> Shining Armour's cutie mark
>  by The PatioHeater
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Shields and stars
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadance was knelt by the side of the bath, lovingly washing her son, gently moving a soapy sponge over his back by hoof, not wanting to use magic.
She wore a smile under her tired eyes, one which only grew as her son listened on the edge of his seat to the elder colt’s, in other words Shining Armour, recount of how he gained his cutie mark.
The various gasps and splashed of water that came from the excited, smaller colt meant it must have been a riveting tale, but she wasn’t paying any attention. It wasn’t until a large amount of water was thrown in her face did she come back from wherever her mind had taken her.
“And then a beam from the ceiling came crashing down,” Shining said excitedly, mimicking the action with his hoof hitting his other.
His son, who was being bathed by Cadance, looked up with terror in his eyes and his mouth hanging open.
“It nearly crushed me!” Shining continued enthusiastically. “But I avoided it. I rolled through the doorway just in time.” His hoof still pretended to do the actions. “It didn’t even clip my tail.
The colt in the bath changed to a broad, impressed smile instead of his look of horror.
“The smoke was growing thicker, and it was becoming harder to breathe,” Shining side with great urgency, clearly the excitement of his story was getting to him just as much as it was to his son.
The son gasped loudly.
“I needed to find my parents, and fast!”
The colt in the bath looked up at the colt above him, nodding his head slightly as he so wished for his father to continue.
“I knew the house wasn’t going to survive in this fire for much longer. ‘MUM! DAD!’ I yelled as loud as I could, but the smoke made it too hard to.”
Panic washed over the son’s face. He couldn’t think of a way out of this.
“But then,” Shining continued with a confident smile. “I heard my mother cough loudly, and I knew where she was.”
Relief briefly flickered across the colt’s face, but it became serious and urgent once again once he remembered his grandparents were still in danger.
“So I charged through the house, avoiding the pieces of wall that were falling in. The fire made it unbearable hot, I was certain the house was going to fall down at any moment. But I found my mother cowering in the living room. My Dad was there as well, but he had been knocked out after a burning beam hit him on the head.”
The colt’s breath became shaky with fear and his eyes went wide with horror. He knew they made it out alive, but there was no foreseeable way.
“I charged in there. A beam tried to block me off from them, but I managed to jump over it, skilfully avoiding the flames that tried to singe my fur. I landed next to my parents. They were all singed and blackened with smoke.
“I felt something hit my face, so I looked up. It was rubble that came from the hole in the roof that had formed!”
The colt gasped and recoiled slightly, splashing yet more water onto his mother.
Cadance shook her head and dragged the colt through the water so she could continue bathing him.
She scooped some water up in her hoof and rinsed her son of the foam. She grabbed a bottle of shampoo and squirted a little onto her hoof before starting to wash his mane.
“I knew I had to do something,” Shining continued dramatically. “I could see the largest roof beam, the one right at the top, creaking and slipping. It was only a matter of time.”
The colt had lost all hope; there was no possible way out of it alive.
“As I heard a crack of burning wood, my mind reeled with all the possibilities of what to do, or what would be useful. I knew the beam was too heavy to catch with my magic, so I thought there was nothing I could do. But then,” he said intriguingly.
His son lit up, clearly excited to her how he saved everypony.
“But then, I had the crazy idea of a force field. And so I lifted my horn in the air and then it began to glow brighter than I ever saw it before.”
His horn glowed along with his words.
The damp colt looked up. His smile grew wider by the second as he stared at the glowing horn. He knew the feat of magic would be nothing less than awesome.
Cadance, confused by the sudden increase in light, looked to her side and saw how brightly her husband’s horn was glowing.
“Shining?” she asked nervously, feeling a little nervous.
Shining didn’t hear her.
His eyes were wide as he reached the epic conclusion to his story.
“And then, and then… BOOM!” he shouted, throwing his hooves to his side to emphasise his point, although this action was made redundant as he accidentally produced a repulsion field, slamming his poor, unsuspecting wife into the bathroom door.
The colt looked around in complete awe at the translucent, pink sphere of magic.
“I created a force field, sheltering me and my parents in magic. And as the house fell down around us, the rubble just hit the shield and rolled down the sides, leaving us perfectly safe from harm.”
He lifted himself up onto his back legs, striking a dramatic pose. “And that’s when this baby appeared,” he said he said with such a great sense of arrogance it almost sounded fake.
“That’s so cool, Daddy!” the colt shouted excitedly.
“AHEM!” Cadance coughed loudly. She was still being crushed between the bathroom door and a wall of magic.
Shining smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry," he apologised quietly as he reabsorbed the force field.
Cadance fell to the floor, but she quickly righted herself. She trotted back over to the bath and fell to her haunches.
She tapped her nose with a hoof, and winced painfully.
“I think it’s broken,” she said with very little panic, she was more annoyed by it than anything.
“Sorry,” Shining said once again. He took Cadance by her shoulders, bringing her to face him.
The colt in the bath stuck his tongue out, pulling a disgusted face, as his father kissed his mother’s nose better.
Shining looked at his wife for a split second with a smug gleam in his eye for the romantic gesture, but then Cadance recoiled and covered her nose with her hooves, her eyes were streaming with tears. She screamed quietly with the pain.
Shining no longer looked smug.
“Okay, that’s definitely broken,” Shining informed them all. “I can fix it, just hold still.”
His horn glowed gently with a healing spell, and he stroked the tip along the top of her nose, from between her eyes to the tip.
Cadance sneezed once her husband finished.
“That was tingly,” she said largely to herself. She shook her head. “Right, let’s finish washing you,” she told her son. 
“That was awesome!” the colt cheered, throwing his hooves up in a celebratory manner, splashing yet more water everywhere.
“Thanks, kid,” Shining said, trying hard to resist the temptation to ruffle his purple-blue mane as his wife was washing it. He resorted to ruffling Cadance's instead, which she didn't really mind. 
“But where was Twilight?” the colt asked with a little sadness in his voice. 
“She wasn't born yet. It was a few years before then. I was about… eight-ish.”
Something twanged in the back of Cadance’s mind, but she couldn’t put her hoof on what it was. She could tell it was going to annoy her.
“Cover your eyes, Sweetie,” she instructed her son before filling a jug with warm water to rinse his mane.
The colt took a deep breath, puffing his cheeks out, and shut his eyes tight.
Cadance carefully rinsed and stroked the remaining bubbles off her child's body, making sure he was completely clean.
Once satisfied, she took her son from the bath and placed him on the mat, where he vigorously shook most of the water off of his coat and placing it on his parents' coats in the process. Neither of them really minded.
Shining pulled the plug from the bath with a smug motion.
“See? I told you I’d help.”
Cadance smiled and shook her head as she began to dry their son with a soft towel.

The colt escaped from his mother’s grasp briefly, charging for the closed door, giggling all the way.
“No you don’t,” Cadance said playfully. She reached forward and grabbed his back hoof before gently dragging him back to the bath mat.
“You can’t go just yet, you little fur ball,” Cadance said as she ruffled his fluffy coat.
The colt still giggled.
Cadance floated a small brush from the windowsill.
As soon as the small, fluffy foal saw it, all mirth was lost from his eyes. He gave the brush an evil stare.
Cadance chuckled. “We can’t let you go to bed with a rough coat now, can we?”
“Yes,” he replied flatly.
“Come on, kid,” Shining encouraged. “It won’t take long.”
“Hmph,” The colt huffed, and folded his forelegs grumpily. He knew he couldn’t argue, and he didn’t want to go against his father’s word.
“Good boy,” Cadance said a little condescendingly, which she didn’t like. “Now hold still and it will be over in less than a minute.”
Cadance was true to her word, and half a minute later, her son’s coat was nice and smooth.
The short colt saw an opportunity and fled from the scene. He pulled the door open with as much magic as he could muster and galloped to his bedroom a little way down the hall.
“Wait!” Cadance pleaded after him, holding the brush in the air in front of her. “What about your mane?”
Shining placed a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. He smiled and shook his head.
“Leave him,” he said quietly. “He’s been through enough.”
Cadance laughed slightly.
“Are you going to tuck him in or do I have to do that as well?” she asked with a hint of malice in her voice, which was entirely fake.
“No, I think I can do that part,” Shining said confidently, puffing out his chest. “Wish me luck.”
He stepped out of the bathroom, with his head held sarcastically high, as if walking to his possible doom.
Cadance shook her head and stood up with a small groan from the effort it took.
“I'm getting old,” she muttered to herself as she inspecting her achy knees.

Shining walked into his son’s room and flicked on the small lamp on the bedside table, bathing the room in a gentle, yellow glow.
The colt was sat on his bed, bouncing excitedly for reasons he couldn’t explain.
“C’mon,” Shining said in his calm voice. “It’s time for bed.”
“But I don’t want to go to bed!” The colt cheered in protest.
Shining frowned at him. “It’s way past your bedtime, me telling you how I got my cutie mark took far longer than I thought. And you’ve got school tomorrow.”
The colt frowned and stopped bouncing.
“But,” Shining said intriguingly.
The colt perked up and looked straight at his father with hope in his eyes.
“First you have to clean your room.” Shining smiled deviously, feeling strangely proud for tricking his son like that. He pushed a toy across the carpet with a hoof, wondering what it was, for it had wheels everywhere and some antennas.
Instead of moaning, like Shining expected, the colt on the bed lit up further.
“OO! OO!” he said excitedly. “Watch this!”
He shut his eyes as tightly as he could and channelled all his energy to small horn.
It soon glowed with an oddly purple aura, similar to his Aunt’s, which then spread to all of the assorted toys strewn about the floor.
His possessions lifted into the air and began to drift over towards a large chest in the corner of the room.
Shining watched in mild awe. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t do, but for his two year old son to lift so much at once was impressive to say the least.
A small moment had past. The colt lost his concentration and his magic faltered, causing half of his toys that hadn’t made it to the chest yet to plummet to the floor.
The colt sat on his bed, chest heaving with heavy breaths, completely exhausted.
Shining smiled at him.
“That was pretty impressive, Squirt,” Shining said affectionately. “I’ll help you with the rest.”
Shining lit his horn and levitated the rest of the toys into the chest with ease, although he pretended to struggle by taking his time.
He went to his son’s side and leant on the bed.
“I remember Twilight was only about your age when she first got the hang of levitation, so you’re definitely on your way to becoming a master of magic.”
The colt yawned his thanks to his father. He swayed dangerously, almost falling asleep.
“I guess that tired you out a bit,” Shining teased, nudging his son playfully. “C’mon, let’s get you to bed.”
The colt nodded this time and laid down on his bed, resting his head on the pillow and shutting his eyes.
Shining pulled the blanket over his son and tucked the edges in to keep him warm on the cold November night.
He leant down and kissed the colt’s forehead.
The small child instinctively wiped it off.
Shining chuckled and stood from the bed. He headed out of the door and flicked he lamp off once he passed through the doorway, but it instantly turned back on.
He spun round to face his son.
The colt was sat up again, rubbing his eyes. “Where’s Captain?” he asked wearily.
Shining couldn’t help but smile at the fact his son named his favourite cuddly toy after his rank.
He quickly performed a summoning charm and the toy zoomed from the toy chest and hovered in front of his face.
It was a white Pegasus stallion dressed in Royal Guard armour, complete with helmet.
Shining admired it for a second; it was by far his best work. He had the uncanny ability to create plush toys. Starting with Twilight’s crudely made Smarty Pants doll, he had improved greatly and managed to create a scale stallion toy for his son, and once a miniature filly Celestia for Princess Luna, which he found was a rather odd request.
He swore never to tell his son about his secret life as a skilled seamstress.
He floated the toy over to his son.
The colt took it and hugged it tightly as he lay back down.
Shining quickly long-range tucked him in again with a little magic and turned the lights off.
The colt soon fell fast asleep, and Shining left him to it.

Shining gently closed the door to his son’s room and headed to his own, where his loving wife was waiting for him, reclined on the bed.
He yawned loudly instead of greeting her, but it did the trick.
“I agree,” Cadance said as she yawned too.
She rolled off the bed, regretting it immediately, and pulled back the covers.
They both climbed into it slowly, their movements severely slowed by their tiredness.
They rolled over and took hold of each other out of habit now.
They hugged as Shining pulled the blanket over them and Cadance turned the lights off, both with magic.
Cadance lifted her head and planted a kiss on Shining’s lips, and he responded in kind.
“Good night, Shiny,” Cadance yawned.
“G’night, Caddy,” Shining replied with a slight smile on his face.
“Don’t call me that,” Cadance muttered, barely audibly.
Shining smirked.
They remained in each others’ loving embrace, warming each other on such a cold night.
It wasn’t long before they joined their son in the Land of Nod.







Shining did, anyway.
As usual when trying to sleep, Cadance’s mind wouldn’t allow such luxuries. It was almost too much to bear after what seemed like hours of sleeplessness.
She was about to give up and get a glass of warm milk to help her, but then a thought struck her like her father did when he struck the Ponies he fought as a professional boxer.
“That’s it!” she whispered quietly yet enthusiastically.
She nudged her husband in the ribs, but her tired leg was uncontrollable so it was harder than she intended.
Shining woke up with a start, taking in a sharp breath and wincing. “What?” he whispered angrily.
“How did you get your cutie mark?” she asked, not even bothering to whisper anymore.
“What?” he asked irritably. “I just spent ages telling it out son.”
“But, I noticed something strange about your story,” she said with a childish gleam in her eye, poking her husband’s nose.
“Oh? What’s that?” he asked sarcastically, hoping she would get the hint and let him sleep.
“Well,” she started as she pushed herself into a position so she could face him properly. “I’ve noticed some continuity errors in your stories.”
“W-what?” Shining replied nervously.
“I never noticed until now, but all of your stories are wildly different from each other. Let’s review, shall we?”
She didn’t let her husband respond. She sat up and turned the lights on, burning their eyes form their sockets.
After some extensive blinking, Cadance thought back to her husband’s stories which he had told over the years.
Shining sat up with her, facing her. He rubbed his weary eyes and yawned.
“What?” he asked. “Can we not just sleep?”
“Nope,” Cadance said simply. “It’s going to bother me. Let’s see.”
She tapped her chin with thought.
“Oh yeah! Remember what you told those stallions at the bar on our honeymoon? I know that can’t be true.”
Shining sighed. “I hated those guys. Of course it’s not,” he said irritably, as if the memory angered him.
“Good. What did you tell them again?”
“I said that I save a woman from being mugged,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“And then you had sex,” Cadance teased.
“They added that part,” Shining said sternly. “That’s why I hated them. They were so vulgar.”
“I know,” Cadance said moodily, looking away with disgust. “And I hated what you told them for how we met. I like our story.”
“Same here,” Shining insisted. “But I had to tell them we met in a supermarket. You know what they would have said if I said you were my little sister’s foalsitter. They would have been like; Oh, I bet you had lots of… sex with her didn’t you,” he said in his most gruff, sexist voice possible.
Cadance laughed. “I love it when you try to be all macho like that. You’re terrible at it!”
“I know. I hate it. It feels so… wrong!”
“I'm glad my husband’s such a sissy,” Cadance teased as she wobbled his cheeks.
Shining gave her a contemptuous look. “Yeah. It’s not like I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard or anything.”
“I think we’re getting off target here. Do you remember what you told me about your cutie mark when I first met you?” She had a judgemental look in her eyes.
Shining smiled awkwardly and looked away. “How could I forget.”
“What was it again? Remind me,” she asked with a devious smile, waiting for her husband to recount something embarrassing.
Shining sighed and shut his eyes. “I beat up the guys who broke into our house one night and got my cutie mark for protecting my family,” he said exhaustedly.
“What? Is that it?” Cadance said irritably. “Because I seem to recall the level of detail in the savagery of your beatings. How many broken bones? What about all the blood? The shattered horns?” She shuddered at the thought of that last point. “And let’s not forget bones poking through the legs.”
Her leg suddenly felt uncomfortable with the thought.
“You do know I was just trying to impress you?” he asked hopefully, his cheeks burning red.
“I know that, but if I'm honest that just put me off you. I kinda liked you when I first saw you pick Twilight up from my house that one time,” Cadance said with a small giggle. “I hoped you would, y’know, ask me out, or something,” she said casually, blushing and tossing her mane back. “But then that story happened and so it took us almost fifteen years instead.”
“Damn,” Shining complained facetiously. He didn’t really care how long it took, he was just glad of the outcome.
“Now come on. Tell me your real cutie mark story,” Cadance insisted.
Shining sighed and his face twisted as he considered it.
“Fine,” he said calmly with a hint of regret. “Come over here.” He gestured for his wife to move over to him.
Cadance did so happily.
Shining took her and hugged her.
They laid down together. Shining held her as she rested on his chest, holding her hoof with his free one.
“This is going to be sappy, isn’t it?” Cadance asked, smiling up at him hopefully.
“Excuse me?” Shining asked incredulously.
“Why would be in this lovey-dovey position if it was going to be all cool and action-y?”
Shining mentally sighed. “You’re right, it is a bit. That’s why only me, Twilight, my parents and for some reason the guy in who runs the Canterlot Library know. Anyway, are you comfy?”
Cadance rearranged herself slightly. “Yep.”
“Good. Alright. I was twelve…





Shining and his father walked through the sterile halls of the hospital, the clean smells of which burned in their nostrils. There was some noise, preventing it from being eerie, as hospitals can so easily accomplish.
Shining had just been picked up from school, and he was buzzing.
The father just walked alongside him wearing a tired smile. His eyes were heavy, for it had been an eventful day, and he was exhausted physically, mentally and chemically.
“C’mon, Dad, tell me!” Shining demanded, looking up at the weary Unicorn.
Dad chuckled. “No,” he replied in an infuriating tone.
“Oh why not?” Shining moaned.
“Because it’s fun to annoy you.”
“Oh, come on,” Shining whined. “Just tell me!”
“No.”
“Tell me!”
“No.”
Dad laughed again.
“C’mon, it’ll be easy, just one word. Brother? Or Sister?”
Shining stared at his father’s face to see any small tells to give away the answer. Unfortunately for him, his father was adept at poker, so he knew his own tells, and so twitched identically with each suggestion.
Shining growled quietly.
Dad just laughed again.
“Just tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me,” Shining began to sing over and over again, bouncing with each step on each note.
Dad roughly ruffled his son’s mane in an attempt to make him stop singing, which worked.
“Why do you want to know what he is so bad? You’re still going to be her brother.” He smiled broadly, watching his son intently, waiting for the moment his sentence sunk in.
Shining took a couple of seconds to process the words of his father, but when he did, he scowled like it was going out of fashion.
“Damn you,” he muttered moodily.
“Language, boy,” Dad said in an overly pompous fashion, for he didn’t really care.
“Besides, we’re here now,” he said as they stopped in front of a door, raising his hoof in a dramatic fashion to point at it.
Shining went silent. He stared at the door, his face a picture of excitement.
Dad smiled fondly at him. He loved how excited he was about having a younger brother or sister.
Shining looked back to his father for confirmation.
Dad nodded once and pushed the door open, just to help just son to actually venture into the room.
The two Unicorns stepped through the open doorway and into the room.
It was partially lit by the fluorescent lights on the ceiling, bathing the room in a strange, pale glow. It was rather dark as well, it seemed that most of the light was centred above the bed, illuminating the mother.
Shining took another tentative step forward, craning his neck so he could see his new, younger sibling.
His tired, scruffy looking mother looked up and saw him. “Hey,” she whispered, both from tiredness and for not wanting to disturb her newborn child.
Shining took another step forward, his father close to his side. He looked over the mound of blanket at the hoof of the bed. He saw a small, purple blob, but he couldn’t make out any further details as his mind realised what the blob was doing to his mother.
Both of the male Unicorns made disgusted faces, filled with shock, and recoiled. With nowhere else to look they turned around and faced the wall.
The mother chuckled quietly. “C’mon, you two. It’s perfectly natural,” she said with a cheerful tone.
“But, Mum, it’s weird,” Shining replied quietly, shuddering slightly with the idea.
“What about you?” the mother asked Dad. “You’ve seen this before!”
“But that was over eleven years ago,” Dad replied with an innocent tone. “It takes some getting used to.”
Mum shook her head and smiled. She looked down at the small, purple Pony taking its fill of nutritious milk. It pulled away with a small pop and yawned quietly, showing off her toothless mouth.
Mum stroked her underside, wiping away any sign that anything happened. “See? She’s finished now,” she told the two cowering colts.
Shining perked up and spun around to face his mother, his eyes brimming with excitement.
“She? It’s a girl?” he asked, his voice shaking.
Mum frowned and turned to her husband. “Wait. You didn’t tell him?”
“I thought it would make a nice surprise,” Dad said caringly. “Plus, it was pretty fun annoying him.”
“I have a sister?” Shining interjected. He walked to his mother’s side.
Mum rearranged herself on the bed so she was sitting and picked up the small, yawning filly.
Shining stared at his purple little sister; his smile grew with each passing second. He felt like his heart had exploded she looked up at him with her big, purple eyes.
“Can I hold her?” he asked his mother, not taking his eyes of the filly.
Mum nodded and carefully lifted the newborn filly to her son. “Watch her head,” she instructed.
Shining nodded and took his sister, resting her in his foreleg.
The filly lay on her back and watched this mysterious, white colt
He looked around him and saw a chair behind him, perfect for sitting in. He backed up and gently sat down, being careful not to move too fast as to not hurt his sister.
He looked at her for ages, staring into her purple eyes. He wasn’t even thinking about how weird it is that a baby’s eyes are entirely one colour, which he had thought about a lot in the past few months.
Dad approached his wife and kissed her forehead.
“How are you feeling, honey?” he asked caringly with a hoof on her shoulder.
“Very tired,” she replied with a yawn.
“What’s her name?” Shining interrupted after finally breaking eye contact with his sister.
“We were thinking of calling her Twilight Sparkle,” Mum said to him. “What do you think?”
She didn’t really need his input, for she had her heart set on the name.
Shining looked back down at his sister, who apparently hadn’t stopped looking at him.
“Hey, Twilight Sparkle,” he whispered to her, smiling all the while.
Twilight’s brow furrowed slightly. She seemed to be judging him.
“I'm your big brother, Shining Armour, but you can call me Shining.”
Twilight continued her unrelenting stare.
Dad nudged his wife, getting her attention, and then gestured towards their son. Both began to watch intently.
“But what can I call you?” Shining asked.
Twilight pulled a face as if to say, “You idiot, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”
Shining chuckled at her expression slightly. “Twilight Sparkle is far too long.”
Twilight relaxed her face as she agreed with his sound logic, returning to the curious wonderment that most newborns tend to have in their eyes.
“How about I just call you Twilight?” he asked her.
The small Unicorn appeared not to like it, as was determined by a small frown curling on the ends of her mouth.
“Okay, okay. Not Twilight. What about Twi?”
The filly seemed angered by this suggestion.
“Definitely not Twi, then,” Shining said quickly to calm the angry Unicorn. “How about…” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “How about Twiley?”
Twilight seemed pleased by this, according to her showing her brother her gums.
Shining smiled at her. “I'm glad we’ve sort that out, Twiley.”
Twilight winced, bracing for impact, as Shining’s head came ever closer to hers. Her eyes shut tight as Shining pressed his lips in the gap between her large, purple eyes and her small, purple horn, giving her a brotherly kiss.
She decided she enjoyed that act performed by the strange white colt who told her to call him Shining, so she smiled at him.
She could tell Shining enjoyed it too, for he picked her up and held her tightly in a way she approved greatly of, so she tried her hardest to replicate it for him by wrapping her little forelegs around his neck, not even reaching his mane.
Shining began stroking the back of Twilight’s head.
The filly nuzzled his shoulder and got more comfortable.
Shining knew he had to say something at that moment in time, something that would have a profound effect on at least one of the lives, so he just let his brain spill out any words it wanted.
“I will always be by your side, Twiley, through everything you do. I will always be there for you whenever you need me. And I will always protect you.”
Mum and Dad, slightly moved by her son’s words, almost missed the shield and star appear on his flank.




“So, yeah, that’s how I got my cutie mark,” Shining concluded with a smile on his face and a blush on his cheeks.
Cadance’s reaction was not as the stallion expected. He half expected her to smush his cheeks and call him a sarcastically, sickeningly cute sentiment. Instead she frowned at him.
“That’s preposterous,” she stated simply but with a hint of annoyance within her tone.
“What?”
“C’mon, I knew it was going to be as epic as saving your parents from a burning house like you told our son, but that was ridiculous.”
“So now you know why I never told you the truth before.”
“But why did you get it from that?! Sure, it was sweet and all, but it makes no sense.”
“I know, I was confused for ages, but you know how much I love her, and when Twilight got hers she managed to explain it.”
“Go on then,” Cadance demanded.
“Well, err… I’ve always wanted to be in the Royal Guard, for one thing, so I guess my desire to protect comes naturally. But when I got mine, I think Twilight represents everything I hold dear in the world, so protecting her is like protecting the whole of Equestria.”
“I guess that makes some sense.”
“That’s what Twilight said. Also, when you think about it, it seems to work. My cutie mark is all the colours of Twilight. And even hers as an incredibly similar design. The same star and everything.”
“I can see why you didn’t tell our son that, he would have hated it. Far too girly. But I don’t see why you never told me,” Cadance said mildly angrily.
“I’ve always been a little embarrassed by it. But I was going to tell you eventually. I was just waiting until you brought it up.”
“Daddy? Mummy?” said a small, shaky voice in the doorway.
Shining turned his head. “Oh. Hey, kid,” he said quietly. “What are you doing up?”
“Can I sleep with you tonight?” the colt asked, his voice quiet as to help him not to cry. He eyes were very damp, but he quickly dried them on a hoof.
Shining briefly looked to Cadance, who nodded quickly, and then back to his son.
“Of course, kid.”
Cadance slid over in the bed and made a gap between her and her husband for her son to lie in.
The colt quickly ran up and jumped in the bed, making his way to the newly formed gap.
“What’s wrong, kiddo?” Shining asked with an affectionate hoof gently rubbing his son’s back. “Did you have a bad dream?”
The colt snorted. “Of course not!” he said confidently yet still shaky. “I just wanted to sleep with you guys tonight.”
“Okay, okay,” Shining said with a small laugh in his voice. He admired his son’s desire to not appear weak. It reminded him of himself.
The colt laid down on his back and shut his eyes. He sighed shakily and yawned.
Cadance shot a mischievous look to her husband, which he returned with equal mischief.
The two parents quickly moved and planted a big kiss on both of their son’s cheeks.
“Eurgh!” the colt said loudly in absolute disgust. He vigorously rubbed any trace of the kisses off his cheeks and then promptly wiped his hooves clean on the bed.
Cadance and Shining chuckled childishly, and did it again.
“Bleurgh!” the colt said again in the same tone, only louder this time. He once again transferred the kisses from his cheeks to the bed.
He rolled over onto his stomach so his parents couldn’t reach his cheeks again, even though they knew twice was enough, and shut his eyes again. His breaths were no longer shaky as the kisses did their work.
Shining ruffled his mane for a second, sending him off to sleep with a content sigh.
He reached over his son’s head and met Cadance’s.
They shared a quick, good night kiss before lying down, resting on the pillows under the heads.
The door swung closed with a gently movement as the lights went out; a team effort from the elder horned Ponies.
Cadance brought the covers over them, making sure there were no gaps so they would remain comfortably warm through the chilly night.
She and Shining placed a foreleg over their son, giving him a slight hug.
They moved in closer to each other, sandwiching the small colt between them.
Cadance found that sleep came much easier to her after clearing up that conundrum. She wore a smile; she liked Shining’s true cutie mark story.
“Hey, Cadance,” Shining whispered.
“What?” she whispered back, obviously half asleep.
“Want to go see Twilight tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.
“Sure,” Cadance replied, some beginning to snore quietly in a manner Shining found adorable.
Shining smiled and shut his eyes. Sleep found its way easily to him. He couldn’t wait until the next morning now.