It took about an hour for Twilight’s friends to show up at Canterlot Castle. In that period of time, the meeting room had gotten a lot more crowded.
Ponies had been coming and going through the meeting room’s door more times than Shining could count. Some were brought in by Neighsay. Some arrived on their own. Some of them were janitors who wanted to know if it was okay to clean up. Throughout all of it, the only ponies who hadn’t left once were Shining and Flurry.
Well, them and Blueblood.
It wasn’t hard for Shining to surmise what was going through Blueblood’s head. Judging from the dark expression on the other prince’s face, Blueblood was stewing about not being asked to rule while the princesses were missing. He didn’t say anything, or direct any scorn towards Shining. He just sat in his chair, hooves crossed, pouting like an angry child.
Shining would have felt bad if Blueblood didn’t look like he was about to have a tantrum.
Eventually, things settled down and all of the necessary ponies had been gathered. This included the ponies who had been present at Neighsay’s inexplicable earlier meeting; most of the high chancellors; the leadership of the royal guard; various dignitaries and government officials; and the janitor who was still waiting to clean the room. The room was filled with the cautious mumbling of politics.
Finally, after several minutes of old people using big words at each other, they arrived: Twilight’s friends. The Elements of Harmony. The mares who kept saving Equestria even though they never got a trophy for doing it.
Also, Spike was with them.
“Make way, everypony!” Pinkie exclaimed. She was the first one to enter the room, wheeling her Party Cannon™ in ahead of her. “The search party can begin!”
The rest of Twilight’s friends followed in after Pinkie. They all looked surprised to see all of the ponies gathered in the meeting room. Shining couldn’t blame them; whenever an emergency normally came up, Celestia would usually debrief the girls in the throne room. Neighsay, meanwhile, apparently wanted to handle things much more officially.
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Neighsay said as he took his place at the front of the room. “Please, be seated. Prince Armor, would you kindly join me down here?”
Shining felt everyone turn to look at him… Everyone except Blueblood, who was still pouting off in a corner somewhere. Feeling self-conscious, Shining got up out of his seat. Flurry was hovering right by her father’s head. Shining reached up and took his daughter into his hooves, nestling her into his baby carrier as he made his way to the front of the room.
“As you all know,” Neighsay began, “Shining Armor has been chosen to act as Equestria’s temporary ruler while the princesses are missing.”
Applejack, who was sitting in the front like a nerd, raised her hoof.
“Uh, beg pardon,” she said. “None of us heard anything about that.”
“Neither did we,” said all of the government officials in unison.
“Well, you’ve all heard it now,” Neighsay said, doing his best to sound as calm and sinister as always. “While Princess Twilight’s friends search for the missing princesses, Shining Armor will fill in for them as leader. That’s why I asked him to lead this strategy meeting.”
Shining blinked and turned to Neighsay.
“You didn’t ask me to do that,” he whispered.
Neighsay turned to Shining Armor and spoke out of the corner of his mouth. For the first time, Shining saw there was genuine uncertainty in Neighsay’s eyes. It struck Shining Armor that Neighsay was at a complete loss of how to handle this situation with the princesses. Shining couldn’t blame him—after all, how could anyone know how to handle an emergency of this magnitude?
“Listen, I’m in over my head here,” Neighsay whispered. “We all are. None of us know how to handle this situation. Now, just… do whatever you did when you were Captain of the Guard.”
Shining wanted to argue, but Neighsay’s confession made him think twice. It was beginning to dawn on Shining that, without the princesses to oversee things, almost nopony in Equestria’s government seemed to know what to do. Refusing to go along with this meeting would only make things worse.
Defeated, Shining cleared his throat and looked around for something to use. There was a blackboard and chalk behind him.
“Okay,” Shining said as he lifted a piece of chalk up with his magic. “Let’s go over what we know.”
Nopony said anything. Evidently, they were expecting Shining Armor to offer up all of the info. But Shining really didn’t know anything. At a loss, he turned and began to write on the chalkboard in big, white letters.
PRINCESSES
Shining turned to see if that got any reaction out of the assembled ponies. Nope. Nothing. Shining paused for a moment before adding to his statement.
PRINCESSES
=
MISSING
Still nothing. Shining looked back to the chalkboard and tried to think of what to add. After a few moments, he decided to just underline the word ‘missing’ and add an exclamation point.
PRINCESSES
=
MISSING!
Several of the ponies began taking notes. Now they were getting somewhere!
“Okay,” Shining said as he set the chalk back down. “Does anyone know, um… anything?”
A single, scaly claw rose up among the crowd of heads. That purple claw rose up into the air as Spike used his wings to rise up into view. Shining was a little relieved that the first person to contribute to the conversation was someone he already knew. He didn’t know if he could stand taking questions from random strangers right off the bat.
It was still a little weird to see Spike with wings, but that wasn’t important at the moment. Shining could think about the unceasing passage of time some other day.
“Spike,” Shining said, pointing to the dragon even though he was the only one with his hand raised. “Your letter mentioned you were talking to Twilight when she disappeared. What can you tell us?”
Spike lowered his arm and tapped his chin. The little dragon looked like he was slowly starting to realize how many ponies were paying attention to him. Shining hoped he didn’t try to sing the national anthem or something, like during the Crystal Games. Then Shining realized that was a weird thing to hope for and silently chastised himself.
Meanwhile, Flurry Heart had picked up the chalk Shining had been using with her magic and was using it to draw indecipherable scribbles on the chalkboard behind him.
“Well,” Spike said, “it was just a few hours ago. Twilight was awake, and getting all anxious about something.”
“Okay,” Shining said. “So far, sounds normal. Continue.”
“Well, I went to talk to her about whatever it was she was upset about,” Spike continued. “We had a heartwarming moment where we both learned a valuable lesson about the importance of friendship and family and all that. Then she disappeared.”
Shining nodded, a smile forming on his face. It finally felt like progress was being made.
“Alright,” Shining said. “What else?”
Spike though about it for a moment. The longer he stayed silent, the more Shining felt his hopes dying down. Finally, after a solid minute of thinking it over, Spike shrugged.
“Uh, nothing,” he said. “That’s pretty much it.”
Shining sighed. So much for that lead. He’d really hoped Spike would have had more to go on.
“Alright,” Shining said. “Thank you, Spike. You can sit down.”
Spike looked a little sheepish. He was probably feeling guilty about not being able to offer more help. Slowly, the flying dragon lowered himself back down into his seat. Several of the government ponies applauded. Shining wasn’t sure why.
With that avenue explored, Shining wasn’t sure if anypony else would have anything else ton contribute. Just as he was wondering what the point of this meeting even was, though, another member of the audience raised their hoof. Shining didn’t quite recognize the hoof’s owner right away, but when he heard their voice he instantly knew who they were.
“Uh, hello?” Flash Sentry asked as he waved his raised hoof around. “Permission to speak, sir?”
“Granted,” Shining said without thinking about it. “I mean… I’m not your captain anymore, Flash. You don’t need to ask me.”
“Oh. Right.”
The yellow guardpony flew up and over the crowd before joining Shining Armor and Neighsay at the front of the room.
“I’m the one who reported Princess Celestia’s disappearance,” he said as he stood at attention. “I saw her vanish, just like Spike saw Princess Twilight. I don’t know how much information I can offer, but…”
“Any information at all would be helpful,” Shining said.
“Yes,” Neighsay agreed. “We’re really desperate here.”
Flash Sentry nodded and began recounting his story.
“Well… I had balcony duty this morning. That means it was my turn to guard Princess Celestia while she raised the sun. We walked out to the palace’s balcony, and I explained the different kinds of punk rock to her. Then she started to raise the sun.”
Flash Sentry paused as he tried to remember every little detail.
“Suddenly, she stopped,” he said. “She’d barely lifted the sun up over the horizon when she turned to me with this annoyed look on her face. She looked me dead in the eye, sighed, and said ‘Great. I’m about to get kidnapped again. What a day, am I right?’ Then she voiped.”
Neighsay sputtered in shock. “I beg your pardon?!”
“She voiped,” Flash clarified. “She disappeared… and she voiped. That’s the sound you make when you suddenly disappear. Voip.”
Neighsay stared at Flash Sentry as if he was insane… Not Neighsay, but Flash Sentry. Shining decided to intervene before this spiraled into some sort of long diatribe about sound effects.
“You’re saying Princess Celestia was abducted?” Shining asked.
Flash Sentry nodded. “Yes, sir. That’s what she said. She seemed really done with the whole thing, too. I really can’t get across in words how fed up she seemed to be with the whole situation.”
“Right.” Shining paused for a moment to consider what this meant. “Thank you, Flash. You can sit down now.”
“I don’t want to,” Flash Sentry said.
There wasn’t really anything Shining Armor could do about that, so he decided to just move on. Flurry Heart wiggled around in her baby carrier as Shining turned to address the crowd of ponies. She did not care at all about trying to piece together what had happened to the princesses. Shining wasn’t even sure she’d realized her mom was missing yet.
“Alright, um…” Shining ran his hoof through his mane. “I’m not… really sure where to go from here. We don’t really have any leads to where the princesses are.”
Pinkie Pie laughed dismissively from somewhere in the back of the room.
“Pfft!” Pinkie scoffed. “No big deal! We’ll just search everywhere on the planet until we find them!”
Shining pursed his lips thoughtfully.
“Okay,” Shining said. “I don’t want to say that’s a bad plan, but I can see a couple of issues with it. First of all, the planet’s… kind of big, Pinkie Pie. Secondly, um…” He paused.
“Well, no, the first issue is really all you need,” Shining decided. “Don’t try searching all over the world; it’ll take a while.”
Pinkie Pie, deflated, lowered herself back into her seat.
“The scope of our search need not be so vast,” Starswirl the Bearded said from somewhere among the crowd. He raised himself up to his full height, making his presence known. Shining Armor had honestly forgotten the old wizard was even there. Luckily, his pointy hat made him easy to spot in the crowd.
“Whatever magic was used to abduct the princesses, I can devise a way to trace it to its source. I know a needlessly long and complex ritual that can be used for such a purpose, but I will need specific ingredients to perform it. There are five ancient relics scattered all over Equestria, and somepony will have to go on a long, heart-warming adventure to find them.”
Shining Armor didn’t know why Starswirl hadn’t brought this up earlier in the meeting. It seemed kind of important. Nevertheless, they finally had something to go off of!
“That’s great news!” Shining exclaimed. “Where are these relics? We can rally together search parties and—”
As if she hadn’t even realized Shining Armor was speaking, Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up.
“Five relics?” She said. “Easy! There’s five of us!”
“It is rather convenient,” Rarity said. She had been unable to find a seat, and was just sort of standing off to the side. “But it wouldn’t be the first time we did something like this. Remember when we gathered the Pillars’ artifacts to free them from Limbo?”
“No,” Starswirl said. “I was in Limbo. How would I remember that?”
The rest of Twilight’s friends began voicing their agreement. Shining felt a little disheartened to hear that they already had the situation figured out. The girls were probably more capable for this sort of ridiculous quest than a random search party; Shining knew that. But he couldn’t help but feel like he was being told he didn’t need to be involved in this.
“It’s good you all have this taken care of,” Neighsay said. “Isn’t that good, Prince Armor? You don’t need to be involved in the search for your wife and sister. You can focus on politics, like everyone wants to do anyway.”
Shining was too disappointed to question Neighsay’s priorities in life. He watched as Starswirl led Twilight’s friends out of the room, off to discuss his needlessly dramatic magic. The door swung shut behind them, leaving Shining Armor and his daughter behind.
“Well, that’s over and done with.” Neighsay said, sounding relieved. “Now we can focus on Equestria’s welfare. We need to discuss various policies to put into place while the princesses are away, and I’m sure everyone here has questions for Prince Armor. Would anyone like to make a statement?”
“I feel completely useless,” Shining stated quietly.
Neighsay looked back at Shining, a little surprised by the despair he no-doubt heard in the Prince’s voice. After a moment of consideration, the chancellor looked back at the assembled politicians and cleared his throat.
“On second thought, that concludes today’s business,” he said authoritatively. “Prince Armor will speak with you all one-on-one later. You can all leave.”
They did.
“Prince Armor, I realize you’re distraught,” Neighsay said once the room had been mostly cleared. “But you need to put on a strong face. The ponies of Equestria will begin to panic once they learn the princesses are missing. It will be up to you to ensure that the kingdom doesn’t tear itself apart!”
Shining sighed and hugged Flurry Heart to his chest. By this point, the little alicorn had completely covered the blackboard in scribbles. It looked like the work of a madman, even though Flurry was relatively well-balanced for a baby.
“I get that!” Shining said. “But Cadance and Twily are missing, and it feels like nopony wants me to be involved in the search efforts! Starswirl and Twilight’s friends just pranced out of here without even talking to me!”
Neighsay raised a hoof and gestured for Shining to calm down.
“Now, now,” he said. “I understand how you feel. But surely by now you must realize that this is how they do things, yes? They get told about what needs to be done, then they go and do it. Not a lot of beating around the bush with those girls.”
Now that Shining thought about it, Neighsay had a point. How many times had Twilight and her friends literally gone galloping off as soon as the princesses had told them what the problem was? On top of that, the girls were probably in just as much of a rush to find Twily as Shining was. She was their best friend, after all.
“I guess you’re right,” Shining sighed. “I suppose there’s… not really anything I could do, either.”
“That’s the spirit!” Neighsay said, sounding cheerful for the first time since Shining had met him. “It’s important to know what can and can’t be done. If there’s anything being overthrown and held captive by a little girl taught me, it’s that it’s best not to try and exceed your limitations.”
Shining nodded, despondent.
“Yeah…” He said. “Yeah, I—wait, you were held captive by a little girl?”
Before Neighsay could elucidate on what was probably a hilarious anecdote, someone who evidently hadn’t left the room spoke up.
“Um. Excuse me,” Thorax said from somewhere in the back. Somehow, Shining Armor hadn’t noticed that the pastel-colored bug with giant antlers was still in the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but… I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help.”
Shining looked at Thorax, and couldn’t really hide his surprise at the offer.
“Don’t you have a kingdom to run?” Shining asked.
“Oh, it’s fine,” Thorax said. “Phalanx is filling in for me.”
“That sounds worse than if you’d left no one in charge,” Shining pointed out. He said this despite never having met Phalanx.
“It’s fine,” Thorax repeated. “And I really do want to help! I know what it’s like to suddenly be made the leader of your people. It can be overwhelming! If there’s anything I can do to help you out, anything at all, I’m here to help. You can count on me, Shining.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Flash Sentry, who hadn’t left with the others.
“Egad!” screamed Neighsay, who had forgotten that Flash Sentry hadn’t left with the others.
Despite how awful he felt, Shining Armor felt a small smile forming on his big face. He was touched by the offer. He knew he could use the help. He already felt like he was in over his head, and all he’d really done so far was stand in front of a chalkboard.
“Thanks, guys,” Shining said. “I appreciate any help I can get. I’m already dreading whatever the next few days might bring. I hope the princesses will be found soon.”
Shining reached a hoof up onto Flurry Heart’s head and patted her incredibly fluffy mane. He was grateful that his little princess hadn’t disappeared as well. At least his daughter was safe; Shining needed to keep that in mind. No matter how bad he felt over the next few days, he needed to remember that Flurry Heart was safe.
Shining didn’t know how long that would help, though. All he could do was hope that the princesses would be found quickly… For everyone’s sake.
“Shining, how long are you going to keep petting Flurry Heart?” Thorax asked worriedly.