As the sun was lifted skyward, two ponies stood in a circle of charred grass on the outskirts of Canterlot, a blue unicorn and a brown earth pony. As the brown earth pony adjusted his saddle bags, the blue unicorn simply stared up at the immense spires of Canterlot Castle.
“I don’t like it,” she announced.
Turning to the unicorn, the earth pony spoke, “Don’t like what, my Queen?”
“That castle,” she explained, “It’s tacky. It looks like it was designed for a pupal queen and she never bothered to have it razed and replaced with something proper. Also, it’s bigger than mine.”
“Shall I start a list of things to do when the kingdom is taken?” The earth pony asked.
“Oh no, I’m certain I’ll remember this one. Let’s go.”
As sunlight filtered into her room, Cadance slowly blinked awake. Sitting up with a quick stretch and polite yawn, her mind was still in the night before. It was a surprisingly fun night, despite Lyra getting in the way. Shining Armor seemed like a nice colt. It momentarily flicked into her mind that she was easily fifty times his age, but that weird feeling was one she was more than used to.
After getting herself ready for the day, something she had always insisted on doing herself despite having servants, she sat and stared at herself in the mirror. She was expected to attend court this morning, but that was honestly just for show. She’d been placed in charge of a few of the more minor aspects of governance, mostly just in oversight capacity, and today a few had to give official reports at the day court. It felt irrelevant, but it was her duty and she was going to do it.
Stepping away from her vanity, Cadance crossed the room and opened the door to head out. Beside her doorway stood Hank, who quickly checked over his shoulder and then stood at attention.
“Good morning, Princess,” he intoned.
“Always one for the formality, aren’t you,” Cadance teased in reply.
“Doin’ my job, M’Lady,” Hank replied with the slightest hint of a smile, “On that subject, you received a letter this morning. Would you like it now, or some other time?”
Cadance cocked her head in surprise, “A letter? Who sent it?”
Pulling the letter from a pouch at his side, Hank read, “The return address says it’s from one Twinkleshine.”
“Oh, sure,” Cadance said with slight surprise as she gently levitated the letter from his hoof, “Thank you, Hank. Carry on.”
Barely registering his salute, Cadance turned towards the solar between her quarters and Celestias. Rather surprised to be getting a letter from her friend who lived only minutes away, Cadance couldn’t help but open the envelope as she walked.
Removing the contents of the letter, Cadance found herself looking at what appeared to be a poster folded into quarters. Opening it out, a single small sheet of writing paper tried to fall out of the center, but was already in her magical grasp. The poster was advertising “Dancing in the Park,” an event that happened every year and Cadance had been to a few dozen times all told. Looking over at the written note from inside, Cadance immediately recognized her good friend’s script.
Cadance Dearest,
On the way back from our date at the café, I couldn’t help but notice this poster. Given our conversation, I simply knew that this would be perfect for us. Can you attend?
Kisses,
Twinkleshine
PS:
Lyra just visited me late in the night and informed me you were out with a stallion! Wonderful news, please bring him along!
With a sigh of frustration at Lyra, Cadance folded the letter back up and started thinking about what to write back.
Shining Armor, once again, was standing guard of a random doorway that didn’t matter. This time, he knew it was for show. Tour groups were passing through the castle grounds and the Guard always made sure to be present in force for such events. Not that they were particularly concerned with the tourists being a threat, mostly just for appearances and because it’s what the tourists expected to see. Not the worst of all tasks, honestly. At least the tourists were looking up to him like a hero for standing in a random, irrelevant doorway.
Just as he was thinking this, he spotted two ponies, a blue unicorn and a brown earth pony, walking along and seeming like they were inspecting the place. He watched them for a moment before deciding something felt wrong about them. Possibly because they hadn’t said a word to each other since he noticed them.
Approaching with a serious expression, Shining Armor mustered the sternest voice he could and asked, “Are you lost?”
Shining Armor could have sworn he saw a flash of disdain in the eyes of the blue unicorn as she turned to face him, but it wasn’t even remotely present as she spoke, “Terribly sorry, sir. I seem to have lost track of my tour group. I believe they were headed toward the throne room. Could you tell me where that is?”
Nothing about this situation made Shining Armor comfortable. He was about to ask the mare more questions when he felt the piercing pain of a migraine headache. Raising a hoof to his forehead, he lost track of the scene for what felt like no more than a second. By the time he opened his eyes, the two ponies were gone.
Princess Celestia stepped into her solar to see Cadance finishing writing a letter. Lifting a fruit from a basket nearby, she sat down across the table from her dear niece, “Good morning.”
Cadance finished sealing her letter and looked up, “I’m rather surprised to see you still in your quarters this late, should I be concerned?”
Celestia smiled in amusement, “Not at all. I was just pondering a few things.”
“Long Term Plans?” Cadance quipped.
“Well,” Celestia mumbled absently, “Related.”
Cadance slid a large poster across the table to Celestia and looked at her meaningfully, “This seem like the sort of place you’d want to go looking for love?”
Glancing down, Celestia saw the familiar poster of the ‘Dancing in the Park’ event. She never really liked attending such things, but that wasn’t really important here. The date posted was two days away. Perhaps that would be the right time, it seemed fitting, but Celestia was ever the type to play it safe.
“Would you object to doing a little searching before then?” She posed.
Cadance shrugged, “I suppose no reason to not, but I feel like the park would be a good bet for seeing as many ponies as possible.”
Celestia nodded in agreement before asking, “Do you have any plans for this afternoon?”
“What, you mean after you hold court?” Cadance asked in shock, “So soon?”
“Would it be an issue?”
Cadance stopped to think, “I suppose not, it’s just that love isn’t the sort of thing you ru-”
“Thank you,” Celestia cut off, “I really appreciate your help with this.”
Cadance forced a smile, clearly thrown by the situation. Keeping her in the dark might be more trouble than it was worth in the long run, but the payoff for this was already closing rapidly. Now she just needed to make sure all of the candidates attended the dance.
Eyes darting around the atrium in confusion, Shining Armor hunted for the blue unicorn and the brown earth pony. Barely managing to hear the sound of hooves down an adjoining hallway, he set off in pursuit. As he reached the corner, he spotted a brown tail rounding a bend at the end of that hall. Moving as quickly and quietly as possible, he made chase.
He peeked around the corner they had vanished down, spotting the pair in the distance. Watching them, they were clearly talking, he could see it in their body language. He watched their lips to see if he could read them, but… nothing. Their mouths weren’t moving at all. Telepathy?
He glanced around for any other guards on duty. The place should have been stuffed with them, today was a tour day, but nopony was in sight. He stopped and thought about his training. Signal for backup, but do not lose the intruder. He tried to think of some way to signal for backup without giving himself away and giving the two intruders a chance to escape. He knew of countless spells he could try, but he knew equally well that he’d never succeeded at casting any of them before.
No point in not trying. If they were using telepathy, he would too. Focusing on his magic, he tried to reach out. The spell was unstable, but he managed to get something approximating a connection.
“... llo? Who … s this?” came the barely recognizable voice of Lancer.
”Sargeant Lancer, this is Trooper Shining Armor. I am in pursuit of two suspicious individuals, they are in the South Wing, first floor. A blue unicorn and a brown earth pony. Repeat, I am-”
”Shini ... come back, I can’ … … are you?” Lancer replied as the mental link grew ever more unstable.
Shining Armor peeked around the corner once more to see the two ponies moving again, ”Repeat, I am in pursuit of suspicious individuals, a blue unicorn and a brown earth pony. They are currently in the South Wi-”
Shining Armor yelped in pain as the mental link abruptly severed, sending shockwaves of pain down his horn. The two ponies both turned in unison as he made the noise before bolting down the hall at speeds they didn’t look capable of. Shaking off the pain, Shining Armor galloped in pursuit, shouting after them to stop.
They might have been unnaturally fast, but Shining Armor was nothing if not athletic. Within seconds, he was almost on top of them. Almost as if choreographed, the two ponies swerved into a side room to dodge Shining, but he managed to catch the turn and found himself in the small room with them.
The door shut behind him with a green luminescence. The room went black save for an ominous glow. Shining Armor looked around for the two ponies in confusion. What he saw instead froze him in place.
It looked like a huge black unicorn, easily two feet taller than him, its entire body made of glossy black plates held together by thin membranes. From behind ill-kempt locks of teal mane, it looked down at him with draconic eyes, smiling with fanged teeth.
As Shining Armor felt a pool of warm liquid forming between his hind hooves, it spoke in a voice that sounded like a chorus, “There’s a line between courage and being an idiot.”
His mind filled with fire as a headache overtook him and he felt himself land on the floor.