A Shining Sunset

Beep Beep Beep!

Shining Armor was pulled from his dreams by the screeching of his alarm clock. Rolling off his bed, he gave a withering glare at the impudent intruder, and stomped the off button.

"Miserable piece of trash..." Shining grumbled, clutching at the fragments of his dreams like a child at a handful of sand. There was laughter in it, his own laughter at something magnificent, but that was the only scrap he held before that particular world exited. He didn't mourn it long; he was happy to hold onto that laughter, which was either triumphant or defiant.

He held onto it as he went about his morning rituals, letting it echo through his head as he brushed his teeth, washed it out, took a cold shower and picked up his bookbag, which he had readied the day before. He walked into the bathroom, the thud of his soft footsteps penetrating the otherwise silent house. He looked at himself in the mirror:

"This is the face that all the new students will see today. This is the stallion that'll walk down the streets and into the school," he said to himself, imagining the new world about to receive him. It also struck him as odd that behind every pair of eyes was a person watching and seeing the world in front of them, and he was just another stallion from those points of view, as they were to him. Such incredibly different perspectives, yet nobody ever notices that disparity, he thought to himself. After setting aside that particular wonder, he began practicing.

"Good morning! Hello! Hi! Gooood morning! Hey there! Me? I'm Shining Armor. Hi, I'm Shining Armor! Oh, hello! My name is Shining Armor, what's yours? Huh. Nice name, I like it! Good to see you again, dude! Oh man, my summer was great! How was yours? I don't think we've met; I'm Shining Armor, from West Canterlot Middle School. Great to meet you, buddy! 8-bit, buddy! How's it going, Poindexter? You're looking great! Mind if me and some friends sit at your table? Great! Oh, that's too bad. Some other time then! Oh guys, mind if I join you? Ok, see you later! Hey, see you tomorrow dude." After he felt comfortable with his preparations for the conversations to come, he worked on his smiles. Criminy, Shining thought to himself, smiles are hard! Not only did he have to scrunch up his eyes, he had to keep it short, or nod his head or something; the two tells of a fake smile were untouched eyes and frigidity of expression, both of which were hard to avoid in the heat of the moment. After that, he got to his laugh. Shining rarely laughed; he had found himself bursting out into laughter at the success of his plans, but the timing made it uncomfortable, not to mention he sounded like a hyena. So he made sure to suppress that mirth into a warm smile, and give a quiet chuckle whenever people expected him. Not as effective as a burst of laughter, but Celestia knows I can hardly fake that. Afterwards, he smiled to himself, a far more menacing and satisfied look than those the mirror had held a moment before. Quiet, charming, adorable, charismatic and humble Shining Armor. Oh, they are just going to love you, he said inwardly.

He trotted down the stairs and ate breakfast alone. His father was at work, and had dropped Twily off on his way, because her school started before his own. As for his mother, she rarely awoke before noon. She believed that a mother's work was to bear children, and since she had long ago been found she could not bring Twilight the title of older sister, she had decided her role was fulfilled, and thereby was free to coast upon the efforts of her husband. Shining did not mind much: he had received little from her, and her current lifestyle earned him more time alone than when she had attempted a shot at mothering. She was a better mother now than when she was trying, Shining thought to himself.

Celestia had recently raised the sun, and the milky white glow of the early morning shone through the one window of the kitchen, illuminating Shining's face. This gift of hers was also currently searing Shining's eyes; he grimaced and used his magic to shut the blinds. He was taught to revere the sun, the gift of these ponies' goddess. He was told that the sun illuminates all things, and warms the world. His sneer at this was barely visible in the dim room. The sun merely blinds and burns. He finished his breakfast in the faintest of glows from his own horn, carefully placing it in the sink. He lingered a bit, having a little bit of time before he had to meet Poindexter, with whom he would accompany to the school.

Shining ceased the illuminating spell, allowing the room to fall into total darkness. Holding up his hooves, he found that he could not even see their outline. He sighed contentedly, resting in the dark. Light is the visual form of noise: once I walk out the door, I'll be subject to the most hideous arrangements of colors and shades, all screaming at me at once. And what does it bring, but the eyes of other ponies upon me, mocking and sneering at me? Even those smiles which I've established in my colleague's eyes are farces; the moment I show one ounce of my genuine self, and the hating eyes will return with a fervor. The cruelty in their eyes remains; I have just learned to dodge it.

No, the darkness is my ally. In it, all the other ponies, and their crimes against me vanish. I am alone, with only my beautiful mind and the worlds I create to accompany me. The loneliness with my mind is far more pleasant than loneliness in the crowds of those monsters. The darkness is like silence: peaceful. It is freedom from them; they cannot terrorize what they cannot see. It's too bad that legend about Nightmare Moon hadn't ended with Celestia failing; I wouldn't mind a world of perpetual night.

Shining looked at the clock on the wall; it was time to go. Sighing, he bid farewell to the peaceful darkness, and opened the door to the world beyond. Today was his first day at Canterlot high. He smiled quietly to himself. He was ready.

Knock Knock Knock!

“Dearie! Dearie, are you up?” Poindexter's mother called from the hall outside. “Poindexter, you're going to be late!”

“Mmmmmph. Ahmmupp...” he replied, though the sound didn't make it past his door.

“Dearie, I'm coming in!”

“Mmmmph. I'mup- AHHHHHH!” Poindexter's unheard insistence on his alertness was cut short by the blinding light of the hall pouring into his rooms, scorching his half-asleep eyes.

“You need to get up, Sweetums. You're gonna miss school, and make Shining late too if you don't get up.” His mother continued, sitting on his bedside. Poindexter tumbled out of bed in his well-known lack of coordination. He raised his hooves to yawn when two of his younger sisters barreled into his room, tackle-hugging him. They crawled on top of him, his weak frame being unable to push off the  twin four-year-olds.

“Nerdexter! Come on, you gotta go meet Shiny! Why are you just lying there, Nerdexter!” said one, her pigtails defining her as Polynomial. Her sister Monomial, who bore one small ponytail. Joined in:

“Yeah, Nerdexter! Why ain'tcha getting up!”

Their mother put an end to their squealing and grinning: “Molly and Polly! What did I tell you about calling him that! And get off him; you know he has to get ready.” Then, to Poindexter: “I'm so sorry Snookie-boo, I know you hate that nickname. But you really ought to get ready.”

His twin sisters gave a double “yesmom” and ran out of the room giggling, shortly followed by their mom, calling for them to stop running in the house.

Well, that sure was a wake-up call. Poindexter lifted himself to his hooves, stretched his back, and went to get his glasses. He brushed his teeth, applied mouthwash liberally, and took a quick shower. Before he went to join his family, he stared in the mirror. He adjusted his glasses, admiring the lack of tape required to connect them, and went downstairs, hoping they would last longer than two days this time.

Remembering the hurry, he grabbed his bookbag in his teeth, throwing it over his back, making the papers fly all over. Fiddlesticks! he cursed, carefully pushing them back in with his hooves. Finally ready, he rushed downstairs for a quick breakfast.

He was greeted by a flurry of waffles being thrown back and forth by his two younger sisters as they argued over who was the better juggler. Poindexter grinned at the sight; his little sisters were almost unbearable, but somehow he found himself caring for them and loving their antics. Noticing that neither had caught a single waffle thrown, he trotted over to Polly and gave her a few tips that he had read in a magician's guidebook when he was their age. After carefully explaining how to throw it just right, Polly nodded, drew back her hoof, and launched it into the air.

It would have flopped harmlessly on the front door, had said door not opened at that instant, with a certain unicorn's horn moving through and impaling the waffle, which covered the visitor's eyes.

“What happened!? Who turned the lights out!?” Shining shouted.

Molly and Polly screamed: “Shineee!” and lept up on his forehooves, unable to tackle the burlier stallion as they had their older brother, settling for a hug instead. Poindexter thought that if one ignored the stallion turning this way and that in an obviously faked panic, it would have made a nice picture.

Meanwhile, a grin was threatening to overtake Shining's panicked expression: “I can't see anything! Who's hugging me!? I think I've gone blind!”

Poindexter's sisters giggled and told him it was just a waffle as Poindexter did the honors of removing it. This guy's such a goofball, he thought. “Shining, my homie, what is the haps yo?

Poindexter had been Shining's best friend for years. He'd never known why; Shining was like the underdog of cool kids, nice and accepting of everybody, and everybody but the super popular kids loved him. Poindexter was just a nerd, always with broken glasses and pimples, and unable to make a full sentence to a girl. They both shared a passion for O&O, and Poindexter's grades were only slightly better than his, as opposed to his usual trait of far outsmarting any contender. He supposed that was enough for friendship, but he would still wonder from time to time why such a likeable guy would wanna be the best friend of an egghead like him. Still, the years as such close friends gave them enough inside jokes to laugh about for days on end, one of which was imitating the actual cool kids in the the most exaggerated way possible.

“My main man PoinbroDexbro, I'm fa-rizzlin up in he-yah, just found out I ain't blind yo! How be you, muh bruthuh frumuh nuthuh muthuh?” Shining replied cordially, and Poindexter guffawed while Shining gave his signature chuckle. Polly and Molly just stared confusedly at the duo's purposefully unintelligible greetings, before walking back into the kitchen with murmured accusations of the two friend's weirdness.

Poindexter stuffed a waffle in his mouth and another in his pack and made gestures to get going to Shining. Shining chuckled again at the waffle hanging out of Poindexter's mouth before realizing that Poindexter wanted to get out of the blast zone when his mother saw the mess the twins had made. He opened the door, shouted a hello and goodbye to Poindexter's mom as Poindexter shouted something muffled by the waffle in his mouth, and the two leapt out before the trouble came.

Galloping away from the house, lest Poindexter's mother call him back to account for the mess, the two made their way out of their neighborhood. Slowing down, Poindexter explained his busy morning to Shining, as he chuckled at every happening. Poindexter got so caught up in the story that when his companion shouted for him to look out, he was already plowing into their neighborhood's mailmare, FeatherDuster. They were both knocked to the ground, with the less clumsy smiling and helping Poindexter up.

“S-S-Sorry, F-F-FeatherDuster!” Poindexter apologized, mortified at both his inattentiveness and proximity to a mare. “I wa-wasn't l-l-looking where I was g-g-going.”

“Oh, it's no problem at all,” the cheerful mare responded, “I wasn't really looking where I was going either. I met the princess today!”

“Princess Celestia?” the two stallions responded, their jaws hanging open.

“No, but I saw her in the window. No, it was Princess Cadence, her nephew. She told me she was new in town, and was asking me about the town.” She looked back regretfully, “ I only wish I didn't have all this mail to deliver, so I could've kept talking to her. She was just the nicest mare I've ever met.”

Poindexter and Shining stared at each other; “I completely forgot that we had a princess in our class!” said Shining, while Poindexter remained dumbstruck at the thought of being in the same building as a princess.

“I forgot you two were gonna be in her class,” said the mailmare, “Make sure to be nice to her. She deserves it!” And with that, she was off.

The two began moving toward the school again. Poindexter still couldn't believe he might meet an actual princess. It played out just like a lot of his fantasies, actually, though he would keep that secret to his grave. He began thinking about how they would meet, and how how they would hang out and how he would-

“Poindexter? You there?” Shining tapped his hoof on Poindexter's forehead.

“Oh, uh, yeah. You know, just thinking about the Princess. What do you think she'll look like?

“Fat and fulla warts.”

Poindexter was horrified: “You can't mean that!”

“Yeah, I was just joking. I don't really know. Guess we'll find out, eh?” He said as they arrived at the gates of Canterlot High.

“Yeah, I guess we will,” smiled Poindexter. Maybe this day will be alright. I got the coolest best friend, and I'm gonna see a princess today, maybe even share some classes with her.

For the past week, Poindexter had been worried about school, how he would fit in, and if he would remain the smartest kid in class, even the whole school; he had always been the first, and generally became the second quickly. He worried that Shining armor might abandon him for cooler friends, but based on his seeming indifference toward meeting a princess, the ultimate in cool kids told him that he was safe. Shining had always had Poindexter's back, and he had always returned the favor.

Poindexter gazed up at his new school and smiled. He had his insurmountable intellect and the best best friend in the whole world. Whatever today threw at him, he was ready.

Tweet Tweet Tweet!

The sound of carefully rehearsed songbirds awoke Princess Cadence from her slumber. She had been dreaming of dancing in a meadow with her new friend Twilight amidst a choir of birds playing their favorite songs; the transition caused by the carefully taught royal songbirds had been seamless, and as she stepped out of bed, she still felt as if she were in that magical world.

With delicate and graceful hoofsteps, she trotted over to the windowsill, where her winged entourage continued the melody of her dreams. She whistled along with them for a minute, her half-closed eyes gazing at the world now illuminated by her aunt's gift. What a beautiful sight. I can't believe I get to see this every day, she thought to herself, as her wake-up song finished, and her companions now flew back to their home in the castle zoo. She closed her eyes for a minute, just feeling the sun warm her face, grinning in the feel of it.

Then, remembering what day it was, she hurried into her private bathroom. It was almost as big as her bedroom, with a mirror towering far above her. The blue tiles were all scrubbed spotless, and reflected the pinkness of her form. She entered the ivory shower, and relaxed there for what seemed like hours. After a quick brush, she set to her makeup and hair. She decided to go with a minimal amount of the first, and after going through seven different potential hairstyles, she decided the third -a regular ponytail- was most befitting of a princess attempting humility. After all, I don't want to make anybody feel intimidated, she thought to herself, remembering the experience she had had when meeting people on the streets of her hometown.

Every time she had gone out in public, every head that turned toward her would hurriedly turn toward the ground in deference, among murmurs of praise and appreciation for the crown. All she had wanted to do was make friends, but the local populace had refused to see her as anything other than a haughty monarch. She had started a friendship with a mare in a coffee shop, but once that mare found out, she immediately genuflected, apologizing for assuming equality, despite Cadence's assurances that it was all fine and she still wanted to be friends. The only solace she had was in foals who hadn't been taught the proper and unfortunate methods of interacting with royalty. That had been why she started up a foalsitting service; parents leapt at the chance to have a princess take care of their offspring, and the children were too young to hold on to the instructions of respect placed upon them for long.

But now she was going to be among ponies her age, who would undoubtedly want to treat her like royalty, which was her least favorite treatment. She had been homeschooled to this point, tutored by the finest minds in Equestria, before finally asking to be placed with the other students so she could make some friends. It had taken a lot of convincing on her part, and now she was doubting her position. What if they don't like me? What if none of them actually wants to be friends with me? What if-

She was interrupted by a soft rapping on her door. It was her aunt, who'd been kind enough to let her stay in her castle during the next four years.

“Come in!”

Princess Celestia entered, beaming. “First day of high school! Are you excited?”

“More like terrified,” admitted the younger alicorn, directing her frown to the floor.

Celestia gave her an even brighter look, raising Cadence's head with her hoof so their eyes met: “You've got nothing to worry about, dear. They're going to love you.” As she said this last bit, she pointed to Cadence's cutie mark. “Your cutie mark is one denoting love; I'd say it's impossible for anyone to hate you.”

At this, Cadence began to smile back: “I guess you're right, Aunt Celestia. Thanks.”

“Anytime, dear. Now, you better be heading off soon. The royal guard are waiting to accompany you.”

“Of course! Just give me a few more minutes.”

At that, Princess Celestia smiled again, nodded, and left the room. I'm so lucky to have her as an aunt, she reflected, I need to get her a thank-you gift for letting me stay here. After another ten minutes of preparations, she flew outside, where two guards were waiting. Originally, there would have been four, and there would have been a chariot involved, but Cadence had managed to convince her aunt to only send two, and have them fly alongside her. After all, showing up in a chariot was a surefire way to give people the idea that she thought she was above them, which couldn't be further from the truth.

As they set off, she began imagining how this day would go. She thought of the sleepovers she'd read about, the mares she would befriend, the parties she would go to, the stallions she might even date- As she considered this last one, she blushed and covered her face with her hooves. Unfortunately, she did this right as a busy pegasus was looking over letters in her mailbag, and slammed right into her. The two airborne mares managed to set themselves upright just before they hit the ground, each scared out of their wits.

The two guards moved threateningly toward the mailmare, awaiting a sentencing by the prisoner. What they received instead was an order to stop.

“Stop!” the princess ordered, seeing their preparation to harm the innocent mare. She looked into the mailmare's terrified eyes: “I'm so sorry. That was completely my fault. Can I make it up to you?”

The mailmare just hovered there, slackjawed, without a single clue of how to act in this situation. Cadence interjected again, also unsure, this being her first interaction with the local ponies in Canterlot, “uh..I could give you some bits? Or an autograph?”

The mailmare was finally coming to grips with the fact that an alicorn princess was right in front of her, offering an apology for bumping into her, not demanding such for herself. “Oh, no no, that's perfectly fine, princess, I mean, uh, your highness. I mean, I, uh, wouldn't mind an autograph if you're offering though...” the words spilled out haphazardly.

Princess Cadence smiled cheerfully at the still semi-awestruck mare. At least she wasn't smashing her face into the ground, like so many other ponies were wont to do. “Absolutely. I see you already know who I am, but I don't know you. What's your name?” she asked, as she pulled out a pen and paper with her magic.

“Oh, I uh, I'm FeatherDuster. I'm just a mailmare. You know, mailing and sending mail...” she trailed off, still trying to regain her ability to hold a basic conversation.

“Well, it was lovely to meet you, FeatherDuster,” the princess replied, finishing the autograph, “Here you are. I have to leave, but I hope to see you again sometime!” And with that, she called her guards and began flying away, realizing she was going to be late. She heard a faint, stuttered goodbye from behind her. She smiled; I just made my first good impression! And if that's any indication of the day to come, things are going to go great for me!

And with that, she swooped down, and began her first day of high school.