A Just Cause

by GJT_Productions

Gala Gone Wrong

"Aww, come on Cadance? Just one more round, please?"

"Dear, ponies are staring at us. I thought the point of going to the hayburger joint was to avoid attention..."

"Who cares? Any and all ponies that would care are being bored out of their minds at the Gala right now, it's just the ordinary folk here! Now let's see if I can get some ringers here..."

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Several other diners at the hayburger joint watch in interest as Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor levitates several larger onion rings from his combo meal, using magenta colored unicorn magic to fling them toward Princess Cadance, who was sitting across from him at the table. Cadance darts and bobs to catch the onion rings on her horn, similar to a ring toss game, eliciting a few cheers and thumps of approval from the restaurant's fellow patrons when she manages to get them all.

"Somehow that never gets old. Lot less messy than trying to do it with donuts, too!" Shining comments enthusiastically as the other patrons return to their meals.

"Yeah, you'll probably be doing it with our foals. Assuming they have horns, of course..." Cadance facetiously replies, carefully working the onion rings back off her horn as she speaks.

"Foals?! What are you even talking about? I mean, could it even 'work' the normal way? Because all the research into alicorn..." Shining begins replying in shock before awkwardly trailing off when he realizes the other patrons are beginning to stare again.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Cadance replies with an impish grin, which Shining knew from experience indicated she was deliberately being coy in this case. Shining sighs and rolls his eyes, which prompts a giggle out of Cadance in response.

"I still wanna go see Twily..." Shining comments quietly, levitating up and taking a bite out of his hayburger afterward.

"Don't be talking like that!" Cadance replies. "I'm sure your sister and her friends are having a wonderful time with Aunt Celly! Besides, you know the Grand Galloping Gala bores me as much as it does you. Too stuffy, not enough action..."

"I don't know, I just got this nagging feeling that Twily and her friends were invited by Celestia because..." Shining begins speaking again, only to be interrupted by the noise of the hayburger shop door being thrown open and a Royal Guard in full armor rushing in at top speed!

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Shining Armor and Princess Cadance exchange concerned looks as the guard works his way past the stunned and confused patrons, the situation drawing enough interest to bring the kitchen staff forward to the counter temporarily to watch what was going on.

"I thought I told the Captain that we were..." Shining Armor says to the Guard in annoyance as the latter stops near the table where Shining and Cadance were sitting.

"Sorry, sir, the Captain himself sent me here, as fast as I could go!" the pegasus stallion in Guard armor answers, putting up a salute as he does so.

"What's so important that Captain Gibraltar himself wanted to send you here?" Shining Armor naturally asks, and the Guard leans in to whisper the response in Shining's ear, apparently aware that what he was going to say shouldn't be said out loud.

The whispering makes it impossible for Princess Cadance to hear what is being said, but is naturally quite alarmed when Shining's eyes grow wide and he jumps out of his seat, all-but-galloping toward the exit with the subordinate Guard hot on his hooves! The rest of the crowd at the hayburger joint is riveted, first to Shining and then to the stunned Cadance.

"Shining, where are you going?!" Cadance exclaims, rising from her own seated position.

"Something's happened at the Gala! Captain wants me there as quickly as possible!" Shining calls back as he whooshes through the shop's out door, setting off a wave of speculative buzz among the staff and patrons of the establishment.

"So much for our date night..." Cadance sighs out in frustration, taking advantage of the intense buzz to hide her own exit and following after Shining back toward Canterlot Castle...

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As Shining Armor gallops through the streets of Canterlot, Cadance hot on his hooves, he looks around for any signs of what has happened at Canterlot Castle. His first guess - some kind of attack by a giant monster - is quickly eliminated by visual observation of the castle surroundings, and the fact that the soldiers still patrolling the streets have remained at their posts rules out the next guess - an attack by some kind of rebel group on the Gala.

The picture becomes clearer as Shining, Cadance and their pegasus Guard escort approach the path leading into the castle proper, where all three can see a quietly milling crowd of upper-class ponies near the roundabout the carriages used to drop off and pick up their passengers - a few of said carriages were already taking on passengers and pulling out. Shining skids to a stop, breathlessly looking left and right for any signs of his sister or her friends. He quickly notices a unique apple-shaped carriage, pulled by the "off-duty" Guards Upper Class Caramel and Lucky Clover, but decides against diverting to talk with them - meeting with the Captain was more important at the moment.

"Usually the Gala doesn't let out for a... where did all these animals come from?!" Cadance exclaims, sliding up beside Shining and pointing a forehoof at a groundspony trying - and failing - to shoo away a meadowlark which was flitting about between the hats of the waiting upper-class ponies.

"I'm going in, you should follow me!" Shining calls back to Cadance, noticing the alarming amount of agitated critters in the area and wondering if somepony had opened the cages of the private zoo kept on castle grounds. The Lieutenant Captain plunges past buzzing upper-class ponies, and Princess Cadance scrambles to follow.

Shining and Cadance gallop up the short path and over the drawbridge leading into the castle proper, again not noticing Twilight Sparkle or her friends. The absence of Princess Celestia up to this point is also quite alarming, considering her role in the Grand Galloping Gala. The couple ascend the stairs into the main hall, Cadance sure she heard something crunch underhoof despite there being no obvious signs of damage to the castle...

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As soon as Shining and Cadance burst into the main hall, both of them skid to a stop again, jaws falling open at the devastation around them! Both the hall's aesthetic columns and central "alicorn" statue are in pieces on the floor, joined by most of the tables and their contents. The few upper-class ponies still around the scene are trying to get out as quickly as they can, assisted by the Wonderbolts (a gesture that would help rehabilitate their seriously tarnished image). Princess Luna, not the expected Celestia, is in the center of the devastated room, trying to coordinate the mixture of Guards, some being batponies, with cleaning up the mess and rounding up a few animals still scurrying around amidst the debris.

"Shining, Princess Cadance, over here!" Captain Gibraltar's voice calls out in the commotion, and both Shining and Cadance turn to see Captain of the Guard Gibraltar positioned near a broken column piece, looking at a clipboard he was levitating with his unicorn magic.

"Oh thank goodness you both showed up!" the Captain continues, his head darting around every which way, after Shining and Cadance carefully make their way around the mess on the floor to join him. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't!"

"What happened here, sir?!" Shining exclaims, finally able to spit out his confusion and disbelief at the sight around him.

"Your sister and her friends are 'what happened here', Lieutenant Captain! And now look at this mess Princess Luna and I have to deal with!" Gibraltar exclaims in return, gesturing with a foreleg at the mess all around as he speaks. "What's worse is that your sister and her friends haven't been accounted for, and neither has Princess Celestia or Prince Blueblood!"

"Have you sent a search party out for them, Captain?" Princess Cadance asks, as she can see Shining is still trying to process the devastation around him.

"I can't spare the ponies for that, Your Highness. That's why I need Shining to do it for me." Gibraltar answers with a shake of his head.

"But where should we look? If Aunt Celly and Twilight aren't in the castle, they could be anywhere in the city by now!" Cadance exclaims again.

At this point, Cadance looks over at Shining, who had assumed a very thoughtful expression - the serenity starkly contrasting with the confusion around him - and the contrast causes attention of both her and Captain Gibraltar to be focused on him temporarily.

"I have an idea." the Lieutenant Captain finally says, almost too quietly to be heard among the noise. "I wouldn't know about Prince Blueblood, but I think I can find everypony else."

"Really? Where?" Gibraltar asks hopefully, but Shining doesn't respond to the question, instead immediately turning around and beginning to work his way back out the way he had came in.

"Shining, where are you going?!" Cadance calls after him, Gibraltar following her gaze at Shining.

"Just trust me! You should probably come too, Cadance!" Shining calls back in response before disappearing through the doorway again.

Cadance looks at Gibraltar, who just shrugs and returns to his work, before grunting out a sigh and states "I'M the Princess around here, why am I the one being dragged around everywhere?"

As Cadance follows Shining Armor back out of the castle, another royal figure is working their way through the streets of Canterlot, hoping to make it out of the city before the gates lock him in. Because, with him or without him, Lieutenant Troilus' campaign would leave southwest out of the city that night...

Comments

[Mpatton17]

What were shining armor and cadence wearing