to hers and gives him a quick kiss. “Go find her, Shiny. Make sure she knows how much you love her. We’re going to be a family now and nothing is going to change that.” She smiles and that smile warms up Shining Armor. The anger and worry from his face disappear and are replaced with determination. “I’ll find her. She probably went back to her room or ours,” Shining Armor stood up and started making his way down the hallway. He paused and turned around, “Wait, what are you going to do?” “Well I don’t know about Twilight, but the one thing guaranteed to calm me down when I was pregnant was whatever I was craving to eat. She’s been bugging us to go to that new hayburger place in town for a while now. It’s easy.” She smiled again and Shining Armor knew that everything was going to be ok.
Chapter 3Twilight laid in their bed, its size dwarfing the one pony. The curtains were closed, letting next to no sunlight in. She couldn’t think of dealing with anypony, let alone her mentor. Even seeing Celestia’s sunlight was too much for her. The covers were pulled up around her, her pillow was wet with tears. She had gotten over the sobbing, but she had no more energy to cry. A short rap at the door pulled her from her daze. “Twi? Can I come in?” She heard her brother at the door. She wasn’t sure if she could take anymore, but she opened the door with her magic. He stayed under the frame of the door for a moment, steeled himself and walked into the room. “Twi, I’m really sorry about all of that. And I’m sorry that Cadance didn’t really help things. She’s sorry, too. She wants you to know she wouldn’t have piled on if she knew what you were so upset about. And you have every right to be upset about all of that. And to be upset at me and Cadance, too.” Twilight had stayed silent and unmoving while Shining Armor was apologizing. “I’m not mad at you Shiny. I could never really be mad at you. I’m just…” She paused, breathless. “Overwhelmed.” Shining laughs as he climbed into the bed, laying down and putting his hoof around her. “I’m going to have to hold you to that Twily.” They laid there together for a few minutes, enjoying the closeness and quiet. It was a serenity that seemed so foreign given the events of the day. “Hey, Twily?” She turned around so that she was facing him. “Twilight. I love you. You, Cadance, Flurry Heart and the little one growing in here right now. You girls are the most important thing in the world to me and nothing is going to change that. We are going to be a family no matter what. I promise.” Tears started welling up in his eyes as he professed his love. “Pinkie Promise?” Twilight asked, tears had started streaming down her face, but this time a wide smile was on her face. “Cross my heart, hope to uhh… something about a cupcake?” Shining Armor tried to remember the Ponyville tradition but couldn’t. Nothing really made sense about Pinkie Pie to him. Thankfully, Twilight laughed at his attempt. “Close enough,” She laughed again for what seemed like the first time in years. “I love you, too Shining,” They pulled each other close as they both silently cried. They shared another kiss, this time truly lost to the world the only thing to them was each other. “Awww!” “Cadance!?” Shining Armor screams at the sudden appearance of his wife. A screech comes out of Twilight at the same time, her horn lighting up once again. Shining was ready for it this time, putting a shield around Twilight’s horn and suppressing the flash. “Celestia’s Light! Twilight why do you even know a flashbang spell? “I don’t know! It just seems like smart thing to know!” Twilight’s breathing was fast, but she was calming down. She wasn’t sure if she could take anymore surprises in this day. “Cadance we were kinda in the middle of something.” “Ohh relax Twilight, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” She laughs and looks at Shining Armor. “I’m glad you two made up. What do you think of the plan, Twilight? “We uhh… actually haven’t got that far, Cadance.” “Plan, what plan are we talking about? Did you guys— Wait, what is that?” Twilight finally noticed what Cadance was holding in her magic and the smell of grease in the air. Cadance held up the bag, welcoming the distraction. “Farmer Pony’s! You said you’ve been craving a good hayburger for a while. I figured now was a good a time as any to have one.” She smiled, hoping it would work. Twilight paused, looking between Cadance and Shining Armor before leaping out of the bed and grabbing the bag in one quick swoop. “Good! Ok, now you eat that while we tell you about the plan we set in motion.”
Chapter 4Twilight Sparkle laid motionless on the edge of the bed. Her brother and sister-in-law had told her what they had been doing since they all had found out Twilight was pregnant. She had just finished the hayburger and fries and now she was fighting off fatigue that comes after a big meal and the fatigue that the long day had had on her. Cadance had joined her husband on the bed. The married couple was pensive. They were looking at Twilight, who had been silent while she was eating. They weren’t sure how she was going to react to their plan and her silence was worrying. “You let it out?” After a few minutes of quiet, she finally spoke. She didn’t sound upset, just confused. “You started the rumors to… trick everypony into being ok with it?” “It was Cadance’s idea!” Shining Armor blurted out, before covering his mouth with his hooves. Both mares glared at the stallion. “Ohh thanks for that my loving husband. Ahem. Yes, it was my idea, and Shining Armor went along with it. In fact, it was his idea not to tell you. He thought that it might have been too much for you to handle. Not that that matters now,” She sent one more glare at Shining Armor. “We were planning on telling you when we knew for sure it was working.” “And it is working! None of the rumors are in bad faith, no pony has been giving us dirty looks or treating any of us with disrespect. The two guards I spoke with today said that they’ll support us, no matter what. I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I believe it’s going to work out for us, Twily. I really do.” “This is…” She pauses shaking her head. “It’s just a lot to take in right now,” She picked up her head, looking at Cadance. “This spell you’re using—” “It’s not even really a spell, Twilight. I can’t force anypony into love with any other pony or thing. What I can do is help them see the love that’s already inside them. Or the love that’s inside another pony. It’s so obvious to me that you and Shining are madly in love, Twilight. My goal is to help every other pony see that as well. I agree with Shining, this is going to work out, Twilight. We deserve to be a family. We’ll do everything we can to make sure we can be,” She turned to her husband a big smile on her face. “Right Shining?” “There’s no doubt in my mind. We’ll be together no matter what, I promise.” Shining Armor smiled at his wife and then at his sister. Twilight got up and rushed to hug the two. She pulled them in tight with her wings and hooves. “I love you guys so much!” “We love you too, Twily.” “We love you too, Twilight.” They answered at the same time, hugging Twilight back. Twilight pulled away from the hug suddenly, a serious look on her face. “Ok, I’m not sure if I would have agreed with this plan from the beginning, but now that its already in motion I think I can make it work,” Twilight jumped off the bed and started pacing around the room, the whole time thinking out loud new ideas for the plan. Shining Armor and Cadance’s eyes followed Twilight around the room. “I think Twilight’s going to be ok, Shining.” Cadance giggled as Twilight started rummaging through Shining Armors desk looking for paper and pen. “We should have let her make the plan from the beginning.” Shining watched as Twilight continued talking to herself a thousand words a minute. “Yes, I think that would have worked out much better. At least she’s a part of it now. This day is going to be a distant memory soon.” Twilight stopped her pacing and faced the couple. “You guys stay right here; I’m going to go get the chalkboard from my room.” She disappeared in a blast of magic. “She’s going to have this whole thing planned out. We worked for months on this and she’s going to figure it all out down to the day she gives birth in an hour!” Shining was stunned. “I told you she can take care of herself, didn’t I?” Cadence looked at her husband and they shared a smile.
