Chapter 1
“We’re here!” Cadence exclaimed, nudging her husband. Shining Armor awoke in the carriage, next to his wife. They had just arrived at a large mansion, though Shining Armor had been asleep the whole trip and therefore had no idea how they had gotten there. It had been a taxing week, keeping the force-field up, preparing for the wedding, and dealing with the changelings.
He recognized the house – this was the home where thy decided to move to and start a family – but, being half-asleep, he couldn’t quite recall where they were at the moment.
All he knew at that moment was that they were going to move in, then leave for their honeymoon in Ponyville.
Shining Armor opened the door to the carriage and held it open for Cadence. On his way to the front door, he thanked the two Pegasi pulling the carriage, and they nodded curtly in reply. He grabbed one of the several boxes containing his and Cadence’s belongings, and began hauling it up into the house. “Do you need help sweetie?” Cadence asked her husband as he kicked the door open with one of his hind legs. “Nah,” he responded as he continued moving the cardboard box, “I’ve carried heavier things farther distances. Where should I put this?” Cadence pointed to the spiral staircase and said, “In our room, for now.” Shining Armor nodded and began carrying the box up the stairs with his forelegs. Upon reaching the top, he tripped and fell foreword onto the landing with a loud crash! He heard Cadence calling out “What happened?”
“I tripped and uh..” he looked at the contents of the box, now sprawled across the room, “dropped some stuff.”
“Are you okay? Is anything broken?”
He examined himself. “Just a few scratches. I’ll be fine.”
He paused, before laughing and saying, “Our stuff’s fine, too.”
Cadence laughed too. “Good,” she said. Shining Armor heard the door opening and closing. She had gone to get more boxes and bring them up. Just then, he remembered his horn, and how he could have just carried the box up here using magic. He chuckled quietly as he began levitating various objects and placing them back inside the box. He recognized most of these things. Everything in here was from his days in the Royal Guard. He still was a soldier; he wouldn’t be retiring for several more years, but these were mementos from the early days. A bit of shrapnel from the first time he’d seen combat. A glass mug from a bar he would go to with his friends while on leave. It was all here. He sighed, feeling nostalgic.
Then he grabbed a leather-bound book.
It was his journal.
He remembered that he hadn’t written in it very often, just when something of great importance happened.
He sighed again, and opened the book.