Maremagnum

“Shining, Shining Do you want to see the new spell I learned today?” Twilight was all but bouncing off of the walls when Shining stepped in through the door of his home. Bouncing off the walls turned into all but tackling her big brother and nuzzling against him. Even though she'd already started adolescence and wasn't quite a little filly anymore she had not cut back on how much she simply adored her B.B.B.F.F as she termed him.

Of course he adored her as well and could never resist the exuberance with which his baby sister always threw into her studies of magic. “Sure, what did you learn?” He asked, placing down the bag he'd taken with him in the closet..

Excited to have him as an audience Twilight turned and started to focus on a potted plat. After a bright purple glow of magic from her horn the ceramic cup was similarly aglow and then began to sing as it danced around the table.

Shining didn't have to pretend when he made an impressed sounding whistle at the display of fairly complex magic. “And to think you could barely lift up a feather when you were little, you're growing up pretty quick Twily.” her happy smile made a crappy day feel a whole lot better. He wrapped her up in a friendly hug and, for old time sake, gave her a noogie on the head which she batted away with a pretend annoyed huff.

“Twilight isn't the only one growing up.” A fairly deep male voice said, descending from the steps. “There isn't many more times where you're going to come home like that before you're out the door as a full and official officer of the Royal Guard.”

Shining Armor couldn't help but wince at what his dad had said, despite having no reason to feel guilty. It wasn't like he'd done anything wrong besides have the bad luck of a jerk for a mentor. Night Light caught onto his unease pretty quickly for he gently nudged Twilight, who'd been looking between them, towards the kitchen. “Twilight, why don't you help your mother prepare for dinner?”

For all her natural gifts for magic and books Twilight was a little slow on the uptake when it came to social nuances and so readily trotted off to leave the two in the relative privacy of the foyer. Shining Armor couldn't help but shuffle awkwardly under the curious, searching look of his father.

Finally he cut right to the chase. “Something wrong Shining?”

“Just that...well, I might not get the best position when I'm done. Professor Tower and I...” Shining wasn't quite sure how to phrase 'the pony suppose to be finishing up my training in magic and preparing me to be a well rounded guard officer is a total jerk' without sounding like he was whining.

“Ivory Tower is giving you a hard time?” There was a look of definite unhappiness on his dad's face, certainly not thrilled with the idea. “That doesn't really sound like him. Your mother and he have always gotten along fairly well...maybe she could have a talk with-”

“No, really, its not that big a deal dad.” Shining cut him off right away, mortified at the idea of his parents fighting his battles as an adult.

That did little to improve Night Light's mood and he gave a sigh before rubbing at his eyes. “Are you sure? Just because you're an adult doesn't mean we don't want to do what we can to help. We're very proud of you Shining, no matter where you end up.”

“I hear the North Pole is a nice place this time of year.” Shining Armor forced a smile, trying to put a lighter spin on the situation. “Seriously Dad, I'll be fine.”

Evidently his father wasn't entirely convinced. “Alright, but I’m sure if we asked Twilight to talk to the Princess...”

“No way, absolutely not. There are a lot of guy's who use their connections to get ahead. But at the end of the day the Guard's I want to be in charge of won't respect me if they think I'm just a stuffed suit of armor.”

They were interrupted by Twilight running back into the room, still smiling brightly. “Dinner's ready!”

It wasn't quite being saved by the bell but Shining was all too enthusiastic to head into the dining room and sit down next to Twilight, who was clearly the happiest pony in the room, while Velvet Sparkle, their mother, passed out the steamed vegetables and salad to the family while she and Night Light traded concerned looks. He was sure that his mom had overheard and he had no idea how to change the conversation.

Again, Twilight was his savior of the night and broke up the silence by perking up at remembering something. “Oh! The Princess told me today that there was going to be a fancy party. She said you'd be there Shining but that I couldn't go. There’s going to be a new Princess!”

“Yeah? I heard something like that, Twily. You probably won't miss it, a lot of stuffy boring ponies talking about the weather. I bet the Princess would let you spend the evening in the library.”

Twilight seemed on the verge of exploding in happiness at the very idea . “You really think she'd let me? I bet I could even explore the wing of Arcane knowledge of the Arcane! Oh but I bet Spike will be asleep...” She began to mostly speak aloud on any number of various magical studies that she'd like to do involving dusty old tomes that, while endearing, Shining could hardly follow.

“You know, I bet you could talk to a lot of lovely mares at the party.” His mom gave a sly little knowing smile to Night Light who chuckled while snagging another forkful of leafy greenness.

Shining groaned, the eternal suffering of any child at the well meaning meddling of parents. “Mom...”

“No I think your mother has a point. You look very handsome in your uniform, you'll have them swooning all over you.” Dad added, Shining Armor was starting to wish he'd elected to stay at the guard's housing instead of moving back in with his parents after initial training.

This new trail of a conversation apparently caught Twilight's attention enough to make a disgruntled look and a stuck her tongue out. “Shining Armor and some girl? Gross.”

There were a number of chuckles at that from everyone except Twilight and the conversation went back to a little more normalcy for the evening.