"I'm going to take a long bath, honey!" Shining called to his wife. "Do you need the bathroom?!"

"No, that's fine, dear!" Cadence yelled in response. "I can always use one of the other bathrooms we have in this castle!"

"Oh right..."  Shining grabbed a towel and head towards the master bathroom, 1 of 47 in the Crystal Palace. He locked the door behind him and turned on the hot water. The bath fill up. Shining undressed and stepped in, letting the heat melt his stress away. He signed in comfort.

"Damn, I really needed this..." He sunk deeper into the warm water.

A noise above his head made him open his eyes and look up quickly. His gaze was met with a cloud of smoke that hovered over him.

"What the-" The cloud changed form and a scroll appeared out of thin air. Shining shot up his arm from the water to catch the falling scroll before it got soaked. Hmm, it's been a while since Spike sent me a letter. He dried off his hands with his towel before opening the little paper. I wonder what's wrong. Probably Twilight getting in trouble. His eyes scanned the paper. When he was done reading he placed the scroll on the counter behind him.

Nope, looks like baby brother is the one in trouble, and what a problem he has! Shining rubbed his chin slowly, then stopped. I would suggest the Royal Guard, but I know Spike. I think he's looking for some extra training. He pulled the plug to the bath tub and started drying off. He needed to get dressed and speak to Spike in person about this.

Shining Armor got suited up in his Caption's uniform, grabbed a couple sign up sheets, and called to his wife.

"Cadence!" He yelled.

"I'm in here!" She answered back.

He followed her voice to the master bedroom. She was laying on the bed in a seductive pose, with a hand on her hip and the other making circles on the mattress.

"You know, I have the rest of the day off..." She coed and gave the best bedroom eyes that she could. "We could find something to do to pass the t...Hey, why do you have your uniform on? "

"Sorry dear, not now." It almost hurt him to refuse. "Duty calls."

"What?" She whined. "I've been planning this all day!"

"I'm sorry, but Spike needs my help." His eyes wandered her body. "Uhh... I'll make it up to you when I get back."

"Hmph!" She sat up and crossed her arms. "I'll be tired by then!"

Shining signed. "It will only be an hour or so this time, I promise."

"You promised last time..." Shining rubbed the back of his head. Cadence gave up. "Fine, go. I guess I'll just have to wait."

She huffed and got up from the bed. She dragged her feet while walking to the bathroom. "Well, at least I don't need to have my hair all nice now." She grumbled. Shining Poked his head through the doorway.

"Oh, and one more thing,dear?" He said sheepishly.

"What now?" She mumbled angrily.

"Would you might teleporting me to Ponyvile?" He gave her a pleading look.

Cadence rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"I love y-" Shining disappeared from her sight.

Wow, he really takes his time responding. Spike's glaze lifted up past his comic book. Wait a minute... How is he going to respond? I don't know if he can even send letters back to me. He brought his hand up to his forehead. Well, so much for "guy talk". A knock echoing through the library interrupted his train of thought. The knock came again.

"Spike! Could you get that, please?!" Twilight called from her room.

"Yea, I got it!" He yelled back. Probably just the mailmare.

Spike climbed off his bed and made his way to the front door. He turned the knob and pushed the door open. Standing on the front step was non other than the caption of the Royal Guard.

"Shining Armor?" Spike sputtered.

"S'up little bro?" Shining stepped forward. "Do you have time for a little talk?"

"Yea, of course, come in." Spike lead his guest to the living room. They sat down on different couches. Shining laid down a folder on the coffee table. It had the symbol of the Royal Guards on its cover.

"Who is it, Spike?!" Twilight yelled from upstairs.

"It's your BBBFF!" Shining joked.

Twilight ran down the stairs and zipped to the living room.

"SHINING!" She cheered. Shining stood up from the couch and opened up his arms, inviting her with his embrace.

"It's been a while Twily." he said petting her hair.

"Too long." Twilight pulled back from the hug. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Actually, I'm here to talk with Spike." Twilight tilted her head.

"About what?"

"I got a letter from him about a half hour ago explaining some problems he's having." Twilight looked at Spike with curiosity. Spike returned a sheepish grin.

"Oh really? What kind of problems?" She asked.

"Sorry, Twi. I can't release that information." He answered sternly.

"And why not?" She crossed her arms.

"Bro code." Shining winked a Spike while Twilight face palmed. "Anyways, I think I got a solution for his problems."

Spike's face lit up. "You do?"

Shining nodded to him. "Yep." He bend down to the table and opened the folder. He looked up to Spike and grinned.

"All you need to do is sign some papers..." Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Sign Here, Please. Estimated time remaining: 20 Minutes