//------------------------------// // Shining Gets A Visitor // Story: In Praise of Twilight // by GJT_Productions //------------------------------// "Fun fun fun until Daddy took the T-bird away, fun fun fun until Daddy took the T-bird away... Awoo! Awooooooooo!" "Shining, did anypony ever tell you you're terribly off key?" "You don't need to be on key to properly sing a Beach Colts song, Cadance. And I'm trying to enjoy my nice hot shower here!" "Whatever, you have a visitor." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess Cadance and Spike the dragon stood in the doorway to the bathroom of Shining Armor's officer suite as steam came pouring out the open door. This, alongside the curtain drawn across the shower stall and sounds of spraying water, was indication of the stallion in question freshening up before his nightly duties. It was not considered wholly improper for Cadance to let herself and Spike into Shining's suite. Officially, it was royal prerogative for a princess to visit a member of her guard, at any time and with or without stated reason - rumor was this was proclaimed to add to the healthy fear of the princesses or allow discrete affairs. In recent practice, this prerogative usually only applied to the seniormost officers, Cadance's visits to Shining being treated as a "grandfathered" acknowledgement of a relationship that pre-dated Shining's enrollment in the Royal Guard. There was great dislike of the princesses "dropping in", however, and several attempts to convince Celestia to abolish the practice that (unsurprisingly) went nowhere. As Lieutenant Captain Aten lead one of the attempts, the debate over the practice became caught up in the Guard's internal politics and was now a rather hot-button issue, particularly as Cadance had become less reluctant to exercise her option in visiting Shining. Cadance was vaguely aware of the general distaste of her special visits to Shining, and her aunt Celestia had advised her to be as discrete about it as possible, but Cadance also knew word got around of a visit no matter what she did and she might as well play it to her advantage. More specifically, she found it very amusing how Aten would complain - and then very quickly get brushed off - about how Cadance "never visited him". It served her purposes - and those of her aunt - to get him riled up and ranting, as it weakened his position each time he did that. What Cadance was not aware of, though, was that it was also storing up trouble in the future. Aten was determined to not back down on his rumor-spreading of Cadance starting out as a pegasus (only acknowledged to be true much later) or him determined to capture her as "a prize", which fueled his resentment and hatred of the current order... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Visitor? Who?" Shining asks from inside the shower, magically levitating a bottle labeled "coat conditioner with bleach" behind the still-drawn shower curtain. As the conversation continues, the steam continues to pour out of the bathroom and the water continues spraying. "Spike. Just Spike, though. He's here on business." Cadance replies. "What, it couldn't be done through remote burning and barfing of messages?" Shining asks, the crude but humorous wording of Spike's usual method of doing business prompting a chuckle from Cadance and an indignant exclamation from the dragon in question. "No, because it involves the Finance Minister." Cadance answers when the chuckle subsides. "Oh, that explains things then. Stupid tightwad Finance Minister, no way sending messages back and forth would've worked..." "Stallion's grumpier than ever, considering all the new expenses surrounding Aunt Luna..." "Tell me about it! Just getting Luna the same Donut Joe-and-coffee service Celestia has was a big pain. Spike might look the part of the dragon, but I'm convinced that the Finance Minister has a dragon's spirit." "I can't tell if that's supposed to be a complement or not." Spike comments cynically to Shining's comparison. "Spike, be nice. You wanted to stay here overnight so that you didn't have to sleep on another stranger-filled train, remember?" Cadance points out. "As far as I'm concerned, he can stay as long as he doesn't leave the room. He'll probably have to be heading out by the time I get back from my shift, correct little buddy?" Shining asks, the sounds of scrubbing behind his echoed speech. "I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Spike exclaims, repeating something he had recently learned from Pinkie Pie. "... Why would you want to stick a cupcake in your eye, even if you broke a promise?" Shining asks in a confused tone, having not heard of the Pinkie Pie promise. "It's a figure of speech! One of Twilight's new friends taught it to me." Spike exclaims again. "Oh? Which one is it?" "Pinkie Pie. She's an earth pony that helps at a bakery in Ponyville." "Well that explains the cupcake... weren't there five other fillies that got the Elements along with Twily?" "Yep. Pinkie Pie got Laughter, Applejack Honesty, Rainbow Dash Loyalty, Fluttershy Kindness and Rarity Generosity. I like Rarity best of all, she's so lovely..." Spike wistfully replies, looking up to the ceiling with a goofy smile on his face. "You know what's wrong with him, Shining?" Cadance interrupts, looking down at Spike in confusion. "Nuh-uh. You really ought to ask Twily that question. Last I heard, it was Moon Dancer that he was attracted to. I really hope Twily got the letter about her..." Shining answers, trailing off as he speaks. "Anyway, while Spike and Aunt Celly were dealing with the Finance Minister, there were stories being told about Spike here in Canterlot." Cadance says in an attempt to change the subject. "Oh? Did they include the day Spike was hatched?" Shining asks as a squeak is heard and the ambient sounds of water, as well as the clouds of steam, disappear. "Yeah, but I only told my side. I don't know if Twily has given him the whole story..." Cadance answers in an uncertain tone. "Well, there's two sides to everything. You wanna hear my side, little bud?" Shining asks Spike, whipping sounds heard as he performs a "fast-dry maneuver" (i.e. shaking water out of his coat and mane, the shaken-out water shielded by the curtain from spattering all over the place). "Huh? Yeah yeah, because you got there before Cadance..." Spike replies absentmindedly while a white towel surrounded by magenta-colored magic floats over his head. The sight of the towel snaps him out of his absentmindedness, as he already had too many experiences of being yelled at for interrupting Twilight's shower no matter the reason for the interruption, and briefly thought he was back in Ponyville standing in the bathroom of Twilight's residence there. The towel disappears behind the curtain, and a few seconds later the shower curtain is pulled back by the magenta-colored magic to reveal a still-wet Shining, wearing both a cheesy grin and the towel draped over his withers. Cadance starts chuckling at the sight, and Spike rolls his eyes - he's seen this "schtick" often enough that it's gotten quite old for him. "Remember Shining, not everypony can pull off the wet look as well as you do." Cadance says affectionately, giving Shining a peck on a cheek afterward and causing Shining to blush a bit as a result. "Can we move on?" Spike asks in annoyance, his eyes rolled upward as he is speaking. "He's right. I still need to dry and dress, I'll tell you my side of the story while I'm doing that, OK Spike?" Shining asks in return. "OK." Spike replies, perking up his attention for the story to come...