My Sister’s Keeper
By TwilightFox
The cold night air swept through the drafty halls of the ancient castle. The lonesome cry of the wind was broken only by the clacking hooves of the guards on patrol, and the occasional sounds of laughter coming from the Royal Study.
The study was filled with the soft orange glow of the fireplace as it cast long shadows across the bookshelves which covered three walls of the room. Near the center of the room was a large, exquisite writing desk which had been used by Lord after Lord throughout the history of the palace. Its purpose was forgotten for the evening as Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, rulers of the Crystal Empire, currently employed their sitting chairs by the fireplace, surrounded by their closest friends and family.
Most everypony there had been sharing stories and laughing their cares away after a long, tiring day. Rarity had shared tales of her last vacation in Canterlot as she and her sister Sweetie Belle lounged on the luxurious couch that had been brought in from another room. Applejack and Apple Bloom had worked together to tell stories about their more interesting days growing up on the farm. Rainbow Dash was more than willing to share a few stories from her days in flight camp, much to Scootaloo’s fanfillyish delight. Pinkie Pie enthusiastically told no small number of tales about the adorable antics of the Cake twins. Fluttershy, however, had spent most of her time listening and hiding behind her mane whenever anypony suggested that she tell a story.
Twilight Sparkle sat in the floor in front of her sister-in-law, Princess Cadence, as her former foalsitter brushed her mane and finished telling an embarrassing story from her days as a young filly. Everypony but Twilight was laughing uncontrollably.
“Oh come on, it’s not that funny.” Twilight rolled her eyes even as a genuine smile threatened to overtake the light blush that had crept its way onto her face.
“Not that funny? Twilight, you built a book fort in the Royal Library out of all the books in the children’s section…” Cadence snickered as she paused her brushing. “It took the librarian three days to reshelf them all!”
The chorus of her friends’ laughter continued, causing Twilight to blush in earnest. Between barely controlled fits of giggles, Rarity managed to comfort her friend. “Oh, come dear… Even you have to admit, it really is quite adorable.” Her smile proved to be infectious.
“Well…” Twilight hesitated as she felt the smile that she had been fighting finally win out. “Yeah…” She joined them all in another round of laughter.
After several moments of simple, care-free laughter, one by one they grew quiet as they waited for the next story to be told. Glances were exchanged as nopony seemed willing to speak up and volunteer. Finally, just as it seemed they would sit there in silence for the rest of the night, Twilight remembered there was one pony who still hadn’t taken their turn. “Shining Armor, I don’t think you’ve told a story yet.” A chorus of agreement was heard as everyone shared in her realization.
Shining frowned. “I’m not really much of a storyteller…” The expression on Twilight’s face told him she wasn’t buying it. “Besides, I don’t really know any good stories.”
“Oh come on, darling,” Cadence began, “You spent 10 years as a member of Aunt Celestia’s Royal Guard. You must have at least one interesting story to tell.” She grinned at her husband. Shining simply looked to the floor, hoping the moment would pass.
“I know of a few from when we were growing up,” Twilight boasted from her place on the floor, a wicked smile forming on her features. “And Mom’s told me plenty more from when you were just a little colt.” She was met with a glare from her brother as they locked eyes.
“You wouldn’t dare…”
“Try me.”
Shining maintained his glare for a few seconds, but finally decided it wasn’t worth fighting. He sighed as he gave up his resistance. “Alright, Twily, you win.” Defeated, he resigned himself to his storytelling fate. “Which one do you want me to tell?”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought for only a moment. It only took that long to figure out exactly which story everypony there wanted to hear most. She looked at the three little fillies who were each too distracted by their big sisters to have been following along. “Why don’t you tell us the story of how you got your cutie mark…” She put careful emphasis and paused just long enough to ensure that the three fillies in question would be sure to pick up on a certain keyword.
Immediately, three excited gasps were heard as Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom stopped simply being three fillies spending time with their sisters, and became the cutie mark Crusaders once again, and rushed to surround the princely stallion on three sides.
“You’re gonna tell your cutie mark story?!?” Sweetie Belle squeaked, her voice cracking in excitement.
“I bet there’s an awesome story behind a cutie mark as awesome as that!” Scootaloo beamed, her wings fluttering as she bounced in anticipation of hearing what she knew had to be the second most awesome cutie mark story in the history of ponies. Second only to Rainbow Dash’s story, of course.
“Well, come on. Ain’t ‘cha gonna tell us?” Apple Bloom added with more than a hint of eagerness.
Shining drew back out of reflex to defend himself from the suddenly rambunctious fillies, but ultimately he was helpless against their infectious enthusiasm and adorable charms. The smirk he got from Twilight told him she had known exactly what she was doing.
Cadence laughed a little at the Crusaders’ antics as she placed the brush back on the small table. “I don’t think I’ve even heard this one yet, dear.” She playfully cocked an eyebrow in his direction. “This should be good.”
Shining chuckled nervously as everypony settled in to listen, the Crusaders laying down right at his feet, already hanging on his every word. He couldn’t help but smile.
“Alright, so you all want to know how I got my cutie mark…” He settled back in his chair as well. He was actually looking forward to sharing his story.
Not that he’d ever admit it.
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It was the first day back from Hearth’s Warming break during the 7th Grade. Twily was in 2nd Grade and both of us were still attending regular school in Canterlot. She hadn’t applied to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns yet, and I was still too young to go to the Junior Royal Guard Training Corps Academy.
While the rest of our classmates had spent most of the holiday outside making forts, having snowball wars, or building snowmares, Twily and I spent a lot of our time studying. Twily’s always been a bookworm, even when she was just a little filly, and I already had a pretty good idea that I wanted to be a Royal Guard someday, so I spent as much time working on my magic as Twily did reading her books. As you might expect, we weren’t the most popular foals in school.
On that first day back, a group of bullies met us on the way to school. Elegant Countenance and his pair of cronies were always giving us trouble. Elegant was a snoody unicorn from Canterlot’s elite. He kind of had an aversion to the so-called “lower classes.”
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“What’s a “uh-version?” Apple Bloom interrupted, trying to puzzle out the meaning of the word.
“Not ‘a version’,” Sweetie explained, “an ‘aversion.’ It means you really don’t like something,”
Twilight beamed. She was glad to know that Sweetie was picking up new vocabulary. “That’s exactly right, Sweetie Belle. Where did you come across that word?”
“It was in one of my books from school. I didn’t know what it meant at first, but Rarity taught me!” Sweetie grinned back at her sister, who gave a little smile in return.
Scootaloo mumbled something about a dictionary under her breath, which thankfully went unheard by anypony else.
Shining Armor couldn’t help but chuckle. “Alright, alright. Are we going to talk about school, or am I going to finish telling my story?”
Instantly, the three small fillies were back at his feet with their eyes glued on him.
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Our family was considered well-off, even noble in ancestry, but we weren’t part of the “Elite,” and Elegant Countenance made sure to remind us every chance he got.
“Well, look what we have here, boys,” he jeered that morning. “It’s Shiny Sparkle and his bookworm little sister.”
Before I could say anything, Twily had already jumped forward. “Hey, his name is ‘Shining Armor’!” She was pretty much fearless back then. “And what’s wrong with liking books?”
“Oh, nothing’s wrong with it,” Elegant teased, “unless the only friends you have are books.” His cronies laughed as if their boss was the funniest comedian in all of Canterlot. “You and your blundering brother probably spent all of Hearth’s Warming reading some stuffy old book about Equestrian History or something.” He made a sour face in disgust at the topic.
Twilight’s mouth dropped in shock before replying in defense, “I happen to think that Equestrian History is awesome, thank you very much!” She stuck her nose up, matching his posture. “And, it was a book on Magical Theory.”
Elegant practically guffawed in response. “HAH! You would! And ‘Magical Theory’? You can’t even levitate yet! What good is a magic textbook to you?” His insults finally got to Twilight. She sunk to the ground, deflated and ears flat, her eyes welling up with tears. Strong willed or not, she was still just a little filly. I had heard enough.
“Hey, why don’t you leave her alone?” I had stepped forward and pushed a hoof into his chest. Bad idea. I caught a hard right hoof from one of his lackeys, and the other bucked my legs out from under me.
“You want to play things that way? I wouldn’t even dirty my hooves with the likes of you. Besides,” he taunted, “I don’t think you’re stallion enough to do that again.” He stepped forward, almost begging to be hit. “Go on. Unless you’re--“
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Shining paused in his retelling, suddenly aware of his audience again. “Uhh… “ The three fillies present were hanging on his every word.
Scootaloo popped her head up, wings flittering as she asked, “Unless you’re what?... You can’t just stop there! It was just getting good!”
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle squeaked in agreement. “What did he say?”
“He called ya a gelding, didn’t he?” Apple Bloom’s guess caught the room off guard. Rarity gasped in shock while Pinkie and Fluttershy simply looked on with mouths agape.
“Apple Bloom! Mind yer mouth before I wash it out with soap!” Applejack snapped, glaring at her little sister’s use of profanity. “Where’d ya even learn a word like that anyway?”
“A couple a’ colts got in a fight in the school yard, and one of them called the other one a gelding,” the farm filly explained. “What’s it mean, anyway?”
Applejack suddenly looked extremely nervous. “Er, well… Ya see…”
Shining came to her rescue. “It pretty much means that Elegant didn’t think I was brave enough to stand up to him. And you know what?” The fillies leaned forward, already falling back under his storytelling spell.
“He was right.”
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I put a hoof around Twilight and pulled her away from the bullies. We could take the long way to school; it wouldn’t be the first time. “That’s right, you gelding, keep walking!” Elegant taunted, even as we were walking away. The rest of the trip was pretty much spent in silence.
We made it to school just in time for me to escort Twily to class and make it almost back to my homeroom before the tardy bell rang. I spent all of study hall copying spell notations out of the Encyclopedia Arcana. Miss Chalk never was one to tolerate her students being late to class.
Other than being late for Miss Chalk’s class, the rest of the day was just about like any other day, really. I got my books, went to class, traded my books for more books and went to another class, and so on. I passed Elegant and his thugs a couple times in the hall, but they didn’t cause any more trouble. Until lunch at least.
By the time lunchtime came around, I was ready to put the whole thing behind me. Elegant and his cronies were always picking on somepony. It just happened to be me that day. The way I saw it, if he was messing with me he was leaving somepony else alone for once. I got my lunch and sat down at a table with my friend Swift Wing. She was a grade ahead of me in school, and always liked telling me about her efforts to make it into the Air Force. That particular day, she was excited about having passed the entrance exam to get into the JRGTC program the next year. Any other day I would have been all ears, eager to hear anything involving the Royal Guards, but I was distracted.
I had spotted Elegant and his two lackeys on the other side of the room, near the younger foals’ tables. He was looking over the tables, searching for somepony in particular, and I had an idea who. When the three of them suddenly changed directions and started heading toward Twily’s table, I got up and followed them.
Twily was sitting off to herself with her nose in a book as she ate lunch. Elegant slipped up behind her and grabbed the book out from under her nose with his magic. She reached up to try and grab it as it floated over her head, but it was just out of reach.
“Oh, I’m sorry… were you reading that?” Elegant taunted, holding the book just out of the filly’s reach. “I knew you were a bookworm. You even read during your lunch break.”
“Hey! Give that back!” Twilight demanded, ignoring the bookworm comments better than I could have.
“You want it?” He grinned as he took the book in hoof and threw it over his shoulder without looking. “Go get it.”
Twilight pushed forward to retrieve her book, but Elegant and his thugs blocked her path, pushing her back as they mocked her. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want it? You’ve got to try harder than that.”
I was ready to step in and stop them, but Twily took matters into her own hooves. The little filly stepped back, lowered her head, and charged the bullies horn first. She must have caught Elegant off-guard, ‘cus he got poked hard in the belly. He scrambled back, more out of shock than pain, I imagine, but I remember he came back with fire in his eyes. “Why, you little-”
I remember seeing him raise his hoof to strike Twily, and my instincts just took over. The next thing I remember was seeing a flash of light, then hearing a crunching sound and Elegant crying out in pain. When I could see straight again, I was braced down with my head lowered, and a big purple dome made from my magic was in place around Twily. Elegant Countenance was nursing what looked like a broken forehoof from where he had struck the shield. I remember telling them, “If you want to pick on somepony, pick on somepony your own size.” Elegant’s thugs were more than happy to do just that.
The first one came at me with a right cross. I ducked and come up with an uppercut that sent him reeling. The second thug grabbed me from behind, which let the first one take a couple of free shots at me, but I was able to slip his grip and toss him into the crowd of classmates that had gathered around us cheering, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
By that time, Elegant had managed to steady himself on three hooves and came rushing at me. I spun around and him bucked so hard, I sent him crashing into the stack of cafeteria trays at the front of the line.
“ENOUGH!” The cheers from our classmates suddenly stopped as Miss Chalk called for silence. “I want all five of you in the Principal’s office. NOW!”
Elegant, his goons, and I limped off toward the office, nursing our pride and more than our fair share of bruises while Miss Chalk followed along behind, ushering a hyperventilating Twilight as she went.
The wait was the hardest part about going to see Mr. Wide Rule. You had plenty of time to think about why you were there. Elegant and his goons had gone in first, leaving me and Twily to sit in the secretary’s office and wait. Every time we had tried to talk Miss Chalk gave us a stern glare, so we had given up on that. With the fight over, I was sore. I had a black eye and at some point I think I twisted a fetlock.
Finally, after what felt like forever, Elegant and his crew left and Mr. Wide Rule called us in.
“Elegant Countenance and his friends told me that you started the fight, but I’ve seen enough school yard fights in my career to know there’s more to it.. Plus, I was a colt too, once.” He did his best to hide a grin behind steepled hooves. “Miss Chalk told me she saw Elegant and his friends pestering Twilight just before the fight started. She said she was on her way to confront them when you threw up a shield?” He sighed a long, tired sigh. “I know you were simply standing up for your sister, Shining. What I want to know, is why?”
The question caught me off guard.
“Why would a quiet colt like you let yourself get into a fight with a group of bullies like them, when all you had to do was call for help?” He squinted, as if careful inspection would reveal the answer.
I lowered my head and flattened my ears. For just a moment I considered staying quiet. I would have had every right too. In fact, I’m not sure he meant for me to answer the question, but I did. “Because, I had to!” The Principal blinked a few times at my honesty.
“He tried to hurt Twily.” I had to swallow a lump in my throat before I could continue. “I could have called for a teacher or one of the lunch ladies, but I didn’t. Because I’m her big brother! It’s my job to protect her! No one else’s...” Tears had welled up in my blackened eyes. “That’s what big brothers are for, to protect the ones they care about most…”
At just that moment, I noticed a white light coming from behind me. Both Mr. Wide Rule and Twily were staring at me with their mouths open in shock. Not knowing what was going on, I turned my head to look behind me, only to discover that there on my flank was a purple shield with a red starburst on it beneath three blue stars. I had discovered my cutie mark.
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“You got your cutie mark for being in a fight?!” Scootaloo excitedly asked, wings extending as she stood up from where she had been laying next to her friends.
“Is that how you ended up in the Royal Guard?” Sweetie Belle added.
“Well,” Shining began, “I had already thought about joining the military before. It took me a little while, but I eventually realized that my special talent wasn’t just protecting my sister, but anypony who couldn’t protect themselves. After that, the Guard just seemed natural to me.”
Cadence leaned over from her place in the chair next to him and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. “That was wonderful, dear. I think it’s sweet that you got your cutie mark for protecting your little sister.” Said little sister blushed a little from where she was seated between the Royal couple.
“Elegant and his crew never really gave us much trouble after that,” Twilight explained. “They still teased me from time to time, but when they took things too far my big brother was always close by,” she said, smiling as she nuzzled her brother lightly.
The Crusaders seemed to pick up on the touching sibling moment. Apple Bloom darted to her sister’s side and leaned against her as Applejack lowered her head to return the embrace. Sweetie Belle practically flew across the room as she bounded up and over the couch arm to wrap Rarity in an impromptu hug.
Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash simply looked at each other nervously and away again before bumping hooves awkwardly, each too cool to be the one to act first. A moment later though, Rainbow Dash decided she could risk her reputation, just this once.
“Aww, come here, squirt…” She grabbed Scootaloo, who had half-heartedly tried to flee, and pulled her into a half-noogie/half-hug that soon turned all affection.
Laughter erupted from everypony present once more, as it had many times that night. It wasn’t until the last of their giggles faded that the day caught up with them. Sweetie Belle let loose with a long, drawn out, and somewhat squeaky yawn. One by one, everypony else followed suit, until Cadence finally had the courage to speak what was on everypony’s minds.
“Well, I think that’s going to be enough for me… Besides, isn’t it time for three certain fillies to be in bed?” Three little voices cried out in protest, but the Crusaders knew that even they couldn’t win a bedtime argument against the Princess.
A chorus of “good nights” and “sweet dreams” were exchanged as they all reluctantly left, one by one. Pretty soon Cadence, Shining Armor, and Twilight were the only three left in the study.
“You ready to turn in, sweetie?” Cadence asked as Shining sat staring at the fire.
“Huh? … Oh, yeah.” The stallion shook his head as he snapped out of his thoughts.
Twilight stood up and stretched her legs. “Hey, can I have a word with my brother for a minute?” She smiled at her former foal-sitter, knowing she’d understand.
Cadence smiled at her sister-in-law. “Sure thing.” She looked to her husband again just before leaving. “I’ll see you upstairs… Good night, Twilight.”
Once the princess had left the room, Twilight turned to face her brother, still smiling. “Thank you.”
Shining blinked in confusion. “For what?”
“For protecting me. For teaching me. For being there for me. For everything.” Twilight wrapped him in a grateful hug. “Thank you, for being the best BBBFF I could ask for.”
Shining was caught off guard by his sister’s hug, but quickly managed to smile, hugging his sister even tighter. “Anything for you, Twily… Anything for you…”