Revelations and Beginnings
"He has a marefriend!?!"
Cadance stole another glance towards Shining Armor and the mystery mare with the dual-colored mane. She saw that the mare was stretching her forehooves out as if to ask for another hug, and then saw Shining Armor give it to her.
‘But... I thought he liked me? Why would he... I thought... I was gonna... Shining Armor?’ Cadance wasn't even thinking in complete sentences. She wasn't sure how she felt for Shining Armor, but seeing him with this other mare left her wide-eyed, her jaw agape, and her heart feeling compressed and sunken.
She couldn't face him now, not when she felt like a meteor struck her right in the heart. She needed to get away from him, just long enough to compose herself and prepare to be brave when it came to meeting this new mare.
Without giving it a second thought, Cadance sprinted away from her hiding position towards the castle, making sure she wasn't seen by the three ponies and baby dragon.
Cadance ran as fast as she could, away from that statue she had made her hiding spot as new feelings began to stir inside her. Jealousy? Heartbreak over somepony she wasn't sure she even had a crush on?
‘What's wrong with me? Why am I running?’
Before she could answer herself, Cadance skidded to a halt before nearly crashing into her cousin and aunt, who were both standing by the stairs that lead into the castle.
Celestia turned to face her niece. "Cadance! Is something wrong?" she asked as she took notice of her niece's pants for air.
Cadance, still trying to catch her breath, hurriedly tried to ease her aunt's worries as to not bother her with her inner turmoil. "No... everything's fine... just needed..." She paused as she tried to think of an excuse.
"BLUEBLOOD!" Cadance exclaimed, surprising herself and Blueblood alike with her hasty excuse.
“Why do you need m- HEY!" Blueblood was cut off as Cadance tugged at one of her cousin’s grey hooves and half-dragged him towards the direction she was running off to.
"Be back soon,” yelled Cadance back towards her aunt, whose eyes now doubled in size and her jaw now wide open after seeing her niece's abnormal burst of strength.
Around one of the corners of the castle, Blueblood was whining very audibly while rubbing the hoof his cousin dragged him by just moments ago. "What’d you go and do that fooooor?"
"Blueblood, stop complaining for a second and listen," demanded the pink alicorn as she tried to put on a more serious look to speak, but still carried the shocked and broken look in her eyes.
Blueblood took notice of his cousin's eyes and decided to stop with the indignation only he could perfect to try to console her worries, “Cadance, what happened?"
Cadance let out a heavy sigh before launching into an explanation about Shining Armor, and the passionate hug between him and the other mare she saw with him.
"Soooooo, you’re telling me that this library assistant of your’s already has a marefriend?" Blueblood finally asked after Cadance finished her story.
"What kind of colt hugs a mare like her the way he did without them being more than friends?!?" Cadance retorted with a steady rise in her voice.
"Cadance, calm down," Blueblood nervously instructed with an up and down gesture with one of his hooves, doing his best not to further upset his already panicky cousin.
Cadance reluctantly took Blueblood's advice and allowed herself settle down before continuing on. "Maybe she is, I’m not completely sure... but that's not the only thing bothering me."
"What do you mean?" Blueblood asked with an arched eyebrow.
A small sigh escaped Cadance’s mouth before confessing her inner turmoil, revealing how she has never had a crush on somepony, how throughout her life she went on not knowing how one would feel towards somepony she might be attracted too, how she just doesn't know what she was supposed to feel.
"Then why panic over this colt if you don't even know how you feel?" asked Blueblood after listening intently to Cadance's explanation.
"Because I felt something after I saw him with that other mare! I don't know exactly what, but.... I felt like my breath got sucked out of me, like my heart imploded on itself," Cadance replied as she waved her forelimbs over her heart and demonstrated some sort of implosion gesture.
Blueblood scrunched his eyes in thought, then, as the reality of Cadance’s situation hit him, he opened them wide, his eyebrows raised, and a smile crept on his face in a sort of 'I know something you don't know' kind of way.
"Sounds to meeee, that you actually like hiiiiim," Blueblood teased in a filly-like voice.
Even though Blueblood was teasing her, his words caused Cadance to come to a revelation. Those emotions she felt after seeing Shining Armor with that other mare, jealousy, and fear that he was already taken, emotions that she never felt for anypony else before. After years of not knowing what it felt like to like a colt, she finally knew what it felt like.
Memories of Shining Armor began to race their way through Cadance's mind like a Wonderbolt through the sky, his goofiness, his kindness, his admiration for her. How could she not have felt this way before? Why did it take a hug from another mare to show her her true feelings? Why was she only getting the bad end of experiencing a crush?
"You're right," Cadance said flatly at first with wide eyes.
"Huh?" Blueblood asked, completely perplexed by her sudden change in tone.
"I like him, I just didn't know, I like him... I LIKE SHINING ARMOR!" Cadance exclaimed while embracing the white unicorn in a very constrictive hug.
"I'm... happy for you... but I can't... breathe... my fur, you’re getting it... dirty," Bluebloood wheezed as his typically white face began to redden and then eventually cyan.
"Oh, sorry Blue." Cadance released her cousin and watched him as he gasped for life-saving oxygen that she deprived him of. "I like him," Cadance whispered again like she was the happiest mare in the world, but events not too long ago re-entered her mind and her wide smile began to shrink and her eyes began to contract as unpleasant memories reigned throughout the inner-workings of her mind.
"Oh no, I like him.... and he's with another mare," Cadance said as if she was admitting defeat.
Blueblood, after regaining normal oxygen flow, normal respiration rates, and dusting himself off, came up to the defeated alicorn. "Look, we don't know for sure, the least you could do is just see him and this mare and sort things out."
There was a pause before Blueblood continued. "Remember that determination you had this morning?"
Cadance nodded slowly in remembrance of her original plan to confess her feelings for Shining Armor.
"Well, bring that Cadance out. Get her out, and get her to tell Shining Armor that she likes him," instructed Blueblood in a strong and confident tone.
Cadance couldn't help but smile at her cousin's act of support. He was a pain, there was no denying that. He was a pain to her and everypony else, but when it came to her and their aunt, he'd do anything to see them happy.
"So, can you do that?" Blueblood asked.
"Don't need too," Cadance answered. "She's already here."
Blueblood couldn't help but smile as he saw Cadance fill up again with her previous enthusiasm and happiness. Secretly he wished she would crush on someone of a more... sophisticated type, but as long as she was happy.
"But you’re coming with me," Cadance ordered, switching her tone to match her demand.
"Fiiiiiine," moaned Blueblood as he tried to follow the pink princess who was already making her way to the front of the castle entrance at a rather fast pace.
***************
"It's been fifteen minutes! Where the hay are they?" Stardust was starting to get impatient, or so was indicated by her constant pacing around and stomping of her hooves on the ground.
Twilight and Stardust decided to stay by the entrance to the castle grounds and let Shining Armor go off looking for Cadance, but patience was wearing thin for Stardust as she eagerly awaited the arrival of her friend and hopefully his new marefriend.
"Ya think he went into one of his stuttering rambles when he tried to talk to her?" asked Twilight with an almost certain tone.
As hilarious as Stardust found the idea of Shining Armor spitting out his words in undecipherable sentences, again, she hoped he didn't. "I hope not, I REALLY hope not, Twi."
Stardust went back into her thoughts. This time trying to picture Shining Armor succeeding in confessing his feelings for the mare of his dreams, and that's when it hit her. She has known for a while how Shining Armor feels, and he has heard him talk about her like she was a goddess, and yet, has never met the mare he dreams of herself.
"Hey, Twi."
"Hmm?" asked Twilight.
"I've heard every sappy thing possible to describe a mare from Shiny, but I've never met her. What's she like?"
Nostalgia took over the little filly as she remembered everything wonderful about the best foal sitter in Equestria.
"She is kind, loving, and is able to make anypony smile. She's always smiling whenever she is around me or Shining Armor... she's basically the mare that Shining Armor deserves." A smile made its way across Twilight's face at her last sentence; Stardust mimicked Twilight’s facial expression.
"That good huh?" Stardust inquired.
"Yup, not to mention the best foal sitter ever,"
"It's easy when you’re sitting for the best foal ever,” echoed a voice behind Twilight.
Twilight quickly turned around to see her foal sitter standing behind her. “Cadance!" the little filly cheered as she ran up to nuzzle one of the alicorn's legs.
"Did you hear all of that?" Twilight questioned after backing away from Cadance's leg.
"Just enough to hear you say that I'm the best foal sitter EVER," declared Cadance with a sly smile on her face. Her eyes then drifted from Twilight to the blue unicorn who began to bow in respect to her.
"Your highness," Stardust addressed from the ground.
"Oh no, you can stand up. I'm just a normal pony, so you can just call me Cadance," explained a slightly embarrassed Cadance.
Taken aback by a princess's plea for informality, it didn't stop Stardust from settling back to her normal demeanor. "If ya like, I'm Stardust by the way," Stardust introduced herself as she stretched out a forehoof.
Cadance shook Stardust's hoof, but behind her semi-genuine smile, she had one thought in mind, finding out Stardust's relation to Shining Armor. Cadance stole a look at Twilight, and she got an idea.
"So, how do you know Twilight, Stardust?" Cadance inquired.
"I'm basically Shining Armor's best friend. We've worked at the library together since he got hired, and of course I've gotten to meet his amazing little sister along the way." Stardust gave a playful nudge at Twilight at the last sentence.
Upon hearing Stardust's answer, Cadance's body remained calm and collected, but her mind was going crazy with victory cries. ‘They're just friends... THEY'RE JUST FRIENDS!’ It was as if all the joy and happiness felt in Equestria managed to collect in her body. Hope was restored for Cadance, and she wasn't going to let her crush slip away. Then something registered in her mind, where was Shining Armor anyways?
"Hey, where is Shining Armor anyway?" Cadance asked the two ponies in front of her.
"Ya haven't seen him at all today?" Stardust asked back.
"No, I thought he was with Twilight."
Annoyed grunts escaped all three of them as they came to the realization that none of them knew where Shining Armor was.
"C'Mon let's go find him," moaned Twilight as she made her way in front of the two mares and began leading them anywhere else, hoping to find her brother.
Turning to follow Twilight, something in the corner of Stardust's eyes caught her attention. It was a white colt slowly trotting towards them, his amber mane bouncing up and down with each step.
"Who's he?" Stardust asked, pointing a hoof at the white pony approaching them.
Cadance turned to see it was Blueblood, "Oh yea, I accidentally ditched him."
"Cadance!" stammered Blueblood. "You ask me to come along with you... and you run off!"
"Sorry Blueblood, I guess I got a little caught up in the moment," stammered Cadance as she scratched the back of her head with a hoof.
"Blueblood," that name rang in Stardust's mind for a few seconds until something revealed itself in her mind. She remembered yesterday, in the library, Shining Armor telling her about the colt that came in with Cadance. White coat, amber mane, 'Blueblood', it was him. Strangely enough there was something familiar about him, the way he stood, his demeanor, something prince-like....
"Stardust."
"Wha?" Stardust snapped out of her thoughts to look at the alicorn who asked for her.
"This is my cousin, Blueblood."
Stardust, upon hearing the word 'cousin', quickly turned to see the white furred colt. Her bright green eyes widened and her mind came to a sudden realization of who the colt was. ‘Ohhhhhhh. Myyyyyyy. Celestia!’
Stardust remembered now, Cadance's cousin, Princess Celestia's nephew, Prince Blueblood. As much as she wanted to start convulsing into a fit of laughter after finding this bit of information out, something else came to her mind. ‘Oh crap, Shining Armor doesn't know.’
"HEY! Are you guys coming or not?" hollered an annoyed purple filly a good distance ahead of the two unicorns and alicorn princess.
Reality came back to the three ponies as they remembered who they were searching for.
‘Shiny's gonna die when he hears this,’ Stardust snickered to herself as she picked up the pace to catch up to Twilight.
"I’m a prince. I shouldn't be hollered at by some little-"
"She's Aunt Celestia's student, she's nearly royalty herself, so shut it please," Cadance interrupted with a nudge to Blueblood’s ribs as she walked with him towards an annoyed Twilight.
"Fiiiine," grumbled the prince.
Cadance turned to face Blueblood, this time with a more genuine appreciative look on her face, "Thank you for coming along Blueblood, and for cheering me up back there."
Blueblood smiled at Cadance's thanks, he may not have wanted to be around other non-regal ponies, definitely not yelled at by a filly, but to see his cousin happy, it made today bearable for him. "Your welcome, now let's go get you a coltfriend."
***************
It was supposed to be a simple plan, get to the celebration, see Cadance, get alone with Cadance, then finally, confess feelings for Cadance, but no, things couldn't be that simple.
Shining Armor spent a good part of the past half-hour walking around the castle grounds looking for the mare of his dreams, but ended up just looking like an idiot going in circles.
One pony in particular managed to see said idiot walking in circles. Princess Celestia was overseeing more of the preparations for the upcoming celebration when she saw Shining Armor wandering around, and decided to find out about his curious wanderings.
"Shining Armor," Celestia called which immediately got the attention of the colt.
"Princess Celestia!" Shining Armor bowed to Celestia as she approached him.
"Are you looking for something? I saw you walking around for a while now."
Shining Armor rose up from his hooves to look at the sun goddess before him. "Actually, I'm looking for Cadance. Have you seen her, your majesty?"
"Oh, well she went to go meet with you about half an hour ago, but I haven’t seen her the rest of the morning. Do you need her for something Shining Armor?"
Shining Armor stood still for a few seconds before answering. He was going to tell Cadance how he felt one way or another, so might as well let her aunt know.
"I actually wanted to tell her how I felt about her," Shining Armor murmured as his nerves began to take hold of him.
"Oh?" Celestia urged for the slightly shaking colt to go on.
"I wanted to tell her that I like her, and that I've always liked her since the day I met her," Shining Armor continued, now a little less confident as he feared the reaction the ruler of Equestria would have after finding out a plain colt like him desires to be with her niece.
Before answering, a small smile made its way onto her face, and her magenta eyes began to glimmer. "Shining Armor, I'm sure she'd love to hear that. You are kind, a wonderful brother to Twilight and from what she has told me, fun to be around. You two would be perfect together.”
This was happening; he was getting a blessing from Princess Celestia! The shaking in his legs may have eased up by only a little bit, but the fear he felt was replaced with immeasurable joy.
"Here's your chance now Shining Armor," Celestia whispered to the exuberant colt.
Shining Armor quickly turned around to see Cadance, Stardust, Twilight, the now awake infant drake in her saddlebag... and him. The colt from yesterday, Blueblood.
"It's now or never Shining," Shining Armor told himself in a more or less certain tone. His thoughts were interrupted quickly by the shouts of a certain filly.
"Where were you?!? We've been waiting for you for the past half hour!"
Before Shining Armor answered his enraged sister, tiny hiccups began to come from Twilight’s saddlebag. That could only mean one thing: Spike. His hiccups were picking up pace, which normally meant...
“OH NO!!!” screamed Shining Armor as he ran towards Twilight and grabbed the infant dragon out of her saddlebag with his hooves, and stood up to point him away from the rest of the group. With one final gulp of air, Spike belched out emerald green flames all over the decorations that graced the front of the castle.
"Not again," Shining Armor groaned while the little drake laughed and clapped his claws together.
Panic showed on Cadance's face, the flames were growing, it may not have been a strong fire, but she didn’t want to take any chances with the possibility of the whole courtyard becoming a flame pit.
"I'm going to go help with the fire," Cadance said, biting her lip as she ran towards the slowly spreading fire.
Seeing that Cadance was going alone, Twilight realized the perfect opportunity for Shining Armor, and began to nudge at his side.
"Go help her, it's your turn to pick up after Spike anyway," Twilight ordered Shining Armor, cleverly concealing her intentions on getting him and Cadance alone.
"Okay, Twi," Shining Armor replied as he gave Spike back to Twilight to return on all fours. Wait, he was going to help Cadance, by himself, he was going to be alone with Cadance. Now was the time. "Cadance, I'm coming too."
Cadance stopped running towards the smoke, perking up as she saw that she was going to be alone with Shining Armor. Now was the time.
Before the two headed for the growing fire again, Blueblood motioned for Cadance to come speak with him. "Tell him. He's just friends with that Stardust mare, what's holding you back?" he sternly advised Cadance.
"Thanks, Blueblood," Cadance replied with unquestionable gratitude in her voice, then to Blueblood’s surprise, she pulled him into another appreciative embrace.
Seeing this display of affection left Shining Armor's ears to droop in a bit of sadness, yes he had resolved to confess to Cadance about his feelings, but it still chipped away at his ego seeing Cadance hug another colt that way. There appeared to be so much emotion behind it. He had to turn away to prevent himself from completely losing his resolve and going home with his tail between his legs.
Seeing this change in Shining’s mood, Stardust remembered something of grave importance,‘He still doesn't know,’ she thought as she started to walk towards him.
"Shiny, there's something ya gotta know before ya try anything."
"What is it?" Shining Armor asked, not quite out of his funk.
Before Stardust could say anything, both of them could hear Cadance yelling from about a good thirty feet away, apparently already breaking the embrace from Blueblood and in a hurry towards the emerald flames. "C'Mon Shining, I think the fire is getting larger!"
"Coming Cadance!" he yelled back before turning back to Stardust. "Sorry Star, gotta go."
"But it's really important, it's about Blueblood!" Shining Armor didn't listen. Before she even finished her sentence, Shining Armor was already sprinting towards Cadance and to the growing emerald fire, leaving Stardust to sigh in defeat.
‘Do love-crazy colts always act that way for their crush?’ Stardust asked herself. ‘Eh, what am I thinking, of course they do. Suit yourself Shiny.’
***************
Magical auras of many colors surrounded the flames that burned through various paper-based decor that lined various statues and stages in the front courtyard of the castle. Spike's flames managed to burn stronger than before and spread farther into the decor, but even through all the chaos, one unicorn was handling the situation like it was nothing.
"Does this happen often?" Cadance asked as her light blue aura managed to compress and extinguish more flames.
"About three to five times a month," Shining Armor answered dryly upon remembering all the instances Spike's fire belches have resulted in trouble for him, one of them just being the day before at the library. Shining Armor's light purple aura surrounded a huge chunk of flames and, in a few seconds, they were completely extinguished.
"I think that's the last of them," said Shining Armor, looking around to see that all the green flames were gone.
Everypony else that helped in putting the fire out already scattered to find replacement decorations or to continue with what they were already working on, leaving Shining Armor and Cadance as the only two in the area.
Shining Armor couldn't help but look at Cadance as she cleaned up the remaining ashes with her magic. She was gorgeous, those lively and caring purple eyes that gleamed in the almost summer sun, her carefully groomed pink coat, even her quickly put up ponytail seemed to captivate Shining Armor beyond comprehensible levels. It wasn't just her looks that enticed Shining Armor, her caring nature, her laugh, the way she is able to brighten everything around her up, it drove him nuts.
'Now or never Shining Armor,’ he thought to himself as he pulled himself out of his admiration-induced trance and prepared himself for what he planned to do.
"Cadance?"
"Yes Shining?" Cadance asked back with a little too much enthusiasm.
"There's something I need to talk to you about."
"I need to tell you something too," Cadance replied, still trying to keep 'Determined Cadance' standing.
"Let me go first, it's really important," said Shining Armor as his forehead began to perspire under his blue bangs.
Cadance didn't argue back, his eyes spoke out 'I need to say this', a rare sight considering how often she saw Shining Armor stumble and barely speak right when he was around her, except for yesterday at the library. She knew that he liked her... was he going to be the one to confess first?
"Cadance,"
"Yeah, Shining Armor?" silence fell on the two for a few seconds before Shining Armor continued shakily.
"Ever since you started to foal sit for Twilight, I've... I've had this crush on you,” Shining Armor said the last bit as fast as possible, turning his head and closing his eyes, fearful of her reaction. He gritted his teeth together as his mind tortuously played out her possible reactions; one of which included her left-hoof to his face.
'Oh my gosh!’ Cadance thought. A smile started forming on her face, and those eyes that Shining Armor loved began to glimmer in the most beautiful way possible.
"I shouldn't be telling you this..." Shining Armor continued, earning a confused look from his crush as he went on. "You already look happy with that Blueblood fella, but I just wanted to tell you how I've been feeling for you."
That Blueblood comment is where he lost her. "Wait, me and Blueblood?" asked Cadance, trying to wrap her mind around the concept.
"Yeah, I hope you guys are happy together," Shining Armor congratulated as he tilted his head towards the ground, trying to hide his heartbreak to avoid further embarrassment.
"Shining, Blueblood's my cousin."
The world around Shining Armor seemed to stop or at the very least slowed down significantly after that piece of information leaked out of Cadance's mouth. Cousins. They were cousins, and he just found that out. Even though the possibility of her being unavailable was eliminated, there was the fact that Shining Armor just told his crush that he thought she was going out with her cousin.
Out of all the things he has done to embarrass himself in front of Cadance; the stuttering, the bookshelf incident, and many more instances, this had to take the cake.
"You thought I was going out with Blueblood?" Cadance asked in a quizzical tone and arched eyebrows.
Time seemed to return to normal as Cadance's question processed through Shining Armor's mind, but that still didn't stop his eyes from growing wide and his pupils from contracting into tiny black dots. He had to answer her, even if it was going to make him look like a foal.
"Yes," he answered with a filly-like squeak.
What happened next was completely expected on Shining Armor's part. The trembling smile first appearing on Cadance's face transformed into uncontrollable fits of hysterical laughter. She went on laughing for a good three minutes straight. She even fell over on her back grasping her stomach with her forelimbs to make the laughing pains go away, but to no avail.
This un-princess like fit of hysterics left Shining Armor half-humiliated and half-impressed at how long Cadance could go on laughing, but what she explained through gasps of air took him completely off-guard.
"I'm sorry Shining Armor, but... but I'm not laughing just at what... what you thought," a few more chuckles escaped her mouth before she continued on, this time not laughing and gasping in the middle of each sentence. "I thought the exact same thing with you and Stardust, and I'm laughing at myself for completely overreacting to the whole thing.”
That was new info to Shining Armor, but it did fill him with new hope. "Why would you be overreacting?" Shining Armor was leaning in closer to Cadance to emphasize his desire for her to go on.
'It's now or never,’ Cadance’s mind said in an urging manner. "Shining Armor," said Cadance to the awaiting unicorn.
"Yeah?" Shining Armor was leaning in even closer, causing Cadance to back away for space.
"I like you too," Cadance almost whispered with a tender smile.
That tender smile was met with one on Shining Armor's face that was at least five times as big. If this was a dream, he didn't want to wake up. The mare of his dreams just told him that she likes him! His heart began to swell up, and his eyes began to glitter like diamonds, just like the way he always envisioned her eyes.
"Really?!?" Shining Armor asked, leaning towards Cadance even more with a big goofy smile and expanded cerulean eyes.
"Yes, but I need to tell you something," Cadance tried to explain, causing Shining Armor to drop his smile and contract his eyes back to their normal size, yet still somehow managing to defy physics as he remained in his way too far lean towards Cadance without falling over. His heart that swelled up just moments ago, began to tighten up as he awaited what he believed would be the start of a nightmare in his short-lived dream of love.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't know you felt this way about me, and I feel bad that I never was able to express my feelings to you. But...." Cadance sighed before she began to open up to Shining Armor. She invited him for a reason, and she was gonna hold to that.
"All my life, I've been a bit overprotected, being a princess and all. I never got to interact with other ponies, and never got to experience what it was like to have feelings for somepony. You and Twilight were the only other ponies I got to really interact with, and as I got to know you more, I saw how you would get whenever you saw me. How you'd start sweating, how you would start stuttering whenever I talked to you, how you'd swoooon over me." Cadance teased at that last part as she put a hoof on her forehead and leaned to her side, mimicking a love struck pony, leaving Shining Armor a bit red in the face.
"So, like I said, I just didn't know how to return your feelings for me because I had no idea how I felt myself. You were cute, funny, fun to be around, and you always managed to make me smile... even if it was because you were being a goof." A small laugh escaped from Cadance as she remembered all the times Shining Armor made a fool of himself whenever he tried to talk to her.
Shining Armor couldn't help but smile as well, even though his face was still red; he couldn't help but smile whenever he heard that angelic laugh of hers.
"It wasn't until yesterday," Cadance continued, "that I decided to tell you about this, and as I was going to come find you, I saw you hugging that mare, Stardust."
Shining Armor had been listening intently, and upon hearing that part of Cadance's explanation, he saw why Cadance could have thought what she thought. He couldn’t help but cringe a bit as he found out he was the source of her troubles.
“Cadance, I, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that you felt that wa-”
"It’s okay Shining, it’s not like I tried to tell you how I felt before that anyway," said Cadance, trying to ease his guilt that she knew he was feeling. "There was one thing that came out of seeing that though."
Shining Armor cocked his head at this, signaling Cadance to explain a bit more.
"After seeing you guys like that, I thought my heart was going to implode or something... and that's when I realized how I felt about you. If I felt jealousy and fear for you already having a marefriend, I knew then that I really like you." Cadance paused for a bit to see Shining Armor's small smile turn a bit larger after her last sentence.
"I'm sorry that I made you wait this long to finally open up to you on this," Cadance apologized with a more somber tone and lowering her head.
Shining Armor, after returning to a normal anatomical position, walked up to his crush. He lifted her head up with one of his blue hoofs to look at her straight in the eyes.
"Cadance, you don't need to apologize. I shouldn't have taken so long to build up the confidence to tell you how I felt myself," Shining Armor comforted. "Besides," he continued, "I would've waited sooooo much longer for you anyways."
The glimmer returned to Cadance's eyes, this time stronger and even more beautiful than before. He would have waited. What more could a mare want to hear?
"So there's just one more question to ask," Shining Armor began as he took his hoof off of Cadence's chin.
"What is it?" Cadance asked back with anticipation.
"Would you like to go out with me tomorrow after the celebration?"
'Oh by Auntie, he really asked!’ A huge smile graced across Cadance's face before she answered. "I would love to."
She said yes, this wasn’t a dream, he had a date with Cadance. "Dinner? Around 7:00?" he asked.
"Sounds lovely," Cadance cooed as she batted her eyelashes at him. "But first, why don't we finish the preparations for tomorrow," said Cadance as she began a slow trot towards the front of the castle where her cousin, aunt, Twilight, Spike, and Stardust awaited for them.
"Okay, Cadance," agreed the ecstatic unicorn, making his way towards Cadance and the front of the castle.
***************
Shining Armor and Cadance returned to the front of the castle to see Princess Celestia and Blueblood standing by the stairs, discussing further work to be done on the preparations, leaving Blueblood to moan at the thought of more work.
“Aunt Celestia, we’re back,” Cadance beamed in a cheery tone. Of course she’d be happy considering she was just asked out by her crush.
“Cadance, glad to have you back,” responded Celestia before turning to Shining Armor.
“Shining Armor, Twilight insisted on helping with the preparations, so I sent her and your friend to gather some replacement decorations for the ones Spike burned. Your friend, Stardust I believe?” Shining Armor nodded to Celestia for confirmation to continue on. “She asked me to tell you to meet her and Twilight by the royal gardens so she can tell you ‘Shoulda listened to me Shiny’”
Now he remembered, Stardust tried to tell him something about Blueblood before he left to put the flames out with Cadance. ‘Probably should’ve listened,’ Shining Armor thought as he let his ears droop and his face turned red once again.
“Well, better get it over with,” droned Shining Armor, not ready for the ‘told ya so’ attitude he knew he was going to face.
“Cadance, I need you and Blueblood to come with me for some special preparations,” explained Celestia as she saw her niece try to tag along with Shining Armor.
“Okay, Aunt Celestia,” sighed the pink alicorn in defeat as she headed back towards her family, but not before waving goodbye to her new found crush.
“Bye, Cadance,” said Shining Armor as he ran through the courtyard towards the royal gardens.
“Bye, Shining Armor,” Cadance yelled back, her crush already far ahead. “So what are these ‘special preparations’?” asked Cadance, turning to face her aunt who bore a sneaky smile like she had just pulled a prank on somepony.
“There are none, I just wanted to find out how things went,” chuckled the sun goddess, Blueblood joining in with her little laughs.
“Auntie!?!” Cadance stammered in disbelief.
“Come on Cadance, just tell us how things went, did you have to be the one to ask him out?” Blueblood asked with a disapproving tone thinking about Cadance having to be the one to ask out Shining Armor instead of it being the other way around.
It was her family that was asking, and she already felt like screaming to the whole world that she felt like the happiest mare in the world, so why not let them in on the status of things? “We talked some things out, and this happened and that happened, and now I’ve got a date for tomorrow night!” Cadance squealed at the mention of her date.
“Way to go Cadance,” Blueblood congratulated by giving his cousin a light hug with a forelimb, “I still think you can do better than a library assistant, but if he makes you happy.”
“Blueblood,” Celestia said with a stern tone aimed at the white unicorn.
“I said as long as he makes her happy,” defended Blueblood.
It was true, at least he was trying. Celestia just rolled her eyes and faced her niece. “I’m happy for you too Cadance. Where is he taking you?”
“I don’t know, he’s gonna take me to dinner, but he never told me where. I just hope he doesn’t think he needs to go all out to impress me,” answered Cadance as she broke away from Blueblood’s embrace. “What I do know is that I have a date with Shining Armor,” Cadance proudly announced to her family once again.
She has a date with Shining Armor, that along with something else registered in Celestia’s mind. 'Shoot, I owe Twilight ten bits.’