Maremagnum

by The6thMaster

6. Shining Armor

Shining Armor awoke to the sound of birds tweeting. His right side was very, comfortably, warm while the rest of him felt rather chilly. Blinking lightly he realized that his back was rather warm too, curiously enough and that he was outside.

“Shh. She's still sleeping.” A very amused sounding and motherly voice spoke up softly to his left. Shining looked over and stared at the sitting form of Princess Celestia. The Princess had a little tea cup levitated up to her mouth which she was sipping at before putting it down on a table that hadn't been there the night before.

Her mane and tail blew gently in the unseen solar winds and she was looking very much entertained as Shining Armor tried to get his bearings. “I take it you had a good night?” She asked.

“Princess...what?” He'd started to ask his voice still normal before he was hushed again by the Princess who raised a wing and pointed it over to his right.

With a great sense of trepidation, as his memory was returning to him, he looked over to look at the sleeping form of Cadence resting up against him. She'd draped one of her wings over his back and her cheek was resting on his fore-leg. She looked very peaceful, beautiful even.

He was absolutely stuck, frozen in place as he was sure that his coat would look remarkably similar to the pink hue of Cadence's. He heard Celestia chuckle gently as she waited for his shock to wear off. “Princes...” He said, his voice a lot lower out of respect for Cadence. “Its not what it looks like?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that. “And what does it look like, Shining Armor? I think you two look very cute next to each other like that.”

Shining wanted to cover his face up and bury down into the ground beneath him. Of course, that would wake Cadence. There seemed to be no escape. How could a night go so well only to be busted by the Princess of Equestria the next day? Apparently fate was cruel, though Celestia only seemed interested in having fun at his expense.

“You will need to wake her up soon though, there’s something I need to talk to both of you about.” Celestia said, taking up her tea again and having a sip from the steaming liquid.

Shining heard the words but didn't register them until a half second later. “You need something from us?”

The Princess nodded lightly in agreement. “I need something from many ponies, something very important for all of Equestria. You may recall that I asked to speak with your mentor and Cadence's mother last night.”

Truthfully he'd forgotten, having been so surprised by seeing Cadence that even Celestia had sort of faded out of his mind. Apparently Celestia was remarkably good at reading thoughts because she started to giggle a bit. “I suppose you had more important things on your mind at the time though.”

“Oh uh, its not that Princess.” He tried to deny, knowing that his emotions must have been rather plain to read as the day she'd started. It wasn't so much intimidating to talk to Celestia as the constant feeling that she was just above you. Shining couldn't help but think she knew exactly how this conversation would go and what he would say before he said it.

He was spared musings on how much like a deity the Princess on his left was by the gentle stirring of Cadence back into wakefulness. Apparently all the speaking and moving from Shining had roused her as she raised her head up and blinked sleepily. “Shining?” She mumbled, looking at him without comprehension and then at Celestia. “Princess?”

Shining Armor couldn't help but feel a little curious about how Cadence would react once she had fully woken up. He was rewarded by the curiosity of much less mortification then he'd expected. Once she realized where she was and what had happened she only retracted her wing to her side. “Good morning Princess.” She said smiling brightly at Celestia.

“And good morning to both of you, my little ponies.” Celestia said, standing up which both Cadence and Shining Armor did as well out of courtesy. “Oh that's hardly necessarily.” She added, moving to sit down in front of them.

The pair sat back down, not quite as close as they'd been before. Shining could tell that his sense of confusion was likely matched by Cadence as they waited for Celestia to explain what she wanted.

“Far to the west from here, past the gates of Tartarus, is a hidden valley. Hidden among steep cliffs should be a entrance to a very, very old place. It possibly is older even then myself and I will need both of you, and many other ponies, to go there for me.” Celestia said, very calmly as though she was asking about how their week had been.

Cadence was the first to speak up after they'd taken in what the Princess had said. “Princess, why do you need us to go there?”

Celestia gave a little considerate hum for a moment, clearly thinking on how to phrase it. “There are a lot of ways to answer that question Cadence. For one, there is an item there that I am very interested in. I believe that only the magic of an Alicorn can open the entrance and for very good reasons I cannot do this myself. Not only because I have a country to run.” She explained, smiling and waiting for more questions.

“So you need Cadence to go? But you said that you wanted me as well?” Shining couldn't help but ask, trying to grasp the scope of this proposed adventure, she'd said there were a lot of ponies involved.

“Yes, yourself and your mentor Ivory Tower will be going along with the best of your peers, or more accurately their own mentors. You'll have a number of regular guard's also going along to help you. This sort of trip is going to be possibly very dangerous.” Celestia's voice finally turned rather grave at the last bit, giving an impression of the seriousness of the task she'd set out before them. “I am not exaggerating when I say that this mission could effect all of Equestria. Though I have every confidence you'll be able to do it.”

All of this was a lot to take in. How was Shining Armor even suppose to react? Wasn't this sort of thing suppose to be the kind of chance he should jump on? All of his training and hard work, finally paying off with a grand adventure? But by the sound of it things could prove very serious, and Cadence would be going along?

“I'll be happy to do it, Princess.” He said with more firmness then he really felt. Whether he was ready or not didn't matter, he'd already sworn an oath to do whatever it took to keep Equestria safe.

“Is my...” Cadence started to ask, having given Shining a long look after he'd went and declared his readiness to do what she needed, the same sort of expectation for service didn't quite fall on her shoulders even though she was apparently the most important aspect of the quest.

Celestia seemed to already know what Cadence was referring to and nodded. “Yes, I’ve already told her. She understands the needs of Equestria and I assured her that you will be very safe and well taken care of.”

That certainly seemed to have set Cadence at ease, but before either of them could speak Celestia rose, the two dutifully following suit. “I've told everypony to be ready to set out tomorrow morning. I know its short notice but there is a bit of a time limit. The full details of what's in store for you will be given before you set out. If you do not feel comfortable going on this trip you can back out at any time, I will not think less of you because of it.” And with that Celestia dismissed herself, both Cadence and Shining bowing before being left to stare at one another in confusion at what they should do next.

Comments

[Bronzedragon]

Excellent start, up vote and faved to follow. Ivory Tower sounds like the mage equivalent of a
old Marine DI. Give him the ones that might be worth the price of their armor. If they don't explode or quit they just might become good officers.

[The Great Derpsby]

2781028
Or get better trainers.