"You did what?!"

Celestia let out a sigh. It was only a hour after Shine had ran off after that kiss they had. Right now, Celestia was in her room with her sister, using a towel to dry off her mane, which had been soaked from the freak shower outside. Celestia was just telling Luna what had transpired between her and Shine, and when she got to the 'kiss', Luna was surprised.

"You had heard me right, sister. He and I... kissed, right there in the rain." Celestia stated, her cheeks glowing a small red from the fresh memory of his lips against her.

"And he just ran off, right after that?" Luna asked.

"Yes..." Celestia nodded, "I don't even know what came over me."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked with a raised brow, "How did it actually happen?"

"I don't know... Shine and I was just standing there, out on the terrace, talking about our lives... and then we looked in each other's eyes... he had the most beautiful blue eyes and the most wonderful smile..." Celestia closed her eyes and gave a happy sigh. "Then it began to rain, and as soon it did... I kissed him."

"Wait, are you sure it wasn't he who kissed you?" Luna questioned.

"To be honest, I think we both did. Never the less...it was the most wonderful feeling I had ever felt in a thousand years..." Celestia then frowned. "What is wrong with me, sister? Why do I feel this way about him?"

"Isn't it obvious, dear sister?" Luna smirked, as she placed a hoof around her. "You're in love. In love with Shine Paladin."

Celestia's eyes widened in shock.

"Me? In love with Shine?" She gasped.

Was it possible? Now that she thought about it... she had been thinking about Shine more than usual as of late, peeking at him when he was exercising, enjoying his company more than she should, blushing and stiffing up at the slightest touch he gave her... and then there was tonight... the dinner, the music, the stroll through the garden... was Shine...was Shine taking her on a date?

"I knew it from the very moment I first saw him that he was meant for you." Luna smiled.

"Wait, from the very..." Then it hit Celestia like a freight train, as she then glared at Luna. "So that's why you had him stay here! You were trying to play matchmaker!"

"Guilty as charged." Luna smirked.

"Why would you do that? Who gave you the authority to interfere with my personal life?" Celestia demanded.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds, sister, but I was only acting in your best interests." Luna frowned. "I felt bad that you don't have a special somepony in your life like me, Twilight, or Cadance. When I saw Shine... I knew it was a sign."

"A sign?" Celestia repeated.

"Yes. I mean, look at Shine. He's a sweetheart and a gentleman... not to mention easy on the eyes. I did not pick Shine out of convenience, sister. I truly think he is the one for you." Luna smiled.

"Luna..." Celestia whispered, as she gave a small smile. "I am happy that you would do this for me...and I will not lie, every moment with him had been wonderful… but I don't think me and Shine are meant to be."

"What? Why?!" Luna gasped.

"Luna... I am not even sure if Shine feels the same way about me. I mean, he ran away after we kissed." Celestia said.

"Celestia, Shine does feel the same way. He's crazy about you!" Luna stated matter of factly. "Think about all the times you two spent together, how Shine always seem to be focused on you, how he told you his entire life story...Shine even admitted to me that he is smitten with you."

"Then why did he leave, then?" Celestia challenged.

"Try seeing it through his eyes, sister!" Luna demanded, "You are Celestia, the princess that raises and lowers the sun every day, the ruler of Equestria, the most loved by everyone, even more so than me. Shine sees himself as nothing more than a commoner, a farmer whose life goes nowhere in the middle of nowhere, and without a cutie mark...well, it's safe to say that he thinks himself unworthy of your love. That kiss he gave you...he's probably thinking that he offended you, that he ruined the friendship he made with you."

Celestia was silenced by Luna's words, and as soon as she finished, the alicorn practically crumbled, putting a hoof to her forehead, feeling a migrane in her head and tears to her eyes.

"Oh... I just don't know anymore." Celestia whimpered, "I've never felt this conflicted in my life."

"Celestia..." Luna whispered as she placed a wing around her sister.

"I don't know what to do, Luna." Celestia admitted, "Shine is not like any other pony I had met before... but I... I am afraid that... that I might break his heart. As princess, my duty is to Equestria... and I don't know if I can be the ruler Equestria need and the pony Shine wants. Shine deserves better than that."

Luna let out a heavy sigh as she then glanced fiercely into Celestia's eyes. "Sister! Have you honestly learned nothing from Twilight in the past twenty years?"

"Excuse me?" Celestia gaped.

"Celestia... Twilight had been your most faithful student for years on end, even after she became a princess herself." Luna declared. "You think she knew what she was doing when she met her mate Flash? No. She was just as clueless about love as you are right now. But did she let that stop her from courting Flash? No. She not only courted him... she married him, and now has two wonderful foals, and you know why?"

Luna put a hoof to the white alicorn's heart.

"Because Twilight followed her heart." She said simply. "She did not let anything stop her from admitting her feelings for Flash, not even herself. Love isn't something that can be mapped or be made certain of, but ponies go for it because they know deep in their heart, it would be worth it in the end."

Celestia's expression began to lighten up as she heard her sister's words, as she started to think...

"Don't you see, Celestia?" Luna asked. "Everypony deserves a special somepony in their life. If I, the once feared Nightmare Moon, could find love with Gothic... then you most certainly deserve to be with Shine. You waited a thousand year to find somepony to love... isn't it about time you realized you had found him?" Luna asked.

"You're right, Luna." Celestia smiled. "I have to find him. I can't let him go!"

Celestia charged out of the room.

"That's the spirit, sister." Luna smiled.

In a matter of moments, Celestia was at Shine's bedroom, in hopes that he could have come back there. Quickly, she knocked upon the door in a succession of three times.

"Shine? Shine?!" Celestia called through the door, "Are you there? I want to speak with you."

No answer.

"Shine?" Celestia repeated, as she slowly nudge the door open. She glanced into the room, only to see no one. The room was empty.

Celestia became concerned as she looked around the room. When she looked towards the bed, she noticed a piece of folded paper, placed upon the center of the bed.

She grabbed the parchment with her magic and unfolded it. On it, it said:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm sorry, but the time has come for me to leave. I greatly enjoyed my time. I can never repay you for hospitality, but rest assured, I will never forget you.

May you have a great life…

Shine Paladin

Celestia had to stifle a horrified gasp, as she then flicked the letter aside and ran out of the room. She could not let Shine leave… not yet…

Far away from the castle, deep within the forests within the mountain range within the dark of the cloudy night, Shine was making his trek through the woods. He would had prefer to avoid the place altogether, but his wings still needed to recover from not being used for three months.

Shine looked down the range, where he could still see the outlines of Canterlot Castle. The moment he did, the flickering image of Celestia's smile flashed through his mind, and a pang of pain struck his heart the moment it did, as he lowered his head in sadness.

"Come on, Shine..." He told himself, "It doesn't do you any good to think about her. You got to move on." He continued onwards, "This is how it gotta be. You don't belong in her life, you never did... how could you be so stupid, Shine? Kissing her, the ruler of Equestria? You might as well bought yourself a one-way ticket to the moon."

"You know, I had grown tired of ponies thinking I banish them to the moon if I was merely offended."

Shine instantly leapt up in horror. Quickly about-facing, he saw the mare that plagued his mind and heart landing before him, her face lined with serious intent.

"Princess?! What are you doing out here?!" Shine gasped.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Mr. Paladin." Celestia dryly quipped.

"You shouldn't had followed me, Celestia." Shine muttered bitterly, "How did you even find me?"

"You were never a pony to draw attention to himself. I figured you would take the path less traveled. But I must say, these woods are not a safe place for a pegasi who cannot fly." Celestia explained.

"The same can be said about you, Princess." Shine rebutted, a bit more harshly than he intended, "Why did you follow me here?"

"Because you didn't say good-bye, Shine." Celestia explained, "You just left us without another word, and I would like to know why."

"Oh please, you of all ponies should know why I left." Shine snarled, although his words quivered with silent agony.

"What does you leaving have to do with what we did?" Celestia frowned.

"You wouldn't understand..." Shine growled, as he began walking away.

"Don't you dare say that!" Celestia snapped, as she quickly cut him off, seething fiercely, "Why are you acting like this? You kissed me, ran away from me, and now you are doing it again!" Celestia's eyes then turn to hurt, "Are you... are you ashamed that we kissed?"

Shine tried to look away and not gaze into those beautiful amethyst orbs.

"Answer me! What was it I did that you suddenly hate me?!" Celestia demanded, fighting down the tears in her eyes.

Those last two words hit Shine hard.

"Hate you?" Shine repeated, his angered expression softening, as his eyes grew misty, "Celestia, I don't hate you. I can never hate you. That's the problem."

Celestia's eyes widened, and her heart beat faster than usual. "What do you mean?"

Shine let out a heavy sigh.

"Celestia... I'd originally came to Canterlot, focused on getting my Cutie Mark, and whether you helped me or not, I would've headed back to Dodge Junction, end of story... but instead of getting a Cutie Mark..." Shine glanced at Celestia, his eyes tearing up. "I ended up falling for you, Celestia."

"Shine..." Celestia whispered.

"The last three months I spent with you was the greatest time of my life." Shine confessed. "From the moment I first saw you, your beauty, your kindness, and your benevolence made me feel things that I'd never felt before. I tried to deny these feelings, but each passing moment I spent with you, it became harder and harder. Soon, I felt like it was possible... possible that maybe... just maybe, we could be together. When I kissed you, I realized two things: one, I had fallen irrevocably in love with you. And two: we can never be together."

"Why would you think that?" Celestia asked, her voice failing her as his confession touched home.

"Celestia, you and I come from two very different worlds." Dusk sighed. "You're an alicorn, who lived through roughly ten of my ancestors' lives, born into royalty. You're one of two princesses of Equestria, loved and respected by everypony around you. Me? I'm just a mortal farm Pegasi without a Cutie Mark. Don't you see? I'm not worthy of you. I never was. And it kills me right here..." Shine gestured to his heart, as a tear ran down his cheek. "...Knowing that. That's why I left like I did... I can't live in your world, Celestia... I can't live in it, with my heart wanting something that I can't have."

"Shine... I... I..." Celestia tried to speak, but her eyes were tearing up.

"I can easily understand if you don't feel the same way about me." Shine muttered, as he turned away. "But do know that I will always hold you dear to my heart, and that I am only doing this as a favor for both of us... good-bye…"

Celestia became speechless, seeing the Pegasus laying his heart out before her and just walking away, feeling unworthy of even the ground she stood upon. She had to change that... she had to tell him how she felt... how much that he meant to her...

"Shine! Wait!" Celestia called out, about to run after her, "I l-"

A loud growl immediately cut her off, as both the princess and Shine's ears perked up in shock. Then, in the same fashion as you would in a horror movie, they gazed upon the trees, seeing ominous golden eyes falling upon them. Soon, they were being surrounded by Timberwolves.

"Oh no... Timberwolves..." Shine muttered.

As the Timberwolves advanced, Celestia fired a blast of magic from her horn. It struck one Timberwolf dead-on, smashing it to pieces. As the other Timberwolves crept forward, the pieces of their comrade reassembled themselves. Celestia stifled a curse as Shine took a step forth.

"Follow my lead." He declared, kicking a stone at a Timberwolf's legs, shattering them. "Best way to slow them down is to go for the legs."

"I take it this is not your first time in dealing with these beasts?" Celestia asked.

"Let's say that Big Red has a great distaste for these mutts, and came up with a hundred and twenty-one ways to render them helpless." Shine replied. Celestia dared not question what any of those tactics may be.

Following Shine's example, Celestia levitated up more stones, and flung them at their attackers, breaking more of their legs.

Once a few of them were down, Shine shouted, "Come on! We need to get out of here!" The two quickly turned around and bolted off to put ground between them and their predators.

But the Timberwolves' regenerative capabilities were faster than they thought, and they quickly followed. The alpha Timberwolf, much bigger than the rest of his pack, leapt at Celestia.

"Celestia, NO!" Shine screamed, as he quickly pushed her out of the way. Instead of the beast's intended target, the Timberwolf sunk it's teeth into his midsection.

"Aaah!" Shine howled.

"No!" Celestia gasped.

The Timberwolf bit down harder, causing Shine to scream louder, as he began throwing his front hooves like crazy, constantly smashing the wolf in the face.

Seeing the wolf inflicting pain upon the Pegasi, the Alicorn felt an unprecedented rage course through her veins. Celestia's eyes glowed white with fury.

"Leave. Him. Alone!" She roared.

Celestia charged through the Timberwolves, who gathered around the alpha as it continued biting into the Pegasi's body, taking on each one personally, using her magic to literally grab them and smash them into either the ground or the trees, fighting her way to the alpha.

The wolves then began to dog-pile onto the Alicorn, burying the mare under numerous bodies of feral lumber… but a light shone through the cracks and blasted all of them away, leaving a seething Celestia in their wake. At this point, her body had suffered numerous bites and scratches, especially in the wings, but she refused to stop.

When she finally reached the alpha, she bellowed in her Royal Canterlot voice.

"Put him down!" Celestia demanded.

The alpha merely obliged, tossing Shine aside as it girded itself for battle.

"You will pay dearly for this!" Celestia snarled.

The wolf let out a vicious growl as it prepared to lunge…

But Celestia was not at all intimidated. Her horn glowing more violently than it had before, she began levitating every rock surrounding them (as far as she could tell, she must had gotten every rock in the forest). With a flick of her horn, Celestia began bombarding the alpha from all sides with such ferocity, that the wolf had no time to regenerate it's body.

Within moments, the wolf was nothing more than splinters, broken beyond repair of any magic. Celestia gave heavy pants after unleashing all of her agony and anger upon the alpha Timberwolf, ignoring the stinging pain that lingered in her wings. They were not broken, thankfully, but scratched up.

However, that did not give her any relief. Immediately, she turned towards the downed figure of the brave pegasi that took the full brunt of the alpha's attack.

"Shine!" Celestia gasped, as she quickly ran to his side, quickly kneeling aside him to assert the damage.

Shine let out a pained moan as he struggled to glance up at the now teary-eyed mare. Every inch of his body felt like it was on fire, especially in the mid-section, where the alpha had struck him no doubt.

"C-Celestia..." Shine murmured, the pain making it hard to speak, "H-how bad... is-is it?"

Right now, Celestia was trying with all her might to remain calm and not break down... but seeing the stallion she loved in unbearable pain, all because of her no less, made it all but possible to do so. In fact, it prevented her from responding immediately.

"Just... just hold on, Shine... it's only... only a scratch." Celestia tried to sooth.

However, Shine was no fool. The pegasi only chuckled, possibly to deal with the pain.

"That bad, huh?" Shine mused, grunting from the pain, "That stinkin' wolf did a number on me."

Celestia wanted to agree with him... but a question lingered... no, burned in her mind, and right now, she needed an answer.

"Why did you do it, Shine?" Celestia asked, fighting the falling tears that trickled down her cheeks, "Why did you do something as reckless as to endanger your life to save me?"

Shine only let out a sigh, as he glanced up at Celestia, giving a weak smile.

"It-it's like my pa explained to me... the meaning of the name Paladin... a paladin... was a knight... somepony who defend what they believe in..." He shakily lifted one of his hoof and wiped a tear off Celestia's cheek, "Y-you... Celestia... are what I... I believed in."

"S-Shine..." Celestia whispered.

"It's kinda c-cliche, I know... but I couldn't... let harm come to you..." Shine felt a tear come to his eye, "I love you, Celestia...I have for a long while. Can't believe... it took a darn Timberwolf's bite... to get it out there."

Celestia felt her heart do flips, hurting more than ever as she heard those three words come from Shine's mouth. Whether it was the situation they were in, or the raw emotions that lingered in the air, an impulse surged through the alicorn's mind, and she acted on it.

She placed her lips against Shine's. Normally, Shine would have been caught off-guard by such a powerful gesture... but his mind seem to have been thinking the same thing, as he generously returned the kiss with much gusto, feeling all his pain being taken away.

It was clear as the Alicorn's sun... Shine, the mark-less orphaned farmer pony from Dodge Junction, loved Celestia. Celestia, the beloved, yet lonely princess of Equestria, loved Shine. And for once, all was right with the world.

The two remained in the loving embrace... when suddenly, a flash of light began to show on Shine's flank.

Celestia broke out of the loving kiss upon her eyes registering the flash of light, and looking towards the light, the alicorn let out a gasp.

"Shine..." Celestia whispered, nearly lost for words, more tears striking her eyes.

"W-what?" Shine asked, baffled.

"Look... look at your flank." Celestia responded.

Shine did as such, ignoring the pain in his body as he craned his neck to look at his flank...only for his mouth to drop in complete and utter shock.

Upon his flank, for all the world to see forevermore, was a Cutie Mark... his Cutie Mark. The brand was that of a sun, golden to dark orange, but in the middle, instead of a big yellow circle, there was a shield, same color as the outer part of the mark, with a golden cross in the middle of that shield.

"My... my Cutie Mark." Shine stuttered, his eyes nearly tearing up once more, "It...it finally came." His elation of no longer being a blank flank however was soon replaced with confusion, "...I don't understand..."

Celestia gave a tearful smile, "I believe I do." Shine glanced at Celestia oddly, "Your love for me was so great, that you were willing to risk your own life to protect me. Your special talent... it is to defend the ones you love... me..."

Shine nodded weakly. "Huh… woulda… woulda thunk it…" He was clearly moments from passing out.

"Hang in there, Shine." Celestia lifted him onto her back.

Celestia dashed back to the castle, her wings too damaged to fly, as Shine soon slipped into unconsciousness.

When Shine regained consciousness, he found himself back in the infirmary, Celestia, Luna, Gothic and Constell watching him with expectant eyes.

"Oh… dang, I feel like I've been run over by a train." Shine groaned, as he stood up in his bed. He noticed his mid-section was wrapped in bandages, all save his wings.

"Shine…you're awake…" Celestia nearly broke into tears as she embraced him.

"Gah! Easy there." Shine grimaced, idly petting her mane. "I'm still a little tender."

"I would say so." Luna nodded, "When we found you and Celestia, we feared the worst had come to pass."

"Yes. Celestia was all out of sorts when the doctors took you in to patch you up." Gothic explained, "Fortunately, your wounds were not as mortal as they seemed."

"I see…" Shine whispered, as he felt Celestia's grip loosen.

"Sorry." Celestia apologized, wiping a few stray tears from her eyes. "I just… I was…"

"It's fine, Celestia." Shine smiled warmly, "Sorry if I gave ya a scare."

Celestia only gave a small chuckle, "I'm just so glad that you're okay."

"Yeah. Although I feel sore all over." Shine admitted.

"Oh, you poor thing." Celestia smirked, as she planted a short kiss on his lips. "Does that make things better?"

"Much." Shine beamed.

"Whoa." Constell gaped. "It finally happened!"

"Well done, Shine." Gothic congratulated him. "I knew you'd get her eventually!"

"Is it true, big sister?" Luna asked hopefully.

"Yes." Celestia nodded. "I can deny my feelings no longer."

"That's good." Shine chuckled. "Hate to think I got chewed up like a bone for nothing..."

"I love you, Shine." Celestia smiled. "I just wish I'd realized it sooner."

"Same here." Shine admitted. "But once I get outta here… would you like to… you know… make up for lost time?"

Celestia smiled deeply as she kissed him again.

"I would love that…"