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Swept up completely in his guard duties, Shining Armor nearly forgets his upcoming first anniversary! With only one day to find the perfect present, will Shining obtain a gift fit for his Princess in time?

With the help of two inept Crystal Guard recruits, of course he will! One way or another.

Thanks to Holo for editing.

Now featured on Equestria Daily!

Rated Everyone.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 38 )

Oh boy. Let's see where this goes.

Impossible! A real married guy always forgets his anniversary. It's a rule!

3180536

Hopefully somewhere good! :pinkiehappy:

3180550

:rainbowlaugh: Like not asking for directions? :duck: I kid, I kid! :rainbowlaugh:

3180559

With GPS, not really a factor anymore.

That ending.:rainbowlaugh:

I saw a lot of stuff that happened in this fic coming, but did not see that. Well played on that suckerpunch of an ending.

Ending: +1

"I love you. I love you no matter what gift you give me, or if you give me none at all. I love you even if you gave me a lottery ticket and a pack of gum, like Blueblood did, once," she said with a laugh, shaking her head at the memory of her cousin's foalishness. "I love you, Shining Armor, for you, not what you do or what you give.

If only, if only...

3180647

Very true!

3181205

Glad it was funny! :rainbowlaugh:

3181287

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! :pinkiehappy:

3181959

Thanks! We all deserve that kind of love. :pinkiesmile:

3182165

Darn you Wikipedia! :rainbowlaugh: I looked it up and it said April 21 was when the episode aired. I'll change that. :twilightblush: But thanks! Glad you liked it!

Well, once again, you provide your readers a very well written and thoroughly enjoyable story :pinkiehappy:

3183894

Thanks man! :pinkiehappy: Glad you enjoyed it!

Shooting Star rolled his eyes. "Well, excuuuuuse me, Princess!"

Five mustaches for that. Also, I've read some of your stories, and you've earned my follow. With a side of like/fave on this story. Looved it!:pinkiehappy:

3186575

Hehe, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed my stories! :pinkiehappy: Thanks for the like and fav!

I think she just trolled him.

3210205

That's what we females were born to do! :trollestia:

Kidding...possibly.

Well written. Enjoyed the runaround very much

3263696

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. :twilightsmile:

great story very funny! As a guy though, I must both sympathize with and feel sorry for Shining Armor

3345307

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! :pinkiesmile:

As someone who barely remembers important dates, I sympathize with him in a way, too. :rainbowlaugh:

I liked this story a lot. I hardly ever read non-Mane 6 stories and when I do they are from authors I usually like or follow. So, this story was perfect in any way that means something. I have nothing to complain about (other then the fact that it ended) and made me love Cadance a little more. Shining is Twilight's BBBFF so he doesn't count :duck:

I have read almost all your stories (that are on this site.... are you hiding something from me somewhere were I can read it easily? If you are, that makes you a meanie :fluttercry:)

I need to download the Spike one at some point... maybe tomorrow. God I don't think I hated a story yet..... I just wish I didn't wait so dang long to read it.... :flutterrage:

20/10 Stars for simply managing to make me like Cadance.... Cadance is canon love princess so I always like her.

Enough rambling :raritydespair: I really need to sleep :pinkiecrazy:

3359468

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed this one as well! :twilightsmile: Cadence is my favorite princess. She needs more stories. :moustache: But no, I don't have any stories hiding... what you see is what you get. :rainbowwild: I hope you enjoy "Anxiety" when you have the time to read it as well! :moustache:

3359699

:rainbowlaugh: Oh, Shining... :rainbowlaugh:

Naw, in all seriousness, I like him. They just had to make him inept in all his episodes for the sake of plot. :rainbowwild: (Not dat kind.)

Hmm. Having read and loved "Anxiety" and "Big Horseshoes", and being a fan of Shining and Cadance, I was expecting to love this tale as well. But... I don't. Sorry.

The premise is nice, and I especially liked Cadance's characterization, for the few scenes that she had.

But the rest of the story just had way too many little things that either violated canon, violated my own headcanon, or were just illogical or weird. None alone would've made the story bad, but it's a case of Death by a Thousand Papercuts.

The Crystal Heart is directly beneath the Crystal Palace, so teleporting away from the Palace to the Heart makes no sense. Shining calls the Crystal Ponies "Earth Ponies", but then they're apparently different enough physically to be able to eat crystal? Doesn't that qualify them as a different race? And if Shining and Cadance can't eat the crystal chocolates, why lie about it? Surely this can't be some kind of secret he's hoping to keep from his own citizens until he dies? The "diet" excuse made no sense at all. And why would the crystal ponies eat actual crystal anyway? Seems like a silly idea. And even then, we know from the show that crystal berries are edible; surely they have other food that unicorns could eat. And (while I've seen done it in other stories) what's with Shining teleporting all over the place? Yes, he's presumably magically powerful, but teleportation seems like a very high-level spell and I'm not convinced he'd be able to use it as easily as his sister does. It feels like an excuse not to write any kind of scene transitions. And I get that military training is tough to weed out the weaklings, but seriously? These are ponies afraid of war, who took a hell of a lot of convincing to try out. Treat them like that the first day, and I expect 90% of them won't show up the second day. Also, isn't it... unethical... for an officer to get his subordinates to do personal favours for him? (I'm not in the military, but a quick bit of googling found this) Not like Quartz and Pyrite helped at all, anyway. In terms of story they just seemed to be there for Shining to have somepony to talk to so he wouldn't look ridiculous going everywhere by himself. And...

*breathe*

... I don't get the joke at the end. The story takes place on April 19th, their anniversary is April 20th, and the gifts are meant to be given at midnight between the 19th and the 20th. So saying "our anniversary is tommorrow" is correct, but doesn't excuse Shining not having a proper gift at midnight. Unless Cadance means their anniversary is actually on the 21st, in which case why is Shining so sure that it's the 20th? Or did Shooting star make a mistake or lie (as a prank?) and this story actually takes place on the 18th? I don't get it.

3449695

... I don't get the joke at the end. The story takes place on April 19th, their anniversary is April 20th, and the gifts are meant to be given at midnight between the 19th and the 20th. So saying "our anniversary is tommorrow" is correct, but doesn't excuse Shining not having a proper gift at midnight. Unless Cadance means their anniversary is actually on the 21st, in which case why is Shining so sure that it's the 20th? Or did Shooting star make a mistake or lie (as a prank?) and this story actually takes place on the 18th? I don't get it.

I meant that their anniversary is actually April 21st. (That was what Wikipedia told me when I looked up the Canterlot Wedding episode release date.) So that Shining would think it's the 20th, but it's actually the 21st. Some users have pointed out that it was actually the 22nd, so I guess I got it wrong, anyway. :rainbowlaugh: (Unless Wiki is lying? Who knows.)

Shining calls the Crystal Ponies "Earth Ponies", but then they're apparently different enough physically to be able to eat crystal? Doesn't that qualify them as a different race?

This one is a bit difficult to explain. Per MLP Wiki, all Crystal Ponies are basically Earth ponies (no wings or horns ever), though they are a different race. I thought referring them to as "Earth ponies" in this way would make sense, but maybe it didn't. Sorry about that.

And if Shining and Cadance can't eat the crystal chocolates, why lie about it? Surely this can't be some kind of secret he's hoping to keep from his own citizens until he dies? The "diet" excuse made no sense at all.

Good point. :twilightsmile: I was mostly trying to make it seem like he lied to the old mare so that it wouldn't hurt her feelings. He explains to Quartzite and Pyrite the reason (that he can't eat them). I thought of it similar to, say, turning down some cookies a nice old lady baked for you because you're gluten intolerant. Rather than explaining that to her, you might just politely say, "Sorry, I'm watching my figure," and spare a long (and potentially embarrassing) explanation.

And even then, we know from the show that crystal berries are edible; surely they have other food that unicorns could eat.

I guess I forgot about that, whoops. :facehoof:

And (while I've seen done it in other stories) what's with Shining teleporting all over the place? Yes, he's presumably magically powerful, but teleportation seems like a very high-level spell and I'm not convinced he'd be able to use it as easily as his sister does. It feels like an excuse not to write any kind of scene transitions.

I was trying to add to the "urgency" of his task (i.e. he's teleporting rather than walking). Sorry that it came off that way. :twilightoops:

And I get that military training is tough to weed out the weaklings, but seriously? These are ponies afraid of war, who took a hell of a lot of convincing to try out. Treat them like that the first day, and I expect 90% of them won't show up the second day.

That's a good point. Sorry I didn't consider that.

Also, isn't is... unethical... for an officer to get his subordinates to do personal favours for him? (I'm not int he military, but a quick bit of googling found this) Not like Quartz and Pyrite helped at all, anyway. In terms of story they just seemed to be there for Shining to have somepony to talk to so he wouldn't look ridiculous going everywhere by himself.

Hmm... you know, I'm not sure if it would be unethical or not. The link is pretty vague, so I'm really not sure. I know from talking to friends in the military that there is stuff they are made to do that aren't part of their typical/actual duties--cleaning and "gophering" (going and getting stuff) come to mind. I can't really comment on the ethics of it, but I didn't mean it to be unethical.

As for Quartzite and Pyrite, the idea was to have them show Shining around a little and provide some comic relief. Sorry that didn't happen, heh.

Sorry you didn't like the story. I hope you like some of my others. :twilightsmile:

3449777

Sorry you didn't like the story. I hope you like some of my others.

Meh. I didn't really dislike it, either. After reading it, I didn't feel like I had my time wasted and there was nothing about it that upset me. I didn't downvote. It just... didn't really work for me.

I already mentioned two of your other stories that I truly loved. One more I took a look at was "Tangled Roots" but I gave up on that pretty quickly - not because of quality issues, but simply because the subject didn't engage me.

3449859

Ah, I know that feel. Gotcha. :twilightsmile:

Glad you loved "Big Horseshoes" and "Anxiety". And ahh, gotcha on "Tangled Roots". Babs Seed is one of those characters that I notice is either loved or hated, at least from what I've seen. :twilightsheepish: I have some new stuff coming out soon, though! :twilightsmile:

3186575 Good, I'm not the only person who got that reference.

I think the Equestrian GAO is going to take umbrage with Shining requisitioning recruits to help him shop for an anniversary gift... :twilightoops:

"We... we Crystal Ponies don't really like the dark."

That was a nice little world-building touch there.

Great. I just smelled King Sombra's...who knows what...

Probably his dirty garment hamper. I bet Shining got a good whiff of Sombra's minging crupper.
*Eeeewww* :pinkiesick:

"Oh yeah? Who suggests a fugelhorn for an anniversary gift?"

Pinkie says "You called?" :pinkiehappy:

Dan

According to the comics, Shining is (or was back in school) a flugelhornist.

Also, who names their kid fools gold? That's kind of mean.

Why didn't he just buy the Crystal Flowers and use that spell he used on the recruits on the flowers instead?

Edit: I'm probably feeling inspired by Softy8088 but as long as you accept criticisms well, I just want to express my disapproval at some of the military gestures. Namely Shooting Star's incorrect usage of some:

Before Quartzite could snap back, a familiar stallion bellowed, "ATTENTION, RE-CRUITS!"

In regards to military terminology, there's the Preparatory Command and the Command of Execution. For the above command of "ATTENTION," "ATTEN" becomes the preparatory command, then he should pause slightly and then say "TION" which would be the Command of Execution. Attention is one of the only one worded commands that one can give. A more understandable example would be the command "Right Face" in which "Right" is the Preparatory Command, and "Face" is the Command of Execution. Stated simply, the Preparatory Command tells the Recruits what's coming and the Command of Execution tells them when to do it.

In addition, in most situations, they would give the name followed by the command. From what I can guess the name serves as the warning. By yelling "ATTENTION RE-CRUITS!" it doesn't make much sense. Is "RE-CRUITS" supposed to be the command that he's trying to give? A more accurate way of expressing what he wants his recruits to do would be "RECRUITS ATTEN-TION!" in order to first get his recruits to realize what he wants, "ATTEN" to show that he wants them to do something and "TION" in order to get them to face him and bring themselves back into the position of Attention.

I was enjoying the story but then I got distracted by some facts that you gave. These chrystal ponies eat chrystal, so they seem to be a seperate species. But there are only a thousand of them? That's not really a feasible population number, and is more like a village than an empire. The population of Canterlot bothered me too, my home city is not that big but it has ten times the bunker of people. And one in ten citizens recruited? That's not really reasonable either, not for a permanent guard. If you don't know what population numbers are reasonable, give no numbers at all.

4049845

Hmm, you learn something new every day. :twilightsmile: I'll go back and edit his commands when I have the chance. Thanks!

4054804

Thanks for the feedback, I'll go back and remove the numbers when I have a chance. :twilightsmile:

Hmm, credits need updating.

4101616

Yup. This and WHJT. I'll take care of that later tonight. :)

This is for you. Enjoyed the story very much, thanks for writing it.

i.imgur.com/GizVyc0.png

5916205

Glad you did. Thank you for the inclusion. :twilightsmile:

sweet story but an irritating ending heh heh

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