Celestia's guards heard her outraged spluttering, and the sounds of a scuffle. The butler, maid, and gardener did as well. All of them piled through the doors, elbowing and shoving in their haste to get to their respective masters. Only Shining Armour held back.
When he did make it to the room, the scene he saw set his teeth on edge. His Princess bleeding and battered, his Mother beaten and bruised. The guardsponies were advancing on the stunned combatants. Shining Armour chewed his lip uncertainly. He had sworn an oath to his Princess, but he owed just as much, if not more, to his parents. The servants stepped between the three advancing guards and Shining's parents, hoofs raised and teeth bared. In response Sg. Sanshiro raised his spear. Biting his lip, Shining Armour made a desperate choice, hoping against hope it was the right one.
"EVERYPONY STOP FIGHTING!" he shouted. Both of his hooves struck the floor as pink bubbles sprang up to separate the combatants.
Celestia was performing complex crossteps inside her bubble, hissing in short hard gasps loudly between her teeth, and rattling her wings aggressively. Her ears were tight against her head, and her pupils had narrowed into tiny dots. She was acting more like an animal than a pony. Blood slowly dripped from one of her ears. Slowly she began to calm down, her breathing returning to normal, and her pupils widening. Finally her wings dropped back to her side, and she returned to her normal regal posture.
Night Light and Twilight Velvet slowly stood up from the small pile they had been knocked in, glancing frequently at their slavering princess. Night Light ran his hooves over his wife, checking to make sure she was in one peace, and gently turning her head away whenever she began glaring at the princess again.
Shining watched it all silently, pupils wide and eyes narrow, still roiling with emotions. "I'm not dropping the bubbles until all of you promise to play nice." His voice caught in his throat, and it took three tries to get the commanding message out in its entirety.
Princess Celestia sighed, lowering her forquarters and burying her nose against her hooves. "I'm sorry. My behavior was not worthy of a princess. Instead of fighting I should have teleported away, and I shall admit that my words were more inflammatory than necessary."
Twilight Velvet remained silent. Night Light gently bumped her with his muzzle. She stubbornly glared at him, and he bumped her again a little more forcefully. "It's your turn to apologise my dear".
She sighed, and glared daggers at her husband before turning to her princess. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kicked the first buck. Even if you are trying to take my little Sparkle away just because she's different to 'fix' her just like those social workers who wanted to send her to the school for 'special' unicorns. All of you keep calling her broken, or damaged, or sick. She's not! She's just... different. She needs protecting by somepony who cares about her, not fixing. We've had enough fixing after Dr. Hoofentrotter."
"And I" Night Light said, after the two mares spoke "Am sorry that I ruined a perfectly good copper kettle." Twilight Velvet looked at him in shock. Then Princess Celestia started to snort. Twilight Velvet whirled around to glance at the princess who was shaking and jiggling spasmodically against the ground. "P... Princess Celestia? Are you O.K? Are you hurt? Somepony call a doctor, she's having a seizure!"
Celestia raised a hoof gently from her position and waved it dismissively "I'm alright, really" she said between snorts "My head is clearly the hardest part of my body. No wonder the kettle was ruined." She continued to giggle and guffaw at the absurdity of the whole situation. After a moment Twilight Velvet nervously joined in, followed dutifully by her husband.
Shining Armour rolled his eyes. "You're not all getting out of the bubbles that easily. Sgt Sanshiro, go fetch a medical examiner to treat everypony's wounds. Pvt. Pumpkin Dulce, bring..." he glanced around counting "Nine large frothy lattes from one of the coffee shops in town. Extra cinnamon, extra cream..."
"I'm lactose intolerant" Pumpkin Dulce said, seeing where this was going.
"Eight with cream, One without cream for yourself" Shining concurred with a swift nod. "Cpl Shadebottom, you have overwatch. Don't let my mother strike the princess, nor the reverse. I am going to go fetch my sister. I think it's about time everypony heard what she wants, instead of just making assumptions."
He began marching up the stares. Night Light and Twilight Velvet continued staring up after him. "Did he just..."
"Order around three guardsmen all of superior rank to himself while keeping his cool in the middle of a stressful situation, and be obeyed despite the fact that all three outrank him? Why yes" Celestia said, ears twitching with continued amusement "He did indeed. Guard Trainee Shining Armour remains quite the remarkable pony," she leaned forwards conspiratorially "It's why he's on the fast track for command." she stage whispered to the two proud parents. "You raised a truly remarkable son. And a truly remarkable daughter as well." She finished.
Velvet and Light glanced at one another, then Light spoke gently. "Well, he certainly is blooming in your guard." Velvet nodded "Maybe... maybe I am being... a little... too protective of Twilight" she said, as though every word was a tooth being extracted from a block of diamond.
Celestia shook her head with a soft chuff as the sound of Shining's hooves returning down the stairs, Twilight's small patter in tow, reverberated through the room.
Shining was pausing to nuzzle Twilight with each couple of steps. Twilight, was moving slowly, with obvious reluctance. Tears streaked her face, and clumpy snot stained her muzzle. She had Smarty Pants located securely on her back.
Celestia put a hoof to her mouth, feeling taken aback. Velvet tried to burst through the bubble to go to her daughter's aid. Shining nodded to Twilight. "Please tell them what you told me, sis." He said gently.
Twilight scrunched up her face, starting slow, but soon emotion was suffusing her voice. "Um... I don't want you two to fight over me. I want to be Celestia's student! Please don't kick me out! I'll study hard! I promise I'll try to do better! I'm not broken!"
Shining gave the former combatants a look, shaping the inside of the bubbles to communicate with them without letting Twilight know. Mom, if you try to take Twilight back from Celestia, Twilight will think she is a failure. You won't be protecting Twilight, just hurting her
Shining's mom shot Shining a glare, but then her eyes drifted over her daughter. She sighed, and nodded reservedly.
My Princess, you might not realize it, but Twilight's not completely unable to work out somepony's emotions. Stop sighing whenever she has a hard time identifying somepony, or looking horrified whenever she does one of her little... Twi-isims. Teach her how to get around it, but stop judging her for it.
Celestia was offended, eyes crossing in offended surprise. But... Shining was right. She bowed her head in acquiescence, but made a note to assign the uppity guard trainee to latrine duty for a week.
"Don't worry Twilight" Shining said nuzzling his sister "No one's forcing you to do anything." he licked a hoof, then smoothed down her disheveled mane as he dropped the shield. There was a knock on the front door "Somepony wanted medical assistance in here?" A voice called out, "And... It looks like there's also a delivery of coffee out here?"