//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: First Comes Love // Story: Allegiance // by Just a tree //------------------------------// After a visit to Shining Armor’s quarters to drop off his gear, Cadance and her Guard left the castle for a much cozier abode. Shining Armor’s parents lived in the upscale residential district, just outside the castle walls. Glad for a brief reprieve from her new responsibilities, Cadance’s thoughts drifted towards memories of high school nights spent in the cheerful warmth of Shining Armor’s home. She wondered aloud, “It must be really nice, living so close.” Shining Armor nodded. “Yeah, it is. Whenever Twily and I want to visit, it’s just a couple minutes away, and Mom and Dad are glad we both stayed in Canterlot.” For a moment, he regretfully thought about how Twilight wasn’t home tonight, but quickly reminded himself that it was selfish to want to keep her from leaving. After all, Celestia herself had sent Twilight away. He looked back at Cadance. “But you don’t need to ask what it’s like, right? I mean, your family is … um ...” Shining Armor realized that he actually only knew one of Cadance’s relatives, and he wasn’t sure how close a family Cadance and her adoptive aunt were. Feeling guilty for just assuming Cadance had been raised in the same way he was, he apologized, “Uh, sorry. I guess it’s a little different for royalty.” Cadance’s eyes widened. “No, it’s ok! You’re right, Aunt Celestia is close by all the time, I probably even talk to her more often than you get to talk to your parents. It’s just that …” She bit her lip. Celestia had always taken good care of her, so she needed to find the right words to say how she felt. Haltingly, Cadance said, “She’s … distant. She always has good advice, always says the right thing, but it’s hard to … I don’t know, understand her, sometimes.” Shining Armor thought about how he saw Celestia. She was the Princess of Equestria, the Royal Guard’s commander-in-chief. It was his duty to follow her orders without question. He didn’t need to understand Princess Celestia, but he had at least expected Cadance to know more about her. “That’s kind of surprising, ‘cause I think most ponies would say they understand her. She’s the pony who raises the sun and the moon.” Cadance looked at him, confused by the oversimplification. Shining Armor quickly explained, “I know there’s more to her than that, and I thought you knew her well enough to actually understand her.” The confusion faded from Cadance’s face, slowly turning into contemplativeness. “I don’t know if anypony knows her that well. She doesn’t treat me too differently from other ponies. I don’t think she’s allowed to.” Cadance mused. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow, so she continued, “When she adopted me as her niece, I became part of the royal family, with all the princes and cousins and relatives. They’re all really proud of their positions, but they’re only royalty because their ancestors were Princess Celestia’s family, that’s all. Nopony knows exactly how they’re related anymore, but they call themselves nieces and nephews because their relationship is so important to their nobility.” “Seems almost like an excuse, when you put it like that.” Shining Armor observed. Cadance gave a little smile at his brazenly blunt assessment. “Don’t let them hear that, they’re very defensive about it,” she warned. “Since they can’t prove how closely related they are, they take the next best thing, which is how much Celestia favors them.” Shining Armor’s eyes widened. A pony with favor from Celestia was very fortunate indeed. “Who does she favor?” Without a real answer, Cadance said, “Who knows? She doesn’t give many signs. She spends more time with some ponies than others, but there’s always a reason for it. If she acted differently towards somepony, there’d be all kinds of trouble.” She took a breath in and sighed. “Sometimes I’m not sure I like being part of the royal family.” Shining Armor watched her walk with her head bowed. He hadn’t known how important the matter of family was to royalty, but then a thought occurred to him. “Maybe in a way, you’re not. Maybe Celestia doesn’t see you as one of them.” Cadance looked up as he kept talking. “None of the others are directly related to her, but Celestia specifically made you her niece. Your cousins are royalty, but you’re Celestia’s family.” Cadance mulled over the possibility. It was an outside perspective – she wouldn’t have thought that being adopted made her closer to the Princess than her actual relatives. “I guess so.” Shining Armor pressed on, “And she choose you to take over for tomorrow.” That caused her to groan in annoyance. “I was trying not think about that, but …” She had been reluctant to accept the duty, but Celestia did have her best interests at heart. “You’re right. Celestia might not show it often, but she’s my aunt. My family.” She smiled, a little happier to know that she was tied to Celestia by more than just her royalty. As they turned the corner and Shining Armor’s house came into view, she let herself lean her head against his. “Thanks.” Taking care not to jostle her, he glanced over and wondered if he should say something, but decided to just enjoy the moment. The sounds of the Summer Sun Celebration were far off, and the walk down the street was peaceful. Eventually, they came up to his house. On the door step, he finally broke the silence. “Still, I guess it’s a relief to get out of the castle, huh? There’s no politics or scheming here, just Mom, Dad, and Twily, when she can make it.” Cadance lifted her head to look at him, smirking. “No schemes, huh? I seem to remember one or two …” He hadn’t been thinking about it, but Shining Armor remembered those. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat. “Well, uh … ok, maybe just a few, but the point is you don’t need to worry here.” Cadance rolled her eyes. His credibility in doubt, Shining Armor said, “I’m serious! I’ll never give you anything to be concerned about.” Cadance remained unconvinced, her smile saying that his previous burst of charisma had come to an end. His dignity an irretrievable loss for now, he turned in defeat and knocked a hoof against the door. Despite her teasing, Cadance did believe Shining Armor. His antics at the Academy formal weren’t nearly as devious as what her cousins got up to. Besides, it was endearing how much overeager bumbling and unlikely success he had gone through in the name of impressing her. As they waited, she thought of the last time she had seen Twilight Velvet and Night Light. Really, the only reason she had had to go to their house before was to foalsit for them, and the last time she had done that was years ago, before Twily got her cutie mark. Cadance probably hadn’t even started wearing her regalia regularly yet. So much had changed since then. There was the Academy graduation, Shining Armor’s enlistment in the Guard, their falling in love, and of course tonight, the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. There was so much to … talk … about … The night air suddenly seemed to grow colder. The other things could be dealt with, but love was different. She didn’t remember ever getting introduced to Shining Armor’s parents as his girlfriend. That meant that it might happen tonight, and she wasn’t ready for that. It would be so much harder to face his parents if they didn’t already know. This was just supposed to be a relaxing visit, hanging out with Shining Armor over dinner, she really hoped they already knew – hesitantly, she asked, “Um, you told them about … us, right?” Cadance watched Shining Armor’s comically glum expression slowly become blank as he remained silent. He opened his mouth to say something just as the sound of hoofsteps came from the other side of the door. It opened before they had any time to react. Light spilled out, revealing a blue-maned stallion who peered out at the ponies on his doorstep. His face lit up when he saw who it was. “Shining Armor! You didn’t tell us you were visiting! We would have – wait … you look just like you did whenever we caught Twily running around with you and your delinquent friends.” He squinted at his son, scrutinizing the nervous colt. “What did you do this time, mister?” Suspiciously, he turned to the mare standing next to Shining Armor. His eyes shot wide open. “Princess Cadance!” he exclaimed. Evidently he hadn’t been expecting her. She saw his gaze flick upwards, looking at her crown. “I, uh – your Highness.” After a moment of indecision, he dropped into a bow. “No, please, it’s just Cadance, Mister Light. I don’t need you to bow.” Cadance lowered her head to speak to him more evenly. She felt a little sick. Night Light didn’t know. He thought she was visiting as a Princess, when she was actually there as Shining Armor’s girlfriend. What to do, what to do … Night Light rose to his hooves. “Of course – Cadance. Er – please, come in, come in, make yourself comfortable, you know where everything is. Shining Armor, would you make some tea for her? I’ll go get Velvet.” As they entered, he fairly trotted out of the living room, leaving the two alone. The room was silent, except for the sound of Night Light apparently galloping up the stairs. Shining Armor coughed. “I, uh, guess I never got around to it.” Cadance buried her face in her hooves. Shining Armor watched, debating if he should say something, before awkwardly leaving to find where his parents kept the tea. Twilight Velvet sat in the living room, holding her teacup in her hooves. She smiled too brightly. “So what brings you here tonight, your Highness?” Cadance winced, but let it pass. Velvet realized a mistake and amended herself, “I mean, you’re always welcome here, Princess, Twily’s foalsitter, wonderful filly and all, but surely tonight is a busy night for you?” Here was her chance to clear everything up. She began, “Oh, I’m just here with Shining Armor. He …” She wanted to finish with ‘is my boyfriend,’ or, ‘is in love with me,’ or even, ‘is an adorable colt I want to spend the rest of my life with,’ but somehow it felt like that would be too sudden. It was the result of years spent together, after all. Just saying it, without any kind of explanation, wouldn’t be right. In the end, what she said was, “… he hasn’t eaten yet.” If they were confused, they recovered quickly. “Oh, hasn’t he?” Velvet gave a stern look at Shining Armor, who made a helpless expression and shrugged. Before he could explain, his mother thought of something and turned back to her guest. “Have you eaten, Cadance? Oh, I knew we should have made something nicer than sunflower soup and apple pie …” She directed the latter comment to Night Light as she put her tea down. Shining Armor’s ears perked up at the mention of food. Cadance glanced at him, thinking quickly. Even dinner was about her, now, but at least it took the blame off Shining Armor. Cadance had already eaten, but she didn’t want to sound like she was making an excuse not to eat. “Ah, if I could just have a little of the pie please, that would be excellent.” “Of course, dear.” Velvet stood up and trotted off towards the kitchen. Night Light cleared his throat. “So. Cadance. How are things up at the castle?” She didn’t really want to talk about royal life, not when she had just managed to get away from it, but the question was fair. If she was lucky, she could even use this to talk about Shining Armor. “Oh, it’s been quite busy, actually. Celestia has been getting ready to hold the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville.” Night Light nodded. “We heard, she even sent Twily there today to help set up. Otherwise, she’d be here at home.” “That’s right.” Cadance didn’t know how she had forgotten. Of course they had heard from Twilight. Cadance couldn’t very well talk about herself now, it would be rude to change the topic like that. She fumbled for what to say next. “Aunt Celestia thinks Twilight could learn a lot from her visit.” “She would certainly like that. It sounds like Celestia knows our Twily very well.” He chuckled at the thought of the Princess of all the land doting on his daughter. After a moment, he fell into silent contemplation. “She’s not very good with ponies, though. I’m sure she’ll do her best, but I’m a little worried how well she’ll handle being in a new town.” Cadance and Shining Armor shared a guilty look. They knew Twilight was more interested in studying than talking to ponies, but they had both overlooked how much trouble she might have in Ponyville. Shining Armor spoke up for her. “I think she’ll do ok. Spike went with her.” That cheered Night Light up. “Oh, that’s true. Spike knows what he’s doing. Very responsible for his age. Actually,” he said slowly, sounding out a thought, “Sometimes I think he took your job, Cadance. Twily doesn’t need a foalsitter anymore, but I don’t think she knows how lucky she is to have Spike.” Cadance thought back and remembered how Celestia had raised the baby dragon. Strange – in a way, that made Spike almost as close as family, even if she barely knew him at all. “He sounds like a good kid.” Night Light raised an eyebrow. “Hm, you’ve never really met him, have you? I guess Twily stopped needing to be foalsat around the time Spike hatched.” He mulled it over. “It really has been a long time.” Cadance felt a little remorse for not keeping in touch, but it was mixed with happy memories of her first days with Shining Armor, back when she had still been Twilight’s foalsitter. She just had to explain how she had paid so much attention to the brother and so little to the sister since then. “Well, I’m glad she has someone to take care of her, even if she’s all grown up now.” Night Light nodded in agreement just as Velvet poked her head back into the living room. “Dinner’s ready, everypony! Come into the dining room!” She trotted away, carrying several bowls in her magic. Shining Armor jumped up, a big grin on his face. Cadance’s slice of pie was much bigger than she had asked for, but it was quite good, so she didn’t mind. She said to Shining Armor’s mom, “Velvet, did you make this yourself? It’s delicious.” She took another bite as Velvet blushed, saying bashfully, “Oh, it’s nothing, really.” Night Light reached out and lay a hoof on her shoulder. “You’re too humble, dear. If Cadance says it’s good, it’s certainly not nothing.” She looked down at the food she had served, partway convinced. “Oh, but don’t you have those royal chefs up at the castle? Even Twily and Shiny tell me the cooking there is great.” “We do.” Cadance chewed slowly, thinking. She couldn’t say Velvet was better than Chef Ramsay, because it just wasn’t true. “But … there’s more than just ingredients that go into a meal, right?” “Hm.” She considered Cadance’s words before her eyes widened. “Oh, is that the royal philosophy? I always knew you were a deep, thoughtful pony, Cadance, but this is more than I thought! You’ve even got philosophy about simple food like this …” “Well,” Cadance said. Her fork drifted downwards to rest on the table. It was just supposed to be a compliment, she hadn’t expected it to be misinterpreted so badly. At a loss for words, she looked to Shining Armor for help. He gulped down a mouthful of soup. “Mom, there’s no philosophy here, the food’s just good. You’re making her feel weird.” She shook her head, saying, “Oh, Shiny, you just don’t understand! It’s not just about the food, it’s about being gracious no matter what! Isn’t that right, Cadance?” Cadance tried to wrap her head around what Velvet was saying. She opened her mouth to respond, but without anything coming to mind, she closed it and shook her head instead. Velvet frowned. “It isn’t? But, then … what do you mean?” “The food’s just good,” Cadance echoed Shining Armor. With nothing else to say, she took another bite of pie. “Oh.” Velvet deflated slightly. “Well, thank you, dear.” Night Light patted her shoulder. “I told you, Velvet. Your cooking is fit for a Princess.” She smiled at her husband. After a brief nuzzle, Velvet turned back towards Cadance. “Even so, I don’t think you’re here just for some pie. Or to keep Shining Armor company.” She glared at her son, who shrank slightly over his bowl of soup. Hanging out with Shining Armor was the original plan, but things had changed since then. It was time for an explanation. “Earlier we were talking about how Princess Celestia is going down to Ponyville tomorrow.” Night Light nodded, so Cadance continued. “I would have gone also, it turns out somepony needs to run the celebration in Canterlot while Celestia is away. She chose me.” Velvet gasped. “Congratulations, dear! That’s a big responsibility! This is the most important thing I’ve ever heard about you doing!” Night Light smiled. “You’re certainly stepping into the spotlight, aren’t you, Cadance? You’ve come a long way from being our Princess foalsitter.” “Just think, you’ve gone from taking care of one little filly, to leading a whole city!” Velvet beamed. Cadance smiled back nervously in response, acutely aware of how many ponies were depending on her. As if she could hear Cadance’s thoughts, Velvet herself frowned, asking, “But then, shouldn’t you be busy? What does leading the Celebration have to do with us?” Cadance shook off her doubt and returned to the present. “We spent most of today preparing, so we’re free for the moment. We came here because … I have a lot to thank Shining Armor for.” Velvet gave her a questioning look. “Shiny? What did he do? Did he help you today?” Shining Armor was watching her, letting her speak for herself. “Yes. Yes, he helped me today. He was there when I needed him. He’s been there for me ever since …” This was it. Cadance closed her eyes, afraid of how they would react. Everything could change once she said this, but then she felt Shining Armor’s hooves around her shoulders. He was there to help her, so she kept going. “… ever since we fell in love.” She gritted her teeth and waited for it. Confusion she could deal with. She could explain just by talking about the perfect little gentlecolt that was their son, but what she was afraid of was the sound of disbelief, or even outrage at the betrayal of their trust. When they had first met her, they must never have thought she’d end up in love with their son, and here she was, telling them just that. What if they didn’t want her to be Shining Armor’s girlfriend? What if they told him to stay away from her and her strange love magic? What if he had to abandon his dream and leave the Royal Guard, and she was left as a forlorn Princess without her loyal Guard, alone in the castle forever? The silence stretched on. Why hadn’t anything happened? Were they frozen at the news? Cautiously, she opened one eye to see what they were doing. They were watching her, looking confused. Velvet said, “That’s … nice, dear. Er, congratulations. Again.” Night Light asked. “Are you afraid of something? We’d never hurt you, Cadance.” She found her voice. “I know that. I was just … aren’t you surprised? Neither of us ever told you we were in love.” Both of them chuckled. Night Light asked, “Oh, so you thought it was a secret?” “Maybe if we were blind and deaf, dear. His last year at the Academy, Shiny was just head over hoof over somepony. It wasn’t hard to figure out who. He could barely talk about you and look anypony in the eye at the same time.” Velvet giggled to herself, remembering the phase of constant lovestruck inattentiveness her son had gone through. Shining Armor let go of Cadance as he complained the betrayal of confidence. “Mom!” She just waved a hoof at him. “Oh, quiet. It was sweet.” Under other circumstances, Cadance would have been flattered to know how Shining Armor felt about her in his colthood, but right now she had other concerns. “But – if you knew, how come …?” Night Light predicted her question. “How come we never did anything about it? Well, Shiny started acting closer to normal again after the Acadamy. Twily stopped talking about you two, and you stopped coming by.” Velvet said soberly, “We thought, either he got over you, or you just weren’t comfortable telling us yet.” “Oh.” Cadance felt much, much better. His parents knew, and they thought it was sweet. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, then. I guess we weren’t really sure how we felt, except that we were perfect for each other.” Velvet smiled at her. “That’s quite all right, dear. We’re just happy you finally came out with it.” Well, that was that, then. There was no real crisis after all. They really were much nicer ponies than she had given them credit for, but no harm had been done. It was with a sense of rightness that she took another sweet bite of pie. That was when Night Light asked another question. “So, when’s the wedding?” Cadance nearly choked. Shining Armor let out an impressive spray of soup before he caught himself. He gulped and incredulously asked, “What?” Night Light tilted his head. “The wedding! Isn’t that what you came to talk about? To get our blessing and start the plans –“ Velvet chimed in. “You know, first comes love, then comes marriage –“ “No!” Shining Armor shouted, horrified. Cadance was almost glad her face was already a deep shade of pink from choking, because it probably hid how much she was blushing. Shining Armor gently patted her on the back. “No, we don’t have any plans! What would make you think that?” Both Velvet and Night Light’s eager expressions turned crestfallen. Faced with her boyfriend’s disappointed parents, Cadance finally cleared her throat and said, “What he means is, not yet.” She swallowed a few times experimentally. Shining Armor picked up the line of thought for her. “Yeah, uh, a bit soon, isn’t it?” Plaintively, Velvet said, “But you just said, you are in love! It’s been years! We’ve waited so long just to hear this!” Coming from the other direction, Night Light tried to reason, “Think about it Cadance, you’re stepping into the spotlight, and Shiny is there for you - now is the perfect time for a wedding! Isn’t it just what you need?” Cadance stared at them. She and Shining Armor hadn’t even talked about getting married yet. Why were his parents so set on a wedding? Her fear might have gotten to her earlier, but she knew Velvet and Night Light well enough. She didn’t think they were the kind of ponies to plot about marrying into royalty. She turned to look Shining Armor in the eye, asking him about his parents. The look of confusion on his face was just a mirror image of her own. That wasn’t helpful. They just had to talk his parents down then. Cadance turned back to them. “I – I think I’ll let Shining Armor decide that. He – he hasn’t asked me yet.” Shining Armor’s eyes widened. Was that what she was waiting for? Why did she put him in the spotlight? His parents were looking at him in disapproval now. His mom said imperiously, “Shiny! What are you doing keeping such a nice filly waiting? She deserves a wonderful wedding!” He swallowed nervously. Could he say he was waiting for the right time to ask? “Er – we only get married once, right? Er –“ That was not what he meant to say. Quickly, he corrected himself. “What I mean is, I want our wedding day to be perfect. I, uh – I know who I want the chaplain to be, and I think I need to earn a little more of her favor before we’re ready.” Yes. Yes, that sounded right. According to what Cadance had told him earlier, it was a tall task he had set for himself, but he knew it was what he wanted. “Oh.” Understanding clashed with disappointment on his parents’ faces. “Well, don’t take too long. We want you two to have a happy life together as soon as possible, alright dears?” Shining Armor bowed his head. “Thanks, Mom.” “Thank you, Missus Velvet, Mister Light.” After that, they talked for a long time, covering topics like what the years of (not very) secret courtship were like, how Shining Armor had been helping Cadance that day, and what kind of new responsibilities she had. Marriage stayed safely out of the discussion. Eventually, Velvet and Night Light excused themselves to go to bed. While there was an offer for Cadance to stay overnight, after which there was some kind of discussion about Shining Armor’s old room, they instead made their way back out into the cool night air. Shining Armor sighed. “So, that wasn’t really as relaxing as I hoped it would be.” He hung his head. “Sorry.” Cadance let out a breath and nodded, but said, “It could have been worse, though. I’m glad your parents are so understanding.” Shining Armor shot a look back at the house. “You mean embarrassing.” He turned forwards again. “Well, at least it’s over.” Cadance gave him a dubious look. “I don’t know. That chaplain you were talking about, I don’t think you ever told her you were my boyfriend.” Shining Armor shivered. “Yeah, but she assigned me to you. She probably already knows too, fall formal and all.” He shook his head. “Is there anypony else we forgot to tell?” “What, besides your parents and my aunt?” Cadance asked, unwilling to imagine somepony more difficult to talk to. “No, I think that’s enough ponies for now. All our friends already know, don’t they?” “Pretty much.” Shining Armor brightened considerably at that. “Well, we’re safe then. Things are going our way.” He let the talk fade into a comfortable quiet. For a moment, the only sound was the distant cheers of the Summer Sun Celebration. His ears twitched and he looked towards Cadance hopefully. “Hey, how about we go enjoy the Celebration a little?” Cadance smiled. “That sounds wonderful.” So, together they left Shining Armor’s house and trotted off down the street. The night was still young, and they were going to make the most of it.