//------------------------------// // Shining Armor // Story: Sparkle's Game // by NandatmosNightLurker //------------------------------// “Just got word that the Monitor had been removed. How’s she been?” “It’s odd, seeing a pony’s expressions, instead of feeling them. You live inside them for so long… it’s hard to determine what she’s thinking. You can’t feel the minor muscle movements that were obvious tells when inside of them, because they’re invisible to the naked eye.” “Come on, we aren’t discussing philosophy or biology. You just saw her very thoroughly beat a schoolyard bully. A rather influential one at that.” “She didn’t just beat him, she destroyed him. Like we did at—“ “I know, I was there. Anyhow, the Council has decided to pass her.” “Good. There’s just one more thing to see. Let’s see how she handles her brother now that the Monitor is off.” “You’re talking about him. He’s the strongest, most intelligent unicorn out there aside from her, and she wouldn’t ever hurt him. How do you think this is a good idea?” “These foals aren’t playing hoofball, you know. They’re growing up to be the saviors of the entire planet. If they don’t get hurt along the way, we didn’t do something right.” “I can’t help that I’ve gotten to like her. She’s a good filly, and I’m just afraid we’re going to screw up her psyche.” “Of course her psyche’s going to be damaged. It’s essentially our job. No offense, but we’re Nightmare Moon on Nightmare Night, ready to gobble them up if they don’t give us candy.” <<<<^^@^^>>>> “Sorry, Twi. Did it hurt?” Spike whispered. The small dragon was looking at the small hole in the base of her horn. Twilight’s horn glowed with magic, and the door shut behind her. The tingling feeling that usually accompanied the use of magic was gone. Must’ve been the Monitor, she thought. “No, Spike. I’m just glad it’s gone.” “What’s gone?” Shining Armor walked into the foyer, levitating a daisy sandwich beside him. Twilight didn’t see the handsome, well-mannered colt that most adults saw, with a thick, blue striped mane and gorgeous white coat and a face that could’ve been on the face of a young Starswhirl. Twi only looked at her brother to detect the signs of anger or boredom, which always led to playing his games. Even now, as his eyes flicked to the hole in her horn, a flare of anger lit up his eyes. Spike, either playing dumb or just genuinely excited, ran up and pointed to it. “Hey! Her Monitor’s gone, she’s just like normal unicorns now!” It was the perfectly wrong thing to say. “Normal unicorns?” Shining’s eye twitched. “I don’t know what kind of unicorns you’ve been hanging out with Spike, but most unicorns I know don’t have that on their horns,” he pointed to the Inhibitor. “That thing means that she’ll never be a normal unicorn. She’ll just be a little Pulsar the rest of her life.” Keep on talking, Shining, Twilight thought. Talk and talk. Talk is fine, just keep going. “Well it seems like there isn’t anypony looking over you now, is there, you little Pulsar? You lasted a year longer than I did, and everypony had such high hopes for you, despite the fact that you’re a freak. ‘Oh, look at little Twily, maybe she’ll outshine her brother by making it to Battle School!’ Doesn’t seem like such a good thing now, huh, Twily? Don’t have anypony watching your back to make sure your big brother best friend forever doesn’t hurt you, huh, Pulsar? How about that, huh?” Twilight shrugged. He’s all talk. He’d never hurt her, not really. A mock smile appeared on her brother’s lips as he nodded emphatically. “Let’s see how good you are at magic now that you’re all grown up. Can you put up a shield?” Spike stepped in front of Twilight. “Where did mom and dad go?” “They said they got some news concerning Twi. I’m in charge.” “Why don’t you put up a shield this time, Shining?” “I’ll do it,” Twilight said. “I’ve been practicing.” “Then let’s go to the magic room,” said Shining. Spike started to follow. “I’m coming too.” Shining whirled back to him, levitating him away from the stairs. “Stay out, iguana. Magic room is for unicorns only, even if Twily here is barely considered one.” They walked into the spell-proofed room, designed to hold back against even the toughest of magical spells, and Twilight had one simple thought. She was doomed. When other foals had magic duels, it was oftentimes until one was too injured or fatigued to continue on. For those too stubborn to surrender, they ended up in a magical coma. Or worse. Those in charge allowed the duels, because they claimed it would help prepare the foals for real battle when the buggers came back. If they don’t get used to it now, how can they hope to stand a chance against a bugger? Even if the buggers didn’t have magic, or even if the buggers could ‘clock out’ at the moment they lost. Foals couldn’t do that. Foals were cruel. All foals except Shining. He never hurt her, and while he didn’t always stop when she asked, Twilight was certain that her brother would never cause her permanent harm. Bruises and a wounded ego, maybe. But she didn’t have much of an ego to begin with. They stood on opposite sides of the room. Without preamble, Shining nodded slightly, horn lighting up as he put his energy into a barrage of magic missiles. With little time to respond, Twilight cast a quick moment-shield. The missiles staggered against the shield, bright purple flashes coming from the dome as each of the telekinetic blasts hit it. A look of genuine surprise crossed her brother’s face as she grinned triumphantly. “Well, well. It looks like you found the most mana-effective shield out there.” “When you don’t have much energy to spend,” Twilight said, “you learn to spend it in the most effective way possible.” Twilight knew her shield wouldn’t last much longer, though. Her talent might be magic in general, but her brother’s talent was shields. It wasn’t long before her shield came down. Shining capitalized on the moment, moving towards her at a breakneck speed. She attempted to send a blast of force at him, but it was swatted away by a small shield that materialized in front of him. He stopped in front of her, with his horn at her throat and his hoof on her horn. “I yield.” Shining smirked. “I’m sure you do little Twily. Tell me, what would a bugger do? Would he take you prisoner? Or would he end you? They don’t seem to be burdened by the moral standpoints that we are, so why should we have them in the first place?” He moved his horn from her throat, still having his hoof firmly placed directly over her Inhibitor. He whispered into her ear, “What if we made you a normal earth pony, Twi? What if we took away your magic? You wouldn’t be a Pulsar anymore. Sure, it would hurt, but think about it? Wouldn’t it be best for the entire family if I was to just… press down?” He did, the metal making a creaking sound against her horn. A dull, aching throb started down her horn. She groaned aloud, “Stop it, Shiny.” “Stop it, Shiny, stop it Shiny. Why should I? Why should I have to live with a freak of nature like you? Why couldn’t you have just passed and gotten into the damned battle school?!” A loud crash echoed throughout the room, and a primal yell soon followed. Shining put up a shield just in time to stop the green flames from singeing his coat, but didn’t react in time to stop the claws from raking across the barrel of his chest. Her eyes widened as a splash of red fell onto Twilight’s face. “You’ll pay for that you little—” “What in Tartarus going on in here?!” The trio’s eyes turned to the door, where a pastel pink alicorn stood in the doorway. “Stay out of it Cadence, this is between me and the runt.” A light pink field wrapped itself around Spike as he was lifted off the ground, flailing his claws towards Shining. “You aren’t going to be doing anything to Spike. Put him down Shining.” He hesitated. “Put. Him. Down.” Spike slowly lowered to the floor, going back to standing over Twilight protectively. Cadence’s eyes softened. “Alright, now come over here, you big lug.” Sighing, Shining Armor shuffled over to Cadence, cringing with each step at his wounds. She tapped him on the chest with her horn, the flesh knitting together soon after. The alicorn turned to Twilight. “Are you and Spike alright?” Twilight nodded numbly, still processing what happened. Just the small motion sent an ache down her horn. Cadence frowned slightly, levitating a small napkin towards Twilight’s face. The blood came off easily with the help of magic. Cadence walked over to the purple unicorn, lifting her off the ground, and giving her a quick hug. Turning back to her brother, Twilight gave a grim smile and nodded to him. He nodded back. “Shining.” The white colt’s attention moved to Cadence. “We have things to discuss.” “Come on, Cadence, it was just a joke.” “Then you have a bad sense of humor. Go over there and apologize to both of them. Now.” Shining stuck his nose into the air as he walked towards them, typical of the upper nobility in Canterlot. He stopped in front of them, eyeing them as he spoke. “Spike. I apologize that I called you an iguana and threatened you. Twilight, I apologize for threatening you and not stopping when you yielded. But I have a warning.” He focused intently on Spike, saying, “You’re her Monitor now. You’d better be with her 24/7, and you had better keep an eye open while you’re sleeping. Because Cadence won’t be here every time that I go to take that horn off her pretty purple head. Never forget that.” “Shining!” Turning back to Cadence, he looked back over his shoulder at Twilight before spitting out the word, “Pulsar.” The duo left the room, leaving Twi and Spike there still standing in shock. Maybe Shining is more like me than I thought… or maybe I’m more like Shining. Why does it still hurt to think of that either way? <<<<^^@^^>>>> It wasn’t long before Night Light and Midnight Shine returned from their trip to the castle. Midnight held her daughter close and told her that ‘Everything was okay’ and ‘You won’t have to worry about anything’. After her tears were spent, Twilight’s mother moved onto the kitchen and started cooking dinner. Cadence was invited to join, but decided against it. Night Light kept going on about how glad he was that Twilight got to stay with them, and it was such a wonderful surprise, the government let Twilight stay even with her little mishap, and now they wouldn’t take her away because she’s already proven herself to be able to control her power. It made her sick. It made her want to scream out, ‘Yes, I get it! I’m a Pulsar! I’m a freak of nature! Just let the government take me to some high-tech facility and keep me locked up for the rest of my life and spare you the embarrassment of having me in your family! I’m sorry that I was born this way! I’m sorry… I’m sorry…’ There weren’t any marks left on Shining’s chest by dinner, and the situation that had happened never came up, aside from some dark looks that Shining cast to Spike, who reciprocated in turn. It wasn’t until late at night, when Twilight lay awake in bed that the final scare of the day happened. It was two in the morning when she heard a door creak open down the hall, and the curt clip-clop of hooves stumble in a tired fashion towards the restroom. After hearing a flush, the sound of hooves came to a stop in front of her door. Spike was at the foot of her bed, fast asleep as her door opened. Shining came in solemnly, his silhouette easy to spot. He thought she was asleep. He was going to shove a hoof in her mouth as he snapped off her horn. Would he do something worse than that? Instead of doing anything, he simply stood there, standing over her, until she felt something wet drip onto her bed sheets. Sobbing, Shining said, “I’m so sorry Twi… I know it hurts, I went through it… I just wanted you to feel normal and I let it get away from me… I’m so sorry… I love you, I’m your BBBFF…” He left as he came, shuffling down the hall and closing her door as he went. Twilight blinked as she absentmindedly rubbed the hole in the base of her horn. And for the second time that day, she curled into a ball and cried.