• Published 13th Apr 2013
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The Marvelous Misadventures of Shining Armor and the CMC - lrft4_san



Shining Armor is accidently turned into a little filly.

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Chapter 4: Here Come the Police Fillies

How did things turn out like this, Shining Armor thought as he sped through the streets of Ponyville with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in a wagon being pulled behind Scootaloo’s little blue scooter. The Crusaders had said that they wanted to try getting their cutie marks as police officers, but he didn’t think they would take it so seriously.

When Shining Armor had woken up that morning, he found a bag on the floor by the table which contained a filly sized police uniform, complete with a polished silver badge, a set of toy hoofcuffs, and hat. What made Shining Armor’s jaw drop when he saw the uniform was the vast number of blue gems that had been sewn into the dark blue fabric.

Along with the uniform, there had been a letter that simply read:

Put this on and meet us at the clubhouse at 9 o’clock.

Mom, Dad, he had thought as he stared at himself in the mirror, fully dressed in the filly police uniform, I remember how proud you were of me when I first wore my cadet uniform for you. He gave a nervous laugh; I wonder what you would think if you saw your son now: a little filly, dressed in a costume, playing at police officer. The more he saw himself in the costume, the less he wanted to leave his room; the pony staring back at him reminded the poor prince of his missing stallionhood. But Twilight had told him that if he didn’t meet the Crusaders, they were just going to come to the library and drag him along with them.

“Better to just play the part of the new filly and go along with their plans,” his little sister had told him, “they might be energetic, but they’re really nice. Who knows, you might actually have fun.”

“Yeah, this is going to be so much fun,” he muttered as he left the library.

And that’s how Shining Armor ended up joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders on patrol, searching for somepony in need of help.

“See anything yet girls?” Scootaloo asked over the buzzing of her rapidly flapping wings that propelled them along.

“Nope,” said Apple Bloom. “Sweetie Belle?”

The little unicorn shook her head

“Nothing yet,” Sweetie Belle said with a pout. “It’s not fair, we finally have a good idea to get our cutie marks, and nopony’s in danger. I mean, where’s all the action?” The unicorn filly sighed as she turned to the newest member of their group. “What about you Gleaming Shield, have you seen anything?”

“Huh, oh, no, I haven’t seen anything yet,” Shining Armor said, although he hadn’t really been looking; instead of searching the streets for ponies in distress, he was busy examining his uniform, trying to keep his thoughts off of the body underneath it. As embarrassed as he was to be wearing filly clothes, he couldn’t help but admire the craftsmanship that went into the costume; it was almost as skillfully done as the official uniforms worn by the Canterlot police.

“Hey Sweetie Belle,” Shining Armor said, his mind temporarily distracted from his filly form, “where did you find these uniforms?”

“Oh, they were in my sister’s costume closet,” Sweetie Belle said, “I think they were from a play that she made costumes for back when she was still a schoolfilly.”

Shining Armor’s jaw dropped for the second time that day. These were made by a schoolfilly, he thought as he reexamined the costume, that’s impossible. Though he would never call himself a fashion expert, he would have thought that something this fine could have only been made by a master seamstress. But then again, this was Rarity’s work; if there was anypony who could have made something this impressive at such a young age, it would have been her.

“I just wish you could have found something a little less girly,” Scootaloo said, examining her own uniform, “These gemstones don’t exactly say ‘intimidating, police force’ do th-”

“Watch the road!” Apple Bloom shouted, directing Scootaloo’s attention back to the front just in time for her to avoid drifting into the side of Sugarcube Corner. Unfortunately, Scootaloo had jerked on her handlebars too harshly, and upset the wagon, dumping its occupants out onto the dirt road.

Scootaloo turned her scooter around to pick up her friends.

“Are you all ok?” She asked over the chorus of groans, as the little ponies lay scattered on the ground. Shining Armor was the first one on his hooves so he began helping the others up.

“You need to be more careful Scootaloo,” he said, “we could have been seriously hurt.”

“Oh it’s alright Gleamin’ Shield,” Apple Bloom said as Shining Armor helped her to her hooves. “We’ve been in worse accidents. I’m just glad we didn’t end up in the stream this time.” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle laughed.

Scootaloo, on the other hoof, did not find it as amusing.

“Well, I’m sorry,” she huffed, “sorry that I’ve been so nice this whole time, pulling you guys around on the back of my scooter. Maybe you’d like to walk inste-”

“Shhh,” Apple Bloom said, putting a hoof to Scootaloo’s lips. “Did ya’ll hear that? Sounds like somepony’s callin’ for help.”

All four ponies put their ears to the wind; sure enough, somewhere at the other end of the street, somepony was crying for help.

“Let’s go girls,” Apple Bloom said. The three ponies hopped back into the wagon and Scootaloo started flapping her wings again, propelling them in the direction the cries were coming from.

“Wee-woo, wee-woo, wee-woo,” Sweetie Belle began singing at the top of her lungs. Shining Armor gave the other unicorn a perplexed look.

“What in Equestria are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m the siren,” she said quite matter-of-factly, “since we’re police fillies, it’s important to let other ponies know to get out of the way so we don’t run them over on our way to fight crime.” Sweetie Belle didn’t wait for Shining Armor to react before resuming her “wee wooing.”

I guess that makes sense, Shining Armor thought as he looked around at the ponies who jumped out of the way with confused looks on their faces, it does seem to be working.

At long last, Scootaloo brought her scooter to a stop in front of small house near the edge of town. Without hesitation, the energetic pegasus jumped from her scooter and charged into the house, followed closely by her fellow Crusaders. The four ponies found themselves standing in a hall where a blonde maned pegasus mare was sitting on her rump, her front hooves covering her face, trying to hold back tears.

“What’s going on in here?” Scootaloo asked as she approached the mare, who jumped when she realized she wasn’t alone.

The mare looked up and smiled weakly at the fillies as they approached.

“Oh hello girls," she said, wiping away her tears. She took a moment to examine the four oddly dressed fillies. "What are you supposed to be today?”

“Police fillies ma’am,” Apple Bloom said, holding her little badge in the mare’s face.

“Oh thank goodness,” the mare said a little more cheerfully, “I need your help.”

“Hi Derpy,” Sweetie Belle said cheerfully as she smiled at the mare. The unicorn filly felt a slight nudge in her side and turned to see Scootaloo giving her a look which she took to mean remember why we’re here, “Oh yeah, uh, what seems to be the problem ma’am?” Sweetie Belle asked, trying her best to sound like a real police pony.

The mare wiped more tears from her eyes. Her eyes; Shining Armor quickly noticed that the two bright yellow orbs were very hard to follow as they looked off in different directions.

One of her eyes finally landed on the unfamiliar pony.

“Who’s your friend, girls?”

“This is Gleamin’ Shield,” Apple Bloom said, “she’s Twilight’s cousin visiting from Canterlot.”

"Nice to meet you Gleaming Shield."

“Pleased to make your acquaintance ma’am.” Shining Armor said as he took a step forward. “Is everything alright here ma’am; we could here screams coming from down the street.”

Derpy shook her head as a new wave of tears began forming.

“It’s just awful,” she said through choked sobs, “I had just finished pouring the batter of my usual batch of breakfast muffins, when I heard a knock on the door. I set the muffin pan down and went to see who it was, and when I came back they were missing,” Derpy started crying again. “Those poor muffins; they didn’t even get a chance to be baked into delicious goodness.”

So this is it, Shining Armor thought, this is what my guardpony skills are good for: finding missing muffins? He may have hated being reduced to such exploits, but he couldn’t help but feel bad for the mare; something inside him wanted to help her. After all, he was never one to turn away somepony asking for help, even if he thought their problem to be a minor one.

“Can you tell us how long they’ve been missing?” He asked, trying to move the interview along.

Derpy wiped her face again and scrunched her nose as she ran through the events in her mind.

“I think it was five, maybe ten minutes ago.” The poor mare’s head sank low and her ears drooped to the side. “Please find my missing muffins; they’re all I have.”

Sweetie Belle sat on the floor next to Derpy and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Awww, it’s ok Derpy,” the unicorn said in an attempt to comfort the mare, “we won’t rest until the culprit’s been brought to justice, right girls?”

“Right,” chimed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo together. All three fillies looked expectantly at Shining Armor.

“Er, right,” he said, nodding his agreement.

“Now where should we start?” Apple Bloom asked her fellow Crusaders.

“We should go out and start rounding up suspects,” said Scootaloo excitedly, “We’ll take them to the station and grill them for information.”

Shining Armor put a hoof to the pegasus filly’s mouth.

“We should probably look for clues before we start arresting random ponies.” Shining Armor thought for a moment. “Why don’t we start looking in the kitchen,” he finally said, “if somepony was in there, then we should find plenty of clues.”

“Good idea Gleamin’ Shield,” said Apple Bloom.

“I guess you’re right,” Scootaloo said, nodding her agreement.

“Well alright.” Apple Bloom waved a hoof to her friends. “Come on Crusaders, let’s go check out that kitchen.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders started for a door, but stopped and looked at the mare.

“Uh, Derpy,” Shining Armor said, “would you lead us to the kitchen please?”

“Of course,” she said with a smile, “follow me.”

The four little ponies trotted along behind Derpy as she led them down the hall, and around a corner until they came to a stop in the entrance of a small kitchen.

Derpy’s kitchen was quite simple; aside from various cupboards drawers, and a few knick-knacks, the only things in the kitchen were an oven and sink against one wall, separated by short counter space, and a small, white refrigerator in the corner. Just above the counter top was a bay window that looked out on the streets of Ponyville. Finally, in the center of the room was a small island that was laden with dirty bowls and measuring cups.

“Sorry about the mess,” Derpy said as she trotted over to the center island, “this whole missing muffins thing has me feeling a bit scatterbrained.”

The walleyed mare made to move the dirty dishes to the sink, but Shining Armor stopped her.

“Wait,” he said, prompting Derpy to stop in place, “don’t touch anything. If somepony really stole your muffins, then they might have left something. If you move something, it’ll ruin any clues that we could use to help find who did this.”

Derpy slowly backed away from the island.

“Sorry,” she said with a sheepish smile. “Why don’t I just go into the other room and let you officers handle everything; you are the professionals after all.”

As Derpy left, the four Crusaders began inspecting the kitchen. Shining Armor had taken it upon himself to lead the investigation by assigning the each pony to start searching a different part of the kitchen. Being the most experienced, he decided to examine the center island while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at the floor Scootaloo checked the counter (which she scaled by building a small pyramid out of her friends, and, with a running jump, launched herself onto the side of counter top, only struggling a little to pull herself the rest of the way up).

Shining Armor had made his own way up to the top of the island (all the while cursing the size of his tiny filly body), and began carefully examining the mess that had been made. Almost every bit of the island’s surface that didn’t have a bowl or measuring implement on it was covered in flour, discarded eggshells, and globs of light brown muffin batter, making it impossible for Shining Armor to walk around without getting some of the mess all over his little legs and hooves.

“I guess we’ll be goin’ then,” said Apple Bloom as the four defeated ponies pulled themselves up off the floor and made their way to the door.

“Oh, let me walk you out then,” Derpy said, setting the half cleaned bowl in the sink. She walked past little ponies and led them back through the house.

The short walk through the hall was a sad one for the Crusaders.

“Well girls it looks like we won’t be getting our cutie marks as police officers,” Sweetie Belle said as she gave a sullen look at her still blank flank.

Maybe it was his brotherly instinct, or maybe his new body had made him more empathetic to the fillies’ plight. Whatever the reason was, Shining Armor hated seeing these ponies upset.

“Hey, it’s alright girls,” he said with a sympathetic smile, “Just because things didn’t work out here doesn’t mean there aren’t other ponies who need our help; we shouldn’t give up just yet.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, her eyes burning with a renewed vigor, “just because this turned out to be a bust, don’t mean we should give up.” The little Earth filly jumped in the air excitedly, her giant pink bow bobbing up and down. “Now let’s get back out there and patrol the streets ‘til we find somepony who needs us and earn our cutie marks.”

That’s more like it, Shining Armor thought, if I’m to be stuck like this for a week, then I’m going to make sure that you three never give up.

“Thanks again officers,” Derpy said as she stopped abruptly. The four little ponies looked up and realized that they were already at the front door.

“You’re welcome Derpy,” Sweetie Belle said with a bright smile, “sorry we couldn’t find your muffins or who stole them.”

“That’s ok Gleaming Shield-”

“Sweetie Belle,” the little unicorn corrected.

Derpy gave a sheepish laugh.

“Oops, sorry. You’re both little white unicorns so I got you mixed up.”

The two unicorns stared at each other and laughed. It was true; other than mane and eye colors, and the fact that Shining Armor’s body was slightly taller and more muscular than Sweetie Belle’s smaller, fluffier form, there wasn’t that much of a difference between the two.

“That’s alright Derpy,” Shining Armor said with smile. He turned to the other Crusaders. “Well girls, we should probably go no-”

Shining Armor stopped talking when a loud ringing sound came from the direction they had just come from.

“Did ya’ll hear that?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah,” said Sweetie Belle, “I wonder what it was.”

All four ponies turned to Derpy who just sat there with a dumbstruck look on her face.

“That sounds important,” she said, suddenly jumping to her hooves and smiling at the Crusaders, “I’ll just go see what it is,” the walleyed mare trotted off into the house. “Coming,” she sang as she disappeared back down the hall.

Derpy flew back into the entryway moments later, carrying a small tray of fresh baked muffins.

“Silly me,” she said, flapping in place, “I must have put them in the oven before seeing who was at the door.”

Shining Armor couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well I guess that solves this mystery,” Shining Armor said, smiling at the other Crusaders. “A job well done Crusaders. Shall we be on our wa-”

“MUFFIN THIEF!” Shouted Sweetie Belle as she pointed an accusing hoof at Derpy. “It was you who stole the muffins!”

“Wh-what?” Derpy sat down on her rump, and stared at the tray of muffins, then back at the Crusaders; she looked like she was ready to cry. “You’re right,” the pegasus mare said as she placed the tray on the floor and slowly held out her hooves, “Arrest me, please, before I steal them again.”

Scootaloo was more than happy to comply, slapping her set of toy hoocuffs on Derpy.

“Get in the wagon ma’am,” Scootaloo said as she started leading Derpy out the door, “we’re gonna take you down to the station.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Shining Armor said, jumping between Scootaloo and the door. “Uh, girls, can I talk to you for a moment?”

He ushered the fillies into a huddle.

“I think we can let her go,” he said in a low whisper so that only they could hear, “I mean, it’s not like she really stole the muffins, she just misplaced them.”

Sweetie Belle stared at the floor.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she said, digging at the floor with a hoof. “I guess I was a little too hasty with my accusation.” She turned to her pegasus friend, “Scootaloo, let her go,”

The orange pegasus nodded and walked over to Derpy and slipped the cuffs off of her hooves.

“You’re free to go ma’am,” Scootaloo said.

Derpy flashed the Crusaders her brightest smile.

“Oh, thank you,” she said. “Is there anything I can do to thank you for all of your hard work?”

“No need for that ma’am,” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head, “just stay out of trouble, ya hear?”

Derpy nodded her head.

“I promise,” she said, “but you were such a big help; I have to give you something in return.”

But we didn’t really do anything, Shining Armor thought.

Derpy looked around the room until one of her eyes landed on the tray of muffins, still warm from the oven. She dug out four of the pastries and gave one to each of the Crusaders.

“Here you go,” she said, “how about some special apple cinnamon ‘thank you’ muffins.”

Shining Armor stared at his muffin hungrily; Twilight had rushed him out of the library so fast that morning that he had forgotten to eat breakfast. He took no time biting into his muffin, and gave a satisfied sigh as the sweet taste of apples and cinnamon mingled together on his taste buds. The mare who made it may have come off as bit odd, but she knew what she was doing when it came to muffins.

“Thank you,” he said as he wiped crumbs from his face, “that was really good.”

Derpy seemed pleased.

“You’re quite welcome. Please feel free to come back anytime; I make muffins every day.” The mare held her head up high, clearly proud of her baked goods.

Shining Armor looked around at the rest of the Crusaders who were just finishing up their own muffins.

“Ready to go girls?” He asked as he started making his way towards the door.

“Yup,” said Apple Bloom, following her new friend out the door with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle close behind.

“Thanks for the muffins Derpy,” Sweetie Belle called from the back of the wagon. “Sorry we thought you were a muffin thief.”

Derpy broke out in a small fit of giggles.

“That’s ok officers, you were just doing your duty.” The gray mare sat in her doorway and waved to the Crusaders who were preparing to take off.

“Bye bye officers,” she called in her cheerful voice, “good luck catching the bad ponies.”

“Thanks Derpy,” Scootaloo said, “we’ll do our best.”

The little pegasus turned to her friends in the back seat. “You girls ready?”

The three little ponies nodded as Scootaloo began beating her wings, propelling the Crusaders back down the street.

It had been a very long day; the Crusaders had spent most of their morning speeding through the streets of Ponyville, looking for wrongdoers, or ponies in distress, but to their disdain, nothing had come of their efforts. At one point they had heard more cries for help, but it had turned out to be Derpy, crying because her muffins had gone missing again. However, upon questioning (and little investigative work on Shining Armor’s behalf), it had turned out that Derpy had eaten the rest of the muffins. The gray mare had felt very embarrassed and apologized for wasting the Crusaders time, even offering to make them another batch of muffins for their efforts, but the little ponies declined and sped off on their way.

Now it was early afternoon and the three ponies riding in the wagon started to feel themselves begin to slow down. The small pegasus driver brought her scooter to a stop and slumped over the handlebars.



“Are you all right Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked, her voice filled with concern for her friend.



Scootaloo slowly turned to her friends and the three little ponies could see that the fur on her face was mated down, drenched with sweat.



“Sorry girls,” the little pegasus panted, “I just need to rest for a bit. No offence Gleaming Shield, but it’s a little harder pulling the wagon with you in it; I’m not used to the extra weight.”



“Oh, uh, sorry,” Shining Armor said, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

Scootaloo gave a tired laugh.



“That’s ok, I just need a few minutes to catch my breath.”



“Why don’t we get somethin’ to drink,” Apple Bloom suggested. “Applejack’s got her apple stand set up just a couple of blocks away; Ah’m sure we could get some juice or somethin’ from her.”



The other little ponies nodded their agreement.



“Do you think you’ll be able to make it Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked.



The pegasus stretched her little wings and gave them a few slow flaps.



“Yeah,” she said, sounding a little more rested. “My wings are a little sore, but I should be able to get us there.” Scootaloo started flapping her wings at full speed again, propelling the Crusaders down the road.



A few sharp turns later, the Crusaders arrived at the town square where several ponies had set up stands selling anything from vegetables, to flowers. They sped through the square, weaving through groups of ponies who voiced their annoyance as they jumped out of the way to avoid being run over, until at last, the scooter came to a stop in front of a large cart brimming with apples, and as many apple related treats a pony could imagine. On the other side of the stand was an orange mare wearing a cowpony hat that rested atop her blonde mane, and flashing a wide smile. Shining Armor quickly recognized the mare as his sister’s friend, and Apple Bloom’s older sister Applejack.



“Well howdy ya’ll,” Applejack said as she walked around the stand to greet her little sister and her friends. “How goes the peace keepin’?”



“Not too good,” Apple Bloom said as she clambered out of the wagon, “I thought that we’d be able to fight some crime or somethin’, you know, catch a robber, thwart an evil scheme, but haven’t found anythin’.”



“Well I can’t imagine you would,” Applejack said with a chuckle, “Ponyville’s one of the most peaceful towns in Equestria; it ain’t likely that anythin’ like that would happen ‘round these parts.” Applejack looked at each of the little ponies and saw their tired faces. “Hey now, no need to look so down. Here, I know just what you need.” Applejack went around to the other side of the apple stand and returned moments later, a tray with four bottles of apple juice, each one with a straw sticking out the top, gripped in her teeth. “How about you four sit down and enjoy some nice refreshin’ apple juice,” the cowpony said after she set the tray down in front of the Crusaders. “Ah’m sure this stuff’ll perk ya’ll right up.”

Each pony took a bottle from the tray and started sipping the sweet juice.

“Wow,” Shining Armor said, “that’s the best apple juice I’ve ever had.”

Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well of course it is, young’un,” the cowpony said rather proudly. “That there’s Apple Family apple juice; made with the finest apples in all of Equestria. Won’t find anything nicer ‘round these parts.”

Apple Bloom suddenly looked up from her drink.

“Oh, sis,” she said, remembering that she forgot to introduce her new friend, “this is our newest member Gleamin’ Shield.”

Applejack beamed at the new addition to her little sister’s group of friends.

“So you’re the filly my little sis was tellin’ me about. Twilight’s little cousin, right?”

“Er, yes ma’am,” Shining Armor said.

“Well ain’t you a pretty little filly.” Applejack looked him up and down, “Huh. Ya know you kinda look like your cousin, Shining Armor.”

Shining Armor nearly choked on his juice.

“Yeah,” he said through a fit of coughs, “I, uh, I get that a lot.”

“Ya’ll must be awful proud of your cousins, what with them becomin’ royalty.”

“Uh…” Shining Armor was trying to think up an answer when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a green and golden blur. He turned his head to see a tall unicorn colt with dark bruises on his face running towards him; it was the same colt that he had saved from being pummeled beyond recognition the day before. The colt came to a sudden stop in front of Shining Armor and stared down at him, his cheeks turning a deep crimson as he tried to catch his breath.

“Hi Snails,” Sweetie Belle said in her friendly singsong voice, “What are you doing here?”

“I-I, uh,” he stammered, not taking his eyes of Shining Armor, “I w-w-wanted to, uh, thank you for saving my life yesterday.”

“Uh, you’re welcome,” Shining Armor said, trying his best to give the colt a friendly smile. Snails didn’t answer, he just stared lazily at Shining Armor, who was growing more uncomfortable by the second. “Uh, my name’s Gleaming Shield. What’s yours?”

The colt’s only response was the increased flushing of his cheeks.

Shining Armor looked to the other Crusaders for help, but they just shrugged their shoulders, clearly feeling just as confused as he was. Shining Armor turned back to the colt who was now sweating profusely.

“Was there something else you wanted?”

Snails gulped and produced something from behind his back in a light yellow aura. It was a bouquet of flowers; the same bouquet that the colt and his friend had carried with him while chasing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon the day before.

“Th-th-these, a-a-a-are-”

“There you are you little thief,” yelled a furious voice from somewhere behind them.

All six ponies looked up to see a mare with a rose-colored mane charging towards them, fire raging in her eyes. Snails, jumped, and, still holding onto the flowers, dashed off, looking for a place to hide.

“Come back here Snails!” Roseluck shouted as she ran by the apple stand, “Bring back those flowers you stole.”

Apple Bloom gasped.

“Did you here that girls,” she said, jumping to her hooves in excitement.

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo, taking her place on her scooter, “Snails is a criminal, and you know what that means?”

I can only guess, Shining Armor thought, not wanting to hear the answer. Riding around with nothing to do had been fine, but now they were actually going to try and catch a thief? The girls had been hard on Derpy when they thought that it was her who had stolen the muffins, Shining Armor could only imagine what they might do if they caught an actual thief, no matter how minor his offence.

“We have to catch him, arrest him, and bring him to justice,” said Sweetie Belle, fixing her little police filly hat.

“Then what are we waiting for,” Apple Bloom said as she hopped into the wagon, Sweetie Belle and Shining Armor following suit, “let’s catch us a criminal.”

Scootaloo kicked her wings into gear and started propelling her scooter in the direction Snails had run as Sweetie Belle started singing her wee-woos again.

“Bye sis,” Apple Bloom called back to Applejack. “Thanks for the juice.”

“Wait you four,” Applejack shouted. But she knew that her words had been lost on the Crusaders as they took off through the town square.

Scootaloo barely had Snails in her sight as she zipped between ponies and different carts and stalls that had been set up throughout the square. The yellow colt had had a good head start, but Scootaloo’s wings were strong, and were quickly closing the gap between the pursuers and their prize. They were going so fast that Shining Armor was barely able to make out the cream colored coat of Roseluck who was still in pursuit of Snails and the stolen bouquet that bobbed in the air behind him as he ran.

They were just outside the town square, beyond the crowds of ponies, when they finally caught up to the running colt.

“Get ready Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said as she began to pull up beside Snails, who glanced over with a terrified look on his face.

Shining Armor had to hold on as the wagon started to jostle; he looked over and saw that Apple Bloom had stood up, and was now poised, ready to jump from the speeding wagon and onto the back of the colt.

“Ready,” the rosy maned filly said. She reached a forehoof to her hip and undid the clasp that held her hoofcuffs, and put them between her teeth.

“Wait,” Shining Armor yelled as he reached to try and pull Apple Bloom back into the cart, but his little hooves grabbed nothing but air.

There was a sudden yelp from behind as Apple Bloom dove on top of Snails and tackled him to the ground. Scootaloo slowed her scooter and brought it around to meet back up with Apple Bloom, who was already cuffing Snails when they reached her.

“Nice going Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said as she gave her friend a high hoof. She then crouched down and glared at the colt. “And what do you have to say for yourself Snails?”

Snails tried to wriggle out from underneath Apple Bloom, but the more he squirmed, the harder the little filly pushed him into the ground.

“Please let me go,” he cried.

“Oh no you don’t,” Apple Bloom said, “you’re under arrest for stealing flowers from Roseluck.”

Shining Armor’s eyes went wide in horror as he watched Apple Bloom shove Snails.

“Apple Bloom,” he exclaimed, “what are you doing?”

Apple Bloom looked up, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

“What do ya mean ‘what am Ah doin’?’ I just caught the criminal.”

“He’s not a criminal, he’s a colt. And what you’re doing is bordering on police brutality.”

The other three Crusaders stared blankly at Shining Armor.

“Police bru-what now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Police brutality. It means to use a lot of force when you don’t need to.” Shining Armor grabbed a hold of Snails’ hoof and helped him out from underneath Apple Bloom. “Are you alright?”

Snails tried to wipe a tear away, but his hooves were still cuffed together.

“Your name’s Snails, right?”

The colt didn’t say anything; he just nodded his head.

“Are you alright Snails?”

Another silent head nod.

“Would you mind telling us why you ran?”

Snails didn’t answer, he just turned his head to hide his flushing cheeks.

“Please Snails; if you don’t tell us why you ran, then we will have to arrest you.”

Snails looked at Shining Armor, horrified; the poor colt didn’t want to go to jail. Slowly, he contorted his face until his horn lit up with a faint yellow glow, which levitated the bouquet that had fallen to the ground after Apple Bloom had tackled him. Snails then clumsily brought the flowers over and let the fall at Shining Armor’s feet.

He stared at the bouquet of flowers; it was his turn to blush.

“A-are these for me?”

Snails’ face flushed a deeper red as he nodded once more.

Shining Armor was quite taken aback; why was a colt whom he had never met before presenting him with flowers. Then it hit him.

“Are these for yesterday?”

Snails took a deep breath.

“I wanted to thank you for saving me,” he finally said. “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were so mean to us.”

“Then why were you chasing after them yesterday?” Shining Armor was very confused.

“It was Snips’ idea,” he leaned in close and whispered, “I think he might have a crush on her or something, and I used to think that Silver Spoon was really funny. But then…” Snails sat back on his rump and covered his mouth with his cuffed hooves; he had been about to say too much. He wanted to run away, but just as he turned around, he found himself face to face with sweating Roseluck.

“I’ve got you, you little thief,” the mare panted as stared down at the terrified colt. “Now give me back my flowers, Snails!”

Sweetie Belle stepped forward and picked up the flowers in her teeth.

“Here they are,” she said, her mouth full of bouquet. She set the flowers in front of the mare, but just as Roseluck was about to pick them up, Snails dove in the way.

“No,” he said, “you can’t have these; these flowers are for, uh…” The colt turned to Shining Armor. “Uh, what was your name again?”

“Gleaming Shield,” he said, “but listen Snails, you need to give those flowers ba-”

“I have money.” Snails dug a hoof into the center of the bouquet, and after a considerable amount of fishing around, withdrew two small gold coins. “I was feeling kinda guilty about taking the flowers yesterday, so I went into my piggy bank and took out enough bits to pay you back.” Tears started to well up in the colt’s eyes. “I’m really sorry Roseluck.”

The mare’s face softened as she accepted the bits.

“Thank you Snails,” she said with a smile, “that was very thoughtful of you.” Roseluck turned her attention to the Crusaders. “Ok girls, I think everything’s been cleared up here; I think you can let him go now.”

Apple Bloom nodded and carefully undid the little hoof cuffs and reattached them to her uniform.

“Alright Snails,” she said,” yer free to go. Just promise to keep out of trouble, ya hear?”

The young colt nodded his head furiously, then picked the bouquet of the ground and trotted over to give it to Shining Armor.

“Here you go, uh, Sheaming Glield,” he said, presenting the bouquet in his forehooves.

“Oh, uh,” Shining Armor frantically looked to the Crusaders for help, but found that they had their hooves in front of their mouths, trying to hide their giggles. He sighed, and held out his forehooves,

“Thank you Snails,” he said, trying his best to force a smile, “they’re, uh, lovely. And please, it’s Gleaming Shield.” Shining Armor grimaced as the bouquet was dropped in his outstretched hooves, but this went unnoticed by the young colt.

Snails smiled, pleased that his task had been accomplished. Then, as if somepony had stuck him with a hot poker, his entire face flushed red, as he leapt into the air and sped back down the road without looking back.

Shining Armor sat on the ground, staring at the flowers dumbstruck.

“Looks like somepony has a crush on the new filly in town,” Sweetie Belle said, nudging Shining Armor in the ribs.

Shining Armor grunted and rolled his eyes; he didn’t want a colt to have a crush on him. In fact, that was the last thing he wanted; it was just one more thing for him to stress over. Relief came, however, when Scootaloo, who didn’t want to talk about mushy stuff like young love, decided to change the subject.

“So girls,” the mini pegasus said, “did we get our cutie marks?”

The Crusaders had been so caught up in the excitement of catching a “criminal” that they had forgotten to check to see if a cutie mark had appeared. Three little heads turned excitedly to check their flanks, and each on elicited a heavy sigh as they saw the empty space where a cutie mark should have been.

“Nope,” said Sweetie Belle, “still blank.” The little unicorn looked over to Shining Armor who had returned to staring at the flowers, trying to devise a plan to avoid Snails for a week. “What about Gleaming Shield? Anything?”

“Huh, what?” Shining Armor snapped out of his thoughts.

“I asked if you got your cutie mark?”



Shining Armor looked at his flank, hoping to see the familiar stars and shield, but groaned when he found that it was blank as well.

“Well Crusaders,” Apple Bloom said in a surprisingly cheerful tone, “at least we tried. Ya’ll wanna pack up for the day?”

Scootaloo looked up at the clock.

“Yeah, my wings are still pretty sore from pulling you three all day.” She messaged the joint where one of her little wings connected to her back. “I think I’m gonna go home and ice them for a bit and then see if Rainbow Dash will give me a quick flying lesson."

“That sounds like fun,” Apple Bloom said, “I’m gonna go home and help Granny Smith make some apple pies.” Apple Bloom looked to the pair of unicorns. “What are you two gonna do?”

“Rarity said that she didn’t have any orders to work on this afternoon so I’m gonna see if she wants to play with me. What about you Gleaming Shield?”

Shining Armor had to think for a moment. He had originally made plans to spend time with Twilight and her friends and take in the sights of Ponyville, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. Other than being dragged along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, he didn’t have anything else to do.

“I’ll probably go back to the library,” he finally said.

The Crusaders all laughed.

“Yer just like Twilight, you know that,” said Apple Bloom.

Shining Armor couldn’t help but laugh with them. Well that’s a first, he thought, the only times I’ve ever been compared to Twily was when I was told how unlike her I was. He was never the reader his little sister had always been, but he enjoyed a good book every now and again, and right now, reading was better than just sitting around waiting for Twilight to finish translating her spell.

After stretching her wings one more time, Scootaloo hoped on her scooter, motioning to her friends to join her.

“Come on girls,” she said, “I’ll take you all home."

The three little ponies gladly hoped in the back of the wagon, still feeling tired from the morning’s events.

It wasn’t long before the scooter came to a stop in front of Golden Oaks Library. Shining Armor clambered out of the wagon and headed for the door.

“Good bye girls,” he said, trying his best to smile, “today was really…exciting.”

“Just wait ‘til you see what we’ve got in store for tomorrow.”

Shining Armor felt his muscles tense up a bit.

“What’s going on tomorrow? Treasure hunting? Alligator wrestling?”

The girls laughed.

“Don’t be silly Gleaming Shield,” Sweetie Belle said, “tomorrow’s Monday; we have to go to school.”

“We were hopin’ that you might come with as our special guest,” added Apple Bloom “Ah’m sure everyone would want to meet you, and Ah’m sure Ms. Cheerilee won’t mind.”

Shining Armor was taken aback.

“So just school” he said, “you, I mean, we won’t be crusading tomorrow?”

“Well, we might in the afternoon if we aren’t too busy with homework or something.”

“I guess that’ll be ok,” Shining Armor said after mulling the idea of going to school over. “I mean, it beats sitting around the library all day.”

The fillies smiled and gave each other a high hoof.

“Well alright then,” said Apple Bloom excitedly. “We’ll be here bright an’ early to pick you up.”

“Sounds good.”

Shining Armor had a hoof on the library door, when Sweetie Belle called out to him.

“Hey Gleaming Shield don’t forget your flowers.”

Shining Armor winced as he remembered the bouquet that he had tried to abandon in the wagon. He turned around just in time to see the bundle of flowers being tossed at him. Luckily his guard training had enhanced his reflexes, so he was able to catch the bouquet with his forehooves instead of with his face.

“Thanks Sweetie Belle,” he said with a forced smile. Without a second glance at the Crusaders, he placed the flowers between his teeth and disappeared into the library.

Twilight was still in the middle of translating the spell when her brother came home. She had been up since the crack of dawn, reading through her books, and was starting to nod off, so when she heard the library door open, she jumped almost a foot off the ground with a loud shriek. The little alicorn jerked her head around and stared, feeling very confused, as her brother trudged into the room, still dressed in his police filly uniform and carrying a small bouquet of flowers.

“Hey there B.B.B.F.F.,” she said, trying to stifle a smile as her brother sat on the floor beside her, “did you have a good day?”

Shining Armor placed the flowers on the floor and looked up at his sister.

“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure,” he sighed.

Twilight was very confused.

“What do you mean you’re not sure?”

“Well, I’m not. I know that I’m still not ok with the situation I’m in, far from it, and Celestia knows those little fillies will probably be the death of me, but there was something about spending time with them that I kinda liked. I can’t quite put my hoof on it, but seeing how passionate they are about finding their special talents really touched me.” He couldn’t help but laugh. “There was a moment today when they looked like they were ready to give up. And you know what, it killed me to see them so defeated. So I encouraged them; I told them that even if things didn’t work out, they should never give up. It made me so happy to see them smile as they got back on their hooves and back to Crusading.”

Shining Armor got off the floor, stretched his legs, and headed for the stairs.

“I’m kinda tired so I’m gonna go lie down for a bit; maybe read a book.”

Twilight watched as her brother ascended the stairs. She found it rather sweet that her brother had taken a liking to the crusaders. It seemed that spending time with those girls might just prepare her older brother for when he and Cadence had foals of their own. Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she turned back to her books, and continued her venture into translating her text.

Unfortunately for Twilight, just as she was getting into a steady pace, she heard a knock on the door. The young alicorn grumbled unhappily as she got up from the table and stormed to the front door. She was ready give whoever it was a stern talking to, but her face softened as she opened the door and saw a blonde maned pegasus mare wearing a mailpony’s uniform and holding a letter in her hoof.

“I have a letter here for a Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Derpy said with a bubbly smile.

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle as the mare gave her the letter with a polite bow.

“Thank you Derpy.”

The mailmare bowed again before turning around and flying back into town.

Twilight tore open the envelope and felt her heart drop as she unfolded the piece of paper. The first thing she noticed wasn’t what was written on the paper, but the penmanship it was written in; the smooth, curved letters were very familiar to Twilight because the pony who wrote them had also helped her practice her own writing when she was just a filly. The letter had come from her former foalsitter and wife of the Stallion who was currently trapped in a filly’s body and was now lying in bed, reading a book. Twilight quickly stuffed Cadence’s letter back into it’s envelope and scurried back into the library where she sat back at her table and started frantically pouring through her books again. There wasn’t any time to waste, she had to finish translating the spell and change her brother back to normal as quickly as possible; Cadence was coming to Ponyville.

Author's Note:

The first part of this chapter (more specifically the scene with Derpy) was partly inspired by the Adventure Time episode Apple Thief