//------------------------------// // The King // Story: My Shining Love // by DraconequusMaximus //------------------------------// The empire did indeed seem grimmer than even the first time Spike had seen it when it was under siege. It had no sense of danger as it had back then, but everything seemed so lifeless now. The coats of the crystal ponies were barely bright enough to distinguish them from other ponies and the buildings had lost their luster as well. The group of guards showed him to the palace which seemed duller than any of the other buildings they had passed. Spike noticed something strange about the palace beyond the lack of shine. "Where are all the other guards?" Spike asked the guard captain with a raised brow. "His majesty stations us everywhere but here, there's an invisible barrier keeping out anyone with hostile intent. He implemented it so we could watch the rest of the empire... but we think it's also so he doesn't have to see anypony other than what's necessary to run the kingdom." The guard replied weakly . Spike purposely thought of doing something violent and tried walking ahead. BWONG He was repelled by the barrier and fell backwards onto his scaly rump. Annoyed by this he dusted himself off and stood back up. He pulled his arm back with claws balled into a fist and struck the forcefield. Everypony gasped as magenta cracks appeared in thin air. Spike flattened his claws and struck the epicenter of the cracks. The barrier became visible as Spike's arm went through it, it flickered for a moment before vanishing entirely. The guards looked at him in awe but said nothing as the dragon walked into the castle. Spike had little difficulty finding the throne room as dragons had ever sharpening memories to compete with their vast lifespan and he had been here only a few years before. There sitting upon the throne was a tired shell of a stallion he had known nearly his entire life. In the center of the room was the crystal heart being fed magic from Shining himself who had his eyes closed in focus on his task. "Shining Armor?" Spike said aloud startling the stallion in question. This caused him to lose control of the heart which clattered to the ground. "Who goes there?" Shining said as he regained his composure and looked directly at the source of the interruption. "Spike? Are you the one going around breaching my defenses? I've tripled my barrier strength since I left Equestria, how are you doing it?" He asked with anger in his eyes. "Well hello to you too! I haven't seen you in five years and the first thing you do is chew me out? No Hi, how are you buddy? or Wow you've grown! You shut yourself off from everypony after the attack! We were worried about you! Twilight is too busy now but I came to see you for her benefit." Spike said with smoke coming from his nostrils. "You are in violation of Crystal Law, you illegally breached our borders. Now prepare to be detained." Shining said dodging Spike's accusations completely as he placed a bubble around the irate dragon. Spike merely inhaled all the air he could & burned away the forcefield like it was made of wax. Shining's eyes widened as the freed dragon pounced at him. All he could do was light his horn in preparation before Spike was upon him. Spike saw the magic forming and used his thumb and pointer to extinguish it like a candle. He then lifted up the stallion by his horn and looked him in the eye. "We are going to work this out Shining. I don't care if I have to snap your horn to get you to calm down. I'd rather not do that but these shields are pissing me off. Think you can behave if I put you down?" Spike practically snarled. "Y-Yes." Shining replied through the pounding headache he was now experiencing. At this he was placed back onto his throne gently by the familiar assailant. "Good, now why have you sealed yourself off from everything?" Spike said looking at him with a serious expression. "I-I failed her, I was supposed to protect everyone like my cutie mark says. I let that monster take Cadence from me, I can't face them anymore. Mom, Dad, Twilight, the princesses... they were all counting on me to be the perfect knight for her but Chrysalis killed her before I could even get there." Shining said through tears that streamed steadily down his face. Spike could see the anger in his eyes had been replaced by the saddest look of defeat he had ever seen. "Shining, no one could have predicted what happened and nopony expects you to be perfect. We miss her almost as much as you do, but we miss you just as much. We need to get you back on your hooves and fix the empire. Things are getting bad out there without the crystal ponies being happy enough to use the heart properly." Spike said as he placed a claw on Shining's back reassuring the stallion that his words were sincere. The two stayed there for awhile before Shining fully regained his composure. The guards eventually ventured into the throne room to see their king & their hero reminiscing about old times. They could tell that Shining had been crying but said nothing of it. "Sirs? The main barrier is failing but the weather dome that keeps the cold out is holding with reserve power." The guard captain reluctantly interrupted. Shining thought on this for a moment before answering. "Let it fall, we're going back to the way things my wife would have wanted them to be. We need to organize a crystal fair pronto, I was a fool to think I could keep everything running with force and magic. Things are going to get better colts, but it's going to take some effort." Shining replied, once again adopting a tone fit for a true leader. The guards stood open mouthed for a moment before Spike motioned for them to get a move on, they obliged him but he stopped the last one before he could leave. "Please take the crystal heart back to it's proper place too." He said as he used his long prehensile tail to grab it from it's place on the palace floor. The guard smiled & walked up to Spike who placed it on the stallion's back. The stallion trotted off quickly to complete his task. Spike chuckled a little before looking back to Shining. The stallion he had always admired when he was young looked older than he really was due to the stress he put himself under while ruling alone with might and magic. He was still an attractive stallion to be sure but his mane was visibly lighter than it once had been and there were deep bags under his eyes. Wait... did I just think that he was attractive? Spike asked himself silently. His thoughts were interrupted before he could dwell on them further. "Spike? I was thinking, you're very popular here and you're also obviously capable of putting me in my place when I lose it. Would you consider sticking around awhile? At least until the empire is up and running again?" Shining asked looking up at his draconian friend. Spike had intended to help out for awhile, but it couldn't hurt to set some conditions. "Fine, sounds like a plan. But once all is said and done we're calling everypony up here for a visit or no deal. Got it?" He asked holding a claw out to the much smaller stallion. Shining was obviously hesitant but sighed and placed his hoof in Spike's claw. "You've got yourself a deal. Now, let's get some rest we've got a lot of my mistakes to undo tomorrow." He said as they shook. This would be the beginning of a very complicated series of events.