Back to Shining Armor, the unicorn had arrived to the stadium, the entrance was completely blocked off by a massive line waiting to get their tickets verified. The stadium only had one pony working the stand, so the line was moving as slowly as can be. Shining looked ahead, and he could see that there was one family who specifically caused a hold up because they had bought scalp tickets. Shining started to get worried until he had an idea; Shining was the Prince after all, he could just teleport in… It seems a bit unfair though, as the rest of the ponies have been waiting longer, should he cheat like that? As he pondered the option, a faint purple and green glow appeared in his eyes for a brief moment and he decided to do it!
“Prince Shining Armor here on official Royal business!” Shining yelled as he teleported in, making the rest of the line look enraged, but Shining just chuckled and walked over to the snack bar, he was a Prince after all and he needed to stay full.
The concession stand was surprisingly dead compared to the amount of ponies were at the as a stadium. The most likely reason for the lack of business was perhaps because they started selling modern snacks such as popcorn and hot dogs, which the crystal ponies didn’t seem to like very much. When Shining Armor looked over the options, the two counter attendants with name tags labeled ‘Twinkle Shine’ and ‘Marble Stone’ turned around and noticed who was waiting, and they both quickly rushed over to greet him, “Oh my goodness! Prince Shining Armor! What are you doing at a hoofball game? I didn’t think you’d be able to have this kind of time off.” The mare worker said excitedly.
Shining Armor was surprised she was so eager to greet him, most ponies try to avoid eye contact, “Oh, well, honestly, Cadence handles most of that stuff herself, she kind of makes it to where I have plenty of free tie for myself.”
The two workers looked happy for Shining when he responded, but felt he deserved better, “That’s too bad, I mean Twinkle and I think your ideas as Prince really helped get us back together as a town!” Marble responded happily, with his sister nodding in agreement.
“Really…? Gosh, thanks! That’s so sweet!” Shining said surprised, he had never been told he was a good Prince before, in fact Cadence never even told him that, she tells him she loves him, she tells him he;s a great captain, but she never tells him he’s a great Prince.
Twinkle and Marble both smiled and nodded in respect, “Well it’s true, tell you what, snacks are on us today, get whatever you want!” Twinkle said as Marble went back to put whatever he ordered together.
Shining did not know what to say, two ponies who actually respected him as a Prince, he couldn’t take their offer, they deserved to be paid, they deserved a huge tip for what they said. “Oh gosh, I really appreciate it but I can’t just…” The same purple and green glow briefly returned and suddenly Shining’s stomach started growling hard,
“Actually… Lemme get… Uh… Let’s see, two large popcorns, medium caramel corn with extra caramel, five hot dogs plan, five hot dogs with nacho cheese, three things of nachos with extra cheese, one thing of nachos no cheese, six pretzels, hold the salt, put it on the side, two blue cotton candies, one pink cotton candy, a thing of roasted peanuts, allergen free, if not scratch that, oh I see you got candy too, lemme get six chocolate bars, two bags of gummy worms, one bag of gummy bears, hold the white pineapple ones, and… oh… uh… alright, an extra large lemonade with no ice! And hurry it up, the game’s about to start” Shining said as he smacked the counter hard.
Twinkle just looked dumbfounded at that large order, she wasn’t even sure how to enter that into her register for her brother to see, “Oh… Uh… Marble did you get all that?”
Marble was struggling to get those all put together, it took him almost 15 minutes as most of them needed to be dropped fresh, which is not an easy process. When they were all finished finally, they took up the entire counter. “Few… All set your Highness… Do you need help carrying these?” Marble asked, clearly looking exhausted and overwhelmed with such a big order.
Shining Armor just light up his horn and all the food magically just levitated up and Shining Armor just walked off quickly, “I got it, thanks!”
The two snack workers just looked surprised at his attitude, “Well… At least he’s better than Sombra...” The two awkwardly said in unison,
When Shining Armor made his way to the seats, after accidentally leaving a trail of popcorn along the way, he noticed a spot that was open in the front row of the best section, three seats were open. Shining quickly rushed his way over to that spot, running past a stallion and his two foals. He took up all three seats, sitting in one and unloading all the snacks in the others, much to the dismay of the three ponies he knocked over, who wanted to get those seats.
When the three got back up, (the brother and sister not even noticing Shining, assuming they knocked each other over…) the father grunted and made his way over to Shining, visibly annoyed, “Excuse me, would you please watch where you’re going next time?” He said as he got right in Shining’s face, “It’s hard enough to keep those two from fighting without them getting knocked over!”
Shining looked a bit bothered but mostly apathetic to the angry father, not liking his attitude but not wanting to antagonize him, “Oh, I didn’t see you guys over there, I’ll promise not to run you over if you guys stay out of dangerous paths.”m He responded, not intending to sound as off putting as he just did.
“Dangerous pathways? It was the stairs! You’re head of the military for Celestia’s sake, you should know to look where you’re going.” He said as he put his hoof on his head in annoyance, “Look, I don’t mind you knocking me over, but you should apologize to my foals at least!”
Shining Armor did turn around and then saw the two foals he ran past, looking a little guilty. “You’re right, those kids need a better role m…” Shining started to say until he looked back at the father and noticed he was wearing a black ball cap with an orange ‘T’ on it, then a faint green hue appeared in his eyes, “Wait, is that hat what I think it is? Don’t tell me you’re rooting for the Tigers’ are you?” Shining asked, looking angry.
The stallion looked a little confused as to why he suddenly just changed the subject like that, not sure what to say, “Huh? Yes, I mean we are from Manehattan after all and…” He said until he caught himself back on guard and shook his head, “Hey! Don’t try to change the subject!”
Something went off in Shining’s head, as soon as he realized that pony was an outsider, a part of himself felt like he should put the outsider in his place… He light up hs horn and suddenly the stallion was encased inside a purple bubble and was quickly flung across the stadium, landing in a section where the rest of the ponies were wearing Tigers themed clothing. “A Prince has to put his people first!” He said with a smug grin as he put his foothooves up on the rails and leaned back.
The sibling foals stopped pulling each other’s hair when they heard their dad screaming and saw him get flung across the field. They then saw Shining’s horn had the same glow as the bubble and realized he was the one who did that, and they both instantly started laughing hysterically at the sight of their dad like that.
“Oh my gosh, Daddy’s freaking out! More than when I showed him you changed a D to a B on your last report card!” The filly said
“I know, man that unicorn is cool!” The colt said as the two hoof bumped then went off to meat up with their dad across the field.
Shining Armor overheard the two complimenting what he did and turned around and waved at the two, “Glad I could help!” He happily yelled at the two. When he looked back, he noticed the game was starting, with the two teams meeting in the middle. As soon as the ball was put into play, a mare from the Tigers’ team instantly got a hold of the ball and managed to kick it into the basket in under ten seconds, causing Shining Armor to scream, “What, oh BOOO!!!!” He yelled out loud, annoying the other viewers.
As the game progressed, Shining started to become more and more of a pest to the audience of the game, constantly praising his team and cursing at the other, especially when they score. Shining was starting to become enraged once he saw the score was presently at 18 Crystal Empire and 20 Manehattan. “Oh you have got to be kidding me! That referee has got to have been paid off!” He said as he threw his bag of peanuts onto the field in rage.
A pegasus was sitting right behind the Prince and was looking more and more annoyed, finally hitting her breaking point and tapped Shining’s shoulder, “Excuse me, would you mind not acting like somepony from Yakyakistan please?” She asked as Shining finished his lemonade and burped loudly.
Shining Armor did not like that statement at all, “I am not some smelly two horned bow hunter who needs a haircut! I an from the Crystal Empire and refuse to be addressed as anything else!” Shining yelled as he violently stuck his pink cotton candy to the pegasus’ muzzle and turned back around.
The mare just grunted as she took the stick off and angrily threw it on the ground, the cotton candy not coming off, “Oh forget it, I’m leaving!” She said as she just flew away in rage.
When the game was at the ten second mark, the score was Crystal Empire 32 and Manehattan 31, with Manehattan having the ball. As the clock was ticking, Manehattan’s Earth stallion got a hold of the ball and at the very last second kicked it into the goal, the alarm going off right at the same time. When the referee looked over the footage to see if the point was valid, he agreed that it was, making the ending result 32 to 34.
Shining Armor became furious with the referee’s ruling and starting cursing beyond belief. At that moment the green hue returned to his eyes and he said out loud, “My subjects must never loose…” Then he stood up on his hooves and rushed onto the field and snagged the microphone right away from the referee, leaving him befuddled.
“Excuse me everypony, I hate to interrupt, but as Prince of the Crystal Empire, I feel it is my duty to tell you that Manehattan has cheated! They clearly convinced the referee to support them unfairly, I don’t know if they paid him off or if he’s dating one of the Tigers, but he cheated and I say we all protest his choice! Who’s with me!?” Shining yelled in hopes of the crowd cheering in agreement. When he looked at the seats, all he could see were either ponies being too confused to know what was going on, or ponies acting (understandably) annoyed at his actions and booing him.
“What in Cadence’s name are you doing!?” The referee tried to ask as he tried to get the microphone back, unsuccessfully.
Shining then became enraged at the lack of support and the fact that Cadence’s name appeared to hold more weight than his own. and decided to play a new strategy. Suddenly he light his horn up and before anypony knew it, the entire stadium was surrounded by a purple force field.As soon as the shield was placed, the field became silent with concern and confusion.
“There we go, if Manehattan’s gonna play dirty, so am I, nopony leaves until this sell out says the Crystal Empire wins!”
The referee didn’t seem concerned, as he knew his protection spell only worked in keeping ponies out, not locking them in, “You’re bluffing, what is your wife going to say when she finds out you…” He tried to say until he looked up and noticed the pegasus who attempted to fly away earlier hit the rim of the field and cartoonlshly fell to the floor.
Shining Armor did look a bit concerned for the pegasus falling down, but he didn’t seem to consider it a problem, “Think I’m bluffing now? That crash is on your hooves.” Shining then pointed the microphone back to the referee, “Just note don’t mind staying here, I found out I get free food. It’s your call now…”
The referee looked around at the teams who only looked surprised, and the audience, who looked concerned, then back at Shining who only looked smug and confident. “I… Uh… I guess…” He said as he sighed and looked back and Shining, “Fine… The Crystal Empire wins…” He said as he looked down in defeat.
At that moment, Shining grinned in pleasure as he instantly released the stadium and nullified the force field. The audience had a completely mixed reaction, not sure what to expect or how to react, both sides were surprised in different ways. As Shining Armor was about to walk away, he unexpectedly was drenched in a red liquid, “Huh? What the…?”
After he wiped the fluid from his eyes, he turned around and saw it was the Crystal Empire’s team dumping their sports drink onto him like a coach. The team leader rushed right up to the unicorn and instantly hugged him tight, “Oh my gosh, thank you so much!!!” She said as she let go and used her horn to remove all the drink from Shining’s fur.
The stallion holding the jug for the drink cartoonishly tossed it behind him and agreed, “Yeah man, I’ve never seen you take charge like that, you acted like you were a real King out there!” He said as he and the other two members leaned down and picked Shining up and started carrying him off in gratitude, cheering for him proudly.
“Wow… Thanks guys, that means a lot…” He said as he smiled softly and blushed.
Back in the crowd, the Tiger hat wearing stallion simply sat with his mouth open in shock seeing his team loose, his kids looked excited however. “That was… SO COOL!!!” The filly yelled as she tossed her popcorn bag up.
“I know what you mean! I’m gonna be just like him someday!” Her brother responded.
“No, I will!”
“No, I will!”
“Me!!”
“Me!!!” The two foals continued to argue until they started roughhousing again, making the father just groan and put his head into his hooves.