//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Left Behind 
// by origami 
//------------------------------//

Twilight sat on a bed in her brother's chambers in the castle.  He had been given the room shortly after he was named captain of the royal guard and had made it his own.  It was similar to many of the other rooms in the castle, but the decorations inside his were geared more towards a member of the royal guard than the average pony.

Among the items on display in the room were: a minotaur's crossbow, a zebra mask decorated in tribal war paint, a set of unicorn guard armor from before the banishment of Princess Luna that was decorated with crescent moons, some scales shed by various dragons the guard had had to contend with over the years, and a feather alleged to have come from the pegasus warrior Commander Hurricane.

Besides the decorations, there was a dresser, free-standing mirror, a wardrobe, an armor rack with Shining's armor, a door leading to a private bathroom, and another door that led to a private office, where the stallion planned the training routines for recruits and patrol shifts for the guards watching the castle.

Standing in front of the mirror, Shining Armor prepared himself for his wedding.  He was wearing the same red uniform he'd worn the day before; it had been cleaned and pressed by the castle tailor that night.  Making sure the epaulets were fastened and sitting correctly and that the medals on his barrel were shining brightly, the stallion then turned to his sister with a smile.  "How do I look?"

"Very nice," Twilight answered.  "It looks a lot like you're ready to marry the mare of your life."

Shining chuckled.  "Yeah, the real one this time."

Twilight frowned at the comment.  Before she could respond, her brother looked her in the eyes, his expression turning a bit sad.

"Twily, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before.  I should've realized that... that horrid insect was not acting like Cadance when you said so, and..."

Shining paused, which confused Twilight for a moment, until she heard his breath hitching and saw him fighting back sobs.

"I'm... I'm sorry I told you not to come to the wedding!"

With the last statement, the stallion ran to his sister and wrapped her in his hooves, his head buried in her withers to try and silence his sobbing.

Twilight wrapped her own hooves around him and started rubbing his back in an effort to comfort him.

"Everypony was distracted by the wedding," Twilight pointed out.  "Even Princess Celestia didn't notice or listen when I tried to say something was wrong.  My friends didn't give me the benefit of the doubt either; they kept dismissing it as pre-wedding jitters.  It did start to feel like I was going crazy with nopony believing me."

"I am so sorry that we did that we doubted you," Shining said with a shaky voice.

"Shiny, it wasn't-"

"But it was!  We didn't believe you when we should have and nearly paid the price for it, me especially.  How can you forgive me so easily for that?"

Twilight looked at her brother and smiled back at him.  "You're my BBBFF, and I'm your LSBFF, and nothing will come between us, especially some giant bug with an ego as big as her appetite for love and power."

There was a moment of silence between the two siblings.  Shining regarded his sister for a moment, but then smiled and wiped away his tears.

"You're the best little sister a stallion could ask for."

Twilight smiled at the praise, but frowned as she saw her brother's mood deflate and turn a bit sad again.

"I just wish I could interrogate that changeling myself," he said, his tone sounding a tad bitter.  "I know what the princesses said about my being directly affected by them, but darn it, I deserve to get some answers!"

Shining's complaint was punctuated by his hoof stomping hard into the floor.  Twilight winced, afraid that he had possibly broken some of the marble tiles that made up the floor.

"Perhaps I could talk to Princess Celestia about letting you join her if she interrogates him again?"

Shining scoffed at the suggestion.  "I doubt they'd change their mind, and I also have doubts that they themselves would go back down there to question the prisoner again.  Most of the reason they went down there in the first place was to put some fear into him so that he would be more pliable in terms of giving up information."

"That doesn't sound like Princess Celestia and Luna."

"Believe it or not, it is, or it used to be.  Back during the times before Discord, and Equestria was a fledgling kingdom, and there was a lot of strife.  You know all that stuff from school, but what you don't know is that the princesses often had a much more personal touch when it came to enemy prisoners and interrogations.  More often than not, they would step into a cell and demand prisoners answer their questions, and put on displays of their power to convince them to be more forthcoming with those answers."

"I never knew that," Twilight said with a bit of surprise in her voice.

"The princesses haven't had to do anything like that for some time.  In fact, I think Princess Celestia became more cordial to prisoners after Princess Luna was banished, so nopony or creature alive has ever had to bear witness to that.  She also likely had those records restricted so it wouldn't become public knowledge and potentially cause difficulty in establishing diplomatic relations, which is why I hope I can trust you not to go talking to anypony about this?"

"I won't.  I kind of doubt anypony would believe me anyway."

"Thanks for that," Shining said with a smile.  "Now, let's go and get you ready."

Twilight nodded and stood up, but then paused.

"Shiny, can I ask you about something quick?"

The stallion looked at his sister for a moment and nodded.

"When you and Cadance made that shield yesterday to get rid of the changelings, what kind of a shield was it?"

Shining just shrugged his withers.  "It was a fairly basic one.  In fact, it's the same shield spell taught to new recruits in training."

"Okay.  Now, you know that your emotions and intent have a lot to do with the outcome of spells, but what were you feeling and thinking in that moment when you were casting that shield?"

Shining Armor thought about it for a moment, putting his hoof to his chin, before he answered her question.

"Mainly that I just wanted to get every last one of those evil things out of this city.  As for emotions, it was what love I had left for the ponies of Canterlot, the princesses, my family, and Cadance."

"Alright.  That's all I wanted to know, but would you mind if I went and talked to Cadance real quick?  It'll only take a second, and I'll meet you in my room once I'm finished."

"Okay.  Just don't let her talk your ears off.  You know how she can get sometimes."

"I know, Shining," Twilight said with a smile as she trotted out of her brother's bedroom.  The stallion let out a sigh as he gave himself a look-over again in the mirror.  Once satisfied, he smiled at his reflection and made his way to his sister's chambers.





Cadance was also standing in front of a mirror, a gorgeous white gown adorning her figure.  A set of sewing implements flitted through the air in blue magic, courtesy of the unicorn dressmaker responsible for the article adorning her form.

The alicorn winced as she was grazed by a pin.

"My apologies," the unicorn said to her as she moved a piece of fabric into position.

"It's okay.  Do we have much more to go?"

"We're just about finished.  I only need to get these last parts into place, and then we have to sort out your veil.  If that evil queen can be given credit for doing one good thing, then it is the fact she was able to copy your body so well that I did not need to remeasure you."

"Well, I should hope she doesn't stand in for anypony's dress fittings in the future."

"True, darling, but I can't help but think of the possibilities.  A creature that can look like anypony, even going so far as to match their sizes perfectly?  They would make a great deal of money and have rather successful careers.  Why, I do think they could put the modeling industry out of business."

"Well, one thing is for certain: they already have the 'being nearly starved to death' part of modeling down."

Rarity frowned at the princess's criticism of models as she continued with the pinning and sewing.  As she did so, Twilight entered the room.

"Twili-ouch!"

Cadance shifted her body in the excitement of seeing Twilight, making one of the pins holding some fabric in place jab her in the side.

"Please, hold still, your highness," Rarity told the alicorn as she continued stitching a portion of the dress.

"Hello, Cadance," Twilight answered.  "How's the dress fitting going?"

"It's going well, though I could do without all the pins poking me."

"Oh, if you get things from Rarity regularly, you get used to that."

"The dress is beautiful, but I'm not sure how many dresses and outfits I'll actually need from here on out."

"Blasphemy!" Rarity called out in mock offense.  "A mare cannot have too many dresses as part of her wardrobe!"

"Not all of us have the closet space and rolling racks that you do, Rarity," Twilight teased her friend, earning another huff of mock indignation from the seamstress before she returned to her work.

"How is Shining?" Cadance asked Twilight.

"He's doing... okay, I guess?" Twilight answered.  "I was with him while he got dressed, and he apologized to me for telling me I wasn't allowed at the wedding before."

Cadance frowned.  "I get the feeling he's going to be blaming himself for that for quite a while."

"Yeah, he doesn't let go of things like that too easily.  Of course, we've never had too many spats growing up, so there haven't been too many opportunities for things like that to happen."

"You should be grateful for that.  Some ponies don't get along with their families.  There's even some that refuse to speak to them for one reason or another.  It's very sad, really."

"I don't intend to let anything like that happen between myself and my brother.  We've been through thick and thin growing up.  We'll get through all of this too."

"That's good to hear."

"Sorry to interrupt," Rarity chimed in, "but I believe I have the wedding dress finished.  Tell me what you think of it, your highness."

Cadance shimmied her hips a bit, then walked in a loop around the room.

"It fits nicely," she told Rarity, then looked in the mirror with a smile.  "It looks very lovely as well."

"As long as my customer is happy with the final product, so am I," Rarity said with a smile.

Twilight cleared her throat and looked at Cadance.  "I don't mean to distract from the moment, but I wanted to ask you a question or two."

"Of course.  What did you want to ask me?"

"Well, it's about the shield spell you and Shiny cast yesterday.  I know you dumped most of the power into it, but I just wanted to know what kind of shield spell you used."

"It was the shield spell Shining taught me.  He said it was one the royal guard recruits were taught in their training.  Simple, but very powerful with the right caster."

"But what about your intent?  When you cast the spell, what were your feelings?"

"Well, I thought of all the ponies that were in danger and the love and care I had for their well-being.  As far as intent, I simply wanted to protect everypony I cared about and cast those evil changelings out of Equestria, or at least as far as I could send them."

Twilight deflated a bit, hoping that the princess's response would give her a bit more of an idea as to what had happened to allow a single changeling to slip through the shield.  "Thanks, Cadance.  I think I'll have to talk with Princess Celestia, then.  I guess for now, I'll go get ready for the wedding."

"Please wait for me, Twilight," Rarity called out to her friend as she gathered the remaining tools and materials she was using.  "I need to check your dress's fit as well."

Twilight fidgeted a bit, not exactly a fan of Rarity's dress fittings and all of the pins and sewing needles involved.  "I don't think that's necessary, Rarity.  I tried it on yesterday and it fit just fine."

Rarity gave her friend a stern look.  "Please, darling, you said that before we even came to Canterlot.  I've yet to see you in it."

"Please take my word on this, Rarity.  I tried on the dress and it fits."

"Humor me, Twilight.  At least let me see you put it on and have you trot around a little to make sure."

Twilight attempted to protest her friend's insistence, but she eventually gave in.  Knowing the mare like she did, she wouldn't put it past her to do the alterations that may or may not be required right there in the chapel as Celestia conducted the wedding.  "Okay, Rarity.  You can watch me try it on."

Rarity smiled.  "Thank you, Twilight, and I promise it will be just to look and see that it's really okay."

Twilight was already regretting her decision as she walked out of Cadance's suite with the fashionista towards her own room.