Tugged on his Heartstrings

by FlimFlamBros.

Rating: everyone
Tags: Shining Armor, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Lyra, Romance, Princess Cadance
Length: 9534

Lyra and Shining Shipfic.

When Cadence starts to act weird and Lyra shows up again in his life, old feelings start to rise and Shining Armour starts to question who he actually loves. Does he still love Cadence? Or will his old feelings for Lyra take over and possibly ruin his marraige?

My entry for The Great Shipping Collab!

Thanks to Busen for editing, Chain Reaction for the Cover Art, and Garbo802 for organizing this awesome collab!

Check out other collab entries here!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GiKJw8-AZtwX83FeGRCgQMDTvVGXZgivW66xSJTDa84/edit

Published 2012-11-22 12:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-22 12:40:01 UTC

Do I Love Her?

“UGH!! I can’t believe you screwed that up, Armour!” yelled Cadence at her fiancé. The soon-to-be couple were in their temporary home in the castle courtyard, the captain’s quarters. “I asked you to do one thing: Pick up the roses from the florist, and send them to the decorator!”

“I did!” said Shining Armour, Captain of the Royal Guard, doing his best to calm Cadence down. “I picked them up on my way back to the castle after I was done my rounds! I made sure he got them!”

“No…” growled Cadence, as she levitated a red flower sitting on a table, her green aura of her magic dragging it to the alicorn. “Do you know what this is?” she asked bluntly.

“A flower?”

“Yes…” she said, putting up an obviously fake smile, “and do you know what kind of flower it is?”

“Umm… A rose?”

“It’s a red carnation!” she yelled, throwing the flower to the ground and stomping it into the floor. She twisted her hoof, grinding the pedals into nothingness.

“But they look almost alike,” gulped Shining Armour. “I thought they were roses, so maybe no pony will notice?” he asked hopefully.

“I NOTICED!!!” Cadence screamed, rocking the entire room with her roar. “Which means that others will noticed that we used the poor-pony flower instead of roses, and they’ll think that we have no sense of class and that I married a barbarian who doesn’t know the difference between a ROSE AND A RED BUCKING CARNATION!!” she yelled, the last bit knocking over a flower pot, the clay shattering on impact.

“I’ll get that,” mumbled Shining, quickly scurrying over to the fallen pot, his, magenta magic picking up the pieces.

“Can’t you do anything right?”

“I’m trying!” muttered Shining, magically teleporting the ruined flower pot away. “Look, I’m sorry about the flowers. I’ve been just as busy too, what with royal guard duties and keeping the shield up around Canterlot.”

Cadence rolled her eyes and groaned. “It’s always something with you, isn’t it?” she jabbed the white stallion in the chest with her hoof. “You need to get your act together, because if our wedding day isn’t absolutely perfect, I am going to lose. My. MIND!”

“O-of course dear!” stuttered Shining, cowering in the menacing shadow that was his bride to be. “I’ll return the flowers first chance I get.”

“Ugh, I can’t even look at you now,” she mumbled, as she headed out the door. “I’m going to check to make sure the table cloths were sent in on time to the castle. Need something to go right today.”

“Okay,” nodded Armour as he watched Cadence head out the front door. “I love you!”

SLAM!!

“… Do you love me back?”

Shining Armour let out a heavy sigh, slumping onto the hardwood floor. He looked around in the emptiness of his home. He had been captain of the royal guards for only a few years, as the old captain had retired and now resided somewhere in Trottingham, where he was living with his children and grandchildren.

The stallion gave a little chuckle at that thought, he remembered of a talk the two of them had, a few days before he had asked Cadence to marry him.

“Remember son, you get one shot with love. Screw it up and you’ll lose her forever… That’s what happened to me, and I don’t want to see a good colt like you to end up in a loveless relationship like this old fool. Find your special somepony and never let her go! Celestia made a mare for every stallion, and a stallion for every mare. I believe this strongly Shining, and I know you will find her,” the captain had once said.

“But how will I know?” he had once asked.

“Well,” the captain had chuckled, “that’s the beauty of it. There is no right way of knowing. However, in my years, I have learned that when I am alone, I can ask myself questions, the most important one being…”

“Do I love her?” Shining asked himself. His old captain had once told him to ask that question honestly and truly to himself, and that his heart would answer back. That night when he asked Cadence to marry him, his heart had screamed yes. Now, after months of cakes, ribbons, flowers and wine tasting, he found himself to be in the presence of a different mare entirely, no longer the mare he had thought to be in love with.

“Well Shining? Do you love her?” his captain’s voice echoed through his head.

“I—I don’t know…” he sighed. Was this it? Was the spark of his marriage gone before it was ignited? Was this new Cadence here to stay? All these thoughts and more rang through his head like bells, not helping the already growing migraine in his temple, the stress of the wedding and the constant duty of keeping the shield up around Canterlot was tearing his skull into two. He needed to kill the pain immediately.

He decided to head into the market district, maybe get something to eat and pick up the roses.

He took a deep breath of fresh air as he walked out into the sunny day. There was a slight pink tint to the air, from the massive shield protecting Canterlot. It had been a week after he proposed to Cadence when the threat had been reported, and ever since then he had been keeping up the shield. It was actually a little funny, because roughly around the same time, Cadence had started to act the way she was: moody, highly irritable, and at times just straight up rude. He had thought it was suspicious at one time…

“Yeah right,” he droned. Cadence was just stressed out, having to plan a wedding almost entirely by herself, and he certainty wasn’t much help. “Red carnations…” he grumbled. How could he have been so stupid? Well, he did have another one of his headaches, and must have grabbed the wrong order. It was all this stupid shield’s fault! If it wasn’t for that threat, the princess wouldn’t have asked him to conjure the shield and him and Cadence could plan the wedding together.

But did he still want to get married to her? What if she didn’t become normal again? If she would remain bitter and mean, would he ever be happy? Could he do that to himself? Forced to live a life he hates because he feared the consequences, however brief they may be? He groaned as another pulse of pain rippled through his cranium. He was thinking too much, and he’d go insane if he didn’t get this headache dealt with, and soon.

“Joe’s Donuts,” he smiled, licking his lips as he entered the icing scented establishment, walking up to the short line that had formed in the bakery. He patiently waited behind a family of three, the little filly fidgeting with anticipation for her upcoming treat.

Kids. Shining Armour loved them. One day he planned to have one of his own, a son to raise noble and strong, or a daughter to teach to be kind and caring. Heck, who’s say he wouldn’t have two, or maybe even three?

Cadence, that’s who. For an ex-foalsitter, she no longer seemed to enjoy the little tykes anymore. Shining had tried to bring the conversation up, but would be immediately bombarded with hisses and curses. Cadence apparently had had her fill of kids with his little sister Twilight, and didn’t want to be, as she putted it ‘A swarm of mindless drones’. In fact, he hadn’t even been touched in over three months, another thing that was not helping his stress.

“Two white powered donuts with rainbow sprinkles, please,” Shining said to Donut Joe, dropping four bits onto the counter in exchange for a brown sack with the store’s logo on it. “Thank you,” he mumbled, taking the bag in his mouth and walking to an empty booth by the window. The white stallion levitated one of the deep fried doughy rings of flavour, taking a big bite into the powdery surface. It tasted like paradise.

“Hey look, you bought me one? That was nice of you!” giggled a strangely familiar voice.

Shining Armour almost choked on his donut as he turned around, eyes almost popping out of his head when he saw who it was.

“Lyra? Lyra Heartstrings?” garbled Shining, his mouth still full of donut.

“Who else?” grinned the mint green unicorn, “Long time no see, eh?”

Oh, how right she was. It had to of been--what--two years since he had last saw his silver maned friend? Lyra had moved away to pursue her music career; she was quite talented with the harp, and she left Canterlot with nothing but a head full of dreams, and a harp on her back, and then she was gone…

But now she was back, and he couldn’t be happier.

“Well?” asked Lyra, leaning down on the small table, “aren’t you going to ask me to sit down?”

Shining shook his head from his little trance. “Y-Yeah, sure,” he baffled as the green mare took a seat across from him. “So what brings you back into town? I would have thought you’d be some big shot in Manehattan by now.”

“Yeah…” sighed Lyra, still not dropping her smile. “That didn’t really pan out as plan.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“Hey it’s no big deal,” she laughed, reaching over to and picking up the other donut. “Do you mind?” she asked, Shining shook his head as the mare took a bite out of the powdery donut. “Thanks. Anyhooves I found a sweet little gig in a small town not too far from here. Ever heard of Ponyville?”

“Yeah, my sister lives there!”

“Really? Twily’s there? How is she?”

“I haven’t spoken to her in a while,” he admitted. “Been keeping myself busy with guard duties and the—“

“And the wedding,” finished Lyra, licking her hoof clean from the last of the powder. “That’s why I’m here!”

“You came to watch the wedding?” asked Armour, swallowing up the rest of his donut.

“Better, said Lyra, a big grin creeping on her face. “I’m going to be Cadence’s mare of honour!”

“Really? That’s fantastic!” smiled Shining.

“Well, we’re all friends back in the day…you know, until I moved…” sighed the mint green pony, a hint of sadness in her voice. “But then you get up and get married! And with a princess, no less!” she laughed, “How is Miss Cadenza these day anyways?”

“Honestly…” grumbled Shining, looking down at the table. “Not so great. She’s changed a lot over the past three months. She has had to plan the wedding all by herself because I’m too focus on keeping this shield up.”

“That sucks…” moaned Lyra. “Do you want me to talk to her? See what has her tail in a knot?”

“I know why she’s so irritable right now. There’s been a lot of stress and me not being any use isn’t helping. I’ve tried being calm and collected, but I think I’m slowly losing it!”

“Sounds like a little too much. You guys should try and relieve some stress,” suggested the mint shaded pony.

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly, what I mean, Shiny,” winked Lyra.

“Oh…” gulped Shining, his cheeks quickly becoming pink. “You mean that…”

“What else could I mean?”

“I don’t know. Yoga? Massage? Tea?” muttered the white stallion. “But she hasn’t touched me since the night I proposed…”

“Daaaaaang!” gasped Lyra, her mouth falling open and her left eye scrunching up. “That really sucks! No wonder you’re so wound up.”

“Tell me about it…” grumbled the white unicorn.

“Well, my offer still stands,” said Lyra. “I can have a chat with her, maybe see what bug crawled up her butt.”

“Funny…” sighed Shining, looking up at Lyra. “You really think you can calm her down?”

“Can’t make things worse,” she winked, getting up from the table. “Well, I gotta run. Things to meet, ponies to do!” she laughed. “We should hang out while I’m in town. You know, when you aren’t too busy?”

“Maybe. Where are you staying?” asked Shining.

“Ponylodge, room seven,” she said as she was trotting out the door of Joe’s Donuts. “Drop by anytime, my door is always open to an old friend!”

“I’ll remember that!” called out Armour, as he watched Lyra disappear past the glass door, and down the busy streets of Canterlot.

Lyra…

“Well son? Do you love the mare your with?”

Old Feelings...

“Well son? Do you love the mare your with?”

It had been a sad day when she had move away, he could remember it well. His best friend was leaving to go off on an adventure into the world, she had to follow her calling just like it was his to stay in Canterlot to complete his guard training. Back then, and he had just recently been promoted to Captain of the Royal Guard, his family had been incredibly proud during the moment, even threw him a celebration dinner, inviting all of his relatives and friends. Among those friends, was Lyra.

“Hey Shiny!” the green unicorn had said, giving Armour a friendly hug. “So what’s all this for? Something big happen?”

“Very funny,” he laughed. “I’m so glad you could make it Lyra, it means a lot to me.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she beamed, walking pass Shining Armour and into the house. “So who else is here?”

“Parents, uncles, aunts, a few friends of my parents…” the white stallion listed.

“I meant our friends, dummy.”

“Oh right,” chuckled Shining. “We’re all hanging out in my room, c’mon.”

The two had made their way to his room, politely nudging by relatives, who would congratulate Shining Armour on his promotion. His other friends were already lounging around his room. His one friend, Colgate, a light blue unicorn whose mane resembled toothpaste, was sitting on the ground with another unicorn, a pink coated mare named Amethyst. The two were in a seemingly heated game of go fish at the current moment.

“Got any threes?” asked Colgate, not looking away from her cards.

“Go fish…” replied Amethyst, smiling as Colgate muttered something under her breath. “Got any tens?”

“Dang it!” sighed the blue mare, throwing her ten of hearts to Amethyst. “That’s the fourth time in a row! How are you so good at this game?”

“It’s easy when I can see your cards in the mirror,” chimed the piny unicorn, giggling as she pointed out the angled mirror behind Colgate. “Want to play again?

“You cheated!” growled the blue unicorn. “Why would I want to play with a cheater?!”

“Calm down, Toothpaste,” teased Amethyst, sticking her tongue out at her opponent. “It’s just a game.”

“Yeah, that you cheated on!” barked Colgate, “And don’t call me Toothpaste!”

“Then stop styling your mane like it.”

“It’s like this naturally! Unlike somepony I know!”

“What are you implying, Toothpaste?” snarled Amethyst.

“I’m SAYING that at least I don’t have to spend three hours to make my mane look half decent!”

“Are you saying I have bad hair?”

“I don’t know? Am I, cheater?!”

“You tell me, Toothpaste!”

The two continued to argue, neither of them refusing to back down, both convinced that they were right, and that the other was just overreacting.

“Cheater!”

“Toothpaste!”

Suddenly, the two ponies stopped arguing with each other. They both immediately started to cry and collapsed into one another arms.

“I’m sorry, Colgate!” cried Amethyst, apologizing to her friend. “I shouldn’t have cheated!”

“No, I’m sorry!” sniffed Colgate, “I over reacted, it was just a game!”

“I swear,” giggled a voice from beyond the door of the room. “I’ve been casting my forgiveness spell on these two for hours.”

All the ponies turned around, seeing Cadence kneeling against the doorframe, her horn glowing a light blue as she smiled at her friends.

“Hey Lyra, glad you finally made it,” said the young princess.

“Cadence, what’s up girl?” chimed the green pony. “It’s been a while.”

“We were hanging out yesterday…”

“Exactly!” laughed Lyra, as she pounced onto her friend, locking Cadence in a headlock, scrunching up her yellow and purple mane. “I can’t stand being away from my little buddy!”

“He-Hey!” laughed the alicorn, trying to defend herself against the noogy of her friend. “Somepony help me!”

Whack!!

One of Shining’s pillows was whipped across the room, slamming right into Lyra’s face, causing her to release Cadence.

“Oh you did not just—“

Whack!!

Colgate threw another pillow at the mare. “PILLOW FIGHT!!” she screamed, grabbing yet another pillow and swinging it at Amethyst beside her, who was too stunned to dodge the blunt of the soft weapon.

All chaos was unleashed as feathers started to fly. Pillow projectiles flew across the room and no pony was safe. Lyra had entered a temporary truce with Amethyst as they hid behind an old chest. Colgate and Cadence were on the far side of the bed, hiding and plotting their next move. Shining Armour, who had been confused and attacked throughout the skirmish, was left standing in the middle of his bedroom, and he was completely defenseless.

“Get him girls!” yelled Lyra, throwing her pillow at the idle stallion, the pillow hitting him square in the face. Soon all four of the mares had teamed up against Shining, bombarding him with a barrage of fluff and playful laughter. When the feathers had cleared, and the damage done, Shining Armour was left defeated under a large pile of wrinkled pillows and feathers.

“Victory!” laughed Amethyst, peeking up from behind her cover. “We win!”

“Hey Shiny?” asked Lyra. “Are you okay…”

“Oh…” moaned the white stallion, shifting from underneath the pillows.

“Did we hurt him?” asked Cadence.

“I don’t think so, they are just pillows… Oh no!” gasped Colgate.

“What?”

“Shining has all the pillows…” gulped Colgate.

Suddenly, the pile of pillows levitated off of the young colt. He was completely fine, better than fine, he had a large evil grin on his face as he looked at all the shocked mares.

“First rule of war, ladies,” said, readying his arsenal. “Lure your enemy into a false sense of security, then…” his brow deepened and his smile grew more sinister. “UNLEASH TOTAL CHAOS!!!”

The mares didn’t stand a chance. They were all knocked back from the sudden outburst of feathery death--the death part being quite exaggerated--and they all fell to the might of Shining Armour. The colt stood there triumphantly in his victory.

“I’m not the new Captain of the Royal Guards for nothing you know!” he gloated. “I’ve trained to deal with real life combat situations, I think I can take some girls in a pillow fight—“

“KAMIKAZE!!” screamed Lyra, leaping from out behind the bed and jumping onto Shining, pinning his back to the floor. “Now who can’t take a girl?” she laughed.

It was weird, as he stared up at her, if felt sort of… He couldn’t explain the feeling, but it was something. The way she laughed, it was like a sweet musical to his ears, every high pitch giggle like a thousand songbirds chirping. He noticed her face, her flawless green coat, her silver like silk mane, and those eyes. Eyes that glowed in the shadow of his ceiling light, lighting up the darkness, eyes that were golden as a coin, that while looked away to others, still glimmered towards him. It was in that moment, he had felt something he had never felt since that day.

His heart started to beat faster, yet he was not nervous. He had the cool of a soldier. It felt like it was heating up, catching on fire as it kept beating faster and faster, like it was going to explode, it was stressed.

Like it would be tugged out of his body by his heartstrings…

He was in a trance, speechless, no words to be said. It was hard to breathe as he was drowned in this sea of foreign emotions. He had once asked himself what that feeling was, but he knew all too well what it was.

True love.

“Umm Armour, are you okay?”

“Hah...” mumbled Shining, still far away in dreamland.

“I said are you okay?” repeated Lyra, who was now staring deep into his eyes.

Shining Armour shook out of his trance, returning to reality. “Yeah...yeah I’m fine.”

“Good, cause I totally kicked your flank!” laughed the green mare, getting off of Shining, his heart seemingly jerking as she rose. “Anyways, I think I heard your mom calling for us. We better not keep everypony waiting.”

She trotted out the door, slowly followed by Cadence. Colgate whispered something into Amethyst ear, causing her to laugh before they too left the room.

The rest of that evening was mostly uneventful, filled lots of good food and conversation. There was more than a few toasts for Shining Armour and his accomplishments, as well a couple of laughs and an overabundance of appreciation and love for the new Captain. But this was all a blur to him, he hardly noticed the taste of his favorite meal, or the praise and admiration that his family showered him with, all he could focus was Lyra, the green mare chewing on a carrot stick while jabbing her peas with a fork. Why did he feel this way about her, and why now? Had he had these feelings but never realized it? Did she cast some sort of spell on him as another joke? No, this wasn’t a joke or fake, this was real. His heart ached for her with true, undying affection, and it was driving him mad inside.

When the dinner had concluded and the guests had said their thanks and final congratulations, it was time for everypony to go home. He had so graciously offered to walk his friends home that night, as Celestia had just raised the moon (Luna was still banished away on the moon during this) and it had gotten quite dark. They all walked in a group, talking about this and that as they went. Amethyst only lived down the block, and Colgate just twenty minutes from there. Soon, it was just Cadence, Lyra, and him.

“I think I’m going to fly the rest of the way,” said Cadence, as she opened up her wings. “Auntie Tia wants me up for some redundant lectures about something.”

“Are you sure?” asked Shining Armour. “I don’t mind walking to the castle.”

“No, it’ll take me five minutes to fly from here, four times faster if we were to walk,” she winked. “Just walk Lyra home and get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow, ‘Captain Armour,’” she said, before taking off into the moonlight, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

“So…” pondered Lyra, looking at Shining. “To my house?”

“Yeah,” nodded Armour, as the two walked down the road. There was an awkward silence in the air, and a tension that could be cut with a knife. There was a million and a half things that Armour wanted to say, but his mouth wasn’t working, and his heart was racing again. The mere presence of this mare drove him crazy with lustful desire, and it almost frightened him how quickly his feelings for her had escalated.

“That was some pillow fight we had,” Lyra said, finally ending the silence.

“What? Oh yeah! That was pretty fun,” chuckled Shining, his heartbeat beating harder than before. “I got you all pretty good there at the end.”

“Not me!” laughed the green unicorn. “I got the jump on you there!”

“Yeah… Jump.”

“So what was up with you staring at me all during supper?” she asked.

Shining froze dead in his tracks, his heart skipping a fast paced beat. “What?”

“And what was up with you staring at me during that pillow fight?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been acting kind of weird tonight,” Lyra said, turning around to face the young steed. “Like when I tackled you, and you were staring at me so…intensely.”

“I was?” gulped Shining, sweat starting to drip down his brow. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” said Lyra. “Nothing wrong, it’s just that… You’ve never stared at me like that before, it was like you were looking at me differently or something.” She took a step closer to him.

“Really? Sorry I must have—yeah I’m sorry.”

“You seemed like you wanted something, needed something…” she took another step.

“Lyra—I.”

“You desired it…”

“I—“

“Craved it…” her face was now inches away from his, he could feel her warm breath brush against his face. “It was almost as if…”

“I wanted to kiss you,” Shining finished, closing the gap between their mouth. He couldn’t stand to be apart for a second longer. He needed to feels her lips against his. The roaring fire within his stomach still hungered as he brushed his hoof down her mane, feeling every smooth strand of it as it fell gracefully down her face. He was happy but something was wrong.

“No…” whimpered Lyra, as she parted prematurely from the kiss. Something was wrong, she did not kiss her back, had he read the signals wrong? Where there any to begin with?

“What’s wrong?” he asked, the happiness he had felt moments earlier had evaporated, leaving nothing but worry and doubt.

“I can’t,” she cried, a perfect clear tear rolling down her minty check. “I can’t… Not with you.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry!” Lyra cried, running away from Shining, her bright green coat becoming shaded by the night.

“Lyra, wait!” he had called out, but she was long gone. He was crushed, broken, dejected, and miserable. But, worst of all, he was in love.

“Well?” his old captain’s voice seemed to ring in his head again. “Do you love her?”

His Heart's Desire

“Well?” his old captain’s voice seemed to ring in his head again. “Do you love her?”

“Hey, excuse me…”

“I love you…” mumbled Shining, not fully awake from his daydream.

“That’s great pal, but you need to leave.”

Shining Armour blinked twice before realizing that he was still sitting in the donut shop. He had actually been thinking for over two hours straight, and the sun was starting to go down. “Oh…”

“Yeah, you’ve been sitting there for Celestia know how long,” grumbled Donut Joe. “What in Equestria had you in such a trance?”

“Nothing…” said Armour quickly, as he got up from the table and headed out the door. “The Flowers!” he gulped, realizing that he had wasted the entire day thinking of Lyra, and had therefore forgotten to pick up the roses for Cadence. “She’s going to kill me…”

He quickly ran down the streets, trying desperately to get to the florist before it closed.

“Please don’t be closed, please don’t be closed, please don’t be—” he begged as he ran into the sight of the dark flower shop, the store owner had shut its doors almost thirty minutes ago. “…closed.”

He sighed his head in defeat as he turned around and slowly started to walk home. How was he ever going to explain this screw up to Cadence? She had asked him to do one thing and he screwed it up! He felt like a terrible husband, always preoccupied with his guard duties. He had originally taken time off for this, but the threat… What was the threat? No one really knew, not even him or the princess. For all he knew, it was just a rumor or a practical joke that was blown out of proportion.

There were lights on at the house; Cadence must have been home. With a deep breath, he approached the door, slowly opening it up. His fiancé was sitting in the kitchen, filling out some paperwork, for the wedding most likely

“Cadence, I’m back!” he called out.

“It’s about time! What took you so long?” she demanded, not looking up from her paper work.

“Sorry I got a little—“

“Whatever, I don’t care,” she mumbled. “Did you get the roses?”

“Yeah, about that…” said Shining, laughing nervously.

“What?” asked Cadence, looking away from her papers. “Oh, don’t you dare tell me you forgot.”

“I’m sorry, I tried to get there before it closed…”

“Do you have rocks for brains?!” the alicorn yelled, getting up from the table and marching up to Armour. “Or did you just take stupid pills as a foal?!”

“Well, I ran into Lyra and just sort of ran out of time,” explained the guard pony.

“Don’t even mention that name,” groaned Cadence. “I’ve had enough of her today.”

“Did you two get in a fight?” wondered Shining, hoping she said no.

“I can’t believe the nerve of that mare,” the alicorn growled. “I do the nice thing and ask her to be my bridesmaid and she has the nerve to tell me that I’m stressing out! IT’S MY WEDDING, LYRA! OF COURSE I WANT IT TO BE PERFECT!” she roared.

“Honey, I think she was just trying to help. You have been under a lot of stress lately,” Shining placed a caring hoof on Cadence’s shoulder. “She’s worried about you, heck I’m worried about you. All we want is to see you happy.”

“Happy?” asked Cadence, as she threw on a huge smile. “I’ll tell you what would make me happy: Not having a wedding to plan by myself, not having a bridesmaid with an attitude, and not having a husband who is a complete moron!” she barked, the word ‘moron’ going straight into Shining’s face, catching a few strays bits of spit and a breath of pure anger.

“I’m sorry, is there anything I can do to help?”

“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!” the raging mare screamed, butting her future out of their home, and onto the curb outside. “And don’t come back until you actually want to make this work!”

She slammed the door shut, leaving Shining Armour all alone on the curb.

“Well, that went as well as expected,” he sighed. What had happened to them? They use to be friends, they use to be in love… They were in love, right? He had asked her to marry him three months ago, a classy proposal. They had been celebrating their second year anniversary. He had taken her to Midnight Sky, the fanciest restaurant in Canterlot. He had asked her then and there before the dessert was served, and when he popped open that little box with the ring she said yes.

So why was she like this now?

After she had said yes, Cadence had gone to the bathroom and then they left. It was a few days later that she had started to act the way she had been. Was she really this way? She certainty wasn’t like this when they were younger, why change now? Was it really all stress, or was there something else?

There was no point debating it in the cold night, he needed to find a hotel or something to sleep at for the night.

“Ponylodge, room seven,” Lyra had said, “Drop by anytime, my door is always open to an old friend!”

The thought crept up into his head, but he quickly shook it away. His recent feeling left him feeling odd about the green mare, feelings he had thought were gone. But here he was thinking about her again, and that night a few years ago… And it had cost him dearly.

“Why Lyra…” sighed Shining. “Why did you do this to me? Why do I feel this way about you and not Cadence? I mean, she’s going to be my wife soon!” he shouted into the night. “Do I even love her anymore? Have I ever even loved her? What did you do to me!?”

That settled it; he needed some answers, now. The white stallion quickly rushed down into town, looking for the Ponylodge. “At the very least, I can get this off my chest.”

The Ponylodge wasn’t nearly as far as he had expected. The large white and purple building stood illuminated in the dark night. Ponies were walking in and out either going to enjoy the Canterlot nightlife or retire for the evening. The stallion quickly walked into the door, and walking up to the reception.

“Excuse me, but can you point me towards room seven?” he asked, the mare at the front desk pointed towards the left hallway and Shining took off. “One, three, five, seven!” he said, counting of the doors until he found the one he was looking for and knocked on it.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Coming!” Lyra called from the other side, opening up. “Oh, hey Shiny! What’s up?”

“We need to talk.”

“Oh,” said Lyra her smile slowly disappearing as she let Shining into the hotel room. “Is something wrong?”

“Kind of…” sighed Shining, taking a seat on the bed, “Remember how I said things weren’t going so well with me and Cadence recently?”

“Yeah, and you were right Shining,” muttered the green mare, taking a seat next to her. “Cadence has totally changed, it was like she was a completely different pony.”

“Tell me about it. She was pretty upset with you… Yelled at me a lot.”

“Oh dear, I didn’t make things worse?” worried Lyra. “Did I?”

“No, she was more upset about me for not getting the flowers in for the wedding… Again.”

“Really?” asked Lyra. “You know, you shouldn’t have to stand for that. It’s your wedding too, remember.”

“I don’t even care anymore…” he grumbled. “That’s sort of why I’m here.”

“Shining, don’t tell me you’re getting cold hooves!” she gasped.

“Well…”

“You are?!” Lyra screamed. “Has it really gotten that bad?”

“It’s like you said, she’s become a different pony completely. And it wasn’t a slow change that happened over time, it was almost immediate!” explained the white stallion. “I thought it was just a bit of a rough spot, that maybe she was a little stressed and would get passed it. But it’s been three months Lyra…”

“So you… So you don’t love her anymore?”

“Lyra…” gasped Shining. “I don’t think I ever loved her.”

“What?”

“I know what love feels like, and when I started dating Cadence, I thought I may have felt it, but I didn’t really know. As time went on, I still didn’t feel it, so I started to convince myself that I did, because I wanted that feeling again.”

“And this feeling…” gulped Lyra. “What does it feel like?”

“It’s odd, like a warm fire in your stomach,” he said. “And your heart starts to beat faster and faster, getting warmer as it speeds up. I lose my breath and my words, and it feels like my heart is about to explode. I like this feeling. It’s a strange one, but I like it and I wish I could have felt that way about Cadence, I really do.”

“Oh goddess…”

“I wanted to feel it for her with all of my every being, but I can’t kid myself any longer. Even if Cadence hasn’t gotten so…irritable, I don’t think I could live a lie forever…” Shining took a deep breath, his heart beating madly. “Truth be told, I’ve only ever felt that way about one mare in my life,” he looked at Lyra, staring into her wide golden eyes. “With you, Lyra.”

“It’s not real,” she said quickly.

“Excuse me?”

“I what you’re feeling, it’s not real!” she cried, salty tears dripping down her face. “I knew it was a bad idea to come here. What was I thinking?!”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s all my fault!” Lyra sobbed, her weeping increasing as her light green cheeks were dampened by her waterworks. “You don’t love me… It’s all just an illusion.”

“What?”

“Magic…” she wept. “Remember how I told you about my cutie mark?”

“Yeah, but I don’t see what you being a great harpist has anything to do with it.”

“That’s not what my cutie mark means…” mumbled the mint green pony. “That’s what most ponies assume… I never told you how I got my cutie mark, did I Shining?”

“Well, no.”

“I was a filly, not any older than six years old at the time,” said Lyra as she began her tale, “and I was living in Vanhoover with my family. I had a friend named Caramel. We use to do everything together: We went to the same school, played with the same game, even got in trouble together. They were some of my more happy memories…”

Shining looked confused, but continued to listen patiently.

“One day, when him and I were practicing spells. Well, I practiced, he watched and read from the book. He came across a sort of obsessive spell. Are you familiar with the ‘Want it, need it’ spell?”

“Yeah, my sister had casted it on her doll once,” said Shining.

“I think I remember that. That was Twilight?” wondered Lyra, before shrugging it off. “Anyways, we thought that it would be fun to goof around and enchant some objects with it, so I tried to cast the spell…”

“And…”

“It worked…sort of.”

“What do you mean by sort of?” Shining asked.

“It was a very advance spell,” she said. “I was too young to handle it. I was able to cast it, but there was a mishap. I had forgotten to choose a target while casting, so the spell targeted me…”

“You?”

“I was consumed by the magic. I started to scream, Caramel started to scream, I thought for a moment I was going to evaporate into magic dust. The spell did stop, and I was mostly unharmed, but I had changed.”

“How?”

“I was the target of the spell, so its magic was absorbed into my very being. I became a part of the spell,” she sighed. “After that, things started to change. I got my cutie mark, but what really changed was the way someponies would treat me. Ponies that I had crushes on started to treat me nicer, giving me gifts and compliments, doing stupid things to try and impress me. I was confused at first, but I was too stupid to realize it, I was just enjoying the attention. But things changed when Caramel kissed me on the cheek.”

Shining Armour’s eyes widened as he started to understand what Lyra was telling him.

“He said that he had a strange sensation in his heart, like it was going to rip out of his body to be with me… My best friend at the time,” a tear rolled down Lyra’s cheek. “I was curious, but I liked him too, and things were great for about two weeks and then…”

“And then what?”

“It all stopped,” she said. “All the gifts and attention, it just disappeared. Someponies couldn’t even remember my name, and Caramel…”

“What about him?” gulped Shining.

“He didn’t actually love me!” she cried. “Don’t you see Shining, it’s how the spell works! I start to feel for ponies, and they instantly fall in love with me! And it’s always great for a week or two, but they all end the same way for me: with heartbreak!”

“That’s… that’s terrible Lyra,” said the white stallion, placing a hoof around her. “I’m so sorry.”

“All I know is fake love followed by rejection,” she sniffed. “Do you know what it is like to love somepony, and not know if they love you back or if it’s this stupid curse?!”

“Isn’t there a way to reverse the spell? Almost all spells have a counter spell.”

“I’ve tried that, nothing’s worked,” wept Lyra. “Spells, potions, and nothing has worked. It’s become a part of me, and I have to live with it forte rest of my life, and I’m sorry that I’ve ruined yours as well.”

“Lyra,” said Shining. “You haven’t ruined my life.”

“Yes I have…” she whimpered. “You think that you’re in love with me, but all those years ago it was just the spell, Shining! And now you’re going to mess up your marriage over something you can’t control. It’s why I left Canterlot, it’s why you think you love me, and it’s why you should hate me!”

There was a long pause, only the sound of Lyra’s bitter tears and sniffling could be heard. Shining Armour thought about what she had said to him. It was a spell that had him obsessed with her… Or was it?

“Lyra, how long did you say the spell last?” the stallion asked, looking down at the crying mare in his hooves.

“Anywhere between one week to a month,” she sniffled. “And they always end the same way…”

Shining Armour started to grin. “Then why have I been in love with you since that night?”

“You… What?” asked the green pony.

“I have been in love with you ever since I laid eyes on you,” he said. “I’ve tried to convince myself that it was just a spell or trick, but if what you said was true, then how come I still feel the same way that I did two years ago?”

“I—I”

“It’s because I love you Lyra, I really love you.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “The spell could be affecting you right now…”

“Do you love me?”

“What did you say?”

“I said…” Shining Armour smiled, gently raising her chin up with the tip of his hoof so he could look into her glimmering golden eyes. To him, her beauty was unparalleled, her features, flawless, his love for her, true as the sun and the moon. “Do you love me back?”

“This is so wrong…” gasped Lyra, staring right back into Shining’s brilliant blue eyes. “What about Cadence?”

“I’m not sure if I ever loved her, to be honest…” he admitted, still awestruck by Lyra’s attractiveness. “I think I started dating her to get over you…”

“But she loves you…”

“And I love you Lyra,” he said. “So please, tell me. Do you love me back?”

There was no hesitation, they both knew the answer. Their lips met in a fiery passion as they wrapped around each other in a romantic embrace. They had both waited too long for this. Shining fell backwards on the bed, his green love handing on top of him, her yellow eyes burned with lust and desire.

“I’ve waited so long for this,” she sighed, leaning in to Shining. “I’ve dreamt of this very moment for as long as I could remember.”

“Lyra…”

“Yes, my knight Shining Armour?”

“Will you be mine tonight?”

The green pony smiled, planting a small kiss on the tip of Shining’s nose. “Tonight and forever after…” she said, as her horn lit up with green magic and shut off the lights, leaving the two lovers in the darkness.

"Oh, Shining Armour!"

Only Beats for You

“Wakey-wakey you two…” a voice hummed over Shining Armour.

“Five more minutes,” he grumbled.

“But Shining,” the voice giggled. “What about our wedding?”

“What…” the stallion rolled over to his side. Lyra was still sleeping peacefully, her hooves tightly wrapped around his arm. It wasn’t her that was talking…

“Up here, genius.”

Shining tilted his head forward, his eyes adjusting to the light. At the end of the bed was a blurry pink figure, with a colourful cotton candy mane. He didn’t need to see her to know who it was, and how absolutely screwed he was as well.

“Cadence?”

“Did you two have fun last night?” asked his fiancé, her smile was unsettling and her glare disturbing. “It looks like you two had fun.”

“Cadence, I was going to tell you—“

“No, this is fine!” laughed the alicorn. “Better than fine, this is great!”

“Umm…” wondered Shining, “Okay…”

“It all makes sense now, why the feed has been lackluster these past few days!” said Cadence. “It’s because you don’t love Cadence.”

“Did you just refer to yourself in the third point of view?” asked the stallion. “That’s kind of weird…”

“No, Shiny…” grinned Cadence, her eyes glowing a bright green. “This is going to be weird.”

Her body was engulfed in green flames. Shining jumped back from the jaded fire, scrambling to the back of the bed in confusion as Lyra slept through all of this. When the flames finally died out, Cadence was gone, and in her place was a tall, dark, insect looking pony. Almost as tall as Celestia, the new beast had holes in its hooves, horn, and bug wings. Her long blue hair covered her feral face and murky green eyes.

“Wha—what are you?!”

“I am Queen Chrysalis! Ruler of the Changelings!” the beast that had been Cadence bellowed. “And I am here to feed my hive on the love of everypony in Equestria.”

“You’re the threat!” screamed Armour. “You’re what I’m keeping out!”

“Indeed. Luckily, I managed to slip through disguised as your fiancé… Well, ex-fiancé by the look of it,” she laughed. “You have been a naughty little boy, Shining Armour, cheating on me with this harlot.”

“I love her!” he growled, his horn starting to glow red with magic. “And if touch even a hair on her head I’ll—“

ZAPPP!!!

A green bolt of magic collided with Shining face, blasting him back against the back frame of the bed. With another bolt, Chrysalis shot at Lyra, the still sleeping mare going up in flames.

“Nooo!” screamed Shining, as he watched the last bit of his Lyra sink into the bed, and disappearing in a puff of black smoke. “I’ll kill you!”

“Then I’ll kill her,” smiled the changeling queen. “She’s no use to me dead… yet.”

“You lit her on fire!” cried the stallion, feeling the burnt mattress where his love one laid. “And she’s gone!”

“Yes, gone to a disclosed place for the foreseeable future, and if you play nice, I might let you live to say goodbye to her…” cackled the changeling. “Since you no longer have feelings for Cadence, I need a new source of love to feed off of.”

“What do you mean?”

“Changelings require love to survive, we feed on it and it gives us strength and power,” explained Chrysalis. “I was feeding on your love for Cadence until just recently I felt it expire, tapped dry. So I kicked you out to see where you would go… And here you are.”

“So what do you need me for?” grunted Shining.

“Your love for that green pony is…well, it’s intoxicating,” she grinned. “You are going to keep my existence a secret. You are going to pretend that nothing is wrong, that you are still on guard,” she leaned in close to Shining, he could feel her breath, the stench of dead insects was overpowering in it. “And you are going to let in a few of my lieutenants pass the shield, are we clear on this?”

“I’ll die before I help you,” sneered the stallion.

“You may be willing to toss your life away so easily…” grinned the changeling, “but are you willing to throw away the life of your green coated love?”

“Lyra…”

“That’s right,” Chrysalis smiled wickedly. “So do we have a deal…” she burst into green flames, emerging from them as her Cadence form. “My loving, loving, soon to be husband?”

*****

He had no choice but to take the deal, he could never let harm come to one of his love ones. Every day he watched as the disguised Chrysalis secretly set up her forces. She gained more and more each day, but only in small numbers. If she were to amount a full assault on Canterlot, she would have to wear down the shield. He had wondered why she just didn’t demand that the shield be taken down, but she explained that she needed more love if she was ever to become strong enough to defeat Celestia.

It was ironic that his need to protect Lyra was also the reason why Chrysalis grew in power. He was dooming all Equestria because he was too selfish to let Lyra go.

It had been a blessing when Celestia made his sister the wedding planner. Chrysalis had complained one too many times in her charade to impersonate Cadence that she insisted that her faithful student and friends were sent to help. Twilight had always been smart, she could hopefully help.

There were times that broke his heart, like when he had to yell at Twilight, knowing full well that she was absolutely right about Cadence being evil, and seeing that his sister failed to get the Elements of Harmony. There was a moment that he thought all was lost…

But then Cadence had sent him free, and together they had managed to rid Canterlot of all changelings, and free all those that were imprisoned. Everypony thought that it was their undying love for each other that had saved them all, and for Cadence, maybe it was. But for Shining Armour, all he could think about were the soft green lips of Lyra, his one and only true love. He couldn’t stop thinking about her as he kissed Cadence, as he walked down the aisle, as he said I do…

But he owed it to Cadence. He had cheated on Chrysalis, but he would never cheat on her. Cadence was still just as sweet as ever. Loving, appreciative, caring, just an overall great mare, and she deserved to be happy, even if it meant he couldn’t, he would make that sacrifice.

He just prayed that Lyra would eventually forgive him.

*****

“Bye!” waved Shining Armour from out the window of his wedding carriage. Cadence and him had just been married and were leaving for their honeymoon.

“It’s always so nice to see your sister Shining,” said Cadence, who sat right next to him.

“I have to remember to stay in touch better, when you—I mean she was planning the wedding, I was under so much stress that I had completely forgotten to write or visit.”

“Well I’m sure you’ll visit her soon,” smiled the pink alicorn.

“Yes, we’ll visit her soon,” said Shining, giving her a small peck on the cheek. “We are married now.”

“Right…” laughed Cadence.

“I can’t wait till we get to the northern hot springs. I hear it’s one of the most romantic places in Equestria.”

“I’m sure it will be lovely Shining,” she said, looking out the window.

“Are you okay?” the white stallion asked. “You seem sort of…distracted.”

“I’m just seeing how much farther it is,” she said absent-mindedly. “Until we get there.”

“What, the train station?” asked Shining. “Honey, we aren’t going to get there for at least an hour. Try to relax a little. You deserve it.”

“It’s not that…” she started to say. “Never mind, we’re here.”

“Huh?” wondered Shining Armour as he looked outside the window. “Why are we at the Ponylodge?”

“Shining Armour,” smiled the mare. “I’m breaking up with you.”

“WHAT?!?”

“I know about you and Lyra.”

“But—but Cadence!” Shining tried to explain. “That was a mistake, you were acting like—I mean that changeling queen was acting like a complete nut job! I would have never slept with—“

“Not that,” said the alicorn, “Well I knew about that, but I was talking about how you two have been in love with each other for over two years.”

“But Cadence… how did you…”

“I’m an alicorn of love, silly,” she smiled. “I knew about it since that awkward moment at your party a few years ago. I could sense the overpowering emotions you two had for each other. Why else did you think I wanted to fly home that night? I wanted to give you two some alone time.”

“But if you knew this, then why did you agree to go out with me?” Shining asked.

“I was trying to help you,” Cadence said. “I had hoped that if you dated someone else for a while, that maybe you would get over Lyra. I had never expected you to try and fall in love with me, and I certainly didn’t plan for you to marry me.”

“Then why did you say yes?!”

“We were in a crowded restaurant, and I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of all those ponies. That would have been cruel,” she said. “I was going to talk to you about it after we got back to your place but when I went into the bathroom… Well, you know the rest.”

“That’s when she abducted you,” muttered Shining. “Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have noticed the change!”

“How could you? She was a changeling. ,The queen in fact,” she said. “I’m sorry that all this happened to you, and I’m sorry that I sort of strung you on a little too long. I honestly thought you would have tried to get in touch with Lyra sooner.”

“I…”

“It doesn’t matter now anyways,” smiled Cadence. “I know you love her, I know she loves you, and I know that while you are my best friend, I don’t love you that way and I sure as heck can’t just stand by and watch as my best friends are miserable, ‘cause that will make me miserable.”

“Cadence… Are you really doing this?” asked Shining.

“I think we should see other ponies,” said Cadence. “I hear that there is a particularly lovely one in room seven.”

Shining looked at his friend, and at one point his newly wedded wife. There was no sadness or bitterness in her eyes. She truly cared for the stallion, but she did not love him that way. A tear rolled down Shining Armour’s face. “Thank you…” he said, as he hugged the pink alicorn. “But what about you?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” she grinned. “I actually met a rather charming stallion at the reception. He’s over there in fact.
The mare pointed to a rather tall yellow unicorn walking towards the parked carriage. He had a curly red and white mane and wore a white and blue vest over a white dress shirt. He had a big smirk on his face as he opened the door of the carriage.

“Mind if I squeeze in?” Flim smiled.

“Umm…sure!” said Shining, quickly hopping out of the carriage, making room for the new unicorn. “You two enjoy yourselves and thank you again!” he shouted as he ran into the hotel.

“So…” grinned Flim, hopping into the seat next to Cadence, and draping an arm around her. “Did you say something about two weeks in the northern hot springs?”

“Yes,” she cooed, “Just you and me alone for fourteen wonderful days.”

“I love you Cadence.”

“I love you too Flam.”

“What?” asked Flim.

“I said I love you Flam,” repeated Cadence.

“I’m Flim,” said Flim.

“Really? Huh, I thought you were Flam,” shrugged the princess as Flim did his best not to have a full mental breakdown.

*****

“One, three, five, seven!” counted Shining as he stood outside of Lyra’s hotel room. He had all the confidence in the world, and he finally knew the answer to his captain’s question.

“Well son? Do you love that mare?” his captain had once asked.

“Yes sir,” he smiled, as he knocked on the door. “I love that mare.”

Knock, knock, knock!

“Coming,” sighed Lyra on the other side, slowly opening the door, “I’m just packing the last of my things, I’ll be out before check—“

“—out this awesome stallion in front of you,” smirked Armour.

“Shining?” gasped Lyra. “What are you doing here?! I thought you and Cadence were going to—“

“She broke up with me!” the stallion said happily.

“She WHAT?!”

“She knew all along Lyra!” he said. “She knew everything between us! It’s why she flew away that night, why she had you on the wedding invitation, and why she broke up with me not five minutes ago!”

“Shining…this is all happening so fast!” gulped Lyra. “But what about my spell?”

“Oh, I’m under a spell all right, but it isn’t the one you are thinking of.”

“Shining I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything,” said Shining, closing the gap between them. He kissed her fast and passionately. It had been a long time coming for him, and he wasn’t going to wait another second to kiss her. She started to kiss back, having long awaited this; to feel his lips against hers, to have his tongue caress hers, to hold him, knowing she would never have to let go.

The two lovers rushed into the bedroom, Shining quickly remembering to shut the door and place the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door handle. They kept at it as they fell onto the bed, both of them refusing to break their embrace. They rolled and moaned into the covers of the bed, to experience not lust, not enchantments, or misfired spells or lies or secrets.

But to experience true love.

THE END

Thanks to Bunsen for editing, Chain Reaction for the Cover Art, and Garbo802 for organizing this awesome collab!

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