"Lieutenant Shining Armor?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Princess Celestia has summoned you to her chambers. She wants you alone. She wouldn't say why or why you in particular."
"She's still in Canterlot?! I thought she left hours ago for the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville!"
"We had the chariot all ready for her, but she's refused to come out of her chambers! Not even the news of the 'Mare in the Moon's' disappearance or this unusually long darkness has changed that. You're the first pony she's wanted to see in hours, in fact."
"...I see, sir. However, we're on high alert, and I have a guard squad I can't just leave without an explanation!"
"Don't worry about your squad, I'll inform them you've been summoned to see the princess. I highly suggest you get going, and do it doubletime!"
"Yes, sir!"
As Lieutenant Shining Armor marched doubletime toward Celestia's royal suite from his emergency station, his mind wandered in a hundred different directions. Everything seemed to be happening according to the thousand year old legends of Princess Luna and "Nightmare Moon", and his mind reeled at the consequences he and everypony else in Equestria would be facing if they indeed were true.
His mind first wandered to his parents, him picturing them worrying as all parents do about their fillies and colts - it was but small comfort that they were probably unaware of the details of where he and his sister were. Then it wandered to Cadance, the alicorn princess he had long courted - not currently in Canterlot but touring somewhere in Equestria, doubtless attempting to comfort the ponies around her in the darkness and wondering herself about the truth of the legends surrounding Luna. Then it wandered to the special little sister he adored so much - caught up in the center of this storm and seeking the Elements of Harmony according to the preliminary reports that had come into Canterlot from Ponyville.
Thinking of Twilight Sparkle gave focus to Shining Armor's mind. Sending her and Spike to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration had struck him, as well as a number of his comrades, as quite odd, particularly as that job was usually given to a Lieutenant like himself supported by a small squad of Royal Guards. There were Lieutenants in Canterlot that had done the job in previous years and were willing to perform that job again, and also other officers that competed eagerly for the prestige of assisting in the Summer Sun Celebration at least once in their career. With all these eager candidates among the force to choose from, why send a filly that had talent but little assistance and no experience, particularly in the critical social situations necessary to ensure the Summer Sun Celebration was conducted properly?
Sure, Shining could believe the standard line he'd heard that it was a symbol of how much Princess Celestia trusted her apprentice in magic, or simply to get Twilight Sparkle "out of those dusty old books for once", but he couldn't shake the idea that those were covers for some ulterior motive on Princess Celestia's part. But what motive, and why Twilight? The only answer that seemed even remotely logical was that the legends were true and that Twilight had to stop Nightmare Moon's "Night Eternal" from destroying Equestria.
That's why he had to believe the legends were true, and also why he had an idea why Celestia wanted him...
"It's all real, isn't it? Your sister... the thousand-year banishment... the prophecy of her return... they all really happened, are happening right now!"
"Shining..."
"Your Highness, please, I must know! This is the thousandth year since her banishment, and everything is coming true as that prophecy said! If that prophecy isn't true, why is all this happening?"
"Shining, please, you must understand..."
"My sister's out there! You sent Twily to Ponyville to supervise the Summer Sun Celebration when I or anypony else from the Guard could have done that job. There must be a reason you did that. Please, tell me!"
The sun princess lets out a sad sigh before giving her reply: "It is real, Shining Armor, very much real. I let the legend build up over the thousand years because the lies would be less painful than the truth. Now the truth is displayed for everypony to see."
"But what does my sister have to do with this? Why was she sent to Ponyville?"
"She is my hope because she has 'the spark'. She can do more than just save all of Equestria, she can save my sister. You should hope she succeeds, for it will be a very dark future if she does not."
"I am hoping, but I'm also worried sick over her, out there with that monster rampaging through Equestria!"
"I know you are. That is why I summoned you here, in private with nopony else listening. You can at least begin to understand."
"Understand?"
"Yes, understand. Understand the pain, the heartbreak, the dismay I am feeling now."
"Pain? Heartbreak? Dismay?"
"Yes, Shining Armor, all of those and more! The magic within me keeps me strong and beautiful, no lameness, no scars, perfect on the outside. But it can't do anything for the loneliness, the scars inside of the past thousand years I have missed my sister and regret doing what I had to do to her in order to save this kingdom. And now I can do nothing more than wait for your sister to fulfill my hopes - or get word that they have been utterly dashed to pieces."
"So let's say Twily succeeds, and you get your sister back. What happens then? How are you going to forgive all those years of pain she caused you?"
"Let me tell you something, Shining. I already have forgiven her, regardless of whether your sister succeeds or fails. I believe that love - the love between members of a family, the kind of love you've shown your sister ever since the day she was born - is stronger than any corruption or evil in this world, and that it will ultimately triumph. I trust you to hear this because you understand what it is to be the older one - the guardian and the guiding hoof of the younger. You are an older brother, I am an older sister. Surely you can understand my feelings about my sister?!"
"I do, Your Highness. Tell me, what can I do? What should I do? What MUST I do?!"
"Shining, I cannot keep these emotions in check any longer. For the rest of the time in here, I want you to refer to me the same way Cadance refers to me - 'Aunt Celly'. Do not think of me as the alicorn princess I am, but the mare inside I must now let out, just for a few precious minutes, in this dark hour."
"Then... Aunt Celly... what would you have me do?"
"You must be the shoulder I need to cry on. You must help me stand for the minutes I cannot now stand myself. Do you understand, Shining Armor?"
"Yes, Aunt Celly. Yes, I do."
For the next several minutes, Shining Armor was comforting and holding the weeping Princess Celestia - not in the manner of a soldier doing his duty, but in the manner of family member showing his support for a relative wracked with grief and pain. It ended up being something of a turning point - although Shining Armor had proven himself worthy of Celestia's trust long before, it was the first time he had been considered as anything like family. The same trial that would set Twilight Sparkle to becoming the Princess of Friendship would also set Shining Armor to being Captain of the Guard and Prince of the Crystal Empire - his noble character would soon prove him a worthy holder of these titles. His fate, like that of his sister, was set in that tribulation of Nightmare Moon's return and would soon be revealed for all to see...
