Allegiance

by Just a tree

Chapter 3: Working Together

This was incredible. It almost felt like a dream just to be able to walk by the princess’s side. He had known Cadance since they went to Canterlot Academy together, but back then she was way out of his league. Not only was she a princess, she had been prom queen and class favorite, the type of pony everypony knew. He had never expected her to notice him, so when she did, it had been all he’d thought about for days.

Eventually, he had gotten to know her much better, but he still didn’t quite believe how lucky he was to be so close to her.

As they walked down the castle hallway, Cadance said, sounding concerned, “It seems like Twilight’s … confused.”

Shining Armor nodded. “She sounded pretty sure, but you heard Princess Celestia. Twilight can’t be right.” He wondered whether she had arrived in Ponyville yet. Would Spike be able to keep her focused? “Hopefully she’ll figure it out before something goes wrong, though.”

“Hopefully.” Cadance agreed, thinking of the filly she used to foalsit for. Things had a tendency to go out of control when Twilight was misinformed. She giggled. “Remember when she didn’t want to graduate from magic kindergarten, because she thought it was the best thing ever?”

He grimaced. “I’d prefer not to. That disaster is why half the Guard called me “that crazy filly’s brother” back when I signed up.”

“Really?” She eyed the Guards standing at attention by a door, wondering what they thought of Shining Armor. “I didn’t know that.”

Shining Armor noticed her sudden interest in his past plight. He decided she didn’t need to learn about that part of his reputation. Quickly, he said, “They don’t anymore, Cadance. I made my own name when I started sparring.”

Cadance’s gaze returned to the stallion walking beside her. Acting skeptical about Shining Armor’s boast, she asked, “Did you, now.”

Why did she believe him when he said ponies called him something embarrassing, but not when he said he got over it? He insisted, “I did! There aren’t a whole lot of ponies who are undefeated in the ring.”

That was enough to impress her. Smiling a little at his indignation, she said, “Alright, alright, I knew you were good, but undefeated?”

At least they had changed subjects. He could talk about this. It was his special talent, after all. “Not to brag, but nopony’s been able to break through my shield spell yet. They had a reason for calling me Shining ‘he doesn’t need’ Armor.”

Well, that was a new way to look at his name. Laughing, she asked, “Is that why you’re not wearing any armor now?”

“Ha, if I wanted to brag, that’s how I would do it. The armor is mostly for show, anyway.” Shining Armor looked down at himself, again noticing how odd it was to be out of his armor during the day. “Truth be told, I like wearing it. When I have my armor, I feel like I can protect anyone. I just haven’t put it on since I went to see Twilight.”

They reached the foyer, with its grand staircase and hallways that led to other parts of the castle. Shining Armor realized he didn’t know which way to turn. “Uh, where are we going?”

Raising an eyebrow, Cadance turned to look at him. “I thought you were going somewhere.”

Shining Armor mirrored her gaze for a moment before a smile broke across his face. “Ha, surprise.” She hit his shoulder playfully, causing him to chuckle. He thought whether there was something he was supposed to be doing. Quickly, Celestia’s orders came to mind. That was something he should never have forgotten, even for a second. He rubbed the back of his neck guiltily and said, “Actually, if I’m supposed to be helping you, I should go get my armor and my squad.”

Cadance grinned at him. “You really do like wearing it, don’t you?”

Responding to the affectionate ribbing, Shining Armor protested, “Well, it’s regulation, too! Unless I’ve got orders, I’ll get in trouble for not wearing it!”

“Oh, really? Even if a princess is with you?” Cadance asked, motioning to herself regally.

Shining Armor made a face as if he was trying to imagine it. “I – guess …” She got the distinct feeling that he blanched, even if it didn’t show on his coat. “That’s probably worse.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t thought he would say that. Cadance blushed. Would it really be that bad? They were friends, right? Apparently, Shining Armor thought that the rules were more important. Feeling unreasonably disappointed and trying to hide it, Cadance said, “You should go get your armor, then.”

He noticed how she had suddenly closed up and knew that he had caused it. He had to make it better. “Well, I’m okay for a little bit, since I’m not on duty yet,” he explained. Cadance nodded, but her expression didn’t change. Feeling helpless, he decided to just try to move on. “I never said you couldn’t come with me.”

Cadance considered this for a moment before her face brightened, just slightly. “Alright.” She nodded towards the different hallways on the lower level of the foyer. “Lead the way.”

“With pleasure.” Shining Armor turned and headed down the stairs. As they walked, he took the opportunity to apologize. “I’m sorry about that, Cadance.”

Cadance didn’t know what to say. She had been hurt by his words, but he hadn’t done anything wrong except correct her. It was at least as much her fault as it was his. “Don’t worry about it.” It was best to just learn from it and keep looking forward. She resolved not to let little things hurt her so much. Feeling more confident, she asked, “Where do you keep your armor? The, um, armory?”

Letting her change the subject, Shining Armor shook his head. “No, Guards are responsible for their own equipment. My armor is in my personal quarters.”

His personal quarters? His room? She let out a startled, “Oh.” Shining Armor looked at her worriedly. Cadance reassured him, “No, nothing’s wrong. It’s just, do you still want me to come with you?”

Shining Armor shrugged. “Why not? It’s just my room.”

Apparently, there was no rule against Guards bringing princesses to their personal quarters. Cadance glanced at him and decided it wasn’t worth explaining. She didn’t mind, after all. Actually, she was curious: when she was foalsitting for Twilight, she might have sneaked a peek into his room at home, but what did his living space look like now that he was a Guard? What did a stallion like Shining Armor keep in his room? She reminded herself that the answer was probably “not much.”

They reached the part of the castle reserved for the Royal Guards. Cadance hardly ever came here. She looked up at the archway and saw the crest, a blue five pointed star. Posted by the entryway were two Guards, who let them pass after bowing to her. As they turned towards the officers’ quarters, Shining Armor said in a low voice, “We’re getting close now. This won’t be a problem, but there’s one thing I should mention. Since the Night Guard sleeps during the day, everypony needs to be quiet in the barracks.”

Cadance’s eyes widened. She had never thought about how those ponies slept. “Oh.”

As they walked past, Shining Armor looked at the door to a room that he knew belonged to a lieutenant on the night shift. He leaned closer to Cadance and whispered, “Between you and me, there was talk going around about pranking them. Nopony is going to sleep tonight, so why should they sleep today?” He grinned at her as she made an expression of disbelief. After he let her absorb that for a moment, he admitted, “Everypony ends up on night shift sometime, though, and technically, the Day Guard is supposed to rest to be fully prepared for the sunrise. We’ll let the Night Guards sleep.”

Cadance gave him look of both disapproval and curiosity that the Guards would consider such a thing. “You guys have more fun than it sounds like.”

“Well, we try,” he conceded. “It’s not about fun, it’s about doing our job and keeping everypony safe, but Guards are still ponies.” He stopped walking in front of one of the closed doors. “Here we are, home away from home. Come on in.” He courteously opened the door for her and she stepped inside.

It wasn’t a large room, nowhere near as large as her own bedroom. As expected, it was fairly bare, with a bed by the window, a trunk at the foot of it, a desk, and a map of Equestria pinned to the wall. She did notice however, that the bookcase and its contents appeared to be non-regulation, not that she knew if regulation bookcases existed.

Before she could examine it in closer detail, however, Shining Armor apologized jokingly, “Sorry it’s not much. This is just where I clean my armor and sleep.” He went over to the armored mannequin in the corner. “This’ll just take a minute, hold on.” With that, he started trying to transfer pieces of armor off the dummy and onto himself.

It looked very awkward. Shining Armor seemed to know what he was doing, but it was not graceful. The saddle plate came off the dummy and went on the floor, followed by the blue doublet. The helmet he at least was careful enough to levitate over to the bed. With those pieces out of the way, he was free to begin toiling with the main body of the armor. Cadance felt out of place watching him and it wasn’t just because he was a stallion getting dressed in front of her.

Finally, she spoke up. “Ah, let me help you with that.” Before he could protest, she took a hold of the armor, letting her blue magic shine next to his pink. When he looked at her in surprise, she met his gaze and hoped he would let go.

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever put a suit of armor on before?”

Cadance shook her head. “No, but I want to help you.”

They stood like that for a second, both holding on to the armor, before he nodded.

Cadance took a deep breath and began. She maneuvered the armor over his head, bringing it down until the golden plates settled on his back, with the blue star of the Royal Guard square over his chest. Next came the doublet, which she draped over the armor, making sure not to leave any wrinkles that would bunch up later. After that, she placed the saddle plate on top of everything, fitting it right over the dip in his back, and cinched the belt around his body just tight enough to keep it from sliding.

Last of all was the helmet. Cadance took it from its spot on the bed and brought it over. Gently, she lowered it into place, so that he didn’t feel the cool touch of the metal against his coat until the very end. Only when she was sure it was perfectly snug on his head - ears, horn, and all - did she let go.

He blinked, his helmet visible on the edge of his vision. Was his armor really on already?

He was used to putting on his armor carefully, but quickly. It meant that after he finished, it was slightly uncomfortable until he shifted everything into place. Right now, as far as he could tell, his entire suit of armor was exactly where it was supposed to be. There wasn’t even one plate that he had to adjust. He could get used to suiting up like this.

Cadance looked at him expectantly.

Not knowing what to say, Shining Armor went with, “It’s … good. Good job.” She deserved a better compliment than that. He thought quickly. “Are you sure this is your first time?”

She said, “It definitely wasn’t part of any of Celestia’s lessons.” Cadance examined her work, letting her eyes run over Shining Armor. “I guess I just thought about how it fits, that’s all.” After all, a princess should know something about the ponies dedicated to protecting her, right?

Shining Armor accepted her explanation. With a smile, he said, “Well, you really know what you’re doing. I don’t usually get a fit this good and I’ve been wearing armor for years.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Shining Armor looked at it in surprise. Why would anypony even come to his room? He went to open it.

On the other side were three armored Guards - ponies from his squad. As soon as they caught sight of Princess Cadance standing in his room, they sank into low bows. “Good morning, your Highness.”

“Good morning, gentlecolts,” she said graciously, automatically emulating her aunt. “Were you looking for Shining Armor?”

“Yes, ma’am,” The earth pony in front responded. “We received word that you had gone to see Princess Celestia, sir.”

Ah, that was why. Duty called. Shining Armor confirmed, “That’s correct. I intended to tell you myself as soon as I was ready.”

“Lieutenant High Road told us first, sir. He said that we’ve been reassigned to Princess Cadance and that we should go find you two.”

High Road, his old friend, was the officer in charge of Celestia’s personal Guard. She must have sent him to inform Shining Armor’s squad right after he and Cadance left.

He couldn’t blame Celestia, but he felt a little rushed. It was lucky his squad had arrived now. If they had showed up a few minutes earlier, this would have been awkward.

As it was, it still felt awkward to talk to his subordinates inside his personal quarters. It was time to leave, but he had to introduce everypony first. “Right. Cadance, these are some of my Guards. Corporal Cherry Fizzy is my second-in-command and these two are Sunburst and Star Hunter.”

Cadance nodded towards them. “Pleased to meet you, sirs.”

“Likewise, your Highness.”

Shining Armor followed up. “We are yours to command, Cadance,” he said, flourishing a hoof grandly and bowing to his princess. Behind him, the Guards stood rigidly at attention, apparently ignoring their lieutenant’s theatrics. Cadance held back a laugh at his technically proper but far overdone display of manners.

Nonetheless, she took his hoof and smiled. “And I am glad to have you.” After all, nopony else was as sincerely gallant as Shining Armor. She already knew she could count on him, so his bold declaration was a bonus. Thinking about what she might actually ask of him, Cadance checked the time on Shining Armor’s clock. “There is one thing I wanted to do today.” She sighed. “Actually, it’s more like something I need to take care of, now that I can’t do it. Do you know Lyra? Lyra Heartstrings?”

Shining Armor frowned, trying to remember. “Can’t say it rings a bell.”

That was strange. Cadance had been around both of them so much that it was surprising they didn’t at least know each other. She tried to jog his memory. “She went to Canterlot Academy with us.” Shining Armor shrugged. “You saw her every day for years!”

“Um … maybe I just don’t know her by name.” Thinking back to their school days, Shining Armor vaguely recalled several other fillies Cadance spent time with. He didn’t remember ever talking to them. “I only had eyes for you.”

She scrunched her face slightly, remembering how incredibly sappy Shining Armor could be. He was very sweet, in his own way, but that still meant he didn’t know who she was talking about. “Well, she’s probably one of the best musicians ever. She’s a little odd, but she’s a good pony.” That was an understatement, but Shining Armor could see for himself when they met her. “We were planning to go to Ponyville with some of our friends for the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“You were?” He thought how ironic it was that Twilight was in Ponyville despite not planning to go, while Cadance had planned to visit, but was now staying behind.

“None of us had ever been in Ponyville before, so we thought it would be fun.” Cadance sighed regretfully. “I need to tell them I can’t go.”

Her disappointment was palpable. He wondered how much her friends had to do with her reluctance to agree with Celestia’s idea. “Oh, that’s no good. Did you tell Princess Celestia?”

Cadance looked at him oddly. “I think she might have known. She apologized when she asked me to stay.” Shining Armor raised an eyebrow, but it was really no surprise that Celestia knew more than expected. Cadance continued, “I was going to meet Lyra for lunch before we left. I can still do that.”

Lunch – Shining Armor checked the clock on his nightstand and was slightly startled to the morning was almost over. “We should get going then.”

Cadance looked at the group of armored stallions in front of her. “Are you all coming?”

It was time to make a command decision. He couldn’t imagine how Cadance would need Guards just to go to lunch, but, by Celestia’s command, they were supposed to be getting used to working together today.

He made up his mind. “You don’t need an escort, but we’ll all go, just as practice to get ready for tomorrow. We’ll stay in sight, so that we’re inconspicuous, but nearby if you need us.”

Cadance gave him a flat look. “Not you, Shining Armor. You’re coming with me so you can meet Lyra.”

“What?” Shining Armor asked, startled. He looked at his Guards, then back at Cadance. “But –“ She looked very determined. “But –“ He had just put himself at her command and, before that, Celestia had put him at her command. There was no way the plan he came up with was going to happen. Reluctantly, he gave in and bowed. “As you wish, Cadance.”

She reassured him, “It won’t be that bad. You really should have met her a long time ago.” Turning to the others, she asked, “Are you three going to be alright without him?”

“We’ll be fine, Princess.”

“That’s good to hear.” She smiled at them and, surprisingly, they actually smiled a little in return. “It’s about time, we should go meet her.”

“Lead the way, Cadance.” Shining Armor said. She stepped back into the hallway and turned down the hallway heading away from the barracks. Her Royal Guards followed her out towards the city beyond the castle walls.