Royal Revelation

by Emerald-Aegis

Revelation

The royal guards parted away from the grand doors of the Canterlot Castle as the two of them approached, one of their magics opening the gates to them.
Twilight and Spike walked into the castle's main hallway, it wasn't much different than the numerous other times that they had visited. The tapestries hung well, the stained-glass windows adorned on each side, picturing major events in Equestrian history; with the two of them even upon some of them.

Though their eyes did not wander to them, they had seen them enough times to know what they represented. For the time, their goal was Celestia.
And whatever followed with her.
A resounding creak came from the grandiose doorway that lead to the Royal Throne room, twin guards on each side of the massive barriers that were opened by a light green glow from one of the guards.

Twilight and Spike stepped into the room, their eyes turning towards the Princess of the Sun, sat at the opposite end. Her gaze turned upwards from the document before her, to them. A half smile, she nodded to the mare in glasses beside her. Clearly a secretary of sorts, the mare nodded back to her, taking the paperwork with her as she wandered away.
"Hello Twilight, Spike. I'm glad you arrived with such haste."
"We came as soon as we could, Celestia."
"With no help from dozy here…"
Celestia raised an eyebrow as she trotted towards the two; watching as Twilight nudged Spike with her elbow.
"Spike, we agreed to leave that until After we find out how badly injured Shining Armor is!"
Both the Alicorn and the dragon looked to the lavender mare curiously.
"Forgive me… but whatever do you mean by… Dozy… and Shining Armor's… injury?"
"Yeah Twilight, I thought we had no idea what happened. Did we miss something in the letter?"
Twilight shook her head. "It just makes the most sense. Shining Armor sending a short letter, then you sending the next letter yourself, Princess. He must've been injured in some attack on the way to Canterlot, and he wrote those words with his last shreds of consciousness!" She exhaustively let out, each word shrinking the pupils of her eyes by another fraction. "Cadence is clearly tending to him, and that's why you called me here with open hooves, and an open heart! Oh our parents are going to be hysterical when they find out he's hurt! Mother will- oh my gosh, do they even know?! Princess, I need to-"
"Twilight. Shining Armor is in good health."
Twilight blinked as her thoughts were interrupted by the fair Sun's words. Shining Armor was… fine? But then what could be the problem?
"But… then what's going on?"
Her eyes darted to Spike shortly, receiving only a shrug from him. "Don't look at me, I'm as clueless as you are."
"Princess… what's happened?"

Celestia bowed her head to the pair, her eyes closed for a few moments before she reopened them, raising her head back up as she began to trot towards the door.
"Come with me…"
Twilight and Spike shot each other a concerned gaze, a grimace of worry as they began to follow her highness. Regardless of Twilight's role, Celestia was still her old tutor, and her elder, by far; as well as a pony they would respect.
The trot away from the the throne room was silent, aside from the clopping of hooves on the floor beneath them, and the occasional murmur of staff around the castle. Celestia was watching forwards to where she was going, allowing the two to simply follow her.
But it was getting too much for Twilight. Concern and curiosity were beginning to plague her mind again, her eyes small as tiny beads of sweat ran down her forehead.
Shining Armor was perfectly fine, but he wasn't able to write to her. No assault had been made, yet Celestia wrote to her.

It couldn't be Tirek, he was still in Tartarus… Starlight Glimmer and Discord were reformed… Sunset Shimmer was their friend AND on the other side of the portal… Nightmare Moon? No…, the moon had risen perfectly fine since receiving the first note… Changelings! It had to be Changelings! Was it Shining Armor that had been taken by a Changeling? Or Cadence? Or even Celestia? Was she walking into a Changeling trap?! She cast her Force-Reveal spell on Fluttershy, but would she dare cast it on Celestia? And would it even work? Or would she… oh gosh, would she be sent to the moon?! Then she wouldn't even know what happened! What was she-
"Oof" She whomped out, falling onto her flank after colliding with Celestia's plot, a surprised blink on the Sun Princess' face, as both her and Spike looked back to the lavender princess.

Spike turned to Celestia with a half frown.
"Told ya. Third time she's done it today."
"I… I'm sorry Princess…"
A sweet half-smile greeted the alicorn. "It is no trouble, Twilight. Whatever is running through your mind… you will receive your answers. Whether you like them or not…"
Celestia turned to the double doors before her. They were a clean oak, and a bright colour, with a single guard to the side of it. With a nod to him, he left his post, passing by Twilight and Spike.

Three raps of Celestia's hoof tapped the door, followed by her taking a short step back. Agonisingly silent seconds passed by, as Twilight could only stare at the door; awaiting whatever cruel fate stood before it.
The doorknob glimmered a faint pink, rotating and unhinging. The door pushed itself open.

Twilight's eyes widened as she saw what trotted out of the doorway.
It was Shining Armor.
But… while Celestia said he was in good health, Twilight had high doubts.
His hair was a complete mess, frayed and disheveled, thrown all over his face and head. His eyes, red and bloodshot, clearly he had some major illness or… no… had he been…crying…?
Shining Armor's gaze turned slowly up to his sister, his breath slow as he moved away from the door.
"… Hi Twily…"
"Shining Armor… what's happened? What's wrong?"
A grimace spread on his face. He turned up to Celestia, her eyes wise and knowledgable as she simply nodded to the stallion; walking passed him and into the room he came out of, shutting the door behind her.

That left Shining Armor, Twilight, and Spike alone in the corridor. The air was silent, empty; yet thick and cold. His gaze fell back down to the floor, falling onto his haunches.

"This… isn't how I wanted to see you this weekend…"
"Not exactly the meeting we had in mind ourselves…" Spike mumbled from the side.
"We were so worried, Shining. Your note made no sense, then Celestia sent one instead of you… first I thought you'd been attacked, or injured, then I thought you'd been taken away, or-"
"Ugh Twilight…" Spike interrupted. "Maybe we just… let him tell us what's wrong."
"Right… right of course. Sorry, I've just been wracking my mind with everything. Please… what's happened? We're here to help as best we can. Me, Spike, and our friends."
"There's nothing you can do to help, Twilight… Any of you…"
Twilight was taken aback. Shining's words were harsh, pained. He glared into the stone, his eyes turning red once more as they glazed over.
"I… what do you mean, there's nothing we can do? What's going on?"

Shining Armor closed his eyes once more, taking a slow, steady breath. His eyes reopened as he let the breath out, his gaze still upon the stone.

Shining Armor bowed his head. His teeth grit as the words left him.
All the two of them could do was stare at him. Unblinking. Jaws drooped.
Everything burst into Twilight's mind all at once.
The Note.
The Reply.
Cadence's silence.
Celestia's words.
It all began to make sense…
"I… oh… oh my gosh… Shining Armor…"
"How?" The dragon pitched.
Shining Armor gulped back a shaking sigh, opening his glossy eyes, reddened and damp as he continued to avoid their gaze.

"It started yesterday… just North of Canterlot. Everything was fine, we were barely ten minutes from the city wall… then Cadence started complaining about her stomach… she was having these horrible… painful cramping feelings. One of our escorts said she might've been going into labour… but th-she wasn't due for two more months! I… I-I tried to help her calm down until we reached the city, but then the… oh Celestia, the blood…" He shivered. "When… when we got here, Cadence was taken into emergency… that's when I sent you the note…
…It wasn't long after that the doctors told us…
I… I-I jus-…" He stammered, his eyes bleeding out the tears as he desperately searched for the rest of his words.
"It broke us… She… she's still in bits! And I can't do Anything about it! And-And this far in, it's not meant to happen! It's Supposed to be Rare!" He bellowed, crashing his hoof onto the stone. His teeth grit as tightly as his eyes were shut, his face once again stained from the old, and new tears now running down his face.

The two could only stare at the stallion.
Their eyes quivering, glazed over as tears ran down their own faces. Spike held a closed claw in front of his mouth, daring not to choke back on himself.
Twilight, was not so lucky. Her choking sobs were quiet, but what she felt in her heart at that moment couldn't have compared in any form, to what Shining and Cadence were feeling.

Words could do nothing. Nothing she said would help in any way, shape or form.
All she could do, was heed Celestia's words.
The silence was finally broken. Twilight's hooves trotted slowly towards her broken brother, Spike's gaze slipping to her.
She stopped, barely a foot away. Lifting her right forehoof, she wrapped it around Shining; resting her head on his shoulder as his head sank into her own. His sobs muffled into her fur, as she rubbed her hoof softly on his back.

"Shining Armor…

I'm so… so sorry…"

Joe's Donut Shop was probably one of the only shops left open at the late hour. Most of Canterlot had closed for the day, leaving only the nightclubs, nightlife areas, and the occasional diner still alit. The Gala had taught the girls that Joe's was usually still open late.

The five Elements sat at the round table inside the shop, gazing out of the window towards Canterlot Castle.

"Not exactly the 'One Hour' she spoke of, is it…" Rarity quipped, a look of concern on her face as she turned to the rest of the girls.
"If it's som'thin' t'do with Family, then it'll take as long as it takes."
Pinkie dipped a donut into her Hot Chocolate with a slight frown. "I hope Twilight's okay… I dunno if I can throw a party big enough to fix…… whatever's going on…"
Rainbow pounded her hoof onto the table. "That's why we should be up there, with her! She's been there for hours, and we're just sat here!"
A shake of a light-yellow head to her left stirred the Rainbow's gaze. "If Twilight needs us, then I'm sure she'll find us. For now, she has to do what needs to be done."
"We're her friends! We should be there, whether she needs us or not!"
"An' what if she needs us t'NOT be there fer th'moment?"
"She's right, Rainbow darling. Sometimes we need to take a step back."
Rainbow sighed, sinking into her seat. Her elbow rested on the table, with her face resting on her hoof.
"Fine… but seriously, it's been hours! Whatever's happen-"

The cling of the door's bell shot through Rainbow's words; the five mares turning to the door.
It was held wide, a purple clawed hand holding its frame open.
The dragon looked up at the five, his eyes hollow, and his stance slouched.

"Spike!" Rarity called out, the five mares removing themselves from their seats, trotting over to the dragon as he shut the door behind him.
"Hey…"
"Where th'heck have you an' Twilight been? Y'said t'meet here in an hour, tha'was almos' five hours ago! Heck, it's night time now!"
"We've been at the castle…"
Pinkie tilted her head. "All this time?"

He nodded to them, his eyes slipping away from them to no-where in-particular.
"So… spit it out, what's the word?"

Spike took a slow breath, wiping an invisible tear away as he let the air out; he turned his eyes to each of them.

"… Cadence lost the baby…"

'Dear Princess Celestia.

This is the… third letter, I think, that I've sent since we left Canterlot.

Not much has improved.

Twilight's barely been home in a week.
Pinkie Pie hasn't… re-inflated properly since she got back. I guess the thoughts are still on her mind. This isn't a frown she can turn upside down.
Rarity and Applejack are back to work, probably doing their best to distract the thought. Heck, I'd do the same if Twilight was actually here to give me something to do… I've cleaned the castle three times.
Rainbow Dash is… well, I suppose she's probably trying not to think about it. I don't know if she's told Scootaloo, I haven't left the castle in case Twilight comes back.
Fluttershy… I daren't ask…

I'm coping, as I can only really guess you are too.

How are Shining Armor and Cadence? I know Twilight will tell me when she comes back from the Crystal Empire… eventually.

We're all worried. I know Twilight Velvet and Night Light know what happened, and… well I can only guess that they're there right now, with Twilight.

I know it's my family too but… well, someone's gotta hold the fort.

A lot of us wish that Twilight's farfetched theories were correct now… an injured Shining Armor is easy to help than a… broken one.
And Cadence, I can't even imagine.
I dunno too much about the whole 'Miscarriage' thing. But I get the feeling I don't want to.

Anyway, I just thought you deserved an update.
Such as it is.

Your faithful subject, and friend.

Spike.'

The thin ribbon wrapped around the scroll in the tiny dragon's claws, a deep breath followed by the cool green flame; the page enveloped in its flames as it disappeared through the window.
Spike watched it fly away, a half-gaze turning back to the map that he sat at. His eyes wandered to the large, crystalline tower that was the heart of the Crystal Empire.

"I hope you guys are okay…"