Why couldn't they have just eloped in Las Pegasus? Anything would honestly have been better at this point.
When Gallus proposed to Silverstream, he wasn't going to lie and say he expected no attention to come to his wedding at all. He was Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard. She was a member of the Hippogriff royal family. The headlines practically wrote themselves. Yet it seemed like every dignitary imaginable was in attendance today. It's not like she has any substantial chance at inheriting the throne. She may be third in line now, but once Skystar (hopefully) settled down, then her children would supersede his wife-to-be.
Of course, he had neglected to account for the fact that this would be the first Hippogriff royal wedding since they repopulated Mt. Aris and the first royal wedding of any kingdom since that fiasco in Canterlot a while back. Now, because of his stupid sense of timing, what was supposed to be a side note to the news of the day became the only thing anycreature was talking about for the past week.
He had already managed to get his wedding attire on, a symbol of his service to Equestria: a red uniform with a blue sash, complete with a golden collar and sleeves. Yona had begged him to allow her to put her own spin on it, but she was already designing Silverstream's dress (as well as her own, Smolder's, and Ocellus') at the time and the Guard culture was pretty strict in how their soldiers presented themselves during their weddings. By all accounts, he was ready for the ceremony that was coming ever closer.
Yet, he couldn't bring himself to exit the groom and groomscreature's changing room of the castle nestled at the summit of Mt. Aris that served as the above-sea level home of the Hippogriff/Seapony Kingdom government and royal family. He didn't know whether this was the best place or the worst place to think. On one claw, there was a trio of pristine white circular sofas that made it feel like he was sitting on a cloud. On the other, though, there was also a line of five mirrors; one for him and four for his groomscreatures: three of his closest brothers-in-arms—Squall Dreamer, Hokey Pokey, and Quill Point—and, of course, Sandbar.
With Gallus, the only creature left in the room as of several minutes prior, staring into their reflective surfaces, all he could see was the luckiest creature on the face of the planet at best and a street rat in a place where he shouldn't be at worst. It wasn't like he regretted proposing to Silver—he could never imagine life without her at this point—but the griffon couldn't help but wonder about the infinite amount of wedding possibilities that would be better than this, like a small ceremony at the Castle of the Two Sisters or at the Tree of Harmony, both places that symbolized their friendship.
Why couldn't the wedding have just been that? Just a small-scale affair where all of his friends and fellow Guards could get together to celebrate the union of Silverstream and himself, and not some glorified royal summit?
A knock on the door interrupted his frustrated train of thought, though it started again immediately since he was greeted with none other than the Crystal Prince himself, Shining Armor.
"Prince Armor, Sir," Gallus greeted, still slightly caught off-guard. "I don't think we've officially met."
Shining just gave the griffon a warm smile. "Aside from seeing you on duty when I visit Canterlot, no. Though a couple of my old guard mates have been talking about the hot-shot new griffon in town that’s been rising through the ranks."
Gallus could only blush at the praise as he rubbed the back of his neck. "All good things, hopefully?"
The unicorn snickered. "Aside from a few comments about being a bit of a loose cannon, yes. Think I might come in?"
"Oh, sure," Gallus acquiesced as he made way for the prince to enter, eventually seating himself on the couch that was closest to the door.
"I thought I might come by and check on you real quick," the unicorn said.
"I'm... not sure what you're talking about."
Shining gave the griffon a teasing look like he had just caught Flurry Heart taking a cookie from the cookie jar. "Oh, I think you do."
Now Gallus was starting to get a bit more frustrated. It's not like he didn't appreciate the visit, but he had just been in the middle of a mental rant and he wanted to get back to it. He took a deep breath to make sure he chose his words wisely.
"With all respect, Prince Armor, I don't," Gallus explained. "This is the happiest day of my life. I'm getting married to the creature of my dreams, all of my friends and new family are here to celebrate the occasion, and there are so many new possibilities ahead. Why would I need to be checked on?"
A nostalgic smile made its way onto Shining's muzzle. Hook, line, and sinker. "Back when I proposed to Cadance, I was just as ecstatic as you are. Even though changelings were looming, I couldn't have been happier, but you know what else I was feeling?"
Gallus couldn't think of another synonym for 'happy.' "Excited?"
"Nope. Anxious."
"I'd expect that if there was a looming changeling invasion."
"Not about the invasion, though yes, that was at the back of my mind, but I was also anxious about marrying Cadance, too. Not because of her specifically, but because of the life I would be brought into. Twilight hadn't ascended yet, so as far as I knew, I was going from Captain Shining Armor to Prince Shining Armor, and that kind of had me on edge for a few days before the wedding," Shining explained.
"You were still the Captain of the Guard. Surely that counted for something?"
"You'd be surprised," the stallion countered. "Going from the most combat-ready stallion in the nation to needing guard details everywhere I went was... a culture shock... to say the least."
The griffon hadn't thought of it that way. He'd been fairly independent his entire life. Whether it was scrounging for scraps in the alleys of Griffonstone, working on assignments at school, or being a soldier in the royal guard, everything he did required him to work for everything he had. Now, it was likely he'd be waited on hand and foot for nearly anything. Sure, having it happen occasionally, like visiting a friend's family, was nice, but this wasn't some weekend getaway. In about an hour's time, it would be his life.
His eyes shrank to the size of pinpricks, and while he might have overcome his fear of physically tight spaces, the feeling of the walls closing in around him had his mind in a spiral.
It almost seemed as though his life was going to pull an about-face, only he didn't know what would await him when it finally did. Sure, there'd be all of his friends and brothers, and, of course, Silverstream, but what would be the face he'd see in the mirror? Would it be that of a griffon who'd lost his way? A griffon who had let the power go to his head, leading him to mistreat other creatures, or worse, Silverstream? Would it be that of a caged bird, never again allowed to roam free without supervision? Or would it be that of a fraud, a creature that was in way over his head in a world that was foreign in so many ways?
Shining Armor spotted the panic in Gallus' demeanor immediately. He placed a comforting hoof on the griffon's shoulder, which noticeably calmed him down.
"I'm going to ask you a question, Gallus, and I want you to answer honestly, okay?"
Gallus could only nod as he tried to slow his breathing.
"Why did you become a guard in the first place?" Shining asked.
Surprised, the griffon hesitated before giving the response he tended to give to anyone else that asked. "To protect the nation that became my home."
The stallion shook his head. "Come now, Gallus. You and I both know there's more to it than that."
Gallus was afraid he'd say that. How was it that these ponies were able to see right through him even though he had never met them?!
It was still something he had never really acknowledged, like a monster under his bed that he had ignored in the hopes that it would go away on its own.
Finally, he confessed, "I joined because I wanted to make something of myself. There was nothing for me back in Griffonstone, and I didn't think there was anything else I could do. With the guard, I was able to transform myself into a creature that was respectable and... worth something."
Shining sighed in satisfaction. "I figured as much." He stared at the candles in the chandeliers suspended above the pair.
"You know what it was like being the brother of a genius?"
It was pretty well known that Princess Twilight Sparkle's IQ was likely in the Top Five in the entire world, but what did being her brother have to do with this? "You didn't have trouble with homework?"
Shining chucked a bit at the remark. "A lot, actually. Twily may have been a shut-in for a lot of her early life, but she made up for it by being one of the smartest unicorns anyone had ever seen. When she got into Celestia's School, I wasn't 'Shining Armor,' anymore. I was 'Twilight Sparkle's brother.' That's what I was when Cadance entered my life."
"She foalsat Twilight, right?" Gallus asked, vaguely remembering nostalgic conversations between the Princesses of Love and Friendship.
"Yep," Shining confirmed. "It was the first time I'd ever seen an alicorn so close. If there's one thing I remember reading in school, it was poems and sonnets that proclaimed the beauty of alicorns. Of course, I didn't pay much mind to it at the time, but when I saw Cadance, it was like all the sonnets I'd ever read given life. Of course, she wasn't there for me. She was there to foalsit my sister. Plus, why would such a picture of perfection be with 'Twilight Sparkle's brother?' I enlisted for the Guard within a week."
Not since he first met Smolder had Gallus discovered a creature that could at least partially understand what it was like to be him.
"Did you... ever tell her?"
"I did when we got back to Canterlot after our honeymoon. You know what she told me?"
Gallus shook his head.
"'I didn't marry 'Twilight Sparkle's brother' or 'the Captain of the Royal Guard.' I married Shining Armor, and I wouldn't have it any other way.'"
The griffon suddenly found the floor to be quite interesting. "Even if your life changed after becoming royalty?"
"I honestly wouldn't have cared if we were," Shining admitted, also turning his gaze to the floor. "When the invasion was repelled, I wasn't angry that Canterlot had nearly fallen. I was angry that Chrysalis had Cadance held captive for days and no one, not even me, noticed a thing."
There was still something bothering Gallus. "What about becoming Prince of the Crystal Empire? "
The stallion looked Gallus dead in the eye. "It was a big change for both of us, but that's the thing. It was for both of us. Part of being married is that your lives become intertwined. It means you take care of each other. So, if one of us was a bit rude to one of the servants or forgot to change the baby's diaper, let's just say we'd hear about it before the day was out."
Gallus had to snicker at the mental image of Princess Cadence chewing out Shining Armor.
"So, whenever we had trouble adjusting or had a concern about changes in ourselves, we were able to talk through it with each other, and things always ended up okay," the stallion explained. "Cadance was the best thing that ever happened to me, and no matter where we were, we knew we were never alone."
The groom-to-be could have sworn a little tear was escaping its duct. The mental image of Cadance and Shining Armor began to morph into that of him and Silverstream. If there was anyone that knew him better than anyone, it was her. If there was anyone that wasn't afraid to speak up, it was Silverstream. If he knew one thing, it was that he loved Silverstream, and Silverstream, even if it confused him sometimes, loved him too.
"Thank you, Prince Armor," Gallus said. "I really needed to hear that."
"The Hippogriff kingdom is always welcome for a summit if you ever need to talk." The stallion smirked.
"I just might take you up on that."
It was quite funny when Gallus thought about it. The two creatures sitting in this room, both rose out of shadows, whether poverty or that of a sibling, to become soldiers before marrying the love of their lives that just so happened to be a Princess. He swore he would never understand life's mysterious ways, but unlike when he’d wondered where his next meal was going to come from, he now felt pretty content with it. After all, it led him here, to Equestria and to Silverstream.
"I believe you have a wedding to get to, Prince Gallus."
Both creatures stood from the circular sofa. "Yeah. Sandbar and the others are probably wondering where I am." The griffon took one last look in the mirror. "How do I look?"
Shining gave a nostalgic smile. "Like the happiest creature in the world." He paused a second before adding, "Go get her."
The griffon left the room first in a rush to meet with his groomscreatures before the ceremony started, a smile that looked like it could put Pinkie Pie to shame. Meanwhile, as the stallion shut the door behind him, he let out a deep exhale.
"Thank you, Cady."
The Princess of Love deactivated her invisibility spell, appearing right beside her husband, a smile of pride gracing her muzzle.
"I'll watch Flurry if you ever need to take any solo state visits here," she reassured.
The stallion gave the alicorn a peck on the lips in thanks before they too rushed to take their seats.