Silence is the total absence of sound. It is caused by millions upon millions of air molecules simply not doing anything, all at the same time. Some find silence to be comforting and nurturing, especially those who usually flee from every sound as a simple matter of survival. For others, silence is a foreign concept, as life is full of sound for them. But for most, silence is just that. Silence. Nopony realises that there are different types of silence, just as there are different types of sound.

There is a faction of monks on a mountain to the East. Both the sect and the mountain have names, but they are impossible to say for anyone not from that exact region. But the important thing about these monks is that they have devoted their lives to the study of silence. Every type of silence has a name for them, from the silence of being born deaf, to the silence of the grave, to the silence after telling a joke about your boss who was standing right behind you. There is also a very specific type of silence that two ponies, married a while, can make while lying next to each other on their bed as they stare at the ceiling in the middle of the night and wish very much that they won't have to speak first. The name for that type of silence is written with the foreign letters of "Death", "Failure" and "Wet Noodle" mashed up together. It doesn't translate well.

Such silence reigns in the large bedroom atop one of the tallest spires in Canterlot Castle, the bedchamber of a Princess. Not the one who governs the day and all that happens during the bustle of the daytime, nor the one who watches over the sleep of ponykind with the gentle caress of the night. It is the bedroom of the third Princess, Mi Amore Cadenza, or less formally, Cadance. Lying next to her on their heart-shaped bed is her beloved husband, Captain Shining Armor. They lie close to each other, half covered under their blankets, but apart enough not to touch the other. Cadance shivers slightly as the cool breeze from the open window touches her body. Her mane is bedraggled and messy from sweat, as are the linens underneath her. She is still panting softly, but not the type of pleasant and satisfied panting that would follow a successful copulation. She is currently looking at the ceiling, trying to find words in the ancient stonework that would ease the hurt of the pony closest to her heart.

"Shiny... " she begins, but the words die in her mouth as she feels the sudden jolt of the stallion next to her and the coltish whinny that accompanies it. Cadance forces herself to continue: "I know you did your best and... I'm sure we'll get it next time."

The stallion turns away from her and pulls his thick blanket up to cover his back. Swallowing the lump that has risen to her throat, the mare trudges along: "It's not your fault, honey. And it's not such a big deal for me anyway." She puts a gentle hoof on Shining Armor's back. "I love you, Shiny."

Now that the silence has been broken, Princess Cadance hears the sounds of the world come crashing back in; the creaks of the mattress, her own breath and heartbeat, the quiet whistle of the wind outside, and the hopeless, desperate sobs of her husband. She leans over and strokes his mane like a mother would a foal, whispering empty words of comfort to his ears, until he finally drifts off to sleep.

"Cady, have you seen my can of armor polish? I'm sure I had it here somewhere..."

Morning sun illuminates the lofty parlour of the two newlyweds. After they moved to Cadance's tower, the two opted to eat their meals in the comfort of their suite instead of sharing the long table downstairs with the Royal Pony Sisters. They would be welcome to join the elder alicorns, but both of the newlyweds felt uncomfortable with the idea. Cadance sits at the table and waits for her erstwhile husband to join her.

"You really don't need to work on your armor, remember? You have people to do it for you now," she says while sampling some of her morning cereal, gaining a merry milk-stache.

"I know, I know," Shining Armor responds. "I just don't feel comfortable with all of these... princely things. I took care of my armor for years, and I don't think I can let go of it just yet."

"Honey, you're royalty now." She wipes her mouth with a lace-rimmed napkin and takes a slow sip of her morning tea. "You have ruling and decision-making in your life now, not just endless drills and shouting."

The stallion gives up on his search and flops down on the other chair opposite his wife. "It's not that easy. You know, military routine and stuff. I should be outside, barrel deep in mud by now, and instead I'm drinking this... this... "

"...Darjeeling blend tea..."

"...when I could be drinking the dishwater they give to officers in the canteen while calling it coffee."

He gives the mare a stupid grin as he lifts his teacup from its platter and hovers it in the air with his magic. "Prithee, milady, what ho et cetera," he says, and downs the whole cup in one go.

They share a small giggle, and their gazes lock for a moment, bringing a soft blush on both of their faces. Shining Armor and Cadance finish their meal in silence (Type 1559 semi-silence, no intentional verbal communication but ambient noise; lovers lost in each other's eyes while only interrupted by the male participant dropping his butterknife on the floor and cursing).

After the meal, Shining Armor starts cleaning the tableware away, but the gentle pink hoof of his wife stops him. As he looks at Cadance, she only shakes her head, and with a slight glow dancing along her horn, pulls a rope that signals the servants to enter.

"Prince, remember?" she whispers in the stallion's ear.

After the overtly polite maids in their frilly aprons have left the room with the dishes, Shining Armor sits back in his chair with a sigh.

"I can't help it, Cady. All these ponies pampering me all the time... It just feels that I'm getting... soft."

His brain catches up with what he just said, and he turns away from his wife.

"Shiny?" Cadance's voice is laced with worry. "Are you still thinking about last night?"

The stallion sighs. "And the one before, and the one before that. All the way back to our honeymoon."

"I know it's a big thing for you but... Please don't worry about it so much. Things will work out soon enough." The pink alicorn walks over to her husband and gently sits on his lap, causing the chair to creak dangerously under the two large ponies. Alarmed, she gets up, deciding instead on sitting down next to the stallion on the floor and gently pushing her head on his lap. “And it's not like we couldn't do... it before.”

"You keep saying that," Shining Armor says as he brushes his wife's mane from her eyes. "But it's been almost a month now... And sometimes I feel we're not even married because I'm so... useless." His voice is filled with dread, and the promise of more sobs.

"Maybe it's something medical? We could always go see a doctor or a therapist. Some of them specialise in these things."

Shining Armor's hoof stops mid-stroke. "Tell... somepony else about this? I'm not sure I'm really comfortable with the idea."

"It wouldn't hurt, and at least then we could be sure you're alright," the princess says, and aims her best puppy-dog stare up at her husband. "Do it for me?"

The two newlyweds share the waiting room with an elderly couple. The old tan mare snuggles against the chestnut stallion and they share a gentle smile. Shining Armor feels a sharp pain in his side as Princess Cadance's elbow catches him in the ribs, knocking the air out of him.

"You're staring, Shiny," she whispers to him in her usual gentle voice, in stark contrast to the strength of her hooves.

Shining Armor coughs to catch his breath and gives his lightly bruised side a little rub. He mutters a weak apology and allows his gaze to travel around the small room, making sure not to linger on the older couple. The doctor's office is different from the way he had envisioned it. It has been painted in a light shade of pink with most of the furniture in various shades of red. One of the walls is adorned with pictures of small foals in diapers shooting heart-tipped arrows at each other. On the wall opposite him, just above the two elderly ponies, is a bas relief of various fruits that forms a very suggestive image. Looking at the image causes Shining Armor to blush slightly and look away. His eyes fall upon the small basket filled with ancient-looking magazines, none of them from the current decade. The stallion picks one at random with his magic and flips to a random page. Princess Cadance looks over his shoulder, and utters in amazement: "Oh, my." They both blush like two schoolfillies and giggle nervously.

"The doctor will see you now," announces a voice close to Shining Armor's ear. Startled, he jumps up, throwing the magazine to the floor with the centerfold still open. The older couple looks at the picture only for a second before bursting out in laughter.

“Ahem... I wasn't... that is...” Shining Armor tries to explain before darting after the offending material. He lands on his face, the nurse already having picked up the magazine with her telekinesis. As she turns to return it to the basket, Shining Armor is afforded a perfect view of her hindquarters. She is a lean, young mare with a tight nurse's coat and a hat to match, but her bare rump is only a feet in front of Shining Armor. As he clambers up from his prone position, he can't help but let his look linger on the petite mare and her inviting tiny buttocks for a moment. Cadance nudges him forward from his rump and he lets out a guilty coltish whinny from surprise. The former Captain of the Royal Guard stumbles for the doctor's door with his head bent low, the older couple still tittering in his wake.

The doctor's office appears more professional. The walls are still in a garish shade of pink, but it is hard to notice from underneath the wide assortment of anatomical diagrams, pharmaceutical adverts and motivational posters. To both of the ponies' surprise, the doctor is a pegasus mare and not a unicorn like the rest of the staff at the clinic. Her lavender mane is tied in a ponytail and she's wearing a doctor's mantle atop her cerise coat. The stethoscope on her neck is mirrored by the one adorning her flank. She manoeuvres herself around her large table and shakes the pair by their hooves.

"Hello. I'm doctor Peppy Pickle. Please take a seat." She motions to the two chairs in front of the desk before returning to her seat on the opposite side. "Now, I hear you are having a problem. Would you tell me a bit more about it?"
After gathering his courage, Shining Armor starts, "I—" but is interrupted by his wife.

"My husband..."

They both look at each other, and the Princess lowers her head. "Go on, deary," she says.

With his former resolve completely shattered, the stallion feels the female doctor's burning eyes on him as he tries to stammer out an explanation.

"We've been married for a few weeks now..." he starts anew, immediately feeling stupid. Who wouldn't know about their marriage in Canterlot? It was only marked by a full-on assault by a foreign military. Once again the tears of shame start forming in his eyes, but he manages to halt them with the last remnants of his military discipline. "We've been trying to... get things to work. In the bedroom, that is. But... I can't... that is..." His speech teeters to a stop. Cadance lays what she thinks ofas a comforting hoof on his lap, but it only serves to make him even more nervous.

"So you can't get it up?" doctor Pickle asks matter-of-factly. Shining Armor only whimpers like a small colt being caught stealing apples. Unseen to him, the doctor smiles at them both. "You might be surprised to hear, but that is actually what we are here for. And don't worry, you wouldn't be the first ones to have the same problem. Actually you'd be the fifth."

Shining Armor forces himself to look up at the doctor. He sees her motherly smile, and feels a little bit of confidence return.

"In the history of the clinic?" he asks.

"Today. Now, if you have gotten over the worst of your blushing, could you answer a few questions for me?" The doctor uses her wing to pull a clipboard from a shelf to her side.

Shining Armor only manages to nod.

"How long have you had this problem?"

“Not long... It... uhh... since about a month ago. When we got married. A month ago. Yes.”

“And before that? Did you have problems before?”

"No... I mean... Never. I could get it working like... any other stallion, I guess?"

"Have you had any trouble reaching an orgasm?"

"No... I... I... " Shining Armor feels like falling limply on the floor from indignity. He manages a nervous look at his wife.

Cadance only smiles at him like a mother would to a nervous child.

"Mister Armor. It is quite common to feel uncomfortable or uncertain with with these matters. This is only a medical procedure, nothing more. To us, it is the same as treating a cold or setting a broken wing." She looks at the silent alicorn seated next to the stallion. Sometimes it helps if you don't have to answer them in front of people close to you."

The stallion looks at his wife. "We have nothing to hide or anything like that. We're married and stuff, right honey?"

The Princess brushes his cheek with her hoof. "I know, dear. But would it be easier if I waited outside? This is to help you, so I don't mind."

"Then I... uh..." Shining Armor looks to the doctor and his wife in turn, and with a gulp finally says, "Yes, please."

"I'll be right outside, Shiny. Now be a brave Prince for me?" she says, and gives an affectionate kiss on the whiter-than-usual stallion's forehead near his horn. After she leaves, the doctor continues.

"So no problem reaching an orgasm. Have you had normal ejaculations?"

"Uh... yes. No problem there."

"Have you suffered any trauma to your nether region, for example to your testes or penis?"

Now that he is alone with the doctor, Shining Armor feels like a heavy weight has been removed from his shoulders. Not having to go through all these things while his wife is seated right next to him actually seems to help him concentrate.

"No. Nothing like that."

"Have you been under a lot of stress lately?"

"Well... I was kinda in the middle of the changeling invasion. And then there was the fighting up north in the Crystal Kingdom."

"Yes, I read the news. I'm happy to hear you and your wife returned safely," the doctor says in a tender voice.

"T-thank you." With each word, the stallion feels more comfortable.

"Have you had to use powerful magic, or have you been subjected to powerful magics in turn in the last month?"

Shining Armor actually manages a weak, ironic laugh. "Where to begin, doc? I was under mind-control for Celestia knows how long before the wedding, I had to help Cady... that is, Princess Cadance to repel the changeling army. And I'd been keeping the shield around Canterlot for several weeks before that. And in the Crystal Kingdom, a thousand-year-old unicorn cursed my horn with black crystals that removed all my magic."

"Well, there seems to be a lot in your life lately. I would be surprised if there wasn't something wrong after all that. How are you feeling now?"

The comforting and understanding words coming from the doctor make him feel more at ease. For some reason, more at ease than it would be like talking with Cadance, he thinks, but pushes the thought out of his mind.

"My magic is back, and working well. It's worked well since Cad... ance used the Crystal Heart to purge the Crystal Kingdom of King Sombra."

"The papers were full of the news of Princess Cadance being the new Crystal Princess, if I remember correctly?"

"I don't know about that. But that's what they say. She's the same Cadance to me," he says.

“Did you have sexual intercourse with your wife before the wedding?”

“Uhh... yes. I mean... it's okay, right?”

“And you had none of these problems then?”

Shining Armor tries to answer, but the words just don't come out. After waiting for a while, the doctor asks: “Mister Armor? Are you alright?”

“Yes... uhh... no problem there. We... had sex normally.”

The doctor looks up from her clipboard and rests her chin on her hooves while looking directly at the slouching stallion in front of her.

“Now... this might be a more uncomfortable question, but I'm sorry that I still have to ask: Did you have sexual intercourse with the changeling queen masquerading as your wife during the time—"

"Please don't ask that," the stallion says in a desperate voice.

"Would that be 'yes' then?" The doctor makes a few more notes on her papers.

The pale stallion gets up from the chair and leans on the desk with shaking hooves. "D-don't tell Cadance about it! Please!"

"Everything we talk about here is confidential. Though I am a bit surprised that you have yet to go through the events with your spouse."

Shining Armor collapses back onto his chair. "I... we... Cadance told me that everything that happened under the mind-control spell wasn't my fault and that I shouldn't worry about it. I... kinda guess she might have an idea what might have happened but... It'd break her heart."

"I still think you might want to go over the events. But that is up to you." She shuffles a few papers. "Back to my earlier question. Did you have sexual intercourse with the chan—"

"Yes. I did," the unicorn blurts out, tears rimming his eyes.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Mister Armor." The doctor gives him another supportive smile.

"I... yeah. No problem."

"Did you have any trouble during this aforementioned intercourse?"

"N... no."

"You did it several times, I gather?"

"W-what has that got to do with anything?" he says in a defensive tone.

"Did you notice your virility lessen during that time period?"

"I... no." He lowers his head down to his forehooves. "We even did it the night before the wedding. And all that time Cady was trapped in the caves under the castle and I was just having sex with a shapechanger."

The doctor gets up from his seat and pours the distraught unicorn a glass of water, which he drinks down slowly. The doctor remains seated on her desk instead of returning to her own chair until the stallion regains his composure.

"Now, Mister Armor. There are some tests that we should perform to make sure you are not suffering from any ill after-effects from the magic you have been subject to. I'll write you the papers and the nurse will take care of them." She pauses for a moment. "That only leaves the physical examination."

"The what?" The earlier desperation in Shining Armor's voice is replaced with dread.

"You do understand that I have to give you a physical check-up, don't you?"

“I didn't think there would be any... touching or anything. Kinda... just talking.”

“The physical examination is a routine part of the process and there is nothing to be nervous about.”

"Yeah... I guess." If there was a way for the stallion's shoulders to slump more, he finds it.

The doctor pulls back a beige curtain to reveal a very basic examination table. "Please lie down on the bed on your back and spread your legs."

The stallion gets up from his chair with shaking limbs, and manages to climb on to the table without falling down.

"Now, please try to relax. Some patients even find this examination pleasurable."

Shining Armor closes his eyes. The doctor's touch is gentle, almost fleeting, and he immediately figures out that she is using her wings instead of her hooves for her work.

"No outward signs of trauma, which is always good. Your testes are quite swollen, which is also a good sign as your body is functioning as it should be and is producing sperm cells." She moves her gentle wings to the base of his sheath.

The tickling sensation makes Shining Armor's heart thump louder, and he feels the same throbbing in his member. To his horror and amazement, he is getting hard against all his expectations.

"You are showing clear signs of an erection, Mister Armor."

"Uh-uh. Sorry. It just kinda... happened." He still keeps his eyes closed, ashamed to look at the doctor.

"To be more frank, you have a very healthy erection, and there seems to be nothing wrong with you physically." She keeps turning his member around with her wings. "No signs of trauma here either; circulation seems to work well, and there are no signs of extraneous swelling." The doctor's gentle feathers tickle the top of his member, which elicits a slight moan from the stallion. Already the doctor's touch is making him feel aroused in a way he hasn't felt in a month. He instinctively lifts his hip up from the table like he was inserting his member into a mare.

His imagination starts running wild with images of cute mares lifting their tails high in the air to show how much they want him. They are cute, pretty little things, barely in their teens. The throbbing in his member is controlling him now, and without hesitation he mounts one of the mares in his mind. He imagines the bitter scent of her youthful arousal, the tightness of her flesh, her tiny flanks he is holding on to; it is all too much for him. He returns to reality as he realises in panic that he is about to orgasm for real.

"Doc—" is the only thing he manages to say before he starts emptying his load into the air, his pent-up pressure shooting wave after wave of his semen into the air. It lands everywhere, from the curtain to the table, to his own body, and on top of the doctor as well. He sits up, the last of his fluids still dripping onto the table from his spent tool which is still standing up like nothing had happened.

The doctor walks to a tissue dispenser and starts wiping off the sticky substance from her mane. Without saying a word, she hands the tissue box to the stallion, who stutters: "Doctor... I... sorry... didn't mean to... "

Peppy Pickle takes a short breath and smiles at the stallion. "You gave me quite the start there, Mister Armor. You must have been feeling very excited for you to ejaculate from just a basic examination. And in such a short time, too."

"So sorry... I'm..." The stallion has tears rolling down his crimson face.

"Don't worry. It happens often enough that I'm used to it by now. And we can now say for sure that there is nothing physically wrong with you."

Shining Armor is left alone with his thoughts. His mind races through the events as his mood drops after a much-needed orgasm.

“Nothing... physically... wrong? But why can't I... with Cadance?” he mutters while staring at the floor.

The doctor walks back to her desk and starts making notes. After a moment, she looks up to the stunned stallion. "You might want to start cleaning up before you leave, Mister Armor."

This returns the stallion back to the realms of the thinking, and he quickly gets to work cleaning after himself, struggling with the sticky semen starting to dry up all over the short hair of his coat. When he finally finishes, he jumps down from the table and is about to start on it as well, but the doctor interrupts him. "The nurse will take care of that. Now please." She motions to the chair in front of her.

After Shining Armor sits down, the doctor makes a few more notes and then lifts her head up from her task. "After the recent events, we can deduce that your problem is not physical, but psychological. I am referring you to one of our sexual therapists for counselling sessions. Your wife will also have one, and then the last one will be with you both together. You will be meeting up with the same therapist, Sassy Swallow."

"Sassy... Swallow?" the stallion asked.

"As in the bird, Mister Armor." She pushes a stack of documents to the beleaguered stallion. "Was there anything else?"

The unicorn walks to the door with his papers, but stops before opening the door. "Yes... umm..."

"Out with it, please,” the doctor says, for the first time sounding a bit stressed. “I am running late as is, and this room still needs cleaning up."

"It's just that... you... have something on your chin."