“Kid!” Shining called out to the colt ahead of him. “You stop and come back here.”
“Why should I?” Inverno kept walking.
Shining trotted up to the young unicorn, “Look, I get that you don’t want to talk-”
“I don’t,” he interrupted as he walked around the Prince, “Go away.”
“No.”
Inverno turned around, Shining saw that his eyes were glowing but his horn wasn’t.
The older unicorn, lighting up his horn added, “Not until you apologize to Spike for spitting in his face.”
“What!?” Inverno exclaimed, “You want ME to apologize to that monster!?”
“He’s not a monster,” Shining sternly said.
“For killing Papa?” the two of them looked each other down in a death stare.
“No,” the Prince finally said, “For you acting like him.”
“Don’t you dare talk about him like that!” Inverno shouted, his horn glowing. “I’m not like him!”
“Prove it then,” Shining told him, “Prove to me that you’re the better stallion here.”
“Why should I do that? You and your wife are just a guilty,” Inverno said, narrowing his eyes at the other unicorn. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard the tales about you two. Not only have both of you had wiped out an army but if they’re right, you were involved in Papa’s death too! And so is your witch of a wife.”
Shining levitated the colt until he was right in his face, “Don’t you dare talk about my wife like that,” he said through his teeth.
“Like how you talked about Papa several nights ago?” Inverno questioned. “Yeah, even before I knocked, I’ve heard you call Papa a monster. If any of those maids were right, and you had a hoof in murdering Papa, so I wonder who the monster really is.”
The Prince didn’t say anything.
Inverno continued, “So how about you apologize to me?”
“I will not apologize for something that I knew was right.”
“So you did kill him after all?”
“If Sombra was never defeated, you would never be out here. And those Crystal ponies wouldn’t be free.”
“But I’m not?” Inverno questioned, “They are free to come and go as they please, but I’m not allowed to step outside of the palace?”
“It’s for your own protection,” Shining said, “Now you march back there, and say that you’re sorry to Spike.”
“You are not my Papa,” the colt said through his teeth, “And you don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Kid, if you want even the slightest bit of respect from anyone, you need to stop thinking that you get to play the immunity card because you had it rough. Believe me, I’m trying every day to convince the Empire that you’re a better pony than Sombra was. So how about you prove to me that you are that better stallion by being one?”
Inverno growled, “Ugh! Alright! Fine! I’ll tell the creature I’m sorry! Happy now?!”
“As long as you improve your attitude,” Shining told him as he carried the irritated colt back to the Music Room.
As expected, Spike was next to Twilight, who was talking with the Professor. Forelegs crossed, Inverno was carried in front of the Dragon and dropped before him. Inverno looked to the ground, neither his horn nor his eyes glowing any longer.
“Well?” Shining said. The young unicorn muttered something under his breath, “What was that?”
Again, Inverno mumbled something inaudible.
“One more time,” the white unicorn said, “And speak up a bit.”
Inverno looked up, glared at Spike and said, “I’m sorry that I spat in your face.” He turned to Shining, “Can I go now?”
“Better, and yes you may,” with that, Inverno left the room. The Prince turned to his little sister, “I’m so sorry for things getting off on the wrong hoof, Twiley. I honestly never expected something like that would happen.”
“It’s okay,” Twilight said, “It wasn’t your fault that he would react to Spike like that. Although we may not be here for long, I think I can safely say that we should keep him and Spike apart for a while.”
“I’ll say,” Spike commented, “He looked like he wanted to rip my head off.”
“Your Majesty,” Professor Key interjected. “Once Inverno is calm enough, I believe I know fully how to teach him to maintain his anger problem.”
“You do?” Twilight asked, “Professor, how are you planning to do that?”
“Simple,” he said, gathering up his notes, “I’ve decided that tomorrow we’ll discuss somepony who was known to be angry, but produced the world’s finest music.”
“Like who?” Spike inquired.
“Beethooven,” the Professor answered.
_*_
By the time dinner rolled around, Inverno, unsurprisingly, never showed up. And neither did Cadence. Shining, Twilight, and Spike were making guesses as to what the pink mare might be doing.
“It’s not like her to be this late,” Shining commented. “She’s usually here before me.”
“Maybe it’s nothing,” Spike shrugged, gobbling the third bowl of sapphires that the servants happily refiled. “She might be caught up in something for all we know.”
“Good point,” Twilight said, downing her glass of sparkling lemonade. “I remember that I was so caught up with studying that I completely lost track of time.”
“Is this before or after you moved to Ponyville?” Shining teasingly asked. He chuckled. “But seriously, how is it, anyway?”
“There’s hardly a dull day with all the girls,” she replied. “I mean, sure, the town has its crazy days with the occasional monster attack.”
“What?!”
“I know it sounds threatening at first,” the violet unicorn explained. “But it’s nothing that any of us can’t handle. If anything, the town is as used to monsters as it is rainy days.”
Before Shining could ask anything else, a door bursts open with a Crystal Guard out of breath, “Sire,” he said panting, “Cadence… Needs you…”
Fearing the worst, the three of them rushed their way to the couple’s suite.
“Cadence!” Shining called out as he entered, “What… happened?”
As it turns out, the Princess of Love was sitting on the bed, with a foreleg held behind her back and wearing the widest smile any of them ever seen her.
“Uh… Hon, is everything alright?” Shining asked.
His question was answered when Cadence suddenly jumped out of bed and pounced on her husband to give him a crushing embrace.
“Shining!” she said with all the joy in the world in her. “You’re not going to believe this,” she pulled from her back a couple slips of paper where they looked like they were dyed in blue ink.
The Prince blinked, “Blue?” he looked up to his wife. “Cade… Does this mean… Are you…?”
“I’m pregnant!” Cadence shouted with joy.