As The Sun Sets

There was a knock on Cadance's door.

She looked up from her mess of paperwork, "If that's not my husband, I'm busy."

Shining peeked his head through the door, "It is your husband."

Cadance groaned and dropped her face into her hooves.

"Cadance?"

"Shining!" She drew out his name into a long whine.

Shining approached her desk, a mix between an amused and concerned expression adorning his face, "What happened?"

Cadance spoke from under her mane, having placed her head on her desk. "I made a big mistake..."

Shining walked around her desk and nosed her ears, "Well I'm here now, tell me all about it."

"You know how I had that meeting with Mirror?"

"Mhm '' Shining had half laid on top of Cadance, in a half standing, half hugging position.

"Well... He already knew what I wanted, and was going to try and weasel me into something, sooo..."

"Soooo?"

"Well I may have created a Noble Embassy in The Spire? And given the reins to The House of Mirrors?"

Shining snorted

"It wasn't a half bad idea, but if I can't..."

Soooooo muuuuuch paper wooooork.

Cadance groaned again.

"It'll be okay honey. Lemme help you."

Cadance peaked an eye through her mane at her desk full of nonsense, "Mmmm... but you just finished your work day..."

"I won't hear it from you." He nipped her ear, "We'll knock this out, send the papers out with Amber, and then we'll have the rest of the night to ourselves."

Cadance giggled softly, "Me likey that idea."

As Shining gave her another light squeeze, the stress from the day slowly filtered out of her muscles as she properly let herself relax.

"I'll go tell Amber to hang around."

Cadance hefted herself up off her desk and banished her childish demeanor, "Remind her to make me give her a raise one of these days."

"Copy that." Shining said as he stepped outside.

Cadance glanced over all of the papers.

Tartarus, what have I gotten myself into with this

The door opened again, heralding Shining walking back in with a bowl floating in his magical aura, "Amber said you skipped lunch." He said seriously.

Oh yeah, food.

Cadance's stomach growled to accentuate the thought, "I may have done that."

"Well here's a room temperature salad Amber got from the hall for you."

"Thanks honey."

Shining pulled up a seat next to Cadance and used his magic to sort through the papers on her desk, having long since gotten used to Cadance's methods of 'organization.' "Now what have we got? Work orders, remodeling, new paychecks... Lots and lots." Shining let out a huff. "We've really got our work cut out for us."

Cadance mumbled around her mouthful of salad in affirmation.

"Alright, where do we start?"

Cadance swallowed, "We're mostly just going to have to wait until I get details back from everypony involved, most of this is just getting a jump on stuff to make it go a bit smoother."

Shining tapped his chin with a hoof "So signing and sending out work orders?"

Cadance nodded, "That and explaining to the staff about this sudden and massive undertaking."

"Gotcha." Shining levitated a quill over, and started marking down some names

Cadance did the same. The next indeterminate length of time was filled with the pair doing pretty much the same thing, over and over; as is the nature of paperwork. Occasionally interrupted by Shining asking questions, or Cadance talking aloud about certain details.

The end result was a stack of letters and slips that would end up in all the little 'in' boxes scattered around the desks of the office spaces around The Spire.

"Amber!" Cadance called out as Shining mimed deflating just after he finished signing the last leaflet.

A couple seconds later, Amber pushed her way into the office and fought off a yawn. "Yes Princess?"

"Sorry about this." Cadance glanced at the stack of paperwork.

Amber looked at it and blinked slowly before walking over the stack, and hefting it onto her back.

"You're the only reason this city is functional, Amber, I swear."

Amber wearily smiled, "All in a day's work Princess."

Shining spoke up from the floor where he had deflated to, "Did Amber just crack a joke? Jeez, is it really that late?"

"It's just hitting around nine Prince Armor" said Amber, her tone and expression switching back to her 'business monotone'

Cadance glanced out to her window and out at the moon and the stars, now hanging in the sky outside the Crystal Heart's shield, silhouetted by the mountain ranges out past the borders of the Old Empire. She turned back just as Amber exited her office.

She silently glanced down at Shining, who was seemingly pretending to have died on the floor.

"Mmmmm."

"Blegh" Contributed Shining

Cadance tried and failed not to 'snrk' at Shining lolling his tongue out "I don't like paperwork either, but it certainly isn't lethal."

Shining looked up at Cadance, "You don't know that for sure" then returned to his 'dead' state.

"Uh-uh." She shoved against the desk, pushing herself and her chair backwards to give herself the space to stand. "Cmon, it's absolutely time for bed."

"Heh, yeah alright." Shining stood as Cadance lifted over a wing to where his back was about to be.

"Expressway?"

"Gotcha covered." Shining said while lighting his horn as Cadance wrapped the wing around him.

*pop*

Cadance glanced around, "I'm going to take out my braid." With that, she wandered over to the bathroom, leaving Shining to do whatever it was he was going to do. She pushed open the door and got to work with a brush and her hooves in tandem undoing the braid around her head and then brushing out the knots her mane had accrued during the day.

About half way through, Shining stuck his face in through the door, "Snacks?"

Cadance nodded, and Shining slipped out of the bathroom again. By the time she was finished, Shining had returned with a bowl of fruit.

Cadance chuckled incredulously as she walked out of the bathroom, "Where'd you get that from?"

Shining finished chewing a grape, then answered, "Palace staff always does rounds about this time to hoof out the leftover fruits from the meeting rooms to all the guards on watch."

"Really?" Cadance levitated an orange over to herself as both she and Shining approached the bed, the peel falling valiantly to her telekinetic aura before being discarded in a trash bin by the door along with all of the fibrous white bits inside. "I've never seen them before."

"You've got to know where to look." Shining rested the bowl on the end of their shared bed as he stepped up onto the mattress with Cadance, "After one of the officers complained, the staff started using the side hallways to not 'interrupt' the standing guards."

Cadance did a full three-hundred and sixty degree roll so she was flush against Shining, wrapping a wing around him as she enjoyed her orange. "Sounds like somepony I should talk to?" She half asked

"Nah, Black Eye means well, he just goes a bit too far with keeping everypony on their hoof tips."

"Black Eye?" Cadance raised an eyebrow

Shining just shook his head, "I know."

Cadance elected to just quickly eat the rest of the orange as she telekinetically grabbed for a grape. "Feels like names get weirder as I get older."

"Think there's a correlation?"

"Probably not."

"You could ask Silver."

"Why's that?"

"Well she'd know right?" Shining bounced a plum in his magic, "Being as old as she is, she'd know if names get weirder over time."

"Ah, about Silver."

Shining closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Oh great, what now?"

"Apparently she's been organizing our castle staff under the guise of 'Slick Quire'"

Cadance rolled her eyes as Shining face hoofed, "That makes a lot of sense."

"Hmm?"

Shining said the name with heavy audible air quotes, "Slick Quire, has been responsible for at least a quarter of my staff being on time and productive for the past week. Where does she even find the time?"

Cadance hummed to herself before saying, "I know she doesn't sleep."

"What? You mean, ever?"

Cadance nodded

Shining smirked, "No wonder she's so crotchety."

Cadance bapped him over the head with her wing, "Shining!"

"What?" He feigned hurt in his voice, "She's a crotchety old mare that doesn't sleep-" Another bap, "I'm just saying! It's not surprising."

Cadance chuckled, "You're incorrigible."

Shining's response was to kiss her on the cheek, "You married me."

"Uh-huh, and ~yooou~ missed." She said as she wrapped her wing around his head and assaulted his mouth with her own until she needed to breathe again. There was a moment of silence after she released him.

"I should miss more often."

She felt a laugh press itself out in her chest, lacking the energy to fully become the joy it was meant to be; instead expressing itself as a quick exhale through her nose. She laid down, shortly after, the fruit bowl long forgotten.

Shining laid next to her, and they stayed like that, enjoying the warmth of each other's company. Cadance immersing herself in her husband's magical emotional presence, until they both fell asleep.