//-------------------------------------------------------//
  The Prince's Predicament 2: The Princess's Predicament   
                       -by Kiernan-                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
//-------------------------------------------------------//
              Chapter the First: The Last Day              
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the First: The Last Day
Cadance stretched her legs and stood up from her bed. This was it. Today was the last day she would spend in prison. Starting tonight, she'd be back on the Crystal Throne, ruling over her little ponies once more.
She excitedly ran the brush through her mane and tail, smoothing everything out to a fine sheen. She had to look her best when she greeted her subjects again after such a long absence. Of course, even if she didn't, there would be countless ponies perfectly willing to help her look even better. It had been almost four years, after all.
Well, three years and eight months, rather. Luna had kept reminding the tribunal that poisoning the royal consort was effectively the same as poisoning royalty, especially as said consort was currently the acting prince until Cadance returned, and that the punishment for such an act was a life sentence. If anypony else had tried to so much as roofie Shining Armor, they would never again see the light of day, nor feel the comforting embrace of the moon. Stone walls and iron bars would be their entire life.
However, what was odd about Luna's push was that she never once voted to extend Cadance's sentence. Instead, she had only tried to keep it as it had been last set. She'd been outvoted at every turn, with both Celestia and Twilight always pushing to reduce the sentence due to extreme circumstances, but she could have pushed it even further and caused Cadance's sentence to be extended. If Luna had pushed back even harder, she could have, with no consequence, caused Cadance to still have ten years remaining. But she hadn't.
Granted, if Luna had done nothing, Cadance would have been set loose long ago. In fact, if Luna had not reported it, the tribunal never would have been formed, and Cadance would have gone completely unpunished.
None of that mattered, now. Cadance had spent too long in this minimum-security cottage full of guards that were more ready to defend her than keep her here. For too long, she'd been restricted to just three servants. Her authority was to be returned today, and nothing could dampen her spirits. Not even the fact that her assigned guard today was Private Information, who had resisted her feminine charms throughout her entire stay.
"Good morning, sexy," she chuckled, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders.
"Good morning, princess," he spoke platitudinously. "Sleep well?"
"I did!" she answered. "How about you?"
His expression did not change from deadpan. "That's classified."
"It always is," she chuckled, kissing his cheek. "It's such a shame that we never did anything. Do you know what today is?"
"I do, ma'am."
"What's today?"
"Today is Thursday, November twenty-eighth, the year o--"
"It's my release day!" she interrupted. "Come noon, your job will be over, and you can stop taking it so seriously! We can stop pretending that you're not interested in all of this."
"Mm-hmm."
In all of this time, Cadance had managed to sleep with most of her guards and servants. There were three that had resisted her; Doctor Heart, who was in charge of her psychiatric recovery, Private Information, who guarded her room most nights and mornings, and Tiny Tot, a literal child that Luna had employed to watch her. Not necessarily to do anything, just watch her. Cadance found herself unable to mount any of the servants when Tiny was watching. Perhaps Tiny was bait, to either catch Cadance doing something worse, or to add indecent exposure to the list of criminal charges to keep Cadance here longer, but it was a cruel and unusual punishment that Luna would need to answer for.
After breakfast, Luna arrived and unlocked Cadance's royal regalia. She'd also brought a manedresser along to tidy up Cadance's hair. At least, to make it better than simple brushing. Once she was made presentable, they all piled into the carriage, and away they went.
"Finally, free of that stuffy cottage," groaned Cadance. "It's a nice enough place, but when you're stuck there for years, it's--"
"A prison," finished Luna. "Yes, it was meant to be. Were you not a princess, you'd have not received such comforts. The bed alone was more than we would normally give to crimes so heinous in nature."
"We give beds to prisoners," scoffed Cadance.
Luna narrowed her eyes. Her sentence had been more than three hundred times the length of Cadance's, and she'd been given no psychiatric aid, no bed, not even so much as a roof over her head. Compared to her banishment to the moon, Cadance had it easy. Then again, Luna had not been a favourite at the time, and nopony had argued for her release. Still, she kept her thoughts to herself.
"I can't wait to see Shining again."
Luna nodded. "Indeed. I told him to expect us this evening, but it seems we may arrive early."
"How is he?"
"He is doing quite well, I should think. Favour from the Crystal Empire is quite strong. He has instituted new guard patrol routes that make the citizens feel safer, he has enhanced their freedoms to give them more opportunities for activities, has reduced crime, unemployment and homelessness, and the citizens could not be happier. Under his rule, they have thrived."
"That's my husband!"
Luna brought a hoof up to her chin. "Indeed, he is. I am quite glad to have had him in charge of things in your absence. He is quite skilled."
"You should see him dance."
"I have. I danced with him when we had the yaks over for the Grand Galloping Gala. I was quite embarrassed, to say the least."
"Really? He was that bad?"
"Not at all. His skill outpaced mine own."
That was a surprise to Cadance. Last she'd known, Shining was a good dancer; better than most stallions. That he could outdo Princess Luna, a pony with such refined grace as to make Celestia jealous, was an astounding feat. He must have improved significantly since last she saw him.
"Is that why you tried to keep me locked up?" snorted Cadance. "So you could dance with him?"
Luna did not look amused. "You insult me, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. To think that my reasons could be so crass as that... No, I argued for your continued imprisonment because your actions would have warranted such. If being banished taught me anything, it is that my actions have consequences. And here I was, hoping you'd have learned the same lesson..."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
          Chapter the Second: The Crystal Ponies           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Second: The Crystal Ponies
The ride back to Canterlot was long, but uneventful. If anything had happened to Cadance's containment, Luna would have plenty of time to set up defenses and warn Shining Armor. Thankfully, it hadn't come to that, and with a brief stop in Canterlot to make Cadance take her royal oath again, they were back on the road to the Crystal Empire.
"What was the point of having me do that?" asked Cadance. "I've already made my vows."
"Yes, but you forgot them," accused Luna. ""I shall do no harm to my subjects." Shining Armor is not true royalty. If a divorce were to happen, the crown would be held by you alone, and as much as he may have the support of the citizens, he would be unable to take the throne. He is, for all intents and purposes, a citizen of the Crystal Empire and, by extension, Equestria. He is one of your subjects, and I need you to remember not to do any harm to him."
"I had no intention of harming him," clarified Cadance. "And you've even mentioned that he's doing a good job of leading the Crystal Empire. Whatever harm has been done, he's clearly recovered."
Luna had to resist the urge to smirk. The damage Cadance had done was not something Shining had recovered from. He had accepted it as part of himself and moved on. Luna had seen into his dreams, and could see his pain laid bare before her. Likewise, she had seen him taking care of the Empire, and she knew a fake smile from a real one. He was always happy to do good for the citizens, but when he spoke of Cadance and her work, he always closed his eyes before speaking and pushed his jaw out. He was ready to keep up the appearance that they were standing united, but in truth, he was hiding his anger and hurt away behind a smile.
When they arrived, several guards joined up alongside them. They'd had four already, but now a dozen marched alongside the carriage. In addition, several crystal ponies joined up, cheering and applauding as Cadance and Luna rolled in. Cadance smiled and waved at each of them, while Luna kept mostly still, nodding and smiling only where fitting.
When they arrived at the palace, Cadance and Luna hopped out. A podium had been set up for them, so that they could address their subjects. No speech had been planned, but this sort of thing happened all the time.
Cadance took to the podium. "My little ponies, it brings me such joy to see all of your smiling faces again. For so long, I'd been away, trying to make things right, but with the crisis now solved, I am proud to take to the throne once again."
There was a loud cheer from the crowd.
"Princess Luna has kept me up-to-date on the big changes that took place here, and I'm so pleased to hear that everything seems to be going well. I look forward to seeing it with my own eyes in the coming weeks. However, there is something else that I need to see, first. Or rather, somepony..."
The crowd all had a good chuckle, encouraged by Cadance's smile.
"If you'll all excuse me, I need to go see my husband."
With a wave, Cadance stepped away from the podium to a loud cheering from the crystal ponies as she and Luna walked into the palace.
"Well, well. It seems your speech skills are still usable," snorted Luna.
"I haven't used them in years," growled Cadance back. "I hadn't prepared anything. It's not bad for a speech I made up on the spot."
"That you didn't anticipate a speech was worrying. Thank goodness Shining Armor will be around to carry you for awhile."
"Oh, come off it!"
"Nevertheless, we must go speak with your husband..."
The two made their way to the throne room to find it empty, aside from a single guard that pointed his spear at them until he saw who it was. "Put that away," commanded Luna.
"Yes, m-ma'am," he stammered. "My apologies."
"We are looking for my husband," informed Cadance. "Where might he be?"
"He opted for his lunch appointment in his bedchambers, highness," he stated. "I'll go let him know that you're here."
"No need," answered Cadance. "I know where my bedchamber is."
"B-but ma'am!"
Cadance paid little heed to the guard's objection as she left the throne room.
"It is possible, nay, probable, that he knew more of the castle's goings-on than you do," suggested Luna. "Have you stopped to consider that Shining Armor might be sleeping in a different room than when you left?"
"I have," assured Cadance. "There were six rooms he slept in, depending on what was going on that night. If he's not in the chamber we shared, I'll just check the next most likely room, until I've exhausted all of the options."
Arriving at the entrance to the royal bedchambers, Luna and Cadance both heard voices behind the door. They were muffled, but somepony was in there. Several someponies, in fact. Either Shining was having a lunch meeting in the room, as the guard had said, or somepony was going to be in a lot of trouble.
Cadance pulled the door open, and could not believe what she was seeing. Six guards were in a big pile on the bed, their uniforms tossed aside. The only indication that Shining was in the room was his leg sticking through a gap between the guards, his thigh covered in hoofmarks.
"You weren't kidding," grunted the guard whose back hooves were on the pillow. "I can't believe I've been missing out!"
"I told you he could take it," snorted another, bucking his hips wildly while smacking Shining's thigh.
Yet another grunted, unable to form words, as if his mouth was full of something.
"Couldn't have said it better, myself," chuckled another.
Luna turned to glance at Cadance, whose jaw had dropped. In front of her was an orgy comprised of seven stallions, rolling around on her bed, at the center of which was her husband. She couldn't see everything, as there were too many bodies in the way, but she knew that Shining Armor was on his back in the middle of it all, and she could hear him moaning through his nose.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
         Chapter the Third: Welcoming Cadance Home         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Third: Welcoming Cadance Home
Cadance could not believe what she was looking at. The whole reason she'd done anything to begin with was that Shining had refused to allow another stallion into his bed. He was always ready for another mare, but he was always ready to refuse a stallion. And now, here he was, presumably taking five cocks at once. It was astounding, to say the very least.
There was only one cut of stallion sausage that she could see that wasn't buried in her husband. Shining was buried in that guard's throat; she could see the shape protruding from his neck. This stallion; this guard was rubbing his own cock while sucking on Shining's.
The reason her attention was on him was because he was personally very close to finishing, and mere seconds after she noticed that, his grip tightened around himself, and he fired a long, white rope across the room that splattered on Luna's shoe.
That was enough spectating for Luna. "Attention!" she bellowed.
As if they were outright trained to do so, which they were, the guards leapt to their hooves and saluted. This was a fair bit of struggle, as they were in a fairly compromised position, and one in particular had a pained look on his face, and was struggling to stand. In the scramble, he'd been kicked in the balls by accident, and was exerting extreme effort to not crumble.
"P-princess Luna," panted Shining Armor. "I take full responsibility for this mess, and for not greeting you when you came in. "I must have misread the time, ma'am. Please, my men are not responsible; do not blame them for my actions, ma'am."
Luna nodded. "At ease, Captain. Your men shall not be punished any further than they already have," she assured him. "I shall also forgive you that your sense of time management is also not to blame. I had informed you that we would not be arriving for the next three hours, and we have arrived early."
Shining's eyes darted to the stallion that had been injured in the rush, and Luna nodded to him. "Fish, Pawn, please escort Rabbit to the infirmary."
With a salute, the two guards that had been sharing Shining's arse grabbed the one that had been kicked in the balls and carried him off. The one that had hit Luna's hoof could not pull his eyes away from his mistake, and was shaking.
"Blast, go prepare a bath for Princess Luna, and a cleaner for her shoes." commanded Shining, prompting him to run out of the room, partially out of terror and partially to do as he was ordered, his only hope being that doing so would lessen Luna's punishment for his actions should she change her mind. "Please accept my sincerest apologies for your shoe, Princess."
Luna grinned. "Certainly, Prince Shining Armor. Your boost to the morale of your guards is quite beautiful, and if I may say so myself, it is wonderful to see that you take such good care of them." She lifted her hoof. "We could do without the mess, though..."
Shining stepped forward and gingerly removed her shoe, using a towel that had specifically been designated for cleanup after the session to wipe away the bulk of the semen. "I personally invite you to have a bath in our most luxurious bathroom, and to avail yourself of our finest soaps. Afterwards, our staff of aestheticians shall have you shining like the Crystal Heart. Not that you would need it of course..."
Luna chuckled. Shining Armor was truly a master of charm. Cadance was proud to be married to him, if he could even make Princess Luna blush.
That evening, a large banquet was held in honour of Cadance's return. After charming Princess Luna out of her bad mood and seeing her to the bathroom, Shining had directed his attention to setting it up. Rather, he'd planned it all out weeks ago, and all he had to do now was put everything in place. Cadance tried to speak with him a few times, but he had almost always dismissed her in favour of setting up. Even as the guests were arriving, he was more preoccupied with greeting them than anything she had to say. He would begin to answer her, of course, but then he'd turn his attention to his subjects, inviting them to the dinner party.
Luna was in attendance, of course, and she noticed the looks on both of their faces. Shining's feelings were well-known to her by this point, and she spent a bit of time directing Cadance to ponies of import throughout the Empire that she should be aware of, taking her attention away from her husband. She couldn't keep Cadance away forever, of course, but that was never her intent. She just wanted to ensure that Shining kept his good mood in dealing with his subjects.
As dinner was served, Shining stood and raised his glass in toast. The crowd settled to relative silence as they turned to face him.
"Fillies and gentlecolts of the Crystal Empire, we gather here today to celebrate the return of Princess Cadance from her time overseas. I hardly need to remind you that her mission was of the utmost secrecy and importance, as you should all be well aware by now. I would like to congratulate her on her success, as well as her safe return to our glorious empire."
There was a fair bit of applause from the crowd as she waved, brought back to silence as Shining motioned for it.
"It is with no small amount of pleasure that I welcome her back onto the throne, that she may partake in the many great pleasures that the Empire has to offer. From the bakeries that have arisen, along with their dough, to the dance clubs that now dot the corners of our streets, to our very own music label, the empire has thrived. We now have three successful haberdasheries, as opposed to just one, we have doubled our tailors, and tourism has increased by such a degree that we are currently expanding our train station to be able to accommodate more guests."
Another cheer rang out.
Shining raised his glass all the way up. "We toast to you all, the great ponies of this fabulous Empire! Without your support, none of this would have been possible, and with your continued efforts, all of Equestria will be the envy of world! In your honour, we feast!"
With another eruption of cheers, the guests all began serving themselves and each other, hungrily devouring the food and excitedly conversing with each other. A more beautiful sight, Shining Armor could not ask for.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
            Chapter the Fourth: Rough Reception            
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Fourth: Rough Reception
The rest of the evening went off without much issue. Shining ate quickly and descended from his table to interact throughout the room, while Cadance was kept at the table by ponies constantly approaching to speak with her. It wasn't that she didn't want to speak with them; she did, but she would prefer to speak with her husband. But Luna kept her seated, repeatedly reminding her that failing her duty to the crown was what sent her away to begin with.
After a long night of watching other ponies have fun with her husband, the nightmare finally came to an end. Half of the guests had left, which meant that the feast was officially over. The guards could ensure the safe expulsion of the remaining guests and the staff could handle the cleanup. It was time for the royal couple to go to bed, and there was nothing standing in the way.
Nothing except Luna, that is... As soon as the party ended, she excused herself from Cadance's presence to go speak with Shining Armor. Whatever she had said to him, He'd made a disgusted face. He didn't like what she'd told him, but with a nod of acceptance from him, she left the great hall.
Once Cadance finished chatting dismissively with the guest that had approached her, she made a beeline for Shining, who was sitting between two stallions. As she approached, she managed to catch some of the conversation.
"--cing in that mesh shirt of yours? They're all very curious as to when you're coming back."
Shining chuckled. "Celestia knows I'm looking forward to it. I certainly could go for a bit of distraction right about now, and boy, do your dancers know how to distract me. However, with my wife returning from her goodwill mission, I have a lot of work to do. I will try to make it in there soon."
"Hey, we'll have a real party when you do," laughed the other stallion. "Drinks'll be on me that night."
"Oh?" smirked Shining. "I might just have to lick you clean, then."
The three of them burst out laughing as Shining wrapped a hoof around their shoulders. Clearly, he'd made close friends with some of the local business owners.
"Excuse me, gentlecolts," smiled Cadance, wrapping her hooves around Shining's shoulders. "It's been a lovely evening, but it's about time I escorted my husband to bed."
"Of course, of course," waved the club owner. "Hey, before you go, his invitation extends to you, as well. We know you've been busy with your mission, so if you need to unwind, you're welcome to visit the Booty Boutique."
"With drinks included!" added the bar owner. "And bring your husband, if you can. He's a big hit in there!"
The two stallions shared a laugh, but Shining could not muster more than a chuckle. "It's been fun, sirs, but the bedroom calls. May the princess of the night provide you with the same protection she offers to me."
"Sweet dreams to you, too."
"Not that you're going to have a problem with that, eh?"
With a vote of confidence from each of them, Shining stood up and escorted Cadance out of the room. "They seemed nice," she smiled as they walked down the hall.
"They are," confirmed Shining.
"How'd you meet them?"
"I helped them put together their establishment."
"That doesn't tell me how you met them."
"I walked in while they were renovating and introduced myself. They introduced themselves, and we talked about what they were planning to do with the place."
"Why did you go in there in the first place?"
"There was a business opening nearby, and since I was responsible for the empire, I thought it best to talk with the new owners."
Cadance furrowed her brow. "Well, that wasn't a long story..."
"I never said it was." Shining stopped outside the door to the royal bedchambers. "I've arranged for the bed to be cleaned up. It should be ready for you by now." He opened the door, and the whole room was clean.
Cadance sauntered in and looked around. It was mostly how she'd left it. There were a few bare spots on the walls where paintings had been hung, but they weren't there anymore.
"Those have been taken to be cleaned," noted Shining. "I'd intended to have them put back up this afternoon, but with you and Luna showing up early, I must have forgotten. Sleep well."
As he went to close the door, Cadance stopped him. "You're not coming in?"
"I need to go speak with the maid about your paintings," he bowed. "I'm going to personally make sure that they're completely free of any and all dust. I wouldn't want to wake you from your slumber with my noisy return."
"Oh, feel free to wake me," smirked Cadance, lying sensually across the bed. "In fact, the maid can wake me, as well..."
Shining nodded. "I shall let her know."
"I'll be waiting..."
As Shining closed the door, Cadance moved to the bathroom and grabbed her supplies. Shining had always been insatiable, and she'd only had guards of lesser skill for the past few years. Now she was not only about to have sex with her husband for the first time in a long time, she was going to have it in the form of a threesome. She hadn't had one of those in weeks.
With lube, body oil, and a little bit of body paint for good measure, she climbed back into bed and started rubbing herself. It had been a stressful day with Shining ignoring her, but with all of his duties now fulfilled, it was time for them to have some fun. She just had to wait for him to return.
Fifteen minutes later, the door opened. She removed her hoof from between her legs. She was ready for him.
The maid came in, first, with a stack of paintings sideways on a rack. "Oh, sorry," she said, lowering her adorable head. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I was waiting for you," Cadance smirked.
"For me, ma'am?" asked the maid shyly. "I'm sorry. I'll have these painting hung for you right away."
"That can wait," assured Cadance. As she waved the maid over to the bed, she looked to the door. It was sitting closed. "Is he coming in?"
"Is who coming?"
"My husband, Prince Shining Armor."
"He said he was going to bed, ma'am. He was exhausted, ma'am."
Cadance took a deep breath, then sighed it all out. He had been working through most of the day. He'd even skipped lunch to set up the banquet, and hadn't eaten much at dinner, in favour of joining the crowd. His only respite through the day seemed to be the orgy, which she'd interrupted. Plus, while she'd been gone, he'd been running the entire Crystal Empire by himself. Maybe he really was too tired.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
           Chapter the Fifth: Breakfast Sausage            
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Fifth: Breakfast Sausage
Cadance yawned and stretched as she picked herself up from the bed. She'd had a good night with the maid, who was still passed out and twitching beside her. She was a real cutie, and Cadance would have loved to spend more time exploring her internal workings, but there were more important things to do right now. She had a husband to track down.
After a quick shower and brushing, Cadance went to Shining's second favourite bedchamber; the one where he would regularly have guests stay. And if those guests should be hot, he'd be more than happy to keep them warm through the night. Another maid was already in the room, dressing the bed. She looked up as Cadance entered. "Morning, ma'am."
"Good morning. Was my husband in here last night?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Where is he?"
"He and his guests went to breakfast, ma'am."
Cadance nodded. "Thank you." As she left, she wondered who Shining had brought as his guests. Whoever it was, Cadance would have gladly invited them into her bed last night. There was no reason for him to keep his guests to himself. Cadance was tired, sure, but she could entertain.
When she arrived in the dining room, Shining was there with four guards, all sitting at one end of the table, laughing amongst each other. Shining's plate was mostly clear, with just a bit of fried potato remaining.
"Oh, we all know who can take the biggest load," chuckled the largest stallion. "Shining was practically carrying us all last night."
"You know, size isn't everything," added one of the smaller ones. "Stamina's important, too. Even if it's a big load, you're not going to put it anywhere if you can't hold onto it."
"Girls, you're both pretty," snarked Shining. "You'll both find dates for your balls."
An uproar erupted from the stallions as they laughed to themselves. Shining had always been able to inspire loyalty among his guards. They loved him dearly and would do anything to keep him safe.
Cadance stepped up behind him, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders. "Good morning, everypony," Cadance smiled, kissing Shining's cheek. "How are we this morning?"
The guards all stood and saluted. "Ma'am."
"At ease," commanded Shining, waving for them to sit back down and finish their eggs. "Sleep well?" he asked.
"I'd have slept better if a certain big, strong stallion had taken me to bed," she flirted. "Why didn't you join me last night?"
"I thought you'd be in such comfort upon returning to your mattress that you'd fall right asleep," he shrugged, "and I didn't want to wake you without cause."
"Well, I thank you for your concern," she cooed, "but I'll not be kicking you out of bed. If the maid you sent weren't still a mess, I'd take you back there right now."
"Have you had breakfast yet?"
"No."
Shining stood up and called over a member of the kitchen staff. "I need a big plate with eggs, hash browns, parsnips, oatmeal, grapefruit, toasted pastries, crystalberry pancakes and a big bowl of strawberries and bananas."
The server ran off, and within less than a minute, came back with Cadance's breakfast.
"Shining, I really don't need all of this food..."
"Nonsense," he insisted. "You've been outside of the hospitality of the Crystal Empire for a few years. Come, avail yourself of our delicious and bountiful food. I'll go inspect the guards, and we can meet up later for the tour."
With a kiss on her forehead, Shining left the room, not quite finishing his potatoes. Sensing the sudden discomfort in the room, the guards continued eating silently.
After about a minute of nothing but forks clinking against plates, Cadance cleared her throat. "Did something happen while I was away?"
The largest guard nodded. "A great many things, ma'am."
"I mean, did something happen to Shining Armor?"
"Well, you were gone for three years," noted another guard. "I mean, if you stopped a war between the dragons and gryphons, it's possible, even probable, that your husband might have changed a bit, too."
"I had a six-year absence from my wife," added another. "I'd been on a campaign for four years, and three weeks before I was supposed to be sent back home, I was captured and held prisoner by the opposing force until my rescue. I thought those dragons were going to eat me for sure, but they didn't. When I came home, my wife barely recognised me. And when she finally figured out who I was, she was scared to touch me, for fear that she'd touch my scars the wrong way and drive me into unending agony. But now we're fine."
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Cadance.
"He's saying he'll come around," explained the big guard. "Prince Shining Armor has been running the Crystal Empire on his own for a long time, so he's probably still running that at full strength. It'll be awhile before he remembers how to relax and take things slow again. Give him some time to settle."
Cadance poked at her parsnips. "He was working that hard without me, huh?"
"The Empire looks great, though," added the small guard. "I don't think it'd be nearly as great as it is now if he hadn't taken the reins. It would have destroyed a lesser stallion, I think. That, or whoever was put in charge would take the opinions of the citizens a bit less seriously. Served his own agenda, you know?"
"So, he helped the citizens first?"
"Yes, ma'am. He's a better stallion than most. You're lucky to have him."
"I think you might have that wrong," corrected the big one. "We're lucky that she picked him as her husband. We're the ones reaping the benefits of having such a benevolent and strong leader."
Cadance nodded. "We're all very lucky to have him. Especially the special guests from last night."
Two of the guards blushed. Cadance took note, quite ready to use their bodies to reward her husband for his good work. If they were stallions he was interested in, she'd do her best to make sure he had what he wanted. If Shining was trying to make everypony else in the empire happy, somepony had to make sure he was made happy. But first...
"I have a task for you boys," she pointed to the four of them. "After breakfast, I want to see you all in my chambers. I'd like to do my own "guard inspection" this morning..."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
            Chapter the Sixth: Shining's Armour            
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Sixth: Shining's Armour
After all guards were "inspected" by the couple, there was a planned event that would see them together again, and would give them time to talk to each other. There was to be something akin to a parade and a tour. Shining already knew the city well, but as Cadance had not been here in a long time, she needed to be shown what all was happening in her Empire. The two would hop into a carriage together and drive around the city, waving to the crystal ponies as they passed.
This would be their first moment of extended privacy to speak. Shining had to be there to show her around. He could not run off and do something else. They were going to stay together this time.
"Those guards we had breakfast with," started Cadance, once they had taken off and could speak in hushed tones. "They're quite good. You made a wonderful selection, dear."
"I try to always make wonderful selections," he whispered back, "but I didn't pick them for their skill. I actually didn't pick them at all. They were the most in need, so they came to me."
"I'm just saying, I can arrange to have them join us in bed, if you're interested."
"I can do the same," agreed Shining. "In fact, I did so last night without incident. It's not hard to convince two lonely guards to plow you from both ends, especially when it was their idea to begin with."
The conversation came to a stop, along with the carriage, as their guide explained the rise of baked goods, including one that Shining had taken a personal liking to. It was a cream cheese-stuffed tube of spice cake with chopped pecans stuck to the outside. As part of the tour, they were each given one before the carriage continued.
"So, is there somepony else you'd rather have in bed?" asked Cadance once they were moving.
"Princess Luna," he answered, without a hint of sarcasm.
"Really? The princess of the night? Why would you want a prude like her?"
"She's not a prude; she's old-fashioned. She's done a lot to protect all of Equestria, and I'd like to repay her for her efforts. I think she deserves it."
"She's the reason I was gone for so long."
"And she's the reason you came back early."
"You weren't at the tribunals. She always voted to keep my stay as it was."
"I am well aware. In fact, I'm almost hurt that Twily opted to cut your stay short. I can't fault her her reasoning, but I would have preferred working alone a bit longer."
The carriage stopped again, and this time, they stepped out. Cadance needed to have her measurements taken at the tailor in order to determine her dress size. If there had been a change in her physique, she would need to have her clothes altered. Shining, meanwhile, stopped in at the haberdashery and was gifted a white faux sheepskin jacket with fringe, as his measurements were well-known by the local craftsponies.
"You actually wanted me to stay gone longer?" asked Cadance once they were moving again.
"As Luna mentioned, what you did was illegal for a reason. As the victim in that case, I have reason to still harbor anger and hurt. While I've done my best to just accept it and move on, I still feel every single ounce of betrayal in my very core. I'll admit, I was afraid to have stallions in our bed, and I'm glad to have moved past that, but surely there was a better way to go about it than dosing me with a potion."
Cadance's jaw dropped. She had no idea Shining still felt this way. As they made their way to the next destination, all was silent save for the rumble of the axles and the crowds cheering at the sight of their favourite couple. Cadance found it hard to keep smiling and waving at them, but Shining kept his demeanor. There was no reason to upset the crowds, after all.
After a quick stop at an ice cream shoppe, at which Shining described the new development in crystal berry ice cream that had deconstructed the flavour profile to make it smoother, they returned to the carriage.
"I suppose I never really did apologise to you," Cadance sighed. "You were just so angry when I told you. I couldn't fit it in."
Shining had to make a concentrated effort not to scowl at his ice cream. "I had very good reason to be angry," he said. "You took my heart and ripped it into a thousand pieces. I thought I'd never recover."
"But you did."
"Not by your hoof. For months, I walked around, constantly wearing a fake smile to cover up my anguish. It's like walking around with an open wound, unable to heal it, just putting a shirt over it to make sure ponies don't see that you're slowly bleeding out in front of them. Do you know what that's like?"
Cadance shook her head. "I don't. I'm sorry for what I did."
Shining took a deep breath. "I want to forgive you. I would love to put this behind us and look towards the future. However, what you did was so egregious that I don't know if I can. I never took the time off to recover, so all of my pain is still fresh. And having you back just opened up a lot of wounds that were finally beginning to close."
Cadance swallowed. "Would you prefer that I was still away?"
Shining sighed. "It is what it is. I've been keeping everything running, so if I had to go it alone, I know I could. Well, not  alone, per se. I had General Exact for the first two years, and then she was transferred. And of course, I've had the crystal ponies, too."
Cadance lowered her head. "Everypony's been telling me about what a great job you did. I thought it was because you wanted the Empire to be at its best for me."
"That's still half true," assured Shining. "I did, and in fact, still do, want the Empire to be the best it can be. If I didn't have the love of the crystal ponies, and didn't give my love back to them, the Crystal Heart would shatter, and the Empire would fall. And I refuse to let that happen while I yet draw breath."
Cadance took a deep breath. "So, what does that mean for us?"
As the carriage came to a stop in front of Booty Boutique, Shining brought a hoof up to his lips. "We stay quiet about what happened. We let the citizens believe that all is well, and we carry on like that. More than anything else, we serve the citizens of the Empire, and we'll be staying together for their benefit."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
          Chapter the Seventh: The Booty Boutique          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Seventh: The Booty Boutique
Shining held the door open for Cadance, then walked in behind her. The interior of the building was a large, open space with a very industrial feel to it. Directed spotlights hung from a gantry on the ceiling, with various filters on them. Several large, powerful-looking speakers surrounded the room from hanging in the corners to a big stack near the stage. Crossing the floor was a large platform made up of several white squares, like huge tiles. At the other end of the room, there were several tall tables and chairs, as well as a very long wooden bar; enough to seat forty ponies. Behind that, several shelves of liquor.
"Excuse me," came a voice from the middle of the floor. A stallion with a pushbroom had just come to a stop. "We're not open."
"That's okay," called Shining back. "We're not customers right now."
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"And I'm going to ask to see the owner."
Cadance looked at him, a panic on her face. "You're going to have him fired?" she whispered accusatively.
"Shining!" called another voice, this time above them. They looked up, and the bartender from last night's banquet was standing among the lights, waving a screwdriver over his head. "Let me finish this light, I'll be right down!"
Cadance pushed shining further back. "You're not going to have that guy fired, are you?"
"Why in Equestria would I do that?" asked Shining. "He's just a janitor, and he's right. They're not open for business, and if I didn't know the owners intimately, I would, and should, be asked to leave."
There was a rattling above them as the bartender moved across the gantry to the one wall Cadance had not looked at, one flush with floor-to-ceiling poles, one of which the stallion slid down to a small stage before moving over to the couple.
"Prince Shining Armor!" he laughed, wrapping his hooves around his shoulders. "When I suggested coming over, I'd meant during business hours!"
Shining chuckled and hugged him back. "Oh, that's still in the plans. Just not immediately."
"And this must be your lovely wife!" The bartender wrapped his hooves around Cadance's shoulders, pulling her into a hug that was a bit too tight for her liking.
"Cadance, this is Top Shelf. Top, This is my wife, Princess Cadance."
"It's an absolute pleasure, ma'am," he smiled, breaking the hug. "What can I do for you two?"
"I was showing my wife all of the improvements to the Empire," explained Shining. "How could I possibly claim to have showed her all of the great improvements without bringing her here?"
"You flatter us, highness," Top blushed.
"Is your husband in?"
"No, he left a few hours ago. He was complaining about a pain in his shoulder after a nasty slip, so I sent him to a doctor to check it out."
Cadance glanced at Shining. "Is his husband important for me to meet?"
"You saw him last night," answered Shining. "He's the other owner. Wild Dance and Top Shelf own the place together."
"After a collective five unsuccessful marriages and just as many successful businesses, we came together to run this place. It started off as just a business venture, but... It quickly turned into more than that..."
Shining directed them all to a table to sit down. Top Shelf even had some ice water brought over for them all.
"So, my second wife was this huge nag," started Top. "I knew that going in. I thought she was looking after my best interests, of course. Everypony wants to believe that their partner wants what's best for them. But it turns out, she just wanted to argue. I couldn't do anything right, and when I did, she treated it as a miracle. I'd go to work, and when I came home, she'd complain about how I didn't do the laundry. How do I go to work and do the laundry at the same time? And she'd just go for a hooficure in the meantime!"
Shining nodded along. He'd heard this story twice before, though never this brief.
"So, anyway, The judge, when we divorced, very nearly awarded her nothing. She nagged him, too, and he was unwilling to put up with it. He had to give her something, though, and what she managed was thirty percent of my company. She managed to convince the board to vote me out, and I just let them buy off my remaining thirty-five percent. It was a pretty hefty sum, and I started looking to buy my way into a new company. I'd worked with Dance, my current husband, in the past, so I knew he would make good on my investment."
"And you decided to marry each other?" asked Cadance.
"Not at first. See, we'd both been through some nasty stuff. Dance was still in his third marriage, and going through the rough patch that would ultimately kill it. That's when we met the prince. Shortly after, there was recorded proof that Dance's wife was sleeping with another stallion. That ended their marriage. Knowing the feeling, I was a comfort to him, and when his highness saw how much we cared about each other, he asked us why we didn't just date each other. The sex wasn't great, and is still kind of lacking, but the love is there. We're supporting each other, and that's more than we've been seeing in other relationships."
Cadance glanced at Shining, then back to Top. "You're still having problems with your relationship?"
"Just superficial ones. Every relationship is going to have its problems. The trick isn't to look for a relationship in which problems don't exist, because you will find that even the best pairings can grow a healthy supply of problems. What we learned from your husband is that, even when you run into a problem, you stand beside each other, you talk it out, and you come up with a solution. It's not about how easy it is or how well you can do it. It's about trying hard, standing together, and moving forward. Marriage is like a company merger, and the contracts look almost identical. If the two are willing to work together on something, then great things will happen. I guarantee it."
Shining stood up and patted Top's shoulder. "That's right. You're absolutely right. Thanks for the water. We'll be back, when you're open this time, but for now, we'll let you finish cleaning up, let you go home to your husband, let you rest a bit."
"Sure thing," nodded Top. "Drop in anytime."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
             Chapter the Eighth: Royal Duties              
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Eighth: Royal Duties
After a few more stops of little importance, during which Cadance kept her thoughts mostly to herself, they returned to the Crystal Palace. More specifically, to the throne room. For the last twenty-four hours, Shining had not been holding court, and there was a bit of a backlog by now.
A rather rough-looking pegasus stallion approached the throne, first. He wasn't scheduled, meaning he'd been bumped to the front of the line for an emergency. "Your highnesses," he bowed.
"You look to be injured," insisted Shining. "Let us dispense with formalities that you may receive treatment."
"Yes, highness," he answered. "The loam sharks are back on my plantation, and they're attacking my employees."
"How many sharks?" asked Shining.
Cadance glanced sideways. There hadn't been a recorded sighting of a loam shark in nearly a thousand years. They had been hunted almost to extinction by King Sombra and his army, and the remaining population had died out.
"The most I've seen personally was two, though my employees say there are at least four. One of them is apparently red, but I've only seen two green ones."
Shining nodded and turned to the guard escorting him. "Send out twenty guards in scale and chain armour with machetes. Tell them to maintain cover as employees."
The guard nodded and escorted the plantation owner away.
"Loam sharks have been extinct for centuries," noted Cadance. "You're not going to order that they be protected? Maybe Fluttershy could help if we called for her?"
Shining shook his head. "These are not actual loam sharks. If they were, I'd have sent fully-armoured guards to protect the area, and yes, called for Twilight's friends. This is a new bandit group that's been harassing the crystal ponies outside of the city. The guards know what to do, and they know that this is top priority."
"Your highnesses." A pair of ponies; a stallion and a mare, approached the throne. "We would have you settle a dispute for us," stated the mare.
"Yes," noted Shining, indicating that this visit was planned and scheduled. "Let me just ask, which one of you suggested bringing this before us today?"
The mare raised her hoof.
"I was against it," volunteered the stallion. "I think this is a waste of the court's time."
"Duly noted," nodded Shining. He pointed to the right sight of the rug from his perspective. "Ma'am, step over there, please." He then indicated the other side of the rug. "Sir, please step over there."
The stallion moved to where he was told, but the mare just looked up at him. "Why? You haven't even heard what the argument's about!"
"I'm going to in a moment," he assured. "Please, step over there."
The mare looked insulted that she was being pushed to one side, rather than being allowed to take center stage in front of the royal couple. She turned to Cadance, the look on her face showing just how bruised her ego was at being asked to take three steps to the left. However, not even Cadance would save her, motioning for her to step aside.
"Now," sighed Shining, once the mare had moved to where she'd been asked to go. "As you're the one bringing this before the court today, we'll start with you. What is your complaint?"
The mare started to step back to the center, but a guard blocked her with his spear.
"You can tell me from where you are," waved Shining. "I can hear you just fine."
"Well, his brother," she said, pointing at the stallion accusatively, "was staying with us last week. Everything was fine until Thursday. We have a rule in our house about washing dishes; if you dirty the dishes, you wash them, and on the last day here, he not only ate my last container of leftover ratatouille, he didn't wash his fork! He just left it in the sink!"
Shining turned to the stallion. "Is all of that true?"
The stallion shrugged. "Most of it, yeah."
"What's untrue about it?"
The stallion scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I wouldn't say it's "untrue," per se. It is true that my brother was in town, and the rule about washing your own dishes is accurate, but I was In Canterlot between Tuesday and Friday. I don't know when she had ratatouille, or if my brother ate it, or what he did with his fork. That's not something I can account for."
"Do you refute any of it?" asked Shining.
"Not at all," he answered. "I can't confirm it without asking him to come back, and if it's true, he needs to wash the fork, and again, I think this is a waste of time."
Cadance agreed. A simple spell to rekindle their love for each other was all they needed to see that washing dishes didn't matter.
"What's your suggestion for moving forward, then?" asked Shining.
"I'll make her more ratatouille and wash the dishes," he shrugged. "It's not a big deal."
"It's the principle of the thing!" shouted the mare. "If he cleans up after his brother, it's going to teach our kids that it's okay to be slobs, because somepony else is just going to clean up your mess for you!"
"Perhaps," nodded Shining. "Have you considered telling your kids that sometimes, things happen outside of your control, and it's the job of every good citizen to help clean up a mess that they didn't necessarily create for the benefit of other ponies?"
The mare dug in her stance. "No, because that sets a precedent. If they start cleaning up after other ponies, other ponies are going to clean up after them, and then they won't clean up after themselves!"
"I'm sure your kids are smart and reasonable enough to tell the difference between right and wrong," assured Shining.
"They're not!"
Cadance gasped. Shining winced. "Do you truly have no faith in your children; at least, so little that you cannot believe that they have a sense of morality?"
The mare was shaking, now. "I didn't mean it like that..."
"Then how did you mean it?"
For a long time, there was silence. Cadance had her spell ready to go, but Shining put his hoof on hers to stop her.
"Morality is something that a parent should instill in their child. While it is true that your children should not have to clean up messes for others, doing so is a nice thing to do. If you are holding your children to the standard of cleaning up after themselves, that is a good thing. However, helping others does not mean they need to stop helping themselves.
"Now, here's what's going to happen. First, you're going to let your husband take care of the dishes. He's going to make you some ratatouille, wash the dishes, and then you're all going to sit down as a family and discuss how you should not only be cleaning up your own messes, but helping each other to clean bigger messes. Dismissed."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
         Chapter the Ninth: Trouble in the Bedroom         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Ninth: Trouble in the Bedroom
Cadance was very impressed. There were several issues brought before them today that she could have, and would have, easily solved with a quick spell from her horn, but at every turn, Shining Armor had stopped her and solved the issue organically. Some of these problems, she wasn't even sure she could solve without a love spell, but he'd fixed the problems at their roots, or at least treated to the roots, allowing the ponies leaving to be capable of solving their own problems.
"I had no idea you were so skilled at fixing problems with ponies' love," she chuckled as they were walking back to their room. "Where'd you pick that up?"
"Somepony had to fill in while you were gone," he noted dryly. "If I wasn't good at it, I'd have found somepony else that was better at it to assist."
"I thought for sure you'd let me fix that one with that mare who couldn't decide on her prom date, but you pulled it off. I can't believe you managed it!"
"The trick is to outline their options and let them take a step back and see themselves from a different perspective. Rather than fixing their problems for them, you give them the tools to fix their own problems. That way, if the problem comes back, they don't always have to ask for help to fix it. These ponies are smart; you just have to give them a prompt to think about, and they can work it out."
They arrived at the royal bedchamber, and Shining opened the door, waving for Cadance to enter. She very nearly did, but stopped short of the door. "How do I know you're not going to just say goodnight, close the door, and then go off to have sex with some guards in another room?" she asked.
"Because I promise it's not true," he answered.
With a nod, Cadance walked into her bedchambers.
"Good night," replied Shining, closing the door behind her. It didn't swing all the way shut, as she blocked it with her hoof.
"I thought you just promised that you wouldn't do that."
"No, I promised that your assertion of tonight's activities wasn't true."
"But it was."
"It was not."
Cadance raised an eyebrow. "How was it not true?"
Shining shook his head. "I was planning on sleeping alone, if the cook changed his mind."
Cadance grabbed his hoof, feeling it jerk away at first, but he stopped pulling after a few seconds. "Shiny, you know I didn't mean for it to go as far as it did. I know what I did was wrong, and I spent a few years paying for it. I've satisfied my debt to the legal system, and now I want to make things right with you."
Shining sighed. For awhile, he said nothing, and then with another, shorter sigh, "I'm still not there yet."
"And you're not going to be if you don't let me help fix it. I love you, Shiny. I want to be with you."
Shining shook his head. "If you loved me then, why would you try to change me by force?"
"That was a mistake."
"Mistakes are accidental. You knew what you were trying to do."
She took a deep breath. "Yes, I know. I regret it. You have to believe that, at least?"
Shining nodded. "I do."
She slid her hoof forward and took his elbow. "Look, just... Come lie down with me for a bit. If you're still mad in ten minutes, you can go sleep with the cook. I won't be mad."
After considering his options, Shining stepped into the room. "I will sit with you for a few minutes."
That was good enough. Cadance closed the doors, locking them behind her. The latch was on their side, so if Shining Armor wanted to leave, he could, but they would not be disturbed. She then sat next to Shining, both of them gazing at their wedding portrait, now hanging on the wall where there had previously just been a faded spot.
The painting was a modification of a photograph that was taken to just include the couple. The photograph was fairly small, and had captured Celestia and Pinkie Pie stuffing their faces with wedding cake in the background; the painting was enlarged and had removed them. It only showed Shining Armor kissing Cadance on the cheek and her blushing in return. As a couple, they had adored the painting, hanging it in the bedroom to remind them of their love for each other. Cadance could see why Shining had taken it down, and why he'd had it dusted and brought back up when she returned.
"I didn't intend for it to go as far as it did," admitted Cadance. "Yes, I'll admit that I did it willfully, but I just meant for it to be a nudge, nothing more."
"But you still did it."
"You have to believe that it wasn't my intent to hurt you."
"But you knew it would."
"But in a way I thought you'd recover from. Like when we used those paddles."
"I did enjoy those," smirked Shining.
"And you thought you wouldn't," assured Cadance. "I thought you might develop less hatred for the idea of letting stallions into our bed. First and foremost, letting them help you, and then slowly working it up so that you would try to be involved with them."
Shining was silent.
"You know now how wonderful it is to be filled," she continued. "I wanted to share that with you. I wanted that to be an open door to bring us closer together. You can believe that, right?"
Shining sighed. "I can believe a lot of things. I can even believe that you had the best of intentions going into this. But even with all of the good things that happened, it still hurt. Can't we have talked about this, first?"
"I tried!" answered Cadance. "You didn't want anything to do with it!"
Shining rubbed the back of his neck. "I was a different pony."
"You were," she agreed. "And now, you're so okay with it, you were going to sleep with another stallion tonight! That's huge progress!"
With a deep breath, Shining stood up and walked to the door. "Are you familiar with the saying that "the ends do not always justify the means?""
"I am."
Shining unlatched the door and opened it. "I need to go into town tomorrow. Try to think about our conversation tonight while you're holding court tomorrow."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
            Chapter the Tenth: Friendly Advice             
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Tenth: Friendly Advice
The bell jingled as Shining walked through the front door.
"I'll be right with you!" shouted a voice from the back. "Just a moment!"
Shining stepped forward and took a seat in one of the chairs, humming along to the recording of the piano tune (https://youtu.be/P_kyCU0gwfA?si=POWXDNvZDLF73aqg). He didn't have to wait long before the curtain opened, and a familiar face stepped out. "Your highness!" smiled Cinnamon Snap. "Good to see you again!"
"And you, as well," smiled Shining. "I need a private session. Can you take me now, or should I schedule an appointment?"
Cinnamon furrowed his brow. "Didn't your wife come back?"
"She did."
"I can schedule a couples' massage, if you like?"
Shining shook his head. "Maybe later, but right now, I need it to be private."
With a nod, Cinnamon grabbed a small sign and hung it from the door, alerting passers-by to the fact that there was a private session in progress, and that the small parlor would be closed until it was finished. He then locked the door and led Shining into the back, where a large massage table was waiting. "You know the drill."
Shining nodded and climbed up onto the table, lying face-down as Cinnamon began applying the oil. "Thanks for squeezing me in," he smiled, though his expression couldn't be seen.
"Not a problem," chuckled Cinnamon as he began to rub Shining's shoulders. "You're very tense. What's troubling you?"
"Well, as you know, Cadance has been away for awhile..."
"Yeah, she poisoned you, right?"
Shining froze for a moment, then let out a breath. "Mustard told you, huh?"
"No, I was hiding in the bathroom when she told you. Well, I was brushing my teeth when she told you, but when you started fighting about it, I was hiding in the shower. I didn't want to walk through the middle of the room. But I haven't told anyone. I didn't even know that Mustard knew."
"I've been in here a dozen times. Why didn't you mention it?"
"I thought you wanted to keep the reason why she was gone a secret. That's why you told everypony else a different story."
"Even in the private sessions?"
"You wanted to talk about something else. Now you want to talk about your wife being back from wherever she was. I don't know where she was."
Shining sighed. "Well, since you know, I guess I can skip disguising my words. You know how my first time with a stallion was with you and your husband?"
"I do."
"Well, I wasn't remotely gay before that. I enjoyed the company of stallions well enough, but never thought kindly about having sex with one. The thought alone turned me off completely."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend."
"No, I mean... I was okay with other stallions doing it, just not with me."
"Oh. I suppose that's fine, then. What changed?"
"Well, that's what the poison was," admitted Shining. "It made me crave it."
"So, all of the times that we..." Cinnamon cleared his throat as his hooves moved further down Shining's back. "That was just the poison talking?"
Shining shook his head. "Just at the beginning. Once I'd grown accustomed to it, Once I'd experienced it a few times, I was less upset about it."
"And now it's wearing off, and you are upset by it?"
"If I was, I'd have stopped you before your hooves moved to my butt."
Cinnamon retracted his hooves. "Sorry."
"Nah, go ahead."
Resuming in a more professional manner, Cinnamon cleared his throat. "So, do you know what was holding you back?"
"Fear," answered Shining without hesitation. "The stallion is supposed to provide for his mare and keep her happy. I thought that, if I couldn't make my wife happy, if I couldn't be what she needed, that I was a failure. If she needed another stallion, then I wasn't enough for her."
"I seem to recall you mentioning that at some point, yeah," nodded Cinnamon.
"I know it's not true," sighed Shining. "I was stupider back then."
"Admitting that," shrugged Cinnamon, "shows how much you've grown over time."
"Maybe... it's just one fact that's changed in my head to be correct. That's not a lot of growth, just noting that it's unrealistic to expect one pony to fulfil all of your needs and desires."
"That's true. Mustard may be lovable and strong, but we went bird-watching with my mom a few weeks back, and he can't tell the difference between a robin and a sparrow. I doubt he's even heard of a shrike. If I want to talk about crows and how amazing they are, I need my mom. Sorry, Mustard, but you're not the only pony I love."
"That's true," chuckled Shining. "It's not quite what I meant, but close enough."
Having reached the bottom of Shining's legs, Cinnamon released him, and Shining rolled over onto his back. "So, how do you plan on proceeding, as far as your wife is concerned?" he asked, spreading some oil over Shining's chest. "Are you going to keep hiding what she did?"
"I don't know," answered Shining. "For now, at least. The public doesn't need to know. They never did. Why destroy their view of the princess?"
"I suppose that's true..."
"I'm going to try to work with her for a bit, I guess... See where things go, you know? I'm hurt, sure, but I don't want to throw it all away like it meant nothing to me. Yesterday, I told two different couples that love can hurt sometimes, but if you love your partner, you push through. How can I say that without pushing through, myself?"
"Sounds like you already know what you want to do."
"Yeah..."
"So, why'd you need to talk to me about it?"
Shining chuckled. "I guess hearing it out loud changes things. I don't know why I thought I was confused..."
Cinnamon's hoof wandered down to Shining's balls, gently fondling them. "That's right. A little bit of stress release, talking things out... That's how problems are solved."
Shining chuckled as his penis began to swell at the stimulation. "Is my captain not filling your needs at home?"
"No, he is," answered Cinnamon. "But rubbing all over a hot body like yours has my blood boiling. Besides, it's my job to relieve you of your stress through aggressive rubbing."
"Touché," chuckled Shining. "Alright, climb on up..."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
         Chapter the Eleventh: A Break from Court          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Eleventh: A Break from Court
Cadance was starting to grow frustrated. Shining had left her with an assistant that was handing her notes on some of the more tumultuous cases, but she'd forgotten how aggravating these litigious groups could be when she couldn't just cast a spell to fix it. Granted, she was probably okay to cast her spell, but the fact that Shining had solved these cases before without being able to cast it himself was kind of insulting. He'd done better than her with less power, somehow. She was supposed to be the best at this, and while she was glad that her husband was the one to usurp her, it was still a blow to her ego.
During the break for lunch, she moved to a small room with her assistant. "What else do we have today?" she sighed, exasperated.
The aide looked over her notes. "Well, after lunch, we're going to have to resume the discussion, but we were supposed to work on a land dispute. That's going to have to be pushed back in order to finish this. Then there's a quick one; a noise complaint from downtown. I could handle that one for you, actually; it's very simple. Then there's four different ponies seeking permits onto royal reserves for various purposes, and then a divorce that's proving to be exceptionally cutthroat."
Cadance didn't like the sound of that last one. "Tell me about that noise complaint."
"Well, the claimant is saying that the club next door is too loud at night. And while it probably is, the citizen making the complaint is also in the wrong. He's been offered multiple opportunities to move to another place. His house sits in a commercial district, but it used to be residential. Shining Armor rezoned the area, going through and offering everypony new homes in different parts of the city, and most of them accepted, but this guy refused."
"That doesn't sound simple..."
"We send a guard to his front door tonight with a sound level meter to measure the decibels, and if it's too loud, it'll be an infraction against the club. If not, the case is just dropped, because the guy isn't supposed to be living there."
"So, we're just supposed to kick him out?"
"No, we're going to check his claim against the evidence, and either fine the club that's being too loud, or ignore the problem because the club is doing what it's supposed to do."
Cadance nodded. "I'll let you go about solving that, then..."
The assistant nodded. "I've dealt with him before. It's usually just him being a troublemaker."
"And what about this divorce?"
"That's been settled by a lower court twice, and they just kept appealing. There are a few companies in the mix, but there's also some children to think of."
Cadance's jaw dropped. "I've never heard of a divorce being appealed."
"It's not common practice, but yeah, it can be. Almost any case can be appealed, if there's reasonable doubt. Prince Shining Armor was quite shocked by the fact that they'd asked for an appeal, too, and when he'd heard they'd asked for a second appeal, he had to step in. Highest authority in the land, his ruling; rather, yours, would be unable to be overturned."
"So, he wanted the final say in the matter?"
"He wanted it to stop. If they just kept going, which they could, it would all just go into appeal again and again and again, dragging in countless judges and ministers until it eventually had no choice but to go here, and by the time it came here, they'd have stopped seeing each other as ponies and started seeing each other as just problems to fight against. This case is threatening to destroy lives, and your husband was refusing to let that happen. Before the kids turned into nothing more than leverage."
Cadance swallowed. "Sounds like he should be here for that."
"He might be, ma'am. He didn't tell me what he planned to do in town, merely that it would take a good part of the afternoon."
Cadance nodded and took another bite of her lunch. She didn't know where Shining was, either, nor what he was doing. For all she knew, he'd left town. Probably not, but she wouldn't really blame him. "Then you said a land dispute?"
"Yes, although, that's actually the first one we'll be tackling. Two farmers are arguing over how far a fence is from the property line. The ruling states that any fence is to be no closer than six inches to the line, situated entirely on the owner's land. The dispute is that it's a shared fence, and both are claiming that they actually own six inches of each others' fields."
This was something that Cadance's spell would be able to solve in seconds. It would be a trifle to convince them to see it from their neighbor's perspective, and just have them keep their side clean. It didn't matter who owned the fence; they should both be taking care of their side.
"Is there anything else?"
The assistant flipped through her notes. "Just some permits, ma'am. I'm pretty sure that's it, unless something comes up."
Cadance took a deep breath. "How has my husband been doing?"
"Ma'am?"
"I've been gone for a long time. How has he been?"
"He's been wonderful, ma'am. Very helpful, very kind, very caring. He's been doing a wonderful job."
"I'm glad to hear that, but that's not what I meant."
"What did you mean, ma'am?"
"Did he ever seem... off? Like something was bothering him?"
"Yes, ma'am. Every time you were brought up, he seemed reluctant to weigh in. I think he was broken up about being away from you for so long, ma'am, and mentioning your name reminded him of how long it had been, and how long it was going to be before your return."
"Did you ever see him taking a mare to his bedchambers?"
The assistant blushed. "He told me that you had an arrangement, ma'am. He said that you took no issue with him bringing anypony back to your bedroom, ma'am. Was that not true?"
"It's true," assured Cadance. "Why, were you thinking of sleeping with him?"
Her face turned the deepest shade of beet red Cadance had seen in a long time. Of course she wanted it. "I th-think that would be... inappropriate, m-ma'am..."
Cadance smirked to herself. Perhaps she couldn't have her husband back, yet. But if he wanted to "help" this young mare, she would gladly provide the option.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
           Chapter the Twelfth: Sharing the Bed            
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Twelfth: Sharing the Bed
Shining came back shortly before dinner, ate early, and started work on hearing the divorce case in a separate room. It wasn't about being apart from Cadance this time, she was just falling behind, and he wanted to take some of the work off of her hooves so that he wouldn't have to reschedule it. She still had some work to do over the land dispute, after all, as well as issuing a few permits.
Once she was done, she and the royal aide sat in on the divorce case and watched. This was truly a litigious case, and the aide's assertion that it could very quickly turn into a problem if not solved now was fairly obvious. They were already going at each other's throats, without a care for the other side at any point.
It was late when Shining finally closed his file, declaring that they would reconvene at another time. How he wasn't exhausted was a huge mystery to Cadance, as she had been on an emotional rollercoaster while just listening.
Or perhaps he was exhausted. Once the subjects had left, he let his façade crumble. Listening to them bicker had taken a lot out of him, and he was glad to be rid of them, for the time being, at least.
Cadance nudged the assistant, urging her to approach him. With a nod, she walked over to the table. "Will there be anything else, your highness?"
Cadance furrowed her brow. With a bit of magic, she grabbed the assistant by her haunches and pushed her forward a bit more, insisting.
"I can b-bring you something?"
Cadance groaned. "She wants to join you in bed, but she's afraid to ask."
Shining looked up from his work. "Is that true?"
The aide nodded shyly, her face turning pink.
Shining took a deep breath. "I have a bit of paperwork to do. Why don't you go wait for me in guest roo--"
"Better idea," interjected Cadance. "She'll come with me, and I'll help her prepare for you in the royal bedchambers."
Shining furrowed his brow. His first thought was that Cadance was pulling a bait-and-switch, using this young mare to put him in the mood, then jumping into their activity. He wasn't ready for that, yet.
"I'll be off to the side," assured Cadance. "I'm fine with just watching."
That was something Shining had said, word for word, when they had first started inviting other ponies to join them. Back then, he'd only had eyes for Cadance, and hadn't yet developed any desire to involve other ponies. While he had been fine with just watching, he did eventually join in, and likewise, Cadance would likely be brought into the mix eventually. Still, she was giving him the option to slowly rebuild part of their relationship, and while he was feeling unsteady about it, he would allow it.
"I'll catch up," he nodded. "Just give me a few minutes, okay?"
Half an hour passed before Shining pushed open the door. Ten minutes of paperwork, and twenty to calm himself. He knew he had to work his way back up to sharing a bed with Cadance if they were going to salvage their relationship, but he was expecting that to take a bit longer. He'd wanted to recover a bit on his own, first.
The aide was lying on the bed, her front hooves bound to the headboard. "I didn't want her to panic and run off," explained Cadance, sitting in a chair in the corner.
Shining placed a hoof on her thigh. "If it's too much for you, just tell me, and we'll let you go," he assured.
The aide just nodded.
With a smile, Shining positioned himself between her legs and lowered his lips to her slit. She was practically gushing already from the anticipation, so he wasn't going to make her wait much longer.
Plunging his tongue deep into her vagina, he began to suck and slurp at her opening, smearing her juices everywhere. She hadn't expected him to just dive right in like that, and was unprepared for that level of treatment. She didn't even last a minute.
"I'm sorry!" she blurted out as Shining came up, licking his lips. "I just... You were... I'm sorry."
"Don't be," he chuckled. "I'm not done yet. We're only just beginning."
Cadance lowered her hoof between her legs and leaned back. She was staying out of the activity for Shining's sake, but she could still enjoy the show. She could also imagine that it were her tied to that bed, although she had far more stamina for this sort of thing.
Shining climbed up on top of the young mare and pressed his body to hers, letting her feel his size before penetration. "Is this your first time?" he whispered into her ear.
She shook her head, but Shining knew that she was lying.
"It's okay if it is," he assured her. "I'll be gentle."
She nodded, this time, and Shining moved into position, lining up the head of his cock with her delicate folds. Had she been a veteran, he'd have just ploughed into her, but she was a novice. With a firm but gentle press, his shaft began to disappear, centimetre by centimetre, into her. He made sure to go slow, so as not to overwhelm her.
He didn't quite make it all the way in. She wasn't exactly the deepest pony, but she was wide enough that any tearing was kept to a minimum. Shining started off slow, but within minutes, he had his balls slapping her arse, and she was screaming out in pleasure, begging for more. Cadance and Shining knew that this would lead to an issue down the line where sex with somepony else would be a disappointment by comparison, but it was her first time, so they were going to make sure it was good for her. Or rather, Shining would.
She came twice more, with Shining unlocking her from the bed and mounting her from behind and mashing the side of her face into the pillow. He didn't know if she was on any kind of birth control, so he pulled out and painted her back white before flopping down beside her in bed. She was now just as exhausted as he was.
Cadance smiled and finished herself off into her hoof before climbing into bed next to the aide. She didn't want to come between them, and she didn't want to force Shining's hoof any more than she already had. Just being near him was enough progress for one day.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
         Chapter the Thirteenth: A Visit from Luna         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Thirteenth: A Visit from Luna
Shortly after Cadance fell asleep, a dark shadow stepped through the fabric of the world, materialising into Princess Luna's shape. "It is unwise to call for the attention of the night's protector while she is watching over her subjects," she warned.
"And yet, you came," answered Cadance. "Either you have nothing better to do, or you have abandoned your royal duties to chat with somepony just because she asked."
Luna sighed. "What do you want?"
"I want my husband back."
"And?" asked Luna. "You have him."
"Yes, but he doesn't want me."
"And you're the princess of love," shot Luna back. "Do you not know how to encourage that love to blossom forth?"
"Not when there's this much damage."
Luna could not help but hide her smirk. "You were quite blase when you were in your cottage. Even as you came back, you were full of swagger, prancing about like you owned the place."
"I kind of do," snorted Cadance.
"And yet, a stallion that has promised to love you until one of you dies does not reciprocate your feelings."
"Are you going to be snarky all night, or are you going to help me?"
"Are you going to ask me to help you in a way that I actually can?"
Cadance sighed. When she'd called for Luna, she had expected that she'd have some idea of how to do that.
"What have you done so far that would make it up to him?"
Cadance shook her head. "I've barely done anything."
"You've tried nothing, and you're all out of ideas?"
"This is a very delicate matter!" snapped Cadance. "If I do the wrong thing, I'll turn him away from me forever!"
"Assuming you haven't already done that..."
Cadance lowered her head. "I did, didn't I?"
As she sat down and started to cry, Luna approached and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I am glad to see this."
"Glad to see me beaten down?"
"Glad to see you remorseful again," corrected Luna. "When you first found out about the detrimental effects you were causing, you felt it. When Shining found out what you were doing, you felt it. When you were first sentenced to solitude, you felt it. I have a personal history with remorse; one in which my regret has almost escaped me and harmed all of Equestria. It all stems from... Well, that's not important right now. What's important is this: Any apology you give to your husband has to start with this."
Cadance said nothing, just breathing.
"Let us say that you go out for ice cream. You grab a cup for yourself, and on your way out, you grab a cone for Shining and give it to him. That's not going to make him forgive you."
"But he loves ice cream."
"Not the point."
"Then what is the point?"
"In that scenario? The point would be to do something nice for your husband for no reason. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, I'm just saying you're not going to earn his forgiveness just by doing nice things."
Cadance wiped her face. "Fine. What do I need to do? You've told me something that doesn't work. A plan that will fail with absolute certainty is useless."
"Not useless," warned Luna.
"I can't use it."
"But you can learn from it."
"Will you just answer the question? If you don't want to help me, you can just go. Go and do whatever it is you were doing when I called."
Luna straightened her neck. "What constitutes an apology?"
Cadance looked up at her. "You can't be serious..."
"It's odd that you would believe that. Most ponies think that I can't be silly."
Cadance groaned. "An apology is when you say you're sorry."
"And what else?"
"That's it."
Luna nodded. Lifting her hoof from Cadance's shoulder, she smacked the pink princess across the back of her head.
"Ouch!" shouted Cadance. "What was that for?"
"I'm sorry," smirked Luna.
"No, you're not."
"Am I not?" she grinned. "How can you tell?"
"You didn't mean it. You just said it."
Luna nodded. "So perhaps an apology; a real apology, that is, needs more than just the words "I'm sorry." Would you like to revise your answer?"
"You have to say it and mean it."
"And what else?"
"I don't know."
With a nod from Luna, a disembodied hoof attached to nothing slammed into the back of Cadance's head.
"Will you stop that?!"
"Truly, I am quite sorry that happened," bowed Luna as another hoof came from nowhere. "And for that, as well. It brings me no pleasure to be doing this."
As Cadance ducked another hoof, a fourth came up from the ground and smacked her in the jaw. "Stop!"
Luna called off the barrage of hooves. "Would you like to change your answer again?"
"That depends. Are you going to hit me again?"
"I am. And then I'm going to apologise in a way that you will have defined."
Cadance took a deep breath. The words "I'm sorry" seemed to have no meaning anymore. "So, if there's an apology, there must be a problem, right?"
"Something to apologise for, yes," nodded Luna. "We call that guilt."
"I know what we call it. So, we need an admission of guilt. That's what the remorse is for."
"Correct."
"And then, whatever it is needs to be stopped. If you're just going to keep hitting me, what's the point of apologising?"
"Sounds right to me."
"But what if there's more to it? What if, instead of stopping, the damage needs repairing?"
"Sounds like you should discuss it with the offended party and come to an agreement on what needs to happen."
"Like medical bills and such."
"Fair, fair."
Cadance took a deep breath. "So, first, you need to regret your actions. Then you take responsibility, make an arrangement with the offended party, and then be bound to that arrangement."
"Is that the answer you want to go with?"
"Indeed it is." She braced herself for a smack, but it never came. "Didn't you say you were going to hit me?"
Luna was looking around. All of a sudden, she seemed worried. Scared, even. "I would, but I'm being called away. Think about what we discussed, so that when I come back, we can see if you've learned anything."
Luna spread her wings and took to the air before being dragged backward into the shadows, where she disappeared with a pop in a puff of smoke.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
          Chapter the Fourteenth: First Response           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Fourteenth: First Response
When Cadance awoke, Shining Armor was gone. The aide was still there, sleeping soundly, but Shining had left. That was a worrying change. Shining had always stuck around to ensure that his guests were cared for. He usually wouldn't leave until they at least had a shower.
With a sigh, Cadance sat up. Her head was fine. Luna smacking her around was just a dream, and while she'd felt it in there, she'd remained fine out here. That was good, because it meant she could go through her day without a headache, which would make it easier to find an answer to Luna's challenge.
After waking up the aide and taking her to the shower to clean up, she sent her off to take care of her duties. As the young mare ran off to do her work, Cadance stepped out into the hall and found the nearest guard.
"Does Shining Armor often go off without waking his guests?" she asked.
"Not usually, ma'am. Is he not in there?"
Cadance shook her head. "I was hoping you would know."
"He had an emergency to which he needed attend," answered another guard, rounding the corner. "I can take you to see him, ma'am, if you so wish?"
~~*~~
Cadance wasn't expecting that she'd be needing to leave the palace. Shining had gone a long distance away, apparently. He'd even left town. It was a good ten minutes past the city limits before she saw him. As soon as she did, she could understand leaving early.
The Friendship Express was stopped. Well, stopped wasn't quite the right word. Derailed was more correct. Some of the cars were sideways, a number of them were off the tracks, and guards were escorting passengers to a series of wagons to take them the rest of the way to the Empire, albeit late and injured. From what Cadance could see, there were only light injuries; scrapes, small cuts, bruises... Nothing to be too concerned about, as long as they saw a doctor soon.
Shining was standing at the front of the train, talking to a few of the guards he'd brought with him. Also in the mix were a few Canterlot guards, judging by the uniforms. Shining was looking pretty dirty. He was covered in dark smears, as if he'd tried to wipe off whatever was stuck to him, but it was pretty sticky stuff.
He looked up as she came closer. "Something you needed?" he asked.
"What happened here?" asked Cadance.
Shining pointed to a big pile of wood that had been sawn up and tossed aside. "A tree came down across the tracks. Middle of the night, nopony saw it until it was too late. A lot of the passengers were woken up by the hard braking, and then tossed even further by the impact."
Another guard approached, holding a clipboard. "Sir, we have..." he stopped to bow to Cadance. "Princess."
"Continue," ordered Shining.
"Yes, sir. We have all passengers accounted for, sir."
"How many dead?"
"None, sir."
"That's good, isn't it?" asked Cadance. "Isn't that the optimal outcome?"
"Nopony said it wasn't," shrugged Shining. "Make sure everypony else makes it back okay, would you?"
"Of course, sir."
As the guard returned to the wagons, Princess Luna climbed out of one of the sideways train cars, glancing around. Shining waved her over.
"We were unable to find anypony else," she reported.
"Your lieutenant just informed us that everypony was accounted for. If you were looking for somepony in particular, I'd ask him."
With a nod, Princess Luna started walking to the wagons, and Cadance followed her. "Was this why you cut our meeting short?" asked Cadance. "No judgement, if so; this was more important. I'd just have preferred to be here earlier, is all."
"I was unaware that it was this bad until I saw it for myself," explained Luna. "I felt a vast array of dreams all turn sour at once, then all end just as fast. I traced it here. I was halfway to the site when I heard the news from a guard that was running to find help. Shining Armor arrived half an hour later."
"Why didn't you come back and wake me up?" asked Cadance. "I'd have come down here with him."
"That's a question for your husband to answer," said Luna, holding out her hoof to the guard with the clipboard. "I didn't tell him, either. Somehow, he just knew." When she was given the clipboard, Luna scanned the list of names until she found what she was looking for. "Already left..."
"Somepony you knew?"
Luna shook her head. "A mother was looking for her foal. He was one of the first sent off. He was one of the first to leave because he was one of the most injured. I'll have to personally check in on him. Not a big deal."
"I wouldn't let his mother hear you say that her son isn't a big deal."
Luna gave Cadance a cold look. "Visiting an injured colt once he wakes up will not be a big deal. I will, in fact, be mostly unbothered by going to see him when he wakes up. I would be more bothered if I don't go see how he's recovering."
"I'm just saying, you could have phrased that better..."
Luna sighed and rolled her eyes. "Have you given any thought to our discussion?"
"Not much, no. I haven't even had breakfast, yet. I only woke up about an hour ago."
"Neither has your husband. He's been here for the last four hours." Luna gave the clipboard back to the guard. "Take him home. Give him a shower and something to eat. In the meantime, think of what I said, and see if you can't apply that knowledge."
Luna resumed working on her tasks, most notable of which was trying to stand the cars back up on the tracks. Everypony's luggage was still scattered around, and some of the cases had broken open. What was still sealed could still be shipped to the owners, but everything that had spilled out needed to be sorted, presuming that it was still intact.
Cadance returned to the front of the train, relaying Princess Luna's orders, and commanding Shining to come back to the palace to clean himself up and have breakfast. He'd done so much, already, and now it was time for him to take care of himself.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
             Chapter the Fifteenth: Assessment             
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Fifteenth: Assessment
The entire ride back to the palace was silent. Shining did allow Cadance to put a hoof on his shoulder as they approached the town, and even with Shining being absolutely filthy, the crowds were cheering for him. Just as had been the case when Cadance returned, there was a podium waiting for them.
Shining stood up in front of the crowd. "Good morning. Most of you are probably aware of this, but for those of you that aren't, let me explain. At approximately two-thirty this morning, a tree fell across the train tracks that were carrying the Friendship Express around a curve. The engine was unable to stop in time, and the train derailed.
"Thankfully, we were able to recover all of the passengers, and while a good many of them were unharmed, some of them were wounded pretty severely. Everypony is being sent through the Crystal Heart Medical Care Center, which has temporarily been bolstered from the Crystal Empire General Hospital. This is primarily because it's closer, meaning the patients can be treated for any minor injuries more quickly. If it is required that the medical staff use more advanced equipment, the Crystal Heart Medical Care Center staff will ensure that the patients are stabilised before moving them to Crystal Empire General. I would ask that, if you see an ambulance today, even if it's not signalling an emergency, that you move out of its way. There are a lot of injured ponies, and I know we'd all feel better if they were well cared for.
"Now, then... If you'll excuse me, I look a mess, and I'm in desperate need of a shower. Good health to you all."
The applause he was given by the crowd was at least twice as loud as what Cadance had received on her return. That meant that the citizens were happier seeing Shining covered in blood and engine grease than they were seeing her after more than three and a half years of absence. Honestly, she was a bit jealous, but even then, she would have applauded Shining's efforts. All she did was come back. He'd probably saved somepony's life last night.
She escorted him upstairs and into their bedchambers, where he started his shower. For a moment, Cadance was silent once more. During the ride back, she'd been thinking a lot about what Luna had said, and even if it wasn't quite right, she needed to start somewhere.
"Shiny?" she asked, walking back into the bathroom.
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking a lot, lately, especially about how to go about fixing this..."
"Fixing what?" asked Shining. "I can't see through the shampoo."
"Fixing us," clarified Cadance. "Fixing our relationship. I don't want us to be one of those couples that just argues and fights all the time."
"We don't argue and fight all the time," assured Shining. "Even if we did, I'm sure it's mostly because we care about the things we're discussing."
Cadance sighed. "Shining, I'm going to ask you something, and I want the truth."
"I'm not known for lying."
"But you may try to hide this from me." Cadance took a deep breath, then asked him directly. "Do you still love me at all?"
Shining froze for a minute. When he finally resumed, he had to spray some water on his face to remove some of the soap. "That's a very complicated question."
"Is it?"
Shining turned the water to his mane and began to rinse it out. "Well, I suppose the question itself isn't complicated. The answer is."
"There are only two options..."
"It sure looks that way, but if you try to force the answer to be one of those, it's not going to work out well."
"Explain."
"Well, as we've discussed previously, I didn't have any recovery time. I dove right into making sure the citizens were happy. No love from the crystal ponies means the crystal heart fails, and then what's protecting the empire?"
"So, you love the citizens?"
"Oh, unquestionably, yes. I mean, there are some massive dickheads out there, but most of them are great. I could not be more proud of the empire's citizens."
"But not me."
Shining sighed. "Look, there's a part of me that still wants to forgive you. There's some aspect of my soul that wants to believe you when you say that you never meant for it to go as far as it did. That part of me wants to give you the opportunity to find a solution. I'm clinging to that, because it's all the hope that I have left. If I give that up, I'm not doing everything I can to fill the empire with love, and the last thing I want to do is fail the ponies that depend on me."
She couldn't see it, as the showerhead was washing it all away, but she could hear his voice cracking. He was crying. She hadn't seen him cry since they took over the empire. He was always so stoic and proud, standing tall as a pillar of hope for everypony to cling to when times were tough. Perhaps this was why.
"I truly am sorry, you know..."
He nodded, presumably to hide his voice.
"If there was a way for me to go back and stop myself, I'd do it."
"No," he replied. "That'd be a bad idea."
"Why?"
"Because I'd've never agreed to bed other stallions if you hadn't." He started lathering up his pouf and scrubbing his body. "I'm not going to pretend that it was the right thing to do, but to deny that anything good came of it is stupid. Obviously, I benefitted in some way; in the way you intended. But at the same time, I've spent so much time running and hiding from the pain that it caused me.
"Most of my feelings for you stem from that; the fact that I never recovered. If I could be rid of all of the hurt I feel from you, then yes, I could see myself loving you fully once again. If I could be rid of this hatred, then the answer to your question would be "yes." But if I were to go with all I can feel right now, it's looking like a "no." Like I said, it's complicated."
Cadance nodded. "That's something, at least..."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
        Chapter the Sixteenth: Setting Expectations        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Sixteenth: Setting Expectations
After his shower, it was fairly late in the morning. Certainly, they could ask the cook to make more breakfast for them, but if they went anywhere, it was far more likely that they'd be given lunch.
As they made their way into town, Cadance wasn't paying attention to where they were going. She'd latched onto Shining and was just following him while thinking of everything that had happened since last night. Shining's eyes were still red and puffy from his shower, they were starting to sag from exhaustion, he barely had any love for her that he was desperately trying to hold onto, and Luna was trying to make her learn how to apologise correctly. It was all so very much that she didn't return to attention until Shining kicked her under the table.
"Hm? What?"
"The young lady wants to know what you'd like for lunch."
Cadance looked around. While she'd been on automatic pilot, she'd walked into a diner and sat down.
"Oh, just hay fries and some ice water," Cadance answered.
"I'll have those right out for you."
As she took their menus and walked away, Shining sighed. "Have you been paying attention at all?"
Cadance shook her head. "I'm sorry. I was lost in thought. What were you saying?"
Shining put a hoof to his forehead, then waved it in front of him. "Nevermind."
"No, I want to know," urged Cadance. "I was thinking about something else, and I haven't been paying attention to anything since we left the palace. I don't even remember walking in here. We were standing in the bedroom, you were drying your mane, and then we were here. I'm paying attention now, I'm listening, and I'm sorry that I was so preoccupied with my own stuff that I zoned out."
Shining nodded. "I was saying we should check in with the ponies that were injured after we eat. We need to make sure that they're recovering okay."
"Oh. Yeah, of course. Obviously, we should do that."
"Are you feeling alright?"
Cadance looked up at Shining's eyes. "Are you? You were up before dawn, pulling ponies out of wreckage. And that's coming off of a stressful night, following an infuriating trial. You need a break."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not." She took a deep breath. "After lunch, before we go to the hospital, you need a spa day. Something to take the edge off."
She almost ducked. Luna had said that just doing nice things for him wasn't an apology. But it didn't have to be. She couldn't truly apologise until they decided on how to proceed, and even then, that was under the assumption that Cadance had been right. She certainly wasn't wrong, but she didn't think she was wrong the first time, either. Luna had made it clear that this wouldn't be an apology; it was just doing something nice for him. But that was exactly her intent.
"I really should go check on them..."
"Shiny, you look like you didn't sleep well last night. And of course, you didn't. I'll organise a photoshoot for the newspapers, but I need you to look your best. So go have a soak, a massage, and a seaweed wrap. Consider it to be work. Go dress the part, wear that jacket that you like, and show not just the crystal ponies, but all of Equestria, how much you care about the ponies that were injured."
Shining took a brief pause, and then a deep breath. "That's actually not a bad idea..."
"I have good ones, sometimes."
Their food came to the table. Cadance had forgotten already that she just asked for hay fries, and was slightly confused when that's all that was delivered, especially whereas Shining had received an oatburger. That was her favourite menu item, and she was kind of regretting not ordering one. Then again, she hadn't even looked at the menu.
Still, Shining was nice enough to share. After splitting the burger, Cadance brought Shining to a small spa. She left him there while she organised the photoshoot, then returned to wait for him. To her surprise, Shining had fallen asleep in the mud bath.
Well, actually, it wasn't that surprising. It was actually perhaps a good thing, as he needed the sleep. Cucumber slices over his eyes would reduce the puffiness and bagginess, sure, but not as much as some sleep would.
"I've never seen him this relaxed," noted the attendant. "Usually, when he comes in here, he's so stressed that he won't stop talking."
"He comes in here often?" asked Cadance.
"About once a month, maybe every two months. He was actually scheduled for a few days from now, but this is fine, too."
Cadance nodded. "So, he's been treating himself well?"
"Well, we have to send somepony to remind him to come in. He's usually working on something, so we try to go about it quickly."
"But he's never fallen asleep before?"
"Not once."
Cadance nodded. "Did you hear the news this morning?"
"No, ma'am. I woke up late and rushed right in. I didn't even have breakfast."
Cadance nodded. "Let's just say that he woke up too early and had to rush to work, too."
"Not for much longer, though, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're back now, ma'am. Doesn't that mean he's no longer working alone?"
Cadance took a deep breath. "That's correct. We are working together, now. We've joined forces once again, and I can start taking weight off of his shoulders. He and I will be working together, which means he'll have more time to do other things that he needs to do."
Cadance dropped her gaze to the ground, shaking her head and chuckling. The answer had been staring her in the face this whole time. Shining had made it clear that he'd never taken the time to recover. Well, now she was going to give him some time.
"Listen, just let him rest for a bit. Try to be gentle when taking him out if he's still asleep, and be sure to have him cleaned up and ready to go by five, okay? He has somewhere he needs to be."
"Of course, ma'am, but... Weren't you going to join him when you came back?"
She shook her head. "I've just remembered something important that I need to do. I'll be back at five."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
            Chapter the Seventeenth: Free Time             
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Seventeenth: Free Time
Shining woke with a start and immediately tried to bolt, knocking over the table he was sitting on, as well as the stallion sitting on top of him. "Sorry about that," he groaned, picking himself up and offering a hoof to his masseur. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," he nodded, standing up on his own. "I'm sorry I scared you like that."
Shining waved it off. "No big deal." He looked up at the clock. "Did I really sleep that long?"
"I heard from your wife that you were up early."
Shining nodded. "I have somewhere I need to be in twenty minutes."
"I was supposed to wake you in five. Did you want me to finish your massage, or...?"
Shining shook his head, but picked up the table off of the ground. "I'll go ahead and clean up, so I can be on my way."
With a nod, Shining was taken into the shower and assisted in his washing. The attendant wasn't interested in touching his danglers any more than what his job entailed, and Shining was in a bit of a rush, so it was a quick shower. Cadance had brought his jacket to the spa, so it was waiting for him when he stepped out, and now he just had to wait for her arrival.
It wasn't a long wait. "How do you feel, Shiny?" she asked, welcoming him into the carriage.
"Better, I suppose," he yawned, still a bit drowsy. "It was a nice nap."
"Good."
"How was yours?"
"Oh, I didn't take one."
Shining glanced at her.
"I was busy," she shrugged. "You needed a break, but there was still work to be done. You're not the only one who cares about the crystal ponies."
Shining nodded. "I suppose that's true..."
"Are you ready to face the cameras?"
Shining looked at her. "I haven't looked in a mirror. Are my eyes still as baggy?"
"Nope. All tightened up."
It wasn't a long carriage ride to the hospital. Rather than the clinic that they'd sent all of the injured to, they were going specifically to the general hospital, as that's where all of the severe injuries had ended up. The clinic had a few tables, sure, but the hospital had actual beds, in which the injured could rest.
Luna was waiting for them. She looked to be a bit worse for wear. "It is unwise to make a princess wait."
"You could have gone inside," suggested Cadance. "Besides, I scheduled this press event for five-fifteen, so we're actually three minutes early."
Luna helped Shining down from the carriage. "You look to be doing better."
"I had three showers, a nap, and I'm wearing a nice jacket. If I don't look nice right now, there's no hope for me. You don't look too bad, either."
"Oh, please. I'm a wreck. I barely slept at all today."
"I saw a wreck this morning," snickered Shining. "You look incomparable."
Luna blushed, turning her head to the hospital. "Shall we go in, now?"
"Yes, let's."
Over the next two hours, Shining and Luna posed with the victims, checking in on their recovery and wishing them good health. At the end of it all, they looked over the pictures, with over five hundred images captured. It took some time, but they picked out twenty that they would keep, to be spread across a dozen newspapers.
Luna was exhausted. She'd had a nap in the middle of the day, but it wasn't much. An hour and a half, at most. She was in need of some rest, but she was about to take control of the night. Ponies would be dreaming, and since a lot of ponies had presumably read about the train crash, there would likely be a lot of nightmares she'd have to deal with. It was going to be a long night.
"I suppose I should return to Canterlot," she sighed. "There is much yet to be done, and we can only rely on our acolytes for the more simple tasks."
"You can stay, if you wish," offered Shining. "If I recall correctly, you needn't be in Canterlot to do so. Stay here tonight, and you can go back in the morning. I insist that you rest a bit more before guarding the night."
Luna bowed her head. "How very generous of you. I accept your offer."
"I'll run ahead and prepare a room for you. Please, take my place in the carriage."
Before Luna could object, Shining was off, galloping towards the castle. She was once more alone with Cadance as the carriage door closed.
"Have there been any problems?" asked Luna. "Aside from him just not forgiving you?"
"I asked him this morning if there was any hope for us. If there's any chance that I could be forgiven without wiping his memory of the events, entirely."
"And?"
"He says there's still a small glowing ember that could potentially grow back into a flame of passion, but it's a single coal in a frozen wasteland."
"A single point of beauty, surrounded on all sides by ice and snow," mused Luna. "Remind you of anything?"
"It's Shining's heart," noted Cadance. "And also, the Crystal Empire."
"The Crystal Empire as it was," corrected Luna. "The Crystal Empire as it is is a vast wonderland, whose wellspring of love has grown and spilled out, creating a wide patch of beauty. If Shining can build the empire out in such a way, one would think it a large-scale model as to how to cure his broken heart."
Cadance nodded. "I've made a few decisions."
"Oh?"
"He's told me on multiple occasions that he's been keeping himself so busy that he never had the chance to recover. If I want him to forgive me, then regardless of apologising, I need to let him heal. I need to make it so that he has the freedom to recover. If that does end up killing the love between us, at least I'll have given him a chance to repair the broken pieces."
Luna nodded. "That's important, yes, but so is the apology. If we are to compare it to a wound, giving him time is removing the foreign object, and the apology is the stitches. Add in some love to act as the antibiotics, and his recovery will be underway."
Cadance took a deep breath. "You know, he has told me that he'd like you to join him in bed..."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
        Chapter the Eighteenth: Caring for the Moon        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Eighteenth: Caring for the Moon
After her dinner and a shower, Princess Luna thought about going to the bedroom Shining had prepared for her. She didn't do it, but she thought about it.
Certainly, she could, and presumably, should, start early and make calm the dreams of everypony that was going to bed early, but having been up for so long, she was all but guaranteed to be cranky. She wasn't upset with her subjects, but just because she felt that way didn't mean she would come across that way. Ponies would see her the way she presented herself, not the way she wanted to present herself. It was going to be a long night, and she knew it.
However, there was something else going through her mind. Cadance had said that Shining wanted her. Shining Armour, the great stud of the Crystal Empire, wanted to bed the Princess of the Night.
She knew he deserved some sort of reprieve. He had worked incredibly hard on the Empire, after all. It had never been better, since... She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be worried about that. Now was the time to be worried about the prince. She'd seen the dreams of ponies he'd slept with right after, and they were vivid, powerful, and pleasant. Not always fantasies, per se, but memories of reality being replayed. Every single one of them had been satisfied. Even Ms. Harshwhinny had tried him out once, and her standards, high as they were, were met.
What it came down to, however, was the princess's own needs. She had a few sources from which to draw pleasure, but they were few and far between. While Celestia could have any stud she wanted, and even Twilight had some pull, Luna's options were limited. Granted, she had a lot of exotic options, being one of very few ponies able to handle a dragon, but only when one was around. She needed attention, as much as she was loathe to admit it. Taking Cadance up on her offer, Luna made her way to the royal bedchamber and raised her hoof to knock on the door.
"Princess Luna?"
She turned and looked down the hall. Shining Armor had just come around the corner. "Prince Shining Armor."
"Was there something wrong with your room? I can try to have it fixed."
"No, no, I..." she thought about it for a moment, then changed her mind. "Actually, yes. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak with you about it."
"Certainly."
Luna led Shining back to her room and closed the door. She was giddy on the inside, her hooves almost shaking, but she kept herself composed.
"So, what was wrong?"
Luna cleared her throat. "I wouldn't say it was "wrong," exactly. It was just something I wanted to check, to ensure it was correct."
"Ah." Shining looked around, looking for anything that was out of order. He knew that one of the bedposts was a bit loose, and he'd wanted to repair it a few times, but he'd always had more pressing matters. Still, that's what he checked, first, to ensure that the wedge he'd driven in there as a temporary solution was still there. It was. "So, what needed checking?"
Luna took a deep breath. "Cadance mentioned that you might be interested in having intercourse with me."
Shining froze. He didn't know how to respond to that at first.
"If it's untrue, we can just forget it..."
Shining sighed. "It's not... It's not untrue, per se..."
"So, you do?"
"It's... a bit more complicated than that..."
"Would you care to inform me of the truth, then?"
Shining nodded. "On one condition."
"And that condition is?"
"You promise not to think less of me for it. Also, I guess, there's a second condition that the whole truth stay between us."
"Hiding things from your wife?" chuckled Luna.
"She can know. I just don't want the rest of Equestria thinking about it."
Luna nodded and sat down on the bed, patting the mattress next to her. "Any secret you may have will be safe with me, unless it may do significant harm to other ponies."
Shining came over and sat down. "So, it's not about the sex, per se," he started. "It's not really about the sex at all. We were talking about how I've been helping the needy stallions around me, specifically those who've had little luck in the bedroom. I mentioned that taking them to bed wasn't about making me feel better, but about making them feel better. And by "better," I mean "sexually fulfilled." So, she asked if there was anypony I actually wanted to take to bed, and I said it was you."
"That all sounds about right so far. So, where's the confusion?"
"Well..." he scratched the back of his neck. "It's not really about the intercourse, at all. You've been helping me out a lot these last few years, and I thought it might be nice if you had a bit of a break, you know? Somepony should show you a good time, and I do owe you a lot. So, if there was anypony that I would actually want to take care of..."
"You would pick me," finished Luna. "Not out of want to bed me, but out of desire to give me pleasure."
"Please don't take that the wrong way. I do think you're very attractive, but my desires in regards to you stem from respect and admiration, not from lust."
Luna chuckled. "I'm flattered, actually. I'm not sure why I should be insulted."
"It was never my intention to insult you."
"I honestly don't understand why you asked me to not take that the wrong way. Is there even a wrong way to take that?"
Shining nodded. "I've been informed that saying something similar was rude. I didn't want to be rude to you."
Luna shook her head. "So, is that offer still on the table?"
Shining blushed. "I was going to stop by the barracks and ask about the night shift, and see if any of them needed relief, but I can save that for a bit later. If you want me now, I can oblige. If you need time to prepare, or you want to wait, I can wait. I want to do this, but I want to do it for you."
Luna chuckled. "Come. Let us discuss a few rules, before we begin."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
           Chapter the Nineteenth: Princess Luna           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Nineteenth: Princess Luna
With Princess Luna lying on her back, Shining brought out his massage oils. He had some stashed away in the closet, as this was one of the rooms he frequented, so he didn't even need to leave the suite. Warming it up with his hooves, he began to rub across her thighs, squeezing and massaging her legs.
Luna was a bit lost. Not confused, per se, as she knew what was happening, but she was unfortunately unfamiliar with the feeling. Usually, when foreplay was involved, she would be the one performing it, helping her lover, whoever it may be, to be ready for her. On the rare occasion that she would take a stallion to bed, they were either confident enough to just go for it, or anxious enough that she had to coax them out. And often, she'd be preparing herself at the same time. For once, she could lie back and let her partner handle everything.
When shining reached her hips, she expected him to go right for her pussy. That was the point, was it not? But instead, his hooves moved to her other thigh. That made sense, too, she supposed. After all, he'd spent a few minutes on one side, why wouldn't he do the other?
But even as he finished that, his hooves began working up her body, starting with her breasts. She'd had stallions squeeze those before, even play with them, but not like this. Most of the stallions liked to either mention how soft they would feel around their cocks, or how they would feed her offspring, or even mention wanting to be fed by them, but Shining said nothing, simply marvelling at their shape, size, and the way they fell. She was a bit embarrassed by how small they were, but he didn't seem to mind.
Slowly, his hooves worked up her body, pushing away all of her muscle tension as he went. She was starting to relax, and he was helping with that. Even if the sex wasn't good after that, he'd already made everything better.
He kissed her neck when he reached it, softly pressing his lips against her clavicle and shoulder, easing his way up to just short of her ear. As he worked his way back down her neck, she finally felt his cock. As his knees met her thighs, she could feel him starting to press against her slit.
Even that was different, though. She had to look to see what part of him he was rubbing against her, and it turned out to be the topside. He wasn't rubbing with the intent of finding an opening through which to enter. He was teasing her; giving her an inkling of what was to come.
Before she could object to it, he stopped and rolled her over. She was about to question what he was doing before his hooves slid back to her flank, gripping and massaging it.
She was ready. She knew she was, because she could feel the anticipation running down her leg. She'd felt this way before, but this time, it wasn't excitement mixed with fear. It was just excitement, and the fact that she wasn't afraid made her even more afraid, for some reason that she could not explain.
Once more, Shining worked his hooves up her body, this time going along her back. He knew exactly how to make her wings shake and flutter in his grasp, despite the fact that they'd never done anything like this before. She didn't know if he was enforcing his enjoyment onto her, or drawing out her own and reading it to give him instructions, but she was loving every second.
When he came up to her shoulders once more, she could feel his hot breath on her neck. He hadn't even started yet, and she was already quavering. She'd gripped her pillow to hold onto something, but his hooves softened her grip and slid her front legs out to either side, letting her chest carry her weight.
It was then that she could feel his cock again. This time, it was pressing against her tail as he raised her hips to meet his. She could feel his entire shaft, running from his balls at her perineum, up and around her butt, all the way to his tip at her lower back. She knew very well that he was neither the biggest, thickest, widest nor longest that she'd ever had, but there was some part of her that wanted to believe it, and she wasn't sure why.
"I'm going in, now," he whispered, his deep voice sending a chill down her spine. She felt something tug on her tail, but as she looked back, it was just her tail trying to move itself out of the way. She hadn't told it to do that, it was just going on its own. Not that she would try to stop it, of course, even lifting her knee to allow it to move.
He slid right in without so much as a grunt. It was but a single, smooth motion that filled her body with an intense heat and pressure. For a moment, she felt a need to apologise. If he made it in without any issue whatsoever, she wasn't able to tighten around him enough, and this would be less enjoyable for him.
However, before she could push the words out, he pulled away and was back in. He didn't seem to mind at all how stretched out and relaxed and wet she was. If he were any other stallion, he would have likened the feeling to having a hot dog sliding down a hallway; she was sure of it. But he didn't issue any complaints.
She didn't know if she was tightening to fit him, if he was expanding to fit her, or both, but the situation didn't last long. With her insides wrapped tightly around him, fluids gushing out of her at an alarming rate, it wasn't long at all before she came, and she came hard.
With one last kiss to the side of her neck, Shining pulled away.
"You..." huffed Luna, somehow out of breath despite barely moving. "You didn't... finish..."
"Sometimes, I don't," shrugged Shining. "There's always next time."
"You expect a "next time?""
"I don't expect it, no. But I'd like one."
Luna chuckled as her body flopped to the bed. "I should like that, too. We shall have to see about having a "next time...""

//-------------------------------------------------------//
          Chapter the Twentieth: Taking the Time           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Twentieth: Taking the Time
Over the next two weeks, Cadance gradually took on more and more duties, giving Shining more and more time to himself. Her intent with this was to give him time to rest and recover, but he almost immediately dove into finer, more intricate problems, or spent even more effort to solve the issues he was already entangled with.
"I'll just take care of this, and then I'll be done for the day." That was something she heard several times each day as she started taking away his usual tasks. He was finished working, and then he went right back to work. And then he was finished, and he'd find something else to work on.
She'd seen this before. Not in Shining Armor, but she'd seen it in other ponies. She'd often classified it as bad behaviour, considering it to be running away from a problem. She didn't want to think that way about Shining Armor, but she couldn't help it. Perhaps it was even true, and he was using work as a way to escape.
After two weeks of trying to give him room to relax, she was apoplectic. She'd taken on almost as much as he had while she was away, and he was still finding issues to solve. Finally, as he was asking the maid for paperwork for updating the curtains in the palace, she put her hoof down.
"Shining Armor. I have an assignment for you."
His ears almost immediately perked up. "Yes?"
"There's a changeling at the train station. He's a very important guest, and I insist that he be given a room. You are to escort him here, to the palace, and you're going to show him his room. No harm is to come to him. Am I understood?"
Shining saluted. "What time does he arrive? I should be able to finish with the cur--"
"Now. I've just been told that his train is in the station, which means I need you there five minutes ago."
With a nod, Shining bolted towards the door. She knew she was tricking him again, but this time, she didn't care. She was willing to take the backlash for this, if he would take at least the rest of the day to rest.
Shining took little time to find his changeling charge. He was sitting on the platform, a large trunk beneath him. Shining's first thought was to ask his name, but Cadance hadn't given him a name to compare it to. So instead, he just gave out a simple "Good morning."
The changeling looked up. "Ah. You look like... Let me just..." The changeling hopped down and approached, taking a big sniff. " I knew it. You must be Prince Shining Armor. A pleasure to meet you."
"A pleasure indeed," smiled Shining. "Although, I'm afraid you have me at a bit of a disadvantage, mr....?"
"Funiculus. Doctor Funiculus, if you prefer, but a few of my patients call me "Funi.""
""Funny?""
"How so?"
"No, I..." Shining cleared his throat. "My apologies. I didn't mean to mispronounce your name, doctor."
Funi shrugged. "Eh. It happens all the time. Growing up, the other changelings called me "Funi-lookin'." It is what it is. Now, did you bring a cart?"
Rather than going to find a cart, Shining lifted the trunk onto his back and carried it through town, all the way from the train station to the palace. It was heavy, but Shining was strong enough. He didn't have to be beyond that point, however, as two other guards took it off of his back and carried it to the room where Funi would be staying.
"Now, I've been asked to ensure that your stay is comfortable," informed Shining. "Is there anything you need?"
Funi looked around the room. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like a chair and a sofa. Preferably cushioned ones, as there's going to be a lot of sitting while I do my work."
Shining nodded. "What kind of work? I can try to find you a chair that fits your needs."
"Oh, I'm in the field of psychology. A high-backed armchair would be wonderful, but a padded dining chair would be enough. The couch is for my patient, though, so it has to be comfortable."
"Well, we do have a lounge nearby that has both of those. I'm sure I could find a guard to help me carry the couch in here."
As Shining left, Cadance arrived. "Doctor Funi, good to see you."
"Likewise, princess," he responded, giving her a sniff. "You can put those worries to rest. I won't rest until my job is at least started."
"Usually, ponies say "until the job is finished.""
He scoffed. "You expect I won't need to sleep for weeks, at the very least? You think he won't need to sleep?"
Cadance shook her head. "Look, just... do your best with him, okay?"
"Right through here," came Shining's voice from the hallway. He and another guard had lifted up a couch and were moving it through the door.
"I've noticed something odd, already," noted Funi.
"Oh?" Shining raised his eyebrow. "What's that?"
"With my trunk, as well as with the couch, you've been lifting with your hooves. You are, after all, a unicorn, and you have access to magic. Why aren't you using it?"
"I'm wondering the same thing," agreed the guard. "Your spells were powerful enough to stop the invasion of Canterlot, and almost strong enough to stop King Sombra the first time. Surely, you could lift a couch?"
Shining shook his head. "First, I feel better lifting things up with my hooves. Second, crystal ponies are related most closely to earth ponies, so very little magic. It makes me feel closer to the ponies I rule over. Third, I specialised in abjurations. I majored in abjurations in college. I barely studied evocations; only as far as I needed to pass."
Funi tilted his head to the side. "Abjurations?"
"Shield spells," clarified Cadance as another guard brought in a chair. "It also contains another type of spell, but I don't recall what it was."
"Nullification," answered Shining. "It's the specialisation that deals in both enhancing your defenses and the defenses of your allies, as well as weakening the strength of your opponent. Which, it turns out Sombra was also good at, because he was able to block my shield spell from even working with his own abjuration, in the form of a nullification. It's one of the few schools of magic that can stop other forms of magic."
"It seems as though you've spent a lot of time trying to protect those around you," nodded Doctor Funi, sitting down in his chair. "What made you want to be so protective?" He gestured for Shining to sit down on the couch.
"Well," started Shining, "I guess it started with my little sister. She had this nasty habit of walking while reading, and she would bump into walls and other ponies or off of furniture all the time, and I didn't like it when she was hurt. So, I put some effort into learning how to protect her."
Cadance ushered the other guards out of the room and locked the door. If they needed out, the doctor had the other key, but otherwise, she'd come back when it was time for dinner. Shining needed to talk to a therapist, and one that could literally smell his emotions was a good place to start.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
       Chapter the Twenty-First: The Healing Process       
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Twenty-First: The Healing Process
"Let's talk about that for a moment," suggested Funi. "Do you enjoy being mounted by other stallions?"
Shining turned his head away and said nothing.
After a few seconds, Funi took a deep breath. "I smell confusion. You're happy, you're angry, and you're sad. But mostly, you're not sure how to feel. Walk me through your thought process."
Shining shuffled on the couch. It felt like cheating, having a therapist that could literally smell your emotional reactions to questions. Perhaps it was for the best, as you couldn't truly lie to them and say that something made you happy when it was actually infuriating, but part of the trust barrier was that the patient had the right to refuse to answer. It wasn't quite a truth potion, but it definitely felt like one.
"Can't I just... not talk about it?"
"We certainly could, but the whole reason I'm here is because you won't deal with your problems. You're bottling up the pressure, and if we don't vent it, you're going to explode. Figuratively speaking, of course..."
"Yeah, I know..."
"This is all a very safe space. I have no obligations to tell anypony anything you say in these sessions, unless you wish to do them harm, in which case, I can only tell the specific party, or the guards, or both. Anything else you say is a secret."
Shining sighed. "I'm not worried about you telling everyone how I feel."
"That's a lie."
"Fine, yes, that's a lie. But I'm more worried about something else."
"Should we start there?"
"I would rather not start at all..."
"We can't finish what we don't start..."
Shining groaned. "I don't want to go into this..."
Funi folded his hooves in his lap. "I can't help you like this."
"You might not be able to help me, anyway."
"Perhaps not. But I'd be a really shitty therapist if I didn't try. I'd have to refuse payment and fund my own trip back home."
Shining turned his head. "The trains in Equestria are funded by the taxpayers and are free to use by any and all citizens and visitors, excepting those who are violent criminals, who just aren't allowed to use the trains at all. Are you telling me you're a violent criminal?"
"The train doesn't drop me off at my house. I'd need a cart to carry my trunk, and I'd have to rent one, like I did when coming out here. I was promised reimbursement for that expense, though, and I can't collect if I don't at least try to help with your problem."
"Is it even really a problem, though?" asked Shining. "I mean, I've been doing this for years without incident. Nopony's been hurt, so why is it being made an issue now?"
Funi was silent for a moment, and then a wreath of green flame enveloped him. "I've been hurt," came Cadance's voice. He'd taken her form, as well. "My own husband doesn't want me anymore."
"That's not true," sighed Shining. "Even if it was, there's more to it than that."
"Oh, no?" scoffed Funi, shifting back into his usual shape. "I felt no love for her."
"It's buried beneath something else," grumbled Shining, rolling over.
"I felt that," Funi noted. "Do you want to tell me from whence that pain stems?"
Shining shook his head. "That's a personal matter. I'll deal with it on my own."
"But you're not dealing with it on your own." Another wreath of green fire saw Cinnamon Snap in the chair. "You told me, remember?"
Shining chuckled and shook his head. "No, you told me. I only recently found out that you knew anything about it. Nice try, though..."
Funi changed back to normal. "Okay, well, I can't read minds. I just knew that he found out from your strong emotions toward him on the subject. There were others, there, too. Do they know?"
Shining shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Maybe they do. They were there when it happened. We had company over, and some of them had left, while others were presumed to still be asleep. He's the only one who knows for sure. Luckily, if any of the others know, they're keeping it under their hats. This is supposed to be kept a secret, otherwise, there's going to be harm brought to the entirety of Equestria."
"Wow. Okay, I felt the love that time." Funi resituated himself in his chair. "Not only love, but a very, very strong protective desire. Anger for whoever hurts them, fear of losing them, anxiety over whether or not you're doing the right thing... All of these negative emotions are fueling your desire to keep them safe. We tend to think of negative emotions as bad, but they're not always as terrible as we may believe them to be. Anger, fear and anxiety can be useful tools to help us along. You said it yourself that you'd learned abjuration to protect your sister; that you were afraid that she would hurt herself."
"That's true."
"You fear that if you tell me what's going on, that if what's bothering you becomes known, that they will be in danger. That something will happen that will harm them."
Shining took a deep breath. "Yeah."
"Let's explore that. How would it cause harm?"
Shining sighed. "Okay. If what I'm holding back is set free, between two and three princesses will lose their credibility in the eyes of the citizens. In addition to that, if the one or two unharmed princesses tries to justify their actions, they will be giving up their credibility. Finally, the citizens will start treating me as if I were a victim, and will stop coming to me and asking for help, because they'll think that I'm already suffering enough. And if they're not coming to me with their problems, then I can't know where the problems are, and if I don't know where the problems are, I can't fix them."
"If I don't know where the problems are, I can't fix them," repeated Funi.
"Yes, exactly."
"If I don't know where your problems are, I can't fix them."
Shining buried his face in his hooves. "Fuck..."
"Indeed. So, let's back up to why you feel such animosity for your wife. Let's find out the cause of the problem, so we can start our solution."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
           Chapter the Twenty-Second: Treatment            
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Twenty-Second: Treatment
Shining left his therapy session knowing that he'd just been tricked into therapy. It didn't feel great, but he knew, deep down, that he'd have never agreed to it if it hadn't just fallen on top of him. He didn't think he needed therapy this morning, and when he heard that Doctor Funi was in the field of psychology, he was sure he was here to either study, or to help one of the guards. If he'd known that the doctor was here for him, he'd have thanked him for coming, refused his service, and sent him on his way. However, by the time he realised what was happening, he was in the middle of his kindergarten musical performance.
He didn't know if he'd actually come back. While Funi had scheduled a continuance on Sunday, and sessions twice a week until the problems were solved, Shining didn't really want to go back. Therapy was a good thing if you had something you needed to work through, but he wanted to work through it on his own. Just... not right now.
He slogged his way through dinner and then went for a good, long soak in the guard's baths. True, he could use the royal bath, but right now, he wanted company. It wasn't a long wait. "Good evening, Sir," greeted Mustard, slipping into the tub. "Long day?"
"Very long," sighed Shining. "I went to therapy."
"Good for you!" He patted Shining on the shoulder. "You know, the first step to recovery is admitting you need help."
"Not true," sighed Shining. "The first step is admitting there's a problem. Sometimes, one can recover without help."
"I mean... sure, but it takes longer."
"Sometimes, I wonder if that's a good thing."
"What do you mean? Of course it is! The sooner you feel right again, the sooner you can start helping everypony. I think that's a step forward."
Shining shook his head. "But what if..." he took a deep breath. "He said something to me during our session. He thinks that the reason I've been doing so much work to build up the Crystal Empire was to hide from an emotional pain I was feeling."
"Your wife poisoning you, yeah."
"Does everypony know?!"
Mustard rubbed his shoulder. "I was in the room when she told you. I don't know if everypony else knows, but I haven't told anypony."
"Your husband said the very same."
"Oh, he knows, too? I've been trying to keep from telling him for a long time... That's going to be a load off of my chest..."
Shining sighed. "I wonder who else knows..."
Mustard shook his head. "Look, why does it matter? Who cares why you were being so nice to everypony? You built the empire up to be huge. And everypony loves that you did. I dare you to find one pony that doesn't like having you in charge."
"The bandits."
"Who cares what a bunch of criminals think?"
"They're still citizens."
"But not in good standing with the law."
"And yet, they still have a right to a fair trial."
Mustard sighed. "Not the point... What I was driving at was, who cares why you did your reforms. You did them, and it was good for almost everypony. Why would going to therapy change that?"
Shining took a deep breath. "If my own damage was causing me to leap in front of everypony and protect them, then what happens if I lose that pain and, along with it, my reason to stand in defense of the very ponies I've sworn to protect? What if I stop seeing it as wanting to keep them from experiencing the same horror I lived through, and start seeing it as just a job?"
Mustard shook his head. "I don't buy that for a second. Even before this happened, you stood in de--" he paused. "Do you remember how we first met?"
"Wasn't it when you were in training?"
Mustard shook his head. "Long, long before that. I was on a trip with my school, and one of the other students was throwing rocks at me. And you stepped in and threatened to have him arrested. You were just a kid at the time, but the intimidation was still just as effective."
Shining shook his head. "I remember the event, but I don't remember you being there."
"How else would I know about it?"
"Fair, fair..."
"You wouldn't experience the pain that swayed your decisions for twenty years. What were you running from then that made you stand up and defend some kid you'd never see again, as far as you knew?"
Shining slumped down into the water. "I don't know. I just... I saw somepony that needed help, and I wanted to do the right thing."
"So, what makes you think that picking yourself up and healing from this is going to make you start making cruel decisions?"
"If I'm making the decisions because I'm running away, then not running away will lead to different choices. If my reasons for making decisions change, my goals will change, and I could end up a cruel, heartless dictator."
"I don't think you're capable of being heartless," assured Mustard. "Plus, how will your goals change? You'll go from wanting to protect the empire to... what, wanting to see it burn?"
Shining visibly shivered.
"See, there? Even the thought of your citizens coming to harm frightens you. I don't believe in the slightest that you'd let them suffer."
Shining leaned forward, tears starting to form in his eyes.
"You've given us the world, your highness. I speak on behalf of all of Equestria when I say, we want you to recover. If you're hurting, and we know you are, we want to help. We want you to be as happy as you've made us. And I speak for all of your friends when I say, please keep up the therapy. I can see the pain you're trying to suppress, and it hurts me every time you put on that fake smile. This is a personal plea. Even if I'm the only one who knows you're going to therapy, please keep doing it. It's good for you."
Shining let out a sigh. "I'm afraid it's going to change me."
"It's not going to change you any more than a skin graft after a nasty burn."
"Promise?"
Mustard wrapped his hooves around Shining, pulling him into his lap. "I promise."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
        Chapter the Twenty-Third: The First of Many        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter the Twenty-Third: The First of Many
With Mustard and Cinnamon already proving that this secret could be shared without bringing down the whole empire around him, Shining was more comfortable with the idea of confiding in Doctor Funi. He also had Luna step in to reinforce the idea for her own safety, but with the doctor now understanding the gravity of the situation, Shining felt safer letting him in.
Funi very shortly regretted being let in. Cadance was the one that had called him in, so knowing that she was capable of poisoning someone, even her own husband not being safe, he didn't exactly feel protected. Still, he was here to help Shining, so if he did a good job, that was at least some kind of protection that he might expect from Shining.
As they closed up their second session, Funi explained his plan to fix Shining's relationship problems. He and Cadance would go out on a date. He was less sure of this after hearing the tale of what happened to cause the problem, but going out into a public setting and just sitting and talking to each other was certain to bring out the complications of their relationship. If they did that, they could start putting it all back together. They may even remember why they fell in love in the first place.
The following night, Shining and Cadance made their way to a fancy dining establishment, the Red Door. "Isn't it odd," noted Cadance, "that the fanciest restaurants have the weirdest names?"
"I believe it's an attempt to be avant-garde," suggested Shining. "If ponies stop to wonder why it's called that, they might stop to consider that it has a different meaning, and may try to look for one. If they feel that they've found it, they may consider themselves to be more intelligent than they are, and doing so makes them feel superior."
"Okay, that accounts for the customers, but the customers don't name the restaurant. The owner does."
"The owner wants to pretend that there's a hidden meaning. It draws in business. Or, it actually does have a personal meaning, and they're smart enough to capitalise on that."
The waiter stopped by to collect their order. Shining had the spaghetti and garbanzo bean balls in spicy marinara, and Cadance had the ratatouille.
"I'm glad you asked me out," smiled Cadance, reaching across the table to take his hoof. "We haven't been out like this since I came back."
"It's been longer than that," clarified Shining. "When last we went out, you were trying to convince me to let other mares into our bed."
"I remember that night," smiled Cadance. "Our first addition was our waitress."
"Yeah. I was nervous about that, at first."
"You never did tell me why, though."
Shining sighed. "I didn't think it was important. There was a time when I did think my reason was important, but it's long past time to talk about it, now."
"Then we should talk about it."
Shining shook his head. "It definitely doesn't matter anymore."
"And yet, it may in the future," urged Cadance. "Shouldn't we talk about what's bothering you? If not what's bothering you right now, then what was bothering you back then?"
"It's not going to have any relevance anymore."
"But it may yet be useful. Not for its direct information, but why you were resisting back then. You might be using the same reason to resist other things."
Shining sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"You were very strong back then, pushing your fears down to try something new. Now you pull away at the slightest touch. Why can't I have that Shining Armor back?"
"Because he's broken," he sighed. "That version of me was afraid of something that he knew wouldn't happen. This one is no longer afraid, because the damage has already been made real."
Cadance was silent for a moment. "You thought I would... you know?"
Shining shook his head. "I thought you were going to leave me."
Cadance had to stop herself from laughing. For a minute, she couldn't say anything, just looking up at Shining's serious, stony expression. He didn't think it was funny, and that just made it even worse for her.
When she finally recovered, she took his hoof again. "Shiny, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Why would I leave you?"
With every muscle in his face conveying that he truly felt this way, he took a deep breath. "Because I wasn't enough."
"What does that even mean? What did you think was going to happen?"
Shining was silent as their plates were placed in front of them, the exception being thanking the waiter before he left the table. He then took a breath before answering. "If I was enough, just as I was, then why would you need to enlist the help of others?"
Cadance took a bite of her eggplant. "You can't be everything I need, Shiny. Do you expect that every stallion can construct a home, do their own plumbing, handle the weather over their houses, which they'll have to weather-proof themselves, and on top of all of that, hold down a job, find a mare, wed, have children, and then raise those children with no help from anypony?"
"Like I said, the fear I had is no longer relevant."
"Exactly. We cleared this up ages ago."
"Which is why I suggested that it didn't matter anymore."
"If that's so, why did you resist so much bringing stallions into the bedroom?"
Shining finished his bean ball and swallowed. "No mare can fully replace me. I could stomach having a mare in the bedroom because they don't have the same equipment that I do. Any mare that would ever enter our bed would be incapable of having a dick bigger than mine. Unless she has a strap-on, but then it doesn't feel real. And I know that from experience, now. A stallion, on the other hoof... There are plenty out there that are bigger than me, stronger, more sensual, more aggressive, more dominant, and with bigger balls. Trust me, I've slept with them all. Each one of them has the capacity to fill my role in the bedroom, the capacity to accept your love, and a chance to take whatever power I may have on the throne. That's why I was okay with mares, and not with stallions."
Cadance grabbed his hoof again. "You can't have honestly believed that...?"
Shining didn't answer. He didn't need to. His tears betrayed his emotions. He honestly believed that, if Cadance found a better lover than him, she'd forget about him and leave him to suffer alone.
"...Shiny..."