My way back home

by Princess Rainbow-Dashie

Disagreements

Shining Armor

“I, uh....we... “ I began, only to be interrupted seconds after. Seems that she wasn’t having any of my excuses, and honestly, I couldn’t really blame her for it.

“Well?” She insisted. “Oh. I don’t think I need to ask what the meaning of this is. It is clear enough that you two were kissing during my absence. And you want to know what the worst part in all of this is? I get the news of your absence through a single letter. And that you’re taking our daughter with you. No explanation, just a warning. I knew something was up. You’ve not been yourself lately, Shining Armor. You think I didn’t notice the change within you? I’m the princess of love… It does not consist only in spreading love around, although that is a huge part of it. How could you two do this to me…? I thought…I thought that you loved me, Shining Armor. And Princess Twilight Sparkle, I thought you were my friend. “

I froze in my place, only keeping aware of my surroundings to embrace Twilight lovingly, as she had been sort of pushed into this mess that I had started. I could feel her emotions in synchrony with mine – guilt, sadness, and embarrassment for being caught, and for feeling this way. I could tell this wasn’t the way we expected things to go. After a few seconds, though, I felt my sister flinch right next to me – probably by being called by her title by her sister-in-law. At least… I had wanted to tell her about this. But it seemed it hadn’t gone that way. I could hear the hurt and sadness in my wife’s voice. And I couldn’t really blame her for it. But how to fix all this mess I had caused…?

The three of us felt silent for what felt like forever. I guess that when there were times of tension, time went by as slow as the trains in a snowy day. Sighing, I shook my head before hearing Twilight break the silence.

“Hmm… I… I think that we should take this over to Celestia…maybe?”

I felt Cadence settle down, and give a nod in agreement, before darting out of the door. I gulped and turned towards Twilight, who had disappeared before I could blink, probably packing upstairs in her room. As for me, I didn’t quite have the time to unpack, save for a few of Flurryheart’s things, which I ended up putting back in place, including her crib as I let her sleep on my arms for a change before Twilight got ready, which didn’t take too long. For once, she was only taking the essentials.

Before long, we were ready to depart. Once inside the train, I opened the crib again, placing Flurryheart in there so she could peacefully sleep, making sure it was well placed so it wouldn’t bump during the trip, which needless to say, was an uncomfortable one. Despite the three of us lying in beds and being physically comfortable, none of us said a word. Even the other passengers noticed the tension lying around and just headed to other places inside the train, leaving that carriage empty for the four of us. What a big and fatal mistake! The moment everyone left, Cadence and I started arguing while Twilight just shook her head and went to the opposite site while taking care of Flurryheart, despite Cadence’s protests claiming she didn’t want her anywhere near her daughter.

“You can’t do that Cadence! You can’t keep my sister away from her niece! She’s my daughter too!”

“Shining Armor, I am very very angry at you right now. Do not provoke me. And just pray to Celestia that she won’t take her away from you. Both of them, actually. How could you do this to me?! I thought that you loved me!”

“Cadence, you… “

“Don’t Cadence me! You know what, not another word!”

I just fell silent, turning away from her and my attention to my sister who looked like she was close to bursting into tears. I wanted to go and comfort her, but I could only imagine what Cadence would do if I took a step closer. I sighed and closed by eyes, just waiting for this dreadful trip to be over. At least until we got to Canterlot and could somewhat be on our merry ways and avoid fights like this in public. I was sure that the passengers near us were staring at us by now.

The trip took endless hours to end, and by the time we arrived it was nearly nightfall. It would be too late to contact Celestia as the two sisters were by now changing shifts, but maybe Luna would hear us out. We made our way to the castle in silence, not daring to say a word while heading there. As soon as we arrived, though, and before I could stop her, Cadence darted right in Luna’s Night Court, dragging me, Twilight and Flurryheart with her. The court was filled with batponies, threstals and astronomers, essentially, ponies and creatures that worked at night like Luna herself and that possibly couldn’t go there during the day.

I could see everyone staring at us in a weird manner, in which I couldn’t blame them. Except for Flurryheart being held by Twilight, we were in a strange position, basically having fallen over Cadence and Twilight over me. I was not ready for what was coming next.

The next thing I know, Luna had been even more upset than what I have ever seen her. She began screaming – with that Canterlot voice that wasn’t really used anymore nowadays, but that Luna was still working on letting go.

“How dare you interrupt the Night Court, showing up unannounced and just barging in here like you own the place?! Go and wait outside!” With her voice, I only hoped that she was using some spell that no one but the three of us would hear it, as everypony would go deaf, and if my daughter woke up, there would be trouble. With that yelling, the door in front of us slammed shut after we were thrown outside, literally.

Our silence didn’t last too long, though, because minutes after we were thrown out, the three of us have started bickering and arguing outside for what seemed like forever. Probably hours, but I had no idea of just how much time had passed. But apparently long enough to upset Luna, as she interrupted – again – the Night Court to let us in, asking the current ponies in there for a few minutes. Guess that she was tired of listening to us. The doors shut behind us while she glared at us to tell her what the problem was. It was Cadence, of course, who spoke.

“Shining Armor here left the Crystal Empire, went over to his sister’s house. I caught them kissing this morning. In a few words, that’s what’s happened.”

I saw Luna freeze in her place, probably shocked at the revelation, but then I saw her shake her head.

“All right, this is beyond my area of expertise, so this is what you three are going to do. I’ll send for some ponies to help prepare you separate rooms and you will wait until morning for Celestia. I am not going to help you because: One, none of you sent a letter warning of arrival; two, you barged in the middle of my Night Court; three, you made me cut it short due to your loud bickering. So tomorrow morning, I’m sending you to Celestia. Good night. “

And with that, she slammed the door in our faces again, leaving us no choice but to head towards our rooms, which we pretty much just did. I didn’t oppose to be there, at least Flurryheart had stayed with me for the night and we weren’t fighting anymore for now. I slept soundly until morning, although with a lot of nightmares.

As soon as the first rays of sun rose, though, which indicated Celestia was waking up and Luna was soon going to sleep. I heard them talking in the corridor, with Luna pretty much dropping the news to Celestia and telling her it was now up to her. The next thing I heard was silence, so I supposed that Luna had gotten to her room by now. I stretched and yawned, sure that I wasn’t going to get any more sleep. So I headed for breakfast, to find Twilight and Cadence already eating, in complete silence but with some sort of very light death glares. I gulped while eating, not saying a word as it felt like one word could cause an explosion of magic and words between the three of us. By the time we were done, Celestia was already waiting for us. She told us to get inside, the door shutting behind us as we did. Oh dear. This was not going to be pretty.