A Visit from Mom

Shining Armor completely flipped out. “SEE? SEE? THAT IS WHAT THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING WAS! I HAVE SHELSILVERSTEINOPHOBIA! HE LOOKS MORE LIKE A BURGLAR OR A PIRATE THEN SOMEONE WHO SHOULD BE WRITING BOOKS FOR FILLIES! MY MOM HAD BEEN TELLING THAT TO ME EVERY NIGHT BEFORE I GO TO BED! SINCE I WAS FOUR ALL THE WAY THROUGH MY CHILDHOOD AND TEENAGE YEARS, AND IT WAS ALL OVER WHEN I WENT TO COLLEGE!”

“DEAR!” shouted Cadance, spooning him. “He’s not really there!”

“I know, I know!” said Shining Armor, “It’s just that it’s very embarrassing and all, and that I was scared you would start doing it to ME!”

“Relax, honey, I wouldn’t do that! I’m not your mom. Plus, if he did exist down in the hallway, you should have faced your fears. That is what Luna tells everypony to do.”

“OK, ok, he’s not there. Goodnight.” Shining Armor gave Cadance a kiss on the lips, and they both lay down and went to sleep.

Shining Armor’s eyes suddenly opened up, waking him from his sleep. He looked outside. It was still dark out, yet he felt a presence in the house. He heard Cadance’s quiet snoring, and he knew his mom was asleep too. So what could be causing this waking presence? Could it be his fears? Oh yes, he remembered Luna’s words of wisdom, to face his fears. So that’s what he knew he had to do.

Quickly but quietly getting out of bed, he slowly crept out of the master bedroom and gazed down the dark, empty, high-ceilinged hallway. He slowly but quietly tiphooved down the hall, all the way towards the end. He knew that there was nothing out there now, but he had to face his childhood fears. He kept walking carefully.

Finally, after a few minutes of tiphooving, he got to the end of the hallway. “Phew! I guess I have nothing to worry about! I guess I faced my fears!” he went to go back to the master bedroom and go back to bed, but right when he turned around, he knew his mom was right about everything.

“HELLO THERE! I’M SHEL SILVERSTEIN! READ ONE OF MY BOOKS!”

Shining Armor was so shocked and frightened by the fact that Shel Silverstein was indeed in the hallway in person that he passed out.

***

“Shiny? Shiny? Are you OK?” Shining armor opened his eyes and saw his mother staring down at him. “Oh, thank goodness you’re alright!” Twilight Velvet lifted him up. “Come on, I made a very special breakfast!”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes. “Oh boy, here we go again.”

Cadance was already seated at the breakfast table. “Hey, why were you passed out on the floor?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“He saw Shel Silverstein in the hallway last night!” said Twilight Velvet.

“What? How did you know?” he asked in shock.

“Oh... umm... I... that was just a guess. You really saw him?” she said, as if she was trying to cover something up. Cadance and Shining Armor were now very suspicious.

“Yes, I did. Well, I guess it was a dream.” he said, but in a way he knew it actually happened. However, he tried to end the conversation as they sat down for breakfast.

Twilight dropped a pancake with blueberry eyes and a whipped cream smile onto his plate. “Eat up!” she said enthusiastically. The three started eating their breakfast.

Cadance took a sip of her tea and discovered that there wasn’t any milk in it. She immediately spit it out, spraying it onto the table. However, some of it landed on Twilight Velvet’s face, creating small black spots. Cadance was shocked by this reveal, and she knew exactly what it meant. Using her magic, she threw the rest of her tea at Twilight. The tea washed away the white coat around her eye to reveal a black exoskeleton. She opened her eye to reveal a green cat eye. Cadance gasped. “I KNEW IT!” she shouted.

Shining Armor was also shocked about this reveal. “What? Queen Chrysalis? It’s really you? You weren’t my mom at all?”

“No, big boy, not at all” said Chrysalis in her villainous, double-toned voice. She shedded off Twilight Velvet to reveal her full form. “Surprised?”

“Not really.” said Cadance. “I sort of figured it was you all along. I knew there was something fishy about all this!”

“Now it all makes sense!” realized Shining Armor. “You were disguised as Shel Silverstein in the hallway last night! Why did you do this?”

“Well” said Chrysalis, “I wanted to get revenge, but not on a grand scale like last time. I wanted to humiliate you in front of your bride’s face!” she made her trademark evil laugh. “It felt like so much fun!”

“Well, it was such a pain for me! I totally fell for it! How did you know everything about my childhood! How did you know about the most embarrassing moments from my early years? Only my parents and little sister know about that!”

“Exactly. I talked with your parents and sister, and they were in on it. It was just meant to be a harmless little prank.”

“HARMLESS? That was so emotionally painful! How did you get everything from my past? My old photos? That vinyl record? The Giving Tree?”

Chrysalis smacked her mouth three times and licked her lips with her long, pink tongue. “Oh, they told me about it, and, they gave it to me to use against you.”

Cadance spoke up. “Wait, why did you want to do this, and not start a whole invasion?”

“Because,” said Chrysalis, “It’s less destructive, doesn’t cause widespread panic throughout all of Equestria, and it’s hilarious to see your groom being so embarrassed and humiliated. Plus, Twilight Sparkle doesn’t stop me!”

Just then, Twilight Sparkle came bursting in the door. “Queen Chrysalis!” she shouted. “I’ve been looking for you!” Shining Armor and Cadance were both confused about this, but Chrysalis asked Twilight why she was here.

“What are you doing here?” said Chrysalis, “I thought you were in on this!”

“I know, I know” said Twilight, “and the reason I’m here was to hear how Shining Armor reacted.”

“It was hilarious!” said Cadance. Shining Armor looked at the three of them in disapproval. He knew that this had been worse than when his wedding had been ruined.

“So, how did he react to the Shel Silverstein thing?” asked Twilight.

Chrysalis laughed again. “He was scared off his pants! He thought it was actually the guy on the back cover of the book waiting for him in the hallway like his mom would tell him! That was indeed the most embarrassing part of his childhood that he didn’t want to tell anyone about!”

“Yes, yes, I know I know” groaned Shining Armor, “I’m really bummed that Cadance knows about it now. However, I must say I appreciate how good you were at pranking me. I totally thought you were my mom.”

“Well, I talked to your mom, so I know a lot. I also talked to Twilight over here, in order to find out every little detail in complete accuracy on your life as a child.”

“That sounds like a lot of research!” said Cadance. “Did I ever tell you about all the incidents that happened between me and Twilight here when I babysat her?” The three all looked at Twilight, whose eyes widened as she remembered those moments.

“Uh oh...” muttered Twilight, swallowing her saliva.