EThe Brother and The Sitter
MLP: FiM
Romance
Comedy
A love story of Cadance and Shining Armor beginning back to Twilight's foal sitting days.
Twilight
Celestia
OC
Cadance
Shining Armor
Spike120812 · 140k words · 511 15 · 9.1k views

19 & Sneak Peek · 10:30pm Dec 8th, 2014

No, not the chapter number, my age... today. I'm 19 now! I know its not that old, but wow, I feel like my life is speedily passing by. I still remember the days when Disney Chanel was more animation than crappy-plotted live action stuff, but that's another internal rant for later. This year for me has had multiple ups and multiple downs, but I try to take it all in stride and look to the bright side. This birthday however does come with some mixed emotions. Growing up, my birthday was always a day before my grandpa's. Every year, my entire family, the aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole shebang, would gather together and celebrate both of our birthdays in one little party. There'd always be two cakes, two birthday songs, two sets of presents, and I got to share it with my grandpa. This year I don't get to. Back in February, my grandpa wanted to be taken off dialysis after nearly 15 years. He was diagnosed with dementia on top of that. The crazy man would do so many things he wasn't supposed to, but he would always bounce back after every trip to the hospital like it never happened. Hell, he took out an entire chain-link fence on Callaghan road one time and bounced back from that like it was just a bug bite. Those last few weeks he was in the hospital... I though it was just a matter of time before he would be back in his house talking about the Spurs with my grandma and getting into the sweets when he wasn't supposed to again. I was wrong.

Last year when I turned 18, my mom called my grandparents saying I wanted to do a party with him again. He was sick, but once he found out that I wanted to spend it with him, my grandma said he lit up like a light and said to bring the whole family over. I could've been out with friends doing who knew what for my entry into adulthood, but instead I decided to spend it with family and share a party with my grandpa. I'm glad I did. It was our last shared party. Celestio Alvarado died two months later. I miss him, and even though this year, I spending it without him, I still feel like he's around me and my family. I still remember the funeral. The day after, it was my band class's trip to Disney World. I had to go from two opposite sides of the mood spectrum in under 24 hours. Had it not been from my family's insistence on me going, I probably wouldn't have gone.

So this birthday has its mixed feelings, but low and behold, I still get so many birthday wishes not only from family, but friends and classmates far off at college who I'm still surprised remember me. All in all, I figure this is just one of those days that still marks the ability to move on but still remember a loved one. I love my grandpa, and his craziness still brings many happy memories to me. So in memory of him, I want to do a story that really deals with the way some take death of someone close. I know there has been a lot of those, but today makes me think of him and about the many emotions that went into those last months with him. Some of my family couldn't even step into the hospital room without crying, some could stand there but go home and let everything out at home. There were a lot of the later, mostly from the men of my family and boy cousins. I want to take my own spin and adapt it to Twilight, Spike, and Shining. I want to take good care of that little story, so it won't be out for a while. How we take death, I realized is something that differs in many, but it's how we move from it that really makes us stronger.

Other story-related new comes with this sneak peek of TBATS. I have been up to my neck in essays and projects as the semester winds down, so not as much time has gone into the last chapter as I wanted. On top of that, I'm introducing a few new characters, no one too major, but they will be making recurring appearances throughout Shining's boot camp days. That and it's weird getting back into that story. I want to make sure it's good before releasing any more. This part however is something I'm 82% sure matches my previous quality, so I hope you like this little peek.

Blueblood settled himself on the seat facing a dresser and a large mirror. He posed in the mirror for a while before he actually started to fix himself up. With a few strokes of a comb, his blonde mane was picture perfect in his eyes, and worth of some admiration. He stepped off his seat and walked up to just one of the large vanity mirrors within his walk-in closet. “Blueblood, you handsome devil, how do you stay so enticing?” He posed in the mirror a few minutes more until he felt content with himself. Brushing through the doors, Blueblood had a pep in his steps, like he was walking on air.
Outside the windows he passed, he observed that the servant pony was not lying. His aunt’s afternoon sun was hanging high in the nearly cloudless sky. The stroll to the gardens itself was pleasant. The sun shone through the windows like diamonds and painted little patterns on the walls Blueblood passed. Everything was just perfect. He turned a corner that was closing into the last hallway to the gardens, where he came to a sight that drained the perfection out of the day and sucked the pep right out of his step and replaced it with old led.
Along the walls, multiple wooden mail cubbies were lined together. Each and every single one of them was empty. Cadance was pacing back and forth alongside the walls awaiting the same something Blueblood knew was supposed to come in any time soon.
“Cadance. Again?”
Cadance looked up to see her cousin’s judgmental eyes. “It’s already been almost a week since Shining’s first day. I figured his first letter would be here by now, so I’m waiting for it,” Cadance responded as she continued to pace.
“You’ve been doing this for the last two days! It’s not healthy.”
“Hey! I stop once the mail does come.”
“So you’re just going to keep pacing around until the mail gets here?”
“That’s the plan.”
Blueblood gave a quick glance at one of the windows at his side to see the sun’s position in the sky. “It’s not even noon yet. The mail-pony won’t be here for hours.”
“Uh-Huh,” she simply said, not even stopping in her strides.
The dark lines around Cadance’s eyes and the lazy ponytail her mane were just some of the things about Cadance’s appearance that made Blueblood ask, “How long have you been doing this?”
“Since after breakfast.”
He stood there. “That was four hours ago!”
“Uh-Huh.”
Even he didn’t expect that long. The last few days Cadance had done this, Blueblood remembered, it only lasted an hour, at the most, and was followed by a disappointed and near-wounded face he still couldn’t quite get out of his head. Blueblood knew once Shining Armor headed off to boot camp, Cadance was going to miss him, but he had to draw the line somewhere.
“Cadance,” he said as he stepped in her path. “This isn’t good for you. I’m about to take a walk in the gardens, why don’t you come join me?”
She stepped past him and quickly adopted a new pacing path. “Thanks for thinking about me, Blueblood, but really, I’m fine. Besides, I went out into the gardens yesterday.”
“Okay then.” Blueblood tapped the floor for a few seconds. “How about we take a spa day? It’s been a while since the last one, and you know how much you love their hooficures.” He emphasized his offer with a broad smile, but Cadance wasn’t budging.
“No thanks, Blueblood.”
Blueblood continued to list off more suggestions they could do in and around the castle. Each and every one of them was politely turned down, and he was growing thin on ideas. When he exhausted his last idea, he was more sure Cadance could and would just pace around until the mail came in. If she looked more put together and less tired-looking, maybe he would have let her antics slide, but that was not the case. One way or another, he was going to make sure she didn’t stay wandering around the same line she made for herself. It would mean getting out of his comfort zone, but if it was for his cousin…
He groaned and threw his head back as he opened his mouth for one more try. “What if you get a hold of Stardust, and the three of us go into town where ever you want to go for the afternoon?”
Cadance’s ears perked up and she met his look with wide eyes, not even caring he did not bother to hide the annoyance in his voice. This was him offering to go outside the castle anywhere in Canterlot with her and a friend. “You’re serious?”
Blueblood drew breath through his teeth before answering. “Yes.”
“You promise?”
The doubtful look Cadance had prompted the prince to step in front of her, hoof outstretched. “I promise.”
She took his hoof and shook it. “Okay, deal,” she said before her lips curved into a devilish smile.
“What’s that look for?” Blueblood asked with a raised brow and weary tone. He was answered when Cadance quickly rubbed at the bottoms of her eyes and he saw black streaks smear onto her hoof and the pink fur where black used to cover her eyes. “You!” he said after Cadance giggled at the dramatic change in his expression.
“Too late,” she announced victoriously, “you promised. Youuuuuuu…” now she was poking at him like a foal, “... promised!”
“That doesn’t count, you tricked me!” Blueblood argued as he flailed a hoof in the air, but only got Cadance to laugh even harder.
“Too bad, we shook on it.” All the makeup was off her eyes now, but stained her hooves. “I’m gonna go wash up real quick, and then we’ll head out. Stardust’s probably gonna be here any time soon.”
“You just tricked me, how could you have gotten a hold of her so…” It was all but a matter of moments before it dawned on Blueblood. “How long did you plan this?”
Cadance was already making her way towards her room. “Days! Just meet me at the front. You promised! No backing out!” Before she sped up, she looked over her shoulder and happily called out, “Oh, and, Blueblood? It’s Sunday.”