Inspiration

by Creative

Chapter III: The Proposal

Chapter III:

The next evening I was in my room making paintings of the scenery I found the previous night from the tour. I had three easels standing with paintings of the Canterlot gardens, of the throne room, and of the stained glass memorial with Princess Luna. I put away my art materials and left the paintings dry and left my room to go find Princess Luna. I was walking down the hallway looking through the window and watched the sun begin to descend towards the horizon. I wasn’t paying attention and accidently bumped into a pink figure similar to Princess Luna’s, but slightly smaller in size. She startled a bit and turned around. “Oh! Hello there. Who are you?”

“My name is Inspiration.”

“Oh you’re Auntie Luna’s student right?”

I nodded. “So are you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?”

“Wow I ‘m surprised a little filly such as yourself can actually pronounce my name correctly!” The pink princess made a huge smile. “I normally go by the name Cadence to make it simple for everypony. Are you enjoying it here at the castle?”

I nodded again. I heard hoof steps coming our way. I turned and found Princess Celestia approaching. She came up and greeted us. “Good evening Cadence and Inspiration. Inspiration, Luna is waiting for you in the dining hall.” She walked off and Princess Cadence followed. I continued down to the dining hall. When I entered I found Princess Luna talking to 3 guards who for some reason where in military uniforms instead of armor. “Good evening princess. What are we doing tonight?”
“Ah, good evening little one. Alright guards you have your orders make this event a good one!” The guards ran off into separate directions. A group of guards were decorating the room with streamers and confetti. Other guards were setting up drinks on the table. “Tonight Shining Armor is going to propose to Princess Cadence.”

I let out a small squeal and then blushed as it was abnormal of me. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes I want you to be the one leading Cadence into the dining hall when it’s time for the surprise. The event will take place in about two hours so lead her around the castle while avoiding this dining hall until then.”

I let out another squeal and then darted off. I wandered around the hallways searching for Princess Cadence. I spent about twenty minutes until I found her with Princess Celestia in the throne room. “Good evening Princesses.”

Princess Cadence waved a hello. “Hi Inspiration, do you need something?”

“I was hoping that maybe you could walk with me, I would like to learn all about everybody in the castle and I thought I could start with you.”

Princess Celestia gave me a slight glare while smiling. She obviously knew what I was doing and waved me off with her niece. I made sure we walked in the opposite direction from the dining hall before I started conversation. “So Princess Cadence, if Princess Celestia controls the sun and Princess Luna controls the moon, what do you take control of?”

“I control love. I have the ability to fix broken hearts and reunite loved ones.” I slightly blushed and kept myself from letting out a third squeal. Princess Cadence looked oddly at my half smile half straight face.

“That ability of yours is really nice. So do you share rule with the Princesses?”

Princess Cadence started to look depressed. “No, I just stay here at the castle and watch Celestia and Luna rule. It’s strange to be a princess and note actually run any countries don’t you think?”

My face turned into a slight frown. “I don’t think it’s strange at all if you’re not ruling anything. A princess is supposed to help her people. You help people with their hearts don’t you?”

Princess Cadence let her smile return. “Yes your right, I do help my people, since when were little fillies so wise?”

“It’s just who I am.” I smiled at Princess Cadence. Looking at a clock I noticed we still had an hour and a half until the event. I walked while thinking of a way to kill more time and keep her distracted. “Hey! Do you want to watch me paint a picture of the castle?

She nodded and we made our way to my room for the art supplies. We wasted thirty minutes getting back on the other side of the castle to get to my room. I packed up enough supplies for two paintings. I could already feel the inspiration dwelling to create a piece of work for the proposal. “Okay I have everything, after you Princess.” She led the way to the castle gates and set herself down at a bench nearby the gate. I propped up my easel got one of the canvases out and started painting. The first detail I worked on was the castle outline. I filled in with details of including every window, the roofing, and the gate itself. After I managed to get the castle perfectly painted I moved onto painting the ground and made sure to pay attention to the flowering details. The last detail I worked on and was careful to get perfect was my Princess’ moon. I put every star where they should be in the sky. I backed away from the painting a little to see the full picture. I then turned to look up at the sky for a bit. Cadence walked up behind me. “Do you love Luna’s sky little one?”

I stayed motionless, still staring at the night sky. “Yes, the inspiration I drew from her sky helped me discover my destiny.” I broke out of my trance and quickly turned my head to look at the clock tower. There was only twenty minutes remaining till the proposal. I quickly packed up my art materials and lifted the canvas with my magic. “First we need to drop this off in my room then proceed to the dining hall.”

“Why do we need to go to-,” I already darted off in a rush. She flew behind me to keep up. We got to my room and I quickly dropped the painting off to let dry and left the room again. We made it to the dining hall five minutes before the event. I muttered under my breath, “Good not late.” I slowly opened the door and let the Princess go in front of me. As soon as I made it into the room I walked behind the crowd of soldiers to find Princess Luna. The room fell silent as the crowd circled around Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. I was in front of the crowd between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. On the other side of the crowd looked like two normal people who weren’t soldiers, both of them were unicorns and looked to be a couple so I assumed they were Shining Armor’s parents. Shining Armor bowed down with a ring on his horn and was preparing to speak. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza after being in love with each other for many years and after you watched both my sister as she grew older and I as I joined the Castle Guard, will you marry me?”

The room remained silent for a good five minutes. Princess Cadence started to tear up while retaining the smile of hers. She finally spoke a single word, “yes.” The crowd cheered and the couple hugged one another. I sat down my easel and canvas to start painting. Princess Luna watched as I made each stroke of the brush. The image started to unfold as the image of the Captain and Princess were being made on the canvas. After finishing the painting I put it in the corner out of the way to dry. I went about talking to some of Shining’s friends in the guard and his parents, Princess Luna who talked about my art style, and Princess Celestia about the times Shining and Cadence were together.

The guards started to leave as the night went on. By the time it was only the Princesses, Shining, and I the painting had dried. I levitated the painting of its canvas then walked towards Princess Cadence. I bowed my head and said, “This painting is for you.”

The Princess smiled and said, “Thank you, I will keep it always.” Everyone left except for Princess Luna and I. We went about the rest of the night talking about art techniques and styles before we went to bed for the night.

Generosity can be its own inspiration.