Three and a half weeks later...
Patrolling through the many hallways of the castle, Shining peacefully whistle a tune until he was interrupted by another guard. “Sir? The captain wants to speak with you.”
“Hm? Oh, the captain returned from his trip? I’ll be on my way.” Shining replied as he made his way to the Captain’s office.
*Knock Knock Knock*
“The door’s open.” Came the reply from inside.
Entering the office, he was greeted by an old pegasus in uniform. “Ah, Lieutenant! Just the officer I was hoping to see.”
Shining first saluted before he asked the Captain. “Captain Tornado. I was informed you wanted to speak with me?”
“Ah, yes. It’s quite an important matter, take a seat.”
Taking a sit, Shining glance around the office and noticed quite a few of the Captain’s possessions were currently missing. “What’s the matter?”
“Well, as you know. I’m getting old, perhaps too old to keep my ti-.” Captain coughed a couple times.
“Are you okay, sir?” Shining asked, worried.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” He cleaned his throat before continuing. “I’ll get to the point. I’m retiring.”
“What?! But who’s gon-” Tornado stopped him from continuing as he got up from his seat and walked up to the almost empty bookshelf.
“I’m not gonna sugar coat this. The guard is not on good shape right now, and her highness is not even slighty worried about it.” Tornado said, ripping a page off a notebook and handed to Shining.
“What is... This... Another budget reduction? Why?” Shining immediately asked.
“She doesn’t see the value on the guard anymo-” *Cough, Cough* ”Ugh, I swear this cough is gonna be the death of me yet. Ahem. As I was saying. Someone needs to make her highness realize how foolish this decision is, and that someone is gonna be you, Lieutenant.” Tornado said, taking some pills from his drawer.
“Me? Bu- Wait, you don’t mean...”
“Congratulations, you’ve just been promoted. I would’ve liked to say more but-” Tornado suddenly started coughing nonstop, before he fell on the floor.
“Captain!” Shining rushed to the Captain’s aid.
“Remind me why I need to be here? I still have my night shift later, Flames.” Thunder asked as he rubbed the sleep off his eyes.
“I found out were you can find that stuff you like to eat.” SnowFlame whispered as he looked around for anyone listening.
Thunder perked his ears as he shook the sleep off. “Where?”
“You won’t believe this but there’s a griffin caravan passing through Canterlot right now. They seem to be selling mostly jewelry but I saw most of their personal supplies is basically that stuff. They are at the entrance of the city.” SnowFlame whispered.
“It’s gonna be really weird to have a pony ask them for that stuff, you know.” Thunder replied.
“Well, I don’t know. Are they really gonna question you, though? Offer a griffon enough bits and they might sell they own mother.” SnowFlame retorted.
“That’s not really nic-” Thunder’s ears suddenly perked up again. “Wait, you hear that?”
SnowFlame stopped and listened closely for a moment. “Hear what?”
“Shh!” Thunder shushed him as they listened again.
”Help!”
“That is the boss’s voice!” Thunder said as he ran back inside the castle, SnowFlame right behind him.
“Thunder, can you pinpoint where it's coming from?” SnowFlame asked.
Thunder didn’t answer immediately as he focused on his hearing. His ears shifting quite a bit until he heard another call for help. “It’s coming from the Captain’s office!”
“Crap! That’s not good. You go there and see what’s going on, I’ll pass by the infirmary and grab a few medical supplies just in case.” SnowFlame said as they arrived at a staircase.
“Good idea, but be quick!” Thunder replied as he flied up the stairs and zoomed through the hallways. He was going so fast, he didn’t have time to evade an opening door and ended up slamming his shoulder against it.
Luckily for him, the impact didn’t throw his flight off by much, but he did hear the muffled sound of the unfortunate soul behind that door hitting the floor hard. He would have to find whatever servant or guard he hit later and apologize, but right now his priority was reaching that office.
OW! That hurts so much! Spike laid on the floor holding his nose, with watering eyes trying really hard not to cry.
Fighting against the pain, he slowly rose from the floor and searched around. He widened his eyes in horror as he found the present turned over on the floor, a huge dent on the side.
“No, no, no!” Pain momentarily forgotten, Spike looked inside and sighed in relief as the goggles were still intact. “Thank goodness, it’s in one piece.”
Putting it back on the box, he took his satchel and walked out of the room. “Unfortunately, the box is ruined now...” Spike murmured to himself as he went all the way down to the castle’s gate. “I hope she’s still open.”
Checking his satchel for his snacks/money and walked through quite a few streets of Canterlot until he fianlly arrived at an old shop. Passing through the door, he noticed an bored, dark orange mare in an yellow dress with brown dots by the shelves at the other end of the shop. “Cool, she’s still working... Sunny!”
“Huh?” Once she saw Spike, her mood significally improved. “Spike! How is my favorite customer doing today?”
“I’m doing fine. Uh, do you remember that box I asked for you to pack in gift wrapping earlier this week?” Spike asked.
“Of course. How can I forget when that was the only I sold this week?” Sunny replied, chuckling a little as she looked away.
“Wait, really? Why? The stuff you sell is really useful and you’re the best gift wrapper around Canterlot.” Spike said, confused to why no one was shopping here.
Sunny briefly smiled at Spike’s compliment before she frowned. “Well... There’s this new place that opened a month ago near the center of the city. They basically offer the same I do but with a wider stock, cheaper, closer and faster than me. How am I supposed to compete against that?” Sunny asked, sighing. “I’m probably closing up the old shop after today. I need the savings I got left for the train ticket.”
“But... Where you gonna go?” Spike asked, upset.
“I don’t know. I barely have enough for the train ticket and a couple days worth of food. Gotta find a cheap place to settle in...” Sunny then realized how much of the mood had changed with her venting her problems. “Er... But that is something you shouldn't worry about it, Spike. What was that you needed?”
Spike stayed silent for a moment before he sighed. “Look.” He put the dented box on the counter nearby.
“Oh my... What happened to it?” Sunny asked as she picked the box to examine the damage.
“Uh, a door.” He smiled sheepishly as Sunny gave him a curious look.
“Heh. Okay, I’ll be right back.” She replied as she went to the back, she carefully picked the goggles from the dented box and put inside a smaller brown box before she threw the other way. Then she grab a new role of gift wrapping and in a single smooth motion wraped the box, before tapping a little bow on top.
Returning to the counter, she noticed Spike holding a scroll and a small bag in his hands. “Here you go, Spike.”
“Thank you, Sunny.” As he took the gift, he put both scroll and the bag on the counter. “I’m really sorry you’re closing the shop. I wished I could helped more.”
“It’s okay, Spike. You leave the adult stuff for me to worry about, you have a birthday party to attend to.” Sunny said as she ruffled the spines on his head.
“Heh, yeah... I guess I see you around?” Spike asked, hopeful.
Sunny smiled as she let a giggle escape. “Yes, it would be nice if that happens. Goodbye, Spike.”
“Bye, Sunny! And good luck!” Spike waved to her as he left the shop for the last time.
“I’m gonna miss that little drake...” Sunny sighed, before she noticed that he left the scroll and bag on the counter. “Oh no, he forgot his stuff!” As she picked up the scroll, she noticed it was addressed to her.
Curiosity winning over, she opened the scroll and slowly read through it. Her eyes started watering up as she finished reading. “Oh Spike, you didn’t have to...” Opening the bag, a lot of diamonds and rubies fell out. “And you left without even giving me a chance to thank you...” She chuckled a little, cleaned her tears off as she went to the front door and flipped the sign from open to closed.
“I hope that’s enough for her...” Spike murmured as he passed by the castle gates, finally noticing the lack of guards on the gate. “Weird. There’s usually a guard here... Eh, it is still noon, so they might be eating at the mess hall.”
Carefully making his way through the castle hallways, making sure that his gift wouldn’t get smashed this time. He eventually arrive at the dinner room, where they would be hosting the party. He walked up to the big pile of presents and put his gift by the foot of the pile.
“You aren’t trying to take a peak on Rainbow’s presents, are you Spike?” A voice came from behind him, causing him to jump in surprise.
“Gah! MOM! You trying to give me a heart attack?” Spike asked, annoyed.
*Giggles* “I’m sorry, Spike. I couldn’t resist. So, you think you’re ready for the party?” Celestia asked.
Spike thought about it for a moment. “I... I still feel nervous about it, what if she doesn’t like the gift?”
“You need not to worry, Spike. From all the time she spent here, I am certain she’s going to love the gift. Especially with the few extras you put into it.” Celestia replied, not even trying to hide her smirk.
Spike blushed a little as he unconsciously started biting his claws. “I don’t know... Maybe I could-” He tried getting his gift back but Celestia levitated him away from the pile.
“Son, trust me. Rainbow is gonna love your gift. Now, how about we see if the chefs have finished the cake yet?” Celestia offered, trying to keep his mind preoccupied until the birthday girl arrived.
Spike immediately glared at her suspiciously. “You’re just gonna try steal a slice of cake, aren’t you?”
Celestia’s smirk never left her face. “I’ll not confirm nor deny that.” She said, giggling as Spike shook his head disapprovingly.
Two hours later...
“Just take a breath, Spike. You got this, just keep yourself calm.” Cadance said, breathing in herself to show him how.
Spike imitated her as he slowly calmed down. “O-okay. I’m calm...”
“It’s just gonna be Rainbow Dash and her parents, and you’ve already met them. So no need to worry, Spike.” Cadance said as the train finally arrived at the station.
And just like that, his anxiety spiked as he saw Rainbow exit the train with three more pegasi beside her.
“S-she replaced me!” Spike blurted out as he took a step back, biting his claw again.
Candace couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Spike, she didn’t replace you.” She saw Rainbow’s parents finally leaving the train and started leading the girls to them. “Rainbow made a few more friends, so what? That doesn’t mean you aren’t her friend anymore. If anything, you should be happy for her.”
“I...” Spike went to say something but stopped, deciding to just stay silent as they wait for them to catch up.
”Just remember to breath, Spike... Hi, everyone. Glad that you all could make it. And I see little Rainbow here made some new friends?” Cadance greeted then, giving Spike a few moments to calm his nerves again.
“Hey, Cadance. Fluttershy's actually an old friend by this point but you’re right about these two.” Rainbow said, pointing to them. “She’s Cloudkicker, and that is Derpy. And this here is Fluttershy.”
“Sup?” Cloudkicker said.
“Nice to meet you!” Derpy said.
”Hi...” Fluttershy timidly waved.
“It’s nice to meet you three. So, you all ready for the party?” Cadance asked.
Everyone answered yes, except Rainbow who was looking around puzzled. “Where’s Spike?” She asked.
“Oh!” Cadance slightly hit her forehead, had completely forgotten about that for a moment. Glancing back, she noticed Spike deep in thought. “He’s... In his own world right now.”
“OH! So that’s what you meant by ‘special’.” Cloudkicker said as she saw Spike, causing Derpy and Fluttershy to giggle while Rainbow blushed.
*giggles* "Well, why don’t you go and 'wake' him up while I talk a little with your parents?” Cadance asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Rainbow replied as they all walked up to Spike who hasn’t noticed them yet. “Hello? Equestria to Spike, anyonе in there?” Rainbow asked, waving a hoof in front of his eyes.
“Huh? Rainbow! W-when did you get here?!” Spike asked, trying to regain his composure.
“We’ve just been waiting for three hours.” Cloudkicker interjected.
“What?!”
“She’s joking Spike.” Rainbow smirked. “We just waited for two hours.”
Spike covered his face with his hands as he groaned. “I’m sorry!”
“They are, uh, just messing with you.” Fluttershy clarified.
Spike uncovered his face, revealing his frown. “Oh. How did I not see that...” He murmured as he saw Rainbow and Cloudkicker hoof-bump.
“So, what you’ve been up to Spike?” Rainbow asked.
“Erm... Nothing, really.” Other than worrying about your present that is.
“Really? You always had something to share... Not even pranking Snobblood?” Rainbow asked.
“Nope. I just, uh, chilled.” Spike said, chuckling nervously.
Rainbow looked at him suspiciously but before she could ask anything, Cadance approached them. “Okay, we’re done talking. How about we head inside?”
“Uh, you guys go ahead. I want to talk with Spike for a moment.” Rainbow said.
“Talk, huh?” Cloudkicker asked, a smirk very visible on her face earning a mean glare from Rainbow.
“Sure. Spike knows where we hosting the party, he can bring you there after. Just don’t take too long!” Cadance said as she lead the others away.
“Alright, out with it.” Rainbow demanded.
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Spike asked.
“You’re hiding something. Now spill the beans.” Rainbow said.
“I... I’m... Worried.” Spike started, not able to look at her.
Rainbow frowned, confused. “Worried about what? Did something happen?”
“No, but I... Fear something might.” Spike answered.
“What do you mean?” She asked, worried as Spike never acted like this before.
*Sigh* “Promise to not laugh?” Spike asked, still avoiding eye contact.
“Why would I laugh?” After receiving a glare from him, she relented. “Fine, I promise to not laugh. Happy?”
He nodded. “Alright... I... *Sigh* I feared that... you would replace me.” As he said that, he immediately looked away again.
“Wha- Spike! I would never do that! Where did you even get that idea from?” She asked, astonished that he would ever think that.
“I-I... You looked so angry when you left, I...” Spike grabbed his arm tightly.
”Oh. So I was the one to make him think that... Sigh. I need to be more careful... But since when did Spike get this sensitive? He wasn’t like this before... Hm...”
“Spike... Look, I’m not mad at you. I might have been that day but trust me, I’m not anymore. And don’t ever think that I’m gonna replace you, That’s never happening, okay? I’ll never abandon you, that’s a promise.” Rainbow said, holding her hoof to her heart. “I swear on my honor as a pegasus, you’ll always be my best friend.”
“You mean it?” Spike asked, still a little hesitant.
“You want me to swear again? I’ll do it.” Rainbow said, smiling.
Rather than answer, Spike pulled her into a hug to which she gladly returned. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, scalebutt.” Rainbow replied, laughing.
Breaking the hug apart, Spike held his hand towards the stations exit. “Well, shall we go then, featherbrains?” He asked, chuckling.
“Sure. Last to get there is a spoiled egg!” Rainbow exclaimed as she broke into a sprint to the castle.
“HEY! Not fair, you ran first!” Spike shouted as he ran after him, both laughing all the way.
At the Castle’s infirmary...
“How is the Captain?” Shining asked.
Snowflame shook his head, “The nurse said his situation is only gonna get worse. She also said if we want to talk with him, the time is now.”
*Sigh* “Alright. Thank you, Flames.” Shining said as he made his way to the Captain’s room. Knocking on the door, he entered the room. “Captain?”
*Cough, Cough* “Shining. I’m afraid I don’t have much time left... What I said before... Still stands. You’ll be the new Captain... Just hand the scroll... On my desk to her... Highness. She will know my decision... I just have one more thing to ask of you... Don’t let the Solar Guard... Die...” Tornado managed to say between pained breaths.
“I... I won’t let you down, Captain!” Shining said, saluting Tornado.
Tornado smiled weakly. “I know you won’t... Good luck, Armor...” Tornado said, resting his head back on the bed.
As he walked out of the room, he saw both Snowflames and Thunder waiting for him. “Sir? What did he say?” Thunder asked.
“He... Named me as the new captain.” Shining answered as he glanced back at the room. “Snowflame, you stay here and keep me informed on Captain’s condition. Thunder, you go inform Frosty and her brother about it.”
“What are you gonna do, sir?” Thunder asked.
“I’ll go find Celestia.” Shining said as he left the infirmary.
As he walked through hallways, mid-way to the throne room he remember about Rainbow’s birthday party and immediately turned around, realizing that Celestia would be there as well.
“So, who’s present you gonna open first?” Windy asked as she showed Rainbow the pile of gifts waiting for her.
“Woah... I never this many presents in one place... Especially with my name on all of them.” Rainbow said, still in awe to the amount of gifts she received.
“Those are gifts from all of us here and also some who couldn’t make it to the party... And some of us might have brought more than just one present too.” Celestia said as she looked at Cadance, who acted innocently and avoided eye contact with her.
“Well, how about this one?” Rainbow said as she picked up a high but thin box, which made Fluttershy immediately run up to her.
“Oh, that’s my gift! Hope you like it, Dash.”
Very intrigued now, she quickly torn off the wrapping and gasped once she saw what was it. “An limited edition poster from the worderbolts?! I searched this for months! How did you get it?”
“Well, me and my father met this pegasus who was selling a lot of his stuff and he had this. I knew you would like it so I got my dad to buy it.” Fluttershy explained, earning a tight hug from Rainbow.
“Thank you, You’re the best, Shy!” Rainbow said as Fluttershy blushed a little from the attection and hurried back to her seat. “Which one should I open next?”
“Oh, mine mine!” Derpy shouted, running to the pile and handing Rainbow her gift.
“Woah, calm down Derpy.” Rainbow chuckled as she made quick work of the wraping on this one, revealing a box full of chocolate muffins with a piece of paper on the top. “Wait, are these-”
“It’s not my family secret recipe but it is still a family recipe of ours. And it’s really easy to make too, so you can just make some whenever you feel like.” Derpy explained.
“Oh, I can’t wait to eat these... But I will blame if I get too fat to fly.” Rainbow replied, both laughing as some chuckles filled the room as well. “Thank you, Derpy.”
“You’re welcome!” Derpy than made her way back to her seat and poked Cloudkicker to move.
“Fine, my turn.” Cloudkicker said as she took one box from the back of the pile and handed to Rainbow. “Mine isn’t that flash like Shy’s, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“Gee, thanks for the heads up.” Rainbow rolled her eyes as she opened the gift and pulled out a wonderbolt hoodie, though as she put it on, she realized the hoodie was way too big for her size, in fact the hoodie felt it was meant for adults not fillies. “Uhm, a little too big..?”
“Yeah, this was the only one left and uh... I might have been informed a little late ‘bout your birthday, soo-” Cloudkicker tried explained but Rainbow interrupted her by slapping her with the oversized sleeve, catching her off guard.
“It’s fine, Clouds. The hoodie looks cool enough, so I’ll just use it as a pijama or something ‘till I get old enough to fit in.” Rainbow said as she took it off and hoof bump her. “Still apreciate the try.” Rainbow chuckled while Clouds rolled her eyes and made her way back to the seats.
One hour later...
As Rainbow pushed the last gift, she sighed in relief. ”Who would’ve thought that opening too many presents was a thing?” She thought as she looked around the room, most of the attendees had already stopped watching her open presents and were either talking with others or eating by the huge dinner table.
Although, Rainbow now realized, she hasn’t open a certain one’s gift. But before she could call him, Spike beat her to it as he poked her arm to get her attention. “Hey, Rainbow. Having fun?”
“You know, after the 40th one, it started to get old, you know?” Rainbow said, chuckling.
“Heheh, yeah I can see that. I just hope you have patience for one more?” Spike said as he pulled from behind him a small box, perhaps the smallest of the entire pile, and gave it to her.
“Oh? Pretty small, huh? I wonder what it could be.” Rainbow asked as she undid the wrapping instead of ripping it off before opening the box. “Ooh, flight googles!”
She was about to put them on when Spike stopped her. “Look at the sides.” Doing what he said, she widened her eyes as she saw written on the side ‘Frosty Winds’, astounded she looked the other and was dumbfounded to see written ‘Lighting Catcher & Silver Glance’ with a heart and star on their names respectively.
Rainbow stared at the signatures for a decent time before she looked back at Spike. “H-how? I thought they...”
“You’d be surprise what a bag of gems and a promise can do.” Spike said.
Usually Rainbow would’ve been a little suspicious with Spike’s vague answer, but she was too much preoccupied gushing all over it. “It’s so cool...”
“And that’s not all.” Spike couldn’t help but smirk a little as he saw her freeze for a moment.
Rainbow looked at him, shocked. “There’s more?!”
“Yup! I got mom to add a few enchantments to the goggles as well.”
“Like what?” Rainbow asked, very excited now.
“Well, first one is sturdiness: I know you sometimes when trying new tricks, you tend to crash a lot. So this enchatment will make sure that no type of crash will even leave a scratch on it. The second one, courtesy of Shining, is a mental fortitude enchantment: Basically you can’t get dizzy or nauseous or anything that could compromise your flight-”
“Does that include mind control?” Rainbow suddenly asked, confusing Spike.
“Wh- Huh? Where did that come from?” He asked, amused by her question.
“From those comics you showed me a few months back. One of the villains uses mind control to trap the hero. You think that enchantment would stop that?” Rainbow asked.
Spike shrugged, still puzzled to why she asked that. “I guess? Anyway, the last enchantment is of eagle eyes: Which let you ‘zoom’ your vision, like a binoculars. You just have to focus on whatever you want and the magic happens.”
“Wow, I don’t even know what to say Spike... I-” Rainbow stumble through her words, trying her best to come up with something. “...How much time you spent on this?”
“Eh, a few weeks..?” Spike answered, looking away sheepishly.
Rainbow pulled Spike into a very tight hug. “Thank you. This was by far the best gift I ever got.”
“Come on now, you making me blush.” Spike said as they pulled away.
“I’m serious! This is definitely gonna up my flight game by - Oh, I don’t know - a thousand percent?” Rainbow exclaimed as she put the goggles on. “Time to test drive this beauty!”
“Just be careful, Dash!” Spike warned as he watched her fly in circles very fast for a good amount of seconds before she landed near him.
“Wooo! Not even a slight motion of dizziness, this thing is awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, really excited now.
In fact, she got Cloud’s attention with all her gushing over Spike’s present. “Hey, what got you so jumpy?”
“She’s just enjoying the new goggles she got.” Spike answered as Rainbow lifted the goggles to her forehead. “I’m gonna grab something to eat, enjoy the gift Rainbow!” He said as he went to the food’s table.
“So, finally done with opening gifts?” Clouds asked, handing her a plate with cake on it.
“Yup. Got some sweet stuff from that pile.” Rainbow replied, taking a bite. “Hmm~. The Princess knows how to choose a cake, this is really good.”
“Yeah... Never in my life would I thought I’d be on the same room as the Princess.” Clouds contemplated as she took another bite of the cake.
“Heh, hang around someone as awesome as me and stuff like that tends to happen, you know?” Rainbow gloated a little, finishing her cake.
“Getting pretty smug, aren’t we?” Clouds asked, a little hit of annoyance in her voice.
“Pfft! I’m as humble as one can be!” Rainbow replied.
“Sure, and that’s a phrase any humble pony says about themselves.” Clouds replied sarcastically, before she looked at one of the windows. “Say, Rainbow. You up for a race?”
“Do you even know me? I’m always up for one!” Rainbow replied, putting the goggles back on. “On three. One...TwoThreeGo!”
Cloudkicker already expecting Rainbow’s dirty little trick, managed to take off pretty much at the same time as her.
“Annnd there they go. I swear, they do that everytime they meet.” Derpy said as she pushed her plate away, stomach full of sweets.
“At least they aren’t fighting anymore, right?” Fluttershy replied, nibbling on a piece of sandwich.
“Are they always like that?” Spike asked as he joined them.
“Oh, hey. It’s Spike, right?” Derpy asked.
“Yup. I know you’re Fluttershy, Rainbow mentioned you a few times.” Spike said, pointing to her before he turned back to Derpy. “You and that pegasus on the other hand, Dash never mentioned you two before.”
“Oh, we’ve just been friends for a couple of weeks now. Though, she does talk a lot about you.” Derpy replied.
“Good things, I hope.” Spike joked as he served himself some cake.
At the other end of the room...
"And there's also so many gifts for Rainbow, I can't thank you two enough." Windy said as she picked a sandwich from the table.
"No need to, we're just glad to help make this day more special for Rainbow." Cadance replied.
"Well, I sti-" Before she could finish, Shining teleported into the room.
"Shining, there you are! I seached for you all morning." Cadance exclaimed, approaching him.
"Sorry, Cadance. But I have something important to tell Celestia." Shining said as montioned towards the door.
"Very well, I'll right back everyone." Celestia said as she followed Shining out. "So, what's so important to get you like this?"
"It's the Captain, your highness. He's-" A scroll suddenly materialized itself in front of them, Shining immediately taking and reading it. "...Damn. The captain's gone."
"What?! But how? I just talked with him this morning." Celestia asked, shocked. Sigh...This is very inconvenient. "Have you notified the family yet?"
"Yes, I sent a trusted one to handle it." Shining answered.
"Okay... That just leaves one matter unsolved. I already have a pony in mind for the job, but has the Captain appointed someone before he..."
"Yes, he did." Shining replied as he produced a scroll from his chest piece and gave it to her.
"Hm..." As Celestia read through the scroll, she first nodded in satisfaction but as she finished reading it, couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Well, I'm glad he could also see your leadership skills. I'll be more than happy to authorize this promotion."
"Thank you, your highness. I just wish this would have come without such tragedy." Shining said, still upset about it.
"That's fate for you. It doesn't care, it will take a pony off of you and the only thing you can do is... learn to move on." Celestia replied as she stared at nothing momentarily.
"Personal experience?" Shining asked.
Celestia snapped back, glancing at him while discreetly cleaning away a tear she let escape. "Yes... I guess you could say that."
"I never seen her like this before... Did I accidentally bring up a painful memory?" "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I shouldn't have brought it up." Celestia said as she recomposed herself. "Lieut- erm, Captain. Would you call Raven and send her to me? I'll have her prepare for both your ceremony and Tornado's funeral."
"Yes, ma'am!" Shining saluted, leaving without another word in a flash of light.
"...I hope he's not abusing too much of that spell, or he might have a terrible headache later on..." Celestia murmured to herself as she went back to the party.