Shameless

by LobosNumber5

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Romance, Sex, Royal Guard, Tragedy, Shining Armor, Violence, Death, Twilight Sparkle, Drama
Length: 26869

Is it okay to love a grieving Princess?

Lieutenant Pavise is a member of Cadance's personal bodyguard, which is a dream come true since he's in love with her. When the sudden death of Shining Armor rocks the Crystal Empire, Pavise is given the chance he never thought he'd have to become friends–and maybe more–with the freshly widowed Cadance.

However, duty and guilt fight a tumultuous battle inside of him. As he grows closer to the Princess, he simultaneously grows closer to realizing his unbecoming fantasies and further from the oath that he took as a guard: to serve the Crystal Empire selflessly, without promise of personal gain.

One way or another, both Pavise and Cadance will eventually find out the truth of their strange relationship–and they'll both have to deal with the consequences.

Cover art by Amenoo on Deviantart

Published 2024-12-05 23:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2025-02-02 16:26:33 UTC

The First Chapter

Shameless

The train's last call cut through the morning air, hastening the many stamping hooves of nearly-too-late arrivals down the platform and toward the locomotive. Pavise stood a few feet away from the Crystal Prince and Princess, minding himself and trying not to listen in too much on what the royals were discussing–if he looked too much in their direction, he was sure he’d hear about it from the captain later.

“I’m a little nervous, believe it or not–it’s already been a few months since the last time I saw Twilight. Lately, I feel like the only time we get together is when the fate of Equestria is at stake.” Princess Cadance frowned, shivering a little from the cold; she tugged her wool scarf a little tighter around her neck with a flicker of magic.

Shining Armor chuckled, running a hoof through his shaggy cerulean mane. “I’m sure Twily is probably thinking the same thing right now, knowing her. Don’t worry about it–just have fun, go do mare stuff, and come back home safe when you’re done.”

Cadance snorted, cocking an eyebrow. “And what exactly is mare stuff, Shiny?” Her tail swished in mock irritation, but anypony that knew the two could tell it was all in jest. Shining pinned his ears, given the unexpected burden of explanation.

“Well, uh, y’know… Going to the spa, shopping for dresses…” Shining winced as Cadance’s scrutiny grew with intensity. “...Slumber parties?”

They both looked at each other for a moment before the both of them cracked amused smiles; Cadance leaned forward to wrap her forelegs around her husband, their pretend argument over just like that.

“I love you, Shiny. Thanks for making some time for me to do this–I know we’re really busy with getting the Crystal Empire back to normal, but I really wanted to catch up with Twilight before we get too busy.” Shining enjoyed the embrace with closed eyes, shaking his head as they parted.

“I love you too, Cadance. Make sure you say hey to Twily for me–I’m just sorry we couldn’t both go, but it’s better for at least one of us to stay here and post guard. It’d be a bad look for the new Prince and Princess both to leave right after taking over.”

“You know, you’re not in the guard anymore–other ponies can do that for you, even if you don’t like it.” Cadance stuck her tongue out playful, and Shining rolled his eyes before nodding in the direction of the train; though it wouldn’t dare leave without the Princess, neither of them likely wanted to hold the other passengers up. “I guess I should be going now.”

Sensing their imminent departure, the rest of the Princess’s guard funneled into the train car. Pavise, a lieutenant, and Captain Emery were the two senior leaders of her bodyguard and stood by until the Princess herself boarded the train. A few other guard stallions waited behind the Prince, stiff and proud in the uncomfortable winter wind.

"Are you sure it's not going to be too much by yourself?" Cadance said, glancing nervously toward the train and nickering with anxiety. Shining Armor shook his head, reaching forward to nuzzle his wife.

"I promise I’ll be fine, Cadance. Besides, these guys have my back," Shining said, gesturing to his own guard contingent with a grin.

Uneasy yet satisfied, Cadance shared one more kiss with Shining before trotting off toward the train. Captain Emery boarded first, then Cadance, although she lingered on the ramp to offer her final goodbyes to her husband. Pavise was last to board, and one of the attendants aboard shut the door behind them when the rest of the passengers had gotten settled.

Shining waved his hoof after the train and called out, his voice inaudible over the final screech of the train's steam whistle as it then departed from the train station.

Pavise spared a look outside one of the train windows, savoring the image of the Crystal Empire from afar before catching up to the rest of their group. Cadance and her party had the last train car to themselves, and numbering thirteen individuals in total they all took up the last three booths.

Being last to enter, Pavise unfortunately had to sit with his fellow guards: Bright Strike, Realgar, and Garnet Sand. He cursed silently, envying the slightly more fortunate Captain Emery who sat beside the Princess.

Despite Emery’s seniority, they had all been recently recruited to the guard, and had been trained by Shining Armor himself; it was only luck that had blessed Pavise with a spot in Cadance’s group over Shining Armor’s.

As for why he was so lucky… To say that he was in love with Cadance was an understatement. She was the most beautiful mare he’d ever laid eyes on, and was almost the sole reason he’d joined the Royal Crystal Pony Guard. Her voice was soft and smooth, her laughter like the song of a canary, and whenever she glanced in his direction or walked close enough to give him a hint of her heavenly scent he was almost sent into shock.

Unfortunately, he knew as well as anypony else that it was a love destined to remain unrequited forever. Cadance was already married, and Shining was an unbeatable match, sturdy and honest yet surprisingly sensitive when the situation called for it. He was an easy favorite amongst the guard, and even Pavise himself wouldn’t have minded that much being a member of his guard over the Princess’s.

Pavise sighed, reminded how unlikely his fantasies were–he’d have to content himself with his permanently professional relationship with Cadance if he wanted to stay sane.

“So,” said Bright Strike, a citrine crystal pony stallion with a fierce expression, “have you guys ever been to Canterlot?” The rest of them shook their heads; Pavise hadn’t been either, but wasn’t too attentive to the conversation. While the junior guards discussed going out to the local bars, looking for pretty mares, or even just sleeping in, Pavise tuned in to what Cadance and Emery were discussing behind him.

“Do you really think he’ll be okay with so few guards? I know he can take care of himself, but I worry sometimes. He said he’d be giving them a break this weekend, while we’re gone.” Cadance sighed, glancing out the window toward the rapidly disappearing Crystal Empire.

“Your Highness, if I can speak freely: Prince Shining Armor is one of the finest stallions I’ve ever seen, and I think he’s more than capable of handling himself if anything happens,” Emery said with confidence. “You’re right that he doesn’t have enough guards, but we can only train them so fast–even with Pavise and I both helping to run the camp. I don’t think we’ll be up to defend the Empire properly for another year or so.” Emery rubbed his chin thoughtfully with a shod hoof.

It was a strange predicament: the Crystal Empire had been enslaved by the cruel King Sombra for over a thousand years, the last thousand of which they had spent cursed into nonexistence. Now, they had a pair of new rulers, infinitely more kind but lacking in ruling experience. It had also been so long since the Crystal Empire had a capable defensive force that nopony really knew where to start. Shining, having been a Royal Guard himself in Canterlot not too long ago, had taken the lead in training, but they were still a good hundred ponies short.

There was, of course, the Crystal Heart–the magical artifact that had protected the Crystal Ponies since the days of old, but it had its limits. Namely, nopony really knew how it worked beyond the fact that it was powered by love and could banish evil. But where did it draw the line between somepony who'd simply broken the law and somepony who was committed to performing acts of darkness?

Cadance nodded, though fidgeted in her seat nonetheless; Pavise watched her reflection as she stared out the window. “I understand. Maybe I can ask Princess Celestia to borrow some of her guards until we can train enough of our own.”

Pavise lost interest in the conversation after a while, transfixed by Cadance’s natural beauty; he smiled unconsciously, imagining himself talking with her instead, discussing their vacation plans and making small talk. It was a shame that even during leisure, she couldn’t escape the pressure of managing an empire. The pony to his left, Realgar, nudged him playfully, fixing him with a wry grin. “Hey, Pavise, you gonna tell us any basic training stories, or are you gonna keep staring at the Princess?” he said chidingly. “You know she’s, uh, married right?”

Pavise realized that he had indeed been gawking at the Princess during their entire conversation, and it hadn’t escaped the notice of the rest of the guards at the table–they all chuckled at his expense, and he was thankful for the helmet cooling his reddened cheeks. He rolled his eyes, well aware that the rest of the guard knew about his poorly-kept secret–he just hoped the Princess hadn’t overheard too much.

“Yeah, yeah, mind your business. As for basic training, well…”

The train pulled into the Canterlot station sometime in the afternoon, and Twilight Sparkle was there to meet them as they disembarked.

Twilight bounded forward and tackled Cadance with a hug she returned just as enthusiastically, shocking many aristocratic onlookers. They engaged in a peculiar ritual, complete with an admittedly cute song and a little dance that forced Pavise to avert his eyes from Cadance’s hindquarters, embarrassed. Pavise had heard once before that Cadance babysat Twilight as a filly, and that they shared a particularly close, even sister-like relationship.

“Cadance! I’m so happy you could make it!” said Twilight.

“Me too, Twilight! I hope you don’t mind that I wanted to meet in Canterlot instead of Ponyville–I have to talk rulership with Princess Celestia while we’re here.” Cadance made a face that suggested she really didn’t want to do so. Twilight flicked an ear, leading them away from the train station.

“I don’t mind at all. It’s been a while since I visited Canterlot myself–or met with the Princesses in person for that matter–but I’m sure we’ll have a great time either way! I’ve actually arranged a schedule for us today: they’re having a showing at the Historical Art Society after lunch, and the Royal Canterlot Theater Society is performing their rendition of Hoofthello by Shakesmare tonight. I took the liberty of getting us tickets to everything in advance so we don’t have to wait in any lines!”

The two mares looked at each other and squealed with excitement, and they continued to chat about their plans as they walked at a leisurely pace. Royal guards, pegasi and unicorns mostly, bowed periodically as they passed.

Pavise was awestruck by the sheer spectacle of the city, being the first he had visited outside of the Crystal Empire. There were, of course, no other crystal ponies to be seen, replacing them unicorns of varying apparent importance. Some pegasi and earth ponies were scattered here and there, but it was clear enough that this was a unicorn’s city.

The architecture was magnificent, with pillaring spires of alabaster marble dwarfing its many pony citizens. Hung high above them was the sun, casting a brilliant ray of near-blinding warmth down on the picturesque castle town. Stained glass from gaudy cathedrals and even mere residences bathed the paved stone underneath in a kaleidoscope of color, not unlike some streets back home.

In contrast with the Crystal Empire, Canterlot had been carved into the side of a great mountain, one of the attendants on the train had mentioned to them after she’d asked where they were headed, and the city was almost impossibly large for the small cliff upon which it had been established.

“This is going to be so fun! We didn’t really have the time to catch up the last time you were here, with the whole ‘evil changeling queen trying to steal my brother away while the rest of my friends thought I was crazy for picking up on the whole thing’ situation, but this time we’ll be able to make up for lost time," Twilight said, raising more than a few eyebrows at her retelling of events to which the rest of Cadance’s guards had not been privy.

Cadance’s eyes darkened and her smile receded. “I’m sorry about that, Twilight… I don’t really remember everything that happened, but one moment I was in my room, getting ready to try on my wedding dress, and the next I was in this musty old cave underneath the city. I was so glad when I saw you there too–I’m not sure that I could have gotten out by myself.”

Twilight nodded, momentarily somber, but her grin soon returned. “Well, I’m just glad everything worked out in the end. I really couldn’t have picked a better mare for my brother, although I guess it wasn't really my choice to make...” Twilight said a little sheepishly. Cadance just giggled.

“And I couldn’t have picked a better sister-in-law.”

The rest of the trip up to the castle was uneventful, and Cadance received a full salute from the guards stationed by the castle gates. After Emery spoke briefly with the local guard commander about their accommodations–he remained behind to discuss something else with the stallion–they finally reached the throne room, where Equestria’s diarchs lay waiting for them.

The two alicorns sat imperially on their thrones, Celestia and Luna of Equestria, and the rest of them all bowed in reverence. Celestia’s voice was warm and motherly, as to be expected from the Princess of the Sun.

“Rise, my little ponies. Cadance, it’s so good to see you again!”

“Princess Celestia, thanks for having me here again," said Cadance. She met Celestia in the center of the throne room and the two of them embraced. “I hope we’re not taking up too much of your time, Your Highness–Twilight and I are planning to get lunch soon, then head to the Historical Art Society for their exhibit. If you have time tomorrow morning, I’d like to discuss what I wrote about in my letter with you.”

“Cadance, there’s really no need to be so formal; but to answer your question, of course.” Celestia smiled, and Cadance looked surprisingly bashful.

“Sorry, even now I forget sometimes that I’m a princess too.”

Celestia waved a hoof. “I understand.”

She turned her attention to Twilight, who looked ready to knock Cadance aside to receive her own embrace from Celestia. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student–it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve enjoyed your recent correspondence regarding the history of the Crystal Empire and magic of the mind. Tomorrow afternoon, perhaps, you could join me for tea in the courtyard so we can share a proper conversation about your findings.”

Twilight trotted up to Celestia, beaming at the praise. Celestia leaned down to nuzzle her, hugging the smaller unicorn with her swan-like wings.

“Oh, I’m so glad you thought it was interesting! I was surprised to find anything about the Crystal Empire at all in the Royal Canterlot Library since you said before that it had mostly been forgotten in the thousand years after it vanished, but I’ve slowly been piecing together what I can from the books Cadance has been sending me."

Pavise suddenly noticed the younger Princess Luna standing nearby–when had she left the throne? Cadance and Twilight both gave her a smile, which she returned uneasily.

“Princess Cadance; Twilight Sparkle; we are pleased to see you both here again. We pray your journey from the Crystal Empire was most uneventful?” The lunar Princess had a peculiar way of speaking, but Pavise thought she seemed nice enough, in a reserved sort of way.

“Long and uneventful, like always,” Cadance said with a smile. “I hope you’ve been well, Princess Luna.” It seemed Luna didn't have the same aversion to formality that her elder sister did; Luna nodded, seemingly satisfied with her piece of the conversation.

Pavise followed their chat with half-interest from his post a few trots away until he noticed Emery return from the castle foyer.

“Pavise,” Emery said, “Looks like we won’t really be needed while the Princess is here on personal affairs, so we’ll have some liberty.” He looked almost uncomfortable to be let loose from his guard duties, and Pavise sympathized with the stallion. From what he knew, Emery did little in his free time except train and sleep; the pony had practically been born to be a guard.

“About time,” Pavise said with a stifled yawn. He glanced outside an ornate bay window that overlooked the Equestrian valley below and gauged the sunlight. “How about we go down and get some chow–I’m starving.”

Emery gave him a pointed look before finally relenting. It looked as though the rest of their squad had already left for lunch. “Chow’s this way,” he said, and the two left the mares to their business.

“Emery, I know that we’ve been given a little leave, but do we have anything else on the schedule today?” Pavise nosed his armor off and onto the simple purple bunk that would serve as his place of rest for the weekend. The guard barracks were surprisingly large, and there had been more than enough space to accommodate Cadance’s party and then some.

Emery grunted a response, tugging stubbornly at the leather straps of his own armor; Pavise trotted over and pulled the strap loose with his teeth. “Thanks Pavise,” Emery said. His otherwise stone-colored coat caught the twilight sun’s rays, now unburdened by his armor, and shone a near blinding white.

“As for your question–I already told you, we’re just supposed to be relaxing this weekend. I’d take advantage of it if I were you, since we’ll start training again soon. If you’re feeling generous, you can chaperone the others on their trip out to Canterlot tonight.”

Pavise tried to mask his disappointment with a nod. “Sure, no worries.” Secretly, he had been hoping the Princess would need an escort somewhere, not his fellow guards. But he supposed Cadance was safe enough in Equestria’s capital city, especially now that the changelings had been dealt with; he doubted the Canterlot Royal Guard would be lowering their defenses anytime soon.

“Just don’t let any of those colts get you into trouble. We represent the Princess and the Crystal Empire here,” Emery said with conviction. Pavise was tempted to roll his eyes, but he knew the stallion was right.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll make sure they behave.”

When he had finally wrangled the lot of Cadance’s guard interested in touring the city, they set out sometime around sunset. Though the general splendor of the city was something to behold, what surprised Pavise the most was the attention they had received. Perhaps it had been due to their unique glittering coats and imposing presence–all of the stallions in Cadance’s guard were well built, and with their short hair and well-kept fur it was easy to tell they were guards even out of uniform.

One snobbish looking mare had asked Realgar to come to dinner with her not a few hoofsteps into the Financial District, to which he almost agreed until she revealed that she only wanted to show him off to the rest of her posh cohorts.

“Darling, your coat is such an extravagant shade of ruby red! Whatever is your coat routine?” said the obnoxious mare. Her nose couldn’t have pointed more upward if it were lashed directly to the sun.

“Uh, water? Soap too,” said Realgar with a mischievous grin, “...most of the time.” His response was nearly enough to turn the mare off by itself, but luckily Pavise had already figured out her angle and stepped in between the two of them.

“Well, I’m sure that would have been fun and all, but we really have to be going–wouldn’t want to be late for our mud-wrestling match later, right boys?” At the mere suggestion of willfully soiling themselves, the mare let free her disgust and abruptly broke away from the guards; meanwhile, Pavise and his comrades couldn’t help but chuckle at her displeasure. She trotted back to her friends, and… Well, they were also laughing at her, so maybe they weren’t really friends.

Despite their unwanted attention, the day was enjoyable enough, and by the end most of the guards had gotten their fill of exploring, and of trying to find pretty mares to take back to the castle. Pavise had expressly warned them against making fools of themselves, or misrepresenting the Crystal Empire, but he himself had hoped to spy Cadance somewhere in town; none of them had any sort of luck that night.

Pavise and the others sped directly to the chow hall after they’d returned–if there was one thing guards had in common, it was their love affair with the chow hall. Unfortunately the castle food seemed much the same as their normal chow back home, contrary to what he had expected: sweet oats and dandelion salads for everypony. Pavise stepped through the chow line absentmindedly and took a seat with the rest of his squad by the entrance, giving him a pleasant view of the facility.

The place was as flashy as the rest of the castle, filled with off-duty guards chatting, drinking, and generally enjoying themselves. Suits of armor dotted the perimeter of the room, and between stained glass windows depicting various feats of heroism done by Equestria’s greats hung an impressive coat of arms–two crossed spears and a shield emblazoned with Celestia’s golden sun cutie mark.

He only thought it a pity the carpet that sprawled nearly the whole length of the hall, a regal purple hue with cross-stitched embroidery, also lay beneath the dining tables, but Pavise supposed that with unicorns staffing the castle it was likely a breeze to clean.

“So, what do you all think of the city?” Pavise asked the table between bites. Bright Strike licked the remnants of dinner from his lips and belched, much to the smirking amusement of everypony else.

“It’s no Crystal Empire, but the castle's pretty. I just wish everypony wasn’t so…”

“Stuck up?” one guard suggested.

“Self-absorbed?” another offered.

Bright smirked, but shook his head. “Nah, I don’t really mind that. It’s just that everypony seems to be off in their own little world, like they’re always at a foreleg’s distance from everypony else. It’s nothing like back home.”

Garnet Sand, typically a reserved and unopinionated pony, startled the rest of the table when he slammed a hoof down and glared at the rest of them.

“Well I think it’s because everypony here is too concerned about what everypony else thinks–especially the unicorns. But that’s how most of them are, which is why you’ve gotta get yourself a pegasus mare.”

Pavise squinted at the queer mug Garnet had been nursing, then at the chow line where beverage kegs and similar steins had been set up–it seemed he’d gotten ahold of some honey wine, the kind that warmed a pony up from the inside even if it was freezing cold outside. Pavise wasn’t much for drinking himself, but didn’t see the harm in the rare treat while they had so much downtime.

“There he goes again, always talking about pegasi. Have you even been with a pegasus before?” said Realgar incredulously. The rest of the table grew in their smug amusement when the stallion eventually caved.

“N… No. But that doesn’t mean anything!”

“You know,” said Bright as he sipped his own mug of wine, “I hear the Princess–our Princess, I mean–was a unicorn before she was an alicorn. But I’ve never seen her act like any of the mares here.”

“Really?” asked Pavise suddenly–he hadn’t meant to blurt out his thoughts like that, and ignored the cherry heat of his minor humiliation as a few ponies turned to look.

Realgar grinned, nudging him in the side. “Sir, of all ponies I thought you would have known that, since you’re her number one fan and all.”

“I can’t know everything about the Princess. I just know what I know–and I know that the Princess is definitely not like the unicorns we saw today. She’s… how do I put it…” Pavise rubbed his chin, hoping to think of anything that wouldn’t earn him more teasing.

“She’s a Princess, but she still seems like a normal pony I think. Don’t get me wrong–I have nothing but the utmost respect for Princesses Celestia and Luna,” Pavise said quickly under the mounting curiosity of the native Canterlot guards around them, “but with Princess Cadance it feels like there’s less distance there. I guess she just feels really down to earth, like you could tell her anything and she wouldn’t look at you any differently.”

“Maybe, but just don’t go telling her anything, Pavise, or the Prince will have you marching circles around the Empire for weeks–and that’s if he doesn’t toss you out of the guard entirely for salivating over his wife,” said Realgar with a grin so wide he could barely get the words out. The rest of the guards all snickered as Pavise shot the smaller stallion a wicked glare.

“And you’d better watch what you say yourself, or I’ll take you for a ruck march down the mountain and back.” A few chuckles rang out as Realgar all at once pinned his ears and his smile was dashed away. He was a known slacker, and exercise posed a greater threat to him than any assailant ever could–it was a wonder he made it into Cadance’s bodyguard at all.

But soon enough they were all laughing together again, having moved on to the next topic of interest as guards often did in the mess hall. Pavise lingered a little on the thought of what Cadance might have been like as a unicorn, though he still couldn’t imagine her as anything but the kind, beautiful, honest mare he had always known her to be.

By the time they had all finished Luna had long since raised the moon, and the majority of them crashed into their bunks immediately, snoring before they even hit the fabric. The next day, they planned to venture out into the city again; Cadance would have her talk with Celestia, and rejoin Twilight sometime later in the afternoon for more planned activities. Pavise hoped to hear a little about the theater performance from Cadance when they eventually returned, if he had the chance to ask.

Pulled by the automatic flow of hungry stallions from the barracks to mess, Pavise accompanied his group to the dining facility for breakfast and coffee. One of the other guards actually had to request coffee from the cafeteria staff the previous night, the Canterlot guards particularly taken by the capital’s signature fragrant dandelion tea; he was pleasantly surprised to see the bitter wake-up drought waiting for them in the breakfast line.

Everypony was already hypnotized by their meals when Pavise carefully disembarked his tray and sat down. He resolved to make little conversation before the coffee kicked in, but suddenly found himself pondering their discussion yesterday on the train.

He had told them a little about the first few weeks, and the awkward uncertainty of Shining's training regimen, which oscillated back and forth between extremes of brutally difficult and surprisingly lenient. He'd also tried to explain why he'd joined in the first place, but everypony already knew–they’d sniffed out his infatuation for the Princess within the first week of guard duty. But it occurred to him that he’d never heard any of his comrades’ stories. He quickly swallowed his last bite of honeyed oats and turned to his right.

“So, Realgar,” Pavise said, catching the stallion off guard; he lifted his muzzle from the plate and slurped the rest of his oats from his face. “What made you want to join the guard?”

“Well,” Realgar said, remembering at the last moment to grab the napkin folded delicately in front of him and hoof off the remaining dinner from his snout, “I had always wanted to join, but never really got around to it until, uh, after the whole Sombra thing. My mom and dad wanted me to be a mailpony, like my sister, but I can’t stand just sitting around like that.”

“For me,” said Bright Strike enthusiastically, “it was about the honor of serving. Some ponies in my family were guards a long time ago, and my parents all but forced me to join up when recruiting started.” He thought for a moment, then added, ”I don’t know that I can ever measure up to ponies like Prince Shining Armor, but seeing what they did for us made me want to do all I could to return the favor.”

Pavise nodded along–he was eternally grateful to the Crystal Empire’s new rulers, after all. Many Crystal Ponies felt the same way, which was the only silver lining regarding their struggles to bolster the guard from nothing. They had always managed to find more ponies than they were able to train at once. The biggest hurdle was still finding enough ponies to help lead training cycles; besides Shining himself, only Pavise and Emery had yet earned the approval to do so.

Murmurs of agreement rang out from the crystal ponies’ table, and soon the rest of Cadance’s guards were sharing their own enlistment stories, ranging from ordinary to quite ludicrous; one stallion claimed that Luna had appeared to him in a dream and told him to join, but after being pressed for details, he quickly admitted that it might have just been his grandmother.

Emery, who had silently sipped his coffee during their storytelling, finally opened his mouth when one of the castle staff nearly sprinted into their table from the hall leading to the throne room.

“Sirs, please, it’s-” the mare could hardly speak; her sides heaved from exertion and strands of mane fallen loose from her tight raspberry bun now clung damp with sweat to her face. Some of Celestia’s guards seated nearby stared with concern, and the rest of Pavise’s group had all stopped eating.

Before she could finish, a mare loosed a piercing scream from the throne room. Pavise immediately recognized Cadance’s voice, and the entire table nearly doubled over from the quickness with which Cadance’s guards left their meals and galloped out of the mess hall. The maid that had run to warn them attempted to follow, but was too winded to keep up.

A million thoughts raced through Pavise’s head as the squad hurtled down the hall, sprinting alongside many of Celestia’s guards who had been posted throughout the castle and had also heard the trouble.

In less than a minute they arrived at the scene: Cadance lay sprawled on the floor, her beautiful rose and gold mane pooled carelessly around her as tears streamed down her cheeks. Twilight curled up beside her, face buried in Cadance’s side as convulsive sobs wracked her small purple frame.

Both Celestia and Luna lingered nearby, their regal muzzles locked in reserved yet empathetic pity. Pavise wondered if they had all been eating breakfast together moments before.

Pavise made to run to the Princess, worried that perhaps she had been attacked, but Emery jumped in front of him. “Princess! Are you alright?” he called out.

She gave no response. The other alicorns glanced over, but also remained silent.

Cadance wept quietly, graceful even under duress, but Twilight made no effort to hide her anguished screams. She pounded the marble floor beneath them uselessly, repeating something that Pavise couldn’t quite make out.

One of Celestia’s guards, a unicorn mare, finally trotted up to the two stallions after realizing who they were, and glanced through their number as though searching for who to relay the situation to. Emery nodded to her, a nearly imperceptible motion.

“Captain Emery of Her Majesty Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s Royal Bodyguard. What happened?” Pavise had to admire the stallion’s composure; the blood pumping through his veins at breakneck pace made him feel like he could buck whoever had hurt the Princess clear across the castle, and he fidgeted anxiously.

The unicorn nodded; dislodging her helmet, she bowed her head.

“Sir, I’m sorry to say that Prince Shining Armor was… assassinated.”

She choked the word out. Assassinated. It was likely not a word ponies heard often, even amongst guards. The unicorn had been quiet enough, but once the name had left her mouth, Cadance at last let out another wail, identical in sorrow to the one that had drawn them all to the throne room. Pavise felt like he had been seared with a hot iron, like the breath had been hooked in his lungs and ripped out; he felt all the adrenaline leave his body, leaving his mind in a daze.

Assassinated? Shining Armor was… killed?

It didn’t even seem possible. The gravity of her words seemingly shocked the rest of the guard into silence, and Emery held his head low in solemn acceptance after a flicker of disbelief.

Unsure, the guardsmare continued. “It happened yesterday, in the dead of night.” She winced, perhaps regretting her choice of words, but there was no way to break news like this any more easily.

“A courier arrived a few moments ago with the news. The perpetrator was caught and thrown in the dungeon shortly after. Apparently, the only thing he was carrying was some sort of vial–we thought it might have been poison, but it was empty. I’m... sorry,” she repeated with finality, shaking her head.

It took nearly a minute before anypony else spoke. At last, Emery raised his eyes and looked over at the mess of Cadance and Twilight on the ground.

“...I see. May the Prince rest easy; I’m sure the whole Crystal Empire will be mourning alongside the Princess. He was a good stallion, and we… we owe everything to them.” Through the haze of his mind, Pavise thought he could hear Emery sniff back tears; Pavise only then realized that he had already shed a few.

“We’ll cancel the Princess’s plans today and head down to the station at once; please send somepony down ahead of us to secure the platform.” The guardsmare nodded as Emery continued with impressive restraint. “Can any of your guards accompany us through the city? I don’t want to take any ri-”

A flurry of movement caught their attention. Cadance sprung off the floor and made a break for an open window near the entrance of the throne room.

It was Celestia that at once ignited her horn and caught the alicorn mid-flight, tugging her gently yet firmly to the floor with her golden magic; Cadance’s wings flapped desperately, as if to break free from the magic through sheer willpower.

“Let me go! Let me go! I need to see him!” Cadance screamed with impotent rage as she flapped even harder. “I need to see my Shining!”

Celestia only shook her head, appearing for once as tired and lonesome as her thousands of years rarely indicated. “I can’t let you do that, Cadance. You’ll never be able to make the journey back to the Crystal Empire on your own. I will make the arrangements for the train at once, but must calm down.”

Cadance shot fire at the older alicorn, ears pinned and tail lashing dangerously, but Celestia remained undeterred. In the end, Cadance could only hang her head in defeat, her wings falling limply to her sides. Celestia snuffed her magic, and Cadance toppled to the floor like a ragdoll.

Princess Luna, who had remained silent during the confrontation, walked softly to Cadance and gave her a compassionate nuzzle in a rare display of affection.

“The coming days will be difficult, Cadance, but you must persevere. Now more than ever your ponies will need your strength. Grieve when you can, but this is our burden as alicorns–we should not neglect our subjects for our own feelings.” Though her words were pragmatic, sensible, they were also laden with understanding. With great effort Cadance eventually helped herself from the floor, leaning heavily against Luna’s side.

The rest of her guards followed solemnly, single-file as they trudged onward to the Princess’s chambers. Emery nudged Pavise along with them.

"I'll catch up in a bit–I need to chat with Princess Celestia about our return to the Empire." He spoke devoid of emotion, and Pavise nodded grimly.

Celestia spoke quietly to Twilight, who still had not removed herself from the throne room floor.

“I’m so sorry, Twilight...”

But Twilight was inconsolable, and her strangled cries for the brother she’d lost echoed hauntingly throughout the castle.

The Second Chapter

Shameless

Nopony said a word as they boarded the train bound for the Crystal Empire under the withering apathy of the afternoon sun–it was just their luck that the train had been all the way across the country when it had been recalled, dashing hopes of an early departure. Pavise and Emery shepherded the Princess to the rearmost train car; it wasn’t strictly necessary, given that Celestia had arranged for them to be this trip’s only passengers, but the guards were wary nonetheless. The rest of their group followed wordlessly, the heavy plodding of their armored hooves their only response to the oppressive atmosphere.

They all sat together, clustered protectively around Cadance. Pavise sat across from her, fortunate under any other circumstance; he couldn’t bring himself to feel happy about it now. He glanced toward the Princess, the unbelievable news long since having stolen her joy. Her lifeless eyes, usually vibrant with emotion and feminine beauty, bore into the shuddering metal beneath them.

Unfocused, Pavise lost himself in the mire of his dark thoughts. To hear that a pony, especially a Prince, had been assassinated was especially inconceivable. Ponies rarely died to anything other than natural causes or illness, and save for the unusual brutality of Sombra’s regime Pavise had never witnessed another pony harbor murderous intent for another. A chill crept up his spine as he imagined the twisted individual capable of equicide.

They reached the Crystal Empire sometime after midnight–the trip had been just as long the first time, but somehow felt doubly slow now–and the guards wrapped around the Princess as she was coaxed from the train and onto the station. Many more guards, although none from Shining Armor’s former protection, awaited them on the platform. A few blinked fatigue from their faces, shivering in the night wind; Pavise idly wondered how long they had waited for the Princess’s return.

“Is the castle secure?” Emery said, glaring at the nearest guard. Pavise vaguely recognized the lieutenant as one of Shining’s guards, but couldn’t remember his name. He snapped to attention, but his glazed over expression betrayed his mourning.

“...Not yet, sir. There are a few guards still searching for more attackers, but I told everypony else to come with me down to the station to await the arrival of the Princess.” He peered behind Emery at Cadance, whose comatose expression dulled his crystal luster dramatically. “I… If you want, sir, I can take a few stallions back to the Empire and rendezvous with the guards still in the castle, to prepare a sweep.”

Emery nodded, and the lieutenant grabbed a few nearby ponies before galloping off into the snow. The rest of them left a few moments later, reduced to a brisk walk to match Cadance’s lethargic strides.

Every window of every house glowed with candlelight as they finally reached the city, shining a bright vigil over the ponies as they walked to the castle. The long shadows cast by the countless dancing flames haunted Pavise, and the barren thoroughfare leading to the castle seemed to stretch before them infinitely. Pavise shuddered in his armor, keeping his head low as the bitter wind nipped at his face.

“Looks like the whole city already knows,” said one guard from behind him. Pavise suddenly felt angry for the stallion’s pointless remark, though he knew that he was only trying to lighten the mood. There simply wasn’t anything that could defeat the prevailing sobriety of Shining’s death. Even the signs of nearby shops hanging below decorative canopies whined on their hinges, as if the city itself mourned his passing; the scant trees that dotted the city groaned their own wailing grief in the night.

When they finally reached the castle, a few more guards spilled out of the supporting spiral stairwells and trotted over to them, rendering curt salutes to Emery.

“Sir, we’ve secured the castle–there are no other ponies hiding anywhere as far as we can tell.” After finishing his address, the guard–Pavise noted it was the lieutenant from earlier–gestured for Emery to follow him aside. They spoke in hushed tones out of earshot, and Emery returned to the group, freshly bothered.

“Princess, the maids have prepared the guest suite for you to stay in tonight.” Pavise stood puzzled for a moment before realizing with a jolt that it was possible nopony had yet moved Shining’s body from the royal chambers.

Cadance suddenly raised her head, the despair clear in her ragged voice. “...Can I see him, Emery?”

Pavise blurted the words out before he could stop himself. “I- You can’t, Princess. It’s…” His eyes darted to Emery in a silent plea for help.

“You need to rest, Princess–we all do. It would be better to start sorting things out tomorrow,” Emery said after a pensive few seconds. Some of the other guards voiced their agreement, though not too confidently.

“...I understand.” Cadance returned her stare to the ground and Emery visibly relaxed. She gave no more protest as they ushered her into the castle; Pavise could only hope that she would find some comfort in Luna’s realm of dreams.

The guards moved Shining’s body to the medical wing of the castle the next morning. Emery had taken charge of the transfer, leaving Pavise behind to watch over the Princess. Despite their prodding, she hadn’t eaten breakfast, and had almost refused to be led to the throne room, flanked by more than a dozen ponies. In the end, she hadn’t asked to see Shining Armor again; she didn’t say anything at all that day.

Funeral preparations began soon after–slow, painful, and utterly confusing in procedure. Traditionally, crystal ponies that had passed away had always been interred in the crystal caves on the outskirts of the city. Nopony knew what sort of geological event had created the caverns, or the beautiful beams of enchanted gypsum that lay therein, but custom dictated that when a crystal pony died, they were to be placed among a particularly magical bed of crystals toward the rear of the cave that breathed the energy of life and death; the crystals were alive, for lack of a better word. Any ponies laid to rest amongst the cave’s magical crystals were eventually absorbed into the magical life force of the cave.

It was for this reason that planning Shining Armor’s funeral was so daunting. Although he was–had been–Prince of the Crystal Empire, he wasn’t a crystal pony, and nopony knew if the crystals would take to his body the same way.

Members of Shining’s castle staff, royal advisors, senior guards, Crystal Empire nobility, and even a few Crystal Empire historians had subsequently formed a council to decide the Prince’s eternal fate. Cadance hadn’t been asked to chair the council, mostly because she couldn’t be persuaded to do much of anything at present; Pavise and Emery officially represented the Princess’s wishes, but Pavise could barely manage more than a slight nod at any given proposal. Amidst a war of opposing ideas, he couldn’t keep the miserable sight of Cadance’s anguished form out of his head long enough to cast his own opinion.

“Perhaps we could bury him, the same way the rest of Equestria does,” somepony said, a tentative suggestion.

“What, and deny him his rights as a pony of the Crystal Empire?” said a stern amethyst stallion, one of Shining’s former advisors. “Prince Shining Armor risked his life, and eventually lost it for the sake of our Empire–he deserves to take his final rest as a Crystal Pony would.”

The discussion carried on this way well after the sun had retreated behind the caps of the distant Crystal Mountains, everypony only breaking for a brief lunch half past noon. Around seven in the evening, the council finally reached the tentative decision that for all intents and purposes, Shining Armor was just as much a crystal pony as the rest of them, and he had earned the right to rest amongst their dead; dissenters merely hoped that the cave would accept him.

The how of the ceremony having been settled, Shining’s advisors penned letters to his family, as well as to Celestia and Luna, and the funeral was to be held only a week after his death. That day, Pavise volunteered to scout the cave ahead of time, both to ensure its safety and to escape the mounting miasma of grief that had gathered about the castle in preparation for the unfortunate ceremony. The rest of the procession would leave the castle a little while later, and wait by the cave mouth for the all clear.

Walking to the cave was a blur, and Pavise nearly missed the entrance after the aimless jaunt across the city. The cave itself was nestled in a small outcropping of rocks west of the castle, on the edge of the Empire’s borders. A faint whisper of magical energy breathed out of the entrance; when he finally entered the cave, he was taken aback by the sheer beauty of what was essentially his city’s mausoleum.

Inside, giant gypsum clusters sprouted like crystal geysers from odd angles inside the expansive passage that led to the enchanted crystal bed, illuminated by magic and pulsing vibrantly. The cave walls themselves were entirely crystalized, a faint bluish hue emanating from within. Beneath his careful hoofsteps the blueish stone seemed to ripple outward, as if he were walking on the surface of a lake.

Pavise had never been to the crystal caves himself–crystal ponies lived much longer than normal ponies, and most of the funerals he remembered had been held to honor the lives of slaves that perished in service to Sombra. They were smaller affairs, and Pavise hadn’t known any of the dead or their families enough to receive an invitation. All of a sudden he felt guilty for enjoying the natural beauty of the place, knowing full well that soon their fallen Prince would be laid to rest amongst the many perished souls of the Crystal Empire; he quickened his pace to the main passage.

Although the cave’s atrium had enough space to fit a small army inside, there were few detours or side passages, and after a few minutes brushing aside immense fallen crystals and probing what little cave wall he could reach without trespassing through the enchanted crystal bed, he was satisfied that there were no ponies waiting to ambush the Princess or any of the other funeral attendees.

“Cave is secured!” said Pavise, loud enough to carry to the others hopefully waiting outside. After a few moments of uncertain silence, gradually he heard the rhythmic plodding of many hooves as one by one ponies entered the cave.

Cadance and her bodyguards descended first. Emery spearheaded the formation, and the rest of the guards formed a protective shell around their Princess, matching her pace.

Pavise thought that, despite the unimaginable agony she must have been feeling, Cadance still looked noble, statuesque even. Her mane had been brushed since the last time he had seen her, and her face had been scrubbed of tears. And yet, he could still see the quiver in her lip as they came to a rest across from him, beside the bed of crystals. She seemed to stare at nothing at all, and he desperately wished he could comfort her; but he could only walk over to the ponies stiffly, greeting Emery before falling in beside him.

Methodically, reverently, the rest of the ponies made their way into the cave. Twilight and two older unicorns were next, and Pavise gleaned that they were probably Shining’s parents. The light gray unicorn mare sniffled and leaned on the taller blue stallion beside her. He was whispering something to her, and his eyes welled with tears when she responded, pitiful and hoarse.

Twilight looked terrible. Her mane was a mess, and her misty eyes were clamped shut; her ears splayed out behind her and her tail drooped low, gathering dust as she walked between her mother and father. She nearly tripped over a stray rock, and Pavise was certain she would have remained on the ground if she’d fallen.

“...You can’t really be gone, right? It has to be some kind of sick joke. What kind of pony would just kill another pony, especially somepony like you, Shining? Who could hate you? You’re the best stallion I’ve ever met–the best big brother ever.” Twilight’s ceaseless questions to nopony in particular only drew more sorrow from her parents, both of whom pressing closer to her side as if to hold her up.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both walked into the cave afterward, wearing practiced masks of composed commiseration. They had likely seen countless funerals over the centuries, the passing of ponies both close and distant. Bowing their heads as they approached, they shared a few words with Cadance that Pavise couldn’t hear, then took up a little space behind them, close to the wall. Celestia spared a look at Twilight, but said nothing when the unicorn and her family took their places nearby.

Many more ponies filtered in, and despite the warmth that hundreds of pony bodies congregating together brought, the cave still felt as cold as the purpose that had gathered them all. When the flow of attendees ceased at last, the ceremony began.

Pavise had never attended a funeral in the caves, but he knew intrinsically what to do, and so did everypony else as they closed their eyes and began to hum. It was no particular melody, not to Pavise’s knowledge at least. Just one unified, gentle note that carried through the cave; after a few moments, the vibrating response of the cave's magical crystals met their hums, filling them all with a sort of peace despite their heartbreak. It was the sort of thing only Crystal Ponies could understand, and Pavise inwardly hoped the other Princesses wouldn't be too alienated by their ritual.

He couldn’t see to be sure, but he knew that by now Shining’s body was slowly, reverently being carried through the cave and toward the crystal bed.

Step. Step. Step.

He had met the ritual bearers, the ones escorting the Prince to his final resting place, during the arrangements days prior. They were a stout bunch of stallions, led by a gruff lad named Rock Salt, and had without any additional convincing been ready to carry Shining’s precious body on the day of the funeral. Their heavy yet equally careful hoofsteps echoed throughout the cave, providing a sort of percussive accompaniment to their humming.

Step.

Step.

Step.

When the hoofsteps ceased, everypony fell silent, and Pavise opened his eyes.

There he was. Before the crystal bed, dressed in his decorated service coat, lay Shining Armor. Medals forged in gold and silver shone dimly in the light, and the many colored ribbons on his chest spanned a rainbow across one side. It was odd to see him lying there, peacefully, as though he were only sleeping. Pavise half-expected him to jump up, chuckling mischievously as he explained that it had all been an elaborate prank.

“Surprise! I got you guys pretty good, huh?”

But no such reassurance came. He was still, as if bound to the ceremonial litter upon which he had been carried by invisible chains. The funeral bearers parted silently as Rock Salt stepped forward.

“A thousand years,” he said with a deep melancholy. He had an unexpectedly eloquent manner of speaking that contrasted sharply with his sturdy frame. “We spent a thousand years crushed under the hooves of Sombra’s reign. No freedom, no love, no hope. When Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came to our aid and defeated him, we thought we were saved, but Sombra cursed us to serve him even from beyond the veil–we were vanished, gone without a trace. Nopony knew what had happened to us, and we were slowly forgotten.” Rock Salt looked at Celestia and Luna, who nodded knowingly. His forlorn gaze swept across the crowd, and then fell upon Shining Armor’s lifeless body, softening.

“When Sombra returned, we returned as well. We were confused, dazed, and recovering from a thousand year stupor that stole away our memories, as well as our identities. It wasn’t until Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance came here, until they restored our Crystal Heart, that we finally remembered who we were.”

He turned bodily to face Shining Armor’s body, and knelt down low–the rest of the ponies in the cave, including Celestia and Luna themselves, knelt with him.

“We can only thank you for saving us, Prince Shining Armor, and for giving us the hope we never thought would return. I pray to the Great Gypsum spirits that you are accepted as one of us; accepted as a Crystal Pony.”

Whispering something quietly, Rock finally stood, and with him everypony else. The ritual concluded, he glanced with uncertainty at Cadance. She hadn’t reacted at all to the speech, and her glassy eyes pointed straight ahead, at something far away nopony else could see. Luna broke from her place and shouldered a few guards aside to stand beside Cadance.

“Cadance, you should speak with him–give him your goodbyes, and your sorrows, so that you might face tomorrow with more strength than today.” Luna gently nudged the smaller alicorn, and with mighty hesitation did Cadance finally drag herself away from the guards formation, which parted to her either side. All eyes fell on her as she stepped closer to Shining’s body, and at last she truly opened her eyes.

“Shiny. My Shining Armor… I never should have left you here,” Cadance said, her voice scratched to a whisper. She collapsed beside him as fresh tears enveloped her face, and she buried her nose in his cobalt mane.

Pavise looked away, respectfully, as Cadance sobbed and mumbled her goodbyes; gone now was any semblance of togetherness with which Cadance had walked into the cave. A peculiar sensation wet Pavise’s nose, and he realized that he was also crying–not because of Cadance's sadness, but because of his own.

Pavise and Emery had worked with Shining since they graduated from training, and it was under his hoof that they learned how to train the rest of the guards. He had been sort of like an older brother figure to them all, and even though Pavise's heart burned for Cadance, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't going to miss Shining's corny jokes or jovial attitude, or even the seemingly never ending gallops around the city in the morning. It was like the guard was a wagon wheel and Shining was the steel that reinforced the wood underneath–with him gone, any bump in the road could send them into a splintered mess.

He wasn’t sure how long they stood that way, but nopony dared to drag Cadance away from her husband–they were too preoccupied with wiping away tears or wailing unashamedly along with their Princess anyway. Finally, Cadance drew a loving hoof across Shining Armor’s face, brushing his mane away and kissing his cheek softly.

“...Goodbye, my love. I don’t know what I’ll do without you.” Luna moved to help her, but Cadance stood uneasily by herself, rubbing her tears away only to be replaced by fresh sadness. When the guards welcomed her back into their circle, she shook her head and repeatedly muttered to herself. “My Shiny… My poor Shiny…”

Twilight’s family also gave their condolences. His mother smiled bitterly through her tears and stroked his side for a long time, recounting childhood memories and the trials of growing from colt to stallion.

“You were such an amazing son… I’m so proud of the stallion you became, Shining.”

His father only shook his head, the words seemingly taken from him upon seeing the motionless form of his colt below. Twilight had to be pulled away by Celestia after crumpling in a heap onto her brother’s corpse, howling and screaming like an injured filly.

“No! Don’t take my brother away! Please! We can still help him, I-I can find a spell, maybe something in the Canterlot Library that can bring him back! Celestia, please don’t!”

It was difficult to watch the spectacle of her misery, and Celestia could only coo softly as she pressed the sobbing unicorn into her side and covered her with her motherly wings.

A few other ponies, including Emery and the other guards, paid their respects afterward. Captain Moldavite, the leader of Shining’s guard, was strangely absent, and Pavise wondered if he or any other of Shining’s guards had also been slain during the assassination–he should have heard about it, though.

When his turn came to bid Shining Armor goodbye, Pavise felt ashamed when his lips parted and closed inaudibly. What would he even say? Pavise had known Shining Armor to be a tremendously capable and kindhearted stallion, but…

He was in love with Cadance.

Pavise knew he felt the same sorrow as everypony else that Shining had died, but his feelings for the Princess gave way to a sickening joy. Standing before his lifeless body now, it felt nauseating to try and invent some momentary kindness when deep down he had always wished for Cadance’s availability so that he could court her himself.

He lingered for a while in front of the Prince’s corpse, countless lines conjured and thrown away, but in the end he said nothing and moved away.

When at last everypony’s goodbyes had been said, the ritual bearers finally moved his body to the bed of crystals and said a small prayer together.

At once the crystals began to illuminate, and little buds of gemstone crept across Shining Armor’s form. One by one, little shards of magical energy formed over his body in patches of otherworldly light. Twilight cried anew at the sight, but made no more attempts to dash wildly toward her brother. Cadance looked on, burning the last image of her heart pony into her memory.

Everypony else held their breath as the last bit of alabaster fur was covered by the crystals. With one last brilliant pulse of light, the magical glow died, and it was finished.

With the most pressing matter finally having been settled, Emery launched a formal investigation into the assassination. Though they apparently hadn’t had a chance to discuss it, Celestia volunteered to leave behind some more experienced guards to help investigate and fill additional patrols as per Cadance’s intended negotiations.

As it turned out, Captain Moldavite had been missing from the funeral because he and Topaz Dust–the guard who had been on duty the night of Shining Armor’s murder–had been thrown into a dungeon cell to await their trial for negligence. At least nopony else had been killed that night; it was still hard to be grateful, though.

About a week or so later, Emery formed a tribunal of advisors and senior guards–Pavise included–to determine the fate of Moldavite and Topaz. All parties involved gathered in a grand ballroom carved from the castle interior as the morning sun still listed further into the sky.

Pavise watched with disinterest as the accused entered the makeshift courtroom, guided loosely by their former comrades. It wasn’t as if they could go anywhere even if they did run–there were still dozens of borrowed stallions patrolling the streets for any lingering evils.

The head of the council, one of Shining’s advisors called Crystal Clear, prompted a retelling of the night’s events from Topaz’s perspective; he was the chief witness, after all. According to his testimony, a hooded pony had darted out from the shadows and bucked him once in the head, knocking him unconscious. When he came to, Shining’s door had been left wide open, as well as a window by his bedside, and the Prince was dead.

Topaz and Moldavite were interrogated until noon, but their stories remained consistent throughout: Topaz maintained that he’d been taken by surprise, and Moldavite had of course been off duty and asleep when Shining was killed. Their answers exhausted, the two defendants waited in shameful silence as the council discussed the matter in hushed tones amongst themselves.

Pavise had generally agreed with whatever anypony else had said, not truly listening to the discussion. As far as he was concerned, removal from the service was the most appropriate punishment–failing to protect your rulers, disadvantaged or not, was the ultimate failure a guard could bear. Finally, they returned their attention to the two guards, and Crystal tapped the desk for silence.

“After a brief deliberation, the tribunal has determined that you, Topaz Dust, and your superior Captain Moldavite are guilty of negligence and thereby responsible in part for the death of Prince Shining Armor. You both will be stripped of your status as Royal Crystal Pony Guards and dishonorably discharged.”

The senior advisor clopped his hoof against the table once more; a pair of guards each awaiting nearby moved to escort the convicted ponies out of the makeshift courtroom. Topaz didn’t resist, merely hanging his head with shame; Captain Moldavite was expressionless. Although he hadn’t been present that night, guard regulation dictated that the superior was just as culpable as the subordinate for any negligence or lapse in duty. It wasn’t as if he had a charge to argue his sentence, either.

“I… I understand. I failed, I know I did. I’m sorry,” said Topaz as he was led away. He paused once, turning back to seek the attention of the council; he locked eyes with Pavise. “Please tell the Princess I’m so, so sorry,” he pleaded, and in cowardice Pavise looked away.

A few days later, Emery dropped a bombshell on Pavise as they were meeting together over lunch regarding updating the patrol schedule.

“In addition to doubling our patrols around the castle, and upping overnights around the top floor, I want us both stationed outside the Princess’s bedchambers every night for a few weeks–at least until we can deal with the prisoner,” he said, and added as Pavise’s muzzle tensed, “I know that it’s not ideal, but I don’t trust anypony else to guard the Princess other than myself.”

“Well, I guess that won’t be too bad. It’ll take some time to adjust my schedule, but it’s no worse than pulling watch during training.” They had already been running abnormal patrols since the funeral, and it had already begun to wear on Pavise, but at least the exertion was keeping his mind at bay; he had no energy to sort out his feelings, for which he was thankful. Pavise moved to take a bite of his sandwich, but paused when he noticed Emery still staring, mulling something over in his head.

“And… I’d like for us to rotate inside the Princess’s chambers every other night as well. I hate to insult Her Highness’s privacy like this, but I don’t want to take any chances. There’s just too much we don’t know right now, and if whoever is behind this takes out the Princess too our Empire will descend into chaos. There’s not a lot we can do with so few guards, even with Princess Celestia’s support,” Emery said finally, breaking away and huffing. “But at least we stand a better chance if we have a pony outside and in.”

The gears slowly ground in Pavise’s head as he realized with a remorseful blush just what Emery had decided. Pavise would see Cadance’s chambers in person, see her as defenseless and intimately as a lover would. It was a dream come true for a guard in love–if only the circumstances hadn’t been so dismal.

“But-” he began, yet Emery had a point. It was better, at least for now, to spare nopony in making sure the Princess was protected night and day, especially at her most vulnerable. He swallowed his disagreement like a cup of nails and nodded. He would be following orders, protecting the Princess, and there would be nothing else to it.

But why did he feel so dirty about doing it?

Cadance herself had little to comment on these arrangements, and nodded apathetically when Emery finally finished sharing the plan with her the next day.

“Whatever you think is best,” she said before walking off, sallow and frail.

The Third Chapter

Shameless

Pavise led his second patrol that day with little more than mechanical obedience to the orders he’d been given. Somehow the enchanting glow of the colorful cathedral glass that punctuated the glossy walls of the Crystal Castle seemed dull and sallow, and the tall shadows cast on the polished floor threatened to swallow him whole as he crossed one intersection and entered another hall.

One stallion flanked him on the left, a pony named Jasper, and another called Blank Slate walked silently to his right. Both had been Shining’s guards, and now they were Pavise’s subordinates. Their sluggish movements flickered in his peripherals and more than once Pavise had stopped and whipped around, only to be greeted with confusion from his guards. His only explanation is that he was still getting used to the lack of sleep.

Emery had made the decision after the events of the tribunal: the remainder of Shining’s guard, five stallions in total, were drafted into Cadance’s guard. It was odd to suddenly take charge of ponies he barely knew, but it did make sense in light of their numbers.

“They didn’t have anything to do with it, and I want as many experienced ponies as we can get guarding the Princess at all times,” Emery had said.

Cadance now had seventeen guards total, and they were all expected to pull multiple shifts a day patrolling the castle interior and perimeter. Three ponies a patrol, and five patrols a day. The way Emery’s schedule had worked out, Pavise would be on his hooves from mid-afternoon to sundown, excluding the time he had to spend outside–and inside–Cadance’s chambers every night. Tonight he would be outside, he had realized earlier with a start, which thankfully gave him some time to think about how he felt.

The shock of the incredible circumstance still hadn’t quite worn off, and Pavise had spent the previous night slipping in and out of fitful sleep. He had only dreamed of being so close to the Princess, and only because of the worst thing to happen to the Crystal Empire since Sombra did he finally get the chance he had always wanted. But every time he thought of it that way–a chance, an opportunity–he felt the bile rise in his throat. He was supposed to be mourning his Prince, not cheering on his death; and that was indeed how it felt whenever his thoughts drifted to his nightly duty and away from the pain of losing Shining.

Pavise was pulled from his thoughts when one of his ponies spoke up; he realized he had been grimacing, and his muzzle almost hurt from the tension.

“Uh, sir, I think we’re about done for this afternoon. Can we go to chow?” Blank Slate, a powder-white pony with a bronze mane had called out to him a little awkwardly. He lacked enthusiasm–not that Pavise could blame him–and seemed to be taking Shining’s death especially hard. Blank had been one of Shining’s lieutenants, after all, and one of the initial batch of guard trainees that Pavise had graduated with, making it extra awkward that Pavise was now more-or-less in charge of him.

“...I guess you’re right. Let’s do one more loop and head down,” said Pavise.

He heard no protest behind him, but knew that the stallions were tired, and so was he. However, he wasn’t all that enthusiastic about eating either. Nopony really was, especially when Cadance hardly touched any of the food brought to her.

Apparently, the morning after the funeral she had requested that two plates of breakfast be served. When the chef had asked her why, she had said “Well, Shining has to eat too–I’m sure he’ll be down here any minute.” Nopony in the dining hall had the heart to remind her of the truth, and it had taken her half an hour to realize; when she finally remembered, she had abruptly left the dining hall and ran straight to her chambers, where she had been holed up since.

The guards trudged past Cadance’s room, and Pavise couldn’t help but stare at the uninviting chamber door. If they hadn’t checked on her thirty minutes ago, he’d just as easily have believed that nopony was in there. No signs of life, no sounds of the day. Her room was an empty pit of despair, but perhaps it was necessary. She needed to grieve, properly, and who knew how long it would take.

“Alright, we’re done for today. Dismissed.” The two stallions behind him rendered tired salutes and retraced the steps they’d just taken, perhaps trotting a little faster now that they were free for the day. Pavise wasn’t so lucky. He lingered by Cadance’s door, hesitating. His tail swished with anxiety.

‘Hey, Princess, just wanted to see if you needed somepony to talk to.’

‘Princess, it’s Captain Pavise–just wondering if you needed anything.’

‘Princess, I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you.’

His hoof stretched toward the lavish mahogany, hovering, wavering, but he sighed and retreated moments later to the lower floor of the castle.

“Pavise, I want you to go down to the dungeon and check on the prisoner–check on Twilight Sparkle too, while you’re at it,” said Emery in between half-hearted nibbles of breakfast. The mess hall was devoid of any kind of energy–even the food looked depressing, being a simple daisy sandwich with spring leaves and a glass of some sickly-sweet juice. Pavise paused mid-bite.

“Twilight? What is she still doing here? I thought she went back to Ponyville with the rest of her family after the funeral.”

Emery shook his head remorsefully, taking his gaunt face into his hoof. “I don’t know how she convinced me, but she said that it was only right to let her question the assassin, find out his motives–all that jazz. I was notified today that she’s still down there, and she hasn’t left the dungeon since the… you know.” He raised his head and met Pavise’s confused stare. “I shouldn’t have let her have anything to do with it, but she… I dunno. Something about the way she said it, it made me want to let her in. Besides, we’re not doing anything with the prisoner ourselves without the Princess’s orders.”

Pavise nodded slowly, more or less understanding Emery’s reasoning, although he found it strange that a librarian from Ponyville had convinced Emery to let her interfere with the Crystal Empire’s affairs, Element of Harmony or not. He still didn’t really know what that meant.

“I’ll head down there now,” said Pavise. He swallowed the last few morsels of his breakfast and left the table.

Originally, nopony knew that the Crystal Castle had a dungeon. When Twilight Sparkle and her friends had helped find the Crystal Heart, they had discovered a secret passage leading down to the bowels of the castle, and an enchanted door Sombra had created to hide the Heart. Upon further investigation after the fact, more enchanted doors were discovered. These doors led to rooms ranging from storage areas, to apothecary labs, to passages that seemingly stretched on for miles. Among one of the discovered secret areas was the space where their assassin prisoner now resided.

The dungeon itself was nothing special: thick iron bars walled off sections of small caves big enough to hold a dozen ponies at a time, and a single broad path ran between either side’s holding cells. A crack had formed in the wall furthest away, and a stream of water trickled out and pooled on the stone floor. The cells themselves had bedding, buckets of water, and places for prisoners to relieve themselves–well, hypothetical prisoners. Ponies hadn’t the motivation to do anything except mope for the thousand year curse, and nothing especially unlawful had happened after it had been lifted.

As Pavise finished descending the last flight of spiral steps down to the bottom, he spotted Twilight’s form at the very end of the long hallway.

“Halt! Please identify y- oh, excuse me, sir!” a fresh looking guard to the right of the stairs regarded Pavise with sudden realization, quickly squaring his hooves and locking his eyes forward. The spear affixed to his armor clattered noisily on the ground next to him as it broke loose from its home. Pavise didn’t recognize this one–perhaps one that Emery had trained?

“No worries. Are you the only guard down here?” Pavise asked incredulously. A quick scan around the dungeon provided his answer. “Guess so. How are they holding up?” he said, gesturing with his muzzle to Twilight and the prisoner, wherever they’d put him.

The younger stallion remained stiff as a board, barely moving an inch as he replied with a bit too much volume. “Sir, I don’t really know! The unicorn hasn’t really explained what she’s doing, and nopony else really has either–she did ask me to bring her some food, and some books from the library, but-” he reduced to a hushed whisper, glancing nervously toward Twilight, “-they all had to do with Sombra and his magical research.”

Pavise suppressed a shudder. Twilight was messing with Sombra’s magic? Surely no good could come from that. He nodded and made his way over to Twilight, trying his best not to imagine her intentions worse than they hopefully were.

“Miss Twilight, I am Lieutenant Pavise of Her Majesty Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s Royal Bodyguard,” Pavise said. He gave her a slight bow, unsure of her standing amongst Equestria’s nobility. Was she a Princess too? She certainly seemed important enough, but she wasn’t an alicorn, so it was anypony’s guess.

Twilight barely reacted to his presence, her eyes fixed to the book splayed out before her on the ground. She looked a little better than she had at the funeral, but that wasn’t saying much–at least she had brushed her mane. He stole a look from a page she had just made to turn. It was something to do with magic, maybe some kind of ritual or incantation for casting a spell. Truth be told, Pavise didn’t really know what he was looking at, and was about as familiar with magic as he was with flying. Many other books were spread haphazardly in an uneven circle around the unicorn, and it seemed as though she had already made her way through a number of them in the time she’d been there.

Convinced that Twilight wouldn’t return his greeting, he finally dared to look through the bars at the pony chained up in the dungeon’s last cell–and a pair of dark eyes, brimming with malice, pushed him back a few steps. Every strand of fur on his coat pricked up, magnetized by dread, and he silently cursed himself for neglecting to bring his own spear. His eyes darted up to the pony’s forehead, and he realized with a jolt that the pony had a horn, wicked and curved.

“Sombra!” Pavise said. His wits returned to him, and he sped to Twilight’s defense, creating a pony shield between her and the cell bars. Twilight, however, made no move for safety.

“Actually, he’s probably a traitor–one of Sombra’s acolytes, ponies that helped to enslave other ponies and were rewarded with power in return. It says so here, in this copy of The Darkest Hour: King Sombra’s Rise to Power,” said Twilight, completely unbothered by Pavise’s panicked actions. It’s a history book? He really must have been in a fog. Upon further inspection, Pavise realized that the prisoner was indeed not Sombra, but rather a crystal pony with the same kind of unnatural horn that Sombra did.

Crystal Ponies didn’t have horns, so it must have been through a pact with the tyrant king that he gained the same kind of unspeakable power. His horn was capped with a ring of some unusual metal, engraved with writing he couldn’t make out. Though the pony was lashed to the ground with heavy irons and collared, Pavise somehow didn’t believe the assassin couldn’t melt through the bars and gore him, or cast some terrible spell at them both.

“The thing on his horn is a magic inhibitor, in case you were wondering. I asked Princess Celestia to send one here after I learned that he was a unicorn… well, sort of a unicorn. I guess we should be grateful it’s only a cautionary measure–I don’t think he can cast any magic, not anymore at least. It must have something to do with Sombra’s defeat, or the Crystal Heart. It’s just a shame that-” Twilight abruptly fell silent for a few moments.

When Pavise looked back down at her, he realized that she was trying not to cry. “It’s… a shame that it didn’t stop him from killing my brother.” At this, she finally broke contact with the book, and her words flew at the assassin like the corrosive spray of a spitting cobra.

Twilight tore herself from the ground and charged the bars of the cell, stabbing a hoof against the metal as if to slip through and knock the prisoner out of his chains. “You will never understand what you took from me–took from all of us. You might not tell me anything now, but that’s fine. I won’t be leaving here until you’ve told me everything, until you tell me why you took him from me. If you won’t tell me willingly, I’ll tear the thoughts from your head,” Twilight said darkly. Pavise thought he saw a ripple of strange energy from Twilight’s horn, but a second later it was gone.

“Uh…” Pavise was completely taken aback by Twilight’s outburst, so completely unlike her demeanor the first time he had seen her. She seemed like a fairly level-headed unicorn, if a bit bookish, and was no shortage of smiles and enthusiasm around the Princesses. He wasn’t entirely sure she was managing her grief well, but neither was he sure he had any place to say anything. He didn’t know anything about Twilight’s relationship with Shining, but he figured it must have been a close one judging by the venom in her voice and her terrible emotional state.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Twilight said quietly, edging away from the prison bars and settling back down in front of her book. “I just… I miss him. He might have been Cadance’s husband, but he was my BBBFF-” Twilight noticed Pavise’s confusion and quickly clarified, “-my Big Brother Best Friend Forever.” Pavise nodded, not understanding.

“I… see. I’m not sure what to say, except that I’m sorry for your loss. Everypony is,” he added, his voice low. Twilight sniffed, and finally let the tears free. She hung her head.

“...Don’t worry. I’ll make things right, I promise. I won’t leave here until I do.” Pavise didn’t know if she was talking to him, or to Shining Armor, but hoped she was right. He didn’t trust Sombra’s magic, not at all, but maybe she knew what she was doing–she was Celestia’s protégé, after all. Even he knew that.

As he turned to leave, he glanced again at the prisoner and realized that he hadn’t moved or said anything in the time that he’d been down there. The dark unicorn met his gaze with a sort of hatred and loathing that sent a chill down Pavise’s spine. When the pony realized that he’d caught Pavise’s eye, he grinned.

Having finally gotten around to eating something after another round of mind-numbing patrols, Pavise was as ready as ever to work his first night guarding inside Cadance’s private quarters. All at once he felt ashamed and strangely excited to step into the Princess’s chambers for the first time. He had dreamed about it once, a rather lucid fantasy that must have made Luna herself blush–but that was when Shining was still alive, and when mere fantasy was all that was possible. He knew it was still unlikely that anything out of the ordinary would happen, but he couldn’t keep himself from entertaining those ideas again, and that’s what sunk his head further down into his plate.

He couldn’t get his mind off of it, even as his fellow guards spoke and ate around him. It wasn’t much conversation, but some of the guards had attempted to return to some semblance of normalcy now that some time had passed and the initial shock of Shining Armor’s death had worn off. The ponies who weren’t as close to him, even the guards, had the relative luxury of moving on more quickly than Cadance ever could.

“I hope you’ll be more awake tonight than you are right now, Pavise,” said Emery beside him, dragging him from his thoughts. “It’ll be a long night, and she’s counting on us. Just don’t be alarmed when the Princess, uh…” Emery’s voice dropped to a whisper suddenly. “Understand that the Princess is still mourning Shining Armor’s death. She doesn’t sleep very well.” Pavise couldn’t glean much from his cryptic warning, but nodded anyway.

“I’d never fall asleep on duty, Emery–not when so much is at stake. I’m just-just thinking.” Emery nodded, returning to his own leafy dinner.

Emery shifted, lifting a comforting hoof to Pavise’s shoulder. “I get it. Shining Armor’s not going to be forgotten anytime soon, that’s for sure. Between us and him, we probably trained half of these ponies here.” Pavise glanced across the table at the dining ponies, familiar and stranger alike, and those days he spent guiding them through initial training seemed thousands of years away now. He sighed and finished up the last of his meal before heading to the barracks to get ready.

By the time Pavise got his armor back on and affixed his spear, Emery had already left, and Pavise followed suit with much less spirit. He loathed the butterflies in his stomach. There was no reason to be feeling so jittery, besides perhaps anticipating another assassination. You’re just doing your duty, nothing else. This is nothing special, just what you’ve been told. It took him much less time than he had hoped to reach the royal chambers.

Emery stood like a sentinel outside Cadance’s bedroom, eyes forward and armor polished to a shine as always. If there was one thing Emery never failed to do, it was look the part of a guard captain. Another guard, one of Shining’s named Moonstone, stood opposite the guard captain. They both turned as Pavise approached, and Emery beckoned him over.

“The maid just left, said that the Princess is finally asleep. I guess she didn’t eat anything today either,” Emery said. He sighed, and the plume on his helmet waved as he shook his head. “Just remember what I told you. And be quiet when you go in–she sleeps bad enough as it is.” Pavise nodded. Emery waved him on; with a single deep breath, Pavise plunged into the yawning darkness of Cadance’s chambers.

To his surprise, the door made no noise as it was pushed up, sliding along the polished floor easily. He checked behind the door quickly, then nudged it closed. Pavise was alone now, alone with the Princess at least, and his breath caught in his throat. He waited for his eyes to adjust, aided by the gloomy moonlight filtering in through a frosted window near Cadance’s elaborate four-poster bed.

Cadance’s room was surprisingly unassuming for a Princess. It held the engraved vanity, reading table, fireplace, and plush carpeting that he had expected, but nothing out of the ordinary hung on the walls or dotted the rest of the room’s emptiness. A single oblong picture frame stood on the nightstand by Cadance’s bed, holding inside a picture of what he assumed was Cadance and Shining Armor together–he dared not move any closer to get a better look.

He looked around for a suitable place to stand, still refusing to so much as glance in the Princess’s direction, and finally settled on a space equidistant from the door and her bed. It was as good a space as any, and gave him a good view of the room–a good view of Cadance too. He let his eyes wander, convincing himself eventually that he should look at the Princess to make sure she was still alive, at least.

A cocoon of multi-colored quilts, sheets, and a large cotton comforter wrapped around Cadance’s sleeping form. Her regalia lay by her second bedside table, her shoes on the floor next to the bed; her mane was braided loosely for sleeping and fell next to her, threatening to spill over the side of the bed. She was turned away from him, which he was grateful for, lest she suddenly open her eyes and spy him staring at her. Pavise couldn’t help but think that she was still very beautiful; at the end of the day, even alicorns curled up in their blankets to sleep.

Pavise passed a few hours like that, alternating between staring at the Princess and drifting off in his mind to think. He thought of Cadance, of Shining Armor, of his parents and siblings. He wondered if his little brother would ever join the guard, and sadly considered that maybe their reputation had been too tainted by letting their Prince die. He even thought about training, and if he’d ever be promoted–he’d once thought of going for Captain as a way to stand out even more to Cadance, but now it seemed almost pointless.

After a while, his head began to throb from wearing his helmet for so long, so he quietly removed it and placed it by the low table next to the door; his spear soon followed, unclipped by his teeth and placed against the wall, stable enough. While technically against the rules, it couldn’t hurt to remove for an hour or two.

He suddenly stiffened as a peculiar noise broke the silence, snorting softly as he scanned the room, but relaxed upon realizing it was Cadance; she was crying, it seemed. He had prepared himself for it at Emery’s recommendation, but hearing her in person was–well, it was hard. Pavise watched her, curling tightly into a ball of anguish and hurt. She thrashed around in her bed, kicking at her sheets and flexing her wings underneath the covers. He realized belatedly that she was likely having a nightmare.

“Please! Shining, I’m coming! Please don’t leave me! I’ll be there soon my love, please don’t leave!” Cadance cried out into the night air, and Pavise felt as though his heart were being squeezed in a vise. Her face was wet with tears, glistening in the moon’s dim glow, and she grit her teeth as the nightmare seemingly forced her to relive the loss of her husband all over again.

Without thinking, Pavise left his post and slowly approached the bed. She was still wailing, desperately calling for her dead lover. “Shiny, where are you? I need you, please!” She called his name over and over, and each strangled plea was like a spike being driven into his chest. He knew there was nothing he could do–yet he had to do something.

Cadance tossed her head back and forth, her fur soaked with sweat, and when she stuck a foreleg out of the tangled nest of blankets, he slipped one of his steel hoofguards off and hesitantly closed the distance to hold her hoof. Cadance immediately pulled back, nearly giving Pavise a heart attack, and tugged his foreleg perilously into herself. It was all he could do to keep upright and give her more of his leg until she was curled up around his limb, painting his fur with tears. He stood like that until eventually her cries quieted and she fell into a ragged slumber.

Although he knew that he couldn’t stay like that all night, just a little longer would be okay, or so he persuaded himself. As quietly as possible he slid down to his rump, leaving his foreleg in Cadance’s grasp. It was a little uncomfortable, but equally indulgent, and he felt as though Cadance’s hot breath tickling his fur was a pleasure he shouldn’t have been granted. With those confusing feelings vying for dominance in his mind, he eventually drifted off…

Pavise awoke with a start. For a moment, he didn’t know where he was. Cadance’s room looked completely different in the light, and as the first stripes of daylight filtered in, he realized what had happened.

“Oh horsefeathers!” hissed Pavise, who failed to temper his volume enough. Cadance began to stir beside him, and he roughly slipped out of her death grip. Needles shot through his aching limb from the awkward position he had kept his leg. He slipped on his loose hoofguard, and on his way out of the room he accidentally knocked his helmet loose from the low table and fumbled his spear noisily in a clumsy attempt to retrieve them both. Behind him, he could hear Cadance’s bed groan beneath her shifting weight. He exited the room completely disheveled, helmet canted to one side and eyes wide with anxiety.

“I was just about to get you–you didn’t fall asleep, did you?” Emery gave Pavise a critical eye, looking him up and down. Pavise was petrified, but Emery at last released him from the impromptu inspection and just sighed when Pavise failed to answer.

“Listen, I know pulling all these patrols is difficult, but we have to protect our Princess. She’s counting on us, Pavise, even if she doesn’t say it. We don’t know who else could be out there waiting to take her out, and if we aren’t ready, we’ll lose everything,” said Emery, speaking nothing but the truth. Pavise felt all the more convicted that he hadn’t simply passed out from exhaustion, but had fallen into a somewhat pleasant slumber holding hooves with the widowed Princess. He drew his ears back.

“Right, sorry. Won’t happen again.” Emery nodded.

“See that it doesn’t. Our relief will be here in a few minutes, so you can sleep then.”

The Fourth Chapter

Shameless

That afternoon’s first patrol brought Pavise and his guards to the crystal throne room, the beauty of which Pavise appreciated less and less the more they toured it–seemingly every day now. A long stripe of white-trimmed subdued magenta stretched from the throne all the way to the set of double-doors that guarded the throne room from the rest of the castle. Many tall, curtained windows dotted the walls; monolithic crystals stood sentry in-between each window, shining a dull periwinkle.

It was enough to quickly scan the room for threats before heading off to clear more of the castle, but Pavise paused–not to admire the decor, but to make sure he wasn’t imagining the limp figure of Cadance on the crystal throne. A pair of guards flanked her on either side, and a castle aide whispered something to her; she barely swiveled an ear to listen, and her eyes remained glassy and unfocused.

Pavise couldn’t help but stare at the Princess in surprise, bringing the other two stallions behind him–Jasper and Blank again today–to a halt. His thoughts shifted to the previous night, and he ground his teeth to dissipate the growing red on his cheeks. Maybe his hoofholding had- Of course not, idiot.

Realizing he was being stared at, Pavise mustered up an explanation. “I just didn’t expect to see Cadance back on the throne so soon,” Pavise said to the other two behind him, trying to betray none of his internal struggle.

Silence.

He turned to them and saw that they were shaking, eyes wide and nostrils flared. “Something wrong?” Pavise asked.

“Oh Celestia… It’s all our fault…” said Blank Slate. Jasper didn’t say anything, but it seemed as though they shared a similar mind. Cadance hadn’t looked over at them, or the ponies talking to either for that matter.

“What? What are you talking about” Pavise looked between the two, bewildered.

“I can’t do this anymore. I’m a failure. I can’t do this,” said Jasper in a small voice. Ears folded back in dismay, he reached down and unclipped his spear before breaking formation; seconds later, Blank Slate followed suit. The palace guards watched the two of them with confusion, obviously still wary of any additional attacks on the Crystal Empire’s remaining ruler. If the two hadn’t been guards themselves, traveling with Pavise, the other guards may have pulled their spears at the defectors. They called out anyway.

“What are you two doing?” said a burly palace guard near Cadance’s throne. The two had already cleared the massive hall and approached the Princess’s seat with their heads low. When she finally looked at them, they fell on their faces.

“Princess, we’re so sorry! We failed you, how can you ever forgive us? How can we still be guards if we can’t even protect Shining Armor?” Their tearful apologies brought nothing from Cadance, but the mention of her husband’s name was enough to lower and away her gaze, the wound reopened. The maidmare that Cadance had been conversing with began to shoo them away angrily.

“You two, get out of here! Can’t you see you’re upsetting the Princess?” She threatened them with a raised foreleg, but Cadance reached out and gently tapped the mare on the shoulder. The Princess mumbled something to the maid and her fury evaporated, replaced by sympathy.

Pavise broke into a canter himself and went to retrieve the two guards, no doubt appearing less under his command than his rank would suggest. He apologized to the maid, the advisors, and to Cadance, for their interruption and marched the guards out toward the hall. He stole one last look at the Princess before they left, and she immediately locked eyes with him. Her expression was unreadable, and her eyes impenetrable; he inadvertently blushed, pulling his gaze from her enrapturing countenance and leading the two ponies out of the throne room.

“What the hay was that? You realize that you two could have been thrown in the dungeon for that? You’re lucky they realized you were with me–even if you two are guards, I’m sure everypony is expecting another assassination, and there’s no reason why it couldn’t come from somepony wearing our uniform.”

Surely they were still in earshot of the throne room, just outside and to the left, but Pavise didn’t care. The two guards stared pitifully at the ground, making no attempt to defend themselves.

“Look–I’m sure you guys are feeling sorry about what happened, but you still have a duty to uphold. You may think what you just did was the right thing to do, but you’re actually just being selfish, breaking protocol to make yourselves feel better.”

Isn’t that what you did last night?

The realization of his hypocrisy dawned on him, spurring his anger on even further. Pavise berated them for another few minutes, perhaps unnecessarily, before banishing them to the barracks to ‘reflect’, then returned to the throne room to retrieve the spears they had dropped. It was hard to ignore the stares he received from the other guards who’d likely heard his dressing down of the guards.

Patrols for the rest of the day were uneventful, and when dinnertime finally rolled around, Pavise felt unusually drained. He nearly collapsed into his seat across from Emery, pushing the report he had carefully penned and balanced on his nose over to the Captain. Today’s dinner was even less exciting than the last–some sort of bean soup and rice.

“What’s this?” Emery asked without much energy–he didn’t bother looking up at the prepared documents. Pavise cleared his throat and explained what had happened earlier that day with Jasper and Blank, though he elected to leave his raging temper out of the report.

“What do you think we should do? I was thinking reduced rations, but…” Pavise trailed off when he finally noticed Emery’s odd behavior. The older stallion could be quiet at times, but was rarely this uninvolved, especially when it came to matters of the guard.

“Don’t worry about them–they won’t be our responsibility for much longer.” Pavise didn’t quite know what to make of that, and they ate their dinner afterward without more conversation. Emery excused himself quickly and Pavise nodded in numb recognition–both at Emery’s departure and the fact that the ponies in the castle were still struggling with Shining Armor’s death–it seemed he alone had gotten over the death of his Prince and Guard Commander so quickly.

Preoccupied by these thoughts, he escaped the chow hall and wandered aimlessly through the castle, guided vaguely by the intention to retreat to the barracks for some reading before his overnight shift. He almost didn’t salute when he passed the Princess, his brain fogged by too much thinking. But unfortunately, rather than keep walking, Cadance brought her entourage of guards to a halt behind him. He resisted the urge to escape and turned to them; she was staring at him, and he squirmed under her gaze.

“Good evening, Princess.” She continued to stare, almost expectant, and he searched for something, anything to help him get away. In the back of his head, he marveled at the desire to run away from the Princess he had always wished to bump into late at night and talk with into the wee hours of the night–he wanted anything else right now, and he didn’t know why.

Pavise cleared his throat and continued, hesitant. “...Sorry. For earlier, I mean, with my subordinates. I don’t know what came over them, but I promise it won’t happen again.” He scraped the floor with his helmet, bowing deeply–the familiar motions of obeisance helped to steady his rapidly-beating heart.

“You don’t need to apologize,” said Cadance in near monotone. Cautiously, he raised his head and saw that same unreadable expression. Did I do something wrong? Before he could blunder any further, she spoke again. “Were you there last night?”

Pavise froze, jaw clenching unconsciously; his armored barding suddenly felt like it was squeezing the air from his lungs. Thinking back, he had slipped away quite noisily that first morning, but he was sure she hadn’t woken up before he escaped.

But what if she had? Dozens of punishments galloped through his mind as he thought of the impending confrontation, the announcement that he had molested the grieving Princess in her bed when he was supposed to be protecting her. His career was certainly over. His eyes darted to the guards standing by–all already informed of his and Emery’s special duties, of course–but there was no condemnation in their expressions, only simple curiosity.

“Yes?” he said, more of a question. “Was there… something wrong?” said Pavise cautiously. Seconds felt like minutes, but eventually Cadance shook her head, looking away. Her long, voluminous mane draped over her muzzle gently and shadowed her face.

“No, just… Just checking.” Nothing in her voice sounded accusatory, but Pavise still fought back the panic that gripped his heart, breathing a little harder. “I’m sorry, but I need to go for now. Thank you for apologizing.” She strode past him; her floral scent washed over him, like fresh lavender, and calmed the beating of his hideous heart.

When Pavise finished his first patrol of the day, Emery found him and pulled him aside, dismissing his subordinates. Pavise was almost expecting a reprimand, perhaps for his treatment of Jasper and Blank the other day, until he made eye contact with Emery–the stallion looked exhausted.

“I just had a talk with those guards from Shining’s squad, the ones that gave you trouble the other day.” Pavise winced, wondering too late if he had been overharsh in his report. “Well–they’re running away.” Emery hissed the words out, shaking his head. “You’re welcome to go talk to them, but we can’t expect to use guards that won’t follow orders, or guards that can’t be around the Princess.” Emery snorted and turned away, making for the throne room, and Pavise was left feeling ashamed.

He found himself trudging down to the barracks shortly after, each step heavy with the guilt of his error. When he finally reached the guard quarters, three ponies–Jasper, Blank Slate, and a third guard from Shining’s old crew Pavise hadn’t worked with–were polluting the barracks with the sound of bags being packed and soft sniffles. Their stone bunks were tidied, and their belongings removed from their wall cabinets. The armor they had been given, that they had earned, was piled neatly on their beds. Pavise drew their attention when he’d entered far enough.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Jasper said as he looked up at Pavise. He had surely been crying, and insomnia tugged at the corners of his eyes. “We just… we can’t do this. Not anymore.”

Blank Slate threw the linen pack over his shoulder and approached Pavise; his bronze mane clung to his pallid face, and he was looking at something far away. “How can we serve in the guard when we failed our one and only duty? How can anypony look at us the same–how can we look at us the same?”

The third stallion, a rust-colored pony with a charcoal mane stood as well; Pavise regretted that he had never learned the pony’s name.

“I never was much of a guard, anyway. I don’t know how I made it through training. I just wanted to help… some help we were.”

Pavise was overwhelmed by the sentiment the stallions shared, all at once realizing that it wasn’t his reprimanding that had pushed them over the edge–it was seeing Cadance again after having let her down. He could understand their shame, but surely desertion was going too far? He almost felt remiss to ask them to stay. “I had no idea you all felt this way,” Pavise said softly. “What about the other two? Moonstone and Obsidian Shield?”

Jasper was quick to reply. “We don’t know, sir. We haven’t talked to them since… since before that day.” Pavise supposed that was a good thing–dropping down to fourteen guards was already bad enough, and he didn’t like to imagine pulling even more patrols now. But he was still at a loss for words. Would they just go wherever the wind blew them? Did they have a place in mind? He thought to ask, but decided he didn’t need to know.

“Well,” he began, searching for the right words. They spoke with such finality that he didn’t think he could change their minds, and Emery was right–they were no use to the guard if they couldn’t follow orders. “...Just take care of yourselves out there. We could give you an escort at least as far as the train station, if you want.” He wasn’t actually sure if that was something he could promise, but thankfully Blank shook his head. “No need. We can find our way out.”

With some final awkward goodbyes, Pavise left the stallions to their packing.

The rest of the day passed slowly, another two patrols down, and finally it was Pavise’s turn once again to stand guard overnight in Cadance’s chambers. He quietly made his way into Cadance’s room with a nod to Emery and the other guard, and took up his previous spot by the wall. His heart began to race again as he thought back to the last time, so close to Cadance yet so miserable in his heart for his behavior. Swallowing with difficulty, he resolved himself to simply stand by the wall and do his duty–no funny business this time.

But inevitably, a few hours into his shift, Cadance cried out into the night. Her sobs echoed through the small space, leaving Pavise nowhere to run from the anguish he felt at hearing her sorrow. He fought with himself to stay where he was, but his hooved betrayed him–he was by her bedside again, looking down with mixed shame and heartbreak.

He didn’t dare remove his helmet this time, not after his previous close call. With a sigh, he offered his foreleg to the sleeping Cadance. As if awaiting the opportunity, Cadance seized his limb quicker than he could blink and cuddled up to it, searing his leg with hot tears. The Princess’s heart-wrenching wails soon quieted, and Pavise slid down to the floor. He sat and watched the shadows in the room distort, taunting him. The inky black figure of Shining Armor swirled into existence, staring at him from the corner of the room with hurt and betrayal.

‘She’s my wife, Pavise. What right do you have to comfort her? You’re just taking advantage of her.’

His gut churned, but Pavise didn’t pull away from Cadance. He was doing the right thing–he had to be. She had obviously taken some kind of comfort from his help. So what if he was enjoying it a little? Yet he knew that it was still wrong. His duty was to protect her, nothing else, and Cadance’s grief wasn’t his to alleviate. That was the responsibility of friends, family members–not him.

Similar thoughts drifted around his head that night, and he was at least grateful for the distraction of inner-turmoil which kept him awake until morning.

Ponies gawked at the fuchsia alicorn as she walked hesitantly down the wide Crystal Empire’s main thoroughfare. Pavise realized that the city’s inhabitants had likely not seen Cadance since the funeral. He couldn’t imagine what sort of speculation had run rampant through pony gossip circles regarding the uncertain state of their government, but hoped this outing would help to quell any remaining doubts about the Empire’s fate, or at least Cadance’s sanity.

Either way, ponies nearby and away bowed reverently as she passed, although she couldn’t give them much more mind than a weak smile.

“Thank you, everypony,” Cadance said. The ponies all warmed in her presence, and some color even returned to their murky coats. Pavise, though, couldn’t help but ogle the ponies with suspicion, eyes sharp for threats.

Cadance had actually wanted to leave the castle by herself, to walk alone with her thoughts, but after a surprising amount of arguing Emery convinced her to at least take one guard with her. Pavise had volunteered, perhaps a little too quickly, and so had followed her down into the city. Of course, they hadn’t just left her alone with a single guard–patrols were diverted into the city streets, as a contingency, but she didn’t need to know that.

Shopkeepers minded their stalls and ponies went about their business around them, having returned mostly to normalcy after the affair of Shining’s death. It wasn’t as though they had forgotten him, but likely that everypony had recognized Cadance was the pony most affected by the assassination, and in solidarity with the Princess had decided to do what they could to press on so as not to give Cadance any additional pain.

The weather, of course, didn’t grieve at all. The sun beat down overhead, peeking at them around scant puffy clouds, but a gentle breeze whistled through the city architecture. Autumn had arrived quickly, and Pavise was sure other parts of Equestria would soon start the Running of the Leaves. Unfortunately, the few trees that dotted the city were evergreens, and he couldn’t recall seeing the rich golds and coppers of the fall season anywhere except in a book. Pavise took it all in, relishing the fresh air and time away from the castle.

“I remember the first time we first heard about the Crystal Empire,” said Cadance suddenly. Pavise nearly didn’t realize she was talking about her and Shining Armor. They had stopped in the middle of the street, given a straight view down the crystal glass path to the city limits, where a sea of amber grass danced in the wind.

“I grew up in Canterlot, like most unicorns, and I thought we lived in the biggest city in the world. It’s amazing how narrow your perspective is when you’re just a filly. When we first saw the Empire on our train ride over here, we couldn’t believe a whole other city we’d never heard about was hiding in the Frozen North.”

Cadance rubbed a hoof along the road, glancing down as she traced its glossy surface in no specific pattern. “Shining joked that the ponies here lived in crystals and looked like crystals, so they might eat crystals too, like dragons do.” She smiled, lost in her memories. Even in her bitter reminiscence, Pavise was captivated by her natural beauty.

She started down the road again. Soon they had passed a small farmers market, where crystal ponies pushed what little cold crops grew in the Empire’s cool arid climate. Cadance led them into the market, kicking Pavise’s anxiety into a gallop; if a pony had been following them looking for a chance to take Cadance out, now was the perfect time. He was relieved to see a guard patrol had already beat him there. With a slight nod, the guards fanned out strategically yet inconspicuously across the market square to ward off any potential threat.

Cadance continued on as normal, seemingly oblivious to the risk she had taken. “Princess Celestia had already told us that the Crystal Empire had been cursed by the evil magic of a tyrant unicorn, and that there was some powerful magic we needed to find in order to stop him from returning. It was all we could do to protect the ponies here while Twilight and her friends came to help.”

The market shoppers nearly tumbled over, bowing when they all realized that the Princess had arrived. They should have been paying more attention, he thought with annoyance, but begrudgingly accepted that they probably just hadn’t expected to see Cadance in town so soon. He edged closer to the Princess, gently nudging ponies away from her as they stammered out their condolences.

“Thank you everypony–it means a lot to hear your kind words,” Cadance said, smiling with a wooden quality that lacked enough energy to be convincing–it seemed that despite the brave face, she was still struggling inside. Pavise looked back to Cadance.

“Why don’t we leave them to it, Princess?” Pavise said, beckoning her back to the street. Cadance nodded slowly, already backing away from the growing clamor of the market crowd. Luckily, an angry guard was enough to part their audience; they returned to the street soon enough.

Minutes later, they reached the edge of the Crystal Heart’s protection, a hidden yet tangible border. Any crystal pony could feel the power of the Heart ebb slowly the further they crossed into the Frozen North. Pavise himself had rarely gone this far away from the castle since he’d become a guard–except for the funeral, of course.

Cadance wavered on the precipice, giving Pavise some anxiety. She extended a hoof, as if to lean against some invisible wall on the other side. He was surprised when she spoke again, her mane occasionally blown by wisps of the autumn wind.

“He taught me how to cast that spell, you know–the protective magic I put over the city while we waited for Twilight to get here. It was the same spell he put over Canterlot during our wedding. It was his special talent: protecting ponies.” Cadance finished weakly, and he looked over to see crystalline tears rolling down the vivid pink of her cheeks. Cadance slowly lowered her hoof.

“Shining, he…” Cadance couldn’t stem the flow of tears long enough to get the words out, and so Pavise waited with her by the edge of the Empire until she cried herself dry; she slumped against the ground, her slender form jerking with every painful sob. Pavise knew that he should have rushed to her side, to support her, but his own regret kept him from it–what would ordinarily be a normal act for a guard now seemed distorted by his feelings.

She started again sometime later, lifting her head and wiping the tears from her muzzle with a hoof. “...He was always doing things for other ponies–he lived to help others. That’s what made me fall in love with him in the first place. Even when I became an alicorn, he still did everything he could to protect me, even though I could take care of myself. He didn’t treat me any different, even though I felt more alone being a Princess than I ever did as a regular unicorn.

“But nopony protected him. I left him all alone and somepony took him from me. One of the ponies we risked our lives to protect from Sombra’s evil killed him in cold blood. It didn’t matter how good he was, or how much he had done for others. Somepony still decided that his life wasn’t worth anything, and they extinguished his light.” Pavise expected anger, but Cadance spoke as though reading from a script. There was no emotion, no anger or bitterness, just a hollow understanding of how fleeting her husband’s life had been.

The two of them stayed there for a long time like that. The setting sun brought colossal shadows cast from the distant mountains that stretched over them like a blanket of cold indifference. Pavise felt strangled by the silence. Despite the foalish jealousy Pavise felt at Shining’s having married the mare of his dreams, he had also thought that Shining Armor was one of the best stallions he had ever met, let alone the best Prince or ruler he had ever met. He was so down to earth, so honest, and so likable. But in the end, somepony still thought he needed to die.

“Prince Shining Armor was my inspiration to join the guard,” Pavise suddenly said; it was a lie. “When I saw you two risk everything to save us, to defeat that tyrant and give us our freedom and hope back, I remembered my own purpose.” Guided by a little truth, perhaps, but a lie nonetheless. Revulsion built like bile in his throat, but not enough to prevent him from speaking silver.

“He was a great stallion–I don’t think there will ever be another pony like him. But we can all learn from his example. We should do what we can, protect innocent ponies, and bring evil to justice,” said Pavise. It was all so cliche, but hopefully what Cadance needed to hear. When he noticed that Cadance had been staring at him, he quickly felt rather foolish. “Sorry, I just-”

“Thank you,” Cadance said. He looked at her and saw that same faint smile from earlier. Her eyes glistened, wet with sadness, but her smile shone with refreshing authenticity. He felt all the more remorseful for his dishonesty; Pavise smiled back, half as genuine.

They returned to the castle after sunset, with Cadance at least in better spirits. She bid him goodbye with a congenial nod, and he watched her leave, uncertain. The walk had clearly done her some good, and for that he was grateful, but their conversation had left him feeling hollow.

Why didn’t I just tell her the truth?

The thought of revealing his secret to her directly, especially in that moment, caused his heart to miss a beat, but he knew it would have been better than lying. If I told her how I felt, she’d probably think I was just being nice to her because I wanted to be with her. And in truth, that was still sort of what he was doing. Somehow, he still felt as though he was navigating a ship through an ice field, with the promise of some unattainable reward awaiting him should he emerge unscathed.

But what did that even mean? What point was there in growing closer with Cadance? In the end, he was a guard, and she was a Princess. It didn’t matter that she was a widow now, or that he comforted her at night without her or anypony else knowing about it. He was still just a pony, even if a wretched opportunist.

Deep down, he knew that she would never love him.

The Fifth Chapter

Shameless

“Princess, you really don’t need to come with us if you don’t want to,” said Emery as he led the group down the winding staircase to the dungeon below. Cadance followed close behind the guard captain, and Pavise held up the rear.

Emery and Pavise had planned to venture down into the dungeon together this time, over a week having passed since Pavise’s last visit, but Cadance had surprised them both by asking to accompany them. Emery tried to reason with her, but she had seemingly made up her mind.

“No, I need to do this… I know I do. I’ve been avoiding it, but I need to know. I need to see him with my own eyes.” Cadance came across determined, if a little fearful. Pavise looked at Emery; he grimly nodded.

They picked their way down the dimly lit passage, kicking dust and stones underhoof, and finally reached the dungeon after what felt like an eternity–more than enough time to reconsider, though Cadance hadn’t budged. A few guards awaited them at the bottom, ponies Emery had sent ahead just in case.

“Princess Cadance! Your Highness!” said the jailer Pavise had met last time. He bowed, knocking his speartip against the ground carelessly, and Emery shot him a glare.

“Mind yourself,” Pavise said simply. The jailer quickly righted his spear and stood at attention, maintaining his rigid posture until they had passed. The extra guards followed them closely, adding a shuffling cacophony to their tense parade down to the last cell.

Pavise recognized Twilight’s form in the murky light of the cave, and to his surprise she had somehow amassed even more books, forming a cluttered library against the back wall. She had seemingly already conquered a mountainous pile of tomes and had herself written several dozen pages of notes, their contents indecipherable to anypony but the author.

The unicorn herself wasn’t much better: strands of purple mane jutted out at odd angles, and her tired eyes spoke of insomnia. A few grimy plates were piled nearby. It was obvious Twilight hadn’t gone very far, if at all, from the dungeon since she began her studying. When Twilight finally noticed they had arrived, with Cadance in tow no less, she got to her hooves and trotted over to hug the Princess with an unusual amount of energy for a pony in her state, or at least so Pavise thought. Cadance returned the affection with a difficult smile, not failing to notice Twilight’s disheveled appearance.

“Princess! I was wondering when you would come down to see my progress. Would you believe that I’ve nearly figured out how to cast these mind domination spells that Sombra came up with? It was a little tricky in the beginning–I’ve never seen an approach to spellcasting like this–but I’ve been able to adapt most of the steps to what I know about casting normal unicorn magic. A few more weeks and I’m sure I’ll be able to dive into the prisoner’s mind mostly unimpeded,” said Twilight excitedly.

She levitated a few loose pages to show Cadance, who regarded her work with a mixture of anxiety and concern. Pavise heard a few gasps behind him, however, as the rest of the guards learned exactly what kind of research Twilight had been doing down here. Emery grimaced, but otherwise said nothing–it was for the Princess to decide how the prisoner was to be handled, dark magic or not.

“That’s… very impressive, Twilight. I just wonder if working with dark magic is really the best idea. I’m a little worried about its influence on you, Twilight–he might even return somehow.” Cadance leaned forward to nuzzle the unicorn, but jumped a little when Twilight suddenly erupted in laughter.

“Cadance, you saw what happened, didn’t you? He disintegrated!” Twilight sat back on her haunches and spread her hooves apart, mocking an explosion with unusual enthusiasm–a grisly sight, Pavise thought. He wondered how much being stuck in the dungeon studying evil magic had tampered with what little of her sanity remained following her brother’s death.

“Oh, uh…” Cadance floundered, glancing nervously at the crazed writings which Twilight had tossed carelessly during her grim pantomime. “I trust you, Twilight,” she finally said after a deep breath. “I know you’re more than capable of finding your way around magic, evil or not. Just… Promise me you won’t take things too far.” Twilight’s expression softened, as if some of what Cadance had said made it through the cloud of grief that clung to the unicorn.

“I won’t. I just want to know the truth–and I’m sure you do too, Cadance.” Twilight leaned forward and rubbed cheeks with the Princess.

With that, they all turned their attention to the prisoner. Much like before, he had remained silent, watching them all with contempt. His wicked smile glittered dangerously in the darkness of his cell, and Pavise could once again feel his pulse quicken. For some reason, Pavise suddenly felt that their extra numbers were still inadequate to protect the Princess.

Cadance approached the metal bars carefully, training her sights on the prisoner. She was trembling, but steeled herself and spoke with all the regal confidence of a Princess of Equestria.

“Hello. I’m sure you know who I am, but I’ll introduce myself anyway: I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire. While I was away, you-” Cadance paused, the words frozen in her throat, but eventually she willed herself to continue, “-you murdered my husband, Prince Shining Armor.”

The prisoner said nothing, and Cadance let her gaze sink to the floor, as if exhausted from getting such horrible words out. “I’m not here to interrogate you. I just want to know-”

“SILENCE! You are no Princess–you aren’t even a Crystal Pony. But I know what you are, false alicorn, and you are weak.” The prisoner erupted in a fit of discordant cackling. Everypony was taken aback by his sudden outburst, and the prisoner cut the Princess off before she could respond.

“You were given power beyond a pony’s wildest dreams, yet you were barely able to hold back my Master when he crushed the Empire and the last Queen underhoof. You aren’t strong enough to protect the Empire, and neither was your Prince. That’s why I killed him, and I would have killed you too if I had enough power.” He spat to his side, as much as the chains would allow him to turn, and broke into a series of rattling coughs, spewing black dust from his vicious maw.

Pavise felt his anger coming to a boil, and he resisted the urge to paw at the ground. How dare this fool talk to Cadance that way–after all Cadance and Shining Armor did to save them? He cooled a little when he felt Emery’s shod hoof rest on his shoulder; the older stallion gave him a tense look, perhaps feeling the same.

“That… is all true,” said Cadance to Pavise’s–and everypony else’s utter disbelief. The Princess lowered her head, as if accepting the weight of every accusation the prisoner had made.

“Princess-” Pavise cried out impulsively, but she ignored him.

“You’re right. I’m not better than anypony else, and maybe I’m not fit to rule. Unlike Princesses Celestia and Luna, I wasn’t born an alicorn, and I haven’t lived for centuries like they have. I was just a naive little unicorn a few years ago. I’ve tried to learn what it means to be a Princess, but… Sometimes I get it wrong. Nopony is perfect.” She swallowed, hesitating slightly. “But none of that changes the fact that what you did was wrong. If you disagreed with our rule, I would have welcomed-”

“What I did was for the good of the Empire. You wouldn’t know, since you aren’t one of us, but our previous ruler was just like you: weak. She’s the very reason Sombra rose up and took control of the kingdom. After he slew her, he hid the Crystal Heart and ruled with an iron hoof, yet gone were the days when the ponies of Equestria looked down on us for not having any magic of our own.”

Pavise ground his teeth, his tail lashing side to side as he finally jumped in front of the Princess, jabbing a hoof at the prisoner.

“We were slaves! How can you pretend like that was a good thing?” Cadance looked taken aback by Pavise’s defense, and for a moment he regretted butting in. “Just because we don’t have horns or wings doesn’t mean Crystal Ponies are weak, and just because the Princess was born a unicorn doesn’t mean she can’t be a great or powerful ruler. You’re making an awful lot of assumptions about a pony you barely know.”

The prisoner scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You were already slaves to your own lack of ambition. The only reason why this castle even stands is because of what King Sombra did, you foal. And for those that saw through their own pointless dreams and took on a higher calling, King Sombra gave us power. Power to rule alongside him, and magic that had been denied to us at birth.”

Pavise’s eyes darted up to the pony’s evil horn, crooked and pulsing with darkness; he was silently thankful that the pony was now unable to use it. “Of course, that magic has run out now that King Sombra has been defeated. This pointless device you stuck to my horn is just a decoration. If I’d had the kind of magic that would have warranted a suppression device, I would have killed the rest of you.”

The frankness of the threat brought a chill to Pavise’s spine. Twilight, who had watched the exchange with silent anxiety, spoke absently.

“So that’s why you weren’t able to cast any magic…” She returned to her notes, frantically scribbling something down, and it looked to Pavise like she had absolutely no interest in the confrontation taking place between her brother’s murderer and Cadance; perhaps she was too exhausted, too mentally taxed to contribute more than her own idle thoughts. Pavise quietly admired her intense focus on academia, if nothing else.

Cadance sighed. Her eyes flicked to the ground, full of pity.

“...I see. It’s clear that you’ve been twisted by Sombra’s evil. But we are not like you. No matter what, I believe that taking the life of another pony is wrong, and if you are expecting some kind of equivalent punishment, you-”

“He screamed. Called your name like a little filly. It was so sweet,” the pony said, and Cadance’s almost gentle expression transformed instantly to one of wide-eyed disbelief. “I had just enough magic to slip through your husband’s pitiful night watch. It was easy enough to reach out, to grasp his throat while he was sleeping.” His voice was light, playful, as if spinning a tale for a sleepless foal.

“Stop… Please…” Cadance shook her head slowly, muttering disagreement. She was no longer looking at the prisoner, but lost in an ocean of despair as she seemingly imagined the night’s events anew. She didn’t have to think of how it had happened anymore–she was learning the truth, just as she had wanted. Even if the prisoner was lying, the effect was the same.

“I was surprised that he had awoken so easily, but I’ve heard he was a guard once. All the more disappointing how little resistance he was able to muster. Even a unicorn at full strength was no match for my Master’s power, fleeting as it was.”

“...Stop talking.”

“But the biggest surprise was that he didn’t even fight back–he ran. Or tried to, at least, like a coward. The window was open, and he jumped for the escape, but I caught him and pulled him back in.”

“That’s not… He would never…” Cadance trembled violently, her voice cracking.

“His eyes were wide with fear, and he knew he was about to die. But he kept crying out for his Cadance, kept trying to get away, kept trying to escape his fate. It was pitiful. I wasn’t expecting him to be such a cow-”

“STOP IT!”

For once, it was the prisoner’s turn to be interrupted. Pavise felt the air erupt in magical energy as Cadance’s horn ignited and she wrapped her power around the captive pony; his chains heaved and groaned as he was dragged into the air, pulled taut against the restraints. Her nostrils flared, and dangerous fire burned in her eyes.

“How dare you talk about him that way! You’re lying, I know you are–everything out of your contemptible mouth is a lie! How could you ever understand anything about my Shining Armor?”

Cadance’s voice boomed, bringing dust down from the high ceiling of the dungeon and shaking the ground beneath them. Pavise winced at the terrible sound. He had never heard it himself, but knew from the stories that Princesses Celestia and Luna possessed the ability to project their voices powerfully in the same manner–the Royal Canterlot Voice, it was called.

The prisoner attempted to speak, but the breath was literally squeezed from his lungs as Cadance’s magic coiled around the stallion like an enchanted boa, hissing malice in his face. Twilight watched on, looking amused, and hoofed out a few more lines of notes. Pavise dimly realized that the pony was very much in mortal danger if Cadance didn’t release him. He made no immediate move to stop her, though, out of both fear and a twisted sense of justice.

“Princess, you have to let him go or you’ll kill him!” Emery said at last. He stepped toward the Princess, only to be thrown back by some sort of magic bubble–perhaps it was the same kind of magic that Cadance had used to protect the city from Sombra. Pavise ran to Emery’s side as a few guards standing nearby helped him up; Emery staggered to his hooves and coughed. “Somepony needs to stop her before she does something she kills the damned guy.”

“It’s what he deserves, Emery, isn’t it? A life for a life,” Cadance said darkly. The rest of the ponies looked at her with concern, but none were sure what to do.

The links in the prisoner’s bindings bulged as Cadance brought him further aloft–any more and she’d likely rip them straight from the stone floor. The stallion squirmed pitifully against his magical restraints, weaker every moment. If the chains didn’t break soon, Pavise was sure the pony would–he nearly retched at the thought.

“How does it feel? Having the life squeezed out of your body? Did you ever think what it might feel like to be on the other side of this? To be entirely at the mercy of somepony more powerful than you?” Cadance’s eyes glittered with hatred, and momentarily Pavise felt as if he might be caught up in the Princess’s rage if he interfered. But Pavise swallowed his hesitation and carefully trotted in front of the Princess, skirting the magical barrier as best he could. Cadance bore down on him and his resolve almost disappeared entirely under her scrutiny.

“Cadance, you need to put him down. You can’t kill him–you just said yourself that it isn’t right! You don’t need to be like him. What would Shining Armor think?” Pavise realized too late he had forgotten her title, but in context it seemed to hardly matter.

Cadance looked down at Pavise, unreadable, and repeated, “What would Shining Armor think?”

“I don’t know him as well as you did, but I know that killing ponies is wrong, no matter who they are. We can punish him some other way–but killing him won’t bring Shining Armor back.”

It gave her pause. Cadance looked at Pavise, and he realized just how terrifying she looked. Heavy breaths jetted from her nostrils, and her mane was plastered against her muzzle haphazardly; her ears were pinned, and her tail swished nonstop behind her. The Princess’s eyes darted up to the Prisoner, who had nearly passed out from the immense agony of being crushed to near-death.

Moments later, Cadance’s magic suddenly dissipated and the prisoner fell to the ground unceremoniously, wheezing. He clutched at his throat, weak from the experience, and slumped against the floor in exhaustion.

But he still glared at the rest of them, hate burning in his eyes; it was obvious enough he hadn’t repented.

Cadance panted, her head drooping. Her wings sagged at her sides, and she suddenly looked very, very tired. Pavise reached out to her after a while, against his better judgment, but she suddenly picked herself up as if nothing had happened. She addressed Emery, who admittedly looked a little fearful after being tossed aside earlier, with a hollow finality that left no room for argument.

“We’ll let Twilight continue interrogating the prisoner while I decide a fitting punishment for him. Maybe a letter to Celestia would be a good idea.”

The Princess strode past Emery and the rest of the guards, all of whom quickly nodded to her orders. Her complete change in demeanor made Pavise uneasy. “Don’t feed him anything either–it’s too good for a pony like him.” Twilight dove back into her magic notes, now having been given express permission to continue practicing her sorcery on the assassin who had lost any chance of sympathy he could have gathered.

That being said, Twilight’s foray into dark magic still didn’t sit right with Pavise. It definitely wasn’t right to kill, but it also wasn’t right to starve somepony or experiment on them using evil magic. He crept toward Cadance as she barked further orders at her guards, now uncertain of her disposition–she had flipped from somber to enraged to indifferent remarkably fast, and he wasn’t sure how receptive he’d be to any perceived sympathy toward the assassin.

“Cadance, I-”

“Princess Cadance,” she said, not even bothering to turn her head. He stammered out a quick apology, dropping to the floor in humble obedience.

“Princess Cadance, I think that, well…” He struggled to find the right words. “Don’t you think this is too much? Starving a prisoner, testing out Sombra’s magic on him to try and force him to give up his secrets? I know what he said was terrible, but it seems like you’re just-”

“What do you know about me, Pavise? How can I seem like anything to you?” She finally turned to face him, boring into him with unfriendly eyes, and Pavise shrunk away. “If you’re so worried about the pony that murdered my Shining Armor, then maybe you can join his guard instead of staying in mine.”

With that, she made her way out of the dungeon; the rest of the guards hurried to follow her, and Emery gave Pavise a troubled, yet compassionate look as he beckoned Pavise along. Pavise struggled to find the motivation to catch up. Maybe he didn’t deserve to be in Cadance’s guard after all.

The days that followed passed Pavise by like he was standing still in the busiest part of town. Cadance had, to some, seemingly recovered overnight, but Pavise knew better. She had thrown herself into the kingdom’s most pressing affairs, taking the initiative to sort out the Crystal Empire’s uncertain financial system following its return to the global economic sphere.

Pavise understood next to nothing about economics, but it sounded like the Empire was pretty well off; there were crystal mines in the mountains that ponies used to sell precious gemstones and metals, and the local flora produced a unique sort of dye that sparkled without the need for light–very high demand in high pony society, or so Pavise had heard.

Cadance had also dipped her hoof into diplomacy; A number of foreign ambassadors had arrived in the Empire since word traveled that the Crystal Ponies had returned, and Cadance met with a new delegation seemingly everyday. And when she wasn’t handling finances or befriending foreign players, she was mingling with the ponies themselves out in town–without Pavise’s escort, he had noted sourly.

He was surprised not to have been taken off his nightly duties, but it almost seemed as though she didn’t need it at all anymore. She had been all but completely quiet the last few nights since the incident in the dungeon, and he didn’t dare move to her side without at least the partial justification of easing her night terrors. Pavise had fallen from her good graces, he thought, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“It worries me a little, but I don’t think she meant what she said back there–she was just angry. Plus, we need you on the guard, Pavise. Just put your head down and let it go,” Emery had said in reassurance when asked. He looked just as tired as ever, but was always willing to put his duty first. It was a subtle reminder of what Pavise lacked, and it should have been enough. But he couldn’t just let it go, as hard as he tried.

Whether because of his own selfish desire or the fact that Cadance was obviously pretending that her altercation with the prisoner hadn’t had an effect on her, Pavise felt determined to do something.

It came to him one afternoon, after a particularly grating patrol through the throne room, where he watched as Cadance almost deliberately ignored him and the other guards as they strode the perimeter and left through the opposite hall. He could tell she was being deliberate–the way her ears would swivel, following them as they marched, and the way she offered incurious responses to the pony she was talking with. It was one of her advisors, an unusually aged crystal pony mare, explaining how the citizens of the Empire felt now that some time had passed since Shining’s death.

“Well, most ponies have recovered from the initial shock, I’d say, but they still haven’t returned to their full luster. Frankly, the attitude of the town reminds me a little of right before the Crystal Faire that Twilight Sparkle and her friends put on for us, when they had first arrived.”

The Crystal Faire…

That was it! Pavise struggled to march with composure as he counted the days in his head. Enough time had already passed since the last Crystal Faire, it seemed. If he were to have a hoof in organizing the whole thing, in restoring everypony’s spirit, Cadance would surely forgive him for his blunder in the dungeon.

As soon as their patrol had ended, Pavise took leave to find the city’s event planner. The stallion, a chipper pony named Pop Rocks, sparkled with glee at Pavise’s proposal and gladly welcomed him into his comfortable stone home.

“Why, that’s a fantastic idea! I’ll need a few months to get everypony up to speed, to reserve the space in the market, to get formal approval from the Princess-”

“Wait! No, you can’t tell the Princess.” Pavise felt a pit form in his stomach when he thought of Cadance shooting his idea, and by extension his chance at redemption, out of the sky. “It’s uh, well… It’s a surprise. The Princess has been feeling a little under the weather lately, and I thought this would be a great surprise.” The stallion looked at him a little suspiciously, but otherwise nodded his head. “And a few months is too long, is there any way to speed things up?”

Pop Rocks frowned. “These things take time, sir–I can’t just conjure a faire up out of thin air!”

Pavise rolled his eyes. “You know, the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle and her friends, managed to throw a Crystal Faire in a single day. You’re telling me you can’t expedite the process at all?”

The stallion sighed, turning away from Pavise and wandering over to a desk in the corner of the room. His home was surprisingly organized for a pony specializing in throwing parties and celebrations–he had always assumed party planners lived in complete disarray for some reason.

“The best I can do is a week,” he finally said after some note taking and counting to himself out loud.

“Much better,” Pavise said.

A week later, the city properly reflected the impending celebration. Streamers, banners, and fliers advertising the faire were pasted everywhere, and the dull roar of fairgoers signaled the beginning of the festivities early that morning.

The faire itself typically lasted a few days, much longer than the impromptu event that Twilight had thrown together–something Pop Rocks had been eager to point out before Pavise left the week prior. In the days leading up, Pavise had conducted his patrols with a volatile mix of enthusiasm and anxiety; they wouldn’t be allowed to attend the festivities unless the Princess decided to visit, which was something he hadn’t even considered.

Yet fortune smiled upon him, and Pavise finally got the news that Cadance would attend the faire. Better still, he was elated to learn that he had been picked to accompany the Princess, along with Emery and a dozen other guards.

Pavise’s armor shone so brightly he feared it would blind somepony, reflecting the brilliant sun overhead, and he barely resisted the urge to grin quite unprofessionally as they all followed Cadance down into the city on the first day of the festival. They were a little early, but owing to the planning of Pop Rocks and many other ponies, the faire was still in full swing, and the festival music carried strongly through the air. Cymbals crashed and trumpets blasted from the prepared welcome band as the Princess and her guards arrived at the market square, and everypony bowed low to the ground.

“We are honored to have you attend this year’s Crystal Faire, Your Highness!” said Pop Rocks from a raised podium in the center of the square. “And with her Highness’s approval, this year’s Crystal Faire has officially begun!” Cadance smiled thinly amid the cheers and enthusiastic stomping from the crowd, and they set off to browse and enjoy the festivities.

The event had already conquered over a quarter of the city, everypony no doubt wishing to show off to the Princess. This was likely Cadance’s first Crystal Faire, he realized. All the more reason for this to go well, Pavise thought.

They wandered through elaborately decorated stalls, peddlers on quilted blankets selling hoofcrafted jewelry and trinkets, and deliciously fragrant pastries steaming on vendor counters. One pony had even created some extravagant cake featuring rubies advertised as ‘fit for a dragon’–though Pavise doubted the efficacy of that particular business strategy considering the Crystal Empire housed no dragons.

“Please come this way, right this way! The Emerald Shine Theatre Group is beginning their matinee of The Shadow King–you won’t wanna miss it!” A mare wearing a newspony hat waved fairgoers into a small arena, where a number of wooden bleachers had been set up and a colorful mobile stage had unfolded. The stage itself was also wooden, but carved with extravagant detail. Pony masks expressing various emotions were cut into the topmost arch spanning the entire stage, and on either side flitted vivid crimson curtains being fought with by stage ponies. There was even a pit off to the side where some ponies were setting up their own mini orchestra.

Pavise didn’t recognize the name of the troupe, or the performance, but he wasn’t much for plays. It seemed Cadance was, however, as she led Emery and Pavise through a crowd of ponies and into the arena with an unexpected energy. A special seat had been designated for the Princess, sandwiched between two sets of bleachers; there was nowhere for the guards to sit, of course, so they simply stood on her either side.

Just when Pavise thought he might fall asleep from the inactivity, the pit band erupted suddenly, welcoming a dozen ponies dressed in gaudy renaissance costumes tumbling onto the stage. Half of them sprung into the air, somersaulting several times before throwing their hooves up and landing on their partners alongside the rising crescendo of the band. The ponies already seated in the bleachers stomped their hooves in applause. Bowing, the acrobat ponies shuffled offstage. Another mare, a pretty green pony with a lovely, flowing mane trotted on from the right.

“Fillies and gentlecolts,” she said in a clear voice, “welcome to the Emerald Shine Theatre Group’s very first showing of The Shadow King! I am Emerald Shine!” She bowed graciously, to both the audience and especially toward the Princess before throwing a hoof out in gesture. “We hope you all enjoy, and we are pleased to welcome the Crystal Empire’s very own Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!”

After everypony’s eyes were drawn to the Princess, they all bowed reverently before applauding wildly. Cadance turned and waved, hesitation shining through her false confidence. She settled back into her seat, and Pavise thought he could see a genuine smile creep onto her muzzle as the red curtain drew open; he resolved to remember that she liked plays.

Pavise expected he hadn’t been the only one unsurprised to learn The Shadow King was about King Sombra. It was a sort of fantastical retelling of his rise to power; the ruthless enslavement of his own ponies; his defeat at the horns of Celestia and Luna; the thousand year curse; the eventual return of the Crystal Heart; and the rise of the kingdom’s new rulers, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor.

The pony they had picked to play Shining Armor, a stout white crystal stallion, was exceptionally well acted. Yet despite having seemingly enjoyed the rest of the play, Cadance looked a little uneasy whenever the pony was on stage. Pavise hadn’t expected them to include the Prince and Princess; a gnawing anxiety grew in his stomach as the final showdown between Sombra and the Crystal Empire’s monarchs drew to a close, but the play itself kept rolling.

“And now, the desperate fight between the lovely Prince Shining Armor and the agent of darkness, Sombra’s evil accomplice!” said Emerald Shine from the right of the stage; she had narrated most of the play, which Pavise had eventually grown to dislike, as they and everypony else were both perfectly capable of making out the events on stage themselves and were already familiar with most of the substance–it was their own history, after all. The stagehooves nudged the previous backdrop of the Crystal Castle and town off to the left and brought in the next scene–it was an approximation of the royal bedchambers. Cadance froze, and Pavise watched her expression muddy in horror.

No… They can’t be serious. He shared a helpless look with Emery, who brought a hoof to his face in disbelief.

‘Shining Armor’ lay asleep in his bed, snoring dramatically under the covers. Suddenly, a second pony crept out from the curtains, dressed horn to hoof in billowing black robes. He raised his hooves dramatically overhead, and the band offstage rose in crescendo. Suddenly, Shining Armor leapt from the bed, his fake horn bedazzled with jewels to simulate a perpetually cast spell.

“Fiend! How dare you sneak into my chambers and attempt my life! Have at you!” The two proceeded to mock-battle, and crystal ponies shined reflective crystals from offstage to mimic spells flying back and forth between them. If it weren’t for the subject matter, Pavise might have found the scene rather entertaining.

Suddenly, the shadow pony cast a particularly ‘dangerous’ spell, some shade of vibrant purple, and the Shining Armor fell to the ground. He raised his head up weakly, regarding the assassin with quiet rage.

“Though you may… take my life this day, “ he said with a dry cough, “at least my beloved Cadance is safe. Sombra will never have the Crystal Empire again…”

Cadance sprung from her seat, and Pavise realized too late that she had been crying.

“No! Not again!” she screamed, and everypony turned to look at her in shock. Even the actors on stage froze in place, uncertain of what to do, and the band quieted to a whimper. The emerald mare galloped onto the stage with a pale, looking from the Princess to the set, and uttered a quiet ‘Oh no.’ in understanding.The audience hushed as Cadance stared, unblinking; tears stained her cerise cheeks.

Her horn erupted in blinding white, and with a crackle of magical energy she vanished.

“Princess!” Pavise called in vain. The ponies in the stands panicked, rushing out of the bleachers and spilling into the arena grounds below. Emerald Shine tried to calm the audience, assuring them that it was all a misunderstanding, but to no avail. Emery motioned for the other guards to split off and look for the Princess, and they all shot off at once.

Hours had passed since the Princess had disappeared. They had nearly turned the Empire upside down looking to no avail. Cadance was nowhere in the castle, nor anywhere else in the city. Ponies had quite willingly allowed the guard to systematically search every house, every floor, but they had come up empty-hooved after having searched for most of the day. It was as though the Princess had simply vanished from the city entirely, a train of thought that became less implausible as the sun began its descent into the pale blue.

Emery was speaking with the other guards, and a few of Cadance’s advisors, about sending word to Canterlot and notifying Princess Celestia when Pavise suddenly realized that there was one place nopony had thought to check. Without a word, he slipped out of the castle and galloped down the city’s main street, his helmet threatening to tumble right off his head. Nopony gave him pause, as they were all still concerned primarily with finding the Princess.

He ducked through a few alleyways, between houses where ponies were cleaning up the remnants of the faire. Not a single crystal pony had considered carrying on with the event without the Princess, and so they had collectively decided to wrap things up early. He was spit out in a far part of town, toward the outskirts; he only slowed to a hasty trot when he had finally reached his destination.

“Princess! Princess!” called Pavise as he ducked into the narrow mouth of the cave and tried his best not to slip on fallen rock and crystal shards. It didn’t take long for him to find Cadance; he breathed a sigh of relief.

She was there, lying next to the bed of crystals. He thought better of running up to her, suddenly reminded of his last conversation with the Princess. Maybe she didn’t want him here? It was obvious that she had escaped for some reason.

Hesitantly, Pavise crossed the impossibly far distance. He winced as his quiet hoofsteps grew thunderously loud, entombed as they were in the crystal cave. Cadance didn’t look up when he finally drew near enough to see the remnants of sadness on her face; her eyes, red and puffy, betrayed the hours she’d cried.

“I can’t do it. I can’t be their Princess anymore,” Cadance said softly. Pavise was taken aback. Is she going to abdicate? Who’s going to lead the Empire? Where would she go? The torrent of questions caught in his throat, trapped by fear of an unpleasant answer.

“When Princess Celestia first told me and Shining that we needed to head to the Crystal Empire, that there was a problem only we could solve, I knew that she was planning to have us rule there together. After all, what good is a Princess without a kingdom to rule over?” She chuckled, a hollow and rattling sound. Pavise frowned.

“But I was so excited. Ever since I became an alicorn, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a Princess, to rule a kingdom. When we got here, I finally got the chance to figure it out. I didn’t know what it meant to rule, or to manage a kingdom, but I was so excited to learn it all. And the best part of all was that I didn’t have to do it alone. Shining Armor was my stable, my place to shelter in the storm. He always seemed to know what to do, even when I was supposed to.”

Fresh tears rolled steadily down her face as her horn shone to life. Pavise glanced to the corner of the cavern, where Cadance’s crown lay illuminated by magic; it seemed she had cast it aside at some point. She brought it to her face, scrutinizing it.

“Celestia ruled Equestria for a thousand years without her sister. But I’m not her. I’m just-I’m just Cadance,” she said. She craned her neck to look at Pavise, giving him a start. “What do you do, when you know you need to do something, but you don’t know if you can?” Pavise saw his own uncertainty reflected in Cadance’s magenta eyes as he searched for an answer in the fog of his mind.

“I, uh… I just do it,” he said, floundering. He clarified after a moment of consideration. “My cutie mark–it seems pretty simple, but I think that it makes my purpose pretty clear. I… Oh, right–you can’t see it.” He realized Cadance had looked back to see his cutie mark.

“It’s just a shield, with the Crystal Heart inside of it. I don’t remember how I got it–I don’t remember much before Sombra came. But I know that when I got it, it was because I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself. I just wanted to help other ponies, and protect them.”

As if feeling the weight of his words, he sank to the ground beside Cadance, who made a little space for him.

“Of course, I don’t always get it right, but I know it’s what I’m supposed to do. It’s my duty.” Yet the more he spoke, the more he felt like he was describing somepony else. His gut twisted as he recalled the nights he’d spent with Cadance, comforting her in secret. The line had already blurred between duty and selfish indulgence.

What about right now? Am I here because of duty, or because I just wanted to see the Princess? I didn’t tell anypony where I was going, after all. The question chewed at his conscience like a hungry rabbit, nibbling away bits of his self-confidence.

Cadance seemed to savor his words for a while, and Pavise readied himself for what he thought would be the end of the conversation. He looked at her, seeking her eyes.

“Princess… I was the one who told everypony to start preparations for the Crystal Faire early this year. I was thinking about what you said, about how you didn’t want me in the guard anymore, and I-” he paused, grasping, “-I just wanted to make it up to you. I thought that maybe the festival might help cheer you up. I know everypony thinks that you’re better now, but I… I don’t think that’s true.”

Her words in the dungeon surfaced suddenly. What do you know about me, Pavise? How can I seem like anything to you? He hung his head apologetically, anticipating her renewed wrath at any moment.

“I’m sorry, Princess. I was selfish. I just didn’t want you to hate me.” He was startled when he felt a painfully familiar sensation: Cadance was looking at him, touching his foreleg gently with a hoof. Suddenly, nothing mattered anymore, and everything he had been worried about the last few days melted away like snow in Cadance’s radiance.

“You’re not the only one who’s been selfish, Pavise. I’m-I’m sorry too. I don’t know what came over me back then, in the dungeon,” she said, looking a little ashamed. “I just couldn’t stand those things he was saying about Shining I just wanted him to stop. I guess I felt like you were on his side instead of mine.”

“I’ll always be on your side, Princess,” Pavise replied without hesitation, startling Cadance a little with his intensity. He suddenly looked away, a little embarrassed. But Cadance left her hoof on his, for what felt like ages, granting Pavise plenty of freedom to imagine what sort of face she’d made in response. After a while, he spoke quietly.

“I didn’t know about the play today, either. I didn’t know we even had an Emerald Shine Theatre Group, honestly,” Pavise said. Cadance smiled, and snorted in mild amusement. Pavise finally lifted his head to behold an unexpectedly amiable looking alicorn.

“I guess that makes two of us. I hope Emerald Shine doesn’t feel too bad… It was just a lot, and I wasn’t ready for it,” said Cadance. “The play was pretty entertaining otherwise.”

Pavise chuckled. “Yeah. Honestly, I kind of wanted to stick around… I’ve actually never seen a theater performance.” It felt wrong to admit given the circumstances. He watched her smile melt into confusion, and wondered if he’d misspoken after all.

“You’ve never seen a theater performance? You don’t know what you’re missing! Back in Canterlot, there used to be a yearly reenactment of the battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon on the eve of her banishment–of course, now that she’s returned they don’t put that show on anymore.” Cadance looked a little sheepish mentioning it, but continued on enthusiastically. “When I was a filly, I practically dragged my parents out every year to go watch the show. It was obnoxious and romanticized, sure, but so much fun to watch.”

He hadn’t expected her to be such a fan of theater, and he wondered if perhaps he could persuade the Emerald Shine group to give them another show–maybe even a private viewing. The thought nearly made his heart skip.

“Well, maybe we could go catch a show sometime,” he said, then immediately realized he had basically asked the alicorn out on a date. “What I mean is, uh, just as friends-er, guard and Princess. I mean, we don’t have to go by ourselves, we could bring more guards, or you could bring anypony else you wanted, or uh-” Cadance silenced him with a hoof to his muzzle, leaving him wide eyed.

“I’d… I’d like that, Pavise. It sounds like fun.” She offered him a small smile, and hope leapt in his chest.

Pavise and Cadance spent a little longer in the cave together. He talked about what he could remember from before he joined the guard, carefully avoiding the specifics of why he’d joined for obvious reasons. Cadance spoke of being a young unicorn in Canterlot, and her unique special talent–matchmaking. He still couldn’t wrap his head around unicorn magic, especially the kind she had described, but it sounded as though she was particularly sensitive to strong feelings of love; Pavise was deeply conscious of his never ending thoughts about her, and hoped desperately she couldn’t read his mind.

When they were finally ready to leave, he led her back through the cave. Cadance paused by the entrance; Pavise turned to ask why, but she spoke first.

“Pavise, I wanted to apologize for what I said to you in the dungeon. I was emotional, and it just… came out. But you were right–I had gone too far–and I should have realized that.” She regarded him carefully, judging his reaction behind the protection of her beautiful mane. He just shook his head.

“It’s uh, not a big deal,” Pavise said lamely. “I just didn’t want you to do something you would regret. Even if he deserves it.” Pavise hated to defend the assassin, truly, but murder was still murder.

Cadance nodded; a pleasant smile crossed her muzzle. “You know, you remind me of Shining sometimes. Always saying the right thing, even if nopony wants to hear it. I don’t think I could have asked for a better guard, Pavise,” she said. Pavise’s heart skipped, then sank into the mud as he thought himself compared to Shining Armor, who should have been standing there sharing pleasant conversation with Cadance instead of himself.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, personal stuff going on. For anyone wondering, I know that Hasbro said Cadance was originally a pegasus before becoming an alicorn, but it makes more sense to me for her to be a unicorn, so that's what she is in this story.