Twilight Sparkle waddled down a corridor and into a huge room with a hexagonal cage. The cage had six locks, so opening the cage required six keys—one for each Element of Harmony. Imprisoned in the cage was Twilight’s BB/BFF (big brother / best friend forever), Shining Armor!

“Shining Awma!” cried Twilight in utter shock. “What happened to you?”

“Discord,” answered Shining from his cage. “Discord happened to me.”

“By using his chaos magic,” he explained, “he turned this place—the Canterlot Labyrinth—into a foalish nursery-like labyrinth, and he imprisoned me in this cage!”

“Dat’s evil!” cried Twilight.

“Twily,” ordered Shining, “you have to defeat Discord at any cost. To let me out of this cage, you need to find six keys, which will open the cage’s six locks. The gray key on the wall across from where you came in is a door key, which will unlock any door in this labyrinth, but not my cage. Go take it down; I will help you lift it.”

Twilight Sparkle waddled over to the gray door key and seized it with her front hooves. Then, Shining Armor, using his horn, levitated the key and made it lighter so that Twilight could carry it easily.

“May Sideria bless you, Twily,” said Shining.

“Amen!” answered Twilight, and waddled back the way she’d entered, carrying the key in her front hooves.

Author's Note

The cage in which Shining Armor is imprisoned is based on the Gazoobo shape sorter toy from Chicco. That children’s toy comes with seven color-coded keys, of which one is a white master key, which will unlock all the doors. Shining Armor’s cage is inspired in part by the Gazoobo and by K.Lumsy’s cage in the video game Donkey Kong 64.