The Dark Heart of Canterlot

Chapter 2: Shining Armour

"I'm sure the two of you will be the best of friends..."

"It has been a long time, your highness" said Captain Stormswirl as he bowed before his monarch gracefully. He removed his golden helmet, letting his navy blue mane fall around his face. "Too long" he added. "I still see your crown doesn't fit properly."

"Oh be quiet" said Celestia jokily, adding a little giggle on the end, "I'm going to order a new one to be forged."

"Glad to hear it" chuckled the pegasus captain. He looked round to inspect his ornate surroundings and nodded appreciatively. "You've re-decorated I see. Fortune has clearly shone down upon you in our absence my Princess"

"You too, Captain" replied Celestia, nodding at the large scratch mark running down the eye socket of the Captain's helmet. Stormswirl looked at it and laughed.

"Griffon patrols will never get the message: that Equestrian Royal Guards are second to none in the sky." He shook his head. "Mind you, the whole of Equestria's Armed Forces should be on standby. The attacks have been becoming more aggressive and more frequent in recent months. You wouldn't believe the journey here from the Dragonspine Mountains. Storms, gales, blizzards- and then the most almighty sky battle you could possibly imagine! It was us against the Ninth Order of Talon Guards."

Celestia nodded grimly.

"The Ninth..." she murmured. Such matters as sky battles seemed far removed from her life of politics and comfort- yet she had heard of the Ninth Talon Guards. The terrible reputation proceeded the elite of the Griffin Kingdoms' aerial forces. They had a notoriously vicious attitude to war, and not many ponies could go hoof-to-claw with them and survive to tell the tale.

"We were lucky to escape with our lives, eh Shining?" said the Captain, inclining his head to the young unicorn stallion inside the adjoining chamber. Cadence watched as he stepped forward. he looked so horribly sure of himself, and when he spoke his voice was big and confident.

"But we did escape Captain" he said, his blue eyes flashing gleefully. "And without any losses to their eight"

"Well said lad" Stormswirl laughed, patting Shining on the withers with a powerful feathered wing. He turned back to the sun goddess, and winked at her cheekily. "That Claw Commander Razorwing, got more than he bargained for, I tell you. . He'll think twice before trying to ambush Equestria's finest again."

Shining Armour chuckled throatily. "That is, if he ever makes it back to Gryphus at all."

Stormswirl looked back at Princess Celestia. "He attacked me with a poisoned battleclaw, hence the scratch", he inclined his head to the talon marks running down the helmet, "but had a little 'accident' when he next lunged for me. See, young Shining here was on the ground at the time with the rest of the patrol. He saw the feathered fiend and used his magic to send the claw back at its owner" Stormswirl explained, chuckling slightly.

"What type of poison?"

"Nightbloom Petal judging by the smell"

Celestia grimaced. Although the griffins deserved all they got for attacking the royal patrol, she still hated to hear such things. All life was under her care, be it griffin or pony. Despite this, she cracked another smile and embraced the guard captain warmly. Cadence raised an eyebrow. She always suspected that something had happened between her aunt and the strapping captain, mainly due to her talent to detect love, but had never really believed it. Her suspicions were conformed when Celestia's face pulled away, pink as summer roses.

"I see you haven't changed a bit. Welcome back to the Royal Palace- and welcome to you too, Shining Armour" she said gracefully. Cadence watched as the young stallion bowed down respectfully before the Sun Princess. "So Shining, you seem tall for your age, and definitely strong. How old are you? Fourteen? Fifteen?"

The white unicorn raised his head.

"Sixteen at the end of this year, your highness" he announced.

"Looks freakishly older than all the other colts in the training camp. Keep mistaking him for an officer. Won't be long before he'll be able to join the Guard Training Programme fully" said Stormswirl, and patted his young protégé on the back. Shining cleared his throat quietly.

"I'm ready now"

Cadence stifled a snigger.

Celestia and Stormswirl chuckled.

"But it's true", said Shining a little sulkily. "I'm faster and stronger than any of the other colts at camp, I can beat Sergeant Blitz in a hoof wrestle, and I can beat everypony in magical duels. You said yourself, captain, that my magical prowess is equal to that of some members of the Royal G-"

"I see young Shining has quite a wide array of skills" chimed Celestia, amused. She looked the colt up and down. He had potential, that was for sure.

"So tell me, your highness" said the guard captain, his face growing more serious. "Why such an urgent summons, eh? What's on your mind?"

Celestia smiled, making the twilight evening a bit lighter. "All in good time my friend" she said, and called back through the open doors to her unusually shy niece. "Cadence? Are you still there my dear?"

Heart racing, Cadence scampered from the curtain and over to the oaken table where the half-finished painting lay.

"Y...yes, your highness" she called back, hoping she wouldn't hear how breathless she sounded.

"Come here then child!" exclaimed Celestia joyfully, "you haven't yet greeted Uncle Stormy."

This time Shining stifled a snigger.

With her head down, Cadence timidly plodded out of the shadow filled room with her luscious three toned mane falling around her gilded horseshoes. She smiled at Stormswirl.

"Fair Goddess!" the guard captain gasped as she moved towards him. "Who is this tall elegant vision of beauty I see before me? Surely it can't be little Cadence, can it?"

He bowed down to the young Princess, causing her to blush profusely. She hated it when ponies did that- it always made her feel uncomfortable and important. She especially didn't like her Uncle Stormy doing it.

"It's me..." she beamed shyly.

Stormswirl shook his head in disbelief. "But it's not possible" he muttered, then added, "though there's one way to find out. My little Mi Amore always kept a single gold bit behind her ear."

He reached forwards and grazed her cheek with his hoof. "And here it is! It must be Cadence" he announced. He gave an over exaggerated bow and slipped the coin into her hoof.

"Thank you" Cadence whispered shyly. She was beginning to feel self-conscious being the centre of attention, particularly with Stormswirl's new recruit, Shining, staring at her so intently. "I didn't...I mean, I wasn't expecting..." she looked down at the gold piece.

"Oh course you weren't" chuckled Stormswirl.

"Cadence, Stormswirl and I have some important business to attend to. I wonder if you'd also be so good as to entertain our young guest here" Celestia paused, "his name is Shining Armour"

Celestia had already turned away. Internally, Cadence was fuming, and her little tiara barely stayed on her head as she quivered with annoyance. Composing herself quickly, she turned to face her new 'bodyguard'.

"Shining" said Cadence slowly, pretending it was the first time she had heard it. She glanced at him quickly. His eyes she noticed, did not completely match his dark toned mane, but were more of a brighter indigo, like the storm clouds that sometimes could be seen swirling beyond the southern sea. "You'd better come with me then" she muttered.

As the two of them disappeared into the building, Stormswirl turned to the sun goddess. "She is growing up to resemble her mother closely" he said softly. He waved a wing to dismiss the guards behind him. After they had fluttered away, Celestia nodded sadly.

"I confess that sometimes I find it difficult to even look at her. And it isn't just her appearance...the way she purses her lips. The way she chews the tips of her mane. I mean, how is it even possible that she should have the mannerisms of a mother she never even knew?" She shook her head, the aurora mane slowing just a little bit.

Stormswirl set his helmet on the marble balcony.

"Do not forget your highness, I too have had my share of loss." Celestia swallowed guiltily.

"Forgive me dear captain; I've had a lot on my mind recently. I did not intend to be so thoughtless..."

Stormswirl nodded. "It hasn't been easy" he muttered.

Celestia gave him a sympathetic glance. "I'm sure it hasn't dear captain, that's what I want to talk to you about. Please sit." The white alicorn's horn flared brilliantly as she conjured plump cushions from thin air, setting them down on the balcony. The royal guard captain took a place beside the Sun Princess, folding his strong wings against himself as he did so. The shadows of the neighbouring towers fell upon them, deepening the mood.

"Losing your family like that must have been hard Stormswirl" began the Princess, scraping a gilded horseshoe against the stone of the balcony. The pegasus captain ruffled with feathers slightly before looking out across to the setting sun.

"It was, your highness, it was" said the captain wistfully, "but I found a new family, in the Guard. And while my son is gone, Shining has become my new son in a way. I never let the colt out of my sight. The pair of us travel everywhere together"

Celestia quickly interjected during the brief pause.

"I have a great favour to ask of you, old friend" she locked her violet eyes to his blue, grabbing the captain's attention with the same things that grabbed his heart several years ago.

"Anything, your highness. You know that, just ask."

"These attacks from the Griffin Kingdoms have the populace worried. It's brought home to me the fact that I can't keep everypony safe by myself. I have important work. Difficult work. And I need help with it"

"I'm just a guard captain" laughed Stormswirl. "but anything I can do for the great Princess Celestia of fair Equestria, I do willingly"

"You can give up Shining to me" the alicorn muttered quietly.

Stormswirl stood up abruptly. "What?"

"I need somepony to protect Cadence", Celestia continued hurriedly. "Somepony I can trust to help me. You don't know Canterlot like I do, Stormswirl. It's a treacherous place. I cannot keep the ponies of Equestria safe with a council of ministers who would smile to my face and betray me behind my back. I need somepony not born of the Palace. Somepony young, agile, eager to learn. I need a young cadet as my niece's protector should politics take an ugly turn"

"This is quite a shock" gasped Stormswirl, sitting down again. "After losing my family on that terrible night, the thought of losing Shining..."

"You wouldn't be losing him, good captain" said the Princess reassuringly. She smiled comfortingly, and Stormswirl found his steel heart melting. "He'd live here with me, the Princess of Equestria. He'd live with here in the Palace, be educated at the Higher Halls of my School for Gifted Unicorns with Cadence and perform certain simple duties as my assistant and my niece's bodyguard. Why, who knows? A fine colt like Shining- in due course, he might secure himself a strong place in the Royal Guard."

"Yes, well, only when he's ready" replied Stormswirl, who understood the rigorous training an harsh perils of life in the Academy of War in the Royal Barracks. His eyes moistened slightly. "I couldn't bear it if..."

"Stormswirl, my old friend" said the crowned sun pony, taking off both horseshoes on her forehooves and taking both the captain's warmly, "Shining Armour will be safe here. Nowhere in all of Canterlot is safer. While he is in my charge, not a single hair on his pretty little mane will come to harm. I give you my word."

       The captain couldn't argue with that. The word of a Princess was second to none, and there was nopony that the pegasus stallion trusted more in all the world.

"A word I trust as well as my own" he finally said before smiling. "You are offering my protégé a fine opportunity, your highness. I won't stand in the colt's way."

Celestia beamed. "Thank you old friend", she leaned forwards and planted a soft kiss on the captain's forehead, rekindling a spark of emotion that burned bright only a few years ago. "You don't know how much this means to me."

She cocked her aurora crested head towards the open balcony doors, from where the low buzz of conversation was coming. "He seems to be making himself at home already."

"Put it back!" Cadence snapped.

Shining Armour turned the curious lilac crystal over and over in his magical hold.

"But what is it?" he persisted.

"It's the last surviving fragment of the Crystal Empire, if you must know" said Cadence impatiently as she snatched it from his magenta coloured magic hold with her own cyan. "My aunt saved it before it vanished from the world"

"What Empire is this?"

"Never mind"

Cadence placed the delicate jewel back under the glass bell jar which covered it usually. As she turned round, her mind lit up in annoyance again as she found the unicorn colt wandering around the room looking at absolutely everything that wasn't bolted down . He eventually stopped at an elegantly curved bookcase, gilded at the edges with golden leaf motifs and silver flowers. Pulling a book out at random, Shining heaved a colossal tome bound in a deep red cover. A golden unicorn head was embossed in the dead centre of the cover.

"What's this?" he asked across the room, much to the pink alicorn's irritation. She gilded over to join him with a single beat of her purple tipped wings and picked up the book with her magic.

"Its 'A Simplified Account of Alicorn Magical Prowess and Celestial Control ', my aunt, Princess Celestia wrote it herself" she sniffed as she slid it back into its designated place in the shelves.

"She must be very clever"

"She is" Cadence huffed proudly, shocked that anypony would say something so dumb. "Recognised by all in Canterlot and Equestria and even beyond as the most brilliant magic wielder of all time. That, after all, is why she is ruler of the fairest land in all the world."

Cadence turned away, flicking her three coloured mane from her eyes as she plodded back over the the painting she was doing. "Please don't touch anything else" she told Shining primly. "I'm making this picture for the Princess. On my own."

Shining shrugged. He didn't like the bossiness in her voice, or the fact that she clearly thought herself superior to him. But he said nothing. Better answer with silence than indignation, as the saying went. Despite the fact she was a Princess, I didn't give her the right to be so condescending towards him.

As Cadence continued to dab in the paints onto the canvas, her back turned pointedly towards him, Shining found his gaze falling onto her flank. Her bright cutie mark portrayed a shiny crystal heart laced with golden swirls. Shining found himself looking at it far longer than he normally would have. Snapping himself out of his teenage desires, he wandered off to look around the rest of the room by himself.

When he'd first come through the double doors to the chamber, he hadn't really paid much attention to the features around him. It wasn't what he had expected it to be. Shining had guessed that a small, cosy room with maybe a fire burning in the corner. However, the young white unicorn found himself standing in a vast hall with tall gilded marble pillars, lofty arches and two magnificent crystal chandeliers. And though there were indeed a few armchairs and hanging sofas clustered around a rug at the far end of the room beside a cavernous fireplace where a tiny stove burned, they looked ridiculously small and out of place, and served only to emphasise the grandeur of the great stately room.

He was about to ask Cadence more about the exact function of the chamber when a voice piped up from a hanging sofa in front of him. "It's rude to stare!" it said.

Shining started back. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't know anypony was there" he said. He peered into the shadows and saw a short, roly-poly pony, and earth one, sitting on a cushion filled seat, his stubby legs sticking out before him. Shining stepped forward and held out a forehoof. "My name is Shining Armour" he said, and added formality, "I am honoured to make your acquaintance"

Professor Shimmer Dew chuckled throatily as she set aside this paperwork and jumped onto the floor. "The honour is mine" he replied, as etiquette demanded, and shook his hoof. "My name is Professor Shimmer Dew." He smiled. "it is a long time since I've met a young colt with such fine manners." he emphasised the last two words lid enough for the pink alicorn at the other end of the room to hear.

Cadence rolled her eyes.

"Then it must be a long time since you came across a Cadet of the Royal Guard" declared Shining proudly, glancing round to see whether Cadence was listening. She should know she wasn't the only one with important aspirations.

"A Cadet of the Royal Guard" said Shimmer Dew, clearly impressed.

"And the strongest, fastest, and cleverest cadet in the Camp" huffed Shining, loathing his false self-pride, but it was worth it just to annoy the young princess

Poised over the canvas with a blob of red paint on the end of her brush, Cadence groaned. It was bad enough having been asked to entertain such an obvious roughneck in the first place, but for her tutor to be impressed by a couple of oily phrases! Couldn't he see how rough he was underneath? How uncouth? How...

   "Oh, is that a tree fox?" she heard Shining exclaim, and turned to see Muffins leaping down from the chandelier and onto the back of Shimmer Dew's hanging sofa.

"Why, don't you like them?" the professor asked, "I can tie him up if you'd prefer"

Cadence held her breath. Could this be a chink in the colt's otherwise impenetrable armour? Of course it couldn't!

With a broad grin on his face, Shining reached up a forehoof towards the screeching creature and beckoned it come forward. Instantly soothed, the tree fox jumped up into his forelegs and began purring with pleasure. Her hopes dashed, Cadence turned away petulantly.

"I love tree foxes" Shining was saying, "and this one's an absolute beauty. Does he have a name?"

"Muffins" said Shimmer Dew.

Shining smiled down at the creature and tickled it behind the ears. "You like a good tickle don't you Muffins? Oh yes, that's nice..." The tree fox went helplessly floppy and purred all the louder.

Cadence scowled. First her tutor. Now her pet. She just wished that Stormswirl and Celestia would hurry up their business and the captain would take this horrible unicorn away. At the other end of the room, Shimmer Dew was having other ideas.

"If you're staying, I'll see about some refreshments. What do you fancy?"

Shining looked up.

"Anything at all, except for one thing. Trottingham Cheese. I can't stand the stuff."

"What a coincidence" Shimmer Dew laughed. "Neither can Cadence."

He bustled off, and as he reached the doors, Muffins leapt from Shining's hooves and scampered after him "It's his tea time too" the professor chuckled. "I shan't be long. Just you make yourself at home."

With Shimmer Dew and the pet tree fox gone, the huge hall fell into an awkward silence. Shining paced over to the walls to have a closer look at the inlaid panels. The hoof fall of his horseshoes echoed eerily.

Cadence wanted to abandon her painting work for the day. the fading light was making it difficult for her to see the exact shades of the paint she was mixing. But if she gave up now, she'd have no option but to talk to Shining Armour- and she had no intention of doing that.

Unaware of Cadence's irritation, the blue maned unicorn stopped by the walls and traced his hoof lightly over the intricate marquetry. Each of the panels was decorated with delicate patterns picked out in different coloured woods. Twists and coils and plaits were carved into the timber in great interlocking swirls and raised lattice-work sections, each one cornered with curlicues and containing complicated and unfamiliar emblems. A flower and a coiled rope. Three crossed ladders. A series of concentric circles split up by a seven pointed star...

The panelled wall was quite unlike anything Shining had ever seen before. "Its amazing" he whispered softly to nopony in particular. "It's amazing...amazing...zing..." his echo repeated excitedly.

Cadence could bear it no longer. Spoiling her evening was one thing, but so obviously enjoying himself was another! There he was, all bluster and rough edges. He'd come in, distracted her from her painting, impressed Shimmer Dew, bewitched Muffins...she groaned angrily.

Shining spun round. "Are you all right, your highness?" he asked.

"Yes, I..." she began, embarrassed by the concern in his voice. "Just clearing my throat" she said, and did it again. "The echo makes it sound worse than it is."

Shining nodded. "It's the best echo I've ever HEARD!"

HEARD...heard...heard...he...

Cadence jumped, causing Shining to burst out laughing. Annoyingly, she found he own mouth curling into a smile, and soon joined the young colt in his amusement. Their laughter mingled with all the other noises as Shining crossed the hall to the table where Cadence was still working on the painting. He raised a forehoof defensively.

"I won't touch, promise!"

"I should hope not" said Cadence with mock severity. Shining frowned, making his royal blue eyes seem like they belonged to a fully grown stallion than a young teenage colt.

"Can you actually see anything?" he asked.

"It's a bit dark" Cadence conceded. "The thing is, I promised the Princess I would complete it for her as soon as possible." She looked up at Shining. "You couldn't light a lamp for me could you? Only I'm not allowed to, and I need my magic to levitate the brush"

"Me?" Shining gulped, and for a split second, Cadence saw fear flash across the young cadet's face. The next moment, he was in control once more. "Light your lamp?" he said jauntily. "Yes, I can do that."

Cadence looked at him closely. Even in the shadows, his coat was glistening with sweat. "If its too much trouble, then don't bother" she said meanly. "Shimmer Dew will be back in a moment."

"its fine" said Shining. "Just, I can't cast a fire spell yet, not even a spark. How does Shimmer Dew do it?"

"He usually takes a piece of flaming wood from the stove. The tongs are on the hook."

Shining nodded, grabbed the lamp in his mouth and turned away. Face set grimly, he crossed the floor to the little stove standing in the middle of the huge elegantly carved fireplace. His heart was thumping. his legs felt like lead. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something glinting scuttle across the floor- though when he looked, there was nothing there.

The firewood was burning well, bright orange and very hot, it bounced around as it crumbled inside the stove. Trembling uneasily, Shining placed the lamp down on the floor. then he unhooked the tongs with his magic, flipping open the stove and moving the tongs simultaneously. The iron and glass door swung open and the white unicorn was struck in the face by a blast of scorching air. "Its all right" he whispered to himself, "the f-f-fire's inside the stove Don't panic. J-just reach in, take the piece, light the lamp. You'll be fine...absolutely fine..."

On the other side of the room, Cadence's brow furrowed with consternation. The curious echoes and acoustics of the vast room being what they were, she had heard every faltering word. For whatever reason, Shining was petrified of fire. Perhaps she'd gone too far. Suddenly, she found herself running towards him. "It doesn't matter" she shouted at him, "Shining, leave it!"

But by then, the blue maned colt was already levitating a length of burning wood from the stove. His horn was shaking so badly he could barely maintain his grip on the tongs. And when Cadence called out, her booming voice gave him such a fright that he let go completely. The tongs clattered to the hearth. The burning log fell with it, but was unlucky enough to land on Shining's right foreleg.

"Bucking horseshit!" Shining screamed as he felt his coat burn off. The blazing log was picked up by Cadence's magic and hurled back into the fire. The pink alicorn raced over to the injured unicorn, her eyes filled with concern and shock.

"Shining! Oh Shining...sweet Goddess, I don't know any healing spells! Um..." she darted off to find a book on the subject, flipping through all kinds of different tomes.

At the same moment, the doors behind them opened. Both Shining and Cadence spun round guiltily. Shimmer Dew was standing in the doorway, a laden tray balancing on his back. Muffins jumped up and down on his shoulder and bounded towards them.

"i thought you could have toasted oakbread with razzleberry jam" he said, as he pushed the door shut with his hind legs. "With some strawberries and syrup for...", his brows lowered, "what have you two been up to?" he asked suspiciously.

"N...Nothing" said Cadence.

Shimmer dew sniffed the air. His nose twitched. "Firewood and...who's burned themselves?" he said sharply, "come on, show me."

Shining held his breath and stuck out his right foreleg. There were angry red sores and frayed blisters on his shins and at the top of his hoof. the fur around his wound was black. Cadence gasped and bit her lower lip. Shimmer Dew put the tray down, seized the pot of razzleberry jam and dolloped a huge spoonful onto Shining's leg. Shining looked at Cadence, his eyes asking her whether the old earth pony had completely mad.

"Jam, professor?"

"Razzleberry jam" said Shimmer dew as he smoothed the sticky pink substance over the burns. "Razzleberries were used by Medieval Pony Knights as healing foodstuffs. A Razzleberry Salve would have been better of course- but I dare say a little sugar won't do any harm. There" he said at least. "Now if we wrap this napkin around it...like so." He looked up. "It'll be as right as rain by the morning."

"I give my heartfelt thanks" said Shining politely. But Shimmer Dew was no longer in any mood for his fancy words.

"And I'll give you a heartfelt kick in the rump if I catch you playing with that stove again!" he said sternly.

"He was only trying to light my lamp for me" muttered Cadence.

"Aye, well, leave things to those who can. Can't you cast a spark spell or something?"

Shining shook his head sulkily.

"I'd better fetch another pot of jam, then I'll-I'll- see to the lamp. Is that understood?"

"Yes professor" Cadence and Shining said unison.

Only when she was out the room did Cadence turn to Shining Armour.

"What happened? Are you scared of fire or something?"

Shining nodded. "I have pyrophobia, I can't stand the stuff. That's why I haven't learned to cast a spark." he shook his head, unable to speak. Whether it was out of stress or embarrassment, Cadence could not say. She sat down next to the white unicorn and draped a beautiful feathered wing round his shoulder.

The young princess tingled uneasily inside.

"I'm sorry" she whispered. A rather alarming thought suddenly struck her: All the things the he'd done, he'd done them for her, despite his fear. With her aunt acting so oddly of late, she already had enough on her plate to contend with. She glanced up at Shining, still shaking from his ordeal, and sighed. The sooner Captain Stormswirl came and took him away the better.

The lamps and torches had all been lit by the time Stormswirl and Princess Celestia finally re-entered the balcony chamber. Night had fallen and a chill, spiralling breeze was giving the four waiting pegasus guards outside difficulty staying stable in the air.

"There's a storm brewing" said Stormswirl broodingly.

"A sleet storm" added Shimmer Dew, pulling a face. "I can feel it in my joints."

Celestia chuckled. "Then we must conclude our business as soon as possible so that Captain Stormswirl can depart" she chimed. "Sit down everypony, please. I have something to announce."

Shining and Cadence sat down on adjacent chairs, with Shining taking care to hide his makeshift bandage underneath his long blue tail. There would be time for explanations later. Shimmer dew sat back on his hanging sofa, the tree fox on his shoulder purring intently. The Royal guard captain stood behind his monarch, who cleared her throat.

"Captain Stormswirl and I have made a decision. Shining Armour is to be appointed as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's trainee bodyguard and my personal assistant. He will be enrolled into the High Halls of my School for Gifted Unicorns, where he will study alongside my niece. His schooling is to commence tomorrow morning..."

"But, but..." Shining objected, receiving an angry glare from his captain for interrupting the Princess. He leapt to his hooves, red faced and flustered.

"Don't interrupt colt" said Stormswirl sharply.

"Cadence will be responsible for showing him the ropes", Celestia continued, and shot her niece a warning glance that she was not to interrupt either.

"But captain, an academic life isn't what I want, nor what I'm made for"

"You need to have a proper education before you can enlist in the Guard anyway lad. You'll thank me for this one day." His eyes darkened. "By the Sun, if I'd been given the chances I'm giving you..."

"But I don't want-"

"And then, as my assistant, there are the little tasks that I will be asking you to do" Celestia butted in. "Perform them well, and I can guarantee a place for you at the Academy of War."

"But...wait, can't we...?"

"It won't be permanent" said the pegasus captain.

"But we've been good together, haven't we?" Shining persisted, "haven't we? Going on patrols together, fighting griffins, exploring new places..."

The guard captain almost facehoofed with frustration and sympathy.

"Shining Armour, you're to stop this!" He placed an armoured forehoof on his protégé's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "You're shaming us both" he said quietly. Shining spluttered.

"I'm sorry sir, but..."

"Its not going to be easy for me either" Stormswirl continued. "I've come to depend on your cool head, your magical prowess..." he paused, "besides..." he went on, his voice now little more than a whisper, "you're the only one I've got left."

Celestia gave the captain a sad smile, understanding fully what he meant. She doubted Shining did.

"Stormswirl, while Shining is here, I will treat him as if he was my own child. What more can I say?"

"There is nothing more to say, your highness" bowed the captain. He saluted Shining stiffly, bowed to Cadence, and marched quickly out of the balcony doors. His gilded plate caught on one of the lacy curtains as he strode back into the night air. He didn't look back as he took off with his waiting escort.

Cadence shivered unhappily. Things were not working out at all the way she'd hope. By now, Shining should have gone. Instead, he had been left behind in the Palace to act was her bodyguard of all things, take up a place alongside her at the High Hall s- and as if that wasn't bad enough, she had been put in charge of his well being. She snorted with irritation.

It just wasn't fair.