Storm Of Secrets

by Beware The Carpenter

9 - The Reason For The Year

Shining Armor's bags had been gathered to the library's spare room, Spike and the unicorns had been gathered to the table. Spike looking guiltily apologetic for falling for Pinkie's prank, Twilight, not quite calm yet, waiting anxiously for Shining Armor to start; “Two months before Cadance and I were supposed to marry,” Shining Armor began slowly, “There was a... mistake made by our border security; and a particularly large changeling hive penetrated into Equestria. There's always two queens controlling each hive, the old queen stays with the hive while the young one scouts new targets.

We found them hiding in the lower reaches of the caves beneath Canterlot; when I and some other special forces found them and launched a surprise attack. We managed to kill the old queen, but the army scattered itself into the cave network. Chasing each group through hundreds of miles of dark tunnels would have had a disastrous cost, collapsing the tunnels could have destroyed Canterlot and so instead we pulled back. We knew they wouldn't leave, or do anything drastic without orders from the young queen, and we knew the chances of her being somewhere in Canterlot were almost absolute. If we could guarantee a way to stop her from escaping or communicating with her army, it would only be a matter of time before she was caught, so I did for the first time something I had trained a very long time to do.” Shining Armor leaned back, a small, smug grin settling over his lips; “I began maintaining the shield around Canterlot.”

Twilight took a couple moments to understand what Shining Armor had just said, three more deciding if she believed him, then asked for clarification, “You mean you provide the nucleus for the assembly spell that maintains it?”

“Reflective wards and ley circles placed around the city to help me form and maintain the shields strength; but ultimately, the shield is mine alone. The more people who pour their magic into it, the less accurate it is scanning individuals as they pass in and out of the shield. Celestia thought the only way for it to be accurate enough not to be fooled by a changeling queen would be for it to be maintained by one pony; and I was the best suited candidate.”

Twilight raised her eyebrows as Shining Armor continued; “Maintaining the shield by myself was... draining. I should have let someone else head the search for the young queen, but I kept the position for myself, while Cadance took responsibility for the wedding preparations. Then one night, Princess Luna invited Cadance and I to a meal; supposedly to discuss 'her blessing' for our marriage... and then she killed Cadance in front of me.”

Sarcastic eyebrows hunched over Twilight's eyes, demanding answers; “'Cadance' was the changeling queen we'd been looking for. She'd been hiding for weeks, under my very nose, and I hadn't seen it; even though it should have been obvious she'd try to get to me so she could disable my shield and escape. I failed to protect Cadance from being taken, I failed to notice she was missing, and I failed to rescue her.”

He sighed, hunching over, “Cadance had been injured in the battle to free her, it wasn't serious but she needed time to rest; and after holding the shield by myself for so long, so did I. When I did start to recover however there were some... interesting effects. My MQ had permanently increased by fourteen points.”

Now Twilight's ears perked forwards, reaching over her disbelieving eyebrows. A unicorn's Magic Quota was more or less set by the time they were able to wield any control over it; it could go down due to injury or disease, but it never went up.

Most unicorns didn't have more than a hundred; only about zero point one percent of unicorns had an MQ over four hundred, and were often referred to as ‘alpha unicorns;' (a term that Twilight had always found slightly arrogant, but never unpleasant.) Twilight herself boasted a MQ rating of six hundred and thirty-six; just over half the power of Princess Celestia herself. Shining Armor, in his own body, was slightly higher with six hundred and seventy-eight. But to increase it...

“Balancing the ley energy through the grid of reflective wards resonated with my magic, and my talent. After resting I maintained the shield for another three weeks however, and I didn't increase at all. There were some more tests at The Restricted Archives revealed a rare genetic mutation that could drive my mana well deeper, the longer I maintained the spell, but would reset if I dropped the shield.”

“And so you maintained the shield, by yourself, without stopping, for a year?” finished Twilight quietly, the magnitude of the feat seeming impossible even in hindsight. Shining Armor nodded. “How much did you increase by.”

“I don't know. We won't for a long time, but based on early estimates it's very likely that I've more than doubled.”

“That would make you stronger than Celestia!”

“I know.” said Shining Armor calmly, “Now sit down!” Twilight hadn't realized she was standing; nor had she noticed she was already reaching for her bags and scarf, as if her body was planning on going somewhere right then, and take her along for the ride. “What is the most obvious question to ask right now.”

“How much I could improve my magic with this-”

“No.”

“What could Celestia do if she-”

“Guess again.”

Twilight paused, biting her bottom lip, “...Why haven't you talked to me for a year?”

“Because if you knew what was happening, while it was happening; you would try to do what I have, and you would now be dead.”

“What?”

“I was monitored the entire time I maintained the shield, by a team of researchers who are capable of keeping their curiosity under control. You were not included. It was blind luck that I stumbled upon this, and we are discreetly testing limited samples to see if there is anyone else with the mutation that I have; so far we haven't found anyone, and just because someone can have their magic multiplied, doesn't mean they should.

I ran the numbers to forecast what would happen if you attempted what I did, double and tipple checked by the other researchers and Celestia. By the best possible odds; you would have between a two to three percent chance of increasing your magic by ten to eighty percent, a thirty-six percent chance of losing your magic permanently, and a sixty one percent chance you will kill yourself. I have dramatically increased my magic; you cannot. Also; the assembly I was using has already been dismantled, so you can't go and try to spy it out to to learn how to build one of your own."

“... I wouldn't do that.”

“You're wearing a scarf.”

Twilight looked down at the yellow scarf she'd coiled around her neck without her noticing, “...I'm cold.”

Shining Armor smiled, hanging her scarf back onto its hanger, “Of course you are.”

The two unicorns started at each other for three seconds and then burst out laughing. Both were slightly more anxious than they wanted to appear, both knew the other was trying to hide how anxious they were, and both knew the other saw right through their charade; making the situation funnier the longer they laughed. Spike also laughed; largely out of relief that there was someone else to keep an eye on Twilight to stop her doing anything weird.

“Alright.” grinned Twilight nervously, “Now for a different question; if your own body has just become as powerful as you say, why did you leave it?”

“After maintaining the shield for a month, I was exhausted. After two months a subtle migraine had become a omnipresent companion, and every day it grew worse over the course of the year. Bit by bit I began shutting down, until I couldn't even take care of myself. I took every painkiller and dietary supplement I could, until finally I let go.

I should have been happy that my trial was over, and all I had left to do was wait to get better; but I didn't feel happy, and I didn't get better. When a soldier is recovering from battle wounds, one of the most important factors in his recovery is that he keeps a healthy mindset. But keeping the shield up for so long exhausted me mentally and emotionally as well as physically. I was still in agony and on the edge of a pitch black depression, and if I didn't get my mind right it’s possible I might never recover.

My body was too weak for my mind to find any solace there, and so Celestia opted for taking my mind out of my body. By putting a healthy mind in an exhausted body, and an exhausted mind in a healthy body, she theorized, both could recover in a matter of weeks instead of months. I think the Princess had predicted when I would break and planned ahead, because just four days after I let the shield down, a friend of mine showed up to take my place. I didn't need that much convincing."

“This friend who swapped with you must be a very good friend if he's willing to suffer like you’re describing to help you.”

Shining Armor nodded, his muzzle lowered into a frown “I'm not meant to talk about him.”

“Well, whoever he is thank him for me the next time you see him. Because of him I get to spend time with my brother. How long can you stay? Please say it’s a long time.”

“For a few weeks, or until you get tired of me; I won't impose on you, but the Princess was hoping you would want me to stay here so you could observe me.”

“Observe you?”

“In case there are... unexpected side effects to this body swap.”

“Like what?”

“Body swapping magic is kept highly classified due to the potential security risk it could pose if left unchecked. It’s only been done a few times that I know of, and half of them were by accident. Either way, to my knowledge this is the first time the spell was done with one of the participants as weak as I was. Everything seems to be alright; I mean, I feel great, but the body swap could have unexpected consequences and it might not affect both of us the same way. Celestia wanted someone she trusted and who knew me well, to keep an eye out; you know, in case I go crazy or something.”

“But... what if something terrible has happened and we don't know it yet? What happens if you can't change back?”

“We'll deal with that if it comes to it. In the meantime I'll try not to think about it, the whole point of this vacation is NOT to get stressed.”

“Are you sure you feel OK now? If I'm meant to monitor any changes, I need to know how you feel to start with.”

“Well,” Shining Armor thought, “My ribs hurt whenever I breathe in, and my face feels like it’s been splashed with acid, but compared to what I was feeling yesterday, it's nothing.”

“OK,” Twilight taking out a notepad and listing her brother's symptoms, “What about your magic?”

“With my body, I’m using my friend’s magic instead. If I remember correctly he had a MQ of four hundred and eleven, and a freakish aptitude for teleportation.”

Twilight made some more notes, “What about your mental condition?”

“So far so good. The Princess thinks that as long as I don't get stressed out, I should be fine.”

“Good, remember to tell me the moment anything changes. Promise me if something is wrong I'll be the first to know.”

“Alright.” agreed Shining Armor, “Next question?”

Physical, magical, mental... The next category should logically be emotional; but she wasn't sure how to phrase this, “How does Cadance feel about all this?”

A small bell rang from the library and Spike ran off to investigate; meanwhile Shining Armor had stopped smiling; “...She didn't want me to do it. She was OK with it at first, but as the months wore on and she saw how much pain I was in she wanted me to stop. Celestia assured us both that the damage to my body, and the depression would be temporary, but Cadance kept worrying that something terrible would happen.”

“Did it?”

“No, I already told you that. My fur fell out, my weight dropped, I found all sorts of new aches and pains; but I had a team of physicians monitoring me and nothing broke that can't heal. Cadance asked me a few times to drop the shield before I'd reached me limit; and when I refused she left.” Twilight's eyes widened, “Canterlot.” added Shining Armor quickly, “She left Canterlot; before our wedding Cadance and I bought a house in Fillydelphia to spend our honeymoon in, and use as a holiday house afterwards. She wanted to go there and make sure the house was ready.”

“And you were OK with that?”

“Honestly Twily, I was glad when she left. The weaker I got, the harder it was for me to let her see me like that. I promised I'd come for her in Fillydelphia when I was better.”

Spike came wadling back from the lab with a scrap of paper in his hand, which he seemed to have forgotten, “So all this was so you could become some sort of super-horse with more magic than the princesses... do you really need that much magic.”

“Yes actually, I do. A year ago holding the shield exhausted me enough that I couldn't see Cadance was a changeling. Once I'm back in my own body, and retrain to my new potential, I could be capable of holding up the shield indefinitely, while using other spells, and still regenerate magic faster than the drain. Canterlot will be safer than it's ever been, my duties as Captain will be easier, and I will have delayed marrying Cadance by one year, to have a better lifetime together, for both of us.”

“Alright, alright.” said Spike, holding his claws up in surrender, “Do you want me to send a letter to her so she can visit you here?”

“No.” ordered Shining Armor quickly, “She doesn't know about the body swap, and I don't want her to see me... like this—hiding from pain in another pony’s body.” Spike chewed his lip thoughtfully then started to open his mouth; “Did you finish the test?”

“Oh yea,” mumbled Spike, holding the crumpled paper out for the unicorns to see, “You were right about Pinkie Pie putting something in the cupcakes Twilight and I ate last night; that's why we both fell asleep early.” Twilight facehoofed embarrassingly with one hoof, and slammed the other on the table, “Come on Twilight, it was just a joke; Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.”

“This wasn't just 'a joke'; I could have killed Shining Armor.”

Shining Armor smiled at her from across the table, and ran a hoof through her mane; “It's cute that you think so.”

“I could have!”

“And yet within one minute I still had you disabled and bound, without hurting you in a body I'm still not familar with and an MQ two hundred and sixty-nine points weaker than I'm use to.”

“Sixty-seven.”

“...What?”

“If your new MQ is four-eleven; you've lost two hundred and sixty-seven points from before you began holding up the shield.”

“...You're right.” He admitted, “My mistake.” Twilight grit her teeth, maths was always one of Shining Armor's strong suits, he didn't make mistakes like that; mentally she added a note to her list of his symptoms. Shining Armor sighed, “If you like, we can resume your self-defense classes tomorrow evening so you really can kill the next stallion that breaks into your house in the middle of the night.

“Deal.” agreed Twilight quickly, “And then you can verse me in quizzes on maths, history, chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, robotics, clockworks, astrology, exogeology, gemology, and herpetology.”

“If you're gonna do all of this you should do it in the afternoon,” suggested Spike, “Tomorrow evening is Shining Armor's party.”
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow, “Par....ty?”

“From Pinkie Pie, she throws a welcome party for almost everyone who comes to Ponyville, even if they only plan to stay for a few days.”

“My body swap is meant to be kept secret;” growled Shining Armor standing up anxiously, “It said so in the letter. If Pinkie goes and tells everyone in town what's happened then-”

“Oh don't worry about that.” smiled Spike, “Pinkie already thought about it and so she's going to introduce you to everyone as Twilight’s circus performing, bull fighting, third cousin from Haywaii... she said Twilight agreed.”

Shining Armor's eyes narrowed slightly, looked to Twilight who gave him an apologetic shrug, and then to the clock showing it was past one in the morning. “...I'm going to bed.”

Comments

[Misty Spell]

Shining Armor smiled at her from across the table, and ran a hoof through her mane; “It's cute that you think so.”
“I could have!”
“And yet within one minute I still had you disabled and bound, without hurting you in a body I'm still not familar with and an MQ two hundred and sixty-nine points weaker than I'm use to.”

Not sure if I really like that. Especially since Shining Armor can't do jack diddly on his own in canon.