• Published 20th Mar 2015
  • 4,768 Views, 439 Comments

The Shield's Protector - Carapace



There is nothing he wouldn't do to protect her from harm, nothing he wouldn't do to show his love. But, whether he was Captain of the Guard or Prince of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor was her stallion, first and foremost. Her beloved.

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16. Running the Course

Obnoxious ringing, the clamor of an alarm clock going off beside the Royal Couple’s bed, cut through the early morning silence.

Shining Armor’s hoof shot out, stopping the tiny hammer before it could strike the bells again. “Whathehuh?” He mumbled sleepily, cursing the ache in his head and rubbing at his eyes so he could see clearly. After a moment, he blinked owlishly and looked toward the face of the clock, his jaw dropping low when he saw the time.

Four-thirty in the morning? After a night out with Cady and the boys? What had he been thinking?

Like a bolt from the blue, the memory hit him. His lips twitched, slowly curving into a wicked smirk, even the mild headache unable to dash his morbid humor. Ah, yes. I have a little session with Stout Heart this morning. Goodie.

Glancing down, he gave a little chuckle into Cadence’s tricolored mane, and nuzzled her fondly. As much as it pained him to do so, she’d have to wake up if he wanted to get started; a bit of a price to pay for waking back up when he’d laid her down, and then rolled over to lay on his chest when he made to slide into bed behind her.

Unless, of course, he could get away with a little bit of finesse. That’d depend just how aware of magic she was while hungover.

He lit up his horn, a pink bubble formed around Cadence’s sleeping form. Slowly, gently he levitated her off of him, biting his lip as she floated lazily in the air. He had to be careful putting her down on the bed, if recent mornings had taught him anything, it was that she was still as light a sleeper as ever.

Then again, he hadn’t tested that after a night of drinking.

Shining took in a deep breath through his snout and began lowering her, his muscles tensed as the edge of his bubble shield touched the plush, pink comforter. Acting quickly, he weaved his magic around Cadence’s body and let his shield dissipate and fade away into nothingness.

And here’s the tricky part, he set his jaw, praying that the static energy in his spell wouldn’t tickle her coat too much. The pink ends were already starting to poof up, the hair in her mane and tail stood on end.

Her shoulders touched against the bed. Little by little, Shining let the rest of her body down, singing in relief when all she did was sigh and smile before nuzzling into her pillow. Flawless, he crowed.

With that taken care of, Shining slid out of bed, carefully setting his hooves down on the floor so they wouldn’t make that accursed clacking sound that always seemed to wake her, no matter how tired or how deep a sleep Cadence had fallen.

Once he had all four hooves on the floor, he let out a sigh of relief. Excellent. That she hadn’t awaken at the sound of the alarm was a stroke of luck, or perhaps just a testament to how deep she was under.

Good. You need a good rest, and more easy nights like last night. Shining Armor wrinkled his snout, and smirked. Though, maybe with fewer shots next time.

Turning on his hooves, he trotted to the door, keeping his steps light. With a quick burst of magic, he wrapped his pink aura around the armor hanging on the stand on the far side of the room and levitated it over to his side. Shining slipped out of their bedroom, closing the door with a soft click.

“All right,” he muttered as he made his way over to Cadence’s desk. “Now, where do you stash your paper, Cady? Top drawer on the left, I think?” With a little tug of his magic, Shining opened the drawer.

Sure enough, the drawer was stocked full of paper and quills, each sitting in a neat, perfectly straightened stacks or in a little cup.

He quickly scrawled a note for either Prism and Tourmaline, noting that Cadence would likely be dealing with a rather nasty hangover and Honey’s special cure was sitting in a little pouch on their nightstand. No need to have a repeat of the first time, he withheld a snicker and floated the letter over to rest next to the pristinely polished regalia sitting on the counter top. Good thing Tourmie’s got such quick reflexes, or that pillow might’ve hit actually knocked her on her rump!

With his deed done, Shining briskly made his way out of the suite. As he turned the corner, there was a flash of shimmering teal and deep blue. Prism Shine was right there, bleary eyed, with her glasses askew, and mane half-combed. “Prince Armor!” she squeaked, jumping back before she ran into him.

He let out a yelp, “Dear Celestia, Prism! What are you doing up so early?”

“You forget, My Prince, that Tourmie and I had our clocks enchanted to synch up with the one in your room,” she replied with a rueful smile. “It always goes off just a bit before yours so we have a chance to get ready.”

“Oh. Oh.” Shining covered his mouth to hide a snicker. “Er, if you don’t mind me saying, I think you may have—“

“Prince Armor.” Her eyes flashed dangerously. “If you say one word about my mane, I’ll ignore your station just long enough to beat you over the head with my clipboard.”

Snorting, he stepped around Prism, lightly bumping her off balance as he passed. “Well, then, I’d best watch myself or I’ll be a victim of a coup d’état via clipboard!”

Prism glared and raised a hoof to fix her glasses. “Indeed. Now, to business; please tell me that you’re not about to go about your day looking like that. I actually will have to send you back in to brush your mane properly.”

“No, just got a bit of early morning business to take care of with Private Stout Heart. Shouldn’t be too long.” He tried to give that bright, coltish grin, the very same one that worked on Cadence. But Prism just raised a brow in reply. “Oh, come on! I have a brush in the barracks showers! I’ll do it afterward!”

She merely jabbed her hoof toward the door. “Now, Prince Armor. And if you try to slip out while I’m helping Princess Cadence, I’ll come find you and brush you in front of Stout Heart!”

“… You wouldn’t dare!”

“Like a little foal, My Prince. A little, helpless foal.”

“But—You—Oh, fine!” Rolling his eyes, Shining turned and headed back inside, with Prism following close behind. “Do I have to get your approval once I’m done, mother?”

Prism leveled him with a flat stare. Slowly, she began to reach for her clipboard, and arched a brow.

Okay, don’t annoy Prism so early in the morning, he backed toward his wardrobe. “Right. I’ll just take care of this.”

“Thank you, My Prince. Now, if you’ll excuse me—“ she turned and made to step toward the bedroom door.

“No!” Shining cried, a bit louder than he’d intended. His ears pinned back, he clamped a hoof over his mouth, and bit back a curse. “Cadence is still sleeping, Prism—bit of a late night out with the guys and me. A lot of drinking was involved.”

She froze in place and drew in a sharp breath. “How bad?”

“Er…” he shifted in place. “She got into a shot contest with Windy. And won.”

A visible shudder ran down her spine. Prism backed away from the bedroom, and turned to face him once again. “Thank you for sparing me her wrath. One time was quite enough.” Sighing, she shook her head. “I suppose I’ll have to wait until Field Medic Honeysuckle to go on duty today so we can get her special cure-all.”

“Actually, she’s off today.” Seeing her ears droop, Shining added hastily, “But she gave me a pouch before we left the pub last night! Honey came prepared last night.”

Prism let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the Heart for that mare!”

“Heh, yeah, she’s a saint, that one. I left it on the nightstand next to the clock. The alarm’s off, though, so she might have a bit of a lie in.”

“If she was out drinking with you and those foals masquerading as guards again, she just might need it!” She smiled and shook her head. “Oh, dear, I’ll have to go find Tourmie and let her know it’s just you getting up for guard stuff. She went off to go fix Princess Cadence’s morning tea.”

Shining grimaced, and rubbed at the back of his mane. Oops. “Sorry. Wasn’t thinking when I set the alarm. I’ll have to see if we can tweak that spell a bit.”

“That would be much appreciated. Now, since I’m up and your mane looks like a bird’s nest, step this way, My Prince.” She trotted ahead of him and into the wardrobe. “We can’t have you looking anything but your best when you torment dear Stout Heart!”

With a bark of laughter, he followed along, his tail swishing merrily. No, he mused. We can’t have that at all.


Shining strode out onto the practice yard, a broad grin on his muzzle and a bounce in his step. It had taken him a bit to get going, a few months of—as Tourmaline might put it—sitting on his duff and getting comfortable as a higher ranking officer and member of the Royal Family had pulled him out of the routine.

Maybe something like this, a little bit of disciplining one of his prized rookies before Celestia raised the sun, was what he needed to get back into it.

And just imagine how the recruits might jump to attention if they saw me greeting them first, rather than going through the start of the session with the Lieutenants. His grin turned sharklike as he caught sight of Stout Heart’s vibrant orange mane at the center of the field. Showed up before me. Good colt.

“Good morning, good morning, good morning!” Shining said, putting a bit more energy into his voice. A nice little trick he’d picked up from his old captain:

Smiling and looking like he had something fun planned usually made recruits wonder just what was in store for them, and since Stout Heart was fresh out of the Academy, he’d still have that stigma.

By the way his tan ears drooped, and his shoulders slumped, Stout knew that he was in for a rough day. He quickly snapped a salute, hiding his dismay as best he could. “G-Good morning, sir!”

Aw, Stout, you just make it so easy for me! Shining Armor nodded, and deposited his armor off to the side as he came to a stop. “Well, Private, why don’t you tell me why we’re both here on this fine morning?”

“Er, because I mouthed off and made fun of you, Captain,” he replied weakly.

“Partially, Private. But, if that were the case, I’d have the rest of the officers and Field Medic Honeysuckle out here as well. Try again.”

Stout Heart ducked his head. “Because I was laughing about you with Miss Tourmaline.”

“Getting warmer. Where were you laughing with Miss Tourmaline?”

“Uh… in the hallway?”

Shining gave a firm nod, his smile dropped. “Exactly. You were making jokes about me, your superior officer, in the hallway, where anypony could hear. Where my wife, your princess, overheard and told me.” He let the statement hang a moment, watching as Stout ducked lower and began pawing nervously at the ground. “You’re extremely lucky that she just takes stuff like that in good humor, and even luckier that she was the only pony around to hear it or she’d have been forced to reprimand you on the spot, then had you brought to me for something a lot more stern. Do you see what I’m getting at here?”

A stiff nod. “Y-Yes, sir,” he choked out. “I shouldn’t have been talking about it out in the open.”

“That’s right. I don’t think I need to tell you just how bad it might be if you’d been making jokes about Princess Celestia within earshot of Princess Luna? Or, heaven forbid, the inverse?”

Both stallions gave a shudder. The Royal Sisters, though fair and kind to their ponies, could be quite defensive of their loved ones. That went doubly for one another.

Stout Heart shook his head quickly. “No, sir. I won’t let it happen again! I promise!”

“I appreciate that, Private. Now, like I said, you don’t see the rest of the officers out here, and they made jokes at my expense—“ he gave a tight lipped smile “—even though I’d just love to make Lieutenant Wind Runner fly until his wings fell off for that crack about me having a ‘fat rump’, I let it slide because he said it when it was just us guards. Off duty, he would’ve had to make sure he kept it down, so that gets tricky. And we’re not even into the part about me being royalty now, so… look, just be careful. That’s the moral of this little tale.”

“Yes, sir. Really sorry, sir.”

Shining nodded, giving a small smile as he laid a hoof on Stout’s shoulder. “I know, Private. I’m telling you like this because I don’t want you to get in big trouble. Yesterday’s just a slip up, you’ve been a good guard otherwise. But, that said, there are consequences to your actions.” His smile turned wicked again. “Tell me, just how many little jokes did Tourmie make?”

“Uh, well,” Stout stammered, his eyes flitting nervously toward the hoof on his shoulder. “I-I’m not actually sure, sir. There were a few…”

“Now, now, Private, don’t try to play it off,” he said slyly. “I already got you once for lying last night, you sure you don’t wanna take a stab at it?”

“Er, I would love to, sir, but…” shifting in place, he lowered his gaze to the grass at his hooves. “I don’t think I could keep count if I’d tried…”

Ah, well, you had a chance. More fun for me, I’m afraid!

Shining hummed a few notes and made a show of turning to gaze at the track surrounding the yard. “Well, then,” he began, “I guess you’ll just get your morning run in a little early, eh?”

A tiny grimace marred Stout’s face. Likely not what he’d hoped, but still far from the worst punishment he could get.

There was just one problem. “Yes, sir. Er, how many, sir?”

“Aha! I was hoping you’d ask! That’s the fun part!” Shining leaned in, his grip on Stout’s shoulder tightened. “Since you don’t have an accurate count, you’ll just run until I think the lesson has sunk in. And since I don’t have to be anywhere until 0700, we’ve got plenty of time to make sure it gets through that thick skull of yours.”

He almost cackled at the way Stout Heart’s ears drooped just before the poor colt gave a weak “Yes, sir” in reply, and scampered off to start his first lap.