Magic of Love: A Twidance Prompt Collab

by ArguingPizza

Inconsistencies by ArguingPizza

by ArguingPizza
~~~

Few ponies would have expected that the Crown Prince of the Crystal Empire would still be awake past midnight. Between his duties instructing the Crystal Knights in more than a thousand years of military developments and overseeing the expansion of the Equestrian Rail Link, Shining Armor usually ended his days by collapsing into his bed.

His empty bed.

In the dim light from his solitary desk lamp, Shining Armor stared wordlessly at the packet of papers that sat before him. There was no telling how long he had sat in his overstuffed chair. The wall clock had been broken when he had selected the large room in the Crystal Spire as his office, and he’d never gotten around to fixing it.

There’d been too much to do, too many other things on his mind. Things like preparing countermeasures against Changeling infiltration, and ensuring the Imperial Team’s training for the Equestria Games was proceeding smoothly. Things like ignoring the feeling of despair he felt whenever his wife recoiled, just the slightest bit, every time they kissed.

If he was a drinking stallion, Shining Armor was positive he would’ve destroyed his liver several times over by now. Instead, he’d thrown himself into his work. An exhausted mind leaves no room for pondering life’s cruelties, something he’d learned early in his military training.
But eventually, there came a time when he could no longer ignore the signs all around him. That time came when his sister, newly crowned as an Equestrian Princess, made a Royal visit to the Empire.

Then, it had become too much. Too many inconsistencies between the fairy tale he was supposed to be living and reality to sweep under the rug. The furtive glances at shared meals, the longing glances when they thought he wasn’t looking. The list of excuses for sleeping apart grew longer and longer, until he had resigned himself to it.

Some part of him, a faction of his heart that raged against what he knew to be true in favor of what he wished for more than anything, had still held out hope. Hope that perhaps he was wrong, that he was misunderstanding what his eyes and ears were telling him.

When Twilight left, that small part had died. Cadence lost something as they watched the train pull away into the distance. The spark of Love, capital ‘L’, in her eyes that had made him fall for her in the first place disappeared with the train’s smoke.

It was that moment he knew it was over. Being married to the Goddess of Love had taught him many things. Cadence was a master of bringing out the love between ponies, no matter what conflicts or disagreements had clouded their bonds. However, despite her unrivaled skill in love magic, there was one thing she could not do.

Create it.

If there was truly no love between ponies, or the love was not mutual, even Cadence was powerless.

Such was the situation he found himself in, it seemed. He wondered to himself, not daring to vocalize his doubts lest he be answered, if she had ever truly felt anything for him at all beyond friendship. He hoped she had. Maybe he was even right, and her affections had simply shifted with time. Or maybe he was wrong, and she had only humored him or pitied him. He didn’t think Cadence could be so cruel, but he’d been wrong before.

Then again, maybe she had only thought she loved him. Maybe she had accidentally married the wrong member of the Sparkle clan.
Whatever the answer, he was sick of the word ‘maybe’ and he was damn sick of sitting in his dusty office.

An aura of light rose magic enveloped a quill and danced across the stack of papers. A half dozen signatures and an initial, and it was done. Shining Armor pushed himself to his hooves and walked to the door. With a grunt, he draped a large duffel bag stuffed with dress uniforms and a set of armor across his back. It was almost sad that he could fit all his worldly possessions in a single large bag, but it certainly was convenient when the need arose.

Another flash of magic pulled the lamp’s drawstring to plunge the room into darkness, and former Prince Consort Shining Armor left to catch the next train to Canterlot.

Comments

[Twilight Best Pony]

damn.
kinda feel bad for shiny.
now we just need to see a follow up!

[ultra1437]

Shiny always gets the short end of the stick in this. It's nigh impossible to avoid.

[BurnNote]

Now that is just depressing. I really feel sorry for the poor sod.

[Cheer]

4300416

NEIGH impossible

I'm sorry... That was terrible...

[ultra1437]

4304797
Yeah. That was.

I debated using it myself. I was metaphorically cleaved in twain, each side fighting the other. One side fought to use it, the other fought against it. Take a guess which side won that war.

"'Tis but one battle laddie, we'll have them yet!"

"Great. Now I'm talking to myself. Again. We gonna add the third guy too?"

"I've been here the whole time."

"Perfect."

"Aye."

"Yep."

*Throws hands up* "That's it, I'm done. I've had enough insanity for awhile." * Storms off flipping a circular table and sending it rolling down the hall.*