//------------------------------//
// The End 
// Story: Cadance: The Shining Armor Chaser 
// by Captain-Brony 
//------------------------------//

Cadance had calmed down some after a little while and was now sitting opposite of Shining Armor.

"I...I just don't understand. What in the name of Equestria could they have to possibly court martial you over?"

"Inappropriate misconduct with a political figurehead through the act of fraternization with romantic intent."

Cadance stared at him as if he were speaking some alien language. Then she realized her mouth was starting to hang open and shook away her cobwebs. "I-di-ja-WHAT?!"

"I loved you but because I'm just a common pony and not a prince they think that's a bad thing for Equestria. On both of our ends."

"No it isn't! How could our love be possibly considered a bad thing?!"

"Well for one thing it closes the idea of you marrying a foreign dignitary to improve relations and expanding the kingdom."

Her mouth started hanging open again, the more he spoke the less sense he seemed to make.

"What?! Equestria shouldn't depend on me marrying some far off pony I've never met before!"

Shining Armor shrugged sadly. "Maybe if I actually had some type of political pull we wouldn't be having this problem."

"But... but..." she stuttered helplessly. "You're a military pony! THE Captain of the Royal Guard! Shouldn't that count for something?!"

"It does, but not in the way you're thinking. You are a princess so technically you are my commanding officer, so our being in a relationship could be viewed as sexual harassment."

If any part of this conversation hadn't gotten her blood boiling before, this piece of news certainly did the trick. She was so angry she was literally red in the face.

"EXCUSE ME?!?!"

"On my half." he added calmly. "Us being in a loving relationship is me sexually harassing you. Because you're a princess I'm the villain here."

"SAYS WHO?!?!"

Cadance was seeing red, she had to know, who had the power... no, the gall to dare turn her happy world with Shining Armor completely upside down?!

"You think you're the villain??"

"NOBODY'S THE...Grrr! Whose behind all this anyways?!"

"The council ponies."

She was expecting Shining Armor to give an answer saying anypony else, even Blueblood would have made more sense. Council ponies were news to her. She couldn't remember the last time she even heard of one mentioned. "Council ponies?"

She stared at him curiously as he sat on the ground patiently waiting for her. "That's right."

"You mean a bunch of tie wearing, pencil pushing bureaucrats are trying to give my stallion trouble?!"

He smiled slightly at her description of them.

"They're a little more than that. When your Aunt is too busy dealing with other political matters the council acts on her behalf carrying out her authority."

Cadance scratched her head. It made sense, Luna wasn't quite back in the swing of things yet and running an entire country was a lot of work.

"So wait, then does that mean...?"

"Yes. They technically outrank you so you can't just wave your hoof and make their grievances disappear."

"But..."

*KNOCK!**KNOCK!**KNOCK!*

The door opened a smidge and a guard pony stuck her head in. "Shining Armor, sir? I hate to interrupt but it appears your date has been moved up to today. You have one hour, I'm sorry."

He frowned but he didn't hold any resentment to the guard.

"Okay, I'll be there."

The guard nodded and left. Shining Armor turned his attention back to Cadance and offered a sad smile.

"It's okay Cadance, I knew this would happen. I thought I could avoid it but there was just no fighting it in the end."





Shining Armor headed down the hallway to the courtroom where his judgement awaited him. His hooves hitting the floor created an echo through the eerie silence of the empty hall. He liked to think of himself as a brave pony, but with nopony around as he walked towards what was literally his dishonorable discharge there was a sense of vulnerability which stayed with him.

The giant double doors in front of himself gave him a sense of meek smallness which was all but foreign to him. He placed his hoof on the handle and took a deep breath.

"This is it Shining Armor. You saw this coming from day one. Now all you have to do is go in there and take your medicine!" His own pep talk was starting to fail; he hung his head as the gravity of the situation bore down on his mind. "Your dream will die..." a small smile graced his lips. "But at least you'll have Cadance. And in the end, that's all you need."

Opening the door he entered a circular room, there were three pedestals podiums of great height where the council ponies sat so they could look down on him. The only one who didn't seem to be sitting with a silent fury was the pony who sat directly across from Shining Armor. He was busy reading a piece of paper, most likely a report on Shining Armor's 'crime'.

"Shining Armor, thank you joining us today. Is there anything you'd like to say in your defense?"

Shining Armor shrugged. "I tried to fight my love for her but I was doomed from the start."

"Of course you were." A different council pony said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well Shining Armor, I can't say we're proud of your decision. We feel like you've really let us down, but if you're not even going to try to defend yourself then I suppose we have no choice but to..."

Before the council pony could continue, the doors behind Shining Armor were thrown open. "WAIT!!!"

Even Shining Armor himself was surprised to see Princess Cadance running in to the room. He had never seen her look more scared in his entire life.

Finally stopping in the center of the room, she threw out her hoof in a pleading gesture.

"He shouldn't be punished for falling in love!"

"I beg your pardon?!" a council pony on the left snapped.

She certainly had their attention now. She swallowed a lump in her throat, steadying her nerves.

"I myself have learned a lot about love this past week. And one of the things I've learned is that it isn't something you can just control or demand. You can't just pick and choose when you can have love because love doesn't work that way! It does what it wants! It doesn't always make sense because it doesn't need to! It's crazy and powerful! Love can't be stopped, it needs to run free and wild!"

"Young lady!" the council pony in the center snapped. "We are not giving a court martial to Shining Armor because he fell in love!"

Cadance shrunk a little at the council pony's objection. Her ears folded back as she suddenly found herself feeling somewhat embarrassed. "You're not?" 

"NO!!!" roared the council pony on the right. "He is free to harbor whatever feelings he likes, but acting upon those feelings is a completely different thing!"

The council pony on the left cleared his throat drawing everypony's attention on him.

"That's right! It's all about the choices he's made! He could have chosen to keep his feelings to himself! He could have chosen not to act on those feelings! He could have chosen to merely ignore you instead of challenging you to a bet..."

"The bet was MY idea!!"

"Not the point!" The council pony on the right snapped. "Shining Armor knew all to well what he was getting in to when he defended you..."

"Oh and he was just supposed to let me get harassed?!" snapped back Cadance.

"NO!!!" The center council pony roared. He had been the most even tempered so far but his frustrated outburst made it clear he wasn't happy with any of this either. "He was supposed to protect you like he did but diving in to a big speech about loving you has raised more than a couple of eyebrows with our visiting ambassadors! The expectations other countries now have of an Equestrian Princess has been lowered quite a bit because of him! Enough so that they're taking a second harder look at us! We might have to start from scratch with them all over again! And that's only IF we're lucky!"

Cadance was at a loss. She never expected the love life of a princess to affect foreign relations.

"And there's the other matter." The council pony on the left announced. "By responding to these feelings he has left a question of safety with our citizens."

"Safety?" Cadance echoed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that in the event of an invasion," the council pony on the right clarified, "Shining Armor's main focus would not be on the citizens of Canterlot like it should be but on protecting you, a waste of pony power entirely!"

"That isn't..."

"Cadance!" Shining Armor cut her off. "It's true. Back to the wall, if given the choice I WOULD choose you over Equestria!" Then for the first time Shining Armor glared back at the council ponies. "But that doesn't mean I would abandon Canterlot either!! Equestria, Cadance, to me they're both one in the same!!!"

"That is irrelevant!" snapped the council pony on the right.

"Irrelevant?! It's ENTIRELY relevant!!" Shining Armor snapped back.

"To the contrary, as soon as Shining Armor dawned that uniform, he knew that any relationship with the royal family would have to be strictly formal! By taking a course of action to create bonds greater than that of protector and protected he has betrayed all who wear the uniform!"

"That's insane! He..."

"Cadance!" Shining Armor cut her off once again. "He has a point. I knew from the start this was supposed to be just a job, I may have already been familiar with you but I could have found a way to do my job away from you, like at my desk or something; but no, I had to be out there with the troops... and you. 

He said the last bit while resting a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

"Oh Shiny!!" Cadance sobbed before throwing her arms around his neck.

Shining Armor hugged her back before turning his attention back at the council members. "So go ahead! Court martial me! Black List me from military duty! You can even try to lock me up if you like!! No matter what you do, I am ALWAYS going to love Cadance and there is NOTHING you can do to keep me from her!!!"

Cadance broke away from Shining Armor a little bit to look him in the face. "Do you really feel this way?"

He smiled at her. "I always have. I think you've known longer than I have. Being part of the royal guard has been my dream since I was a colt, but I didn't have to take the promotion. I could have just turned it down and continued my dream where I was, but I think there was a part of me that just wanted to be closer to you. Cadance, I've know you longer than anypony; you're practically family to me. I think back to our time apart and there literally wasn't a day where I wasn't thinking about you. I wanted to always be near you without even knowing it. Cadance, I love you!"

"Oh Shiny!"

They were about to kiss when a council pony cleared his throat interrupting the two.

"Oh you guys are the worst!!" shot Cadance.

"This has all been very touching but I'm afraid it doesn't change anything. Shining Armor, you are guilty and there is nothing and nopony that can change that!"

"Oh I wouldn't say that!"

This voice, this voice which seemed to echo from everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. It didn't matter though, everypony in the room knew and recognized this voice. In a brilliant flash of light appeared Princess Celestia hovering above them all.

Immediately, everyone but Cadance bowed before her majesty's grace.

"Now then, what's all this I hear about a 'court martialing'? It would be a tragedy to lose somepony as valuable as Shining Armor."

"T-th-thank you, your highness." Shining Armor said quietly.

"P-p-princess Celestia, your majesty! Please try to understand, he's guilty of fraternizing with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" one of council ponies stuttered.

"If you've been paying attention to the captain since this 'bet' started then you'd know that isn't anywhere near true. He's been doing everything in his power to resist her because he was afraid of this exact scenario! Which is ridiculous because there's no reason for the court martialing to even exist."

"With all due respect  your highness, he is of common birth. Not a prince!" a council pony argued.

"Ah, but if he should choose to marry Cadance in the future then he would become a prince through marriage."

Celestia took a small guilty pleasure at Shining Armor's immediate blush.

"But he is not a noble!!" another council pony continued. "Just a citizen he moved up through the ranks. His bloodline is ordinary not of royalty in the slightest bit."

"Ah but let's analyze that word 'Noble'. Noble doesn't necessarily apply to how or who one is born to, it can also be used to describe how one acts and behaves. And since Shining Armor has already stated that he was always in love with her but chose not to act on it in response to his sense of duty I believe that there is nopony more qualified to court my niece."

"But-But-But Princess Celestia..."

"Now moving on to other business. Shining Armor's commitment coming in to question due to feelings for Cadance."

It was the council ponies' turn to sweat now.

"I have a little theory I'd like to test. If everypony would join me outside..."




Shining Armor stood as rigid as a statue. Celestia had lead them out of the building to the castle garden. The council ponies and Cadance stood a few feet away leaving just him and Celestia in the center.

"Now then," Celestia started. "Shining Armor, I would like you to perform your shielding spell but while doing so I want you to think solely about your duty to protection."

He gave her an inquisitive look which was answered by a 'Trust-Me' grin.

"Ma'am! Yes Ma'am!!"

Doing as ordered he casted his protective shield dome which covered the entirety of the castle.

The council ponies seemed unimpressed but Celestia was almost delighted by his usual performance.

"Very good soldier. You may stop now."

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Now then, I want you to do it again but this time when you perform it..." she leaned down and whispered in to his ear not so quietly. "Think of Cadance."

Shining Armor's eyes shot open at this but a small, quiet smile formed on his lips too. He closed his eyes and did as he was ordered. Cadance had to shield her eyes from the blinding light of Shining Armor's spell, it was so much brighter now. She could hardly believe it, and unless she was mistaken, she could hear some feint screams in the distance.

When the light finally died down, Shining Armor's shield was placed not just over the castle but all of Canterlot. Everypony stood in awe as the shield stood bright and tall.

Cadance walked over to Shining Armor, his mouth still hanging open.

"Wow, Shiny... You did this?"

"No..." He turned to her with a small smile. "We did this. I never could have done this without my feelings for you. Your love makes me better, gives me strength! This... This right here is our love given form! Cadance... I love you!"

The two almost shared a kiss but a council pony clearing his throat rather loudly brought it to a halt. Cadance sent a scathing glare to them but only one shrunk under the gaze.

"This is all very impressive but our inter-nation relations..."

"Should not depend royalty marrying ponies they have never met!" Celestia cut in. "And further more, any country which would even think to propose such a thing is not one we should associate ourselves with. We are Equestria! We are strong, proud, and powerful, if that isn't enough for certain countries to ally themselves with us then we don't need them. And furthermore, this 'being born worthy' nonsense? No. I won't be having any of that. I have already discussed it with Princess Luna and we are in complete agreement, such a thing is to be abolished immediately! Now unless there is any further business to discuss with CAPTAIN Shining Armor..." She put and emphasis on 'Captain' to show that the court martialing was officially out of the question. "I suggest we continue this conversation inside." She turned to Shining Armor and Cadance. "Captain, you are dismissed. Cadance... take good care of our Captain."

As one of the two co-rulers of the country ushered the council ponies back inside, Shining Armor turned to his girlfriend with an amused grin on his face.

"Princess Celestia, my boss, your aunt, came in to save my job for the sake of preserving our relationship. How amazing is that? I mean I certainly didn't see that coming, who could have?"

"Actually I might have seen that one coming?"

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. Because there's a secret about Auntie Celestia that nopony but me knows, but since I love you I guess I could let you in on it."

Cadance leaned in close and whispered in Shining Armor's ear. "She has a crush on Donut Joe!"

"No! Really?"

"It's true! I swear!"

"How? Why??"

"Two words: Donut. Cake!"

Shining Armor laughed, he couldn't help it. He felt so light, this was supposed to be the doomsday of his career and yet he got to keep everything instead. His job, his love, and he had the blessing of one of the most powerful ponies in the world. He nestled his head affectionately against Cadance's.

"I love you."

"I love you too!"

They were about to kiss when a guard cleared his throat stopping them cold.

"Sir, I hate to interrupt...."

"Not too much I see." Shining Armor bitterly noted.

"But a bunch of thieves and wanted criminals got pushed outside the city when your shield went up... Sir!"

Realizing the news was mildly close to an accusation, the soldier quickly saluted to show respect.

The royal couple shared a small chuckle before heaving a sigh.

"I should probably get on this. Meet me in the garden later for date night?"

"With baited breath, but don't keep me waiting too long or else I'll be waiting for you in that famous Crystal Palace I'm always talking about."

Shining Armor laughed.

"If there ever is a Crystal Palace, I'll pop the question."

Shining Armor's little joke must have gone over well with her because Cadance was laughing like a little school filly.



A few weeks later...

Shining Armor was in the Canterlot library with Princess Celestia collecting books. There were some books which Twilight's Ponyville library simply didn't have, so when Celestia received the letter she asked Shining Armor to find the books on Twilight's list. Small talk was easier with his boss than he ever would have thought; they talked mostly of Twilight and Candace. All in all it was actually a pleasant chat.

"Of course Cadance still talks about her 'Crystal Palace' which is ridiculous. I can't even picture something like that being an actual thing. I told her

"Oh no, it can and already has existed."

"What?"

"Yes, Shining Armor. It was a part of the Crystal Empire which disappeared 1,000 years ago."

"Do NOT tell Cadance about it! I'll never hear the end of it!"

"Oh she already knows. She probably didn't want to tell you because she thought you'd think she was trying to extort an engagement out of you or something. It's probably nothing for you to worry about."

"... I'm buying an engagement ring."

"Whoa!! Shining Armor, don't you think that's a little fast?!"

"For Cadance? Not at all! Listen, if there's one thing I've learned there's no fighting love! Besides, now..."

Shining Armor put on his helmet and grinned mischievously. "It's my turn to chase her!"

Celestia giggled. "Yes, very well. Good hunting, Captain."

Shining Armor saluted her before opening the door. "Yes Ma'am! Thank you Ma'am!!"

He quickly ran out the door and sang out. "Ooooooooh Cadance!!

♪

"

The End