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The Marvelous Misadventures of Shining Armor and the CMC

by lrft4_san

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: New Filly in Town

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The spell sent Shining Armor wheeling backwards, knocking him hard against the wall on the other side of the room; all the while jolts of magic ravaged his body, causing Shining Armor to spasm violently. When the shaking finally subsided, Shining Armor attempted to stand, but his body was still numb from the surge of magic and he toppled over onto his stomach.

“Shining Armor,” Twilight called from somewhere across the room, “are you alri…oh sweet Celestia, what have I done?”

Shining Armor’s eyes shot open and sought out Twilight; she had a terrified look on her face that worried the trembling stallion.

“Twi?” he said, his voice straining as he struggled to pull himself to his hooves. “Twi, what is it? What’s…” Shining Armor’s hoof shot up to his mouth as if to hold his words back. The voice that came out still wasn’t his own, yet it was different than it had been moments ago; while his colt voice had sounded high pitched and childish, it still had a masculine tone to it. This new voice sounded almost girly. No, thought Shining Armor, that’s ridiculous, I must have bumped my head when the spell hit me. But just to be sure, Shining Armor ran over to check himself out in the mirror that Twilight had conjured.

The pony in the mirror was very similar to the colt from before, but this one was smaller, with a sleeker build, his eyes were wider with longer, more prominent lashes, and the mane and tail were longer and lighter shades of blue than they had been when he was a stallion.

Shining Armor turned to face his sister, but she wouldn’t look him in the eyes. She didn’t, he thought as an awful realization came to mind. He looked back at the mirror horror struck, not wanting to believe what he saw. Then again, it could have all been just a trick of the mind caused by the shock of the magic that had angrily coursed through him, but there was really only one way of knowing the truth. Shining Armor nervously reached a hoof down between his hind legs, gingerly searching for something that should have been there, something that every colt and stallion would have. Then, he collapsed on the floor, tears welling up in his eyes; it was true.

“A f-filly,” he said through chocked sobs, “you changed me into a filly!?”

“I’m so so sorry big brother, I was distracted,” Twilight hastily tried to explain. “Just as I was starting the spell, I saw my friends’ little sisters outside. I tried to stop, I really did, but it was too late. I guess the combination of you concentrating on what you’re supposed to look like, and me picturing those three fillies must have been what caused you to change into a female version of yourself.”

Twilight watched Shining Armor wipe away his tears and trot irritably around the room.

“I can change you back, Shining Armor, I just need to cast a spell that should remove any spell you’re under.”

Shining Armor stopped his pacing and glared at his sister.

“Why didn’t you cast that spell instead.”

Twilight gave her brother an apologetic look.

“Actually, I hadn’t even thought about it until now. But it doesn’t really matter because-”

“No, please, you don’t have to explain, just cast the spell already.”

Twilight shook her head.

“You don’t understand Shining Armor, the spell I have in mind is very old, and written in Ancient Equestrian; it’s going to take me time just to translate it.”

“How much time?”

Twilight hesitated, too afraid to answer.

“Twi, how long do I have to stay like this?”

“About a week.” She gave her brother a weak, unconvincing smile.

Shining Armor started storming around the room again.

“Great!” he shouted in his little filly voice. “Just great; I had hoped to come here for a nice relaxing vacation and what happens? I get turned into a little filly. And now you’re tell me that I’m supposed to stay like this for a whole week!?”

The purple Alicorn sat beside her brother and put a foreleg around him in an attempt to calm him down.

“Hey now, it’s alright Shining Armor; sure, your body may have changed, but you’re still my big brother.” She gave her brother a more reassuring smile. “And, you can still have fun while you’re here; I might be busy, but that shouldn’t stop you from going out and enjoying yourself.”

“Yeah right, like I would ever want anypony to see me like-”

Shining Armor stopped when he heard the sound of hooves urgently knocking on the library door.

“Oh no, hide me.” He dove behind Twilight. “I can’t let anypony see me like this.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled at her brother.

“Relax big brother, no one would be able to recognize you looking like that.”

But that didn’t stop Shining Armor from diving under the table just as the door burst open and three young fillies bolted into the library.

“Quick Scootaloo, go check the window” said the earth pony with the red bow in her hair.

The second filly, a little orange pegasus, nodded and rushed over to a chair under a window, jumped up on it and pressed her face against the glass, frantically searching outside for something.

“Well,” the third, a purple and pink maned unicorn chimed in, “Is she out there?”

“I don’t see her.” Scootaloo said, returning to her friends. “Whew, that was close, wasn’t it girls?”

“Close? Close!? We wouldn’t have needed to run if you’d been watchin’ where you were drivin’ yer scooter.” The earth pony chided.

“Come on Apple Bloom, that wasn’t my fault.” The little pegasus glared at her friend. “Roseluck should have been watching where she was going with her cart. Right Sweetie Belle?”

Both fillies stared expectantly at the little unicorn who shook her head furiously.

“Oh no, don’t you two go dragging me into this.”

While the two fillies fought, Shining Armor watched from the safety of his hiding place under the table. As soon as he had seen the trio, he instantly knew who they were: the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Although he had only ever met them once, over a year ago during his wedding, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had been a topic of interest in a few of the letters that Twilight had sent him since she had moved to Ponyville.

At one point, Shining Armor thought Apple Bloom had seen him, but she must have just missed him because she never ceased bickering with her friend. Still, it had scared him into readjusting his hiding place under the table.

On the other side of the room, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo continued to argue until a voice from behind them made all three fillies jump.

“Can I help you?” Twilight asked as she approached the three ponies.

“Oh, hey Twilight,” said Apple Bloom cheerfully, seeming to forget her feud with Scootaloo. “Sorry for bargin’ in on you like this, we were just lookin’ for a place to hide from Roseluck; she’s mighty sore with us for crashin’ into her flower cart. The library was the closest buildin’ to us, so we decided to hunker down here ‘til she decided to give up the chase.”

Twilight frowned at the three fillies.

“Did you at least apologize to Roseluck before you ran from her?”

All three fillies shifted around in a nervous silence.

“Well, you see, we would have but…no, we didn’t’” Sweetie Belle finally admitted. “She was scowling and yelling at us. We were scared, so we ran away.”

“We thought if we gave her some time, she might forget and not be mad at us anymore,” added Scootaloo.

“Girls, you know that isn’t the responsible thing to do.” Twilight said in a lecturing voice.

“Yeah, we know,” the Crusaders said with a unified sigh.

“Come on girls,” said Apple Bloom in a gloomy voice as she started for the door, “let’s go and tell Roseluck that we’re sorry.” The other two nodded and they followed their friend.

That’s it, thought Shining Armor, just a few more steps and I’m in the clear. But just as Apple Bloom was about to open the door, a small bit of dust, which had been disturbed from all of Shining Armor’s shifting, found it’s way up his nose, forcing the poor faux filly to sneeze.

“What was that?” Apple Bloom asked, as she turned around to face the direction where she thought she heard the sound come from?”

“What was what?” Twilight said nervously; she felt beads of sweat begin to trickle down her face.

“That sneezin’ sound; is there somepony else in here?”

“Nuh-uh, nope, nopony else here. That was just me,” Twilight gave a fake sneeze in order to cover up for her brother. “Oh, excuse me; I must have allergies or something. Anyway, you three best be-”

“Hang on,” Sweetie Belle said, inching towards the table, her eyes landing on the small, lumpy shadow that was Shining Armor’s rump sticking out from behind one of the large table legs, “who’s under there?”

There was no fighting it; Shining Armor had been found out. Slowly, he got to his hooves and walked out from under the table.

"Oh there you are!" Twilight said as she rushed over to her brother. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

“Hello,” said Sweetie Belle as she trotted over to meet Shining Armor. “Who are you?”

Shining Armor’s eyes shifted nervously.

“My name’s Shi-”

“SHIELD!” Twilight said a little too excitedly. “Her name is, uh, Gleaming Shield. She’s my, uh, little cousin visiting from Canterlot; she’s going to be staying with me for a little while.”

“Well howdy Gleamin’ Shield,” Apple Bloom said as she took Shining Armor’s hoof in both of her’s and rapidly shook it, “Pleased to meet’cha. My name’s Apple Bloom, and this here’s Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. And we’re-”

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” All three fillies shouted in unison and gave each other a three-way high hoof.

“Our mission,” Scootaloo continued, “is to do anything and everything until we find our special talents and earn our cutie marks.”

Shining Armor just stood there, staring at the three fillies who were giving him their most welcoming smiles.

Suddenly Sweetie Belle let loose a loud, excited gasp.

“Hey,” she said, walking around to Shining Armor's rump. “You don’t have your cutie mark either.”

Shining Armor whipped his head around and stared at his flank; sure enough it had remained as blank as it had when Twilight first changed him into a colt.

“Hey yeah,” said Apple Bloom. “Since you’re a blank flank too, why don’t you join our organization.”

“I, uh, I d-don’t-”

“Yeah, come on Gleaming Shield,” Scootaloo said, wrapping a foreleg around Shining Armor’s and pulling him towards the door. “It’ll be fun; while you’re here, we’ll go on some awesome adventures. And since you're new in town, we can even give you the grand tour; we’ve been all over Ponyville looking for opportunities to find our special talents, so nopony knows this town better than we do.”

“B-but I…” Shining Armor turned to his sister and gave her a pleading look, but she just smiled back.

“Don’t be shy Gleaming Shield,” she said, “you should go with them. I’m going to be here for a while working on that special project we were talking about, and I know you’ll just be bored being stuck sitting around inside all week.”

Shining Armor suddenly felt two more sets of hooves holding onto him, moving him towards the door.

“Come on girls,” said Apple Bloom leading the way, “let’s do our very best to show Twilight’s cousin all the amazin’ things there is to do in Ponyville; maybe we’ll even get our cutie marks as tour guides.”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Tour Guides, Yay!” the three chirped.

“Have fun you four,” Twilight said as the fillies made their way out of the library with her brother. “Just make sure that Gleaming Shield is home in time for dinner.”

“We will,” the Cutie Mark Crusaders called back in unison.

When the fillies were gone, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as she trotted back to her worktable where she sat and began levitating various books off of her bookshelves and leafed through them, placing the appropriate ones on the table and the others in a neat stack beside her.

I’m sorry Shining Armor, she thought, I’m so so sorry. I didn’t mean to send you off like that, but I need absolute concentration in order to prepare this spell properly; I just wouldn’t be able to finish my work with you moping around all week. She looked out the window and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders racing by, and Shining Armor, who had finally given into his fate, walking slowly behind the happy trio. Don’t worry B.B.B.F.F., I promise that I’ll change you back as soon as possible, just please, hang in there, just for a little while.

Author's Notes:

So did a round of changes to chapter two, particularly to the beginning of the chapter (when I originally posted this chapter, I had a little more that I wanted to add because I thought the scene would be too short without it). But it's very late where I am so I might tackle it again tomorrow when I'm more awake.

Round two of changes: I addressed a minor plot hole regarding why it would take a while for Twilight to prepare the spell for use. I think this should be an acceptable explanation.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: And Shining Armor Makes Four Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 20 Minutes
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