//------------------------------// // Saying Yes // Story: Zero Point // by GJT_Productions //------------------------------// "She said yes!" "Congratulations!" "So happy for you, you'll have a wonderful life together!" "Yeah, we're very happy for you!" "Happy for who?" "Captain?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I'm not officially Captain yet, Buck." Acting Captain of the Guard Shining Armor points out with a chuckle. Guard Upper Class Buck Withers begins flushing a deep red in response to Shining Armor's interruption, and the castle servants clustered to hear the news scatter away in the same manner as birds being shooed away. "Sorry sir. But I'm very excited right now - Lemony said yes when I proposed to her!" Buck exclaims, referring to the mare Lemony Gems that was now his fiancée. "Well that's wonderful, Buck! I wasn't even sure that it would ever get to this point, but I'm glad it has..." Shining Armor answers honestly, both stallions being keenly aware of the deception that the relationship had been built on at first. That relationship, closely tied to the long-term courting Shining Armor had with Princess Cadance starting in the Canterlot Academy days, had nearly come apart once those deceptions were exposed. However, patience on the part of Lemony Gems as well as one of the many interventions for improvement conducted by Princess Celestia (with some help by Shining Armor himself) had allowed both ponies involved in the relationship to put the rocky start behind them. Now, shortly before Shining Armor himself intended to propose to Cadance, Buck Withers had taken the same step with Lemony Gems. "I'm curious though, Buck, have you figured out where the wedding is going to take place?" Shining Armor asks the subordinate. "We intend to use the solar chapel on the castle grounds." Buck answers, the "solar chapel" being a small but elaborately decorated building near the castle; for most of the time of Princess Luna's exile this building was used as a place of veneration for the "almighty" Princess Celestia. Of course, such things had long since gone out of fashion (and Princess Celestia in modern times gently discouraged such practices), but the idea of such a place being "sacred" meant it was still considered traditionally appropriate for such important events as weddings to be held there. "The solar chapel..." Shining Armor mutters to himself. "Yes, I think that it would be appropriate for..." "Sir?" Buck Withers asks, a look of confused concern crossing his face. "Sorry, not to put down your efforts, but I think yours could be used as a dry run..." "Dry run?... Wait, do you mean what I think you mean, sir?" "Indeed I do. You only get one shot at a wedding, so yours could be used to iron out..." "Ah, I see sir. But you haven't yet..." "It'll happen soon, Buck. Just make sure to keep it a secret until the promotion ceremony." "Yes sir, got it sir." "Wonderful! So are you staying in the night shift?" "No sir, I'm transferring to the afternoon shift. Princess Celestia recommended I do this, along with some other ponies, to make room for the new batpony recruits." "Ah yes, Princess Luna says they need the experience since the rules about recruiting among them were relaxed. The royal sisters been trying to implement these as a prelude to opening recruiting in the guard to others, but it seems the paperpushers have been dragging their hooves about this..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The conversation between Acting Captain Shining Armor and Guard Upper Class Buck Withers had been taking place as they walked through the castle hallways, and unseen to both of them two Lower Class unicorns posting to secure a door they just passed through contort their faces into scowls at what they were hearing. Upon seeing both guards scowling at the same time, one of the guards suddenly looks surprised. After a moment, he shifts to sitting with crossing his forelegs over his chest - a known "secret signal" - and is both pleased and relieved when the other guard returns the gesture. Both return to standing pose and start engaging in hushed conversation that would've been very revealing if anypony had listened to it: "Even more batponies in the night shift..." "There's too many already, not enough diversity. And why won't they serve in the other two shifts? What do they have to hide?" "They might be cursed. Maybe they're really pegasi that were cursed, and going out in daytime would reveal this..." "But why not try to undo the curse?" "Beats me. Maybe it has something to do with the royal sisters and neither of them want to fess up to doing it?" "Could be. They definitely act like they're cursed, impulsive and savage..." "We'll find out soon enough. They'll be easy to separate and ensnare under our control." "And then we feed off them?" "Yes, we feed off of them."