Empire of Mercy
Copyright© 2025 by Daelyx Len Auphydas
Chapter 18: Fear
Shining Armor frowns as he sits outside of the bathroom, waiting for Twilight to get ready. He glances over at the clock once again; normally, Twilight would have been ready to head out the door hours ago. Instead, she’s still in there, hours after she should have been at the palace. Not that Shining Armor can fault her for that, but the fact remains that he is determined she will go. He knows, perhaps better than anypony, just how much potential his little sister has, and he is not about to let that potential be squandered by a single traumatizing experience.
So, reluctantly, the young stallion raises a hoof and knocks on the door to the bathroom, clearing his throat noisily to hopefully get Twilight’s attention inside. “Anypony alive in there?” He calls out, before instantaneously regretting his exact choice of phrasing.
“I-I’ll be right out.” comes the reply. “Sorry for making you wait...” Shining Armor sighs, already feeling guilty for rushing her even to that extent, and lays down on his haunches. It’s fine if the two of them are late today; nopony will scold him for being late, and certainly nopony will dare be upset at Twilight. What is most important is that Twilight feels ready to go back.
Eventually, the door slides open, and the unicorn filly slips from the bathroom directly into Shining Armor’s shadow, standing so close to him that he can feel her muscles jittering, staring down at the ground. He’d never seen her like this before; oh, he’s been there for more than a few anxious meltdowns or panic attacks, but never before had he seen her this ... Timid.
Pointing that out to her could only have a negative effect, so instead Shining Armor puffs out his chest and pulls Twilight in close, hoping to provide some semblance of security. “Come on, let’s get breakfast, we have a big day ahead of us.” He offers his best attempt at a reassuring smile before setting off down the hall at the highest possible speed that Twilight will follow at; or in other words, barely faster than a snail’s pace.
Unlike usual, the duo arrive to the breakfast table some time later than their parents. “Good morning, sweetie. We made your favorite, hayburgers and daisy fries.” Twilight Velvet smiles to her daughter, but there’s an obvious undercurrent of nervousness in her eyes, of worry for the filly.
The same can be said for just about everypony else, Shining Armor just hopes his little sister won’t notice. Lethargically, the filly deposits herself in her chair and scoots up to the table, eyes flicking this way and that as if seeking possible threats before she allows herself to begin eating.
It’s not a typical school day to have that many ponies at the table in House Twilight, even Night Light is there; Shining Armor can’t remember the last time all four of them had been present for breakfast on a weekday, since normally he and Night Light would both be at the palace by now. Instead, by the time the guard cadet and his young charge depart for the palace, it’s already 10:30 or so; any other day, Twilight Sparkle would have been practically foaming at the mouth in horror at the suggestion of being this late. Today? It doesn’t seem to be anywhere on her mind. Instead, her gaze darts between each and every shadow as though terrified something will jump out of one of them.
Shining Armor leans in closer to his little sister protectively. “Here, will this help?” He asks as he projects a shield around the two of them. “See? As long as I’m here, you’re safe.”
His younger sister looks up at him unsurely and gives a quick, curt nod. “Y-yeah. Thanks, Shiny.”
Shining Armor smiles warmly back. “Of course. I won’t let any harm come to my little sister.” With a brief, affectionate nuzzle, the two start walking towards the palace; slower than usual perhaps, but, as they go, Twilight seems to regain at least some measure of confidence. Thankfully, there isn’t anything in the way of media today. Perhaps the experience of simply being shoved aside by Shining Armor’s shield when they tried to get in his way had been enough to deter them? Or perhaps they simply didn’t expect Twilight to be leaving just now.
One way or the other, it’s 11:00 by the time the two get to the school of magic; Twilight turns to Shining Armor, fretting as they get closer. “Where are you going to be while I’m in there? Wh-what if...”
Before Twilight can voice her fears, Shining Armor reassuringly squeezes the filly against his flank. “I’m going to be right there with you. My little sister’s so talented that she’s already at my level, and I figured I shouldn’t let you get too far ahead of me, huh? I’m already the best in my generation at shielding, so I thought I would take a break from combat magic. I talked with Celestia about it, we’ll be going to the academy together every other day, and going to the cadet school the other half.”
Normally, Shining Armor might have been concerned about the filly only going to standard magic classes every other day, but with her prodigal rate of study it’s more likely that will help keep her from getting too far ahead. Shining Armor on the other hoof is going to have quite a bit of difficulty with essentially double the class workload, but if it will keep Twilight safe, he will endure it.
Twilight blinks in surprise, before a smile, the most sincere and endearing smile she had given since the attack, one that makes Shining Armor’s heart skip a beat, breaks out over her face, and she throws herself into Shining Armor’s fur. “Oh, thankyou thankyou thankyou! I’m going to get to study with my BBBFF, oh, this is the best day ever!” She squeals, her fear momentarily forgotten as she prances about in a circle on the tips of her hooves, beaming.
Shining Armor knew Twilight was usually excited to spend time with him, but the severity of that excitement hadn’t really set in until he saw what a drastic change it could have on her mood even in bleak seeming days like these. “Don’t let me distract you now. It’s around time we headed to class, but we might make a bit of a splash.” Shining Armor jokes. Oh well; he isn’t really counting on learning anything today, just getting Twilight back into the swing of things.
Shining Armor may not have been counting on learning anything that day, but Twilight apparently had different plans.
As soon as it became apparent there was a single aspect of the day’s lecture that he hadn’t understood, the filly had sat him down with perhaps half a dozen books and drilled him until he could get it just right. And so it is that when almost every pony in the building has gone home or checked into the dormitories, Twilight and Shining Armor are still in the library. Twilight, her nose in a book as usual, hadn’t noticed, but other than the librarian there is still one other pony there.
At first, Shining Armor had presumed he was cramming for some kind of test, but a surreptitious glance at his book catalogue-a list of tomes so esoteric that he’d sooner have guessed it was Twilight’s reading list-dispels that notion, and Shining Armor nudges Twilight. The filly blinks up at him in surprise at being interrupted from her reading session with one ‘Compendium of Breezy Anatomy’. Thankfully, he had gotten her before she managed to get too far in the book, or else it would have been impossible to pry her away from it. “Huh?”
“Who is that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him around before, and he’s reading books just as advanced as yours.”
“Huh? Oh, that’s Sunburst, he stays in the library late every day.” Twilight replies flippantly.
Shining Armor turns to appraise her, raising one brow. “There’s another pony who reads as much as you do, and you’ve never so much as mentioned him to me?”
Twilight shrugs. “I dunno, I’ve never really spoken to him before. We only share like a couple classes.” Shining Armor pauses, pondering... ‘Sunburst’, hadn’t he heard that name before? He could swear that he had.
In realization, he suddenly slaps one hoof down onto the table. “Wait, Sunburst!” His outburst finally draws the amber-coated colt’s attention, who looks up from his book both startled and confused, hastily adjusting his glasses.
“Oh, uhm, yes? Can I help you somehow?” The colt asks as Shining Armor trots up to the colt with a nod of his head.
“Cadet school’s been getting letters addressed to you for ages, but nopony knew what to do with them since nopony could figure out who ‘Sunburst’ was! They must have been addressed to the wrong school!” Shining Armor exclaims.
Sunburst blinks at him in surprise, slowly letting his book sink down onto the table. “Really? To ... Me? Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure, unless you know of another Sunburst. I’ll have to see if I can find where all the letters have been stashed in the meantime and see if I can get them to you.”
Sunburst frowns, glancing back down at his book. “Do you know who they were from?” He asks, stroking a little tuft of fur on his chin.