Shining Armor’s eyes cracked open as pain surged through his ribs for the umpteenth time.
The bright rays of sunlight shining throughout the Golden Oaks Library (and in his face) indicated that it was early morning and that it couldn’t have been more than a half hour ago before Princess Celestia began to raise the sun.
He looked over to the nightstand to see if any letters came for him while he slipped in and out of consciousness during the night and was dismayed to see none before realizing that no news was probably a good thing-as even if Cadence wasn’t getting any better-at the very least she wasn’t getting any worse-and he could take solace in that fact.
Sitting up, he could see that Spike was still curled up in the basket at the food of the bed and snoozing peacefully.
Stretching, he winced as the action caused another surge of pain to course through his broken bones before lightly massaging it with a hoof in a futile attempt to ease the pain when he noticed that he was still wearing the same shirt from the day before.
Realizing this, he was about to get changed before there was a knock at the library door.
Opening it with his magic revealed the same Pegasus he had met the day before.
“Oh, hey Rainbow Dash-right?” he greeted.
She was standing at the doorway, rubbing her foreleg anxiously.
“Hey, Shining Armor.” Dash replied in a detached tone. “Do you think I could I come in?”
“Uh, yeah sure.” He replied, taken off-guard not only from her showing up at the library first thing in the morning, but the fact that she seemed to be the polar opposite of the mare he had met the day before.
“Everything alright, Dash?” he asked, his voice filled with concern.
Rainbow Dash slowly cantered past him before dropping down onto Twilight’s bed with her hind legs hanging over the edge and her forelegs hanging limply at her sides as she stared down at the ground.
“No…” she uttered, her voice raspier than he remembered.
“My boss did fire me.”
“I-I’m sorry to hear that.” Shining replied. “Did he say why?”
Dash’s head nodded slightly.
“He said that I was too lazy and that I don’t contribute.” She replied, despondently.
“I mean yeah, I take a lot of naps, but I’ve always filled my quota…I don’t get it.”
“He’s never had a problem with your napping before?” Shining asked, curiously.
Dash shook her head.
“No, he said he didn’t really care how I worked as long as I didn’t bother anyone else and got the job done.” She sighed.
“Do you think those guys from yesterday complained to him about you?” Shining pressed.
“No,” she replied almost instantly. “They work in the weather factory, they don’t have anything to do with actual controlling it-they’re two different departments under the management-there’s no why they could know what I do or have it affect them in any way.”
Shining Armor briefly wondered why Rainbow Dash came to him instead of one of her friends after they’d just met before a thought occurred to him.
He slowly sat next to her on the bed.
“Rainbow Dash, this is very important-aside from firing you, was your boss acting strange in any way?”
“Yeah…” she replied. “He’s normally pretty cool, but lately he’s been pretty angry and violent, why do ask?”
Shining was about to pull himself up from the bed before pain surged through his ribs once again.
“Gah!” he groaned as he fell back onto the bed, clutching his side.
“What’s wrong?” Dash asked, alarmed.
The commotion caused Spike to wake up and look over at the two ponies over the edge of his basket.
“My ribs are broken…” Shining growled through the pain.
“WHAT!?”
“Listen, Dash…what I’m about to tell you is something you can’t tell anyone because I’m under orders from Princess Celestia herself to keep this information top secret.” He continued, through a strained voice.
“Then why are you telling me this?” Dash asked.
“Because I think it’s very important for you to know, there was an attack on Canterlot recently by a race of shape-shifters known as ‘Changelings’ we know very little about them, but it seems like they work best through taking the place of friends and loved ones.” He explained.
“Is that how you got hurt?” Dash pressed.
“Yeah, I was Captain of the Royal Guard back in Canterlot before I was sent her to take a break until I recovered, but now I think one of them may be in Cloudsdale taking the place of your boss…there might even be some here in Ponyville.”
“And you’re going to what, somehow get up to Cloudsdale and kick my boss’s flank?” she challenged. “As much as I ‘d like to see that, how do you plan on getting all the way up there and do that with your ribs all busted up?”
Shining Armor punched the mattress in a mixture of physical pain and frustration.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “I hate being like this, I feel so useless stuck lying around all day while my friends are all out there risking their lives.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Dash replied. “This one time I was doing this really cool stunt while I was flying, but something went wrong and I broke my wing before I found out I had to be stuck in the hospital for a week.”
“This wouldn’t be so frustrating if there was some way for my body to heal faster.” Shining growled in irritation.
Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up at this before she turned to him.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea-I’ll be right back!” she exclaimed before she literally flew out the door in a surprising renewal of energy and speed.
“What was that about?” Shining Armor asked.
“With Rainbow Dash, who knows?” Spike replied, getting up from his basket.
“Rainbow Dash can never sit still for more than ten seconds.”
“Do you think she might know of some kind of medicine to help me with my ribs?” Shining pressed.
“I doubt it.” Spike replied, pushing a small wooden stool next to the counter so he could pull a bowl out from the cupboard.
“Well, what about other medical experts?” Shining insisted. “Like Doctors?”
“There’s Doctor Stable, Nurse Redheart, and The Vet.” Spike replied, pouring himself a bowl of cereal, which quickly began to overflow.
“Oh, and there’s Zecora.” He added as an afterthought, while struggling to lift a gallon of milk.
“Are you sure you don’t need help with that?” Shining asked, watching the baby dragon.
“Nah, I got it.”
Shining Armor laid back on the bed in an attempt to ease the pressure in his side.
“So, who is this Zecora?” he asked, curiously.
“She’s a Zebra.” Spike replied through a mouthful of cereal as milk dribbled from his chin.
“She lives in the middle of the Everfree Forest and makes all kinds of potions and stuff.”
At this point Spike began coughing as the price to pay for trying to talk and eat at the exact same time.
Shining Armor was about to get up to help him before Spike let out a colossal belch, resulting in a large emerald flame incinerating the upper half of his cereal box as a rolled up letter dropped onto the table.
“You alright?” Shining asked.
“Yeah…” Spike replied hoarsely, as he wiped the milk and bits of cereal from his chin with the back of his claw.
“That’s why you shouldn’t talk with your mouth full.” Shining Armor chastised as he levitated the scroll over to himself.
“You sound just like Twilight.” Spike replied in an exasperated tone as he rolled his eyes.
Shining Armor ignored this statement as he unfurled the scroll and began reading its content;
My beloved Shining Armor,
I have awoken in the middle of the night when a guard outside of my room informed me of what happened while I slept and the dire situation that Equestria is currently in.
Before this letter goes any further I would like to apologize for the injuries you have sustained on my behalf.
As I understand it, Twilight is being taught new powerful, secret magic to help defend Ponyville if the current Changeling threat should target the small town to get to the Elements of Harmony or silence their bearers.
Flash Sentry has given orders to search for Changelings and any information related to them.
I’m afraid that this information is not the only purpose for this letter, however…
Ever since I awoke and heard of your injuries, guilt and doubt have plagued my mind, causing me to wonder if you had only taken up your position as a royal guard to protect me after we began dating.
Perhaps, if I never came into your life you would not be suffering as much as you are now.
It is with much regret that I write these words and it is not a decision that I have taken lightly, but I am afraid of what will happen if our relationship continues and while it breaks my heart to write these words, it would destroy me if you lost your life due to some foolish notion of gallantry on your part.
I am truly sorry, but know that I love you now and forever…
-Cadance
Shining Armor felt his eyes water as his chest began to ache, he read the letter several times over, but it still didn’t make any sense to him.
At first he thought this was some kind of sick joke, but this was far too mean-spirited for any kind of prank Cadance was capable of.
He also considered the possibility that it was written by a Changeling, who had somehow found a way to send letters to him…but, the penmanship and the dried teardrops on the letter seemed to point to the contrary.
It didn’t make any sense to him; she said that she was afraid of losing him, but he was the one who failed her, which is was the reason she was put into such a condition in the first place.
One of the things Shining had always admired most about her was Cadance’s seemingly endless supply or kindness and compassion for her subjects and now it seemed to be the cause for them to be no longer in a relationship together.
For the first time since he was injured, Shining Armor felt like crying.