Chapter 3
Cadence had taken Shining flying once, the day he had proposed to her. It was one of the greatest experiences he had ever had, swooping down between clouds and soaring over Equestria. They had found a nice cliff overlooking the Manehattan valley just as the sun set, the myriad colors of the sky providing the perfect background for Shining’s proposal.
Being dragged through the air by some freaky ring was a different experience entirely.
“Put me down!” Shining cried, trying his best to reach the ring around his hoof.
“Unable to grant request, as it would lead to you falling several hundred feet to your death.”
“I said put me down, not drop me!” the ring did not respond, continuing on it’s course while Shining continued to struggle. “Where are you taking me?”
“Power Battery must be relocated. Explanations for new bearer shall be forthcoming.” Shining frowned, but ceased most of his struggling as the ring flew on. Since arguing with the ring was no longer an option, he took a moment to examine the uniform he was currently wearing. Had it just been the jumpsuit he would have been less freaked out, but that he was wearing a copy of his armor left him spooked. Had the ring somehow peaked into his mind and learned about his military service? He would have asked the ring, but his speed had dropped and he had begun to descend.
Scattered across the snow before him were the remains of a ship. Shining would have called it a spaceship, but he had no way of telling whether or not the thing had been capable of flying in space. The hull had been cigar shaped, but had been roughly snapped in half and shredded from impacting debris. Shining approached cautiously, searching for anything that might be a threat, while the ring only glowed brighter as he neared the ship.
Lying amongst the wreckage was a body, clad in a similar uniform as Shining Armor. His first instincts said ‘Diamond Dog’, but closer examination showed that the creature would have been taller and less heavily built had it been alive. Shining stepped a little closer while the ring continued glowing.
“Abin Sur of the planet Ungara, former wielder of this ring. The ship he commandeered was damaged in combat against hostile forces and crashed here. Abin Sur died shortly after.”
“So... this alien is why I’m out here?” Shining kneeled down next to the corpse while the ring responded.
“Negative. All rings search for suitable replacement once current wielder is deceased. Will of Shining Armor strong enough to be viable replacement.” Shining backed up, looking down at the ring.
“Wait, I never agreed to be a replacement to... whatever he was. Don’t I at least get a choice?” there was a pause before the ring answered.
“Preparing message now.” Shining tried to stop the ring, but it projected an image of the dead alien before him, and he took another step back to put some distance between him and the image.
“Hello. My name is Abin Sur,” the image said. “I am the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, and if you have activated this message then I have fallen and my ring has selected a new bearer.” Shining opened his mouth to speak, but the image continued on.
“It is a great honor to serve as a Green Lantern. It is our task to guide and defend the universe from those that would seek to oppress or destroy it, to maintain peace and order between all races. Only those that posses indomitable will are chosen to become Green Lanterns, and you have proven yourself to be one of these beings.
“I ask you now to take up my ring and join the Green Lantern Corps. It may seem confusing at first, but be assured when I say that the rings rarely make wrong decisions about their bearers.” Shining tried to ask another question, but the image vanished and the ring dulled. He looked the the corpse of the alien, Abin Sur, before reaching out with his magic and pulling the body out of the wreckage. He found an empty patch of ground not too far away, and using more of his magic he dug through the snow and dirt before setting the body of Abin Sur to rest. it’s the least I can do for him, he thought.
“Requesting answer.” the ring said. Shining was drawn back to reality and looked at the ring. It was crazy, to think that some alien ring wanted him to go out and be... whatever it was a Green Lantern was supposed to be. How would he deal with the scope of the galaxy and, more importantly, there was the issue of informing Cadence. He had sworn to be with her no matter what; he could not just abandon her to go and be a “Green Lantern”. That would go back on everything he had promised her.
However, even as he tried to voice his answer, he found that he did not want to turn the offer down. The ring and Abin Sur never said he had to give up his personal life to become a Green Lantern, and his natural curiosity was getting the better of him. He could always talk with Cadence about what he was up to, and maybe he would be able to win her over.
But what if he got killed? Yes, he had already had that talk with Cadence when they first started dating, but that was when he was joining the Royal Guards, where his body would be more recoverable. What if he was killed by some giant alien monster? Cadence was a strong mare, and while him dying might not hurt her as much as it would a normal pony, being unable to recover one last trace of him would... he hoped.
Then again, he had always been drawn to dangerous situations, not because he enjoyed the adrenalin rush, but because he felt that he was capable of doing something. He looked back to where his cutie mark was, ignoring the fact that the jumpsuit he was wearing blocked it from view. His special talent was about defending ponies in need, and from what the message had said that was what Green Lanterns did on a regular basis. It was like joining the Royal Guards all over again; someone had presented an opportunity for Shining to defend others, now on a larger scale than the Guard ever offered him.
“Can I at least explain the situation to my wife first?” he asked.
“Explanation to significant others is allowed.” Shining looked around for a moment, then looked back to the ring.
“I... I accept.” he said. “Now can I go and-”
“Willpower accepted.” the ring chimed. “Summoning Power Battery.” several pieces of the ship shook for a moment before a glowing green object rose from the rubble. It was similar to the design printed on the ring, a sphere with two flat surfaces on top and bottom and two holes on either side, and like the ring it glowed a bright emerald green. The object floated over to where Shining was standing, coming to a rest at his hooves.
“This is your Power Battery. It is used to recharge your ring once it begins to run low on energy.”
“Thanks.” Shining picked the battery up in his telekinesis, turning it around a few times. “How... How does it work?” instead of giving him an immediate answer, the ring dragged his foreleg into one of the holes, green energy wrapping around his leg and the Power Battery.
“Recharge commencing. Recite oath.”
“Hey, let go!” Shining tried to pull his hoof away from the power battery, but the ring refused to yield.
“Incorrect oath. Recide proper oath or recharge shall remain incomplete.”
“I don’t even know what the oath is!” the ring said nothing as Shining continued. “How am I supposed to recite something if I don’t know what it is?” there was a pause before the Power Battery stopped glowing and Shining’s hoof was released.
“Please resume recharge and recite oath:
In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night
No evil shall escape my sight,
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern’s Light.” the ring did seem to glow a little brighter once it had finished speaking. He looked to the power battery before hesitantly placing his hoof inside, allowing the green light to wrap around his foreleg once more.
“Well, it’s worth a shot.” Shining cleared his throat before continuing.
“In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night,
No evil shall escape my sight,
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern’s Light!” it did not sound right, and Shining felt that he put just a little too much emphasis in the last verse, but it would be sufficient. The power battery glowed brighter, almost to blinding levels, but Shining was not affected.
“Ring charged. Power Levels at 100%.”
“Okay. Can I go and explain to Cadence what’s-”
“Green Lantern 2814: You are to report to Oa immediately for training.” What?
“Wait, I never got a chance to explain-!” Before Shining could finish speaking, he was launched into the air again, racing away from the ground at increasing speeds. He tried to find some way to stop his ascent, but the ring was unresponsive and continued to pull him higher into the atmosphere.
Soon clouds began to vanish, and the rush of air past Shining’s ears faded into nothing. Shining looked down and saw that he was now surrounded by a green aura, but what drew his attention was that the could now see the entirety of Equus, the planet shrinking as he continued on his course.
“... how...” was all he could manage. The ring did not respond, continuing to take him higher and higher before turning him away from the planet below towards a point just right of the moon.
“Preparing for hyperspace travel. Adjusting for visual spectrum.” At this point Shining decided to remain quiet, trusting that the ring would not get him killed. There was another pause before he was propelled forward, light twisting around him as he flew through space. The course the ring had set brought him close to dozens of stars and planets, planets that nopony had ever seen before. Combined with the speeds at which he was flying, Shining was exposed to a veritable kaleidoscope of colors and images, thousands of them dancing across his vision as he flew. He tried and failed to keep himself composed, his jaw hanging open as he flew on.
I... Nopony’s going to believe me if I tell them about this. he thought, ... How am I going to tell ponies about this? He set that thought aside when he noticed that he was slowing down. Ahead was another planet, this one also glowing green like the suit and ring. As he neared, it seemed that the planet also bore a similar symbol to the one on his ring, but he passed it off as the ring’s aura playing tricks on his eyes. Shining flew into the planet’s atmosphere, and now he could make out dozens of buildings through the green. When he flew closer, he could see shapes flying between the buildings, some that looked like ponies and some that bore no resemblance to any other living thing Shining could think of.
“Reducing speed; switching to manual flight mode.” Shining was pulled away from observing his surrounding rather abruptly when he began to fall faster than before. Remembering what Cadence told him about flying, Shining let out as much tension in his legs to prevent them from snapping when he landed, praying that the ring would slow him down enough that he would not die upon impact.
Shining hit the ground with enough force to drive the air from his lungs. His legs buckled and he tumbled forward, bouncing along the ground before slamming into a wall. Shining groaned and rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky as others passed him by.
“Well, that was interesting,” he heard a voice say. Shining turned his head and saw two creatures standing over him. One looked like a giant featherless bird with a fin on it’s head, while the other was a very large, red-furred minotaur. “I don’t believe I have ever seen a ring react to a new bearer in such a way.”
... Maybe accepting the ring wasn’t such a good idea.
Shining taking the abuse and the blunt of the problem... Yup, that's Shining Armor alright.
Do I smell accusations of poozerdom?
Geeze, the ring's logic sucks. At least Hal had a day or so to talk to people and set up a cover before leaving. Shining is a PRINCE for Celestia's sake, he has OTHER responsibilities to the Crystal Empire. And dear sweet luna help him when he doesn't come back for who knows how long... Poor Cadence is going to be devastated.
Add to that the fact that Celestia is probably aquainted with such a wide spread organization as the Guardians and she may not take kindly to the fact that her nephew-in-law was just abducted.
Wow... I didn't think a piece of jewelry could be a jerk, but you have proven me wrong; it didn't even let him explain to Cadence what was going on, that's nice. Welp, he's already accepted the ring, there's no turning back now, so... I'll pray for you Shining Armor... So, good chapter dude. Can't wait for Chapter 4.
So, if there's a multiverse, does that mean that there are dos equis?
2877517 probably... wait.
...
2877621
...
So, dos equi- ah, skip it. Joke's over.
I'll be eagerly awaiting as Shining gets his plot kicked all around Oa
Also, Tomar-Re and Kehann!
Well, I see no way this can end up badly!
Also, random question: Is Cadence immortal here? Cause it actually kinda bugs me when they make Cadence mortal...I don't know why really...
2877857 Somewhat; she won't die of old age or diseases, but she can be killed (like what happened to Orion and Darkseid in Final Crisis)
Wait, red furred minotaur? I have never heard of Ke'Haan before I looked him up on the wiki a few seconds ago. I guess even with me knowing the history of most of the major DC heroes and Oragizations, I was bound to miss the lesser known heroes.
I do hope that you show Shining Armors' Reaction on meeting Mogo later on. And Please tell me you're going to show some version Ion. Like, make the voice of the ring be Ions'.
Also, just because all of them are pricks (save Gauntlet and Sayd) the Gaurdians Deserve to meet everyones' favorite party pony Pinkie. I'm sure they'll love her
2877876 I always figured that was the case with alicorns
In the case of Celestia and Luna, its just MUCH, MUCH HARDER.
2877911 Well, there's not much about Ke'Haan other than "Laira (the girl that turned into a Red Lantern) had a crush on him, he got killed, and then brought back as a black lantern"
And I do want Shining to meet Mogo... and somehow, Leezle Pon
Guardians+Pinkie?... I want to see that
Minor typo:
Doesn't detract from a good chapter, though
2878460 fixed
Looks like shining will meeting tomar re
I can't wait to see Kilowog break him in.
I think the ring may have been a bit too cruel in this scene, Hal got a few minutes flying time before his little excursion to Oa. But then again each ring may react differently to each bearer. that said I still enjoyed this chapter, cant wait to see what Kilowog makes of him.
...Why does the ring have Nanosuit 2 AI voice in my head?
DARN YOU AND YOUR GOOD STORIES, THEY CROWD MY FAVES
Not that i'm complaining
Ok, so for our Justice League, we have as Super Stallion
Diana the earth pony as Wonder Woman
and Shining Armor as Hal...1st green lantern of Equestria. Although, you'd have to wonder, this is going to get rather...complicated when this is all over. Not only was shining dragged off to space, but he wasn't even able to give a good excuse for leaving at this point. Although, I suppose one could attribute it to changlings.... Cadence is going to freak!
Still, having an alicorn amazonian wife is bound to be ok overall. Write on!
Okay, I've got a couple of funny and serious things to say so here it goes.
Funny:
One has to question the wisdom of giving a weapon based off willpower to the pony who had to have been enthralled by Chrysalis for possibly weeks before his wedding.
Serious:
I hope you're not planning on ponyfying the majority of the Corps, because I really don't see the point. Afterall, the actual Corps has members of every shape and size ranging from an intelligent space squirrel to a sentient planet. You could have a pony green lantern in the actual DCU Corp or a human green lantern in this story's Corp and neither of them would look out of place.
I can't be the only one thinking that Cadence is too perfect for the role of Star Sapphire I. She's the love interest, the Goddess of Love, and already pink. If she's not qualified, than nobody is.
2926280 Only one or two Corps members will be ponified; others, like Tomar-Re, Kilowog, Ch'p and Mogo, will have their canon DCU designs
F***** ring, now Cadence is going to be depressed and crazy until Shining comes back!
2898107 Darned right about things getting complicated.
So how is Emerald Twilight/Zero Hour going to tie in? Because you HAVE to include it. HAVE to.
3153178
Er....I suppose they could have that happen after the big justice league of equestria fic, where Shining thinks that the crystal empire as well as his family is destroyed, leading to pallerax coming into him, and thus a new team of lanterns must arise from the equestrians to prevent Shining from destroying equestria in fear. And the leader of the band will be Applejack the willful.
The Guardains don't like magic maybe that's why.
2881685
Everyone's different. With me it's either HAL or Aya from the animated series.
...I just got stuck with the wonderful, horrible idea of making some random throwaway lantern character turn out to be Jebediah Kerman (Kerbal Space Program).
If Kilowog doesn't show up, you and me are gonna have a problem, buddy. Anyway, looking good so far! Keep up the good work!
2877911 I think you meant to say Ganthet. And I haven't heard of Sayd, but Appa Ali Apsa doesn't seem like a bad guy either, from what I've seen of him.
2881685>>3205949
My ring-voice is, curiously, movie!Jor-El.
3271535 Sayd was the other founder of the Blue Lantern Corps who eventually became the sole Guardian of the Orange Lantern Corps. And Appa Ali Apsa WAS pretty cool, especially during Green Lantern/Green Arrow... but he eventually went crazy and died in combat with the Lanterns.
3362618 Also Ganthet's lover. Can't forget that
3362618 Noted. Thanks, bro.
Dude love these stories!! Please continue. Also my only problem with this is abin sur and shining sharing the same sector as Hal. I think to make this more believable you need to change that. As in have abin surs actual sector number and an original number for equus.
3495246 couple problems with that route:
1. Abin Sur really is from Sector 2814; that's why Hal got his ring.
2. Humans don't exist in this universe, although I think I see your point; a unique sector would make the story a bit more original and not just Hal Jordan's origin story WITH PONIES! I was considering that, but I've got a lot on my plate right now and don't feel like changing a whole lot
3308122
My voice for the ring is a computerized male.
Sorry, it's a bit hard to describe. Maybe I should read it in GLaDOS's voice from now on...
3752641 This ring is incapable of producing deadly neurotoxin... and yet you consistently demand for deadly neurotoxin... you monster.
This is the second Green Lantern crossover I've read. The first one has Spike.
3752697 1. i can totally imagine that
2. that just made my day
2877382
I certainly hope so.
This is making me grin.
You think?