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// Sleep deprivation is a wonderful thing 
// Story: Short stories about ponies and whatnot 
// by shutaro 
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	Shining Armor was one proud unicorn. He had beaten all the fast pegasus ponies and the sturdy earth ponies too. Of course he had been the best of the unicorns. But coming out of the week-long cross country survival exercise as the fasted and without being spotted by the ‘enemy’, the trainers had not expected that. Or maybe at least one had: Sgt. Iron Hide had hoofed an old boot to one of the Cloudsdale trainers with a very smug grin.
But all the pride in the world was not enough to keep him going after this exertion. Once you start dreaming of your cot at the barracks, you know there is something seriously wrong with your head, Iron Hide had said. And right now the cot was the only thing on this mind.
It took some time before he registered the voice and the pony in front of him. Stony look, golden uniform, there was only one thing to do. He saluted.
“Thank you Sir, I couldn’t have done it without the training under Sgt. Iron Hide, Sir.”
A hoof turned his head and now that his brain was coming up to speed he realized that he had saluted one of the statues at the barrack’s entrance. He couldn’t quite remember how he had gotten here, but barracks equaled cot equaled heaven. Or something along those lines. For a moment he wondered about the word equal. He could not think of a rhyme for it. How pecku... pecqu... odd. And the way you had to pucker up your lips to say it. So funny. It was all he could do not to fall over in a fit of giggles. Then a tan hoof waved through his field of vision and it only took a few seconds until Shining Armor realized that the owner of this hoof might want to talk to him. Well, let’s see what the old slavedriver wants.
“By Celestia’s horn,” Iron Hide sighed. “If you really beat the elite from Cloudsdale with that kind of performance we might just roll over once the griffins come knocking next time.”
Once again Shining Armor did what any soldier would do when in doubt. His salute was extra sharp and the “Sir, yes, Sir” sounded like he had just gotten out of basic training. At least it sounded so to him. His sergeant had a twitch under his left eye that Shining Armor had come to associate with the smell of helmet polish.
“You will report to the chambers of Princess Celestia, Shining Armor!”
Polish the royal armor? That was new.
“Cadet, I have given you an order. Why do I not hear the sound of hooves?”
“Sir, sorry, Sir. I was wondering if the royal armor needs special princess polish. Sir.”
Iron Hide took Shining Armor’s head with one hoof and looked him in the eye. “You will now go and pay Princess Celestia a visit. I don’t have the slightest idea what she wants with a first year rookie but questioning her is not my job. There will be no talk about polishing armor, you will not smile, you will do as she asks and you will go there now.” The hoof retreated and Shining Armor saluted, “Sir! Yes sir!”-ed, saluted again for good measure and started to walk away.
“ON THE DOUBLE!”

When his brain caught up his legs had already led him to Celestia’s chambers. He saluted to the guard, stated his name and was pointed to a bucket of water, a brush and some breath mints.
After he had broken the third brush one of the chambermaids finally took pity on him. A bucket of ice cold water cleared away some of the cobwebs in his brain and Shining Armor managed to have a conversation with her. Not that there was much to talk about. She was hardly interested in his tales about the exercise and he had nothing to say about her comments on the poor state of his mane and tail. It only took about ten minutes, a quick mane wash and a second bucket of ice water, then he was deemed presentable. He sucked another breath mint, walked up to the guard again, saluted and was ushered into the room.

Celestia sat on a carpet in front of a fireplace, a heap of scrolls beside her. The Princess smiled at him. “You must be Shining Armor, I have heard so much about you.”
“Princess, thank you, Princess.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Relax, my little pony. You are here because I want to talk to you about a very special pony.”
Shining’s thoughts shifted into overdrive. There were two ponies she could mean: The one would be bad, the other would be worse. So he fell back on what he knew. Salute, “Yes, Princess, thank you, Princess.”
Suddenly a scroll appeared in the air, Celestia caught it in her magic, read it, nodded, made a signature and placed it on the little heap. “I see. Well, let me congratulate on your victory in the exercise -”
Salute, “Princess, thank you, Princess.”
“It seems you are not the only one in a ... strange state of mind. This morning my dear niece went missing and my pupil gave a very funny comment on that. Something along the lines of ‘Cadence is always mopey when Shiny is not around.’ And then my guards found her hiding in your locker. What do you think about that? And don’t salute now.”
Shining Armor could stop his hoof in time, but the effort made him fall over on his side. Picking himself up from the undignified position he at least found a second to arrange his thoughts. It was time to face the music.
“Permission to speak freely, your majesty?”
Celestia gave a short nod.
“I have no idea why Cadence would hide in my locker. But I know that I’m not exactly myself right now, so the might be the sleep depre ... depri ... I’m really tired right now. But I know that once I am sober again my first thought will be of her. Like every day when I wake up and every night when I go to sleep. She is the reason I push myself so hard. Because I have to prove that I am worthy and that I can protect her.”
Celestia smiled and winked at Shining Armor. She pointed her horn at the door and in a loud plopp the wood simply disappeared. It revealed a very ashamed pink alicorn, a young lavender unicorn and a guard hogtied in a pinkish aura.
Celestia grinned. “Cadence, that is not how a princess should behave. I am very proud of you. You’re finally starting to think like a real pony and not like some pampered noble. Shining Armor, you will now escort my niece to her quarters so she may think about what she has learned today. I will inform your superiors that you have earned one, let’s say two days of special leave for being the first unicorn to win the survival exercise.” Shining Armor was taken by surprise, his sleep-addled mind did not even come up with the most basic routine.

--- TIME ---

The amusement was plain in Celestia’s voice. “You may salute now, Shining Armor.” He did just that. 
Meanwhile Twilight had strolled over, the guard still in tow. She hugged her brother around a leg and giggled. “Shiny, your mane smells like the Princess.”
He ruffled her hair, then walked over to Cadence who was still blushing under her coat for being found eavesdropping. Once he had crossed the room’s threshold the door reappeared and he could hear his sister’s surprised squeal, the short and quite girly scream of a guard and the clang of armor on stone.
But all this registered only as secondary. Because Cadence was already leading him down the corridor, into her room and onto the balcony where they shared a rug.
They looked into each other’s eyes, her lips found his and when they parted Shining Armor was already fast asleep.