Soarin knocked on the door again, “Sir, I have something important to report.” There was no answer, though he could have sworn he heard something earlier.

Soarin grumbled, officers. There was no reason not to open the door, it was not like he would be embarrassed in the middle of changing. In fact Soarin himself was naked. There was no shame to hide nudity, thought Soarin to himself, though again the officer is an elitist unicorn. Unicorns are normally more fussy about such things.

Soarin knocked again, visibly more upset.

Perhaps he is having his private time. Then again, that happened at night or in the morning… normally. Though officers have the privilege to do it whenever, so that’s another story.

“I am evoking, Special Order 153,” Soarin shouted. Meaning, that after five knocks, if an officer did not open their quarters then the person knocking is in the right to open the door and check if the officer is still alive or compromised. This was put into place in fear of Changelings impersonating Royal Guard members as it would normally take them a while to morph back to pony form and get their armor on correctly.

Soarin kicked the door open and the flew open. There was no pony in the room. Hmm, that’s weird, thought Soarin. The Royal Guard Captain was supposed to be in his quarters at this hour.

Shining blinked laying silent. He tried very hard not to move. He had no idea what happened, though he assumed he had shrunken down as his armor towered over him. Was he a miniature pony or a bug? He didn’t know, all he wanted to do at that moment was not draw any attention to himself until the blue pegasus left the room.

The blue pegasus trotted around the room, first in a respectful manner as if he was looking for Shining. Then when he realized no one was around, he took a more casual look around, carefully eyeing the plaques and medals on Shining’s dresser.

Then the pegasus trotting in Shining’s direction, up to the armor piled in front of the mirror.

Shining remained still as the pegasus peered down, staring directly at Shining. Was he caught?

After a moment the pegasus started looking at the other pieces of armor surrounding Shining. Whatever he was, he was able to fool the pegasus. The pegasus looked back at him again. Shining froze once more. He could see the pegasus up closely now, his light blue fur, dark bags under his worn eyes, dark blue mane slicked back. While, it was obvious the pegasus didn’t know he was looking back, Shining felt himself in an awkward position, never before had he observed the face of another stallion this close before. He didn’t know what to make of it.

The blue pegasus had that surfer look Shining saw common with ponies from the coastal cities. He hated to admit it, but the last time he visited a beach of surfers, he found himself hitting on what he thought were beautiful mares only for him to find out they were in fact stallions. There was something about that surfer look that make Shining’s mind act emotionally different.

The pegasus backed away and trotted out of the room, closing the door behind. Shining sighed. Well, that mess was avoided.

As he heard the trotting of the pegasus fade away he tried to get up.

He couldn’t move.

Puzzled he tried to move his limbs.

He realized he didn’t have limbs.

Okay, well then he tried moving his head.

His head didn’t move.

Wait, what was he? He was sure he turned into a small version of himself or a bug. Well if he was a bug, that pegasus would have probably smashed him with his hoof, that wouldn’t end well.

Was he invisible?

Well, if he was, why was he also immobile?

Was he an orange or something? He recalled his sister had a spell to turn creatures into oranges. She once accidentally turned herself into a peach. Humorous, one night when she was drunk on cider she admitted she turned herself into a pair of silk panties. Who would create such spells to begin with?

Well whatever he was, he was stuck. Hopefully the spell would revert him back to pony form soon. He chose a spell from the temporary section of the book. If he casted the wrong one, well then he had much bigger problems, as no one would know what he done to himself.

Shining tried to get a good look at himself in the mirror in front of him. He couldn’t see anything but his armor. Was that it? Did he merge himself with the armor? Or a piece of the armor? That could perhaps explain things, though; he wasn’t sure what piece he was.

As he thought to himself about his situation he heard the door open once more, he cursed then quickly silenced himself, in fear of being heard.

Soarin was ordered back to the North Tower, he was told he could not enter the mess hall until he reported to the Captain of the Royal Guards. Well this is going to be a long day for the both of us, Soarin thought as he trotted around the room once more.

He had to wait for the captain to return, so he decided to make the best of it and resume his sightseeing tour of the room. He looked at the comfy bed spread out in front of him. It was messy and unmade. Soarin grumbled, he was forced to tuck his sheets into hospital corners in the morning before formation. He sighed at the idea of officers getting the “royal” treatment.

Something odd had caught Soarin’s attention. He noticed that the blanket and pillows of the bed were embroidered with the cutie mark of the captain. This was something unique, as all other officers normally just had their name embroidered in the corner of their sleepwear. Soarin then backed away and peaked into the bathroom to satisfy his curiosity. Sure enough the towels were also embroidered with the same cutie mark. Soarin ran to the desk, all the paper and stationary had the cutie mark printed on them.

“Damn, spoiled officer, gets everything personalized.” Not even Spitfire was able to afford to do that. “So that’s how our royals spend Equestria’s Treasury.”

Soarin sat on the bed and grumbled, not liked it mattered, the bed was unmade, nopony would notice.

As the minutes ticked by, the pile of armor sat in front of the mirror, as if calling for Soarin.

“No, no. Never going to do that.”

Soarin turned away and closed his eyes.

Then he sweated a bit and slowly opened one eye.

“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

Soarin ran to the door, he looked to make sure no ponies were around, closed it, locking the deadbolt above the knob.

“Okay, dude, only for one minute. Then you put it back where you saw it.”

Soarin gleefully trotted over to the armor then, after trying to engrain their scattered arrangement into his memory, he slowly put on the breast plate.

Above Shining he saw the blue pegasus was back. He was slowly putting each piece of his armor on, one by one.

Shining shouted as loud as he could, threatening to demote the pegasus, but it was no good. Whatever he was, he didn’t have a vocal chords.

Before he knew it, the realization dawned on him, if he did merge with his armor, he was going to be worn. As much as he cringed at the idea of being worn by a stallion (a somewhat cute stallion he would admit) he realized this was his chance to see what piece of the armor he merged with.

Once by one, the pegasus put on piece by piece, until only the shako helmet was left.

Oh thank Celestia, something that doesn’t have to cling to the private areas, thought Shining.

The pegasus put on the helmet and the full dress armor uniform was complete. Shako and all.

Wait, if he wasn’t the helmet, what was he? Shining was still on the floor below the towering pegasus. Did he merge with the rug? If so, that was an odd transformation.

The pegasus pranced before the mirror, making poses in the armor.

That was something that annoyed Shining, that was his armor. An enlisted pegasus had no right to wear it. Though puzzling thought of figuring out his current form was more concerning at the moment.

Just then he saw a blue hoof step on him, he embraced for pain, but felt none. The hoof lifted up then hoovered again, stomping on him once more. Well whatever he was, he was flat. He tried to blink with the weight of the hoof upon him, but with no eyelids he could only stare at the pegasus horseshoe. I just wish I knew what I was.

Then, as if the pegasus read his mind, the green sleepy eyes of the blue pony was once again gazing down directly in Shining’s direction.

“Holy Mother of Luna, did he also get this customized with his cutie mark,” exclaimed the pegasus loudly directly at Shining.

Wait, what am I? Shining shouted in his mind.

Then, he saw his answer. Looking directly into the mirror before him, he saw the blue pegasus, in full armor, holding in his hooves, a limp, dangling, white...

Author's Note

What has Shining Armor become?