Shining Armor sat in the chair, looking out from the stage. He tried to keep from squinting under the bright lights, but he could not see the audience. He could hear them though.

As near as he could tell, he was on some sort of day time talk show. He had caught bits and pieces of them, but never actually watched any. As such, he had no idea which one he was on. Hopefully it was not the kind where the show surprised the stallion with a paternity test. He had not even done anything that would give him the opportunity to be paternal in the first place.

"Shining Armor," the host said into the microphone, "do you know why you are here today?"

"I can't say that I do," Shining answered. He shifted. Having so much attention on him was making him uncomfortable. Where was Twilight? Where was Spike? Where were his friends?

"One of your friends," the host continued, "has asked you here. It seems that she has been having romantic feelings for you, and wanted to tell you."

Shining's eyes went wide. One of his friends had a crush on him? Why would they bring him here to tell him? Why not just tell him at the library? Or some other place that was private that she was comfortable with? Who was it? Applejack? Pinkie Pie?

"Let's bring them out, right now," the host called out. The audience let out a roar of excitement, stamping their hooves.

A black silhouette appeared on the side of stage, much to the audience's thrill. Shining Armor got up and moved forward, trying to see who it was.

"Shining!"

Shining Armor paused. The voice sounded familiar, but not from his friends.

"Shining!"

It actually sounded like...

Twilight Sparkle jumped onto her brother's bed, causing him to bounce slightly and let out a groan.

"Get up!" the filly called out. "It's the first day of school."

"It's the first day for you," he grumbled. "I graduated already."

"Come on." She pressed her hooves against him and pushed. "Get up. It's an important day for me."

"You know," he said as he looked at her, "most foals don't like going to school. Their parents have to force them out of bed."

"Oh, please." Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Mom and Dad told me how you were when you started school for the first time."

Shining Armor sighed, but said nothing. It was true. When he was starting school, he got ready the night before. He also woke his parents up at five in the morning or such to make sure they were on time. Thinking of it that way, Shining felt he should be grateful that his sister waited at least until after the sun was up before waking him.

"Okay, okay. I'm up. I'm up." He pushed the sheets aside and rolled to get out of bed.

"Yay," Twilight shouted before hopping off the bed. The young filly sprinted out the room and down the stairs.

Shining suddenly missed having that kind of energy. He was still a young stallion, but it was getting harder to wake up in the mornings. More so when something made him as excited as Twilight was and made it hard to get to sleep to begin with. How much did the filly even get last night? Hopefully it was enough to keep her from falling asleep during class.

"Want to get up Spike?" he asked as he moved past the dragon's bed. Spike grumbled and rolled over, pulling the blankets over his head.

"Didn't think so." He left the dragon to sleep while he got ready for the day.

The stallion gave a quick brushing of his mane and a thorough one of his teeth. Going down to the kitchen, he found his sister with her face already buried in a bowl of cereal, munching away. He let out a laugh and ruffled her mane before sitting down to join her. Once breakfast was finished and Twilight had her saddlebag, the two started out to take the filly to her first day of school in Ponyville.

The two stopped as they looked up at the sky. Thick black clouds were filling it, and they did not look like it was part of a storm. Besides, none were scheduled for that day.

"Do you smell smoke?" Twilight asked.

"Shining!" Spike shouted as he opened the door. The young dragon ran up to the pair, holding a scroll in his claw. "You got a letter from Princess Celestia."

"This is kind of early for her to send letters," Shining said, looking at it. "C'mon Spike. You can read it on the way."

Twilight took the lead as they continued their way toward Ponyville Elementary. Shining followed after, keeping track of his sister, but moving at a more relaxed pace. Spike walked behind him, opening the scroll and clearing his throat.

"Dear Shining Armor..."