Shining Armor awoke, bleary-eyed and sleepy, but unquestionably warm. In his bed, with her forelegs wrapped around his neck, was his younger sister. The youngest unicorn of the family was accompanied by her ever-present favourite doll, Smarty Pants, which Shining privately though perfectly fitted the young mage. Gently prying his sister’s forelegs from around his neck, and wrapping them around his pillow as quietly as he could, Shining Armor slunk off to the kitchen for some breakfast. The chariot to take him off to basic training would be arriving within the next two hours, which Shining confirmed with a glance at the clock.
He had just managed to pour himself a glass of juice when he heard the heavier hoofsteps of his father entering the kitchen, and Shining Armour turned around to greet his father for what would be the last time in a long while. He could see that his father’s eyes were rimmed with tears, or more likely the infamous ‘Liquid Pride’. No words were said. There were none needed between the two stallions of the family. Rather, Night Light simply hugged his son, and offered Shining his handkerchief. Then, he trotted out of the kitchen, leaving Shining Armor standing alone on the tiled floor, the cool sinking through his hooves as the juice slid down his throat, cool and refreshing, which made a nice contrast with his beating heart and pounding veins. Already, Shining could feel the beginnings of his own ‘Liquid Pride’ seeping at the edges of his eyes.
Shining Armour ran into his mother next, out in the hall as he was coming back from packing his various and small collection of toiletries. Again, no words were said, for the two’s eyes communicated everything that needed to be.
‘Look after Twily, mom,’ Shining’s eyes pleaded, the liquid pride beginning to trickle over and down his cheek. In response, Twilight velvet pulled her husbands’ kerchief from Shining’s breast pocket, and dried her son’s eyes, her own beginning to water.
‘I will, son. Make us proud out there,’ spoke Twilight the Elder’s eyes, and then they wrenched closed and away from Shining, and Shining Armor hurried down the corridor before he had to see his mother cry on his behalf.
Twilight was still lying on his bed, deeply asleep when he arrived back in his room; his belongings long since packed away in boxes, save for a few personal items that Shining would be allowed to take with him to training camp. The room felt both incomprehensibly empty and full at the same time, and a peek out of his room at the hall clock told shining that he had a little more than an hour to kill before the chariot arrived. Shining looked back down at his younger sister, the little spark that had brightened up his day so many times with a new idea, a new book, or even just demanding to be the Princess of Fort Book and assaulting him with pillows.
Shining had wanted to be strong. He had wanted to make this painless, but leaving home is never a clean process. But as he stared at his sister curled up in his bed, holding onto the pillow that he had slept on during the night, the tears began to trickle out of his eyes, and his forehooves wrapped around Twilight Sparkle and Smarty Pants and his drool-drenched pillow. He felt Twilight stir underneath his grasp, and loosened his grasp enough that Twily could turn and wrap her own hooves around her brother.
“I don’t want you to leave, Shiny,” Twilight sniffled into his chest, “I want you to stay forever and ever, and we can just read and practice magic and play with Smarty Pants all day.”
“I’m not going away forever, Twily. It’s just for a little while, I promise,” lied Shining Armor, knowing full well that even after his graduation from basic training, he would still be away for a long while. First would come the compulsory out-of Canterlot posting, then the publicity training and then he’d be on duty for long periods of time at the castle, and lodging in the local barracks. It would likely be years before he got to see his mother, father or sister again.
“Will,” said Twilight, burying her head deeper into Shining’s chest, “Will you be back for my birthday, Shining?”
“Twily,” began Shining Armor, his throat closing up, and his heart hammering away at his chest, “I’ll do everything I can to be there, I promise you. I’ll always be there, watching out for you, even if you can’t see me.”
“You...mean that, Shiny?” asked Twilight, pulling her face back from Shining’s chest, and looking up at her brother with wide, red-rimmed eyes, a few tears trickling out from the corners, and Shining could feel the wet spot on his dress uniform where Twilight had been.
“Always, Twily. Always,” said Shining, as he caught sight of Night Light standing in the doorway, a soft smile on his face.
“Now, Twily, you and Smarty Pants study hard okay? I’ll want to see all your magic spells when I come back, alright?”
“Okay,” yawned Twilight, as Shining Armour lowered her back down onto the bed, “I will. I’ll be the best at magic ever.”
“I’ll hold you to that, Twily. Best at magic ever it is,” Shining Armor muttered, as Twilight’s eyes closed, and her breathing settled back into the gentle rhythm of sleep.
Shining Armour ruffled his sister’s mane gently one more time, watching as even unconsciously, she squirmed away from his hoof, and let a soft smile cross his lips. That smile was still there as he took his bag from his father, and headed for the door. It was still there as he opened the front door to his childhood home for the last time in what would be many, many years.
The cab was waiting for Shining when he reached the end of the path, accompanied by an old and grizzled guard in the same dress uniform as Shining himself.
“Didn’t want to say goodbye to yer fam’ly, Boy?” drawled the guard, and was met with Shining’s challenging gaze.
“I’ve said my goodbyes.”
“So I c’n see, boy,” said the guard, motioning with a hoof at the visible wet patch on Shining’s chest, “Yer mother do that?”
“Sister, actually.”
“Younger, or older?” said the guard, as he grabbed Shining’s bags with his mouth, and tossed them into the cab.
“What’s it to you, old man?”
“It always matters, boy. Gives you something to hold on to – somethin’ to fight for. Somethin’ to come back to.” Shining was silent for a while, as the two climbed into the cab, the old guard taking the position up front, while shining was in the back.
“She’s younger,” Shining eventually said, “Twilight Sparkle.”
The old guard nodded, and gave a signal to the driver of the cab, who began to move off at a steady trot, and Shining Armor resolutely kept his eyes forward, not daring to look back at the house where he knew his mother would be crying with equal parts pride and sorrow into his father’s chest, and his father would be holding back tears of his own, all the while Twilight, little Twily, would be sleeping, unaware of her parents’ distress, cuddled up with Smarty Pants in his room.
“Ya c’n look back, ya know. Nopony’s gonna mess with ya fer missin’ yer fam’ly.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine. ‘Look Ever Forward’ is the Guard’s motto, right? I’ll hold to that,” Said Shining, not daring to turn his head lest his own tears spill over. The guard whistled.
“Takes a lot to say that. Lemme let you in on a secr’t, boy. The Guard’s motto is ‘Look Ever Forward’, but the unofficial part of that is ‘Always keep one eye on where you came from’,” muttered the guard, and watched as Shining Armor finally allowed himself to turn, and catch one last glimpse of his house before the cab turned the corner and the young stallion’s house vanished from view.