A New Era

by Infamous

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Tragedy, Shining Armor, Prince Blueblood, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6
Length: 6151

Over the years, Equestria has lived in harmony. The Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have ruled together peacefully. Crime is almost unheard of, but when the Captain of the Royal Guard catches both sisters in a dastardly act, will they be able to

The princesses are accused of committing an inexcusable crime. They are banished to the depths of Tartarus as punishment and the next member of the royal family is crowned ruer of Equestria. Prince Blueblood. He is now crowned king of Equestria and his actions speak louder than words. 9 years after he is crowned king, the city of Canterlot has flourished and expanded even more, but as for other countries like Ponyville, they have all plummeted into a state of drought, food is scarce and the economy fails. Ever since the arrival of the new king, all of Equestria has been in a state of everlasting winter. Now the mane 6 are on a journey to overthrow the king and bring back the princesses and the harmony they once shined upon the land. Lines will be drawn, friendships will be lost ; will Twilight, her friends and the Elements of Harmony be strong enough against this new foe and bring back harmony to Equestria?

Proofread & edited by: AccessDeniedLULZ, nygiants93, Ausbrony, and SongBrony.

Published 2013-03-24 10:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-24 10:10:01 UTC

Prelude: Crime & Punishment

Prelude: Crime & Punishment

9 years ago

Canterlot, the royal city in Equestria, known for the pristine white buildings, luxurious dresses and the place to make it big. Also the home of the great and powerful regal alicorn sisters who rule over all of Equestria. They are known for their kindness and their fairness for everypony.

Celestia, who has ruled Equestria for over millennia, is well known for her sweet voice, caring smile, and elegant flowing mane and Luna, who after being rescued and reunited with her sister, has kept harmony in Equestria. Even though Luna is younger than Celestia, they now rule over Equestria together keeping harmony across the land.

But looks can be very deceiving. Celestia, a strong, wise, and beautiful ruler who always saw good in everypony and her sister, Luna even though she is younger is the most wise and has saw through a ponies intentions of doing harm and understood their loneliness and anger. The princess of the night has done well to extinguish that horrid label people called her. She has friends now; she’s the main event of Nightmare Night and just like her sister, has even taken in her own apprentice.

What if the strong and beautiful princess of the sun and the wise and forgiving princess of the night were different on the inside? What if they kept a side hidden away from the rest of the world? A side of mercilessness and bloodlust that they just couldn’t control when they were at the peak of their anger. Luna first showed her symptoms of her alter ego, when she became Nightmare Moon, but lucky for her and the rest of the ponies, Celestia resolved the problem but at a price. Celestia first showed her ‘bad side’ when her sister got ponynapped. The sun goddess took it upon herself to rescue her sister and face the ponynapper herself and when she did, well lets just say she left quite the mess.

Their murderous ego spikes up again but this time, it’s in their home of the Canterlot castle. In the basement of the castle lies the boiler room. The room is understandably large for the oversized castle with electrical generators, water pumps and bulky pipes crowding most of the large room. But something additional was added to it. Princess Celestia was standing in the center of the room still pertaining her tall, proud stature. But something was different about her, her pristine white coat was tainted with blood and her mane that mysteriously flowed in the wind was flat on against her face. Her once kind, magenta eyes were now bloodshot. She stood undisturbed looking at a moaning pony on the floor. Her eyes were fixed on the pony until her sister came to her side.

"What should we do with him sister?"

"Do what you will with this scum Luna. He is not important to me anymore. Just...don't make a mess." Princess Celestia said with an angry scowl. Her once beautiful white coat and her lovely mane was stained with blood and had bits of flesh interwoven with it. She stood amongst the pile of dead corpses of ponies in the room. Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi alike lay dead on the cold hard floor.

"As you wish sister." Luna replied as she turned to a disheveled body lying on the floor. The pony was an earth pony stallion. His tan coat was tainted with blood and cuts from his muzzle to his hooves. His well-groomed jet-black mane was in a wreck and some pieces of his hair were missing. His cutie mark was three sacks of money with dollar signs on them.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Luna said to the stallion, a hint of anger in her voice.

"For what you and your sister have done here to the rest of these helpless ponies you have only sealed both of your fates. That goes without saying that the both of you are not rightfully fit to be rulers of Equestria. You two are just princesses; not even queens! That really is quite pathetic. The throne belongs to a true ruler, a king. You and your sisters' time as rulers have come to an end and the rightful ruler of Equestria shall show his courage, leadership, and valor to all that oppose him. Hail the true, rightful ruler of Equestria! Hail the King of Equestria! So do your worst, you don't scare me. Go to Tartarus!" he said, spitting his blood at the princess of the night.

The sticky blood that the half-dead pony spat landed straight on Luna's face. This only infuriated the princess to her max. "I WILL SEE YOU THERE YOU TRAITOROUS PONY SCUM!" Luna said as her royal Canterlot voice that she worked so hard to suppress echoed throughout the entire room. Even Celestia winced at her sister voice. With that, Luna grasped the traitor off the ground and brought him to eye level.

Filthy, as calm as ever considering the sticky situation he was in, gathered up all his energy and gave her a devilish smile. That smile meant that he didn't have a care in the world what she did to him. It taunted and intimidated Luna to her core. The alicorn, even more furious than before, with her magical grip still on the half-dead stallion, ripped off his head with grotesque crack. She then dropped the headless body on the ground and looked at the head. Even without the body attached the head still had that taunting smile on his face. She yelled something incoherent as she threw the head at the wall closest to her, making contact with a sickening 'splat.'

With a grunt, Luna walked over to her sister who had been standing by, watching what just transpired. When she reached her, she let out an exhausted sigh and looked up at Celestia. She wore a stoic expression on her face showing no emotion at all. She looked down at her sister with neither a frown nor a smile, she just looked at her. They stared at each other until Celestia decided to talk. "I figure that we are done here, hm?" Luna didn't say anything but gave her a nod.

As they made their way to the exit, a bright flash engulfed to whole room and blinded the two. As the light faded away, the princesses rubbed their eyes to see what just happened. They looked around to see that they were completely surrounded by the entire royal guard.

One guard stepped forward and said, "DON'T MOVE! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR-" the guard trailed off as he took a look at the perpetrators as well as all the other guards. The guards gasped in shocked as they looked at the massacre around them. The amount of dead ponies that circled the floor caused numerous guards to vomit.

"Pr-Princess?" a guard said in a voice that stood out that both princesses recognized. It was the Captain of the royal guard himself, Shining Armor.

"Wha-what do we do sir?" A guard standing next to him asked cautiously. Shining slowly looked at the ground and scowled. The situation was eating him out. The two regal sister rulers of Equestria, just massacred 30 ponies that he could see. Soon every guard in the room anxiously looked at him awaiting an order, any order.

"Arrest them." Shining muttered. More gasps were heard in the room.

"But sir-" one guard said only to be cut off by Shining.

"I said arrest them! That’s an order!" he yelled. The guard regretted talking back to his commanding officer for every guard knew it was unwise to get on his 'bad side'.

A few hesitated by the order but they soon cautiously walked towards the princesses. "What do we do sister?" Luna asked to affirm her fears. "We do nothing." Celestia responded with the blank expression on her face before they were caught. Before Luna could say something back, a magical brace clicked into place around both their necks. The guards that did follow Shining’s order were still in shock and some started to feel sick once they got a smell of all the blood on their coats.

They slowly escorted the princesses towards Shining and once they reached him, he had a look on his face that made other ponies tremble. He looked like he wanted to scream at them with everything he had. The guards never took their eyes off of the princesses and Shining; everything in the room was still and everypony was quiet. Moments later, Shining finally spoke.

"How could you do such a thing? What drove you to kill all these defenseless ponies?” he said through his gritted teeth. “HOW!?" He yelled at them. Some guards shrank inside their armor as he raised his voice. Waiting for a response, Luna just hung her head low and frowned at her hooves. Her reputation she worked so hard to get rid of was the only thing on her mind now. She would be hated and feared even more from now on. Celestia stood tall, still, and looked down at Shining with a scowl, just staring at him to make him cower. He did not falter. He stood tall and didn't regret talking like that to royalty.

Why did you do such a thing? How could this have happened? The only questions going through his mind were why and how.

"Take them to the dungeon until further orders," he said. Not one pony moved until Shining gave the guards a stern look and they didn't stick around after that. They escorted the princesses to the dungeon and not one word was said. Luna dragged herself along as she was thinking of what was going to happen to her and her sister. Slowly, she looked up at Celestia. She still stood tall and proud not regretting what she had done. Luna knew that there was no other choice in the matter and it had to be done.

If they only knew the story behind it all.

The room Shining and all the other guards were standing in fell silent once again. All the guards shifted uneasily and carried their stare from Shining to each other. Moments later Shining got a hold of himself and addressed the others. "Everypony listen up! You are all dismissed until I figure out what to do about this situation. Until then, everypony is on leave until called in. When you set a single hoof outside this castle, you are royally bound not to discuss the events that transpired here to anypony else. For if you do, not only will you be dishonorably discharged, but you will also be thrown into the dungeon for the rest of your lives for treason! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Not even a second passed when all the guards in unison stood at attention with a salute and replied "SIR, YES SIR!"

Shining dismissed them, then returned to his thoughts with his head low. Every guard was relieved a little but still was tense. They walked past their captain and none even dared to look at him. Not even a single glance. They quickly walked past him with their heads low without a single word spoken. Everypony exited the room except one pony.

"What are you going to do now captain?" The pony was a cyan unicorn stallion with a bleached white mane and the tips of his mane was died an ice blue. He had a medium muscular build to him and had turquoise eyes and his cutie mark was 3 frozen raindrops. He wore similar amour like the rest of the guards but he had no helmet and had the same emblem on his chest like Shining but it was blue.

"I...I don't know Havoc. I just don't know" Shining said. Havoc was his lieutenant and his closest friend. They've known each other ever since they joined the academy together. Not only were they friends, but they were rivals too. They would have magic duels and races to see which of them was better. They worked each other to the bone and pushed themselves and each other to perform better than the last time. They had a friendship that would last an eternity. The whole point in becoming rivals was to see who could become the captain of the royal guard since not only was Havoc's dream, but Shining's dream also. Even though Shining became captain that would affect neither their friendship nor their rivalry. Even now they still train and push each other to become stronger, faster, and smarter.

"We might have to go to the council for this." Havoc let out a heavy sigh. "Lets just hope and pray that they go easy on them. The next thing we really need is two locked up princesses for Celestia knows how long, and have to find a new ruler."

"No," Shining replied in a stern and serious voice.

"Wha-?" As Havoc was responding to the comment, he was cut short by Shining’s hoof

"I said no! Its bad enough every guard had to see this travesty, I’m not letting you take the heat with me." Shining said now raising his voice, even more serious than before. Havoc, just stood there shocked and flabbergasted at his bosses choice of words until he was finally able to speak again.

"Are you out of your mind? If you confront the council alone, not only will they give the princesses a punishment but you too for letting this happen!" Havoc retorted raising his voice louder than his bosses.

"Do NOT say that I caused this.... This massacre of helpless ponies. I didn't let this happen. If I had a choice, I would've stopped this from happening in the first place!" Shining said as he grunted out of anger.

Havoc winced at his comeback. He felt angry with himself for pointing hooves but even angrier that he pointed a hoof at his closest friend. "I...I know Shining. I didn't mean it like that. What I’m trying to say is if you go in there alone, the council will have your flank for this. I'm not saying you let it happen, but I have a strong feeling that they won't feel the same way."

Shining now calmer than before took a deep breath and took in his words. He knew he was right and knew what he was getting into from this happening from the start. "I know what you mean, but its better one of us rather than both of us," Havoc returned a quizzical look him until Shining continued to speak.

"Look, say we do go face the council and they give the princesses a punishment, then what? I am fully aware that if I take the stand I'll get a punishment as well but what if you and me both take the stand and we get punished? Just think about it, if we both get a punishment then who's going to lead the guards and what will happen when we are gone? So that’s why its better for me to take the heat rather than both us.” Havoc was at a loss for words. He knew he was right. “What would happen if a threat was made on the castle or the changelings attacked again? Who would take control of the guards and lead them to battle?" Havoc lowered his head and started to say something but was cut off by a hoof touching his shoulder.

"Havoc, I really appreciate your concern and your help but you do realize if we both go, the castle might be in danger right?" Havoc said nothing but just looked up at Shining. "If that were to happen then you must lead the guards into battle. Understand?" Again, he said nothing but gave him a nod but Shining could still see he was fighting to come up with something to say.

"Look, as your friend, I’m telling you to relax. Take the day off, do whatever, but as your boss, I’m ordering you to let me handle this." Shining said as he gave his friend a reassuring smile. Defeated, the cyan unicorn let out a loud heavy sigh, and loosened up. Shining could feel how tense his body was and now felt like a marshmallow.

"But as soon as things get out of hoof, I’m stepping in ok?" Havoc said. Shining chuckled at this for Havoc was like his old self, back when they were cadets. Every argument or debate, Havoc had always prevailed by getting the last point said or said something more proving so there was no way of talking him out of it. Shining knew very well that Havoc was the closest thing to a brother and he didn't want to lose that.

"All right and thank you Havoc." Shining said as he gave his friend a smile. Havoc returned the gesture with a nod. With that, he exited the room and left Shining back to his lonely thoughts once again. He stood there in the blood-infested room, he saw the bloodstained walls and the mangled bodies on the floor.

For a moment Shining stood there, unknown if he was in reality or a horror movie. The sight and smell of the room was getting to him and he could feel his lunch and breakfast coming up in his stomach. He pushed it back down and left him gagging on the floor for air.

He finally made his decision to exit the room and did so with haste. As he was reaching the exited he slowed down and took a look up at the ceiling. What he saw was incredible. Somehow even blood was on the ceiling and the only thing he was thinking right now was how the hell did this happen?

He shook any bloody thoughts out of mind and focused at the task that needed to be dealt with. The United Equestrian Council or better known as the 'council'. The council consisted of the oldest and wisest ponies, griffins, minotaur and other creatures from all across Equestria. The council is known for their harsh punishment they give on their 'victims'.

Rumors around the castle are that when Discord was captured again, seventy percent of all candidates said to execute the Draconequus and even Luna agreed to the vote. But Celestia and the remaining thirty said that if somehow they reformed him, the vote would be automatically cast down, lucky for him. Some even say they act less of a council and more of a cult.

Shining could only imagine what punishment the princesses were going to receive and he as well. He'd rather not think about that now.

Now that Shining was outside he could think more clearly and took his mind off of some of the things that may lie ahead. He breathed heavily taking in the clean air and retained his strong composure. Hopefully the council will cut the princess some slack. After all, they do raise and lower the sun and moon. He thought to himself.

The halls were eerily quiet and all he could hear is him breathing. Minutes passed and Shining was just taking in how quiet it was. It was never this quiet. He would always hear guards talking or wings flapping, but this was new to him. He snapped back to reality and knew he had someone to meet and places to go. So without any delay, he called upon his magic and with a bright light, he was gone. A couple seconds later, he had found himself in front of two large golden doors with the royal seal on it.

As he walked in, he was met with a dozen of salutes. He was in a lab full of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. Shining was looking for a particular griffin. "At ease men," he said when he didn't see who was looking for. Then all of a sudden, beakers of all sizes started falling and breaking onto the floor. Shining looked to his right to see a griffon come vaulting over a table and a desk then flying over some ponies before he landed in front of Shining.

"Sorry about that sir." the griffin said as he saluted

Shining gave him that What The Buck? look and shook himself into his normal composure. "Its alright, Eagle Eye. I’ve come here to ask a favor of you," he asked. Shining, for the life of him, couldn't understand why he trusted this clumsy and accident-prone griffin. But every time Shining would doubt him, the griffin would never disappoint him when he asked for a favor. Sure he makes a mess but he's reliable and he gets the job done.

"Umm, well of course sir. What is it can I do for you?" Eagle Eye asked cautiously.

"I want you and your team to conduct a full sweep of what happened in the boiler room. I want to know what happened in there and I want identities of every pony in that room. I want a report on my desk every hour." Shinning said casually but as he said it, the whole room fell silent.

"Oh... ok" the griffin replied uneasily as his gaze fell to the floor and his claws seemed more interesting then the conversation. Shining wasn't an idiot and he could feel the tension in the air.

"Look I know it going to be hard but I need this done. The sooner the better. You're the only one I know and trust with this that can get it done right and get it done fast," he said as he rested a hoof on the griffin's shoulder. The complement seemed to have worked as he slowly picked up his head and looked at Shining. He was at a loss of words from the fact that nopony has never heard him give somepony a compliment. "R-really?" Eagle Eye said skeptically. Shining gave him a serious reassuring nod with a smile that seemed to brighten the griffins’ spirits as he stood up proud and yelled in the room, "You heard the boss, now MOVE! Lets get this investigation underway!"

Shining could only stand back and watch as his words of encouragement gave the timid griffin leadership and strength. As everypony in the room picked up their equipment and was out the room in an instant and left Eagle Eye to gather up his equipment and start flying out the room. Just as he was about to leave he stopped, turning back to face Shining and said "Umm sir? What happens now? If you don't mind me asking."

Shining frowned at this question and an unsettling and awkward silence fell upon the room again. He tried to give his subordinate a reply but couldn't form anything in his mind and as soon as he was about to say something, he would only choke and fall silent once more. The silence was getting to Eagle Eye and was getting uncomfortable. He began switching his weight from each talon until he couldn't take the silence anymore. He finally spoke up and said. "Sir?"

Shining realized how uncomfortable he was making the griffin and tried to formulate an answer and was at a loss once more. For the first time of his life Shining was at a loss. Shining always knew what to do in tough situations but now, now it was eating him from the inside out. When he was a young colt and he was being bullied for being a nerd, he did the right thing and told the teacher but when it came down to his family, it became personal. He even knew what to do back then. Even when he was dating Cadence, he knew when the right time was and how to propose to her. But now he felt useless. His mind was doing somersaults, still trying to understand the situation, trying to find out why this all had happened.

For the first time in his life, he felt helpless.

"I...I don't know," he said softly through his gritted teeth so that the uncomfortable griffin could hear him, his anger now rising again.

"I just don't know," he said again more loudly.

The griffin couldn't have been more anxious or uncomfortable. He eyed his superior. He had never seen him like this. In fact, no pony has seen him like this before. This conversation couldn't get more awkward. The nervous griffin took a deep breath a finally spoke up. "Don’t you worry about a thing sir, my team and I will have all the evidence gathered and a report on your desk within the hour." The sudden change in attitude in the griffin snapped the white unicorn back into reality, coughed and regained his strong composure. Shining, back to himself again gave Eagle Eye a nod and off he flew to regroup with the rest of his team.

Shining spent no time lingering around the empty forensic lab and walked out into the long hall and to his office.

Shining let out a sigh as he finally reached his office. The trip there was quite unnerving and boring. He stood there at the door and just stared at it, his thoughts returning to him. Although the whole royal guard knew about the incident, there were a couple of ponies that deserved to know about it. He opened the door and walked in to a very neat office. His desk was organized with stacks of papers on the corner and the floor was sparkling clean. Shining was quite pleased with himself that he kept such a neat and organized office. After all, he was a neat freak after what happened in his colthood.

He walked to his desk and just sat there as the minutes passed, he was fidgeting to get comfortable. He couldn’t stop thinking of how the princesses could just murder innocent ponies. He couldn't help but feel betrayed by the princesses he was sworn to protect and serve. He was fully awake and had to keep moving around or he would have to punch a wall. He grunted for being idle was getting to him nowhere and fidgeting wasn't helping at all.

As he got up from his chair, he made his way to the medium sized window off to the side. His office was at a perfect spot of the castle, where he could just take a break from his paperwork and stare at the beautiful view of the castle garden. It was quite a sight for Shining and it’s what he enjoyed doing the most during his free time.

When he reached the window he stared at the beautiful garden and the city in the background. He went to go open the window and as he did, a quick blast of cold air came through and pushed him back a couple feet. As quick as the freezing cold air came, it subsided. What’s cold air doing in the summer? he thought to himself.

He slowly made his way back to the window; he saw that the cold wind was blowing heavily across the castle. Flags, trees, and bushes in the royal garden shook violently in all directions. "What the-?” he started but before he could finish, a single screech could be heard from above the clouds. Shining looked up to inspect where the noise came from exactly and when he did he looked up with a shocked expression. "I thought today called for clear skies?" he said to himself.

Before he knew it, another strong cold blast of wind came through the window and knocked him back a few feet again and papers from his desk were sent flying all across the room. Shining now learned his lesson and made quick haste to the window to shut it before another blast of wind would send him through the wall.

He sighed and took a glance around his office. The papers that were so neatly stacked on top of his desk were now scattered all over the floor. Shining sighed at the sight. For all the work he put into stacking the papers in order, he would have to restart his efforts again but now he couldn't care less. He walked on the messy floor, back to his desk and sat there once more. He then remembered why he came here and pulled out a piece of scroll paper, his favorite quill his little sister had given him and started to write.

Cadence,

Once you receive this letter, immediately go to the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville. There you will see Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Wait there until I arrive. Keep this discrete and tell nopony. Something terrible has happened here at Canterlot and I fear that the worst has yet to come. I will send a letter to Twilight and give her instructions as well. I will tell you all everything once I arrive. I may be late for I have some things to take care of here. I know that you're still at the Crystal Empire and this letter is short notice but this is an emergency. I love you Cadence. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my life so far and I want you to know that whatever might happen in the future, I will always be with you.

I will see you soon my love,

~Shining Armor

As he finished the letter, he summoned his magic and in a matter of seconds, the letter was engulfed in a blue flame. Soon the disintegrated letter was off to its recipient leaving behind not a single speck of ash. He still sat at his desk in a daze, staring at where the letter once floated. "I hope this whole thing clears up soon,” he muttered to himself. He remembered the task at hoof and snapped back into reality pulling out another piece of scroll paper.

He addressed and wrote its contents on it quickly and just like before, he summoned up his magic and the letter disintegrated again in mid air. He then started to make his way out of the office and just before he reached the door, he glanced outside and remembered how cold it suddenly became. He turned and walked to a drawer behind his desk and pulled out a matching dark blue scarf and hat he had received on Hearts and Hooves day from his loving wife.

He put on the hat and tightly wrapped the scarf around his neck. As he did so, he took a second to admire the softness in the them. He gently rubbed the scarf on his cheek, feeling softness of the high quality fabric on his face. He could only imagine how much it would cost. It would have been rude of him to ask but he remember his wife telling her that she had gathered Hoity Toity and other well renowned fashion designers, even one of his sisters friends helped in making the them. Shining thought she overdid it just for a scarf and hat but she insisted that her 'hubby' deserved the best. A faint blush appeared on his face as he remembered the memory.

As he was still admiring the quality of the scarf, a blast of wind hit the window and startled Shining, taking him away from his daydreaming and remembered why he had put on the hat and scarf in the first place. With that, he trotted out his office and made his way outside of the castle to the train station.

He made quick haste and as he was walking, he couldn’t stop himself from looking around at all the various bakeries, department stores and beautiful buildings Canterlot had to offer. He felt himself giddy with excitement like he was a young colt again as he past the large park where he had proposed to Cadence. She was so shocked and amazed at the size of the engagement ring. He could only chuckle as he remembers her reaction when she had almost fainted right then and there as he asked the question.

But something had caught his eye. The usual busy and noisy city was abandoned. Not a sound was heard nor was anypony in sight. Shining did a quick 360-degree turn and confirmed that he was the only pony on the street. He took a closer look and realized that all the stores had been closed and all the windows from buildings were closed and blinded.

"Strange," he said to himself. "I would think that most ponies went inside due to the sudden climate change but having nopony on the streets and stores closed?" he said to himself as he slowly started walking, being very cautious and listening to the slightest noise of hooves or wings. The silence and absence of everypony didn’t sit right in Shining’s mind. He cast an invisible protective barrier on himself so that if something were to happen, the enemy wouldn’t sneak up on him and ambush him.

A sudden screech from above the clouds made every nerve in Shining’s body tingle as he jumped a good three feet into the air. He had remembered that particular screech before, and he wanted to avoid it. Another screech bellowed from up above and Shining didn't dare to stick around to see what would happen next. He bolted down the street towards the train station as fast as he could. He was quite impressed with himself. He had never run that fast before in a while and he was as fast as a Wonderbolt, or so he thought.

He reached the train station in a few minutes, purchased his ticket and lucky for him, the train for Ponyville had just arrived. He boarded and as he expected, the whole train was empty. He found a suitable place to sit down by the window as he sat and stared out of the window. It took a couple of minutes before the final preparations was made and the conductor yelled, "All board!" Soon the train was off to Ponyville and he was left to his thoughts in an empty train car. He wasn’t thinking of the incident, no, he was thinking about his lovely wife Cadence.

He was so happy when he had first met her. He was lucky Havoc had urged him to talk to her and for that, he owed a respectable debt to him. Before he could recall the conversation between him and Havoc, the train’s conductor had tapped his shoulder. The conductor was a grey earth pony with an oiled black mane and mustache with grey streaks intertwined in them. He wore a blue and white-striped cap and had glasses sitting upon his nose. Shining couldn’t see the pony's cutie mark because the chairs were in the way of his view.

"Ticket sir," he asked as he held out a hoof for Shining’s ticket. Shining could recognize by the conductors accent that he was from Germeneigh.

"Oh yes. Um here it is." he replied as he slightly panicked at the thought that he had lost his ticket but to find out he'd been sitting on it the whole time. He handed the warm ticket to him, and as the conductor punched holes in it, the awkward silence was getting to them both.

"Some weather we're having eh?" he said as he handed back the ticket.

"Yes, it is. I was expecting a nice stroll around the city,” he said, as he lied through his smile.

"Yeah, I guess unpredictable things happens at unexpected times." Shining couldn’t agree more with him.

"Well, we will be arriving in Ponyville shortly, an hour or two to be exact. Enjoy your ride sir and let me know if you need anything else," he said.

"Thank you and I will." Shining replied as the earth pony walked down the aisle and exited the train car.

Shining was alone once more and he couldn’t help feel a slight neglected. He wanted somepony right now and he couldn’t wait to see both his wife and his sister in a few hours. He then looked back out of the window and soon could his feel his eyes slowly close. This whole ordeal was tiring even for the captain of the royal guard and it had exhausted him.

Shining didn’t fight back his urge to remain awake so he slowly fell asleep in his seat until he arrived in Ponyville. It was going to be quite a while for things to return back to normal. But Shining didn’t care about all that. That would make him even more tired. All that mattered right now is that he got himself a good rest before he would have to explain everything to his wife and sister.