The Magic of Love & Family

by LovingShield16

Canterlot Gardens

As Flutteshy and Twilight left Twilights old room, the clock tower chimed Midnight "Are you sure we should be walking around the Castle this late at night sweetie?" Fluttershy ask nervously as she walked next to her Marefriend, wrapped beneath her soft, violet wing. "Yes, I am my love, there's something special I want to show you in the gardens" Twilight replied, lighting her horn and gently Nuzzling against Fluttershys neck. "Oh, okay darling" Fluttershy said as she relaxed under the soothing glow of her Marefriends soft, shimmering light.

As they slowly walked down the path to the gardens, Fluttershy noticed that there didn't seem to be any royal guards at all. "Twilight sweetie, why aren't there any royal guards?" She asked giving an adorable inquisitive look "There are darling, they just prefer to hide in the shadows, theirs's a reason Lunas night guards call themselves the Soldiers of the night" Twilight chuckled, waving to a Shadowy figure that seemed to appear out of nowhere "Princess Twilight, Miss Fluttershy" The figure said as they bowed respectfully, revealing themselves to be a muscular bat pony. "Good evening Silent Shadow" Twilight replied smiling at him "Fluttershy and I will be in the royal gardens should anypony need us" she continued as he lifted up from the bow. "Understood Princess, I hope you both have a lovely night" he answered as he spread his wings, readying them for flight. "Thank you, Captain," Twilight said as he took flight, on his regular patrol of the Canterlot sky.

"Come on sweetie, it's not far now" Twilight said to Fluttershy as she intertwined their tails. "Oh okay" she said as she looked in the direction that Silent Shadow had flown off in "Are you okay sweetheart?" Twilight asked sensing something was up with her Marefriend. "It's just I've never seen anypony who looks like the captain, was there something wrong with him" Fluttershy stammered nervously "There's nothing wrong with him darling, he's a bat pony he was born like that, all of Luna's Guards are" Twilight calmly explained as she they began to walk slowly towards the gardens again. "Oh... like when that spell backfired on me?" Fluttershy asked innocently, though Twilight winced at the memory, it was something she had never fully forgiven herself for, though she quickly regained her composure "Not exactly, while they share the same features as you did, these ponies are born this way and were found by Luna when the sisters first explored the mountain that Canterlot would eventually be built on, seeing their love of the dark and their loyalty to others, including any ponies who got lost in the caverns, seeing this Luna allowed them to become her Royal Guard!" Twilight geeked out, eliciting a chuckle and kiss on the cheek from Fluttershy "you're so adorable when you geek out darling!" Fluttershy giggled.

At last, they rounded a corner into a beautiful ornate garden with neat flower beds, beautiful pines and a small lake. "Oh my, this is such a beautiful place Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed, gleaming with joy. Twilight sat in the middle of a small circle of flowers as she watched her marefriend happily hover about talking to different night critters and smelling the different flowers and blossoms. "Oh, I could spend the whole night here just talking to these amazing animals!" Fluttershy squealed as she sat next to her Marefriend, wrapping her wing around her. "Though I've never seen these before" she continued, looking curiously at the circle of flowers they were sat in. "These are the special thing I wanted to show you" Twilight replied, extinguishing the light of her horn. Suddenly the flowers, that had been hiding inside their bud's moments ago sprung to life, deep lavenders mixed with bright yellows. Fluttershys eyes began to water slightly "their beautiful my darling!" she said as she cuddled into Twilight and kissed her on the lips. "Would you like to know what they're called cutie?" Twilight asked returning the kiss. "Mhm" Fluttershy replied in a happy daze "There called sparkling night Shys" she said, as if on cue the flowers began to sparkle like stars "OH MY GOODNESS!" Fluttershy exclaimed they're absolutely beautiful and amazing, bringing Twilight into a deep kiss, wrapping her wings around their faces to hide them from view and light them up with the sparkles. "I love you my Princess" she said as she pulled back from the kiss "I love you too my darling Pegasus" Twilight replied pulling her back into the kiss. As their kiss finally came to an end, they sat, hoof in hoof and wing in wing, smiling away happily at their beautiful surroundings.

A short time later Silent Shadow landed in the gardens and sat at the edge of the lake, staring into the crystal-clear water "Are you okay Captain?" Twilight asked as she and Fluttershy stood up and walked other to him. "Yes Princess, I just like to spend time in the Gardens" Twilight raised her eyebrow "Silent, I know you too well, you never sit still unless somethings wrong, so I'm asking as your friend to tell me" Silent Shadow chuckled lightly "never could get anything past you Twilight, I received a letter from Cloudsdale flight rehabilitation centre" he sighed "oh I'd forgotten that was part of your responsibilities to see what's wrong with Pegasi who miss their appointments" Twilight replied sheepishly "so did I if I'm truly honest, but that's not what's bothering me, it's the pony the letters about" He answered nervously "What do you mean Captain?!" Fluttershy asked nervously. "There's no easy way for me to say this so I'll let you both read it for yourselves" he replied with a trembling voice, laying the letter on the floor. Twilight began to read it aloud "Dear Captain Shadow, we apologise for this letter coming more than a few years late, however this file was only recently recovered from our burnt down office but it has come to our attention that following our initial meeting the young filly named Scootaloo has not attend her follow up appointments, sadly however we were able to confirm all those years ago that this young filly will never grow into her wings and thus never be able to fly. Please would you be able to bring her for an appointment if possible. Sincerely Dr Feather Rest

"Thank you for bringing this to us Silent Shadow" Twilight said through teary eyes as she hugged him "you should get some rest, it will be morning soon" she added seeing his weary eyes I think I'll stay here a little longer, I'm so sorry Princess, Miss Fluttershy" Fluttershy hugged him tight before letting go "it's not your fault Captain, I'm just glad we know the truth, please get some rest soon" she told him "Goodbye Captain" Twilight said her horn lit up and she and Fluttershy were Teleported back to their room in the castle of friendship, where they fell asleep in each other's arms in silent tears, Twilight hiding the letter on top of a bookcase so no pony would find it