Prince Blueblood rolled his eyes as his stylist took care of brushing his mane. “If it takes you any longer I might just have my mane begin to fall out.”
“I’m sorry, sir—”
Prince cleared his throat.
“I mean—I’m sorry, my lord,” his stylist said. She was a coral colored unicorn with magenta mane. Prince Blueblood sat before his golden vanity, yawning while brushes and combs coerced his luxurious locks into firm order.
The royal unicorn considered his cheekbones, worried they weren’t white enough. “Tonight is too important a night not to look my best, Reef,” he said before with his magic he began to powder himself.
Reef said, “A visitation from Princess Cadence is quite the occasion.”
The court unicorn nickered. “Princess Cadence can visit the moon for all I care.”
The stylist paused.
“Are you finished?”
“Um… yes?” Reef said. “I think I am.” Prince’s mane carried its typical golden gleam. Reef dyed it the day before to make sure not a single dirty brown hair could be uncovered. For tonight she braided it in a single strand, but left his tail down.
He turned his head to get a better view in the mirror. “I suppose this will be acceptable.”
Reef bowed. “Thank you, my lord, for the gracious compliment.”
“Of course,” he said before he rose to his hooves. He trotted to a full body mirror beside the vanity and looked himself over. He frowned. “I should wear something. He’ll be in his regalia, after all.”
“Who will, your majesty?”
Prince sneered. “Don’t be coy. You know exactly who I mean.”
Shining Armor stood behind a silk curtain, his Princess a few paces behind him. Beyond the cloth veil came the clamor of court royals waiting for the formal royal greetings to take place in the palace’s grand hall.
Princess Cadence stepped beside him and laid a wing on his shoulder. “I’m fairly certain if you take a moment to relax you’ll find we aren’t about to be attacked by some brigand waiting around the corner.”
“Even the safest courts can have enemies,” Shining Armor said.
“If that were true we’d hardly have guests waiting to greet me,” Cadence said. She lifted her wing off of the unicorn and added, “We’ve been traveling for so long… now that we are here, I won’t have a problem forcing you to enjoy yourself.”
“I enjoy protecting you,” Shining Armor said. His gaze flicked to one of the palace’s royal guards, gauging the pegasus’ measure.
“Well I don’t enjoy how boring you’ve gotten the past few years.”
“I took an oath—”
“And ever since you did the only thing I’ve had to protect myself from is you,” Cadence said. He felt her magic pluck a hair from his tail. “You know I don’t think I’ve ever seen this thing move. You’re always at attention, you sleep at attention.”
“I hardly think this is the time for any of this, Princess. If I must I’ll take a vacation when you are safe at your palace.”
“I’m not going to order you to relax. You’ll make it out like it’s a chore,” the Princess said. “We’ve tried before.”
Shining Armor smiled. “Then I guess I have no choice but to stay by your side.”
He could feel the Princess’ glare on him. She poked him in the ribs through his crimson jacket. Shining Armor grunted, but did not flinch away when she prodded his scar. He had earned the oath that bound him to his Princess’ side. “Don’t forget I know all of your weaknesses.”
“It is good that you would. Should somepony take control of me—”
“Oh stop it, Shining. I’m done with this gloom and doom from you,” the Princess snapped. She turned to a royal attendant from Canterlot and demanded, “How much longer until Celestia will see us?”
The attendant squeaked and said, “I’ll check right now, your majesty!” She scampered away while Shining Armor rocked on his hooves. He stood in the same place for too long.
The Princess glared at him and said, “You’re the only one who ever gets away with such disrespect.”
“Milady, I respect and honor you like I would a stallion fallen for a goddess.”
“Don’t you mean god?”
Shining Armor pursed his lips.
“Already you forget I know all your weaknesses.” He refused to look at her. “How long has it been?” The unicorn snorted. “That’s your problem.”
“Hardly a thing for an alicorn to discuss,” Shining Armor said.
Princess Cadence shrugged. “You’re right, I’ll never know the urges of other ponies, but I’m well aware of how it preys upon you.” She snuck her mouth right next to his ear and whispered, “I’ve saw you sneak glances at a few other stallions.”
Shining Armor felt his cheeks flush, but refused to recognize the fact.
The alicorn laughed and backed away. When she did the attendant returned. The mare bobbed her head in a short bow. “Your majesty, um, they will draw the curtain now if you’re ready.”
“Certainly,” Princess Cadence said. The attendant dashed away to let Celestia know. She sighed. “Being royalty is such a bother.”
Shining Armor chuckled and shook his head.
“Hmm?”
“For all your age, you can still act like a spoiled brat.”
Princess Cadence stuck her nose in the air. “Hardly a concern of yours.” The curtain drew Shining Armor stepped back from humoring his charge, he marched ahead of her into the royal ballroom.
Prince Blueblood nibbled on the inside of his lip, leaning over to the right to watch the line proceeding to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. The alicorns were granted their chance to talk to each other first, and now the court came to greet Canterlot’s guest.
He did not have to wait long for his turn to greet the Princess. Cadence nodded to him and said, “You’re looking especially healthy Prince Blueblood.”
“Thank you, your majesty—”
The alicorn smirked. “Though I doubt all of your fluff is for my benefit.”
He told her, “I’d never miss a chance to look my best before the court.”
“Of course, I remember your mother much the same way.”
“She named me Prince for a reason,” Prince Blueblood said.
“Royalty in name only, as memory serves.”
The unicorn blinked and realized Shining Armor glared at him.
“There is a line waiting on you, ‘Prince.’”
Princess Cadence fanned out her wings to cut her guard off. She said, “Forgive him, it’s been a long trek.”
Prince Blueblood had trouble swallowing the knot in his throat. “Given our history, I think I can forgive his discourtesy. May both of you enjoy your stay.”
Prince stepped away, glancing at Shining Armor once on his way out. The unicorn snorted and cast his gaze at the next pony to greet his charge. Prince passed the three alicorn’s pennants at the door, and almost ripped the magenta one down. He hardly expected after all this time for such coldness. The whole palace slipped into a blur as he returned to the Blueblood Estate.
He wanted to approach the unicorn and strike up some kind of conversation, but Shining Armor dashed his dreams before he had a chance to sleep. All the time spent preparing for this night—was he just not attractive enough? Hardly, the scrawny tawny-maned colt the other unicorn knew was an image Prince Blueblood remembered to scrub clean every day. He made sure he was utter beauty, mares threw themselves at his hooves, he took whatever stallion he pleased. And yet…
Shining Armor was a Canterlot native, born of the court, though raised parentless as the lone heir of his lesser estate. He was the last line in a family of powerful, noble unicorns. Prince envied him when they were younger, even then he was peerless and brave.
They first met when Prince snuck from the palace to the lower reaches of Canterlot, a place his mother always warned him away from. He quickly got picked out by a gang of older colts, a bunch of earth ponies who cornered him in an alley.
He remembered his flank backing into the cold stone of a brick wall, legs wobbling while they towered over him. “What do you want?” he squeaked.
“Nothing,” their leader said, an aqua colored pony with a knotted rope for a cutie-mark. “It’s just, well, we don’t see many unicorns round these parts. Much less a unicorn stinking up the place with colognes.”
A maroon colt on the right nodded. “Heard stuff like that makes ya real soft.”
Their leader nickered. “Typical Canterlot Court types, lording around above us while we kick around the streets.”
“You ever been hungry before?” the short, stocky brown colt on the left demanded.
Prince Blueblood nodded. “Course I have. Once when I didn’t want to do my piano lessons my mother sent me to bed without supper.”
“‘My mommy sent me to bed without supper,’” the leader whined. He jabbed Prince in the ribs. The unicorn’s knees buckled and he fell onto his haunches. “That’s real tough, but you know what’s tougher than not getting supper?”
He couldn’t stop his trembling. “Wh-wh-wha…” his breathing got the best of him. He began to hyperventilate. His heart beat so fast stars burst in his eyes.
The leader laughed. “Wailing on you’s going to be so easy!” He lifted a hoof. Prince watched it, unable to turn away or close his eyes. The pony swung, but his shoulder jerked to the right, his whole body tugged to the stocky earth pony who took a flying hoof to the face.
“What the hay?” the maroon pony turned to face the two while his brown companion careened into the alley wall. The leader’s leg was yanked back and he kicked the other pony in the nose. “Yeow!” he snapped backwards, tripped onto his side.
The aqua pony wheeled on Prince and growled. “You’re doing this!”
He shook his head furiously.
From the alley mouth they heard somepony order, “Leave him alone!” It was another unicorn with a blue mane that came in a lighter and darker shade. Unlike Prince Blueblood’s dusky grey, this pony’s coat was a rich, snow white. His eyes were sharp, alert, and complemented his mane’s color. He lowered his head and glared at the aqua earth pony.
“Says who?” the leader spat.
His savior flared his nostrils. The aqua pony yelped when he was yanked into the air by his black tail and dropped on his head. He toppled over onto his back with a pronounced cloud of dust billowing from the fall.
“Next I’ll drop the fat one on you,” the unicorn warned. Prince Blueblood gaped, he still couldn’t move, couldn’t believe somepony would save him. The unicorn looked at him and asked, “Are you hurt?”
He shook his head.
“Then get your silly flank over here and come with me. This part of Canterlot’s not the nicest place for a Blueblood.”
“Who… who are you?”
“Shining Armor. You coming or not?”
“You were charming tonight,” Princess Cadence said as she used her magic to brush out her mane. Shining Armor stood at the edge of the bathroom, too his left was a deep marble basin for a tall stallion to submerge themselves in. Tile with the Equestrian seal limed its edges, the water was pumped from aquifers below and heated magically. The smell of herbal shampoos played across his senses while the Princess tended her mane.
High ceilings with floating alchemical lanterns provided light for the Princess to see by. She observed her reflection in a wide mirror set over a jade countertop. The mirror was silver, with dozens of styling implements for a pony to do with their mane as they pleased.
Shining Armor, in this cut corner of palace grandeur and wealth, grunted.
“The troubles from the road catching up to you?” Princess Cadence said as she cocked her head to better loose a tangle. “I’m sure that’s why you can’t speak right now.”
Shining Armor cleared his throat and watched his reflection in the corner of the mirror. “I’m as resilient as ever.”
He caught the Princess’ smirk in her reflection. “Frustrated then?”
“Years of dealing with you has made me immune to frustration,” Shining Armor said.
“Sounds like a challenge,” the Princess said before water surged from the tub. Shining Armor did not take her bait, he pursed his lips and waited while a sphere of liquid spun and circled the rim of the tub. It shot to the mirror, ricocheted off and flew for his face.
Shining Armor didn’t blink. The ball hovered in the air before him. He said, “I expected more.”
Princess Cadence had finished with her mane, and now was wrapped around herself to watch the careful brushwork of her tail. She didn’t look up when she said, “Did you?”
At once the water arced and grew limbs. A piece of it extended and connected to Shining Armor’s lips, and he felt the liquid become solid, soft but unyielding. He gasped, water filled his mouth as he pulled away and swiped his hoof at the apparition. In the mirror he saw the Prince Blueblood doppelganger drop to the bathroom floor with a quiet splash while he fell back on his haunches, coughing and spluttering.
Princess Cadence laughed. “Frustrated it is!”
Shining Armor sprung to his hooves, loading a slew of curses to sling at the Princess when he caught himself. He flipped his mane, now wet from the water apparition, and used a spell to quickly dry himself. He said, “I’m going to check the windows. I’ll return shortly.”
“Ha-ha, I’m sure you will,” the Princess said. Shining Armor turned his back on her and left the room. She called out behind him, “Just make sure you know that alicorns will always have a few tricks tucked under their wings!”
Shining Armor was always about heroism. In fact, Prince Blueblood felt the other pony would’ve never noticed him had he not been in trouble that first time. The Prince stayed awake all night, wondering what he did so wrong in their brief exchange. He couldn’t say for certain. But when Shining Armor left all those years to serve Princess Cadence, Prince Blueblood could hardly stand it. He remembered the first promise the other stallion made when they were colts and that brave unicorn swearing to him in a hollow beneath a rose bush that he’d always serve his Prince.
He couldn’t confront Shining Armor about that silly promise, he’d tried once before and the other pony just shook his head and told him before he continued his march with the rest of Cadence’s guard, “I don’t serve brats.”
He never understood, refused to. How could he act like a brat? Shining Armor was the one avoiding responsibility and hurting him. He tossed and turned in his four-poster bed all night, called for a servant at one point to light a cinnamon candle to help soothe him to sleep. And as it did, he devised the plan to win back Shining Armor’s attention.
Because of the constraints of her kingdom’s flora and fauna, Princess Cadence always began her mornings with a stroll through the Canterlot Garden. Today would be their second full day in the palace, their last before they turned homeward. The Princess concluded her business with the other two alicorns the night before, and would stay this last night so her cousins could treat her to a royal farewell. Their plans included a tour through many of the nearby towns, a feast, and closing the night at an opera house.
All of which left Princess Cadence to roll her eyes. Boredom constituted most of her life back home, a vacation, she had hoped, wouldn’t. Which is why she found it a joy when in the chill dawn light she heard another pony cry out from across the garden. Her faithful unicorn froze at her side, then said, “Best if we remain here. The palace guard can deal with that.”
From over a cluster of cherry trees they heard a stallion whinny and demand, “Let go of me ruffian!”
“You can’t stop me from going over there, now can you?” the Princess said.
Shining Armor nickered when the alicorn leapt into the air and with a stroke of her wings cleared the trees. To her left a white stallion curled up in the dirt with three other ponies over him.
A snap of magic and heat burst in front of her when Shining Armor teleported there. “I hate your wings,” he said before the three ponies noticed them. The unicorn flared his nostrils and stepped between his charge and the three, who hesitated when they saw the alicorn watching them.
Cadence noticed Shining Armor’s tail twitch as he closed his eyes and focused his magic. The unicorn among the three brigands said, “Stop him,” and charged the two with his horn down. Shining Armor snorted and plucked the other pony by his hoof and whipped him around, slamming the assailant into the pegasus pony and flattening her. Then he drew the unicorn’s neck taught underneath the earth pony, horn pointed to her throat.
Princess Cadence recognized the shivering lump behind the three incapacitated ponies. It swayed to its hooves, eyes puffy, a few scratches along its face. The bruises on his side were smudged and greased. Faked. The Princess frowned, though, when upon observing the other three ponies again she noticed how neatly their coats and manes were groomed.
The Princess said, “A charming performance. Shining Armor, you may release your weapon.”
Shining Armor relaxed and let the unicorn fall to the ground. His eyes flicked to Cadence a moment, the only sign of hesitation.
Prince Blueblood, with all his limbs quivering, croaked from behind the three ponies, “Thank you for saving me.”
“No thanks necessary, however, I will need an apology from these three,” Cadence said. Shining Armor fell in beside her as she approached the three ponies. “Guards of the court you undoubtedly bribed for this little stunt.”
All three of the ponies tensed up. Prince said, “I… I-I…”
“Rise, guards of Celestia, and explain yourself,” Princess Cadence said. “I’m very interested in what the price is to leave your post, should I need to bribe her loyal servants myself one day.” One of the ponies snorted, all three stood before her in a tight little row, faces impassive. The earth pony in the middle spoke for them, “We’re guards for the garden, your majesty. Yesterday Prince Blueblood came to us and offered us a hefty stipend to, in essence, fake beating him.”
Princess Cadence glanced at the terrified unicorn. The Canterlot Courtesan struggled with the idea to run, Shining Armor would not remove his glower. She could feel the rage roiling through him.
“Now why would Prince ask that of you?”
“Your majesty, he wouldn’t explain. We just thought we could still be at our posts while making a little extra on the side for today. When you burst from the canopy of those trees, we were left rather unsure. When Sir Shining Armor got ready to attack, we knew we needed to defend ourselves. Leaving the garden and being arrested in the ensuing ruckus would shame the guard.”
From her side she heard Shining Armor grind between grit teeth, “A rather poor excuse for attacking a Princess.”
“It wasn’t the Princess that scared us, sir. It was you.”
“Whatever the case,” Princess Cadence said, “I want you three to come with me and make this confession yourselves.” The three guards nodded while behind them Prince Blueblood released his held breath.
She added, “Shining Armor, I want you to escort Prince Blueblood back to his estate. I trust you will help him understand the gravity of such a situation, were word ever to get out.”
Shining Armor grunted. He walked stiffly to Prince, and cuffed his shoulder as he passed. “If you don’t keep up I’ll drag you by the horn.”
Princess Cadence watched them until they disappeared around a hedge. She became aware again of the guards staring so hard their gazes went through her. She cleared her throat and said, “It must’ve been quite the mortifying for him to walk up here, with all that makeup on.”
None of the guards responded.
“I’m sure rumors will run wild after Shining Armor drops him off at his estate…”
Statues. She wondered if she could box their ears hard enough to knock their brains loose. She rolled her eyes and said, “Fine, to the barracks it is, to get you all in trouble. You know, if I at least got some amusing conversation out of one of you I might’ve let it slide.”
“We need to take responsibility for our actions—”
“Oh fine! Let’s just get this over with then. Should have spied on the two unicorns, maybe then I could watch something interesting happen.”
For most of the walk back to his estate, Prince Blueblood kept his head bowed. Shining Armor never said a word, but always walked a few paces ahead. If he felt Prince dragging his hooves he would give the unicorn a sharp tug with his magic.
They reached the front gate of his estate, a sprawling manor next to the palace the Blueblood’s long owned. Shining Armor said, “There.” He turned to leave and Prince Blueblood knew he’d never have another chance to make him understand.
He spun and felt his tail brush against the iron gate. He said, “Wait!”
Shining Armor began to trot down the winding road to the court. Prince shook his head and said, “I ordered you to wait,” and he reached out with his magic and grabbed Shining Armor by the tail. The pony disappeared with snap and fizzle of smoke. Prince felt a hoof kick out his left rear one before a shoulder slammed into his and knocked him on his side.
Shining Armor leaned over him. “That was me being courteous.”
He began to leave again. “You can’t go. I did all of that for you.”
“For me?” Shining Armor spun around and towered over him. “Cadence preserve me,” he hissed, “I almost gored that guard today. I was ready to really hurt them and all it was done for was… was…”
Prince tried to shrink into the cobblestones. “I knew you’d never look at me ever again.”
“You ever think there’s a reason for that?” he spat. “You put lives at danger for what? We were colts, it was a mistake.”
That blow hit harder than being sent to the ground, like Cadence’s guard bucked him in the chest. “B-b-but—”
“But what?”
“I still have that rosebush, and the hollow, you promised me…”
“Yeah… I did make a promise,” he said. “But not to a pony who wears makeup over their makeup. When you go inside, take a long hard look at yourself and think about who you are exactly. Or what you were, or whatever, but don’t count on me to understand for you.”
Shining Armor stamped a hoof and warned, “And if you follow me, if you try to stop me from leaving again, I’ll snap your horn in half.”
He spun, an aura of rage so great the air around him became heated. Prince Blueblood watched him disappear around a corner, then felt something fundamental leave his life, a feeling he couldn’t remember since his mother died. He let his face fall against cold cobblestone, and couldn’t think of a reason to pick it up.
“Your mood’s hardly improved since this morning,” Princess Cadence observed.
“I apologize if you feel it’s hampering my performance,” Shining Armor said.
Cadence stepped outside to a large, open balcony on their suite. She glanced at the setting sun to note the time. They’d be leaving for the feast soon enough.
Shining Armor stood in the doorway, like the statue of Discord he remained completely impassive, but seethed with malice.
“I’ve never asked what happened between you two.”
“Best if you don’t,” Shining Armor said.
Cadence turned on her guard. “Is that a challenge?”
“If you ordered me to I’d hardly say no.”
The Princess frowned. “You know I wouldn’t ever force you to do that.”
“Then it isn’t an issue.”
She sighed and went to him. Cadence nuzzled his cheek and whispered, “You know, you’ve always been lustrous and full of nobility and glory, but your coldness scares me.”
“I’m sorry… if you feel it interferes with my duties—”
The Princess swept her wings over the other pony’s nose and made him sneeze. “Don’t start with that, Shining! You are my most loyal subject, the closest I’ve been to a pony in decades. But if you keep putting me and your ‘duty’ before everything else, I will discharge you.”
“Then I’ll just follow you around incessantly.”
Cadence scowled, her tail swatted the air and she added, “Getting rid of you is more difficult than sap matting a mane. Fine then, what if I feel you’re a danger to me?”
He opened his mouth and a stifled, “Ah,” slipped out before he shut it again.
Cadence sat and jabbed him in the ribs, “At ease.”
Shining Armor didn’t relax in the least.
Princess Cadence asked, “Are you ignoring me now?”
“I am at ease,” he said. “I’m most relaxed when I’m standing at your side.”
“How endearing,” she said, “Sit then, and do the opposite of whatever it is your doing now. I want your shoulders to droop, back slouched and barrel in, maybe have some of your mane in your eyes.”
Shining Armor didn’t move. Cadence glared at him. He sighed and took the position she asked for.
“Better?”
“I can’t remember the last time I slouched my back. It’s very uncomfortable.”
Cadence smiled. “Good. Now tell me, or I’ll keep us locked in this suite until you starve.”
Shining Armor pursed his lips. “I thought you wouldn’t order me—”
“It’s not an order, it’s a threat.”
He sighed. “Where do you want me to start?”
Shining Armor gave her a quick run through how they met. He told her of the intervening months, how they tried their best to partner up in classes, Shining Armor always doing his best to cover for the other unicorn’s multitude of failings. It worked well for both of them: Shining Armor got to be the noble defender he loved playing as and Prince passed under the radar of his mother, who refused to let him be anything but the best. When he wasn’t in classes, he was at the estate, learning the piano, how to dine civilly, the proper grooming for his mane, all sorts of things Shining Armor found insufferable.
When he did escape for those brief few hours Shining Armor was always ready to play. His parents, after all, weren’t around to watch him. The budding of their friendship became so important for him; it was how Shining Armor learned his love of defending others, caring for others. Thinking on it now, it was a selfish friendship, but covering for Prince’s insecurities and weaknesses drew the other unicorn to him. It didn’t matter at the time; Prince needed somepony to watch out for him when his mother put so much pressure on his shoulders.
In the intervening months Prince discovered a talent for cartography, and for once had something he excelled at that Shining Armor couldn’t compete. They talked about mapping out the lands outside of Equestria, going by hoof, airship, or boat to chart every crag and coast. Prince would lead them, and he would protect him from whatever dangers they might encounter on the road. Then on an afternoon where Prince finished his piano lessons early he took Shining Armor into his estate.
The white unicorn already played outside of the gate, eager for his friend to be freed from his prison. Shining Armor beamed when Prince trotted to the gate, but the other pony could not return it. He said, “I need to talk to you about something. It’s super important and I don’t want anypony else to know and I need to be sure no pony can spy on us.”
Shining Armor nodded, “Okay… something wrong?”
Prince stuck his horn in the keyhole of the gate. With a bloom of magic the iron bars rattled open. He said, “Sort of, follow me.”
They skirted royal blue walls of the state, weaving in and out of neatly trimmed hedges and blue-spruces. They reached a thicket of rose bush that Prince circled around to the other side, then disappeared. Shining Armor saw the half covered hollow the pony escaped through and followed after him. A few thorns nipped him on the way, but soon it opened into a space large enough for both ponies to sit. In the shadow of the wall, with the bushes blocking out the remaining daylight, all he could see was Prince’s silhouette.
Shining Armor drew from memory a light spell, but Prince said as his horn began to glow, “Please, don’t.” For the brief moment of illumination, Shining Armor spotted tears in the corner of his friend’s eyes. Prince crying was nothing new to the other unicorn. He leaned forward and draped his chin over the other unicorn’s shoulder, doing his best to hug him in the tight space.
“What is it?”
“My mother told me I need to see you less. Well, she told me I shouldn’t see you at all, but I convinced her to at least not take me out of all the classes we share.”
Shining Armor drew back and nickered. “Why?”
“She’s afraid I’m getting too close to you. Says, ‘Prince, I’m worried you have the same affliction your uncle did that’s keeping you as our only heir. I won’t have it. You’re at an age where fillies should be drawing your attentions but you hardly glance their way when you are tumbling around with that squalid orphan.’”
“What the hay does that mean?”
Prince sobbed. “I don’t know, but I think she means to do right by her threat. She said tomorrow she intended me to spend the whole day with some of the daughters of her friends. It’ll be them, their parents, me, and my mother.”
“Sounds awful.”
Prince shrugged. “They’ll probably just have me play piano for them and sing. I’m scared, though… I told her how you and I wanted to map out Equestria. She just laughed at me and said, ‘We’ll get that silly idea scrubbed out of your head soon enough!’”
Shining Armor tried to stand, got his mane tangled in thorns and was forced to sit. His tail thumped the dirt as he said, “We can run away. Just the two of us watching out for each other, with you we’ll never be lost and with me we’ll never be in danger and—”
“I can’t just leave her, though!”
The other colt froze. He slouched and asked, “What do we do, then? I don’t want to give up, I don’t. We’re friends and I still want to be with you, even if all I can do is protect you.”
Shining Armor heard his friend’s breath catch. He said, “That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“You can be my knight, or guard or whatever. Mother can’t argue with that and you don’t ever have to leave my side and someday we will be able to leave this place.” Prince wrapped his hooves around Shining Armor’s. “Together.”
Shining Armor bounced up and down. “It’s perfect, you’re a genius.” He didn’t even care about the thorns raking his back or tangling his mane.
Prince stuck his nose up. “Aren’t I?”
“Don’t get up on yourself now.”
“Ha-ha, right, sorry. How about it then?”
“What?”
“Swear your loyalty to me! I need an oath.”
“Then I’ll give you the best one I can!” Shining Armor exclaimed before he knelt before the other pony and swore, “To my dying breath, I’ll always be there to watch over you, protect you, and will stay by your side, my Prince.”
Shining Armor leaned against the iron doorframe to the balcony and sighed. “I didn’t really recognize my own feelings for him until a few weeks later, when the Summer Sun Celebration was drawing close. I told him. He told me he thought he felt the same, and I was so happy.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Then he crushed me, said that despite that we could never be seen doing anything together. I didn’t know how to handle that, but I gave him my oath and stood by him until the celebration. I was so nervous because I got this idea in my head, right before the celebration.”
“Here,” Cadence offered as a glass of water floated between them. She prepared it without getting up. After he finished the glass she said, “Please continue.”
“Well, I couldn’t stop shaking, for starters, but right before Celestia was about to raise the sun, before she went out there as the horizon was graying and everything was pitch black, I remember leaning over and just whispering in his ear, ‘At least here, no pony can see us.’ And I kissed him. Just this short little thing. On the cheek right here before the light started to creep over the horizon and they started announcing Celestia. It was the scariest thing I ever did in my life, but he just blushed and we pretended like it never happened.”
“I don’t understand, then,” Cadence interrupted.
“Hmm?”
“You loved him. What happened?”
Shining Armor laughed. “Oh I was getting to that! The next day when I waited outside his gate, like I typically do. Nothing happened. Nor the next. I only left when the hunger and thirst got so bad I couldn’t stay. I slept in front of that gate. Nothing, for a week, then all of the sudden, Princess Celestia was at the gate. She glanced at me, told me to go home and have my estate tend to me. That Prince wouldn’t be available.
“All that time? His mother was dying. And I’m not sure exactly what happened inside those walls, but what I think happened was Prince graduated from his mother’s lessons. I only got the sense here and there after that, of what she might have said. But there was a reason she named him Prince. Why he needed to succeed, why he slept closer to royalty than any other family in the court. She brainwashed him. I think it was just him snapping under all the pressures from his life before, that much exposure to his mother, and the memory of her guilt-tripping him. He couldn’t be anything but what she always wanted.
“When he emerged two week later after the funeral and everything, I didn’t recognize him. His mane was dyed blond, his hide powdered white. Everything rang true with prim and proper, a finely groomed, young stallion while I was still a rough and tumble colt. Even his step had a dainty little sway in it. I tried to be friends with him, but he was so unbearable. We fought constantly over the stupidest things like what to eat and how I always left my mane unkempt. Then one day he said, ‘I’ll not be seen in public with a servant who can’t take care of himself.’ I told him to buck off and ditched him, enlisted the next day. I was so tired of trying to change him.”
Princess Cadence said, “I think you’ve told me enough.”
She watched him release a breath she didn’t even notice him holding.
“Don’t dwell on this,” she said, “You can’t take responsibility for his life. You did the right thing.”
Shining Armor rose and said, “I know. It’s not something I think about, but you asked.”
“I thought sharing would help,” Cadence said. “But I think there is a better way for you to help this.”
“If you expect me to forgive him then—”
“Don’t,” Princess Cadence said. “He’s desperate, though. In our past visits I’ve seen him look at you. You know with this morning’s stunt he just wants you to just pay attention to him—”
“Because he’s lost his favorite toy.”
“And don’t give it back, but you are better than leaving him in this perpetual limbo,” Cadence scolded. “Any friend of mine would know better, too. Let him have the chance to redeem himself, if he fails he can only blame himself. If he doesn’t… well then maybe he has a chance.”
“Order me, then,” he told his Princess.
“I’m not going to order you,” the alicorn spoke plainly. “You will do this because it’s in your nature. Just as it’s in mine to resolve this.” The unicorn studied Princess Cadence for a moment. She added, “You cast your oaths to him before you did to me.”
Shining Armor grunted. “Fair enough.”
The unicorn approached the Blueblood Estate alone. He whipped his tail back and forth, flustered a moment, then pressed hoof to the buzzer set into stone beside the gate. Soon after one of the estate’s older servants arrived, a gardener, her mane a shade of asp and her coat amber. She stopped at the gate and studied Shining Armor for a moment.
The unicorn cleared his throat and said to the older earth pony, “I’m here to see Prince Blueblood.”
“Word is my Lord Blueblood came back in quite the tiff. Locked himself tight in his room and swallowed the key is what they say. You’ll have to come back again some other time, sorry,” the gardener said. “No use when he’s throwing one of his famous tantrums.”
“I’ve heard they’re quite legendary,” Shining Armor said. “But I’m sure if you gave him my name he may reconsider making time.”
The mare approached the gate until the two ponies were only a few paces apart. “You know, last time I saw him this upset, a friend of his had left him. He used words like, ‘abandoned’ and ‘traitor,’ but it’s not hard to believe why such a one would be driven away by our lord.”
“I wondered if you’d recognize me,” Shining Armor said.
“Hard not to. After her Ladyship passed you were in and out of here all the time, always bringing a ruckus with you,” the mare accused.
“I tried my best to keep all of you at the top of your game. The estate needed the best ponies to take care of it when they had a pony like him helming it,” Shining Armor told the older mare.
“Oh-ho-ho, I remember a lot snappier colt when last I saw you. Though, the nicer tongue is just a lamp shade more pleasant in my humble opinion.”
“So can I see him?”
“Promise you won’t make a mess? Bless their hearts, but none of these new ponies would be able to handle it,” the gardener said.
“I’m a big colt now, I can act my age,” Shining Armor told her.
“He-he, we’ll see about that,” the mare said before she retrieved a key from her satchel. She unlocked the gate and swung the thing open. “Come on, I’ll be your escort. Hold your hoof in case you get lost.”
“And here I thought I was a big colt.”
“Still nowhere close to being a stallion yet, if you’re asking me.” Shining Armor followed her into the estate. He forgot how much he enjoyed the smell of blue spruce on the wind.
When Prince did work up the courage to stand and make his way back to his room he went straight for his mirror. He peeled back the make-up, demanded a bucket of hot water and soap, and when both arrived he scrubbed at his mane and tail until they hurt. He still couldn’t get rid of some of the powder in his hide, it became permanently soaked there, and not all the dye would leave his hair, no matter how hard he tried to rid himself of it.
He remembered Coral watching from a corner, when she tried to suggest a remedy for the dye Prince shouted her out of the room and locked the door. He returned to the bucket and kicked it into the mirror, shattering it and spilling water over priceless rugs his grandparents imported from the gryphon kingdoms. He went to his four poster bed and gored his pillows, tore the silk blue sheets of his name with his teeth. He bucked an ornate lamp on his nightstand across the room. He pulled over his wardrobe. Smashed his vanity. And when a servant threatened to enter the room for fear of his safety he used all the magical prowess he could muster and lifted his bed into the air and hurled it into the door.
Once sealed inside, he collapsed in the middle of the tattered mess he made. He thought about spending the next few days in there, using the priceless, ruined wealth as the real shattered mirror he looked at now. He turned away from his reflection and to a painting of his mother, the only thing he never touched. He lifted it off the wall with his magic and propped it up gently on the ground. On one of the nails there hung a pendant Prince gave to Shining Armor a few weeks before his mother’s illness overtook her. When he left, it was the only thing Shining Armor didn’t take with him.
The bronze, battered piece Prince picked up from lower Canterlot. His mother would know if he bought anything or gave any of his jewelry to Shining Armor, it was the best he could do. The real gift was something Prince left inside the pendant, scrawled in tiny ink on a square piece of parchment. When the unicorn opened the pendant and unfolded it a seam tore in the paper, but he did his best to ignore it and looked at the text waiting there.
I never meant to wear
The memory of you like a pendant
Burning against my ribs,
That a moment’s concern would melt
My skin and scar me with
Your kindness hardly seems fair.
It’s this head of mine, screwed too far left
That makes it so hard to see what’s right.
Prince’s mother did not spare him from the rigors of learning poetry. She versed him in every art. He never took off with any of them, but when he shared this with Shining Armor the quality didn’t matter.
A hoof knocked on his door. Prince blinked and saw the light from his windows had faded, the alchemical lanterns in the ceiling now dimming into life. He didn’t know how much time had passed, the pendant and poem had fallen to the ground.
A voice from the other side announced, “My lord Blueblood, you have a guest who wishes to see you.”
Prince Blueblood ignored his servant and lied down, head in hooves. Somepony pressed against the door, when it wouldn’t budge, they gave up and he got his silence. He shut his eyes, and for moment forgot about Equestria.
He heard a hoof step over glass, it cracked over the carpet. A pony said, “You know a bed won’t keep me out of here.”
Prince Blueblood’s eyes snapped open to see his mother’s portrait still staring coldly at him from across the room. He turned away and to his left stood Shining Armor. He said, “You’re not being fair.”
Prince turned his gaze back to his mother and said, “You never made it fair for me in the first place.”
“What does that mean?”
Prince pushed himself to his haunches. “I don’t know, what did you mean?”
“That seeing you like this, in this sort of mess all messed up again like when we were colts makes me want to jump in front of you to protect you all over again.” Prince jerked around and faced his old friend, ready for the apology he waited years for when Shining Armor said, “But I can’t protect you from yourself.”
Prince scowled. “Get out.”
“Gonna make me?” Shining Armor said.
Prince whinnied and lunged at the other unicorn, horn brought low. Shining Armor ducked to the left and tripped him with an extended hoof. Prince howled when he rolled over the shattered glass on the carpet, cutting his hide in several places. He stood in the middle of the shattered mirror and hurled accusations: “You’re a monster!”
Shining Armor pursed his lips.
“Come into my home and attack me? What kind of pony does that after you’ve torn me to shreds and left me cut up like this!”
“They’re just a few scratches.”
“I am wounded! Get out before I do something awful.”
Shining Armor sat down. “Go ahead.”
Prince blinked, all his bluster fell flat. “What?”
“I’m not saying I don’t deserve my fair share,” Shining Armor said. “In some ways I failed you for not trying harder to help you, but I can’t redeem you. At least if I take responsibility for my failings, maybe you’ll be more willing to see your own.”
“I’m a prince. I don’t have failings.”
Shining Armor nodded to the portrait of his mother and asked, “Is that you or her talking?”
Prince opened his mouth, but it hung there. Nothing came out. He shook his head. “Just tell me why you’re here, so I can be rid of you sooner.”
“I thought long and hard about us and what I said earlier this morning—”
“And?” Prince demanded.
Shining Armor sighed. “I want to give you a chance. I was hoping we could attend tonight’s opera together.”
For a moment Prince’s heart fluttered and he almost bounced into the air and shouted, “Yes!” But his mother’s glare from across the room reminded him of everything that just passed between them.
Prince licked his lips and said, “You know, an hour ago and I’d have said yes. But after everything that just happened, I don’t think I can.”
“No, I know you can’t,” Shining Armor said before he slowly rose to his hooves. “But there was a pony I knew once who always believed he was ugly with his dusky grey hide, who wanted to make maps and adventure, and who every now and then I held while he cried. I wanted to ask that pony, again, and the offer will always stand for him—”
“What do you want from me?” Prince snapped. Tears welled in his eyes, he sobbed. “What can you expect of me?” A silence passed between them. “You’ve always made me choose between you and everything else, between the court, my wealth, my status, my estate, my family and my mother! How is that fair, how can you expect me to choose?”
“Oh Prince…” Shining Armor took step towards him, but hesitated. He looked down and noticed a piece of parchment he stepped over, he lifted it into the air with his magic and read the poem Prince wrote for him. He set it aside and said, “You know, Cadence has a saying I’ve never forgotten. That,” he swallowed, “kindness is an ark we can only take two by two.” And Shining Armor pulled Prince into his embrace and held him close. The other unicorn couldn’t help it anymore, but broke down into loud, earnest weeping. His barrel heaved into Shining Armor’s side, his tears ran down the flawless white shoulder he always envied.
He felt a hoof brush his mane and a voice whisper into his ear, “You should never have felt like you needed to make a choice. I know I never needed to, that it was so much easier for me. And I didn’t brook any understanding from you. I’m sorry, it wasn’t fair.”
“I’ve been an idiot all my life,” Prince Blueblood cried. “I’m sorry Shining, I never meant for any of this. I wrecked everything and was so afraid of facing that. I…” he sobbed, “I still don’t want to. I feel like the only way I won’t go crazy is if I just keep being awful.”
“You won’t go crazy,” Shining Armor said. “And you don’t need to apologize. I understand now, better than ever.”
“I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry…”
“Shh-sh-sh. You know, you’ll hardly be presentable tonight if you keep this up.”
The opera didn’t matter at all to Prince. Until they saw his cutie mark, no pony recognized the grey unicorn. He stepped into the opera house beside Shining Armor, halfway through the first act. They were late, but they hadn’t missed the boat.
They snuck heads bowed into a pair of seats Cadence reserved for them in the front. From there he noticed Shining Armor glance once at the Princess from her box with the other alicorns and the smile that passed between them almost made Prince feel flush. They took their seats, and attended to the drama on the stage.
Prince let the action and music bleed over him, intimately aware of the shoulder beside him, and how the closer he scooted towards it, the closer it leaned over to him. The show drew to a close, the music climbed its last crescendo of the night, final note was sung, and an idea struck the unicorn.
The curtain fell, the lights in the house blacked out a moment. No pony saw Prince lean over and kiss his friend on the cheek. The lights flared on, ponies began to applaud as the actors returned to the stage. Prince Blueblood whispered into Shining Armor’s ear, “I’m sorry it took me this long to return the favor from all those years ago.”
Shining Armor shifted in his seat and faced him. “You don’t make anything easy, do you?”
Prince frowned. “What does that mean?” The actors took their last bow and began to exit the stage.
“Cadence is leaving tomorrow and I have to go with her.”
Prince felt something in him drop. A weight he thought lifted, back again. But he smiled, “That’s okay, she is your Princess.”
“But you’ll always be my Prince,” Shining Armor said and nuzzled his cheek. “In a few months time, I’ll have a vacation, and I can come back then. I’d like to start over, if you’re willing to stay like this.” And he rubbed Prince’s grey shoulder.
“I promise.”
“Maybe even make it an oath?”
“The best kind I can give."
