Meanwhile, Shining Armor had returned to the princesses. Celestia had her back to Luna and Twilight, talking to somepony else. The princesses of the night were still excitedly chattering.
"I still can't believe this! Our own ceremony! It's like a dream." Luna smiled.
"It could be a dream, since you create them." Twilight replied.
"Hah! True. You have such a wit, Twilight Sparkle." She closed her eyes as she laughed, and Shining Armor saw Twilights horn glow green and Luna open her eyes, which were spinning. "Phew." She shook her head. "Pardon me, Twilight Sparkle. I got up much earlier than I'm used to today."
"I completely understand." Behind her kind smile, Shining Armor detected a familiar sneer. He gasped, and ran towards Celestia.
"Princess Celestia!" He cried.
"Oh, Shining Armor," she replied. "I thought you had gone to dinner."
"I had, but I came back, and I'm glad I did. I saw Twilight casting a spell on Luna."
"What?" Both Celestia and Luna exclaimed, looking at Twilight.
"Shining," Twilight whined. "I know I did this exact thing before your wedding, but I apologized. Why do you have to do it in front of my first royal ceremony?"
"But you were also proven right. Can't you two see? Twilight is-"
"Shining Armor," Luna interrupted. "Stop this. Twilight cast no spell on me. I was only acting strange because I'm tired from all the preparations. Obviously you're worried about Cadence and seeing things to try to explain where she went, but they aren't true. You should go rest."
"But-"
"Listen to Luna, Shining Armor," Twilight said authoritatively "Security is accounted for, so you can go rest. I promise that the MOMENT the ceremony is over I'll go and look for Cadence some more."
Defeated, he went back to his temporary abode in Manehatten, and lay down. Had he imagined the whole thing? He had been so confident that he hadn't, but now... was this how Twilight had felt before the wedding? He felt especially bad for having yelled at her back then.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in, it's open," he called. Twilight came in.
"You'd think the captain of the royal guard would keep better track of who comes into his room." She teased.
"Ha ha. Do you need something?"
"Yes, actually." Her eyes flashed green. "To get you out of the way." Her horn began to glow, but Shining Armor had been prepared for her. Just as fake Twilight cast her spell, Shining cast a counter spell so that instead of being teleported directly into the Bad Lands, he was teleported just outside of its walls. He still had the element of surprise.