1/29

Shining’s office had a definite ‘lived in’ feeling, appropriate for someone who had been the head of the guard for over a decade of dedicated service. Carefully maintained, mind you, but the couches that he lead us to were definitely worn to just the right level of comfort, the walls were a more comfortable rose color than the drab olive I had come to think of with most of the offices in the castle, and there were quite a few pictures on the wall. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and their daughter, Princess Flurry Heart. Family paintings and a few of Princess Cadance or Flurry Heart Solo. The later seemed to be in her late teens by my best judgement, with a fierce look in her eye and more than one painting of her using a sword or with one at her side.

Shining procured a few bottles of cider and passed them over to us. “Sweet Apple Acres,” he said with smug satisfaction. “Not a better bottle anywhere. I buy up as much of it as I can and save it for special occasions.”

I popped the top off, giving him a grateful smile before I pulled back a small sip of the cider, and my mouth is awash with the pure undiluted essence of APPLE. There’s the slightly sour taste worked in, but so expertly crafted a brew as it is, it only manages to enhance the flavor, and before I realize it I’ve taken two long draws off the battle before I come up for air.

“Wow…” I say with a delighted grin. “Sun and stars, you weren’t kidding…” I was about to tip it back for another draw before a magenta magical aura gripped the bottle gently, keeping me from taking another drain.

“You might want to take it easy on that,” Shining Armor warned. “They have a, uh, pretty high alcohol content.”

I was about to deny it, but as I did, I felt a flush of warmth roll over me and a pleasantly light feeling to accompany. “I’m not… Okay, wow,” I said, hoof coming up to steady my head as I had a bit of trouble keeping my balance, wings flaring out to give myself a little bit extra support.

Rock gave a chuckle at my reaction, hoof coming out to pat my back in a soothing fashion. “Hold on there, boss. If it hit you that hard, it should be out of your system just as quickly.”

Shining looked over at my body guard. “So, Operative Rock Solid, this is what you got assigned to? Can’t think of a better stallion for the job.”

“Yup!” Rock said cheerfully. “The castle is my home, only makes sense I’d keep this little guy safe whenever he needs it.”

We had a bit of friendly conversation, spending about an hour discussing what had happened over a couple of bottles of cider, then Rock and Shining had a brief conversation about something… military jargon-y. My capacity to understand them quickly evaporated in favor a nice hazy warmth to the world.

So it was that I was a little bit unsteady on my hooves as we exited, only for Shining to tap me on the haunches. Blearily I looked back at him, and gave him a smile to match

“I just need to let you know two little things,” he said, eye glancing over to make sure Rock wasn’t listening in. “First, my wife is probably gonna come onto you. That’s fine, we have an understanding, you have fun.”

My mouth worked silently as I tried to comprehend that, but Shining just kept on going.

“And the second is my daughter. She’s about your age.” Then, without warning, he grabbed me around the back of my neck and pulled me in, his jovial manner evaporating into a scalding intensity. “If you touch her, I will end you.” I let loose a strangled ‘meep’ and nodded weakly before he finally released me. “Feel free to stop in sometime!” He said cheerfully and earnestly, his demeanor returning to his usual easy chill with a distressing speed. “I can always use more stallions to hang out with around here.”

I nodded blearily, but I was unusually silent as I fell into stop with Rock. Rock himself was a lot more well-composed. In all fairness, he was like, twice my sheer size and ten times as athletic, and I found myself staring at his broad, rugged physique as we walked along. Eventually, he looked back at me and smiled. “Prince Shining splits about half his time between here and the Crystal Empire. Still, he’s like a father to the guard. I have no doubt that he’d lay down his life for any of us, so we’re willing to do the same.”

I nodded, mouth still clenched shut as I needed to process and was still a little bit shook by Shining’s sudden threat. Then, however, we turned the corner and I was immediately delighted.

Princess Celestia! Standing not a thousand feet away. There were a couple of stuffy-looking ponies chatting seriously with her while she had her usual perfect, ethereal, knowing, perfect expression.

“PRINCESS CELESTIA!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Y’know, to make sure that she heard me. “HI PRINCESS CELESTIA!”

She froze and looked out over the hallway. Her eyes focused on me. It was rather easy, I was floating over the crowd. To make sure I was easy to see. Rock seemed very distant, looking at me with concern, eyes darting between me and Celestia like he couldn’t decide whether or not tackling me or letting me make an ass out of myself were the better option.

Celestia looked at me, then looked confused. Her mouth moved inaudibly. Then she looked again, like she recognized me from a picture in a book. Naturally that distressed me. “IT’S ME,” I tried. “YOUR NEW PRINCE CONSORT.”

Understanding and a bit of nervousness broke into her expression. She gave me a nervous wave and a hoof went to the book of the irritated advisor and quickly began to usher them along quickly. Naturally, I moved to follow, but found myself stopped in my tracks by a tugging on my tail, which a look backwards revealed to be the iron tight grip that Rock had on me.