Shining Armor leaned against a nearby boulder and levitated his water canister out of his pack. He slowly swirled the little bit of water left inside. He became mesmerized as his eyes followed the clear liquid, his dry mouth yearning for a taste of this elixir of life. Finally he could take it no longer, and he wrenched open the container and gulped down its contents.
He let out a heavy breath as he finished the drink, and turned his head back along his path. He had been travelling non stop for three days now, on a mission he felt only he could accomplish. As much as he trusted his fellow soldiers with his life, and as much as he acknowledged their skill, nopony was quite as adept as he was with a sword.
Shining Armor had been the Captain of the Royal Guard for nearly a decade now. And in that time, not a day had passed that he had not had to save Equestria, Canterlot, or one of the outlying lands from sort of unspeakable evil. But today he faced his greatest challenge yet. An evil so great, so powerful that-
“Hurry up, Shining Armor!”
“All right, all right! I’m just taking a little break, is all.”
Shining Armor pushed his weary body off of the rock and faced his destination. It was a castle. The structure was as black as Luna’s night, and the creature that lived in it was fiercer than a manticore. He wiped the sweat off his brow and slowly began his trudge forward.
It was midday, and the sun was beating down ferociously upon him. He originally hoped to sneak into the castle, but he quickly realized that that plan had only a small chance of success. The sun’s bright rays were reflecting off his metal plating, making his namesake fairly applicable. He would have of course waited until night, but his Princess had been kidnapped several days ago. If he didn’t act quickly...
He was still determined however to attempt to slip into the castle unseen. He quickly moved from one piece of cover to the other. The dead, blackened trees served as great pieces of protection. As did the many stray boulders set about, some of which were blackened themselves. Shining Armor had to wonder to himself what sort of terrible battles had taken place here to use such methods that would cause these marks on the land.
As he was attempting to tip-hoof to the nearest boulder, a blast of pink energy burned the ground at his hooves. He cursed lightly and-
“Language!”
“Ah, sorry!”
-retreated back to a nearby tree. He knew the witch queen had spotted him, and now there was only one option left: a frontal assault.
He charged the gates of the castle at full speed, his sword raised above him. As he did so, however, the evil witch queen cackled madly as she let a barrage of magic blasts surge towards Shining Armor. But he was undeterred; he kept galloping closer and closer as wave after wave of magic burst around him.
He slammed into the towering doors of the castle at full speed. Dazed, he stumbled back a few paces. But he quickly shook his head and re-orientated himself, charging the entrance once more. Shining Armor had a strong shoulder, and with each hit the door grew weaker. Finally it gave way, the doors swinging freely on their hinges.
Shining Armor charged into the castle with a mighty battle cry, expecting to face dozens of monsters. However, there were none. He looked around in bewilderment, taking in the empty space around him. All there was was decorative pieces like suits of armor, magical scrolls, swords, and other assorted embellishments.
Shining Armor slowly lowered his sword. He dare not sheathe it, for fear of a devious attack by one of the many foul creations of the witch. He spent a brief moment of this apparent peace to catch his breath, but he was soon on the prowl again.
The stairs that led to the upper levels of the castle were in clear sight. Shining Armor made a beeline for them, making haste to save his beloved Princess. But just as he reached the archway that opened to the stairs, he hit what felt like a solid object. This unknown object sent a jolt of power throughout Shining Armor’s body, and he was blasted backwards.
Shining Armor got to his hooves and went to inspect the archway again. He picked up a pebble and threw it towards the stairs, and sure enough it flew back the moment it reached the archway.
Shining Armor sighed heavily. There was no way he was going to break the spell that held the invisible barrier in place. The witch was too powerful, even for him. But if there was one thing he knew about magic, it was that every spell had its weak points.
Shining Armor approached a door, hoping to find something of use behind it. He would have to investigate every nook and cranny. The crippled point in the spell could be anywhere, and it could be any size. All he had to do was find i-
Just as Shining Armor reached for the door he was met with another jolt of power, only this time it was ten times stronger. He was sent sprawling back at a great speed, only coming to a stop mere paces from the broken entrance of the castle. Just as he was hobbling to his hooves, a maniacal voice echoed throughout the room.
“Trying to find the weak spot, hm?” the feminine voice cooed. “I could let you try, you know. You would never find it. But you’re just so much fun to tease! And besides, you haven’t met your other playmates yet. And they would just kill for somepony to play with!”
At this point, a deep rumbling could be felt beneath the floor, and Shining Armor struggled to keep his balance. The voice continued however, just as dozens of walls were erected from the floor.
“If you can get through my labyrinth, you may find the spot you are looking for. But try not to take too long, I don’t want to have to send my pets to come search for you.”
The witch let out a sinister laugh as she left Shining Armor to himself. But she wasn’t the only one humored; Shining Armor wore a sly grin himself.
Shining Armor had ventured through the Canterlot Hedge Maze dozens of times. And in that time, he learned a neat trick. It was time consuming, but it would keep him from wandering aimlessly through the towering vegetation.
Shining Armor pulled out a piece of charcoal and placed it to his left, on the grey wall of the labyrinth. He then began his trek forward, and at each turn, he would always take a left. And if he came to a dead end, he would turn back and follow the wall to his left once again. The charcoal served as a path for him to follow on his way out. Because no matter how well versed you are in the art, you are bound to lose your bearings in almost any semi-complicated maze.
Even going at a brisk trot, it took him nearly half an hour to reach the end of the dark maze. There were so many twists, turns, and curves that Shining Armor briefly doubted his method at several points in time. But at last he finally found his way to the end of the complicated network, and came face to face with a brick wall.
At first Shining Armor thought the witch was playing tricks on him. He turned back, but briefly, so brief that only a soldier who has spent years honing his senses, felt a small draft on his flank. He turned to face the wall once again, and searched vigorously for the source of the draft. He found it, and decided that it must be the weak point in the barrier.
Shining Armor lowered his horn and closed his eyes. He concentrated on conjuring magic. No magic in particular, just magic. Pure, raw, powerful magic that he would focus on the crack. He reached the peak of the amount of power he could muster and unleashed it in one straight, fine beam of violet light directed at the weak point. Almost instantly the barrier gave way, shattering like glass. And as the barrier shattered, so too did the walls of the labyrinth.
Shining Armor let out a yell of triumph and made a dash for the stairs. He had a lot of floors to make it through, and no doubt that there were many untold horrors awaiting him as he ascended the dark, damp stairwell. He could hear the drip, drop, drip, drop of water droplets as they fell upon the stone steps. He could feel the soft, squishy algae under his hooves with every hooffall.
As Shining Armor reached the top of the stairwell, he slowly stuck his head around the corner. There, in the corner of the room, was a manticore. The foul beast was asleep, and Shining Armor decided to try to sneak past it and continue up the stairwell. But his plan was foiled, as he found yet another invisible barrier blocking the path upwards.
“Oh, you’re not getting through that easily, little knight. You still have to introduce yourself to my little pet. Wakey wakey!”
With the echoing voice of the witch having reached the manticore’s ears, it began to stir. It turned its head towards Shining Armor, and the stallion unsheathed his sword. But the manticore was fast. Within moments, it leapt into the air in an attempt to pounce on the knight, its wings helping to give it extra propulsion.
Shining Armor dashed to the side just as the manticore landed with a heavy thud where he was standing. It turned to him, and let out a roar so powerful it blew back Shining Armor’s mane. It charged him, and once again Shining Armor dodged its attack.
Shining Armor knew he wouldn’t be able to beat the manticore in a traditional fight. He had to keep dodging its attacks and strike in between them. That wasn’t the difficult part, however. What served as the problem was the manticore’s lightning fast tail. The scorpion-like appendage held potent venom that would paralyze him in seconds. He had to take it out.
The manticore charged again, but this time Shining Armor was too slow. As he tried to dodge, the manticore swiped its paw at him and sent him sprawling. Shining Armor pulled himself to his hooves, squaring off with the manticore.
They charged one another, but this time the manticore leapt into the air in an attempt to crush Shining Armor. Shining Armor was fast, however, and continued his gallop under the manticore’s belly. The manticore landed behind the stallion and lashed out with its tail in an attempt to pierce Shining Armor’s flesh. But Shining Armor wanted the manticore to do this, and he was ready for it. With one mighty swing of his sword, the stinger fell to the tiled floor, useless.
The manticore let out an agonizing roar, and disregarded Shining Armor in order to tend to its wound. Shining Armor himself felt pity for the beast. It was probable that the witch had taken the manticore out of its home and forced it to live here and protect her. It was also likely that was the case with the other creatures he would soon face. He decided against killing the beast, and headed for the stairwell.
When he reached the staircase, he found that the barrier that had formerly kept him from continuing had now dissipated. He briefly took a moment to catch his breath, but quickly continuing upward. He had to save his Princess, and couldn’t spare a single moment.
When he reached the next floor, he stopped dead in his tracks. This floor- or rather room, was gigantic. It had to be easily three fourths the entire size of the castle. But that was impossible! Shining armor saw at least five floors to the castle, all of which appeared to be the same height. This must be part of the witch’s magic. An illusion that caused the outside to seem smaller than the inside. It could easily be the other way around, but that was unlikely. Because the creature that caused Shining Armor’s blood to run cold was a massive serpent-like creature.
The beast had a very stout body, and a long, slim neck. Its head was somewhat triangular in shape, and it had stubby limbs. It wandered about aimlessly, its dirty brown body occasionally bumping into the wall or one of the few high overhanging wooden chandeliers. It finally turned towards the hero that had entered the room. It eyed him carefully, not sure what to make of this new toy.
Shining Armor raised his sword and assumed a defensive stance, ready to take on whatever this beast had to offer.
The scaly creature lumbered over, and with surprising speed attempted to snatch up Shining Armor in its jaws. The stallion however managed to raise his sword and deflected the creature’s mouth. Out of instinct alone, he swung his sword at the beast’s neck and its head fell.
Shining Armor felt regret at killing the creature, but he felt he had no choice. He slowly turned and walked towards the staircase to advance to the next challenge. But to his surprise, the barrier still held when he attempted to pass.
It was at that moment Shining Armor heard a sickly sound. It was like the sound of slime slowly making its way down a wall. Shining Armor turned around, to see the beast’s neck changing. The scales and flesh were morphing, moving about, taking shape. Shining Armor could see two ears form. No, wait, four ears. Four ears, and four eyes. Two mouths. Two heads. And with one final, sickening ripping sound, the neck split down the middle to form two; it was a Hydra.
The beast roared and hissed simultaneously at the stallion. To Shining Armor, it almost sounded as if the beast was thanking him for giving it a brother. The beast reared up and brought its feet down, almost crushing Shining Armor. The knight, however, managed to clumsily move out of the way, even if just barely.
From what Shining Armor knew of hydras was that you could only kill them by burning the stumps of their heads before they regrew and split. But Shining Armor didn’t have any fire, nor did he know any spells that would conjure up enough to serve this purpose.
Shining Armor didn’t have time to think up a plan, however. The hydra was already on the attack, its jaws snapping as it chased him around the vast room. Shining Armor tried to fight it off, but it was useless. He couldn’t defeat it with his sword alone. All he could do was hold it back, but he couldn’t do that forever...
As Shining Armor swung his sword to deflect the blows of the hydra’s teeth, it did something rather odd: it stuck its head in the path of his blade. Without meaning to, Shining Armor decapitated the beast. He groaned in despair, knowing it would grow another head. He had never heard of a hydra purposefully decapitating itself, but then again, he had never met a pony who had faced a hydra and lived.
Shining Armor dashed to another side of the room, hoping to distance himself from the creature. He knew he couldn’t keep this up for much longer. He wouldn’t be able to save his Princess. He had failed...
The hydra had grown its third head, and bellowed another mighty roar at the stallion. Shining Armor may have failed in his mission, but he wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He raised his sword again, just as the hydra charged.
For such a large creature, it ran very fast. Shining Armor jumped out of the way, and he heard a loud crash, coupled with bits of rock pelting his tattered armor.
Shining Armor unsteadily got to his hooves and turned around. There, in the wall, was a massive hole. And the hydra was nowhere in sight. Bewildered, Shining Armor approached the gap in the wall. He peered over the edge to see the hydra sprawled out on the grass below. It slowly stood up, and looked up to the knight. It hissed with all three of its heads, and lumbered off towards the nearby forest.
Shining Armor sat down forcefully, his armor clanking about. He was in utter disbelief. He had defeated the hydra... Sort of. This was going to make a great story to his fellows back in Canterlot...
He stood up and made his way toward the flight of stairs. As he did so, he adjusted his armor and repaired what he could with magic. If what was next was worse than a hydra, he would need to be in top condition to even have a chance of fighting it.
He made his way up slowly but determinedly. He was exhausted, battered, bruised, and dehydrated. But his resolve to complete his quest and rescue his Princess kept him going. He was adamant on his mission to protect her, no matter what the cost.
As Shining Armor neared the top of the stairs, he made towards the archway. But he hastily stumbled backwards when a column of flame shot through the archway and scalded the stone at the entrance. Shining Armor recovered and went to the archway, and was greeted by the sight of a dragon.
“Oh, come on! A dragon? I could deal with a hydra, but a dragon?”
“Shush!”
The two were stock still, investigating one another. Shining Armor eyed the dragon carefully. It had orange scales, with a lighter orange color on its wings and underbelly. Its eyes were a menacing orange and red, and smoke rose from its nostrils.
Shining Armor inhaled deeply, and once again slowly assumed his familiar fighting stance.
“Why are you here, pony?” the dragon rumbled, puffs of smoke billowing from his mouth.
Shining Armor stood up straight, confused that this dragon had spoken. “You can talk?” he asked.
“Well of course,” the dragon scoffed. “I ask you again: why are you here?”
Shining Armor took a deep breath. “I am here to defeat your master, the evil witch that resides over this castle. I aim to diminish her power and take back my Princess, who she so foolishly kidnapped. And I must defeat you, dragon, so that I may pass through her barrier and continue upwards.”
The dragon merely sat there, contemplating. “Hm... I will not kill you, pony.”
“W-What?” Shining Armor stuttered.
“In fact, I shall help you,” the dragon continued, sweeping his tail around to reveal a chain attached to it. “The witch keeps me imprisoned here, so that I may protect her. But I have grown tired of her, so I shall help you.” The dragon moved forward, and took its enormous clawed paw and smashed the invisible barrier on the stairs to splinters.
Shining Armor stood in disbelief. He had always known dragons to eat ponies, not help them. He mumbled his thanks and quickly made way for the stairs.
At last, Shining Armor made his way to the top floor. He stumbled inside, and immediately his eyes fell upon the filly he so tirelessly fought to rescue.
“Princess Twilight!” he called, galloping for her. The small purple filly sat on the other side of the room. She looked up towards Shining Armor, warning in her eyes. Almost immediately, a beam of pink magic shot out and struck Shining Armor, throwing him off his hooves and sending him flying.
The stallion hit the wall with a grunt, and looked up. Out of the shadows stepped the witch: she had wings and a horn, and her pink coat shimmered in the light of the room. Her purple, pink, and beige mane and tail were tied back, each adorned with a blue bow.
“Cadance...” Shining Armor hissed, the witch’s name venom on his tongue.
“Oh, Shining Armor. It is so amusing to see you go about trying to save your beloved Princess Twilight. But it is of no use! I am too powerful! You cannot defeat me!” she cackled triumphantly.
“We’ll see about that!” Shining Armor roared, charging the witch. She began firing magical blasts at the stallion, but he continued to weave and dodge them. He slammed into her, throwing her to the ground.
“Princess Twilight!” Shining Armor called once again, moving towards the filly. “Are you all right?”
She nodded in response. “Yeah,”
Shining Armor laughed lightly. “Good. Come on, let’s get you home.”
Shining Armor lowered his head, and Princess Twilight scrambled onto his back. But just as they were about to leave the room, one last blast of magic shot past Shining Armor’s head. He set Princess Twilight down and turned around, unsheathing his sword.
He approached the evil witch Cadance, who was unsuccessfully trying to lift herself to her hooves. She collapsed, and looked up to Shining Armor.
“Your foul magic has cursed this land for years!” he bellowed. “You kidnapped the Princess, and now you shall pay!” Shining Armor lifted his sword. “Your presence shall haunt this land no longer!” In one fell swoop, he brought his sword down upon the witch.
“Ow! That hurt, Shining Armor!” Cadance exclaimed, getting up and rubbing her side.
Shining Armor smiled lightly, putting away his wooden sword. “Heh. Sorry, Cadance.”
Shining Armor’s little sister, Twilight Sparkle, ran up to the pair. “That was so much fun!” she squealed, looking up to her brother and foalsitter.
“Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?” Shining Armor said, giving his little sister a noogie. “It’s about time for you to go wash up, Twilee. Mom and Dad are gonna be home soon.”
Twilight lightly swatted away her brother’s loving gesture. “All right!” she said, prancing off.
“Twilight, aren’t you forgetting something?” Shining Armor said, gesturing to Cadance.
“Oh, right!” she exclaimed, coming back. “Thanks Cadance! You’re the best foalsitter ever!” she said, giving her a hug. Cadance gladly returned it.
“And you’re the best little filly ever!” she said, waving a hoof as Twilight scampered off.
“Hey Cadance?” Shining Armor asked, turning to the mare.
“Yeah?” she asked in return.
“Thanks for staying a little longer to play with Twilight. She really likes that game, and our parents are never really in the mood to play the bad guy,” he said. His ears perked up however, realizing something. “Oh, I almost forgot!” he said, running inside. He returned with a small bag of bits. “My Mom and Dad gave me this to give to you. Payment for last week’s foalsitting.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the money and putting it in her saddlebag. “And it’s no problem, really. I love playing with Twilight. She’s the best little filly I’ve ever met. You’re lucky to have her for your sister. Sometimes I kind of wish she was my sister.”
“Yeah...” he responded, not quite sure what to say. “Well, anyhow, I’ll see you around then, I guess?”
“Of course!” Cadance exclaimed, turning around. “See you later!”
“See you.” Shining Armor replied, heading inside.
He threw his wooden toy sword into his closet as he entered his room. He always loved playing the Captain of the Guard. One day, he thought. One day...
