Arguments About Armor Arrive At An Arrangement
After my meeting with Princess Celestia, Storm and I picked Spike up from the Kicker Clan museum and then headed to Sparkle Manor. It had been a while since I had seen my family, so now seemed as good a time as any to see them.
The towers of the manor slowly poked up into my vision as we approached it. The architecture of the manor always drove the organizer in me a bit crazy. Instead of its expansions being planned in any orderly manner, generations of my family had simply added another wing or tower to the structure in whatever manner they thought they could get away with. ‘Eccentric’ would probably be the single best word to describe it, and there wasn’t anything that could be done about it unless we tore the whole structure down and then rebuilt it from scratch. A sadly expensive proposition, and thus Sparkle Manor stood in all its strange glory as a testament to the will of thirty generations of Sparkles.
“It should be nice to visit home for a bit,” I said as we approached the front door. “It's been too long.”
“You can say that again,” Spike agreed. “Especially since your parents give me a gem every time we come to visit.”
“I see where your priorities lie,” I teased. Spike never did waste a good opportunity to get himself more gems. One of the reasons why he was always willing to help Rarity whenever she went to the gem mines.
“Just saying, there’s plenty of good reasons to come back to Canterlot,” Spike reasoned.
“As long as you don't take this as an opportunity to gorge yourself,” I cautioned, though I only got an eyeroll from Spike in return.
Storm stepped forward to get the door for us. Opening doors was another of those activities Storm considered to be beneath my royal dignity. “I hope I make a good impression.”
“I'm sure you'll be fine,” I assured her as I stepped inside. “I can't see a way that you'll make a bad impression. You’re always so polite and formal. Plus the uniform should help. Hard to look disrespectful in a uniform.”
“I would expect so.” Storm closed the door behind us.
“Mom, Dad, you here?!” I called out. Trying to find anyone in the manor could almost be an adventure all in itself. Often it was a lot simpler to just call out and see if anypony was at least within hearing range.
“In here, Twilight,” Dad called from the parlour.
I found my parents sitting together on one couch while Shiny, and Cadey sat opposite them on their own. I smiled at the sight of them. “Hey everypony, nice to see you.” I stepped to the side and motioned to Storm. “This is the captain of my royal guard, Storm Kicker. I thought everypony might like to meet her considering I'm going to be working with her so closely.”
Cadance smiled warmly. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”
Storm bowed to Cadance. “The pleasure is all mine.”
Shining stood up and saluted Storm, which she returned. He then looked Storm over with the scrutinizing eye of both a big brother and Royal Guard officer. “So you're the mare in charge of keeping my little sis safe?”
“It is my duty to do so,” Storm confirmed.
Mom hid a smile behind her tea cup. “She certainly looks the part.”
Shining seemed to think so, for after he was done examining Storm he extended a hoof to her. “Nice to meet you, Captain Kicker.”
Storm took his hoof. “Likewise.”
“Go ahead and have a seat.” Dad waved at the collection of couches and seat-cushions. “Plenty of places to sit and relax.”
Cadance patted an open spot on the couch and I took the offered seat. Spike sat in the opposite side of me next to Shiny while Storm sat on an open cushion.
“I hope our daughter isn't giving you too much trouble.” Mom shot me a slightly teasing smile. “She can be a bit of a hoofful.”
I sighed as I was hit with the volley of maternal guilting. “I'm not that bad, Mom.”
“Her Highness has been the very exemplar of a perfect royal,” Storm stated with loyal professionalism.
Mom smiled knowingly. “I'm sure she has been. So you've been eating right, Twilight? No forgetting meals or running entirely on caffeine while on a reading binge or working on one of your projects?”
I cleared my throat as I fell under my Mom’s scrutiny. “Um, I haven't exactly been perfect...” Eating right was something Mom brought up pretty regularly—one part general motherly worry and one part precedent, since I hadn't always made a good diet a high priority. Admittedly, those habits hadn’t gotten any better since I had become an alicorn.
Storm coughed, the motion not entirely natural. She probably knew better than anyone how many meals I had skipped except for maybe Spike. “Her Highness is a very eager and dedicated scholar.”
“She's pretty much as bad as she's always been about that,” Spike added, treasonously ratting me out to my parents.
“Twilight...” Cadance let out a chiding sigh. “She was bad about that even as a filly.”
“She always has been.” Mom shook her lowered head. “No more skipping meals. I don't care if you're a princess and an alicorn now, you need to take care of yourself.”
I sighed. “Yes, Mom...”
“At least now you have somepony to look after you.” Cadance smiled, a glint in her eyes as they looked at Storm.
“Storm certainly does that, at least,” I agreed.
Storm nodded. “I do my duty.”
“Though are you doing alright after Tirek's attack?” Mom asked. “That did give us a bit of a scare, and everything is only now starting to calm down after that. Tirek draining magic from everypony made a big mess out of the Sealed Repository. It scared me to death when I heard you got into a fight with that monster.”
Shiny grunted in agreement. “That's putting it mildly.”
“I'm fine, really. I barely got hurt at all.” I grimace me as memories of the fight with Tirek came to the surface. “Though the library was destroyed, and we pretty much lost everything we owned.”
Shiny winced. For his part, Spike crossed his arms over his chest as he glowered. “Tirek was a big jerk. I lost my entire comic collection!”
“At least you made it out it out okay,” Dad offered. “That's the most important thing. Your things can always be replaced, and we aren't that hard up for money. It'll be fine once we get everything sorted out.”
Shining nodded and gave Spike a one-armed hug. “That stuff's replaceable. You guys aren't.”
I let out a long breath and nodded. They were right, of course. Losing the library still hurt, but that was a pain that should fade with time. Especially when I got used to my new castle... Someday.
“You weren't hurt, were you?” Cadance looked me over.
I shook my head. “I'm fine, really. Storm got more beat up than I did. Scared me when I heard she was in the hospital, though.”
Dad frowned deeply. “You got hurt protecting Twilight?”
Storm nodded slightly. “I was merely doing my duty. It was nothing too serious.”
“Thank you,” Dad said. “You're always welcome under our roof.”
Shiny frowned. “That's ... not an easy thing to say thanks for. You look like you're doing okay now, so I'm glad for that.”
Storm shifted slightly on her cushion. “Thank you.”
Probably sensing Storm’s discomfort, Mom shifted the conversation. “But enough of all that. How about we concentrate on something happier?” She hummed as she stroked her cheek. “Now that I think about it, you probably need a lot of things for your new home—clothes, blankets, family photos, the works.”
“Not to mention Spike's comics.” Shiny smiled down at Spike. “I bet you'd like to visit the old comic shop later.”
Spike beamed. “Sounds good to me!”
Cadance snickered. “I'm sure Shining can help you with that. Especially when it'll give him an opportunity to shop for himself while he's there.”
Shiny smiled in that goofy way he did as he rubbed the back of his head. “It has been a while since I've been there. I'm kinda curious if any of the old gang are still there anymore.”
“Whatever you need, we'll help you,” Dad told me.
Mom nodded in agreement. “We'll make sure you have the basics before you leave. No sense you going back to Ponyville without everything you need.”
I couldn't see much of a reason to disagree, not that it was likely to do much good if I tried. Besides, it would be nice to replace some of my lost things that couldn't be easily bought, like family photographs. “Thanks. I'd appreciate the help.”
“Captain Armor,” Storm addressed my brother. “If you can spare some time while we are in town, I would appreciate your opinion on expanding Princess Twilight's guard.”
“We were talking about that before all the craziness happened,” I explained. “And Tirek blowing up the library had kinda kickstarted the need to get that project moving along.” Big surprise, Tirek attacking me personally made some ponies think that I should expand my guard beyond just Storm.
Something flashed over Shining’s feature before he nodded. “Right, makes sense in light of the recent mess. It'll make me feel a lot better to know that Twily’s got a full guard watching out for her. Just say when and where, and I'll be happy to help.”
“Whenever is convenient for you and Her Highness can spare me,” Storm said.
“I'm sure we can make time for that while we’re here,” I said. As the former Captain of the Royal Guard and the captain of the Crystal Guard, Shiny was singularly qualified for this. Even if as my big brother who had seen me face everything up to and including the Spirit of Chaos, he was tempted to wrapped me up in a bunch of bubble wrap to keep me safe.
“Alright.” After a moment’s consideration, Shiny added, “After comic shopping.”
Cadance chuckled. “You have your priorities.”
“I think that's pretty important,” Spike said with a firm nod. “Besides, you're not going to send me back to Ponyville without any new comics after the big meanie Tirek destroyed everything I own, right?” His eyes widened as he unleashed a sad puppy-dog look that he had perfected over the years.
“Don't worry, Spike.” Cadance leaned over to peck him on the top of the head. “I can do without my husband for a few hours.”
Shiny grinned. “Besides, if Twily's here, she's got more than enough guards to keep her going for a bit longer. Spike's comic collection, not so much.” He looked at Storm. “Don't get me wrong, Captain—if you want to talk shop about Twily’s guard first, I can. But if you don't mind a small wait...”
Storm shook her head. “I do not see any terrible urgency to our business.”
“I can add a meeting to our schedule,” I said, pulling out my planner and checking it over for a good time to squeeze in a meeting.
“Alright, but make sure to leave time for us to actually spend some time together,” Shiny told me. “You're here to relax for a bit, Twily.”
I stopped looking over my schedule to face my brother. “I didn't exactly come here on a vacation, Shiny. There are a few things I need to do while I'm in Canterlot.” Fixing Shadow’s Armor was going to take time and effort to complete, and that was only the tip of the iceberg.
“Do not overstress yourself, Highness,” Storm said in a reproachful tone.
“It sounds like you've done enough of that already.” Shiny snatched my schedule from me with a smirk. “So how about you relax for a bit? I doubt you have anything that needs done right now, or you'd have mentioned it by now.”
“Maybe,” I reluctantly allowed. “But it's not like I'm tired or anything.”
“Twilight.” Cadance placed a hoof on my shoulder. “If all your friends and loved ones are telling you to relax, maybe you should listen to them.”
I signed, knowing I wasn't in a fight I could win. “Alright, alright, I'll relax a bit while I'm here.”
“I think you'll be a lot happier for it,” Mom said. “In fact, I think you could stand to spend some time with your family.”
“We don't see you nearly as much as we'd like,” Dad said.
“Me even less, these days since I'm all the way up in the Crystal Empire.” Shiny squeezed Cadey’s hoof. “Cadance and I both, really.”
My ears wilted in face of the criticism. “Sorry. I really need to do better about that.”
Storm stiffened. “Her Highness is very busy attending her royal duties.”
“We've all been busy,” Shiny said gently.
Mom sighed and nodded. “It's one of those things where we need work to make time. Night and I could certainly stand to try and get away from work so we can visit our kids a bit more often.”
“We can work on scheduling some things while we're here,” I suggested. “That would help set aside time for just us as a family.”
“That might not be a bad idea,” Cadey said.
Storm suddenly got up and cleared her throat. “I will return momentarily. Might I ask where the bathroom is?”
Mom pointed to the doorway. “Down the hall and last door on the left.”
“Thank you.” Storm headed out of the room.
Once she was gone, Cadance grinned conspiratorially and leaned closer to me. “So, I can't help but notice that your bodyguard is very ... devoted.”
“Um, she is, yes.” I smiled despite the fact there was something in the way she had said that which told me she was up to something. “It's kinda nice to have her around to help. She is very devoted to me. Even if I'm still getting used to having a bodyguard.”
“Well, I'd hope she'd have a devoted bodyguard,” Shiny stated.
“I think it's a good thing that Twilight is finally getting her own guard,” Mom said. “She could use some ponies to make sure she's safe.”
“Especially considering all the dangerous business she gets involved in,” Dad agreed.
Shiny scowled deeply. “Nightmare Moon, Discord.” He scowled in revulsion. “Her. Sombra, and now Discord again and Tirek at the same time.”
“And knowing our luck, there's more trouble on the horizon,” Dad added. “There always seems to be something new coming to cause trouble.”
“Okay, okay, point made,” I grumbled. I had heard all of these arguments in detail already and I didn't need to hear them again. Especially when I had already agreed to the whole bodyguard thing. I was even pushing for having a barracks made in Ponyville to help facilitate the expansion of my guard.
“But enough worrying.” Cadey’s smile widened. “How are you and Storm getting along? It seems like you're doing much better than when you started out.”
“Things were a bit rough starting out, but we're getting along much better now,” I said. “It was just a matter of us adjusting to one another, and me growing used to having a guard around all the time.”
“Yes, you two seem quite fond of each other now.” Cadey’s smile took on a feline quality. “It's important to get along with your partner.”
I jerked back from her. “Wait, you think Storm and I are—involved?!” My brain raced to respond. Spike snickered while my mom covered her mouth with her teacup. Shiny’s eyes widened and his jaw fell agape. Dad’s only response was to let out a long put out sigh. “W-we're not! Storm wouldn't! S-she's so-so proper!”
Cadance smirked as I spluttered. “So she's too proper ... not, ‘I'm not interested?’”
My mouth worked wordlessly as I failed to form a response to the question. That had been what I had said, but, but, but...
Shiny was quicker to recover than I was, and he placed a hoof on Cadey’s shoulder. “Now Cadey...” For a moment I thought he was going to tell her to ease up, but then his mouth spread in a grin that filled me with dread. “We all know opposites attract. We should be happy Twily's found somepony who can keep up with her new station. In addition to take care of her.”
“I certainly think so,” Mom said with a serious nod that was undermined by a poorly hidden smirk.
“She could do a lot worse,” Dad added. “An officer in the Guard, next in line to be the materfamilias of the Kicker Clan, and a mare dedicated to her princess. It certainly wouldn't hurt to patch relations with the Kicker Clan.”
My cheeks burned terribly as my family ganged up against me. “But, but, but...” Finally, I managed to get my brain and mouth to work together. “You’re all conspiring together to tease me, aren't you?”
Shiny finally lost it and started laughing uproariously. “S-sorry. T-the look on your f-face.”
Cadey giggled at my humiliation. “We're just happy for you.”
I groaned and buried my face in my hooves. Family—what more was there to say?
The next day Storm and I were up in the Sparkle Manor attic—one of its attics, anyways. With all the disorganized towers that had been added to the manor, it didn't technically have only one attic. At my parents’ insistence, I was looking about for anything I might want to take back with me to Ponyville. That, and it probably gave them more ammo to tease me with like they had the previous day considering I was up here alone with Storm.
In any event, the trip was proving productive. The attic was filled with old furniture, clothes, dishware, and a variety of other odds and ends. Even if a lot of it was terribly disorganized and covered with dust, I was finding at least a few things I could use for the new palace.
I was in the middle of shifting through some paintings when there was a knock on the attic door. “Come on in!” I called out, curious about who would feel the need to knock before entering an attic.
The door swung open to reveal Star Kicker. She trotted in and bowed before me. “Your Highness.” She then smirked at her sister. “Skunky.”
“Star, how did you…?” Storm lifted a wing and examined it. “I thought I had gotten all of your trackers off of me.”
“Should have been more careful about eating your cereal in the morning,” Star teased—probably.
Storm let out the long sigh of a put-upon older sister.
“Hi Star,” I said, pushing my way into the conversation before this became another conflict between them. I had already experienced one of those firsthoof during a prank war, and I was in no hurry to go through all once that again. “Nice to see you.”
“Likewise, though I'm here on business.” Star rummaged through her saddlebags and pulled out a letter with Luna’s seal. “Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna, formally requests your presence at her tower at your earliest convenience... Though all that's said a lot fancier in that letter.”
“Is that so?” Star had been a part of the Lunar Guard for a while now, so it probably wasn't much of a surprise to see her serving as a messenger. I just wondered if Star had asked to come or had been sent due to her being Storm’s sister.
I opened the letter and confirmed that the contents of the letter were exactly what Star said—including the bit about the much more formal and archaic language. Luna had gotten much better about using modern vernacular while talking, but the fact she was a pony from another time showed through in her writing. “I might as well as take care of that. No sense keeping Luna waiting when everything here should be exactly where we left it.”
“Did you want me to come along, Highness, or...?” Storm trailed off as her eyes flicked to Star.
Star leaned towards me and stage whispered, “She wants to hang out with me but is too uptight to actually ask.”
I smiled, having come to that conclusion. Storm was a bit too duty-driven and polite to just say what was on her mind on occassion. Sometimes that just meant I had I jump through hoops to let her be happy. “Captain Storm, I grant permission to spend time with your sister in an act of sibling bonding, and thus relieve you of your duties for the length of time that takes.”
Storm’s lips curled in the slightest of smiles. “Thank you, Highness.”
“And don't worry about me,” I told her in a lighthearted tone. “I'm sure I'll be safe here in Canterlot. But just to put your mind at rest, I'll stick to well traveled streets, look both ways when crossing the street, and be back well before dark.”
Star added to the reassurances. “And if the meeting runs long, I'm sure Princess Luna will give her an escort back.”
I nodded. “Exactly. It's not like they're not used to late night work shifts.”
“Kinda goes with the territory,” Star confirmed.
Storm nodded. “That sounds fine, Highness. And thank you.”
Star snorted and poked her sister for her formal behavior, soliciting a scornful look from Storm.
“Have fun you two!” I closed the door behind me before the sibling rivalry could catch fire and really get going.
Now, to the business at hoof. I had to wonder what Luna wanted. It probably wasn't any kind of emergency, or else she would have sent a more urgent message.
When I arrived at the Royal Palace I was escorted to Luna’s tower within the royal quarters. I soon found myself in what I could best describe as a trophy room: all along the walls and in display cases were old flags, arms and armor, badges, medals, jewelry, and—much more disturbingly—the stuffed corpses of animals and monsters. I tried not to look took hard at the long-dead owlbear that loomed near the doorway, perpetually stuck in the beginning stages of a pounce.
I found Luna passively standing before one of her displays: the preserved head of Queen Chrysalis. Her fangs were bared in an eternal and silent scream. The mere sight of it made me grimace—both for the macabre nature of the trophy, and my history with the changeling queen. More than a little bit of me hated her for what she had done when her swarm had invaded Canterlot, yet it still sickened me that I could truly wish she were really dead.
I tried to ignore to the gruesome trophies and instead concentrated on Luna. “Um, Princess Luna? You wanted to see me?”
She turned to faced me and smiled serenely. “Hello, Twilight Sparkle. I was sorry to hear about your home, but you did well defeating Tirek.”
“Positives with the negatives, I guess.” I shrugged, not really wanting to talk about my blown-up home yet again. After a certain point it just became irritating to think about, however good intentioned everypony’s well wishes were. “I'm ... adapting, I suppose. There’s a lot to get used to after what's happened.”
Luna nodded. “That I understand well. More than once I have had to deal with some great upheaval in my life, and I know what a disruption that can be. It might be cold comfort right now, but time should heal your pains, and you can rebuild after this travesty that has befallen you.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Though mostly I’m just trying to move forward at this point, and get back to some point of normality again.”
“Understandable,” Luna said. “Is there anything I might do to aid you?”
“I'm mainly waiting on all the paperwork to go through so that I can get my new ... home refurbished,” I finished. It was still very odd to think of the new castle as my home. It just didn't feel like home yet. Maybe that was just something that would change with time.
“I will expedite the process as much as I can,” Luna declared. “There seems little point in delaying you getting the income you need to re-establish yourself.”
“Thanks, I'd appreciate it.” One of the reasons I was spending some time in Canterlot was to give that paperwork time to get through. Anything that hurried that along would help me.
“But of course. However, I called you here on another matter.” She stepped over to examine an elaborately embroidered suit of antiquated gryphon armor. “I understand you've been discussing what should be done with Shadow Kicker's armor?”
I nodded. “No surprise you heard about that. I've been talking with a few ponies about that—including your sister.” Now I had to wonder how widespread the fact I had brought the Armor to Canterlot was. Word did have a way of traveling fast in Canterlot.
“I suppose then you will not be surprised to learn that I have an opinion on the matter too?”
I shook my head. “Not really, no. So what do you think? I'm kinda curious now that you bring it up.” At the very least, Luna should be able to offer some advice on what to do with the Armor. Millennia-old alicorn had a way of doing that.
“I do like to think I have something of a unique perspective.” She faced me, and a deep frown crossed her face. “On account of being the only alicorn to ever face the Armor in battle. To be frank, I do not think you realize just how dangerous it is.”
I blinked, taken aback. “What do you mean?”
Luna looked away from me, and her tone became more somber. “That armor faced a mere projection of my power during the Lunar Rebellion in the form of the Avatar of Nightmare Moon, but it allowed a mortal pony to face me in battle as an equal. Even at my full power it is not something I would lightly cross blades with.” Her eyes narrowed. “Imagine what that power could do in the wrong hooves.”
“But it couldn't be used by the wrong pony. Its restrictions... Oh.” My teeth clenched as some very unpleasant thoughts came to me. “I hadn’t put too much thought into how it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hooves, since that hasn’t been a problem in the past. I've been concentrating on all the times somepony could have used it for good but couldn't because of the restrictions.”
“Indeed so.” Luna’s words became all the graver. “You would relax the defenses on one of the most dangerous weapons in existence. Imagine if somepony like Sombra gained such power.”
I shivered at the idea. “That's something I don't really want to imagine.” Sombra had broken just about every law of magic on the books, and had done a lot of really nasty things while ruling the Crystal Empire before he was finally beaten. I couldn't imagine him using the Armor for anything good if he ever got his hooves on it.
“Nor do I.”
“Though that would depend on how exactly the restrictions are changed,” I said. “Unless somepony with enough skill and magical ability got ahold of the Armor and played with its defenses, anyways. Changing its enchantments isn't exactly easy.”
“Just so, but weakening the defenses diminishes the strength of the spell matrix and leaves an opening for others to do so,” Luna said.
I grimaced. “That could be a big problem, yes.”
“I would suggest you face somepony wielding that armor in battle before treating it so lightly.” Luna waved at an old painting of her facing gryphon reivers in battle. “Spar with your captain while she wears it. Watch as your best spells do nothing against its defenses. Then you will know why it should not be used lightly.”
I let out a long sigh. “You have a point.” Magic was my main way to defend myself. If that was countered in a fight, then I would be in a lot of trouble. “Now I'm feeling kind of foolish not thinking about that.”
“It is why I wished to speak with you.” Luna put a hoof on my shoulder. “If you must make a decision about the Armor, then you should at least make an informed one and be aware of the dangers of your actions.”
I nodded. “Thanks for that, then.”
“Of course.” Her gaze shifted to the floor as she looked away from me. “Though I suspect my sister made the Armor in her melancholy caused by my banishment—in no small part because she feared she might follow my example.”
I blinked, not sure if I understood what she was saying. “Excuse me?”
Luna’s shoulders slumped. “Why else entrust an armor capable of striking down an alicorn to another? And in the aftermath of a civil war? I suspect she feared that those who opposed her might have been right to do so.”
“B-but she's Princess Celestia!” I objected. “She's not evil! Not even close!”
“Neither was I,” Luna murmured.
“But that's—you're not—I mean...” I fell silent. What could I say in face of that? It all felt so wrong, but I couldn't deny the facts. Luna had fallen. Even if the pony before me seemed completely different than Nightmare Moon. Was it at least theoretically possible that Celestia could fall as well? It might have seemed so after Luna’s banishment. From what I had read Celestia had been pretty depressed for a pretty long time.
“I can see ... how she might think that.” My ears wilted. “Not that I like thinking about her like that, or you for that matter.”
Luna nodded. “Nor do I. It is not a pleasant thought, but a difficult one to dismiss.”
I rubbed my forehead. “That is a lot to absorb. I’m going to need time to think about this. It's not exactly an easy balance between making the Armor more accessible but keeping it from being abused. Especially where the Armor is concerned. Now I'm not sure what to do with it.”
“Dealing with difficult truths is one of the burdens of royalty,” Luna stated. “We do not have the benefit of hiding ourselves from them.”
My shoulders slumped. “I know. It’s just want to believe in ponies, you know? I want to think the best of them. Not the worst.”
“I want to believe that too,” Luna said. “But I still keep mindful of the dangers involved.”
“I think I'll talk with the Kickers some more once they've had time to talk about what they want done with the Armor,” I told her. “It is theirs, after all.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Thanks for bringing all of this up with me, Luna.” I smiled wryly for her. “I know this couldn't have been easy for you. And I appreciate that you’re trying to help. Even if you did make everything a lot more complicated for me.”
She grinned back at me. “No, I merely ensured you knew of what complications already existed.”
I shrugged. “Can't argue with you there. The facts are what they are.”
She had certainly given me plenty to digest. This conversation had been an eye opener, and part of me felt bad for not thinking about these issues earlier. All there was to do was take those facts into account, and make a decision later.
Feeling that the conversation over the Armor was over, I look at one of the displays in the trophy. “If you have a few minutes, I am curious about what some of these things are.”
“Oh?”
I nodded. “I bet there's some really interesting history in here, and as you probably know, I do like history.” That, and I figured it would make Luna feel better to show off some of the things in her trophy room. Really, it was win-win.
Luna ears perked and she smiled. “Certainly. Was there anything in particular you wanted to know about?”
I pointed to a crown that sat prominently at the center of the display. “How about that?”
“Ah yes, the crown of gryphon king Dietmar. I slew him while reclaiming Manehattan...”
Later that day Storm and I went to her parents’ home to visit them and Star for dinner. Storm had wanted her parents to meet her boss, and I hadn't seen any reason not to accommodate her. Besides, I wanted to get to know my bodyguard’s family anyways.
Dinner turned out to be pretty enjoyable, and it was nice to be able to chat with everypony. It was definitely a nice break from everything that had been bothering me for the past few weeks. After dinner I ended up in the living room with Storm. I offered to help clean up, but it seemed that having a princess help with the post-meal cleaning was another one of those things that was beneath my dignity, or at least wasn't something Storm’s parents wanted word getting out about. It probably wouldn't look good if they had a princess cleaning their dishes regardless of my thoughts on the matter.
“I hope Mother and Father made a good impression,” Storm said, sitting on the couch next to me. Probably to protect me from such vile threats as her own little sister, who was lurking somewhere in the house.
“Oh definitely,” I told her. “It was a really nice dinner. It was nice to get to know your parents, and your dad makes some really good casseroles.”
Storm’s chest swelled ever so slightly. “I am glad to hear it.”
“I hope I made a good impression.”
Storm nodded. “I would think so.”
“That's good to hear.” I lowered my voice so as not to be overhead. “I know this meant a lot to you.”
Storm’s eyes flicked to the kitchen. “I did hope you would think well of them, yes. That and—”
Storm stopped talking when her dad, Typhoon Season, stepped into the living room. “Princess Twilight, I was wondering if I might have a moment to speak with you?”
“Um, sure.” From his tone, it sounded like he wanted to talk about something serious. “Did you want to talk alone?”
Typhoon nodded. “If you wouldn't mind.”
Storm stood up from the couch. “I can go help in the kitchen, then.” She moved towards the kitchen, but then stopped when she stood side by side with her dad. Fixing her dad with a level look, she said in a deadpan, “Please do not assassinate the princess, Dad.”
Typhoon snorted softly. “Since you asked so nicely...”
I couldn't help but chuckle. “I would really prefer if you didn't. That would make our talk awkward.”
“So it would.” Typhoon sat opposite of me as his daughter left for the kitchen.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” I asked, curious about what made him want to have a one-on-one meeting. Since I had become a princess, I had learned that ponies often wanted to talk about one piece of business or another. Came with the territory of being a reigning monarch.
“I expect you will not be shocked to learn that it's about the Armor?” he asked.
I sighed and shook my head. “No, a lot of ponies seem to want to talk with me about the Armor as of late. I really shouldn't be surprised anymore.”
Typhoon nodded as he settled on his cushion. “It is the topic on everypony's mind.”
“That it is, and it's ... complicated,” I finally settled on.
“And I am afraid I might make it moreso,” he said with a note of regret. “For what it's worth, I'll try not to be too much of a burden, but I would be remiss not to mention the religious implications of any actions you might take where the Armor is concerned.”
I groaned and rubbed my forehead. “Right, the religious implications. Can't forget those.”
As the head of the Shadow’s cult, it shouldn't have been a surprise he would want to throw his two bits into the conversation. Granted, it would be an important opinion to a lot of ponies. The Armor was a religious icon—the single greatest physical connection they had to Shadow Kicker.
“Alright, let's hear this out then,” I said, seeing no reason not to let Typhoon speak his piece. “It only right I hear your word on this before I go tinkering around with your one-of-a-kind religious icon.”
“Well, what are you expecting me to say?”
I took a deep breath. “That Shadow's Armor is a priceless relic for your religion, and a source of inspiration for both the Kicker Clan and followers of Shadow's cult. That having access to Shadow's spirit within the Armor is important to the Clan, and gives you a source of sage advice from your founder. Also, the Armor serves as emergency protection in the event of an attack against your clanhold. So you would really prefer if I just patched up the Armor and put it back into your compound’s vault for safekeeping.”
The corner of Typhoon’s mouth smirked. “That saves us both quite a bit of time, doesn't it?”
I smiled, feeling awkward as I did so. “Hope you don't take that the wrong way.”
Typhoon shook his head. “Not at all. Though I do think that perhaps we sometimes focus too much on the mare and not enough on what she teaches us.”
“She ... isn't exactly wild about the level of attention she gets,” I admitted.
The Shadowvar nodded. “I suspect that the spirit in the armor would prefer we not venerate her.”
“That's pretty much what she told me.” I frowned as I remember some of my conversations with the spirit of the Armor. “That, and stop asking her so many questions.”
Typhoon snorted. “And by all accounts she could be somewhat irritable. Well, we all have our flaws. Even Honored Shadow.” He shrugged. “In any case, I admit I am somewhat torn on the whole matter.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Not exactly what I was expecting. I figured a priest in Shadow’s cult would have pretty clear ideas about what’s to be done with her armor.”
“I would like to think I understand the Cult's doctrine a bit more than most, and that that knowledge can give me unique insight,” Typhoon stated. “And I know that it is her beliefs that matter, not some relic she left behind. If the Armor can do good out in the world, it should.” He held up a hoof before I could reply. “However ... it is still a symbol of the mare herself. If it were lost...”
I nodded. “Right, there's no replacing it. Both points have been brought up already.”
“It's a difficult balance, isn't it?”
I let out a long huff. “It really is, and I haven't been able to find a satisfactory balance between those two opinions.”
“Neither have I,” Typhoon said. “So I suppose we're in good company, at least.”
I smiled wryly. “I would like to think so.”
Typhoon hummed to himself. “Which end of the balance do you lean towards?”
I thought over my answer carefully. “I think it should be allowed to be useful instead of just collecting dust. It just seems to be a waste otherwise.”
“On the balance, I agree.” Typhoon’s gaze shifted to the kitchen. “I'd rather not leave it doing nothing for fear of the dangers. That's not something the Cult believes in.”
“Right, but the tricky part is figuring out how to do that without all those negative consequences we're worried about. Assuming there is a balance.”
Typhoon gave me a paternal smile. “Well, I think as long as you're careful with it, we won't have to find out.”
“I am going to be working with Celestia and the senior Kickers on that,” I said. “Hopefully we can make this work out for the best. I'm reservedly optimistic at the moment.”
“A good attitude to have,” he said.
“I like to think so.” I smiled, this one feeling legitimate. “It seems to work for me most of the time.”
“Myself as well.” Typhoon stood up. “But I think I’ve taken up enough of your time. Best of luck, Princess.”
“Thanks. Both for the talk, and letting me visit your home.”
Typhoon smiled back at me. “It is our pleasure to have you, Princess.”
“Oh by the way.” I summoned a scroll and a quill to write on. “Would you mind giving me that recipe for that carrot casserole while I'm here?”
The next day I was back at the Kicker Compound. The elders of the Kicker Clan were in the middle of a debate on what exactly to do with Shadow’s Armor, and they had granted me an audience to weigh in on what should be done. I was more than a little nervous about talking with everypony, especially over something as important as this. But this was something really important. If I was going to give my opinion to everypony before a big decision was made, it was now.
Thus, I made my way into the central keep of the compound and was escorted to a large meeting hall. On a raised platform was a desk where a dozen ponies sat, among them Guard Captain Tornado Kicker and his sister, Colonel Wind.
I stepped before them all and gave them the best smile I could. “Hello, everypony. Thank you for seeing me.”
Tornado nodded and addressed me. “Of course. We could hardly turn down a princess when she wishes to address us.”
Wind shuffled some papers on the desk before giving me a smile. “We're all rather curious about what you have to say.”
“Hopefully I don’t disappoint then.” I pulled out some notecards I had prepared and cleared my throat. “I realize that the subject of Shadow's Armor is a sensitive one to a lot of ponies, and especially to those of you in the Kicker Clan. That became clear to me after speaking with a lot of ponies about the topic. It means a lot of things to a lot of ponies. To some it's a particularly powerful set of armor, others a religious relic, and others a legacy. So it's little surprise that I got a lot of different opinions on what should be done with it. That being said, I hope you will all will at least hear me out, whatever your final decision might be.”
“We can certainly do that much, at the very least,” Tornado said. “So how about you go ahead and tell us what you came here to say?”
I nodded and shifted to my next notecard. “First, I would propose that the Armor receive a general performance upgrade. This can be done safely, and it’s something Princess Celestia has already done periodically over the centuries. Considering it got pretty badly damaged by Tirek, now seems like a good time to do this.”
“If Celestia has done so in the past, I see no issues so long as she oversees it all,” Wind said. “She did make the Armor, after all, so she would know what to do.”
Tornado grunted skeptically. “What are the risks involved, and how likely is this to compound the current damage?”
“Very small,” I assured him. “I’ve carefully studied the Armor, and updating the magical matrix is just a matter of changing some of the runes to make them more powerful. Most of them have very few direct connections to the central management matrix that makes up the spirit of the Armor, so there’s little risk of damage that by changing the surrounding magic makeup.”
Wind frowned slightly. “How small is very small?”
“One percent or less, I would say,” I told her. “The chances of us doing damage to the central matrix is pretty remote since we’re not working on it directly. Most of the upgrade work would be on components parts, and if any mistakes were made with those then we can just redo it with a fresh slate of armor. It's more time consuming in that event, but it can be done.”
Tornado grunted and nodded. “I'm still not entirely sold, but we can't leave the Armor as it is. Besides, the recent battle made it clear that an upgrade wouldn't go amiss.”
“That's one of the reasons why I'm suggesting the upgrades.” I certainly didn’t want to see Storm getting hurt either, and me giving it the best upgrade with Celestia I could might go a long way to keep that from happening again. “If it doesn't receive periodic upgrades then its basic abilities will eventually be equaled and surpassed by basic enchanted Guard armor.”
“And that won't do at all,” Wind said. “I presume Celestia has approved all your planned upgrades?”
“I've gone over all my proposed upgrades with her, and she's endorsed them wholeheartedly.” Celestia had gone over everything with a fine-toothed comb, and even made an improvement or two to my own work. Needless to say, she was heavily invested in making sure her friend would be alright.
Wind wrote something down on a notepad. “Those improvements sound like a good idea then.”
“Thanks.” Seeing that move of the rest of the Kicker elders seemed to be satisfied with that, I moved to my next notecard. “Though there was a couple of potential changes I would also like to speak with you about that might be a ... bit more controversial.”
Wind’s head tilted slightly, and the atmosphere of the room became stiffer. “Did Her Highness endorse these more controversial changes?”
I took a deep breath through my nose. “She said that you should decide for yourselves if you want them. She told me to tell you that these changes are fundamentally sound magically, and shouldn't be a problem to enact. It's the ... higher concepts that make these changes controversial.”
At first it had surprised me that Celestia was taking such a hooves-off approach to what I was about to raise, but she had insisted this was a case where her ponies needed to make a choice for themselves. The Armor did belong to the Kicker Clan, after all. That, and she trusted all of them to make the right decision. Even if I couldn’t disclose everything she had confided in me.
Tornado sat forward slightly. “I'm listening.”
I took a moment to steel my resolve, knowing that this wasn’t going to go over well with some of the ponies before me, but I pressed onwards. “I propose to make the Armor's selection process to be less restrictive. Namely, I argue in favor of letting the Armor decide for itself who can use it instead of a somewhat vague qualification to be the judge. I've spoken with the Spirit of the Armor, and she says the Armor should be used—not sitting in a vault collecting dust. As long as the cause it's being used for is just and its wearer is somepony acceptable, in any event.”
Wind slowly tapped the top of the desk. “That's not a small change. It has a lot of implications if we did it.”
I shook my head. “No, it's not a small change, and it's something I've put a lot of thought into over the last few days. At least in my opinion, the Armor is a little too restrictive to be practical, and I think the Spirit of the Armor can be trusted for something like this, in addition to there being other safeguards.”
Tornado rubbed his chin as he thought the proposal over. “Those protections were put in place for good reason. Repairs are one thing, but that's a substantial change to its original intent.”
“If the Armor falls into the wrong hooves...” Wind frowned as she left that idea hang in the air. “And Ty has always been very clear that the ... entity within the Armor is not Shadow.”
“More exposure means more risk,” Tornado pointed out. “Both to the Armor and its wearers—and with all respect, Princess, we've done just fine over the centuries on our own.”
“I’m not making any complaints about the Guard’s performance,” I assured them. “My opinion is just focused on what to do with the Armor.”
Wind shrugged. “I can't see a terribly compelling reason to make such a radical change, at the moment.”
Tornado nodded. “It’s something we’re going to have to debate at length before making a final decision.”
I did my best to keep my voice neutral and official. “That's ultimately your decision. I just hope you’ll consider my points when you debate between yourselves.”
Wind tilted her head slightly, and spoke with a more soothing voice. “Tell me, why are you so eager to change what isn't broken?”
I carefully flipped to the notecard I had prepared if this question was asked. “Because the Spirit in the Armor wants it to be changed, and because there have been multiple instances where ponies could have been protected by the Armor, but instead it was the other way around.” Thinking carefully about my next point, I decided to go ahead and say it. “And because Storm wants to continue bearing the Armor to protect me. That isn't me saying I want greater protection, merely that Storm wants to have the abilities of the Armor to protect me. That brings up one of my problems with how the Armor operates: Cloud and Star couldn't use the Armor even when they only intended on using to protect the Kicker Compound. Storm was also initially rejected too, but she kinda used some extenuating circumstances to get it to let her to use it. Namely, by telling it that she wanted to protect me, a princess.”
It was a long moment before Wind finally grunted. “Ah.”
“That is ... important to know,” Tornado allowed. “It's something worth discussing.”
Wind sat back in her seat and rested her head on her hoof. “Well, considering my personal stake in the matter...”
Tornado hummed loudly. “The problem with your approach to the matter is that the Armor isn't some multiuse field knife, Princess. It's not quite on par with the Elements of Harmony, but it is equally hard to replace and intended for threats of a similar caliber.” There was a pause before he continued. “That said, Storm's shown she has the aptitude for it and I'm willing to allow her to continue wielding it for the time being.”
Wind nodded. “Naturally, I have every confidence in my own daughter.”
“As do I,” Tornado said.
I smiled at that news. Being able to wear the Armor had been really important to Storm. “That is good to hear.”
Tornado looked at some of his fellow clan elders. “Of course, we will have to debate the issue to confirm that this is the course we’re going to take. We have a lot to talk about. If that's all, Highness, we’d like to start on discussion among ourselves.”
“I understand that,” I told him. “Though before I leave you, there was a third and final thing I wanted to bring up with you...”
A couple weeks later, Storm, Star, Princess Celestia and I were standing on the Kicker Compound practice yard. It had been quite a bit of work, but Celestia and I had finished repairing Shadow’s Armor, and with the repairs done it was time to test the Armor out.
“So how's it feeling, Storm?” I asked.
Storm did some basic stretches while wearing the Armor. “Good. Very good.”
Celestia circles Storm as she examine Storm and the Armor. “The sizing runes are working correctly? Getting them to work just right has always been a bit tricky.”
Storm nodded. “Yes, it is a perfect fit.”
Star smirked as Storm took a couple of practice swings with her wing blades. “Try not to break it again.”
The only dignity that Storm gave the comment was to roll her eyes.
Celestia smiled knowingly, having had her own experience with sisterly teasing. “I know I would appreciate it if you didn't. Sometimes accidents happen, but do be careful.”
“I have no intention of anything happening to the Armor,” Storm assured her.
I pulled out my Shadow’s Armor Performance Checklist. “So then, how about we put the Armor through a performance review? Nothing too strenuous right away, just some basics to make sure it's working right.”
“That sounds prudent, Highness.”
I pointed to some practice dummies standing along the edge of the practice field. “How about you test the blades on those?”
Storm stepped up to one of the dummies and extended her wing blades. They turned red hot and she swung one of the blades. It carved right through the dummy with barely any resistance, hissing as it slashed through the air. The head and shoulder of the dummy fell to the ground, the path the blade had taken burning. Storm looked at the broken dummy and then her wing. “I think we need stronger ones.”
I whistled and took down some notes. “I'll say. Shame something like solid steel practice dummies would be pretty expensive. Still, promising results. So, are you impeded by this darkness spell?”
I cast a spell, and an impenetrable globe of darkness fell over Storm. To make sure she was seeing inside of that I created an illusionary changeling in front of Storm.
“No,” Storm called from without the darkness. “And your changeling illusions do not fool me either, Highness.” Before I could ask her to, she used the Armor’s inherent ability to create light and cancel out the darkness spell.
“Sorry, just had to make sure all of its abilities are working,” I told her. “So want see if the Armor's magic absorbing capacity is working?”
Storm nodded. “Certainly.”
“Dibs!” Star was quick to say, smirking evilly at her sister.
Storm took one glance at her sister and frowned. “You just want an excuse to shoot spells at me.”
“Nooo,” Star announced with maximum sarcasm. “Why would I ever want to do that?”
My smile became a bit more strained at the idea of Storm getting blasted by spells. “Nothing too extreme, please? At least until we make sure the Armor is working right. We did just talk about breaking the Armor, and setting your sister on fire isn't something we really want to be doing.”
Star snorted and waved a dismissive hoof. “Relax, I'll settle for annoying.”
“That should come naturally,” Storm stated.
Star shot her sister a flat look and then hit her with a tracking spell.
I just let them have their moment of sisterly bicker and concentrated on monitoring the results. I knew that it was usually best to stay out of the crossfire between cursing siblings, and it wasn't like this was anything serious to start with.
In any event, Shadow’s Armor easily absorbed the spell cast on its user.with everything seeming to be working just fine, I said, “See if you can cast the absorbed spell, Storm.”
The corner of Storm’s mouth turned up in a grin and fired Star’s spell back at her. It pinged loudly as Star tracked herself, and Star cried out in surprise.
“Excellent, that's working just fine.” I wrote down some notes. “We'll want to see what its limits are eventually, but we can do that over time, and carefully.”
Star frowned in an exaggerated pout. “So ... I don't get to set Skunky on fire?”
“Do you want her tossing fire spell back at you?” I asked.
Star thought that one over for about a whole second. “Good point.” She let out a whimsical sigh. “I suppose if I did set Skunky on fire, I'd never hear the end of it.”
Celestia grinned. “Your mother might have a word with you if you did that.”
“And Storm would bring it up every time she wanted to get on my case.” Star mock-imitated Storm’s voice. “Remember that time you set me on fire? Because I cannot remember the last time I reminded you when you set me on fire. Because you did set me on fire once. Just to remind you.”
Storm let out the sigh of a long suffering older sister and turned her attention back to me. “Well then, Highness, what shall we try next?”
“How about we check if the astral projection illusion working?” I smiled widely. “That was one of the two big changes we made to the Armor, so I’m curious to see how it’s working.”
“Let us find out.” Storm closed her eyes and concentrated on activating the new ability of the Armor.
There was a shimmer in the air next to Storm, and a large pegasus mare wearing identical, antiquated armor slowly took form.
I smiled warmly to the illusion of Shadow Kicker. “Hey Shadow, nice to see you!”
The Spirit of the Armor blinked a couple of time and then looked around her. “Princess Sparkle, descendants.” Her gaze eventually settled on Celestia and she looked up at her. “Commander.”
Celestia smile warmly, though there was a tinge of sadness to that smile. “Hello, old friend.”
Shadow looked between everypony gathered and frowned contemplatively. “It seems this new function of the armor works.”
“Great!” I scribbled some more notes as I confirmed that the illusionary projection was working exactly as intended. “We thought this would be a more convenient way for you to communicate when you want to. At least it seems more practical than entering a mindscape just for a chat. Especially when you can only do that with blood descendants.”
“It is ... interesting to see the world,” Shadow hazarded. “This will take some time to grow accustomed to.”
“I think you will get a fair bit of use out of this,” Celestia said.
Shadow nodded. “I plan to.”
“And now you can do things like make friends with ponies,” I told her. “Isn't that great?”
“I ... had not thought upon making friends.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” I assured her. “But if you need any help you know who to ask.”
Star stepped up to the illusion, a look of keen interest in her eyes. “So, now that they fixed the standards for who can use the armor, could I?”
Shadow shook her head. “At the moment, I suspect your primary reason for wanting to do so is sibling rivalry rather than the good of Equestria.”
Star frowned at that answer. “Bah.”
Celestia placed a hoof on Star’s shoulder. “Sorry, but the Armor still has its greater purpose. Not that you can’t still serve Equestria in your own way.”
“We loosened the standards a bit, but Shadow's still going to decide based on what's best for Equestria,” I told her.
“I am sure you would be perfectly worthy if the circumstances called for it.” The slightest of smirks grew on Storm’s features. “I am just moreso.”
Star rolled her eyes. “Is that the sort of behavior a savior of Equestria should display?”
Shadow looked between the eternally feuding siblings and let out the long-suffering sigh of a parent. “Clearly, upgrading the armor to allow me to experience things like this was a worthwhile use of resources.”
Star flinched at that. “Sorry, Honored Shadow.”
“Don't worry, Lieutenant,” Celestia said. “That's just Shadow's form of humor. I assure you, she is quite happy right now. Even if she might not be showing it in a way your recognize.”
Shadow nodded. “Yes. Despite what my cult would claim, I did have one of those.”
Star grimaced. “Right. Sorry, just adjusting.”
“Of course, descendant.”
“I just need a bit to wrap my head around the idea of honored Shadow being alive and talking to me.” Star’s mood visibly shifted as a big smile found its way to her face. “Just imagine being able to benefit from Honored Shadow's wisdom. There are so many questions the Shadowvaar would like to learn from you.”
Star’s smile proved infectious, for I found myself smiling widely also. “I know, right? I have sooo many questions I want to ask her. Like about everything Shadow experienced during her life.”
Shadow stiffened as her eyes flicked between me and Star. “And precisely how many questions will you ask?”
“Oh, lots and lots. I wrote up a whole list.” I cast a summoning spell to retrieve the large scroll I put all my questions on. “There’s so much we could learn from you.”
Star nodded enthusiastically. “And I would love to discuss the finer points of Cult doctrine when you have a moment.”
For whatever reason, Shadow sighed again.
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For some reason, I suspect Shadow is wishing she stayed broken and uncommunicative.
loved this story sooooooooooooooooooooooooo new middy story either end of this month or early september whitch will be awsome cause my birthday is the 9 17 here i come
Poor Shadow. Though I wonder now that she con project will Pinkie insist Twilight figure out how to make "astral cake" so she can throw Shadow a "you can communicate with the living" party?
Kinda thought there'd be more.
8381878
Seems legit...
This was a fun little story. Though I noticed Twilight said the astral projection was one of TWO major changes to the Armor. I wonder what the second is....
Aww. Hope we see more. And is it my inner shipper or did she almost ask Twilight out?
Minor error celestia got auto corrected a few times to celestial.
8382546
The change of the restrictions
Needs an editing pass. Some cases of Celestia being Celestial. Missing word at one point. "Don't worried Lieutenant" was in there.
Still, great chapter!
8381780
I should be posting another Midnight's Shadow story here before too long. I still need to get a cover art for the story and get the first chapter through the editing process, but it's all a matter of time by this point.
8382602
Well there should be more stories on the way, and I'm currently mulling over a couple of Winningverse stories that I think have some potential and will try and get on top of once I finish a couple of other stories.
8382813
Thanks for catching that, I've fixed that.
8382997
Something always seems to get through the editing process... But that issue is fixed now.
I've noticed the grammar slipped a bit more towards the end - while minor typos, they were still there. Like "Celestial" instead of "Celestia", and so on.
Still, good chapter! The armor is fixed and improved, and Storm got to keep it! Well, at least it seems like it. Some drama avoided, to say the least
Shadow certainly has a lot to look forward to, especially being questioned. Joy!
8382111
Agreed this felt really short.
Certainly a better pick than Cloud.
Woah, so Luna has enough of a connection to what the Avatar got up to during the rebellion that she has memories of it? For some reason I was thinking that was more the Nightmare than Luna herself. I can see her point about the armor, though.
Astral projection Shadow is a go! I look forward to her yelling at everyone who needs to be yelled at.
Oh Twilight.
Decent compromise.
No kidding.
8383206
Since the Avatar was a fragment of Luna/Nightmare Moon, presumably when her body got ashed, the essence that was her returned to Luna.
So I assume that the last thing that Twilight brought up with the Kickers was the Shadow Projection augmentation to the armor? Having never read the stories with Shadow set in the past, it took me a bit to realize that was a fairly big deal, and that she has essentially been "added" to the current-day cast. I gather that hardly any of the Kicker Clan had ever talked to it before.
I liked the story quite a bit, myself. It was, perhaps, even more slice-of-life than I anticipated, as it didn't really build to a big finish or lesson, but was enjoyable all the same. Looking forward to more (and to someone finally confronting the whole Shining Armor/Dinky's parentage thing!)
illusion does not?
Perhaps
Celestia circled Storm as she examined her and the Armor.
Enjoying the story
8383206
8383472
Luna can remember things she did as Nightmare Moon, even if some of it might be fragmentary in nature. But her encounters with Shadow's Armor are something she does remember vividly.
8383475
That is correct.
And I do have plans to do a short story addressing some of the Shining Armor/Dinky thing in the near-ish future. I've got a couple stories I might start before that one, but it's one the shortlist for things I want to cover.
8383685
Thanks for catching those.
8383047
8382111
Well the good news is that I've got more stories in the works. This story was born out of a lot of people asking why Storm Kicker was still wearing Shadow's Armor after I'd finished up The Umbral Shard, so I wrote a short (short for 20,000 words, in any event) story addressing that. It's monofocus and the fact there weren't a lot of bells and whistles to the story probably made it seem pretty short in comparison to other things I've written in the past, admittedly. But I've got some stuff that's a bit more elaborate here in the future, in addition to some short story ideas, so hopefully you'll find something you will like.
8382111
But considering the was the focus there could have been more and the Fkuttershy thing went nowhere.
8383790
Interesting.
Really disappointed to see several dozen punctuation- and grammar-related mistakes across both chapters, but the story was still fairly entertaining.
8698420
The spirit within Shadow’s armor generally goes quiescent whenever the armor isn’t being actively used.
8698493
Ahh. Thank you
Considering the suit was made to take down alicorns, that has some fascinating implications for the future of Equestria's military, and indeed the world at large. Eventually, anyone's natural abilities will be outpaced in an arms race.
In any case, wonderful way to fill in some details and have fun with the characters while doing it. I'm glad I finally read this. Thank you for it.
You know, I for one would be interested in a story that explores how a conversation between Shadow and Luna would go, considering their past.
After actually having read Lunar Rebellion for myself, I've come back to Winning Pony and the other side stories with a much renewed interest in everything to do with Shadow's Armour. The prospect of her still living on in the modern day in some form and regularly interacting with the rest of the cast is an enticing one, and I really hope that later stories have taken advantage of this, because it's a pretty great concept.
9240679
That was always something that kinda bothered me about Warhammer 40K. For as great and powerful and unique as the God Emperor of Mankind is, I find it a little unbelievable that tens of thousands of years after his birth he's still the pinnacle of human evolution, and nothing else like him has ever come about, whether naturally or otherwise. It's the same with the alicorns. Sure, the old immortals who've been around since the dawn of society are naturally going to have an edge over the lesser mortals that come after them, but if they're never surpassed, then it's like the species isn't evolving at all. The natural course is that they are, indeed, eventually outpaced by the march of progress.
I tend to avoid comment on a story more then once except in response to others, but, if you'll allow it, I'd like to offer a quote.
I've been chewing on this the last few days, and I've come to a theory: Now, I can't say why, but I think many people, fans of your and chengars, take the position of this being Twilights naive outlook. But something here... it niggles me.
I don't think they understand themselves, if that makes sense. I'm writing about it myself in my own works, but there seems a sort of blind spot in ponies of this verse. Would I be correct in this, or reading to much into matters?
I agree with Luna on this, the Spirit in the Armor is not Shadow and can make a mistake which considering the power of the Armor is very dangerous(and even if it was Shadow she can still make a mistake). As for letting the Armor be more commonly used Equestria has 4 princesses, Discord(ish he can and did turn traitor) and now Rainbowpower it doesn't need more powerful magic it just needs to stop bad guys from getting that power(because Equestria will inevitably win for reasons above but the damage the bad guy might do may not be reversed (like them killing someone)).
The second feature of the holographic illusion projector Shadow learned that day (to her relief) was how to shut it off.
Never change, Twilight